Today I would like to talk about Isaiah 42:10 “Sing to the LORD a new song.“ In 42:1 it says, “Here is my servant.“ This “servant” (1) is the Messiah, Christ who will come in the course of time. He is different from the idol gods. Verses 2 to 9, last week’s passage, showed the greatness of the Lord’s “servant”.(1) In today’s passage it is saying what the people who know the great God’s salvation should be like. That is they should praise the great Lord. Today I would like to talk about three aspects of praising the Lord.

I. All people, praise the Lord (Vs. 10-12)
The first point is all people are to praise the Lord. Please look at verses 10 to 12.
Vs. 10-12
Here it says, “Sing to the LORD a new song.“ (10) The Lord has done a wonderful work of salvation, so “Sing to the LORD a new song.” (10) This “new song” (10) can be said to be newly made songs, and it also means to sing in a new mind or heart. Even old songs sing with freshness. Sing new songs that express how we are moved by the work of salvation. We are told to praise the Lord with this kind of new songs.
Here it says, “his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands.” From the ends of the earth we are to praise the Lord. More specifically it is “the desert and its towns…the settlements where Kedar lives…the people of Sela… from the mountaintops.” (11) In other words, throughout the entire world everyone is to praise the Lord.
Here it says “the settlements where Kedar lives…the people of Sela.” (11) Kedars are Arabs. Sera is the present day area of Petreae in Jordan. It is a place that has become a world heritage. Like this the people living in the sea, the people living in the wilderness and the people living in the desert are to praise the Lord.
If you look at Genesis 25:13, you will see that the Kedar’s ancestor was Ishmael. Sarah’s woman slave, Hagar, bore a child to Abraham. That was Ishmael. From him came the Arabs and Mohammad who established Islam. Mohammad was a descendant of Kedar. The Bible talks about the Kedars in Psalm 120:5 to 7.
Psalm 120:5-7
This is thought to have been written by David. He says about the Kedars that they want to fight. David is the Jews. David said that when the Jews talk, the Kedar want to fight. This did not begin in the age of David. This antagonistic relationship already existed before between Ishmael and Isaac. It was prophesized a long time ago in the Bible. We can’t understand at all why in the Middle East Israel and Palestine are always continuously fighting. We have a tendency to think that is because Israel entered the land after the Palestinians so the Palestinians are bullying the Jews. In reality that is not so. From a long time ago they have been fighting.
However, the future is not like that. In the future “the settlements where Kedar lives” (11) will praise the Lord together with the Jews. In the course of time they too will not believe in Allah, the god of the Koran, but will believe in God, the Lord Jesus. They will “Sing to the LORD.” (10) It is a little long, but let’s read Ephesians 2:11 to 19.
Ephesians 2:11-19
Don’t you think this is wonderful! Jesus has destroyed “the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14) Someday in the course of time the antagonistic relationship will be removed and as “fellow citizens”(Ephesians 2:19) they will “both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:18) There will come a time in the course of time when they will praise the Lord together.
Christ was born to mend our severed relationship with God and bring reconciliation. This reconciliation isn’t just a reconciliation with God, but He “has destroyed the barrier” (Ephesians 2:14) of hate between fellow men. Through Christ “the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14) has been destroyed. Then in the course of time there will come a time when in one heart we will praise the Lord.
This is really wonderful! In reality among the Arabs, among the Moslems, the people who believe in Jesus Christ are increasing. This is a sign that this prophecy is actually moving towards its fulfillment. No matter how great of enemies, in the course of time there will come a time when their hearts will become one and they will praise the Lord together.

II. Praise the Lord who crushes the enemy (Vs. 13-17)
Next, please look at verses 13 to 17. Here the reason for praising the Lord is recorded.　Verse 13 says, “The LORD will march out like a mighty man,
like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;
with a shout he will raise the battle cry
and will triumph over his enemies.”
