We'll turn back to Isaiah 53,
if you will. Mr. Spurgeon tells about a man
who was under deep concern for his soul. He did not know God. He had no faith in Christ. But he was deeply concerned about
his spiritual welfare. And being weighed down and greatly
burdened by the guilt of his sins, he determined to find salvation. And he took the Bible up in his
hand, and he said, Eternal life is to be found somewhere in the
pages of this book. I will read it until I find eternal
life. Spurgeon said he started to read
in the book of Genesis. And he read Genesis, he read
Exodus, he read Leviticus, he read Numbers, he read Deuteronomy.
And though the Savior is in all of the writings of Moses, Moses
wrote the first five books of the Bible, Christ is there in
type, Christ is there in symbol, Christ is there in picture, beautifully
pictured. But he could not see Christ.
He could not see the way of salvation. He could not, in these types
and symbols, see eternal life. So he read the histories of the
prophets. He read the histories of the
kings. But still, no life. He turned to the hymn book of
the church, the book of Psalms. And though Christ is on every
page, he saw him not. And then he began to read the
prophets. And he came, he said, to the
53rd chapter of Isaiah. And he read verse 5. He was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him And with his stripes we are healed. And with his stripes
we are healed. He said this is it. This is the
healing I need. The sufferings of Christ provide
healing for my sin sick soul. And he rose to praise the Lord. Now the Ethiopian eunuch was
brought to a knowledge of Christ while reading Isaiah 53. When
he was driving in the chariot through the desert and God sent
Philip to him to minister to him, he was reading the passage
that I read to you a few moments ago, Isaiah 53. The passage that this young man
of whom Spurgeon wrote was reading. Philip began at these scriptures
and preached to him Jesus. And the Ethiopian eunuch came
to a knowledge of Christ, and came to a knowledge of salvation,
and he believed, and he confessed his Lord in baptism. I want us to look carefully at
about the first five verses of Isaiah 53 and my message this
morning, praying perhaps someone will be an object of God's arrow
of grace. that as this young man that I
told you about was pierced in the heart by the Holy Spirit
and brought to knowledge of Christ through just reading this scripture,
as the Ethiopian eunuch was brought to faith in Christ through reading
these scriptures, that perhaps, perhaps someone here today will
see him in his power, in his glory, in his beauty, in his
grace. Let's start with verse 1. It
says, Who hath believed our report? Who hath believed this report? The Jews didn't believe it. It's amazing to me with all of
the plain prophecies concerning the Messiah, with all of the
clear testimonies concerning the Messiah, that they should
make such a fatal mistake about him. It says in Acts 13, I was
reading this last night and came across this verse. I don't know
that I've ever paid any attention to it before. In Acts 13, verse
27, listen to this. For they that dwell at Jerusalem,
that's the Jewish people. The religious people of that
day, the people who had the law and the prophets and the scriptures
and the types, the tabernacle and all these things, they that
dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, their teachers, their
religious rulers is meant here because Rome ruled over them
politically. They that dwell in Jerusalem
and their rulers because they knew him not. They didn't know
who Christ was. They didn't recognize him. They
didn't believe his word. They knew him not, nor yet the
voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day. Moses is read. Well, they said,
we have Moses. Christ said, if you'd believe
Moses, you would believe me. The writings of these prophets
were read every Sabbath day in the synagogue. in every place
of worship. These prophets were read, and
yet they did not believe. They knew him not, nor yet the
voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day. These
people are sitting in darkness, sitting in blindness, sitting
in unbelief, and yet the truth of who Christ is, where he came
from, what he came to do, why he came to this All is read to
them every Sabbath day, and yet they did not believe. Well, men
don't believe it today either. These Jews look for a king, they
look for a ruler, they look for someone to restore the glories
of David, the glories of Solomon. But the Scriptures pictured him
as a sacrificial lamb, as a substitute, as a sin offering. But they didn't
see it, they didn't believe. Because the natural mind does
