Would you turn in your Bibles
to Isaiah chapter 53? We're happy having Frank Tate,
pastor of Hurricane Road Grace Church with us this morning,
and he's going to be preaching for us tonight. Savannah is doing better the last couple of days. I'm
thankful for that. And also I told the Sunday school
class, Emily Dickerson is in the hospital at UK, but she's
doing well. Isaiah 53. Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no
form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised. and rejected of men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he had borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes, we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, And as a sheep before her shears is done, so he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the
land of the living. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence. Neither was any deceit in his mouth, 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. 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. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great And he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the
transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession
for the transgressors. Every verse of scripture is somehow
tied to Isaiah 53. That is the significance of this
chapter. Now I have entitled this message,
the only message of scripture. Let me repeat that. the only
message of scripture. Now, when Isaiah says, who has
believed our report? The word is message. Our word,
our doctrine. This is the message of the scripture. I think it's interesting that
Isaiah chapter 53 is quoted seven times in the New Testament.
And seven is the number of perfection, of completion. And the completion
of scripture, all the Bible has to say, is found in Isaiah 53. Who has believed our message? Now the fact of the matter is,
not many do. Isaiah was making a complaint
at this time, who believes? We preach this glorious message,
and it seems like nobody believes, very few at any rate, and that's
true, isn't it? Is that anything different than
what the Lord said? Many will go in the broad gate, but only
a few will go in at the straight gate. That's the Lord's words.
Now, here he complains, who hath believed our report? But did
he give up? After making that statement,
nobody's believing. No, he goes on to give the clearest
exposition of the gospel that you'll find anywhere in the Bible. Now, this is as clear as anywhere in the
New Testament where the person and work of Christ is expounded. And this is The subject of the
eternities. And that's how significant this
is. Before there was a creation. What's the subject of the eternities?
Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Yep, blows my mind. Just that
thought. Christ is the lamb slain from
the very foundation of the world. In eternity future, when time
shall be no more. What is the subject? is the land
that was slain. Time was created. The universe
was created. Sin made its appearance for this
one purpose, the cross of Christ. Now, when Paul made that statement
that I just opened the service with, I determined not to know
anything among you. Say Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's a powerful statement.
What do you mean by it? Do you mean I'm going to make
this my main focus? Or did he mean this is the only
message? This is the only message. Anything contrary to this is
not of God. Now, I don't want to bring this
down to a sports metaphor, but this illustrates what I'm trying
to say. Vince Lombardi, the coach of
the Green Bay Packers back in the 60s, made this statement. Winning is not the most important
thing. Winning is the only thing. Now, we know with regard to that
statement, come on, Vince, it's a silly game. That's all it is. It's a game. And we know that
really we probably learn more from our losses than we do our
victories, don't we? about ourselves, about everything
else. So it is totally wrong to say
with regard to a game, winning is not the most important thing.
It's the only thing. But with regard to Jesus Christ
and him crucified, it's not the most important thing. It's the only thing. This is the message of the Bible. It is the only message of the
Bible. And it's all summarized here
in Isaiah chapter 53. Now the cross is the whole counsel
of God. The preaching of the cross is
to them to perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved."
It's the power of God. It's the wisdom of God. Paul said, we preach Christ crucified.
That's our message. Unto the Jews, it's a stumbling
block. Why that is scandalous to say
that that's the only message. What about how you live? What
about your works? To the Greeks, it's foolish. Is she going to
tell me God became a man and that he was raped? But unto them
which are saved, Christ, the power of God, Christ, the wisdom
of God. Now, I wish that the Lord would
enable us to look at this chapter as if we've never read it or
heard it before. It was written 700 years before
the death of Christ when Isaiah wrote this passage of scripture,
yet the whole Bible is summarized by this one chapter. Paul says, I mean, Isaiah says,
and I like calling Isaiah the gospel of Isaiah. It is, isn't
it? The gospel of Isaiah. Isaiah gives this complaint. who hath believed our report,
but he answers it in the very next statement. I can tell you
who has believed the report when he says, to whom is the arm of
the Lord revealed. The only way me or you are going
to believe the report is if the arm of the Lord is revealed to
you or me. Salvation comes by revelation. The only way you can know God,
the only way you can know the gospel, the only way you can
have some appreciation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified is if
God reveals this to you. You can't figure it out. You
can't understand this. You're completely, I'm completely
dependent upon Him to reveal Himself. The Lord said, I thank
Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you've hid
these things. God did this. You've hid these
things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. Now, who is the one who believes
the report? the one to whom the arm of the
Lord is revealed. Now, I love thinking about this. The arm of the Lord represents
his power, his mighty arm. Creation is said to be the work
of his finger. Salvation is Him making bare
His mighty arm. The power of God is revealed
in the gospel. The arm of God is revealed in
the gospel. The cross of Christ is the mighty
power, the omnipotence of God. Now, something men can't do.
