Good morning everyone, let's
turn in our Bibles please to Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53. Pastor called this morning and
says that he loves us and he's praying for us and we told him
we were doing the same for him. He and Bruce Crabtree are speaking
the final time there in Cottagedale. And the pastor said they have
had a great time so far, and I'm glad, I'm glad. Isaiah chapter
53 says, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath
no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected
a man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it
were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes, we are
healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before
her shearers is dumb. So he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment 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. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death. Because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall seize seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because he has poured out his soul unto death, and
he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bear the sin of many and
made intercession for the transgressors. Let's pray. Your Bible plays through the
Gospel of Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8. We're just going to read a short
portion of this chapter. Beginning in verse 22. Luke 8. Luke 8, Luke 8, Luke 8, Luke
8, Luke 8, Luke 8, Luke 8, Luke 8, Luke 8, Luke 8, Luke 8, Luke
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he, Jesus, went into a ship with his disciples, and he said unto
them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they
launched forth. But as they sailed, he fell asleep. And there came down a storm of
wind on the lake, and they were filled with water and were in
jeopardy. And they came to him and awoke
him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then he arose. rebuked the wind, the raging
wave, and they ceased. And there was a calm. And he
said unto them, where is your faith? And they, being afraid,
wondered, saying one to another, what manner of man is this? For
he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obeyed. Look
back at that verse. Toward the middle of it, you'll
see the title of my message this morning. What manner of man is
this? Notice it's an exclamation. It's not a question. Matthew
and Mark wrote it as a question when they recorded this same
thing. But Luke writes it as an exclamation. And may I say
reverently that I could subtitle this message, what a man, what
I mean, that Jesus Christ our Lord is. What manner of man this
is, he commands even the wind and the water, and they obey
him. Well, he started out by saying,
let's go to the other side. Well, that ought to be enough
for anybody right there. Except we just don't always take
him at his word, do we? Let's go over to the other side.
Do you think he meant to go to the other side? Why, certainly
he did. But on the way, a great wind
came down on the lake, and the waves were tossing them about
and were filling the ship, and they feared for their lives.
But they did the right thing. They went to the master. Now
they didn't understand what was going on, and we don't always
understand God's providential care of us, but we do know whose
hand all is in. They awakened the Lord. He stood
up, rebuked the wind, and that was a great calm. Then he asked
the question, where's your faith? Where's your faith? He didn't
ask how much faith they might have. He didn't ask whether they
had any faith or not. He said, where is it? Where is
your faith based? Is it in all you can do? Is it in your struggle through
the storms? Is it in ourselves? Is our faith
based upon us and our own abilities, which all came from God, by the
way? In our concept of what we deserve, like many of our nation
today and many people today, They think they deserve something.
I'm of the old school. I'm sorry if you want something,
you work for it. And if you can't work for it
and get it, you didn't need it in the first place, the way I
look at it. But I could be wrong. Is your faith based upon your
ability? Do you lose sight of that all
comes from the Lord? Where's your faith? Is it in
yourself? Where's your faith? Is it in
the man-made ship you're sailing in, religion? Self-righteousness. Church after church after church
that are not preaching the gospel. Is it in the man-made ship that
you're sailing in? Is your faith in the church?
