Alright brethren, let's turn
to Isaiah chapter 53. This past Friday we had the children's
fourth Friday class. And we've been looking at TULIP. And so this was the third class
we've done. And so this past week, or this
Friday, we looked at limited atonement. Limited atonement. Now, limited atonement is also
called particular redemption. It teaches that Christ's obedience
unto death, by Christ's obedience unto death, He made atonement. He accomplished redemption only
for God's elect. That's who he laid down his life
for and he accomplished the redemption of God's elect. Now Satan attacks
this doctrine more than any other doctrine. His preachers attack
this doctrine more than any other doctrine and here's why. This
is the gospel. This is the heart of the gospel. The very reason Christ came forth
was to manifest that God is the just judge of heaven and earth. God is righteous. He always does
right. This was why Christ came. It's
why He came. Now, most people you're going
to speak with in religion under the umbrella of Christianity
are going to say that they believe limit universal atonement, universal
redemption. And by that they mean that Christ
died for all sinners. He died for all sinners, they
say, and made it possible for all to be saved. And they say
that a sinner, now they say by the grace of God, A sinner has
to be regenerated. There's various, some teach one
thing or the other, but I'm going back to Jacobus Arminius from
where the Armenians came from. And they believed that you had
to be regenerated by the grace of God, but once you're regenerated,
you can either accept Christ or reject Christ by your free
will. And if you accept Christ, you
make His blood, to have accomplished something for you. If you reject
Him, you make His blood to have been shed in vain for you. Now, that's blasphemy. That is heresy. That exalts the
sinner and it counts the blood of Christ vanity. It exalts the
sinner. It makes man the cause of his
salvation. That's completely taking the
offense out of the cross. When Paul said, if I preach circumcision,
I wouldn't be persecuted. Because then the offense of the
cross is ceased. He said, if I put one thing in
the hand of the sinner, if I made the sinner to be the cause of
one thing in his salvation. And what the universal atonement
doctrine is doing is putting the whole work in man's hands.
It's saying you're the cause by which Christ's blood is made
to have saving efficacy. That's heresy that denies Christ. By Christ's obedience unto the
death of the cross, He made atonement. He accomplished redemption for
all God's elect and for that reason none shall be lost. Now,
I want you to see this in Isaiah 53, beginning of verse 10. 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. I'm going to give him an inheritance
with me, God says. I'm going to give it to Christ.
And He shall divide the spoiled with the strong. He's going to
give everything that's His inheritance to His people. And He's made
strong. Because He's poured out His soul
unto death. And He was numbered with the
transgressors. And He bared the sin of many.
And He made intercession for the transgressors. Now, every
word of this is so important, we're going to take it line by
line, phrase by phrase, and look at this. Verse 10 says, it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. Now, from eternity, God the Father
chose His Son to be the substitute of His people, to be the head
of His people. who would come forth and represent
His people and die in the place of His elect. And Christ entered
covenant, the Son of God entered covenant with the Father to accomplish
this work. And Scripture says, He became
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The works were
finished from the foundation of the world in the mind and
purpose of God. Now wicked hands nailed Him to
the cross. Sinners nailed Him to the cross.
And sinners, that was their sin and their guilt for doing it.
