The Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52:13-53) Part 2

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Scripture is pleased to me. Suffering, discernment, passage. Let's say chapter 13, verse 13 through chapter 53.

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Let's ask the Lord's blessing upon it. My gracious Heavenly Father, once again, as we have but these few moments to look into your word, we ask that during this time you would be with us, that you would open our hearts and minds, and once again, we would truly show proper appreciation for what you have given to us in these words that confirm us in our faith, that show your control, your providence in history, for the truthfulness of your word.

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Be with us in that, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. We continue our examination of the suffering, discernment, passage that we began this morning.

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We began with Isaiah 52, verse 13. We have looked rather briefly through these first few verses.

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We now come to the 53rd chapter, specifically with the question being asked, who has believed our report, or our message, and to whom has the arm of the

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Lord been revealed? We saw that this is a text that is quoted more than once in the context of the

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New Testament. The New Testament writer is seeing this, in essence, as a prophecy of the rejection of many people in amongst the people of Israel, of the work of the

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Messiah himself. Once again, showing they saw this entire text as being of the Messiah.

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But then here, we won't have time to develop this, but if you are desirous of, in your own study, getting more deeply into the themes of the book of Isaiah, I think you would find it to be extremely interesting, and well worth the examination, to look at some of the texts, especially the connection between chapter 53 and Isaiah chapter 6.

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Because in Isaiah chapter 6, you have Isaiah's call to the prophetic ministry.

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And remember, part and parcel of that calling was, you're going to go out, you're going to do this, but I am going to cause their ears to be deaf, and I'm going to cause them to not hear, because I'm bringing judgment upon them.

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Those same themes come in the New Testament. And I think it's, while it's extremely unpopular today, to have judgment themes in that sense.

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To talk about God bringing judgment upon a people, or upon a nation, even in the context of giving people ears so as to not hear.

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I think it's important that we think about how often this took place in history.

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Not only in the old covenant, but the fact that the apostles saw this taking place even in their own ministry.

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In fact, I feel compelled to just expand upon this just for a moment, for our sake. I mentioned just briefly this morning the fact that a very recent

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Gallup poll indicated that our society, a majority in our nation now support the profanation, the abomination of marriage called same -sex marriage.

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And a constant theme in my thinking is, how are we as Christians to live in a nation that is clearly under the wrath of God?

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That has closed its eyes to such bright light as the

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Gospel has shed upon this society. How can we live faithfully in this context?

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I think it is something that every single one of us, I don't care what you do. I don't care what your calling is. If you live in this society, student, blue -collar worker, white -collar worker, educator, housewife,

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I don't care where you are, I don't care how old you are. You have to ask yourself the question, if I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, how do

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I follow Him faithfully in the context of God's judgment coming upon my nation?

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And so the fact that there are these themes, that there are times when God calls us to proclaim

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His message, even in the midst of judgment, even when we know that the majority of the people, that maybe even the vast majority of the people to whom we speak, will not only turn a cold shoulder or a deaf ear, they may be violent in response.

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We have many brothers and sisters around the world who face this every day. It's called living in an Islamic country.

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Living in Pakistan or places like that, we pray for these people, but what about us? We need to think about these things and recognize we are not the first ones to face this.

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And God's people have found Him to be faithful to them in the midst of those situations many times before.

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And so it starts off with the question, who has believed? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

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And I think we'd answer that question today, the faithful remnant. There's always that faithful remnant, and it's always the

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Lord that reserves that remnant, who will believe the message and will see that the arm of the

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Lord has been revealed. For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground.

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He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

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Jesus, unlike very many of the popular presentations of Him today, did not glow when

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He walked down the city streets of Jerusalem. There was one time that happened, but it was an unusual situation.

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It was the Mount of Transfiguration when the Son was in the presence of the Father, and there were only three witnesses. But Jesus worked in a carpenter's shop.

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Jesus grew up in a small little town that has hardly made any mark on history whatsoever.

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And so Jesus does not come in the form that many people expected. And this suffering servant, again, shows the contrast between the stately grandeur of the

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Messiah who rules over the nations, and yet now we have this suffering servant.

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He is like a tender root, like a root out of the parched ground. Now, you and I are seeing roots out of the parched ground all the time these days.

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They're called weeds. And no matter what we do, they keep coming back. I mean, the number of noxious chemicals

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I've sprayed on my backyard is amazing. And I think there are some of the weeds that are coming back there that like Roundup.

