Tonight I'm going to preach upon
the subject refreshed. Refreshed. Turn back with me to Luke chapter
22. I cover your prayers. for me
and for you, for me that I would be enabled to preach the gospel,
and for you that you'd be enabled to hear the gospel, and for me
too that I might be enabled to hear what I'm preaching. I've entitled this message, Christ
Numbered with the Transgressors. Christ. the holy, harmless, undefiled
Son of God numbered with the transgressors. Now look with
me once again in verse 37 of Luke chapter 22 for I say unto
you. What authority is there? I say unto you. that this that is written must
yet be accomplished in me, the gospel comes from that which
is written. This gospel is a religion of
this book. that which is written. And how you and I respond to
God himself is seen in how we respond to that which is written. He cannot be separated from that
which he has written. quoted this in Bible study this
morning, 2nd Timothy 316, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God. God breathed. There is no error
in this book. It is all inspired by God and
is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness. The Bible claims to be divinely
inspired. Now there are things we can know
about God without the Bible. We can't know God without the
Bible, but there are things we can know about God without the
Bible. Romans 1 20 says, The invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. Now, creation. I can look at creation and I
know somebody had to cause this. There's no such thing as an atheist.
There's no such thing as an agnostic. Oh, I know that people will say
I don't believe in God or I'm agnostic. I don't know, but everybody
knows. Everybody knows that somebody
had to cause all this and nobody caused him. He's eternal. He's infinite. Oh, I can look
at this creation and see God is powerful. Somebody had to
cause this and no one caused him. He's eternal. He's eternal. There's got to be a cause of
everything, but there's no cause of him because he's the eternal
God. Everybody can see that. Just look at nature. Don't need
to see anything else. We can know some things about
God without the Bible, but there are some things we cannot know
about God apart from the written revelation of the scriptures. Is God just? Is God merciful? Is God love? Is there such a
thing as sin? Right and wrong? If there is,
will He punish sin? Will He forgive sin? Does He love sinners? These are questions that only
the Bible answers. That's why our Lord refers to
that which is written. That which is written. Can you
prove the Bible is inspired? No. No. It's a given. Can you prove God exists? No. It's a given. He don't exist. Don't need to prove. Can you
prove he doesn't exist? Uh-huh, certainly not. Can you
prove the Bible's not the Word of God? No. No. Thank God for the revelation
of scriptures. I'm so thankful for this book.
Our Lord says it is written. You can listen to me preach and
you can see if what I'm telling you is the truth by having a
Bible in your hand and see if I'm preaching what this book
says. I say unto you, that which is
written must yet be accomplished in me. And then he quotes a passage
from Isaiah chapter 53 verse 12. He was numbered with the
transgressors. He, the Son of God, sinless, Born of a virgin. Literally. Born of a virgin. Without the sinful nature you
and I have. The Son of God. The Son of Mary. With an impeccable nature. As God, as man, He could not
sin. When he was tempted, there was
no possibility whatsoever of him succumbing to the temptation
because he's impeccable. Can God sin? No. Is He God? Yes. Very God of very God. Perfect humanity. He was numbered with the transgressors. He was placed in that demographic,
the transgressors. Now, what is a transgressor? First John chapter 3 verse 4
tells us that sin is the transgression of the law. That's a mighty good
definition of sin. Sin is the transgression of the
law. Now, you take God's holy law,
the Ten Commandments. I shall have no other gods before
me. I love the commandment regarding
idolatry. You will not make any likeness
of me. You're not going to have any false images of me. And then
the commandment concerning his holy name. not to take it in
vain. Holy and reverend is thy name. Even in the law, there's a commandment
that tells us we can't be saved by works. Don't work on the Sabbath
day. Salvation cannot be by works.
It's by resting in Christ. Honor your father and mother.
