Now, this morning, I want you
to open your Bibles with me to Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah chapter
53. My subject, if you write for
the tape, for the message, this is the subject. Christ our substitute. Christ our substitute. Someone
asked an old preacher this question. They said, what's your creed?
Do you have a creed, and is it in print?" Oh, yes, he said,
I have a creed. My creed is the Lord Jesus Christ. And my creed is in print, the
Word of God, the incarnate Word and the written Word of God.
And it can be summed up, my creed, which is Christ, can be summed
up by reading Isaiah chapter 53. I want you to turn to that
chapter with me, Isaiah 53. It's all there. It's all there. In verse 2, Isaiah reveals our
Savior, the Father's servant. In verse 3, he reveals our Savior,
the man of solace. In verse 4 through 6, he reveals
our Savior, the substitute. That's what I'm going to talk
about today. In verse 7, he reveals our Savior, the willing sacrifice. In verse 8 and 9, He reveals
our Savior, the Sin Offering. In verse 10, our Savior, God's
chosen Lamb. In verse 11, our Savior, the
victorious Redeemer. And in verse 12, our Savior,
exalted with His people. Now everyone ought to get acquainted
with this chapter. I wish that I wish that all of
you would just take it now and read it carefully and prayerfully
and listen to me as I try to show you what Isaiah is saying
in this chapter. Some people call the book of
Isaiah the gospel according to Isaiah, the gospel of the Old
Testament. And it's just the knowledge of
Christ, the knowledge of Christ, that's revealed in this chapter
is just tremendous, absolutely tremendous. Now look at verse
1. Let's start with verse 1, Isaiah 53. And the prophet asked
this question, Who hath believed our report? Who hath believed
our report? What is our report? Our report
is our message. It's the gospel that we preach.
And there's never lived a prophet or an apostle or a preacher who
has not mourned and grieved over the fact that most people do
not believe our report, do not believe this gospel, do not receive
and rejoice in this record. John said he was in the world,
and the world was made by him, but the world knew him not. And
he came unto his own, he came to his own nation, his own temple,
his own people, and they received him not. Who hath believed our
record, our report? Who hath believed our message,
our gospel? Do you believe it? I do. Thank
God I believe this record, this report. In verse 1, the next
line says, To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? What's
the arm of the Lord? It's the power of God. He said,
My arm is not shortened that I cannot save. I can reach men. God's power is called His arm. To whom is the arm, the power,
and the wisdom of God in Christ revealed? Romans 1, 16 tells
us, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. The gospel is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes it.
And then it's revealed to Psalm. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians,
he said, I have not seen, ear had not heard, neither hath it
entered the heart of man, the things God has prepared for them
that love him. But he hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches the deep
things of God and reveals them to his people. Who hath believed
our gospel? To whom is this gospel revealed? The power of God. Now watch these
verses. I just told you about them a
little while ago. Here's the first one. Verse 2. Now listen.
Here is Christ, our Savior, God's servant. Listen. He shall grow
up. This is the report. This is the
arm of the Lord. This is the gospel. He shall
grow up. He shall grow up before Him,
before God, as a tender plant. Now, Christ Jesus was born of
a woman, a little baby, a little infant, a tender plant. That's
what He's called, a tender plant, made flesh, dwelt among us. And He grew up. He grew from
infancy to manhood. He shall grow up before Him as
a tender plant, a tender plant. Christ was born of a woman, made
flesh. He who thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, took upon himself the form of a serpent,
was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. God became a man. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. So he shall grow up as an infant,
as a tender plant, and a root out of a dry ground. Now, the
key to this here is the word root. When the Messiah was promised
he'll be the son of David, He'll be the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
He'll be the Root of Jesse. The Root of Jesse. Our Lord is
the Root of Jesse out of a dry ground. That's talking about
the nation Israel. At the time when the Messiah
came, when our Lord came to this earth, was made according to
the flesh of the seed of David, Israel was practically no nation
at all. They were in captivity in Rome.
