Someone asked a well-known preacher
of the last century, is your creed in print? And he replied,
yes, sir. You will find my creed in the
53rd chapter of Isaiah. You will find there a condensed
Bible in one chapter. It's all there, he said. It's
all there. the whole gospel of God's mercy
and grace as it is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's all there.
The remarkable thing about this chapter, it reads as if it were
written after Christ came. I imagine while I read it a moment
ago, you just sort of fell into the understanding or into the
supposition that that someone was talking about what Christ
had done. But really and truly, this chapter
was written by Isaiah hundreds and hundreds of years before
Christ ever came. This is a declaration of a promise. This is a prophecy. This is what
will take place. And it did, and it has. And I
want us to look at it, and the prophet begins as most prophets
begin. For someone said, every prophet
complained. Who hath believed our report? Our report is the report of God's
love, the report of God's mercy, not God's wrath, the report of
God's mercy, of God's grace to sinners. Our report is the report
of Christ's person. of his office, of his redeeming
work. Our report is a good report.
And as Paul said, it's a faithful report. And it's one worthy of
acceptation by all men. But who really believes it? Who
really believes it? Who, Isaiah said, hath believed
our report? And to whom is the arm or power
or gospel of God revealed? No one. Now this is so, and I
know that it shocks people when we say this, but no son of Adam,
no human being ever believes either a prophet, or a preacher,
or an apostle, or an evangelist, or a missionary, or a pastor,
except the Holy Spirit opens the heart and reveals the arm
of the Lord, the report of God's love and mercy and grace to that
sinner. Now that's so. Turn, if you will,
with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Every prophet of God and every
preacher of God's Word has always complained of this one thing.
I preach, men don't believe me. I declare the truth and men won't
receive it. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? You know, our Lord said to his
disciples, they said, why do you preach to people in parables? And he said, because they have
eyes, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not
hear. They have hearts, but they do not understand. Now, man can
come with his message, and men will receive him. But if a man
comes with God's message, they won't receive it. That's human
nature. That's the bondage in which we have fallen by our sin
against God. Our Lord said, I come in my Father's
name, and you will not receive me. Let another, whoever he is,
whatever he says, come in his own name, and him you will receive. That's the terrible condition
of fallen man. To him, bitter is sweet, and
sweet is bitter. The light that's in him is darkness, and he calls
it light. He doesn't know the difference.
And here in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9, it is written, I have
not seen, ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that
love him. Eye, ear, and heart. There it is again. Why do you
teach them in parables, the disciples say? The Lord said they have
eyes, but they do not see. ears but they do not hear, and
hearts but they do not understand. And then he turned to them and
he said, O blessed are your eyes. Have you ever really, on your
knees, in humility and gratitude, thanked God for opening your
eyes? You see what kings and wise men
of past days have desired to look into. You have heard what
prophets have desired to hear and have not heard. You understand
mysteries that wise men of all ages have delved into and tried
to understand. Blessed Christ said to those
disciples, your eyes, you see. Blessed are your ears, you hear.
But God revealed it to you. Look at the next verse. But God
hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit For the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. Isaiah said, Lord, I've
got a good report, but men don't believe it. I've got a true report. I've got a report of mercy. This
is the record. God hath given us eternal life,
and this life's in his Son. But natural man puts it in the
Bible, in doctrine, in Mary, in the priest, in the church,
in the law, in good works, in the baptistry, in the Lord's
table, in the sacraments, anywhere but in Christ. He just won't
have it in Christ. And God said, He that hath the
Son hath life. And we say, He that hath the
doctrine hath life. He that hath the moral life hath
life. He that hath the church fathers have life. God said,
He that hath the Son hath life. But we don't believe that. We
believe everything but what God says. And that's what the prophet
is complaining about. Who's believed me, he said. To
whom is the arm? To whom is the power of God?
To whom is the wisdom of God really revealed? To you? To me? I hope so. Look at the next verse. I hope so. Every man's got a
religion. Every man's got a doctrine. Every man's got a Jesus. Every
man's got a God. Verse 2 says, he shall grow up
like any other child, like any other person. He came from the
womb of a mother. He was born very much like we're
born, except he had no natural father. He did have a mother.
