Speaking many, many years before the coming of the Savior. This is one of those chapters where he is clearly speaking about the Savior. Give your attention now as this is a reading of God's Holy Word. The first 13 verses of chapter 42. Behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out nor raise his voice nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break and smoking flax he will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands shall wait for his law. Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it, I the Lord have called you in righteousness and I will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people and as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carved images, Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare, before they spring forth I tell you of them. Sing to the Lord a new song, and his praise from the ends of the earth. You who go down to the sea and all that is in it, you coastlands and all the inhabitants of them, let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice. The villages that Kedar inhabits, let the inhabitants of Sila sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord and declare his praise to the coastlands. The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man He shall stir up his zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud. He shall prevail against his enemies. Just that far in the reading of the word this evening. May that word dwell in our hearts richly. Let's once again approach the throne of grace. O Lord our God, as we have sung your praise and read your word and given you part of what you have blessed us with, We now would worship you by hearing your word preached, and though we've heard many a sermon, we pray, Father, that you would give us spiritual ears tuned to hear your word, hearts made ready to receive that word, and a will to apply that word where it needs to be applied, and so live it to the praise and glory of Christ, in whose name we pray, amen. Well, the last two verses of chapter 41 actually speak about the utter failure of man's hope from man. Notice verse 28 of chapter 41. I looked and there was no man. I looked among them, but there was no counselor who, when I asked of them, could answer a word. Indeed, they are all worthless. Their works are nothing. Their molded images are wind and confusion. the psalmist I mean Isaiah is saying there in those verses there's no hope looking to man there's no future many of you here tonight will not remember you were too young but 2000 the year 2000 there was the Y2K scare remember that and there were people that were storing water and buying generators and buying food to last for 15 years, meals ready to eat. Have you ever eaten one of those things? If you eat them every day for a week, you're pretty fed up with them. People were doing that stuff, stocking in all kinds of stuff because we were told that at 1201, the world was going to end. Computers were going to stop working. Televisions wouldn't work. The power grid was going to fail. And you were going to be on your own. Well, of course, January 1st, the year 2000, actually, January 2nd that year was a Sunday. And I remember saying something similar to this that very day, saying, well, here we are. and the world hasn't stopped. You know there have been chicken middles every generation. Now that today the world is functioning just fine, now what is the modern kind of same thing that's going on? Nobody's threatening the world's going to fall apart, but if you watch the news today and you see what people are saying about ISIS, There's a strain in some of the news reports that ISIS is about to end the world, as we know it. And if they take one more city, forget it, America's done, and the world is going to end. And we're being told that. Somewhere along the line, somebody's going to have to apologize for whipping people up into a frenzy about end-time speculation and the last times being here, and the world's going to fall, and the sky is falling, and nobody seems to be trusting the providence of God at all. You know, ISIS is not the first terror that the world has known, and unfortunately it probably won't be the last before the Lord comes back. And what is the answer to these dire predictions of the world out of control. Behold, the Lamb of God. There is never a bad time to do this. Never a bad time to think about God, whether it's at the beginning of the year, the end of the year, April time around Easter, there's always a good time. And when the experts cannot get it right, And everything looks dark and scary when doubt and fear arise, and when all other saviors fail, look to God and look to Jesus. Look to the one that God has called His elect one. Our great comfort in whatever time we're in is simply this, the Lord Jesus Christ is always to be beheld, to be understood, to be looked to, behold my servant, not the wisdom of the world, not those who might have a stake in the Y2K scare, you know there were an awful lot of people, I know a guy who bought six generators, six, and by the end of February he'd sold five of them. because it was just silly. There are people that have a stake in whipping up a frenzy sometimes and we have to be careful. Looking under Jesus with the eyes of faith, you will behold the wisdom of God and not be overwhelmed by the foolishness of the world. If you have been troubled by the times, if you're looking into the future with dread, I compel you to look up and to look at Jesus, who is sitting at the right hand of God, and He will not be moved by all the dire predictions. There He sits. He's not anxious about the day that He's coming back. He's not even asking about it. He's not inquiring about it. And if you will behold Him, Your fears will melt away and sorrow will be swallowed up in majesty as you behold the Lord Jesus. So as we think about the future, what is it that Jesus can fail to do? Isaiah says here in verse 4, He will not fail, nor be discouraged. Jesus came to do a work. And He has not failed to finish that work. And He will fulfill that work completely. Isaiah prophesied about it years and years before it happened. Then Jesus came. And the earth is going to be delivered. There