“Christ, Our Righteousness” Isaiah 50:4-7

“His robes for mine.” That song is very fitting for our subject this morning that we will consider.

If you could turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 50. Isaiah chapter 50. This morning, since we have a break in our normal series, I would like to consider with you an important theological truth, really a truth that we really need to understand because we find so much hope in it. And this is what we call the obedience of Christ. And really, specifically, what we’re going to consider this morning from Isaiah 50 is the active obedience of Christ.

Now, you may think, well, that’s a strange way to speak of Christ’s obedience. What do you mean active? Well, there’s multiple facets to what Christ did in his life on the earth, what he accomplished in his life and death. The work of Christ on the cross, His death in our place, in our stead. It’s typically what is called the passive obedience. It is his obedience, but we call it passive because it’s what’s done to him. He submitted to death on a cross. He allowed that to happen.

Philippians chapter two explains this. He says, he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave, being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. even a death on the cross. Therefore, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That is Christ’s work on the cross. That’s his passive obedience. That’s what was done to him. He allowed it to be done to him as our substitute, as our Passover lamb.

He died a gruesome death in the place of all who will trust in him so that they might be saved. That is the substitutionary death and atonement of Christ. One of the most beautiful doctrines in all of scripture. It is the gospel. It is what we must believe to be saved. Christ’s cross work is the removal of guilt through his passive or his suffering obedience. But that’s not all that Christ accomplished in his life on the earth.

There’s another aspect of his life and work that we receive the benefit of. And this is what we call the active obedience. So if the passive obedience is what’s done to him, active obedience is what he does, what he actively does. And that is that Christ lived a completely perfect life, a completely perfect life. He lived every moment of his life in the flesh in perfect obedience to God. And you might say, well, yes, Jesus didn’t sin. He was perfect. What does that mean? What’s the significance of that? That is a great question. It’s a very significant question because on the one hand, Jesus had to be the spotless, sinless lamb. He had to be perfectly sinless in order to be an acceptable sacrifice. 1 Peter 1 speaks of why Christ had to be sinless.

1 Peter 1, 18-21 says, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your futile conduct inherited from your fathers, but with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but appeared in these last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. And that is a beautiful truth. Christ is the unblemished, spotless lamb that was sacrificed on our behalf. He had to be perfect in order to be that sacrifice. But that is not all that his obedience accomplished. It has even more significance than that. Because as we read earlier in Romans chapter five, his perfect obedience is credited to us. It’s credited to our behalf.

We read in Romans 5 verse 12, therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin. And so death spread to all men because all sinned. Through one man, Adam, death spread to the whole world. Sin spread to all people. All people are born in sin. They are born sinners. They are born with a sin nature because of the sin of one man. Verse 15 says, for if by the transgression of the one many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. Paul is using Adam as a comparison for what Christ did for us. Just as through Adam all became sinners, his sin is imputed to us. Even so, all who believe in Christ, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to them. Verse 19 of Romans 5. For as through one man’s disobedience, many were appointed sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, the many will be appointed righteous. It’s very careful words by the apostle there. We are appointed righteous because of the obedience of one man. Because of the obedience of Christ, we are appointed obedient.

Adam, as the representative of the human race, failed to obey God. Christ, as the second Adam, was charged with doing what the first Adam could not do, what the first Adam failed to do. And by His active obedience, Jesus fulfills what Matthew 3.15 says, all righteousness. He fulfills all righteousness. He came to fulfill the righteousness that was required of man. Not just so that He could be our sacrifice, but because we need His righteousness. so that His righteousness could be credited to our behalf. All who believe in Christ as their Savior are credited His righteousness. As we just sang, His robes for mine. He took my sinful robes on the cross and He gives me His righteous robes so that when God looks at me, He sees the righteousness of His Son, the obedience of His Son. That is the beauty of the active obedience of Christ. And that will be our focus this morning.

But again, we’re going to be in Isaiah 50. This doctrine is not just a New Testament doctrine, although we find it very clearly in Romans 5. Jesus did come in the New Testament. And we learn so much about him, his life, his work in the New Testament. But the New Testament comes after the Old Testament. And the Old Testament tells us what was going to happen. It told the people of Israel who Christ was going to be and what he was going to be. And this morning we’re going to look at this beautiful doctrine from Isaiah chapter 50. Isaiah is a book that is filled with. rich with messianic prophecy, prophecies about the Messiah, about Christ. The book of Isaiah has so many predictions and so many foretellings of what would come to pass, what would happen. Isaiah 7, we typically read this at Christmastime.

