Well, it's good to see everybody
out this morning. Remember those who requested prayer. Add to your prayer list,
D. Parks, Daniel Parks' son. They thought what he had was Hodgkin's disease, but he doesn't. He has a duodenal cancer, which
is terminal. With treatment, they say the
possibility of two years. without treatment a matter of
months. That's cancer of the small intestine
is what it is. Sandy called me, Luce's wife
called me and told me she was tore up. Of course they would
be. We all know them, Dee and Christy come to the conferences
with their children. In fact, I think Dee met Christy
at this conference, wasn't it? Yeah, he kinda saw Christy and
he brought another girl with him. to the conference and then
he saw Christie and it was all over for him. So they got married,
got three great kids. He's 47 years old, a wonderful
young man. Veteran, served in the armed
services in Afghanistan. And Moose and Sandy are tore
up, you know, they would be. His sister Christina, who they
were like frick and frack, two peas in a pod. having a hard
time with it. Now I'm having a hard time with
it. I can't wake up thinking about it and go to sleep thinking
about it because he's like a son to me. So do remember Moose Parks'
family and Dee and Christy and also the Morrells, Christy's
mom and dad who were very close to him. So remember them in your
prayers, if you will, and the others who request your prayer,
Dewey Cochran's family. and the others who requested
prayer. Let's begin our worship service
with hymn number one. Oh, Worship the King. Oh, worship
the king And gratefully sing his power
and his love, Our shield and defender, the ancient of days, and girded with praise. O tell of his might, O sing of
his grace, whose robe is a light, whose scadopee space. His chariots of wrath, the deep
thunderclouds His path on the wings of the
storm. Thy bountiful care, what tongue
can recite? It breathes in the air. It shines in the light. It streams from the hills. It descends to the plain. It distills in the dew and the
rain, frail children of dust and feeble estates. we trust, nor find thee to fail. Thy mercies, how tender, how
firm to the end. Our maker, defender, redeemer,
and friend. After scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing hymn number 268. 268. Can you turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 53? I'm going to read one verse of
scripture. The title of my message this
morning is, Who? Isaiah 53, Who hath believed
our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? Let us pray. We are thankful,
truly thankful that we do indeed have the report. That which has
taken place, that which has been finished, that which has been
completed and now is published in the form of good tidings of
good things. We are thankful, Father, that
you have given us understanding and faith to believe the gospel
of Jesus Christ. We know that in and of ourselves
there is no good thing. That even as we are your children,
we struggle with the flesh every day. That when we would do good,
evil is present with us. We thank you, Father, that we
are counted among your children, and all because of your grace
and your mercy. We praise you for it. Father,
we pray for those who are sick Those who are going through trials,
remember especially Moose Parks and his family. Brother D, with
his cancer, we ask Lord you'd be pleased to. Well, Lord, you
know what we want. We want you to heal him. We know
you can. Nothing too hard for you. If you'll get glory for
yourself, bring honor to your name. We ask that you'd heal
him. We know we leave it in your hands
as we must with all things because you're the sovereign God who
does all things according to the good pleasure of his own
will. Help us, Lord, to bow to you and to trust you. Help us this day, Father, to
worship you in spirit and in truth. Enable me to declare the
gospel of God's grace. Don't leave me standing here
alone, but uphold me and lift up my arms. Fill my mouth with
those things that are right concerning thee. May I speak that which
is true and honest before thee. Help us this day, we pray, as
we take the Lord's table after the morning worship service and
the time we spend together around the food table and fellowship.
