Scripture referenced 13 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Luke 2:8-11 Read during the Advent candle lighting as the candle of joy passage about the angel announcing Christ's birth to the shepherds
8 There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
9 Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people.
11 For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
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Keep this verse
Nehemiah 4:14
Read aloud as the foundation text for the Fight Club men's ministry, calling men to fight for their families
14 I looked, and rose up, and said to the nobles, to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them! Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”
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Isaiah 50:4-11
Primary sermon text, read and expounded as a suffering servant passage spoken from Christ's first-person perspective
4 The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary. He wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
5 The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious. I have not turned back.
6 I gave my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair. I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.
7 For the Lord Yahweh will help me. Therefore I have not been confounded. Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed.
8 He who justifies me is near. Who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.
9 Behold, the Lord Yahweh will help me! Who is he who will condemn me? Behold, they will all grow old like a garment. The moths will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears Yahweh, and obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in Yahweh’s name, and rely on his God.
11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves; walk in the flame of your fire, and among the torches that you have kindled. You will have this from my hand: You will lie down in sorrow.
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Isaiah 52:13-14
Read as the opening verses of the fourth servant passage, describing the servant's exaltation and his marred appearance
13 Behold, my servant will deal wisely. He will be exalted and lifted up, and will be very high.
14 Just as many were astonished at you (his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men),
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Isaiah 53:1-12
Central sermon text, read through in full as the detailed suffering servant prophecy fulfilled in Christ's passion, death and resurrection
1 Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.
4 Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth.
8 He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?
9 They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days, and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I give him a portion with the great, and he will divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was counted with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
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Luke 9:51
Cited as Luke's deliberate echo of Isaiah's flint-faced servant, marking the turning point where Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem
51 It came to pass, when the days were near that he should be taken up, he intently set his face to go to Jerusalem,
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Romans 8:31
Paraphrased as Paul's version of the servant's challenge, 'If God is for us, who can be against us'
31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
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1 Peter 2:21-25
Quoted to show Peter calling back to Isaiah 53, describing Christ bearing sins in his body and committing himself to God who judges righteously
21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps,
22 who did not sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.”
23 Who, when he was cursed, didn’t curse back. When he suffered, didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.
25 For you were going astray like sheep; but now have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
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Romans 3:9-18
Read at length to establish that all, Jews and Gentiles alike, are under sin and there is none righteous, not even one
9 What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way. For we previously warned both Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin.
10 As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one.
11 There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.”
13 “Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.” “The poison of vipers is under their lips”;
14 “whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood.
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways.
17 The way of peace, they haven’t known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
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1 Corinthians 1:18
Referenced to contrast how the message of the cross is foolishness to those perishing but the power of God to those being saved
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.
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1 Timothy 1:15
Quoted as a trustworthy saying that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners
15 The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
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Jude 24-25
Read as the closing benediction, ascribing glory to God who is able to keep believers from stumbling
24:24 Now to him who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy,
25:25 to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
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Mark 15:27-28
Cited to show the scripture was fulfilled when Jesus was crucified between two robbers, numbered with the transgressors
27 With him they crucified two robbers; one on his right hand, and one on his left.
28 The Scripture was fulfilled, which says, “He was counted with transgressors.”
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This third Sunday of Advent, Pastor Matt continued a series through the Suffering Servant passages of Isaiah, working through Isaiah 50:4-11 and Isaiah 52:13-53:12. Rather than treating these as abstract prophecy, he read them as a first-person account from Christ himself, written seven hundred years before the passion. His point was simple: there is no Christmas worth celebrating apart from the cross.
What was said
Pastor Matt opened by placing the passage in a larger arc. Over the previous two weeks he had moved through Isaiah 42, which pictures the birth and Spirit-anointing of the Servant, and Isaiah 49, which describes his calling and ministry. Isaiah 50 and 53 push further forward into the passion, so the congregation was walking from Bethlehem through Galilee and all the way to Calvary without leaving the Old Testament.
The servant of Isaiah 50 speaks in the first person, and Pastor Matt read those words as the voice of Jesus. "The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned," he read, pointing to the scene at the temple when a twelve-year-old Jesus was teaching the teachers. Verse after verse, he traced the portrait: the ear awakened morning by morning, the back given voluntarily to those who struck it, the cheeks given to those who plucked the beard, the face not hidden from shame and spitting. None of it was coerced. Jesus gave himself.
What kept the servant moving forward, Pastor Matt said, was the line "for the Lord God will help me." At every point where the text describes humiliation, it turns just as quickly to assurance. He connected this to Luke 9:51, where Luke says Jesus "steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem," arguing that Luke was deliberately calling up Isaiah right there, describing a man leaning forward into what he already knew was coming.
Moving into Isaiah 52 and 53, Pastor Matt addressed why Israel largely failed to recognize Jesus as the Servant. By the time of Jesus, most had read the suffering servant passages as describing the nation itself rather than an individual Messiah. They were waiting for a military conqueror who would restore David's throne and throw off Rome. The passages about a marred face and a silent lamb before its shearers did not fit that picture, so they looked past them. "Seeing, they did not see. Hearing, they did not understand," he said, and noted that the same thing still happens.
He spent considerable time on the substitutionary language of Isaiah 53, "he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities," and pushed back directly against the idea that substitutionary atonement is not biblical. He called the word "atonement" back to its roots, noting that Wycliffe coined it during his Bible translation because he needed a word for being put "at one" with God. The grave with the wicked and the burial with the rich, the silence before Pilate, the intercession from the cross for those doing the crucifying, all of it was in the text seven hundred years before it happened.
