Who brought this? Who does this? Brenton, where are you? That is so sweet. I had my own water, and I thought Rick left his up here. It says, Lynn Teague, these things are for you, water and mint. Where is that? Oh, there it is. OK. I guess I need one, huh? It's an encouragement, okay? Go unpack the suffering servant. Hope everyone's hungry. This is a rich and meaty text. Wow. How sweet. Thank you for that. Before I get into the scripture here of Isaiah 53, I want to say a few things. The title of the lesson is The Providence and Preservation of God. Also got a little object lesson here. So I'm going to go with the gift and put this one down here. Never turn down a gift, OK? Put that there. Before I get and read the text with us and begin the sermon, I want to share some things. This is an interesting time today. Pastor Rick, that's a new thing to say. We've gone through a period between the Old and the New Testaments, that's called the intertestamentary part. We've gone through the inner elder series. And so I'm going to guess the last one here. And I'm going to put my watch up here and kind of check it, OK? Pray for my wife. She's more nervous than I am up here. She prays I'm going to, the kids will be screaming, and the kids will be, I'm going to keep y'all all day. And so I'm going to try not to. But I want to share with you, some of y'all knew that a few weeks ago, and I'm just going to tell my little story. A few weeks ago, we were in church, and we went out with some friends to a restaurant here in town, and had a great meal together, good fellowship. And then, are you able to hear all right? OK, I thought I had my Bible over this new speaker here. Went out with some friends, and about midnight that night, it felt like a lion was in my stomach just chewing me up. And I'd never felt nausea pain like that before in my life. And you know what happens when you get those pains? porcelain throne, I've heard it called, and bowed down to it several times. And it was bringing no relief, no relief, no relief. I told Susan, you're going to have to take me to the emergency room. And so she drove me to the emergency room. Make a long story short, they didn't know a real diagnosis. They checked me for a heart attack first, put the EKG and all that with me, and sent me home and said, you have a stomach virus, and so no medicine. And then about four days later, it hit again really bad. And so went back and went back again, and finally, went to the different emergency room. This time I went to the big emergency room. I've learned, if you've got to go to the emergency room, go to the one at the hospital. They've got what you need there. The one I went to did not have everything. They didn't have a surgeon there. And they started scanning me. And long story short, my gallbladder was failing. It was done. And I just found out through pathology when they released me earlier this week, that part of it was dead, and the rest of it had stones in it. And yet, when they were feeling of it, does that hurt? That hurt? I go, no, no, no. But mysteriously, this came on me just like a thief in the night. I mean, it just hit. So and then from there, I get it out, and they send me home. And then three days later, I'm lying in the bed and wake up in the middle of the morning, about 2 in the morning. And all of a sudden, I'm going, man, every time I breathe, it feels like a knife's going in, a knife's going in, a knife's going in. And that turned out, go back to the emergency room, that turned out to be a blood clot in my lung. And so So, anyway, it's gone on for about a month, but here I am. Here I am. But I'm saying all that to say this. Praise God. Praise God for that. I'm a little skinny. I'm a little thin. Tom McKeon said I do have some color. It's probably the white shirts making the color look like. But I'm glad to be here. But I want you to know some of the elders came and visited me on a Wednesday night after services here. And Roger got there first. And I told him I'd mention him. But Roger looked at me in that bed and we visited for a while. Boy, I didn't know anybody was coming. I'd at least done that with my hair. Light colored whiskers all over the face, put it that way. I could even go into more story about how I looked, and some of them saw that, but I won't. But Roger leaned over, looked across, and he said, Len, You still got your faith. And I was like, wow, that's God. Thank you for noticing. But I said, that's God. I haven't been doing anything, really. I know you guys have been lifting me up. And it really hit me. Lynn, you've got your faith. And I thought, that's the preservation of God. We always believe in the perseverance of the saints, but you know what, it's the preservation of the saints. We persevere, and I was thinking of it, it's like, I've got a pickup truck, too, and I haul a golf cart around on it with a trailer, but it's like the truck is the active machine. That's God preserving. The persevering is the trailer just following along it. And so, God preserved me. And I want to say this, too. Deuteronomy 29 29 is one of my favorite verses but it says the secret things belong to the Lord but the things revealed to us are to us and to our children forever there are secret things in this walk of the Christian life that if God told you you'd worry about it and you probably would get on a boat to Nineveh or somewhere and run. But God does bring things upon us, and this church went through something, and Miss Amanda went through something, and the family went through something several months ago. And so y'all were gonna clap for me, and I talked