They had no leaders, no king, no kingdom, no government, a
root out of a dry ground. And listen, and he has no form,
no comeliness. Jesus Christ was born of the
virgin and laid in the manger. No room for him in the end. He
came into this world with no kingdom, no honor, no majesty,
no army, No influence. His parents were poor people.
A babe in a manger. No farm, no comeliness, and no
beauty that we should desire Him. Our Master identified with
us. He was so high and became so
low. Identified with the servants.
Identified with the poor people. He came to preach the gospel
to the poor. He put on humanity. He put on the form of a servant.
He lived in poverty. He had no wealth, no formal education. He owned no property. His family
was unknown. He slept in other people's beds. He rode on a barred donkey. He
was born in somebody else's manger. He died on somebody else's cross.
He was buried in somebody else's tomb. Poor, poor. And verse 3, look at verse 3.
Our Savior is called the man of sorrows. Not only the servant. but the man of sorrows, despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief."
His life was a life of trial and suffering and sorrow and
grief from the cradle to the cross. And the next verse tells
us why. The next verse tells us why.
He's no form, no comeliness, no beauty that we should desire
Him, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. Watch this, here is Christ our
substitute. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. We did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, Afflicted because he was wounded for our transgression. He came down here identified
with us and Took upon himself. I was sorry. He was a man of
sorrow Not his own acquainted with grief not his own our grief
and our sorrow My friend there two words That you and I need
to learn if we're gonna learn the gospel two words that sum
up the gospel One word is substitution. The other word is satisfaction.
The whole gospel story is contained in those two words. Jesus Christ,
the man, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, made like we were
of a woman, made under the law, obedient to his own law, the
second Adam, tempted in all points as we are, tested, tried in every
form that we attested in every form of sin. He was tried. Our
Lord Jesus was a substitute. In Adam we die, in Christ we're
made alive. By one man's disobedience, we
were made sinners. By another man's obedience, we
were made righteous. He's our substitute. He actually
in our stead and in our place walked this earth as a man. Subject
to the Holy Law. Subject to every trial and temptation. Subject to attacks by Satan.
Attacks by men. Attacks by principalities and
powers. Subject to all these things.
Our substitute. Now, watch this word. But he
didn't fail like we did. Adam was a representative, but
he failed. All the way down through the
years, men have always failed. Even the angels failed, and Adam
failed, and Noah after the flood failed, and David failed, and
all of them failed. But Christ succeeded. He made
satisfaction. He was tempted in all points
as we are. Watch this now, comma, yet without
sin. He fulfilled the law. In every
jot and tittle, He kept the law. Everything God demanded, He fulfilled. Fulfill everything God commanded
he obeyed. Every requirement he met. He loved God with all his heart,
mind, soul, and strength, and his neighbors himself, and he
never sinned. He never sinned. In whom there
is no sin, he made satisfaction. That's right. Now listen. He
was a man of sorrows, acquainted with greed. We hear, as it were,
our faces from him, despised and rejected of men. Why? Why? As an example? We didn't need
an example of that. We're good examples of grief
and sorrow and sin. No, as a substitute. And He made
satisfaction. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities
in our place and state. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. Now listen, by His stripes we're
healed. We're healed. He paid the price
in full. And he received satisfaction.
The Father looked at him. Now, when the Father looks at
you and me, he's got to turn his face. God can't look upon
sin, and sin can't look upon God. That's the reason Christ,
when he died on the cross, said, My God, why have you forsaken
me? He was made sinner. Now, when God looked on His Son,
making the full payment, the full restitution, the full reconciliation,
He said, I'm well pleased. This is one man, the man, the
only man in whom I'm well pleased. Can you see that? Christ the servant became a man.
Christ the man of sorrows, grief, tears, agony, won our substitute. He bore our sin in His body on
the tree. He was wounded, wounded for our
transgression, bruised for our iniquities, a chastisement of
our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All
right. Verse 2, Christ the servant came to do the Father's will.
