For Our Iniquities

Well, that was good singing.

And it's an answer to prayer.

How many of you pray ahead of the service?

! Raise your hand if you do.

Pray ahead of the service.

Would you raise your hand high so I can kind of see who it is that's praying in advance?

Okay.

I'm just...

You know what I would like?

Just do this so I can kind of see what it would be like visually.

Everybody raise your hand.

Just kind of raise it like this.

Go ahead.

Get it up.

Hey, get your hand up.

Okay.

That's what it should look like.

I mean, those who don't know Jesus, I can expect you to...

I understand if you don't pray about the services.

But if you know Christ, shouldn't you be begging for him to do a work among us?

And all God's people, this is when Baptists should say amen.

Okay.

I mean, I should be praying.

Okay.

Okay.

Listen, I would plead with you.

Don't come to this hour without pleading for God to do a work.

It's reasonable.

It's understandable.

It's appropriate.

And so I would ask that if you know Christ, that you never come to a service anywhere

without asking God to make your heart ready to hear the word

and without asking God to help that earthy vessel that God has placed before you for that hour

to be an instrument of the Holy Spirit, to minister the glory of Christ and make him supreme.

Now, just as a sidebar, tomorrow morning at 840, I'm going to be preaching for 25 minutes

to Madison Christian, and that is 25 minutes.

I want you to know it can be done, and not today, but that's tomorrow.

But I want you to pray for me, okay?

And so next week, if I do remember, and I say how many of you are going to be prayed for the service next week,

all of you that know Christ are going to raise your hands and say, I did, because it's a responsibility.

I'm going to grow in being consistent in my prayer life for the preaching of the word of God

and for the singing of God's people and for the supremacy of Christ

when we gather to worship together.

And I'll probably ask you, did you pray for me on Monday?

Because I have the privilege of preaching to young people,

and I will, as you know, I'll probably weave two things together.

One is the gospel, and the other is the goodness of Christ's work in the life of the believer.

I'm going to use Ephesians chapter 3, verse 14 through 19, one of those favorites for me.

Ephesians 3:14–19

We are together this morning to take the Lord's table,

and these elements here in front, the bread and the cup,

are really here as we understand from Scripture,

in particular in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, don't turn there,

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

that these elements are here to remind us of some things.

We forget things, don't we?

Truthfully, we do.

And Scripture makes it very clear that reminders are important.

This morning in my personal devotions,

I was reading through the account of Joshua crossing the Jordan into the promised land,

and God gave instructions that when the people crossed through on dry land,

one man from each of the tribes was to pick up a stone and pick that stone up

and put it on his shoulder and stagger out and then set it down on the other side.

And here's what it says.

So that in the future, when your children say to you,

what meaneth?

That's the King James.

Hey, what are these stones doing here?

That's kind of the contemporary rendition.

Why here?

Well, we took those stones out of the River Jordan when God dried it up,

stacked all the water up behind it, and we walked over on dry land.

That's why these stones are here.

We need reminders.

And what we are being reminded of this morning

is what Christ did to save us.

You know, one of the things that is a way of kind of judging whether or not you need the reminder would be this.

I'm not going to ask you to turn to your neighbor and say,

I love Jesus.

But, you know, here's the truth.

Your genuine affection and love for Christ

are an indicator of just how thankful you are for his salvation.

And if you're kind of hearing, you know, well, you know, I'm here.

Isn't he glad?

The thing is, is do you love him?

Does his love govern your life?

And one of the purposes of the Lord's table

is to kind of encourage our affection for the Lord Jesus.

So this morning, what I would like you to do is just quietly, where you sit,

just stay to yourself, and you can do it with your eyes open.

Just say, according to Psalm 119, verse 18, here's what it says.

Psalms 119:18

It says,

Open my eyes that I might behold wondrous truths out of your law.

Do something for me,

that I can see the beauty of your work and grace,

and that that would be the thing that overwhelms me

in the face of the adversity and the difficulty and the disappointments

that I go through.

