The Suffering Servant | Wintley Phipps

[Music] who was jesus he had compassion for the weak and the hurting he loved every person he met and taught them how to love his great heart helped all those who came near him but most of all he was a friend that was who he was now find out who he is [Music] hello and welcome back to three abn camp meeting don't you just love this summer camp meeting we've been blessed by such tremendous music great speaking and pastor david shin and now i'm getting ready to introduce our next speaker and this is speaker for tonight pastor and brother dr wintley phipps uh we've been friends for more than a couple decades so when it's that long you don't you quit counting but an absolutely incredible uh individual he has a passion for evangelism and uh honestly if i gave you his resume i would take all of his time for preaching so i'm not going to do all of that he's very humble but i can tell you this he's an international speaker singer author has the dream academy that many of you know about i'm sure he'll talk to you a little bit about that but most of all that i'm so thankful that god has has is using him literally to reach a lost and dying world and so while he's preaching if you have comments or questions you can text us 618-228-3975 that's 618-228-3975 because afterwards we're going to do a little q and a with he and brother david so you can email your questions live at 3abn.tv so uh register at 3abncampmeeting.org so a lot of this is new to me this three a b and plus stuff but i'm learning as you are as we go but that's if you have any questions or comments feel free to email text us however you want to contact us then we're going to talk to them afterwards but i'd like to ask brother phipps to come out and brother when i was trying to think of some things to say but all i can say is i love you in the lord tremendous respect i appreciate the many many years of service that you have given to god and to the kingdom of god your wife linda what an incredible gift he's given you and to see you two still traveling and glorifying the name of jesus is amazing thank you so much for coming here and being a part of our three abn camp meeting my joy my joy you're going to be singing for us first and then preaching right if if he didn't sing i'd have a lot of people around the world upset so maybe you could do a song after the sermon too all right all right thank you right [Music] when peace like a river a tan death my way when sorrows like sea bellows whatever my lot thou has taught me to say it is well it is well with my soul [Music] with my soul [Music] my soul oh and lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight the clouds be rolled back as a scroll the trump shall resound and the lord shall descend even so it is my soul with my soul it is where it is my songs it is with my soul [Applause] [Music] [Applause] my soul [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen let's pray father as we open your holy word i ask that you would cleanse me of all unrighteousness fill my life with your holy spirit's presence and power speak to me through me and for me i promise you lord i'll always give you the honor the glory and the praise in jesus name i pray amen amen i love coming to three abn it's a blessing to be with you today you know 20 years ago i started a ministry to children whose parents are in prison and children falling behind in school it's called the u.s dream academy and throughout those years god has used miracle after miracle to sustain us the covet pandemic challenged us to do mentoring tutoring virtually and to do it online and you know what i've learned and we've learned that a virtual relationship is better than no relationship a virtual relationship better than a relationship with the criminal justice system think of it we face time online with our grandkids and we would not give up that virtual relationship for the world and the great lesson that i've learned is never underestimate the power of a virtual relationship as a matter of fact the most transformational relationship i have is a virtual one a virtual relationship i have a virtual relationship with someone i've never seen with my eyes i have a virtual relationship with someone i've never seen in the flesh and his name is jesus and that relationship means more to me than anything in the world that relationship shapes my conduct and my choices and i don't want to do anything to disappoint jesus oh but one day revelation 22 4 tells us that relationship will transform from a virtual one to as the bible says a relationship in the flesh for we shall see his face also please pray for us at the dream academy as we mentor and tutor these thousands of children in the name of christ now i love coming here to preach because they always seem to give me such wonderful and challenging topics to preach on today i've been asked to preach on the message the suffering servant if you have your bibles turn with me to the book of isaiah chapter 53 verse 4 the word of god says surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of god and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed you know as i studied for this message god led me to another passage in the bible where these same scriptures were used by god to change the world if you have your bibles go to with me through the book of acts chapter 8 verse 26 the bible tells us that the angel of the lord spoke to philip the evangelist saying go south to the road the desert road that goes down from jerusalem to gaza philip in obedience to the divine directive arose and did just as god told him to do he was unaware that god in his sovereign irresistible will had arranged for him a rendezvous that would change the world for you see traveling along that same road was a high-ranking ethiopian official a black man a black man of noble rank he was actually the treasurer to queen kandake queen candace of ethiopia how many of you know god's promises are magnificent he arranges moments of destiny with such meticulous precision that it often leaves you tongue-tied and speechless all you can say is did you see