I read this passage in the study
this morning with the men. I thought it would be a reminder
for us as to what's really important in this hour. And it's the story
in Luke chapter 10 where Mary and Martha are hosting the Lord
in their home. And Martha's doing all the work,
and Mary's sitting at the Lord's feet. And Martha goes to the
Lord and says, aren't you going to make Mary get up and help
me? And here's what the Lord said to Martha. Jesus answered
and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled
about many things. I know there's a lot of things
in this world and in your lives that cause you to be careful
and troubled. But here's God's Word. Here's God's Word. One thing is needful. And Mary
hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from
her. If the Lord enables us to set our affections in this hour
on Christ and hear His voice, what He says to us can never
be taken away from us. It's the one thing needful in
all the troubles and all the cares of this life. The one thing
God says that's needful is to hear the voice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Might God give us ears to hear.
Tom's going to come lead us in number 20 in the Spiral Hymn
Book, number 20. Long, long before the world was
made, God chose to save me by His grace and blessed me in my
covenant head with every blessing of His grace. In Christ my surety
was found, a ransom for God's chosen one, deliverance was then
proclaimed, and God's great work of grace begun. In the due time my Savior came
to do His Holy Father's will. A body was prepared for Him that
He might righteousness fulfill. When Christ had righteousness
brought in, He took my awful load of sin. Dying for me upon
the tree, My Savior put away my sin. Though I was born a child
of wrath, Depraved and helpless, dead in sin, And though I chose
the rebel's path, Despising God and loving sin, My Savior's love
could not be quenched. He sought and found me by His
grace, His Spirit's call, I'm saved,
I'm saved by sovereign grace. Amazing free and sovereign grace,
In love Christ Jesus took my place. Chosen, redeemed, and
called by grace, To Christ alone I give all praise. My only hope,
my only plea, is that Christ lived and died for me. In Him alone I am complete. To Christ alone my praise shall
be. Please be seated. Good morning. I am so glad to
be back. I want to thank everyone for
your prayers and for your thoughts about us. The only thing I can
tell you about a heart attack is try not to have one. You know, every once in a while
something happens that shows you how gracious God is. I was
supposed to have prayer for someone and I forgot who it was, and
right before I came up, Greg gave me a slip of paper with
his name on it, so I don't have to remember. We need to pray
for Dan Culver. Because everyone needs prayer,
but especially at a difficult time in your life. The Lord is
going to bring me through this. I believe in a couple of weeks
I'll be back in the saddle. Everything will be alright. But
there comes a time in your life, if God is gracious, when you're
faced with a situation you have absolutely no control over. And
your only hope is Christ. The Lord blesses us in our infirmities. In Luke chapter 16, beginning
in verse 19, there is an account presented by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not a parable. Parables
don't have names in them. None of them do. But there is
a man's name given here. This is not a parable. Everything we need to know are
in these 13 verses. The uselessness of riches when
it comes time to die. Our total inability to do anything
toward our own salvation. The sovereignty of God that He
will show mercy to whom He will show mercy and whom He will He
hardeneth. opens a window for a few verses
here and gives us a look at heaven and a look at hell and the importance
of the Word of God and the need for the Holy Spirit to apply
it to our hearts if we're ever going to hear it. Luke chapter
16, beginning in verse 19. There was a certain rich man,
clothed in purple and fine linen, who fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus, laid at his gate full of sores, desiring to be
fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Moreover,
the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that
the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to the bosom of
Abraham. The rich man died also and was
buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes,
being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his
bosom, And he cried, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus
that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue
for I am tormented in this flame. And Abraham said, Son, remember
how that Lazarus in his life had his bad things and thou hadst
thy good thing, but now thou art tormented, and he is comforted. And besides all this, between
us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would
pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to here
that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray Thee therefore,
Father, that Thou would send him to my father's house. For
I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they
also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him,
