Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we
should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind.
A man of suffering and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide
their faces. He was despised and we held him in lower
steam. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him
punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our
transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought
us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone
astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him the
iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted. Yet he did not open his mouth.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is
silent. So he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken
away. Yet who of his generation protested? He was cut off from the land of
the living. For the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned
a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. Though he had no he had
done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord's will to
crush him and cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life an
offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days. And the
will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered he will see
the light of life and will be satisfied. By his knowledge my righteous servant
will justify many and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a
portion among the great and he will divide the spoils with the strong
because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the
transgressors. For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the
transgressors.
Good morning everyone. It's great to be together on this very very special day
where we as the people of God reflect on our Lord's work in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And before we come to these words let's come to our Father in prayer together
as his people. Would you please pray with me?
Lord Jesus, you once said that not a jot or tittle will in any wise pass from the
law until all be fulfilled. These words that we have before us this morning are
words of eternal life and they are your words to us. We ask that by your Spirit
you would work in our midst, that you would be held high among us and that you
would draw all manner of people to yourself. We ask for this in Jesus name.
Amen. Now it's just a few months ago at Christmas that we were in the book of
Isaiah looking at what God had revealed to this prophet about what kind of birth
the Lord Jesus was going to have. As you might remember it would be a miraculous
birth because as it was told to the prophet Isaiah a virgin would conceive
and give birth to a baby boy. Now for the original hearers that would have seemed
like a complete mystery to them as to how any of that could happen. I mean even
the ancients knew how babies were made but that's why Isaiah said it would be a
sign, a sign of God working in their midst so that they would believe that
God hadn't abandoned his people and that was made no more clearer than on the
way that our Lord was born on that wonderful day in Bethlehem to the virgin
Mary. Well this morning we turn to a part of scripture where Isaiah begins his
entire prophecy with an even more outrageous claim to the point that he
says right there in verse 1 who's even going to believe all of this? Who is
going to believe what the Lord has revealed this time? Well church as we
know this awesome prophecy actually came to pass in the course of human history
about 2,000 years ago and as we're going to see it's not just a message so that
we'll stand back in awe and say wow it's actually a message about how God saved
his people, how God rescued lost people like you and me through the Lord Jesus
Christ so that we might spend eternity with him. A message which the Apostle
Paul calls the gospel which is the power unto salvation for all who believe. Now
before we get into our text this morning I just want to say that there is a lot a
lot that could be said on this passage. In fact one Puritan spent nearly a
hundred and fifty sermons on just these twelve verses but as we don't have all
the time in the world this morning I just want to briefly show you eight
awesome truths that God shows us here about our Lord and his work on our
behalf and it's my hope that this wonderful mystery will make even more
sense to you as we see how the light of the New Testament makes sense of it all
and how as Christians as we gather today we might really say it is a good Friday
to reflect on the work of our Lord. So if you have your Bibles with you this
morning look with me at verse 2 and we see this first point. First the one who
will draw all manner of people won't do it by physical appeal. We read he grew up
before him like a tender shoot like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty
or majesty to attract us to him. Nothing in his appearance that we should desire
him. Okay so the first thing that we're told here is that the one who will draw
all manner of people to himself from every tribe, nation, tongue and people
group actually won't do it through a physical attractiveness or majesty or
beauty. That's what God's telling us here. We won't be attracted to Jesus
because of what he'll look like. Now if we think to the Matthew series that we're
in at the moment we see that Jesus wasn't born in a palace as to what we
would think he would deserve but very much had humble beginnings. Not even
being born in a comfortable house. Now as we know Mary had him in a stable which
housed animals and our Lord's first resting place was a feeding trough. And
then if we read a little more forward we know that he grew up in a backwater town
called Nazareth and like a little tender shoot he grew in stature with both God
and man Luke tells us. In other words our Lord Jesus would have nothing about him
to attract people to him because of anything physical or his stature in
society. In fact people found the little saplings to be of no use and would
usually discard them. There's a warning in that isn't there? People will reject
Jesus superficially. Yet all of this was for a purpose and done under the
providential care of our Heavenly Father. Those who will be drawn to the Lord
Jesus Christ won't come because of his physical attractiveness but his
character and what he has done for us. What has he done for us? Well that's made
clearer in the coming verses. As second he lived a life of sorrow and grief to
serve us. We read in verse 3 he was despised and rejected by mankind. A man
of suffering and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised and we held him in low esteem. Incredible isn't it? The most
famous man to ever walk the face of the planet. We're even at this very moment
millions of people around the world are reflecting on this Jesus. We see that not
only was he not much physically to behold but he was despised and rejected
while he was with us. Think about the language here. This wasn't a man who was
just ignored. He was despised, deeply hated. But again this all goes back to
the plan of God. None of this would happen by random chance. No the one who
would be sent to be our joy and our Savior would also be the one who would
be personally involved and acquainted with our suffering and pain. This is the
most incredible thing to behold brothers and sisters. Our Lord Jesus not only had
humble beginnings but a life where he would personally know the suffering of
those in whom he would suffer for. So much so that people would look on him.
