The Little Succcess That Attended The Personal Ministry Of Christ.

Adapted From A Sermon By

Philip Doddridge

But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.”

(Isaiah 49:4 ESV)

This morning we are looking at a passage from Isaiah chapter 49, verse 4. These words were written hundreds of years before Jesus came, yet they point straight to him and to the surprising reality of his earthly ministry.

The verse says: “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.”

At first glance, these words sound discouraging. Jesus poured out his life teaching, healing, and calling people to God. But the response was often small. Many turned away. Crowds followed him for a while and then drifted off. Even his closest disciples struggled to understand him fully.

This morning we are drawing from an old sermon by Philip Doddridge titled “The Little Success That Attended The Personal Ministry Of Christ.” Doddridge was a faithful pastor who poured his heart and earnest effort into studying and preaching God’s Word. I am simply reading and sharing his work in fresh words for our time.

So why does the Bible record this sense of limited success in Christ’s personal ministry? And what does it mean for us today?

With God’s help, we will see how even the apparent “little success” of Jesus’ earthly work was part of God’s wise and perfect plan. We will also be encouraged that our own labors for Christ are never wasted when they are done in his name and for his glory.

Let us open our hearts as we consider this important truth from God’s Word.

If people saw these words only as a complaint from the prophet Isaiah, they would find them very striking. We might hear them and feel both surprise and grief at once.

It is sad that a messenger from God, a prophet who spoke by his direct inspiration, should speak without any effect. God had called him from the womb. God had spoken his name before he was even born. God had made his mouth like a sharp sword. God had hidden him in the hollow of his hand. God had made him like a polished arrow kept safe in his quiver.

All his powerful words of eloquence should largely go to waste. The clear signs God gave to prove his mission, especially the one about the destruction of Sennacherib and the healing of Hezekiah, should be ignored by a wild and godless crowd. They would break every rule just to chase their own desires. They would shut their ears to the voice of the one who spoke with such heavenly wisdom.

But, Isaiah does not speak only in his own person. The Spirit of the Lord spoke through him.

He speaks in the name of the great Messiah. This is clear from many parts of the prophecy, especially verses 7 to 10. So the text leads us to think about the unsuccessful work of our Lord’s ministry.

Some have thought that Isaiah also refers to this when he speaks of spreading out his hands all the day long to a rebellious people. We know well that the prediction came true when our blessed Redeemer came and lived for a while in human flesh. When he became subject to all the weaknesses of our nature, so that he might speak to us in our own language, and with all the power that mixed majesty and love could give, there was still room for him, as well as for his servant, to say, Who has believed our report?

In fact he does complain, I have spoken to you in my Father’s name, and you do not believe. You will not come to me, that you might have life. I would have gathered you, and you would not. He endured the opposition of sinners against himself. He was set up, as holy Simeon had foretold, for a sign to be spoken against.

This is a subject well worth a more careful look than has perhaps ever been given to it. It is full of useful lessons for ministers and for ordinary Christians. Any heart that stays cold after this subject is examined must be very cold indeed. Three main points will be covered.

I. First, the circumstances that make it surprising that the ministry of Christ in the days of his flesh was unsuccessful will be considered.

II. Second, some other circumstances that may partly explain such a strange event will be mentioned.

III. Third, the practical application of what has been seen will be shown.

I. First, let us consider some circumstances that may well make it surprising that the ministry of our blessed Redeemer was so unsuccessful in the days of his flesh.

Let us look at who he was, how he was introduced into his public work, the kind of teaching he gave, the brightness of his example, the power of his miracles, and the kind purpose that all these things pointed to. When we examine each of these points, and especially all of them together, we will see good reason to be astonished at the facts we are now about to examine in detail.

1. First, let us consider who our blessed Lord was. This will certainly raise our expectations high as to the probable success of his ministry.

He was a person of the most illustrious and unequalled dignity. Had God sent down an angel into human flesh and commissioned him to appear as a public teacher, we should naturally have expected some great thing from his work. But behold a greater one is here, not only than Moses or Solomon, but than Gabriel or Raphael. He is the Lord of angels, the Son of God, the heir of all things. By him all things were made, whether visible or invisible, not excepting thrones and dominions, principalities and powers.

He came, who knew what was in man. He could not but know our nature, because though he condescended to wear it, he had originally made it. On that account he might be called the root, as well as the offspring, not only of David but of Adam too.

He is the incarnate wisdom of God, his Word, who in the beginning was with God, and himself was God. And can he be unsuccessful? Can he who made the heart not cause the sword of conviction to come near it? Surely he could.