But they only did what God had determined before to be done. Scripture says, Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you've
taken Him by wicked hands and have crucified and slain. They
were doing what God purposed to be done from eternity. Before
His people ever fell into sin, God had provided a Savior. A Savior. Christ said in Proverbs
8.23, I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the
earth was. He's wisdom. And that's Him speaking. I was set up. from everlasting,
from the beginning or ever the earth was. Get this now and don't ever forget
this. No sinner, no man is free from
the sovereign rule of God. None are. None are. He's in full control of all things
and all men. All things that come to pass
in time, God purposed them in eternity. and He brought them
to pass in time. The wrath of man shall praise
God, and the remainder thereof shall He restrain. Whatever evil,
whatever wickedness men do, it's their fault. Men did it. But
the only reason God allowed it to be brought forth is because
He's bringing glory to His name by it. And the rest He restrains. That means He's in sovereign
control of everything. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. This is how satisfaction was
made. This is how God's law was satisfied
and God was pleased. It was His purpose and His pleasure
to bruise His Son in place of His people. Look at verse 10
again. He says, When thou shalt make
His soul an offering for sin, John Gill points this out, this
is important. He said, not his soul only, but
his body also, even his whole human nature in union with his
divine person. For it was he himself that was
offered up in the room instead of his people to make atonement
and satisfaction for their sin. So when he says here his soul,
he's talking about his whole person, his whole body. God is
righteous. God is righteous. And His law
must be honored. Justice must be poured out on
all sinners. Because we have transgressed
His law. And God's just. And He's the
just judge of heaven and earth. And God always does right. So, every sinner is going to
have to die under the justice of God's law. Everyone. When
Moses saw His glory, This is what God said. He said, I'm the
Lord, I'm the Lord God, I'm merciful and gracious, I'm long-suffering,
I'm abundant in goodness and truth, I keep mercy for thousands,
forgiven iniquity and transgressions and sin. And I will by no means
clear the guilty. I will by no means clear the
guilty. And you think about the love. and the mercy of God, and
the importance of His justice being satisfied, that He made
His Son to be the sacrifice and offering for the sin of His people. That is amazing love. We've been going through Romans
3, one of the most important passages in all of the Bible.
Let's go there again, Romans 3. One of the most important
passages in the whole Bible is right here. Romans 3, I guess
every time I preach I say this, you have to, you have to. You can't preach the gospel if
you don't say this. Romans 3.21, Now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. Look at verse 25. Whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past, to remit the sins of His people under that first legal
covenant of works. Look at this. Through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness,
that He might be just. and the justifier of him which
believeth in Jesus. Christ came in the fullness of
time just like He agreed to do and He voluntarily gave Himself
in the place of His people to be our sin offering, to be the
offering to God for our sin. When thou shalt make His soul
an offering for sin, He said in Psalm 40, I keep wanting to
preach that psalm. We are going to sooner or later,
Lord willing. But He said there, sacrifice
an offering thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Remember, He is the willing bondservant.
Remember how the willing bondservant had his ear opened? He said,
He has opened mine ear. And He said in Isaiah 50, The
Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither
turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters,
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from the shame and the spitting. He said in Hebrews 9.26, Now
once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away
sin, by the sacrifice of Himself. Thou shalt make His soul an offering
for sin. Go to Hebrews 10. Here's the
commentary on Psalm 40, Hebrews chapter 10. He says in verse 1, The law having
a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the
things. Don't ever let anybody tell you
that what took place in those ceremonies is exactly what took
place on the cross. No, sir. What took place in those
ceremonies was a shadow. What took place on the cross
is the very image that it foreshadowed. Those sacrifices can never with
those sacrifices which they offered every year continually make the
comers thereunto perfect. Verse 5, Wherefore when he cometh
into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared made. Our text says, Thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin. He prepared a body for his
son. And the Son of God came down
and took that body that God prepared for him and became the God-man. God-man. And it says, "...and
burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure."
It said it pleased God to bruise him when thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sin. But he said, here in those burnt
offerings and those sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure,
no satisfaction, no atonement, no redemption, no propitiation
was ever made. Then said I, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. The whole volume of the book,
all those shadows, Christ said, were talking about me. Here I
am. I've come to do Thy will, O God. Look at verse 10. And by Christ's
will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once. When thou shalt make His soul
an offering for sin. Now, here's the sin offering.
Now, when we go and look at those shadows, every offering for sin,
God said it had to be spotless. had to be spotless. They had
to look that lamb over meticulously, make sure there wasn't even a
hair that was a different color. Make sure there wasn't any blemish
in that lamb whatsoever. And here's the very image of
what it pictured. Christ is the righteous and holy
God-man. He's righteous and He's holy.
