Our Savior. But let's be honest,
there are some scriptures where we don't really see Him as clearly
as we do in some other scriptures. But we see Him very clearly in
Isaiah chapter 53. It was asked of Mr. Spurgeon once, what is your creed? Is it in print? And he said, yes it is. It's
Isaiah chapter 53. We love this scripture. I'm just
going to look at a single verse, the last verse of Isaiah 53 this
evening and try to speak to you on the subject, why has Christ
been exalted? And we know He is exalted. Our
brother read to us there in the book of Romans that he is the
Lord by reason of his death. God has exalted him. Let's read here in Isaiah 53. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great. Therefore, based on everything
that he has done. And he shall divide the spoil
with the strong. For these reasons, four of them,
because he's poured out his soul unto death, that's number one. Number two, he was numbered or
counted or appointed with the transgressors. Number three,
he bared the sin of many. Number four, he made intercession
for the transgressors. That tells us why he's been exalted. In the word of God, we read of
covenants. That's a very prominent word
in the scriptures. And every one of God's dealings
with Those with whom He deals, which is everybody, is by way
of a covenant. And by the word covenant, we
understand a legal binding agreement between two or more parties. Our God, He deals with us, He
deals with you and with me, with everybody on the basis of covenants. And in the Word of God, there
are two main covenants. There's the covenant of grace,
and there's the covenant of works. Now as to that covenant of grace,
that's made by God, with God. That is, that's a legal
binding agreement between the Father and the Son. When was
that legal binding agreement drawn up? Well, before the world
began, because it's actually called an everlasting covenant. Which means there really wasn't
any time that that covenant has not been in force. It's always
existed. God, before the world began,
before He created what we call as time, He ordained this thing
we call salvation. And he drew up in the councils
of glory, this covenant, this legal binding agreement, whereby
he would save a multitude, which no man could number, and it would
be all a matter of grace. But there's also another covenant
that we read about in the Bible. That's a covenant of works. Now that was a covenant not made
in eternity, but made in time. And it was made between God and
Adam. Now we need to understand this,
and I know most of you do, that the Word of God instructs us
that God deals with us not only by covenants, But He deals with
everybody through a representative man of those in the covenant
of grace, and another representative man of those of the covenant
of works. And really the Bible only speaks
about those two men. There's the first Adam. God made
Adam. He created Adam out of the dust
of the ground. God breathed in his nostrils
the breath of life. And Adam was a representative.
In other words, he didn't just stand alone. He represented everybody
who would ever come forth from his loins. So, he represented
you and me. And God made a covenant with
him. God entered into a legal binding
agreement. And God said to Adam, you obey
me and you'll live. And as long as Adam obeyed God,
not only did Adam live, but we lived. Not only did Adam fellowship
with God, but through Adam, our representative, here's a couple
of good words for you, our federal head, that's Adam, as long as
he fellowshiped with God, all of us, as it were, fellowshiped
with God. But Adam, he didn't keep his
part of the binding agreement. He broke it. He sinned. God had said to Adam, in the
day ye eat thereof of this forbidden fruit, in the day ye eat thereof,
you'll surely die. Somebody said that it really
wasn't such an awful thing that he did. All he did was take a
bite of an apple. He defied God's law. And if you want to know how bad
his act was, look at the results of it. Look at what happened
because of what he did. Not only did Adam die, but we
all died. He was our representative. He
stood for us before God. As long as he obeyed God, we
were all fine. But when Adam, as it were, stuck
his fist in God's face, and he said, you're not going to tell
me what to do anymore. I defy you. I love my wife. I side with my wife on this. And I know you told me what the
consequences are going to be. But I take this fruit. And he did it. He willed to do
it, and actually that's where the sin took place. He willed
to do it. And then he ate of it. Now here's
the thing. When he died, we died. When he fell, we fell. When he
revolted against God, we revolted against God. When he broke God's
law, we became lawbreakers in Adam. Now that covenant of works, the
life that God promised Adam was conditioned on this, his obedience. That was the reward, life was
the reward of his obedience. But when he disobeyed, well the
wages of sin is what is it? What is it? It's death. That's
right, it's death. And God said, in the day ye eat
thereof, thou shalt surely die. You notice God didn't say if
you eat, He said in the day you eat. This didn't take God off
guard. This didn't shock God. And in a way that we can never
fathom, This all happened in the purpose of God. If it wasn't
in the purpose of God, if God had not willed for this to happen,
it would never have happened. And I'm not big enough to understand
what God has done or what God is doing now. I can't comprehend
the mind of God. Who knoweth the mind of God?
