Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow
along in your Bibles with the message that I'm going to preach,
I'm preaching from the last three verses of Isaiah 53, beginning
at verse 10. And the title of the message
is Satisfaction. Satisfaction. Last week, I preached
on the subject of substitution from this chapter. And as I said,
this chapter is a prophecy of the glorious person and the substitutionary
work, suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of his people
that were charged, accounted, reckoned, imputed to him, and
how he died on the cross. People say this is the suffering
servant, and this is referring to Christ. This is a prophecy
of Christ. Well, today I wanna talk to you
about the gospel doctrine of satisfaction. And to be honest
with you, I preach on this every time I preach, if I preach the
gospel. If you truly preach the gospel, you preach the doctrines
of representation, how Christ is the representative of His
people, how He is the surety of His people. Before the foundation
of the world, God chose a people, gave them to Christ. That's what
our Lord said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And that's
the surety ship of Christ. He took responsibility for the
sin debt of his people as the Father imputed it, charged it,
accounted it to him. And then we read that last week
in Isaiah 53, he hath borne our griefs, carried our sorrows,
wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and
you could go on and on. It says the Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity of us all, that all there's not all without exception
now. Let me tell you something, the
Bible teaches, and many of you have never heard this or you
don't believe it or it may offend you. But I'm here to tell you
what God's Word says, and you check me out with God's Word.
But the Bible teaches that if Christ died for your sins, He
put them away, He purged them, He satisfied the justice of God,
and you will be saved. You will be born again. You will
be brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works.
And so that's what the scripture teaches. Christ did not die for
everybody without exception. If he did, everybody without
exception would be saved, and that's what satisfaction is all
about. And this satisfaction is revealed
in several ways in the scripture, but one of the most important
ways is one word, and you don't hear this preached much anymore,
but it's a gospel concept, that began way back in Genesis chapter
3 when God took an animal and killed it and made Adam and Eve
coats of skin. And it goes all the way through
the sacrificial system of the Old Testament and the Old Covenant,
the blood of animals, the lambs and the bullocks that were slain
for the people. And then it has its culmination,
its finality, its ultimate fulfillment in the blood of Jesus Christ.
And that's this one word, it's propitiation. Propitiation, propitiation
is how you pronounce it. And that means, what propitiation
means is satisfaction to God's justice. Satisfaction. If God's justice is satisfied
on my account, then I cannot be condemned. Verses that I quote
all the time on this program, Romans 8, 33. It says, if God
be for us, who can be against us? And then it says, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justified. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again.
That's satisfaction, you see. When he died, he satisfied the
law. He satisfied the demands of justice. And therefore, who can condemn
us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again and is seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us, for his people. And who
are his people? Believers. That's it. If you
live your life in unbelief and die in unbelief, you'll die in
your sins. And that means Christ did not
die for your sins. Because if he died for your sins,
you cannot die in your sins. But let me show you something
here. He says in verse 10 of Isaiah 53, he says, yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. Now wait a minute, what are you
talking about? It pleased the Lord? Who's the Lord here? That's
Jehovah who saves, that's referring to God. And it pleased the Lord
to bruise Christ. Now how could that please the
Father? Most people look at the death of Christ merely as an
example or an expression of God's love. But it says here, it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. Is this, portraying God as some
kind of a sadist who enjoys bruising, crushing, that's what that means,
it pleases the Lord to crush him. And think about what Christ
went through on the cross. And what all the suffering and
the agony. Think about when he prayed in
the Garden of Gethsemane, Lord, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, thy will be done. Here he was suffering in his
humanity because he had never experienced that kind of suffering
before. And so we see his humanness coming out there. He wasn't doubting
or he wasn't disbelieving God or backing up on his promise.
He promised to be the surety of his people and to do for us
what we could not do for ourselves. Christ voluntarily went to the
cross. In the book of John, he says
it over and over again. He says, no man takes my life
from me, I give it freely. He says, this is the will of
my Father. You've heard it said he could have called 10,000 angels,
but he didn't. Why? Because he was obligated
under the oath that He took before the world began to save those
whom the Father had given Him by His work on the cross. And
so when it says it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, how did it
please God? It simply means this, that God was satisfied with the
work that His Son did in His suffering unto death on the cross.
That's what it means. God was satisfied. It says, He
hath put him to grief. Why did He put him to grief?
Because the soul that sinneth must surely die. The wages of
sin is death. Now Christ was not a sinner.
He was never made to be a sinner. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians
5.21 that Christ, that God made Him to be sin or made Him sin. How did He make Him to be sin
or how did He make Him sin? By imputation only. Not by any transference of sin. Some people claim today that
sin was transferred into Him or sin somehow mysteriously went
into Him or corrupted Him or contaminated Him. It did not.
It did not. Christ remained sinlessly perfect
in Himself on the cross, but He was made sin by imputation. That's why that doctrine is so
important. He took my debt. He didn't run
up the debt, but He took it up on His account in the covenant
of grace before the foundation of the world. And so He had to
pay the price. And the price of redemption is
the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's the satisfaction.
