Our Substitute

Some people are mocking Jesus today. It is nothing new, people mocked Jesus in his own day. But the only reason they can mock him is because he came to die for the sins of the world, rather than to bring the world to judgment for their sins.

Jesus came to be our substitute.

The Greatest News

Think about the biggest news that has happened in your lifetime. Some of it was good. Some was bad. How did the news spread from person to person? Do you hear news from other people? Do you share news with other people?

We have the privilege of sharing the most important and the best news that people have ever heard. We should be excited and enthusiastic to carry the news of the gospel.

Our Sweet Savior

Isaiah, writing 700 years before Christ, gives amazingly detailed portraits of Jesus.  Israel is facing terrible judgment, but God still offers them a sweet Savior.  Will you strike off on your own, or will you throw yourself into the arms of Jesus?

Engraved on His Hands

In America we sometimes think we are already in heaven. We have many good things - liberty, freedom of religion, prosperity, freedom of speech, etc.

That makes it more difficult for us to identify with the situation in Isaiah's day - the imminent prospect of military conquest, humiliation and exile. We need to understand what they were facing to understand God's picture of the Savior and the Salvation he would provide.

We feel like we are rich and safe - but spiritually we are in the same desolate condition that Israel was in. We need the Savior and Salvation just as much as they did.

Carried By God

Bel and Nebo were the main gods of Babylon, but we don't hear much about them anymore. Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians and the idols of Bel and Nebo were taken away as plunder - unceremoniously tied onto the backs of the beasts of burden.

Bel and Nebo needed to be carried - because they could not move on their own.  But the true God - the LORD of Israel - did not look to his people to carry him. He carries his people himself.

False religions teach some form of salvation by human works. The Bible teaches salvation by the grace of God offered freely to all who will believe.

The Potter & The Clay

When we think about our future, we usually think that it will be largely based on our own free decisions and hard work.  We figure we will create our future for ourselves.

But God says he is ultimately in control and that we should turn to him and look for his will in our lives. If we set ourselves against him we are bound to be frustrated. If we cooperate with him we will delight in the good things he has planned for us.

God is the potter - we are the clay.

Who Is The Lord?

The title "Lord" is applied to many different people... Lord Krishna, Buddha and Lord Vader to name a few.  But who is the LORD of the Bible?  In Isaiah 43 the LORD describes and defines himself as a way of encouraging his people who are facing some tough circumstances.

Who is the Lord?