Okay, our text is Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14, and we'll be in verses
24 through 32. Now, this portion of Scripture
is the conclusion of the burden of Babylon, and What it speaks
of, literally, historically, is Hezekiah, who would arise
to smite the Philistines, the enemies of the people of Judah.
But what we find in looking at Hezekiah is we see a more glorious,
more beautiful picture in Christ, who arose to defeat the enemies
of his people. And tonight, we'll see how that
the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, in defeating Assyria and the
Philistines, what we have more gloriously, what's more important
to us and why we rejoice to hear this is that Christ defeated
our enemies of sin and death. And our title is Delivered from
Death and Sin. So first I want us to look at
the purpose of God to save. In our text, the Lord, he returns
now to speak of Assyria, because Assyria needs to be destroyed
first. Babylon is a city, it does exist
at this time, but it's really not anything to speak of. So
when Isaiah is even speaking about Babylon and the glory that's
to come to Babylon, earthly speaking, what is to become in the eyes
of the world doesn't even exist. It's not even in the minds or
the eyes of people. But first Assyria has to go down
because Babylon is subjected by Assyria. And so Assyria needs
to be destroyed and then Babylon will arise and then Babylon will
be destroyed as we've seen. And Assyria is also the more
immediate pressing concern for the people in that day because
they're the ones who are threatening the very existence of Judah.
Now look there at our verses 24 and 25. Isaiah 14 24 and 25 The LORD
of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so
shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it
stand, that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon
my mountains tread him under foot. then shall his yoke depart
from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders."
And we know from the scriptures that what God says, what he purposes,
it shall stand. If he desires it to come to pass,
it shall come to pass. A little later in Isaiah 46,
verses 9 through 10, he says, I am God, and there is none like
me. declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying
my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Now understand that Assyria here
in this text, it pictures death. Assyria pictures death and that's
a burden that is too great for us and we understand that. Everyone
we know When they come into this earth, they die. We all die. So Assyria is a picture of death. And when Adam sinned, he subjected
himself and all his posterity to ruin and death. Paul writes
to the Romans, I'll just read it, 519, as by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. And so we died spiritually In
Adam, when Adam ate that fruit, immediately the fellowship that
we had with God was severed, and we became ignorant, darkened,
a veil was over our hearts and minds that we did no longer know
how to worship God. We didn't understand Him, we
didn't know Him, we didn't believe Him or trust Him, and instead
we became the servants of sin. We weren't made free, we were
made, we were brought into bondage when out of sin, and we became
the servants of sin. All right? And then Paul tells
us in Romans 6, verses 20 and 21, when ye were the servants
of sin, ye were free from righteousness. That's what we were free from.
We couldn't do anything righteous now before God. What fruit had
ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end
of those things is death." And that's what Assyria is to these
people of Judah. He is certain death and destruction
that they cannot overcome. And we saw last week how that
the oppressor was destroyed by Christ. Christ delivered us from
the bondage of the accuser, and that is the accuser is Satan.
So the Lord promises here in the text that he's going to destroy
Assyria, look at Isaiah 14, 25. He said that I will break the
Assyrian in my land and upon my mountains. So Christ, who
is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world,
what we understand of Him is that this whole world, this whole
universe, everything we see was created for the very purpose
of Christ. It's to glorify the Lord Jesus
Christ who has come to save his people. That's why we're here.
That's why this world is created. It's for the glory and the worship
and the praise and the power of God. And that's hard to hear
in the flesh, isn't it? When you know everything that's
going on, but understand it, it's still true. We're all here
for the glory of God. It's according to His will and
purpose. And so we see His glory in the
great work of salvation which Christ accomplished on Mount
Calvary. Mount Calvary. That's the mountains
that the Lord is speaking of in which He will destroy Assyria
or destroy death. If you remember what we looked
at last week, when we saw in Hosea 13, 14, we saw where our
Christ, our glorious Savior, He declares saying, I will ransom
them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death.