Honor, respect all authority. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not bear false witness. You're not to lie. You're always
to tell the truth. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt
not covet anything that's thy neighbor's. What does that law tell me? One
thing. I am a law breaker. That's all it tells me. If you
can look at the Ten Commandments and think that you've even kept
one of them one time, all you prove by that is you're dead
in sins. You don't have any idea of what sin is, of what holiness
is, of what the law of God means. The law is given for this one
purpose, to show us our sin. That's it. Sit and try to keep it. I wouldn't say no. I wouldn't
say no. Do you keep it? I would say no. Period. Sin is the transgression of the
law. Now, if Christ never sinned,
why was he numbered a transgressor? Good question. If Christ never
sinned, Why was he put and numbered in the transgressors? Well, turn
with me to Isaiah 53. That question is answered. You see in verse 12 in the line
where it says he was numbered with the transgressors. Well,
here's how that took place. Verse 6 of Isaiah 53. 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. Now here we're given why Christ
was numbered with the transgressors. It's the great and glorious truth
of substitution. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. And we couldn't turn ourselves
around. And the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. All the sins of all of God's
left were laid upon him. Peter says, who his own self
bear our sins in his own body, in his own body, on the tree. You take all the rays of the
sun and let them be focused through one magnifying glass and all
concentrated upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He bore all the wrath
of God. Why? Because you take the sins
of millions and millions of people and place them on that one man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, so that they became His. He was the sin
bearer. He had to pay the great debt.
And the wrath of God came upon Him. Now who is the us when it
says all 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? Who is the we? Who is the us? Can I take this blessed promise
to myself? Can I believe that my sin was
laid upon him and that he bore it away? It's described in our
text, all we like sheep. have gone astray. Every one of us, everybody included
in that group, were sheep. They're goats and they're sheep. What about sheep? Sheep are dumb. Sheep are dirty. Sheep are defenseless. Sheep go astray and they cannot
find their way back. Would that describe you? And notice, every sheep has an
aggravation about their guilt that makes them believe themselves
to be worse than anybody else. Have everyone turned to his own
way? There's a particular iniquity
about me that I don't see in anybody else that makes me believe
that I'm the worst man alive. Paul felt that about himself.
He said, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of
whom I am the chief, not who I was the chief. He's talking
about right now, whom I am the chief. Does this describe you? A sheep,
a dirty, stupid, defenseless, straying sheep who can't find his way back.
He's left through his own willful ignorance and sin. There he is. There she is. And the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. All of us stupid, strange, dumb
sheep that so easily and who have something particular
about themselves where they've turned their own way that makes
their guilt in their own eyes more aggravated than anybody
else. Now that is the person whose
sins were laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. All 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." Now, if the Lord Jesus was not innocent,
sinless, guileless, without guilt, the Father couldn't have taken
our sins and placed them upon Him. But He is the sinless substitute. Now, somebody may be thinking,
How can that be fair? How can it be fair for God to
take my sins and lift them off of me and put them on Christ? How can that be fair? Let me give you four reasons. Number one, because God did it.
Anything else need to be said? What God does He does. And whatever He does is right.
I don't care whether anybody understands it or not. Whatever
He does is right. And if He does it, it's right. We bow to what God does, don't
we? He did this. If He did it, I'm not going to
question His fairness or justice. Who am I to question His fairness
or justice? Whatever God does is right. Amen? Here's the second reason Christ
did this voluntarily. He wasn't a victim. He did this
voluntarily. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. No man takes my life from me.
I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it up. This
commandment have I received of my Father. He was no victim.
He took my sins willingly and voluntarily. The Father did it. He did it voluntarily. And thirdly, Jesus Christ was paying for the
debts of his wife. You see, the church is the bride
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever debts my wife has, they're
mine. And he loves his wife and he
was going to take upon himself all the debts that his beloved
bride owed. He did this willingly and gladly
because he loved his bride. And fourthly, this is fair because
we're saved the same way we were ruined. How was I ruined? When Adam sinned,
I was in him. And when he sinned, I sinned. When he was ruined, I was ruined. When he died, I died. But I'm saved the same way in
Christ. As in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive. When Christ kept the law, I kept
the law. When Christ pleased His Father,
I pleased my Father. When Christ died, I died. When
Christ made satisfaction to the law of God, God was satisfied
with me. When He was raised up, I was raised up. Oh, I can't
even express enough how much He is my salvation. Just as I
died in Adam, and I did. When Adam sinned, I sinned. Somebody
says, it doesn't seem fair that a sin would be charged to me
that I didn't commit. You got it wrong there. You committed
it. When He committed it, you did. Well, I wasn't born. Yeah, but you were in His loins.