I've got to go to work on Monday,

and people there don't always like me.

And things are going to break,

and things are going to go bad,

and life's going to have all these disappointments.

And Jesus, this morning, I want to be reminded of how precious you are

and how much you love me.

I want you to dig in

and get a hold of this cold heart

and give me an affection for you.

And so, with that prayer resonating in your heart,

I would ask that you turn in your Bible to Isaiah chapter 53.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

Isaiah chapter 53 is a passage that,

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

for believers, many of us know,

all we like sheep have gone astray.

It is a passage that is probably one of the most well-recognized Old Testament texts.

In the Jewish community, it is one that is hardly known at all.

And that's not really an accident,

because it is one of the clearest indicators in the Old Testament of the Messiah

and his redemptive work for us.

The idea of him dying and being a substitution for our sin

is undeniably clear in this passage,

and it is a convicting passage.

Keep your finger in Isaiah chapter 53.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

I took you there to begin with,

but turn back, if you would, just for a bit.

We're just going to go for a second,

but go to Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

In Acts chapter 8,

Acts 8 · chapter mention

we find a very interesting little situation

where Philip ends up being taken by the Holy Spirit

to minister to a guy who's kind of trudging along in a chariot,

and he's reading the book of Isaiah.

And guess what chapter he's in?

Surprise.

Surprise.

Chapter 53 of Isaiah.

And now, in verse 32, it says,

Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this.

Like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter,

and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

In his humiliation, justice was denied him.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.

And the eunuch said to Philip,

About whom, I ask,

does the prophet say this about himself or someone else?

And as we look at that passage just for a moment,

we understand that here is this Ethiopian eunuch

who had traveled to Jerusalem to learn more about Judaism

and to kind of grow in his budding faith

and in the hope of the Messiah

and his desire to have his heart satisfied

is met on the road

when Philip opens up the Scripture and says,

Hey, this is talking about Jesus

who came and lived and died

and rose again for our sins.

And so what I want us to do this morning

is kind of ask the Holy Spirit

to help us understand what it is

that the Spirit of God communicates in Isaiah chapter 53.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

Let's begin, first of all,

with understanding the tragedy of an unjust rejection.

As we take up Isaiah 53,

we find that the early verses kind of move us to sympathy.

Who's believed what he has heard from us

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him

and no beauty that we should desire him.

You know, the average picture that most of us have

of Jesus is some incredibly handsome kind of rugged dude

that, you know, he's just the embodiment of perfection.

The way Isaiah describes him is that he was so nondescript

that had we been looking in the crowd,

we would, ooh, there he is.

Remember how Samuel the prophet

was kind of challenged by what we see on the outside?

I mean, after all, we are drawn to the outside.

Isn't that right?

Right.

And here it says, this is the Holy Spirit kind of giving us,

this is better than an artist's rendition

because it's the Holy Spirit telling us the truth.

It says, hey, we wouldn't have been impressed looking at him.

Not only that, but when you read through the scriptures,

you find that Jesus in his temperament and character

was not this, you know, crowd-pleasing, you know,

big stomping dude that, you know,

whenever he walked into the room, he's like, ooh, there's Jesus.

He was kind of a quiet guy.

It says that a guttering wick he would not snuff out

and a bruised reed he wouldn't break.

He was a gentle and tender guy.

And so you probably ask yourself,

why in the world would someone that was so nondescript

and didn't really go out of his way to offend people,

why would he end up being hated and so abused

and someone who made people angry and made them disgusted?

How does a humble person end up like that?

Well, I want you to understand that what the scriptures make very clear

when we kind of piece the thing together

is that Jesus was rejected because he addressed the world's sin.

I want you to think about that just for a minute.

Jesus was rejected because he pointed out the world's sin.

Let me have you look at a couple passages

that just kind of confirm this truth

so you get it clearly in your own mind in the scriptures.

