Good evening. If you will open
your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53. We have a substitute. Praise
God, we have a substitute. Every time we come and partake
of the Lord's table, we're remembering our substitute. I want to talk
to you briefly about Christ, our substitute. Look with me
in Isaiah 53 verse 1. The prophet writes, who hath
believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? He asked this question, who hath
believed our report? He had God's report, God's message.
And I pose the same question, who hath believed our report?
We preach Christ crucified who believes this message and he
answered that question with another question To whom the arm of the
Lord is revealed those to whom God has revealed his gospel now
What exactly is the arm of the Lord? You know, that's that's
an interesting phrase and thankfully we have the answer here look
back in chapter 52 verse 9 and He wrote, break forth into joy.
Sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem. For the Lord hath
comforted his people. He hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare, revealed
his holy arm. In the eyes of all the nations
and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our
God. The arm of the Lord is the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. He is. the arm of the Lord. He
is, as we just read, the salvation of our God. He is the almighty,
all-powerful, effectual Savior of sinners. When I was young,
Shelby taught a class and we learned some good words like
Savior, Sovereign, and another of these words was Omnipotent.
That means all-powerful. The first thing I want to say
is that our substitute is Omnipotent. He is the blessed and only potentate,
the all-powerful Savior, Son of God. And we read in the New
Testament that the gospel of Christ, Christ himself is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And
as we just saw, those who believe are those whom God has revealed
his gospel to. Paul put it this way, he said,
when it pleased God to reveal his son in me, he separated me
from my mother's womb, called me by his grace, and he revealed
his son in me. That's when we will find ourselves
believing God. Second, look at verse two. It
goes on to say, for he, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall grow up before
him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. God
purposed from eternity for the Lord Jesus Christ to come into
this world, and he came into this world exactly as God purposed,
as a tender plant, lowly, without notice. You know, I read that,
and I got to thinking, they talk about one of the princes is gonna
be married soon, and when they have a baby, I mean, the whole
world is watching. Everybody knows about it. I really
don't care about it, to be honest with you, but everybody knows.
When our Lord came, you know how many people knew? Now they
had God's word, so I'm sure some knew, but it was nothing like
it is today. He came without notice, lowly. And we see that with his entrance
into this world. It says, he shall grow up before
him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. Our
Lord is the root of Jesse, the root of David, Jesse's son. And
yet he came not as David was, a mighty king with pomp and glory. Oh no, our Lord came into this
world as a helpless baby. born of a virgin to poor parents
in a lowly town. That's how he was pleased to
come into this world. That's our Savior. Verse two
goes on to say, he hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall
see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. While our
Lord was here, from the time he was born till the time he
ascended back into glory, he rejected all fleshly attraction. Every single bit of it. He had
no lust of the flesh like we do. None. He did not come here
to impress anybody. He didn't come to put on a good
show. And no one, no one saw any beauty in him. Not naturally,
not until he first did something for them. He made himself that
way. The way he came into this world,
the way he lived, he made himself. Truly, God's ways are not our
ways. He humbled himself. And he did it all on purpose.
Turn back to Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah 9 verse 6. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,
of the increase of his government and peace. There shall be no
end. Upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth forevermore, the zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this. Praise God a son was given, the
Son of God, the mighty God. Jesus Christ is the Lord's anointed,
God sent, purpose from eternity, substitute. He is the Lord's
anointed, substitute for sinners. That's the second thing. Now
look back in our text, Isaiah 53 verse 3. He is despised and rejected of
men. While our Lord walked this earth,
He went about doing good everywhere He went, everywhere He went.
And yet everywhere He went, people sought to kill Him. And it's no different today.
We preach the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach Him as all our salvation,
and people hate that because the carnal mind hates God, hates
the Lord's Christ. Our Lord preached, you know,
in praying for the Lord to teach me how to preach His gospel.
My prayer is that He would enable me to preach as much like Christ
as He enables me to. And our Lord preached a message.