He got his nourishment at a mother's breast, and he grew in wisdom.
favor with God and men. He worked like you worked. He
had calluses on his hands. He thirsted. He hungered. He wearied. He walked in flesh. He felt the stones under his
feet and the sun upon his brow, the wind upon his back. He grew
up, but he grew up as a tender plant. They said, is not this
the carpenter? Turn to John 6, verse 42. Let's look at this a minute.
This is something they couldn't understand. This is something
that has to be revealed. In John 6, verse 42, they said,
in verse 41, Christ said, I am the bread that came down from
heaven. I am the arm of the Lord. I am the Messiah, the power of
God. I am the Redeemer. While they said, Is not this
Jesus? Is not this the son of Joseph,
whose mother and father we know? How is it he said, I came down
from heaven? Well, we know him. Everybody
that is anybody has already turned thumbs down on him. This man
in the garb of a peasant, is this Israel's king? Is this
God's Messiah? Is this the long-awaited Christ
who is sent to save the world? What folly! What empty folly! A tender plant, what does that
mean, just a babe? When you plant a grain of corn
and it first pokes its little green shoots through the soil,
it's so tender, it's so liable to destruction. It's so easy
to bruise and to destroy. Just a little frost will take
care of it. A tender plant. And that's what I look in Bethlehem's
manger and I see that little tender plant, that little tiny
babe, that just a blanket over its face will snuff out its life.
And I say, this is the king. This is the one around whom the
universe revolves. This is the one of whom the angels
sing. This is the one whom the cherubims
announced. This is the one of whom the prophets
spake. This is the one about which this
whole Bible is written. This is the one for whose glory
the world was created and awaits his coming and his return. This
is it. A root out of dry ground. Preacher,
what does that mean? It means the household of David
from which he came was all but perished. You go out there and
it hadn't rained in years on a on a dry, parched piece of
ground. And there it is, it's cracked
open. You can reach down and you can't find any moisture for
many feet below the soil. It's just dry ground, dry, arid,
parched ground. And there's a root laying there
on top of the ground. Any life in that root, any strength
in that root, anything in that root that can possibly grow to
a giant oak, it's doubtful. And that's the way David's household,
David who once sat on the throne and reigned over Israel and yea
the world, the greatest kingdom in the world, and they said that
the Messiah would come from the seed of David, he would come
from the household and lineage of David, where's that household,
where's that majesty, where's that power? See that little old
teenage girl named Mary, that's what's left of David's household. See that carpenter with the calluses
on his hand and the sweat on his brow, that old gentleman
there in the carpenter's shop, that's David's son. And the Romans, no wonder with
their palace of Caesars and Nero's would laugh at Israel's kingdom
and Israel's king and Israel's talk about Israel being restored
to its glory, that's foolishness. And you tell me that this kid
here, this son of David, this root out of a dry ground, this
is your hope? Your hope's in him? Why, he has
no form, no comeliness. He is just a peasant dressed
in a cloth robe. There are no diamonds on his
hands. There's no satin on his back.
There's no crown on his brow. He's dressed as any ordinary
beggar would be dressed. There's no beauty about him.
that we should even follow him. No beauty that we should desire
him. Nothing grand or majestic, nothing that would impress anyone,
nothing that would even suggest that he's a king. This is your
king? You need a whole lot different
eyes from the eyes of this world to see anything in Jesus Christ.
A whole lot different. You mean to tell me that fellow
hanging naked on that cross between two thieves, bleeding with his
head limp upon his chest, helpless and all of his friends that forsook
him with no armies and no bank accounts and no wealth and no
parliaments or senates or congress, you mean that mass of flesh that
doesn't even look like a man is your Lord and King? Nobody but a fool or a Christian
will believe that. A man has to be one or the other.
And then it says he's despised. The world knew him not. Verse
3, he's despised, really despised. He was despised. The world didn't
know him. His own nation rejected him,
even his brothers. That's what Scripture says. Even
the people that lived under the roof of his mother's house. did
not believe in him. He was despised, why? Because
of the lowliness of his birth. He was rejected of men because
of the lowliness of his birth. He was born in a stable. His
mother unattended by physicians or maids or nurses, surrounded
by cows and sheep and horses and shepherds. The lowliness
of his birth, the poverty of his parents. When he came along,
somebody said, have you heard this man Jesus? And he said,
where is he from? He said, he's from Nazareth.
