I wanna talk to you this morning
about the subject substitution, substitution and satisfaction. And one of the best scriptures
to go to is Isaiah chapter 53. Many call this the gospel according
to Isaiah. It is so clear that the person
whom he's speaking of is none other than Jesus Christ. He is
the arm of the Lord. He is the tender plant. He is
the root out of dry ground. He is the one despised and rejected
of men. He is the man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. They were his constant companions.
He was no stranger to sorrows and grief. And it's evident we
hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. This is a description of Jesus
Christ and our conduct toward Jesus Christ. He's the tender
plant that grew up before the Lord. He was examined by God
and men in the Old Testament. The lamb that was to be sacrificed
was to be put up for a few days and it was to be observed to
make sure there was no blemish in it. At the end of those, I
believe it was three days, they would take the lamb and they
would sacrifice it if it had no blemish. Jesus Christ grew
up before the father. The father found no blemish in
Jesus Christ. He grew up before men. Pilate
said, I find no fault in him. Jesus Christ is the perfect lamb
of God. That's who Jesus Christ is. And
it says that he's like a root out of dry ground. That is, he
has no form of comeliness. A root out of dry ground is not
attractive. It's not something that's going
to get your attention. It has been in the heat of the
sun, scuffed up, kind of rough looking, maybe. There was no
beauty, not in his appearance. In other words, there was nothing
attractive about him. There was nothing about his appearance.
that said, this is God. This is God incarnate. This is
the Messiah. He looked like an ordinary man,
an ordinary poor man, I might add. And it says he's despised
and rejected of men. All men, Jew and Gentile, despised
and rejected Jesus Christ. No one is born into this world
loving Jesus Christ. If you say that you have loved
him all your life, that's too long because no one is born loving
Jesus Christ. To love Christ takes a powerful
work of God. It's a work of grace in the heart.
But he was despised and rejected of men. He came unto his own
and his own received him not. The man of sorrows acquainted
with grief. Now it says, surely he hath borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows. Notice the particular language
here in this verse, verse four. Our griefs, our sorrows. Jesus Christ did not bear sorrow
and grief. He bore our sorrows, our grief. The sorrow and the griefs that
he bore belong to someone. They belong to a particular people.
They belong to the people of God, the people whom God chose
before the foundation of the world. If God had not chosen
a people, the Bible would only be three chapters long. And after
Adam failed, that would have been the end of it. But God chose
a people just like he did angels. The angels that did not fall,
but kept their first estate did so because God chose them. They are called. the elect angels. So if God had not chosen any
of the sons of Adam, all would perish. All would perish. But now listen to verse five.
But 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. He was tormented. Our transgressions,
not just transgressions. If you want to take part in it,
then accept him as your personal savior. That's not in the word
of God. He was tormented for our transgressions. The transgressions that he was
tormented for belong to some people. He was bruised for our
iniquities. He was whipped, beaten for our
iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. We have peace with God. If we
have peace with God, we have it through the Lord Jesus Christ. And whatever spiritual healing
I have comes to me and to you through the stripes of Jesus
Christ. Here's our part, verse six. All
we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned to everyone to
his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us
all. He made the iniquity of all of God's people, all the
elect to meet on Jesus Christ. And he paid for them. He suffered
for them. He was bruised for them. He was
beaten for them. And he died for them. Doing so,
he put them away. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. He was oppressed by men. He was
oppressed by Satan. And finally he was oppressed
by God. Yet he opened not his mouth. Why did he open not his
mouth? Because the people whom he represented
were guilty. And standing in as their substitute,
he became guilty. So the charges were true. And
he opened not his mouth. And he's brought as a lamb to
the slaughter. And as a sheep before his shearers is done,
he opened not his mouth. He was a willing savior. He was
a willing sacrifice. He was a willing substitute.
He didn't fight it. He willingly laid down his life. He said, I lay my life down.
