All right, let's go to Isaiah
53. We're going to conclude our study
of this chapter, or this section of Scripture. I've entitled this
series of messages in Isaiah 53, and actually in the last
part of 52, Christ's suffering unto victory. And these last
three verses, beginning at verse 10, are so full and so powerful. They're like a summation of the
gospel of God's grace. They're a summation of God's
purpose in eternity. They're a beautiful description
of God's working out of His purpose and His plan through the Lord
Jesus Christ to glorify Himself in the salvation of His people. And it would do us all well to
climb into this passage and pray that God will just give us some
glimmer of the truth that He has here. Let's keep it in its
context, back in chapter 52, the last three verses. You know,
as we went through that, that's where this discourse, this prophecy
of the suffering servant actually begins, in verse 13 of chapter
52. And as I divided it up into three
verse sections, the first three verses there, chapter 52, 13
through 15, that speaks of his destiny of glory, the announcement
of the servant, Christ's suffering unto victory, the destiny of
glory, and what it shows at the very outset is that suffering,
Christ's suffering leads to glory. Now that's the entire purpose
of God from the beginning. There was never any question
or any issue of the Messiah coming into the world and failing. This
is what is so perplexing about the natural man. and his view
of the Scriptures, his natural view of Jesus of Nazareth. Most people today, and you think
about this, most people today, the Savior that they're trusting
in reality is a failure because he can only save those who will
allow him to save. And we know the frame of man,
that by nature we're all sinners, none good, no not one. None of
us will come to God of our own will. We don't have it within
us. We're spiritually dead. That's
what total depravity is all about. Christ said to even his disciples,
he said, you didn't choose me, I chose you. And he told the
Pharisees, he said, you will not come to me that you might
have eternal life. But you see, in the Word of God,
all the way back into Genesis, there is absolutely no glimmer,
no inkling, no implication. that the suffering Savior, the
suffering Servant, the Messiah, the Lord of Glory, would ever
fail to do what He set out to do. And so that's how this opens
up. Now the first three verses of
Isaiah 53 speak of His life of humiliation. And it also speaks
not only of His life of humiliation, but it speaks of our rejection
of the suffering Servant, our rejection of Christ by nature.
Now in order to accomplish his work and earn, I'm talking about
Christ now, Ernie, earn the glory that he would get as God-man,
as Redeemer, he first had to be humiliated. Now, how did he
have to be humiliated? Well, we read over there in Hebrews
chapter 2, in the opening verses. This is why I chose that verse
to open up our service with tonight. In the book of Hebrews chapter
2, And verse 14, it said there, that for as much then as the
children, God's children, Christ's sheep, are partakers of flesh
and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. He entered
into that union with humanity. The sovereign God of glory, the
second person of the Trinity, the Son of God incarnate, the
Alpha and the Omega, He humbled himself to be made like unto
flesh, without sin. And the reason he had to do that
was to accomplish the work that he was given to do. That's what
those first three verses are about. Christ's suffering is
accomplished through his humiliation and his victory is accomplished
through humiliation and suffering, rather. And He was made flesh
and dwelt among us. And He suffered all the infirmities
of the flesh without sin. All the problems that we go through
because of flesh. Because of this body of death
that's dead because of sin. Christ suffered those things
without sin. The weakness of the flesh. He
hungered. He thirsted. He was a man of sorrows. He was
acquainted with grief. He knew grief. When we grieve
over a lost loved one, or one who has died without Christ. We're not the only ones who know
that grief. Our Lord knows that grief. He knows it even plainer
than we do, I believe, because His grieving was perfection. It was imperfection. And then,
look at the next three verses, verses four through six, we see
His suffering was for sin. Now, why did He suffer? Well,
the Scripture says He suffered for sin. He bore our griefs. He carried our sorrows. He was
wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. He
was a substitute. He was a surety. He became responsible
for our debt to God's justice. He had to pay that debt, that
legal debt to God's justice. Christ had to pay it in full.
