All right, at this time, if you would please, turn with me to Isaiah chapter number 61. Isaiah and chapter number 61. I wanted to mention earlier too, John, you, I think, got stuck with the chapters with all of the difficult names, but you've been doing a good job. Thank you for your efforts there. I know that they can be a challenge as you study through the names of the Bible. I was thinking to myself, if somebody was looking for names for boys, Buzz and Us would be at the top of the list. Buzz and Us. But anyway, anyway, Isaiah 61. as we just finished Galatians last week and thinking about the season we're now in my endeavor for both this week and next especially is to focus on the the reason for Christmas itself And when we think of Christmas itself, we should rightly think of Christ and all that surrounds His life and ministry and His death upon the cross, His burial and resurrection. All those things are so important to just remember and to understand rightly. And the good news is, is that we don't have to study exclusively the New Testament in order to see the gospel message. It's scattered throughout the entirety of the Bible. And as a matter of fact, that is the goal of our Christmas Eve, Eve services to show the gospel as it's presented to us from the entirety of the Bible. And so we think of these things, but as we look at Isaiah chapter 61, specifically this morning, I have a message for you for his glory. for his glory. So if you found Isaiah 61, would you stand with me? If you're able for the reading of God's word, as we read the first three verses of Isaiah chapter 61, the word of God says, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning. the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. And all God's people said, amen. Thank you for standing. You may be seated. whether it's a new gift that you receive for Christmas or whether it's just simply a principle of life, it's good to understand the purpose of an item. It's good to understand the purpose of a relationship. It's good to understand the purpose of a thing in order to rightly understand why it was designed. And it even helps us understand its own designer. And when we think about those sort of things, the purpose, the glory, of a creator and the creation and the matter that it pertains to, I can't think of a greater or more pressing and more important aspect of understanding rightly the purpose of our salvation. A lot of times when we think about salvation, we, we use phrases like, and it's, and it's not wrong, but we use phrases like our personal salvation and, uh, and praise God that we can personally be saved by our God, our father, our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And, and those things are necessary and right and good. However, one of the aspects of salvation that I don't think we often think of enough. is that our salvation is ultimately not for our glory, but for the glory of God. In other words, God saves sinners in order to glorify himself. That's exactly what we see the prophet Isaiah declaring here to us in Isaiah chapter 61. This is without a doubt a messianic prophecy. And so we begin in verse number one with that first phrase, as Isaiah writes, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me. Now, A careful reader might ask themselves, or should ask themselves, rather, who is Isaiah talking about? Is Isaiah talking about himself? That the Spirit of God has came upon him and has anointed him? Well, one might think that, but they would be wrong. The reason that they would be wrong is because you and I have the blessed privilege of having the full canon of scripture We have the scriptures in their entirety and their fullness and let me just say we need no new revelation today the sufficiency of the Word of God is Present is powerful and we don't again. We don't need to hear anything new, right? We have all that we need and it's been given to us in the Word of God the 66 books as we know them And so, who is this anointed one? Well, I think, first of all, before we jump into who and defining the anointed one, I think it's good to understand what it actually means to be anointed. We hear this phrase in many different ways. Recently, I prayed for someone, And following the prayer, the person's response was that it was such an anointed prayer. And I didn't really understand exactly what they meant by that. I think I know what they meant by that, but it's a phrase, it's a term that's often used, and seemingly it's used more in certain circles than others. But biblically speaking, and specifically in the context of our text this morning, what is it exactly that we're talking about when we're saying that this person, this anointed one, what is it? Well, in the Old Testament, anointing, and the word in the Hebrew is masah, it's used to describe the divine installation of individuals into positions of leadership and it was often associated with the literal pouring on of oil to the head of this person. Now, outside of the New Testament, in the New Testament, we have examples of the phrase being used, but in the Old Testament specifically, this phrase of anointing was always in reference to one of three people, either a king, a priest, a prophet in other words the anointing that that we're speaking of here again Old Testament context is that the person being anointed a divine installation was appointing by the declaration of God himself to either the office of a king a priest