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, November 2, 1986.

Tonight, we are once more in Isaiah fifty. They call that we didn’t make it through the whole chapter last week, and this week we will complete our thoughts on the fiftieth chapter. Let’s listen to the word of God. Where is the certificate of divorce by which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of my creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities and for your transgressions. Your mother was sent away.

Why was there no man when I came, when I called, Why was there none to answer? Is my hand so short that it cannot ransom? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, I dry up the sea with my rebuke. I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish sting for lack of water and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness. and I make sackcloth their cover.

The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not disobedient, nor did I turn back. I gave my back to those who strike me, and my cheeks to those who pluck out my beard. I did not cover my face from humiliation and spitting, for the Lord God helps me. Therefore, I am not disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let’s stand up to each other. Who has a case against me? Let him draw near to me. The Lord God helps me. Who is he who condemns me? Behold, they will all wear out like a garment. The moth will eat them.

Who is among you that fears the Lord, that obeys the voice of his servant, that walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with firebrands, walk in the light of your fire and among the brands you have set ablaze. This you will have from my hand and you will lie down in torment.

Let’s pray. Father, let us not pass by the message that you have given. And certainly, Lord. That message, as it centers in the servant that servant of your choosing, upon whom rests your spirit in full measure. O Lord, may we perceive the intent that you have purposed from all eternity in that one you have made plain to us in this latter time, namely your son. Lord, May we love him, and may we love you with all that is in us, and may we abide in his word and under the shadow of your wing forever.

Amen. There is a line that we have pursued with regard to this third servant song in Isaiah. That third servant song being verses four through nine here in chapter fifty. You mark your Bibles, don’t hesitate to mark out this servant song. But the line that we have pursued with regard to this third servant song is in relation to the questions that are asked by the Lord in verse two of this chapter. Namely, why was there no one when I came? When I call, why was there none to answer? Is my hand so short, or is my hand withered that it cannot say, or have I no power to deliver?

The picture given us is that Israel has given up on God. I have made this point to you repeatedly, and asked you to consider the weight of the fourteenth verse of the former chapter. There you have Zion saying, the Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me. Now, that Proclamation or declaration by Zion. Is actually a statement of disbelief in God’s care and love. So it is. The picture is given us.

Israel has given up on God. In her heart of hearts. she has given up on God, regardless of external affirmations to the contrary. Now that is why, you see, as we go on to verse two in chapter fifty, that is why the Lord is able to say there is no one to greet him when he comes. There is no one to hear when he called, because Israel as a whole has given up on God.

But the marvel, and I have tried to stress this with you, the marvel of this message from the prophet by the Lord is its pastoral tone. The Lord here truly Despite the obstinance of Israel and her waywardness, pastors shepherds his people and does so kindly, gently.

So you have it. The Lord as pastor to his people, and this despite their unworthiness, Now, we’ve been through this section before. It doesn’t hurt us to rehearse it once again. You note, as we go on from those questions asked at the beginning of verse two, how the Lord makes plain his care for his people. He reminds them of his marvelous work of salvation. Take stock of what he says. Behold, I dry up the sea with my rebuke. In that, you see, he means nothing less than to call Israel’s attention to the former deliverance, which she as a nation had experienced a deliverance from Egypt.

But he also, in response, then, to those questions that he asks in verse two, he also introduces the figure presented to you in verses 4 through 9, namely the servant. And it is in the servant, then, that the questions asked in verse 2 receive their ultimate resolution. This person, the servant of the Lord, presents himself, then, speaking as he does in the first person in these verses, he presents himself as the answer to the questions posed.

Here is the one who, in presenting himself, suggests that it is he, none other, that it is he who is ready, open, standing, accepting at the Lord’s coming. He plays the role expected of people. There’s no one to greet the Lord when he comes off, but there is a third of the board. He is the one who presents himself at the Lord’s coming. He also is the one who listens when the word falls in this one can be added. Is that one who proves that the Lord’s arm is not withered? He is who proves that the Lord can and does say. We have then this description of the Lord’s serve. He here speaking in the first person, describing himself, speaking of his own piety, his own godliness.

The description is stirring, if not convicting. First of all, as we have marked out formally, emphasized is the fact that the Lord’s servant is absolutely submissive. I do not know whether we, in our circumstance and setting, understand the character of Semitic religion. At its heart, Semitic religion, its contribution to the world, is that notion of absolute submission to God. In the person of the service submission is perfected. In the person of the service submission is perfected. Emphasize, then, first of all, here, as the servant speaks for himself, is his submissiveness.

