Let us turn again to God's Word
and that portion of Scripture we were considering this morning
in Isaiah chapter 53, the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 53, and I'll
read again verses 4, 5, and 6. Surely we have 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 justicement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. 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. And I said amongst other things
this morning, or indicated at least, among other things that
here we really come to the very heart of the Gospel. It is a key passage concerning
that great truth of the imputation of sin. that doctrine that is
bound up with the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. How it is stated very plainly
in these verses, what was the cause, the reason for all the
sufferings of the Lord's servant. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. With His stripes we are healed. The Lord hath laid on Him the
iniquity of us all. All that sin that was transferred
to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. And how the amazing thing is
that it pleased the Lord. As we see in verse 10, yet it
pleased the Lord to bruise Him. How was it that a God who is
holy and just and righteous could bruise such a man as this? He
is spoken of in verse 11, as my righteous servant. My righteous
servant. He's that one who was made of
a woman and made under the law. That one who was obedient to
all the law. Obedient in life, obedient in
death. We're reminded even at his conception
and his birth what was conceived in the womb of the Virgin was
that holy thing. or that sinless human nature
that was joined in the mystery of the incarnation, joined to
the eternal Son of God. We are told of Him that He did
no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. He lived a life
that was holy in every part. Holy, harmless, undefiled, and
separate from sinners, says the Apostle in Hebrews 7. Holy, harmless, that word harmless,
interesting, it literally means he was sinless, he was faultless,
he was evilness. None of these things were found
in him. Was it then that God could be
pleased to prove such a man as this? Where is the justice in
these things? Well, as we said this morning,
as we want to emphasize again this evening, it was the sins
of others. It was those sins that were imputed
to him, transferred to the Lord Jesus Christ. But just whose
sins were those sins that he suffered the punishment of? Well, it was only the sins of
his sheep. We have the mention of the sheep
here. 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. Does He not say Himself in the
Gospel, I am the Good Shepherd? The Good Shepherd giveth His
life for the sheep. How the Lord Jesus is that One
who distinguishes between men. Ultimately He will make that
separation between the sheep and the goats. when He comes
in the end of time, when He comes to usher in that great, that
dreadful day of the final judgment. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He
sit upon the throne of His glory. And before Him shall be gathered
all nations, And he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divides his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Or he came to die
for the sheep. His substitution is a particular
substitution. Christ's atoning death is limited,
limited to the sheep. And tonight, I want us to consider
the sheep, the sheep of Christ, Christ's sheep. And to observe
two things here, in particular from what we have in verse 6.
The wanderings of the sheep, their sins, and then their restoration,
their salvation. Or we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. Firstly then, to say something
with regards to their wanderings. And here we can observe some
three things concerning the wanderings of these sheep. Here we have
mention of universal wanderings. What does it say in the text?
All we like sheep have gone away. All. All we like sheep. The sheep are those that wander
away. They're silly animals. And yet,
what does Christ say of those sheep when He makes that separation
at the end of time and He puts the sheep on His right hand he
says come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world all these sheep were marked out
from the foundation of the world from all eternity and he is now
telling them to come into the possession of that kingdom that
has been from eternity prepared Oh, we think of the language
of the Lord Jesus in those great discourses in John, in John 14. He says, let not your heart be
troubled. Speaking here to his disciples,
let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also." It's a prepared place. It's that that was appointed
from all eternity. It's what the Lord Jesus Christ
has prepared. It's a prepared place for a prepared
people. Oh, but what makes them different
to others. Remember how the Apostle puts
that question when writing there in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 7. Who
maketh thee to differ from another he asks? What hast thou that
thou didst not receive? There is that sense of course
in which we have to recognize here that all have gone astray. It's not just the sheep, and
they were sheep from all eternity, remember. They're the election
of Christ. They've gone astray, but all
have gone astray. Not just the sheep, the goats,
they've all gone astray. There is not a just man upon
the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. all of sins, and
come short of the glory of God." Oh, it is universal, this wondering. It's true of the sheep, and it's
true of all and sundry. And now, when the apostle writes
of sin and the awful character of sin there in the third chapter
of the Epistle to the Romans, he refers back to the language
of the Psalmist in Psalms 14 and 53. He quotes those dreadful
words that are repeated in those two Psalms which are so very
very similar. He says there in Romans 3.10,
as it is written There is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood, destruction and misery are in their ways. The way of
peace have they not known? There is no fear of God before
their eyes. Non-righteous, all have gone
astray. This wandering is so universal. All, without any exception, like
sheep have gone astray. How solemn it is when we think
of the condition of all of us by nature. Everyone who is born
into this world is in that dreadful condition. An enemy of God, alienated
from God, going astray from the world. that's true of all and yet we
sometimes sing the the language of the hymn writer though all
are sinners in God's sight there are but few so in their own well
few have any sense of their sinnership so very few to such as these
our Lord was sent they are only sinners who repent all those
sinners who repent they are the ones who are being restored the
wanderings of the sheep. It's so universal, this wandering.
