WEBVTT 00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:07.280 Today's reading is from the book of Isaiah, chapter 42, verses 1 through 4. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:13.439 Behold my servant, whom I'm up who I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:15.439 I have put my spirit upon him. 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:18.000 He will bring forth justice to the nations. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:22.239 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:26.719 A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:29.199 He will faithfully bring forth justice. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:35.600 He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his law. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:36.719 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:38.000 Please be seated. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:42.320 Good morning. 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:44.479 You all made it. 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:45.679 Congratulations. 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:49.280 Uh through the first holiday of the holidays. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:50.719 Great job, everyone. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:53.200 Do you feel exhausted? 00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:59.039 That's a yes to that question. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:00:59.840 Well, welcome. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:01.200 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:03.520 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:08.959 We're beginning a new series this morning where we're moving through uh we're beginning our Advent series. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:13.519 So we're going to be moving through the four servant songs of Isaiah. 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:22.000 Um, these are wonderful passages in the uh prophet Isaiah, and they explain the servant who is coming. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:25.359 And that's what we're preparing our hearts for this Advent season. 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:30.640 We are preparing our hearts for the coming of the servant, the servant of God, Jesus Christ. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:33.519 Uh we'll celebrate his birth on Christmas. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:38.959 And throughout this whole season, we're doing sort of this double celebration, this double remembering. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:49.200 We're remembering that Jesus has come, that the promised servant has arrived, and we are remembering that the servant will come again. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:51.120 Christ will come again. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:56.239 And so we have this remembering and looking forward that we do during the Advent season. 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:01.599 Uh let's, before we get into our text this morning, let's uh pray together. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:10.000 Holy Father, we praise you for a time with family and friends to give thanks. 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:24.159 Lord, we praise you for your care and uh the comfort that you bring, as the holidays also often bring to the head uh particular difficulties and uh relational and family difficulties. 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:28.240 Lord, we we praise you that you enter into those things with us. 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:33.759 Father, I pray that uh you would prepare our hearts this morning to receive your word. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:39.439 Lord, we need the good news of your servant. 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:42.400 Lord, I pray that you would prepare our hearts to hear it. 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:44.639 Father, I lift up to you our children. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:53.919 We pray that you would encourage them, give them the language and the grammar of your world as you lay it out to us in the scripture. 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:59.439 They might be wise to see who you are, to understand the work that you've done for them in Christ. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:08.639 Lord, we pray for our volunteers and those who uh serve to allow our church to function and our kids to be taken care of. 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:14.879 Lord, I praise you for the labor of love that we get to experience each Sunday morning in this community. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:16.560 Pray that it would honor you. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:18.080 We lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:18.960 Amen. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:24.159 So, Scripture is dramatic. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:34.639 And in order to understand the drama of Scripture as it unfolds, we have to see where the tension points are in the narrative of Scripture. 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:44.479 And the tension points are centered around this uh this idea of God's covenant, the covenant that God makes with his people. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:04:01.360 Now, if you've been with us for a while, uh, we've spent the first half of the last three years preaching through Genesis, and we saw several years ago now that God established his covenant with Abraham and with Abraham's offspring after him. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:12.719 And this promise was that Abraham and his offspring would be a blessing to the whole world, and God would bless them so that they would be a blessing to the whole world. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:31.519 Now, the the incredible, difficult to grasp revelation of scripture is that this covenant, this covenantal understanding of the world, is the way that all of existence takes shape. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:36.319 All of existence takes shape through a covenantal framework. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:47.839 Now, I I know that might sound strange because the idea of a covenant to us sounds a little just ancient or even maybe a little fantastical. 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:52.000 Like we don't in we don't involve covenants. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:54.319 HOAs have covenants. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:58.000 But other than that, we don't we don't have covenants. 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:00.079 They might take place in like a strange movie. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:03.600 I bet Avatar 2 will have a covenant or something. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:14.720 Um there's uh but we don't deal in terms of covenant, but I I want to show you just how ordinary a covenantal understanding is because you do deal in covenants. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:20.639 Now, a covenant is just a way of making explicit the dynamics of a relationship. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:22.240 That's what a covenant does. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:28.720 It takes these implicit dynamics of a relationship and then it makes those things explicitly named. 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:41.199 So a marriage is a form of a covenant where it uh it takes this relationship of monogamous union between a man and a woman and it names it as a marriage. 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:47.439 And then that defines the terms of interaction for how those for how that relationship takes place. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:48.879 So there are limits. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:53.199 You know, you're only with this person, you're only married to this person. 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:59.199 And that means that if you're acting as though you're married to another person, then you're violating the terms of the covenant. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:01.600 But this is true with friendship as well. 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:12.720 Because when we enter into a friendship with somebody, you are entering into a relationship which has definition and has limits and has rules. 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:18.079 And when you participate within those rules, then you enjoy the benefits of the friendship. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:23.279 And then when you when you exit those rules, then you're no longer enjoying the benefits of the friendship. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:36.079 So imagine that you have a friend and they all of a sudden start to, it's like they're just showing up unannounced, and they are finding out that you're hanging out with other friends. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:38.639 They're like, no, no, no, you can't hang out with those other friends. 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:41.360 And then eventually they're like, no, you can just hang out with me. 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:42.240 We're friends. 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:45.600 That means I'm the only person that you get to hang out with. 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:49.199 You'd be like, first of all, that's the plot to the cable guy. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:51.600 Good movie. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:59.120 The second of all, the that uh dynamic, you would say, no, you misunderstand friendship. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:04.079 This is you're violating what makes a friendship a friendship. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:07.839 You're operating outside of the rules, you're breaking the rules of friendship. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:13.439 And because you're breaking the rules of friendship, this relationship that we have cannot be described as friendship. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:16.480 It's more of like a one-on-one cult situation. 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:27.360 And we know this because even in our culture, which is on like a, it's we're like running a race to see how fast we can deconstruct our relational terms. 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:30.160 And we're we're I think we're winning. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:35.519 Because, you know, America, we're number one. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:51.519 And the uh but even in this like deconstructive process, you know, it's like uh when we deconstruct the term of what marriage is, then it, you know, everybody was shouting, then it's gonna be six people will get married and polyamory will be next. 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:54.240 And it's like, you're crazy, you're a doomsday sayer. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:56.879 And and now it's that's absolutely the case. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:04.319 Um, because polyamory is is being normed uh in a in a way that it never had been in our culture. 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:10.399 But notice that it comes with a ton of rules. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:33.519 Even when we try and deconstruct something like uh like monogamy, and say this was just some, you know, this was an option among many for how relationships can define themselves, and we describe something like polyamory, it has to be well defined with a whole new set of rules in order to operate. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:43.600 So you hear people discuss things like, well, this means that like the we don't consider the physical side of our relationship to be an expression of intimacy. 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:47.840 Instead, we think of that as just like, you know, like a fun activity. 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:51.600 And intimacy are just like the quiet shared moments that we have together. 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:53.679 Okay, that's a rule. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:09:04.639 That's a new covenantal framework which disassociates our physical bodies from the intimacy that we experience in a sexual union. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:10.559 And that's an implication of this named framework that you've developed. 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:19.600 The point that I'm making is there is no escaping a covenantal framework for understanding the ways in which we relate. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:25.600 Even if you try and deconstruct it, you are just recreating a new covenantal framework. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:34.639 So this is what the Bible is saying when it describes the center of reality is a covenantal understanding. 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:40.399 Now consider this: one relationship in your life. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:10:01.440 If you have one relationship that is violating a covenantal norm, if you have one friendship that is not operating like a friendship, if you have a clingy friend or a distant spouse, this can be so upsetting and painful for the whole of your life. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:11.039 And what the Bible describes is that the central relationship of humanity is our covenant with the Lord. 