I want to read these 12 verses
of Isaiah chapter 53, beginning in 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, as a root out of a dry ground. He has no
farm nor condolence. 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 every one 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, as a sheep before her shearers is done, 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 hath 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 has poured out his
soul unto death. And he was numbered with the
transgressors, and he bore the sins of many, and made intercessions
for the transgressors." This is a wonderful chapter concerning
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have two messages that
I want to preach to you on it. One tonight, and the Lord's willing,
one next week. He begins here, it seems to me,
like with complaining in verse 1. Who has believed our report? As though that he had preached
and began to look around him, and hardly any believed his preaching
of the gospel. The land of Israel at this time,
if you read this book and know the history of it, was almost
barren as far as the knowledge of the gospel of God was concerned
and the true worship of the Lord. Listen to these passages that
I'll read to you, beginning in chapter 1 and some in chapter
5. This is the complaint the Lord
had against this nation of Israel at this time. Hear, O ye heavens,
and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished
and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its owner, and the ass knows its master's crib,
but Israel doeth not know. and my people doeth not consider."
And then he says this about them, O sinful nation, a people who
are laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, they have forsaken
the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger,
they have gone away backwards. Now this is the charge he brought
against them, an evil nation that had forsaken the Lord and
His worship But yet, as you read on, you'll find out that still
they maintained their religious activities and their religious
assembles. He went on to say, the harp and
the vial and the tablets and the pipes and the wine are in
their feast. Everything that they needed to
entertain them, everything that they needed to soothe their conscience,
They have in their worship their music and their wine, their carnal minds. He said this
about them. But they regard not the work
of the Lord, neither do they consider the operation of His
hands. Even though they continue to
offer their sacrifices, They continued to observe their feast
days, yet they had no regard for God's work. They had no regard
for what He was doing and what He had purpose to do. Israel
did not know the Lord. They did not know Him. They had
no reverence for His work, nor the operation of His hands. They
had no regard. They had no knowledge. Neither
did they have any desire to know. They never saw the need of God
doing something for them, neither did they feel a need of Him doing
something in them. They had no regard for the work
of God's hand, neither the operation of His hands on their behalf
or in them. And then He goes on to say this
about them, Therefore My people, are gone into captivity, because
they have no knowledge, and their honorable men are famished, and
their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore, hell has enlarged
itself, hell has opened her mouth without measure, and their glory
and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth shall
ascend into it." And then he goes on and says this, "...and
the mean man," that is the poor man, the insignificant man, "...shall
be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humble, and the
eyes of the lofty shall be brought low, and the Lord of hosts shall
alone be exalted in judgment, and the Holy One shall be sanctified
in righteousness." Now, Israel had left the knowledge of the
gospel, the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ, and they had
done so by little steps. Men never leave the gospel, usually
suddenly. The knowledge of the gospel is
not suddenly, men don't go jump off a cliff to leave the gospel. It's usually baby steps. It's usually small steps. Little steps. The gospel is usually
left one step at a time. One step at a time. But steps,
after a while, we've lost the gospel altogether. And listen
to this to see if this ain't so. Here's the way we begin to
lose the gospel. First of all, the absolute holiness
of God is forgotten. God is set forth merely as love,
or merely as mercy, or merely as longsuffering. He always desires
the best for man at any cost. The attribute begins to shift,
the attitude begins to shift from the being of God, the essential
being of God, His eternal holiness, His sovereignty, and it begins
to shift that God is only concerned about man. He exists merely to
satisfy man and provide happiness for man. It begins to shift from
God to man's need. Have you noticed a shift in that
in our day? The knowledge of man's utter
depravity begins to be lost. This is the way we leave the
Gospel. We leave the knowledge of God. We leave the knowledge
of man's depravity. Man begins to think more highly
of himself than he should. He begins to speak of the power
of His free will. He begins to speak of salvation
as being a mere choice at His own time and on His own terms,
that there is a spark of goodness in Him. And it may take God to
fan this goodness in a flame, but after all, the spark is there. God only needs to work with a
spark. And soon man can speak of his
power, he can speak of the merit of man, and the power of man,
and the goodness of man as easily as he can breathe. He speaks
of these things as though they're true, as though they're beyond
