Isaiah 49, verse 4. Now you remember
this is Christ speaking, and He's declaring Himself to be
the servant of God. He said, Then I said, I have
labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in
vain. Yet surely my judgment is with
the Lord, and my work with my God. And now saith the Lord that
formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again
to him, though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious
in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.
And he said, It is a like thing that thou shouldest be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved
in Israel. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles,
that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Now,
we know that Christ is the God-man. We know that Christ Jesus, who
took human flesh, is God. He's the second person in the
Trinity, God the Son, who came forth in human flesh. And we
know that as God, He's all-powerful, possessed with all power in all
things. But when Christ came, he took
the form of a servant. He came and took the form of
a servant as the son of man. As the mediator, he served God. And as he served God, he believed
God and trusted God and looked to God. And he served him in
perfect holiness and he served him in perfect righteousness
as the perfect man, as the perfect representative and substitute
of those that he saves by his grace. I think it will help us
to understand it a little bit better if we think of it like
this. Forget everybody else in the universe except for the triune
God and Christ Jesus. And on one end you have the triune
God. He made a covenant promise to
Christ to give eternal life, to give Him a full inheritance,
and He gave it to this one man. who would serve him in the earth
in righteousness and holiness. He made a promise to him. And
that service consisted of living by perfect fidelity, perfect
faithfulness, and it required him to serve God and his people
in perfect love without ever deviating in faithfulness and
love whatsoever. And on the side of man, there's
this one man, Christ, the servant of God. And he's fulfilling the
covenant on man's side. And he's doing it for all the
elect of God that was given him before the foundation of the
world. And he promised to come forth, and in the perfection
of holiness, and in the perfection of righteousness, to fulfill
all the covenant promises as a man for his people in flesh
and blood. just like his people were. And
he honored and he magnified God's law perfectly, which we broke
in Adam in the garden. And then he went and he honored
and magnified God's holy law as a man, perfectly, by being
made sin and bearing the justice of God in place of all his elect
who were lawbreakers. So he's, on one hand, he's the
faithful, righteous, holy man, and then he took the place as
the one guilty sinner. that God poured out wrath upon.
So what this one man Christ the servant of God did, it is the
righteousness of perfect faith and the righteousness of holy
love. It is the righteousness of all
the covenant promises fulfilled for each one that he calls to
believe on Christ. He's the fulfillment of everything
that's required. That's why Paul said we don't
make void the law through faith. Through faith, believing on Christ
is how we establish the law. He established it fully. And by believing on Him, resting
in Him, we're resting in the One who is the full, complete
establishment of God's law for us. Perfect faith, perfect love
for us. And so faithful God did what
He promised He would do on His side of the covenant. He raised
Christ from the grave to eternal life. He gave Him an eternal
inheritance to reign with the Lord God for all time, forevermore. But Christ our Lord wanted more
than to live with the Father forevermore. He wanted the bride
for whom He served. He wanted the children for whom
He served to be with Him where He is, to reign with Him and
His God as one, one holy people together with the Father. And
so because their side of the covenant promise is completely
fulfilled, everything's been done. I mean, they did it in
holy, perfect love, holy, perfect faithfulness, holy, perfect righteousness
is theirs in Christ Jesus. And so because it's done, God
is honoring His covenant. He's calling out His elect people.
He's drawing them to Christ to cast all their care into His
hands. So we who believe now, by His grace, are the sons of
God. and joint heirs with Christ. Paul said, the Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God,
children of God. And if children, then we're heirs.
Think of that word. Heirs of God. You children, your fathers might
give you something when they die. It won't be anything like
this. Heirs of God. What does he own? What is he not on? Heirs of God
and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with
him. Suffer with Christ as he walked
we suffer. As we walk following him we're
going to suffer. That we may be glorified together
with him. That's key now. if we suffer together with Him,
that we may be glorified together with Him. So I want you to see
now, He hasn't sent us forth to bring men back under the law.
