Sunday Morning Service – August 18, 2024
Shall we pray? Father God, oh my goodness, what a week. What a week, Father God, you have poured out your blessings upon us. You have challenged us. You have strengthened us. You have provided for us. You have done all of those things every day. You have provided comfort for those who are grieving. You have provided support for those who are struggling. You have let your presence be felt to those who may not feel as though they matter at all. You have done all those things because you are God. And as we profess our faith in Jesus Christ, you become our Father. And you love us. You care for us. You are always there for your children. Today we come together to worship you, oh Lord, to worship you and you alone. Every prayer, every song, every scripture reading, every word spoken, all of the godly fellowship that occurs. We worship you and you alone. And we pray that you would take your place as the teacher and the pastor of this church as you do for the church universal, dear Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen. Well, where do we begin? I guess we should begin at the beginning, as they say. When we talk about the prophecies of Jesus Christ, the first thing that we should understand if we’re going to focus on Jesus Christ is who Jesus Christ is. What Jesus Christ did. And how do we know that he, among all of the people who claimed to be the Messiah, how do we know he is the Messiah? We turn, of course, to our holy scriptures and we see him. And when we seek him in our holy scriptures, we certainly find him. And this is where we talk about individuals and modern preaching and you don’t need to get into the Old Testament and all of those things. This is one of the most definitive reasons why we need both of the Old Testament and the New. When we look at the Gospels and who Jesus is, what he said, what he did. We only know that he is who he says he is because of the Old Testament. There were many people passed before Jesus and then, of course, after as well, who claimed messiahship, claimed to be the savior. But only one fits all of the narrative of our holy scriptures. And here’s what I mean. When we look, and most of you know this term, when we look for references to Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, we are looking for the Christology of that prophecy. So the prophet is speaking the word of God. We’re going to read from Isaiah. I’m not going to go very covert on you today. We’re going to be very overt with the messianic prophecy so we can really get our heads around what it means. So the prophet is speaking the word of God. And in so doing, God makes a reference to the coming Messiah. Maybe it’s attached somehow to the current historical situation. Maybe it’s attached somehow, but maybe it’s not. Maybe it seems so random that right in the middle of this God speaking, this prophet speaking God’s word, all of a sudden they’re speaking of one who will come and take the sin of the world. OK, that’s Christology. Now, there’s a lot of research out there regarding this, and you know how research goes. You know how scholars are. They love to argue. They love to categorize me. But as I’ve done my research over the past couple of weeks, I believe that I’m being very faithful to the research when I say there are 48 overt references to the Messiah that Jesus fulfills. Forty eight direct Christologies that Jesus fulfills. And I wrote down the scholar’s name, Peter Stoner, somehow did the probability of one man fulfilling just those 48 overt Christologies, prophecies of the Messiah. And it is one in ten followed by one hundred and fifty seven zeros. To one, one to ten hundred and fifty seven zeros. That’s his chance, the chance of an individual actually living out, fulfilling authentically the 48 prophecies. But that’s just the beginning. There are. Three hundred and twenty four Christological references in the Old Testament. Three hundred and twenty four and Jesus fulfilled them all. So you can take that ten followed by one hundred and fifty seven zeros and throw it out the window. The chances of a man being born and randomly fulfilling those prophecies is an impossibility. The chances of a man being born and by the age of 30 understanding the Torah so well, understanding what we call the Old Testament so well that he picked out all three hundred and twenty four and then intentionally somehow lived them out is an impossibility. So, you know, sometimes you can use that as a proof of Christ, proof of God, proof of that. I’m simply referencing it as this on this point of view. This is how we know that the man we know as Yeshua, Jesus, is the Messiah. It would be impossible for the man who speaks and is spoken of in the gospels not to be the Messiah. And if you want the statistics, you’ve got the statistics. It’s impossible for the man who speaks and is spoken of in the gospels not to be the Messiah. And so that’s how we know who Jesus is. Why do we worship Jesus? Are we sure that we’re on target by worshipping this Jesus? Yes, we follow the first theological principle that we follow in here. Scripture informs scripture. Scripture is the commentary on itself. If you want to know about the larger picture of a small topic, look all throughout the scripture in what scripture has to say and you’ll see. We’re talking about Jesus. And no, we’re not going to spend the next eight hours going over the three hundred and twenty four Christological references throughout the Old Testament, referring to the word of God, the Logos or the Messiah to come, referring to the behaviors that this Messiah will undertake, the words, the very words that this Messiah will speak. It encompasses all of that. And when you look at the life and words of Jesus Christ, you see what I have mentioned before. It would be impossible for this person to not be the Messiah. There is your frame of reference. Now I told you, I’m not going to go very, we’re not going to look at an obscure passage of Zephaniah for this. We’re going to go right to very passages that you have read and you know, and you perhaps already understand and see the Christology in them, because I want to bring that point out to you today. So we’re just going to read these passages from Isaiah and you’re going to see what I’m