Now, we're going to be studying
tonight in Isaiah 53, if you want to turn in your Bibles there.
I want to mention those. That's one of my favorite hymns,
Come Thou Fount. And we were singing that one
time years ago down in Georgia. And a fellow come to me. He said,
you know, he said, I don't believe that third verse and that hymn.
And I said, what is it you don't believe about it? And he said
that verse is prone to wander. Lord, I feel it prone to leave
the God I love. He said, I don't believe that
a Christian is prone to wander and prone to leave. And it just
popped in my mind, I hadn't seen that fella for six months. But I got to thinking about this,
I said, you know how easily we're distracted from the things of
the Lord? I mean, all of us, aren't we?
It's easy to distract us from the things of the Lord. And I
believe that's what the writer of that hymn had in mind. You
know, God, if you don't keep us, where will we be? That's all of us. That's me,
too. If the Lord don't keep us, you know, we'll leave Him just
like that. You've heard me say it before.
Salvation could be lost. It will be. Because we'd lose
it. But He won't lose us. That's
our hope, isn't it? That the Lord will hold on to
us. That's really, that's a good way to introduce this message.
You know, this is the third message in Isaiah 53, and it's actually
this section of Scripture that began back up in verse 13 of
chapter 52. I've kind of divided it into
three verse sections here. The title again is the same thing,
Christ's suffering unto victory. Christ's suffering unto victory. His suffering unto victory. The reason I had Brother Jim
read Hebrews chapter 4 is because it speaks of a rest. That word
rest in Hebrews chapter 4 is the word Sabbath. In fact, down
there in verse 9 of Hebrews chapter 4, it says, There remaineth therefore
a rest unto the people of God. That word rest there is the keeping
of a Sabbath. You say, well now, do we keep
a Sabbath? Well, when most people speak
of Sabbath, what are they talking about? They're talking about
a day of the week, and that's not what this is talking about.
Now, back under the Old Covenant, it was a day of the week. It
was the seventh day from sundown to sunup, the next 24-hour period. But that day was a picture. It was a type of a better Sabbath,
an eternal Sabbath, and it's the rest that we enter into,
that's what the scripture there is preaching, that when we come
to believe in Christ, we are in essence entering into His
rest. So the issue here is He is resting. Now we rest, we do rest. Verse 11 of Hebrews, for let
us labor therefore to enter into that rest. But it's not the rest
of our own labors. You know, you work all week and
you get tired and you have the weekend, you want to rest from
your labors. But the rest we enter into is
not resting from our work and our labors. In fact, the Bible
says here, it says, let us therefore labor to enter into that rest.
We have to labor to do this rest. And what he's talking about is
the work of Christ, the finished work of Christ. So that when
we believe in him, we are resting in what he worked for. You see, that's our salvation.
