Isaiah 49

We are in the second servant song. Chapter 42, the first servant song where this servant is described 49 and then 53.

! And when you put those four songs of Isaiah together, you get a good picture of what the centre of the Bible is about.

And it's another passage which speaks about the servant. Or if you look more accurately at 49 verse 1, it's spoken to us by the servant.

So in the first servant song we looked at a few weeks ago, chapter 42 verse 1, it says,

Behold my servant. God said, Look at my servant. My servant whom I uphold, my chosen one whom I die.

That's 42 verse 1. But now in chapter 49 verse 1, can you see that the servant speaks for himself?

Listen to me, O coastlands, and give nation, give attention, you peoples from afar.

So in the first servant song, God presents his servant to us. Behold my servant. Look, here he is.

But in the second song, the servant introduces himself. Listen to me.

Listen to me, you islands. That's Great Britain. You should listen this morning. We are the distant nations.

So you should think of your ears this morning. Because what is happening here is the servant of the Lord is giving his testimony.

The servant of the Lord is introducing himself to us. To those of us who live at the ends of the earth, the farthest flung reaches of the globe.

And he introduces himself to us in three ways. First of all, as the servant Israel needs.

Secondly, as the salvation that the world needs. And thirdly, as the strength we all need.

So first of all, the servant that Israel needs. Look at verse 1.

Listen to me, O coastlands, give attention, you peoples from afar.

The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother. He gave my name. Verse 3.

And he said to me, you are my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified. In whom I will display my splendour.

Israel. That's his name. The name of the servant. What's in a name?

In our society, names don't normally mean much to them.

Names don't normally have a relationship with the work that we do. Not usually.

I remember driving through a separate village, and as we were driving along, there was an old fashioned advert painted on the side of the house.

And on the side of the wall was Death and Sons Undertakers.

You might have read the BBC news story from a few years ago about the lighthouse keepers called Cliff and Gale.

That's true. They're obviously made for the dough. All like Mrs. Button.

We talk belly dancing. But it's not normally like that, is it?

Our names don't normally have meanings.

They don't have normally much connection with what we do.

But this name does.

He said to me, you are my servant Israel, verse 3.

In whom I will be glorified.

Now don't forget, as you look at the plot line of the Bible, Israel was an individual long before it became a nation.

There was Israel the man, and we tend to forget that.

Israel was an individual long before he became a nation.

God had promised Jacob's granddad, Abraham, that he would bring a great nation out of him.

And through him he would bring great blessing that would ripple out to the ends of the earth.

That was God's covenant with Abraham.

And Abraham's grandson, Jacob, in chapter 22 and 32 of Genesis, gets his name changed from Jacob to Israel.

At a place called Penuel.

And he wrestles with God there.

And God says, your name is now Israel.

And God reiterates those promises with Jacob.

He reiterates the promises he made with his granddad.

That through him I will make you into a great nation.

And through you, Israel, I will bless the ends of the earth.

And his name is Israel.

He has 12 sons.

Who become the 12 tribes of Israel.

And at that moment, you see in Genesis 32, it seems, doesn't it, God's promises seem to rest on the shoulders of one man.

One man.

Whose name has been given to him.

And his name is Israel.

And now it seems in Isaiah chapter 49 that God's plan has come full circle onto the shoulders of one man.

Isaiah 49 · chapter mention

One man whom he calls the servant of the Lord.

And this one man in Isaiah 49 verse 3 embodies everything that Israel, the people of God were meant to be.

Isaiah 49:3

Israel was meant to display God's splendour.

People were meant to look at Israel and say, their God is glorious.

Instead, what happened, if you know the background of the book of Isaiah, you'll know what has happened is by their disobedience, God has made their name a byword.

People mock their God amongst the nations.

They haven't displayed God's splendour to the people.

In fact, they brought reproach on the name of God by their disobedience.

They were unfaithful to God's promises and covenant.

And now they've been fled out of the land into exile.

And the pagans, they laugh at the God of Israel.

Because Israel has failed so miserably.

Through Israel, God's righteous rule was to be established on the earth.

Israel was supposed to bring God's justice to the earth.

And under the reign of King David, and then Solomon, it looked.

Well, it might just happen.

And then you read the book of Kings.

There's a commentary on the book of one and two kings, and it's called Men Behaving Badly.

And it's not a bad title.

