The Cross has Power over Despair - Palm Sunday

Hello, I'm Brenda, and I'd like to talk to you today about how the cross brought me through a terrible time of despair. September of 2021, September the 23rd, my oldest son, Craig, passed away. He was 56 years old and he had many things wrong. He had bibrpassed surgery, and he passed due to some complications to that surgery. Five days after my son passed away, we were eating dinner, and my husband said he didn't feel well. and I asked him what was hurting him, and he didn't answer me, and he passed out, and he passed away. The house that we were living in belonged to my son, my youngest son, we had an in law apartment. And he got a job in Kansas City. And so my husband and I were going to go south, and we were planning to not go to Kansas City. And then when he passed, everything changed in a blink of an eye. All I could think about in a million years, I never thought I'd live in Kansas City. It was scary. I had feelings that that I couldn't do it, and it was relying on my faith in Jesus Christ, that got me through. I've been here now three, four years, and I love it here. My family's moved on, and they're in different parts, and I chose to live in Kansas City because I have a wonderful personal relationship with God and with my church, and the people here, supported me and helped me through all this. But the most important thing was the trials that I went through gave me more faith, and the faith helped me come closer to God. Through this, there were so many scriptures that helped me. Joshua 119, the Lord talks about, do you not not be afraid that he's with us, no matter where we go, and that we need to lean on him. and just Psalm 23 has always been my go to psalm. If you're going through a time of despair and uncertainty and don't understand, it's okay to say why and what's next. Because in time, God makes it known to us why things happen. We don't know the whole plan, but he's in control. Whatever you're going through today, you can know that through Jesus Christ, you can have power over despair. There are 929 chapters in the Old Testament, and all of them are important. All of them are inspired by God, all of them are useful. But if you were to make a case for what would be the most important chapters of the Old Testament? If you were to say, if someone could read just one chapter of the Old Testament, of the 929 chapters, which one chapter would best help us understand the whole purpose of what God was doing in his word, and through His Son Jesus Christ, I would submit that perhaps one of those that should be up for discussion, it would be Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53. And that's we're gonna be today. is Isaiah chapter 53, as we take on the next sermon in our series, the power of the Cross, talking today about the power of the cross over discuss despair. This chapter is going to help us, answer that question.How does the cross give us power over despair?" But I would submit this chapter more than that. It might be the most important chapter in the Old Testament for understanding what Jesus did and why he did it. If you were to walk out here today, anybody ever gone somewhere and you were juggling a lot of things, you set something on the top of your car and then drove off and forgot it? So I imagine today you're juggling your coffee cup and your purse and your baby and your Bible, and you throw your Bible on the roof of your car, and you drive off and forget it. It falls off somewhere on Wacomas It gets hit by another car, breaks into many different pages. It's gonna be a very windy day, I know, and the wind scatters the pages of your Bible across the neighborhood, and the page of your Bible containing Isaiah chapter 53, lands in the yard of someone in our community. They will have in their hand with that one page of the Bible, they will have everything they need to know to follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is perhaps, in all of the Bible, old and New Testament, the best summary of what Jesus came to do and why he did it. The best summary, the most detailed account of the life ministry trial, death burial and the resurrection of Jesus, that you could have in 12 verses of any 12 verse passage in all of the Bible. And here's the remarkable thing. The most detailed or one of the most detailed accounts of what Jesus did on the cross is actually written 700 years before Jesus dies on the cross. Isn't that amazing? The detail of the prophecy of the Old Testament and that that one of the best summsmaries we have of the death of Jesus, both the manner and the purpose of the death of Jesus, is written hundreds of years before Jesus would go to the cross. That's Isaiah chapter 53. There are over 300 Old Testament prophecies that find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And Isaiah 53 is probably the clearest and most significant of those 300 plus props prophecies about the death of Jesus Christ. Few passages from the Old Testament could rival this passage in helping us understand the nature and mission of Jesus. Now, if I were to make that argument, I would have pretty good company, because most of the writers of the New Testament would agree with me that this is a very significant passage of the Old Testent. fact that's the reason I would say it's significant, a passage of the Old Testament is because it's so often quoted in the New Testament. Here are the passages on the screen, where you will find biblical writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Luke, who wrote Acts, Paul who wrote Romans, and Peter, who wrote 1 Peter, all quote from this chapter that's in front of us today, Isaiah chapter 