I want to use the six verses of Isaiah 49 as my portion of Scripture we will talk about today. So here is we read about the servant who is called Israel in verse 3. And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Now this is believed to be the second of four servant songs or servant poems in the book of Isaiah. Chapter 49 gives us a sort of transition where there will be three servant poems. which will emphasize the work of this servant. We saw the first one in Isaiah 42 verses 1 through 7 where the coming servant chosen of God, the delight of God would bring justice in the earth. Here the servant is looked at as a prophet. He will minister in the earth. In chapter 50 verses 4 through 9, the servant then begins to be abused. and to suffer. And then in Isaiah 52 verse 13 through Isaiah 53 verse 12, we see more specifically the substitutionary nature of the work of the servant and what he will have to endure on behalf of his people. So in this second servant song, why is the servant called Israel in verse 3? At a glance we may think that is the nation of Israel and truly there's some things in the text that would point to Israel. For example, Israel was chosen of God to be a servant. Isaiah 41 tells us that in verse 8, but thou art my servant, O Jacob, O Israel, the one that God had chosen. Isaiah 44, Isaiah 48-20, different places we've seen God uses the language toward Israel the nation as a chosen servant. Secondly, God says about this servant Israel the nation, like verse 3 here, that He will be glorified in this nation. Isaiah 43-7, you remember, He said concerning this nation. I have created thee, I have formed thee for My glory." So Israel the nation was chosen, Israel the nation was chosen for the glory of God. And furthermore, you may remember in Isaiah 43, 21, God says concerning the nation, this people have I formed for Myself, they shall show forth My praise, My glory, they will glorify Me. Well how do we know this is not Israel the nation? Because Isaiah 43, 22 says this, but you have not called on Me. They didn't do it. They failed in the vocation of a servant. And, of course, we see that over and over again in the Old Testament. And clearly we, by nature, are failures with regard to the law of God and with regard to the service of God by nature. That's one reason it's referring to the coming Messiah because this Savior, when you read Isaiah 49, this servant will be successful. He will not fail nor be discouraged, Isaiah 42 verse 4. Furthermore, Israel the nation in verse 3, if it were pointing to them, cannot likely gather itself together. Look at verse 5. and now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant." For what purpose? To bring Jacob back. Well, Jacob can't bring Jacob back, nor Israel bring Israel back. But the servant, the Messiah, can and will be the servant of Isaiah 42, Isaiah 49, Isaiah 50, and Isaiah 52 and 53, the suffering servant. So now let's look here in these six verses at this servant as a prophet. We see a suffering coming. We know of that. But here he speaks of himself as a prophet. And so this is how it goes. The servant will speak, God will speak. The servant will speak, God will speak. Now what I want you to see is how you in your own experience as a Christian may often engage in this kind of dialogue with God. Because although the title of servant of Jehovah was given to the Lord Jesus Christ, Philippians 2.7, He took upon Him the form of a servant. The title of servant of Jehovah was also given to Paul. He's the servant of Christ. It was also given to the New Testament saints, people like them, and also given to people like you, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. So what this Savior-Servant does, He reconstitutes Israel and re-identifies them as the true Israel of God, every believer. that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is the true servant of Jehovah. And so when we look at this servant and his dialogue with his God, we may often see some ways that we can learn as imperfect servants from the perfect servant. So let's look again at verse 1. The first thing we look at is the sword of this servant's ministry. Verse 1, listen, O Isles, this would be the islands, this is out to the nations, now the servant is speaking directly, listen to me. And hearken, ye people from far, the Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name. Like Jeremiah was mentioned in the bowels of his mother, in the womb, God ordained him as a prophet before his birth. Jesus was mentioned by the angel Gabriel to Mary And this Son that you'll bring forth, He shall save His people from their sins for His name will be Jesus." He is the prophet, priest, and king. Jesus was named from the womb like Jeremiah was. He was named here, ordained to be a prophet, verse 2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft, a select arrow in his quiver, where the arrows are kept, hath he hid me." So the servant speaking to the nation's firth says, God's called me, God's commissioned me, I am that prophet and the weaponry, the tools of my ministry are the weapons of primarily a sword but also arrows, two weapons. Now what's the difference in a sword and an arrow? And understand, children, even in Revelation 1.16, Jesus literally didn't have a sword coming out of His mouth, but the metaphor in the Bible is what? the sword of the Spirit, the truth of God was always permeating from His mouth. And