Good evening. I invite your attention to the
53rd chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 53. And God willing, tonight we will
address the subject mentioned in the first line. The subject
of my message is our report. Isaiah writes in verse 1, who
has believed our report and to whom has the arm of Jehovah been
revealed? It's a weighty question and a
weighty answer. So let's consider the subject
of our report. First of all, what is this report? I can give you a definitive answer
from God's word as to what it is. Locate Romans chapter 10. Now, hold your finger in Isaiah
chapter 53. Locate Romans chapter 10. And
in the 10th chapter of the Epistle to Rome, Paul addresses the subject
of the gospel which we preach. He addresses the fact that God
sent men to preach the gospel and none will be saved apart
from hearing and believing the gospel. And in Romans 10 verse
16, Paul says that not all have obeyed our gospel. Now consider
that phrase. Not all have obeyed the gospel. He continues, Isaiah has written,
Lord, who has believed our report? The two phrases in that verse
are synonymous. They mean the same thing. To
obey the gospel is to believe our report. Therefore, our report
is the gospel. The word gospel means glad tidings
and good news and our report is the good news, the glad tidings
of salvation in and by and through the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Isaiah here furthermore calls
it our report. Who is included in that little
word, our? Who has this report to give? First of all, it would be Isaiah
himself. He wrote it. He wrote it. He's the penman. He can say,
this is Isaiah's report. I wrote this. But then again,
Isaiah would also say, this is the Holy Spirit's report. Because
Isaiah wrote as he was moved of God. All Scripture is given
by inspiration of God. Meaning that God breathed it
into the writers of Holy Scripture. We read that holy men of God
wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So that what you
read here is God's Word. You can see Isaiah's experience
in it, you can see Isaiah's personality. But this is God's Word. The Holy
Spirit sat there and said, Isaiah, take up your pen, and I want
you to write these words. And he would breathe God's Word
into the ear of Isaiah, and Isaiah would write, so that when he
concluded, he could look to the Holy Spirit and say, this is
our report, yours and mine. You inspired it, I wrote it. But then again, this is also
the report of God the Father. Unhappily, our Bibles are not
always divided by chapter in the best places. This 53rd chapter
of Isaiah's prophecy should also include the last three verses
of chapter 52. If you'll go to chapter 52, you'll
find Jehovah speaking and he says, Behold my servant. His servant is Jesus Christ in
this instance. Behold, my servant shall deal
prudently, wisely, circumspectly, successfully. That word prudent
takes in a lot of different things. If you'll just look at the way
that Jesus Christ dealt when he was on this earth, it's all
included in this word prudently, circumspectly, wisely, successfully. My servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled
and be very high after he has dealt prudently and because he
has dealt prudently. Just as many were astonished
at you. So his visage was marred more
than any man and his form more than the sons of men. And this
was particularly true in his passion. and in his death on
Calvary as a consequence of what happened there and what led up
to it. Roman soldiers took him and tied
him to a post, took a cat of nine tails in which were probably
embedded metal strips And they plowed his back asunder 39 stripes. They plucked the beard from his
face. They said, he's a king. He needs
a crown. They planted one of thorns. They
crossed it to his brow. They spat upon it. They beat him. They smote him. And that was just the beginning. They marched him to Calvary. There they nailed him to a tree. If you had seen him 24 hours
earlier, you would have said, this cannot be the same person.