He is the spotless Lamb of God. He laid down His life just for
the unjust that He might bring His people to God. It was He
who knew no sin. He who knew no sin. And as we
see in the shadow, once the sin offering was brought, and that
spotless sin offering was proven to be fit, Then the high priest
put his hands on the head of the offering and the sin of Israel
was transferred to the offering in shadow. In shadow. Not in the very image, in shadow. The same as Christ had to know
no sin in order to be the offering, He had to be made sin in order
to manifest the righteousness of God in pouring out justice
on Him instead of His people. However you want to say He was
made sin, However, men say He was made sin that are speaking
true. However, they're saying He was
made sin, the reason they're saying it is because to manifest
the righteousness of God, He had to be the sin bearer. God will not pour out justice
and it's impossible to manifest righteousness if He poured out
justice on a man who was not made guilty before the law. Impossible. Everywhere in Scripture you find,
and don't forget this now, He Himself knew no sin. He didn't become a sinner. He
was not a sinner. He Himself knew no sin. Everywhere this is spoken of,
you find that. He knew no sin. But also it says,
He was made sin. He bore in His body the sins
of His people. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity
of His people. Go back to Isaiah 53 and look
at verse 4. Here it is plainly. Isaiah 53 verse 4, Surely He
hath borne our griefs, He has borne them as a heavy load and
carried them. all our sovereigns. Matthew,
in the Gospels, they say this was fulfilled as He was healing
people. And He would heal them of their
diseases and things like that. How could He do that? How could
He do that? Remember when He asked the Pharisees
that day, which is easier, to say, rise up and walk, or thy
sins be forgiven thee? Much easier for Christ to say,
rise up and walk. But to a man, they thought, that's
the hard thing. What he was telling them was,
the reason that I can say rise up and walk and they're healed
is because I'm going to take the sin that caused this sorrow
and this grief and I'm going to pay for it and satisfy justice
for it. Yet, We did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, or afflicted. Here's how pious and holy a natural
man is if you leave him to himself and just let him take the things
of God and do what he will with it. We said he's getting what
he's deserved because he blasphemed God, said he was God. But here's what was taking place.
He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bearing the transgressions
of His people. And for those transgressions,
He was wounded. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisements, the stripes,
the whip of our peace was upon Him. And with His stripes, we're
healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to His own way. And the Lord has laid
on Him the iniquity of us all. And he cried from the cross,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? But thou art holy. Thou art holy. Mercy and truth. God said, I'm going to reserve
mercy for thousands. But I'm not going to clear the
guilty. mercy and truth were meeting
together and God's very righteousness was being declared on that cross. There was two lambs on the day
of atonement back in the shadow. You remember if you go read Leviticus
16, it says the first, they were to cast lots on those two lambs
that were brought, those two goats and the first one was the
Lord's lamb. It was to make atonement. It
was to declare Him just and tight. The second one was for the people. It had all the sins put on it
and a fit man led it away into a land not inhabited. And then that fit man came back
and he had to ceremonially be washed before he could even come
back into the camp. What was that picture? Picture
in Christ Jesus our scapegoat who took all the sins of His
people and He Himself is the fit man. He's the scapegoat bearing
our sin and He's the fit man who's holy and spotless. And
He's taking that offering and those sins away and was cut off
out of the land of the living so that all the sins of His people
are gone. And He declared God to be the
justifier. He's both of those lambs. He's the lamb that made atonement,
accomplished redemption, satisfied God's law and declared God just. And He's the lamb who took away
the sins of His people, the scapegoat, and declared God the justifier. Now, let's look at the accomplishment. What's going to be the result
of all this work? Verse 10. Isaiah 53.10 says,
next phrase says, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His
days. Who are His seed? Who did He
do all this for? The limited in limited atonement
means only for God's elect. The particular in particular
redemption means only for God's elect. Look at verse 8, Isaiah
53 verse 8 at the last phrase. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. That's who we're talking about.
