Let me say that it is a great privilege and a real delight to be with you for these days. I'm very grateful for the invitation and for the welcome that I've received among you. Now I'll ask you to turn again please to the prophecy of Isaiah. We're looking during this week at four passages from the second part of this book These passages are often known as the Four Servant Songs. They all speak of a mysterious figure who is identified as the Lord's Servant, the Servant of Jehovah. I'm sure that these passages are very familiar to most of you at least. If you're a minister, you've probably preached on them yourself at one time or another. They give us perhaps the clearest picture we have anywhere in the Old Testament of the Lord Jesus. Our prayer is that as we meditate on these very familiar passages, the Holy Spirit will be opening our eyes in a fresh way to see something of the majesty the beauty of our Lord Jesus now we've read together from Isaiah chapter 42 if you just glance at the opening words of the chapter you'll see that there the Lord himself is speaking and he's speaking about his servant here is my servant whom I uphold my chosen one in whom I delight. The Lord Jehovah brings his servant onto the scene and he presents his servant to our view. That is how the First Servant song begins here in verse 1 and it carries on to verse 9. Now if we're going to understand this First Servant song rightly then we need to put it at least in the context of the previous chapters, chapters 40 and 41. Ideally, if we had all the time in the world, I'd want to sketch out the structure, the message of this whole section of Isaiah, right the way through to chapter 55. And then we'd look to see just how each of the servant songs fits into that structure. But we just don't have time for that. Again, I wish we had time to talk about and the historical background, and how these passages relate to the exile, and then the return from exile. But again, we don't have time for that. But at least we must try to set this First Servant song in its immediate context. So look back, if you will, to chapter 40. That is a very dramatic chapter. It presents us with a most awesome and majestic vision of God and it does so with a series of questions and verse 12 who has measured the waters in the palm of his hand? who has held the dust of the earth in a basket? or verse 13 who has understood the mind of the Lord? Who was it that taught him knowledge? And all of these questions are leading up to one climactic question. Verse 18. To whom will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? As for an idol, a craftsman casts it. A goldsmith overlays it with gold. You see the question that the Lord is asking, are you putting these idols on a level with me? And the question then is repeated in verse 25, to whom will you compare me? Who is my equal? says the Holy One. That is the great challenge, that is the great issue here in chapter 40. It's the Living God, the Sovereign God, claiming His sovereign rights over against the idols that men and women worship. Do you compare those things to me, asks the Lord? How dare you call them gods? Verse 26, lift your eyes, look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. Verse 28. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord Jehovah, He is the everlasting God. The Creator of the ends of the earth. Jehovah is God alone. How dare you bow down, he says! How dare you pay honor to things that your own hands have made! How dare you rob me of my glory! The whole chapter is God's indictment of the wickedness and the folly of men and women who turn away from Him and worship the gods that they've made for themselves and then chapter 41 develops that theme and it does so in a very striking way look at the opening verses of chapter 41 this is God speaking and God is calling all the nations together be silent before me you islands Let the nations renew their strengths. Let them come forward and speak. Let us meet together at the place of judgment. God summons all the nations of the world, the people from the most distant islands, and he calls them all to meet him at the place of judgment. In other words, in the law court. In Isaiah's day, of course, the law courts operated rather differently from the way they do back in the United Kingdom today, and I guess the way they do here. Back then there was no such thing as a public prosecutor. It was up to the man who thought he had been wronged to bring his case to court. You can imagine a man who believes he's been robbed by his neighbour. What does he do? He summons his neighbour to meet him before the judges, usually the elves of the village. And the two men argue it out. And the first man brings his complaint, this man robbed me. And the second man brings his counter-complaint, and no it's not true, this man's trying to cheat me. It's direct confrontation. between the two parties and each of them must argue his case and they can question one another and they can call witnesses and at the end the judges will declare that one is in the right and one is in the wrong now in Isaiah 41 then in these opening verses what we've got is this we've got God summoning the people of the world all the nations to meet Him at the law court. There's going to be a trial. And the parties in this case are God on the one side, and us, his creatures, on the other. Do you see what a dramatic picture it is? God has this accusation. God says, I've been wronged. I've been wronged by you, my creatures. I've been wronged