Now let's go back here to Isaiah
53. As you know from the last message
in Isaiah, this actually begins back in chapter 52, verse 13. And if you want to divide the
sections of this prophecy of the suffering of Christ, the
suffering of the Messiah, you can almost take it every three
verses. tried to do as I preach through
this. I've entitled the whole series of messages through this,
Christ's Suffering Unto Victory. Christ's Suffering Unto Victory. His Suffering Unto Victory. It
speaks a lot about His suffering. And that's what this scripture
is about. But it's not a defeat. His suffering is not a defeat.
His suffering is a victory. His death is an accomplishment.
His suffering unto death is a satisfaction, a propitiation in order to God's
law and justice on behalf of His people. Now, one of the reasons
that man by nature cannot grasp what Isaiah 53 teaches, and in
essence what the whole Bible and the whole Gospel teaches
concerning how God saves sinners by the suffering, we call it
the vicarious or the substitutionary sufferings of the Lord Jesus
Christ is because, by nature, we all despise suffering. Now, you may say, well, that's
an overstatement, or an understatement, rather, or an obvious statement,
because none of us like pain, which is associated with suffering. But there's another aspect of
suffering that we, by nature, despise. One old writer said
this. He said, down through history,
the sufferer, or the one who suffers, has been the astonishment
and the stumbling block of humanity. Now what does he mean by that?
Well, people today cannot understand suffering. People in history
cannot understand suffering because they don't understand the cause
of it. They don't understand themselves. The problem is we
don't understand sin. Now that's the problem. The ancient
barbarians They had a simple way of getting rid of those who
suffered. They just killed them off. And that's what they did.
Modern day society, more civilized people have dealt more kindly
with sufferers. But sufferers still remain a
problem for the philosophers and for the theologians, for
the thinkers. It's a severe test even of the
faith of the people of God. You think about that. We all
the time talk about why, why, why. It's not natural for people
to see any profit in suffering. When we think of suffering, we
don't think about profit, do we? We don't think about winning
a victory when somebody's suffering. Rather, mankind staggers over
it, considers it a tragedy, a hindrance to progress, a fate to be avoided,
just can't do it. And then ultimately, suffering
for the natural man without the revelation of God invading his
mind and his heart and giving him some insight into the reality
of a God who is in control and a God who is just as well as
merciful. Suffering for that person is
a way to deny God, isn't it? You think about it. What do people
say about God when they see suffering? They say, well, if God, if there
is a God, how could He allow such suffering? Or if He's a
good God, how could He allow such suffering? Many years, several
years ago, there was a fellow who wrote a book, and he entitled
it, Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. He was a Jewish
rabbi. Now that's the way man deals
with suffering. Why bad things happen to good people. Well,
if we understand anything about suffering or what we call bad
things in relation to mankind, we'll understand first of all
that in God's sight there are no good people. There's none
good, no not one. Now that just doesn't make sense
to the natural man. He knows that there's people
who are naturally benevolent, naturally charitable. There are
unbelievers, lost people, who are good fathers, good husbands,
faithful, good workers, good mothers, good wives. Somebody
says, well, no, there's not. Yes, there is. There are. Now,
don't fool yourself about that stuff. But see, here's the issue. The issue is how does God see
things? Now, God, who is holy, And this
is one of the reasons why man by nature has so much problem
believing in a suffering Savior. You see, those two things seem
to cancel out each other. Notwithstanding the pride of
man. A one who saves me through suffering. That just doesn't
make sense. In fact, that's really offensive to the natural man.
That's why Paul called it the offense of the cross. The offense
of the cross. I was thinking about that in
preparing for Sunday morning's message, because, you know, if
you're going to really seek to understand the Bible and understand
the parables or understand the gospel, you're going to have
to be ready and willing to receive some hard truth. It's almost
like going to the doctor. You've got a pain somewhere.
You know your body is suffering in some way. You hope it's not
serious. You hope it's just something
they can say, well, we see that every day. People live with that,
or here's the pill that will stop that right now. But you've
got to face this fact, the reality that you may go into that doctor
that day with that pain, and he may come back at you with
some really, really bad news. Telling you that you've got a
real problem, deeper than what you ever thought. A cancer maybe,
or a heart disease, or some sort of bad disease that will kill
you. Maybe there's a cure, maybe there's
not. But if you want to know about your body, if you want
to know if you're healthy or not, you have to be willing to
be ready to receive such news. And that's the way it is with
the Gospel. Now here, we're faced with the way that God saves sinners
through the suffering of another. What is the cause of all suffering?
