WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:04.000 The description this morning is taken from the book of Isaiah. 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:08.080 Isaiah chapter 49, verses 1 through 13. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:10.960 Isaiah 49 1 through 13. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:16.160 That's in your bulletin, so you can follow along on the screen from your Bibles. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:19.440 Isaiah 49, verses 1 through 13. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.000 It reads as follows. 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:27.280 Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:30.399 The Lord called you, called me from the womb. 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:33.520 From the body of my mother, he named my name. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:38.479 He made my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand, he hid me. 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:42.799 He made me hit a polished arrow in his quiver, he hid me away. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:47.520 And he said to me, You are my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:50.000 But I said, I have labored in vain. 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:53.600 I have spent my strength for nothing in vanity. 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:59.039 Yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:12.879 And now the Lord says, He who formed you from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:24.319 He says, Is it too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel? 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:30.319 I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:41.359 Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, the whole and his holy one, the one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the servants of rulers, kings shall see and arise. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:50.159 Princes and they shall prostrate themselves, because the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:55.760 Thus says the Lord, in a time of favor I have answered you, in the day of salvation I have helped you. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:10.479 I will keep you and give you a covenant to the people as a covenant to the people to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages heritage, saying to the prisoners, Come out, and to those who are in darkness, appear. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:17.120 They shall feed along the ways on a bare on all bare heights shall be their pasture. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:27.840 They shall not hunger or thirst, neither shall scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:32.639 And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:42.719 Behold, these shall come at from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and from the east, and from these and these from the land of Syene. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:46.560 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exalt, O earth. 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:49.599 Break forth, O mountains, into singing. 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:56.240 For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted. 00:02:57.120 --> 00:02:58.400 Let us pray. 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:03.599 Father, we thank you for this time that we can spend in your word. 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:13.039 We thank you for the hope that we have and that because of what Christ has done, that we can have life, that we can have peace, that we can have access to the Father. 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:21.039 We pray, Lord, that as we explore your word this morning, that you would open our eyes, that we might behold wondrous things from your word. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:23.120 Thank you again, Lord, for this day. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:24.000 Bless your word. 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:25.840 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:26.800 Amen. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:34.080 Last week we began exploring the servant songs in the book of Isaiah. 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:44.240 The book of Isaiah is written by the prophet Isaiah, and he was given the job and the responsibility to prophesy to the nation of Israel of the coming judgment. 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:53.759 And all throughout the book of Isaiah, you hear these words of judgment and of woe, because the nation, the people, have been walking in rebellion against God. 00:03:54.319 --> 00:04:01.039 God had given them time after time after time to repent, to get their act together, to get their lives together, and they refused to do so. 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:07.039 And eventually God sent the nations of Assyria and the Babylonians to take them into captivity. 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:20.319 But in the midst of the prophetic word that Isaiah gives, there's always these words and these messages of hope that God has not fully or totally abandoned the children of the people of Israel. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:27.360 You see this even in Isaiah's call in chapter 6 and verse 8, he says this. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:32.000 He says, And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:34.240 Then I said, Here I am, send me. 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:39.439 And he said, Go and say to the people, Keep on hearing, but do not understand. 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:42.160 Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:52.160 Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:54.079 Then I said, How long, O Lord? 00:04:54.319 --> 00:05:01.279 And he said, Until the cities lie waste without inhabitants, the house without people, and the land is desolate. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:02.879 So he gives them a message. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:04.639 He says, Look, this is what you're going to do. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:11.759 You're going to proclaim judgment on the people, and your words will be a heart, have a hardening effect on them. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:15.519 They will hear and they will see, but they won't perceive. 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:23.360 And Isaiah says, Well, how long am I supposed to preach this message? 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.160 I mean, most times when a person stands up to preach and speak, you want to have a nice reception. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:32.399 You don't want people walking out the door and saying, I don't want to hear that. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:39.519 Well, that's exactly the impact and the effect that it had on the nation of Israel as he was proclaiming the judgment to come. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:44.959 But in the midst of that, even in his calling, God says, There's still hope. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:48.399 Notice what happened when he says in verse 13. 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:55.680 And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again like a perebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled. 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:57.600 The holy seed is its stump. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:08.079 Even though God was proclaiming judgment on the nation of Israel, even though God was telling them that they were going to be taken captive, he says, I'm not totally abandoning you. 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:10.160 Beloved, that's good news. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:17.199 That's good news to know that even though they were in rebellion, God still was going to proclaim and keep his promises that he made. 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:25.920 He made these promises years ago, centuries ago, even with the with Abraham, when he told Abraham, in you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:32.560 God says, even though they are walking with me, I will still keep my promises. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:40.560 So glad to know that that God's promise keeping isn't dependent on who I am. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:48.240 That he's the faithful one, he's the one who keeps his word, he's the one who says that I will do, and he carries it out. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:52.000 So you see, in the midst of judgment, there's there's hope. 00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:58.160 But but elsewhere in chapter 9, we see that same thing as he's speaking about the judgment that is to come. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:02.560 He gives us more of an indicator and indications as who is this one that will come? 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:03.759 What's he going to be like? 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:04.879 What will he do? 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:10.879 How is how are we to understand this one that will come and will be a deliverer for the nation of Israel? 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:24.800 In Isaiah chapter 9, he says this in verse 6 for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, the government shall be upon the shoulders, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:30.000 Of the increase of his government and of his and of peace, there will be no end. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:42.480 On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:50.240 So all throughout chapters 1 through 39 of the book of Isaiah, he is warning them and he's letting them know judgment is going to come. 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:53.199 And I just want to say this to us as believers, as Christians. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:56.079 The word of God tells us, don't be deceived, God is not mocked. 00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:58.560 Whatever a man sows, he will also reap. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:10.959 Don't think just because we're Christians and we're walking and you're living your life, that if you decide to do your own thing and live your own way, that God is not going to chastise and bring judgment in your life. 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:22.560 As a matter of fact, he tells us in Hebrews, if he doesn't do that, if you are out there living away in any old kind of way you want to live, and if God does not bring judgment, he says, then you are not sons. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:34.000 One of the signs of knowing that we are indeed children of God and the sons and the daughters of God is that when we sin, God doesn't just let you and I do our own thing. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:35.919 There's judgment there. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:39.759 But in the midst of this, there is hope. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:45.360 But in chapter 40, there's this turn, there's this shift in the message of the book of Isaiah. 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:57.120 Yes, he's speaking of judgment, but chapter 40, there's a shift where Isaiah begins to let them know that he says in verse 1, he says, Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:07.120 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:13.919 A voice cries in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the straight in the desert a highway to our God. 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:31.039 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and even an uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:35.679 See, he says, Look, there's a comfort that I want you to give to the people. 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:39.120 The message shifts from judgment to comfort. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:47.919 And what he wants them to know is that God, in the midst of your rebellion, in the midst of your sinfulness, in the midst of me judging, I have not forgotten you. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:57.039 And I want you to understand that I am a God who will care for you, who will comfort you, who will bring about all that you need to have in your life. 00:09:57.279 --> 00:09:58.960 I'm going to do that. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:01.360 And so he says, Comfort my people. 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:08.879 So in this section of Isaiah, that's pastored last week, Pastor Josh, we began to look at these servant songs. 00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:11.279 Who is this one that would come? 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:12.879 What is he going to be like? 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:14.480 How will we recognize him? 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:22.480 How will we know that this is the one that the Father had sent to bring deliverance to a nation and to a people who are in rebellion? 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:35.840 Last week in chapter 42, the apost uh Pastor Josh reminded us of the that he was the one who would be the judge and who judges the nations, and he would challenge us to admire his person. 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:45.200 He reminded us that he was the one who was beloved of the Father and to admire his person, to love his disposition, and the rejoice in the fulfillment of his saving activity. 