The Servant's Mission (Isaiah 42:1-4, 49:1-6)

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Welcome to Kootenai Community Church. Welcome to the Adult Sunday School class. And welcome back to our series, week five in our series,

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Walk by the Spirit. And we will open in a word of prayer.

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Our Holy God, we are your humble bondservants, pieces of broken clay that you created, that you have recreated by extending your righteous gift of your son to us.

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We humble our hearts before you this morning as we entrust ourselves to the study of your word.

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May you grant your spirit to us. You grant him to me in abundance that we have our eyes opened, our ears opened, and our hearts ready to understand and apply the truth that we hear from the word this morning.

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May we decrease so that Jesus Christ may increase. May your glory be on full display today in the life of your son,

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Jesus. It's in his name we pray, amen. Open up your

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Bibles to Isaiah chapter 42, verse one. Title of today's lesson is

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The Servant's Mission. Or as I've been thinking about subtitling it,

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Mission Possible. The Servant's Mission from Isaiah chapter 42 and chapter 49.

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And we'll be continuing in the book of Isaiah for the second week. Last week in our series, we looked at Isaiah 7 through 11, and we saw how

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Isaiah, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, prophesied to us about the child.

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The child born to a virgin, the child who would become a king, the righteous king of Israel who would sit on David's throne.

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We saw how that process was foreordained by God that he would come as a human, mature, and become that king that we are awaiting as we wait now today.

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So this week, we turn to the later sections of Isaiah, and we're gonna dip into two chapters.

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The first two of Isaiah's servant songs. Four servant songs that are in Isaiah 42 through 53.

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I had to restrain myself. I wanted to try to do all four of them as a package together, but that's a foolish error for a 45 -minute

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Sunday school lesson. So we're only gonna be able to spend time in the first two, but it will be incredibly helpful.

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And as a recommendation for you, one of the resources that really helped me with this Sunday school is called

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Isaiah's Great Light by Kyle Swanson. It's a recent book that just came out. Highly commend it to you.

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It's an excellent look at these servant songs. Now, this past week,

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I experienced some difficulties, and our Sunday school this morning centers around difficulties.

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So I just wanted to share with you briefly, I had to travel to Austin for a four -day business trip.

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My first business trip in four years. So I was reminded of just how difficult it is to travel.

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You have to spend almost an entire day driving to the airport, parking your car, remembering where you parked your car, getting through TSA, submitting yourself to facial recognition, sitting there, cramming yourself in a tube as it flies across the country to one destination, waiting in another airport for another couple hours, flying to your final destination, getting to a city that you don't really know your way around.

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You just got to kind of trust your Uber driver that he does, getting to your hotel late. And you got to find out how are you going to sleep in this doggone hotel when the bed is hard, there's city noises outside, there's a flashing fire alarm light going on all night long in your room.

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You get up the next morning, you're in the wrong time zone. You don't know where you eat. You don't have your regular cup of coffee.

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Your wife's not there. You got to go to work. And you spend two full, three full days just working, working, working, working.

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And it never stops at five. It always continues in the evening and you're getting behind with every moment.

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You can feel your anxiety rising because you can't keep up with your normal work. And you work for four days and you have to get back on another plane and do it all again.

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And then when you get home, well, the sink is leaking. The light in the bathroom is broken. The dog's got problems.

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Now you might be thinking to yourself, rightly so, that Simon is using all of his Sunday school hour to just complain and some garner some sympathy.

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And you would be correct about that. My point in sharing that is to note that these difficulties that I experienced this week pale in comparison to the real physical, mental, emotional and spiritual difficulties that you in this body and that our brothers and sisters in our church around the world are experiencing right now.

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I want you to ask yourself a question. You don't have to raise your hand or answer. This is a question for you to ponder, but what is the greatest difficulty or obstacle that you currently are experiencing or are aware of around you in this fellowship?

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Do you have a coworker or friend, family member, or maybe even a spouse who refuses to believe in Jesus Christ and thereby bringing you great pain?

