Okay, let's turn in our Bibles
to Jeremiah chapter 30. Jeremiah chapter 30. Now the
title of this message is The New and Better Day of Christ. The New and Better Day of Christ. And let me just preface it before
we get into these scriptures, and I don't know that I'll how
far we'll get through chapter 30 tonight, but that's okay.
But let me just preface it this way. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is His body made up of His people who were chosen by
God before the foundation of the world. That's sovereign,
divine, electing grace. In fact, they're called the elect
of God. the chosen of God. And those
who are redeemed or have been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself on the cross of Calvary, they're called the redeemed of
the Lord. Bought and paid for. And they're known as they are
in time, in each successive generation, as they are born again by the
Spirit, regenerated and called out by the Holy Spirit against
everything that Satan and the world and the flesh would do
to hinder that, brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works. And that's the true church of
the living God. It's called the pillar and ground
of truth. It's a living body. Christ is the head, we're the
body. The church is built upon the
foundation of Jesus Christ, that rock, the rock upon which it's
built. The church is made up of justified
sinners. Now that may sound like an opposite,
but it's not in the kingdom of God. Many people don't understand
that and cannot really grasp it because they think it's some
kind of a pretense on God's part, but it's not. We're sinners who
have been justified. And understand what it is to
be justified now. That means to be cleared of all
guilt. That means when God sees us in
the person of His Son, there's no sin for Him to see. The Lamb of God has borne our
sins away. And we could talk about that
all all day and all night, couldn't we? Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord imputed not iniquity, David said. What a blessing. And so we stand justified and
it also means to be declared righteous. That's what God has
done. That's the eternal mind of God
and it's based upon the blood of Jesus Christ. We stand washed
in His blood. That means His blood is the atonement,
it's the reconciliation, it's the propitiation. And we stand
clothed in His righteousness, accounted, charged, imputed to
us. And that's the ground of our
justification. And that had nothing to do with
our works, it had nothing to do with anything done in us.
Even the work of the Holy Spirit in us does not make up the ground
of our justification. The work of the Holy Spirit in
us, it's a miracle, it's a necessary work, but it's the fruit of what
Christ accomplished for us. But you put all that together
and here's the fact of the matter, here's the comfort that we have.
The church cannot be destroyed. The church cannot be destroyed.
As we talked about, it's built upon the rock Christ Jesus and
the gates of hell will not prevail against us. So then, whatever
happens in this world, no matter how small or insignificant the
true church in the world may seem to be by men at times, we're
assured that God Almighty And we're assured by God Almighty
that the church will prevail. And that the church always has
a glorious future, an assured glorious future because Christ
is our surety. And that all things in the meantime
are being sovereignly and wisely worked out by God's wisdom and
sovereign power for His glory and for our spiritual and eternal
good. And that's the comfort we have. Now, that's what I've
just given to you as a preface to this are all truths, doctrines,
teachings that are set forth in Jeremiah chapter 30 all the
way through chapter 33. In fact, many scholars call this
section of Jeremiah, chapter 30 to chapter 33, the book of
consolation, the book of comfort. Well, why was that necessary?
Well, Jerusalem is about to fall. They're under attack. Nebuchadnezzar,
the Babylonian empire, the army, has instruments anointed by God
for that purpose, has surrounded the city, and Jerusalem is about
to fall. Jeremiah and a few other prophets
of God are telling the people to submit to God's judgment and
bow to His revealed will. That means submit to that judgment. Bow down. God's punishing you
and you deserve it. Take sides with God against yourself. That's an emblem of repentance.
We've talked about that. That's what happens in the heart
of a sinner saved by grace when God the Holy Spirit regenerates
him, brings him to Holy Spirit conviction. And what happens
in that, one of the things that happens in his mind, his affections
and his will is he says, God, God, If you were to judge me
based on my best efforts to keep the law, I'd be damned for it.
That's what I deserve. You're right in your judgment.