talking about in reference to. Now in Isaiah, he’s got a lot of things going on. There are a lot of things going on. There’s a lot of kings that he’s dealing with. There’s a lot of empires that he’s dealing with. There’s a lot of non-repentance and repentance that he’s dealing with. There’s a lot going on. And these references to the suffering servant, to the servant that will come, can be referenced to one who will help Egypt. Israel move forward, but as we look back and take it out of the historical context, we clearly see prophecy of Christ. So let’s read together. Beginning with Isaiah 52 verse 13 and continuing all the way through 53. We know Isaiah 9, 7. You know Isaiah 40. Isaiah is laden with Christological prophecy. Laden, the most densely laden of Christological prophecy is in Isaiah. See my servant will prosper, he will be highly exalted, but many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured, he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance one would scarcely know he was a man. And he will startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence, for they will see what they had not been told. They will understand what they had not heard about. Who has believed our message, to whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dried ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with the deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised and we did not care. Now if you’re not picking up what God is putting down here, then you’ve not been introduced to Jesus. He breaks off into this idea of a servant who will serve God’s people ostensibly at that time as they are under trial, but you can see how the Lord is clearly moving even beyond that and beginning to talk about all people. And the Lord is planting hundreds of years before Jesus would walk the face of the planet. The idea of how to recognize him when he does walk the face of the planet. Remember when Jesus stands before the council, stands before the Sadducees and the Pharisees, he says, “You have searched your scriptures for me night and day your entire lives. I’m standing right in front of you and you do not see me.” Their eyes have been blinded, but the Lord has provided not only them so that those who would experience the ministry of Jesus would say, “Wow, this is the servant of which Isaiah spoke. This is the prophecy come to life, being fulfilled, not only then but now.” How many times have you heard that it is statistically impossible for the man we know as Jesus to not be the Messiah? It’s important today, it is as important today as it was for Jesus then because we want everybody to know him now as well. So let’s go to verse 3 of Isaiah 53. He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised and we did not care. Yet it was our weakness he carried, it was our sorrows that weighed him down and we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins. You notice how the tense of the verb has now shifted to something that has already happened. He’s prophesying the future and using verbs indicating that it’s already happened. Why? For you. God did that for you. When you read that you will know and understand and it will hit home because we are now looking back at the cross. You’ll think God knows what he’s doing when he writes the scripture. Now we’re talking about something that has happened in the past although it’s being prophesied for the future. It’s amazing and the benefit is our benefit so we can understand so that we will not be blinded like the religious elite were blinded. We can read the prophecy, know and understand the life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We thought it was a punishment for his own sins but he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us like sheep have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all we’ve grown outside of the people, the Hebrew people. With a few simple pronouns God has taken this prophecy, put it in 2024 and also exploded it to include all humanity. It’s beautiful. It’s powerful. He was oppressed and treated harshly yet he never said a word. You can see all these prophecies fulfilled in the Passion story. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. Unjustly condemned he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream but he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone but he was buried like a criminal. He was put in a rich man’s grave but it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish he will be satisfied. And because of his experience my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous for he will bear all their sins. So we moved beyond a simple human being who is a servant that will lead the Hebrew people. You hear the language blow that idea up. We may have started with that kernel but that sea has grown to the Messiah and it has grown out of the Hebrew people God’s chosen to all people speaking of humanity. The prophecy like I said this is not hidden this is here. And it’s not only here and overt 2,450 years ago it is here and relative and important and teaches you who Jesus is today in 2024. And because of his experience my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous for he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels. One of the first sermons I ever preached was back when I was titling serpents. After I realized every sermon was about Jesus I stopped titling serpents. If you’re preaching the gospel every week it’s not a matter of say in 52 weeks give and take I go different places I preach 60 times it’s not a matter of 60 different messages. It’s a matter of the same message 60 different ways so folks can understand it. And so we see that as we move forward here today. Now when we go to Hebrews 1 I’ll give you a little before we sing I’m not going to I swear I’m not going to spend a lot of time preaching to it I promise. I swear I promise. I know but you’re now honed in on the suffering servant you’re now honed in on the son and Hebrews 1 is all about the supremacy of the son and so I want to read as much as I can with as little commentary as I can because you’re going to say Isaiah 53 Hebrews 1 say new wow and that’s I want that wow factor when we read it together. Christology focusing on the son right in Hebrews the author of Hebrews