Certainly the Lord is kindhearted and humble, but towards the enemy “the LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph.” (13) The Lord Jesus said to the hypocritical scholars of the law and the Pharisees, “You are like whitewashed tombs.”(Matt。23：27) Also at the Jerusalem temple he cleansed the temple removing all the people who were doing business there and making the temple “a den of robbers.” (Matt. 21:13) Jesus is quiet like a sheep that is being sheared and in order to remove our sin died, but at the same time towards the enemy he is like a lion, “The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph.” (13)
Around us there are so many spiritual attacks by the enemy, Satan, who wants to fight. With each and everything that happens the enemy, Satan, seeks to fight with our souls. However, there is no need to fear. The Lord will be our “mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph.” (13) How will the Lord show his strength?
Verse 14 says, “For a long time I have kept silent,
I have been quiet and held myself back.
But now like a woman in childbirth,
I cry out, I gasp and pant.”
This is describing when Israel was captured by Babylon. While Israel was captured by Babylon was really a time of enduring. The Lord “for a long time…kept silent.” (14) However, at when the decided time comes, “The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;” (13) and will violently strike Babylon. As verse 15 says, the Lord “will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation…turn rivers into island and dry up the pools.” Like this the Lord will stand up and smash the enemy.
That’s not all. As it says in verse 16, “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them,” even if Israel is blind, the Lord will never “forsake them”. (16) Rather he led them on the road of salvation that they never ever even thought of.
Daily we have to make many choices and decisions. In making the decisions we really worry about what we should do. Also we can’t predict what the future holds。We are really spiritually blind. However, the Lord like a mother leads her child by her hand, will gently lead us who can’t see. He will lead us on new roads that we don’t know of or ever dreamed of.
How can we not praise the Lord? To trust in idols is stupid. Those who do so “will be turned back in utter shame.” (17) How can you not praise the Lord who leads your life on a certain road?

III. Repent of sin and praise the Lord (Vs. 18-25)
Lastly let’s look at how we should praise the Lord from verses 18 to 25. First I will read verses 18 to 20.
“Hear you deaf;
look, you blind, and see!
Who is blind but my servant,
and deaf like the messenger I send?
Who is blind like the one committed to me,
blind like the servant of the LORD?
You have seen many things, but have paid no attention;
your ears are open, but you hear nothing.”
“You deaf” (18) and “you blind” (18) is Israel. “My servant” in verse 19 is Jesus. The “servant” was sent by God to Israel, but they “paid no attention.” (20) They didn’t hear God. They were spiritually deaf. They were spiritually blind. The Lord was surprised by that. It is natural that the Gentiles would be blind. The truths of God had not been proclaimed to them. However, for God’s people who were “committed to” (19) God and who should have been God’s servants to be blind is unthinkable. In reality God has shown Israel great acts. When they left Egypt God performed many miracles, and before their eyes parted the Red Sea into two. In the wilderness for 40 years He fed them Manna. From the rock he gave them as much water as they wanted. Then God led them to the Promised Land, Canaan. God drove out the people of the land and as he promised he gave them a land overflowing with milk and honey. God treated them specially. That was so that they would know God is the real God, the creator God who made the whole universe. Even though they saw many things like this, they pretended like they didn’t see. Their ears were opened, but they heard nothing. They were like this so the Lord called them a “stiff necked people”. A person pulls the reins on a horse’s neck to tell him what he wants the horse to do. Israel not matter what God said, didn’t move in the direction he was asking for so the Lord called them a “stiff necked people”. They were an obstinate, stubborn people. No matter how many things the Lord showed them, they were blind. No matter how much they heard, they were deaf. They didn’t try to follow the Lord. The Lord looked at the Israelites who were like that and was surprised.
However, that isn’t just Israel. We are the same too. We “have seen many things, but have paid no attention.” (20) Our “ears are open, but” (20) we hear nothing. God has done many things for you, but have you paid attention to it? We fall into that kind of sin, and into that kind of unfaithfulness. God is looking at that kind of unfaithfulness and is lamenting in the same way he did for Israel’s.
We must return to God and seek God’s forgiveness. We must realize that by our sin we have become blind and deaf and return to the Lord. Please look at verses 24 and 25.
