Isaiah 53 The chapter starts with the words
But now Why did he start that way? What are we changing here? We've got a contrast going Start
back in verse 17 of chapter 42. I Isaiah 43, we're starting in
chapter 42, verse 17. The Lord says, they shall be
turned back. They shall be greatly ashamed
that trust in graven images and say to the molten images, ye
are our gods. Here you'd have. And look, ye
blind, that ye may see who is blind, but my servant, or dead,
as my messenger that I sent, who is blind as he that is perfect,
and blind as the Lord's servant, seeing many things, but thou
observest not, opening the ears, but he heareth not. The Lord
is well pleased for his righteousness' sake, He will magnify the law
and make it honorable. But this is a people robbed and
spoiled. They are all of them snared in
holes, and they are hid in prison houses. They are for a prey,
and none delivereth, for a spoil, and none saith restore. Who among
you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for
the time to come? who gave Jacob for a spoil in
Israel to the robbers, did not the Lord, he against whom we
have sinned? For they would not walk in his
ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he hath
poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battle,
and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not, and it
burned him. Yet he laid it not to heart.
But now, thus saith the Lord that created
thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for
I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
and Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not,
for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east, and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from
far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even every
one that is called by my name. For I have created him for my
glory. I have formed him. Yea, I have
made him. Bring forth the blind people
that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations
be gathered together, and let the people be assembled. assembled,
who among them can declare this and show us former things. Let
them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified, or
let them hear and say, It is truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith
the Lord, and my servant, whom I have chosen, that ye may know
and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me there
was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I,
am the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior. I have declared,
and have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange God
among you. Therefore ye are my witnesses,
saith the Lord, that I am God. Yea, before the day was, I am
he, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. I will
work, and who shall let it? Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel. For your sake I have sent to
Babylon and have brought down all their nobles and the Chaldeans
whose cry is in the ships. I am the Lord, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King. Thus saith the Lord, which maketh
a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters, which bringeth
forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power. They
shall lie down together. They shall not rise. They are
extinct. They are quenched as toad. Remember
ye not the former things? Neither consider the things of
old. Behold, I will do a new thing.
Now it shall spring forth. Shall ye not know it, I will
even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall
honor me, the dragon and the owls, because I give water in
the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to my
people, my chosen. This people have I formed for
myself. They shall show forth my praise. When your pastor called me to
come here, I was both flattered and glad. I don't know how many of you
here remember, my mind's just going away, so some things I
don't remember, but I remember coming to Crossfield, Tennessee
over 30 years ago with Henry Mahan the first time he came
here. And y'all were meeting in this little cinder block building
out here. I see some heads going up and
down. And we've come a long way, haven't we? Come a long way. And even though we know by the
word that he'll keep us, you know, it's encouraging to come
here after 30 years and see he's still keeping some other ones
too. It's really helpful. And I'm thankful for that. Sometimes
I don't know if we realize what an encouragement we are to one
another. All right, turn in your Bibles this morning to Ephesians
3. And while you're turning there, let me tell you, there's just
two things I want us to see this morning. I want us to see something
about pride, the cause of it, and the consequences of it. And
then I want us to see that the Lord Jesus Christ will forgive
us even for that, for the pride in us. Now, by way of introduction,
you know, modern religion tells men and women that, listen very
carefully to what I say, that God is a God of love. Know what they say? They say
God is a God of love. They also say God loves everybody.
That God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Now, I just
wonder, and those bumper stickers are still around, some of them.
But what about the folks in Noah's day? Noah had been all his time
building this great big old boat. They all got on it, as God instructed. They sealed it up, pitched it
inside and out, and it started to rain. And those folks were
out there sloshing around. Now, they'd all been asked and
told, come into this ark. We don't know what rain is even.
