May it please almighty God to
bless our souls this evening as we meditate in his holy word. Let's turn to the prophecy of
Isaiah, chapter 53, and we'll read verse six. The prophecy
of Isaiah, chapter 53, and reading verse six. All we like sheep. have gone
astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. As we read the word of God, we
can no doubt observe how glorious it is that the Word of God was
written for all of his church and it describes in the Word
of God the pathway that his children walk in this world. And we don't
always realise what this really means and how it speaks to our
hearts. And obviously, as we realize,
we're born in sin and shaped in iniquity, as the Word of God
tells us. That's our condition when we
were born. And therefore, from that time, we need salvation. There is salvation in none other
name than that great and glorious name, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful that God blessedly
influenced the Prophet Isaiah to write such an account, a very
direct account, so that it speaks to each one of us. And as I said
when we commenced reading that 53rd chapter, it commences with
a question, well two questions really. First question is, who
hath believed our report? And the second question is, to
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? And that means that there are
so many who do not believe the truth of God, who do not believe
the word of God, who do not want to believe the word of God. And
yet there are those who the Lord has revealed to them the great
and wonderful plan of salvation. So what a blessing for us tonight
if we are amongst those to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed
and those who have believed the report, have believed the Word
of God. Well, all of us tonight know
whether that's true of us, whether we are amongst those who do believe
the truth contained in the Word of God. And if God has graciously
revealed to us our condition and the way of salvation, if
he has, what reason we have to praise him and to thank him because
these things are so important. You know, many things in this
world we might think are important, but by comparison with the things
relative to the condition of our soul they are really quite
unimportant and the reason I say that is because the things which
we deal with in this life naturally will soon vanish and soon perish
and in any event we shan't live for very long at all But those
things which concern our soul are eternal. They are relating
to those things which will never cease and never fail. And therefore
how very, very relevant they are and how very necessary it
is that you and I are found on the right side of the truth of
God and the right side of eternal realities and not to pass them
by. Well, it's a wonderful chapter
that we could go through, but we won't tonight. We'll just
concentrate really on this sixth verse, which tells us the picture
of the people of God. And it tells us all we like sheep
have gone astray. We have turned aside everyone
to his own way. Well, if we're honest, we will
recognize that We've all wandered away from God. We've all followed
our own way. We've not followed the way set
before us in the Word of God. And therefore, the great truth
is, yeah, we've all gone astray. And we would have been left in
that condition were it not for the mercy of God. What a blessing
for you and me tonight. If we have the evidence that
we have gone astray, but God hasn't forsaken us, he hasn't
cast us off as something of no value. But to think that he's
looked upon us, he's seen us, ruined in the fall. That means
the fall of Adam and Eve, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden
of Eden, ruined in the fall. All mankind was ruined in the
fall and yet loved us, notwithstanding all. To think that although Adam and
Eve sinned, we have sinned. We've disobeyed the Word of God. We walked contrary to Him. We wandered away. All we like
sheep have gone astray. Well, I wonder whether we have
the evidence. The Lord has watched over us. And the Lord has come and found
us. Found us wandering away. Wandering in the wilderness.
He knows where we've gone. He knows where we are. We're
not outside of the eye of God. We're not outside of the reach
of God. God knows where we are. He knows
where we're going. He knows what our heart desires. And so, as we have all gone astray,
what a mercy if God has looked upon us, if God has had mercy
upon us, because it tells us we've all turned We have turned
everyone to his own way. And really, that way is very
simply spoken of. We will not have this man to
reign over us. No, we don't want to submit ourselves
to the will of Almighty God. We don't want to follow His way. And yet, you see, the Word of
God is quite clear, my sheep hear my voice and they follow
me. Well we may have wandered away
but what a mercy if God has found us and called us back. We have a very simple and well-known
example in the Word of God and it's referred to as the prodigal
son He was a son born into a good household, a God honoring household. And yet, you see, he wanted to
get away. He didn't want to follow the
pattern of the household. And therefore, he asked his father
for his inheritance. And his father gave him the inheritance
and he left. And away he went, far away into
the world and spent all the inheritance he had in riotous living. Didn't spend it well, wasted
his substance, didn't benefit from it. And there came a day
when all his inheritance was spent and he began to be in want. And that's a wonderful position,
really. If in our lives, perhaps we may
have wandered away and thought we'd have a good time, thought
we'd spend all that we had in enjoying ourselves. And then
there came a time when we spent all that we had and we realized
