Turn if you would to the twelfth
chapter of John. OK, John chapter 12. We're going
to start reading in verse thirty one. This is the Lord speaking. Now
is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto me. This said he, signifying
what death he should die. And the people answered him,
We have heard out of the law that Christ abided forever. And
how sayest thou the son of man must be lifted up? Who is this
son of man? Then Jesus said unto them, Yet
a little while is the light with you. Walk while you have the
light, lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness
knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have the light, believe
in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These
things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
And here we see the Lord addressing a multitude, and he issues two
things to them. First is a proclamation that
the Son of Man must be lifted up. He's speaking of his crucifixion. And secondly, he issues a warning.
He says in verse thirty one, walk in the way while you have
the light. And again, in verse thirty five,
while you have the light, you leave in the light. And sadly,
in verse thirty seven, we read, but though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believe not on him. In verse
thirty eight, the saying of Isaiah, the prophet might be fulfilled,
which he spake, Lord, who have believed our report and to whom
have the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore, they could
not believe because, as they have said again, he has blinded
their eyes and hardened their heart. They should not see with
their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted
and that I should heal them. This frightens me. Not only do
we see man's response to the gospel, they will not believe
we see the sovereignty of God and that he's blinded them, harden
their hearts. I don't want to be found on Judgment
Day before God wanting not having that which he requires being
unconverted, blind, hard heart. So what is this report that they
would not believe? Well, this report is found earlier
in this chapter, in the third chapter of John. John 3, 14, the report that they
would not believe. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. but have eternal
life. So first, we hear the Son of
Man must be lifted up. This is the Lord being crucified,
and he uses the picture in the Old Testament of Moses lifting
up the brazen serpent. And what was Moses told to tell
the people when he raised that brazen serpent? That anyone who
looks upon it shall live. The second thing that he tells
him is that whosoever believe it or looks unto him should not
perish, but have everlasting life. Well, I need to know what
it is to really look under him. That's important, and we need
to know that. And just as a comment, just because you and I are in
this place each week where we hear the gospel read and hear
it preached does not mean that I can have confidence in my salvation,
because we read just earlier in this chapter that the multitude
that the Lord sat before In the flesh, he preached to them. He
did many miracles and they heard it and they saw these things.
Yet they believed not on him. So we can see just being in being
in his presence is not going to give them the ability to do
these things. This has to come from the Holy Spirit. So what
my aim or objective is here tonight is to show us what it is to look
to Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, our efforts
are in vain. And to do that, we're going to
use as our text what was referred to in John chapter 12, Isaiah
53. And this scripture in itself
tells the story itself. We can just read the scripture
and it kind of tells us the story. So in verse one, who have believed
our report, the report that the son of man must be lifted up
and that whosoever believe in him shall not perish, but have
everlasting life. Well, the report in this can
also be looked at or translated as the good news. And so what
does the good news have to say? Well, the good news has to say
that first it starts with God. It had to start with God, because
we wouldn't have met him in the middle or started things that
had to come with God seeking us. God elected, selected a people
before time began for his own purpose and pleasure. And secondly,
God sent his son. He didn't send a heavenly being
or an angel. He sent his son. He sent his
son, one, because he could do no greater. There's no one more
fit for the task at hand than his son. That's why he sent him.
So we can see the importance that the Lord puts on this task
of redeeming his people. And that's why he sent his son.
He was the only one sufficient. And secondly, he sent his son
to stand as surety, to ensure, to make sure that all those whom
he selected were elected would be saved. The otherwise, the
consequences are we'd all been lost. And so we say save because
save from what? And save for myself, for my sin,
because the deeds and the heart of man are evil. And if we had
read on in the third chapter, John, verse 19, it says, and
this is the condemnation that light has come into the world.
