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In the name of the Father, and of the

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Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Our sermon text, our Old Testament

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reading, Isaiah, the 43rd chapter.

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Brothers and sisters in Christ, have you

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ever felt worthless, insignificant,

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incapable, unlovable, shrink down in your

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seat, bury your head in your hand,

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unworthy of the time of day, kind of

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worthless?

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You turn in a paper or assignment, a test

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that you think you worked hard on and you

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nailed the content.

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But when you get it back, it looks like a

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pen exploded on your paper.

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There are lines and writing everywhere.

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And you get to the end of that paper and

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you see your grade, worthless.

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You come to seminary excited to be a

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pastor.

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You sit through field work, you sit

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through your vicarage meetings and they

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have you stand up and pledge to dress in

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a suit, wear your clerical, shave, put on

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deodorant.

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And you're thinking while you're doing

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that, really?

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How old am I? Hygiene lessons?

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You feel worthless.

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And that's in here, in the seminary.

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But when you step out of those doors and

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when you step out of this campus on into

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the world, when you go on date after date

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and you are trying to find the one or you

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ask time and time again.

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But no one seems to say yes.

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You feel like you have nothing to offer

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the opposite sex or you lose your spouse

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and now you live your life alone.

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Wandering through this world, you feel

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worthless.

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You get diagnosed with a debilitating

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illness and it renders you or you get

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injured and it renders you incapable of

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doing the things that you once used to

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do.

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Suddenly you're not able to mow your

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lawn.

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You're not able to shovel the snow.

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You're not able to drive or read because

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your eyes are now dimming.

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You cannot even at times walk or use the

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bathroom by yourself or feed yourself.

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You feel worthless.

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And then on top of it all, there's those

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moments of regret, those words that you

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hear from the people that are closest to

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you and dearest to you.

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I cannot believe you did that.

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I am so disappointed in you.

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You begin to reel in your mind.

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You think, if I could only take that

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back, that one moment of weakness, that

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one sin, that deep sin that I regret, the

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one day I lied, the one day I lost my

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temper and blew up.

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I should have just bit my thumb, but I

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couldn't.

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And now it's out there for the world to

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see.

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And I don't want everyone else to know

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what I truly am.

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What a failure I am.

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You and I, we're not the student. We're

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not the friend. We're not the parent.

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We're not the grandparent.

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We're not the citizen that we know that

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we should be.

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You and I fail, God.

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We fail others and we fail even our own

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expectations.

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And when you get that, you feel

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worthless.

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Insignificant, incapable, unlovable,

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shrink down in your chair, bury your head

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in your hand.

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I, a poor miserable sinner, kind of

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worthless.

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That is where the southern kingdom of

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Judah is in our Old Testament reading for

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today.

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They are nothing.

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They are worthless.

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Even though God had led them through the

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wilderness on dry ground and not allowed

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their clothes and shoes to wear out.

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And even though they stood on the banks

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of the Jordan and swore that they would

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follow all the commandments of God, they

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failed in the promised land.

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Time and time again, the northern kingdom

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and the southern kingdom, they turned

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their backs on God.

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They built altars and they worshiped

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golden calves.

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They burned their firstborn children

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alive on the altars of Molech.

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They participated.

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They went up to the high places and

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participated in temple prostitution to

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Baal and Asherah.

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And despite all of God's warning by his

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mouths of his prophets, Israel and Judah

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reveled in their idolatry.

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Like a pig rooting in the mud, like a dog

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returning to its own vomit.

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Hence Isaiah chapter 41 and chapter 42,

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our God refers to his people as a worm.

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And in 42, a blind, a deaf, a disobedient

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servant.

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And now here they are, 586 BC, for their

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idolatrous sins.

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So the southern kingdom of Judah is

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suffering the same fiery judgment of God

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that was poured out upon the northern

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kingdom in 722.

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The night of exile is upon them.

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Chains, bondage, whips, burning,

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destruction, forced, march, receiving the

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just wages of their sin and generations

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of their fathers before them of their

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unrighteousness.

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That's God's judgment.

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And then there's the nation.

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They go to Babylon and they are nothing.

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Babylon doesn't treat them as a people.

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You know what they are to Babylon?

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Their tools.

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Tools in their economy.

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The southern kingdom of Judah, by the

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time of Isaiah's thought for this

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writing, is worthless.

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Insignificant, incapable, unlovable, bury

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your head in your hand, shrink down into

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your chair, I, a poor, miserable sinner,

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kind of worthless.

