Isaiah 53 Isaiah 53 We cannot
go too far when we say about this chapter
that it is one of the clearest texts concerning Christ's gospel
in the whole of the Old Testament. Indeed, Christ himself refers
to it about himself in John 12 and also a host of New Testament
writers which we will look at, one in Romans and in the book
of Acts. Hopefully we're going to venture into the first three
verses this morning. These suffering, humiliation,
grace, and success of the Lord Jesus Christ as it
is set forth here in this 53rd chapter. In the first verse, Isaiah the prophet gives to us
under inspiration of God he declares who hath believed
our report or doctrine or message 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 the 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. Turn with me to John chapter
12. John chapter 12. This first verse,
who hath believed our report, which could I guess also be the
title of the message. What a question that needs to
be asked and studied today. Who hath believed this doctrine
of the free grace of God as it is in Christ Jesus? Christ himself refers to this
text in John chapter 12 and look with me in verse 35 starting verse 35 then
Jesus said unto them as he was preaching and speaking to those
who around about Yet a little while is the light with you walk
while you have the light Let darkness come upon you for he
that walks in darkness knows not whither he goes While you
have light that is me believe in the light that ye may be the
children of light these things spake Jesus and and departed,
and did hide himself from them. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed not on him." Now you
would think somebody standing up there and preaching the gospel,
the living gospel standing right in front of them, would be impressive. But not only did he do that,
but he accompanied these things as it was foretold before time
that he would perform miracles and to show them that the kingdom
of God was among them, that the son of God was standing. It was
he because remember when John the Baptist said, Are you the
Christ? When John the Baptist was thrown
in jail for preaching the gospel, for preaching Christ, he said,
I'm not even worthy to unloose his shoe. The last is from his
shoes. And John the Baptist was thrown
in jail for speaking the truth. And then he asks his disciples,
he says, go to him. This one. That I baptized and
ask him, are you the Christ? And he says, go back when when
John's disciples came to him, he said, you go back to John
and tell him the blind received their sight, the lame walk, the
gospels preached. The total package for a short
time was there among men. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed not on him, that the
saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he
spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath
the arm of the Lord been revealed therefore they could not believe
because Isaiah said again he had blinded their eyes and hardened
their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand
with their heart and be converted and I should heal them these
things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him Christ
so without question we are addressing the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
believed our report, that report, that doctrine of Christ, the
gospel of free grace, this message that we have heard from this
pulpit for many years now. And this report is not popular. It is not famous. It is not full
of prestige. It is not full of pomp and pageantry. It is not spoken from very many
places today. So who hath believed our report? Relatively few, is what I tell
you. Relatively few. But what sayeth
the word? One of the pastors that I listened
to, he says, let's see if we can make good on that claim out
of this book. It doesn't matter if it's my
opinion. Turn to John chapter 7. And this is just one place. We could spend quite a few areas,
quite a few places showing this. I'm just going to show you two.
One was read this morning. Matt read it this morning. But
we'll look at John chapter 7. And we'll start in verse 43.
Well, let's look at verse 41. Others said, this is the Christ.
So they're having a dispute about it. We just got done standing
up, preaching to them, speaking to them. He's teaching in the
temple. And many of the people, therefore, when they heard this,
saying, of a truth, this is the prophet. Verse 40, verse 41,
the others said, this is the Christ. But some said, shall
Christ come out of Galilee? Had not the scripture said that
Christ comes on the seat of David and out of the town of Bethlehem,
where David was? Well, they didn't know their
history, or didn't know what happened so many years ago, because
that's exactly where he came from. Verse 43, which is always
the case when the gospel is preached, this report of Christ and him
crucified, how God can be just and justify the ungodly. But so there was a division among
the people because of him. There was a division and some
of them would have taken him, but no man laid hands on him. Why? Because it wasn't his time
yet. Verse 45. Then came the officers to the
chief priests and the Pharisees, and he said to them, Why have
you not brought him? Because they commanded him, like a police
officer, Go get him and bring him back to us. Well, the officers
said, Never a man spake like this man. They couldn't touch
him. Then answered them, the Pharisees,
Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of
the Pharisees believed on him? No. We're the ones with the Bible,
they're saying. We're the ones with all the Old
Testament scrolls, because the New Testament hadn't been written
yet. We're the ones who know Moses and Elijah and Jacob. We are Abraham's children. The
rulers, the keepers of the law, the keepers of the book, and
the Pharisees, that was those doctors of the law, studiers
of this book, they asked to these officers who disobeyed a direct
command, are you deceived also? Have any of those who are anything
in religion believed on him? But this people who knows not
the law are cursed. Now, none of the rulers believed
on him. None of the Pharisees believed
on him. Who hath believed this report? And Matt read in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, not many wise men hath the flesh, not many noble,
not many. I'm so thankful he didn't say
not any. Because God has a people scattered
throughout this world, throughout perhaps, or he does, throughout
this state, throughout different states, throughout the state
of this union, throughout the country, this hemisphere, that
he will redeem and he will call out. He's still calling his people
through this report. But who have believed our report?