He hasn't sent us forth to try to whip and chain men and coerce
into them some kind of imitation of obedience. He sent us forth
to do one thing. He sent us forth to tell this
word that Christ has done the work. He is the righteousness
of God. He is the perfect fulfillment
of the law. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believes. Now as we do that,
because sinners want to do the work that only Christ is going
to get the glory for doing. And so sinners don't like this
message. They don't like it at all. And
so as we go forth and we declare this message, we're going to
suffer. We're going to have people despise us. We're going to have
people reject us. But I want you to see in this
text that our comfort and our strength is the Lord Jesus Christ
who's going to strengthen us and keep us through the Holy
Spirit. I want you to see this in three ways. We're going to
look first of all here Christ Jesus, who is the prophet, the
Messiah, the servant of God, He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. Look at that first word in verse
4. Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength
for naught and in vain. Now he's just been talking about,
the Lord's made me a sharp sword, He's made me like a polished
shaft, and he's speaking about, he is the essential word, but
he's talking about going forth and preaching the gospel that
God sent him forth to declare. And he said this, and yet I've
labored in vain. He said, I've spent my strength
for naught, and it's in vain. Now we know that nothing Christ
did was in vain. We know that he shall not fail. It's the clear declaration of
the scripture. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged until he has
set judgment in error. His death wasn't in vain. Isaiah
53, 10 says it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He made satisfaction
for the sins of his people. He says when he sees his seed,
he will prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord will
prosper in his hand. He said, he shall see of the
travail of his soul. Just like when you travail in
childbirth and you see that child that you brought forth, ladies,
and you say, it was all worth it, every bit of it. He shall
see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. He's going
to see all his children brought to to glory, because he satisfied
God, and by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many, and bear their iniquities." His rule over this whole world
and calling out his sheep is not in vain. We know that because
the Scripture tells us in Acts, he added to the church daily,
such as should be saved. And that's what he's doing right
now. That's exactly what he's doing. And we know his intercession
for the sheep shall never fail. He says, Father, I will that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory which thou gavest me, for thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. And because that's his
intercession, that's his desire for his people to be with him,
it's never going to fail. They're going to all be with
him. Every one of them are going to be with him. But what is this
speaking to? Look over at John chapter 1.
This is speaking about how the Lord Jesus was despised and rejected
of men when He walked this earth. Look at John chapter 1 and verse
10. The Scriptures tells us He was
touched with the same feelings of our infirmities. That's what
we're reading about in that text. I've labored in vain. My strength's been for nothing.
Look at John 1.10. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto
His own. He came to Israel, to the nation
Israel, and His own received Him not. He went up and he preached
that first time, and he declared to them that, you know, there
were many lepers in the time of Naaman, but Naaman was the
one called. There were many widows in the time of Insurreptib, but
only that one widow was called, and neither one of them were
Jews. And they took him, they wanted to take him up and throw
him off a hill for preaching that. Election, that's what he
was preaching. Sovereign elect in grace, and
they wanted to kill him for that. Those in his own immediate household. They didn't believe him. Remember
they said, if you're a prophet, go up to Jerusalem and make yourself
known. Do some things up there. And
it said in this they spoke because his brethren didn't believe him.
They didn't believe him. The religious men of the day
called him a gluttonous man. They called him a wine-bibber.
They called him a friend of publicans and sinners. They marveled at
him saying, how does this man, how knoweth this man letters?
