Now we're turning again to Isaiah
53. I'm not going to read it again. This is the gospel. This is the
gospel of salvation, Isaiah chapter 53. And this message, written
by the prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is sufficient
to bring any seeking sinner to a knowledge of salvation. This
message is sufficient to bring any interested sinner to saving
faith. The reason I say that so confidently
is because it was this chapter, Isaiah 53, that the Holy Spirit
led the Ethiopian eunuch to read. It was this chapter that the
Holy Spirit led Philip to preach to the Ethiopian eunuch. It was
this chapter that brought him to saving faith in Christ, after
which he was baptized, confessing Christ, being identified with
Christ, and went on his way rejoicing. It was this chapter right here.
In Acts, the eighth chapter, Luke records this incident. The
Ethiopian eunuch had been to Jerusalem to worship. He was
coming back, riding in his chariot, and he was reading Isaiah 53. He was reading this chapter.
The Holy Spirit had led him to open his Bible to this chapter,
and the Holy Spirit led Philip to come and preach to him. Isaiah,
chapter 53. It's not expected. It's not expected
that all who hear us preach this message will believe it. I would
like for all to believe it. I would rejoice if all believed
it. But it's not expected that all
who hear this message with these natural ears will receive this
message of salvation, this message of grace. In fact, look at verse
1. Isaiah, who wrote the chapter,
opens it with this comment, with this question, Who hath believed
our message? Who hath believed our message? Who hath believed our report
of God's grace in Christ Jesus? It is good news. It is a faithful
message, and all who believe will be saved. But to whom is
the arm of the Lord revealed? Who is the arm of the Lord here?
It's Christ. He is the power of God. He is
the arm of God. So Isaiah declares that even
those in his day to whom he ministered did not believe his report. The
power of God in Christ was not revealed to them. And then in
our Savior's day, the scripture says, he came into his own and
his own received him not. Our Lord said, I come in my Father's
name and you receive me not. He said again, this is condemnation,
light is coming to this world. And men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds are evil. Our Lord said, you
will not come to me that you might have life. And then when
he stood before that multitude, they cried, Give us Barabbas
and crucify Jesus. And then in this day of religion,
men will follow anything and anybody but Christ. They'll take up laws, they'll
take up rules, ceremonies, works, even doctrines, orthodoxy, denominations,
churches, creeds, anything but Christ, they will willingly take
up. Our Lord said that. He said,
Let another come in his own name, and him you will receive. I am come in my Father's name,
and you receive me not. Whole sermons will be preached
this day without ever mentioning the name of Jesus Christ. Who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? And yet preachers
will stand this day in churches all over this world, and they'll
preach sermons, and they'll use this Bible, and they'll never
mention the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet our patterned
apostle declared, I am determined to know nothing among you except
Jesus Christ. and Him crucified. Seldom, even
in His church, is He given the place of preeminence. Seldom
in the church called by His name is He given the place of glory,
and yet the Scripture says we are chosen in Him, we are loved
in Him, we are redeemed in Him, we are accepted in Him, we are
preserved in Him, we are raised in Him, We are glorified in Him. We are seated in Him. We are complete in Him. Christ is our life, and when
He shall appear, we shall be conformed to His image. Isaiah, why did they not believe
this report in your day? Who hath believed our report,
to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Master, why did they
not believe this report in your day? You came in power, you came
healing the sick, gave and raising the dead. You arose yourself
and stood among them, seen of hundreds, and ascended back to
the Father, and yet they did not believe. In this day of complete
revelation, We have the Word of God, the inspired Word of
God Almighty, and yet men take up anything in religion but Christ. Why? Well, I believe the first
reason is given in verse 2. Here is the first reason for
his rejection. It says, "...for he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant." A tender plant. What is this? This is his lowly entrance into
the world. Our Lord did not come into this
world in pomp and worldly glory. He came into this world as an
insignificant, frail, little plant. He was born of a poor
Jewish maiden who had been recently married to a poor Jewish carpenter. And he was laid in a manger because
there was no room for them in the inn. He was surrounded by
the poorest of people, shepherds, cattlemen. He was surrounded
by animals. He came into this world as a
very insignificant little, and the Greek word, the Hebrew word
actually there, is a sucker that grows out from the tree a long
ways and is so frail and so liable to destruction. It's just there
and nobody pays any attention to it. They just ignore it as
they pass by. He shall grow up as a tender
plant. And then look at the next line.
