Chapter 53. The Lord has given two ordinances
to his church, baptism and the Lord's table. They're both very
important. The Lord gave them. We're going
to observe the Lord's table tonight. The Lord says to every one of
his people, this do. in remembrance of me. I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Genius of the Gospel. And by genius, I'm speaking
of that genius that only God has. We're not talking about
the genius of men. The man, the one who created
the atom has infinitely more wisdom than the one who has learned
to split the atom. And the only reason he's learned
to split the atom is because God caused him to. Isaiah chapter 53 is a prophecy
written 700 years before the death of Christ with regard to
the person, the incarnation, the sufferings and death and
the accomplishments of that death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Written 700 years before the
death of Christ took place, yet the death of Christ had already
taken place before this prophecy because he's called in Revelation
13 8, the lamb Not that we'll be slain, the Lamb having been
slain before the foundation of the world. How thrilling it is
to my soul that before there was a sinner, there was the Savior. So this prophecy is about a future
event that had already taken place. Now before we look at
it, I want you to hold your finger there and turn to Acts chapter
eight. Verse 27. And he arose and went and beheld,
this is talking about Philip the evangelist, a man of Ethiopia. A eunuch, Acts chapter 8 verse
27, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians,
who had the charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem
for to worship. That's why he came. He knew God was in Israel. He knew the gods of the Egyptians
were false gods. I don't know that he actually
knew God. Well, matter of fact, I know
he didn't, but he knew his religion was wrong. He didn't know the
right religion, but he knew his was wrong. And he came to Jerusalem
for the worship and was returning and sitting in his chariot, read
Isaiah the prophet. Actually, he was reading this
prophecy we just read of in Isaiah 53. And I love to think of him.
He's leaving Jerusalem, perhaps feeling more empty than he did
when he came, knowing I'm missing something. I'm missing something. Then the Spirit said unto Philip,
go near and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither
to him and heard him read. the prophet Isaiah, and said,
Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should
guide me? And he desired, Philip, that
he would come up and sit with him, and the place of the scripture
which he read was this, from Isaiah 53, was led as a lamb
to the slaughter, and like a lamb done before his shearer, so opened
he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away. And who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered
Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet
this, of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth,
and began at that same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. Now my prayer is that is what
will take place now. This passage demonstrates the
genius that only God has. Back in Isaiah 53 verse 11. He shall see the travail of his
soul. Isaiah 53 11. He shall see the
travail, the pain of his soul and shall be satisfied by his
knowledge. Shall my righteous servant justify
many. The genius of the gospel is how
that God can be just and justify the ungodly. Question, is this an issue with you? The genius of the gospel is how
that God can be just and justify the ungodly. And do you know
most people never even give that any thought? Not even an issue
with them. They put it under the umbrella
of dull and uninteresting subjects. Who cares? Why would that even
be an issue? Well, I'll tell you who it is
an issue to, the ungodly. all of the ungodly. You see,
those who see themselves as ungodly are the only people who see God
in his true character. And that's why they conclude
this about themselves. They're ungodly, evil. There's nothing I can do to save
myself. That's the position I'm in. And I'm vitally interested
in how God can be just and justify make as one who never sinned,
perfect before God's law, how he can justify an ungodly sinner
like me. Does this interest you? Now this passage of scripture
tells us how God does that. Now remember these chapter divisions
are man-made and this really should begin with this passage
in the last three verses of Isaiah chapter 52. Behold my servant. Isaiah 52 verse 13. Here's God's
command to me and you. Behold my servant. Twelve times in these chapters
in Isaiah, he's called by his father, my servant. Look in chapter
42 for just a moment. Behold my servant, whom I uphold. May God give us the grace to
behold him. in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry, nor cause his voice to be heard
in the streets. You see, he's not trying to gain
a following. He's not trying to get people's attention. He
came to save his people from their sins, not to gain a following.
He's not gonna cry or cause his voice to be heard. Look at this
promise, a bruiserie, shall he not break, and the smoking flax
shall he not quench? What could be more weak than
a bruised reed? Or the light of a candle getting
ready to go out, that flickering light. He said, I won't break
that bruised reed. I won't put out that smoking
flax. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth, Look at this, he shall not fail nor be discouraged. Don't you love that description
of Christ? He's incapable of failure. He's not discouraged. He's not walking back and forth
in frustration because his will's not being done. Now back to our text in Isaiah
chapter 52. Behold, my servant shall deal
prudently. And like I've already said, my
marginal reading says he shall prosper. He shall be successful. If the Christ you believe can
veil in his attentions, he's not the Christ of the Bible.
