Sermon #114 Series: Isaiah

Title: "He Shall Not Fail!"

Text: Isaiah 42:14

Subject: The Certain Success of Christ

Date: Sunday Evening - April 26, 1992

Introduction:

I take the first four words of verse 4 as the title of my message tonight- “He shall not fail!”

Proposition: In these four verses the Lord God assures us that the Lord Jesus Christ will be successful and triumphant in everything he has undertaken as the Servant of Jehovah- With him who is Jehovah’s Servant failure is an impossibility! That is to say, with him who is our Savior, failure is not possible!

Divisions: There are two things in this passage to which I call your attention:

An Admonition- “Behold my Servant!”
A Promise- “He shall not fail!”

I. First, Here is An Admonition from God- “Behold my Servant!”

Call it a command if you want to. Call it an invitation if you like. I do not really care what you call it. I simply want us to obey it. The admonition is given in discriminately. God says to us all, saints and sinners, believers and unbelievers, saved people and lost people, “Behold my Servant!”

Behold him with the Eye of Faith! To behold him is to trust him (Isa. 45:22).
Behold him with an Admiring Heart! To behold him of whom this text speaks is to admire him.
Behold him whatever Your Need! I promise you, whatever your soul needs you will obtain as you behold the Lord Jesus Christ!
Behold him in Grateful Memory (I Cor. 9:15). As the saints of God in the O.T. beheld him in expectation, let us now behold him in holy remembrance. Behold 5 things about the Lord Jesus Christ revealed in vv. 1-3.

A. Behold the great and marvelous Humiliation of Christ (v. 1).

Though our Savior is himself God the Son, in every way equal with the Father, he took on him the form of a servant and became obedient even unto death that he might serve us (Phil. 2:5-8).

The Lord of glory took upon himself our nature. Manhood was forever taken into union with Godhood in the incarnation!

1. Jesus Christ came into this world as Jehovah’s Servant.

a. He came to do the will of his Father, voluntarily subjecting himself to the will, work and law of God as our Representative (Heb. 10:5-14).

b. By his subjection to his Father and his obedience to his Father’s will, our Savior gave us an example to follow- “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”

2. Our Savior was chosen of God for the work he was to perform- “Mine Elect”.

He did not thrust himself into the work, but was called and chosen of God to perform it. God the Father saw his Son as the only one suitable to the task; and he chose him. The humanity of Christ was chosen, ordained and sanctified by God the Father for the purpose of redeeming us- “A body hast thou prepared me!”

As the God-man, he was set up and foreordained as the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. He was chosen to be…

The Mediator between God and Men.
The Sacrifice God could Accept for the Remission of Sins.
The Head of an Elect Race.

“Christ be my first Elect, “He said,

Then chose our souls in Christ our Head,

Before He gave the mountains birth,

Or laid foundations for the earth.

Thus did eternal love begin

To raise us up from death and sin!”

The Substitute, Surety and Savior of His People.
The Foundation and Cornerstone of His Temple.

Note: All of this Christ was chosen to be and do before the world began, long before his sacred humanity was formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin.

Before we sinned in our father, Adam, Christ was chosen to be our Savior- Before we ever broke God’s holy law, Christ volunteered and was chosen to find us- Before there was a kingdom Christ was the chosen King!

3. Throughout the time of his humiliation the Lord Jesus Christ was upheld and sustained in his work by God the Father- “Whom I uphold”- (Heb. 5:7). So real was his manhood that as a man our Savior required the help of God- (Isa. 56:7)

In the wilderness of temptation and in the garden of Gethsemane the manhood of Christ was upheld and strengthened by God. Though he was necessarily forsaken by God when he bore our sin upon the cursed tree, even there, as he sustained all the wrath of God, his human nature was upheld by his Divine nature so that he did not sink beneath the enormous load of guilt, sin and sorrow. Being thus sustained, he bore the wrath of God, all of it, for us, until justice could demand no more!

Note: These words, “whom I uphold,” might be translated, “upon whom I lean.” Translated that way they show us the confidence God placed in his Son as the Surety and Savior of his people- (Eph. 1).

4. God the Father was and is well-pleased with his Son- “Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth.”

· From All Eternity (Pro. 8:24-30).

· In Life of Obedience (Matt. 3:17, 17:5).

· With His Sacrifice (Eph. 5:2).

And the Lord God is delighted and well-pleased with us in Christ, his Son (Eph. 1:6; I Pet. 2:5). Let every sinner saved by grace be delighted with and in Christ. Rest, my soul, upon him! Rejoice, my heart, in him!

B. Behold, now, the work our Savior came to perform- “He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles!”

The Gentile nations were held in darkness, held in the bondage of ignorance and religious superstition by satan, until Christ come. He gave light to them that sat in darkness. And now he is gathering his elect from the four corners of the earth.

How does he “bring forth judgment to the Gentiles?”

1. He magnified the law and made it honorable (v. 21).

· By His Obedience to its Demands in His Life!

· By His Satisfaction of its Justice in His Death!

2. He is still bringing forth judgment (righteousness) to the Gentiles by the preaching of the gospel (Rom. 1:15-17.

C. Behold the Qualification of Christ for the Work of Redemption- “I have put my Spirit upon him.”

As a man, our Savior was filled with the Holy Spirit above measure and without measure. This is that Holy Anointing which qualified him to be an Prophet, Priest and King- (Luke 4:18-21).