I know one brother sent me some writings on the origin of evil.
And men have written about the origin of evil. Did God have
anything to do with it or not? Let me tell you something. God's
got something to do with everything. He is the first cause of everything. Whether we understand that, whether
we can grasp that idea or not, God's the first cause of everything.
He could have stopped it if He had so willed. But He didn't. However, in this other covenant,
the Lord had already ordained a Savior. for those who would
fall in Adam. And not for all of them, but
for a multitude which no man could number. In the covenant
of grace, God chose a people in Christ Jesus. and gave them
to Him. Our surety. He said, He's the
surety of the everlasting covenant. And He represented us. Even as
Adam represented us in the covenant of works, so Christ Jesus represented
us in the covenant of grace. And He stood for us. And God
said, life for all of those that you represent is conditioned
on your obedience. And he did obey God. He obeyed
every jot and tittle of the law. But you know, something had to
be done about our sins. Well, that was ordained in the
covenant of grace as well, that He would take care of our sins.
Because they were all charged to Him. He became accountable. He became responsible to God
for all the faults and all the failures, all the sins, all the
transgressions, all of the iniquities of his people. And God looked
to him for satisfaction. And it was all ordained in the
covenant that this one, the representative,
would enter into the world. He would become one like unto
those who would break God's law, made him the likeness of sinful
flesh and for sin. What did he do? He condemned
sin in the flesh. All of it ordained by God in
the covenant of grace. Nothing ever happens by chance. Everything happens by divine
appointment. And that should make us rejoice,
those of us who are the people of God. And it does make us rejoice.
But even the death of our Lord Jesus, He went forth as it was
determined. Well, who'd made that determination? God did in the covenant of grace. Thank God for the covenant. that
is all of grace and it's conditioned upon the obedience of our Lord
Jesus. If salvation had been left to
you and me, to our works, to our deeds, you know and I know
there'd be no hope for us. If the Spirit of God has awakened
us, if he's brought us to life, We've got a glimpse of what we
are. Folks that get all upset when
we preach about man's sinfulness, their eyes haven't been opened.
But to those who've been quaken from the dead, the Lord has shown
us a little bit of what we are. Then we rejoice in our very souls
when we hear salvation is altogether of grace. Because we've been
made aware of the fact that if it were up to us at any point,
to any degree, there'd be no hope for us. Saved by grace. That's our thing, isn't it? Grace
is a charming sound. Grace wrote our names down in
the Lamb's Book of Life. Grace sent Christ Jesus into
the world to be our substitute. Grace wrote a great work within
us bringing us back from the dead. Grace keeps us preserved
in Christ Jesus. Grace will see us all the way
safely home to glory. It's grace from beginning to
end, isn't it? We love the theme of grace. You
can't preach grace enough to the people of God. And we don't
want to hear about works having any part or portion in our salvation. Now, do God's people perform
good works? Yes, because we've been ordained
to. But they don't have anything
to do with our salvation. They have nothing to do with
our relationship with God. They have nothing to do with
the washing away of our sins. They have nothing to do with
our right standing before God. That's all a matter of God's
free grace. Free grace costs us nothing. What do we read in Romans chapter
3? We're justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. There is no cause in us. That's
what the word freely means, without a cause. There's no cause in
us. What have you ever done that
God would show favor to you? Why, you're a lifelong sinner.
Your imaginations are vile. That's what God said. And they're
vile and evil continually. Do you really want God to reward
you for the good things that you've done? Do you want God
to weigh the good against the evil in your life? Well, you
know, preacher, I think that God in the judgment, He'll put
the good works that we've done on the side of the scales and
the evil on the other side, and whichever one, you know, weighs
the most, that's the way it'll go for us. Do you really want
that? I hear people talk about the
perfection that they are in themselves. Really? Really? The innocence that's in you?
