a copy of the word of God turn
with me to the book of Isaiah Isaiah chapter 53 and then we
read verse 1 who hath believed our report and to whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed well what a chapter we have before
us here in Isaiah chapter 53 It was Martin Luther that said
that this chapter was the whole Bible in miniature. And I believe
he's right. You know, the message of the
Word of God is the redemption of God's people. The message
of the Bible is the coming into the world of that One whom God
sent. God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, into this world to redeem His people from their sin. to
redeem them, to deliver them from the armed bondage of sin
into the glorious liberty and light of the gospel. Now, as
we look at this chapter this morning, we know that in the
Word of God we find at least 85 references to this chapter
in the New Testament. Many, many places in the Bible
it indicates that this chapter here is talking about the redemptive
work of our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. The suffering substitute,
our Savior, our Redeemer, the beloved Son of God. This chapter
is about Christ. And I believe if we look everywhere
where we read in the Bible, if we look any place where we read,
that we'll find that if we study long enough, and look long enough,
we'll find the Redeemer. We'll find the Savior. Somebody
said if you cut this book anyplace, it'll bleed. This book is about
redemption, the blood redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
we're told here in verse 1, the prophet asked a question, and
he says, who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? Now this question must be asked
of God and of God alone because only God knows who it is that
truly believes. Only God knows who it is that
truly believes the message of the gospel. We recognize that
not all men believe the gospel. When they hear the gospel with
their outward ears, they do not believe it. Many reject the gospel. But the prophet says, Who hath
believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
Well, God knows. The Bible says, The foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them
that are His. God knows who it is that believes. The reason He knows is because
He gives the faith by which men and women are saved. The Bible
says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that faith
not of yourself. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. So God is the author, the Bible
says, He's the author and the finisher of our faith. He's the
author of it. It originates with God. The scripture
says it is given on our behalf not only to believe on the name
of Christ, but also to suffer for his sake. But it is given
on our behalf to believe on the name of the Son of God. God has
given us the ability to believe on his Son. Now we're told here,
and also part of the question is, and to whom is the arm of
the Lord revealed? Now everybody that gets saved
They get saved when the arm of the Lord is revealed to them.
Salvation is by revelation. Salvation is not by chance. Salvation
is not by choice. Salvation is not by decision.
Now we recognize that there are many, many people who believe
that salvation is by the choice of the sinner. There are those
that say, you know, that God votes for you and the devil votes
for you, and now the sinner, he casts the deciding vote. But
the truth of the matter is, if you'll study the Word of God,
you'll discover that in Adam, we've already cast our vote. We were in Adam, and when Adam
chose to die rather than live, we made that same decision because
we were in him. The Bible says, by one man sin
entered into the world. This is in Romans chapter 5.
By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and death
hath passed upon all men for that when Adam did what he did,
we did too. We were in him when he sinned
and so we voted to die rather than live. Our choice Natural
choice is that we'd rather go to hell than obey God and go
to heaven. We'd rather mind, we'd rather
do what we want, mind our own interests, than we would to love
God, love his son, and go to heaven. Now beloved, if God ever
saves you, it'll be whenever God chooses to save you. It'll be when God says, I have
set my love upon you from old time, and you have been chosen
by me. You know, Jesus told the disciples,
he said, you've not chosen me, but I have chosen you. and ordained
you that you should go and bring forth fruit. And so the choice
is God's choice and He must reveal His arm to me in order for me
to be saved. In other words, you're not going
to get saved with just you and the preacher there. Somebody
said well if I get all I got to do I'll get saved when I please
No, you won't you won't get saved when you please God must be there
for you to be saved. He must reveal his son to you
You say well, I know who Jesus is do you let's look in the book
of Matthew chapter 11 look in Matthew chapter 11 and look at
verse 27 and Look in verse 27, it says, All things, now Jesus
is here speaking, He says, All things are delivered unto me
of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son. Listen to that now all
things Jesus says God loved me, and he delivered all things into
my hand he put everything over in my hand and he says and no
man and no man as such no man in his natural state no man untouched
by the spirit of God no man uninstructed and untutored by God's spirit
no man he says knoweth the son and Nobody knows the Son of God
until He's revealed. But He says, but the Father knows
Him. And He says, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son. The Son knows the Father, the
Father knows the Son, and He, look at this, and He to whomsoever
the Son will reveal Him. So it's to whomsoever the Son
will reveal Him. And so you see, beloved, salvation
is by the revelation of the Divine Spirit. Now, we're told over
here in the Word of God, in the book of John, in verse 21 of