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I really think they grow bigger and they're going to eat my house or something. But it's just, these things come up.

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At first, you sort of see this little thing, and it's like, ah, I don't even bother squirting that one. And three days later it comes out, and it has eaten the cat.

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I mean, it's just, it's huge. It's massive. But when you first see it, it's like, ah,

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I won't even give it a second thought. That's what a root out of a parched ground is. It's a little tender shoot. We're not talking about the stately cedars over in California and things like that.

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Just a little thing. He has no stately form or majesty. We should look upon him. It's not like in the

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Old Testament, where you have some of the kings that are head and shoulders above the others.

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You know, Saul is this erudite fool. He's something else. No, that's not how

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Jesus came. That's not how this suffering servant came. There was no appearance that we should be attracted to him.

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So there is something plain about this suffering servant. And yet, there is also the way that people responded to him.

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He was despised and forsaken of man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised and we did not esteem him.

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Now, in that culture, to treat someone like this means that you were convinced this was a wrongdoer.

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This was a person who had done something. He was not worthy of the normal honor that would be given to almost anyone.

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In fact, as we think about that, in the days of Jesus, who were treated...

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In the society, who would you treat this way? Republicans, sinners, well -known people, the prostitutes.

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Despised and forsaken of men. Now, some people say, well, this proves it can't be Jesus, because he had many followers.

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There were great crowds that followed him. Yeah, very fickle crowds. Crowds that wanted to see miracles.

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Crowds that wanted to be entertained. But when it came down to crowds that actually understood what he was saying and followed him for what he said.

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Really? 120 people in the after room? Instead, there would be those who would say away with him at the end of his ministry.

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His blood be upon us and upon our children. He was despised and we did not esteem him.

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Who's the we? Well, I suppose in the immediate context, we're looking at fulfillment.

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We did not esteem him would be first and foremost the people of God. Because, as it says, surely our greece, he himself abhorred, our sorrows he carried.

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But I think it goes beyond just simply a Jewish fulfillment to all of mankind.

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Even to this day, is not the suffering servant treated in this way by many?

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Not just atheists and people who are open in their disbelief. But sometimes I wonder if he's not despised and forsaken of men more amongst the religious than anybody else.

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He was despised, we did not esteem him. Surely our griefs he himself abhorred and our sorrows he carried.

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Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. So there is, the suffering servant somehow bears our griefs.

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He carries our sorrows. Now this is, you've seen this so many times,

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I don't even have to explain it to you. Though I will anyways. And the Hebrew language has something called parallelism.

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And it is a mechanism whereby the language allows you to express in fuller color what it is you want to say.

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And so you repeat yourself using different terms and different terminology. So as to expand on your point.

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The reason I say I don't need to explain it to you is if you've read the Old Testament almost at all. You've encountered it so many times that your mind has already become accustomed to it.

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In fact sometimes we don't pay as close attention to it as we should. Because of the fact that we've seen it so often.

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And so our griefs he bore, our sorrows he carried. How? Again, who would this suffering servant be?

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How could any one person carry our griefs?

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Carry our sorrows? There's something substitutionary here.

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There's some mechanism whereby this suffering servant is able to enter into our deficit.

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The things that we lack. How can this be? Again, thinking about the ways that this text has been viewed.

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Could it be said by the world that this is what the nation of Israel has done?

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No. They have plenty of griefs and sorrows of their own. Jeremiah?

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Well he certainly had lots of griefs and sorrows. But he didn't bear them, he didn't carry them away.

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What does it mean to bear them? What does it mean to carry them? And while he does this.

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While he does this, those whose griefs he bears and sorrows he carries. We esteem him stricken, smitten,

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God afflicted. And again, that speaks very directly to a settled conclusion on the part of those who are observing him.

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God's judgment is upon him. Now what could possibly happen?

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That would cause people to say, God has afflicted him. God has struck him down.

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He's been smitten with God. Is not even to this day, one of the primary objections of the

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Jewish people. To Jesus being the Messiah, the Mashiach, the Anointed One.

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Is it not the very statement of Scripture? He who hangs upon a tree is cursed.

