FBC Morning Light – June 17, 2022

Faith Baptist Church

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A good Friday morning. I hope your week has gone well. Here we are, end of another week, looking forward to the weekend.

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I trust you are planning on attending the Lord's House on Sunday, the

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Lord's Day, a day set aside to worship and serve him. I hope you'll do that.

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If you're not in the habit of being faithful in the services of God's house, you'll just make that a priority.

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We're studying God's Word together at 9 .30 on Sunday morning in every age group.

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We have Sunday school classes for all ages. In our adult class we're doing a really good study, and I'll say more about that in just a moment.

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Sunday morning we've been in 1 Peter. I'm going to be wrapping that up pretty soon, coming to the end of that letter.

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What a blessing that letter is. It's truth for troubled times in that letter. Boy, is it applicable to our lives today, as we are strangers and pilgrims in this world.

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A world that's becoming increasingly hostile to us. How do we deal with that?

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1 Peter is very helpful. Sunday evening service as well. Good opportunities on the

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Lord's Day to turn your attention to him, to learn and to grow. For our sake today, we're in Isaiah, chapter 41, 42, 43.

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This is a rich passage of Scripture. What I was getting at a minute ago when

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I was talking about adult Sunday school, we're studying a book, going through a book that's recently been written and published, entitled

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Gentle and Lowly. It's a book about Christ, and the subtitle of the book is,

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The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers. This is what the book looks like, and try to get a good look at it.

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I recommend it to you. It's a perspective on the heart of Christ that unfortunately isn't emphasized enough, but there it is.

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Jesus tells us in Matthew 11 what his heart is. He said,

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I am gentle and lowly in heart. That's fascinating the way he self -described his heart, because it fulfills what

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Isaiah prophesies that he would be like, that the Messiah would be like, the servant of the

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Lord. Listen to what the Lord says in Isaiah 42.

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He says, Behold my servant whom I uphold, and he's speaking of Messiah. This is a prophecy of Christ's coming, my elect one in whom my soul delights.

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I have put my spirit upon him, but listen, he will bring forth justice to the

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Gentiles. How will he do that? That's the question, isn't it?

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Because there are those who might be inclined to bring forth justice with a rod of iron, with cruelty and harshness and bringing under.

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But that's not what he says. He goes on to say, He will not cry out nor raise his voice nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

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A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench.

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He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands shall wait for his law.

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He just described the heart of Christ, gentle and lowly. How will

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Christ go about bringing about justice for truth?

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How will he do that? How will he bring justice to the Gentiles? He will do it with gentleness, with gentleness and humility.

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Christ showed gentleness all throughout his earthly ministry, didn't he? As he brought the gospel to even the

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Gentiles, even at his birth it was prophesied that he would bring this light to the

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Gentiles, to those who sit in darkness. Throughout the course of his earthly ministry, as he taught and as he worked, as he traveled around, he demonstrated this heart of gentleness, this approach of gentleness.

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Again, Isaiah prophesied it further in verses 6 -9, where it says,

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I, the Lord, so this is the Father speaking to the Son, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand.

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I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the peoples, as a light to the

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Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.

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I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carved images.

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The former things have come to pass, and new things I declare. Before they spring forth,

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I tell you of them. So the Lord is prophesying here. God in the Old Testament is prophesying the coming of Christ, and he's saying when he comes, and he comes to give light to the

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Gentiles, and he comes to open blind eyes, to bring prisoners out of the prison.

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That isn't necessarily literal, although he did do some of that, didn't he? Opening up the gate for Peter to come out of prison, and so forth.

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But anyway, I think it's speaking of spiritual prison primarily there. How did he do that?

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What was his manner in his earthly ministry? It was a manner of gentleness, demonstrating his lowliness.

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The word lowly means his humbleness, his humility. This is the heart of Christ for sinners and sufferers, prophesied in Isaiah 42, realized in the incarnation of Christ.

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Philippians 2, verses 5 and following, tells us to let this attitude be in us, this mind that was in Christ Jesus.

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Let that be in our mind as well. Let that be our mind as well, a mind of humility.

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Though he was equal with God, he did not consider it a thing to be grasped onto, to hold onto that equality, but he humbled himself.

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He became one of us. He humbled himself and became obedient even unto death, the death of the cross.

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Because of that, God has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, the name

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Christ Jesus. This is the heart of Christ, a heart of gentleness and lowliness.

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May that be our attitude as well, a heart of gentleness. May we pray for it, may we long for it, may we look to Christ for it.

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He is our great example, but he is also the one whom we must be like.

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Let's pursue it. The heart of gentleness, the heart of Christ. Our Father and our

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God, we thank you for this picture of Christ from Isaiah 42 and the reality of Christ as he lived out his earthly ministry.

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In the exaltation of Christ, we see him continuing to serve in gentleness as the intercessor for his people.

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We thank you for Christ and his heart. May we have the heart of Christ, we pray in Jesus' name, and we pray it.

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Amen. All right, well, have a good rest of your Friday, and again, join us this coming