the fifth chapter of John, it says, For as the Father raises
up the dead, and quickeneth them. That word quickeneth there means
makes them alive. This is John chapter 5 and it's
verse 21. For as the father raiseth up
the dead and makes them alive, even so the son makes alive whom
he will. Even so the son makes alive whom
he will. Salvation is by the will of God
from the beginning to the end. Damnation is by the sinner by
his own will we believe that God determines and God has purpose
to save his people and so he reveals his arm to the elect
and he draws them out and saves them in time but you know I was
looking at this and meditating upon it and it brought me to
my subject and my subject this morning is the unbelievable gospel
the unbelievable gospel now when I think about the fact that many
many people hear the gospel but don't believe it I wonder why
don't they believe it you know as I read some of these verses
here in this chapter and I remember when God first opened my eyes
and revealed to me the truth of the gospel I was absolutely
awestruck I was amazed at what the Word of God had to say about
what God had done for me in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I'll read a verse like verse
6 where it says, 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. What a verse! What a verse! And what it tells us, and all
through this chapter here, and I want to use several verses
out of this chapter this morning to talk to you about the unbelievable
gospel. Now, why is the gospel so unbelievable? Well, to the natural man. First
of all, I think the gospel is unbelievable because it deals
with an unbelievable person. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
gospel concerns Christ. we read over in the first chapter
of the book of romans and if you have your bible you want
to turn there you can see this verse of scripture here uh... in uh... the third verse of chapter
one paul a servant of jesus christ called to be an apostle separated
into the gospel of god which he had promised of four by his
prophets in the holy scriptures concerning in verse three concerning
his son jesus christ Our Lord, which was made of the seed of
David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of
God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead." The gospel concerns God's Son,
Jesus Christ. The gospel does not concern a
can of beer. The gospel doesn't concern going
to the movie theater. The gospel doesn't concern whether
a man chews tobacco and spits on the sidewalk. The gospel concerns
Jesus Christ. The gospel is about God's Son. The gospel is not about what
you've done or what you haven't done. The gospel is about what
God's Son has accomplished in this world, what God sent him
to accomplish, and what he came into this world to do. And so
the gospel concerns Christ. And so the gospel concerns an
unbelievable person. Now, we recognize, as the Bible
says in the book of 1 Corinthians, that the gospel It says it's
foolishness unto the natural man. It's foolishness unto the
natural man. That's 1 Corinthians chapter
1. But it is the power of God unto us that are saved. Now why
then is the gospel so unbelievable to the natural man? Well, we're
told here in verse 2 of Isaiah chapter 53 that he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground.
The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, and He was born,
you know, in a manger. And the Bible says He was a root
out of dry ground. And the Bible says that there
was no form nor comeliness about Him. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see Him, there's no beauty that we should desire
Him. We see that because of where
He came from, that men didn't recognize Him to be the Lord
of Lords, the King of Kings, the Messiah, the Son of God,
the one sent of God to come to redeem His people because of
where He came from. It's unbelievable! Now you see,
the Lord Jesus, there was nothing about Him that would attract
men to him naturally. So therefore, the natural man
only have eyes that can see as far as the things of time are
concerned and the things of this world. Christ was blinded to
them, or they were blinded uh... by the god of this world is that
paul said in first reviews or second review chapter four the
god of this world have blinded the minds of those that believe
not and they were not able to tell who this was this one that
had come into the world god had made it a body in the womb of
the virgin mary came into the world he was born in a manger
and yet men did not know him he was a root out of dry ground
now the bible says it's the glory of god to conceal matter, and
the birth of Jesus, and the things surrounding his early life in
the world concealed him from the world. The Bible says in
Matthew chapter 11 that God has hid these things from the wise
and the prudent and has revealed them unto babes. God has caused
men not to be able to see God has him as it were he had his
son the Lord Jesus from natural man So that they're not able
to tell who this is now in John 1 in verse 45 and 46 We find
were Philip he found Nathanael and he says unto him We have
found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write
Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph and listen what Nathanael
in kind I think he was Asking this in Derision, he said, can
there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Can there any good
thing come out of Nazareth? In other words, do you mean that
it's possible that, oh, surely this is not the Son of God? You
say it's the Son of God. You say it's the one of whom
Moses and the Law and the Prophets did write. You say it's Jesus
of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. Oh, it's not possible that any
good thing could come from where he came from. And so you see,
beloved to the natural man, his eyes are blinded. And you know
many, many times God is pleased to hide, as it were, his truth
