The Coming of the Messiah-Prophet

Listen to me, O Coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar.

The Lord caught me from the womb. From the body of my mother, he named my name.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he hid me.

He made me a polished arrow. In his clover, he hid me away.

And he said to me, You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

But I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity.

Yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.

And now the Lord says, He who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him,

and that Israel might be gathered to him.

For I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength.

He says, It is too light a thing that you should be my servant,

to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to bring back the preserved of Israel.

I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers.

Kings shall see and arise, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves.

Because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.

Then from verse 13.

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth.

Break forth, O mountains, into seeing.

But the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.

But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me.

My God, my Lord has forgotten me.

Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.

Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.

Your walls are continually before me.

Amen.

Amen.

Great.

Ellen, thank you so much for reading that.

Will you join me as we pray together?

Let's come before our Heavenly Father in prayer.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, we come before you this morning.

As we come to your word that Ellen has read to us, this amazing passage in Isaiah.

God, we want you to speak to us.

We want to behold the Savior King, this Messiah that has come that we celebrate at Christmas.

God, won't you open the eyes of our hearts to see you afresh.

Won't you show us once again the beauty of the gospel.

God, won't you help us to see the depth and the richness and the complexity of Christ, your coming,

and the extent of the gospel, and how it's not just for Israel back then, but how it impacts our lives, even here in Hong Kong, thousands of years later.

God, won't you come?

Lord, I pray for every one of us here today that are watching.

God, soften our hearts.

Prepare our hearts, God, to hear from you.

Lord, I pray that we will meet with you in your word.

God, you know what's going to come out of my mouth.

If there's anything that is not of you, doesn't honor your word, or what your heart is, God, I pray, stop me saying that.

You let that fall in their fears.

We want to meet with you, God, this morning.

So come and have your way, we pray.

Be glorified, Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, good morning, everybody.

If you don't know me, my name is Kevin, and welcome to our second week of Advent.

Advent is that time in the year when, as Christians, we celebrate Christ's first coming and anticipate his second coming.

And this year, we are looking at this amazing, amazing book in the Bible, this book of Isaiah, which was written 700 years before Jesus came.

And in it, we are looking at these four servant passages.

Now, if you were here last week, you'll remember, we looked at Isaiah chapter 42,

Isaiah 42 · chapter mention

and we said that the book of Isaiah is divided into two sections.

The first half chronicles the downward spiral and the trouble that the nation of Israel are in.

They are rebelling against God.

They've gone their own way, and God is warning them about the dangerous path that they are on.

Remember, there's that famous passage in chapter 29 where God says,

These people, they honor me with their lips, they say the right things, but actually their hearts are far from me.

And God has been warning them about this impending disaster that's coming in the form of the Babylonian army.

And eventually, Babylon does come.

This ruthless and hasty nation comes from the north.

They attack Jerusalem.

They plunder Jerusalem.

They destroy the temple.

And they march off almost the entire nation of Israel as exiles back to Babylon.

And Israel is in Babylon in exile for 70 years.

But God is not finished with His people.

He hasn't abandoned them or forgotten them.

And so God promises He's going to redeem them.

He's come with a rescue plan.

And as we read Isaiah, we see that actually God's plan is not just for Israel.

Actually, it's for the whole world.

Israel was meant to be a light to the nations, to draw people towards God.

But Israel had become just as lost as the nations around them.

And so God is coming to redeem Israel.

But not only Israel.

Through Israel, He's going to redeem the whole world.

All the nations of the world are going to be brought back to God through His redemption plan.

And so as we said last week, this redemption plan involves the agency or the ministry of this mysterious figure.

A Messiah type figure.

Someone that Isaiah calls the servant of the Lord.

And last week you saw how this servant figure, this Messiah, is going to be a king who brings justice.

Which means He's going to restore what's wrong and put it right again.

He's going to restore God's blueprint for humanity.

And this is the ministry of this Messiah.

Well, today we're going to look at the second of these servant passages.

We're going to look at Isaiah chapter 49.

Isaiah 49 · chapter mention

And we're going to learn four things about this Messiah.

