Bibles to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Our God and our Father, we ask
you, beg of you, Lord, to lift our affection above the cares
of this world. Make us to behold our life. Make
us see Him and rejoice and know What grace and mercy you've shown
us. Lord, for his sake we ask these
things. In his name we ask it. Amen. All right, Isaiah 53, verse 7. 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 shearers is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth. We looked at this verse, March
of 2022, and that seems too long to go without preaching on a
verse that's so very, very important. It reveals so, so much. This verse declares why our Savior,
why we needed Him to be salvation, what we needed. We needed Him
to be the holiness, our holiness. We can't remotely imagine that
we contribute to our holiness. When you see this verse, you'll
realize that by His Spirit. the righteousness of his people.
That's what we need Christ to be. We can't, when you see this
and hear what he did, there's no way we could say righteousness
is by our works. We would fail miserably if it
was by our works. This shows us here that Christ
is truly all. We see his faithfulness. We see
his steadfastness, his immutability. We see his grace, his love. We see that he truly is salvation. That's what we see when we look
at this one verse. Now remember, no man took his
life. Our Lord laid down his life.
He was doing what was purposed from eternity. He's God, he's
the second person in the Trinity, and wicked hands were doing what
he had purposed from the beginning. He just took the restraints off
and let men do what was already in their heart. Now, first of
all, sinners oppressed and afflicted him. Oppressed means to smite,
to press hard, to exact with demanding pressure. Afflicted
means to mishandle, it means to abuse. This is what sinners
did to Christ all his days. It's not just at the end. Sinners did this to him all his
days. When he entered his public ministry,
it started and it increased. It just increased and increased
in intensity. Back up there in verse three,
he's despised and rejected of men. and that was the whole of
his life on this earth. It was not only wicked, irreligious
men that did this. It was the ultra-religious Jews,
the Pharisees and scribes. They sought every way they could
to declare him guilty. Every way they could. They wanted
to find a reason to kill him. They sent men pretending to be
sincere, asking him questions, but it was just simply to try
to entangle him in his talk. They tried to catch him breaking
the law of God, and two or three times they accused him of breaking
the law. He's the giver of the law. He's
God who gave the law, and man is trying to accuse him of breaking
the law. They sought false witnesses against
him, And then after he permitted them to arrest him, they really increased in this
oppression and this affliction. With reproaches, with bodily
injury, they slapped him, they spit in his face, they mocked
him and taunted him. And he's the chosen, anointed,
Christ of God. That's who He is. He is the only
way sinners can be saved. And this is how sinners responded
to Him. He is the head of God's elect. He's the head of the church.
He's the salvation God's provided for His people. And that's how
we treated the Prince of Life. He came to sanctify His people. He's the head. He's the one representing
all God's elect. He is the substitute of His people. And He came to sanctify us. He
came to make us holy. To make His people purity. That's what He came to do. So
everything that He suffered, He's doing it by the will of
God. Fulfilling the will of God. He's
doing it from a holy heart. He has to be holy. He has to
be holy the whole time that he's doing this for his people. He
came to make us righteousness, so every thought, word, and deed
had to be absolutely righteous. We're talking about from the
womb all the way to the grave. He had to be holy and righteous,
a perfectly holy nature, a perfectly holy heart. with absolutely no
sin and never ever have an unrighteous thought. So from the womb, he
is representing his people. He is everything we need from
the conception when the Lord created a body for him and he
took that body until his last breath. Now, if you had been
Hounded like he was and and men were Accusing you falsely, and
they were spitting in your face And they were plucking out the
hairs of your beard and they were doing everything they did
to our Savior How would you have done? How would you have done? How would we have handled this
we would we've been? Without seeing would we would
we have had no unholy thought no unrighteous thought and I
say thoughts because That's what, it's only a thought. It doesn't
have to come out in words or deeds. It's just the thought
is unrighteous and unholy. We're guilty. How well would we have done?
