old story. Tell me the old, old story. All right. One more time. Turn to Isaiah, chapter 53. This
is the old, old story. Isaiah, chapter 53. I wonder who really believes
this book. I mean who really believes this
book. I venture to say that very few
people even read it, because of the many different denominations
and differences of opinion, different things people say about God,
about man, about salvation. And I wonder who really believes
what this book is saying. Who dares to believe? Who, by
God's grace, believes it? I can't seem to dismiss from
my mind that program I stumbled across on television a couple
of weeks ago, a talk show. I just didn't fully
realize the extent of the hatred of that men have for the gospel. The people on that show, I was
shocked. The people on that show, the
vast crowd, the majority of them were railing at and gnashing
their teeth at some fellow who was sitting up there, and all
he was saying, all the man was saying that The only way God
would accept someone is by Jesus Christ, that the only way that
God would accept someone is by Jesus Christ, by his death. Only
those that believed in Christ would be saved, and they railed
on this man. They grew furious at this man.
They yelled at him, screamed at him, and the host made fun
of him. Everybody ridiculed this old-fashioned blood sacrifice,
even a Jew. A Jew stood up at the end who
thought he was so smart, thought he knew the scriptures, but he
was ignorant. He said, What kind of God would kill his own son? I think this morning I asked
this question, Who really believes this? I heard a well-known evangelist,
Billy Graham, one time say that he used to think that those who
had never heard the gospel, who had never heard of Christ, would
not be saved, would be condemned. But he said, I realize now that
there perhaps is another way. I ask you from Isaiah 53, verse
1, who has believed our report? Who hath believed our report?
A report is merely a detailed account of something that has
been seen or heard. That's what a report is. a reckoning made of something
that has happened, of a factual event where things are heard. Acts 4, verse 13. The Apostles Peter and John had
been apprehended by the religious people, the religious leaders,
for preaching the gospel, and these people were railing and
gnashing at them. for what they had preached. Verse
13, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, perceived
that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they hadn't been
to seminary, they marveled. And they took knowledge of them
that they had been with this Jesus fellow. And beholding the
man, they had just healed a lame man, the man who was healed standing
with them, they could say nothing against it. It's clear they had
something there. When they commanded them to go
aside, they told them to walk out of the hall for a minute,
out of the council. They conferred among themselves, and they said,
What shall we do to these men? Indeed, a notable miracle has
been done by them. It's manifest. Everybody saw
it. It dwells in Jerusalem. We can't deny this. But that
it spread no further among the people. We cannot have this gospel
being spread. Let us straightly threaten these
fellows. that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. So they
called them in, and they commanded them not to speak or teach at
all in the name of Jesus. This has to cease. Verse 19,
listen to their answer. But Peter and John answered and
said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to
hearken unto you, more than unto him? You answer. You judge. For we cannot but
speak the things we've seen and heard. We can't help it. We've
got to tell you what we've seen, what we've heard. Look over at Acts, chapter 26.
We have to speak these things. And here the Apostle Paul is
standing before King Agrippa. Acts 26, and he's accused of
the same things, and they're threatening him. Everywhere he
goes he's preaching this gospel, and men are railing at him and
blasting him, gnashing their teeth at him. He's appearing
before this king to answer for the things that he has been saying. Verse 2, he says, I think myself
happy," and he'd been saying these things over and over and
over again, telling everybody that he came across, everybody
that demanded of him to speak for himself. He'd been telling
this story over and over again. In verse 2, he says, I think
myself happy, King Agrippa, because I'm going to answer again, I'm
going to tell you again, touching all the things that I'm accused
of. Look over at verse 21. So he stood there before King.
He said before King Agrippa, for these causes the Jews caught
me in the temple and went about to kill me, just because I was
preaching what I saw and heard. But having therefore obtained
help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both the
small and great, and I'm not saying any other things than
those that the prophets of Moses already said. This is no new
gospel. This is no new story that Christ
should suffer. and that he should be the first
that should rise from the dead and should show light unto the
people and to the Gentiles. And as he thus spake for himself,
Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are beside yourself.
Much learning does make you mad. But he said, I'm not mad, most
noble Festus. I've just been reading the Bible.