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Is there work that God has called you to that is perpetually plagued with futility?

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Are you burdened by a serious physical ailment or even a terminal illness that has threatened your very mortality?

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No matter the obstacle that you are facing today, you have help.

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Where? In the man, Christ Jesus. And he encountered real difficulty, real suffering, real trials in his humanity.

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And today, as we look at Isaiah and the servant's mission, we're gonna be focusing on the how and the why he embraced and overcame difficulty as he lived his human life.

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So this morning, we're gonna look at two primary goals that Jesus the

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Messiah would pursue and accomplish so that by faith in Jesus, we will overcome difficulties in our life by pursuing these same two goals.

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We're looking at two of the goals that Jesus was prophesied to pursue as the

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Messiah so that we will, by grace through faith in him, pursue those same two goals and overcome the difficulties that God has brought into our lives.

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So this morning, let's look first at Isaiah 42, verse one, and our first goal that we're gonna see is that the

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Messiah will overcome difficulty to bring God's justice.

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The Messiah, Jesus, will overcome difficulty to bring

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God's justice. Let's read the first four verses of Isaiah 42 together. Behold, my servant whom

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I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit upon him.

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He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry out or raise his voice nor make his voice heard in the street.

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A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish.

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He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not be disheartened or crushed until he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands will wait expectantly for his law.

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Now, just a brief context, I just want you to look back one verse at the last verse of Isaiah, chapter 41, verse 29.

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Isaiah is contrasting the Messiah, the suffering servant, with the worthless idols to whom the nations that surrounded

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Israel worshiped. The servant Messiah is different from these idols. Look at chapter 41, verse 29.

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It says, behold, all of them are false. Their works are worthless.

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Their molten images are wind and emptiness. And then as we move into chapter 42, we hit, behold, my servant.

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I love that. The servant, the Messiah is the chosen one of God whom

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I uphold. This is God, the father speaking to us through Isaiah, through the inspiration of the

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Holy Spirit about the son. We have the Trinity here. And if you think about this endorsement of the suffering servant here, it's similar to the approval that is voiced by the father at Jesus' baptism.

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Just listen as I read to you one of the accounts of his baptism in Luke 3, 22. It says, and the

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Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove and a voice came out of heaven.

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You are my beloved son. And you, I am well pleased.

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So pause and just meditate on that for just one second. God, the father delights in the person and the work of his chosen servant, his son.

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His soul, the soul of the father delights in both the child and the man,

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Christ Jesus. He brings him great delight. Now look at verse two, or excuse me, the second half of verse one.

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It says, I have put my spirit upon him. Think back to what we studied just last week.

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If you were here, we read in Isaiah 11, two, the spirit of the Lord will rest or come down upon him.

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And we also looked at the spot in Isaiah 61, one, where it says the spirit of the

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Lord God is upon me, which Jesus quoted when he went into the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth in Luke four, verse 18, and announced that today this scripture has been fulfilled in your presence.

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The spirit of the Lord God came down upon the son. In this passage upon the servant, the

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Messiah, I, God the father have put my spirit upon him.

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And it says in verse one, my servant whom I uphold. So there's a linkage here between the upholding and the work of the spirit.

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God the father is upholding the son in his humanity by the spirit.

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Jesus requires in his humanity to be upheld. Why? Well, this is the part of this passage that we're really gonna zero in on.

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The why is that he is going to experience great difficulty as he accomplishes the mission that God the father has sent him to do.

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The task ahead is enormous. And it requires that this servant who tackles it, be ready to encounter opposition and difficulty.

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What kind of opposition will he or did he encounter? Well, let's look, go to Mark chapter 12.

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Mark chapter 12 quotes this passage from Isaiah. And so we should read it in its context.

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Mark chapter 12, we'll start in verse eight.

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I'm looking at my scripture here, one second. Yes, Matthew 12.