He said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? And then his lack of formal education. Someone said one time, do you
teach us? When the Lord Jesus had spoken,
the Pharisee said, do you teach us? Why, you have no education. Where does this man know letters,
having never learned? He was despised. The people with
whom he associated brought reproach upon him. They were sinners and
publicans and thieves and harlots. And the doctrines he preached,
they said, well, nobody's going to listen to that foolishness.
This is a hard saying. Who can hear it? And he did his
works on the Sabbath day, which was against all religious rules.
Despised, rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.
These were his constant companions, grief and sorrow, grief and sorrow,
his constant companions. His life was a series of sorrows
from the cradle to the cross. He was despised because of the
way that he died. And you know it says here, and
we hid our faces from him. Even his disciples hid their
faces. It's like a fella that's been
accused. And I've seen this happen in
churches. I've seen this happen many times. A fella, even a rumor or a scandal
or a little bit of gossip gets out on him. Nobody wants to be
seen with him. Nobody wants to be seen talking
to him because it could rub off. They could you know folks could
think that you were associated with him and so everybody, everybody
avoids him. I just happened one time to a
friend of mine and something traumatic took place in his life
and all the many friends that he had deserted him and I called
him, wrote to him and went to see him And he said, you know,
he said, you're the only person that'll have anything to do with
me now. Everybody else is avoiding me. Everybody else is walking
on the other side of the street. That's what it's saying here.
It's saying that our Lord was a man of, he was rejected and
despised, a man of sorrows, acquainted with greed. And when he walked
by, we didn't want to be associated with him either. So we just kind
of hid our faces. We kind of made out like we didn't
see him. You ever done that before? made out like you didn't see
him. There's a fellow you didn't want to speak to, so you made
out like you didn't see him. There's a fellow you didn't want
to be associated with, so you made out like you didn't see
him. You hid your face in the sand, and he was despised, and
we esteemed him not, rejected and despised of me. Somebody
said, if I'd have lived in those days, I'd have walked with Jesus.
I don't know, it cost an awful lot. How many of you walking
with him now? It's a whole lot easier to walk
with him now than it was then, and I don't see a whole lot of
folks being identified with him now. It's a whole lot easier
now. They're not shooting at you now
like they were then. They're not hanging folks for
believing on Jesus. They're not burning folks at
the stake now. It's a whole lot easier today to stand in a pulpit
and declare that Christ is Lord, Christ is King. That's easy.
Ain't nobody gonna knock on my door tonight and haul me out
in chains and put me in prison and burn me at stake Monday morning. No, we hid our faces from him. He rejected and despised of men. Behold, a man of woe, grief,
his close companion still through all his life below. We saw him
condemned of heaven and outcast from his God. And while for my
sins he groaned and bled beneath the Father's rod, I hid my face
and laid out like I didn't know him. made out like I didn't know
him. Just keep quiet. Just act like
you don't know him. That's the thing to do when you're
with a crowd that doesn't know Christ. Act like you don't know
him either and you won't have to suffer. But he says in verse
4, 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. The griefs and sorrows he bore
were not his, they were mine. There was no sin in him to cause
grief. When Jesus Christ walked in the
flesh, he was a man of sorrow and grief. And yet there was
no sin in him to cause grief and sorrow. So it was not his
grief and sorrow that he bore, but my grief and sorrow. All
that he suffered, he suffered as my representative. He was
smitten and afflicted of God for me. He knew no sin. He committed
no sin, he thought no evil, he spoke no foolish word, and so
the wrath of God that came upon him was for my sin. He was wounded for my transgressions,
look at it, he was bruised, verse 5, for my iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace, my peace, your peace, was upon him with his
stripes were healed. It's past tense, and yet it hasn't
occurred. That's the beauty of God's Word.