so as a prophet, Jesus, His tools of ministry, His tool, as it were, would be the truth of God's glory. It would be the truth of God. And when you look at His ministry on earth, that's all He spoke was the truth of God. He was faithful to His Father who called Him to be a prophet. And therefore, as a prophet, God had made him, his mouth like a sword, hid him in the shadow of his hand. God had made him, leading up to his ministry, as a polished select arrow in the quiver he hath hid me." Now what's the difference in the two weapons? Well, if you're...if a Roman soldier is facing a soldier, an enemy at arm's length, An arrow is ineffective. Before you can get that thing in your bow and pull it, you're gone. He's at arm's length. So a sword in close range, a close-range weapon, is very effective. It's effective. Now, if your enemy is 30 yards away, you could throw a sword that far if it wasn't too heavy, but very ineffective because inaccurate. but an arrow is accurate, can hit the target. The truth in Jesus' mouth will be both effective and accurate with regard to verse 3, O Israel in whom I will be glorified, He will be very accurate, very effective in His ministry of truth in magnifying and glorifying God and He will be very effective and active and accurate with regard to the hearts of men. He's going to use the sword of His mouth, the arrows that will fly from His heart through His lips. pierce the hearts of men. Now of all the places we find in the Bible, there's more than one where the word is referred to as a sword or a sword out of Jesus' mouth. Consider Hebrews 4.12 when it speaks both of the Word of God in relation to a sword, but also as it relates to Christ. It refers to Him as if that Word and what it's doing is Him doing the work. And we know that when the Word of God does penetrate, it is Christ and His Word, the words He left us, the words that are recorded about Him, it's His truth ministering to the hearts of people for the glory of God. So listen to Hebrews 4.12, for the Word of God is quick and powerful, effective. That's what the word powerful means. Quick is living. It's living, it's active, it's operative, it's effective. How so? than any two-edged sword." Here's the participle, piercing, which tells us what? The way the Word of God is effective like a sword, penetrating. That's how you unpack that verse. Take note of participles, they're very helpful in interpretation. So the Word of God is living, it's effective, it's active. How? Like a sword. What does it do? It pierces and penetrates. Where does it go? piercing even to the dividing, there's a second participle. So he's still explaining what this sword is doing in piercing and penetrating, like a soldier who pierces right through a person's body. It's dividing asunder, even asunder, separating of the soul, the spirit, even to the joints and the marrow. As one writer put it, I agree, it seems to be that the joints and marrow are explaining the soul and the spirit. The joints are on the outside of the bone, it's the more tough part of the bone, but the marrow is that soft cellular material tissue inside. Now if a sword is not sharp enough, it goes through the person, sorry if you have a weak stomach, it glances off the bone. But if it's sharp, it penetrates the bone but maybe gets stuck, you know, in the chest, can't get it out. But if it's really sharp, it slices. piercing, dividing right through the joints, right through the marrow with great ease. Now, if the joints and the marrow are answering to soul and spirit, then the soul is that invisible part of you that's just who you are, the life of who you are by nature. The spirit, we would say, is that inner part, the new man. It's the Spirit. Now I know there are a lot of conversations on the challenges of breaking these two down, but when we stay with joints and marrow, the tough part versus the soft part, we say soul is who we are by nature, we all have a soul, every human being, but Spirit is that part of us that is the Holy Spirit. So the piercing of the sword comes, it divides. What does it divide? Discerning, here's third participle, the thoughts and the intents of your heart. In other words, which of my thoughts are from that old man fleshly and motives, and which one of my thoughts are from the Spirit of God to His glory? The Word of God can so penetrate you to tell you the thoughts of your heart. Are they God-glorifying or are they not? Is that old flesh or is it the new man? Now listen to how it refers to Jesus. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight. Contextually it's the high priest. Why does it speak of the Word of God as if it's Jesus Himself? Because it's His Word and when it is penetrating you, Jesus is penetrating you with the sword of His own mouth, whether it was written what He said on earth or the whole Bible which is His and testifies of Him. And so His ministry would pierce, it would penetrate, it would slice, not like Cyrus' sword and bow did, Isaiah 41, Cyrus would deliver the Israelites from Babylon with a deliverance that meant the people, the nations would be the dust to his sword and the stubble to his bow. I mean, he slaughtered people with nations, going back to Jerusalem. Jesus will release the prisoners, verse 9, with a sword that doesn't kill people. Yet it kills them. It slays us and convicts us and shows us what we are by nature. And then it shows us who Christ is and then it helps us by dividing asunder, separating, and even checking our thought life as it relates to this Messiah, the prophet, and tells us, are my words, are my thoughts in harmony? with the sword of his mouth, or is it that old man, the flesh, the soul, the part of me that still struggles against sin? So there are many other places, but this prophet was made to be like a sword coming out of his mouth. But there's another part that he'll be effective. It's not just the hearts of men, as it relates to the glory of God, it's the heart of Christ. and the glory of God. Because if a sword comes out of His mouth called truth, did not Jesus Himself testify in the gospels? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks? Every time Jesus spoke truth, there was something welling up in His heart. Now it wasn't penetrating His heart like it penetrates our heart, that there's sin there and there's things that need to be rooted out. Jesus had no sin. But look how his ministry of the sword of the spirit of the word in his heart was spoken of in Psalm 40 and what was there. If there was a root there, if there was something in his heart that overflowed when truth came out of his mouth, it wasn't that he just, you know, read Scripture and said what was in there, there was something else going on that tells us how he glorified God, how this servant glorified God. Psalm 40 verse 6, speaking of Him, the Messiah to come, sacrifice an offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened. This is Jesus talking. burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required? Then said I," here's the servant speaking, "'Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me.'" God was not interested in sacrifices as a means of atonement. He was not after the burnt offering. He was after a personal pronoun, I. Jesus said, I am The representation of what the sacrifices could never do. I mean, there's blood there, they slaughtered them, blood was spilled. Jesus shed His blood. Now, other than the difference in animal sacrifices and the God-man sacrificing being apparent and very clear, here's the one thing God wants you to see about the difference in animal sacrifices or anything you could sacrifice. Verse 8, I delight to do Your will. Animals don't delight to be slaughtered. You don't delight by nature to do His will. You're against it. You're an enemy of God by nature. Romans 8, 7 tells us. You're not subject to the law of God, neither can you be subject. You can't be. But Jesus delighted to do the will of the Lord. So when he spoke truth with the sword of his mouth, it was because he had an intimate relationship with God his Father. He delighted in God. That's why Isaiah says, he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword. This human being, the God-man, he studied the Bible, he studied Scripture, he was close to God. And he delighted in God. Now how close do you have to be in Psalm Isaiah 49 verse 2? He hath hid me under the shadow of His hand. If you're going to come under the shadow of my hand right now, you're going to have to be pretty close. He hath made me. My mouth is a sharp sword. He hath hid me under the shadow." Where is Jesus? Is He just out there speaking truth? You know, this is what I'm supposed to do. I'm the servant. I'm here. I'm doing it. No, I've been under the shadow of His hand. What about a quiver? He hath hid me as a quiver or as an arrow in His quiver. He hid me. Where is the quiver? On the side? On the back? It's close. Jesus, the perfect servant, did what Israel could never do, and you could never do, and that sacrifices and burnt offerings could never do, for God had no pleasure in them, but He had pleasure in the sacrifice of His Son because it was a willing sacrifice rooted in delight for the Father. He delighted to glorify God. He delighted in the truth of His God because it wasn't just an abstract truth to learn out of some old book that you dust off and roll it out. It was His Father. And so, He wasn't just penetrating truth with the hearts of men. It penetrated His own soul, not like it does ours, but as the penetrating tool of delight. Now, what came out of His mouth in Psalm 40? I delight to do Thy will, verse 8, O my God, yea, Thy law is within my heart, Verse 9, I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips...there's the truth...O Lord, You know. I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation. I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth from the great congregation. So in the ministry of this prophet, the servant Jesus Christ, as he went everywhere like a sword out of his mouth and arrows flying to the targets of men, know, beloved, that in his own heart he was enthralled, he delighted, he loved the God who was his father. And that is why Jesus fulfilled the law, not just outwardly, not just with His lips, not just with His mouth as a servant, but with His heart. The law of God was there like a treasure. It was there like a delight. It was there in communion with His Father. Now, seeing that Tools of His ministry was the sword of truth, the arrows of truth that was in His heart. How does that apply to you and me? Being imperfect servants, we have been redeemed by His heart, blood and life. Yet in Ephesians chapter 4, we see as the servants of God, we are to be people of truth and love like Jesus. That's why Paul says, I beseech you therefore, as the prison of the