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:34.720 So it makes sense that when that is upset, this central relationship, this relationship which brings definition to what it means to be a human, when that is upset, then it makes sense, it logically follows that the outcome would be death, that the results would be absolute despair. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:43.759 In fact, we would see ourselves become almost subhuman in the way that we understand ourselves and the way that we treat each other. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:46.000 We would separate. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:50.080 In treating ourselves as subhuman, we would take parts of ourselves. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:51.679 This is what you would expect to see. 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:57.759 We would take parts of ourselves and say, those aren't the real parts of me, only these are the real parts of me. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:00.399 And we'd create ourselves as these divided people. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:08.559 So we'd say things like, My physicality, my physical expression of love is not a real expression of love. 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:14.799 Do you see how we would split ourselves, make ourselves subhuman? 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:17.840 Well, that's precisely what has happened. 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:21.440 And this is the drama of scripture. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:32.080 God has promised an absolute faithfulness, an absolute covenant faithfulness to his people. 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:34.720 And this is the language of the covenant. 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:39.600 I will be your God, and you will be my people. 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:52.639 And it is that dynamic which is meant to bring meaning to the whole of our lives, that everything gets understood primarily, firstly, through this factor. 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:56.240 He is our God, we are his people. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:09.279 And then here is the drama of scripture: this promise of absolute faithfulness to God is held by a people who are faithless towards him. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:16.320 So that if you were to look at the relationship, you would say, that is no marriage. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:18.879 Look at the dynamic. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:24.080 And now we understand what is the integrity of God? 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:28.320 What is his internal consistency? 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:42.159 He is faithful to us, he has promised us these good things, and yet we make the marriage with God, the covenant relationship with God, look like a sham over and over again. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:44.879 Will God be a liar? 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:49.600 This is the drama of Scripture. 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:55.840 What do we make of a God who is perfect in justice? 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:59.759 Who will not call something what it is not? 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:08.639 He will not call that uh uh that oppressive friendship, he will not look at that and say, true friendship. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:26.399 And no more will this God who is absolutely true and pure and holy look at his relationship with his people, which is riddled by uh adultery and idolatry and abandonment of God, and he will not say, This is true marriage. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:29.759 This is the this is what the covenant is meant to look like. 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:33.279 I am your God, you are my people, you are not my people. 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:37.120 This is not what my people would look like. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:48.480 This is a dishonoring of all of the norms that our lives are meant to be guided by, which are oriented towards this covenantal relationship with the Lord. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:57.600 So will the Lord prove faithless, either to his integrity or to the promises that he has made his people? 00:13:58.080 --> 00:13:59.840 That's a good question, right? 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:04.799 That's a dramatic moment to be brought to a threshold. 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:13.120 And so we would expect, what would the what would the prophets of God look like in a context like this? 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:19.759 If this is the central drama of scripture, what would we expect to hear if God were to send his prophets to his people? 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:28.240 Well, we would expect to hear things like turn from your idols and turn back to the Lord. 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:31.840 Remember the good promises that he has made to you. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:40.480 Why would you turn to these idols instead of the Lord who has demonstrated his love and his faithfulness towards you? 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:42.000 Be his people. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:44.960 He is the one who promises to be your God. 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:57.279 And so there would be this extension of the promises of God to renew this covenantal relationship so that we as a people might be properly oriented with the God of reality. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:04.399 And we would also hear, alongside those promises, we would of course expect to hear warnings. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:11.200 If you don't, if you continue to follow these idols, you will be as dead as they are. 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:23.919 If you orient yourself as a human towards that which is not your image, but towards something else, then you will become the image of that which you orient yourself towards. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:27.279 Don't you understand reality is covenantal? 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:29.840 And you are defined relationally. 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:40.000 So if you define yourself outside of the relationship that God has described to you, that he has with you, then you will plummet into death. 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:44.159 And the warnings of Scripture would sound like that. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:47.919 So this is what we would expect to hear from the prophets. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:53.360 And Isaiah is one of the greatest of the prophets. 00:15:53.759 --> 00:16:01.600 And so we hear these warnings that he describes to the people of God and to the nations which have betrayed and ignored God. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:03.440 And he holds them up as examples. 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:05.279 Look at what happens to Moab. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:06.960 They did not follow me. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:14.000 And you can observe, just in the reality of how their culture plays out, that it results in death and destruction. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:21.679 Look at your own forefathers, look at the ones who did not follow me, and look at how for them it resulted in death and destruction. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:22.720 Return. 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:32.159 Return to the covenant, return to my promises, trust in me as God, let me be your God, then you will be my people. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:40.320 And the covenant might be restored, and yet we prove faithless over and over and over again. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:58.240 Now, amidst this pattern that we would expect to see when we understand what the Bible is about, amidst this backdrop of warnings and promises which are perpetually unrealized by the people of God. 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:02.320 Four songs break out. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:07.839 There are four songs that break out in the letter of Isaiah. 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:34.079 These four songs are called the four servant songs, and they describe this strange figure, one man, a servant, the servant of God, who walks directly into this attention of the faithfulness of God and the faithlessness of his people, and he brings the Lord's justice. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:38.000 That's our song for today. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:44.720 The introduction of God's servant who brings the Lord's justice. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:51.839 It says, Behold my servant whom I uphold. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:00.640 Okay, now that didn't sound very dramatic, but we'll add a little context so that you can hear it a bit. 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:03.680 Behold my servant whom I uphold. 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:08.000 This is the third behold in this section of scripture. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:13.440 The first behold, God sets out a scene that's meant to look like a courtroom. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:22.400 He brings together, he brings together his people and he says, Bring with you your idols into the courtroom. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:25.359 Bring your idols into the courtroom with you. 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:30.000 And then he puts the idols that they have brought on trial. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:38.160 He says to the idols, Tell us what will come hereafter, that we may know you are gods. 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:46.720 Do good or do harm, that we may be dismayed and terrified. 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:55.839 And then he pauses for a beat and says, Behold, you are nothing. 00:18:57.119 --> 00:18:59.519 Because the idols didn't say anything. 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:01.359 Because they are dead. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:03.279 They are useless. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:16.400 Then, right before this verse that we're looking at in verse 42, God declares as a judgment upon the idols, Behold, you are a delusion. 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:19.759 You're a delusion. 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:30.000 Now, what we can see here is that the way that the Bible describes our options are not something like this. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:37.279 There's God, which we could orient our lives to in Covenant, where we say, He is my God, we are his people. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:43.039 There's idols that we could orient our lives to, or there's something else. 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:46.400 That's not what the way that the Bible describes our situation. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:51.039 There's God, or there's idols. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:56.000 I'll give you some examples of when we try and trick ourselves into thinking that there's something else. 00:19:56.240 --> 00:20:08.400 One would sound something like this you know, a covenantal relationship with God with God is not something that could be described so particularly as through one man, Jesus Christ. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:14.799 But what I am able to do is step back and in, I'm able to pick from all of the religions. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:26.319 I'm able to pick, you know, I'll use this filter, and through this filter, I'll pick all the good things from all the religions, and then I will have back here to myself the truth of the matter. 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:29.039 Now I will show you your idol. 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:31.519 It's whatever this filter is made of. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:37.119 Is it looking respectable to your contemporaries? 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:40.400 Look, I bet it's a part of it. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:51.200 Whatever this filter happens to be made of, by which you discern that's your idol. 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:55.119 It promises you life, and then it demands from you. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:11.599 Our options are not God or our own journey of self-actualization. 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:17.680 You are a relational being. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:23.519 You are defined in relational terms. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:27.920 Our culture understands this clearly. 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:33.680 Haven't you ever considered why is the pronoun thing such a big deal? 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:36.000 Call yourself whatever you want. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:40.400 If you don't care what I think, then why do you care what I call you? 