Good morning. Thankful for the
opportunity to be with you all this morning. Thankful for this
congregation. Thankful for your pastor. He's
just such a dear friend and brother in Christ. Thankful that he's able to go
and preach, but I certainly miss getting to see and visit with
him. I'd ask you to open your Bibles
with me to Acts chapter 28. Acts chapter 28. Beginning with
verse 23. of Acts 28. Here we read, and when they had
appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging,
to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading
them concerning Jesus, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Both out of the law of Moses
and out of the prophets from morning till evening. And some believed. Some believe
the things which were spoken and some believe not. Now here we read that many people
came to where Paul was living and he preached the gospel to
them. He was under house arrest and
folks came from near and far to hear him preach from God's
word. And look at these three words
here in verse 23. It says, he expounded. And he testified and he persuaded
them. Now that word expounded, it means
to declare. That's what we do when the gospel
is preached. We declare what God's word says. It's not an explanation. It's a declaration. It also says he testified. You
know, when a man testifies of something, he's given evidence
to prove that what he's saying is to be believed. We see that
in a court case. They'll bring a witness, and
the purpose of that witness is to help prove what's being said
is true. In this case, it's not the words
of a man, but it's evidence from God's Word. And, you know, I
enjoy reading the commentaries and what men have to say, but
the best commentary that we can find on Scripture is this in
itself. It's Scripture. What does God's
Word say? And then we see that He persuaded.
He persuaded them and that means to encourage others to believe
the truth. I would encourage you to believe
what God's word says because it's the truth. He expounded,
he testified, he persuaded them concerning this subject, concerning
this man, the Lord Jesus Christ. What was Paul's message? What
was his message? Well, it's not what his message
was, it's who his message was. We declare a person. We declare the man. We declare
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, writing to the Corinthians,
he said this. He said, I determine not to know
anything among you. but one thing, save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. We have but one message. And the source of that message
is not a story that a man makes up on his drive to the service. The source of that message is
right here. It's God's Word. And Paul, it
says here, he spoke from the law of Moses and the prophets. Listen to a few scriptures. Let
me just read these to you. Luke 24, 25, it says, Then he
said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe, what? All that the prophets have written. all that the prophets have spoken.
Luke 24 verse 44, he said unto them, these are the words which
I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things
must be fulfilled, which were written, where? In the law of
Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me,
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter 5, there were
a group of Jews that were arguing. They were trying to argue, and
this is what our Lord said to them in John 5, 46. He said,
had you believed Moses? If you truly believed what Moses
said, you'd believe me, because Moses wrote of me. But if you believe not his writings,
if you don't believe what Moses wrote, How shall you believe
my words?" How shall you believe what the Lord Jesus Christ spoke? In John 12, 41, these things
said Isaiah when he saw His glory and spake of Him. Who was he talking about? The
prophet Isaiah spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's where
Paul brought this message from, from the Old Testament scriptures. And that's my prayer this morning,
that the Lord would enable us to look into the book of Isaiah,
that he would be pleased to speak to us, continue to speak to us
through his word. Turn with me to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Now I had hopes, I
had hopes of bringing a message from this entire chapter this
morning. I failed in that because I got
to verse 6 and I just, I couldn't go, I
couldn't go any further. Look at that, and I believe there's
three truths. many truths but three in this
passage of scripture, this one verse of scripture. Look at Isaiah
53 verse 6. It 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. Listen to these three truths.
First, is this, the truth about man. The truth about man. What's it say there? All we like
sheep have done what? We've gone astray. What have
we done? We've turned everyone to our
own way. Second, the truth about Almighty
God. It says here, the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. Who laid on him the iniquity
of us all? The Lord did, the truth about
Almighty God. And then third, the truth about
the Lord Jesus Christ, that one on whom our iniquity was laid. Let's look at these three truths
here together this morning. First, the truth about man. What does the Bible say? What
does God's Word say about man? Right here we read this, that
all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned every one of us
to our own way. This points to original sin. This points to our sin. Adam, there in the garden. What way did he choose? God gave
him and Eve the garden to dress and to keep. That's all they had to do. Not
a weed was growing up in that garden, just to enjoy the fruits
thereof. But one thing, he asked one thing
of them, he said, Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. For in the day that you eat thereof,
thou shalt surely die. I ask you, what did Adam do? Now, we don't know how much time
passed. I'm sure it was a short, I'm
just convinced, knowing myself, knowing my sense, it was a short,
a very short amount of time. Because anytime we're told not
to do something, what's our desire? To do that. We've got some goats
at the house, and we've got a little pen that they stay in. And there's
plenty of feed in there, and there's plenty of grass in there
to nourish them. And you walk around the outside
of that fence and it looks like a weed eaters went around the
outside of it. They'll stretch that neck through that fence
as far as they can and eat what's outside the fence. That's us. We want what we cannot have. Adam took that fruit. He disobeyed
God. Romans 519 says, for as by one
man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by the obedience
of one, shall many be made righteous. Scripture says this, that we
go astray as soon as we're born. David wrote that in the Psalms.