He is not a rebellious one. but one who, through discipline, knows how to supply the word of encouragement. And in this, he is like the Lord, for it is unto the Lord and by the Lord that he has been disciplined. Do you see the coalescence? The coalescence between the servant of the Lord and the Lord himself. Is it not the Lord who, in this circumstance, endeavors to pastor and shepherd his people? speaking kindly to them, despite their unworthiness. Here comes the servant, one disciplined by the Lord, one utterly submissive, and it is said of him in a phrase, in a line that is as magnificent a line as you find in all of Isaiah, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. with a word. The fruit of his submissiveness is his ability to sustain those who are weary and heavy laden, and by the word, give them rest. But note the consistency of his submissiveness. And that is what strikes next.

I remember. A discussion that I had many years ago. When I was a student at Geneva College. A group of Christians walking across campus talking about the faith, expressing concern about their many failings. And one friend of mine asked me, what would you like most of all in your Christian experience? And without as much as a hesitation, I said, consistency. Well. Note. The consistency. Of the submission. How beautifully it is expressed catch poetry. The Lord would move. By the sweet of this language.

Morning by morning, day by day, it is the Lord who opens my eyes. None other. The Lord opens my eyes. How have you thought of your own awakening in the morning? It’s the Lord that opens my eyes. And as my eyes are opened in the morning, so are my ears.

I see and I hear, and it is the Lord that awakens my ear to listen from the very point of awakening as a disciple, one who is submissive. I see and I hear as a disciple.” It is the Lord, then, that opens the servant’s eyes and his ears. And being the only one to greet the Lord, remember, reflects to that question in verse The only one to hear the servant is faced, then, with great obstacles and hindrances to his discipleship. Having been awakened, now seeing, now hearing, being that one who greets the Lord and hears obediently the word of the Lord, the servant of the Lord in the midst of his discipleship, in the midst of his submissiveness, he faces obstacles, hindrances, he faces opposition and hostility. He faces opposition and hostility from everyone else. he standing alone. All of Israel collectively, once more, sunk into disbelief, they having surrendered their hearts to hopelessness. The Lord has forsaken me. The Lord has forgotten me. How severe the opposition, the hostility, the oppression faced by the servant. It involves the most extreme, the extremist humiliation.

But even here, we are face to face with the consistency of the servant’s submission. His discipleship. His discipleship here proves itself, for with determination, the servant sets his face like flint, the servant endures the suffering, undeserved suffering at that, and in the midst of that suffering, confesses his God and his God’s faithfulness. He is not one who gives himself over to despair, saying in disbelief, the Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me. No. And this in contrast to Israel as a whole, who in her suffering, her suffering being deserved, not undeserved, who in her suffering has found reason to abandon God. How resolute the servant. So confident is the servant in the Lord that he knows that no one is able to bring a successful suit against him.

Garments wear out and moths will eat them before a suit will be successfully tried against the servant of the Lord who has entrusted himself to the Lord. Thus you have the power of verses eight through nine. And the declaration by the servant. He who justifies The servant stands and you might know that even though the servant is righteous. It is not because of his own abilities or because of his personal resourcefulness that he stands no you see the servant’s confession as you move through. The eighth and the ninth verse makes it clear the servant stands because the Lord himself vindicates him and helps him, and he has entrusted himself to the Lord and the Lord alone.

But now comes this conclusion. for the chapter. Verses ten and eleven. And a startling message. Indeed. First, as we look at these verses. Keep in mind the pastoral tone. That has been observed throughout You see. In one sense, we have here. An invitation. Issued by the Lord. Subsequent to this description of the servant of the Lord. Having presented the servant of the Lord, then there comes the invitation. This invitation to be sure is couched in intriguing language in language of contrasting positives and negatives.

The Lord asks a question. He asks who is among you that fears the Lord that obeys the voice of his servant that walks in darkness and has The language here is somewhat confusing. If we fail to recognize that in these questions asked by the Lord, there is really a challenge. Who among you fears the Lord? The Lord himself asks. The power of this question registers when we understand it in light of the fact that there is no one who will save the servant of the Lord himself. Therefore, the question is meant at the deliberate unmasking that is intent is to challenge those who claim that they fear the Lord.

This is why the next question is to be understood as inseparably tied to that lead question in verse ten. As we go on from who is among you that fears the Lord, we come to that obeys the voice of his servant or who is it that obey the voice of my service. You see, when the Lord asked who is it that obeyed the voice of my servant, he means this question in the second part of the tenth verse to parallel the first part of the tenth verse, namely, who among you fears the Lord? In other words, each question is saying precisely the same thing, not things that are different. This means that to the Lord, the one who fears him equals the one who hears his servant.

The challenge, then, must be read along this line. Those of you who claim to fear me must be those who hear my. That putting the whole matter in better perspective yet. The last line of the series of questions in verse ten makes clear. What the Lord is saying in this challenge. The one who claims to fear God.

