Well, please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 49. As I did last week, we'll read two different passages, one passage from the Old Testament and then a corresponding passage from the New Testament. So if you want to keep your finger there and also turn to Luke chapter 2 as well. Do this in part to remind us that there is an organic relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament, that those promises that we find in the Old Testament find their yes and resounding amen in the incarnation of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. So that in even reading these two passages, we would find comfort and strength to know that this is the God who truly is. So out of a sign of the reverence for the reading of God's word, I ask that we all stand together as I'll read first from Isaiah chapter 49, verses 1 to 7. Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples, from afar. The Lord called me from the womb. From the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand he has hidden me. He has made me a polished arrow. In his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, you are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified. But I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing in vanity. And yet, surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense is with my God. And the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has become my strength. He says, it is too light of a thing that you should be my servant to raise up just the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. Indeed, I will make you as a light for the nations. the Goyim, the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One, to one deeply despised, one abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers. Kings shall see and arise princes, and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you. And now turning to the Gospel of Luke as we'll read verses 22 to 35. It's a scene that I think many of us are familiar with, a passage that many families will read around Christmas time. It's that scene where Jesus is presented by his parents in the temple. And Simeon begins to proclaim a blessing, and in that blessing he cites Isaiah chapter 49, identifying the Lord Jesus Christ as this servant of the Lord that we find in Isaiah 49. So Luke chapter 22, chapter 2, verses 22 to 35. And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, that every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout. waiting for the consolation of Israel. A phrase that comes to us from the book of Isaiah. And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms. and he blessed God and said, O Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the nations, to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel. And his father and his mother marveled at what was told about him, and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed, and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. This is the word of the Lord. Please be seated. For those of you who have ever studied the French Revolution, you know what a terror those events have unleashed on the history of the Western world. In the name of liberty, equality, and fraternity, those people that once thought that they would do well to slay their king and queen had so established a new regime where they could do whatever they pleased. And yet they created a monster of their own devising, thus inaugurating an era of French history that became known as the Reign of Terror, where the people were subjugated to a world marked by grotesque and violent death. I think that's an apt metaphor for the history of the whole human race, in a nutshell. In the name of personal liberty, so that man might do as he pleased. Adam exchanged friendship with God for a piece of fruit, the promise of happiness, the promise of Godship. And yet, entered by this act into a covenant with death itself, whose reign entered into the course of human history and has subjugated Adam's progeny to a history marked and characterized by darkness and bloodshed. And this is the very context in which the world finds itself in the first half of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 1 to 39, as the specter of death hovers over the host of humanity. It's the very thing that we considered just a few weeks ago as the nations had made a covenant with death in the grave. As the curse goes out to devour the whole earth, as a veil hangs over every man, woman, and child. You see, through man's sin, as Paul tells us in Romans 5, death has become the great enemy of the human race, and now the nations, not just Israel, not just Adam, but the whole world dwells in deep darkness, enslaved by their own designs to a creature who shows no mercy. But the Lord reigns in mercy. the maker of heaven and earth. And what we find in our passage this morning is the Lord's own plan to wage war against death itself, to bring justice and healing to the nations. And he does so by preparing an instrument, a weapon, to put an end to the reign of death. And our passage this morning describes this concealed weapon, this hidden arsenal, the only weapon powerful enough to slay the devourer. And this weapon comes in the form of a servant. This here is the second of our servant songs in the book of Isaiah. As the focus forms in characterizing the servant as God's secret weapon against death. As the executor of justice to slay the predator and to save the prey. Him who is the consolation of Israel sent to deliver not only Israel but the whole world from death's grisly reign of terror. as the servant who comes in justice to heal those