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My Muslim friends cite the same text. Jesus might be that they accept him as the Messiah, they don't know what

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Messiah means. But they don't necessarily accept him as a sin -bearing

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Savior. And one of the reasons is, well, of course they reject him, he died upon the cross. And the reason they reject that is he hung upon a tree, cursed of God.

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The Jews say he was hung upon a tree because he was cursed of God.

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We esteem him stricken, smitten of God, afflicted. We looked on the outward and said, that could happen to someone.

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Remember the idea the disciples had? When they saw the blind man, who sinned? This man or his parents?

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He'd be born blind. What was Jesus' response? Neither one. You see, the mindset was, if you experience this, if you experience the rejection of men, if you experience these kinds of things,

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God must be against you. That does make me wonder how often

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Job got read in the synagogue. But, that's how people, again, tradition overrides

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Scripture. How, for 700 years, were the next words understood?

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But he was pierced through for our transgressions.

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He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well -being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed.

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Again, we read these words and we simply cannot separate them from our

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New Testament fulfillment. It's impossible for us to step back.

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But if we can at least make the effort, pierce through for our transgressions.

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This is a righteous servant. And somehow, he's standing in the gap.

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There's something substitutionary going on here. These are our transgressions.

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There's nothing here about, well, God's just simply forgotten about our transgressions.

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No, these are our transgressions, and they bring the wrath of God. They are our iniquities, and he is crushed for them.

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There is a substitution here. But then notice, the first half of the verse is what he experiences.

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He's pierced, he's crushed for our transgressions and our iniquities. And then the second half of the verse, the chastening for our well -being fell upon him.

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The chastening for our well -being fell upon him. You want to guess what that Hebrew word for well -being is?

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Shalom. Shalom. You all know what shalom means, right?

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Shalom means peace. Peace. You think that wasn't behind Paul's thinking?

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When he said to the Romans, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have what?

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Peace with God. True shalom. The chastening for our shalom fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed.

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First two lines, what happens to him in regards to sin. Second two lines, the positive benefit to us, shalom and healing.

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The chastening and scourging necessary for those things, we can't bear that.

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We're under the penalty of the law. What is being said about the nature of this suffering servant that he can undergo these things in our place, so that his suffering results in our shalom and in our healing?

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Who must the suffering servant be? What must his character be? Then you have the confession.

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All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.

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Now here, you have words of confession. There are many people who will not say these words.

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There are many people who will not make confession of sin. But here you have people who recognize like sheep have gone astray.

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Sheep always need a shepherd because sheep are always going astray. Sheep do not have inborn

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GPS capabilities, there's no question about it. We don't need to even go into that, we've all heard the story over and over again.

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That's why the good shepherd has to keep the flock together. But each of us has turned to his own way, rather than the way of God, rather than following the straight path.

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Each of us, in our own wisdom, turns to our own way. But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.

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Now, lest you be thinking as a theologian. These are the words of the confessors.

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In other words, those who recognize that we like sheep have gone astray, those of us who know we've gone our own way, those are the ones whose iniquity has fallen upon him.

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But here's that substitutionary idea again. This concept of iniquity.

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It's real iniquity, it's our iniquity. And yet somehow

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Yahweh can take this iniquity. And it falls upon him.

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It's placed upon him. Bearing, carrying, falling upon him. All words of substitution.

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All words of transfer. Yes, we've gone our own way.

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We've gone away from God. But it's God who has provided the way by causing the iniquity of us all to fall on this suffering servant.

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The result is he was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.

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Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silenced before its shearer, so he did not open his mouth.

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Now there are some who would say, ah, well you see, Jesus did answer Pilate. Jesus talked to Pilate, or Jesus answered questions of, this can't be

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Jesus. That's one of the weakest arguments I've ever heard in a curfew announcement.

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Especially if it's someone who says, actually this is a nation of Israel. Yeah, they've been real silenced. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.

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Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silenced before its shearer, so he did not open his mouth. What does that mean? It means he did not object to that which

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God had brought into his experience. Yes, he prayed in the garden, if it be possible.

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But when the experience took place, he knew it was necessary.

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He did not protest his innocence. He did not do as so many would do, and cry out, what you're doing is wrong!

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Stop this now! No. Indeed, he knew that he had the authority and the power to bring judgment to bear.

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Even at that point, I could ask my father and he'd give me a legion of angels, but no. He did not say, oh, you need to understand what you're doing.

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Oh, you're going to be bringing destruction. No. He was oppressed, he was afflicted.

