It's been said that "familiarity breeds contempt."  It seems that the more familiar people are with someone, the harder it is for them to accept that person as an authority of any kind. 

As we get older, it can be a frightening thing to look around at our world and come to the realization that it's not the same world that we have known throughout our lives. 

The words of Isaiah that lay before us this morning are the Lord's invitation to sinners like us to receive the joys of salvation free of charge to them because these joys have already been purchased by the Son of God Himself, especially for sinners, by the shedding of His blood on the cross. 

One of the most time-consuming efforts in life is the art of establishing facts

On the basis of this Scripture and others like it, we maintain that our prayers can be addressed only to the Triune God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that our prayers are to be offered in the name of Jesus Christ alone in view of the atonement that He accomplished for us--that to look to others as intercessors or mediators compromises the Gospel and perhaps even borders on idolatry.