God's people. God's elect. Since Christ made
atonement, since He accomplished redemption for all God's elect,
God sees His Son. That's His seed. He sees His
Son and God is satisfied. He's satisfied. He sees and He
shall see all His seed, all His people that God gave to Him.
He is going to see all of them. Justified, regenerated, sanctified,
and glorified. Every one of them. And He shall
prolong His days. God raised His seed, His Son,
from the grave. to sit at His right hand and
made Him head over all things to the church, giving Him all
glory just like He promised that He might fill all in all His
church. And you know what happened? Christ
prolonged our days when He arose and sat down at God's right hand.
Because Ephesians 2 says, even when we were dead in sins, we
didn't contribute nothing to this. We were just dead in sins.
We hadn't even been born into this world yet. Even when we
were dead in sins, hath God quickened us together with Christ. That
means by grace you're saved. It wasn't of our work. It was
all of grace. And He hath raised us up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. When He prolonged
His days, He saw His seed and He prolonged the days of all
that He died for. Every one of them. You see, God's
telling us, you're not making this effectual. He made it effectual. Isn't that good news? That it's
not up to you? He didn't just make it possible.
God said He accomplished it. Look at this. Why did He do it?
He said that in the ages to come, in the years to come, in all
the generations to come, so that He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
That means He's going to reveal this to His people. And so he
says in Isaiah 53.10, here's the result of what he accomplished
on the cross. He says in verse 10, the pleasure
of the Lord is going to prosper in Christ's hand. It prospered in Christ's hand
on the cross. He accomplished redemption. And
it's still prospering in His hand. What pleases Him? We've looked at this before.
Scripture says the Lord will not forsake His people for His
great name's sake because it has pleased the Lord to make
you His people. The pleasure of the Lord is going
to prosper in Christ's hand. He's not going to forsake any
of His people and or lose any of His people. What else pleased
God? It pleased the Father that in
Christ should all fullness dwell and everything that His people
need to come into God's presence glorified and live forever with
Him as righteous and holy as God is righteous and holy is
in Christ. And He's going to prosper in
making us entirely new. Righteous and holy. What else
pleased God? It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. In Ephesians 1, he said
he gave him all power as the God-man over everybody and everything
in heaven and earth and all things under the earth. He's head over
all things everywhere. Think he's going to have trouble
getting the gospel into his people? I don't believe he is. The pleasure
of the Lord is going to prosper in his hand. And it pleased God
to save by the foolishness of preaching. Well, you know, Spurgeon
said, that's usually the method he used. Yeah, but God said,
that's the method he uses. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. You're going to have
to decide. Are you going to believe an uninspired man or one that
God inspired to write those words? Let God be true and every man
a liar. What else pleased God? Paul said, when it pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb, He called me by His grace
and revealed His Son in me. I reckon Christ won't have any
trouble when He sends that gospel, sending the Holy Spirit and revealing
Himself to His people and calling us by His grace. The pleasure
of the Lord will prosper in His hand. What else pleases the Lord? Without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. Faith is a gift of God. It's
not of our works. We'd boast if it was. It's of
God's grace. and the pleasure of the Lord
is going to prosper in Christ's hand. He's going to give His
people faith. When He enters into you in Spirit,
into His child that He redeemed in Spirit, that's the giving
of life, that's the calling of His people, and that's the giving
of faith to His people. He sanctifies the whole place
when He enters in. Well, what else pleased the Lord? He's made known to us the mystery
of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed
in Himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of times when
this whole thing is over with, He's going to gather together
in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which
are on earth even in Him. That means He's going to gather
all His people in Him. And the pleasure of the Lord
is going to prosper in Christ's hand. What else pleases the Lord? Christ said, My little flock,
now you that He's already prospered doing this for, listen to this.
And next time you start looking at yourself and you start worrying
about whether or not you're His and you're going to persevere,
whatever. You remember this right here,
what He said. Fear not, little flock. It's God's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. And the pleasure of the Lord
is going to prosper in Christ's hand. You're going to have God's
kingdom. You that are His. Alright, verse 11. Isaiah 53,
verse 11. 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.
