Isaiah 42. In Isaiah chapter number 40, we begin in this book, what is known as the Deutero-Isaiah, or Second Isaiah. Isaiah having 66 chapters, uh... is kind of divided up like the bible in fact it is called the bible in one book in the sixty six chapters of isaiah the first thirty nine dealing particularly with israel and the old testament just like the old testament is laid out in the latter twenty seven from verse forty on through chapter forty on through chapter number sixty six dealing with New Testament issues and particularly prophecies concerning the Lord Jesus. Now we find throughout the Old Testament portion, through those 39 chapters, you still have those prophecies of the Lord throughout, but we see them in great detail when you get to this second part, the part that lines up with the New Testament of this book of Isaiah. Isaiah's a remarkable book, and it's super deep book and all of the things that God has recorded for us in it. It's just wonderful things that we find here. Now, I wanna look and we'll spend some time over the next little bit looking at these Messianic songs that are written in this latter portion of the book. There are four songs. four songs that are written of the Messiah in this last portion of these 27 chapters of the book of Isaiah. The first one being here in chapter 42 itself. This particular song, the first song, it proclaims his purpose in coming into the world. The second one is in Isaiah 49, and in Isaiah 49 it speaks of his rejection by Israel, but ultimately accomplishing the salvation for them and the Gentiles as well. That's what Isaiah 49, that's that second song. The third song is in Isaiah chapter 50, verses 1 through 11, and it highlights particularly the afflictions and the tribulations that would be involved in his mission as he would come to Israel. And then the fourth song, and it is my favorite song, that's Isaiah 52, verse 13, down through Isaiah 53 and verse number 12. And that speaks of his suffering and his ultimate vindication, proof that he is who he said he is. And that's these four songs that I want us to be looking at over the next little bit. And today we're going to be looking at this first song here in Isaiah 42 that proclaims His purpose. The reason why He has come. The reason why they were, at the time Isaiah was writing this, why they were looking for Him to come. What was it that Messiah, when He would come, what would He do? Notice verse 1 of Isaiah 42. It says, Behold my servant. Whom I uphold, my elect, and whom my soul delighteth. You see that in all four of these songs. Behold my servant. Behold my servant. Whom I uphold, my elect, and whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and a smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he hath set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law. Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens and stretched them out, he that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth breath unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness. and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. "'Behold, the former things are come to pass, "'and new things do I declare "'before they spring forth, I tell you of them. "'Sing unto the Lord a new song, "'and his praise from the end of the earth, "'ye that go down to the sea, "'and all that is therein, the isles, "'and the inhabitants thereof.'" Let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you again for this day. We thank you, Father, for your great grace. Father, we thank you for your goodness and your mercy to us. Thank you that you've allowed us this and other time that we can come into your house and pray that you would help us this day, Father, as we've met together, that you would help us to worship you in spirit and in truth and pray to your blessed soul that's come this way today, that our hearts might be open to your word this day as we look to it, that you would teach us by it, Father, that you might strengthen us by the things that we find herein that you might cause us all the more to love you more, to serve you more, to be found faithful under your name. Father, we thank you for your many blessings, your watched care over us, the wondrous grace that you've poured out upon us even this very day. We thank you, Father, for this. We pray that you'd help us as we've met together. Again, that our hearts be turned toward you as we come into your house today. If there be any that are lost, In our midst this hour, Father, we pray that your salvation might be brought to them even this very hour, that you might make known unto them Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. Father, that you speak to them, we pray, and show them Christ. And Father, for those many that we have on our prayer list, those many that are sick, those many that are away from you even now, we just pray, Father, that you'd be with them, that you'd give them what they have need of even this very day. Go with us now as we look to your word. Again, open it before us and give us understanding of these things. For we ask these things in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. Now, he begins this song. with this phrase, behold my servant. Behold my servant. Now this is clearly, as we read this text, and especially as you read the others as well, again, Isaiah 52 and 53 are my favorites of these songs because it is the gospel of Christ Jesus preached there in Isaiah 53. the wondrous passage of Scripture. And yet we read these very Scriptures and we understand these are describing the Messiah. These are describing the