Would there have been any impure, unrighteous thoughts in our heart?
Would there have been any anger, any guile? I don't ask you about sinful,
words or deeds, because we're talking thoughts. We're just
talking thoughts. We would have done far, far worse.
We would have completely failed miserably. It wouldn't have taken
near what it took, what he underwent. We come into this world already
guilty and already corrupt in our nature. But even as believers,
even as as sanctified believers, how would we have handled that?
We can't look to our works, can we? We can't look to ourself.
We know that. The very sin nature that we see
in these people is our sin nature. The fact is, everything that
was done to our Savior, to put him on that cross to save
his people, everything that men did is why he had to save his
people, because that's what we are, that's our nature, that's
exactly what we are. You'll hear men say, if I was
there, I wouldn't have done that to the Lord. No, you would have,
we would have. Peer pressure, all your religious
friends are saying this, we'd have been right there with them. So that's the first thing, this
is what we are, this is what we did to Christ, and yet, threw
it all. He had to be perfectly holy,
perfectly righteous, and that's what he was. It's the second
thing I'm gonna show you. He didn't have one sinful thought. Not one sinful thought. We're
talking about in the heart, in the thought. You know, the scripture says,
out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Look what it
says, verse seven, yet he opened not his mouth. 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 shearers
is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Now he spoke. He did speak. but he never spoke a sinful word,
not a reviling word, no sinful deeds. He had a holy heart and
his thoughts were holy and his deeds and his words and his thoughts
were righteous. Come with me to Matthew 26. Matthew
26, verse 59. Now the chief priests, the chief
priests and elders and all the council sought false witness
against Jesus to put him to death. These are the cream of the crop
in religion. The Sanhedrin, the council, the
chief priests, the elders, and they're seeking false witness
against our Lord. But they found none, yea, though
many false witnesses came, yet found they none. And at the last
came two false witnesses and said, this fellow said, I'm able
to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.
And the high priest arose and said unto him, answerest thou
nothing? What is it which these witness
against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered
and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God. That's oppression. That's exacting, demanding with
pressure. I adjure thee by the living God. He is the living God. And he
says to him, I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell
us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Now it would
have been sin right here for him not to answer. It would have
been sin. They ask him, tell us whether
you the Christ, the son of God. It would have been sin for him
not to speak here. And if he speaks here and answers
that, it's gonna enrage his accusers to wanna kill him. And they will
kill him. Jesus said to him, thou hast
said. Nevertheless, I say unto you,
hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand
of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest
rent his clothes, saying he has spoken blasphemy, sent this man
into a rage. What further need have we of
witnesses? Behold, now you've heard his
blasphemy. What think ye? And they answered
and said, he's guilty of death. Then did they spit in his face,
and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their
hands, saying, prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that
smote thee? Now that's before rulers, that's
before the most powerful in religion, that is with a heavy, weighty
oppression upon him, and he never said a word in rebellion, he
never had a sinful thought, unholy thought, And then we see, right
after that, we see the Apostle Peter before a damsel, to now
that he even knew the Lord. That's us. That's how we'd have
fared in this whole deal. But far, far worse, brethren,
far, far worse. We know how they danced around
the foot of the cross and mocked Him and taunted Him and all the
other things, and we could go on and on with that. But far
worse than any of that is the oppression of God making him
to bear the weight of all the sins of all his people, and the
affliction that came from the hand of God's justice upon him. Verse six said, all we like sheep
have gone astray, all God's people, and we've turned everyone to
his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us
all. Now that was the worst The worst
affliction was bearing the holy, just hand of God. God he loved, God he represented,
God he was serving, the holy, just judge. This one who never
knew sin, bearing the sin of his people and then experiencing
the hand of God in holy justice upon him. That's worse than any
other thing he bore. Any other thing he bore. and
yet he opened not his mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before shearers is done, so he openeth
not his mouth. Now I want to consider why. Why? Why did he not open his mouth?
