WEBVTT 00:00:00.020 --> 00:00:02.047 Let's take our Bible and go to the book of Isaiah. 00:00:02.047 --> 00:00:03.229 The book of Isaiah. 00:00:03.229 --> 00:00:13.028 If you don't have a Bible, you might find one in front of you, a little red one like this one, and if you go to page 600, you'll see the beginning of the book of Isaiah. 00:00:13.028 --> 00:00:18.708 And if you can just flip over several more pages, you'll find Isaiah, chapter 50. 00:00:18.708 --> 00:00:28.972 And an invitation to you if you don't have a Bible, and you need a Bible please feel free to take that one that's in front of you as a gift from us. 00:00:28.972 --> 00:00:36.344 If you already have a Bible, just use your own Bible. 00:00:40.329 --> 00:00:54.427 History is filled with a lot of remarkable individuals, people of courage, conviction, compassion. 00:00:54.427 --> 00:00:55.853 We admire their resolve, we admire their sacrifice. 00:00:55.853 --> 00:00:57.000 We admire even their brilliance. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:03.246 I think about people like Abraham Lincoln, with his moral clarity to lead our country through a time of civil war. 00:01:03.246 --> 00:01:06.953 I think of Winston Churchill, who rallied the West in order to fight the axis of evil. 00:01:06.953 --> 00:01:14.921 Those men, their clarity and resolve, stand as testimonies to what it means to be firm under pressure. 00:01:16.123 --> 00:01:19.489 History has also given us a number of examples of compassion. 00:01:19.489 --> 00:01:31.155 Florence Nightingale, for instance, would walk the dim corridors of wartime hospitals with a lamp in her hand and tend to those who were wounded with care and compassion. 00:01:31.155 --> 00:01:36.150 Her nightly rounds earned her the name the Lady with the Lamp. 00:01:36.150 --> 00:01:39.825 What a glorious statement. 00:01:39.825 --> 00:01:55.231 Tireless in her pursuit of hygiene and her reforms led to a drop in mortality rates in those wartime hospitals from 40 to 2%, and her work has reshaped modern nursing to this day. 00:01:55.231 --> 00:02:11.182 But even the courage or the compassion that we see in these individuals, as noble as it is, is not enough to fix the human condition, or the compassion that we see in these individuals, as noble as it is, is not enough to fix the human condition. 00:02:11.182 --> 00:02:16.310 Compassion and courage and conviction, beautiful characteristics, all but not enough. 00:02:16.310 --> 00:02:29.673 Even the noblest of lives, those who are marked truly by sacrifice, by wisdom, by resolve, by compassion, cannot fully accomplish what we were ultimately designed to be and to do. 00:02:29.673 --> 00:02:41.312 Our best efforts, as Westminster Confession speaks, fall short of glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. 00:02:41.312 --> 00:02:49.366 No matter our effort, no matter how noble, no matter how purposeful it might be, we find ourselves faltering. 00:02:49.366 --> 00:02:59.521 Our obedience can waver, our courage can bow, and that's why the introduction to the theme that we're going to be looking at today in Isaiah 50 is so striking. 00:03:00.304 --> 00:03:05.274 We're going to be looking at the servant in Isaiah's song here. 00:03:05.274 --> 00:03:09.550 It's a small section that runs from verses 4 to 9 of chapter 50. 00:03:09.550 --> 00:03:22.213 But in it we're introduced to a figure who embodies perfect obedience, who endures suffering with dignity and, more vitally, lives life wholly within divine purpose. 00:03:22.213 --> 00:03:32.170 He speaks with wisdom, he listens with humility, he walks a path of submission and his life leads to that of vindication. 00:03:32.170 --> 00:03:37.629 And as we go through this passage, we're going to learn more about this servant of the Lord. 00:03:37.629 --> 00:03:43.370 Before we do, however, we need to discover just who we're looking at here. 00:03:44.442 --> 00:03:53.813 When we read the book of Isaiah, we're introduced to this idea of someone and some people being the servant of the Lord. 00:03:53.813 --> 00:04:20.170 Isaiah, the prophet's called the servant of the Lord, cyrus, a Persian king, is called the servant of the Lord, and the nation of Israel also is called the servant, and in this section that we're looking at that started in chapter 40 and runs to chapter 55, the word servant occurs over 20 times in these chapters and often it refers to the nation of Israel. 00:04:20.170 --> 00:04:22.781 For example, isaiah 41 and verse 8. 00:04:22.781 --> 00:04:23.862 Let me just read it for you. 00:04:23.862 --> 00:04:29.694 But you, israel, my servant Jacob, whom I've chosen. 00:04:29.694 --> 00:04:34.851 Obviously clearly, israel is the servant in that passage. 00:04:34.851 --> 00:04:41.033 But when we read chapter 40 to 55, we also learn something else about the nation of Israel. 00:04:41.033 --> 00:04:43.687 Chapter 42, they're called blind and deaf. 00:04:43.687 --> 00:05:04.211 Chapter 42, in verse 22, they're called plundered and exiled. 00:05:04.211 --> 00:05:27.374 And in chapter 43, we 42, isaiah 49, here in Isaiah 50, and Isaiah 52, 53, these known as the servant songs we meet someone else, we meet an individual who stands with Israel and yet also stands apart from Israel. 00:05:27.374 --> 00:05:38.115 In these four poetic passages, the servant is no longer the nation but an individual. 00:05:38.115 --> 00:05:50.399 This servant listens, the servant obeys, the servant suffers and ultimately this servant obeys, the servant suffers and ultimately the servant succeeds. 