He became responsible for that debt in the everlasting covenant
of grace. He was set up from everlasting
to be our Our substitute. So that speaks of His substitutionary
sacrifice. Now the next verses, verses 7
through 9, speak of His submission of love. Christ's suffering,
the suffering that He went through, He went through it willingly.
Not because He loved to suffer, but because He loved His people.
John 13, verse 1 says, He loved His own unto the end. The word,
end, there. means the finishing of the work.
It's the same word that he spoke on the cross when he said in
John 19, 30, it is finished. It's the same word Paul used
in Romans 10, 4 when he said Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. So he loved his
own until the end. He wasn't some kind of a sick
masochist who loved to hurt. Nobody does that. He proved that
in Gethsemane when he was under the weakness of the flesh without
sin. He suffered. And he cried out. But he knew that that cup could
not pass from him because he had a job to do. He had a task
to do. And he had already set his face
like a flint to do it. But he did it all because of
the love of his Father and the love of his people. Willingness
and love. And that's why he didn't open
his mouth. That's why he didn't stand in defense of himself.
That's why he didn't complain. He did the job. Now we come to
the last three verses of this chapter. And this speaks of his
reward of victory. What is the reward of the death
of Christ? Is it contingent upon man? Well,
if it is, it's no victory. If the success of the work of
Christ is contingent or if it's conditioned on us in any way,
the best of us or the worst of us, I'm going to tell you what
it is, it's a failure. Am I right? But you see, the
success of His work is not conditioned on you or me or any other sinner. Do you really imagine that the
sovereign God of this universe would put His glory on the line
conditioned on A sinner? Absolutely not. In fact, that's
impossible, really, if you think about it, because He's God, and
He must do right. And He cannot die, and He cannot
fail. The Scripture said that back
in Isaiah chapter 42. He will not fail, you see. So the victory is not conditioned
on you. It wasn't conditioned on His
sheep here. It says, oh, we like sheep have gone astray. You think
it's going to be conditioned on those who have gone astray? He says, we've turned everyone
to His own way. And the Lord hath laid on Him
the iniquity of us all. What condition on you or me?
It was a condition on Christ and Him alone. And that's where
the victory lies. And here's what he's saying here
in these last three verses. This is the ultimate triumph
of the suffering servant right here. This is Christ's suffering
was victorious. Now let's look at these three
verses. Look at verse 10 to start off with. He says, Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He, that is, the Lord. Now, the
Lord there is Jehovah. That's the God of salvation,
the God of grace, the God of promise, the God who justifies
the ungodly, justified Abraham, an ungodly man, based on what? By grace. Noah found grace. Abel
found grace. They were all saved. They were
all justified by God's grace. What was the ground of their
justification? The event that's being prophesied
right here. And it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He, that is the Lord, hath put him to grief, when thou,
that is the Lord, shalt make his soul an offering for sin."
Now that's speaking of Jehovah God. And it says the Lord bruised
him. Satan didn't bruise him. Man
didn't bruise him. Oh, they were instruments to
bring about this glorious purpose that God had in mind. But ultimately,
God is the first cause here. That's right. The Lord. The Lord put him to grief. The
Lord made His soul an offering for sin. What's that speaking
to? It's telling us this, that the
death of Christ as the substitute for His people, wherein He satisfied
the justice of God and brought in everlasting righteousness,
bore our sins away, it was all the work of God. Everything that
went on at that cross ultimately was all the work of God Himself. It is not attributed to man at
all. Now, look over at Acts chapter 22. I will show you two verses
in the book of Acts here that most of you are familiar with.
But this is how Peter preached it at Pentecost. In Acts chapter
2, he stood there in Jerusalem on that great day and he preached
the gospel. And he spoke of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the suffering servant. And he said, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, verse 21. And look at verse 22. He says,
you men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by Him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also
know, Him," now listen to verse 23, "...Him, Jesus of Nazareth,
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God." In other words, what he's saying here, now this wasn't
plan B. He's not saying, well, God tried plan A in the Old Testament,
but that didn't work, so here's plan B. No, he says this was
the plan all along. That's what he's teaching. This
was plan A, B, C, D, and go on down the line right here. It's
all. This was the only plan. There never was any other plan.
