- God is Incomparably Gracious...
- ...and His Grace is displayed in Jesus. (Is 53:1-12)
- His grace isn't based on our Conduct. (Is 53:1-3)
- His grace takes away our Sin. (Is 53:4-9)
- His grace is Unchanging and Never-Ending. (Is 53:10-12)
Three Amazing Things About the Grace of Jesus:
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:15
You know, last year about this time I had gone to the doctor and you know how the physician's assistant comes in before the doctor comes in and asks you the questions, the general health questions.
00:15-00:28
And on this particular day the physician's assistant came in and went through the questions and part way down the list she said, "Do you smoke?" And I said, no, I don't smoke.
00:30-00:30
She looked at me.
00:32-00:36
She said, have you ever smoked?
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I panicked.
00:40-00:41
I said, yes.
00:42-00:44
I had a cigar several years ago.
00:47-00:47
Just one.
00:47-00:49
I said, I haven't had one since.
00:50-00:53
And my next scheduled cigar is never.
00:55-00:56
She's like, OK.
00:59-01:04
And after my doctor appointment, I left and was looking at the paperwork they gave me.
01:05-01:08
And on the papers, it said, smoker.
01:11-01:13
There must be some mistake here.
01:13-01:15
So I called up and I explained.
01:15-01:17
I said, look, here's what happened.
01:17-01:19
And the lady at the front desk, she laughed.
01:19-01:20
She goes, you're not a smoker.
01:21-01:23
I promise I'll never do it again.
01:23-01:24
I won't do it again.
01:24-01:25
She goes, "You're not a smoker.
01:26-01:28
We're just going to take that off the chart.
01:28-01:29
I'm sorry about that.
01:29-01:33
That must have been a misunderstanding." I was thinking about that this week.
01:34-01:39
You know, it doesn't work that way with sin when it comes to God.
01:41-01:43
Because I've sinned, have you?
01:44-01:51
Wouldn't it be nice to say, "You know what, I'd just like you to strike that from my record.
01:52-01:56
I sinned once a few years ago, and I have no intention of sinning again.
01:57-02:00
So I'm not a sinner, so just take that off my record.
02:02-02:03
It doesn't work that way.
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Because God is holy and just, and if I've sinned one time, that makes me a sinner.
02:13-02:19
And the truth of the matter is, even if I say today, you know what, I'm never going to sin again, That's going to happen.
02:22-02:25
So I have a problem and so do you.
02:27-02:31
Some would say, well, it looks like God has a dilemma because we've been going through this series.
02:32-02:33
God is incomparable.
02:33-02:35
We've seen that nothing is like the Lord.
02:36-02:46
As we've been walking through Isaiah, we've seen that God is holy, and that God is just, and that God is awesome, and that God is loving, and that God is sovereign.
02:47-02:48
Comparably, all of those things.
02:50-02:57
The truth is, church, these attributes of God alone are not good news for sinners.
02:59-03:02
Because we still have a problem of guilt.
03:04-03:10
I mean, yeah, we know that God's loving, but God's also just.
03:11-03:18
So how can God love us and satisfy His justice We have this sin problem.
03:20-03:34
Well, with all these attributes we've discussed - holy, just, awesome, loving, sovereign - today we have the pleasure of looking at what is in my opinion probably the most amazing thing about God.
03:34-03:40
With everything we've talked about these past five or six weeks, this is the most amazing thing about God.
03:41-03:42
It's His greatness.
03:44-03:48
We're going to look at one of the most in the entire Bible.
03:48-03:50
I want you to turn with me to Isaiah 53.
03:52-04:02
Isaiah speaks of God's grace as He prophesies about the Messiah, the coming Christ who we know is Jesus of Nazareth.
04:03-04:08
Isaiah prophesies about the coming Christ dying for His people's sins.
04:08-04:15
This was written somewhere around 650-700 years before Jesus suffered.
04:15-04:18
I understand this is going to be a little bit of a different Easter message.
04:20-04:21
We've done it years past.
04:21-04:27
We've gone to the empty tomb and we've talked about what happened in those events as Jesus walked the earth.
04:28-04:39
But this passage is actually a flashback, a prophecy that's describing in perfect detail not only what Jesus Christ did, but what it means.
04:41-04:44
Interestingly, this is a very troubling passage of the Jews.