from the religious world and from the world in general. I
believe that sometimes that the world gets the idea that if you
don't have money, And if you don't have a large edifice, a
building that attracts the attention of everybody that drives by and
just literally calls everybody to be awe-stricken when they
walk in the door, that you don't have any truth. That you don't
know the truth and you don't have any message. But beloved,
many, many times God will take and give the message to some
obscure fella off somewhere just meeting in a barn or a garage
or meeting somewhere in a rented hall. God will give the message
to him and give the money and the buildings to somebody else. And everybody says, boy, look
how well off those people are. They know the truth. Oh yes,
look how God has blessed them. Well, beloved, when it comes
to money, there's very few religions in the world that's blessed more
than the Roman Catholics. But there isn't anybody here
this morning that would stand up and defend their works religion. We know that God conceals, it's
the glory of God to conceal a matter. And so the Lord Jesus, say, said,
well, Nazareth, coming out of Nazareth, this couldn't be anybody.
And so the gospel is unbelievable because of where Christ came
from. And secondly, it's unbelievable. Christ is unbelievable in His
birth. The Bible says, Behold, a virgin shall be with child,
and shall bring forth a son. And they shall call His name
Immanuel, being interpreted, is God with us. And in Luke 1,
34 and 35, then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be,
seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said
unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. I believe in the virgin birth,
don't you? I believe that Jesus Christ, that he was born of a
virgin. Now this, my friend, causes men
and women to laugh. Many sneer at the virgin birth
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And many, many people have stumbled
and the gospel is unbelievable to them because of the truth
of the virgin birth. Even people in the religious
world And I'm not talking about saved people, because I know
there's only two kinds of people really in the world that believe
in the virgin birth. The first is a child of God.
Everybody that's saved, genuinely saved, by the grace of God, believes
in the virgin birth. And the other would just have
to be an idiot that didn't know anything and didn't even have
a natural understanding. Because nobody, apart from the
revelation of God by the Spirit, is going to believe in the virgin
birth. It's got to be revealed to you. How could it be that
a woman could have a baby without knowing a man? How could it be
that she could have a son and that son, God, be the father
of that son? How could it be? You can't figure
that out with your natural mind. You must believe it as God gives
you the ability by the Spirit to believe it. You cannot believe
it otherwise unless there's something wrong in your mind. Now, I mean
that, and I'm not trying to be critical of anybody. I'm just
saying that only Christians and idiots believe in the virgin
birth. The natural man left to his own
mind will not believe it. He will not. Well, these religious
professors in these colleges and these seminaries, they look
at you real funny when you ask them, do you believe in the virgin
birth? They just say well, you know,
it doesn't really make any difference how he was born That that's not
important. It's not important. Well, I'd
say to you this morning my friend this it is important It is of
absolute importance. They missed the whole thing How
he was born is so very important because if we do not have a divine
savior, our gospel, whatever we got to say about it, is nothing
more than a rope of sand. It means nothing. We must have
a divine savior. Now had he not been born of a
virgin, he would have inherited the same sin nature that we inherited
when we were born into this world. As we quoted to you a few minutes
ago, Romans 5, 12, it says, But one man's sin entered into the
world, and death by sin. And death is passed upon all
men, for that all sin like Adam did. If Jesus had been born,
if Joseph had really been his father, Sure enough, Benny's
father, he would have had a sin nature just like Joseph and every
one of us here in this room. In Romans 5 and 19 it says, For
by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. That's talking
about Adam. Adam, by his disobedience, many were made sinners. as they
come forth from the loins of Adam into this world. Now, when
Christ was born, He did not have the same nature inside of Him
pulling Him in the wrong direction as we do. We have a sinful nature
and that nature pulls us in the wrong direction. It's easier
for us to do wrong than it is for us to do right. We're more
interested by nature in doing wrong than we are in doing right. In Hebrews 4 and 15, we read,
For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with
the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin. Meaning, apart from the sin nature. He did not have a sin nature. The Lord Jesus Christ, we're
told in 2 Corinthians 5 and 21, that he had no sin. He had no sin. Jesus said on
one occasion, the prince of this world has come and has nothing
in me. Literally he meant that he has
come, but he has nothing in me to get a hold of, like he does
an ordinary man. Now, Satan has plenty in you
and I to get a hold of, but he didn't have anything in Jesus
to get a hold of. And the reason why he didn't
have is because he was not born of a sinful father. God was his
father. Now, I believe, as I said, in
the virgin birth. And this, my friend, is the reason
why the gospel is so unbelievable to the natural man. They just
cannot accept that. Jesus didn't have a sinful nature,
that he was 100% man and 100% God, as much man as he was God,
and as much God as he was man. He had, you know, he suffered
as we do. He had grief, pain, hunger, weariness. He had emotions and feelings.