who have been bruised and broken by the fall. Isaiah 49 heralds the arrival of the end of death and the severing of man's covenant with death and the instrument by which death is undone as it comes in the most unexpected form, the form of a servant. And in doing so, Isaiah 49 tells us the worth of our Redeemer and why it is He is to be praised. There's three things I'd like us to consider from the passage this morning. First, I'd like us to consider the secret weapon. We'll see that here in verses one to three. Secondly, I'd like us to consider a failed mission, question mark, in verse four. And finally, a global salvation in verses 5 to 7. So a secret weapon, a failed mission, and a global salvation. Well, this here second servant song opens in a rather odd way. We already see later on in the passage where the Lord says that this is the servant himself speaking. And now the servant addresses and turns to a particular audience. And though he is the servant who has come to Israel, he does not address Israel alone. As it begins here, he addresses the coastlands. the farthest reaches of the globe. In the Old Testament, the coastlands are an almost technical term for all the pagan nations. For instance, if you were to look at the table of the nations, the history of the spread of the host of humanity over the face of the earth in Genesis chapter 10, you will find that the coastlands become the term that characterizes not the descendants of Shem, from which we get the nation of Israel and others, but the descendants of Japheth. becomes a term for the Gentiles who live far, far away. And here we see in our passage here that the servant's prime directive, if you look down at verse 5. The servant's prime directive is to reclaim the lost house of Israel, and the language that we'll see here is it's the image of a farmer gathering in the harvest at the end of harvest season. That is the servant's prime directive, and yet, at the same time, the servant here is not addressing Israel alone. He turns and says, listen up, everybody else. Listen here, oh coastlands. We have to ask ourselves, why is the servant addressing those beyond the scope of the nation of Israel? What I think's really striking is we already begin to see hints of this in chapter 42, which we considered last week. You remember how Isaiah, that first servant song ends, of the great king who would come to bring justice to those who are brokenhearted? Verse four, and the coastlands wait for his law. And even as the Coastlands are waiting, the servant addresses the nations. It's a rather striking feature. What's even more striking, I think, is the manner in which the servant addresses who he is among the nations, where he describes himself as God's secret weapon. You see this, you can kind of picture the scenario saying that the Lord has made me his instrument and he's hidden me in his coat. The Lord himself carrying the ultimate concealed carry weapons permit. And he's using it for a particular reason. Two times here in these opening verses, the accent falls on the hiddenness of the servant. He is a sharp sword hiding in the shadows. He is a polished arrow hiding in the quiver. It's the language of divine warfare. And yet here comes an assault that the enemy will not see coming. That is how the servant of the Lord is being characterized in his assault on death itself. We have to read the servant songs. In light of what we had seen in Isaiah 24 to 27 with that great promise that on that mountain the Lord will prepare that feast and he will vanquish death. Death itself will be devoured and here comes the means of its destruction. Here comes the language of the divine warfare as the servant begins to lay a salt against the fortress of death. And yet the imagery that we see here in these opening verses are repeated elsewhere in describing the nature of Isaiah's preaching. We find these words nearly identical in Isaiah 51, for instance, where the Lord says, I have put my words in your mouth and I have covered you. I have hidden you with the shadow of my hand. There's a hiddenness here. The ministry of this word comes as a weapon against death. To do a particular thing, what thing is that? It's what the Lord tells Isaiah in Isaiah 51, I've given you, I've put my words in your mouth, I've covered you, I've hidden you in the shadow of my hand to do this, to establish heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, you are my people. In other words, the servant is one who speaks and puts death to death. and by his mere speech establishes a new heavens and a new earth. By his very word he ushers in a new creation. Who would have ever thunk of such a thing? To have a weapon that would bring not death but life. And yet that is what we see before our very eyes. A weapon that undoes the curse of death. A weapon that destroys death and by the destruction of death creates a new heavens and a new earth. It's not a carnal weapon. This is not the sword of Excalibur. This is not the hammer of Thor. No, this weapon is the mouth of the serpent. I'm sorry. It is the mouth of the servant. That is my fault. The weapon is the mouth of the servant. His tongue is the sword. His word is the weapon, that weapon which will devour death and inaugurate the new creation. The weapon is the word of the prophet to end all prophets. Why do I say it's the word of a prophet to end all prophets? Well, notice the language here. As this particular servant is issued a prophetic call. You see that language here in the second half of verse 1. The Lord has called me from the womb. Here, this echoes the language of God's call to the prophets in the Old Testament. It