"The Servant's Humble Steadfastness" Sermon: Isaiah 50:1-11 (manuscript)

 

“The Servant’s Humble Steadfastness”

[Isaiah 50:1-11]

February 28, 2021 YouTube

            Last week we considered God’s comforting of Jerusalem – though she will go into captivity in Babylon, God wants her to understand that God has compassion on her, the Servant Savior will save the people of God, and God is strong enough to save them from the Babylonians.  Despite the suffering they must endure, there will be a good outcome for God and those who believe in Him.  But she doesn’t get it.

            God tells Jerusalem, her sin sends her into captivity.

            “Thus says the LORD: ‘Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away. Why, when I came, was there no man; why, when I called, was there no one to answer?’”

            God allows divorce for unfaithfulness, so God says He divorced Jerusalem’s mother – the marriage was a failure – she was unfaithful to the marriage.

            God allows people to become indentured servants to someone to whom a debt is owed until the debt is paid, and God says that Jerusalem owes a debt, so God sold her to His creditors until she could pay.

            The point is that Jerusalem is being sent into captivity for her sin.  She is unfaithful to God; she owes God a debt she cannot pay.  God is righteously and justly sending her away until she understands that she needs to change and strive to become the person God has called her to be. Still, God will save His people.

            Jerusalem is asking the Holy God why He is sending her into captivity when she has been faithful more than half the time.  She has half the debt she owes Him.

            We remember Jesus’ interaction with the rich young ruler:

“And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: “Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.” And he said to him, ‘Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.’  And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:17-22, ESV).

The rich young ruler respected Jesus as a rabbi and he also had worked to keep the Law as God requires.  However, he had too high an opinion of how well – how much of – the Law he had kept.  Jesus asks him if he has kept the commandments, and he says, always – since my youth.  So Jesus asks him about the first commandment – “If your riches are not a god to you, give them away and follow me” – and he is heartbroken.  He is a sinner.  He doesn’t understand what it means to fully follow the Holy God.

No matter how hard we have tried, we are all sinners.  And if we sin, we should not be surprised to be disciplined for it, Yes, Jesus paid the debt for our sin – we will not suffer eternally in Hell, but we may suffer in some way on earth.

Jerusalem is going into captivity for her sin.

The other side of the coin is Jerusalem doubts that if God’s sends her into captivity for her sin that God will be able to bring her back when her time has been served.

And God is incredulous: “You say you don’t know why I am sending you into captivity, and now you aren’t sure if I can bring you back when your time is done?”

            “Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness and make sackcloth their covering.”

            God says, “Do you remember the Red Sea?  Do you remember that when Israel was leaving from her slavery in Egypt and making her way to the Promised Land, she came up against the Red Sea – with Pharaoh and his army charging after her?  And Moses held up his staff – as I told him to – and the Red Sea parted, and Israel walked on dry ground to the other side?” 

“Do you remember that Pharaoh hardened his heart, and I turned the Nile to blood and all the fish died and rotted and made the land stink?”

“Do you remember that Pharaoh hardened his heart, and I took the sun away from him and clothed the land in darkness?”

“Do you think I am unable to bring you back from captivity in Babylon?  Do you think I am unable to free you?  Do you think the Babylonians are stronger than I am?  Do you think that any nation or person is able to keep Me from doing whatever it is that I desire to do?”

“I have the power to keep all My threats and all My promises.  I control nature and the kingdoms of men.  And I love you.  You are my people.  I am not doing this to destroy you but to make you fit for My kingdom.”

            “And here’s how I am going to ultimately set you free:”

            Second, the Servant obeys the Father and pays our debt.

“The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.”

The Servant Savior – Who is ultimately the Savior of all those who believe – who are the Israel of God – accomplishes His work of salvation as the Incarnate Son – God in the flesh, Jesus Christ.  God gives Jesus the tongue to be able to teach – He is given wisdom and truth to be able to speak the Word of God to all those who would ask and to those who would contradict Him.