That was brought out, you remember, at the death of Lazarus. The
Bible said when he came, before he called him from the grave,
you know the Bible says that Jesus wept. As God, Jesus raised
the dead. He unstopped deaf ears. He stilled
the stormy sea. He healed the sick. He saved
the lost. And there was no charge for his
services. I thought about this. He raised
the dead. He's God. He's 100% God. He raised the dead. I remember
when I was a young preacher, just started preaching, and I
was called upon to preach a three-year-old girl's funeral. A beautiful little
girl. She had a brain tumor. And she
passed away and her folks asked me to preach her funeral. And
so I wanted to do right. I'd never preached a funeral.
I didn't know a whole lot about it. I wasn't a seminary student
and I didn't have all the education that a lot of preachers have.
And so I began to look in the Bible to find out how to conduct
a funeral. How would Jesus do it if he was
here? and I went into the Bible and
I looked and I looked and the trouble is I run into trouble
with it because every time Jesus got around a dead person he just
raised him from the dead. He raised him up from the dead
so I didn't get any help there. I had to figure out how to do
it some other way because I couldn't raise anybody from the dead.
But our Lord Jesus raised men from the dead because he was
God. Now then he stilled the stormy sea, he healed the sick,
he saved the lost. He did all these things because
He is God. In Matthew 26, in verse 48 and
49, I'm talking about how that the Lord Jesus Christ was unbelievable
as far as His birth and as far as His life in this world. I was very surprised to find
out, as I read these verses here, that when Judas came to betray
the Lord Jesus Christ, that it was necessary for him to kiss. He had made a deal with the men
who had the staves and the sticks and the men that were going to
take Jesus. He made a deal with them and
said, when we come to him, I'll give him a kiss. And so you know
who it is. now i i've looked at pictures
of jesus all my life and you've seen him hanging everywhere and
a lot of and most all of our so i had a halo around his head
you know as a child i thought well jesus went around with a
halo around his head all the time but that's not the case
you see we don't really have a picture of jesus we really
don't have any of them and i'll tell you something that whenever
they went out to apprehend jesus uh... uh... jesus looked just
like john he just look like peter like others there was nothing
about him that would attract people and cause people to say
there's the son of god nothing about him you see in his appearance
and so the gospel is unbelievable because jesus is unbelievable
to the natural man nobody can figure him out and now then uh... when uh... We face this a little bit further. You know the Lord Jesus, when
I think about him, how wonderful a person he was. You know, an
amazing thing. He did unbelievable things. You
know the Lord Jesus never had to say, I'm sorry. He never had to say, I'm sorry.
You know the Lord Jesus knew everything. The Bible says that
no one and to God are all of his works from the beginning
of the world. He being a hundred percent God, He knew everything. Did it ever occur to you that
nothing ever occurred to God? Nothing ever occurred to Him.
God knows everything. The Bible teaches that God is
omniscient. He's all-wise. He knew everything. Jesus was unbelievable. Now,
He knows you this morning he knows everything about you the
bible says all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him
with whom we have to do jesus was unbelieving he knows you
now i think that the people that were around him were not aware
of that they were not aware of that you remember one time that
jesus there was somebody came to testify to jesus about men
and jesus said i have no need that you testify to me about
men i know what is in me I already know! He was an unbelievable
person and his birth was unbelievable and he did unbelievable things.
