Sermon: Listen to the Servant

It's good to be with you if you would turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 49.

Isaiah 49.

I'm, I was once a youth pastor. I had um, few hundred young high school students in my youth group and um, so when I hear one of your ministers talking about a youth conference that's talking about church planting and missions and being called to that, I, I think to many people that might sound strange to me. It sounds like exactly what you ought to be doing. Uh, the world is telling them right now to follow their dreams, to um,

pursue the things they wanna do and offering all sorts of avenues for the use of their life, none of which are gospel ministry. Um, and the Lord, um, is often pleased to use some of them in that way. And so I'm glad that they're being challenged in that regard. Isaiah 49, I'm gonna read from verses one through seven and then ask for the Lord's help. So let's look at that text together. Listen to me o coastlands and give attention you peoples from afar.

The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother. He named my name. He might made my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand. He hid me. He made me a polished arrow in his quiver. He hid me away and he said to me, you are my servant Israel and whom I will be glorified. But I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing in vanity yet surely my right is with the Lord and my recompense with my God.

And now the Lord says He who formed me from the womb to be a servant, to bring Jacob back to him and that Israel might be gathered to him for I'm honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has become my strength. He says, it is to light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will make you as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth,

thus says the Lord, the redeemer of Israel and his holy one to one dete, deeply despised abhorred by the nation the servant of rulers. Kings shall see and arise princes and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful the holy one of Israel who has chosen you. Let's go to the Lord and ask for his help and understanding his word. Father, we do recognize that we so often have trouble in listening to you

and hearing what it is that Jesus, the head of the church wants to say to his church

that in our natural state, in our state and into which we've been, we've fallen in Adam, we are deaf, unable to hear. But even as those who've been given ears to hear, we so often listen to the siren voices of the world as they beckon us

and we cease listening to the Lord of the church as he speaks in his word by the spirit. And so we pray for your help that we might listen to your servant, our Lord and Savior Jesus as he speaks to us tonight, that we might hear him and be transformed by him, that we might grow in our love for him and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Look with me just at the very beginning of this text when it says, listen to me O coast lands

and give attention you peoples from afar. When you look at the servant songs in Isaiah, you usually hear the the call to look or behold, behold my servant Isaiah 42, 1, behold my servant shall act wisely. Isaiah 52 13. In other words, we're told to look upon this servant and here it isn't us being told to look at the servant, it's the servant himself calling us to listen to him. So before it's if you will, the father saying,

look at my son, the servant, your savior. And here it's the son, the Lord in Jesus himself saying, listen to me. What's interesting is he calls not only Israel to listen to him, but listen to me o coastlands and give attention you peoples from afar. If you know who the coast land people are, they are mentioned in Genesis 10 when we get a list of the sons of Noah and the genealogy as Shem, ham and Jfe, genealogy are laid out there hams,

genealogy will list people like Egypt or put or Syria. If you go down to j Fest genealogy, you'll hear the coastlands these other groups and and we hear that J Fests family is to come into the tents of Sheem and the family that comes from from Shem is going to be Abraham's family or Israel. And so you are seeing all of this come together as it's not just she's family or Abraham's line that's being called to listen to the servant.

It's the coastlands J e's line. It's you people's from afar, ham's line. In other words, the people from every tribe and Tonga nation are to listen to the servants. Now there are a number of voices to which we tend to listen aren't there, but there's one voice to whom we should listen. The world tells us to often listen to the voice within follow your dreams. Very rarely do you hear somebody say, you know what? Who cares what your dream is? What's Jesus' dream?

Listen to that. Follow that.

Listen to me. See, we're supposed to listen to the voice of the servant of the Lord. And so here's my central question. Really the central question for tonight is who is the servant of the Lord that we should listen to him? And so I want to answer that by really giving you seven meditations upon the servant of the Lord. So seven meditations upon the servant of the Lord as we just walk through this passage and answer, who is the servant to whom we ought to listen?