But then here we see that these wanderings are also personal. Observe the language of the prophets. Calvary makes the observation
here. Isaiah descends from a universal
statement to a particular statement. He says, all we like sheep have
gone astray, we have turned everyone, each and every one of us, to
his own way. He comes from the general, the
word all, to the particular, to the personal, when he uses
that expression, everyone or each one. And this is how God
deals with his people. When God comes to deal with us
as sinners does he not finger our consciences in a sense? He
brings us to that place of conviction. He makes us to see something
of what we are. We must in some measure understand
what our real state is in the sight of God. Think of the dealings
of the prophets, Nathan, when he comes to the king, to David,
and David has sinned grievously. David is guilty of transgressing
the commandments of God. He's an adulterer, he's a murderer.
And what does the Prophet say to David? David, thou art the
man. Thou art the man. Oh, it's that
personal. And isn't that true of religion?
Real religion is a personal thing. It's the individual sinner and
his gods. And this is true, you see, of
those who are the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ, they come
to know it. It's not just that general statement, all, it's
everyone. We have turned everyone, each
and everyone, to his own way. Or when the Lord Jesus is dealing
with the sinner, how the Lord makes the point of it being such
a personal thing. Think of John chapter 9 and the
gracious dealings of the Lord Jesus with the man who was born
blind. And how cruelly the Jews had
treated that man. How, because the Lord had restored
his sight And he would acknowledge that fact. They put him out of the synagogue.
They excommunicated him. No more was he to be treated
as a Jew. And the Lord finds him. And what does the Lord say
to him? Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? That's how personal it is. it's
that singular pronoun thou, dost thou dost thou believe on the
Son of God who is he Lord? he says who is he Lord? it is he that speaketh truth
oh but the Lord you see makes it so evident there that it is
that person and so the wanderings of the
sheep our wanderings are our own wanderings
our sins are our own sins though we might go with the herd yet
we're culpable as individuals before God all those who are
walking in that broad way that leads to destruction or they're
following the masses but they'll be called to account each and
every one individually They turn, it says, everyone to his own
way. Yes, they're going with the general
drift, but they're going their own way. And men cannot deliver themselves. This is the condition of men
by nature. The natural man, he receives
not the things of the Spirit of God. their foolishness to
him, neither can he know them, they are spiritually discerned
we are familiar with the truth as we have it there in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 this is a natural man you see, he goes his own way
he wants to do his own thing having the understanding darkened,
alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that
is in him because of the blindness and the hardness of his heart.
