So we're going to read Isaiah
chapter 53 and verse 1. 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
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 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 see his seed, he
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. He shall see of 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 spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death. he was numbered with the transgressors
and he bare the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. We have been thinking over the
past few weeks about the simplicity that is in Christ. We have been
drawing upon Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3. It is a faithful pastor's greatest
desire that those under his ministry, under his charge, will in turn
be faithful to the gospel that he preaches. That's what a pastor
is looking for in his congregation, faithfulness to the truth. A
people who will be blessed in the hearing and provided for
in the believing that these things which we declare, which we preach
amongst ourselves will be at the heart of our faith and the
foundation upon which our lives are built. A preacher like Paul
wants those amongst whom he ministers to believe and to trust in the
simplicity that is in Christ. Because a preacher like Paul
is jealous for the spiritual well-being of his people. And he writes in 2 Corinthians
11, verse 2, I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. And I don't think that that is
unique to Paul. I think that every pastor who
has any sense at all of his calling and his role and the work of
the Lord in his own soul has a desire to see that work maintained
and enlarged in the souls of his people. I am jealous over
you with a godly jealousy." Why was he jealous? Why was he jealous
for these Corinthians? Because he knew that the flock's
spiritual well-being, their strength to face the trials of their lives,
Their comfort in spiritual things would be drawn from these truths,
the truths of the Lord Jesus Christ, the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're not comforted in this world,
in the trials of this world, in the challenges that we face,
whatever they might be. The challenges of that wrestling
that goes on in our own hearts and our own minds. Day by day
as we, as born again believers, spiritual creations, wrestle
with the flesh and the blood that is our own body. as we engage with this world
around about us, as we come into the trials of life, whether that
be in our relationships, whether that be in our workplace, whether
that be in our family circumstances, we are going to be beset constantly
with trouble and trial. It is the nature of a believer's
life. And we need comfort and we need
to be strengthened and we need help. And the Apostle Paul knew
that it is in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is
in knowing Him, trusting Him, feeding upon Him, hearing Him
day by day, believing Him, that we will have that comfort and
that help. That's why we preach Christ. so that those who hear and believe
can feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ and be sustained and nourished
in their souls day by day. And therefore it is absolutely
essential that our faith and our lives are built upon a true
and proper understanding of this simplicity that is in Christ,
because there is a beguiling, confused subtlety that seeks
to corrupt us all around about us. So over the past few weeks,
we've been thinking about a number of aspects of the simplicity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have thought about the simplicity
of his coming because we know and we need to know that in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ, this historical character that
we speak about, we see God himself. God come as man. We see the God-man in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our faith is founded upon divine
intervention. We are here this morning because
we believe that God became a man, that God entered this world,
that God took upon himself the obligation and responsibility
for the salvation of his people and he came into this world in
order to fulfill all that was needed. to secure their deliverance
and bring them to himself. No man could do that. Oh, there
had been many good men, many faithful men, many men who would
be admirable because of the way in which they lived, because
of the things that they did and achieved, but no man, no matter
how good, no matter how able, no matter how accomplished, could
ever win salvation for himself, far less someone else. Who are we going to look to?
Will we look to ourselves? The foolish often do, thinking
that they are going to be in some way capable and able of
saving themselves. but they live, they dwell in
a self-righteous delusion. Do we look to our parents? Will
they save our souls? Well, they don't know what you're
like. You hide most of the things that you do from your parents.
Tell me if I'm wrong. I did. Your parents can't save you.