And men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. So that's what it speaks of every
one of us. So God elected the people, God sent his son, because
he required satisfaction be made for the sin, the sin that we
committed, sin of his elect. So his son had to stand as a
substitute for our sin. Well, to whom is this good news
given? Good news given is certainly not to everyone or else there
would be no provision for hell or a place of punishment. The
good news is given only to those to whom Christ died for his elect,
to those who believe. First chapter, John, if you turn
over there briefly. Tells us a little bit about that. John, one twelve. He says. Speaking of who are the sons
of God, but as many as received him to them, gave he power to
become the sons of God, even to them which believe on his
name. Well, it says as many as received him, those were the
ones who were given the power to become the sons of God. But
just in case we get lifted up and think that there's something
within us that allows us to receive him, he gets his first 13 right
after that and says, which were born these sons of God, not of
blood, not of birth or by place in life, not of the will of the
flesh, not of the old man. You can't reform him. He's corrupt
and he can only be that way. Now, the will of man, nor the
will of man, the will of man, free will of man to choose to
believe or not to believe. Man can't choose to believe he's
constrained to a simple nature. So it affects everything that
he does. All they can do is. But of God, so which were born,
not of blood, nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but
of God, these are the sons of God. So in answer to the question
that Isaiah put forth, who has believed our report? And to whom
is the arm of the Lord revealed? The arm is his power, the power
of God into salvation. It's revealed to those who believe
the sons of God. And so stating what our objective
is again tonight, what is it to look to Christ for salvation? And when I was studying this
passage, I felt a little overwhelmed because it's such a rich passage
of scripture and didn't really know where to start or where
to end in it. just popped out in front of my
face. And in the scripture, I had it revealed to me that I made
two columns. One was he and one was we. And if you read through this
entire chapter everywhere, it talks about he and what the Lord
did for our salvation and then what our part was in that. And
so what am I looking to him for and what was our part in this?
So, first, he came as a lamb. He came gentle, neat, lowly. However, Israel was looking for
a conquering king. They weren't looking for this
one who was here. So in verse two, it says, For
he shall grow up before him, before the father, as a tender
plant in the weakness of the flesh, not from nobility, and
as a root out of a dry ground. It's not what we expected. When
you look for life, you don't look in the dry ground, you look
for the wet ground where it's been tilled, where it's been
taken care of. That's where life grows up. That's what we think
and what we know and what we expect. But it says here he came
as a root out of a dry ground and he hath no form nor humbleness. It's undesirable to the flesh.
It's not what we wanted. And so that goes in the he column.
So next in the we column, this is what we did. And when we shall
see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. No regard. It's just another face in the
crowd. Whenever you look, you're looking for somebody. So if I'm
looking for Megan and she's somewhere in a crowd, I'm looking for her
face and I may see hundreds of people, but you don't really
fixate on them because they don't mean anything to me. And that's
that's what this is saying. Just another face in the ground.
There's nothing, no beauty that we should desire him. In verse
three. This is a he he is despised and
rejected men that belongs to us. This is a we we despised
and rejected him. We hated him for who he was and
for what he preached. And this is evident for what
happened to the apostles after his death. Whenever they would
go into these city to city preaching and teaching, they would be beat,
thrown in jail, cast before the rulers and then commanded and
told, don't you preach or teach in this name here anymore. And
so they want to stop this message, this message of grace. Second,
next, it says he spies rejected men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. This is this is the Lord. And
you think, you know, if if you were in this position of coming,
coming to this world, which you come as a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief, it's not what we expect. This is not what we're
looking for. And so in Job references scripture, I believe describing
the Lord upon the surface is Job 14, 22, says his flesh upon
him shall have pain and his soul within him shall mourn. Speaking
of the Lord's suffering and going through life here while he was
on this earth. So in grief and mourning over
our sinfulness, how lost we are, unbelief or faithlessness. And so man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. So did we comfort him? Did we
ask for his forgiveness? Did we follow him? Did we do
any of these things? No. It says what next? We hid,
as it were, our faces from him. I don't want to even know him.
I'm going to hide my face. You ever seen somebody out in
public that you don't want to know you because you're with
somebody else and you don't want to be seen with them? Or you
don't want to talk to them, so you look away, you look down.