or a prophet now That's really helpful for us when we think about specifically who this anointed one was. And so Isaiah would have fit the description of being anointed a prophet. He was indeed a prophet of God. However, that's again not who this text is talking about specifically. We do have somebody who took credit completely entirely for who this identified person is. And we find that in Luke's gospel and chapter number four, Luke's gospel in chapter number four and verse 16, this is what it says. and he that is Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as was his custom he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read so Jesus has he has come to the Jewish synagogue the people are gathered there on the Sabbath day to worship and Jesus stands up in front of the people and what does he do verse 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him he Unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written now just pause for a moment if you if you followed along with the scripture reading this morning you had to open your Bible and Somebody somebody took the time and effort to to show you where the book of Isaiah was in the Bible You had to then leaf through and find chapter 61 and find yourself in verses 1 through 3 and The scroll as written by the prophet Isaiah was just simply a long piece of probably papyrus. And, and, and so it could have been, I don't know how long, uh, quite, I mean, we're talking 66 chapters here, right? So it had to be unrolled and then you had to find this exact place. So, so that in and of itself, to me, it was quite amazing that he was able to unroll it and put his finger right on this place. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. What was written? Verse 18, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Verse 20 says, and he rolled up the scroll, and he gave it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all the synagogue were fixed on him. Talk about an awkward moment, right? Jesus gets up, he reads Isaiah 61, and he rolls it back up, hands it to the attendant of the scroll, and sits down. Everybody just stares at Jesus like, aren't you gonna tell us anything else? All you did was read the scriptures. And then verse 21, and he began to say to them, in other words, all eyes are on Jesus and he knows it. This is what he says, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Now, question is, who is the anointed one? Who is the one that the Spirit of the Lord is upon and has been anointed by the Lord? Well, Jesus claimed that this was about him. Now, what's really, really important that we make connection is that, again, it was a prophet, a priest, or a king that was anointed. Jesus comes and he fulfills all three of those offices in their entirety, in perfection, in completeness, in perpetuity. In other words, it was once and done and continues to be effective for every single generation. And so Jesus, as the prophet, priest, and king, is the chosen, the commissioned by God, the father, the consecrated and charged by the spirit of God. And listen, we don't wanna miss this aspect of Isaiah's prophecy and Jesus' recognition of his own messiahship, his anointing, and that is that there is an undeniable triune nature to this text. That is that there is a father, a son, and a spirit all working together for one purpose, and that being the glory of God through the salvation of men. And we see this in this text specifically, that Jesus himself has been given all authority. He is our representative before God. Jesus is the word of God made flesh, who has spoken fully. And finally, and as he does all these things, he is king, he is priest, he is prophet, And he is so absolutely by prophecy and actually. In other words, these things are not just pie in the sky. This is real transaction happening before the very eyes of the people there in Luke chapter four. And some 700 years prior to Christ coming, Isaiah is penning it down as if it is already Can I put it this way? Salvation is already and not yet in so many, so many ways. The appointment that we have here today that we were to come together as as the specific Congregation as it is here this today was not by chance was not by accident You're here today by the the appointment of God himself I had just seen a sign the Friday night the sign says And it was kind of a strange place of all places. It was in the restroom and And it was right over the place where men go to the restroom. And the sign said, you're exactly where you're supposed to be today. And I'm just like, how do you know, right? But what it said next was even more funny to me. It said, tomorrow's up to you. What? As if I wasn't involved in getting here today? I don't understand that. But suffice it to say, I think many people think like that, right? The truth is, Isaiah wrote according to the will of God, and Jesus came according to the will of God, and so do you, right? You're here today. Christ was here nearly 2,000 years ago because he was anointed by God, the Father and the Spirit, to come and accomplish salvation. as prophet, as priest, and as king. So we've identified, we know with certainty, there's no ambiguity in this text. This is a text that is speaking specifically about the Lord Jesus Christ because he claimed it as his own. So this is the anointed one. Notice, though, in the latter part of verse 1, through the first part of verse 3, we see Jesus giving 11 descriptions of what He came to