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Always good to do that before you start reading and then try to fit what you were talking about into a passage where it doesn't belong.

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Matthew chapter 12 and verse eight. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 12, verse eight, for the son of man is

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Lord of the Sabbath. Departing from there, he went into their synagogue and a man was there whose hand was withered and they questioned

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Jesus asking, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him?

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And he said to them, what man is there among you who has a sheep? And if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?

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How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep? So then it is lawful to do good on the

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Sabbath. And he said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out and it was restored to normal like the other.

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But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him as to how they might destroy him.

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But Jesus aware of this withdrew from there and he followed him and he healed them all and warned them not to tell who he was.

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This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet. Behold, my servant whom

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I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him and he shall proclaim justice to the

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Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.

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A battered reed he will not break off and a smoldering wick he will not put off until he leads justice to victory.

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And in his name, the Gentiles will hope. The opposition of the

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Pharisees here in this passage, the rejection of the people of Israel at large, and even the doubts expressed by Jesus' own family were evidence that despite his qualifications to be the

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Davidic Messiah King, he was rejected and opposed.

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He encountered real difficulty in accomplishing his mission.

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And Matthew here under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is able to associate this prophecy from Isaiah 42 with the circumstances that Jesus underwent.

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Turn back to Isaiah 42. As we look again at this text,

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I want you to notice the repeated usage of the word justice. In verse one, it says,

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I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations.

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You look at verse three, it says a bruised reed he will not break and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish.

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He will faithfully bring forth justice. And again, in verse four, he will not be disheartened or crushed until he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands will wait expectantly for his law.

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Jesus' mission is to bring forth justice to the nations and to uphold justice in the earth.

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And for that purpose, he will need to be upheld by God, the

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Father through the Spirit. So we saw this earlier, the

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Father provides the servant, the Spirit to give him the fortitude to withstand the oppression and opposition that would come upon him and his followers.

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As he steps into space and time in this earth and encounters real physical, spiritual, mental, emotional difficulty on behalf of God, the

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Father, as he seeks to bring forth justice to the nations, he will need the

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Spirit to help him. Now let's clarify here. When we use the term justice, we often import our 21st century baggage with it.

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And we think of helping the oppressed deal with the oppressors, or broadly speaking, a social justice.

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The Hebrew word for justice here, the grammar of this passage and the context in which it was originally delivered don't fit that concept here.

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The Hebrew word is elsewhere translated law, teachings or statutes.

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So it's a focus upon God and his word, which has been impugned, maligned, ignored, abused and disregarded by Israel and the world at large.

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Biblical justice then, the justice that is seeking to be brought forth by the servant is about God, not about us.

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Jesus' mission as the suffering servant of Isaiah, as the future

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Davidic King will absolutely extend to rightly righting all wrongs that have been committed against God's people.

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When you impugn and malign God's law, you will extend that malignment to his people.

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Focus is not on the people and the oppression and restoring that, it's on restoring

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God's justice, a restoration of his word, his statutes and his law.

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And that is what Jesus faithfully did as the servant who will bring justice to God through his faithful and perfect obedience to the word of God throughout his human life and thereby provide the reconciliation to God's law for all of us who are united through faith in him.

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Now let's look at what the servant will not do. We notice what he will do.

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He will bring forth justice. What will he not do? Look back at verses two through four.

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He will not cry out or raise his voice nor make his voice heard in the street.

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A bruised reed he will not break and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish.

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Look at verse four. He will not be disheartened or crushed. Did you hear the nor, not, nor, not, not, not, not?

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These are the things that he will not do. He will not cry out for help, a very natural human response in the face of affliction or injustice.

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Think back to Genesis 4 .10. He says, and he said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground.

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Respect Abel, the injustice of Cain. He will not raise his voice, literally to lift it up or make it heard.

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Matthew 12, verse 19 translated that quarrel. Even though Jesus could have responded to injustice by raising his voice and crying out thereby making his affliction known, the spirit would enable him to respond meekly, to absorb the blows, to withstand the undeserved affliction.