That's what we did. Next, it says, and this is another
we. He was despised and we esteemed him not. He was hated. We're
looking for someone else. You're not what we expect. Things
have been going different around here. And then when the Lord
showed up, this upset the whole order of things. Your master,
Edith, were publicans and sinners. This is not what what man wanted. We don't want anything to do
with this. And so next, verse four, surely he had borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows. He bore the guilt of my sin and
he bore the grief and pain of my sin because it was made his.
My sin, which I know in part, I'm worn over, I'm worn over
daily, I'm I think that each day I live longer, I'm more aware
of my sinfulness. And I think our pastor said a
few weeks ago, it's not that we're getting worse in sinning.
We're actually just being made more aware of how evil and wicked
we are. Our eyes are open. But what grieves
me the most is thinking I know some of the hell that's in my
heart and my sin. But think of the Lord having
to bear that and to fully know and understand what that was
before his father. The weight and the grief and
the pain of carrying that sin. Experiencing shame as his own. And only someone who's seen his
face can say this. I don't deserve this. I don't
deserve for him to have done that for me. How did we react
to this? How do we react to the Lord taking
our sin, making it his own, causing us to be clean, holy, blameless
before his father? How do we react? We have seen
him stricken of God and afflicted. We assume that he was getting
what he deserved. And in a way, he was because
he was made guilty before God for my sin. He paid the penalty
for it. He had made him to be sin for
us. Verse five. But he was wounded for our transgressions,
and he was bruised for our iniquities. How glorious that the Lord did
this for his people, that he stood to allow this to be done
to him, to step in our place for getting what we deserved.
And the chastisement of our peace was upon him. He was afflicted
as no man was, and his driving cause was the chastisement of
our peace. Well, what is our peace? Our
peace is being found without sin, standing before the father,
clean, holy, just like Christ. And so the chastisement of his
peace was accomplishing that in his time here while he was
here. Our salvation must be complete. And the results of this, of our
Lord's work, are with his stripes we are healed. His wounds stand
as evidence before God that sin has been paid. That's why I think
our pastor preached a few months ago on the wounds of Christ,
how he still retained them in glory, that these represent that
sin has been paid. The holes in his hands, the holes
in his feet, the holes in his sides. His blood washes away
my sin. That's why he's referred to as
the lamb that had been slain. The blood's always fresh before
the father because it covers all the sin. We're healed from
the presence and from the power of sin. Our bodies no longer
will be constrained to sin by our nature because we're given
a new body. The flesh has been put down. Verse six, all we like
sheep have gone astray. This is another we. We've wandered
from the safety of the fold, and this is going to be different
for every believer in terms of our experience. But one thing
is certain. It says all we like sheep. As our faith will be tried
from different at different times in our life. No one's immune.
If we're one of the Lord's people, our faith will be tried. And
here's another week we've turned everyone to his own way. We've
turned been enticed, forgotten, rebelled, fill in the blank.
We fled from Christ. And if it were possible, we would
be utterly lost and wouldn't come back. And I have to ask
the Lord daily to turn me, turn me to Christ. Turn to Psalm chapter
80. Look at verse 17. Let thy hand
be upon the man of thy right hand. upon the Son of Man, which
is the Lord Jesus Christ, who now has made strong for thyself. Why? So will not we go back from
thee? Quicken us, give us life, and
we will call upon thy name. Turn us again, O Lord, God of
hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. You see,
it's only through the strength and power and quickening life
that the Lord Jesus Christ can give. through what he did and
the power that he's given from the father that we have any life
at all. And we have to ask daily to be
turned. Go back to our text. In verse six, 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 this all. So he hath
the iniquity of us all. He elect laid on him by God the
father. And what more can we say about
this? This is something that we don't
fully understand, but we believe because it says it. Verse 7,
he was oppressed and he was afflicted. I believe the oppression we can
look at is the mental sufferings of Christ. The pressure our Lord
bore, knowing the weight of sin, God's elect, knowing all sin. It said blood physically came
out of his pores just as a thought of being made sin before his
father, knowing that payment must be made for this great death
that he took upon himself, knowing that he was going to be cut off
from the father and that the Lord of glory would be made sin.
