Our scripture reading tonight is from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 42, the first nine verses. Isaiah, chapter 42, the first nine verses. Let us hear God's own word. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break. And a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged until he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands wait for his law. Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it. I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord. That is my name. My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare, before they spring forth, I tell you of them. So far, the Word of God. Some of you will remember that I have been preaching, when I'm with you, from the Gospel of Luke. And the last time I preached part of The sermon was from the transfiguration in Luke's gospel, chapter 9. And I realized that in talking about the transfiguration there, I had made no mention of what is unique about Luke's presentation of the transformation. When the voice from heaven is heard coming out of the cloud, that voice from heaven declares, this is my son. And we would have expected the voice to go on as it's recorded for us in Matthew and in Mark, my beloved, listen to him. But Luke records something else that the voice said. Luke records, this is my son, my chosen one. listen to him. And I thought tonight we'd look at the text from Isaiah that probably is behind, is a prophecy of this word from the Father about the Son. Luke is surely not denying that the Son is the beloved one, but he's adding for us this important statement, he's the chosen one. He is the one the Father has chosen to do what the Father wants him to do. He's the center of God's plan. He's been chosen by the Father to be at the center of the plan. He's the one at the very heart of things. And I thought this would be a good sermon to follow up on communion. Some of you will remember in the old days, there was always an application sermon after communion. And the idea was we've now come to the table of the Lord. We've seen that our salvation is in the body and blood of Christ who suffered for us on the cross. And now, how do we live? How do we carry on? And I thought if we focus on this passage from Isaiah 42, we will be helped because the way we carry on is to keep on understanding more about Jesus, to keep on understanding the centrality and the crucial nature of Jesus for his people. And this passage from Isaiah 42 is particularly helpful in that regard. It was on the mind of Luke as he wrote the story of the transfiguration. And this passage from Isaiah 42 is also quoted by Jesus in Matthew chapter 12. So this is an important statement by the prophet Isaiah. And it says wonderful things about Jesus that should be remarkably helpful to us. And the central thing that is being said here is, God has chosen him for a purpose. God has chosen him for a purpose. And I think here in Isaiah 43, you'll be amazed to learn there are three purposes presented to us. The first purpose for which Jesus is chosen is to save his people. to save his people. Now, that probably doesn't come as a surprise to you, does it? It doesn't come as a shock. You may even be secretly thinking, well, we already know that. And I'm sure you do. But Isaiah 42 says something really wonderful about Jesus being chosen to save his people because it helps us see so clearly how desperately the people need a Savior. How helpless and hopeless the people are in themselves. And Isaiah expresses this in a most beautiful poetic way. Who are the people that Jesus will save? Well, there in verse 3, these people are described as a bruised reed. that he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. I don't know if you've paused to think about that image, that image that is meant to describe us. Jesus, the glorious one, Jesus who's displayed for a moment in his glory on the Mount of transfiguration, Jesus who is described here in Isaiah 42 as the one who will rule the nations, that Jesus is appointed to save people who are helpless and hopeless and even more in a profound sense, valueless. A reed. In the ancient world, in Israel, reeds were plentiful and cheap. And if you had one that was bent or broken, the obvious thing to do with it is throw it away and pull out another. No one would invest any time or energy in trying to repair a broken reed. It's not worth it. It's crazy. Get rid of it. Find another. And God is saying to us, Jesus is appointed not to throw away the broken reeds, but to save them, to rescue them. Not because they're valuable in themselves, but because God has made them valuable by his love. Another poetic image here is the faintly burning wick he will not quench. You know, in ancient Israel, they had little lamps with oils in them. And out of the oil came a little, often linen rag, just a little wick. and the oil would come up the wick, and you would light it, and it would give you a little light in a room. But these wicks were notoriously kind of not successful, and they would smoke, and they wouldn't burn brightly. And the commentator said these wicks were not only valueless, a bit of rag, but they were a nuisance. If they didn't give the light they were supposed to give, if they gave smoke instead of light, they're worse than having nothing. And this is the image that the prophet is speaking about us. That in the eyes of God, in his power, in his holiness, in his glory, we are as nothing. Nothing that is helpful. Something that even could be described as a nuisance. I bet you've had nuisances in your life. But I bet you seldom think of yourself as a nuisance. But that's what's being said here about the people that Jesus has chosen to save. And the point the prophet is making is, what a Savior, what a God who would care for such things of little value. You remember when God was angry with the people of Israel and Moses had to intercede, one of the things God had said was, I'll get rid of this people and raise up