We're going to learn about His calling.

We're going to learn about His failure.

His achievement.

And finally, His grace.

So, firstly, let's look at His calling.

When Claire and I first had children.

Our children were very young.

I had the naive idea that being the outstanding, awesome parent that I envisaged myself to be.

Our children were going to be the kind of children to whom Claire and I only ever needed to speak once.

And they would obey us first time, every time, from kind of like the age of one.

And you can imagine how long that illusion lasted.

Not very long, I'll tell you.

In Isaiah chapter 48, the one before we read this morning.

Isaiah 48 · chapter mention

Four or five times, God has spoken to His people.

And He's called them to listen up.

Look at how He says this.

He says,

Hear, O house of Jacob.

Verse 1.

Listen to me, O Jacob.

Verse 12.

Draw near to me and hear this.

Verse 16.

Verse 18.

Oh, that you had paid attention to my commandments.

But Israel has refused to listen.

They've blocked their ears.

They've buried their head in the sand.

And they're continuing to honor God with their lips.

They say the right things.

They go through the motions.

They sing the songs.

They attend the church service.

But actually, their hearts are steadfast going down this path of destruction.

What is God going to do?

How is He going to redeem and rescue His people?

Well, He's going to do so through the agency of this Messiah.

Now, as we said, previously, God spoke about this Messiah being a justice-establishing king.

But in this passage we see today, the calling that God has for His Messiah servant is not that of kingship, but He's called to be a prophet.

A prophet.

Look at verse 1.

Listen to me, O coastlands.

Give attention, you people from afar.

God's people have not been listening to the prophets, and so now He sends them His true prophet.

His one final prophet.

Who's going to bring them His word.

He says,

The Lord called me from the womb.

From the body of my mother, He named me.

That is typical language to describe the words of the prophets.

Do you remember Jeremiah's calling in chapter 1?

He says,

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

I called you from your mother's womb.

I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

Isaiah is saying here that this Messiah is coming.

He's going to come one who is called to be a prophet.

He has a prophetic ministry.

Now, when we think of prophets, you may have a couple of mental images in your mind.

You may think of someone who's got a long beard.

He dresses in strange clothing.

He lives in the desert, and he eats strange creatures like locusts and stuff.

Kind of like John the Baptist.

You may think of a prophet as someone who has this divine connection to God.

Someone who gives you spiritual guidance or insight.

You need to make a big decision.

You need to change jobs or move overseas.

You're wondering about marrying somebody.

And so you go to the prophet, almost like a shaman or a medium.

And you say,

What is God's will?

Tell me what does the divine say?

And the prophet does his thing and says,

This is what God says.

Marry the person.

Or don't marry the person.

We may think of a prophet as like a fortune teller.

Someone who can see into the future and see,

Hmm, I perceive this is what the future holds.

Kind of like a spiritual fortune teller.

But actually, in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament,

The prophets were not fortune tellers.

They weren't just divine mediums or shamans

That gave you some kind of divine instruction for your personal life.

The prophets were those who were like spokespersons for God.

They were those who were to bring God's word or God's message to his people.

And especially those who were to call God's people back from a path of destruction

Towards God's path of righteousness.

To walk along God's ways.

Throughout the Old Testament,

Whenever God's people are walking with him,

Trusting him,

Obeying him,

Practicing justice and mercy,

The prophets actually often fade into the background.

We don't hear about them too much.

But when God's people are on a downward spiral,

When there's corruption and injustice,

When they're going on a path towards the destruction,

The prophets are tasked with those that are to bring God's word,

To bring God's people back to him.

To say,

Listen up!

Hear the word of the Lord!

This is what God is saying to you.

To remind God's people of who they are and who God is.

In some ways,

You could kind of say,

The prophets are like God's lifeguards.

They are those who see the danger that God's people are in,

And they're blowing their whistle,

Calling them out of the dangerous waters.

In Cape Town,

Which is the city that Claire and I lived in,

Before we moved to Hong Kong,

The city we come from,

Many people love to surf.

But it's not only the surfers who enjoy the water,

It's also the sharks.