This mental suffering that he went through is greater than
anything that we can really know or imagine. It says that he was
afflicted. These we can look at as the physical
sufferings of Christ. And what we see here is his submission,
his submission to the work that his father gave him and that
he came here, he lowered himself to be in the form of men and
came here to where his wicked and sinful men were the way that
they treated him while he was on this earth. What submission
he used in completing this, his father's work. Being punched,
his beard ripped out, crown of thorns pressed on his head, nails
through his hands, his feet, spear thrusted into his side.
I had to pause for a moment as I was writing this and studying
this to think, you know, at any time he could have said enough. You know, he's the Lord and still
God in the body while he was here and could have said enough.
That no more of this and obliterated those people that were doing
that to him. But yet he didn't. He was submissive to the work
his father gave him because his work was to complete their salvation.
And that had to be these things had to be so in order for that
to be true. So it says yet so he was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth. More of his submission, he's
brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before shears
is done, so he opened his mouth. Complete submission to his father's
work. to a sheep when it's sheared, whenever the sheep's brought
out to be sheared. I read a little bit about some
that was written behind this text and it said, first, it was
stripped. They shear the wool off of it,
stripped of its cloak, which is at the time that he was on
the cross, he was stripped of his righteousness. He was made
to be sin. And secondly, the sheep is slaughtered
just as our Lord was slaughtered as the substitute sacrifice for
the sin of his people. And the results are, we're given
his righteousness, our sins been pardoned and forgiven. And this
is our good news. In verse eight, it says that
he was taken from prison and from judgment, from the prison
of the grave, satisfying the judgment of God by his death.
And who shall declare his generation for he was cut cut off out of
the land of the living. From Earth, yes, but from where
the father dwelled because of next next in that verse, the
transgression of his people was he stricken. So he was cut off
from the land of the living. He and we were the transgression
that he had that he had to be cut off for. In verse nine, he made his grave
with the wicked and with the riches death because he had done
no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. He was treated
and condemned as a criminal, crucified between two thieves.
This is where it speaks here of his death with the rich. This is foretelling his death
in the tomb of the rich man, the Joseph of Arimathea. He hath
done no violence, neither is there any deceit in his mouth.
He is still the spotless Lamb of God. Even though that he was
made to be sin, he still is the spotless Lamb of God, because
he didn't commit sin, but he carried our sin and it became
his. Willing submission to his Father's work, and that my sin
became his, which is why, in verse 10, it pleased the Father
to bruise him. Pleased? Yeah, it pleased the
Father to bruise him. I don't really understand this.
Well, it pleased the father to bruise him because this was the
final act. The whole world didn't understand what was going on.
Only our Lord truly understand what was going on at the time
at this time on the cross. But by his being punished, punished
for sin and putting it away, he sealed the work that father
gave him to do, making each of the elect that he died for saved.
This is why the Son of Man must be lifted up, because we must
be saved. This is the Father's work. Yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him and he has put him to grief. Well, this word grief is a little
bit more than what we understand it as, and I'm not sure that
the way it's translated that it can be said in English, other
than it referred to it as a profane disease and writhing in pain. And so that's much more than
what we understand grief is. And this is when the Lord was
made to be sin. This is the father putting him
to grief. And we now shall make his soul
an offering for sin to redeem a bunch of murders and rebels
to God. Now, because of what he did. He shall see his seed and he
shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. So here's another he he shall see his seed, which
is his offspring. Ephesians one calls them the
adopted children, the children of the most high God, sons and
daughters, and says the father shuffler along his days. So what
does pay for death could hold him no more. He conquered both
sin and death. So if you turn over the ninth
chapter of Hebrews. Look at verse twenty seven, and
as it is appointed unto men wants to die. But after this, the judgment. So Christ was offered was once
offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him,
shall he appear the second time without sin and salvation? He
shall appear the second time to them that look for him. These
are those that look to Christ for their salvation. So go back
to our text. And last, he says, he shall prolong
his days. So this is the second coming.
