God's Promises

Who has believed our message?

Isaiah asked the question, “Who has believed our message?”

I’m sure that there are times that you might ask, “If I were to tell somebody about Jesus, who would believe?”

Even Jesus came unto His own and His own did not receive Him, but the Good News about Jesus is still the power of God to those who believe.

Let’s look at Isaiah’s prophecy about Jesus.

Isaiah 53:1–6 NLT

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 dry 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 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 weaknesses 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! 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.

Who has believed our message?

This week I sat in a session talking about Nextgen. Much of the conversation dealt with Millennials and and Gen Z.

There was much concern about how do we reach our younger generations and how we stay true to the message of the gospel, while reaching out to people that are coming at things from a totally different perspective or for that matter way of life.

In a survey that was taken for a Gen Z, Education and Spiritual maturity are two things that are valued. Here’s a question, “What does spiritual maturity mean?”

To you it might mean getting to know Jesus, spending time every day in Bible Study and prayer. What does that mean to a 20-25 year-old? Meditation, yoga, connecting to your inner self.

What do many think of when we speak of Christianity? For many it could be about a scandal, how the church mistreated our indigenous, a secular view from a podcast, something from the internet, and the list can go on and on.

When we stop and look at the direction of church even since Covid as churches weren’t seen as an essential service, the task can seem daunting, we can ask ourselves, “Who has believed our message?’

Yet Jesus said,

Matthew 16:18 NLT

Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

If we have to carry this burden of will God’s kingdom survive or not, we will break under the weight of the burden.

Can you imagine, when Jesus spoke to a small group and said, “Go and make disciples of all nations…?”

We need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives...

Acts 1:8 NLT

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

What’s our message?

I think that’s a pretty good question. Depends who you ask.

As of 2014, worldwide there are approximately 40000 denominations. Many are very similar but have their quirks that make them just a little different from the next. Even within denominations, and churches, there are differences that make us different, but we can’t waiver on the gospel.

Here’s our message,

Isaiah 53:4–6 NLT

Yet it was our weaknesses 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! 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.

Our message is love.

Pastor, don’t soft sell the gospel. It’s the holiness and the justice of God. People that don’t believe in Jesus will burn in the lake of fire for eternity.

Is being scared half to death about a vindictive God that is ready to pour His wrath on us enough to keep us out of Hell? Is that going to fill churches because people want to hear that God is going to send all their friends and families to hell.

Electric fencers

Cattle will stay in a fence because of an electric shock. It takes about 2000-3000 volts on a fence to keep the average cow in. A bull will take more because they are a little more hard headed.

Personally, I probably know that the shock is getting strong at @4500 volts, maybe 5000. Often it takes a little while for cattle that are trained to know that the fencer isn’t working, but eventually they’ll look for greener pastures.

When we preach fear, I’m not talking about reverence or honouring God, but being afraid of God, it will only keep people for so long.

Millennials and Gen Z’s are looking for authenticity. They don’t just want to be told, but they want to be heard. Why do many that grow up in the church leave the church, maybe the message that they are hearing is that God is angry, if we do something bad, we need to be afraid of Him. They leave because they haven’t experienced the God that loved them so much that He was willing to die, so that we could live.

Here’s a worldview:

You get what you deserve

Isaiah 53:4 NLT

Yet it was our weaknesses 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!

When people looked at Jesus, they saw Joseph and Mary’s boy. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. He was like a tender green blade of grass in dry ground. He wasn’t the nicest, greenest tomato plant in the store, so when people saw that he was getting punished, they thought that He was getting what He deserved.

It’s called Karma. This isn’t Bible, it’s the belief that eventually you are going to get what you deserve. If you are good enough, you can get to heaven. If you are a terrible person, eventually you will get what you deserve.

That’s not how the gospel works and maybe that’s why it’s hard for people to believe our message.

Jesus got what we deserved...

Isaiah 53:5–6 NLT

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.

This morning, we are going to come to the communion table and reflect and remember that Jesus got what we deserved so that we could get what we don’t deserve and could never earn.

He was pierced for our rebellion...

Most people don’t even have a clue that by doing what comes naturally, we are rebelling against God. Iniquity or sin is another way of saying rebellion. It’s like going against God’s plan without even knowing it.

On a ship, if the crew goes against the captain’s orders, it’s called mutiny. This is deliberately going against the orders from the commanding officer.

Most people that we live around try to be good people. Even though we live in a post- Christian society, there are enough beliefs that we want to do what’s right. The problem is that society wants to set the rules of what is right and what is wrong.

Oprah has said, “Live your truth!” What’s that supposed to mean? Relative truth is not truth, because Adolf Hitler and Mother Theresa couldn’t both be living truth by what they did.

Only God can define and establish truth, and when we don’t measure up it’s called sin.

Fighting this sinful nature

Romans 7:18–25 NLT

And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Romans 8:1–2 NIV

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Because Jesus was pierced for our rebellion, we become the righteousness of God in Christ.

He was crushed for our sins...

He was bruised. If Karma was real, Jesus wouldn’t have stood in our place.

1 John 2:1–2 NLT

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

We are made righteous because Jesus died for our sins. When Satan comes to accuse us, Jesus pleads our case and defends us.

We can’t earn righteousness. We can’t earn our way into heaven. We could be 99% good and 1% evil, and it still takes the blood of Jesus to take our sins away.

Legalism teaches that you have to do this, you need to wear this, you can’t do this or that, but when Jesus gets a hold of us, He changes our hearts. Legalism is like the electric fence. It might keep us from doing what is wrong, but it doesn’t change our hearts.

Hebrews 10:16–18 NLT

“This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.” And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.

He was beaten so that we could be whole...

The punishment that brought us peace was on Him.

Shalom, peace, has to do with wholeness. Jesus suffered for us that we could have peace with God.

Romans 5:1 NLT

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

Jesus died so that we could be whole: body, soul, and spirit. We can walk in peace with God and with each other. Because of what Jesus did, we can be reconciled to each other. Maybe there is somebody that you don’t have peace with. God can bring reconciliation. God can restore what Satan has destroyed. Jesus can tear down walls that have been put up. Keep believing that nothing is impossible with God.

If you are dealing with stress and anxiety, God is able to bring release. He is able to set our hearts, our minds and our nerves at ease. God can do more in seconds than we can dream to accomplish in a lifetime.

Know this that you are not alone. God has called us to bear each others burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

He was whipped so we could be healed...

By His stripes we are healed.

What do you need healing for? God is able. Don’t give up! Don’t lose heart!

Naaman dipped in the Jordan River seven times. The man with the shrivelled up hand stretched it out. The paralysed man took up his bed and went home. The woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of Jesus’ garment.

Let’s believe God for the impossible. I don’t have answers to why some are healed and others aren’t. We can come up with many reasons, but I want you to know that the whipping that Jesus took for you was enough. The price for our healing has been paid for. Only believe.

This morning as we come to the Lord’s table, let’s believe that we are children of the God who loved us enough to die for us. If you need healing, ask God. If you need confidence to enter God’s presence.

Hebrews 4:15–16 NIV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Communion

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NIV

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.