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:59.380 And what Isaiah is doing with these four servant songs is extremely profound and we shouldn't miss this. 00:06:02.209 --> 00:06:19.072 Back in the book of Genesis, god spoke promises to one man named Abram, and those promises passed from Abraham to his son, to his grandson and on, until those promises became embodied in promises to a nation. 00:06:19.072 --> 00:06:23.629 Here the story turns. 00:06:23.629 --> 00:06:36.016 The identity of servant that the nation was to be is now moved from national identity to individual responsibility. 00:06:36.016 --> 00:06:47.572 Here it moves from a failing nation to a faithful son of Israel, the servant of the Lord. 00:06:47.572 --> 00:07:00.500 This servant comes from Israel and yet stands apart from Israel in order to represent Israel and also to rescue Israel. 00:07:00.500 --> 00:07:05.809 And this one will succeed where the nation has failed. 00:07:05.809 --> 00:07:15.649 This one will rescue and redeem, wonderfully, not only Israel but the world. 00:07:17.752 --> 00:07:34.882 In Isaiah, chapter 50 and verses four to nine, we're going to hear his voice, a voice that sustains the weary, a voice that obeys without resistance, a voice that trusts the Lord with unwavering resolve, despite the opposition and the suffering. 00:07:34.882 --> 00:07:43.865 This is, as I will argue, christ, the true servant, the faithful son, the redeemer that all of us need. 00:07:43.865 --> 00:07:47.980 And this is why Isaiah's servant is so compelling. 00:07:47.980 --> 00:07:52.269 He's not here merely to display human greatness. 00:07:52.269 --> 00:08:04.283 He's here to embody divine purpose, and that purpose is to save those of us who aren't faithful, who aren't obedient, who aren't trustworthy. 00:08:04.283 --> 00:08:12.975 He is the faithful son who accomplishes what Israel could not. 00:08:12.975 --> 00:08:21.800 And in Isaiah, chapter 40, verses 4 to 9, we're giving a rare and intimate glimpse into the servant's own voice. 00:08:22.322 --> 00:08:23.908 Let's read it and listen to it. 00:08:23.908 --> 00:08:45.982 Let's read it and listen to it. 00:08:45.982 --> 00:08:47.068 The Lord has opened my ear and I was not rebellious. 00:08:47.068 --> 00:08:47.490 I did not turn back. 00:08:47.490 --> 00:08:49.159 I gave my back to those who beat me my cheeks, to those who tore out my beard. 00:08:49.159 --> 00:08:52.909 I did not hide my face from scorn and spitting. 00:08:52.909 --> 00:08:55.046 The Lord, god, will help me. 00:08:55.046 --> 00:08:57.527 Therefore, I have not been humiliated. 00:08:57.527 --> 00:09:03.373 Therefore, I have set my face like a flint and I know I will not be put to shame. 00:09:03.373 --> 00:09:06.049 The one who vindicates me is near. 00:09:06.049 --> 00:09:08.480 Let us confront each other. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:11.326 Who has a case against me? 00:09:11.326 --> 00:09:12.528 Let him come near me. 00:09:12.528 --> 00:09:15.514 In truth, the Lord, god will help me. 00:09:15.514 --> 00:09:17.341 Who will condemn me? 00:09:17.341 --> 00:09:22.854 Indeed, all of them will wear out like a garment A moth will devour them. 00:09:22.854 --> 00:09:29.562 Garment a moth will devour them. 00:09:29.581 --> 00:09:32.570 This is not Isaiah speaking, and this is not even a general declaration from the Lord. 00:09:32.570 --> 00:09:40.785 This is the servant himself, describing his mission, describing his mindset and describing his unwavering trust in the Father. 00:09:40.785 --> 00:09:48.582 And as we listen to him, we're going to trace seven qualities that mark his obedience and reveal his heart. 00:09:48.582 --> 00:10:11.750 We're going to see wisdom of speech, a receptivity of heart, a willing spirit, submissiveness to suffering, a trusting frame, a focused determination and a confident boldness, and all of it leading to a vindicated life, a life not crushed by suffering, a life that is crowned with God's help and approval. 00:10:11.750 --> 00:10:14.279 So let's walk through this passage. 00:10:14.279 --> 00:10:21.505 Obviously, I'm going to move through each of these points fairly quickly, but they're glorious to examine. 00:10:21.505 --> 00:10:25.011 Let's listen to what the servant says about himself. 00:10:25.011 --> 00:10:25.994 Glorious to examine. 00:10:25.994 --> 00:10:28.717 Let's listen to what the servant says about himself. 00:10:28.778 --> 00:10:32.623 First of all, wisdom of speech, found in verse four in the first part. 00:10:32.623 --> 00:10:35.673 The Lord has given me the tongue of those who are instructed to know how to sustain the weary with a word. 00:10:35.673 --> 00:10:48.349 Isaiah's servant here says that he's not given mere eloquence of speech, but divine insight and restorative compassion to sustain the weary with a word. 00:10:48.349 --> 00:10:55.889 His words are not simply given to him to be ornaments of beauty, but rather are meant to be medicinal. 00:10:55.889 --> 00:11:05.707 He knows how to speak to the weary and he knows how to do so, not because he simply observed them, but he's entered in to those sufferings. 00:11:05.707 --> 00:11:13.765 And this, of course, finds its fullest expression in Christ himself, even at the beginning of his ministry. 00:11:13.765 --> 00:11:31.051 In Luke, chapter 4 and verse 22, the people there in the synagogue listening to Christ speak from the book of Isaiah said that they were all speaking well of him and all amazed with listen to this, the gracious words that came from his mouth. 00:11:31.051 --> 00:11:40.380 His speech, even at the beginning of his public ministry, was marked by grace, truth and yes, authority. 00:11:40.380 --> 00:11:54.373 In Mark, chapter 1, verse 22, the people listening to Christ were astonished at his teaching because he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as the scribes. 