O debt, I will be thy plagues. Can you imagine God coming after
you? I will be thy plagues. I will
be thy destruction. And that's exactly what Christ
our Savior accomplished on Mount Calvary when he hung there on
the cross. When he went as the sacrificial
lamb of God to put away the sins of the people. Just as that sacrificial
lamb pictured in type, where they would lay the sins of the
people, Christ had the sins of his people laid upon him for
real, and he took them to the cross, and he was faithful and
just Right up through death, he remained faithful to God to
be the very righteousness of his people, and he made payment
for our sins. The debt that we had accrued,
all that debt that we worked up through our sins, Christ paid
that debt in full, with the redemption price being his blood, so that
his life was given for ours. He died so that we could go free
and not suffer the pains and the wrath and the misery of the
second death when all those will be cast into hell. Turn over
to Colossians 2. Colossians 2. We see this Paul
writes to the Colossians in 2.13-15. And then from there we'll go
over to Hebrews, but Colossians 2. and you being dead in your
sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh. meaning we can't
bring good works from this flesh, it's uncircumcised, it doesn't
do that which is good and profitable, but rather he hath quickened
together with Christ, having forgiven you all trespasses,
blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing
it to his cross. That is all the law that was
required of us to do. that we could not do, which was
contrary to us because of the weakness of our own flesh, Christ
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross with his own
body, and put those sins away. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly. He made a public
spectacle of them, triumphing over them, shaming them in his
death, because he destroyed the works of darkness. He destroyed
death and sin, and Satan, and all our enemies, he destroyed
them when he went there to the cross. He did that work. So on
Calvary, Christ conquered all our enemies. He conquered our
enemy death, saying, I will break the Assyrian in my land, and
him who held the power of death over us, that is Satan, saying,
and upon my mountains, tread him underfoot. Which he did. when he bruised his head, when
he crushed him with his heel, when he crushed Satan there on
Calvary's tree. And he broke the burden and the
rule of these enemies that they held over the people of God,
saying, Then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden
depart from off their shoulders." Alright, turn over to Hebrews
2.14. We'll look at this verse one more time.
Here we see what our Lord accomplished in the destruction of our enemies. He says, For as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. And as we
saw before, that the devil is said to have the power of death
over us because he's the one that introduced sin. And when
Adam sinned, then entered death. And that's why Christ said of
him in John 8, 44, that Satan is a murderer from the beginning. And he abode not in the truth,
because in the beginning, that's when he tempted Adam to sin,
and Adam died. And so Satan is a murderer. That's
why Christ calls him that. So Christ comes to Mount Calvary,
him who is the way, the truth, and the life, and he leads his
children back to the glory of God. He restores that which was
lost. He restores them back to the
Father by the payment of his own blood, so that he who is
truth went up against he who is the liar, and he defeated
him and delivered us out of his hand and brought us back to the
Father. All right, turn over to Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1. We see that Christ has made us
sons and daughters of God. And in Ephesians 1 here, in verse
4 through 7, we see that the whole plan of salvation, we see
all the wisdom of God in Christ laid out to designed to bring
us back to himself, to deliver us out of the debt and the bondage
of sin that we were under. And he says, Ephesians 1, 4,
that it is according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace. And this is what, that we see
this purpose spoken of God in our text. Turn back to Isaiah
14 and look at verses 26 and 27. He says, This is the purpose
that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that
is stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts
hath purpose, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched
out, and who shall turn it back? Our Lord promised to Abraham,
saying, In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. And Paul, speaking of that, says
in Galatians 3, 8-9, And the scripture foreseen, that God
would justify the heathen, those people of the nations, that he
would justify the heathen by faith, or through faith, preached
before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations
be blessed. So then they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. And this is the counsel of our
Lord from the very beginning, that we are to get to Christ.
