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October 3, 2024 6:00 am

The Unfailing Servant (Part A)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston

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October 3, 2024 6:00 am

The book of Isaiah introduces two servants, the obedient servant, Jesus Christ, and the disobedient servant, the nation Israel. The obedient servant is described as humble, obedient, and gentle, while the disobedient servant struggles with sin and disobedience. The Trinity is also discussed, with a focus on the relationship between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

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Isaiah Christ Messiah Servant Trinity Gentiles Antichrist
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Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death.

He didn't bail out on us. Even the death of the cross. All voluntary. I have 12 legions of angels. I can just call them and put an end to this madness, but there's a greater madness I'm putting an end to, and that is the curse of souls who are separated from the Father, and of course Christ died for sinners, because there's nobody else to die for. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Isaiah.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Isaiah chapter 42 with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah, the blessings compared to the second section, are mostly just beneath the surface or deeper down. It requires research, history, culture, language, a lot of other things to draw from it, some of the foreign meanings, but by the time you get to chapter 40 through 66, the end of the book, the blessings are on the surface.

There's so much of a blessing, even in casual reading. In this second section, 40 through 66, Isaiah introduces two servants. One is an individual, of course we know to be the Christ. He is the obedient servant.

The other one is the disobedient servant, the nation Israel. They were to be collectively a servant of God. And you know, when you come to Christianity, many folks, they don't get it right away. They have to work their way through a lot of things.

Others come right in and just seem to just have a nice panoramic view of Christianity and faith, what's expected of them. Well, with the Jews, of course, there were those that got it, the righteous Jews that became a remnant, and then there was, of course, the many apostates that plunged the kingdoms apart from each other and ultimately into captivity, punishment from the Lord. Now, in reading this second section, and you come across these different servants, you say, well, how am I supposed to know which one is Jesus, which one is the kingdom, or which one is Cyrus, who is not called a servant, but he acts as one. God had appointed him to do that. And the answer, the key, is in the superlative language that applies to the Christ.

It's lofty language. He doesn't fail. He doesn't sin. And that context lets you know, okay, this is Messiah.

Whereas when you get to the nation Israel, they're struggling. And so if you look at chapter 42 and you look at verse 4, for example, he will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth and the coastland shall wait for his law. Well, that's the Messiah. That is superlative language. It is lofty. Then you look down at verse 19 and you have a different description of this servant, who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send, who is blind as he who is perfect and blind as Yahweh's servant, seeing many things, verse 20, but you do not observe, opening the ears, but he does not hear.

And so that's different. You say, well, what about the perfect? Well, the perfect means in that sense, and we'll get to it, they had everything they needed to be that obedient servant and they blew it.

It is not saying that they were perfect in and of themselves, but they were primed, they were prepped. And that's an overview of what's coming because we're really going to talk a lot about Jesus in these coming chapters. Now we look at verse 1, there we read, Behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. Here is the unfailing servant. He is anointed, he's elected, and that Hebrew word elect is chosen.

All elections involve choice. Matthew, the apostle, in his gospel, when he writes, when he quotes this verse, he quotes it in Matthew 12, verse 18, and he applies it as a fulfillment in Christ. He says, Matthew, that this servant here in Isaiah 42 is Jesus Christ, and he gives an interpretive rendering that is so appropriate, he refers to him as the beloved in Matthew 12, 18. Behold my servant whom I have chosen, quoting Isaiah, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him and he shall declare justice to the Gentiles.

He goes on to quote this section about the reed and the smoking flax. We'll come to that in a moment. My point is, we know this is speaking of Messiah, the Christ, and the language is quite endearing. He, behold my servant. Well, Paul comes along, he writes more about this servant. In the Philippian letter, he says, Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, because God, the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, that's the Godhead known as the Trinity. Well, the God, the Son, not created, begotten.

How can we illustrate that a little bit? Consider the Son, the star of our solar system. Let's just say, for the sake of analogy, it's always been there. The light that comes from the Son, that is the light of the world. John chapter 9 verse 5, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

That light has always been. It's just coming forth from the Son. And Jesus Christ came forth from the Father, begotten in that sense, not created.

And of course, the warmth from the Son, you could say, that's like the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who comes beside us because they are eternal, they are distinct, but we have a single God. And Christ talks about that in John 18 when he says, Father, return the glory that we had before the foundation of the world. Well, here in Philippians, he says, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant. And that Greek word is slave. And that is a servant. The difference between a bondservant and a servant, we start zooming in on this, is the bondservant wants to serve. They want to be under the authority of the master. They love the master, the master loves them. It goes back to the Old Testament. And in the New Testament, when they use the word servant in this light, they're tying it into the Old Testament when the servant was set free and says, I don't want to go free.

I want to stay here with you. He says, okay, let's go over to the doorpost, and we put a hole in your ear, a lobe, and stick a pin in it, and you're going to be my servant. And this is who we are in Christ. So he continues, Paul says, in coming, well, let me give it more context, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. This man's not human, but he comes as a human. This was to be the virgin birth into the matured Christ. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death.