also echoes the call of God's apostles in the new. You think of, for instance, Jeremiah, how Jeremiah is called to be a prophet. He was called from the womb, Jeremiah 1, 5. Or as Paul says, he's been called to be an apostle from the womb. David himself, who was called to be a son and a king from his mother's womb, Psalm chapter 22. One of the reasons why we sang Psalm 22 earlier this morning What's really striking is if in Isaiah 42, the first servant song, which we considered last week, if Isaiah 42 reveals that through the servant the heart of God is revealed, now we find here in Isaiah 49 that through the servant, the mouth of God, is revealed. The servant comes as the mouthpiece of God. That's what the prophets were designed to be in the Old Testament. But here comes the servant to end all servants, the one who unlike the nations, who unlike Cyrus, who unlike Isaiah even, who unlike Israel, is the one in whom the Lord delights. The one who utters a word like fire. Whose word comes like a hammer that shatters the rock. The one who speaks and cuts through the fog of human deception and even self-deception. The one who, as Hebrews 4 reminds us, exposes the thoughts and intents of the human heart. The one who speaks the very words of God, for he himself is the word of God. Here, we're given a portrait of the servant from a different angle. If in Isaiah 42, the accent falls on the kingship of this servant who comes in justice, Here in 49, the accent falls on his office's prophet who comes to speak to the lost and to call them home. And as we'll see later, the same servant in Isaiah 53 is the priest who offers up himself a sacrifice for sin. This servant of the Lord is the great prophet, priest, and king. Recall a broader context, the people of God have been exiled. They're scattered across the nations, even scattered among the coastlands. But now the prophet comes, the servant of the Lord speaks and calls them to return home, to come back home from their exile. Elsewhere, Isaiah describes this return from exile in Isaiah chapter 35, for instance, in the language of a new exodus. Isaiah 51 is the language of a new creation. All this imagery that we see replete throughout the Old Testament, new exodus, new creation, return from exile, all of this is a picture of the prophet speaking and through his word the people of God being drawn back home, their sins being pardoned. reconciliation with God being affected. The prophet is God's secret weapon given to reclaim the lost and to deliver them from the snares of death. It's not just his mouth, though, that serves as a weapon, it's his entire body. Again, look at the second half of verse four, the Lord called me from the womb. From the body of my mother he named my name. He is a fixed vessel appointed from the moment of conception even beforehand. The weapon is neither a sword nor a stone. The servant himself is the Lord's arsenal against the enemy of the human race. At this point in Israel's history, his identity remains hidden, right? He is the one who is that secret weapon. He is named by Yahweh from the womb, yet that name is not given here. Although we are given a hint as to what it is he is to do, on the one hand, we could say that he is Israel. Look at this at verse 3. He says, you are my servant, O Israel. And yet, at the same time, he is one who is distinct from Israel. Look at verse 5. Because this servant is the one given to reclaim Israel. The one who is designed to bring Jacob back. One who is identified as Israel and yet distinct from Israel. In other words, one who is sent to represent Israel. To serve as Israel's champion on the battlefield against her deathly tyrant and capital. Capital, captor. I remember I was living in Wheaton, Illinois in 2016, the great year that the Cubs finally won the World Series for the first time in over a century. It was game seven, and everybody was watching it except for me. I didn't have a TV, but I was interested in knowing the final outcome of what was happening, so I was hitting the refresh button on my phone every few minutes to see who was going to win. And finally, I just gave up and went to sleep. And then I woke up at around 1 o'clock in the morning to fireworks going off in my neighborhood. Now, I lived maybe 15, 20 miles west of Wrigley Field. All these fireworks go off. There's people running and hooting and hollering in the street saying, we won, we won, we won. And I go, how can you say you won? You're 15 miles away from the stadium. By the looks of it, you wouldn't make it as a baseball player. They could say we won because they had a representative on the playing field. The servant of the Lord is the representative of his people. This is why there's this close identity between the servant and Israel to such an extent that the Lord can look upon his servant and says, you, O Israel, I'm calling you to bring back the captives. He comes as the representative on the playing field of history. In verse 3, he says this to his servant, in you I will be glorified. Perhaps it could be more aptly translated, in you I will display my beauty. that the Lord in his wisdom has seen fit to show how beautiful he is in the work of the redemption of his people. As he sends the representative of Israel in a global cosmic conflict in war against death, the man who is appointed to be the instrument through which the Lord will unveil his beauty to a fallen world, that instrument is in fact the servant of the Lord. the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the means by which God's beauty will be made known to a watching world. And it leads us to our second point as we look here at verse 