Because if you read the book of Kings, you could call it the book of the failed Christ.

Does that sound blasphemous to you?

Well, it does, because you don't understand the word Christ.

Christ means anointed.

And Israel's kings were anointed.

And every king in the book of Kings was anointed to be Israel's king.

And every one of them messed up badly.

They blew it.

And so you see, again and again,

Israel failed to live up to their calling and fulfil God's purpose and promise for them.

And if you go back to chapter 48, which we were in last week, just look at verse 12.

It says, listen to me, O Jacob.

And Israel, whom I called, I am, I am the first and I am the last.

And then look at verse 18.

It says, O, O that you had paid attention to my commandments.

It's just in the previous chapter.

There's an O about Israel.

The other translation actually of verse 18 is actually, if only.

If only you'd paid attention to my commands.

If only you'd paid attention to my commands.

Do you remember, those of you who know the story, Jesus comes to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

And Luke tells us in Luke chapter 19, the people are lying in the streets and they're singing his praises.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

And some of the Pharisees, the kind of religious police, they begin to rebuke him.

And they say, you should rebuke your disciples and you should stop them from worshipping you.

And Jesus says this.

Jesus says, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.

And as he approached Jerusalem and he saw the city in front of him, he wept over it.

He wept over the city and he said, if you even, even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace.

But now it's hidden from your eyes.

There's an if only about Israel.

And it's here in Isaiah chapter 48.

Isaiah 48 · chapter mention

Look at verse 18 and 19 in chapter 48.

Oh, that you paid attention to my commandments.

Then your peace would have been like a river.

And your righteousness like the waters of the sea.

Your offspring would have been like the sand and your descendants like his grains.

Then they would never be cut off or destroy you from before me.

Do you see what God is saying to his people?

He's saying, if only you'd paid attention to me.

If only you'd paid attention to the promise to Abraham.

Well, it would have been fulfilled long ago.

Do you see that?

If only you'd paid attention, then my promise to Abraham would have been fulfilled.

Your descendants would have been like the sand of the seashore.

Their names would have never been cut off or destroyed before me.

There's a wistfulness here.

And then God promises them a new beginning.

And in the verses that follow, verses 21 and 22 of Isaiah 48.

God is promising them a new beginning through Cyrus, who's a pagan Persian king.

We saw it a couple of weeks ago.

Who he also calls his servant.

Through Cyrus, God will restore Israel to the land.

He will bring them back from exile into the promised land.

And he will bring them back from Babylon to Jerusalem.

And that's what verses 20 and 21 of chapter 48 are telling us.

But as we saw last week, what good is that?

Look at verse 22.

Their hearts are unchanged.

There is no peace for the wicked, the Lord says.

You can change your address, but you can't change your heart.

A change of location won't solve anything.

It's a change of heart that's called for.

And how will that happen?

Chapter 49 goes to God.

Listen to me.

Listen to me.

Listen to me, says God's sermon.

You see, Israel, God's people need not only a return to the land, but they need a return to the Lord.

Let's pause here for a moment.

Because I think we often make the same mistake.

And people want a new beginning, don't they?

And so they move to London.

Or they move to another city or another country.

And they thought their problem was their situation.

If only I had a new job.

If only I was in a better church.

If only I was in a better location.

And they thought their problem was their situation.

But the problem was their sin.

And they were longing the exiles in Babylon.

They were longing for repatriation.

But God was longing for repentance.

And God is going to repatriate them.

God is going to raise up pagan Persian king Cyrus.

And bring them back to the land.

It's one of the great miracles of the Old Testament.

It's prophesied before it happens.

And God will raise up this pagan Persian king Cyrus to defeat Babylon.

He'll use Cyrus to bring them back to the land.

But who is going to bring them back to the Lord?

Cyrus won't be able to do that.

Cyrus will bring them back to the land.

But not to the Lord.

And that's where the servant of the Lord comes in.

And he says, verse 1.

Listen to me, O Costans.

Give attention, you peoples from afar.

The Lord called me from the womb.

From the body of my mother he named my name.

Do you remember what his name was?

Before he was born, what did the angel say to his father?

Joseph in Matthew chapter 1, they said, you shall call his name Jesus.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

Because he will save his people from their situation.

Well, they were in a pretty ruby situation then, weren't they?

They were overrun by Rome.

Actually, there's a theme in the Gospels that is another Babylon.

