my soul.
You may be seated.
Well, good morning, church.
It's good to be with you all this morning.
Would you turn with me to Isaiah chapter 49, verse 14.
Isaiah chapter 49, verse 14.
That's page 571 in the Pew Bible.
Page 571, Isaiah chapter 49.
If you're visiting this morning, we're glad you're here.
Given the heat today, our sermon will be a little shorter than normal.
So if you're thinking, wow, that went by fast, don't worry.
Once the weather cools off, we'll spend more time diving into God's Word.
Or you might think, wow, I hope it's hot every Sunday because that sermon went by really fast.
But, well, as it is this morning, we'll keep it on the shorter side.
So Isaiah chapter 49, verse 14.
Let me pray for us as we come to God's Word today.
God, grant us today hearts that hear and receive your Word.
Encourage us and comfort us, God, with your grace and love.
In the name of Jesus we pray.
Amen.
All right.
Verse 14 of Isaiah chapter 49 says this.
But Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me.
My Lord has forgotten me.
But Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me.
My Lord has forgotten me.
Have you ever been so downtrodden, so discouraged,
that you just can't seem to believe that God loves you, that He remembers you?
That's the situation we jump into here in Isaiah 49, 14.
Last week, Pastor Matt opened up for us the beginning of chapter 49,
which was all about the glorious servant Messiah who would come
and bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
What good news!
And yet, here the people, upon hearing this good news,
are so downtrodden, so discouraged, so despondent,
that they just can't believe it.
But Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me.
My Lord has forgotten me.
They look at their circumstances and they think,
God's forgotten us.
Perhaps you're going through something right now.
A job loss, a difficult relationship,
a health crisis, a spiritual crisis.
And you think, the Lord's forsaken me.
My Lord has forgotten me.
Well, what is it that God wants to tell us today
through this passage of Isaiah?
Well, the word that He had for Old Testament Israel then
and the word that He has for you and me today is this.
Look at verse 15.
Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.
Your walls are continually before me.
To our downtrodden hearts that just can't hear and believe God's love,
God comes tenderly and He says,
Look at that nursing mother holding her child tenderly in her arms.
Do you think that mother could forget her child?
Now ask any mother here and I'm sure they'd tell you the same thing.
Never!
You would never forget that.
I could never forget.
And the Lord says,
I'm like a nursing mother.
And if possible, even greater.
I will not forget you.
Like a diamond carving the most solid of stones.
Like a diamond carving its way into granite.
The Lord says,
I've engraved you on the palms of my hands.
You know, it's funny.
You can sort of always see your hands, can't you?
If you're kind of going about your day.
They're always sort of there in front of you.
And if you tattoo your hands,
you always see it.
And that's why the next line says,
Your walls are continually before me.
City walls in the ancient world defined and protected the city that they surrounded.
So God is saying poetically here,
All that you are,
all that you need,
I have it constantly in my mind.
So to those of us feeling forgotten,
this passage affirms in the most unrestrained way
that God will never forget His people.
But you know, God doesn't stop there.
He doesn't just sort of affirm His unforgetting love.
He unpacks it.
He wants to come with a healing word,
with a comforting word,
to those who are discouraged and despondent and bitter in soul.
So in the rest of chapter 49 and 50,
He drills down into this love.
He sort of picks up the diamond of His love
and He starts turning it around
so the rays might continue to reflect out of it
and capture our gaze
and so that our downtrodden hearts might believe it again,
this love that He affirms for us.
So first God says,
I see your losses
and I will restore you.
This is verses 17 through 21.
God says,
I see your losses
and I will restore you.
In verse 17,
you'll notice there's an ESV footnote
if you're looking at the text open,
right there in verse 17.
It's saying that the word builders
could also be translated children
and I actually think given the context,
that's a better read.
So listen to me read verses 17 through 21,
picking up that alternate reading.