In this church? Or is your faith in Jesus Christ? Where is your faith? Some of
them tell you to keep rowing hard. Keep bailing out the ship. You keep on and someday you'll
make it. That'll be a hard one to take
if you really think about it. Someday I might make it. That's
no assurance. There's no joy in that. Hang
on, we'll get you through, some people would say. But Paul said,
not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us. Is your faith in the Lord of
the storms? What I'm getting at is your faith
in a person, Jesus Christ. is the only one who could stand
up in a water-filled ship and say, cease, and it's done. You see, if the master's in the
ship, why do we have to worry? He said, let's go to the other
side. Where was their faith? What I'm talking about here is
that they were amazed. Luke was amazed. Dr. Luke, by the way, He was a doctor
of medicine, and he traveled with Paul about the middle way
through the Book of Acts. The words changed from they did
this, they did that, they did this, to we did that, we did
this, we went there. Luke addresses himself in the
middle of the Book of Acts as being with Paul. And God gave
Luke the revelations. He wrote the Gospel of Luke,
which you could entitle the Gospel of the Son of Man. Luke was taken
with the human body. He thought that, you know, because
he was a doctor, he knew about the human body. And when you
read the Gospel of Luke, you'll read how Luke understood what
our Lord Jesus Christ went through for us. He was awestruck by Emmanuel,
the Son of Man. He was awestruck that this, what
manner of man is this? What kind of man is this? He
was awestruck by that. This was Immanuel. This was God
with us. Who do you know could stand up
in the middle of a ship in a storm and calm the sea? Only the Lord
Jesus Christ could. And God in the flesh, Jesus coming
in the flesh, is so important for us to know and understand
a little bit about. that John said in 1 John chapter
4, every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh
is of God. And every spirit that does not
confess that Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God, is antichrist. And then the next book over,
in verse 7 of 2 John, he says, if you don't believe that Jesus
Christ has come into flesh, you're a deceiver and an antichrist. It's important for us to know
about this man. This man, Christ Jesus our Lord,
never was a man like this. Never a man spake like this,
the soldiers said. Why didn't you bring him, the
Pharisees and scribes said? Well, never a man spake like
this. We've never heard that before.
He is not just an extraordinary man. He's the Son of God. He's the God-man. He's man's
perfect God and God's perfect man. He is God's beloved Son. He is not just a great teacher,
but Deuteronomy chapter 18 tells us that he is the prophet, and
then described later on as that prophet. He is not just a great
miracle worker. He is the creator. He's the Lord
of all. Who else could stand up and say,
He's not just a wise man, he's wisdom. He's made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And he's not
just a great leader among men, he's the savior of his own. What a man. His was a miraculous
life, prophesied, fulfilled all his life long from birth through
death, resurrection and on. His was a miraculous life. The
Son of Man, here's an interesting statement. Turn with me to John
chapter three. John chapter three. What a man
this is. Jesus Christ, the God man. John chapter three. Verse 13,
our Lord is speaking to Nicodemus and part of his message to him
is verse 13. And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of
man, notice these words, which is in heaven. The God-man standing
before Nicodemus says, I'm not only standing in front of you,
I'm in heaven, which is in heaven, present tense. And they said,
who but God could forgive sins? As Jesus Christ would say, thy
sins be forgiven. Who but God could do that? Transfigured
before him into his glory, before some of his disciples, and they
write about it. Who but God? What manner of man
is this? What a man! For the next little
bit, I want to give us three pictures of this man. And hopefully,
we'll learn some things about him. I'm not going to give you
anything you haven't heard before. There's nothing new under the
sun. How could I? But I'm going to give you the
truth that's in God's Word. Let's start with 1 Timothy chapter
2. First Timothy chapter two. First Timothy chapter two, go
down to verse five. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus, the man, the mediator. Now, what's a mediator do? Well,
a mediator is one who negotiates between one or two or three or
more parties, opposing parties, with the task of bringing them
together. And in our day, that usually
means the mediators of our day, you give a little bit here and
you give a little bit there, you compromise a little bit here
and you compromise a little bit there, and we can bring you together.
But with God and man, there is no compromise. You see, all men
are sinners. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. They're all under sin. And Paul
says, Jews and Gentiles, they're all under sin. There's none righteous. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. There is none that doeth
good. They're all under sin. And according
to Psalm 711, God is angry with the wicked every day. The wrath
of God, in John 3, Romans chapter 1, the wrath of God is revealed
on all unrighteousness. All are sinners. You know, if
a man is helpless before angry winds and waves, how much more
are we helpless before an angry God? God is holy. He's pure. He's just. How could we ever stand before
a God who's holy, pure, and just? Your sins have hid his face from
you, Isaiah said. Moses was told by the Lord that
he will not clear the guilty. Ezekiel was told twice and wrote
it twice. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. How do you mediate between those
two parties? The answer, the God man, the
grace of God, the mercy of God, the compassion of God, that God
would send his only begotten son into the world, that God
would save his people from their sins. Only one could mediate
between the two, and God must be satisfied. When He says, Be
ye holy, for I am holy, do you think you can? When He says,
Be ye perfect, for I am perfect, do you think you can? only in
a person, only in Jesus Christ, God's perfect man, man's perfect
God, and only the God-man could satisfy God and did. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. He substituted Himself for His
own. He took your place and my place. He was made to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He sacrificed Himself for our
sins. He put them away. He purged them. He pardoned us. He hath redeemed
us. Our sins are forgiven and forgotten
in Jesus Christ. And He reconciled these men to
God. God never moved. The mediators
stood between. They are sinners. Yes, indeedy.