It is absolutely necessary that we lay it down as a principle here: our Lord set aside that almighty power which he had over men’s minds, just as he set aside the power he had over their bodies when he allowed the violence of his enemies in the garden to have a short triumph over him.

Even with that understood, we may be sure that the most wise methods would be used by him in whom were hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. It remains a matter of everlasting astonishment that he, armed as he was with almighty power, should for wise and kind reasons permit himself to be, humanly speaking, frustrated in his efforts. So he, who does not faint and is not weary, and who in his greatest effort holds back part of his power, should speak as in the language of a weak mortal and say, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for naught.

2. Second, our wonder will increase when we consider how our Lord was introduced.

It was fitting for the majesty of God, when he sent into the world so great and illustrious a person as his only begotten Son, to raise a previous expectation of him. And he did raise such an expectation. Those who knew something of the plan, though they did not know the one in whom it ended, called him the one who was to come.

Thus, when Philip wanted to tell Nathanael that he had found the Messiah, he described him this way: We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets spoke. His person was marked out not only by his miraculous conception but also by the circumstances of his birth. An angel proclaimed his birth to the shepherds, and a whole choir from heaven celebrated it with songs.

The prophecy of Simeon and Anna when he was presented in the temple helped to stir up expectation. The testimony of John the Baptist did so even more. John was so popular that all Jerusalem, Judea, and Galilee came out to him. Even the Pharisees and Sadducees came. Even the tax collectors and soldiers came.

This great prophet, of whom many wondered whether he himself was the Messiah, laid down all his honors at the feet of Jesus. He testified that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He confessed that Jesus was so much greater than himself that he was not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.

One would naturally have thought that such an impressive introduction, even though the Messiah came in humble form, would have earned him more than ordinary human honor. One would have thought it would have gained for his message the most careful and obedient attention. This is especially true when we remember the visible descent of the Spirit upon him and the voice that came from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. John saw and heard these things and openly gave testimony about them. Still, so few were ready to accept his testimony on this most important point.

3. The strain of our blessed Lord's preaching increases our wonder in the degree in which the purposes of it were frustrated.

When he first opened his commission in the synagogue of Nazareth, the people wondered at the gracious words which came out of his mouth. They knew the low level of his education and might have been the most likely to hold a prejudice against him. When the officers of the sanhedrim were sent to seize him, they returned quite ashamed and moved by his words. They cried out as if in a strong emotion right in front of his bitter enemies. They knew those enemies thirsted for his blood. These enemies were also the main leaders of their nation. Never man spake like this man. Nothing was so plain, nothing so tender, nothing so awakening as the speaking of this Divine man.

Take that strong reproof: "I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."{Luke 13:3} "The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits."{Matthew 21:43} Take those gentle invitations: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."{Matthew 11:28} "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink."{John 7:37} But all this closeness, this tenderness, this seriousness had no effect. Our Lord had reason to compare his own case, as well as that of the prophets, to that of children talking with their stubborn playmates. "We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn."{Matthew 11:17} This was even worse when we consider,

4. The beauty of his example.

If those who sit in Moses' position say and do not, there is little reason to wonder that people ignore them. While the hearer says in his own heart, "You who teach another, do you not teach yourself?" he slights the message. Even while he is in his own conscience convinced that it is both right and important, in that circumstance to neglect it is great folly. But it is a folly not disarmed of every excuse.

But what, O blessed Jesus! what had your hearers to plead for their neglect, when your whole conduct was one continual illustration of your precepts? When your whole life was showing how practical, and how lovely they were? He could look round about on an assembly of his most bitter enemies, and challenge them all to allege anything which he had ever said or done that was wrong. "Which of you convicts me of sin?" He could look up to his Heavenly Father, and appeal to his omniscience that he did always the things which pleased him. Such a high priest was exactly what we needed, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. So that had his words been without every other charm but truth, the respect which the character of the preacher excited might reasonably have added an irresistible weight to them. Especially when you consider them as enforced,

5. By the display of this miracles.

Imagine that you had seen the Lord perform just one of those miracles. He says to the helpless man, Arise, take up your bed, and walk. Or to the blind man, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, and you shall receive your sight. Or to the ruler's daughter, when she lay a cold corpse, Little girl, I say unto you, arise. Or to Lazarus, when he had been four days dead, Lazarus, come out. Would you not have thought that the clear power of these strong words should have made every hearer listen with full respect to every other word that came from his lips? And yet these miracles were not rare in their type or in their kind.

