Thank you Art. Thank you Eric. Thank you Michelle. Thank you
Sarah. Let's turn to Isaiah 52. Isaiah chapter 52. As brother Art was speaking just
now, a thought occurred to me. I know that when I'm preaching, Some men, some of you, get angry. Can you imagine a blind man holding on to a bag that has
no bottom in it? And somebody is standing there
trying to give that man a bag of priceless jewels. And that blind man gets angry. And he says, no, I don't want
what you're trying to give me. Look what I have. And he can't see that all he's
got is an empty bag with holes. You would say of that man that
the person trying to give him the jewels was not his enemy. That man's blindness is his enemy. The one he really should be angry
at is his own self, his own sin, his own enmity, his own blindness. I wish that you could understand
that I'm not trying to be an enemy to you. I'm trying to give
you the riches They cannot be priced. There can't be no price
put on these riches. I wish, I try. But my God does not try. My God
does. My Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
doesn't try. He does. I hear men speaking
of another God, of a strange God, of a strange Jesus who is
trying to do this and that, who is trying to teach His people.
He wants His people to understand. He wants them to know. He is
trying to make them to see. He is trying to do this for all
men, but He can't because the sinners to whom He is trying
to do this won't let Him. That God is foreign to the Bible. That's not the God of this Bible.
But the God of this Bible describes their God. Look at Isaiah 46.
Before we get there to our text, look at Isaiah 46. The true and
living God does describe their God. Listen to this. Verse 7. They bear him upon the shoulder,
they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth. From his place shall he not remove,
yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save
him out of his trouble. Now isn't that the very description
that they give of their God? They say He has no hands but
your hands and no feet but your feet. Don't they? They pray to
Him, they cry unto Him, they've got prayer teams and prayer warriors
and prayer captains. And they cry and cry and cry
unto Him, and yet then they turn around and say, but He can't
save unless the sinner lets Him do it. Why pray to Him? God said that. God said, yea,
one should cry unto Him, yet He can't answer. He can't save
him out of his trouble. That's what they say about Him.
Now our text is Isaiah 52 verses 13 through 15. And I want you to read this with
me. Read along with me now. Open
your Bible, read along with me. And as we read this, notice that
the true and living God never describes the Son as making an
attempt at anything. He never describes Him as trying.
He talks about Him with certainty. Notice the shalls here. Isaiah
52, 13. Behold, My servant shall deal
prudently, wisely, prosperously. He shall be exalted, and extol,
praised, and be very high, as many were astonished at Thee,
His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more
than the sons of men. So shall He sprinkle many nations. The kings shall shut their mouths
at Him, for that which had not been told them shall they see,
and that which they had not heard shall they consider. I've titled
this, My Servant Shall. Now notice first of all the certainty
of Christ's dealings. Verse 13, Behold, my servant
shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled
and be very high. And then second, they notice
that in direct proportion to how many were shocked at His
marred visage at the depths of his humility and his suffering,
so shall many be saved by him. Look, verse 14. As many were
astonished at thee. Now look at verse 15. So shall
he sprinkle many nations. You see the proportion? Just
as many were astonished at you, just as many as were shocked
at you, so shall he sprinkle many nations. Look at this third
thing. Notice the certain triumph of
our exalted Redeemer over men. Verse 15. The kings, the kings,
the high and lofty ones, the high and noble ones, the kings
shall shut their mouths at Him. For that which had not been told
them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall
they consider. Now what I want you to see today
is that God says that in direct proportion to the depth of suffering
that Christ willingly endured in His humiliation, in His humiliation,
so is He exalted and so shall He save His people from among
many nations. You can measure the height to
which He's been exalted. You can measure the sureness
with which He shall save His people by looking at how deep
He sank in His suffering and His humiliation. They bear a
direct relation to one another. That's what God tells us. First
of all, let's hear God's description of the certainty of His Son's
dealings. Look at verse 13. God calls Him My servant. He
says, Behold. He says, Behold. Behold. Behold who? He said, Behold My
servant. Behold My servant. That's a title
as honorable as it is condescending. Look here, it's honorable. Look
back at Isaiah 42. It's honorable for this reason.