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Yet he did not open his mouth proclaiming his innocence in that way.

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By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the way of the living from the transgression of my people, to whom this rope was due?

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How many different ways, 700 years before Christ, can we talk about substitution?

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By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. Oppression and judgment, the abuse of power found amongst the

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Jewish leaders and amongst the Romans. And clearly, this one dies.

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And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the way of the living? This one dies.

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Keep that in mind, because I think we even have some elements of the resurrection found here as well.

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In light of what's going to be coming right after this. He was cut off out of the land of the living.

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Why? For the transgression of my people, to whom this rope was due.

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Transgression of my people, it's real sin. Somehow, his being cut off out of the land of the living, allows him to bear the stroke that was due to my people.

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And this sort of makes it difficult, again, to figure out how anybody can say this is about Israel. How can

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Israel be cut off out of the land of the living with the transgression of Israel, to whom the stroke was due? There's no transfer there.

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There's no substitution there. It makes no sense. This is obviously a singular individual, the suffering servant.

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Who's cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due.

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Somehow, this suffering servant's death, deals with the transgressions of God's people.

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Now, we've been working through Hebrews. We've been working through a book, written about 750 years later.

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And so, we see, in its fullness, what is here, prophesied.

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Long before the events actually take place. And so, it's okay to be amazed at the fulfillment.

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But it's also necessary for us to keep trying to listen to this as it was originally spoken.

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And think about, what would the people have heard? What could they have understood?

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It's easy for us to stand back, and look backwards, and go, Ah, they should have seen this. Clearly, there's a first coming

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Messiah. And he's got the redemptive work, and the suffering Messiah. And because of this, it brings about peace with the people of God. And then, he's coming again.

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That's easy for us. It wasn't so easy for them. He was cut off by the

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Lamb of the Living. He dies. And he does so with the transgression of my people. I mean, what else could it mean?

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His grave was assigned with wicked men. Yet, he was with a rich man in his death.

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You know, I didn't ask. The one time

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I had an opportunity, you may recall, about a decade ago now. Yeah, it was a decade ago now.

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I debated one of the leading open theists in the world today.

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At a Reformed Theological Seminary down in Florida, in Orlando. It would have been a good question to ask.

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How can you believe that God does not know the free actions of creatures in the future?

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Hence, God does not know what the future is going to be. When you have stuff like this in the prophetic scriptures.

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I mean, surely my opponent must have believed that Isaiah 53 was about the Messiah. How in the world could you say 700 years earlier, his grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death?

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Think about all the different decisions that came together to have Jesus dying with wicked men on either side of him.

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And yet Joseph of Arimathea comes along and they use his tomb. I mean, if there isn't a sovereign decree of God, how could you ever have anything as far as prophecy goes?

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And if that sovereign decree of God is not exhaustive in its detail, how do you get this? It's amazing.

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His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death. Because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth.

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Now, one of the objections, I've been listening to a lot of Jewish anti -missionary apologetics recently.

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One of the reasons being that my Muslim friends borrow from them all the time. And one of the objections, they'll say, this can't be

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Jesus. You know why? Because he drove the people out of the temple with a whip. So he did violence.

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Well, of course, if you actually look at this term violence, it's used in the Old Testament. First of all,

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Jesus wasn't being violent in cleansing the temple. He didn't wrap a whip around somebody's neck and kill them or anything like that.

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In fact, the whip would probably be more used to get the animals going than the people going. I don't know, if someone comes at me with a whip,

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I'm not waiting around to find out what it feels like. But violence, in this sense, is almost always sinful violence.

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Violence such as murder, and thievery, and robbery, and that kind of violent overthinking of the authorities, and things like that, which

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Jesus, of course, did not do. So he's done no violence.

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He's assigned his grave with wicked men. He was the rich man in his death.

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Nor was there any deceit in his mouth. He always spoke truthfully, even before Pilate.

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But Yahweh was pleased to crush him. Yahweh was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief.

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Father, if it is possible, it's not. It is necessary.

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Jesus humbles himself. The triune God is involved.

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The Spirit bears him up. The triune God is involved in bringing about redemption. And Yahweh was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief.

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Having done so, notice what it says. If he would render himself an asham.

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An asham. A guilt -bother. How does he do that?

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He can't be guilty. To render himself as an asham, the only one who can do that is one who is pure.