Can we blame God? No, we don't blame God. We know
God is in control of all things. But ultimately, the cause of
all suffering, according to God's Word, is that one little word,
sin. S-I-N. And we have to accept
the fact, based upon God's testimony, God who is the judge, that anything
we suffer in this life, it's much less than what we deserve. That's right. And we have to
accept the fact, too, that those who live their lives and die
in their sins without Christ, that their suffering will never
be over, and that they're getting exactly what they deserve. We
also have to accept the fact that it's but by the grace of
God that we're not in that number, because we don't deserve anything
better. Christ told His disciples continually as He walked this
earth about His purpose for coming to the world. And one of the
things that He always told them is that how He must go to Jerusalem,
how He must be arrested, and how He must suffer. He must suffer. It wasn't an option with Him.
It wasn't just a choice that He made. Even though He did it
voluntarily, we're going to see that in Isaiah 53. But he must suffer. Now why is
that so? Because God must be just when
He justifies. God must be just when He saves
a sinner. Think about suffering as we've
seen it here. Back up in verse 13 of chapter
52, those three verses there. Here's his destiny of glory.
The announcement of the servant. What's he teaching in those three
verses? He's teaching this, Christ's suffering leads to glory. His suffering leads to glory.
Now your suffering in and of itself will not lead to glory.
My suffering will not lead to glory. It's Christ's suffering
that leads to glory. And whenever we see someone suffer
in this life, the only way that it's going to get better for
them eternally is through the suffering of Christ, not through
their own suffering. We think of our dear sister Sue,
you know, laying there, and they're trying to relieve her suffering
and her pain, and I'm glad they are, and I'm glad we have medicines
that can do that. But you see, she's headed for
a better place. Now, that's not just religious
talk. That's the Word of God. And the reason is, is not because
of her suffering, and she'd be the first one to tell every one
of us that. Not because of any suffering that she's going through
right now, or will go through. It's because of His suffering. That's what He says here. Behold,
My servant shall deal prudently. Christ will be successful. That's what that means. Christ
will get the job done. And He'll be exalted and He'll
be extolled and be very high. But first, He's got to suffer.
He had to be humiliated. It says, as many as were astonished
or stunned at him, at thee his visage was so marred more than
any man, and his form more than the sons of men, so shall he
sprinkle many nations. He's going to astonish many nations.
Many nations are going to be sprinkled with his blood. He's
going to redeem God's people out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. and the king shall shut their
mouths at him, there is no king that will be able to come against
him or stop him. For that which had not been told
them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall
they consider." His suffering leads to glory. Now, in the first
three verses of chapter 53, we see, first of all, his life of
humiliation. This is the rejection of the
servant. Now, you know why there's a rejection of the Sermon? We
could give many reasons. We could talk about the pride
of man, and that's part of it. We could talk about natural unbelief,
the depravity. But do you know one of the reasons,
one of the objections that man has to Christ and God's way of
salvation for him? It's because Christ's suffering
is offensive to us. You mean to tell me that God's
going to save me by taking one person, putting him on a cross,
nailing him to a cross, and letting him die? As one old guy said
in philosophy, he said that was his undoing. No, that wasn't
his undoing, that was his victory, you see. But that's naturally
offensive to us, the offense of the cross. That doesn't make
sense to us until God intervenes and teaches us by the power of
His Word and the power of His Spirit. That just doesn't make
sense to us, you see. I had a professor, now let me
tell you this, this is true, I had a professor in seminary,
New Testament survey, going through the book of Romans. He didn't
like the Apostle Paul, the guy, the professor, because he thought
Paul was a male chauvinist pig, that's what he said. But he stood
up there and made this statement, he said the notion of a bloody
sacrifice unto death of a human being to save me from my sins,
he said, that's detestable to me. That's what a seminary professor
said. Doesn't surprise me anymore.
You did back then. But you know what? That's what
the natural, that suffering is offensive. And that's why he
says, who hath believed our report? Who's going to believe this?