Pastor Matt closed by returning to Isaiah 50:10-11, which he said presents two options plainly. Option one: "let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God." Option two: kindle your own fire, find your own way, and walk in your own light. The passage is clear about where option two ends: "you shall lie down in torment." He said he had spoken that week with people working hard to find any path that did not require trusting the Savior, and he called that exactly what Isaiah describes, kindling their own fire. The good news of the season, he said, is that the first option is real and it is open, because Jesus walked out God's plan perfectly and finished the work.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Mark pointed to Isaiah 50:4, where the servant says God 'awakened my ear morning by morning.' What does it look like practically for you to give God the first part of your day, and what gets in the way of that?
- The sermon described Jesus setting his face like flint toward Jerusalem, voluntarily giving his back and his cheeks, and not hiding his face from shame and spitting. What does that kind of willing obedience in the face of suffering say to you about what it cost Him to go to the cross?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 9,975 words
0:03
How are you? Good. Good to see you. We had a discovery class. Hi there.
0:09
We had a discovery class in my office that just kind of let out. So here we are. Would you all stand with me? Let's sing the ones in from the vestibule. If they're here for this service, let's sing em on in here.
0:19
Park the Herald Angels Sing hymn number two seventy seven. Thank you, Kristen.
0:28
Heart the herald angels sing glory to the new born king peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled joyful all ye nations rise join the triumph of the skies with angelic host proclaim Christ is born in Bethlehem the herald angels sing glory to the new born king Christ by highest heaven adored Christ the everlasting lord laid in time behold him come offspring of a virgin's womb failed in flesh the God had seen hail the incarnate deity pleased as man with men to dwell Jesus our Emmanuel heavens of peace hail the son of righteousness light and life to all he brings risen with healing in his wings mild he lays his glory born that man no more may die born to raise the sons of earth born to give them second birth angels sing glory to the new born king
2:53
Amen. Angels we have heard on high. I'm number 278. If you want to look for your part or harmony part.
3:07
Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing o'er the plains and the mountains in reply echo back their joyous strains ex Chelsea stay shepherds why this jubilee why your joyous strains prolong say what may the tidings be which inspire your heavenly song glory in excellency stay come to Bethlehem and see him whose birthday angels sing come adore on in Jesus lord of heaven and earth Mary Joseph Langer eight with us sing our savior's birth
6:21
Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Have a few announcements. Christmas is upon us but we are still meeting and we're still eating Monday nights. We're going to be in James.
6:33
Actually, I think Carl is going to make the switch and he's going to do a Christmas presentation this week at Monday night. So, he's doing a Christmas sermon but meal, music, and a message and if you want an interesting experience, we have had Romanian food and we have had Mexican food and we have had American food. We have had soul food. We have had southern food. And this week, we have six Jamaican ladies who have been coming to Monday nights.
7:00
And these six Jamaican ladies and Carl are gonna go shopping tomorrow and buy as many Jamaican type ingredients as they can find. And we're gonna have an island flare Christmas celebration tomorrow night at Monday night. So meal music and a message, it will be interesting, I promise. We have that going on in that that end of the church. And at the same time, we have Awana going on in this and the rest of the church actually.
7:23
We start out in here. We're pouring scripture into the minds of the kids so we can reach their hearts because kids matter to God. We're also having a congregational meeting that's coming up on January 13. Our constitution says, we'll do that at least one time a year and we're doing it. January 13, it'll be to approve or reject but hopefully approve the budget for the next year and new elders, new board of trustees members and things like that.
7:51
The congregational meeting happening Sunday, January 13, in between services around 10:15 or so. I'm gonna invite up, Actually, let me let me go through a couple of other announcements first, okay? There was a discovery class at 10:00. Typically, it's the third Sunday of the month. We do a discovery class in my office and that's just an introduction to church membership here at First B.
8:15
If you ever want to be a part of that, it's a standard thing to do it the third Sunday of the month in my office but if you want to do it and you'd rather do it some other time or some other place, let me know and I'll meet you wherever, whenever to do that. We also have a youth group Christmas party that's happening December 18. So, that's Tuesday, six to eight. The white elephant gift, Mark Mark, I don't know Mike. Mike, Demetrius was very specific about this.
8:40
Do not go out and buy anything. If you have some little novelty piece of junk or interesting subject around your house, bring that in to give as a white elephant gift and they'll do a white elephant exchange party. And there's gonna be a cookie contest. This went over so well the last time that they did it that they want to have a Christmas cookie contest to bring in. Send with your teenager your best Christmas cookies and they'll have a little contest on that.
9:06
So, youth group Christmas party, Tuesday night, six to eight. There is a trip going to Israel. Israel 2019 from First B. So, friends of First B and members and attenders are going. Israel 2019.
9:20
It is March 23 through April 3. I am going. I'm planning on going. I'm not planning on leading that trip. I've not been to Israel before.
9:29
I'm looking forward to it. I've studied the geography extensively, but I'm not leading the trip or teaching my way through the trip. I'm going to enjoy, hopefully, the trip. But March 23 through April 3, if you can see Nick staring for any more details, he can get you itinerary and things like that. He's right there.
9:45
Right there. And he also, we're going to have next week, we're going to have a a meeting between services of anyone who's interested in going to Israel 2019, March 23. If you're interested in it, come early next week between services. We'll meet in my office and we'll go over details for the trip, deadlines for funds and things like that to come in. It is a tour, not a mission trip.
10:09
So looking forward to it though. Anything else I need to mention? Got it. Alright. Angel Tree.
10:15
So if you all notice out there in the foyer, there's the Christmas tree and the the cardboard mounts that are on the wall. There are a few tags left if you would like to take those. People from all over the community have been coming in and picking them up from here. It's a centralized location. This is the place to bring the gifts back.
10:31
We were asking that they come back by the twentieth or twentieth, twenty first would be great because then we can distribute them before Christmas. But the Angel Tree, there are little tags. Usually they have an item, just one item on them. If you take that and then bring that back gift wrapped with the tag accompanying it. It lets us know which family it goes to.