by you, the nations of the world. And I want justice, says God. So he sends out the summons. The people of the world have got to come to the place of judgment. And he says, let them be silent. They've got to be silent while God makes His complaint. And then, if they've anything to say, well then, let them come forward and speak. Do you see, it's direct confrontation. It's God accusing the people of the world. Accusing them of wronging Him. And you've got the people of the world trying to defend themselves, trying to make excuses, trying to argue back against God. You see, we're used, of course, to thinking about God as the judge who judges us. but here we've got something a bit different. Here in this picture God isn't so much the judge rather he's the person making the complaint. He's the plaintiff in this case. Now what is the particular complaint that God has to make then against the nations of the world? Well that becomes clear in the course of chapter 41. From verse 2 right the way through to verse 20 You've got, as it were, God's opening speech in this court case. Again, he starts with a series of questions. And the point of all the questions is this. They bring out, again, the fact that he is the sovereign God. He is the controller of history. He's the one who's acted in the past. He's the one who ordains the future. There is no one else And then in verse 21 he puts his challenge to us, to the people of the world, to the human race. Present your case, says the Lord. Set forth your arguments, says Jacob's king. Bring in your idols to tell us what's going to happen. The word idols, I should say, isn't actually there in the Hebrew. But that's what he's talking about. The NIV translators have got it right. Let them bring in their idols, he says. And let the idols show us, if they can, what's going to happen. That's what this case is all about. That's the challenge. God says, bring in these idols of yours. Let's see the things you worship. and let's see what they can actually do can they tell us the future? can they tell us what's going to happen? can they explain the past? can they do anything? verse 23 do something he says whether good or bad but no verse 24 you are less than nothing And your works are utterly worthless. These idols are utterly worthless. They are worse than nothing. And yet men choose them. Men treat them as if they are so important. And meanwhile God says you ignore me. You sideline me. You forget that I am God the Infinite. the almighty, the lord of time and eternity, you act as if you owe me nothing. Look at the last verse of the chapter, the way God condemns all those who worship these idols. See, he says, they are all false, their deeds amount to nothing, their images are but wind and confusion. So that was the charge that God brought against men and women in Isaiah's day. God could have accused them of many crimes. He could have accused them of lying, of murder, of adultery. But from God's point of view, these were not their most serious offences. These were not the things for which he wanted to indict them in his courtroom. The most serious offence of all, the greatest crime they've committed is this, that they have not worshipped God with all their hearts, and instead they've given their loyalty and their trust to these worthless idols. Now I believe it is so important to stress that in this present day. When so many people think of sin chiefly in terms of the wrong that men and women do to one another. Here we see in the most dramatic way that God's great complaint against human beings is not that they have wronged one another. It's that they've wronged him. Isaiah is showing us with this dramatic picture and just the same truth that Paul argues in Romans 1 with such devastating logic. Godlessness, Paul says, comes before wickedness. What's the great crime of the human race, Paul asks. They suppress the truth in their wickedness. They refuse to see the truth about God which is written across creation. They neither glorify Him as God nor give thanks to Him. They turn away from the glory of the immortal God and choose instead to worship images made to look like men and birds and animals and reptiles. They exchange the truth of God for a lie. They worship and serve created things rather than the Creator. They do not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God. There is no crime, no wickedness that compares with that. It is the fundamental crime of mankind, from the Garden of Eden to this day. that men and women will not give God the glory that is due to Him. They will worship anything, rather than submit to the God who made them, rather than turn to the Holy One of Israel. And all other crimes flow from that. That's Paul's argument in Romans 1. It's because they refused to give God glory that God gave them over to sexual impurity. It's because they worshipped created things that's why they were given over to shameful lusts. It's because they were not willing to have God in their thoughts that God gave them over to a depraved mind filled with every kind of wickedness and greed and depravity. What I'm saying is this. We need to return to a God-centered understanding of the doctrine of sin. When we talk about sin, we can say many true things, many important things. We can talk about the damage that sin does to the human psyche. and to society and to relationships, and we can talk about the eternal consequences of sin for the sinner, but those are not the most important things. If we leave this out, the wrong done