what god just did did you see what my god just did i want to tell you a story some years ago my wife and i were on a flight an eastern airlines flight and we saw this lady and recognized who she was so i went back to my seat and i got a cassette of my first recording and i knelt down beside her and i said you know the lord has impressed me to come share this with you i'm a gospel singer i want you to listen to this cassette but there's a special song entitled lord i give you my life it's about giving your life to god she said thank you so much i travel with a cassette player and i can play this tape you've given me as i travel the plane landed in atlanta as she was standing in the jet way waiting for me she took my hand she squeezed it her eyes were misty she had a warm beautiful smile and she said thank you so much god bless you that lady was natalie wood the actress a few days before she drowned and when i heard that she had drowned i was shaken but i knew without a doubt it was god who had allowed our paths to cross and had given me the opportunity to share a little of god's love with her oh my friends here god was arranging a meeting between philip and the ethiopian eunuch because god wanted the good news of his son's life death and resurrection to get to the continent of africa as soon as possible so what does that tell us it tells us that i know what that tells me it tells me that to god black lives matter and so in the tense social climate we live in today while we're debating what to say and how to say it god has already settled the matter he's already silenced the debate black lives matter so much to god that one of the first places he wanted the glorious story of his suffering and risen son to be proclaimed was on the continent of africa god wanted that news to go all over the world but he wanted it to go to africa the good news of the gospel reached deep into the heart of africa long before it reached many parts of europe to me that was god's way of saying that black lives matter to him end of discussion no more deliberation or debate amen and amen well that day this black minister of finance the director of queen candace's federal reserve who had come to jerusalem to worship he was now being chauffeur driven back to africa now this brother and and forgive me i call him a brother not only because i call all who love the lord my brother regardless of color because i especially call him my brother because the greek word used in the scriptures to to describe this black man literally meant and this is what it meant a man of burnt face i love that and i don't know about you i don't know if you've figured it out yet but that's the color of my face too well let me say it to you this way my face is the color i like my toast just a little burnt pray church pray now i'm sure you do not need much imagination to correlate the bible's burnt face description with this man's color and complexion after his visit to jerusalem and for reading material on his long journey home he decided he would purchase a copy of a biblical scroll and of all the books in the old testament he could choose to purchase he chose to purchase a copy of the book of isaiah now he could have purchased a copy of genesis or exodus money was no object with all the wealth at his disposal he could have secured a copy of all of david's inspirational psalms and sonnets he could have secured a copy of deuteronomy or leviticus he could have afforded it instead this officer of the queen's court chose and i believe by the direction and providence of god to purchase a book a copy of the book of isaiah now why isaiah you may ask well i'm glad you did now i don't know for sure but i have a hunch you see i believe that the word had gotten out that in the book of isaiah there was an astonishing verse a verse containing astounding promises from god to of all people eunuchs eunuchs like him you'll find that in the book of isaiah chapter 56 verse 4. look at what the bible says for thus saith the lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths and choose the things that please me and take hold of my covenant even unto them will i give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters and i will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off friends nowhere else in the bible does god single out eunuchs who love him for blessing and affirmation and i believe from the first eunuch who read that he must have spread the word and the word must have gotten around god has a special plan for us for eunuchs who love him now that's in chapter 56 but before the ethiopian eunuch gets to chapter 56 the ethiopian eunuch is stumped and confounded by what he reads in chapter 53 of the book of isaiah and here's what it reads surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering he was pierced for our transgressions he was bruised and crushed for our iniquities the punishment the chastisement that brought us peace was laid on him and by his wounds we are healed and so now as he is traveling back to africa he's reading those verses out loud and the holy spirit spoke to philip the evangelist and said there he is the one i sent you along the road to meet go to that chariot and you stay with it i want you to run alongside it and stay near and so philip began a light jog alongside the eunuch's chariot and philip hears him reading aloud that passage over and over again trying to understand it little did the ethiopian eunuch know that as he was studying the words of isaiah that god had sent someone uniquely qualified to interpret those scriptures to him and not just any someone philip was a mighty evangelist one who understood that god did not send him on that road to gaza to make chit-chat with the eunuch about the weather he understood that god did not bring him to this moment of destiny to converse with the eunuch about politics or the latest news you know friends i think it's time we stop talking so much about politics and start talking more about jesus philip this consummate evangelist this passionate soul winner he knew enough to seize the moment for jesus and he understood that he was