He'll come. He'll rise from the grave. He shall prolong his days
and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. So
I got to looking at that and looked up my concordance everywhere. It talked about what the pleasure
of the Lord was. They gave seven things, and it's a blessing,
and I want to give each of these to you. First is First Chronicles
twenty nine seventeen. He says this. The Lord has pleasure
in uprightness, which is in righteousness. Second one was Psalm thirty five
twenty seven. The Lord had pleasure in the
prosperity of his servant. Psalm one forty seven eleven.
The Lord had pleasure in him that fear him and that hope in
his mercy. Psalm 149, verse four, the Lord
hath pleasure in his people. In Ephesians 1.5, the Lord hath
pleasure in predestinating his people. Ephesians 1.9, the Lord
hath pleasure in making known the mystery of the gospel. In
Revelation 4.11, the Lord hath pleasure in all of creation,
and it's by his pleasure that they are and that they were created.
And if you look at each one of these things in righteousness,
prosperity, fearing him, hoping in his mercy, his people and
predestination, making known the gospel, these all have to
do with revolving around the salvation of his people, the
election of his people and for them being in Christ. And what
a blessing. That's what the Lord has pleasure
in. In verse 11. He shall see. This is the father
of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. It pleased the
Lord to bruise him. The suffering death of Christ
satisfied all that God required. There's no more reason for anger. And he shall see the fabulous
whole soul and be satisfied by his knowledge, whose knowledge,
Christ's knowledge. shall my righteous servant justify
many, for he shall bear their iniquities. And that jumped out
at me. This is a this is a big heat.
It's by his knowledge, shall my righteous servant justify
many. It's by his knowledge of me, him acknowledging me as one
of his own. And it's by him saving me by
his faith, by his work and by his love for his people. Everything
that we just looked at, everything that Christ did, Becoming our
substitute, coming here, suffering, submissive to his father, being
humiliated, suffering, being made sin of all that what the
elect might live. This is all the great things
which he's done for his people out of love for them. Says he'll
justify many, not guilty. Many. Therefore, in verse 12,
therefore, will I divide him a portion with the great and
he shall divide the spoil with strong. Because he had 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. So therefore, because he had
poured his soul out unto death, he ran the race to the finish.
There was nothing left undone, nothing left to do. And because
he was numbered with the transgressors, he paid for the sins of all the
elect. He bore the sin of many, and
he made intercession for the transgressors. It's the Lord
who stands between me and God the Father. Therefore, the Father,
I will divide with him a portion with the great and divide the
spoil with the strong. In verse 13. And you. And this is all of God's elect
being dead of your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,
everything that does not recommend me to God. Has he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses? Blotting out
of the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, it was the law and everything that we had guilty
stamped against us, blotted it out and took it out of the way,
nailing it to his cross and having spoiled principalities and powers.
He made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it or
triumphing over them in himself. And so this is the Lord's glorious
finish of his work is that he's taken all of our sin for all
the elect and nailed it to the cross so that I can stand before
God, the Father, holy, blameless. There's nothing for him to be
mad at me for. And I can stand there complete in Christ. And
so when we look back at Isaiah 53, what he did and what we did,
he did it all. Salvation is complete in him.
And that's clear to see from what work he did. We, if you
even want to lay claim to this, we hid our face from him. We
esteemed him not. We seem stricken, smitten, afflicted
God and ran astray. That's what we did. And so we
I need to be in Christ. I don't want to be any more one
of one of the we that those set up. I want to be found in Christ.
Salvation is in Christ. All we need is provided. Look
to Christ for everything that you need in salvation when the
Israelites were bitten by the surface by this poisonous ass.
The Lord told Moses to make a brazen serpent and hold it up on a pole.
And he said, Everyone who looks upon this shall live. Well, not
everyone looked and they died. But those who looked live. And
I can say the same thing to you right now. Look to Christ and
live. Look to Christ for everything
in your salvation. Don't look to your faith. Don't
look to your experience. Don't look to your works. Don't
look to any gain or loss of assurance that you have. Look to Christ
and you'll live. That's a promise. God's name
and his glory are sure that this blessed truth will never change.
Look and live.