And this photo is actually taken just outside of Cape Town,

In a beach town,

A little up the coast.

This is happening in a surfing competition.

It's a real photo.

It hasn't been doctored at all.

And so,

What Cape Town has done is,

They've employed these people that sit high up on the mountain.

They're called the shark spotters.

That's their JD.

And their job is to sit on the mountainside,

Above the bay,

Where the sharks come.

And they sit with binoculars.

And when they spot sharks in the water,

Their job is to get that message,

Down to the beach,

Through radio or cell phone,

As quickly as possible,

So that the lifeguards can tell people,

To get out of water,

And to get out of danger.

For years,

God has been sending,

His prophets,

His lifeguards,

Warning the people of Israel,

Calling them out of the dangerous waters,

That they're swimming in.

Warning them that they're getting to shark and festive territory.

And yet,

Like stupid swimmers,

They think that they know better.

As they've rejected God's word,

They've abandoned God's warning,

And they carry it on as if life is normal.

And the result is that God's people are in deep trouble.

Now,

In the Old Testament,

That's the story of Israel,

Again and again and again.

But if we have eyes of faith to see it,

Actually,

It's the story of humanity.

It's the story of all of us.

And yet God has not given up on us.

Because look at what Isaiah tells us.

God is sending a Messiah,

A prophet,

Someone who's going to bring His true word,

To rescue us,

And bring us back from danger into life.

He says in verse 2,

He made my mouth like a sharp sword,

Like a polished arrow.

He who formed me in the womb,

To be His servant,

In order to bring Jacob back,

That Israel might be gathered into him.

Isaiah is telling us,

That God is going to deliver His people.

He's going to set them free.

He's going to bring them back,

From the darkness that they inhibit,

From their addictions to sin,

From their downward spiral,

By sending them a Messiah deliverer.

But He's not going to do so with swords.

He's not going to send this Messiah,

With military strength.

He's not going to come with cultural imperialism,

And overthrow the Babylonian army.

He's going to come,

With the power of truth.

He's going to come and speak a word,

That disarms the lies,

That are going on their head,

Which dismantles the false narrative,

And the fake news,

That they've been believing.

He's going to come with a word of truth,

That cuts through the lies,

And sets them free.

He's coming with a word of redemption,

For those who will receive it.

And so Hebrews chapter 1,

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

Amazing verse says this,

Long ago,

In many times,

And in many ways,

God spoke to our forefathers,

By the prophets.

But in these days,

He's spoken to us,

By the true prophet,

By His son.

See what God is saying?

He sent the prophet,

To end all prophets.

His true prophet,

His son,

The Messiah,

Has come,

To bring us God's word,

Of healing and redemption,

And hope.

But then,

The writer goes on,

He says,

Therefore,

We must pay close attention,

To this word,

This message that we've received,

For how shall we escape,

If we neglect,

Such a great salvation?

Friends,

The message of Christmas,

Is not just about babies,

And mangers.

It's not just about being good boys,

And good girls,

That the great big Santa in the sky,

Can give you,

Your Christmas wishes,

And your blessings.

Friends,

The story of Christmas,

Is that,

Just like Israel,

We too have rejected God.

We haven't listened to His word.

And so by nature,

We are drowning,

In our problems.

We are lost.

And this is the story,

Of all of humanity.

We are in a dire situation.

But God has not abandoned us.

God hasn't forgotten us.

He has come,

He has dived into the shark,

Confested waters,

As it were,

And He's arresting us.

He sent His chosen son,

His servant,

Who would bring us,

More than just good advice,

More than just some wisdom,

He would bring us,

A message of hope,

And restoration.

He would bring us,

A message of salvation,

To restore us back to God.

Now friends,

What does this mean for us?

Well the question is,

Are we listening to Him?

Remember how verse 1 goes,

It says,

Listen to me O coastlands,

Give attention to my words.

Friends,

Are we listening to Him this morning?

Are we giving attention,

To this word,

That this Messiah King,

Has brought to us?

God looks at each one of us,

In the eye,

And He says,

Listen to me.

Friends,

Jesus has come to bring us,

A message of freedom,

And hope.

