The book of Isaiah chapter 53.
I want to begin in verse 1. Isaiah chapter
53 and verse 1. Who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? He shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground,
he hath no farm nor comeliness, and when we shall see him there
is no beauty that we should desire him. 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. 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. All we like sheep
have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed
and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He has
brought us a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her sure
is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison
and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he hath done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, And he shall
divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors,
and bore the sins of many, and made intercessions for the transgressors."
My subject this morning is, tell me the story of Jesus. I think
probably if I could require anything of any pastors, including myself,
it would probably be that We have to preach at least twice
a year in Isaiah chapter 53 because it's all about Him. It's the
story of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. You may have
to go to other places and search diligently to see the Lord Jesus
Christ in that passage, but not so here. He shines in every verse
like a thousand suns, doesn't He, in this passage. Someone
asked an old preacher if his creed was in print. And he said,
yes it is. And you'll find it in Isaiah
chapter 53. This is our creed. And what is our creed? Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. He's our creed. I've noticed
different times as I've read this chapter, 57 times in these
12 short verses, Jesus Christ is referred to. 57 times. Forty-seven times he comes under
the pronoun of he and his. You can count them. Forty-seven
times. That sounds amazing, doesn't
it? Ten times he goes mainly under the name of a metaphor. For instance, in verse one, he's
called the arm of the Lord. Verse two, he's called a tender
plant and a dry root. Verse three, he's called a man
of sorrows. Verse seven, a lamb and a sheep. Verse 10 and 11, His soul, His
soul, His soul. Verse 11, My servant, My servant. So 57 times Jesus Christ is set
forth before the eye of faith in this passage. And if a man
can't see Him here, then it's because of a blind heart of unbelief. It's too evident that He's here.
When Philip was preaching from this chapter of the Ethiopian
eunuch, it was said that he began at the same place and preached
unto him Jesus. And what was the respond of that
eunuch? Now I see him. Wasn't that it? Does this man speak of himself
or somebody else? He preached Jesus unto him. And
then he said, Now I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. is here before us. And this is
our report. In verse 1 he says, Who hath
believed our report. We don't have a message of our
own. We haven't made up anything. We're just reporters. That's
all we do. This is God's message concerning
His Son. And we just report it. We hear
a lot about fake news today, don't we? I bet you you go in
a lot of churches this morning and you hear a lot of fake news.
Because men are making things up. We don't make up anything. We're just reporters. Just the
facts, ma'am. Just the facts. That's what the
old fellow on Dragnet used to say. Ma'am, just the facts. That's
what we are. We're just reporters reporting
the facts. When the Apostle Paul was writing
to the Corinthians, he said, I came not to you with excellency
of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. And this is the gospel of God's
Son, the gospel that he testified concerning his Son, which was
made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to
be the Son of God with power. by the Spirit of holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead. This is God's testimony and this
is our report. And He says, you who have believed
our report. I don't know how many people
or how few people in Isaiah's day believed this report. I don't know how many or how
few in our day believe it. But I know this, brothers and
sisters, when this thing is wound up, and all God's purpose has
been accomplished and the end comes, there's going to be a
multitude that no man could number who believed this report. They
believed this report and they were saved by it. And all their
sins were forgiven and they were justified from all things. And
they found God to be a merciful and tender and everlasting Father
to them. Who's believed it? I don't know.
I don't know, but I tell you there's a bunch of people that
believe it. And those who don't, they'll be damned one day. That's
just as plain as we can make it. He that believeth shall be
saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. Who hath believed our report? I tell you our report's the only
hope. for parishioners and sinners. There's no other hope apart from
this report. Who hath believed our report? And can't you almost feel the
burden of this prophet as he makes that statement? Lord, who
hath believed our report? I don't know of a prophet. I
don't know of an apostle. And I don't know of a God-called
preacher or a church. But what's burdened when they
see men and women not believing this report? We pray to that
end, don't we? And our hearts are burdened to
that end, that men might believe this report. He says, You're this arm of the
Lord who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed. What is this arm of the Lord?