He's never learned. He wasn't taught in our seminaries. How does he expect to come and
teach us anything? He had no form, no comeliness
about him that would make men desire him. Nothing at all. No
beauty that we should desire him. He's 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." Those most
pious religious men. Look over at 1 Corinthians 2. Kings and the princes and anybody
that was somebody in the world rejected him. Look at 1 Corinthians
2. Paul said, we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery. even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of
the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. What was their problem? Same problem with every man that
hears this gospel preached until God does a work of grace in his
heart. Verse 14, the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God, their foolishness unto him, neither can he know
them because they're spiritually discerned. Look now at Matthew
10. Matthew chapter 10. Now, you
and I, brethren, have been called by His grace. were sent forth
to bear witness of Christ. And the more that we know of
Christ, the more that we become acquainted with this man of sorrows
who was acquainted with grief, the more we declare him to people,
the more we speak of him to people. We're going to find out what
it's like to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And
our Lord told us that. Matthew 10, 24. You want the
world to see Christ in you? That's what this religious world
is going around saying. I want the world to see Christ
in me. Alright, then here's what you can expect if the world sees
Christ in you. Matthew 10, 24. He said, The
disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord.
It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and
the servant as his lord. If they have called the master
of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of
his household? Fear them not, therefore, for there's nothing
covered that shall not be revealed. There's nothing hid that shall
not be known. And what I tell you in darkness,
that speak ye in light. And what you hear in the ear,
that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear
him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. So,
we get a lot of comfort from this word. This word where he
said, I've labored, I've spent my strength for naught, he said,
and in vain. I get some comfort from this,
because my Savior has walked where I walk. He's experienced
it far worse than I have ever experienced anything like this.
And when we see so many rejecting the truth, We see so many gathering
where the truth of Christ is held back or it's watered down
or it's just a lie that's told. And you see multitudes flocking
to hear that message. It causes us to sometimes think,
well, we've spent our strength for nothing. We've labored in
vain. It brings us to say sometimes
like Jeremiah did. Jeremiah said, I will not make
mention of him nor speak any more in his name. What's the
point? What's the point of preaching
in his name anymore? But he said this, he said, but
his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones. And
he said, I was weary with forbearing. I couldn't stay. I couldn't stop
talking about it. I had to tell somebody. I couldn't
help it. So when we feel cast down, when our strength is low
and we feel like we despise and reject, we feel like we're small
in number, we feel like, what's this for? Is it really accomplishing
anything? Remember what the Lord said.
Remember what he said. Then I said, I've labored in
vain. I've spent my strength for naught and in vain. but learn
something else. Secondly, see Christ as our example
to follow. Look at the next word in verse
4. Isaiah 49, verse 4, he said, Yet surely my judgment, my cause,
the mission I've been sent on, is with the Lord. It's with Him. And my work, with my God. Though
men reject my work, my God is well pleased with my work. He
shall exalt his servant in due time. This is Christ the servant
of God speaking right here, the Son of Man speaking. And he's
saying, I'm resolved to know that my cause is with the Lord.
I'm resolved to know that he's pleased with the work he sent
me to do and he's going to exalt his servant in due time. I'm resolved to that. Now as
servants of the Master, Look over at Matthew 11. As servants
of the Master, we're going to go through declaring as we're
enabled to, as men will allow us to have the door open. We're
going to declare to them who Christ is. We're going to declare
the Gospel to them. We're going to tell them men
are totally depraved, that they fell in Adam. A man can't come
to God. He can't pick himself up. He's
not just a little wounded, he's just plain out dead. We're going
to tell them God chooses whom he will by unconditional election
because man needs to be brought down. Man needs to see that it's
God's prerogative to choose whom he will. Because there's nothing
worthy in us to be chosen at all. He chooses whom He will.
We're going to tell them about particular redemption. That all
those elect of God that God chose and gave to Christ, Christ came
forth and He laid down His life for the elect of God only. And
He laid down His life for them and He redeemed them. He purged
their sin. He paid their debt. He did the
work God sent Him to do. And we're going to declare to
them irresistible grace. They'll get mad and they'll start clamoring.