To set us free,

From our addictions.

To set us free,

From the destructive patterns,

Of behavior,

We find ourselves in.

To bring us out of darkness,

And into light.

Friends,

Will you listen to Him?

And some of us,

Maybe are going down,

Downward path of destruction.

Some of us may be,

Flirting with someone,

That's not our spouse.

And friends,

Some of you may be,

Addicted to pornography,

Or you're sleeping with your boyfriend,

Or your girlfriend.

Some of us are engaged,

In dodgy business practices,

Or we're being dishonest,

About something.

Jesus says,

Listen to me.

Listen,

Pay attention to my words.

I've come to set you free.

And friends,

Sometimes,

Because Jesus loves us so much,

He's not willing to leave us,

Where we are.

Sometimes His words,

Can even seem harsh.

They can even cut like a knife.

Remember how,

Verse 2 says it.

He says,

His word is like a sharp sword,

Like a polished arrow.

Sometimes His rebuke,

Will take our breath away.

It's like a sharp knife,

That'll cut straight to the heart,

Like a surgeon's scalpel,

Because He wants to deliver us,

From the cancer within.

Friends,

Jesus loves us so much,

That He hasn't abandoned us.

He hasn't left us to our own.

He says,

Listen,

I've come to bring you a word,

Of healing,

Of redemption,

Of restoration.

Listen to my words.

His calling.

His calling is,

He comes with a message of hope.

Secondly,

His failure.

God has sent us this Messiah,

With this message of redemption,

And restoration,

To bring God's people back,

And to restore us who are lost.

But to many,

His message,

Or His mission,

Seemed like an utter failure.

Because to almost everyone around Him,

What looked so initially promising,

Actually seemed to end in nothingness.

Look at verse 3 and 4 with me.

He says,

Here is the servant of the Lord,

The Messiah,

Who comes with an announcement,

A proclamation of freedom,

And redemption,

And hope,

And healing.

Want to bring Israel back,

And restore them.

And yes,

At first glances,

It seems,

Like His mission,

Is all for nothing.

The word nothing here,

In verse 4,

Is actually the word that God uses in Genesis,

To describe the cosmos,

Or describe the world,

Before He created it.

To describe the void,

That existed,

Before God brought creation to being.

Absolute nothingness.

That's how it appeared,

That Jesus' mission seemed.

He comes with this message,

Freedom for the captives,

Hope for the hopeless,

And how are God's people going to respond?

Well,

Some will accuse Him,

Of being demon possessed.

He'll do a miracle,

And heal people,

And they'll accuse Him,

Of doing the work of Satan.

Some will hate His words,

Coming up with plots,

Or schemes,

To destroy Him.

Some will receive His message,

And accuse Him of blasphemy,

And heresy.

Friends,

Some will see Him,

As a scourge,

And will even hand Him over,

To the authorities,

Coming up with lies,

And fake news,

So that the authorities,

Can crucify Him,

And kill Him.

And as He's arrested,

And He stands trial,

How will His very followers,

Those that have trusted Him,

And believed Him,

How will they respond?

Well,

Many of them will scatter,

And run away,

Leaving Him on His own,

As He marches towards Calvary,

To be crucified.

And even some of His,

Very closest friends,

In His most urgent hour,

Will deny,

That they know Him,

Denying that they've,

Even ever met Him.

In Luke chapter 24,

Luke 24 · chapter mention

There's this famous story,

How Jesus dies,

And He rises again,

And He's walking,

On this dusty road,

Towards a town,

Called Emmaus,

And He comes up,

To two former disciples,

But they don't recognize Him,

His identity is hidden,

And they're downcast,

Their shoulders are stooping,

And He says,

What's the matter?

Why are you so disheartened?

And they say,

Don't you know about Jesus,

Nazareth?