Before his son was born, the angel said to Joseph, call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their situation.

No, from their sins.

And the name Jesus means salvation of Jehovah, of God.

And this is the one who is promised 700 years before the prophet, by the prophet Isaiah.

Who will actually save God's people, not just from their situation, but from their sin.

And so there is the first point.

Jesus is the servant that Israel needs.

That's very much the message in the New Testament.

God's purpose for the Jewish people, it's not simply a return to Palestine.

Lots of Christians get really confused at this point.

God's purpose for his people is not just that they return to Palestine, but that they return to him through his servant, Jesus.

God's plan for the Jews is that they return to him.

It's not the state of Palestine that he's concerned with.

But it's the state of people's hearts.

And that means our task is not to get involved in politics and pronounce on the Middle East.

Our job as well is to pray for the Jewish people.

And to support evangelism amongst the Jewish people.

There are Christians, there are Christians in Eden that teach you shouldn't.

You shouldn't evangelise the Jews because they are already God's people.

That's fatal.

That's anti-Semitism actually.

They teach that God has one plan for the Jews and one plan for the Gentiles.

And they run on kind of parallel tracks.

It's nonsense.

It's nonsense of what Paul teaches in Ephesians.

That God has one plan.

And his one plan is to sum up everything in Jesus Christ.

And so both Jew and Gentile must place their faith in Christ.

So if Jesus is God's servant, he is truly Israel's Messiah.

And the Jews need it as much as you and I.

And according indeed to Paul, they should be the first to hear.

For salvation is the power of God to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles.

And the evangelisation of the Jews should be our first priority.

I think in the church in the UK we've lost sight of that.

That's why Paul went to sin amongst the first.

Jesus is first of all the servant that Israel needs.

He cannot be good news for the world unless he's good news for Israel.

Maybe you'll talk to me about that later.

Secondly, he's a servant that Israel needs.

He's a servant that Israel needs.

But secondly, he's a saviour that the world needs.

Look at verse 1.

You'll notice that the prophet, the servant is speaking beyond the borders of Palestine.

He's speaking in the four corners of the earth.

And he wants all to hear this.

And just notice there are two horizons in the passage.

Just look at verses 5 and 6.

And now the Lord says,

He who formed me from the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob, Neah, back to him.

So that Israel, again Neah, might be gathered to him.

For I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has been my strength.

He says,

To light to him 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 to the nations that as the fire my salvation may reach the ends of the earth.

Two horizons.

The prophet's speaking about the restoration of Israel and the rescue of the world.

Literally, I will make you a light for the nations that you may be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

So how is he going to do it?

How is he going to pull it off?

How will Israel's Messiah, how will Jesus of Nazareth, who never set foot outside Palestine, bring God's salvation to the UK today?

To the ends of the earth.

How will he do that?

Well, verses 1 and 2.

The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother.

He named my name.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword.

In the shadow of his hand he hid me.

He made me a polished arrow.

In his quiver he hid me away.

It's a metaphor.

It's a military metaphor.

Jesus doesn't force people to follow him at the point of the sword.

That isn't jihad that's been described here.

It's a military metaphor.

So in the days of ancient warfare, if you were fighting up close to people in close combat, you would need a sharp sword.

And if people were running away from you in the distance, you would need an arrow.

And it would need to be a polished arrow.

So that it would travel through the air and reach its target.

And that's the picture here.

That's the metaphor being used.

In other words, we're told you that the warfare Jesus is involved with is the warfare.

The warfare.

It's very, very important.

Can you see it?

It's the warfare, verse 2, of the word.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword.

In other words, that's the battle we're about.

Jesus brings the nations to him, not at the point of a sword, but through his word.

The word that comes out of his mouth.

When this man speaks, his words always hit the target, it's telling us.

The message of Jesus is always spot on.

And if you are a Christian this morning, you should understand that.

Because that's how you became a Christian.

When the word of God penetrated your natural defenses, the words, which is like a sword that divides between soul and spirit.

And it divides the thoughts of our hearts.

Isn't that what happened to you?

Maybe you were on the run from God.

And his word came to you like a polished arrow.

Like a heat-seeking missile.

You can run, but you can't hide.

Maybe you came to London to get away from God and his word.

And his word came like a heat-seeking missile.

Like a polished arrow.

And it doesn't matter whether you're near or far.