00:11:56.259 --> 00:11:59.107 But Christ's speech was more than just informational. 00:11:59.107 --> 00:12:03.823 It was meant to transform, to be able to speak to those who are weary. 00:12:03.823 --> 00:12:09.674 And we see a great example of that in John, chapter 4, where Jesus speaks to a woman at the well. 00:12:09.674 --> 00:12:15.231 She came to that place alone, shunned by the rest of the village. 00:12:15.231 --> 00:12:32.316 She came burdened with shame and isolation, and Jesus began a conversation with her, not with condemnation, but to awaken her to her real need by speaking about her physical desire for water. 00:12:32.316 --> 00:12:38.912 And so he moved from the physical to the spiritual and offered her the living water of Christ himself. 00:12:38.912 --> 00:12:41.881 And his words moved her heart. 00:12:41.881 --> 00:13:00.174 And his words moved her heart, and at the end of that conversation she left her jar behind and ran to tell others and said Come, see a man who's told me everything that I've ever done. 00:13:00.174 --> 00:13:05.759 See, jesus spoke to her in such a way that she welcomed what he had to say. 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:08.245 He sustains the weary. 00:13:08.245 --> 00:13:10.890 Now let's think about ourselves for just a moment. 00:13:15.779 --> 00:13:18.413 We often speak words that wound rather than help the weary. 00:13:18.413 --> 00:13:25.868 Our tongues, rather than being instruments of healing, are often, too often, instruments of pride and selfishness, deceit and even destruction. 00:13:25.868 --> 00:13:36.152 The book of James says the tongue can no man tame, and he gives a rather poignant conclusion to what the tongue is. 00:13:36.152 --> 00:13:39.931 It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 00:13:39.931 --> 00:13:44.528 Instead of lifting up the broken, we silence them. 00:13:44.528 --> 00:13:50.447 Instead of speaking truth, we trade in flattery. 00:13:50.447 --> 00:13:53.379 Rather than offering hope, we speak words of cynicism. 00:13:53.379 --> 00:14:02.509 We don't naturally know how to speak words to the weary that give them hope. 00:14:02.509 --> 00:14:05.511 But Christ does. 00:14:05.511 --> 00:14:11.923 He speaks not only correctly with speech, but he also speaks to redeem our hearts. 00:14:12.946 --> 00:14:21.812 And Isaiah here presents Jesus as one who is a well-taught disciple, a learned person, a scholar, who is wholly devoted to God. 00:14:21.812 --> 00:14:29.481 And how different he is from those that we find in places of politic and rule around the world. 00:14:29.481 --> 00:15:04.991 There are very few philosopher kings in the history of humanity, but here the servant of the Lord is given the tongue of those who are taught the instructed tongue, and Isaiah is pointing us to a servant who is wise, who knows the ways of God, who's not only loving but competent, who's wise enough to know how to help us when we are at the lowest point of our life. 00:15:04.991 --> 00:15:16.683 And for us who are believers, this means that Christ's current ministry is here for us, to continue to sustain us when we feel dry or distant. 00:15:16.683 --> 00:15:24.751 That same voice who calmed the storms and who called Lazarus out of the grave, is the same voice that speaks the word into our hearts. 00:15:24.751 --> 00:15:28.879 Lazarus out of the grave is the same voice that speaks the word into our hearts. 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:31.703 He knows what to say and he says it with love. 00:15:31.703 --> 00:15:43.337 And if you're here this morning and you don't know Christ as your Savior, this same voice speaks to you with invitation. 00:15:43.821 --> 00:15:58.687 You hear a lot of voices, I'm sure, a lot of voices reverberating in your history and perhaps speaking into your present, and they could be voices of shame, voices that are trying to confuse or voices that are trying to manipulate you. 00:15:58.687 --> 00:16:04.986 But I can tell you something about Jesus he will never do any of those things. 00:16:04.986 --> 00:16:14.053 His voice is the one true voice that can restore the weakest and the most broken among us. 00:16:14.053 --> 00:16:20.631 Where everyone else fails, he is able to sustain the weary with a word. 00:16:20.631 --> 00:16:35.500 When we find ourselves broken by our sin or the sins of others, when we find ourselves wearied with life and all of its pressures and hardships, he is able to uphold the weakest among us. 00:16:35.500 --> 00:16:46.255 Jesus is here not to crush us but to call us to himself, and he knows our weariness and he knows how to give us rest. 00:16:46.255 --> 00:16:57.369 And this is why he said with such wondrous invitation Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:17:01.342 --> 00:17:05.827 The second thing that this servant says about himself is that he has a receptive heart. 00:17:05.827 --> 00:17:08.865 Look at chapter 50 and verse 4. 00:17:08.865 --> 00:17:16.531 In the last part of this verse, the Lord has given me the tongue of those who are instructed to know how to sustain the weary with the word. 00:17:16.531 --> 00:17:18.486 But listen to the last part. 00:17:18.486 --> 00:17:20.278 He awakens me each morning. 00:17:20.278 --> 00:17:25.893 He awakens my ear to listen, like those being instructed. 00:17:25.893 --> 00:17:29.862 What is the servant saying about himself here? 00:17:29.862 --> 00:17:37.103 He's saying that his strength is not self-generated, that it flows from the posture of daily dependence upon God. 00:17:37.103 --> 00:17:57.595 Morning by morning, his ears are awakened and he listens to God, not as some casual observer, but as one careful to tune himself to God, who's willing to bend to his will and words, who's attentive, humble and teachable. 