Really? And you wonder, have your eyes
ever been opened? Everything I see in me is evil. Don't you echo the words of the
Apostle Paul who said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I'm a wretched man, so are you.
I was reading Robert Hawker a couple of days ago, and he said, listen,
and this is the essence of what he said, the more you can show
me from the Scriptures that I am a sinner, the more qualified
I am for God's mercy. Because who was it that Christ
came in the world to save? Who is it? Sinners. This is a
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm the
chief. I don't get offended if you tell
me I'm a sinner. Because the more you can show
me that I'm a sinner, the more qualified I am for God's mercy. This is mercy for sinners. All
ordained in the covenant of grace by God Himself. And in this text
of scripture right here, this is part of the covenant. This
is a vital part of it. That God's own Son would come
into the world to suffer and bleed and die for those He represented
in the covenant. Or in the covenant of grace,
God gave him all the responsibility to save these people that God
gave him. He bore, he bore all of the accountability. He took it upon himself for us. And actually, there never has
been a time when God has looked to us for satisfaction for anything. Has He? Well, if He ever did,
He'd be dissatisfied. Because we can't honor His law. We can't be perfect. We say,
I'm going to start obeying God's law. Well, let's just say you're
going to do that. What about all the sins of the
past? What's to be done about those?
Well, I tell you from this point on, preacher, I'm going to honor
the Lord. Great. Give it your best shot. What about the sins from birth?
What's to be done about those? Well, in the covenant of grace, our God arranged all things for
the salvation of His people. a substitute would come. A worthy substitute to live and
then to die to satisfy God's justice which demanded death
for our sins. This was all laid out in the
covenant of grace and so God the Son He joined Himself to
human flesh. He humbled Himself to endure
all the insults of men, and then all of the agonies of the cross,
and then to die in the stead of sinners. And therefore, He
was greatly rewarded, and the ultimate reward was His exaltation. His exaltation consisted of His
resurrection, His ascension, His enthronement, His universal
reign, and then judgment over all flesh. Our brother read to
us there in Romans 14 verse 9, For to this end, for to this
reason, for to this purpose, Christ both died, arose, and
revived, that He might be the Lord of the dead and the living. He's the Sovereign. He's the
King. Once despised and rejected, now
He's ascended up high and the whole host of heaven adores Him. Before Him, every knee bows,
everybody in heaven's bowing to Him. All of the angels veil
their faces, in his presence. He's the exalted Lord of Lords
and King of Kings. I attended a funeral several
years ago. I wasn't preaching the message. I was there on behalf of somebody
I knew, a dear lady in our community. She had passed away. She was
quite elderly, and she was very much loved by a lot of people.
including me, and I attended the funeral. And I got real interested
in the message when the preacher said, I want to give you the
three greatest words in the English language. Well, that kind of
got me up on the edge of my seat. A preacher says, I want to give
you the three greatest words in the English language. He said, here they are. Mother,
and home, and heaven. Those are the three greatest
words. He said mother makes a home to be like heaven, and mother
will make heaven to be like home. I appreciate you mothers. I'm
thankful to God for you. But those are not the three greatest
words. In my mind, the three greatest
words would be, Lord Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus Christ. You know what? He makes heaven to be heaven. Wherever He is. I hear people
arguing, they'll debate and say, where is heaven? In another dimension? Where is heaven? Wherever He
is. That's where heaven is. You tell
me where Christ Jesus is, that's where heaven is. I tell you,
if He's in a prison cell and I'm in there with Him, He'll
make it to be heaven to me. Isn't that right? Wherever the
Lord Jesus is, that's where we want to be with Him. There's none to be compared with
Him. And wherever He is, that's what
we'll call home. That's what we'll call home.