Look on his suffering and be disgusted by it. Church we have a Lord who is
familiar with all our pain and suffering. One who personally experienced
isolation and grief and loneliness. That is what Jesus experienced on this earth.
He was a man of sorrows, rejected, despised and yet what joy we as the
people of God see in all of this. In that he would leave his heavenly home to serve
his people in this way. As a side note I just want to say if you find yourself
saturated in grief and sorrow in isolation, in rejection, then hear this
this morning. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who we can go to because he knew
a deeper sorrow and grief than we would ever know. Yet he was sent in this way so
that he could identify with us. Third he bore the consequences of our sin. Verse
4. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering yet we considered him
punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. There's irony in all of this
isn't there? He was indeed a man of suffering and despised and isolated and
as we've just seen it was all for us. Yet notice it. People will put it down to
him being punished for something he did. Do you see what God is is revealing to
us this morning? The sorrow and grief that our Lord was sent to carry was
never his own. He lived a life of sorrow and rejection not because he deserved
any of it but because he was sent to take on the consequences of what we have
bought on ourselves. Often times our bad behavior, our law breaking, our sin
brings about unwanted outcomes and because of our shortcomings and
lawlessness we can feel isolated, rejected, dirty, shattered and defeated.
Our sin has bought about incredible pain and suffering, sometimes physical,
sometimes mental, always spiritual and yet our Lord came to take the ultimate
consequence away from us so we wouldn't have to suffer for all eternity for no
other reason, for no other reason than that he loved us. That is a love that
knows no boundaries and yet as the Lord carried this out, as the Lord carried
out this ultimate act of love we're told that people would look on him and judge
that he was the cursed of God. Do you see the irony? We are the ones who deserve to
be cursed of God for what we have done having broken, no smashed his law yet we
deserve and we deserve to suffer yet our Lord came into our mess to bear the
consequence of our sin. So no wonder that the saints can sing from the depth of
their hearts those blessed words of John Newton, amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. Fourth, he suffered in our place. Our Lord was
despised and rejected, he was well acquainted with grief and sorrows and
people despised him and thought that he was cursed of God but, but verse 5, he
was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the
punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds, his stripes we are
healed. That's incredible. All the way back in the Genesis account after our first
parents had sinned and the curse of rejecting God's Word was being poured
out, you'll notice that a promise was also given and that promise was that
there would come a day where a man would be born to a woman and though he would be
struck, he would crush the serpent's head. All this to say this suffering that our
Lord went through, it's intrinsically tied into healing the sin-plagued sons
and daughters of Adam, intrinsically tied into taking the curse and its
punishment that we deserve upon ourselves. Looking back at the Lord's
crucifixion, the Apostle Peter put it like this in chapter 2 of the first
epistle, of his first epistle, speaking about Jesus he says, who his own self
bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes we are healed. Present tense. None of us
are Christians because we think we can keep the law perfectly and thus convince
our Creator that we're good enough to deserve a place in his home. No, we as
Christians, we are Christians because we know we deserve to be crushed for our
lawless deeds, crushed for our iniquities, pierced through for our sin, yet look at
the wonderful truth that we find here. We don't need to go through any of that. We
don't need to go through any of that because of our Lord Jesus Christ. He took
our place, took our crushing, took our punishment, took the curse of our
lawlessness so that we might be out from under the weight of our iniquities and
alive forevermore. That's why we're Christians, because we are people that
have put our hope and trust in the one who took what we deserve. And our Lord
was able to do this because fifth, he never went astray. Verse 6, we all like
sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has
laid the iniquity on him, the iniquity of us all. Now before you all start going
off into Columbia Cannon land with your do-bar-bars, there's a simple truth in
what we just read. We strayed, Jesus didn't. We strayed, Jesus didn't. And yet,
he was punished for our straying, which makes, if we think about it, his
suffering essential. And his suffering was essential because there is nothing
that any of us could do to save ourselves. No, it took a supernatural act
of God to bring us back to himself and because our God is good and won't just
ignore sin and brush it under the carpet, he must punish it. So either that's going
to fall on us or that's going to fall on the sacrifice that he provided in our
place. It's a little wonder isn't it church? It's a little wonder that our prophet here
starts by saying, who is going to believe all of this? Who's going to believe any of
this? Well it's because we've seen in this section this morning, it shows us the
wonderful and awesome mercy of our God. The wonderful and awesome mercy that God
is the one who has taken initiative after we strayed from him to bring us
back to himself. To bring us back to himself by sending one, his servant, his
only begotten son to take our place so that we might be set free from the pains
of hell and spend eternity with him. Church, there is nothing that we could do
to make ourselves right in the eyes of our God. We all strayed yet God sent a
servant so that we might be restored and put into perfect relationship with our
loving creator forever. It's the most astonishing thing and we see it here in
the sixth point. This was voluntary. Verses 7 through to 9. He was oppressed
and afflicted yet he didn't open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent so he did not open
his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away yet who of his
generation protested. For he was cut off from the land of the living for the
transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with
the wicked and with the rich in his death. Though he had done no violence nor
was any deceit in his mouth. Church notice the language here. He was
oppressed and afflicted, slaughtered like an innocent lamb yet he didn't protest
or make any effort to escape. Not even an appeal to his absolute innocence and
that's because our Lord knew that this was the only way to heal his people and
to restore us into right relationship with our God. He knew that we had to be
judged and condemned so he took our place so that we would not be judged
guilty. Church all of this happened not because our Lord didn't want to or
because he was forced but because he wanted to. He endured our sin being
placed on him and being punished by God crushed under the weight of the
curse all so that his people would be declared not guilty. You're free. Seventh
he was crushed in order to spare us. Look with me at verses 10 and 11 we read yet
it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer and though the Lord
makes his life an offering for sin he will see his offspring and prolong his
days and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hands. After he has
suffered he will see the light of life. What a wonderful resurrection promise
and be satisfied. By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many and
he will bear their iniquities. In just a moment we're going to sing a wonderful
hymn together called Because He Lives and in that song we're going to sing God
sent his son they called him Jesus. He came to love, heal and forgive. He lived
and died to buy my pardon. An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.