10:52
Tonya helps administrate that and I'm glad she does. That's a big thing and it's catching on all over. And I think that that's all of my announcements, but the church moderators quarterly report, I'm gonna invite Matt Lutzman up here to the front. And you've got another announcement too. And then we're gonna do this advent handle after your Okay.
11:16
Second.
11:18
During the first service, I released everyone to greet one another when I got through and kinda threw a little wrench into raise plans, but he did great. He rebounded really well. So I'll try not to do that this time. I just wanna give you all an update on what's happening BOT wise with the body. Last time I made an announcement, a quarterly announcement, we were a little bit behind, and I'm happy to announce that we are now a bit ahead.
11:47
And thanks thankfully to the gods, your generosity and God's provision, we are the church is doing well. Thank you. Thank you all. The it's really amazing to see I I bumped into a number of people in our community lately that have been touched by this church, by folks that are serving here and serving out there. It's it's really radical how you guys are touching the community.
12:14
So thank you for serving. We, as you would know, we've been, planning to do the deck on the West Side of Fellowship Hall. Everything's in place to do that. Our winter condition has overtaken us, so we've postponed that till spring. And also we are planning to redo the handicap access on the East side of the church and those were working through the details and wanna make sure that we're compliant with any code and regulation there, but that's coming up.
12:49
And we have a number of other projects coming up in regard to general maintenance and bathrooms, and we're gonna make a list of those things. We're gonna get them out here on the front bulletin so you all can see what they are, and if you wanna get involved in some way anyway, let us know and we'll make that happen.
13:08
Also,
13:11
thank you all very much for helping us care for our kitchen. And that in some way is is speaking in as though we're still we're still a work in progress, but we are so blessed to have it, and and y'all are doing a great job using it, keeping it keeping it going. So BOT interest, we may and are looking for some folks who may want to serve at
13:39
that capacity. BOT is Board of Trustees.
13:41
Board of Trustees, thank you. We meet once a month and it's around the business of the church. And we'd love to if you have any interest in serving there, let us know. The last lastly, in regard to BOT stuff, it's I've sent out a couple letters as moderator to the body, and you've probably received those. What it is is inviting the body to participate in a love offering or a love gift to our pastors and staff to It's it's a bit like a Christmas bonus at the end of the year, and I'm just encouraging you to do that as they serve and love and care for us.
14:21
It's a great way that we can we can bless them. So we're hoping to have that was kind of planning by this weekend. If you're not prepared, don't worry. It'll it'll get where it needs to go, but we wanna be able to give that before before Christmas if we can. So thank you.
14:40
Thank you all so much for serving and participating, giving, and being a blessing in this place. It's an amazing family that we have here, and it's to be treasured and enjoyed. So thank you. Thank you all for that. I have one last announcement in regard to men's ministry, and it's called Fight Club.
15:00
And generally men's ministry, we meet at 6AM Wednesday mornings. We have a breakfast, and we've done men's fraternity Robert Lewis for a long time, but Fight Club is a little bit different. Fight Club is about well, it's about Nehemiah four fourteen. It's about when they were rebuilding the wall. It's about fighting for what God's called us to for fighting for relationship, for family, for the calling that God's placed on our lives.
15:29
I don't think we mentioned that this morning, but on my heart is that as men, we are called to lead and to love and care for families and children.
15:44
That is I I would guess that that's gonna
15:48
be Nehemiah four fourteen. Oh, yeah. Blake's, you're too good, brother. Let's read it. After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, don't be afraid of them.
16:04
Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight for your families, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your homes. So the goal of Fight Club is to help us to be better men, to fight for the things that are important, for honor, integrity, and relationship, and for fight for the calling that God's placed on our lives. So we were gonna be meeting this Wednesday, 6AM again. At that meeting, we'll be giving the details of what Fight Club is about. There'll be four challenges weekly, and those challenges are being held accountable by our groups, and they are mind, body, soul, and relationship type challenges.
16:47
Three strikes, you're out. There's not everybody gets a ribbon at the end. So if you're at all interested in that, in joining arms with men in this body, please contact me. Come to Wednesday morning at 6AM, and we'll get going. Thank you all.
17:07
Alright. Thanks for
17:08
that. Now I'm gonna invite Roseanne Welch up to read our third Sunday of Advent Reading.
17:31
This third Sunday in Advent. On this third Sunday in Advent, the candle of joy is lit. Jesus came to give us fullness of joy and abundant life. And if if any of you know me, you know I've had plenty of joy in the Lord. Joy is ours because of Jesus.
17:53
His presence brings the promise of joy. Luke two eight through 11 says, and there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shown around them and they were terrified but the angel said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today, in the town of David, a savior has been born to you.
18:29
He is Christ the Lord.
18:31
Amen. Thank you. Thank you
18:34
very much. So, if y'all would, could you stand up and just greet one another? We've got a few folks here that are returning from long absences and great distances.
19:01
Come thou long expected Jesus born to set thy people free from our fears and sins release us let us find our rest in thee Israel strength and consolation hope above all the earth thou art dear desire of every nation joy of every longing heart, born thy people to deliver born a child and yet a king born to reign in us forever thy gracious kingdom bring by thine alone by thine thy glorious throne Amen.
20:38
I I don't we never sang that one growing up. I was listening to y'all and trying to learn that as we went. Thank you very much. Away in a manger, hymn number two sixty two. We've all sung this one.
20:49
Beautiful song.
20:58
Manger no crib for a bed little Lord Jesus lay down his feet the stars in the sky look down where he lay the little Lord Jesus but little Lord Jesus no crying he makes I love thee Lord Jesus look down from the sky and stay by my cradle till morning is night me Lord Jesus I ask thee thee to stay close by me forever and love me I pray bless all the dear children in thy tender care and fit us for heaven to live Amen.