He didn't bail out on us. Even the death of the cross, all voluntary. I have 12 legions of angels.

I can just call them and put an end to this madness. But there's a greater madness I'm putting an end to, and that is the curse of souls who are separated from the Father and, of course, Christ died for sinners because there's nobody else to die for. So this behold my servant, well, the New Testament gives us more information about this servant. Matthew says he's the beloved of the Father. Paul says he is equal with the Father, whom I uphold.

Well, that's why he's incapable of falling since he is begotten, coming from the Father as sunlight comes from the sun and not made. My elect one, we would say the one. The distinct from everyone else, no runner-ups, no second place, God Almighty, the Son, God the Son, equal with the Father. And I just love talking about just the Trinity, the Godhead, because it is just so special to us.

There's nothing like it. Anyway, my elect one, in whom my soul delights. Matthew, again, interpretive rendering, my soul loves. Matthew 12, 18, behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. And appropriate so, because God is love.

And there's no love lacking in the Godhead. He says, I put my spirit upon him. Now, this is the second of two or three times that Isaiah makes this declaration concerning the Messiah that the Spirit will be upon him, that warmth of the Spirit concerning his incarnation, the coming of God as a human being.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father. You want to know what God the Father looks like? You look at God the Son. You'll find out what the Father looks like. Philip, have I been with you so long?

You have not known. He who has seen me has seen the Father, because they are inseparable. And this is just broken down so we can understand it. We can understand the one begotten is the Son to die for us. And the Son leaves behind the Holy Spirit to teach us about the Christ and to minister to us and help us to minister to others. The incarnation is found among other places. Isaiah 11, 2, the Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might. And when he said, I can call those 12 legions, there's the might. The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

And that is not a terror. That is a reverence of the Lord. There was just the complete package concerning his baptism, baptism here, I have put my Spirit upon him. Later we will read concerning his public ministry, Isaiah 61 verse 1, the Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is upon me because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison doors to those who are bound. And he stops because the next phrase brings vengeance and that is the second part of the ministry of Christ when he comes, his second coming, but the first part as a lamb, second part as a lion. And so Isaiah 11, 2, the incarnation, here at verse 1, Isaiah 42, we have his baptism, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and of course the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, John saw. And then of course his public ministry, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, which he goes into the church at Nazareth and he opens up the scriptures, the scroll, and he finds this part and he says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me and he reads this section and he says, today this prophecy is fulfilled and for that they wanted to kill him. Well, he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles and we've been going through Acts and we find how determined the Jews do not want the Gentiles to receive the exact salvation that they have unless they become Jewish first. But that's not what this scripture says.

And Paul, of course, struggled so hard, suffered so much teaching from the scriptures this very doctrine that is found here and again in Isaiah, but we'll just keep it here. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. The purpose for which Israel, the seed of Abraham, was chosen and preserved and invested in and made perfect for their mission was for the blessing of the nations.

They had theirs, they were supposed to get others to have some of that. Genesis 12, 3, and in you, Abraham, all families of the earth shall be blessed, not turned into Jews. Where Israel failed, the chosen servant of God would succeed. We'll get to the failed servant in this chapter, but this is taught in Acts 26.

We just had this. Paul giving his, putting everybody on offense and attacking sin in individuals, telling them about repentance and holiness, and he says that the Christ would suffer. He said, this is what I taught. This is what the Bible teaches, the Old Testament teaches, this is what I teach, that the Christ would suffer. Isaiah 53, for example, Psalm 22. That he would be first to rise from the dead and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. So the scripture just matches throughout.

I just saw an article, a headline, because isn't it usually not worth reading, and this one proved true to that. I don't know, five reasons why Jesus historically is not possible to have existed. And I turned to the first one and said, there's no secular evidence. Well, who's Josephus? Josephus is secular. He's a Jewish historian. He attests to the existence of Christ, Jesus. I just closed it after that. I wish it had their phone number on there.

No, that would be getting in the flesh. But anyway, from the church age through the Millennial Kingdom, the Gentiles will receive this light. And when Simeon goes to the temple and he picks up the baby Jesus and he just is in the spirit, you know, thank you, Lord, I've been waiting for this moment all my life, and he applies the expectation in Luke chapter 2, verse 32, to Jesus as being the fulfillment of the light coming to the Gentiles. So everything we read in our New Testament is connected to God and to the prophets. And it is not random, and it is trustworthy.

It's not just somebody thought this up in a cave somewhere. Somebody who could, anyway. Verse 2, he will not cry out nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. The gentle Messiah, not the Gentile Messiah, though he is the Christ of the Gentiles. Here in verses 2 and 3, he is gentle. He is kind.

He is patient. His mission of grace is characterized by quietness and gentleness. Now, this is important, especially when Antichrist comes on the scene. Antichrist will behave as though he is the world's savior, and it would be a no-brainer for anybody that knows the scriptures that he's a fraud because he'll be unrighteous, and he won't be gentle, and he won't be quiet. And we'll come to the verses that tell us that in a moment. But this verse says that he will not cry out or raise his voice. He's not going to draw undue attention to himself. Now, there was one particular moment in John 7 where he cries out with a loud voice and says, If any man thirst, let him come to me.