The promises of God are as certain as the act of God. They're as
complete. Now here's something you need
to learn right here. This is one of those foundation
stones that preachers are not laying. The reason folks are
driven about with every wind of doctrine and floating around
not having any peace or joy or assurance in their hearts is
they have no place to put their feet except on the dry shifting
sand of what somebody thinks or what appeals to the flesh.
But this is one of those places where you put your feet and you
can rest and not be shaken. With his stripes we are healed. Now there are two words that
need to be learned here. One is the word substitution.
If you would learn the gospel, learn the word substitution.
It says here, He bore our greats. He bore our sorrows. He bore
our transgressions. He bore our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was laid on Him. And we did esteem Him stricken,
smitten, afflicted of God in our place. That's substitution.
He literally took my sin and took my guilt and took my place. You see that Christ is our representative. I'm saved because Christ saved
me. My sins are pardoned because
he paid the debt. It's gone. My sins are gone.
They're under the blood of Christ. They're put away. They're paid
for. They're separated from me forever as far as the east is
from the west because my substitutes already died. I've served my
sentence. I've died my debt. That's substitution. The other is reconciliation.
That's a big word, but it's an important word. It's a foundation
stone. It's a place for the other foot. Reconciliation. With his stripes, we're healed.
That says he was our substitute and he bore our sins and our
sorrows. He was wounded for us. So because
he has been smitten and afflicted, I am healed. I am reconciled
to God. God was in Christ reconciling
the world, or men of all nations and tribes and kindreds and tongues
to himself. We are reconciled. We have been
reconciled. Reconciled means to make a friend
out of an enemy. Reconciled. That means to put
away the estrangement that was between you, the enmity that
was between you, and receive you. Now watch this. Christ's
death. Christ's death did not take the
enmity for God out of my heart. The Holy Spirit did that. Because
Paul said, Be ye reconciled to God. That's a command. Be ye reconciled to God. But
I thought the word said by the man that Christ reconciled us
to God, that by his death we were reconciled, that God was
in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. That's exactly
what it said. but he reconciled us to God. The heart of the sinner
was not changed. That's accomplished later by
the Holy Spirit. What the death of Christ did
was make a change from the other direction. The change was and
is in removing the ground of enmity and the judgment of God
that was directed toward me. Reconciliation is the work of
God in Christ, not toward the sinner, toward himself. You see, God, because of our
sin and fall, God was at war with us. There was war from this
direction. Sure, there's hatred for God,
and there's enmity toward God from man, but there was some
riot down this way too. There was enmity this way. God,
in his justice and holiness and righteousness, can't deal with
you. In mercy, can't deal with you. In grace, he's got to punish
your sin. He's got to judge your transgression. He's got to punish your iniquities.
God Almighty is at war with you. He hateth the workers of iniquity.
He's angry with the wicked every day. That's what Scripture says.
God's angry. Let me show you that. Turn to
Romans 5. This is a lesson that needs to
be learned. And you're sitting there, some
of you are sitting there hearing something new. Romans 5.10 says,
For when, if when we were enemies, we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God by the death of His Son. We were enemies and we were reconciled
to God by the death of His Son. Well, when Christ died, years
later, I'm still God's enemy. As God's enemy to the Holy Spirit
came and took the enmity out of my heart, and took the hatred
out of my heart, and shed abroad the love of God in my heart,
and brought me to my knees, and brought me to love God. That's
the work of the Spirit. But here it says we were reconciled
to God by the death of His Son, meaning just this. Sin made God
my enemy. Christ, by His blood and death,
made God my friend. That's right. By his stripes I'm healed. There's
no judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus. There's no wrath. God's in love with you because
of Christ. God's in love with you because
of Christ. God Almighty's in love. There's
friendship between the house of David and the house of Saul
because of Jonathan. That's right. Old Mephibosheth
got his head cut off, it wasn't for Jonathan. But David said,
he said, King David, why are you showing mercy to such a dead
dog? And David said, it ain't for your sake. It's because I
loved your daddy. And that's where Romans 8.39
says the love of God is. It's in Christ. And Christ Jesus
came down here and what he did, turned the wrath of God into
mercy. It enabled God to be just and
yet justify the chief of sinners. It brought peace between the
household of David and the household of Saul. It brought peace between
heaven's glory and earth's hell. It brought peace. That's the
power of the blood of the Son of God. And these preachers running
around here, and I'll tell you, I'm sad and sorrowful about it.
