Resolving Failures (Part B)

His own people. They'd made the demand for His death, His crucifixion.

Isaiah will develop this in 53. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. See that part, acquainted with grief?

You get older, maybe some of you are just sick of life. You're grieved by life, maybe. Well, so is the Lord, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He knew the deal of what the curse has done to mankind.

Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers, that I might leave my people and go from them. For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. Well, they were people trying to kill him, to just take him off the earth. But, you know, he just, the sense of faith, the sense of failure, and just, I just want to get away. Of course, Paul had to face these things. Paul writes about it. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. Now, he's writing that to Christians. It's not at a pastor's conference. It applies to pastors, but it's all of us, because we do get weary in the work. We have to guard against being weary of the work. You don't want to get to the place where you say, I'm sick and tired of it. I've had it. Well, you can do that before the Lord.

You just don't want to do that in front of people. And maybe I can focus that a little bit. He says, yet surely my just reward is with the Lord. Everything he is saying is trying to back it all up in scripture. But then, if the strong voice is in the pulpit, there's that stressed voice in prayer. And that's where he tells God all the things that are bugging him.

And usually it's a pretty big stack. But he doesn't finish because he gets sick and tired after he just gets to the first two. This isn't going well. So, I think it is one of the beautiful things about prayer is that we can say, we can tell God anything. And know that once we're finished with that, he expects us to get up and go get back to work. I like that under the terms of this world. I wouldn't want that in heaven.

It wouldn't be my first choice. But I like that I have that freedom that I don't have to feel like I have to try to hide something from God, which is silly. He's omnipotent. You can't hide anything from God. It's like a one-year-old playing hide and seek. It's just like, you can't hide.

You can't do that. You have to wait until they get to be 12 and go to Jerusalem. Three days later, they found the Lord anyway. And my work, he continues verse 4, and my work with my God. So, he remains steadfast, resolved, in spite of failures. John chapter 8, He who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him. That is something that we are to shoot for. Always please God. I like it. It's been said, God is easily pleased, but he's never satisfied.

I believe that's true. And it's encouraging in its own strange way. Verse 5, And now Yahweh says, Who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, so that Israel is gathered to him. For I shall be glorious in the eyes of Yahweh and my God shall be my strength. And so, here you have, again, the Lord speaking about his relationship with the Father, the Jews that are on his heart. Yahweh is answering him. I know, it seems like it's almost schizophrenic. You have the Messiah speaking, who is part of the Godhead. And then you have the Father speaking. And which one is at what point? What's being done?

Then you can keep up with it. The servant of the Lord is marked here as distinct from the nation Israel. Here you have the servant to bring Jacob.

That distinction is clear. In Mark 13, he writes, He will send his angels to gather together his elect from the four winds and from the farthest part of the earth to the farthest part of heaven. He's always aggressive, looking to reach souls. And if souls aren't saved, it's not because the Lord is not at work.

It's because the people are nonresponsive. Our Lord could not minister to the Gentiles until he first ministered to the Jews. And that's what's being said here in verses 5 and 6. And we find that in the Gospels. Christ says, Go to the lost sheep of Israel. Stay away from those Gentiles.

Not because he didn't want to reach them, because the timing was off and it would have been a complete failure. When we get to the book of Acts, we see just how difficult it is and what is involved and how you have to have the understanding of Scripture to be able to make a case for this Messiah long announced, arriving and fulfilling the prophecies that he did. The Bible is a Jewish book, and the first believers and apostles were Jews. Gentiles would not have heard the Gospel without God using the Jewish people. And if God had anything to say for the Bible's history, he said it to a Jew in the Hebrew language. And that didn't change until Pentecost came, and it was a gradual change. In Romans chapter 11, Paul is trying to tell the Gentiles, Don't be throwing the Jewish people under the bus.

You have a lot to be grateful for. The Scripture knowledge that you're getting, where the stuff is coming from, don't write them off. God's not finished with them as a people.

Again, as individuals, you know, the wicked are the wicked regardless of their ethnicity. Verse 6, Indeed, he says, It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore and preserve the preserved ones of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Well, that's pretty clear, it seems.

He's just saying, Listen, you're not going to waste who you are on just one people. You will be sent to everyone. So it says, It is a small thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.

I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles. You would think that in the days of Paul, when they were so against the Gentiles, you would think this verse would come to mind and tell them that God loves the Gentiles too. He wants to save them also. But religious people have a way of dismissing things from their Scripture that they don't care for.

And that is largely what took place. That is why they failed as his instruments, as his servants, to reach beyond Canaan. They succeeded as servants in driving the Canaanites out of what we know as the Promised Land. They just did not succeed in taking the light of Yahweh to those outside the Promised Land.

And they had certainly enough commerce with other peoples to do so and therefore contact. I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation, the unfailing servant of Isaiah 42. The New Testament applies this verse to Christ and his work, his redemptive work. You younger Christians, you should know that word redemption, the saving of lost souls at the cost of the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Acts 13, we don't have enough time.

