Isaiah 53 10 This one verse will be enough
to hold our attention tonight and look at each phrase of this,
yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed He shall
prolong his days And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand If you can see the hand of the
Lord in the crucifixion of his son Then you can see his hand everywhere,
in anything, in everything. Our tendency is to see only the
human instrumentality or the secondary causes in things that
happen. And how much grief have we suffered
because of that? We just see the human element
of it. We just see The secondary causes and third
causes, fourth causes, they're sometimes an entire chain of
different events. But it's the Lord. Men see a
hurricane come through and sometimes hundreds of people killed and
they say, well God couldn't have anything to do with that. Think
about what they're saying. He can kill his son, but he can't
kill a sinner? You see in the text the Lord
in all caps. Capital L-O-R-D. That's Jehovah. It pleased Jehovah God to crush
his son. And the word pleased there is
to delight in or be pleased with. We talked about this We began
verse 10 in our previous study. God is pleased with the death
of Christ because God in all of his attributes is honored,
glorified, and put on display by the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It not only pleased God to bruise
him, but there's really nothing else God's pleased with. There
isn't anything. This is my Son, in whom I am
well pleased. And if He's going to be pleased
with us, He's going to have to put us in His Son. He's pleased
with Christ crucified. Father and Son are glorified
there. And really, if you think about
it, God's not glorified anywhere else. Not fully. You think about that. You might
think, well, isn't God glorified when we worship Him? I hope so. I hope so, and I trust so. But
if He is, it's because we're in Christ. It's because we're
worshiping in Christ, for Christ. It's of Him. We come in the name
of Christ to worship. That's what glorifies Him. If
you don't come in His name, there's not going to be any glory for
God. We preach and hear. Christ crucified. There's no glory for God. God glories in what we glory
in by His grace. God forbid that we should glory
in anything else. Anybody else. So what does God
glory in? But the slain lamb pleases God. He delights in Him. And nothing and no one else pleases
God. He said in John 10, 17, Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. You see what our text is saying
now in light of that it pleased the Lord to bruise him It pleased
the father to do it, but the son don't think this was something
that was done to the son He laid down his life, and it pleased
him to do that for the joy that was set before him he endured
the cross Not the necessity that was set before him the joy There's
a difference It was necessary of course because
he ordained it because he purposed it because he declared it Because
he purposed to save us because he will be glorified in all of
his attributes in that but it was the joy For which he endured the cross
that's that word pleasure pleased Both father and son for him to
be put to grief. He hath put him to grief. And that's the result, the consequence
of our sin. Grief. Only by the Lord Jesus Christ
bearing our sin and all which results from our sin Can God be satisfied and glorified? Remember what he said in John
17-1. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. And
we know what hour he speaks of. They had tried to kill him before.
But it says they couldn't touch him because his hour was not
yet come. They're going to touch him now. They're going to take
him now. because the hour has come, the
hour that he had purposed. He said, Father the hour has
come, glorify thy son. You think about what's fixing
to happen now. The most horrible thing that's ever happened in
this world, the most horrible thing, and here's how he describes
it, glorify me. glorify me and I'll glorify you that thy
son may also glorify thee you see our text now he pleased him
there's nothing else God's happy with but his son and what he
did for sinners think about this now do you see
the hand of the Lord in this And this is the way the Lord
Jesus Christ viewed himself being slaughtered on Calvary. That's
how he saw it. Glorify thou me. And he saw it in every step he
took to the cross. That's what he saw. That's the
way he saw it. His disciple Simon Peter said,
no Lord, it's not going to happen. We're not going to let that happen.
But the way he saw it, every step he took toward the cross,
this is how he viewed it. In John 13, 30, when he said,
they asked him, who is it, Lord, who's gonna betray you? Is it
I, is it me? Who's gonna betray you? He said,
whoever, when I dip the sock, whoever I hand it to, that's
the one. And he handed it to Judas. And
he then, having received the sock, went immediately out, and
it was night. Therefore when he was gone out
Jesus said now is the son of man glorified What's happening? Judas is gonna betray him into
the hands of his enemies And they're gonna arrest him and
they're gonna abuse him and they're gonna do everything that happens
after that Now we can't even we feel pathetic even trying
to talk about it Now is the son of man glorified every step he
took toward the cross. That's how he saw it. And God is glorified in him.