not discern spiritual truth, whether it be in the days of
the Jews or the days of the Gentiles. The gospel of Christ is the clearest,
simplest thing in the world. But man's foolish heart is darkened. In vain is the brightest light
to blinded eyes. In vain the sweetest voice to
death is. In vain the shaking of the most
powerful word or exhortation to a dead man. The gospel must
be revealed. Who hath believed our report? The word is read every Sabbath
day, but they don't believe. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Now look down at verse 2. For
he shall grow up before him as," look at these three words, a
tender plant. There's a whole volume in those
three words, a tender plant. What is a tender plant? Well,
a tender plant is a very weak shoot that has just come out
of the ground. You go out and plant the seed,
and you put it eighth of an inch or a quarter of an inch or a
half inch deep in the ground and the rain falls on it and
you keep going out a few days pass and you go out and after
a while you see that little tender plant just about a half inch
or an inch long. Oh how tender it is. You don't
dare touch it for fear of bruising it. You don't dare walk out there
in the garden for fear of trampling down that tender sprout that
has just come forth from the ground, so easily destroyed,
so easily stepped upon. Or a tender plant could be a
small branch that is just beginning to grow out of your tree. You
go out and plant a tree, and the tree is getting up so high,
and there's little shoots coming out of the trunks. And here's
a tender plant that's just beginning to come out. Don't touch it,
because just touching it will drop off. It's so tender. Christ, when he came to this
earth, now this is what he's saying here, he shall grow up
before him as a tender plant. When our Lord came to this earth
in his humiliation to be our substitute and to bear our sins,
He came to this earth as a tender plant in great feebleness, a
small baby born in a stable, laid in a manger, not in the
sterilized, white, clean hospital incubator But here is a baby
brought forth without the aid of a physician, probably some
midwife, and washed off there in the stable and laid in a manger
while the cattle stood around and looked at him. This is the
Son of God. This is the kingdom of God. This
is the salvation of sinners. This is the hope of the believer. This is God's purpose all wrapped
up here in this little tender, so delicate, so easily destroyed,
tender plant. When Simeon, standing there in
the temple, was handed the baby Jesus, he looked down into the
face of that little one. I was down in the hospital last
night and a friend showed me his grandson, a nine Days old,
I believe he was. He was in an incubator, and they
were helping him breathe, and the little fella had his arms
out there like that, and his little chest was just breathing
so fast, and I thought, oh, how close that baby is to death.
And yet he's living. Just put your hand down over
his mouth, and he's gone. Just shut off that oxygen, and
he's gone. Such a little tender place. And
when Simeon held the child Jesus in his arms, he said, Mine eyes
have seen thy salvation, the light of heaven, the glory of
the earth, the defeat of Satan, the victory over hell and death
and sin is all right here in this tender place. And then his early days were
not spent protected by armies, Behind the walls and moats of
a huge castle, attended by physicians and courts, where is the tender
planter? He spent his early days in a
rough carpenter shop. the sawdust about the floor and
the saws and the hammers and the nails and the dirt and people
coming in and out. At any time it seems so easy,
so easy to destroy him and his system. Here is eternity to eternity
in a carpenter shop. Here is the eternal purpose of
the living God from all time to future time right here in
this carpenter shop. Here is God's kingdom, here is
God's salvation, here is the sinner's hope, standing here
in a carpenter's shop with calluses on his hands and sweat dripping
from his brow, working there, building tables and chairs. That's
the tender plant, just so easy to destroy. And on the cross,
there he hangs on that cross. Did it not appear that everything
was lost? At last the tender plant could
bear the ridicule and the humiliation and the abuse no longer. His
disciples deserted him, denied him, betrayed him, even the father
turned his back on him. This is the end of the tender
plant. How feeble was his kingdom in
that hour. How feeble the whole kingdom
of God the whole kingdom of God on a cross. Christ is a tender plant. He
shall grow up not as a conquering king, but as a tender plant.
