Let's read from the second page of the hymn sheet. This is the prophecy of Isaiah and Isaiah 53. Very, very clear prophecy, some 750 years before Christ came of his sufferings and his death. And this one, 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 a 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 heard, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath 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 have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord had laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth, He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shewers 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. Can he please 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." That's Father reading of God's Holy Word. And I put on the front there, I'm not taking a specific verse for a text this afternoon. that Christ's sufferings and the blessings joined. Right the way through this chapter there is a description of the Lord's sufferings and they're intermingled with the benefits and blessings that come to us through those sufferings. But sometimes it is helpful to separate and to see clearly what the Lord's sufferings were and then see what the benefits and blessings there are to us. But seeing them joined together like this is a real reminder there is none of the sufferings of Christ that were for no purpose. Every one was needful to convey to the people of God the blessings that they need. Now the passage starts with two questions in verse one. The first is, who hath believed our report? And the second is, to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? And we would say that by nature, none of us will believe the report none would have the Lord reveal to them. No man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the Holy Ghost. It is God's work. And none cometh unto the Father but by me. No man knoweth the Son but the Father, and he to whom he will reveal him. And so the salvation of God Not only is it provided in the Lord Jesus Christ, but that it is revealed, and that Christ is revealed, is all of God. We know that we don't just need the Word of God, which we have, we need, like the apostles, to have the Holy Spirit tarry in the city of Jerusalem, until He be endued with power from on high. And so we look to the Lord to work not only what he did at Calvary but through the Spirit to convey that and to show his Son and reveal him to sinners. And so I want to think of the Christ's sufferings firstly and then go through the blessings that are joined with it, and also notice his seed, his people that he has seen in those sufferings. So if we look at verse 3, the first part of verse 3, it says he was despised and rejected of men. So there's the first aspect of Christ's sufferings, was what he suffered at the hands of men. He came to His own, His own received Him not. We are told here that we hid our faces from Him, we despised Him, we esteemed Him not. So there's the first aspect of Christ's sufferings, which would have been not just on the cross, but right the way through His life. Then we have the second aspect, which is in verse 4, that he is stricken of God. So firstly we have men, then we have God himself. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. And this really is the main part of Christ's sufferings. Yes, in a physical way he suffered the same as the two thieves on each side of him. In fact, you might say they suffered longer. They suffered broken legs. They suffered more in that way. But our Lord's sufferings were more than the scourge, the nails. All that was foretold in Psalm 22 that clearly shows, they pierced my hands and my feet, it tells of how his raiment was parted. They cast lots for his vesture. That was foretold a thousand years before Christ came, in particular details of exactly how it happened. And in the time of David, writing that prophecy by inspiration, the crucifixion was not known. That was not known as a punishment, as a means of death. So, we have man first, then we have smitten of God, but then we have in verse 5, our part, our sins, he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and verse 6, the Lord had laid on him the iniquity of us all. great aspects of Christ's sufferings was bearing our sins in His own body. We see Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, pressed down and amazed, sweating great drops of blood, crying, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will, thy will be done. The cup of bearing sins, the perfect, holy, pure Lamb of God, bearing filthy, evil, vile sins, that God cannot look upon iniquity without utter abhorrence, and yet He, not a sinner Himself, but bearing the sins of His people in His body, and then suffering the wrath of God due to those sins. And so this aspect of Christ's sufferings is set before us first of men, then of God, and then emphasized how He suffered, bearing actually our sins. Then we have in verse 7, how that He was oppressed and afflicted, He was brought as a land to the slaughter, He was brought from prison and from judgment, cut off out of the land of the living. And in verse 12, poured out His soul unto death, who is numbered with the transgressors. So we have the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ set forth. But then we have joined to them the benefits and blessings that come to the Church of God, that come to the people of God, those for whom He died, and those who will believe on His name. And those blessings we see In verse 4, the first part, He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. That's a blessing to view those sufferings what He suffered. He was bearing that which is ours. God is a just God, a holy God. He can't have His Son bearing them and then we bearing them. He can't have His Son under the wrath of God and we come under, as a believer, come under the wrath of God. God doesn't punish for sins twice, on His Son and then on His people. No, He is a substitutory offering. It is He instead of us. He redeems through His blood. He sets free by the sacrifice of Himself. Then in the end of verse 5, Gary clearly said, with his stripes we are healed. Well, we are still sinners, and even when we believe we are still sinners, sin still works in us, we still feel it. In fact, we feel it more than any people upon the earth. But we are healed in that we are not under the sentence of death anymore. That sin cannot destroy us. It cannot condemn us to hell anymore. and God will use it to work for good, so that under a sense of our sins we are drawn to Christ, we look to Christ, we desire to be free from sin. When death comes, we shall be free from this body, free from afflictions, free from sicknesses, free from sin, free from the tempting of the devil, and we shall be with Christ. And all the time we feel sin, As a reminder, we are not yet where God will intend to bring us. We are not yet at home. We are still in the wilderness. We are still this side of the grave. And so then we go on clearly in the end of verse 8, For the transgression of my people was he stricken. We are not left in any doubt as to why the Lord suffered, why he was stricken, why God struck him. For the transgression of my people, our sins, the people of God laid upon him. And then we have in verse 10, It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He put him to grief. And it's a good thing to remember this. You know when Moses was told at the end of the 40 years that he was to speak to the rock and to bring forth water for them, the waters of strife, the rock had already been struck many years before. Christ is only to be struck once. Christ, the rock of God, rock of ages, therefore me, only once. But Moses, he didn't sanctify the Lord, and he said, must I bring you water out of this rock? He rebels, and he struck the rock twice. Well, the Lord doesn't say to people, must I suffer for your sins? Must I suffer for your rebelliousness? Must I go through all this? He willingly, freely, God hath pleased to bruise him, and the Lord willingly came to suffer, not for good people, not for those that deserved it, but for those that didn't. Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. And so, it is beautiful to see the Lord's willingness and to suffer in the place of his people. So in verse 10, we see his people mentioned, he shall see his seed. And what was like this, a particular redemption of Christ, because He saw His people. He knew whose sins He was bearing. They were particular sins. He didn't bear the sins of Judas. He didn't bear the sins of those that were lost. He bore the sins of His people, a just weight and a just balance. And it was in love and willingness that He bore those sins. I lay down my life for the sheep, He said. And to the Jews that were attacking him and not believing in him, he said, Yea, not of my sheep, therefore ye receive not my word. If we want a token of being one of his sheep, one of the Lord's, it is receiving his word. It is believing in him, receiving him. We know our election by our calling. The Lord says in John 17, I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them. For it is a blessed thing if the Lord has given us his word, and we love that word, and that word is life and spirit and power to our souls. Man shall not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And so we have in verse 11, in the middle of that verse, by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. The Lord knew our sins. He knew what we were like. He knew what Israel was like even before he brought them out of Egypt. It didn't take him by surprise, all their rebellions, nor your sins, nor mine. It hasn't taken the Lord by surprise. The Lord knows His people. The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His. He knew them, thine they were, thou gavest them me. He knew them when they were chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world. He knew them when He suffered, and He knows them as they're born into time, and as they're born again of the Spirit. And He knows them when they come to their journey's end and when He takes them from time and brings them to be with Himself and brings them forever with the Lord. So this passage, a very beautiful passage of a mixture of the Lord's sufferings and the benefits and blessings that come to us through those sufferings.