And they're out there sloshing around, and it keeps raining
and raining and raining. That rain, the water's rising,
it finally gets to about right here. And here comes the ark
by. Can you imagine plastered across
the backside of that ark? God loves you and has a wonderful
plan for your life. If it weren't so serious, it
would just be laughable. Because I tell you what, they
know now that's a lie. What about, you see on TV these
ISIS fellas? They got these people with their
hands bound behind them on their knees. Here comes this hooded
guy with this big scimitar, this sword, and he walks up. Can you
imagine some modern day preacher saying to them, God loves you
and has a wonderful plan for your life? They know it's a lie. They know that's just a flat
out lie. God is not a God of love. You know what he is? God is love. You see the difference? He's
not a God of love. God is love. And the only way
I know to try to make that clear enough so even the children here
can understand what I'm saying. We all know there's God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the three in one. Let
me tell you. God, the Father, he loves God,
the Son. God, the Father, he loves God,
the Spirit. God, the Son, loves God, the Father. God, the Son,
loves God, the Spirit. And God, the Spirit, loves God,
the Father. And God, the Spirit, loves God, the Son. Let me tell
you, in that Trinity is all the love of God there is. That's all the love there is.
And if we're outside of that Trinity, we don't know anything
about the love of God. God is not a God of love, God
is love. You see, when Adam sinned, the
Lord used to come to Adam in the garden and they fellowshiped
and talked. And then Adam sinned. And you
know what, when the Lord came, he said, Adam, what have you
done? You know what Adam had done? He had taken himself out
of the love of God. His spirit died. He didn't die
physically yet, he would. But his spirit, he didn't have
a spirit anymore. He was outside the love of God.
He separated himself from God and we're still born in that
shape. But let me give you the good news. Here's the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. is that God did make a way for
his people to come back into the Trinity. And that way is
through the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know that's what Noah's
Ark pictures? I gave that example on purpose. What that pictures
and teaches God's people, don't you know that Noah and his children
We're glad when Noah got the blueprint, however God gave him
that, in his head, in his mind. Don't you know how glad he was
there was a door in the ark? You know, once it started raining,
the door was sealed up. There was no longer any way in.
Have you ever read that portion of scripture where the Lord said,
I am the door. He's the way into the love of
God. He's the way into God who is
love. And that's what Noah's Ark pictures.
Outside, there's only the wrath of God, the rain just kept coming
and coming and coming until they all drowned one day. Jesus Christ
is the door into God the Son and the Trinity, wherein is found
the love of God. That's called mercy, God's mercy,
putting his people in Christ who is in the Trinity. Now these
fellows teaching that health and wealth, isn't that the message
in this day? God's got a wonderful plan for
your life. He's going to prosper you, and if you give, he'll give
tenfold. Isn't that their message? It's
a health and wealth message. They're lying about God and his
people. God's people will have trouble
and tribulation. We will. It's not going to be
just this bed of roses. this pathway through the sweet
times and all this. Life is not a sail across the
sea and a storm comes up and oh, then it calms down and we
sail longer. You know what life is? It's a hurricane. And every
once in a while we go through the eye of it and there's a little
time of calm. And then we're right back out in the storm again,
aren't we? That's what the word of God teaches. Look here in
Ephesians. 3, it's why I had us look at it. Ephesians 3, look
at verse 13. Paul's writing to them saying,
wherefore I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you. Oh, Paul is having some tribulations? Paul, the apostle, was having
tribulations? Yeah, and so will we. And he
said, which is your glory? He said, for this cause, I bow
my knee unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named. You know, there's a
reason why they call us Christians.
Because we're going to be just like Christ one day. And in the
meantime, as we go through this life, we're going to go through
it the way he did. Boy, he had a life of luxury
and beautiful clothes and a fine home. He didn't have any of that,
did he? He didn't have a place to lay
his head. And I'm grateful we do have the nice things we have. But I tell you what, it's not,
it's despite who and what we are, not because we deserve it.
But he provides what we need. But they call us Christians on
purpose in verse 16, that he would grant you according to
the riches of his glory. to be strengthened with might
by his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love.
You see where the love comes from? It's rooted in your heart
and mind. Where'd we get that? From God. You know, being born again doesn't
mean like the, remember the Pharisee who came and couldn't understand,
what are you talking about? Do we go back into our mother's
womb again and get born again? He said, no, no, that's not it. Being born again means we get
a new mind. We get a new heart. And you know
what that heart does? It loves God and God's people. That's the way into the love
of God. is by his spirit brings us a
new heart, and we love him. Then look, and that's in verse
17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you
being rooted in grounded love may be able to comprehend with
all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the depth
and the height to know the love of Christ, which passes all knowledge. The natural man can't understand
this. You mean I can't do enough to get the love of God? I can't
give enough? I can't be faithful enough? No,
that's not where it comes from. It's a gift of God. And to know
that passes all knowledge that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to
do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according
to the power that worketh in us. Now turn to Proverbs six
with me. That's right after the Psalms,
Proverbs chapter six. God is love does not mean, now
stay with me here. God is love does not mean that
God loves everybody. I'm sorry, that's not what this
word teaches. It does not mean that. Much less
does it mean that God loves everything that everyone does. In fact, God gives a specific
list of what he doesn't love. And he calls it what he hates.
