If you would turn with me in
your Bible to Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53. Did you know that the prophet
Isaiah is quoted more in the New Testament than any other
Old Testament prophet? The book of Isaiah is often referred
to as the gospel according to Isaiah. Here in verse one, Isaiah
asked two questions. The first question is who hath
believed our report." If you have a marginal Bible, you might
see that the word report there means doctrine. It means teaching. Who has believed our doctrine? Who has believed our teaching?
Who's believed the gospel that we preach? Do you? Do you believe
the doctrine, the teaching, the gospel that we preach and report?
And then the second question that Isaiah asked, which is in
many ways an answer to the first question, the God's prophet asked,
to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Now in John chapter
12, we're told that the Lord Jesus did many miracles before
the people, yet they believe not. And then it says this, they
believe not that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled,
who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? The very passage that we're looking
at here in Isaiah chapter 53. So we see immediately that this
report, this doctrine, this teaching, this gospel is not received by
many, even when Christ performed miracles right before their eyes.
In Romans 10, verse 16, Paul wrote, but they have not all
believed the gospel. For Isaiah said, Lord, who hath
believed our report? If they had all believed and
obeyed the gospel, there would be no need to ask that question.
We'd simply say, they all believed our report. That's what some
men preach today. But that's not the question.
The question is, who hath believed our report? The report that Paul
and the others gave of the person and the work and the grace of
Christ was disregarded. It's the same today. Only a few
believe that the sinner's salvation is accomplished by the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many believe that they must add
to Christ's work in some way in order to make salvation effectual. And when they do, it actually
voids it all. Just as we said in the first
hour, concerning the bread of life, it's true, a little leaven
leavens the whole lump. Brother Mahan once told a story
about a man who had just started attending a church where a faithful
older minister of the gospel pastored. And being new to the
congregation and to the church, he asked the seasoned preacher,
he said, is your statement of faith, is your church creed provided
in print? And the wise old preacher said,
oh, yes, yes, yes. He said, you'll find it all in
Isaiah chapter 53. Our church creed, our statement
of faith is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Before us this
morning, we have the gospel of God's grace declared so simply
and so beautifully, and it's the testimony of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. I want us to consider it together.
You see, I desire to know, and I desire you to know, how a sinner,
a wretched, dead, Depraved sinner like me can be saved. So it's
very urgent for us to know to whom Christ, the gospel, the
arm of the Lord is revealed. Jesus Christ is the arm of the
Lord. He's the power of God unto salvation. There's salvation in no other.
Salvation is of the Lord. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. Who will believe this report?
Who will believe this gospel message? Well, the answer is
quite simple. Those to whom God will reveal
it. You cannot believe what God does not reveal. You cannot believe
it, you will not believe it, not apart from divine revelation. Our Lord said to his disciples
in Mark chapter four, unto you it is given. I think we read
over those words sometimes. Unto you it is given to know
the mystery of the kingdom of God. But unto them that are without
it, all these things are done in parables that seeing they
may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not
understand." Oh, there are many folks today who claim to see,
but they do not perceive. And there are many who claim
to have heard, but they do not understand. Why? Because it hadn't
been revealed to them. all for the divine revelation
of God, that God might this day reveal Christ to you who are
yet without Him. Now that word reveal is defined
as to make known something previously unknown or secret. In Romans
chapter 16, Paul wrote, now to Him that is of power to establish
you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.
And right there, we see that the preaching of Jesus Christ
is the gospel. Jesus Christ and Him crucified
is the gospel message. Who God is and what God has done
for sinners is how sinners are saved. The revelation of that.
And it's preached according to the revelation of the mystery
which was kept secret since the world began. Paul continued by
saying, but now has made manifest. That's being divinely revealed.