Because he lives I can face tomorrow. Because he lives all fear is gone because
I know he holds the future and my life is worth living because he lives. Do you
know why our Lord came and did any of this? Do you know why personally do you
know why Jesus came to do any of this? Do you know personally why he came to
suffer to bear your iniquity to be despised and rejected and ultimately to
be murdered in the most horrific way under the curse of God? Well our brother
Tony he quoted that wonderful passage of the Lord Jesus words for God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son. Whoever believes in him will not
perish but have everlasting life. It was all because he loved us so much. He loved
us so much that he wanted to heal and forgive cosmic rebels. It's because he
loved us so much that he wanted to buy our pardon. Brothers and sisters God did
all of this because he loves his people and he wants to be in relationship with
you and me forever. This was the way. This was the only way for that to happen
and that's how God sent his only begotten son into this world. God made
flesh born of a virgin. A man who lived a perfect life to serve his people. This
was a plan out worked by our triune God. Out worked in the Godhead. No person
forced, no person working against another's will. This was our God's plan
from eternity past. A plan worked out in our history. A plan that was worked out
and fulfilled perfectly. Also that our pardon would be assured and our future
secure. And the resurrection, the resurrection proves that our Lord's work
was perfect. And so in light of that in the truth of this passage this morning,
if you have heard the good news of the gospel, if you have believed the message
then I am looking at a people that have been purchased by the blood of Jesus
pardoned by God and are precious in his sight. A people who have been forgiven of
all iniquity and have at this very moment eternal life. I'm looking at a
people who have been won through the selfless sacrificial love of our Lord.
How can we not reflect on this wonderful truth this morning and call it a
wonderful, gracious Good Friday. This leads to the eighth and final thing we see here.
He lives to make intercession for his people. Verse 12, therefore I'll give him
a portion among the great and he will divide the spoils with the strong
because he poured out his life, his soul unto death and was numbered with the
transgressors. For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the
transgressors. I just want you to quickly notice something very interesting here.
Notice how the language changes in verse 12. Notice that it goes from this kind of
second person to first person. It's almost like Isaiah has gone from
witnessing about this incredible event like one of the New Testament evangelists
to God speaking directly to us about this coming one. And he tells us in no
uncertain terms that he will be pleased and satisfied with our Lord's work. So
much so that what he set out to achieve will be granted by him. In other words
because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus we are not a
people without hope. No we are a people who live in peace at this very moment
with God because of the perfect finished work of Jesus Christ on behalf of his
people. The New Testament attests to the fact that Jesus indeed came and lived a
perfect life and bore the sin of his people and was crucified. But this is the
good news. He didn't remain in the grave. No three days later he rose from the
dead, he ascended to our Father in heaven and is once for all sacrifice. His very
life was accepted as the perfect sacrifice for his people. This means that
at this very moment this man, this God-made flesh, this Jesus is seated in
heavenly places interceding on behalf of his blood-purchased people. Interceding on
behalf of you and me because he conquered death to die no more. And because of his
work alone he is now sharing the spoils of his victory over sin and death with
his people. How do we come to share in this work? How do we come to share in the
perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well there is only one way and that is
by placing faith in the once for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone. Our
Apostle Paul sums it up like this in chapter 3 of his letter to the Romans. He
says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom
God set forth to be a propitiation and atoning sacrifice through faith in his
blood. To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed
through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this time his
righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of those who believe in
Jesus. Is that you today? Let's pray.
Father, these are indeed your words to us and they reveal a wonderful treasure and
we ask by your spirit, by the work of your Holy Spirit in our midst, that you
would help us to know the treasure that is Jesus. To know forgiveness, to know the
kingdom, to be transformed, to be born again. We ask Lord Jesus that as you
minister to your people, that as you work through your spirit to lift our eyes
heavenward to what you have done and who we are in you, that we would
overflow with joy, that we would be excited, that we would tell those around
us without fear. We thank you for the gospel. We thank you that it is good news
and that there is redemption, forgiveness and love in you. We thank you for all of
these in Jesus name, amen.