And we'll turn back to Isaiah
again, chapter 53. And before we get started, let's
pray together. Our Father, our God, we come
to you with thanks, first of all, for bringing us together
this morning, for all the many blessings you shower us with
from moment to moment, day to day. Also we come to you asking Lord
that you will bless us this morning in a way that we can worship
you. Left alone there is no way we
can worship you or simply tell of you in a fitting manner. But with you both are easy. So Lord we pray that you'll be
with us this morning because without you it truly is a vain
attempt to do nothing. Nothing can be accomplished without
you. And Lord, we pray that something be accomplished this morning,
that it be your will, that your message of Christ and him crucified
and the satisfaction found in him be what is given this morning
and also what is heard. We pray this same message for
all of your churches, all of your preachers. And Lord, we
say it in a way of comfort and joy, knowing that your will will
be done. We thank you, Lord, for your
power, your perfection, your love, the mercy you delight in,
and the grace you show us every day. We pray this in Jesus' name,
amen. So again, we're going to be focusing
on chapter 53 of Isaiah, that verse 11, where it says, After
the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and
be satisfied. Satisfaction is an interesting
Concept especially for those of us that live in this world
satisfaction is something we really can't truly experience.
We think we do Many of us had learned to be content contentment
with this life as it is But contentment and satisfaction are completely
different things One can learn to be content with what he has
and Even as he wishes, he has more. You can still be content. But satisfaction comes from the
possession of everything that one desires. It comes from the
achievement of every plan that someone has. The realization
of every hope. That is full satisfaction. So
in that sense, no one in this world experiences full satisfaction. No one is ever fully satisfied. Real satisfaction for the believer
cannot happen in this world, and for the non-believer. If
you actually turn to Psalm 17, David talks about this specifically. Psalm 17, verse 15. He says, and I, in righteousness,
I will see your face. When I awake, I will be satisfied
with seeing your likeness. David tells us right here, the
only thing that can truly bring satisfaction to the believer
is seeing the face of his savior. I will be satisfied with seeing
your likeness. I will be vindicated and will
see your face. That is true satisfaction. Anything we experience here really
isn't. The only man that ever lived in this world and truly
experienced satisfaction is Jesus Christ. He alone ticked all those
boxes I just mentioned. He had full satisfaction by possessing
everything he desired. He took possession of all he
wanted. He achieved everything he had
planned and realized all he had hoped for. At least that's true for the
Christ in the scriptures, the true Christ. Quite often, there
is a Christ preached in many churches who will possess only
what men will give him. This is not the true Christ of
the scriptures. He will only achieve what men
will allow him and realize only those things that men will consent
to. But such a Christ does not exist
in the scriptures. Jesus Christ is satisfied with
his work. and he would not have it any
other way. It is only right that he who
suffered so much should find complete satisfaction in the
results of that suffering. Right? For someone to have suffered
so much for a reason, for a specific cause, would find full satisfaction
in the realization of that cause. Otherwise it'd be a failure.
Christ is satisfied in his work. We who have been saved by this
soul suffering, I'm gonna call it that because it's exactly
what it says here. It says, after the suffering of his soul. And
that's specific. Christ suffered physically, but
it was nothing compared to the suffering of his soul. So we who have been saved by
his soul suffering have no greater joy than to see that Christ received
the full measure of the reward of the work he did. To be placed at the right hand
of God and rule over everything. Everything is under him. Now, if we're gonna be talking
about him being satisfied in the work he's done and his soul's
suffering, we have to talk about the suffering, which is something
I have a tough time talking about, because it's really hard to put
into human words the suffering of our Lord. It's impossible. We can't even
understand what our Lord went through, let alone describe it. but we have to at least discuss
it. From the time our Savior left his Father's side and came
to be beside us, taking on our likeness, until the time he appeared
once again at his Father's side, Christ was suffering in some
way, some form, or fashion that entire time. His suffering did
not begin at Calvary. It began the moment he was conceived
in Mary's womb. His physical suffering can be
clearly described throughout scriptures. He talks about his
hunger, his thirst, his sadness, his weariness. As a man, he experienced
every trial we can experience. This is that unknowing man God
situation that we can't understand. He was fully God and yet he was
fully man. He had to be fully man to be
able to pay for the sins of man. So he experienced everything.