Your friends, you think they're not just like you? The professionals,
the politicians, the sports people, the celebrities, who's going
to care about you? They've got enough trouble looking
after themselves. No, we need someone to help us. We need God to help us. And when we think about the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we acknowledge that God became man. He came into this world. He came in order to deliver us,
to bring salvation. He came in order that a redemption
might be paid, not of gold and silver, not of precious metals
that fade and corrupt, but of blood. The Lord Jesus Christ
came to lay down His life. We read about that in Isaiah
53. He came in order to provide a
righteousness, a righteousness which is given to us unconditionally
by which we can stand in the presence of God. And this is
the one who came as a baby in a manger, in a stable, in Bethlehem,
all those years ago. It was a simple beginning to
a wonderful story. The Lord Jesus Christ has come
into this world to save sinners. So we thought about the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thought about the simplicity
of his coming. And we thought about the simplicity
of the Lord Jesus Christ's life. A perfect life. A life that was good in every
way. a life of gentleness, a life
of meekness, a life of love and care and concern for those around
about him. And we were reminded in our thoughts
about the life of the Lord Jesus Christ that there is strength
in gentleness. People think that if you're strong,
it enables you to crush the people around about you. No, that's
not true strength. True strength is the strength
that the Lord Jesus Christ exhibited in his gentleness and in his
care for his fellow man and for his neighbour. Meekness is not
weakness. Some people like to suggest that
it is. But meekness in the face of trial
is true strength, spiritual strength, deep down strength, a strength
within. We saw in the person of Jesus
Christ the love of God coming to this earth. We heard in the
words of Jesus Christ powerful truth. Wise doctrine, prophetic
and comforting messages to sustain us and to help us and to lead
us through our lives. He spoke the words that his father
had given him to speak. He was our prophet. He was the
one who declared the truth of God to us. He was faithful in
all things that were committed into his hands, so to do them. And Peter could declare of him,
Lord, thou hast the words of eternal life. Where else are you going to go? The Lord Jesus Christ simply
brought us the truth. No great big educational tome. No manual written in an obscure
language. No set of encyclopedias that
had to be memorized and then regurgitated in order to please
some examiner somewhere. Just a simple message. of love
and grace and mercy, spoken in often monosyllabic terms. The Lord Jesus Christ was good
and gentle and pure and holy, and his life is a testimony to
who he is and what he has accomplished. He said repeatedly in his life,
I tell you the truth. You know there's not a man or
a woman on the face of this earth that can say that honestly. I tell you the truth because
every single one of us have an agenda for everything that we
say. It just is. But the Lord Jesus Christ told
us the truth. That's why we call it the Gospel,
because it's true. And even his enemies confessed,
never man spoke like this man. His works were extraordinary,
miraculous. They attested His divinity. They
spoke of His glory. They revealed His true identity. The things that He did showed
that He was powerful beyond the mere laws of nature, which were
subject to Him. But these miracles, they simply
gave authority to the words that He spoke. They caused men to
stop and think, wow, in order that they might hear the truth
that fell from the Master's lips. And in it all, in it all, sinless
perfection, sinlessness of Christ, His holiness, His worthiness
to serve as an intermediary, to serve as a mediator, it qualified
Him to fulfil all of God's requirements and demands. The Holy One of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, was the only one
ever who was fit and able to own our cause. We thought about his coming,
we thought about his life, we thought about the simplicity
of the Lord Jesus Christ's death. Let us not confuse simplicity
with trivial or insubstantial or unconsequential. No, no, no. The Lord Jesus Christ's death
was all of these things. It was profound. It was deep. It was deeper than we can get
our heads around, even by a careful, assiduous reading of the scriptures
and endeavoring to understand these things. The Lord Jesus
Christ's death was an infinite accomplishment. There is a depth
of majesty to that sacrifice that we will spend the whole
of eternity trying to get our pure, holy minds around. None will ever explain it. The
hymn writer says, "'Tis mystery all." the immortal dies. Who can explain his strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph
tries to sound the depths of love divine. Tis mercy all. Let earth adore and let angel
minds inquire no more. the death of the God-man and the simplicity of that death. It was representative. It was
sacrificial. It was expiatory. People might say, well, what's
simple about that? Jesus died. as our substitute. He took our place. It's as simple
as that. He died in the place of another. Did he die in the place of everyone?