You say, this is not God tried this, it didn't work. Now God
tried this and it didn't work. So finally He just gave up and
He said, well, go on down Jesus and die for Him. We'll try that.
No. No. This, verse 23, Him being
delivered by the determinant. That's the determinant counsel
and foreknowledge of God. This is not God, listen, this
is not God looking down through a telescope and learning something
that He didn't know before. You've heard people say that,
well, God looked down through the telescope of time and He
foresaw what would happen. Think about that. It's like God
looking down through that telescope and He turned to me and said,
well, you know, I didn't know that was going to happen. What am I going to do? I'll have
to come up with something to fix it. No, that's not the God
of this book now. You say, well, now I'd rather
have the God who looked through the telescope. Well, let me tell
you why you'd like to have a God like that, because you want a
God like you. But see, God says, I'm not like you. He's the determinant. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. This picture says in Ephesians
1, verse 11, So here it is. He says, him be delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now listen to it. He
says, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
God meant it for good. Men meant it for evil. Now you
know where that grand lesson is first taught? You say, well,
how can God hold men responsible? Well, I'll put it to you this
way. Man is responsible. The Bible says he is. And God
is sovereign. God means it for good. Man means
it for evil. That's what he's saying. When
men took the Lord of Glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, and crucified
Him on that cross, when we did that, fallen humanity, we didn't
mean it for good. We didn't do that saying, now
let's all get together and go accomplish the sovereign purpose
of God here. No. We wanted Him dead. Just like Saul of Tarsus on the
Damascus road, we wanted his name wiped off the face of the
earth. We meant it for evil, and God holds us accountable.
But do you know where that great lesson is taught in the first
time by example? It's taught all through the Scripture,
but in statement, in scriptural statement, by Joseph. His brothers
took him and sold him into slavery, didn't they? And you know the
story. I won't go into all of it tonight,
but later on, They met Joseph again in a different situation. And they were scared out of their
boots, weren't they? They were afraid that Joseph
was going to seek vengeance upon them and get them because they
knew that what they had done was evil and wicked. You remember
what Joseph told them? He said, just settle down, brothers.
He said, you're all right. I'm not going to harm you. He
said, what you did was wrong. And you'll suffer for it. He
said God meant it for good. To save much people out of His
work. God did it. And that's the same
thing. Now look over at Acts chapter 4. It pleased the Lord to do it.
It was God's will. It was God's purpose. It's what
God wanted to do. You say, well, how could that
be? Well, hold on just a moment, I'll show you. But look at Acts
chapter 4. Now, he says in Acts chapter
4, look at verse 26. He says, "...the kings of the
earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against
the Lord." You see that? They were against that fallen
humanity and against His Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together."
Now what were they going to do? They were going to crucify the
Lord of glory. But look at verse 28, "...for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." Christ was
the Lamb slain from the foundation. Now go back to the foundation
of the world. Look at Isaiah 53, verse 10 again.
Now, he says the Lord did this. It pleased the Lord. What does
it mean it pleased the Lord? Well, he's not saying that God
received some kind of a morbid pleasure out of afflicting pain.
Not at all. It simply means this, that this
act of sacrifice was the will of God. It was what God desired
to be done for a specific purpose And how did God gain pleasure,
or how was He pleased? I'll tell you exactly how. It
satisfied His justice. Period. It satisfied God's justice. God is a holy God who must punish
sin. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. If God is going to save His people,
sinners, the only way He can save His people, sinners, is
in a way that His justice is satisfied. His law and justice
has to be satisfied. I've heard men say God could
have done it another way. I've heard fellows say that God
could have just snapped His fingers and redeemed you. No. No. I'll
tell you why that couldn't happen. Because God said it Himself.