to her, and I asked her if I could mention this, but I said, you know, it's God that's been preserving us, but I said, I want you to know What a hero of the faith you've been. And she said, I don't feel like a hero. I said, but you are. I said, we look over there. Everybody looks over there to see if you're here. And you've been here. And so thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for your preservation of all of us. There is a song we sing around here. And I heard this. I think we sing it here. I couldn't find it in our hymnal. But I took a picture of it at 3.40 this morning. God wakes you up. I don't know how many times, Shane, you preach your sermon to yourself when you're getting ready to preach. You guys, I mean, I ought to do good, because this is my 19th time to preach it to myself. But the problem is, each time, God, you change it. You change it. But I took a picture of this, and it's called, God Moves in a Mysterious Way. I believe we've sung this. Have we? I couldn't find it, but listen. God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. We saw that this morning. Deep and unfathomable minds of never failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take. The clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace. Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face. Those two words are the ones that made me look it up. I googled it. Frowning face in a hymn. Google's good. They showed me this. Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter and he will make it plain. He's doing that. He's doing that. I told Pastor Rick, call him Pastor Rick, Rick. Around here we just call you by your first name, so get ready. That I'm gonna make you look good today. All right, next week I'm gonna make you look good. Yeah, I'm gonna make you look good. So, if you would stand and let's read Isaiah 53. I'm in the NASB, and if some of you want to prepare for this, I believe it's on page 554 in the Black Pew Bibles, because I know we probably have 19 different versions of the Bible represented here, and it's always hard to follow, but it is on page 554 if you want to follow. But it starts off, it says, Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground, he has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hid their face, or hide their face, he was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried, yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the chastening of our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death, because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth, but the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief. If he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied. By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many. as he will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the great, and he will divide the booty with the strong, because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors." Let me pray once again. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for these words of Isaiah, written by you, Lord, that he penned. that tell us so much of the secret things of God revealed to us, and they are to us and to our children forever. We thank you for them. We thank you for what we're gonna learn. We thank you for what the New Testament turns on the light and tells us more and shows us what this passage means. Thank you for the opportunity to stand up here, Lord, and speak your word. Lord, may we glorify you in all we do and say, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you. Some of y'all are wondering what the tennis balls are for. And real quick, I don't know how that came about. Sometimes the Lord, I don't know. I hear people say, the Lord told me to get them. But I don't know how that exactly works. But anyway, this thought came to my mind out of the blue to, can you guess what that might represent? OK, three and one. I've tried for years to try to explain the trinity of God, but let's do that with these tennis balls, okay? And they're going to Gary Warden. Does anybody else play tennis but Gary Warden? Who? Okay. All right. Well, y'all can figure it out, but I want to give these to somebody because I don't play that game. Yeah, they represent. They're all the same. They're of the same essence, the same size. They do the same thing. They're capable of doing the same thing. They're three in one. They're all in this tube here. And if you looked at it, it might be Father, Son, Holy Spirit. You could change them around. It could be Son, Father, Holy Spirit. Because however they're mentioned in the scripture, they're all God, all three. But in the scriptures, It says in Philippians that Jesus thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He was totally equal with God, but humbled himself to be found in appearance as a man and humbled himself even unto the cross. And so what happens when you read the scriptures, a lot of times you're going to see it and it's going to look more like this. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which can look like high school, junior high, and elementary school, okay? But let us always remember, Christ is not inferior in any way to God. The cults miss that. They say, how can Jesus be God when He's the Son? And so, as we read this passage, and other passages, and you're gonna see things like that, Jesus says, I came not to do my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me. And what was the will of the Father who sent me? Of all He has given me, I will lose none, but raise Him up on the last day. So Jesus says, He kept telling the Pharisees, the things I come down, I came down here to not speak my words, but the word that the Father gave me. That's why I love the song, Is He Worthy? He was worthy to open the scroll. He was worthy to look at it. The Father designed this covenant of redemption that we're going to read about in Isaiah 53. The Father authored it. And it was a love gift to give Jesus a people like us. We're a love gift from the Father to the Son. Did you know that? That's how we got in here. We didn't get in here. We got in here because they love each other. God is love. It's incredible love they have, and they wanted to share it. And so that's how we get in here. All right? So I'll put that aside over here. And let's look at the scriptures here. I went from having 23 pages, I know that's a lot of verses here, and I'm gonna just give you gleanings of things, okay, from it. And I see the clock, and it's 11.03, and so it'd be great if I could have it done by about 11.30, okay, and that's pretty quick, but let's go with it. Who has believed our message? Who has believed our message? That word, our, caught my attention. You remember something in early Genesis where we heard our God talking? Let us make man in what? Our image. Uh-huh. The first sign, symbol of the Trinity that we hear about, I think, in the scriptures. Let us make man in our image. Here God is asking, who has believed our message? Who has believed our message, the message of the Trinity? Who has believed the message of the Trinity about the covenant of redemption? That's another name of calling the everlasting covenant. It's how God designed salvation. So, who has believed our message? I'm gonna flip here real quick to who has not believed the message, okay? John chapter 12. Let me see here. When we read John chapter 12, Jesus is going to quote part of Isaiah 53 here, who has believed our message. Listen to what he says. These things Jesus spoke, this is chapter 12, verse 37. John 12, 37. These things Jesus spoke, and He departed and hid Himself from them. But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. So that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Verse one of Isaiah 53. For this cause they could not believe, for Isaiah said again. This is another prophecy of Isaiah. He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart. He capitalized, God. God has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart lest they see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted and I heal them. These things Isaiah said because he saw his glory and he spoke of him. Nevertheless, many even of the rulers believed in him. They believed in Jesus, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing him. lest they should be put out of the synagogue, for they love the approval of men rather than the approval of God." So the most, some of them. And so when you look at it, I know there's some feelings of understanding because of some scriptures that Jesus came down and tried to become king and somehow he failed and they just didn't believe in him, he just didn't do a good enough job. But the sovereignty of God, always remember the sovereignty of God. In the games I play golf with, we take mulligans. If we don't like that shot, alright, everybody take a mulligan, we'll hit another one over there. God doesn't need a mulligan. He never does. And so, the things we see happening here, God is about to go, Christ is about to go. Before I say he's about to go, let's talk about this. This passage is 2,700 years old, y'all. It was 700 years before Jesus was born. 700 years. So this would be called eschatology. Eschatology is not something that happens tomorrow from where we are today. It's something that happened after it was prophesied. First one was, Adam, don't eat from that tree, for the day you eat of it, you will surely die. Eschatology. Well, did he do it? Yes. And so, look where we are. But this is why Jesus came. So, who has believed our message? Let me just answer that with this. Jesus says, no one can come to me unless the Father draws him. Jesus said to the Pharisees in John chapter 8, why is it you do not understand my speech? even because you cannot hear me. We call that total depravity, how we're not born with Adam with ears to hear God and a desire to know God. We have an enmity with God. So who has believed our report? And so don't think for a moment that God's asking this question because he doesn't know. He's going to have to look down the corridors of time because in the attributes of God class, if I ever get to teach that, I kind of got put on the burner for four weeks with it. But God is omniscient. He knows everything from the beginning to the end. He doesn't have to look down the corridors of time with a telescope and say, oh, I see Lentig. And he's trying over there. He's trying. So those that God has called, those that the Holy Spirit has regenerated, those are the ones Who believe God? Who will believe the message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? The arm of the Lord represents a lot of things. The arm of the Lord went in and split the Red Sea open. And God's people walked through on dry land and then the Egyptians went through and here it comes, flooded them. God destroyed nations for Israel in the old covenant days. God's hand of the Lord is strong, but God's hand of the Lord is strong also. It's in salvation. It's His arm of the Lord that has saved you in salvation. That's what God calls it when He rescues you from the kingdom of darkness and puts you in the kingdom of His dear Son. For He grew up before him like a tender shoot. Jesus grew up before You