He just wants to do his own thing, to go his own way. He's dead
in trespasses and in sins. What does the Lord do when he
begins to deal with these who are his sheep? These that he came to to redeem
these that he paid the great ransom price for what does the
Lord do? He makes them to feel their own
personal sin and we see it again in scripture
we see it in that publican that the Lord speaks of in Luke 18
those two men going to the temple at the hour of prayer the Pharisee,
the self-righteous man, he thinks all is well with him, but of
course he's in the broad way that leads to destruction. Oh, he's full of himself. He's
congratulating himself before God, but we're not interested
in that man. What of the publican? We read of him standing afar
off. He would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast crying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. But I'm sure you're aware, many
of you, probably all of you, that in fact, the end of that
verse, there's a definite article. When he comes to make his confession,
he says, God be merciful to me, the sinner. I am the sinner,
Lord. It's not an indefinite article.
I know that's how we find it in our authorized version, but
there is a definite article there. God be merciful to me, the sinner,
as if there's no other sinner. Oh, it is so personal. We have turned everyone to his
own way, and we have to come and we have to seek the Lord.
and confess those sins that are personal and peculiar to us all
the sheep and their wanderings it's a universal wandering and
yet we must be brought to realize that religion is a personal thing
and our wanderings are our own wanderings and there's no use
us saying well we're just following the crowd but then thirdly with
regards to these wanderings we see that they are willful. They are willful. We have turned,
it says, everyone to his own way. His own way. So willful in it, wanting our
own way, not the way of the Lord. What does the Lord Jesus say?
to the Jews, ye will not come to me that ye might have life. Ye will not. How man is so willful
in his wanderings, his departings from the Lord. We will not have
this man to rule over us. And that's true, you know, that's
true of the sheep. But here is the difference, how those who
are the sheep they are made to feel this, and it grieves them.
How it grieves the apostle that he has an old nature. And it's
like an awful burden to him. I know that in me is this, that
is in my flesh. There dwelleth no good thing. O wretched man that I am, who
will deliver me from the body of this death?" It's such a burden
to him. He feels what he is, a sinner.
And now he wants to be delivered from his sins. And yet his sins
are so bound up in himself. And sometimes he has to pray
with the Old Scots Divine and say, O that I am not of myself.
It's my self. This is why the publican strikes
upon his breast. He assaults himself as it were. He feels where the sin is. It's
deep in his own heart. And he grieves it. And he wants
to be delivered from it. Take away the love of sinning. Alpha and Omega be, says Charles
Wesley. And there's much, much precious
experience in those hymns of Charles Wesley, that opening
hymn that we sang tonight. Oh, what truth, what experience!
That man speaking out of the fullness of his own heart. He
is the mark of the sheep then, they know what sin is, they see
that sin is universal, but they know it's personal to them. They
feel that it's so willful, it's so embedded in their very souls. Who can deliver? Well, this is
where we come to the restoring of the sheep, and the manner
in which God saves the sinner. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. All that wandering, all those
sins, they must be punished. God can by no means clear the
guilt. A just God cannot turn a blind
eye to sins. Sin must be punished because
God is a holy and a righteous and a just God. But what do we
read here? All those sins the Lord hath
laid on him, on this servant, this righteous servant as he's
described in verse 11. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. And remember this word, I think
I remarked on the significance of the verb to lay this morning. It's a causative verb, it's a
strong, very strong verb in the original, literally as we have
it in the margin, made to meet upon him, or cause to meet upon
him, the iniquity of us all. It's a strong verb. It has the
idea of falling upon. It has the idea even of falling
upon with some bigger striking. It's not laying a thing down
gently. There's violence here, there's
collision. It speaks to us of the fierceness
of the wrath of God. And this is how the sheep are
restored. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man that is my fellow. Strike the shepherd, and the
sheep shall be scattered. Who is the shepherd? Oh, the
Lord is that shepherd. I am the good shepherd, He says.
The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so again, I make no apology
for repetition, but just to remind you of those sufferings of the
Lord Jesus Christ, what it was that He endured. I said this
morning they were real sufferings, they were physical sufferings. How He suffered in the body,
how He was wounded, how he was bruised, how he was chastened,
how he was scourged, stripes were laid upon him. He suffered
so very much in a physical sense because he was, he is a real
man. Even now he's a real man. All
the glorified Christ in heaven is a real man. And he still touched
me the feeling of all our infirmities. But we said this morning though,
the real soul of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus were those
sufferings that He endured in His own soul. There's the heart
of the sufferings. Now is my soul troubled. And
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.