04:45-04:54
You know that when religious Jews in their synagogues read their Scriptures, they skip Isaiah chapter 53.
04:55-04:59
They read through, they read Isaiah 52, and then they jump to Isaiah 54.
05:00-05:01
Why do they skip that?
05:02-05:19
Because it's unthinkable for them that the Messiah that's promised in the Old Testament, the eventual King who's going to rule over all the world, It's unthinkable that this king would suffer as described in this passage in their Scriptures.
05:21-05:24
And that's called making the Bible say what you want it to say.
05:25-05:28
That's called making Jesus out to be what you want Him to be.
05:28-05:31
That's making your own God, and that's idolatry.
05:32-05:41
You see, Israel didn't want a Savior for the same reason that many people today They don't want a Savior.
05:43-05:44
It's just simply this.
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They don't think they need one.
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The people that don't receive the grace of God through Jesus Christ are the people that in their estimation don't need a Savior.
05:54-05:55
They're not that bad.
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It's offensive to suggest that you need one.
06:01-06:06
It's offensive to suggest - and we live in a day that everybody's offended about everything, have you noticed?
06:06-06:08
Imagine this statement today.
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You are a rebellious, rotten-to-the-core sinner.
06:12-06:14
You deserve hell and you can't save yourself.
06:16-06:18
And not much has really changed like Israel.
06:19-06:22
We've just sort of redefined what the Bible says about Jesus.
06:22-06:25
You see, some people want to make Jesus out to be a sacrament.
06:26-06:28
Jesus is a religious duty.
06:29-06:39
Whether it's going to church or lighting a candle or praying this or going through the religious motions, I want Jesus out to be sort of a sacrament.
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I feel better because I've performed a religious duty.
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That's all Jesus is to some people.
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Some people make Jesus out to be a superhero.
06:49-06:52
They're only interested in Him when they're in trouble, right?
06:53-06:57
I mean, let's be honest, nobody really wants Superman around when everything's going well.
06:58-06:59
He's kind of boring.
07:00-07:06
But you know, the minute you're in that burning building, that bad guy has the gun pointed at you.
07:06-07:09
That's when you want Superman to show up and do his thing.
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And that's how some people look at Jesus.
07:11-07:23
No regard, no thought, no mind towards Him whatsoever, but as soon as we get this diagnosis or we have this financial problem, it's Jesus swoop in and rescue!
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And some people make Jesus out to be a superhero.
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And some people just make Jesus out to be a story.
07:32-07:33
He's just a story.
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He doesn't really have relevance for today.
07:36-07:37
He's just a man from history.
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And we go to church and we talk about this man that lived a couple thousand years ago, this good Jewish man, and it's a shame what they did to him.
07:49-07:50
He's just this story.
07:52-07:57
The truth of God's Word - He's not a sacrament, He's not a superhero, and He's not a story.
07:57-07:58
He is a Savior.
07:59-08:02
Jesus Christ came to save you from your sin.
08:04-08:09
Number one on your outline - God is incomparably gracious.
08:11-08:16
Before we look at the text, I want to remind you what this term means.
08:16-08:17
Grace. How do we define grace?
08:19-08:23
In a lot of ways, it's described as unmerited favor - a gift from God.
08:25-08:28
The best definition of grace I've ever heard is this.
08:29-08:32
Grace is God giving to us what He requires from us.
08:32-08:33
That's grace.
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God giving to us what He requires from us.
08:37-08:39
What does God require from me?
08:39-08:46
He requires me to be holy, perfectly righteous, unblemished.
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God requires me to be perfect.
08:49-08:52
And I am so far from that.
08:55-08:56
But God requires that.
08:56-09:01
You see, in His grace, He gives to me what He requires from me.
09:03-09:05
It can't be earned. It can't be bartered for.
09:05-09:09
It won't be deserved.
09:10-09:12
Grace can only be received.
09:14-09:19
Another way I like to think of grace is just through this little story.
09:19-09:21
Just imagine you have a 15-year-old son.
09:23-09:32
Some of you do, but just imagine if you don't, let's pretend you have a 15-year-old son He goes to a party with some other students his age.
09:33-09:42
And another boy at this school premeditated attacks and murders your son.
09:44-09:51
Now if you track that murderer down and killed him yourself, that's called vengeance.
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If you help the police apprehend this murderer He goes to trial and gets a sentence.
10:00-10:01
That's called justice.