4. Chapter 49 passes over the details of the servant's mission, the following servant's songs that we'll look at over the next few weeks. will examine and prophetically speak and depict of the nature of that aspect of the servant's mission. But here, this part of the servant's mission is kind of glossed over, and it skips to the near end of the warfare. And we think, surely the servant has won in his fight against death, has he not? The one in whom the Lord's delight is found? But here in verse 4, we hear the servant himself speak, and from the servant's own perspective, it seems as though all hope has been lost. It appears that his toil was a total failure. Look how the servant speaks in verse 4, I've toiled in vain. It's for nothing that I have exerted all of my strength and energy. It seems clear that the servant has labored and toiled in this conquest. And at a certain point, seems to ask, have I harvested only the wind? See, there is no plan B. The servant is the only hope for deliverance from the reign of death. And there's this language here. It's the image, as I said earlier, of a farmer gathering in his crops at harvest season. And the servant asks, have I reaped only the wind? Have I toiled for nothing? Three times in verse 4, the servant laments that his labors have been for naught. He uses imagery here that echoes the uninhabited world of the creation week. It is void. It is a barren wilderness. He uses and employs words that mirror the labors of the preacher of Ecclesiastes. where it appears as though his blood, sweat, and tears were for that of a fleeting vapor. He uses words here that echo the language of David in Psalm 22, who is perplexed and distraught, living between the tension of God's yet unfulfilled promise and the present reality. As David cries out the cry of dereliction, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It seems as though the servant has been sent on a divine mission and at a certain point he asks, have I failed? It's not the cry of doubt in God's promises, it is as we heard from Pastor McNeil last Sunday night, it is the cry of despair from the posturing of faith See, the servant is perplexed, he's distraught. Why have my labors returned void? Why have they reaped only the wind? But he's not driven to utter despair, because what does he say next? Yet surely my hope is in the Lord, my right, my recompense is with my God. We see this over and over again in the scriptures, the promises that God gives to his people, and then his people have to hope beyond hope. They have to hope beyond the present circumstance. You think of Abraham who's promised a son and here he is, ripe old age past childbearing years and says has this been all for nothing? And it's only then that the Lord gives his promise to show that it is not by might, it's not by power, but it's by my spirit says the Lord, that spirit whom the Lord will pour out upon his servant to empower him for the divine mission for which he has been sent. Though the servant despairs by all outward appearances, he continues to cling to that unseen reality of the Lord's promises. The servant says, I've labored in vain, I've spent my strength for nothing. It's vanity. And yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense is with my God. He despairs, he laments, but he has not lost faith. in his God. Despite the outward appearances, he continues to entrust himself to the one who judges justly. In other words, the servant says, the Lord will do what is right. He will reward me. He will remain obedient to that mission, even in the face of apparent failure, even unto death. Obedient to the very end. And in response to such a lively faith, even in the face of death, the Lord responds to His servants' cry of despair. We see that here in verses 5 to 7. We ask ourselves, will the servants' toil prove futile? Will this divine war against death prove to be a failure? Will this secret weapon against the great enemy of the human race be inefficient? Will the human race be left under the veil of shadow to the end of days? Here we find the answer, no. In fact, it'll prove just the opposite, that the weapon will prove itself to be more powerful than you ever could have imagined. You see the Lord's response to his servant's obedience, to the servant's obedience even in the face of such utter loss and futility. As a reward to his servant for his toils, he will not simply be rewarded with the ingathering of Israel, but the salvation of the world. Notice again how this psalm opened as the servant addresses not simply Israel, but all of the coastlands. Now the Lord himself speaks to his servant and says, now the reward for your toils, no, it shouldn't just be Israel. That's too light of a thing. That's not good enough for my servant. No, I'm giving you the whole coastlands as your reward. You will be a light to all the nations, not simply to Israel. So that my salvation will reach the furthest ends of the earth. What at first appears to be a recon mission to save a scattered nation in the Middle East ends in the deliverance of all the nations from the reign of death. So great is the work and toil of the servant. The labors of the servant proved to be something beyond Herculean. You hear the phrase a Herculean toil or labor or task. This is something that is far greater. It is the servant's reward for his labors. It demonstrates the Lord's own love for his servant, his own love for his son who is the great prophet and mouthpiece to the people of God. The secret weapon is unsheathed. The servant is sent to shatter the darkness and bring light to the furthest coastlands. It's as if the Lord himself says, it's