Isaiah 53 Isaiah 53, we'll read the whole
chapter. 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 dry ground, he hath nor
form, nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no
beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected
of men, 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 hath 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 opened
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 see his 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 hath 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. Now, you don't
have to turn there, but in Acts chapter 8, Philip was taken out and set
in the wilderness. The Lord said to Philip in Acts
8 verse 26, Philip saying, arise and go towards the south unto
the way that goeth down to Jerusalem from Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went, and behold,
a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace,
queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure
and had come to Jerusalem for to worship. He was returning
and sitting in his chariot, reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the
spirit said unto Philip, go near and join thyself to his chariot. And Philip ran thither to him
and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said unto him, understand
what you read? And the eunuch said, how can
I except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that
he would come and sit, come and up and sit with him. And the
place of the scriptures which the eunuch read was this. He
was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb before her
shears, so open he not his mouth. And in his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away, and who shall declare his generation, for his
life is taken from the earth? And the eunuch said to Philip,
I pray thee, of whom speaks the prophet this, of himself or of
some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same text, same scripture, and preached unto
him Jesus That's what we're doing here What that's what we're doing
here that article that I read it was under Grace Jim's by Spurgeon
He said There's too many too many trifle trifle messages There's
too many nice tidbit messages about this or mom and dad or
mayor, you know these things It's it's it's trivia And he
said, I find nowhere in the scriptures in Christ's life, from his birth
to his death, that he talked about anything other than what
was needful for the salvation of sinners, or what would glorify
his father, or what would grow the believer in faith. So whoever gets up here speaks of
anything other than The gospel. The gospel of the grace of God.
That's the only thing that will do any of us good. Whether we're
saved or whether we're lost. But what got my attention here
is verse 11. The first phrase of verse 11.
He, God, shall see the travail of his soul, Christ's soul, and
shall be satisfied. That word satisfied just, it
set me on edge excitedly. I found this in one of the devotionals. One man said, nothing is more
trying and discouraging than to labor without success. There's nothing more trying and
nothing more discouraging than to labor without success. So I noticed and thought to myself
how pleasing it is to note, we have a saying, to the victor
goes the spoils. You've worked for it, you ought
to get it. Or in childbearing, to witness
the warm smile on the mother's face as she receives the very child
she labored over. The scripture talks about that.
But it can never be said, as our text stated, he shall see
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. It can never be
said, it can never be assumed, it can never be assessed of the
travail of soul of our glorious Redeemer that he went unsatisfied,
that he went unsuccessful. Let us ponder this successful,
this fact, this absolute truth and satisfaction that we call
regeneration, substitution, conversion of every soul for whom Christ
shed his innocent blood. Turn with me to Luke chapter
15. We'll look at some biblical examples. Luke chapter 15. Verse one, then drew unto Christ
all the publicans and sinners to hear him. They wanted to hear
what he had to say. And the Pharisees and scribes
murmured, saying, this man received sinners, and eats with them.
