Speaker(s): Peter Westera, Mark Miniciello
Sermon 12934
Date: 2025-06-01
Time: Sun 6:30 pm

 

P. Pete Westera –

Good evening. Amazing. I just was in Argentina. I just got back. Let’s see. I don’t know. You got it.
Unbelievable. I haven’t seen this. P. Stan made a slide or a movie of some kind. So, let’s watch
that. I’ll sit down and watch. I don’t want to stand while you watch what’s going on behind me.
Looks pretty good actually. Looks amazing. I can’t believe I was there. No, we did have a great
time and what can I say? Just another trip with a bunch of kids and it was just awesome. I love
being with them. Love connecting with the teens. Loved being with Katie and the kids. They
were with us the whole way. Found us and didn’t leave our sides. It was awesome.

And then, my favorite, really my favorite time was I got to spend time with Nick Wyman. That
was amazing. Totally different guy than he was when he was a teenager. Just calm. Reading his
Bible. Fellowshipping. It was amazing to be with him. So, and then our, my friend P. Stan and
Karen. They’re just beautiful people and love being with them and we received from them. Got
back and then the next morning, got ready for convention, right? Let’s go, Lord. Let’s keep
going. It’s beautiful. Thank you, God for giving us the motivation and what it takes to do these
things.

I preached a message in Argentina and I’m going to re-preach it just because I love it so much
for me, for my life. It really affected me and it’s from Isaiah chapter 50. So, turn there with me if
you can. Do people still turn? Do you still say turn? Okay. Good. Thank you.

This chapter was just blown my mind and I have studied it a couple of times now. Last summer
and then again recently. And it speaks to me because it is really Jesus speaking. Many, many
commentaries, many people say, you know, these are really the words of Jesus Christ. The
chapter, the verse, the words are spoken with his own words in first person.

That’s interesting because when Jesus was suffering, he did not speak about his suffering so
much. After he was resurrected, he did not speak about it. He did not say, guys, did you, did you
see what just happened? Did you hear what I went through? Did you see the whole scene with
Caiaphas and did you just see the whip? Did you see the cross? Did you get a load of that? No
mention of it really. We don’t know.

You know how with David, we know what he was thinking because of the Psalms. We know, I
think we know what Jesus is thinking but this chapter is the words of Jesus that they might as
well be in red. Spurgeon said that, you know, they were written by the Lord Jesus Christ
himself, whispered into the ear of Isaiah and then Isaiah writing them down. Verbatim. Word
for word.

And that makes it quite interesting and more interesting than that is, that it was written 600
years before they would actually happen. A pre-vision. There’s no time for Jesus. So, doesn’t really matter if it happened in the past or in the future. For him it’s the same. I don’t know how
to think of that. I don’t know how to absorb that. But I think of how, I think of my past. The
memories I have. How they stick to me from a child, from last year, from last month, last week.
They stick to me. Jesus must think of the future in the same way. They are like memories,
forecasts, and he experiences them and he knows them and they are very clear to him.

So, this is a divine narrative and it comes from the mind of Christ and it shows us something. It
shows us what he was thinking. In Argentina, I went backwards and I’m going to do it again I
think, because it just works better for me. I don’t think Isaiah got it backwards, but I’m just
going to do it backwards. We’ll start at vs. 9 and you can read it with me.

Vs. 9. Now, everything hinges on this sentence. I think the Lord will help me. This is not a
request. Not some hopeful statement. He’s not saying maybe. It’s not even a prayer. It’s a fact.
Christ is speaking and he says God will help me. My God will help me. He’s confident of it. It’s
his reality. This is how he lives. Every single day, he gets up and says, The Lord will help me.
Who is he that condemns me? Well, the list is long. The longest list. The Pharisees, Anas,
Caiaphas. I wrote a few names down. Sanhedrin. Herod, the crowd crying Barabbas. Pilate,
Satan, people in this world could be included in this group. Children of disobedience. A long list
of names of people that can condemn him.

Who is he that condemns me? He doesn’t really care. To Jesus, the list doesn’t exist. The
names, you know, don’t matter. Details. Circumstances. Inconsequential. It’s not part of his
history. It’s not important. It’s not part of the real history. It’s like they don’t exist. God will help
me. Who is there that condemns me? No one. To Jesus Christ, no one. All that matters is that
God will help me.

Vs. 8. He is near. Jesus Christ living every moment of his existence on this planet knowing this
very fact. God, my Father, is near. I know he’s near. He is near. And more than that, he’s
involved in my life. He has an integral part in my life. And the biggest thing that he does in my
life is that he justifies me. God is near and he justifies me. He helps me. He is near and he
justifies me. It’s a fact. Jesus Christ secure in his position.

