Praise the Lord for full salvation. Isn't that wonderful? Complete.
Nothing to be added. We just look to him by God's
grace. By God's grace. Well, it's been
wonderful. It's been absolutely wonderful
these last two nights. And I'm looking forward to today,
too. Looking forward to our dear brothers
proclaiming to us our great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's
an honor to have you both here. Brothers Jean-Claude, come up
and preach Christ to us. Yo. It is not just tradition for
me. I must say how much I've been blessed. Wendy and I have
been in your country for quite a number of weeks now, and I
don't think we've had a trip like this before, I must say. And we will go back soon, God
willing, to our own desert, and full of joy and warmed by this
fellowship with God's people. We all go through times which
are not necessarily those we would have chosen. But by God's
grace, we can stand. And this is the only reason why
we stand. I'm often reminded of the fact
that we can see the empty spaces in our buildings or in our gatherings. But why are we here and others
are not here? because Christ prayed for his
people. And you will obviously remember
the event or the circumstance I'm alluding to when there's
a difference made between Peter, the denier, and Judas, the traitor. One denies his friend, and yet
he's restored because Christ prayed for him. So let us rejoice
at the fact that we're held by God's grace and pray that he
will not let us go according to his promise. Well, it's been
a great time here and I want to thank you for all what you've
done, the arrangements, the hospitality, friendship, the food, My belt
is becoming less of a necessary item of my clothing. So I'll
have a lot of work back home. It's been really good, and especially
to meet new brethren. I have been wanting to meet for
a long time, but this visit has enabled me to have fellowship
with people I've not known before. Anyway, let's come to the word. Let's come to the word. So we're
in Isaiah 53. And this morning, I'd like you
to read with me verses 10 through 12. No, to the end. Yeah, 12.
Isaiah 53, 10, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him
to grief. When you 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. He shall
see the labor of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge
My righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because he poured out his soul into death, and
he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bore the sin of many and
made intercession for the transgressors. And this is the word of God. Well, we're looking at the gospel
in three words. And we've had sinfulness, for
want of a better word. Actually, the word which I used
first in my own language would be translated, but I can't pronounce
it properly, so that's why I settled for sinfulness. it would be soiled. The picture being the kid who
comes back to your home and has been eating mud. And I think
this word actually describes and takes away the religious
level of the world. of the word sinfulness. Often
the word sinfulness has ceased to impact us. So, sod, we come
back, or we come to the Lord with mud in our mouth. Don't
we? Yes. And then we've seen the
substitution that is God's answer to our sinfulness. And of course,
it's not very difficult, and some of you have already indicated
to me that they've discovered the third word, which is satisfaction. Because there's no gospel unless
there is satisfaction. And this is what we find here
in our passage, satisfaction. Isaiah presents us with the servant
of the Lord. This is the man who is more than
a man. but he is a man, and he comes
from God in order to serve God. And the prophet has already introduced
this character. This character has a mission
and he's coming to accomplish this mission, and he's going
to succeed in that mission. That mission will be accomplished. If you come with me to Isaiah
42, for instance, The four first verses, we find this. Isaiah
42, behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one, chosen one, in
whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him.