Now the second point I'd like to make out of this chapter here
about why the gospel is so unbelievable to man by nature is that the
gospel demanded of Christ an unbelievable price. An unbelievable
price. Look at verses 5 through 7. 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've 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 slaughters, and a sheep before shears is dumb, so he
openeth not his mouth. Now, beloved, we read in the
Bible, in Genesis 2, verse 17, that God said to Adam, in the
day that you eat of that fruit, you will die. You will die. And
in Ezekiel 18 and 4, the Scripture says, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. And in Romans 6, 23, the Bible
says, the wages of sin is death. Now, beloved, we believe that
because Death was pronounced upon sin and upon that one who
sins that our Lord Jesus Christ had to die. The Bible says that
we have been bought with a price. That price is the life of the
Lord Jesus Christ laid down. It's Christ suffering. It's Christ
afflicted. Christ was brought as a lamb
to the slaughters, a sheep before shears. It's dumb. The Lord Jesus
opened not His mouth, but went to the cross and suffered the
agony. the agony of that gory tree. You remember when Jesus was in
the garden, he prayed in the garden, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but thy will be done. What was he saying? He's saying,
if there's any other way, Father, that you can find to save a poor
lost sinner, if there's any other way that you can get a lost sinner
into heaven besides my having to endure and go through this
awful death that I'm going to suffer on that gory tree, then
find it! But beloved, God could not find
another way. There was no other way. It was
not possible that God could save anybody except through the death
of His Son on that tree. And you remember when He was
crucified, one thief said, he saved others, himself he cannot
save. And he told the truth. You know,
our Lord Jesus, He had to go and pay the price. The Lord Jesus
had to go to the cross, and when he did, he could not deliver
himself. He could have called 12,000 angels,
or 10,000 angels, however many angels that was in heaven, he
could have called them all. But beloved, if they would have
delivered him, you and I would have went to hell. He told the
truth. He could only save us by enduring
the agonizing death of the cross. Beloved, there has always been
but one way of salvation, and that is the substitutionary death
of Jesus Christ. We know that our Lord Jesus Christ
suffered the bloody, bloody death of the cross, and that's the
only way that God has ever had to reconcile poor sinners unto
himself. Now look at verse 5 here and
verse 6. The Bible tells us in verse 5
that he was wounded. He was wounded and that word
means he was perished. It has reference to somebody
taking a knife or a sword or a spear and pricking the body
of the Lord Jesus. He suffered on that cross and
he suffered for our transgressions. And the transgression, that word
means crossing the line. And every one of us, is there
anyone here that has not gone across the line? The Bible says,
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The glory
of God, the law of God, the truth of God, and there's not anybody
here that hasn't crossed the line. And the Lord Jesus was
wounded for our transgressions. He was wounded for every time
that you lied, every time you stole, every time you cheated,
every time that you did something contrary to God's law. The Lord
Jesus, the Bible says that He was pierced for your transgressions. And then it says He was bruised
for our iniquities. The word bruised means crushed. Our Lord Jesus was crushed on
that cross and He was bruised because of our iniquities. The
word iniquities means crookedness. He was bruised, He was crushed
for our crookedness. Now, I know that most people
do not understand that by nature we're all crooked. We're born
into this world crooked, bent out of shape. David in Psalm
51 and 5 says, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin
did my mother conceive me. He means I was out of shape,
I was crooked from the time I came out of my mother's womb. I come
out of my womb speaking lies, David said. David said, I went
estranged from my mother's womb. The infant comes out of his mother's
womb out of shape. He comes out crooked. He comes
out with his fist clenched, and he's ready to run his world,
and he'll run God's world too, if God would permit him to do
it. He's not born again, or he's not born into this world the
first time saying, yes ma'am, Yes, father, or yes, sir. What
else, dad? What do you want me to do? No,
no. A child is born into this world saying, I don't want to.
A child is born into this world saying, do I have to? A child
is born into this world saying, I don't like that. And I want
my way. I want to do what I please. It's
in every infant born into this world. They are crooked. A man
is born into sin. Every one of us born with a nature
contrary to God. A nature that hates God. A nature
that would stick a butcher knife in God's heart if we could get
to Him. Every one of us are depraved
in our natures. We want to do everything just
opposite of what we're told to do, and what is wrong it appeals
to us most, and what is right is of no interest to us. We're
born in sin. We're every one of us crooked
when we're born into this world. We're fallen sinners. I believe
in original sin. The Bible teaches it. Now then,
in verse 6, It says, all we like sheep have gone astray, every
one of us. We've turned everyone to his
own way. This verse begins with an all.
