Well, with God's help this evening,
for a little while, I want to direct your attention to the
chapter we read in the prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah's prophecy
in chapter 53. And we'll look particularly at
verse number 6. Isaiah 53 and verse 6. All we, like sheep,
have gone astray. We have turned every one to his
own way. and the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Humanly speaking we have a paradox
in this verse. There are two sides clearly which
really to our reason shouldn't go together. We have on the one
side ourselves described as sheep who have gone astray And that's
enlarged by saying that we have turned everyone to his own way.
We have the description of mankind, those who have gone astray and
have rejected God. And on the other side we have
the truth that the Lord has laid on him, that is on Christ, the
iniquity of us all. And those two things should not
go together. Why should us who have gone astray
from God have been blessed in such a way that God lays our
iniquities on his son. There is no reason in the first
part of the text given for the actions of the second part of
the text. But what brings these two halves of this text together?
Well, what brings them together is the doctrine, the truth of
grace. This text has grace holding it
together. And it's the unmerited favour
of God, undeserved, unearned, which means that God is willing
to lay the iniquities of His people on His Son, even though
they have done nothing to earn it. Indeed, they have done the
opposite. They have, like sheep, gone astray. So we have in this
verse then a clear example of grace. Well firstly let's look
at the first half of this text. to his own way. Well, firstly,
all we like sheep. This is a text that none of us
can wriggle out of. It applies to all of us, all
we, every man, woman and child in this world, every man, woman
ever born into this world falls into this text, all we. Every one of us that sits here
Tonight it applies to all of us and we cannot, we may try
and convince ourselves it doesn't apply to us but if we look at
our lives and we look at our hearts and we look at the things
that we do we have to confess that we fit certainly into the
first half of this text. We all have gone astray by nature,
like sheep wandering away. We have all rejected God by nature. We have all gone our own way. We have turned everyone to his
own way. The way that we thought was best,
the way that we thought would bring happiness, the way that
we thought would bring glory or prestige to ourselves, The
way away from God. We have all turned to his own
way. We have this so clearly illustrated
for us in the parable that the Lord spoke that we know of as
the parable of the prodigal son. And how clearly there we see
the example of that son going off like sheep in his own way. Rejecting the ways of his father
and going in what he thought was the best way. And we see
as we read through that parable of the prodigal son, almost him
laying up more and more sin in his life. He's adding a heap,
a pile of sin as he goes on through his life and his journey as the
Lord describes him. He goes astray from his father
and he says, Father give me the portion of the goods that falleth
to me. And he receives the goods and then we read that not many
days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey
into a far country. He is greedy really, he gathers
what he wants and he takes it earlier than it was due to him.
And he takes it because he wants to go and enjoy himself and his
life. And he doesn't want the constraints
of his father's house anymore. He doesn't want to wait to receive
the goods that is due to him. He wants it early so he can go
off, reject his father and his father's ways and he can go and
enjoy himself. So he adds to his sin of greed
and his sin of rejection to his father. Then he goes off and
we read that he wasted his substance with riotous living. So he adds
and adds and adds to his mound of sin and he enjoys himself
for so he thinks he is and no doubt included in all that were
all the sins of the world and then he realises that he is in
want and he has wasted all that his father gave to him. Can we
see the The actions of this son running away from his father
so clearly describes to us really the first half of Isaiah's text. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to our own way. We have all rejected
our heavenly father. We have all turned from him and
wanted our own way. And we have in doing that and
as we go through our life added more and more to the mound of
sin. more to the heap of sins that
make us more and more and more guilty before God. We have rejected Him as the Son
did. We have broken God's law in every
way. We have known pride and selfishness
and self-will and anger and hatred towards others. We have, no doubt
if we haven't said it, we've thought it, we've despised others,
we've looked down on them, we've known lust, we've known unthankfulness
and ungratitude to God, to claim everything ourselves and reject
the one who gave it to us. We have, like this son did, added
more and more and more to the mound of our sin. And we do all
stand, in the first half of the text, guilty before God. Like
sheep, we have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way, our way. And because we are born in sin,
we are sinners by nature, our way is opposite to God's way,
running in the opposite way from what God would have us to go. And how offensive then, if we
Really consider what sin is. How offensive to God we must
be by nature. That he who created us and made
us perfect and he who gives us breath and gives us our food
and provides for us every day so that we can be here alive
and well today. How offensive that to that God
we have just added a heap, a mound of sin. turned to our own way,
turned from him, gone off and lived in a far off country and
wasted on riotous living. So that's where we all stand
in the first half of this text. How terrible, how offensive to