Here God speaks to His bereaved people
who feel like they've lost everything
and He says to them,
look, your children make haste.
Your destroyers and those who laid you waste
go out from you.
Lift up your eyes around and see.
They all gather.
They come to you.
As I live, declares the Lord,
you shall put them all on as an ornament.
You shall bind them on as a bride does.
Surely your waste places
and your devastated land,
surely now you'll be too narrow
for your inhabitants.
Those who swallowed you up
will be far away.
The children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears,
this place is too narrow for me.
Make room for me to dwell in.
Then you will say in your heart,
who has borne me these?
I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away.
But who's brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone
from where have these come?
So do you catch the imagery here?
God's people are pictured
like a childless parent here,
bereaved and empty.
But God says,
I see your losses
and I will restore.
I'll bring your sons
and your daughters back to you
and they will fill your land
to such an extent
that you'll think
you've run out of room.
It's as if the Lord comes to us
and says,
do you see the empty rooms
of your home?
Do you see those empty rooms
that you wish were filled
with the laughter of children?
Do you see those empty rooms
that you wish were filled
with the dirty dishes
and the played with toys
of a vibrant and bustling family?
Take a look at those empty rooms.
God says, I'm going to fill them.
I'm going to fill them so full
that you'll think
you'll need an addition
just to fit them all in.
Those empty rooms
that feel so spacious
and cavernous,
now I'm going to fill them
with so much life
that the rafters will feel
like they're going to break.
Now this promise
was spoken to a people in exile,
but the fulfillment
is so much greater
than the historical return
from exile in the 6th century.
As miraculous as that return was,
this promise had a scope,
a spiritual scope
that was so much greater.
After all,
the return in the 6th century
didn't break the bounds
of the land of Israel.
The return was pretty meager at first.
No, this promise
that God was making here
was about something greater.
It was about the full flowering
of the gospel,
the pouring out
of every spiritual blessing in Christ.
It's about the sovereignty
of our good God
restoring what the locusts have eaten,
not just in this life,
but in the life to come
when He will make all things new.
You see, Christian,
there's no loss
that you experience in this life
that God will not heal
and restore 100-fold.
Will you experience
some of that restoration
in this life?
Many times, yes!
But none of us
will experience it
in the full
until we see
the new creation dawn
and we are raised
anew with Christ.
You know,
the older I get,
and I'm not that old,
the more I long for heaven,
to be honest.
Not because I don't love
this world,
I do,
but because I know
and what God's Word tells us
is that what's coming
is so much greater.
the consummation,
the healing,
the restoration
of all that sin
has devoured and taken away.
God's love, friend,
sees your losses.
They're not lost on Him.
He sees your losses
and He says,
I'm going to restore.
That's how much I love you.
But the Lord goes on
to those of us
who are so discouraged
and so downcast
and so despondent
that we can't believe
God loves us.
He says,
not only do I see your losses
and I'll restore you,
God says,
I see your enemies
and I'll fight for you.
This is verses 22 through 26.
God says,
I see your enemies
and I will fight for you.
Let's pick up in verse 22.
Thus says the Lord God,
Behold,
I will lift up my hand
to the nations
and raise my signal
to the peoples
and they shall bring
your sons in their arms
and your daughters
shall be carried
on their shoulders.
Kings shall be
your foster fathers
and their queens
your nursing mothers
with their faces
to the ground.
They shall bow down to you
and lick the dust
of your feet.
Then you will know
that I am the Lord.
Those who wait for me
shall not be put to shame.
Can the prey
be taken from the mighty
or the captives
of a tyrant
be rescued?
Thus says the Lord,
Even the captives
of the mighty
shall be taken
and the prey
of the tyrant
be rescued.
For I will contend
with those
who contend with you
and I will save
your children.
I'll make your oppressors
eat their own flesh
and they shall be drunk
with their own blood
as with wine.
Then all flesh
shall know
that I am the Lord
your Savior
and your Redeemer,
the mighty one
of Jacob.