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The only one who can do that is one who has no deceit in his mouth. Who has done no violence. Therefore, he is not one of those who has gone astray.

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He is not one of those who has iniquities to be atoned for. We are being told something about the nature of this suffering servant.

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There is something about him that allows him to be, to render himself, to give himself as an asham.

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I love seeing how it's rendered here. He would render himself, as Paul put it, he made himself of no reputation.

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The voluntariness of Christ's self -sacrificial work.

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When he does this, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the

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Lord will prosper in his hand. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

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What? Cut off out of the land of the living. No generation.

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His grave. He will see his offspring, prolong his days. How does that work?

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There is only one way to make that work, folks. That's called resurrection. Here, that would just simply say, well, you can't make heads or tails of it.

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No. If he would render himself as an asham, a guilt offering, he will see his offspring in a parcel.

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The objection is, he never had any kids. How can he see his offspring? Well, if you can go directly from rendering himself as a guilt offering to whether he has kids or not, you're not really following the context anyways.

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He renders himself as a guilt offering. That means he has borne our iniquities, our griefs, our sorrows, our transgressions.

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As a result, who is created? Who is given life?

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The people of God. We are the result of his life -giving act.

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He sees, it's literally his seed, the result of what comes from his action.

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And he prolongs his days. What are we called in the New Testament? The Body of Christ.

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The Body of Christ. And what does he do? He lives in us, by his

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Spirit. He will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of Yahweh will prosper in his hand.

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Is that not what the Church is the fulfillment of?

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As a result of the anguish of his soul, Yosemite and Calvary.

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He will see it, and he will be satiated. Satisfied.

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It's a word that can refer to that wonderful feeling you can have when you... You have a wonderful meal, and you are fully satisfied.

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You push away from the table. You know, maybe the waitress comes, or something like that.

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Leave room for dessert? Are you kidding? Can't even think about that. Fully satisfied, nothing left.

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As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it, or resurrection.

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He will be satisfied. It is finished.

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Not partially done. I did my best job. Too bad I couldn't get that done.

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Oh, almost got that done. You know, that's normally how we do things. But he will see it, and he will be satisfied.

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I love this next phrase. By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many, as he will bear their iniquities.

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Now, what you don't see in that is partly because of the way we translate English. It doesn't come out real well.

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But it's literally, by his knowledge. Zadik, Zadik.

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That is, it's Yazdik, Zadik. The same root as yours.

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Zedekah means righteousness. So it is the Zadik servant, who will

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Yazdik, justify, make righteous. So my righteous servant will make righteous.

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We use different words, and so we sort of miss the play on words that is there.

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By his knowledge, the righteous servant, my righteous one, will righteous, make righteous, many.

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How will he do this? How will the suffering servant, the righteous one, justify, make righteous, many?

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By substitution. He will bear their iniquities.

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He will bear their iniquities. It is amazing for me to report to you today, folks, that there is a major movement of faith.

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Many quasi -evangelical groups to question the validity and reality of substitutionary atonement categories in the

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Bible. The only way you can do that is if you no longer believe

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Old Testament passages like this have anything to do with the fulfillment of the New. I mean, how many times have we seen substitution so far?

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How does justification take place? Through the work of the suffering servant, in bearing their iniquities.

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Every system that says that we somehow do something to gain our justification.

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That is not in accordance with the prophetic scriptures announcing the coming work of Christ.

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Let alone the explanation of those things found in the New Testament. By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will.

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Not simply make justification a possibility. He is the one who will justify.

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Isn't it interesting that God is described as the God who justifies. And how does he do so?

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Through the work of his son. Therefore, what do we see in the

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New Testament? What do we see in the beautiful Kermit Christian, Philippians 2 .5 -11? Because he humbled himself, became obedient to death, death on a cross, therefore also

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God highly exalted him. That is always the pathway. Humility leading to exaltation.

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Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great. He will divide the booty with the strong because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors.

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Yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors. I said this morning, it's like one of the apostles sat down after the events of Calvary and the resurrection and the outpouring of the

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Holy Spirit. There in that first year and wrote these words.

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Looking back with the vivid memory of the crucifixion in his mind.

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They were written 700 years before that. God will give him this exalted position.

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Why? Because he poured out himself to death. He humbled himself.

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He did not consider equality with God something to be held on to at all costs, but made himself of no reputation.

