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The Man of Sorrows

Isaiah 53 3/6
3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

   The World in ‘every-age’ has had many a sorrow man, but there has only been one ‘Man of Sorrows’. The sorrows of the son of man were entirely unique and have been unparalleled.

His was a sorrow of a unique…
1: Humiliation
   It is something you do to another who has wronged you in some way, and made you look so Humiliated in front of those who thought goo d of you. Before you seek retribution, remember the saying “two wrongs don’t make a right”. This is something I had great difficulty grappling with when I was first saved. All that God is, poured Himself into Jesus Christ, instead all we do rebuke Him, humiliated Him, and beat him.

   Remember, ‘by the grace of God there goes us’. So due to social reteric, they put on us pressure to have the latest thing. You are humiliated if don’t have these. So much so that by accident or failure, then due over stretching financially, we are now reduced to poverty and shame. No one ever had as much to give up as Christ Jesus, when He emptied Himself, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, becoming obedient unto death.

His was a sorrow of a unique…
2: Opposition
   We will ‘ALL’ have face in our life time opposition. Who we deal with it defines who we are. For Jesus’ the contradiction that He suffered at the hand of sinner against Himself was so unique. He was despised and rejected by men. Here is a man, whom scripture had foretold. What did they expect? God to appear in the sky above, and tell them on what exact date His son was coming, where & how? Oh hang on God did do this, in His scriptures. So why is it we still today NOT believe the scriptures? They were more just stories from hundreds of years ago, but are our road map for our lives now and life.
Ezekiel 39:8 “..Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord God. “This is the day of which I have spoken..”

# The temptation in the Wilderness #

   The rebuking of the wind; the same word used when dealing with ‘unclean souls’. The rebuking of Peter, and the ‘get thee behind me Satan’. He also went on to say ‘far be it from the Lord’ (referring to our Lords suffering death). Even when He (Jesus) was on the cross, they cried out and taunted him saying ‘come down, and we will believe thee’, I feel even if He had they would have just called it witchcraft, or magic.

His was a sorrow of a unique…
3 Anticipation
   It’s all enough to raise your blood pressure through the roof. How many times have we strained to say “It’s good for us that don’t know what is going to happen the next day ~ week ~ month or even year”. Or as to when this event is going to happen, because, if said to you next week on your way to work you will be die in a bad car crash, you would not leave your bed let alone thr house.

   Your nerves will become more and more jangled, the closer that date and time draws closer. You’ll think I’ll leave earlier, even go a different route to work, but your fate is sealed. But, these things are mercifully hidden, or else we would go mad with ‘anticipation’. But only Christ has fully seen what was ~ is ~ too happen. From a very young age, He came to minister to us, but not become just a seat warmer..

John 12:32/3 “..if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself. This He said, signifying by what death He would die..”

His was a sorrow of a unique…
4 Separation
   His very nature, as Holiness and Divinity had made Him separate from sinners, this was even though he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. No one could feel this more intensely as ‘The Son of Man’ who was also ‘The Son of God’.

1 Peter 4 1/5 “..Christ suffered for us in the flesh … should live the rest of his time in the flesh … enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles … they think it strange that you do not run with them..”

   As Christ suffered in the flesh, we are called by Christ to be separate from sinners. Being a Christian will cause you to stand alone at times in you community. Some of you will no doubt think impossible that Christians are still treated in this same deplorable way, yet they still are. I once heard the story of a group of Christians buried up to their heads and were told to denounce their beliefs and God, if not each would be beaten in front of the others, yet still NO-One turned and so were left there to dye.

His was a sorrow of a unique…
5 Relationship
V4 “.. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows..”
   Now only He could do this as a fond Mother, whom is very devoted, and carries the griefs and sorrows of her beloved suffering Children. The bond of a Mother and children is a special one, one when nurtured, builds a ‘relationship’ that can last a life time.

   Jesus Christ has the same devoted love and ‘relationship’ with us. Such love and devotion, even conquering death for us. Honestly, ‘who do you know would do this for you’? Let alone a total stranger. So intense was His love and sympathy for us as sinful man, that He could not refrain from bearing our griefs & sorrows. It was in this wholly devoted one act that Jehovah was pleased to lay .. (V6) “..the iniquity of us all..”. It was for us the He poured out His Holy, sorrowful, soul into death.

Lamentations 1:12 “..“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see If there is any sorrow like my sorrow, Which has been brought on me, Which the Lord has inflicted In the day of His fierce anger..”

Settled in Righteousness ...... 55030820

55030820 

Settled in Righteousness 

   Holiness is a fruit that comes forth out of our acceptance of a thing called ‘Grace’. Grace is a root= Holiness is the fruit. Some will say being Holy and then these things are able to happen to you. Wrong. Being Righteous by faith and then Holiness will be your faith.

   Think about this for a moment … ‘If you don’t believe in what Jesus Christ our Lord has done, you ain’t going to see him. You need to believe in Him, then the by product will be Faith. You should always walk in uprightness, this is why .. You should live a life of holiness, because without Holiness, no-man will see the Lord through your witness.

Here’s something you should say every morning before getting out of bed….. 

“ Jesus Christ is my Everything” 

Romans 5 v 12 (Because of Adams decision he infected the whole human race to follow him). “..Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned..”

AMP - V13 “..Sin was [committed] in the world before the Law [was given], but sin is not charged [against anyone] when there is no law [against it]..”

Q: “So what happened to all the people back then, before the law was given”?
A: Can you only transgress against something to transgress?
ie.. your not speeding when there is a speed limit ..

… But we know that without being told, the faster we go the more dangerous/ wrong it is. We have been taught to know it might not be good, like standing at the cliff face, it’s going to hurt if we jump.