So the picture here
is of a God
who stands up
for his oppressed people.
They're trampled,
they're used
and abused
and God says,
I see your enemies
and I'll fight for you.
And this imagery
is strong,
isn't it?
The nations here,
Israel's enemies,
God says,
they'll bow down to you
and lick the dust
of your feet.
In other words,
God says,
they're going to be
a complete reversal.
The first shall be last
and the last shall be first.
And in verse 26,
there's talk of
the oppressors
eating their own flesh
and being drunk
with their own blood.
And that's a graphic image,
is it not,
of utter self-destruction.
Like a skyscraper
kind of crumbling
from the inside out,
collapsing under the weight
of its own decay
and deterioration.
These enemies
seem so powerful,
so invincible.
Those who trample you
underfoot
despise you
and use you.
But God says,
I see
and I know.
You might feel like
he's forgotten you,
but far from it
he will fight for you.
And then in verse 24,
this promise of God,
it just seems too impossible
to believe that people say,
can the prey be taken
from the mighty
or captives of a tyrant
be rescued?
You know,
can a squirrel be saved
from the jaws of a wolf?
I don't think you'll find
anything left
after you pry that thing
from its mouth.
Can an evil tyrant
be expected
to just release
their captives?
And humanly speaking,
the answer is no.
Perhaps some of the opposition
you feel up against
seems just as insurmountable.
The ravages of sin,
the rain of the wicked,
and the ever-present
shadow of death.
But God says,
listen,
I will contend
with those
who contend with you.
So I had the privilege
of growing up
with two older brothers.
Not just one,
but two.
And of course,
you know,
there is a cost
to being the youngest
of three boys.
Whenever my brothers
wanted to try out
a new wrestling move
that we had just watched
on WWF,
guess who was the recipient?
You know,
when Jimmy the Superfly Snooka
jumped off the top rope
to body slam
and pin his opponent,
you guessed it.
I was often the opponent,
right?
But I say I had the privilege
of growing up
with two older brothers.
Because out in the world,
you know,
when we were done
sort of playing,
I knew that anyone
who wanted to contend
with me
would have to contend
with them.
They weren't going
to let anyone mess
with their little brother.
They would step in
and fight for me.
Now,
maybe you didn't have
older brothers like that.
But here's the good news.
You do have a God
like that.
This is the God
who contends
for his people,
who fights for them.
This is the God
who enters the battle
against sin and death,
who triumphs
and who wins the victory
on our behalf.
And so do our downtrodden hearts,
our hearts that feel forsaken
and forgotten.
God comes and says,
I'll never forget you.
I see your losses
and I promise to restore.
I see your enemies
and I promise to fight for you.
But our text from Isaiah
goes even deeper.
It's tempting to doubt
God's love
when we've experienced loss.
Sometimes we experience
grave loss
and feel forgotten.
And it's tempting
to doubt God's love
when we've experienced defeat,
when we're feeling trampled
and ridiculed
and we feel forgotten.
But you know,
these external circumstances,
real as they are,
they perhaps don't touch
the deepest place
of our despair,
the deepest place
of our doubt.
Because the heart
that cries out,
the Lord has forsaken me,
my Lord has forgotten me,
the heart that makes
that cry,
from the most despondent place,
from the most
kind of wretched place,
is the heart that does so
not merely because
of external losses
or because of external opposition.
The deepest despairing
of God's love
comes from a place
of our own internal failures.
when our sins
and our wrongs
feel like a wave
crashing over our heads,
then our heart cries out
with despair,
surely the Lord
has forsaken me
and my Lord
has forgotten me.
Not because of what
others have done to me,
but because of what
I have done
or failed to do
before God.
And in that bitter place
of despair,
we think,
surely God
has forgotten me.
But listen,
as our text continues
into chapter 50,
God says,
I don't just see
your losses
and I don't just
see your enemies,
but I even see
your sin
and I haven't
forgotten you.