So first meditation is this. First thing we learn about him is his calling. And when I speak of his calling here, I mean his calling to his office, his calling to his office. So let's look there again. Isaiah 49, 1, listen to me o coastlands and give attention you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother. He named my name. Consider this the servant of the Lord, the federal head of Israel.

You'll see down there if you look down to verse three, and he said to me, you are my servant Israel. If you look at Isaiah 41, 8 through 10, which I'm not telling you to turn to, but you can write it down and look later, we learned that the servant is Israel, the offspring of Abraham, my friend, my servant Israel. But he's personified as one man and that one man is the federal head of Israel. Their representative, the one who stands in their place

and he has not yet come when Isaiah's been written. It's the Messiah who they've been waiting for the offspring of Abraham who bless the nations, the greater son of David. They've been waiting for him and he's speaking here about his calling. The Lord called me from the womb, from the bo body of my mother. He named my name. Here is the servant of the Lord speaking to us and calling us to listen to him before he's ever come in history.

He's telling his people to listen to him prior to his coming. So how is he able to speak to people hundreds of years before he comes?

This is about six centuries prior to his coming. He's able to do so precisely because of who he is. He is the eternal son of God who becomes incarnate in theological circles. We would refer to him this way as um, Christ incar. You've heard Christ incarnate the son of God takes humanity to himself. He's incarnate. When we say he's incarnate, we mean he's incarnate to be that he will be incarnate. And that's what we're referring to here He is the son

of God to be incarnate. The Father has called the Son into the office of the mediator between God and man before times eternal before the foundation of the world. The Father called the Son into this office. That's how we can speak about it before he is ever come as if it's a fact of history. He is and always has been in the office of mediator. He was priest forever after the order of milk. Eck, do you hear the word? Forever?

Forever, eternally And know what he's saying. He's speaking about being in the womb and named by God there even prior to it, ACCO being accomplished in history. He speaks as that way as if it's already accomplished. The verb tense here, by the way, is speaking in the form of a completed act prior to it happening. So please hear this. The son of God is speaking through Isaiah prior to being incarnate and and we know this as we open a book like John,

how this might be because we hear for example at the beginning of John, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And then we go down to verse 14 and we hear, and the word of God became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. Glory is of the only son from the Father full of grace and truth. We listen to Jesus' voice. What I'm saying in this meditation is the reason we listen

to his voice, to the voice of the servant of Yahweh is precisely because his voice is the voice of the son of God. Hi. When he speaks, God speaks for he is the word of God. So think of the one to hoot you to listen. He is God himself. And you have to ask the very simple question, should I listen to my voice? Should I listen to the siren call of the world or should I listen to the one who is God, my creator, my sustainer, the one who upholds me

and the one who's redeemed me? What voice should I listen to?

So we listened to his voice because he was eternally called as the servant of the Lord as our mediator. Second, second meditation, his power, his call, and now his power. Look at verse two. He made my mouth like a sharp sword in the hand of his, in the, excuse me, in the shadow of his hand. He hid me. He made me a polished arrow in his quiver, he hid me away. The sword and the arrow are instruments of what war. You know that you use a sword and an arrow for war

and we're told that the sword is sharp and the arrow is polished. In other words, the sword and the arrow are particularly effective weapons of war because the sword has been sharpened and the arrow has been polished. And so this sword and this arrow will not be wielded in vain. They will fulfill the purpose for which they are sent forth. But here's the stunner. I guess the question we have to wrestle with. These weapons of war are being used

powerfully, effectively to bring peace.

That's odd, isn't it? Look at Isaiah 48, 22. Just go up few verses.

There is there is no peace, says the Lord for the wicked. What's happened? God's people, Israel, in spite of all of his blessings that he's shown them in spite of bringing them into the promised land and lavishing great blessings on them in spite of bringing them out of Egypt and the exodus, all the miracles they saw, the judges they were sent, the kings, they were sent all the ways in which God faithfully kept his promises to them.