to God himself, then we are leaving out the most important thing of all. We are betraying God's honour. When we are talking about sin, We have always got to remember that the worst sin of all, sin that makes genocide fade into insignificance. The most dreadful crime that human beings commit is that they fail to give God the honour that's due to Him. They put created things in His place. Isaiah is speaking here to people who worship idols of silver or gold or wood often we are preaching to people who worship family or friends or money or career or health or the body beautiful or a particular political system. But the fundamental indictment is the same. God says to men and women in Isaiah's generation, and in every generation, you've robbed me. You've taken created things and put them in my place. You've closed your eyes to my glory. You've set up your own pathetic little idols in my sanctuary. Very quickly just notice three things that the Lord has to say about man's idolatry here in Isaiah 41. I'm only giving you headings and I've no time to develop these things but first he tells us idolatry is universal. All nations are called to that courtroom. All the islands people living, verse 5, at the ends of the earth. And in verse 5 he pictures them supporting and encouraging one another in their false worship. Verse 6, each helps the other and says to his brother, be strong. The craftsman encourages the goldsmith And one Smith spurs on another, he says. You see they are all working together to make their idols and to decorate them and to keep them standing up in their places. Are you fascinated by conspiracy theories? Well here is the real conspiracy. Here is the ultimate conspiracy. Man's conspiracy against God. and it underlies all the world religions and all the great philosophies and it's intertwined into the roots of every political system and every economic enterprise because at the heart of them all is man's attempt to shake off his dependence on his creator man's attempt to find security and meaning in created things you know you often hear, or at least I often hear And people talking about man's search for God. It's nonsense. Mankind isn't searching for God. Man is searching for ways to replace God. And that is why one man makes an idol and another says, it's good. Secondly, idolatry is stupid. Isaiah just mocks so mercilessly the stupidity of people who look to anything but God himself for security. The idols he says in verse 7 have to be nailed down in case they fall over and yet people still look to them for protection and for peace of mind. You can hear the sarcasm can't you in Isaiah's voice? Then in verses 22 and 23, go long, he says to the idols, do something, anything, do something, good or bad, so that we'll be dismayed and we'll be filled with fear of your great powers. Why can't people see it? Why can't people see that the gods they've made with their own hands These gods that they need to clean and polish and look after. Why can't they see that they're worthless? The answer is because they're blind. They're willfully blind. They've chosen to be stupid. When men cease to believe in God, they don't believe in nothing. They believe in anything. You know the idols of money or sex or education, or science, or politics. You'd think that with the passing years, with the passing millennia, people would realise that these things can't satisfy, that they can't save. But it's not so, there's an impenetrable blindness. There's a huge stupidity that grips the minds of men and women everywhere. And that is why they carry on looking to created things. That's why their eyes remain shut to God the Creator. So idolatry is stupid. And then thirdly, idolatry is wicked. And that's been the whole thrust, hasn't it? And it's summed up in that one sentence in verse 24. He who chooses you is detestable. He who chooses the idols is abomination. said it again and again, the worst crime is this, it's an abomination to put anything in the place that is God's by right. Now, faced with the stupidity and the wickedness of human idolatry, what is God's great concern? Well in the light of Isaiah chapters 40 and 41 The question answers itself, doesn't it? What is God's great concern? It's to vindicate his own honour. Why does God initiate this court case? Because he's determined to defend his own honour. He's determined that people will see the truth. He's determined that people will admit the truth. that they'll throw away their idols, that they'll admit that they're in the wrong and he's in the right. God is concerned for his own glory. Now once again, this cuts across so much of our modern evangelicalism with its man-centred set of priorities. What motivates us? What is our great concern? What makes us tick? Is it to build a better world? Is it to help people find healing and happiness and emotional fulfilment? Those are all worthy aims. But they only put us on the same level as humanists. Well then, is our goal bigger? Is it more long term than that? Is it that we want people to be forgiven? for their sins? Is it that we want people to escape the horrors of hell? Well again those are right concerns. But are they enough? Is that where we begin? Is that where God begins? Why does God call the nations of the world into his courtroom? Is it for their sake? No. God's great concern is for His own glory. That is the unmistakable message of this chapter. The reason we work, the reason we preach, the reason we call men and women to repentance is because we share God's great