Now in our Bibles to Philippians chapter 2,
our scripture reading this morning will be the
first 15 verses, 1 through 15 of Philippians
chapter 2.
Let's stand as we read the Word of
God.
I'll read the first and the unnumbered verses.
We ask you to join in reading together
the even-numbered verses.
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ,
if any comfort of love, if any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
and let nothing be done through strife or
vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, that
each esteem others better than themselves.
And let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus, but made himself
of no reputation and took upon him the
form of a servant and was made in
the likeness of men.
Wherefore, God also has highly exalted him and
given him a name which is above every
name.
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father.
For it is God which worketh in you,
both to will and to do of his
good pleasure.
That you may be blameless and harmless, the
sons of God, without rebuke in the midst
of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom
you shine as lights in the world.
Let's pray.
Father, as we come this morning unto you,
we ask, Lord, that we might indeed have
the mind of Christ.
That same attitude, Lord, of humbling ourselves, serving
one another in your love.
Lord, we ask that you might open our
hearts now.
Speak to us.
Let the seed, the word of God, be
planted there in our hearts.
That it might bring forth fruit in our
lives, the fruit of your love, your joy,
your peace, patience.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Well, tonight we continue our journey through the
Bible.
We are in Isaiah chapters 47 through 49.
Pastor Skip can't be with us tonight.
He had a previous engagement of long-standing
that he needed to fulfill.
So as the Lord said, the poor you
have with you always, I'll be here.
So we'll lead you.
These are great chapters.
I encourage you to read them over this
afternoon.
I've been studying them this week and I'm
sure that the Spirit has much to say
to us through these chapters this evening.
We invite you to be a part of
our evening fellowship tonight.
This morning we'd like to draw your attention,
however, to the 49th chapter, beginning with verse
5, as the Lord is introducing to us
the servant of the Lord.
And on through chapter 53, we'll be dealing
with God's righteous servant, His Son, that will
come to not do His own will, but
the will of the Father that sent Him.
His Son who said, I do always those
things that please the Father.
Verse 5, And now saith the Lord that
formed me from the womb to be His
servant, to bring Jacob again to Him, though
Israel will not be gathered.
Yet shall I be glorious in the eyes
of the Lord, and my God shall be
my strength.
And He said, It is a light thing
that thou shouldest be my servant, to raise
up the tribes of Jacob and to restore
the preserved of Israel.
I will also give thee for a light
to the Gentiles, that you may be my
salvation unto the end of the earth.
Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel
and His Holy One, to Him whom man
despiseth, to Him whom the nation abhorreth, to
a servant of rulers, kings shall arise, princes
also shall worship, because of the Lord that
is faithful and the Holy One of Israel,
and He shall choose thee.
Here introduced to God's faithful servant, Israel had
been called to be a servant of God,
but they were not a faithful servant.
It was God's will that Israel be a
light to the world, that the whole world
could see the blessings of a nation whose
God was the Lord.
He wanted to just prosper and bless them,
so that all of the nations of the
world would just see the value of serving
God and the blessings that would attend a
nation who would make the Lord their God.
The next few chapters of Isaiah are devoted
to this righteous servant, more or less culminating
in chapter 53.
And we know that from the New Testament
that this righteous servant that is being spoken
of here is none other than Jesus Christ.
So these things are actually prophecies of Jesus
Christ.
In Luke's Gospel, we read that when Mary
and Joseph brought Jesus to present him to
God in the temple when he was just
a little baby, that there was a old
man in Jerusalem, his name was Simeon, a
very godly man.
And the Holy Spirit had spoken to his
heart and had told him that he would
not die until he had seen the Lord's
Messiah.
And so as they brought the baby Jesus
into the temple, he was led by the
Spirit to come in at the same time.
And when he saw Jesus, he took Jesus
out of the arms of Mary, and he
prayed, and now Lord, let thy servant die
in peace.
For I have seen your salvation, which you
prepared before all of the people, a light
to lighten the Gentiles.
So he quotes this very passage of Scripture
as he acknowledges that it is to be
fulfilled in Jesus, he would be a light
to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of
the people of Israel.
Now God is declared here in these passages
concerning his righteous servant.
He said he was formed from the womb
by God to be a servant.