His visage, His form marred more than the sons of men. But so, verse 15, because of
this He shall sprinkle many nations. He shall sprinkle them in two
ways. First, He will sprinkle them with His atoning blood like
that priest did on the day of the atonement, went into the
most holy place, took the blood, and sprinkled it on the mercy
seat, and made atonement for Israel. Except that priest had
to do it every year. This man, Jesus Christ, took
his own blood into that tabernacle not made with hands in the heavens,
And there in his death on Calvary, he goes into that most holy place
and takes his blood and sprinkles it on the mercy seat before God,
and God says, it's finished. Therefore, Jesus Christ says,
it's finished. Furthermore, we're told by the
prophet that he shall sprinkle clean water on people, the water,
the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit. He shall sprinkle
many nations, not Jews only, but even for people like you
and me. I can tell that we evidently
come from a lot of different nations. Well, he shall sprinkle
many nations, and kings shall shut their mouths at him. For
what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had
not heard they shall consider. And this will be particularly
true when he comes back in all his glory. And the most glorious
king of this earth will be like the queen of Sheba when she looked
at Solomon and she said, I heard he was great, but the half has
not been told. And when he comes back, the most
glorious king on this earth is gonna look up and say, I heard
he was great, but oh, I must close my mouth. He's greater
than ever I could have imagined. That is Jehovah's report. And
that is the report of every gospel preacher. What I have just read
to you and what I shall read to you is the report of every
gospel preacher. And tonight, I'm happy to say
this is my report. I have a report to give to you
tonight, and here it is. Now, I'm rather certain that
your pastor jealously guards his pulpit. I do. I do. So therefore, I'm rather confident
that when I'm finished tonight, you're going to say, that's Todd's
report too. Well, that's true because this
is the report of every gospel preacher. This is the report
of God, the Father. This is the report of God, the
Holy Spirit. And this is the report of Isaiah. And we say, we agree. Our report,
who has believed. our report. I want you to consider
next that very question. How does one believe our report? All right. We looked at it a
while ago. To obey the gospel is to believe
our report. The gospel. I'm not giving you an offer tonight. I'm not offering the gospel to
you. Gospel preachers do not do that.
I'm not giving you an invitation. This is not an invitation to
the gospel that I preach. It is not something that we put
before you in the hope that, oh, please accept this, accept
Jesus, please do that. No, no, no, that's not our report.
That's somebody else's report. What is our report? Our report
is Your eternal destiny depends upon whether you believe this.
This is a command. This gospel I preach, it's not
an offer. It's not an invitation. It is
a command. He who believes shall be saved.
He who does not believe shall be damned. So, that's what it
is to believe our report. It is to obey the gospel. This is a word to be obeyed. Do not consider it nonchalantly. Consider it very seriously. Because
your eternal destiny depends upon how you respond to this
command to believe the gospel. Who has believed our report? That's the question. The answer
to the question is also a question. The very next question. The question
is, who has believed our report? The answer to the question is,
to whom has the arm of Jehovah been revealed? If Jehovah has
revealed His arm, you have believed our report. And you cannot believe
our report unless Jehovah reveals His arm. Now, how does Jehovah
reveal His arm? What is it for Jehovah to reveal
His arm? Well, in the first place, the
Gospel itself is the arm of Jehovah that must be revealed. I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation. All God has to do is turn the
gospel loose. I can preach it, but I cannot
turn it loose. But oh, if God takes the gospel
and says, bear your arm, The gospel is going to have some
remarkable results every time it's done. But then again, the
arm of Jehovah is the arm of Jehovah, which is omnipotent
and all powerful. And unless God makes bare his
arm and unleashes his gospel, none of us are going to believe.
So who has believed our report? Everyone to whom Jehovah has
made bare his arm. What are the elements of our
gospel and our report? First of all, I would have you
consider that Christ received divine protection. Look in verse
number two. Christ received divine protection. For he shall grow up before him,
Jehovah, as a tender plant. Now what is a tender plant? A
tender plant is one that you must be careful, keep away from
it, because if you hit it with your foot, you may break it,
kill it. You can walk on the grass, it'll
just pop right back up. But some plants are so tender
that if you hit them wrong, they're broken. No good. A tender plant
is much like a newborn infant. When a horse gives birth to a
colt, the colt hits the ground and jumps up, exercises those
legs, and soon begins to imitate its mother in grazing. It runs
around. You know, little colts, they're
almost on their own very shortly. Well, that wasn't true of you
when you were born. How many months was it before
you could stand. How many months was it before
you took your first step? For how many years did someone
have to feed you thrice a day? How many years was it that somebody
had to see that you were provided for? Jesus was the same way. Somebody had to change his swaddling
cloths. Someone had to feed him. Someone
had to ascertain that His needs were met. He grew up just like
any others. But then again, notice that the
text says he shall grow up before Jehovah. Jesus had some enemies
that you and I do not have. In Revelation chapter 12 we read
that there is a woman who is with child about to be delivered
and Right in front of her, the dragon, the devil is crouched
and waiting because as soon as her child is born, he's going
to devour the child. Well, that woman is Israel, the
mother of Christ. Christ was born of Israel. He's the child that was born
of her. And as soon as he was born, the
devil tried to snatch him and devour him. Therefore, Jehovah
had to protect him. Shortly after Jesus was born,
his own king, Herod, king of the Jews, said, I want him dead. How long ago was he born? Ah,
within the last couple of years. Where was he born? Bethlehem. I want every male child two years
old and under killed so that I can get rid of him. I'll not
have him. I'll not have him. But he shall grow up, Jehovah
said, before me. Therefore, Jehovah said to his
legal father, take him to Egypt. He must grow up. If he stays
there, he will not take him to Egypt. So he shall grow up before
Jehovah. He received divine protection. Furthermore, Christ was so low
in his beginning that nothing great was expected of him. Nothing
great. I mean, even when he turned 30
years of age, nothing great was expected of him. When he began
his ministry, why was nothing great expected of him? Well,
consider. He shall grow up as a root out
of dry ground. What do you expect of a root
out of dry ground? Nothing. Nothing's going to come
of that. Just go ahead and pull it up
and get rid of it. Jesus grew up as a root out of
dry ground. He was born in Bethlehem. The
scriptures say it is the least of the towns of Judah. He was
born to a lowly woman of whom we would have never heard were
it not for the knowledge of her son. His mother was married to
a lowly carpenter who was financially incapable of providing to him
the finer things of life. His mother was so impoverished
that she offered the least sacrifice at his presentation to the Lord.
A pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons, not a lamb of
the first year, which she could not afford. Jesus was raised
in what was called the Galilee of the Gentiles. the Jewish province
scorned by Judeans because of the heathenism prevalent there. He was raised in a town so contemptible
that his own countrymen said, can anything good come out of
Nazareth? He had no earthly real estate,
not even a place to lay his head. He dressed in the plain and simple
garb of a peasant. And when he died, they divided
his entire wardrobe, and there were only five items in it. An inner tunic, an outer robe,
a belt, sandals, and a turban. That's all he had. We don't expect much from this
man, do we? In the eyes of the world, we
do not expect much of him. He was so lowly nothing great
was expected of him. He was plain and simple in his
appearance. Verse 2 again. He has no form
or comeliness and when we see him there is no beauty that we
should desire him. Jesus of Nazareth was the exact
opposite of religious leaders today. who attract men to themselves
through their good looks, charismatic personalities, lavish lifestyles
and promises that you can be as handsome and as healthy and
wealthy as me if you'll help me out here. Now Jesus did none
of that. He did none of that. You're not
gonna find any kind of a charming personality and trying to beguile
people. He's as plain and simple a man,
so much so that if you had looked at him, you would never desire
him. apart from divine grace. Yes,
his wife says he's altogether lovely, but she's the object
of grace. She knows. She sees a beauty
that no one else sees, but physically? Nah, he's not going to attract
many followers. It'll take divine grace if anybody
follows this man. Furthermore, Christ was despicable
to men and rejected by them. He is despised and rejected by
men, verse 3. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised and we did not
esteem him. At the end of his life, Pilate
had two men. He says, I have a man called
Barabbas. He is a murderer, a seditionist,
a rebel, led a rebellion, killed some people, stole some things. Worst kind of criminal there
can be. And then there's Jesus. I'm going to turn one of them
loose. Turn the robbers loose! Turn him loose! What shall I
do with Jesus? Kill him! Kill him! His own countrymen. One of his own apostles betrayed
him. The other 11 ran. And God the Father forsook him. He was despised and rejected. And I'll tell you this, you also
will despise and reject him apart from divine grace. Christ was deprived of earthly
happiness, verse 3, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
We never read of him laughing, never. I say not that he never
did, I'm just saying you never read it. Why was he such a man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief? How would you live right now
if you knew that in a few days your own countrymen would turn
you over to your enemies, they would nail you to a tree and
God would forsake you and you would be made sin? How would
you, would you go through life jolly and cheerful and full of
jocularity, would you? No. a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. But then again, have you ever realized what a
sinner you are? Have you? Has it grieved you? Made you full of sorrow? Well,
let me tell you, if you know sorrow and grief because of sin,
Jesus is for you. He knows what it is. He knows
grief. He knows sorrow. A man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. And Christ died as a substitute
for Jehovah's people. Verse 8, latter part. Jehovah
says, for the transgressions of my people he was stricken.