Well, the arm of the Lord is the power of God. And it's the
wisdom of God. It's His right hand. And when
you think of the power and wisdom of God, who do you reckon that
is? That's Jesus Christ. To you that
believe, Christ is the power of God and Christ is the wisdom
of God. The Apostle Paul tells us in
Romans 1 16 that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto
salvation. I tell you, it takes the strong
arm of God to save a sinner, doesn't it? A little fickle free
will, what strength a poor sinner can muster up won't save him.
It takes the power of God. And who is the power of God?
It's Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It's Him. You might create
a universe, but you can't make a new creature. That takes the
power of God. You might as well to uphold the
planets as save a soul from sin, Nothing but the arm of God will
do it. Jesus Christ is that arm. And
He's the wisdom of God. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? That's an age-old question, isn't
it? And you know what? It took wisdom to answer that.
How can God remain righteous and yet have mercy upon a hell-deserving
sinner? It takes wisdom to answer that.
And that wisdom is answered in Jesus Christ. He became the sinner's
substitute. He became the sinner's representative. And therefore, God can be just
and yet justify the ungodly. This is our report. But he says
something here about this report. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? I tell you, we can't know this
except by revelation. notions and human wisdom can't
reveal this to us. Jesus Christ is in heaven. He's
hid in the bosom of the Father. And we can't see Him there. He's
too high above us. He's out of our sight. But you
know something? He's here in His Word too. Martin
Luther used to hold up the Bible to his congregation and he says,
What is this? And he said, This is Christ.
Christ is here and the Holy Spirit takes the Word and reveals Him
to our hearts. How can I know Christ? In His
Word, to be sure. And the Holy Spirit reveals Him
in His Word. Look at Him in verse 2. Here
He is. Here is the old, old story of Jesus. Tell me the old, old
story. He shall grow up before God as
a tender Now there are two things that are concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. We see Him in His humanity, don't we? He was tender
when He was born. He wasn't born full grown in
the glory of a man. When He came forth from His mother's
womb, what was He? He was a little tiny infant.
A tender, helpless babe. That's why God had to help Him.
That's why the angels had to watch over him. That's why Mary
and Joseph had to guard him and rush him down to Egypt. He was
a tender, tender babe in his humanity. In his disposition,
his whole attitude, in his mind, in his spirit, in his soul, he
was a very tender-hearted man. I love that about him, don't
you? Don't we read that He was meek and lowly in His heart? Don't we read about the gentleness
of Christ? Here we're told in this passage
here that He was a lamb. I tell you, you may be afraid
to approach Him to an old billy goat. They're bad to butt. But
I'm telling you, a child can approach Him to a little lamb.
There's nothing to fear about a little lamb. He's tender, isn't
He? He's tender. This chapter tells
us about when he was oppressed and afflicted, he opened not
his mouth, that he was silent before those who persecuted him.
Our chapter tells us here that he did no violence. He did no
violence to anybody. He was too tender-hearted to
do violence. If he had lifted up his hand
in violence, that would have broke his heart. Because He was
a tender Savior. You say, Bruce, how does that
square with Him punishing men in hell? It squares. It squares. I'm just telling you this side
of it. This is the Savior. This is the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. Verse 2 is amazing. The Son of
God was The beauty of heaven. He was the glory of that world
that's above. He said, Father, glorify Thou
me with Your own self, with the glory that I had with You before
the world was. And yet here we're told in verse
2, that He hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see Him, there's
no beauty that we should desire Him. When He left heaven and
came to this earth, there was nothing magnificent are beautiful
about His person. He wasn't a man of splendor and
great form. He was so common that He could
hide in a crowd and never be noticed. There was nothing physical
that could attract you to Him. There was no beauty that we should
desire Him. And what does this teach us,
brothers and sisters, but this, that God rejects all fleshly
and human attraction. That which appeals to our eyes
as we see people outwardly has no attraction to the Lord. He utterly refuses fleshly pomp
and beauty. We often think of those women
like Mary Magdalene, and I think somebody considers those women,
the woman taken in adultery, And the Lord Jesus said, Go and
sin no more, neither do I condemn thee, the woman at the well.