I see your sin
and I will
redeem you.
Let's pick up
in Isaiah chapter 50,
verse 1.
Thus says the Lord,
where is your mother's
certificate of divorce
with which I sent her away?
Or which of my creditors
is it
to whom I have sold you?
Now,
the answer
to these rhetorical questions
is that
there is no certificate
of divorce.
God has
no creditors.
How could the God
of the universe
owe anyone anything?
The people in exile
might feel
utterly forsaken,
but God has not
given up
His covenant love
with them.
They might feel
sold off into slavery,
but God doesn't have
any debts
that He has to pay.
So He says to them,
where is the
supposed certificate
of divorce
that I gave you?
Who are the supposed
creditors
that I had to sell you to?
There are none.
So why are they there?
Let's pick up.
Behold,
for your iniquities
you were sold,
and for your transgressions
your mother was sent away.
Why,
when I came,
was there no man?
Why,
when I called,
was there no one to answer?
You see,
the exile wasn't
because of some lack
in God,
a lack of God's power
or a lack of God's
covenant marital faithfulness
to His people,
or even a lack of God
pursuing them,
coming to them,
calling to them.
The exiled people
were there
because of their unfaithfulness,
because when God called,
no one answered.
So God sees their sin,
and He sees ours.
But is that the end?
The passage continues.
God says,
Is my hand shortened
that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power
to deliver?
Behold,
by my rebuke,
I dry up the sea.
I make the rivers
a desert.
The fish stink
for lack of water
and die of thirst.
I clothe the heavens
with blackness
and make sackcloth
their covering.
God says,
Don't think for an instant
that I can't rescue you.
The imagery here
in these verses
is from the Exodus.
God drying up the sea,
turning the daylight black
to save His people
in power.
But the power of God,
the power of God,
isn't the ultimate expression
of God's redeeming love.
The Almighty God
sees your sin, yes,
and what does He do?
Well, at this point
in the text,
on to the stage
after God has just declared
His boundless power,
on to the stage
steps the servant.
In verse 4,
the third of Isaiah's
servant songs begins.
The first of these texts,
these songs,
as they're sometimes called,
the first of these servant songs
was back in chapter 42,
verses 1 through 9,
where the servant was seen
bringing justice,
that is bringing rightness
and wholeness,
bringing justice
to the nations.
And then the second servant song
was in chapter 49,
verses 1 through 13,
that we looked at last week,
where the servant is seen
bringing salvation,
not just to Israel,
but to the ends of the earth.
And now the servant steps
back into view here
in chapter 50, verse 4.
Just when God has exposed
our sin,
just when God has exposed
our unwillingness
to listen when He calls,
just when God has exposed
our unwillingness
to respond and turn
when He comes,
just when our sin is open
and exposed,
God says,
I'm mighty to redeem,
and redeem you I will.
And how will I do it?
Through my servant,
the servant who will listen
and who will obey
and who will suffer
and who will be vindicated
for your redemption.
Let's read verses 4 through 9.
The servant comes onto the stage
and now speaks and says,
The Lord God has given me
the tongue of those
who are taught
that I may know
how to sustain with a word
him who is weary.
Morning by morning,
He awakens.
He awakens my ear
to hear
as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear
and I was not rebellious.
I turned not backward.
I gave my back
to those who strike
and my cheeks
to those who pull out
the beard.
I hid not my face
from disgrace
and spitting.
But the Lord God helps me.
Therefore,
I have not been disgraced.
Therefore,
I have set my face
like flint
and I know
that I shall not
be put to shame.
He who vindicates me
is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
Behold,
the Lord God helps me.
Who will declare me guilty?
Behold,
all of them will wear out
like a garment.
The moth will eat them up.
Now,
this third passage
about the servant
portrays him
in verses 4 through 5.
Did you catch that?
As perfectly innocent.