And I guarantee you, you would have done it if you were in the
same position. And let's say His sin isn't charged
to you. How have you done with that on
your own? It's just as bad. It doesn't help you any. If you
can be damned, somebody, you can be saved in somebody. Thank God for the gospel of Christ. It's all fair, isn't it? It's
all fair. Turn with, well, you're there
in Isaiah. Let's read Isaiah 53, beginning in verse 4. This is how he was numbered with
the transgressors. Surely he hath 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. 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. He was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
her shears is done. So he opened not his mouth. Why
didn't he defend himself? He was guilty. He was guilty. That's why he didn't open his
mouth. I'll tell you what, if I'm accused of something that
I didn't do, I'm gonna defend myself. I'm gonna defend myself. He was guilty. The sins of God's
elect literally became his sins. He said, he didn't say Todd's
iniquities have gone over my head. They're too heavy for me.
My wounds stink and corrupt. No, he said, my iniquities have
gone over my head as a heavy burden. They're too heavy for
me. That's why he didn't open his
mouth. He knew he stood guilty before the law of God. Verse
8, 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, yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 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. And one comment, that word bear
means be gravid. be impregnated with. That is the closest relationship
that we know of, the relationship of a mother bearing her child. He shall bear our iniquities. He never sinned, but oh, he found
out what sin was, didn't he, on Calvary's tree. 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. Now Christ bore Christ bore all the consequences
of sin. And what I'm talking about now,
I realize I'm in the dark. He bore unknown sufferings. You know, I find it a bit annoying
when a preacher tries to describe his sufferings. You don't know. You see, he had a capacity to
suffer that you and I know nothing about. He bore unknown sufferings
and he lost all favor with God. He couldn't even call God Father. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? You see, God forsakes sin. He's
God. He's holy. He will not accept
sin. And what happened as a result
of this? Sin was put away. The sin of everybody he died
for was taken away. It is no more. 1 John chapter 3 verse 5 says,
He was manifested to take away our sins. That's what He was
doing on Calvary's tree. Taking away our sins. In Him, no sin. Know what that means? It means if
I'm in Him, I have no sin. You see, His death is called
in Luke 9 31, an accomplishment. Now I'm thinking of my dear brother
Cody's death. I don't look at it as an accomplishment.
Now, I know the Lord's purpose is going to be done in it, but
what a mess this has left. As far as his death, now who's
going to pastor these churches, who's going to, you know, you
just say, I know it's not right. The Lord's in control. Don't,
don't, I've got complete confidence in that, but I'm thinking no
human being's death is an accomplishment. It says sinner. It says weak. It says you can't stand before
death. But there was one man whose death was an actual accomplishment. He accomplished something in
his death. He said, I finished the work
you gave me to do. He redeemed all of the elect. Now I want you to listen to this
statement real carefully. If you tell me that there are
people suffering in hell for whom he died, I don't know if
you realize it, but you're saying his death wasn't enough to save
them. That's the long and short of it. You're saying his bloody
death was not enough to save them. Something else needed to
be done by them to be saved. Man, I'm thankful the Bible doesn't
teach that, aren't you? Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God. You see, universal redemption,
saying that Jesus Christ shed His blood for everybody, makes
God unjust. You have to pay for a death that's
already been paid. And it makes the blood of Christ
meaningless and powerless to save. did not bear every human being's
sin. Well, who's sin did he bear? Who's sin did he bear? Well,
I've already described them. They're the people who, like
sheep, have gone astray. Every one of them has turned
to his own way. He's lost and can't get his way
out. That's who Christ died for. The sheep. He said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. He said to one group of people, the reason you don't believe
is because you're not of my sheep. As I said to you, my sheep hear
my voice. The sheep, the sheep. And listen,
being a sheep in some respects is not a good thing, is it? stupid, easily going astray,
you can't defend yourself, you can't get back when you do go
astray, you're totally dependent upon the shepherd to bring you
back. Like David said in the last verse of Psalm 119, I've
gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant, for I don't
forget thy word. Now if you are the sheep, if you are a sinner who goes
astray so easily and can't find their way back. And there's a
particular aggravation to your sin that makes you believe yourself
to be the worst man alive. If you're a sheep, if you're
a sinner, Christ died for you. Your sins were laid by God the
Father and made to meet upon Him And He put them away, and
you stand before God right now, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. And you really believe that the
only reason that is, is because of Jesus Christ. He's all you
have. You don't claim anything else.