question, and no doubt about it. that the debate is settled
and over with. Like Israel of old, they become
drunk on the strong wine of humanism. We go there one short step at
a time. Their conscience becomes seared
by the soothing spirits of devils, and their each and ears are entertained
by doctrines of devils. See how we begin to leave the
gospel? We leave the knowledge of God, who He actually is, in
His attributes. We begin to leave the doctrine
of man, the knowledge of man, who He is. And we leave these
things slowly, but after a while, we've got God where man should
be and man where God is. We've reversed the roles. And
thirdly, Jesus Christ is gradually left. He is gradually left. Who do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am? What manner of man is this that
even the winds and the sea obey Him? When we leave Christ, these
questions seldom get asked anymore. The interest begins to shift
from the mystery and the wonder and the glory of who He is in
His glorious person, that He is both God and man. And then they begin to address
Him merely as Jesus. As Jesus. They never address
Him as the Lord Jesus Christ, but merely as Jesus. as though
he wasn't one with the Heavenly Father. And fourthly, when we
begin to leave the knowledge of the Gospel, we begin to leave
the knowledge of the work of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and
Mediator between God and man. We cease to hear of substitution. If you hear a preacher that says
he's preaching the Gospel, and he don't preach the concept of
substitution, then he's not preached the gospel. How often is it today,
brothers and sisters, that we can read our papers, that we
can watch religious programming, we can hear preachers and teachers,
and they do not set before us substitution. They don't speak
of blood redemption and justice satisfied, atonement for sin. This is the work of Jesus Christ,
and it's the gospel. It's the essential work of Christ. Then we begin to hear of Jesus,
the moral example, that He's just a light to show us how to
live, how to get along in society. His life and His death becomes
nothing more than an example of compassion and self-denial. And soon we lose the very name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We lose the very name of Jesus
Christ. You remember when Peter and John
stood before the Sanhedrin in Acts chapter 4? And they were
preaching through the Lord Jesus Christ the resurrection from
the dead. They could not preach without
preaching Him, His name. Silver and gold have I none,
but such as I have, give I thee, in the name, in the name and
the power of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. And the Sanhedrin
called them in and they said, we want to tell you two things
concerning the name of Jesus Christ. We don't want you ever
to speak it again or teach it again. We don't want you to tell
us who He is. We don't want you to apply His
name to your teaching. And furthermore, we don't even
want you to take His name upon your lips or write your letters
with His name with pen and ink. Don't preach in His name and
don't even mention His name. There's a name today, brothers
and sisters, that's absent. That's absent. We not only have left the gospel
of Jesus Christ, now we're leaving His name, even His very name. I read, I always read the religious
page, religious section of our papers. And yesterday, there
was three articles. We had a Protestant, we had a
Lutheran, and we had a Catholic. And they all wrote their articles.
One article took up a quarter of the page. And then we had
six church bulletins and announcements on this one page. One man went
into great detail about having fellowship with God and being
sure to seek God in prayer. But on this entire page, not
one time was the name of Jesus Christ mentioned. The Sanhedrin is still around
today. They just disguised themselves,
you see. You shall not mention His name. Well, we have so left Him today
with tiny little steps. Now we've come to the place where
you talk about fellowship with God. You talk about your denomination. Talk about prayer without mentioning,
even so much mentioning, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're where Israel used to be.
We still have our religious activities. But brothers and sisters, I fear
that it's nothing but being soothed by humanism. and our conscience seared by
doctrine of devils. And how men could write religious
articles and never once pen the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, we charge you, they said,
not even to speak His name. And Peter said, whether it's
right in the sight of God to obey you, you'll have to judge
that for yourself. We cannot help but speak. the things that we've seen and
heard." What had they seen and heard? What had they seen and
heard? Well, John told us what they'd
seen and heard. Here's what he said, "...that which we've seen
and heard declare we unto you." What was it? The Word of Life. The Word of Life. We've heard
Him. We've seen Him, our hands have
handled Him, and we've looked upon Him, the Word of Life. For
the Word of Life was manifested, and we've seen it, and we've
heard it, and we bear record to you. What we have seen and
heard, declare we unto you, that you may have fellowship with
us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Have we, as religion today, left
the Gospel? Brother, it's got to a point
now where it's left even His name. They won't even speak his
name now. Over at a legislator, they was
trying to pass a law that if they get a minister over there
to pray, he was not to mention Jesus Christ. How do you preach the gospel?
How do you talk about God? How do you talk about grace?