Whether you're part of the ancient covenant people of Israel.

Or whether you're a Gentile who's far off.

His word will accomplish his purpose.

Look at verse 7.

Such an interesting verse.

Verse 7.

Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One.

To one who deeply despised and whored by the nation, the servants of rulers, kings shall see and arise.

Princes, and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One who has chosen you.

We'll see more of that in Isaiah chapter 53.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

The one who is hated and abhorred and despised and rejected.

Do you notice it is that one who in the second half of verse 7, kings will see and rise up.

Kings don't get up when you come into the room, do they?

You go to the Queen, the Queen sits on her throne when you come into the room.

But do you see what the prophet is saying?

He's saying, kings will see you and rise to their feet in respect.

Kings will see Jesus.

He who has been despised and abhorred and rejected and they will get up off their feet and they will rise in respect.

Dr. Olga Lusenko was the Roman minister of education after the collapse of communism in the early 90s.

Russia in that time became a moral and ethical way stand after the communist regime went.

The ideologies of communism went with it and there was a regime of fear.

And the Russian minister of education asked Dr. Olga Lusenko, who is an official in the Academy of Educational Sciences,

to research and make recommendations for the teaching of morals and ethics in Russian schools.

She lived a life under communist rule.

And after looking at various educational models, Dr. Olga and her colleagues concluded that a moral education would have to include biblical principles.

Can you believe that?

That's verse 7 fulfilled.

They hated Jesus.

They despised Jesus.

He was hated by the Politburo.

The Bible was banned from homes and schools for decades.

And now the Politburo gets on their feet to respect him.

Dr. Olga and her colleagues concluded that a moral education would have to include biblical principles.

And as Dr. Olga oversaw the development of this new plan in 1992,

she was given a Bible which she read intently and she personally experienced the transforming power of God's grace.

That's how we should pray for Russia.

For decades the Bible was banned and Jesus was persona non grata.

He was despised and hated by the leaders but now they rise to their feet to greet him.

And they treat him and his word with the respect that it deserves.

And we should be praying, shouldn't we, that not only were they greeting,

which they seem to have done, there's a Bible in every school in Russia, do you know that?

But they should treat his word with the respect it deserves.

But we should also pray the second half of this time, that they would bow down and worship him as well.

But they wouldn't just become Bible nerds and Bible scholars, that they'd come to the one of whom the Bible speaks and they would worship him.

Jesus of Nazareth.

The Jewish people said, well you couldn't have seen that coming, could you?

Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Nobody's ever heard of Nazareth, it's not even on the map.

Do you remember in his ministry they said of Jesus, isn't this the carpenter stuck?

Isn't this the guy that fixed our coffee table on?

Isn't this the guy who couldn't fix our broken chair?

And he's going to be the saviour of the world.

Are we going to be sitting down in 2000 years and worshiping him in London?

Well yes, who could have seen that coming?

It's exactly like Isaiah says, he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword and the shadow of his hand he hid me.

There is, isn't there, in the Gospels, when you read them, there's a hiddenness about Jesus.

You see as you read the Gospels, Jesus is always telling people not to say anything.

Shut up and don't tell anyone.

There's a hiddenness about Jesus in the Gospels.

He was born in Bethlehem, in a couchette outside the inn.

There was a room thing.

He was brought up in some obscure place in Hicksville, Nazareth.

And for 30 formative years he worked at the carpenter's shop.

And we know absolutely nothing about him.

And suddenly God takes him out of his quiver and presents him.

This is my servant, God says, in whom I uphold, in whom I delight.

Do you remember in his baptism?

Behold my son, whom I love, whom I uphold.

In the fullness of time, Paul says in Galatians.

At just the right time, Romans 5 says.

God reveals his secret weapon to save the world and it is Jesus.

Jesus is the servant that Israel needs and he is the salvation that this world needs.

And he is the strength that we all need.

Look at verses 4 and 5 again.

They are, I think, some of the most remarkable words in all of the Bible.

But I said, that's the servant of the Lord saying, I've labelled in vain.

I spent my strength for nothing and vanity.

Yet surely my right is with the Lord and my recompense.

My reward is with my God.

And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him.

That Israel might be gathered to him.

For I am honoured in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength.

That is, that is, that is how the servant of the Lord feels at 3 o'clock in the morning.

That is how the servant of the Lord feels when he gets to bed at night.

That is his testimony.

