The Servant's Discouragement: Isaiah 49:1-7

In Isaiah 49 we see the Servant of the Lord face discouragement, battle discouragement, and ultimately overcome where we have failed. 

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Andrew Mattison: 00:00

Good morning. Let me invite you to turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 49. Isaiah chapter 49. If you are looking in the Pew Bible in front of you, you can find that on page five seventy. As many of you know, I think, my wife and I are expecting our second born next year in April.

Andrew Mattison: 00:26

And thankfully, and hopefully, Audrey is heading out of the first trimester this week and maybe into next week. That means that things in our home over the past eight weeks have been a little abnormal. And one of those small abnormalities is that there has been a certain phrase that's gotten thrown around in our home the last eight weeks with more regularity than is typical. That phrase is, you just don't understand. As you can imagine, I at least over the last eight weeks have been the one on the receiving end of that statement.

Andrew Mattison: 01:08

It goes more like, Andrew, you just don't understand. And to be fair to my wife, she has not actually pulled that card all too often over the past weeks, few weeks, but it has come up a few times. And to be fair to her, she has a point. I don't fully understand what she is going through in the first trimester of pregnancy. I have been sick before.

Andrew Mattison: 01:32

I've been nauseous, but I have not been nauseous for days and days on end and weeks and weeks on end. I've been tired before but I don't quite know I've been assured what it's like to be first trimester pregnant tired. And this doesn't render me of course completely useless. There's lots of ways I can understand my wife. Lots of ways I can support her.

Andrew Mattison: 01:56

Lots of ways I can serve her in this season. But there is something about someone who has been through the same exact thing that you've been through. There there's something to relatability that really matters to us. There's something about Audrey being able to discuss what she's going through with her mom or with her sister or with a friend that has been through a pregnancy or two. And that's true, not just for her in this particular season, but for all of us in the difficult seasons that we walk through in life.

Andrew Mattison: 02:29

There's something too, being able to talk to someone who's gone through the same exact season. When we see someone as relatable, we're typically more willing to share with them. And typically we're more willing to share with them deeply about what's really going on, about what we're really feeling and experiencing in those moments because we're confident perhaps the person on the other end of this conversation has had some of the same thoughts, some of the same doubts, some of the same struggles that I am experiencing right now. When we see someone else as relatable, someone who's gone through the same thing as us, we're much more confident when we share with them. We're confident they really understand what I'm saying.

Andrew Mattison: 03:12

They're picking up what I'm putting out there because they have walked through a similar season of life. Relatability matters, but of course, it's not everything. The phrase misery loves company is true to a degree. When we are in a pit in the midst of life, it is comforting and encouraging to know at least you're not the only person who has ever found yourself in that particular pit of life. That that does some encouraging.

Andrew Mattison: 03:43

That does some comforting. But what misery ought to love even more than company is wisdom. Misery should love wisdom. What's better than someone who has been in the same season of life as you have been, is someone who's been there and they can tell you how to navigate that season. What should I do?

Andrew Mattison: 04:03

How should I respond? That's helpful. For Audrey, going back to that example, that means that this first trimester has been better than the first first trimester that she had with our son Judah because halfway through that trimester somebody said to her, you should really eat often. Even though you don't wanna eat and it doesn't feel like you should eat, you should not let yourself be hungry. Because if you get hungry, the nausea gets worse.

Andrew Mattison: 04:32

It's weird how that works, but just trust me. And she did and it helped. And then somebody else came along and said, I have been through the same thing. You should try taking Unisom. It's weird.

Andrew Mattison: 04:42

It will make you more tired but it will help with the nausea. And she tried that and it helped. Audrey had someone who couldn't just understand, couldn't just relate but also was able to speak wisdom into exactly where she was. And that again is true for all of us in all the difficult seasons we may find ourselves in. As we turn this morning to our text in Isaiah 49, what we're gonna see together today is a a beautiful portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Andrew Mattison: 05:14

And what we're gonna see first is Christ facing discouragement. And we're gonna spend a lot of time there seeing how Christ incredibly, amazingly is able to relate to us in the midst of our discouragement. And what comfort and encouragement that provides. And then we're going to see Christ battle discouragement and ultimately overcome discouragement. And we'll see him lay out the perfect pattern, the perfect example and wisdom for us as we walk through discouragement as well.

