[0:00] As we come together around the Word of God, let us seek his blessing upon his Word. Let us pray. Eternal and ever-blessed Lord, grant to us that we may have some understanding of the great privilege that is given to us when we can come together around the Word of God, when we can come together seeking to acknowledge thee as our God, as our Creator and Redeemer through thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[0:45] And we give thanks that we can come with boldness and confidence into thy presence this day and lay out our petitions before thee, knowing that thou art the one who can truly meet with our needs out of the riches of thy grace through thy Son.
[1:07] And as we come before thee, we seek that we would come acknowledging our sinnership, that we would come in repentance, sorrowing over our sins and seek in the mercy of God through Jesus Christ.
[1:25] We acknowledge, O Lord, that we have dug a pit for ourselves into which we have fallen, into that miry clay.
[1:37] But blessed be thy name, that thine own outstretched arm has come to where we are, and in thy mercy and love, in thy pity and compassion, that thou dost take us from that fearful pit, and that thou dost set our feet upon a rock, which is Jesus Christ.
[2:02] That thou hast put a new song into our mouth, a song wherein we praise and glorify thy new name for thy goodness and kindness to us.
[2:15] And we give thanks unto thee, O Lord, for the work of grace in the hearts of sinners such as we are. And we pray, O Lord, that as the Gospel is proclaimed this day, that it may, through the workings of thine own Holy Spirit, touch the hearts of our people, that thy Spirit would enlighten their understanding, that they would come to see the pit in which they find themselves.
[2:49] O Lord, we pray that they would see the hand that is outstretched towards them, to help them and to give them strength, and to restore them back into fellowship and communion with God, that fellowship and communion that was broken by sin, but that can be restored to us through the Lord Jesus Christ.
[3:15] We give thee thanks, O Lord, for the gift of thy Son. We give thanks that thou didst send him into this world, and that he came, and that he met with what our sins deserved in his own body upon the cross of Golgotha, and there that he dealt with our sin, and there that he opened a way whereby we can come and stand before thee as clothed in his righteousness, standing before a holy God, a God who is of pure eye than to look upon sin.
[3:57] O Lord, we pray that the preciousness of thy salvation would be open to us anew this day, that we will see how glorious it is, that we will see the glory of God in it, that we would behold the glory of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[4:19] And we give thanks, O Lord, for his continual ministry at thine own right hand, for his intercession, for his care and protection over us, and for the great promise that at the end that he shall bring us to be with himself, where we shall behold his glory, not then by faith, but when we shall see him as he is, and when we shall be like him.
[4:51] O Lord, when we shall receive the apex of our redemption, to be conformed to the image of the Son, we give thanks that we have that living hope today through the Gospel.
[5:06] And we pray, O Lord, that it may become more precious to us as the years go on, and as we go towards the end of our pilgrimage in this world.
[5:17] We pray, O Lord, that we will see the leading of thine own hand, that we will see the preciousness of thy word, and the preciousness of thine own promise.
[5:30] We give thanks that they have all been sealed for us, and the blood of the everlasting covenant, that they are covenant promises, and that they are sure for us.
[5:42] We pray, O Lord, that thou would bless our community, bless the homes and the families that belong to us. We pray, O Lord, that thou would meet with them at their point of need.
[5:55] Bless those who are ill, O may the bed of affliction be a bed of blessing for them. Bless those who mourn over the passing away of loved ones.
[6:06] O Lord, we pray that thou would give to them that comfort that they stand in need of. Bless our young people and our children, so many things to entice and to draw them away from the gospel and from the things of God.
[6:24] But we pray that thou would raise up a generation among us that would fear thine own name. Bless thy people, grant to them that they may be faithful witnesses for thee in this world.
[6:38] Bless the gospel throughout our land and to the ends of the earth, O Lord, may it go forth in the power and demonstration of thy spirit. And may thou uphold thy servants, who proclaim thy truth this day.
[6:55] We seek, O Lord, that thou would be pleased to bless us, that thou would be pleased to come among us through thy spirit. And to grant us peace as we come around thine own world.
