1. "You can have a wonderful life and still feel a sense of disappointment. So what do you do with your disappointments? Do you try to ignore them? Outrun them? Numb them?"

2. "Judah had started to view their theology through the lens of their experience rather than viewing their experience through the lens of their theology."

3. "Don't mistake your disappointment for God's rejection of you. God is refining you. God is working. Those very disappointments are not proof that God has let you go. They may be one of the ways through which God is refusing to let you go."

4. "Assurance of God's love in the Christian life doesn't come from staring at your life. It comes from looking at Christ."

5. "The creator of the universe, the one who formed the mouth for speaking, here used to spit on the very one who created them. The one who created the arm for love and service, here being struck by the very arm that he created."

6. "Satan's only shot to convince you that God has forsaken you is to keep you from fixing your eyes on the cross. He wants to keep you so preoccupied with your suffering that you don't have time to look up at Jesus."

7. "The only antidote, the only remedy is to do exactly the opposite. To so fix your eyes on Jesus that you don't notice your suffering. To be so preoccupied with Jesus that you don't have time to notice anything else."

8. "I might be on the ropes, but look at who's by my side. I might be down and out, but look who I'm tapping in. You can mock me, you can spit in my face, you can nail my hands to a piece of wood, you can lock me into a stone cold tomb, but you can't stop my God."

9. "They struck the flint. They ignited the light of the world. And that light is shining still today."

10. "What you need in the darkness is not a brighter torch. What you need in the darkness is the light of the world."

Observation Questions

1. In Isaiah 50:1, what two questions does God ask Judah to challenge their assumption that He has abandoned them?

2. According to Isaiah 50:1, what does God say is the actual reason Judah was "sold" and "sent away"?

3. In Isaiah 50:4-5, how does the Servant describe his relationship to God's word and instruction?

4. What specific forms of suffering does the Servant describe enduring in Isaiah 50:6?

5. In Isaiah 50:7-9, what repeated phrase does the Servant use to express his confidence, and what rhetorical questions does he ask his adversaries?

6. According to Isaiah 50:10-11, what two contrasting responses to walking in darkness does the passage describe, and what are their outcomes?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is the absence of a "certificate of divorce" (v. 1) so significant for understanding God's relationship with His people, and what does this teach us about how God's discipline differs from His rejection?

2. The sermon emphasizes that Judah was "viewing their theology through the lens of their experience rather than viewing their experience through the lens of their theology." How does this explain their wrong conclusion, and why is this distinction important for believers today?

3. In verses 4-6, the Servant is described as perfectly obedient ("not rebellious," "turned not backward") yet suffered terribly. How does this contrast with Judah's situation, and what does this reveal about the nature of the Servant's mission?

4. How does the Servant's confidence in vindication (vv. 7-9) connect to Jesus' resurrection, and why does Paul draw on this passage in Romans 8:33-34?

5. What is the significance of the contrast between trusting in the Lord (v. 10) and kindling your own fire (v. 11)? What does "kindling your own fire" represent in the context of dealing with suffering and disappointment?

Application Questions

1. When you face disappointments or hardships, what is your typical first response—do you tend to interpret these experiences as evidence that God has abandoned you, or do you view them through the lens of Scripture's promises? What specific step could you take this week to reorient your thinking?

2. The sermon mentioned that Satan's strategy is to keep us so focused on our suffering that we don't look at Jesus. What practical habit could you establish to "consider Him" (Hebrews 12:3) more consistently when trials come—perhaps in your morning routine, during commutes, or before bed?

3. The Servant "set his face like a flint" knowing he would not ultimately be put to shame. Is there a current difficulty in your life where you need to adopt this same posture of determined trust? What would "setting your face like a flint" look like in that specific situation?

4. Verse 10 calls those in darkness to "trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God" rather than manufacturing their own light. In what area of your life are you tempted to "kindle your own fire"—relying on your own solutions, distractions, or coping mechanisms instead of listening to Jesus' voice through His Word?

