Here's To A New Us!

*Set up for Lord’s Table (Celebration on the eve of his death)

Book of Isaiah 66 chapters (1-39 & 40-66)

• 1/2 of book talks about punishment & 1/2 talks about redemption via a Messiah

Sermon Title: Here’s To A New Us! (Slide #1)

Text: Is. 52:13-53:12

Grace: God’s undeserved kindness

Examples of sacrifice: (Slide #2)

#1: You give up something so that someone else can have it

#2 You take on something that you don’t really want, so that someone else will not have to bear it. (Even greater sacrifice)

(Slide #3)

• The Beauty of Eden was the fellowship
• The uniqueness of Christian faith as taught in Scripture is relationships
• Religion anywhere is about appeasing an angry and unreasonable God with costly sacrifices. (The gods are usually fickle, insecure and angry.)
• The Story of Scripture is about faith in Jesus Who was God among us, Who died a substitutionary death in order to restore order in our relationship with the Father, completely!!!

In Christ, we have peace (absence of wartime) with God: Acts 13.38; Rom 5.1; 6.23

John 17.3

³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Suffering Servant passage begins in Isaiah 52 (Is. 52:13-53:12)

Is 53:4 We thought God punished him!

Isaiah 53.5 It was my sins that sentenced Him....

• Wounded and crushed for my sins
• By taking my punishment, I am healed
• We wandered like lost sheep and he gave us home in His Father
• The Lord laid on him the punishment of us all
• He was painfully abused but didn't’ complain (through us under the bus)
• He was silent like a lamb that was being led quietly to the butcher
• v. 9 He wasn’t sinful, but he died a sinner’s death...mine...and yours.
• v. 10 The Lord decided that his servant would die to take away sin and guilt of others
• v. 12 Others thought he was a sinner, but he suffered for others. Us!

Is 53.6 Jesus is our substitute: (Slide #4)

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Is 53.7-8 Voluntarily accepts our guilt (Slide #5)

 John 10:11

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 19:30

³⁰ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Isaiah 53.10-11 He’d save those who believe in him (Slide #6)

John 3:16

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Acts 16:31

³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 

What does all of this mean for God? For us? For the world?

KJV (Is 53.10) (Slide #7)

10 Yet it pleased* the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Message (Is 53.11-12) (Slide #8)

Out of that terrible travail of soul,
    he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
    will make many “righteous ones,”
    as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—
    the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
    because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
    he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

Challenges/Next Steps: (Slide #9)

• Commit to learning scripture regarding God’s view of you
• Identify new directions you’d take in life if you believed you had a fresh start with God
• Who would you be if you The Creator of the Universe agreed to embrace you, never bring up your past; dream with you and walk with you in full support?
• Join me in committing time and energy to understanding the relationship that God desperately wants to have with His children.