Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, I'm going to look at verses 1
to 6, and this passage of Scripture begins with, report. Now, we have a report from God. A margin says that
word report there means doctrine. Who has believed what we preach?
Who hath believed I report. Now here's the report. Here's the doctrine. It is the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Lord told his disciples,
Mark 16, 15, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature. Now, I've got a question for
you this morning. When I say the gospel, what do I mean? How about, you
know, I've said this before, somebody would say, I'd ask somebody,
I'd say, do you believe the gospel? Oh yeah, I believe the gospel. I'd say, okay, tell me what it
is. Tell me what the gospel is. And all of a sudden you're trying
to sit there and think, okay, I already know this. I know I
already know this. Listen, the gospel is God's report
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. When we hear the gospel, we hear,
who God Almighty is. This is who God Almighty is.
He's sovereign. This is who God is. He doeth
as He will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. And let me tell you who can stop Him, who can stay
His hand, who can grab His hand and say, Nobody. Nobody. And no one can stay His hand. He does as He will. What does He will? That's what
Moses asked Him. Lord, show me Your glory. Show me what You think. I've told you before. You look
up the word glory. Look it up and find out what
it means. It means to think. Attitude. What is God's glory? Here's what He told Moses. I'm
going to have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. That's His glory. When we hear
the gospel of God's grace, let me tell you what you're going
to hear. You're going to hear this every time. You're going
to hear that God is God. Let me tell you what else you're
going to hear. You're going to hear that man is depraved. Totally, totally, totally depraved. What does that mean? That means
that there is no part of his being that has the capability
to do anything good. You cannot do anything. Man is
totally depraved. When you hear the gospel of God's
grace, you're going to hear the gospel concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at Romans 1. Romans 1. Here's somebody saying, you know,
they'll be preaching on adultery, and it's wrong, and abortion's
wrong, and you know, murdering's wrong, and you know, this is
wrong. They say, brother, that's the
gospel. No, it's not. No, here's the gospel. Romans
1, 1-4, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore
by his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son Jesus Christ
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according
to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead.
When you hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, here's what
you're going to hear. The Lord Jesus Christ, who came
into this world, that's what He said concerning His Son Jesus
Christ, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh, He was made flesh and came into this world to live
far and to die far and to redeem and He finished the work. that
the Lord gave Him to do, and declared to be the Son of God
with power. How? God raised Him from the
dead. How was He declared to be? God raised Him, accepted what
He did. Let me tell you something. The gospel is concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ, and it does not pander or cater to the flesh. It does not tell men, there's
a little good in all of you, because there ain't nothing good
in any of us. Who hath believed our report? Now here's the answer. In Adam,
nobody. Who has believed our report as
being fallen creatures in Adam, in a man, a woman's unregenerate
state? Who has believed our report?
Well, here's what the Scripture says concerning who hath believed
our report. Psalm 14, 1, 2, 3. The fool has
said in his heart, there's no God. They're corrupt. They've done abominable works.
There's none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. Listen to what he said. This
is what God saw. They're all gone aside. They're all together
become filthy. There's none that doeth good.
No. Not one. Who's believed that
report? In Adam? Nobody. Nobody believes that. Nobody. But then the prophet, under the
inspiration of God's Spirit, says next, and to whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed? Ah, now we're going to find out
how they're going to believe. Who hath believed our report
in Adam? Nobody. None seek after God. There's
none good. None good. None good. Next time
you hear somebody say there's a little good in all men, that's
a lie. That's a lie. My recommendation,
don't sit and hear them again. They're a liar. They're a liar. You hear them once, shame on
them. You hear them twice, shame on
you. Shame on me. What does Scripture
say? Come out from among them and
be a separate, saith the Lord. I'm going to tell you something. This gospel is a divisive gospel. It's a divisive. Come out. Come
out. Who hath believed our reporting?
To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? To whom is Christ,
the power of God, revealed? Natural men. They don't see,
they don't hear, they don't understand how God can be just and justify
a sinner? I actually heard somebody actually
ask that question honestly. How can God be just in dealing
with sin? Now, if God's just, and men are
sinners, and they are, how can God be just and justify? Do you know what the word justify
means? This is what it means. The law looks at it and says,
no charge. There's no charge. How can God
be just in dealing with what the scripture says we are, and
then God also have His law look at a person and say, there's
no sin there. How can that be? How can that
be? Only found in the gospel. how God can be just in dealing
with His Son who was made sin for His people. That's it. When we say that the Lord was
made sin, let me tell you what that means. That hanging upon
that cross, for a people that he was dying for. He said, I
laid down my life for the sheep. That's John 10, 15. I laid down. Who did Christ die for? He died
for his elect. He died only for his elect. He
said, I laid down my life for the sheep. And then about 10,
12 verses later, some Pharisees came up to him and said, how
long are you going to make us doubt? Tell us plainly. He said, I told you plainly.