We believe in him, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we
rest in what he worked for, what he accomplished. And that's what
that means when it says, like in verse 8 there, and Brother
Jim read that right, it says, For if Jesus had given them rest,
that name Jesus is Joshua. What he's referring to there,
what the Apostle Paul is referring to, is Joshua, he led the children
of Israel into the promised land, into the place of rest. You see,
they were in the wilderness, wandering for 40 years. But then
he led them into the promised land, the place of rest. And
so what the writer of Hebrews is saying, what the Apostle Paul,
who I believe wrote Hebrew, well, the Holy Spirit wrote Hebrews,
didn't he? What he's saying is this, is that that earthly land
is not the eternal rest of God's people. If it had been, then
he would not have spoken of a future rest, an eternal rest, a spiritual
rest. So what he's saying is that what
Joshua did in leading the children of Israel out of the wilderness
into the place of rest, the promised land, is a picture and type of
a greater rest. Now, Joshua, as you know, the
Old Testament name is the equivalent of Yeshua or Jesus. Joshua himself
was a type of Christ. And Christ finished the work
and led his people out of the wilderness of sin into the promised
land, into his rest. Now, what was his labor, though? Now, that's what Isaiah 53 is
talking about, and that's what we're going to deal with specifically
tonight. What was the work that he did? He did a work, he rest. When did he rest? Well, he died,
he was buried, he arose again the third day, and later on he
ascended unto his Father, and the Bible says he sat down at
the right hand of the Father. That's Christ resting from his
labors. Our salvation is not in our works
and labors, it's in his works and labors. And so when we believe
in him, we rest. We rest. He is our Sabbath. Not
a day, but Christ is our Sabbath. Many times when people die, they'll
put, well, they enter their eternal rest. Do you know, if you're
a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have already entered
your eternal rest. When you first came to the Lord
Jesus Christ, you already entered your eternal rest. Now, we will
be free from the problems, sorrows, and the tiresome Day-to-day things
of this world that we have to put up with when we die and go
to be with the Lord But you've already entered your eternal
every believer here tonight. You've already entered your eternal
rest Well, what did what was his labor? Well now just by way
of review. Remember the last three verses
of chapter 52 speaking of Christ his suffering unto death that
speaks of his destiny of glory and His suffering will lead to
glory. That's one thing we need to keep
in mind. His suffering was never a defeat.
Christ's suffering leads to victory and glory. And then the first
three verses of chapter 53, that was his life of humiliation. Here we read about man's natural
rejection of the suffering servant. the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the reason is, is because it says that that suffering that
Christ went through is offensive to us. To us. We esteemed him
not. We said he's smitten of God.
He's a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. That's what he went
through. He was humiliated. And then the
next three verses has to do with his suffering for sin. That speaks of Christ our substitute. His suffering is vicarious. He stood in the place of his
people. And he suffered under the just
wrath of his Father, not for his own sins, but for our sins
charged to him. He was made sin. Christ too knew
no sin. He was made sin for us that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. And therefore,
somebody was asking me about this legal death. What that is,
is God must be just when He justifies. He must punish sin. The law demands
it. God's holiness demands it, you
see. And that's what Christ suffered
for on the cross. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. That's an exchange
right there. That's in verse 5. of Isaiah
53. That's an exchange. He got my
iniquities, and he was bruised for my iniquities. What did I
get in return? Healing. By his stripes I am
healed. I got his righteousness. And
as a result of that, I get life, spiritual life, by the Spirit.
And let me say this. Understand this now. When we
speak about how God can be just and justifier, when we speak
about concerning the legal aspect of salvation. We're not saying
that salvation is no more than a legal matter. No, not at all. In fact, what Christ did on the
cross under the justice of God leads to eternal life for his
people, spiritual life. The result, the fruit of that
is the work of the Spirit in us to give us life, a new birth. We're going to be born again.
You see, everyone that he died for shall be born again. Now
we come to the next section, the next three verses in Isaiah
53. And this has to do with his submission
of love. His submission of love. And what you see in these next
three verses is that all the things that he went through in
his humiliation, in his suffering, in his soul agony, the sins that
he bore in his body on the trees," Peter wrote. All of this, he
himself accepted it willingly and rightly and lovingly. You
would think, for example, that if he truly were a mighty conqueror,
the Lord of Hosts, that means the invincible Lord of a great
army. That whenever Satan or men came
against him in this way, that he would just, with a blast of
his nostrils, just cut them down. Do you know that he could have
done that in his ability? There's a song that says he could
have called 10,000 angels. Well, when we're speaking of
his ability, yes, he could have. And do you remember when he was
in the Garden of Gethsemane and Judas brought the soldiers? And
they came to him and he came to them and he said, who are
you seeking? And they said, we seek Jesus of Nazareth. And he
said, I am. And do you remember what happened?