But for this cause came I to this hour. Father, glorify Thy
Name. His soul troubles there at the
very prospect of the cross as He contemplates all that lies
before Him. It's the soul. It's what's going
to transpire in the very depths of His being. And though these
things are spoken of here, remember, in the last verse is verse 10,
When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin." Verse 11, "...he shall see of
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied." Verse 12, "...because
he hath poured out his soul unto death." or the human soul what folly
it is that there are those you know who deny they deny that
the Lord Jesus Christ had a human soul if he didn't have a human
soul he is not a real man when God made Adam he created his
body out of the dust of the earth and he breathed into his soul
the breath of life or breathe into his body the breath of life
and he became a living soul. Body and soul. Oh yes, his body
is made out of the dust of the earth and when Adam sins and
the curse comes he is told, thus thou art and unto dust thou shalt
return, that's the Buddha. But what of the soul? It's absence from the body present
with the Lord. That's how the Lord speaks to
that penitential faith there upon the cross at Calvary. There
is that separation of body and soul. That's what the Lord endured.
He died. He died a real death. But what
sufferings He had to endure in His soul, in His human soul. Oh, how He felt that. how we
felt the terrors of that separation, the separation between God and
man. We said this morning, the language
of the Shodokaticism, what is the chief end of man? To glorify
God, to enjoy Him forever. Man made in the image and created
after the likeness of God, man made for God. A man can only
find real satisfaction in God. Now men and women are dead in
trespasses and sins. They have no thought of God.
God is not in all their thoughts. Or they ridicule religion. Many do. Not all. You mustn't condemn all by saying
all ridicule religion. Some have some respect still.
Though men just follow their fancies, they do as they please,
they go their own way. That's what it says here, does
it not? Everyone to his own way. But they're dead in trespasses
and sins. And the day of judgment will come and the Lord himself
will sit as the judge and he'll separate the sheep from the goats
and the goats will go to their appointed place. And what is
that appointed place? It is hell. It is hell. It's the abodes of the demons. And you know there's no unbelief
there. All the devils believe and the devils tremble. In that
place I know that God is. but they are eternally shut off
away from God excluded from God forever and ever and ever and
ever and ever and ever eternally all man was made for God and
that I really believe is the great terror of hell to know
that God is and yet to be cut off from God forever. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ endured upon the cross. He tasted hell. He cries out,
My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's soul-suffering. He feels so bereft, derelict,
deserted. There's a mystery, there's a
mystery, we know there's a mystery there because who is it that
dies upon the cross? It's the man Christ Jesus. It's
the God-man. We can never separate the two
natures in the Lord Jesus. He is God and He is man. Two natures but He is one person.
That holy thing that was conceived of the Holy Ghost in Mary's womb
shall be called the Son of God. the Son of God, the person of
the Son of God, the second person in the God, He takes to Himself
a human nature, a body and a soul. But who is the person? That person
is always the eternal Son of God, but now also the Son of
Man. And that is the one who dies
upon the cross. And I can't explain this. But
we know that there is never any division in the Godhead, no separation
between the persons of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Here, O Israel,
the Lord our God is one Lord. I and my Father are one, says
the Lord Jesus. Oh, what a mystery! And this
great mystery is the cost of the restoring of the sheep. This is the price that Christ
has to pay. those awful soul sufferings and
those soul sufferings remember they they were all voluntary
they were all voluntary sufferings therefore doth my father love
me because I lay down my life that I might take it again no
man taketh it from me I lay it down of myself I have
authority to lay it down, I have authority to take it again. He
says, this is the commandment I have received of my Father.