But he said, you don't believe because you're not my sheep.
You're not my sheep. He said, My sheep hear My voice.
I know them. They follow Me. Pretty plain. Almighty God must be revealed. He must be revealed. And He shall
reveal Himself to His people. His power, the arm of the Lord,
shall be revealed to His people. You say, how do you make good
on that? Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Who hath believed, I report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Verse 2 says,
for he shall grow up before him. The Lord Jesus Christ is going
to grow up before Jehovah 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." This report that God gives, who hath believed our report? This report declares that the
one who was the obedient lamb, Christ was made flesh. The lamb. the Lamb of God. That's what John the Baptist
said. How did John the Baptist know that that was the Lord Jesus
Christ? The scripture says the Spirit
of God told him. He said, upon the one that you see, the dove
descending, the Spirit of God descending as a dove, that's
the one. And John was out there baptizing
one day and stopped and he said, behold, The Lamb of God. There's God right there in human
flesh. That's Him. That's Him right
there. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world. This report declares that the
Lamb of God, the One that came into this world, grew up before
Jehovah as a humble servant He was just like a root out of
dry ground, just like it was ready to wither. There was nothing
outwardly about him that had any pomp or glory to it to the
natural eye. He looked just like other men. Men saw him just... Well, look
at John 6. Hold your place right there.
John 6, 42. How did they see him? John 6, 42. They said, is not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it
then that he's saying, I came down from heaven? They said,
wait a minute. Wait a minute. You're saying
that you came down from heaven. You're the carpenter's boy. We
know you. He shall grow up before Him as
a tender plant. Actually, I looked it up. It's
just like a sucker. A sucker. You grow tomato plants. That's what I thought of. You
take a tomato plant and it's got a branch in it, and it's
just got a little sucker, you know, you can just take it and
pull it off. That's how He appeared to people. There was no comeliness about
Him. There was nothing about Him,
no form or comeliness, that when we shall see Him, no beauty that
we should desire Him. There was nothing that appealed
to the flesh or insinuated. that he was anything other than
just a man. Just a man. That's the way he
appeared growing up before God. Humble, made himself of no reputation. Didn't go about trying to make
a name for himself, you know, to appeal to politicians. Verse 3 says he's despised. and
rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And we
hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we
esteemed him not." Despised and rejected of men. Turn to John. Hold your place.
Turn to John 10.30. John 10.30. Let me tell you why
he was despised. Let me tell you why he was despised.
It was not because of the works that he did. Listen, he fed 5,000
men plus the women and children. He gave sight to the blind. Blind Bartimaeus is sitting on
the side of the road there in Jericho and he heard that They were talking, people were
obviously talking, and he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was coming
by. And this is what he cried out,
Jesus thou Son of David. Lord, I know who you are. You're the promised one, the
Son of David. You're the Messiah. Jesus thou Son of David, have
mercy on me. Tried to quiet him, he cried
louder, Jesus thou son of David. The Lord stopped. The Lord stood
still. You know, I think about that.
Would he stand still if I called him? Lord, would you stop for
me? What do you want? He said, I
want to see. I want to receive Messiah. And
he healed him. He gave sight to the blind. He gave food to the hungry. He raised the dead. That boy,
his mama buried him on the way and he stopped. He spoke to that
boy that was in that coffin. He said, young man, I say to
you, I say to you, get up. And that boy got up, got up out
of that coffin. Can you imagine getting up and
you're sitting in a coffin? And he knew, that boy knew where
he was. I was on my way to the grave. They were getting ready
to put me under the ground. He was despised and rejected
by men. Why? Not because of what he did. John 10, 30 says this is the reason. that
he was despised and rejected. John 10, 30-33, he said, I and
my father are one. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him and Jesus answered them, many good works
have I showed you from my father, but which of those works do you
stone me? The Jews answered him saying,
for a good work we stone thee not, but listen, but for blasphemy. and because that thou being a
man makest thyself God. Do you know why man by nature
hates the gospel of God's grace? Because it declares God Almighty
to be sovereign. We're not going to stone you
because of what you did. Those were good things, right? Those
were good things. But because of what you said.