The soldiers all fell back just at his word. That's all he had
to do. All he had to do was just think
the thought, I believe, in his ability. But he didn't do that. What did he do? Well, look at
verse 7 of Isaiah 53. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. That doesn't sound like me. It
doesn't sound like you, does it? You know, some people in
their study of the Old Testament, the Bible tells us that if you
don't see the glory of Christ, and his finished work that's
to be done from the perspective of the Old Testament, that you
cannot understand the Old Testament. That's true. 2 Corinthians 3
tells us that. Unless you see Christ, you do
not understand the Bible. And the Jews, when they look
at Isaiah 53, and many of them, when it's asked, who is he speaking
of here, they'll say he's talking about Israel. Well, you show
me one time in the Bible. when Israel, the nation, was
under oppression and they kept their mouths shut. You won't find it. Every time
Israel was under oppression, what did they do? They murmured
and complained, just like me and just like you. We can't keep
our mouths shut if it kills us all. Isn't that the way it is?
But our Lord, our Savior, Because of his love for his Father, and
because of his love for such sinful wretches as we are, he
opened not his mouth. Now, legally speaking, he couldn't
open his mouth. Let me show you why. Look at
Romans chapter 3. Legally speaking, he could not
open his mouth. The Bible says in Romans chapter
3, Look at verse 19. 319 of Romans. It says, Now we know
that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law, that every mouth may be what? Stopped. And all the world may become
guilty before God. Now that's why he couldn't open
his mouth. Because when he went to the cross, The Bible refers
to it this way. He was made under the law. That's why salvation, listen
to me now, salvation is first and foremost a matter of law
and justice. If law and justice isn't satisfied,
there'll be no new birth. There'll be no life within. You
see what I'm saying? If law and justice, that's why
his death is called a propitiation. That means satisfaction to God. to God's justice. Isn't that
right? If satisfaction to God's justice is not made, there will
be no salvation, there will be no life, there will be no glory.
Well, he was made of a woman, the Scripture says, made under
the law. To do what? To take our place,
to redeem them that were under the law. Therefore, when he came
under the law, he couldn't open his mouth. He was made guilty
by imputation. Our sins were charged to him.
He became guilty before God, not because of his own sin, but
because of my sin. And therefore he opened not his
mouth. He had no defense for himself. Now, he could have defended
himself before Pilate. He could have defended himself
before Herod and Titus and the rest of that bunch. But he could
not defend himself before God because he had laid upon him
all the sins of all of his elect people, all of his sheep, his
whole church, all the way throughout time in the history of this world,
past, present, future. So here it is, Isaiah 53. He
was oppressed and he was afflicted. Now, he opened not his mouth,
it says, because of his love for the Father and for his sheep.
He said the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. He said,
other sheep I have that are not of this fold, them I also must
bring. He had his sheep on his mind,
just like that high priest who went into the holiest of all,
one time a year, on one day, the Day of Atonement, having
upon his shoulders the names of the children of Israel, the
tribes of Israel. That's who he went into that
holiest of all for. Had them on his shoulders, meaning
that he bore the responsibility of their whole salvation in the
work that he was doing. with the blood. And he had those
names on his breastplate, in his heart. And that's why Christ,
it says in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2, that he endured
the suffering of shame, despised the shame, for the joy that was
set before him. What joy? The joy of the glory
of his Father, the joy of the salvation of his people, and
the joy of his own exaltation. But here he stands before the
law of God, before the justice of God. This perfect, innocent
lamb who had no spot, had no blemish, who was holy, harmless,
separate from sinners in every way within himself. But he opened
not his mouth, because our sins were accounted, charged, laid
upon him. And this is why he did it in
silence. He had no interest in defending himself. Look at verse
7 again. It says, he's brought as a lamb
to the slaughter. Meek. Not weak now, but meek. What does meek mean? It means
obedient. It means submissive. That is
what it means. To the will and the word of his
Father. He was a meek lamb. He was obedient
unto death. Philippians chapter 2 says, even
the death of the cross, the death of the curse. And he says he
was as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his
mouth. He had no interest in defending
himself, so he never spoke in his own defense. That's the work
that he did. If there had ever been anyone
who could have spoke up for himself and said this is not right, this
person could. But yet he was there by divine
design. predestinated from the foundation
of the world. The Bible calls him the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, set up in the everlasting
covenant of grace. And he willingly set his face
like a flint to go to the cross, to go to this moment in time
where he would redeem his people from their sins. Peter said when
he was reviled, he reviled not again. He didn't argue with them. They reviled him, but he didn't
return it. Because, you see, he had a task
to do. You think about how Herod tried to ridicule him. Think
about how Judas betrayed him. Think about how Pilate basically
presented him before the people, and yet he opened not his mouth.