Make it a day that we can rejoice in and be thankful for. We pray
in Christ's name, amen. Hymn number 268, 268. How firm
a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith
in His excellent Word. What more can he say than to
you he has said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled? Fear not, I am with thee. Oh, be not dismayed. I am thy God, I will still give
thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand. Upheld by my gracious, omnipotent
hand. When through the deep waters
I call thee to go, ? The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow
? ? For I will be with thee thy troubles to bless ? ? And sanctify
to thee thy deepest distress ? ? When through fiery trials
thy pathway shall lie. My grace, all sufficient, shall
be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee,
I only design, thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should
endanger, Now Steve and Ed, not Ed, Sam,
Ed's way over in the corner. Steve and Sam to receive the
office this morning please. Let us pray. Father, again we
come in the name of Jesus Christ, that great and glorious name
that is above every name, the only name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved, that name that will bring
the whole universe to its knees to proclaim that he's Lord to
the glory of the Father. He is the unspeakable gift that
you have given to your people and with him you have given them
all things that pertain to godliness and light. We thank you, Father,
that you've been so merciful and gracious. As we return unto
thee that which is yours, let us do so with joy. In Christ's
name, amen. and and you I invite your attention back
to the 53rd of Isaiah. This book is a wonder to me.
I have been thinking about this chapter as I often do. It is
one of the most profound chapters in all of the Word of God. It is the Gospel in no uncertain
terms of the victorious, vicarious, vicious, voluntary death of the
Lord Jesus Christ As I was thinking about it, pondering
it for all week long, just sitting and thinking about it, this first word struck my mind. Who? Who hath
believed I reported? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Who indeed? And I thought of all those in
the early church who came to know Christ After Peter preached at Pentecost,
4,000 came. Another place, several thousand
came, were added to the church daily, them that should be saved. But this word, who, came to my mind. And then I thought,
well, I know who. I know that all the elect will
hear, the sheep shall hear the voice of Christ, and they shall
follow him, and he'll give them their eternal life, all that
the Father has given to Christ shall come to him, and him that
comes to Christ shall no wise turn out. He'll save them all. He'll not lose them, but save
them all on the first day. But who, this word who, and I
got to thinking, there was a particular who that was preached this message
from Isaiah chapter 53. That's recorded in scripture. He was an Ethiopian eunuch. He
was traveling home to Ethiopia. He was a person of high authority
in Queen Candace's court. He took care of her money. He
was traveling back to Ethiopia, and after Peter had done away
with Simon Magus in the eighth chapter of Acts, he said that
the Lord had sent Who did he see? Philip out into the desert. He said
go that way and he went that way and crossed paths with this
man in his chariot heading back to Ethiopia and this man had
a copy of Isaiah chapter 53. I do not know how he got it. Back then you had to pay a scribe
to copy something for you and it was a costly adventure. But
he was reading Isaiah 53. And Philip came up and run alongside
the chariot and said, Do you understand what you're reading? And he says, I can't unless some
man explain it to me. And Peter jumped up in the chariot. And the Ethiopian said, When
the prophet is talking about this one going for the slaughter
like a lamb, he opened not his mouth." Is he talking about himself? Is he talking about the prophet?
Is he talking about himself? And it says, Philip from that
place took that text and preached to him Jesus Christ. Now the
end result of that is that the Ethiopian, after he had heard
the gospel, believed it and says, what does hinder me to be baptized?
I want to confess that when Christ died, I died. That when he rose,
I rose. I want to confess that when he
made his soul an offering for sin, I was part of the seed that
he saw. I was one for whom he travailed
and his soul was satisfied. I was one of the many for whom
he paid for their and justified them because he bore their transgressions
and their sins. What doth hinder me to be baptized?
Philip said, well, let's find some water. They found some water
and he was baptized and immediately Philip was called away and Ethiopian
went back home rejoicing and glorifying God. The question that Philip asked
him, Do you believe? Do you believe? And the answer that
the Ethiopian gave was, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. I believe that. Now, that wasn't
a general statement. He was saying, based on what
I've heard in the Gospel preached, I believe that nobody else could
have done this but the Son of God. This is solely a thing that
He could have accomplished. Who hath believed our report?
That guy did. He believed this report. He believed this report and went
away glorifying God. Who hath believed our report?
What is the report? The report doesn't start. Actually
the report isn't chapter 53. The report starts in chapter
52 and verse 7 and goes through the end of the chapter there
and it's a report of the work of God and the salvation of his
people. Now chapter 53 is the manner
in which that work was accomplished by the Son of God. But it begins,
what was it that this Ethiopian heard? What did Philip tell him?