Hollywood portrays those women as beautiful women. But you know,
I just wonder if you could see those women and they were somewhat
homely. Homely women, scarred and worn
by a life of immorality. What was it that attracted the
Lord Jesus to them? The attraction was not found
in them at all. It was nothing outward at all.
He does not look on the outward, does He? He looks on the heart.
And here He had prepared their hearts to fill a need of Him.
And that is what attracts Him. Oh, you are here this morning
and you have got a need of Him. The world sees no beauty in Him,
but boy, you see beauty in Him. You see beauty in his soul. You
see beauty in his glorious person, in his work. And these groans
go up to him. Lord, I need you. That's what
attracts him. That need for him. Have you ever
seen any pictures of Fannie Crosby? That's one of the most homeless
looking poor women I've ever laid my eyes on. That's just
being honest about it. I've always thought that about
her. But you know something? How the Lord loved that woman.
How he loved that woman because he's not attracted by outward
appearance and beauty. And when these bodies grow old
and limp and wrinkled and worn, his affection for you will never
change. He wasn't attracted to you or
anything he saw in you to begin with. This was one reason why they
despised and rejected him. Nothing fleshly about him appealed
to the natural eye of man. He truly was without form, without
comeliness, without any beauty to look upon. I imagine probably
he was more common than most people to look upon. Nothing
about him outwardly was attractive. His birth? You think it would
be attractive to be born in a stable? His parents? Mary was a poor
virgin woman that couldn't even afford an offering except two
little turtledoves? The place where he was from?
Can any good thing come out of Galilee, out of Nazareth? The
education that he had or lack thereof? He didn't go to the
school where the Pharisees and the scribes attended. How on
earth this man letters have he never learned? And those he associated
with? They said of his apostles, these
are ignorant and unlearned men. He associated with the common
people. Everything they saw about him,
nothing appealed to those scribes and those Pharisees or most anybody. And one of the things that made
them despise him more, here's this humble man, in this humble
condition, and he said, I and my father are one. They said,
you're a blasphemer. How can you be one with God?
Look at you. Look at your parents. You son
of a carpenter. You're a blasphemer. And they
took up stones to stone him. He was despised and rejected
of man, a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. And that's why He
said here, even we, He said, hid our faces from Him. I just wonder sometimes even
His own apostles, before He had finally opened their hearts and
filled them with the Holy Spirit and gave them boldness, When
he was standing there telling those scribes and Pharisees,
I and my Father are one, I can almost see Peter's face getting
red and turning his face away because he knew the Pharisees
despised that. We hid it were our faces from
him. And he goes on in verse 4, Surely
he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did
esteem him stricken stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Matthew quotes this verse in
Matthew chapter 8 and verse 17 when the Lord Jesus was healing
people of sicknesses and infirmities. And Matthew quotes Him in this
verse here and says, He took our infirmities and bore our
sicknesses. He took our infirmities and He
bore our sicknesses. And Peter says he bore our sins
in his own body upon the tree. And this is what this verse here
seems to mean, that Christ bore our sins and all the consequences
of those sins. What's the consequence of sin?
Well, it's grief, isn't it? It's sickness. It's guilt. It's death. Sorrow. Sorrow. God told Adam in the
fall, with sorrow shall you eat your bread until you return to
the dust. So Christ took our sin and He
took our sorrow. He took all the consequences
of our sin. This is why He's called here
a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. But notice Isaiah
said this, We as a nation, he said, made a terrible mistake
about this. We misjudged him. We misjudged
the reason of his sufferings. We thought he was afflicted of
God for his own sins. That's what I think this verse
means. We esteemed him, stricken, smitten of God. And what he's
saying is the Jewish nation thought he was suffering for his own
sins. Boy, he's getting just what he
deserves. But Isaiah said, we misjudged that. He tells us in the last part
of verse 5, here's what happened. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. It wasn't his sin at all. It
was our sin. It was our transgressions. The
chastisement of our peace was upon him. and with his stripes
were healed. Boy, he does two things right
here that the Bible is full of. He has substitution and satisfaction. Did you notice that in verse
5? He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. That's substitution, isn't it?