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So don't you find it quite remarkable

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that it is to these people that our God

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speaks.

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He speaks to worthless sinners.

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He speaks to Judah.

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He speaks to you.

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He speaks to me.

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Today, God speaks a blazing word of

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comfort and hope through the mouth of his

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prophet, Isaiah.

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Did you notice the start of our Old

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Testament reading?

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How there was a radical shift in their

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identity.

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But now, thus says the Lord, you are

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valuable.

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You are precious in my eyes, honored.

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And I love you.

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Valuable?

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Precious?

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Honored?

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Loved?

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What did Judah do to deserve that title?

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Nothing.

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In and of themselves, they are worthless

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sinners.

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But I will tell you this.

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There are two things that make Judah of

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infinite worth.

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The first is a matter of who owns them.

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But now, thus says the Lord, he who

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created you, O Jacob, he who formed you,

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O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed

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you.

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I have called you by name.

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You are mine.

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The good news is that despite how Judah

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feels, despite their past sins as they

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repentantly weep by the waters of

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Babylon,

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despite how they see themselves, God

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graciously calls them by name on the

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plains of Haran, at Bethel, at the foot

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of Mount Sinai,

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and now even in their exile.

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Judah does not belong to Babylon.

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They do not belong to Assyria.

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They do not belong to Egypt.

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He has claimed them as His own.

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They are his treasured possession.

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And what's more?

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Judah's valuable.

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And this is determined by how much of a

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price God is willing to pay for his

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people.

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Isaiah 43 verse 4, I give men in exchange

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for you peoples, in exchange for your

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life.

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So He did.

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When God led Israel through the waters on

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dry grounds, he paid for them with the

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lives of the Egyptians.

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When God led Judah out of Babylon, He

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paid for their lives by the lives of some

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Babylonians.

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But the greatest payment that God would

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make for his people, for Israel, for

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Judah, for you and for me, was when God

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sent forth His Son,

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born of a woman, born under the law to

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redeem you and I who are under the law

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that we might receive adoption as His

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sons.

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And you heard it today in the readings

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there in the baptism of the Jordan.

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Jesus took on your worthlessness and my

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worthlessness and the world's

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worthlessness.

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He who knew no sin became sin for you and

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I.

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The Father gave His Son as a ransom for

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you and this Son, this Jesus, He

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willingly and freely gave His life as a

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ransom in exchange for your life.

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He shed His holy precious blood.

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He endured hell on the cross, walking

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through the fiery judgment of God so that

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when you walk through the fiery judgment

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of God, you would not be burned.

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And the flame, O people of God, would

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never consume you.

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For there is no condemnation.

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There is no fiery judgment for you, O

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repentant sinners, O people of thy God,

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you who are in Christ.

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Jesus has done it all and all that He has

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done is for you, for me and for the life

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of this world.

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Do you see the kind of love the Father

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has lavished on us that we should be

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called sons of God?

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And so you are.

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You are all sons of God through faith,

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for as many of you who have been baptized

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into Christ have clothed yourselves with

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Christ.

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In baptism, he who created you, O Judah,

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O people of God, is He who formed you, O

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people of God, is He who numbered the

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hairs on your head?

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Is He who marked you with His cross on

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your forehead and on your heart, saying

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to you, I have redeemed you, I have

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called you by name and you are mine.

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Don't you see you don't belong to sin and

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you don't belong to death and you do not

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belong to the devil.

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They have no power over you.

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You belong to God.

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You are His child.

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Isn't that not why you and I sing?

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God's own child, I'll gladly say it, I am

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baptized into Christ.

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Sin, disturb my soul no longer, I am

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baptized into Christ.

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Satan, hear this proclamation, I am

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baptized into Christ.

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Death, disturb my soul no longer, I am

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baptized into Christ.

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Don't you see, dear saints of the living

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God, the good news of the gospel for you

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this day is it doesn't matter if you feel

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worthless.

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It doesn't matter if the world calls you

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worthless.

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It doesn't matter what past sins the

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devil tries to throw in your face.

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It doesn't matter the turbulent waters of

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the valleys of the shadows of sin and

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death that you walk through in this veil

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of tears and this valley of stars.

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It does not even matter if in your eyes

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you see yourself as worthless because

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none of those things define who you

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really are.

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Your identity comes from God.

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He has given it to you.

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He has told you who you are.

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You are precious in My eyes, says the

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Lord, honored and I love you.

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Now and forever in Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Amen.

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We stand.