as if the servant of the Lord himself says, pay attention, oh coastlands. Listen up, oh Gainesville. Your deliverance has come as well. The servant proves his worth. He proves his mettle, he demonstrates that he himself is in fact worthy. Insufficient should be the reward of the servant simply to be a political savior of a ragtag Semitic tribe in the Middle East. No, his labors have proven his worth to be the very savior of the whole world. One who has not simply come to save us from yet another political tyrant. Because we find here that the weapon that the servant yields is not a carnal weapon. He simply speaks. He doesn't simply overthrow the next king of Moab. He doesn't come and simply overthrow the next pharaoh or Caesar. He speaks and vanquishes death itself. He speaks and utters in a new creation. He speaks and reclaims his people home and he causes this highway to burst forth through the wilderness where the lame begin to leap, where the deaf begin to hear, where the blind begin to see. As a demonstration that this great exodus has begun, an exodus far greater than anything we ever saw in the Old Testament. The word becomes the instrument of his warfare as he comes to deliver us from the devourer, as he comes to deliver us from death, and as Hebrews 2 tells us, to deliver us from him who holds the power of death. Satan himself. Through the servant's labors, the dragon is slain. Through the servant's toil, his bride is reclaimed. By the servant's work, the darkness is shattered. Because the servant died, though it seemed to have proved that he had failed in his mission, that earth's...though it seems that he has failed in his mission, it ends up being the very way in which earth's covenant with death is undone. This is the very way in which death itself is rendered impotent. The apostle himself can say, so that the prophets of old can say, oh, death, where is your victory? Death, where's your sting? Death has become undone through the work and toil of the servant. Death has been defanged. And at the day of the servant's return, death will be slain. See, in this song, we're given yet another portrait of the Messiah. One which highlights his matchless worth, as the consolation of Israel is sent to bring light to the whole world, and so shatter the darkness. This is why when Jesus is brought to the temple and Simeon sees him, he cites Isaiah 49. See, Isaiah sketches for us the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God, that mystery hidden before all ages, that through the servant, the Lord would display his beauty to the world. And that mystery is now unveiled in the arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah here illustrates the mission of the servant who toils. The accent here falls on his labor. It is a real toil. And for a moment, those labors seem to have been in vain. Where the sinless son of God is condemned and nailed to a tree. As Christ himself cries out, hang on the tree. not having lost faith in his heavenly Father, but it is a cry of lament, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And yet, his alleged defeat becomes the very victory of God. To demonstrate that even God's weakness triumphs over sin's power. It magnifies the strength of God. It is the way in which the beauty of the Lord is unveiled to his people. To show that where sin abounds, there is a grace that superabounds. There is a grace that proves stronger than all of your sin, stronger than all of mine. A grace that is stronger than death. A grace and love that is so powerful, so strong, so secure that not even death can separate us from the love of God which is found in Christ Jesus our Lord. Though humiliated, the servant is exalted. Though once dead, he has now been raised to signal his triumph over death. And though he has been abhorred and rejected by a paganized Israel." I'm going to note here the language of verse 7. It says here that the Redeemer, the servant of Israel, is deeply despised and abhorred by the nation. The focus here is not on the nations abroad, the goyim, the Gentiles. Here he's speaking about Israel, and yet he now uses that Hebrew word goy, which is used to describe the pagans. He uses this now to describe the nation of Israel itself. Though the servant himself is despised by the nation of Israel, that has become just another pagan entity. Though the servant is abhorred by Goy Israel, he is received and worshipped as the king of the Goyim. He is the one who is received among all the nations. He is exalted far above simply just another political throne in the Middle East. He now is exalted on high where he reigns on high and he ascends not to the heights of Sinai or to the top of Mount Moriah, but he ascends to the heights of heaven itself and sits at the right hand of the majesty on high. So that all the nations, all the kings of the nations come and bow before the servant. The servant who though once has been humiliated now has been exalted over all. Isn't that what Christ tells his disciples in Luke 24? That the whole of the Old Testament is about this. The suffering and the travail and the glory of the Messiah. His humiliation and his exaltation. Isaiah 49 invites us to consider Christ's toil as he has wrought out our salvation. To deliver us from sin, Satan, and death, to consider that the cross was not his failure, but his ultimate victory and triumph. See, I think when we consider Christ in his sufferings or Christ in his earthly ministry, I think we have this, what we call a docetic tendency to think that the work of redemption is easy. What do I mean when I say that word docetic? It's referring to one of the earliest church