This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Suffering Servant” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 12, 1987.

Luke’s Gospel, chapter four. And we’ll begin reading with the 14th verse, we’ll read through verse 30. And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. And news about him spread through all the surrounding district. And he began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read.

And the book of the Prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and he opened the book and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And he closed the book. And he gave it back to the attendant and sat down.

And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him. And he began to say to them, Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And all were speaking well of him and wondering at the gracious words that were falling from his lips. And they were saying, Is this not Joseph’s son? And he said to them, no doubt you will quote this proverb to me, physician, heal thyself.

Whatever we heard was done in Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well. And he said, truly, I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was shut up three years and six months. when a great famine came over all the land, and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, to the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.

And all in the synagogue were filled with As they heard these things. And they rose up and they cast him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built in order to throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst. He went his way. And then from Isaiah. Chapter 61.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners. to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. To comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting, so they will be called Oaks of Righteousness, the planting of the Lord. that he may be glorified.

Today, our father, your word is proclaimed throughout all the year. Your people are gathering together in order to hear of the great and wonderful deeds accomplished by our God. And held forth before them and before us must be your Son, Jesus Christ. O Father, may it be true that as men and women, as your people wish for a revival of your church, for a revitalization of preaching within the church, that nothing less than that fullness of the gospel would be proclaimed, and no one else but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Lord, we ask that your church, strengthened with this message, would continue to abide under that covering of your grace and that sign of your favor. And Lord, in this fashion, may it please you to prosper her in that design and intent which you have granted her. We pray, Our Father, that you would strengthen us as we would give ourselves in prayer to this end. For Jesus’ sake, amen. It’s a long leap from the 53rd chapter of Isaiah to chapter 61. There is a reason for that long leap.

For chapter 61, the first three verses, is the last of the servant songs in. We have been looking. At those servant songs. The progress and development of the thought of the profit moving from the forty chapter as it sweeps on towards the sixty-six chapter of this prophecy. But along the way we have taken note. Specifically of the servant songs that appear.

I would like, of course, to have those servant songs, at least those servant songs etched in your mind. Of course, I realize that already the fifty-third chapter is well positioned for you. It is well positioned for the church. It is the longest, the most extensive, and I expect in some respects, the most glorious. But there are four other servant songs in this portion of Isaiah’s prophecy. Could you tell me where the first of the servant songs appears? We’ve been in this portion of Scripture for some time now. Could you tell me where that first servant song. Appears. Some of you know some of you look it up. Some of you are there. Coming through. It appears. In the forty second chapter.

It is a brief song of but four verses, and you may note that in style, in content, it doesn’t sound, in certain respects, much different from the last servant song that we read, the one we read this evening from Isaiah 61. In fact, you may Just flip back and forth from chapter forty two to sixty one and notice some of those similarities. Calling them to your attention. We’ll speak about those similarities and specifically the most outstanding in time. But let’s move on now having noted the first where. is the fact.

Now, if there was a lead from chapter fifty three chapter sixty one, there’s also a lead from the first servant song to the second. And you don’t find that second servant song until you arrive at chapter who knows forty nine. Chapter forty nine. Chapter forty nine has a more extensive song given you there. Moving through the first seven verses.

And a number of features there also assert themselves as the servant begins to speak for himself. He here begins to speak in the first person. and a number of things are said of him here that certainly increase our understanding of the servant and give us a much fuller appreciation of his first. The third servant song. Now I’ve heard it already spoken down here. It’s in the fiftieth chapter. Just turn the page. Third servant song is Chapter fifty, beginning with verse four, and moves at least through verse nine. There are arguments as to whether it goes further, but at least it goes through verse nine.

Again, you have the servant speaking in the first person. Very personal song, as he is speaking with regard to his own devotion, and as you note, it also has him speaking in the first person with regard to the suffering that he is to endure. This, in some respects, is as glorious a servant’s song as we have. Now, there’s a reason that I say that, Isaiah 53 notwithstanding, because as the servant is speaking here in the first person, You have him face-to-face with his oppressors, or with the oppression and the affliction that he is undergoing. And the stand of the servant at this point is so utterly remarkable, and so wonderfully, wonderfully glorious, that this song literally leaks out of Isaiah at you. and it leaps out at you in such a way as to catch you up in the servant’s expression.

He has been besieged, but he will not give ground. He has been oppressed and afflicted, but he will not cave in. The resoluteness of his faith is so utterly magnificent that it captures us, our spirits, We alive to him are drawn in by him, so as to be carried along with him in his stand.

You know what he said for the Lord. God helps me. Verse seven. Therefore, I am not disgraced. The disgrace is great. The humiliation extreme, but he doesn’t cave in. The Lord helps me. I’ve set my face like Flint. And I know that I shall not be ashamed. The ultimate vindication justification, the ultimate triumph of this servant undergoing this humiliation, is here portrayed for us.

He who vindicates me is near, verse eight. Who will contend with me? Now we launch into language that reminds us of Romans eight. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who has a case against me? Let him draw nigh to me. Behold, the Lord God helps me. Who is he who condemns me? Sounds like Romans eight, doesn’t it? Behold, they will all wear out like a garment. The moth will eat them.