He will bring forth justice to the nations, that is the non-Jews. He will not cry out nor raise
his voice. nor cause his voice to be heard
in the street. That's not religion. He's not
coming for religion. A bruised reed he will not break. A smoking flax he will not quench. He will bring forth justice for
truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth. And the coarseless
shall wait for his law. So this is the one who is coming
with a mission and then later on Isaiah in chapter 49 comes
back to this servant and there he underlines the great difficulties
of his task. Chapter 49 starting verse 1,
listen all coastlands that is the non-Jews. Those who are far
off, listen to me and take heed, you people from afar. The Lord
has called me from the womb. From the matrix of my mother,
he has made mention of my name. And he has made my mouth like
a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he
has hidden me and made me a polished shaft. And in his quiver, he
has hidden me. And he said to me, you are my
servant, O Israel, that is prince with God, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have labored in
vain. How many times the Lord in His
humanity was discouraged. Will you also go? I have labored in vain. I have
spent my strength for nothing and in vain. Yet surely my reward
is with the Lord and my work with my God. And now the Lord
says, who fought me from the womb to be his servant, to bring
Jacob back to him, so that Israel is gathered to him. For I shall
be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my
strength. Indeed, he says, it is too small
a thing that you should be my servant. to raise up the tribes
of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel, I will also give
you as a light to the nations, that you should be my salvation
to the ends of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer
of Israel, their Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him
whom the nation bores, to the servant of rulers, kings shall
see and arise. Princes also shall worship, because
the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, He and He
has chosen you." The Lord, this Messiah is coming, says Isaiah,
and His work will succeed. But it is not an easy work. That
is not an easy work. And later on, Isaiah shows how
the servant himself speaks of his suffering, and the suffering
which are before him. And we see in the gospel how
this dark shadow was coming, or he was coming to that dark
shadow. But in all these passages, it
is not mentioned the reasons which actually caused these sufferings. And this is the subject of the
passage we see here. These sufferings have two main
reasons. And this is what I've tried to
underline, to bring out. On one side, there's this sinfulness. of the people. And then, on the
other side, there's the justice and the holiness of God. And
then, as a sort of backdrop to all this, there is the covenant
of God. That is the gracious purpose
of God, which is conceived in Christ before time was. And from
all eternity, God has decreed, has wanted to bring some members
of the human race into his own intimacy. And he has promised to do everything
needed for that. And he has undertaken to do everything
needed for that. The human race, as we all know
so badly, This has fallen in sin and then has cut itself off
from the glory of God. There's no way, no way man can
come to the glory of God and cut off from this intimacy, from
this living link with the source of all being. Why has God let this happen? Why doesn't he reconcile every
man with himself? These questions come to our mind
and they are legitimate. And in a sense, the Bible doesn't
answer them directly. No, except to say that everything
God does is for the glory of his son and for his own glory. And you know, my friends, this
is a good refuge. As another Frenchman has said
many years ago, many centuries ago, when the Bible is silent,
let us be the same. Let us be the same and just be
content with it. Now, the glory of His Son, and
the glory of His Son is to give glory to the Father. The sinfulness
of those whom God wants to bring into his presence is an obstacle
on the way, an obstacle which God himself has to deal with. And I say that with respect,
but he's so holy that it is an obstacle. It's not an impossibility
for him. Something must be done. And as
we've seen, this sinfulness, this dirt, is not a misfortune
which has come kind of by chance on man. And it is so linked,
so woven into the nature of man that man is, you and me, are
totally unable by nature to do anything about it but to increase
it. Absolutely impossible. How can
a man stand before God? How can a man so sinful, so soiled,
can stand before such a holy God? Oh yes, we can stand before
gods because they're made in our image,
but not before that God. There's nothing in man which
can help And there we can see the folly of those who seek to
please God with something which is in them. And maybe we belong
to that crowd. Certainly all of us at one time
or another do go that way. This is folly. This is folly. But man is so attached, so wedded
to what he does that this taints everything we do. at one time
or another. If man cannot do anything to
save himself, well, then it follows that somebody else has got to
do it if it's to be done. And this is exactly what the
Bible declares. Not only that there is somebody
who replaces, a substitute, but that he's sent by God himself. This is good news already. And
that he's equipped with everything needed to succeed. He doesn't
have just a little bit of the Spirit. No, a lot of the Spirit. It's in fullness, in fullness. He has everything. He is a man. An angel can't do it. An animal cannot do it. He is
a man. And the whole of the Bible is
a testimony to the fact that this substitute, my friends,
has come. has come. Often I try to wake
congregations, I'll say in Africa like this, that gets me out of
hot water here, by saying that Christ is not in the Old Testament.