speaking to the Hebrews really focuses on the fact that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Why because he’s speaking to what we would call the Jews he’s speaking to people who do not yet believe in large measure do not yet believe he the author of Hebrews does everything connecting Old Testament to new focusing on father son Holy Spirit focusing on the work of the spirit focusing on teaching how Jesus Christ who lived and died and rose again was the promised Messiah. So we’re asking the question why should we worship Jesus one and two questions how do we know he’s the one well we’ve gone over them talked about that today how do we know he’s the one and we talked about the Christology we brought out the Christology and now we’re going to see that same thing that we taught and brought out here today brought and taught in Hebrews 1. So again this is you know what to do here we’re honing in on the Logos we’re honing in on the word become incarnate we’re honing in on why we should worship follow be disciples of Jesus the promised Christ of God. So listen for that and I will do my best not to take any rabbit trails maybe until the very end but I want you to have those oh he’s the one he’s the one I heard it in Isaiah I read it in the Gospels I hear the commentary and he’s the one that’s what I want you to walk away with today. Sorry. It’s a problem when the air conditioners actually work dries up the air. Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. Good heavens I’m not going to get through one sentence that’s what we just read that’s what he means by that that’s what he means by that that’s what we just read and you can go through all the Jesus is in every chapter what we call chapters of the Bible Jesus is there. I’ll start over and I’m re-promising. Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets and now in these final days he has spoken to us through his son. God promised everything to the son as an inheritance and through the son he created the universe Genesis the son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of a majestic God in heaven. This shows that the son is far greater than the angels just as the name God gave him is greater than their names for God never said to any of the angels what he said to Jesus you are my son today I have become your father. God also said I will be his father and he will be my son and when he brought his supreme son into the world God said let all of God’s angels worship him. Regarding the angels he says he sends his angels like the winds his servants like flames of fire but to the son he says your throne oh God endures forever and ever you rule with the scepter of justice. Now I want to make a point there because he says regarding the angels he says his angels like the winds his servants like flames of fire but to the son he says your throne oh God endures forever and ever. Trying God Jesus is Jesus God yes the commentary from scripture itself comments that Jesus is God and he wants to make the point that he never called any other spiritual beings gods he said your throne oh God will endure forever. You rule with the scepter of justice you love justice and hate evil therefore oh God your God has anointed you therefore oh God Jesus your God father has anointed you. So we’re putting it all together here. God is putting it together for us I’m not pulling a scripture here in a proof text from over here there it is and we’ll read that one more time because it’s very very important. God the father God the son go back to verse 8 and read through but to the son he says your throne oh God endures forever and ever you rule with the scepter of justice you love justice and hate evil therefore oh God your God has anointed you pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else he also says to the son in the beginning Lord you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hand father son in the beginning Lord God’s not calling me Lord because I am not he’s not calling a prophet Lord because the prophet is not he’s calling Jesus Lord because Jesus is father son they will perish but you remain forever they will wear out like old clothing you will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing but you are always the same you will live forever and God never said to any of the angels sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies making them a footstool under your feet therefore angels are only servants spirits sent to care for people who will inherit inherit salvation so you hear now who is the servant of the Lord brought out in Hebrews 1 how do we know he is the son of God God refers to him as God God refers to him as Lord these are very powerful impactful statements about the one we call Jesus the only one worthy of our worship how do we know that read Hebrews 1 now the author of Hebrews is saying he’s separating Jesus from any sort of heresy that may sing because in the Old Testament you had eschatological in breakings right you had these you had like the when God was with Abraham and so forth you had God appearing as a man or you had God’s presence in a bush you had God’s name upon an individual you had those things in the Old Testament and so the author of Hebrews is saying I know you know all about that but you need to pay attention to the word incarnate Jesus he’s not an apparition he’s not the name or spirit of the Lord placed upon somebody he’s not just a spiritual being appearing as a physical person he is fully human fully divine son of God son of man focus on him not on the other things that you understood from the Old Testament focus on him and we see this dynamic very powerful very forward and forth right interaction as you know as the author of Hebrews brings out the scriptures that talk about God speaking about his son calls him Lord calls him God either there is no other human being in this case there is no angel there is no other human being for which this is the case this is how we know Jesus is who he says he is this is how we know he is the Jesus of Matthew Mark Luke and John this is how we know he is the historical Jesus there could not have been a man statistically impossible for a man to fulfill those prophecies but nothing is impossible with God amen.
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