Isaiah 53: Jesus death, as described 700 years before His birth

Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you-- his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind-- so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet 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; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore 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 transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (from the ESV)

New Church

I have just moved from a my old church to a Reformed Baptist congregation in Hillcrest

If you live in or around Durban, and have a Reformed theology, then I would strongly suggest that you come to this Church. The main reason why I chose this church, initially was because of its Bibliology. A google search for churches in Durban, along with the word "expository" put HBC as the first result. Within the website were the words along the lines of "We are committed to Expository Preaching."

In case you are not sure, expository preaching is where the sermon is based on and focused around unpacking a verse of scripture. This is as apposed to topical preaching, where the preached chooses a topic (for example 'love') then chooses verses to go with that. Verses exposited range from 1 or 2 words, to a whole chapter at a time. Usually at HBC, no more than 3 or 4 verses are preached through at a time.

The Pastor's name is Clint Archer. He is a man of God and a gifted preacher. It is so so so good to hear the gospel, the actual gospel preached from the pulpit.

Here is the website for the church Click Here

I can say in all honesty that God is very kind to lead me here

Religion Vs Christianity

I am not religious; I am a Christian, and there is a big distinction between the two. This is the distinction: The basis of religion is man working his way to god/s. The key word there is 'work.' And when I look at every religion in the world, this is the case. For examples, for the muslims, to go to heaven by keeping the 5 pillars of Islam, then maybe, just maybe Allah will be gracious and let them in. Similarly in Catholicism, (which is similar to Christianity, but is not Christianity) you must do the sacraments and be baptized. We can go through each religion as see what is called in theological circles: works righteousness or self righteousness. Basically man commending himself to god/s by their own virtue.

But (true, biblical) Christianity is different, This is the distinction, in that works play no part in commending us to God, but we are save by faith. Let me explain. First you need to understand that there is NOTHING in us that commends us to God. You see, while we may think that we are good people, the reality is, by God's holy standard, we are the opposite. For example, If you have lied, God sees you as a liar, If you have stolen (value is irrelevant) then God sees you as a thief. If you have taken God's name in vain even once (saying something like 'OMG', or not given Him due reverence whenever you say His name) that is called blasphemy, and the bible says that God will not find him guiltless who takes His name in vain. One more: You know what adultery is, but Jesus said that if you even look with lust, you commit adultery with her in her heart. Now I trust that you, like me, are a human being and therefore have broken those commandments (from the 10 commandments). I have, so God sees me as a lying, thieving, blasphemous adulterer at heart, whether I like it or not, if you have broken these laws, He sees you the same.

Thats the bad news, and its pretty bleak, but Christianity doesn't stop there, there is good news also. The good news is that although we are all condemned, God made a way for us to be forgiven. 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ, fully God, fully man, voluntarily went to the cross, upon which they crucified Him. God looked down and saw Jesus' sacrifice and was satisfied. Then on the third day He defeated death and rose again. Its like this, you are in court for a serious crime, the judge sentences you to life in jail or a fine which is more than you could ever pay. You are about to be led off to jail, when someone in the crowd stands up and give the judge a check for the full amount. You can go free, not because you are good, but because he paid your fine. Same with Christ, He paid your sin debt to God. Now the bible says to repent and put you faith in Jesus Christ, thus we say that by faith we are saved, no works we can do can add to Christ's death, because that death was enough, and we have nothing worthy to add.

Now like it or not, every religion is opposed to this teaching. We like the idea of 'doing it ourselves' but the problem is we can't, in any way. Now there is one other thing I haven't mentioned yet. That is that the God of the bible, of Christianity, claims to be the only God that exists, He was the creator of the world, He owns it, and He makes the rules. On that basis, every other god does not exist, except as carved idols and in our mind. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me"

Thank you for reading this, Please think about it, consider your sin and then think on the kindness of the saviour, Jesus Christ, please repent and put your faith in Christ

Revelation 1:7-8

Please consider this carefully

Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

Bible Chapter And Verse Statistics

A minor project I've been working on is finished and available for download

See them here

I've drawn up a few statistics regarding the verse and chapters of the bible

UNIVERSAL ATHEISTS DAY

HAPPY UNIVERSAL ATHEISTS DAY

April 1

The fool has said in his heart, there is no God Psalm 14 vs 1

Atheists, You have broken God's laws, by professing atheist you are breaking the greatest of the commandments, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; as well as the first 2 of the 10 commandments: you shall have no other God's before Him and you shall not make any graven images.

But God is Rich in mercy, dispire your rebelion, He is willing to forgive you. The basis of that forgiveness is Jesus Christ's death on the cross. He paid the wrath of God on behalf of all who will humble themselves, repent and trust Him. Please do that today, you may not have tomorow.

God is very faithful

God is always faithful, He will always keep His promises according to His sovereign will.

Thank you Lord for the chance to preach the gospel