Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm preaching through the book of Isaiah chapter
53. And the title of the message today is Christ Our Substitute. I'll begin in verse four of Isaiah
53, but let me make this point to start off with. For anyone
to know and believe that Christ is my substitute, That's for
the people of God who truly believe in Christ and rest in Him for
all salvation, all righteousness, and all life and glory. If you
don't believe in the Christ of the Bible, the true Christ, you
know, the Apostle Paul said there are counterfeits. And if you
don't believe in the true Christ of the Bible and you continue
in that state throughout your life and die in unbelief, I can
tell you right now, he was never your substitute. He didn't die
for you, because all for whom he died, all for whom he substituted
on the cross, they shall be saved. That's what Christ said in John
6, 37. I quote this all the time. 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. And he said this,
He said, this is the will of him that sent me, that of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up
again at the last day. The good shepherd, John chapter
10, giveth his life for the sheep. And he said, my sheep hear my
voice, I know them and am known of mine, and they'll never perish. That's what he says. Well, this
is speaking of the suffering servant. And as I said last week,
Many of the Jewish rabbis, they claim that the suffering servant
in Isaiah 53 is the nation Israel, but it is not. It is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he goes, look at verse four
of Isaiah 53. Surely he, Christ, hath borne
our griefs. Whose griefs, whose sorrows? He said, carried our sorrows.
Whose griefs and sorrows and burdens did Christ carry bare
to the cross? It was God's chosen people given
to Christ before the foundation of the world. The elect. That's
what the scripture says. His sheep. His church. You know
what the word church means? It's not a building in a town
that's got a steeple and a bell and all of that. The church is
the people of God. And the church, the word church,
you may have heard this term ecclesiastical. There's a book
in the Bible called Ecclesiastes, it means the congregation. The
word church literally means called out ones. The church consists
of those who are called out of the world and into the kingdom
of God. And the Bible says that Christ
gave His life, shed His blood for His church. The church is
called His bride, the bride of Christ. The church is called
His kingdom. The church is sometimes referred
to by the term Zion. And you see, that's the, and
it's spiritual Israel. So all whom God chose before
the foundation of the world and gave to Christ, all whom He justified
based upon the blood of Christ, the righteousness of Christ imputed
to them, all for whom Christ died and redeemed them on the
cross, they'll be called out by the invincible, irresistible
calling of the Spirit through the preaching of the gospel.
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it's the
power of God and the salvation. They'll be given the gift of
faith to everyone that believeth. How do you know if Christ is
your substitute? How do I know if he's my substitute?
Do we believe on him as he is identified and distinguished
in the word of God, the Bible? And so when he says in verse
four, surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,
What that's speaking of is the result, the consequence of Christ
being the surety of his people. Now often on this program, I'll
use these three terms together. That Christ died on the cross
as the surety, as the substitute, and the redeemer of his people
that were given to him by God. All that the Father gave him.
He said in his high priestly prayer in John 17, I'll give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. Well, what is
a surety? Well, a surety is one who stands
surety for another to pay their debt. Often in the scripture,
sin, which is falling short of the glory of God, which is Christ
and his perfect righteousness, Sin is called a debt, running
up a debt. You know, like if a criminal
goes out here and commits a crime, we'll say he owes a debt to society. And to pay that debt, we have
particular consequences. It may be a prison term, may
be capital punishment, but that debt has to be paid if justice
is to be served. Well, in sinning against God,
we fell in Adam, ruined by the fall, were born dead in trespasses
of sins, and we've all sinned and come short of the glory of
God. We've run up a debt. Well, before the foundation of
the world, before this world was ever created, God chose a
people and gave them to Christ and made Him to be their surety. He put all of the debt of their
sins, charged it to Christ's account, imputed it to Him. That
sin imputed to Christ. And Christ willingly became our
surety, the surety of His people, the surety of the covenant. And
that's why salvation is so sure for all for whom Christ died.
