We will want to sing that hymn
again, the Lord willing. Good words and I like that melody. If you will, let us open our
Bibles this evening to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. The title of my message
is God's Righteous Servant. Taken from the words in verse
11. My Righteous Servant. God's Righteous
Servant. I know that you would all agree
that to fully cover this chapter would take more than one message.
It really only needs to be read. A pastor friend that I have a
lot of respect for, for many years, told a young preacher
one time, if you ever get in a bind and you don't have a message
and you're called upon to preach, just read Isaiah 53. What a message. What a message. And it defies
all reason to think that it could speak of anyone other than Jesus
Christ, our Lord. But this evening I'm going to
divide the chapter into these three divisions, my message into
these three parts. First of all, I want us to think
about the reception, the reception of God's righteous servant when
he came into the world. The reception that he received. And then secondly, the sufferings
of God's righteous servant to redeem his people. And then third,
the reward of God's righteous servant for his work of redemption. So first, the reception of God's
righteous servant when he came into the world, verses 1 through
3. Who hath believed our report?
And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it
were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed
him not. In Hebrews chapter 1 and verse
6, The writer said, when he bringeth, that is, when God bringeth in
the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels
of God worship him. And we know that is exactly what
took place on the night that Jesus Christ our Lord was born
in Bethlehem. There was a multitude, we read
in Luke chapter 2, a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God. But the reception that he received
when he came into this world by man is quite different. We just read about that. The
nation of Israel had the scriptures in which the Messiah was promised
and pictured, but when he appeared, he was not what they had been
taught to expect. He appeared, first of all, we
read as a root out of a dry ground. He was promised to be David's
son. And so they thought that when
he would appear, that he would appear as one of David's sons
would have appeared when David was on the throne, when he was
ruler over so many nations and so wealthy, that the son of David
would appear similar to that. But no, the man who they supposed
was his father was a carpenter, Joseph, which was a poorly trade
at that time. And then we read he grew up as
a tender plant. Plants grow silently. You cannot
see them grow. You cannot hear them grow. They
grow silently. There's not a whole lot of pomp
and circumstance connected with those who are born like the Lord
Jesus Christ was born. Every once in a while I see on
the news the little prince over there in England. They make such
a to-do over just about anything that he does. He had a meltdown
recently, and that was in the news. I don't know what that
meant, but I can imagine a three or four year old having a meltdown. But all of the photographers,
all of the fame, the fanfare that is connected with the prince,
the Lord Jesus Christ knew none of that. He grew up as a tender
plant, silently. He was not distinguished by any
special comeliness or beauty. Matthew Henry said that the Jews
had been taught to expect one of uncommon beauty. Men might
expect, and when you think about it, it would only seem to be
reasonable that a person who is God in the flesh would be
singled out by something beautiful, something outstanding about his
physical condition. He was extraordinary in his moral
character because he was without sin. But in his physical character,
in his physical condition, there was nothing to distinguish him
from other men. And his reception then was that
he was despised and rejected of men. God's righteous servant. His reception when He came into
this world was He was despised and rejected of men. Men, the
scripture says, hid their faces from Him. The leaders of the
nation of Israel were ashamed for anyone to think that this
could possibly be their Messiah, the one who had been promised.
They were ashamed to think that anyone could think that they,
these religious leaders of the nation, would put any stock And
a person like this, a person from Galilee, a person who was
raised in the city of Nazareth, remember what one of the disciples
said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? No, he was despised
and rejected of men. They would be ashamed to think
that anyone would consider that this could possibly be their
messiah. Now it's common among the commentators
to ascribe this reception especially to the Jews. This reception that
we read about here, that this was the reception which the nation
of Israel gave to him because he was their promised messiah. And the Apostle John in his His
first chapter of the gospel said, He came unto His own, and that
especially refers to the nation of Israel. He came unto His own
and His own received Him not. Now that's the way the commentators
usually deal with this. This is the reception that He
received from the nation of Israel. But you notice the chapter begins,
Who hath believed our report? And the report here Some translations
have, who hath believed the message, but the report or the message
is the gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's not only
the Jewish people, not only those who are of the descendants of
Abraham after the flesh, but all men, all men, no matter what
their nationality may have been, All men, you and I and everyone
else, apart from the grace of God, this is the reception that
we would give. We despise Him. We reject Him. He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not. But to as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name, which were born out of the will of
the flesh. nor of the will of man, nor of
blood, but of God." So we see first of all in this chapter
that the reception that God's righteous servant received when
he came into this world. Now, the sufferings, the sufferings
of God's righteous servant to redeem his people, verses 4 through
