All right, we're turning back
now to Isaiah 53. We've read this chapter so many,
many times. This 53rd chapter of Isaiah. Is there anything that we've
left unsaid about this sovereign suffering sinless, silent substitute,
our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you reckon there's anything
that we haven't said or left unsaid? Well, I don't know. I know there's a whole lot we've
left unsaid, but whether or not we can grasp any more than the
Lord's already revealed, I don't know. But we can say it again. We can say again what we've already
said. Paul declared in Philippians
3, he said this, to preach the same things to you, to me, is
not tiresome. It's not grievous at all. And
for you, it is most profitable. Most profitable. And what I'm
going to say this morning may not be new to most of you here,
but I'm impressed to do it again. And there are three things that
I want us to think about, three words. Number one, who suffered? Who suffered? Well, that's pretty
clear, isn't it? We just read it. Let's look at
some of the verses again. Verse one. Who hath believed,
I report, to whom is the arm, the power, the Messiah, the Lord? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? He shall grow up before him as
a tender plant. Christ was made flesh, dwelt
among us. He was born of a woman. And he
grew up as an infant, a young boy, a child, then a man. As a root out of a dry ground,
he came from Israel. a nation that really was not
anymore under the heel of Rome. He hath no form, no comeliness,
no special beauty that we should desire him. He's just a man. He's despised and rejected of
men, anybody that was anybody, everybody that was anybody turned
thumbs down on him. He was a man of sorrows. He was
acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised, we esteemed
Him not, but He, this God-man, this Redeemer, He bore our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Now here's what's interesting.
By whose hand He suffered? And we know who suffered. It's
Christ, the Son of God. It's the God-man. We know who
suffered. But here's the next thing. By
whose hand did He suffer? And look at this verse here,
verse 4. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. I've heard a number of preachers
on television try to deal with this verse, and rarely do I ever
hear them deal with it accurately or truthfully. One Latin version
says this, we did esteem him afflicted as a leper, cut off
from God, unclean. We did esteem him afflicted,
smitten of God, stricken with leprosy. All the sins of all
the elect met on him. What a wretched, filthy, vile
thing he became. He was smitten of God. That's
what it's saying here. He was stricken, smitten of God,
and afflicted. To say it, God laid our sins
on Him. Let me read you a passage. Don't
turn to it. I can turn quickly. In Zechariah
13, the scripture I quoted a few moments ago, In that day there
shall be a fountain open to the house of David. unto the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. A fountain opened,
and that fountain flowed from His side. That's the fountain. Because He was made unclean. He was made sin. And that fountain
was opened from Christ's side. And verse 7 says this, Awake,
O sword! O sword of justice! O sword of
divine wrath! O sword of God, awake, O sword,
against my shepherd, and against the man who's my fellow, my son,
my Messiah, saith the Lord of hosts, smite him. That's what we're talking about
here. That's what we're talking about. We did esteem him a leper. an outcast, unclean, stricken,
afflicted of God, stricken of God, made sin, smitten of God. Look at verse 10. Yet, it talked about he made
his grave with the wicked, that is, he died between two thieves.
He was buried in a rich man's tomb, though he had done no violence
and no deceit in his mouth. He had no sins of his own. He
died for ours. He was wounded for our transgression. He bore our griefs and our sorrows. Yet it pleased the Lord. What? It pleased the Lord. To bruise
it. Now over there in Genesis, you
remember when Adam and Eve had fallen and God spoke to the serpent. And he said, I'm going to put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and the
woman's seed, the virgin's seed, the Son of God. I'll put enmity
between thee and the woman, between your seed, the seed of evil,
sons of evil, and her seed. And you'll bruise his heel, but
he'll bruise your head. He'll conquer you. He'll destroy
you. He'll put an end to you. But
you're going to bruise Him. You're going to bruise Him. Who's
going to bruise Him? Satan's going to bruise Him.
But who really bruised Him? The Father bruised Him. It pleased
the Father. Yet it pleased God to bruise
Him. Satan can't touch anything or
anybody without God's permission. And in the case of his son, without
God's premeditation and predetermination. The sufferings of Christ, people
talk about God permitted him to die. All right, He did permit
him to die, but He predetermined his death. In court, they'll fight over
premeditated or not premeditated murder. This is premeditated
sacrifice. This is a premeditated bruising. Let me show you that. I will
have you turn to this scripture, Acts 2. Acts chapter 2. Now listen to this. Acts the second chapter. Acts
chapter 2 verse 23. We'll read verse 22 and 23. Acts
22 and 23. Now hear these words, Jesus of
Nazareth, a man, approved, appointed, ordained of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs which God did by Him in the midst
of you. As ye yourselves also know, Him
being delivered, delivered by the predetermined, premeditated,
counsel and foreknowledge of God, foreordination of God. You have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. But God delivered him into your
hands. You say, well, how did God get
them to spit on him? He just left them to themselves.