His people are the travail of his soul. Christ's people are
the travail of his soul. He travailed like a woman in
childbirth, to bring forth His children. On the cross, He travailed. Now, you men can testify to this. Our wives travailed in childbirth. They travailed in childbirth.
But as soon as they took my child and laid that child in her arms,
she was satisfied. She was satisfied. Christ is satisfied by His work
for His people and by His work in His people. And here's why.
Here's why God's so pleased with it. Here's why Christ is satisfied
with it. Remember, it pleased the Lord
that Christ have all the preeminence. Listen to this. Look back there
at that text now. Verse 11. He's going to be satisfied
because all His children exalt His knowledge in saving us. His knowledge. Because He's made
wisdom to us. It's by His knowledge. We give
Him all the glory for the wisdom of saving us. And that satisfies
Him. That gives Him all preeminence.
That satisfies the Father and the Son. Look here, He's going
to be satisfied that they glorify Him as their righteousness. God
said, by His knowledge, My righteous servant. We declare He's our
only righteousness. He is God's righteous servant.
He's going to be satisfied that they'll praise Him for justifying
them. He said there, He justified many. We say the only way we were justified
from our sins is by the blood of Christ. And that's satisfying
to God. He wanted His Son to have all
the preeminence. He's going to be satisfied that
they're going to all exalt Him for establishing the law and
perfect righteousness for us. He said, therefore, He shall
bear their iniquities. And we praise Him that He came
and gave Himself spotless to bear our sin and bear our punishment
and put it all away. and he'll be satisfied when he
presents to him all unto himself a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and without blemish. As a young man marrieth a virgin,
so shall thy sons marry thee. As the bridegroom rejoiceth over
the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. And then look at this. Verse 12, Therefore will I divide
him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the small
with the strong. Christ has given Christ all his
people, all honor, all glory, just like he promised in the
covenant. He has given him all his inheritance. And Christ divides
that inheritance with all his people. We are joint heirs with
Christ. Now, here's why all this is true. Here's why God says He's the
heir and we're joint heirs with Him. Here's why God said I'm
going to give Him this and He's going to give it to His people.
Here's why, right here. Men say, He only accomplished it, it's
only effectual if you make it effectual. Let's see what God
said. Look here, here's why. Because,
doesn't that mean this is why? Because, number one, He poured
out His soul unto death because He was numbered with the transgressors. Number three, because He bare
the sin of many. And number four, because He accomplished
our redemption. He made intercession for the
transgressors. In other words, because just
like God said in Isaiah 42, He did not fail. And He shall not. That's the doctrine of limited
atonement. That's the doctrine of particular
redemption. You see how He gives Christ all the glory? That's
why His people preach it. Alright, let's stand together. Father, how we do praise Your
holy name and thank You and wish we could do it perfectly, wish
we could do it as it ought to be done. That You gave Your Son,
purposed all this, arranged all this, gave Christ who gave Himself
and accomplished all this for a people that You chose freely
by Your grace. Lord, this is amazing love. This is amazing grace. We thank You. All we can do,
Lord, is give ourselves to You and whatever You permit us to
do, Lord, You've made us willing bond servants. We want to serve
You. We want to honor You. We want
to never bring reproach upon Your name. Lord, make us to do
so. Make us and give us strength
to do it freely. Freely. Lord, we pray You would
work this good pleasure now and make it prosper in the hearts
of one of Your lost people. Our sons, our daughters, our
sisters, our brothers, our friends sitting here, whoever doesn't
know You, Lord, or whoever hears this, glorify Your name in their
salvation. And thank You, Lord, for this
gospel. for bringing it to us and putting us in a place where
we can hear it, rejoicing You, You the one that preaches it,
You're the one that gives it, You're the one that makes it
effectual, and it's all about You. Lord, we thank You. Forgive us our sin, forgive us
our unfaithfulness, forgive us for ever, ever looking anywhere
but to Christ. Thank You, Lord. In Christ's
precious holy name we pray. Amen.