It's like old David said, not at his regeneration and conversion,
but in his life, he said, against thee and thee only have I sinned
that thou mightest be just when you judge. And so that's what
Jeremiah taught. That's what the few other prophets
of God that were in Judah at the time, there were a few others,
That's what they said. They said, submit. We're just
simply getting what we deserve because of our sin, because of
our unbelief, because of our depravity. But then there were
false prophets, many more false prophets, who in this day were
crying peace when there was no peace, telling the people that
things are going to be okay, that God's not going to destroy
the holy city and the holy temple. And the instruments that had
been stolen from the temple, they're going to be brought back.
And they cried, peace, peace, when there is no peace. And the
people are in utter despair. That's what's happening. So God
tells Jeremiah, write these words in a book. Look at verses 1 and
2 of chapter 30. He says, The word that came to
Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord God of
Israel, saying, Jeremiah, write thee all the words that I have
spoken unto thee in a book. Now that's a way of emphasis.
All the prophecies that Jeremiah has recorded have been recorded
in this book by the Holy Spirit. But here's an emphasis here.
This is going to be the book of consolation. What this is
really going to be is a book that concerns the future glorious
hope of God's people in Christ who is the consolation of Israel. That's what old Simeon was waiting
for, wasn't he? In Luke chapter 2. He was waiting
for the consolation of Israel. Well, the consolation of Israel
has come for us, hasn't it? Christ is the peace, the comfort,
and the consolation of God's spiritual Israel, God's people.
So God tells him to write these things in a book. And notice
how God emphasizes his own identity here. Thus speaketh the Lord
God of Israel. As you know, we'll see the name
Jacob come up in this chapter. We see the name Judah come up
in Israel. The kingdom, as you know, since
Solomon's death, was divided. The northern kingdom, Israel,
had been gone. for over a hundred years now. That's Hosea's prophecy. That's
when Hosea prophesied. They'd already been destroyed.
Judah was about to be destroyed. Here he's going to speak of the
United Kingdom, Israel and Judah. But he emphasizes Israel, he
emphasizes Jacob. You know where that name come
from. Jacob the supplanter, Jacob the sinner, Jacob who of his
own works And merits deserve nothing but death. God said,
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. People get upset at
that because they say it's not fair for God to hate Esau. Oh
yes it is. It's just and right and fair
for God to hate any of us. What ought to boggle the minds
of a sinner is how in the world could God love Jacob? The only
reason that people wrestle with that is because they think they
deserve to be loved. The Bible says nothing of anyone
fallen in Adam deserving to be loved of God. Herein is love.
Not that we love God, but that He loved us. Freely and unconditionally. God would be just if He sent
all of us to eternal damnation, wouldn't He? And yet, He is full
of mercy. And that's spoken of in the name
Israel. The name Israel, sometimes we say it means Prince of God,
but literally what it means is those who have prevailed with
God. Remember Jacob was given that
name over in, what is it, Genesis 32, I think it is, when he wrestled
with the angel. And that was Christ. That was
a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. And that struggle there
is the struggle of a sinner to enter the kingdom of God, not
by his power and his works, but to lay hold of Christ. To lay
hold of Christ. I've got to have Christ. And
I'll tell you, if God the Holy Spirit comes and gives you a
heart to hear and believe the gospel and to know your sin,
nothing will stop you from clinging to Christ. That's the power of
God. And then the Lord said, I'll
change your name to Israel. Your name will now be Israel.
You've prevailed with God. How does a sinner prevail with
God? Run to Christ. Plead Christ. Rest in Christ. Stand in Him. That's how you
prevail with God. That's not overpowering God,
that's just simply submitting to God, isn't it? Submitting
to the righteousness of God in Christ. So you'll see these names
come up throughout this Book of Consolation, not just in this
chapter, but in the following chapters that have to do with
this. But here he identifies himself the Lord God of Israel.