Philip told him that somebody's coming with a
message, and it's a great message, and
it's a message about good things, and happy things, and joyous
things. And He worded it this way, How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of them that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings
in verse 7 of chapter 52, that publisheth salvation, that saith
unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. What does that mean? Exactly
what it says. This is the good news. This is the good tidings.
So whatever follows in this report, its foundation is based upon
the fact that God alone rules in all things and reigns in all
things and holds absolute sway over all things and all people.
And that's the good news if you're a child of God. Some people despise
the sovereignty of God because they say it makes them feel like
a puppet. Well, I don't mind being a puppet
as long as God's pulling the strings, I'll be honest with
you. I'd rather I be His puppet than Him be mine, like men say. My, thy God reigneth. He tells
them to break forth in joy for God has comforted His people.
How does God comfort His people? According to this same book,
He comforts them by telling them that their warfare is finished.
And He gave them double for their sins. This is how the people
are comforted. You are not at war with the world.
You are not at war with sin anymore. That battle has been won. God has fought the war in your
room instead and has won the war. And then he goes on to describe
the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 13 of chapter 52. He said, Behold,
my servant shall deal prudently. Now what he's saying is whatever
he endeavors to do, what he tackles, what he goes into to accomplish,
he will accomplish. That's a double use of an old
Hebrew word. What he says is my servant shall
prosper prosperously. He is not only going to prosper,
He is going to prosper prosperously. He shall be exalted. Indeed He
shall. Every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of the Father. He
shall be extolled. He shall be preached upon every
corner of this earth. And He will be very high. How
high is He as if the right hand of the Majesty on high having
purged our sins? He shall be exalted. as many
as were astonished at thee." And now he is talking about the
crucifixion of Christ. His visage was so marred more
than any man. What does it mean? His face did
not look like a face. His body did not look like a
human being's body. It looked like a beast that was
drawn and quartered. He was maimed. He was maimed
by men. You want to know what people
think of God by nature? Look at the cross. That's all
you have to do. The only time God allowed a man to touch Him,
and He had to allow man to do that, because you can't touch
Him unless He allows it. The only time He allowed man
to touch Him, this is what men did. They ripped the skin from
His body. They beat Him to a pulp. They
put a crown of thorns on His head. They put nails in His hands
and feet and hung Him on a cross like a common criminal. crucifixion
reserves for murderers capital punishment is what it was his
visage was marred, his face was so marred more than any man had
ever been and his form was marred more
than the sons of men this is what's going to happen to him,
this is the report This is the same one who shall prosper prosperously,
shall be exalted and be extolled, he shall be bruised. It says, so shall he sprinkle
many nations. Through this thing he did on the cross, in shedding
his own blood and giving his life, many nations will be sprinkled
with his blood. The kings shall shut their mouths
at him, for that which had not been told them they shall see.
and that which they have not heard shall they consider." He's
going to have a profound effect on the world. How profound is
it? Look at your watch. Tell me what time it is. What's
the day? In what year? The year of our
Lord. A.D. Anno Domini. You can't even tell what time
it is without His name. Who hath believed our report?
Who believes that? The Ethiopian eunuch did. So does everyone whom God has
given faith. Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the
arm of the Lord? The arm of the Lord is his salvation. Back in
chapter 52 and verse 10, it says, The Lord hath made bare his holy
arm in the eyes of all nations, that all the ends of the earth
shall see his salvation. How am I saved? I am saved by
the power of God's holy arm. And then it begins to describe
Jesus Christ and His humanity. It's difficult for people to
think of God in human flesh. It's a mystery and a wonder.
But He is. And the Word was in the beginning
was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word
was God. The same was in the beginning with God. And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory as the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The
Word made flesh. Jesus Christ was a human being,
fully, completely, with all the weaknesses and frailties of the
human body, yet without sin. We don't know
anything about that. We can't even think about that
without sin, because we are sinners, saved by grace. He shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, not an imposing figure, Not like
Goliath coming down with a steel helmet and a sword that's ten
foot long. Not like that. He's like a tender plant. You who plant gardens, you know
what it's like to see those tender plants shoot out through the
ground. There ain't a whole lot of strength in them. And it don't take much
to knock them down and put them out of business. That's how our
Lord is described. As a root out of dry ground.