know, when you write your notes, you wrote them because you knew them, so I may just go without my notes, but anyway. And maybe I'll get through faster. He grew up before him like a tender shoot. He did grow up as a little baby. And listen, he was on the most wanted list of Satan the whole time. Remember, Mary and Joseph, Joseph was warned in a vision when Jesus was born to take the child and Mary and go to Egypt until I tell you. And it says, and after Herod died, the angel said, go back to Israel. All right, and so he grew up like a tender shoot, but he grew up as a tender baby. I don't know what kind of diapers they wore back then, but yes, he did that. And yes, here's something else. We're going to look at that. Jesus is all God, 100%. He's all man, 100%. He started as a baby just like us. I love Mary Did You Know. Mary, did you know when you kissed your little baby, you'd kiss the face of God? So he grew up as a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground. He grew up in Nazareth. It's about 90 miles. I'd say that's about from here to LBJ Freeway from Jerusalem, which had, I'm sorry, from Bethlehem. And so, but it was about a 90 mile jaunt that they made. But it was a tiny little place. Google. What was the population of Nazareth in Jesus' day? 480. Can you think of a town around here that's got 480? That's pretty small, isn't it? Huh? Small. God had him to grow up in a little bitty town, but he was safe there. He was safe. And like a root out of parched ground. And let me talk about that for a minute. A root out of parched ground. Spiritually, here's what was going on too. I see you, Shane. I saw that. Thank you. That reminds me. He grew up in a parched ground. He grew up in a spiritually parched ground. The Old Testament, the Old Covenant, It was getting long in the tooth. It was about done. Jesus is the one that's going to come in and shut it down. He comes in and shuts it down. The veil of the temple is rent. Soon, a few dozen years later, the temple is totally destroyed. The sacrifices, you know, and so in Hebrews it says it had become obsolete. Jesus was the tender shoot that was going to grow up and Now have multitudes look at all the tender shoots growing up here multitudes all over the earth This multitude from this one little shoot They're incredible that this the books Cannot be written couldn't be counted that have all been written of him no matter where you go Tyler, Texas There's a church and a bank on every corner Rick if you hadn't noticed it So It says he has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. Saul, it says he was the most handsome, 2 Samuel, I believe it's 9, it says he was the most handsome man in Israel. Taller than all the rest of them. Tall, dark, handsome. That's the guy we want. Jesus, listen, no appearance that we should be attracted to him at all. I don't know if he was Bodie Bauckham says, he probably didn't look like that picture that we see. It looked like the brick shampoo, you know, with the beautiful, shiny, gleaning hair and the little, what do you call that thing behind you? The moon-looking thing? Huh? Halo. Yeah. The halo. Thank you. You've got one. You would know. He was despised and forsaken of men. You know, Neil's been teaching and others are filling in, I think, as well, the types and shadows of Christ. I think Joseph is the closest to type and shadow of that. He was despised and forsaken of men. He was despised and forsaken of his family. He was despised and forsaken of his brothers. Why? Because his father favored him. He was his favorite son. Joseph was the favorite son. Well, who is God's favorite son? Has he ever said, Todd, this is my beloved son and who am I well pleased about you? He hadn't said it about me. Jesus, He was the favored Son of God. He's the only begotten Son of God. And it's because of Jesus we're in here. But Jesus, we always know that we are sons of God now. He's the special Son of God. But He was despised and forsaken of men. A man of sorrows and equated with grief. And let me say one other thing there. He was despised and rejected because the word got out that he was born of a virgin. And people were like, yeah, I bet, you know. The Pharisees in John chapter 8 said, we were not born of fornication like you. We were not born out of, you know, your parents weren't married like we were. Our God is the Father. And shortly after, Jesus says, you are of your father the devil. And he was a liar from the beginning. But he had to put up with that kind of things. Even as a boy, I'm sure. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And he was despised and we did not esteem him. Esteem means value. We didn't value him. We, we, before you knew Jesus, before the Lord opened your heart, before the Holy Spirit came and regenerated you, do you think you would have valued Jesus? Where is all of Tyler in this room today? There's a lot of people in churches today, but there's a lot more in the sack probably still. He's not esteemed. Jesus is not esteemed. What's the first curse word you often hear people say? Or when they hit their finger with a hammer, you know? You hear the name of Jesus, don't you? One of our sons said, that kind of shows me who he really is because Satan curses him any way he can and he's used as a curse word. Surely our griefs he himself bore. Now this is a thing you're going to see a lot through it here. We're moving along. Surely our griefs, you're going to see substitutionary atonement. And you, when you hear this, I may stick my finger up. I wish you would say, thank you, Jesus. Can you say thank you, Jesus? Yeah. Surely our