And as a root out of a dry ground. What is this? This is the family
of David. Oh, David's family was once great,
but not now. David's family was once worldly
known, but not now. David's family was once the ruling
family, but not now. He shall come from the family
of David and from the nation of Israel, now in a dry, lowly,
despised condition. Nobody paid any attention to
the Jews. Nobody paid any attention to
the family of David. Actually, the family of David
had sunk so low that did you know Mary and Joseph were actually
in line for the throne of Israel. That was the kingly family. Mary and Joseph's family were
the, their families were the kingly family. And yet it was
so lowly and so despised and so nothing and so insignificant
That's the reason he is said to come as a root out of a dry,
dead ground. The kingly line, according to
this world, as far as the world was concerned, was dead. And
then notice the next line. And he hath no form, and no comeliness,
and no beauty. There was no earthly majesty
about Jesus Christ. Now men may Try to make it appear
like that, but there wasn't. He was not like a king at all. He was born of poor people, and
he lived in a lowly village, a village so lowly and despised
that somebody said, can any good come out of that place? He worked
as a carpenter. The people who surrounded him,
his friends, were unlearned. They were laborers, they were
fishermen and shepherds. He was rejected by all the political
leaders. He was despised by all the religious
leaders. When he walked the streets, he
walked the streets barefooted or in sandals, wearing a very
plain robe. He had no formal education at
all. There was no form, no majesty,
no pomp, no ceremony, no beauty, no comeliness about him. that
he should be acclaimed or desired, no beauty at all. And this is
the first reason why men do not believe this report. You don't
look for a king in these circumstances. You don't expect a king to come
out of these circumstances. A tender plant, that's the very
lowly, poor influence into this world. unrecognized except by
shepherds and some visiting wise men who had seen his star and
heard something about his coming. Born of a kingly family, yes,
those who have eyes of faith can see his beauty and see his
kingship, but the world couldn't see it. He just looked like a
plain carpenter. Is not this the carpenter? Well,
we know him, we know his family, we know his brothers and sisters,
we know his mother and father. Who is this man? What does he
claim to be? No form and no beauty. I was
listening to a talk show on the radio driving through Nashville
last week. And there was a lady who had
called, and the man who was conducting the talk show over WSM, 50,000
watt station in Nashville, The man who was conducting the talk
show had a minister visiting there with him, and people were—the
minister had spoken a while, and people were calling in, asking
questions, and they were commenting on what he had said. And one
lady called up, and this is what she said. She said, The trouble
today is these preachers who claim that Jesus Christ is God
Almighty. She says, that's our whole trouble,
that preachers today, some of them are claiming that Jesus
Christ is God Almighty. She said, He's not God Almighty.
He's just a good man. He's an example. And everything
got quiet, and the announcer turned to the minister. His name
was Gray. He said, Dr. Gray, is Jesus Christ
God Almighty? And Dr. Gray cleared his throat,
and I was the first time I'd ever in all my life heard that
question asked point-blank to a minister on the radio or television.
And I got real quiet and I listened. Well, he said, you know, we could
get in a lot of controversy on that issue, couldn't we? And
the announcer said, I don't know, Dr. Gray. All I ask you is this. Is Jesus Christ God Almighty? Well, he said, I wouldn't want
to handle that on the air. He said, I think we just stir
up a lot of controversy, so why don't we just move into something
else? Who hath believed our report? What is your report, Isaiah? To whom is the arm? To whom is
the majesty? To whom is the glory? To whom
is the power of God revealed? Who can see in Jesus Christ who
he really is? And what He really came to do,
and where He really came from, and where He is now, is Jesus
Christ God Almighty. Well, they didn't believe it
in Isaiah's day, and they didn't believe it in Christ's day. They
didn't believe it. They took up stones to stone
Him because He, being a man, made Himself God. They don't
believe it in this day. That woman's right. That woman's
right. What's stirring up the trouble
right now is these preachers who preach that Jesus Christ
is God Almighty. And where that's preached, trouble's
going to be stirred. It was stirred in Isaiah's day,
and it was stirred in Christ's day, and it'll be stirred today.
But growing up as a tender plant, his mean lowly entrance into
the world, coming as a root out of dry ground, you don't look
for a king to come out of Nazareth. You don't look for a king to
wear sandals and a plain robe. You don't look for a king to
be spit upon and despised and rejected. You don't look for
a king to be crucified and slain. You don't look for a king to
be so poor that he was buried in another man's tomb. That's
not a king. Well, let's look at how Isaiah
describes him in verse 3. He is the king. He is God Almighty. He is the substitute Savior. Isaiah said in verse 3, He's
despised and rejected of men. He's a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He's
despised. He's without esteem. He hath
borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, and we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." My friends, we
can certainly learn from Christ. Now, the average preacher will
take this text right here, this verse of Scripture, and he will
say, now, we need to learn from Christ how to endure suffering
and trial. And we do, and we can. And we
need to learn from Christ's submission to the Heavenly Father's will.