He preached a bold message that was very offensive to the natural
man. But yet His message was a message
of mercy. How kind, a mercy of love, a
message of grace. And yet all of us despise that
message until God makes us love it, makes us willing. Had he not stretched forth his
saving arm to us, we would still hate his gospel and hate him
this day. Look back at verse three, it
goes on, it says, he's despised and rejected of men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid as it were our faces from
him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. We can't begin to imagine
the sorrow and the grief that our Lord endured. Just the fact
that he was the sinless God in human flesh in a world of sin
would be sorrowful enough. You know, I like to think sin
bothers me sometimes. How much more must it have grieved
him? He was constantly confronted
and ridiculed by the religious people of his day. But his greatest
grief was seen on the cross. And before he went there, he
was in the garden of Gethsemane, where he sweat, as it were, great
drops of blood. And he prayed, and he said, my
soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. He was praying
to God the Father. He prayed three times, Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, Not
my will, but thy will be done. And I got to thinking, he took
his disciples with him. And he told them to sit and watch.
And he came back after he prayed the first time, they were asleep.
Can you not watch for an hour? Went and prayed again, came back,
they were asleep again. He didn't say a word. Went and
prayed, came back again. And I love this. This shows his
purpose and why he came. He said, sleep on now. You sleep,
take your rest. because he was about to go to
the cross to give us eternal rest. Look back at our text in verse
four. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. How acquainted with grief was
our Lord, he bore our griefs. He took my sins and my sorrows
and made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. You know what we say to that?
How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. The fourth thing is that our
substitute is a loving substitute. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. Our Lord was beaten. slaughtered Forsaken of God and
He endured it all For the joy that was set before him Because of his love for his sheep
you just try to get a hold of that He said I am the Good Shepherd
the Good Shepherd and giveth his life for the sheep and Greater
love has never been displayed than this. He laid down his life
for his friends. There is no greater love than
the love of our blessed substitute. Now lastly, here in verse five,
it says, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
for our iniquities. Now we know that the soul that
sinneth, it shall die. How did Christ die? We ought
to consider this. He knew no sin. He never sinned,
not once. How did he die? He was the spotless
lamb of God. We just read about the lamb without
blemish. He died as our substitute. Our sins became his. He stood on that cross in the
middle, guilty. And I tremble to say it because
I can't begin to enter into what all this means. He stood on that
cross guilty, bearing the sins of all his people in his own
body on that cursed tree. God in strict, holy justice poured
out his wrath, all of his wrath on him, on our substitute. He
paid the price of our sin. And he paid it in full. Verse
five goes on to say, The chastisement of our peace was upon him. We're
sinners. We're not naturally at peace
with God. I need to be reconciled to God
if I'm to have any hope of eternal life. And it's sad and blasphemous
for someone to say you need to make your peace with God. We
can't. That is nowhere in this book.
This book says that Jesus Christ, he made peace through the blood
of his cross. He made our peace. He has made
it so that we are at peace with God. Father, that they may be
one even as we are one. We're one with God by the work
of Christ. Verse five ends, with and with
his stripes we are healed. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
die in vain. Not one drop of his blood was
in vain. His death was a success. A complete success, it actually
accomplished salvation. All for whom he died are saved.
He did not merely make it possible. And his resurrection is all the
proof I need to know God's satisfied. With his stripes, we are healed.
That's satisfaction. God said, I'm satisfied, accepted,
come, come. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. We're justified, sanctified,
redeemed. He bought us with his own blood.
Now lastly, look at verse six. It says, all we like sheep have
gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. We all, just like his disciples,
they all fled, forsook him. But even that was according to
the scriptures. Smite the shepherd, they must go free. We all forsook
him. But praise his holy name, he
will never forsake us, never. While he was forsaken by God,
he prayed for and earned our eternal forgiveness. Is that
not wonderful? We went astray like sheep, but
we're his sheep. He said, I give unto them eternal
life, they shall never perish. What assurance. And he was able
to say that because, as verse six says, the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all, all the sheep, all for whom Christ
died. God laid our sins on him. He
took them upon himself. And he bore the just wrath and
punishment of them. And he put them away forever
as far as the east is from the west. There's a little song we would
sing in Danville often. I don't remember if we've sung
it here, but my sins are all taken away. My sins are all taken away. Lastly,
look with me at 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I know most of us know this verse,
but I just want us to see it. Second Corinthians 521 says,
for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. The Lord Jesus
Christ died on the cross was buried and rose again as our
successful substitute. He fully satisfied the justice
of God for us, and it's finished. Christ is all, and we're complete
in him. Let us pray. God, our Father, we come to you
with hearts full of thanksgiving We thank you for this blessed
portion of your word where we can clearly see our substitute. We know that you are a holy and
just God who must punish all sin. And we thank you for providing
a way for sending the Savior, the substitute
of sinners. Lord, we thank you for stretching
forth your arm of power to us, saving us, calling us out of
the darkness we were in, bringing us to the feet of Christ. Lord,
I pray that if there be one here who knows you not, that you might, in wonderful, marvelous power,
speak to them this night. Lord, speak to all of us again.