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If somehow this murderer is in court and you somehow convince the judge to drop all charges and just let him walk out the door, that's called mercy.
10:16-10:27
But, if you take this murderer into your home, and you raise him as your own child, That's called grace.
10:28-10:33
And that's exactly what God has given to us.
10:34-10:36
God is incomparably gracious.
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Let's get to the text.
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Number two in your outline, His grace is displayed in Jesus.
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His grace is displayed in Jesus.
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Today I want to share with you three amazing things about the grace of Jesus.
10:52-11:08
Number one is this - Now, before we look at the text, I could literally preach a couple dozen sermons from this passage we're looking at today, but I want us to look at the big picture.
11:09-11:18
But understand the way that this is written, the Bible says at the end of history, at the end of days, there's going to be this mass revival in Israel.
11:19-11:20
The Bible talks all about that.
11:20-11:26
You see Ezekiel 36, you see it in Zechariah 12, 13, 14.
11:26-11:29
There's going to be this mass revival in Israel.
11:29-11:39
And this passage is told from the perspective of Jews in the last days who come to Christ and look back saying, how did we miss Him before?
11:42-11:46
Look at v. 1. It says, "Who has believed what He heard from us?
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And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
11:50-11:59
For He grew up before Him like a young plant like a root out of dry ground." What does that mean?
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It just means He was insignificant.
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I was walking around my yard the other day and I saw randomly little plants, little trees or shrubs or something, I don't know what it was, just growing up in the middle of - it was insignificant.
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And that's the point here.
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He just kind of grew up among us insignificant.
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He says He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.
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He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised and we esteemed Him not.
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Interestingly, this is the only description of Jesus' appearance in the Bible.
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Did you know that?
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The only description of Jesus' appearance.
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In our day, we're so fascinated and we're so enthralled with appearance and supermodels and good-looking athletes and appearance is everything to us.
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The Bible only gives us this description of Jesus' appearance.
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And all it says is there was nothing special about it.
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I think sometimes we think that Jesus was like seven feet tall and He had perfect chiseled features and He had the beautiful long flowing hair and highlights, and you could just see Jesus from across a football field and be like, "That's Him right there!
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Look at Him! He's gorgeous!" And the Bible says no, He didn't have anything special about His appearance.
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You couldn't have picked Him out of a group of Jewish men His age.
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In fact, when Judas betrayed Him, do you remember in the garden Judas said, "I'm going to kiss the one"?
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Why did Judas have to do that?
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He had to identify Jesus from all the other Jewish men Because you couldn't tell Jesus just by looking at Him.
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That's what Isaiah prophesied here.
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Nothing special about the way He looked.
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He just looked like a Jewish man.
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And the prophecy - as Israel's looking back, as we look back, we say, you know, the time we considered Jesus to be insignificant.
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And this is the first manifestation of grace that we see in this passage because Jesus, the God of Israel, He came to Israel and was rejected by His own people.
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Rejected by His own people.
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We can't gloss over this because how many people here have ever - can you think of a time that you felt rejected by people?
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Can you think of a time - raise your hand - if you've ever felt like I've been rejected for whatever reason?
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We don't handle that well, do we?
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I'm sure you handle that much better than I do.
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When we're rejected, we get bitter, we get hateful.
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But when you've been rejected, we don't often react with grace, do we?
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Years ago, Aaron and I did this wedding for this couple.
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And when I do a wedding, it's not just show up, do the wedding, 25 minutes and see you later.
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We're talking about months and months of premarital counseling, and planning the service, and getting them equipped, getting everything ready for this wedding.
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And normally it's customary that after the wedding, there's the wedding reception.
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And a lot of times people say I want you to pray for the meal, etc.
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So we had the wedding at the church, and we went down to where they were having the wedding reception.
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And Aaron and I walked in.
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how they have those little folded pieces of paper on the table that has your name and tells you what table you're sitting you know the thing I'm talking about so Aaron and I are looking what table are we at what table we at what table we at you see our card Aaron's like no I don't see it okay it's in here somewhere we we were not on the guest list so we said hey we're all gussied up let's just go to dinner so we said of going someplace else for dinner.
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And when we came out, I realized that I had the couple's marriage license still in the car.
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I thought, well, they're going to need this, so let's stop by the reception hall again, and I'll give them their marriage license.
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At this point, the reception was a couple hours over, and I walked in, and I saw the groom, and I said, "Hey, I have your marriage license here." He looked shocked to see us.
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He goes, "Jeff!
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Hey, I think there's some leftovers in the back if you're hungry." And I'm like, "Leftovers?!
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You would feed me the scraps from your table like a dog?!" I didn't say that, but I thought that.
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I've got to tell you, I felt a little rejected this whole time, and then he comes back and give you scraps of food.
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And at the time I was thinking there's no way that I'm going to be hanging out here socializing.
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I felt rejected.
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It's taken me years to get over that.
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But you see, the point is this is how Israel was to Jesus.
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You're not really wanted here.
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You're sort of insignificant to us.
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And the good news here is grace isn't based on our conduct.
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Jesus didn't show up rejected by His people and say, Well, they're not interested in Me, so guess what?
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I'm not interested in them either.
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I came to give them grace.
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I came to give them life.
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I came to point them to the Father.
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And they don't want anything to do with Me?
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I'm the one that they've been waiting for since creation?
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And they don't want anything to do with Me?
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You know what?
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I'll just go back to heaven where I'm exalted as I should be.
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But He didn't do that.
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Despite the rejection, Jesus carried through with His mission of grace to the very end.
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Why?
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Because His grace isn't based on our conduct.
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This is good news for you today because if you're sitting here and you've rejected Jesus in the past, you can receive Him today.
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It's not too late.
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Somebody might be sitting here saying, "Pastor Jeff, I've rejected Christ for decades.
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I know about Him and I've known who He is, but I've never really received Him as my Lord and Savior.
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And Jeff, don't you think it's a little hypocritical if I would give my life to Jesus today?
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The answer is no.
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Because He's still extending His grace to you today.
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Because His grace isn't based on your conduct.
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His grace is based on His goodness.
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Comparable grace.
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Letter B.
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"Without this done, His grace takes away our sin." Pick up in verse 4.
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It says, "Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
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Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
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But He was wounded for our transgressions.
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He was crushed.
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For our iniquities upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
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And with His stripes, we are healed.
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All we like sheep have gone astray.
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We have turned everyone to His own way.
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And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
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I think an amazing thing about the incomparable grace of God in Jesus Christ is this, His grace takes away our sin.
20:05-20:12
Look at verse 6, it says, "All we like sheep have gone astray." The Bible says that we are sheep.
20:13-20:21
I don't particularly like that description, because sheep really are the stupidest animals in the animal kingdom.
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They are.
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They're stupid.
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They're weak.
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They're defenseless.
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Sheep are just idiots.
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Like why can you say that?
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How can you say that?
20:33-20:38
What do you call the guy that babysits the cows all day?
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What's he called?
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Well, there is no guy that just babysits cows all day.
20:41-20:42
Exactly.
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What do you call the guy that babysits the chickens all day?
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There really is no guy that just babysits the chickens all day.
20:48-20:50
Right, what do you call the guy that babysits the sheep?
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Shepherd.
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There's a job created to take care of the sheep all day because they're stupid.
20:59-21:03
Sheep are so stupid that people train dogs to take care of sheep.
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That blows my mind.
21:05-21:11
My dog is the stupidest animal I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.
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I love him to death, but he's so dumb.
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But I look at him and I think, you know what, they take animals like you and they train them to take care of an animal that's much stupider.
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Sheep are stupid.
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How are they stupid?
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Other animals have enough sense to stay with the pack, the flock, the gaggle, whatever.
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Most animals have enough sense to stay with the group.
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And that's why sheep are so stupid, because they just wander away and put themselves in danger.
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And the Bible says that's you.
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And that's me.
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We all, like sheep, have gone astray each to his own way.
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We're just not paying attention.
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We're stupid in our sin, And we're just kind of wandering around and putting ourselves in danger, and we don't even realize it.
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We are like stupid sheep that wander.
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But notice also your Bible says, "to his own way." What does that mean?
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That means your sin tendency and my sin tendency are going to be different.
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Do you ever look at somebody - maybe they committed some kind of a crime or something, That's the stupidest thing I've ever seen.
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Why would somebody do something like that?
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That's so stupid.
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That seems stupid to you because that's not your sin tendency.
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I guarantee you if we brought that guy whose sin you think is so stupid, if we brought that guy and sat him down and shared your sin with him, he would look at you and say, "I can't believe you would do something like that.