And we can, and we should. And we need to learn from Christ
how to bear reproach, and how to be ridiculed, and carry whatever
cross is ours to bear. And we can, and we should. But to set an example is not
why He came. And to teach us how to bear up
under afflictions and trials and troubles is not why He came. And to teach us how to bear a
cross is not why he came, and to set an example is not why
he endured these indignities. He was a man of sorrows. He's
despised. He's rejected. All that he did, now listen to
me, all that he did, this God-man, All that he did, this man of
sorrows, all that he did, he did as a substitute person. And that's why he did it. He
was tested, tempted, and tried in all points, in every point
that any human being could possibly be tested, and yet without sin. He was born low to be identified
with the lowest person. That's why he was born low. Suppose
he had been born in Herod's palace. Could he be identified with you
who were born in a backroom shanty up in the mountains somewhere? He was born low in the lowest
place to be identified with those that are born low. He was hated
to be identified with those who are hated. He was despised that
he might be identified with those who know what it is to be despised.
He was ridiculed. He was hungry in order that he
might be identified with those who are hungry. He knew thirst. He knew disappointment. He knew
betrayal of the closest friends. He knew denial. He was even crucified
between two prisoners that he might be identified with the
captive. He was our divine surety before
the law. He was our divine surety before
justice. He was our divine surety before
Satan. He was our divine surety before
all powers. Paul was down in prison. I believe
in Rome. It doesn't matter, but in some
place. And there was a slave named Onesimus who had escaped
from his master Philemon. He came down there, and evidently
he knew Paul. He'd heard Paul preach in Philemon's
home, because Paul and Philemon were good friends. And he looked
up the apostle Paul. down there in jail, in prison,
and visited him. And he came to knowledge of Christ.
He was saved. This runaway slave, Onesimus,
was converted. He was brought to faith in Christ.
And Paul said to him, Now you've got to go back home. You've got
to go back to Philemon. And the slave said, Well, I don't
think I'd better because I escaped and The sentence for an escaped
slave is to be slain. And to be honest with you, before
I left, I stole some things that belonged to my master. I'm afraid
of the consequences if I go back. Paul sat down and wrote a letter.
It's called The Letter of Philemon. It's right here in your Bible.
And he wrote to his friend Philemon, and he said to him, O Nesimus
has been saved. He's met the Lord, and I want
you to receive him. as you would receive me. Receive
him not as a slave, but as a brother. And watch this sentence. And
he said, Philemon, if he hath wronged thee in any way, or if
he owes you anything, you charge it to me, and I'll pay it. And
that's what the Lord Jesus Christ is. He is a substitute person. And what I owed the law, he came
down here and paid. And what I owed the justice of
God, he came down here and endured. And what I owed God's holiness
and God's righteousness and everything that God is, what I lacked, our
Lord met. And he went through every circumstance
as a substitute person in order that he might be identified.
There is no area in which you can pass through, through which
you can pass that Christ hasn't already passed. There's no trial,
there's no temptation, there's no situation in which you can
possibly be involved that Christ hasn't already been there, and
that's why he took this place right here. That's why he was
born as a tender plant and a root out of dry ground and born in
a manger and surrounded by cattle and shepherds and poor fishermen
and no education and just name it. Hunger, thirst, weariness,
pain, disappointment, everything. He endured. You know what that
means? It means a lot to me. It means
a lot to me. And then secondly, Isaiah said
in verse 5, He is the suffering Savior. Now look at it. In verse 5, He was wounded. He
was bruised. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. with his stripes we heal. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. Regrettably so, but it's so.
And the Lord, the Father, hath laid on him all our iniquities,
all of them. Now God the Father against whom
we sinned, God the Father from whom we turned, we've turned
everyone to his own way. God the Father, whose justice
must be satisfied, collected together in one bundle all our
sins, all of them, and laid them on Christ. A burden which none
but Christ could bear. A penalty which none but Christ
could endure. a price which none but Christ
could pay, all our sins. Sin is a crime which must be
punished by suffering, and he was wounded and he was bruised.
Sin is a disease which can only be healed by stripes and by atonement. And the beauty of these verses
is only appreciated by those who know themselves to be sinners.
The beauty of these verses is only appreciated by those who
know themselves to be convicted, condemned, sentenced, not on
probation, guilty sinners. Christ came and took my place.