A man,

Or a,

Who was a prophet,

Interesting that they use the word prophet,

A prophet mighty indeed,

In word,

Before God and all the people,

And how our chief priests,

And rulers,

Delivered Him up to be condemned to death,

And crucified Him,

And then look what they say,

We had hoped,

That He would be the one,

To redeem Israel,

We had hoped,

That He would be the one,

The Messiah who would come,

And set God's people free,

But alas,

It's all in vain,

He ended up crucified,

Like a common criminal,

On the cross,

Dead,

With nothing to show for it,

His ministry ended,

In vanity,

Nothingness,

Friends,

Have you ever felt like that?

Have you ever felt like,

Your faithfulness to Jesus,

Your obedience to Jesus,

Has all been in vain,

For nothing?

Sometimes maybe,

You've made great sacrifices,

To trust Him,

You've taken a great step of faith,

In obeying Him,

And it seems like,

It was all for nothing,

There's no fruit to show,

For the great sacrifices you made,

Friends,

Do you ever feel like,

Sometimes,

It maybe would have been better,

Just to trust yourself,

Rather than trusting God,

To do things your own way,

That's how Jesus' mission seemed,

To those who trusted Him,

To those who took Him at His word,

A failed experiment,

To His disciples,

Who had left everything,

Their family,

The family business,

Their parents,

Their reputation,

Their friends,

To follow Him,

It all seemed like,

A failed enterprise,

A failed experiment,

Sometimes following Jesus,

Can seem like that,

And yet,

Despite that,

Look at His achievement,

Because,

Look at how,

The Messiah responds,

Despite the fact that,

His message,

And He as a person,

Are rejected,

Despite the fact that,

Even He Himself,

Will see people fleeing Him,

And abandoning Him,

Despite the fact that,

Even on the cross,

He cries out,

My God,

My God,

Why have you forsaken me?

Yet,

It will not be in vain,

In other words,

His failure,

Was only an apparent failure,

Because despite,

All appearances,

The fruit of His labor,

The outcome of His obedience,

Will be exactly,

What God intended,

He will achieve,

Exactly the purposes,

For which God sent Him,

Look at what verse 4 says,

He says,

I have labored in vain,

I have spent my strength,

For nothing,

And vanity,

Yet,

Surely my right,

Is with the Lord,

What that means is,

It's the Lord,

Who gets to decide,

Whether my work,

Is right or wrong,

It's not for me to decide,

It's not for those around me,

It's God who gets to decide,

Whether,

I was right to obey Him,

Or not,

Surely,

My right is with the Lord,

My recompense,

Or my reward,

Is with God,

In other words,

Even from a human perspective,

Though His mission,

May seem like a complete failure,

Rather than redeeming Israel,

He ends up crucified on the cross,

From heaven's perspective,

He's achieved,

Exactly what God the Father,

And Christ the Son,

Had determined,

And planned for Him to achieve,

People will see,

Nothing coming from His life,

But it's not for them to decide,

It's for God to decide,

And what does God say about Jesus,

Well look at what He says,

In verse 5 and 6,

This is what the Lord says,

He who formed me from the womb,

To be His servant,

To bring back Jacob,

To restore God's people,

He says,

It is too small a thing,

That you should just be my servant,

To redeem Israel,

To bring back the tribes of Jacob only,

To bring back the preserved of Israel,

I will make you a light,

To the nations,

That you should be my salvation,

To the ends of the earth,

Friends,

Friends,

Rather than just redeeming Israel,

Rather than just redeeming Jacob,

God's Messiah servant,

Would be one,

Whose accomplishments,

Would achieve,

Global perspective,

He wouldn't just,

Rescue and redeem Israel,

He wouldn't just save,

Israel from Cyrus,

Or Babylon,

This Messiah,

Through his,

Failed enterprise,

His apparent failure,

Would actually be one,

Who would achieve,

Salvation,

For the ends of the earth,

Rather,

Than being a failure,

Christ accomplished,

And more,

What he was sent to do,

You see what's going on here,

Here is a Messiah king,

One who is good news,

Of salvation,

Who is faithful,

To his mission,

And even though he ends up,

On a cross,

He achieves everything,

He planned,

Look at verse 7,

It says the same thing,

It says,

Thus says the Lord,

The redeemer of Israel,

His holy one,

To one deeply despised,

Abored by the nations,

Kings shall see and rise,

Princes,

And they shall fall down,

Prostrate before you,

Because the Lord,

Who is faithful,

Has chosen you,

Friends,

Isn't that what,

Paul says in Philippians chapter 2,

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

He says,

Jesus,

Who,

Though he's God,

He becomes a servant,

He empties himself,

And he ends up,

On a cross,

And to everyone around him,

It seems like a failure,

And yet,

What does he say?