Turn in your Bible to John 1.

John 1.

In that introductory portion of the book of John,

we find there in verse 10 and 11 that the apostle says this,

he was in the world and the world was made through him,

yet the world did not know him.

I mean, hey, the guy who did it all is in the room

and nobody knows he's there.

He came into his own, talking about the Jews,

and his own people did not receive him.

I mean, if anybody should have known who Jesus was,

it was the Jews.

And why?

Because they had received the message of the prophets

regarding the coming of the Messiah.

If you go back to the very beginning in Genesis,

you remember after Adam and Eve sinned,

God said there would come someone who would bring redemption.

And very interestingly,

if you kind of read in between the lines, so to speak,

the first child that Adam and Eve had,

do you know what Eve was thinking?

She was thinking,

this is the one.

This is the one.

This is the one who's going to help us in our mess.

And over and over again throughout the generations,

the idea and the ambition and the desire

of the sincere believer in the Old Testament was,

someday God will provide the perfect sacrifice,

the Messiah, who will be our Redeemer and our Savior.

And so here is Isaiah sharing the truth about Jesus.

And when Jesus came, he was rejected by the Jews.

And really, when you ask yourself,

let me understand that a little bit,

or go forward a little bit.

You're in John, so stay there just for a second

and go to John 3, verse 19.

John 3:19

By the way, it doesn't hurt to look at it.

Everybody smile at me.

I'm talking to you.

Do you know why we have Bibles in the pews?

How many of you, just put your finger on a Bible in the pew.

Go ahead, just touch it.

I don't want people touching hands doing this.

I mean, let's be good about this.

Just touch the Bible in front.

The reason we have Bibles in the pews

is so you can get a hold of them

if for some reason you forgot your own.

It's all right.

Go ahead and use one of these.

In fact, listen to me.

If you want to take one home,

if you don't know where your Bible is this morning,

take it home.

Take the one that we have in the pew home.

We have more.

We'll replace the one you take

and we'll be tickled pink that you took.

Hey, take a Bible home if you don't have one.

You got that?

Everybody heard me say that.

Well, anyway, let's go back to verse 19.

It says, and this is the judgment,

the light, that's Jesus' code, right?

The light has come into the world

and people, what?

They love the darkness.

They love the darkness.

What?

I don't mind when people expose other people's sins.

In fact, I don't mind helping them do that.

But my sins?

Here's what it says.

It says,

they love the darkness rather than the light

because their works were evil.

How many of you have ever been driving down the road

and you hit that place where, you know,

the sheriff's department decide to set up

one of those little, you know, radar devices

that sits on two wheels and what does it say?

You know, they always put it,

providentially,

they always put it, you know,

about 100 yards or 100 feet

behind a posted speed sign, right?

The limit on this road is 35 miles an hour

and then right down the road,

they have this other thing that's going to blink,

blink, blink,

and as you zip along,

what's it saying?

And you're driving 53.

And you think,

why is that there?

I don't need that.

Until you see somebody else park just a little further

and you think,

you know, okay.

So here's what it says.

It says,

they don't like the light

because their deeds are evil.

And there in the passage in verse 20,

it says,

for everyone who does wicked things hates the light.

Why was Jesus rejected?

It's because he turned on the light

and exposed the reality of men's hearts

and they hated seeing the truth about themselves.

When I deal with marital counseling

and often when Pastor Saul deals with counseling

and Pastor Andrew deals with counseling,

one of the things that we end up in the situation

is saying to the people who are in our office

is you got a problem.

Now, they're fully persuaded

that the other party who came with them has problems

and it's kind of like an epiphany.

It's kind of like,

what, me?

Me?

Yeah.

In fact,

not only do you have a problem,

but you're the only one who can fix it.

And unless you fix your problem,

the problem is probably going to stay

about as bad as it is.

And here is John telling us

that people,

when they were brought into

face-to-face conviction

with the reality of their sin,

they didn't like it.