5. The sermon challenged listeners to make a goal to read God's Word consistently in the coming year as a way of listening to Jesus. What realistic, specific plan can you commit to for engaging with Scripture regularly, and who could you ask to help hold you accountable?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Isaiah 49:13-26 — This passage contains Judah's original complaint that God has forsaken and forgotten them, along with God's tender response comparing His love to that of a nursing mother.

2. Hebrews 12:1-11 — This passage explains how God's discipline is evidence of His fatherly love for His children, not proof of rejection, and calls believers to fix their eyes on Jesus who endured the cross.

3. Romans 8:31-39 — Paul draws directly on Isaiah 50 to declare that nothing can separate believers from God's love in Christ, showing how the Servant's vindication becomes our assurance.

4. Luke 9:51-62 — This passage describes Jesus setting His face to go to Jerusalem, demonstrating His resolve to fulfill His mission of suffering, directly echoing Isaiah 50:7.

5. John 10:11-18 — Jesus declares that He lays down His life voluntarily and has authority to take it up again, illuminating the Servant's words "I gave my back" and "I hid not my face" as willing submission.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Universal Experience of Disappointment Illustrated Through George Bailey

II. Don't Draw the Wrong Conclusion (Isaiah 50:1-3)

III. Look to Jesus (Isaiah 50:4-9)

IV. Listen to Jesus (Isaiah 50:10-11)

V. The Call to Trust Christ Alone in Our Suffering

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Detailed Sermon Outline

One of my favorite Christmas traditions happens every year on Christmas Eve. After the kids are finally put in bed, the presents all wrapped, the last stocking filled, only one thing remains. And that is for Claire and I to collapse on the couch and watch one of the greatest movies ever made.

It's a wonderful life.

Even if you haven't seen it, you know the story. George Bailey is the kind of man everyone admires. He puts others first. He delays going to college so he can send his brother off first. He gives up his dreams of seeing the world.

He empties his honeymoon fund to save his father's business. Everyone in town loves George Bailey. Everyone except Mr. Potter. Potter is the classic villain, cold and calculating. He measures everyone in dollars and cents because he treasures nothing but dollars and cents.

And at one point, when a mistake is made by someone else, Potter seizes his chance to destroy George Bailey's life. In a single night, everything unravels. The man who gave up everything for others, finds himself all alone. He finds himself with nothing left. If there's one word to describe how I think George Bailey felt, I think it would be disappointed.

Disappointed. Life has not gone at all the way George Bailey hoped. At the beginning of the movie, he says the most beautiful sound in the world is the sound of a train whistle. Because of the possibilities it holds. By the middle of the movie, the sound of the train whistles changed.

It no longer offers hope, but disappointment, as dreams one after another have faded like cars leaving the train station with him still standing on the tracks. Part of what makes the story so compelling is that it's so relatable. We all have disappointments. We all have dreams that have failed. It doesn't matter how many presents were lined up under the tree.

Kids, you know that we all have dashed hopes. There's not enough presents on Christmas that can drive away a lingering sense of, is this it? You can have a wonderful life and still feel a sense of, of disappointment. So what do you do with your disappointments?

Do you try to ignore them?

Outrun them? Numb them? I don't know what disappointments that you're running from, but I am here to tell you that there's only one remedy, and that is Jesus Christ.

We're in a section of God's word in the book of Isaiah this morning. We've been spending these final weeks of the year going through chapters 49 to 50, next week 51. And today we are in chapter 50. We're in a section called the Servant Songs, a prophecy is about the Messiah. And I have to say that if George Bailey were to show up at church, one Sunday morning, maybe thinking, I'm going to give God one last chance.

One last chance before I walk to a bridge. I could think of no better chapter in the Bible to turn to than Isaiah chapter 50. Isaiah 50 describes the life of a man who by every outward measure looked like a failure. He was misunderstood. He was rejected.