And there's no way that you can clear the guilty. But I take
their sin. I'll become their sin. Such love. Such devotion. Such mercy. that He willingly took our place. He mediated at that time that
we read about back there. He mediated between the disciples
and the angry waves. And what did He do? He stopped
the waves. He stopped the wind. He mediated
between God and men, and what did he do? He took all the wrath
of God. There's no more wrath for God
to give to his chosen people. Jesus Christ took every bit of
it. Therefore, it's the gospel. The mediation is the gospel. The God-man. is the one who mediated. The mediator, the man, Christ
Jesus. Well, what if God had not become
a man? No one would or could satisfy God. There's not one
of us who could. And according to scripture, there's
not one of us that would. No one would or could keep the
law perfectly. You have to be perfect. No one would be able to do that.
No one outside of ourselves would or could go to God for us. Who could go to the Lord for
you? Some priest with his collar turned
around backwards? They think he can. Who would
go to God for you? My papa used to always say it
this way whenever I'd get into trouble and try to lie my way
out of it. I'm probably the only one that's ever done that. But
he'd look at me and he'd say, every tub sits on its own bottom. I used to think that was a silly
statement until I started saying that to my kids. Every tub sits
on its own bottom. You're responsible. No one else. No one can go for you. No one
could do anything for you. You know, if Jesus Christ had
not become the God-man, every one of us would have to pay for
our own sins. What have you got to pay? I am
so glad that there is hope. I'm so glad that when he said
he will not clear the guilty, he also said I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. Paul said it this way. I will
have compassion on whom I have compassion. The grace of God. He's the mediator. The man Christ
Jesus. The second picture I want us
to see this morning, I read to you earlier from Isaiah chapter
53. Isaiah chapter 53. We're talking about the man,
Christ Jesus. Isaiah chapter 53. And look at verse three. He is
despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows." There was
only one reason that God would become a man, and that was to
die for the sins of his people. And for God to become a man,
he became a man of sorrows and acquainted, it says, with grief. He had the grief of God becoming
a man, one of his own created beings. He had the grief of poverty. For your sakes, he was poor that
you might be rich. He had the grief of temptations.
Tempted like as we are and yet without sin. Tempted in the wilderness
forty days and forty nights. Fasting there while the devil
tempted him. And then with those three great
temptations at the end, our Lord was without sin. The grief of certain death for
the joy that was set before Him. He endured the cross. A certain
death that was coming. Sin causes death. He knew no
sin. There was nothing wrong with
him. He was righteous. He bled and died for our sins,
for the sinner. And he willingly did that for
his people. Willingly, can you imagine? For
a good man, would one die? Would one give his life for another?
Jesus Christ, that body that was formed for him, He gave that
body to be tortured, tried, and crucified for you, for me. Oh Lord, how could it be for
me? I'm the one who put him there. We're the ones who put him there.
Our sin put him there. He had the grief of rejection.
He was alone. Everyone fled from him by himself. Yes, he was between two malefactors,
but by himself he hung on that cross and God turned the lights
out and Jesus Christ cried out of that darkness, my God, my
God, why has thou forsaken me? There's only one answer. The
sins of his people were upon him and God cannot look upon
sin. the grief of being made sin for
them. As a matter of fact, didn't he
cry out in the garden, Lord, if it be possible, take this
cup away from me, the cup of the bitter dregs of all the sins
of all his people. Three times he prayed that prayer,
and three times he answered his own prayer, not my will, but
thy will be done. The grief of human frailties.
He got tired just like we do. He had to eat. He had to sleep. He had the same bodies, afflictions,
and so on. He was afflicted and tempted
in all points as we are. The human frailties. Let me show
you a verse in Psalm 78. Psalm 78. Go to verse 41. Psalm 78 verse
41. Yea, they turned their back and
tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. Limited in his
power of being able to do anything? Never. He'd do anything he wants.