it hadn't achieved anything for us. It hadn't given us happiness. And we then, perhaps by God's
grace, began to be in want. And in that parable,
we know that that son then remembered, remembered the happy days he'd
spent with the family. And he was moved then by the
Spirit of God to decide to return. Return. You see, he wandered away. Far
away. But you see, God's eye was upon
him. It's good to realize that we
have a God whose eye is upon us. and perhaps it's true as
the scripture tells us thus far shall they go but no further
you see the places that we go to the habitations that we go
to are bound by God and sometimes we might think we'll do this
and we'll do that and we'll go here and we'll go there but you
may find Your way is hedged up. You may find you're not able
to do the things that you perhaps want to do. And the result is
you have to submit yourselves under the mighty hand of God. Well, here in this account, we're
told all we like sheep have gone astray. And it's good when the
Holy Spirit convinces you and me that we've gone astray. Yes,
it's not other people. It's easy to look at other people
and try and compare ourselves with other people. But we stand
before a God who is perfectly righteous and who sets a very
high standard, a perfect standard. And you and I cannot get past
that. We cannot think, well, there's
an excuse for me, I've got an excuse. None of us have any excuses. We are all without excuse. We've all gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. Well, God alone knows whether
you and I can concur, can agree with such a statement as that
and realize that the Bible explains it really very well and shows
us the reality of true religion and the sinfulness of our hearts. You see how evil we are, left
to ourselves. And you see the devil, our great
adversary, he encourages us to walk contrary. That means to
walk in an opposite direction to the Word of God. He tells
us, you know, you're pretty miserable, and you're really not enjoying
yourself, so just change the course you're in. Change and
do something which is far more enjoyable. Well, there is no
real enjoyment in the poor things of time as we've just illustrated
with that prodigal son. Yes, he didn't find happiness
in all the things of this world. He spent all his inheritance
and he was no better at all. And also, you may just refer
to the Ecclesiastes and Solomon there, where he had the ability
to enjoy all the things of this world to the full extent. He had plenty of income and the
facility to do all that he wanted to do. And he did as much as
he could and as much as he wanted to do. But his conclusion was,
all is vanity and vexation of spirit. And so it is. You and I, if we are a true child
of God, will not find happiness in the things of time. You and
I will not find happiness in the things of this world. The
Lord is very gracious and does give us many things to enjoy. But true happiness, true blessing,
resides in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason? It is an eternal blessing. Everything else passes away and
you come to prove that one thing is needful. The knowledge of
Christ is more precious than gold. All we, like sheep, have
gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. Well, it's good sometimes to
just pause and think, does that represent me? Does that speak
about my life? Is that what I've done? I've
gone astray, I've turned to my own way. Well, if that is so,
isn't it wonderful that the Lord doesn't leave us there? It doesn't
leave us just to get on with it by ourselves. But you know,
He makes a way to escape. He makes a way to escape. And
that way is found looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher
of our faith. There is peace. There is happiness. There is something that will
not fail. And the prophet goes on in this
verse to say, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us
all. That means that almighty God
laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ the sins of all his church. Every sin. Every evil thought,
every wrong thought, every evil word. Every wrong word. Every
wrong action. All those have to be paid for. Have to be paid for. And you and I cannot pay them
off for ourselves. We cannot absolve ourselves from
our own sin. The sin just mounts up. Mounts
up. Day after day. Sins again and
again. And how are we to rid ourselves
of those sins? And we need to rid ourselves
of those sins because there's no salvation without the forgiveness
of sin. How necessary it is. Well, what
a blessing it is to read such a glorious statement. The Lord
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. That means Our sins,
every one, have been taken and placed upon Christ, the great
and glorious Saviour. What a relief, what a blessing
to realise that we've been absolved from all our sin and we had no
reason to expect it as we looked at
ourselves but it's because of the love of God it's because
of his great love toward us that he was willing to pay the price
to absolve us from all our sins yes what a mercy what a blessing
to think that we have such a gracious and glorious God It's really
hard to comprehend that the Lord Jesus should be so willing to
come into this sinful world and to die that sin atoning death
that you and I might be delivered from the condemnation of our
sin. And let us never underestimate
the price that was paid. It was a great price. There's
no greater price, is there? To think that God himself, in
his human form, died on your and my behalf so that we might
be freed from all our sin, every one, The Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. What does that do? What does
that do for us? Do we stand aside? Are we unaffected? Do we think it's irrelevant?