Now I am beside yourself. I'm not mad, he said, but I speak
forth the words of the truth in soberness." The King knows
these things. If you just open your Bible,
it's got dust all over it, you'll see it. "...before whom I also
speak freely." I'm persuaded that none of these things are
hidden from you, from anybody. If our gospel be hid, he said,
in another place, it's hidden from them that are lost. We haven't
been hiding this thing. King Agrippa said, verse 27,
or he said to King Agrippa, Do you believe the prophets? I know
you believe." Then Agrippa said unto him, We're almost as persuasive
as men to be a Christian. He couldn't deny it. They couldn't help but say the
things that they'd seen and heard, and the people that heard them
couldn't deny that there's some validity to it. And the Prophet here in Isaiah
53 asks, Well, who has believed it? Who believes this report? And I ask you this morning, do
you believe? Do you believe? You may say, yes. Yes, I believe. Well, the scripture says the
devil believes something and trembles. Is he a saved man? I'm not asking this morning, this
is not asking who believes mere facts, or who believes even in
the sovereignty of God. Look at verse 1 again. He says,
"...who has believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed?" Well, that is the power of God. That is the
sovereignty of God. That is his Lordship. One must
first and foremost see God in all his power, in all his holiness,
in all his justice, his omnipotence, his sovereignty. He's God. He
that comes to God must first believe he is God. Yes, that's
first and foremost. You've got to believe that God
is God and God is sovereign. But that's not all. That is not all of salvation.
Salvation doesn't stop there. The report is much longer than
this. It's much bigger than that. Much
bigger. Like I said, the devil believes
this. The devil knows God's sovereign, and he trembles, perhaps more
than we. I'm certain of it. Look at it
again there. He says, "'To whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed?' What is this arm of the Lord? Look at
verse 2. For he, it's a person. It's not a doctrine. It's a person. For he shall grow
up. He, salvation is a person. True
faith is in a person, not a doctrine. This is eternal life, this person
said. This is eternal life. This is
acceptance with God. This is true final salvation
from condemnation. This is eternal life, that they
might know thee, the only true God, yes, and Jesus Christ, whom
he has seen. Knowing a person, not just facts
about this person either. But the scripture says he must
be revealed to us. Christ in you, revealed unto
you. True salvation is to come to
know, believe, and love this person. God helped me this morning
to be eternally grateful and taken up with what he has done
for you. I was troubled, and I'm glad God troubled me at one
time about this. I knew the facts. I knew the
facts concerning God, concerning Christ, concerning his work,
could argue the doctrine. I knew these things, believed
them in my heart, these things. But it was right here. And God
had to take that and put it here. That's the difference between
mere knowledge and that which passes knowledge, the love of
Christ. And the only thing that will
do that, the only thing that will bring it from here to here,
is to really see that person hanging on that cross for you. It troubled me when I first heard
that. I heard a man say, unless you've really seen Christ hanging
on that tree with eyes of faith, Not a picture, an imagination,
or whatever, but seeing in this word, in this book, unless you've
really seen that what he did, he did on account of you. Unless
you've seen that, how can you love him? All you can admire
him, like a great king, is to be admired, you know. You'll
bow to him. sovereign monarchs that bow to
them because they're forced to do so, because they see the wisdom
of it. And there'll be people in heaven
someday that will bow to the sovereign lordship of Christ
because they're forced to do so. But there's all the difference
in the world. The difference in salvation is
bowing to him because you love him, because you see him and
you like him that way. Because of bowing to him for
what he's done for you. Oh, my Lord, and what you and
grabbing him around the feet like that prostitute, weeping
on his feet. Well, let's look at this person.
Verse 2. He shall grow up before God. This person is going to
grow up before God as a tender plant. The scripture says that
unto us a child is born, a son is given, that his name shall
be called God. He's the everlasting God. That's who He is. You have to
believe this, first of all. Anyone who doesn't believe this
doesn't know Him. Doesn't know Him. That little
baby over there in that manger, over in that cow stall, that
little baby laying in that straw, that's God. That's God. You've got to believe that. You've
got to. He'd grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root
out of dry ground, way over there in that eastern land in those
arid countries. In a little country that's no
more than 75 miles wide and 250 miles or so long at its widest,
longest point, over there in that little arid land in that
country, in a little hot, dusty town called Nazareth, a despised
little city. no tourist attraction or anything.