When the angel came to Mary to inform
her that she was blessed of the Lord,
highly favored, because God had chosen her to
be the human instrument by which he would
bring his son into the world.
Mary questioned the angel.
She said, How can this possibly be?
I'm a virgin.
And so the angel explained to her how
that the Holy Spirit would come upon her,
the power of the highest would overshadow her,
so that the Holy One that would be
born would be called the Son of God.
The child formed in the womb of Mary,
conceived by the Holy Spirit, would be known
as the Son of God.
He's formed in the womb by God to
be the servant.
And that he would be sent to bring
Jacob unto the Lord.
However, the nation of Israel would not come.
In chapter 53, we read that he is
despised and rejected by men.
A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.
John tells us he was in the world.
The world was made by him, but the
world knew him not.
He came to his own, that is the
Jewish nation, but his own received him not.
But as many as did receive him, to
them he gave the power to become the
sons of God.
Jesus in Matthew 23, 37 said, O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, you killed the prophets and stoned those
which were sent to you.
How often would I have gathered your children
together, even as a hen gathers her chicks
under her wings, but you would not.
So his being rejected by his own people
as their Messiah was prophesied.
But we are told that he would be
glorious in the eyes of the Lord.
When Jesus was baptized by John at the
Jordan River, we read that the heavens were
open as he came up out of the
water.
The Spirit of God, in the form of
a dove, descended and lighted upon him.
And there came a voice from heaven which
said, this is my beloved son, in whom
I am well pleased.
We read also that when Peter, James, and
John were with Jesus, and he was transfigured
before them, Moses and Elijah appeared with him,
talking about his death in Jerusalem, that Peter
said, Lord, it's good for us to have
been here.
And as Peter was speaking, there was this
bright cloud that came over them.
And again, the voice of the Father saying,
this is my beloved son, in whom I
am well pleased.
Hear him.
It's like the Father is just exalting in
his son.
This is my boy.
I'm well pleased with him.
I can remember many years ago when I
was playing softball in a league in Santa
Ana, that we were behind the last inning.
And we were home team.
So a couple of the fellas got on
base.
I got up and got the pitch that
I wanted.
And I connected with it and put it
way out over the left fielder's head.
And as I was rounding third base coming
into home, having hit the home run that
won the game, my dad was there in
the stands and he was shouting, that's my
boy, that's my boy.
And it's sort of what God is doing.
He said, that's my boy.
This is my beloved son, in whom I
am well pleased.
We're told of this servant that God would
be his strength.
Over and over again, Jesus affirmed that the
things that he was doing were being done
actually by the Father.
That God was his strength.
He was doing the work of the Father.
The night that Jesus was betrayed, when he
was talking intimately with his disciples, encouraging them,
saying, don't let your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, now believe in me,
and assuring them of God's future plans for
them.
Jesus said, from henceforth, you have seen the
Father and have known the Father.
Philip said to him, Lord, just show us
the Father and we will be satisfied.
And Jesus said, have I been so long
a time with you, Philip?
Haven't you seen me?
He that has seen me has seen the
Father.
How sayest thou then, show us the Father?
Believe that I am in the Father and
the Father in me, or else believe me
for the very works sake.
And so Jesus is saying to him, the
works that I do, I do not of
myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me,
he doeth the work.
And so this righteous servant, God would be
his strength as he would do the work
of the Father.
But he will also be a light to
the Gentiles.
Jesus said, I am the light of the
world, not the light to the Jewish nation
only, but I am the light to the
world.
When he sent his disciples out, he said,
go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature.
So the gospel is not to be limited
just to the Jewish nation, but the gospel
is to go to all the world.
He will be a light unto the Gentiles.
When Jesus called Paul to the ministry, he
said, I am sending you to the Gentiles
to open their eyes, to turn them from
the darkness to light, from the power of
Satan unto God, that they might receive the
forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them
that are sanctified by faith in me.
So here we are today gathered together, Gentiles
believing in Jesus Christ, because he has become
a light unto the Gentiles.
But we are told also that he would
be despised and the nation of Israel would
abhor him.
And of course, we have seen how this
is true, the rejection of Jesus as the
Messiah, even to the present day, by the
majority of those in Israel.
In chapter 53, speaking of this servant, declares
that he would be despised and rejected by
men.