He stood in our room and in our place. And look at the satisfaction. And with his stripes We are healed. In other words, Christ never
suffered in vain. He never suffered for naught.
Every sin he bore will be washed away from the wounded conscience
of every poor sinner. And every sinner he suffered
for will someday be delivered from that sin. Not just the guilt
of it and the power of it, but brothers and sisters, think of
this. If Jesus Christ has suffered for you 2,000 years ago, there's
coming a day in which you're delivered from all the consequences
of sin. All of it. And that's the trouble
we have in our lifetime. It's just the consequence of
sin. Man that's born to woman is a few days and full of troubles.
Why? Sin. Sin. But Christ is satisfied. And
by His stripes, will be healed. I tell you, healing is coming,
ain't it? Healing for the soul now, and pretty soon healing
for these old bodies, because they'll be changed in fashion
likened to His glorious body. Physical as well as spiritual
healing. Verse 6, All we like sheep have
gone astray. We've turned every one to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Some people get upset with us,
Because we say the Lord Jesus bore the sins of His sheep. Didn't
die for those who were in hell. Never died for those who wound
up in hell. For His sheep. And some people
get aggravated at that when we say that. But nobody but His
sheep desire a saving interest in the death of Jesus Christ
anyway. Most people don't identify as
sheep If you're here this morning and you have the language of
a sheep, then all right. Christ died for you and you've
got no quarrels about that. But a sheep doesn't say those
people over there went astray. Everybody else went astray, but
not me. Not me. That's not the language
of a sheep, is it? A sheep has this kind of language.
All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to His
own way. Oh, those Pharisees, they said,
we don't have any sin. Ain't that what they said? Christ
said, because you say you have no sin, the sin remains. They
talk like a bunch of goats. Why do we need a substitute? They didn't. Not in their own
minds they didn't. But you remember what the Lord
Jesus told them about being a sheep and a goat? He said, you believe
not. Because you're not of my sheep.
This is the language of a sheep. And if you have that language
this morning, you're one of his sheep. If you have this language,
Lord, I'm going astray. I messed it up. I'm a sinner. A guilty vile sinner. But Jesus
has satisfied for my sins. My sins have been put on Him.
That's the language of a sheep. When you read these passages
like this, that God laid on Him the iniquity of us all, that
doesn't mean all without exception. Listen to who's writing. Listen
to who's speaking. And it's the same way in the
epistles. Remember who He's writing to,
the church. The church. We. We. Us. That's the language of
His sheep. And in verse 7, He was oppressed
and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He has
brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before a shearer's
is done, so He opened not His mouth. There has never been anybody,
the Scripture teaches, that was treated with such unjust severity
as the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet he tells us right here
he opened not his mouth. It's amazing to follow him from
the time they came into the garden to get him. First he sent those
soldiers, the men with sticks and staves and swords to bring
him to the high priest. He goes into the high priest's
house in Mark chapter 14. The mob is gathered there and
they accuse him of blasphemy. They spit in his face and they
smack him on the head But he held his peace and answered them
nothing. They take him from there to Pilate.
The chief priest and Pharisees follow him there. They accuse
him before Pilate. And the Scripture says he answered
not a word. And then Pilate said unto him,
Don't you hear all these things that they witness against thee?
And the Scripture says he answered him not a word. They take him over to Herod.
He takes his men of war and set him at naught. And Pilate was
so happy because he had longed for a long time to ask him any
question, but Jesus answered him nothing. In John chapter 19, when Pilate
became afraid of crucifying His wife would come to him and say,
I have nothing to do with that just man. He brings in the Lord
Jesus and says, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
as a sheep before her sure is done. So he opened not his mouth. Could he have? You bet he could
have. He could have defended himself.