00:17:57.595 --> 00:18:04.854 And this is not weakness, this is a foundation of divine wisdom and obedience. 00:18:04.854 --> 00:18:09.541 Weakness, this is a foundation of divine wisdom and obedience. 00:18:09.541 --> 00:18:11.405 And in the life of Jesus that receptive heart is unmistakable. 00:18:11.405 --> 00:18:19.023 He gave himself fully to the ministry of submitting his heart with attention to God. 00:18:20.046 --> 00:18:25.055 Mark, chapter 1, verse 35, very early in the morning, while it was still dark. 00:18:25.055 --> 00:18:31.586 He got up, went out and made his way to a deserted place and there was praying. 00:18:31.586 --> 00:18:39.750 And every time when you read the Gospels you find Jesus about to enter into a major event. 00:18:39.750 --> 00:18:46.712 The Gospel writers are careful to record that Jesus would pray before those things. 00:18:46.712 --> 00:18:51.326 He sought the Father before engaging the crowds. 00:18:51.326 --> 00:18:53.772 He sought the Father before choosing the twelve. 00:18:53.772 --> 00:18:56.743 He sought the Father before facing the cross. 00:18:56.743 --> 00:19:05.435 He set his heart in a posture of humility and dependence to listen to the Father. 00:19:08.301 --> 00:19:10.229 We're not naturally teachable people. 00:19:10.229 --> 00:19:16.711 We're prone to self-reliance and spiritual deafness. 00:19:16.711 --> 00:19:26.647 Isaiah 30, verse 9, speaking about the nation in visual, said that there are people who are rebellious, unwilling to listen to the Lord's instructions. 00:19:26.647 --> 00:19:28.772 What an indictment. 00:19:28.772 --> 00:19:43.765 But all of us, we prefer our own wisdom, we prefer our own way, we prefer our own voice, and our ears are often closed to God's Word and our hearts are often hardened to the work of the spirit. 00:19:43.765 --> 00:19:47.461 But Jesus listened perfectly. 00:19:49.505 --> 00:19:58.363 In John, chapter 5 and verse 19, he said this the son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the father doing. 00:19:58.363 --> 00:20:03.569 For whatever the father does, the Son likewise does these things. 00:20:03.569 --> 00:20:13.767 There's not even a paper width of difference between what the Father wanted and what the Son was willing to open his heart to. 00:20:13.767 --> 00:20:24.384 He listened, he discerned, he obeyed and his heart was aligned with the Father's will. 00:20:24.384 --> 00:20:32.633 And his ministry flows from this communion and this compassion that we see in this fourth verse. 00:20:32.633 --> 00:20:51.240 And this is so vital to us today, because we need a ministry that seeks to sustain and supply, in which thought and study and insight come. 00:20:53.387 --> 00:20:55.959 But we're filled with examples of condemning ministries. 00:20:55.959 --> 00:21:00.279 And, believe you me, a finger-pointing ministry is easy to have. 00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:19.115 But to be able to serve in such a way that you supply care and wisdom and grace means that you need to be thoughtful, dependent, humble and attuned to God and His Word. 00:21:19.115 --> 00:21:23.289 And here Jesus is in every way. 00:21:23.289 --> 00:21:38.508 One striking example of that is found in John 11, where, before he brings Lazarus alive out of the tomb, he prays and he says Father, I thank you that you heard me. 00:21:38.508 --> 00:21:41.869 I know that you always hear me. 00:21:41.869 --> 00:21:51.566 Even in moments of miraculous power, he's offering himself in dependence to the Father and operating from his supply. 00:21:51.566 --> 00:22:01.788 We're invited into that same rhythm, morning by morning, with our ears awakened and our heart attuned. 00:22:03.210 --> 00:22:10.769 You see, christ's receptivity is for us as his mission, but it's also there for us as believers, as our model. 00:22:10.769 --> 00:22:37.152 As our model, because in a world of noise and distraction and finger pointing at every level and at the highest level of our society and politic that's full of posturing and self-reliance, there needs to be a people on earth that have cultivated a listening posture, who move from God's word to this world's society. 00:22:37.152 --> 00:22:47.411 See, scripture is not just a resource, but it's a necessary link for us in our relationship with the Lord and our relationship with others. 00:22:47.411 --> 00:22:57.891 And if you're here this morning and you don't know Christ, know this Christ is not aloof or detached from your situation at all. 00:22:57.891 --> 00:23:09.903 He's deeply engaged in the Father's will and that Father's will includes you, the Father's will, and that Father's will includes you. 00:23:09.903 --> 00:23:23.008 His attention to the Father means he knows your name, he knows your need, he knows your story in every twist and turn of it, and he has listened to the Father so that he might be the instrument of life for all who believe on Him. 00:23:23.008 --> 00:23:35.073 Let's keep moving. 00:23:35.153 --> 00:23:36.136 Verse 5, a willing spirit. 00:23:36.136 --> 00:23:36.798 A willing spirit. 00:23:36.798 --> 00:23:46.237 The Lord, God, has opened my ear and I was not rebellious. 00:23:46.237 --> 00:23:46.940 I did not turn back. 00:23:48.299 --> 00:23:50.846 The servant here is saying that his obedience is not forced but freely offered. 00:23:50.846 --> 00:23:55.065 He obeys without resistance, unlike us. 00:23:55.065 --> 00:24:05.963 From Eden on we have been resistive to the will of God. 00:24:05.963 --> 00:24:14.721 We resist his commands, we question his goodness, we choose our own paths. 