No. You know, in some respects, a
gospel which allowed me as a preacher, as a pastor to come before a
general congregation and say, Jesus died for you. Jesus wants
to save you. All you've got to do is this.
Would be an easy gospel to preach, but it wouldn't be true. It would
mean that the individual, it would mean that man, it would
mean that the flesh had a part in the salvation of the soul,
and your flesh doesn't want to have any part in the salvation
of your soul. No, it takes the Saviour. It
takes the Lord. And He said, I lay down my life
for the sheep. And that blood which He shed
atones completely wholly, perfectly, for those for whom he died. And he died for those that God
the Father had given him in eternity, in the covenant of grace, in
the covenant of love, in the covenant of peace, delivered
into his hands and said, here, these are my people. I need you to go and save them,
to shed your blood for their deliverance and for their salvation.
And the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled perfectly every requirement laid
upon him in the covenant purposes of the triune God. When God's
justice broken, when God's law trodden underfoot, sought redress,
sought a guilt payment, the Lord Jesus Christ stepped into the
gap. The Lord Jesus Christ shielded
his people from the blows of divine retribution. Under the
rod of God, the Lord Jesus Christ bared his back and before the
sword of justice, he exposed his breast. And he carried his people's sins
in his own body on the cross. He bore them at Calvary. He took our place. He redeemed
us by the paying of a ransom for our liberty. And all this
and more is revealed in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
might the hymn writer say, oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus,
vast and measured. We thought also about the simplicity
of the Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection. We thought to ourselves, it had
to be, hadn't it? It was as simple and as straightforward
as a victory acknowledgement. It acknowledged that the Lord
Jesus Christ had achieved everything that he was sent to do. The resurrection
of the Lord ought not to have been a surprise to anyone. God, becoming man, bearing our
sin, achieving our salvation, he would be honoured for the
complete fulfilment of the task that had been set before him.
Divine justice was satisfied with that payment of his blood.
God accepted that offering that he made as our high priest as
he took our place. And it demonstrates the settled
account that there stood in that great ledger of God by the raising
of the Lord Jesus Christ to victory and to glory. When he was on
the cross and he declared, it is finished, it wasn't simply
that the life of the Lord Jesus Christ had come to an end, or
even his labour, his obligations, his challenge. It meant that
the whole plan of salvation, the whole purpose of the eternal
council, the whole accomplishment of grace had come to its successful
conclusion. The covenant obligations had
been completed and paid in full. The job was done. and the Lord
Jesus Christ would now be glorified. And resurrection is the first
step in that confirmation of victory, that declaration that
God is satisfied with this death and the sacrifice of his son. Death was defeated. Death was
defeated. How can it hold its prey? You see these pictures, don't
you, sometimes on television or YouTube of these two things
fighting together and you know that there's only one going to
walk away. You know that this is a fight to the death. The Lord Jesus Christ could not
be held by Satan who was defeated by death that was destroyed. There is spoil to the triumphant.