As something that springs forth. There it is. He hath no form nor comeliness.
What does that mean? He ain't pretty. Now he's beautiful for situation.
And we who see him and know him know he's the chiefest among
10,000. And you want to know what the believer thinks of that?
Read Solomon chapter 5. I'll tell you what they think
of him, but he hath no form nor comings. If he is received by
men, it's not going to be because how he looks. When men drop to
that level of vileness, where they accept
a person only because of the way he looks, they've reached
pretty well into the depths of depravity. Our Lord said that
one of the things that he's going to take away from the nation
of Israel was solid men, good men, men of renown, men of judgment,
and people are going to say, why don't you rule us? You wear
nice clothes. Read Isaiah chapter 3. There's
no beauty in him that men should desire him. He was despised and rejected. He came to His own and His own
received Him not. He came to the world that He made and it
received Him not. Those who said they were waiting
for the Messiah wanted to kill Him every time He opened His
mouth. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. What does that mean? His constant
companion was grief. His constant companion was sorrow. Every day of His 33-year existence
here on earth His companion was sorrow. His companion was great. It was such a case when he hung
on the cross that we couldn't imagine anybody suffering this
kind of pain. We kind of figured God must be punishing him. And he wasn't punishing him,
but he was punishing our sins that was laid on him. As it were,
we hid our faces from him. We did esteem him strict, and
we esteemed him not. Surely, Truly, absolutely, completely,
He had borne our griefs, carried our sorrows. So this grief and
sorrow that He carried wasn't even His own, it was ours that
He carried all along. We did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. We figured this has to be, you
know, that's how people think. You remember when the disciples
came to the blind man in John chapter 9? And they looked at
the Lord Jesus Christ and said, well, who sinned here? Did he
sin or did his mama sin? Because he's blind and God must
be punishing him for something. That's the way fools think. Now
the Lord said, neither one of them sinned. This happened for
the glory of God, as all things do. What we consider bad or evil,
they're the same to God as good. He makes them both. Read Isaiah
chapter 45. We'd have seen him stricken and
afflicted, but it wasn't an affliction from God for what he did. He
was wounded for our transgressions. Now think about this. This Ethiopian
eating in that chair, and this is what he's hearing. He was
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our faiths
are the cost of us having peace. was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. And when you see the word stripes,
it means God is taking out the rod and striking someone, striking
something. In Jeremiah 42, it says, He visited
our transgressions with stripes. He didn't visit us. He didn't
visit His Son. He visited the transgressions
that was upon His Son. That's called imputation. And
with His stripes, with his stripes by his doing by his taking upon
himself our sorrows and our griefs and our burdens we're healed. It doesn't say healing is made
possible or if we do something we're healed it says with his
stripes we were healed. As far as we're concerned all
we like sheep have gone astray We've turned everyone to his
own way. Do your own thing. We've done everything what we
wanted to do. We moved in the direction and
our direction is away from God and toward ourselves, sin and
Satan. All we like sheep have gone astray. We turned everyone
to his own way. And this is the wonder of it
all. A bunch of straying, sinful sheep. The Lord hath laid on
him Jesus Christ, the iniquity of us all, every one of His sheep. Speaking of Christ, He was oppressed.
He was hated and despised without a cause. If He had a glass of
wine with His friends in the house, they said, well, He's
a drunk. He's a drunk. He's a wine-bibber.
If He didn't have a glass, they said, well, He's just self-righteous.
When He healed people, they said, He hath the devil. He was hated
without a cause. He was oppressed. He was afflicted
with the normal affliction of all His children. He was afflicted
with their afflictions. He was tempted and tested in
all points like they are, yet without sin. He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter. Now, I don't know much about sheep and lamb, but
I've been told that lambs, when they're brought to the slaughter,
don't say anything. They're mute. There is a sheep before shears
is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He did not say anything.
This is the King of Kings. This is the Word of God. He did
not say a thing. He answered a few questions.