His people continued to be hardhearted. And even as they came out of the exile, even as they came out under Cyrus the Persian, even when they came out out and returned in Ezra and Nehemiah, they continue to be hardhearted.

They went into captivity because of their unwillingness to walk in the law of the Lord and they returned from Babylon in the same wicked spiritual condition. So throughout the story of Israel in the Old Testament, they are a people in need of a greater exodus, an exodus greater than that that brought them out of Egypt. An exodus that brings them out of slavery to sin and death. An exodus that is not one that just delivers

to them the law on tablets of stone, but that writes the law on their hearts that doesn't just give them circumcision of the foreskin of the flesh, but that gives them a circumcised heart. They need an exodus led by a king who cannot only lead them out from external enemies, but who can save them from the internal enemy, the spirit empowered man who can transform their hearts. They need that exodus,

but because of their sin in the current condition of Israel, there is no peace between Israel and God. That's what Isaiah's getting after and there is no peace for the wicked friends. We just need to ask this question, is there any peace between God and sinful man? And the answer is no man is rebelled against God. We've all violated a law. There is no peace for the wicked and that includes us all as it is written, none is righteous.

No not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God, all have turned aside together, they've become worthless. No one does good, not even one. So if that's true, if it's true that there is no peace for the wicked and that we're all wicked, then how can it be that the servant of the Lord wield these weapons of war in order to effectively bring peace? Well, think of the promise of our salvation. Mankind had been tempted by Satan, that ancient serpent

to sin against God. And we did. We submitted to that temptation listening not to the voice of God but listening to the voice of Satan

that is the direct contrast of whom you're being called to listen to. Here we listened to his voice and when God came to curse us for our sin, what was the first word that we as humanity heard? When the curse drops, we heard God curse. Satan. We we heard this. I will put enmity between you that's Satan and the woman between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise your head

and you shall bruise his heel. That's what we heard. The seed of the woman would come and make war on the serpent. That's why we hear the S servant having a sharpened sword and polished arrows for he's making war on the offspring of the serpent. He would crush Satan sin and death under his feet and in making war upon the seed of the serpent, the seed of the woman would save us. So the first word that Adam hears from the Lord

after his rebellion is the Lord speaking grace to him. It's remarkable in the face of our rebellion to a God who had only been kind to us, the first thing we hear from him, I'm gonna save you by crushing the serpent who tempted you.

God would send his son the second Adam, the offspring of Abraham, the line of the tribe of Judah, the greater son of David, the servant of the Lord to make war on Satan sin and death. And in doing so Jesus would save us and friends, Jesus saved us by conquering Satan sin and death. The sword of God's justice fell upon Christ. Think about that. He turned a sword on himself.

The arrow of God's wrath, wrath pierced him through and it did. So for me and for you that's remarkable. Please listen. If you don't trust him, if you don't know the Lord Jesus, I don't know you folks, maybe all of you have been born again and you love Jesus and praise the Lord if that's so. But some of you might not know him.

If you don't know the Lord Jesus, you do not have peace with God. He is your enemy. You have rebelled against him. And if you do not turn to him in faith so that you're saved by the Lord Jesus, then he will make war on you. He will return and the sword will come from his mouth and cut down all his enemies. But if you turn to him in faith, if you trust him, then you can be assured that he turned the sword on himself and your place

so that you might be saved.

Are you trusting in him? If not, then I just plead with you to listen to the voice of the servant. Listen to the voice of Jesus. Stop listening to your own. You know nobody lies to you more effectively than you do.