Don't look for him riding a white horse before thousands of armed
men with their chariots and spears and swords. Look for him as a
tender plant. Don't be deceived. Who hath believed
our report? Not many. To whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? Look for him as a tender plant. And let me tell you this, Christ
in you is a tender plant too. When the Holy Spirit plants the
seed of life, which is the Son of God, when the Holy Spirit
plants the seed of life, which is the seed of faith. It's a
tender plant. It must be guarded well. It must
be protected. It must be watered. It must be
fed, for it's such a tender plant. With all the temptations of life
and the strong passions of flesh and the warfare of the world
and the attacks of Satan, spiritual life seems so frail. And sometimes
it looks like it's just about dead. And only the grace of God
can enable it to survive, because it's just a tender plant. But
lead on, it says he shall grow up as a tender plant and as a
root out of a dry ground. Now we know that a root A growing
root owes just about everything to the soil in which it's planted,
in which it grows. If the soil is rich and fertile
and well-watered, the root will grow. You're not surprised when
you come up and see a root, a strong, moisture-filled root growing
in fat, fertile soil. Are you well-watered? That's
no surprise at all, but my, how amazed you would be if you saw
a root or a plant grow in dry ground. What if you saw a root
growing out of a rock, a dry, dusty rock, or a dry, dusty sand,
a root growing out of sand? Well, that's what it says. Look
for Christ. as a root out of dry ground. Our Savior is a root that grows
out of a dry ground, for he derives nothing from his surroundings,
nothing. But he gives life to those around
him. He is self-sustained. He derives
nothing from his surroundings. He derives nothing from his environment. He gets nothing from the soil
in which he grows. He received nothing from his
parents. His foster father was a carpenter, and his mother Mary
was a humble village maid. He received nothing from his
nationality. The Jewish nation was in captivity
and obscurity. Rome ruled the world. He received
nothing from his followers. His followers did not make him.
They did not contribute anything to his glory, anything to his
power, anything to his kingdom. His disciples were poor, unknown,
unlearned men. It's no wonder that men like
Mohammed or Buddha or these other men succeed. They've got Armies
of people about them that contribute to them, that give them glory,
that help to produce them, that feed them, feed their vanity
and their pride. But Christ received nothing from
his followers. He received nothing from the
times in which he lived. He never traveled over 50 miles
from where he was born. There was no radio in those days,
no TV, no newspapers, no accurate historians, no telephone, no
telegraph, nothing upon which to build a kingdom or from which
to build a kingdom or which to propagandize a kingdom. He received
nothing from human nature. His teachings were contrary to
human nature. This Jesus Christ is a root growing
out of a dry, dead ground. And true Christianity derives
nothing from this world, nothing. It does not depend on this world.
It does not depend on the wisdom. It does not depend upon the glory. It does not depend upon the riches
of this world. All the world can do is oppose
Christ, not contribute to Christ. Christianity is a self-sustaining
plant growing in a dry, arid, dusty soil. That's the reason
1 Corinthians 2 says this, listen to it, 1 Corinthians 2, verse
26. It says, You see, your calling,
brethren, not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble of call. God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world, To confound the wise, God hath chosen the weak
things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty,
the base things of the world, and things which are despised,
hath God chosen ye, and things which are not, to bring to naught
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence."
The Lord Jesus Christ is a root out of a dry ground. He did not come at an opportune
time in world history. He did not come to a people who
were already in control and in command and in power. He did not come to a family that
was recognized and known and admired and respected. He did
not choose for his followers men who were learned and rich
and powerful. who could contribute anything
to him. He was a root out of a dead soil. His word was written
in two languages long ago dead. His followers were men who were
scoffed at and ridiculed and opposed. He was a root out of
dry, dry, dead ground. He drew nothing from it, nothing
whatsoever. And that's where God plants the
root of faith. If you think you have anything
to contribute to the glory of God in yourself, you're not fit
at all for the root of faith. It grows in a dry ground. It's
all of grace. It's all of God. It's all of
mercy. Nothing about this flesh or in
this flesh can contribute in any way, God's going to get all
the glory. Don't go around looking for people
who can help the church. Only God can help the church.