He's all you have. And you have all. Three closing statements. Number one. He was numbered with
the transgressors. What amazing love that the father
would give him to be numbered with the transgressors. Herein
is love. Not that we love God. but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. What amazing love of the Son to His Father! He would die He would become obedient to death
if his father told him to do it, because he loved his father.
He would rather die than his father's law be dishonored. What
amazing love to the father! What amazing love to us! Paul
said, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, Who can describe the riches of
Jesus Christ? Rich in communion with the Father.
Rich in righteousness. Rich in the praise of angels.
Rich in absolute sovereignty. Yet, for your sakes, He became
poor. He lost everything. for your sakes, that you, through his poverty,
might be rich. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus. What security Every believer
has. If Christ died for you, you can't
run the risk of the hazard of the possibility of being anything
but saved. Now listen to me. Here's how
secure I am. Right now, I am glorified in the person of Christ. That's what the scripture says.
Now, Cody Groves is glorified right now. Right? He's glorified
right now. He ain't thinking about us. Somebody
says, he's looking down here. No, he's not. I'll assure you
he's not. But the scripture says, whom
he did foreknow, then he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he
also called, and whom he called, then he also justified, and whom
he justified, he glorified. Now, how secure is already being
glorified? Somebody says, you don't look glorified to me. I
know, but I still am. Doesn't matter whether I look
like it or not. If God's Word says I am, I am. And that is secure. How secure is everybody for whom
he died? And thirdly, you are not your own. You are bought. with a price. Is there any possibility of too
much consecration, too much loyalty to him? Were the whole realm of nature
mine, that were a present far too small, love so amazing, So
divine demands my soul, my life, my all. Do not dare look to your works or commitment
as anything in your salvation. Christ is your salvation. Oh,
be his loyal servant. Let's pray. Lord, we confess that because
you were numbered with the transgressors we are numbered with the righteous. Lord how we thank you that he
was numbered with the transgressors that we might be numbered with
the righteous. Lord I'm asking in Christ's name
by your spirit that you would give everybody in this room Lord
we ask for everybody in this room the grace to trust thy son. In Christ's blessed name we pray,
amen. We got Mitch. I love that hymn,
212. Stand and sing. 232. Christ our Redeemer died on the
cross, died for the sinner, paid all his due. Sprinkle your soul
with the blood of the Lamb, and I will pass, will pass over you. Winner! See the blood! Winner! When I see the blood,
when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you. Chiefest of sinners, Jesus will
save all he has promised that he will do. Wash in the fountain,
open for sin And I will pass, will pass over you When I see
the blood When I see the blood When I see the blood I will pass,
I will pass over you Judgment is coming, all will be there,
each one receiving justly his due. Saving sin, cleansing blood,
and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood When
I see the blood When I see the blood I will pass, I will pass
over you O great compassion, O boundless love, O loving kindness,
faithful and true. Find peace and shelter under
the blood, And I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the
blood, When I see the blood, When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you.