And you say, I know, I know. It was offensive to my flesh
too. It stained my pride too. It brought me down in the dust
too. But it only did that when God spoke an irresistible grace
into my heart. It gave me life. It made me to
see Him. And that's when I fell down in
the dust and said, Lord, what will you have me to do? And until
then, I'm going to go on arguing and fighting and debating and
all that with you. We're going to preach about the
preserving of His saints and the cause that we persevere and
continue in Him and continue trusting Him. And in all of these
things, sinners are going to reject the gospel, just like
you and I did when we heard the gospel preached. But we're going
to follow the resolve of our Redeemer. Here's where He said,
Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work is with
my God. Look here to Matthew 11, 25.
On one occasion, they had just rejected Him and said all manner
of things about Him, just like they rejected John when he came.
And the Lord said this, at that time, Jesus answered and He said,
I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them undebated. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight. That's the righteous servant
of God, saying, Lord, whatever You're pleased to do, I'm thankful. I'm thankful for that. Our judgment
we're going to leave to Him because we know this, the Word of the
Lord never returns to Him void. It never does. He said, So shall
my word be that goeth out of my mouth. It shall not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereunto I send it. Look over at John
6. I think we'll look at this again
in our second hour, but John 6. Here's the faithful servant.
Here's his resolve. When he looked around and he
saw all Israel rejecting him and he saw all of his own countrymen
just going back to the synagogue and want to go on with their
charade of religion and their works and their free will and
their trying to bring themselves to God by their own works, this
is what he said. Verse 37, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. He didn't quit working. He didn't
quit preaching. He didn't quit promoting the
gospel and going forth about his father's business, but this
was his resolve. He knew this. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. I know that. They're going to
come to me. And he said, those that come to me, I will no wise
cast them out. And he said, because I didn't
come down here to do my will. I came down here to do his will.
And this is his will. This is his will. He gave His
witnesses this same heart. He gives His witnesses this heart.
Look at 1 Corinthians 4. I don't know about men who won't
preach the truth. I don't know about them. I don't
have any confidence in them whatsoever. Men who went behind closed doors
will tell you, I believe all that, but then they won't get
up in the pulpit and preach it. I don't have much confidence
in them at all. This is what Paul said for 1
Corinthians 4, 1. Let a man so account of us as
the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover,
it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. He's
going to have to declare what God sent him to declare. He's
going to have to preach what God sent him to preach. And Paul
said, but they, and a lot of them were rejecting Paul in Corinth.
And he said, but with me, it's a very small thing that I should
be judged of you. or of man's judgment. He said,
Yea, I judge not mine own self, for I know nothing by myself.
Yet am I not hereby justified? But he that judges me is the
Lord. That's what our Lord said, my judgment is with my Lord.
And that's what Paul's saying here, my judgment's with the
Lord. I really don't care what you think about me, Paul's saying.
And he said, therefore judge nothing before the time until
the Lord come who will both bring to light the hidden things of
darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. Then
shall ever men have praise of God. That's exactly what we just
read that the Lord Jesus told his disciples. Exactly the same
thing. He said, nothing will be hidden.
It's all going to come to light. He said, you leave the judgment
with the Lord, just keep on preaching the Word. Keep on preaching the
Word. Look at 1 Peter 2.20. 1 Peter 2.20. Now you remember I said that
if we suffer together with Him, that we may be glorified together
with Him. Christ bore this cross. Christ bore this rejection. When
they rejected Him for preaching election, He didn't stop preaching
election. He kept right on preaching it. That's not the way most preachers
in this world a day go. They don't preach it. They won't
preach that. It offends man too much. They
preach circumcision. They preach there's something
you can do. You gotta make Christ's blood effectual. That's what
they'll preach. And that don't offend nobody. That don't offend
anybody. Nobody. But look at this, verse 20. What
glory is it if when you're buffeted for your faults, you take it
patiently? But if when you do well and suffer
for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
For even hereunto were you called." You know, he said that in Philippians.