Anything according to his purpose. How'd they limit him? They put
him in a body. Do you see the grace of God in
that verse? They put him in a body. God put him in a body. He was
limited. He had to walk wherever he wanted
to go or take a ship, ride a donkey. The grief of human frailties,
the grief of pain, wounded for us, The grief of shame, he despised
the shame, but he endured the cross for us. No wonder Paul
says in Galatians, Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins
that he might deliver us from this present world according
to the will of God our Father. Who gave himself for us that
he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. And here again in Isaiah 53 verse
4, surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. And then Paul in the book of
Hebrews says we have not an high priest that cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities, but is tempted like as we are,
yet without sin. There's the mediator, the man
Christ Jesus. there's the man of sorrows acquainted
with grief. Now I want you to turn with me
to one more passage. We'll look at one more picture.
Turn back to Zechariah. That's the next to the last chapter
of the Old Testament. Next to the last book of the
Old Testament. Last book of the Old Testament
is Malachi, and just before that is Zechariah. Look with me in
Zechariah chapter 6. And amazingly enough, the prophet
Zechariah summed all this up that we've been talking about.
Knew it all the way back then. Zechariah chapter 6 and go down
to verse 12. And speak unto him, that's the
Josiah that is mentioned before in this chapter, and speak unto
him saying, thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying, behold,
the man whose name is the branch. Do you notice that's all caps?
You think he might want to emphasize that? Behold the man whose name
is the branch, and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall
build the temple of the Lord, even he shall build the temple
of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and
rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne,
and the council of peace shall be between them both. You see, this branch is that
plant of renown that Ezekiel talked about, God told Ezekiel
about. He's the righteous branch in
Jeremiah chapter 23. In Jeremiah chapter 33, that
branch is said to be the Lord, our righteousness. And all those are caps. The Lord,
our righteousness. Well, even we read in Isaiah
53 verse 2, He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant. This is the branch. This is the
God-man. This is the one that they saw
and they touched. This is the one that they heard. This is the one that we will
see in the face of Jesus Christ as God reveals Jesus Christ to
His own. He shall grow up out of His place. Now what it says there, behold
the man whose name is the branch. He shall grow up out of His place. Well, He did, didn't He? God
became a man. The resurrection, the man, went
to be with God, the Father. It implies He was someplace before,
and it implies that He's going someplace else. Look at John
chapter 16. Hold your place there. We'll
come back. John chapter 16. John chapter 16, verse 28. Jesus is speaking, he says, I
came forth from the Father and am come into the world again. I leave the world and go to the
Father. He shall grow up out of his place.
It implies that he was someone before and became someone else,
per se. so to speak. He was the Lord
of glory, and he laid aside his glory, came to this earth, and
became a servant of God and a servant of men. He came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister and to give his life, a ransom for many. He shall grow up out of his place.
That's the mystery of godliness. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. The second thing he says is,
and he shall build the temple of the Lord. And he said that
twice. Don't you think that might be
in for emphasis? He shall build the temple of
the Lord. Even he shall build the temple
of the Lord. He's the one who builds this
church. Upon this rock, I will build
my church. And the rock is the confession,
the Lord Jesus Christ, thou art the son of the living God. That's
who he is. And then according to Paul in
1 Corinthians chapter 3 and chapter 6, ye are the temple of God. The Holy Spirit lives in his
people. Ye are the temple of the Holy
Ghost, which you have in you, which you have of God. Then notice
he says, and he shall bear the glory. Well, why wouldn't he? He's the God man. He's worthy
of all glory. All glory belongs to Him. All glory for the work of salvation. He did it all. He finished it.
All work for the saving of His people. And He's going about
seeking whom He may save. I'll say that right here in a
minute. He's going about looking for His people. And He finds
them. He saves them. Now God knows
where they are, don't he? But he has a certain time. Remember
that from the beginning? Has a certain time. Mine was
a few years ago. I sit down sometimes and begin
to ponder, well, why didn't he show me earlier? Because it wasn't
his purpose. His purpose was when time was
right, his time, he'd show me the truth. And he did. All glory
belongs to Him for all eternity. All must go to Him. And He's
the only one worth any glory. And we're going to do it for
all eternity. Glory, praise, and honor to the
Lamb that was slain, the one who sits on the throne, the God-man. No man has seen God at any time. He can't. But in Jesus Christ,
you can. He and the Father are one. So
even in glory, who we're going to be looking at? Our Savior,
Jesus Christ. He shall bear the glory. Then
He says, and He shall sit and rule upon His throne. Now He's
going to sit on His throne. That means He's resting. It's
done. Salvation's done. The work is
done. He rests from all of His labor. It's finished. He said there from the cross.
