Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? He shall grow up before him as
a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He has no
farm nor commonness. And when we shall see him, there
is no beauty, no outward beauty, that we should desire him. He
is despised and rejected of men, not all of them, but most, 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. 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 have turned every one to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 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 shearer is done, 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 hath 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 hands. 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.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bore the sins of many. and made intercessions for the
transgressors. Verse 11 is the portion of verse
11 I want to concentrate on this afternoon with you. But in chapter
53, we often call this the gospel of Isaiah. And there is a good
reason that we do that. Because we know from the New
Testament that this is the gospel. This is the gospel. The Apostle
Paul quoted this in Romans 10 and 16 and said, They have not
all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah said, Who hath believed our report? So this report that Isaiah is
talking about is the gospel Paul is talking about. It's the gospel. And we remember in Acts chapter
8 when Philip was preaching to the eunuch and he preached from
these verses. Who did he preach? Jesus. He began in these verses and
preached unto him, Jesus. And all of these personal pronouns
that's used here in this chapter, he, him, and his, those are speaking
of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Isaiah preached the gospel to
us all through this book. He told us of his virgin birth.
A virgin shall conceive. and bring forth a son. He told
us of His humanity and He told us of His deity. Unto us a child
is born. That's Mary's son. He's born
and a son is given. That's the Son of God. That's
Christ in His humanity and that's Christ in His deity. Here in
verse 9, Isaiah tells us of His sinlessness. He hath done no
violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth." You'll never find
a man like that. The most holy man, the most holy
prophets, had some deceit about them. They had some violence
about them. And they knew it. They may have
hid it, but they knew it. But not the Son of God. Isaiah
often addresses Him as the servant of God. Chapter 43 and verse
1, he says, Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in
whom my soul delighteth. I'll put my spirit upon him,
and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not fail
nor be discouraged. He's God's servant, Jehovah's
servant. And here in chapter 53 and verse
1, we see him growing up before the Father as a tender plant.
And he grew up before his mother and Joseph and the Jews as a
tender plant. Here in verse 3, Isaiah says
he despised and rejected a man, a man of sorrow. And here in
verse 7, we see him suffering at the hands of man at the judgment
hall. The judgment of man. He is brought
from prison and from judgment where they punished him and whipped
him in the judgment hall. And then here in verse 10, We
have the cross. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. That's where God bruised Him,
right at the cross. He spoke of that. And then in
the grave, He spoke of the grave. He made His grave with the rich
in His bed. And here in verse 12, Isaiah
even hints at the resurrection. I will divide Him a portion with
the great. He shall divide the spoil with
the straw. How could that be if Christ didn't
raise again? Impossible, wouldn't it? So here
we have the gospel according to Isaiah. And here in verse
11, we see the sufferings of the Son of God, and we see the
fruit of it. And that's what I want to dwell
with you on this afternoon, just for a few minutes. He shall see
of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." We often
talk about the agonies and the travail of our Lord's body, and
He suffered in His body tremendously. You can almost get a picture
of it in your imagination when you read these verses about His
cheeks. I gave my cheeks to those who
plucked off the hair. Can you imagine what that looked
like? Can you imagine how that felt? I gave my back to the smithers. They made long their furrows.
His back was plowed like you would plow rows in your garden.
