I'll be in Isaiah chapter 53
if you'd like to turn there. Thank you all for having me and
I'm thankful to Brother Don for asking me to come and for being
my friend. For a lot of years I'm not a
very good friend but Brother Don is and he's my friend. And
I'm proud to call him that and thank the Lord for him. Beginning in verse four, 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 every
one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all." Of all the words that we could
look at if we were going to go word by word through this passage,
for some reason the Lord impressed upon me one that might escape
our notice pretty easily. Four. That's the title of the
message, for. He was wounded for our transgressions. What does that mean? What does
that word signify? Is it talking about his motive
for doing so, for being wounded? Is it talking about his purpose? We might ask the question, what
did you do that for? And you'd be asking, what was
your motive for doing that? Is that what we're being taught
here and having our attention drawn to here? Listen to this
passage of scripture from Luke 22, 19, and maybe this would help. Luke 22, 19,
and he took bread. and gave thanks and broke it
and gave unto them saying, this is my body which is given for
you. Is that the word in our text? Is this it? Herein is love. Not
that we love God, but that he loved us. and sent his son to
be the propitiation for our sins. Is it his great love in our great
need? Is that what we see in this little
word? Or is it his eternal purpose
of grace? Is it the reason for everything? As we might ask the question,
what's it all for? Could Christ's suffering for our sins be the
answer to that question? What's it all for? Titus 2.13,
looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself
for us. That. He might redeem us from
all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous
of good works. Is that the for in our text?
The reason, the purpose for which he died? Or does it signify in
the place of? He died for us. Is this substitution? Surely that's the intention here
in Hebrews 9.24, where it says, Christ is not entered into the
holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us, in our place, as our representative, as our
mediator, as our great high priest who had somewhat to offer. Is it Christ died the just for
the unjust, in the place of, in the stead of the unjust, that
he might bring us to God? Or is it talking about the cause
of his suffering more directly? The purpose for which he died
was to redeem us. But what was the cause of his
suffering? Is it talking about he was crushed,
that word bruised, he was bruised for our iniquities, he was crushed,
he was wounded, that word is pierced. Was he pierced and crushed
because of my sin? Is it talking about my sin itself? For my sin, is it because it
was the cause of his sufferings himself? Is that what it's talking
about there? So which is it? Is it motive? Is it purpose? Is it position? Or is it cause? And the answer, of course, is
yes. It's all of that and probably
more. Why was he wounded and bruised? My transgressions, my iniquities,
my sin. You see, it says over and over
in that passage, it calls them our grief, our iniquities, our
transgressions. It's talking about our, and in
every case, what does it say? Our, our. Our, our sin. The answer to the awful question,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Our sin. He is the holy God who
cannot look upon one Sinful, except in wrath and condemnation.
Our sin, the sin of all of God's elect. And there's no question
of the definition there of the word our and we in the text. It's no question about who it
is for whom he suffered. Read John chapter 17, the whole
chapter, if you have any doubt about that. It's the sins of
his people, his sheep, his elect, those whom the Father had given
him. from the foundation of the world. He did not represent,
intercede for, or redeem the world, the entire world. He did in the sense that the
scripture uses the word world, but not the way religion does.
He did all of that for those that the Father gave him in the
eternal covenant of grace, for us. We, us, our. Now what he did had an immediate
and definite result. The word griefs there in verse
four is a one word definition in Strong's Concordance. It means
sickness. He bore our sickness, our disease. And that's important because
of what we see there in the last part of verse five. By his stripes,
we're not sick anymore. We are healed. Healing is not
made available. We're healed. Him bearing our sin, what he
did for us, because of his great love for us, in order to redeem
us, what he did in our place, what happened to him because
of our sin, It was an accomplishment. It was the death that he accomplished
that they spoke of. I am healed. Remember the woman
with the issue of blood? When she pressed upon him through
the crowd and touched the hem of his garment? And he said,
somebody touched me. I perceive that virtue has gone
out of me. Where'd it go? We know where it went, don't
we? because she was healed. It had a definite, immediate
result. And her sickness went out of
her. Where did it go? I'm pretty sure I know. Pretty
sure I know, don't you? Listen to this, Matthew 8, 16.
When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were
possessed with devils. And he cast out the spirits with
his word and healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, himself took
our infirmities and bear our sicknesses. He didn't just get
rid of them. He took them. He took them. And in that physical healing
that he performed, Isaiah said, that's what happened on Calvary. In a spiritual sense, he took
our soul's disease unto himself. And when he did, the immediate
direct result was, I'm healed. I'm healed. When he was pierced
and crushed for our transgressions and iniquities, that was him
taking our sickness. And the result is, we're healed. Now how can that be? We see that
it was successful there. The purpose for which this was
done is fulfilled, but how and why? Why did it work? We have the answer to that in
our text too. He, him, and his. We were healed with his stripes
because they were his stripes. Because of whose blood that was
that was shed, it washed all of my sins away. And I want us
to look at that and think about sin. Now it says in verse 6 that
all we like sheep have gone astray. That's our part in salvation.