And so that is a beautiful section of scripture. But he will not draw undue attention to himself. He will not cry out, even to death. And so when Isaiah 53, when Isaiah, a thousand years before, almost a thousand years before the crucifixion of Christ, talking about the Christ, says he's going to be quiet when he goes to his execution. Like a lamb before his shearers, he opened not his mouth, took it.

And of course, he cried out with a loud voice, but the context, of course, different. It's not drawing undue attention to himself as Antichrist will. And there is a noticeable contrast between John the Baptist and Messiah just by this verse. Isaiah 40 verse 3, not 42 where we are, but chapter 40, looking back. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of Yahweh, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. And so there the prophet cries out to point to the coming Messiah.

Not drawing undue attention either. Just a subtle distinction that is interesting. But then there's the sharp contrast between the coming beast, the man who the Bible says he's a monster. He's not a human. He is human.

He's animated by Satan, but he is human. And he is what Christ is to the Godhead. Antichrist will be to Satan. Daniel chapter 7. Daniel has a lot in that 7th chapter say about Antichrist. He says he shall speak pompous words, big mouth, against the Most High. Well, it wouldn't matter if he was saying this in a closet or his apartment somewhere, but he's going to have mainstream media wrapped around his pinky. That's going to be his vehicle.

That's why he gets to speak these pompous words. He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and laws and probably pronouns. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and a half. And of course that's that last period of the Great Tribulation period. The Great Tribulation starts out not so bad for the worldling.

It ramps up. And that second part is horrific, such as the world's never seen. Anyway, the time will come, as verse 14 tells us, where he will no longer be restrained, the Christ, but he will judge. Verse 3 now, a bruised reed he will not break, a smoking flax he will not quench.

He will bring forth justice for truth. He is meek, and the meek shall inherit the earth. What is meekness? Oh, the world will tell you meekness is weakness. That's not biblical. The biblical definition of meekness is strength held in reserve. Take an egg out of a refrigerator, and you don't crack it ideally until you're ready to open it. That's meekness.

That's an illustration of meekness, because you could just squish the egg if you wanted to. Christ, Messiah, he can destroy, he can end. He can quench, stop it all. If he chooses, but he chooses instead to let matters play out.

He knows the end from the beginning. And this, if you are a bruised reed by life, and God is saying, I'm not going to break you, I'm not looking to crush you. A bruised reed he will not break. How God is not a brute, nor is he a bully.

And he is not rushed either. That which has been injured, he will not finish off. And the bruised reed is bruised externally.

Whereas the smoking flax, its problem is internal. Sometimes it can be both for an individual, to carry the illustration into applications of life. That which is damaged will not be further damaged by him. This is Messiah, this is the Christ. Matthew applies this again to Jesus Christ. He quotes this section of Isaiah, and he's saying this is the Christ. When Christ goes into the synagogue on a Sabbath, there's a man with a withered hand, and Christ heals him. And then Matthew makes this comment. Matthew is writing to the Jewish people.

And he writes in a way that they will more easily understand. And he says, he goes into the temple on our Sabbath day, he sees a man with a withered hand, and he heals him. And he gets blow back because of that. But a bruised reed he will not break. He could have crushed all the Pharisees that day if he wanted to, because they're bruised also. Bruised reed is a sign of weakness, weakened by external force. Because a reed is not strong in and of itself. It's weak already, but then you break it halfway, and it's completely weakened.

Your life's like that. The smoking flax, which is coming next, again is evidence of internal destruction already at work. With his smoke, there is fire. And there's various kinds of fire.

Rust is a form of fire, burning away at the metal. During his ministry of grace, the servant God, the Christ, he did not hasten the end. As I pointed to with the legions, he let things play out.

He waited patiently. Luke chapter 9, verse 56. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Hmm, this is Christianity.

Peter chapter 3 of the second letter. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some count slackness, but longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. You can't get right with God without admitting that you're wrong with God.

You're born, we are born wrong with God. And thus the need to be born again. The longsuffering, you know, some Christians say, oh, I sure hope the rapture's today. Well, let's see, I was saved about almost 40 years ago. There are people that were praying that Christ would come back 50 years ago.

If he answered their prayers, I would have been trapped in my sin or headed for the great tribulation period. So I'm not in such a rush anymore. The rapture comes, I'm not protesting. I've got my position ready, I know how to go up.

Joke. But I understand the salvation of souls is close to God's heart. He's willing to let the suffering play out, even though it disturbs him greatly too, because there are souls being saved. And let me say, this world is more wicked than you can know. Video footage, video recordings, or visual recordings from around the world have helped us understand how widespread evil is, but it still doesn't get us there.

God sees it all. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio today. Cross Reference Radio is a ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you'd like to learn more about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.

You'll find a number of teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of new editions of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Isaiah with Pastor Rick, right here on Cross Reference Radio.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-10-03 08:12:08 / 2024-10-03 08:21:56 / 10

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