His life was cut off all too young, and yet it's his response to suffering that secures our salvation.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 50. You can find it on page 620 of the pew Bibles around you. Listen now as I read the chapter. This is the word of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord: Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away. Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there no one to answer?

Is my hand shortened that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert, their fish stink for lack of water, and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering.

The Lord has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens, he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious. I turned not backward. I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard.

I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. But the Lord God helps me. Therefore, I have not been disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a flint. And I know that I shall not be put to shame.

He 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.

Behold, 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. Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant?

Let him who walks in darkness and has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. Behold, all of you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches, walk by the light of your fire and by the torches that you have kindled. This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.

I want us to notice in this passage three answers, three fail-safe remedies for dealing with disappointment. First, don't draw the wrong conclusion. Second, look to Jesus. Look to Jesus. And third, listen to Jesus.

The first thing that God says to his discouraged people is simple. It's don't draw the wrong conclusion. See in verses 1 to 3, Judah has already reached a verdict about their suffering. They've concluded that it proves that God no longer loves them. Look with me at verse 1.

Isaiah 50 opens abruptly with a question. Thus says the Lord, where is your mother's certificate of divorce? This question drops us right in the middle of a dispute that has been going on. It's like you're flipping through the channels on daytime TV and you come across a court drama. Like Judge Judy, and you turn it on just as an attorney asks the witness, so where's the divorce certificate?

See, ever since chapter 49, verse 14, Judah's basic allegation against God has been that you've abandoned us. You've broken the covenant. In other words, you've divorced us. Look back at chapter 49, verse 14. It should be on the same page if you're using the Pew Bible.

The Lord has forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me. We saw God's response to the first half of this allegation last week in chapter 49. This allegation that God had forgotten his people. And you remember God's response.

God responds with the tender image of a loving mother with her nursing child and he says, Even these may forget, but I have not forgotten you. I've written your name on my hands. Here in chapter 50, he's responding to the second half of Judah's allegation, perhaps even the more severe allegation. Not just that God has unintentionally or accidentally forgotten his people, but that he has deliberately and finally forsaken them. That language of forsaken from chapter 49:14 is strong language.

Back in Genesis 2:24, when a man takes a wife, God tells him to forsake his father and mother and hold fast to his wife. And what Judah is saying is, you,'ve broken the covenant. You've left me. There's pain in Judah's voice. You've abandoned me.

And just to strongman Judah's case for a moment, it's not as if they don't have any reasons for drawing this conclusion. See, just a few years earlier, they had witnessed the entire northern kingdom of Israel wiped out by Assyria in 722 BC. They would never return back to the land. And what is it that God says about the northern kingdom of Israel through his prophet Jeremiah? Jeremiah chapter three, verse eight.

I sent her away with a decree of divorce. That's Jeremiah three, verse eight. Judah's saying, If you're saying you're going to send us into exile, are we next? Are you divorcing us too? Is this over?

And here's God's response. God doesn't want his people to draw the wrong conclusion about their suffering. So here's what he's doing. All the rest of chapter 50, all the rest of chapter 51, all the rest of chapter 52, all the way up to the fourth and final servant song, in chapter 52, verse 13, God is responding to this one allegation in chapter 49, verse 14. One complaint, one cry, 58 verses of comfort.

God is laboring to reassure his people of his love for them. And he begins by asking a question. A question that changes everything. He asks, Where is your mother's certificate of divorce? If you're going to understand why this is so significant, you need to understand something about what the Old Testament teaches about divorce.

Back in Deuteronomy 24, God's word is clear that when a man divorces a woman, he's obliged to hand her a signed certificate of divorce. No certificate, no divorce. So when God asks his people, you think I've forsaken you? Show me the certificate. He puts his people on the stand, as it were, and asks them under oath to produce the evidence to support their allegation, and they've got nothing to show for it.

You see the significance. It means that the marriage isn't over.

This isn't the end. All of God's covenant promises remain in effect. There's still a marriage. Their suffering is real, but it's not evidence of their rejection. It's not evidence of their ultimate rejection by God.