coming of the Lord. It was the promise that was given to the children of Israel all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 and verse number 15 as Adam and Eve had sinned there in the garden and God declares to them that He was going to provide salvation for them. He was going to provide a deliverer that was going to do away with this very problem of sin that had come into the world. Now from that point forward, they are looking for this One that was to come. They are looking for the Messiah. And here, as we begin to read in these prophets here, and we begin to read in Isaiah, we begin to see some of these things revealed to us about the Messiah, and what it's going to look like when He would come, and how they would notice, how they would recognize Him. Over 300 prophecies describing His coming and what He was going to do. And most of those 300 prophecies, the Jews missed. They simply missed them. They did not see it. They did not understand it. It did not make sense to them. Especially when you get into these. These four songs here. They did not see these things in that messianic promise that is given to us because they could not comprehend the Messiah being these things. It was too difficult for them to reconcile with their own mindset of what the Messiah was going to do when he came. By the time you get to the coming of the Lord, by the time you get to those days in which he is incarnate, when he is walking upon the earth, when he is in his ministry there before the Jews, the only thing they could see concerning the Messiah is one who's going to come and he's going to be riding a white horse, he's going to have an army with him, and he's going to run Rome out and he's going to establish the kingdom and make Israel great and we'll be the kingdom of the world with the Messiah at our head. That's what they were looking for. They didn't see any of these other things in regards to him. And yet these four Psalms that we're looking at are describing to us a different picture of what the Messiah was coming for. Yes, He's going to have His kingdom. Yes, He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Yes, He will rule and reign over all of this earth. That is the reality. But there are things that He's going to do beforehand that were absolutely needful, not only for the Jews, but for you and I. And this is what is being described for us here in Isaiah 42. He is called here, He is called here, My servant. My servant. It's hard for us to imagine, even with our own understanding of who He is and what He has done for us, it's hard for us to imagine the Messiah as servant. It's hard for us to imagine Him as such. And yet, throughout His ministry, that's exactly how He displayed Himself. Not only to His Father, yielding Himself completely to the will of the Father to do everything the Father had sent Him to do, to fulfill it exactly as the Father had given for Him to do. Not only to the Father, but also to His people. He showed Himself a servant And they couldn't understand that. One of my favorite places where this is shown is in John chapter 13. John chapter number 13. When he is here on this last Passover that he would eat with them, the Bible tells us there that they come in for this feast. And in verse 4 it says, he rises from supper. and laid aside his garments, took a towel, and girded himself. After that, he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded." The Lord got up and began to wash his disciples' feet. That was considered the lowest. I mean, most times, if you come into somebody's house, you'd wash your own feet. If you had a servant to do that in your home, say you were rich enough that you had a servant set aside for washing people's feet that came into your home, you couldn't force that service upon another Jew. So if you had an indentured servant that was a Jew, you couldn't make them wash somebody else's feet. If you had a servant from some other land, you could make them, but it was considered too low of a task for a Jew to do. to wash somebody else's feet. And here the Lord girds himself with a towel and begins to wash his disciples' feet as they come together for this last Passover meal. Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and this is why I love this so much. Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? No, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no. You're the Messiah. You can't be stooping that low. You can't be doing such a menial task. This is considered too low. You can't be doing this. He washed my feet. Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now. but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter says unto him, thou shalt never wash my feet. No, Peter, no, I'm not gonna let you stoop that low. What would everybody think if they heard about this? Or if it gets outside this room, what would they think of you? The Messiah, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, what would they think of you having washed my feet? I can't let you do that. I can't let you ruin your reputation. You'll never wash my feet. And Jesus answered him. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in it. I don't wash you, you don't belong with me. And Simon Peter said to him, the Lord not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. I love the fact that Simon Peter speaks up. And watch as the Lord changes. His thinking changes his mind because we ask those same questions. We do the same things that Peter, we act the same way Peter acts. Peter said, well then, hey, hey, not just my feet, they wash all of me. Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter number two. Verse number six, down through verse number 11. I'll read verse five with that as well here, because it's important to the context of what Paul's teaching us here in this passage. He says, let this mind be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He is God. He was equal with God, he was God in the flesh, and yet, yet he humbled himself, made himself of no reputation, took upon him that very form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, He humbled himself, became obedient unto death, obedient to his father's will, obedient to the direction God had set for him. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The most heinous, cursed is everyone that hangeth on the truth. And he took that upon himself, willingly gave himself to that. And for that reason, God has highly exalted him. Listen, he deserves it. He deserves it. He is it because he is God. But what is being described to us here is His exaltation is not because He is God. His exaltation is because He obeyed His Father perfectly. He earned it, you see. He earned His righteousness. He earned this place. He earned it because He gave Himself willingly to do this which God had given for Him to do. He earned it and He earned it for us because we could not do it ourselves. He became servant for us. He made Himself of no reputation. He took these very weighty things upon Himself that we might be made the children of God in Him. He is exalted this day because of what he did for you and I. He made himself, he made himself a servant. Behold my servant. I don't know if I'm gonna get through this song this morning or not. Behold my servant. Hebrews chapter 7 and verse number 25. You know what we find here? He's still acting as a servant today. Hebrews chapter 7, verse number 25. He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for us. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. He is a servant of God. Behold my servant. Behold my servant. Now God tells Isaiah, and all the earth for that matter, in the first part of chapter 41, verse number one, in fact, Isaiah 41 and verse 1, keep silence before me, he said. Keep silence before me, O islands, and let the people renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let us come near together to judgment. Keep silence before me. And in chapter 42, he gives the reason why. He tells them to keep silent. Behold my servant. I'm going to show you something. Keep silence before me. I'm going to show you something. Behold my servant. He is revealing to them the Christ. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, he says. Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. When the Jews saw Jesus and all that he endured, they did not see the Father's delight in him. The disciples themselves did not understand what the Lord had to endure in His coming to be the sacrifice for us. And so they could not see. They could not see that delight of the Father in Him. In Luke 24, we see an example of this, and this is after the Lord's resurrection. And He comes to these guys on the road to Emmaus. It's the day of His resurrection. And their statement here in verse 24, they're describing what, they're talking to their self and Jesus asked them what they were talking about. And they said, well, the things that happened today. And he says, what things? And they said, where are you from? Where are you from? Have you not heard what's happened? Jesus of Nazareth. I mean, the one we thought was the Messiah, three days ago they crucified him, put him in the grave, and this morning some folks went to the grave and the skull was rolled away and his body was gone, and some said they'd seen him alive. Could this be? Could this be what he was taught? Could this be that he was resurrected from the grave? Verse 24, it says, certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher and found it, even so as the woman had said, but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools, had slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Oh, that dude's gonna read Isaiah. It's right there. It tells them all about it. They missed it. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? Jesus tells them there that He's still veiled from them. They don't recognize Him at this point. He's still veiled from them. And He said, The prophecies tell you all about it. This is exactly what I said I was going to do. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village where they went, and made as though that he would have gone further rather, but they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, And the day is far spent and he went to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he said, at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to them and their eyes were opened. And they knew him. And he vanished out of their sight. Oh, verse 32. And they said one to another, did not our hearts burn within us? While he talked with us by the way, while he opened to us the scriptures. We should have known it was him. Our very hearts told us it was him. Did not our hearts burn within us? These guys that were scared to go on, a few minutes before, jumped up and ran back to Jerusalem to tell them what had happened. But even still, even in all of the clamor around our Lord's resurrection and all the things that they saw in His resurrection, His appearances to them, that they still struggled even that to believe. They told Thomas about it. He's resurrected. Thomas said, I ain't gonna believe it until I stick my finger in his hands, in his hands and his