Lord, walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. What's your vocation? No, not that one. You're a servant of God. You've been redeemed to serve. So what's the weapons of your warfare? They're not carnal. They're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. What are those weapons? Look at how Paul says this regarding the church as he opens chapter 4 in Ephesians 4, that we are...this is our vocation which requires lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing and all that he says in the ensuing verses. He then says in verse 15, in the context of a local body or assembly, but speaking the truth in love. Who's that? You servants of God, like the prophet, different in that He's perfect and we're not, yet we have the title servants from His title, like Paul did, our vocation is servants, we speak truth and love. Now what does that mean? To speak the truth and love like Jesus means the truth you're speaking is for the glory of God. It's for His name and the love for God. And then it's love for neighbor. It's love for neighbor. If we speak truth without love, we're like the Pharisees. We rush in with the truth. We're critical. We're angry because we're building a kingdom and these people won't get on board. And I'm just so frustrated with these people. I mean, I spoke truth to that person. What didn't I say that was true? I mean, yeah, you said the truth. There's no love. Self-serving. What the Pharisees loved was their own kingdom. Did they not speak true things? Even Jesus said, when they speak the law, observe that, but don't do what they do. They just served themselves and they rushed on the scene just saying, truth, truth, truth. Now, it was distorted much of the time, but when they spoke the law, it was true. What was the problem? They're just beating people down, so frustrated with people because you're not on board with my kingdom. And they're serving self. What about love without truth? Maybe this is the greater problem. Love without truth won't say anything. You won't say anything because your love has been distorted and it has no truth in it. See? When love speaks with truth, the truth is God's glory. So the best thing you could say to somebody and love them is what is true, even though it will mean it's probably hard, and this is going to be very tense. Paul said, am I your enemy because I tell you the truth? Well, yeah, they were, but he was speaking truth and love. Beloved, if we don't speak because it's easier to take a meal to someone or mow their lawn, but the truth is there's something wrong I love God and His glory, and I love my brother, so I've got to speak." Or you don't love. Oh, how we often define love in terms of our own man-centered definitions. We all struggle with that. We're the product of our society, largely. We know how guilt people will try to make you feel if you say the right thing that's God-glorifying that that person needs to hear. He's like, am I doing the wrong thing? Truth and love are inextricably linked. You cannot sever them, and Jesus never severed them. We often do. Now, I ask myself sometimes, because I'm like this person, you know, truth is hard for me to receive. Why am I like that sometimes? Well, because of verse 14. That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, sometimes I'm deceived. And I think, spiritual immaturity, like a little toddler, you ever wonder why a toddler, they pick up something and they get this dumbfounded look? All of a sudden, right into the mouth. It's because at the table, mom and dad gave me something that was so delightful and made me so happy, I think this will do the same thing. It's such a shiny knife, it looks so pretty, right? You just think, this is going to make me happy. Spiritual immaturity is deception. How are we going to guard against that? Somebody's got to say, little Johnny now, no, if you put that in your mouth, it's going to cause some problems. Now, you're going to say, well, he seems to be enjoying it. I mean, I think I'm loving if I just let him, you know, jab it. No, you know that's not true. See, when we are spiritually immature at times, we think every wind of doctrine, think of wind as thrilling, rushing, enthralling, comes in, we suck it down. Somebody needs to speak truth and love when it's not in sync with the Word of God. If it's just your opinion, well, you can share that, but you can't put that over someone and guilt them because you gave them your opinion. It's got to be thus saith the Lord. When we're speaking the truth in love to one another, we're growing up. And then somebody comes with an enthralling wind of doctrine and you say, I'm satisfied with the truth of Jesus. because we've been building each other up. And then what happens? The whole body from Jesus is fitly joined together and it's compacted by that which every joint is supplying according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, every single part, maketh increase of the body unto edifying itself in love. Wow! You've heard that a thousand times. But are you shaping your life into that? I confess, beloved, some of the hardest things I've ever had to do is both to receive the truth in love, I've had to receive that many times, and that first old man just gets up and, you know, wants to... And by the grace of God, I needed that. And then to say it is so hard. We get fearful. You know, what if they do this? Or what if they do that? What if God... You know, that