concern. We cannot bear to see God robbed of His glory. We cannot bear to see men and women ignoring God and giving their hearts to empty idols. We can't bear the blasphemy of that, it breaks our heart. As you read on through these chapters of Isaiah, It's that note that comes pulsing through chapter after chapter. This burning concern for God's glory. God's own concern for his own glory. I am the Lord, he says. There is no other. Apart from me there is no God. Men must know that there is none beside me. My glory I will not give to another. I've sworn Before me every knee shall bow. By me every tongue will swear. That's why God calls these people into His courtroom. They've got to be confronted. They've got to be forced to see their stupidity and their wickedness. They mustn't be allowed to rob God any longer of the glory that's due to Him. Have you got the picture? Can you see the court case as Isaiah describes it? On one side of this courtroom you've got the human race. People everywhere worshipping their futile idols. And some of those idols are respectable idols. Education. Culture. My family. my self-respect, my church, my ministry, my country. Some of them are shameful idols, perversion, drunkenness, greed, and some of them are plain silly trivial idols, TV soap operas, and sports, But the thing that they all have in common is that they're empty idols. They're all a cheat. And in the end all of them are wicked because they're standing in the place of God. That's on one side of the poetry. The human race and their idols. But on the other side you've got God himself. And he's confronting men and women. You've robbed me. You've insulted me. You've worshipped your home and you never cared that it was me who gave it to you. You've worshipped your health and you never gave thanks to me who made your body. You've worshipped imaginary characters in a TV drama and you've ignored me, the true and living God. That's the court case that Isaiah is describing. That's the great confrontation. the scene is set the courtroom is full and it's into that scene that the servant steps forward suddenly there's a new figure in the courtroom the Lord lifts up his hand and the courtroom is hushed and the Lord says Ah, here is my servant. That's the setting of the First Servant Psalm. That's how the servant of the Lord, that's how Jesus Christ is introduced to us in these chapters. We first meet him as he steps into this courtroom drama. What's the most important word? in the first four verses of chapter 42. It's not difficult to see, is it? There's one word that's repeated three times over. The Lord is speaking about his servant and he says, last line of verse one, he will bring justice to the nations, to the Gentiles. And then again in verse three, in faithfulness he will bring forth justice. And then again in verse 4, he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. You see chapter 41 flows straight on into chapter 42. This is still the language of the law court. The word that's translated justice here really means verdict. The just verdict. So what is the great work of the servant? Here, what is his great objective? He will bring justice to the nations. He will bring in the right verdict in this law case. He will show people the truth. He will force them to see that God has been in the right all along and that they've been in the wrong. When it says he'll bring in justice It's not saying that he'll make human beings live together. Injustice, it means something much more basic. He'll bring about justice in the great controversy between God and men. He'll force people to see that the idols they've worshipped are wicked and wrong. He'll make them see that the Lord alone is to be loved and honoured. He's determined, verse 4, to establish justice on earth to compel men and women everywhere to accept the rightful verdict I told at the end of verse 4 that the islands must listen to him in his law, in his Torah, in his instruction the islands will put their confidence we asked earlier didn't we What is our great objective? What is our chief concern? What is our great priority if we're ministers of God? Now let's ask the question in a different way. What was Jesus Christ's great objective as he came into this world? He came as the Lord's servant. But what did he see as the supreme goal as the final end of his serving and this passage tells us he came to defend the honour and glory of his father in this great history long controversy between God and men the servant came to assert the sovereign rights of Jehovah he came to turn men from their idols to the living God. That was his great mission. And so that has to be the mission of everyone who claims to be a servant of the servant. Do you remember Paul in Athens? Remember Paul waiting for his friends in Athens? He begins to explore the city and he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. He hated it. He hated to see those people robbing God. And so what does he do? He begins to preach. He preaches to Jews, he preaches to Gentiles, he preaches to philosophers, he preaches to pagans. And what does he preach? He preaches God. He preaches the God who made the world and everything in it. The God who is the Lord of heaven and earth. The God who needs nothing that human hands can give. He preaches the God who himself gives to all men life and breath and everything else. He preaches God as the one who made the nations of men. And the God who determined the flow of history and the migrations of different peoples. He