another. That would be no difficult task for God. But what the prophet is saying here is, God is not going to abandon his people. God is going to save them. God is going to come to them. And this passage goes on to speak in other ways about our helplessness. He talks about blind people that are going to be given sight. Think about that for a minute. No blind person can make themselves sighted. Only God can do that. Or the prophet talks about prisoners in prison. No prisoner can liberate himself. And so here there's piled up image after image of the people of God in helplessness, really profoundly in hopelessness, having no claim upon God. But God is coming to them. God is coming to help them. Interestingly, this passage is quoted by Jesus in Matthew chapter 12. It's quoted right after Jesus has been in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And there's a man with a withered hand. It means the hand is not usable. It has no muscle. It's useless. And the Pharisees, very much like we heard this morning, wanted to trap Jesus. They didn't care about the Sabbath. They didn't care about the man in need. They cared only about finding an excuse to hate Jesus. And Jesus says, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath? Why did God give the law? For our good. That's the great point the Pharisees missed altogether. And Jesus healed the withered hand and restored it to usefulness. What a remarkable Savior he is. He came to help those who were helpless. And Jesus then quotes Isaiah 42 when he charges his disciples not to tell people what he's doing. And maybe we find that sometimes mystifying. Why does Jesus tell us sometimes not to tell people what he's doing? Well, he tells his disciples that, particularly because of verse 2 of Isaiah 42, God's servant will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. Jesus comes gently with his message. Jesus comes quietly to his people. Jesus told his disciples not to tell people about this miracle because he didn't want to be surrounded by a curious crowd. You wanted to be surrounded by people who wanted to listen. Do you know that? Do you know that? You know, one of the things they teach preachers and speakers is if you really want people to listen, speak more softly. Then they'll lean forward. Now, you run a risk because there may be people like me, slightly hard of hearing, and we won't hear anything at all. But Jesus doesn't come with a blow horn. Jesus doesn't come with a megaphone. Jesus doesn't come with amplifiers. Jesus doesn't come to make a show. He comes with his message of love and care and salvation for people who need it, for people who see their weakness, for people who have learned to look away from themselves and find help in another. And he comes then with the loving, gentle message of God to save. And that's the great promise here, that he will save. I don't know why, but our translations miss part of the wonder of this text. I know it's a little hard to bring it out in translation, but in verse 3 we read, a broken reed he will not destroy, and a dimly glowing wick he will not quench. And then in verse 4 we really ought to read, he will not be dimly glowing, and he will not be broken. the exact same verbs are used again. What we are in our weakness, broken and dim, he will not be. Our weakness is overcome by his strength. That's what this text is saying. Don't worry. Jesus is a strong Savior. He is a Savior so strong that he can repair the broken reed. He can... What did you used to do with a wick? There was something you did with a wick. He can restore... That's not the right word. But he can restore the dimly burning wick. He can give the blind sight. He can free the prisoner. He can restore the withered hand. What is your struggle? What is your weakness? What is your frailty? What is the burden of your heart as you stand before the Savior? What is the sin that perhaps you worry he could not forgive? Isaiah 42 is saying, there is nothing Jesus cannot overcome. There is no burden he cannot bear. There is no sin he will not forgive. That's the beauty of this passage. This is why Jesus is the chosen one. Because he alone, he alone can save his people from their sins. He alone is to be strong in the face of our weakness. And that's why it's so important, I think, that here in this text, God declares that he will not give his glory to another. The God who wills to save a worthless and helpless and hopeless people requires that they give him their loyalty, That they recognize him as the only God. That they recognize his son as the only Savior. And that surely is a reasonable demand of our God. He created us. He is redeeming us in Jesus Christ and he expects our undivided loyalty and care. And he expects us then to be a listening people to that wonderful word of his. And as the Savior comes gently to save us, his gentleness should be reflected in our living. It's striking in Luke chapter 9, not long after the transfiguration, The disciples see someone preaching that they don't approve of. And the disciples say, shall we call down fire from heaven on these people? That's a temptation for us, isn't it? When we see Jesus disregarded, when we see the ways of God violated, we can get angry in inappropriate ways. And I think Jesus calls us most of the time in this world to a kind of gentleness. That as he has not cried in the streets, so we are to be speaking his truth with a sensitive, loving, caring gentleness for all of those sad people who have not known him. that they might be drawn to the life that he has given us. And so here is a wonderful picture of the Savior and who he is and what he's done. He's chosen to save his people. But he's also chosen to serve the Father. Do you notice that? Behold my servant, the Father says. Behold my servant whom I uphold. Jesus has come as not only the Son, but the faithful servant. The servant who will do the will of the Father at every moment, in every way. That's part of our great assurance about