usually doesn't come into my... What if that person doesn't like me? What if that... What if God... What of God? We are the servants of Jehovah, which means we need the Holy Spirit. He's the effectual working. He's the one that's working. The body in verse 12 is built up for maturity of the saints so they can work in ministry. So they say, I like ministry. I want to do ministry. As one man said, so many times we want to change the world but nobody wants to wash the dishes or pick up a mop and start mopping the floor. Why is that true? Why have we taken this ministry work, which means an attendant of menial tasks, and made it some great exalted thing even above what Jesus did? Will Christians do great things? Yes, wonderfully. I'm just probably not going to be one of them like that, right? Anybody that serves the Lord is doing a great thing in glorifying God, but not like that. I'm not going to be that person. Maybe you will. Maybe you will. So, for the maturing of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ building up, what do we do? What do we do? Speak truth in love and you follow that great servant, the one that died for you and redeemed you, Jesus Christ, because you have His title given to you. You're imperfect. We get that wrong a lot. But here's the task in trusting Jesus to speak truth in love. In love. Secondly, Isaiah 49. Not only the servant's sword, his weapons in ministry, we see now the servant's struggle in ministry. His struggle. Now this one at first sort of had to chew on this a bit, I've never really thought of Jesus thinking this way, but He responds to verse 3. So verse 3, God said unto Him, He said unto me, You are My servant, O Israel, and you're going to glorify Me. For which Jesus responds and says, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for naught and in vain." So, beloved, I take that to mean Jesus had this thought at least once, maybe more than one time. And the language goes like this, I have failed. The word vain means to no purpose. See, answer to verse 3, you're my prophet, you're going to glorify me. He gets in his ministry and says, has God called me to be a failure? I've spent my strength being a prophet. worthless, wasted time. I don't know about you, but I don't even like to think of such words in relation to Jesus' name, but Jesus Himself, He's looking at His earthly ministry, remember, He's in His ministry, He looks around and says, as if any human being would, have I done this in vain? Is it not working? What are we to take from this? A few things. One, we must remember His humanity. He is a man. He would think in many ways, not sinfully, but He would have the same pondering you do. God doesn't condemn us for pondering things, it's the response to our questions that leads us away from Him. We're going to see Jesus' response to His own thoughts is righteous. He's a human. That means His life was not scripted. For example, God being the producer of this drama called Redemption, says, okay, here's what you're going to do. When you come to Lazarus' tomb, I want you to face the tomb and here's your script and you're going to say this to Martha, she's going to say this to you, and then I want you to cry. Okay. All right. Make it a good one. No, He's a man. He wept for the same reason you would wept. Although this sovereign God was going to raise Him from the dead, He emotionally, physiologically, and psychology was just like you, psychologically, except no sin. He had a heart, he had blood, he had hunger pains. It was not scripted. When he wept over Jerusalem, he wasn't reading his lines. It wasn't scripted. And so when he had these thoughts, these were not scripted thoughts, he, as a man, pondered the scene, he looked on the scene, and as a human being looked at it and said, wait a minute, I'm supposed to glorify God, I'm a prophet and I'm looking at the scene here and something's not right. Am I called to be a failure? Is this in vain? Secondly, it's referring to his ministry, not his death. Now think about it. Did his ministry look like a failure? Yes, it did. Think about it. He's baptized. In Luke chapter 3, the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove and God says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. What does He say? Hear Him. What's that, prophet? You listen to this prophet. He goes in the power of the Spirit and then He's going to affirm that He's the true Israel by the test in the wilderness. How so? Forty years in the wilderness, forty days and nights in the wilderness. Tested forty years in the wilderness, tested by God in the wilderness. Tested by being hungry, tested by being hungry. At the end of forty years, Deuteronomy. At the end of forty days, Deuteronomy, three times. At the end of 40 years, failure because man was living by something more than bread? Everything they had was what they wanted besides God. At the end of 40 days and 40 nights, the true servant was not living by bread only, but by every word that came out of the mouth of God because it came out of his heart like a sword. He loved it. He said, get behind me, Satan. You don't have anything in me or on me. What power He came out of that temptation. In the power of the Spirit, He goes into the synagogue because He was sent to the Jews, and what does He do? As a sharp sword, the words come from Isaiah. Now just think if in His humanity, I am filled with the Spirit, I'm ready. He gave Him