WEBVTT 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:05.339 Folks, great to see you this morning. Why don't you turn back to those verses in Isaiah chapter 49. 00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:09.080 We're just going to look at the first seven verses together in that chapter, 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:13.960 but I thought it'd be good just to get the whole context of what the Lord is saying there. 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:23.339 I recently heard a minister tell some stories about a time when he was in Calcutta in India, 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:32.320 and he was telling some stories about one of the things that most entertained him while he was in Calcutta. 00:00:32.380 --> 00:00:37.340 One of the things that most entertained him was the signs at the side of the roads in Calcutta, 00:00:38.299 --> 00:00:41.700 which were trying to encourage people to drive safely. 00:00:43.019 --> 00:00:44.980 So let me just give you some of these that he mentioned. 00:00:45.120 --> 00:00:45.939 Here's some of the signs. 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:47.620 Drive slowly, see scenery. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:49.439 Drive fast, see cemetery. 00:00:51.980 --> 00:00:52.700 That's good. 00:00:52.700 --> 00:00:54.980 After whiskey, driving risky. 00:00:56.840 --> 00:01:00.160 Better to be Mr. Late than the late mister. 00:01:01.480 --> 00:01:03.000 And then my personal favourite, I love this one. 00:01:03.340 --> 00:01:06.820 Overtaker, if he's not careful, may soon meet Undertaker. 00:01:08.340 --> 00:01:08.879 I liked it. 00:01:08.939 --> 00:01:13.600 But despite all those signs, Calcutta remains a very dangerous place to drive 00:01:13.600 --> 00:01:17.920 because people don't listen to what the signs are telling them to do. 00:01:18.020 --> 00:01:22.200 And the reason that it started like that is because what we're going to be asked to do 00:01:22.200 --> 00:01:24.900 in these verses today is to listen to a voice. 00:01:26.020 --> 00:01:27.420 To listen to a voice. 00:01:28.659 --> 00:01:33.439 Last week we stepped into this book of Isaiah and we heard God's words to a generation of his people 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:37.740 who will soon find themselves living in exile in Babylon. 00:01:37.739 --> 00:01:43.919 And as they contemplate why this dreadful thing has happened, here is what God wants them to know. 00:01:44.039 --> 00:01:45.199 Verse 17 of chapter 48. 00:01:46.140 --> 00:01:49.619 If you just glance slightly back from chapter 49. 00:01:49.620 --> 00:01:53.660 This is what the Lord says. 00:01:53.659 --> 00:02:06.319 Do you see it? 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:10.300 Do you see it? 00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:12.660 If only you'd listened. 00:02:13.580 --> 00:02:14.180 To what? 00:02:14.380 --> 00:02:15.660 To my commands. 00:02:15.860 --> 00:02:19.480 In other words, to what I was telling you, what I was saying to you. 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:23.360 For if you had, your peace would have been like a river. 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:26.439 Your well-being like the waves of the sea. 00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:28.400 Your descendants would have been like the sand. 00:02:28.939 --> 00:02:31.580 Your children like its numberless grains. 00:02:32.020 --> 00:02:37.660 Their name would never be blotted out nor destroyed from before me. 00:02:37.659 --> 00:02:39.919 So do you see what God is saying to this generation? 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:41.759 I love you. 00:02:43.139 --> 00:02:46.000 I've called you out for myself. 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:47.500 I've got good plans for you. 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:58.759 But the reason that you're in the mess that you're in is because you repeatedly and willfully failed to listen to what I was lovingly telling you. 00:03:00.219 --> 00:03:02.060 And you've not just failed to listen to me. 00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:07.639 Actually, you've listened to every other voice out there in the world that's been telling you how to live your life. 00:03:07.659 --> 00:03:10.180 You've heard it. 00:03:10.859 --> 00:03:12.280 You've thought about it. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:14.539 And then you've thought, yep, that's the voice for me. 00:03:14.620 --> 00:03:19.019 And you've sprinted over there to the idol that's been calling you. 00:03:19.219 --> 00:03:23.419 Now, my parents have got a little parson terrier dog called Charlie. 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:25.560 Our girls love Charlie. 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:27.659 Charlie loves the smell of deer. 00:03:29.659 --> 00:03:33.919 Anytime we go home, we take Charlie for a walk up the moors where my parents live. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:38.099 He gets the slightest whiff of a deer in his little lungs. 00:03:38.519 --> 00:03:41.000 And he's off like the clappers in search of that deer. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:46.419 And that is what has been Israel's spiritual story so far in this book. 00:03:47.119 --> 00:03:49.399 They've got the slightest whiff of something else. 00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:53.279 Something that they think will do for them what only God can do for them. 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:58.640 And they have gone sprinting after it thinking that that is going to satisfy them. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:00.539 So true, friends, isn't it? 00:04:00.580 --> 00:04:05.280 That if we're not satisfied with the glory of God, if we're not satisfied with the person of Jesus Christ, 00:04:05.340 --> 00:04:09.740 then we will go in search of other things to fill that hole in our lives. 00:04:09.740 --> 00:04:11.680 It's well did C.S. Lewis say, 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:20.360 Human history is the long, terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:23.900 It's Israel's story. 00:04:23.980 --> 00:04:24.699 It's our story. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:31.639 And so it's a little wonder then that in this section of this book of Isaiah from chapters 40 to 48, 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:39.000 the idea of listening and of paying attention and of hearing, it comes up so often. 00:04:39.099 --> 00:04:41.939 Maybe you can go home in your own time and check this out from 40 to 48. 00:04:42.060 --> 00:04:44.639 Just count how many times that image crops up. 00:04:44.719 --> 00:04:45.879 Let me just give you a few of these. 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:47.819 Chapter 44, verse 1. 00:04:47.899 --> 00:04:48.599 It's on the screen. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:50.339 Listen, Jacob. 00:04:51.620 --> 00:04:52.379 God speaking. 00:04:52.500 --> 00:04:53.959 Chapter 48, verse 12. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:56.139 Listen to me, Jacob. 00:04:57.259 --> 00:05:00.539 Because here's the big question facing this generation of God's people. 00:05:00.540 --> 00:05:06.680 As they sit there in Babylon, remembering the words that Isaiah spoke 100 years previous. 00:05:06.819 --> 00:05:09.900 They're being taunted by their enemies, the people that they're living with. 00:05:11.220 --> 00:05:13.340 They've been tempted to adopt the worldview. 00:05:13.580 --> 00:05:17.400 That's just the way of thinking of the culture round about them. 00:05:19.080 --> 00:05:23.620 And they're asking some big questions about the future, what it holds for them as God's distinct people. 00:05:26.820 --> 00:05:30.180 Let me ask you, did you ever find yourself asking those kind of questions in your life as a Christian? 00:05:30.180 --> 00:05:30.920 And I certainly do. 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:32.000 What does the future hold? 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:37.019 God says, listen to me. 00:05:38.100 --> 00:05:39.400 It's a big question for them. 00:05:39.459 --> 00:05:40.439 It's a big question for us. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:41.379 Who will we listen to? 00:05:41.660 --> 00:05:43.639 In these verses, God's servant speaks. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:45.319 He speaks. 00:05:45.420 --> 00:05:45.860 Do you see it? 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:47.720 Verse 1 of chapter 49. 00:05:48.259 --> 00:05:50.680 His message really simply, listen to me. 00:05:51.420 --> 00:05:52.800 Thunders in on the scene here. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:53.620 Out of nowhere. 00:05:54.500 --> 00:05:55.660 It says, listen to me. 00:05:55.660 --> 00:05:57.560 Don't listen to the voices round about. 00:05:57.700 --> 00:05:59.020 Listen to me. 00:05:59.100 --> 00:06:01.260 And you see who he is speaking to. 00:06:01.760 --> 00:06:02.840 Not just God's people. 00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:04.760 The coastlands. 00:06:05.820 --> 00:06:06.960 The distant peoples. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:14.080 In other words, every person from every part of the world, from every age, this servant says, I've got news for you. 00:06:14.320 --> 00:06:15.640 I want you to listen to me. 00:06:15.740 --> 00:06:17.040 Listen to what I'm saying. 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:26.360 And that's why, whoever you are here today, whatever is going on in your life, whatever you think about the God of the Bible, this message affects you. 00:06:26.460 --> 00:06:27.980 This message is for you. 00:06:28.400 --> 00:06:30.740 The servant is speaking into your story. 00:06:32.060 --> 00:06:34.040 In fact, your story that only... 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:37.720 In fact, the servant has come to make sense of your story. 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:39.400 He's speaking into your story. 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:40.620 You're in his mind. 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:41.800 You're on his heart. 00:06:41.860 --> 00:06:43.040 As he says, listen up. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:43.900 Listen to me. 00:06:45.220 --> 00:06:46.080 Listen to me. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:48.439 But why should I listen to him, you may be asking? 00:06:48.540 --> 00:06:49.680 And that's a great question. 00:06:51.260 --> 00:06:56.660 Because let's be honest, our world at the minute is not short on voices telling us who is right and who is wrong, is it? 00:06:57.520 --> 00:07:01.640 Given the political situation, you may be thinking, to be honest, I really don't know who to listen to anymore. 00:07:01.840 --> 00:07:07.220 And our default mode is to not listen to people out there, but to listen to our own voice. 00:07:08.580 --> 00:07:10.379 And I don't blame you if that's what you're thinking. 00:07:10.379 --> 00:07:18.680 But let me urge you today to let this servant tell you why you should listen to him, why you should base your life on him. 00:07:19.659 --> 00:07:23.860 That generation in exile in Babylon, he says, listen to me, to the world. 00:07:23.980 --> 00:07:27.600 He says, listen to me, to Brunsfield in the 21st century. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:29.459 He says, listen to me. 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:35.100 This morning we're going to learn four wonderful things about who this servant is and what he's come to do. 00:07:35.100 --> 00:07:44.760 And wonderfully, four things that we see so beautifully fulfilled in the life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:07:44.840 --> 00:07:47.939 So come with me to chapter 49, servant, four things about him. 00:07:47.980 --> 00:07:48.820 Here's the first one. 00:07:49.780 --> 00:07:51.120 This servant will speak up. 00:07:52.379 --> 00:07:53.280 Look at the verses here. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:55.000 We pick it up halfway through verse 1. 00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:24.980 Listen to me. 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:25.920 He will have a mum. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:28.899 Mum's day today. 00:08:29.259 --> 00:08:31.379 There will be a human womb in which he grows. 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:42.000 And the same idea is repeated down at verse 5 as if to underscore the point that this servant, God, is going to take on our skin, our sinful humanity. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:45.960 And he's going to do what we could not do for ourselves. 00:08:46.179 --> 00:08:49.440 And he will step in and save us. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:51.940 Get your heads around this. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:53.220 He will be born in a stable. 00:08:53.340 --> 00:08:54.519 He will be wrapped in cloth. 00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:55.279 He will cry. 00:08:55.419 --> 00:08:56.019 He will feed. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:58.000 He will be born into poverty. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:02.960 I mean, you can't get more involved in our broken human story than that. 00:09:03.379 --> 00:09:09.200 He steps into this mess and says, I am here. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:17.860 This is not like when we watch the TV at election time and you hear the politicians telling us that they understand us because they've spent five hours in our community. 00:09:17.860 --> 00:09:24.080 Here is one who has stepped into the trenches of our broken lives. 00:09:25.460 --> 00:09:26.960 He knows our struggles. 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:28.639 He knows our pains. 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:35.940 No one will ever love us more, know us better or care for us more deeply than Jesus Christ. 00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:44.680 And the words of that Stuart Townend song that we sometimes sing, yes, he walked my road and he felt my pain. 00:09:46.280 --> 00:09:51.600 Joys and sorrows that I know so well, yet his righteous steps give me hope again. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:55.260 I will follow my Emmanuel. 00:09:55.540 --> 00:09:56.600 Do you see, that is his name. 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:04.440 Earlier in Isaiah 7, those verses that we read at Christmas time, God said he would send Emmanuel. 00:10:04.440 --> 00:10:06.760 Emmanuel, God with us. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:12.440 Matthew chapter 1, as Gabriel speaks to Joseph, we learn that Emmanuel is Jesus. 00:10:14.260 --> 00:10:16.440 You see, this servant is not going to be a distant sympathizer. 00:10:19.380 --> 00:10:20.920 He's going to come and be God with us. 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:22.260 He will step into our story. 00:10:23.320 --> 00:10:24.940 And when he comes, do you see verse 2? 00:10:25.020 --> 00:10:25.940 He will not be silent. 00:10:27.160 --> 00:10:28.140 He will speak. 00:10:29.680 --> 00:10:31.220 Feel the imagery in these verses. 00:10:31.220 --> 00:10:32.779 His words will be like a weapon. 00:10:33.660 --> 00:10:35.080 Like a sharp sword. 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:35.840 Dangerous. 00:10:36.040 --> 00:10:36.519 Powerful. 00:10:38.680 --> 00:10:44.080 And as you see Jesus in action in the Gospels, boy, are his words that. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:47.899 They leave people astounded. 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:49.080 They illuminate minds. 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:50.240 They calm storms. 00:10:50.379 --> 00:10:51.440 They bestow dignity. 00:10:52.040 --> 00:10:53.120 They offer hope. 00:10:53.259 --> 00:10:54.740 And they lift up broken people. 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:56.779 And they even raise a guy from the dead. 00:10:56.779 --> 00:11:01.220 But it's not just out there where his word pierces. 00:11:02.899 --> 00:11:03.839 It's in here. 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:12.659 It's the testimony of every follower of Jesus Christ that this word has penetrated our lives. 00:11:12.759 --> 00:11:15.279 And it's flipped life as we know it upside down. 00:11:15.379 --> 00:11:20.980 When we were running our race, chasing our dreams, living for me, like we were seeing in the kids talk, 00:11:21.059 --> 00:11:22.199 Jesus Christ burst in. 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:23.900 And God's word flipped it upside down. 00:11:23.940 --> 00:11:25.420 And now we run his way. 00:11:27.900 --> 00:11:33.480 Gives us true knowledge of who we are, of who God is, of this world in which we live. 00:11:33.520 --> 00:11:39.040 As the spirit of God comes and takes the words of Jesus as we encounter him in the pages of the Bible. 00:11:39.140 --> 00:11:40.400 And he transforms us. 00:11:42.740 --> 00:11:46.360 You know, I wonder if you're here today and you think to yourself, I need this word in my life. 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:52.840 And if that's you, just speak to somebody that's been on stage or up the front this morning. 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:54.620 We'd love to read the Bible with you. 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:57.779 Introduce you to the person of Jesus. 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:00.820 This servant will come. 00:12:02.340 --> 00:12:04.539 This servant, secondly, will step in. 00:12:05.659 --> 00:12:08.320 You see, verse 3 isn't a reference to physical Israel. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:14.539 This is God calling his servant Israel. 00:12:14.539 --> 00:12:16.000 Now, how does that work? 00:12:16.059 --> 00:12:16.879 That's a good question. 00:12:18.299 --> 00:12:21.860 Well, it centers on his understanding God's grand design for his people. 00:12:21.980 --> 00:12:26.240 God's missionary heart in calling out a people for himself. 00:12:26.699 --> 00:12:30.439 The people who he called out of Egypt to himself and said, 00:12:30.579 --> 00:12:32.919 I will be your God and you will be my people. 00:12:33.740 --> 00:12:38.980 And as we live together in joyous harmony, you will display my glory to the watching worlds. 00:12:39.419 --> 00:12:42.839 Who will look in and say to themselves, how good is Israel's God? 00:12:42.840 --> 00:12:46.879 God, the bestower of joy, the giver of life, how good is he? 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:49.500 Let's go and meet him for ourselves. 00:12:51.660 --> 00:12:57.920 But you see, earlier on in Isaiah, the imagery that's used is that Israel were like a vine 00:12:57.920 --> 00:13:06.900 that God planted with the express purpose of producing good fruit for his glory and for their good. 00:13:06.899 --> 00:13:08.899 But what did they produce? 00:13:08.980 --> 00:13:09.899 What did the vine produce? 00:13:10.620 --> 00:13:12.399 It produced bad fruit. 00:13:14.179 --> 00:13:16.519 When was the last time you discovered some bad fruit? 00:13:18.199 --> 00:13:20.919 You know, a horrible feeling when you've gone shopping and you come home 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:25.720 and you start unpacking and you come to the fruit bowl 00:13:25.720 --> 00:13:29.620 and you discover that there was a rogue tangerine that's got a fusty color of green 00:13:29.620 --> 00:13:30.860 at the bottom of your tangerines. 00:13:30.860 --> 00:13:36.460 That feeling, how you're feeling, you're livid, you're straight on to customer services, 00:13:36.539 --> 00:13:39.240 asking for a refund, you're taking a picture, you're putting it on Twitter, 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:40.200 maybe that's just me. 00:13:42.039 --> 00:13:47.180 But bad fruit, how much more disappointed was God when he looked at his people, 00:13:48.180 --> 00:13:50.360 knowing what he wanted them to produce, 00:13:50.580 --> 00:13:52.120 and then seeing what they did produce? 00:13:52.259 --> 00:13:52.899 Bad fruit. 00:13:54.100 --> 00:13:55.580 Bad fruit, good for nothing. 00:13:55.580 --> 00:13:55.780 Bad fruit. 00:13:57.180 --> 00:13:59.180 So when God calls his servant Israel, 00:13:59.280 --> 00:14:06.139 it's an indication that this servant will be everything that Israel was supposed to be and wasn't. 00:14:07.400 --> 00:14:09.820 And boy, will this servant be that. 00:14:10.940 --> 00:14:15.139 I mean, as you read the Gospels, there's a captivating beauty about Jesus. 00:14:15.300 --> 00:14:17.000 As you meet him in the pages of the Bible, 00:14:17.320 --> 00:14:21.480 I don't know about you, but it was my experience when I started reading about Jesus for myself. 