Isaiah 7 outlines the whole framework of what Christ’s ministry was to be. In Isaiah 7, it tells us that he would be born of a virgin. That He would be Emmanuel, God with us. That He would be the light that breaks through the darkness. Isaiah 9 tells us that He was gonna minister in Galilee. That His name would be Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace. All of that is just in the opening chapters of Isaiah. And then Isaiah tells us of His return. that Christ will return one day and sit on his throne on the earth and he will reign from Jerusalem and everything in this world will be made right. The lion and the lamb and the bear, they will all live in harmony. And it’s not just at the beginning of Isaiah that we have messianic prophecy. Isaiah is filled with warnings and judgments upon Israel. It’s filled with promises of the coming Messiah.

In the end of the book, we have four songs about the suffering servant. The suffering servant is identified over and over as the servant of the Lord. Jesus is that servant. Jesus is the suffering servant. He is the ultimate servant of God and his purpose and role in redemptive history was to come and serve God and accomplish those things for us. The very ending of the book gives us four suffering servant songs.

The first one is found in Isaiah 42, which we read to open our service this morning. In Isaiah 42, we read that Christ will return and sit on his throne. It tells us that he is the chosen instrument of God. Isaiah 42, 1, behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, or my elect one, in whom my soul is well pleased. I have put my spirit on him and he will bring forth justice to the nations. He says, in whom my soul is well pleased. Does that sound familiar? That’s exactly what we hear at the baptism of Christ. Matthew 3:17 says, and behold, there was a voice out of the heavens saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And we hear it again at the Mount of Transfiguration. Matthew 17:5, while he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. And in Matthew 12, verses 18 and 19, Jesus quotes Isaiah 42 in the synagogue and says, this is about me. I am the suffering servant. Jesus tells us he is the servant sung about in Isaiah. He is the one.

The second song is in Isaiah 49, and it talks about Christ the conqueror. The servant is a conqueror as well. Christ is the one whose life goes to the ends of the earth. That’s what Isaiah 49 tells us. His life goes to the ends of the earth. What does that sound like? Acts chapter 1. The gospel will go forth to the ends of the earth. That’s Isaiah 49.

And then the last song, Isaiah 53, is the fourth song about the servant, and we know that one well, that he sacrificed for us. He is the substitution for us. He was crushed for us. Isaiah 53, verses four and five, surely he bore our griefs and he carried our sorrows. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, and he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace fell upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” That’s the suffering servant.

And that’s three of the suffering servant songs, but we skipped one. Because back in Isaiah 50 is the third song. And this is the song of the obedient servant. And that will be our text for this morning. And I know this is a lot of setup, but this is necessary for us to understand what this text is talking about, because this is one of those texts that we read in a book like Isaiah, and sometimes it’s hard to understand what this is talking about. What does Isaiah mean? Who’s he talking about here? Who’s the reference that’s speaking this song, or who’s it about? My goal for this morning is that you will come to love Isaiah 50, that you would love it because of what it tells us about Christ, what it tells us about the Messiah, and what it tells us about how dependent we are on Him. And what’s the message of this song? What does it tell us about the servant, the Messiah? It simply tells us that Jesus Christ is everything that you are not. That this servant that was coming, the one who was promised, he is coming to be everything that you are not.

We live in a society that is very self-focused, very self-righteous, self-consumed. You hear over and over and over again, you’re a good person. You can fulfill your dreams. You can do anything you want to do. You are talented. You’ve got everything at your fingertips. We live in a culture that is completely self-centered. And as much as we hear all of those things repeated over and over again, the truth always breaks through. As much as society tries to deceive us, the truth always comes through. As much as society tries to pump up the individual, people are still left feeling inadequate. People feel like they’re not good enough. They feel like they hate themselves. They feel anxious because they don’t measure up. They don’t measure up to other people. That’s why social media exists. So people can deceive everyone of how great my life is, so that you can get on there and feel insecure about your own life. In fact, this idea of the importance of self is what drives the pharmaceutical industry, where people are continually taking drugs because they don’t feel right. They don’t feel like they think they ought to.