22:34
Y'all can have a seat. I'm going to invite the frontline team to come forward. Would y'all pray with me as we are here for receiving the offerings. Lord, God, I thank you for this beautiful season, this beautiful morning. As we think of Christ stepping out and leaving the glories of heaven and coming long expected Messiah.
22:56
Lord, we look back to that perfect life well, lived, submitted to the spirit, and we draw strength lord from that. I pray lord that the obedience of your faithful servants this morning lord would advance your gospel through our actions and through our words. I pray that you would be lifted up, that you'd be glorified, lord. I pray that all of the gifts, the financial resources are placed in these plates would be multiplied to do your kingdom's work. May this church always be a missionary church that sends out people that know and have been transformed by the gospel into lands that are dark.
23:39
Lord, including our own community. So, I pray lord that spiritually, people would be revived, that your scripture would be illuminated, and that you would regenerate souls for through our obedience in Christ's blood. The word of our test monies in the blood of the lamb. In Jesus name, I pray that you would overcome. Amen.
26:13
Truly he taught us to love one another. His law is love, and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break for the slavery is our brother and in his name all the precious shall see
28:35
Wow. Thank you. So, as we approach, man, we've got the advent candles out. We've got the trees up. We've got everything lit.
28:42
There's angel tree out there in the ceremony and for the last two weeks up until this week, I've been going through the suffering servant passages of Isaiah and that might not make sense except I mentioned last week. We are an Easter people. There's no reason to celebrate Christmas if Easter had not happened and so, we're looking at Isaiah 54 through eleven and five thousand two hundred thirteen through 5,312 today. That is actually continuing with the suffering servant passages from Isaiah and to me, it's there's a clarity that is presented through this scripture that is pretty uncanny. I've I have gone through it and tried to put all of the, not all because there are tons of New Testament references but I've made some connections to New Testament references from this Old Testament passage.
29:29
This is a beautiful, beautiful picture of Christ but it was written down seven hundred years before Christ. Seven hundred years BC is when Isaiah was God's prophet. He was speaking authoritatively thus saith the Lord, right? And it's great. He, we covered two weeks ago, Isaiah 42 where there's an introduction of this servant and he said, my spirit would be upon him and it was like showing the birth of Jesus that he would come through a womb.
30:01
So, it was that was talking about the birth of Christ and then 49 was more about his calling and ministry. We talked about that last week. How he would be working to set captives free. He would be working and going through a calling in ministry and then this has more to do with the passion of Christ this week and so we're coming from birth through ministry into passion and here we are at Isaiah 50. I misspelled Isaiah at the top there.
30:34
Isaiah 54 through 11. There it is, right? Isaiah 54 starts and we'll go through actually what we're going to do is go four through nine and then I'm going to go through Isaiah 53 and then we'll come back to ten and eleven, okay? The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learning. Now, I've I've mentioned these capitalizations.
30:56
The me right there is Jesus. It's me is Jesus and he's saying the Lord God, he's speaking of God almighty God. The father, the Lord God, father has given me, Jesus, the tongue of the learning. Now, was Jesus formally trained as an intellectually trained, academically trained, was he? We don't have any record of anything except for when he was 12, he was teaching the teachers, right?
31:22
At the temple. He was teaching the teachers when he when he had gotten away from mom and dad or mom and stepdad, I guess it's better but had gotten away from them and he was about the business of his father. Think about how seven hundred years before Isaiah speaking of Christ and says, as if first person from Christ point of view, the Lord God has given me the tongue of a discipled one or a disciplined one, the learned. So that I should know how to speak and how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. Oh, that reminds me immediately of this passage from a couple weeks ago.
32:00
A bruised reed, he will not break and a smoking flax or a smoldering wick, he will not extinguish or quench. He will bring forth justice for truth. So, the Lord has given me the tongue of the learned. I'm able to speak things. That I should be able to speak those things a word in season at just the right time to him who is weary.
32:25
Can you think about Jesus saying to that woman who is caught in adultery, where are your accusers? What a season for that. Neither do I condemn you. Now, go and sin no more. Speaking to one who is weary.
32:42
This next line says, he, God, awakens me, Jesus. Morning by morning, he awakens my ear to hear as the learned, to hear as someone who is intellectually and academically gifted. Though we don't have any record of Jesus being formally trained, he had an ear to hear and a mouth to speak as one learn it. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learner.
33:07
How many y'all do a morning? Like, you don't have to raise your hand. How many y'all do a morning devotional? Like, it's a really good time. Morning by morning is a good good one.
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There's an old Spurgeon has daily light for the daily pad. There's morning and evening. There are different ones. Lately, Jesus Calling is one that a lot of ladies read and it's really really good because it's coming as if first person from Jesus and encouraging for strength for the day, I think, is a really good one. Jesus Calling.
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I actually have a stack of em up here. My homepage on my computer is my utmost for his highest Oswald Chambers and that's a good challenging for those of us who are in ministry. It's a really good one. Jesus calling God calling daily light for the daily path, a general spirit, and the one that I've actually been reading and kind of blown away by lately is somebody in at this church road. Actually, she's not here if I'm going to mention it.
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Pray forward. Amy Lutzelman wrote this book. So, Matt who did the announcement a few minutes ago. His wife wrote this and it is great. I'm taking it about a week at a week a page and it's half a page written but it's really really good about just being centered in prayer.
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I mentioned all of that because of the verse that he awakens me morning by morning. Just think about God is waking you up in the morning. Devoting that little time at the beginning of the day. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned or the disciple. It's good.
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It's a good time to do that. And we're approaching, you know, the resolutions for the New Year. I think that spending a little time with God in the morning is one and this is from the perspective of Jesus. He often withdrew into the wilderness to pray and speak in first person here, recognizing that God has given him a tongue to speak a word in season and he's given an ear to hear as the learned and this, the Lord God has opened my ear. God has opened my ear to receive a message from him.
