Good morning, everybody. Turn
over to Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah the 53rd chapter. Once you get over to Isaiah 53,
what I want you to do is turn to 1 Corinthians 2. Put your
bookmark in Isaiah 53, that's our text. Then flip over to 1
Corinthians 2. We're going to begin there. 1 Corinthians 2 and pick up in
verse 1. This is Paul speaking. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you. save Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
What's Paul saying here? He's saying, I have a singular
message. The only thing, one thing I know,
there's one thing I care about, and there's one thing I'm going
to tell you about, because there's one thing needful. I'm going to tell you about a
man and his accomplishments, the Lord Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. That was his message. That was
it. And that is the gospel message. Now, if you remember in Luke
chapter 9, Peter, James, and John are brought up on a mountain.
The Lord brings them up on a mountain. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
transfigured before them. They see something of a visual
picture of the glory of God in Jesus Christ, his face shown
like the sun. He was transfigured before them.
And he's there and he's speaking with two men, Elijah and Moses. Does anybody remember their topic
of conversation? His decease which he should accomplish. Understand something. The death
of the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished something. The death of the Lord
Jesus Christ did not simply make salvation possible. It did not
open the door for salvation. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplished the salvation for everyone for whom he died. It
truly is finished. Folks, that's the gospel. Who
He is, what He has done, and who He has done it for, that
is the gospel message. And as far as I can tell, that
message is not relayed any clearer in the Old Testament than right
here in Isaiah chapter 53. So here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna go through the whole chapter, I'm gonna read a few verses,
and we're gonna talk about what this chapter is teaching us.
So pick up in verse one. Isaiah 53 in verse one. Isaiah
begins this way. He says, who hath believed our
report? Now what's the report he's talking
about? What's the report? It's the gospel message. Who
believes the gospel? And the immediate answer is not
many. I've heard some men say, well, there's a sense of lamenting
in Isaiah's voice this time. He's sad about this. Perhaps.
But at the end of the day, Isaiah knew exactly who was going to
believe the gospel. He states it very clearly in
the first verse. Go back and read it. Who hath believed our
report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Now, what
is the arm of the Lord? Well, if the feet walk, the ears
hear, and the eyes see, what does the arms do? It's the power. It's the power of the man. It's
what does. I'll read you this. 1 Corinthians
124, but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Lord Jesus
Christ is the arm of the Lord. And you know who's going to believe
the gospel? Everyone to whom he reveals himself to. Isaiah
knew that. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Understand something. You and
I, folks, are in the hands of a sovereign. We are completely
and utterly shut up to this thing called revelation. The Lord can
choose to reveal Christ to us, this revelation that always accompanies
salvation, or he can simply pass us by. He can leave us in our
natural darkness and not reveal Christ to us in that natural
darkness that always accompanies damnation. But you and I are
completely and utterly shut up to a revelation from God. And
that's exactly where Isaiah begins, and that's where we need to begin.
So I'm asking you, Pray for yourselves and pray for me right now that
the Lord will reveal himself in our midst. I want that very
deeply and I hope you do too. Now go to verse two. For he, and this is speaking
exclusively of the Lord Jesus Christ, 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. Now, notice that phrase,
grow up. The God of glory, the sovereign
of the universe, the omnipotent one, the omniscient one, the
omnipresent one, he grew up. He was born in a barn. The God
of glory was actually born into this world a baby, a tender plant,
born in a barn of all places, just a tender little plant. He
was from a place called Nazareth. Now if you remember when Philip
tells Nathaniel, I found the Christ, it's Jesus of Nazareth. How do you reply? Can you think
about a Nazareth? He's a tender plant, he's a root
out of dry ground, nobody from nowhere. And he had no exterior
beauty. There was nothing about him that
people in this world would have found good. He had no place of
prominence, worldly speaking. He wasn't handsome. He didn't
have wealth. And as far as everybody can tell, he had no power either.