D. Behold also the Voluntary Nature of His Obedience- (v. 2).

It is true our Lord Jesus was chosen, ordained and appointed for his work by God the Father, but he was not forced, or compelled to be obedient. He voluntarily subjected himself to his Fathers will. The Son of God voluntarily…

1. Came into this world (Ps. 40:7-8).

2. Gave himself up into the hands of his enemies to be crucified- (John 18:8; Isa. 50:5-7).

3. Suffered all the agonies of the cross (Matt. 27:34).

4. Laid down his life and died for us (John 10:17-18; Matt. 27:50).

Why? Because he loved the Father! Why? Because he loved us.

E. Behold the Tenderness and Compassion of our Dear Savior (v. 3).

The God-man, now seated in glory is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows that we are but flesh.

1. Young believers are compared to a “bruised reed,” weak and worthless in themselves. But Christ is tender to their tender souls. He will break them, but only strengthen them.

2. The young, weak believer is like the smoking flax of a candle that has just been lit. Christ will never quench the tender spirit.

Left to ourselves, the bruised reed would soon break, the smoking flax would quickly be quenched; but Christ will not leave us to ourselves!

This is God’s admonition- “Behold my Servant!” Do you now behold him? Do you know this Christ? Behold the Son of God with the eye of faith. “Behold my Servant!”

II. Here is God’s Promise concerning His Son- “He shall not fail!”

I want us to rest in the fulness of this promise- “He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law.” Isaiah here records God’s promise concerning his son. “He shall not fail nor be discouraged till”…

· He has Established Righteousness, Redeemed His People.

· Those for whom He Has Established Righteousness shall wait to Hear His Word- A generation shall serve him- His Redeemed Ones shall be saved.

This is the promise of God concerning his Son- Whatever our Lord has undertaken shall be performed. Whatever commission he has received as Jehovah’s servant shall be performed. He will perfectly fulfil his work.

We are sometimes very doubtful. We get concerned about the cause of Christ. But our fears are ill-founded. The ark of God is safe! Behold him who is the Head of all thing’s the Director of Heaven and Earth, the One upon whose shoulders God has laid the business of salvation. Behold him and be comforted. We may fail. We will fail! But he cannot fail! We get discouraged; but Christ is not discouraged. He shall accomplish every promise of grace! He shall fulfil every purpose of God!

I believe in the final perseverance of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe in the final perseverance of every believer. I believe in the final perseverance of the church as a whole. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” But this is a far greater thought- I believe in the final perseverance of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Son of God has come to save his own elect; and he will save them everyone! Not one soul for whom he is Surety and Substitute shall ever perish.

Let me show you the success of Christ in his work in two parts: in what he has done and in what he will yet do. The Bible makes it perfectly clear that the Lord Jesus Christ has undertaken and came into this world to accomplish certain things. And here God says, “He shall not fail!”

A. When Isaiah wrote these words he was looking into the future and said, “He shall not fail!” Now we look back to the past and say, “He has not failed!” (John 17:2; 19:30).

1. To Fulfil all the O.T. Scriptures- Prophecies and Types!

2. To Establish Perfect Righteousness!

3. To Redeem His People!

Any redemption other than particular, effectual redemption presents Christ a failure. To say that Christ suffered to redeem and save some who are finally lost in hell is to declare that, “Hell is a colossal trophy and monument to the failures of the Triune God to save the multitudes who are there” (Noel Smith). But that cannot be. Christ has not failed…

· To bear our sins!

· To satisfy the infinite wrath and justice of God for our sins!

· To put away our sins! Heb. 1:3; 9:26).

4. To Crush the Serpent’s Head.

5. I will go a step further and tell you that the Son of God has not failed to do me good.

I speak from experience. I tell you only what I know to be true. The Son of God has never failed…

· To meet my Needs!

· To Protect His Child!

· To Sustain My Soul!

· To Comfort My Heart!

· To Deliver Me From Evil!

· To Be Faithful To This Sinner!

6. Let me tell you one more thing the Christ of God has never failed to do- He has never failed to receive any sinner who came to him in faith! (Lk. 9:11).

B. There are some things, of which we are assured, that Christ will never fail to perform.

I do not know much about prophecy; but I do know that there are some things spoken of in the Book of God which Christ shall not fail to do.

“He shall not fail…”

1. To save every soul given to him in the covenant of grace (John 6:37-39; 10:16).

“Until He Find It”

2. To sovereignly rule all things for the good of his people.

3. To keep his own.

4. To present you faultless before the presence of his glory.

5. To come again and make all things new.

In a word- Jesus Christ shall never fail to get glory to his own great name (Is. 63:12,14).

C. How do we know that Christ shall never fail?

1. This text promises it!

2. God has decreed it! “He must reign!”

3. He has all power and authority needed to accomplish it!

4. His glory requires it!

Application: “Behold My Servant!”

1. Behold the Lamb of God, guilty sinner, and live forever!

2. Behold the triumphant Christ, weary pilgrim, and take courage.

Take this word of confidence home with you. Rejoice and be of good cheer- “He shall not fail!” Let this word of God be echoed in your hear as you…

· Witness to Lost Sinners.

· Go About Your Service.

· Face Your Trials.

· Seek to Live in this World for The Glory of God.