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In the New Testament, we're promised that the Holy Spirit will illumine scripture and it will bring us into the truth. It'll bring us in as we submit our will to God. The Lord has opened my ear and I was not rebellious. This is Jesus again. Lord God has opened my ear, Jesus says, and I was not rebellious nor did I turn away.
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Can you imagine hearing some of the direction from the spirit that he had to walk towards the cross? And he was not rebellious nor did he turn away. How many of us can say that? We'll answer that question before this day is over. For this, you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps.
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He who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth. I was not rebellious nor did I turn away. I gave my beard voluntarily. Give is something not just they grab my beard. It's I gave my back to those who struck me.
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Can you hear that? Seven hundred years before Christ's passion but can you read this without thinking of the stripes from the cat of nine tails and the Roman soldiers tearing his flesh. I gave my back voluntarily to those who struck me and I gave my cheeks to those who plucked out my beard, the high priest, Caiaphas. Grabbing a hold of our saviors seven hundred years ahead of time. He's written this and that is significant.
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He says in chapter 42 that I tell you these things ahead of time so that you will know before they have come to pass, you'll know that these things are true so that you may see em ahead of time. God's the author of all time. We he doesn't deal in past, present, future the same way that we do except in Christ and Christ did. He was born into time and space and when he went from one place to another in those thirty, thirty three years. He had to walk from Galilee to get to Jerusalem.
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He didn't just go teleporter. He chose to be born into our limitations. He emptied himself. He gave his back to those who struck him. He gave his cheeks to those who pulled or plucked out at his beard.
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I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. Can you think of those Roman soldiers as they placed the crown of thorns on his head? A crown of thorns on his head crushed it down into those blood running in his face, pulling on it. Covered him up in a purple garment and say and bowing mockingly before him, shame and spit it. I did not have my face from it.
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I took it. For the Lord God will help me. Now, this in Isaiah, we see this a lot especially in the servant passages. We see the humanity and the deity of Christ played out. The humanity is, I'm going through all this stuff and I'm feeling the feels.
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I'm feeling everything that it is to be persecuted, punished, beaten, plucked, mocked, scorned, shamed, and spat upon but then we see the divine kick in and go, for the Lord God will help me. There's an assurance in the mission and there's an assurance in the one who sent. Therefore, I will not in the long run be disgraced. It's difficult but I will not be disgraced. This is worth it.
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Therefore, I have set my face like plant. For those of you who read the New Testament and you see these things, Luke nine fifty one. If you're if you're reading a commentary on the book of Luke, if it's a two volume commentary, it will be split. Before nine fifty one, it'll be Luke one one to nine fifty, and nine fifty one to the end of the book. And there's a reason for this.
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At this point, this turning point in the book of Luke, it says this, and it came to pass when the time was come. At just the right time, right? Kairos moment, not Chronos, just time but and it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up. He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. This is Luke calling up Isaiah right there to say, he set his face like flint and went leaning forward into the difficulty.
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Does that make sense? He voluntarily gave his back. He gave his cheeks. He gave. He voluntarily set his face like flint and went forward with his mission knowing and I know it says, first person from Jesus's perspective.
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I know that I will not be ashamed. This is God's servant. He is near who justifies me. God is near me. He's the one who justifies.
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Though all men may be against me, the one who justifies me is near. He did everything that he did in his life by the power of the spirit and the spirit is close always. Who will contend with me? If God is for us, who can be against us is the way that Paul would say that? If God is for us, who can be against us?
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Who will contend with me? So, let us stand together. If there's someone who would contend with me, let's get together on this. Who is my adversary? Now, just recently, about a month ago, we went through maybe five weeks ago.
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We went through in first Peter that we have an adversary and our adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Who is my adversary? Well, there is an adversary and it said, let him come near me. Basically, Jesus is saying, bring it on. Bring it on.
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I'm going to lean into this. I'm going to go forward with God's plan and there's nothing that you can do to stop me though whether the devil believed he had won a victory or not on the cross. He had not. Does that make sense? It is finished.
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Christ finished the work. Who is my adversary? Let him come near me. Bring it on. Surely, the Lord God will help me.
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His servant. Who is he? Who will condemn me if God is for me? Who could be against me? Indeed, they will all, everyone, they will all grow old like a garment and the moth will eat them up.
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Utter destruction is what lies ahead for anyone who should stand in opposition to this servant of God and I I would say, as you seek to fulfill your role in serving God, that anyone who opposes you in your righteous service of God. Eventually before. Now, for the now, it looked like, it looked like in the passion of Christ and in the crucifixion of Christ, it certainly looked like that evil had won but that was the way that Christ, I mean, that God had chosen for this to be. Nor was deceit found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return and when he suffered, he did not threaten but he committed himself to him who judges righteously.
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He entrusted himself to God who judges righteously, who, Jesus himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we haven't died to sins might live for righteousness. So, I said I was going to come back to five to fifty, ten, and eleven and I will. I'll come back at the very end. I think it's a good way to close the the sermon, good closing thought. We'll go forward in the Isaiah 53 is what most people refer to this but it's the last couple of verses of 52 and then 53 up to verse 12.
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So, here we are at 52, thirteen, and fourteen. Behold, my servant called out specifically. Now, there are four passages where he's called out as the servant of God. 42, 49, fifty, and fifty three and then there's one other one that we probably touch on briefly next week is 61. He's never called the servant there but it's very much a part of this role of servant that Jesus was called on to play.
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Behold my servant, he shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Shall be future, future, future. Just as many were astonished at you. So, his visage was marred more than any man.
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This is talking about the physical beating that Christ took in his passion. Arms pulled out of joint. No bones broken but arms pulled out of joint. Face beaten, back beaten, beard plucked, crown of thorns, his visage was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. Can you, can you see that 700 beforehand?