preaches God as the one in whom we live and move and have our being. He preaches God as the one who will judge the world with justice. Preaches Him as the God who raised Jesus from the dead. He preaches God. He preaches the Sovereign Creator and Lord and Judge and He demands that all men repent and give to this God the honour and glory that are due to Him. As a messenger of Jesus Christ, as a servant of the servant He demands that men submit to the righteous verdict. He stands there before those sophisticated philosophers who still fill a city with their superstitious idols. And he says, God is in the right and you are in the wrong. He can't say anything else. Paul is driven by that burning concern for the glory of God. He was a true servant of the servant. So that is the mission to which the servants called. Now in the rest of our time, let's move quickly through these nine verses. I want to see three things. I want to see firstly, the way the servant is equipped for that mission. Secondly, the way the servant performs his mission. And thirdly, the way the servant completes his mission. Firstly, the way the servant is equipped for his mission. Jehovah speaks, verse 1, here is my servant whom I uphold. The servant is upheld. He is upheld through all his life. The servant lives every moment of his life in dependence upon his God, his Father, his Lord. And God holds him fast. That is a strong word that is used here, translated uphold. And God says, I've got him in my grip. The servant spends all his life gripped by God, guided by God. used by God, empowered by God. He is God's chosen one, in whom God delights. We recognise those words, don't we? They're the words spoken from heaven at the baptism of Jesus. You're my son, my beloved, in whom I'm well pleased, or in whom I delight. That's God's verdict on the Lord Jesus, on the servant. Here, at last, is someone who is utterly different from all other men. He is someone who's never worshipped the false gods. He is someone who's one thought night and day has been to serve his God and to bring him honour and to obey him. His God has been more important to him than comfort or pain, than sorrow or joy. He's been the chosen servant of the Lord always at the Lord's command always at the Lord's disposal never thinking of himself always thinking of the Lord to whom he's given himself in willing service and everything that this servant does pleases God and brings him delight the way he works and the way he rests and the way he sleeps, and the way he rises, and the way he feeds, and the way he fasts, and the way he conducts all his relationships, in all his actions, in all his words, in all his thoughts, in all his choices, he pleases God because God can write across his whole life, this is my servant in whom I delight. And that is his equipping. How is Jesus Christ equipped for the mission to which he sent? Yes, as a man he's got great natural gifts. He's got huge physical energy. He's got resilience. He's an orator. He's a genius. But that is not the explanation of his achievements. What equips him to be God's servant in this world? What equips him to carry through God's purposes? It's simply this, that he is willing to be unreservedly a servant. He gives himself to total, unquestioning, loving slavery. He sees himself as a servant every moment. His one thought night and day is to serve his Lord. to bring him honour, to obey. He can say, I always do the things that please him. He's a man utterly filled with the Spirit of God. We read here, I will put my Spirit on him and thus he'll bring the verdict to the nations. At his baptism the Lord Jesus is anointed with the Spirit of God He's led by the Spirit, he's taught by the Spirit. It's in the power of the Spirit that he preaches and prays and pastors his people. And that is how he completes his mission. That's how he brings about the right verdict. And this is the equipment we need. I don't really know anything at the scene here. But I can tell you that back home I see a generation of evangelical leaders who are obsessed with techniques I don't know how the mailing lists are compiled but I can tell you that every week masses of junk mail from Christian organizations fall through my letterbox and they all promise to teach me the skills of effective leadership I'm invited to seminars where experts in communication will show me how to be contemporary and relevant. And I can hire videos which will teach me how to win people for the kingdom in three easy steps. And I can attend conferences where Christian psychologists will teach me how to be a dynamic leader. Well maybe those things could be useful. God knows I would welcome anything that would help me. But I tell you it is not what I need. What I need is not to learn how to be a leader. It's to learn how to be a servant. It's to learn what it means to live in constant, willing, loving, total obedience to my God. That's what I need. I need to be the sort of man of whom God can say, I hold him fast. I've chosen him I am well pleased with Him what I need is more of the Holy Spirit teaching me the mind of God renewing me in the image of God imparting His own holiness to me do you want to be equipped for mission in the 21st century? I'm telling you this is the only equipment that really counts. A life of constant unquestioning obedience to the commands of God. A life lived close to God. A life lived in God's presence. A life of daily intimacy with God himself. A life filled with the Spirit of God. That was Christ's life. and