Now here's the question I want to answer. Why has He been exalted? That He has been exalted is a
fact. Why has He been exalted? Here
it is, very quickly. First of all, He poured out His
soul unto death. Now remember the penalty of sin
is death. He poured out His soul. He poured
out His soul unto death. One old writer said, the very
soul of his sufferings was his soul suffering. I know we talk about the physical
agonies of our Lord, and they are absolutely awful. We talk about the nails in His
hands and in His feet. His brow crowned with thorns.
All the lashes on his back. What an awful, awful death that
he died. I take nothing away from that
because that was necessary. Isn't that right? That was necessary.
Because that suffering which is to satisfy divine justice
must be the suffering of body and soul. So we take nothing
away from his bodily sufferings. But we can understand to some
degree those physical sufferings. Because we get hurt, you get
a wound, you cut your hand, you bump your head, you get bruised. You can understand that. But
what you can't understand and what I can't understand is his
soul suffered. We have no grasp of that. We
have nothing to relate that to. And yet that was the very soul
of his sufferings. His soul suffering. It says here
he poured out his soul unto death. This was a transaction between
the Father and the Son. And it was done in secret. It
was done in darkness. Be careful lest you walk into
the darkness and try to figure out what happened in the darkness. You are groping in the darkness
when you do that. This is way above us. You know,
men in their curiosity try to figure out and try to sit forth
and explain all that happened to the Lord Jesus Christ in that
darkness. If God wanted us to know, He
would have left the lights on. But He didn't. God Almighty, during those three
hours in which the Savior poured out His soul unto death, God
Almighty put His hand up to the Son and said, I'm not going to
let anybody see what happens right now. But in some mysterious, miraculous
way, the very soul of our Savior It says He poured out His soul
unto death. That means His death was deliberate. He didn't spill His blood. He
poured it out. He poured out His soul unto death. He said in John chapter 10, I
lay down my life for the sheep. I lay it down. That's deliberate,
isn't it? If I pick up this glass of water
here, And then if I were putting it
back down, and I bumped that pulpit like that, and I spilled
it, that's an accident. That's an accident. But on the
other hand, if I wanted to water these flowers, and I turned this
glass up, that poured it out. Our Lord Jesus, His death, it
wasn't an accident. It was deliberate. He poured
out His soul unto death. That's why He came. He came to
die. He's the Lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. And at the appointed time, when
our debt was due, He poured out His soul unto death. It was deliberate. Number two,
His death was not only deliberate, it was real. It was real. Look at verse 9. Isaiah 53, He made His grave
with the wicked. He made His grave. Nobody is
laid in a grave or a tomb but somebody who has died. His death
was real. Hebrews chapter 2, He tasted
death for all of His people. He experienced death. You know,
to make certain the thieves were dead, those two thieves that
our Lord died with, they broke their legs. When they came to
the Lord Jesus, He was dead already. That the Scripture might be fulfilled,
not a bone of Him shall be broken. Then they thrust in a soldier,
thrust in the spear to his side, and there came out blood and
water. He really died. I can't comprehend that. He who
is life. He who gives life. He who gives
all physical life. He who must give spiritual life. He who alone can give eternal
life. He died. You understand that? I can't understand that. But
I don't have to understand it. By God's grace, I just have to
believe. Is that right? I have to believe. His death was deliberate. His
death was real. His death was voluntary. He poured
out his soul unto death. And by this I mean he had no
sins in himself for which he must die. He knew no sin. He had no indebtedness
to God. Love led him to die. Love for
us. Somebody said it wasn't the nails
that held him to the cross. It was that everlasting love
he had for his covenant people. It was his very oath to the Father
that he took in the covenant of grace. That's what held him
to the cross. And his death was substitutionary.
He died for us. Here's the second thing quickly.
He was numbered with the transgressors. His dying for us was marvelous.
His taking our place, dying our death, that's infinite grace.
But this is almost unbelievable because He was not and He could
not be counted a sinner, and yet He associated Himself with
sinners. He was ranked among us. Really, the word here where it
says He was numbered with the transgressors, He was reckoned
with the transgressors. He was reckoned with the transgressors. He was ranked among us. He was
counted among us. He was numbered with transgressors
by the tongue of slander. You know what they said of him? He's a winebibber and a gluttonous
man. They said, we know you do the
miracles, but you do them by the power of Beelzebub. They
accused him of sedition. Even the high priest said, you
blasphemer. He was numbered among the transgressors.