It says in verse 10, when thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin. He was made sin, he was made
to be an offering for sin. He was not made to be a sinner.
Okay, now, remember what I said. If satisfaction is made to God's
justice, then all for whom Christ died must be saved. They will be born again. They
will be brought, they'll be given spiritual life from the dead
under the preaching of the gospel. The gospel will be made the power
of God unto salvation to them. They will see the righteousness
of God, His righteousness imputed as the only ground of their salvation,
and they'll repent of ever thinking that anything else could have
contributed to their salvation. They'll be brought to faith in
Christ and repentance and perseverance. And that's what the next line
says. Now let's read it all in context. Verse 10 of Isaiah 53. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. Look at it now. He shall see
his seed. He shall prolong his days. And the pleasure of the Lord
what pleases God and what God wants shall prosper in His hand. He's not gonna fail. You know,
the moment that a preacher tells you that Christ died for all
without exception, even those who end up perishing in hell,
he's saying that God failed. That's exactly right. I know
they'll go all over, they'll parse that, they'll say, oh,
God didn't fail, but you did. We always fail. We are failures. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Even sinners saved by grace.
We have to be saved by grace, we have to be kept by grace,
and we have to be preserved under glory by grace. That's right. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, Take record of my iniquities, who would stand?
But my account has been cleansed, it's been cleared, and I've been
given a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and
justice. It's Christ's righteousness accounted, charged to me, imputed
to me. God never fails. And that's satisfaction,
that's propitiation. Let me read some New Testament
scriptures to you. This is Romans chapter three.
Listen to this in Romans chapter three, verse 21. And this is
after the Apostle Paul was led by the Spirit to show that no
sinner can be justified before God based upon their works. And
what is it to be justified? It's to be forgiven of all my
sins based on a just ground. It's to be counted righteous
in God's sight, again, based on a just ground. And he says
in verse 21, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets. And what is that?
Verse 22, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of,
or faithfulness of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe. It's preached unto everybody.
Everybody who'll listen. But it's upon all that believe. In other words, if you believe,
that gives evidence that this righteousness that Christ worked
out has been charged, accounted, imputed to you. He said, for
there's no difference. Verse 23, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Miss the mark. Verse 24,
being justified freely, unconditionally, without a cause in ourselves.
by His grace, undeserved and unearned, through the redemption,
based on a just ground, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, through His redeeming work, verse 25, listen to this,
whom God hath set forth for ordained. to be a propitiation, a satisfaction
through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. That's talking about the Old Testament saints. In
other words, those in the Old Testament were saved based on
the same ground that we in the New Testament are saved based
upon, the blood of Christ. They looked forward to His coming. We look back at the fact that
He has come. And so in verse 26 it says, To
declare I say at this time His righteousness, His justice, that
He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. See, that's that propitiation.
Back over in 1 John chapter 2, listen to this. Verse 1, John
writes, My little children, these things write unto you that you
sin not, Believers are to fight sin, and if any man sin, or because
we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Now the whole
world there does not mean all without exception. The point
that John is making here is that God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. It's not just for the Jews. It's
not just for this nation or that. All nations. Not everyone in
that nation without exception. But God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And so there's no national barrier
here. And it says he's the propitiation,
he's the satisfaction. And then listen to this over
in 1 John chapter four. This is verse 10. It says, herein
is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent
his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now that tells
us that whoever God loves, Christ is their propitiation. Satisfaction,
they shall be saved. The Bible does tell us that God
hates sinners to whom sin is imputed. And that hatred is not
unjust. It's a just wrath against their
sins because they don't have a mediator. They don't have a
satisfaction. They don't have a surety. Go
back to Isaiah 53. Now look at verse 11. It says,
he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. In other words, the travail here.
