All right, brethren, Isaiah 53. Verse one begins with this word.
It says, who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? Our report is the preaching of
the gospel of Christ. That's what the report is, the
preaching of the gospel of Christ. You know, Paul quoted from Isaiah
52 and from Isaiah 53 in Romans 10 when he said, how should they
preach except they be sent? And he said, as it's written,
how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace and bring glad tidings of good things. That's from Isaiah
52. And then he said, but they've not all obeyed the gospel, for
Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So report, he's
saying, who's believed the gospel we preached? And then when he
calls it, when he says, to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
The arm's the power of God. To whom is the power of God revealed? That's the gospel. He said, Paul
said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the
power of God. It's the arm of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. Who's believed our report, our
gospel of Christ? To whom is the power, the power
of the gospel revealed? to whom is the righteousness
of God revealed. And that power and that righteousness
specifically is the Lord Jesus. He said in 1 Corinthians 1, we
preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks, foolishness, but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, the arm of
the Lord, the power of God unto salvation, the wisdom of God. In Isaiah's day, there was very,
very few who believed the gospel he preached. Very few. Very few. He's saying, where can a believer
be found who believes this gospel? That's what he's saying, that's
what Isaiah's saying. Brethren, that's the same, that was the
same in Paul's day, and it's the same in our day. If you ever
feel discouraged because there's so few that really believe the
gospel of Christ, I'm not talking about who are religious. There's a lot of folks religious,
but I'm talking about who really believe the gospel of Christ. Don't feel like you're alone
in that because it's been this way in every age. There's just
been a few who the Lord has saved. Isaiah felt that way. The Lord's
people have felt it in every generation. Listen to this. from
Romans 9, 27, it says, he's quoting from Isaiah from the first chapter,
but Paul said, Isaiah cried concerning Israel and said, though the number
of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant
shall be saved. The short work did the Lord work
on this earth. He really, the Lord Jesus was
only in his public ministry for three and a half years, and compared
to the, to the number of people in the world and even the number
of people that were in Israel, very, very few did the Lord save
while he walked this earth, a remnant. Isaiah said, except the Lord
of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we should have been like Sodom
and been like Gomorrah. He'd have just wiped us off the
map, Isaiah said, except the Lord had an elect seed. Romans
11, let's look there, Romans 11. Look here what Paul said.
And he was, Paul was saying that and quoting Isaiah because that's
what people were saying in Paul's day. They were saying, who's
believed the gospel? Compared to this multitude that is following
the Pharisees, we're a small number. And look what Paul said.
Romans 11, he quotes from Elijah. He said, verse three, Elijah
said, Lord, they've killed our prophets, dig down thine altars,
and I'm left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith
the answer of God to him? I have reserved to myself 7,000
men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal, even so
then." Paul said, at this present time, also, there is a remnant
according to the election of grace. And brethren, we can say
the same thing today. This world is still here. And
you know what that means? That means there's still a remnant
that the Lord is gonna call out. And of you and me that he's called,
we're a small remnant. The Lord's people in every generation
have always been a remnant. You just can't, if we see the
scriptures and understand them, you have to understand that's
always been the case in every generation, a very small remnant. There's a multitude of religious
folks When our Savior walked this earth, there was a multitude
of religious folks when he was here walking this earth. But
God only revealed Christ to a chosen remnant in our Lord today. All
those chosen remnant. Many think that they're wise,
you know, they look at the numbers and they say, well, look at how
many folks are here. And they look at a place where
there's a few, well, look, they don't have very many people.
You'd be wise never go with the majority that this world goes
with, because the majority's wrong. That's just so. Our Lord gave that parable of
the four different kinds of hearers. How many of them believe? One
out of four. There's a remnant, there's a
remnant, a small remnant. Why do so few believe the gospel? Why do so few believe the gospel?
Why do so few believe on Christ in truth? A lot of people profess
to, but why do so few believe on Him in truth? Notice that
next word in verse 2, Isaiah 53, 2, it says, for. Now He's
about to answer it. He's about to tell us why. Who's
believed, I report? Whom's the arm of the Lord revealed?
Because He's fixing to tell us something here about why so few
believe. Our subject is why sinners reject
the gospel. Why sinners reject the gospel.