They pierced my hands and my feet. They put the crown upon
his head and drove it down upon his eyebrows with a reed. They
smote him in the face. He tells us here in the 52nd
chapter in verse In verse 13, my servant shall be uprooted,
he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high, as many were
astonished, astounded at thee. His vestige was so marred more
than any man, and his farm more than the sons of man. So when
we talk about his physical sufferings, those were indescribable, what
he suffered in his body. But Isaiah speaks here in verse
11 of another kind of sufferings, and that was the sufferings of
his soul. And he likens Christ's sufferings
to a woman in travail. Thou shalt see the travail of
his soul. Now, some women have it pretty
easy in childbirth. But boy, you hear of some. Well,
some, they die, don't they? Some women die. Rachel died in
travail. That's awful, awful, in travail. And Isaiah says, Here thou shalt
see of the travail of his soul. And the Lord Jesus said this
very thing when he was speaking to his disciples in John 16. He said, When a woman, when she
is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come. But as soon
as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish
for joy that a man is born unto the world." So here we have the
sufferings of Christ, and it's lacking unto a woman in travail
with a child. The sufferings of Christ resembles
that. That's what Isaiah said. In each
case there is suffering, and in each case the suffering is
followed by pleasure. In each case, the pleasure is
the reward of the sufferings. The birth of the child repays
the mother's pain of childbirth. And it's the same way with the
Lord Jesus Christ. The salvation of the church and
all its members repays the Lord Jesus Christ for His travail. That's what he's saying. Thou
shalt see of the travail of his soul and shalt be satisfied. Now notice how the sufferings
of Christ are described. Travail. The word means to be
in anguish, in severe toil, to be grieved, to be pained, to
be filled with sorrow. And where's the seat? What is
the seat of this travail? His soul. thou shalt see of the
travail of his soul." Now there are some people, brothers and
sisters, that live all of their life and they don't even know
they have a soul. I have a dear brother of mine,
I was talking about him to his son the other night and I noticed
this in him. All he has thought about all
his life is what belongs to this flesh. He's not had a a thought
beyond when he's hungry, or when he's thirsty, or when he's tired.
It's just the passions of the flesh. He's lived that way, and
by all appearance, he's going to die that way. There are people
like that. I think the rich man was that
way. He lived in luxury all of his days. Everything his heart
could want, he had it. When he looked out over the field,
he thought of his crops and the money they would bring in. He
tore down his barns and built greater barns. And it cut the
flames of hell to make him realize, I've got a soul. In hell, he'd
lift up his eyes. Never did lift up his eyes until
in hell he'd lift up. And then he realized, man, there's
something beyond flesh. There's something beyond the
passions of the flesh. But there are men who live their
whole life that way. It's just what they feel in their
body, the passions of the flesh. And there are others, man, they
feel everything in their souls. Every time something touches
their soul, they feel it. David was sort of this way. Listen
to what he said. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for
I am weak. Heal me, O Lord. My bones are
vexed. My soul is vexed. But thou, O
Lord, how long? He likened his soul and his distress
to the bones. Why did he do that? Because the
bones are out of sight. You can't see them. And boy,
when you get a disease in your bones, that's hurtful. That's terrible. In Psalm 51,
he says this, Cause the bones which you've broken to rejoice.
And then he went right on to say, the sacrifices of God are
a broken heart. David likened his grief and broken
heart to having broken bones. What if somebody come and laid
your leg upon one of these benches and took a big hammer and just
broke your leg? How would that feel? David said,
that's the way my heart feels. That's the way I feel in my soul,
just like my bones are broken. The Lord Jesus Christ had deep
feelings in his soul like no other. The Spirit said that he
was grieved in spirit. The Lord said he was grieved
in spirit and said, one of you shall betray me this night. Why
did it so affect him? Why did it so burden and grieve
him when wicked Judas betrayed him? Because He's tender. We read of the gentleness of
Christ. We read of His heart, that He's
meek and lowly in His heart. And when Judas betrayed Him,
even though He knew He was going to do it, it broke His heart. It grieved Him in His soul. You
and I, when we're reproached, we grow used to it. People say
something bad about us and we usually just laugh it off anymore,
don't we? But he couldn't do that. He said, Reproach hath
broken my heart. And he never did get over it.