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That God has written these things from before so that you would be able to see. Now, there are a of verses in Isaiah and in other places in the Old Testament and New Testament say and seeing they will not see and hearing they will not understand. So, God's chosen covenant people have someone that is speaking directly to them, directly for God and he's saying that this is going to come to pass but by the time of Jesus, after four hundred years of virtual silence, four thirty years or so of the intertestamental silence, There's a time where God had not been speaking authoritatively through prophets and by the time of Jesus, what they were expecting for their Messiah was a Messiah who would reign victorious on the throne of David. What they were hoping for is someone to overthrow this oppressive Roman government. So, the Pax Romana, the Roman peace, we hear about it all the time.
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Oh, it was a great time of peace. Yeah, peace at the tip of a sword. As long as you do what the Romans wanted you to do, everything would be fine. And so, that God's covenant people, the Israel, his people felt oppressed and rightfully so. They were being oppressed and they had some level of self rule as long as it didn't get too rowdy.
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What they were looking for is a military conqueror that would come and rule from David's throne and that they would be the ones in charge and so, what do you think they did with the suffering servant passages? 42, 49, fifty, fifty three. What did they do? For the most part, for the most part, at the time of the Targums and the time of Jesus, most of the folks had taken that on as the identity of the nation, Israel, Of God's chosen people. They were the servant because certainly, they were spat upon.
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Certainly, they were looked down upon. Certainly, they were suffering and they recognized the suffering that they were feeling and they agreed that that was the case but they were looking to other passages for messianic but when Jesus came and he said, I came to serve and not be served. He's identifying with the servant. All of the New Testament writers identified Jesus with this suffering servant and point back to scripture but seeing they could not see and hearing they could not understand and there were people who still rejected. I'm not sure it's the best analogy but I I mentioned it in the first service.
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Imma throw it out there again. If somebody were to give you the lottery numbers for two weeks from now, and said, this is going to bring about millions and millions and millions of dollars for you. These are the numbers. You'd listen to them or you wouldn't listen to them. Nobody can know that.
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Certainly, they set that up so you can't know that, right? Nobody can predict the future. So you don't take them. Two weeks forward, those are the numbers. Would you feel foolish?
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Well seven hundred years ahead of time he says exactly how this is gonna come to pass. Seven hundred years ahead of time. It's something that everybody freely knows all the time. All of the guys recognize that this was scripture. All of them believe that it was God breathed and it had come to pass but they did not understand how it was.
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Seeing, they did not see, hearing, they don't understand. Still, there are tons of people who hear who hear about Christmas and who hear about Easter and who hear about Christians that believe but yeah, that's still kind of silly, right? They can't quite get there. Alright, back to the text. Behold my servant shall deal prudently and Jesus was prudent, right?
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I think he was. He shall be exalted and he shall be extolled and he shall be very high and he certainly was. Now, he had to go through humiliation and the humiliation of the passion and the cross before getting there but those are both future tenses just as many were astonished to choose. So, his visit was marred more than any man. Does that sound like the military conqueror that they were looking for?
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No. And his form was marred more than any of the sons of men and so or in such a way as this, he shall sprinkle many nations. Now, the word there, nations can be Gentiles, it can be families. It is that which is not just the nation of Israel, Jews. So shall he sprinkle many families.
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The way missionaries would probably translate nations right there is people groups. People who self identify as a group and in such a way as this or so, shall he, Jesus, sprinkle many nations. In Hebrews says, sprinkle them with his blood. Kings shall shut their mouths at him for what had not been told them, they shall see and what they had not heard, they shall consider. He's, there's no one above this question.
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Everyone has to decide what they will do with Jesus. It does not matter from the lowliest of low and he was born into very humble conditions. We celebrate that at Christmas but from those shepherds all the way up to those wise men and even kings have to decide. Everyone has to decide. Fifty three one starts off this way and who has believed our report?
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Who has believed our report? This is a question still for today. Who has believed what it is that we are saying that we're proclaiming? Who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? I've mentioned that the deity of Christ and the humanity are constantly back and forth.
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When it mentions the arm of the Lord. Actually, I reread a little synopsis. It's a it's a 10 or 12 pages that Bob wrote. Bob Wells right here wrote a few years back when he was studying through Isaiah 53 and I thought that what you had to say about the arm of the Lord being about the humanity or the power of reaching to humanity is really really good. Who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
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Jesus. Who has believed the report about Jesus and to whom has Jesus been revealed as this Messiah? Christus Victor, not in the way that they had anticipated but in the way that was necessary. For he shall grow up before him, he, Jesus, shall grow up before him. God, as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground.
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Now, I get to this place and I think back to every class that I had that mentioned Isaiah, they all go to this root. Actually, the word is Netzer and Netzer is the same root as Nazareth and so there's a pun in there and if you're a Hebrew scholar, this apparently is hilarious. I don't actually get the joke. I'm not really a Hebrew scholar but it's a biblical backing for dad jokes, Okay? Those puns, those weird little puns.
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So root, nets, or Nazareth pun. If you don't get it, I don't get it either, but there is one in there, and it's something that was written seven hundred years ahead of time, and it was even saying where he would be from? He has no form or comeliness, no attractiveness, and when we see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. It was not like Jesus was just so incredibly attractive. Now, today, because he's our savior and we look back on it, there are songs about seeing the face of Jesus and we talk about that but in his time, he just was like, looked like a normal guy.
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He looked normal. It wasn't like he was so pretty or so handsome that people were drawn to him and so there's, it wasn't that. It wasn't like people were drawn to him because of any human quality so much. He has no form of comeliness that when we see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. He actually is despised and it is there.
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Continued at force. He is despised and rejected by men. Is that still the case? It still is the case. Ain't that terrible?