Relatively few. And it's such a wonder. For this
message is such good news to the fallen, weak and helpless. But instead, like you and I once
before, when we heard this message, it enraged us. Because this message
of God on the throne, God redeeming and declaring salvation for those
for whom He came to save, putting God as He is, speaking of God
as He is revealed in this book, high, holy, and lifted up, without
error, without sin, without fault, without frailty, not weak, but
all power, all sufficient. And we speak of a Redeemer who
is just as He is. full of grace and truth and might
and supremacy and glory and majesty and riches and honor all belong
to him. And this report also describes
us as what we are, full of sin and corruption and unable to
do the least thing to save ourselves. That infuriates people. So who
hath believed our report? Few. And it is amazing, as I
said, because this message is the only message that truly gives
good news to lost people. I thought about what Bruce said,
excuse me, concerning predestination. If you can't, because predestination
and some of these perhaps deeper doctrines, you look at it in
such a way that it has to be so because that would be the
only way that salvation could be absolutely guaranteed to the
elect. If that's the only way you can
view that God's predestination and all this other thing that
all these other things that people say about it. And this book does
mention many things about it, but it comes down to it has to
be simply because his people are going to be redeemed. And
if he can't guarantee every situation, every circumstance, every jot
and tittle coming down exactly as he pre-planned it, then our
salvation wouldn't be guaranteed and we couldn't assure it to
the likes of us. But he has. And so therefore,
it's the only good news. It is a man's free will. There's
no good news in that. If you want to see a man at his
best, at his absolute best, you'd have to go to the garden. Everything
was just about as ideal as it could be. And Adam fell. He fell. But next in this verse,
we have another question, and it's pretty well the same question,
it's almost in reverse. He says, To whom is the arm of
the Lord revealed? Who hath believed our report?
Not me. And then, That lays that weight
on man and man's responsibility. He flips it over and says, and
to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? It's a similar question. God will reveal himself to whomsoever
he pleases. That's who will believe upon
Christ and his righteousness. Look with me at John, chapter
five. John chapter 5 verses 20 and
21. For the Father loves the Son,
and shows him all things that himself doeth. And he will show
him greater works than these that you may marvel. For as the
Father raised up the dead and quickens them, Even so, the Son
quickens whom he will. Whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
Whomsoever he will. Matthew chapter 11. And there's
so many of these passages. We've looked at several of these
in our Old Testament studies of Christ recently. So we won't
go to Daniel and back and further in Isaiah. We'll just look at
these two passages in the New Testament. Matthew 11. Matthew 11 and verse 27. All
things, now that's pretty well mutually inclusive. That doesn't
exclude anything. Mutually exclusive. That includes
everything. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, says Christ, and no man knows the Son but
the Father. Neither knows any man the Father
save the Son and those to whomsoever The Son will reveal Him. That's pretty straightforward.
That's very straightforward. That's who will believe upon
Christ and trust in Him for His everlasting righteousness. Back
in our text, the second verse, we see Christ's voluntary submission. Look at what it says, For he,
that is Christ, shall grow up before his Father as a tender
plant and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we, we Humanity shall see Christ. There is no beauty that we should
desire him. And now there's a Christ voluntary
submission, but it also shows pretty well what we are like
outside of his grace. He says he'll grow up as a tender
plant. The son was raised up by insignificant parents. He
was raised up, he shall grow before him as a tender plant,
as a root out of dry ground. A tender plant, a little suckling,
nothing real significant about that. Just can be stepped on
and squashed and broken. He grew up as a tender plant.
The son was raised up by insignificant parents. in an insignificant
place and led an unassuming life as it relates to this world's
glitter and gold. He was born in a manger. There was no room in the inn.
There was no place to lay his head as he left his family and went
out to start the gospel ministry. He had no place to lay his head.