There's a little ten-year-old boy working in a carpenter shop,
working away, learning his daddy's trade. A little ten-year-old
boy, curly-headed little boy. That boy is God. That boy was God. That's who he was. The God who
made the universe is over there learning to make. A little chest,
a tool chest. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that? Come on. A root, it says, out of a dry
ground. Uh-huh. A little root out of
this dry, arid country, all of a sudden a little green sprout
pops up. No reason for it, really. It
just pops up. Life in the midst of a dead land. Look at this. A tender plant,
a root out of dry ground. He has no form, no comeliness.
Do you see that young man walking there, that young man with the
brown skin, the curly hair, he's real thin, he's real gaunt-looking,
he's got battered sandals on, worn clothing, real gangly-looking,
twenty-one-year-old young man, ugly, really ugly, not much to
look at, walking along that dusty street. See? That's God. When we see him, the scripture
says, there is no beauty that we should desire in him. This
is not that rosy-cheeked, robust, blue-eyed Caucasian that my swipe
middle-class Southern Baptist put a picture of on their Sunday
school program. It's not him. It says there's
no beauty about him, none desirable, in fact. No beauty that we should
desire in him. He's a Jew! He's a dark-skinned
Jew! What do you all think about black
people here? Well, he's a dark-skinned Jew, a plain, ugly man in plain working
clothes. But that's God. He's God. You believe that? I wonder how
many people here, if they really could see, not here but throughout
America, if they could see what He really looks like, if they'd
believe in Him. They didn't then. Even His own
people didn't. But if you could see Him on the
inside, You could see him on the inside, like that tabernacle
in the wilderness. If you'd look at that tabernacle,
that place where God met with the high priest, it was just
a plain rectangular box or tent. It had badger skin, one of the
roughest fur coats around, badger skin. It was ugly to look at,
nothing. If you saw it in the distance
from a mountain peak, you'd think, There's nothing in there. If
you were a marauder coming through, going to raid the place, you
wouldn't go near that place. There's nothing in there. It's
just a plain old warehouse or something. But on the inside, on the inside is the very glory
of God Almighty. God's on the inside. God's on
gold and silver and precious jewels and pearls on the inside. There's nothing about the outside
you desire but on the inside. And the only thing from the outside
you can really see is smoke by day and fire by night coming
out of that thing. And Christ, there's nothing that
we should desire about him on the outside. Nothing. But on the inside, God Almighty,
the glory of God Almighty is on the inside of that tabernacle
he wore. And the only thing you can ever
see coming from the outside is smoke by day. If you hear his
voice, you'll go away saying like those people, no man spoke
like this man, no mere mortal man could speak like this. And
if you looked into those eyes, fire in those eyes, that God
who is a consuming fire, his countenance, they fell at his
feet at just a word. And that plain brown rapper is
God Almighty. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that? Look at verse 3. He's despised. He's despised and rejected of
men. Look at that angry mob. Look
at that big crowd of people surrounding that fellow, mobbing him. They've
got rocks in their hands, sticks and stones and rocks. They're
ready to beat this man's brains out. They're cursing him, they're
spitting on him, they're hurling accusations at him. Everybody's
up in arms against this fellow. Why? What did he do? What did
this man do? Why is everybody so mad at this
fellow? Gathering around him like a pack of wild dogs and
a little cat. What did this man do? Well, the report says he fed
5,000 people, the few loaves and fishes. Said he walked on
the ocean. The report said he healed blind
people, deaf people, dumb people, cast out devils. They say he
even raised somebody from the grave. Well, then why are they
trying to kill this fella? Why is everybody so mad at him?
Let's ask somebody. Sir, fella, why are you trying
to kill this fella? Why do you despise this man?
Why are you rejecting him? And the man answers, We're not
stoning for a good work. Oh, no. We'll let him be a good
worker, a humanitarian, even a prophet. We're not stoning him for good
works. We need things. We need outward reformation.
