Turn with me, if you will, to
the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 30. Here the prophet tells us about
a shocking thing, something that no one could ever expect, something
that caused great paleness of face among men. He tells us about
a time when a man travailed in birth. Time when a man travailed
to give birth. Jeremiah chapter 30. I want to
talk to you tonight, if God will enable me, about the travail
of a man. The travail of a man. The man, of course, is Christ
Jesus, our Lord. Whenever I think about preparing
to preach for you for the last time during the year, as the
year closes and we anticipate the dawn of a new year, I always
tend to think about reviewing past blessings, acknowledging
past failures, anticipating and praying for God's blessings upon
the days that may lie before us, asking God's mercy upon us
to grant a continual reviving of our souls, to give us usefulness
in his kingdom and for his glory. But those things, both the acknowledging
of our failure and the blessings we have enjoyed and those we
shall enjoy, flow to us freely and abundantly through the suffering
and death of our Redeemer. I can think of nothing more sufficient
to stand before my own heart, and I hope yours, as an argument,
a plea, a motive to inspire our hearts with utter devotion to
our God, to confess our failure, and to trust him for his grace
in the days before us. Jeremiah chapter 30, verse six. Ask now and see whether a man
doth travail with child. Wherefore do I see every man
with his hands on his loins? As a woman in travail, and all
faces are turned into paleness. Alas, for that day is great,
so that none is like it. Never been a day like it before,
never a day like it again. It is even the time of Jacob's
trouble. Our Lord Jesus, our great Jacob,
who supplanted death, hell, and the grave for us and won for
us the birthright and the right to that birthright. But he shall
be saved out of it. Saved out of the travail. If you will, turn back to Genesis
chapter three. Genesis chapter three. In order
to take away our sins, in order to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself, the sins of all his people, the Lord Jesus had to,
and I use those words with great reverence and caution. When I
say the Lord Jesus had to do something, he had to do it only
because he is our substitute. He had to do it only because
there is no other way by which he could redeem our souls, no
other way by which God could save his elect. In order to put
away our sins by the sacrifice of himself, the Son of God must
endure, fully endure all the reproach and the curses of God's
justice and law upon sin. Here in Genesis chapter 3, the
triune God pronounced specific curses. Curses upon the serpent. Curses upon the fallen woman. And curses upon the earth for
man's sake. And these curses must be removed
if the fallen pair are to be redeemed. If Adam and Eve are
to be redeemed. No curse from the serpent removed.
but the curse placed upon the woman and the curse placed upon
the man are endured by the Son of God that he might put away
the curse and put away the sin. Look here in Genesis 315. Here
the Lord God makes a promise. It is a promise of redemption.
It's spoken to the serpent. It's spoken in the presence of
Adam and Eve. And here it's recorded, I will
put enmity between thee and the woman. Between thy seed and her
seed. All the human race here divided
into two seeds. The seed of the serpent and the
seed of the woman. The reprobate and the elect. God's chosen and those who are
passed by by our God. It shall be, it shall bruise
thy head, that is the woman seed, shall crush thy head, and thou
shalt bruise or crush his heel. Now look at the next verse, verse
16. Unto the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children. And thy desire shall be to thy
husband, speaking of woman's subjection to her husband, and
he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, thou shalt not
eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy
sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it
all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall
it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread till thou return to the dust of the ground. For
out of it was thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust
thou shalt return. But Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. being made a curse for us. For
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Our Lord
Jesus, in his holy person, literally and truly bore every curse of
God upon fallen man, upon man because of his sin. In sorrow,
he ate his bread all his days. He and he alone by way of emphasis
is continually called the man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief. He is not a man of sorrows, but
the man of sorrows. He alone sweat blood falling
to the ground. He it was who was crowned with
thorns from the cursed earth. And he said himself, thou has
brought me into the dust of death. But how is the curse removed
from the woman? The distinct curse God placed
upon the woman was that she should suffer pain and sorrow in conception
and in childbearing, and that she should be made subject to,