Isaiah is preaching a message that is, by nature, unbelievable.
This is an unbelievable message, what we have in the Gospel. God
saving a sinner like me, who deserves nothing but suffering,
who deserves nothing but death and hell, saving me through the
sacrifice, the suffering of His only begotten Son, who is God
and man in one person. So who's going to believe this?
Who hath believed our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord
revealed? This is the power of God unto salvation. Men call
it foolishness and weakness. They look at the Lord of glory
by nature and say, oh, that's weak. He was just a weak, pitiful,
defeated Reformer. And that's what they've got him
as today. He's trying to save you, but you just let him. You
see, that's not the arm of the Lord. He says, For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground,
hath no form nor comeliness. When we shall see him there is
no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised, rejected
of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He knew grief. We
hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. You see, that is offensive to
the natural man. That is his life of humiliation. But that's what he had to accomplish,
that's what he had to go through in order to accomplish our redemption. And then the next three verses,
this third section here, beginning in verse four. Here we see God's
answer to that question. What is the cause of all suffering? It's sin. Because in the person
and work of Christ, as prophesied in the book of Isaiah, we see
here that He suffered, the Son of God incarnate, the perfect
God-man suffered for sin. That's why He suffered. It was
for sin. This is the substitutionary sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Servant of God. Sin, the cause
of all suffering. This is the heart of the gospel.
When Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21, For he made him
sin, or to be sin, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. He was made sin. Well, right here it is. If you
want to know how, some people say, well, I don't know how he
was made sin. Well, I can tell you what Isaiah 53, 4-6 says
about it. Now this is the information God
lets us in on. Now there are things about it
we cannot understand, and the depths of it, the magnitude of
it, I agree with that. But He tells us exactly how He
was made sin right here in these verses, even in the Old Testament. You might say in this sense the
Old Testament is a commentary on the New Testament. We always
talk about the New Testament being a commentary on the Old,
and that's right. But here we're let in on Him. This is the heart
of the Gospel, right here. Substitution. This is Christ's
suffering. That His suffering was not for
Himself, but it was for His people. It was for the people of God's
choice. It was for the people that God
gave Him. He said, All that the Father
giveth Me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will
in no wise cast out. Now why? Because he suffered
unto death. That's why. This is substitution. This is how God must be just
when he justifies and when he condemns. Shall not the judge
of all the earth do right, Abraham asked? Well, you bet he will.
Romans 2 and verse 2, Paul wrote this, he says, but we're sure
that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit
such things. Now I can assure you, in these
three verses, God is not pretending at all. There is no pretense
here. Some people say, well God didn't
just play like Christ would sing. No, God didn't play like anything.
This is not play like. This is reality. This is the
reality of suffering. Suffering that cannot be described.
Suffering that cannot be felt by a normal human being. Suffering
that we'll never enter into. This is reality right here. This gospel suffering that he
went through. This is the doctrine of imputation
right here. If you want to talk about imputation,
right here it is. This defines it right here. And
again, it's not a fiction. Imputation is not a legal fiction. If you want to find out if imputation
is a legal fiction, just look to the cross, and it's not a
legal fiction. It's a reality. He became responsible
legally. under God's justice for our sins. And as a result of that, he had
to what? He had to suffer. He had to suffer. And he had to suffer unto death.
This is the doctrine of satisfaction. This is not a Savior who's coming
down here just trying to do something. This is the completion of a work.
This is not someone who came down here just to give us a jump
start or to get something started. This is the completed, finished
work of Christ. What we're going to read here
in these verses, when Christ was on that cross and He said
it's finished, this is exactly what He finished. You see, He
was made sin. We're made in the righteousness
of God in Him. This is what it's all about.
Look at it in verse 4. He says, surely He hath borne
our griefs. He carried. That's what that
means. He bore them as a burden, our
griefs. He says, and carried our sorrows. That's repeated, you know, back
up there in verse 3. It says, He was a man of sorrows
acquainted with grief. Here's a man who's sorrowed.