And the Lord Jesus Christ spoiled Satan's strong house. He led captivity capped if he
burst the bonds of death. And an angel moved the stone
away to allow the Lord Jesus Christ to come forth out of his
own tomb. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
entered into his glory. So we thought about the simplicity
of Christ's glory. The prize for his success was
eternal glory, a throne of honour, the right hand of God, the place
of majesty, dominion and power, given to the Lord Jesus Christ
as the victor. He ascended up into glory. He
left this scene of time. Christ, when he had purged, had
himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
majesty on high. Peter speaks in 1 Peter 3, verse
22, of him who is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God,
angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. And lastly, we thought about
the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thought about him
coming again. We reminded ourselves that this
one who had come as a man in order to save his people from
their sins, to die as a sacrifice on their behalf, who rose victorious
and ascended into glory and is seated at the right hand of God,
isn't staying there. He's coming again for His church,
coming again for His bride, for His people, for those that He
has loved from eternity, always loved, loved still, and will
love forever and ever and ever. And He wants to be with His love. He wants to have His love with
Him. and he's coming back for us. We reminded ourself that he's
on his way already. John could say, behold, he cometh. And the New Testament writers
leave us with this sense of immediacy, encouraging an anticipation on
our part that the Lord Jesus Christ is returning soon. And
that's not to act foolishly, not to imagine that we haven't
got a place, a role in this world, in this life. We have, we are
in this world and we have to engage with this world. But still
we are eagerly anticipating the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I remember a man who said that he didn't buy his children's
shoes because he thought that the Lord was going to be returning
soon. Well, that's a stupid thing to say. We have to prepare for
life. We have to study at school. We
have to do our exams. We have to be aware of the things
that are going on around about us. But we also have to carry
with us this thought that any moment the Lord Jesus Christ
could come back. He's promised that he's coming
back and it could be any time. And when he comes, he will raise
the dead. When he comes, he will bring
this world to an end. When he comes, he will usher
in judgment. He will create a new heaven and
a new earth. And he will take his people to
himself. He will gather us up and there
will be a marriage supper of the Lamb. and he will ever share
with us his glory. His bride, our bridegroom, consummating
that union, that relationship, which was first anticipated,
forged in the eternal purpose of God, has been secured and
accomplished by the labours of our Saviour, and then will be
brought to its completion in the eternal realms. This is the simplicity of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is the truth of the gospel.
This is what he has done. That is the consummation for
which the Lord Jesus Christ came and died. And all of these things we've
thought about in the past few weeks, things that are faithful,
things that are true, the simplicity that is in Christ, against which
the serpent's beguiling and corrupting subtlety has no strength. Believing these truths, we come
to know the gospel of grace. Believing these truths, believing
this Saviour, We come to trust Him, to lean on Him, to rely
upon Him, to hold those things which He has done as central
to the people that we are. We see that He is the God of
our salvation. We see that to stand in Him is
to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us
free. and not to be entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. And what's left for us this morning
as one final thought concerning the simplicity that is in Christ
is this, that this Jesus, this Christ, this gospel is worthy
of acceptation. It's worthy of being accepted. He is the only way of salvation. He is God's way of life for sinners. And He is Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday, today and forever. He is faithful. He is constant. He is loving. He is gracious. He is approachable. and he is
willing to save sinners like you and me. With such a one set before us,
with such a one in all of his simplicity, in all of his beauty,
in all of his grace, why would we pass him by? Why would we
pass him by? With such a work accomplished,
why seek another way? With love and grace and mercy
and this high and glorious order in view, where else can a sinner
go but to Jesus? That's the simplicity that is
in Christ. He is the same yesterday, today
and forever. He is the same. He is unchangeable. He is immutable. He is dependable. Our Saviour has had our salvation
at heart for all eternity. He never once took His eye off
of us, never once lost sight of His great task in the redemption
of our souls. And He is the same today. That
same love that brought Him into the world, that same love that
took Him to die on the cross, waits to receive us today. Why would we pass him by? He
waits with open heart. He waits with outstretched arms. Christ is alive today. He is risen. He is ascended. He is glorified. And he waits
only, only until the last of his people are gathered. To the
last of his people are called to repentance and faith in him. and then he is coming back. And
he's the same forever. He is the same forever. The almighty,
the all-knowing, the all-glorious God shall never change. He is
the unchangeable one and what a prospect we have as his bride
and as his church. As those who once were corrupt
creations, now to be a new creation, entering into that unchangeable
world which is his dwelling place, there to be with him forever. What a promise. There is a simplicity
in Christ and there is a wonder and a glory and a grace. Under
that grace and by his mercy, What could be simpler than trusting
in Him? Trusting in Him for our soul's
well-being. Trusting in Him for our spiritual
salvation. Trusting in Him for the everlasting
promises of grace and glory for our souls. Ezekiel chapter 33
and verse 11 says, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn
from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil
ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? A man once asked the Apostle
Paul, what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And may God the Holy Spirit preserve
us, lest we be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Amen.