Here's the first reason. There's nothing about Christ
appealing to the carnal eye, nothing. He says in verse two,
because he shall grow up before him a tender plant, and as a
root out of a dry ground, he hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there's no beauty that we should desire
him. That's the first reason. Nothing appeals to the flesh
about Christ. Nothing about Christ appeals
to the flesh. The second reason is the carnal mind hates God. He hates Christ. Verse three,
he is despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised
and we esteemed him not. Now here's the third. It's because
Christ is the righteousness and holiness of his people. It's
because all the work is by Christ. All the salvation is Christ alone. That's why men despise him. He
said, 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. Let's look at him. There's nothing
about Christ that appeals to the natural eye, nothing. Nothing
about the gospel, nothing about the means that God has chosen,
nothing. He says in verse two, for he
shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a
dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there's no beauty that we should desire
him. He grew up before him, he grew
up before the Lord, and before all men as a tender plant. The
Son of God came into this world as an infant. That's how He came
into this world, an infant. Born of a woman, just like those
He came to save, made of a woman. He grew up from an infant to
a man, just like everybody else, just like everybody else. He
came as a root out of a dry ground, When he came into this world,
the house of Jesse and the house of David, through whom he came,
they didn't have any of the splendor that they had back in the heyday.
They were a poor house by this time. God had cut it down. And
even Israel itself was under, they were under Roman bondage
when Christ came into the world. He's a root out of a dry ground. He came in this world into a
poor family, a poor family, and everybody in the hometown, in
his hometown, knew him. They said, is not this the carpenter's
son? They said, is not his mother
called Mary? And his brethren, James and Josie, and Simon and
Judas, and his sisters, are they not all with us? And they were
offended in him. They were offended at him teaching
and preaching. That means they were ashamed
of him, because they knew him. He's just a man. We know his
daddy, we know his mama. He's nobody. And here's the point. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. There was nothing about the Lord
that would make anybody wanna believe on him and follow him,
nothing. And that was by the design of
God. God did that on purpose. He did
that on purpose. Christ came forth this way on
purpose, according to God's purpose. Why? God's showing that spiritually
dead sinners cannot discern. They can't discern and believe
on Christ of themselves. They can't do it. Cannot do it. The carnal eye loves something
fleshly. The carnal man loves something
that outwardly is appealing. And that's how they judge. It's
called, Christ called it unrighteous judgment. That's discerning things
by the outward appearance and how they look. But you see, God's
ways are not our ways. His ways are not our ways. Listen
now, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God for their foolishness to him. What God calls wisdom
and what God delights in and what God highly esteems Natural
man says foolish. Has no appeal to a natural man
whatsoever. None. Neither can he know them. Not only that he won't do it,
he can't do it. Because they're spiritually discerned.
That was us, brethren. Why do you believe the gospel?
Why do you believe the gospel? We were no different. Why do
you believe? The very one we despised, that
very one that we found no form of commonness about him, he gave
us life. That's why we believe it. We
weren't seeking him, he came and sought us. That's why. See, that was the reason he came
the way he did. That's the very reason. He came
and gave us faith. Look there, 1 Corinthians 2.
and hold your place there. I'm gonna come right back here
in a minute. But look here at 1 Corinthians. The only reason
you believe. See, if there would have been
something appealing about Christ to make you want to believe,
it would have been of you. It would have been of you. Nothing about him appealing.
Look, as it's written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared. for them that love Him. But God
hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. Man don't find out
God. Man don't seek and study and
learn God. God has got to reveal Christ
to us. It's called divine revelation.
That's the only way we know anything at all. For the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. You see the grace of
God that He's given you to give you faith to believe Him, Do
you see the grace of God in this? The majority don't believe Christ,
never have. But he's given you great grace.
Go to Matthew 13. Hold that place there, 1 Corinthians,
I'll come back. But go to Matthew 13, look here. Matthew 13, look at verse 14. They asked the Lord why he spoke
to them in parables. And he said in verse 11, He said,
because it's given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven, but to them it is not given. Grace is distinguishing grace,
isn't it? He said, it's not given to them. It's given to you, but it's not
given to them. He said, look down at verse 14. He said,
in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, by hearing
you shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing you shall
see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. You know,
that's from Isaiah when the Lord called Isaiah, and it's Christ
that is answering. He said, who shall I send? Who
will go for me? And Christ said, here I am, send
me. And he said, go preach to this people. And the Lord said,
how long, Lord? He said, till their eyes be closed,
till they be hardened. And that's why the Lord said,
and that's why I'm preaching to them in parables, because
I'm fulfilling this prophecy. Their eyes are gonna be shut,
they're gonna be hardened, and I'm gonna preach to them, so
all their houses be desolated. That's what Christ came to do
for them that were not his. But look what he says right here
now, and I'm saying this because I want you to get this about
what God's done for you that believe. Verse 16, but blessed
are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see those things which you see. All those Old
Testament prophets and God's true people, they wanted to see
Christ come. They wanted to see Him go to
the cross and accomplish the salvation. And they didn't get
to see Him, they didn't live in a time, they lived before
He did that. You've seen it and God's revealed
it to you and taught you this. And they wanted to hear those
things which you hear and they didn't get to hear them. Lord
Jesus told Peter, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. You see how blessed you are to
hear the gospel and know the gospel? So few in this world,
who have believed our gospel? To whom has the Christ Jesus,
the power of God been revealed? Very few. Look at secondly now. Here's why men reject Christ.