When Jesus was twelve, we read, “After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers” (Luke 2:46-47, ESV).

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52, ESV).

And as an adult, “And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22, ESV).

“The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.”

Jesus is also completely obedient to the Father – as the same One God, as the Son of the Father, and for the accomplishing of our salvation to the glory of the Father.

Jesus says, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works” (John 14:10, ESV).

Even as He faces the death He knows He must endure, He asks, but submits to the will of the Father:

“And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.’ And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:41-44, ESV).

In even more straightforward prophesy, Isaiah records the Servant Savior saying:

“I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.”

And we see this come to pass:

“Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and struck him with their hands” (John 19:1-3, ESV).

Jesus is always responsive to the Father.  He suffered in obedience to the Father.  He is humbly steadfast in His obedience to all that the Father requires of Him.

Jesus says, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21, ESV).

If our humble steadfastness in obedience is proof of our love of Jesus and the reciprocal sign of God’s love for us, doesn’t it make sense, even amid suffering and discipline to obey humbly and steadfastly?

God gives Jerusalem this word that she will believe that she will be saved by the Servant Who is humbly steadfast in His obedience to God, so she ought also to strive for humble steadfast obedience in love of the Father and in response to her discipline and the promise of deliverance.

Third, God helps the Servant.

“But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.”

The Servant Savior now speaks about His work and says that God is His helper.  He is not alone in the work of the salvation of His people – this is the plan of God from before the creation.

We remember what Peter preaches, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23, ESV).

And, as we have already seen, when Jesus is in the Garden, God sends an angel to strengthen His for the completion of His work.

God strengthens Jesus, and Jesus – though in His humanity He is horrified and suffers unimaginably – obeys the Father without hesitation: “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51, ESV).

            The Only One Who could suffer the abuse Jesus receives is the sinless Holy Savior.  Anyone else would collapse under the weight of sin and it’s just punishment.  Even after the moment of forsakenness on the cross, God helps Him such that Jesus could confidently say, “It is finished.”  All the work of salvation is finished by the Servant Savior:

            “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7, ESV).

            Our text ends with two different responses to what Jerusalem and we have heard about our sin and the Servant’s humble steadfast obedience:

            We can respond to this by believing and calling out to the Lord, obeying the Servant, and calling out for the help of His Father:

“Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.”

As David writes, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4, ESV).

Amid darkness and fear and uncertainly, if we call out for Jesus – the help of our God, He will respond and lead us through – as we need – through the darkness to where He would have us be.

Notice, if we call on the Lord, He will lead us through the darkness to the place that is best for us, though it may not be where we want to be, but God is trustworthy.  He sent His Son for us and loves us and will bring us through the darkness into the kingdom of His marvelous light.

However, we can also respond to this word and reject it – saying we can get ourselves through the dark without the help of God:

“Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.”

If we hear the Word of God and understand we are sinners but reject the work of the Servant and the help of God, no matter what torch we use in the dark, our end will be eternal torment.

Jesus says, “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out” (Luke 13:28, ESV).

God tells Jerusalem not to kid herself, but to understand that her sin is what sends her into captivity.  The Holy God requires that sin be paid for, and He has made the Way through the Servant Savior, or you seek to pay your own debt, only to find yourself divorced.

The Servant obeys the Father takes the punishment for the sin of all the people who will ever believe in Him throughout time and space on himself and pays our debt, so we can also obey the Father and receive His love.

And just as the Servant humbly and steadfastly obeyed His Father with the help of God, so God indwells all we who believe in Jesus with God the Holy Spirit, Who is our help as we maneuver through the dark to His glory.

So, let us follow the example of the Servant Savior, obeying the Father, being helped by God the Holy Spirit, and looking forward to the fulness of our salvation.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we are not holy, but sinners.  Help us to strive for the holiness without which no one will be saved.  Help us to seek the help of the Holy Spirit, to trust in the work of the Son, and to love You as You first loved us.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.