And for as much as society tells us that you are good enough, and you are loved, and you are capable, and you are wonderful, and it’s all about you, why is it that we need to take so many drugs to actually feel that way? But for anybody here who feels like you’re not good enough, who feels like you’re inadequate, who feels like you’re worthless, let me just tell you, you don’t need to feel like you’re worthless. You don’t need to feel like you’re inadequate or you don’t have any value or you’re despised or you’re rejected. You don’t just have to feel that way, you are that way.

The reason why you feel that way is because it’s true. We don’t have to feel like we’re really bad, we are really bad. We don’t have to feel like we’re rejected, we are rejected. We don’t have to feel like a loser, we are a loser before God. And Isaiah reminds us of that this morning. And as believers, we know that truth. Every time we sin. Every time we sin, we understand that we’re not just feeling guilty, we are guilty. You don’t just feel bad before God, you are bad before God. You don’t just feel condemned, you are condemned without Christ. It’s not just a feeling, it’s reality.

And that was the reality in Isaiah’s day too. You see, the land of Israel was filled with idolatry. It was filled with greed and adultery and evil. Doesn’t that sound familiar? That is what we are, saturated in our sin. And Isaiah goes even farther, and he condemns the worship of Israel. In Isaiah chapter one, verse 11, he says, this is God speaking through Isaiah to the people. He says, what are your multiplied sacrifices to me, says Yahweh? I’ve had enough of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle and the blood of bulls and lambs or goats. I take no pleasure. the exact thing God required of them. He says, knock it off. I’ve had enough. He tells them to stop worshiping. He says in verse 13 and 14 of Isaiah chapter one, bring me your worthless offerings no longer. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of convocation. I cannot endure wickedness in the solemn assembly. My soul hates your new moon festivals and your appointed times because they have become a burden to me and I am weary of bearing them. And not only that, God tells them to stop praying.

In verse 15 of chapter one, he says, so when you spread your hands out in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Indeed, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. Every time you spread your hands, I see they’re full of blood. Stop praying to me. The Israelites are literally caught red-handed. That’s Israel. This is the people Isaiah’s writing this to. This is what prefaces everything we’ll see in Isaiah 50. This is the group to which Isaiah’s writing this. God says when you pray and your hands are full of blood, you’re just showing me you’re guilty. All you do is ignite my wrath. Now, I want you to hear this this morning.

If you think that going to church and worship, I go to church and I worship God. I sing the songs and I put my money in the plate. I go through all these rituals every Sunday. I come and I put in my time on Sundays, so I’m all good with God. If that’s your attitude on Sunday morning, that doesn’t buy you anything with God. If that’s the attitude you’re coming to church with, that you need to put in your time and do all the right things and go through all the motions, you might as well stop. You might as well stop worshiping God. You might as well stop praying to God, because when you’re bringing that heart to worship, it disgusts God. All it does is make you more guilty. And this is the people Isaiah is writing to.

And he reminds us that our good deeds, even the good things we do, they’re nothing but filthy rags. And so this raises a question for us as we approach this text this morning. We know that even the best that we can do, the best we can give God is nothing but filth. And our best days only condemn us. And our worship is failing. And we have sinned, our rebellion against God, deserving death. And we don’t just feel worthless, we are worthless. We don’t just feel rejected, we are rejected. We’re not just feeling inadequate, we are inadequate. And we don’t just feel like we fall short, we know we fall short.

So here’s the question. How can God take people like that, people that he should hate and love them? How can a holy and just God take people who he should cast away from him and hold them close? And sometimes these are questions we ask ourselves when we’re really having a bad day. and we’re laying on our bed late at night and we’re thinking about the sin that we sinned again and again. We reflect on how much we failed and how discouraged we are and we’re demoralized. How could anyone love me? How can God love me? How could I ever come to God? That’s the question Isaiah’s raising here. How could God love you? How could God redeem you? How could God cherish you? How could God save you? You have nothing to give.

Those are great questions, and they’re questions that every person who realizes what their sin is ought to ask. When you realize the sinfulness of your sin, this is the attitude it should bring about in you. I am that sinful. How could God ever have anything to do with me? But what’s the answer? Christ is everything that you are not. If you’re in Christ, when He looks upon you, and He should see that filth and that condemnation If you’re in Christ, he sees Christ. He sees Christ’s righteousness, Christ’s perfect obedience. And it’s as if you are the one who perfectly obeyed. Jesus Christ is everything you should be and everything you’re not. So that you can be everything that you must be before the Lord because of the obedience of Christ. And that’s what I wanna point us to this morning.