The carnal mind that we're born with hates God, and he's God. Look here at verse three, Isaiah
53. He is despised and rejected of
men. Now understand, he said he is
present tense, right now, in our day, right now. He was then and he is now. He
is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He
was despised, he was then, he is now, and we esteemed him not. Why? Why Smith's upset with him? Look at Romans 8. God came down,
that's why. God came down, and he declared
that he's God. He names Emmanuel, God with us,
and he declared that he's the son of God. The sinners despised
him, then they despise him now. It's not interesting to a carnal
man. I tell you this, brethren. You
know how many times I've preached this gospel since 1999? And I'm not saying something
new. And yet, it's fresh and new to me every time I study
it. And to those that hear it, it's fresh and new by the Spirit
of God. But if a man don't have the Spirit
of God, it's gonna be dull. and get old, and he can't make
himself keep listening to it. Just how it is. Just how it is. Sinners despised him then, they
despise him now, because he's God. It says there, we caused
his sorrows and his griefs, but we hid our faces from him and
we esteemed him not. Here's why, Romans 8, 7. Because
the carnal mind is enmity against God. The carnal mind is not only
at enmity against God, the carnal mind is enmity against God. Our carnal mind that we're born
with is nothing but hatred. That's all it is. There's no
goodness in it. It's nothing but enmity against
God. That's the man we're born with.
And I've said, I've heard this so many times, men have said,
but I've never hated God. A man that says that does not
know God. Because when God reveals himself,
he gonna make you know that you hated God, the true God. Everybody is enmity against God,
comes into this world enmity against God. Either this word
is true and God is true, or men that say I never hated God are
true. Only one's true. It's either God or the man who
says that. It's God. This is the mind of
every man that comes into this world. We hate God. It's all
we are by nature. So why did Christ come forth
this way? Why did he come forth made of
a woman? Why did he come forth into a
a nation that was cut down, a family that was cut down, poor family. Why did he come forth as an infant
and grow up just like everybody else so that he'd look like everybody
else in this world? You know, you see these pictures
that are supposed to be the Lord Jesus, and he's always blue-eyed
and handsome-looking, you know. I guarantee you that ain't what
he looked like. There was nothing about him that would make anybody
desire him, nothing, nothing. Look here at 1 Corinthians 1.
Here's why. Here's why he came that way. This is exactly why. This is
why God chose to save through a bloody cross. This is why he
saved through preaching of the gospel. A sinner uses sinners
saved by grace to preach that sin and fall and have no sufficiency
in themselves. This is why he uses these things
he uses. Here's why. Verse 19, it is written, I will
destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent. That's why. We're gonna have
to be made to acknowledge we are not wise and we are not prudent. Look down here, verse 26. Here's why I did it. You see
your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called But God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world. He chose foolish things to confound
the wise. And God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. That's the first reason. Nobody,
no man's gonna have any glory. Here's the second reason. But
of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according
as it's written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. There's
the two reasons. First one is, He's gonna destroy
our wisdom and our prudence and all our good works and everything
about us so that we see that we're nothing and we're brought
to nothing and we do not glory in our flesh anymore. And the
second reason is, He's gonna make you see it's all of Him. It's of God that He chose His
people in Christ. It's of God that He reveals Christ
in His people. And when He reveals Christ, Christ
is revealed to be all salvation. wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption. And here's why. So everybody
that he saved gives him all the glory. That's why. That's why
all this is so. If you're despised by men when
you bear witness of Christ, brethren, don't be discouraged. Don't be
discouraged. Consider him that endured such
contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be weary and
faint in your mind. That's another reason for this,
is that when you get faint and weary because you're despised
and rejected, it's to remind you Christ already bore all that.
Consider what he bore. Consider what he bore. Let's
consider that now. Here are three. Here's why men
hate him. Here's why men despise Christ,
the natural man. Because the necessity of the
Son of God taking flesh and being made under the law and working
all this for his people, the necessity of that declares he
alone is the righteousness of God. He alone is salvation, and
it declares all our works are filthy rags, and that's why men
hate him. That's why men hate our gospel.