He's the surety of it. If I were the surety of it, or
you were the surety of it, it would fail. because we cannot
produce the perfection of righteousness that can only be found in Christ
in his obedience unto death. So he's our surety. Well, in
order to pay the debt, what did he have to do? Verse four of
Isaiah 53, he had to bear the griefs and carry the sorrows
of his people. He had to suffer, he had to be
the substitute. That's what this is about. He
had to take our place and carry our, bear our griefs and carry
our sorrows, suffer, bleed, die on the cross. The soul that sinneth
must surely die. We've sinned. Our sin debt was
imputed to Christ. He substituted himself to die
for us. He didn't sin. He was not a sinner. But he did carry, he did bear
the griefs of sinners. He did carry the sorrows of sinners. He was made sin, 2 Corinthians
5 21 says. How was he made sin? Not in some
mysterious transference of something, some substance that men call
sin that went from us to him, no. It simply means our sin debt
was given to him. That's how he was made sin. And
that means this. All for whom Christ died, God
does not charge their sins to them. He does not impute their
sins to them. Second Corinthians 5.19 says
that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Who's
the world there? Not imputing, charging, accounting
their sins unto them. David said in Psalm 32, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. My sins are not
imputed to me. They're not charged to me. They
were imputed to Christ, my surety, who took my place as my substitute. You see that? Romans 8 says,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justified. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. So Christ, as the surety of his
people, took their place under the law. The Bible says in Galatians
4.4, in the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son, made
under the law, made of a woman, made under the, that's his humanity,
made under the law, that's his suretyship, his substitutionary
work, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law.
But now here's the thing. Look at verse four of Isaiah
53. Christ as the surety and substitute
of his people. For the purpose of redeeming
them, he bore our griefs, carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Now that's a good
description of how the natural, unregenerate, unbelieving person
looks at the true Christ. Think about it, when he walked
this earth, he was accused by Pharisees and Sadducees and unbelievers
all over the place. The Pharisees said he was a wine
bimber and a blasphemer. And when we put him on that cross,
we called him a malefactor, a criminal. They thought he was being punished
by God for being such a blasphemer. smitten of God as a blasphemer. The Roman Empire, they called
him an insurrectionist, even though they found no fault in
him, as Pilate said. But that's the way we look at
the Lord Jesus Christ in his true nature. Now, people have
concocted a view of Jesus that they like and honor, but it's
not the Jesus of the Bible. I made mention of this last week.
It's a Jesus who loves everybody and who died for everybody, trying
to save everybody, just hanging over the banister of heaven,
just hoping you will make the right decision, crying tears
when you don't. But that's not the Jesus of the
Bible. That's a counterfeit. the Jesus of the Bible, shall
save his people from their sins. His name is Emmanuel, God with
us. All for whom he died shall be
saved. He'll conquer this world. And
he told the Pharisees, he said, if you don't believe that I am,
you'll die in your sins. He said, if your righteousness
doesn't exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees,
you'll perish. He said, look, you look at sinners
and you say they deserve damnation. He said this, he said, except
you repeat, you shall likewise perish. People say, well, he
didn't have harsh words for anyone. Oh yes, he did. Read the Bible. Read what the word of God says. But here's what he's saying.
By nature, we do not esteem Him as He is, the Lord of glory who
saves His people from their sins, the King of kings, the Lord of
glory. We look upon Him, by nature we
look upon Him as one who's a blasphemer. But that changes when God brings
us to salvation. You know here when He says smitten
of God in verse four. We esteemed him, yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Unbelievers look upon Christ
as being smitten of God because they believe he deserved that
in the sense that he was a blasphemer, a sinner, he had harsh words
for people. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Listen to what Christ said. In
John 14, in verse 6, he said, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. That's an exclusive message.