We need these things. Our economy is bad. We need this. We need some good programs and
some miracles. We want to see some miracles
and some signs. But we're killing him because
he said he was God. want him dead today for the very
same reason. He said no man could come to
God but by him. Imagine the audacity of that
fellow saying such a thing. He said that this God had chosen
a people before the foundation of the world, and all of them
weren't Jews, that God saved whom he will. And he said this
God gave these people to him. Imagine the brashness of that
fellow. He said, God's left this whole
thing up to him, and only those that believe in him, that follow
him, will be saved. Kill him! He said he was king. We will not have this man to
reign over us. He said he came down from heaven.
That means he said he was God. He said he was the bread of life.
What kind of foolish sermon was that? Did you hear that sermon?
He said, unless you eat his flesh and drink his blood, you have
no part in eternal life. Foolish, hard sayings, ridiculous
sayings. He's a despicable man, and we
hate him, we despise him, we reject him. Verse 3, a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief, from the cradle to the grave.
sorrowful, grievous, grieving this man was. Look at him, he's
haggard-looking, he's gaunt-looking from prayer and fasting, he's
weary-looking, red of eyes. He'd been crying, this man. You can see him weeping over
the city, and you hear him crying out,
Well, he's got to be a weakling, a
wimp, doesn't he? Doesn't he know that only the
strong survive? Why is he so sad and grief-stricken? Doesn't he know that nobody likes
to be around somebody sad and melancholy all the time? Come
on, look at verse 3 there. So we hear, as it were, our faces
from him. Come on, leave him alone. He
was despised, and we esteemed him wrong. He's a nobody. Can anything good ever come out
of Nazareth? Well, that man is God. That man. See, he turned his
other cheek. Some big burly fellow comes up
and bashes him in the face. He just turns his other cheek.
What kind of man would do such a thing? That's no man! Oh, yes it is. Well, do you believe that that's
God? Do you now? Who has believed
this report, really? Who has believed this report?
If you do, see in that man. God Almighty, blessed
are your eyes, for they see. But flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to you. You see, there's nothing about him that we should
desire. Nothing. No outward signs. A wicked, a foolish, and adulterous
generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given. And if you see him as he is,
blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they
hear. You've heard his voice. But you say, yes, I believe this.
I believe he's God. But what's all this really about?
Well, here it is. And God, if he shows you this,
it'll break your heart. It'll make you fall in love with
this man. If he shows you this, and he'll
save your soul by it. This man, this plain-looking
little man, was a substitute. A substitute. A substitute. You know, many of you played
sports, and if you were due to go up to bat,
say you're playing baseball, and you're coming up to bat,
and the coach said, hold it, he stops the game. Hold it. Time out. Parks, come out of
there." And he sends somebody in, your place, a substitute
for you. And Joe Rosen sits on the bench.
He's out of the game. He's out of the picture. Nobody's
even thinking about him now. Now it's all up to the fella
that's in his place. And that's who this man was. That's what he was doing. He
was becoming a substitute. He came to be a substitute. We're
on the picture. We're on the bench. It's as if we were on the front
lines of a battle, getting ready to be slaughtered by the enemy,
and then God says, hold it. You're mine. He puts us to the
side, and our captain goes up and says, I'll take it. I'll take the premium. substitution. And all those that
believe this record, the testimony, the report, the only hope of
salvation, the only way to God, he did this for you. Look at
it, verse 4. Here is the story, here is the
picture. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,
the all-glorious God of heaven, who dwelled in eternal bliss
and happiness from time He dwelt in bliss and happiness,
perfect contentment, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
dwelling together in happiness. He came down here, the scripture
said, when he was at Lazarus' tomb. Standing there at Lazarus'
tomb, when he saw all the misery and the grief and the sorrow
and the trouble, it says that he groaned in spirit, and he
troubled himself. You see, this God came down here.
He didn't have to come. He didn't have to. But He came
down here for us. He came down here and troubled
Himself. The God who declares He went
from the beginning. The God who all things have already
taken place in front of His eyes. You see, there's nothing that
could trouble Him. He knows the end. He knows the
end of the story. We wouldn't weep reading a story
if we knew the end of it, would we? He did. He came down here
knowing the end, yet he troubled himself. He troubled himself. You understand what I'm saying?