And now that you are awake, I will explain. Yes, there are types
of Christ, promises of Christ. There are even appearances of
Christ, theophanies, and all these things, prophecies about
Christ. But you have to come to Matthew 1 for him to have
this body in which he will suffer. He will suffer. So he has come
and he has accomplished that work successfully and totally. Totally. He was broken. He was put to death. And Isa 53 is one of the passages
which are the clearest about this point. But the question
is there. We have seen the reality of the
sinfulness of man. We've seen the fact that this
sinfulness is absolute. It touches everything in man. There's not one part which is
not touched. We have seen the substitution
which that servant has accomplished. And because we have the benefits
now of the New Testament, The expression of the new covenant
clearly opened to us. We know that he has succeeded.
We know that. But the question is, has that
substitution really canceled all the effects of the sinfulness,
the total sinfulness of man? purpose of God to bring in his
presence people reconciled with him, although coming from this
sinful race. Has this purpose succeeded? And if you look at yourself,
then you cannot get any assurance. And there are whole congregations,
there's whole tracts of lands where people believe these things
and yet have got no assurance. Why? Because they do not see
our third word. Our third word, which is satisfaction. Has it succeeded? Among men,
we see people who are really zealous and well-intentioned,
and yet what they want to do doesn't come to pass. Is it the same with the Lord?
Is it the same with the Lord? Well, if we read our passage,
we know that it is not the case. The work of the Lord will prosper
in His hands, will succeed, will come to pass. So this is a subject
of great joy when we come to verse 10. Yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise Him, He's done the work. He has put him to grief. Yes, that was needed. When you
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. That is
God's purpose, will, has, and will. prospered in the hand of
the Messiah, of the One who He sent. Yes, it is a yes, a divine
yes which resounds throughout the universe. Yes, the work is
done and God is satisfied with the work of His Son. And that
is good news. That is good news. The resurrection
of Christ is not just the end of a kind of gripping movie. You know, oh, it's all right
at the end. You never know until the last
second whether it's going to fall out right. Yes, and it is,
no, it's not just that. It's not just that. It is a declaration. A declaration. And by this resurrection
of Christ, God declares that he accepts, he takes for himself
the work of his son. Yes, I am well pleased. The work is done. There is no
more guilt there. His justice demanded a payment. His holiness had been spurned,
and in the death, as a sacrifice, of the substitute, the one who
takes the place, the justice of God receives a full payment
for the debt. There's not one cent left, not
even a portion of that. From now on, God can be just
and yet justify the one who in himself is not just. And nobody
can say to God, what do you do? What are you doing there? No,
not at all. The promise of God finds its
fulfillment in there. Now look at chapter 52 verse
13. We've seen it already. Behold,
my servant shall deal, shall prosper, shall deal prudently.
He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Well, God will
not raise and exalt somebody who has failed. It's just no
way, no way. And our verse 10 here, yes, he
will prosper. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He has succeeded. My friend,
it's only our humanness. which prevents us from jumping
up and down when we hear that. No. But how does this come to
pass? How does this come to pass? Well,
first, the substitute has become a no man. And this is the sense of chapter
52 verse 14. Just as many were astonished
at you, so his visage was marred more than any man, and his form
more than the sons of men. He has been stricken in such
a way that he didn't even look like a man. And you turn your
eyes from such a one. He's a no man. By rebellion before
God, Adam has fallen to a place, from the place which he occupied.