No man takes it from me. I lay it down of myself. And
he was taken from prison and from judgment. He was put in
prison and then taken from prison and judgment was taken away from
him. And who shall declare his generation? He was cut off out
of the land of the living. Jesus Christ was cut off. He
was put to death in the flesh. And the reason he was cut off
is for this reason, for the transgression of my people was he stricken. Not just for transgression, but
the transgressions of my people. Transgression does not exist
outside of those who commit them. Transgression and sin, they are
not something floating in the air. They belong to someone. And when Christ died, he put
away their transgressions. When he died for that multitude
of sinners given to him by the father, he put their sins away.
And the law of God is satisfied. And it says in verse nine, he
made his grave with the wicked. He was nailed on a cross between
two thieves. But when they took him down,
they put him in a rich man's grave. It says, and with the
rich in his death. Because he'd done no violence.
He was not a violent man. A bruised reed shall he not break,
and a smoking flag shall he not put out. It says he will not
cry, and his voice will not be heard in the streets. He was
not a violent man. He was very kind and gentle,
meek and lowly. He said, come to me, all you
that labor and heavy laden. I will give you rest. For I'm
meek and lowly at heart, and you'll find rest to your soul.
He'd done no violence. Neither was any deceit in his
mouth. He never told a lie. He never spoke anything but the
truth. Everything he ever spoke was truth. Truth and grace are
the only things that flowed from his lips. Yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him. Now, why did it please God to
bruise Jesus Christ, to put him to death? Because it pleased
God. I believe it was Samuel said
to Israel, It pleased God to make you his people. Now in making
a multitude of sinners his people, Jesus Christ had to die in their
place. Justice has to be satisfied. God is not going to save anyone
at the expense of his justice. He's not going to do that. And
we don't want him to do that. For God to be God, we want him
to be a just God. A just God and a savior, but
we want him to be a just God. So it says, yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him. He had put him to grief. He knows
what grief is. He knows what sorrow is. He knows the full measure of
grief over sin. He knows the full measure of
sorrow. We could not, there's not one
human being on this earth or ever shall be on this earth that
will ever know the full measure of grief and sorrow. But Jesus
Christ did. Now it says here in verse 10
that, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, his
soul was an offering for sin. It was not, now listen, the sacrifice
of Christ was not an offering to me and you. It's an offering
to God. It's an offering to God Almighty. And it says, when thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed, those
for whom he died, that's exactly what it means. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. Everything's turned over to Jesus
Christ as a mediator. And everything he set his hand
to do, he did, he accomplished. When he was hanging on Calvary's
tree, the last thing he said, was it is finished. It is finished. And because of
this, he shall see of the travail of his soul, the birth pains
of his soul. He'll see. And he shall be satisfied. You know, if a woman is in travail
and she gives birth and the child is stillborn, she's not satisfied,
that's great sorrow. But Jesus Christ has no stillborn
children. Everyone for whom he died shall
be saved. He shall see of the travail of
his soul be satisfied. And by his knowledge of our righteous
servant, justify many, many, the many whom he represented,
he shall justify. And he says, by his knowledge,
he knows for whom he died. He knows why he died. And by
his knowledge, he will justify all for whom he died. And here's
the reason. For he shall bear their, their
iniquities. Iniquity belongs to someone.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide
the spoiled with the strong. Here's satisfaction. Because
of this, because of what he has done, who he is and what he has
done, God the Father says, I'll divide him a portion with the
great. he shall divide the spoiled with the strong. Because he had
poured out his soul unto death as a sacrifice, as a substitute. He poured out his soul unto death.
He was numbered with the transgressors. He got in line. He got at the
head of the line and took all the hell of God's wrath for everyone
in that line. And he bared the sin of many
and made intercession for the transgressors. Jesus Christ,
is the substitute for a multitude of sinners that no man can number.
Here's my question. Are you a sinner? Christ died
for sinners. Christ died for the ungodly.
You know, it really takes the Holy Spirit to make a sinner.
It takes the Holy Spirit to make someone confess that they're
guilty and undone and no good, and they need Jesus Christ. Now,
if you're a sinner, Look to Christ. He is the substitute for sinners.
I pray the Lord bless this message.