Look here in verse four. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. You see how he's suffering? You
see the trouble he's bearing? You see how men are rejecting
him, and everybody's moving away from him, and all the trouble
and sorrow he's going through? God's getting to him. God's getting
to him. He sinned, and God is taking
it out on him. That's what we said about Christ.
That's exactly what it said. But what was he really doing?
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're healed. When men saw Christ
on the cross, they really thought God was smiting him because he
was a false prophet. That's what they thought. And
here's the thing is, when me and you were dead in our sins,
that's what we thought about him. We heard the gospel, we
read the stories, and we thought, oh, we tried to let everybody
around us know, well, I believe that. But in our heart, we thought,
this can't be true. It can't be true. It's just some
man that tried to act like he was somebody, and men put him
on a cross and killed him. But Christ was bearing the sin
of His people. Everything He was doing was saving
His people. He was working out a righteousness His people could
not work out. He was smitten and He was wounded
because God made Him sin for us. God made Him sin for us. Remember when they lifted up
the serpent on the pole? The thing that caused their death
was made and lifted up on a pole. The thing that caused our death
is what Christ was made. He was made sin for us and lifted
up on that cross. And you know how men were saved
when they were bitten by those serpents? Look. Just look and
you'll live. That's all. Look and live. And
that's salvation. You look to Christ and you'll
have eternal life. You look to Christ and you'll
be saved. You trust Him, you'll be saved.
In order for his people to have peace with God, Christ had to
bear the stripes of divine justice that we should have borne, that
we would have borne. He did that for his people. And here's what
it says, with his stripes, by his stripes, we are healed. What does that word healed mean?
Absolutely complete. Everything that you need to meet
God in glory, you are in Christ and by Christ. that you that
he's called, that's so. Complete in him as he is at God's
right hand, so will we right now. Your life is hid with Christ
in God. Sinners don't hate the little
false Jesus that puts the work in their hand. They don't hate
that God. That's why men say, I never hated God, because they
don't hate that God, that helpless God. No, they don't hate him,
that idol. They hate the gospel that declares
Christ is God, that he's wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, and that we can't contribute or get any glory for
any part of it. That's the God men hate. He had to come. He had to bear
the sins of his people. He had to make us righteous because
nobody else could do it. Only God in human flesh could
do the work. We could not do it. None of his
people could do it. Men don't hate the little Jesus
that puts the work in their hands, they hate the Lord Jesus who
does all the work. That's the one men hate. It's
the one we hated. John 10.31, the Jews took up
stones to stone him, and the Lord said, many good works have
I showed you from my Father, for which of those works do you
stone me? Listen to what they said now.
The Jews answered, for a good work we stone thee not. You see,
you preach Christ as a healer of the sick, you preach Christ
as a mere example to follow, you preach him as somebody that
did most everything he could, now the rest is up to you. You
preach him as somebody that he does part of the work of sanctification,
you do the other part of it and y'all work together and you got
a good thing going. You preach him, men will flock
to hear that message. I come across a video this morning
of a bunch of them down there, I think, I don't know where they
were, somewhere, Panama City Beach, maybe. There was all these
people out on the beach for a sunrise service, and the preacher's up
there telling them, you know why Christ suffered like he did?
Because he loves you so much, and he wants to save you so much.
Won't you let him? Beach full of people. I mean,
as far as you can see, people on that beach. Why? People would
get up hungover after the night before and go and listen to that
because it don't offend them. Because that Jesus can't save
unless they let him. And men don't hate that God.