In Isaiah 42.1, here's why it's an honorable title. Because God
chose, God the Father chose His Son. He chose Him. Verse 42.1,
Behold My servant whom I uphold. mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He, that's why he's going to
be suprudent. Suprudent, so wise, so wise dealing. Because God put his spirit upon
him. He said, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. It's not by might
and power that he's going to do this. He's going to do it
by his spirit. By his spirit. By that still, small voice that
comes and speaks like a giant into some man's heart. A bruised
reed shall he not break, smoking flax shall he not quench. Those
that are just so extinguished that they're just smoking, stinking
flax, He's not going to put them out. He's going to deal with
them prudently, wisely, properly. And He says, He shall bring forth
judgment unto truth. He shall not fail. He shall not
fail, nor be discouraged. till he hath set judgment in
the earth, and the Gentiles shall wait for his word, for his law.
And then servant is condescending. It's a condescending title because
Christ willingly came so far down. He came so far down and
so low to serve his Father for his people. Philippians 2, 6
says he was in the form of God. And it says he thought it not
robbery to be equal with God. but he made himself of no reputation
and he took upon him the form of a servant and was made in
the likeness of men. Brethren, try to think about
that. Just think about something like that. That's amazing. He
who's equal with God, he who it was not robbery for him to
be equal with God, he's in the form of God, he is God, he came
and made himself in our likeness and took the form of a servant.
from being in the form of God to the form of a servant, from
being equal with God to being made in the likeness of men,
and vain sinners, proud sinners, they won't come down off a dung
heap. You know what a dung heap is?
A dung heap was the place where they took all, I'm using today's
term, they took all the port-a-potties and emptied them all out in one
place. And it was just a heap. That's what sinners are on, saying
we're king of the mountain. King of the mountain. And we
won't come down off of that. Christ came down to manifest
the glory of God. He came to manifest His being
and His divine perfections. He came to fulfill His own law
for His people. To honor and magnify His own
law for His people. The Son of God came down to save
worthless sinners like you and me. That's astounding. No wonder God says, Behold My
servant. Behold My servant. Now notice
the certainty that God says. He says, My servant shall deal
prudently. The margin says he shall prosper.
He shall prosper. He shall deal prudently. He shall
prosper. Now Christ Jesus dealt wisely. He dealt prudently in
everything He did. From the time He was 12 years
old, He was in the temple disputing with men twice His age, three
times His age, learned men, scholarly men. There He was in there speaking,
talking scriptures with them. were running circles around him
in their theology, in their doctrinal dissertations. He was wise in
everything. Wise in the way he called out
his apostles. Nobody, just sheep, just fishermen. He was wise in how he taught
them and how he continues to teach his people. He makes men
wise unto salvation. He not only deals prudently himself,
he actually deals to his people prudence. He makes His people
wise unto salvation, effectually. So everything our Savior did
was wise and prudent. But primarily, look at Joshua
1. Joshua chapter 1. Primarily,
this has to do with Christ fulfilling the work the Father gave Him
to do. This has to do with Him fulfilling the law for God and
for His people. It has to do with Him putting
away the sin of His people. Joshua chapter 1. Look here now. Christ is our Joshua. He's our
Savior. That's who He is. Now, this is
God the Father speaking to Joshua. But this is what God the Father
said to His Son. Christ His servant. This is what
He said. Same as what He said here to
Joshua. Look at verse 6. Joshua 1 verse 6. Be ye strong and of good courage. For unto this people shalt thou
divide for an inheritance the land. You know what Isaiah 53
says? I'll divide him a portion with
the great and he'll divide the spoil with the strong. That's
what it says in Christ. This is Joshua. He says, Be strong,
be of good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide
for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to
give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou
mayest observe, now watch this, to do according to all the law. That's why he came. That's why
he came. We couldn't do it. We couldn't
do that. That's why he came. Joshua was
told to do this. The man was told to do it. But
he didn't do it. And we can't do it either. But
Christ can. He's the picture here. He came
to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded
thee. Turn not from it to the right
hand or to the left that thou mayest... See this word? That's
the exact same word that's translated prudent in our text. God said,
He shall prosper. He said, now you keep this law
that you may prosper. And God says in our text, He
shall, He has prospered. That's right. Whithersoever thou
goest, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth,
Thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe
to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou
shalt make thy way prosperous. Same word, prosperous. And then
thou shalt have good success. Look over at Hebrews chapter
10. God said, the days are coming, the Lord that I will raise unto
David a righteous branch. A king shall reign and he'll
prosper. He'll deal prudently and he'll
execute judgment and justice in the earth. That's what Christ
came to do. That's what He came to do. These were the first recorded
words He spoke. He said, wist ye not I be about
my Father's business. That was the first thing He did.
