Suffering Servant Series, Part 2
Isaiah 53:1-3
The Servant Humbled
The
OT is riddled by the failure of man!
A)
Adam sinned started the whole deal sin entered into the world - Weeds Aaron Stupid Adam
B) Noah
after the flood got drunk exposed
C) Abraham sinned Moses
sinned
D) The law was unable to bring pp to righteousness
E) The Children of
1) Time of the Judges
Prophets Kings Constant failing
We
come to Isaiah find the prophet preaching to a nation that was not listening
He is failing.
A) All of a sudden in this
train of failure We hear the voice of God.
BEHOLD MY
SERVANT HE SHALL SUCCEED
HE SHALL
PROSPER
B)
He shall deal prudently He shall accomplish the purpose of why He
came.
C) In the first stanza of the
song the last 3 verses of
1) Suffering/ Resurrection /
2nd Coming {looked at last time
Tonight
we pick it up in
A) Begins Who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of the
Lord been revealed?
B) Gods arm is often
connected in scripture to Salvation.
1)
C) Here Isaiah is telling us
something very important that: Salvation is connected to Faith to belief.
D) Gods arm of Salvation is
revealed to those who believe embrace it by faith.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, {The Report} for it is the
power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also
for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to
faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
The Problem is there have
always been those who have refused to believe the report.
But although He had
done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38 that the word
of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:
"Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has
the arm of the Lord been revealed?"
Isaiah tells
us here V.2 why some pp had a hard time believing the report - Isaiah 53:2
For
He {God the son Jesus} shall grow up before Him {God the father} as a tender plant,
And
as a root out of dry ground.
A) His coming He was not
what the nation of
B) They were looking for a
King who would ride in on a white Stallion
over throw
1) Had he come in that way
the nation would have gotten in line behind him
Bb) But he didnt come that
way He came in Humility.
1) He came in a way that you
and I could know he could relate to us
C) He came in the slow
process of birth born in a manger born to a poor
family family struggling financially
D) When Mary and Joseph came to dedicate him they offered
up two turtle doves instead of a lamb
1) Which was allowed
according to the law for people who could not afford a lamb.
He grew
up in Nazareth which was the arm pit of Israel
A) This was like nothing you
would expect from a King / a messiah/ God in the flesh {1st coming purpose
A
tender plant tells us of His nature.
A) TENDER He was the most
tender human being who has ever walked the face of planet earth
B) He was disarming kids loved him all types of pp were
drawn to him
C) Something extremely
different about him
D) Tender plant-
Here
in
A) Gods servant Humbled
B) A tender plant: Study on line plants and trees
C) Classify growth in 3
Categories Hearty / Tolerant and tender
1.
Hearty is a plant that is in its natural environment. A) It is from that climate
B) Thrives in that area and
climate Eucalyptus trees
Around here
2. Tolerant: A plant or tree that come
from somewhere else but it is able to adapt to the environment.
3.
A Tender plant is one that is exotic.
It comes from a great
distance one that is never going to be at home in that place.
Never
feels native in the place that it is put
A) It takes continual care
in regards to nutrients and protection from the environment
B)
A root out of dry ground Abnormal nothing in the soil that sustained
him.
B) Nothing in this life
sustained him He was sustained from above
The
tender plant is one that is not home or native to the environment
A) That is what He was He
was the transplant from eternity- the son of eternity come into time
B) Invading time a tender
plant not at home here
C) He would say to one
young man who wished to follow him
Foxes have
holes and birds have nest but the son of man has no where to lay his head.
Birds
have their nest they are hearty this is their environment
A) Foxes have their holes-
they fit
B) But He is saying the
son of man has no where to lay his head this is not my environment
1) I am not native to this
world
D) I have no place of rest
here Just passing thru
E) I am never going to adapt
never going to become tolerant
In fact
the only place where it says that Jesus rested his head was on the cross at
So when Jesus
had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His
head, He gave up His spirit.
A) He bowed his head When?
After he cried it is finished!
B) He finally found a place
in this world to rest his head it was on the cross
1) When
He completed the mission He rested
I
want to sort of camp here tonight on this thought before we come to the table
of communion
A)
Jesus said if any man wants to be my disciple let him deny himself take up his
cross and follow me.
B)
He says of us this world is not our home we are sojourners here we are just
passing thru
1) That means we are NOT going to find rest here
C) There is nothing in the
soil of this earth that can sustain us.
1) Nothing that this life
has to offer that is going to fully satisfy us.
D) Not a person/ Not a
position/ not a place / not a possession
That
is why there is restlessness in your heart
A) You are longing for
something else
B) As a believer you have
this Built in longing for heaven
C) That is why you can get a
great new job and still feel restless meet the right person married
1) Still feel there is
something missing
D) Go to some exotic vacation spot and experience
rest and relaxation {body
rest / mind rest
1) Our spirit can feel
refreshed but there is still restlessness - Disappointment when it is over
E) That is because the
Spirit of God in our hearts reminding us that there is something better
This is where we can learn
something from Jesus He finally rested when He
had accomplished the work that the Father intended for Him to do
His
rest was in doing his fathers will the same way his nourishments came from
that as well
A) John 4
B) Come back here Lord is
your burger Not hungry I have food that you dont know about
C) My food is to do the will
of Him who sent me
When
Jesus says pick up your cross and follow me he is inviting us to live this
kind of life
A) Life that says Lord not
my will but your will be done today in me in this situation
B)A life that says I realize
that the place I am going to be able to find rest in this world is in my
relationship with you and your calling for my life.