Well, it’s hard not to get excited when you read that servant song, because it’s not simply a description of the justified servant of God, the coming Messiah. It is a description of everyone who belongs to that justified servant and shares in his justification. In other words, it is your description as well as his.

Well, that brings us, of course, to the fourth servant song, and we spent a great deal of time on this fourth one. It actually starts before Isaiah fifty three, it starts in the thirteenth chapter of Isaiah fifty two and runs on to the conclusion of that fifty third chapter. You know this chapter well, I know a number of you have spent time memorizing. That brings us to the fifth of the servant songs, the one that we read this evening in Isaiah 61. But now I want you to take stock of the suite of these songs as you move through them. There are particular features that come into play, and we’ve already made mention of some of them.

For instance, in some of these servant songs, the servant is described by a third party. It may be the Lord. It may be the prophet, as is the case in Isaiah 53. But the servant may as well describe himself, and so there are a number of I passages. We are struck by the way in which the servant speaks for himself.

So there are those features. And you might notice well, as you move through these songs, the progression with regard to how exactly This servant is described, and the ministry that ministry is described, which belongs to him. For instance, you will note in the first servant song, there is only the hint, the bare hint of suffering. In fact, if you read that initial servant song, the emphasis seems to be on the glory that belongs to this particular figure. Behold, my servant. whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him.

He will bring forth justice to the nations.” But by the time you get down to verse four, after a description of his demeanor in the second and third verses, you have there the hint of the extremities he will undergo in in order to fulfill his ministry and his service to God.

He will not be disheartened or crushed. Now, you see, that is language that presupposes the threat of disheartenment and the threat of being crushed. It’s as if before all of the forces arrayed against him that are calculating his demise, that are conspiring to disheartened him that are conspiring to crush him.

He will not give ground. He will not be disheartened. He will not surrender. And thus. As certainly as he endures that. He will establish so verse four ends justice in the year. The coastline will be blessed as they expectantly look for his instruction. Well, the marvelous thing being suggested, and I said barely a hint.

Is that it surely as the servant is destined for that confrontation with the broken spirit, the crushed life. As surely as he is destined to be faced with that, and as surely as he shall be successful in facing those threats, so certainly will the things here spoken of him concerning his glory come to pass.

Did Jesus die? Was Jesus crucified? Do you believe what the Gospel tells you about Jesus being crushed, as it were, being threatened by disheartened, the attack upon his spirit? Do you believe those things? Well, as certainly as that happened, as certainly as Jesus was faced with those threats, as certainly as he was victorious there, so certainly shall the glory here describe. come about.

Can the people of God themselves then be depressed? Can they be depressed? By that I mean Can they be themselves depressed as they look out to the world or they look at the circumstances of the church? And they see that. Incalculable forces are set against them, powers that they don’t seem to have the strength to overcome. Will the church fail? The church will not fail any more than Jesus failed to withstand the threats that were arrayed against him. Now, as so far as it pertains to the success of God’s mission in the world and the success of his church, can we be depressed? Take heart. You may be thinking things don’t look very exciting. I’m not especially thrilled with what I observed. In fact, week by week, I’m more tempted to be depressed than encouraged. Now, get a hold of yourself. Have a good talk with yourself.

Take yourself to the servant’s arms. Look at them and be assured that as sure as Jesus died, so surely shall you try. As surely as Jesus stood his ground in death, so surely shall the people of God unto the end. Now you have the promise of God, and you have the cross of Jesus Christ undergirding you.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not especially a fan of that type of effervescent Christianity that doesn’t know when to quit smiling. And certainly there may be circumstances that come to you personally. There may be tremendous disappointments for you that give you some very, very distressing and even depressing moments.

But as far as it pertains to the triumph of God’s purpose and intent, be assured of the victory in Christ. Now, there’s therapy here for us all, even in those particular matters that may overtake us day by day, those little distresses and those impressions that come upon us. Because you see, if the way here, Matt, or the seventh, It’s the argument from the greater to the lesser. If the matters of eternity have been resolved, and the ultimate triumph of God’s Church is secure, then what about the littler matters that distress us day by day?

All right, well. There’s only the suggestion of suffering there in the first servant song, but as you move along, you see that that description of the suffering of the Messiah becomes. Fuller and more intense. You have the second servant song chapter forty nine. There are hints of it as you run down through those seven verses. You have even this voice of complaint taken up by the servant. It’s very strange. Verse four. But I said, I foiled in vain. I spent my strength for nothing in vanity, yet surely the justice due to me is with the Lord.

The opening of that verse, it says, if the servant is taking up the complaint of Israel Israel, who truly believes she has toiled in vain and spent her strength for nothing in vanity. But then, as the servant moves on, he moves into triumph. Yet surely the justice due to me is with the Lord, and my reward with my God. What Israel was incapable of saying, the servant says. The steadfastness of his confidence coming to expression there. But note in verse seven. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and it’s only one to the despised one here. We’re beginning to hear something more about the distress that is coming to the one at four by the nation to the servant of rumors. And that will be expanded further.