He's the substitute Savior, and He is the suffering Savior. Now what's the third thing? Verse
7. He was oppressed from every point. He was afflicted in every way. Now watch this. Yet he opened
not his mouth. Our Lord said, I give my life
for my sheep. One of the things to which I
objected so strongly in this popular play, Jesus Christ Superstar,
is that the plague pictured Christ resisting death, resisting crucifixion,
resisting this lot that had fallen his way. He said, no man takes
my life from me, I lay it down. I give my life. As a sheep comes
before his slaughterer's dome, so he open not his mouth, as
the sheep pictures his willingness and his readiness to be sacrificed
in our room and in our stead. Our Lord opened not his mouth
even against his enemies. You don't find the master when
he was in the soldier's hall being beaten and scourged and
whipped and spat upon and crowned with thorns and ridiculed and
mocked. and struck with an open palm,
you don't find him saying a word. He opened not his mouth. They
walked around his cross and they said, you said God was your father,
see God will have you now. That's striking a low blow. Even one of the thieves said,
save yourself and us if you can, Superman. False witnesses are risen up
against me, and yet he opened not his mouth, except to say,
Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. He
opened not his mouth against his friends. Scripture says he was forsaken
of all men, betrayed and denied. Judas came into that garden and
planted that treacherous kiss on his cheeks, which was the
signal to the soldiers that this was the Christ. And our Lord
turned to him, and He didn't rail upon him and rant and rave
and condemn him. He said, Betrayest thou the Son
of man with a kiss? Friend, Peter denied that he
knew him. He sat by the fire and warmed
his hands and cursed and swore, I don't know the man, I don't
know him, I never heard of him. And he looked up and his eyes
met the eyes of the master. The master didn't say a word,
not a word. He opened not his mouth. He opened
not his mouth against divine justice which drove the nails
in his hands and in his feet. He cried out not one time, he
opened not his mouth. against the Father. He endured
all his suffering and all of the shame and all of the agony
in silence. And his silence amazed his tormentors. When Pilate looked at him and
he said, Answerest thou not me? Don't you know I have the power
to crucify you, nail you to a Roman cross, And yet you stand there
in silence? What manner of man are you? He's
a silent Savior, that's who He is. And then He's the sinless
Savior. Look at verse 9. He made His
grave with the wicked, that is, crucified between two thieves,
and with the rich in His death, that is, He was buried in the
borrowed tomb of a wealthy man, though He'd done no violence. and there was no deceit in his
mouth." Now, my friends, listen to me. These foundation truths must
be rehearsed and repeated over and over and over again in simple language so that men
might understand what we're saying. We're raising a generation of
people who know so little about the foundation
of true religion. To redeem us, Christ must be
more than an individual. He must be a representative person. In Adam, Adam was more than just
the first man. All men were in Adam. Adam was
more than just an individual. Adam was a representative person. When Adam stood, we stood. When
Adam sinned, we sinned. When Adam fell, we fell. When
Adam came under the judgment of God, we came under the judgment
of God. They're just two Adams, the first
Adam and the second Adam. They're just two men. God prepared
a body for both of them. We all come from the first Adam.
God created one man. God didn't create you. You were
born of the seed of the first man. He created you in the first
man. And Christ said, A body thou
hast prepared me. As God prepared that first man's
body, He prepared that second man's body. You see, that second
man was born of the Virgin. He didn't come from man, he came
from God. That first man came from God
and that second man came from God. And that first man was more
than an individual. He was a representative person.
And in him we fell. And that second man came and
did what that first man couldn't do. He met the law and obeyed
it. He met the righteousness of God and fulfilled it. And
as in Adam we died, so in Christ are we made alive. In Adam, because
of one man's sin, we became sinners. Because of another man's righteousness,
we became holy. Christ must be more than an individual. He must be a representative person,
a sinless person. And then to redeem us, Christ
must be more than a man. He's got to be a God-man. You
see, man can't save anybody. Man can't save himself. Man can't
atone for his own sins. And one man could never do that
for a number of people. But as the God-man, Christ can
redeem. As God, He satisfied all things. As man, He suffered. God can't
suffer. Man can't satisfy. God-man can
both suffer and satisfy. To redeem us, Christ must be
more than a great man. That's not enough. He must be
an almighty sovereign. I wanted to say to that woman
on the radio that day, in my heart, I thought this. My dear
lady, if Jesus Christ is not God Almighty, you don't have
a Savior. You don't have a Savior. And
all who worship him are idolaters. Jesus Christ is not God. You're
an idolater. Now, the apostles knew this.
When they fell down before Paul and these other men, and Peter,
James, and John, and worshiped them and called them gods, these
apostles ripped their clothes and they said, ìGet up off your
knees. We are but men like yourselves.
Donít ever fall down on your knees in front of any human being.î
And I warn you, my friend, I donít care if itís the pope or the
cardinal or the bishop Don't you ever get on your knees in
front of any human being and worship him in any way. That's
idolatry. And the angels knew this, for
when the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos fell down before
that angel to worship, that angel refused that worship. And any
man in his right mind will refuse worship, but Christ didn't. Christ
exhorted us to worship Him because He's God. Only God is to be worshiped. And He's an almighty sovereign.
Listen to this now. To redeem us, Christ must be
more than a good man. He must be more than a moral
man. He must be more than an outstanding man. He must be a
perfect man. A perfect man. And he is the
sinless Savior. Now quickly look at verse 10. And he is the successful Savior. Listen to this. Yet it pleased
the Father to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. And Christ's sufferings
were not only physical. He made his soul an offering
for sin. He shall see his seed. He shall
prolong his days," watch this now, "...and the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in his hand." My friends, the work of
redemption, the work of our redemption, was not put in the hands of the
angels. It was not put in the hands of
the apostles. It's not put in the hands of
evangelists and pastors and teachers. The work of our redemption was
put in the hands of Christ. The will of the Father, the salvation
of the elect, the honoring of the law, the satisfaction of
justice, the accomplishment of God's purpose, was all put in
Christ's hands. And this He undertook to accomplish. And He never left this earth
till He could say, It's finished! It's finished. the pleasure of
the Lord. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that he did in heaven, earth, the seas, and all deep places.
And the pleasure of the Father, the full purpose of God, was
turned over to Christ. And he accomplished it. He finished
it. What shall we do that we might
work the works of God, they asked him. This is the work of God,
that you believe on him whom God has sent, that you believe. I know today
we're exhorted on every hand, get out and serve God, work for
God, that's fine, that's all right, you got the right motive,
for his glory. But my friends, the work of God's
finished. Christ accomplished it. The will
of the Father is done. The redemption of his people
is accomplished. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hands. Father, don't you put any of
that in my hands. I can't make it. I'll fail. I can't tackle Satan and his
government. I can't handle that opposition.
I can't cope with the law. I can't cope with opposition
from even the flesh. But Christ can, and he did. The
pleasure of the Lord prospered. Successful, accomplished in his
hand. Now let's close with this. He
is the satisfied Savior. Listen, verse 11. He shall see
of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Don't, don't,
please don't feel sorry for the Lord Jesus. Weep not for me,
he said, weep for yourselves, for your children. Don't waste
your tears on the master. Don't weep over the remedy, weep
over the disease. Don't weep over the cure, weep
over the cause. Don't weep over the king, weep
over the rebels. Don't weep for the guard, weep
for the prisoners. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied the travail of his soul. What
is it? What is this travail? It's the
toil and the labor and the suffering and the pain and the agony he
endured in working out our salvation. Especially those pains he endured
in his soul, in delivering us to life. Now he views it all
no longer with pain. The pain's over. The travail
is over. He views it all with satisfaction. The complete redemption of all
that the Father hath given him is done. It is done. The great transaction is done. I am my Lord's and he is mine. He drew me and I followed on,
charmed to confess His voice divine. He's satisfied. Perfectly
satisfied. Man of sorrows, what a name! For the Son of God who came,
ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
in my place condemned He stood, and He sealed my pardon with
His blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Lifted up was he to die. It's
finished was his cry. Now in heaven he's exalted high. Hallelujah. What a Savior. When he comes, our glorious King,
all his ransom home to bring, then anew this song we'll sing. Hallelujah. What a Savior. God, our Savior. That's why we're here this morning.
Worship God, our Savior. That's why we preach, to preach
God our Savior. That's why we send missionaries
to make known God our Savior. That's why we read the Word to
find some good news about God our Savior. That's why we look
for His coming to welcome God our Savior. That's why we wait
the resurrection morning to be like God our Savior. I don't
have any other message. Let others solve the ills of
this world. If they ever met God our Savior,
they'd be solved. That's all men need. They need
Christ. They don't need a special imbuement
of the Holy Spirit. They need Christ. They don't
need a second work of grace. They need Christ. They don't
need the higher life or the victorious life or the better life. They
just need Him who is life, God our Savior. Our Father in Heaven, bless the
Word, make it powerful and effectual to the souls of sinners. Bring
us to the feet of God our Savior. Bring our eyes to behold the
beauty and glory of God our Savior. Bring us to hope in God our Savior,
and to look for the glorious return of God our Savior. For it's in the name of God our
Savior we pray, the Lord Jesus. Amen.