Well, there's the gospel right there. They didn't even know
what they were saying. Verse three, and he, Christ, spake
this parable unto them. What man of you, having a hundred
sheep, if he lose one of them, does not leave the ninety and
nine in the wilderness and go go after we heard this morning
sought go after that which is lost until he find it and when
he has found it he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing and when
he comes home he calls together his friends his neighbors saying
unto them rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was
lost. I have found my sheep which was
lost. Satisfaction. He shall see the
travail of his soul and satisfied. He found the sheep. The father
loves his sheep. As it says in our text in Isaiah,
We all, like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned our own
way. Our own way is anti-God. It's not God. Our own way, our
own self, being born in sin, is not God's way. That's in verse
6 of Isaiah 53. Yet the sovereign, majestic,
dominating Lord has laid on Him, who? Christ, the God-man, the
Christ-child, the iniquity of us all. us, that's the same as
referred to in the passage in Isaiah 53 as sheep, not goats. He laid down his life for the
sheep is what he says in the New Testament as well. Our grand
shepherd, in this text in Luke, don't you think to seek that
lost sheep, wherever it may be, it costs the shepherd time, energy,
money, it costs him. our grand shepherd, he didn't
complain that the way to find the sheep was most difficult. He was going to lay down his
life. He didn't do anything wrong. He was going to lay down his
life and take it back up again. He didn't complain that the way
was difficult or it was fraught with agony. See if there'd be
any sorrow like unto my sorrow or hurt or shame. He only says in our text, and
when he hath found it satisfied, he laid it on his shoulders rejoicing. He rejoiced the cross that was
set before him. He says he had a baptism to be
baptized with. He set his face as a flint. to
the cross, for this end he was born, raised, preached, travail
of soul, anguish of soul. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. He cannot be but otherwise satisfied. Oh my my, rejoicing, satisfied. Turn with me to John chapter
four. John chapter four. You're familiar with this one,
it's the woman at the well. Starting in verse four, and Christ
must needs go through Samaria, and then he come into the city
of Samaria, which was called Sychar, near the parcel of ground
that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there, Jesus
therefore being wearied in his journey, that's part of that
seeking the lost sheep, wearied in his journey, sat thus in the
well, and it was about the sixth hour, and there cometh a woman
of Samaria to draw water. And Jesus said unto her, give
me to drink. For the disciples were gone away,
this is important, the disciples were gone away into the city
to buy meat. Okay, remember that. Then said
the woman, the Samarian to him, how is it that you being a Jew
asked the drink of me, which I'm a Samarian for the Jews have
no dealings with the Samaritans. And Jesus said unto her, if you
knew this gift of God and who it is that said to thee, give
me to drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you
living water. The woman said unto him, Sir,
thou have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence
then comes thou that this living water? Art thou greater than
our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof
himself, and his children, and his cattle? Again, she's asking
all these questions, and he could answer all these questions, but
that's not why he came to this world. So we would learn from
that, and we'd spend time with our friends and family who'd
know not the gospel, to just cut the chase. And you gotta
be polite. I'm not saying, this Christ is pleasant, he's polite,
but get to the story. Not trifles. Are you greater? Jesus answered the sinner, whosoever
drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinks of
the water that I give him shall never thirst. But that water
shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up
unto everlasting life. And the woman said unto him,
sir, give me this water that I may thirst not, neither come
thither to draw. Jesus said unto her, go call
the husband. See, he points out her sin. They're conversing, they're going
on. And look at verse 27. And upon this came his disciples. They've come back from the town
with the woman, yet no man said, what are you doing? Why are you
talking to her? The woman then left, converted,
okay, went her way into the city and
said unto the men, come see a man which told me all things that
ever I did. Is this not the Christ? She was converted. Then they went out to the city
and came unto him. In the meantime, while his disciples
prayed to him, saying, Master, eat. And he says, but he said
unto them, I have meat to eat that you don't know of. We'll
stop there. Christ came to this well, hungry and thirsty, verse
six. His disciples went to the city
to go get meat. They came back with food and
they said, eat. He said, I've got, verse 34,
my meat is to do the will of my father. And incidentally,
this one woman came and I converted her unto eternal life, which
was me, satisfied. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. See what Christ did, he was cordial,
he was friendly, like we all should be, but he got to the
issue, got to her sin, go get your husbands, well, I've got
three or four or five, you know, you've answered correctly. Well,
I perceive you're a prophet. But his meat, what he was to
do, was to travail of soul and satisfy all God's requirements
for us. That's what he had to do. That's
what he had to do. Satisfied. Oh, to do that which
honors our Father in heaven, to exalt the grace found only
in the doing and dying substitute, and beseech the Holy Spirit to
enter into sinners' hearts, renewing and reviving. That's the only
way that they'll be satisfied with their life. That's the only
way the Father will be satisfied with them is to see the work
of Christ in them. Not in the attainments. I know
when big things happen, they name streets after us and they
name football stadiums and baseball. So what? It's all going to perish. It's all going to perish. Not
in the attainments in this world, but to be found doing His will. doing his will. They came back
and brought meat. Here, take, eat. I've got meat
to do you don't know anything about. They were thinking of
the physical, he was thinking of the spiritual. The father
would see the travail of his soul satisfied. What does that mean, that state?