For blasphemy. What you said. This is the reason
that man by nature hates a believer. You say, well now people don't
hate believers. Well now the scripture says you'll be hated
of all men, for my namesake. Now somebody's lying. And it's
either men or God. And I can tell you this, it's
not God. He said you're going to be hated. Men are going to
hate you. If men ever hear what we're saying, if they ever hear
what we're saying, I put an article in the paper just about every
Saturday now, just thankfully. And I have a lot of people, I
have a lot of people, it amazes me how many people tell me, I
read your articles every week. And I thank them. Well, thank
you, I'm glad. They don't tell me what you think about them,
they just say they read them. But if they ever read and understand
what I'm saying, it goes this way to the flesh. And I'm telling
you, here's why men despise the gospel. Because it gives God
all the glory, all the praise, all the honor in salvation, in
providence, in creation. And it gives man none of it.
And it makes man to be the recipient of God's grace, or God to leave
him to himself. And God has the right, hath the
potter the right of the same lump, out of the same lump, out
of the same lump, to make one vessel under honor
and another under dishonor? Does God have the right to do
that? Yes, He does. Who art thou, O man, that replies against God?
Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have
you made me thus? He's despised and rejected of
men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. You know, there's times that
I can find myself being sorrowful. Things are not going well and
maybe I've got my feelings hurt. But that's not what the Scripture
says. He was a man of sorrows. He was a man of anguish and affliction
and pain From the cradle to the cross, he was a man of constant
sorrow. Constant sorrow, man of sorrows,
and acquainted, perfectly acquainted with grief. So hated, so despised,
so ungracious, was the general attitude of men toward him that
the Holy Spirit moved upon David to pin the words of our Lord
in Psalm 22.6. But I'm a worm and no man, a
reproach of men and despised of the people." Sorrows was his
constant companion. He was a man of sorrows all the
time. From his birth, Herod wanted
to kill Him. From His birth, Herod wanted
to kill Him. Kill Him. Until going to the
cross, their cry was, crucify Him. Crucify Him. Here is the Son of Man. God Himself. God's Lamb. Hanging. And they walked by Him and wagging
their heads. Saved others. Can't save himself. Right. That's right. One of those thieves hollered
at him and said, If you be the Christ, save yourself and us.
Man of sorrows. Oh, but there was one thief that said, When you enter into your kingdom,
would you remember me? All that cometh to me, I'll know
wise cast him out. He said today, today, just a
little while, you're going to be with me in paradise. Man of sorrows, acquainted with
grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised
and we esteemed him not. Yeah, absolutely. He was despised
and is despised by the world. But let me tell you something. Before the Lord called His people
out of darkness, we'd just like them. And still have an old nature
about us that does the same thing. People say, well, I used to have
thoughts, disrespectful thoughts of the Lord. I still do. I still do. And you that know
Him agree with me. I still do. I have disrespect
for Him. I don't give Him the honor that's
due. I don't speak to Him as I ought. I don't even know what
to pray for. I don't know how to pray. Look
at Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, 1-3. Ephesians chapter 2. And you have to quicken. who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation,
our constant walk in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the world, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others." And somebody said, well
that was used to, used to, used to. That was the way it used
to be. You tell the Apostle Paul that.
When he said, O wretched man, that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Despised, rejected of men, man
of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces
from Him. Despised Him, we esteemed Him
not. The Scripture says in verse 4, surely. He had borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken 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're healed." Here's the amazing thing. We came forth from our
mother's womb, liars and haters of God. Liars against Him. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for his people. Now, don't ever take a scripture,
two verses, like verse 4 and 5, and say, Surely he hath borne
our griefs, carried our sorrows, and we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, wounded for our transgressions. The rest of that
verse, don't ever take that verse of scripture and try to say that
he did that for everybody. Because I just quoted John 10,
15 when the Lord said, I lay down my life for the sheep. He's talking about somebody in
particular right there. He's talking about the chastisement. He bore our griefs. Whose griefs? The griefs of His
people. He carried our sorrows. He was
wounded for our transgressions. You try to apply that as universal
redemption, and I can tell you, you're going to have to say that
what our Lord said in John 10 was a lie. This right here sets forth what
He did for His people. Again, somebody stands up and
says, the Lord Jesus Christ died for everybody. Well, let me just
jot down again, John 10, 15. Because He did not die for everybody.
He said, I laid down my life for the sheep. I laid down my
life and He finished the work. And He put away their guilt.