You convince yourself that you're telling yourself the truth so easily listen to the servant. So we have this calling of the servant as a basis upon which we ought to listen to him. We have the power of the servant as a basis upon which we ought to listen to him. Let's consider our third meditation, his beauty. Look at Isaiah 49, 3

and he said to me, you are my servant Israel and whom I'll be glorified. See, Jesus is the federal head of Israel, their representative, leader. So he acts on their behalf. He is true Israel. And what he says to him, you are my servant in whom I'll be glorified. I actually think this is better translated. You are my servant in whom I will display my beauty. In other words, when we talk about the glory of the Lord or God being glorified, what we mean is when I glorify God,

I reflect his character back to him. When his glor is spread forth, his character is being shown forth.

And what he's saying here is that Jesus is the servant in whom God will be glorified. In other words, in whom God's beauty will be displayed.

Yahweh's beauty is displayed in a servant.

His glory shines forth in him. The glory of God or the beauty of God is displayed in the person and work of Jesus. Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

John tells us that no one has ever seen God, the only begotten God who is at the father's side. He has made him known. Jesus is the display of God's beauty in his humility, in his birth. Think, think about the angels. Sing the angels who for millennia had looked upon God in all his glory in heaven, that great display that we don't even know what that could possibly look like, but that we know if we were in the presence of it,

we would come undone. They've looked upon that their whole lives and then they see a baby born in a manger and they break out in praise and sing what glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he's pleased. Jesus is the display of God's beauty and his humble obedience to the Father. He always sought to glorify the Father. Jesus is a display of God's beauty in the whole of his humble ministry.

John 17 four, I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. So God's beauty is on display in the entirety of the incarnate life of Jesus and his death is resurrection and ascension. And this leads to the fourth meditation upon the servant. His humiliation. His humiliation. Look at verse four,

but I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity. We know that Jesus was rejected by men. We will read in the suffering servant song in Isaiah 53 that he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

The crowds who came to him for food abandoned him when he taught difficult truth and they no longer walked with him. The religious and little and political leaders of his day rejected him and plotted his death, his nation for whom he came, rejected him. Do you remember when Jesus says, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones, those who were sent to it, how often I would've gathered you as children to gather

as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, yet you would not Judas a scar, one of Jesus' closest friends, one of the 12 betrayed him. Peter the apostle who is closest to Christ on on his most difficult day, denied knowing him three times.

The rest of the 12 were scattered upon his arrest and crucifixion. The crowds that sang of his entrance when he came into Jerusalem now cried for his blood.

The incarnate Lord Jesus, even experienced the abandonment of his father at the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Friends when your nation, your admirers, your closest friends and your God of all forsaken you, that is surely a time in which you can say, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity, yet it's at the same low point of Jesus' life in which he can say it is finished, the debt is paid in full. I have GL glorified my father in giving all that he accomp in accomplishing all that he gave me to do.

The cross is Jesus's greatest humiliation and defeat and yet it is also the display of God's beauty. It is there that God's justice for our sin is poured out on him. He made atonement for us so that we might be saved and you might ask how can verse two, he made my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand. He hid me. He made me a polished arrow in his quiver. He hid me away and verse four, but I said, I've labored in vain.

I've spent my strength for nothing in vanity.

How can those both be true at the same time?

The fourth servant's song will answer that question most clearly. The fourth servant song being Isaiah 53 starts in Isaiah 52, thir 13 and moves through Isaiah three answers that most clearly. For now, here's what I wanna say. Those are both true through the humiliation of Jesus at the cross. That's where Jesus receives his great reward of his people. Jesus said the very same thing, John 1223 and Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the son

of man to be glorified. Truly, truly I'd say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. What is Jesus saying there? He's arguing that the humiliation of the cross is necessary to the salvation of his people and the glory of God's name. It is through his humiliation on the cross that Jesus receives the great reward of his people and displays most gloriously the beauty of God.

And that ties to our fifth meditation, his exaltation. Look at the second part of verse four through verse five, yet surely my right is with the Lord and my recompense with my God. And now the Lord says He who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring back Jacob to him that Israel might be gathered to him for I'm honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has become my strength. He says, we often speak of Jesus' humiliation and his exaltation.

