Turn with me now to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. We're going to be
here. One more time today. We're going
to look at this beautiful substitution of Christ. the substitution that he entered into with his people
one more time today. We're gonna acknowledge one more
time how thankful we are to have the words of this report. And how thankful we are for the
fact that we've been caused to believe it. Caused by the Spirit of God who
has revealed these things to believe on what Christ has done
for us. And to rest in what Christ has
done for us and to love him for it. We've been caused to love him
because of what he's done for us. It's an amazing thing in
hearing of this finished work of Christ and all of the glory
that goes to Christ, we have fallen in love with him for it
when that's so contrary to the flesh by nature. The Lord has
caused us to truly fall in love with him for this. Look with
me at verse one, it says, who hath believed our report and
to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. For he shall grow up
before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. 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 esteemed
him not. Surely he hath 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. 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. I want us to take notice tonight
of the words, our, we, and us. Our, we, and us. Verse four says, surely he hath
borne our griefs. I hope the Lord makes this to
be personal tonight. As I just was reading this 30
seconds ago, it was just dawning on me that Isaiah, Isaiah wrote this before Christ
ever even came to this earth. How did he know that? I was sitting
there thinking, how did he know that? I know how he knew that,
same way we know that. It's revealed by the Spirit of
God. But he was given faith to see the finished work. This is
past tense. And he believed this. Isaiah
was holding to this just like you and I are. Surely he hath borne our griefs. That's an amazing thing. And carried our sorrows. We think we're the only one who
bears our griefs and carries our sorrows. It's not so. It's not so. He bore our griefs and he 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. We are healed. 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. Our, we, us. A fellow pastor wrote an article
and I'm going to put this article in our bulletin next Sunday. So you'll have it in print if
you want it. I'm going to read it to you right now. This article
is basically just retelling a story that this pastor heard. And the story goes like this.
The account goes like this. During World War I, the Prince of Wales visited 36
severely wounded men in a hospital in the outskirts of London. The prince and his escorts went
through the main ward and shook hands with most of them. As preparations were made to
leave, the prince indicated that he had only seen 30 men. Where are the other six? Although he was informed that
the six others were extremely severe cases, and in a different
section of the ward, the special visitor demanded to see the others. Five other maimed and bruised
men were viewed. But where's the last one? Again,
the prince inquired. Although the prince was told
that the grotesqueness of the man's appearance would be unbearable,
the prince insisted on seeing him. The prince stood silent for a
moment, and then moved toward the man, and stooping down, kissed
him. With a breaking voice, the Prince
of Wales was heard to say, wounded for me, wounded for me. Our Lord's visage was so marred
more than any man. He was so marred more than any
man. Why? Wounded for me. Every time we see our, we, or
us Put your name right there, okay? Put your name right there. Verse
four says, surely he hath borne Gabe's grief and carried Gabe's sorrows. Yet Gabe did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for Gabe's
transgressions. He was bruised for Gabe's inequities. The chastisement of Gabe's peace
was upon him. And with Jesus Christ's stripes,
Gabe is healed. Healed, wounded for me, wounded
for me. Verse six says, 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 who believe the report. all to whom have had the arm
of the Lord revealed to them. Verse seven says, he was oppressed. That means driven to distress. That's what it means. Think about
his unbearable moment of the cross. Think about that moment
of the cross for him. He was distressed. He was driven
to distress. He was placed in distress, made
to be in distress. Why? For me, for you. Verse seven says he was oppressed
and he was afflicted. That means brought low. Let me ask you something. Have
you ever been brought low? Anything ever humbled you and
brought you down and brought you low? You've never been brought low
like this man. He was brought low. Oh, he was
brought so low. Verse seven says, yet he opened
not his mouth. He was oppressed. He was afflicted.
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 opened not his mouth. This is the very message
that Philip preached to the Ethiopian eunuch. Turn over there to Acts
chapter eight, that's where that story is. Acts chapter 8 verse 26 says, the angel of the Lord spake unto
Philip saying, arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth
down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose
and went and behold, a man of Ethiopia and eunuch of great
authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the
charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for the
worship, was returning and sitting in his chariot, read Isaiah the
prophet. Then the spirit said unto Philip,
go near and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither
to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and said, understandest
thou what thou readest? And he said, how can I except
some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he
would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which
he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter. And like a lamb dumb before his
shearer, so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his
judgment was taken away. And who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the
earth. Why? For me. For you, for his people. Verse 34, and the eunuch answered
Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet
this, of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way,
they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch said, see, here
is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, if thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. The report has been told. If you believe it with all your
heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe he's the Messiah.
I believe he is the Savior. I believe he is the Christ. And he commanded the chariot
to stand still and they went down both into the water, both
Philip and the eunuch. And he baptized him. That eunuch said, I want this
Christ. I want to be identified with
him. I want to belong to him. I want everybody to know it.
Let it be said that he did this for me. Let it be said that he was wounded
for me. Verse 37, Philip said, if thou
believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered
and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. And
he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they went down both
into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
And when they were come up out of the water, the spirit of the
Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more. And I love this part. That man
went on his way rejoicing. He went on his way rejoicing. Happy is he who can say, he was
wounded for me. He was wounded for me, wounded
for me, wounded for me. There on the cross, he was wounded
for me. Gone my transgressions. You know who will like hearing
that? A transgressor. Gone my transgressors, my transgression,
and now I am free, all because my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
was wounded for me, dying for me, risen for me, living for
me, coming for me. Coming for me. Please, Lord God
of heaven and earth, let it be said that he did all this for
me. Go with me back to Isaiah 53. Verse six says, 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. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
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 opened,
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. Do you have a center margin in
your Bible? I love what the center margin says. Those last three
words translate too. For the transgression of my people
was the stroke upon him. The stroke was upon him. That's
our salvation. That is our salvation. That is
our hope. God's stroke was upon him. God's stroke of wrath. God's
stroke of judgment. God's stroke of punishment. God's
stroke of satisfaction. All of it was on him. And he
died from that stroke. He suffered and then he died.
from the stroke of God's judgment. Verse nine says, and he made
his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because
he'd done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. That's an amazing verse to me
the way it's worded. He made his grave with the wicked
and with the rich in his death because he'd done no violence.
Neither was any deceit found in his mouth. He was the sinner's
sacrifice. He made his grave with the wicked
because he was the only one who could make his grave with the
wicked. He was the sinner's sacrifice. He was the spotless sacrifice. And the fact that he made his
grave with the rich, the fact that he went into a rich man's
tomb where no one had ever laid before, it proves that he indeed
was the risen sacrifice. Nobody else came out. It was
him. He was the one who went in. He was the one who accomplished.
He was the one who came out. And all of this was done by the
perfect will and design of God the Father. All of this was done
at the hand of God the Father. Verse 10 says, yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief 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. God the Father shall look upon
the travail of Christ's soul and shall be satisfied. Substitution
and satisfaction, that's the gospel. That's our hope. Verse 11, he shall see of the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many. Thank God for the letter
M. Many. For he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and
he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sins of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. That is God's
report. That's the report. That's the
report on who Christ is, what he did for his people, how satisfied
the father is because of it. Now, what are we going to add
to that? That's the report. What are we going to add to that?
Nothing. What are we going to take away
from that? Nothing. All we're gonna do is believe
it. If we believe God's report concerning the suffering and
death of his son, providing full salvation for his people, then
that's what we're confessing together. If we believe it, let's
confess it together by observing this table.