Here's a man who grieved. Why did he sorrow? Why did he
grieve? It was for our sorrows and our
griefs. That's what he says here. In
other words, in himself, he knew no sin, had no sin, did no sin. He's perfect. So when he grieved,
it's made clear here, it wasn't for his own sins. Now, you might
grieve, and you might bring it on yourself, right? I grieve
a lot of times because of what? Because of my sin. Because of
things I do. Sorrow. Sorrow because of my
sin. But he never sorrowed and he
never grieved because of his own sin. How do you know? Well, here it is, verse 4. Surely
he hath borne our griefs. Who's the our there? That's his
people. That's his sheep. That's his church. That's all
who will come to faith in Christ. Surely he hath carried our sorrows. Our grief and our sorrows transferred
to Him. He made them His own. God the
Father legally accounted Him to be sin. And He suffered. And again, that's not a legal
fiction. That's real. He became responsible for the
death. And as a result, He suffered all the griefs and all the sorrows
that comes along as the result of sin. Now, you know something
about that. I know something about that.
but not like our Savior did. Because, you see, the Scripture
teaches that all the sins, all the griefs, and all the sorrows
of all His people at one time, in one place, were all made to
meet on the head of the Savior. You see, I know something about
my griefs and my sorrows, but I've never taken yours. Now,
we can empathize with each other. I think about that. I sorrow
with Stan. I sorrow with Alyssa and Jennifer
and Steve and the family over the death of their dear mother
and the wife. I know this, though. I know that
she has a hope. She has a good hope, you see. When a husband and a wife, a
mother and a father lose a child, you can empathize with them,
but you know, I've never experienced that. But you know what? Christ, He experienced the full
grief and sorrow of all the sins, of all the griefs and sorrows
of all His people at one time on the cross of Calvary because
of our sin imputed, legally accounted, credited to Him. That was the
result of the imputation. It says here in verse 4, it says,
Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
That word esteem is repeated here from back up in verse 3. You know, it says there that
we esteemed Him not. That is, we didn't hold any value
in His suffering by nature. We looked upon Him and we didn't
see anything worth looking at or worth understanding or worth
following. But we esteemed Him not. But
here in verse 4 it says how we did esteem Him. Now that word
esteem means this is our estimation of Him. You know, it's like in
that verse there when it talks about the cross in the book of,
I believe it's Lamentations, it says, sitting down there they
watched Him or they looked upon Him. Well, what do you see when
you think about Christ on the cross? When you look upon Christ,
what is your estimation of that? Well, by nature we esteem Him
not. And by nature, here's how we did esteem Him. We said, God's
punishing Him. He's getting what he deserves
for his own sins. That was our natural estimation
of him. That's why we, you say, well,
I wasn't there. You were in the form of fallen
humanity. Because this is our estimation
of him. This is what unbelief does. We esteem him to be stricken
of God. That's why we crucified him between
two thieves and called him a malefactor. You know what a malefactor is,
don't you? It's a criminal. Here's two thieves and the one
on the middle cross. We esteemed him to be just like
them. A man who was getting what he deserved because he sinned.
He was a malefactor. He was a criminal. He got what
he deserved. So we esteemed him not. We esteemed him strict and
smitten of God. The saying that comes from the
book of Deuteronomy, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.
We esteemed him cursed of God. But, now listen to me. Listen, he was smitten of God. He was cursed of God. He was afflicted by God, wasn't
he? But here's what we didn't know
until God the Holy Spirit invaded our hearts and our minds. Look
at verse 5. But he was wounded or bruised
or tormented for our transgressions. Now, there's the key. Not for
his own, but for mine. In other words, he was on that
cross not because of his own sin. He didn't have to redeem
himself. He was never in bondage because
of his sin. He was there to redeem me. That's the way you need to look
at it. If you rest in Christ, if you believe, think about,
he was there to redeem me. Say it that way. In other words,
everything that he took, on that cross from the Father in His
being stricken and smitten, the grease and so on. It's what I
deserve. It's what you deserve. And yet God the Father accounted
it to Him. Now that's how God, let me tell
you something, and when God the Father, now Christ Himself, He
was perfect, sinless, Over here in verse 9 it says, neither was
there any deceit in his mouth. Even while he was on the cross,
under the burden of griefs and sorrows of sin, he never had
a sinful thought, never had a sinful motive, never had one second
of unfaithfulness or unbelief. He was perfect in every way.
