Isaiah chapter 53. I want to
read one verse to you. Verse 5, Isaiah 53, 5. But He was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed." The Lord Jesus Christ was wounded
for. He was wounded for someone else. He was wounded for someone else. He suffered in the place of others. For our transgressions, he was
wounded. For our iniquities, he was bruised. For our peace, he was chastised. Substitution is the hope of the
believer. Christ Jesus taking the place,
my place, suffering my suffering, dying my death, that I might
live his life and have his righteousness. Substitution is the gospel we
preach. Who is this for whom he died?
A casual reading of chapters 52, 53, 54, You will find Him repeatedly,
He begins in 52 by saying, Awake, O Zion. I tried to show you last
week that Zion is His church. It's His people. And throughout
these chapters, He repeatedly says, My people, My people. If I was speaking plainly as
I normally do, I would say, It's the elect of God. I would say
it's those chosen of God before the world began. I would say
it's those given Him before the world began who He entered into
surety-ship engagement to redeem, to lay down His life for. I would
say it's the sheep, those He said that He laid down His life
for, and not those that He said plainly You are not my sheep. He didn't die for them. He said,
I laid down my life for the sheep. But lest somebody stiffen up
their neck and say not fair, I'd rather salvation be by chance.
Let's all have a chance at it. Salvation is not a crapshoot.
Salvation is ordered and sure in all things. But in case somebody
feels that way, let's see then if you really even fit the bill
for those for whom he died. He took the place of those whose
wickedness was great in the earth, whose every imagination of his
heart was only evil continually. He came to die for those who
were conceived in sin from our father Adam, and with a corrupt,
defiled, God-hating nature came forth from the womb speaking
lies against God, saying, I don't think it's fair if He don't let
everybody have a chance. Speaking those kind of lies.
He died for those who were not righteous. who had no understanding
of righteousness, who did not seek God, would not seek God,
could not seek God. He died for those who were absolutely
unprofitable. Unprofitable to God, unprofitable
to themselves, and unprofitable to mankind. No good, out of the
way, unprofitable. He died for those whose tongues
are full of the poison of snakes. He died for those whose mouths
are full of cursing and bitterness and hatred. He died for those
whose feet were swift to shed blood. He died for those who
had destruction and misery in their ways. He died for those
who did not know the way of peace, who had no fear of God before
their eyes. Look here in verse 3. He is despised
and rejected of men. That's who He died for. Those
who despised Him and rejected Him. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, and we, the same we that's mentioned down here
for whom he died. We hid our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. We esteemed him nothing. but he was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him." Now, do you fit that bill? Do you fit that bill? That's who he died for. That's
the description of every chosen, elect child of God given to him
before the foundation of the world. After Adam fell, that
was their lot in this life, in this world. Romans 5 chapter 7, if you'll
look there with me just a moment, Romans 5 chapter 7. For scarcely, for scarcely for a righteous
man will one die. He might die for a righteous
man, a good man. Yeah, a poor adventure for a
good man somewhat even there today. He doesn't have to be
completely righteous, just if he's a good, decent fellow. You
might die for him. But God commendeth His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners. That description I just
gave to you. Sinners. in nature, sinners in
thought, sinners in word, sinners in deed, cut off from God, separated
from God, coming short of the glory of God. While we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. That's who He died for. What
did He suffer for us? Back in our text. What did He
suffer? Verse 5 says, He was wounded. for our transgressions. It says
He was bruised for our iniquities. It says the chastisement of our
peace was upon Him. He suffered being wounded. He
suffered being bruised. He suffered chastisement. Wounded means to profane. It means to pollute. It means
to defile. It means to break, to slay. He was scourged. The law said
that you could only whip somebody, their naked body, with 40 stripes. He was scourged. He was beaten. Matthew 27.30 said they spit
upon him. It took the reed and smote him on the head with it.
He said, dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked
have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet. Hung him
up on a cross with nails driven through his hands and through
his feet so he could drown in the fluid of his own lungs. And
yet the outward appearance and the torture that that God determined
before to be done at the hands of wicked men was just to give
us just a little glimpse, just a little glimpse of the wounding
and the bruising and the chastisement of His soul before God Almighty. Bruised means to be crushed.
It means to be crushed. You know, you have cornmeal.