00:14:21.480 --> 00:14:26.860 Remember, being blown away, captivated by the person, his person. 00:14:28.180 --> 00:14:32.320 His affection for his father, his devotion to the law of God, 00:14:32.460 --> 00:14:36.379 his compassion for the outcast, his gentleness to the broken, 00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:39.620 his welcome to the shunned, his provision for the needy, 00:14:40.019 --> 00:14:43.420 his strong words for the hypocrite as he steps in. 00:14:46.659 --> 00:14:47.960 And says, here I am. 00:14:47.960 --> 00:14:52.940 Of course, as New Testament Christians, 00:14:53.060 --> 00:14:56.259 knowing the forgiveness and knowing the newness of life that we have in him, 00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:01.360 as the Spirit living in us transforms us more into his likeness, 00:15:01.379 --> 00:15:02.720 as we abide in him, 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:07.960 we're called to reflect that same beauty to the watching world. 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:14.720 And that takes us to the third thing about this servant he will send out. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:18.300 See his mission at verse 5? 00:15:19.800 --> 00:15:23.139 God will send this servant into the world 00:15:23.139 --> 00:15:26.460 to bring the people of Israel back to the Lord. 00:15:26.680 --> 00:15:29.800 Yes, but do you see God declared at verse 6 00:15:29.800 --> 00:15:34.040 that his mission will not stop at physical Israel's borders? 00:15:34.180 --> 00:15:35.300 Do you see what God calls that? 00:15:35.340 --> 00:15:36.240 And I love this. 00:15:37.399 --> 00:15:39.800 He calls that too small a thing. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:40.940 Love that. 00:15:41.980 --> 00:15:43.600 Too small a thing. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:46.139 Here is the Lord, 00:15:47.259 --> 00:15:49.200 the Holy One of Israel, 00:15:49.540 --> 00:15:51.200 the creator of the ends of the earth. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:52.820 And here he is showing his heart 00:15:52.820 --> 00:15:56.139 that he wants to bring light and life 00:15:56.139 --> 00:15:59.220 to the peoples of this world. 00:15:59.420 --> 00:16:02.139 The people who he has made in his image, 00:16:02.779 --> 00:16:06.379 but the people who have wandered far in rebellion from him. 00:16:06.580 --> 00:16:08.700 God is sending his servant 00:16:08.700 --> 00:16:12.340 to be the answer to our biggest problem, 00:16:13.300 --> 00:16:16.379 that we are separated from him because of our sin. 00:16:16.379 --> 00:16:20.379 We are living in darkness without a hope of saving ourselves. 00:16:21.240 --> 00:16:23.379 That is what this servant has come to be. 00:16:23.379 --> 00:16:29.559 And we will see over the next few weeks exactly how that will come to pass. 00:16:29.659 --> 00:16:30.480 But for now, 00:16:30.919 --> 00:16:32.480 let's take in the fact 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:36.899 that God wants to reach the nations. 00:16:38.360 --> 00:16:39.559 That as we were singing, 00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:42.980 the light of the world was sent into darkness 00:16:42.980 --> 00:16:45.120 to be light for the world. 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:50.820 God's heart to win the peoples of this world. 00:16:50.899 --> 00:16:51.800 I was thinking this week, 00:16:51.860 --> 00:16:53.519 I wonder if God, 00:16:54.899 --> 00:16:58.940 if he were to give us his take on our ambitions 00:16:58.940 --> 00:17:00.340 and our plans as a church, 00:17:01.800 --> 00:17:03.080 I wonder if he would tell us 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:04.620 that your plans are too small a thing. 00:17:07.120 --> 00:17:07.539 Do you know, 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:10.380 are our plans and our thoughts for Brunsfield, 00:17:10.380 --> 00:17:12.200 are they too insular? 00:17:13.460 --> 00:17:16.040 Have we got dreams of putting on great coffee mornings, 00:17:16.360 --> 00:17:18.220 of fantastic small groups, 00:17:19.400 --> 00:17:20.580 of great Kayleys? 00:17:21.620 --> 00:17:21.980 Do you know, 00:17:23.120 --> 00:17:25.260 are our plans for ourselves too comfortable? 00:17:25.420 --> 00:17:27.260 Could we easily do them without God? 00:17:28.600 --> 00:17:30.360 And because we think we can do them without God, 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:30.980 we don't pray. 00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:32.960 We don't go on our knees and say, 00:17:33.020 --> 00:17:33.980 Father, we need you. 00:17:36.180 --> 00:17:37.640 Particularly when it comes to mission, 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:42.000 and seeing people come to know Jesus for themselves, 00:17:43.020 --> 00:17:46.420 I wonder if our ambitions are too small. 00:17:48.700 --> 00:17:49.740 You know, let me ask you, 00:17:49.840 --> 00:17:52.720 when was the last time you got a conversation to Jesus? 00:17:55.360 --> 00:17:57.480 You know, we were down south at a funeral on Friday. 