He said without shedding of what? Blood. There's no what? Remission of sins. What does
that mean? That means without death. There's
no forgiveness. Sin has to be paid for. Righteousness
has to be established. That's why I read Psalm 89 there. Righteousness and peace have
to kiss each other. That means they have to be in
fellowship. They can't be at odds. They can't be against each
other. If God's going to be at peace
with a sinner, it's got to be in a way that is righteous, that's
just. If God is going to be merciful,
it cannot be at the expense of truth. If God's going to be gracious,
it's not going to be at the expense of His holiness. If God's going
to show love, it must be in a way that's consistent with who He
is. This is the only way that God could justify the ungodly. There's no other way. No other
way. He had to send his son. And when
his son came and went under the justice of God's law for his
sheep, based on their sins charged to him, legally charged to him,
he drank damnation dry, he satisfied the justice of God, and it can
be well said of him, it pleased the Lord to bruise him, to strike
him, to bring him down. You see, it glorified every attribute
of God's character. Here is His Shekinah glory, right
there at the cross of Calvary. Bruising the Son of God, putting
Him to grief, making His soul an offering for sin, not His
own sin, but the sins of His sheep. He was bruised for our
iniquities. Don't forget that part. Somebody
says, well, how could he be made sin? He was made sin, the Scripture
says, 2 Corinthians 5.21. How was he made sin? Verse 4,
he bore our griefs, he carried our sorrows. Verse 5, he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.
Now there's your explanation of how he was made sin. Now some
preacher may come along, he might try to give you another explanation.
Something maybe deeper, something maybe more theological. But you've
got the answer right here in the Bible. Isaiah 53. That's
how He was made sin. He bore our iniquities. Christ was made an offering for
sin here. He was made sin. Christ who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
His death was the total, complete end of sin and the complete establishment
of righteousness. In other words, all the payment
for all the sins of all His people was done one time on Calvary
by His one offering. That's how powerful it was. That's
how great and glorious it was. You see, people say, well, now
Christ paid this part, now you've got to do this part. No. When
His soul was made an offering for sin, that means He did it
all. The complete offering for all
sin of all His people. And it says here, look here in
verse 10, it says, "...he shall see his seed." Now what is the
seed here? That's the fruit of his death.
Isaiah 54, that's the title of the message for Sunday night.
In Isaiah 54, the fruit of Christ's death, because that goes into
a great description of what issues forth from the death of Christ.
And it's the salvation of His people. And it says He's going
to see the fruit of His death. Well, go back to John chapter
12. Now listen to this. This is one I refer to quite
often in our studies through Isaiah. Because Christ is teaching
His disciples here of this very subject. He shall see His seed. In other words, there's not going
to be one of them missing. If you're missing something,
you'll be looking for it, right? He's not going to be looking
for it. He's going to see them all. And here in John chapter 12,
this is what he means in verse 23. Look at it. He says, Jesus
answered them, saying, the hour has come that the Son of Man
should be glorified. And how is He going to be glorified?
Well, look at verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn or a seed of wheat fall into the ground and die,
yet abideth alone." When you take the seed now and you lay
it there on the table, it's going to stay right there, isn't it,
alone. But you plant it in the ground and it dies, and that's
what happens. There's going to issue forth
some fruit, and that's what he says. But if it die, it bringeth
forth much fruit. And he says in verse 31, Well,
verse 32, he says, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
now what's he talking about there? Well, look at it, he says, I
will draw all unto me. All who? All his seed. All the
fruit. The much fruit, you see. Look
at verse 33. This, he said, signifying what
death he should die. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the cross. He's talking about His death. Same
thing He spoke of in John 17. Turn over just a few pages. John
17 in His high priestly prayer. See, go to the Bible to find
out what these things mean. I know what men think. I know
what denominations think. But go to God's Word. Stay there. Stay in God's Word. Look at John
17. Look at verse 1. He says, "...these words spake
Jesus, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the
hour is come." Now, before he spoke of that same hour in John
12, the hour of his death. And he says, Father, the hour
has come, glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee.
Again, now he is talking about his death, what is being prophesied
of and described in Isaiah 53. Now look at verse 2. He says,
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Now who
is that? That's his seed. And he says,
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent, I have glorified
thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do. He's speaking in anticipation of going to the cross and doing
the work. What did he say in John 6, 37? He said, All that
the Father giveth me shall what? Come to me. And him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. He went on to say, this
is the Father's will which is sent me, that of all which ye
have given me I should lose nothing, but what? Raise it up again at
the last day. Now, what's the power of that?