Satisfied. Not condemned. Accepted in the
beloved. That's the most important thing.
That's the one thing needful. Turn with me to Micah, Micah
chapter seven. And we could go on and on with
different examples, but we'll do this one and then one other,
and then we'll have some closing remarks. But look at this one,
Micah chapter seven, verses 18 and 19. Micah 7 verses 18-19, who is
a God like unto thee that pardons iniquity and passes by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retains not his anger forever
because he delights in mercy. In verse 19, he will turn again, he will have
compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt
cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Satisfied. Satisfied. You can stamp that
on her. He delights in mercy. He is satisfied
to, as according to the scripture, to pardon iniquity and to turn
again and to have compassion upon us. He does not take pleasure
in the death of the wicked, Ezekiel 33 11. Rather, he is most glorified
in the free unmerited forgiveness of sins. redeeming those who
can in no wise clear or save themselves. Helpless. Guilty. We're guilty. It would be amazing
just for someone here today to say, I can't do it. I'm guilty. Instead of reaching for their
wallet, thinking about how strong they are, all these different
humanistic things just to say, I'm guilty. I'm guilty. Because to such, He pardons iniquity,
he passes by transgression, the remnant of his heritage, but
he will have us know what we are before him, a thrice holy
God. Apply to God, one man said, in
Christ for pardon and peace and hear the word satisfied. He shall see the travail of his
soul and God who created all is satisfied with that travail
of his only begotten son, who would he not allow to see death
or lay in the grave, but would raise him up the third day, set
captivity captive, and get all the glory due his name. Closing, turn back to Luke 15
again. Luke chapter 15 again, for our
last example. This is kind of on the heels
of the sheep. I like how this is worded. Luke
chapter 15 and verse 7. Luke chapter 15 and verse 7. Now the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit and all who are aware of salvation going on,
He's found the sheep which was lost. Look at verse 7. I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents more than
over 99 just persons which need no repentance. There's joy in
heaven over one sinner that repented or is redeemed. Why? Because
God in Christ is satisfied. He's satisfied. One sinner. One sinner. He has it down to the minute. He has it down to the smallest
one. One. That's what's so, to me,
so blessed about where two or three are gathered together in
His name. He's there. We don't need a bunch
of, I mean, to be nice, but we don't, you know, there's, He
doesn't, our Lord doesn't look at necessarily at numbers. He
doesn't look at, uh, quantity, it's quality, the heart, you
know, the heart, joy in heaven. Why? Because the angels, they
know satisfaction when they see it. And they know of a truth,
of a most certain truth, that when God saw the travail of his
son's soul, he was forever satisfied. satisfied. I love that word and
I love that word absolute because that gospel is satisfaction. God is satisfied with his son
on behalf of sinners and it's absolute. There's no other name
given among men whereby we must be saved. Christ, Christ is it.
So I close with this. Let us here in this place, in
this building in this time, at this time, let us seek the same
things which our Lord sought and accomplished. That is namely
the exaltation and glory of God. Let us be satisfied in what He
was satisfied. Let us not seek satisfaction
in things monetarily or other, we have to have them, we have
to pay taxes, we have to render under Caesar, we do that in this
society. I'm not saying that, I'm saying
but let us be ultimately, preeminently satisfied with what satisfies
our Father. And that is the doing and dying,
death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The finished
and accomplished perfect work of Emmanuel. May we be found
engaging in this amazing task to bring sinners here to hear
the gospel or tell sinners where they're at the gospel, to talk
to sinners, not about the weather all the time or not about the
latest scores or this or that. Let us talk to sinners and point
sinners to the savior of the remnant of his heritage, to,
as they did in the Old Testament, to lift up that serpent He talked about the pole and
then you put a... He didn't describe in detail
the serpent. If you looked at that serpent,
you got bit. The only remedy for that snake bite was to look
at the brazen serpent that was on the pole. Let us be about
that and tell folks to look and live. God is satisfied only in
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Bruce?