Andrew Mattison: 05:51

Before we stand and read our text this morning, I wanna provide a a little bit of context. We are jumping into the middle of a a really complex book in Isaiah. Isaiah 49, our text for today is the second of four what have been called servant songs. And these servant songs talk about a future servant of the Lord who's going to come and bring justice and salvation to the very ends of the earth. And Christians throughout our history have read these as being prophecies of Christ.

Andrew Mattison: 06:27

The most famous one you will be familiar with most likely is the last of the four servant songs that comes primarily in Isaiah 53. There's where we see that this servant would also suffer. He would be like a lamb led to the slaughter, that the Lord would lay all of our iniquities on his shoulders, that his hands would be pierced for us, and that by his wounds we will be healed. Our song is not as popular as Isaiah 53, but there are great great treasures for us to mine this morning. And so let me invite you to stand with me as we read Isaiah 49.

Andrew Mattison: 07:08

We're gonna read the first four verses. We'll stop midway through verse four. Listen to me, o Coastlands, and give attention you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb. From the body of my mother, he named my name.

Andrew Mattison: 07:31

He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he hid me. He made me like a polished arrow. In his quiver, he hid me away. And he said to me, you are my servant Israel in whom I will be glorified.

Andrew Mattison: 07:48

But I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity. You may be seated. I told us a moment ago that we were gonna look first at Christ facing discouragement. But we have to say that there's not a lot of discouraging things going on in the first three verses of Isaiah 49.

Andrew Mattison: 08:19

And things start out really really positive. Verse one, we have this servant. He's the one who's speaking in verse one and throughout the song. He's calling with authority to the ends of the earth to come and listen to what he has to say. In verse two, we see this servant is hidden away.

Andrew Mattison: 08:39

He's sharpened like a sword. He's polished like an arrow. He's just waiting for the right moment to be released to hit his target and accomplish his mission. In verse three, we see this servant given the title Israel, which I think clues us in that he is being given the role that Israel failed to fulfill. Namely, the the role of glorifying God through obedience and worship.

Andrew Mattison: 09:05

This is a role that that Israel had failed at. The book of Isaiah makes that clear. This is a role that was first given to Adam in Genesis, and he failed. And now this servant is taking up this mission that no one else has been able to accomplish. Things are very positive in the first three verses and then we hit verse four.

Andrew Mattison: 09:27

But I said, I have labored in vain. I've spent my strength for nothing and vanity. That's a strong shift. Right? That's a that's a really strong shift in Isaiah 49.

Andrew Mattison: 09:45

Things are going so well and then we shift to that. It's a shocking shift in the song but it's it's shock value is escalated by the fact that Christ is the one speaking. I remember preaching this text at our previous church in Colorado and my my pattern while we were there, we had an intern that was working with me and we would study the text together. He's a young guy just learning how to read and teach the Bible. And so we would look at the text together and walk him through how to interpret and how to prepare to potentially preach.

Andrew Mattison: 10:21

And as we sat down over Isaiah 49 and we started walking through it, the first three verses went really really smoothly. He knows this is a servant song. We're talking about Jesus. That's the one who's speaking. We're tracking along together.

Andrew Mattison: 10:35

And then we get to verse four. We get to verse four and I asked him a simple question. A question we asked one another all the time. A question we asked our students. Often time I just said, who's speaking in verse four?

Andrew Mattison: 10:49

And I'll never forget, he looked at me and he looked at his bible and he looked at me and he looked at his bible and this long pause and you could just see exactly what was going on. He knew the answer. He knows it's Jesus speaking, but he didn't wanna be the first person to say, Jesus said, I have labored in vain. I've spent my strength for nothing and for vanity. He didn't wanna come right out and say, Jesus is the one speaking in verse four and and you can understand why he might have been hesitant to do that.

Andrew Mattison: 11:23

This is not something that we really expect Jesus to say. This is something we we might even read and wonder, is it even okay for Jesus to have said something like this? And yet that is that's clearly what's happening. There is no other person who fulfills the role of the servant of the Lord. This is clearly Christ.

Andrew Mattison: 11:46

No one calls to the ends of the earth with authority. No one else is gonna have his body pierced for us. This is clearly Jesus. And there's no indication in verse four or anywhere around verse four that we have a new speaker that's introduced here. This is the Lord Jesus speaking.