C)
Made for fellowship with God He has redeemed us to serve Him not
self
1) You will be the most
fulfilled in life when you are engaged in that relationship and that calling
D)
Picking up the cross finding rest in the Lord and being in the center
of His will
You
will never be at rest in this world there will always be restlessness
Try to please yourself in
this world there will always be a frustration there will always be a sense of
not truly being satisfied
But
in Jesus there is Rest In living to please the Father there is rest there
is nourishment
A) When I am accomplishing
that for which he has laid hold of me there is rest
B) That is where the rest is
found satisfied and nourished.
C)
He was a tender plant not from this place
a root out of dry ground not nourished by this place
D) He was different but
not in appearance in appearance He was ordinary.
1) American idol Simon
it was ordinary
No
form or comeliness {Nothing majestic
A) He laid aside everything
that the Seraphim in
B) Isaiah 6 On the throne
train robe
.. Seraphim covered faces cried holy
1) Laid aside his glory
concealed -
C) No beauty Nothing
desirable
V.3
He is despised and rejected by men,
A
Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
A) Sorrow = pain grief =
suffering and sickness
Aa) Understand though that Jesus
wasnt bummed out all the time downer Eeyore guy
B) Children were drawn to
Him -
.. Looked like you..
Pp were drawn to him he
enjoyed life he went to wedding feast parties maybe he danced
C) He enjoyed those
celebrations perhaps those celebrations were a tiny glimpse of the celebration
that awaited him
D) But in the midst of all
that He could take enjoyment in, in life
1) There was always this
inner sense or perspective that he carried
2) That everything he saw
was all flawed it wasnt the way that He 1st
created it to be
E) Man was no longer what He
was intended to be
The
world He had created in perfection was now marred by sin
A) Man living in it was
plagued by the pain of sin
B) He saw it every day The
grief that comes when a loved one dies
C) The pain that follows a
marriage that breaks up
1) The pain caused by
religious pride
He
could never put that pain away from His heart Wasnt always manifested or
apparent in his outward appearance but He carried it deep within
We seek to escape turn
that off
Watch a movie/ comedy - that
makes us laugh
We want to forget for a
little while the grief and the pain that is around us. Cant watch the news 24/7
He never escaped it It was
too clear in his perception what it was supposed to be it was etched into the
very core of who He was
I
was thinking about this today: The one person that I think sums up this
description of the Lord maybe better than anyone I know was Floyd.
A) He was one of the most Tender pp I have ever met
B) Everyone loved him kids
adults teens all of them.
C) He wasnt the kind of man
who stood out in a crowd easily unnoticed
1) But spend 5 minutes with
him and you would never forget him.
In the
12 yrs privilege of being his Pastor: I have never met anyone who loved to
rejoice in the goodness of God more than Floyd
A) Almost every Wed night
Floyd would come up to talk to me after the service
B) Tell me something about
how the message encouraged him
C) He always had a Victory
to share something to be thankful for.
D) But Floyd maybe more than
anyone I have ever known grieved for the pain that sinned caused
E) Often
times There would be tears too about someone in the fellowship that was sick
1) Just tore him up A
sports figure who was being a bad example grieved
E) A Christian who was
backslid or had fallen He wept -
Tender heart
1) A man of sorrows acquainted
with grief
That is what happens when
you become a Jesus Lover - Transformed into the image of Jesus
Jesus was a
tender plant root out of dry ground a man of sorrows acquainted with grief
So
He could be our High Priest who sympathizes with our weakness.
A) There is not a person in
this room tonight who has suffered as much as He suffered
B) There is not a physical
pain tonight in this room that has gone to the depths of his physical pain
C)There is no one who has
been forsaken by friends of relatives that has any idea what it really means to
say: My God my God why has
me!
D) He went thru all of that
so He could be our Savior and High Priest
1) But we despised Him and
did not esteem Him
Looking for a
Conqueror they got a Carpenter
Lion Lamb
Looking for A Sovereign/
they heard Him say my kingdom is not of this world
We
can esteem Him tonight by coming to Him with hearts of gratitude hearts of
dependence
A) You and I say Lord I am
in pain Lord I feel forsaken, lonely, I am out of strength
B) He is there to fellowship
with us He relates to us
C) To say to us tonight I
was a tender plant a root out of dry ground
I
didnt find nourishment from anything that this life offered.
A) So we can come tonight
and receive from Jesus what we cannot receive from this world
B) Tonight we Esteem Him
come to the table to say Lord I want to follow you
C) Your cross not my will
not my way but yours Lord
You are my all in all you
are it!