do as the Anointed One. It says, we'll read through them again, to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me, that's Christ, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, and we'll pause there. So again, the appointment specifically, we can summarize all 11 statements here into one. And that is that the appointment was for the salvation of mankind. Now, more specifically, we see descriptions of people within that scope and spectrum. Within the spectrum of humanity, we find the poor. First of all, He came to bring good news to the poor. This means, specifically, the accomplishment of salvation begins with a proclamation of good news. Jesus assignment and his anointing from the father and the spirit was going to be one that would be patterned by the preaching of good news. Can I just put it to you this way today? Anybody who's going to be a preacher of the word of God has to first and foremost. be a proclaimer of the good news. And the good news specifically is that we would proclaim the anointed one of Israel, the anointed one of God, the one who God appointed in eternity past to come and be the savior of the world. And Jesus' own ministry was patterned by a proclamation of good news. But notice to who it was. It was to the poor. And this primarily deals with posture, not finances, okay? Because a lot of people, they read, man, I'm so glad he came to preach to the poor because just like Peter, silver and gold have Ina. It's not exactly what he's talking about. It may be financial poverty, but most of all, again, following Christ's own teaching, this is a poorness in our posture. That is to say, the good news is for those who are humble, those who are poor in spirit. In Matthew chapter five in verse number three, the first of the Beatitudes, Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, why would this be? So why is the good news for the poor or the poor in spirit? Those who are, who are not proud and, and, and hottie and high high nose, right? It's because there's not a single person in the world who will ever get saved until they humble themselves before the Lord. We have to become poor in our spirit before we will recognize that we stand in need of the saving grace of God. In other words, somebody who is full of hypocrisy, hypocritical religiosity. Uh, they think that they're better than everybody else and they can do it on their own. That person is not poor in spirit, but rather they are arrogant. They're full of pride or, or they think that they can, uh, they can somehow figure a way around the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to preach the good news to those who recognize they can't do it themselves. He came to preach to those who recognize they're a helpless beggar in need of someone giving them bread, right? He came to preach good news to the poor. Secondly, though, he says he came to bind up the brokenhearted, to bind up the brokenhearted. The phrase bind up, it could maybe more helpfully be translated encouragement. Encouragement, to give encouragement to the brokenhearted, to those whose lives have been destroyed by sin, by sickness, by all kinds of pressures in this life. The brokenhearted, people who feel the pressure of this world, people who experience the pains and the sufferings that are associated with a world that is cursed by sin. He came to encourage to bind up the broken hearted. Listen, this is good news. You know, there's two there's two audiences here today, whether you're whether you're saved or whether you need to be saved. For one of us, this is an encouragement that that this is what you have in Christ. And for another, this is what you could have in Christ, that if you're broken hearted, that the the pains of the the curse of this world has has brought upon you a broken heart. there's encouragement to be found in the gospel. Listen, I can't explain it any other way, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that somebody who is, who has a life that has been broken by all of the pains of this world and the curse of the sin upon this earth in one moment in seeing Jesus Christ and what he has done, what he has accomplished in your place can bring you comfort and encouragement like nothing else. That is indeed the Spirit of God working through the Word of God to produce the glory of God in your life personally. He was commissioned, appointed to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, but thirdly, to bring liberty to the captives, to bring liberty to the captives. It says there in Galatians chapter number four and verses four and five, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as son. See somebody who is Captive is somebody who has been confined and Jesus offer offers Liberty liberation to be set free from that which has you captive Every single one of us was born under the law Every single one of us has broken the law and therefore we are held captive in We're held captive in our conscience. We're held captive by our sins. And Jesus comes to bring liberty to the captives. How does he accomplish that? By accomplishing a righteousness, a salvation on our behalf, so that we don't have to work to earn heaven, but we can simply rest and trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, Liberating us from the burden of the law and we can Experience the love and the mercy and the grace of God by faith alone in Jesus Christ What a liberation theology We're not talking about races per se