Look over at John chapter 18 with me. He never spoke up on his own
behalf or tried to escape the penalty. He just didn't do it. And John, look at John chapter
18. Look at verse 4. It says, Jesus, therefore knowing
all things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto
them, Whom seek ye? And he says, they answered him,
Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus saith unto them, I
am. The he there is in italics. I am, and Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them." And you remember in one account, Peter
drew out his sword and cut off one of these soldiers' ears,
and the Lord picked the ear up and put it back on him. And he
said, as soon as he said unto them, I am, they went backward
and fell to the ground. And then asked he them again,
Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth."
There's going to be no mistake about who he is. This was no
plot. This was no hoax. Who was it
that told me somebody said that they heard somewhere that he
fled to Rome? No, he didn't flee to Rome. He's
right here. And he said in verse 8, I told
you that I am, therefore you seek me, let these go their way. Do you hear that? You see, it's
because Christ went willingly, silently, under the justice of
God's wrath for our sin that we go free. Let these go their
way. And then look over at John 19.
And look at verse 11. Here he stands before Pilate.
Look at verse 9, or verse 8, rather. It says, When Pilate
therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went
again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence
art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou
not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release
thee? And Jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power at all
against me, except..." Now listen to this. Don't let this pass
through your ears now. except it were given thee from
above." The power that even the old wicked Pontius Pilate had
in his authority as the Roman procurator, the Roman governor,
was given him by God. And he says, therefore he hath
delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. What he's talking
about is the Jews who brought him to him. You see, Pilate,
he just wanted the matter to go to what? Go away. The Jews
wanted him dead. But you see, that is us by nature.
We are all guilty by nature. But he was guilty only by amputation
as a substitute. Look back at Isaiah 53 now. Look
at verse 8. This is the work that he would
do. It says he was taken from prison and from judgment. What that means is that he was
judged. And he was, as you might see
in your concordance, he was taken away by distress and judgment.
And it says, And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut
off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people
was he stricken. Or as you see in your concordance,
the stroke was upon him. He was taken away, the Scripture
says, by distress and judgment. Men were violently opposed to
the claims of Jesus of Nazareth, violently opposed to the God
of salvation by free and sovereign grace, just like they are today,
men who don't want to hear this gospel. But here's the point. We meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. It was under the justice of God.
And he says, who shall declare his generation? Now, that phrase,
that question there, who shall declare his generation? has classically
been taken two ways. Let me give you both of them,
because they both can be true. Number one, it means this. It's
almost as if the prophet is saying, what shall we say about his generation,
the generation that he lived in? What shall we say about him? What does taking Jesus of Nazareth,
the Lord of glory, and putting him on a cross say about his
generation? Peter wrote it in Acts chapter
2 and verse 23. When he spoke of Christ, who
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, he said, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified
and slain. I'll tell you exactly what it
says about his generation. It was a wicked generation. But
you know what? That's every generation, isn't
it? was a mean generation. That means
you were generated from the seed. What seed? The seed of Adam.