We were called to suffer for him. He said, because Christ
also suffered for us. Leaving us an example that you
should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. He wasn't trying to water things
down. He just spoke it truly. Trying to water things down is
a mouth full of guile. That's what that is. He said
when he was reviled, he didn't revile again. When he suffered,
he didn't threaten back. And that's a tough one. That's
a tough one. But he committed himself to him
that judges righteously. That's what he said. And so if
your enemies be your own household, if you're despised and rejected
of men as you go about the streets, do what Christ did. He committed
himself to him that judges righteously. He said, my judgment is with
the Lord and my work with my God. So you see, He knows what
we suffer. He suffered it infinitely more
than we have, being despised and rejected. And secondly, He
said He was resolved to trust the Lord. So we're just resolved
to trust Him. Now here's the third thing. The
answer of God the Father to Christ His servant shall be the answer
of Christ to you who serve Him. Now look at verse 5. And now
saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be His servant.
He was the preeminent elect of God, chosen before the world
began. Isaiah 42 said, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine
elect, and whom my soul delighteth. And he was the preeminent one.
And all of his children that he's calling out, they were elected
in him before the foundation of the world. So what he said
here, what the Father says here to his preeminent elect son,
this is what our Lord and our Savior is going to say to us
right here. He said, because he didn't fail,
it's impossible for us to fail, because Christ cannot fail. It's
impossible for us to fail. God the Father sent Christ forth
to bring all the elect of God back to God. That was the work
he came to do, to reconcile his elect to him. Verse five, let's
read it. Now saith the Lord that for me from the womb to be his
servant, to bring Jacob again to him. Jacob here is, that's
the elect of God scattered throughout the whole world. That's who they
are. the elect of God, Jew and Gentile, the true seed of Abraham."
Paul said, "'Know ye therefore that they which are of faith,
the same are the children of Abraham.'" He said, "'If ye be
Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to
the promise.'" Now he said, verse 5, "'And though Israel be not
gathered,' though the physical nation didn't come to it, though
there was majority in the physical nation of Israel that didn't
come to it, Now, let me remind you of this, Romans 9, we've
got to see this so we can be reminded of this now. He shall
not fail now. Look at Romans 9, 6. Not as though the word of God
had taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which are
of Israel. You see that? Not everybody that was in that
physical nation of Israel were the true spiritual Israel of
God. Neither because they're the seed of Abraham are they
all children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these
are not the children of God. Just a natural physical descendants
that makes up that nation Israel, that's not the children of God.
The children of the promise, the children of the elect chosen
children of God are counted for the seed. Now verse 27, Isaiah
cried concerning Israel, though the number of the children of
Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved,
because they were the elect remnant. So he says, now go back to our
text there, he says, though he sent me forth, and he says, This
is what the Lord, the Father is saying to him. He said, I
formed you from the womb to be my servant, to bring Jacob again
to me, and though Israel, though this majority in that physical
nation be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of
the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. You see that? That's
what the Father said to him. That's what the Father said to
the Son, to Christ. So he said, I'm still gonna be glorious in
his eye. I'm not gonna fail. Calling out, that's what he said
in his resign. He said, all that my father's given me, they're
coming to me. All right, now look down at verse six, but he
said something else to him too. He said, not only you can be
glorious in calling out all my elect out of Israel, he said,
but I'm gonna give you a multitude that no man can number from among
the Gentiles too. Now this is what Christ is saying
to us. You don't see everybody gathered
right now around you, but He's saying, trust me, I'm going to
do something you won't ever imagine in your mind. Now watch verse
6. He said, it's a like thing that
thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserved of Israel. That's who those were
that were his seed in Israel. They were the preserved of Israel.
He said, I will also give thee for a like to the Gentiles that
thou mayest be my salvation until the end of the earth. God the
Father says there of Christ the Son that He's my light. He said
He's my salvation until the end of the earth. And Christ said
of those that He's called, you know what He calls us? The light
of the world. That's what He calls us. God
said He's my light. And you know what Christ says
of His servants He calls? You're my light. You're my light.
