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In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Introduction: I was raised by parents and grandparents of The Silent Generation (1928-1945) & The Greatest Generation (1901-1927) – the 2 generations preceding my Baby Boomer Generation (1946-1964). These were the generations who endured World War I, The Great Depression, & World War II. Without discussing the political and natural causes of making a depression the Great Depression (1929-1939), I would like to recall my Parents’, Grandparents’ & Great-grand-parents’ retelling of that period. In spite of the efforts of the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations to provide aid and assistance for their impoverishment, I was, nevertheless, raised in an environment that resisted asking for help. Both my wife’s and my families definitely had the mindset of “The Lord helps those who help themselves.” Asking for help was simply something that you did not do. They seemed to believe that was a sign of weakness even though they all endured times of great need and dependence. At the same time, however, they were also generous and ready to help others in their time of need. This was a paradox. City-folk and country-folk alike. Not wanting to seem to need help, but always offering to be helpful to others.
Fast-forward to 1976. My second year of Seminary. We came into contact with a man called Charlie Marshall. He was the owner of Marshall Chevrolet in Winchester, IL (right across the Mississippi River from Missouri). Charlie was a member of an LC-MS congregation and he had a very special mission to seminary students. Many us who were married with children had very limited incomes, drove clunkers, and had not yet established credit profiles. Charlie wanted to make sure that future pastors had decent and reliable of transportation, so he would co-sign credit agreements on car sales. He helped us in our time of need. Charlie was a Godsend … a blessing.
Having a sense of self-reliance in earthly matters may seem admirable. But believing and behaving as though we can rely on ourselves in spiritual matters is a damning lie of Satan fueled by our own self-righteousness. It is dangerous to be so self-reliant that we reject God’s offer of Divine Sovereign Assistance. Indeed, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov 16:18 KJV). Indeed! So, how dare we say that we can pull ourselves up by our spiritual bootsteps and be right with a Sovereign Lord who is Holy and just and who knows better than our delusions? When we are bombarded by the enemies of our failures, and have moments of doubt, why do we believe the deceivers who give us lies? We are by nature dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). Our spiritual deadness prohibits us from attaining any righteousness before God by our own efforts. As a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience and rebellion we are separated from God and we doubt His assistance. By nature, “we are sinful and unclean,” and we deserve nothing but God’s “present and eternal punishment.” So, our theme this morning is “Divine Sovereign Assistance.”
You may remember that I am a huge fan of Biblical context. As “location, location, location” is the first rule of real estate, so “context, context, context” is the first rule of biblical interpretation. The immediate context of today’s pericope begins eight chapters earlier in Chapter 42. Today’s prophecy of Isaiah is the third of four poems commonly known as the Servant Songs (cf., 42:1-9; 49:1-13; 50:1-11; 52:13-53:12). There is debate among both Jewish and Christian scholars as to whether the Servant is Isaiah, Jerusalem, or the promised Messiah. But as we look carefully at each of the songs, we see more clearly the identity of this Servant – it is the Messiah. In today’s text, the third Servant Song, the Servant is described as one mocked and beaten. So, we are quite comfortable in the assertion that this vividly points to none other than Jesus, the promised Messiah!
Isaiah relays the Word of God as spoken to him in vv 1-3, in our text, he then changes to first-person; speaking in the voice of the Servant:
1) the Servant has the tongue of those who are taught (v 4a). Do you see Messiah, Jesus, who “spoke as one with authority” (Mat 7:28)?
2) the Servant is one who sustains the weary (v 4b). Do you hear the Messiah, Jesus, inviting the weary to come to Him and rest (Mat 11:28)?