is coming a day when the foolish wisdom of this world, the rule of sin, and the constant drone of death is going to disappear. There is coming a day. I still believe the truth that we sing in that hymn, Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does its successive journeys run. His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, to moons shall wax and wane no more. There's coming a day when that's going to happen. The Lord came to save His own. And He is going to save every single one of them. Why has Jesus not returned? He hasn't saved every single one of them yet. And every birth is the possibility that that's the last one. And in much the same way, by the way, in much the same way that every Jewish woman looked at a pregnant Jewish woman thinking, she might be carrying the Messiah. We could literally be looking at every pregnant woman that you ever know and thinking that might be the last elect person in the world. But that's about all that we ought to think about. And not think about, well, maybe, okay, you know, by Y3K or some other date that we pick. No, foolishness. God is going to save every single one of them. And His second coming is not scheduled for a particular date that man knows of or can plan for, ever. And if you look back in the history of the world, they planned it over and over again. Many false prophets, if you will, or error-ridden people have predicted the end of the world. And here we are in 2015. You know, when we were in high school, we were reading a book by George Orwell, not H.G. Wells, I almost said H.G. Wells, by George Orwell called 1984. And all of us who were in school in 1976 were like, we're going to be here, we're going to see all this happen. 1984 came and went and we went, wait a minute, I haven't sold a bill of goods here, this didn't happen. And then we were told, no, that's going to happen, but it's going to happen at Y2K. that didn't happen again and now we're being told all those same kind of things look God has a plan and on the day that he has appointed remember Jesus told his disciples the father hadn't even told me the son that's what one of those hard things to understand how is it that he doesn't know the day and the hour he's talking humanly speaking Brothers and sisters, we can get caught up in any time scenario, but this passage, he will not fail nor be discouraged. Our Lord is not concerned about ISIS anymore. I'm not saying he's not concerned, but he's not concerned about ISIS anymore than he was about Hitler or Stalin or Caligula or Nero. Because he has a plan. Which end time scenario is going to be played out in history? You know, one of the interesting things when you Google just about anything these days, I still like to look at is the number of hits. I googled something the other day and I looked up there and it said 2,785,856 hits on whatever it was I was googling. And I thought, I could look at every single one of those sites and would never finish getting through those sites. There's so much information out there. Well, when it comes to end time prophecies, there's about that many pages of stuff to wade through. Will the world grow darker and darker until he comes? Well, there are many passages in the Bible that seem to indicate that. Will the world grow brighter and brighter through the preaching of the word and multitudes be converted, maybe even whole nations be converted? Well, there are passages in the Bible that speak of that possibility as well. But can the prophets of the end times map out which is yet to be and explain what is yet to come? The Lord will come again. And brothers and sisters, that is about all that anyone can really know for certain. He's coming again. You best be ready. That's the pan mill version. It's going to all pan out. Never mind the pre, the post, the middle, or whatever. It's going to work out. It's going to work out perfectly God's way. In fact, the Bible says in the hour that you think not, the Lord comes. Anybody think He's coming in the next hour? It's conceivable. It might be another thousand years. Or two thousand. It is interesting. Some people make a big deal out of this. It seems like when you look at world history from the Bible perspective, about every 2,000 years, there was a big deal. That's why the Y2K thing got so crazy. Because everybody said, you know what the latest is now? You want me to lay it on you so you can worry about this? The latest is that they had the calendar wrong. And the Y2K thing is not going to happen until 2033. Why would it be 33? It's when Jesus died. And that's one of the big theories. You don't have to worry about it. 2033, it's all over. That's what some people are telling you. That kind of stuff is just foolish. Now, if that's what the Lord's plan is, great. We'll say, hey, it was 2033. Somebody had it right. But that's going to be a shot in the dark guess, because God hasn't told anybody. It's pretty clear that truth and righteousness are going to win the day. In other words, the Bible says war will cease, and Jehovah will be God of the whole earth. That's what the Bible tells us. This sin-polluted earth is going to be cleaned up In fact, it's going to be so cleaned up it's not going to exist. It's going to be a new heavens and a new earth where sin and death do not reign. And Jesus is not going to rest until He subdues all things and conquers all His and our enemies. That's the promise of the Bible. The specifics you can leave to God. You don't need to know them all. This passage tells us there is no failure in Christ. Whatever might have happened and whatever may happen in the next 100 years, no matter what, you ought to read verses 6 and 7 of this chapter often in the next 12 months or the next 12 years. I the Lord have called you, that's speaking about Christ, in righteousness. and will hold your hand, and I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. You have to be encouraged. That's to go on in every generation until the last one. And that's our business. to preach Christ, to turn those hard hearts into hearts that praise Jesus. Jesus is God's gift to us. God's gift to a fallen world, a world that is in darkness. Here's the light that shines. He has come, in fact, to