Andrew Mattison: 12:07

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity. So what's going on here in verse four? What has happened? It seems to be that that Jesus is looking forward to his incarnation, to the mission that God would send him on. He's positioning himself there.

Andrew Mattison: 12:25

And as he looks around and he sees the failures and the disappointments and the hard hearts, he says, I have labored in vain. It seems as though I am laboring in vain. And you may have noticed if you read slightly ahead that before the end of verse four, we make another turn. And we're gonna get there to this positive turn at the end of verse four and through the rest of the passage, but I want us to sit here and camp for a while at the beginning of verse four. This is I think the tension point in Isaiah 49.

Andrew Mattison: 13:01

This is the conflict that demands some kind of resolution. Christ has been sent on this mission and in the midst of his mission, he faces what appears to be profound discouragement. And I think that that has massive massive implications for you and for me. First, I think this shows us that Jesus really is a sympathetic high priest who is tempted in every way as we have been and yet without sin. He really is able to deal gently with us because he was beset with weakness.

Andrew Mattison: 13:38

These passages from Hebrews four and Hebrews five are familiar likely to many of us and favorites maybe to some of you. Many of us in the room would affirm these texts and celebrate them that Christ is able to sympathize with us as a human. But I think there are some facets of Christ that are easier for us to see. He can relate to me in that. He can sympathize with me in that.

Andrew Mattison: 14:05

And others are more difficult perhaps. I don't have a problem understanding that Christ can relate to us in hunger and thirst and sleepless nights. No doubt as a human, He felt those. He experienced the real effects of them. Of course, Christ during His earthly ministry felt pain.

Andrew Mattison: 14:24

Certainly, He felt excruciating pain on the cross. He can relate to us. He can sympathize with us there. Certainly, Christ felt the knife of betrayal as Judas, one of the 12, betrayed him and sold him for 30 pieces of silver. Certainly, Christ can relate to us in the experience of losing a friend and a loved one as Lazarus died and he got to see Mary and Martha grieve.

Andrew Mattison: 14:52

I don't even have a problem understanding and affirming that Christ felt disappointment in his 12 disciples whom he poured most of his time and energy into as they constantly misunderstood him and constantly lacked in their faith. But for me, I think without Isaiah forty nine four, I would be really slow to ever say Christ felt discouraged. And discouraged enough to say, I have labored in vain. I think without this text, would be really hard pressed to ever say that. I think it it I would be prone to think that Jesus just kind of floated above discouragement in his earthly ministry.

Andrew Mattison: 15:36

Of course, he he saw things that could be discouraging, but I kinda think I would just assume that didn't really affect him. That that that he was relatively unfazed by that because he's God. And doesn't Psalm two say, he who sits in the heavens laughs at the nations raging and the peoples plotting in vain. Doesn't he just know what's coming and experience the discouraging things he sees without being bothered? But Isaiah forty nine four pushes us against that.

Andrew Mattison: 16:09

It shows us that Jesus was and is God, but he is also a man. A real man who felt real discouragement. And that opens up for us so many potential places in the gospel where Christ may have been feeling exactly like He is here in Isaiah forty nine four. One commentator said, rather than than trying to pinpoint the exact location and the exact time when Christ would have said something like this, it's more likely that this is just compressing a lifetime of discouragement into one sentence. And we can certainly think of many opportunities that Christ would have had to experience this kind of discouragement.

Andrew Mattison: 16:56

He was rejected in his hometown. Not only rejected, but they attempted to kill him. His own brothers didn't believe in him. You can feel the crushing weight of discouragement that would bring on a soul. The 12 men as we've already referenced that he poured the most of his time and the most of his energy into constantly failed.

Andrew Mattison: 17:18

They didn't understand what he was trying to say. In John chapter six, after a long discourse about how he's the bread of life and inviting people to come and partake. We see that John records many of his disciples left him and no longer followed. It seems in that moment as he turns to his 12 disciples that they're really the only ones left. Everyone else has walked away.

Andrew Mattison: 17:46

Of course, we can imagine the press of discouragement that Christ would have felt in the garden as he takes the three disciples that he is closest with deeper into the garden and he after making clear to them, this is an important night. Says, I need you to stay and pray for me. He goes off on his own and prays and returns to find them asleep. Not once, not twice, but three times. Maybe even on the cross as Jesus hangs and he looks out and he sees one of those 12 disciples there.