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Listen, as I just read for you, Luke 23, 34. On the cross, Jesus was saying, father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

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Look back at verse three again. It says a bruised reed he will not break and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish.

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This challenges us to think about what is being said here. The language speaks of a broken grain stock or a broken reed grass that would have been harvested in the marshlands.

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These broken pieces would be disregarded by the harvesters as useless crops that are fully devoid of any nutrition and therefore not worth the time to harvest.

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As Jesus encounters those who have been bruised by injustice, he will not break them, he will preserve them.

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When he encounters one whose wick is burning dimly, he will not extinguish it, but he will keep it alight.

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A very natural human inclination when you are being repressed is to take out your frustration on one weaker than you.

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That's not how Messiah will respond. Even though he is the

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Davidic King who will rule the universe, he will never, never use his power to afflict the poor and the needy.

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Rather, he will bring forth justice. And this process, as we noted, look back at verse four, will be disheartening and crushing as Jesus faces head on the full forces of evil in this world and in hell itself.

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But the servant, the Messiah has a mission. He's going to bring forth justice and he will not be disheartened or crushed.

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Why not? How will he avoid that? It's very natural. The spirit will be upon him, providing him divine strength in his task because the spirit is the agent of God's justice.

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Listen, as I read to you, Isaiah 32, verses 15 to 18. Isaiah prophesies, until the spirit is poured out upon us from on high and the wilderness becomes a fertile field and the fertile field is considered as a forest.

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Then justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness will abide in the fertile field.

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And the work of righteousness will be peace and the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.

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Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation and in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places.

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Oh, my heart longs for that day and yours should too, because that is what we are waiting for when the spirit is poured out upon us from on high.

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When he comes and when his servant King reigns, this is what we will experience.

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The servant Messiah will bring forth justice and look at the last phrase of Isaiah 42, four and the coastlands will wait expectantly for his law, his justice.

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Jesus would have encountered this passage in Isaiah as he studied the Old Testament as a child and as a young man.

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And through the power of the spirit, he would have been able to identify that one of the goals that God the

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Father had for him in his ministry as the chosen servant of the

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Father would be to bring forth justice. This goal would sustain him throughout his human life as he encountered the real trials of being human in a difficult and unjust world.

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He faced them head on because he highly valued the word of God, his law and he was determined to accomplish the work he had been sent to do.

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This determination was enabled by the combination of the Father, the spirit resting upon him and him personally living his human life in obedience to God through his word.

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So let's stop and think about the implications of that for us. The world that Messiah enters that we are in now is characterized by injustice and opposition.

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We should not be surprised by that. Or by the perpetuation of injustice into our days or those of our children.

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When faced with injustice, the difficulty can be debilitating and it can absolutely cause you to despair.

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Messiah as a man encountered real difficulty. He didn't just float through life, not experiencing the difficulties that you and I experience.

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But Messiah depended upon the spirit to enable him to fulfill his messianic role of bringing justice to the nations.

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So as we did last week, let's pause at this point in the lesson. And if you have comments or questions for me, now would be a good time.

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Okay, there'll be time later if you happen to think of one, make a mental note. Let me ask you a couple of questions that God the spirit can use to apply this to our lives this week.

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In what areas of your life are you encountering injustice? And how are you responding?

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I want you to think about how Jesus sets you an example, but not only sets you an example, that would be too little.

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How he gives you his spirit to respond the way that he did. What encouragement can you gain from meditating on that truth?

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Meditating on how Jesus the Messiah encountered the opposition that he faced. As you read the

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New Testament and you see him living out that opposition, how can you meditate on how

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God can use that in your life to sanctify you? My third question for you is, why do you think that justice is so important that to God, the father,

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God, the son, God, the spirit, that all three would be so focused on this primary task for the servant, bring forth justice to the nations.