He has provided Christ to deliver us from our enemies. For the
Lord of hosts hath purposed it, and who shall disannul it? And
that's why, brethren, we're created. This is why, for this very purpose,
this is why the Lord God created this earth and why he created
us and brought us into this world. It's why he allowed Satan into
the garden to go there and tempt Adam, that he might save a people
for himself, that he might redeem us with the precious blood of
Christ and make for himself living stones to build up his holy temple
wherein he dwells and abides for all eternity, and we abide
and dwell in him for all eternity. And we see this in Revelation
4.11, I'll read it. The host of heaven says, Thou
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for
Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are
and were created. All things are created for him.
Alright, now let's see the ruin of sin and death. The ruin, the
destruction that's coming upon sin and death. So continuing
in our text in Isaiah 14, 28. Isaiah 1428, in the year that
King Ahaz died was this burden. Now Ahaz is a picture of Ahab. Ahaz is a picture of our old
man of sin. Ahaz, just like us, is fallen
in sin. He's a corrupt, wicked man. He doesn't do any good works. He refused to hear what the Prophet
Isaiah said. He said, I won't tempt the Lord.
No, because his heart was already given over to Assyria, to death. he was already in league with
death and he was fallen in sin and we're like him because we
too are fallen in sin and being sinners we are dead in our trespasses
and sins. Paul worded it this way in Romans
5.12 Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and
death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have
sinned. And James words it really well. He says in James 1, 15, then
when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin,
when it's finished, when it's through doing its work, bringeth
forth death. So we see that, right? There's
that desire that works in us. And then it conceives that sin,
and we go, when we do that sin, and when it's done, brings death,
death upon us. And so Palestine, in our text,
pictures our sin. Palestine is the land where the
Philistines were. And the Philistines are the enemies
of the children of God. And just like the Philistines,
our sin troubles us very much. It causes us a great deal of
trouble. and persecution, and hardship,
and rose at war with it. So, historically now, the Philistines
actually had the victory over Ahaz. They defeated Ahaz. They were beating him. Every
time they went to war with him, they would beat Ahaz. Turn over
to 2 Chronicles 28 and you'll see this. 2 Chronicles 28. And go to verse
18. And this tells of the the campaign that the Philistines
went on when they went into Judah here. It's like sin spreading
through the body. Not everyone does the same sins
a lot. Some people have certain things
that they are more prone to and more given to and that they like
and certain things that they don't care for and those are
the things that they denounce others for or how can somebody
do that but they do the same wicked things and those people
are saying how can somebody do that that they just did so it's
just like that here and it says the philistines in verse 18 also
had invaded the cities of the low country and of the south
of judah and had taken beth shemesh and ajlam and gederoth and shocho
with the villages thereof and timnah with the villages thereof
Gimzo also in the villages thereof, and they dwelt there. That's
just sin spread throughout the man in various parts. 4, verse
19, the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz, king of Israel. for he made Judah naked and transgressed
sore against the Lord." And this is exactly what we are. Just as he made Judah naked,
that's what we are as sinners. We are naked of righteousness.
We have no covering for our sin. And all those who hate Christ
and reject Christ, who don't believe God, who don't believe
his Christ, who have no confidence or trust, and refuse to bow before
Christ, they're going to go and stand before God one day, in
judgment, and like the emperor's new clothes, they're going to
go up there thinking that they have some beautiful garment to
stand in and impress God with, and they're just going to go
up there and shame because God sees that they are naked. And
all the hosts, all his people with him, see that they are naked
and they shall be cast away into outer darkness because of their
sin. Now look at the next verse here,
verse 20. until Gath-Pilneser, king of Assyria, came unto Ahaz,
and distressed him, but strengthened him not." Now remember, I said
that Assyria pictures death. And as you know, when men and
women, when they know that death is impending, it's coming, it's
very distressing. And they do things to try and
make peace with death. But anything they do, everything
they do, doesn't bring any peace, it only brings distressing, and
they're not strengthened by it. You can threaten a person with
that, and it doesn't give them strength, not when it comes to
the things of the Lord. Verse 21, look, here it is. For
Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the Lord, and
out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave
it unto the king of Assyria, but he helped him not. And in
the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against
the Lord. This is that king Ahaz. So like Ahaz, who's dead in trespasses
and sins, we do many religious things to try and impress Assyria,
to impress the king of Assyria, to try and make peace with the
fact that we are dying and gonna die. A lot of people get all
worked up when they know death is around the corner and they
try to do things to make amends to make going into death a more
peaceful place for them. And all it is, is a distressing
thing, and it gives them no strength. And in the process of doing that,
we only anger the Lord. We're only sinning against the
Lord all the more in our religious works, thinking that these things
will do something for us. And they do nothing for us. And
it's because of this, because we are dead, and we're just like
Ahaz, and we don't do anything right before the Lord, that's
why Christ said, verily, verily. Truly, truly, except the man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And so,
that's because left to ourselves, we do works of the flesh. We
do the best that we can do, and the best that we bring forth
is sin, polluted works of our flesh. And that's why he takes
the Holy Spirit. That's what the new birth means.