Hunger, thirst, sadness, weariness. But all the pain of his life
cannot compare to the pain of his death. Man did all they could
to the Lord that day. All they could think of. They beat him. They pulled out
his beard. They whipped him to the point
of almost death. shoved the crown of thorns into
his scalp, threw that heavy beam on his shoulders, put that beam on the cross, and
then they dropped that cross into a hole, dislocating his
shoulders. The physicality of what our Lord
went through is indescribable. And they let him hang there in
agony. Nails grinding against the nerves in his wrists. Feet
tormented every time he had to push up to lift up his chest
in order to breathe. Lungs gasping for air. His heart laboring to breathe
whatever blood he had left. But his physical pain that day
paled in comparison to the soul suffering he experienced that
day. Even before that day, he left
his native home. Think about this. He left God-blessed
heaven to come to a God-cursed world. If you and I, who have been saved
by grace, who have been given sight, who have had our hearts
softened, long to go home, to be with our Lord, imagine how
Christ longed to go back to where he'd already been. We've never
even seen it, you and I. We don't know what we long for. Christ left his father's side,
came to a cursed world. How he must have longed to go
back. It's written that he actually
groaned within himself over the unbelief of rebels and the foolishness
of the weak faith of his disciples. Inner groaning. Heavy heart. but not even those sufferings
can compare to the suffering of his soul as he bore our sins
on the cross. All that physical pain, all of
that soul suffering that he experienced just by living here, none of it compared to bearing
our sins on his body. You and I are so accustomed to
sin, We're so used to it. Add a few more and we don't even
notice because we constantly are adding a few more. Though as to his person, In Christ's
nature, he was spotless. Think about this. He had no sin. He was the spotless some son
of God. He appeared in the presence of
the universal judge as the some, the whole of every sin ever accomplished
by every one of his people. He knew no sin. and was suddenly
charged with the sin of an innumerable host of sinners. He went from knowing nothing
of sin to being the sum of all sin of his people. In the presence of his father,
of the judge, he was the sum, and he bore a defiled and guilty
man, the chief of sinners. Who else could be the chief of
sinners? We all feel like we are. Paul calls himself the chief
of sinners. Christ was the sum of every sin
from every believer that ever lived. he sat before his father
as the chief of sinners. He was utterly shut out of his
father's presence and became the object of absolute divine
wrath. In all his sufferings, he could
gather and call out one cry, my God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? Have you ever felt forsaken by
God? Like life has gotten so bad that you're sure that God
is like no longer on your side? Or you have gotten so bad, you've
gone so far that you're like there's no way mercy can be for
me. Has your guilt ever felt so heavy
that you believe there could not be any mercy for you? You
may have thought so, but if you're a child of God, that has never
been true. It only appeared that way, but
for Christ, it was true. We might feel forsaken, we might
feel far away. Christ was forsaken. Christ was put far away. His father turned on him. God did forsake Christ, just
as God will do to any who appear in his presence with sin upon
them. Christ bore our sin and the judgment
of our sin that our sin demanded. He bore it to the full, exhausting
within himself all that a just God could do to justifiably punish
every sin of every believer that has ever lived. Whatever hell is, Christ experienced
it that day. And when he bore our sin before
God, he bore it away. Only He could do that. If it
was up to us to bear our sins, we would never finish because
we aren't good enough to finish that. Christ is so good and so
righteous. He could bear the sins of every
sin of every believer of all time and finish the job. He could bear our sins away. then shall he not find satisfaction
in that? In his soul suffering? In the
suffering that Christ experienced on so many levels to depths we
can never understand, should he not be satisfied with the
work he's done? Of all of his people for which
he so labored, should any of them not be given to him? after
all of that soul suffering? Should he be spared any of those
for which he suffered? Should the father refuse to justify
any for whom the Lord was condemned? No, a thousand times no. He shall be satisfied. he shall
receive the full number of sinners for whom he suffered. He cannot
be satisfied unless all for whom he came are brought to him as
his possession, and he shall be satisfied. There's no if,
there's no but. He shall be satisfied. Everyone for whom he suffered
will be saved. Period. Otherwise Christ would not be
satisfied and there is no way Christ goes through this type
of suffering for a just God and there's still someone left behind
that would not be just. And it says here again in verse
11, after the suffering of his soul, he will be satisfied. Period. He shall be satisfied with life.