sent by god to help reach a continent of god's burnt faced children that he loved hallelujah and so philip says to the ethiopian eunuch sir do you understand what you're reading the ethiopian eunuch says how can i understand these hebraic mysteries unless someone explains it to me i can help you said philip oh please said the ethiopian eunuch please come aboard join me here in the chariot and as they ride along philip watches and listens as with a puzzled face the ethiopian eunuch continues to read he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is broad as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth he was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken and then the ethiopian eunuch said to philip sir please tell me who is the prophet talking about here himself or someone else oh friends that ethiopian eunuch was having trouble wrapping his mind around this mystery of a suffering servant and and you can understand that you see the teaching of a suffering messiah was unknown in jewish theology it was unimaginable to the jewish people of christ's day and then philip begins to explain to the eunuch what to me is the greatest mystery of all mysteries the mystery of a suffering servant who expresses god's love through substitutionary suffering and sacrifice the bible says that philip opened his mouth and you know if you love the lord you have to open your mouth and and philip began teaching the message of the christ of prophecy the christ of history the christ child born in bethlehem the christ baptized in the river jordan the christ crucified on calvary the christ risen on the third day philip explains to the eunuch that the one the prophet isaiah was writing about is jesus and that the lamb that was led before the shearers is christ the messiah and this made such a deep impression on him that day the ethiopian eunuch said stop the chariot stop my chariot and then he said look here's a pool of water is there any reason why i can't be baptized right here and right now in acts 8 verse 37 says philip said if thou believest with all thine heart thou missed and he answered and said i believe that jesus christ is the son of god and then he ordered the driver to stop and he and philip went down into the pool and philip baptized him when they came up out of the water then the holy spirit picked philip up and carried him away and the bible says the ethiopian eunuch stepped into his chariot and went on his way back to africa rejoicing in his newfound faith the greek writer iranian said that the eunuch became a missionary to the ethiopians perhaps the first black man to take the story of jesus deep into africa and luke also makes it clear that the eunuchs conversion was a significant event in the advance of the gospel but i want you to know today the words in this verse acts 8 39 have gripped my thoughts and thinking it says and when they will come up out of the water the spirit of the lord caught away philip that the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing you see i believe the reason the eunuch went on his way rejoicing is because when philip explained to the eunuch that god had expressed his love towards us through substitutionary suffering and sacrifice when he explained to the eunuch that god loved us so much that he allowed his son to die in our place as a substitute for us to spare us eternal shame eternal damnation and death i believe that's why the ethiopian eunuch went on his way rejoicing you see he saw past the gruesome details of the suffering servant and he saw the love of god expressing itself in substitutionary suffering for our peace for our well-being and when he saw that he could not help but rejoice and i admit to you when i think of god's love expressed in substitutionary suffering and sacrifice for me i too rejoice for i do not understand such love i i do not understand such reckless abandonment of divine self-interest i do not understand such calculated disregard by jesus for his own life just to rescue the perishing like you and like me i do not understand such a basement of self and the deliberate premeditated embrace of the horrors of calvary and the dangers that he faced just to save us to save those who are unfit and unworthy i do not understand god's love expressed in substitutionary sacrifice and suffering so that i and you so that we can be rescued redeemed and restored now we've heard of subjects giving their lives for their kings we don't hear of kings giving their lives for their subjects and this news of a righteous king who chose to be wounded who chose on sinner's behalf to wear the robe of scandal who chose to die for those worthy of only dishonor and disrepute who chose to die for sinners mired in degradation and disgrace who chose to die that we might be rescued redeemed and restored i believe the eunuch went on his way rejoicing over such love love that would throw itself in harm's way to rescue the foolish to rescue the incorrigible like you and like me i too rejoice over this good news now i want to tell you there are those who believe that to introduce the gospel to modern minds it would be more appropriate to skip over the narrative of the suffering servant giving his life as a sacrifice they believe that the subject of suffering because it's not a popular one and think of it no evangelist starts his crusade with a sermon based on all that will live godly in christ shall suffer persecution oh but what they miss is that everyone understands suffering none of us are immune from suffering if you keep living you're going to suffer i think it was edward tutson who once said if you succeed without suffering it is because someone else has suffered before you and if you suffer without succeeding it is so that someone else may succeed after you too many believe if you want to persuade people of the benefits and blessings of christianity today that it would make more sense to hold up a gospel of wealth and prosperity or a gospel of health and healing or a gospel of wonders and miracles or social gospel or a liberation gospel or prosperity gospel but philip does not shun the inferences of