Andrew Mattison: 18:26

Peter has denied him. Judas has betrayed him. The others have scattered and only John is present for his crucifixion. Many opportunities for profound discouragement in the life of Christ. He felt the full pull on his heart of discouragement.

Andrew Mattison: 18:47

And we'll see in a moment, he he never leaned into that. He never allowed it to drag him into sin, but he felt the tug of discouragement on his heart as much as you or I ever will. And because of this, he is able to deal with us all the more gently. We see that in the passages from Hebrews that I referenced earlier, but we even see that here in Isaiah in the servant songs in fact. If we go back to the first servant song that's found in Isaiah 42, what you'll see there is Yahweh describing what His servant is gonna be like.

Andrew Mattison: 19:26

He's He's telling us this is what my servant will do. This is what His character will be like. And in verse three He tells us, a bruised reed he will not break and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. For a bruised reed you can think of this tall, marshy grass that if you step on it, it just kind of folds in half. It's not completely broken but it's very close to just being split in two.

Andrew Mattison: 19:59

And God tells us that his servant will be so gentle, so tender, so patient that he will be able to nurse that Bruce Reed back to health. Or faintly burning wick, can think of the candle that you light in your house and then you forget about for hours and hours and hours. And when you come back to it, all that is left is just a little bit of orange hue. There's not even really a flame going. There's a little bit of smoke.

Andrew Mattison: 20:31

And God tells us, my servant will be so slow and so careful in dealing with the faintly burning wick. He will be able to fan it back into flame. Of course, the the bruised reed and the faintly burning wick, that's us. That's you and me as we come to Christ near to being broken, discouraged ourselves. We can have confidence that Christ is able to deal all the more gently with us because He knows through experience exactly how tender, how sensitive a soul that has been crushed underneath the weight of discouragement really is.

Andrew Mattison: 21:17

All these things of course ought to lead us to fly to Christ in the midst of our discouragement. He is the one that we can pour our hearts out to in prayer and be confident that he hears us, be confident that the God man on the other end of our prayers has actually walked in our shoes even through discouragement. If you're here this morning and you're not feeling any kind of tug from discouragement, praise God. That's great. But because this is such a constant human emotion and because that emotion does not go away when you become a Christian, I feel safe to assume that many of us in the room are feeling at least some tugs from discouraging circumstances we see around us.

Andrew Mattison: 22:05

Some of us in the room may be feeling the strongest pull we have ever felt. Some of you may be here and you may be feeling a brand of discouragement that matches really closely what it seems Christ is feeling here in this text and in the gospels. You may have been sharing the gospel with someone in your life. Maybe a a friend, maybe a coworker, maybe a child, a son or daughter, maybe a spouse, maybe a parent. You've been seeking to share the gospel with them.

Andrew Mattison: 22:40

You've been praying for them. You've been curious. You've asked the right questions. You've been patient. You're doing as much as you know right and you see no fruit.

Andrew Mattison: 22:53

You're you're finding a hard heart that's resistant to the good news of the gospel. And that can be a a crushing weight of discouragement. Others of you in a similar vein, you may be here and you may have poured your life into trying to to to disciple someone else. And you have carved out time, you spent time preparing, you have spent emotional energy. This matters to you.

Andrew Mattison: 23:22

You make intentional efforts to be with this brother or sister because you want them to grow in Christ and you're not seeing it. It it doesn't seem like it matters to them nearly as much as it matters to you. You feel like you're pouring out your soul for this person and they are not all that interested. I think those two examples seem to match most closely with what Jesus may have been being discouraged by in the gospels. But actually I think we can go further because I think the root of Christ's discouragement, if we can find the root of it, it actually maps onto a lot of other examples of Christian discouragement.

Andrew Mattison: 24:07

And I think the the root is simply this. Christ had a good goal, a God given goal. Christ was pouring out all of his energy and all of his effort into achieving that goal and he saw no apparent success. A good goal, even a God given mission. All of his efforts given to reaching that and no progress.

Andrew Mattison: 24:33

No fruit. Nothing to hang your hat on as you look around your circumstances in life. I think that root of discouragement broadens our application. And there's lots of things that might fit that as a Christian. You may be here this morning and you may have fallen back into the same sin as a Christian over and over and over again.