Are you the King of the Jews? Thou saith. Why don't you answer
me? Don't you know I have power to
take care of you, put you out of business, put you on a cross?
Well, you don't have any power at all except be given to you
from above. He answered a few questions, but he opened not
his mouth when they started beating on him. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. That word prison means from many
distresses and from judgment. And who shall declare his generation?
Everyone who believes this report. They shall declare his generation.
For he was cut off out of the land of the living. hung between
heaven and earth, and he was done it for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. He did nothing wrong. He was
the spotless Lamb of God, a Lamb of God for sinners wounded. He
did nothing wrong. Why was he stricken? Because
of my people's transgression. Because of me. And what I did
And what I am, he was stricken. He made his grave with the wicked
among men, and the rich in his death, that's Nicodemus, who
carried his body and gave him a tomb. He had done no violence. Neither was any deceit in his
mouth. Can that be said of any other human being that's ever
walked upon this face of this earth? He'd done no violence.
There's no deceit in his mouth. we come forth from the womb according
to scripture as soon as we are born speaking lies man is said
to be a lie a liar and lighter than vanity that's what man is
but not him no deceit in his mouth no deceit in his mouth
and he never did violence never did violence in verse 10 this
glorious transaction that took place on the cross between the
Father and the Son. Now think about it, that old
Ethiopian eunuch paid for that scroll, Isaiah 53, and he's wondering
what it is. And Philip takes it and says,
I'm going to tell you about Jesus. This is about Jesus. This is
about Jesus Christ. Yet, though he had no deceit
in his mouth, yet, though he had done no violence, yet because
he was stricken for God's people, yet it pleased the Lord. Notice that is capital L-O-R-D,
Jehovah Savior, to bruise him. What does that mean? God got
some kind of vindictive pleasure out of putting Christ on the
cross? No, it does not mean that. It means that his law was satisfied,
that word pleased, propitiated, satisfied because of what Christ
did. God had put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. He gave his body to men to bruise. He gave his back to the smiters,
his face to them that pull off their hair. His faith he opened
up for men to spit upon it. He was scourged, beaten, vilely
treated, vilely treated. But that wasn't what his offering
was. His offering was his soul. The soul of man must die, it
says. The soul that sinneth not. He didn't sin, but our sin was
laid upon him. And because of that, he offered
his soul to God. He offered his soul for sin.
But when he did that, God said, you will see for whom you are
dying. He shall see his seed. He shall see those for whom he's
died. He'll see them. He'll see every
one of them. All of those in the past for
whom he died. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah,
Joseph. All for whom he died. He'll see
every one of them. Noah and everybody in the future. He'll even see somewhere a long
time ago just around 1970 a young red-headed nobody meat cutter
sitting in a pew in a little old church with about 20 seats
and a fella stand up in the pulpit named W.R. Cruz and preach the
gospel. He'll see that fella. He'll see come to know him that
night and spend 44 years of his life standing behind a pulpit
in Cherokee, North Carolina. He shall see his seed. He shall
see his seed. The Lord shall prolong his days.
What does that mean? He's going to die and give his life a ransom
for many. He's going to die of his own
volition and power. He's going to quit living because
he who is life can do that. Then three days later, he's going
to rise from the grave and he's going to live forever more fifty
days later he's going to ascend to glory and there he sits ever
living to make intercession for his people even now he ever liveth
because he is life and the pleasure of the Lord
whatever the Lord pleases will prosper in his hand you see you
and I and all of the human race from Adam to whoever is in the
hands of the mediator he bought the whole package to redeem them
that God had given him from the foundation of the world to give
eternal life to as many as God has given him but he owns the
package He owns you. You say, I'm my own man. No,
you're not, you're His. I don't believe Him. It doesn't
matter, you're still His. And your unbelief don't make Him
sweat one lick. It don't break His heart. He's
God! Your unbelief will serve Him
as much as any lex belief does, until the end of time. He's your belonging. The pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in himself, whatsoever the Lord
is pleased. that he did in heaven and earth and all the deep places. And it says, he shall see of
the travail of his soul. Don't leave out that little word
of. That's a really important little word. It doesn't say that
he shall see the travail of his soul, although he did. He shall
see of the travail of his soul. the product of that travail.