[7:07] And as we come to meditate upon it. For we acknowledge, O Lord, that there are many things that can lie heavy upon our minds, that can distract us.
[7:18] But we pray that our minds may be stayed upon thee. And that we would know that peace that passeth all understanding. We ask, O Lord, that thou would continue with us as we wait upon thee.
[7:31] And all that we ask with the forgiveness of our many sins is in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. We shall now read the word of God from the Old Testament, from Psalm 22.
[7:48] Psalm 22. My God, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
[8:01] O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and I am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
[8:15] Our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered. They trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
[8:31] All they that see me, laugh me to scorn. They shoot out their lip, they shake their heads, saying, He trusted on the Lord, that he would deliver him.
[8:42] Let him deliver, seeing he delighted in him. But thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope, when I was upon my mother's breasts.
[8:54] I will cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God, and from my mother's belly. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help.
[9:06] Many bulls have compassed me, strong bulls of vision have beset me round. They kept upon me with their mouths, as a roving and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.
[9:20] My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a portrait, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws.
[9:31] And thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me.
[9:46] They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O Lord. All my strength haste thee to help me.
[9:57] Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling, from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation, and will I praise thee.
[10:14] Ye that fear the Lord, praise him, all ye the seed of Jacob. Glorify him, and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised, nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted.
[10:27] Neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
[10:39] The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him. Your heart shall live forever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nation shall worship before thee.
[10:55] For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations. And they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship. All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him, and none can keep alive his own soul.
[11:10] A seed shall serve him, and shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
[11:22] May the Lord bless unto us the reading of that portion of his word. And now seeking his blessing and help, let us turn to the prophecy of Isaiah and chapter 53.
[11:36] And we'll read the first six verses. 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.
[11:51] He hath no form or 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.
[12:04] And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him thick and smitten of God and afflicted.
[12:17] 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.
[12:28] 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.
[12:39] Last week, when we reflected upon verse 1 of this chapter, we saw the human and the divine side of the report.
[12:50] The human side, who hath believed our report, and the divine side, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed. The divine side speaks of something being revealed, and that is the arm of the Lord.
[13:07] It is a reminder to us that there can be no faith, there can be no belief on human observation on its own. As we shall see in a moment, there is no belief without divine revelation.
[13:22] Paul, writing to the Ephesians, says that God has made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.
[13:35] Unless it pleased the Lord to reveal it, then it would have remained hidden. And this revelation is about the wisdom and the power of God.
[13:48] We noted last week how the arm of the Lord in the Old Testament speaks of the power of God. For instance, in Deuteronomy chapter 7, the children of Israel were reminded by the words of Moses, Thou shalt not be afraid of them, but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt, the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out.
[14:27] So shall the Lord thy God turn to all the people of whom thou art afraid. Now throughout the Old Testament, the acts of the arm were seen, while the arm itself remained invisible.
[14:43] But now it is not a matter of tracing events to an invisible cause, but the matter of seeing a person, the servant, and recognizing that he is the Lord's presence in power.
[15:01] The arm of the Lord revealed in the work of the servant, in his humiliation, in his sufferings, and in his death. The arm of the Lord has now been revealed in the person of Jesus Christ and his work on the cross of Golgotha.
[15:20] No longer is the arm of the Lord invisible, but it is visible to all. Paul could write, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God, the wisdom and the power of God, the arm of the Lord, is no longer invisible, but visible in the person and in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[15:50] Isaiah says, Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Then he continues, and he gives the reason why this revelation of the arm of the Lord has been rejected, rejected, and why the report is not believed.
[16:10] He says, For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. This imagery of growth out of the soil points to the human side of the servant, to the humanity of the servant.
[16:30] And it asks, How could a mere man be the arm of the Lord? How can we see in a mere man the wisdom and the power of God?
[16:45] Now, we have seen in recent weeks that Jesus, the servant, was just like an ordinary man. Jesus did not have a holy halo about him.
[16:56] He took everything that is involved in becoming truly human except sin. From the moment of his conception by the Holy Spirit, he developed normally inside his mother's womb.