00:24:14.721 --> 00:24:24.512 No wonder the book of Romans says all we have turned away and alike have become unprofitable. 00:24:24.512 --> 00:24:33.454 There is none who does good, no, not one. 00:24:33.454 --> 00:24:37.298 It's an indictment that we all share together. 00:24:37.298 --> 00:24:41.278 Our wills are bent inward. 00:24:41.278 --> 00:24:46.618 But Jesus did not turn back. 00:24:46.618 --> 00:24:57.632 His ear is open not just to hear but to respond, not to retreat, not to give himself in passive compliance, but in active surrender to the will of God. 00:24:57.632 --> 00:25:06.006 And so the servant here says that he's embracing the will of God with a spirit that is willing in every way. 00:25:06.006 --> 00:25:09.605 And in the life of Jesus we see this most vividly. 00:25:09.605 --> 00:25:21.589 In Gethsemane, that little garden, and as the weight of the cross pressed upon him, he said there, father, if you're willing, take this cup from me. 00:25:21.589 --> 00:25:25.351 Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. 00:25:25.351 --> 00:25:33.811 And that moment was a moment of holy resolve. 00:25:33.811 --> 00:25:37.047 He didn't turn his back. 00:25:37.047 --> 00:25:42.832 He chose obedience, knowing full well what it would cost him. 00:25:46.122 --> 00:25:46.965 Hebrews, chapter 10. 00:25:46.965 --> 00:25:49.426 He speaks about himself there. 00:25:49.426 --> 00:25:52.708 See, it is written about me in the scroll. 00:25:52.708 --> 00:25:56.450 I have come to do your will, o God. 00:25:56.450 --> 00:26:00.630 His entire life shaped by that kind of willingness. 00:26:00.630 --> 00:26:08.433 From his birth to his baptism, to his final breath, jesus lived in full submission to the Father. 00:26:08.433 --> 00:26:13.248 For us, this gives us great assurance. 00:26:13.248 --> 00:26:16.909 Jesus obeyed perfectly, not reluctantly. 00:26:16.909 --> 00:26:21.692 He obeyed willingly, and his obedience is credited to us. 00:26:21.692 --> 00:26:25.828 How can we stand accepted before a holy God? 00:26:25.828 --> 00:26:32.871 Not because we are that willing or we are that submissive, but because he is. 00:26:32.871 --> 00:26:51.186 And wonderfully, the Spirit now works within us to shape and to mold these once rebel hearts into receptive ones, to take this heart which was once full of stone, and turn it into the malleable workings of flesh. 00:26:51.186 --> 00:26:54.513 The Spirit does that in the new covenant. 00:26:56.501 --> 00:26:58.029 But here's something else I want you to hear. 00:26:58.029 --> 00:27:00.481 If you're here this morning, you don't know, christ is your Savior. 00:27:00.481 --> 00:27:06.819 Jesus was not only attentive to the cries of the Father and the speech of the Father. 00:27:06.819 --> 00:27:15.914 To do those things, he's also extending himself to the broken, to the outcast, to the unclean. 00:27:15.914 --> 00:27:25.994 And one leper came to him in Matthew, chapter 8 and said Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. 00:27:25.994 --> 00:27:29.527 And what did Jesus say to him? 00:27:29.527 --> 00:27:31.945 I am willing. 00:27:31.945 --> 00:27:43.335 Jesus bowed to this weak cry for help and said that's exactly why I'm here. 00:27:43.335 --> 00:27:48.828 You see, you don't have to earn your way to God. 00:27:48.828 --> 00:27:52.968 Jesus has already walked that path. 00:27:52.968 --> 00:28:02.749 His willingness means you're welcome and you find everything in Him. 00:28:02.749 --> 00:28:07.567 And you find everything in him. 00:28:07.567 --> 00:28:13.474 I could stop on each of these and preach a whole sermon, but I've told myself I was going to move through them. 00:28:13.474 --> 00:28:18.739 So move we must. 00:28:19.779 --> 00:28:21.925 Verse six a submission to suffering. 00:28:21.925 --> 00:28:27.710 I gave my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who tore out my beard. 00:28:27.710 --> 00:28:32.671 I did not hide my face from scorn and spitting. 00:28:32.671 --> 00:28:40.229 This is a rather vivid prophecy, isn't it? 00:28:40.229 --> 00:28:47.705 But it's a prophecy of voluntary suffering, voluntary suffering. 00:28:47.705 --> 00:28:58.928 The servant here is seen not resisting the abuse but offering himself to it, and he's not flinching or fleeing. 00:28:58.928 --> 00:29:05.589 He's actually submitting to it, and he's not doing it as a helpless victim either. 00:29:05.589 --> 00:29:11.592 You can feel, even in these words behind it, that there's a purpose behind all of that. 00:29:11.592 --> 00:29:18.412 His suffering is not incidental and, as we'll see, it's meant to be redemptive. 00:29:20.020 --> 00:29:22.965 In Matthew, chapter 26, verses 67 and 68. 00:29:22.965 --> 00:29:29.768 Speaking about the kind of suffering Christ himself received, it says they spat in his face and beat him. 00:29:29.768 --> 00:29:37.523 Others slapped him and said prophesy to us, messiah, who was it that hit you? 00:29:37.523 --> 00:29:40.869 Mockery, humiliation, violence. 00:29:40.869 --> 00:29:43.414 It all unfolded just as Isaiah said it would. 00:29:43.414 --> 00:29:54.028 Mockery, humiliation, violence it all unfolded just as Isaiah said it would, but Jesus never retaliated. 00:29:56.840 --> 00:30:02.012 In John, chapter 10 and verse 18, he reveals his heart of submission. 00:30:02.012 --> 00:30:08.925 No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own. 00:30:08.925 --> 00:30:17.722 I have the right to lay it down and I have the right to take it up again, and I've received this command from the Father. 00:30:17.722 --> 00:30:29.071 You see, the mocking, the humiliation, the violence, they weren't in control. 