He died, but such is the majesty of his person and the power of
his suffering that his death put away sin, and now he is no
longer under the threat of death. He died to sin once, and now
he lives with God, lives to God. In Hebrews 10 it says, but when
this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins,
he sat down at the right hand of God. He accomplished it, he
finished it, he perfected it. He defeated death once and for
all. It says in verse 14, for by one
sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made
holy. One sacrifice was enough because
it was the ultimate soul-suffering sacrifice. One sacrifice. Christ died once for his people. Death was defeated for God's
people. For all time, one sacrifice. He is satisfied with the glory
that he has now been given. His glorious work prompted God
to elevate him to the highest place and to give him a name
above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall
bow and eventually call him Lord. He is satisfied with the number
of sinners that shall be gathered for him. It has become the standard
mantra in modern Christianity to tell people that God loves
them. It's on every shirt, God loves you. It also tells everyone that Christ
died for them. The mantra is also that the spirit
of God is exerting all the power he can to draw men to Christ. How can that be the case? after
all the soul-suffering of our Lord, that He will be satisfied
that we are still supposed to be back here as a church begging
men to accept that sacrifice, accept that soul-suffering. It
is not a God. That is not our Lord. Everyone that He suffered for
will be saved, period. The scriptures teach none of
those things. The scriptures teach that God has a chosen people
that he wants to save, that he will save, that he committed
them to his son, that the son redeemed them by his blood and
that the spirit has been sent to call them through the preaching
of the gospel. That is what the scriptures say. Nothing about accepting him. Christ's prayer to the Father
in John 17 lets us know what it will take to satisfy Christ
in regard to the number of sinners that shall finally be saved.
He prayed, I'm gonna turn here, this is again in John 17. I'm
gonna read verse one through, or six through 10. I have revealed you to those
who you gave me out of this world. They were yours, you gave them
to me. And they have obeyed your word.
Now they know that everything you have given me comes from
you. For I gave them the words you gave me, and they accepted
them. They knew with certainty that I came from you. They believed
that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying
for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are
yours. All that I have is yours, and
all you have is mine, and the glory has come to me through
them. They already belonged to the Father. There's no pleading. There's no asking to accept. It's just preaching the word
until all of them hear it. And when they hear it, they will
believe. If you'd actually skip down to
verse 24, it says, Father, I want those who you have given me to
be with me where I am. That's the number that he will
be satisfied. Everyone that the Father gave
him must be saved. That is the number that Christ
will be satisfied with, every one of them. I want those who
you have given me to be with me where I am. Can you see any way for Christ
to be satisfied apart from every blood-bought sinner being with
him. If he bought them, he must have
them or remain dissatisfied. You who have not believed, do
not be deceived by those evangelists who would give you a sense of
self-importance by telling you that God is just waiting to save
you if only you will let him. Have you no desire to be saved
by him? If you don't, then it is likely
that he has no desire to save you. It's a harsh truth. Everyone whom God desires to
save will, in time, desire to be saved. Not according to their
own will, according to the will of God. He will call upon them for their
salvation. But if you have not called on
him, do not think for a moment that he is frustrated by your
silence. That is not a sovereign God. There is no frustration. And this is another truth that's
hard to hear, but if you never call on him, do not think that
he will spend one second of eternity disappointed by your unbelief.
This is all according to his will. There's no want, there's
no pleading, there's no desire on God's part. There is only
His will carried out perfectly by Christ and Him crucified. Everyone He wants will come. Everyone He wants will call on
His name. We forget our place. We all do. Remember our place. We are the
offender, not him. How can we be the one accepting? We are the one offending. We are the beggar, not him. He doesn't beg, we beg. We are dead in our transgressions
and sins. We need life, not him. He is not asking us. We are asking
him. We forget our place. If someone rejects him, they
will spend eternity in a well-deserved torment. but he will spend eternity
in well-deserved satisfaction, and Christ will be satisfied
with his soul labor. It's so hard for us to understand
that, because as humans, we just, oh, God wants to love everybody,
God wants to save everyone. That is not how the Lord works. It's clear in the scriptures.
His people will be saved. Many will not. And the Lord will
be satisfied. There's no disappointment in
the outcome. But Christ is not the only one
who saw his work and was satisfied, and that's very important. God
the Father, the judge of all, saw Christ's sole work, sole
suffering, and was completely satisfied by it, and that is
important. If Christ's work wasn't satisfactory
to the Father, no one would be saved. He testified of his satisfaction
with it, of Christ's work, by raising him from the dead and
seating him at his right hand. The resurrection and the enthronement
of Christ, it's God's everlasting testimony that he was and is
satisfied by the work of our Lord. At our Lord's baptism and at
his transfiguration, God opened the heavens and declared, this
is my son in whom I'm well pleased. This is another time God opened
the Lord's tomb and declared the exact same thing. This is
whom I am satisfied with. The Bible says that if we confess
with our mouths that Jesus to be Lord and believe in our hearts
that God has raised him from the dead, we shall be saved. When we believe such truth and
make such a confession, all we are doing is basically saying
amen to the Lord's satisfaction in his Son. He has done it all and he has
done enough to satisfy himself and to satisfy the Father on
our behalf. This brings us to our next point, which is that every one of the
elect of God, all of God's people, all those whose sins were laid
upon Christ, shall see Christ's sole labor, sole suffering, and
be satisfied. They see their sin. We see our
sin. It is always in front of us.