[17:12] He had a human body. He had a human soul. He had a human mind. He had a human will. He grew up just like any other normal boy.
[17:23] Luke writes that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man. But what effect did the life of Jesus have on those who knew him?
[17:38] Who hath believed a 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.
[17:54] Those who were closest to Jesus didn't understand him. Mark records for us in chapter 4 that his friends went out to lay hold on him for they said, he is beside himself.
[18:12] We may not be surprised that the inhabitants of the city of Nazareth where Jesus grew up did not pay much attention to Jesus.
[18:23] The hidden years at Nazareth when in the obscurity of the carpenter shop no one knew who he was except his heavenly father. As he taught them in the synagogue at Nazareth it is written, insomuch that they were astonished and said, when sat this man this wisdom and these mighty words.
[18:46] The response is not this, the carpenter's son, is not his mother called Mary and his brethren James, Joas and Simon and Judas and his sisters.
[18:59] Are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him. Now although the response of the people of Nazareth may surprise us yet more, so are we surprised at the response of his four brothers and at least two sisters.
[19:23] John recalls what is regarding his brothers, neither did his brethren believe in him. The Gospels indicate to us that they were not influenced for good merely because they lived in the same house as Jesus.
[19:44] Possibly they shared the same sleeping quarters as Jesus. Surely this is evidence for us that there is the need of the Holy Spirit for conversion.
[19:59] When we recall that the holy influence of Jesus went unnoticed by his own family, by his brothers and his sisters, that his good ways did have no influence on them for good.
[20:18] The woman at the well of Samaria did not have a clue who she was talking to. The woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is coming, which is called Christ.
[20:31] When he has come, he will tell us all things. And Jesus turned to her and said to her, I that speak unto thee, am he. Even John the Baptist became uncertain about him.
[20:46] In Luke chapter 7 we'll read, And John calling unto him, two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?
[20:58] And when the men were come unto him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits, and to many that were blind he gave sight.
[21:17] Then Jesus answering, said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard, how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.
[21:33] And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Not even his miracles made the impact that they should, for we read in the gospels, but though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him.
[21:56] That the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake saying, Lord, who hath believed a report, and to whom hath the yarm of the Lord been revealed.
[22:10] It is a reminder to us that even if we were eyewitnesses of Jesus, if we had seen Jesus walking down the street, we might have been curious, our curiosity might have got a hold of us, but it would lead us not to believe on him.
[22:32] Even knowing him personally as his brothers did, and many others, that did not make unbelief impossible. You see, it takes faith to see the revelation of the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
[22:48] it takes faith to see Christ as the wisdom and the power of God. Here it is stated that the servant would grow up before him.
[23:04] Now the words before him refers to God the Father. Again, as we have seen in recent weeks, servant who did not mean that the Son ceased to be what he eternally was, God the Son.
[23:22] He was and is and continues to be God the Son even in his servitude. Christ, the second person of the Trinity, God the Son took to himself human nature and united it to his divine person so that he now as a servant has two distinct natures but remains one person forever.
[23:48] Now that is a mystery, but that is God manifest in the flesh and as such Isaiah could say that he grew up before him, that is before God the Father, that he grew up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground.
[24:09] Jesus would grow up conscious of God. From his youngest years, this unusual child would live a holy life, a life marked out by fellowship with God.
[24:25] As a child and as a teenager, he loved the Word of God. He desired to be instructed from the Word of God. He delighted to be in the house of God.
[24:39] He obeyed the commandments of God. But Isaiah says, he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground.
[24:55] We recently noted Isaiah's prediction in chapter 11 that a root would rise up from the stem of David, from whom Joseph and Mary were both descended.
[25:08] There in Isaiah 11, it says, and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an insight of the people.
[25:24] To it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. A great promise. But the house of David had fallen on evil days.
[25:35] the royal line had become impoverished, and no one recognised his claims to leadership within Israel. When Jesus as his servant came, he was indeed a tender plant, and a root out of a dry ground.
[25:55] Among the people, he was dismissed because of his connection with Nazareth. Remember when Philip met with Nathaniel and said, we have found him of Moses and the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
[26:13] What was Nathaniel's response? Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Or he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.