00:30:29.071 --> 00:30:40.405 There's a powerful example of that is Jesus stood silent before Pilate, matthew 27. 00:30:40.405 --> 00:30:43.067 He did not answer him. 00:30:43.067 --> 00:30:51.647 Jesus did not answer Pilate Even on one charge, so that the governor was quite amazed. 00:30:54.012 --> 00:31:04.172 Now remember, this is the one who could have called a legion of angels and I don't mean those cute little cherubs, you know, with little harps and white robes and tiny wings flubs. 00:31:04.172 --> 00:31:06.340 You know, with little harps and white robes and tiny wings fluttering. 00:31:06.340 --> 00:31:12.634 You know, angels in the Bible mean warriors of God. 00:31:12.634 --> 00:31:22.513 He could have called 12 legions of warriors, but instead he chose to endure the injustice. 00:31:22.513 --> 00:31:31.847 You see, his silence was not weakness, it was strength under control, it was submission with a purpose. 00:31:31.847 --> 00:31:45.445 And Jesus submitted himself to that suffering, dealing with the bitterness and the despair that others were trying to foist upon him, but we we were. 00:31:45.486 --> 00:31:51.230 We recoil from pain, we demand comfort, especially in America. 00:31:51.230 --> 00:31:55.471 If there's one word to describe the American culture, it's comfort. 00:31:55.471 --> 00:31:58.388 Try parking in England, you'll understand. 00:31:58.388 --> 00:32:05.911 And we question God's love whenever things don't go the way we thought they should. 00:32:05.911 --> 00:32:24.201 We don't suffer redemptively, we suffer resentfully, and in the Bible we see that Job's friends misinterpreting what's happening, israel grumbling in the wilderness, all kinds of examples. 00:32:24.201 --> 00:32:26.528 Interpreting what's happening, israel grumbling in the wilderness, all kinds of examples. 00:32:31.262 --> 00:32:34.519 But Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. 00:32:34.519 --> 00:32:50.259 He took suffering in order to invite us into himself, even when our path is dark. 00:32:50.259 --> 00:32:56.000 He knows, for all of us, the sting that comes from betrayal. 00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:06.573 He knows what it means to feel that gnawing, irreconcilable ache of injustice, and he knows how the weight of shame lays upon all of us. 00:33:06.573 --> 00:33:43.221 But he submitted himself to suffering so that we might be received, because he was suffering not just as an example and not just as a caregiver, but as a substitute for us, in order to receive all the wrath that God would justly lay upon each and every one of us, so that we might hear these wonderful words there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, wow. 00:33:43.221 --> 00:33:51.650 And so he walked through affliction in order to bring us to glory. 00:33:51.650 --> 00:33:55.827 His pain was not pointless. 00:33:55.827 --> 00:33:59.348 It was purposeful for our salvation. 00:33:59.348 --> 00:34:08.231 He did not hide his face from scorn so that the Father might receive us with joy. 00:34:08.231 --> 00:34:12.269 He bore the shame so we could be restored. 00:34:12.269 --> 00:34:19.427 He suffered for sinners so that they might be counted as righteous in the eyes of a holy God. 00:34:19.427 --> 00:34:25.451 He was bruised so we could be healed. 00:34:25.451 --> 00:34:29.789 This leads us to verse 7. 00:34:29.789 --> 00:34:34.327 In a trusting frame, the Lord, god, will help me. 00:34:34.327 --> 00:34:37.414 Therefore, I've not been humiliated. 00:34:37.414 --> 00:34:42.065 Jesus entrusted himself to the father. 00:34:42.507 --> 00:34:49.496 We, we struggle to trust, we're anxious, we're fearful and we're often quick to rely upon ourselves. 00:34:49.496 --> 00:35:04.891 In Psalm 78, the Lord there recounts Israel's failure to trust God, and the indictment in verse 22 of Psalm 78 says this they did not believe God or rely upon his salvation. 00:35:04.891 --> 00:35:12.862 This they did not believe God or rely upon his salvation. 00:35:12.862 --> 00:35:14.864 I want you to listen well to this, because this marks this passage. 00:35:14.864 --> 00:35:21.215 We often measure God's goodness by our circumstances. 00:35:21.215 --> 00:35:29.342 Do you hear that we often measure God's goodness by our circumstances, not His character? 00:35:29.342 --> 00:35:38.615 Right, jesus marked God's goodness by His character, not the circumstances. 00:35:38.615 --> 00:35:54.704 Jesus here is trusting perfectly, even in betrayal, even in injustice and even in death itself. 00:35:54.704 --> 00:36:06.313 And it's that trust that secures our hope, that invites us to rest, because he is obedient and submissive to the full for every one of us who believe on him. 00:36:06.313 --> 00:36:15.989 Now notice when he did give himself to that. 00:36:15.989 --> 00:36:18.713 He did not retaliate. 00:36:18.713 --> 00:36:22.067 The Lord will help me. 00:36:22.067 --> 00:36:24.255 Therefore, I've not been humiliated. 00:36:24.255 --> 00:36:24.699 The Lord will help me. 00:36:24.699 --> 00:36:27.815 Therefore, I've not been humiliated. 00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:33.583 He didn't retaliate with power and he didn't defend himself with words. 00:36:33.583 --> 00:36:45.244 He trusted the Father to eventually vindicate his righteousness, and there's a striking example of it from Pilate In John, chapter 19,. 00:36:45.244 --> 00:36:48.291 Pilate says where are you from? 00:36:48.291 --> 00:36:50.905 Jesus doesn't answer. 00:36:50.905 --> 00:37:00.273 Pilate says don't you know that I have the authority to release you or crucify you? 00:37:00.273 --> 00:37:05.927 What did Jesus say? 00:37:05.927 --> 00:37:15.891 You have no authority over me at all if it hadn't been given you from above. 