I wanna show you three truths about the righteousness of Christ, the obedience of Christ, here in Isaiah 50, verses four through seven. And this text breaks up really well, because there’s three occurrences of the phrase, Lord Yahweh, or Lord God, in verses four, five, and seven. And the three truths we will see about the righteousness of Christ are, number one, that Jesus is everything that we should be, Number two, that Jesus is everything we’re not. And number three, that Jesus’ righteousness never fails. Jesus is everything we should be, he’s everything we’re not, and his righteousness never fails.

So that’s what we see here. Number one is Jesus is everything we should be. In Isaiah 50, verse four. It says, the Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of disciples that I may know how to sustain the weary with one word or with a word. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. I’m reading from the LSB. In the New King James Version, the words are a little different. It says Lord God instead of Lord Yahweh. And it says instead of disciple there, it says the learned. That’s really what a disciple is, who’s one who learns from a teacher, a discipler. He says there, Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of disciples.

We see five characteristics of Christ’s obedience in this one verse. Number one, it’s perfect obedience. We know that because Isaiah starts with the tongue. He starts with the tongue. Our tongues can really get us into trouble. Proverbs 18:21 says, death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. James speaks of the tongue, James chapter three. He says, the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire. We do a lot of damage with our tongue. And a few verses earlier in verse two, he begins that speaking on the tongue this way. He says, for we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the entire body as well. So James says it all starts with the tongue.

It all starts with the tongue. If you can control your tongue, you must be perfect. Because if you can control your tongue, then you’re controlling the rest of your body as well. If you control your tongue, you’re a perfect man. And here Isaiah uses the tongue as an illustration for righteousness. The tongue is a symbol of our wickedness, because we cannot control our tongue. Our tongue condemns us. The tongue is proof that everyone is sinful and wicked. We can’t control it. None of us are perfect. Therefore, we must not be able to control our tongues, according to James. Our sin controls us, not the other way around. The tongue is proof of how wicked we are. And James says, if you could control your tongue, you’d be perfect. And what does Isaiah 50 verse 4 say? The Lord has given me the tongue of disciples. The tongue of a disciple. The tongue of what a disciple truly should be. One who actually listens and obeys the teacher, God. He has the tongue of a true disciple.

And remember, this is speaking of Christ. Christ identified himself as the one, the servant, who Isaiah speaks of. So this is Jesus Christ. He has perfect control of his tongue. And the word sustain there, it’s an interesting word. In a lot of uses, it actually means to bend or to break. In English, to smooth it out here, and what the meaning is here is to sustain the weary one. But most of the time, it’s meant to bend something crooked or to bend it out of alignment the way it should have been. And it’s used elsewhere for being bent or corrupt. Same word. But that’s not what it means here. Because sometimes a word can mean its opposite. A word can mean, and it happens in English, too.

Think of the word dust. What is dust? Dust is particles of dirt. Well, what happens when you dust? If you’re not very good at it, like me, you spread the dirt around. But that word is supposed to mean to clean. When you dust your house, you’re supposed to clean the dust. But dust itself is dirt. So the word can have multiple meanings. Well, that’s what this word is working like here. It’s a beautiful picture of what Christ does for us in our soul. He sustains the weary with a word. Christ speaks His Word, the Word of God. And for those of us who are bent down and broken and weighed down by the burden of our sin, the burdens of this world, His Word bends us straight again. That’s what that word sustain means there. He straightens us up. He bends us back to the way that we should be through his word. It strengthens our soul. It comforts our heart. Christ is sufficient. His word is sufficient.

If you need encouragement, where else would you go? In the word of God, the word of the one who can sustain us, who can bend us straight again. James says if anyone can control his tongue, he’s a perfect man and Jesus didn’t just control his tongue. He perfected the tongue. We fall short and we can’t control it. And it’s the tongue that proves that Christ is perfect. He sustains the weary with the word. Not only does he not fail with his tongue, he succeeds. and he bends straight again with his tongue. He is the perfect man. If anyone can control his tongue, he’s a perfect man. He is the perfect man. That’s what that phrase is representing, that he is perfect. He has the tongue of a disciple.