How in the world did God get them to nail nails in the hands
of such a holy man? He just left them to themselves.
He lifted His restraining hand. He let them do what you and I
would do if it wasn't for His grace. What we would do if it was not
for His restraining, prevenient grace. He just let them do what
they would do. Look at Acts 4 a moment. Acts
chapter 4. Acts 4 verse 27. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
it to be done." You see, all the way through the Old Testament,
it talks about they pierced my hands and my feet. It says they
plucked out the hair. His beard. They spat upon Him. They scourged Him. They cast
lots for His garment. They walked around the cross
and laughed. And ridiculed Him while He died.
That's all in Psalm 22. It's all prophesied. Judas would betray Him. And God
just left men to themselves. And that's what they did. So
this says, look at verse 10 again. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. See, He's our substitute. He's our sacrifice. The Lord,
He took our place. Justice says for us to die, He
died for us. Justice said we must suffer the
wrath of God. He took our place. He suffered
the wrath of God. And now here's a word I want
you to look at. It pleased the Lord. Preacher, how can Isaiah
say it pleased the Lord? It gave Him pleasure. to bruise
him. Well, let me tell you this. Now
listen to me. The Father was never pleased with those Old
Testament sacrifices. Never, never, never. Let's turn
to Hebrews 10. Let me show you that. He was never pleased. He was
never satisfied. When they brought the Old Testament
sacrifices, let's read it. In Hebrews 10, verse 5. Hebrews
10 verse 5, Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith,
Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared
me. Listen, in burnt offerings and
sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Verse 8, Above,
when he said, Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering
for sin, thou wouldst not, neither had pleasure therein which are
offered by the law. Abel's sacrifice was accepted
because it pictured Christ. God's justice and righteousness
and holiness had no pleasure in the sacrifice. The Passover
lamb held back the wrath of God because it was a picture of Christ.
But that blood didn't hold back the wrath of God. Christ did.
His blood. which this typified. So God never,
His justice never was satisfied. His law was never honored. His
person was never pleased with any of these sacrifices. But
the sufferings of Christ, now listen to me. He saw in the sufferings
of Christ several things. Number one, the honoring of His
law that pleased Him. His holy law was honored. Every human being, every creature
has despised his law, broken his law, corrupted his law, drug
under their feet his law. Christ honored him and pleased
him. The satisfaction of his justice.
Our God is a just God. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? And the Lord Jesus Christ, on
behalf of His people, honored and satisfied God's justice by
giving Himself that justice might be satisfied. That's right. The
fulfillment of His covenant. Did I read a while ago from the
book of Psalms, He will remember His covenant forever? He made
a covenant. That's when David was dying.
He took great delight in that everlasting covenant. Through
the blood of the everlasting covenant. God's covenant. God's kingdom. God's purpose. Christ fulfilled it. Finished
it. And pleased the Father. That
pleased the Father. When you have a task put in your
hands to do, and you do it and do it well, you're pleased and
the one who gave you the task to perform, he's pleased too.
He's pleased. World War II cost a lot. Cost a lot of blood. But the enemy was destroyed. Freedom was maintained and happiness. And I tell you, when it was over,
everybody was pleased. Even the ones who sacrificed.
Even the ones who gave up 2, 3, 4, 5 years of their lives. It's a job well done. I tried. A job well done. And everybody
was pleased. And the Father's pleased. The
covenant's fulfilled. It's finished. Not only that,
but the revelation of His mercy and grace. God's love has never
been revealed like it was at Calvary. There's nobody on this
earth can have any understanding of the love of God till you've
been to Calvary. Been to Calvary. Been to Calvary. That's where
you see the love of God. And then, not only that, but
the redemption of all His people. He was pleased. They're redeemed. It's paid. The price is paid.
Jesus paid it all. It pleased God! When he said,
it's finished! Pleased God. Into thy hands I
commend my spirit. And the Father welcomed him.
And they said, lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted
up, ye everlasting doors, the King of Glory is coming home.