subordinate to her husband. How can this be? Isaiah tells
us in Isaiah 53 11 he shall see of the travail of his soul and
shall be satisfied and thus by the travail of his soul in death
the Lord Jesus gave birth to his elect gave birth to to his
church, gave birth to all his own. He birthed us into the kingdom
of God and by his suffering and death brings us into glory. No wonder the prophet says, ask
ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child. Wherefore
do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in travail,
and all faces are turned into paleness. Alas, for that day
is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's
trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. What a delightful
shock. Our all-glorious Christ is the
man, the God-man, who has come here to take our place as our
substitute, as our redeemer, and to endure all the horror
of God's wrath and justice in our stead, and takes his place
even as one in travail to give birth to children. And while
all faces are turned into paleness by reason of sin, our glorious
Jacob, our mighty Israel, by his travail brings us into the
family of God and gives us the birthright. He shall see of the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Now, let me try
to talk to you about his travail. Oh, pause my soul and solemnly
consider this astonishing thing. In Psalm 18, if you want to turn
there, Psalm 18, verse 5, we have an allusion to our Savior's
travail, the travail of the God-man. He says in Psalm 18, verse 5,
the sorrows of hell compass me about. The snares of death prevented
me. That is, the snares, the traps
for death went before me, were laid continually before me. I
have a similar statement in the 116th Psalm. The sorrows of death
come past me, and the pains of hell get hold upon me. I found
trouble and sorrow. Those are, I suppose, the strongest
expressions of sorrow, of trouble, and of pain You can find anywhere
in the writings of men. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. We often read here, I think Brother
Joe read just last week, Isaiah chapter 53. It is one of those
many passages of scripture that contains the whole of the gospel
in its essence. And that statement in Isaiah
53, 11 contains the very essence of this blessed chapter. It speaks
of our Lord's travail, his agony, and his death as our substitute,
and that which is the sure result of his soul's travail, which
is the salvation of his people. The illusion is obvious. Our
Lord tells us in John 16, a woman, when she is in travail, has sorrow
because her hour has come. But as soon as she is delivered
of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy
that a man is born into the world. We were sitting back there in
the office a little bit ago, talking about our pains. And it is amazing
that Whatever pain it is that I have at the time has got to
be the worst pain anybody ever had. Whatever sorrow I have at
the time has got to be the worst sorrow anybody ever experienced. And some of the fellows have
had kidney stones. I'm told that's painful. Brother
Rex said, I hear that's the worst pain there is. And I started
to say, ask one of the ladies who's given birth. The pain I suspect is a little
different. And I've been around a few women
when they've given birth. I didn't want the option of going
in while my wife was giving birth or while my daughter was giving
birth. That's not for me. I don't think I could take it.
I've been there immediately afterwards. And you know what I have yet
to see? Either those two ladies or any others where I've gone
in quickly after they've given birth. I have yet to see one
with a frown on her face. I've yet to see it happen. They
give birth and they hold that baby and their eyes beam and
sparkle like they do at no other time in their lives. How come? Didn't they just go through the
most excruciating pain, the most difficult, hard pain that's imaginable
on this earth for a human being to endure? And here they are. All that pain, all that difficulty
now is put out of memory because of this child. This life that's
come out of me. This life that I now hold in
my hands. This life which is a reflection
of me. This life which has come from
me. In each case, both in our Savior's
travail and in that of a woman, there is suffering. In each case,
the suffering is followed by pleasure. And in each case, the
pleasure is looked upon as more than recompense for the sorrow. Any lady here object to that? The birth is more than recompense
for the sorrow. The birth of the child repays
the travail of the mother, and the salvation of God's elect Can I say it? Is more than recompense
to God's darling son for the travail of his soul. Satisfaction, yes, but more than
satisfaction, it's joy. The joy set before him for which
he endured the cross, despising the shame. he shall see of the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. The travail of
his soul. When we're in pain, as I said, we think our pain
is like none other. Our Lord Jesus describes his
just that way. Turn over to Jeremiah, I'm sorry,
Lamentations, Lamentations chapter one. I spent a good time just
sitting and looking at these three verses today. We would be wise to do so often.