Without Him. He is the gospel. He is Christianity. Christianity is Christ. Oh, our
hearts should be alarmed the very instant the gospel begins
to be left. As soon as we take one step,
any aspect of the gospel, when we leave it, we should be alarmed. Because when we leave the gospel,
we have nothing more than humanism, human religion, a human God,
one of men's imagination. We are left with a God no better
than Dagod, the God of the Philistines, or the God of the Egyptians,
or the God of the Greeks, the mythologies. We are left with
no better God than they. And no more hope of being saved
than being saved as the Jews profess to be by their silly
traditions and commandments of men. The knowledge of the glory of
God that is revealed in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
must forever guard it. Oh, he told this Jewish nation
here. He says you lay desolate. And not only did he say you lay
desolate, he said destruction is coming. destruction with a
sword and famine. You see, when the gospel is left,
what follows? What follows? Desolation. The sword and destruction. Then
it was asked, then it was asked, when desolation comes and destruction
from the sword, then who shall comfort you? There's no one who
can redeem the soul. There's no one who can convert
the soul and comfort the soul, but God our Savior, Jesus Christ
the Lord. And if the knowledge of Him is
lost, there is no comfort, only desolation, only destruction,
only the sword, only hellfire and God's wrath. That's all that's
left. Who has believed our report? Who has believed? Could it be
possible that an entire nation that had the sacrifices, that
had the law, that had the promises, that had the prophecies, could
it be possible that this nation has so left the knowledge of
these things That the prophet looked around him and said, I
can't find anybody who hath believed our report. I know of no other single chapter
in Holy Scriptures that sets forth the gospel so precisely
and so concisely as this chapter here, the 53rd chapter. of Isaiah. Look how concise it is. I mean,
it's brief. It's short. Twelve verses. Twelve
short verses. You can read it probably in 30
or 45 seconds. And he don't stop to elaborate. He just lays down these principles.
One after another. And he never stops to enlarge
upon them. And yet, everywhere you go, in
the Word of God, either to your left or to your right, the prophets
in the Old Testament are the apostles and writers in the New
Testament. Everywhere you go, they take this chapter and enlarge
upon the principles that's set down here. And yet, look how precise it
is. It's short. It's to the point.
But it's so precise. It's so exact. He writes with
such precision. There's nothing vague here. There's
nothing that's uncertain to the spiritual mind. Look at this. Do you want to know about man
in his natural state? You want to know about man and
his ways? He tells us that. He tells us
that precisely. What is man like? He's like a
dumb sheep. That's what he's like. He's gone
astray from God. He's gone astray from life and
from holiness. He's gone out of the right way
and he's carved him out a path for himself. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. Not God's way, but a way that
we've carved out for ourselves. And you know the sad part? He
thinks it's a right way. He thinks it's a good way. He
thinks God is pleased with him. But it's the way of death. It's
our way. It's our way, not God's way. Do you want to know the truth
about the nature of God? You want to know the truth about
His holiness and His justice? This chapter tells us. It tells
us about God. It lays down the principle, and
everywhere you go in other scriptures, this principle is supported.
What is God like? Well, He tells us here that He's
so holy, that He's so just, that wherever He finds sin, He must
punish it. Well, He tells us that in verse
4 and verse 10 and verse 11. He puts our sins upon Jesus Christ. He finds them there. And what
does He do? He punishes Him. He smites Him. He bruises Him. He kills His
Son. He forsakes His Son. God is of
such pure eyes that He cannot look upon sin even when He finds
our sins upon His dear and blessed Son. He smites Him. He bruises
Him. If God was ever going to wink
at sin, if He was ever going to treat sin as something that
was trifling, He would have been here, wouldn't He? But let His
Son take our sins. And what does God do? He smites
Him. Why? God is holy. God is just. He cannot justify sin. Do you and I want to see the
Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity? His tenderness? His gentleness? Do we want to know His nature?
Do we want to know what a disposition the Lord Jesus Christ had? Do
we want to know something about His humility and condescending
love and grace even during His suffering hours? And yet the
power and the merit that He has in grappling with our sins and
the judgment of God because of them, this chapter tells us all
of those things. It is so precise, it leaves out
nothing. From his mother's womb in his
infancy, throughout his teenage years, and even to his adult
life, in all his attitude, in his relationships, in his family
with his mother and his Father, in His relationship with His
brothers and sisters and with His fellow man, we are told that
He was as a tender plant, that He was gentle in His disposition. Never would He break a bruised
reed or never would He quench a smoking flax. When He was reviled,
He never reviled again. When he suffered, he never threatened. When he was oppressed and afflicted,
he submitted to the will of God, even to the hands of wicked men. He opened not his mouth. Oh, what kind of a God in our
flesh was he? Who was he? What was he? He was
so tender. He was so gentle. He was so gracious
and caring. He was the glory of heaven, for
He came down from that place. He was the very image of God.