He did it for the glory of his father. He said, the reason I
glorify me so that I may glorify you. That's my substitute. That's
who God's pleased with. And if I'm in him, he's pleased
with me. If I'm not, you see how important that is. Read Ephesians
1 again, in Christ, in Christ, in the beloved, in him. What a refuge. God is satisfied
with nothing less than all the glory. He's going to get all
of it. You know where that happens?
Calvary. He got all of it. Listen to this now they sung
a new song when John saw what the Lord peeled back whatever
it is that blinds us from seeing what's really going on and the
Lord showed John he gave him the revelation of Jesus Christ. There's a lot of things that
happened in the book of Revelation you read about all that And people
like to talk about, you know, giant scorpions and all these
horsemen and different things. You know how John described it?
A revelation of Jesus Christ. That's what I saw. I saw Him. And they sung a new song saying,
you are worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof
for thou wast slain. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. That's how God got all the glory and he's not satisfied
with anything less. He's going to have all the glory
and that's how he got it. You were slain. And has redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation
he reached down everywhere we were and got hold
of us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and has
made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on
the earth and I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round
about the throne and the beasts and the elders and the number
of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands saying
with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain. Now we've read that verse a bunch
of times, but you think about this in connection with our text.
It pleased the Lord to bruise him. What's God pleased with? Every, whatever glory there is,
is gonna be his. That's what pleases Him. And
how did that happen? The Lamb that was slain. Glory. Glory
unto Him. Glorify me, that I may glorify
you. That's what happened on the cross.
And God, that's what fulfills God. When we're looking into something,
how are you going to understand anything about that? Unless God
opens our heart. That's what makes God happy.
Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. So it pleased him. He put him
to grief for a reason. And he's not going to fail in
that. What we just read in Revelation, that's why he did it. for his own pleasure, and what
pleases him is glory. He's going to get all of it,
he's already gotten it all. And then look at the next phrase
in our text. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. Now, what was
going on, what was happening when he Crushed his son. I keep saying crushed because
the word bruised there. That's what it means This is
why he must be crushed his soul His soul was made an offering that's
him your soul is you We've said this before you do not have a
soul You have a body, but you are a soul We don't have a soul. We are
a soul. His soul. Here's what that is. Now listen
to this. Hebrews 9.24. His soul. Think about this. His
soul was an offering. Now his body was broken, bruised. His precious blood was shed.
The blood of God was shed on that cross. But here's the offering
for sin was Him. Himself. Listen to it. Hebrews
9.24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands. which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself. Now, to appear in the presence
of God, I love these next two words, for us, for us. What he did for us is what glorifies
him. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with the blood of others. For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. That's what he offered himself. His soul was made an offering.
for sin, and being an offering for sin. An offering for sin
is a substitute. The reason there's an offering
for sin, because somebody sinned. But the sinner, the hope, the
desire is that the sinner not die for his sin. God could have
just thrown us all in hell, that would have been the end of it.
There wouldn't be no offering for sin. There's an offering
for sin because there's a sinner, and if that sinner's not going
to die, somebody's going to. An offering is a substitute. The Old Testament lambs that
were sacrificed were substitutes. They were pictures of the substitute
in that. They died in the place of the
sinner, in the houses of the Egyptians on Passover night,
a sinner died. In the houses of God's people,
a lamb died. And here's the key word, instead. A lamb died instead. In the stead of the sinner, a
substitute was slain. And the blood was put on the
door. And God said, when I see that blood, you're safe. You're safe. The Lord Jesus Christ
is our substitute. He suffered the wrath of God
that was due our sin, and he suffered it in our place, in
our stead, instead of us. No sinner has ever been saved
without an offering for sin. An offering for sin, and there's
just one. Paul said the blood of bulls
and goats can never take away sin. That's not what those Old
Testament sacrifices were for. What were they doing? They were
doing what John did. Behold the Lamb of God that does
take away sin. All those ones that didn't take
away sin were pointing to the one that did. That's all they
were. I say all they were. Boy, that's
something, isn't it? What a beautiful picture. They
had a daily reminder. All that blood that was shed
in the Old Testament. How could they ever forget? How
can we? forget the blood that was shed
for our sins. He reminds us by the table, doesn't
he? This cup is the new covenant in my blood. So we're reminded
often in the preaching and at the table and when someone's
baptized. We glory in the slain lamb by
God's grace just as he does. But no sinner has ever been saved
without an offering, and those who died in their sins die forever
because they have no sin offering to die in their place. Those who are in Christ Jesus,
there is therefore now no condemnation unto them which are in Christ
Jesus, because he was condemned and suffered and died in our
place. His soul was made an offering
for sin. There was no one to die in his
place. He needed no sin offering because
he had no sin. He is the sin offering. Notice that when this happened,
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall
see his seed. I think about this, this seems
like an unusual result. But think about it, think about
what happened when he died. He shall see his offspring, the
product of his suffering, called in the next verse, the travail
of his soul. So you see the picture here.