So before that is cornmeal, it's a kernel of corn. It looks just
like the kernel right out of the ear. And you take that kernel
of corn and you put it in a meal where there's either a stone
of some sort rolling up on it, but there's something that's
crushing that corn until it's ground into a powder. That's
a little bit of this suffering. It'll give you a little idea
of this suffering. Chastisement here doesn't mean the chastisement
of a loving father that Scott was just speaking about. It means
vengeance of justice. It means the wrath of God taking
vengeance upon him, poured out in full upon him. He said, now
is my soul troubled. He said He made His soul an offering
for sin. Well, why did He suffer like
that? Why did He suffer that way? Look at verse 7. He was oppressed and He was afflicted. Now get this, yet He opened not
His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb. So he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death. And here's why. Because
he had done no violence. Neither was any deceit in his
mouth. That's why he died. He died because
he had done no violence. Neither was any deceit in his
mouth. That's exactly why he suffered.
He voluntarily opened not his mouth and suffered in the behalf
of his people because he was the only perfect, spotless sacrifice
that God would accept for them. That's why he did it. That's
why he laid down his mouth. Because he had done no violence,
neither was any deceit in his mouth. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says,
for he hath made him sin for us who knew no sin. He knew no
sin. He's the only just one. He's the only one who is separate
from sinners. That means that description,
that awful, horrid, horrible description of what you and I
are that I just gave to you. He's separate from that. If you could go the farthest
pole away from the corruption that we are, you begin to get
some idea of the holy, pure, and perfect person that He is. The law foreshadowed all through
the Old Testament when they brought a lamb, the law foreshadowed
in every one of those lambs that was brought in accordance with
the law. It stated that it had to be without
spot, And it had to be without blemish. Couldn't have any imperfections
in it whatsoever. And all the time that those lambs
were brought, those perfect, spotless lambs were brought,
examined, looked over by the priest, made sure there's no
blemish in them, nothing wrong with them. Each one of those
perfect, spotless, perfect lambs foreshadowed this lamb. This
lamb, who had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his
mouth. Like the law that was placed
in the ark of the covenant. When Moses came down from the
mountain, the ark was placed into the ark of the covenant,
sealed over. So the law was in Him. He's our ark. The law was in
Him. He said, Lo, I come. In the volume
of the book it is written of Me. I delight to do Thy will. Oh my God. Thy law is within
my heart. It wasn't that he went out of
himself and out of his way to try to do those things. It's
who he is. It's who he is. That holy thing
conceived in the womb of the virgin. That's why he suffered. Because he was the only spotless,
perfect lamb whom God would accept as a sin offering. Here's the
second reason He suffered. He suffered because it was the
will of the Father and His own will to manifest His righteousness. Look at verse 10, Isaiah 53,
10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. He hath put Him to grief. The word pleased there means
what it sounds like it means. It pleased Him. It pleased the
Lord. He took delight in it. Not delight
in the suffering itself, not the delight in pouring out wrath
upon His Son, but the delight in what was taking place when
His Son suffered. It pleased the Lord because it
pleased the Lord to provide Himself a Lamb. Look at verse 10. He
says, When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, when
thou shall make His soul an offering for sin." That sounds like two
different people. It sounds like somebody making
His soul an offering for sin. No, it's Him making His soul
an offering for sin. The Son walked about this earth
and He said, I and my Father are one. He said, if you've seen
Me, you've seen the Father. We read in the Scriptures that
God bought His church with His own blood. Here in this one is God providing
Himself a sacrificial lamb. And it pleased
the Lord to bruise Him for that very reason. Because He is that
lamb. It pleased the Lord that the
glory in saving His chosen children from the corruption that we are
would be all to the praise of the glory of His holy name, to
the praise of the glory of His grace, and it would all be poured
out in the praising of His darling Son. Look at verse 10 again. He shall see. See. He shall prolong days. And the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in His hand. The Lord was pleased because
He shall see children. He's going to bring forth children.
His Son is going to get the glory. The glory to the praise of the
glory of God's grace. He would bring forth children.
And He took pleasure in what His Son suffered because here
He is. bringing forth children. He shall prolong days. This is Him obtaining eternal
redemption for His people, eternal life for His people, prolonging
days for His people. Nobody gets the glory for that
but God and His Son. And the pleasure of the Lord,
that which is pleasing to the Lord, that which brought him
all this pleasure in seeing his son lay down his life, shall
prosper in his hand. That's why the Lord took pleasure
in it. of the Lord Jesus laid down His life. And thirdly, it
pleased the Lord to declare His righteousness, to declare that
He's just and He's the justifier, that He's a just God and He's
a Savior. Look at verse 11. He shall see
of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied, propitiated,
atoned, By His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many, for He shall bear their iniquities. By His knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many." You know when the Apostle
Paul said, he said, all those things that I thought was wisdom,
all those things that I put all my trust in, he said, now I realize
they're dumb. And he said, And now I want the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. It's not, it's
not I want to just be, I just want to excel in knowledge. I
want to excel in wisdom. I want to be, everybody is seeing
me that I'm really, really smart. I want to know the mind of Christ. I want to know his wisdom. I want to know, I want to look
at the wisdom he is. I want to look at the knowledge
he is. I want to look at the wise counsel he is. I want to know more of him and
when I know more of him I know more of wisdom. I know more of
him who is knowledge. This one who by his knowledge
justified me. That's who I want to know. For He hath made Him sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him." God's just. He's justifier. He's executed
everyone He chose to save. He's executed them. He's put
them to the death penalty. He has executed every one of
them and at the same time saved them. That's knowledge. That's wisdom beyond our comprehension. And He suffered for the joy that
was set before Him by the Father from before the world was ever
made. That's why He suffered. He suffered for the joy that
was set before Him before the world was ever made. And it's
twofold, brethren. Verse 12. Therefore will I divide
him a portion with the great. He raised him King of kings and
Lord of lords. He glorified the Father, and
the Father glorified Him. He raised Him from the dead.