make you see. And maybe you're somebody who says, but I can't see him the way you speak of him, preacher. I don't see it. I'm blind to this vision of Christ. Well, then all you need to do is ask Him. Do you know that every time that Jesus was accosted by a blind person, He stopped and gave them sight? Every single time in the Bible that we're told somebody cried out. I love that Bartimaeus one where he cries out, Son of David, have mercy on me. And the people are saying, leave him alone. He doesn't have time for you. Just leave him alone. He cries out even louder. And I love in one of the Gospels I pass it says, Jesus stood still. He heard his voice and he stopped. He gave Bartimaeus his sight. If Jesus asks you, what would you have me do for you? Answer him. Let me have eyes to see you. Let me have eyes to understand you. Let me have a heart that accepts you and makes room for you. There is wisdom of God in Jesus Christ and He can take the scales off your eyes in a moment. He can flood your dark world with the light of glory. And it doesn't matter who you are. You might say, but I'm worse than you could ever know. I'm locked in a prison of sin. I'm locked in a habit of failure. He has come to break the bars of that prison that holds you. Because brothers and sisters, as far as Jesus is concerned, whatever bars of a prison that you think you're in, they're made of straw. And He has come to set you at liberty. He has come to make you free. He has come to give you eyes to see and release you from that darkness and bring you out of that prison house. Whatever your excuse has been, if you would only trust Him. Trust Him, you cannot fail. Trust Him by whom all things are possible, the One who made the stars, the One who comes to die for His own sheep. Even your case, whatever that case may be, if you dare to believe that Jesus has not failed, He will not fail. He cannot fail to save to the uttermost. anyone who believes in Him. What is the real wisdom that we need in these confusing times? It goes back to a couple of different passages, but Job 28.28 says, Behold the fear of the Lord. That is wisdom. If you want to know how to understand our times and the confusing days, Job 28.28 says, Get the fear of the Lord. This is the resolution of timeless values. Get the wisdom of God. Here is what will sustain you in the darkest of days. Get wisdom. Preserve wisdom. Keep wisdom. But make sure it's the wisdom of God and not the wisdom of the world. Make sure that you're not awed by the prophets of doom who don't know the prophet of wisdom. Where can you find that wisdom? What steps must you take hold of to get a hold of this gift? We started it in the very first verse of chapter 42. Behold my elect one. That's how we get this. There are at least two, maybe there are more, but at least two prerequisites, it's hard to say, prerequisites for getting this wisdom according to scripture. The first is that you must learn to reverence God. There's Job 28.28 and also Psalm 111 verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Want to know where to start? Get a healthy fear of God. Know who God is. He's an awesome God. He's an incredible God, a big God, a holy God. And not until you become humble and teachable and standing in the awe of God's holiness and sovereignty and majesty will you ever be wise. And if you just listen to every Fox News alert, If you just read every latest blog, if you're just overwhelmed by the latest news, you'll never have that peace that passes understanding. No, behold my servant, not until you acknowledge your own smallness, not until you distrust your own thoughts, not until you recognize you have a sin problem, will you look to God for the solution. Not until you are willing to have your mind turned upside down by the wisdom of God will you ever have the peace that you're looking for. It's too bad that so many Christians spend a great deal of time so proud and conceited that they can never gain the wisdom from God at all. It's not for nothing that the Scripture says in Proverbs 11, verse 2, with the humble, is wisdom, real wisdom. There must be a reverence for God. Psalm 89 verse 7, God is to be greatly feared in the assembly of the saints and to be held in reverence by all those around him. Thomas Adams said, never tell me of a humble heart where I see a stubborn knee. That was Thomas Adams' way of saying, if you won't worship God, you don't have a humble heart. If you won't worship the living God, you are far from wisdom. You think it is enough, brothers and sisters, to give Christ a little honor? to give it a little reference, a little respect, but God the Father in creation, in redemption, in the atonement, in the judgment, in all of these things, God the Father says, Christ is my all in all. He is everything. Everything that the creation is pointing to is Christ. Everything that the prophets were talking about is Christ. Everything that the law is talking about is Christ. Everything that the temple illustrates is Christ. It's always been about Him. You must learn to reverence God. And then secondly, you must learn to receive God's Word. Wisdom is found only in those who apply themselves to God's revelation, to God's word. In fact, the psalmist sings in Psalm 119, 98, and 99, your commands make me wiser than my enemies. And over and over again in Psalm 119, he says similar things. It's your statutes that give me a direction. It's your judgments that I need to live my life. In fact, he says in another place, I have more insight than all my teachers. Why? I meditate on your statutes. If you want to be really wise, you need to receive His Word. Richard Baxter said this, you think that you serve God by coming to church, but if you refuse to let the word convert you, how will God be pleased with such service? Every time you hear the word while you deny God in your heart and remain unconverted, you despise God and show your rebellion God commands you to come to church and to hear his word, and in this you do well. But more, he charges you to let the word work on your heart, to take it home, to think about it, and to obey it. That's a good word from Baxter. And so Saul, or Paul rather, Saul, who became Paul, admonishes the