We're full of trouble. Things trouble us. But he troubled
himself. He got himself all trouble for
us. He troubled himself. He's touched with a feeling of
our infirmities. In fact, it says he became more
sorrowful than anybody else has ever been. He said, behold, and
see if there's any sorrow like unto myself. Have you ever, he's tempted and
tried in all points such as we are, but he did this for us so
we'd know what we feel. And chief, and a more greater
reason here in a moment. Some of the things you go through,
some of your troubles, griefs and sorrows, listen, have you
ever lost a loved one? Have you ever lost a child or
a husband or a wife or a parent? Have you? Troubles, grief and
sorrow, isn't it? He lost his father. He left his
father's throne. We couldn't enter into this blissful
communion that they had together. Father and son as one from eternity
past, eons and eons and eons of time together, loving one
another, ripped apart, separated from his father to come down
here and to be despised and hated when he could be loved all the
time. They despise him. Why? Because
we feel these things. So he can be tempted and tried.
Have you ever been tempted? You feel like Satan's assaulting
you? Forty days and forty nights he went out in the wilderness
and took everything that he could be hurled at him. Oh, it weakened
him. Since he came back weakened,
then the Holy Spirit had to come minister to him. Yeah, he was
weakened, but he didn't break. He didn't break. You ever felt
alone? Anybody feel alone in the world? He was forsaken by his Father.
My God! That Father he loved more than
anything. He knows how you feel. He felt
the same. But he didn't have to, you see.
He didn't have to. We deserve all this that we're
getting. We deserve it. But not him. So he voluntarily came down here
and made himself sorrowful, made himself sorry for us because
of our sin and our certain destruction. But it's not enough to just feel
sorry for us. It's not enough. It won't help
us. Just to feel, I feel sorry for you. It's not enough. You've
got to do something about it. Something has to be done. Well,
look at it. stricken and smitten of God and
afflicted. He didn't just feel sorry for
us, but God put upon him this eternal grief and this sorrow
we would have had in hell itself. If Christ hadn't have come down
here and taken this upon himself, we'd be in hell. Oh, you're talking
about grief. Oh, grief and sorrow and trouble. You talk about trouble where
the worm, the conscience, the searing pain dies not. But to
the rich man, son, remember, remember that gospel message
you heard and refused to believe. Remember, oh, I'd like to have
another chance. Well, God put on him that. So
we won't have to feel it someday. So we won't go there and feel
that grief and that sorrow. Let me quote it again. We did
esteem him smitten and stricken of God. He said, Behold, and
see if there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow, wherewith the
Lord has afflicted me. The Lord did this, verse 5. But,
but God, 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. He was brutally
beaten and spit upon, mocked and abused in my place." The strict law of God requires
Punishment, eternal punishment for any lawbreaker, an eye for
an eye, tooth for a tooth. It must be perfect to be accepted. But me, like a spoiled child
growing up, growing up from the womb, speaking lies, not wanting
anything to do with God, being unthankful, like a spoiled child
becomes unthankful and disobedient to its parents, and rises up
in rebellion, wanting its own way. Mine! Mine! That's us by
nature. That's me. And I deserve to be
beaten with a rod of many stripes for this, and you did too, for
our rebellion to this kind. We deserve to be beaten with
a rod forty times, save one. But we weren't. We aren't. But
He was. He was. And like a thief and
a robber, God just lavishes everything upon me, all the gifts and the
talents I had to play the piano, to play the guitar, to sing,
to preach, whatever, to think, to act, to move. Whatever I have,
my home, my car, my food, my family, everything, and I grow
in it. I take pride in it, as if I've got it myself. I boast
to men, look what I have accumulated. Things I've received from this
God's hand, like a thief, robbing him of his glory, robbing him
of his just due, robbing him of his just gratitude that I
should give him. And like a thief, I should have
been put in prison. I should have been put in stocks
and barns and paraded before everybody to be laughed at. Who
thought he did these things? But he was, instead. And like those wicked husbandmen,
the Lord spoke up. He'd been given charge of so
many things, and the Lord finally sent down his messengers to reap
the fruits. What was his, what was rightfully
his, to reap the fruit from these things that he'd given these
husbandmen. And they despised him. They said,
we don't want anything to do with you guys. Get out of here.