Some days more obvious than others. Some days so obvious it's hard
to get out of bed. In all of its ugliness, in all
of its damning power, we may have tried many means to remove
it, but in all those efforts it remains unsatisfactory. The guilt is still upon us and remains on our hearts, remains
on our minds as long as we're a part of this world. The accuser
of the saints is waiting for that moment, Satan. Feeling especially
low about something? Feeling the heavy load of guilt
on your heart? Satan will jump at that chance
to remind you of the old covenant, of the law, The wages of sin are death. He might remind you of that. How can you believe, he'll whisper
in your ear, and yet live and think the way you do? How can both be true? The accuser, but that's all he
has, accusations. to try with all he has to send
you back to Mount Sinai, back to where your guilt still
demands justice. But then through the preaching
of the gospel, through the scriptures, The preaching of the message
of Christ and Him crucified, God's people see His sole labor. They see His sole suffering. And they're satisfied. In His suffering, they see sufficient
suffering to put their sins away. In His approval and acceptance
by the Father, they see sufficient approval and acceptance that
they know themselves to be accepted by the Father through Him. Accepted in the Beloved One. They are satisfied, and as satisfied
people, we look for nothing more. That's part of the definition
of satisfaction. You've got everything you need.
No more to look for. No more to effort towards. Their cup of salvation is full
and running over from the supply of Christ. And they neither want
nor accept salvation from any other source. Instead of saying,
who am I that the Lord would suffer for me? They say, who
am I that the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ isn't sufficient? If you think your sins are greater
than Christ's suffering, that's just as bad as saying
Christ isn't strong enough to save me. They've seen the soul suffering
of the Lord Jesus Christ and are satisfied. Are you satisfied
with Christ's suffering? That's a question to ask. Are
you satisfied with his death? Are you satisfied with the father
forsaking his perfect son? And it's not difficult to know
whether you are satisfied by Christ's work. And I'm not asking
if you're a regular church attendee, or if you pray a lot, or if you
read the Bible a lot, or you go on mission trips, or any of
those outward appearances, that has nothing to do with it. I'm
asking you if you admire Christ and are... I'm not asking if
you admire Christ or are impressed by what he did. That's not what
this is about either. I'm asking you, are you satisfied
with what Christ has done? And here's how you know. When
you are satisfied with a job, what do you do? You quit working. You stop. The job is done. Here's how you may know if you're
satisfied with Christ's work. You have stopped your own. Satisfaction has already been
met. In Hebrews 4, verse 10, it says,
for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their own works.
Jesus Christ finished the work he was given to do, and being
satisfied with that work, he entered his rest. If we see his
work as it is declared in the gospel, and are satisfied with
that sufficient work for even sinners such as us, then we will
cease from our own labors of trying to earn God's blessing.
There's nothing left to earn. It's fully earned. He is fully
satisfied. Every time a man tries to earn
a blessing from God, he's saying, I am not satisfied with what
Christ has done. And sometimes it's not even just
about the work being done. It's just about remembering because
it's so hard at times in life to not get caught up in who you
are or the things around you or what someone has done or what
you have done. It's hard not to get wrapped
up in those things and think, how can I possibly be saved?
That's a normal thought. But the believer will not hold
on to that. The believer will be reminded,
Christ is satisfied in his work. The Father is satisfied in his
work. If they are satisfied, as should
we. May God show us his son's soul
suffering every day. And may we be satisfied. Dear Lord, we thank you for your
perfect will. We thank you that in every situation
throughout each day of our lives, we can know that it is all according
to that will. And that will is working in the
same way that your will for your son worked.
It's very clear and obvious what your plan was, what your goal
was, was to save your people from their sins through the suffering
of our Savior. But even in each day that we
live, the difficulties that we have, they are all working towards
the same thing. All things work for the good
of those who love you. And the good for us is salvation. The good for us is one day being
able to see you face to face, as David said, and being fully
satisfied. We thank you for your plan, Lord.
We thank you that we can trust in it. We thank you, Jesus, and
we pray this in your name, amen.