And kind of the idea

that Jesus is some ancient bearded dude

floating around

just kind of smack-talking with people

is not the Bible story.

Do you follow that?

I mean, he was right in people's space

and he wasn't arrogant or argumentative,

but his heart,

which communicated

the glory of his Father,

brought conviction

to the heart of every person.

He fully revealed

God's judgment against sin

and man's absolute inability

to save himself.

And so,

when you kind of stop

and think about this

humble individual

who is rejected,

understand that really behind it

is the second thing

we need to find out,

and that is that

there is a terror in sin.

We tend to not think about sin

as being all that bad,

at least the sins we do.

I mean, for a fact,

we do them over and over again.

Isn't that right?

And we have a wonderfully

well-developed vocabulary

about our sins.

Instead of calling them things

like blatant, arrogant,

stubborn, rebellious acts

against the holy God

and the creator of this universe,

we call our sins

by things like,

I made a mistake.

I mean, everybody does, right?

I drop my pencil.

I kick my dog.

You know,

whatever thing.

I made a mistake.

Or we have a well-developed,

I mean, the way I am

is because of the people

that I live around.

If you knew my parents,

you would sin too.

I mean,

you'd have the same problems.

Do you follow?

Hey, everybody has a reason

for being the jerk they are.

I was sharing with Connie

the other day.

Pastor Saul was in there

and we were talking

a little bit about ministry,

and I said that

there was a time in my life

where I had discipled

an individual

who was a dentist

in one of our

state correctional institutions.

How many of you

understand what I just said?

And he worked

day in and day out

as a dentist

dealing with people

who had advanced

dental difficulties,

and he said,

you know,

one of the interesting things

of working in the prison system

is that he never ever

up to that point

had met anybody

that deserved to be there.

everybody that he ever

dealt with

had been put into prison

unjustly

because of other people's

behavior or lies

or whatever else,

and they had never

done anything

to deserve the treatment

they were receiving.

And so,

one of the things

that Isaiah

helps us understand

is that sin

is a pretty ugly thing.

It really is.

And I want you

to get your hands

around this

by thinking about it

in personal terms.

When we sin,

we attempt

to un-God God.

Sin is a monstrous

offense

against the creator

and the God

of this universe.

Every sin

that we ever commit

shouts things like,

you're not in charge.

How many of you

ever had your kids

say that to you

at one point?

You know,

it's like they let you

know that you're not in charge.

Oh, yes I am.

And there's the door

if you don't think so.

You know,

well,

people say,

you're not in charge

or what you think

is not important.

I'm amazed

at how often

we don't really realize

we're saying that

when we say that.

Do you understand

what I'm saying?

Whenever we sin,

it's not just an accident,

it's a conscious,

deliberate choice

to do certain things.

And you see this

in children so clearly.

Wally,

don't put your finger

in the light socket.

You know,

that's what you say.

And Wally goes over there

and just to kind of

amplify the opportunity,

he digs through your drawer

and finds a paper clip

so he can get in there

deep enough.

And then he pushes

that thing in there

and what happens?

The law of justice

helps him understand

that what you said

was incredibly brilliant.

But you know what?

You tell kids,

don't do it

and what do they think?

I mean,

you have parents here.

You ever had a kid?

Don't do this.

Watch me.

You know?

And so,

what you think

is not that important.

You're unkind.

You just don't want me

to have my way.

That's true.

You're so controlling.

You're just so petty.

Well,

if I had different parents

that loved me more,

I would get my way.

Yeah,

and man,

man,

man,

man.

And then you have this little,

I hate you.

How many of you

ever had children

say that to you?

How many of you

have I hate to tell you

I've had it?

My kids grew up

by the grace of God,

but I've had a couple

of my children

say to me on occasion

when I would not

let them have their way

or I was disciplining them

for some of their

sinful misbehavior,

they would,

this was kind of

early in the stream.