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Our first goal that we've observed here in Isaiah 42, for the Messiah is that he is to bring forth

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God's justice. And for that, he had to overcome difficulties in his humanity.

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Now, the second goal is going to be in Isaiah 49. So I'll turn you there, Isaiah chapter 49, verses one through six.

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The second goal is the Messiah will overcome futility to bring glorious salvation.

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Messiah will overcome futility to bring glorious salvation.

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Let's read together, Isaiah 49, verses one through six. Listen to me,

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O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb.

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From the body of my mother, he named me. He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he has concealed me, and he has also made me a select arrow.

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He has hidden me in his quiver. He said to me, you are my servant,

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Israel, in whom I will show my glory. But I said, I have toiled in vain.

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I have spent my strength for nothing in vanity. Yet surely the justice due to me is with the

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Lord, and my reward with my God. And now, says the

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Lord, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him so that Israel might be gathered to him.

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For I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God is my strength. He says, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.

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I will also make you a light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

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Wow, this is a powerful passage. Now, previously we observed that in the first suffering servant prophecy,

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God the Father speaks. In this one, the Son himself, the

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Messiah, is speaking, and speaking of what God has said to him. To whom does he speak?

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Look back at verse one. He says, listen to me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar.

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It's not just a message for the nation of Israel, which is the primary audience of Isaiah.

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This is a message for all the nations, the entire world. What is the message?

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He says, I have been called from the womb and prepared for a purpose.

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He's got a purpose that he is to declare here. He is bringing God's glorious salvation to earth, to Israel, and to the nations.

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Called from the womb, think about that phrase. Jesus' mission began prior to his human birth, and it was a mission that could only be accomplished by a human man.

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What is that purpose again? Look at verse three. He said to me, you are my servant

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Israel, in whom I will show my glory. Now, don't get confused here.

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He's not saying you, Israel, are my servant, but in a sense he is saying you,

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Israel, are my servant. We know that Israel is used as the suffering servant in other passages in Isaiah, but in this context,

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Jesus is stepping into the role, the Messiah is stepping into the role, to be the servant that Israel could not faithfully be, to show forth the glory of the

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Father, in whom I will show forth my glory. One of the primary purposes of Jesus' incarnation is to declare the glory of God the

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Father, by bringing Israel back to God.

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And by doing so, extending the light of that salvation to the nations of the ends of the earth, to bring

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Jacob back to him. Did you see that there? Jacob must come back, verse five, to bring

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Jacob back to him, so that Israel might be gathered to him. But just redeeming

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Israel would be too small a thing, verse six, it wouldn't be enough, right?

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If we just brought back the tribes of Jacob and restored the preserved ones of Israel, which he will do, there's no doubt about this.

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God the Father does not make a promise like that and then not keep it. Israel will be brought back and restored, but that's too small a thing.

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He will also extend this light of salvation to the nations. What a grand and noble purpose for the

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Messiah. And for us in him. Now, you saw the terminology in verse one, the

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Lord called me from the womb, summoned him by name for a purpose.

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He named me, right? He caused my name to be remembered, is a way that that could also be rendered.

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The Messiah will be a name that stands out, that will be remembered because God the

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Father has called him forth. And then he prepares him, look at verse two.

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He has made my mouth like a sharp sword and the shadow of his hand, he has concealed me and he has also made me a select arrow.

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You see four phrases beginning with he has, he has, he has, he has.

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The father has an intentional work going on here through the spirit to prepare the

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Messiah, the servant for his purpose. He has made my mouth like a sharp sword.

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The message, the mission will begin with Jesus proclaiming a message that will cut to the heart like a sword will cut.

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Listen, as I read to you, Matthew 4, 17, from the time that Jesus began to preach and say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

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His mouth was prepared for the day when he would go out and proclaim this message and the stroke of the sword would fall first upon the unrepentant hearts of his people, the nation of Israel.

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But it will ultimately penetrate the heart of any unbeliever anywhere at any time.