griefs he himself bore. Thank you, Jesus. And our sorrows he carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." Let me stop there. Before we were born again, there's people now that think Jesus was a good man. He did a lot of good things. He tried to come down and help people. He was too good for his own good. But you know what? He just talked himself into getting killed. He must have really done something. Some people think, you know, God must have really been mad at him to do what he did to him. They don't understand. You remember what happened to Job? How Job, God allowed Satan to buffet him, and I mean put him through it. Really put him through it. God told Satan you cannot take his life, but there's certain things he could do. Satan is on a leash, okay? But what did Job's friends tell him? Job, man, come on now. Fess up. You must have done something, man. God wouldn't just be doing this to you. I mean, you know what? That's what this means here. Verse 4. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions. Thank you, Jesus. He was pierced through for our transgression. He was crushed for our iniquities. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. The chasing of our well-being, the chasing for our well-being, those stripes fell on Him. Thank you, Jesus. And by discouraging, we are healed. Thank you, Jesus. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. We're picking up some speed now. I know the Methodists are cranking their cars. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us turned to his own way. Like the time of judges. What did the time of judges... Somebody tell me, what was the time of judges known as? Everybody did what? What was right in their own eyes. Boy, is that not today? Is that not today? Everybody does what's right in their own eyes. One of the favorite... Come back if you were to tell somebody about Jesus, well, that's your opinion. That's your opinion, right? Did you know you're a sinner? That's your opinion. I'm better than those people at church. I've been there, I've seen them. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. Thank you, Jesus. Substitutionary atonement, being taught all through this, Jesus is doing this for us and He's doing it out of love for Him and obedience to Him. Is He worthy? Is He worthy? Is He worthy of this? He is. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. You know, he didn't really open his mouth. He could have contested. He could have said, look, I'm innocent. I'm innocent of this. I've had enough of this. You know, I'm done with this. As a matter of fact, zap, boom, boom. I mean, he could have. I don't know if these kids know what a bug zapper is, but Jesus has the power to zap people. I mean, he could bug zap anybody he wanted to, but he didn't. He didn't. He didn't. God said, if you'll go down and you'll pay the price for these people, we're going to turn them into something that's going to look like you, Jesus. We're going to turn them into something that looks like you that you're going to be proud of. You're going to be proud of them. You're going to be so excited about them. This is going to be Incredible, Jesus, if you'll do it, we're gonna show them, and we're gonna bring them into total fellowship, and there's gonna be an extra tennis ball in there. Not God's, but with God. We're gonna be with God. Make us together with Him. Read John 17. So, like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, One of my trips to the Philippines, they always like to cook a pig for the guest. And one day, one morning early, I mean like I mean, the sun comes up early there, like 4.30 in the morning. And it's like, wow. And I hear this pig squealing. And I look down, and these three guys were wrestling, this little guy. And I can't tell the whole story. But it was a sad deal to me, because it was wanting its mama. His one is mama, and I think it's what he wanted. I mean, I couldn't understand the pig language, but I could tell. It was crying. And the cry was loud and got quieter and got quieter, but it kept on getting quieter. And I knew what that meant. And I couldn't eat much of that pig. So when he says, like a lamb that is led to slaughter and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, what does that mean? Pilate's this close to him. He says, tell me who you are. He says, don't you know I have the power to give you life or death? Jesus did say this, he didn't protest his innocence, but he said, I'll tell you this, you have no power unless my father in heaven has given it to you. That's all he said to him. He was quiet. So he did not open his mouth. Verse 8, by oppression and judgment he was taken away. and judgment. It was a kangaroo court. It was a fixed deal. They came in and they made all these false charges against him. He had broken no laws. Same with Paul, as we was talking about. He's accused of breaking laws. No. When you go preaching the gospel, you may be accused of things. But he didn't open his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. Thank you, Jesus. That should be us, arrested, taken away, because we're the sinners. We're the sinners. Pastor Rick said an amazing prayer. We call it our prayer of confession. We do it every week, because we need to come to God, reminding ourselves and reminding Him that we know where we came from and we know where we would still be but for his grace and we know that he loves us and he doesn't condemn us any longer because of Jesus and what he did. By impression and judgment, excuse me, he was taken away, verse 8, and as for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living