They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. And he said,
Nay, Father Abraham, But if one went unto them from the dead,
they will repent. And he said, if they hear not
Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded, though
one rose from the dead. Father, we thank You that You've
left us the Word of God, the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Father. We're thankful that You've given
us ears to hear the Gospel, Father. We're thankful that You've maintained
us from before the foundation of the world. You've appointed
everything in our lives, Father. You will do all things on our
behalf. We ask, Father, that You'd be
with those that are here, Father. You draw us even closer together. Cause us to love one another,
Father. Cause us to bear one another's
burdens. Give Greg the grace, Father,
to bring the message of salvation. Give him the assurance that he
needs, Father, to stand before us and give us Your Word. Father,
we're again thankful that You brought us back here together,
Father, to a place where there is love, there is gospel, and
there is the truth. We ask, Father, that You'd watch
over us, each one individually, that You would be with those
that are ill, Father, that You'd strengthen them in their hour
of need. You'd cause them, Father, to
turn unto Thee for all things. We thank you, Father, for sending
the Lord Jesus Christ to bear our sins on the cross of Calvary,
to say the three words, Father, that are so precious. It is finished. Thank you, Father. In Jesus'
name, amen. Let's all stand once again and
we'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. The Lord of glory is my light
and my salvation too. God is my strength, nor will
I fear what all my foes can do. One privilege my heart desires,
O grant me an abode among the people of Thy love, the temple
of my God. There shall I offer fervent prayer
and see thy mercy still, shall hear thy messages of love and
there inquire thy will. When troubles rise and storms
appear, there shall his children hide. God has a secret hiding
place, there shall my soul abide. Now shall my head be lifted high
above my foes around, and songs of joy and victory within thy
temple sound. Please be seated. Bri Weishi
is going to bring some special music now. Be still my soul, the Lord is
on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief
or pain. Leave to thy God to order and
provide. In every change, he faithful
will remain. Be still, my soul, thy best,
thy heavenly friend. Through thorny ways, lead to
a joyful end. Be still my soul, thy God doth
undertake To guide the future as he has the past Thy hope,
thy confidence, let nothing shake All now mysterious shall be bright
at last Be still, my soul The waves and winds still know His
voice who ruled them while he dwelt below Be still, my soul, the hour is
hastening on When we shall be forever with the Lord When disappointment,
grief, and fear are gone Sorrow for God Love's purest joys restore
Be still my soul When change and tears are past All safe and
blessed We shall meet at last Thank you, Brie. It's my hope
this morning the Lord will still our disquieted souls, enable
us to rest in Christ who's finished the work. Robert, so good to
have you back. Let's open our Bibles together
to Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53. You can find the title of my
message in the last part of the last verse. He was numbered with the transgressors. That's where you're going to
find the Lord Jesus Christ. You won't find him anywhere else.
He's always going to be with the transgressors. So where does that leave you?
Where does that leave me? You ever heard someone say about
another person, well, they're a good Christian. Or worse than
that, someone trying to persuade you to trust them in a business
endeavor and they say to you, I'm a good Christian. Run as
fast and hard as you can when somebody tells you that. The
truth is that good and Christian are oxymorons. There's no such thing. No believer
would call himself a good Christian. Christians are sinners. Sinners. You know, it's kind
of like when you go fishing with a can of worms. It's early in
the morning and And you want to you want to use the fattest
wiggliest worms first And so you sort through the can you
pull out the big that that's that's a good worm And you save
the scrawny worms for last When we call a man good all we're
doing is comparing him to another man The scripture says Isaiah chapter 41 you can turn
back just a couple of pages if you'd like to see it for yourself
fear not thy worm Jacob Ye men of Israel God calls us worms
and then Psalm 22 the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking prophetically
through David and he says I am a worm and no man a Reproach
of men and despised of the people I'm here to say to you as clearly
as I know how this morning that The gospel of God's free grace
is for worms. It's for transgressors. It's
for sinners. The world looks at Christianity
for good people. Oh no. No. The accusation that was made
against the Lord Himself was, He eats with publicans and sinners. And the self-righteous Pharisees
looked down their nose at those people and thought, He's a wine-bibber. That's what
they called Him, didn't they? What was He doing? What was he
doing? I'll tell you what he was doing.