Believe it was brother Larry that talked about how religion
likes to say we have our party We're going to do our part and
God does his part. You know what your part in salvation is you
need it And they like to say if you'll
take the first step You listen to that verse again now all we
like sheep have gone astray And then God did something about
that. Where's the hope there for somebody
that has to take a first step? Well, you need to make a decision
for Jesus. I've got news for you. You already
have made one. You are gone. We have gone. It's already been decided on
our part. We have gone from God. And what God's part is, is He
laid all of our iniquity on His Son. All of our sin, all of our transgressions
and iniquities are sin. And believer, by nature, you
have two kinds of sin. Two kinds of sins, the ones that
you're ashamed of and the ones that you trust. by nature now, the ones that
you call evil and the ones that you call righteousness. The one you try to hide, the
other you flaunt it. You're proud of it. And all of them had to be laid
upon the Savior, all of them. I want you to turn to 1 Samuel
chapter 25 and read a fairly lengthy passage
of scripture here, but I want us to look at this word, hymn. Hymn. 1 Samuel 25, verse 1. And Samuel died, and all the
Israelites were gathered together and lamented him and buried him
in his house at Ramah. And David arose and went down
to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man in Maon whose
possessions were in Carmel. And the man was very great. And
he had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. And he was shearing his
sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal. and the name of his wife, Abigail.
And she was a woman of good understanding and of a beautiful countenance. But the man was churlish and
evil in his doings, and he was of the house of Caleb. And David
heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. And
David sent out 10 young men, and David said unto the young
men, get you up to Carmel and go to Nabal. And greet him in
my name. Now David and his men have been
fighting battles and they're weary and they're hungry and
they need supplies. And so he's saying, send to Nabal,
he's out shearing his sheep, he's got plenty, he's got everything
that we need. And thus shall you say to him,
verse six, that liveth in prosperity, peace be both to thee and peace
to thine house and peace be unto all that thou hast. And now I
have heard that thou hast shearers. Now thy shepherds were with us,
we heard them not, neither was there aught missing unto them,
all the while they were in Carmel. David had done a kindness to
this man and his servants in the past. And he says, ask thy
young men and they will show thee. They know, your men know
that my men took good care of you and that we did you a favor.
Wherefore, let the young men find favor in your eyes, for
we come in a good day. Give, I pray thee, whatsoever
cometh to thine hand unto thy servants and to thy son, David. And when David's young men came,
they spake to Nabal according to all the words in the name
of David. And then they ceased. They told
him everything that David said, and then they shut up. That's
good advice. I hope I can do that. The navel
answered David's servants and said, who is David? Who is the
son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays
that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take
my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for
my shearers and give it unto men whom I know not whence they
be? So David's young men turned their way and went again and
came and told him all those sayings. And David said unto his men,
gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man
his sword. And David also girded on his sword. And there went
up after David about 400 men and 200 abode by the stuff. But
one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, behold,
David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our
master. And he railed on them. But the
men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed
we anything, as long as we were conversant with them when we
were in the fields. They were good to us, but Nabal
was evil to them. They were a wall unto us, they
protected us night and day, and all the while we were with them,
keeping the sheep. Now therefore know and consider
what thou wilt do, for evil is determined against our master,
against all his household. For he is such a son of Belal,
a son of the devil, that a man cannot even talk to him. You
ever know anybody like that? Have you looked in the mirror
lately? There are three main characters
in this story, and one of them's you. And one of them was me. And Abigail
made haste and took 200 loaves and two bottles of wine and five
sheep ready dressed and five measures of parched corn and
100 clusters of raisins and 200 cakes of figs and laid them on
asses. And she said unto her servants, go on before me. Behold,
I come after you. But she told not her husband
Abel, and it was so. And she wrote on the ass that
she came down by the covert of the hill and beheld David. Behold,
David and his men came down against her, and she met them. She didn't
even tell this fool. He's about to be saved and not
even have any idea about it. Does that ring a bell? Now David
had said, surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath
in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained
unto him. And he hath requited me evil for good. So and more
also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that
pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against
the wall. And when Abigail saw David, she hasted and lighted
off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed
herself to the ground, and fell at his feet, and said, upon me,
my Lord. Upon me let this iniquity be. And let thine handmaid, I pray
thee, speak in thine audience and hear the words of thine handmaid. Let not, my lord, I pray thee,
regard this man Belial, even Nabal. For as his name is, so
is he. Don't even think about him in
this whole matter of whether we're going to live or die. Don't
even consider him. Nabal is his name, and folly
is with him. The name Nabal means fool. But
I, thine handmaid, saw not the young men of my Lord whom thou
didst send out. Therefore, my Lord, as the Lord liveth, as
thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from coming
to shed blood and from avenging thyself with thine own hand,
now let thine enemies and they that seek evil to my Lord be
as Nabal. And now this blessing which thine
handmaid hath brought unto my Lord, let it be Let it even be
given unto the young men that follow my Lord, and I pray thee,
forgive the trespass of thine handmaid. For the Lord will certainly
make my Lord a sure house, because my Lord fighteth the battles
of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all of thy
days." So there are three main characters in this story. Strange
story. What does this have to do with
our text in Isaiah 53? Well, we have in this story a
great God-anointed, God-appointed king, dishonored, offended, and
angry, and about to kill everybody. About to kill everybody. And
we have a fool, whose very name is fool, who has offended and
dishonored God's king. And he deserves to die for it.