Who are Jehovah's people? Well, in Ephesians chapter 1,
they are identified as those whom God the Father chose out
of our fallen race before the foundation of the world, chose
them in Christ in order that they might be holy and blameless,
sanctified and justified, and stand before Him in love through
all eternity. And furthermore, these were predestined
to be God's adopted children. And furthermore, they were highly
favored before the foundation of the world to be accepted in
Christ in whom they have redemption and forgiveness of sins. These
are Jehovah's people. He says, they're my chosen predestined
ones. and he and Christ shall be stricken
for them. Who are Jehovah's people? Look in verses 12 and 11. Who are Jehovah's people? In
verse number 12, they're identified by number about halfway through
verse 12. Or toward the end, actually.
He bore the sin of... What's the next word? He bore
the sin of... Talk to me. He bore the sin of... Many. What is many? Less than all,
but more than a few. Well preacher, I believe Jesus
died for everybody. That's your report. You're welcome
to it. This is our report, okay? This
is our report. He bore the sin of many. Jehovah
took the sin of his chosen people who are many in number, laid
it on Christ. And what did Christ do for the
many? Look in verse 11. about halfway through. By his
knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify. What's the next
word? Talk to me. What's the next word?
Many. What many? The many whose sins
Jehovah took and laid on him. The many whose sins he bore to
Calvary. And he justified every single
solitary one of them. And there are many! That's my report, and I'm sticking
to it. Alright? I'm sticking to it.
Who are Jehovah's people? He shall be stricken for my people,
Jehovah says. Furthermore, You can identify
the many of Jehovah's people because in verse number 11, pardon me, in verse
number 5, we confess he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement for our pieces upon Him, and by His stripes
He made healing possible. No, that's somebody else's report. That's somebody else's report.
Our report is that if He was wounded for you, If he stood before God as your
substitute, you have been healed. And you were healed when stripes were laid upon him.
By his stripes we are healed. That's my report. Everyone for
whom he bore stripes has been healed. For the transgressions
of Jehovah's people he was stricken. Furthermore, Christ paid the
penalty for the sins of all for whom he died. Now we're going
to begin in verse number 4. And quickly we're going to expound
the rest of the chapter. Verse 4. Surely He has borne
our griefs. The word means sicknesses. We're just all a bunch of sick
sinners. Every time Jesus healed someone of a physical infirmity,
that physical infirmity pointed to a spiritual infirmity. Did
He heal the blind? Yes, and we all are spiritually. Did He heal the deaf? Yes, and we all are spiritually. Did they bring paralytics to
him who could not come? Yes, because that's what we are.
We're just a bunch of paralytics. We must be brought, enabled to
come. And he came to heal us of all
our sicknesses. He bore our griefs and our sicknesses. He carried our sorrows. What
sorrows? Those of our hearts. when we
finally realize what sinners we are. Do you recall when God
let you see what a sinner you were? Oh, what grief. What grief. My sins did that
to him. Yes. What grief. We esteemed him stricken, smitten
by God and afflicted because on Calvary he suffered divine
wrath. In three hours, from high noon
to 3 p.m., he suffered the everlasting hell that every one of God's
people deserves. And there, he was, that's for
you, okay? That's for you. That's for you. Stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted for three hours. until finally he could shout,
it's finished. It's finished. I've suffered
it all. He was punished. and bruised and stricken, smitten
of God. He was wounded for our transgressions
in verse 5. That's our rebellions against
God because we're just all a bunch of rebels against God. That's
all we are. We are at enmity against God. God says, here's our law. Let
me have it. I want to break it. That's the
way we are. We're just a bunch of rebels.
Jesus died for none but rebels. He was bruised for our iniquities. That word iniquities means perversions
against the standard, God's standard. Jesus died for none but perverts. I'm a lot of things, but I'm
not a pervert. Well, he didn't die for you. Jesus died for perverts. People who pervert the truth.
people who pervert God's word. He died for perverts in their
perversions, rebels against God's law. Yeah, but preacher, I just
don't think I'm quite that bad. Well, that's your report, all
right? Our report is he died for the
worst kinds of people there are. He didn't die for good people.
He died for sinners. The chastisement for our peace
was upon him because he was punished so that God's enemies could be
reconciled to him. And all we like sheep. Isaiah,
why did you say sheep? Well, I think that's what God's
elect are. I think they're called sheep.
All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way and Jehovah has laid on Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd,
the iniquity for us all because the Good Shepherd laid down his
life for his sheep. Not the devil's goats, his sheep. He was oppressed like a slave
under a taskmaster as when his enemies drove him to his crucifixion.
He was afflicted, and more accurately, this means he let himself be
afflicted. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I lay it down of myself. He opened not his mouth. He opened
not his mouth. He did not revile in return.