This is ours. And finally the landowner sent his son down there.
Surely, surely they'll reverence my son. And it killed him. And that's what we did by nature.
I don't want this old gospel stuff. I don't want this Bible. I want my way. I should have
been crucified, the song says. I should have been killed. I
deserved it. I deserved eternal damnation
in hell. I killed God's Son if we'd have
been there. And we were. But if we'd have
been there in person, we'd have been raising up just like the
rest of them. This plain brown man, he thinks he's God-killing! We would have done the same thing
we did, and we deserve to be killed, and our body torn to
pieces. But Christ wasn't my steed. Look
at verse 5. The chastisement of our peace.
was upon him. I was at war with God. You were
at war with God. And this carnal man is enmity
against God, despising His goodness, avoiding His conscience, ignoring
it, ignoring His Word, and we still do, unthankful for what
He's given us, trying to usurp His authority and make myself
king and lord over my own life. At war with God. Then there came
a day, though, when his officers came, his Holy Spirit, his Word,
his Word, his officers, his Spirit, his Word. They came to me and
perhaps to you, and we stood before him, before his bar of
justice, his perfect law. At first, we may have felt like
we were being treated unfairly, unjustly. But then we heard the conditions
of peace. We heard what it would take for us to be friends of
God, for God to accept us. We heard. He said the terms of
surrender would be this, the soul that sins must surely die. The wages of sin is death. And
we see, finally, by God's grace, we see, I deserve to die. I deserve to die. And the judge
and the king says that I'm to be paraded before
all and severely beaten, put in stocks to be ridiculed and
laughed at, and then finally put to death. And I say, I've
got it coming. I've got it coming. And then the offended judge called
my name. He says, Paul Mahan, step forward. And I'm horrified. I'm fearful. I'm scared to death. I'm trembling
before God's holy love. Grief-stricken, hopeless, without
God, without help. And I start to mumble. I start
to speak. But I hear somebody else say, Here I am, and I look around, and that man,
that plain man that I saw before, he steps forward, and he says,
Here I am. I'm Paul Mayhem. I want to take
his place. Now, as he looked to me, I look up and behold my substitute. Then I see him stripping naked,
shaming like I should have been. Shamed before God, before angels,
before men. I see him mocking and ridiculing
like I deserve to be. And I watch him crowning with
thorns that I deserve. I watch him beating With strikes,
and with every strike, I feel my sins leaving. And I watch Him carry that heavy
load in my guilty conscience, begins
to rise, to live. Then I watch Him die on that
cross, and the shackles and the chains fall. Then I see him put him in the
grave, and he's got something on his back. And I look as they
put him in that grave, and wearing on his back is a sign that says,
Paul Mahan's sins. All his sins. He's got my sins
with him. And they put him in that grave.
and cover it up, and the sins are gone. But three days later, three days
later, he rises from that grave. And I'm made to exclaim, he lives. And because he lives, I live
also. I live. I hope God will show
that that site to you. Nothing else, nothing else will
make you love him. Nothing else. Adoption won't
do it. Oh no. But a side of your substitute,
your substitute will. I hope he'll show you. I hope
he'll show me every day. We read this story all the time,
don't we? We hear it time and time again.
We fall asleep. We're cold. We're dead. Oh, God needs to break these
hearts, doesn't he? This is no mere story. This is
the gospel. A person hanging there where
you ought to be. I'll substitute. Stand with me
and I'll dismiss this in practice. Our merciful, gracious Heavenly
Father, how we thank you. Words, words just aren't sufficient. But we thank you with our feeble,
feeble attempt to thank you. And we ask you that you'd show us Christ in
this way more fully, that if somebody hadn't seen Him, they
might see Him as their substitute. Enable us to praise your name. Meet with us this evening. Be with us throughout the day.
May we take these things to heart. Think about them. In Christ's name we pray.
Amen. You're dismissed.