Let no one mistake these words. While they have application to
Jeremiah, while they have application to God's church, have application
to God's people in time of trouble, cannot have their full understanding
met, except as you view them coming from the lips of our crucified
Redeemer. Our Savior says, is it nothing
to you? Lamentations 112. Is it nothing
to you? All ye that pass by, behold and
see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done
unto me. The sorrow done to me, the sorrow
wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevailed
against them. He hath spread a net for my feet.
He hath turned me back. He hath made me desolate and
faint all the day. The yoke of my transgressions
is bound by his hand. and they are wreathed and come up upon my neck. He
hath made my strength to fall. The Lord hath delivered me into
their hands from whom I am not able to rise up. Now there are
two things here that identify the greatness of our Lord's suffering
as he describes it here. First, it's spoken of as travail. Not trouble, but travail. Not pain, travail. Not difficulty, travail. Not even suffering, travail. And then it's spoken of as the
travail of his soul. Not travail of body, not travail
of mind, not even travail of heart, avail of soul. The distress of his soul. Someone said is the soul of his
distress. There are internal woes which
sensible souls experience that others can't grasp. Internal woes of the soul. Woes that felt within, experienced
within, cause all other external things, all physical pains, all
physical difficulties to pale into insignificance. The spirit
of man, the wise man said, will sustain his infirmity, but a
wounded spirit who can hear. There are those who are troubled
on every side, but not distressed. But those who are distressed
within, nothing compares to that. David put it this way, again,
speaking prophetically as the representative of our Redeemer.
My bones are vexed, my soul is sore vexed. Oh my God, my soul
is cast down within me. Our blessed Savior, in his sufferings,
suffered in his soul, in his soul. Without question, he suffered
physically. Don't misunderstand me, I take
nothing from that. All the agony that he endured
physically, both in the abandonment of his disciples and the betrayal
of Judas and in the torture of his body, all those things were
agonies revealed in scripture, written in scripture, that we
might not pass by them lightly. But the agony of his body is
not the agony which caused him great trouble and distress. Even
his external sufferings derive much of their pressure from the
sensibility of his internal sufferings. Some are little affected even
by bereavements. But our Lord Jesus, when he came
to the tomb of Lazarus, groaned in his spirit and wept. Some
seem to have no care about what men say about them, what they
speak of them, how they're held in reputation. But our Lord said,
reproach has broken my heart. Some, when they are stricken
physically, are not much bothered by it. They just set their faces
like stone and go on. but he in the days of his flesh
made supplication to his father with strong cryings and tears."
What a sensitive, gentle man he must have been. What a sensitive, gentle man
he must have been. He goes to the tomb of a friend.
Not a blood relative, not a brother or father, brother or sister,
son or daughter, but a friend. And he groans in his spirit and
wept. He's spoken ill of, slandered,
and he says reproach broke his heart. But what led him to exclaim
on the cross, my God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me? What
caused him in the garden? to fall on his face and sweat
blood fall into the ground and cry three times, oh my father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Why was he in the
garden sore amazed? Those are strong words. Sore
amazed. He said, now is my soul exceeding
sorrowful even unto death. What shall I say? Father, save
me from this hour, but for this cause came I into this hour.
Now there are some who imagine that when our Lord was in Gethsemane
and he made this supplication and prayer to God, not my will,
thy will be done. If it would be possible, let
this cup pass from me. It was the anticipation of his
suffering and death by crucifixion that caused him such trouble.