Andrew Mattison: 24:59

You may be giving all of your efforts trying desperately to free yourself and to kill this particular sin in your life and you're not seeing any fruit. That fits the criteria though Christ never of course walked that exact road. He never felt the crushing weight of being a Christian who keeps falling into the same sin. The root of having a good holy God given goal, giving all of your efforts towards it and not seeing any fruit from it maps very closely on to what it seems Christ is feeling here. You may be in the room, you may be a a young parent or a young mother perhaps more specifically.

Andrew Mattison: 25:45

And you have a good God given goal to raise your children in the Lord, and you're giving it your all. That's what parenting requires of you. You're up late changing diapers and it's often hard, thankless work that takes years and years to see any fruit. Could be an incredibly discouraging season for a young parent and though Christ was never a parent, that discouragement, the root maps closely onto what we see from our Lord here. And all of these discouragements and in the dozens and dozens and dozens of other ones that I haven't been able to mention, Christ can relate to the heart of our discouragements that may feel so overwhelming and he is able and willing to deal gently with us.

Andrew Mattison: 26:38

So we've seen Christ face real discouragement and now we're gonna turn and see Christ battle and overcome discouragement in our text. Let's look back at Isaiah 49 verse four. We're gonna read all the way through this time. But I said, I have labored in vain. I've spent my strength for nothing in vanity.

Andrew Mattison: 27:01

Yet surely, my right is with the Lord and my recompense with my God. We can see here that Christ is immediately at war with discouragement. He will not even allow it to stand in its own sentence. There's no period in the middle of verse four. He's immediately battling against it and and I think this can feel like another quick snap back into the opposite direction.

Andrew Mattison: 27:31

I think we could get maybe the wrong impression here. I think we could read that and and then assume, okay, it seems like Christ felt discouraged but it was probably just for a millisecond. And just for a half second he felt discouraged and then immediately all of his discouragement flies away and is gone not to come back. I'm not sure that that's what we're supposed to see in the second half of verse four. That as he turns to the Lord here all of his discouragement magically flies away.

Andrew Mattison: 28:05

Rather what I I think we're supposed to see is that Christ did not allow his discouragement to stand unchallenged or unchecked even for a moment. He does not allow discouragement to reign over his heart even for a moment without something pushing against it. And what I want us to see this morning and to focus our time on is the primary tool that he actually uses to fight against discouragement, to push back against it. And I think we can see it really quickly and most obviously if we just look at the first few words of verse four and verse five and following. Look at those with me.

Andrew Mattison: 28:46

Verse four, we've already seen the first few words are but I said. Then in verse five, and now the Lord says. And then in verse six, he this is again, the Lord says. Then verse seven, thus says the Lord. Then if you even drip down into verse eight, thus says the Lord again.

Andrew Mattison: 29:12

What we have here is in verse four. I think it's fair for us to say the servant is reporting what he says or I think it's fair for us to say he's reporting what he sees. As the servant looks around from a human perspective, what he sees is it seems like I'm wasting my time and my energy. I see nothing in the circumstances around me to provide any encouragement that this mission that I've been sent on is going to have success. That's what I see.

Andrew Mattison: 29:44

That's what it seems like as I look around. And then in the following verses to push against that, he picks up the sword of the spirit, the word of God, and he picks up specific promises that God made to him in order to wage war on the discouragement attacking his soul. Let's look more closely at those. They really begin in verse six. These promises that He takes up in order to fight discouragement.

Andrew Mattison: 30:15

Verse six, He, again this is God the Father speaking. He says, it is to light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will make you as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach the end of the earth. So here's what we have going on in verse six. The servant looks around and he sees rejection by Israel.

Andrew Mattison: 30:47

The people that I'm coming to bring back are not listening. They have hard hearts. Few of them are turning to me in repentance. I see little around me to believe that this is going to be a successful mission. And then he takes up a specific promise of God.

Andrew Mattison: 31:05

It is too small of a thing, he reminds himself, that you would just bring back the tribes of Jacob, that you would just bring back Israel. More than that, I am going to make you as a light to the nations. My salvation through you is going to reach to the whole world. The servant fights against the discouraging circumstances he sees with a specific promise that God had given to him. Let's look at verse seven.

Andrew Mattison: 31:34

See the same pattern. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his holy one. And this is who he's speaking to. To one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers. And this is what he says.