No certificate, no divorce. But God doesn't stop with one question. He labors to to convince them. Look again at verse one, who have I sold you to? He's saying, I haven't defaulted on my debt.

There's not some more powerful nation that I'm indebted to, that I'm obliged to sell you to in order to settle a debt. He's the guy who owns everything. He continues pressing further in verse two, why was there no man when I came? Why was there no one to answer when I called? In other words, exile isn't coming because of God's failure to call.

It's coming because of his people's failure to respond. And then in verse three, God asks two final questions. Not just about the intent of his heart, but the power of his arm. He says, Is my arm shortened that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?

He's reminding them of the exodus. That's what's going on in verse three. It's exodus language. He's reminding them, I am the God who delivered you out of slavery and bondage in Egypt. I've done it once, I'll do it again.

Exile is not the end. Babylon will not be able to hold you. I will redeem you. He's saying, Yes, exile is coming. Yes, I'm sending you away.

But this isn't divorce. It's discipline. I'm not abandoning my covenant. I'm keeping it. God names the real cause plainly at the end of verse 1.

Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

So how did Judah get it so wrong? How did they become so mistaken that they began to interpret their suffering or the promise of exile as God's rejection of them? Here's what happened. Judah had started to view their theology through the lens of their experience rather than viewing their experience through the lens of their theology. Let me say that again.

They had begun to view their theology, their view of God, through the lens of their experience rather than viewing their experience through the lens of their theology. And if we're honest, I think we're a lot more like Judah than we'd like to admit. When life goes off the rails, when prayers don't go answered, when correction hurts, our instinct, if we're honest, is to draw the same conclusion: God must not love me. We start to interpret correction as rejection, every trial as abandonment, Any discipline God sends our way as a decree of divorce. But scripture, scripture says the exact opposite.

Hebrews chapter 12 tells us that discipline is not evidence that we don't belong to him. It's exactly the opposite. It proves that we are his children. Judah assumed their suffering meant that God had abandoned them. God says it means he is refining them.

I wonder if there's a disappointment in your life right now. Maybe from this past year. Maybe a much older disappointment that is quietly trying to open up the door to disbelief in your heart.

What do you do with your disappointment? God says, don't draw the wrong conclusion. Don't mistake your disappointment for God's rejection of you. God is refining you. God is working.

Those very disappointments are not proof that God has let you go. They may be one of the ways through which God is refusing to let you go.

We're about to close the books on 2025.

Everyone's posting about the milestones they've reached, the books they've read, the places they've seen, the accomplishments that they've done. Maybe you don't feel that way. Maybe you look back on this past year and it looks like all losses, all crosses. Hear this. If you are in Christ, your disappointments are not proof of your rejection.

God is working even in these things for your good.

When my children disobey, which all children do, and I pull them aside for a moment of fatherly correction, the first words that I want them to hear from my lips are I love you.

And correction is not rejection. Correction is not rejection. See, if we get this wrong, if we begin to view any trials that God sends our way as his rejection of us, it will never grow spiritually. God sends these our way for our good. Proverbs 3 tells us, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof.

For the Lord reproves the one he loves as a father the son in whom he delights.

How have you seen God's corrective discipline in your life as evidence of his love for you?

Can you look back at your life and see God's correction not as evidence of his rejection of you? But as evidence that you belong to him.

Here's the thing, when suffering is heavy, when trials are hard, it's often very difficult for us to read God's providence. It's hard for us to see what God is doing in the circumstances we're in when we feel like we're sinking under them. So God doesn't stop here with the word of correction. Instead, he shows Judah his son. He says, what you need in your trial isn't just to know that this isn't a rejection.

He says, you need to fix your eyes on Jesus Christ. And that's what Isaiah does next. After correcting Judah's wrong conclusion in verses 1 to 3, he doesn't leave them staring at their suffering. He fixes their eyes on the servant. Because assurance of God's love in the Christian life doesn't come from staring at your life.