But you know what? They said, for a good work we
stone you not. But because you being a man say
you're God. They hated him because he said,
I'm God. That's the Christ men hate, the
one who is God, who won't give man any glory. They didn't hate
him when he fed their belly. Men don't hate him if he's the
man that'll give you prosperity in the world and good health
and all that. But when he said, I'm the bread, and except you
eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. When
they murmured and he turned to them and said, don't murmur,
no man can believe me except my Father in drawing. When he
declared that to them, they said, who can hear this? And they went
away from him. That's the Jesus men hate. You let men hear the
truth that this is God who chooses whom he will and passes by whom
he will. What's the first message? I can't
remember off the top of my head, but I think it's one of the first,
maybe the first message he preached. He told them, this is what he
preached. He said there was a whole bunch of widows in Israel. God
passed them all by and he saved a Gentile widow. There was a
bunch of lepers in Israel. God passed them by. He saved
a Gentile leper. And you know what he was telling
them? God has mercy on whom he will
and whom he will. He hardens. And they tried to
take him up to the top of the hill and throw him off. You tell sinners that no, Christ
didn't. He didn't. He didn't do the best
He could do. He accomplished the redemption
of His particular people, and He shall call each one and quicken
them and give them faith and save them and preserve them and
present them faultless to the Father, unreprovable in God's
sight, and it will all be by Christ Himself and what He has
done, and the sinner will have no room to open his mouth that
he did anything. And man, I hate that God. He saves his people. You think
about what those Pharisees were saying in Solomon's ports that
day when they told Christ, they said, here's why we hate you
and stone you. It's because you being a man,
make yourself God. You know what they were, they
unknowingly were admitting that if he's just a man, then he couldn't
save himself or anybody else. They were unknowingly admitting,
we can't save ourselves. You're acting like you're the
savior, you're just a man. A man can't save anybody. They
wouldn't have never said that about themselves, and they'd
have never confessed it, but unknowingly, that's what they
were basically saying was, if you're a man, you can't save
anybody. No man can save anybody, but the God man, that's the one
man, hey, but when the spirit of God gives you the mind of
Christ, Here's what's so amazing. All the things about the Redeemer
that we hated about Him, when He reveals Himself in you, everything
we hated is what makes us love Him. We hated that He's God. Now, I love the fact He's God. Because my salvation's eternal
because He's God. We hated that salvation was entirely
of Him. Righteousness was all by Him
complete, fulfilling the law for us. Now I love that, don't
you? There's nothing in the law of God that He hasn't fulfilled
for His people. Everything the law requires for
you, believer, He's fulfilled it all, past, present, and future.
And He did it perfectly, and you did it perfectly in Him.
We hated the fact that He had longed to put away sin, and we
didn't get any glory for that. But I love the fact now that
Christ Jesus completely put away our sin, blotted them out, they
don't exist, they have never existed in God's mind and purpose
and book. That's what justification is.
There is no sin ever having existed on the record books of God for
His people. Christ put them away that thoroughly. All I see is sin in me. I hate
it, but I know this. In God's record book, for all
who believe Him, you that He's called to Him, there is no record
of sin ever existing. That's what justification is.
That's what men hate. You can't tell sinners that.
If you tell them that, we won't be able to control them. That's
what they hate. We won't be able to control them.
We won't be able to make them do what we want them to do, and
we won't be able to get glory for making them do what we want
to do. Now I love that. I love that I'm not the one who
controls anybody. I love the fact that he does.
He makes the heart willing and he corrects and keeps and turns
and grows his people. I love that about him now. I
hated it before, I love it now. Everything you hated before,
you love now about him. And everything you loved about
yourself and your works and who you are and all the great grand
things you thought about yourself, now you hate all that. He turns
you right side up, don't he? Let me end with this. I'm out
of time. I've got three things I want
to show you. I'll just say it real quick. Don't look to the
outward appearance. That's number one. You see what
happened looking to the outward appearance? We rejected the Prince
of Life. He said, you or they must justify yourselves before
men. You do what you do to be seen
of men. God knows your hearts and that which is highly esteemed
among men in man's eye is an abomination to God, he hates
it. He said judge righteous, judge
not according to the appearance, judge righteous judgment. That's
spiritual judgment, spiritual discernment. And by Christ coming
with no form to make us desire him, using a bloody cross and
all this, always remember this, the power is of God and not of
us. He used foolish things to show
us the powers of God and not of us. It's only by the grace
of God that our warfare is accomplished. Christ did it. And it's only
by his power of revealing Christ in you that you believe. And
I'll say this, I'm saying it to say this, when you declare
the gospel to somebody and they reject you, remember that. You could not believe except
by the power of God. So don't get upset with them
and don't get high-minded and all that when somebody don't
believe. You couldn't believe either. It's only by the power
of God. Ask God to bless the word to
them, rather than getting upset with them. And then know that
when you suffer and you sorrow for this gospel, for Christ's
sake, from people you love dearly, who turns out they hate the God
you love and they hate the Christ you preach and they separate
you from them or whatever it is, remember this, Christ already
bore it, and we have a high priest in heaven that will give you
grace to help in time of need. You go to him and he'll comfort
you, because he's been there, he's suffered it, he knows it,
he'll comfort you. And above all else, all else,
remember this, everything that the law of God required of you
and me, even every gospel precept in this book, that you want to
do now by God's grace, and you see that you still fail, and
you still can't come to God by your works, and even in gospel,
good things that He's shown you that are good. Know this. Know this about every commandment
in this book. With Christ's stripes, we are
healed. It's His obedience that made
us perfectly righteous with God. And for that reason, God sees
you as perfectly complete, and where you fail, He'll be merciful
to you, and He'll keep teaching you, and He'll keep leading you
along, and He won't lose you. Remember that. All right, brethren. Brother Greg.