The travail of his soul. There was something produced.
The product of his suffering. Clear picture here of birth the
giving of birth birth is what it's suffering, but then life
Scripture says a woman suffers, but then she forgets all that
suffering for joy That a child is born into the world And so for the joy that was set
before him he endured the suffering And he shall see his seed the
result of his death is life birth Second birth Pictured by the
first All through the script several times in scripture what
God does when he saves the sinner is pictured by natural birth
childbirth Even our Lord was born into this
world Under us a child is born When that child was born, that
was God giving us his son. A son was given. And what's the
result? Life. Life was born into death. Second birth. Listen to 1 Peter
1.3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy,
because God is abundant in mercy, have begotten us again unto a
lively hope." How did he do that? Our text. By the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. He's got to die and rise again. And what's going to happen when
he does that? He's going to see the ones that
are born as a result of that. and he's going to rejoice. He's
going to be happy about it. That's why he did it. That's
why he did it. Oh, he must die and that his
soul, that's his soul being made an offering for sin. The offering,
the sacrifice has to die. Is his offering sufficient? Is God satisfied with what he
offered? Yes, because he was raised from the dead. That's
how we know. Death had no claim upon him.
He conquered death. Death is swallowed up in victory.
The victory given us through our Lord Jesus Christ. What's
the result? We are begotten again unto a living hope. By that,
Our first birth was into sin and death. And even the body
that we're born with is called the body of this death. And the
older you get, the more you'll see it that way. It's a body
of death. When we're begotten again, we're
born again by the Spirit of God, we're born to God. We're born
to life. We're born unto salvation. We're
born into a living hope. We are a new man, a new man,
a new person. Described in Ephesians 4.21 like
this, if so be that ye have heard him and been taught by him as
the truth is in Jesus, you hear this gospel, this is how he births
us again. You must be born again, Nicodemus.
How's that gonna happen? Well, what did he say? If I be
lifted up, He talked about his death, didn't he? As the serpent
was lifted up in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted
up. That's how you're going to be begotten again unto a lively
hope. I must die and rise again. But also, he said, whosoever
believeth. As you've been taught, the truth
is in Jesus, you've been taught the gospel, the truth of Christ,
that you put off concerning the former conversation, the old
man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be
renewed in the spirit of your mind and being, and that you
put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness. There is a holy me. If there ain't, I'm not ever
going to see God, I'll tell you that. Holiness, without which
no man shall see God. And that holiness is Christ in
me. But so integrally so. The Spirit
of Christ in us, so intricately so that when the fruit of the
Spirit is love, but when we love, it's us loving. So when Peter
didn't say to him, the Spirit loves you, he said, I love you.
But how could he say that? Because of the Spirit of Christ
that dwelt in him. I can't explain all that, but
I see it in the scripture clear as a bell. Christ in us is the
hope of glory. And Christ in us is righteousness,
holiness. That's why our hope of glory
is we're going to go there because we deserve it. That's Christ
in us. We're gonna go there because
we're righteous, we're holy. Can't see God otherwise. That's
Christ in you. And listen now, 1 Peter 1.3,
where we read a while ago, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. That's a key, key verse because
it clearly reveals that the new birth is not a decision made
by the sinner. It's an accomplishment made by
Christ. It's the result of His death
and resurrection as our sin offering. That's what the new birth, the
result, it's the result of what He did. Who He is and what He
did. It's not a decision that we make. We're begotten again. By Him
rising from the dead. By Him being crucified and on
the third day coming out of that grave. When His soul was made an offering
for sin, He shall see His seed. That's going to happen. That's
a definite result of what He did. And I'll tell you what else.
He shall prolong His days. Now think about that. What does
that mean? What's another certain result
of his soul being made an offering for sin? How was his soul made an offering
for sin? He died. What's the result of him dying?
He's not ever going to die again. And guess what? Neither am I.