There was nothing about him in this world that anyone found
desirable at all. He concealed himself for the
most part. His omnipotent power, he really didn't reveal. People
couldn't see that about him. But think about all his attributes
that he did reveal while he was here. How incredibly and perfectly
kind he was. How perfectly obedient, how perfectly
honest, how perfectly loyal, how perfectly believing he was
when he walked this earth. He displayed those attributes
and we did not desire him. We had no interest in those attributes
because men do not desire those attributes. They have no respect
for those attributes. And we say that in our day. Kindness,
honesty, obedience, loyalty, no one cares about those things
because men do not desire those things. But how perfectly he
displayed those attributes. Look at verse three. 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. Now first off, this was a man
of earthly sorrows and acquainted with earthly grief. For the Lord
Jesus Christ to be the redeemer of His people, He had to become
a man. And He had to be subject to human
limitation in that sense. Now, why is that? Why did the
Lord Jesus Christ to be the Redeemer of His people? Why did He have
to become a man? For the second time, I'm going
to read this to you. This is Romans 5, 19. For as by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteousness. One, the obedience of one Man,
this is speaking of our unions. You and I share a union with
our first father Adam. When Adam was in the garden,
when Adam willingly and openly disobeyed God, I was an Adam
and you were an Adam. What Adam was willing, what he
was wanting, what he was experiencing at that time, that's what I was
doing. When Adam reached his hand out and he took that piece
of fruit and he bid it in disobedience to God, that's what you and I
did. These circumstances we find ourselves in, this fallen state,
that's our fault. We were in a union with Adam,
so much so that we did that. That's my fault. Also the same,
as sin entered by one man, the elect can only be saved by a
man. And in Christ, through our union with him, everything he
has and everything he has accomplished, I have that. When He walked the
paths of righteousness, when He established the righteousness
for His people, that's really mine, and that really is the
righteousness of every believer. You want to know why? Because
we were in Him. When He established that, that's ours. That's a real
thing, and that's going to be an overwhelming theme of what
I'm going to tell you here this morning, is that salvation is a real thing.
It is not judicial, and it is not legal, and it is not forensic.
It is real. And when He walked the paths
of righteousness, that is my righteousness because it really
is mine. When He went to the cross and He suffered under the
weight of sin, that's when I suffered. I really suffered in Him because
I was in Him, in a union with Him. As sin entered by one man,
only a man could redeem the elect. And that's why the Lord Jesus
Christ came to this earth. And coming to this earth and being
made a man, He had to be subject to human limitation. Now let
me read you this. Hebrews 4.15, for we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Now you know what it's like to
be hungry, and to be cold, and to be fatigued, and to be betrayed,
and to be lonely. You know what that feels like,
don't you? And so does the Lord Jesus Christ. He's touched with
the feeling of our infirmities because he experienced all those
things. When we go to the Lord and we spill our heart out before
him and talk about all the things that are bothering us and the
weight of our sin and the things that are happening in this life,
he knows. He's touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
We have a high priest who knows. I've been there. I know exactly
what you're talking about. He experienced all that. To be the
redeemer of his people, he had to live the life of a man. But
here's the difference. Now, he did many miracles while
he was in this world, but never for himself. He always did that
for others. He lived the life of a man. Here's the difference.
He was without sin. Now, every time you and I are
tempted, and that is perpetual, this is constantly, every single
day, all day long, we are tempted. You know what we do? We fall.
Because that's what we are. We're sinners. But this man never
fell. This man never sinned. That is
the huge difference between us and him as a man. This man was
without sin. He kept the law perfectly. He
honored his father in everything, and he never stopped believing
his father. All we can say is, I believe, Lord, help thou my
unbelief. Not him. He believed his father even when
his father was killing him. That's how well he believed him. This
was a perfectly obedient man, and his obedience really is my
obedience. Look at verse three, we'll read
it again. 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. This is our great crime. The
God of glory walked among us in perfection, the only holy,
perfect man to ever live. And everybody that was anybody
just turned thumbs down on him. And everybody just turned their
back on him. We hid our faces from him, wanted nothing to do
with him, didn't want to be identified with him. And this is our great
crime. We esteemed him not. We had zero respect, zero adoration
for God himself when he was here. Now, look at verse four. Surely
he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes, we are
healed." Now, we spoke a moment ago about the Lord Jesus Christ
bearing earthly griefs and earthly sorrows, being subject to the
limitations of man. What's talking about here, these
griefs and he sorrows he bore, that is the griefs and the sorrows
of him bearing the sins of his people in his body on the cross. Folks, this is what's called
real substitution. And it's what's outlined in 2
Corinthians 5.21. For he hath made him sin. For us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the very righteousness of God in Him. That is real substitution. Now, if you read this book, there
are undeniable truths in this book. Same theme over and over
and over, and I'm going to give you just a couple of them right
now. Number one, here's the first place we need to start. All men,
everywhere, stand guilty before God, rightly deserving punishment. I want to start there. Now, I
see no reason to try to prove to you the existence of God.
You can go outside and you can look at the creation, you can
see that. You can tell that there's a God, that he created all this,
that he was before this was, that he's incredibly powerful,
that he's more powerful than me and you. I feel no need to
prove to you that there was a God. The question is, what is my standing
before him? Guilty, rightly deserving punishment. That's the first undeniable truth.