Andrew Mattison: 31:50

Kings shall see and arise, princes and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful. The Holy One of Israel who has chosen you. In verse seven, the servant looks around and it seems like I am the servant of rulers. Jesus looks around his earthly ministry. It seems like the Pharisees have sway over me.

Andrew Mattison: 32:15

It seems like Rome has sway over me. The nation hates me. I'm despised. And yet he clings to a specific promise of God to wage war. Kings one day will see you and arise.

Andrew Mattison: 32:30

Princes shall prostrate themselves before you. I am faithful. The Lord is faithful. The Holy One of Israel has chosen you. You can be confident that these promises will come to pass.

Andrew Mattison: 32:44

This is how the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ wages war on discouragement. In other words, I think to put simply, Jesus here gives us a perfect example of someone who lives by faith and not by sight. Whenever we feel the pull and the tug of discouragement in our lives which we all often feel, we face a choice. We can lean in to the discouraging circumstances that we see around us. A lack of fruit, a lack of success.

Andrew Mattison: 33:19

We can lean into that or we can lean into what God has said, specifically what God has promised to his people. If we choose to lean into discouragement, discouragement will pull us further and will pull us into all manner of sin. If you allow discouragement to rain unchecked and unchallenged over your heart, it will drag you into anger and bitterness at God. It will drag you into despair and hopelessness and depression. If you allow discouragement to rain unchecked over your heart, it will pull you into self pity.

Andrew Mattison: 34:02

If you allow it to rain long enough, it will pull you into a full scale unbelief. As you feel that gentle tug of discouragement on your heart, you can imagine yourself standing not too far off from the edge of a cliff. And if discouragement reigns over your heart it will drag you slowly closer and closer and closer to the edge. For example, I think we see this in Isaiah 49. Not in our text directly but if we drop down a little further into verse 14, there's a new speaker that's introduced.

Andrew Mattison: 34:40

In Isaiah forty nine fourteen we get a new speaker. Verse 14, but Zion said Zion is another name for Jerusalem or the Southern Kingdom Of Israel, Judah. Verse 14, Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me. In the book of Isaiah, Jerusalem and Judah, they're facing discouraging circumstances.

Andrew Mattison: 35:07

That things are not going well in the Southern Kingdom Of Israel at this time. The Assyrian army is pushing closer and closer and closer. Exile feels like it is likely not all that far away. As they look around, circumstances are not good. And they face a choice to lean into those circumstances, to lean into the discouragement that they see around them, or to lean into what God had promised them.

Andrew Mattison: 35:38

And they chose, of course, it appears here to lean into sight. To lean into what they see around them. And you can see here in verse 14, it's pulled them into anger at God, into accusing God. You've forgotten us. You've forsaken us.

Andrew Mattison: 35:55

You're not here with us. You see that sharp anger and accusation against the Lord. Judah's discouragement has has really drug them all the way back. If we look through Isaiah to their their former master. The one they had already been delivered from.

Andrew Mattison: 36:13

Judah is is running back to Egypt facing the discouraging circumstances they see, they run to Egypt for help. This master that God had already delivered them from. Jerusalem, Judah, they failed to trust in the promises that God had given them. They failed to lean into what God had said and push back in their discouragement. They failed and so have we.

Andrew Mattison: 36:44

And so will we. We have often lived by sight and not by faith. We have often allowed discouragement to reign in our hearts unchallenged and unchecked. We've allowed it to pull us into sin, blame shifting, self pity, anger against others or against God. We have often doubted whether or not what God has said to us will actually come to pass.

Andrew Mattison: 37:20

As much as as we should strive to follow the example of Christ in this passage and we should, we are far closer to Zion in this passage. That that's who we are. And that's why we need more from this text and more from this servant or more from the servant than one who can just relate to us. We need more from this servant than someone who can relate. As good as that is, as encouraging as that is, we need more.

Andrew Mattison: 37:49

And we need more from this servant than someone who can just lay out a perfect pattern and example for us to live by. We need that. It's necessary. It's good, but we need more. We need someone who would come and live the life that we have failed to live.

Andrew Mattison: 38:05

And we need someone who would then go and die the death that was ours to die. And praise God, we have that here in this servant in Isaiah 49. This servant as we've already said has come in the person of Jesus Christ and he has fulfilled all that is promised in Isaiah 49. Christ has come and he was prepared for his ministry, hidden away for thirty years, sharpened like a sword, polished like an arrow before being launched into his public ministry. He did take on the role of Israel.

