“The Suffering Servant” with Kevin Harvey

ANTHEM:    Yvonne Langlois  & Choir     “In the Day of the Lord”

Refrain
In the day of the Lord, the sun will shine
like the dawn of eternal day.
All creation will rise to dance and sing
the glory of the Lord!

1. And on that day will justice triumph,
on that day will all be free:
free from want, free from fear, free to live!

2. Then shall the nations throng together
to the mountain of the Lord:
they shall walk in the light of the Lord!

3. And they shall beat their swords to plowshares;
there will be an end to war:
one in peace, one in love, one in God!

4. For Israel shall be delivered,
and the desert lands will bloom.
Say to all, “Do not fear. Here is your God!”

5. And on that day of Christ in glory,
God will wipe away our tears,
and the dead shall rise up from their graves!

6. O give us eyes to see your glory,
give us hearts to understand.
Let our ears hear your voice ‘til you come!

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DRAMA MOMENT:       “Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem”

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SERMON:                  “The Suffering Servant”  

The History and Record of Christ's suffering, death,

on the cross, and Resurrection were long foretold in the

old testament. Fulfilled prophesies that give us

confidence in the scriptures, In God's word, In God's

plan of salvation.

Next week, Christians and Jews all over the globe

will be remembering and celebrating passover, and

Easter, which is a most Holy time. 

Today, I want us to see three main things:

A) To see and understand God's plan of salvation, as

laid out in the old and new testiments.

B)  To get excited, and motivated about it, or even

uncomfortable

C)  To be engaged, actively involved in Gods workings

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I want to do it by letting this redemptive plan unfold,

starting with the old testament, then with the new. For

sake of time, we will look at just a few scriptures that

prophesied of a suffering Messiah.

Psalm 22:7-18
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

7 All who see me sneer at me;
They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,
8 Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him;
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.”
9 Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb;
You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts.
10 Upon You I was cast from birth;
You have been my God from my mother’s womb.
11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
13 They open wide their mouth at me,
As a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
And all my bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It is melted within me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
And You lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded me;
A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I can count all my bones.
They look, they stare at me;
18 They divide my garments among them,
And for my clothing they cast lots

John 12:38
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: Lord, who has believed our report?And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”


Isaiah 53
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Suffering Servant
53 Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3 He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
9 His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10 But the Lord was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.


Acts 8:32-35
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

32 Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:
“He was led as a sheep to slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He does not open His mouth.
33 In humiliation His judgment was taken away;
Who will relate His generation?
For His life is removed from the earth.”
34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.


*Application: Read, study, meditate on God prophetic word.*


Mat 27 Vs 46 reads like this: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

*Question: where have we heard this?*

When did Christ say this? and why?

He was quoting Psalm 22, beginning in vs 1 ff (see above)

One thing to remember most Jews knew their scripture,

and the early Church only had the old testament.

Christ, the apostles, and Paul were constantly pointing

out the messianic passages to show that Jesus IS the

Christ. ((( Some received it, some rejected it )))

Keep in mind another thing, prophesy is not there to

predict the future per say, like some magic trick to

marvel at; but is there to bring us to a place of

realization because once prophesy is fulfilled, we can

look back from hindsight and say, "It is Written" Amen

The scriptures are always true, and trustworthy.

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So, it is in this context that Jesus is always affirming,

proving that he is "The one" foretold in the scriptures

to suffer, die, and rise again.

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In the book of Acts, chapter 8, vs 32-35, ( see above)  is the story of

the Ethiopian Eunich, and Philip preaches Christ from

Isaiah 53 to him

*Application: I find this exciting and motivating*

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So, here now, is Gods salvation plan in a nutshell: In

John 3 vs 14-18 , and the basic outline goes like this:

vs 14 a) Moses lifted up

15 b) Believes has eternal life

16 c) God so loved, he gave

17 d) Salvation offered to all "whosoever"

18 e) Believing equals not judged and believing not

equals judged already

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John 3:14-18
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must B)" >the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.


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Conclusions: 

A) We all have an important decision to
make. The scriptures say in Acts 4 vs 12 " There is no
other name under Heaven given, whereby we must be
saved" 

B) Phillipians 2 vs 10-11  "So, that at the name
of Jesus, every knee will bow, of those who are in
Leaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, every
tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father."


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Some personal thoughts: I make no assumptions, I

mean no offence when it comes to one’s eternal state

before God. Some go to Church their whole lives and

never see their need for salvation. And some never set

foot in a Church, yet are overcome by heir need of a

savior, and cry out to God, like the thief on the cross.

GOD LOVES YOU SO MUCH

GO TO HIM!