It comes from looking at Christ. And that brings us to point two. Look at Jesus. What do you need to do with your disappointments? Don't draw the wrong conclusion and look to Jesus.

That's what Isaiah does next. In verses four to nine, God summons his servant as the star witness and chief evidence of God's love for his people. It's like Judah can't produce any evidence to support their allegation against God, so God summons his evidence to prove the exact opposite of what they've been alleging. Read with me again, verses four to nine. The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.

Morning by morning he awakens, he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious. I turned not backward. I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

But the Lord God helps me. Therefore I have not been disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. He 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. Behold, 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.

This is the third servant song that we've seen in Isaiah. This is the the servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ speaking. This is the fullest description that we've gotten yet in the book of Isaiah of the inner life of Jesus Christ. Prophecies about the suffering he would face and his response to them. You see what God's doing here.

Judah has concluded that their suffering must mean that God doesn't love them. So he summons his witness, He puts him on the stand, a witness who has suffered more severely than anything they could face and who suffered innocently. He is the evidence that God has not abandoned his people. God is saying the way to reorient yourself to reality and suffering is to fix your eyes on Jesus Christ. And the first thing to notice about Jesus is that despite his innocence, Jesus suffered.

See, Judah sinned and was disciplined. The decree that God had stated about Judah all the way back in chapter 1, verse 2 was this, Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. But look at how Jesus is described in verse 5. I was not rebellious. I turned not backward.

What was true of Judah cannot be said about this servant. Look at verse four. The Lord has given him the tongue of those who are taught. Unlike Israel, God's servant heeded God's word perfectly. Literally, he has the tongue of a disciple.

Isaiah is presenting Jesus as the model disciple. He's the mirror image of disobedient Israel. Yet look at how he's treated. Verse 6, I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. Despite his innocence, an innocence that Judah could not claim, See how the servant suffered, striking, spitting, pulling out the beard.

This is treatment beneath a criminal. This is below that of a slave. And notice the servant's posture in all of this. Verse 6, I gave. I hid not.

He didn't flinch.

Notice that they may have struck, but he gave.

The creator of the universe, the one who formed the mouth for speaking, here used to spit on the very one who created them. The one who created the arm for love and service, here being struck by the very arm that he created. He says, I gave, I hid not. Jesus would later say in the Gospel of John, no one takes my life from me, but I lay it down. I have power to lay it down and to raise it up again.

I gave, I hid not. Verse 7 says that he braced for blows by setting his face like a flint.

Friends, Isaiah is talking about the cross and the humiliation that the innocent suffering servant endured. On the cross, the back of the one who never disobeyed was struck. On the cross, the face of the one who never cursed was spit upon. On the cross, the cheeks of the one who always obeyed and always spoke the truth were boxed and bruised. You see what God is saying to Judah, you think that I've abandoned you?

Look at my son. Look at the one who was abandoned for you. Judah says, My Lord has forsaken me. But it was Jesus who would say, On the cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Judah had sinned.

Judah deserved to be forsaken. And God would be just to execute that sentence on his people by forsaking them completely. But he says, I will bear that forsaking myself. He's promising here to be merciful by bearing the sentence that they deserve. Friends, this is the fate we deserve.

All of us have sinned. All of us have broken God's law. And what we need isn't a new standard. We already stand condemned under God's law. What we need is a substitute.

We need someone to bear the punishment that we deserve in our place. And that's what Jesus is doing here on the cross. The spitting, the bruising, the disgrace. That's what you and I deserve because we've sinned. And God is holding forth his son as the evidence of his love for his people.

God has not forsaken his people. His son was forsaken so that you would never be. If you haven't come to Jesus in repentance and faith, come to this Jesus. The one who was forsaken for you. The one who was bruised for you.

The one who was crushed and who bore the weight of God's wrath in your place. Come to him and find God's peace. Mercy.