“Who handed Jacob over to become loot,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the LORD,
against whom we have sinned?
For they would not follow his ways;
they did not obey his law.
So he poured out on them his burning anger,
the violence of war.
It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand;
it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.”
“Who handed Jacob over to become loot, and Israel to the plunderers?” (24) It was the Lord. Israel didn’t listen and follow the Lord so the Lord “poured out on them his burning anger.” (25) Israel was captured by Babylon. God gave them over to Babylon. That is because Israel didn’t seek to walk the road of God. They didn’t follow the teachings of God. There are times when the troubles we are receive occur because we have sinned so at that times we must repent of our sin and return to God. If we realize that God is judging us and return to God, then there is hope.
There is someone who took the events that happened to him as definitely not accidental, but as God’s warning and was led to conversion. That was Adoniram Judson. In the course of time he went to Burma, now Myanmar, as the first foreign missionary. However, from the beginning he did not have such a faith. He was like Israel, “stiff necked”. He was born to a pastor of a church in Plymouth Massachusetts. From the time he was little he was a very smart child. He was so much so that by the age of 3 he could read books. During his childhood years he read through all the books in his father’s den. When he became 10 years old he had already become a mathematician and was also studying beginning Greek and Latin. His father had expectations that he would in the course of time be a great person. His name was the same, Adoniram. He always told his son that he was really a wise boy and that he had great expectations for him.
When he was 16 years old he was able to enter college. Harvard University was only 50 miles from his home, but that university was becoming more and more liberal so his father sent not to Harvard, but to Providence of Rhode Island College which later became Brown University. That was because he thought the school stood firmly on the Biblical faith. When he entered college, he already knew Latin, Greek, math, astronomy, logics, dialectics, and philosophy so he entered not as a freshman, but as a sophomore.

However, while he was there he was influenced by his friends and in time left the faith. He became friends with Jacob Eames, who was a year older than him. Eames was talented, witty and very popular – but he was a Deist, not a Christian. He and Adoniram became very close friends, and Adoniram was so influenced by him that he soon became as much of an unbeliever as Jacob Eames. If Adoniram’s father had known that he had become a Deist he would have taken him out of the university immediately. The Deists rejected the Bible completely. The Deists only believed that there was a God who was not involved with mankind at all. They rejected Christ as the Son of God, did not believe in Heaven or Hell, or the Blood atonement of Christ. But Rev. Judson did not know that Adoniram’s friend Jacob Eames had led his son into such error and unbelief.
Jacob Eames was the leader of the young men Adoniram hung out with. These boys studied together, attended parties with young ladies, talked together, and played together. These young men had no interest in Christianity. They talked about becoming great authors, playwrights, and actors. They would become the Shakespeares and Goldsmiths of the New World in America. The whole religion that Adoniram’s father had so carefully taught to his son vanished completely. Jacob Eames had “liberated” Adoniram from his father’s old beliefs, and had freed him to seek for fame and fortune.
Adoniram became first in his class. He was chosen to be the valedictorian, and give the main speech at his graduation. At the end of commencement, in the position of highest honor, Adoniram gave the valedictorian speech, with his proud father and mother in the audience.
Thus, at nineteen, Adoniram was ready to begin his life work. But he had no idea what it would be! He came home and went to church with his father and mother every Sunday. His parents did not know that he was now an unbeliever. He felt like a hypocrite every time he joined his father and mother in family prayers.
Every week he grew more restless. He finally decided to leave home and go to New York. His parents reacted as if he had told them he was making a trip to the moon! At this point his father asked him to study to become a minister. When Adoniram heard that, he furiously told his parents the truth. Their God was not his God. He no longer believed the Bible. He did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. Then six days later he got on his horse and rode toward New York. But when he got there he discovered that it was not the paradise he had dreamed of. There was no welcome for him and no employment. He only stayed for a few weeks before leaving, disgusted and heartsick.