Who will contend with me? It’s a long list again but not to Jesus. Doesn’t really matter to him.
We know the names. We can say them and we can talk about all the accusations and everything
that was brought up against Christ. But he is saying, Who will contend with me? Let us stand
together. Face me face to face. Bring the accusation to me. Jesus speaking. Bring the accusation
to me out in the open. Say it to my face, because really, it doesn’t matter. It’s really not part of
my story. Charge me if you want.

Who is my adversary? Who is my accuser? Painstakingly obvious to us who it is but not to Jesus
apparently. Let him come near me. Let him confront me. They did not come. They did come
near him by the way. They did. They were adversaries. They were many that charged him and
accused him. But all Jesus is thinking of is God will help me and he will justify me.

I think about Job. Me and P. Stan were talking about Job and Job had these trials. You know
these three trials maybe that Job has or one way to look at it is three trials. The first was, you
know, the trail of everything he had. The second one was, you know, bone and flesh. His health.
And maybe the third one that I kind of sneak in there is that maybe there was loneliness based
on, you know, what his wife said and his friends’ attitude towards him and some statements
that he makes throughout the chapter. It seems that, you know, he was really on his own by
himself.

But what is most interesting is that from chapter 3 all the way to 37, Job barely mentions those
things. He does not really talk about what he has lost. He doesn’t really talk so much about his
health. There’s a few things here and there but it is clear to me there’s another problem with
Job. There’s another issue. And the issue is that he wants to know why. Why did it happen?
That’s the problem. That’s the book of Job. He wants to understand it. He wants to lean on his
own understanding to be able to comprehend the trial that he’s in.

I think this is common with men, right? We do this. I was thinking about that and realizing that
actually that’s the biggest problem we have. It’s not the pain or the problem itself so much as
it’s reconciling it with the will of God for our lives.

And Jesus is saying to Job – well, he didn’t say anything to Job for 37 chapters. And in 38 on, he
just says I am God. What else do you need to know. I am here. I will help you. I justify you. What
else do you need to know? This is all we need in life. This is all Jesus needed in life. And this is
all Job needed in life. And we get hung up. We get hung up on the trial, on the pain, on the
details, on the people. And Christ is saying, nope. Trust in the Lord instead.

I watch this show. Okay. It’s Dateline. If it’s on even for a minute, I’m hooked. Totally hooked.
It’s a human story, you know, like of oh the evil heart of man. And it’s always about murder. It’s
never about anything else. Every single show is about someone murdering someone. And it’s
unbelievable to me. It’s like, are you kidding me? You know, you did that to your wife or to this
or to that or your partner or whatever. I can’t even, don’t even turn it on in front of me because
I just sit down and that’s it. There goes an hour. Often at the end of the show, and it’s sad.
They’re sad. I’m sure you know about it.

At the end of the show, sometimes the person who’s done this is caught. He’s even in jail. And
you know, then they go back to the victims and the victim says, you know, I just want to know
why or I just want to know the details. I just, I just need to know how could this have happened? Why did you do it? Like they want to inte3view the person, you know. It’s like, it’s
like what happens to us. We got to get in the middle of it. We got to find out. We need the
details. We’ve got to, you know, know all the specifics and how it got to this point and all this
kind of stuff. And not Jesus. Jesus doesn’t seemed to be concerned.

Vs. 7. He doubles down. He says it again. Reconfirming his mindset. And then, this beautiful
word “therefore.” So, we have the mindset of Christ. He is relying on God totally. This is not
about divine power, although he had it. And this is not even about human power. This is just
Jesus turning to God in his trial, relying on God. So, there’s a result because the Lord helps him
and he knows it. And because the Lord justifies him and he knows that.

Shall I not be confounded. I shall not be disgraced. How is that possible? Hello, Jesus. You could
not be more disgraced than Jesus. I mean, you know, he was the recipient of an incredible
disgrace. I mean he was mocked, beaten, hung naked on a cross. Cursed. How can you say that?
You cannot be disgraced? What are you talking about? Somehow, he’s not, he’s not humiliated.
He’s not dishonored at all. There’s somehow an integrity inside of him that goes so deep all the
way to God that he holds on to with all his heart and proclaims and repeats and ponders up,
meditates.

Therefore, the second result. The first result is like faith. A faith reliance, right? But now,
whenever you have a mindset or some kind of knowledge or some kind of thinking, the next is
that you know there’s action. Something’s going to happen. You got the mind of God in you.
You’re thinking with him, on him, in the middle of the trial, in the middle of the issues.
What’s the result? Therefore, I have set my face. He’s able to do it. His mindset allows him to
set his face. Predetermined 600 years prior. Actually, in eternity past. We know that Christ
already set his face based on his mindset.