And he was so ashamed of himself that he hid himself. He was not
a man anymore, in a sense. not the creature whom God had
created. So he hid himself and he's sent
away, cast away from the garden. And himself, as unfortunately
we all know, acts more often like an animal rather than like
a human being. He's no man. And the servant
of God takes that place. He's a no man. And this is where
God comes and strikes the blow which should reach man. He was rejected by all. A no
man, rejected by all. And I don't think there is a
worse trial than to be misunderstood by friends. This is what happened
with Christ. He came to his own. And what
did he have? Healing in his wings. He healed. He loved. He fed people. Misunderstood. This is the worst. Rejected. in misunderstanding. And remember the words of the
thief on the cross. He's talking to his colleague
on the other side. He said, you know, I mean, why
do you speak like this? What's happening to us? It's
justice. It's justice. We only, we deserve
what we get, but this man, he doesn't. He doesn't. Well, this
man had been already transformed. But for the servant, he has not
done nothing to undergo these terrible, terrible circumstances. We have considered him being
stricken by God, being punished by God, and this is that we've
cast our ballot. Yeah, this is the right punishment. He deserves it. Well, in himself,
he doesn't. He doesn't. But this is the right
punishment, deserved by those he's representing. He's a substitute. And my friends, he doesn't have
to become a sinner for that. He doesn't have to die for his
sins. And we see that as a parable
in his life. When a leper comes to him, he
gives him his virtue. But does he become a leper? No,
he doesn't. because he's a son of God. He's
a son of God. He's not just a man. Oh, let
us be careful about worshiping a real Christ, a real Christ,
the Christ of God. And in this terrible trial, the
justice of God receives what it was demanding, the payment
for the rebellion. Rebellion brings death, and in
him, There is death, and that awful death of becoming a no
man, because his people is no man. And now, the justice of
God, having obtained what it demanded, it is now satisfied,
which we can translate by being put at rest. God can sit down,
if I may say, reverently. And this is done by the Lamb
of God, which takes away the sin of the world. The death of
Christ is not a sort of an act of altruism. I will do a great
thing to show how we should live. He's not showing us the way. No, he's doing something for
God. Sometimes among men, you have
people who are ready to sacrifice themselves for others. And we
say, well, this is a hero. This is somebody we must honor,
give honor to. And this is right. But here,
it's much more than that. Christ doesn't stop at just have
compassion. coming and walk alongside those
who really walk all their life in darkness. No, it's not just
that. He has come to shoulder the condition
of sin. And He has swallowed that sin
for all those who come to Him in the power of the Spirit. And
that sin, Doesn't taint him. It's swallowed. It disappears. It disappears because the blow
has fallen on him. Hallelujah. Isn't it? Let's not be constricted in our
decency. In the Old Testament, there is
a beautiful image, a terrible image. We find it in the book
of Leviticus chapter 16, the day of atonement. And on that
day, the atonement was made with two goats, two animals, and in
two sections, if I may say. One was put to death, was sacrificed. and given as a sacrifice to God,
stricken by God, bruised, broken. But the other goat, the other
animal, was, because of the laying on of the hands of Aaron, representative,
the substitute for the people, the high priest, laid his hand
on the head of that ghost, and symbolically the rebellion, the
sinfulness of the people was laid on that goat. And then the
animal was sent to the desert, and no one could ever find that
goat again. And that was a picture. You needed
two animals. And frankly, that was just the
mercy of the Lord. It probably would need two million
animals to replace. As a picture, the work is done. And now, now, no one can find
those sins, not even God. I will remember no more their
transgressions. He has taken away the transgressions,
the iniquity, the sinfulness of his people, and God is satisfied. And for man, it's too simple. It was not simple for Christ.
It was not simple for God. But it's too simple. But it is
that. And this is why we read that
the Father will give him a portion with a great. He will give him
a portion with a great. And you don't reward somebody
who has failed. He has succeeded. And we see
that in the exaltation of Christ. Can you go somewhere in this
world and meet with him? No, you can't. He's high above. And this gives us the assurance
that God is satisfied. Oh, if only we could believe
it more deeply. And now we see what the old reformers,
these great men who were just men, said, the wonderful exchange. the marvellous exchange. In the
work of Christ, we see the Father implicating himself, if I can
say. This man crucified was given
over to death, was stricken by God according to his everlasting
purpose. Yes, the Jews plotted against
him. Yes, the Romans planted the nails.