He's not the true Christ. You see, the true Christ of Scripture
is incapable of failure. Whatever He intends to do, He
does. I think of His words in John
chapter 6, verse 39. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should lose
nothing. Not one. There won't be anybody
in hell that Christ died for. Everybody he died for must be
saved. And if he loses one of them,
he's a failure. And he shall not fail. Behold, my servant shall be successful,
prosper, deal prudently, And then he uses three words to describe
him. He shall be exalted and extolled
and be very high. He was exalted when he was raised
from the dead, wasn't he? He was extolled as he ascended
back to the father. And he's very high, seated at
the right hand of the father. Verse 14, as many were astonished
at thee, startled by thee. His visage was so marred more
than any man and his form more than the sons of men. He was beaten. He was swollen. The crown of thorns had been
pressed on his head. His beard had been ripped out
of his cheeks and men were startled. This is the Son of God. This
is the Lord. You couldn't even recognize him
to be a man. His visage was marred more than
the sons of men. Verse 15. So shall he sprinkle
many nations. That's what he accomplished in
this visage being marred and him being nailed to a cross and
his face unrecognizable. So shall he sprinkle many nations. And this is talking about the
application of his blood, his sufferings. And who does the
sprinkling? He does. He's the one who applies
it. When I see the blood, God said,
I will pass over you. He sprinkles many nations. Verse 15, the kings shall shut
their mouths at him. I suppose they became kings by
how much they talked. Now, all of a sudden, their mouth
is shut. They see him and their mouth is shut. Guilty. They see what the King
of Kings has done. For that which had not been told
them shall they see. Oh, I pray that happens this
morning. And that which they had not heard
shall they consider. Who hath believed our report? Now this is Isaiah's lament. And we can say the same thing
today. It seems like not many people believe. I mean, the glorious
gospel we believe, you'd think there'd be thousands here, wouldn't
you? Just dying to hear the message.
What a message. But yet Isaiah says it seems
like nobody believes. Seems that way now, doesn't it?
How few seem to believe the gospel. Who had believed our report?
And he answers the question in the next line. To whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed? I'll tell you who believes, who
he reveals the report to. You can't believe unless he reveals
this to you, the arm of the Lord. Christ Jesus is the arm of the
Lord. And if he's revealed, you'll
believe. That's who believes, the ones
the arm of the Lord has been revealed to. And this speaks
of his incarnation, verse two. For he shall grow up before him,
as a tinder plant, an offshoot, a sapling, just a small, you
seen them come up out of the ground? And as a root out of dry ground,
there he is, he hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall
see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. Now I want
you to think about that statement. And here's the best way I can
describe that. He has no form, no beauty, no comeliness. When
you looked at him, I'm not impressed. I'm not impressed. That would
be my response. That would be your response.
But I think of the tabernacle. This is the most beautiful illustration
of this. You know what the tabernacle was covered with? Badger skin. Not very pretty. Imagine the Moabites up on the
hills looking down at the children of Israel around this tent with
badger skin over it. Unimpressed. Our temples are
a lot more pretty than theirs. There's nothing impressive about
this. They had no idea that the very Shekinah glory of God dwelt
on the inside. All they saw was that badger
skin. when we see him unimpressed. Unimpressed. No form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there's no beauty that we should desire
him. Verse three. He, and this would
summarize his life, in the view of men, he is despised and rejected
of men. You know what that means? That's our response to him. Thumbs
down. Despised and rejected. We don't approve of him. We see
no glory or beauty in him. A man of sorrows. and acquainted
with grief. Now that word grief means disease
and sickness. That gives us some idea of what
it means when he bore our sins in his own body on the tree.
And we think, well, sin was imputed to him. Yeah, it was. It was,
but disease is not something imputed. It's something you feel. was acquainted with grief. I
think of that song we sing, man of sorrows, what a name for the
son of God who came ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah. What a savior. And Isaiah says, and we hid as
it were our faces from him and he was despised and we esteemed
him not. Have you ever looked away at
a deformed person and you didn't want to seem like you're staring
at them? So you just look away. You don't want to seem rude,
but you just look away. Or have you ever seen somebody
that you didn't want to talk to? You didn't want to be identified
with them. And you might just kind of hide
somewhere to make sure they don't see you. You look away. Now that is what is said of our
treatment of the Lord. We saw him and we looked away. We didn't want to be identified
with him. He was despised, looked upon
with contempt and we, and here is the great sin of every one
of us. We esteemed him not. There could be no worse sin than
that. We esteemed him not. Disrespectful. You know when someone is a disrespectful
person, they're a very ugly person, aren't they? I mean, if you're
disrespectful, that means you're so full of yourself and you're
just looking down at everybody else and think everybody else
is not measuring up to you. It's an ugly thing to be a disrespectful
person. But to be disrespectful toward
the Son of God? Oh, there's no excuse. Somebody
like that ought to be in hell, shouldn't they? If any man love
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha. Paul said that under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, and it wasn't because he was indifferent toward
the souls of men. It's because of the excellency
and the glory of Jesus Christ. We esteemed him not. Verse four, surely. surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted." We thought he was suffering the judgment
of God because of what a bad person he was. He's being punished
for who he is, but he was wounded. for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. With his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. Isaiah is speaking of himself
too. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now, this is why he came. Notice the pronouns. Surely he hath borne our griefs,
carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
spitten 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. With his stripes are we 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."