God we must be. But then we have, by God's grace,
the second half of the text joined with it. And amazing as it is
to have this other half joined together in the same text. And
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. We have here
the love of the Father. The love of the Father, the Lord
hath laid on him The father himself lays on his son the iniquity
of us all. So we have here the love of the
father who gave his son. Just consider this. I don't know
if we consider it enough really. The love of the father in giving
his son. That father who had known perfect
holy unity in the Trinity throughout all eternity, the Father who
had known perfect communion with his Son forever and forever,
the Son who he delights in and delighted in. And here he speaks,
doesn't he, earlier on in Isaiah, he says, Behold my servant whom
I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. The Father delights in his Son,
His only Son, who is His delight and His joy. And how we read
of Him in the Gospels, don't we? Of how a number of times
we hear the voice from heaven, this is my beloved Son. The beginning of Christ's ministry
and His baptism, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Again at the Transfiguration,
The Transfiguration where we read that Christ was speaking
with Elijah and Moses concerning the death that he would accomplish
at Jerusalem. And even when that conversation
had been had and the future of the cross had been considered
and the suffering of Christ that was before him had been the theme
of the conversation, then we still hear the voice from heaven,
this is my beloved son. Beloved as he served and followed
the Lord in baptism and in ministry. Beloved, dare I say it, even
more as he contemplates the suffering of his son in obedience and in
love to his people. So here we have the love of God,
his beloved only, all-glorious Son, the delight of his soul. Yet, He is laid on Him. He is laid on His Son, the iniquity
of us all. Yet He takes our mound of sin
upon sin upon sin and He takes that off our shoulders as it
were and lays that on His holy, spotless, only Beloved Son. so that he might carry it and
bear it to Calvary. The love of the Father, the depth
of his love for his people is beyond our comprehension and
our imagination. God so loved the world, so much
that he gave his only begotten Son. He has laid on him the iniquity
of us all. And then on the other hand, We
also have the love of the Son in bearing and willingly giving
Himself to bear the sins of His people. We read, don't we, that
He gave His back to the smiters. He willingly gave Himself. And even from the cross, His
concern is for the forgiveness of others. Father, forgive them,
for they know not what They do. And this mound of sin that we
have earned, that we have added to, He bears that heap. He carries the load and the guilt
of it. And He carries it into the depths
of the darkness of Calvary. And into the depths of abandonment
by His Father. Why hast thou forsaken me? And
he goes to the ends of the earth, the ends, the depths of suffering,
to seek and to save the sheep that has wandered away. We have the love of God so clearly
displayed here. And it comes full circle then,
doesn't it? The sheep that has gone astray. We read, don't we,
of how the Good Shepherd goes off to seek that wandering sheep. how the Lord says in his parable,
How think ye, if any man have a hundred sheep, and one of thee
be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety-nine, and goeth into
the mountains? and seeketh that which is gone
astray. The shepherd is willing to leave and to go into the mountains,
to go into the wilderness, to go into the lonely, barren place,
up into the mountains, searching for his lost sheep. And all we
as sheep have gone astray. And the Son of God, as it were,
goes into the mountains, into the wilderness, to the ends of
the earth, to the depths of the sufferings of Calvary, to seek
that which have gone astray. Here, you see, is grace. Here is the unmerited favour
of God. Here is grace poured out on those
who, like sheep, have gone astray. The opposites, the paradox, is
joined together. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. The question this evening We all need to consider, we may
all fall in, we do all fall into the first category. All we like
sheep have gone astray. But clearly, the Lord is not
saying that he bear the iniquity of us all in the sense that all
mankind is saved by the suffering of Christ. Because we know when
we read later on, in verse 8, for the transgression
of my people, was he stricken. So clearly this isn't universal
salvation, it's only for his people. The question is, if we
fall into the first category, do we fall into the second? Do
we know anything of the blessing, of the liberty, of faith to believe
that the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all? Have
we? By God's grace, come with our burden, our mound, our heap
of sin, and say, Lord, I cannot carry that myself. Lord, I am
condemned with this on my back. Take it. Lord, bear it for me. Lord, may it all be washed. May
it all fall at the foot of the cross. Which side are we stuck? Are we still in, wandering away
like sheep? Do we know the blessing of faith
to believe the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all? Well, as we approach rapidly
Easter time next weekend, may we be helped as we consider especially
the sufferings of our Lord and then His glorious resurrection. May we be led to worship Him,
to praise Him and to love Him who came to seek and save the
sheep which has gone astray. May we bow in wonder and may
we behold the Lamb of God. We sung together a wonderful
verse. It is sweet to reflect how grace
divine my sins on Jesus laid. Sweet to remember. May we do
that this Easter time. Sweet to remember that His blood,
my debt of suffering, paid. For 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 may I add his blessing tonight.
Amen.