Yeah, but the nail stayed in the wood because God had decreed
it. You imagine a nail made from
a mineral which He has created? It needed the whole power of
God for that nail to stay there. I'm speaking as a man, you understand
that. But that is the power of Christ. God has wanted to make
peace by the blood of his cross, by his death. We see how God
has loaded him with the sin. We see how God has stricken him,
humbled him, humiliated him, broken him, and cut him off. We see that. Yes, what Christ
has endured is terrible. Oh, Father, if this cup can pass
away from me, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Done nothing for that. Why? And we see, especially, the terrible
side of it, that it came from his beloved father. The one,
he's been in total communion, and even for us it's difficult
to realize that they're three in one. We can't even explain
it. But we see it. He'd never seen that, never known
that. So terrible. And our passage underlines another
reality. which is just as real, just as
concrete. And the Prophet speaks that it
was our sufferings which he has borne. It was what we needed to undergo that
he actually suffered the chastisement which we deserve. falls on Him. It falls on Him
by stripes who are healed. The iniquity, which is ours,
falls on Him. It is our iniquity, my friends. Oh, He is stricken for the sin
of my people, says the Lord, my people. So He is stricken,
and therefore, He will see a posterity. He will see a seed. There is
life in there. There is not the end. The cross
is the beginning, in a sense. He will feast his eyes. He will feast himself. And you
know, I get this when I'm in America. There comes a point
when you can't eat anymore. food which is so nice, and there's
that second table, you know, and it's that table which teaches
you that there's no free will, all the cakes. And these cakes
look so good, but there comes a point where they don't look
half as good, because you just can't. Well, that is it. That is it. His people, he looks
at his people, the joy that was reserved for him, The church,
he sees that, and he doesn't need anything else. He's filled
with that, totally filled. And he will justify many, many. And we see it today. We see it
today. We've got the means today to
know what happens within a second on the other side of the world.
I speak to you and I come from not a few miles, thousands of
miles. And later on, there will be somebody
else coming from just not quite the same distance, but quite
a distance. And you have friends all over the world. And these
people say, yes, nothing in my hands I bring. To that cross
alone, I cling. I am justified by this. It justifies many and many and
many. We don't have no idea of this. The work has succeeded. The work
is done. And this wonderful exchange has
happened. He has become poor so that his
people may become rich. Beyond thinking, God is fully
satisfied, fully satisfied. He has resurrected, He has raised
the head. Will He not welcome the body
in His presence? Of course, yes, he will. Yes. And we have this picture of the
Messiah coming. Here I come. And the children
whom you have given me, he will come with his people. The sinfulness is transferred
onto the just one. And those who are sinful, now
they are clothed with the righteousness of the righteous one. And God,
therefore, is at rest for all those who are in Christ Jesus.
No condemnation, no condemnation at all. Well now, let's think
for a moment about the consequences. Consequences, and there are many.
First, the rest, the Sabbath, the rest of the people of God. If the substitute has accomplished
the work successfully, if God is satisfied, then there is nothing
more to do. Nothing more to do. And let it
be our prayer to the Lord to give us constantly a sense of
that. A sense of that, because our
flesh fights against it. There is nothing whatsoever to
do. to be at peace with God. And of course we say it, but
how often, how often our lives belie what we say. And it is
a good thing that our salvation doesn't rest on our works, on
our shoulders, that it is done. No, those who are in Christ rest. in Christ and His total rest. But there are many, and I alluded
to that before, many true believers, my friends, who suffer and fight
under the terrible burden of not grasping how much this rest
is real. It may come from bad teaching,
it may especially come from looking at oneself. You look at yourself,
at your emotions, at your thoughts, at your actions, and it's just
like the sea when there's a hurricane, it's all over the place. And
of course you cannot be at rest No, not at all. This is why when
you come before the throne, the sea is there, but it's glass
sea. Rest. So therefore, my friends,
if you have this terrible burden on you, and we all have it from
time to time, or more than from time to time, if ever that burden
is on you, just turn your eyes. and look full into his face. And then the things of earth
will grow strangely dim. And the power of what Christ
has done will come to you and will put you at rest, resting
in you. This is a great consequence,
isn't it, in ourselves? with total failures. And maybe
this morning you feel as a failure. I'll tell you one thing. You
don't feel half as much a failure as you should feel. Because if you did, you'd go
to him. This is a work of the spirit.