When he said, you must be born again, he's saying, you need
the Holy Spirit to make you alive so that you can even see your
need of Christ. So that you can see that like
Ahaz, you're a sinner. I'm a sinner. We all need the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because none of us can
do it. None of us can save ourselves
or make ourselves righteous before God. Turn over to 1 Peter 1 and
go to verse 20. In 1 Peter 1.20-25 we see the eternal purpose of
God in redeeming us by Christ and our regeneration, that it's
a work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not through the works of
the law, it's not by our flesh, but it's by Christ. Alright,
so 1 Peter 1.20. Who verily Christ was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these
last times for you? Who by him, not by your flesh,
not by Adam, but by him to believe in God that raised him up from
the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be
in God. Seeing ye have purified your
souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit, There's that regenerative
work without the spirit. We don't obey the truth. We don't
even believe God. We don't do anything by faith
then. but through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently."
Because he's speaking of that true love which is born in believers
for their Lord, for one another, because of the work that he's
done in our hearts. It's not a work produced in this
flesh. And then look at verse 23, just
like our Lord said, being born again, being regenerated, given
life by the Holy Spirit, not of corruptible seed, it's not
that Adamic flesh, it's not the flesh that we received from Adam,
that we're born again, that we've done some work to rejuvenate
or regenerate ourselves. It's a work of the Spirit. So
it's not of corruptible, see, that would be Adam, that would
be our flesh, but of incorruptible. That's Christ. As he says, by
the Word of God. Who is the Word of God? It's
the Lord Jesus Christ, which liveth and abideth forever. There's
not going to be Bibles floating around up in heaven. Christ liveth
and abideth forever. That's the word of God by whom
we are given life. And so it's Christ who has to
do this work, not our flesh, because our flesh doesn't please
God. And here's why. This is why it can't be our flesh.
Because all flesh, verse 24, is grass. And the glory of man
is the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away. but the word of the Lord Christ
endureth forever. And this is the word, Christ,
which by the gospel word is preached unto you." So we preach the gospel
because we exalt and lift up the Lord Jesus Christ through
that word. And that's why we preach him
because it's he who gives us life. It's him who did the work
and it's him who has to give us life because it's his blood
that redeemed and purchased his people. And so he's pleased He
attends the preached word, reaching your heart, because I can, I
do the best I can, but He's the one who brings that word home
to your heart, showing you your need of Him, and that He is the
all-sufficient Savior, who saves to the uttermost. He did that
work. All right, so back in our text,
Isaiah, oh, same good place in 2 Chronicles. If you didn't,
then don't worry about it. We'll go back there in a bit.
All right, Isaiah 14, 28. Isaiah 14, 28 and 29 In the year
that King Ahaz died was this burden. Rejoice not thou, O Palestina,
because the rod of him that smote thee is broken. For out of the
serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall
be a fiery flying serpent. Now we already know that the
Philistines were beating Ahaz, right? So what does that mean?