the words, He closed the book, He sat down obviously saying, I'm the man and it was absolutely true. He said it just right. Even they said, what words, what gracious words, so nobody could pin on Him. He's just speaking truth, there's no love. They marveled at how He spoke. As the sword kept coming out of his mouth, they rushed him to the brow of a hill and were going to throw him off headlong." Wow! Have I labored in vain? You call me as a prophet to glorify you and I'm telling the truth and they're trying to kill me. Okay, let's just hypothetically say, okay, he keeps going in ministry, then all of a sudden it looks like there's another revival, right? John chapter 6. He gives the miracle sign, He's the Messiah, 5,000 are fed, and they start searching. They go over the lake of Gennesaret, or Galilee, and they find Him. And then what does He do? Sword. He just speaks truth with love, the gracious words of Christ. At the end of that, all 5,000 depart. Have I labored in vain? Have I wasted my strength? I'm a prophet. I love God and his word. I'm speaking the truth and they're trying to kill me. And 5,000 come, 5,000 go. I'm left with 12. Keeps ministering. And there are occasions like that through his ministry. Then it comes to the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And it looks like another revival. So people start throwing palm branches and saying, Hosanna to the king. He's the king. Okay, it's looking good. Then he goes to the temple and he unpacks the sword. He's a prophet. At the end of unpacking the sword, the same people that praised him kill him. Apparently, Jesus had this thought at least once, and the thought wasn't sinful because he countered it with his God. Have I labored in vain? Has God called me to be a failure? No. It only looked that way. Three reasons. Three reasons it only looked that way. Number one is in verse five. Look at what the goal of the prophet was with the sword of the Spirit. And now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob again to him, though Israel be not gathered." So he's in his ministry, he's thinking, Israel's not being gathered. I'm supposed to bring them back. Am I a failure? No. Why? Verse 6, he said, it is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. The remnant. God ordained the rejection of the Messiah. That's why it looked like He was failing. He wasn't failing. It was according to plan. It was only the remnant of Israel that He was to gather and His death would gather them. His ministry was not designed to gather all of Israel, but to preserve. That's number one. It just looked like it. Now, he's a human, and he looked at this and says, he's trusting God. He says, God, is this what's happening? We'll see what his response was in a minute. The second reason, it is a small thing for you just to get this remnant. I've got bigger plans, God says. You're going to be a light to the nations. That's why he was rejected by the Jews, according to Romans 11. He would first be rejected by the Jews for the coming into the Gentiles for which then the Jews will once again receive him in the end times. Romans 11. All right according to plan. He's not a failure. His ministry is not a failure because he's gathering the preserved of Israel and the whole plan was the rejection, the fullness of the Gentiles. It just looked like he was failing. Listen to Jesus in John 10, 15 and 16, or 14 and 15, one of the two. Jesus said, as the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father, I lay down my life for the sheep. and other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. They shall hear My voice, there shall be one fold and one shepherd." Who are the other sheep? The Gentiles of Isaiah 49.6, the nations. Who are the first set of sheep? The Israelites, the preserved, the remnant, according to the election of grace. Now if Jesus says, I also must bring the Gentiles, that means He is going to bring the preserved. So His ministry was in no way a failure. He brought and is bringing these people by His death. It was not the design of God for Him to bring all these Israelites in His ministry. but through death. Thirdly, He was sent to gather in the long term, not the short. When is the end of the earth going to be the end? At the end of the earth. The commission goes on. It's long, slow, just like Jesus' ministry. Right? Jesus now, through His death, His heavenly ministry is gathering the sheep through His body which is the church, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. His ministry goes on through the success of His death by gathering in the preserved of Israel and the fullness of the nations until the end. A slow, steady process that Jesus understood. which is why he countered his thoughts, not countering a sinful thought, he just simply thought this. Then he went to his God and settled the question in faith and confidence, like when he prayed, nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done. Lord, if it be possible, got the answer, I'm ready to go. That's not sinful. The same is happening with this language here. Now, beloved, I ask you, how many times do you measure success on the fast and furious track? rather than slow, faithful, slow, faithful. I mean, when you look at the Bible, just to put it in simple terms, God is a slow God. Abraham waited and waited for years for the son. Noah, 120 years to build an ark. Come on, God, can't you just pop one? Let's