He never did get seared or hardened like you and I do. And some of
the awful things they said about him had such an effect upon his
heart because he was tender. He could be touched with what
they said. Can you imagine how he felt when
they called him a devil? You cast out the devil by the
prince of the devil. You're a blasphemer. You're a
deceiver of the people. You're a liar. You're a Samaritan. They degraded him, his name,
his character, his gospel, his people, his work. And he says,
it's broke my heart. Reproach hath broken my heart. The Scripture tells us that in
the days of his flesh, He offered up prayers and supplications
with strong cryings and tears. Remember Gethsemane? Remember
the garden? My goodness, how in the world
can you not describe that? He said, My soul is exceedingly
sorrowful, even unto death. And being in an agony, he prayed
more earnestly, and his sweat started coming through the pores
of his skin. Can you imagine that? They've got it recorded
that that has happened one or two times since then, and the
men were in so much agony that they were out of their right
minds. He was in an agony of his soul until his sweat became,
as it were, great clumps of blood. He had the ability to feel so
deeply. That's what caused even his bodily
sufferings to be extreme. And what about the cross? What
was he feeling in his soul? up on the cross. Could a man
possibly describe what he was feeling? My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? And the reason this was so extreme
is because his soul was so full of feeling. Somebody asked the
question, what was the difference between the Lord Jesus dying
and so much agony in His death and those martyrs that we often
read of What's the difference in them? They died awful deaths
too. They threw them into boiling
oil and cooked them. Or they threw them into beasts
and they tore them limb from limb and ate them alive. They
stretched them limb from limb. They burned them. They hanged
them. They drowned them. They choked them. And yet some
of them died praising the Lord. They died with great peace and
victory. But I tell you, there's a difference
in the reason they died as opposed to Jesus Christ. They never died
even for themselves. They never died for anybody else.
Christ did. Christ died for men. They died
at the hands of men. Christ died for men. And their
cross, they wore a cross, no doubt. But they didn't bear the
curse of the cross. And Christ bore both the cross
and the curse. And they didn't bear sin in their
body. Not even one sin did they bear
to pay for it. But Christ bore all their sins
in His own body on the tree. And that's different, isn't it?
That's the difference. That's why we see the agony of
His soul. They died rejoicing that their
sins had been atoned for. Christ died atoning. for those
sins. And that's the difference. I
don't know if I could live if I had such a tender soul that
he had. Wouldn't it be something to have
to live in this world with such a tender soul and the things
reach your soul and touch your soul? Man, it would be tough. It's hard enough on us, it's
hard and as calloused as we are. Thou shalt see of the travail
of his soul. Let's look at this part for just
a few minutes. He shall see of the travail of
his soul. And boy, this phrase, this part of this verse
is so full of meaning. It don't have different meanings,
but it's just so full of meaning. There's different ways that we
look at it, and it's all the truth. Look at it, first of all,
this way. God saw the travail of the soul
of Jesus Christ on the cross and said, I am satisfied for
the atonement of sins. I am satisfied with this offering
as an atonement for sin. I have seen it with my own eyes. I have examined it And it is
an all-sufficient eternal atonement for sin. That's what God said. He's satisfied. And that's in
the context. Verse 5 tells us that. Look at
this. He was wounded for our transgression,
to atone for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquity. And you find out that idea and
that concept all through this chapter. The idea of putting
away sin by a sacrifice. Atoning for sin by another, somebody
else, what they suffered. The agony of his soul, the travail
of his soul, atoned for sin. And the Father saw it and said,
I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied with this offering."
Well, ain't this comfort for a poor afflicted conscience?
You have such knowledge of our sins, and then you come here
and read that God has taken close notice of this suffering and
death of Christ His Son. And He's published this in His
Word that nothing else is needful to be done. Everything that has
satisfied the eternal and perfect attributes of God, His justice,
His holiness, His wrath, everything that His law required is satisfied. God is satisfied with it. Christ
is satisfied with it. The Holy Spirit is satisfied
with it. They've looked at it. The very
instant that he was suffering it, and he says, it's enough. It's finished. I see it. And my soul is satisfied with
it. Boy, you and I know so little
of the cross. We know so little of it. But
I tell you, God knows a great deal about it. He has perfect
knowledge. He has perfect eyesight. And
he sees it thoroughly. And the Bible says here, he's
satisfied. The world don't see it, do they?
We see so little, but the world sees nothing. The world looks
at it and says this. Oh, that's not enough. God requires
more. You've got to add your part.
You've got to live it. And they bring that and they
put it with the cross of Christ. And they mix them all together. Yet God, who has excellent eyesight
and perfect knowledge of sin and what He requires to put it
away, says, I have seen it, and I'm satisfied. Boy, that's comfort
for your guilty conscience, ain't it? Next time you feel guilt
upon your conscience and you have such a knowledge of sin,
believe this. Just believe it. God is satisfied. He saw it. And He sees it much
better than you and I see it. The Lord Jesus said in John 12,
now is my soul troubled. My soul is troubled. And what
shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.