He didn't waste time. He dealt prudently. He dealt
prudently. He said, Sacrifice an offering
thou didst not desire. He said, Mine ears hast thou
opened. He said, Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not
required. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it's
written of me. I delight to do thy will, O God. Yea, thy law
is within my heart. This is Christ. This is Christ.
Now look here at Hebrews 10 and look at verse 8. This is quoting
that Psalm 40 that I just read to you. Now listen to this. Listen
to this. He says above, when He said sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not, neither hadst pleasure therein which are offered by the law.
Then said He, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. Well, here's
why He said that. He taketh away the first. He
taketh away the curse of that law, the curse of that old covenant
of works. That law that could no way, no
shape, no form, no fashion make you just with God. He said that
he may establish the second. that He might take the law out
of the way, nailing it to His cross, and establish with His
people this everlasting covenant of grace. That's why He came.
Now look, watch. By the witch will, by His will,
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all time. Not by our will, by His will. You see, the law is not fulfilled
by our will, it's fulfilled by His will. He said, I'd like to
do Thy will. And by that will we're sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Just one time.
Look, every priest stands daily ministering. There's a whole
bunch of them today. Some of them go by the name Baptist.
Some of them go by the name Methodist. Some of them go by the name Catholic.
Some of them go by the name Russian Orthodox. Some of them go by
the name of Jews. They are all priests standing
today ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices. They just keep on sacrificing,
keep on sacrificing, keep on sacrificing. Oh, you've got to
live a moral life. Oh, now, all this morning I spent
the whole hour trying to set your affection on things above
and they'll take this whole time they have and they'll set your
affection on things below. They'll tell you, now you've
got to live moral and you've got to clean up your act and
you've got to be as good as Andy Griffith or you won't get into
heaven. They'll tell you, you got to do this and you got to
do that. Morals are good. Ethics are good. It's good to
live a moral life. It's good to live an ethical
life. But don't imagine God's going to receive you because
of that. He's not. He's not. They can never take
away sins. Look at verse 12. But this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. From henceforth expect until
his enemies be made his footstool. He says in our text, he'll be
exalted and extolled and very high. For by one offering he's
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Let's see how I put
that. He has, by one offering, perfected
forever them that are sanctified. All them the Father took and
sanctified out from the... Sanctified means He took from
among nations and from among tribes and from among kindreds
and from among people that He saw in His mind that He was going
to create. He took from among them Before
as yet He had made any of them, He took from among them, sanctified
them out, and He put them in Christ Jesus. And Christ came,
and by His one offering, He has perfected. Do we know what perfected
means? Do you know of anything that's
perfect? What's perfect? I don't know what's perfect.
He's perfected. Nothing can be added to the work
He's done. It's done. It's finished. It's
complete. He has perfected forever. It's an eternal work. Everlasting
work. Eternal redemption. He's perfected
forever all them that were sanctified into Him. All of them. All of
them. He did it. He did it. Now if
I'm perfect, if the law looks at me and says I'm perfect, Carol,
it means no matter what I do, the law says of me, that's a
perfect man. That's a perfect man. Now this
man of flesh that I am mortifying, don't let him live like he wants
to live by any means. Don't let him do it. But this
outer man of flesh has nothing whatsoever to do with any of
this we're talking about. He died in Christ. He went in
a grave in Christ. He's gone. He's not even mentioned,
not brought up. He has no bearing on the situation
whatsoever. The man I'm talking about is
the new man born of the Spirit of God. that's created by God
when Christ is formed in you. God says of that man who's been
separated and can never be combined and joined with that old man.
He's separate from that man. He says of us, you're perfect. You can't get any better. Why?