Now, who is referred to in those pronouns? The elect. Those for whom he died. His sheep. The shepherd laid
down his life for the sheep. Not the goats. The sheep. His people. Now, if he did this forever, man,
and some of those men wind up in hell, he's a failure. This
scripture tells us right off the bat, he's successful. So everybody he did this for,
he accomplished their salvation. Now don't miss this. This is
so important. People talk about Christ dying
for all men without exception. It's a false prophet. He's not
telling the truth. Are you being too hard? No, I'm
not. You see, the only hope I have
is that he put my sin away and made it to where I'll be in heaven.
That's my hope, that he did it all. We don't sing Jesus paid
a half the other half I owe. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow. Now look what he did. Surely
he hath borne our griefs. Look in verse 11, he shall see
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge,
shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their
iniquities. You know, that's the same word,
those two words, same word. Guess what it means? First dictionary
meaning of that word is to be gravid. What's that mean? To be pregnant. A woman bearing a child. There is no closer relationship
in the human experience than a woman bearing her child. He bore our iniquities. Who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree. Now, what all that means, I don't
know. I'm so far above my understanding here, but I know it's so. He
took my sins and my sorrows and made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. He bore my sins. Now, let me
tell you one thing this means. If He bore them, I don't bear. Sin cannot be two places at once. If He bore my sins, I don't have
them. He put them away. Yes, He was wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised. He was crushed
for my iniquities. The chastisement of my peace
was upon Him. Only by His stripes am I healed.
There are two results spoken of from his dying on Calvary
Street. Look in verse five, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And by his stripes, we're healed. Two things are said to take place
by his death on Calvary Street. Peace and healing. Having made peace by the blood
of his cross. Let me tell you why I have peace
right now. He made it for me. God has nothing to be mad at
because he put away my sins. I'm justified. Peace. Healing. By His stripes, you were healed. Somebody says, I need to be healed
on the inside. Well, I wouldn't disagree with
that, but my healing doesn't come from some kind of process
I feel in me. My healing comes from being healed
by His stripes. I stand before God without sin. By His stripes, we are healed. Look at verse six. Now this is
Isaiah's confession of sin. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. All the sheep. Every sheep knows
this. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. I said this either last week or a week before last. Sheep
are dumb. Sheep are dirty. Sheep are defenseless. They get lost and they can't
find their way back. They go astray and they easily
go astray. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. You know, this speaks not only
of our actions, but what we are. We act like sheep going astray.
This speaks of our evil nature. This speaks of our depravity.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned everyone
to his own way. It's all my fault. I can't blame
somebody else. It's all my fault. I turn to
my own way. And what's to be done about that?
The Lord hath laid on him, made to meet on him the iniquity
of us all. You know, the Lord can do that. Only God can do that, but He
can do it. I never will forget listening to a preacher that
had been caught in a scandal. And when he was confronted with
it, he said, I put those sins under the blood. Oh? How'd you manage that? Did you
now? You can't do that. Only God can. And if he puts them under the
blood, they're wiped out. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid
upon him the iniquity of us all. Verse seven, he was oppressed
and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. That's
where we were reading about the Ethiopian Union reading this
passage of scripture. Is this the prophet speaking
or some other man? Some other man. Some other man. He was oppressed, he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before shears is done, so opened he
not his mouth. Now, if you're accused of something
and you didn't do it, what are you gonna do? I'm opening
my mouth. I didn't do it. Christ did not open his mouth
because he was guilty. My sin actually became his sin.
And he became guilty of the commission of that sin. Every dark believer,
every dark, wicked thing you've done, he bore in his own body
on the tree. And he became guilty of that
sin. He opened not his mouth. The lawgiver placed himself under
the law. Think of that. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law
that every mouth may be stopped. And all the world become guilty
before God. As he bore the sins of his sheep,
he couldn't justify himself. Guilty as charged. That's why he didn't defend himself. He was guilty. Look how unjust this treatment
is. He was taken from prison and from judgment. That false judgment with the
false witnesses. And who should declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living. for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. That's why he died. And then
he goes into detail. He made his grave with the wicked
and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence,
neither was deceit in his mouth. Now, he was buried in a rich man's
tomb. Remember Joseph of Arimathea? And he was given a rich man's
burial. And though he was counted wicked, he never sinned in his
person. He never sinned, let me repeat
that. He knew no sin. He had done no violence, neither
was any deceit in his mouth. Now here's one of the most amazing
verses in the scripture. Yet, it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Why did all this happen? God's
purpose. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Now that doesn't mean he was
pleased by the pain he was inflicting on his son, but oh, he was pleased
for his purpose in doing it. Glorifying himself, saving his
people. He was pleased because it was
his will. He wasn't pleased with the agony
he had to pour on his son, but with the accomplishments of his
son, he finished the work the Father gave him to do. He glorified
him on earth. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. I think of that scripture in
Acts chapter 4, for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus,
whom thou has anointed, Both Herod and Pontius Pilate with
the Gentiles and the people of Israel. That covers everybody.