   An important thing to note, not all that we did has not been put on your record when we stand as a Christian before the Lamb of God, before we were saved, as it has all been washed clean by the blood of Christ, when we accepted Him into our lives.

Romans 5: 14 “..Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come..”

   If a free gift given to you, and you turn around and say ‘you don’t deserve it’ OR ‘Your not supposed to deserve it, is this free gift’? V15 “.. much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ..” in other words the unmerited favour from God, especially this free gift, you feel you don’t deserve it. But instead God is telling us that “I know you did nothing really to deserve it, but this free gift I give to you nevertheless.

V16 “..one offense resulted in condemnation..” We see clearly how Adams actions brought about Gods condemnation, so we can see how sin was brought into being, and how every man was born in to sin.

   Then God said I’m going give you a precious gift, even though I know you don’t deserve it, through my Son Jesus Christ you may never ‘earn’ it, but by my graces you can ‘freely’ receive it. V17 .. “..much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ .” If you receive ‘the gift’, called righteousness, you will reign in your life, by the one Jesus Christ. This wonderful gift from Heaven is Gods graces, as we were saved by Gods grace. Now you can receive the gift, that is called ‘righteousness’ though grace.

Amp V17 “..much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in [eternal] life through the One, Jesus Christ..”

“Will you receive the Gift” 

   Let us pause and take a look at the meaning of the word ‘receive’ to take into ones possession. Something that is offered or delivered.  So to take into possession something that is offered or delivered, we find that it was through ‘Grace’ that offered us the gift of righteousness, which can now be taken into our possession. Please pay attention closely, NO matter what life has to throw at you, DON’T give up this wonderful  gift from God easily. I hear you scream at the screen “..it’s easy for you to say..’’. Let me tell you it has not been easy, as life is a sea of great tempest’s. You can take a ‘physical’ thing into possession, for example: Money – Sofa’s – Cars – Homes etc. So how do we take hold of ‘righteousness’ into our possession? Purely by Faith alone.

   Only when we grasp ‘Righteousness’ fully, in every area of our lives, like ‘Eat/Sleep/Drink', will we see a difference and so will everyone else. Once you realise how good ‘Righteousness’ can be for you in your life, you’ll want to make sure you have it locked down in every area of how you now live. Then everyone will ask you ‘what your on?’ As they now want some, be aware some will be scoffers, and not believe you. All types of crazy things will happen to those who never ‘relinquish’ Gods free gift for you.

If ever in doubt repeat this to yourself daily... 

“I have hold of Gods Righteousness by Faith alone” 

   For, when the Angels in Heaven hear this they come running with all kinds of provisions, for you and yours. There will be NO mistake, let Heaven & Earth & hell know that “I am the Righteousness of God”. From now on no matter how many times you may stumble and fall always get up saying this, and you will get stronger every time. Until one day when you realise that you hardly stumble, or you can’t recall the last time you did.

V18-19 ...”Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous..” 

   Although we did nothing to be righteous, we were all born into sin by the actions of one couple, Adam & Eve. So to counter what they did in the garden of Eden, Jesus Christ came to correct this. The God of Abraham – Jacob & Moses, His favour will always bless even when you feel have done nothing to warrant such kindness.

Q: “Can I sin away my righteousness?”
A: If you can sin away your righteousness, then it would be a foolish act of your own making.

   If someone came along and gave you the ‘Euro-lotto’ jackpot, would you just leave it laying around for someone to find it? As sinning away Gods righteousness would be the same. When you could be living out your righteousness, which is by faith, and enjoying the glory and manifestation of God.

Q: Why do we keep sinning?
A: Because it keeps bringing about ’Human’, not Gods, natural consequences like .. shame – condemnation, bad feelings, all things we are used to. Be honest, who really wants to willingly live this way? 

   Who wants Shame – Guilt – living under the curse, or would you rather be spending you time being happy and rejoicing over the glory of your relationship God? I know which I choose. That’s not giving you cart-blanch to sinning, but the feeling of wanting to sin will go away eventually. I heard it said that ‘if we were to eat the same amount as we read our Bibles each week, we will be skeletons very quickly and die through malnourishment’.

Slowly but surly sinning will erode away …
..Your confidence in God.. 
..Your beliefs..& 
..Your faith in righteousness. 

   Once your confidence & faith in God goes away, then your going to find it harder to break away from those chains of bondage a second time around, the devil now has you bound down with. So after breaking away from his grasp the first time, would you leave the back door open leaving cookies on the worktop with a personal invite to come back.

   How many times whilst growing up, your (Earthly) father would say ‘don’t be doing that as it will make you unhappy’. But you always seem to know better than him, and so go on to make the mistake anyway. Our (Earthly) father now has to sit around and wait, and be there for you. Well surprise the same thing happens with our Heavenly Father.

Then God will say..
God: You know I love you?
You: Yes Heavenly Father
God: You know I ain't mad at you?
You: Yes Father, now what happens? I am truly sorry I let you down like that,
God: You ain’t let me down
You: Yes, but I want my holiness to be a demonstration of my love to you.

Hebrews 12:14 “..Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord..”

2 Corinthians 7:1 “..Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God..”

   We should want Holiness in our lives so bad, so that our hearts can no longer torment us. We should all want to be Holy and pleasing unto God. Everyday we should want God more & more & more, as much as God wants to love us. We should want to be with Him, not looking for Him do something for us, but just because we want to spend time with Him.

   If we keep doing this, then there will come a time, that NO matter the temptation, it will go straight on pass, because you will not be tempted or see the temptation.

May the Lord bless this to your hearts,

in Jesus Christs name

Amen