pain and sacrifice he makes no apologies about this love that shines brightest in adversity instead philip holds up the lamb of god that taketh away the sins of the world friends we live in a modern world where the church has seen temporal successes preaching what i call a sanitized gospel a suffering free gospel we have focused our gaze on the peripherals the temporal the non-essentials and and we've neglected this preeminent truth that christ suffered for us bled and died to secure our rescue our redemption and our restoration and please allow me to share with you something important god has taught me god showed me that a gospel of rescue without redemption is an incomplete gospel a gospel of redemption without restoration is also an incomplete gospel the complete good news of the gospel is that jesus suffered and bled and died and was risen to do three things to rescue us from the power of sin he died to redeem us from the penalty of sin and he died to restore us into the image and likeness of his father's character i call this a trinity of divine purpose to rescue redeem and restore this is the complete gospel that because of god's love expressed through substitutionary suffering and sacrifice that we may become partakers of what the bible calls the divine nature that means that we may resemble reflect and reveal the likeness image and character of god and even today we can start the process of growing ever more into the likeness of god's character now that process can begin for you right now it can begin this moment with a decision to follow christ and every day we can grow to be more like christ can i tell you something if you are an angry christian you have some growing to do somebody say amen if you're a touchy christian you're some christians just touchy touchy you say something wrong thing to them and they come at you if you're a touchy christian you've got some growing to do for some christians all it takes is a little provocation to really show you who they really are if you're a christian who is easily annoyed you've got some growing to do or if you're easily frustrated you've got some growing to do as a matter of fact the purpose for our probation is character growth christ's likeness is the purpose for our probation hallelujah the years we have been given by god left on earth off for our growth it is to begin now what will be an eternal growth process in our lives i found that too many who want to be with him don't really want to be like him and throughout eternity we will be learning and growing yes always more into the likeness of his character listen to what the servant of the lord says she says the faith that does not produce and reveal the fruit of christ's likeness is a false faith my god faith that does not produce christ's likeness is a false faith and she said and it works more harm in the world than the character of worldly people and so i state unequivocally i believe that it is christ-like character and not our evangelistic methods that will be the key to successful church growth romans 5 6 says for when we were yet without strength in due time christ died for the ungodly verse 7 4 scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet per adventure for a good man some would even dare to die and then verse the next verse verse 8 but god commandeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us and verse 9 much more than being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him the substitutionary suffering and sacrifice of christ saves us it is a moral force that confounds the forces of retributive justice it is a moral force that shreds all objections and accusations that the devil makes against us his suffering his substitutionary suffering and sacrifice it is it wastes all objections and the fires of substitution and sacrifice that's why john said in chapter 15 verse 13 greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend's substitutionary suffering and sacrifice as i close today i want to tell you i've sung for many memorial services one of the most amazing ones that touched me was really a memorial for four men you see on january the 3rd 1943 in the middle of world war ii a civilian ship used by the navy was carrying 900 u.s servicemen to europe in the fight against nazi germany their first stop was to be greenland the coast guard told the ship's captain that he had to be extra careful because sonar had detected a german u-boat submarine in the area the captain ordered everyone on board to sleep in their clothes and to keep their life jackets on sadly many of the soldiers disregarded the order because they said with the life jackets on it made them too hot and too uncomfortable well at about 1am in the morning in the dark of night on february the 3rd 1943 the german submarine u-boat 223 spotted that ship the dorchester was its name that ship carrying the u.s troops to europe and quietly the submarine laying weight to strike and just when the dorchester was most vulnerable the german submarine went in for the kill in the icy cold waters of the north atlantic the submarine launched a torpedo and in moments the dorchester was hit the torpedo knocked out the ship's electrical system that left the ship completely dark many of the soldiers who were trapped below its deck never made it up in all the panic and confusion however there were four men who brought calm to those soldiers they were four navy chaplains and those four chaplains stayed on the ship to organize and orderly evacuate the soldiers not only that they aided and guided the wounded to safety and as the men prepared to leave the ship the chaplains were there helping handing them their life jackets before they got into the water until to their horror and dismay they soon realized they had run out of life jackets and in that moment something extraordinary happened those four chaplains took off their life jackets and handed their life jackets to soldiers who needed one those four chaplains from different faiths two protestants one catholic and a jewish rabbi that night those four chaplains went down with the ship into those icy waters off of