To these we must add the storm made quiet, the devils driven out, the leprosy healed, the deaf ear opened, the crippled hand and foot made whole, and one or another of these works done almost every day. Crowds of sick and weak people were also brought from all parts to the places where he preached. Indeed, he himself went to preach the gospel in almost every part of the country. He made three trips around the area in a little more than two years. He did this so he could bring the miracles of love and the message of salvation right to their own doors. He did it in case they were too lazy to travel to Nazareth, Capernaum, or Bethsaida to hear it and to get healing for all their problems.

6. The kind purpose that tied everything together must also hold our attention.

The kindness shown in our Lord's miracles was clear proof of this. Though the blasting of the fig tree and the permitting the legion of devils to drown the swine (which, by the way, was not the act of Christ, but of the great enemy of God and man) might easily have shown that he could have worked wonders of terror, we never find that Jesus in any one instance caused either the death or the pain and suffering of any person. Though the wickedness of some of his enemies might not only have justified such actions, but perhaps on the whole have made it a work of mercy.

Accordingly we find that his apostles, in a few instances, used their miraculous power for such serious purposes. But the Lord himself performed only miracles of compassion and goodness. He scattered everywhere blessings far more valuable than silver and gold. Many who now have the greatest wealth would gladly give up their riches to obtain these blessings. They would count themselves big winners by the exchange.

And this kindness, which showed itself in his miracles, was also clear in his preaching. So he expressly tells us that the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. In this view of his mission, he came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

He came to recover fallen creatures to the enjoyment of God and of themselves. He came to call them away from the dying trifles of this life. He wanted to fix their eyes, their hopes, and their efforts upon a crown of eternal glory. He came to bring that crown within their reach.

He came so that they, who were headed like sheep to the slaughter, might have life. They might have it more abundantly. They might reign in life with him. They would be triumphant over all their enemies, even over death, the last of them.

And when all his kindest efforts were fruitless, he wept over them. He thought how happy they might have been, and how miserable they had made themselves. "O Jerusalem! how often would I have gathered you! If you had known the things which belong to your peace!" Who can imagine what the blessed results would then have been? But how strange it is that there should be any room for these tears! How astonishing that such efforts for their salvation and happiness should have been so ungratefully rejected and so stubbornly refused! Such a salvation from such a Saviour!

Consider all of this, if this was the only view you had of the whole matter, how different an effect should have been expected! Such a person came to them. He was introduced in such a way. He addressed them in such a manner. He backed up his powerful words with the brightness of such an example and the glory of such miracles. All this was done in pursuit of a purpose in which their own happiness, their only happiness, and their eternal happiness was at stake.

As a one writer expresses it, "So much care, so much love, so much earnestness, so many strong talks, so many clear proofs, so many perfect examples, so many bright miracles, so much humility, so much greatness, so much lowliness, so much glory, so many different forms taken, so many kind plans followed. What did it produce? One would have imagined that every doubter should have been convinced. Every careless liver should have been changed. One would have imagined that the synagogue and the sanhedrim should have fallen down together at his feet. All the different groups should have joined together. The proud Pharisee should have been humbled. The unbelieving Sadducees should have been convinced. The Essenes should have left their deserts and hiding places to join the crowd of his followers. The Herodians should have immediately given up all their hopes of favor from that royal family to which they were attached. They should have thrown themselves at the feet of this king of Israel.

Indeed, those of the heathen who had lived among them, the Greeks or the Romans, the Scythians and Barbarians, if any such had been there, should have yielded to proof like this. To exalt God's holy child Jesus, whom he had anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the people of Israel, should have come together.

But, astonishingly, they did come together but for the opposite purpose. They were not content with rejecting him. They were not content with despising him. They joined their efforts to destroy him. They prepared no crown for him but a crown of thorns. They raised him to no high position but that of the cross.

So clearly and so terribly were the words of the prophet fulfilled: "I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing." If we ask our blessed Lord what are the rewards of his labors, he may point to the marks of his sufferings and may say, "Behold my hands and my feet. These marks I carry back to heaven for all the kindness which I have shown to men upon earth."

II. Let us now think about some reasons that might explain such a strange event.

At this point, many ideas could be explored but we will focus only on the following three.

First, the people who listened to Christ held many strong prejudices that are common to all fallen human beings. Second, they also held some prejudices that were specific to them as Jews. Third, God chose, for wise and ultimately kind reasons, to leave them to themselves. He did not step in with that powerful work of grace that would have overcome even those prejudices.