What a celebration! How heaven resounded with the
glad tiding, the King of Glory is coming home! The Father is
pleased, satisfied. And let me tell you something
else. He's pleased the defeat of all his enemies. They are all defeated. Even death,
the last enemy, is already defeated. It's just a matter of bringing
it to pass. Satan, sin, death, it pleased
the Father. It pleased the Father. That gives
you a little better perspective of the sufferings of our Lord.
It pleased the Father to bruise Him. It says He put Him to grief. He put Him to grief. He put Him
to grief when He was born into this world. He was a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief from the manger to the cross. His grief was unbearable in the
garden. My God! Let this cup pass from
me! Nevertheless, as extreme as it
is, not my will, but Thy will be done. Grief. On the cross is any sorrow like
my sorrow? All ye that pass by and behold. Is any sorrow like my sorrow? Wherewith God hath afflicted
me. We don't know a thing about sorrow.
And then, the highest grief of all, my
God, why have you forsaken me? Notice, he called him Father. Father, forgive them. They don't
know what to do. When it was all over, Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit. In this time, my God, My God. Burying our sins and
shame and guilt. That was a transaction. I don't
know how to get into that. I will know sometime. I just
know now in part and preach in part and see through a glass
dimly. But someday I'm going to know
what it means for God to forsake God. Yet it really happened. It really happened. My God. Alright,
here's the last thing, the reward of his sufferings. It says here,
all this transpired, and it says, number one, I'm going to give
you four or five. It says here, number one, he shall see his
seed. He shall see his seed. When he
shall have made his soul an offering for sin. That's what that's saying
there. His soul shall make an offering for sin, once for all.
His soul, not just His body, His soul shall make an offering
for sin, an effectual offering, a final offering, an offering
that will perfect forever them that are sanctified. His soul
shall make an offering for sin, and number one, He'll see His
seed. Who are they? His seed. It's his offspring, his children. It's the fruit of his death.
He said, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone. But if it die, it brings forth
much fruit, much fruit. He shall see his seed. He talked
about them in John chapter 6. He said, oh, let my father give
his milk, come to me. I came down from heaven, not
to do my will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is
the will of Him that sent me, that of all which He has given
me, I will lose nothing. He called them His sheep. He
said, other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them I
must bring. They will hear my voice. One fold and one shepherd. He prayed for them. In John 17,
He said, Father, I pray for them. which thou hast given me. I pray
not for the world. I'm not asking for what you haven't
given me. I pray for them which thou hast
given me. Thine they were. Thou gavest them me. And all
thine are mine, and mine are thine. And Paul speaks of them
in Hebrews 2. Talks about the children being
partakers of flesh and blood. Then the Savior's got to partake
of flesh and blood, that he might bring many sons to glory. I see
them, he said. You see, he said. You remember when Philip found
Nathanael? Philip went down there. Is that
his brother? I believe he found his brother Nathanael. He went
down there and found Nathanael. He said, Nathanael, Nathanael,
we found the Messiah, of whom Moses wrote. We found the Christ.
We found the Messiah. Who is He? Well, He came out
of Nazareth. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Well, come
and see! Come and see, Philip! I mean, Nathanael, come and see!
And he brought Him. And when he walked up to the
Lord Jesus, when he was coming, the Lord Jesus pointed to him
and said, Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile. And
Nathanael said, How do you know me? How do you know me? He said, I saw you. I saw you
when you were under the tree before Philip ever came. Nathanael,
I saw you then. And I saw you in eternity. And
I saw you back there before the foundation of the world. I saw
you. You didn't see me, but I saw
you. He sees, he sees. The Lord knoweth them that he
hears. Ain't no use beating around the bush on that. That's just
so. Preacher, you don't know who's going to be saved. I know
what he does. You don't know who's going to
believe the gospel. I know what he does. He knew from the beginning
who would believe and who would not believe. He'll see His seed. Secondly,
He'll prolong His days. He'll be raised from the dead
to die no more. Paul wrote in Romans, death hath
no more dominion over Him. Prolong His days. His days are
eternal. He shall be exalted. He shall
reign with the Father of His kingdom. There'll be no end. And He said, because I live,
you live. With long life will I satisfy
you. We were talking a moment ago
in the Sunday school class about how swiftly our days pass by. Our days are short. Our days
are short. Our days are swift like a weaver's
shuttle, like a post. His days are forever. And in
him my days have no end. That's the reward of his suffering,
to see his seed. prolong his days, and listen,
and the pleasure, that's what we talked about a while ago,
and the pleasure, the will of the Father shall prosper in his
hands. I'll tell you, over here in Hebrews
10, let's look at that again. You remember I read a while ago
in Hebrews 10 where he was never, never pleased and never satisfied
with the offerings of the Old Testament, but with the offering
which Christ made his soul an offering for sin. Look at verse
9, Hebrews 10, Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, thy
pleasure, O God. He taketh away the first, those
first sacrifices and offering, the first Adam, he's the second
Adam, the first covenant, the everlasting covenant, the first
tabernacle, his body, the first priesthood, the first mercy seat,
our first nature, the first heaven, the first hell. He takes away
the first and establishes the second. By the witch will, that's
the will of the Father, we're sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Oh my, my, my. The pleasure of the Lord prospered
in his hands. They asked David one time, they
said, where's your God? The heathen said, where's your
God? David said, our God's in the heavens. They said, what's
your God like? Our God does what we please. Our gods, we fashion, make them
like ourselves, we put them on the certain pedestal or place,
and they stay right where we put them. Those are our gods.