He is Christ, the man, the branch. He is our Sabbath, our rest. Those who know him know of that
rest, how you rest yourself in Jesus Christ, just as John at
the supper laid and rested his head on the breast of his Lord
and Master, Jesus Christ. So we lay our head and rest on
Him. He shall sit upon His throne. He shall rule upon His throne.
He'll rule until everything is subdued. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess. His
own in these days. He will speak to His own. They'll
be able to rest in Him and His rule because He makes them willing
in the day of His power. At the resurrection when all
stand before Him, every knee shall bow. The goats will be
on the left, the sheep on the right. I've said this before. It just tickles me just to think
about it. But who's at the right hand of
the Father? The Lord Jesus Christ. Who's at the right hand of God
at the resurrection? All the people of God who stands
there between us. Jesus Christ, our only hope,
our only way, the only person, and it has to be the person who
can give us and show us grace. Then he says he shall be a priest
upon his throne, not without blood, He carried the blood into
the holies to appear to God for us. He just, all he has to do
is stand there. He's the mediator. He's done
it all. To plead the cause of his people,
to pray for his own, making intercession for us. That's who this God man
is. And then the last thing he says
there, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. That's
what I want. the peace of God. I won't have
it without Him. I'll be like a troubled sea without
Him. I'll be tossed about without
Him. He's the only one who could still
the wind and waves. He is the person, Jesus Christ. He is our peace. He is our righteousness. He is our all and in all. And then you know what He says?
Come unto Me. Come unto me. You're weary. You're
laden. Come unto me. I'll give you rest. The raging of the sea is frightening
you. Your sin you see, and it bothers
you, and it brings you down to, you're about to sink. He says,
come unto me. I'll give you rest. If you're
hungry and thirsty for the things of God, He says, come unto Me. If you're looking for the cure
for your sin sick soul, He says, come unto Me. If you are weak
and your load is hard or impossible, He says, come unto Me. Paul said
to the Philippian jailer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved. It's a person that does the saving. It's a person who did all the
work. Peter said it this way in his second message, neither
is there salvation in any other, for there's none under name,
under heaven, given among men, whereby you must be saved. Our Lord Jesus said it this way.
Ask, seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. Ask, and ye shall receive. He stilled those waves. He mediated between those waves
and his disciple. And for his people, he mediated
between us and God. He offers a pool, not offers
he gives to his own a full and free salvation. The hymn writer
wrote, Master, the tempest is raging. The billows are tossing
high. The sky is o'ershadowed with
blackness. No shelter or help is nigh. Carest thou not that we perish?
How canst thou lie asleep when each moment so madly is threatening
a grave in the angry deep? The winds and waves obey thy
will. Peace, be still. Whether the
wrath of the storm-tossed sea or demons or men or whatever
it be, no waters can swallow the ship where lies the master
of ocean, earth, and skies. They all shall sweetly obey thy
will. Peace, be still. Peace, be still. Master, with anguish of spirit,
I bow in my grief today. The depths of my sad heart are
troubled. Oh, waken and save, I pray. Torrents of sin and of anguish
sweep over my sinking soul. And I perish, I perish, dear
master. Oh, hasten. and take control. Master, the terror is over. The elements sweetly rest. Our
sun in the calm lake is mirrored, and heaven's within my breast.
Linger, O blessed Redeemer, leave me alone no more, and with joy
I shall make the blessed harbor and rest on thy blissful shore. Our Heavenly Father, We thank you for your word. We
thank you that we have these Bibles that we can read and study,
meditate upon, share with one another. We're thankful for God's
people who gather in love to worship our God. We're thankful
for a pastor who preaches the truth and for others who pastor
These churches that know what free and sovereign grace is all
about. Lord, we praise and honor and
glorify that name, which is above everything, the name of Jesus
Christ, our Lord. And oh, how thankful we are that
God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. Thankful Lord
for the day that we heard that command clearly come unto me. and I'll give you rest. In Jesus
name we pray.