this gospel is good to liberate anybody and everybody I don't care if you're black blue purple or green I Jesus will save you. He will set you free from the captivity of the law. He was sent to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to bring liberty to the captives, and open the prison to those who are bound. A more literal reading of that phrase would be this, the opening the eyes of the bound. So the opening of the prison was added for the sake of understanding, but I think it captures a completely different flavor when you translate the opening word more literally, opening the eyes of the bound. Jesus said this in John 8, verses 34, through 36. He answered them saying, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. In other words, listen, we're talking about opening the prison or opening the eyes of those who are bound. And I just put it this way, sin makes you blind. A lot of times I say sin makes you stupid and that's true too. But so many times our sin makes us blind. It makes us blind to the reality that God's way is so much better. It also blinds us to the point if we're in a lost state that we cannot understand and comprehend that we are in need of a Savior. In other words, sin is compounding and it reproduces itself and it has this effect of making us not able to see. You understand when Jesus, when He healed the blind eyes, He wasn't doing that just primarily that they would understand that they could see physically. He was actually under the surface of all those things. He was revealing to them and to us that spiritually speaking, we're all born in this condition of blindness. Cannot see the Savior for who he is and and for what he has done and the Spirit of God has to take those Blinders off of our eyes and think of the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, right? God struck him with this bright light and and Jesus spoke to him and he says Paul. Why are you persecuting me? Oh And what does he do? Of all things, he takes away Paul's sight. Takes away Paul's sight. Why? I think the reason that he took away Paul's sight is because Paul needed to think about nothing but Jesus and Jesus alone. He needed to become blind before he could see. And listen, Jesus comes, says, open the prison to the blind. Open the eyes of the bound. to bring about an understanding, to bring about a recognition, to bring about an acceptance of one's condition. Open your eyes. Can I put it this way? Jesus said in John 6, 644, unless the father draws you, you cannot come to him. Listen, we need, we need the spirit of God to open our eyes before we can come to him. You're here today and you're saved. Can I just put it this way? You can't take credit for that. You can't take credit for that. It was the spirit of God that opened your eyes to see your need of the savior. And it was the spirit of God that said his affection and love upon you to draw you to himself. Listen somebody here today. Maybe who who has never trusted in Christ you think well someday I'm gonna make that decision on my own. It'll never happen It'll never happen unless the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God opens your eyes Opens your eyes to see your need of Jesus. You will never come to him on your own. That's a comfort though Why is it a comfort? Listen, if you believe in the sovereignty of God, you of all people should be praying the most. And what do we pray? If we have people in our lives that are lost, we pray what? That God would open their eyes. that He would open their eyes, that they would see that the Spirit of God would work in their hearts in such a way that they would see the Savior for who He is and what He has done, and that by grace through faith they would lay hold of the Lord Jesus. He came to open the prison to the bound. He came also, fifthly, to proclaim the year of our Lord's favor, the year of our Lord's favor. This is, as we think about the word favor specifically, the year or an extended period of time of the Lord's blessing, the Lord's delight, the Lord's pleasure. Jesus came to proclaim, to preach the year of the Lord's favor. To the Jew, this was no doubt a direct connection to their celebration of the year of Jubilee. Now the year of Jubilee was the 50th year in their cycle. The Jewish calendar was set up in a seven year cycle. There was six years of laboring and a curing dead and whatnot. And the seventh year was to be a year of Sabbath. And every seventh cycle of seven was a year of Jubilee. And the year of Jubilee began on the day of atonement. That's really, really important. The Day of Atonement was the day that the year of Jubilee began. And what this means was on that day, the 50th year, there was a cancellation of debts. There was a restoration, a renewal, a return of God's people to their land. And there was to be rest on the year of Jubilee. This is, if you're not making the connections here, let me help you out. Jesus came to proclaim the year of the Lord. The year of Jubilee, beginning on the day of atonement. The day that the Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross and the blood was running down His side. It began the year of the Lord's favor, where you could see the Messiah, that you could understand it was His blood that was making an atonement for your sin, so that your sin debt could be canceled, so that your relationship with God could be restored so that you could return to God and experience his favor. Man, it just