Not anything I can do about it. But I see a church advertising
in the paper, it has a little old thing down here, God loves
you. And I want to tell that preacher and that sinner who's
reading that, if you're in Christ, God loves you. But if you're
not in Christ, you're under the wrath of God. He that believeth
not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. Ain't nothing
been done about that enmity. And you can't do anything about
it with your works and with your church membership and with all
your zeal and your self-righteousness. You see, God Almighty is holy
and just and righteous, and sin has to be paid for. And therefore,
because in verse 5 it says, he was wounded for our transgressions
and bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of peace
was upon him, somebody, In order for us to have peace with God,
somebody's got to bear that chastisement, and that's hell. That's infinite
suffering of an infinite Christ. You see that? Got to be. It's got to be. God cannot put
away sin without the shedding of blood. There's no forgiveness.
He can't be just and justifier unless the debt's paid. But it
says here, because Christ... That's what the angels announced
on that Judean hillside. They said, peace on earth, goodwill
toward men from headquarters, from heaven, from God's throne. Unto you is born a Savior, Christ
the Lord. That's the reason the announcement
comes of peace, and that's what Isaiah is announcing here, the
chastisement of our peace. If there's peace between heaven's
throne of holiness and my heart and this center tonight, it is
not because of anything I've done. It's because Christ made
that peace through his sacrifice. That's it. And you want to approach
God. Don't come to God and promise
you'll start tithing, promise you'll start serving the Lord,
promise you'll quit drinking, and promise you'll do all this
if God will save you. That ain't the way God saved
sinners. That's not the way. You can't reconcile yourself
to God. Christ has to do it. You have
to cry like that publican, Lord, be ye reconciled to me through
the blood of your Son. Look not on my guilt and my shame
and my sin, but look on the blood of thy Son. Receive me in Christ. Be ye reconciled in Christ. Let the blood be propitiation
for me on the mercy seat. I claim Christ. I come through
the cross by way of the cross. That's the way God's reconciled. That's where peace is made between
heaven and earth. And I'll tell you, if you start
in here, he that cometh up any other way is a thief and a robber.
I am the door, Christ said, by me if any man enter in. Look
at verse 6, all we like sheep, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. There's my whole problem right
there, my own way. That's my whole problem, that's
what causes me all my trouble, is my way, my way. You know the
we and the our and the us in these verses. You've been watching
this we and our and us who it says down here when he was despised
of men, we esteemed him not. It says when he had no form of
comeliness, we didn't desire him. It says when he bared our
griefs and sorrows, we turned our faces away. And when Adam's race went astray,
we went astray. We were like all the rest of
them children of wrath. We didn't love God. God loved
us. Even the most faithful disciple
can take no glory or credit for his place in Christ. Oh, we like
sheep. What did we do? We went astray. That's our natural... We're like
water that seeks the land of least resistance. You wonder
why a creek goes like this. Why doesn't a creek go straight?
because it seeks the line of least resistance. It goes the
direction it'll get the least resistance. That's the reason
it goes that way. And you know the reason we shift
around and like the wind we change this way and that way because
we're like that old dead creek. We just go the way that we have
put forth the least effort and the least principle and the least
conviction. We go our way. That's our way
down, down, down, down. the Lord laid on him our iniquity. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
he was called a devil, he was called a winebibber, he was called
a glutton, he was reviled, he was accused of treason, he was
threatened, he was afflicted by both man and God, and yet
it said he opened not his mouth. He didn't open his mouth against
the false charges, though reviled, he reviled not again, He did
not open his mouth against the purpose of God that made him
our representative and surety. He did not open his mouth against
the soldiers, the false witnesses, and Pilate was amazed. He said,
Answerest thou not me, knowing that I have the power to crucify
you and let you go? And our Lord stood in silence.
He did not open his mouth even against the wrath of the Father.