And you say, well, God hates? Scripture is so plain. Anybody
who doesn't teach this is willfully blind. The twins were born, and
what did God say? Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I, well, I love him a little less. No. He said, Esau, I have
a hated. I'm sorry if we don't like that,
but it's still the truth. It's what the word says. And
if you really want to know what God hates, do you know, he doesn't
leave us to figure it out. He tells us in his word, look
at Proverbs three, verse 16. He says, these six things doth
the Lord hate. Now that's pretty plain, isn't
it? And then he goes on to say, yay, there's actually seven that
are abomination to him. A proud look is the first thing.
And I'll read the rest of these. A lying tongue, hands that shed
innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations,
feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness
that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among the brethren.
God hates all those things. But what's the reason he says
there's six? Oh, no, no, no, there's seven.
And number one on the list is what? A proud look. Folks, God hates pride. He hates
it. And it's the top of the list
for a reason. The sad truth is that every son
and daughter of Adam is full of pride. Full of pride. Do we know why Adam ate that
fruit? You know what he did? He said,
you know, Satan actually said to him, you eat this, you'll
be like God. Adam went, ooh. You see the pride
in that? See if any of these types of
pride fit you the way they fit me. How about pride of face? Any of you ladies ever find yourself
looking at some other lady who's getting a lot of attention from
the man and thought, I'm better looking than she is? Have you ever thought, my hair's
pretty and that mop she's got. Boy, the way you're grinning,
I think maybe you've had those thoughts. Any of you fellas ever
watch a little one of these rock concerts and thought, I know
he's rich and famous and all that, but man, if I was as ugly
as him, I'd kill myself? Did you ever see one of those
guys and think, man, if I had acne scars like that guy, I'd
just get my face run over? Pride. Pride. Pride of face. Anybody know anything about pride
of pace? You ever been at work and thought, man, if I was as
slow as that guy, I'd be a sloth. Or flip that. You ever look at
some guy at work who's getting a lot of praise and you think,
yeah, I know he works fast, but he makes a wreck of everything
he touches. Ever done that? Pride of pace.
How about pride of race? Now there's one in this country
that's a hot button, isn't it? In my lifetime, let me tell you
what I've seen. I've seen that the Japanese have
looked down at the Chinese, tried to kill them all. And the Chinese
look down at the Russians. And the Russians can't stand
the Scandinavians. And the Scandinavians look down
on the Germans. And the Germans They made an
alliance, but they can't stand them, the Italians. And the Italians
got no use for the Africans. The Africans look at the Frenchmen
and think, you snots. And the French say to the British,
parlez-vous Francais? No, you're uneducated. And the
British, you know, they look at the Americans and go, they're
so common. They're so common. And us Americans,
what do we do now? We look at the Hispanics and
say, man, they're a lazy lot. And you know who the Mexicans
look at? The Mayans and go, they're Indians. And the Mayans look
at the Aztecans and can't stand them and they're almost all dead.
So you see how this goes? Pride of race. What about pride of place? You know, most of the kings and
princes of this world throughout history, they were in for a rude
awakening when they died, like everybody does. Their majesty
didn't keep them from dying, did it? No, they were in for
a rude awakening and found out that God not only wasn't pleased,
but he hated them for looking down on us commoners, the little
people. What did that French queen say
when the peasants were starving, they were out of bread? Let them
eat cake. I'm going to show you that the
King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ, never once looked down
on one of his own, never, despite what we do and what we did. And
then there's this one, pride of grace. pride of grace. Even in this life, God's children
cannot rid themselves of pride, even after Christ has revealed
himself to them. And I'm embarrassed to tell you
this story, but I'm going to tell it. It makes the point.
You'll see it later in Peter. He had it too. I was a very young
believer, and another man in the church and I decided to start
a business. On a given day, we were to take
possession of this office, this space, and we showed up, and
the guy, at 10 o'clock in the morning, the guy said, well,
I'll get it out of here soon, and 11 to 12 o'clock came, and
how you doing? I'll get it out of there soon.