overwhelms my heart to think about the year of the Lord's favor. And listen, listen, just like the year of Jubilee, there would come a day when it would be over. And that favor would be taken away and things were to go back to normal there, but Jesus goes on. He goes on and he says he wasn't only brought to bring the year of the Lord's favor, but notice number six, the day of vengeance of our God. No doubt here, Isaiah is playing on words. There's a year of the Lord's favor and there's a day of the Lord's vengeance. This is, in its literal sense, a day of divine repayment. And there is a stark contrast, is there not, between a year and a day. In other words, there is an extended period of time where the grace and the favor of God is extended to mankind. But there is an abrupt, a swift, a sharp, day of judgment, and it indeed will come. Turn with me, just two chapters beyond 61 to Isaiah 63. In Isaiah 63 verses 1 through 6, we see the description of the Lord's day of vengeance. You see, I would only be doing half of my job if I only told you about the year of the Lord's favor. You also have to understand the day of God's vengeance. Isaiah 63, beginning in verse 1, says, Who is this who comes from Eden? in crimson garments from Basra, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength. It is I speaking in righteousness, mighty to save. Listen, that's Jesus. That's Jesus proclaiming. And notice the question that is given to him. Why is your apparel red and your garments like his who treads the wine press? Man, I don't know about you, but that stirs my heart. Think about that. Jesus, he's the one speaking in righteousness and he's mighty to save. And the question is given to him. Why is your apparel red and your garments like his who treads the wine press? Here's the answer. I have trodden the wine press alone. and from the peoples no one was with me. I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath. Their lifeblood spattered on my garments and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come. I looked, but there was no one to help. I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold. So my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me. I trampled down the peoples in my anger. I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth." Listen. I don't think that I can overemphasize this enough. Is that not a graphic graphic account? You see, I want to just press down on this a little bit harder. Everybody wants to think about right now, the, the babe in the manger, right? The, this, this lowly, helpless, harmless child who came into the world in such a majestic and mysterious way. But that babe laying in the manger is the very one who is trampling, the one whose garments are stained. And listen, they weren't stained by grape juice. They were stained by the blood of his vengeance. Folks, this is a day, this is a day that should bring fear and terror to anybody who's not trusted in Jesus Christ. This is a day that should put, put the, uh, the fear of God and the fear of meeting God face to face in every man, woman, boy, and girl that someday that babe that was in a manger is going to return to this earth. He's going to end the year of favor. He's going to take his beloved those who have put their faith in him. to be with Him forever. And those who have rejected Him, those who have chosen their own course, they're going to be trampled to death. You say, man, preacher, that's fire and brimstone. No, that's Bible. That's Bible. And we would only be doing half our job if we focused on the one and not on the other. You know many people will point out to you that Jesus spent more time speaking about hell than he did heaven the reality was The reality was he didn't have to speak of heaven because we all we all think of heaven but he had to remind us of this place called hell because we we get into our routines and our patterns of life and and we are drowned out and by what's going on to think about the day of vengeance. Listen, we should think long and hard and rejoice in the day of the year rather of the Lord's favor, but it should be the day of the Lord's vengeance that moves us. That as a church, listen, as a church, we would have hands that are dirty doing everything that we possibly can to bring those who are lost to Christ. Amen. We should have dirty hands. We should have, we should have, uh, tired bodies. We should have exhausted minds. We should have worn out knees because we're praying and we're working. We're laboring because we know that the master is going to return. And when he returns, there'll be no second chances. It's the day of vengeance when he comes and we need to be prepared This is a fearful day who all will offer all who will not receive Christ And it's a comfort for those who do a lot of times. I think as Christians we get to think into ourselves Why does it even matter if I live different than the people around me? It seems as though they're doing just fine. I They may be doing just fine right now, but I promise you everything you give up in this life will be repaid to you in a exponentially in the life to come for following the Lord Jesus Christ. So, so get it through your head. They don't have it better than you. Amen. Amen. This is a fearful and dreadful day, but it is a day that comforts us. And I don't think it's, again, by mistake, what follows. Number seven is comfort all who mourn. There's comfort in mourning. There's comfort in sorrow. There's