He experienced both. It was upon his resurrection from the dead that Jesus was vindicated. Listen to how Paul starts the book of Romans. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God. Now what is that gospel he's set apart for which he promised beforehand through his holy prophet or through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son. So it was, it's a gospel that was promised

through the prophets in the Old Testament and it's a gospel concerning his son who what? Who was descended from David according in the flesh, his humiliation and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, his exaltation Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul's not arguing that Jesus became the son of God at his resurrection. Paul is arguing that Jesus was exalted as the son

of God via his resurrection from the dead.

He was vindicated before all creation as what He was holy, innocent and undefiled. Great indeed, we confess is the mystery of godliness. What is that? He was manifested in the flesh, descended from David according to the flesh. He was vindicated by the spirit, resurrected by the spirit of holiness, seen by angels proclaimed among the nations believed on in the world taken up in glory. So Jesus was vindicated and exalted at his resurrection and ascension.

What are reasons why we listen to the servant? Because of his eternal call to the office of mediator because of his effective power in saving his people and crushing his enemies because of the display of God's beauty in him, because of his humiliation for our salvation and his exaltation for the same. So let's consider our sixth meditation, his universality. His universality. Verse six, he says, the servant says, or sorry, the Lord says to the servant,

so here's God speaking to him. He says, it is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. In other words, you are not merely coming to save Israel, the tribes of Jacob Israel, my servant. You're not merely coming to save Israel. You are coming to save them, but that's not sufficient. Why? What was the promise to Abraham of what his offspring would do?

The offspring of Abraham will bless the nation of Israel. Is that all? Is that what it says? And in your offspring, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Genesis 18, 17 and 18, all the families was replaced with all the nations. It's the same general reference. Paul conflates them actually in Galatians three, eight. That's for another sermon. It's too light a thing to save Israel that is insufficiently precise just to save Israel

because the gospel promise has always been about saving people from every tribe and tongue and nation. The mother promise in Genesis three 15 was that the seed of the woman, the Christ would come to save mankind, not just Israel. The promise to Abraham was, and through your offspring, I will save or I will bless all the families of the earth.

That's why Father Abraham is the father of many nations. He understood that. By the way, if you continue in Genesis, it's such an odd passage, isn't it? That comes after that covenant sign of circumcision in Genesis 17, in the very next PA passage in Genesis 18, you're faced with Sodom and Gomorrah and he is going to get lot outta Sodom and Gomorrah and you're like, what is going on here? And lord's like, I am going to destroy those cities

because they're wicked. And if you pay attention to what just happened in Genesis 17, you'll be the father of many nations. You'll start to make the connection when God says, I'm gonna destroy these gentile wicked cities, and Abraham does what He intercedes for them because he understands what the Lord has set him apart to do.

The nation of Israel that came from Adam's or Abraham's loins was always the people through whom a savior for the nations would come. The Christ was to come from the tribe of Judah and to Himm, we learn in Genesis 49, 10 would be the obedience of the nations. Jesus is and always has been. This been the savior of all the nations, the savior of every tribe and tongue and nation. And what does Yahweh say to his servant, I will make you

as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Now look at that last line. I will make you as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. The Hebrew of this text, if you read this in Hebrew, literally says it in the way that King James version says, I came King James gets this translation better. It literally says this, that not my salvation may reach the ends of the earth,

but that you, that you my servant should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. In other words, the servant is being called the salvation of the Lord To The remotest parts of the earth. He isn't just bringing salvation, he is our Salvation Friends. Jesus came in history and this was accomplished. He finished this work and he is our salvation. There is salvation in no other name but the name of Jesus and the nations or the peoples for whom he atone.

They're now his. The Father has given them to him. All authority in heaven earth has been given to me. They All belong to him. Daniel seven 13 and 14 is what's being picked up in Matthew 28 19. Psalm two sevens being picked up in Matthew 28 19. Ask of me and I'll make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession, they all belong to him and he's telling his disciples they're mine. Go claim them. I gave my life for those peoples.

