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The Love Of Our Stony Faced Savior-63509/27/09Isaiah 50:4-104 The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. 5 The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back. 6 I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. 7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. 8 He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me! 9 It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who is he that will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up. 10 Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. Meditation Points on the Sermon:Jesus didn’t turn away from _______________________ for His life and work on earth.Jesus daily meditated on _____________________________.“He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught”Jesus willingly suffered the ____________________ of delivering the ________________ from God.“I gave my back to those who beat me,”Willing acceptance of suffering, especially unjust, is not passivity but ________________________.: “But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 12:19f)The Lord constantly promises __________________ for His people. Being stony faced isn’t usually a compliment, unless you’re playing cards and not showing any emotion about the good hand you were dealt. To be stony faced means you’re emotionless, unfeeling. Do you think it would be a compliment then to say that Jesus was stony-faced? Actually the Holy Spirit used Isaiah to describe Jesus that way. Putting the words into Jesus’ mouth, some 650 years before Jesus was born, Isaiah says of Jesus, “Therefore have I set my face like flint…” If Isaiah intended to convey only information, he would have laid out all the details regarding the Messiah at one time. But in order to teach, persuade, and give his audience an encounter with the Servant of the Lord, he develops a rich fabric of recurring themes in symphonic fashion. He unfolds God's message in steps so that each aspect can be grasped as well as keeping the rest of the picture in focus too. Isaiah is an artist whose canvas is the soul of his listener.Isaiah talks about Jesus’ birth, His death, the righteousness He brings for us, forgiveness and all the rest of the grand themes of Scripture. His book is truly the Gospel Gem of the Old Testament. In this section the Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah to write about how Jesus, as the servant of all, was able to endure the persecutions and hardships he would encounter. Earlier God had promised, “?I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles?” (?42:6?). Trusting confidently in this promise, the Messiah could say, “?Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced?” (?50:7?). He goes on: Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. We remember the time when He told His disciples He was going to Jerusalem, that He would suffer before the Council, that He would be put to death. The disciples then told Jesus, ‘Don’t go to Jerusalem. Stay away.’ But we’re told (as Scripture says), ‘Then He set out resolutely, for Jerusalem.’ Jesus was not going to turn back.?Followed God’s PlanJesus, our stony faced Savior followed God’s plan. In verse four, 4 The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.” The essence of prophecy is that it is the Lord’s word, not the prophet’s. This combined name, Sovereign Lord, lends a tone of majesty and impressiveness to the servant’s words. What the servant speaks is truth because of the covenant God who has all power over the creation. This God who can clothe heavens with darkness has equipped the servant for his task, and has given a ready tongue to him…and can support him through the persecutions that will come. Even Jesus, in his state of humiliation, refers to himself as God’s pupil rather than as his servant. He is receiving God’s message like a pupil in a classroom. Remember how many times Jesus said, “The words I speak are not my own. They belong to the one who sent me.” Time and time again Jesus made the point that He wasn’t speaking on his own. He was speaking for the heavenly Father. He was following His Father’s plan.“He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught” this refers to the daily, consistent, meditation on the word of God. God’s word is always there for those who will open themselves to it and it is always revelatory, if not always revolutionary. He didn’t rebel. He withstood the temptation to turn a deaf ear. But you can’t say as much for many of those who heard him.Here we see our perfect substitute taking our place under God’s holy 3rd Commandment – Remember the Sabbath day. We so easily despise preaching and His word. We close our ears to what we don’t want to hear. We close our minds when the word gets too close to us personally. We close our hearts when it means changing what we do. We close ourselves off to a learner’s attitude by coming up with excuses not to listen, not to study. “I’m too tired.” “I’ve heard all that.” “I’ve know more than the teacher.” All the while it’s the Holy Spirit we are rejecting. Fortunately Jesus listened for us. And he credits His perfection to our account.You would think that a prophet as great as Jesus, with words so penetrating and miracles so amazing, would have people flocking to him, hanging on every word He spoke. You know well, that wasn’t the case. In verse six, “I gave my back to those who beat me,” This means that he willingly suffered the consequences of delivering the unpopular message from God. Like the prophets before and after him he would be mistreated. “I offered my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.” For an oriental that was the deepest disgrace and humiliation, not to mention painful torture. Those who do not like the message take it out on the messenger. He was publicly shamed, but he did nothing to stop it or lighten it. He let it happen. We can begin to imagine Jesus’ reaction to these words when he first realized they pertained to him! But that was God’s plan for our salvation. And Jesus wasn’t going to deviate a bit from it. Receives God’s HelpSo the Holy Spirit guides Isaiah to change the imagery. It moves from the classroom to the courtroom. Terms like “vindicate “upholds my right” in this translation, “contend”, “oppose”, “appear together” in a court of law, “disputes my right,” “prove me wrong” “declare …guilty” are all the language of the lawsuit used by many prophets to make their case. Yahweh is the prophet’s Advocate in court. The tone shifts to one of strength bordering on belligerence. “Who will contend with me?? Bring it on! Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.’ Despite the response of the people, he will not in the end be put to shame.In v. 9 he makes this connection clear: ‘It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty?’ In this, he is questioning anyone who would disagree with his message. ? God’s servant will be judged by God alone; God will vindicate him for his faithfulness. By contrast, all earthly authority is ultimately fleeting: ‘All of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.’ Therefore, he says, ‘I have set my face like flint,’ hardening himself to the criticism and persecution of the people. He will continue to give the message entrusted to him, regardless of the lack of reception from God’s people. He clings tenaciously here to his calling, preaching the message entrusted to him whether in or out of season. We can compare this to the initial call of the prophet Isaiah in the first book of Isaiah (Isaiah 1-39) mentioned above (Isaiah 6).Here again our precious Savior is our substitute. How quickly we fold under pressure. How quickly we crumple under persecution. How easily we starting backing off our confession when someone argues with us. Why? Isn’t it because we just don’t trust the message enough? We’ll argue to our deaths about why our team is the better team, why one health care plan is good and the other is a disaster. Aren’t we giving in because we don’t think God will help us? Protect us? Are we as confident as Daniel that God will close the lion’s mouths? Remember the words of St. Paul, “Who can condemn us? It’s Jesus that has declared us righteous.” Gives Us an ExampleJesus willingly accepted the insults, ridicule, and rejection because he was confident that the word He spoke was God’s truth. He was confident that the help He would receive was God’s help. That’s all he needed. That’s all that ultimately mattered. Jesus promised this same ability to all his disciples, whether it was the twelve, or us today. “But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 12:19f). Jesus’ marvelous example and promises like this are more than enough to encourage us to get “stony faced” in front of persecution. We can be stony faced before persecution as well because Jesus promises to help us. The Lord God constantly promises vindication for His people. Sometimes it seems to take forever before He carries out His threats on those who persecute His Church. We’d like it that as soon as somebody disagreed with us, fire would fall from heaven and destroy them. But the prophecies of judgment by the OT prophets promise it and the book of Revelation guarantees it. Victory is assured, even though the suffering entailed to get to the victory is inevitable. It must have been Jesus’ experience when he first read the words contained in the Suffering Servant motif that he had a very unpleasant reaction. But when he came to believe that victory was assured after all the negatives it must have been a very positive experience. Indeed, it was good news, even if wrapped in innocent suffering. ................
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