Yet God was truly just in punishing his son. for our sins. How? This is how important the
doctrine of imputation is. There is not but one way God
could be just to punish a sinless person for sin. By imputation. He was made sin. He became responsible
and accountable for it. Like Paul wrote Philemon about
Onesimus who had stolen from Philemon and ran away. He said,
if he had wronged you in any way, put it on my account, Philemon.
And this is what Christ, our surety and our substitute, said
to his father, put it on my account. I'll become responsible for whatever
debt James Thompson ran up in Adam and by his own sins. He
said, put it on my account. I'll be responsible for it. I'll
pay the debt. Now, here's what is the debt.
Sin demands death, for the wages of sin is death. He had to suffer
under death. Now, that's how God was just
in punishing Christ for my sins. Surely, it says, that He was
wounded for our transgressions. Our transgressions, you see.
He was bruised for our iniquity, not for His own. He was not made
a sinner on the cross. The Bible doesn't teach that.
That's just the concoctions of men trying to get a shock out
of somebody. Sin wasn't shot into him or infused
into him or imparted into him. It didn't change his personality.
It didn't change the essence of his being. It says he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities,
he became responsible for them. And look here, the chastisement
of our peace was upon him. Now you know what chastisement
is, don't you? That's punishment. The Bible
speaks of God chastising his people, his children. And that's
not payment for sin. The chastisement that God has
for his people is the punishment and correction of a father to
his children. And Hebrews chapter 12 explains
that beautifully. He says, all are partakers of
that. That's the way we're to look
at the trials and the and the consequences that we go through
in this life as God brings us through. You see, there is absolutely
no way in which we as brethren, as sinners saved by grace, ever
pay for our sins in a legal manner. Christ paid for them all on the
cross. Every one of them. If you don't believe it's by
amputation alone, I want to let you in on something. You weren't
there when He did it. You weren't even born. Abraham
was already dead, pardon me, and in glory. But the Bible says
in Romans 4 that Abraham's sins were imputed to Christ, and Christ's
righteousness was imputed to Abraham, even before he was circumcised. Well, do you know that was true
of you and me who are in Christ today? If you believe the Bible. Somebody says, well, that doesn't
make sense to me. Well, that doesn't matter. If it does or
not. It's just the way it is. But
here He is. You see, now chastisement for
God's people is just correction of a loving Father. It's not
a legal payment for sin. But now when the chastisement
of our peace came down upon Christ, that was a legal punishment by
way of payment for sin. That was redemption. He was paying
the price. Now that's what He means there.
when he says the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. In
other words, the punishment that was due unto us that could bring
about peace between God and His people was totally upon Christ. You see what he is saying? That
is reconciliation. God was reconciled to His people. Now turn over to 2 Corinthians
5. I have quoted from that several times here. That's what this
is talking about in 2 Corinthians 5. This is reconciliation. Now,
God's reconciled to His people in Christ. There's a sense in
which that's true from the foundation of the world, isn't it? Because
God chose a people in Christ. He's never viewed us out of Christ,
has He? If He is, we're goners, as one
fellow said. God chose His people in Christ. And because He chose His people
in Christ, it was necessary, as God must be true to Himself,
true to His justice, true to His holiness, He must send the
Son in time to take the punishment, to satisfy justice, to make a
propitiation, as the New Testament says, a mercy seat for our sins. And look here, He says in verse
18, He's talking about the new creation. In verse 17, he says
in verse 18, "...and all things are of God, who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ." Now, that's how sinners are reconciled
to God, by Jesus Christ. Not by their prayers, not by
their repentance, not by their faith, not by their baptism,
not by joining a church, not by turning over a new leaf, but
we're reconciled unto God by Jesus Christ. And it says, "...and
hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." Now, if we're
going to preach the ministry of reconciliation, if our church
is going to be involved in a ministry of reconciliation, then what
do we have to do? We preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You
see? By Jesus Christ. And so he says,
to wit, or namely, verse 19, that God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself Now, the world there is the all nations
that he shall sprinkle over here in Isaiah 52 and verse 15. It's
not all without exception. God is not reconciled to all
without exception. Because I want to tell you something,
if God is reconciled to all without exception, all without exception
are going to be reconciled to Him, and they're going to heaven. Listen, God will not be reconciled
to anyone in hell. That's not reconciliation, that's
condemnation. You see, we don't have a ministry
of condemnation. We have a ministry of reconciliation.