10. 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 for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep,
have gone astray. We have turned every one to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he opened
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked, and with the rich in his death. Because he had done
no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hands. I want to point five things out
to us about his sufferings. the sufferings of God's righteous
servant to redeem his people. First of all, his sufferings
were vicarious. That simply means that he did
not suffer personally because he was guilty. He did not suffer
because he deserved to be punished. If you look at the word our that
we read, his suffering was for our griefs, for our sorrows,
for our transgressions, for our iniquities. And if you notice
again in verse 8 that God says that it was for the transgression
of my people he was stricken. God has a people in this world. Jacob prophesied of Shiloh coming,
and he said to him, shall the gathering of the people be. God
has a people in this world, a people that he has known, foreknown,
set his love upon from all eternity, chosen them in Christ, redeemed
them in Christ. And this is what the scripture
says, It was for the transgression of my people was he stricken. It doesn't say that he was stricken
for the transgressions of all men and women. It says for my people he was
stricken. God's people. God's chosen. God's foreknown. Because all
of us, his people, even though we had been given unto him before
the foundation of the world, and he was given to be our surety,
but we, like everyone else, as this verse tells us, had gone
astray and turned everyone to his own way. We all turned to
our own way. And our way is a way of sin and
rebellion against God. And yet God, the scripture says,
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. His sufferings, first
of all, were vicarious. He suffered in the place and
in the stead of God's people. Of those that he was charged
to save. His sufferings were vicarious.
Secondly, his sufferings were voluntary. In verse 10 we see
that it pleased the Lord to bruise him to put him to grief. The
scripture tells us that when he came into this world, he said,
I delight to do thy will. Speaking to the Father. I delight
to do thy will. And this was the Father's will.
This was the Father's pleasure. And he delighted to do it. We
might say he volunteered to do it. He was not coerced in any
form. He delighted to do God's will,
even though God's will met his suffering. His suffering. His awful sufferings. He was
oppressed and he was afflicted. But he did not open his mouth. Gospel of John, you remember.
He said, The cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink
it? Number three, his sufferings
were foretold. They were vicarious, they were
voluntary, and they were foretold. When did Isaiah write this? He
wrote it some 600 years before it took place. But it reads more
like a history. It almost reads like you would
believe that the Jews read this chapter and then said, let's
do it. Let's inflict these sufferings upon this one, because this is
what was written by the prophet of old. He was crucified. The scripture
says wicked men and rich men were both concerned in his death
and in his grave. There are several ways to understand
that. We know that he was crucified
between two thieves. As though the world said, here's
the king, the one in the middle, he has the preeminence, he's
the king of thieves. The worst of the worst. With
the wicked. And also with the rich in his
death. We know that Joseph of Arimathea
was the wealthy man who came, who had a new tomb there. In the garden. We looked at that
just a few weeks ago. And that's where his body was
placed. When I say his sufferings were
foretold, and Isaiah wrote 600 years before they took place.
Actually, they were foretold a long time before Isaiah came. All the way back in the garden,
in the very beginning of mankind. when the scripture says that
the serpent would bruise his heel. And you read that he was
bruised here. In fulfillment of that prophecy,
the serpent bruised his heel. Number four, his sufferings are
medicinal. Medicinal. Because in verse five
we read, with his stripes we are healed. Now sin is a mortal
disease. It's a mortal disease. It always
ends in death. If a person is not healed of
this disease, the disease of sin, then the result always will
be eternal, eternal death. And there's only one medicine
to heal the disease of sin. And it is the sufferings of this
righteous servant of God. By His stripes we are healed. Remember the psalmist in that
psalm that we quote quite often, Psalm 103, when he said, Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His
holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all His benefits. who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. There's only one medicine to
heal this disease of sin and it is in the wounds of Jesus
Christ, the blood of Christ, his lifeblood which was given.
To become God's righteous servant, God the Son took upon Him our
nature, that is, human nature. He was made flesh. He was made
flesh that the Lord might lay upon Him the iniquities of us
all. It is as though all the sins
of all of God's people were bundled up together. What a large bundle. all bundled up together and laid,
or made to meet, upon Jesus Christ our Lord. That's what verse 6
tells us, that our iniquities were laid upon Him. The sins
of His people were imputed to Him, and He was cursed by the
law. He was wounded, bruised, and
put to death by divine justice. This is God's way. This is the
only way of healing sinners. We sang just a few moments ago
that hymn, Look and Live. This was all pictured by that
brazen serpent which was lifted up on a pole, and all who looked,
lived. It would do no good whatsoever
to look at the wounds. If a snake bit you, one of those
serpents, bit you, that poison was in you, you could look at
the snake bite from now to doomsday and die and perish. There's no
good to look at the bite. No, look at the serpent lifted
up. Even as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. Look to Christ. That's the message.