But He didn't. Isn't that amazing? Oh, not only,
brothers and sisters, is He our substitute and our representative,
but what an example He is to us for suffering quietly. I tell you, the Lord has given
me some grace to take some persecution, and when people talk about me,
just to let it flow off. But I've got a limit. After about
five minutes, I'm going to start trying to defend myself. But
not Him. Not Jesus. When He was persecuted,
He threatened not. He didn't open His mouth to defend
Himself. Oh, what an example He is to
us. And here in verse 8, He was taken
from prison and from judgment. And who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken." This is quoted, you remember
this over in Acts chapter 8 verse 33. This is what the eunuch was
reading. And in the New Testament this verse is quoted like this.
In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. And who shall
declare his generation? for his life is taken from the
earth." Listen to this. Listen to me as I quote this
like this. Instead of rendering a just judgment concerning him,
they humiliated him and who shall declare the wickedness of his
generation for his life was taken from the earth. They humiliated
him. And then in his humiliation,
they rendered an unjust verdict concerning him. But boy, Isaiah is very quick
to add this. Even though man's wicked hands
did this, yet God meant it for good. Look at the last part of
verse 8. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. Verse 9, look in verse 9. And
he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death,
because he hath done no violence, neither was any deceit in his
mouth." You know what the Jews wanted to do? They wanted to
make sure that he was buried with wicked men. They had those
two thieves on either side of him, and they went to Pilate
and said, let's break all their legs and take them away and bury
them. We want Him to make sure that
His grave is with the wicked in His death. But you know, God
overruled that. He overruled that. The Lord Jesus was dead already.
So they took Him down, and because it was the preparation before
the Sabbath, they put Him in the tomb of a rich man. Isn't that amazing how God overruled
that? And why did God overrule that?
Because He said here in our verse, because He has done no violence.
And no deceit was in His mouth. And look in verse 10. In verse
10. Yet it pleased the Lord. There
was no violence. He had done none. He had no sin
of His own. Never committed a sin. There
was no deceit in his mouth, and yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him." Now boy, this is important, isn't it? This is important.
It pleased God to bruise him. Who bruised him? The Father bruised
him. Who put him to grief? The Father
put him to grief. The Father made His soul an offering
for sin. What does this tell us? What
we've said over and over again. That the cross is not an afterthought. It's not plan B. It's God's purpose. You read this in Acts chapter
2 and Acts chapter 4. that those men took the Lord
Jesus and by wicked hands crucify and slew him. But in doing that,
they did what God had determined before should be done. God had
a hand in his sufferings, didn't he? He sure did. And he says
here, he shall see his seed. In verse 10, he shall see his
seed. You know the Lord Jesus He took
great joy in going to the cross. And you know the Bible says He
did that because of the joy that was set before Him. And I think
here Isaiah hints something of what that joy was. He shall see
His seed. You know He saw them plunged
in ruin, didn't He? All His elect were plunged into
ruin. We have that all through the
Scripture. And He saw them there. But He was going to the cross
to redeem them and deliver them, and He saw all His sheep, all
His elect, all His vessels of mercy, and He saw them saved
in Himself. He saw them delivered, and in
heaven, at last, He saw His seed. He saw them. And that rejoiced
His heart. filled Him with joy that He was
going to redeem His people. He said in John Chapter 12, Except
a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it brings forth
much fruit. And the Lord Jesus died, but
when He died, He brought forth a lot of fruit in Him. Every
elect soul He brought forth to eternal life. And he says you,
he shall prolong his days. How long did he prolong his days?