Men cannot bring new matter into existence, can they? Something
else men cannot do? Men cannot cause matter to leave
the universe. It may change form, but it's
still there. Men cannot bring new matter into the existence,
and they can't make matter to be gone. The cross of Christ
made something to be gone, no more. The sins of everybody he
died for. Talk about power. The cross of Christ made the
sins to be gone, and the cross of Christ made something new
that was not there before, a new man in Christ Jesus. And remember,
creation, as glorious as it is, it's the work of his fingers.
But the cross is the work of his mighty power. Now, let's
go on reading, verse two. For he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
shall grow up before him. These 33 years he lived as a
man and we're given a picture of weakness. For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. Now there's the picture we're
given. dry, parched, cracked, barren ground, and you have this
tender plant and this root coming up. And the Lord had the frailty of the
flesh, not the sinfulness, but the frailty of the flesh. He was a real man. Now look at
this next statement. He hath no form, nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. Now what that is telling us,
and this is so important, is there's absolutely nothing about
Jesus Christ and Him crucified that is appealing to the flesh. You know, I think it's interesting,
well, I don't, interesting is not the right word, but false
preachers are always trying to make the gospel appealing to
the flesh. That's what they're trying to do, trying to market
the gospel so men will believe. There's nothing about the Gospel
that's appealing to fallen flesh, sinful man. He sees no beauty
in Jesus Christ. That's an indictment against
our race. That's the wickedness of our race. We see no beauty. We see no glory. There's nothing
about the Lord Jesus Christ that we desire. And that's why God
sends men to hell. They see no beauty in His Son.
It's not for me. I don't need this. They don't
see the glory. of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
that shows the wickedness of man. There's nothing about Christ
and his gospel that's appealing to the natural man. He has no
need. He sees no beauty. He sees no glory. When we see
him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. Look in verse
3. He is despised and rejected of men,
regarded with contempt, disdained, dismissed, rejected, the stone
which the builders rejected. Upon examination, we say rejected. He is despised and rejected of
men. A man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
this is his description, a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief. Now that word acquainted is the
word that's generally translated to know. He knew grief and that
word grief is generally translated sickness and disease. And this gives us some idea,
not that it can ever be expounded properly, but this gives us some
idea of what the Lord was experiencing on the cross. The word grief
It's found 24 times in the Old Testament, 19 times it's translated
sickness or disease. In his sorrows, it was because he was separated
from intimacy with his father. He always knew that was going
to take place. He was going to be separated,
forsaken by his father. He knew he was going to drink
the cup of the sins of God's elect, and he was no longer going
to have his father's smile. He's no longer going to have
his father's favor, but he was going to know his father's awful
frown. You see, he's the only one who
ever really knew what sin is. You don't know. I don't know. We can talk about it, but we
don't really understand what sin is. He's the only one who
knew. He became acquainted with it. Now, he never sinned in his body.
You know that. He never sinned in his person. But I think it's
interesting how he bore our diseases and sicknesses and Preachers,
false preachers, will take that passage of Scripture and they
say, you see, he bore your sicknesses and diseases so you don't have
to. It's God's will for you to be healthy and wealthy. Rubbish. That's all I can say to that.