You know, it’s kind of a beautiful meditation to think of Christ so determined like a flint, a hard stone, the hardest stone, right? A stone that you can if you strike it, sparks come from it. Solid rock. Despite all you know, tremendous opposition and public shaming. He’s extremely resolute. He’s unmoved. He doesn’t, he doesn’t change. All
he has to know is God is with him. All he needs to know is that God’s on his side. Right there.
Just very close.

All he has to repeat either my memory or by actually hearing the voice of God, God is here. God
is here. And his feet are unmoved and he’s on track and he doesn’t change. And he says, And I
know. His face is set like a flint. And he says, I know. He’s very confident. He’s very assured. I
will not be ashamed. That word has more of a public shaming in it.
I love thinking of Jesus Christ ashamed. Like ashamed publicly and then on the outside such
incredible shame. But then, on the inside, no shame whatsoever. Nothing. Not a, not a hint of
it. Didn’t bother him.

Vs. 6. More, right? More results. I gave. I allowed. There was no reluctancy whatsoever. I just
gave my back to the smiters, those who strike. Pilate gave him up to this barbaric, gruesome,
you know, beating, whipping. I got a little lost on YouTube with the Shroud of Turin and just
kept going more and more and reading about it and then watching some more stuff.

And I’m not here to argue it in any sense of the word. Like I don’t even, we don’t know if it’s,
you know, the death or the burial cloth of Jesus, but it’s pretty sure that it might have come
from that time period. But what’s interesting about it is that it tells us something about it’s
from a crucified person for sure. Someone who was whipped and someone who was crucified.
And then the burial cloth around him buried. It’s possible. Okay. It’s possible.

But I don’t care about any of that What I, what’s interesting about it to me is that they counted
700 wounds. A total of 700 wounds from the bottom of his feet all the way to the top and that
hit me. That hit me. I was like, wow! This is how it might have been. You know, they hung him
not – they didn’t tie him to a pole probably. They didn’t tie him to a wall. They hung him from
some kind of hook so that when the and then he was naked and then as the whip would come,
it would hit his back but it would whip around him and hit the front at the same time
simultaneously back and front.

And the shroud goes all the way in the front and then all the way down the back. And it has the
wounds on the front and has the wounds on the back. And there’s 700 of them. And again, I’m
not trying to make any kind of controversial statement here. But I just think like that’s probably
how it went. If I know Jesus, then it wasn’t a light beating. It wasn’t just a quick little whip here
and there. It was probably the worst ever. One that would have killed him eventually. He would
not have survived it. The cross killed him before, you know, the Romans killed him by whip. And
you know it was brutal.

And here he is hanging, you know, by his arms naked. So shameful. I gave my cheeks to them
that plucked hair. Willingly allowing himself, you know, to be pulled with force. Pulling the hair
out of his cheek. Do what you got to do. Here’s my face. Do what you must do. I hid not my face
from the shame. I didn’t flinch. I didn’t. I didn’t change directions even. I didn’t even turn my
face for one second in the whole process to try to avoid it.

I looked right in the eye of evil, of Roman soldiers, of Pharisees, of people that wanted to hurt
him, of the devil himself. And he took it and the spitting. This horrible act of extreme contempt.
Just such hatred, such horrible disrespect. Maybe the worst, most disrespectful thing, the most
disgusting thing you can do to somebody is to spit in his face. Beautiful face. Beautiful face that
shines on us.

I wonder when we get to heaven and we see that face, are we going to remember that it was
once covered in spit? Are we going to remember when we see his face, that his beard was
pulled and plucked? And I think the answer is yes. We will. This is Jesus. Picture him with me.
Our Savior. Standing there naked, covered in blood, covered in spit. But God is with me. I’m
okay. God is with me. I’m okay. He justifies me. There’s no shame here. There’s zero shame in
this process whatsoever. I am so good inside with God that I’m okay and I am and he is telling
us his mind here and he is sure of it.

And then, there’s vs. 5. I love, I love the process here. Like, you know, he has, he turns his heart
towards God for help. There’s the trial. There’s the suffering. And then God opens his ear to
receive from God. God opened my ear because, you know, he turned to God. I was not
rebellious neither did I turn my back. He’s all about it. I am submitting myself to God in the
middle of the trial and then God opens my ear directly from God.

Vs. 4. You know, we always say that you know hard times will make you stronger, right? That’s
like a human statement and even me, you know, Hebrews 5:8-10, you would have this idea that
Christ learned something in his suffering or because of his suffering. But it wasn’t the suffering
that taught him. You can suffer and not learn a thing. Many people suffer and they don’t learn
anything. It was God that taught him in the suffering. It was, it was in the trial that he turned to
God and then God opened his ear and taught him.