You know, I had to cut out so many verses to kind of show how it all was just interwoven together. But Acts 13, for so the Lord has commanded us. Paul and Barnabas, as they were preaching to the Jews, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. And they resisted him on that.

Joel had even mentioned this. Joel probably wrote before Isaiah, and it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Of course, that's continued to the last chapter of the Bible. Whosoever wills, let him come. And you have people out there saying you don't have a choice. The Bible doesn't say that.

And I rejoice that it says, God says, I'm going to treat you like a created being in whom I have put enough ability to reason with, to speak to me. Were it not for Jesus, who would have reached for the Gentiles? Peter? John? Stephen? Paul?

Not one of them. We learn from the New Testament that the ingredient missing from Judaism was love. There's no love for the Gentiles. We fast forward just a little ways in the New Testament. We find the church at Ephesus, that darling church that God had invested so much. Apollos, Paul, John, Timothy, that church received so many solid Bible teachers and holy men. And yet, they lost their first love.

It's a very dangerous thing. And as I mentioned, there's no light coming out of Judaism today. Unless you want a system of rules and rituals, you have at it. But where's the love? You know, I tell people sometimes about a good church that if the preaching is solid and the people are loving, it's going to be really hard to beat that looking for a church. What else do you want? Well, how about a Picasso over here? That would really be lovely.

How about an hors d'oeuvres next to it? I mean, what do you want? What's a church to you? It's an assembly of believers who are coming to worship God and to receive. Except for the unbeliever, Christians should come to church wanting to hear from God. And if they say, well, I can do that at home in my living room. Well, God says, no, you can't do it as well because I have given some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor, teachers for the edification, for the work of ministry.

So don't give me that stuff about how I can do these things in isolation. The Bible doesn't agree with you. In fact, it comes hard against you on those points. Now, maybe you've got loved ones who have those views. Well, you can still love them, but you don't have to agree with them when they disagree with what the scripture clearly teaches. Learn to stand your ground, if that ground you're standing on is God's word, and in love. It's hard sometimes if you're passionate about something, you come off as being angry, so I'm told.

So I'm glad there are other, and I like to tell this story, I remember his face, David Rosales, he said his son was watching him on television preaching, but the son had the volume down, and I wonder why. But he said, when David got home, he said, Dad, you look so angry. You know what I'm saying? I'm preaching. You looked angry. Well, you know, passion comes out. Old pastors used to do stuff like this, you're going to hell. We don't do that.

We could if you request, if you make a request. Anyway, back to this, verse 7, Thus says Yahweh, Redeemer of Israel, the Holy One, that goes beyond Israel, that Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nations abhorres, to the servant of rulers kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of Yahweh who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, and he has chosen you. And as this Messiah develops, we find that he's got divine attributes, that he is indeed God, and that's what makes it hard to, you know, who's speaking? Yahweh, Father, who's who? And well, that's the triune nature of God, how he presents himself to us. I think if there was, well, when God said, well, how am I going to contact the people that I've created? Well, the Son is the solution, and the Holy Spirit, the vehicles of God, the person, to interact with us. Acts chapter 3, talking about their despising him, Peter's preaching, he said, you denied the Holy One, and he's preaching to the Jews.

The just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. Now that, Peter led a lot of them to Christ, by just telling them the truth, he didn't sugar coat anything with them. And when he did sugar coat something with them, he got in trouble, trying to act like he didn't want to be with the Gentiles, and God sent Paul on them.

What a remarkable story. And yet, how can you not love Paul? I mean Peter, if you had to take a flight, let's say an hour flight, make it three hours, and Peter and Paul were on that plane, who would you want to sit with, if you had to sit with them? Well, if I wanted to discuss theology, I'd probably sit with Paul. But if I was feeling sorry for myself, I'd want to sit with Peter. Not that Paul was, you know, mean or anything, but Peter, we just know he was goofed up a lot of times, and we can identify with that.

Whereas Paul just seems sometimes to just be so solid. Anyway, more to Jesus than being Messiah, 1 John 4, and we have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world, which matches what is being said, the Redeemer of Israel, the Holy One. He is the Holy One beyond Israel without ever forgetting Israel. I don't know how you can be a Christian and not love the Jews. I mean, you don't have to love what each individual does, but as a people, you're rooting for them all the time.

Because you know where they stand. They are God's time clock, and it's painful to watch what they're going through right now, but this so far is nothing to what they have been through and what lays ahead. To him, it says here in verse 7, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, his own people.

They've made the demand for his death, his crucifixion. Isaiah will develop this in 53, he is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. See that part acquainted with grief?

As you get older, maybe some of you are just sick of life, or you're grieved by life, maybe. Well, so is the Lord, a man of sorrows acquainted. He knew the deal of what the curse has done to mankind. Isaiah goes on to say, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we did not esteem him.

Even armed with these scripture verses, they missed it. It says here, he is the servant of rulers. Well, he came as a servant.