feet. Then Jesus appears to Thomas. First thing out of his mouth, behold my hands. Behold my side. Reach hither thy finger. And Thomas falls at his feet. My Lord, and my God. They missed it. They missed it, and yet, it's throughout these prophecies. He tells them exactly what He's going to do. Behold, my servant whom I uphold mighty lit, to whom my soul delighted, Oh, they got to see, they were able then to see after his resurrection, they were able to understand. They got to behold the delight of the father in the son. Even though he showed that to them before at his baptism, Behold my son in whom I am well pleased. At his transfiguration on the mountain there, the spirit of God coming upon him there, and a voice from heaven saying, behold my servant here, or behold my son here, ye him. They heard it, they saw the father's delight, but it passed out from them. as they watched these things unfold concerning his crucifixion and the hatred of the Jews against him and all that he would endure there on that day for us. And they missed, they missed there the father's delight in his servant's son. The Lord says here, I have put my spirit upon him. I have put my spirit upon him. We see that again at his baptism. The spirit of God descends upon him as a dove or like a dove there. And those words from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse number 19. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse number 19. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and had committed unto us the word of reconciliation. To wit, Paul says, we saw this. We were witnesses of this. That God was in Christ. It was evident. It was shown to us. We saw it, he says. And that's what we're telling everybody else about. That's what we're declared to this world. We're made ambassadors of him, Paul goes on to say here. We're made ambassadors to declare that very thing. That God was in Christ. I put my spirit in him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. In Isaiah 59, Isaiah 59 and verse number 20, And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob saith the Lord. The Redeemer shall come to Zion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. So he comes to Israel. He is their Redeemer. He's the one that was promised. We then go back to Isaiah 60, verse number one. Just a few verses over. Isaiah 60 and verse one. Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light. and kings to the brightness of thy rising." His purpose was to die for the Jews. He came for them. That was the promised one. That was what the promise was all the way back in Genesis chapter 3. The same promise given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Those same promises given to them over and over again. We see it throughout the Old Testament in the prophecies that were given. And yet we are reminded here that it's not just to the Jews. with fresh old Gentiles too. That by His grace, we see His light. That it's by His grace that we also will be open to that truth by God's grace. We can see the brightness of His rising. He shall bring forth judgment. Jeremiah 23 verse 5 and 6, the king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. Zechariah chapter 14 verse number 9, the Lord shall be king over all the earth. Zechariah 9, verse 9 and 10, He says, He shall speak peace unto the nations, and His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. He will reign. He will bring judgment. He will bring righteousness. He will bring truth. He will bring to pass justice in this world. Both the Jew and us old dirty Gentiles alike. Verse two, we see his purpose. Verse two, we see his purpose. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. His chief end was never about Jesus. His chief end was never about himself. He deserved everything for himself. He is holy. He is high. He is exalted. He is lifted up. He is and always has been King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the Creator Himself. He is the one that spoke it all into existence. He deserves all the glory that can be poured out upon Him. But He took upon Himself flesh and dwelt among us. made himself obedient unto his father, made himself a servant unto his father for the one purpose, to exalt and to glorify his God. That was his purpose. That was his chief purpose. It wasn't to acknowledge himself. It was to glorify his father. to glorify his father. That's his purpose. It wasn't for him to be heard. It wasn't for him to be lauded and praised. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. He gave himself solely for the purpose of glorifying his father. That's what he'd come to do. to glorify His Father. Matthew chapter 11, verse number 29. Matthew chapter 11, verse number 29. Take my yoke upon you. And learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And you shall find rest unto yourselves. I am meek and lowly in heart. It's his purpose to glorify, to glorify his Father. This afternoon, Lord Willem, we'll take up with verse three. And we'll keep singing this song. As we read of our Lord's salvation, that which he has accomplished for us. Behold my servant. Behold my servant. My friends, don't miss. Don't miss the humility of our Lord. Don't miss that, because it is in that that we are saved. Oh, we praise Him. We glorify Him. We exalt Him. He deserves it. But don't miss His humility for us, because we don't have anything. without him being the servant of God. Behold my servant. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today. If you can believe, believe on him this day. Let's all stand. Brother Jonathan, you bring us all.