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He has concealed me, look back at verse two, concealed me in the shadow of his hand. The message and the man would be protected by God the father until the exact moment intended by God for the full revelation that he would deliver.

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He didn't say everything he knew all at the same time. Why not?

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Well, practically speaking, he knew he was gonna get in trouble if he started proclaiming all of what he was to everybody all at the same time.

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He was precise about it. God the father through the spirit gave him wisdom and prudence to know when to speak what portion of the message to what people.

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He has also made me a select arrow. He has hidden me in his quiver.

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Select means like a clean and a polished arrow. It's hidden in the quiver until the exact right time to be pulled out and sent forth.

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Now, focus in with me in our last couple minutes here as we finish up today on the last couple of verses of Isaiah 49.

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Verse four is amazing. Sometimes you read through the book of Isaiah and it's like flying across the country.

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You see little bits and pieces down there on the ground and you're like, man, I'd love to go dig deeper into that little city and see what's going on down there.

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But I don't have the time, I gotta get to work today. Better finish my Bible reading, I'll get back to it next year.

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Sometimes you hit a verse in Isaiah and you're like, I could spend the rest of the year on this verse and that would be perfect.

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Isaiah 49, four is one of those verses. Look at it with me again. But I said,

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I have toiled in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity.

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Yet surely the justice due to me is with the Lord and my reward with my

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God. The fact that the servant will say, my God, reflects this relationship between the father and the son, a relationship that we've talked about before exists before eternity passed.

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But you see in this statement here, a little bit of the humanity of Christ.

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I said, I have toiled in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity.

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Now, the word toil here has lots of good translations for us to think about it. Literally means to gasp, hence to be exhausted.

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To tire, to work supremely hard to the point of being faint and weary.

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The word vain literally means emptiness. You've probably studied it or heard it before in Ecclesiastes, vanity, vanity, emptiness, emptiness, futility, something transitory or unsatisfactory.

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So how should we understand this statement of the Messiah? Has he failed or will he fail?

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No, he's not going to fail. Does it refer to physical toil or mental toil?

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Can God be physically tired or weary? Now, just listen to Malachi 2, verse 17.

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It says, you have wearied the Lord. That's the same word. You have wearied the

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Lord with your words. Yet you say, how have we wearied him? In that you say, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the

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Lord and he delights in them. Or where is the God of justice? From a human perspective,

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God the Father can be wearied by the sinful foolishness or vanity of his creation.

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Now we know from Isaiah 40, verse 28. Do you not know?

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Have you not heard the everlasting God, Yahweh, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.

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God the Father does not get tired. He doesn't have a physical body and mentally, emotionally, spiritually, he has an infinite capacity for energy.

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The energy required to interact with us, his world, no matter how stupid or problematic we are.

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God the Father does not get tired. Isaiah 40, verses 30 to 31 continues, though youths grow weary and tired and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the

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Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired.

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They will walk and not become weary. We on the other hand, as human beings, we definitely get tired no matter how young or vigorous we are.

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We get tired physically, mentally, and emotionally as we strive to deal with our sin, the sin of the world around us, our finite human limitations and the perpetual decay of our bodies.

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So what is intended here in this statement of Isaiah speaking prophetically about Jesus, the human

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Messiah, when he says, I have toiled in vain. Is it hyperbole?

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Is he saying, well, I, the Messiah, am God, and therefore I will live my life, my human life as looking authentic to you.

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I'm going to pretend like I'm tired, but in reality, I'm just God. I don't get tired.

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I don't get weary, but I want you to not think that.

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I want you to see me as a weak human. Is he being hyperbolic here? No.

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I would suggest to you that Jesus knew what it was like to experience difficulty in his labors, in his toils, to give himself and his strength to a task that may have seemed at times futile or empty to cause him to cry out,

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I have toiled in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity.

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And that would drive him to trust wholeheartedly in God, the Father's ability to reward his labor.