Therefore God has highly exalted him,

And bestowed upon him,

The name that is above every name,

So that at the name of Jesus,

Every knee shall bow,

From Hong Kong,

To Helsinki,

From Tokyo,

To Toronto,

From London,

To Sydney,

To Buenos Aires,

To Moscow,

Friends,

One day,

Every human being,

Will bow down,

Before Christ the King,

Some will bow,

With joy and gladness,

Because,

His message will be vindicated,

They'll rejoice,

When Christ is crowned,

Lord of all,

Friends,

Some will bow down,

In agony,

And regret,

Because they rejected,

His message,

They abandoned,

His word,

They laughed him off,

As a failure,

And they'll bow down,

With agony and regret,

But friends,

This King,

His message,

And his mission,

Will succeed,

He will accomplish,

What he came for,

Because he'll be crowned,

The King,

Of all the universe,

As he brings salvation,

To the ends,

Of the earth,

Remember verse 1,

It says,

Listen up,

O coastlands,

Give attention,

You people that are far away,

You who are in Hong Kong,

Listen up,

Christ the redeeming,

Messiah King,

Has come,

Friends,

That's why he's come,

That's what Christmas,

Is all about,

Finally,

His grace,

His grace,

In verse 13,

As Ellen read to us earlier,

We see,

The response,

To this amazing message,

That God has sent,

His Messiah prophet,

To not just bring us,

A message of good news,

Not just to bring us,

Good advice,

But to be the message,

Of good news,

To be salvation for us,

And look at how,

Verse 13 says this,

It says,

Sing for joy,

O heavens,

Exalt,

O earth,

Break forth,

O mountains,

Into singing,

For the Lord has comforted his people,

He will have compassion,

On his afflicted,

This is the good news,

Of great joy,

That is Christmas,

And yet,

For many of us,

Christmas is a difficult time,

Friends,

For many of us,

Christmas is wonderful,

As it is,

We remember,

The brokenness,

Of our own lives,

And the scars,

That we bear,

For some of us,

In our church family,

We've lost loved ones,

This year,

And this Christmas,

Is going to be very painful,

For others,

In our church family,

We've lost loved ones,

Maybe not this year,

In years gone by,

But still,

The pain is no easier,

Christmas doesn't get any easier,

As you remember,

The loss of loved ones,

For others of us,

This year has been really difficult,

Maybe you face job loss,

Maybe there's been a relational breakdown,

In marriage,

With your children,

With your parents,

Friends,

Many of us,

This year has been really tough,

And so,

As we sang that song earlier,

Come all you faithful,

Joyful and triumphant,

Many of us,

We don't feel very joyful,

Or triumphant,

We feel pretty broken,

We feel like this year,

Has just marched over us,

We've been trampled,

And we look at verse 13,

Sing for joy,

Your heavens,

Exult,

Break forth into singing,

And we think,

Yeah right,

Maybe somebody else,

Not me,

Friends,

Sometimes Christmas can be hard,

Right?