He said, the wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray
as soon as they be born. Speaking lies. I was thinking about this, our
children. We raise our children, and there's
things that we teach them to do, right? I mean, we can't wait
for them to start walking, and one will stand on one side of
the room, and the other will stand three steps away, and we'll
stand them up, and we'll just wait for them to walk. We teach
them to walk, right? We teach them to, we try to teach
them to talk, don't we, huh? And we always want them to say
our name first. We teach them to do those things.
But you know what? One thing that we never have
to teach our kids is how to lie. I don't know of one parent that
set their kid down and said, now this is how you lie to me.
It's not necessary, is it? They know it. They know it from
the womb. We seek our own way. There's
a way. That's what scripture says. There's
a way that seems right unto man. But what's the end of that? The
ways thereof are the ways of death. Listen to just a few scriptures
here about, tell us the truth about man, about who and what
we are. Scripture says this, there is
none righteous. None? No, not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. What are we seeking then? What's man seek? We seek our
own way. We seek our own pleasure. We
seek our own comfort. We seek our own glory. We seek
our own will, our own satisfaction. Everybody, everybody seeks their
own. Here's what we're not seeking.
Here's who we're not seeking. We're not seeking God. and left
to ourselves, we'll continue to seek our own way. Scripture says they're all going
out of the way. All going out of the way. They
are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Our Lord said this. He said, you have not the love
of God in you. This is the universal truth about
man. All, all have sinned and come
short of the glory of almighty God. Second, the truth about
almighty God. Listen to what we read there.
The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now this world, it preaches a
false God. It preaches a weak God. It preaches a failing God, a
disappointed God, a God whose hands are tied. That's what men
preach in our time. They say things like this, they
say, He has no eyes, but your eyes. He has no feet, but your
feet. He has no hands, but your hands. My friends, that's a lie. A God,
what kind of God is dependent upon man for anything? He created man. We're his to
do with as he pleases. The God of this Bible, the true
God is sovereign. He is sovereign in all things. And he is in no way dependent
upon man. Psalm 50, turn there with me,
turn to Psalm 50. Look at verse 10. Does this sound like a God that's
dependent on man? Look, beginning with verse 10.
For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon
a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains
and the wild beasts of the field. Who they belong to? They're mine,
he says. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the
world is mine in the fullness thereof. All things, all things
are in his hands. Almighty God is holy. Almighty God is absolutely holy. Scripture says, thou art of pure
eyes than to behold evil and can't look on iniquity. That's the complete opposite
of us. We drink iniquity like water. Almighty God is holy and sin
is going to be punished. To save his people, sin has to
be put away. And this holy God, this holy
God who we've sinned against, every last one of us, of whom
we have strayed from, whose law we've broken, whose justice,
his justice must be satisfied. God's not just gonna wink at
sin. Sin must be punished. This God
with whom scripture says this, with whom we have to do, we've broken his law. David said
this, he said, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done
this evil. in thy sight, God who will by
no means clear the guilty." Think about this. He destroyed
this world with a flood in judgment. Not just a town, not just a state,
not just a country, this whole world. He flooded it and destroyed
everything upon it except Noah and his family. Almighty God who turned those
evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes. You know, in 2 Samuel, David
had a new cart built to haul the Ark of the Covenant around
on. And while they were moving the Ark on that cart, they came
to a place where the oxen stumbled. Must have been just a little
uneven place. And a man named Uzzah thought
the ark was going to slide off the card, or fall off. And he put his hand up to stable
it. What did God do? God slew him. God's holy. His law must be obeyed,
and perfectly. Not our best effort. Not the
best we can do. God smote him and he died right
there. God's holy. He's gonna punish
sin. The wages of sin is death. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. God's holy. Third, we see the truth about
the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, the Lord hath laid on
Him, the iniquity of us all. Him, that one upon whom our iniquity
was laid. Our iniquity was laid on Him.