That's a covenant God. That's covenant language. Reaches
back to the covenant made with Abraham. And as you know, in
Abraham's and God's dealing with Abraham, there's a lot of promises
made. There's some promises that are physical and temporal and
temporary and apply to this physical nation called Israel. But then
there are other promises given to Abraham that are promises
of a spiritual nature and an eternal nature and to God's elect. And that's what this is about. And it's not over spiritualizing
or stretching the truth and I'm gonna show you what I believe
proves that as we go through these passages tonight and in
the messages to come. But you see, God told Abraham,
he said, in thee, I'm going to bless all nations, not just one
nation. That's one of the main promises
given. And that means that God has a people out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue and nation. And all those covenant promises
that apply to that covenant nation, which the New Testament tells
us plainly is spiritual Israel, and I don't know how people miss
that, but there it is. I mean, that's black and white
stuff right there in print. But he says that all of this
centers around one person, the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and even Christ himself in John 8 and verse 56 made this
statement to the unbelieving Pharisees. He says, your father
Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and he was glad. Now am I glad to see the day
of the Lord? This is the new and better The
better day of Christ. Am I glad to see that day? That day has already passed in
our time frame, isn't it? And it's continuing. I mean,
it's eternal. It will never change. It's not
like Israel of old in the land of promise. That lasted for a
little while. And now it's gone. And even those
who talk about a future restoration of the physical nation to a physical
land, they would have to admit that that's still temporary because
I'm gonna tell you something, read 2 Peter 3. What's gonna
happen to this earth when the Lord comes back? It's gonna burn
up. You think it's all gonna burn
up except that, what they call the holy land? No, it's all gonna
burn up. We're gonna inhabit a heavenly Jerusalem, a new heavens
and a new earth. So even they would have to say
that's temporary. Well, what I believe Jeremiah
is prophesying of here is not temporary. These are eternal
matters. And I believe that we can see
an application here, three great offices and works of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I believe we can see here Christ,
the great liberator. He sets his people free. We're
going to see that. And then we're going to see Christ
the great physician. He heals his people of that awful,
awful terminal sin, incurable sin, a disease called sin. And
then we're going to see in this chapter Christ the great builder. Upon this rock I'll build my
church. So let's look at it from that view. First of all, Christ
the great liberator. Now you'll see that beginning
in verse three and going down, I believe, to verse 11. In some
of your versions, you may have a paragraph marking at verse
10, but I believe that's just supplied by the translators.
But let's look at this. Christ the great liberator. What
does the liberator do? He sets his people free. That's
what he does. He's the great liberator. He's
the one who breaks the yoke of bondage, the bondage of sin,
the bondage of Satan, the bondage of the law, the curse of the
law. And look at it, verse three, he says in verse three, for lo,
the days come, that's future now, saith the Lord that I will
bring again the captivity of my people, Israel and Judah. Now notice here, not just Judah,
this is important now, don't let these little things go by.
And that's what people do, you know, when they read little things
like, well now Israel's been gone for over a hundred years,
the northern kingdom. But now he says I'm going to
restore, bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah.
Now some people cast this off into the millennial reign, and
that's okay, and what I'm saying, I don't agree with that, but
like I said, even they would have to say that's got to be
temporary because that's gonna come to an end and this world's
gonna be burned up. But listen to this, he says,
I'm gonna bring again the captivity of my people, Israel, to bring
the captivity again, he's gonna bring them back is what that
means. And he says, Israel and Judah. Now again, not just Judah. Now Judah's the one that's gonna
go into the Babylonian captivity. And somebody says, well, this
refers to their restoration after the 70 years. Well, there is
a temporal picture there, a fulfillment there, but Israel didn't have
any part in that. They were gone 100 years. That
nation, they were destroyed by the Assyrian Empire. That was
during the time of Hosea. And he says, saith the Lord,
and he said, I will cause them to return to the land that I
gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. Now, they did
come back to the land, but now he talks about a restoration
to the land and possession of the land. But now, when they
came back to the land, who owned the land? Well, we know God owns
the whole earth, doesn't he? But he relegates things out according
to his wisdom and his providence. And who owned this land? Well,
it was the Medes and the Persians who owned it. Then, you see,
when they came back out of the captivity, it was because God
had anointed another heathen king. Now listen to me. This
is God's wisdom. This is God's sovereignty. He
anointed Nebuchadnezzar as an instrument of his judgment against
Judah, brought him into captivity. He anointed another heathen king
named Cyrus, king of Persia, to get him out of captivity and
give them permission to go back into the land and rebuild the
walls of Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Which, by the way,
they were very reluctant to do against the commands of God.