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It's sad that that's true but it is true. So, for those of us who have accepted him, no, he's not despised and yes, we seek to see his face or his countenance, you know, but he's despised and he's rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. How many of y'all have experienced sorrow or grief? We all do.
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Jesus experienced sorrow, experienced grief. He experienced it all of the sorrow, all of the grief, all of the weight of all of our sin on his back. And we hid as it were our faces from him. We turned our backs on him and he was despised and we did not esteem him. So, I think we all start out in that condition that we don't look to Jesus as anything special at all, despise, reject it.
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We want to do it our way. He's a man of sorrows. He's acquainted with grief. You know, when he was going into Jerusalem, he sat up on the ridge above Jerusalem and he cried over Jerusalem. Oh, how I wanted to gather you under my wings as chicks but you would have
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none but we
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hid our face from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. Then, they welcomed him in. The trans the the triumphal entry when Jesus went on down the hill and went in Jerusalem. They welcomed him because they were looking for that military guy.
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Thought he might be here. When it turned out that he wasn't crucifying, despised, rejected, hit our face from him, despised, we did not esteem him. Seems to be a little bit of a fast shift right here to surely though he has born our griefs and he has carried our sorrows. It's already said that he didn't have sin of his own that he was carrying. He is carrying our sorrows and he's bearing our griefs yet we esteemed him as stricken and as smitten by God and afflicted.
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Actually, some of the mocking that they were doing from the gallery down below at the crucifixion was you saved others, save yourself now, nanny nanny, nanny boo boo. This is you're up there. Oh, let him let him call out. Let him save himself. Surely, God wouldn't allow this to happen to someone who was righteous.
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Yet, we esteemed him stricken smitten by God, and afflicted but strong adversity of conjunction there but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was wounded for our transgressions and he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace. Was upon him. And by his stripes were healed.
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For he himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we having died to sins might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. This is a uneducated fisherman that's writing this. First Peter, right? He's writing this and he's calling back to Isaiah. All of the New Testament writers, Isaiah is their favorite pointing to these passages.
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It's the best place I think to make a connection for the tie between the two. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone of us to his own way and the Lord has laid on him, Christ, the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted and yet he opened not his mouth. Can you think about Jesus before Pilate?
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When he's there and Pilate says, you're just sitting there saying nothing. Don't you know that I have the authority to kill you? And he says, you would have no authority except that God had given it to you. God was in charge. He never was out of charge.
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Jesus never answered in defense of himself though he was completely and totally righteous. He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and just as a sheep before its shearers is silent. So, opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgement and who will declare his generation for he was cut off from the land of the living.
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I assume in this Israel study tour, it'll take us outside of the city wall and it's across a graveyard which is desecrated place to Jews and Muslims like. It took him outside of the land of the living to the place of the dead, the place of the skull, and they hung him, crucified him on a cross, and for the transgressions of my people, this is God's people. For the transgressions of God's people, he was stricken. So, if you feel or if you are listening to modern scholarship and modern folks that say, there's no substitutionary atonement in the Bible. It's not there.
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It is there. It is all over everywhere. They had to come up with. Wycliffe came up with the word atonement when he was doing his Bible translation because there was not a good word for being put at one with God at one meant. Jesus's death put us, those who believe at one with God.
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For the transgressions of my people, he was stricken. He took upon himself the sins and they made his grave with the wicked. So, he's killed between two robbers but with the rich at his death. Now, Joseph Of Arimathea. Joseph Of Arimathea was a rich man and he loaned Jesus his grave.
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Nicodemus, Joseph, who's with the rich at his death because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth. Here we go back to first Peter who committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth. He committed himself and entrusted himself continually to him who judges righteously and yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. That is a very hard sentence. Ain't it?
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Pleased, yet it pleased God. Now, I don't consider that this is blasphemy but I hear people that read something like that and they say, it's just divine child. What kind of a megalomania that would subject their offspring to this kind of treatment? Merciful, benevolent, loving God that wants for people to be saved. Outside of this, there was no other way.
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This was the way and it pleased the Lord to bruise him. His suffering was redemptive. Does that make sense? His suffering was redemptive and it pleased God in the eternal mind and heart of God. It pleased him that one would be taken so that the many might be saved.
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He would, he has put him to grief. God had this plan and Jesus walked it out perfectly in the power of the spirit. God put Jesus to grief and when you make his soul an offering for sin, he, Jesus, shall see his seed. Jesus shall see those who are saved. He shall prolong his days.
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That's speaking of resurrection. Seven hundred years before, seven hundred years before and he's saying this, he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church that Christ established. He shall see the labor of his soul. You know, he's seated at the right hand of the father and interceding for us and building the church and advancing the gospel.
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He shall see the labor of his soul and he shall be satisfied. Amen. And he shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many.
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For he shall bear their iniquities. Substitutionary atonement is all over the Bible and it is presented as the only way. I'll get to that in
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just a
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minute. Therefore, God says, I will divide him a portion with the great. We're join heirs with Jesus as we travel this side and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he, Christ, poured out his soul unto death. Being found as a man, he did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped but he took on the nature of a what? Servant.
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Paul points back to this, servant passages two. He took on the nature of a servant and he humbled himself and he humbled himself to death and not just death but death on a cross. And for this, God has exalted him that his name would be above every name and that at the name of Jesus, every knee would bow and every tongue confess. That he is lord because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors. Mark 15 says, with him, they also crucified two robbers, one on his right and the other on his left.
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So, the scripture was fulfilled which says and he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bore the sin of many on that cross and he made intercession for the transgressors. If you think about the actual transgressors were the ones nailing him to the cross. Not just including the Roman soldiers but us. We are the ones who had the sin that put him there and so, he made intercession for the transgressors.
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I love that while they're nailing him to the cross beam, he says, father, forgive them for
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the amount they do.