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:45.279 Well, it's because we know we can't define ourselves. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:53.279 The definition of ourselves must be experienced relationally. 00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:56.559 Otherwise, it has no reality. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:21:59.759 We must. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.279 Receive our identities relationally. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:06.319 Our culture knows this. 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:10.240 It's intuitive, undeniable. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:26.079 So you will define yourself either in relation to the covenant God, or you will define yourself relationally with something else. 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:30.480 And that something else will be your God. 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:34.880 You will be its people. 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:39.680 It will promise salvation and it will not deliver. 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:44.079 So these are the idols that are laid out. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:47.119 With two beholds. 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:58.799 Now God says this third, behold, behold, my servant whom I uphold. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:06.160 Now, this servant, we don't know who it is. 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:15.359 In fact, if we were just reading through Isaiah, we we would probably have our minds go to, okay, he's referring to the nation of Israel as the servant of the Lord. 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:17.680 They've been called the servant of the Lord before. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:23.119 But we'll see that there's some strangeness in this, which means it can't be the people of Israel. 00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:26.640 He says, Behold my servant whom I uphold. 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:28.960 What is this servant whom he upholds? 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:30.480 He is the one. 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:34.079 Uphold has this sort of twofold meaning. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:38.880 One is that God is the one who supplies the power for this servant. 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:42.480 He moves in the name of God as God upholds him. 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:47.440 But there's this other meaning which is grasp, that behold my servant whom I grasp. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:54.640 God is saying, I have absolute rights over this person, over this servant, over this servant. 00:23:54.880 --> 00:24:00.160 They will move in precisely the way that I instruct them to move. 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:02.799 This is the first thing to see about the servant. 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:06.799 Isaiah 42, 1 continues as he describes the servant. 00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:12.480 He says, My chosen, in whom my soul delights. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:14.640 I have put my spirit upon him. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:17.039 He will bring forth justice to the nations. 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:19.279 Let's move through this phrase by phrase. 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:22.400 He describes the servant as my chosen. 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:28.160 Now, chosen here means that he is the man for the job. 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:38.480 This man I have chosen because he is perfectly suited to do what I intend for him to do. 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:42.240 This is what chosen connotes in this way. 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:52.720 Now, we can imagine that there are people that you would choose for a job sort of begrudgingly. 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:57.440 You know, like, uh, look, so I grew up in the car business. 00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:00.240 I'll share this, this illustration just came to mind. 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:03.759 Um when you're preaching, you call it an illustration. 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:07.200 When you're talking, you just say, here's something I thought of. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:09.039 So this is an illustration. 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:15.279 Uh so I I grew up, my parents were in the car business, and here's what happens in the car business. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:24.000 The the best people who uh work in the finance department at a car dealership are what we like to call um sociopaths. 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:29.759 And so what happens is you hire a sociopath. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:40.960 But you're kind of like, okay, look, you go out there in that office, and what you do that brings in such absurd amounts of money, uh, you do that over there. 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:46.240 And then maybe, you know, later on you grow a conscience and it's like, we can't have this guy working here. 00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:48.720 He's a sociopath, this is not a good person to have around. 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:53.119 Then you fire them, and then you know, it gets towards the end of the year. 00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:58.480 You gotta hit your numbers, and so okay, we'll call him back again and you hire them. 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:01.599 But cardio ships are pirate crews, by the way. 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:06.000 Um, still love them though. 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:09.200 They'll always have a special place in my heart. 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:16.000 Um that's how you bring someone in, and it's like, okay, they're the right man for the job, but it's a little twisted. 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:17.839 This is not the situation. 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:25.119 Listen, my chosen, and then the next thing that God says, the one in whom my soul delights. 00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:28.079 He's the right man for the job. 00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:31.359 The job are my good purposes. 00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:33.839 I delight in the servant. 