Neither are you if you know him. He shall prolong His days now
that's real important to us who know him Who are finally united
to him this literally means he shall lengthen time That's what
that prolong his day mean he shall lengthen time The word his is in italics there
and He shall lengthen though. It's not out of place To say
his days because of course His life is our life But look at what's being said
In connection with the pray phrase right before this he will birth
us We shall be his seed his children his offspring as a result of
his death and He gives life, and this life has no end. He's going to birth us again
to a living hope, and we're not ever going to die. That's what
that's saying now. We live because He does, and
we live as He does. Because He vanquished death,
He can die no more. You can die no more. Scripture
says don't crucify the Son of God afresh. He died once in the
end of the world. And he put away sin when he did.
And he conquered death. He can't die anymore. Listen
to this. This is how he introduced himself
to John in Revelation 118. I am he that liveth and was dead
and behold I am alive forevermore. You see that? That's our text.
He died, he made his soul an offering for sin. And when he
did, he gave life to millions. Millions dead, now live again. I can't hardly sing that without
crying. Millions dead, now live again.
Myriads follow in his train. And he said, I'm alive from now
on. Isn't that comforting? I was dead. And I'm alive forevermore. That's our hope. That's my life. And I have the keys of hell and
of death. He unlocked death and let me
out. And nobody can put me back. Now that's him. That's his days
prolonged. I am alive forevermore. Oh, I
like that. What about me what about you
who know him? What about what does this mean
for us? He shall prolong he shall Lengthen time John 11 23 Jesus said unto Martha
your brother will live again Lazarus had just died And Lazarus and Mary and Martha,
they were a close family, clearly, in the scripture. It broke their
hearts when Lazarus died. Martha said to the Lord, in the
context of this, if you had been here, he wouldn't have died.
I know you loved him. It says in the beginning, Jesus
loves Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Martha knew that. She knew this
in her heart. She said, whoever he loves, don't
die. He wouldn't have died if you'd have been here. What she
didn't understand is he was there. Of course he was. But Jesus said
unto her, thy brother shall rise again. He's talking about him
just a little while here. She's thinking, you know, an
event that she believes in, the resurrection, that's a good thing
to believe in. I believe in that too. Martha saith unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
That's a good thing to know, isn't it? The Lord told us to
comfort one another with that. We must put on incorruption.
This corruptible must put on incorruptible. And we're going
to rise. The dead in Christ will rise
first, and then we which are alive and remain will be caught
up in the clouds to meet him in the air. And so shall we ever
Be with the lord, but what the lord said to her is i'm with
you right now. I am the resurrection Can we
rejoice right now tonight in him Hmm I know he'll rise again in the
resurrection at the last day and jesus said unto her I am The resurrection and the life. I'm the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Why, I am he that liveth and
was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. That's me in him. Though he were dead, yet shall
he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never
die. And then he asked her, believest
thou this? You believe in the resurrection,
but do you believe in me? That's what he said before he
left this world. You believe in God, believe in
me. You believe, oh I believe in
God. Believe this, that God is standing here talking to you.
That's what he's saying to them. I believe in God. The devil believes
in God. Believe that you're talking to
God. Believe that God is here right
now. Do you believe that? Do you believe you live right
now because of Him? That you're saved because of
Him. Nothing else. Not events. Him. And He is our life. We not only live because of Him,
but He's our life. Well, we better talk about this
last part. And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. The pleasure of the Lord. What is that? I know what it is. It's hard
to say, though. It's hard to say. Because I'm going to say
it and it's going to sound so simple that it's just going to
go, you know, Unless God impresses upon us what this is. The pleasure
of the Lord. You know what that is? It's everything
that God wants. Everything He wants. It's what He is accomplishing.
It's what He desires. It's what He's purposed. It is
the end result of everything that God does. Why does He do
it? That's the pleasure of the Lord,
whatever that is. The result. Why do you do what you do? You're
going to get something out of it, aren't you? So is He. So is He. And what He's doing
is everything. He's the first cause of everything. What's the pleasure? What does
He want out of it? Does that make sense? Is that what you're talking about?
Is that what this is? The pleasure of the Lord. Everything
God wants. What does God want? Well, the first answer to that
question is this. Whatever it is He wants, He's
going to get. And here's the thing. Why is
He going to get everything He wants? Because the whole matter
is in the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. It all depends upon His
Son. And so everything He wants, He
gets. And that's why. You see what
it's saying here? Everything that God, the reason
He made a world, why did He make that? For a purpose, to accomplish
something. Has he gotten what he put in?
Did everything he did to accomplish? Yes. How? He put it in the hand of Christ.