And we go forth and we hold forth the gospel of Christ the light.
And the Lord Jesus said to those who rejected Him, He said, I
got other sheep besides here. He said, I'm going to call them.
They're going to hear my voice. They're going to follow me. And
the Father promised our Redeemer that though the world of the
ungodly despised Him and they rejected Him and they turned
their thumb down on Him, Christ, His Redeemer, surely praise Him.
This is our confidence. Now what He's saying to our Redeemer,
our Redeemer's telling us this, brethren. This is so. Verse 7,
Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One,
to Him whom man despises, to Christ, to Him whom the nation
abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, kings shall see, and they're
going to arise. And princes also shall worship,
because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and
he shall choose thee." When Christ faithfully finished his work,
He made an end of sin by the sacrifice of Himself, by one
offering perfected for ever them that are sanctified. God the
Father showed this world that He's highly pleased with His
Son. He said, I'm going to choose you yet. And look what He did
here in verse 8. Thus saith the Lord, now watch
this, in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in the day
of salvation have I helped thee, He's still talking to Christ,
and I'll preserve thee, and I'll give thee for a covenant of the
people to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate
heritages." You see, God highly exalted him. He's given him a
name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every
knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that
he's Lord. He is the Lord. Now, he says here, this is what
he's going to do for us, brethren. Look, he says, in an acceptable time, I've heard
thee." This is what the Father did to him. I've heard thee.
And this is what he says to us, brethren. I've heard you. I hear
you. Look, he says, in a day of salvation,
have I helped thee? And he says, just as my Father
helped me, I'm going to help you. And I give thee for covenant
of the people. The father gave Christ as the
covenant of the people to show this is my everlasting covenant
right here in this one. And he's given us to go forth
and set forth the message that he is the covenant of the people.
And look what he's gonna do. He says, and I'm gonna cause,
he said, I'm gonna preserve you. I'm going to cause you to establish
the earth. I'm going to cause you to inherit desolate heritages."
That's just what He was promised. That's what He promises His servants,
His children. And He says, and as you go forth
declaring this message, Christ is going to be the one calling
them out. He's going to be calling them out. All we've got to do
is sound off the Word. Here's what He's doing from His
throne in glory, verse 9, that thou mayest say to the prisoners,
go forth. And to them that are in darkness,
show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways,
and their pastors shall be in all high places. They will not
hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them.
For he that hath mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs
of water, shall he guide them." You see that? This is what Christ
promises to do for us as we're preaching the Word, and what
He's going to do for those that we're preaching to. He's going
to call them out, and this is what He's doing for them. I'll
make all my mountains away, and my highways shall be exalted."
And he said, Behold, these shall come from far, and, lo, these
from the north, and from the west, and these from the land
of Sinai. So what are we going to do? When we get all down in
the dumps, what are we going to do? Here's what he says for
us to do. Sing, O heaven. and be joyful,
O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains, for the
Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his
afflicted." This is what he's going to do. So he knows exactly
what we suffer when we feel like, well, we're just spinning our
wheels here, nothing's happening. But we follow in his resolve. He said, my work is with my Lord,
my judgment's with my God. Our judgment's with him, our
work is with him. And he said, and this is what the Father told
me. It's just a light thing for you to call out my elect among
Israel. I'm going to give you a multitude that you can't even
number. And that's what he's doing through
this gospel. And he says, and just as he kept me, and just
as he heard me, and just as he helped me, and just as he preserved
me, they said, that's what I'm going to do for you. That's what the Father was teaching.
He says He grew in wisdom and stature as a man. He learned,
He experienced obedience by the things which He suffered. The
Father taught Him how to be the perfect, perfect God-man mediator
for us. And there He is now on the throne
of glory doing all this for us and perfecting His people, calling
them out, bringing them in and providing everything for us.
All right, let's go to 1 Corinthians 15. We'll end with this. Look at verse 58. Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor
is not in vain in the Lord. Amen.