Rubbish. It's not so. It doesn't have
anything to do with what the Lord meant. But you think of
sicknesses and diseases. Yes, sin was imputed to it. There's
no doubt about that. But can sickness be imputed? Sickness can only be experienced. And while Christ never sinned
in His person, and I feel, oh, I wish I could, I know I don't
know what I'm talking about, and you know I don't know what
I'm talking about. I mean, in the sense of, this is way above
us knowing what He experienced. But everything that sin is, but
the commission of it, He experienced. That's why He's a man of sorrows
and acquainted, deeply acquainted with grief, sickness, and disease. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. We put no value upon him. that scary, isn't it? You want
to talk about sinfulness. We put, we didn't esteem the
Lord Jesus Christ. I didn't. You didn't. We placed
no value on him. What could be more evil than
that? Verse four, surely nevertheless
He hath borne our griefs, our sicknesses, our diseases. That's
what the word is. He hath born. Now see that word
born in verse 11, it says, he shall see the travail of his
soul and should be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall my righteous
servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities. There the word is again, it's
used twice in Isaiah 53 and the word means to become gravid. Anybody know what that means?
Some of you do. It means to become pregnant.
That's how close he experienced our iniquities. He hath borne
them. He hath become gravid. I don't
know of any relationship that's closer than a mother and her
baby in her womb. They're not the same person,
but how close. That is how much he bore. our sickness, our disease, our
sin. Surely he had borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted. We thought this is all his fault.
Verse five, but, but he was wounded for our transgressions. Now, let me say this. The hour
is not talking about all men with that exception. He didn't
bear everybody's transgressions. If he did, everybody would be
saved. This is talking about the elect. This is talking about
those that he died for. Any preacher who comes along
saying that Jesus Christ died for the sins of all men without
exception and made salvation available for everybody does
not know the gospel. That man is a false prophet.
He is someone who has never been taught by God. He wouldn't say
things like that. And we're going to see that more
clearly as we go on reading in this passage of scripture. But
he was wounded for our transgressions. And that word wounded is translated
wounded three times. 36 times the same word is translated
profaned. 23 times that word is translated
polluted. Nine times that word is translated
defiled. He never sinned in his person,
but he was made sin. He was made sin. He was polluted. He was defiled. He was profaned
with our sin. That's the horror. He's the only
one who could understand this. Like I said, I feel like such
an idiot trying to talk about this because I know I can't enter
into it, but we can just read what the Bible says he entered
into. He was profaned. He was defiled
with our iniquities. No, he never sinned in his person. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement, the punishment
of our peace was upon him. The only way you're going to
have peace is if he is punished, dying under the justice of God
for you. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes. We are healed. Now, does someone think, how
could this be right? How could this spotless son of
God take sin upon himself? How could this be right? How
can this be fair? How can this be just? Well, let
me give you four reasons. Here's the first one, and I love
this first reason because God did it. Anything else need to be said?
God did this. He's the one who put him to grief.
It pleased the Lord to bruise him. Yes, this is right because
God did it. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Yes, he will. Here's the second
reason this is all right, because Christ did all this voluntarily. He poured out His soul to death. Nobody forced Him to do it. He
said, no man takes my life from me. I have the power to lay it
down. I have the power to raise it
up. This commandment of I received from my Father. What He did,
He did voluntarily. He wanted to do this. He wanted to become sin for His
people for the glory of His Father and for the salvation of His
people. This demonstrates the relationship of Christ with church. This is His bride. He's one. He takes on her debts because
He loves her. He becomes what she is. He was
made sin that she might become what He is, the very righteousness
of God. And we see in this glorious chapter,
the gospel. I was condemned in somebody else. When Adam sinned, I sinned and
I was condemned. I wasn't even born, but I sinned
because I was in him. And I was condemned, condemned
in another. Just as much as I'm condemned in another, I'm saved
in another. Now that's how all this is right.
This is how all this is fair. Now let's go on reading. He was
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised. He was crushed
for our iniquities. The chastisement. of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. Now, this was written 700 years
before it took place. with His stripes, not we will
be healed, but we are healed. You see, these stripes are eternal
stripes. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And when Peter quotes this in
1 Peter 2, he says, by whose stripes you were healed. Now, beloved, I'm talking to
somebody who's troubled by their sin, and well, you should be.