Don't go around looking for people who can add to our prestige,
our prestigious God's presence and God's face. God plants faith
in dry Just as Christ is a root out of a dry ground. And that
way all the nourishment comes from above. Nothing. It derives
nothing from its surroundings. Nothing from its environment. Nothing. And then read on. It says in verse 4, He is despised
and rejected of men. He's a man of sorrows. He was
not a sorrowful man. He was a man of sorrows. He was
not a man of sorrow. He was a man of sorrows. Someone
said one time, he and sorrow might have changed names. For
he was acquainted with all our griefs and all our sorrows. Our Lord knew the sorrow of poverty. He had nowhere to lay his head.
Our Lord knew the sorrow of thirst. I thirst. He knew the sorrow
of hunger. He fasted forty days. He knew
the sorrow of ridicule. They said, He's a devil. He's
a winebibber. He's a glutton. He cast out devils
by the power of the devil. He's a blasphemer. He knew the
sorrow of ingratitude. He performed good works and they
stoned him. He knew the sorrow of rejection.
He spoke in his home church at Nazareth and they rose up in
anger and would have cast him off the brow of the hill. He
said, I'll tell you the truth and you don't believe me. He
knew the sorrow of tears. Jesus wept. He knew the sorrow
of hate. They railed on him and gnashed
their teeth. He knew the sorrow of sin. Not
his own, but ours. He said, My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death. He knew the sorrow of pain. They
scourged him. They drove nails in his hands
and in his feet. He knew the sorrow of humiliation. They stood below and shot out
their lips and cried, let's see if God will have you now. You
trusted God, let's see if God will claim you. If you're the
son of God, come down, we'll believe you. He knew the sorrow
of desertion. My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? He knew the sorrow of loneliness. Nobody's ever been alone quite
like Christ was alone. He knew the sorrow of betrayal,
sold for thirty pieces of silver. Man of sorrows, what a name! For the Son of God who came ruined
sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Man
of sorrows kneeling down beneath the Father's awful frown. Man
of sorrows with a cross bearing all its shame and loss, man of
sorrows, nailed on a tree, hanging there in agony." Man of sorrows. And then, smitten of God. Look at that word. In verse 4,
it says, "...surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God." Who sent Christ to the cross? Who's responsible
for the death of Jesus Christ? What held him to that cruelty? When he had the power to free
others from demons and dumbness and death, why could he not free
himself? Why could he not have come down?
What held him to the cross? I read not too many months ago
about a lawyer in Israel. It seems that the present Jewish
court, and I don't know all of the political implications and
all of the things that are involved in Jewish courts, but it seems
that this is the first Jewish court to be seated since that
awful day when Jesus Christ was condemned to death. And there's a young Jewish lawyer
over there who has petitioned this Jewish court, which sits
today, to relieve Israel of the blame for the death of Jesus
Christ. He wants to retry Jesus Christ. And he wants to relieve the Jews. He wants to lift from their backs
the burden of the death of the Son of God. and put it somewhere
else on somebody else. Well, the guilt will remain,
for they cried, His blood be on us and our children. Nothing
they can do. And Pilate, standing there before
those soldiers and those people and those religious leaders,
washing his hands, saying, I'm free from the blood of this just
man, see you to it. No, Pilate, The guilt remains. And the guilt remains on all
who had a part in that crucifixion. You with wicked hands have crucified
the Lord of glory. That's what the Bible says. My
sins nailed him to that cross. It wasn't the nails of iron that
held him there. It was my sins and your sins
because it pleased God to bruise him. He was smitten of God behind
all of these men, behind the Jewish people and the crowd and
Pilate and the Roman soldiers, behind all of that. The first
cause, the supreme will, the eternal purpose, Behind the death
of Christ, behind it all, was the Father. He was smitten of
God. He was the ordained, anointed,
appointed substitute for the covenant people. God the Father
sent him to that cross to bear our sin. Pilate said, turn to
John 19, just a moment, and look at this. In John 19, Our Lord
was standing there in front of Pilate, and Pilate got angry
because the Lord Jesus didn't answer him. In verse 9 it says,
Jesus gave no answer. And verse 10, Pilate said, Speakest