Look and live. Look to Christ and be healed
of thy disease of sin. And number five, his sufferings
were just as satisfying. In verse 10, we are told that
he was made an offering for sin, that He shall prolong his days. Yes, he died, he suffered, he
satisfied God's justice, but now he is alive forevermore. Now third, the reward of God's
righteous servant for his work of redemption, verses 11 and
12. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and
he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bared the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. His reward is
to see and to be satisfied for the travail
of his soul. How many times in the scripture
do we find this word travail? And it's used of course for women
giving birth. Another word that goes along
with it is the word throes, which means a very hard and a very
painful struggle. The throes, the travail of God's
righteous servant. His sufferings, His sorrows,
what must have been the most painful of all? I don't know
if you ever just stop and think, but what must have been the most
painful of all the sufferings of Christ? He was made sin. That which He hates. that which
God hates, he was made to be sin. That had to be the most direful sufferings that
the Lord Jesus Christ underwent. The throes, the travail of God's
righteous servant, his suffering sorrows That which must have
been the most painful of all was being made sin and his father
deserting him. Whatever that means. I don't know that any of us can
understand that. Not fully. Not even a little
bit. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? But thou art holy. That's what
we read, isn't it, in Psalm 22 that begins with those very words.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And then I think
it's in verse 3. But thou art holy. And it was
because of God's holiness that when He made His Son to be sin
for us, He who knew no sin, in order that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. but thou art holy his father's desertion you know
the scripture in Hebrew says that that who for the joy that
was set before him The joy that was set before the Lord Jesus
Christ. He despised the shame and all
of that that went with the cross and His sufferings, but for the
joy that was set before Him. The joy of doing the Father's
will. I came not to do my own will,
but the will of Him that sent me. And this was His will. God's will that he give himself
a ransom for many the joy that was set before him he went to
the cross knowing all this suffering that we read about here but for
the joy that was set before him and knowing that he pleased his
father and I believe included with that also we must say the
joy in knowing one day that He will bring everyone that the
Father gave Him in that eternal covenant of grace. And He will
set us before His Father and say, Father, here am I and the
children which Thou hast given me. You know when you take care,
you watch after someone else's child, you feel so much responsibility,
don't you? Such a heavy weight, a responsibility
in watching someone else's child. The Lord was given a seed to
save and one day He will set each one before the Father. This
is His reward. And the second part of the reward
that we see here is by His knowledge. If you notice in verse 11, He
shall see of the travail of his soul, the throes of his soul,
and shall be satisfied. And by his knowledge, now, by
knowing him, by the knowledge of Christ, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. There's only one way to know
God, and that is to know Christ. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. The Apostle in Romans chapter
5 and verse 1 says, therefore being justified by faith we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know Christ? It's not a certain amount of
doctrine is it? It's knowing Christ. He's a person. You can know a lot about Him,
but do you know Him? Do you know Him? Is He real to
you? Do you speak with Him? As a hymn
writer said, He walks with me and talks with me. A long life's
narrow way. I had the privilege one time,
many, many years ago, probably in 66 or 67 and visiting in a hospital
in Guadalajara Mexico and they had English-speaking patients
people from the states who live down there and I was trying to
learn Spanish so I went to the hospital and visited I'd look
at the card at the desk you can't do this anymore they won't give
you any information about anyone in the hospital if you're not
kind to them Back in that day, you could get the cards and go
through all the decks or whatever they had there and see each patient's
name. You could tell if they were English-speaking
and what their religious preference or whatever was. One day I was
visiting there and there was a man in the hospital and his
preference was he was Jewish. Well, being very sanctimonious
and religious, I went up to his room and knocked on the door
and went in and I said, I've come to see you in the name of
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he turned over in
his bed and he said, I don't believe any of that. Well, I went back again to visit
and this time his mother was there. And she was from New York
City. And I read this chapter. I asked
if I could read a portion of scripture and I read this 53rd
chapter of Isaiah and the lady looked at me and she said, who
is he writing about? And I said, he's writing about
Jesus Christ, the Messiah. I don't see how you could see
anyone else here. But I found out later they don't
read that chapter generally to their people. And if they do
ask who it is, they try to say it's Hezekiah or someone like
that, or the nation of Israel itself. But no, this is a person,
Jesus Christ our Lord, who suffered and bled and died to save his
people in the place and in the stead of his people. And he did
it all out of love and mercy. Let's sing a verse or two of
a hymn.