comfort in grief. It goes without saying that we mourn, or we should, for those who perish in their sin. There's no joy in us, and there's no joy in God concerning the destruction of the wicked. But there is comfort and promise in Christ for the mourning of those who are the objects of God's wrath. Comfort can be both physical and verbal. And in Christ, it's both. There's a physical and a verbal comfort that we have in Jesus. And the two aspects are this. There's a verbal comfort that comes through his word and there's a physical comfort that comes through his people. In other words, listen, we're part of this. This is part of God's grand design to bring comfort to all who mourn. That we would hear truth and be comforted in our hearts and that we would hear of mourning and we would comfort those who are in need. Number eight, grant to those who mourn in Zion. The word here, to grant, King James uses the word appoint to those who mourn, and both of them, I think, are relatively unclear. A better word, and I'm not implying anything on the text that's not there, this is a word that could rightfully be translated here, and I believe it's the right one, and that would be provide. to provide for those who mourn in Zion. Zion is used both of the people of God and the place or the abode of God. So then this is speaking specifically of the people of God, the church that God will provide for his people in their mourning, in their condition of being stricken by grief, In other words, God will provide for you because it's not easy living the life of being a Christian. Jesus warned his disciples, he says, in this life, or in this world, you will have tribulation. I don't know about you, but I don't like that promise a whole lot. But I do like the promise that in the tribulation, he's going to provide for you and for me. I just said to Tracy this, I don't know if it was yesterday or day before, whatever. I said, you know, we, we talk about like, actually, I think it was on the radio. People were talking about. being in a valley, being in a valley. And I'm not sure we use that idea rightly. If you're going through difficulty, I don't know how many times you've stood in a valley, but when I was standing in a valley, I really wasn't exhausted. But when I was climbing the side of a hill or a mountain, that's where I get wore out, okay? So valleys, valleys, when you're in a valley, you might be looking at the challenge around you, but you're not moving, right? But when you're actually in the hike, in the journey up the mountain, that's hard. And listen, For those who are hiking up this steep thing we call life, God provides for you. For some of us, He provides oxygen because you can't catch your breath. For some of you, He provides strength to your legs to keep you moving because you feel like you can't walk anymore. But Jesus Christ provides for all who mourn in Zion. This is a promise that's exclusive to the people of God. This is not anything that's given to those outside of Christ. He comforts those Or rather he grants to those who mourn in Zion number nine. We got to keep moving give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes Again, the King James uses beauty for ashes here What Jesus is talking about or Isaiah's writing for us ashes were an outward and visible sign of mourning But notice God's emphasis on the presentation of his people no longer expressing themselves in mourning, but instead being graciously adorned. The phrase there, the beautiful headdress, it's speaking literally of a wreath or an ornament that would be placed on someone's head. And so, listen, I don't want to say this to be funny or to be rude or whatever, but this idea that Christians should put ashes on their heads during, uh, beginning at Ash Wednesday is not a sign of the new covenant. And you say, well, where, what do you mean? I mean, Jesus has taken away the ashes the morning and he has replaced it with what it says a beautiful headdress. So again, Don't misunderstand me. I don't think that it's sacrilegious. I think it's contradictory theologically to do that. When we come to that season of the year, when we think about Christ, His passion and His crucifixion and resurrection, it should be a time when maybe we pull off the beautiful headdress and we shine it up. Because we don't have to walk around mourning. Amen, our Savior has died, but yeah, he has risen again and there is no more mourning There is no more there is no more sorrowing because Christ is victorious and he's given us the ornament he's given us the headdress of gladness and Instead of our ashes verse 10. I'm getting ahead of myself He gives them the oil of gladness instead of mourning. Not only are we adorned outwardly but also inwardly Listen, Christians should be glad, should be joyous. I'm not talking about all the bad things in life. Yeah, they stink. It's terrible. But at the end of the day, we should be able to have joy and gladness in our hearts because we are saved. Amen. Keep moving. Number 11, the last. He's given us the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit. Yet another layer is the garment of praise in place of a faint or weak spirit. The garment here simply refers to something that is worn on a person's body. And in Christ, in Christ, God gives us the garment of praise. You know, there's hardly a better way to escape a heavy heart. than to praise God. And folks, listen, we have so much to praise God for. We have