For this cause came I into the world. Father, glorify thy name. I'm going to the cross. Father,
be glorified in it. And a voice spake from heaven
and said, I have both glorified my name and I'll glorify it again. That's God's chief glory because
it's at the cross where He's absolutely satisfied with the
atonement His dear Son, the Lord Jesus, made for sin. Remember
when Noah came out of the ark and he built an altar and he
took those clean beasts and fowls and offered them upon that altar?
And that burning flesh and the melting fat began to ascend up
in its aroma to heaven? Remember what the Lord said.
The Lord smelt the sacrifice. And here's what He said. And
He said it in His heart. He said in His heart, I will
not again curse the ground for man's sake. Neither will I again
smite any more every living thing as I have done. That's what He
said when He saw the sacrifice. If He said about the blood of
that four-legged lamb down in Egypt, when I see His blood,
I'll pass over you, how much more will He say that about the
blood of His dear Son? When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. That's the first way that we
can look at this and understand it. God saw the travail of His
soul. Christ saw it. The Holy Spirit.
Everyone that was concerned saw it as an atonement for sin. and
says, I'm satisfied. Here's another way to read this,
and this, I was looking in the literal translation of the Hebrew
this week, and here's what it literally says in verse 11. He
shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. He shall see the fruit of the
travail of his soul. He sees the fruit there upon
the cross. He saw the fruit. Well, it's discouraging if you
feel like you're laboring in vain, ain't it? I've got a farmer
there in our neighborhood. Just about every year, he comes
and brings two or three big five-gallon buckets of roasted ears. And
boy, when he's had a good year, sometimes you pull the shut back
and you see a small come on his face. And you can tell when he's
had a bad year, too. You may not see it. Wouldn't
it be disappointing? to be a farmer and you put your
seed in the ground and a flood comes and washes it away. Or
it comes up just a little bit and there's a drought and the
sun burns it up. Well, wouldn't that be discouraging?
It's not that way with the Son of God. He shall see of the fruit of
the travail of His soul. Here's what He said. Listen to
what He said. He knew this. He knew it when He went to the
cross. He knew His reward. He knew what the fruit was going
to be. He said in John 12, 23, The hour has come that the Son
of Man shall be glorified. This He spoke of His death. And
listen to what He said. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides
alone. But if it dies, What did he say? It brings forth much fruit. He's talking about his death.
If I don't die, I'll abide alone. There won't be a single human
being in heaven with me. I'll be there with the triune
God, and the angels will be there, but not a single son of Adam
will be there. I'll be alone. But if I die,
I'll populate heaven with humanity. I'll bring forth much fruit. And listen to what else he said.
The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister
and give His life a ransom for who? Many. Many. I see of the fruit of the travail
of your soul. He says here in verse 11, doesn't
He? By His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify Many. He saw that. He saw the fruit. And look what he said in verse
12. This is something else that comes out of his supper. Therefore,
will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide
the spoil with the strong. Boy, that sounds like victory,
doesn't it? It sounds like something great
is going to come out of this. Peter said it like this in 1
Peter chapter 1. He said, we read of the sufferings
of Christ and of the glory that should follow. I think this helped
the Lord Jesus when he was upon the cross. The Father had made
all of these covenant promises to him. My son, when you do this,
here's what I'm going to do for you. And I don't think the Father
would ever go back on a promise to his son or anybody else, do
you? And the Lord Jesus was dependent upon those covenant promises
for the Father to fulfill them. The Father had already promised
him, I'm going to raise you from the dead, and I'm going to set
you at my own right hand, my son, my king, and I'm going to
give you the heathen and the uttermost parts of the earth.
The Father had already promised these things to him. This was
the glory of Christ as the mediator the Father was going to give
to him. Boy, he raised him up from the dead to recompense the
travail of his soul and said, My son, I've given you a name
that's above every name. I've given you a host of people
that can't even be numbered for your sake. I've given you glory. All the earth is yours. Heaven
is yours. I've made you the heir of every
single thing. Sit on my right hand. and rule
and reign till you save all your people and make your enemies
your footstool." And the Lord Jesus was upon the cross and
He said, I see it. I see the fruit of my travail
and I'm satisfied. It helped Him to burn His travail. One silly man made this statement.