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:54.000 We looked at that last week in Isaiah 42, but this week in chapter 49, we're we're discovering something else about this one that the Father will send. 00:10:54.879 --> 00:11:03.360 He tells us that he will be the true Israel who would be called to restore Israel from his rebellion and from its evilness. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:10.879 And then also he lets us know that he would be the one who would reach out and pull from the Gentiles a people unto himself. 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:15.360 This is what he would be like, and this is what they were to look for. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:17.840 So he is the true Israel. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:28.799 If you look in verse 3 of Isaiah 49, it says this, and he said to me, You are my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:37.279 And so he he starts out and he says, Look, you are, and he's speaking to someone, he says, You're my servant Israel, and in you I will be glorified. 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:41.279 Now, now he he he wasn't being glorified in the nation of Israel. 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:44.320 As a matter of fact, the nation of Israel were just running wild. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:46.320 They were they were living all kinds of ways. 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:55.679 They were living in rebellion, chasing after idols, chasing after after wicked things, and and and failing to obey the commands of the word of God. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:12:02.639 And so and so he he could not have been talking about you as a nation are my Israel, because they were in rebellion. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:08.080 But there's someone special, there's something unique about this one is whom he is calling. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:13.600 He said to me, You are my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:20.000 I think we can get some insight as to who this one is if we go to the New Testament in the book of Acts. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:28.080 And in the New Testament, oftentimes the New Testament writers will interpret what we read in the Old Testament. 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:34.000 And in the story in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, in chapter 8, you have the story of the Ethiopian eunuch. 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:42.399 There's this man who is reading the Isaiah scroll, and he's reading the scroll, and he's trying to figure out, okay, well, well, who is this one that this writer is speaking about? 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:43.919 How am I to understand this? 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:49.039 And and he was reading and he was going over this and he and he just couldn't get it and didn't understand it. 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:53.600 And God, through the power of the Spirit, says to Philip, he says, Look, there's a man in the chariot. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:58.159 I want you to go up to that man, and I want you to sit with him, and I want you to speak to him. 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:01.120 And so Philip goes up to this chariot. 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:08.480 And so he says in verse, and it says in verse uh 30 31, he says to the man, he says, Do you understand what you are reading? 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:11.679 And he said to him, How can I, unless someone guides me? 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:14.720 And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:26.000 Now the passage of scripture that he was reading was this like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:29.279 In his humiliation, justice was denied him. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:32.480 Who can who can describe his generation? 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:36.799 For in his life, for his life is taken away from the earth. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:42.480 And the eunuch said to Philip, About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this? 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:44.720 About himself or about someone else? 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:53.120 So he's reading this passage, which is one of the servant songs in the book of Isaiah, and he's asking Philip, he says, Philip, who's who's he talking about? 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:56.639 Is this is he talking about himself, the guy who wrote this, Isaiah? 00:13:56.799 --> 00:14:00.960 Is he speaking of himself or is he speaking about someone else? 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:05.840 And Philip responds in verse 35 of Acts chapter 8. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:13.360 Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:26.320 Beloved, the thing that we have to understand here is that what God has done and what God was promising the people of Israel, he was saying to them, This you as a nation have failed to carry out all that I have asked you to do. 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:30.240 When God called the nation of Israel out of Egypt, he called them unto themselves. 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:36.639 They were to be a witness to the nations, they were to be a voice to the nations, pointing them back to the one and only true God. 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:41.679 What happened with them is they got out there and they got to doing all that the other nations began to do. 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:43.919 They became synchronistic in their worship. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:53.279 They were worshiping Babel and all the other gods that were in there, out there in the world, and they failed to carry out the responsibility and the calling that God had on their lives. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:57.600 But what God said is that look, I'm no longer going to leave that up to you. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:03.279 You've made it abundantly clear to me that you are unable to do that on your own. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:08.000 I am going to do for you what you cannot do and what you are unable to do for yourselves. 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:13.120 I'm going to raise up one who will truly carry out the commands that I have given him. 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:19.759 That I've there will be the true Israel, that will be the true voice crying out there and bringing all men unto me. 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:22.000 I'm going to do what you're unable to do. 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:29.039 And what we see in the nation of Israel, if you if you read the Old Testament, you'll see a people that keep trying to get it right. 