The second thing we see, not only is it perfect obedience, it’s never-ending obedience. Christ always obeyed every day of his life, morning by morning. In his life on this earth, in the incarnation, every single day Christ obeyed perfectly. That’s what he says there. He awakens me morning by morning. Constant obedience. Every day. There wasn’t a day where Christ didn’t obey. Thirdly, it’s total obedience. He says he awakens my ear. He didn’t just obey in his intentions. He didn’t just obey in his thoughts. In His motives, He obeyed with His body. He obeyed body and spirit.

How often is it that we want to do something, that we intended something to go right, to do well, and yet our flesh fails? We fall, even through the best intentions, we fall into sin. Christ didn’t do that. Christ didn’t just have good intentions. He obeyed perfectly, totally, intentions and actions. It says he listens, he awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. Over and over again, Israel is commanded to listen to the word of God. Don’t just hear it, listen to it. Listen implies obedience. Because if you hear something and you don’t do it, then you’re not listening. Christ listens like a disciple, like a disciple should. Not just hearing, actually listening.

Number four, it’s purposed obedience. It’s purposed by God. It says he awakens twice. Christ is awakened to perfect obedience. And then lastly, fifthly, It is substitutionary obedience. It says, like a disciple or as a disciple. Jesus is like a disciple in his obedience, yet he isn’t one. He is like one, but he is not one. He has similarities, but he also has differences. He’s not just a man, he’s the God man. He’s not a disciple, he’s the discipler. He’s the leader of them all, and yet He hears and listens and obeys like a disciple should. He was made like us so that He could be our substitute, that He could stand in for us. So we see in this verse that His obedience is perfect. He controls His tongue. His obedience is never-ending. He obeys morning by morning. His obedience is total intentions and actions. His obedience is purposed. God awakens him.

And then his obedience is substitutionary. He obeys like a disciple. This is all about Christ’s obedience on our behalf. So whenever you feel overwhelmed with your own sin, and your own sinfulness, and your inadequacy, because we do fall short over and over again, we need to remember A verse like Philippians 3.9, Paul says, being found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, which is from the law, because we don’t have any, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God upon faith. God gives us his righteousness upon faith. That I might not be found having a righteousness of my own. you don’t want to be found having your own righteousness. Your own righteousness is a death sentence because we do not obey perfectly. And if you stumble in one point of the law, you’ve stumbled in all of it. And it’s not just that we feel bad, we are bad.

If you have righteousness of your own, you’re already condemned. We must have the righteousness of Christ. We must have the righteousness of the one who is everything we should have been. And that’s what we have in Christ. That’s how God sees us. It doesn’t mean we don’t still struggle with our sin. We certainly do, and we need to be killing sin in our life. But even when we do fall short, God looks on us and sees him. He sees His perfect Son. God should see us full of wickedness, full of condemnation. But when He sees us in His Son, He sees us with a righteousness of His Son. He loves you the way He loves His own Son, because He sees you having a righteousness just like His Son, the righteousness of His Son.

So our first truth in this passage about the righteousness of Christ is that Jesus is everything we should be. And the second truth is Jesus is everything we are not. Verses five and six say, the Lord Yahweh has opened my ear and I did not rebel, nor did I turn back. I gave my back to those who strike me and my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard. I did not hide my face from dishonor and spitting.” This is the important other side of the coin. Because it’s not just required by God’s law that we do everything right, it’s also that we do nothing wrong. Christ did everything we should have done. And He didn’t do everything that we have done wrong. He says, I did not rebel. I did not turn my back.

Isaiah 6 says that Israel doesn’t have eyes to see or ears to hear. They rebelled and they turned back. They didn’t even hear God. Here, the suffering servant says, I listen like a disciple. And I did not turn back. I did not rebel. Christ is everything that we failed to be. He succeeded where we disobeyed. That’s Christ’s righteousness for us. And then verse six shows us the extent that he went to in order to give us this righteousness. He says, I gave my back to those who strike me and my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard. I did not hide my face from dishonor and spitting.” This doesn’t just describe his obedience, it also describes his suffering.

You notice the wordplay there in verse 5, he says, I didn’t turn my back. Verse 6, the next line, I gave my back. And this isn’t just figurative poetic language. He did this. He gave His back to be whipped and torn apart. He gave His cheeks for them to pluck out His beard. He didn’t hide His face. He gave His blood for our sin, even though we won’t. We refuse to go that far to fight our sin.