00:18:00.020 --> 00:18:01.020 Great opportunities, 00:18:01.220 --> 00:18:04.500 I find funerals to speak to people about life. 00:18:04.500 --> 00:18:06.279 What's going on? 00:18:06.339 --> 00:18:06.920 What's it about? 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:07.920 What happens? 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:08.980 Why are we here? 00:18:10.380 --> 00:18:10.720 But anyway, 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:11.420 at lunch afterwards, 00:18:11.500 --> 00:18:12.440 I got chatting to this, 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:12.740 um, 00:18:13.319 --> 00:18:14.460 older man called John. 00:18:15.740 --> 00:18:16.980 John's telling me about his life, 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:18.019 how he used to be in the Navy, 00:18:18.700 --> 00:18:20.200 how he's lived in Birmingham his whole life, 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:21.420 that's where the funeral was. 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:22.519 Great Brummie accent. 00:18:23.619 --> 00:18:24.319 And for some reason, 00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:27.279 he starts telling me about how gentlemen were gentlemen in his day, 00:18:28.420 --> 00:18:31.920 and that they knew how to properly treat a lady with respect. 00:18:32.019 --> 00:18:33.000 I don't know why John told me that, 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:33.519 he just did. 00:18:35.420 --> 00:18:36.720 And with these verses in mind, 00:18:36.779 --> 00:18:37.079 I said, 00:18:37.180 --> 00:18:37.380 John, 00:18:37.480 --> 00:18:38.640 let me tell you about Jesus. 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:46.700 And let me tell you about a time when he crossed every barrier possible in that culture 00:18:46.700 --> 00:18:50.819 to bestow dignity and transform the life of a Samaritan woman. 00:18:52.059 --> 00:18:52.200 I mean, 00:18:52.200 --> 00:18:53.700 I'm never going to see John again in my life, 00:18:53.720 --> 00:18:54.220 I don't think. 00:18:54.819 --> 00:18:55.799 Just went for it. 00:18:56.180 --> 00:18:57.319 Inspired by these verses. 00:18:57.579 --> 00:18:57.759 Boy, 00:18:57.819 --> 00:18:58.579 let me tell you that letter, 00:18:58.720 --> 00:18:59.559 great conversation. 00:19:00.539 --> 00:19:01.460 Great conversation. 00:19:01.460 --> 00:19:03.360 Friends, 00:19:03.380 --> 00:19:04.980 we've got no idea how the Lord is working. 00:19:05.180 --> 00:19:06.000 We've got no idea. 00:19:07.140 --> 00:19:08.380 But here's what I do know. 00:19:09.380 --> 00:19:10.900 That the Lord knows who are his. 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:13.620 He knows those who he's called to himself. 00:19:13.619 --> 00:19:16.839 And he uses his ordinary, 00:19:17.579 --> 00:19:18.679 unspectacular, 00:19:19.339 --> 00:19:20.859 yet spirit-filled people, 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:22.619 like you and like me, 00:19:23.099 --> 00:19:27.039 as the means through which he spreads the news of this servant, 00:19:27.219 --> 00:19:27.959 Jesus Christ, 00:19:28.019 --> 00:19:29.119 to the people of this world. 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:33.279 The words of missionary Henry Martin, 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:37.359 the spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, 00:19:37.919 --> 00:19:39.619 and the nearer we get to him, 00:19:40.099 --> 00:19:43.299 the more intensely missionary we become. 00:19:44.379 --> 00:19:46.479 God's heart for this world, 00:19:47.159 --> 00:19:50.879 and for the lost people who we rub shoulders with every single day, 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:52.579 let me ask us as a church, 00:19:52.679 --> 00:19:58.339 do we have a heart to see them come to know this Savior Jesus Christ for themselves? 00:19:58.339 --> 00:20:00.519 It's great. 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:02.679 It's greatly convicting, isn't it, I find, in my own prayer life. 00:20:02.839 --> 00:20:04.139 If God, somebody asked me this recently, 00:20:04.220 --> 00:20:06.220 if God was to answer every prayer of mine, 00:20:06.539 --> 00:20:08.139 for one of my friends to come to know Jesus, 00:20:08.259 --> 00:20:10.480 how many people would come into the kingdom that day? 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.720 And I have to say, it would be incredibly small. 00:20:15.500 --> 00:20:19.740 Here is God's heart for the people of our world. 00:20:19.939 --> 00:20:22.039 Praise him that he has a heart like this, 00:20:22.139 --> 00:20:24.579 otherwise this church, we, would not exist. 00:20:24.579 --> 00:20:26.740 This is our God. 00:20:26.919 --> 00:20:28.579 This servant will send out. 00:20:30.439 --> 00:20:33.539 And fourthly and finally, this servant will stoop down. 00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:35.619 Verse 7, if you've still got it there, 00:20:35.720 --> 00:20:36.460 God talking. 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:39.899 The Holy One of Israel. 00:20:39.980 --> 00:20:43.480 It's incredible how often God calls himself this in this little section, 00:20:43.579 --> 00:20:45.679 instead of to remind his people who he is. 00:20:45.879 --> 00:20:48.099 The Holy One of Israel. 