Think about that for just a little bit. Let's think about it just
a little bit. There had been many who suffered crucifixion
longer than he did. Both of the thieves did. When
they came to break their legs, the Lord Jesus had already given
up the ghost, but those two thieves were still hanging on the tree
of life. Many had been impaled on stakes for days and not died. Martyrs who died for his name,
two of them I read about this week. Listen to this. John Bradford,
when he was informed that he was about to be burned at the
stake, the day after he got the news that he would be burned
at the stake, fell on his knees and praised God for giving him
the honor he had so long anticipated. When the Pope's priest came to
John Hooper at the place of execution to burn him at the stake, this
is what the Pope's representative said. I'm truly sorry to find
you here. And John Hooper replied, oh man,
keep thy sorrow to thyself. and mourn over thine own wickedness. I am well blessed by God and
to die for the sake of Christ is sweet to my soul. Is the servant
above his master or the disciple above his Lord? Not at all, no,
no. You see, Hooper and Bradford
and other martyrs had Calvary before them, but not Gethsemane. They had to endure the cross,
but not the curse. They died by men, but not in
the place of men. They had not only not to bear
the sins of many, when they anticipated death even at the very moment
of painful execution. Not only did they not bear the
sins of many, they didn't have to bear any sins. None of their
own. Not one. They didn't die and
sink under the burden of guilt. But he bear our sins in his body
on the tree. The Lord God hath made him sin
for us who knew no sin. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed. Brother Todd Nyberg called me
today and we're chatting a little bit. about messages we were working
on. Did you ever consider how it
is that the Son of God is declared to be the Son of God with power
by His resurrection from the dead? That's what we're told
in Romans chapter one, verse four. He's declared to be the
Son of God with power by His resurrection from the dead. Now,
it looks to me like Looks to me like if that simply referred
to him being raised from the dead, then Lazarus would have
been declared the son of God with power. He was raised from
the dead. The widow of Nain's son would
have been declared the son of God with power. He was raised
from the dead. But how is it then that the Lord Jesus is declared
the son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead?
Here in Isaiah 53, the prophet says that he will bear our sins. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. When God makes his soul an offering
for sin, he will see his sin. And then he tells us that he
will rise from the dead as one who has put away sin. And our
Lord Jesus, when he was made sin for us, was punished as our
substitute under the wrath and justice of God, bearing our sin
to the full satisfaction of justice and buried in the earth. And
three days later, he was justified. Justified. How could he be justified? I got a letter from a fellow
in Africa. I think he's from Africa. I'm not sure where he's
from. I think he's from Africa. But
he said, how are we justified in the spirit? I said, you're
not. It's only used one time. 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, it refers
to the Lord Jesus. How could he who is God's darling
son be justified? He who was made sin, put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself, and he's raised without sin.
and yonder he is declared the son of God with power by his
resurrection. We are then reminded, he shall
see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. That
means that our life is that which is derived from his travail. All the blessings of God's grace
are the fruit, the result of his travail unto death. These
are the things that are brought to pass because of his agony
and his death. Our Lord Jesus speaks of it this
way. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall
into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth
forth fruit. Oh, what a debt. we owe to him. Forgiveness and justification
and ransom and peace and pardon, adoption, acceptance with God,
sanctification, everlasting glory, life eternal is ours in Christ,
all the blessings of providence and all the blessings of grace
because of his soul's travail. because he, in travail for our
souls, died to give us birth. And now, all this comes to us
freely. The hymn writer put it this way.
He sunk beneath our heavy woes to raise us to his throne. There's
not a gift his hand bestows but cost his heart a groan. And this
is the joy that was set before Him for which He endured the
cross, the joy. What joy? What joy was there
to Him in dying? None. What joy was there in His
travail? None. What joy could there be
in suffering the wrath of God? None, but the joy set before
Him that as the result of His dying, as the result of His soul's
travail, we who are His must live forever. And He gives birth in travail,
willingly endures the agony of the cross to give life to the
people of his love. He shall see his seed justified
and sanctified, made perfect, satisfied with him, and made
like him and see them with him. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
At present, we don't see all things put under him, But we
see him, our Lord Jesus, who for suffering and death is now
crowned with glory and honor. And now that one who sits on
the throne crowned with glory and honor, is able to save to
the uttermost all who come to God by him. He's able to counteract
all the designs of wicked men and all the craftiness of hell.