Verse 3, Christ the man of sorrows, one with us. Verse 4 through
6, Christ the substitute. Now look at verse 7. And this
verse reveals our willing Savior. Twice in this verse, this phrase
occurs, He opened not His mouth. He opened not His mouth. You
see it there, listen. He was oppressed, He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, as a sheep before her shearers, is dumb, that is,
speechless. He opened, not his mouth. Our Lord Jesus Christ was brought
before Herod and Pilate in a mock trial, and He made no defense. He was brought before the people,
and He opened not His mouth. He was sentenced to death, and
He opened not His mouth. Having loved His own, He loved
them to the end. He was a willing Savior. He said,
no man takes my life from me. No man takes my life. They didn't
kill the Lord Jesus Christ. He laid down His life. No man takes my life from me.
I lay it down. Our Lord did not open His mouth.
You know why? Listen to me now. He was guilty. Oh, pastor, Christ was never
guilty of any sin. Not Himself. But He had our sins
laid on Him. He was numbered with the transgressors.
He bore our sins in His body, so when He was charged with sin,
He didn't answer. He didn't reply. He opened not
His mouth. Guilty. We're guilty. And as
He stood in our place, He was guilty. He didn't open His mouth
against the Father. He didn't open His mouth against
the people. He didn't open His mouth against justice. Guilty. Willing Savior. Opened not His
mouth. haha look at verse eight and
nine these verses show christ actually you know what a surety
is a surety is someone that goes
on a note with you if you borrow money and sign a note they lend
you a large sum of money and I sign as a surety if you don't
pay I pay I assume responsibility for your indebtedness I assume
responsibility for your The debt you owe, it becomes mine, and
you can't pay it, and I pay it. And that's what these verses
show here. He was taken from prison and judgment. Who shall declare his pedigree,
his generation? He was cut off out of the land
of the living. Why? For the transgressions of my
people was he stricken. He's my surety. God made him
our surety before the foundation of the world. He's the surety
of an everlasting covenant. He's the surety of a New Testament
and New Covenant. God made him the surety. He assumed
the debt. Somebody said, I owed a debt
I couldn't pay. My surety in my stead paid the
debt he did not owe. He made his grave with the wicked.
You see that there in verse 9. What does that mean? He made
his grave with the wicked. He's crucified between two thieves.
Treated like a thief. An outcast. They took him outside
the city walls and nailed him to a tree. Between two thieves. He made his grave, his death
with the wicked. And listen, and his grave with
the rich. What does that mean? That means
he was buried in a borrowed tomb. that belonged to a wealthy man
called Joseph of Arimathea, a tomb in which no man had ever lain,
a new tomb, so that when he arose, they couldn't say it's somebody
else. He arose, you see, made his grave
with the wicked and with the rich in his death, because, now
that word, you see that word in verse 9, because he had done
no violence, neither was deceit in his mouth, that word is although. He bore the transgressions of
my people. He made his grave with the wicked,
and his death was with the rich. Although he had done no violence,
and no deceit was in his mouth, he who knew no sin, my substitute,
was made sin for me, that I might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He paid it all, all the debt
I owe, Sin left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. That's
substitution. And the big key here is satisfaction. Now watch this, verse 10. Now
look at God's Lamb. We've seen God's servant. We've
seen the suffering substitute. We've seen the Lord Jesus, our
sin offering. Now watch God's Lamb. It says
here in verse 10, and you need to listen to this. This is so
important. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. We did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God. Now, wait a minute. Who crucified
Christ? We said, Preacher, the Jewish
leaders delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate judged him and sentenced
him to be crucified and released Barabbas. And the soldiers nailed
him to the tree. And all the people consented
to his death. That's true. But back of it all. Now, listen to me. Don't run
away. Listen. Back of it all, the will and
purpose of the Heavenly Father. They did, those Jewish leaders,
Pilate, those soldiers, those people who mocked him as he suffered
and died, they did what God determined before to be done. It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He, the Lord, put him to grieve. He, the Lord, made his soul an
offering for Savior. Now listen to me. If a man commits an awful crime,