When Jesus gets to the end of the day and he says, my God has been my strength.

The Bible says that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness.

That is what the Bible says, isn't it?

God's strength is displayed and made perfect in our weakness.

And so I asked the Sunday school this morning, was Jesus weak?

And they all replied, no he wasn't.

But the Bible's answer is yes he was.

He's very weak.

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do.

But there's also a verse of that chorus that should go as if my God is so weak, so poor and so needy, there's nothing my God can do.

John 1, the word became flesh.

He became a baby, he became helpless.

But in verse 4, he says, I've laboured in vain.

I've wasted my time.

I've spent my strength in vain and for nothing.

For nothing.

The second person of the Trinity took our nature upon him.

In its low condition, without sin.

Without sin, but under the condition, under the effects of the fall.

That's how he came.

Without ceasing to be God.

Without ceasing to be what he eternally was, he became what he eternally was not.

Think about it.

The miracle of the incarnation.

Without ceasing to be God, worshipped by angels.

The second person of the blessed Trinity.

Without ceasing to be God, he became a man.

With armpits.

And with elbows.

And toenails.

He became a human being.

An authentic human being who couldn't sleep at night.

Because he was concerned.

And he was under pressure.

Who needed friends.

Who had three close friends.

And one of them was his best friend.

John.

A man who he loved.

Thus he became an authentic human being.

Authentic emotionally.

Psychologically.

Spiritually.

Just as you are.

What a wonderful gospel it is.

The writer of the Hebrews says that during the days of Jesus' life.

On earth he offered up prayers and petitions.

With loud cries and tears.

Do you think that Jesus went through life six inches above the ground.

Kind of untroubled by everything he got.

During the days of his life.

He cried out to God.

With loud cries.

And wet tears.

To the one who could save him from death.

And we're told he was.

We're told he was.

We're told he was human.

Do you remember what he said about his own death.

Facing the prospect of crucifixion.

He said unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground.

It cannot bring fruit.

He knows there will be fruit from his sufferings.

He knows that.

Is fruit from his death.

But that in order for that fruit to appear.

Somebody has to die.

And suffer.

I told you about Gladys Staines before.

Gladys Staines is a very ordinary.

Middle aged widow.

Now in her early sixties.

And she is the widow of Graham Staines.

Graham and Gladys were missionaries in India.

Working amongst tribal people.

And lepers in Orissa.

On January the 22nd 1999.

Graham and their two sons.

Timothy aged nine.

And Philip aged seven.

Were burned to death in a land room.

By a bunch.

I think of Hindu extremists.

Gladys was interviewed the following day.

By a newspaper reporter.

Listen to what she said.

She said.

I am deeply upset.

But I am not angry.

For Jesus has taught us to love our enemies.

Those words appeared in every newspaper in India.

And they were carried all over the world.

Hundreds.

Thousands of people heard those words.

She chose to stay where she was.

For the reason for the remarkable growth of the Holocaust.

those words appeared in every newspaper in India

and they were carried all over the world

hundreds, thousands of people shared those words

she chose to stay where she was and carry on the work that she and her husband were doing with leopards

she's back, I think she's in Canada now

she carried on the work joyfully suffering

according to one leading Indian missiologist

the reason for the remarkable growth of the Indian church in the last 10-15 years

he said could well be traced to that interview

to the brokenness and weakness of a grieving widow

Vinod Ramachandra says

I can't help feeling that a middle aged Australian widow has done more for the cause of the gospel in India

than all the slick evangelists on the 24 hour TV channels now beaming into this country

you see the power of the Christian message is seen in the weakness of the crucified Jesus

and in frailty

in the fragility and the brokenness of his followers

do you see that?

it's the same servant message

it's the same servant calling

the same paradox of God's great power

being made perfect in weakness

that is the strategy of God

that is the strategy to which he calls his servant church

strength, yes, in weakness

and as God's servant

we are to share his sufferings

to lay down our lives for the church

and so in closing let me say a couple of things

as God's servant people

as God's servant church

our task is assigned by the Lord

it's very interesting when you read Acts chapter 13

Acts 13 · chapter mention

you find there are really interesting words

you find that Paul and Barnabas have been thrown out of the synagogue

the Jews don't want to hear the message of Messiah

and after shaking the dusk off their feet

they say if you won't hear us we'll go to the Gentiles

and this is what he says

he quotes Isaiah chapter 49 and verse 6

Isaiah 49 · chapter mention

and he says this is what the Lord has commanded us

us

do you see that?