God did it. Christ did it. Look here. Look
here. Look here at verse 15. This is
what I'm trying to tell you. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that, he had said before,
this is the covenant I'll make with them after those days, saith
the Lord. After Christ does this work, here's what I'm going to
do. He said, I'm going to put my law into their hearts, my
laws into their hearts. He says, and in their minds will
I write them. These are the laws of the New
Covenant. These are the laws of the Gospel. The laws, the
principles, the doctrine of the Gospel. I'm going to put these
in their heart. I'm going to teach them these
in their heart. And He says, and in their minds I'm going
to write them. And their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. Now where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. Did I just give you rest? Did
I give you rest? I guarantee you we've said more
now in 15 minutes than you'll hear in churches all over this
country today. Guarantee you. They ain't even got through the
introduction yet. We ought never think our Word
is more important than God's Word. You know that? We do no
better than to just read God's Word. Start out, read God's Word.
That's the best introduction you can have. Read God's Word.
Look here now, let's go back over here to our text. Christ
said this when He came. He said, don't you think for
a minute that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. He said,
I came not to destroy the law, I came to fulfill it. I came
to fulfill it. He came to fulfill it. He came
to fulfill the law. He came to fulfill it for God
and for His people. He came to fulfill it. He said,
"...for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one
jot, one tittle, one dotting of the i and crossing of the
t shall in no way, shape, form, or fashion whatsoever pass from
the law till all be fulfilled." You understand that, what He's
saying there? He's saying, if everything about the law was
fulfilled by Him, but if there was just one little i, that He
forgot to dot. God's justice would be a miscarriage. Christ would have died in vain.
All His people would perish and we'd be in hell today. That's how strict God is. That's how holy He is. That's
how good He is. That's how just He is. That's
how holy He is. Not even a dot can be overlooked
in His law. It's got to all be fulfilled.
Now sinner, you can't do that. You can't do that. Since we've
been sitting here, you have not been able to control your thoughts
so as to remain righteous and holy. How do you think you can
permanently, forever, all the time, live dotting every I and
crossing every T? We're sinners. We're ruined. We can't do it, brethren. Look
at Isaiah 53, 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. You see
that? He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall my righteous
servant justify many? For he shall bear their iniquities.
The first words he spoke was, ìWish not that I be about my
fatherís business.î And the last words he spoke were these, ìIt
is finished.î And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. Heíll
deal prudently. Heíll deal prudently. And God
said, ìThis is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him.î Why do we want
to talk about other things? Why do we want to come to the
place where God says He's put His name and exalted His Son
and given His Son up the preeminence and go to that place and hear
other things? Why would we want to do that?
God's people don't. God's people won't tolerate it.
We got nothing against the people themselves. I got nothing against
anybody that's in religion or out of religion. What I got against
them is what they say about my God. That's what I got against
them. He said the Lord is well pleased for His righteousness
sake. He will magnify the law. He will
make it honorable. So sinners, stop looking to you.
Cease looking to your imaginary law keeping for acceptance with
God. By Christ Jesus, all that believe are justified from all
things from which could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Justified by believing. Believing is not doing. Believing
is the antithesis of doing. It's the exact opposite of doing.
Believing is how sinners are made righteous. Carly, you don't
do nothing. You don't try to make it happen.
You don't try to do something for God. God does everything
for you and you one day realize, I believe Him. Yesterday, I hated
Him. Yesterday, I didn't care. Today,
I believe Him. Today, there's a love in my heart
for Him. I believe Him. And you believe
Him. And you can't not believe Him.
You can't stop believing Him. Oh, you're full of unbelief,
but you just can't stop believing Him. You just can't. You can't. And believer, once you come to
Christ, once you've come to Him in your heart and believed on
Him, don't go back to the Law. That's a downward move. That's
a downward... You look on a map sometimes,
Jerusalem's up here in the north and Mount Sinai's way back down
here. If you want to go from Jerusalem
back to Mount Sinai, you want to go back from Mount Zion back
to Mount Sinai to the Law, you've got to go down to do that. Why
would anybody want to do that? No, no. Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The
just shall live by faith, and the law is not of faith. It's
just not. Just not. The moment you turn
to the law, you're going to turn to you. The moment you look to
it, you're looking at yourself. The moment you look into the
law, you're looking away from Christ. The moment you look into the
law, you're glorifying self and dishonoring God. That's right. All right. Secondly, let me hurry
along here. This is very most important right
here. in direct proportion to how shocked
men were at the depths of Christ's humiliation on that cross. So, that is how highly He shall
be exalted and that's how many He shall wash in His blood. Verse
14 says, As many were astonished at thee. It means astonished,
shocked, stoned, to be like a stone, to be just made still and just
shocked and just your mouth can't even utter a word. As many were
astonished at thee, so shall he sprinkle many nations. In
direct proportion, direct proportion to the lowness, the shock that
He put in men. That's how high He is, that's
how surely He'll save. That's how surely He'll save.