1. The Jews held many prejudices common to all people. At that time, they lived in a very corrupt state. We know this from the Bible writers and from the historian Josephus. He said that this generation and the next had reached such extreme levels of immorality and godlessness that he believed God would have destroyed them himself if the Romans had not done it. He thought God would either rain fire and brimstone on them or cause the earth to open and swallow them alive.

The words that came from the mouth of our blessed Redeemer were full of grace. However, they were not meant to comfort people in their sins. Instead, he insisted that they must repent and show real change in their lives. He destroyed their false hopes. They comforted themselves with the thought that Abraham was their father. But he told them clearly that if they did the works of the devil, they showed they were his children.

He blessed the poor in spirit and the pure in heart. In doing so, he challenged their pride, their greed, and their love of pleasure. He taught that a man must cut off his right hand or pluck out his right eye if it caused him to sin. His listeners answered, "It is a hard saying, who can bear it?"

He preached love for God and love for their neighbor. But they did not have the love of God in them. They hated one another. They were foolish, corrupt, and unfit for any good work. So even though he offered them complete forgiveness for all their past sins, they would not accept his teaching. He refused to serve sin, and they remained its slaves.

This is why, no doubt, he is still rejected by so many people even today. If we could find a way to make peace between Christ and evil, between right and wrong, between light and darkness — if we could offer an official permission to keep one favorite sin — then many people would gladly accept his claims. Those who now lead the opposition against him would join him instead. They would feel stronger because so many others stood with them. But besides that,

2. There were also many strong prejudices that were specific to them as Jews. Not only those that came from the original form of their religion. but also those that came from the way their teachers had changed it.

The people generally believed that their teachers could never be wrong. The Scribes and Pharisees were highly respected. Our Lord strongly corrected and exposed them. He treated their claims with contempt. All of this had a powerful negative effect on the minds of the people.

In addition, the idea that the Jewish law would last forever clashed with the hints Christ gave that it would come to an end. This created even more prejudice against him.

But perhaps the strongest prejudice of all came from the picture of the Messiah that they had formed in their minds. If they had read the scriptures fairly, they would have seen what our Lord himself pointed out: that the Christ had to suffer first, and only then enter his glory. Instead, their sinful prejudices made them focus only on the parts that matched their own selfish desires.

For example, the greedy Jews remembered the verse that says, "The silver is mine, the gold is mine." They remembered the promise that kings would bring gifts. So when they heard Christ tell people not to store up treasures on earth, they said, "This cannot be the Christ. He does not make his followers rich."

The fierce and proud Jew, who wanted to see Rome defeated, remembered the promise that God would give the nations as an inheritance and the ends of the earth as a possession. He remembered that the Messiah would rule from sea to sea and that everyone on earth would bow before him. So when Jesus spoke about the blessing that comes to those who are persecuted for doing right, this Jew would say, "This gentle man of peace cannot be the Messiah."

The self-indulgent Jew took literally the promises of rich feasts, choice wine, and luxurious perfumes from ivory palaces. He could not accept the humble man from Nazareth who had no place to lay his head. When Jesus fed the crowd, he gave them only barley bread and a few small fish. And when the shame of the cross was added to everything else, it is no surprise that the message became a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. But we must also add this,

3. God had decided, for wise and ultimately kind reasons, to leave them to themselves. He chose not to step in with that powerful work of his grace that would have overcome even their strong prejudices.

Consider how justly God punished the stubborn unbelief of the Jews. They had received so many opportunities to believe and change their ways. Yet God gave them over to the stubbornness of their own hearts. He withheld those special works of his Spirit that they had made themselves unworthy to receive.

This was meant as a warning for us. When we see their unbelief and the terrible ruin that followed, we see a serious example of human sinfulness and of God’s strict judgment. We should be afraid to copy their stubbornness, or we may end up sharing in their misery.

Consider how God arranged all this wisely in order to strengthen our faith.

Think about what our Lord said about the legion of angels. Do you not think that he could have sent a powerful beam of conviction into their hearts? One word made them fall backward to the ground. In the same way, he could have caused them to bow before him in complete humility and joyful acceptance of his message of grace.

Could he not have turned Annas and Caiaphas into believers and apostles whose zeal for him would have been even greater than that of Peter or Paul? Could he not have changed the thinking of the entire Jewish nation so they would welcome him as the true spiritual Messiah with far greater joy than they would have welcomed a Messiah who satisfied all their earthly desires?