00:20:48.220 --> 00:20:49.579 What does he say to his servant? 00:20:49.579 --> 00:20:54.579 He says about his servant that his servant will be deeply despised. 00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:56.259 Do you see it? 00:20:56.460 --> 00:20:58.980 So when he comes, people, this will be like Marmite, 00:20:59.079 --> 00:21:01.339 they will love him or they will hate him. 00:21:02.139 --> 00:21:05.399 Not in a British passive aggressive kind of way. 00:21:05.460 --> 00:21:09.220 They're not going to tut at him for taking too long in the queue at Waitrose. 00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:11.119 This is Brunsfield after all. 00:21:11.740 --> 00:21:17.179 God's servant is going to be on the receiving end of people's anger. 00:21:17.180 --> 00:21:21.200 People will find God's servant offensive. 00:21:21.400 --> 00:21:22.560 He will be abhorred. 00:21:22.620 --> 00:21:24.740 The word means they're disgusted at him. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:28.740 Early at verse 4, his life will be one of hard toil. 00:21:30.220 --> 00:21:34.259 And you see, at times, it will feel like it is in vain. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:36.440 And yet he will entrust himself to the Lord. 00:21:36.740 --> 00:21:37.640 Fully, completely. 00:21:38.920 --> 00:21:41.060 That's what life is going to be like for this servant. 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:45.620 And that's, by implication, what life is going to be like for everyone who follows after him. 00:21:45.619 --> 00:21:52.879 And 700 years before Jesus stepped foot on the earth, as these words are spoken, 00:21:53.419 --> 00:21:59.099 God is speaking here about what life is going to be like for his servant and his followers. 00:22:00.719 --> 00:22:04.919 And there's over 2,700 years after these words were first spoken. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:07.879 As we sit here today, let me ask you, has anything changed? 00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:11.740 Do you not know that to be true in your life? 00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:16.840 Think of the people that I've spoken to about Jesus in my life. 00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:18.300 Some greatly attracted to him. 00:22:18.380 --> 00:22:19.020 Tell me more. 00:22:19.100 --> 00:22:19.840 How does that work? 00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:20.700 I'd love to find out. 00:22:20.780 --> 00:22:21.160 Others? 00:22:21.700 --> 00:22:22.380 How arrogant. 00:22:24.620 --> 00:22:26.780 That he would say that he's the only way to God. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:31.200 How dare he tell me how to live my life? 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:36.640 I was doing an interview recently with Stephen Fry, who was asked about Jesus. 00:22:38.200 --> 00:22:41.319 And about what Jesus said about getting into heaven. 00:22:41.460 --> 00:22:46.799 And Stephen Fry simply responded, I would not want to get in on Jesus' terms because they are wrong. 00:22:48.819 --> 00:22:49.480 They're wrong. 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:52.380 Let me encourage you. 00:22:52.420 --> 00:22:54.360 If that's your experience this morning, today. 00:22:54.359 --> 00:23:01.000 If that's what you're going through right now, is you take up your cross, deny self and follow him. 00:23:01.639 --> 00:23:09.319 I want you to take heart and be encouraged that that was the life and the experience of the servant. 00:23:10.699 --> 00:23:14.779 His life looked anything other than victory. 00:23:15.059 --> 00:23:17.079 It looked like defeat all the way through. 00:23:17.079 --> 00:23:22.259 And we're called to follow him and do what he did and trust the Lord. 00:23:22.379 --> 00:23:25.439 But I want you to know the promise at the end of verse 7. 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:32.919 That God will see him honoured in the eyes of the watching world. 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:38.559 And humiliation will one day give way to exaltation. 00:23:39.720 --> 00:23:44.480 You see, Jesus will be seen to be not just a Lord of some things and some people. 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:52.660 He will be one day seen to be the spectacular and all-encompassing Lord of all things and all people. 00:23:54.360 --> 00:23:56.180 And to him all knees will one day bow. 00:23:57.599 --> 00:23:59.519 Of course, it's words we see gloriously true. 00:23:59.620 --> 00:24:01.400 The resurrection God exalted him. 00:24:03.079 --> 00:24:06.120 Now think about that as you're sitting there in exile in Babylon. 00:24:06.620 --> 00:24:08.079 Imagine getting your head around that. 00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:10.140 As it looks like defeat. 00:24:10.259 --> 00:24:11.579 As it looks like the end of the story. 00:24:11.579 --> 00:24:15.539 Tempted to run after anything else in the world that will give you some kind of satisfaction. 00:24:16.179 --> 00:24:18.859 And God is saying, the servant says, listen to me. 00:24:19.259 --> 00:24:22.379 God says, this servant will be seen in the eyes of the world. 