It's not a work of the flesh. You see, oh yes, we are not satisfied
in ourselves and we shouldn't be. But God is satisfied in Christ. What can we do else? We need to see this. Another
consequence, and of course these things we say yes, we say amen
to that, is that it is grace and not works. grace and not
works. Because the substitute, the one
who takes the place, has kind of swallowed the sinfulness of
the people and God is therefore totally satisfied. There is nothing
to do. And you will say, well, you repeat
yourself. I carry on repeating myself.
There's nothing to do. Nothing to do. Salvation comes,
therefore, as a gift. But even among men, we cannot
receive a gift this way. We've been traveling and visiting
friends, and you've probably missed on that one, but generally
we bring gifts. That's what you do. And it was
difficult because the gifts we had to bring had to be small
because the airlines today have caught up on that and they only
give you one case. But anyway, but it is difficult
to accept a gift and not say, oh, thank you, and think, oh,
next time I need to. No, no, it's given as a gift. The only thing to do is to receive
it. And even that, the Lord does
it for his people. It is a gift. And the gift is given by the
one who's taken the place. He's given it. And this great
substitute gives it to his spirit, the spirit of life. And that
spirit will speak through the word of life, and life comes
in. And the one who is impacted by
that receives it as a gift. And we can understand what John
or what the Lord himself says to those in Ephesus who'd become
really big. in theology, and big in this
and that and whatever, says, you were not like this at the
beginning. And he doesn't say, forget all
what you've learned. No, go back to your first love. Now you love me with a human
love. You've brought in things in.
No, no, just this love of a child. The child doesn't care whether
his father or his mother are clever, whether they've got plenty
of money. That's our mistake today, isn't
it? No. He knows that his parents
love him. And that's enough. That's enough,
isn't it? Oh, let us be children. Let us
be children. Salvation, reconciliation with
God is a grace. It is given by God, and only
God can give it. When He gives it, He gives it. Sometimes I've been led to thank
my colleagues back in Africa, say on the last day, oh, I'll
take you to a restaurant. And if it's a place I know, I
know what it's going to cost, but sometimes you don't. And
as a good, as a true man, I'm there eating and suddenly I realize
it's going to cost me a whole lot more than expected. I have
enough, but I thought maybe I should have taken them somewhere else. Well, God doesn't give that way.
He doesn't. He doesn't. It's prodigality,
and it's great prodigality. Oh, my friends, aren't we silly? Aren't we just poor humans? to
doubt and not to receive the fullness of his gift, the fullness
of his gift. And this is really what is the gospel. Some people talk about the full
gospel and they make a mockery of it. And we don't want to follow
that. No, it is not because you have got special kind of quirks
about yourself that it is a full gospel, that you can speak in
weird languages and do this. No, the full gospel is to be
absolutely persuaded from the word, in the power of the spirit,
that we are totally sinful in ourselves. There's nothing we
can contribute. It is to be fully persuaded that
God in his grace and in his love for himself has provided a substitute
who is a sacrifice. perfect sacrifice, it is to be
persuaded that this perfect sacrifice has satisfied fully the one who
wants his people to be with himself. And my friends, unless we are
in the power of the spirit, by the grace of God, persuaded of
that, our view of the gospel is not full. is not full. This is why we have to come again
and again to the Lord in prayer, in supplication. This is why
we've got to come again and again to the Word of God, so that again
He may wipe our eyes and we may see always more clearly what
He has done in Christ and rejoice. My friend, Maybe you spared that,
but I will say it. There's not half enough joy among
those who love the Lord as they should be. Let us grow in that
grace and glorify him. Amen.