Christ and Him Crucified

Your name will be honored in this place and be praised. Do we give you our songs today Father? We say today that you will be praised. We honor you and give glory to your name. Go and fill up our lungs with worship today. In Jesus' name we say, come on Church, let's sing it again. [Music] Father, we have come to bow down in worship. Lifting up our hearts we bow down in crease. Hallelujah, love for ever so long. Hallelujah, with all of heaven we are singing again. [Music] Bright and morning star, your eyes place like fire. Shining like the sun. You are our one, Jesus, are you. Hallelujah, love for ever so long. Hallelujah, with all of heaven we are singing again. Hallelujah, love for ever so long. Hallelujah, with all of heaven we are singing. Hallelujah, with all of heaven we are singing again. Hallelujah, with all of heaven we are singing. Hallelujah, with all of heaven we are singing again. Hallelujah, with all of heaven we are singing. ♪ We watch it ♪ ♪ We watch it ♪ We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it. We watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you.

We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you. We watched it, we watched it in you. To his body and his blood all Drive, drive, drive, drive, closer, closer, closer Yeah You're a mighty offering You're a fighter of three You're a mighty offering You're a fighter of three I'll remove all the sea Remove all the sea You're a mighty offering You're a fighter of three Oh, make us genuine again You're a mighty offering You're a mighty offering Oh, make us genuine again You're a mighty offering You're a mighty offering

You're a mighty offering Oh, make us genuine again You're a mighty offering You're a mighty offering You're a mighty offering You're a mighty offering You're a mighty offering You're a mighty offering You're a mighty offering You're a mighty offering You're a mighty offering You're a mighty offering You're a mighty offering We love you, we love you, Jesus Cleanse us again Thank you, Jesus How we love you You are so precious Don't you just love him I just love you, Jesus Thank you for your blood Thank you for the cleansing work of the blood of Christ Oh, thank you, Jesus, for your all-redentive praises Thank you, Jesus Thank you, Jesus No sin is too great to keep us from you, Jesus He is faithful and just to cleanse us of all unrighteousness If we confess our sins to him Thank you, Jesus Thank you, Jesus

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[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music)

(upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) ♪ You can not see ♪ ♪ Don't you can't shout on me ♪ ♪ This is your soul ♪ ♪ So you gotta lie inside of those wounds ♪ ♪ Get up and pray to Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, I said ♪ ♪ You can't move my soul ♪ ♪ Don't you can't shout on me ♪ ♪ This is your soul ♪ ♪ 'Cause you gotta lie inside of those wounds ♪ ♪ You can't move my soul ♪ ♪ Don't you can't shout on me ♪ ♪ You can't move my soul ♪ ♪ Don't you can't shout on me ♪ ♪ This is your soul ♪ ♪ So you gotta lie inside of those wounds ♪ ♪ Get up and pray to Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, I said ♪

♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, I praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the name ♪ ♪ Praise the name ♪ ♪ Praise the name ♪ ♪ Praise the name ♪ ♪ So I'll throw my ♪ ♪ Praise you again and again ♪ ♪ So that I have a love ♪ ♪ Oh, you ♪ ♪ Oh, they love you ♪ ♪ Not no is not much ♪ ♪ Nothing else better ♪ ♪ Keep me ♪ ♪ Settle house me in ♪ ♪ I'll let you ♪ ♪ I'll let you ♪ ♪ I'll let you ♪ ♪ It's your bread ♪ ♪ Now long ♪ ♪ We pour out our praise ♪ ♪ Pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's your bread ♪ ♪ Now long ♪ ♪ We pour out our praise ♪ ♪ Oh, it's your bread ♪ ♪ Now long ♪ ♪ We pour out our praise ♪ ♪ Pour out our praise ♪

♪ It's your bread ♪ ♪ Now long ♪ ♪ It's your bread ♪ ♪ Now long ♪ ♪ We pour out our praise ♪ ♪ You are the old ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ We pour out our praise ♪ ♪ We pour out our praise ♪ ♪ Oh, we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ We pour out our praise ♪ On the feet of Jesus Yes, we pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus It's your bread And our love's Should we pour out our praise And pour out our praise It's your bread And our love's Should we pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus It's your bread And our love's Should we pour out our praise And pour out our praise It's your bread And our love's Should we pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus

We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our worship On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus

We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus

We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus

We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus

We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus

We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus

We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus We pour out our praise On the feet of Jesus receive the blood, the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ. The offerer and offering, you took the cup and so will perfect land we'll sing again, perfect land and highest priest, pour out your soul. The love to dream, the offerer and offering, you took the cup and so will you, we meet the blood, we believe the blood, receive the blood, the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ, we meet the blood, we believe the blood, receive the blood, the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood, the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood, the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood, the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood, the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood, the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood, the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood, the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ. We need the blood, we need the blood, we need the blood, we need the blood, we need the blood, we need the blood, the blood of Christ, come on see that we meet the blood of Christ. We're toward the mill, one longer is hell, one ever again, only the one, one taste in mind, one drop in sight, your death is life, only the one.

We need the blood, only the one. ♪ Only the world ♪ ♪ Only, only, only the world ♪ ♪ Only the world ♪ ♪ On your own turn, only the ground ♪ ♪ On the under, only the ground ♪ ♪ Only the world, only the ground ♪ ♪ Only the world ♪ ♪ Only the world ♪ ♪ It's all beyond you ♪ ♪ And only the world ♪ ♪ Only the world ♪ ♪ Only the world ♪ ♪ Only the world ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ The blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Christ ♪ ♪ And heal our bodies ♪ ♪ Heal our minds ♪ ♪ Put bones back into place ♪ ♪ Let scars disappear by the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, remove all the trauma ♪ ♪ Feel it redeeming now blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Touch those places in our hearts ♪ ♪ No one else can but of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, seep in, seep in, seep in every crap in crevice ♪ ♪ We're hidden nothing from you, God ♪ ♪ We're not hiding anything from you, Lord ♪

♪ Let the blood expect us ♪ ♪ Let the blood be precious ♪ ♪ Come but a price ♪ ♪ Come but a price ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ Blood of Christ is the equalizer of all people, every man, woman, and child. Stands an evil in front of the blood of Jesus, every single one of us. Sinners all we need your blood, Jesus. We need your blood. We thank you for the blood of Christ. That brings joy for all of me. That brings joy for all of me. Christ defers what prophesies. Your dead is life. Only the blood. What tore the pen? What conqueres him? What never ends? Only the blood. Only the blood. ♪ Yes. [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] Yes, there it is. I want you to know that Jesus, he says something profound in the Gospels. He says, "I will by no means turn away anyone who comes to me." And I need you to hear this morning. I don't know who precisely I'm speaking to. I know that for some of you in the room there's been maybe a fear that there's not blood for that mistake or for that shame or for that embarrassment or for that dysfunction. And I want to just speak directly to that and let the light of the words of Jesus illuminate the truth that is so vital for you in this situation, in this circumstance, and that is that he will never turn away anyone who comes to him. No matter how dirty, no matter how broken, no matter how lost, no matter how wounded you may be, you will come to Christ if you can find your way to him this morning. There is a place for you in his arms. And so I want us to do for just a couple minutes, maybe just these next couple minutes, I want you to allow the Holy Spirit to inspect your life, your private, your personal life, maybe your relationships, maybe your internal world, your thoughts, the words that you speak to yourself about others, the words that you speak about yourself. And let the Holy Spirit right now just begin to bring conviction to areas of your life that need to be washed by the blood. Like this is our moment to confess our sin. This is our moment to bring our sin, to bring our shame, to bring our dysfunction, our inadequacy, our lack before the foot of the cross and to say Jesus will you wash this with your blood. And so for these next couple minutes, like even right where you're at, I don't just want this to be an internal contemplative thing. Like I want this to be an actual prophetic act for you. Right where you're at, when nobody's listening to you, you're not standing in a spotlight, I want you to take a couple minutes and right now I want you to just begin to confess. If there's an area in your life that you have not yet brought to Christ for forgiveness

and for cleansing through his blood, I want you to bring it to him right now. Just out loud with your mouth, begin to say Lord, this is an area, I need your blood. Do come and bring cleansing, come and bring healing, come and bring refinement to my life in this area. Begin right now with your own mouth to confess and to ask for his intervention. Thank you. The Bible tells us if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There can be no forgiveness without confession. This right here is where we see the power of the blood made manifest in our lives. This is where we see the power of the blood made in our lives. It's not declared in the name of Jesus that every sin, every struggle, every shame, every failure and fault you have confessed this morning is forgiven, that it is covered by the blood and that God declares you to be innocent not by what you have done or accomplished by the blood of the lamb shed for your sake. do you believe that do you believe that on this is enough to cover our sin. We glory in that. There is no other message that can save. Thank God we don't need another one. And what a sweet morning of worship. Thank you guys so much for leading us. Powerful, awesome, awesome time. If you are able to make your way to your seat, you can go ahead and do so now. If you'll join me as you do so in blessing our musicians, tell them it's how grateful we are for them. Such a gift to us. [Music] Guys, this morning I was in my time of prayer. I was reminded of a verse that has been for many years, my very favorite verse, John chapter 3 verse 30. It's very simple. It says, "He must become greater, I must become less." And as I shared with the men this morning at men's prayer, one of the things that is, one of the reasons we pray is because the mere act of praying is itself a confession that I am not in control, but that God is. The act of praying, the discipline of prayer is one in which I confess, God you are in control even when I am not. When I don't know what's happening, when I can't see over the horizon or around the corner, Lord, you can. And so I put my life, I put my hope, I put my heart in your hands. And so as we pray, just like when we worship,

just like when we give, just like when we study God's Word, all of these things are for us, the declarations of our own frailty, the declarations of our own weakness, the declarations of our own sort of inadequacy to accomplish his divine will and our own human power. And the reason that is so critical for us, the reason it's so critical for us to do these things is because if we begin to think that it's going to be man's wisdom that accomplishes God's will, we have already lost the path. We are already doomed. And here's what God told Paul that I think is so vital for us. When Paul said, Lord, I'm weak, there's this thorn in my side. I need you to take away this affliction from me. Now maybe it was some scholars would argue that it was a physical sickness, some scholars would argue that it was some sort of demonic torment, some scholars would argue that it was people who, you know, accused and criticized Paul. We don't actually know. He doesn't name it. But when he came to God and said, God, will you take this from me? God said, my grace is sufficient for you. And then he said this, my strength is made perfect in weakness. My strength will only be to you what I intend for it to be if you are willing to be consciously aware and to deal with your own weakness, with your own shortcomings. And so day after day, when we pray, when we study God's Word, when we worship and when we give, and in just a moment we're going to be giving, what we're doing is we're saying, God, there's not enough money in the world. There's not enough wisdom inside of me. There's not enough strength in my muscles or my bones. I don't have enough conviction or revelation to be able to walk this thing out without you. I can't accomplish your will. You can accomplish your will. And so Lord, I'm coming to you again today to say, let me be an instrument in your hands. And so this morning, we're going to give you the opportunity to give to the work of the ministry, to the advancement of the kingdom. And as you do so, my encouragement, my heart, my plea with you would be this, understand that one of you has enough money to accomplish God's will. This is the beautiful thing. As we do this, we bring our meager offering. Maybe it's five loaves and two fish. And we say, "I know that it's not enough. God, I know your dream is bigger than my budget. I know that it's not going to be enough to make the ends meet, but God, I think if I put it in your hands, that you can do with my obedience more than I could ever do with my ambition." And so, God, I'm going to be obedient today. I'm going to give, I'm going to invest where you planted me, and I'm going to thank you for the opportunity to do so. Amen. And so, this morning, I'd ask you to just give as you have purposed in your heart,

as the Holy Spirit has guided you and instructed you, and that you would do so in faith and in hope, knowing that God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all we could ask or imagine. As you know, there are a few ways you can give here. There should be an envelope in the seat in front of you if you'd like to give by cash, check a card. You can take your phone and scan the QR code there on the screen, or if you have the mobile app, of course, you can give through that. But can I get everybody to stand with me, and we're just going to pray over this offering? Holy Father, you alone are worthy of our sacrifice, and our generosity, and our kindness. And so, this morning, Lord, we don't give to a preacher or pastor, we don't give to an institution or an organization we give to you, Lord. And we ask you, God, that this offering would be pleasing to you, that it'd be honoring in your sight, that you would find hearts that are giving not out of compulsion or pressure, but hearts that are giving cheerfully, joyfully, and with gratitude. And Lord, I ask that our offering today would be pleasing to you, and Lord, that you would use it to further advance your eternal purposes, let your kingdom come and your will be done right here as it is in heaven. Lord, as we give this morning, I pray over each hand and each home that would give into this offering, I pray, Father, that you'd continue to open the windows of heaven and pour out on them, blessing there's not room enough to receive. I pray that you'd continue to give them favor in their business endeavors and their finances. I pray, Lord, that you'd continue to open doors of opportunity for them. Lord, as your word says, that you'd give seed to the sower, and I pray, Father, that there's people so today that you would continue to be faithful to put seed in their hand in the future. Lord, you are good, you are good, and your mercy endures forever, and we rejoice in that fact today, Lord. We bless and honor you in our singing and in our giving, in Jesus' name. Amen. It's good to see you. Y'all can be seated. I am glad to see you all. Love you guys very much. My wife and middle son send their greetings from a baseball tournament over in Pigeon Forge he's playing in. He pitched yesterday and was just a nightmare for the other day, man. They couldn't hit him. He was an assassin on the mound yesterday. It was cool to get to see. I went over the last few months. I've been thinking about the foundations upon which I'm building as a minister, just as a follower of Christ, really. I've been looking back a lot at sort of how I started in ministry, where I started in ministry, some of the more formative moments and experiences in my life. God has recently been bringing me back to maybe the cornerstone verses, the revelation, the insight, the principles that he gave me in the

beginning, and maybe taking them off the shelf and saying, Matt, do you remember how beautiful this is? Make sure you never graduate from the things you did at first. And so when I first started in ministry, I'll sort of tell you where I'm going. When I first started in ministry now, about 20 years ago, I began to sort of search tirelessly for the next profound revelation. I wanted to find some sort of new connection in Scripture that would just blow people's minds. I wanted to amaze people and inspire them to all and wonder with the Scriptures in the way that the Scriptures were amazing and inspiring to me. I chased hard in those early years of ministry after signs and wonders and miracles. such a thing was possible, if we, you know, if you have a little prayer and you have a little fasting and you have a little preaching on, you know, repentance and a lot of preaching on love, you know, maybe 80, 20, or, you know, 20 percent repentance and 80 percent love, right? And you get the mixture exactly right. That's the recipe for revival, but you know what the recipe for revival is and has always been. It is relentless obedience to God. And there is no other recipe throughout all of church history. We have seen God move in tremendous ways through broken vessels like me and like you. And do you want to know what they all have in common? It is that they have obeyed God, that their success has been directly tied to the Word of God and there is no other way. You can emulate what they did or I should say you can emulate the things that God called them to do, but the results for you won't be the same as the results for them because what they did that worked is they obeyed God. And so there's a passage that I read in Scripture all those years ago that at, I think, a pivotal time in my life, it became something like an anchor for me. You know, these words, we're going to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. These words have held me steadfast to the gospel of grace through all the ups and downs of life and there have been many. When I've been tempted and arrogant to feel like I had outgrown the gospel or when I'd

been prone to drift away from it or to try to mix it with something else, 1 Corinthians 2 has been there to call me back again and again and again. Now I want to just read these first few verses to you and I want you to consider before I get into them who is speaking, this is the Apostle Paul, the most prolific church planter and proclaimer of the gospel of Jesus Christ on the planet throughout the entire first century of the church. One of the most influential men to ever breathe air, the Apostle Paul who preached countless sermons to countless people and led countless multitudes to saving faith in Christ. This is what he said to his brothers and sisters in a church that he helped birth in a city called Corinth, 1 Corinthians chapter 2. He says this to the church in Corinth. He says, "And I brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. Or I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." This is Paul, an extremely intelligent, extremely well studied man who says, "I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Verse 3, he says, "I was with you in weakness, in fear and in much trembling. In my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power so that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." We live in an age of ceaseless information. You could pull your phone out and in the next 60 seconds you could hear 40 different opinions on how you ought to live and what it means to be a Christian and what this Bible verse means and how to raise your kids better and how to invest your money better. If we live in an age in which we are constantly being pulled in every direction by every voice and Paul is saying, "I birth your church not from my own opinions, not from my own ideas, not with my eloquence or my ability, my articulate sermons or my persuasive speech. When I came to you I determined that is to say I decided, I resolved, I chose not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ in Him crucified." I was recently talking with a pastor friend and he said, "Being a pastor is maybe such

a difficult job because you're not just a pastor. I mean you're not just a public speaker, you're also a part-time therapist and you're also a master of ceremonies and you have to be a non-profit administrator and you also have to be a CEO that you, you know. to have this whole broad spectrum of competencies and while I hear what he's saying and I can certainly relate to the sense of pressure, here's what God is doing in my heart. He's saying, "Maddy, it's okay to determine not to know anything except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If that's all you have to offer, that's more than enough." And so I have to announce today, like here's my only competency, the only treasure, the only gift that is worth your receiving from me is this, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The truth is there are countless messages that can edify or sanctify, countless messages, endless messages that edify and sanctify, but only one message can save and that is the proclamation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So today I'm compelled to preach with clarity and conviction with maybe the urgency that eternity demands that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of which I am chief. And in His death, the just penalty for my sin and for yours has been paid so that now to all who receive Him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. And I understand maybe you have, maybe this is like old news to you, we don't graduate from the gospel. This is a foundation we have to keep reinforcing over and over and over again. We don't move on to, listen, we did an expository, a 30 sermon, expository series to the book of Ephesians. And that's wonderful. We don't get to graduate from the message of the gospel. I hope to preach a multi-sermon series in the months ahead on what I call kingdom ecclesiology and I want you to know we don't get to graduate from the gospel. I understand we can talk about our eschatological position as a community, what our convictions are about the inerrancy of Scripture or whatever else, so tearology. But I need you to hear this, we don't graduate from the gospel. All of the doctrinal battles that we fight are in so many ways, distractions from the gospel. And so I want to make sure that we're really clear about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is our only hope. And that is the hope around which we find unity. And so today I want to go to Isaiah chapter 53. And I want

us to just see Him. I want us to see Christ and Him crucified. I think it's so easy for us to feel like the most important thing in church is our giving or our volunteering. The most important thing in church is about, you know, what does this church believe about the gift of tongues? No, the most important thing in church is Christ and Him crucified. Everything else is peripheral. Everything else is secondary. It is Christ and Him crucified. This is what Isaiah wrote 700 years before Jesus was born. Isaiah writes in chapter 53 of his book, "Who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed, for He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness. And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from Him. He was despised and we did not esteem Him." You know, I recently in my message that I called a theology of suffering. I talked in that message about the idea from Romans 8 of suffering with Christ. And I asked the question, we had the conversation, like what does it actually mean to suffer with Christ? It is not just to face persecution for His sake, but it is actually to find fellowship with Him in the midst of our suffering. To understand that we don't serve We are able to find in our suffering, in our hardship, in the injustice of the world around us, in the difficulties and disappointments we face in life. We are able to find fellowship or communion or understanding with Christ. We suffer with Him by acknowledging that He suffered with us. And this is what Isaiah 53 is explaining. He is despised and rejected by men. Yeah, how many of you know what that feels like? Right? He's a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. I'll just talk to a brother this morning whose mother passed away this week. We can find fellowship with Jesus as we walk through this, as we find ourselves as men and women of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. His grief wasn't just imposed upon Him by others.

His sorrow wasn't a consequence of the sin of the Romans or the Pharisees or anybody else. Like, we hid our faces from Him. He was despised and we did not esteem Him. This is actually why today we're going to take communion. We're going to receive the Lord's Supper. And one of the reasons that is such a vital practice for us, or sacrament for us is because in it we are forced again and again and again to meditate on the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus, the rejection, the torment of Christ and in doing so we find fellowship with Him as a man of sorrows, who's acquainted with grief, but we don't just find fellowship. We don't just find fellowship with Him as sort of the victim of hardship. We find fellowship with Him as the one who was rejected, not just by other people, but by us as well. He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Verse 4 says, "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." Understand, He was not just rejected by men in general. "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." Yet we esteemed Him, stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed Him, stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. I want you to, I want you to do my best to give us maybe a more usable interpretation of these lines. I want to say it like this, surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we considered Him to have been struck down by God, struck down and afflicted by God. Understand, here's what is happening is that Jesus on the cross, He carried our grief and our sorrow, but we looked at Him like He was the one being rejected. It was our rejection He was carrying. It was our punishment He was carrying. It was our sin, the weight of our sin that He bore on Himself, but He was wounded. Verse 5 says, "For our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement

of our peace," that is, I think the NIV says, "the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His stripes. We are healed." I want us to like slow down. Maybe this is a passage you're really familiar with, maybe this is a passage you're so familiar with, and this was my problem, but I memorized this for Jolly Rancher when I was in middle school at my Christian middle school I went to. I'm so grateful for that. I'm grateful that I memorized this passage, but for many years it just didn't mean anything. It was just something I'd learned in school like the Pledge of Allegiance or something else, but I need you to hear what is being said, "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him, stricken by God, smitten by God and afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace," that is, the punishment that brought us peace, "was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed." What is this passage saying to you? It's saying this, "You can lay your griefs and your sorrows into His hands." You can take your chaos and lay it down at the foot of the cross, and you can receive peace because the punishment that brought you peace, that punishment was laid on him. You can take your sickness, your dysfunction, your infirmity, and you can lay it at him because by his wounds we are healed. See, this is our hope, his punishment, his rejection, his suffering is our hope. He's not merely our leader or our moral example or our spiritual guide. Jesus is our Savior. He's not just the founder of our religion. Like, we don't just follow his teachings. Like, he's Confucius or Buddha. No, no, no.

We look at Jesus. Like, he's our Savior, the propitiation of our sins. He is the payment that was made for my sin and for yours so that we can, through him, approach God with freedom and confidence. He didn't simply suffer. He suffered for us. It was our, it was for our transgressions that he was wounded. It was for our iniquities that he was crushed. And why, I guess, why did this have to happen? You know, one of the questions I think that we ought to struggle with is this. Why did God have to, why did the second person of the God had in the form of Jesus, the Son have to step into creation and himself sort of drink the cup of the wine of the wrath of God? Why was that so critical? Why couldn't God have just ignored or overlooked our sin? I think it's because God's justice and mercy both exist in equal balance. The God, the God could say, well, I'm just, I'm very merciful. And so I'm willing to just ignore or overlook sin. Or God could say, I'm very just. And therefore I have to punish every sinner. But the reality is God is equal parts just and merciful. We're grateful for that. I think we ought to be grateful for that. But there's this explanation in verse six of Isaiah chapter 53 where it explains why was it that Jesus had to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. Why is it that he had to be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities? Well, verse six says this. The reason is because we all, all of us, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Do you want to know why someone had to step in to bring reconciliation between God and man? Because every man has gone astray. Everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. You know, people, misinformed people have sort of scoffed at the story of Adam and they've said, well, you know, the world is in dysfunctions because of the sin of one guy where, you know, we're all, you know, we're all suffering today just because Adam sinned or just because Eve sinned. No, no, no. Here's the reality. We're all suffering today because all of us are continuing to carry on the inheritance we received from Adam and Eve and that it wasn't just that Adam and Eve sinned and we inherited their guilt. It was that Adam and Eve sinned and we learned their dysfunction. And so here we are like sheep who have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. The Bible tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And this is, I think for me, it's such a profound principle that every one of us is our hearts, our intentions, our motivations, our actions are laid bare before the God of the universe. Every one of us is found guilty, lacking, inadequate in righteousness in the eyes of God. And yet not only has God redeemed us, that is to say that not only has God made a way for our forgiveness, but he has then invited us to be a part of his plan. This is, I think, to me, such a wholly and profound principle, it's like the way I've explained it in the past, it's like God makes beautiful music with broken instruments. And that's the reality. We can look at these last 2000 years and there is no institution in the world that has been a more impactful force for Every major thrust forward toward freedom, toward liberty, toward equality, every one of them has been spearheaded by God-fearing Bible-believing Christians for the last two thousand years. It was Christians who had gone pull babies that had been abandoned in trash heaps in the Roman Empire and would love and raise and adopt those children. It was Christians who would stand like William Wilberforce, who would stand against what

had been an unbroken chain of international slave trade for millennia that would stand up and say, "No, no, no, I think that all men are made in God's image and therefore to buy and sell them like property is a problem." We see that the people God has called, the people God has chosen, the people God has used through the years have not been perfect people. They've been just people like you and like me. But God continues to use broken instruments to make beautiful music. He continues to use broken tools to build a house with His name on it. And what an amazing truth this is. So many unbelievers will point to the brokenness of Christians as their sort of evidence for why they can't believe or why they can't be a part of the church. To me, that is maybe some of the most compelling evidence for the fact that God is actually in our midst. It's that a group of people like us would be able to ever do anything other than tear each other apart and serve ourselves at one another's expense. The fact that we are able to do good is, I think, evidence of the fact that God is with us. And so here's what we read in the Scriptures. We all like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to His own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. I need to remind you this was written 700 years before Jesus was born. This is we've got Jewish friends around the world who will tell you they don't study Isaiah 53 in synagogue. They skip that because it's a real problem. If you were to stop a Jewish person on the street and say, "Hey, let me just read this passage to you. Tell me what you think it's talking about." They'll say, "Well, that's a Christian passage just talking about Jesus." It's like, "No, it's not.

This is from your Scriptures. This is from Isaiah 53. This was written 700 years before Jesus was born." And so the gospel that Christ proclaimed, the gospel that the apostles taught, it's not unique. It's not something they just invented. It's not like we just do away with the Old Testament because now the New Testament is here and that's better. No, no, no. It is the answer to the questions posed in the Old Testament and this is what we see painted here in Isaiah 53. It's a beautiful picture of our need for a Savior and God's gracious provision of one. We all like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed in continuing to verse 7. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment and who will declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people, he was stricken and they made him and they made his grave with the wicked but with the rich at his death because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth. Otherwise, this is the scandal, I think, of the Christian worldview. Our God is not merely high and exalted. As creator and king over all things, he's lowly and meek, rejected by men, acquainted with grief, a man of sorrows. Not only is he the God of matchless glory, he's the God of matchless humility. In my experience, walking with people through some of their big doctrinal questions, one

that I have found comes up over and over and over again is that people simply cannot believe the extravagance of God's humility. So they look at the humanity of Jesus and they think there's no way that that is God. Jesus had to be just a good man, just a good teacher. He had to be maybe a prophet, maybe a man of God, maybe some God-human hybrid that the one true God created. in throne in heaven and there's no way that that God would lower himself to such great extents that he would take naps and eat meals and get tossed around by waves in a storm. There's no way that he would allow himself to be spit on and beaten with rods to have a crown of thorns placed on his head, to have his hands and feet nailed into a cross and be hung out. There's no way that the one true God would allow that to happen to himself, but the God that the Scriptures revealed to us is a God who is not only matchless in glory, he's matchless in humility. And if we are going to know the God of the Bible, the one true and living God, we have to see him not just in his glory, high and lifted up, but in his humility, broke it and poured out. And if we are going to come to that God for salvation, we have to know that it's not enough for us to just stand at the bottom of the mountain of his glory and look in awe and wonder. We have to know that that is the God who has come down the mountain to make himself accessible and approachable and knowable to people like you and me and who will carry us to the mountain of his glory if we will simply trust him enough to put our life in his hands. This is the message of Christ and him crucified. Verse 10 says something so profound, I think maybe you ought to put a pin in it and take some time to contemplate this. Verse 9 says they made him a grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. I think the NIV says it pleased the Lord to crush him. And I need you to maybe stop and consider this. It doesn't just say that God was, that God the Father was willing, sort of reluctantly willing to crush him if he had to. It is to say that it brought Yahweh a pleasure to work out his plan in this way. It pleased the Lord. Why is this? Because the mercy of God toward you does not overshadow the justice of God towards sin. God loves you. He does. Also, God hates your sin. And we sort of live in a world that is happy to major on God loves you. You can put it on a bumper sticker and a billboard, you know, people wear it around on shirts, God loves you, God is love. You know, the world is happy to embrace

that truth. God loves you, but God hates your sin so completely that when your sin was laid on the Son, the perfect spotless lamb of God, it pleased God to crush him under the weight of your guilt in mind. We cannot think that because God loves you, he's become indifferent toward your sin. Friend, it's precisely the opposite of that because God loves you. He himself stepped under the weight of your sin so that you could step into the glory of his love. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief when you make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Come on, I want y'all to know this. Isaiah 53 is not bad news. It's not written to leave us sort of feeling ashamed and sad that our beautiful hero Jesus had to suffer in such a way. This is what this says, "When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I, this is the Lord speaking, I will divide him a "with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death, "and he was numbered with the transgressors, "and he bore the sin of many and made intercession "for the transgressors. "The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand," it says. "He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied." Guys, this is good news. The Bible tells us that for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. Understand, Jesus didn't just see the cross in front of him. He saw what was on the other side of the cross, the resurrection for him and the redemption for you, the glorification, the adoption, and the glorification that had made possible for you and for me. "He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied." Thank God, the story doesn't end at the cross.

The sacrifice was made at the cross, and Jesus declared at the cross, it is finished. But it wasn't until he walked out of the tomb, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and then poured out the Holy Spirit on those who would wait and watch that we began to see what Isaiah calls the labor of his soul. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. He shall divide the spoil with the strong. Isaiah did not write this text to make us pity the man of sorrows. I wanna make sure you hear what I just said. Isaiah did not write this text or this chapter to make us pity the man of sorrows, but to gather us together at the foot of the cross in awe and wonder at the one who would amass upon himself, all our sin and our shame and our filth and our hell and who would drink into himself the cup of the wine, of the wrath of God, not unto his defeat, but that through his death he might claim victory for us all. Isaiah 53 is not written to make us pity the man of sorrows, but to make us stand in awe at his relentless love. This text is not one of defeat, it's one of overcoming. That is the overcoming of one for the sake of all. And that through that one, our enemies are defeated, our sin is purged and we can come through him into a freedom we could never have one for ourselves. One of my favorite old-ish Christian writers, J.C. Ryle, who said this, "Let us never doubt for a moment

"that the preaching of Christ crucified "the old story of his blood and righteousness "and substitution is enough "for all the spiritual necessities of all mankind." Let us never doubt for a moment that the preaching of Christ crucified, the old story of his blood and righteousness and substitution is enough for all the spiritual necessities of all mankind. We live in a world that is looking for any other answer to their spiritual affliction, and I came to tell you this morning there isn't one. There is no drug retreat you could go take in the Amazon that will awaken you to what God designed you for. There is no practice of Eastern meditation that will awaken you to what God has designed you for. There is no book that you could read or podcast you could subscribe to or meditation routine or spiritual retreat that you could go on that will ever awaken you to that which the gospel makes accessible to you. And that is to be a son or a daughter of the Most High God to be filled with his spirit and called according to his purpose that is what you are made for and nothing else will ever satisfy. And so I can't think of a better way for us to respond to the preaching of Christ and him crucified than for us to receive the Lord's Supper. You know, we are as children of God. We're instructed in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 here

that we ought to continue on in the sacrament, the practice of what many have called the Eucharist that is the good blessing. And as we prepare to do so this morning, I would ask you to take this with the appropriate degree of seriousness. To recognize that Jesus, his body wasn't broken and his blood shed just because people were mean and they didn't want to hear the message he came to preach. payment for my sin and for yours. He is, he wasn't just the one that paid the atoning sacrifice, he's the one that became the atoning sacrifice so that you and I could be forgiven for our sins so that the Lord could lay on him the iniquity of us all. So this morning as we prepare to receive the Lord's Supper I'd ask you to do so with seriousness, with soberness and that if there are any things in your life that have not yet been brought under the blood of Jesus I'd ask you to confess those things, to get right with God, deal with God and let God deal with you in your heart before you come forward. And then to understand that as we engage in this sacrament that we come as many of our big brothers and sisters of the Lord have through the years we come into the presence of Jesus, that we understand that God is not just enthroned on his cosmic throne, you know, high above the world he created, that God actually stepped into creation, that he put on flesh and blood and that he allowed his flesh to be broken and his blood to be spilled for your sake and for the sake of your salvation. And so I'll pray over this and remind you that in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul writes, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said, 'Take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me.' In the same manner he also took the cup after supper saying, 'This cup is the new covenant

in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.' And then Paul adds this, 'For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes.' So this morning as we come forward to receive the bread and the wine we proclaim the Lord's death together. We experience the Lord's death together. We meditate on the Lord's death together and we remember how effective it was for our deliverance for our forgiveness and for our healing. So Lord we give thanks to you this morning. We thank you for your incredible love for us. Thank you that your love didn't quit when it got painful or uncomfortable. Thank you Lord that your blood didn't quit when it got heavy and hard. Thank you Lord that you endured the cross for our sake and for the sake of the salvation of our souls. So we give you our hope in our hearts this morning. And as we receive these elements Lord we pray that your presence would be with us. We pray Lord that your power that your healing that your love and your life would fill us up just as this bread and this wine do. Strengthen us Lord and give us grace to walk in a way that's honoring to you in Jesus' name. Amen. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

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