Ephesians 1.20 says, The Father raised Him from the dead, and
set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places, far above
all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and
every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come. And hath put all things under
His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the
church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth
all in all. The Lord said, Ask of Me, I'll
give you the heathen for your inheritance, the uttermost parts
of the earth for your possession. All things are yours. And He did this, the second joy,
the desire of our King is to have that joy that was set before
Him before the world began, and it's His people. It's His people. Look at verse 12 there. And He
shall divide the spoiled with the strong. Have you ever noticed? Look over
to Ephesians 1 with me. That text I just read to you.
Have you ever noticed this? I just put these together when
I was thinking of this. That joy that was sent before
Him, He was exalted to the throne of God, the King of His kingdom,
to reign in heaven and in earth, all power in heaven and earth
given Him, to be the mediator of this covenant, to send forth
the Holy Spirit, to work all things together for good in the
church and in the earth. Now look here, watch this, the
very next word after this. He's put all things under His
feet, gave Him to be the head over all things to the church.
Verse 23, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth
all in all. Now look at the next verse. And you hath He quickened
who were dead in trespasses and in sins. He said, I'm going to be at the
right hand of the Father. And He said, and He's going to
divide this kingdom with His people. In Christ, you've made
a joint heir of God. A joint heir of God, of the Father
in Christ Jesus. And He's faithful as a Son over
His own house to execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
Not just when He walked here, He did that. Not just when He
went to the cross, He did that. But when He went to glory, brethren,
He's still doing it. If you look back up at Isaiah
52, Look here, He says, He's telling
them that He's going to bring Zion back and He's going to execute
this judgment and this justice. And look what He says in verse
7, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings
of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God
reigneth! Thy watchman, that's who He's
sending for. Thy watchman, these preachers
and pastors after our mind, own heart, shall lift up the voice.
With the voice together shall they sing, for they shall see
eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion. He's got the power. And that's
what He promises to do. Well, what did He accomplish
by His suffering unto death? What did He accomplish by that?
Look back at Isaiah 53, 5. The last part. With His stripes we
are healed. Not going to be. Not getting
there. Not climbing the mountain. With
His stripes." When did He incur those stripes? At Calvary. When were you healed? At Calvary. With His stripes we are healed. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Yea, rather, that's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God, whoever liveth to make
intercession for us. The words of our Redeemer, brethren,
they're our words now. Listen to Isaiah 58. He is near
that justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let
us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him
come near to me. That's the word of my Savior
when He was suffering. Because now He's the King of
kings and Lord of lords. These are my words. Who's going
to contend with me? Behold, the Lord God will help
me. Who is He that should condemn me? Lo, they all shall act so
old as a garment. The moth shall eat them up. How
can I be sure? How can you be sure that this
word is certain? Look at the end of verse 12. Because he hath poured out his
soul unto death. That's how. He says, we're about
to partake of this table. And when he gave them the wine,
he said, this is the New Testament in my blood. I've seen some mighty fine ink
pens in my life. Some expensive ink pens. But
this is Indelible ink. It's written in his blood. Because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. And God said, I'm satisfied.
I'm satisfied. That's how I can be sure. That's
how you can be sure. Well, here's what he says to
the believer. If you want to read this with me, turn to Isaiah
50. This is what he says to the believer.
Verse 10. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of
the Lord and stay upon his God. Now here's the word to everybody
else, verse 11. Behold, all ye that kindle a
fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the
light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled.
This shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow. Seeing we have this great cloud
of witnesses, Let us lay aside the sin and the weight that so
easily besets us, and let us run the race that sat before
us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before Him endured this cross,
despising this shame, and is now set down at the right hand
of the Father. And don't let anybody tell you
any different. You who believe Him and trust
Him, with His stripes, you are healed.