One o'clock came, he wasn't out. Two o'clock came, we talked to
him again, walked away, and my buddy said this to me. He said,
man, he said, I can't believe you're putting up with this.
He said, I'd have gone off on this guy a long time ago, and listen
to what I said. Well, you know, there was a time
I would have really lost it over this. But, you know, since I've
heard the gospel, I seem to have better control over my temper.
And, you know, I don't get upset about some of the things I used
to, like I once did. Well, four o'clock came, and
this guy comes out and tells us this. You know, I'm not sure
I'm going to be able to get this stuff out here today. And I rounded
on him. and got up in his face and said,
you will get it out of here in the next 30 minutes or I'm going
in there and drag it all in here and throw it in the street and
you with it. And with that, I turned around and here's my brother
and friend going, who are you? Who are you? It smoked me and
it's been almost 40 years since that happened. Every time I think
about it, I go, you proud peacock, you arrogant snot, which is exactly
what I am. There's even pride of grace. After God saves us, I want us
to see something about this pride. Turn a few pages over to Proverbs
13. You say, boy, I bet that taught you a lesson. Well, not
well enough. I haven't given up my proud looks yet. But let
me show you the greatest danger there is in pride to us as believers. And it's not that God's going
to forsake us over it. Now, he may chasten us sore.
He won't tolerate it in his people. He may chasten us sore, but he'll
never forsake us eternally over that or any sin. You say, why? Jesus Christ put our sin away.
It's done. It's gone. But the greatest danger
to us as believers or a church is what comes with
pride. Look here in Proverbs 13, verse
10. I've never seen this verse before.
I hope I never forget it. It says, only by pride cometh
contention. That word contention right there
means quarrels, debates, and strife. And the first word of
that verse, doesn't it say only? If we ever get in a quarrel,
if we ever got a problem, if there's ever anything going on
we wish wasn't, trace it back. Only, only pride is responsible. That's the consequence of pride.
And I may be gone before that contention comes the way of our
group in Kingsport, or I hope it doesn't come here. But if
it does, remember what God's word says, the cause will be
pride only. Pride. We're all born with it.
We all have it and God hates it. Now turn over to Luke 22. Well, let's get to some good
news, huh? Luke 22. I want to show you an
example of what we just read in Proverbs 13. and that we must
be on guard and seek God's protection from pride. It can break out
anywhere. Our Lord Jesus Christ had just
conducted the first Lord's Supper with his disciples. And what
did he tell them when he did it? He said, the purpose of this,
do it in remembrance of me. Whenever you do this, remember
me, remember me, remember me. He'd just done that. He said,
and one of you is going to betray me. So look what happened. 22
verse 23, have you got it? And as soon as they finished
the Lord's table, they began to inquire among themselves,
which of them it was that should do this thing, should be trained.
And let me tell you how this didn't go. It didn't go like
this. It didn't go Peter saying, oh,
it's probably going to be me. It didn't go Bartholomew going,
no, Peter, it's going to be me. And Andrew going, no, no, no,
no, it's got to be me. I'm the bad one. That's not how
it went. This will bear out in a minute.
You know what happened? Peter said, not me. And he gave his brethren a proud
look. And then the rest of them went,
well, it won't be me either. Won't be me, won't be me, won't
be me, won't be me. And even if one of them didn't
open his mouth and his heart, he said, me. That's bad, isn't it? That's
pride and it's bad. That's not the beginning of it.
Look at the next verse, verse 24. And there was also a strife,
and that word's contention, only by pride cometh contention. And
there was also a contention among them, which of them should be
accounted the greatest? Let me see if I can illustrate
this one for you. Let's say that I'm a member of
this congregation. We've just had the Lord's table.
Remember Christ, remember Christ, remember Christ. And we all stand
up and are dismissed. And I'm back here and you know
what I say? I say, you know, I think I'm probably the greatest
member of this congregation. And somebody over here says,
well, hang on a minute. I've been here longer than you.