that is to be our life in Christ and then secondly the way that the servant performs his mission verse 2 he will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets it's a picture of a man who stays completely calm as he does his work. He never panics and starts shouting. He doesn't have to demand attention. He is totally self-controlled. Isn't that what you see when you look at the Lord Jesus? Read the Gospels and look at him. He is always busy. He is always under pressure. He's always faced with new demands. People are constantly demanding his attention. Enemies are listening to every word he speaks ready to trip him up. Friends and disciples are always saying foolish things which are liable to have appalling knock-on effects. He's got to cope with disappointments and hurts and weariness and heartbreak. There's so much work to be done while it's still day. and yet see how calm this man is there's a quietness, there's a restraint that marks him as he walks through the crowds he never panics never loses control never comes to pieces never starts shouting what's the secret? well it's simply this he never forgets he's a servant he's living every moment in obedience independence upon his God he's doing the work that God has given him to do and he's letting the plans of God unfold moment by moment and if unexpected tasks are suddenly given to him then those are tasks that God has prepared for him why should he panic about them? if he's planned to have a quiet few days away with his disciples and then suddenly he finds a frantic insane demoniac woman demanding his attention why should he start getting upset about it? if God has given him that unexpected task then his God will give him the time and the strength and the resources to complete it his role as a servant is simply to obey and to trust and to finish the task his father has given him to do. So how does he perform his mission? Quietly. Calmly. Trustingly. But there is more. Isaiah goes on to say a bruised reed he will not break and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. Again just look at the Jesus of the Gospels and remember the bruised reed people and the smoking wick people that he has to deal with look at the disciples so foolish and so slow to learn and they are so full of doubts and unbelief and just see how patiently see how gently the Lord can deal with their follies and their mistakes and their sins I can tell you I wouldn't want to have Simon Peter in my congregation. I really wouldn't. And yet the Lord Jesus keeps him there. The Lord Jesus ministers to him in all his foolishness, all his rashness. I think with all the disciples there must have been times when the Lord Jesus could have asked, is there any point in trying to keep this little light alive? there were times when the Lord Jesus could have said it's time to start exercising discipline here but no the Lord Jesus takes this smoking wick and he keeps the flame burning and he tends it and he trims it again what gave him that sort of patience with people? and isn't it simply this? that he's a servant and if these are the sort of people that his master has given him to care for then he's got to care for them he's got to care for the awkward and for the lazy and for the stupid he's a servant and this is the work he's been given to do he's determined that when he comes to the end of his course he's going to be able to say those you've given me I've kept none's been lost except the one doomed to destruction. So how does the servant perform his mission? He does it with huge patience, with great forbearance. But there's something more. In faithfulness, we read, he will bring forth the verdict. He will not falter or be discouraged. In other words, he'll never give up. however discouraging the situation might be once again just look at Jesus the servant and think of the discouragements that he faced in his mission do you remember that episode after he's fed the five thousand and then he preaches to them and we read on hearing this many of his disciples said this is a hard teaching who can accept it? and from this time they turned back and no longer followed him. Maybe some of you have had the experience of a divided church. You've worked and prayed for 10 years, for 20 years, and slowly you've seen the work grow and then suddenly all that patient work is lost overnight, or so it seems. Well the Lord Jesus had that experience. One moment a crowd of 5,000 clamouring to make him king and the next he's back to a congregation of 11 again and what did he do? He pressed on Again, some of you maybe have experienced rejection What about that last mission to Jerusalem at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles told about in John chapter 7 to 10 How the Lord Jesus loved that city of Jerusalem And how did his mission there end? After all the preaching, all the miracles, all the patient debating with Jewish leaders. Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him. Again they tried to seize him. And what did he do? He pressed on. Some of you have been let down by people you trusted. Well think about that dreadful night in the garden. When at last his disciples turn and run away. and Jesus is left alone in the hands of his enemies. What is there now to show for three years of heartbreaking labour, three years of constant prayer, three years of sacrificial obedience. There isn't one person in all the world who will stand with him now. And what did he do? He pressed on. Some of you have faced, I'm sure of that, great disappointments and great discouragements and great hurts in the work of the Gospel. But have you ever experienced the setbacks, the failures, the bewildering providences that Jesus the Servant knew? And yet we read here, He will not falter or be discouraged. He pressed on He pressed on when the crowds left him. He pressed on when the Jewish leaders rejected him and tried to get him stoned. He pressed on when his own friends abandoned him. He pressed on. And again we ask why? And again the answer is because he was the servant. And a servant has only one responsibility to be faithful. He doesn't have the option of giving up. He carries on doing the work that his master gives him to do. Believing that his master knows best. You are not responsible for the amount of success you have in your ministry. That is the master's business. The servant's business is to carry on. How did the servant perform his mission? with unfailing courage, with great determination, and that courage, that determination, were born out of the fact that he was the servant. They were born out of obedience and trust. And then finally, let's consider the way the servant completes his mission. And we'll sum it up in one word, infallibly. He will not fail. He does not fail. He cannot fail. Verse 5. This is what God the Lord says. He who created the heavens and stretched them out. Who stretched out the earth and all that comes out of it. Who gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it. I the Lord have called you My servant, in righteousness I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you. Servant cannot fail. Why? Because the limitless God, the creator of heaven and earth, the sustainer of every creature in the universe, the controller of history, is holding his hand. is working with him and through him and for him. Look at Jesus! Look at that fragile man! Look at him, this carpenter's son, this homeless wanderer, this lonely, hurting, frightened man sobbing his heart out in the garden look at him, he's just a naked, broken figure on a cross what can he achieve? how can anybody as weak as that achieve anything? and the answer is He will finish the work the Father gave Him to do. He in that fragile humanity of His will carry through all the purposes of God because His Father has chosen Him and His Father has called Him and His Father takes Him by the hand and His Father raises Him up from the grave and the Father keeps Him If you read, the Lord will make him to be a covenant for the people. Yes, through him. God's true Israel, they'll return to their covenant obedience. He'll become the renewed bond between them and God. That's in verse 6. And more in, the Lord will make him a light for the Gentiles. The light of truth will break into the darkness of idolatry. Verse 7, he'll open the eyes that are blind. He'll free the captives from the prison. He'll release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. Idolatry is darkness. It's blindness. It's captivity. It's shame. But this one servant giving himself up in all that he is in obedience, loving obedience to the Father will defeat the darkness. His mission will be accomplished. He'll turn men and women of every nation from their idols to serve the Living God. The servant cannot fail. He can be attacked by his enemies and he can be deserted by his friends. He can be beaten and spat upon. He can be laughed at and forced to drag his cross through the streets. He can be stripped naked and left to hang there on that cross and he can die he can die a lonely and humiliating death alone in the darkness but he cannot fail because his obedience does not fail and it is by his obedience that he will accomplish all that the Father has purposed he will not complete his mission by supernatural demonstrations of power. He will not complete his mission by some gigantic charisma. He will complete his mission by becoming obedient even to the death of the cross. By his obedience he will accomplish all that the Father has purposed. Verse 8, I am the Lord, that is my name, I will not give my glory to another, or my praise to idols. That is the Father's declaration of His purpose, His determination. And through the servant that purpose will be fulfilled. What is the mission then of the servant? And what is our mission as servants of the servant? it's to vindicate God's honour and how do we do that? we go to blind men and women worshipping their empty idols and we tell them that we once worshipped those same idols ourselves and we tell them what we discovered that they were empty and worthless and we tell them about the Living God, their Creator and Sustainer. We tell them about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and we urge them, we beg them, we plead with them, we command them to turn from their idols to the Living God. And we deal with them as gently, as patiently, with the same determination as our Great Master the servant and if that is our mission given to us by the servant and if we carry through that mission in the way that he has taught us then we cannot fail I'm not saying that we will see great success as the world reckons success I am certainly not saying that we will win popularity or applause but I am saying that God will be glorified and I am saying that his elect will be drawn and I am saying that God's honour will be vindicated and if we are true servants if we are servants of the one servant then that is All that is enough. It's enough. There can be no greater joy than that. God bless you all.