And if you're somebody Christ died for, you were healed. Not you will be if you were healed
by his stripes and you stand before God without guilt. By whose stripes we are healed. Now look what he says in verse
six. Isaiah says, all we like sheep
have gone astray. Silly, stupid, straying sheep. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. Now, every believer feels like
there's something particular and peculiar about his or her
sin that makes them worse than other people. We've turned everyone
to his own way, his own individual way of wickedness. We're guilty, consciously guilty,
guilty with aggravation, guilty with excessive wickedness, and
without excuse. We've turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord had laid on him
the iniquity of us all. The word laid means impinged,
made to collide. The Lord has made to collide
on him the iniquity of us all, every single believer. When Christ was sweating great
drops of blood in Gethsemane, and crying, it would be possible,
let this cup pass from me. It wasn't because of the fear
of the physical pain, although I wouldn't dare diminish that
in any way. It was because he knew he was
going to be made sin. Now see what is so sad is that
we don't get it. We just don't get it. Being made
sin, I mean, we're used to sin. It's our element. But the holy son of God, the
thought of being made sin and separated from his father. You know, there have been martyrs
who were nailed to a tree, praising God. There have been martyrs
who have been set on fire, and while they were doing it, they
were praising God and blessing God. Why? They had His presence. Oh, they had His presence. The
Lord Jesus Christ ceased to have the presence of His Father. That's why He cried, My God,
My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Verse 7, he was oppressed, he
was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears
is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Question, if you are falsely accused of
something, Are you going to defend yourself? Yes. You know you would. If I'm falsely accused of something,
the first thing I want to do is defend. I didn't do that.
Now, why didn't the Lord defend himself? Why did he open not
his mouth? There's only one reason. He was
guilty. My guilt became his guilt. My sin became his sin so that
he became guilty of it. And he didn't try to justify
himself. He didn't try to say, this is
not my sin. This now is his sin. When he
took my sins and my sorrows and made them his very own, he bore
the burden of Calvary and suffered and died alone. Guilty as charged. He wasn't thinking. Once again,
I wish I could enter into this more, but he wasn't thinking
when he was standing and not opening his mouth. He wasn't
thinking, these are Todd Norbert's sins, I'm just burying them. He knew these had become his
own sins. That's how real this substitution
is. Just as he was made sin, every
believer is made the very righteousness of God in him. Verse 8, he was
taken from prison. And from judgment, and who shall
declare his generation? He was cut off out of the land
of the living, just like Daniel said, Messiah will be cut off
as the substitute for the transgression of my people. Was he stricken? Verse nine, he made his grave
with the wicked And with the rich, talking about being buried
in the tomb of a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, he made his grave
with the wicked. He was counted by these people
as a wicked man. He made his grave with the wicked
and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence.
He never did anything wrong. He's without sin. Neither was
any deceit in his mouth yet. And here's just an amazing statement. pleased the Lord to bruise him. Now that word pleased is pleased. It's pleased. You see, he was
delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God. That's what Acts 2 23 says. For
of a truth, against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people
of Israel, were gathered together for to do." whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. It pleased the Lord
to bruise him. You see, this is all a part of
God's purpose. This is why you were created. This is why the world was created.
This is the pleasure of the Lord. This is his purpose, to manifest
himself through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. it pleased
the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief. When thou,
this is what God did, when thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin. Now, that word offering for sin
is also translated by the word sin, just sin. When thou shalt
make his soul sin. It's also translated by the word
guiltiness. When thou shalt make his soul
guiltiness. That's the exact same thing as
what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5 21, for he hath made him to
be sin. Who knew no sin? that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. When thou shalt make
his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, the elect,
the seed of God. He shall see his seed. He shall
prolong his days. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. and the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand." You know, whatever the Lord does
is successful. Everybody he died for must be
saved. Whatever he does is successful. There isn't going to be anybody
in hell that he died for. No lack of success with him. All he died for must be saved. Verse 11, he shall see the travail,
the agony of a woman in birth, the agony he experienced. He
shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. I remember reading Charles Spurgeon's
sermon, and he was talking about if universal redemption were
true, the angels would say, this heaven is a sad place because
we see all these empty chairs here where Christ died for these
people, but they're not here. What a sad place. No, that's
not going to be the case. Complete satisfaction with what
he did. He's going to be satisfied. No
frustration, absolute satisfaction. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge. That's not
talking about by my knowledge of him. That's talking about
by his knowledge, his knowledge of the father, his knowledge
of what it takes to please the father and how he came to know
sin when he bear our sins in his own body on the tree. And
he knows sin much more acutely than you and I know anything
about it. We're so desensitized. We don't, but by his knowledge.
