Isaiah 50:7-9 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint… I. HOW HIS STERN RESOLVE WAS TESTED. 1. By the offers of the world. The populace wanted to take Him by force and make Him a king. 2. By the persuasions of His friends. Christ's kinsmen said that He was beside Himself, and they would have laid hold of Him, and confined Him if they could. They thought His zeal had carried Him beyond the bounds of reason; and when He told His disciples about His approaching death upon the cross, "Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee;" and all the disciples would fain have persuaded Him to choose an easier path than that which led to Calvary, and the grave. 3. By the unworthiness of His clients. "He came unto His own," etc. 4. By the bitterness which He tasted at His entrance upon His great work as our substitutionary sacrifice. The first drops of that awful tempest which fell upon Him in Gethsemane were hot and terrible. 5. By the ease with which He could have relinquished the enterprise if He had wished to do so. 6. By the taunts of those who scoffed at Him. 7. By the full stress of the death-agony. II. HOW HIS STEADFAST RESOLVE WAS SUSTAINED. According to our text and its connection — 1. Our Lord's steadfastness resulted from His Divine schooling (ver. 4). 2. It was sustained by His conscious innocence (ver. 8). 3. It was maintained by His unshaken confidence in the help of God (ver. 7). 4. It was sustained by the joy that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2). III. CHRIST'S STEADFAST RESOLVE IMITATED. 1. If there is anything right in this world, be on the side of it. 2. If you have a right purpose that glorifies God, carry it out. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. |
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