What were they doing? Doing whatsoever thy hand and
thy counsel determined before to be done. Everything that took
place is what God's hand and what God's counsel determined
before to be done. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. I think of the pain the Lord
experienced on the cross. I don't know anything about it,
but I know this. There have been many martyrs who were nailed
to crosses and who were burned at the stake, praising the Lord
in joy. The Lord gave them such grace
at that time. The pain of the son was it was
his father that put him to grief. Separated from his father, forsaken
by his father. He had put him to grief. Verse
10 still, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. Now that word offering for sin
in the original is one word. It's translated in other places,
guiltiness. When thou shalt make his soul
guiltiness. It's translated sin. When thou
shalt make his soul sin. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for he hath
made him to be sin. Who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. That's why he was on the cross. He shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure, the goodwill of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand, when he shall see his seed. Who sees his seed? Well, the
father sees his seed, the seed is the elect, the divine seed,
everybody he represented. But you know who else will see
his seed? The Savior. This speaks of the resurrection
of Christ. He doesn't stay dead. He's going
to be raised from the dead and he's going to see his seed. Now, we would like to see the
outcome of our children. If it's bad, we'd rather not
see it. But if it's good, wouldn't you like to be able to see the
outcome of your seed? Well, he does. And it's all good. He shall see the outcome of his
seed. And what's it say? He shall see
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. You see, he shall
see his seed. He shall prolong his days. That's
talking about the eternal nature of Christ's intercession. He
shall prolong his days. He lives forever as our intercessor,
as our representative. He shall prolong his days and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand," He can't
fail. "...he shall see of the travail
of his soul and shall be satisfied." God the Father is completely
satisfied with what he did and who he did it for. And if Jesus
Christ died for you, God looks at you and says, I am completely
satisfied. I don't want anything else. I'm
not looking for anything else. Complete satisfaction. You see, that's what Christ rendered
on Calvary's tree. Complete satisfaction to the
law of God. And Christ says, I'm satisfied
with my seed. He sees you as holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable, because you are holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. He says, thou art all fair, my
love. There's no spot in thee. That's
what he accomplished. A perfect bride. He shall see
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall my righteous servant justify
many for he shall bear their iniquities by his knowledge. His knowledge of the father. He knew what needed to be done. His knowledge of sin. He who
knew no sin was made sin. His knowledge of us. He knows. By his knowledge. shall my righteous servant justify
many. And here's why. He shall bear
their iniquities and put them away. The last verse, verse 12,
therefore, will I divide him a portion with
the great. Now, the word great is not we're
great and he's given us great people as part of his spoil. It's the great multitude, the
great multitude, the many, the many. He died for a whole lot
of people, a number that no man can number. He died for a lot
of people. Therefore, while I divide him
a portion with the many, And he shall divide the spoil with
the strong, the many, the great, this great number of people he
died for. And here's why. He because. Here's why he's going to divide
the portion. All he has, you have. Join heirs with Christ. Here's why. He poured out his
soul unto death. One reason for death, sin. He
poured out his soul unto death. Another great mystery of the
gospel, he died. The son of God was a dead corpse
in that empty tomb. Why? Sin. He poured out his soul unto death. Well, how could that be? Because
he was numbered with the transgressors. That's where he was numbered
with the transgressors. That's how he was counted by
his father when he became the sinner's substitute. He was numbered
with the transgressors. And he bare the sin of many. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. And he made intercession for
the transgressors. Now what does that mean? Father,
forgive them. If I say, Lord, forgive me, I'm
not telling him you have to do it, am I? When he said, Father, forgive
them, the Father forgave them. You see, he's successful. Anybody
he prays for must be saved. Father, forgive them. He made
intercession for the transgressors. Sing, O barren. It's something
to sing about, isn't it? Sing, O barren. Thou that didst
not bear, break forth into singing and cry aloud. That didst not prevail with child
for more the children of the desolate than the children of
the married wife, saith the Lord. You can't bring forth life seeing
he did. The genius of the gospel. This is the gospel of God and
it is his genius in that he made the way to be absolutely just
and justify the ungodly. Let's pray. Lord, we're amazed at thy word. What a glorious word. What a glorious gospel. Lord,
how we thank you for your servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, your only
begotten son, who cannot fail, who must be successful. Lord,
give us the grace to believe on him. In his name we pray.