His family was not wealthy. A tender plant, a root out of
dry ground. lowly unnoticed David was of
goodly stature Solomon was the son of a king instead of Moses
that he was fair to look upon but not our Lord That's why he
could continue on in the same verse in verse 2 He hath no form
nor comeliness and when we should see him there's no beauty that
we should desire him Now no form or comeliness Now, I know the
religion of the day, they're going to disagree and they're
going to have their own opinions about this thing, but this is
what this book says. We wouldn't even have recognized him if he'd
be walking on West Main Street. Oh, well, surely there would
be some aura about him. The Catholics, you know, see
him in a cloud. Surely we can see him in these
images everywhere if he was walking down the street We pick him out
He has no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him There
is no beauty that we should desire him matter of fact that we'll
go I'm just going to jump to verse 3 real quick and stop he
despised and rejected of man Back then and right now because
the gospel that's being preached is is not well received. Because
who has to believe this report? Because we preach the God and
the Christ of this book. A sufficient, successful, yet
sovereign Redeemer. No one here. If he was walking
down Main Street Jackson, we wouldn't recognize him. There
would be no aura. There would be no halo. I know
the The renaissance guy, you know, the renaissance, everybody
draws them like that. There would be no shining linens,
no fancy speech or dress, just the real deal. Christ coming
with healing in His wings and for to redeem His people from
all our iniquity. I'm telling you, by nature, we
do not desire Him. Romans chapter 3. Now, but I've always loved Jesus
from my birth. Well, you haven't. Not your own
Jesus, maybe. Well, I've always had a care
for Him and a concern for Him. And we've always been best of
friends. Well, now, you're Jesus, not the Jesus of this Bible.
Because I was raised the same way. We assume, in this country,
in God we trust. In God we think we love. Because
we think God loves everybody and all these different things.
And then we're confronted with the report. By God's grace, may he reveal
his arm of mercy to us. Verse 11, Romans 3, there's none
that understands, there's none that seeks after God. Now, either
you're right or God's right. When you tell me or when I hear,
well I've always loved Jesus and He's always been my best
friend and we've got something together and I've always known
Him and I can't remember a time when I didn't know Him, either
you're wrong or this book's wrong. You're right or this book's wrong,
this book's right and we're wrong. There's none that understands,
there's none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together, become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no not one. Oh boy. You mean
when I take care of the elderly, when I take care of In God's
eyes, we're talking spiritual situations. We ought to do as
good as we can to one another and to our friends and neighbors
and all these things, but we're talking about God's way. We're talking about spiritual
applications here, and we do no good in the eyes of God. Back to our text, verse 3. He
is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief, and we hid, in his greatest time of need, we hid,
as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. He is despised and rejected of
men. That word despised means to disdain, to think vile. Rejected to leave off, destitute. Both back then, in this day,
this passage was written in the day when Christ walked, and today
he is despised and rejected of men. There's no difference in the
message or its response in any generation. No difference. Actually,
people today are choking to death on what they think is God's love,
but it has nothing to do with biblical truth. of God's grace
or God's love. We read his text again. This
is God's record. This is God's report on us. This is how we view the blessed
son of God by nature. 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. I love how the prophet includes
himself, and so does every child of God. We, not you. Well, you
hated him, and you... We. We. We. This is how we view him without
divine quickening in our hearts. And Christ became all this despite,
rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, a tender plant, a root out of
dry ground. He became all this so he might
conquer our hearts and still our affections. And we're certainly not worthy
of such mercy and forbearance. Yet, some way, his way, he saw
fit to choose a people and sanctify unto himself a peculiar people,
once despising him, now owning him and adoring him. Let's reread these three verses
and we'll close. 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. Knowing that this is so, may
we bless him for his matchless and free grace. I'm going to read to you Romans chapter 10 and verse 16.
You can just stay there. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel, for Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our report? That's what Paul said in Romans
10. They have not all obeyed the gospel, so this report that
he's talking about here is talking about the gospel of God's grace. And we won't turn there, we'll
look at it as we continue our study here, but in Acts chapter
8, when Philip joined himself to that chariot in the Ethiopian
eunuch, he was reading out of Isaiah 53. And the eunuch said, who is he
talking about, himself or some other man? And the scripture
says, Philip began at the same text and preached unto him Christ. Christ is the scarlet thread,
scarlet thing that goes from cover to cover. May we worship
Him and glorify Him in His grace and His mercy.