Hebrews 12 verse 4 tells us that. It says, you have not resisted to the point of shedding blood and you’re striving against sin. We won’t go that far, but Christ did. Christ didn’t just obey in his suffering, he obeyed in the shame. Yes, all this was done to him on our behalf, but that didn’t make him stop obeying. He kept obeying through it all.

He says they plucked out the beard. This isn’t just meant to be painful. This was meant to be embarrassing. It was meant to be shameful. They were trying to shame Christ. They were trying to say, you can’t be part of us. You can’t be in this community. You can’t be with God’s people. You’re an outcast. We reject you. And he says, I did not hide my face. from dishonor and spitting. He didn’t hide from it. He didn’t withhold anything. He didn’t hold back. He went all the way, no matter what the cost was to him. He didn’t hide his face. And this isn’t a metaphor. This isn’t figurative language. He really gave his back for you. He really had his beard pulled out for you. He really was spit on for you. He really died for you.

And yet we still rebel. We don’t even have to think about having to suffer and we still give in. If we even had a thought that we might be embarrassed, We would fold. When we think about how much we continually fail, it is shameful. We don’t just feel inadequate. We are inadequate. And we can be tempted to beat ourselves up over that. That’s why we try to hide it with these things that make us feel like we’re enough. If we’re not careful, even that feeling of failure and inadequacy can drive us deeper into our sin.

But the way you have a victory over those sins is to look to Christ, to look to the one who obeyed for you. You say, yes, Lord, I rebelled again, but Christ didn’t for me. I did not obey But Christ did for me. I know I fail and I fall when I suffer, but Christ did not fail or fall for me. I know that I shrink back at the thought of embarrassment, but Christ did not for me. Christ is everything that we are not. That’s what we must remember. Our failures are many, but Christ obeyed in our place. That is the beauty of the active obedience of Christ. That is what the Lord accomplished for us. He didn’t just die in our place, wiping our slate clean and leaving us back at zero. He gave us that obedience, that righteousness that He accomplished. He didn’t obey on our behalf so we could just sin all the more.

Romans 6 reminds us of that. No, we repent and obey so that we can live for the one who lived for us. That’s what the righteousness of Christ bought for us, a reason to obey. If we were left in our own devices to obey and try to keep working our way out of our sin on our own, We can’t accomplish righteousness anyways. So what’s the point? In the obedience and righteousness of Christ, we’re given a motivation to obey. He lived for me, so that I can live for him. That’s what the righteousness of Christ produces in us.

So we’ve seen that Jesus is everything we should be. We’ve seen that Jesus is everything we’re not, And now we come to verse seven, number three. Jesus’ righteousness will never fail. Will never fail. Isaiah 50, verse seven. Even now, Lord Yahweh helps me. Therefore, I am not dishonored. Therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be ashamed. The Lord Yahweh helps me.

This is the man, Christ Jesus, speaking in Isaiah. The Lord helps me. It is the mighty power of God that preserves the righteousness of Christ. He says, therefore, I will not be dishonored. As much as they try to dishonor Him, He says, I did not hide my face from dishonor and spitting. I didn’t shrink away from the dishonor they were pouring out. Yet, I will not be dishonored because the Lord Yahweh helps me. It’s not about their opinion. Christ didn’t live for the honor of men. The Lord Yahweh helps me. Therefore, I will not be dishonored.

And then he says, therefore, I have set my face like flint. I’ve set my face like flint. Flint was one of the strongest known materials of that day. And that’s what Christ’s resolve is like. Unbreakable. Undeterred. And think of that phrase. I set my face. That’s a phrase that’s picked up in the gospels. In Luke 9:51, now it happened, when the days for him to be taken up were soon to be fulfilled, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. When the time came and he knew where he was going and what was going to happen, as he leads his disciples who would run away from him. He heads to Jerusalem where he knows there’s a cross waiting for him. And he sets his face. That’s meant to make us think about Isaiah 50. I set my face like flint.

The mission to fulfill all righteousness. So he walks to Jerusalem. He comes to Jerusalem and he has a triumphal entry. And he knows in a matter of time, he will be betrayed. The crowds are singing his praises. And he knows in a matter of days, the crowds will be screaming to crucify him. But he keeps going. He bears the suffering and the pain and He preserves on in obedience. Why would He do that? How could He do that? Because Isaiah 50, the Lord Yahweh helps me, therefore I have set my face like flint.