What that travail produced. He shall see that. And what he
shall see, having seen that, he shall be satisfied. Travail
is birth pains. And what he did on the cross,
and the pain he took there, and the pain of offering his soul
for sin, the pain of actually stopping living, is compared
to a woman's travail. You want to know what that feels
like? Ask Lindsay. She just went through it a while
back. It's not a pleasant thing. But that's comparative there.
Why is it comparative? Because in that pain and suffering that
he went through in offering his soul, making his soul an offering
of sin, he actually produced children. And he's satisfied because no
child whom he ever produced miscarried or was stillborn. They're all
alive and well and will live forever. He shall see of the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge,
that means skill and wisdom, by his knowledge shall my righteous
servant, who shall prosper prosperously, shall my righteous servant justify
many, many people An innumerable company compared to the sands
of the seashore and the stars of heaven shall be justified. What does
that mean? That means there will not be
any record anywhere in all of the universe of them having ever
sinned. They will be justified. because
He put their sins away by the sacrifice of Himself. And the reason He shall justify
them is because He shall bear their iniquities. That is why
He is doing it. That is why they are justified.
Why am I justified? Because I am a good man. I am
not a good man. Because I go to church. Because I pray. Because I give. Because I read
my Bible. Why? I'm justified because 2,000
years ago on a lonely hill outside Jerusalem called Golgotha, the
place of the skull, on a lonely wooden tower, my king, my majestic,
glorious king, bore my iniquities. That's the only reason. You think what this old Ethiopian
usual would think when he's hearing this. Can you imagine what's
going through his mind? Can you imagine the enlightenment
in his heart when God gave him faith and he began to see and
understand these things, the wonder of it? God says, therefore I will divide
him a portion with the great. He's going to take a place in
history. He shall divide the spoil with
the strong. What he gets, all his people get. What he earned,
all his people earned. For we are heirs of God and joint
heirs with Jesus Christ. Joint heirs doesn't mean we're
co-heirs. It means that whatever he gets,
we get. And unless we get what he's got,
he can't have what he got. Joint heirs with Christ. And
that is so because He has poured out His soul unto death. Because that is the payment for
sin. Nothing short of that. Good works
can't overcome it. Making up for what you've done
can't overcome it. Reformation can't overcome it.
The only thing that can overcome it is death. And His death satisfied
God for His people. poured out his soul unto death,
and he was numbered with the transgressors, starting early
on in his life. When Caesar Augustus sent out
a rule that they should be taxed, he was counted among the transgressors. And then on the cross of Calvary,
between two thieves, he was counted among the transgressors. And
listen to me, it says where two or three are gathered in his
name, he'll be in the midst of them. He's still among the transgressors. He's counted among the transgressors.
What does that mean? He's one of us. What a thing. What a thing. He bare the sins
of many, bore them in his body on the tree, and made intercession
for the transgressors. Praised for them. Interceded
for them between God and them. took God's justice and God's
wrath on their behalf. Interceded for the transgressors.
And that old Ethiopian, who hath believed our report, he did.
I can just see him in that chair, Philip sitting there taking that
scroll and saying, this means this and this means this. I can
almost see him say, whoa. Say whoa to the horse. What would prevent me from confessing
Christ as my Lord in baptism? What doth hinder me? I believe. Do you believe? I believe Jesus
Christ is the Son of God because nobody can do this but the Son
of God. What doth hinder me to be baptized?