You know, the word travail in the Bible is often used to describe
a woman in childbirth, the travail, the suffering, the pain that
she goes through in having a baby. And you know, sometimes a woman
will go through all that pain and all that suffering, and the
baby won't be alive when it's born. Stillborn, they call it. But what a joy it is when the
woman has that child and that child is born healthy, breathing
alive. And that's what it's talking
about here. Christ went through all that suffering and travail
not to save those who perish, stillborn. No, he said he shall
see of the travail of his soul and like a woman in childbirth
having a healthy child, he'll be satisfied. And then it says,
for by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. Now what does it mean, his knowledge? Well, Christ, in his humanity,
experienced things in his humanity, especially in his suffering and
death, that he had never experienced before. He knew that he had to
go through it. He told his disciples, I must
go to Jerusalem, I must suffer, I must die. At the time, they
didn't understand all of that, and they told him, well, let's
not go to Jerusalem. He said, well, this is why I
came into the world, to do this. He's the one who revealed Isaiah
53 to Isaiah. He's the suffering servant, acquainted
with grief, despised and rejected of men. He knew he had to go
through this. but he had not actually experienced. He had
knowledge that he had to go through it because he's God, but he had
not the knowledge in his humanity of the experience of it. And
that's what it's talking about. By his experience, by his actually
going through this suffering, he will just, my righteous servant,
he's called the righteous servant, Now again, how could God justly
bring his wrath down upon a righteous servant? Only by the imputation
of the sins of his people to him. Christ remained righteous
in himself, but he was guilty by imputation. And so my righteous
servant justified many. What is it to justify? It's to
be forgiven of all their sins. They're forgiven. Somebody says,
well, Christ made forgiveness available, and you can have it
if you want. No. By nature, none of us want
it. Not His way. But in His blood,
there is forgiveness. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sins. And it says, and justify means
to declare righteous. The righteousness of God revealed
in the gospel, Romans 117, is the entire merit, value, worthiness
of the obedience unto death of Christ as the surety and the
substitute and redeemer of his people, which brings satisfaction. And so he justified many. How many? However many God brings
to faith in Christ. When you hear and believe the
true gospel, Not a false gospel now, but when you hear and believe
the true gospel, then you have every right to account yourselves
among the many. I'm among that many because God
has given me faith to believe. Over in the book of John, chapter
one. Now if you don't believe, at
this time you have no biblical foundation upon which to count
yourself as one of the many. You may be one of the many, but
if you are, you will be brought to faith. And let me show you
what I'm talking about. In John chapter one and verse 11, it
says, he came unto his own, and his own received him not. Now
his own, that's talking about Christ coming into the world.
Now we know the unbelieving world received him not. The unbelieving
Jews received him not. But you know, by nature, none
of us would receive him, the scripture says. So it says in
verse 12 now look at John 1 in verse 12, but as many as received
him Now there are some who have received him. I Claim to have
received him many of you may claim to have received him if
I've received him Why did I receive him and others didn't is it because
I was a better person than them I? Is it because that I rose
above the crowd and made the right choice, as many would have
you believe? Everybody's got a free will,
they say, and so you exercise your will and made the right
choice. Let me tell you something. That is a lie. The Bible doesn't
teach that. Man doesn't have a free will.
I know in the Old Testament, there's a couple times when it
talks about free will offerings. All that is saying is any offerings
above the tithe that a man chooses to give. But that didn't mean
his will is free to choose and to serve God. And I'll show you,
I'm gonna prove that right here in this verse. In John 1, 12,
as many as received him. It's not because you were better
than the crowd that didn't receive him. Look at it. But if you did receive him, he
says, but as many as received him, to them gave he power, the
King James Version says power. The word power there is not ability. The word power is the right.
It's the privilege. To them gave he the privilege,
the right, to become or to be called the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name. Now, what made the difference
between those who believe on his name and those who don't
believe on his name? What made the difference between
those who did not receive him and those who received him? Well,
look at verse 13. Now he said, let's read verse 12 and 13 together.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power, the right,
the privilege, to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name, which were born. I'll tell you what made
the difference, you were born. Now how were you born? Not of
blood, not of natural birth, naturally we're born in sin.
Spiritually dead. You must be born again. That's
what he's talking about here. Which were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh. That's the works of the flesh.
It wouldn't be cause of works. Listen to the next line. Nor
of the will of man. It wasn't your so-called free
will. Your choice, your believing that
brought you into this. Which were born but of God. Salvations of the Lord. Now that's
satisfaction brings life. Righteousness brings life. And so go back to verse 11 of
Isaiah 53. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. If Christ bore my iniquities,
as my iniquities were imputed to him, then I'm one of the many
who are justified. If Christ bore your iniquities,
then you're one of the many who are justified. How many are there?
I don't know. And God doesn't tell us. What
he tells us, go all the world and preach the gospel. And tell
them, all who believe shall be saved, all who don't shall be
damned. That's the case. You're commanded
to believe the gospel. And then verse 12 of Isaiah 53,
he says, therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong. In other words,
all the benefits and blessings and all the glory goes to Christ,
and he gives those benefits and blessings to his people, and
it's because he hath poured out his soul unto death. That's why. It's his death. It's Christ that
makes the difference. It's Christ who saves. It's not
our faith that saves. Our faith looks to Christ who
is the one who saves. And it says he was numbered with
the transgressors. He was counted with his people
and he bare the sin of many. How many? the many who are justified,
and he made intercession for the transgressors. And that intercession
is based upon the satisfaction that he made for his people.
That satisfaction. God in Christ engaged himself. God was in Christ, 2 Corinthians
5, 19 tells us. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself. There's that word world again.
Not all without exception, but not imputing their trespasses
unto them. That's who the world is. It's
God's people out of the world. Every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation for whom Christ died, for whom he paid their debt,
whom he redeemed, whom he made satisfaction for. And because
of that, they are counted righteous in God's sight. That's the gospel. And believe it. Submit to Christ
as the Lord your righteousness. That surety who substituted himself
in the place of his people and brought satisfaction by the redeeming
work that he accomplished in his death on the cross. That's
what the gospel is all about. And understand now, this is all
based upon what Christ did on that cross. Hope you'll join
us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. 317-07. Contact us by
phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.