Isaiah writes this message,

Of good news,

To the people of Israel,

That at this point,

Are stuck in Babylon,

They're in exile,

And he says,

Rejoice,

For your Messiah King is coming,

Your Redeemer,

Your Savior,

Who's brought good news,

But look at how Zion,

That's another word for Israel,

Responds,

Look at verse 14,

They say,

But the Lord has forsaken me,

The Lord has forgotten me,

Friends,

How many of us feel,

Like God has forgotten of us,

How many of us feel,

Like while God is running,

Around the universe,

Looking after everybody else,

Taking care of everybody else's needs,

He's forgotten you,

Friends,

Some of us maybe even feel,

Like God hasn't just forgotten you,

He's forsaken you,

He's abandoned you,

Altogether,

Look at God's response,

Look at verse 15,

It says,

Can a woman forget,

Her nursing child,

Or lack compassion,

On the mother,

On the child of her womb,

Even these may forget,

But I will not forget you,

Friends,

For those of us,

That are struggling,

God looks us in the eye,

And He says,

Even more,

Than the compassion,

And the tenderness,

That a mother has,

For her newborn child,

Even more,

Than all the tenderness,

And the heart,

That a mother has,

For her child,

That is crying,

Or going through difficulty,

My compassion for you,

My tender heart for you,

Infinitely outstrips,

Even the most tender hearted mother,

Friends,

What kind of mother,

Sees their child,

Just crying,

In agony,

Or in pain,

And feels nothing for it,

No,

No,

Every mother,

Will do whatever they can,

Can make any sacrifice,

Pour themselves out,

Will,

Any mother,

Will long to,

To pour out,

Their well being,

To child,

And take that pain,

Upon themselves,

Friends,

Any,

Decent mother,

Will long with compassion,

In their hearts,

As they see their child,

In difficulty,

Friends,

That's what it means,

To be a loving mother,

And Jesus says,

My compassion,

My tender heart,

My love for you,

Outstrips,

Even the very best mother,

To the infinite degree,

Can a woman forget,

Her nursing child,

Or lack compassion,

On the child of a womb,

Even if these were to forget,

Even these may forget,

But I,

I will never forget,

Look at verse 14,

Behold,

I've engraved you,

On the palms,

Of my hands,

Friends,

If you are in Christ,

Your names,

Are literally engraved,

On the palms,

Of his hands,

Jesus bears in his hands,

The scars,

With rusty nails,

Engraved your name,

Onto not just his hands,

But onto his heart,

Friends,

Jesus bears in his hands,

The scars,

A forever permanent reminder,

That God the Father,

Too gave everything he had,

Made the greatest sacrifice,

To bring us back to him,

Friends,

In this broken and fractured world,

We all bear scars,

And for some of us,

The scars run really deep,

But you can remember,

Do you recognize the promise,

Of Christmas,

The promise of scripture,

And the promise of Christmas,

Is that God has not forgotten you,

God has not forsaken you,

God has not abandoned you,

He sent his son,

To come and bear the scars,

He sent his son,

To be the message of salvation,

To hang on the cross,

Only if Jesus can it be said,

That he was born,

In order to die,

That you and I,

Can be rescued and redeemed,

That one day,

We can be with him,

For all eternity,

Where there will be,

No more scars,

And no more tears,

And no more pain,

And no more agony,

Friends,

Jesus came to bring us back,

To him,

This is who Jesus is,

This is what Christmas,

Is all about,

Let's pray together,

Oh Lord Jesus,

Thank you that you are,

The greatest,

Most magnificent,

Awesome,

Messiah King,

God this world,

Promises,

A thousand versions,

Of salvations,

Worthless idols,

Worthless treasures,

To trust and hope in,

God they are insipid,

Dead idols,

That cannot save us,

That cannot lift a finger,

That cannot give us hope,

Jesus you are,

The eternal,

Glorious,

Magnificent,

Messiah King,

The one who came,

To rescue us,

Out of shark infested waters,

The one who came,

To redeem us,

And bring us back to yourself,

Jesus you Messiah King,

You didn't just come,

With a message of good advice,

You didn't just come,

And blow your whistle,

And call us out,

You dived into the waters,

To bring us back,

You yourself,

God allowed yourself,

To be destroyed,

Nailed to the cross,

So that we God,

Could find our hope in you,

God I pray,

That we will be those,

Who listen up,

God I pray,

That your word,

Will cut like a sharp knife,

To our hearts,

Let it cut through,

All the lies,

And all the deception,

Jesus made the force of truth,

Ring loud in our hearts,

And bring us back to you,

God may we not be,

Like God's people of ages gone by,

That are deaf to your voice,

God we want to respond,

To your amazing,

Amazing message of salvation,

Say Christ we love you,

Come and have your way in our life,

We love you God,

Amen,

Amen,