Well, if we can find water, we'll do it. And they found water,
they did it. And did the preacher hang around to take tithes and
take up a collection? Did the preacher hang around
to teach him how to do some soul winning or put him in a Sunday
school class? The preacher disappeared. Gone. He done his job. That's
the preacher's job. To tell you and be done. To tell you and be done. Preacher
disappeared. And that old boy, he was a different. Things had changed. The world
was different. jay bach was now penuel, i've seen the face of
god he went all the way back to ethiopia rejoicing and glorifying
god for what great things he had done what great things this is good
tidings of good things that publishes peace that publisheth salvation
saying unto zion god rain glory to his name leave the camera
running that's what's happening that you held them in your arms
when they were babies and you can't remember their names. I wouldn't know about that. Well,
you're such a youngster, you don't have any problem with that. We're about to receive the Lord's
table. This table is for believers. What does that mean? Those who
are trusting on the Lord Jesus Christ as the only salvation. The only heritage, hope, and
merit before God they have is Jesus Christ and none of the
rest. If you're trusting in anything other than Jesus Christ for salvation,
this is not your table. Please don't take it. I won't
refuse you. We won't refuse your table. It's
going to be offered to everybody. But the preacher says, let a
man examine himself whether or not he can discern the body and
blood of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Well, we
just read about it. What did Jesus Christ do? Did
He actually save His people from their sins? Did He actually justify
Him? Did He actually bear their iniquity?
Did He actually satisfy God's justice and law? Did He do that
for His people? Now, are you trusting Him alone
for what He did to put you in a right standing with God and
that alone? If that's your case, then this
is your table. This table is for sinners saved
by grace. The elements of this table are
unleavened bread, which is called pasty bread by the Jews, because
it was bread that didn't have any salt or any leaven in it,
so it wouldn't spoil. You could put it in your knapsack
and travel with it, and five or six days later, ten days later,
you could open it up and eat it because it wouldn't spoil.
Unleavened bread was used in the first Passover feast. And
the last Passover feast was executed at the Lord's table by the Lord
himself. and wine, not grape juice, wine. Wine because wine
doesn't spoil. Wine may turn to vinegar, but
it's still very useful. It will never spoil. People got
bottles of wine. I saw the other day a fellow
paid me a dollar for a bottle of wine. It was like 400 years
old. He said, I can't wait to pop it forward and taste it.
You don't convey some grace down from heaven. This is not what
many have referred to. I can't think of the word. But
it doesn't convey grace. What you're doing this is to
commemorate something that happened 2,000 years ago. You're saying,
I want to honor what Jesus Christ did on that cross for me. And that's what you're doing
to take these out. These are going to go into your
body. They will travel through in this
wondrous thing. They were fearfully and wonderfully
made. They'll go into the stomach and be digested. They'll be sent
into the bloodstream. And they will go to every cell
in your body. 30 minutes from now,
nobody will be able to find them. They feed on people. They
feed on people. So as you take this tape, you
shall join your heart, knowing that in this crazy world that
we live in, In a moment, in the beautiful mountain of Cherokee,
North Carolina, you and a few others are sitting together,
you brothers and sisters in Christ, and saying, what a wonderous
thing Christ did. What a wondrous thing He did. Our Lord, ask the blessings upon
these elements. Celeste, ask His blessings upon
them. Father, as we take this table,
let us do so with full understanding and knowledge of what Jesus Christ
did on my behalf. I pray every soul here will be
able to rejoice in the knowledge of what he has done for us. Thank
you, Father, for salvation, full and free. We bless you for what
you've done. In Christ's name. Is the baby here? Why? I thought we were supposed to
set a drop or something. I think she said it. Let's see what else. On the night of the Lord's betrayal,
he took the bread, the bread of the Passover feast, and broke
it and gave it to his disciples, and said, hey, this is my body,
I'll give it to you. God will make you do it. So on the second night, he took
the cup, and after he blessed him, he said, this cup is the
new covenant, or new testament in my blood. As often as you
eat this bread and drink this cup, you do so for my sake until
I come again. Do this in the name of the Father. And the record in Scripture is
that they stood at work Sang a song,
sang a hymn, and our Lord went out and was betrayed by Judas.
Let's stand together. Would you be free from your burden
of sin? There's a fire in the blood,
a fire in the blood. Would your evil victory wane? There's wonderful power in the
blood. There is power, power, wonder-working
power in the blood of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working
power in the precious blood of the lamb. Well, let each other
know how you feel towards each other. Especially if you love
each other. If you can't stand each other, lie.