They learned

as they grew

that it wasn't

a good thing

to say that

because what it did

was it was a force multiplier.

How many of you

understand what I mean?

Isn't that code,

force multiplier?

I hate you.

Really?

Well,

I'm going to help you

with that.

And here's the thing.

I don't want us

to miss the point.

Here is,

the fact is

our heart hates

the justice

and the holiness of God

and he tells us

what's right

and what's wrong.

I want you to understand

that the supreme

offense of sin

brings the supreme

wrath of God.

Why is it

that

somebody else

had to die

in my place

for my sin?

Why is that?

It's because

sin is a

supremely

offensive thing

to a supremely

infinitely

holy God.

So,

there you are

in McDonald's.

You're hungry

and a fry drops

on the floor.

Some of you

are going to kick it

under the table

and pretend

that it didn't happen.

I'm going to pick it up

because I paid for it.

I'm sorry.

I know you're

just going off

on that one

but I grew up

in boarding school

in India

and let me tell you

something.

I'm figuring

that floor

is infinitely cleaner

than whatever

I was in

when I was growing up

and it's like

I paid for that puppy

and I'm having it.

I may dust it off

just to be careful.

But,

if I'm at

Ruth Chris Steakhouse

and I've never

been there

in case you're

wondering

but Ruth Chris Steakhouse

is where you're

supposed to go

when you want

really good steak

and,

you know,

so you're at

Ruth Chris Steakhouse

and the potato

falls off my plate

and falls on the floor

I'm saying,

hey,

take it back.

See,

the little sins

that we think

are okay

are horribly

offensive to God

and we don't think

that

but they are.

dealing with

an individual

who every third

or fourth word

to me is

I'll be honest

with you.

I've said to him,

hey,

let me try to

understand this.

Are you saying

you're not honest

between those things?

Look at Isaiah

Isaiah 53:4

chapter 53

verse 4 and 5

would you please?

Surely he has

borne our griefs

and carried

our sorrows

and we esteemed

him stricken,

smitten,

by God

and afflicted.

He was wounded

for our transgressions.

He was crushed

for our iniquities

and with his stripes

we are healed.

Those words

describe

the judgment

of a holy God

against every sin.

and I want to tell you

apart from the sense

of the terror

of God's holy judgment

we remain

completely indifferent

to sin.

That's the truth.

True gospel preaching

declares the holiness

of God

and the blackness

of the human heart.

One of the joys

that I have

in gospel preaching

and sharing the gospel

with individuals

wherever it is

whether it's here

or in a car

with someone

or on a work environment

wherever it is

you know

one of the things

I like to say

is that guess what

Jesus stands ready

to forgive you

for all of your sins

and wipe away

the debt

and the shame

of your life

instantly.

I like

and I know

that to be true.