thou not unto me? Don't you know that I have power
to crucify you, and I have power to release you? And Jesus answered,
You could have no power at all against me, except it were given
you from above." Now, my friends, this doesn't
lessen the responsibility of those who cried crucify. The
guilt and the blame is theirs as though they were totally and
completely responsible, because man acts according to his own will in
the matter of sin. And those who drove the nails
in his hands are as responsible and guilty as if nobody else
in the whole crowd had anything to do with the death of the Son
of God but them personally. And yet I say unto you, behind
all of this is the eternal purpose and will of the Heavenly Father,
for it says in the book of Acts In verse 26, the kings of this
earth, verse 26, Acts 4, the kings of this earth, stood up
and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ, for of a truth against the holy child Jesus
whom thou hast anointed, Herod, and Pilate, and the Gentiles,
and the people of Israel were gathered together," listen, to
do whatsoever. God's hand and God's counsel
determined before to be done. He was smitten of God. This salvation
is not of man, it's of God. It was not purposed by man, but
by God. And it was carried out by the
Father. Now, the last statement that I want us to look at, verse
5, He was wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities. The chastisement of my peace
was on him, and with his stripes, with his stripes, I'm healed. One old Puritan wrote
years ago, understand these words, believer. In the moment that
the Lord Jesus Christ yielded up his spirit, all believers
could say with assurance, I am healed. From that moment our
sins were all put away. A full atonement was made. Christ bore our sins and our
errors, our transgressions and our iniquities. He was wounded
for our sins, and the ransom price was fully paid, and we
are healed. Let us walk up and down with
full confidence. Let us walk up and down with
inner peace, for from that day the Lord died. Every believer
was cleared before the judgment seat of God. and presented pure
and holy and healed by the blood of God with his stripes." Actually, the Hebrews said we
were healed. With stripes we were healed.
My sins ceased to be centuries ago. My debts were paid before
I was born, and the receipt was nailed to the cross, paid in When I read the role of my sins
and what a long role it is, and what a long role it is to
contain them, yet at the bottom, as I read my sins listed on that
long parchment, one at a time, secret sins, evil sins, sins
of the thoughts, imaginations, the mind, the heart, the hands,
the feet, the tongue, yet at the bottom, of that list with
a sealed, stamped name of the Son of God are these words, paid
in full. Paid in full. The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. It matters not
how long the list, where sin abounded, grace did much more
abound. It matters not how old the sinner
or how young the sinner, all labor and heavy laden, come to
me. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Who is he who condemneth with
his stripes, we are healed. We were healed! We are healed! With his strife, man of sorrows,
smitten of God, with his strife, we are healed. Our Father in
heaven, lift up before the eyes of every believer, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the tender plant, out of the dry ground, the man of
sorrows, smitten of God, but with his stripes, and by his
stripes, and because of his stripes, we're healed. Help us to rejoice
in that healing. Help us to rejoice in that mercy. Help us to rejoice in that grace. and give us faith, strong, undying
faith and confidence in Christ alone. Take our eyes off ourselves
and turn them on Christ. Take our eyes off those about
us and turn them on Christ. And let us look full into his
beautiful, wonderful face. The world is no beauty about
him. But to us there's no sweeter face, there's no greater day,
there's no more perfect love than the beauty and grace and
love of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray and for his
sake. Amen. Brother Don, you come and
lead us in a song. Let's stand and sing the hymn
that our pastor made reference to in his message, number 127,
Man of Sorrows, What a Name for the Son of God who came. Number
127. Let us stand, please. Man of sorrow, what a name! For the Son of God who came,
Ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Buried came and scoffing grew,
In my place condemned he stood, Sealed my pardon with his blood. Alleluia! What a Savior! In evil and helpless we, Spotless
Lamb of God was He, Full atonement can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! Lifted up was he to die, it is
finished was his cry. Now in heaven exalted high, Alleluia!