00:37:15.891 --> 00:37:23.148 Wow, imagine that saying that to the governor of New York. 00:37:23.148 --> 00:37:25.483 Imagine that saying that to the governor of New York. 00:37:29.269 --> 00:37:50.851 He trusted the Father's sovereignty perfectly, even when he was face-to-face with the most powerful person in the land at that moment, and when he was on the cross. 00:37:50.851 --> 00:38:05.724 Instead of saying why me, father, into your hands, I commit my spirit, even with his last breath, even in death, he rested in the Father's care For all of us. 00:38:05.724 --> 00:38:28.653 This is the anchor of the kind of confidence we can have with God, because in Christ, in this perfect servant, in this representative of what Israel was meant to be, not only the people of Israel but people from all over this earth can find hope and life and welcome and redemption. 00:38:28.653 --> 00:38:38.550 You see some of the implications of this. 00:38:38.550 --> 00:38:42.972 Our dignity is not defined by the world's accolades and welcome. 00:38:42.972 --> 00:38:49.702 Our dignity is defined by what we secure in Christ, as he gave himself to the Father. 00:38:51.784 --> 00:38:55.271 But again, a sermon that needs to be preached. 00:38:55.271 --> 00:38:57.175 Let's continue. 00:38:57.175 --> 00:39:03.447 There's not only this trust, but a focused determination found in verse 7. 00:39:03.447 --> 00:39:10.476 At the very end of it I have set my face like a flint and I know I will not be put to shame. 00:39:10.476 --> 00:39:20.306 Now here's again this flavor of resolve that the servant is not distracted by the opposition, he's not discouraged by the suffering. 00:39:20.306 --> 00:39:28.014 His face is set like a flint, unyielding, unwavering to the mission that's in front of him. 00:39:28.014 --> 00:39:33.311 And he knows that path is costly, but he walks it with purpose. 00:39:33.311 --> 00:39:36.969 His determination is not fueled by pride. 00:39:36.969 --> 00:39:41.851 The beginning of the verse tells us that it is by trust in the one who will vindicate him. 00:39:41.851 --> 00:39:48.922 And boy does this find direct statements in the gospels, in Luke, chapter nine and verse 51. 00:39:49.625 --> 00:39:56.702 When the days were coming to a close for him to be taken up, he determined a journey to Jerusalem. 00:39:56.702 --> 00:40:00.065 He set his face toward Jerusalem. 00:40:00.065 --> 00:40:02.407 Exactly what this verse is saying. 00:40:02.407 --> 00:40:08.713 We're easily distracted. 00:40:08.713 --> 00:40:10.153 We're easily discouraged. 00:40:10.153 --> 00:40:12.476 We can waver in our convictions. 00:40:12.476 --> 00:40:14.317 We can compromise under pressure. 00:40:14.317 --> 00:40:19.554 We can abandon mission for comfort. 00:40:19.554 --> 00:40:24.237 We can be like Demas, who loved this present world. 00:40:24.237 --> 00:40:26.884 Israel turned very quickly to idols. 00:40:26.884 --> 00:40:30.311 None of us are resolute like this, but Jesus is. 00:40:31.880 --> 00:40:39.541 Jesus is resolute, with a determination fueled by love and anchored in trust in the Father, and he doesn't swerve. 00:40:39.541 --> 00:40:49.088 He sets his face like a flint to Jerusalem, knowing what lays ahead of him Betrayal, mockery, crucifixion, death. 00:40:49.088 --> 00:40:51.925 And yet he doesn't shrink back. 00:40:51.925 --> 00:40:58.172 His heart was set on what Redemption. 00:40:58.172 --> 00:41:05.432 Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame. 00:41:05.432 --> 00:41:16.967 And even if those who would seek to shake and rattle him were as close as his dearest friends, he was resolved to continue on. 00:41:16.967 --> 00:41:28.449 And in Matthew, when Peter rebuked Jesus, after giving one of the most glowing confessions about who he was, jesus said to him get behind me, satan. 00:41:28.449 --> 00:41:35.293 You're a hindrance to me, because you're not thinking about God's concerns, but human concerns. 00:41:35.293 --> 00:41:47.199 Even the most well-meaning objection of his closest friend could not knock him one degree off of his resolve to go to Jerusalem and the cross. 00:41:50.505 --> 00:41:52.568 And so we follow a Savior who did not waver. 00:41:52.568 --> 00:42:03.706 We follow one who walked the road of rejection, who was determined to give us encouragement. 00:42:03.706 --> 00:42:17.181 So, brothers and sisters, whenever we face trials, whenever we face distractions, whenever we face discouragements, remember God is not calling us to be the forerunner blazing the trail. 00:42:17.181 --> 00:42:20.887 Jesus has already done that. 00:42:20.887 --> 00:42:25.034 He's simply calling us to walk in His steps. 00:42:25.034 --> 00:42:29.740 Done that. 00:42:29.740 --> 00:42:31.284 He's simply calling us to walk in His steps, to follow Him. 00:42:31.284 --> 00:42:36.014 And how much easier it is to walk a path already worn than it is to try to break one that's never been touched. 00:42:36.014 --> 00:42:47.293 And if you're here this morning and you don't know Christ, this is the Savior's determination to save undeserving people. 00:42:48.780 --> 00:42:52.085 He has made a mission of bringing himself to the cross. 00:42:52.085 --> 00:42:56.634 It's not an accident, terrible as it was. 00:42:56.634 --> 00:43:03.329 It was meant and purposed by God and carried out by his Son. 00:43:03.329 --> 00:43:11.788 He has set his face toward that cross so that he might free sinners, just like every one of us are. 00:43:11.788 --> 00:43:24.373 This leads us, in verse 8, to a confident boldness the one who vindicates me is near. 00:43:24.373 --> 00:43:26.451 Who will contend with me? 00:43:26.451 --> 00:43:29.090 Let us confront each other. 