First and part one. The one who claims to hear his servant first and part two is also the one who must admit that he has no light in himself and walks in darkness. Part three. And you see. That is precisely the confession that Israel as a whole is unwilling to make. We come to the conclusion of that 10th verse. And the challenge is sealed.

Those of you who claim to hear the Lord. You must hear the voice of the servant that servant that has just spoken. You must admit acknowledge. that you have no like in yourself, and that you walk in darkness. You are called to trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon your God. This, you see, then, in light of the fact that there are multiple trusts There are multiple trusts for those who claim to rely upon God, yet don’t who make a claim upon the Lordship of God who claim that they fear him. There are multiple trusts in them, but now the Lord challenges them in light of that single confidence of the servant of the Lord that they are to trust in none other than God and in him alone. Only God, no one else. He alone will vindicate you. He alone will justify you. He alone is able to make you stand righteous before his sight. There is no other hope. No other hope and no other alternative.

The challenge, therefore, to these so-called servants of God These who claim that they fear the Lord is that they prove the servant of the Lord trustfully and completely on the Lord as the servant of the Lord has done himself. We learn in the New Testament that this is accomplished by union with Christ by union with the servant in which Christ’s perfect trust and absolute reliance is made our own through the work of the Spirit. It is into that confidence exhibited by Christ that you enter His trust becoming your own. But we have her.

Now if you doubt the seriousness of this whole matter, I plead with you, I plead with you for the sake of your soul and its eternal destiny to listen to personal. The issue here is life and death. The issue here is glory versus damnation. I can’t say it any more clearly than that. Now please, the Lord is not twice like with you. He is not playing a game with you. Your eternal destiny is in the balance as the servant has been presented as the challenge has been issued. I don’t think the language could be more graphic.

Now it might confuse you a little bit as you work through that 11th verse, but hang in there, look at it clearly, and let it register. And by that I mean, let something of images that the Lord uses here affect you. Feel them. If you feel that the terror will be. The terror. See it. The Lord says now on the backdrop of all that he has proclaimed concerning his servant and the challenge challenge issue people. We got. We got. to those of you who claim that you hear the Lord.

You must hear the voice of his servant. If you don’t, yes, you walk in darkness, have no light. Yes, you who would fear the Lord obey his servant. You must Admit that you walk in darkness and not in light, but look at the reality of the situation for you in Israel.

Behold, all of you claim that you have the light. All of you have kindled a fire of your own making, and this fire of your own making has become your light. You have done it. It’s not the Lord, because the Lord’s light shines forth from his servant. You’re rejecting his servant. You don’t even understand the servant. You kindle for yourself a fire, that of your own making, and you say, This is the light of the Lord.

Then note what Isaiah says next. If you have a New American Standard, read in the margin, please, because that’s exactly what Isaiah is trying to get across here. You make your own fire, you claim it as your light, and then, as a fool, as an idiot, you take firebrands out of that fire and you weave them into a girdle and you put it around your loins and you walk around.

You claim it as light. It is nothing less than destruction. You say it is salvation. My friend, it is burning you. It’s like some kind of ancient pagan rite. You get the picture. You see it. People making a fire, then taking the firebrand, making a belt out of the firebrand, putting the belt on. It burns them. It sears the flesh. They walk in the light of their fire among the brands that they’ve set ablaze. And then the Lord comes down. This burning, this searing of your flesh you have from my hand, idiots, the just judgment upon your fall. You idiots! You fools! The last line, it simply cannot be more terrifying.

Have you ever seen anyone burn? They run around in a frenzy for a while and then the flames take over. You see the image the Lord is using having spent themselves in a frenzy, they lie down exhausted in the torment of their seared flesh. There is hardly a more graphic description of hell in all scripture.

Now, you might say. It doesn’t sound like the Lord’s being very pastoral here. Quite the contrary. The challenge has been issued in verse 10. And now comes the awesome warning. If you persist to live in your own light. The light of your own making You are merely sowing seeds for your own destruction. The end is like unto that of a person who has been burned thoroughly over the entirety of his body. It is on the background of this pastoral concern. That the Lord will continue to make his appeal as we go on.

I said. That appeal will be. For everyone. Everyone. You come. You partake without one line. and enjoy the delight that the Lord has intended for you through the service to all eternity. And Father, if we are unsettled by what we have heard, if there is that sense in which we ourselves have failed to hear the challenge, vainly imagined for ourselves a righteousness, vainly imagined that we had a light in ourselves, for ourselves, May that day in which we have imagined these things come abruptly to an end. Lord may we therefore before your word. Realize. What you are saying about your servant. About those who would serve you. Your people. Take to heart the challenge heed the warning, be ministered unto by you for our eternal well-being.

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.