Alright, now let me ask you this. How low did Christ lower Himself? How low did He go? Verse 14.
Now read this with me. Verse 14. His visage, His appearance,
not just His face, His whole appearance, was so marred more
than any man. And his form, his bodily form,
was more than the sons of men. In the history of the world,
in the history of the world, there has never been a man whose
appearance was marred as badly as Christ's appearance was marred
on the cross. His visage was so marred more
than any man. And in all of history, no man
at any time ever has had his bodily form more disfigured than
Christ on the cross. Verse 14 says, His form more
than the sons of man. Now, God does not exaggerate.
God does not exaggerate. What God says in this verse is
so. It's so because the shock of
men at our Savior, just as shocked as men were at Him, as marred
and as defigured as He was, That's how high and exalted He is. And that's how thoroughly He's
purged His people of our sins. That's why I know this is not
an exaggeration. That's right. No man's ever been
exalted to the heights Christ has. No man has. No man has ever
thoroughly purged his people of all our sins. No man has done
what Christ has done. That's why I know. This is not
some preacher reaching for the dramatic effect of sensationalism
like I've heard men accuse faithful preachers that preach this. This
is God speaking. And God says, God says it means
exactly what it says. No man has ever been so marred
and so disfigured as our Savior on that tree. What caused this
marring? What caused this disfigurement?
Well, chapter 53 tells us. God stated it, He stated the
fact, and then He tells us what caused it. Here's the first thing. Sinners. Sinners. Verse 3 says
He's despised and rejected, of men, of men. It says, we hid,
as it were, our faces from it. It says, we esteemed them not. That's right, sinful men. Men
like you and I, in our depraved nature, in our nature, just like
you and I when we were dead and trespassing sin. Just like some
of you sitting here right now who are dead in trespass and
sin. Men just like that, with that
same nature. They stripped him totally naked,
completely naked, and they took a cat of nine tails, a big whip
with a bunch of bones in it, and they whipped him 39 times
with it, all over his body. They plucked out his beard by
the roots, by the handfuls. They crowned him with thorns.
They took a dirty rug off the floor and they put it on that
bleeding, burning back of his. And they took a crown of thorns
and they pushed him down on his head. Man, thorns burn. They burn. You ever been stuck
with a thorn? They burn. And they took a scepter,
a reed, a little fake, phony reed, and they stuck it in his
hand. And they bowed down the knee before him and they said,
Hail King! And they mocked him and mocked
him. And then they blindfolded him. And they punched him in
the face and said, if you're a prophet, tell us who punched
you. Can't you just see them laughing with one another, patting
one another on the back, rejoicing in what they're doing to him.
Pierced his hands and his feet with spikes. It's just any one of these things
alone would just bring us to excruciating pain. They took
spikes and they hammered them through his hands and his feet
into that cross. And then they took that cursed
tree and they raised it up with him on it and they just popped
it down in a hole. And he just hung down on that
hole. And then being the curious, intellectuals they were, they
sat down and watched him and waited on him to drown in his
own fluid. That's the enmity that your little
daughter and your little son is. That's the enmity my daughter
and my son is. That's the enmity you are and
that's the enmity I am. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. That's not a verb. That's not
an adjective. That's a nail. That's what the
carnal mind is. It's enmity against God. Hatred. Hatred. Alright, here's
the second thing. This is not in the chapter, but
this needs to be included. The power of darkness had a hand
in buffeting him too. In Luke 22, 53, when those guards
came to get him, he said, daily I was with you, I was in the
temple, I went in and out from among you. And he said, you never
did lay hands on me then. And he said, but this is your
hour and the power of darkness. I don't know what that is, but
I know I don't want to deal with it. And I know you don't want
to deal with it either. The power of darkness. God foretold
it in the garden. He spoke of Christ and of Satan.