He hears God's word
and he obeys.
But nevertheless,
in verses 6 and 7,
he's willing to be struck
as a result of that obedience.
To take the disgrace
and shame for Israel.
But he's able to take on
this substitutionary role
with God's help.
In verses 8 through 9,
his vindication
comes from above
and any accusers
who might try
to condemn him
or declare him guilty,
their case will be devoured
like a cloth
by the moths,
full of holes
with no substance at all.
Now,
what does this mean for us?
Well,
first,
is it not clear
that this servant song
is speaking about
the work of Christ
who gave his back
to those who strike,
his cheek
to those who pull out
the beard,
who didn't hide his face
from disgrace and spitting?
And Christ did this
for you
and for me.
So how should we respond
when our sins
testify against us?
When we're tempted
to doubt God's love
in light of our many
transgressions,
our only comfort
comes in such moments
from looking
to the suffering servant.
He was innocent
yet stricken
on our behalf
so that we might be free
from condemnation.
That's why Paul can say,
who will bring any charge
against God's elect?
It's God who justifies.
Who is to condemn?
Jesus Christ
is the one who died.
More than that,
who was raised,
who is at the right hand
of God,
who is interceding for us.
You see, friends,
God won't forget
your losses
and he won't forget
your enemies,
but he will
forget your sins.
What matchless grace!
Because of the servant's
suffering obedience
in our place,
God can forget
our sins
without forgetting us.
Do you doubt
God's love, friends?
Are you feeling
forgotten?
Look to the cross.
Do you see
what God was willing
to give up for you?
Do you see
how God was willing
to have his hands
pierced for you?
I've engraved you
on the palms
of my hands,
Isaiah 49, 16 says.
And of course,
for hundreds of years
before Christ,
every reader of the Bible
thought that was
just a metaphor.
But when the risen Jesus
comes to his frightened
and despairing disciples
and says,
look,
do you see the scars?
I've literally
engraved you
on the palms
of my hands.
For eternity,
the Lord Jesus
will bear
the marks
of his love
for you.
Forgotten?
Ever.
You are loved
forever
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ.
And so,
how will we respond
this morning?
Well,
our passage ends
by saying
there's only two ways
to respond
to this great display
of God's love.
We can trust
in the name
of the Lord
or we can try
to build
our own fires
and light
our own paths.
Look with me
at verses 10 and 11.
Who among you
fears the Lord
and obeys
the voice
of his servant?
Let him
who walks
in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name
of the Lord
and rely
on his God.
But behold,
all you
who kindle
a fire,
who equip
yourselves
with burning
torches,
walk by the light
of your fire
and by the torches
that you have
kindled.
This you have
from my hand.
You shall lie
down in torment.
You see,
if we harden
our hearts
to God's love,
if we try
to walk
by the light
of our own fire
or by some other torch
that we've kindled,
the end won't be joy
but torment.
No other love
can rescue us
from sin.
No other love
can rescue us
from shame
and guilt.
No matter how brightly
we try to stoke
some other fire,
it will never be able
to light our darkness.
But God's love can.
The love of Christ
certainly can.
His love
that will never
forget you.
His love
that will never
forsake you.
The Father's love
that was willing
to send His Son
to suffer
and rise again
for you.
This is a love
that will light up
your life.
This is a love
that's worth living for.
This is the love
that will restore us
and fight for us
and redeem us.
Let's pray together.
Father, we open up
our hands
before You
this morning
and we open up
our hearts to You
and we pray
that by Your Holy Spirit
You would give us
eyes to see
the depth
of Your compassion
and love
and faithfulness
to us,
Your people.
Lord, I pray
especially for those
who are downcast
and burdened
and despairing.
Would Your comfort
draw near to them?
Help them, God,
to look up to Christ
and see the love
that can light their path
and grant them the faith
to trust in You.
We pray this
in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Friends, let's stand
and let's sing together.