Who deserved it? We did. We do. Almighty God, against whom we've
sinned, from whom we've turned, whose justice must be satisfied,
has laid on his son the sin of his elect." 1 Peter 2, verse
24. Turn there with me. 1 Peter 2,
verse 24. It says, who his own self bear
our sins in his own body on a tree, that we being dead to sin should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye are healed. Christ bore, the Lord Jesus Christ
bore the sins of his people. He bore them in his body. He
bore them on the cross that we, deserving of that death, deserving
of that punishment, might be justified, might be hardened,
might be redeemed before Almighty God that we, being dead to this
world, should live righteously and godly. We were as sheep going
astray. We were taking our own way, walking
our own way. But by his grace and mercy, we've
been brought back to the shepherd, brought back to the master, brought
back to the Lord Jesus Christ. I think about that passage of
scripture. He says, what man of you What man of you haven't
one lost sheep? Isn't that a beautiful picture? One lost sheep. And he leaves
the 99 and he goes out into the wilderness and he seeks that sheep until what? It changes its mind
and comes back to him? No. No, he seeks that sheep until
he finds it. And that lost sheep is helpless,
because he goes to it where it is, and he picks it up, and he
puts it on his shoulder, and he carries it home. Oh, what
a glorious, glorious God. We're all like sheep going astray.
The Lord Jesus Christ comes in his time, and he gathers them
to himself. He brings that sheep home and
he tells his friends and his neighbors, come and rejoice with
me. I have found my lost sheep. By his grace and mercy, we return
to the shepherd and master, the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, the
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Listen, this isn't something
man does. Hell's going to last an eternity. Sin is going to be punished. But for the believer, it's already
been punished. His son bore it. This isn't something that needs
to be done. Scripture says this, it is done. The Lord hath laid
on Him the iniquity of us all. It's finished. It's complete. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. He bore our sins. He satisfied God's justice. He executed His gracious will. False religion of this world
says this, it says, do. What's the gospel say? Done. It's done. Our Lord said that
on the cross. He said, it is finished. He delivered us from
the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom
of his dear son. Isaiah 53, 6, all we like sheep
have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Turn back to Acts chapter 28. Acts 28. Look again at verse 23. When they had appointed him a
day, there came many to him and to his lodging, to whom he expounded
and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning
Jesus, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, both out of the law of
Moses and out of the prophets from morning till evening. And some believed. Some believed the things which
were spoken, and some believed not. Paul preached Christ. He preached from the law and
the prophets. And some, some believed. Some believed. I pray he'd be
pleased to do the same for us. that he had let us see Christ. That he had opened our eyes and
let us see Christ to believe him. Give us faith to believe. Philip and that Ethiopian eunuch. Remember that the Lord sent Philip.
That eunuch was sitting up in his chair reading. I don't know
where he'd come back from some type of a religious meeting and
he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Scripture says this, that Philip
began at that same scripture, and what did he do? He preached
Christ to him. And let me read this to you,
and I'll close. Philip opened his mouth. Think
about that. He opened his mouth and he began
at the same scripture, and he preached to him. How to be a
better person? How to have a good marriage?
He preached unto him the Lord Jesus Christ. And as they went
on their way, they came into a certain water, and the eunuch
said, see, here's water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? What doth hinder me to confess
the Lord Jesus Christ? And Philip, this is his reply. You know, he didn't say, if you
can explain all this back to me, you can. He didn't say, if you can memorize
a few verses of Scripture. He didn't say, I need you to
repeat the sinner's prayer to me. He didn't say, put your hand
up on the TV screen and repeat after me. What did he say? If thou believest. If thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest. And he answered. Can you imagine
how his heart rejoiced? He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded that chariot
to stand still, and they went down both into the water, both
Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. Some, some believed. Some believed. I was thinking
about our brother Gabe. Luke was telling me he's preaching
three, four, five times a day, from morning till evening. He's traveled a long way. The
Lord sent him a long way to preach the gospel, morning till evening. And his word doesn't go forth
in vain, does it? Some, some believed. Some believed. I pray
he'd continue to call out his sheep. Give us faith to believe
and rest in him and him alone. All right.