this is what the Lord has commanded us

I've made you a light for the Gentiles

that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth

I thought that you were saying that Jesus was the servant of the Lord

in Isaiah 59

well of course he is

but Paul says this is what has commanded us

we are in Christ

the servant's mission is our mission too

our task is assigned by the Lord

you don't have a choice about it as a church

it's not an optional extra

for us as a church to decide

whether we will go to the ends of the earth

to bring the knowledge of God to the nations

and display the splendour of God

it's not an optional extra

the task has been assigned to us

it has been entrusted to us

Peter says you are a holy nation

a royal priesthood

to bring the knowledge of God

to proclaim his praises to the ends of the earth

and so the question is

for us as a church family

is are we up for it?

what is the greatest threat

to the church in the UK?

I think the greatest threat to the church in the UK

is it's so easy to get despondent

and discouraged

and it's so easy to get disappointed

in Christian ministry

how are we going to do that?

well our task is assigned by the Lord

and our success is assured to us

by the Lord

and we tend to think

don't we

that if something is going to be

hugely successful

if something is going to be

hugely successful

well we will be able to measure

that success

in exactly the same way

that the world measures the success

and so whenever I go out to preach

the first question

that people always ask me is what?

what is it?

how many people go to your church?

how many students are there?

as if students are on a different level

of being than the rest of us

how many people at the prayer meeting?

we measure success in the way that

exactly the world measures success

how was house group this week?

we didn't have it this week actually

but there weren't many there

how was house group this week?

it's great

there were loads there

how was ELT?

I was really discouraging

we were down on numbers

but if you want to look at the success

of Jesus' mission

in the way that the world says

I think you do have to say

that Jesus' mission

in the short term

was an outcome

because that's it

all his friends deserted

his strongest supporter

John the Baptist

has doubts

thinks he's backed the wrong horse

and the servant himself

look at verse 4

it is remarkable

I don't know whether you picked it up

verse 4

I've laboured

in vain

I've spent my strength for nothing

I'm vanity

has it been worth it?

what about your to show from it?

what do you do when you're like that?

who hasn't felt like that?

perhaps you've been praying

for unconverted relatives

perhaps you've been praying

for your family

for so long now

and they don't seem to be

the slightest bit interested

and you've been witnessing

to a colleague at work

and he's not the slightest bit interested

you've been teaching the kids

you've been leading a house group

and there doesn't seem to be

very much happening

and you feel really let down

and you wonder

how can I carry on doing this?

what's the point in this?

where do I get the strength

to keep it on going?

let's say some of the

pioneer missionaries

many of them were nuts

but who laboured a lifetime

and they never saw

a single convert

you read the story

of the pioneer missionaries

and they lived a lifetime

laboured a lifetime

but they didn't see a convert

thank God that they did

Robert and Mary Moffat

they laboured in South Africa

without seeing a single convert

for years

and then a letter came

from home

and how can we pray for you?

what can we do for you?

the church said

what can we send you?

and Mary Moffat writes back

and she says

well why don't you send us

a communion set?

it's a stupid thing to say

they hadn't even seen

a single convict

for years

and she asked for a communion set

I would have thought

a lot better things to ask for

TV maybe

and the day the communion set arrives

there's a little group

of convicts

there's a group of people

that have been converted

to celebrate the Lord's

supper

and then revival breaks out

do you see what the Lord does?

He says

my God has been my strength

and that is what we've got to do

when we wonder

how can we go on

we come to Isaiah 49

and we go to the end of verse 5

and we say

my God has been my strength

and we leave our success there

and look at the end of verse 4

yet

surely my right is with the Lord

and my recompense

my reward is with my God

you see

we've got to leave our success there

don't let other people judge you

whether you're successful or not

don't even judge your work

whether it's successful or not

that's a fool's errand

look what it says there

verse 4

what is due to me

my recompense is with my God

let God be the judge

of what you're doing

of whether it's successful

let God be the judge

of what you're doing

in your circle of ministry

amongst your friends

your prayers

let God be the judge

commit it to him

and entrust it to him

because we know

we know that there is a day coming

when kings shall see and rise

when princes shall bow themselves

before Jesus

the King of kings

and the Lord of lords

Amen

Amen