As the sun was going down he came to a small village. He found an inn, put his horse in the stable, and asked the innkeeper for a room. The inn was nearly full. There was only one room left. The landlord told him that the room was next to that of a young man who was extremely sick, perhaps dying. He might be disturbed in the night. “No,” said Adoniram, he would not let a few
noises next door stop him from having a good night’s rest. After giving him something to eat, the landlord took Adoniram to his room and left him there. Adoniram got into bed, and waited for sleep to come.
But he could not sleep. He could hear soft sounds coming from the next room, footsteps coming and going, a board creaking, low voices, groans and gasps. These sounds did not disturb him too much – not even the thought that the man might be dying. Death was common in Adoniram’s New England. It might happen to anyone, at any age.
What disturbed him was the thought that the man in the next room might not be prepared for death. Was he, himself, prepared for it? These thoughts went through his mind as he lay there half dreaming, half awake. He wondered how he himself would face death. His father would welcome death as a door opening to eternal glory. But to Adoniram, the unbeliever, death was the door to an empty pit, to darkness, at best to extinction, at worst to – what? His flesh crawled as he thought of the grave, the slow decay of the dead body, the weight of the soil on the buried coffin. Was this all, through the endless centuries?
But another part of him laughed at these midnight thoughts. What would his friends at college think of these terrors of the night? Above all, what would his friend Jacob Eames think? He imagined Eames laughing at him, and he felt ashamed.
When he woke the sun was shining through the window. His fears had vanished with the darkness. He could hardly believe that he had been so weak and fearful the night before. He dressed himself and went downstairs to have breakfast. He found the innkeeper and paid his bill. Then he asked if the young man in the next room was better. The man answered, “He is dead.” Then Adoniram asked, “Do you know who he was?” The innkeeper replied, “Oh, yes. He was a young man from Brown University. His name was Eames, Jacob Eames.” It was his best friend, the unbelieving Jacob Eames, who had died in the next room the night before.
Adoniram was never able to remember how he got through the next few hours. All he remembered was that he did not leave the inn for some time. Finally he left, riding his horse away in a daze. One word kept going through his mind – “lost!” In death, his friend Jacob Eames was lost – utterly lost. Lost in death. Lost to his friends, to the world, to the future. Lost as a puff of smoke is lost in the air. If Eames’ own views were true, neither his life nor his death had any meaning.
But what if Eames had been wrong? What if the Bible was literally true and a personal God was real? Then Jacob Eames was eternally lost. And already, that moment, Eames knew he had been wrong. But now it was too late for Eames to repent. Knowing his error, Eames was already experiencing the unimaginable torments of the flames of Hell. All chance of being saved was lost, eternally lost. These thoughts went through Adoniram’s shocked mind. Adoniram thought that his best friend dying in the next room could not be a coincidence. He thought that his father’s God had arranged these events by providence, that it was not by chance at all.
Suddenly Adoniram felt that the God of the Bible was the real God. He turned his horse around and started home. His journey had lasted only about five weeks, but in that five weeks what had begun as the throwing off of the control of his parents had turned into a soul-shaking inner convulsion. He was now in a deep turmoil, in mortal fear for his own soul. He returned home an awakened sinner.
This was an extremely important conversion, because it led Adoniram to become the first foreign missionary to Burma. Through bitter hardships, imprisonments and family tragedies, including the death of two wives and several children, Adoniram Judson never wavered in his commitment to win lost souls to Christ, and to translate the entire Bible into the Burmese language. That was because of his conversion experience when he was a youth. That was because he accepted the death of his friend, Jacob Eames, as a warning from God, and had the experience of returning to God.
How about you? Even though God has been telling you to repent are unconcernedly disregarding it? Also do you think you have enough time and postpone doing so? Please open your heart to God’s call to return. Then let’s together sing a new song to the Lord. Let’s praise the Lord from our hearts. The Lord did something wonderful for you. God gave his only son’s life for you. The most fitting attitude as a response to the work of salvation is to accept that salvation and return to God. It is to sing a new song to the Lord. In the course of time the entire world will praise the Lord. Please join into the midst of the praising.