And He said, the woman's seed, Christ the Lord. He said, He's
going to bruise your head, Satan. And He said, you're going to
bruise His heel. You're going to bruise His heel.
Every devil that... Hey, when He walked His servant,
He cast devils out of men, they had to ask permission where they
could go. Remember that? That gathering?
Those devils said, can we go into those swine over there?
And He said, go. He let them go there. Now, all
those devils that had to ask permission, all those devils
He cast out under the head of Satan, Beelzebub, they have their
hand in doing whatever they please to our Master on that cross.
I said Thursday, when He said, He shall not leave my soul in
hell, when Christ knew faithfully in His heart, He shall not leave
my soul in hell, I said to you that He never went to the place
of the damned. After He died, He didn't do that.
But without a doubt, on that cross, He bore hell for His people,
on that cross. There's no doubt about that.
Alright? Thirdly, what caused this marring and disfigurement
was because He bore in our, in his body, the griefs and sorrows
caused by our sickness. Verse 4 says, Surely he hath
borne our griefs and carried our sickness. In Matthew 8, 16
it says, When the evening was come, they brought unto him those
that were possessed with devils, and he cast out the spirits with
his word and healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took
our infirmities and bare our sickness. For every person he
healed, you remember how he would groan sometimes? For every person
he healed, he took and carried our griefs and our sorrows. I
do not know the totality of what that means, but he did that. He carried the griefs and the
sorrows associated with those sicknesses that he healed. When he would heal them from
them, he would take on him their griefs and their sorrows. And
it had an effect on his body. You know they say stress has
an effect on your body. That's sin is what it is. This
had an effect on his body. You remember at one time he was
talking about Abraham and they said you're not yet 50 years
old. How do you know Abraham? He wasn't
but 30 years old Art. And they said you're not 50.
The commentators say it's because of this effect it had on his
body of carrying our griefs and our sorrows in his own body. Alright, then fourthly, this
marring and this disfigurement was from the wrath of God who
forsook him in justice. Look at verse 4, Isaiah 53, 4. It says, We did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded. He was. He
was 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're healed.
That's what he bore brethren. Right there. Now look. It was
strickening. He was struck. He was smitten. He was afflicted of God. And
this is what it did. It wounded him. It bruised him. It caused chastisement upon him. It caused stripes upon him. That's
not metaphorical language. This happened. And there was
in spirit that we can't see this being done too, but it was done
in his body too. That's right. God said, Awake,
O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow,
saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd! He cried, My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? He said, I am poured out like
water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. And thou, thou, thou
hast brought me into the dust of death. For day and night thy
hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. God did it. And then fifthly,
this marring and this disfigurement. His bearing these bruises and
these stripes was because he bore the sin of his people. Look at verse 6. Oh, we like
sheep have gone astray. We've turned every one to his
own way. And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. That high priest went to that
scapegoat and he put his hands on the head of that scapegoat
and he confessed over him all the sins and all the iniquities
and all the trespasses, putting them upon the head of the scapegoat. That was a type. There's something
significant about putting them on the head though. Not only
the fact that Christ is our head, but that sin Sin has more to
do with the conscience. The first thing it did to Adam
was make him hide from God. That's right. Made him hide.
God didn't put something in Adam. He took something from him. God
took something from Christ. He forsook Him. He turned His
back on Him. And gradually and gradually you
see it building up. You see Him saying, I'm troubled. You see Him saying, I'm deeply
troubled. You see Him saying, my soul is
in agony. You see Him then going to the
garden saying, I'm exceedingly troubled unto death. And then
you see Him on that cross. Cry out, my God, my God, why
hast Thou forsaken me? That was the climax. Darkness. Darkness. Darkness. Darkness.
Darkness. Being made sin has to do with
being forsaken of God. Look at verse 11. He shall bear
their iniquities. Look at verse 12. He bear the
sin of many. Christ's apostles preached from
this very chapter. And that's how they worded it.