Or do we bow down before God and say from our heart, thanks
be unto God. for his unspeakable gift, giving
to us that wonderful gift of eternal life. And in order for
that to be received, to take away all our sin, and not just
our sin, but the sins of all the Church of God, it's really
a calculation which is beyond our comprehension. because if
the Holy Spirit shows to us the magnitude of our sin we'll stand
alongside the Apostle Paul who confessed that he was the chief
of sinners and you and I won't think well that's good Paul is
and I'm not when the Holy Spirit convinces us of our sin we don't
stand and say well I'm not a very bad sinner. We'll stand and say,
I am the greatest sinner. And therefore, to think that
every true believer stands on a common ground of recognizing
themselves as a greatest sinner. And yet the glorious savior came
into this world to receive our sins. and to take them away. And the Lord has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all. Without it, we would have nothing
to look forward to. There would be no eternal life
for us. There would be no happiness beyond the grave. But to think
that this gracious and glorious Saviour Yes, we got astray. He went after us. He found us. I wonder whether
you and I have the evidence in our hearts that Jesus found us,
found you, found me. When a stranger, wandering from
the fold of Christ, he to save our soul from danger, interposed
his precious blood you know we easily say these things don't
we but it's a great blessing when
the Holy Spirit applies such truths to our soul and that we
see it is through his grace through his mercy that we are saved through
grace and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God not of
works lest any man should boast you know I won't be able to boast
of what we've done but I believe this we will be able to boast
of what Christ has done because it's the most wonderful thing
to think that he's looked upon us in our ruined condition, that
we were lost and ruined in the fall. Yet Jesus loved us, notwithstanding
all. Why should Almighty God look
upon us? Why should Almighty God condescend
to die in our place, to bear the punishment instead? It's a mystery which is really
beyond our comprehension. But it's wonderful if God gives
us faith to look out of ourselves and hear those great, wonderful
words. Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth,
for I am God and there's none else. There's neither way of
salvation And yet how essential it is that we are saved. We're saved from our sin. We're
saved from endless eternity in hell. Oh, my friends, we need
it, don't we? We need to know the blessed work
of the Savior was done in order to redeem our soul, your soul,
my soul. You see, it's no good anything
less than that. Real religion is personal. You and I need the wonderful
application of God's love toward us and the evidence that he has
indeed taken our sin. The Lord has laid on him the
iniquity of us all. Now you see, with that, wonderful
revelation when the Holy Spirit speaks to us, when the Holy Spirit
encourages us to realize that this was done so that you and
I, by the grace of God, might enjoy eternity in heaven. To think that by the grace of
God we are traveling home to God, In the way the fathers trod,
they are happy now, and we, soon, their happiness shall seem. It's
not because of what we've done. It's because of what the Lord
Jesus Christ has done. Well, and the Lord has laid on
him the iniquity of us all. Are we all concerned about that
great and glorious truth to know that the Lord has taken our iniquity
upon himself. You know, it's a wonderful truth
to realize that there is a glorious exchange. And that exchange is
this. He takes our sin unto himself
and he gives us in exchange his Glorious righteousness. Nothing that you and I could
ever deserve. But He gives it because He's
loved us with everlasting love. And in order to do that, you
see, our sins have to be removed. And they're only removed by the
Saviour. And they're only removed as He is paid the price required
to take away all of our sins. Well, it's a wonderful blessing
if the Holy Spirit directs us to these things so that we understand
the requirement. We understand that we could not
pay the price to save our souls. No, we have no ability We could
not do it. We're lost. We're ruined. But what a mercy that we have
a Saviour who has come, who has died. And again, it's always
good to go to Calvary. To go to Calvary. You see, as
we are blessed with going to Calvary and seeing there suffering
Savior, seeing what He did, what was required to redeem our souls. His death, nothing less than
that. And of course, the Savior never
failed. And as we think of what He endured
in the run up to that time, all the accusations, all the difficulties,
And yet, you see, He bore it willingly. He bore it willingly. He went to the cross and died
on that cross willingly to redeem our souls. It's a debt, you know,
that you and I will never be able to repay. But it's good to realize that
we do have that debt. And it's good, therefore, if
we realize what it means to have that desire to be a true disciple,
a true child of God who desires to honor our God. Let us not seek to look to ourselves. The Word of God tells us, those
that honor me, I will honor. and those that despise me shall
be lightly esteemed. I wonder whether we are or desire
really to honour the Lord or whether we despise the great
God, whether we despise the true way of religion, whether we despise
the way of forgiveness, whether we want to follow our own way,
There is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof
is death and destruction. The devil's very cunning. He's
a past master at deceit. You only have to go back, don't
you, to the Garden of Eden. Just that one tree that they
were not to eat of, the devil homed in on that to Eve and convinced
her it was all right. In actual fact, it was a good
thing to do. And she succumbed, left to ourselves. We are no
better. No better. We will succumb to every temptation
of Satan. But remember, he giveth more
grace. He gives grace to strengthen
us against the temptations of Satan, to turn away from him,
to disregard his advances to disregard all that he tells us
we should not do and many times perhaps we've been encouraged
to take up our cross and to follow him and the devil's told us there's
no need to do that you can carry on you're doing all right just
press on as you are the devil's always a deceiver he never wants
people to follow the Savior. He never wants them to acknowledge
who they are. He doesn't want people to believe
the great and glorious report contained in the Word of God. But it's a great blessing if
you and I do. And it's wonderful to think that
God has given us the Word of God to read and to think that
you and I are able to gather here tonight how we come here
perhaps through our families what a blessing that is we might
have been born to families that know nothing of God how many
today know nothing of God and yet so easily we can desire the
poor things of time over the great riches which are to be
contained in the Lord Jesus Christ and his salvation. And the reason
why they're great riches are they have an eternal value, which
has no comparison with the value of time things. And so often
the devil would try and tempt us to believe that things of
time are so important, are so valuable, that we shouldn't miss
out on doing this and doing that. And yet, you see, compared with
Christ and all besides, there's nothing like it. Oh, my friends,
what value there is in the great and glorious Saviour. And so
we have this statement tonight, all we like sheep have gone astray.