Yet He took upon Himself the form of a servant and had no
physical comeliness nor beauty to commend Him or to be desired
of any man or of any woman. Could He not have been handsome?
Could He not have been a delight human being to look upon? And
yet he said, I will not take humbleness or beauty to myself. He was an ordinary man that aged
quicker than most men. As he went about doing good before
the eyes of God and before the eyes of man, it was said of him
that he did no violence, no injustice. Never did any injustice to the
law of God, or the character of God, or to the ways of God,
or the word of God. No violence. He magnified the
law and made it honorable. He came not to destroy the law,
but to fulfill the law and the prophets. No guile was ever found
in His mouth. Never did He lie. Never did He
defraud anybody. Never did He deceive anybody.
There was no craft or insincerity in Him. He went about doing good
before God and before man. Jesus did good from His cradle
to His grave. Perfectly good. Consistently
good with no mixture of sin or hypocrisy or insincerity in Him. This is what this chapter teaches
us about Him. He did no violence. No deceit
was in His mouth. Not only was He the righteous
servant of God, as verse 10 and 11 tells us, but I tell you,
He did it with such tenderness. Not only did He obey, He obeyed
with such gentleness and such love. If you know the Father's
estimation of Christ's marriage, if you want to know what the
Father thought of His worth, Then look at this chapter and
we see, because here Isaiah tells us. In verse 6, we're told that
God his Father laid upon him our iniquity. Then in verse 5,
that he was wounded for those iniquities. He was bruised for
our sins. In verse 8, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. In verse 10, God made His soul
an offering for sin. Christ was a sin offering. And
here's the estimation that God put upon His Son, upon His Son's
suffering. Here's what He said about it
in verse 11, God saw all of this, and here is what the Father said,
I am satisfied. I am satisfied. Never in your
life, never in your death will you satisfy God for yourself,
for your sins. And here the Son of God took
to Himself a multitude of sins that nobody could number. And
yet He was so full of merit, He was so full of worth, that
He satisfied for those sins, and satisfied God too. that God
bore witness to it. And the Father says, Here's my
estimation of you, son. Here's my estimation of your
suffering. You've satisfied me. You've satisfied my justice.
You've satisfied my law. I've emptied my wrath upon you. I've turned my sword loose upon
your soul. I have pierced your side. I have emptied your body of the
blood that's in your heart. And now I'm satisfied. Oh man, man looks upon Him. Man looks upon Him and says,
yeah, that's good if I can add my part. Jesus has done His part. Now if I can do my part, now
God will save me. God said it's been done. It's
finished. He said I'm satisfied. Ain't
that what He said? That's God's estimation. That's
not man's estimation. That's God's estimation. Satisfied. I tell you, I tell
you, some of those words that are spoken from the Scripture,
I tell you, are such heart-assuring words. It is finished. I am satisfied. And when the
Lord Jesus said, It's finished, the Father said, I'm satisfied.
That's enough for me. And that's enough for you. Or do we want to know? Are we
interested in knowing? If the Son of God made a complete
and thorough and successful atonement for sin, then look here at this
chapter. Look at this infallible testimony. God looks upon him and says,
I'm satisfied. Not only this infallible testimony,
the Father's estimation of Him, but look here at the fruits.
Look at the evidence that He obtained this redemption. That He did indeed make effectual
atonement for sin. For He says here in verse 11,
here's the fruit of it. By His knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. He shall justify many on what
grounds? For He shall bear their iniquities. What proof do we have that Jesus
Christ on the cross of Calvary not only bear our iniquities,
but satisfied for them and put them away? What evidence do we
have? What fruit do we have of this?
Well, he said this, he shall justify many. Because he bore
their sins, he shall justify many. I look at some of you here
this evening. I remember when some of you were
open and profane sinners. I remember when some of you were
religious sinners. But you were sinners. Lost sinners. No love for God. No faith in
Christ. No knowledge of Christ. But look
at you here this evening. I look at you here this evening.
And you who were open and profane, now you're justified. You who
lived in your self-righteousness and depended upon it, now you're
justified. God has justified you. On what
ground? Two thousand years ago, Jesus
Christ bore your sins to Calvary's tree. You're the evidence that
He obtained successful redemption, that He did indeed satisfy for
your sins. I dart to you this, brothers
and sisters, God would never have justified any of you, or
me either, if satisfaction had not been obtained. He justified
you. And the reason He did it is because
it becomes evident. that Jesus Christ is already
satisfied for your sin. But we don't have to look at
you. We don't have to take personal account here this afternoon.