get this flood thing going. Hannah, years for a son. Sarah, years. Israel waiting for the cloud to move before they move. Just waiting there in the wilderness, just in the wilderness. Waiting, waiting. Now, God does something promptly, we see in the Bible, but He's a slow God. He's got a plan, and it's not fast and furious. It's slow. And while we need to be eager with what God commands us, we need to remember the fruit, like the fruit of Jesus' ministry is over the long haul. Again, when I was at the Together for the Gospel conference, Mark Dever was speaking on the danger of fast and furious in the church. He gave an illustration that I want to share with you because it's just a good one. I can't improve on it. He said there was a man one time that created a beverage, introduced a beverage. It was a good drink. It was wonderful. It had great health benefits. And every time he introduced it, it just seemed like people loved it. It was wonderful. It was a marvelous drink. Well, it made some moderate kind of slow advancement. But these marketers came to him and said, don't you want this to go all over the world? Don't you want everybody to drink this? Yeah, I mean, that would be great. Leave it to us. All of a sudden. The distribution markets, the channels, the beverage was everywhere. People started drinking and after a while people would drink it and they were unimpressed. And that shocked the owner, because he said, every time somebody drank it, it's the most wonderful thing. Now they're not impressed. So he rushed to the grocery store, the closest one. He grabbed a bottle, drank it, and then he knew what happened. In order to be fast and furious, they diluted the drink. It's a good drink. People kept drinking it. There was nothing special about it. Now the owner has a greater problem. Because the drink has been so saturated with a diluted kind of beverage, how is he going to convince people that that's not really the real thing? Really hard now. No, that version, I know it says all these things, but this is the real one. I mean, I've got a drink, I'm okay. Major problem. He exhorted the 10,000 pastors not to get on the track of a marketing, fast and furious gospel. It's dangerous. What did Jesus say? Have I labored? There are not many people following. Jesus has two response He can do here. He can quit. I've had it. I thought I was a prophet and I was supposed to glorify you. Nobody's following. They all leave me." Or he can dilute his sword. I'm going to dull these edges and I'm going to make it not so sharp because people aren't... I want them to follow and he dilutes the beverage and he gets crowds and crowds and masses. And God is not glorified. Not. Why didn't He do that? Why are we susceptible? You ever had that thought? This is true, but I know it's probably not going to be received, so we have great food at our church, you know. I'll tell you why He didn't do it. There are two yets. The first yet is in verse 4, and the second yet is in verse 5, and this is why Jesus was not a failure and didn't get discouraged." Verse 4, then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught and in vain, yet...yet. See, he countered that thought, it wasn't a sinful thought, he just thought, am I failing? Yet, surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work with my God. Those two words mean my right and my reward. Look at the second yet, verse 5, and now saith the Lord that for me from the womb to be His servant to bring Jacob again to Him, though Israel be not gathered in my ministry, they're not being gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord. In other words, I will glorify the Lord. And my God shall be my strength, which brings us to the last point, the servant's strength of endurance. What do you do when people are just trying to kill you? Again, you quit or you just change it. You just change your message. You dilute it. And Jesus would have never died. But because of these two yets, my right and my reward is with the Lord. I shall be glorified in the sight of the Lord. I shall be resurrected. That is His strength. Or in Hebrews 12, 2, it says, for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. Despising the shame, it is set down at the right hand of the majesty on high. What is that telling us? Beloved, you must have joy in ministry and it cannot be the joy of people. If Jesus' joy set before Him were the twelve apostles, one was a devil, the eleven left Him. Where is His joy? It's not there. If your joy in ministering is in the ministering to the people, you will quit long term. If like Jesus in the face of opposition, the face of not growth, who doesn't want growth? Jesus didn't have it. You can say, yet, if this is in harmony with God's Word, His life was, yet my right, my reward is with the Lord. What did He mean, I shall be glorious? The second yet answers to the first two. My right, my reward, my vindication and my reward is in the resurrection because that is when I will be glorified in the eyes of the Lord, right? Didn't Jesus pray that in John 17 3? Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with your presence, with your sight, with your eyes, with the glory I had with thee before the world began. What was His vindication? When it looked like it, I said, what a failure. He couldn't even gather Israel. He's vindicated in the resurrection, and He's restored. He's glorified in the sight of the Lord. He's at the right hand of God, and He has joy and pleasure forever. What held Him on the cross? His right and His reward. If he didn't have that, he would have said, I failed, it's over, nobody's following, nobody's listening. But there was a yet, is there a yet in your ministry, your service? Yeah, mopping the floor and sweeping the floors. These people don't ever, they don't ever recognize, I'm working so hard. Your vindication, your reward is Christ. His reward was His Father, your reward is Christ. Notwithstanding their rejection, they are culpable and accountable, and who's wrong? But Jesus, being a prophet, was not dependent on their performance. He was dependent on God's performance to Him and through Him. And so joy sustained his ministry, a kind of joy in difficulty and sorrow and pain that he had set before him, that he would be glorified, he would be with the Lord, he would see his Father again, and he would be there ministering in his heavenly minister through us today in this long, slow, sometimes revival, often not in the history of Christianity. Two great awakenings. One, true revival because they used the means that God ordained to bring about revival. One, not so true revival because they used fast and furious to get there, so it wasn't true. Friends, you can't bring a conversion. We know that, right? You can't do it. You can mark it till the cows come home. Just stick with the beverage of the gospel and let God do His work. We don't need that. Should we be urgent? When there's slow, moderate growth, or when there's genuine revival, we rejoice in both. Because the joy of the Lord was His strength, the servant's strength, the joy of the Lord must be our strength. Do you ever think, my labor's in vain, mother? Do you ever think that? I'm just laboring. It's in vain. Dad, do you ever think that? Just labor. Are you on the fast and furious track? Jesus said, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it lives alone. But if it die, it bears much fruit. Jesus got his fruit after the seed of his life went into the ground, the seed sprouted. Do you know it may be that way in your life? The fruit of your life may not show itself until you're under the ground and then the seed sprouts. That's what Jesus said in John 4. You labored, other people you're benefiting from their labor. See, we've got to think long term. I'm not making excuses for failure here. Long term. Perseverance. Staying with it. How are you going to stay with it? How did Jesus? My God shall be my strength because my God is my right and my God is my vindication and my God is my exceeding reward. And therefore He endured. Or as Asaph says, Asaph in Psalm 73, he says, Who in heaven do I have but Thee and there's none on earth I desire beside Thee? My flesh and my heart is failing. But God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever. What did Jesus do? It seems like it's all failing. God is the strength of my heart. He's my portion. He's my inheritance forever. And he knew that God ordained his success through the means of looking like he was a failure. Do you know as a Christian that's true of you? God ordained success in the kingdom, it's going to look like your failure. Much of the time it's going to look that way. The problem with that is I don't really like looking like a failure. Right? Jesus must have been confronted with this thought because He said He was. This is what I said. Yet. Yet. Is there a yet in your life? You say, well, I'm laboring and laboring. Do you claim the promise of 1 Corinthians 15 about the 58th verse? Therefore, because of His right and reward, His resurrection, therefore be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know, your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Because His labor was not in vain, your labor is not in vain. Now notice it doesn't say abounding in the work and making sure all this fruit comes out of it right away. No, just abound. Stay with it. It will not be in vain because God will insure it, maybe in the next generation, maybe in the next. The only way, beloved, to live a life in vanity and wasted is without Christ and without relationship to Him. If you're a believer and you're worshiping and following Christ, your labor in the kingdom cannot be in vain. I don't care if it's just sweeping the floor. If you give a cup of cold water in the name of Christ, you will not lose your right and your reward...your reward, Jesus says. So be encouraged. Don't despise the day of small things. And if something big breaks out that's genuine, be glad...be glad. But let us not do as Jesus did not do. He didn't do that. He didn't quit. He didn't change it. He didn't do whatever he could to make the truth more palatable, which means people are unimpressed. He simply stayed with the prophet he was supposed to be, called to have a sharp sword going out of his mouth. That was the tools of his ministry. Called to glorify God through what appeared to be failure, only appearance. We saw it really wasn't. He's successful. He shall see the travail of the soul and be satisfied. He's going to get every preserved Israelite, every Gentile that's His, every true Israelite. So it just looked like it. And then His strength, the servant's strength is our strength. The joy of the Lord is the strength of endurance. When nobody sees you sweep, maybe nobody helps you. Maybe nobody cares. Jesus cares. May He be our strength. Let's pray.