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:41.119 It's like God is saying, He's not just the right man for the job who I'm begrudgingly bringing in, he's the right man for me. 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:47.599 He's one who I love and desire to be with, who I commune with. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:51.759 He expresses all that is good within God. 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:54.400 That's a strange way of saying it. 00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:57.759 All that is good is in God. 00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:06.799 There's this goodness that God loves and enjoys in this servant. 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:10.480 He is the right man for the job, he is the right man for God. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:13.599 I have put my spirit upon him. 00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:16.880 Think of what the Spirit of God does. 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:24.160 At the beginning of creation, it is the Spirit of God which hovers over the waters. 00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:30.880 And then it brings forth and enlivens the world. 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:33.920 It brings shape and form and definition. 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:40.400 It is the effective agent of the Lord's creation, and it upholds creation to this day. 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:53.119 This means when God says, I have put my spirit upon him, he is saying, he will be absolutely effective in the task that I have given to him. 00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:57.119 This is what it means that he would have his spirit upon him. 00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:01.519 Now, what is the task that the servant has been given? 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:06.160 He will bring forth justice to the nations. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:07.680 Okay. 00:28:09.039 --> 00:28:12.640 Now remember the covenantal dynamic that we've described. 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:16.799 Justice is the word for decision. 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:20.559 What's being described as the decision of God. 00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:27.599 This is the judgment, the statement, the naming of the reality of the situation. 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:33.119 This is when God would step in, and you know, you know how relationships work. 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:42.960 There can be those times where it's like, hey, uh, you you seem to be acting a little off, and there seems to be this uh, you know, we we'll use a friendship. 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:52.400 Perhaps we haven't spoken for a while, or perhaps, you know, I've heard that you've been talking badly about me behind my back and seeking to hurt me and my reputation or something. 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:54.480 And then there's a there's a judgment. 00:28:54.559 --> 00:28:56.480 Hey, we need to meet up at coffee and talk about this. 00:28:56.559 --> 00:28:58.400 And that's the judgment, it's the naming. 00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:02.400 What you're seeking to name is is this friendship real? 00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:07.440 Can I use the term friendship to name what's here? 00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:11.599 Or do we actually need to say, this is no friendship? 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:20.480 The servant of the Lord is bringing justice to the nations. 00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:27.440 I want your apocalyptic imagination to run wild at those terms. 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:42.640 What does the justice of God look like, who is a perfectly just God towards a people who have upheld nothing of their end of the covenant that he has entered into with them? 00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:45.599 Will he violate his own integrity? 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:50.720 So, what is the one, what is the servant who will bring the justice of the Lord? 00:29:50.960 --> 00:29:52.720 What does he look like? 00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:54.400 What will he be like? 00:29:54.799 --> 00:29:57.039 Here is the description of the servant. 00:29:57.839 --> 00:29:59.839 Isaiah 42, 2. 00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:09.119 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:16.559 Now that's not what I expected, right? 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:20.160 The one who's bringing justice to the nations. 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:25.039 Look, I hope your apot your apocalyptic imagination ran wild a little bit. 00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:27.519 And you had like scenes from Armageddon. 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:31.519 Not like joking around with Bruce Willis scenes. 00:30:38.400 --> 00:30:42.799 He's not shouting in the street as prophets often do. 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:47.440 He's not shouting the judgment of God upon the nations. 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:50.880 In fact, he's he's almost hidden. 00:30:51.839 --> 00:30:54.160 He's not self-aggrandizing. 00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:58.160 He's not making a show or drawing attention to himself. 00:30:58.319 --> 00:31:04.319 He's not, you know, he's not rushing into Jerusalem saying, burn it all down, burn it all down. 00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:11.279 He's not crying aloud or lifting up his voice. 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:15.279 There's this sense of he'sn't he's not even quarrelsome. 00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:23.359 Sure, we see he's involved in a lot of quarrels, but he's not quarrelsome. 00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:39.519 In the servant, we see this is someone who is bringing the justice of God, and you might miss him, even if you were to plainly see him. 00:31:42.079 --> 00:31:45.359 Now, let's continue on as his character is described. 00:31:45.519 --> 00:31:54.240 The one who is bringing the justice of God, you know, this tension, the relationship will be named by the justice of God. 00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:59.680 Isaiah 42, 3, a bruised reed he will not break. 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:04.400 And a faintly burning wick he will not quench. 00:32:04.640 --> 00:32:09.039 He will faithfully bring forth justice. 00:32:12.079 --> 00:32:14.799 This is one of my favorite verses in scripture. 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:19.519 A bruised reed, he will not break. 