You see, when you come to the third servant song. Now, in verse six, you hear, I gave my back, chapter 50, in verse six, I gave my back to those who strike me and my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard. I did not cover my face from humiliation and spitting.

And of course, over in chapter 53, the most extensive exposition of the suffering of the servant is given to you there. So there is a progression as you move through the songs in terms of the exposition of the suffering and humiliation that belongs to the servant of the Lord. And you know also that out of that 53rd chapter truly the reason for the humiliation is the sin of the people which the servant takes to himself he bearing it for them that they may be liberated, they may be set free. Well, that’s the humiliation that you, you see, also have the intensification of the glory.

And that glory moves through the servant songs, too. In the opening servant song, you see that blessing and glory in terms of what he receives. What does he receive in that initial servant song? We are told, Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit upon him. The glory is focused upon that spirit which the servant receives. The concentration is upon the spirit which the servant receives. The blessings are wrapped up in the spirit. You might note the similarity here between the first servant song and the last. That’s precisely what is said once more. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me. The coming anointing of the servant, whereby the blessings which he has received are signified. And then there are the blessings which he gives.

And you will note that the emphasis here is not simply upon Israel. Truly, as you move into that sixty-first chapter, you have messages there given specifically to Zion, and we would have in mind there Israel herself, or the people of God, the Church, the Church constituted in the age of blessing. But no less now, you see, as you move through these servant songs in Isaiah forty through sixty-six, An emphasis falls upon the universality of blessing, that it’s not simply going to be to Israel, it’s going to be to all the nations, and thus the sweep of the glory of the servant as it moves out from the center in Israel to the ends of the earth, and all peoples are blessed by what God does in this world. Justice comes, life, salvation. redemption, not just for the Jews, but for the gentiles. Thomas read the servant songs are, and were, by Israel.

That’s why we read this evening, Luke chapter four. Jesus has now received, he has received the signification of the blessing that belongs to him as the servant of the Lord. He has received the Spirit, and he moves now through Galilee in the power of that Spirit, the concentration being upon that Spirit as the blessing, the sign of glory of the coming age of the servant, the Messianic age. but similar. As we hear Jesus then expound that passage from Isaiah sixty one in the synagogue in Nazareth. We hear him not only that the Scripture of which he has spoken is fulfilled in the hearing of the people, but also that the fullness of the blessing that only comes through the visitation of the Spirit upon him, the servant of the Lord, that has become available in the world.

Not just Israel, but hearkening back to the days of Elijah and Elisha, he points out to them the ultimate intention of God, which is to bring deliverance to the nation. be they of Sidon, be they of Syria, be they of Greece, be they of Rome, whatever the tongue, whatever the nation, to the ends of the earth. The spirit then, the concentration point for the blessings received by the servant and the blessings. Distributed by the. Note. Note what is. In the sixty first chapter. In the age of the spirit. We hear good news. For the.

Who are the afflicted? We hear good news for the poor. Who are the poor? The poor are those who wait patiently for the Lord, and recognize the Lord alone as their wealth. Good news comes to them because in the age of the spirit, the wait is over. The broken hearted are tended to.

The captive is set free. Freedom is proclaimed to prisoners, and the year of the Lord’s release is proclaimed throughout the land. You see, the age of the Spirit, the blessings that he gives, concentrate upon relief for those who have waited upon the Lord and also a liberty, a freedom in him, whereby they are not any longer subject.

That day of the Spirit has arrived. It has been inaugurated by Jesus Christ and the power of the Spirit. It progresses. So that unto the day of vengeance of our God. Comfort is granted to us who mourn. Garlands. Instead of ashes. The oil of gladness instead of tears. The cloak of praise. Instead of the spirit of thinking. And we like boats.

Are testaments of righteousness. planted by the Lord in order that in the end. He may be glorified, not just by the servants steadfastness. But by hours. So there you have it. It all comes full circle, doesn’t it? As you take stock of how the servant stands his ground in the face of intimidation and oppression. And then how we, by the grace of God, become, as it were, planted. Also. Standing our ground. The vindicated one. The source of our vindication. Truly.

As the day of vengeance of our Lord passes, we shall hear the words of God, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Father, you have moved us through. The servant songs. And we ask that we might be instructed well. By them. That we would see the greatness of the servant who bore our sins. That we might not have to bear them. That we may rejoice.

In his suffering. in that it means that he has taken away our suffering and torment insofar as it pertains to the torment and tyranny of sin. But Lord, as well as we are numbered with him and called to stand our ground in the face of affliction May our hearts rejoice, because He has triumphed, so shall we. He, therefore, Father, would not fear or tremble before men, and endow with Your Spirit the blessings that come from Him and the knowledge that your purpose is to bring your people, your elect, from the four corners of the earth. May we commit ourselves to the causes of the King, to the causes of the servant of the Lord. And may we rejoice in the certainties that are given us through our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.