53. Nearly every verse of Isaiah chapter 53 is quoted in one way or another, in the New Testament by New Testament writers. We're going to look at it today. We' going to learn more about the death of Jesus, the manner and their purpose of the death of Jesus, but specifically, we're going to answer the question today. What does this chapter teach us in regards to the power of the power of the cross over despair? You You heard Brenda's testimony, Brenda, thank you so much for sharing your story with us. Appreciate so much. Those who have shared their stories over the last few weeks, as we've talked about the power of the cross. And your story is quite different from hers. Her story is unique to her, losing her husband and her son within five days moving to a brand new city where she's had to start her life here in Kansas City, but all of us have had those moments. She said in her testim ony, "My life changed in the blink of an eye. We've all had those moments where something happens, and suddenly life is different. Something happens, and suddenly we can be facing, a time of despair, and probably like Brenda, everyone in this room has asked the question, why why am I going through this? What purpose does God have? What do we do in in times of despair? I want to look at four ways that the cross gives us power over despair in our life. The first is this. The cross meets our greatest need. Now, are a lot of reasons for despair, and many in this room have encountered those, or maybe even today, you're walking through these. The death of a loved one causes feelings of despair in our life, a sickness that maybe you've had in the past, or maybe even right now, you're walking through a diagnosis you've recently received a broken relationship, maybe a divorce, or strained relationship with a child or a family member, maybe addiction that you're wrestling with, or someone you love is wrestling with. Maybe it's a financial crisis or a job uncertainty. There are many reasons for despair, and the gospel speaks to all of these, and the word of God speaks to all of these, and Jesus brings comfort and encouragement in every situation we face. But before we go into anything else, I want to start with our greatest need and how the cross meets our greatest need. The greatest cause of despair in our life should be our sin that has separated us from God today and forever. And our number one need, no matter what else happens, no matter what causes you grief, or sorrow or uncertainty, or despair, the number one thing that ought to cause us, the greatest sorrow and grief and despair is our sin that has separated us from God, and God has taken care of that need on the cross Our greatest cause for despair and helplessness is separation from God, and the cross has solved that problem. We're going to address the power of the cross over despair. If we're going to address the power of the crossover despair, we have to start with our greatest need to be made right with God. Let's start in verse 5., we're going to kind of jump around in this pass. I want to start here on this point in verse 5. Look at it with me. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Every New Testament writer that quotes this passage understands it to be a reference to Jesus, our Messiah. Isaiah didn't know, as he wrote these words, what he was really revealing here, as the Lord revealed this to him, and he was sharing this prophecy. He didn't quite know the fullness and the detail of what would happen, but he was writing about one who would be pierced for our transgression, for our iniquities, for our sin, for our rebellion. And here in verse 5, in this little phrase, we have both the what and the why of the ultimate mission of Jesus. verse this verse clearly does depicts both the manner and the purpose of the death of Jesus. How would he die? He will die by being pierced. Why would he die? He will be pierced for our sin and for our rebellion Why did we need a Savior? He continues in verse 6. He says, "All we like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. All of us have gone astray. The Bible says that all have sinned and falls short of God's glory. And like sheep, by our nature and by our foolish actions, we have left God's path to follow our own path And for that reason, God has laid our sin, our rebellion, on our Messiah, Jesus, as a sacrifice, that he would die in our place for the rebellion of our life that we have demonstrated. We've talked about this so many times in sermons and sermon series, how the Old Testament foreshadows the new Testament, how the Old Testament foreshadows what God would do in Jesus Christ. There's so many things we've talked about over the years of passages and situations and traditions and rituals of the Old Testament that point to Jesus. Here, the writer, Isaiah, is alluding to the idea of the scapegoat. We use that phrase in our culture, a scapegoat. What is a scapegoat? scapegoats, when you take the problems of a group of people and blame them on one person and you let one person take the fall for the whole group. This comes out of the scripture, Leviticus chap 1621. This idea of scapegoat in our culture comes out of the Bible inbicus 1621, it says, Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of a live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel and all the transgressions, and all the their sins And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness." So Aaron, the high priest on the day of Atonement would take all the sins of the people to say, symbolically, they are upon this goat and then drink drive that goat out of the wilderness. Why was he doing that? Why did they do that on the day of