He was doing exactly what Isaiah said he would do. He was numbered
with the transgressors. If you're going to know anything
about the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to have to be a
transgressor. You're going to have to be a worm. You're going
to have to be a sinner. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. of whom Paul said, I am chief. Now, what is a sinner? What is
a sinner? The world would think of a sinner
as someone who does bad things. Oh, sin goes so much deeper than
our behavioral problems. Sin's what we are. Sin is our absolute, complete
inability to do anything that's righteous in the sight of God.
We have no righteousness. Our righteousness, the scripture
says, the best thing about a good man, a fat worm, a wiggly worm,
is altogether vanity. He says a man at his very best
state is altogether vanity and his righteousness is as filthy
rags. The gospel is for sinners. And
the Lord says that he is numbered with the transgressors. That's where he's to be found,
with sinners. Now you know this is the passage
of Scripture that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading from when
the Lord sent Philip, a gospel preacher, to preach the gospel
to him, and the Ethiopian said to Philip, oh, Philip asked him
first, he said, understand this what thou readest. And Ethiopian
said, how can I except a man should guide me, and he invited
Philip to get up in his chariot. And beginning in that very verse
of scripture, the Ethiopian asked him, does the prophet speak of
himself, or is he talking about another? Who's he talking about? And Philip, in that passage,
preached unto him Jesus. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the one that this passage
is talking about. Isaiah chapter 53 is just so
glorious. We'll read the first few verses
quickly. Verse 1, Who hath believed our
report? Why won't men believe the gospel?
The Lord said, you will not believe on me, because you're not my
sheep. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. No man can come to the Father.
No man can come unto me, except the Father which sent me draw
him. Light has come into the world. And men loved darkness
rather than light. He came unto his own, his own
received him not. Who has believed our report?
To whom the arm of the Lord's been revealed. You and I are
completely dependent upon divine intervention and divine revelation. We're completely dead sinners. Dead sinners need to be made
alive. They need to have the breath
of life breathed into them. They need to be given eyes to
see. They need to be given hearts
to believe. That's what the Lord said to Nicodemus in John chapter
3. Nicodemus, you can't see the
kingdom of God. You cannot perceive of it. You
can't receive it. You can't believe it, except
you'd be born again. You've got to be born of the
Spirit. And so what does the child of God say? Oh, Lord, give
me your spirit. And if you being evil know how
to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will
your heavenly Father give his spirit unto them that ask him?
Lord, give me your spirit. I can't be saved without your
spirit. I can't believe on Christ without your spirit. who has believed our report to
whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed for he shall grow
up before him the Lord Jesus Christ is going to grow up before
the Father as a tender plant and that's what he came to do
he came to please the Father He came to satisfy the demands
of His Father's holiness. He didn't come to be an example
to us. He didn't come to impress us. The Father was watching everything
He did. And the father concluded, this
is my beloved son, in him I am well pleased. Hear ye him, he
grew up before the father as a tender plant and a root out
of dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
that when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire
him. The natural man is not going
to seek after Christ. Why? Because he's got his own
righteousness, he's got his own beauty. He's got His own good
works. He doesn't need a Savior. He
is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows acquainted with
grief. We hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised
and we esteemed Him not. We called Him accursed. The world refers to the Lord
Jesus Christ as accursed. And the Lord made it clear in
1 Corinthians chapter 3 that no man can call Jesus accursed. Unless he, if he doesn't have
the Holy Spirit, he can't call him. How is it that the Lord
Jesus Christ is called accursed by man? What is it to be accursed? What is it to be accursed? It's
to suffer the wrath of God without redemption. That's what it is
to be accursed. To suffer the wrath of God without
the hope of redemption. What does the world say about
the Lord Jesus Christ? They say that he died for everybody.
He loves everybody. He's doing his darndest to save
everybody, but he's not going to be able to accomplish the
redemption of those that he died for because they're not willing. They won't let him have his way.