The first word is all, and the last word is all. And God backs us against the
wall, and this verse of scripture teaches universal, universal,
the universal fact of sin, that we are sinners and we do sin. A man is not a sinner because
he steals, he's not a sinner because he cheats, He's not a
sinner because he curses. He is not. He does all those
things because he is a sinner. I've told you before that a dog
is not a dog because he barks. He barks because he is a dog. And we must get this straight.
We are sinners. We've turned everyone to our
own way. Now, sin is self. Sin is self. Now, sin is selfishness,
and there's three syllables in the word selfishness, and if
you take the letter by which each syllable begins, it spells
what? S-I-N, sin. Sin is self. He's turned everyone
to his own ways. Sin is nothing more than me saying,
me, mine, my way. I'm the pilot of my ship. No
God for me. Let me run my life. Beloved,
that's sin. You wanting to go into the God
business. You wanting to tell everybody what you're going to
do. Just what you're going to do. We were born that way. We
were born rebels against God. As I said, the scripture says
that we've gone astray from our mother's womb. There was a little
boy one time sitting in church on the front row. And his parents
were sitting right behind him. And the parents told the little
boy, said, sit down. sit down he was standing up in
the chair and he was four or five years old I suppose and
the mother said sit down please and he would not sit down the
father said well I can make him sit down so he grabbed him by
the shoulders and pushed him down in the chair and the little
boy The little boy, as Father held him there, his face got
red as blood, and he said, Well, I'm sitting down on the outside,
but I want you to know I'm standing up on the inside. And that's
the rebel that's in us. Everybody's got that old rebellious
nature, that old wicked sinful nature. Mother sets something
on the table and they never tasted it before, but they won't taste
it. Oh, why don't you eat some of this? It's good. Why don't
you eat it? No, I don't want that. I won't
eat that. No, no way! And you'd have to
absolutely force them, like my folks used to force me to take
castor oil before they would eat it. Or my mother would grab
my nose, open your mouth, open your mouth, and put that castor
oil in. It's terrible stuff. Some of
you, bless your hearts, you never had to go through all that. But
there's a rebel in every man by nature. Everybody's a rebel
by nature. Now watch it now. Watch it now
here. But look what happened. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way and the Lord, capital
L-O-R-D, comes from Jehovah. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. The Lord Jesus Christ. I'm talking
about the unbelievable price that the Lord Jesus paid for
rebel sinners. pay for ungodly sinners in 1
Peter 2, 24 and 25, who his own self bear our sins in his own
body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto
righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed, for we were as
sheep going astray first Peter 1 verse 18 and 19 for as much
as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things
such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ
a lamb without spot or blemish or any such thing now beloved
it's very important that you understand that your sin was
transferred on the Lord Jesus Christ if you're a believer here
today when Jesus died on that cross that all of your transgression,
all of your sin, all of your unworthiness was laid on Him
and the Lord Jesus answered to God in your room instead in place. Now the last thing that I want
to talk about today and we'll close here in a little bit talking
about the unbelievable gospel and why it is so unbelievable
to a natural man is it is an unbelievable gospel because it
accomplished an unbelievable purpose, an unbelievable purpose. What? And then it left. Yet it
pleased the Lord to bruise him. And this is my first point under
this heading, and that is that it pleased the Lord. Now the
word pleased here is satisfied. Now, what we're saying is this. Men do not understand what happened
at the cross. They don't understand what happened
at the cross. Beloved, let me tell you that
what happened at the cross was number one, God was satisfied
at the cross. This is where God was satisfied. It pleased, that word is satisfied,
the Lord to bruise Him. Now beloved, the justice of God
was satisfied, the inflexible justice of a thrice holy God
was satisfied at the cross. There's never anywhere you can
You can look until you're so old you can't see anymore and
you'll never find any place where the justice of God was satisfied
except at Calvary. Only at Calvary was God satisfied. Now God loved his people before
time began. But he could not. Now listen
to me. God said, the soul that sinneth, it must die. God said,
Adam, when you eat of that fruit, you will surely die. But God
could not take a sinner into heaven. He couldn't come to me
and you and say, now I like you. I mean, I just kind of, I'm partial
towards you and I'm just going to take you on into heaven in
spite of everything that you've ever done. God could not do that
and be God. He could not do that. God said,
the soul that sinneth, it must die. And so, listen to me now. In order for God to be satisfied,
He could not sacrifice His justice on the altar of His love. He
couldn't do that. God's justice must be satisfied. And God had been offended. Your
transgressions, your iniquities, your sin had offended a holy
God. And God, in order to spare you,
He had to nail his son on a cross. Jesus had to be made sin, reckoned
to be sin in our room instead of place. And God charged him
with all that I'd ever done. And then God took it out of his
son, full payment of our sin. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. The death of Christ was made more for God than it was
for us. Now you get what I'm saying.