He's able to take the veil off chosen sinners' faces and give
them eyes to behold his glory. He's able to make his work to
thrive upon the earth, and he does. Success with him is a matter
of certainty. This joy. I can only relate to it as an
observer. How delightful it was to me to
see the delight on Shelby's face when she, I first saw her laying
in the hospital room with our daughter. laying on her breast. How delightful it was to the
both of us when we walked in and saw our daughter holding
our first grandchild. I remember Doug saying, I wondered
if she could love a second one like she did the first one. He
remembered that picture, just dancing joy. And when Will was
born, had the same picture, just almost identical. But that's
only as we relate to it from outside. and that's all I can
do now, is relate to his joy from the outside. But this is
how he describes it. The Pharisees said he's the friend
of publicans and sinners. And our Lord spoke a parable.
He said there's a man who's a shepherd, and he had a hundred sheep, and
one of them was lost. And he left the 99 and went after
that one sheep. Whenever you think about the
Son of God, think of him that way. Bruised, crowned with thorns
and crowned with the thorns of our sins. Cursed, dirty. He says, behold, I am vile. because he bare our sin, his
body on the tree. And he found that one sheep that
was lost and laid it on his shoulders and set his face like a flint
to go to Jerusalem. What's the book say, Larry? Rejoice. Rejoice. Why? Over this one sinner. I've saved by my grace. I've
ransomed by my blood. He said they'll be rejoicing
in heaven in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner
that repents. A farmer goes out, fertilizes his
field, still cold in the early spring. He plows the field, and
he sows the seed, and he works hard from sunup to sundown, and
then he goes out and he sees the blade coming up out of the
ground, and then the ear, and then the full corn in
the ear, and oh, what satisfaction. Gathers in his harvest, fills
his barns, and his family's taken care of for another year, and
he says, oh, it's good. It's worth all the travail. Warriors,
we're told, can't remember such times in our day, but we're told
as we read history, warriors used to take spoil. David spoke
of those men going to take the spoil. And after battle, after
hard battle, marching and fighting and marching and fighting, it
was right that they take the spoil and enjoy the spoils of
victory. But those things are utterly
incomparable to this. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. Oh, how the Son of God finds satisfaction in the saving
of his people. What joy he takes in our everlasting
bliss. What joy. So that he says, Father,
I will that they may be with me where I am. He'll see the
travail of his soul and be satisfied. Paul speaks to the Thessalonians
and he says, You're our crown and our joy
and our rejoicing. I can relate to that. As an instrument
of God ministering to you, God gives me opportunity to be an instrument of blessing
to you. Oh, it's good. And I see God's
grace in you. That's my crown, my joy, my rejoicing. That's what I'm laboring for. How much more then if he who
is but the instrument finds joy in God's grace upon his people? How much more joy is in the heart
of him whose blood purchased for us? all this blessedness
and whose travail brought forth this life that's bestowed on
us. Not one soul for whom he suffered
this great travail shall perish. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. I bid you then Trust the Savior. And I call on you to seek his
mercy. His mercy, of whom it is written,
he delighteth in mercy. He delighteth in mercy. He who gave himself in the room
instead of sinners to be made sin for us. to suffer the curse
of God for us, to take away our sin, to take away our curse,
delights in mercy. And he brings forth life by his
death. Oh, son of God, do it again. Bring forth life from the dead
in this place, I ask. Use us for your glory. We acknowledge
our sin, our corruption, our depravity. Oh God, our Savior,
how we thank you for taking our sin and on the broad shoulders of
your omnipotent strength, carrying it away into forgetfulness and
putting it away forever. Amen.