Why was the Savior silent? First of all, number one, it's
because before creation, He willingly entered covenant with the Father
to be the Lamb of God. To be the Lamb of God. Go with
me to Genesis 22. Genesis 22. Verse eight. You know Isaac and
Abraham. Abraham's going up the mountain.
He has Isaac. God's told him go up and sacrifice
his only son. Offer him up for a burnt offering,
his only son. And Abraham's going up that mountain
with him and Isaac says, here's the wood, here's the fire, where's
the lamb? Verse eight. And Abraham said,
my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And so they went up that mountain,
both of them together. Abraham bound his son, on that
altar, and Isaac's a grown, he's a grown man. He willingly submitted
to this. And he's bound on that altar,
and Abraham rears back the knife, and just before he slays his
son, he did in his heart, but just before he physically slays
his son, the Lord called out to him from heaven and stopped
him. And verse 13 says, and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked.
And behold, behind him a ram caught in a thorn thicket by
his horn. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son, a substitution, in the stead of his son. And Abraham called
the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said to this day, in
the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. And you look to Mount
Zion, you lift up your eyes and behold, in Mount Zion, one day
John the Baptist lifted up and beheld and pointed to the Lord
Jesus and said, behold the Lamb of God. Here he is. This is the
one Abraham was speaking about. On Mount Calvary, you look there,
you lift up your eyes to the cross and you behold that ram
caught in a thicket with that crown of thorns on his head and
you behold the Lord God providing Himself a lamb. That's who you
behold on that cross. In the stead of all God's elect,
in the stead of His people, is God providing Himself a lamb.
And so in perfect faithfulness to His covenant promise to the
Father, as the surety of His people, as the head of His people,
He's brought as a lamb to the slaughter. and as a sheep before
her shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. That's
why, that's number one. He was doing what he did for
God, faithfully to God as he promised for his people. All right, number two, go with
me to Psalm 69. Number two, our substitute opened
not his mouth to defend himself because when he made him sin
for us who knew no sin. Christ really bore the sin of
his people, and therefore, he was really guilty before God. And rather than defend himself,
he made perfect confession to God, and he cast himself upon
God to save him in perfect faith, and he interceded on behalf of
his people in perfect love. Look here, Psalm 69.1. This is
Christ. Save me, O God, for the waters
are coming to my soul. He cast himself upon God. Save
me, O God, for the waters are coming to my soul. I sink in
deep mire where there is no standing. I'm calm in the deep waters where
the floods overflow me. I'm weary of my crying, my throat
is dried, my eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that
hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. They
that would destroy me being my enemies wrongfully are mighty.
Then I restored that which I took not away. Oh God, thou knowest
my foolishness and my sins are not hid from thee. Let not them
that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. Let not those that seek thee
be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel, because for thy sake
I have borne reproach, shame hath covered my face. How much
sin do you reckon is in our confession of our sin? How much sin do you
reckon is in our faith toward him. How much sin is in our love
for one another and for him? Paul said, when I would do good,
evil is present with me. There's enough sin to condemn
us all in our confession of our sin. Before God, there is none. There is none. because Christ
put away the sin of our confession by his perfect confession. He
put away the sin of our faith by his perfect faith. He put
away the sin that's in our love by his perfect love interceding
for his people. In fact, he made his people perfect
entirely by his perfection. by his perfection. He said to
God, I bear this for thy sake. You know what that means? That
means he was fulfilling God's will. When he came, he said,
thy law is in my heart, O God, I delight to do thy will. He
was doing this for the sake of God. By the witch will, we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all time. He perfected us. He did the will
of God for us. That's what he was doing. and
he restored to us that which he took not away. Look over at
Matthew 22. Somebody came to him one time.