He said, No man takes my life from me, I lay it down. The songwriter
said, willing to bear the cross, was he willing to go to Calvary,
willing to die just for me, Jesus the crucified. He was brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shearers is
done, he opened not his mouth. He was willing. The death of
Jesus Christ was not an accident. He was delivered by the determinate
counsel of God. The death of Jesus Christ was
planned and purposed from all eternity. He died the appointed
Savior for the appointed people at the appointed time, and he
accomplished what God sent him to do. He says in verse 8, he
was taken from prison and from judgment. Who shall declare his
generation? He was cut off out of the land
of the living, and for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Christ must suffer. He must suffer, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. Our Lord's trials and temptations
under the law, our Lord's sufferings and sorrow in the flesh, our
Lord's trial and condemnation, our Lord's loneliness in the
garden and in death, our Lord's ignominious death and burial,
our Lord's suffering, all of them were absolutely unconditionally
necessary to redeem his people. Now turn to John 3.14, let me
show you something. This was not a way that God devised,
this was THE way. You must see this. This is another
one of those foundation stones. The disciples, they could understand
the kingdom but not the cross. They could understand the crown
but not the crucifixion. They could understand the blessings,
but they couldn't understand the bruising. They could understand
the lion reigning, but not the lamb suffering. They couldn't
understand that. Do you? In John 3.14, listen
to this, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness on
a pole, lifted it up between heaven and earth in a helpless
condition, lifted up on a cross, even so, M-U-S-T, must the Son
of Man be lifted up. He must. Christ's death wasn't an example.
It was a sin offering. It was a satisfaction. It was
an atonement. It must be. Never would have
any sinner ever sang the praises of salvation by the grace and
mercy of God if Christ had not died. He had to die. Turn, if
you will, to Matthew 26. Matthew 26. Listen to this. The
disciples did everything they could to keep him from going
to the cross. They wanted him to set up a kingdom. But it was
so difficult to show them that there can be no kingdom without
a cross. You don't get to the crown except by way of the cross.
You don't have a people unless you purchase them. In Matthew
26, verse 52, listen to this. Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put
up your sword. He drew out his sword. He was
going to have a crusade there. He was going to defend the Lord.
He was going to keep them from arresting Christ and keep them
from taking him to Calvary. And our Lord said, Put up your
sword. All that take the sword will
perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now
pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve
legions of angels? Do you think that I'm helpless
in this situation, Peter? Do you think I came to this garden
by accident? Do you think I'm allowing these
soldiers to arrest me because I can do nothing about it? Do
you think that I lay my back open to the smiter? My back open to the scourge and
my cheek to them that pluck out the hair? and my brow to him
that presses the crown of thorns, and lay my hand on that cross
to be nailed to that wood. Do you think I do that because
I can't do anything else? Because I have no power to resist,
to have no power to defeat these enemies, no matter how strong?
Do you think that's the reason? Don't you know, Peter, that I
could now call on my Father, and very presently He would destroy
this world just upon a word from me. But listen to the next verse. But how then shall the scripture
be fulfilled." If I don't go to the cross, what meaneth the
lamb of the Old Testament, the Passover lamb? If I don't go
to the cross, what meaneth the blood on the mercy seat? If I
don't go to the cross, what meaneth the death of the sacrificial
lamb? If I don't go to the cross, what
meaneth the lifting up of the brazen serpent? What meaneth
the smitten rock? If I don't do this, how is the
scripture going to be fulfilled? Thus, it must be. It must be. Clear back to Genesis
3.15. What meaneth the bruising of
the serpent's head? What meaneth the Passover lamb
in the book of Exodus? What meaneth the lifting up of
the brazen serpent in the wilderness? What means all the prophecies
and promises of the scripture which talks about the Lamb of
God dying for sinners, and the blood that maketh us white as
snow? Though your sins be as scarlet, I'll make them white
as snow. That has no meaning if Christ does not die. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. Verse 9 says he made his grave
between two thieves. that is, his death. He laid in
a barred tomb. He borrowed it from a rich man.