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He humbled himself. He poured out himself to death.

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He was numbered with the transgressors. Crucified between two thieves.

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Crucifixion only for the worst of transgressors. He who's hung upon a tree is cursed.

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Yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.

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Do we even here find a hint of the full work of Christ?

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Even in the sense of the intercession that we've been seeing the fullness of in Hebrews? Now I just pause for a moment to point out, if there was ever any place, the scriptures could have concluded forever the issue of the extent of the atonement.

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The specific purpose of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in the death of Christ in regards to the specific redemption of sins.

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Could have taken care of that right here. And yet over and over again, it's been by being the many.

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Not every single human being on the planet. He himself bore the sin of many.

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Isn't it amazing that's directly connected to and interceded for. Have we not seen in the book of Hebrews?

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Intercession, the work of the high priest. Together, same audience, same effect.

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Here it is, 700 years before the events that are explained to us in Hebrews.

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I don't know about you, but I cannot possibly conceive of any time in the future, in my life, no matter how much

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I studied it. No matter how many times I preached upon it. That I could ever look at a text like this and not just stand back in absolute awe.

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I mean we have barely scratched the surface. But to me there is something so utterly amazing.

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I'm amazed that I stand upon the other side of the earth from where these events took place.

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I'm amazed that I do so thousands of years later. And yet I possess the very words that were written down almost 3000 years ago.

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About 2700 years ago. I possess them not only in my language, I possess them in the original language.

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That's providence. And then I possess these words and I have the rest of scripture which allows me to see the fulfillment of these things.

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And all this is brought right down and applied to me. So that I can know that I truly have peace with God.

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That what I'm told in the New Testament, yes it's true. Isn't that why when

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Jesus was resurrected, Luke chapter 24, what does it say in verse 45? He opened their minds so they might understand the scriptures.

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He grounded His disciples in the reality that the Law and the

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Prophets had all pointed to Him. Wouldn't you have loved to have been in that group the first time

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Jesus began going through the suffering servant passage? I bet it was one of the first ones.

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Oh, did you hear that? Given that Peter so often cites the text, he was listening closely.

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He was listening closely. But you know what? While that would have been an awesome privilege, it's just as awesome that we have these words today.

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We have the same spirit that opened their hearts and minds. We can't sit back and go, yeah boy, if I had heard

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Jesus say that, that really would have made me excited. No, we have the very same spirit that involved them.

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It's okay. Reformed Baptists can be excited about these things too.

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I hope, as you think about these words, I hope the next time we read this text before the

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Lord's Supper, it won't just be, oh yeah, Isaiah 53. Yeah, here's some stuff about the crucifixion.

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I hope the thought will always be in your mind, oh, for 700 years, men read these words.

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They pondered and they wondered. I get to read these words.

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And I get to rejoice in their fulfillment. I get to rejoice in the peace.

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The peace that He brought about by His work. He brought about my justification.

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He bore my transgressions. He bore my iniquities. He brought me peace.

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I hope that is what you consider at that time. I know for me, once again, thinking about these words has confirmed me and strengthened my faith once again.

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The sovereignty of God. The reality of His Word. The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Our gracious and sovereign Heavenly Father, we truly are amazed.

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Amazed at Your sovereign decree whereby You have chosen to glorify

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Yourself through the Gospel. That You have created this universe and this world to display

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Your glory, yes, and it does that. But to go so far beyond that, to enter into Your own creation, to bring about a special people redeemed through Your own work.

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Oh, blessed Holy Spirit, help us to understand right upon our hearts Your truth. Lord Jesus Christ, we thank

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You for Your condescension that You Yourself bore our transgressions, our sins, and Your body upon the tree.

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Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank You for this beautiful Gospel and we would pray that if there be any in the sound of my voice in this room this evening, or any who by other means will watch or listen to these few words

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I have shared, that You would show

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Yourself powerful. That You would reveal Yourself to Your people. That You would work that mighty miracle of taking out a heart of stone and giving a heart of flesh.

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That You would glorify Yourself in the salvation of those very people whose redemption

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You purchased so long ago. We thank You for Your work.

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We thank You for the Gospel that gives us peace. We ask as we go out this week, it would be as people who truly understand the price that was paid for the peace that we have with You.

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That we would rejoice in it and serve You heartily because of it. In love, we pray in Christ's name.