Yesterday

I was driving back

from teaching

a group of deacons

over in Dayton

in one of our

sister churches

and as I was praying

and thinking about

this morning

for some strange reason

my little pea brain

began to think about

some of the wicked things

I did as a child

and as a young man

and I wasn't

it wasn't like

I thought

let me see

let me see

what kind of bad things

did I do

I had such a variety

that I

there's lots of choices

and I was just

driving along

and you know

I found myself

for a moment

just overwhelmed

with the shame

and guilt

for some of the things

I had done

and then I thought

to myself

and those things

have been forgiven

because Jesus died

and rose again

and he put his blood

over top

of those offenses

and you know me

by the way

I'm a kind of

an emotional guy

you figured that one out

it's like

I was going from tears

to joyful tears

you know

it's like

man

Jesus has forgiven me

and I don't have to have

that burden

and that debt

and that shame

and that fear

of judgment

weighing on my soul

and I know for certain

that all my sins

have been forgiven

because of Christ

it's gone

it's gone

Spurgeon wrote

something that I posted

in the bulletin

on Wednesday night

and I want to recite it here

and I want you to think

with me about

what he had to say

possibly much of the

flimsy piety

the word piety

is talking about

sense of concern

for godliness

possibly much of the

flimsy piety

of the present day

arises from the ease

with which men attain

to peace and joy

in these evangelistic days

hey

try God

too many

think lightly

of sin

therefore

think lightly

of the Savior

he who stood

before God

and has been

convicted and condemned

with a rope

about his neck

is the man

to weep

for joy

when he is

pardoned

to hate

the evil

of which he

has been forgiven

and to live

with a desire

to honor the

Redeemer

with whose blood

he's been cleansed

and so

this morning

as we

look at

these elements

and I want you

to think with me

about them

we're going

to take

bread

that reminds us

that Jesus

died

to pay

the penalty

for my sins

do you understand

that that's what

you're taking

when you take

that bread

you're saying

Jesus died

in my place

he satisfied

the debt

of my sin

and if your heart

truthfully

is not affected

with affection

for the Lord

Jesus Christ

at that moment

when you think

about that

I got to tell you

there's something

that's not right

that's

something's wrong

I'm not telling you

you're not saved

but here's the

purpose of this

table

it is to

refresh

and to kindle

and to stir

our affections

for the Lord

of glory

who has saved

us

and has died

in our place

and if you

are not

affected

by the thought

of him

taking your place

you don't think

much of where

you were

and you know

what the cup

says

this is

I made a promise

it's called

the cup

of the new

covenant

and the cup

of the new

covenant

says

this whole

business

of salvation

is not

Tim's doing

or your doing

but it is

the work

of God

he has

done

a work

in drawing

me

first of all

to the misery

of seeing

the blackness

of my heart

and realizing

I cannot

save myself

and crushing

me with the truth

I stand

condemned

before a holy

God

and then

opening up

to me

the sweetness

of the gospel

that says

and there is

complete forgiveness

in the blood

of Christ

I'm going to

ask the men

to come

as we come

to this table

this morning

and let me

encourage you

to know

that

as we take

these elements

this bread

and this cup

they are

things

that those

who know

the Lord

Jesus Christ

should take

and

if you would

sit just

for a moment

men

I would

encourage you

to take them

with a clear

conscience

with a sensitivity

and the scriptures

encourages us

to come to this

table

having

asked the Lord

to search our

hearts

to see whether

there is any

unconfessed sin

and let me tell you

something

one of the things

Tim Kenoyer knows

is it's fairly

easy to let

sin kind of

glom on

you know

get attached

and it's like

I'm okay

with that

and then my

wife will help

me know

no you're not

or the Holy

Spirit will say

no you're not

and so this

morning

we need to pray

and say

is there something

I need to deal

with so that

when I take

these elements

I don't take

them in that

shameful state

of indifference

to what

offends God

let's pray

and ask him

to give us

a clear conscience

holy father

this morning

as we come

to this table

and we remind

ourselves that

Jesus died

in our place

we understand

that to take

this bread

and take

this cup

is in one

way

it's really

a public

affirmation

we're saying

to other people

I know Jesus

as my savior

and he's real

to me

and he's important

I've been saved

by him

my life

belongs to him

and I live

my day

and draw

my breath

so that

the way

I live

and the way

I talk

and the things

I think

all reflect

back favorably

on Jesus

and holy

father

this morning

if as we

prepare our

hearts

our conscience

troubles us

and we

recognize

that that

anger

that we're

quite comfortable

with and think

is justified

is offensive

to you

or that

private

struggle

with lust

that nobody

else knows

about

that bothers

you

or that

covetousness

that is never

satisfied

with things

grieves

!

that we

would humble

ourselves this

morning and ask

that you would

first of all

forgive us

and then that you

would do

whatever it

takes to

cut that

out

and that's

our prayer

that this

morning would

be a time

and a place

where we

as believers

rededicate

ourselves

with thanksgiving

to the one

who paid the

price for our

sins

and we

ask this in

Jesus name

amen