They bring him before the Sanhedrin. And they've got all these false
witnesses, and they bring them in. And these false witnesses
give their reports, and he stands there and never says a word.
Never says a word. Until finally, they ask the question, are you the son of the highest?
And he said, it is as you said. When he finally answered, They
said, it's blasphemy, take him away. They take him to Pilate,
and Pilate has him scourged, brings him out, stands him there
before the people, and his own countrymen are there before Pilate,
and they're hurling accusations, false accusations against him. And Pilate looks at Jesus and
he says, do you not hear what they're saying? Because Jesus
was not answering them. Do you not hear? And Jesus answered
not a word, and the Scriptures say Pilate marveled. Pilate,
all he's doing is fulfilling Scripture. He opened not his
mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shivers is silent, so he opened not his
mouth. Verse 8. He was taken from prison,
that of the Sanhedrin, and that of Pilate. He was taken from
judgment, particularly Pilate's judgment hall. And who would
declare his generation? His generation are his children. And he has them. Oh, he has them. Who would declare them? They're
not physical. They're the children of God.
Somebody's going to declare them. He was cut off from the land
of the living. He never married a physical wife and never had
physical children, but he has a wife and many children. Who
will declare it? Verse 9. They made his grave
with the wicked, but with the rich at his death, probably meaning
that he was crucified between sinners and buried in a rich
man's tomb. Because he had done no violence,
nor was there any deceit in his mouth. And yet it pleased Jehovah
to bruise him. Jehovah has put him to grief. Why would Jehovah put him to
grief? That's the only way Jehovah's
people can be saved. That's my report. That's my report. Furthermore, I want you to see
that Christ succeeded in his mission to save all for whom
he died. Verse 5, look at it. And by his
stripes we are healed. of our deafness, of our muteness,
of our blindness, of our paralysis, of our leprosy, of our uncleanness,
whatever spiritual disease we have in his death, by his death,
through his death, we are healed. He did not make a prognosis.
He did not write a prescription. He did not attempt to heal. He healed. Period. That's our report. He healed. Verse 10. When you, Jehovah,
make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. Wait a minute, wait a minute,
wait a minute. He's gonna die? And then see his children? Yep,
that's what it says. How's a dead man gonna see his
children? Now he's going to be raised from
the dead. You see here, right here in this gospel, our report,
the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
He shall see his seed. Jehovah shall prolong his days
because he's going to live through eternity. And the pleasure of
Jehovah shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the labor
of his soul and be satisfied. Meaning that he's going to say,
it was worth it. And I succeeded. I came to fulfill the law. It
is finished. Jehovah said, you shall save
your people from your sins. It is finished. Jehovah said,
you shall be the end of the law for righteousness. It is finished. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. He will have no stillborn children. Everyone for whom he died shall
be healed and justified and that's our report. Furthermore, he was
exalted by his father because of his success in saving his
people. Verse 12, Jehovah says, therefore I will divide him a
portion with the great And he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he poured out his soul in the death, and was
numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for them, so that my servant has dealt prudently,
successfully, circumspectly, and wisely. And that's our report. Our report is that Jesus Christ is Jehovah's
suffering servant. That Jehovah has taken the sins
of his people and laid them on Christ. That Christ has borne
those sins to Calvary. And on Calvary he was stricken
and smitten of God and afflicted because he died there vicariously
as a substitute in the place instead of Jehovah's people. And according to our report,
every soul for whom he died is justified and healed, saved,
sanctified, reconciled to God. That's our report. Don't you believe Jesus died
for everybody? That's somebody else's report. They're welcome
to it. Okay, they're welcome. That's not our report. God did
not give that report. Somebody else did. Preacher. I've been told that Jesus made
salvation possible, but God gave me a free will so that I could
do something about it. That's somebody else's report.
Okay, that's not ours. That's not ours. Our report is,
your will has nothing to do with it. I think we read something
about that a little earlier tonight from John chapter 1. Not of the
will of the flesh, not of the will of man. It's God's will. It's God's will. That's our report. So, I have one more question. Who has believed our report? Have you believed? our report,
this Gospel. Have you obeyed the Gospel? I ask myself that question. If there is ever a report worthy
of believing, it's this one. It's this one. Who has believed
our report? You can hear them singing man
of sorrows. What a name. For the son of God
who came ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah. What a savior. Have you believed our