Why are they rejoicing about this? Well, Uzziah Uzziah is
called the serpent by the Philistines. The Philistines called Uzziah
the serpent because Uzziah was always whooping them. He was
taking care of the Philistines and defeating them and he would
beat them. Go back to 2 Chronicles 26 and
leave a little marker in 2 Chronicles because we're going to come back
to 2 Kings in a bit or we're just going to go over there.
Alright, so 2 Chronicles 26 verses 6 and 7. And I'll just say that
Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to reign. And verse
six says, and he went forth, this is Uzziah, now the grandfather
of Ahaz, he went forth and warred against the Philistines and break
down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jebna and the wall of
Ashdod and built cities about Ashdod and among the Philistines.
And God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians
that dwelt in Gerbal and the Mahunim. Alright, so the Philistines
rejoiced when Ahaz died, because he was the grandson of Uzziah,
and he was their enemy. He was their enemy, and even
though they beat him, they were still happy that he died, because
now his son would rise up in his place. And his son is Hezekiah,
who's 25 years old. And they thought, oh great, just
as we whooped Ahaz, we'll continue to beat this young whippersnapper,
and we'll continue to have the rule over them. But the prophet
says, out of the serpent's root, Uzziah's lineage, shall come
forth a cockatrice, Hezekiah, and his fruit, the fruit of Uzziah,
shall be a fiery flying serpent. That's because Hezekiah was going
to be used by the Lord to smite the Philistines. Turn over to
2 Kings 18. I want you to see, did Hezekiah
beat the Philistines? Yes he did, in 2 Kings 18 we
see it. Verse 1, Hezekiah now is a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ would come and be
the deliverer for his people. And the people would be neither
defeated by the Philistines, which is sin, nor by Assyria,
which is death. His people are not going to be
overcome by them, because Christ delivers us from Assyria and
the Philistines, from death and sin. All right, 2 Kings 18.1.
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hosea son of Elah king
of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began
to reign. Now Israel at this time, remember
they're separated, Israel and Judah are separated, and Israel
represents those people who do not believe the Lord God. They
don't trust God. They don't worship God. And Judah
is a picture of those who do worship God. Now they're sinners.
They're sinners, but they're sinners saved by Hezekiah. Just as we're sinners saved by
the Lord Jesus Christ. And verse 2, 20 and 5 years old
was he when he began to reign. Now as we read verses 3 and following,
picture the Lord Jesus Christ. This is Christ that's speaking
up here. This isn't just a man, this is Christ our Savior. And
tell me if any man could meet this description more than Christ.
Verse 3, And he did that which was right in the sight of the
Lord, according to all that David his father did. He removed the
high places, and broke the images, and cut down the groves, and
broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made. For unto
those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it, and he
called it Nehushtim. He trusted in the Lord God of
Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings
of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he claimed to the Lord
and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments
which the Lord commanded Moses. All right, and didn't our Lord
say in John 15, 10, I have kept my father's commandments and
abide in his love. All right, verse 7. And the Lord
was with him, and he prospered whithersoever he went forth.
And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and served him not.
Right? Christ didn't bow down to death.
Death had no power over him. He defeated death. Right? He
overcame him. It says in verse 8, He smote
the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from
the Tower of the Watchmen to the fenced city. Christ our Savior
defeated sin. He overcame sin. He defeated
sin in His people. And it came to pass in the fourth
year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hosea,
son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser, king of Assyria,
came up against Samaria, not Judah, but Samaria, and he besieged
it. Look at verse 11. and the king
of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria. So Israel, the
unbelievers, those who did not believe God, they were taken
away into death. They were taken away by Assyria. They were swept away and went
into eternal death. But Judah was delivered from
Assyria. Judah never was taken into captivity
by Assyria. And so just like in Christ, death
shall not have the power over us because Christ our Savior
holds the keys of hell and death. Alright, so it's the destruction
of sin and death in his people. Alright, and that brings us to
our final point, the gospel goes forth. In our text, we see proclaimed
that the Philistines, which is sin, they're conquered by Hezekiah,
who's a type of Christ. And look at verses 30 and 31.