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They don't understand. Seeing, they don't see. Hearing, they don't understand. I am praying that you, lord, would let them. Come to this knowledge and put their trust in.
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He bore the sin of many made intercession for the transgressors. Now, I'm going back to the last two verses of chapter 50 and they are this, who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of his servant? If we're honest, even as saved people, if we're honest, we gotta admit we still fall short. Who among you?
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Fears the Lord and who obeys the voice of his servant. Who does everything that Jesus tells him to do every time? Boy, that'll humble you. Romans three, I'm going to just read this. I try not to say anything up here that's not scriptural.
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I do try to make the connections for you but I want you to hear it. Now, I wrote this bigger than that but that's how much we're going to read from Romans three. What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Well, not at all.
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For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles like he's speaking mostly. He was speaking to folks that about Jewish heritage. What should we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all.
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For we've already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written, there's no one righteous. No, not even one. There's no, there's none who fears the Lord, right? There's none who understands.
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There's no one who seeks God. All have turned away and they have together become worthless. There's no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves. Their tongues practice deceit.
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The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift, shed blood. Does this sound like the newspaper? It does.
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So, all of this, their feet are swift to shed blood, ruin, and misery mark their ways in the way of peace they just do not know. There's no fear of God before their eyes. Now, we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be silenced in the whole world held accountable to God because if God created this world, he makes the rules and the law applies to everyone. Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law rather through the law we become conscious of our sin. So, when it says, who among you fears the Lord and who obeys the voice of his servant?
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Who walks in darkness and has no light? I think if we're honest, we all start out in darkness with no light. If God graciously, mercifully reveals that to us, there's an answer. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God when we recognize that. This is the answer and I call this option one.
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Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God. Are you with me? That's option one. Preferred option I would say but we'll get to option two in just a second. Who among you fears the Lord?
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Who obeys the voice of his servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Left to our own devices that describes every single one of us as human. There's no one righteous. No, not one.
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That was written a thousand AD by the way. That was a thousand years before Christ. Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God. That is our answer right there. When I come before heaven's judgment seat, let the blood of Calvary speak for me.
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I put my trust in the Lord not on anything that I have ever done. Now, fifty eleven gives us option number two. Look, all of you who kindle a fire. You who encircle yourselves with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that you have kindled. This is if you want to do it on your own.
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Option number one is trust in God. This is the option. This is the way that he has made. Option number two is you can build a little fire for yourself. Option two though ends this way.
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This you shall have from capital M, God's hand. You shall lie down in torment. It's a horrible thing. It's either let him put his trust in God and then you could say along with this suffering servant that surely my God will help me but if you decide to do it on your own, you shall have this from my hand. Have you all talked any crazy?
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I'm not saying this in the psychoanalytical term but have all talked to any crazy people this week? I have talked to a lot of crazy people this week and I've talked to people who are trying anything they can find to not pay attention to what scripture says, to not trust in the savior, to not trust in God. They're trying to find their own way and with this wackadoo, way out there crazy stuff but it's their own way. Well, that's kindling our own fire and that doesn't end well. It just doesn't end well.
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I know that it sounds closed minded. I understand that but if back to our little lottery numbers, not the best example in the world but if those are the numbers and they are right, you stand to gain, right? Temporally from having trusted in that. Well, this is not temporal. This is eternal.
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This is what we're dealing with and if he calls it out from a thousand years ahead of time and seven hundred years of time, technically, from two thousand years ahead of Jesus's birth. So, four thousand years ago, he's already pointing towards this prophet who would come and Jesus fulfills all of these prophecies and seeing that, just see it instead of not see it. Because the other option is this, you shall lie down in torment. So, option one, I think, let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God. Christ has made the way.
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So, the message of the cross, how many times do we come back to this slide? It is the message of the cross and I know first Corinthians says, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved, it's the very power of God and if you've trusted in Christ and submitted your will to his, you see that this kingdom of darkness is having less and less influence in your life and the kingdom of light is what you're going towards and your practice every day but your soul is already there. This saying is trustworthy and it's deserving of full acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and I know that the sermon has been pretty heavy today. There's been swinging pretty doggone heavy. Merry Christmas, right?
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Merry Christmas because he was born into this. There was no other option. Come now long expected Jesus. He did come so that we would have life and have it more abundantly and that's the good news of this season and so I go back to fifty three one again. Who has believed this report?
1:08:26
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Jesus is that arm of the Lord. Would you pray with me and I'll ask you to stand. Kristen, what are we singing? Do you know whatever comes up with joyful, joyful, we adore you.
1:08:39
That's perfect. Alright. Would you all stand with me and I'm going to pray real quick. Lord, thank you for your word. I thank you that your living word, Jesus came and I thank you that lord, you'd forecast him so beautifully in so many different places and then having him walk it out down to the letter.
1:09:01
I thank you for that life that's so well lived lord and he does he is deserving of our joy. On this third Sunday in Advent, this joy Sunday, we do sing these words and mean them. Lord, joyful, joyful, joyful, we adore them. Jesus name, amen. Would you sing out if you believe?
1:09:24
Joyful we adore you God of glory lord of light angels lifting praise before you sing throughout this holy night in a manger lies a baby child of Mary son of God voices joined in joyful chorus praise you for your gift of Amen.
1:10:00
Thank you very much. I've got a closing benediction here. It's from Jude twenty four and twenty five. Now, to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you as blameless, that's Jesus, right? Before the presence of his glory with great joy to the only God, to our savior, through Jesus Christ, our lord.
1:10:17
May it there be glory and majesty and dominion and authority from before all time and now and forever. In Jesus name, I pray lord that you would allow us to walk in the power of the spirit and do as you direct. Amen.
Topics
Christmas And The CrossIsaiah 53Morning DevotionalProphecy FulfilledSubstitutionary AtonementSuffering Servant
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