So you see, God is working all these things after His own counsel. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. So he says, I'm going to cause
them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and
they shall possess it. They'll possess it. Now look
at verse four. So here's a future united kingdom,
Israel and Judah. And he says in verse four, he
says, and these are the words that the Lord spake concerning
Israel and concerning Judah. The emphasis is there, a united
kingdom. Now, look at verse five, he says,
for thus saith the Lord, we've heard a voice of trembling, of
fear, and not of peace. Now, Jeremiah's talking about
consolation here, he's talking about restoration here. But here's
what's being said, for thus saith the Lord, we've heard the voice
of trembling, of fear, and not of peace, there's trouble now.
He says in verse six, ask you now and see whether a man doth
travail with child. Is it possible for a man to travail
with child? Well, physically, no. But he's
using this emblem here. He says this, what he's saying
first of all, is this word of consolation and restoration and
comfort doesn't mean that sin is going to go unpunished. God
must punish sin. God is a just God. He must punish
sin. And he talks about here the trouble,
the suffering, the pains of childbirth. He says in verse 6, Wherefore,
for this reason do I see every man with his hands on his loins
as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into pale. As
people are suffering, that's what he's saying. They're still
suffering. Yes, there's a word of consolation,
of peace, of salvation, of rest, but people are suffering. Alright? Now, things like that ought to
put this this modern day health and wealth gospel to shame, where
it belongs. But see this, God must punish
sin. And verse 7 says, Alas, for that day is great, so that
none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's
trouble. A time of Jacob's trouble. Old
Jacob himself, he had times of trouble, didn't he? Well, this
is the time of Jacob's trouble. Israel is about to be just our
Judah is about to be destroyed The city was going to be leveled
the temple was going to be leveled the all the people that were
left were going to be killed The vast majority have been taken
into Babylon But look at the last line of verse 7, but he
shall be saved out of it Now out of this time of Jacob's trouble
You see there's going to be salvation Out of Jacob's trouble, salvation.
And I thought about old Jacob wrestling with the angel. Wrestling
with the Lord. I thought about all the trouble
old Jacob went through because out of all that trouble came
what? Came salvation. Jacob, I'm gonna call you Israel. You've prevailed with God. And
we can think about the state of Israel, the state of Judah
here. Out of their trouble. Do you
know their trouble? is how God kept them together
as a nation. And I really can't emphasize
to us enough how marvelous and miraculous that really is. Because
I tell you, and I don't know, maybe some of you have read more
than I have on this, but there's not been another nation in ancient
history who's undergone what this nation went through and
still stayed together as a nation. But God kept them together in
a foreign country, Babylon, and brought them back. Now it's true,
ten of the tribes were gone. But still there's Judah. And
he said the scepter will not depart from Judah until Shiloh
comes. This is the doing of God, you see. And out of there being
kept together as a nation, what comes forth out of that nation?
Well, we're going to see that in just a moment. But that's
how Christ came. The Savior. He was born of the
seed of David according to the flesh. He was born of the tribe
of Judah. Wasn't he? Yeah. The line of
the tribe of Judah. That's how he's identified. One
of his identifications. And God did all that. So out
of Jacob's trouble. And then I think about our Lord
Himself. Especially when I think about
this man travailing with child. You think about it. Salvation
in and by Christ. But hold on to that thought,
I'll come back to that. I'm going to show you something
about that. So in other words, this consolation doesn't mean
that sin will go unpunished. They're going to suffer in pain
like the travail of childbirth. And I think, I believe that the
Bible has a specific godly wisdom there as God used that kind of
pain and suffering to relate to us this consolation. Because you see, it's kind of
like our Lord said over in John 16. Let me just read this to
you. He's talking about the fact that
he's going away and his disciples were in despair. They were grieving. He said, I'm going away. He told
him, he said, that's necessary for me to go away because if
I don't go away, the comforter won't come. In other words, your
salvation depends upon my going away, the Lord said. And you
know what he's talking about going away, he's going to the
cross. He's going to die on Calvary. He must die. He said it's expedient,
necessary for you. That's why he came into this
world, to die. To pay our sin debt and establish our righteousness
for us in himself. And he tells them, he said in
verse 18 of John 16 says, they said, therefore what is this
that he saith a little while? That is a little while and you're
going away and you won't see me. We cannot tell what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were
desirous to ask him and said unto them, do you inquire among
yourselves that I said a little while and you shall not see me?