Friend, do you see why Satan's strategy to win the case for the court of your heart is to suppress this evidence? In your trials, Satan does not want you to look at Jesus. Satan's only shot to convince you that God has forsaken you is to keep you from fixing your eyes on the cross. He wants to keep you so preoccupied with your suffering that you don't have time to look up at Jesus. He knows that he doesn't stand a chance any other way.

As soon as the judge rules that this evidence is admissible, Satan's case is blown to bits. His only strategy is to keep you so preoccupied with your suffering that you don't have time to look at Jesus. The only antidote, the only remedy is to do exactly the opposite. To so fix your eyes on Jesus that you don't notice your suffering. To be so preoccupied with Jesus that you don't have time to notice anything else.

I'm not talking about stoicism. I'm not talking about living in denial. I'm not talking about wishful thinking. I'm talking about Christianity. Hebrews chapter 12:3, Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Consider him. Is it possible that part of the reason you're feeling so weary and faint-hearted is that you've stopped considering him. Friend, the solution is to consider him, to fix your eyes on Jesus Christ. What would it look like for you to spend more time considering Jesus in 2026? Yes, it's good to make goals about health and exercise and work, What would it look like for you to make a goal to consider Jesus more fully, particularly his sufferings?

But Isaiah doesn't stop here with the fact of Jesus' suffering. He keeps going. In verses 7 to 9, he also highlights the servant's posture in suffering. That is that despite his suffering, God's servant is confident in his vindication. God's servant is confident in his vindication.

Despite suffering unjustly, the servant doesn't draw the conclusion that God has forsaken him. Look back at verse 7. The Lord God helps me. Therefore I have not been disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

He trusts that vindication is coming. And so notice the order in verse seven. God's presence leads to a conclusion. I have not been disgraced. And that conclusion results in a posture.

I have set my face like a flint, which leads to a settled confidence. I know that I shall not be put to shame. And then out of that settled confidence, the servant asks three rhetorical questions in verses eight to nine. Who will contend with me? Who is my adversary?

Who will declare me guilty? The answer to each of these questions is no one, no one. The reason is given in verse nine. Notice he repeats the same phrase from verse seven. The Lord God helps me.

The servant knows that his life from beginning to end, is bookended with the presence of God. So he can say, the Lord God helps me. You see what he's saying? He's saying, I might be on the ropes, but look at who's by my side. I might be down and out, but look who I'm tapping in.

You can mock me, you can spit in my face, you can nail my hands to a piece of wood, you can lock me into a stone cold tomb, but you can't stop my God. The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me? This is the story of the Bible. The crucifixion of the Son of God looked like the end.

It looked like the forces of darkness had won, but what happens on Sunday morning? God raises Jesus. Jesus from the dead. That's the vindication that the suffering servant is looking forward to in verse 8, trusting that God will vindicate him. Jesus' vindication is his resurrection from the dead.

It's the proof that all the slander and all the folly and all the lies that were proclaimed about him were false, so that when the gospel is proclaimed in the book of Acts, those who boxed the Son, who spat on his face, are cut to to the heart. The Son is vindicated by his resurrection from the dead. And if you are in Christ, his vindication is your vindication. His resurrection secures your resurrection. And it's in that future vindication, that future resurrection that enables us to have hope in any suffering, even when we're suffering unjustly.

This is how you bridge from Isaiah 50 to Romans eight. Those glorious verses that we read earlier in the service are true for us only because of Christ. That's why Paul is actually quoting from Isaiah 50 and Romans eight, verse 33. It's not that you look at your life and say, I'm so innocent. How could I be declared guilty?

It's that you're looking at his life. His righteousness, His sufferings on your behalf and saying on the basis of what He has done, who can declare me guilty? The Lord God Almighty, the one who vindicates you is near. He's not far off. He's not distant.

So in your suffering, in your loneliness, in your despair, in your disappointment, don't draw the wrong conclusion that God has forsaken you. He hasn't. Look to God's Son who was forsaken for you and confidently say, who will contend with me? Who is my adversary? The Lord God helps me.