As for his generation, well let me tell you what, out of his generation, what does that mean? Here's what I think it means, at least until I can find a commentary better. That we remember right now, 2024, what he did in his generation. His generation was remembered in the first century saints, the second century saints, the third century saints, The fourth century. And even those prior to that in the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, there were those that looked to Christ and they had enough faith to believe in the coming Messiah. We look back at the Messiah and what he did. Last part of eight. For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due. That's a thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due. Does anybody have a Bible that says strokes? God just calls it not just the specific strokes of him getting beaten and beaten and beaten. Pilate saw no guilt in Jesus. He tried to say, I'm just gonna have him beaten and scourged and maybe they'll be happy with that. But no, they weren't. They wanted him dead. His grave was assigned with wicked men. Well, every cemetery you go in is full of wicked men. Mostly. I don't know. There may be one that's perfect that every one of them was Christians. But there's going to be a cemetery where there was wicked men there that never confessed Christ. He was put into the tomb there. I don't know if there were more tombs around it and how they did cemeteries in those days. Somebody else might could tell me. But his grave was assigned with wicked men. He was with a rich man in his death. Most commentators say that was Joseph of Arimathea. He wasn't really with him in his death. And, you know, all of us are theologians, and all of us may have the right to get it wrong. But I also have a theory, Rick, that there was one thief who realized, he said, surely this is an innocent man here. And he said, remember me, sir, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said, this day, I tell you the truth, you will be with me in paradise. That was a rich man, a co-heir with Christ, just like you and me. We'll see that guy someday. We're gonna meet him. We're gonna meet him. That was a rich man. I don't know if that's the rich man that Isaiah was speaking of, but that was a very rich man. We will see him. And all of us here are rich men because of Christ. Co-heirs with Christ. Yet he was with a rich man in his death, verse 9, bottom of it, because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth. God keeps telling you, He was not guilty in any way. There wasn't any deceit in his mouth. There wasn't any deceit in his mind. There wasn't any deceit ever in his whole life. I mean, who could do what he did? Now here. Well, who killed Jesus? Was it Satan? Who was it? Was it the Jews? Who was it? Listen, the ultimate, the primary cause, there's always secondary and third causes, but God is always the primary cause. Listen, and that's hard to take. The secret things of the Lord belong to Him, but the things revealed to us belong to us and to our children forever. This has been revealed to us right here. But the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief. That's a hard one. But we saw also what Abraham almost did with Isaac, didn't we? That was a preview, a type and shadow of what happened at the cross. And God provided a ram so that Abraham would not do that to Isaac because he was not to go into the holy ground of what Jesus was going to do. But the father went through with it. It pleased the father. Why would it please the father? Because I love you and I'm going to give you I'm going to Jesus. God says, I'm going to make your name the name above all names. Jesus, the name above all names. We're going to have, you're going to have church buildings and things all over. You're going to have people all over the earth, in the Philippines, and in Africa, and Cuba, and Tyler, Texas, and Yakima, Washington. What was the little town y'all were in? Moxie. Moxie. Moxie. How big was that? 4,000. 4,000. OK. All right. A lot bigger than. Nazareth was But the Lord verse 10 the Lord was pleased to crush him putting him to grief He would render himself as a guilt offering now stop just a minute Okay, we're doing pretty good. Stop just a minute 2,700 years ago 700 years before he's born. This is coming out If you're in here today, and you don't you're not a believer in the Lord. How could someone? 700 years before Talk about somebody like Jesus this way and what he did and what we know he did and how could he do this? How could someone come up with that kind of a story and it become accurate like this is front page news And let me just say this real quick for sake of losing 30 seconds. I watched a video on YouTube of a rabbi teaching it, and it's talking about the servant here and who's dying is Israel. And it's not Jesus. And I asked a friend that I met one time, and he said, Why do you not believe the gospel? He said, we never read the New Testament. I said, have you ever read it? No, we won't read it. We won't. I said, do you think it's phony? Yes, we do. But there's enough right here. There's enough right here. Now listen to this, verse 10. If he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring. He will see his offspring. How will he see his offspring if he's dead? What has to happen for him to see his offspring? Resurrection, right? You see the resurrection. He will see his offspring and who's his offspring? Raise your hand if you're one of his offspring. Okay, I'm seeing some people I'm worried about. You can see the hand up. I didn't see them. Alright. He