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:35.440 They keep trying to please God and they keep failing over and over and over again. 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:40.159 And God continues to draw them up and to pull them to himself and deliver them. 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:43.600 But they keep trying over and over and over, and they can never get it right. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:58.399 And I think what we're seeing in the Old Testament and in the people in the nation of Israel is God saying to you and I that you and I are unable and incapable of in and of ourselves to please a holy and a true God. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:02.559 Beloved, God, God requires perfection. 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:06.639 You know, his requirement is not that you get close. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:09.600 He's not saying I want you to get it happy. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:11.600 You know, do do the best you can. 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:15.440 No, he says, Be ye holy, for I am holy. 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:22.879 And the nation of Israel over and over again failed to carry that out, failed to live up to the standard that God had. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:25.679 And the scriptures are clear the wages of sin is death. 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:27.360 If you sin, you die. 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:34.399 And God in his grace says, look, they're never gonna get it right. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:37.840 They're never gonna figure this out. 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:43.840 They've tried, they've and let me ask you, to ask ourselves, our own selves this week, how well did you do this week? 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:46.240 How perfect was your life this week? 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:48.639 Any any perfect weeks this week? 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:51.519 Anybody get it all right? 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:54.559 No one? 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:57.519 Surely there's one. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:00.639 You see the problem that we have? 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:02.639 You see the situation that we're in? 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:13.680 That if God requires perfection, and if you're none of us lived it out, then how in the world are we going to have, as we read in our scripture this morning, how are you gonna get access to the Father? 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:16.240 How are you gonna have peace with God? 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:23.119 If God requires perfection, if God requires complete and total holiness, there's no compromise on that. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:31.440 If that's what he requires, and if this week none of us pull that off, then how in the world do you stand in the presence of a holy God? 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:33.200 How is that gonna happen? 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:37.680 Well, he says in his grace, I'll raise one up for you. 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:52.799 I'll raise one up who will do all that I have asked him to do, and then what will happen is that as he lives that perfect in that holy life, there will be that great exchange where he takes on my sin and you get his righteousness. 00:17:53.680 --> 00:18:05.519 So that when you stand before the Father, it will not ultimately be because of how well you did this week or how well you lived this Christian life, because we will never get it right completely and totally. 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:13.920 That doesn't mean that we don't strive for holiness, but what it does mean is that we are resting and what Christ has done on our behalf. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:18.640 And so he says he raises him up. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:25.680 He's the true Israel, he's the truly one, he's the one that God commissions to go and to bring the people back. 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:28.000 He's the only one that can do that. 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:31.599 And beloved, we ought to be grateful for that. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:40.240 Because if it was resting on you, if it were resting on me, you and I would never get access to God. 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:42.799 Never. 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:46.799 And so, what does he do in his mercy and his grace? 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:49.359 He says, I will send one who will do that for them. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:19:00.559 And so not only does he restore Israel, not only does he raise up one who will come and will draw all of Israel unto himself, but God is not, he wants to expand that. 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:02.240 Notice what he says. 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:14.000 Further on in verse 6, he says in Isaiah 49, he says, Is it too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel? 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:17.039 I will make you as a light for the nations. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:25.839 He's not just content with drawing Israel, his those people whom he have called and he has showed his love on back in the Old Testament. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:27.920 But he says, I'm going out to all the nations. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:30.079 Remember what a promise that he gave to Abraham? 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:37.920 He told Abraham, He says, I'm going to bless you, and in you all the nations of the world will be blessed. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:48.720 God in his love and his mercy, if God had not in his grace decided to go to the nations to draw them into himself, you and I would not be here today. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:20:14.079 Beloved, understand something that the reason why Gentiles are in the family of God, the reason why you and I have a seat at the table, the reason why you and I can have access to God is because God sent Jesus to go to the nations and the poor folks from every tribe, every nation, every ethnicity, every every social and economic. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:16.480 It wasn't dependent on how much money you had. 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:24.000 He doesn't care about where you went to school, he doesn't care about who your mother is or your father is, your sisters, brothers, or cousins, doesn't care, none of that matters. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:29.200 He by grace draws from every tribe and every nation and brings us unto himself. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:31.119 That's a gracious act of God. 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:34.640 If again, if he does not do that, you don't get in. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:53.039 And what he does is by his grace, he raises up one, a servant of God, to a people that were in and in rebellion, and he draws them unto himself graciously. 00:20:54.079 --> 00:21:02.160 It's not because we deserved it, it's not because of where we live, it's not because of the money you make. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:05.839 None of that has anything to do with his calling and his drawing you. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:12.799 As a matter of fact, even Israel as a nation, when God called them, and Deuteronomy says, Look, he said, Why have I loved you? 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:15.039 He said, I love you because I love you. 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:17.039 He said, But no, but why? 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:17.839 You know, come on, come on. 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:20.000 Come on, guys, give me the reasons why you you love me. 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:21.839 I love you because I love you. 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:23.839 It has nothing to do with who you are. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:29.519 It's fully, totally an act of grace. 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:31.839 An act of mercy. 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:43.920 That you and I, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, that the reason why you are is because by his sovereign grace and mercy, he called you by name. 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:49.680 That speaks to our passage of scripture this morning in our scripture reading. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:51.759 Romans chapter 5. 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:53.920 It speaks about this. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:59.599 It says in Romans chapter 5, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we haven't been justified because of your money. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.720 You haven't been justified because you're Presbyterians. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:07.920 You haven't been justified because you, you know, you went to a certain school or your mother, your father. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:09.920 That's not why you've been justified. 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:13.359 You haven't been justified because of how good you've lived this Christian life. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:19.359 You are justified by faith and what Jesus has done on yours and my behalf. 00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:21.200 That's how we are justified. 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:22.799 You are justified by faith. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:27.279 We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:29.839 You see, he justifies us, and now there's peace. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:36.640 Before you and I were believers in Jesus Christ, before a person gets saved, you understand that you are an enemy of God. 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:40.400 You understand that there's warfare going on between you and God. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:45.839 And a lot of times you hear that and we say to ourselves, I don't particularly think I believe that. 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:50.160 I mean, I'm not mad at God, and I don't particularly think God is angry with me. 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:52.079 We don't feel it. 00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:59.200 But the truth of the matter is that if a person does not embrace Christ as his Savior, you are at enmity with God. 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:02.319 And there's no peace. 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:20.559 And if you're sitting here this morning and you don't know Jesus as your Savior, you understand that that sermon that Jonathan Edwards preached about sinners in the hands of an angry God, you understand that if you were to die this morning without Christ, you would spend an eternity away from Him. 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:26.640 But He in His grace is giving you another day to hear. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:36.799 And so not only do we have peace with God, but He says, through Him we have also obtained us access by faith into the grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:39.599 We have faith, we have peace, we have access. 00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:51.359 This is what God was promising back way then with Isaiah when he said that my servant will come and he will draw Israel unto himself, and he will go and he will draw the nations unto himself. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:58.880 He was promising that he would give us access to a God that we could not access on our own strength or our own power. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:09.119 And so he says as we move further down in this passage, he says, For while we were still sin, we were still weak, verse 6. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:12.640 At the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:18.079 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would even dare to die. 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:24.960 But God chose his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:34.960 Beloved, the glory of the gospel is that he didn't say to you and I, I'll die for you, but you're gonna have to get yourself together first. 00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:38.400 You're gonna have to prove it to me first. 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:41.279 You're gonna have to show me you've got to give me something to work with here. 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:47.119 You know, if I'm going to, if I'm going to give my life for you, I gotta see some something worthwhile to work with. 00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:48.079 That's not what he said. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:48.880 That's not what he did. 00:24:48.960 --> 00:25:03.680 He says, look, while I was still rebelling against him, while I still was shaking my fist in his face, while I was still ignoring his word and his commands, while I was still hating him, he said, I will die for me. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:06.559 He would die for me and for you. 