In Psalm 118, it's prophesied that this stone,
which was refused by the builders, would become
the chief cornerstone.
Jesus spoke a parable about this particular passage
from Psalm 118.
He tells us that there was a certain
man who planted a vineyard, he put a
hedge around it, he placed a winepress within
it and a tower, and he then let
it out to husbandmen, men to take care
of it.
And when he went away to a far
country, when the time came for him to
collect the revenue from the produce, he sent
a servant back to get the revenue for
that produce.
But it says they caught him and beat
him and sent him away empty.
So he sent another servant and they cast
stones at him, wounded him in the head,
and sent him away shamefully.
And again he sent another servant and him
they killed.
Many others, they were beating some, killing some.
Referring to the prophets that God had sent
to the nation of Israel in the Old
Testament, prophets that the people would not listen
to.
Some of the prophets were killed, some of
them were beaten, many of them imprisoned.
And he said, I have one son, my
beloved son, I will send him and surely
they will reverence my son.
But those husbandmen said among themselves, here comes
the heir, let's kill him and the vineyard
will be ours.
And so he said, what will the Lord
do to these wicked husbandmen?
He will come and destroy the husbandmen.
He will give the vineyard to others.
The interpretation of the parable becomes very obvious.
The nation of Israel that rejected, who killed
the Son of God in that sense of
demanding his death.
And so the vineyard to the Gentiles.
But then Jesus quoted this passage from Psalm.
He said, have you never read this scripture?
The stone which the builders rejected has become
the head of the corner or the chief
cornerstone.
Have you never read that Psalm?
He said, it's referring to me.
It is interesting, we do read how that
the leaders of the Jews, the religious leaders,
were the ones who conspired to have Jesus
put to death.
Because they were worried about their own position.
They were saying, we've got to do something
about this fellow.
We've got to get rid of him.
All people are following after him.
And we were, we're going to lose our
position.
We'll lose our power over the people.
And thus the conspiracy.
And the stone which the builders, that is
the rulers of the nation rejected, was actually
the chief cornerstone.
It goes on to tell us that kings
will stand up before him.
It is a common practice when a person
of prominence and prestige with a high office
walks into a room, that those people that
are in the room stand up to honor
the position that that person has.
If you're in a courtroom, when the judge
enters the chambers, those that are in the
courtroom stand as they respect the position that
this judge has as a judge over others.
When the president walks into a room, those
that are in the room stand as they
respect the position that this man has as
a ruler over the nation.
When Jesus walks in, even the kings, who
are usually have people standing before them, they
will stand in honor and in respect for
who he is.
He goes on to say princes will bow
down to him.
That word worship is bow down.
In Isaiah 45 we read, I have sworn
by myself, the word has gone out of
my mouth in righteousness, shall not return, that
unto me every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall swear.
In Psalm 22 it's prophesied concerning Jesus, that
even those that have gone down to the
dust, that is those that have died, will
bow before him.
Paul wrote to the Philippians as we read
this morning about Jesus, that God has highly
exalted him, given him a name which is
above every name, that at the name of
Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue
shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father.
Awesome to realize that one day we will
be standing in that huge multitude of all
of the people who have ever lived on
this planet Earth and that all will bow
down and acknowledge that Jesus is Lord to
the glory of God the Father.
We who have loved him will bow down
and declare Jesus is Lord.
Those who have hated him will bow down
and declare Jesus is Lord.
Those who have ridiculed, made fun of him
will bow down and declare Jesus is Lord.
Those that have denied him, they'll all be
there, they'll all bow down and confess that
Jesus is Lord to the glory of God
the Father.
We read that God's righteous servant will bring
salvation to the ends of the earth.
People throughout the world need to know that
God loves them, that God is not willing
that they should perish, but desires that they
have everlasting life.
And because God does love them, he has
provided a means whereby their sins can be
forgiven in order that they might have fellowship
with God, because that's the purpose of our
existence.
God created man in order that man know
meaningful fellowship with God, come into this relationship,
loving relationship with God, walking in fellowship with
him.
Exciting to realize that today God's salvation will
go to the ends of the earth.
And today we, Calvary Chapel here, have missionaries
in Siberia.
We have them throughout Russia, throughout Europe, throughout
Africa, South America, Central America.
We have missionaries in China, Japan, in India.