It's good when we're convinced by the work of the Holy Spirit
that we're amongst those. We've gone astray. We've gone
astray. I've not only gone astray, but
we've turned everyone to his own way. No, we're going to please
ourselves. We're going to do what we want
to do. But what a mercy when the Holy Spirit comes and changes
the direction that we were determined to walk in. You see, you might
think you're powerful. Let me tell you, God is more
powerful because God is almighty and that's wonderful and you'll
rejoice in that you'll thank God for it that he did for you
what you could not do And, you see, you could not save yourselves.
But I think that this great and glorious Saviour did just that. He gave His life so that He might
take upon Himself all our iniquity. Every sin. Every sin. You see, with that situation,
we're able to come and say humbly before God, I'm clean, just God,
I'm clean. Not because of my own ability
to clean myself, but because my sins have been laid upon the
Saviour. He has, he bore my punishment,
he paid the price of his death and that's why the Word of God
speaks about that shed blood as precious blood. The Apostle
Peter knew what it was, didn't he? We are not redeemed with
corruptible things as silver and gold from our vain conversation
received by tradition from our elders, but with the precious
blood of Christ. Well, may you and I have some
understanding of the value of the blood of Christ, to realise
the amazing mercy of God in that great plan of salvation that
Jesus came into this world to save sinners, as the Apostle
Paul said, of whom I am chief, and to come and bow before God,
and to acknowledge that He is our Lord, my Lord, and my Master,
my King, and my God. He is, and what a mercy if the
Holy Spirit convinces us of it, and we're willing, therefore,
to follow a despised crucified man, realizing that by His grace
we should be united in glory, to be with Him forever solely
because He has taken our iniquities upon Himself. It's wonderful,
isn't it? You know, the previous verses
tell us, give us a picture, don't they? Surely He has borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows, Yet we did esteem him 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 are
healed. Do we not surely have to stop
and say, what a saviour? What a Saviour that should do
that for unworthy me. How humbling, how glorious it
is to enter into the truth and be blessed with the application
of these great truths to our souls. so that we can, from the
bottom of our heart, thank our God and realise we are guilty. We wandered away. All we like
sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Well, we're sheep. We have a good shepherd. Oh, what a wonderful shepherd
we have. And we read in the epistle of the Gospel of John, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And we have
that glorious 23rd Psalm where we read the Lord is my shepherd. My shepherd, how good it is to
know that we have such a shepherd. So wonderful it is. Who makes
us to lie down in what he says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. And we will not want any good thing necessary for
our salvation. There may be things perhaps that
you and I might want naturally, which are not good for us, perhaps
not necessary. But we're told the Lord is my
shepherd. I shall not want, says David. He makes me to lie down
in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restores my soul. Brings us
back. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. God's paths are good paths. They're righteousness. Our paths
are often not. And that of course is a very
glorious statement because the cup of God's mercy and his love
toward us to think it runs over as we ponder
what God has done. Surely, surely it's positive. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Well, David was able to say the
Lord is my shepherd. May you and I be able to say,
indeed, the Lord is my shepherd. Because the Lord has gone after
me. He found me, wandering from the
fold of God. Yes, He found me. What a mercy
that is. What an evidence of His love
toward us. How very humbling it is to realise,
yes, we have such a Saviour. who has come to us and found
us. And not only that, but caused
us to realise that all our iniquity is laid upon Him. And therefore
we are eternally free. Eternally free, again in the
Gospel of John, the Lord says, if the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed, because freed from sin, eternal freedom. What a blessing, what a comfort
that be to the Church of God. And may it be a great and wonderful
comfort to you and me as we may trace out the good hand of God
upon us and perhaps go home and meditate on this 53rd chapter
of Isaiah and see how glorious it speaks about the Lord Jesus
Christ and to realize it came to pass And the Lord is now a
conqueror. He's in glory. He's conquered
sin, death, hell, and the grave. And that great word in the Hebrews,
we are more than conquerors. through him. Don't forget that. Through him. And may that give
us great cause to praise and glorify his great and holy name. All we, all we, like sheep have
gone astray, we return everyone to his own way and the Lord has
laid on him the iniquity of us all. Amen.