Here's the second one. God is absolutely and utterly
sovereign. Everything that happens is according
to his purpose. There has never been anything
that he has willed and he has purposed that has not come about.
And there's never been anything that has happened that he did
not will and he did not purpose. He is sovereign in every aspect
of his person. He is sovereign in predestination,
purposing all things, willing all things, willing the conformity
of his people. to this express image of Jesus
Christ, completely sovereign in that. He's sovereign in the
creation and creating all things for himself and for his own glory.
And he is sovereign in salvation. We, the offending party, I want
you to understand that, the offending party, we have sinned and it
is against God. We are in his hands for him to
do with us as he sees fit. And there's nothing we can do
to change his mind. It's the second thing I want
you to know. Here's the third thing. God is holy. He is completely and utterly
holy, and with that sense of holiness comes a perfect sense
of justice. He will never let any sin go
unpunished, ever. He will never look at a man that
has sin on him and pronounce him not to have sin. If there
is sin on a man, he has sin on him. That's the way he sees it.
If there is no sin on a man, there is no sin on a man. He
sees things as they really are. He cannot pretend. He sees them
as they really are. And every time he sees sin, he
simply punishes the one for whom the sin has found him. I want
you to understand that, those three undeniable truths. And
because of that, the Lord Jesus Christ bore the sins of his people
in his body. And on that cross, he suffered
and he died, putting those sins away. What are the effects of
that suffering? Look at verse five. But he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. Before there could be peace,
there first had to be chastisement. Somebody had to die. The justice
of God had to be honored. But because of the chastisement
of Jesus Christ, what is the effect? Peace. Real peace with
God. So much so that the sin has been
removed and it's been put away. Therefore, the reason for the
Father's anger towards His people is really gone. If you're in
Christ right now, God is at peace with you because of the suffering
of the Lord Jesus Christ for no other reason. Now read it
again, verse five. 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, and I challenge you to think
about the magnitude of this next word, are healed. It does not say we will be healed
if we do something. It does not say, we will be healed
if we do our part. It says, by his stripes, we presently
are healed. That means when he said, it is
finished, it really was finished. And right now there's nothing
left to do. Nothing is required of you. Nothing is on your shoulders.
It actually has all been done. But here's the question. Who's
the we? Is it every man without exception? No, it certainly cannot be. There
is certainly a place called hell. There are certainly people there
right now, and there will be people there for the eternity. But it
says, we are healed. So there are currently, right
now, a people that are healed and a people that are not. If
I am a we, everything's great. It couldn't get any better. If
I'm not, things couldn't get any worse. So my question here
is, who is the we? Now look at this, look at verse
8. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and shew shall declare his generation. For he
was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression
of my people. Was he stricken? First off, who's
the we? The Lord calls them my people.
Where do we hear that again? Go all the way back, go back
to the exodus, right, in Egypt. There's two people there. There's
Egypt and there's the children of Israel. The Lord sends 10
plagues upon Egypt and he sends Moses back after those plagues
to Pharaoh every single time with the exact same statement,
let my people go. What was the difference between
Egypt and Israel? They were both equally idolaters.
You look at their history, look at Egypt, they're all covered
up with idolatry. Look at the children of Israel as they wandered
through the wilderness. The same sin they went back to
over and over was idolatry. Humanly speaking, both these
people completely and utterly wicked and completely utterly
wretched, deserving punishment. So what made the difference for
Israel? They were the Lord's people. He chose them. He was for them, He purposed
to redeem them, and redeem Him that He would, simply because
He had chosen them and He was pleased to. This is the first
we, folks, the elect. Those the Father chose in divine
election before the world began. This is the first we, but this
we continues. Look at verse six. Well, I'll say this first. The
second we, this is 1 Timothy 1.15. This is a faithful saying,
and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into this
world to save, does anybody remember the next word? Sinners, of whom
I am chief. First, the we is the elect. Secondly,
who are these we? How can we identify them? They're
sinners. Now, look at verse six. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. Now folks, this is a sinner.
This is the hallmark of the straying sheep. He has willfully and foolishly
rebelled and wandered away from his master. Willfully rebelled
and wandered away from his master, and now he can't get back. And
folks, this is a sinner. Your sin is your fault. You have
rebelled against God. That is your fault, and now you
have separated yourself from your God, and you can't get back.