00:24:22.579 --> 00:24:24.799 To be the king of the universe. 00:24:25.220 --> 00:24:27.879 Words hard to get your heads around in that day. 00:24:28.679 --> 00:24:29.399 Imagine that. 00:24:29.859 --> 00:24:31.319 Getting your head around that in that day. 00:24:32.740 --> 00:24:34.819 And words hard to get our heads around in this day. 00:24:34.819 --> 00:24:42.939 But words that God says, remember how he said last week, I am the one that tells you things before they happen. 00:24:43.259 --> 00:24:46.159 So that when they happen, you know it's because of me that they happened. 00:24:46.599 --> 00:24:49.720 God says, one day that will be gloriously true. 00:24:50.980 --> 00:24:52.480 My servant will be exalted. 00:24:52.619 --> 00:24:53.539 I will exalt him. 00:24:55.339 --> 00:24:56.399 This is God's servant. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:59.740 This is God's servant. 00:25:01.820 --> 00:25:02.960 Pages of Isaiah. 00:25:03.580 --> 00:25:04.940 Here he is speaking. 00:25:06.840 --> 00:25:09.740 In the words of Tim Keller, Jesus cannot just be liked. 00:25:11.040 --> 00:25:13.600 His claims will make us either kill him or crown him. 00:25:13.700 --> 00:25:14.460 Which will it be? 00:25:16.840 --> 00:25:20.980 And just as we close, that's exactly what we see Paul declare in Philippians chapter 2. 00:25:21.080 --> 00:25:23.320 Maybe your mind went there as we were reading it together. 00:25:23.319 --> 00:25:29.779 Paul writing, speaking of the crucified, the risen, ascended and one day returning Jesus. 00:25:29.939 --> 00:25:35.259 He writes, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself. 00:25:36.819 --> 00:25:41.539 By becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. 00:25:41.700 --> 00:25:46.740 Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place. 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.299 And gave him the name that is above every name. 00:25:50.299 --> 00:25:58.980 That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:06.299 And every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:09.139 This is what God will do for his servant. 00:26:10.879 --> 00:26:12.899 So why should I listen to this servant? 00:26:13.659 --> 00:26:14.859 Why should I listen to him? 00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:17.220 Well, because he is the one who speaks up. 00:26:17.220 --> 00:26:19.660 He has come to reveal the Father. 00:26:21.460 --> 00:26:22.900 He's the one who stands in. 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:24.880 He's the one come to be the true Israel. 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:29.039 He's come to be the one who lives the life that we could not live before a holy God. 00:26:29.380 --> 00:26:32.779 He is the one who sends out, sends his people, his light into the world. 00:26:33.880 --> 00:26:35.319 And he's the one who stoops down. 00:26:35.400 --> 00:26:36.600 The one who made himself nothing. 00:26:37.779 --> 00:26:39.579 Became obedient even to death on a cross. 00:26:39.579 --> 00:26:43.279 And so this servant says today through his words as he rules the church. 00:26:43.939 --> 00:26:45.379 He says, listen to me. 00:26:46.579 --> 00:26:47.500 Listen to me. 00:26:48.539 --> 00:26:52.639 So friends, as we close, let me ask us all, just in a quiet moment of contemplation. 00:26:53.419 --> 00:26:54.659 Will we listen to him? 00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:57.579 Why don't we just be quiet for a moment. 00:26:58.439 --> 00:26:59.279 And then I'll pray. 00:27:00.460 --> 00:27:01.799 And then we'll close our service. 00:27:01.799 --> 00:27:20.579 Father God, we thank you so much for the incredible grace that you have shown us and giving us the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:27:20.579 --> 00:27:25.740 And it's our prayer this morning, Father, as we thought about a lot of stuff. 00:27:28.179 --> 00:27:34.699 That these words spoken by Isaiah, that were fulfilled so wonderfully in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:36.559 they wouldn't be snatched away from our minds. 00:27:37.740 --> 00:27:42.500 So it's our prayer that you would take this word and plant it deep in us. 00:27:42.859 --> 00:27:46.659 Thank you that in the Lord Jesus Christ we have one who is simply incomparable. 00:27:46.660 --> 00:27:52.279 And we ask us, Lord, that you would help us in all the competing voices of our world. 00:27:53.320 --> 00:27:54.660 That we would listen to him. 00:27:55.779 --> 00:28:00.519 Lord, we know our own hearts well enough to know how prone to wander we are. 00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:05.460 And so, Lord, we want to make the words of that great hymn true for us. 00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:08.680 That you would take our hearts and take and seal them. 00:28:09.400 --> 00:28:11.900 And seal them for your courts above. 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:14.640 Thank you so much for your incredible love for us. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:18.480 And we pray, knowing that you hear us, not because of anything in us, 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:21.660 but because of everything that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:22.500 Amen.