Where? At Calvary. That's where it happened. All of it. That's what this text
is about. The whole matter is in his hand.
The only place the pleasure of the Lord has ever prospered.
The only place he's ever gotten out of what he's done, what he
desired, what he purposed it for, what he accomplished it
for. He's not getting it from you. He's not going to get any
satisfaction from you. God doesn't need satisfaction
from you. He does not need you to do anything
that he wants done. It's a good thing, isn't it?
It's a good thing. Anything that God desires, any
result that He desires from all that He's done, He don't need
it from you. But He does require satisfaction.
He does require that His pleasure be accomplished. What He pleases
must come to pass, and that only happens one way. He has arranged
it so that all of it depends upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And
what is God's pleasure? Again, now, we talked about this
while ago. It's clear in the scripture.
He's going to be glorified. He's going to receive eternal
glory from everybody he wants it from. He's going to even be
glorified by those in hell. His justice and judgment and
wrath shall be glorified. He's going to be glorified by
everybody and everything. And it's always been that way.
But the culmination of it is the cross. And the result of
the cross, which is bringing many sons to glory. Why do you think God does everything?
Why is there somewhere down in the sea, down there where it's
dark, where the sun can't even shine, there's a little creature
swimming around down there. You've never seen one in your life.
Why is it down there? What's it doing down there? It
glorifies Him. I guarantee you. That's it. Well, what's the point of it
if we don't even see it? The point is not you. You're not
the point. I'm not either. He likes it. That's one of his little pets.
He feeds it. He takes care of it. He gives
it oxygen. Everything, the pleasure of the
Lord, prospers in the hand. He's glorified in everything,
but only in that Christ fulfilled everything on the cross. Glorify thy son that thy son
may also glorify thee. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him because only by Christ crucified can the pleasure of the Lord
prosper or succeed. That's the only way his desire,
what he wants, he gets. That's it. What is God's pleasure? To be glorified. But how is God
glorified? We see this at Calvary too, don't
we? What if God, willing to show
His wrath and to make His power known, His power is going to
be glorified by His enduring with much longsuffering the vessels
of wrath fitted to destruction. He's going to put up with their
blasphemy. He's going to put up with their godless prideful
will. They're going to decide whether
they're male or female and everything else. They're going to spit on
God their whole life and then he's going to destroy them. And
everybody's going to know. Look at the power of God. He
raised Pharaoh up so he could drop him in hell. So everybody
would say and glorify unto him be power. That's one of the things
that's spoken in. Blessing and glory and honor
and what power. to make His power known. He puts
up with them for a while and then His wrath will be poured
out on them. And they'll be begging the mountains to follow them,
to hide. Where are they hiding from? The face of the Lamb. And that He might make known
the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy. Which he had
aforeprepared, he picked them out before the foundation of
the world, unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the
Jews only, but also us Gentile dogs. He did that, he had mercy
on wretched sinners like us, to make known the riches of his
glory. And what that looks like is Calvary,
Christ crucified. That's where mercy, that's where
God poured out His mercy on sinners. God is glorified by having mercy
on sinners. Listen to this. What are we thinking
about? The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His hand. The pleasure of the Lord, whatever
He wants. Listen to Micah 7.18, Who is
a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy. He delighteth. That word delighteth
is the same word that's in our text translated there, the pleasure
of the Lord. He has pleasure in mercy. And
that mercy, He intends mercy toward us. Is there going to
be mercy? It's in the hand of the Savior. It's going to be successful.
We're going to have every blessing that God has purposed for us.
Why? It's going to succeed in the hand of Christ Jesus, our
Lord. What God wants is for some sinners
to be saved. And they are and shall be, not
because it's up to them. That's what this is saying. It's
saying it's not up to them. The pleasure of the Lord is not
going to prosper in your hand. It's going to happen because
it's up to Christ. That's what our text is saying.
Just as clear as a bell. That's what it prospering or
succeeding in His hand means. It's up to Him. He said this
in John 6.39, This is the Father's will which hath sent me that
of all which he hath given me I shall lose nothing. This is
the Father's pleasure that all that he's entrusted to me, all
whom he has made me their shepherd and bishop, all those that he's
given me the charge over, I'm not going to lose a single one,
but I'm going to raise every one of them up at the last day. So what do we say to that? I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that He's able. I'm utterly convinced that the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. I'm persuaded that
He's able to keep that which I've committed unto Him. If He can keep what God His Father
committed unto Him, He can keep what I commit to Him. against
that day. Let's pray.