You can't come into the Father's presence. He is holy. He is completely
unforgiving to sin if it is found on a man. Therefore, you can't
come back into his presence. You are separated. You have separated
yourself, and you can't earn your way back into his good graces.
You are completely and utterly dependent. Your only hope is
that the Lord Jesus Christ comes to you where you're at in all
your separation and brings you back to God. full well knowing
that if he doesn't, and you die in that condemnation that you've
made for yourself, there's no blame for God in all that. He's
absolutely right. You have separated yourself from
your God. Folks, that's a sinner. Who's
the we, the chosen? Who's the we, sinners? There's
another we. I want you to turn to Romans
3. Who's the we? Romans 3 and look
at verse 20. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. Now what does the law do? What
is the purpose of the law? Can any man be saved by the law?
No. The law was not made for righteous
men. The law does one thing, it exposes my sin. That's all
it does. It just says guilty. That was it. Now what is this,
the deeds of the law, what is this talking about? This is talking
about me having to do something to earn my own salvation. If
something is on me, if there's something I have to do to make
salvation possible, what is the outcome? Read it again. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight. If any port of salvation is on
me, if it is a deed I must do, and you put whatever you want
in there by enacting some sort of bogus free will, by mustering
my own faith, by volunteering in a soup kitchen, whatever you
want to put there, if any port of salvation is on me, I will
not be justified. That is what that's saying. Now
look at verse 21. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested. What is God's demand? Righteousness. Perfect, pure, clean righteousness. And the only one he will accept,
the only one that stacks up is his own. That's it. But look
at this. This is the righteousness of God without the law. Having
the very righteousness of God, meeting the demands of God without
me doing anything. Now, does that sound attractive
to anyone? For a sinner, it's very attractive. Look down at
verse 22. So who's the we? God's chosen people. How do they
identify? Sinners. What do they do? They
believe. What do they believe? Verse 25. whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation through, look at these next four words, faith
in his blood. We've come full circle, folks,
this is it. What does every believer believe? That when the Lord Jesus Christ
hung his head on that cross and he died, and he uttered these
words, it is finished. It really was finished. And there
is nothing left to do. And there is no works left to
perform. And right now, all I do is I
rest. And I trust him. You believe that? He got faith
in his blood. You're we. All right. Go back to Isaiah 53.
We're going to read verses seven through nine together. Isaiah 53 verse 7, he was oppressed
and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison
and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence. Neither was any deceit in his mouth. He opened not his
mouth. He was on the cross and all these
people were hurling accusations at him left and right. He never
said anything to defend himself. You know the answer to this,
why? You of all people know the answer to this. Because he really
was guilty. The sins of his people had really
been made his sins and he would not defend himself because he
really was guilty. I'm going to go down the rabbit
hole on this for a minute. We're going to go to 1 Peter chapter 2. Peter provides a commentary on
this. 1 Peter chapter 2 and look at
verse 21. For even, verse 21, here unto
were you called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving
us an example, that you should follow his steps, who did no
sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. This is the first
thing Peter wants us to know, he did no sin. Never committed
a sinful action, never had a sinful thought, never had a sinful imagination
come across his heart. He is the spotless lamb. He never
sinned. We have to begin there. Look
at verse 23. Who, when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. when he was reviled, when they
hurled accusations to him, he never spoke up. But he also didn't
threaten. He threatened not. You know what
that word means? It means to forbid. Now, if you were to accuse
me of something I didn't do, I would certainly speak up and
say, no, I didn't do that. But here's the other thing. If
I was more powerful than you and you were going to kill me
for something I didn't do, I would stop you. If I am more powerful
than you and it is in my power to stop you, I would do that
if I didn't do what you're saying I did. Right? Well, he did not
forbid them. If he would have, no one would
have been safe, but he did not forbid them and he did not speak
out against himself because he really was guilty. This is how
real this thing is. The sins of his people became
his sins. Now, look at verse 23 again. Who, when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed
himself to him that judgeth righteously. Why wouldn't he open his mouth?
Why would he not forbid this? Well, it's very simple. He knew
that this judgment that fell upon him came from his father,
this one who always judges righteously, who has a perfect sense of justice. The condemnation that I found
myself in, my father has brought it about me, and he is absolutely
just. He will not punish an innocent
man. And he will not let a guilty man go free. He committed himself
to this one who judges righteously, who sees things as they really
are. Now verse 24. Who his own self
bear our sins in his body on the tree, that we, being dead
to sins, should live unto righteousness. By whose stripes ye were healed. My point in bringing all this
out, why would I get in the weeds with this? For this reason, salvation
is real. It is not a legal thing. It's
not a judicial thing. It's not a forensic thing. It's
real. Sin cannot be in two places.