Shall my righteous servant justify me? Now what's justification? If Christ died for you, you don't
have any guilt. You don't have any sin. You never committed
anything wrong. You have nothing to feel guilty
about. You're justified. justified before God by his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many. And here's how he shall
bear their iniquities. The sins that I've committed,
how many million? How many million? Christ bore
in his own body. He bore the filth of them, the
iniquity of them, sins you've committed if you're a believer.
All the sins of every believer, He bore in His own body on the
tree. Verse 12, therefore, now this is His victory. Therefore will I divide Him a
portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong." Now, who are these great strong people? Everybody he died for. You see, as he is, so are we
in this world. 1 John 4, 17. Those who were
little and weak He has made great and strong by his mighty work
on Calvary's tree. And this is talking about his
victory. And he ends this chapter by giving
four reasons as to why these small, weak people will be made
great and strong. And he's going to divide the
spoil with him. Look at these four things he says in verse
12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and
he shall divide the spoiled with the strong, because number one,
he hath poured out his soul unto death. Number two, he was numbered
with the transgressors. Number three, he bared the sin
of many. And number four, he made intercession
for the transgressors. He willingly voluntarily poured
out his soul unto death. Jesus Christ, who is life, died. He really died. He poured out
his soul unto death. He's the only one to do that.
He's the only one who voluntarily died. You say, what about people
that committed suicide? They really were not dying the
way he was doing. He was giving death permission
to come and take him. Nobody else could do that. You're
going to die. You've got no choice. He's the only one who had the
choice. And he let death come. He poured out his soul voluntarily.
What's it say next? He was numbered with the transgressors. He was numbered. by God with
the transgressors. That's why he died. And he bear the sin of many. He bore my sin. And then it says
he made intercession for the transgressors. When he said,
Father, forgive them, they know not what they do, that wasn't
a request. He was speaking as equal with
the Father. Father, forgive them. My blood has made them perfect,
and your very justice demands their salvation. Father, forgive
them. They know not what they do. They're
so ignorant and stupid. This is an aggravation of their
guilt, not saying, you know, if they would have known better,
they wouldn't have. They're so ignorant. They don't know what
they're doing. Forgive them. Now, what is the message of the
Bible? Isaiah 53. It's the only message. It's the only message. Let's close by turning to a verse
in Galatians chapter six. Verse 12. As many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh. And isn't that what religion
is? Trying to impress other people. A fair show in the flesh. Look how godly I am. Look how
blessed I am. Look how obedient I am. Look
what I've accomplished. It's a fair show in the flesh. Nothing more. Nothing more. As many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. They want
you to keep the law. You need to keep the law. You
need to do better. But here's their only motive,
only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ. That's the reason they give you
all these rules and regulations. They don't want to suffer persecution
for the only message of the scripture. Verse 13, for neither they themselves
who are circumcised keep the law. These people that tell you
you need to keep the law, they don't keep the law. It's pure
hypocrisy. Nothing more. They don't keep
the law. But they desire to have you circumcised that they may
glory in your flesh. Look how I've influenced this
person. Look what a difference I've made in their life. I've
got them keeping the law. I've made them better. Now Paul says, but God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm not going to have confidence.
I'm not going to boast. See, I got I helped that person
in their life. I was a good influence with him. Paul said, no, no.
All I glory in, all I have confidence in. Boy, I can tell you that
right with him. All I have confidence in is the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. What about your preaching? No.
All I have confidence in is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. All I glory in I know that my
all is found in him saying, it is finished. The cross of Christ is not the
most important thing. It's the only thing. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would take your word and bless it to these hearts
of ours. Lord, we we're so prone to go
astray. We're so prone to go everyone
his own way. Lord, we've been guilty of not
esteeming thy blessed son. We pray for forgiveness. We We
take sides with you against ourselves and we pray that we might be
found in Christ. Lord, how we thank you for the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we ask that you would. Give
us the grace to make our determination to know nothing but Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, and that you would, by your Spirit, teach
us what it means to glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.
Dwayne, come lead us in closing in, please.