will see His offspring. He will prolong His days. Resurrection. And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. The good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. How can we explain? How can we explain? the way this church has reacted this last year. How do we explain the people coming from the north, south, east, and west, people coming with, pardon the term, guys, Bush League preachers up here, pinch hitters, doing the best we can, and the Lord is, please, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand." See, that tells us that frowning race that God is showing. And I looked at that building. I walked in it with the elders the other day, and we're looking at it back there, and it's bigger. It's a third bigger. And I said, guys, if we keep growing, I don't know that God will do it. Listen, we're not all about that, but we're here to take care and preach and teach anybody that comes. But we may need a bigger boat, as the Jaws movie said. OK? Seriously. And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand as a result of the anguish, verse 11. Only 11 and 12, guys, we're making it. As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied. Jesus has seen it, he's seeing it, and he's satisfied. And by his knowledge, the righteous one, now look at this, the righteous one. Who is the only righteous one? It's right here. The righteous one. It's called the hypostatic union. What a big word theologians come up with. It means Jesus was 100% God and 100% man. Look in here in this verse, the bottom of 11. My servant, capitalized, excuse me, by his knowledge the righteous one, God is the righteous one, Christ as God, my servant, the servant, my righteous one, my servant, second person of the trinity now, God humbling himself to be second person to Trinity, my servant will justify the many as he will bear their iniquities. There's another one. Thank you, Jesus. He will bear our iniquities. Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the great and he will divide the booty with the strong. What does that mean? Let me tell you what I think it means. God the Father before the foundation of the world. Here's the sea of humanity. There's two races of people out here. Those that are in Christ and those that are not in Christ. Those that are in Adam and those that are in the new Adam. There's been a spiritual battle. We haven't sang in this church in a long time. We used to sing when I was a kid. Susan, you didn't know I could do that. She hates to hear me sing like that. It's been a war, a spiritual war, and it is a spiritual war. You know where we came from? You know where you got out? You know how you got here? God rescued you. If the sun sets you free, you will be free indeed. We were captives. We were captives into the kingdom of Satan, kingdom of darkness. We were captive. Colossians 1, what is it, 13, 14. We were in the kingdom of darkness. We had to be rescued out of it. He's brought us out of that. And so God, before the foundation of the world, said, and we also know this, before the foundation of the world, the names of God's people were written in the book of life before the foundation of the world. So finishing up, God gave a people to Jesus. He knew who he was gonna, he knew what he was gonna do. He knew who he was gonna save. And they're out there, and they're still out there. And he picked a lot more than you think. He told Abraham there would be more than the stars of the sea, more than the sand of the seashore. So don't think it's shorthanded. Don't think the doctrine of election shorthands it. We're going to be amazed at how many. The Bible says multitudes times multitudes that can't even be counted. Makes you smile, Rick, doesn't it? So they're out there. We were out there. They're out there. Therefore I will lot him a portion with great verse 12 and he will divide the booty with the strong Because he poured himself out to death. There you go substitutionary tournament Atonement again. Thank you Jesus yet. He himself bore the sin of many and and interceded for the transgressors. Not just the two on the cross, not just the one who believed, we were the transgressors. There should have been a million crosses there, and I would have been the first one. I would have been the first one that should have been on that cross, and on a cross. So I'm gonna stop with that, and thank the Lord for his word, and then we're gonna move on to an ordination. Heavenly Father, how can we thank you for you had everything. You had all the glory, all the power, dominion. You created the universe. You didn't need to do what you did. But out of love for the second person, the Trinity, as we call Jesus, You give Him this gift. You give Him this fixer-upper. Boy, we're some fixer-uppers, Lord. And You give Him this gift. And we thank You, Jesus, for coming down, for opening the scroll. And all it said that you had to say, and all it said you had to do, and all it says you're going to have to go through, and all it said you would hear about your mom and your dad, and all the things that you would be acquainted with, and how you would suffer a terrible, terrible, most painful death. Thank you for that, Jesus. And thank you, sweet Holy Spirit, who's with us now and with each one of us in our hearts and you're with us every day of our lives. Help us to walk according to the way you want us to walk. Spirit of Christ, we just ask you to help us to flee from sin. Lord, forgive us when we walk up to the edge of a cliff and look over. Just, Lord, give us wisdom and knowledge. Help us, Lord. Help us. In Jesus' name, I thank you. Amen.