Andrew Mattison: 38:45

Called out of Egypt. He delivers the law on a mountain. He's tested in the wilderness for forty days and yet is without sin. He was a man of sorrows. One abhorred by the nation.

Andrew Mattison: 39:00

One deeply despised as we see in verse seven. And yet for the joy that was set before him, he endured all the way to the cross clinging to the promises that God had given him. And as he was raised on the cross, he became a light to the nations, a signal to the nations that all could come. Christ now is reigning as king and he will return and one day kings and princes will lay prostrate before the king of kings and the lord of lords. In Christ, we have what we need.

Andrew Mattison: 39:35

We have far more than just a man who can relate to us. Far more than a man who gives us wisdom and a perfect example. We have a savior. Of a savior who has come and succeeded where we have failed, including in our failures to respond rightly to discouragement. If you're here this morning and you're a Christian, this is ultimately what speaks the most encouraging word to you today from Isaiah 49.

Andrew Mattison: 40:07

Drop down with me again to to verse 14. You remember Zion and their accusation against God. You remember that's you. That's me. Look at what God says in response to their accusation.

Andrew Mattison: 40:19

Verse fifteen and sixteen. God says, can a woman forget her nursing child that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget but I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. How could I forget you?

Andrew Mattison: 40:46

God says, when your names are written on the palms of my hand. It would be easier for a nursing mother to forget her child at her breast than it would be for me to forget my people. Friends if you are in Christ this morning, this is the the greatest encouragement that you can receive. But more than that, it's it's the foundation of all other encouragements that you could receive from the promises of God. This is your greatest encouragement.

Andrew Mattison: 41:14

It's also the foundation for all other encouragement we find as we take up the promises of God and trust in them. Because your name is written on the palms of this servant, you can also have confidence that just as God's promise to this servant came to pass, so will His promises to you come to pass. Look at how Paul reasons like this in Romans eight. You don't need to turn there. Romans eight thirty two.

Andrew Mattison: 41:47

Paul says, He, this is God the Father, He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will he not with him also graciously give us all things? The logic of that verse I hope is clear. It's it's kind of an if then statement. If God did not spare his own son, but he allowed him to be like a lamb led to the slaughter. He allowed his hands to be pierced on your behalf.

Andrew Mattison: 42:23

He laid your iniquities on his shoulders. If God has done that just like he said he would in these servant songs, how will he not also fulfill all of the other promises he's made to his people through Christ. The hardest promise has already been fulfilled in this servant. And so all of the other promises of God are yes and amen to His people. And so Christian as you face discouragement and you seek to battle that discouragement in the pattern of this servant, you can have the utmost confidence as you cling to the promises of God that they will be fulfilled.

Andrew Mattison: 43:06

Before we close out, I want to address really briefly the the non Christian that may be with us in the room this morning. You may be here and you may have never put your faith and your hope in Jesus before and yet you may be coming in discouraged and downtrodden and hopeless and this message of hope and confidence in the midst of discouraging circumstances all around you may be really appealing and attractive to you. If that's you this morning there's two things that you need to know before we close. First, these promises that God has given to his people are not yet yours but they can be. The promises that God has given to his people for us to cling to, to fight discouragement with are not yet yours but they can be.

Andrew Mattison: 44:00

In fact, Christ holds out to you a promise today to lean into by faith. Christ says in the gospel of Matthew, come to me all you who are weary, all you who are heavy laden, and I think we can add all who are discouraged. And I will give you rest. Myself, any of the elders, many of the church members here would be happy to talk with you about what that means this morning if that's where you are. Let's pray together.

Andrew Mattison: 44:38

Father in heaven, we thank you for the gift of your son. We thank you for sending him that he might be able to sympathize and relate to us. We thank you for sending him that he might provide the perfect pattern for our obedience, that we would lean in by faith and to trust your promises to battle against discouragement. But Father we thank you most of all for sending him to save us. We thank you that he has succeeded where we have failed and we thank you for the precious promises that you have given to us through him.

Andrew Mattison: 45:14

We ask that you would enable us this morning to trust in those promises by faith even when all around us feels lost. Amen.