a horrible crime, and he's brought before the judge and found guilty,
guilty, and the judge sentences him to death, and they put him
in the electric chair, and somebody pulls the switch, the judge didn't
kill him, The man that pulled the switch didn't kill him. The
law killed him. Justice killed him. That man
that pulled the switch is not guilty of murder at all. The
law put that man away. The law condemned him. And I'm
saying this, God's justice, God's righteousness made Christ my
servant. God's justice and God's righteousness
took him when God gave him a body and put him on this earth in
that body as a man. under the law, under the justice
of God. God's justice took him and God's
law took him with our guilt and our shame and our sin upon him
and God delivered him into the hands of wicked men to be crucified
and slain. And look at verse 10, and the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Now listen, we did
esteem him, stricken smitten of God. Now, He's our substitute. He's the center. That's God that
sends men to hell. Somebody said that people send
themselves to hell. I beg your pardon. They don't even know
where hell is. No man is going to send himself to hell. God
Almighty judges men. And God Almighty condemns men. And when Jesus Christ stood in
our place, in our stead, as our substitute, He was stricken and
smitten of God. He said, no man takes my life
from me. They couldn't touch him without
the Father's permission. It pleased God to bruise him.
It pleased God to make his soul an offering for sin. It pleased
God Almighty to put his soul to grief. The pleasure of the
Lord prospered in his hand. God gave him something to do.
He did it. That's right. God gave him something
to do. He did. Can you understand that?
That's the reason this old man said, my creed's Christ, and
it's all right here in Isaiah 53. Christ, the servant of God,
the substitute, the satisfaction, the sin offering, the willing
Savior, and here God's Lamb. God's Lamb. God's Lamb. It pleased the Lord. They asked
David one time, said, where's your God? He said, our God's
in the heaven. They said, what's He like? He said, whatsoever
the Lord please. That did He in heaven, earth,
and the seas, and all deep places. And when He would redeem a people,
when He would redeem a people, His sheep, His church, His elect,
His people from all ages and all generations of all races
unto heaven, every nation, tribe, kindred, tongue unto heaven.
God's got a people. But they're all in debt, they're
all under the law, they're all under the curse, they're all
under judgment. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, came into this
world, man of softness, acquainted with grief. We here is it where
our face is from Him, no beauty that we should desire Him. And
we did esteem Him, smitten of God, stricken and afflicted. It pleased God to bruise Him.
It pleased God to put Him to grief. It pleased God to make
his soul an offering for sin, and the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand." And you know what it says? He shall
see of the tribale of his soul, and he shall be satisfied. What's
that talking about? Well, you ladies know something
about tribale. You know the word tribale is birth pains. When a woman is expecting a child,
she carries that child for nine months, and then the babies do.
And she goes through such pain and distress and suffering to
give birth to a child. And after it's all over, she
receives her little baby in her arms with joy. For the joy that
was set before her, she endured the pain. And it was worth it. And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the shame, endured
the cross and despised the shame. That's right. And he saw the
travail of his soul. People talk about his physical
suffering. It's his soul agony that gave
birth to his people. He made his soul an offering
for sin. His soul. Our God said, don't
be afraid of anybody that kills the body. Fear him who is able
to cast your body and soul into hell. That's right. He shall
see of the travail of his soul. He saw every one of His people.
He knows them. He said, I know my sheep, and
they know me. And by His knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many. Why? He shall bear their iniquities. That's how He justified them.
Not through their works. He bore their iniquities as their
substitute. Now here's the last verse. Therefore,
because He did all this, I'll give Him all power, all preeminence,
He shall divide the spoil of the strong, because he poured
out his soul to death. He was numbered with the transgressors.
He bore the sin of many. He made intercession for the
transgressors. He's the victor. He's the exalted
Savior. He has all preeminence. That's
my creed. That's my creed. Christ, my creed. Let's call that message this,
Christ, my creed. You can remember that, can't
you? Christ, my substitute. Christ, my creed.