so much to praise God for. And if you have a faint or a heavy spirit, He's given the garment of praise. You say, but you don't know how heavy my heart is. And I simply say, you're not looking at Jesus enough. you're not looking at how good and kind and gracious God is nearly enough. You know, recently I've heard somebody speaking of being angry with God. And, and the truth is that if you're angry with God, you need to repent of it. You need to be, you need to repent if you're angry at God, because Let me just say this as simply and as loving as I can. God doesn't owe us anything. And that's hard. That's hard, but it's the truth. We cannot be angry at God. God is the all benevolent, all kind, all good creator. And listen, we have no right to be angry at him. And he has every right to be angry at us. But yet in Christ, in Christ, he gives us the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit. Finally, we see the accomplishment of Christ's work in the last part of verse number three. Verse three again says, that, so we have a transition here, that, to this end, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Here there's a declaration. The declaration is of two things specifically. One, He's calling us. the oaks of righteousness and the planting of the Lord. The oaks of righteousness. Now, if you could choose to be either an oat or an oak, always choose the oak. Can I say that oats grow much faster than oaks do, but you'll seldom see the wind blow over an oak tree and often an oak plant, right? So he plants us into his planning as oaks of righteousness. In other words, there is a standing that's strong, that steadfast, that is solid. Why, why could we be called the oaks of righteousness? Notice again, this should be, this should be connecting dots with our study through the book of Galatians. He doesn't say he makes them oaks of righteousness. He calls them oaks of righteousness because they have no righteousness, but he calls them oaks of righteousness. because they have been justified by faith in Him. So there is a reality here of not only justification whereby we become the righteousness of God through faith in Christ, but also that there is an imputation, a declaration made of us that we would be called oaks of righteousness, and then also the planting of the Lord. In other words, He takes us from one place and He sticks us in another. We are adopted from the fan or into the family of God by the grace of God through faith in the son of God. And so we become, yeah, I love, I love doctrine. I can tell you guys are excited to, uh, justification, imputation, adoption. This is things that he declares. To what end? To what end? Glorification. Glorification. That He may be glorified. That God Himself receives all the glory for giving you righteousness, for making you a part of the family of God, and for bringing about glory to Himself. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful that it is not, it is not based upon our works that we are saved and that we have nothing to boast in. But as the apostle Paul says, but in the cross of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We close this morning. Turn with me to Ephesians 1. We just look at a few verses here this morning to drive home this point that God receives the glory, that our salvation, the salvation of sinners, is all to the glory of God. Ephesians 1, verse 11 says, In Him, that is, in Christ, we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. There it is, His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promise Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. To what? To the praise of His glory. Listen, you're here today. and you have been saved by the grace of God, it is to the praise of the glory of God. I wonder, I wonder how much we've been praising Him, how much we've been giving Him glory and thanks for what He's done for us. And I wonder also today how many here, maybe none, I don't know, I have no idea, but how many here have not yet bowed to the Lord Jesus Christ and put their faith in Him, whether it be a young person or the oldest in the house, everyone in between. The need is the same and the Christ is sufficient. Amen. Jesus is more than enough to save you. and He will never ever turn anybody away who comes to Him by faith. Do you love Him today? Do you trust Him today? Will you give Him glory today for what He has done? I hope you will. Let's pray. Father, we thank You and praise You, Lord, for this amazing, amazing Word. And I pray today that every single one of us would understand that our salvation is for Your glory, that God, we are truly vessels of your grace and love and mercy. And God, we are on display before a watching world as those who have been taken out of darkness and placed into your glorious and marvelous light. And so, Father, I pray that just as Jesus called us, that we would let our light so shine before this world that they would see our good works and bring you glory. Father, help us. Help us especially, Lord, as we think about the challenges of this time of year and, Father, our tendencies to be drawn into things that are just absolutely worthless. Help us, God, to bring you glory by focusing upon Christ and what he has accomplished as the anointed one of God to come and to bring good news to each and everyone who will receive it. Father, thank you for this truth. And I pray, Lord, that you would bless this word to our hearts for your glory in Jesus' name.