What's the basis of that? What's the ground of that? Is
it their free will? Is it their faith? Is it their
determinations? Is it their turning over? No,
it's his death. His soul was made an offering
for sin. Look back at Isaiah 53. Now,
who are his seed? He said, He shall see His seed. Now, who are they? Look, well,
before we go on in Isaiah 53, look back at Psalm 89 that I
read. Who are His seed? Look at Psalm
89. Now, look at verse 4. Now, Psalm 89 is talking about
the work of the Messiah. Remember there in verse 14, justice
and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. God's throne is
a throne of justice. I heard a man say one time, he
said, when I get to the judgment, he said, I don't want justice,
I want mercy. Now let me tell you, that may
sound good when you first hear it, but let me tell you this,
not happening. Not happening. When you come
to judgment, what do you come to judgment for? to be judged. And what's the standard of judgment?
Law. Righteousness. God hath appointed
a day in which he will judge the world in what? Righteousness,
not mercy. Not mercy. Righteousness. By
that man whom he hath ordained and that he hath given assurance
unto all men and that he hath raised him from the dead. There's
not going to be anything but justice at the judgment, folks.
If you haven't been a recipient of mercy, before judgment, you'll
never be a recipient of mercy. You see, my only hope is to appear
before God where? Wrapped in the blood, wrapped
in the righteousness and washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then God judges rightly.
And this is what he said there. Your throne is a throne of judgment
and justice. And he says, look up in verse
4, he says, thy seed will I establish forever and build up thy throne
to all generations. Who are the seed? Those who are
going to be established forever. There's not going to be any of
this seed in hell. They're going to be established. Who is the
seed here? Look at verse 29 of Psalm 89. He says, "...his seed also will
I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven."
You know what he's saying in both those verses? He said, as
long as Christ is on the throne, The seed is safe. The seed's
sure. They'll endure forever. As long
as Christ is victorious. Now, if you can, listen, people
talk about, you know, you can be saved and then lost. Now,
let me tell you something. If you can take Christ off the throne,
if you can take the King of Kings off of His throne, then I'll
agree with you that we can be lost again. But you can't take
Him off His throne. He's the King of Kings, the Lord
of Lords. He'll never be taken off of his
throne. As long as his throne of grace
and justice are established, the seed is safe. They're not
going to be lost. And look at verse 36 of Psalm
89. He says, His seed shall endure
forever, and his throne as the sun before me. In other words,
the reason the seed are going to endure forever is because
the throne of Christ is established. forever. And then look over at
Psalm 22. I read this one last time we
studied Isaiah. Look at Psalm 22. Who is the
seed? He shall see his seed. And he
says in Psalm 22 verse 30, it says a seed shall serve him.
That's who's the seed. They're going to serve him. It
shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation." And what are
they going to do? They're going to come to Him. And what are
they going to declare? They're going to declare His
righteousness unto a people that shall be born that He hath done
this. That's to say, they're going to preach the gospel. Back
over in Psalm 89, He describes them in those verses there when
He says, Blessed is the people, verse 15, that know the joyful
sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance, and in thy name shall they rejoice
all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. That's
the seed. Isaiah 53. He shall see his seed. Look on in verse 10. He shall
see his seed. He shall prolong his days. He's
going to die, and it's a real death. It's not a fake death. But you see, he's not going to
stay dead. He's going to prolong his days. The grave cannot hold
him. The psalmist wrote, for thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine
holy one to see corruption. That was quoted by David in Acts
chapter 2, when he was referring to the resurrection of Christ.
He said, David wrote this, But he said David wasn't speaking
of himself. David was speaking of a greater one to come. He
was speaking of Jesus of Nazareth, whom we have taken with wicked
hands and crucified, who was delivered according to the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. The grave couldn't hold
him. He arose from the dead. He will prolong his days. And
look, the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Listen, what that means is this,
all that God purposed All that God planned, all that God wills
to do is in the hands of Christ. Conditioned on Christ. All of
it accomplished in Him and by His power. Every bit of it. And
we're the recipients of it. We're the seed, we who believe
in Him. We're the fruit of it, you see.