Who will declare me guilty? Cancer will wear out like a garment. Sin will be eaten up like a moth. Death itself will be swallowed up up in victory. And in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

In all these things, not in spite of them, because of them. In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Then take your sin, take your disappointment, and fill in the blank of things that cannot separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. What is it? What is it that could possibly separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?

Nor angels, not rulers, not things present, not things to come, not powers, not height or depth or anything else in all of creation will be able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is the is what it means to set your face like a flint in affliction.

What do we do with flint?

You strike it, right? You strike flint.

What is it that Jesus said as he began to approach Jerusalem and Luke's gospel? When the days drew near for him to be taken up, Luke 9:51, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. He set his face to go to Jerusalem, to Jerusalem where he would be mocked, to Jerusalem where he would be spat upon and stricken. He set his face like a flint. Why?

It's because of verse 7. He knew that he would not be put to shame, not ultimately. He knew that his oppressors would not have the last word, so he set his face like a flint.

Friends, what happens when you strike flint?

Sparks.

They struck the flint. They ignited the light of the world. And that light is shining still today. That light is shining in the lives of so many in this room who have faced unspeakable hardship and suffering tragedy, disappointment, and have set their face like a flint. I think of a sister in this church who faced unemployment, temptation, cancer.

This verse was her rock. She said, I have set my face like a flint. She knew she was following her Savior and she trusted that she was it would not be put to shame. The question is, in your disappointment, in your suffering, will you rely on yourself and your own wisdom, or will you turn and trust in God's son? That's the choice that Isaiah leaves us with in verses 10 to 11.

The inescapable choice is, what will you do and will you listen to Jesus. Listen to Jesus. Verses 10 and 11 bring the chapter to a decision. In verse 10, God calls his people to trust the servant even when the way forward is dark. Verse 10, Let him who walks in darkness and has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.

Friends, suffering is like darkness. Darkness is, by definition, disorienting. You can't see the way ahead. You can't see where you're going. And Isaiah says that in darkness you have two options.

You can listen to the voice of the servant or you can try to manufacture your own light. Verse 11 is describing that second option. Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches, walk by the light of your fire. He's saying you want to navigate the disappointments of life apart from me. You want to outrun your regrets apart from me.

You're just going to be striking matches in a cave. It's not going to light it up and eventually you're going to run out out. What you need in the darkness is not a brighter torch. What you need in the darkness is the light of the world. You need to listen to Jesus.

Verse 10 says, Fear the Lord and obey the voice of his servant. Notice all the verbs in verse 10. Obey, trust, rely. He's talking about listening. Jesus is inviting you to drop your torches and listen to his voice.

Sometimes when you're in the darkness, a bright light isn't gonna help you. A bright light shining on you is gonna blind you. In the darkness, you need to listen for the voice of Jesus and follow his voice, his steps out. Verse four says that he knows how to sustain with a word Him who is weary. He knows what to say.

Do you have ears to hear? He knows how to sustain Him who is weary by His words because He was Himself sustained by God's word when He was weary. Listen to Him. One way you can listen to Jesus in 2026 is by reading God's word. At the doors afterward, you can grab a read the Bible in a year plan.

Make it your aim to listen to the voice of Jesus in 2026.

Friends, the wrong conclusion to draw in suffering is that God doesn't love you. It's not true. He's sent his son. Look at to him. Listen to him.

He is faithful and true. He is the Lamb who was for sinners slain, and he is making all things new. One day he is the one who will make all things new when the light of the world himself dwells with us, and there is no more night because the Lamb in our midst is our light. Look to Him, listen to Him, and may all glory be to Christ. Let's pray.

Oh God, we pray that you would let the light of the sun who was struck for us be our guide and our help. God, we pray that we would drop the false torches that we wrongly look to for refuge, and that we would look to your Son alone and rely on him alone. We praise you that because you are on our side, no enemy can stand against us. So cause our trust to be in you alone. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.