Paul said it was God who made this known. That's what divine
revelation is. It's God making known to you
the secret called a mystery. In Ephesians chapter three, verse
three, Paul wrote, how then by revelation, he, God, made known
unto me the mystery. The apostle Paul is no different
than you and I. God had to reveal this gospel,
this mystery unto him. In Ephesians chapter 5, Paul
added, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ
and the church. Comparing the marriage of a man
and his wife, Paul declares that union between the two to be a
great mystery, which concerns Christ and his bride, the church.
In Ephesians chapter 6, Paul said, and for me, that utterance,
that report, that doctrine, that teaching may be given unto me
that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of
the gospel. It's by the foolishness of preaching,
what the world calls foolishness, that God is pleased to save sinners
like you and I. Even the mystery which hath been
hid from ages and from generations, but is now made manifest, now
revealed to his saints." To the whole world? No, to his saints,
to those who believe. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him
shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Oh, to God who would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's
the mystery of the gospel. That's how sinners are reconciled
to God. The mystery of the riches of
God is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The arm of the Lord
is Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom and power of God unto salvation.
Romans 1 16. Recently, in an effort to prove
me wrong on the scriptures being all about Christ, a man informed
me that the name of Jesus Christ is not mentioned at all or found
at all in the Old Testament. And he's right. The name Jesus,
nor the title Christ, they're not found in the Old Testament.
Yet the whole of the Old Testament Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi
are all about Him. All about Him. They all point
to Him. They all picture Him. They all
typify Him. The Old Testament Scriptures
are all about the Lord Jesus Christ. He Himself said, in beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, the Bible says He expanded unto
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Our
Lord said all things must be fulfilled which were written
in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy, the Prophets, the Psalms, the things concerning
Himself. The Old Testament is about Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ is the arm of the
Lord. Has God revealed Him to you?
In Luke chapter 4, when the Lord Jesus went to His hometown there
in Nazareth, you remember that story. He stood up to read in
the synagogue on the Sabbath day, which was His custom to
do. And when He stood up to read,
do you remember what He read? He read the 61st chapter of Isaiah. He stood that day and he read
what he himself had declared before the foundation of the
world. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he said, because
he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has
sent me to heal the broken heart. He has sent me to preach deliverance
to the captives and the recovering of sight to the blind, to set
at liberty them that are bruised. He sent me to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. It's all about Him. It's all
about Him. And he closed the book and he
gave it back to the minister and he sat down and all the eyes
of those that were in the synagogue that day were fastened upon him.
And then the Lord said this. He said, this day is this scripture
fulfilled in your ear. We say it often, hope it never
becomes cliche. That was one of the reasons I
did that song that I did. Jesus Christ, this Bible is a
hymn book. H-I-M. It's all about Him. Here in Isaiah 53, the pronouns
He, Him, and His is used 43 times in just 12 verses. The Gospel
is about a person. This report, this message, this
record that we preach is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all about He, Him, and His. Do you believe this report? He
upholds all things by His power. He saves all His people from
their sin. One day, the Jews picked up stones
to stone the Lord, and He said, many good works have I showed
you from my Father. For which of those works do you
stone me? And the Jews said, for a good
work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy. The Lord blasphemed? They said He did. They said,
because you being a man, you make yourself God. What is it
to believe our report? What is it to believe our message?
What is it to believe our gospel? It's to believe that God made
Himself a man, that He might do for man only what a perfect
man could do. This man, Christ Jesus, didn't
make himself God. This man, Jesus Christ, was God. And to say that he's not God
is the blasphemy. Has Christ, who is the arm of
the Lord, been revealed to you? Do you believe what I'm reporting
to you even now? Preacher, you say this was God
the Son. How can a man be God? Well, the
real question is, how can God be a man? God made Himself a
man. God made Himself of no reputation. God took on the form of a servant. God did that. Preacher, you say
that He's the Creator of all things, yet He was arrested by
His own people. His own disciples deserted Him.