And throughout the crucifixion week, people are arguing with Him, antagonizing Him, mocking Him. He keeps going. He doesn’t give up. Then, the last supper, he is sitting there comforting his disciples after he’s told them over and over again what’s gonna happen. He’s comforting them, one of which, who would betray him. He should’ve just given up right there. I would’ve. To sit at the table with a man that’s going to sell you out. What’s this all worth? But he didn’t. Then at the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood and anguish of what will happen. And he says, Father, if there’s any other way. Please let this cup pass from me. That’s his flesh, his human nature crying out. I don’t wanna die. Please, if there’s any other way. And he hears no answer. Silence. And he goes back to find his disciples asleep. You couldn’t even stay awake for one hour for me? And he could have at that very moment given up. I’m supposed to give my life for these people? And these are the ones that actually follow me? He could have given in to his human desires to avoid pain and suffering, but he didn’t. Why? Because the Lord Yahweh helps me, and I have set my face like flint.

His disciples abandon him. He could have just stopped and given up, but he continues on. He’s betrayed, mocked, beaten. He could have called down angels at any moment and ended it, but he didn’t. because the Lord Yahweh was with him. And he set his face like flint. And then comes his mock trials where the Lord of the universe, the judge of all the earth, is shown no justice. Then comes the beatings and the lashings and the mockery. They put a purple robe on him and a crown of thorns on his head. He continues on. Because the Lord is with him. And he set his face like flint. He will not be deterred.

Then comes carrying his own cross. On his bloodied and beaten back. Then comes the nails in his hands and his feet. The crucifixion where the Lord of glory is tortured for sinners who hate him. where the almighty, all-powerful wrath of the triune God is poured out on one finite mortal man. And he died. He obeyed all the way to death. Why? Because Lord Yahweh helps me, and I have set my base like flint.

He endured it all, and then it was finished. If you ever wonder how much God loves you, remember this, that the triune God, in all of his glory, caused his own son to endure all of these things that needed to be suffered for us. That’s what he poured out his wrath for, for you and for me, for those who are in Christ. That’s how much he loves his elect people. He gave everything for us.

So if you ever wonder how could God love a pathetic failure of a sinner like me, remember Isaiah 50. God told us not just about Christ on the cross in Isaiah 53. He told us about the life of Christ, the obedience of Christ, that He lived in perfect obedience, obedience that we could never dream of, and obedience that we could never do. And every time that we failed, He succeeded. He went to the cross and He bore the Father’s wrath. He satisfied justice and he paid the price. And he stayed on that cross until that exchange was made. His robes for mine.

So that all righteousness would be fulfilled. You see, we often think of the cross about what happened to Jesus for me, and that’s true. He submitted to that. He allowed that to happen to Himself. But don’t forget the other side. He did that for me. He could have stopped it at any moment. He actively pursued obedience for me. Christ is everything we are not. He’s everything we should have been. And His righteousness will never fail. He’s everything for us. He’s everything we should have been so that we are everything we must be before the Father.

The next time your sin reminds you that you’re a failure, it reminds you that you’re inadequate, that you are not enough, that you’re a loser, don’t lie to yourself and tell yourself those things aren’t true. They are true. You’re not enough. But Christ is everything we are not. Remind yourself of what Christ did for you in his obedience. Remind yourself of Isaiah 50. Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of the disciples so that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. Lord Yahweh has opened my ear and I did not rebel, nor did I turn back. I gave my back to those who strike me. And my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard. I did not hide my face from dishonor and spitting. Even now, Lord Yahweh helps me. Therefore, I am not dishonored. Therefore, I have set my face like flint and I will not be ashamed.

Let’s stand and close in a word of prayer. Our Father, we are humbled and trembling at a passage of your word like this. It shows us even more deeply the riches of Christ. What he did for us. What he accomplished for us. How he obeyed for us. How he earned the righteousness that we need to be in your presence. And he did all that knowing how his human life would end. That he continually pursued obedience for us. Lord, we thank you for this beautiful passage of your word. that reminds us of where our hope is. I pray that this would motivate a desire for more obedience on our behalf so that we can live a life for the one who lived for us. Lord, we thank you. And that doesn’t seem like enough to even say but we thank you for the obedience of Christ. We pray all this in Christ’s name, amen.