This was one of those deceitful lawyers trying to entangle him
in his words. And they came to him and asked
him, what is the great commandment in the law? Matthew 22 and verse
37. Jesus said to him, Jesus said
to him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and
great commandment, and the second is likened to it. Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets. Look over at 1 Timothy 1. And you see that, he said, loving
God perfectly with all your heart, soul, and mind. And he said,
and loving your neighbor as yourself, perfect love. He said, that's
the fulfillment of the law. That's the righteousness of the
law. Look here what Peter said in 1 Timothy 1 and verse 5. He said, now the end of the commandment
is charity. Same thing Christ said, the end
of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and a good
conscience and faith unseen. Perfect faith and perfect love.
Christ said it's the end of the law for righteousness. So when
Christ was on that cross, this is the third reason he was silent.
in perfect love to God his Father, and in perfect love to his people. He would not speak. He's fulfilling his covenant
promise. He's representing all his people
as the Lamb of God, in perfect confession to God, in perfect
faith to God, in perfect love to God. In that perfect love to God the
Father and to his bride, from his pure heart, he opened not
his mouth. He brought as a lamb to the slaughter
and as a sheep before shearers is dumb, so he opened not his
mouth. That was the perfect love to
God and to his neighbor that he was declaring is the perfect
righteousness of the law. Paul said that perfect love's
the end of the law. Out of a pure heart, perfect
love to God and to your neighbor out of a pure heart's the end
of the law. That's the righteousness the law demands. Romans 10, go
there with me. That's what this means. Christ
did not open his mouth. He suffered that till he cried
and said, it is finished, and gave his spirit to the Father,
and here's what that means. Paul said, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved,
for I bear them record. They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, that he requires perfect love to God and to your
neighbor from up your heart, they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God
for Christ is the end of the commandment for righteousness
to everyone that believes it. That's what he fulfilled on the
cross, the perfect righteous love of the law, the perfect
faith of the law. And so what does he say there
in Romans 10? The righteousness of the law says, now, if you're
gonna fulfill it, you gotta have a perfectly pure heart, you gotta
perfectly love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and perfectly
love your neighbor as yourself. We see what it requires. He's
the only one that did that, Jeff. Nobody ever did what Christ did. He's the only one that ever fulfilled
the righteousness of the law. But what does the righteousness
of faith say? Verse eight, the word is nigh
thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of
faith which we preach. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Even
though there's gonna be sin mixed with your confession, even though
there's gonna be sin mixed with your faith, he's the perfect
righteousness that we must have. you shall be saved. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation, because the scripture says, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. They'll not be made
ashamed for trusting him, ever. And they won't be ashamed to
confess him and say, he's all my salvation. Is that what you
say? Brethren, I'm telling you, I
was on the other side of that equation. I'm the one that did
all the oppressing and afflicting. That's me. I need Him to have
done all that for me. And that's the only hope I have,
Sarah. I don't have another hope at
all of being accepted of God, but Christ my Savior. That's
so of you. That's so of all His people.
We trust Him alone. That's why the Lord Jesus was
silent. He did it for His people. He
did it for God. And He's everything you need. Believe Him. Trust Him. Father,
thank You so. Oh, we thank You for sending
Your Son. Thank You for providing the very righteousness that You
require. We're so thankful, Lord, that
Christ our Savior He was faithful to His covenant promise. We're
thankful that He's faithful in bearing our
sin and our shame, bearing our curse, that He interceded for
us, that He loved you with perfect love and loved us with perfect
love. He was perfectly faithful. Lord,
we are nothing but sinners. We drink iniquity like water. We can't pass a thought without
sinning. Lord, what amazing grace you've
shown us. What love and grace, mercy, and
what justice. It's just love and just mercy,
Lord. Thank you, Father. Our Lord, we thank you. Thank
you for laying down your life for us. Forgive us, Lord, for
looking to ourselves and forgive us for sinning. Forgive us for
thinking that we can come to you by anything that's in us. Thank you and we beg of you,
Lord, forgive our sin for Christ's sake alone. Keep us looking to
Him and trusting Him. It's in His name we ask it. Amen.