And somebody over here says, well, I've been here longer than both
of you. And a young one says, well, I just got here, but I
got a lot of time to do a lot of good stuff. And then there's
somebody who's got enough sense to keep their mouth shut, but
in their heart, they're thinking, I'm better than any of you. Do
we see how wicked, how vicious this is? And you say, well, it
never happened here. Well, it broke out there. It
broke out amongst his 12 apostles, which would be the greatest. Oh, my. It's hard to imagine. Yet, except for the grace of
God, it's exactly what we'll do or worse. This was his disciples. If even the apostles are full
of pride, so are we. And remember, God hates pride
above all else. You say, well, I bet what he
did was he went, well, you ungrateful lot, I'm done with you. Is that
what the Lord did? No, no. Thank God he does not forsake
his people for their sin. Look what he says to them right
down in verse 29. He reassures them. And I appointed
unto you a kingdom as my father has appointed unto me. He says,
my father gave you to me. And he said, so I'm going to
keep you. I'm going to take you to be with me one day, despite
your pride. And I'm grateful for that. But
now turn, hold that and turn back to Matthew 26 to another
account of this. Matthew 26. Peter, when our Lord said, one
of you is going to betray me. Peter, in Matthew's account of
this, in Matthew 26 verse 31, look what Peter said. Peter saith,
and then Jesus saith unto him, All you shall be offended because
of me this night. For it is written, I will smite
the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered
abroad. And they were, later they all abandoned him. But after
I am risen again, I'll go before you onto Galilee. And Peter answered
and said, look, now look, he's looking at the rest of them,
giving them that proud look he had. And he said unto him, though
all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be
offended. Poor Peter, oh my, oh my. He says, you guys may abandon
him, but not me. Now turn back to Luke 22. And
Peter's boast was not without foundation. I want us to understand
that. When they came to take our Lord,
look at what Peter did in verse 47. And while the Lord yet spake,
a multitude, a mob, And he that was called Judas, one of the
twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss
him. And when Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the
Son of man with a kiss? And when they were about him,
saw what would follow, when his disciples saw what was getting
ready to happen, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with
the sword? Now there's a lesson here. They
asked the Lord what they should do. But you know what they didn't
do? They didn't wait for an answer. Anybody here ever done that?
Lord, I'm in a mess. I don't know what to do. Help
me. I don't know what to do. Well, I think I'll go do this.
He said, wait. He said, don't do it. Before he could even say it,
look what happened. And one of them, this is Peter
in another account, One of them smote the servant and the high
priest and cut off his right ear. Do you see Peter? He was
willing to die, just like he said. He said, I'm going to,
and he drew his sword out, and he wasn't trying to cut this
guy's ear off. He didn't go like that. No, no. He was trying to
take his head off. And the guy, Peter was such a
bad swordsman that the fellow had time to duck like this, and
so he took his ear off instead. Now you say, What was Peter thinking? Well, he wasn't. He wasn't. Did he not know all that the
Lord had to do if he wanted to stop was just think, Father,
send 10,000 angels down here. That would have been the end
of it. But you know what? His purpose
was to be taken. And his purpose was that Peter
be not taken. And because of the Lord's mercy,
Peter wasn't taken. If Peter had succeeded in taking
that man's head off, that mom probably would have killed him
on the spot. Or if not, they would have taken him and tried
him and crucified him. But the Lord had another purpose
for Peter. And we now know what it was,
don't we? A few days later, he was going
to preach at Pentecost. And 5,000 people would be saved
by the message of grace he preached to them. So how did the Lord
fix this? The same way he fixes us. Look
here in verse 50. Then Jesus answered and said,
suffer ye thus far. He's telling the disciples, y'all
suffer this to happen. I don't need your help. I don't
need your little sword, Peter. He said, and he touched the man's
ear and healed him. You know what? He just reached
out. The guy's ear is laying on the ground. Blood's running
all over the place. And the Lord reached out and
touched him, and it was made right again. You know what? That's
a picture of what was getting ready to happen. The Lord was
going to the cross to make it right, to put away our sin, even
our sin of pride. What a picture this is. And then
you see, in verse 60, you know the rest of the story. Peter
did deny the Lord three times. You got verse 60, turn over there.
And Peter said, the third accuser said, you're a Galilean, you're
with him. And Peter said, man, I know not what you're talking
about. I don't even know the guy. And
immediately while he yet spake, the cock crowed. And the Lord
turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter remembered the word
of the Lord. how he had said unto him, before
the cock crow thou shalt deny me three times. And Peter went
away and wept bitterly. I'm embarrassed about something. How many proud looks have you
seen me give since I got up here? Do you know I didn't have to
rehearse a one? I've got thousands of them in
here. I didn't even tap the source at all, much less run it dry. I didn't have to use the same
one twice. You say, what's wrong with you? I'm so full of pride
and proud looks. And I got some bad news for you.