He acted like he didn't even know who David was. Everybody
knew who David was. There wouldn't be an Israel without
David. Guess which character in this
story is you? Guess which one's me? And then we have an intercessor,
a mediator. And we see in her our text in
Isaiah 53. Look at verses 24 and 28 again. there in first Samuel 25. Because
this is key to it now. And fell at his feet and said,
upon me, my Lord, upon me, let this iniquity be. Upon me. And then in verse 28,
as I pray, I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid. Just as she represents here,
our mediator and representative took our sin as his sin. It was
laid on him. He took them for us. He owned
it as his own. Now, everybody in this story
knew that Abigail hadn't done anything wrong. And we know that,
too, don't we? We know that our Savior had no
sin. There was no guile found in his
mouth. He is God's spotless, pure, holy, immutable. That means He doesn't change. God's spotless, holy Lamb. And we know that about our Savior.
And we may get accused of some things for preaching the truth.
Brother Don just wrote an excellent article recently about how that
we, as preaching the gospel, get accused of saying things
about the Savior, like somehow he was infused with sin or something,
or his nature was altered. He is the immutable, spotless,
holy Lamb of God. He was in eternity past, if you could
even use that language. He is right now, and he always
will be. Don't ever be confused about
whose sin it was. Can you read our text in Isaiah
53 and have any doubt about that? He was wounded for our transgressions. And somebody might say, well,
you know, he took our transgressions, but he couldn't be wounded for
our transgressions. That wouldn't be right. You know,
I just trust God to do it in a way that's consistent with
his holiness. Don't you? I believe he can do
that. It says he was wounded. for our
transgressions. Our Savior owned it as His, but
He was owning my sin as His. Our transgressions, our sin.
Our Savior was made to be sin, who knew no sin. He was made
to be sin with my sin. Between my Savior and I, there
is one that ever sinned, and it wasn't Him. And you see that
in this story, don't you? And most important of all, what
happened on Calvary, what my Lord suffered and accomplished
there, why did it work? Look in 1 Samuel 25, this story
we've been reading, look at verse 32. Why was this successful? Why didn't David just say, you
know, nice try, Abigail, but I'm fixing to kill everybody
anyway. I know you didn't do anything wrong, but he did, and
we've got a problem, and everybody dies. Thanks for trying. Thanks for playing. Why didn't
it happen that way? Look at verse 32. And David said
to Abigail, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee
this day to meet me. And blessed be thy advice, and
blessed be thou, which has kept me this day from coming to shed
blood and from avenging myself with mine own hand. For in very
deed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back
from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet
me, surely there had not been left undenabled by the morning
light any that pisseth against the wall. He's going to kill
everybody, but not now. Why? So David received of her hand
that which she had brought him and said unto her, go up in peace
to thine house. See, I have hearkened to thy
voice and have accepted thy person. That's what we're saying in Isaiah
53 here. It's Him. It's because it was
Him. The gospel is the simplicity,
the all-inclusiveness that is in Christ. It is Christ that
died. That was Paul's reason for being
able to say, I stand guiltless before God. Because it is Christ
that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at
the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. It is the sinless, holy, spotless,
immutable Lamb of God. The simplicity that's in Christ,
that means all-inclusiveness. And you know, I believe I've
cracked the code. Religion is always talking about
looking for some kind of secret code in scripture. They'll look
and see, you know, every seventh word, every seventh letter of
every seventh word in the scripture and see if that spells out, you
know, some private secret message, you know, that God is trying
to reveal. God doesn't try to reveal. When
he reveals, you're fixing to find something out. And his word
is not, it's not ambiguous, it's clear. I think I've cracked it. When Paul described his calling
in ministry, he did so this way. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal
his son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen. Immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood." That was his calling in ministry. God called
me by his grace and revealed his son in me for this reason,
that I might preach him. When Paul was warning the Galatians
concerning apostasy, he did so this way in Galatians 1.6, I
marvel that you are so soon removed from him. Him that called you into the
grace of Christ, unto another gospel. When Paul described his
life and purpose and all ambition, he did so this way in Philippians
3, 8. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I've suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dumb, that I may
win Christ and be found in Him. I think I've found a pattern.
and I see it in all of God's Word. I believe that both the secret
of God's Word and the answer, the mystery and the solution,
the unsearchable treasure and the key is Him. Surely He hath borne our grace. 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're healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned every one to his
own way. And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Thank you.