A long time, didn't he? Life everlasting. I am he that
was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. And as long as he's
alive, you're alive. Some man asked a Christian one
time, he said, He said, do you have eternal life? He says, does
Christ have eternal life? As long as He has eternal life,
I've got eternal life, because I'm in Him. And He shall prolong
His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His
hand. This pleasure of the Lord here
is the purpose of God, the will of God, and it's prospering in
the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's turned it all over to him
and says, my son, set your reign, reign and fulfill all my good
pleasure. And you know what Jesus is doing
today? He's fulfilling all God's good pleasure. That'll cheer
you up, won't it? That'll cheer you up as you grow
older and have these burdens. What's happening? The pleasure
of the Lord. And it's His good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
That's going to prosper in the hands of Jesus Christ. In verse
11, He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied, and by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Jesus, by his suffering upon
the cross, has fully satisfied justice. for the sins of all
His people. Justice cannot and will not demand
more than what has already been offered and accepted. Payment
God cannot twice demand. First at our bleeding charity's
hands and then again at mine. He cannot. He will not. He saw of the travail of His
soul and was satisfied. The sword was put back in its
sheath. There is no fury found in God
against His people. He is satisfied. It goes right
back to this, doesn't it? All the time. And this is the
age-old controversy between the Calvinists and the Armenians.
Those who believe in a real substitution and those who don't. What happened
on the cross? substitution and satisfaction. That's why we say if Christ has
been punished for a man, He cannot perish. He must be called and
given a new heart and forgiven and taken to heaven at last.
Because in substitution there's a satisfaction. I saw the travail
of His soul and I am satisfied. And by His knowledge, I guess
by knowing Him, by believing Him, shall my righteous servant
justify many. Look at this. For He shall bear
their iniquities. Somebody said faith makes the
death of Christ effectual. That's not so, really. That's
not so. The death of Christ secures the
faith of the elect. Why do we come to believe? Because
He bore our transgressions. Therefore we come and believe
on Him and are justified by faith in Him. The sufferings of Christ
assures that every elect soul will come to faith in Jesus Christ. Then verse 12. Here He's going
to tell us something that Christ's substitution on behalf of His
people is not just about salvation. Oh, bless your heart, that's
the main thing. It saves us from our sins. It justifies it. It
reconciles us to God. But you know, it has more than
just salvation. And He says, Therefore will I
divide him a portion with the great. How big a portion? This is the
scriptural way of speaking. We go to the New Testament. The
scripture says that God hath given everything into His The
heaven and the earth are His. The new heaven and the new earth
will be His. What all has God given to His
Son, brothers and sisters? Who can describe it? He's given
Him a name that's above everything. Glory, honor, riches, worlds,
everything. He's given to His Son a portion,
a great portion. And look at what He said, He
shall divide His spoils with the strong. Everything that the
Father has gave the Son, the Son is not going to hoard it
up to Himself. He's going to share it with His
people. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Jesus Christ. The new heaven and the new earth
is His, then it's yours. Glory and honor is His, then
it's yours. It's yours. Yes, it mainly is
about forgiveness and justification and deliverance from guilt and
the power of sin. But I tell you, in that world
to come, it's going to be more than just salvation from sin. Jesus Christ is going to share
everything with His people. And you notice here what He calls
His people, the strong, the strong. I've never heard anybody confess
to be a strong Christian. Man, my faith. My faith is so
strong. You hear Hollywood saying that.
You hear these silly people. My faith is strong, you know. Man, we're just barely getting
by, aren't we? Lord, help my unbelief. That's what we're always...
The Lord calls them strong. Why are they strong? Because
they're strong in the Lord. in the power of His mouth. Be
strong in the grace that's in Christ Jesus. We're strong in
Him, aren't we? We're so strong in Him we've
overcome the world. We're strong in Him that we've
overcome Satan and all of His fallen angels. We're overcomers. We're strong in Jesus Christ. And it's all because He poured
out His soul unto death, because He was numbered with the transgressors.
because He burned the sins of many, because He made intercessions
for the transgressors. It's because. Because. That's
why. Because. We have salvation because
He obtained it for us. We have hope because of Him.
We have a Father because of Him. We have a home because of Him. Jesus and the old, old story.
of His redeeming love. Let's pray.