But if he had done that, how could the scriptures have been fulfilled? How could the words be true that said he would be despised and rejected? How could the prophecy be fulfilled that said he would labor in vain Where then would we find the fulfillment of all the prophecies about the unbelief and rejection of the Jews?

It was right for God, in his majesty and goodness, to plan such a series of events. He did not force the Jews to be stubborn and unbelieving — such a thing is impossible. Instead, he allowed their own foolishness and wickedness to run its course. He did not use his greatest miracle to override their choice.

III. And now we come to the valuable lessons we can apply from this teaching.

1. Let ministers not be surprised if their hard work seems wasted when they hear their Divine Master say something like this.

It is hard to accept the bitter disappointment that often comes their way in this work. Sometimes they may grow impatient and start listing all their disappointments in trying to help their hearers find salvation."So many hours of study, so many earnest prayers, so many earnest messages on Sunday and during the week." They use every clever way they can think of to draw their hearers into the net of the gospel. They give serious warnings, gentle suggestions, and heartfelt invitations both in public and in private. Their thoughts, their wishes, and efforts seem to have all been spent for nothing. No one repents of his wickedness and says, 'What have I done?' There is none that understands. There is none that seeks after God. There is none that cries out, 'What shall I do to be saved?'

But did not Jesus say, 'I have laboured in vain'? And is the disciple above his Master? The Lord's workers would want to see crowds converted all at once; to see a whole people born in a single day. But when you think about his disappointed efforts, his rejected love, his words and his tears poured out like water on the ground, they ought to be content to work all day even if they catch nothing and be thankful and joyful if God now and then gives them even one soul—maybe one this month or this year, and another the next.

2. Let us be humbled that Christ has had so much reason to complain about us that so much of the work he has done for us has been in vain.

We blame those stubborn Jews who rejected the Son of God. We certainly have reason to blame them. But it is to be feared that we are sometimes like them. They blamed their fathers for killing the earlier prophets while they themselves were filling up the full measure of their own sin. It was as if they built the tombs of the prophets only to keep alive the memory of their death rather than to honor their character.

In the same way, many of us say that we would not have joined the Jews in the way they treated Christ with contempt. We claim we would not have ignored his ministry. But Christ is still speaking to us today through his servants. He has said about them, "He that despises you despises me." And how do we treat them?

If our Lord Jesus Christ were to appear among us in person, might he not say to some of us, "Sinner! You know that I have long warned you about such and such evils. I have corrected your greed, your anger, your pride, your drunkenness, your lying, and your lust. But I have laboured in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing. You still go on to ignore my commands as if you had never heard from me."

He might say to others, "Sinners, I have invited you for a long time to come to me for pardon and life. I have urged you to seek justification by my righteousness and sanctification by my grace. But I have laboured in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing. You still continue to neglect me."

To another group he might say, "I have urged you to care for the souls of others. I have pressed you to build a life of faith in your families and to make sure your children receive instruction so they might be raised in the training and instruction of the Lord. But I have laboured in vain. You think this small effort is too much for my service after all I have done to save your souls."

Let us not fool ourselves with empty words. We are the disobedient and rebellious people. In one way or another, Christ is reaching out his hand to us in vain. Let us humble ourselves before him. Let us commit to paying closer attention from now on, and say, "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears."

3. Let us rejoice that the work of Christ will not finally be in vain. He will see the result of his suffering, and he will be satisfied.

This is clearly stated in prophecy. And, blessed be God, it is already partly fulfilled right before your eyes. The words of Christ to his apostles came true. They did greater works than he did. They were far more successful than he was in his own personal work. The gospel was opened in all its fullness and preached by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven.

Even among the Jews, as bad as they were, a remnant remained according to the election of grace. And, mercyfully, there is a remnant among us too. The plan of Christ will not finally fail. I hope that all of us, here, will find that his gospel is the power of God for our own salvation.

May we be able to say, "The stubbornness of our hearts has been overcome"? and look to him and say with that serious appeal, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you"?

Wherever we see this, it is the harvest that has sprung up from the seed he sowed in the days of his earthly life. We will be to him an everlasting name that will never be cut off. He will acknowledge us on the great day as the blessed results of his hard work and of his blood.

May God grant that we may all be in that blessed number. Let men criticize and look down on us as they please. Let those who reject and mock our Lord also despise and mock us. We will share his shame. We will share his disappointment with patient strength. We will share his glory in due time.

And now let us go forward with steady resolve and glad heaerts, comforted by these two important thoughts: that his labor is not vain in us, and that our labor will not be in vain in the Lord.