Atonement? Year after year after year, because it was foreshadowing this passage, this prediction, this prophecy of Jesus that one day, God would take all all the sins of the wayward sheep, and he will put them on Jesus, and he will carry our sins." He continues in verse 9, and they made his grave with the wicked, and with a a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Notice a couple things about verse 9. Number one, the prophecy, the detailed prophecy regarding the death of Jesus, this man who died, many believed, the death of a wicked person is actually going to be given the grave of a rich man We see that fulfilled in Matthew 27 verse 57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathhea named Joseph, who was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a linen shroud, and laid it in his own tomb, fulfilling the prophecy 700 years earlier by Isaiah, and Isaiah 53, "He's laid in the tomb of a rich man." But notice also the connection he's making here, the contrast rather he's making between the innocence of Jesus and his punishment. Verse 9 says they made his grave with the wicked, buried as if he were wicked, although it says he had done no violence. He'd done no violence, he'd spoken no deceit, yet he died a criminal's death So what is all this saying? He was pierced for our sins, for our rebellion for. All of our sins are laid upon him. He went to the cross as our sacrifice, even though he done no violence and no deceit. He died on the cross, and people assumed he was dying the death of a wicked man. Why did he do all of that? Verse 11.? Verse 11 says he did all of that so that he might make many to be accounted righteousness and he shall bear their iniquities. He bore our sins so that we could be righteous. Through the piercing of the innocent shepherd, the wayward sheep are accounted righteous. out of his anguish, we are made righteous. The cross meets our greatest need our need for restoration, our need for forgiveness, a need we have for our sins to be forgiven and be made into a right relationship with God. That's made possible on the cross. We see here this great exchange that takes place. The great exchange. We talked about this last week. We get to exchange our sins for his righteousness. Verse 6 of Isaiah 53 said he took all of our sins and put them on Jesus. And then verse 11 says,He took the righteousness of Jesus and put it on us." We talked about this last week. When in 2 Cothians chapter 5, I want to go back to that verse. our sake, he made him to be no sin He made him to be sin who knew knew no sin, so that into him, we might become the righteousness of God. So he took our sel. Oh, imagine, let me'll illustrate this. Let's say that I am in need of some quick money, and I'm I'm carrying and I going on vacation in September. It's our 30th anniversary, I am I going to pay for this vacation I don't know if I'm going to save about the money. So I'll just rob a local convenience store. That would be a way to get some quick.. Josh, you seem to agree with that. You work very quickly like, I've never seen you agree with a message before until right right there. And so I just, tonight, when it gets dark, and all my duties here at Northland are done for the day, I'll just put on a hoodie, I'll pull the hood up over my head, and I'll go into a local convenience store, and I rob the convenience store, I make my quick getaway, no one has been able to see my face. They didn't get a good look at me, no cameras. And I get away, I run into the neighborhood, and I run into Josh in the neighborhood. And Josh said, "What are you up to? I said,Josh, you're not going to believe this man. I don't know what happened I just robbed the quick trip. And he said, "Why would you do that?" I said, I'd give him my story. He goes, "Hey, listen, Matt, they're going to be looking for you soon. I can hear the sirens, they're going to be looking for you. And Matt, you've done a lot for me. You've been a lot to our family. Here's what I'm going to do for you. I'll take the fall for this." And I said,Would you really say yes, okay, here's what we're gonna do." Josh says, give me your hoodie." And so Josh takes my hoodie and he puts the hoodie on himself, and I take Josh's jacket, and I put Josh's jacket on myself, and Josh goes one way, and I go another way, and they grab the guy in the hoodie that they think is guilty, and the guilty guy who's wearing the jacket of the innocent guy gets free the other way. You see, that's the exchange that took place. That's what Jesus did. He took the sin of the guilty person on himself, and he gave the guilty person his righteousness, and we get to trade our sin for his righteousness. Have you done that before? He's paid for it. He's paid the price for your sin. Today, you can come to God and say, God, I know you died for my sin so that I could be clothed in your righteousness. And through faith in Jesus, the cross meets our greatest need, our need to have our sins forgiven. Have you had that need, Matt? Perhaps today you're carrying still more sorrow, more grief in your heart. Let me point you to the second lesson of this passage, and that is that the cross points us to a Savior who gets us. You see, while the cross addresseses our greatest need, our greatest source of despair, there's still more to be unpacked here And I wanted to consider now how the suffering of Jesus brings comfort in seasons of suffering. Not only did he bear the penalty of our sin, he carried to the cross the consequences of sin, the sorrow and grief and brokenness of this world. Look what he says in verse 3. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Here, the prophet foresees the hatred and rejection. The Messiah would experience, not only would the Messiah experience physical suffering and abuse, he would bear the etern internal grief of being rejected by those who came to save. He knew sorrow, he knew rejection, he knew grief. I love that phrase, "He is a man of sorrows. Your Savior, Jesus Christ, is called here a man of sorrows. Jesus, the one we look to in our times of grief, we're told here in scripture, was acquainted with grief. In verse 4, it says,Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken by God and afflicted. He took our grief, and he carried our sorrow. And this man of sorrows, this one acquainted with grief, took your sorrow, and your griefforesaid, when he took it to the cross, he experienced sorrow and rejection, and that positions him to be the best person to carry your sorrow and your suffering. Isaiah was saying that Messiah not only bear the penalty of sin, but these consequences, acting as ourselves substitutes, our substitute, he took on himself, not just our sin, but our grief and our sorrow. And so we look to a Savior who gets us. Verse 7, he was oppressed, he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter, like a sheep that before the shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. Here we see the further prophecy of what would happen, that Jesus would fulfill the foreshadowing of the Passover lamb and every lamb to ever be sacrificed for generations of the sacrificial system. It finds its fulfillment when Jesus, our ultimate, sacrificial lamb died on the cross And he went to that cross, he opened not his mouth. We see that fulfillment Mark 14, the high priest said, "Have you no answer to make?" And the Bible says, he remained silent and made no answer. Mark 15, Pilate asked him again, "Have you no answer to make And the Bible says,Jesus made no answer. Luke 23, Herod saw Jesus and questioned him.A some length, and the scripture says, but he made no answers. In silence,, he went to the cross as a lamb going to slaughter. He gets it. Now here's a cool thing. He was a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief, bore our sorrows, bore our grief. And then verse 12, he makes intercession for the transgressions. Verse 12 ties it all together in this amazing way. The one who suffered for us now intercedes for us. What began on the crossing continues in heaven. Listen to what the Scripture says.Hebrews 7:25 consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. He lives to make intercession. Hebrews, chapter 9, for Christ has entered into the holy places not made with hand, not not into the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf, and then finally Romans 834. Christ Jesus is the one who died more than than that, who was raised, who was at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Isn't that beautiful? The one who carries your sorrows and carries your grief, the one who knew rejectjection, who knew who was despised, he now intercedes before the throne of God for us. He experienced rejection and sorrow, pray,ression, and grief. He knows your despair firsthand he gets you. God is not a distant God, unconcerned. We have a Savior who also knows grief, who also knows sorrow. That should be comforting to us. a good friend, Brady, some of you may know him. He passes a church in Platte City, and we've known each other for many years years, and we get together quite often. We have a lot in common. We're about the same age, we passenger churches, kind in the same city. But last year, something happened in each of our lives that united us in a very significant way. Each of us lost a grandchild last year He lost his grandson Henry, just a few weeks before we lost our granddaughter, Oakley. And Brady and I met up at Reneggade Coffee in the basement there, and as we talked, we were sharing our experiences, and I was showing him pictures on my phone of the 14 hours we had with Oakley, and he was showing some pictures of their time with him. And then we realized we had the same picture in our phone Brady on the left of your screen. They're holding his grandson Henry moments after he passed away, me holding a Oakley. And there was something sort of oddly comforting in that moment when we sat together in the basement of that coffee shop, that we knew each other's pain We knew each other's suffering.. And something kind of cool, Oakley and Henry are buried in the same cemetery. And when I go to the grave of my granddaughter, when I turn in there and go around the bin, I pass Henry's grave on the way to Oakley's grave, and then there's something oddly peaceful about that to me that somewhere in the city, as a man, kind of my age, that is walking through this, that visits the same cemetery, to visit visit his grandchild. He gets me. And a lot of people prayed for us and with us and comforted us and encouraged us, but there was something uniquely special about talking to Brady because he gets it. I want to tell you, there's something special that all of us share in this room. You bring your sorrows to the man of sorrow who gets it. You bring your grief to the one who bore your grief. He's not distant and disconnected and disinterested. You bring your sorrows to a saint Savior who gets you. Third, the cross reminds us that suffering has a purpose. Now, I don't know the unique purpose or reason for your suffering. I can't begin to know why God is doing what he is doing in your unique situation. But what we do see in Isaiah 53 is as we see in many places in scripture, is the Bible tells us that suffering serves a purpose Suffering is there for a purpose in our lives. Look at this. After he details, the suffering and sorrow, rejection of the