We have them in the Middle East, taking
the message of God's salvation throughout the whole
world.
God promised that he would give this servant
as a covenant to the people.
Now, a covenant is a binding agreement.
It's about as strong as agreement as can
be formed, this covenant.
It is a binding agreement.
And God has promised that through Jesus, he
will make a binding agreement with you whereby
your sins can be remitted or forgiven.
When Jesus was having the Passover supper with
his disciples, when he took the cup, he
said, this cup is a new covenant in
my blood, shed for the remission of sins.
This is that binding agreement that God has
made.
It's in the blood of Jesus Christ, which
the word of God says will cleanse us
from all sin.
So we read concerning the birth of John
the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus.
When he was born, his father, who was
a priest named Zacharias, said concerning his little
son, blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people,
and has raised up salvation for us in
the house of his servant David.
And you, child, little John, shall be called
the prophet of the highest, for you will
go before the face of the Lord to
prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation
unto his people by the remission of their
sins, that covenant whereby they receive the remission
of their sins.
We read when John began his ministry, there
in Luke 3-3, that many of the
people came from all over the country to
the Jordan River where he was baptizing as
John was preaching the repentance and the remission
of sins.
That was the message.
God is making a covenant, a binding agreement,
whereby he declares he will remit your sins
upon certain conditions.
Repentance and believing in Jesus Christ.
Just before Jesus ascended into heaven, there on
the Mount of Olives, as he was with
his disciples, Luke tells us in 24-47,
that Jesus said to his disciples that they
should preach in his name among all nations
beginning at Jerusalem the repentance and the remission
of sins.
That's your message.
If you will repent, if you will turn
from your sin, God will forgive all of
the past transgressions, all of the past sins
that you have ever committed.
A binding agreement.
In the sermon that Peter preached on the
day of Pentecost to the multitude that had
gathered, when they said to Peter, what shall
we do seeing we have crucified the Lord
of glory?
Peter said, repent and be baptized, every one
of you, in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins.
And you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit.
So this covenant that God has established through
Christ for the remission of sins for those
who do repent.
In the 10th chapter of the book of
Acts, Peter is in the house of a
Gentile, the Roman centurion named Cornelius, who has
gathered with many of his friends there in
Caesarea.
And as Peter is speaking to them, he
tells them all of the prophets bore witness
of Jesus that through his name, whosoever believed
in him would receive the remission of sins.
The two qualifying necessary things, repentance and believing
in Jesus, God will sign a contract, a
binding contract.
You do that and God will remit your
sins.
Just say, God, I'm sorry that I have
sinned.
Please forgive me.
And I believe that you sent your servant
that he might be a light to the
Gentiles, that he might bring salvation to the
Gentiles and to the world.
Our greatest need today, each one of us,
is remission of sin.
It is sin that will keep you from
God.
It is sin that is destroying your life.
It is sin that will keep you out
of the kingdom of God forever.
The greatest need any of us could ever
have is the remission of sins.
And that is what God has provided through
his servant as is prophesied here in Isaiah.
The servant will bring a new covenant, God's
covenant, whereby our sins can be remitted through
faith in him.
Today, you can have remission of your sins.
Today, you can walk out of this place
with a conscience that is perfectly clean.
Every wrong thing you have ever done, those
things that have plagued you, those things that
you'd say, why did I do that?
And they've been hounding you.
You can walk out today with your sins
fully remitted because of God's righteous servant who
paid the price in order that God might
make this covenant with you through the blood
of Jesus Christ.
You who believe, you who will repent, there
is remission for sins.
Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ, your
son, the righteous servant who humbled himself and
came in the form of a servant that
he might provide light to the Gentiles, hope
to the Gentiles, salvation to the Gentiles, salvation
to the whole world.
Lord, as we are here this day, there
are those that are here, Lord, that need
that remission of sins.
They need to confess Jesus Christ as Lord
of their lives and to believe in him
that they might have their sins remitted.
Give them, Father, the courage, the strength to
act upon the conviction on their heart at
this moment.
That word of your spirit to their heart
saying, you need to repent and turn your
life over to Jesus Christ.
May they respond, Lord, to the prompting of
your spirit and may they experience, Lord, before
they go, the joy of knowing their transgressions
have been forgiven, their sins are remitted.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.