They said, He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. They said, His own self bear
our sins and His own body on the tree. That's what they said. They said, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. Alright,
sixthly. Christ was marred and disfigured
because Christ willingly Himself gave that body that God prepared
for this very purpose. He gave Himself. He gave Himself. And He gave His soul. He gave
His body to be the sin bearer. He gave to be the substitute
of His people. And He poured out His soul. Look at verse 12. It says, He
had poured out His soul unto death. You're taking a bucket
of water and you're just pouring it out onto the ground. He poured
out His soul unto them. If the Scriptures didn't say
these things, brethren, I wouldn't say them. I don't want my Savior,
I don't want His glory, His exaltation glory, I don't want His divine
essence and glory to be tainted and marred and stained when I
odor by anything that I say. And I understand men that don't
want that. I understand that men want to be careful here when
we talk about these things. Very careful. But brethren, God
says, The depth of His suffering, the marring and the disfigurement
and all that He bore on that cross is directly proportionate
to the height of His exaltation and to His glory and to the sureness
of His salvation. We can't talk about the height
of His exaltation without talking about the depths of His humiliation.
Now, before showing all these causes, God said in our text,
in verse 14, here was the result of it all. His visage was so
marred more than any man in his form, more than the sons of men.
This is what Christ said. Is it nothing to you, all you
that pass by? Oh, can you sit here today and
listen to what this man is telling you? And it's just nothing to
you. Is it nothing to you, all you
that pass by? Behold! See! Look! Is there any sorrow like
unto my sorrow which is done unto me? Wherewith the Lord hath
afflicted me in the day of His fearsinger. From above hath He
sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against my bones.
He spread a net for my feet. He's turned me back. He's made
me desolate and faint all the day. Listen to this now. The yoke of my transgressions
is bound by His hand. Christ say that. That's how real
He owned the sins of His people to be His own. The yoke of my
transgressions is bound by His hand. They're wreathed and they
come upon my neck. You get the picture? God takes
all the sins of His people, of all the elect throughout the
world and He makes a wreath, a garland of them. A big wreath,
like a big Christmas wreath. And He puts it on His neck and
says, now you bear them. You bear them. He says, He's made my strength
to fall. The Lord has delivered me into
their hands from whom I am not able to rise up. And God gave
His only begotten Son and Christ gave Himself so that you sitting
right here right now who believe on Him wouldn't have to bear
that hell yourself. Never. Never. Never. So God could shower His people
in grace while God's own justice was upheld. That's why He did
it. I'm forgiven because He was forsaken. I'm accepted because
He was condemned. That's right. Amazing love, how
can it be that thou, my God, should die for me? As astonished, as shocked as
men were, as disfigured and marred more than any other man that
Christ became, verse 15 says, so shall He sprinkle many nations. God said He shall not fail. And He didn't fail. He sprinkles
means He washes, He's purged us of all our sins. Everyone
He represented He washed, He purged. And He'll wash everyone
in the washing of regeneration. And He'll wash everyone in His
Word. That's right. He gave Himself for the church
that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the Word. That He might present it to Himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. that it should
be holy and without blemish. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? You see, how could it be that He bore my sin and
my transgressions and was made sin in such a way and so real
that God legally, truly could pour out wrath upon Him in my
room instead of me just to do it? And yet it be said that He
offered Himself without spot to God. How could it be? How can those two things be?
How could He be the just who dying for the unjust and at the
same time be made sin for His people? How could that be? Though He was bearing the sin
of His people in His body on that tree, and though He was
bearing the wrath of God, and the wrath of hell, and the wrath
of men, and all of this that we just looked at, though He
was bearing all of that within Himself, He was that spotless
Lamb, that holy Lamb, that faithful Lamb that never, never, never
turned away from His God and trusted Him and said, I know
He shall not leave my soul in this hell. I know He'll not suffer
His Holy One to seek corruption. I've set my face like a flint,
and I know I shall not be ashamed. He's near that justified me.
Who is He that's going to condemn me? While He was being condemned,
He said, I know I'll never be condemned. Explain that. Explain God. He says many nations. That means,
it doesn't mean everybody in every nation. It means everybody
for whom He died out of every nation. Every tribe, kindred,
tongue and people. And then lastly, look at this.