He could have come as a sovereign, and that would have been the end, but he did not. He says, render to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar, and give to God the things that belong to God. And he stood before Herod, he allowed himself to be humiliated there, he stood before Pontius Pilate, he tried to reach Pontius Pilate, but Pilate didn't want it. Pilate dismissed him.

Well, what is truth? Well, you're looking at the truth, but Pilate didn't care to act on it. Philippians chapter 2 talks about his servanthood and his deity at the same time. Kings shall see and arise, princes shall also worship. Well, he is the ultimate, and at his triumph, all this will change.

Moving forward, because there's so much information here, verse 8. Thus says Yahweh, in an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. I will preserve you and give you as a covenant to the people to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritage. Well, at the right moment I will act in an acceptable time. Acceptable to who? Well, to God, of course. 2 Corinthians, so he says, in an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. So there's a sense of urgency in these words quoted in 2 Corinthians, which are built on these words here in Isaiah 49, that now is the acceptable time when it comes to receiving Christ as Lord. And the day of salvation I have helped you?

Well, he expressed full throttle his work against sin, and his whole life was about that. The cross of Christ speaks of this. To restore the earth? Well, who but God could do that? And this is Messiah, of course, and he is going to restore the earth to that Eden-like environment to cause them to inherit desolate things. Well, this I think goes beyond the Jews and the Promised Land, which was their inheritance, but it does not rule it out in the Millennial Age. There will be radical geographical changes to Jerusalem, all improvements that will be done by the Lord, and the whole world, the desert will bloom again.

Radical environmental changes are coming, and they will not be man-made. Verse 9, that you may say to the prisoners, go forth to those who are in darkness, show yourselves. They shall feed along the roads, and their pastures shall be on the desolate heights.

He's giving a little bit more detail about what's going on. Verse 10, they shall neither hunger nor thirst, neither heat nor sun shall strike them, for he who has mercy on them will lead them, even by the springs of water he shall guide them. Verse 11, I will make each of my mountains a road, and my highways shall be elevated. Well, none of that's happened yet. That's still to take place, and it will take place when he returns. These promises exceed anything that took place when the captives were repatriated to Israel. Revelation 7, verse 16, they shall neither hunger any more nor thirst any more.

The sun shall not strike them nor any heat. So there John is referencing this verse and applying it to the age, the great tribulation age and beyond. The apostles did not understand any of this as we do by simply reading it, and neither do you and I. The Holy Spirit taught them after Jesus opened their eyes to understand. So we read in Luke 24, verse 45, he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures.

Well, if he doesn't still do that, then we're not going to figure it out. We're dependent on God to help us. So when you have your morning devotions or whenever you have your devotions, we pray, Lord, can you open this up for me, acknowledging that if I am left alone to this, I'm going to make unnecessary mistakes. My prayer, you know, after all these years and all the study is not so much can you give me the understanding, not that it doesn't mean I'm now pompous or anything, though I might be. Now I ask God, can you keep it fresh for me? Because after you've been through it, you know, the danger is now, you know, okay, I read that. You just thought, you know, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And if you're not careful, but if you love it, though, the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. I believe that and just getting it done is sometimes a challenge to be content with his provision. John chapter 14 verse 26, but the Helper, and this is the Holy Spirit because he says it, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Now that teaching you all things is not an instant thing all the time. It takes years and just constantly, you know, even now verses dawn on me, that's it.

I just had one the other day from Revelation and I hope I can get to preach it. It's like that's it, that's what that, it's always bugged me that thing, now I got it. You say, what is it? I can't tell you because then if I preach it you'll be, oh, I heard that. Alan Redpath, you know, looking at this verse, he has commentary on Isaiah. He says, which says, I will make each of my mountains a road and my highway shall be elevated. Redpath says, if I can see only a mountain filling my whole horizon, when I reach its foot I will discover there is a path.

Well, I agree with that, you know, God prepares the pathways of our lives, but we cannot take those pathways if we don't want to. Verse 12, surely these shall come from afar, look, exclamation, those from the north and the west and these from the land of Sinem. Well, now he's talking about Israel being, continuing to talk about Israel being restored, but now he's talking about repatriation.

Now, some think Sinem is Aswan, Egypt, but it really is more likely China, although you can't be 100% sure that we just don't have enough information. But we can safely say that verse 12 foresees converts drawn from far places, distant lands coming back to Israel. Although these verses, of course, are going beyond Babylon. In fact, we're living the prophecy now, we're living the fulfillment of God repatriating the promised land with his Jews from all over the world. It's exciting that we're in the days of, that there's prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes and mainly in Israel as the nation. Verse 13, sing, O heavens, be joyful, O earth, O earth, and break out in singing, O mountains, for Yahweh has comforted his people and will have mercy on his afflicted.

This must have been really tough stuff to go through, you know, what the Jews have gone through over this millennium, just to hear these verses of God's care and yet suffering so much. 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.