I've heard people who claim to be Christians who say, well,
there are many roads to heaven. You don't have to go our way. There are other ways. There'll
be Buddhists. There'll be Muslims in heaven. You know what? They hate the Lord Jesus Christ,
the true Christ. They don't hate their idea of
Christ, but they hate the true Christ because he said, no, no,
no. There's one God and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus, my friend. Here's what Christ taught. If
you stand before God outside of him without being washed in
his blood and clothed in his righteousness, you will perish. The narrow way. the straight
gate that leads to eternal life, as opposed to the broad way that
leads to destruction. But Christ, he was smitten of
God in a great way for the sins of his people, imputed to him. Well, look at verse five. It
says he was wounded, or some concordance say tormented, but
either way, it was a torture. He was wounded for our transgressions. Whose transgressions? The transgressions
of God's elect. God's people. He was bruised
or crushed for our iniquities. Our iniquities imputed to Him.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. The punishment
that would bring peace between God and sinners was conditioned
on Christ. on Him, not on you. God was in
Christ, reconciling, making peace with the world. Not everybody
without exception. That's 2 Corinthians 5.19 that
I quoted earlier. Think about it. God was in Christ,
reconciling, making peace with the world. Not everybody without
exception, but His elect all over the world. And who are they? Not imputing, charging their
trespasses unto them. He charged them to Christ. And
that's where he was the chastisement of our peace. Peace is made by
the blood of the cross. That's how peace with God is
made. God is reconciled to sinners, and sinners are reconciled to
God based upon one ground. It's described in 2 Corinthians
5.21, for he, that is God the Father, hath made Him, Christ
the Son, to be sin. How? By imputing our sins to
Him. For us, that is as our substitute, Christ, the who there, refers
back to Christ, not to us, who knew no sin. Christ knew no sin. He was not a sinner. He was not
made a sinner. He was not corrupted or contaminated
by our sin. We know sin. Sin is with us every
day. We're sinners saved by grace
if we're saved. But Christ knew no sin, so God
made him to be sin for us, Christ who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. And that's his righteousness,
the righteousness of God. God's righteousness accomplished
in Christ, the justice of God satisfied by Christ. And so it
says, that's how peace is made. Be ye reconciled to God, he said
over in 2 Corinthians 5 20, on that ground. His righteousness
imputed to me. Peace is made by what Christ
did. And then I'm brought to God and
reconciled to him. So it says here, the chastisement
of our peace was appointed and with his stripes, his bruises,
his stripes, we are healed. It's sad that so many people
miss the truth of this scripture. There are people today who call
themselves Christians. They apply this to physical healing.
By his stripes we are healed. And then they'll tell people,
they'll say, well, if you've got some kind of physical illness,
the Bible says that it's with Christ's stripes we're healed,
so you need to be healed. That's not referring to physical
ailments. It's referring to a spiritual
healing from the sickness of sin. Legally, we're set free
from sin. Spiritually, set free from sin. And one day in glory, we'll be
totally free from the presence and contamination of sin. And
his stripes were healed, saved by the grace of God. And he says
in verse six, he says, all we like sheep have gone astray.
That's us by nature. Even God's elect, they're the
sheep. They're the sheep and the goats. Even the sheep, when
we come into this world, we're lost sheep. I made a reference
to this several weeks ago, and just to remind you, when we talk
about the Christian life, there's three things we have to have
in our minds. Number one is our standing before
God, which never changes. That's the believer standing
in Christ, washed in His blood, clothed in His righteousness,
justified, sure for heaven, sure to be glorified because He's
our surety. He died for my sins. He redeemed
me by His blood. And then the second one is our
state. Now, our state in this world
begins a lost estate. We're lost in our sins. And we'll
remain lost, we like sheep have gone astray, until the shepherd
finds us, picks us up, and brings us into the fold. And that's
by the preaching of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit
by which we're born again and brought to faith. And then we're
found sheep. Then we're sheep in the fold
of our shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the struggle
begins, the struggle within of sin. But that's what he's talking
about. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way. There's only one way
of salvation. It's the way of grace. It's the
way of the cross, it's the way of mercy, it's the way of Christ. I mentioned this earlier. Christ
said, I am the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. Psalm 1 talks about the lost
going in the way of the ungodly, the way of sinners. The Bible
says twice in the book of Proverbs, there is a way that seemeth right
unto a man, but it's the way of death. Christ spoke of this
in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter seven. He talked
about the straight gate and the narrow way, as opposed to the
broad road that leads to destruction. You see, Christ is the straight
gate and the narrow way. And the broad road is every other
way. All religions of man, all philosophies
of man, all ideas of man concerning their worldview and their view
of eternity, if they have one, is the broad road that leads
to destruction. There's only one way, and that's
Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead, His blood and
His righteousness alone. Peter said, there's none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
And that's Christ. That's the Lord our righteousness.