What are they saying? They're saying that Jesus Christ
suffered the wrath of God without the hope of redemption. They're
calling him accursed. And the Lord says, the world
hates me. They despise me. They don't esteem
me. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. He bore the sins of many. Now to bear something is to have
a heavy load. And here's the truth. Here's
the truth. You and I have a load of sin
on our shoulders that will crush us to the lowest hell if God
doesn't take it away. It'll crush us to the lowest
hell. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
scripture says, bore in his body all the sins of all of his people. So if your sins and my sins will
crush us to the lowest hell, what was it like? What did the
Lord Jesus, we can't imagine it. We cannot enter into what
he suffered when God piled the whole of his people on the shoulders
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He bore our sins. He suffered
the wrath of God. And he bore them away. In the
Old Testament, when the priest would take that scapegoat and
place his hands on the head of the scapegoat and symbolically
transfer the sins of the people to that scapegoat, that scapegoat's
Christ. And then what did they do to
the scapegoat? They took him out into the wilderness. And
where has God taken our sins? He's taken our sins into the
wilderness of forgetfulness. He's removed them from us as
far as the east is from the west. He has crushed His dear Son and
satisfied His holy justice for the sins of His people. He bore
our iniquities and He bore them away. Now, if the Lord Jesus
Christ bore them away, if he separated them from us as far
as the east is from the west, if he buried them in the depths
of the sea, if he sewed them up in a bag and buried them,
never to be found again, that's what God says, then sin, nothing for that matter,
can be found in two places at the same time. Nothing can be found in two places
at the same time. If the Lord Jesus Christ has
put away the sins of his people, then those sins are no longer
on us. There is now therefore no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh. They're not looking to their
fleshly behavior. They're not looking to their
will. They're looking by the Spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no condemnation to them
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Sin's been
put away. That's the good news. That's
the good news. The Lord Jesus Christ actually
accomplished the salvation of His people. He actually put the
sins of His people away. You say, well, I feel the burden
of my own sin. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. you will find that He has satisfied
all the demands of His Father, that He has accomplished your
salvation all by Himself. He has put away the sins of His
people by the sacrifice of Himself once and for all. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you look to your sin, Well, I don't know if I feel bad enough
about my sin. You cannot feel bad enough about
your sin. It's not possible. It's not possible. The Lord Jesus
Christ knew what guilt was. He knew what shame was. Truth
is that our sin is a whole lot worse than we think it is, isn't
it? You see, it just, Lord, I don't
have any righteousness. I don't have anything to bring
you. All I've got is my sin. But Lord, you said that you numbered
yourself with the transgressors, and I'm a transgressor. I'm a
transgressor. We like sheep have gone astray
verse 6 we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all The scripture says he finished
iniquity. He made an end of sin. He put it away This was the good news that Philip
told the Ethiopian And the Ethiopian, after hearing this message, said
to Philip, what doth hinder me to be baptized? Can I follow
after Christ? I'm an Ethiopian, I'm a Gentile.
And what'd Philip say to him? If thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest. And he said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. I believe that message you just
told me. I believe that He was successful in putting away the
sins of His people. And the only hope that I have
to not be crushed by my sin is that He was crushed by my sin.