All the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, remember, is not
a mortal human nature. It is not subject to death. We are mortal because we are
sinners. The soul that sinneth it shall die. The wages of sin
is death. but the Lord Jesus Christ would
never have died he would never have died because he never sinned
there was no taint of original sin when he was conceived so
miraculously in the Virgin's womb he was free from every taint
of Adam's original sin and in his life he never once sinned,
he never thought of sinful thoughts he's the Holy One He would never
die. His human nature in that sense
is not mortal. It's immortal or probably we
should say un-mortal. He must not die. It was not a
necessity that he should die. But he could die. And how could
he die? By a voluntary sacrifice. And that's what the Lord did.
He deliberately He deliberately offered up himself. But what does he say at the end?
You know the language there in John 19. He said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. He gave up the ghost. He delivered
up the ghost. His life isn't taken, you see.
He delivers his life up. He delivers his life up. He makes
his soul an offering for sin as we have it here in verse 10. Oh we read it there in Matthew
27.50 in our reading just now. He cried with a loud voice. Now
we know what that cry was, that's when he cried it is finished.
It's not a whimpering, it's not Christ as it were exhausted now. and giving up. No, it's a loud
cry. It's the accomplishment of what
He came to fulfill, even to fulfill all the Old Testament Scriptures,
to make that one sacrifice for sins forever. All He cries with
a loud voice, it is finished. And He yielded up the ghost. Now again, that word that we
have there, yielded up the ghost. It literally means to send it
out. He sends out his soul as he were.
He sends out his spirit. He's active. He is the one who
is making the great sacrifice for sins. Oh, it's a voluntary
death that the Lord Jesus Christ died. As the Lord has laid on
Him the iniquity of us all, He has taken that awful load. That
the Father lies upon Him in the eternal councils of the Trinity,
that's when it was decreed. That the Shepherd must come and
die for the sheep. The Shepherd must be the Lamb
of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. But how He does
it all so willingly, so voluntarily. Oh, His sufferings then, they're
soul sufferings, they're voluntary sufferings. And remember the
truth that I wanted to emphasize today, the precious truth of
substitution. It's substitutionary sufferings. That's what we have here. It
pleased the Lord to bruise Him, it says. There in verse 10. How was this just? How could
God be pleased to visit all this wrath upon a man who was holy
and harmless, sinless, separate from sinners, made higher than
the heavens? How could it be its substitution?
He has made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. There's the exchange. Oh, it's
a two-way imputation. The sins of His people imputed
to the Lord Jesus, Him suffering as their substitute. But there's
an exchange. What does He give in exchange
for their sins? He gives them righteousness.
He's not only obedient in dying, He's obedient in living. He obeys
every commandment of God, he accomplishes a righteousness,
and that righteousness is imputed to his people. He has made him
to be sin for us who knew no sin, in order that we might be
made a righteousness of God in him. That's justification. Oh, the sinner now not only free
from all the guilt of his sins, but the sinner now clothed in
robes of righteousness, clad in a garment of salvation. This is what the Lord has done.
He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. With His stripes
we are healed. or 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 or let us be those then who would
look to him or to bear that mark of his sheep what is the mark
of the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ they know his voice they
know his voice do you know that voice he calls his sheep by name They
know His voice. They follow Him. Or they were
those who were wandering, going their own way, but now they follow
Him. How do they follow Him? They come to Him. Or they follow
Him wherever He leads them. He's the Good Shepherd. he is
that one who is the door into the sheepfold I am the door he
says by me if any man enter in he shall be saved and go in and
out and find pasture or there is that coming to him there is
that following him they know his voice they follow him and
he gives unto them eternal life and they shall never perish or
this is how the Lord has restored His sheep. He has accomplished
all their salvation. And what is it that the sheep
do? Oh, they simply believe in Him. How simple it is, friends. Oh, the simplicity of salvation.
The simplicity of it. What is it? It's faith. It's
trust. It's resting in the Lord Jesus Christ
and finding in Him all that blessed fullness of salvation. Oh, the Lord then bless these
truths to us today. Amen.