Colossians, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, with all wisdom, he says. How are you doing in this 21st century? We're well into it. I remember, you know, thinking, I don't know, 2005. Wow, we're five years into that new millennium. And now here we are, 15 years into that new millennium. It's a shocking thing. Wait, 15 years. Catherine, you were born in 2000? Is that right? That's unbelievable to me. And yet life goes on. Life continues. And we do not know when that time is coming. How can you get this rich wisdom? Brothers and sisters, it's as simple as beholding the Lord. How do you behold the Lord? Well, the only way we behold Him, we can't hold Him by the feet. We can't sit at His feet like Martha did. We can't walk with Him for three years like the apostles did. We're not going to do that. We don't have the apostles coming into our churches and teaching us. No, the way we behold Him is in His Word. by soaking yourself in the Word, in the Word itself. Paul told Timothy that he was to have this mind, have this mind alone. And when Paul was telling Timothy that, what was he talking about? Brothers and sisters, he was talking about the Old Testament. Paul wasn't handing him a stack of his own letters. He was telling him to read about Christ in the Old Testament. To make you wise unto salvation, you need to know Christ. And he was saying to Timothy, you can find Christ in the Old Testament. Thoroughly equip you. Make you ready to do every good work. How much time in these dark days are you giving to Christ's Word? Many profess to be Christ's who never learn wisdom, because they never give sufficient time to God's Word. I think I've used this illustration before, but those of you that drink tea know, when you have a cup of hot water, you don't take a tea bag and go like that, and say, well there, there's your cup of tea. No, you put the tea in the water, you let it soak for a certain amount of time, and depending on what kind of tea it is, you leave it in there longer, shorter, Leave it in too long, it's not too good. Leave it in there just right, perfect. Brothers and sisters, too many people are dipping in the Word. They're just dipping in the Word. They're not soaking in it. Because what happens to that tea? The tea gets in the water, doesn't it? And the water gets into the tea until they almost become that one. And we are to soak in that Word. Do you remember when Esther was to come before the king? There is an interesting description there that says she spent six months in preparation. Remember? Three months with this kind of perfume and three months with that kind of oil. So that by the end of the six months when Esther was dressed and walked by When she walked by, don't you think the king went, ooh, somebody smells terrific? because she had the odor of that perfume. Now we all know there every now and then there's some dear lady who has just a little too much or even a guy who has just a little too much aftershave on him and it's not, but there are times when people walk by you. Oh, what's, what is that perfume you're wearing? Because it's very pleasing. Well, brothers and sisters, what is the aroma that we are giving off as Christians? If we're soaked in the Word of God. In fact, there's that passage that says, to some we are an aroma of life and to others we are an aroma of death. We are to be having that aroma about us because the Word has gotten into us and we have gotten into the Word and so we are there and doing it. Now they say that William Gouge or Gouge I think it's Gouge, the Puritan. They say that William Gouge read 15 chapters of the Bible regularly every day. That's a lot of reading of the Bible. And if I understand the routine of Gouge, this is a guy who went to bed early and got up at 4 a.m. virtually every morning, and did more work before breakfast than a lot of people do the rest of the day. He's an interesting character. Brothers and sisters, there are ways for you to read through the Bible in a year. There are so many different schemes to help you do that. How long is it since you read right through the Bible? Have you ever done so? Have you ever read through the whole Bible? T.C. Hammond, another long time ago preacher, used to read through the Bible once a quarter. once a quarter that means he read through the Bible four times a year that's dedication I have on two occasions determined to read through the Bible twice in one year and have failed both times but I have read through the Bible again not to just not to brag but just to say it can be done if you have a plan I've read through the Bible 21 times in the last 23 years. It can be done. It has to become part of your habit. Now, if you're not going to read through the Bible in a year, you could just be reading one chapter a day, five days a week. And I ask you, would that be more than you're doing now? Are you soaking in the Word? J. I. Packer in the book Knowing God said, What fools some Christians are, and remain fools all their lives, simply because they will not take the trouble to do what has to be done to receive the wisdom which is God's free gift in His ever-living Word. the Lamb of God, when the world is looking for answers in all the wrong places, when the next crisis comes of worldwide proportions, whatever that might be, rather than getting all distraught, look up, for your redemption draws nigh in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who never fails. He can make you see it, He can make you know it. He can make you wise unto salvation. And brothers and sisters, I just came to mind that song in the Annie. The sun will come out tomorrow. Maybe not tomorrow, but the next day. The sun will come out again. And another generation will come. And another season will turn. And tomorrow will come until Jesus returns for His bride. He's coming back. Stop worrying about when, how, because the Bible says this. Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts. No more let sin and sorrows grow. He makes, He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found. And He removes that curse far as the East is from the West. in the person and work of Jesus. Our God reigns. Behold the Lamb. Don't worry about tomorrow.