That's every generation. You see, we're not like that
old preacher who stood up one time and he said, if I had been
there, he said, I would have tried to stop it. What a guy. Who does he think he is? He's
just as much a part of the wicked generations of men all through
down the ages as anybody else. If we'd have been there, we'd
have said, thumbs down on Jesus of Nazareth. We'd have hollered,
crucify Him. And you've got to remember now,
the same crowd that hollered crucify Him, days before that,
they were saying, Hosanna. That's man by nature, fickle,
proud, not stable, double-minded. Wicked generation. The very fact
that Jesus Christ had to go to the cross of Calvary declares
this about every generation of mankind. We're all wicked and
evil and need salvation by grace. Ruined generation. Ruined. Condemned under the law. And
that's why he had to go to the cross for his people. If God
would leave us to ourselves, We would all sink into eternal
damnation and hell. And yet he sent his son to save
a remnant of people of his choice whom he loved before the foundation
of the world. But then there's another sense
that this could be taken in when it says, who shall declare his
generation? And that's this. It could be
asked this way. What shall we say of his descendants? Do you
know he died alone? He walked the winepress alone,
and he died without any descendants. And it says there, he was cut
off out of the land of the living. Now, that's a Jewish expression.
The Jews, one of their religious traditions had to do with their
children, that eternal life was lived through your children.
And that's why they looked upon being barren as a curse. You
couldn't live through your children. Well, the Bible never taught
anything like that, you see. And so they looked at it as a
man who died unmarried and without children. He was cut off out
of the land of the living. So what are we going to say about
his descendants, his generation? That's the end of him. That's
what they're saying. That's the end of this fellow.
Oh, no. Oh, no. Now, listen, turn to
John chapter 12. Now, here is what we are going
to say about his generation, his descendants. It is just exactly
what he told his disciples right here. Look at verse 24 of John
chapter 12, or verse 23. He says, And Jesus answered them,
saying, The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn or a seed of wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die,
it bringeth forth much fruit. You see that? What's he talking
about? Well, look down at verse 31.
Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
he's talking about the cross, I will draw all unto me." All
who? All his generation, all his children,
all whom the Father gaveth him from the foundation, all his
sheep. If he's lifted up from the earth,
what's going to happen? All his generation will come
to him. If he dies, all of us will live. That's right. And he says in
verse 13, this he says signifying what death he should die. You
see that? That's his generation. That's
what's going to happen. That's what we can say. Look
back over at Isaiah 53. I'm not going to get to this
one tonight, but look at verse 11. We'll finish this out Wednesday
night. But it says in verse 11, he shall
see of the travail of his soul. All the trouble and suffering
and humiliation that he went through in his soul, he's going
to see the result of that and shall be satisfied. And he said,
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. So what shall we say about his
generation? Well, when we're talking about
the generation of man, Without Christ in our evil and depravity,
that's all we can say. Oh, wicked generation. But if
we're talking about the descendants of Christ, the spiritual descendants,
the children of God chosen before the foundation of the world and
redeemed by the blood of the Savior, they're going to be regenerated
by the Spirit. They're going to be born again.
That's what we can say about it. His death is victory. He was cut off out of the land
of the living. Why was he cut off out of the
land of the living? Why did he die? Well, he says it there in
verse 8 again, for the transgression of my people, the stroke was
upon him, the stroke of God's justice. You know what that is?
That's particular redemption right there. He says, for my
people. Whose people? God's people. His
people. Somebody says, well, I want to
be one of them. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall
be saved. Look at verse 9. It says, And
he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death.
Now that word death there is plural. Death in the original. And I don't believe that we need
to go into different forms or kinds of deaths. But I believe
what it's talking about is just the the magnitude of the death
that he died. He only died one time. He didn't
die two times, three times. The Bible says that the seed
of God, the seed of Christ is a multitude which no man can
number, yet the scripture tells us that by his one offering,
everyone who was upon his heart, everyone whose sins were upon
him were sanctified, set apart, by redemptive power. But that's
speaking of the magnitude of his death. And it's a magnitude
we can't describe. It's a magnitude we can't climb
into. Let me tell you something. Let me give you some advice.