Isaiah 14, 30 and 31. And the firstborn of the poor
shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety. And I will
kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. Howl,
O gate! Cry, O city! Thou whole Palestina
art dissolved, for there shall come from the north a smoke,
that's Hezekiah from Judah, and it's also Christ from heaven
above who would come down and destroy sin in us. And none shall
be alone in his appointed times. Alright, now what I want to notice
in these two verses is that first couple of phrases there, and
the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie
down in safety. That speaking, when Hezekiah
first came into rule and began to defeat the Philistines, There
was a lot of people alive that lived under Ahaz. They were around
and they suffered greatly under Ahaz. They were very poor. They
were very needy. They suffered a lot. And that's
us and our sin. We're the needy, poor sinners
who are bankrupt and have nothing to bring to God. But in Christ,
he gives us everything that we need. We're the poor ones that
will feed. we're the needy ones that are
going to be able to rest in Christ. And that's what he does. We rest
now. You who believe him, we feed
upon Christ, we rest in him. And you who don't believe in
him, He's the only one that can feed us. He's the only one that
gives us rest with God. He's the only one that brings
peace between men and with God. So Christ was sent of God for
this very purpose, to put away sin and to deliver us from death. So you that refuse Christ, you
that hear my voice, whether here or on the internet, you that
refuse the Lord Jesus Christ, like Israel, you'll be taken
away captive. by Assyria, by death, you'll
be taken away and die in your sins. But those that believe,
they shall never be ashamed, because that's why Christ was
sent. Acts 10.43 says to him, Peter said to him, give all the
prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins. They're put away in
Christ forever. He has delivered his people from
the Philistines. He's forced and expelled the
sin in our heart. He's delivered us from the bondage
of sin that we might be free to live unto God, having his
spirit dwelling in us and walking by faith in him. So Jesus Christ, well let's look
at this last verse and we'll wrap this up. Isaiah 14.32. This
says, what shall one then answer the messengers of the nation?
What are they going to answer? That the Lord hath founded Zion,
and the poor of his people shall trust in it. You see, it's the
Lord that founded Zion. Not Hezekiah, but the Lord did
this work. And Jesus Christ is the foundation
of His church. And it's upon Christ that we
are established. We are only built up on Christ.
God isn't looking to us for anything, for any righteousness. He looks
to Christ, His Son, for righteousness. And all who look to Christ for
righteousness shall find that they are righteous before the
throne of God. Paul said, Other foundation can
no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And he
told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.19 Nevertheless the foundation of
God standeth sure, having the seal, the Lord knoweth them that
are his. And let every one that nameth
the name of Christ Depart from iniquity, because Christ our
Savior has defeated and destroyed iniquity. He doesn't have the
rule over His people anymore. He's given His Spirit into your
hearts to cry, Abba Father. So when sin comes to trouble,
your flesh isn't going to do it. You keep walking by faith,
and you trust Him, and He'll put it away. He's defeated it,
and by His Spirit, He'll destroy sin, in his people. It already
has no power. Debt has no hold over his people. So, I pray the Lord will comfort
his people with those words and make us to rejoice in Christ
our Savior who defeated debt and sinned for his people. Let's
pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for the mercy, the grace that you have poured out abundantly
upon us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we know that we see in
your Word that you've destroyed death and sin in your people. And you've given us your Spirit
to walk before you by faith. And Lord, we pray that you would
destroy sin in us. Deliver us, Lord. Keep us coming
to Christ by faith. Keep us walking by the Spirit,
not by the law of Moses, but by the Spirit of faith. trusting
you and growing in love, in the knowledge and in the judgment
of what Christ our Savior has accomplished for us and the redemption
that he has made for us of his blood. Lord, we pray that you
would be pleased to pour out your spirit upon this people
and that you would establish your church here, that you would
grow us in the Lord Jesus Christ and that you would assemble your
living stones here to worship and to praise in the glory in
Christ our Savior. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks.