You know, when you're serving a church for basically more than three years, you know, some preachers, they have about three years of sermons. And when they get done with those three years of sermons, they start putting out resumes because they're done. And that's one of the blessings of preaching through books of the Bible. You're never done. You have a lifetime to preach through the Word of God. But when you're at a church basically longer than three or four years, you come to Christmas time, there's only so many Christmas sermons, you know, and same time at Easter. So this year I've been trying to focus on the effects of the incarnation toward us. And as I was studying this week, I was impressed to focus on the effects The passage we're gonna read this morning is from Philippians 2, a familiar passage. Philippians 2, five through 11, let this King James language, let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. But I'm gonna focus on one phrase, he made himself a servant. And so we're gonna focus on that phrase this morning, what it means for Jesus to make himself a servant, going back again to the servant songs from Isaiah. in chapters 42, 49, 50, and we'll just touch on 53. We're really gonna focus on the lesser known ones in chapter 42, 49, and 50. So if you're able to stand with me as we read from Philippians 2. This is the English Standard Version. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. So at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father, let's pray. Father, again, we thank you for the willingness of God the Son to enter his own creation. Your word tells us in chapter one of John, he entered into his own creation, and his own people received him not. Father, we thank you that your word tells us in John chapter one, in Colossians chapter one, in Hebrews chapter one, that Jesus was the agent, the second person of the Holy Trinity, was the agent that created all things. The apostle John says, there hasn't been anything made that wasn't made by him. And yet he entered into his own creation. And he humbled himself, Father, to become this servant, to become this sacrifice for our sins. And so, Father, as we celebrate the incarnation, as we celebrate God of very God entering into his creation and taking upon him the nature of mankind, becoming the God-man, Father, we thank you that there was a purpose in it. Ultimately, that purpose was to die for our sins. And so, Father, may we be grateful, may we be thankful, may we be humbled of such love. So, Father, by your Holy Spirit, may our hearts be opened. And, Father, may you bring light to our hearts. Father, the gospel is sufficient for salvation to those who have not believed. But, Father, it is also sufficient for sanctification for we who have believed. So Father, may we grow deeper in our love and thanksgiving for the indescribable gift of your son. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. May we be seated. So again, I just want to focus on this basic phrase in Philippians 2, that he honed himself and became that servant. You know, Jesus said in the Gospels that he came to serve. It's interesting, even on the night of his betrayal, his disciples were so preoccupied with their expectation of a kingdom, of an earthly kingdom that they expected Jesus to establish. And maybe Pilate grew to understand a little bit better than they did initially, when Pilate asked Jesus if he was a king, and Jesus said, yes, I am a king, in essence. But he says, my kingdom is not of this world. The disciples hadn't gotten that yet. They were expecting an earthly kingdom, an earthly throne of David to be reestablished upon this earth, and Jesus to reign upon it, and them to reign with him. Even, I still hear Dr. Muncy from college, referring to James and John as Jimmy and Johnny, coming to Jesus and asking if they could sit on his right hand and on his left. They even sent their mommy to him, thinking that she would persuade him a little bit. And basically, Jesus said, you do not know what you're asking. You don't know the cup that I'm going to drink. You don't know what it means to be on my right hand and on my left hand. And so they, even hours before Jesus was betrayed and arrested, they were arguing on who was the greatest in the kingdom. Jesus, in John's Gospel in Chapter 13, He demonstrated His servanthood as they gathered for the Last Supper, for the Passover. It was normal practice for the lowest of the lowest of the lowest servants to be ready for those that entered into the house to take a towel and take a basin of water and wash their feet. And here these guys rush in, they're placing themselves around the table, getting ready to eat, and Jesus gets up and takes that position of the lowest of the lowest servants to wash his disciples' feet. And they still argued about who was going to be the greatest among them. And so this text in Philippians 2, as I probably shared with you before, Many believe that these verses 5 through 11 were actually a hymn that was sung, that was telling the story, that was telling the message of Jesus. And Paul takes this hymn that was common among believers at that time and brings it into this letter. And so, Verse seven, he made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. So that's gonna be our focus this morning. Again, going back to the prophecies of Isaiah. And so first of all, we want to behold the servant of God. If you have your Bibles, turn back to Isaiah 42. This is the first word of this prophecy. Now many in, And many among the Jewish folks interpret this servant as the people of Israel. But Matthew's gospel actually quotes the servant, this passage pointing to Jesus. And the beginning of chapter 42 in Isaiah says, behold my servant whom I uphold. And so we want to behold the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to see his humility, his unbrokenness before the Lord. And so, as we gaze upon him, we want to see that he's God's chosen one. God has always had a plan. There's one word in God's vocabulary It's oops. He doesn't use that word. When Adam sinned, God was not surprised. So we think in our mind, why did God create all this? Why did he create Adam knowing that Adam was going to sin? All I can say is for his glory. Because through the act of redemption, through the history of mankind, As we mentioned last week, the first word of the incarnation is in Genesis 15, when God said to the serpent, from her will come one who will crush your head though you bruise his heel. And so the story of redemption is a display of God's glory, of God's goodness, and even of his holiness and righteousness. And so God was not surprised. In fact, I believe that before anything came into existence, that within the Godhead, a covenant was established between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, that the Father would send the Son, the Son would come and accomplish our salvation. and that God the Holy Spirit then would open hearts and bring about the finished work of Christ and apply it to our lives for the forgiveness of our sin and for the glory of God. And so we need to behold the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, behold my servant, he is God's chosen one. Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. When Jesus was baptized, what did God say? What did the Father say? This is my beloved Son in whom I'm what? I'm well pleased. And even at the Mount of Transfiguration, where in a sense, Jesus' humanity was kind of pulled back, and his manifestation of his deity and the Shekinah glory was manifested there on the Mount of Transfiguration. And God the Father spoke again. And he said, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. And so the Father found pleasure in the Son. The Father found pleasure in the obedience of the Son. And so he's the anointed one. I put my spirit upon him. You know, in Luke's gospel in chapter four, Jesus is back home in Nazareth. And as a rabbi, it was customary to invite him to speak. And so Jesus, in chapter four, verse 16 of Luke's gospel, he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom, he went to the synagogue, Jesus went to church. And by the way, Jesus still comes to church. That's part of the lesson of Revelation 2 and 3 as he visited these seven churches there in Asia Minor. Jesus still comes to church and he's observing what's going on. And so we need to be conscious that what we offer God in worship as we come together is acceptable and pleasing in his sight. But Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He enrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. Now I don't know about you, but that's amazing to me. There are no chapters or verses, there were no bindings, there was just a scroll. And where he read from is way down the line in the prophecy of Isaiah, it's chapter 61. But Jesus knew exactly where he was going. He knew exactly what he was looking for. I personally believe that Jesus had a photographic memory because his mind was not tainted by sin. Another professor of mine in college, Dr. Crozier, always made the statement periodically, the only real sane person that ever walked this earth, absolutely sane person that ever walked this earth was the Lord Jesus. All of us have a little bit of insanity in us. All of us have a little potential of that in us. But Jesus' mind was clear. We use, what do they say, what? At best, what do we use? How much of our mind? 10%? I think Jesus had access to all of his mind. He was not tainted by sin. He was not corrupted by sin. I personally believe he had a photographic memory. He went to the synagogue regularly as a boy in Nazareth. It says as his custom was. Part of the purpose of the synagogue was just not on the Sabbath, but also during the week, it was kind of a school for the children. And as they would read scripture, I believe Jesus, and whenever he heard scripture, he had it. He had it. And so he goes in this passage in Isaiah 61. The spirit is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recover of sight to the blind and set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Because Jesus is the anointed one. Jesus is the one. And by the way, Al and I had a little bit of discussion about this a week or so ago. Something he saw or heard on the internet. In Jesus's humanity, he was completely dependent upon the Father. He was completely dependent upon the Holy Spirit in his humanity. Part of it is making himself nothing, this kinesis, this emptying himself. In essence, he gave up his right, although at times in scripture it seems he manifested his deity. But on the whole, in his incarnation, he lived in complete subjection to the Father and submission to the Father and obedience to the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. And this is where his submission of emptying himself and being anointed by the Spirit allowed him to walk in that perfect life, that sinless life for our sake. He's also the humble one. Verse two, he will not cry out aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the streets. Over and over again in the gospels after Jesus healed someone, he said, don't tell anybody. He wasn't there to put on a show. He wasn't there to draw attention to himself. Although the miracles he performed and actually did that, but that was not his purpose. As we saw, as we went through the Gospel of Mark, and this is my conviction, others may disagree with it, but this is my conviction, the miracles of Jesus were the authentication of his Messiahship. His purpose wasn't just to come for miracles. His purpose was to come to be a ransom for many. His purpose was to come to be that lamb that was led to the slaughter. His purpose was to come and restore the kingdom of God in the hearts of all those who believe for that future time when he returns and establishes that kingdom in the new heaven and new earth forever and ever. And so even in his miracles, his intention was not to draw attention to himself other than to demonstrate and authenticate his being the Messiah. And so he humbled himself, but he was also the gentle one. A bruised reed he will not break and faintly burned wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. I refer to it from Matthew's gospel chapter 11, Jesus' invitation to us. I'm gonna start in verse 25. We usually start in verse 28 because that's where Jesus had come to me. But in verse 25, at that time, Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to the little children. Yes, father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my father, and no one knows the son except the father, and no one knows the father except the son, and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. So here's Jesus' invitation, come to me, all that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am, I think King James says me, ESV translates this, gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Jesus comes with a gentleness toward us. Now he comes with judgment. He's gonna establish justice. He will not, back in Isaiah 42, he will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth and the coastlines wait for his love. And so he's the faithful one. This servant made himself a servant. Now, we want to listen to the servant. Over in chapter 49 of Isaiah. Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord has called me from the womb, from the body of my mother, He named my name. What did Gabriel say to Mary? After he shocked her with the reality of this miracle within her womb that she was going to conceive of the Holy Spirit. And you're gonna bear a son, you're gonna call his name what? Jesus, Yahshua. Jesus is the Greek equivalent to the Old Testament, Joshua. It means salvation is of the Lord. That's why we call him Savior. That's what his name means. He's our Savior. And so here, some almost 800 years before Jesus is conceived in the womb of Mary, the Lord has called me from the womb, from the body of my mother, and he has named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he hid me. He made me a polished arrow in his quiver. He hid me away, and he said to me, you are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified. So I think I started and didn't finish up the thought. Many interpret that these passages as referring to the nation of Israel. But again, Matthew tells us that it refers to Jesus. And Jesus is the true Israel of God. Jesus is the one that fulfilled God's purpose in the nation of Israel. Jesus fulfilled that purpose. And he's the true Israel of God. And that's why we're able to be sons and daughters of Abraham. Paul tells us in Romans, not all Israel is Israel. It's those that place their faith in Jesus Christ. And we that have placed our faith in Christ, We have like faith with Abraham, therefore we're sons and daughters of Abraham spiritually. And we have this privilege before God. And he's skilled in the word. Over in chapter 50, verse four, the Lord has given me the tongue of those who were taught. that I may know how to sustain with a word. Again, as Jesus grew up, the Bible says he grew up in wisdom. He grew up in the pleasure of men and pleasure of his father, heavenly father. I heard this pseudo-theologian named Glenn Beck. I don't know why he pontificates. One, he's a Mormon. But he made a statement last week. He said, Jesus didn't know what he was gonna become. And I raised my, I was in the car, I raised my hand. I said, excuse me? He at least knew when he was 12 years old. It was after he lingered in Jerusalem and the entourage had gone on, going back to Nazareth. And after a day or two, Mary and Joseph, hey, where's Jesus at? And so they go searching for him. They eventually end up where? At the temple. And they kinda, you know, they were a little irate with him, but Jesus said, I think, very humbly and very kindly to his mother, don't you understand, I must be about my father's business. At least when he was 12 years old, Jesus knew his purpose. And he had learned the word of God, and he proclaimed the message. And I remind you of this all the time, in chapter 24 of Luke's gospel, one of the last things that Jesus did was he set his disciples down and he went through the Old Testament, he went through the word of God again from the law, from the Psalms and from the prophets that all that those types and shadows were pointing to him that he's the fulfillment Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians that all the promises of God are yes in Christ Jesus fulfills all those types and shadows and so he was skilled in the word Again as we as we went through Mark's gospel and we got to the wilderness temptations and That recording there is not simply to give us a guideline how to overcome temptation, which we can apply that way. But the real purpose of that encounter was Jesus being tested as a son to his faithfulness to the Father's will. And there was confrontation between the light of the gospel and the powers of darkness. Well, how did Jesus overcome that temptation? You know, Satan was quoting scripture. You understand that? I should say he was misquoting scripture. But how did Jesus? One of the first words that Jesus said to Satan, it is what? Written. And so Jesus was skilled in the word of God, not only skilled in knowing the words, but he was skilled in knowing the reason and the purpose and the meaning of those words. And so he was skilled in the word. And by the way, that's how it works. I remind you of this all the time in 1 Corinthians. God's word says that he has determined that man, through his wisdom, cannot know God. Okay? Let me just go ahead and find it and read it. Verse 21, chapter 1, 1 Corinthians. For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom. It pleased God through the folly or the foolishness of what we preach. Now, it's not foolish to us. but it's foolish to the world. To save those who believe, for Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews. One of the reasons it was a stumbling block to Jews, they could not wrap their head around a suffering servant. There are There are synagogues and gatherings in the Jewish world that they will not read Isaiah 53. They cannot wrap their mind around a suffering servant. It's a stumbling block to them. And to the Greeks, it's foolishness. But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom And so God has determined that through what we preach, what we proclaim, the gospel is a message. It is something that we declare. It's in the indicative. We are declaring what we believe to be the truth. I think I've seen it two or three times this week. Somebody say, well, she's sharing her truth. What is that? There's not my truth, your truth, his truth, her truth, everybody's truth. There's what? One truth. And the repository of that, we believe, is the word of God. But he's the redeemer of Israel. Jesus came to bear our transgressions, as I read there in chapter 53. Let me move on. He's the despised one. He still despised one. I very seldom hear anybody take Allah's name in vain. Do you? I very seldom hear somebody taking Joseph Smith's name in vain, or Charles Taz Russell, or any of these Confucius, all these down through the centuries that have a claim of truth Jesus Christ is despised by the world. Because you read in John chapter one, or chapter five, John writes that the whole world is under the influence, the domain, the power of the evil one. And Jesus is despised, but we still preach Christ. We still preach Christ crucified. We still preach Christ as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We still preach Christ that His name has been exalted above every name. You know one knee that's gonna bow and profess that Jesus Christ is Lord? Starts with a D and ends with an L. The devil. It's one of my pet peeves. The devil does not rule in hell. He rules as a little G God of this world. He rules as a little P prince of the power of the air, Ephesians 2. He's the instigator, the orchestrator, and he's the spirit of disobedience that is dominating our world and the world culture. But one day he's gonna bow his knee before Christ, and he's gonna say with his tongue that Jesus Christ is Lord. There's only one throne in all creation. God sits on it. And he reigns in heaven, he reigns in earth, he reigns in hell. And Jesus Christ has been exalted in that place where Paul tells us in Corinthians that he brings all things under his feet so that he may turn it all over to the Father for the glory of God in all creation. He's the rewarded one. Come back here to 49. Verse five, now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, that Israel might be gathered to him, and I may be honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength. He says, it is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will make you a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One. the one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation. The servant of rulers king shall see him and rise princes and they shall prostrate themselves because the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel has chosen you. So we see this mostly in Jesus' incarnation, but continually within the true church, true believers, the true remnant. God always has a people. Even as what we call historically the dark ages, God has always had a people. God always has a remnant. The gospel moves from generation to generation by its proclamation and by its truth, and God has always had a people. And no matter how he's despised by nations, the day is going to come when these kings shall see and rise and princes, and they will prostrate themselves before him. That's the message of Psalm 2. It asks the question, why do nations rise up? Why do they band together to reject the Lord. Why do nations rage and people plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against His anointed, saying, Let us burst their bands apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury. As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree the Lord has said to me, you are my son, today you have begotten me. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage, the ends of the earth your possessions. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Again, going back to the temptation and the willingness, what was one thing that Satan offered Jesus? He offered them the nations of the world. I think Jesus knew Psalm 2. I think Jesus knew that all the nations of the world were His already. But Satan was trying to circumvent the purpose of God and for Jesus to be disobedient to the purpose of the Father and the timeline of the Father. That's why he was able to stand before Pilate and say, my kingdom is not of this world. In essence, Pilate said, do you know who I am? I think Jesus says, do you know who I am? You can't do anything to me except out of the will of the Father. Earlier Jesus said, I can ask my Father. You know there's that song, 10,000 Angels? That's not what Jesus said. Jesus said, I can ask my Father and he'll send legions, legions. to deliver me. He's the reward that went out quickly. Turn to my servant. I actually picked this up, this idea, a little bit from chapter 45 of Isaiah. In verse 22, turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God and there is no other. King James says, look to me. So I want us to think about turning to the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to look at his obedience. That's part of what chapter 50 of Isaiah says. The Lord has given me the tongue of those who are taught that I may know how to sustain with the word. He who is weary, morning by morning he awakens me, he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord has opened my ear that I was not, and I was not rebellious. I turned not backward. So we see Jesus' obedience. Why is that important? The law demands from us absolute obedience. And we've all, we all have an F minus, minus, minus, minus. But though he were a son, that learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect or complete, he became the author of eternal salvation. Jesus' obedience qualified him to be the sacrifice for our sins. Now, again, I think I read this 20 years ago, maybe 15 years ago. I think I read it when I was in Moberly, which is at least 19 years ago. that about 80-some percent of evangelicals think Jesus had sinned. If Jesus had sinned, we're wasting our time this morning. We're wasting our giving. We're wasting our talents. We're wasting our time. If Jesus had sinned, there's no salvation. There's no hope. but he was without sin through his obedience, his perfect obedience to the Father. Jesus kept the law for us. What Paul says in Romans 8, that the righteous requirements of the law can be given to us. We only measure up in him. We are clothed in his righteousness. So we look to his obedience, we look to his sufferings. Here in Isaiah 50, I gave my back to those who strike, my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. But the Lord God helps me. Therefore, I have not been disgraced. And so Jesus willingly. You know, we used to have this cross here behind the supper table. And the manger we put here in the center. because that's the message of the gospel, is that it's not just a manger. It's a manger with a shadow over it. And that shadow was the cross of Calvary's tree. And even next Sunday, as we receive the Lord's Supper, we'll have the elements in this manger. For out of this manger came the one who laid down his life for us. Came the one whose blood was shed for us. Came the one whose body was broken for us. Because that's why Jesus came. That's why these prophecies are pointing to him as the servant, as the suffering servant that we might have the forgiveness of our sins. And so, we see as a termination. This is one of the great statements in scripture. Therefore I have set my face like a flint. Now in Luke's gospel, chapter 9, verse 31, it says Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem. And whenever I read that, I think of this passage. He set his face like a flint. It means with absolute determination, no deterring him, no getting off the track. He knew that his destination was a cross. Again, as we study Mark, at least four times, Jesus told his disciples, at least six months before he ends up on the cross, I must go to Jerusalem. I will be betrayed. I will be arrested, I will be beaten, I will be killed, but guess what? On the third day, I'm gonna rise again. The determination of the Lord Jesus to do the will of the Father, he set his face like a flint toward that will. And we look to his vindication. The Lord helps me, therefore I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. He who will contend with me. Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God helps me. Who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment. The moth will eat them up." And so Jesus, What's the reality of his vindication? What is the act in all history that demonstrates that Jesus Christ was vindicated? What is it? Starts with an R and ends with an N. The resurrection. I've told you many times, at least the resurrection tells us two things. Jesus was sinless in his incarnation. and that his sacrifice on the cross was sufficient to bring about our forgiveness of sins. And I want to add a third in recent years, a third, he's coming back. He's coming back to establish not just the kingdom of God in our hearts, but the kingdom of God in new heaven and new earth, that all who believe will be a part of that And so we look to His exaltation. Our text from Philippians says, because of His obedience, because of His willingness not just to die, but to die really at the time of His life in many ways even today, the most shameful death of hanging on that cross. Therefore, The Father has highly exalted Him and given Him that name. It's above every name. That in His name, we're gonna bow our knee. And every one of us here are gonna do that. All of us who believe are gonna do it with joy and thanksgiving. You see, when Jesus comes back, it's gonna be a day of joy. What a day that will be when my Jesus I will see. When I look upon His face, the one who saved me by His grace. But to many, many religious, many ill-religious, it's going to be a day of terror. Because it'll be a day of judgment. It'll be a day of separation of the sheep and the goats. Jesus is going to say to us who believe, stand on my right hand. Through those who have failed to believe whose names are not written in the last book of life, he's gonna say, stand on my left hand. And some of the most devastating words in all of creation, that those who are gonna be on the left hand of Jesus, Let me just read here in verse 11 of Revelation 20. Then I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated upon it, for from his presence earth and sky fled away. And no place was found for them, and I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades, or hell, gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged each one of them according to what they had done. Then death and hell were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. There's no pleasure in the death of the wicked. There's no pleasure in even reading those words, but those words are true. Those words need to be said. This message needs to be proclaimed because our eternal reality, our existence, depends upon our response to this suffering servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. Part of that justice that he establishes is the payment of sin, of the wrath of God falling upon all in godliness and wickedness of men. And we either accept that wrath that has fallen upon Christ, that's fallen upon Christ, that we can be forgiven, or that wrath, that justice will fall upon us. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that Jesus came. Thank you, Father, that he is the suffering servant. But no longer, he's the risen Lord. He's the King of kings and Lord of lords. And he's gonna return with that royal diadem. He's gonna return on that white steed in power, in victory, in conquering kings. to bring all things to pass. So Father, we pray that we know Him, that we love Him, that we follow Him. And Father, if anyone that's here this morning without Christ, Father, may Your Holy Spirit open their heart to their need to put their faith in Jesus Christ. In His name we pray, amen.