But all the responsibility, all the conditions, all the assurances
of it is in the hands of Christ. The government shall be upon
His shoulder. Now look at verse 11. Listen to this. 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.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied."
Like a woman suffering in childbirth, and she has a healthy child.
Can you imagine the satisfaction that she has after carrying that
child for nine months, going through that period of time where
she's in suffering, in pain, and uncomfortable. And then that
healthy baby is born. What satisfaction she must have. when that baby's born. And that's
the analogy that he's setting up here. Christ suffered. Oh, did He suffer. The travail
of His soul. That means His entire person. Christ suffered the travail of
His soul, the trouble. But like a woman who suffers
in childbirth through that pain, has a healthy child and is satisfied,
Our Lord's suffering was not in vain. He's satisfied. He's
even seated in the heavenlies. By His one offering, He has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. There's not one stillborn child
here. They're all healthy. Healthy
babies. Born of the Son of God. You think
about it. It says, By His knowledge shall
my righteous servant justify many, for He shall bear their
iniquities. His knowledge here, I believe,
refers mainly to the things that he did, he experienced, things
that he experienced and became acquainted with and knowledgeable
of firsthand. Christ went through all of this.
The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 5 that he learned obedience by
the things which he suffered. Now that doesn't mean that he
as God is not omniscient, he is. But he experienced things
as God meant that he had never experienced before. And just
like over here in verse of Isaiah 53 in verse 3, it says he was
acquainted with grief. That means he knew grief. Grief
that he didn't know before by experience. And he went through
that. So he knew things. He knew our
friends. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter
4 that we have not a high priest which is not touched with the
feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like
as we are, yet without sin. Christ knows what we're going
through. That's what He says. He's experienced
these things even more than we have. The pain that we go through
that we hate so much, He experienced that kind of pain like we never
have and never will have to. And His knowledge, by His knowledge
of those things, It says, He justified many. By His experience,
He went to the cross. He experienced that. He suffered. He was humiliated. He bled. You
know what it is to bleed? He bled. His life's blood flowed
out of Him. Because without the shedding
of blood, there's no forgiveness. He suffered the wagging tongues of those
who would ridicule Him. daring him to come off that cross. Even one of the thieves, speaking
to him that way, said, won't you get off this cross and save
all of us? Could you imagine that? Well,
he experienced that. And the pain and the suffering,
he bled and then he died. He experienced death. He experienced
death. So that by his death, even though
we died physically, we will never have to experience death like
he experienced it. Did you know that? He experienced
eternal death. I don't know how to explain that
to you. I don't know how you can say in that time, what was
it, three hours or so on the cross, that Christ experienced
the equivalent of hell. Do you know that even though
we'll die, our sister Sue is going to pass from this life
and go to be with her Savior? She will never have to experience
hell, or eternal death, or the wrath of God. You know why? Because He, by His knowledge,
He justified many. Many are declared righteous.
Many are declared not guilty because of what Christ experienced
in His obedience unto death. Somebody says, well, we're really
going through the wrath of God. Friend, you don't even have a
smidgen of an inkling of an idea of what the wrath of God is.
Do you know that? I don't either. I hear these
people talking about, well, they're under the wrath of God. Listen,
I know those who die without Christ are under the sentence
of God's wrath. But they don't know what's coming,
do they? Until it gets there. But our
Lord did. He experienced it. He justified
many. How many? All for whom He died. All for whom He was buried. all
for whom He rose from the dead. And it says the reason is, look
at it, for He shall bear their iniquities. How was He made sin? Well, His soul was made an offering
for sin. He bore our iniquities. He bore
our rebelliousness. He bore our hatred on His body. He went to the cross to do for
us what we could not do for ourselves. He went to the cross to take
for us what we in ourselves deserve. Justification before God, our
redemption in God's way, is based on the finished work of Christ
alone. Nothing else. Nothing else. Sin
was put away at the cross. Righteousness was established.