I'll hurry here. This is the certain triumph He'll
have over people. Verse 15. He said, King shall
shut their mouths at Him. That which had not been told
them shall they see. That which they had not heard
shall they consider. Now in Romans 15, 20 and 21,
you don't have to turn there, but this verse is applied to
the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles. The Apostle Paul
said, I did preach where Christ was named that the Scripture
might be fulfilled. And he quoted this Scripture
right here. Not only does Christ have a people among the Jews,
He has a people among the Gentiles. And wherever His people are,
wherever His people are, He will call them out. He will cause
them to see what He has done. God said it's a like thing that
thou should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
to restore the preserved of Israel. I'll also give thee for a like
to the Gentiles that thou may be my salvation to the end of
the earth. Now, every child is going to be made to see. Everyone
he died for is going to be made to see. They're going to be made
to hear this good news. And everyone that that was a king in their
rebellion, they're going to be made to shut their mouth and
see and hear what they didn't see and what they didn't hear.
And bow the knee to Him. And then He makes them kings
and priests unto God. Real kings and priests. Real
royalty. But this also applies to every
rebel. It applies to every rebel. God said He'll be exalted and
extolled and be very high. By serving the Father, Christ
highly exalted Him. He declared His righteousness.
He declared Him just. He declared Him the justifier.
He declared Him holy, holy, holy. Wherefore God also is highly
exalted in Him. He gave Him a name above every
name and every knee is going to bow to this One. And everybody
is going to confess that He is the King of kings and Lord of
lords. And they are going to do it to the glory of God our
Father. Why is it to His glory? Why is
it to the glory of God our Father? Because God the Father chose
Him. God the Father sent Him. He's God the Father's servant.
God the Father upheld Him. God the Father put His Spirit
on Him. God the Father predestinated this work for Him to accomplish.
The Father judges no man. He's committed all judgment to
the Son that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the
Father. And he that honors not the Son honoreth not the Father.
God said He shall be exalted. He shall be extolled. He shall
be very high. Look at Revelation 5. We're going
to close with this. Revelation 5. You're going to get this now.
Listen to me. This applies to everybody here. Verse 6, And
I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four
beasts, in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain.
A lamb as it had been slain. Look at verse 7, And he came
and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon
the throne. And when he had taken the book,
the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before
the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full
of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new
song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open
the seals thereof, for Thou wast slain. hast redeemed us to God
by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation,
as the sprinkling of many nations, and hast made us unto our God
kings and priests as the shedding of the mouths of those kings.
will reign on this earth. And I beheld, and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and
the elders, and the number of them, listen now, was ten thousand
times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud
voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And now watch this. Every creature,
every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I
saying, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto
him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever.
Listen to me, rebel. I want the child sitting there
right now who says this don't apply to me. This has nothing
to do with me. I want you to say something right
now. I want you to say something in your heart right now. I want
you to say blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him
that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and
ever. You say I'm not going to say
that. Yes sir. Yes, sir. You're going to say
it. You're going to say it. You're going to meet God's righteous
servant one day. You can ignore it. You can put
it out of your mind. You can join in with a bunch
of hellacious rebels like you and run like hell through this
world. I did it. I did it. But I'll tell you this. One way or another, sooner or
later, you're going to face this one face to face. You're going
to look him right in the eye. Just like I'm standing right
here before you right now. Face to face. Face to face. Be wise now therefore. Be instructed. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice
with trembling. Kiss the Son lest He be angry
and you perish from the way when His wrath is but a little. Blessed
are all they that put their trust in Him. In Him. Don't be like the blind man standing
there with a bag full of holes, with nothing in his bag. Go read
Haggai 1. Consider the Lord. Consider Him
now. Take sides with Him. Surrender. My will is free. Why can't you
surrender then? Why can't you? Because your will
is not free. You even have just Has He started
and given you some sense to where you have enough sense to fall
on your face and say, God, I can't do this. I need you to call me
and save me and keep me and give me salvation. I need it! Oh,
I wish you... I can try. I can wish and hope
and pray. My God can. My God shall. I pray He shall. I'm not your
enemy. I'm telling you the best thing
for you. And brethren, rejoice because you're going to meet
Him too. You're going to meet Him too. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. And then shall righteousness shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father. We're going to see this one.
We're going to see Him. We're going to dwell with Him
for all eternity. All eternity. Amen.