He was left alone to die alone. He was nailed to a cross between
two thieves. He was buried in a borrowed tomb. How can you report that this
man was God? You say that in Him we live and
we move and we have our being. You say that He upholds all things
by the word of His power. No, that's what God says. I'm
only reporting to you what God says. Do you believe what I report? Most men and women don't believe
the gospel. Let's just be honest. Most men
and women believe in a Jesus who in no way resembles the Christ
of this Bible. They believe and trust in a God
that in no wise resembles the God this Bible declares. Someone again recently told me
that he believed God was too merciful to allow any to eternally
perish. Dear sinner, God's mercy is in
His Son and only in His Son. There's no love, there's no mercy,
there's no grace, there's no forgiveness apart from that which
is found in Christ. God is not merciful to those
who hate His Son. God does not love those who hate
Christ without a cause, without a reason. Is God too merciful
to eternally condemn men and women who hate His Son without
a cause? In the days of Noah, God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. It was great
in the earth because it was great in the man. God saw that every
imagination of the thought of man's heart was only evil continually. Genesis chapter six, verse five
tells us that very plainly. By nature, the thoughts of our
hearts, the thoughts of this deceitful, wicked, and desperately
wicked heart is only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that
He made man. Man's wickedness is said to grieve
God in his heart. And God said, I'm gonna destroy
man whom I created. Did God then in mercy spare the
whole world? No, God meant what he said and
said what he meant. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And because of that, God had
mercy on eight souls, eight. Out of all those that lived in
the world, God had mercy on eight, not the whole world. Eight people
were put in Christ the ark, eight. Eight people were spared from
the wrath of God that was to come. Yes, God is merciful. No doubt that He's gracious.
He's long-suffering and He's patient. Noah preached for 120
years. No one was converted. 120 years. Only two men believed God concerning
the land of promise, Joshua and Caleb. Joshua, that means Savior,
Jehovah, saves. and Caleb, which means faithful
dog. The rest perished because of
unbelief. When God destroyed the city of
Jericho, only the harlot Rahab believed the report that she
heard concerning Israel's God. And God saved her and her family
because of that. Broad is the way that leads to
destruction. Narrow is the way that leads
to life. And few there be that find it. God is merciful to those who
are in His Son. Who hath believed our report?
Only those to whom God hath revealed the arm of the Lord. Here in
verse two, we see the reason that only a few people believe
our report. Look at it, for he, being Christ,
shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry
ground. And he hath no form, no comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there's no beauty that we should desire
him. Now, the tender plant here signifies Christ's lowly entrance
into the world. He didn't come in the pop and
the glory of men. Christ came as a tiny, frail,
and tender infant, born of a woman. God didn't only become a man,
he became an infant. He was dependent upon his mother,
the same as we were as infants. He was made of a woman. He was
made under the law. He made himself of no reputation. He took on the form of a sir.
He was made in the likeness of men's weakness, and he humbled
himself to become a man, a tender plant. And that root out of dry
ground reveals the condition of David's house and the nation
of Israel at that time. There was nothing left of David's
kingdom at this point in time when the Lord Jesus came. The
kingdom of David, the Jewish nation, had been reduced to nothing. It was in a powerless state.
It was under the rule and authority of the Roman Empire. And here,
the king of Israel, the king of kings, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, is born in a cow stall. You think about that. His crib
was a manger. Now that's a root out of dry
ground. He had no form, no comeliness. And when anyone saw Him, there
was no beauty that they would desire Him. There was no royal
form. There was no majesty. Our Lord
took on Himself humanity. And He was despised and He was
rejected of men. And the Lord refused. He refused
all fleshly human attraction. Anything that would attract the
eye of the flesh, He shunned. He said, my kingdom is not of
this world. Everybody that was anybody turned thumbs down on
the Lord Jesus. Verse three says, he is despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteem
him not. He was despised. He was looked
down upon. Why? the lowliness of his birth, the
poverty of his parents, maybe the lack of his formal education. Maybe they looked down on him
because of the people with whom he associated, the reputation
of the town where he lived. On more than one occasion, it
was said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? He was despised
and rejected of men. He was despised and rejected
for what he said. He was despised and rejected
for what he did. He was despised and rejected
for who He claimed to be. Our Lord was a man of sorrows.