Messiah would endure, the prophet assures us that there's a reason for it, verse 10. Yet, it was the will of the Lord It was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt. He shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. And there again, this phrase, the universe 10, "The will of the Lord shall prosper in his head." It was the will of the Lord, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. At this point, the prophet calls us to consider the cross from God's point of view and to see that this was God's doing, and God had a purpose It was not accidental, it was not unfair, it was not unjust. It was brought about by the will of God. One paraphrase puts us this way, still, it's what God had in mind all along. When Jesus spoke to the two men on the road to Emmaus at the end of his resurrection, after his resurrection, he's explained to them how the Old Testament prophehecies are fulfilled in what's just happened. He says these words, Luke 24:26:Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things? It was necessary. And then then, Acts chapter 2, verse 23, on the day of Pentecost, a few weeks later, Peter, preaching to a crowd of people, says these words delivered. Jesus, the Messiah was delivered up according to the death definite plan and foreknowledge of God. It was necessary it was the plan. His death was not defeat. His death was not an accident. His death was not pointless. Pointless, God had a reason God had a purpose for the suffering. God had a purpose for the sorrow. He continues in verse 11, "Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. Somehow, in the anguish of his soul, the Messiah knew there was a reason and his soul was satisfied. He'll see it in the end, and it will be worth it." And then verse 12, "I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressions. What's the verse 12 speaking about here? I will divide. I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong. He's talking here about the portion of the spoils of victory In the end, there's a victory in this. It looks like defeat. It looks like he was defeated, but by the end of the passage, the man of sorrow, the one bearing guilt, the one headed to slaughter, in the end is victorious. And here we see that the mission ends in victory in seasons of despair. God reminds us that there is a plan. There is a purpose. What appeared to be defeat was in fact, victory. When we look to the cross, we see suffering, we see our suffering from an eternalernal perspective. Why is a fair question? Brenda asks that question, I've asked that question, you've asked that question. Some of you even now are asking the question, why? And I would tell you, honestly, if I were in your shoes today, I'd ask the same question. And we won't always get the answer that satisfies us. I certainly have never been able to provide a satisfactory answer to anyone who's asked that question to me. What I can do is point you to Isaiah chapter 53, where we see that suffering has a purpose. Sorrow has a purpose. Our Father has a reason for what we go through, and we can't understand it, and there's just no easy answers to it. And I just know that my Heavenly Father loves us, and he has a reason for what we go through. There's nothing worse, is there than watching your child suffer watching your child in pain? You know what's worse, though, kind of worse than your child being in pain? Your child being in pain, and they look at you like it's your fault. And you know what my mind goes to? You guys have two little kids. Shots. You ever have to take your doctor your kid to the doctor and get a shot? That's the most horrible thing in the world, isn't it? Like, I guess there's probably more horrible things. But in the moment as a parent, it feels like the most horrible thing. This man or woman is going to come in and with a needle, stab my child with it, and you're gonna hold your child while they do it. Like from the child's perspective, that's got to be terrifying. Like, why are you you causing me pain? And why are you Why are you helping? Why are you letting this happen to me? I don't know my mind went to that this week, when I was thinking about, there are times when our father lets us go through people pain. And we don't know, we can't understand, like a child in your arms, they don't get it, they don't understand it. They can't possibly grasp it. And that's how I feel so often in my life, I don't understand why, why are you doing this? I don't get this. What I do know is that we do have a loving loving heavenly Father who is acting according to his sovereign plan and will for our lives. Many looked upon the cross where Jesus Jesus was pierced and thought, why? Why is this happening? We see Isaiah 53, there was a reason for it. There was a purpose for it. The cross rem reminds us in times of despair that suffering has a purpose And finally, the cross reminds us. It points us to the fact that there is alternltimate healing. There is ultimate healing in the end. the cross brings ultimate healing. The beginning, it solves our greatest problem, our separation from God, where we get to trade our sin for his righteousness and we get to then bring our suffering and grief to a man of sorrows who gets us. We can trust his plan, and then in the end, at the end of all of it, there's ultimate healing, verse 5. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds, we are healed, with his wounds. We are healed. He kept the law perfectly. He suffered what belonged to us. He took our place, and now, because of all of that, we have peace with God. We have peace with God. He took with the penalty of sin, and he took away the consequences of sin in an eternal sense when he removes the sting of death. There are many chapters you could read this week as you walk through Easter week. I would suggest Isaiah Isaiah 53 be one of those But another that I would definitely want to read this week, to fully understand what we're celebrating in Easter, is 1st Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians. Isaiah 53 has written hundreds of years before the cross and looks toward the cross and what Jesus was going to do. 1st Corinthians 15 is going to be written years after the cross, and going to look back on why the cross was necessary and what the resurrection accomplished. And 1 Coians chapter 15 ends with these beautiful words, Death is swallowed up in victory O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of sinin. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross took the sting out of death. The cross took the sting out of sorrow. The cross took the sting out of grief and out of sickness and out of brokenness and out of despair. A story I heard several years ago, I've shared this in the past when we' preached through this text in first qu this 15, I heard the story of a family. It was on vacation. They got back in the car after a stop at a gas station and when they were getting in the car, a bee had flown in the car. You ever had this happen? You're driving down the road, you realize there's a bee flying around in the car. and kids are freaking out. Mom's freaking out, right? This film is particularly upset because one of their children has a is deathly allergic to bee stings. It's not just your normal kid for freaking outcause he gets stung by a bee, but this kid knows it's really bad news if he gets stung. And driving down the road, the dad reaches up in the air and grabs the bee out of the air into his hand, catches the bee and then he releases his hand, and the bee, still alive, begins to buzz around in the car. The kid's freaking out. Mom's freaking out, and Dad goes,Wait, wait, wait, wait, look, look. And he shows the p of's hand with the sting of that bee is in his palm. He took the sting. And so you got things buzzing around, you. Death still buzzes around, and sickness still buzzing around. and sorrow is still buzzing, and grief is still buzzing, and despair still buzzes, but Jesus took the sting when he was pierced on the cross. Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, death, where is your sting? What do we do with this? Three things you can do in seasons of despair. Number one, cast your burdens on the man of sorrows. You can bring it to him today. He has known sorrow, he's known grief, he's known rejection. He's been despised. There's no fear, no pain, no sorrow, no grief, no dread that you're experiencing, that he can't understand. He gets you, bring it to him. Second, trust God's plan. We may never fully understand suffering, but we do know that it serves a purpose. And you may never know the specific answer that you want to know to the specific why that you're asking but there is an answer. And Isaiah 53 reminds us, God operates according to his plan, suffering has a plan, John Trust his plan. And then finally, keep an eternal perspective. There's ultimate healing and eternity. The sting has been taken on the cross and while we'll still have grief, we'll still have sorrow, we'll still know sickness, we'll still experience death. The sting of death, the sting of grief and loss and sorrow has been taken by Jesus on the cross. Would you pray with me? And let's just consider these last couple of minutes how you and I might respond to what God has shownown us in His W. And first, you may be one here today who's never traded your sin for the righteousness of Jesus. Today is your opportunity to say, Jesus, I want to bring my sin to you, believing that you died for it. And Jesus, I want to be forgiven. Would you take away my sin and clothe me in your righteousness? Jesus, I'm turning to you today to meet my greatest need, my g need for salvation, my need for forgiveness, my need for a Savior? That may be your prayer today. It may be a prayer that just is Lord, I know that you understand my sorrow, and it feels unbearable that I'm bringing it to you. Jesus, I don't get it, but I know you get me. Jesus, would you lift the grief and the sorrow from my heart? Maybe it's a prayer to say, God, I know there is a why. I don't know what it is, and you may never tell me what it is, but God, I just want the faith to trust you in the face of the why of what I'm facing. And maybe it's a prayer of Jesus, just help me to keep an eternal perspective that there will be sorrow and grief in this world, that you've taken the sting out of it in eternity. Father, I pray for the one who's never given his or her life to you, today, would your spirit open their heart to understand the truth and the reality of what you did for them on the cross, which you you bring them to repentance today. For the one who's carrying grief and sorrow and wondering if you could possibly understand, let them walk away here from here today knowing that the man man of sorrows has borne grief and sorrow and we can bring it to him. Thank you, Jesus, for your intercession before the Father on our behalf. Help us to understand your plan. or when we can't understand it, at least believe there is one, and help us to keep our eyes on eternity, where the sting of death is no more. the sting of sorrow and grief is no more. Thank you, Jesus, for paying for the penalty of our sins, for releasing us from the power of sins, for we storing the brokenness in our life and giving us hope in the face of despair. By what you've done for us on the cross, we thank you for this Jesus name. Amen.