The Lord has given me the tongue of the learned. This is about having something to say. God
gave Jesus something to say. Not just any old voice. Not just knowledge. Not just intellect or
experience or some clever statement. No, something amazing to say. Something that he
learned from God in the trial. Forged by suffering. Forged by Calvary. Forged by pain. God all
the while whispering to him something amazing. And he learned it.

He has it that I should know how to speak. This is about learning how to say it. Jesus Christ had
a voice and he knew how to say it. It’s the same for us. God gives us something to say and God
teaches us how to say it. That I should know how to speak a word. This is about what to say.
Not just simply words. Not just feel-good words. Not just, you know, whatever you want to
insert there. But specific words. Words, right? Words from God. Spiritual words. Biblical words.
The two are so closely connected.

The mindset of Christ, the suffering and then a word. Something that happened. It’s in season
this word is. That I should know how to speak a word in season. I have something to say. I know
exactly what I’m going to say and God’s going to tell me when to say it. That’s the lesson. The
timing of it. The right moments.

Sometimes maybe not even words. Just silence. But the point is that we have a voice and we
have something to say. And it was taught to us by God when we turn to him. When we proclaim
him to be there for us.

And this is my favorite part. To does he say it to? To him that is weary. In the business world,
you are seeking strong, brave, intellectual people. Hard working people. Maybe Hollywood or
Nashville is seeking gifted people, talented people. Politicians. I don’t know what they seek.
Smooth talkers I guess. Everybody is seeking. Everybody.

But only Christ is seeking the weary. Christ had a word for the weary that God gave him. That
God taught him through the trial, through the pain, through the suffering. And no one talks to
the weary and no one cares about the weary. And men have been weary since the beginning of
time. We have always been weary. I mean even the rich are weary. They just hide it better.
Everybody is always weary. Tired. Physically weary. Mentally weary. Soul weariness. I don’t
know. But I know that there’s a lot of weariness in this world and Christ has a word for them, a
specific word for them.

F. B. Meyers, this little book I read recently or a couple months ago was talking about how in
order for you to have a word in season, you must be low. And what he meant is that if you’re
going to visit somebody in the hospital, it’s probably not a good idea to talk about how healthy
you are. Or if you’re going to go talk to the poor, maybe dress down a little bit. Don’t talk about
how much money you have in your bank account. Or the homeless. Don’t start complaining
about how you have to cut your lawn every week. You know, like you know, if you’re going to
visit somebody and have a word in season, you got to get low. Very low. And no one was lower
than Christ.

Christ came to us, the weary, as a sufferer. And as a sufferer, he had much to say. An incredible
word specifically made for us at the right time with the right, you know, attitude and right, you
know, mindset and everything. And it was perfectly given to us, the weary. And it’s a beautiful
word. And there was no one ever lower than him. And no one every spoke like him. You know,
Christ Jesus has something to tell us because he was low. The Word became flesh.

But we are the flesh that has become the word. And you know, Christ was the representative of
God. And we are his witnesses. And Christ was the light of the world and we are the light of this
world. And Christ came to give us comfort and we give comfort. Christ has a lot to say. We have
a lot to say because of Christ in us. And Christ had a lot of love. Christ is love. And because
Christ is in us, we have love. And you know, Christ in us makes us like him.

And we go through trials the same way Christ goes through trials. We don’t care about the
details so much. We don’t get involved so much about anything. We don’t need to be involved.
We don’t, you know, we don’t dig deep. We don’t find everything out. We don’t talk about it

that much. We just say, God help me. You will help me. That’s all I need to know in life. God will
help me.
You know this deep insight into the mind of Christ is extremely simple. Just by these simple
statements that all throughout Gethsemane and Calvary and the torture and all the whole
night, this is all that he was thinking about whether he could feel, you know, could feel God’s
presence or not. Maybe it was totally based on recall. Just total faith believing that God will
help me.

And that’s all he needed and that he was justified and that God would come through for him.
And that brought him so strong, so determined, shining beautifully for us. And the spit probably
wouldn’t even be mentioned except by, you know, Isaiah 600 years prior. Wouldn’t even be
talked about.

Like I think when we go to heaven, is Jesus gonna talk about it? I don’t think so. He’s never
gonna say a word about it. We’re gonna be like peeking, you know, to see if we can get a
glimpse of his side and seeing if his back is scarred and hoping that he opens his hands and he’s
never going to talk about it.

He’s going to say, See that person right there? God. He was with me. That’s all you need to
know. That’s how I got through it. And Lord Jesus, help me not to live my life according to my
own understanding of it. If I go down the road of my own understanding of it, I’m going to
analyze it. I’m going to dig deep. I’m going to find out the details. What I really want to know it I
want to trust in the Lord with all my heart. And I want to get to Job 41, 42. Job 42 and see God
and say, wow! He is with me. He does love me. He is right there next to me and he does justify
me. And I don’t need to know anything else. Amen.

 

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