He was acquainted with grief. Oh, was He ever. From the cradle
to the cross, He met with hardness and unbelief of men's hearts.
And what did men do? The same thing men still do.
They hid their faces from Him. They found Him to be unworthy
of notice. The very ones that He came to
save esteemed Him not. Men found no value in the Lord
Jesus. They found him contemptible,
whether they were rich or poor or rulers or servants, whether
Jew or Greek. When they saw him, they turned
their faces from him. They did not want and they would
not recognize him as God. There are many today that still
turn their face from him. And they say, I will not have
this man to reign over me. Does this not reveal the depravity
within us all by nature? God came to earth in the person
of a man and he was despised and he was rejected and he was
hated without a reason. There was no reason for them
to hate him. But then in verse four, we have the good report.
Look at this. Listen closely and tell me if
you believe it. Look close and tell me if you
see it. If you have it, maybe the Lord will reveal it to you.
Verse four, surely he, there's that pronoun again. He, the Lord
Jesus, hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet
we did esteem him stricken and smitten of God inflicted. Now
this is the gospel, my friends. This is the gospel of substitution,
the grief, the sorrow, the spiritual infirmities, the disease and
the sicknesses of our sin which Christ bore were not His own. They were ours. Did you hear
me? He had no sin. He knew no sin. As our substitute and representative,
He took our sin. God put our sin on Him. And Christ was stricken. He was
smitten of God and afflicted for our sin. Ours. The wrath of God and the sword
of God's justice was sharpened to pierce Him because He bore
our sins and He stood in our place. Those that He determined
to save before the foundation of the world. Though He Himself
had no sin, He stood before the justice of God and on Him was
laid all the sins of all the elect throughout all time. or
my sin alone. One sin of mine is enough to
condemn me to eternal condemnation forever. But you take all my
sin and all your sin and all the sin of every believing child
of God throughout all time and put it on Him. Can you imagine? Christ bore the chosen sinners
grief and He carried their sorrow. Where did He carry them? He carried
them to the cross. and he paid them in full by the
shedding of his own blood. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. We could not make Christ to be
sin for us. We couldn't transfer our guilt
to Him, but God the Father could, and God the Father did. That's
the best news a sinner ever heard. The Lord Jesus voluntarily laid
down by His own self. He willingly bore our sins in
His own body on the tree that we, being dead in sins, should
live under righteousness by His stripes. We were healed. 1 Peter
2.24. And that's the only way that
any of us could live under righteousness. Our Lord was not sinful. He knew
no sin. Our Lord was not guilty. He was
pure. He was perfect. He was holy. But the Lord Jesus was treated
by His Father as if He had not only been sinful, but as if He
had been sin itself. And the good news is, God actually
transferred all my sin and all my guilt and all my iniquity,
all my transgressions from me to Christ. You know what that
means? I don't have them anymore. He
became guilty. not guilty of any sin of his
own, but he became guilty of his people's sin. How did Christ
pay for that sin? Look at verse five. 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. Now there's substitution all
through that verse. was wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. Oh, you've heard
it before, and it's so true. If God would reveal to you this
morning the meaning of these two words, substitution and satisfaction,
two of the most wonderful words a chosen sinner has ever heard. Oh, if you see and believe in
substitution and satisfaction, then you'll see that right now
you have no sin. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Christ was literally our substitute
as He stood before the bar of God's holy justice. In our place,
bearing our transgression and all our iniquities, He took upon
Himself all that God's justice could inflict, and He made full
satisfaction. How? By His strife, we read. His strife. By the punishment
that was inflicted upon Him in our place, God's justice was
satisfied and could require no more. The Lord said, it's finished. And God said, that's enough.