You are too. All of us are. We're just full
of those proud looks. Why do I make so much over this? If God hates pride and a proud
look, and he does, and I'm so full of pride, how in the world
can I ever hope to go be with him? Here's the answer to that question,
which is the question of questions. After the Lord looked at Peter,
did you see that? Peter made his third denial,
the cock crowed. Do we understand what happened
here? The cock crowed and Peter went, and I don't want you to even
try to imagine this part. And the Lord looked at Peter. I don't want us to even try to
imagine what that look was like, because we don't know what it
was like. I tell you what we do know about the look, it wasn't
this. He didn't give Peter a proud
look. You know why? He and Peter were
fixing to trade places. He was letting Peter know something
in the look he got. And if the Spirit of God ever
comes to one of us, we'll get the look. Do you think there's
a reason why the scripture all through this says, our Lord says,
look unto me and be you saved? If we'll just do what Peter did,
look, we'll get the look. And you know what the look says?
It's not, I know what you are. No, it's, Peter, I know what
you are. I know everything you've ever
done. And I still love you. I love you anyway, Peter. And
I'm fixing to do something about that burden of pride and sin
that you're carrying around with you. And our Lord then went into
the soldier's hall and took the abuse and was marched up Calvary
and crucified. You say, what's the importance
of that? Let me see if I can just give you this. Turn to Isaiah
50 real quick. Here's an explanation in part
of what they did to our Lord and why. The verse I'm gonna
read to you out of Isaiah 50 Pictures it foretells what would
be done to the Lord Jesus Christ in these few hours After he looked
at Peter And as he looked at Peter within
just a little and this was written hundreds and hundreds of years
Before our Lord ever went to Calvary, but look what it says
in Isaiah 50 verse 6 I Gave my back to the smiters. Boy, they beat him with that
cat of nine tails. They stripped the flesh off of
him. And he says this, look, and my cheeks to them that plucked
off the hair. And I tell you what, they didn't
do it this way. They didn't just take, you know, okay, I'll take
this hair and they grabbed handfuls and tore the flesh off his face.
He says, and I gave my cheeks to them that plucked off the
hair. and I hid not my face from shame and spitting. That Roman
soldier, as Scott Richardson used to say, he cleared his throat
and spit in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, why did
he take all that? You know why? To put away Peter's
pride of face. Peter, I'm sure, thought he was
the best looking disciple. as well as the most good intentioned
and righteous and ready to fight and all that. But our Lord was
getting ready to take the punishment that Peter deserved for his pride
of face. And then, you know, our Lord
lived just 33 years, yet in that time he accomplished everything
that needed to be done to create a perfect life, a righteous life,
a holy life. Let me tell you what that's called.
He lived at just the right pace. Do you know our Lord was never
in such a hurry that he could not be stopped by a blind beggar
who cried for mercy. His pace was stopped and he showed
him mercy. Our Lord was, that's what we
ought to do. Anybody here ever walked by a beggar? Just went
on? Our Lord didn't. He never walked
by a beggar one time. He had just the right pace, and
he's put away our pride of pace. Our Lord was born a Jew, the
most despised, mistreated race to ever live. Yet he had mercy
on God's chosen people, whether they're Jews or Gentiles. He
even had mercy on those who killed him. From the cross, he said,
Father, forgive them for what they're doing. They don't know
what they're doing. He put away pride of race for his people.
And this was not some earthly potentate who was being crucified.
This was not the king of England being nailed to a tree. This
was the king of glory come down. This was a king who was making
himself a worm so that us worms could one day go be with him
and be made kings. He put away our pride of place. Our Lord suffered Even for the
pride of grace found in his people, he took on himself all our pride,
all our sin. If we read the scriptures concerning
pride in that light, here's what we find out. Proverbs 16 says,
pride goeth before destruction. You know why they destroyed our
Lord? He took our pride and he had to be destroyed for it. God
punished him so we wouldn't have to be. Proverbs 29 says, a man's pride
shall bring him low. Why did our Lord come down to
this earth and live like he did? To put away our pride. Pride
cometh, then cometh shame. Why did he, why was he shamed?