00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:28.000 The Bible understands sin as that wickedness which we participate in and do. 00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:38.559 And it also understands sin as that wickedness which we are victims of and are hurt by. 00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:41.039 And those two aren't separable. 00:32:41.279 --> 00:32:45.599 You know, this is why there is a wrath and a sadness of God towards sin. 00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:49.599 Because it it hurts. 00:32:49.839 --> 00:32:53.119 You know, it's like you picture your child falling into sin. 00:32:53.200 --> 00:33:00.480 It's it's not just an anger at their disobedience, it's also a sadness for what might develop in their heart. 00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:07.359 He looks at his people and says, This is a bruised reed. 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:09.920 And he doesn't break it off. 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:13.359 What's implied in this is just the opposite. 00:33:13.680 --> 00:33:17.200 He would bind it up so that it might be restored. 00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:23.200 A bruised reed, that's something that's broken on the inside. 00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:32.000 And the servant is able to mend our internal brokenness. 00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:35.759 Remember, he's clothed in the spirit of the Lord. 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:41.359 He has the power to mend our internal brokenness. 00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:44.000 A faint wick. 00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:47.039 It's running out of oil. 00:33:47.440 --> 00:33:50.000 That's why it's just smoldering. 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:56.400 It lacks the supply that it needs from the outside. 00:33:57.119 --> 00:34:01.440 It lacks the sustenance, it lacks the love, it lacks the care. 00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:07.519 All those things which support the flourishing of a human heart, which sin depletes in us. 00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:12.800 Those things which make us feel depleted, that not just make us feel depleted. 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:14.880 I don't want to minimize what I'm saying. 00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:19.840 Those things that deplete us, you are a finite thing. 00:34:21.119 --> 00:34:24.559 Your soul is made up of all sorts of relational complexities. 00:34:24.639 --> 00:34:26.559 You can be depleted. 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:36.960 The one, the servant who is clothed in the spirit of the Lord will not quench those who are depleted. 00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:39.360 In fact, he's able to supply. 00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:52.559 The servant of the Lord who brings forth justice, he looks at those who we with our own eyes would look at and say, These are the ones whom it deserves to be named. 00:34:52.719 --> 00:34:54.239 They are not my people. 00:34:54.559 --> 00:34:57.039 And Jesus does not overlook them. 00:34:58.719 --> 00:35:01.840 In fact, this servant, sorry, I gave way the ending. 00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:04.079 I was trying to not say Jesus until the end. 00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:06.159 You know who I'm talking about. 00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:07.760 He doesn't overlook them. 00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:12.000 He, in fact, it seems like he rushes into them. 00:35:12.800 --> 00:35:18.239 He he finds irresistible the internal brokenness of his people. 00:35:18.400 --> 00:35:22.079 He finds irresistible the depletedness of his people. 00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:32.480 Those ones which are most easy to walk by and avert our gaze from, Jesus fixates on and sees with his face so that they see his face back. 00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:41.840 Isaiah 42, 4. 00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:45.519 He will not grow faint or be discouraged. 00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:48.559 Finally, all this Hebrew study paid off. 00:35:48.800 --> 00:35:55.519 Faint and discouraged are the same word as bruised and faintly burning. 00:35:56.239 --> 00:35:58.000 Here's the implication. 00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:11.280 The servant of the Lord will experience all of those things which bruise us and which deplete us. 00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:17.519 And yet, he is not like us. 00:36:20.639 --> 00:36:27.039 Because when he experiences those things, he will not be faint. 00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:31.119 And he will not be discouraged. 00:36:31.440 --> 00:36:41.360 There is this unstoppableness to the person of Jesus who he will not grow faint and he will not be discouraged. 00:36:41.440 --> 00:36:56.719 Although he enters into the very things in our world which cause us to grow faint and cause us to be discouraged, he will not be stopped until he has brought forth his justice to the ends of the earth, to the nations, till the coast lands. 00:36:56.800 --> 00:36:58.000 That's Gentiles. 00:36:58.079 --> 00:37:06.880 That's everyone Isaiah is saying, Everyone who's not in the room, he's going to bring forth his justice to them. 00:37:11.119 --> 00:37:33.119 So this servant enters our world, experiences what we experience, but is in some way not stopped by them, but has set his face towards justice, and he has he is clothed with the Spirit of God so that he is able to perfectly establish the justice of God on the earth. 00:37:33.280 --> 00:37:36.880 Now, what would something like that look like? 00:37:37.920 --> 00:37:43.280 How would we know if we've seen someone like that, a servant like that? 00:37:44.800 --> 00:37:46.639 I just want to read this. 00:37:49.119 --> 00:37:51.039 This is Matthew 12. 00:37:51.519 --> 00:37:53.119 Start at verse 9. 00:37:53.679 --> 00:37:58.480 He went on from there and entered their synagogue. 00:37:59.360 --> 00:38:01.920 And a man was there with a withered hand. 00:38:02.960 --> 00:38:06.400 And they asked him, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? 00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:11.920 Okay, um, let's do some Bible interpretation together. 00:38:12.239 --> 00:38:16.239 A man with a withered hand, what does that remind you of from the Isaiah verses? 00:38:16.800 --> 00:38:21.440 If you're to pick a sort of relative image, related image. 00:38:22.480 --> 00:38:23.280 Bruised reed. 00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:23.679 Great. 00:38:23.760 --> 00:38:25.199 You guys are doing great. 00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:26.239 See? 00:38:26.639 --> 00:38:28.480