And I've got no place else to go. I've got no place else to
go but to look to Him alone for all the hope of my righteousness
and all the hope of my justification before a holy God. I've been
shut up to Christ. I believe that with all my heart. And he was baptized. He confessed
Christ. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, was
oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
Why not? Because in bearing our sins,
he owned our sins. He took responsibility for our
sins. He suffered the wrath of God
as if they were his own sins. He made them his own. He had no defense. He could not defend himself. Plus he was fulfilling the purpose
of the covenant that God had sent him to do well before time
began. The lamb slain before the foundation
of the world, he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb
to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
so he opened not his mouth. He was silent. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. Who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgressions
of my people was he stricken." So unless you're a transgressor,
there's no message of hope in the gospel. Oh, but if you're
a sinner, if you're a transgressor, if you're a rebel, that's what
the word transgressor means. It means that I have rebelled
against God. I have said to God, no. I'm a rebel. I've not been able
to keep his law, not one time. He made his grave with the wicked
and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence,
neither was there any deceit in his mouth. Notice. that prior to his death,
he's bearing the transgressions of his people and he's standing
guilty before God. And once he declares, it is finished. Once he gives permission to his
spirit to depart. Once he says, Father into thy
hands, I commend my spirit. Now everything changes. Now he's
put into the grave of the rich because there was no deceit in
his mouth. Now he's innocent. Now he's being
rewarded even in his burial. He's being rewarded for the success
of his redemptive work on behalf of his people. Verse 10, yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him. When God saw the sins of His
people, His holy justice demanded, demanded death. It demanded it. Now if God's holy justice demanded
death when He saw sin on His darling son, what do you suppose it's going
to demand for me and you? Oh Lord. be pleased to bruise
Christ on my behalf. He has numbered himself with
the transgressors. I'm a transgressor. I'm in desperate
need of a Savior. I'm in desperate need of you
to satisfy your divine justice in Christ for me. It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. when
he shall make his soul an offering for sin." The Lord is numbered with the
transgressors in that He suffered the full wrath of God's justice
in His very soul. This wasn't something that God
just pasted on to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is something He
owned as His own. He bore the full burden of the
guilt and shame of all the sins of all God's people. And God
pierced him in his very heart. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, thou shalt see his seed. God is saying,
I'm going to see the ones for whom he died. and they're going
to be accepted because of his work. I will see his seed and
God shall prolong his days. God's gonna reward and he has
rewarded the Lord Jesus Christ for his obedience. The scripture
says in Philippians chapter three, that he's given him a name that
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee
shall bow and every tongue confess. The pleasure of the Lord. The
pleasure of the Father is going to prosper in the hand of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We have a prosperous Savior.
We've got a successful Savior. We've got one that God's pleased
with. God's satisfied with him. Look
at the next verse. He, the Father, shall see the
travail of his soul. So I I just need to feel more
guilty about my sin If you if the Spirit of God convicts
you you're gonna feel shame you're gonna feel guilt you're gone
But to the degree that it's going to satisfy God No No You're too
dull You're too accustomed to sin Why? Because you're a transgressor.
You've been a transgressor since you took your first breath. Think about babies. We love babies. We're fixing to have some more
here and I'm thankful for them. But a baby is completely self-absorbed. They're self-absorbed. I mean,
if they're hungry, they want to be fed. If they've got a dirty
diaper, they want their diaper changed. And if you don't give
them exactly what they want, when they want it, they're going
to make your life miserable. They're little narcissists, aren't
they? That's just what they are. And the Scripture says that you
and I came from the womb speaking lies. You know, people aren't born
good, they're born bad. You've got to train children
to do what's right. And if a person's not taught
to respect authority and they're not taught to consider the needs
of other people, they'll grow up to be narcissists one day. What the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Born of a woman, born
under the law, to redeem them who are cursed by the law. The
Lord Jesus Christ was numbered with transgressors in his birth. In his birth? Why was he born
in a barn? To the contrary, it didn't have
anything to do with lowing cattle and sweet-smelling hay. It was
just the opposite. It was a barn full of manure
and they laid the Lord Jesus Christ in a nasty feeding trough. Why? Because He was numbering
Himself with transgressors. He came into this world to bear
the sins of his people, and to do that he identified with our
birth. We're born in sterilized hospitals
today now, aren't we? But the spiritual condition in
which you and I are born into this world is exactly what's
pictured in his birth in that smelly, filthy barn. He was numbered with the transgressors. In his life he was numbered with
the transgressors. They said that he's a gluttonous
man, he's a wine-bibber. They said that he hung out with
publicans and sinners. What was he doing? He was numbering
himself with transgressors. And he still numbers himself
with transgressors. In his baptism, he was numbering
himself with transgressors. You remember when the Lord went
to John and said, John, I want you to baptize me? And John said,
oh no, Lord, I'm not worthy to unlatch your sandals. You need
to baptize me. What John said was true. He wasn't
worthy. So why was the Lord Jesus baptized? Why was he baptized? He was numbering
himself with sinners. What is baptism? What is baptism
a picture of? It's a picture of the spiritual
death that sin makes and the cleansing of the water, that
redemption. brings to our salvation. So why was Christ baptized? The Lord Jesus Christ said to
John, suffer it to be so for now that we might fulfill all
righteousness. Now God's people rejoice in publicly
confessing themselves to the church in believer's baptism. But your baptism and my baptism
had nothing to do with our salvation. His baptism did. His baptism
did. He was baptized by the fire of
God's wrath. He was baptized into death. And
his water baptism, it was being performed to fulfill all righteousness. All righteousness had to be fulfilled
in order for us to be saved. So there we are. He's numbering himself with transgressors. He's doing for us what we cannot
do for ourselves. Our baptism doesn't save us.
