Brown's Daily Word 4/3/15

Praise the Lord for this Good Friday. We are eagerly waiting for our daughter Jess and her husband Tom to arrive later today to spend Easter weekend with us. Many of you know that they are expecting their first child, a little girl, due to be born near Jess's birthday in July. We received a text message from Sunita this morning, who had just come from an ultrasound appointment that confirmed that their baby, due in late August or early September, is also a girl. She said, "It is a good thing that you love girls so much, Daddy, because Jesus keeps blessing you with them."
  Something very good happened at the Cross where the Prince of Glory died on a hill outside the city of Jerusalem over 200 years ago. Today the Church will gather all around the globe and around the corner in worship and in thanksgiving. Praise the Lord that the Church still gathers in the midst of violence and atrocities against Christians around the world. Jesus still says, "Father forgive them". We will gather for our Good Friday service tonight at 7:00 PM. Aric Phinney and the team will lead the service. We will gather for Sunrise Service at 6:30 AM at the Union Center United Methodist Church Grounds, 128 Maple Drive, Endicott. Pastor Marshall Sorber and the team will lead the service, followed by a church-wide family breakfast which is prepared by Rodney Haines and the team. We will gather for a triumphant Easter celebration with lots joyful music. We will gather for the Easter Celebration and worship at 9:00 AM at Wesley UMC, located at 1000 Day Hollow Road, Endicott. We will gather for Easter Celebration and worship at Union Center UMC, located at 128 Maple Drive, Endicott , NY at 10:15 Am. Plan to attend the Easter Celebrations wherever you might be around the corner and around the globe.
 Praise the Lord that we get to celebrate the Resurrection Sunday one more time, proclaiming, "Christ is Risen; He is Risen Indeed." I will be preaching the Easter Message for this Friday evening's Television outreach at 7:30 PM on Time Warner Cable channel 4. We have so much to celebrate and so much to give thanks for. We looked at Isaiah 53 for our Wednesday gathering last week. This is the very heart of the gospel, and the “heart of the heart” comes in Isaiah 53:4-6. No passage more clearly expresses the “why” behind the death of Christ. It is as if Isaiah somehow had a front-row seat at Golgotha and personally witnessed the terrible suffering of Jesus.
 As we begin to look at these verses, we must see how many times Isaiah uses “our” and “we” and “us.” He spoke of “Our griefs” “Our sorrows” “We esteemed him” “Our transgressions” “Our iniquities” His chastisement “brought us peace” “With his wounds we are healed” “We . . . have gone astray” “We have turned” “The iniquities of us all”
Nothing in this passage makes sense until you feel the full weight of the truth that what He did, He did for us. Jesus died for us. What he suffered was for us. The pain and the brutality and the indignity of the cross were all for us. From our perspective, we may say that Jesus was betrayed, tried, beaten, mocked, humiliated, crowned with thorns, convicted in a court, falsely accused, beaten until his skin was shredded, forced to carry his own cross, and then publicly crucified, the most brutal form of execution in his day. If we focus on those events, we may come to the conclusion that Jesus shouldn't have died, that it was all a big mistake, that somehow the powers of darkness finally triumphed over the light.
In Acts 2:23 Peter even said, “This Jesus . . . you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” That, however, is not the end of the story. On the contrary. The Bible writers unite to declare that Jesus laid down his own life, that no one took it from him. J. C. Ryle offers this perceptive comment: "He did not die because he could not help it; he did not suffer because he could not escape. All the soldiers of Pilate’s army could not have taken him, if he had not been willing to be taken. They could not have hurt a hair of his head, if he had not given them permission." This brings us to the real message of Isaiah 53:4-6.
 As we read these verses, let our hearts be warmed by the thought that Jesus died on purpose, not by accident, so that sinners like you and me could be saved. You and I are numbered among the “we” in the passage. Christ died for us. “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (v. 4). When Isaiah spoke of what Christ has done for us, he did not start with our sin and our guilt. That is later. He began instead with our infirmities.
 The text says that Christ has “borne” our griefs. Borne is a Hebrew word that means to lift up and carry away a heavy load. It was used in Leviticus 16 for the scapegoat who carried away the sins of the nation. Jesus came to lift the heavy burden of sadness brought about by our sin and the pain of living in a sinful world. I love the hymn that starts, "What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear."
 We have many griefs because we live in a fallen world. We have many sorrows because we ourselves are fallen people. We need someone who can bear our grief when the burden is too heavy for us. Colin Smith (Restore Faith) explains it this way: He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrow. That must include the division in your family, the loss of your job, the death of your husband, and the pain of your past.
    In Christ we do not have some far-off God, but in Him we find a God who drew near to us, who came to us, who entered our world and became one of us, that He might carry our sorrows for us. Your pain will not have the last word our pain will not have the last word. our sorrows will not last forever. Jesus has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Os Guinness tells the following story in No God But God: In one of their periodic efforts to eradicate religious belief in the Soviet Union, the Communist Party sent KGB agents to the nation’s churches on a Sunday morning. One agent was struck by the deep devotion of an elderly woman who was kissing the feet of a life-size carving of Christ on the cross. “Babushka [Grandmother],” he said. “Are you also prepared to kiss the feet of the beloved general secretary of our great Communist Party?” “Why, of course,” came the immediate reply. “But only if you crucify him first.” (p. 112)
Isaiah 53 contains the good news we all need. He was bruised–for us. He was wounded–for us. He was beaten, betrayed, mocked, scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified–all for us. Our sins drove Jesus to the cross. But he did not go unwillingly. If our sins drove him there, it was his love for us that kept him there.
If you want to go to heaven, pay attention to Isaiah 53:6. Remember that it begins and ends with the word “all.” One man gave his testimony this way: “I stooped down low and went in at the first ‘all.’ Then I stood up straight and walked out at the last ‘all.’” The first “all” tells us that we are sinners; the last “all” tells us that Christ has paid the price for our sins. Go in at the first “all” and come out at the last “all” and you will discover the way of salvation. Can an old sinner like me go to heaven?
  I read about When President Dwight Eisenhower was hospitalized for the final time before he died, Billy Graham paid him a visit. At one point President Eisenhower asked, “Can an old sinner like me ever go to heaven?” Billy Graham assured him that even “old sinners” can go to heaven by trusting in Jesus. But there is good news for “old sinners,” “young sinners,” “big sinners,” “small sinners,” and everyone in between. Jesus has paid the price in full so that you can go to heaven. It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done or how bad your record might be. If you know that you are a sinner, you can be saved.
How can I be so sure about that? Because Jesus was pierced for your transgressions and crushed for your iniquities. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Philip Bliss was born near Nichols NY where we served for 8 years.In 1875 Philip Bliss wrote a hymn based on the Isaiah 53 called Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Speaking of this song, Ira Sankey (a composer and musician who served with D. L. Moody) says: A few weeks before his death Mr. Bliss visited the State prison at Jackson, Michigan, where, after a very touching address on “The Man of Sorrows,” he sang this hymn with great effect. Many of the prisoners dated their conversion from that day. Here are the words to that hymn: Man of Sorrows! what a name For the Son of God, who came Ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah! What a Savior! In my place condemned he stood Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned He stood; Sealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless we; Spotless Lamb of God was He; “Full atonement!” can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! Lifted up was He to die; “It is finished!” was His cry; Now in Heaven exalted high. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless we; Spotless Lamb of God was He; When He comes, our glorious King, All His ransomed home to bring, Then anew His song we’ll sing:
In Jesus the Victor.
  Brown
https://youtu.be/Ew8ig612NQc