He said, Hell stands as a ghastly monument. to the utter failure
of God to save sinners. That man does not know the gospel.
Hell stands as a monument to God's displeasure and hate of
sin. It stands as a monument to display
God's justice and His wrath against sin. But the Lord Jesus Christ will
save every sinner for whom He died. Every sinner that God has
purposed to save, He's going to save. And that will be a number
that no man can number out of every tribe, kindred, and tongue,
and people. And that's why the Lord endeared
the cross, was it not? For the joy that was set before
Him. He knew it. And the Lord even
gave him some firstfruits there upon the cross. Can you imagine
how he conquered his soul when that thief said, Lord, remember
me? And he said, this day you shall be with me in paradise.
That's the fruit. It already begun before he ever
lifted up his eyes and said, it's finished. He shall see the
fruit of the travail of his soul. And let's dwell on this just
for a minute, and shall be satisfied. He's satisfied with the travail
of his soul for the atonement of sin. He's perfectly satisfied
with that. Everybody that's concerned is
satisfied with that. He offered a thorough sacrifice,
and yet thoroughly satisfied for sin and the consequences
of it. But here, look at this this way.
The Lord Jesus Christ is mainly satisfied with this. Now this
is a great statement. This is a great statement. Because
the Lord Jesus Christ gloried in everything the Father gave
Him as a consequence of His travail. But you know what He's most satisfied
with? It seems to me above everything
that He's satisfied with, and that is the salvation of poor
sinners. It seems like that gives him
more delight than anything else. I read to you this morning, this
man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. That's recorded there
in Luke chapter 15. If you go on and read the answer
to that, when the Pharisees said that about the Lord Jesus, remember
what He answered them. He said, what one of you, if
you've got a hundred sheep, if you lose one, you do not leave
the ninety and nine and you go in the wilderness, do you find
that one that you lost? And when you find it, what do
you do? You rejoice. You rejoice. What is it that
satisfies the soul of the Lord Jesus Christ? It's to find one
of His own. It's to save His people. The disciples left the Lord Jesus
sitting on Jacob's well, and they went to get meat, a meal,
because they were all hungry. They came back, and they brought
the meal, and they laid it there before him and said, Master,
eat. And he said, I'm not hungry now. That's what he said to them. I'm not hungry anymore. I've
already ate. And they started looking around
and couldn't see anybody. And they said, who gave him food
to eat? And he says, I've got meat to eat that you know nothing
of. My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me and to finish His work, and that's what I've
been doing while you fellows have been going to buy a meal.
I've been revealing myself to this poor woman who came here
for water. That's my meat. That's my joy. And she left her bucket with
me, and she went off to tell all these fellows about me. And
He said, don't say four months and then comes the harvest. Lift
up your eyes and look on the field. They're wide already to
harvest. And they lift up their eyes and
there come a whole host of those Samaritans to Him. What is it
that satisfies the soul of Jesus Christ? Saving sinners. Saving His people. That's it. You and I talk a lot around here
about the wrath of God. and the anger of God and the
hatred of God. Sometimes we dwell on that, and the reason we do
that, brother and sister, is because nobody else is talking
about it. But Jesus gets his satisfaction
not from punishing his enemies, but for pardoning his enemies.
Their eternal happiness is his recompense for his suffering. Let me read this statement by
William J. in closing. Listen to this. Here is encouragement for faith
and hope. Under a sense of unworthiness
and guilt, persons often fear whether the Lord Jesus will receive
them. But does he not invite them to
come and command them to come? And does he not complain that
they will not come? Yea, does he not assure them
that it would yield him pleasure, even rejoicing over them with
singing? We can therefore plead with you
his interest as well as your own. You have offended him enough,
grieved him enough, And surely, if there be anything by which
you can yield him satisfaction, you are bound to do it. Let him
see you then at his feet, and let him hear your cries, Lord,
save me, I perish. This will charm him as much as
the songs of angels. It is the fruit of the travail
of his soul, and when he sees it, he will be satisfied. Lord
bless his word. Let's pray.