One God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
There's no other way. But by nature, if left to ourselves,
what do we do? We go our own way. Man has devised
his own way. And many people have many different
ways, but it's all basically one way. The way of man is the
way of salvation in some way, to some degree, at some stage,
conditioned on the works or the wills of men. Even false Christianity
presents that wrong, that way of destruction. It says now Christ
died for you, God loves you, Christ died for you, now you
make the difference. You cast the deciding vote. You
have to make your choice. You see, the Bible teaches that
there are only two choices. There's the right choice and
the wrong choice. The right choice is Christ by God's grace. The
wrong choice is every other way. But the Bible teaches us that
if left to ourselves, we will always choose wrongly. Look over
in Romans chapter 3 and verse 10 is where it talks about the
depravity of man and what the natural man does. It says in
verse 10 of Romans 3, as it is written, there's none righteous,
no not one. We don't have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice by nature or
by our works. Verse 11, there's none that understandeth,
that is understand the way of God, the way of salvation. There's
none that seeketh after God. Now, we seek a God, we seek religion,
but not the true and living God. He has to be revealed to us.
Verse 12 says, they are all gone out of the way. That's what he
said back in Isaiah 53. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we've gone our own way. They're all gone out of the way,
the way of Christ. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that do with good,
no, not one. Now that's it. Well, back here
in Isaiah 53 and verse six, that's what he's saying. All we like
sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. But, now listen to this, and the Lord hath laid, made
the iniquity of us all to meet on him, laid on him the iniquity
of us all. Now who is the all there? I know
people when they read the Bible and they hear the word world
and every and all, they automatically say, well, that's everybody without
exception. That's all without exception. Now I want you to
think about this. If that's talking about everybody
without exception, all without exception, then all without exception
will be saved. How did the Lord lay on him the
iniquity of us all? He laid the iniquity of his people
upon Christ by imputing their sins to him and sending him to
the cross to bear that burden with his suffering and death.
Now, if the Lord, the Bible teaches, that if the Lord laid the iniquity
of any sinner upon Christ, imputed any sinner's sin upon Christ,
that sinner cannot perish. Again, over in the book of Romans
chapter eight, I believe it's verse 33. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. What
does that say? It's saying that if the Lord
laid my iniquities, imputed my sins to Christ, He cannot and
will not impute them to me. And therefore, the next verse,
verse 34 says, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that
died. Yea, rather, is risen again and
is seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living, to make
intercession for us. You see that? If God does not
impute my sin to me, which means he imputed him to Christ, I cannot
perish. He cannot charge me with my sin. That's what the Bible means when
it says of his people, their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. It doesn't mean that God forgets
them and it doesn't mean that they don't exist as I heard one
crazy preacher say. They do exist. It means that
they're put upon him. They cannot be charged to me.
I have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and
justice. It's his righteousness imputed
to me and from which he gave me spiritual, eternal life. And therefore he says, the Lord
had laid upon him the iniquity of us all, all of his elect,
all of his sheep, all of his church, all who will be brought
to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. I hope you'll
join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.