When Jesus died, he was paying the debt. I owed back to God
in my place in order that God could be free to have mercy on
this sinner. I'll tell you what Jesus did
on that cross. The purpose was that he would
satisfy God, that God's hands would be freed to have mercy
on poor sinners. That's what it was all about.
he was paying the debt back to god you know in exodus chapter
twelve verse thirteen when the egyptians uh... there when the
general of israel was in egypt before they came out and god
told him said now you he was delivering him gonna deliver
him he said now you kill this lamb and you put the blood on
the on the lentils of the door the door post and so on and god
said when i see the blood when i see the blood not when you
see it, not when you put it up there not when you see it, but
when I see it then I'll pass over you and it was only when
the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ flowed from His veins on Calvary's
Mount it was only there at Calvary when God saw the blood of His
own Son that He said I'm satisfied all you say well preacher preacher
i'm going to change my ways i'm going to change my way i'm going
to join the church and i'm going to be baptized and i'm going
to start living right surely that'll please god i'll tell
you this there ain't nothing going to please god on behalf
of a sinner except a bleeding substitute god will not speak
or be spoken to apart from a substitute from jesus christ and God is
not going to touch you with a ten-foot pole. It won't make any difference
how righteous you are. You say, well, I think I've lived
a pretty good life. God was pleased when his son
died on a cross. God had a cross in his heart
from all eternity. Christ was the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. A cross! A cross! A death on
a cross! That's the only thing that's
going to save your soul from hell. Do you believe? Oh, many
natural men, they say, I can't handle that. I can't understand
how God could put his own son to death. And I don't understand
the purpose of it. It was to satisfy a thrice holy
God. Now then, the second thing that
I see here is that his people were justified. Look at this
with me. His people were justified in Isaiah chapter 53 there in
verse uh... eleven 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 all beloved
listen if we could ever get a hold of this i think it would some
fellas said one time he said when he got a hold of something
out of the word he said my my my how precious that is He said
that would even make a Presbyterian shout. And beloved, listen, when
you get on this word justification, the purpose for the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ was that his people might be justified,
that God might justify his people, justify many, all for whom he
died. No matter how bad I live, no
matter what I have done, no matter what sin I've committed, no matter
how deep I fell into the pit, the mud of sin, no matter! God
says that His death accomplished my justification. God has declared
me, as I believe on His Son, to be just as if I had never
committed a sin. God has given me a standing just
as if I had never sinned. Just as if I had never committed
a sin! God has blotted out all my iniquities. Bible says that for the transgression
of my people was he stricken the last part of verse 8 and
then in verse 12 here he was numbered with the transgressors
and he bear the sin of many he paid that sin debt we are justified
God has exacted from his son full payment of our sin Now it
means that I'm just like I was before I ever committed a sin.
Justified! And then it means more than that.
It means as though I had always been righteous. God looks upon
me as though I had always been righteous. Now you say, Preacher,
I just can't believe that. Well look in Romans, turn to
Romans chapter 4. if you will, here, and let me
show you the Scripture. Romans chapter 4, in verse 5,
Verse 5 of Romans 4. You see, the natural man says
that's a bunch of foolishness. That fella tells me that when
Jesus hung on that cross, He satisfied God for the sins of
His people, and then that God reckons them to have a standing
before Him just like they'd never committed a sin, and God reckons
them to be righteous in His sight. Listen to what it says, I can't
believe it. But to him, in verse 5, that worketh not, to him that
gives up on themselves by trying to work their way into heaven
trying to get themselves up, pull themselves up by their own
bootstraps not by works of righteousness which we've done but according
to his mercy he saved us who has saved us and called us not
according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began
That's what the Bible says. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him, that justifies the ungodly. And that's the only kind of people
God ever saved, was the ungodly. All men by nature is ungodly. Look at this, his faith, his
faith, look at it, don't miss out on this, is counted for what? for righteousness. There it is. If God justifies you, you have
a standing before Him just as if you had never committed a
sin and you're standing in Jesus Christ and with His holy garments
on, you're as holy as the Holy One and your standing before
God is one of righteousness. And it's not blasphemy to say
that everyone that is in Christ is as righteous as Jesus Christ
himself before God because it's in Christ that we stand now that's
the purpose and you know people shake their heads So I just cannot
understand that. I thought it was by quitting
this and starting that. I thought it was by doing something.