3) the Servant hears both our cries of need, and the instruction of the Sovereign Lord, to which He is also obedient (v 4-5). Do you see Messiah, Jesus, who fulfills the will of His Father … for us? (Mat 26:42; Joh 6:40)
4) The Servant suffers beating and mocking (v 6). Do you see Messiah, Jesus, arrested by force and taken to be interrogated and ill-treated before Caiaphas, Pilate, and Herod? (Mat 26:47-27:26; Lk 23:6-12)
So, how can Jesus, the Messiah, do and endure all of this? He says, “the Lord God helps me” (v 7). It is with Divine Sovereign Assistance that the Servant is committed and “sets his face like a flint” (7b). The visual descriptions here are intense. Can you see Jesus standing His ground before Satan during the temptation (Mat 4:1-11) … Or not being deterred from going to Jerusalem prior to Holy Week (Lk 9:51) … or in the Garden of Gethsemane preparing to face the Sanhedrin, Herod, and Pilate? The Hebrew gives a concrete description of the Messiah setting his face like a flint to the coming opposition. There is no hesitation. He sets his face toward Calvary’s Cross to redeem His beloved – you – me – the world! Even the sinless Son of God did not rely only on Himself! The Servant says: 8He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. 9Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up” (vv. 8-9).
The Messiah says He is not alone. The one who vindicates is always near. With Divine Sovereign Assistance advocating for the Messiah, who can be against Him? The Divinely-inspired St. Paul asks the same question in Roman 8 – but listen carefully. “If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?…33bIt is God who justifies. 34Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom 8:31-35).
The same Sovereign Lord who vindicates Jesus, the Messiah, is for you! He calls and enables you to repent. Divine Sovereign Assistance leads us to have sorrow for our rebellion against the Lord of Heaven and earth and to believe “that sin has been forgiven and grace has been obtained through Christ” (AC XII.3-6). With such faith we desire to do better than to keep on sinning. When we repent then God forgives us of our sinful nature and all our actual sins. He forgives us for Jesus’ sake.
Jesus carried all of your sin and the sin of all humankind in His body at the cross. He is your substitute – the innocent for the guilty. There He suffered and died in your place to satisfy God’s wrath for your sins. And that, together with His resurrection from the dead not only assures victory over sin, Satan and death, but forgiveness, life and salvation are now available through faith in Him.
When life is beating us, mocking and spitting on us, our own sinful natures will, at times, cause us to doubt and question whether God really cares. When we cry out as the father in today’s Gospel “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24b) then, we, like Jesus, rely on Divine Sovereign Assistance. He comes to strengthen our faith with His Word in all its forms: in the Holy Scriptures, read anytime and proclaimed among us here; in the waters of Holy Baptism, where our sinful nature was destroyed and we were given new life; in Holy Absolution which applies the forgiveness of sins personally and individually; and in the bread and wine of the Holy Supper which is the true body and true blood of Christ given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.
Conclusion: In June of 1979, Peggy, our daughter (Anna), a son on the way (Christopher), and I and arrived in Pecos, Texas. This was my first call to my first 2 parishes and a preaching station in Far West Texas – the last outposts of the Texas District. The primary employers were ranches, feed lots, a sulphur mine, and the oil fields. Many of the hale and hearty men who worked in these vocations expressed the belief that religion (and the church) was for women, children, and weak men. Evangelizing them was difficult, until we had one or two converts, who then could influence their male counterparts. And this made sense, because these men helped other men to understand that recognizing their need for a Savior was not weakness because it led to new-found strength – the forgiveness of sins produced spiritual strength which influenced their personal, married, and family lives for the good. I’m not sure if you can relate to my experience, but I have a sense that this is likely. Since my childhood, hearing the dependent life experiences of my elders, I have always been bewildered by the embarrassment of asking for help … because, we have each been on the receiving end of an endless list of helpers! AND spiritually, without Divine Sovereign Assistance, we perish … eternally.
The good news is that whenever we seem to be helpless, we are never hopeless. No matter the challenge, hardship or suffering, Divine Sovereign Assistance is at hand. Today the Psalmist declares: “Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; … he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy” (116:5,1). Indeed, it is Divine Sovereign Assistance that has saved you!
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.