I'm going away. And again, a little while and
you shall see me. Verily, verily, I say unto you that you shall
weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice. That is as his
death. The world looks at it as his
defeat. And he says, and you shall be sorrowful, but your
sorrow shall be turned into joy. You see it? You're going to go
through some trouble. Boy, didn't they go through trouble.
Remember when he was arrested and Peter denied him three times
and then after his death, they all went back to their old professions
and all kinds of trouble. And then the Lord said in verse
21 of John 16, a woman when she is in travail hath sorrow because
her hour is come. But as soon as she's delivered
of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for joy that
a man is born into the world. And you now, therefore, have
sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice
in your joy. No man taketh from you. That's
why I believe that that metaphor of the pain of childbirth is
such a beautiful picture of our salvation, isn't it? Because it's not just suffering
that brings salvation. It's a specific kind of suffering,
like the suffering of a woman in childbirth, who gives birth
to a healthy child. And that's what he's talking
about. Look back here at Jeremiah 30.
Listen to what he says. Verse 7, but he shall be saved
out of it. Verse 8, for it shall come to
pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his
yoke from off thy neck. Now there's the liberation. Out
of this trouble, there's going to come liberation. And he said,
I will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves
of him. In other words, strangers, foreigners, are no longer going
to use you for their service as their servants. That's what
he means by that. Now, this is what I'm talking
about, these keys to understand about exactly what the message
is here. When they were brought back out
of the Babylonian captivity, and brought back into their land
to do the will of God, they were still servants of a foreign dictator. And during all that time, they
were still under dictators even up to the time that Christ came. Now some people say, well, they're
back in the land now, they're not under dictators. That's true.
That's true. But there's another key. Look
at verse 9. He says, but they shall serve
the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise
up unto them. Now, they're back in their land
today, right? Not the whole land. Not the land
that they were given. But they're back in their land
today. They're not under a dictator, but are they serving the Lord
their God today? And David their king? Now, who
is this David? You know, there are people who
believe that David, King David, is going to be resurrected. It's
not what he said. You see, this is salvation. This verse 9, underscore verse
9, this verse 9 describes salvation, eternal salvation in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ, the son of David, the branch of Jesse, the
stem of Jesse. That's who this is talking about.
You see it? Here's Israel and Judah under
the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what this is talking
about. They shall serve the Lord their God. And David their king. Religiously speaking, those who
are in that land as a nation, deny the Lord their God. Deny
the Messiah has come. But these here, who are delivered
from bondage, the yoke, they serve the Lord their God and
David their king. That's Christ. Now turn back
to Hosea chapter one. Look at Hosea chapter one. And listen to it again. Verse
10. Now this was 100 years before
approximately. Some people say more than that,
I don't know. Doesn't matter, but it was a lot, it was at least
a century before Jeremiah. And he's talking about how God's
not gonna show mercy on the Northern Kingdom. They're gonna be destroyed.
God's gonna show mercy to the house of Judah for a little while,
because they weren't destroyed till about a hundred years later.
That's what we're reading in Jeremiah. But look at verse 10
of Hosea 1. Yet the number of the children
of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured
nor numbered. And one thing about it, when
they came out of the Babylonian captivity, they were numbered.
Somebody said there was about 50,000 of them. That means a
bunch chose to stay in Babylon. And he says, that in the place
where it was said unto them, you are not my people, there
it shall be said unto them, you are the sons of the living God.
Now some people say that refers to the Gentiles. Probably back
that up out of the book of Isaiah and out of the book of Romans
chapter 11. But look here, now the verse 11. Then shall the
children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together,
there's the United Kingdom, and listen to this, and appoint themselves
one head. Now that doesn't mean that they
have any authority or power to appoint
Christ to be anything, but what it's simply saying is they will
recognize that Christ is their head. That's the one head they'll
be under. And he says, out of the land,
for great shall be the day of Jezreel. Now about that Jezreel,
we could talk a lot about the history of Jezreel. That's where
Gideon defeated the Midianites, you remember. That's where Naboth's vineyard
was taken from. There's a lot of history there.