heresies. It comes from a Greek word meaning to seem to appear, these people who claim that Jesus only appeared to be human. I think a lot of us, even though we would deny, say no Jesus was truly man. I think we have this this picture of Jesus kind of just kind of frolicking about through the Gospels from town to town with this kind of Superman logo emblazoned on his chest underneath his tunic as if everything he did was easy. And though it is true that he is fully God, he did these things as one who also is fully man, who in all of his weakness and all of his frailty became like us in every way sin accepted, that as the God-man he might triumph over sin and death. That in partaking of blood and of flesh, he delivered us from death as one who was fully man. as well as being fully God, who though sinless was born in the weakness of human frailty, as one who got tired and hungry had to be fed, one who grew weary and exhausted, who by His toils brought out our redemption, that by His fully human obedience to His heavenly Father, even unto death we might have our sins pardoned, that we might have life everlasting. See, Christ's triumph over death was not a cheap theatrical performance. It was a real triumph. That we might, with the host of heaven, ask who is worthy to receive honor, glory, power, and dominion. And that we also would with one voice answer, behold, it is the servant of the Lord, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the one who is descended from David. He has conquered his vanquished death as the divine warrior, as the Lord's instrument of justice. so that we might join with the host of heaven in Revelation 5 and say, to him belong all glory, honor, power, and dominion forever. He alone is worthy. Let's pray. Our gracious God and Father, we pray as we contemplate the way in which you have characterized your Son for us in this portrait in your word that you would cause us to delight in our Savior all the more, that we would, revel in the wonder of the incarnation of Him who died for us and was raised. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to His disciples and said, take and eat, this is my body. And when he had taken a cup and had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. The question we have before us, the thing that we have been considering as we are looking at the servant songs is this, how is it that death can be undone? And here in our passage this morning, we have been given that answer just through the Lord's secret weapon, the incarnation of the Son of God. Here we come to feast on the benefits of that redemption, that Christ's victory are made ours. Christ who partook in blood and flesh was made like us that he might bear the curse of sin Death itself to deliver us from man's covenant with death and make us the beneficiaries of a new and better covenant. This meal signifies the victory of Christ. The benefits of his triumph for all who trust in Christ. To remind us how great and strong and powerful our God is. He died to deliver us from death. It was a real death. That's what this meal signifies. The elements are common, bread and a cup. They don't convert into the body and blood of Christ, yet they truly signify it. By the secret working of God's spirit, Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption. Notice that we don't come to an altar, we come to a table. to taste and see that the Lord is good, that the sacrifice has already been made, that the benefit, the fruit of redemption is this, that man who was once alienated from God has now been welcomed back to feast and to sit at his table. And so if you have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, this meal is for you. If you have professed faith in his name publicly before the world, this meal is for you. If you're struggling with your sin and you hate sin and you long to be reminded of the forgiveness of sins and to be assured that you have a Savior who still loves you, whose love is greater, more powerful than the strength and weight of temptation, this meal is for you. But if you do not belong to Christ, if you've not been baptized, if you have not been, if you have not professed faith in his name publicly, if you are under discipline of your home church, or if you're living in secret or scandalous sin, and when I say that, I mean, it's not that you're struggling with sin, it's that you still love your sin and you have no desire to part with it. And you simply see this as a lucky talisman to continue going about your own way. we ask that you let this meal pass you by. Because the Apostle Paul says that to eat or to drink in such a way is to eat and drink condemnation to yourself. Let the meal pass you by, but don't let Christ pass you by. Consider what it means to be forgiven, consider what it means to serve the servant of the Lord, consider what it means to be served by the servant of the Lord who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. That we would all taste and see that the Lord is good, to consider that he has wrought such a wonderful salvation for us by delivering us from our sin and misery. Let us pray. Our gracious God and Father, we do thank you for this meal and pray that you would use it to feed weak and hungry hearts. You have promised that for those who are hungry and thirst for righteousness that you would be our satisfaction. And so we pray that you would feed us this day. that you would feed our faith and strengthen us. Weak though our faith may be, how great we are that a weak faith lays hold of a strong Savior. We pray that you would be strong this day and help us, we pray. Nourish us, we ask, in Christ's name, amen.