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:10.480 He didn't wait for you to get your act together. 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:16.640 He didn't sit in heaven and said, Well, okay, well, I'll give him, he's got a couple of years, and you know, I'll give him two or three years. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:19.119 And if he can get himself together in two or three years, we're good to go. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:20.880 That's not what happened here. 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:23.200 He even came to his own people. 00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:25.759 He came to his creation and they rebelled against him. 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:29.519 They rejected him and they hung him on a cross, and yet he died anyway. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:32.480 Oh, what grace. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:34.640 Oh, what love. 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:45.359 And even when you look at Israel as a nation, as rebellious as they were, and as evil as they were living, that God would, in the midst of that, say, I will still care for you. 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:49.920 And he's done and said the same thing to you and I. 00:25:52.079 --> 00:26:08.960 You understand that you know, if you've made it this far in life, and all all of the all of those those potential dangerous situations before you got saved that you was running around acting crazy and God spared your life. 00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:23.759 Or even now, if you're here this morning and and you're running wild and you're just doing your own thing, and you don't really want God and need God, do you understand that that you're you're living dangerously because he holds your life in his hands? 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:29.759 You don't get up every morning because of who you are, or because you're healthy or your heart. 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:31.599 That's not what happens. 00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:38.559 And what we see here in this passage of scripture, we see here is that while we were still sinners, he died for us. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:44.400 He says, for one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would be even there to die. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:49.599 But God shows his love while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:57.440 Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:02.480 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:07.599 Much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life. 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:16.160 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now have received reconciliation. 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:21.839 Beloved, what God has done for us is just absolutely amazing. 00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:26.240 What he has accomplished for us is just absolutely mind-boggling. 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:33.599 That he would take a people and a creation and a nation of individuals that are in absolute rebellion against him. 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:37.440 And that he would say, I'm gonna die for them. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:40.319 And I'm gonna draw them unto myself. 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:51.279 And I'm not I'm not I'm not asking them for their money, I'm not asking them for their skills, and I'm going to do for them all that uh that God requires for them to do. 00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:55.119 And I'm gonna give that to them as a gift of faith. 00:27:55.920 --> 00:28:00.319 And I'm gonna take all of their raggedy mess upon myself. 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:16.319 Now, there may be believers here this morning, if you're here this morning and and you have not really, you just like, okay, here's another Christmas, another Christmas stories, and you know, we've heard these sermons over and over again, and you fail to see the grace of God in the midst of this. 00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:29.759 Our prayer for us this morning is that God would would renew in our hearts a love, a sense of gratitude for all that he has done on our behalf. 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:39.359 And there may be someone here this morning, you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, you just happen to come in here, or your mom made you come, or whoever, your husband made you come, or whatever, your wife. 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:47.599 And you're like, ah, please understand what he's done and the mercy that he is showing you even now. 00:28:48.559 --> 00:29:06.480 That he's giving you an opportunity to hear the gospel, to hear the good news that that your your good your works are never going to save you, and that he sent Jesus to die on your behalf that you might have life eternal, and all you have to do is believe by faith and put your trust in him. 00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:13.359 And he says, Sins are forgiven, peace is granted, access is given to the Father. 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:15.920 I pray this day. 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:22.720 We pray this morning that our hearts would be renewed and that our hearts would be changed. 00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:24.240 Let us pray. 00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:41.519 Father, we thank you for your word as we look at these servant songs that you recognize that you there's a people that you had called, and they were totally unable to carry out what you had called them to do. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:46.079 And you could have just written them off and said, that's it, I'm done. 00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:47.759 I'm not gonna be bothered with them anymore. 00:29:47.920 --> 00:30:00.720 I'm just not gonna, but you and your mercy and your grace, and because you are faithful and uh and a covenant-keeping God, you continue to pursue in a pride a way so that we might have life eternal. 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:11.119 I pray for believers, us as believers, Lord, that you would you would give us joy as we reflect on all that you have done for us. 00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:15.440 And then I pray, Lord, for those who may not know you as their Savior. 00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:26.799 Lord, may they not leave here this morning without embracing you as their Savior, recognizing all that you have done for them in Christ Jesus. 00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:29.519 In Jesus' name we pray with thanksgiving. 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:30.640 Amen.