Go get 'em. How do you do that? Go tell them About me And what I've done for them.

The peoples are his You. You know what missions work is?

Mission's work is simply being sent to go and claim what already belongs to Jesus.

We don't make people's belong to Jesus. The Father elected them, the son bought them with his blood. The spirit has been set to sanctify them. Rather we go and proclaim the gospel and through that mysterious work of the spirit, as we preach the word, the Lord saves all that are his.

That's why we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do so, so that the nations that belong to him will hear his name and when they hear the voice of the shepherd, they'll know his voice because they're his sheep and they'll come to him.

In Acts 1347, Paul takes this passage of Isaiah 49, 6. And very interestingly though, this passage is clearly about Jesus. And in fact, we know that because when Simeon holds Jesus in the temple, Simeon quotes Isaiah 49, 6 and says, I've seen this. He's the light for revelation to the Gentiles. But then Paul and Barnabas, as they're out doing ministry in Acts 1347, they say, the Lord commanded us. And they quote this verse, that's remarkable.

That was a command they said given to us in, in other words, here's what they're saying in the first book, oath, Theophilus Acts one, one I told you about all that Jesus began to do and teach. But Jesus is still working and teaching how So by the pouring out of his spirit, empowering the church who proclaims the gospel. We don't do a new work on behalf of Jesus. We are instruments in the hands of the redeemer who's doing his work through us,

by the spirit to universally save his people. And that leads to my final and hopefully a shortest point. His triumph, his triumph. Look at verse seven, thus says the Lord, the redeemer of Israel and his holy one to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servants, the servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise princes and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful the holy one of Israel who

Has chosen you. See, Yahweh speaks to the servant and tells him that while he will be despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and equated with grief, he will be exalted triumphantly and will rule the nations. This same thing is told to us in Isaiah 52 15, that the nations will literally, the kings will close their mouths in faith because they will see the one who was pierced for them and they will believe. And Paul picks up Isaiah 52 15

and uses that in Romans 1521 and says, I was commanded to do this as well, to tell people who've never heard about Jesus about him. Jesus was humbled to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord

to the glory of God our Father. He will reign victoriously as the kingdom of grace spreads in the hearts of men when we proclaim the gospel. And he will re reign victoriously when he returns as the king of glory.

And Paul applies this concept to why he goes to the Nations. It's not merely because God would like all the nations to hear the name Of his son, But because the name Of the son will triumph gloriously as it's proclaimed His word will Accomplish the purpose for which it was sent Forth. And so we go, the nations are his, and so we go, the Spirit Who pours out the of the heart of Christ, the power to save the water that will water the whole earth

with eternal life has come. And so we go. We go in all confidence that the electing love of the Father, the redeeming grace of the Son and the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit will never fail. That is our confidence. We don't go out like woe is me. No one will listen. No one wants to hear. This will likely suffer and sacrifice and see little fruit. That's not how we go out.

Now, I'm not suggesting that we participate in a kind of triumphalism ourselves that thinks that whatever we touch will turn to gold. However, I do wanna make it clear that we should expect The Lord To triumph gloriously both in the hearts of men now and at his glorious return forevermore. Let me pray. Father, we ask for your help in applying your word to us. May your spirit cause us

to look to Christ, to listen to his voice and his word, to listen to him above all competing voices, especially our own. And Father, I pray that we would trust him and rejoice in his great work and proclaim it in all confidence to our friends and family members and neighbors and coworkers, and that we would raise up people by your prompting to send to the ends of the earth so that Christ might be proclaimed where he is never been known.

In every tribe and Tonga nation, we ask that you would do this mighty work among us, trusting in the great grace of our triune God, and in the fact that we know your purpose will never fail. In Jesus name, amen.