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That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." It seems stupid to us because we have different sin tendencies.
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That's what the Bible says here.
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We're all like sheep.
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We've gone away, we've turned, and we just go our own way.
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But the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
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This is a beautiful verse.
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I want to share this with you again.
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The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
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Pretend with me for a second that this Bible is not the Bible.
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Let's pretend instead This is a book of all of the sins I've ever committed.
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Now, it would be a much thicker book.
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It would be huge.
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It would be several volumes, but we're pretending.
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Every sin I've ever committed is in this book.
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And let this hand represent me.
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You see, when God sees me, He sees my sin.
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He says, "Jeff, I see all of the wrong things that you've done." Here's the glorious thing about Jesus Christ.
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This hand represents Jesus.
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The Bible says the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of a son.
23:53-24:00
God put My sin on Jesus, so now when God sees Me, what does He see?
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No sin.
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Perfectly righteous.
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How can God say that I'm perfect?
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How can God say that I'm holy?
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Isaiah 53:6 Because He put My sin on His Son.
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"as laid the iniquity of us all upon Him." You see, it's not even like, "Well, we put all that sin on, but Jeff, you still have a little bit of sin left on your account." It's not that at all.
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All of my sin on Jesus Christ.
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Look at verse 7.
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Because he was oppressed.
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He was afflicted.
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This is talking about his trial.
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We talked about that as we went through Mark.
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The trial of Jesus Christ is the biggest sham in history.
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They broke every rule about court that they could break in order to expedite the execution of Jesus Christ.
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That's what it's talking about when it says He was oppressed.
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He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth.
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Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a sheep that before its shears is silent, so He opened not His mouth.
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you say, "Well, wait a minute. Jesus did say some things in his trial." That's not what that means. It means that he didn't defend himself. It means that he didn't fight back. He's just like we talked about sheep being weak. Jesus allowed himself to be weak. He didn't fight them. So when it says he opened out his mouth, that's what it means. Never defended himself. "By oppression and judgment," verse 8, that He was taken away.
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And as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of My people?
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That's just saying that nobody came to Jesus' defense.
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Nobody came alongside to help Him.
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Nobody rightly considered what was really happening.
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They made His grave with the wicked.
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Jesus was crucified beside two criminals.
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What's the next phrase?
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"And with a rich man in his death." We're talking about Joseph of Arimathea.
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A rich man who gave Jesus his tomb.
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Prophesied 700 years before it happened.
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Incredible. Absolutely incredible.
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"Although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth." Jesus didn't do anything wrong.
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Why didn't He defend Himself?
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Sometimes I read through the Gospels and I see these ridiculous charges, these ridiculous accusations, and there's a little part of me that reads the Gospels and I'm like, Jesus, say something!
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You know, defend Yourself!
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He couldn't.
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Jesus didn't speak up to defend Himself because He was guilty.
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Oh, not for anything He had done.
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Jesus was guilty for everything that I had done.
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Jesus was guilty for everything that you had done.
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He knew that the iniquity was going to be laid upon Him.
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His grace takes away our sin.
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If you're sitting here today and you've received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you never have to fear God's judgment.
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As I said, Jesus took our sin on Himself.
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And when He did, when Jesus was on the cross, God punished my sin as He poured out His judgment on Jesus.
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Understand that God is not going to turn around and punish me for my sin.
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That would mean that Jesus died for nothing.
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Your sin has been taken away, it's been removed.
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In Christ, your sin never again is an issue with God.
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And some would say, "Well, what if I mess up tomorrow?" I need to point this out.
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I've met some people that teach and preach and believe this, but it's wrong.
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There are people that teach that, "Okay, I received Christ and I'm forgiven, but if I commit a sin, and I would die tragically in an accident, that sin that I committed came after I received Christ as my Savior, and if I didn't confess it, and it wasn't forgiven, that means I'm going to hell for that sin." It is a crazy theology. It's like this umbrella.
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Like, "I'm under the protection of God's salvation today.
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I mess up, I'm out from under the umbrella.
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I better get right, I better confess.
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I better receive forgiveness again so that I can go to heaven again." And that is wrong.
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Keep in mind that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, every single sin that you committed was still in the future.
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So your sin, the ones you committed yesterday, the ones you committed this morning, the ones you commit tomorrow, all of them have already been paid for in advance.