Where's your God, David? Our God's in the heaven. Well,
what's He like? Our God's in the heaven. Whatsoever the Lord
please. That's what He did. In heaven,
in the earth, in the seas, in all deep places, whatever He
pleases, He does. And I tell you, on that cross,
what He pleased to do, prospered in the hands of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It pleased God to make you His people. It pleased God
that in Christ should all fullness dwell. It pleased God to bruise
Him. It pleased God to reveal Him
in us. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. It's all in Christ.
The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Look at
verse 11. shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied." Satisfied. Can you imagine such
a life as the life of Christ, such a person as the person of
Christ, such a sacrifice as the blood of Christ, such a suffering,
such suffering as the agony of Christ, can you imagine that
being a failure? Oh, no. He cannot fail. He shall not fail. He cannot
be discouraged. How can one even think of Him
being disappointed? He sees the travail of His soul. He sees many sons being brought
to glory, and He's satisfied. Satisfied. Turn to John 16. We had this in our Sunday school
lesson this morning, John 16. Our Lord said in verse 21, John
16, look at it, a woman. Ladies, lift up your ears now
and listen to this. Our Lord Jesus Christ, talking about His death on the
cross, He said to His disciples in verse 20, He said, verily,
verily, I say unto you, you're going to cry and weep and lament.
The world of Pharisees and religious people will rejoice. Jesus Christ
is dead, and you'll be sorrowful, but Jesus Christ shall live,
and your sorrow will be turned to joy. A woman, when she's in
travail, when she's trying to bring forth a child, she's going
through labor, trying to deliver a child, she has sorrow, great
sorrow, great pain. Great agony, because her hours
come. But as soon as she's delivered
of the child, she remembers no more of the anguish. Remember
that? For the joy that a child is born into the world. A child. And this is what it said, he
will see of the travail. Travail is birth pains. Travail
is bringing forth a child. That's what travail is. And our
Lord travailed, He made His soul an offering for sin, and His
body a sacrifice for sin, to bring forth many sons unto glory,
to give life to His people. And He'll see, even during that
travail, He'll see His seed, He'll see the travail of His
soul, and be satisfied. Totally satisfied. Shall such travail go unreal?
Can you imagine some of you women have experienced this? A child
born dead. There's no deeper valley, there's
no more sorrowful time when the doctor comes in and says, you've
got all this just for nothing. You've got no child. Can you
imagine my Lord dying for someone who won't be saved? My Lord travailing
to give birth to someone who won't be born? My Lord trying
to bring to glory a son that can't make it? And His life is
not enough? It's not sufficient? His sacrifice
is not enough? That's blasphemy. That's the
reason when people say, well, that's your theory of the atonement.
The atonement's no theory, my friend. The atonement is not
a theory. The atonement is an experience.