And I believe this is good advice because of what I read in the
Word of God. Don't try to climb into the mind of the Savior and
speculate. Don't do that. First of all,
there's nothing in the scriptures said about it except what he
said in the sayings on the cross. That's why I believe he remained
to be a sinlessly perfect lamb throughout his death on the cross,
because he wouldn't have been able to say what he said if he
had sin infused or imparted to him, if he had become contaminated
in his mind or in his being. with our depravity. No, no, the
debt of our sin was laid on him. Scripture says he became responsible
for the debt. But our sin was not infused or
imparted into him. And don't let anybody teach you
that. Don't do that. And don't try to climb into his
mind and think like he thought. You can't do that. Is there any
way that puny individuals like us could ever climb into the
mind of the Son of God incarnate? and experience what he experienced,
or even describe what he experienced. We can't do that. We can't do
that. But you see, it was a death of
such magnitude that it was a death like no other death. That's his
suffering, you see. And he willingly did it. And
then it says here, it says, because he had done no violence, neither
was any deceit in his mouth. The Bible says here, he made
his grave with the wicked. He was crucified between two
thieves. Two thieves, both of which deserved what they got.
One realized that eventually. Two thieves who were not deserving
of the least of God's favor and blessing. Yet God saved one thief. He made his grave with the wicked
in that death is the result of sin. Death is the result of the
reason he died. The reason the Lord Jesus Christ
died was because of sin. Not his own, but mine and yours
and all for whom he died. So he made his grave with the
wicked. He identified with us in our name and in our nature,
Hebrews 2 tells us, but not with sin. He was yet without sin. Yet he made his grave with the
wicked. In other words, he didn't get
what he deserved because he was a sinner. He got what he deserved
because of sin imputed. And he made his grave with the
wicked. He did it, you say. The Father
made him sin. Christ, who knew no sin. This
wasn't natural to him. He's God the Son incarnate. He's
the perfect God-man. But he made his grave with the
wicked, and then it says, with the rich in his death. Most commentators
believe that refers to the fact that he was laid in a borrowed
tomb, the borrowed tomb of a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea.
And he was. And in that sense, he did make
his grave with the rich. But I believe it has reference
more to the results and the fruit of his death leading into these
last three glorious verses of Isaiah 53. which I'm not going
to get to tonight. But what he's talking about is
because of his death with the wicked, he came out of that grave
and we were made rich. You see, when he died, I died. He was my representative. He's
my substitute. When he was buried, I was buried. He represented me. He substituted
himself for me. And when he came out of that
grave on the third day, you know what I came out to? In him. Not in myself personally, but
in him. And he sat down at the right
hand of the Father. And he ever lives to make intercession.
He's the advocate of all his people. He pleads our cause continually
so that when we sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous, and he's the propitiation for our
sins. and for his people all over the
world, and then he's coming back again, and we're going to be
the undeserving recipients of an indescribable treasure. And we're rich right now. Most
of the time we don't realize it, do we? You know, if we realized
how rich we were, we wouldn't complain. We wouldn't ever get
down, would we? But you see, one day that's going
to be our possession in our own experience when we are glorified
with Him. And all of this, now look at
this last line, and let us pray that the Holy Spirit will sear
it into our minds and our hearts. It says, Because he had done
no violence, neither was any deceit in his mind. The reason
that he could do what he did in his suffering was because
he himself was and is and always will be perfect, sinless. He knew no sin because he had
done no violence. Listen, he had not done anything
against God or man. He had kept the law perfectly.
He loved God perfectly with all his heart, soul, mind, and he
loved his neighbor as himself. And he never spoke a lie. He
always told the truth. He never concealed the truth.
He never hid it. He never shaded it. He never
watered it down. There was no deceit. There was
no guile in His mouth. Now that's the reason He could
do and accomplish what He did on that cross for His people. Thank God. Thank God for our
sinlessly perfect Savior who went under the justice of God
and opened not His mouth to save us from our sins. and to make
us righteous before God.