So he says, reconciling the world unto himself. Now, how did this
go about? Now look at the next line in verse 19. Not imputing
their trespasses unto them. Not laying to their account or
their charge or their credit their sins, their trespasses.
God didn't charge them with their sins. Well, who do you think
he charged them to? What does Isaiah 53 say? He's
borne our grief. He's borne our sorrow. He was
wounded for our transgression. He charged them to Christ. And he says that later on, look
here, verse 19, "...and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation." That's the gospel of Christ and Him crucified.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech by us, we pray and Christ did, be ye reconciled to God.
Now, how's a sinner reconciled to God? In the new birth, by
the power of the Holy Spirit, when he's brought to submit,
bow to the claims of King Jesus, who suffered on that cross, and
paid my debt in full. When he's brought to faith in
Christ, when you're brought to faith in Christ, when you're
brought to belief and repentance, that's when you're reconciled
to God. Now, God's already reconciled to you. That was by Jesus Christ. Now, what do we preach as we
go out into the world preaching the Great Commission? Be ye reconciled
to God, you say. You be reconciled to God. That's
what we tell sinners. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. Well, what's the ground of this
reconciliation? Verse 21, For He, God the Father,
hath made Him, God the Son incarnate, sin for us, for us a substitution,
imputation, Christ who knew no sin, that we might become or
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Again, imputation,
substitution, same thing. Now, that's what Isaiah 53 is
teaching. Look back at it. The book of Daniel says that
the Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself. For his
people. For his people. And I'll tell
you, we can't even begin to understand the depths of sin until we see
Christ on the cross and he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? For the sins of his people, he
died. Look at verse 5, he says, but
he was wounded for our transgressions, Isaiah 53, he was bruised for
our iniquity, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and
with his stripes we are healed. You see, his stripes are his
punishment, his bruises, his death, and that's how we're healed. Now this isn't speaking of physical
healing like some of the charismatitudes of today. When somebody's healed
of a physical sickness, they'll say, well, it's by His stripes
you're healed. No. This is spiritual healing. This is eternal healing. You see, when Christ died because
of those stripes, literally, He conquered death so that you'll
have to die no more. Now, physical death will come.
This body is dead because of sin. But the Spirit is life,
eternal life, because of righteousness. By His stripes we're healed.
That's spiritual healing right there. Just like our dear sister
Sue, she's going to wake up in glory never to feel pain again. Never to be sick again. Never
to soar. No tears. You see, that's a marvelous
thing. How do I know that? Because by
His stripes we're healed. He arose from the dead. And then
look at verse 6. Now he says here, All we, like
sheep, have gone astray. We've turned every one to his
own way. And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Now you might have this in your
concordance. When it says laid on him, it may say something
like this. Made the iniquity of us all to
meet on him. That's a good way to put it.
All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone our own
way. We're sinners. We've lost our way. We've turned
our own way. And it's a way of death and condemnation
and hell. It's the broad road that leads
to destruction. We're out there in lost land
by nature. It's how we're born and it's
how we'll stay unless God brings us into the fold. But you see,
here's our hope, here's the foundation, here's the ground, here's the
surety of salvation. It's not that we're going to
find our own way and pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and
make things right. Here's the point. The Lord hath
laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Who? The sheep. Christ said,
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And those
sheep that are lost out there, how do I know they're going to
come to Christ? I tell you how, the Lord laid on him the iniquity
of us all. All the sins of God's sheep were
made to meet on him. Who are these all? They are all
whom he represented. He calls them, in verse 8, he
says, they are my people. He calls them his church. He
redeemed his church with his own precious blood. Paul told
the Ephesian elders. He purchased them. We are a purchased
people. He said, because He finished
the work that the Father gave Him to do, He's going to bring
all of His sheep into the fold. They're His sheep. He said, other
sheep. He told Peter and James and John
and the other Jewish disciples, He said, other sheep I have which
are of this fold, them also I must bring in. Why? Because He died
for them. You think He died for people
and He's not going to bring them home? That's an impossibility
in this book. Now religion, I'm going to tell
you something else. I guarantee if he died for them, he's going
to bring them in. He bought them. They belonged to him. And he
bought them lot, stock, and barrel. So this is his suffering for
his people. All right, I'll stop there and
we'll pick up there next time.