Look back through history. As you read the history of the
Christian church, some of the worst men in the world. Look
at poor old John Newton. He sold men and women and children
into slavery. Kidnapped them. And paid for
those who were kidnapped. And sold them into slavery. Open
and profane wretch. And yet the Lord justified that
man from all those wicked sins. And He did it on these basis.
Christ bare His iniquity. But go back to see what the Holy
Spirit says about it. We don't have to listen to one
another's testimony. We don't have to look at recorded
history, see what the Holy Spirit says about it. It's recorded
in the Holy Scriptures that there was a day in Acts chapter 2 where
3,000 souls, those who had spit in the face of the crucified
Savior, Those who cried, crucify Him, crucify Him. Those that
looked up at Him and said, if you be the Son of God, come down
from the cross. Jerusalem sinners. The worst
sinners who laid hands upon the Son of God and by wicked hands
crucified Him and slew Him. That's why Peter said, you dead.
He said, You have taken, and by wicked hands You have crucified
and slain. And you know something? There
that very day, God justified three thousand souls. On what grounds? Isaiah tells
us. He shall justify many, for He
shall bear their iniquity. It's evident. It's evident that
Christ obtained an effectual atonement. Then you go on to
some more people. You go on to a man like Saul
of Tarshish that were killing Christians. Sought to stomp out
the name of the Son of God from this world. Hated his gospel. Hated the mention of his person.
And on the Damascus road, God slowed him, brought him down,
and justified him. On what grounds? You look at
those at Thessalonica. The Apostle Paul went to preach
to them. And they were worshipping the
dumb idols. They were in the synagogues' idols. Idols of these
synagogues that had their idols. And there they were worshipping
them. And the Lord justified them. On what ground? And there were those Corinthians,
those idolaters, those drunkards, those blasphemers, those effeminates,
They abused themselves with mankind, and drunks, and liars. And yet
Paul said, you are washed. You are justified. And you follow them through the
book of Acts, and all the epistles, and all of history. And I tell
you, you will now find out that there were many, there are many,
and there will be many. One fellow said it like this,
didn't he? He said, if you could fill the ocean with ink, and
if you could make the sky parchment, and if you could turn every stalk
on this earth into a quill, you could not write the names of
the justified. There are too many. There are
too many. And the grounds that were given,
and the evidence of it, is Jesus' birth. Brethren, I believe and you believe
in a successful atonement. And this is why we do. My righteous servant shall justify
many, for he shall bear their liquid. Here's another evidence of it
and I'll close in verse 12. I love to read this like this. You read the commentaries and
they have different opinions on this. In verse 12, because
He bore the sins of many, because He's satisfied, I'll justify. And then in verse 12, there's
another evidence of it, a fruit of it. Therefore will I divide
Him with the great. I like to leave out a portion.
I like to just read it like this. I was reading a little Hebrew
book yesterday, and it left that out, a portion. And it said,
therefore will I divide him with the great. I like to think of
that like that, don't you? And there's enough of him, Glenn,
to go around. Here's my flesh. Take and eat my flesh. Here's
my blood. Lord, may I eat your flesh? Yes. Yes. There's enough of him to go around. He's full of grace and truth. And He shall divide the spoiled
with the strong. I'm always amazed at that, and
I told you that a while back when I read a passage like this.
The strong. We're nothing but utter weakness,
and He puts His strength within us and His grace within us and
calls us strong. The Father loves the Son. and
has given all things into His hand, and He divides it with
His people. The Father has appointed Him
heir of all things, and He divides it with His people. I tell you, when this thing is
finished, and it's wrapped up, the consummation of it all, And
there's a number around the throne of God. And heaven has been given
to Him. And earth has been given to Him.
And life eternal has been given to Him. And peace and joy and
everything that Jesus Christ took away in the battle. Everything that He earned in
the battle. All the Father gave to Him in
that battle. will belong to His people. He's
going to share it all with them. The sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory. What greater
subject could you and I study, brothers and sisters, than Jesus
Christ? What greater knowledge could
we attain to To have the knowledge of Him
and faith in Him is to have life eternal. It's to be saved. It's to be justified. It's to
be an heir of heaven. And it's to be eternally happy. Oh, God, give us grace not to
take one step from the Gospel. We can stay loving. We can speak
in love, but God help us never to let go of any aspect of the
gospel.