And He answered to God's law. He satisfied justice for them. And we're accepted in Him. Because
now we have no guilt to answer for. No guilt, there is therefore
now, that's Romans 8, 1, just preached on that Wednesday. There
is therefore now no condemnation, no judgment, no wrath to them
which be in Christ Jesus. Some might say He paid for everybody's
sin, everybody's sins, He paid for everybody's sins. Well, if
God sends one man to hell and Christ paid for all their sins,
then God's not just. If He sends one man to hell,
He said, well no, but you have to accept it to make it effectual. Now we done got into works, hadn't
we? You can't get around it. It ain't gonna fly. That dog
ain't gonna hunt. You cannot say, you cannot say. If you say
that he paid for everybody's sins and put away everybody's
debt and satisfied the law for everybody and all you have to
do now is You just got into works of righteousness
that you've done. What you're saying is your will
made good on what God had offered. No. No. He had borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we're healed. We're healed. We're healed. Healed. Colossians 1.20 says, And having
made peace, He made peace through the blood of His cross by Him
to reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven. He made peace through
the blood of his cross, and there's no mention whatsoever of man's
works in there. Last verse, verse 6. 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. Of us all? I don't have to go
over that again. Who did He die for? Who did He
die for? All we like sheep have gone astray. All we like sheep. Now, I can
truthfully say that here we are. How many people is here? All
we like sheep have gone astray. There's a confession that sin
is common to all men. All we like sheep have gone astray.
All of us. God's elect? Yeah, like all we,
like sheep. All we, like sheep. All God's
people. We're all sinners. But there's
a peculiar sinfulness about each one of us too. Listen to this. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We've turned everyone to his own way. There is a sinfulness,
a peculiar sinfulness about each one of us, too, in our own peculiar
way. We're all individual rebels. Yes, all of us have gone. Yes,
we all. Yes, yes. But every one of us
can say, I'm guilty. I'm guilty. You know, that's
a big difference when I just get in with a big group of people
You know, I'm kind of mingling with the crowd, you know, kind
of giving me a little comfort, you know, I've got everybody.
But you single me out. And that's pretty particular.
That's just right down where the rubber meets the road. Right
there, you know. We've turned everyone to his
own way. I've sinned against God. I'm
a rebel against God. I have an aggravation about me. that I can't perceive in you.
But I can tell you this, I can see something about it in me.
I know we're all sinners, but I can see it in me, Carl. I give
up all pleas of self-righteousness. God, have mercy on me, the sinner. But mercy of mercy, the Lord
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. A margin says, made
the iniquity of us all to meet on Him. I said a while ago, I'll
say it again, this is the most marvelous thing. I cannot understand
the depth of it. I've said it so many times. He
hath made Him sin. Hanging upon that cross was the
holy, harmless, innocent Lamb of God, who mysteriously and
powerfully by the Father, He hath made him sin. You say, what was hanging on
that cross? Sin. Sin. I can't even say that without
thinking about Brother Scott. He put that finger right there,
Pat. He said, don't you ever, don't you ever, don't you ever
try to take away the glory of what God Almighty did in the
redemption of His people. Don't you ever try to water it
down. Don't you ever try to sidestep it. He hath made him sin, who
knew no sin. Perfect, perfect, perfect. He knew no sin, but he was made
sin. As I've said before, if I said
that I, as sin, was hanging there, somebody would say, oh wow, that's
substitution. He was made what I am, and God
dealt with him. God dealt with him in absolute
justice. And he put away, he plunged the
sword of his wrath into the Lord Jesus Christ and he consumed
it. He consumed the wrath of God for all for whom he died. And now, there's no more wrath. He put it away. All we like sheep gone astray,
we turned everyone to his own wake, and the Lord laid on him
the iniquity of us all." When he cried from the cross, it's
finished. It's finished. It's finished. When he was made sin, he was
made sin, and I bow as much as I know how. And with respect,
I wouldn't knowingly say anything disrespectful concerning our
Lord. But I tell you that when I try to say as respectfully
as I know how, I know what the Scripture is saying. I can't
say I understand the depth of it, but I know what it's saying.
And by the grace of God, I can bow to it. All we like sheep
gone astray, we've turned everyone to our own way, and the Lord
laid on him." Talking about what we do, what we are, what we've
done, and he said, and he dealt with him. Dealt with him. But
I can tell you this, for all that the Lord Jesus Christ died,
being made sin, for what he was made toward them,
Their guilt is never going to come up again, Ben. It's never
going to be brought up again. It's never going to be brought
up again. Not by God. Satan cues. Who can condemn us? God's justified
us. He said, I will remember their
iniquities no more. May God have mercy upon us and
teach us for Christ's sake.