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This is the incomparable grace that takes away my sin.
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And finally for today, look down at verse 10.
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He jots this down.
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His grace is unchanging and never-ending.
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Verse 10 says, "Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him." He has put him to grief.
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When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring.
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He shall prolong his days.
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The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
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I want to circle this verse in your Bible because this is talking about the resurrection.
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You see, if this suffering servant, this suffering Christ, if He just died and stayed dead, this verse makes no sense.
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How else would He see His offspring - His spiritual offspring?
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How else would His days be prolonged?
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How else could we say that He prospered if He died and stayed dead?
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This verse is talking about the resurrection of the Messiah.
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Look at the first part of verse 10.
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This is, to me, one of the most incredible verses in the entire Bible.
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It says, "Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him." Remember a few years ago when the Passion of the Christ came out?
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And there was this big controversy.
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It's anti-Semitic!
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The Passion of the Christ is anti-Semitic because you're saying that the Jews killed Jesus.
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I just kind of laughed.
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To say it's anti-Semitic, like wait a minute, The star of the movie Jesus is Jewish, and all of His disciples depicted in the movie are all Jewish.
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How can you say that this is an anti-Jewish film?
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The mistake is even deeper than that because it wasn't the Jews that killed Jesus.
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At the time, they thought it was them out of envy handing Him over to the Romans.
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They thought they were killing Jesus, but ultimately it wasn't them.
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And also, the Romans thought But they had a hand in it.
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Pilate's like, "I'm washing my hands of it." It was the Roman guards that were nailing Jesus to the cross and executing Him, so there's a sense in which you could say, well, the Romans thought that they were killing Jesus.
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And that's not right either.
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The Bible says, verse 10, "Who killed Jesus?" It says that God the Father did.
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Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him.
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God used the Jews and the Romans, but ultimately, ultimately, it was God who gave His Son to die for my sin.
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This is the most amazing aspect of God's grace that I can even think of now that I'm a parent.
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Because get this, if saving you meant that I had to kill my son, That would never happen.
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I would not sacrifice my son for anyone or anything.
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I wouldn't sacrifice either of my kids for the 7.3 billion people on the planet.
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If it was one of them, or all of you, I would pick them every time.
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I'm just being honest with you.
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Hey, I love you. You're a love.
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I love you.
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I'm just being honest with you.
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I love you.
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I would not sacrifice my son for you.
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That's what makes God, God.
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Because not only would He, but He did sacrifice His Son.
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That is incomparable grace.
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Home stretch. Look at verse 11.
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Out of the anguish of his soul, "He shall see and be satisfied.
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By His knowledge shall the righteous with My servant make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities.
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Therefore, I will divide Him a portion with the many, and He shall divide the spoiled with the strong, because He poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet He bore the sin of many." intercession for the transgressors.
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That's us saying a lot.
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To paraphrase, sin defeated, mission completed, Jesus exalted, making intercession.
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Hebrews 7.25 really sums this up.
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It says, "Therefore, He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him - through Jesus - He always lives to make intercession for them.
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Understand, the Bible says that the work of salvation is complete, but the care and the attention of Jesus Christ for you is not complete.
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Grace didn't just stop at the cross.
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You know, the Bible says Jesus right now is praying for you.
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Jesus is praying for me.
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Jesus is praying for you.
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Well, what's He praying for?
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I know one thing for sure.
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Revelation 12.10 says that Satan is constantly accusing God's people before God.
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Satan is constantly accusing.
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Christ is constantly defending.
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He's like the ultimate defense attorney.
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You see, Satan would point at Russ and he'd be like, "Russ is no good. Russ is dirt.
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God, I don't know why you spend any time dealing with him or his family because they're worthless.
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They're sinners.
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And here's Jesus Christ saying, "No, no, no. I died for Him.
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He received me by faith.
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He's one of mine.
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He is perfect!" And God's like, "Case closed.
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My son says Russ is perfect." So, Jesus is constantly interceding for His people.
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The same incomparable grace that saves His people for the First Christ to continually intercede for us.
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I think that right now, Jesus is praying for you.
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He tells us that grace isn't just momentary, nor is grace just history, nor is grace just future - something that we will receive someday.
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Grace is constant, it's unchanging, it's never-ending, is incomparable.
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Would you bow your heads, please?
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The reason I want you to do that is I just want you to focus individually.