He was stripped naked in that soldier's hall. To put away our
sin. Well, let me give you one more
thing and I'll stop. I cannot tell you what the look
our Lord gave Peter was like, but I can tell you what it wasn't.
There was no pride in it. There was no down-the-nose, arrogant,
self-righteous pride in it. In the instant of that look,
our Lord conveyed to Peter this message. I know who you are,
Peter. I know what you've done, and I've made it right. This
is the common experience of every child of God. God reveals to
us what he knows about us, which is everything. And when we find
out, have you ever done something, you kids know about this, you
ever done something you just knew you shouldn't do? Ever done something like that? Some of the young ones are grinning,
some of the older ones too. And your hope was, man, I hope
dad doesn't find out about that. It's going to be bad. If he finds
out about that, it's going to be bad. God the Holy Spirit, out of love,
comes and shows his children, shows God the Father's children,
I know what you've done. You know, I did something once
as a kid, and for years I sweated over it. I thought, man, if my
dad finds out, he's going to get that big double-tongue belt
out and whip the fire out of me. And you know what I found
out when I got about 20-something? We were talking when he saw you.
I knew you did that. He said, I just didn't want to
beat you half to death. And he would have. You know what? Our Lord does not have to see
us beaten to death. God won't do that. You know what
he did? He beat his son to death. He let men beat his son to death
so you and I won't have to be. Now if God ever shows you that,
you know what we'll do? We'll go, We'll look to Him. We'll look to Him as our only
hope, the only way out of the mess we're in. And we'll find
out. We'll find out. I got to show you one more thing.
Turn back to John 21. I've probably preached too long,
but God always shows a sinner. He
knows who and what we are. And then He shows them this in
John 21. Peter, after he's run away and
they all meet again, and the Lord's been crucified and buried,
and they say, Peter, what are you going to do? Peter says,
I'm going fishing. I don't know what else to do.
I used to fish, so I'm going back to it. And they all say,
well, we'll go with you. And they go up there, and they
get in the boat, and they fish all night long. They don't catch
a thing. And the next morning, they're working their way into
shore, dragging those nets, and there's a man. on the shore. And he calls to him and says,
have you caught anything? They go, no, not a thing. He says, drop your nets off the
other side. And they do. Now these are professional
fishermen. They fished all night, caught
nothing. And all of a sudden, they can't draw the net in. There's
so many fish. And John, looks at the man on
the shore. Look unto me and be you saved.
And John looked at the man on the shore. Look at verse seven,
what he said. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved, this
is John, said to Peter, it's the Lord. It's the Lord. That man on the shore is the
Lord. He's risen. He died for our sin,
for my pride, and he's risen. He left the pride in the grave.
He's back. Peter just went, whoa, and he
leaped in and sloshed his way to shore. You see, this is a
picture too. God will show us who and what
we are, and then he'll send a man. He sent John to tell Peter, Lord
loves you. There he is. Go to him. And he
went. He went. That's what we pray
for our children, isn't it? One day you'll show them who
and what they are. And then a man standing there, bare butt down,
he'll say, run to Christ. Run to Christ. Flee to him. Or
some man who preaches the truth will say that. And they'll go.
They'll go. Then what happens? They get to
shore. All of them do. And here the Lord's already made
the fire and cooked the fish. That's about to be the best fish
anybody ever ate. He didn't need their fish, did he? He gave them
to get by on, but he didn't need their fish. And they're sitting
around the fire afterwards, and here's John with his head on
shoulder here, and here's Peter, the man who went, I don't even
know him, three times. He's got him right here. And
he says to Peter, he says, Peter, do you love me? Peter says, Lord, you know I
love you. He says, Peter, do you love me? He says, Lord, you
know I love you. He said, feed my sheep. And then
he said, Peter, lovest thou me? Peter said, Lord, you know all
things. You know I love you. You know
how Peter was so sure of that now? He now, for the first time,
was converted and understood. I do love you, Lord. because
you first loved me. Before you ever showed me your
love, you went to that tree and paid for all my pride, all my
sin, even my pride. What did Peter learned about
the love of God? It's all in Christ, that's the
only place it's found. God's people do love him, but
only because he first loved us. And there's no reason for pride
in that, is there? Not at all, no. There's reason to worship,
to bow, to praise, to honor, to sing. Let's do that, let's
sing. All right. Let's stand and turn in our hymnals
to song number 125. 125.