Substitution and satisfaction. Our sin debt was paid in full. There's no balance. Well, I see
here, Mr. Edmondson, that you had a late
charge. You still owe $10. No! Paid in full. Stamped with
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. With this great transaction,
God's wrath toward us is removed and reconciliation is made, and
it's the work of God in Christ toward Himself. Christ died in
our place to satisfy God's justice so that we could and would be
saved. That's how God remains just and justifier. That's how
God can rightfully be a just God and a Savior. Sin wasn't simply excused. People say, oh, God's too good
to punish us for sin. No, He's not. He's too holy not
to. Sin was justly paid in full by
the payment of Christ's sacrifice of blood. And Christ fully reconciled
us to God by His obedience and His death, and the wrath of God
was removed toward the sinner, and it was executed on His Son. Do you believe that? Look at
verse 6. And all we, like sheep, have
gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Like sheep, we've gone astray.
We do our own thing, don't we? We have our own way. Yet the
Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all in spite of us. My sins, my sins, my Savior,
how sad on Thee they fall. When I see them in Thy death,
I tenfold on them all. My sins, my sins, my Savior,
their guilt I never knew, till I saw them at the cross, the
Lord of hosts they slew. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us." No wonder the Father turned His back. No wonder the
Son refused to shine. No wonder the earth trembled.
No wonder the graves opened and the rocks rent. No wonder Because
at that moment, Christ became sin. He didn't die as a martyr. He died as a criminal. He didn't
die as an example. He died as a dirty, filthy, humiliating,
shameful, guilty, naked, bloody, God-forsaken sinner. Why? Because that's what I was. He
was made what His people are, and that is sin. Take all the
combined hail and shame and vileness and filthiness and guilt of every
believer that's ever lived throughout the ages and pile it on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and just maybe, if God is pleased to reveal it
to you, you might see something of what your Savior endured so
that you might have life. Oh, sin is a dirty thing. Sin
is a filthy thing. Why? Because it's all against
God. Verse seven, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he
opened not his mouth. Before I finished reading that
verse, you know why he didn't? Because we were guilty. We were
guilty. He opened not His mouth. He's
brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before our shears
is done. So He opened not His mouth. He's
the silent substitute. He was oppressed. He was oppressed
by God. He was oppressed by Satan. He
was oppressed by men. And He was afflicted. He was
hated, rejected, despised, unloved, lied about. He was mocked and
ridiculed. They mocked. Well, if you'd be
the Christ Savior, They ridiculed. Why? You called on God. Let's
see if God will have you now. But he didn't say a word. He
who was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. He offered no resistance. He
put up no defense. He gave no reply to the accusations
against him, even though they were false. False concerning
him, true concerning me. He submitted to the punishment,
though in and of Himself it was undeserved. Why? Because our sin deserved the
reviling. Our sins deserved the suffering.
Our sins deserved the punishment. Our guilt deserved the wrath
of God. Well, I'm out of time, but look
down at verse 10. That's the most incredible report
I've ever heard. I'm telling you it is. Yet it
pleased the Lord to bruise him. Why did it please the Lord to
bruise him? So that he might save you and I. He hath put him
to grief. Why did it please the Lord to
put him to grief? Because of you and me. 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. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. Substitution and satisfaction. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. Not everyone, many. for he shall bear their iniquities. Who shall believe our report?
To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Well, I know this,
to those for whom he was bruised, to those for whom he made his
soul an offering for sin, that's who. Verse 12, those for whom
He has poured out His soul unto death, for every transgressor
that He was numbered with, for every wretched sinner He bare
the sin of and for, every wicked man and woman that He made intercession
for. That's who believes this report.
That's who the arm of the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to. And if you don't believe it,
may God be pleased to reveal it to you now. And if He does,
then you are always one of His. You are always the elect of God.
May God be pleased to do so for His own glory, for your own good,
and for Christ's sake. What a God. Two men heard the
message of the day, and as they went out the doors, one looked
at the other and said, man, what a message. And the other one
looked at him in tears and said, what a Savior. May God show you
this day the Savior.