If my sin was lifted off me and it was put in Christ and it was
punished in Christ, you know what that means? That means that
sin really is gone. That means the reason for the
separation between me and my Heavenly Father is gone. And
that means that I am, and every believer is, the very righteousness
of God in Christ. It has absolutely nothing to
do with my experience. And you know what? Here's why I wanted
to bring that out, because that makes me happy. And it gives
me the courage to face the next day, because I know whatever
happens between right now and whenever I die, is largely inconsequential. Because I know how the story
ends. Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into
my rest. That's real. That's real salvation. All right, look at verse 10,
Isaiah 53. Verse 10, yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him." I wouldn't feel comfortable saying that
unless the scripture said that, but it does. And I looked at all
the words. It means exactly what it says
there. There's no mistranslation. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Why? Why did it please the Lord
to bruise his own son? I'll give you three things. Number
one, that transaction that took place on the cross between the
father and the son, it collectively glorified God. On the cross,
all the attributes of God and His Trinity are all on showcase
for everybody to see. You see the perfect holiness
and justice of God that when sin is found on His only Son,
He will not spare Him. He will pour out all His wrath
upon Him. No sinner will ever be spared. If sin is found on
a man, he will be punished. The perfect justice of God is
manifest at the cross. He wouldn't even spare His only
begotten Son. But also, you see the love of
God for His people. The mercy of God, the grace of
God, there is the Lord Jesus Christ willingly. No one forced
him in. Willingly on that cross, obeying
his father and lovingly saving his people. You see his perfect
ability there, that he hung his head and said, it is finished.
It means it's done. There's nothing left to do. All
the wonderful attributes of God on perfect display on that cross.
What happened on that cross glorified God. And that's why the father
was pleased to bruise him. I'll give you another reason.
I've been thinking about this and I hope I say it right. It pleased the
father to bruise him because he could take it. That's my son. He is six years old. He is a
weak little boy. And if I were to kill him, it
would be a sickening crime. He cannot bear the burden of
many. His death would accomplish absolutely nothing. If I killed
him, it would simply be a horrific crime. That's it. But understand
this, that one suffering on that cross is no weakling. The false
religion in this world posing him as this weakling, look at
him suffering on that cross. Oh, pity him. Don't you dare
pity him. That is a strong warrior on that
cross, big broad shoulders. He is glorifying himself and
he is saving his people and he's doing it to the tune of his own
glory. That's what's going on on that cross. He is not one
to be pitied. Now, I got a son, and what's
important to me is my son is tough, right? When he falls off
his bike, I expect no tears. I expect you dust yourself off
and you go back to riding your bike. You know what? He can take it. That's
what I want to say. And the father looks at his son and he said,
he can take it. I can put sin on him. You want to know why?
Because he can take it. You and I can't take it. We'd end up
in hell. He could take it. He could bury
it in his body. He's willing to bruise him. He was pleased
to bruise him. You want to know why? Because he could take it. He knew he
could take it so well that he knew in three days his justice
would be so well honored that he would have to raise him from
the dead. That's how well he could take it. This is no weakling. This is one who could take it.
That's why the father was pleased to bruise him, because he could
take it. The only one who could. Third reason, verse 11. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. This is the third reason that
the father was pleased to Bruce him, because what he did actually
satisfied God. Everyone for whom he died, all
the demands of God were satisfied right there on the cross. And
now the father can receive all the Lord's people as sons. You
remember the prodigal son, right? He's coming home, he's got a
speech. I sinned against you, I've sinned against heaven, make
me a hired servant. And he comes back and his father
comes running to him. And he can't get his speech out
because the father's too busy hugging him and roughing him
up. And he says, just shut up, put the best robe on him. Put
the best robe on him. Put shoes on his feet, put a
ring on his hand. My son was dead, now he's alive. He was
lost, and now he's found. And now, because he's satisfied,
he can receive all his people as sons. That's why the father
was pleased to bruise him. Those three reasons. Now let's
end, look at verse 12. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong. Because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bare the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. You see what he says there? How
does the Father now view every believer in Christ? He says he's
great and he's strong, because our portion is with Christ. And
what do we say about ourselves? Romans 5, 6, yet when we were
without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
That's how I view myself, without strength, ungodly. How does the
Father view us in Christ? Great and strong, because he
sees absolutely no difference. When he's looking at one of his
elect, he sees nothing but his son, and he sees greatness, and
he sees strength, because our portion is with him. I'm gonna
leave you all there.