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And that's why the verse doesn't finish halfway through the verse. It says, yet surely the justice due to me is with the

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Lord and my reward with my God. The prophetic voice of despair here is actually a voice of triumph.

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The servant will be upheld by the mission of the glory of God. And he knows that the rejection of his message by the nation will only result in the proclamation of that glory in an even brighter manner.

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How does the Messiah avoid despair when he is rejected by his own brothers, his own hometown, his own generation?

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By seeing the final outcome. Look at verse four. Yet surely the justice due to me is with the

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Lord and my reward with my God. The servant knows here, quoting from Kyle Swanson in his book.

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He says, the servant knows the end game is here. And he knows that he will receive a perfect and endless kingdom.

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But that doesn't mean that he's not gonna experience doubts, difficulties. Listen, as I read to you,

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John 6, 66 and 67. It says, as a result of this, this teaching, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore.

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You see here a glimpse of the humanity. Jesus said to the 12, you do not want to go away also.

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Do you? We brush over that phrase really quickly as we read through the book of John.

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I think Jesus struggled with the reality that the people he preached to did not listen.

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They did not repent. Look back at the end of this section, verses five and six.

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I'll read it again for you one more time. And now says the Lord, Yahweh, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring

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Jacob back to him so that Israel might be gathered to him. For I am honored in the sight of the

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Lord and my God is my strength. He says, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.

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I will also make you a light of the nation so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

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Jesus as Messiah will derive strength from God the father through the spirit because he is on mission.

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He is on mission to be a light to all the nations that the salvation of God may reach to the ends of the earth.

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The restoration of the tribes of Jacob and Israel is a guarantee here. It's fundamental to his goal.

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If they do not come back, then Jesus has failed. The Messiah must restore

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Jacob, bring him back. And the only way that that God's, the way that God's good news of salvation will go out is if we proclaim that good news to the nations that God is restoring

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Israel and those who will come to him. Jesus earthly ministry as the

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Messiah will inevitably encounter the rejection and the unbelief of a people who would resist, persecute and ultimately crucify their

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Messiah. Would cry out, we have no king, but Caesar.

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This ministry then would cause the son of man to call out to his father as he expresses the earthly futility and vanity of this toil, this labor.

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Yet he will be sustained by the mission, the proclamation of the glorious salvation of Israel and the nations.

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Let's think about how this applies to us. Jesus' rejection by the first century

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Jews is a part of God's plan. We see it in the New Testament. So too is their restoration and salvation.

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And we should pray for that. The good news of God's glorious salvation is what provided Jesus' strength.

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And it too can provide strength to us, it must. In his humanity,

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Jesus experienced real weariness and toil, both physically and mentally.

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When we experience weariness and toil, as we pursue the goals that God has placed in front of us, we can find strength in the son, in Jesus, through the spirit and through the mission that the spirit has enabled

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Jesus to pursue. Any questions that you have or comments?

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Let's finish with a couple of questions then for you to take with you this week, talk about with your family and friends as you allow the spirit to work on your hearts, when you grow weary, where do you find the strength?

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Do you find it in the gospel? Or do you go somewhere else first? Go to the gospel.

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That's where Jesus derived his strength. Are you struggling with despair?

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Or even, dare I say, depression? Are you low?

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When you go low, when you get low, will you bring your burdens to a suffering servant who knows how to minister to you in your need because he sympathizes with you in your weakness?

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And will you recommit yourself today to the mission of the

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Messiah, the proclamation of his glorious gospel of salvation to the ends of the earth?

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May God grant us the strength to apply the word to our lives this week. Let's close in a word of prayer.

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Our Father, we thank you that you are a God who upholds and strengthens your people.

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We are weary, we are tired, and we're tempted to despair. You grant us your strength today.

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May we find in the life of your servant, Jesus, the strength that we need. Fill us with your spirit that we may embrace the task of proclaiming the gospel to ourselves and to a lost and dying world that desperately needs the justice and salvation of you, our great

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God. May we go forth in the peace and wisdom of our