Save us by your grace. Forgive us through that precious
blood that was shed. We rejoice in the beauty that you've enabled
us to see of our Lord, though we saw none at first. Lord, we
thank you for doing for us what we could never do for ourselves.
Pray that we would each be enabled to to get just a glimpse of the
glory of our substitute. Lord, may we consider his body,
how perfect he is. And my prayer for each one here
is that we might be found in him. Now bless our pastor as
he comes to speak to us again. Cause us to see Jesus Christ
and him crucified and enable us to rejoice and give you thanks.
Amen. What a blessing. Turn with me to Isaiah 53. And we'll pick up where our brother
left off. Verse 7 says, He was oppressed. He was oppressed. Our brother
just very adequately declared substitution and satisfaction. The message of this chapter and
the message of the gospel is substitution and satisfaction. Our Lord was our substitute and
that's why he was oppressed. That's the reason. The word oppressed
means task mastered. That's what it means, task mastered. It means pressed, driven, exerted
by demanding pressure. That's what it means. Now hold
your place right here and turn with me if you would to Exodus
chapter 1. Exodus chapter 1 verse 8 says,
Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people,
Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier
than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with
them. lest they multiply and it come
to pass that when there falleth out any war they join also unto
our enemies and fight against us and so get them up out of
the land. Therefore they did set over them
taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. Verse 13 says,
and the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. and they made their lives bitter
with hard bondage in mortar and in brick and in all manner of
service in the field, all their service wherein they made them
serve was with rigor. Now look with me at chapter two,
verse 23. And it came to pass in process
of time, that the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel
sighed by reason of the bondage and they cried and their cry
came up unto God by reason of the bondage and God heard their
groaning And God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac,
and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children
of Israel, and God had respect unto them. Now, what did he do? What did he do for them? How did he deliver them? Look back in our text. Isaiah
53, verse seven says, He was oppressed. He made himself to
be task mastered, a substitute, a substitute. He brought himself
under the bondage and the affliction of his people. Now, everything
that was prophesied about our Savior, Everything that was prophesied
about His substitution for us and our deliverance through that
substitution. Everything that was prophesied,
He fulfilled on the cross of judgment. Everything that was
prophesied, He fulfilled every bit of it on the cross of God's
punishment for our sin. Every bit of it. What I would
like to do is for just a second, I want us to hold two places
of scripture. And I want us to see how God
the Father prophesied what had to be done, and how God the Son
fulfilled every bit of it on the cross as our substitute.
Verse seven says, he was oppressed. He was task mastered. He was given a task of hard bondage
and it was pressed into him with rigor. Now hold your place right
here and go with me to Matthew 26. And for a moment here, we're
just gonna look back and forth. Matthew 26, verse 36, it says, then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane and saith unto the disciples, sit
ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, my soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here and
watch with me. And he went a little further
and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples
and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What? Could
you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you enter
not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second
time and prayed, saying, O my father, if this cup may not pass
away from me except I drink it, Thy will be done. He was oppressed. He was given
a task of hard bondage and it was pressed into him. Now hold
your place right here in Matthew 26 and look with me at Isaiah 53. Verse 7 says, He was oppressed
and He was afflicted. Alright, look back at Matthew
26. Verse 57, And they that had laid hold on
Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes
and the elders were assembled. Verse 67 says, Then did they spit in his face,
and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their
hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that
smote thee? He was mocked, he was tortured,
he was beaten, He was afflicted. He was afflicted by both God
and man. God and man. He was afflicted
by the one who was worthy to afflict him, and he was afflicted
by the ones who were not worthy to afflict him. He was afflicted
by all of heaven, earth, and hell. He was afflicted by everything. Everything. No man saw affliction
like this man. No man. He was afflicted to the
point that it says in Luke's account, his sweat was great
drops of blood. That was our wickedness. The wickedness of our sin pressing
that out of him. Look with me back at Isaiah 53. Verse 7 says, 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 openeth not his mouth. Look with me at Matthew,
this time chapter 27, verse 12. Matthew 27, verse 12. And when he was accused of the
chief priest and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto
him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?