00:43:29.090 --> 00:43:30.391 Who has a case against me? 00:43:30.391 --> 00:43:35.286 Let him come near me Now. 00:43:35.286 --> 00:43:36.793 That's boldness, not arrogance. 00:43:36.793 --> 00:43:40.570 We've already defined what brought this boldness. 00:43:40.570 --> 00:44:16.226 This confidence is rooted in God's closeness and proximity to him, in his obedience and dependence and ear and submission to the Word of God, and he invites the accusers to step forward, not because he's trying to puff out his chest in some manly arrogance, but because he's innocent and he's going to be up his chest in some manly arrogance, but because he's innocent and he's going to be upheld by God, the Father and in his trials. 00:44:16.246 --> 00:44:23.273 This is seen very clearly in John 18, jesus, knowing that everything that was about to happen to him, went out and said to those in the garden who were about to arrest him who is it that you're seeking? 00:44:23.273 --> 00:44:27.010 Jesus of Nazareth? 00:44:27.010 --> 00:44:27.893 They replied. 00:44:27.893 --> 00:44:30.130 And what did he say? 00:44:30.130 --> 00:44:32.570 I am he. 00:44:32.570 --> 00:44:39.335 Judas, who betrayed him, is also standing there with them. 00:44:39.335 --> 00:44:45.235 And when Jesus told them I am he, they stepped back and fell to the ground. 00:44:45.235 --> 00:44:46.679 Why? 00:44:46.679 --> 00:44:59.141 Well, probably because, like any of us, he probably would have turned tail and ran, or would have told some lie or tried to obfuscate in some way in order to hide himself from what was about to happen. 00:44:59.141 --> 00:45:04.596 But Jesus stood there and said you're looking for me here. 00:45:04.596 --> 00:45:11.351 I am Right here Again, before Pilate. 00:45:13.764 --> 00:45:15.512 Pilate's comment don't you know? 00:45:15.512 --> 00:45:19.416 Don't you know that I have the power to release or crucify you? 00:45:19.416 --> 00:45:20.829 And Jesus said yeah, no, you don't. 00:45:20.829 --> 00:45:23.059 You know that I have the power to release or crucify you? 00:45:23.059 --> 00:45:28.074 And Jesus said, yeah, no, you don't Any power you think you have, and that you actually have. 00:45:28.074 --> 00:45:30.951 Came to you from the Father, and I trust him. 00:45:30.951 --> 00:45:45.576 He didn't plead, he didn't protest, he didn't speak the truth with compromise, but with determined composure, knowing that he would be vindicated by the Father. 00:45:49.947 --> 00:45:51.172 We are not like that. 00:45:51.172 --> 00:45:54.713 We are fearful when judgment comes. 00:45:54.713 --> 00:45:59.547 We hide our failures, we shift the blame. 00:45:59.547 --> 00:46:02.875 We are like Adam and Eve. 00:46:02.875 --> 00:46:14.489 As soon as we discover something's wrong, we run and we try to grab some little fig leaf and think that covers all of the problem. 00:46:14.489 --> 00:46:14.809 But it doesn't. 00:46:14.809 --> 00:46:36.349 Peter denied we're not naturally bold, but Jesus here, unashamed, unafraid, standing before Pilate, before the Sanhedrin, with divine assurance, and because we're united with Christ, we can do the same. 00:46:38.306 --> 00:46:47.588 In Romans, chapter 8, paul poses this question who can bring an accusation against God's elect? 00:46:47.588 --> 00:46:51.313 God is the one who justifies. 00:46:51.313 --> 00:46:56.405 Who is the one who condemns Jesus? 00:46:56.405 --> 00:47:00.615 Christ is the one who died even more, who has been raised. 00:47:00.615 --> 00:47:06.608 He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. 00:47:06.608 --> 00:47:09.536 We don't have to cower in our culture today. 00:47:09.536 --> 00:47:18.362 We don't have to give in to the confusion. 00:47:18.362 --> 00:47:30.690 Yes, it may be as costly as what Christ suffered, but there's vindication to come. 00:47:30.710 --> 00:47:46.429 And if you're here as an unbeliever, it's only right for you to fear judgment, especially if that judgment comes from a holy God and speaks to your eternity. 00:47:46.429 --> 00:47:48.235 You have every good reason to be afraid of that. 00:47:48.235 --> 00:48:04.907 But you also should see this that God sent His only Son, the Servant that we're looking at here, so that whoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting life. 00:48:04.907 --> 00:48:11.860 He is offering the grace of reception and forgiveness. 00:48:11.860 --> 00:48:52.454 But the day will come when that voice of salvation which is happening today, that voice of salvation which is happening today, will be closed off and there will be no other option but to give an account to that, that holy God, that you were good enough or better than, or sincere enough or did enough to reconcile yourself with him. 00:48:52.454 --> 00:49:01.918 But if you say my hope, my only hope, and the only thing I bring is Christ and Him alone. 00:49:01.918 --> 00:49:10.795 I guarantee you that whoever is in the Son has life, but whoever is not in the Son does not have life. 00:49:14.164 --> 00:49:26.367 And this leads us, these seven characteristics that the servant is speaking about himself leads us to the final one, in verse 9, of a vindicated life. 00:49:26.367 --> 00:49:28.070 In truth, the Lord will help me. 00:49:28.070 --> 00:49:29.974 Who will condemn me? 00:49:29.974 --> 00:49:33.159 Indeed, all of them will wear out like a garment. 00:49:33.159 --> 00:49:39.405 A moth will devour them. 00:49:39.405 --> 00:49:53.286 The servant has spoken from his heart about himself, and here he speaks about his life being finally and fully vindicated, not by human approval but by divine affirmation. 00:49:53.286 --> 00:49:57.135