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I want you to focus on your walk with the Lord.
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Evaluate, do I even have one?
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Have you received this grace that God has offered in Jesus Christ?
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Have you been trying to earn it?
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Have you been questioning it?
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Have you been doubting it?
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Have you been wrestling with questions like does God really love me?
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Is God really for me?
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Can I really be forgiven for all of the stupid choices and mistakes that I've made?
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All of the sin that I've committed, can I really be forgiven for these things?
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the answer to all of these questions, finds God pointing to Jesus.
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Finds God pointing to the cross, saying this is where your sin was punished because I put it on My Son.
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We see God pointing to the empty tomb to say Jesus wasn't just some martyr.
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He is alive and He is victorious.
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And His resurrected life another aspect of my grace that He wants you to receive.
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God points to Jesus and says, "Here is the display of My incomparable grace." Is there anyone here today who says, "Pastor Jeff, I so desperately need the grace of God in my life." Is there somebody here Maybe you made a decision to receive Christ as your Lord and Savior some time ago.
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Maybe over time, you've started to believe a lie that you need to do things to earn this grace.
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And that Jesus loves me more when I'm doing right things, and Jesus loves me less when I mess up.
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And that's a lie.
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Nothing can increase or diminish God's grace in your life.
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It is always perfectly constant.
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Is there somebody here today that says, you know what, I need this reminder that God's grace is not based on my performance.
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Is there anybody here?
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I need the reminder that God's grace is not based on my performance.
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Father, I want to lift up those - God, You know every heart.
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Through Your Word, God, we know Your heart.
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You have revealed Your heart.
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And Your heart says although we don't deserve it, You have chosen to pour out Your grace and Your love in the most mind-boggling way by allowing Your Son to die in our place.
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I thank You, Father, for those that by faith acknowledged that before You today.
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Whether they need to receive it today, Father, that You would reveal Yourself to them in a mighty way, and that this would be the day of salvation.
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This would be the day that they're done trying to do it their way, and instead embrace what You've already provided through Jesus Christ.
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I lift them up to You now, Father.
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I pray those who have started to believe a lie, attitude towards us is based on our conduct. She would remind them today Father that you love them. You love them with an eternal love. And whether we're having the best day of our lives or the absolute worst day of our lives, it doesn't change the grace and the love that you show us. It doesn't change your and gratitude towards us because our standing with You isn't based on our conduct.
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It's based on the work of Jesus Christ.
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I pray that today, God, You would reaffirm the truth of Your Word in these hearts.
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Father, we would leave here rejoicing as we've spent these past few weeks, Father, we've tried to take a glimpse We've had a peek through Isaiah at who you are, but Father, as we close this series and we celebrate, as Darren had said earlier, the most significant event in history, Father, we see that every attribute was never more simultaneously and graphically on display than they were on the cross.
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On the cross, Father, we see that You are holy.
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You will not tolerate sin.
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You are so holy, and Your hatred of sin is so holy, that You will pour Your wrath on the spotless Lamb of God.
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Father, on the cross, we see that You are just.
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In order to satisfy Your justice, Someone had to pay the penalty.
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You didn't just ignore it or overlook it or write it off.
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The penalty had to be paid for your justice to be satisfied.
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And Jesus Christ accomplished that on the cross.
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Father on the cross, we see that You are awesome.
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We look at the events of the cross - darkness and earthquakes and graves open and dead people alive again walking around.
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We see your awesomeness on the cross.
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On the cross, Father, we see that you are loving.
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That is what motivated you to send your Son.
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Your Word tells us that you so loved the world that you gave your Son.
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On the cross, Father, we see your sovereignty.
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While the religious Jews thought they were killing Jesus, and the Romans thought they were killing Jesus, It was the will of the Lord to crush Him.
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Father, on the cross we see Your grace.
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Your gift to us.
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Unearned, unmerited salvation.
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To Your glory and honor, Father.
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May the celebration continue.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Isaiah 53:1-12
Why is this prophecy from Isaiah 53 important for us in understanding why Jesus died on the cross?
Describe how each of the attributes of God we’ve studied the past 6 weeks show up graphically and simultaneously while Jesus was on the cross. How did the cross show God’s incomparable:
- holiness
- justice
- awesomeness
- love
- sovereignty
- graceExplain how Is 53:10 mentions the resurrection of Jesus. Why is this significant?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.