His did. His did. He's numbering himself with the
transgressors. He's identifying himself in his
birth, in his life, in his baptism, and most importantly, in his
death, as he bear the sins of everybody? No, that's not what
the scripture says. He didn't bear the sins of everybody. He
bore the sins of many. And the sins that he bore, he
put away. He made an end of iniquity. An
end of sin. He satisfied the Father. The
Father removed them. Like the scapegoat, they're gone.
They're gone. God can't... There's no double jeopardy in
God's justice system. No double jeopardy. He's not
going to punish you for what he's already punished Christ
for. He's not going to do it. That wouldn't be just. That wouldn't
be just. God's satisfied. What was he
doing? Numbering himself with transgressors. It's the only place he's going
to ever be found is with transgressors. And transgressors flee to Him. They just flee to Him. They've
got no place else to go. They've got no other hope, no
other plea. But that Thy blood was shed for
me is the only hope I have. The shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only thing that God's going to cover the sins
of His people with. And here's what the scripture
says. What God covers, no man can uncover. And what God uncovers, no man
can cover. See, our sins are going to be
covered by the blood of Christ. But we're going to try to cover
them with our own righteousness. We try to cover them with our
own righteousness, God's going to uncover them. He's going to
expose them all. And the wrath that fell upon
the Lord Jesus Christ will fall upon all those who attempt to
cover their own sins before God. He, the Father, verse 11, shall
see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Here's what the scripture says
in Hebrews chapter 10, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not.
The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking.
He's saying sacrifice and offering, your sacrifice and your offering,
God's not pleased with. A body thou hast prepared for
me. Lo, I have come. For it is written in the volume
of the book, to do thy will, O God." God has given him rightful place
at the right hand of the majesty on high. He's interceding right
now. Look what this passage says.
By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall, he shall, not he's gonna try, not he's gonna do his best,
he shall bear their iniquity. Now if he bore them, if he bore
the iniquity of his people, they're born. They're put away. They're gone. That's good news. That's good
news. The Lord said, all you that labor,
you're laboring in order to fix the problem? You're heavy burdened? You got a burden you can't bear?
Come unto me, for my burden is light, my yoke is easy. Learn
of me, learn of me. I am meek and lowly in heart. I've put them away. therefore God speaking I will
divide him a portion with the great and He shall divide the
spoil with the strong He's gonna give the spoils of
the battle that he won to his people who are strong in faith
and They are. They've got no place else. I
mean, they're clinging to the Lord Jesus Christ for all the
hope of their salvation. Because God's gonna reward him
because he hath poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered
with the transgressors. He was numbered with the transgressors. What'd they say? They accused him of blasphemy. He said, which of my works do
you accuse me of? Oh no, we don't accuse you of
your works. We accuse you because you, being a man, make yourself
out to be God. And that accusation, the Lord
Jesus Christ, was numbering himself with transgressors. You see,
the real heart of the problem that you and I have from the
time we're little babies, little narcissistic babies, is that
we want to be God. We're a bunch of blasphemous
idolaters who have dethroned God and sat on the throne of
God ourselves that we might have the power and the control over
our lives. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
numbering Himself with the transgressors when they said to Him, He saved
others, Himself He cannot save. If He be the Son of God, let
Him come down off of that cross. He was being accused of what
you and I are guilty of. Why? Because He was numbering
Himself with transgressors. He bore them away. God's pleased, not with you,
not with me. He's pleased with Christ. A good Christian? No such thing. A sinner? A transgressor? who's clinging to the Lord Jesus
Christ for all the hope of their salvation, believing that He
has numbered Himself with the transgressors? That's our hope, isn't it? Look at the last part of verse
12. He bear the sin of many. Not everybody. Certain people. Certain people. I don't know
if he bore my sin away. Because I've got no place else
to go. I have no righteousness. Faith is the evidence of things
hoped for. I believe what God says. I can't not believe it. I try
every day not to believe God. And I'm forced to believe Him.