And he answered him to never a word. in so much that the governor
marveled greatly. Pilate knew that he himself did
not commit any of the accusations and sins that were laid on him.
Pilate clearly saw that. He said, after examination, I
find no fault in this man, none. He knew that this man is bearing
the guilt and the shame, and he's about to endure the slaughter
of another. And he had never seen a man who
was willing to do this. Never. Never. He didn't say a
word. Never one word. Pilate marveled
at him. Isaiah 53 verse 8 says, 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 was he stricken." Matthew 27 verse 26 says, Then released he Barabbas unto
them. And when he had scourged Jesus,
he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole
band of soldiers. And they stripped him and put
on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown
of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed in his right
hand. And they bowed the knee before
him and mocked him saying, hail, king of the Jews. And they spit
upon him. and took the reed and smote him
on the head. And after that they had mocked
him, they took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on
him and led him away to crucify him. Isaiah 53 verse 9 says, And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, Because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Matthew 27, verse
38. Then were there two thieves crucified
with him, one on the right hand and another on the left. And
they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads. And saying,
thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days,
save thyself. If thou be the son of God, come
down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priest
mocking him with the scribes and elders said, he saved others,
himself he cannot save. Is that not our gospel? Himself he cannot save. If He
be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross,
and we will believe Him. He trusted in God, let Him deliver
Him now, if He will have Him, for He said, I am the Son of
God. The thieves also, which were crucified with Him, cast
the same in His teeth." The wicked. He was buried with the wicked.
And verse 57 right here tells us, When the even was come, there
came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph, who also himself
was Jesus's disciple. He went to Pilate and begged
the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body
to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the
body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. and laid it in his
own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock. And he rolled
a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed, the
wicked and the rich. Isaiah 53, verse 10 says, yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. when thou shall 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. That means God did this. God did this. Matthew 27 verse
45 says, Now from the sixth hour, there
was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. In about
the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli,
lama sabachthani. That is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Our Savior did not say, my God,
my God, why have they forsaken me? He said, why have you forsaken
me? And the answer is because when
our Savior took our sin upon himself, he took every consequence
that comes with that sin, every single consequence upon himself.
Our sin had to be forsaken and he had our sin, had to be. And when God his Father in all
of heaven and all of earth forsook him, he was left alone to deal
with the penalty and the payment of those sins by himself, forsaken
by every single thing. And when he by himself purged
our sins, verse 50 says, he cried again with a loud voice. And the Gospel of John tells
us what it was. He cried, it is finished. With a loud voice. And when he
cried, it is finished, God the Father cried, I am satisfied. God the Son cried, it is finished. And God the Father cried, I am
satisfied. Back in Isaiah 53, verse 11 says,
he shall see of the travail of his soul. That's God the father
looking at God the son. Sending the travail, spewing
out his wrath. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify 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 sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors." Now, what's a
sinner's response to this? What does a true sinner who sees
this salvation, what is his response to this? Chapter 54 says, sing,
O barren, thou that didst not bear. Start singing. because he bore for you what
you could not bear. It goes on to say, break forth
into singing and cry out loud because of what this means for
us. Break forth into great joy and rejoicing because of what
this means for us. Now we'll close with this. Let
me show you what it means for us. Back to Matthew 27. Verse 50 says, Jesus, when he
had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold,
the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the
bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves
were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose
and came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into
the holy city and appeared unto many." And I love that. Chapter 28, verse 6 says, he
is not here for he is risen, as he said. Every soul whose
sins were laid on Him, when He arose, we arose with Him. When He arose, all of His people
arose with Him. Never to die again. Never again. And the reason is because God
is satisfied. God the Father is satisfied. All of His work,
perfectly satisfied. Every demand. and all of his
people are safe forever. Let's worship him. Let's worship
him. Let's worship him. Let's give
thanks. Oh, we give so much thanks for what he's done. Thank God. Let's have a word of prayer.