He borrowed it because he wouldn't need it very long. Verse 10 said, It pleased the
Lord to bruise him. All things are ordered of the
Lord. You with wicked hands crucified the Lord of glory, but you did
what God determined before to be done. All things are ordered by the
Lord. The pleasure of the Lord. Look at this line and underscore
it, the last line in verse 10. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. Does that sound like that pitiful
little helpless Jesus that you hear preached today that's gone
into exile and is sitting out there waiting and watching to
see what you'll do? The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. Our Heavenly Father put in the
hand of Christ the covenant of grace to be fulfilled and he
did it. Our Heavenly Father put in the
hands of Christ a multitude which no man can number to be saved,
and Christ did it. Our Heavenly Father put in the
hands of Christ a redemption to fulfill and complete by His
perfect obedience and the shedding of His blood, and our Lord did
just exactly what He was told to do, and what He was commissioned
to do, and what He was sent to do. I came not to do my own will,
He said, but the will of Him that sent me. And when he finished
his work, he cried from that cross triumphantly, It's finished! It's finished! And he didn't die in vain. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper. Look at verse 11. He shall see the travail. Some
of you women know what travail is. Ain't but one word there,
that's birth pain. That's the pains of bringing
forth a child. That's the pain and the agony. And some of you, even if you
talk about it now, you relive it, you go back to that day.
And his was the travail not just of flesh and blood, it was the
travail of his soul. Not just his body, his soul.
Our Lord made his soul an offering for sin. That's what it says
back in verse 10, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for
sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered
the birth pains, pangs of his soul, the travail of his soul.
What does this mean? It means just this, that you
dear mothers go into that delivery room and it's a deep dark valley
and it's a tough experience, but once they wheel you out and
put that little baby boy, little baby girl in your arms, you forget
it all. It was worth it. It's all forgotten. It's all worth it. And our Lord
eats and you can't, the only place you can see that it was
worth it was after it's over because you don't have foreknowledge.
You have to wait till the whole thing's over and they bring you
that beautiful precious child and you say it's worth it. It'd
been worth twice as much because this is my own. This is the fruit
of my body and the fruit of my womb and there's no greater satisfaction
But our Lord, even before he went through the agony of death,
and before he went through the travail of his soul, he saw his
seed. That's what it says in verse
10, see? He shall see his seed. He's seen them from all eternity.
I know my sheep, he said. I know my sons. I know my people. I chose him for the foundation
of the world. And then he shall see the travail
of his soul. He sees what his death accomplishes. It redeems. It sets free. It cleanses. Our Lord has no
miscarriages. Now then, if you women go, and
some of you have experienced this, and this is a terrible
experience to go through all that nine months and that suffering
and those birth pains and lose a child. Some of you have done
that, and that's bitter. That's bitter. It was wasted
effort. Wasted. But our Lord does not
have any wasted blood or wasted effort. He sees the travail,
the birth pains of His soul, the children He'll bring forth
by His death and agony, and He's satisfied. Isn't that what it
says? He shall see the travail of His soul and be satisfied. This is my creed, yours too.
the sent Savior, the sorrowful Savior, the suffering Savior,
the silent Savior, and the satisfied Savior. Now, if you've got the
impression that Christ is up there in heaven troubled about
the outcome of this world, rest easy, my friend. He's seated
at the right hand of God. He's not walking the floor, and
he's satisfied. And he's seated there expectant
until his enemies become his footstool, until the day comes
for him to step forth and destroy that last enemy death and enter
forever into the enjoyment of his family, none of whom, he
said, would be lost. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I lose nothing.
I don't lose my children. I don't give birth to dead sons
and daughters. I see the travail of my soul
and I'm satisfied by his knowledge, by his wisdom, by his obedience
shall my righteous servant justify many, you can't count them, for
he shall bear their iniquities. And then the last verse says
Therefore God the Father says, I'll divide him a portion with
the great, and he shall divide the small with the strong. Because
one, he poured out his soul unto death. Number two, he was numbered,
identified with the transgressors. He was one of us, flesh of our
flesh and bone of our bone, and he bare the sin of many. And
right now, he's praying for us. He's making intercession. I want
you to pray for me, and I want to pray for you. But I've got
one praying for me whose prayers are always answered. That's my
Lord, my mediator. He never fails. God always hears
him. He said, Father, I know you always
hear me, but for the benefit of these around here, I've got
something to ask. Peter, I've prayed for you. Satan hath desired
thee that he might sift thee as wheat, but I've prayed for
you that your faith fail not.