at the cross. And here's the result, look at
verse 12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoiled 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. Listen to this now. When he says,
I will divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide
the spoiled with the strong, that's a little bit difficult
to understand because of the way it's worded. But basically
what he's saying there is simply this. God is saying because Christ
did the work and finished the work, I'll give a portion to
him among the many and with the mighty all the spoils. will go to him. Now why is that
said here? Well, what he's speaking of is the reward of his finished
work in the redemption of his people. This is what Christ,
his reward. He earned it. And when we naturally
think of one who is great or strong, he mentions those who
are great, a portion with the great, spoils with the strong. When we naturally think of one
who is great or one who is strong, We don't think about a man hanging
on a cross, do we? You know, when history records
the great and the strong, who do they talk about? They talk
about Alexander the Great. That's what we call him, Alexander
the Great. I used to think the Great was
his last name. Alexander the Great. Think about Julius Caesar and
people like that, the conquerors. And men like that, they were
nothing compared to the Sovereign Lord of Glory, who did what?
He didn't conquer one nation physically. He didn't lead an
army. He's the Lord of Hosts, but He didn't lead one army here
on earth. Think about the great writers. Christ didn't write
any books, but more books have been written about Him than any
other human being, as men say. He's God-man. He didn't write
a song, but more songs have been written about him. He's the song
of songs. He is the book. So when we think
about the great ones of history, we don't think about a man hanging
on a cross. But you see, God got another
view of things that we naturally don't have. The greatest one,
the strongest one, was the God-man who was on that cross. And you
can put all of the great ones of the past, all of the strong
ones of the past, and put them all together in a box, and they
don't even come up. They couldn't even untie his
shoelaces. That's how it is. The spoils
that he gained, the spoils of the kingdom. You see, because
of his victory, he'll give all blessings to his people. Now
why is that? I'll tell you why. because he
poured out his soul unto death. Poured it out like a drink offering.
Paul spoke of that. He said, I'm ready to be poured
out. Christ poured himself out. That speaks of his substitutionary
work unto death. He had to die so that we could
conquer. He conquered death so that we
would live eternally. It says he was numbered with
the transgressors. That word numbered there means
he was counted and reckoned with his people. In other words, he
and his people are one in the eyes of God's justice. That's
imputation. That's what that is, numbered
with the transgressor. He was not a transgressor, but
he was numbered with them. He was not a sinner, but he was
made sin. You see what I'm saying? And
then he bare the sin of many. He bore all the sins of the many. That's substitution and imputation
again. He bore it. And then it says
he made intercession for the transgressors. That's satisfaction. Let's conclude with 1 John 2.
Look at that and then we'll conclude with that. You see when it says
he made intercession, you know what that means? That speaks
of his resurrection and his ascension. If he hadn't finished the work,
if he hadn't done the job and completed it, if he hadn't established
righteousness and put away sin, There'd be no intercession because
he'd still be in the grave, you see. But he never lives to make
intercession for us. Why? Because he satisfied God's
justice. This is what 1 John 2 is talking
about. It says, verse 1, My little children,
these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. You mean the One who bore our
transgressions? The One who made sin? Yes. He is Jesus Christ the righteous. He came out of the grave. The
grave couldn't hold Him. Sin demanded His death, our sin.
Righteousness demanded His life, the one He established. And His
righteousness demands our life. So here he is. Now, he's Jesus
Christ the righteous. Now, what's his righteousness
based on? In himself, he's righteous as God. But here he's talking
about his being our advocate. And here's what he says in verse
2. And he is the propitiation for our sins. He's the satisfaction
for our sins. He drank damnation dry. He paid
the debt in full. And not for ours only. Not just
for this one segment or this group or this nation or this
race. but for the whole world. Who
of the whole world? His seed. You know, He has a
seed all over this world. And He's going to see them. Somebody
says, well, I want to be one of them. Do you? Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Rest in Him. Come to Him. Plead His blood,
His righteousness. Come to the suffering Savior,
the Substitute. who died on that cross and was
buried and rose again the third day, who is seated at the right
hand of the Father, ever living, to make intercession for us.