And I had a woman came. She listened to me preach four
or five times. She come in and there's something I can do. I
mean there's something I can do. You can't bring yourself
into faith with God. You've already done enough. You've
sinned against God. You broke God's law. You're a
rebel sinner. God must do something for you
in your soul. And men are saved not by what
they do for God. They're saved by what God does
for them. And you get that straight, and
that'll make you have a little happiness and a little joy in
your soul. Salvation is God's project. It's not a human project. Salvation
is of the Lord from the beginning to the end. Are you saved in
the Lord? Well, his faith is counted for
righteousness. In other words, God reckoned
Jesus to be a sinner when he wasn't one. Now he reckons this
sinner to be righteous when he's not. And he does that according
to his purpose and grace. He does that according to his
mercy. And God treats me. He treated Jesus like I ought
to have been treated. and now he treats me like Jesus
ought to be treated. What do you think of that? Somebody
said, well that's unbelievable. It is unbelievable. But if God
ever reveals it to you, you'll believe it. And you'll rejoice
too. And you'll have the peace of
God in your soul. And you'll just be glad. You'll
be made glad through the work of his hand. Well I must close
You know, this chapter, as I said, one
of the great, great chapters in the Bible. One time there was an old preacher,
and he went to England to preach, Joseph Parker. Well, he was from
England, from one part of England, but he went down to London to
preach, out on the outskirts. He got back home. He'd been preaching
for several days. He was an old man. And he got on the train to go
back home. And it was hot. And he was sitting
there waiting for the train to pull out. Arm out the window. There was a young fellow that
came running toward the train. And he hollered, Dr. Parker.
Mr. Parker, Mr. Parker, he said,
I've heard you preach. I heard you preach, I'm not saved.
What can you tell me before you leave? What can you tell me?
And the train started to move. Mr. Parker said, you go home
and you get your Bible and you turn to Isaiah chapter 53 and
you look at verse 6. and he said you will find there
that it says all we like sheep have gone astray we've turned
everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all he said you just go in on the first all and you just
come out on the second all in that verse that's what you do
now what do you think of that? You know what, if you just come
in on that first all, you say, I'm not saved, preacher. Just
come in on that first all, all we like sheep have gone astray.
You admit that. And then it says, the Lord laid on him the iniquity
of us all. Now if you can say that, say
the Lord laid on him my iniquity, my sin, Jesus died, Jesus paid
for it. Come in on the first all, go
out on the second. And that's what it's about, isn't
it? If I know anything about the
Bible, that's what it's about. Do you trust Christ? Are you
leaning on Him? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Well, I hope this morning that
God will take the blinders off some of you. You said, I just
had trouble believing a lot of this stuff, virgin birth. Believing
the awful price preachers been saying that He suffered like
no other man ever suffered. I had an awful time believing
that. And then the purpose what he accomplished. And he did sure
enough accomplish it. Around here we believe in a redemption
that redeems. We believe in a salvation that
saves around here. We believe that, don't we? Yeah,
we do. That's what we believe. He accomplished
something. May God use this message for
his glory and his honor. Let's pray. Father, we commit
to you the closing minutes, moments of this service We asked that
by the Holy Spirit, for the glory of Christ, for the honor of Christ. Scripture said that he shall
see of the travail of his soul. He shall see a seed. Lord, surely
there's somebody here in this room this morning to whom thou
hast spoken. Somebody here who's been blind,
confused, and have not ever saw the way
to Christ. I pray that even today the Spirit
might lead that one by the hand, lead them to Jesus, bring them
today to trust in Christ. The Scripture says, All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and they that come I'll
no wise cast out. May the Spirit work for Jesus'
sake. Amen.