Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Through His Word, the Bible, God has clearly revealed Himself to us in vivid detail. And through Christ's sacrifice on the cross, our compassionate Creator has made a way for us to be drawn into caring community with Him. Today's message from Isaiah 42 shines light on who our God is and what a beautiful plan He has laid out for the children of men.
Let's listen in. This is the third segment from a message on Isaiah 42 that was first preached on April 14th, 2013. It's part of a series from Isaiah 40 through 55 titled Behold Your God.
To hear the entire message and other messages from this series, visit www.delightingrace.com. God has made Himself clear. What are we doing with what He has revealed? And that's why He says here in Isaiah 42, Behold my servant. That servant is the one that John speaks of in 1 John chapter 1. That which we have seen, which we have heard, which we have looked upon, which our hands have handled concerning the Word of Life. That is the servant that God says, Behold my servant. God has made Himself clear because God is a clear communicator.
Let me put this another way. When God speaks, God doesn't ever try to say something. You know, you hear some people open up the Word of God. Now what is God trying to tell us here? Wait, wait, wait.
No, no, no. God's not trying to say anything. God has spoken.
Do you understand? Because our God is a clear communicator. And He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And those who think that God is too obscure, and He doesn't show Himself enough, and if He just would, they would believe.
First of all, number one, history has shown that that's not true. Because those to whom God revealed Himself unmistakably with absolute clarity, they took Him for granted. Secondly, the truth is that God has revealed Himself.
And if you would but believe, then He will manifest Himself to you more. Second point about God in this, we got all that just from one word in Isaiah chapter 42, behold, right? Okay, how long is it going to take us to get through this chapter, right? Never mind.
We're not going to do that. We're going to go more than just one word at a time, okay? The next point comes from the first four verses. First of all, God is a clear communicator. Secondly, God is a caring community. God is a caring community. Now, I'm not meaning by that some ethereal concept that, oh, if you find yourself in a company of people, and there's great joy and fellowship and love there. Yeah, that's a sense of God. No, no, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about God in person is community.
What do I mean by that? This is the doctrine of the Trinity. And God reveals Himself to us as a triune being. One God, three persons.
Look what it says here. Behold, my servant whom I uphold, in whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit upon him. You have three persons there, don't you? You have I, my servant, and my spirit. That's the triune God. God is a caring community. Because in Matthew chapter 12, verses 17 to 21, this passage of Scripture is quoted. Isaiah 42, 1 to 4. It is quoted and it is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. So, Jesus Christ is this servant.
Like I said before, like verse 9 says, we're looking back on what God had already told would be happening. Jesus Christ came as this servant, as the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. And what did He come to do? The Son of Man came to do what?
Seek and to save that which was lost. You see, it is God in community because God is a community. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit living in perfect, eternal community with each other.
The self-sufficient one, the self-existent one. And He draws and invites us into community with Him. That's what you and I were created for. And therefore, as a caring community, He does the work necessary to draw us into fellowship with Himself. And it says here in verses 3 and 4, He will bring forth justice. He will not fail nor be discouraged till He has established justice.
So, He will bring forth and He will establish justice on the earth. You know, we celebrate a beautiful day today. You know, the grass is green. Well, at least most of my grass is green. There's still some brown patches in it.
But most of it's green. You know, everything is in bloom. Isn't it beautiful? You think, oh, what a beautiful day. And yet, how many things are going on in life that just are not the way they ought to be?
Whether it's in relationships, whether it's in wars and conflicts that are happening around the world. You know, you look out and you can watch two birds. And what are two birds?
Two birds are fighting each other. That's, you know, something's awry here. Things are not the way they ought to be. But God is the one, as a caring community, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God is at work establishing righteousness, justice, putting things in order according to His perfect character and purpose. And that is what He is going to do. He has set that in order and He is going to accomplish that. And He has done that in history by giving us His Son, who came in grace and truth. And He's also given us His Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of power. And this caring community is the God who is going to set everything in order. And how many people say today, you know, with all the things that are awry, everything that's wrong with this life, everything is wrong with the world, all the injustice and all the oppression that is out there, how can you believe in a God who is all good and all powerful? He's either all good and isn't powerful enough to do anything about it, or He's powerful enough to do something about it, but He's not good because He doesn't do anything about it. I had lunch one day last week with a young man who said exactly that.
And that was his argument. But how many people believe, how many people talk like that? And yet God reveals to us in His Word that in His timeframe, He is going to establish justice. Everything will put in order as it ought to be. This is our God, the God that we serve and that we worship. And the incarnation teaches us something here because that's what's being prophesied in this chapter. The incarnation, my servant whom He's foretelling, who is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, the incarnation, the God-man teaches us that God and shows us that God is uniquely competent to save. Unlike any other possible object of trust, no other object of trust can save us and rescue us like this God can. He alone is competent to save.
He has no rivals, He has no competitors, He has no successors. This is what the Lord is teaching us through Isaiah 42. And He has come to save and to rescue. That's why you look at verse 9, it's foretold in here at 700 B.C., but when we look at it, we're looking back at it because of the revelation that God has given us in the New Testament and specifically His Son, Jesus Christ.
All that points to just simply what? God's purpose will be realized. God's purpose will be realized and we can count on that. Here's point number 3, verses 5 through 9, that God is a compassionate Creator. Not only is He a clear communicator, not only is He a caring community, but God is a compassionate Creator. It says in verse 5, thus says God the Lord, and that introduces Him in three ways.
And each one begins with who? Verse 5, who created the heavens, who spread forth the earth, who gives breath to the people and the spirit to those who walk in it. I, the Lord, He is the Creator. It is from Him that life in all created order come from. He is the source of all life. And as the source of all life then, in verse 6, it is the Father speaking to the Son, the one whom He refers to as My Servant in verse 1. In verse 6, the Father is speaking to the Son. He says, I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness.
I will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from prison. You see His compassion there? What is He teaching us here? That though He is Creator, we are rebels. We have rebelled against Him just as the people of Judah had and would, as the people of Israel did, and they're now scattered by the Assyrian Empire. And not long after that then, Babylon is going to come and they are going to oppress Israel and take them captive.
Why? Because they have rebelled against God. They have walked away from their Creator, from their object of trust. And so He speaks here to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from prison. What is this blindness in this prison of which He speaks? I like what John Oswald says in his exposition of this chapter.
He says, by means of this Servant, His Son, God will deliver the people of earth from that darkness in which they are bound by their own self-idolatry. Insisting on making reality a mirror of ourselves, we have plunged ourselves into darkness. Not being self-originating, we nevertheless try to explain the origins of things in terms of ourselves. Not being self-existent, we try to explain the end of all things in terms of ourselves.
The result is predictable. Existence in an endless cycle that comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. That is the darkness and the bondage in which the whole world lives by its own choice. By its own choice.
Why? Because we're rebels. We have walked away from God. We have walked away from our source. We've walked away from our Creator. I like what philosopher Theodore Roszak said. He couldn't bear what he called the coca-colonization of the world. Try to figure out what that means, everything. He hated the pseudoscience that claims to explain everything.
Though a non-Christian, he said, without transcendence the person shrivels. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