newfoundland one of the 200 men who survived he had been given a life jacket he said as i swam away from the ship i looked back and the flares had lighted everything the bow of the ship came up high and then the ship he said it slid under the water he said the last thing i saw he said were those four chaplains they were up there praying for the safety of the men they had done everything they could and everyone saw those four chaplains on that sinking ship their arms their arms were linked together and those four chaplains were praying together and singing hymns as the ship went down into the icy sea that night oh my friends i want you to know that was love demonstrated through substitutionary sacrifice and substitutionary suffering they died so that others could live well i want you to know on calvary on that hill called mount calvary my jesus took off his life jacket and he gave it to me he gave it to you he gave it to us on that cruel cross god expressed his love towards us through the substitutionary suffering and sacrifice of his son and he wept that we might weep no more hallelujah god he endured our sorrow so that we would be spared shame and death and on calvary he single-handedly salvaged our freedom wrestled away from the enemy the keys of hell and death and he died so that we might live first peter 4 verses 12 through 13 tells it to us this way think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you but there's that word again rejoice hallelujah god rejoice rejoice in as much as we are partakers of christ's suffering that means my friends that we may suffer but we can rejoice because god is faithful you know the difference between iron and steel is only time spent in the fire so if god leaves you in the fire it is to make steel out of you rejoice god is faithful you may be persecuted but rejoice god is faithful you know every time i look at the cross and i think of his substitutionary suffering and sacrifice for me i ask myself the same question every time jesus did that for me jesus did that for me yes he did and he did that for you he did that for me and one day my friends he is coming back for you he is coming because of that love he is coming because of the gift of substitutionary suffering and sacrifice you know one day i found myself trying to ask god why are you so good to me as a matter of fact i was actually on an airplane it was the only airplane crash i've ever been in i was flying in on a small private plane from seattle to spokane we were going over the cascade mountains and we crashed while trying to land the faa investigated the situation and found out that the pilot had forgotten to put the wheels down and so we came in out of the sky and we slammed into the concrete i saw a couple in maryland trying to land they too had forgotten to put their wheels down and when their plane hit the tarmac the sparks ignited the fuel and i saw that plane go up in a ball of flames but the faa said it didn't happen to us because it was raining heavily that night and the wet conditions may have doused the sparks that ignited that could have ignited the fuel and sent up set us up in a ball of flames but you know what that's what they said happen let me tell you what happened i was coming in on that plane calling out to god i was coming in on that plane praying to god that same prayer that i pray when i look at jesus on the cross i was praying lord why are you so good to me lord i don't deserve it and i heard that voice that i know of god as god speaking to my heart saying my son my son no matter what happens i'm going to take care of you and that's what jesus is saying to you today give him your life give him your heart and he will take care of you you are a recipient of god's love expressed in substitutionary suffering he suffered for you you are a recipient of god's love expressed in substitution sacrifice and he did it for you he did it so that you can be say it with me he did it so that you could be rescued rescued from the power of sin praise the lord praise the lord you can be redeemed from the penalty of sin praise the lord praise the lord and that you can be restored you see the lord doesn't just stop at rescuing you and walk away he doesn't stop at redeeming you and walking away he wants to restore you more and more every day into the likeness image and character of the father and of his son you know the sermon of god tells us that to be a christian means to be christ-like and he will give you the strength and the power every day to grow more to be like him there's a song i want to sing for you listen to the words of this beautiful hymn [Music] wonderful savior is jesus my lord [Music] a wonderful savior to me he hideth my soul in the depths of his love wherever a pleasure i see he hide my soul in the clef that shadows a dry thirsty land he hide at my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his hand and covers me there with his hand [Music] a wonderful savior is jesus my lord he taketh my burdens away [Music] he holdeth me up and i shall not be moot he giveth me strength as my day [Music] thirsty land he hide my life in the depths of his love and cover me there with his hand and covers me there with his hands when clothed in his brightness transported i rise to [Applause] his perfect salvation is wonderful i'll shout with the millions hide my soul in the cliff of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land he hides [Music] in the depths of his love and covers me there with his hand [Music] and covers me there [Music] we [Music] is [Music] we're his body was broken so that we could live giving us the gift of eternal life he pursues us relentlessly with an everlasting love regardless of our failures and mistakes the one who loves us like no other this is who jesus is [Music] you

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

Views: 3,694

Rating: 4.9699249 out of 5

Keywords: Wintley Phipps, 3ABN, Jesus the suffering servant, Who is Jesus, Ethiopian eunuch, Candace, Acts 8, Philip the evangelist

Id: ehETOZFuze0

Length: 58min 0sec (3480 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 18 2021