God's done something. He's made me a believer. Lord, where should we go? You
alone have the words of eternal life. We know and are sure that
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. You have shut
us up to Yourself. We've got no place else to go.
That's my only hope. What did that Ethiopian say?
I believe that Jesus Christ, this one right here, right here
in Isaiah 53, that you just told me about Philip, the one who
has numbered himself with transgressors, I know I'm a transgressor. I
know I have no righteousness. I believe that God is satisfied
with what he did. And I've got nothing else to
do but lay all the hopes of my salvation on him. If He didn't bear my sins away,
if He did not bear my sins away all by Himself, I've got no place
else to go. I've got no other hope. And if He's not interceding for
me right now, you look at the last part of verse 12, and He
made intercession for transgressors. Who's the gospel for? It's for
transgressors. What is a transgressor? It's
a person who can't do anything but transgress. What's a sinner? It's a person who can't do anything
but sin. In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. So the question that you and
I have to ask ourselves, am I ungodly? If I'm ungodly, don't call me
a good Christian. I'm just another worm. I'm ungodly. Why callest thou me good? That's
what the Lord said to those who said, good master, what must
I do to inherit eternal life? Why callest thou me good? There's
none good but God. There's none good but God. All said in me that is in my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. I'm a transgressor. I've got
no goodness. If he's not interceding on my
behalf, if he's not presenting himself for my righteousness,
if he hasn't bore my sins away, I've got no hope. I've got no
place else to go. But he has made me to believe. To believe. Oh, what hope. What joy. What comfort. What salvation. To know that
I have no sin. I have no sin. Perfectly righteous before God. And I've got an intercessor.
So that when I do sin, What'd John say? My little children,
I write these things unto you that you send not, but if any
man sin. And that word if is most often translated since. It's not if you're gonna sin,
it's when you're gonna sin. Since every man sins, we
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.
Oh Lord, keep pleading my cause, Keep numbering yourself with
this transgressor. Keep presenting your righteousness
on my behalf. Keep speaking to the Father for
me, pleading your blood as a covering for all my sin. What hope, what joy. Let's stand together, Brother
Tom. I'm sorry, we're going to celebrate
the Lord's table. Usually it's here and I forgot. 191. Just remain seated, please.
Number 191. Here, O my Lord, I see Thee face
to face. Here would I touch and handle
things unseen. Here grasp with firm and all my weariness upon thee
lean. Here would I feed upon the bread
of God, the royal wine of heaven. Here would I lay aside each earthly
load, here taste afresh the calm of the sin forgiven. I have no help but thine, nor
do I need another arm save thine to lean upon. It is enough, my Lord, enough. My strength is in Thy might,
Thy might alone. Mine is the sin, but Thine the
righteousness. Thine is the guilt, but Thine
the cleansing blood. Here is my robe, my refuge, and
my The self-righteous and the pseudo-intellectuals. hate the gospel because of its
simplicity. It's so simple. This little piece
of bread, unleavened, that's a picture of the life of Christ
without sin. It's the only life that God's
pleased with. It's his life, your life. Are you trying to compete with
him or impress him or add to what he did? No, his life must
be your life. The Lord said, do this in remembrance
of me. Is his death your only justification
before God. It's the blood that he shed on
Calvary's cross, the only hope of having your sins hid from
God. Here's what God said, when I
see the blood, when I see the blood, God's not looking to your
intentions. Your determination, your will,
your works. You look in one place to the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only thing you're
satisfied with. Simple, simple. Often as you do this, do it in
remembrance of me. And the whole God's people said,
Amen. Let's stand together. Brother
Brian, would you dismiss us in prayer, please? Heavenly Father, we are grateful
to be heard. It's true. Lord, your word tells
us that the soul that sins will surely die. We thank you.