the character of Jesus Christ. He's always faithful. He's always serving. He's always honoring the Father. And that's why we're told here and in many places of Scripture that the Father delights in the Son. The Father loves the Son. And part of the reason that we can be assured of the Father's love for us is because we're in the Son. Because the Son is our Savior and the one who carries us to the Father. The son is chosen to serve the father. And the father equips the son for that service. Here we're told that he gives the son the spirit. And it's interesting, there in verse 1 of Isaiah 42, we read, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, whom I hold up. And that verb is the same verb that we read in relation to Moses. You remember in Exodus 17 when Israel was fighting against the Amalekites? And whenever Moses raised his hands in prayer for the success of Israel, they prevailed in battle. But when he got tired and his hands began to droop, the Israelites began to lose the battle. And so Aaron and Hur came and they stood on each side of Moses and they held up his arms so that Israel could win the battle. And I think Isaiah is alluding to that here. Jesus comes as the servant to win the battle. And he's upheld. By the Father and the Spirit. The Father standing where Aaron stood and the Spirit standing where Hur stood and Jesus standing where Moses stood so that he's upheld. The Holy Trinity has come to do the work of salvation in the world and Jesus is serving him. And the Father says to Jesus, verse 6, I will take you by the hand and keep you. What a beautiful picture of how Jesus is serving the Father without any fail. And the Father is upholding and keeping Jesus without any fail. Jesus and the Father always working together. And this is important for us, or at least for some of us, Because there is a tendency in some forms of Reformed theology to say, well, Jesus says wonderful things of hope to us, but will the Father really carry them through? Another way of putting that is to say, Jesus comes with open covenant promises to us. But is there a secret electing purpose in God's heart that may undermine those promises? That's why there have been some reformed people who, when they've heard Jesus say, Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest, have said, I'd like to come, but I can't. And I think that's a fundamental misunderstanding of our reformed theology. but much more importantly, it's a fundamental misunderstanding of the Bible and a misunderstanding of the way in which the Father and the Son are always united in the purpose they're accomplishing. Jesus says, come, we must come. And if you've never come, he wants you to come. He calls you to come. He says, come, and he will accept no excuses. Don't tell him that your theology is better than his and you can't come. He says, come, come, come to the Savior. And he will overcome all your helplessness, all your sinfulness, all your hopelessness, and give you life. That's his promise. Because he's the servant of the Father, chosen by the Father to that service. And then, thirdly, he's chosen to subdue the nations. He's chosen to subdue the nations. He's going to be a covenant for the people, Isaiah 42 says, but he's also going to be a light to the nations. He's going to shine forth the truth of God to the nations. And he's going to bring judgment and justice to the nations. I keep thinking I should watch less of the news because I find it so discouraging. But I sort of am addicted. I can't break my habit. And I confess that too often I watch the news and become angry, the very thing I'm preaching against tonight. I'm preaching to myself. And when we become frustrated and when it seems that everything is going from bad to worse, we need to be reminded that Jesus now is subduing the nations, that Jesus now is sending his light out into the world, that Jesus now is building his church in every part of the world, that even where there is severe persecution against the church, Jesus is succeeding in gathering his elect. And the promise is that one day he'll bring that truth to the whole world. And one day there'll be a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Where the justice of God, the law of God, the holiness of God, the truth of God, the saving purpose of God will be fully realized and everything will be new. Scripture says that over and over again in so many ways, and it says it to encourage us in our tough days, in our days of grief, in our days of weakness, in our days of frustration, in our days when we think everything is going from bad to worse. Christ will build his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And we can have that confidence because Jesus is the chosen one of God who has chosen us and has promised to preserve us and to strengthen us and to bless us. So may God give each one of us that confidence, that faith, that hope. And that looking away from ourselves to Jesus as the one who will do everything for us that we cannot do for ourselves, the one who has loved us with an everlasting love and has chosen us in Christ from the foundations of the world that we should be holy and blameless in him. May every one of us here have that confidence, that hope. And if you don't have it, Jesus says, come now. And you can have it now as you trust in him to be your Savior. Amen. Let us pray. Oh, Lord, we are so thankful that we have the privilege of seeing something of the glory and of the love and of the saving mercy of Jesus Christ in your word. And we are so thankful that your spirit has been at work in us to bring us here and to open our hearts and our ears and to give us hope. And we pray, O Lord, that we might be so thrilled with your great work for us that we may speak in gentle and kind and loving ways to call others to share in the great blessings we have known. So encourage us, O Lord. Strengthen us in our weakness. Teach us to look to Jesus and glory in his strength. For we pray in his name. Amen.