And so it could just be talking about victory. For example, Gideon,
by the power of God, with 300 men defeated, what the Philistines
won. I have to go back and look at
it all. But it was a time of victory.
So it could be just meaning victory. But what does Jezreel mean? Well,
the word Jezreel means scattered. That's what it means. And it's
determined, it could be a negative scattered, like scattered away,
or it could be a positive scattered, like scattering seeds, sowing
seed. And the context really determines
the meaning of it, whether it's a negative or a positive. And
I believe here it's talking about scattering the seed of the gospel
out, God bringing his people in, sowing the seed. Great shall
be the day of Jezreel. That's the victory that Christ
has over his people. So look back at Jeremiah 30. I think you probably concluded
that I'm not going to get through all of chapter 30 tonight, but
that's OK. The yoke is broken. Christ has
liberated his people. He set us free and that he's
justified us. This is a day of salvation, restoration,
And whoever he's talking about here, they're disciples of Christ. That's what verse 9, they shall
serve the Lord their God and David their king whom I will
raise up unto them as Christ the Messiah. And he says in verse
10, therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the
Lord, neither be dismayed, O Israel, for lo, I will save thee from
afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity, and Jacob
shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none
shall make him afraid. Remember we read in Isaiah 32,
what is this rest and this peace? That's the product of righteousness,
and where do we find righteousness? In Christ. Not in the land of
Canaan, but in Christ. Not in the man King David. Where did King David find peace
and rest and quietness? In Christ. And he says in verse
11, For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee, though
I make a full end of all nations, whether I have scattered thee,
all that come against him. He says, yet will I not make
a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure and will
not leave thee altogether unpunished. You see that? Now let me just
say a word going back to this travail. The new and better day is not
a sure promise of salvation and restoration based on the fact
that there will be a new and better class of people in Israel
in the future. As I told you, think about the
Jews when Christ himself came. They were alienated from God,
unbelieved. The new and better day is a sure
promise because of Christ the surety, David's son. And before that new and better
day comes, even with him, there's going to be a time of Jacob's
trouble. There's going to be a travail. Now man by nature,
ruined in Adam, dead in trespasses and sin, is under a heavy travail,
aren't we? I think about obviously the travail
of sin. We could talk about a multitude
of things. The trouble that sin brings. Death, sickness, but
mainly bondage, guilt, condemnation, all of that. And then you know
the book of Ecclesiastes in chapter 3 verses 10 and 11 talks about
the travail of eternity. Man knows by nature. that this isn't the end. Now
he may spend his life denying it, and he may convince himself
it's not true, but he has it within him put there by Almighty
God. You read Ecclesiastes 3, 10,
and 11. That it's this isn't the end. He's going to face judgment.
That's why men deny God. They don't want to be held accountable. Well, what is our hope of being
delivered from this travail? This time of Jacob's trouble?
Well, that Christ Our Savior, our surety, our substitute would
take upon Himself our travail. Isn't that right? He took upon
Himself our guilt and condemnation, didn't He? Now what Isaiah 53
teaches, when it says in that passage, He borne our griefs,
verse 4, carried our sorrows, Wounded for our transgressions
bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was
upon him and with his stripes were healed He's our substitute
He was made sin no doubt Gloriously as our sin and our guilt our
debt Was charged to him imputed accounted to him And what did
he do he travailed he suffered? He bled and He died to pay that
debt. What a great day that is and
there's none like it. And then it says over there in
verse 11 of Isaiah 53, He shall see of the travail of His soul
and shall be satisfied. For by His knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many. That's His experience. He suffered,
He bled, He died. He suffered alienation from the
Father. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Can you even imagine the travail
of the Lord? We can't even begin to imagine
that. You were talking about that in your message, Ron, about
how people tried to describe His Son. We couldn't even begin
to get started on that. But it says, He shall bear their
iniquities. But after that, There's a time
of peace and consolation and salvation. Verse 12, therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide
the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto
death. He was numbered with the transgressors. He bare the sin
of many and he made intercession for the transgressors. That's
our sovereign savior. That's our liberator. He set
us free. by his death on the cross. All
right. Let's sing as our closing hymn,
Sweet Hour of Prayer, hymn number 361.