And then he was numbered with the transgressors in the earthly
courts. Why, they treated him like a
common felon in his arrest. They mocked him in his trial.
They hired false witnesses against him. Then he was crucified between
two thieves. One of the thieves, by God's
sovereign grace, he said, what we're getting is just. But this man, he's done nothing
amiss. And yet he was numbered among
the transgressors. But watch this. Divine justice
dealt with him as it would have dealt with us. Look at Isaiah chapter 53 verse
10. Verse 10. Yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him. That word pleased means it satisfied
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 hands. God turned His back on His only
begotten Son. Our Lord was guilty by imputation. Because all of the sins of all
of His people of all the ages were made to meet on Him. All
of our indebtedness. How much are you in debt to God?
No way to know. But all of our indebtedness was
charged to Him. What a debt. What a debt. You couldn't pay your debt. I
couldn't pay my debt. Think of all the debt of all
the people who will ever be saved. What a debt. And he took responsibility for
the debt and paid it. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Our indebtedness had been charged
to Him. The Father looked to Him for
full payment. And in due time, Christ died
for the ungodly. Here's the third thing why He's
been exalted. He bared the sins of many. Watch
this. It doesn't say He bore the sins
of all. It says He bared the sin of many. Not all, but many. And it doesn't say He bared the
sin of a few. Not a few, but many. It's neither
all nor few, but it's many. Like old John Owen said, if Christ
had died for all the sins of all men, all men will be saved. He said if Christ Jesus died
for some of the sins of all men, then nobody is going to be saved.
But if He died for all of the sins of some men, then those
some men are going to be saved. They have to be. They have to
be. I saw a bumper sticker. I am
not much on bumper sticker religion, I will tell you. I just don't have any use for
it. Because they always got to come up with something smart,
something real clever. But I saw this bumper sticker
that says, happiness is living for Jesus. Boy, man always wants
to put the spotlight on himself, doesn't he? Well, I'll tell you
what happiness is. It's the Lord Jesus dying for
me. That's happiness. Because the
Scripture says blessed. You know what that word blessed
means? Blessed means happy. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute iniquity. That's a happy man. I'm happy.
Aren't you? I'm happy. I'm happy because
my sins were charged to somebody else and He's already freed me
from the guilt of it, the power of it. Someday I'll be free from
the presence of it. But He's already made me debt
free. I'm debt free. That's my hope. That's my confidence. That when Christ Jesus died,
He died for me. That's the only plea I got. And
then fourthly, He made intercession for the transgressors. Notice
this, it says He made intercession for the transgressors. Now I
know He makes intercession for us today. But this is in the
past tense. And of course this entire passage
is in the past tense. Because Isaiah sees this as if
it were already done. And in the mind and purpose of
God, it was already done. And in the purpose of God, He
made intercession for the transgressors. When did He do that? On the cross. Listen to what He said, Father,
forgive them. They don't know what they do. And I'll tell you what, that
prayer has already been answered. Everybody in whose stead He died,
They're forgiven of their sins. Well, I thought faith brings
us forgiveness. It brings it and makes it real
to us. Isn't that right? Faith makes
it real to us. But confession of sin, believing
Christ Jesus, that doesn't put sin away. That doesn't secure
forgiveness for you. Forgiveness has already been
secured by the blood of the Lamb of God. When we believe Him,
it becomes real to us. Precious to us. Our debt's paid. He paid for
it. And He prayed for us. He told
Peter, He said, Satan has desired to have you, sift you like wheat.
But I prayed for you. I made intercession for you,
Peter, that your faith fail not. He's already made intercession
for us. And He's still making intercession
for us today. He ever lives to make intercession
for us. I want us to sing a closing song. It's number 223. I want you to
look at this with me. Number 223. And it's got really good words
to it. Arise my soul, arise And in this
song, it talks about the Lord Jesus who prayed for us. Let's stand and sing this as
we're dismissed. Number 223.