80. The Redeemer's Face Set Like A Flint.

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. - Isaiah 50:7.

THERE was no flint in the heart of Jesus, but there was much in his face. He was as resolute as he was submissive. Read verse 6 and this verse together — "I hid not my face from shame and spitting. . . I have set my face like a flint." Gentleness and resolve are married.

In Luke 9:51, we read,"he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem:" In our Lord there was no turning aside, though none helped him, and every one hindered him. He was neither confounded by thoughts within his own soul, nor rendered ashamed by the scorn of others.

Let us consider our Lord's stern resolution thus,—

I. HIS STEADFAST RESOLVE TESTED.

He declared his determination in the language of our text, and by many an ordeal this declaration was justified. He was tried—

1. By the offers of the world. They would make him a king. His triumphant ride into Jerusalem proved how easily he could have become a popular leader. By a little compromise he might have won an enthusiastic following as a religious teacher.

2. By the persuasions of friends. Peter rebuked him. All the disciples marveled at his determination. His relatives sought a very different career for him. Many yield to well-meaning friends; but Jesus set his face like a flint.

3. By the unworthiness of his clients.

· He that ate bread with him betrayed him.

· His disciples forsook him and fled.

· The whole race conspired to put him to death.

4. By the bitterness which he tasted at his entrance upon his great work as a substitutionary sacrifice. Gethsemane, the betrayal, the fa]se accusation, the mockery: these were sharp commencements, and many have shrunk when the fire has begun to kindle upon them; but Jesus stood firm.

5. By the ease with which he could have relinquished the enterprise.

· Pilate would have released him had Jesus pleaded.

· Legions of angels would have come to his rescue.

· He might himself have come down from the cross.

· He was not held to his work by inability to quit it, but only by that love which is strong as death. He said, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me": the impossibility lay in his resolve to redeem his people.

6. By the taunts of those who scoffed.

· The people: "Let us see whether Elias will come to save him."

· The priests, etc.: "If he be the King of Israel," etc.

· The thieves: "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us."

Strong men have been overcome by ridicule; but not so Jesus.

7. By the full stress of the death-agony.

The pain, thirst, fever, fainting, desertion, death: none of these moved him from his invincible resolve.

II. HIS STEADFAST RESOLVE SUSTAINED.

As man, our Lord owed his glorious steadfastness to several things, and he gives us in the text two "therefores." It was due —

1. To his divine schooling (see verse 4).

2. To his conscious innocence."I know that I shall not be ashamed" (see verse 5).

3. To the joy that was set before him. He would overcome for his people. "Who will contend with me?" (see verse 8).

4. Specially to his unshaken confidence in the help of the Lord God. We have this both in the text and in verse 9.

Even to his cry of "It is finished" he never flinched, but held to his grand purpose.

III. HIS STEADFAST RESOLVE IMITATED.

1. Our purpose must be God's glory, as his was.

2. Our education must be God's teaching, as his was.

3. Our life must combine active and passive obedience, as his did (see verses 5 and 6).

4. Our strength must lie in God, as his did.

5. Our path must be one of faith, as his was. Note verse 10, and its remarkable connection with the whole subject.

6. Our resolve must be carefully made, and steadily carried out till we can say, "It is finished," in our manner and degree.

Close with a warning to the men of this world from verse 11. The ungodly must have present light, from earth, from a fire of their own kindling, from mere momentary sparks.

Their resolve will end in eternal regrets; they shall lie down as for the night; their bed shall be sorrow; they shall never rise from it.