The atonement is an act of God. The atonement is Jesus Christ
bringing sons to glory. The atonement is Jesus Christ
accomplishing the purpose and covenant and will of God. The
atonement is a successful victorious Savior giving birth to a people. It's no theory. I have no patience. With anybody who talks about
an impotent Savior, a failing Redeemer, a frustrated, disappointed
Savior, no sin. He shall see of the travail of
his soul be satisfied. You notice he's not walking the
floors of heaven, he's seated. Alright, read on, and by his
knowledge, Shall my righteous servant, by his knowledge of
the Father, by the Father's knowledge of him, by our knowledge of him,
by his knowledge of us, by his knowledge, shall my righteous
servant, he is the servant of God, he's the righteous servant,
the only one, justify many. He's going to justify them fully
and completely. Many as the sands of the seashore,
a number which no man can number as the stars of the sky. He'll
justify them. you justify them because you
bear their iniquities. One of the old writers said this, you know all the definitions
of justification but let me give you the results of it. In justification he puts away
all our sins and prepares for us a place Secondly, he removes
all charges against us. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? Thirdly, he ascends and takes
possession of heaven for us as our forerunner. Fourthly, he
appears before God with a suitable sacrifice, acceptable offering. Fifth, he opens for us the way
personally for us to come into the holiest. Sixth, he presents
us in himself faultless, without sin. Seventh, he transacts all
business between us and God. In the eighth place, he ever
lives to make intercession, not just prayers, but his presence.
In the ninth place, he'll return and raise our bodies. That's
justification. He shall justify. And there's no comma if they
let him, if they're willing. They'll be willing. They'll be
willing. All right. Therefore, in closing,
therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great. I will
divide him a portion with the great. This man, this man, Jesus
Christ, the Father said, I'll exalt him above all exaltation. I'll divide him a portion with
the great. I'll make him higher than the highest. I'll exalt
him above the exalted. I'll give him all preeminence.
And why is that so special? Because we're in Him. We're with
Him. We're joint heirs with Him. He's
King of kings and Lord of lords and we're in Him. We're married
to Him. Every woman in here, when her
husband is exalted, she is, too. When he's praised, she is, too.
When he's promoted, she is, too. When he gets a blessing, she
does, too. That's right. What are you so happy about?
They're promoting him. I'm promoted, too. What's his is mine. What's his is mine. I got his
name. He's Mr. Mike Barton, but I miss
Mike Barton. And everything where he moves,
I move. What he eats, I eat. Where he
is, I am. You see what I'm saying? I'll
divide him a portion with a grain, and he says, and he will divide
the spoil with the strong of the strong, I believe. Of the
strong. Who is this strong? Well, turn
to Luke 11. Let me show you something here.
Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. I know they
use illustrations about the great king coming in, taking over the
nation, dividing the spoils with the men that are with him and
so forth. This is interesting over here in Luke 11 verse 21. When a strong man, now that's
Satan, you can write that down, Satan. Because he's been talking
about, they said, you cast out devils by the power of the devil.
No, he said a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.
But I tell you this, when that strong man, Satan, armed, what's
he armed with? He's armed with ignorance. He's
armed with lies. He's armed with deceit. He's
armed with subtlety. He's armed with experience. He's
armed, oh boy, he's powerful. Keeps his palace. What's his
palace? That's the people in whom he
dwells. Children of wrath, even as others. Sons of the devil,
you know, by nature. Sons of wrath by nature. He keeps
His dwelling. He lives in them. He possesses
them. And His goods are at peace. His
kingdom is at peace. You know, our Lord said to the
Pharisees, You have your father the devil, and his works will
you do? His way will you walk? His words you'll speak? His lies
you'll tell? It's all at peace. But, when
a stronger than He, This is our Lord Jesus Christ. What is stronger
than He? That's not the evangelist who
came to town for a two-week meeting. That's not the soul winner who's
pulling on the fellow's elbow. That's the Lord of glory. The
Lord of glory. When He comes upon him in power, with the sword of His mouth,
and overcomes him, drives him out, He takes away
his armor. He takes away his ignorance and
gives knowledge. Takes away his darkness and gives
light. Takes away his lies and gives truth. Takes away his bondage
and gives freedom. Takes away his deafness and gives
hearing. Takes away his armor where he
trusted and divides his fall. He'll divide the fall off the
strong. He'll conquer it. He died that he might be Lord.
You see that? That's what he says. That's the
reward of his sufferings. That's the reward of his sufferings.
He's the victor. He's the conqueror. I love that. Therefore, I'll divide him a
portion with the grave. He made himself of no reputation,
took upon himself the form of a servant, wherefore God hath
exalted him, highly exalted him, giving him a name above every
name. And when He comes, He'll divide the spoil of the strong.
Why? How can He do this? Number one,
He poured out His soul unto death. Number two, He was identified,
represented, numbered with us transgressors. Number three,
He bare the sin of many. Number four, He makes intercession. Makes intercession.