[26:29] And the remainder of verse 2 gives us the evaluation that others had of him. He hath no form or comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
[26:44] Those who saw Jesus were not impressed. Their estimation was that he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, no beauty that we should desire him.
[27:00] In their assessment, Jesus was not worth a second look. If he passed you on the street, you would not give him a second look. These statements, of course, do not imply that the servant was physically disfigured, but simply that he was ordinary, and that he was easily ignored.
[27:23] There was no physical beauty that would attract our attention. He was seen as a man among men. We, of course, judge by appearances, don't we?
[27:38] And there was nothing in Jesus that looked impressive at that level. Jesus was not special in the way that we count. He was seen as just an ordinary man.
[27:54] man. Then he goes on and he says he is despised and rejected of men. Although the gospel report to us that large crowds came around him when he preached and when he performed miracles, nevertheless, very few of that multitude came to faith.
[28:18] In general, he was a man who was despised and rejected. the gospel records for us that on one occasion he was accused by the Pharisees of casting out devils by the prince of the devils.
[28:39] Then we are told that he was a man of sorrows. Isaiah does not mean that the servant was going around in a gloomy, miserable way, that he had unhappy disposition about him.
[28:55] In other words, he was not a man of sorrows by constitution, but he was a man of sorrows because as the servant of Jehovah, he took upon him our sorrows and he took them as his own.
[29:14] He was a man of sorrows. On one occasion we are told that when he saw much people, that he was smooth with compassion towards them because he saw them as sheep not having a shepherd.
[29:32] That description reveals that Jesus was a man with feelings. feelings. He was truly human. He had human feelings.
[29:43] He had human emotions. It reveals to us the genuineness of his humanity. It is not merely that he associated himself with others that were sorrowful, but he was the one who personally experienced sorrow.
[30:03] He was a man of sorrows. As he looked around him, he was sorrowful because of the wrong priorities that he saw in the lives of the people.
[30:17] He was sad because of the plight in which sinners found themselves because of their sins. He understood the awful destination awaiting those who would suffer under the judgment of God, God.
[30:34] And that left him filled with sorrow. He truly knew what a Christless life would mean.
[30:47] He truly knew what hell was like. And this sorrow was not something that was on the surface.
[30:57] It wasn't a superficial kind of sorrow. For we are told a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was acquainted with grief.
[31:10] A description that points to a deep experience of grief. When we say about a person that he is our acquaintance, we are saying that we know that person very well.
[31:27] Well, he knew grief well. The gospel records for us his feelings with sorrow and grief. For at the grave of Lazarus, there we are told that Jesus wept.
[31:43] Feeling of sorrow, feeling of grief. Jesus wept. But the verse here tells us what causes more sorrow and grief than anything else.
[31:59] It is the fact that he is despised and rejected of men. There in Psalm 22, earlier we read, but I am aware of no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
[32:19] All we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Last week we noted that when he was going up to Jerusalem, that he sent messages to make ready for him to enter into a village of the Samaritans.
[32:37] And they did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. They rejected him because of his determination to go to Jerusalem.
[32:51] They shunned him. They wanted nothing to do with him. What were they doing? We hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not.
[33:05] They hid their faces from him and reckoned to him of no account. Yet he was on the way to Jerusalem and the cross of Golgotha to work salvation for them, for sinners.
[33:19] But they wanted nothing to do with him. The terrible occasion to where he was heading for. He was journeying to the cross, bearing on himself a burden, a burden so heavy that his weight cannot be calculated.
[33:38] The anticipation of it left Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane with great fear and concern, and on that cold night left him sweating and his sweat dropping like great clods of blood to the ground, damping the dust of Gethsemane.
[33:59] His destination was to the place of a skull, a location outside the gates of Jerusalem, to the cross of Golgotha, where he would suffer the wrath of God against the sins of his people.
[34:16] Yet the people hid, as it were, their faces from him. Yet he was despised, and yet he was not esteemed. But before we get carried away and criticise the Samaritans at their reaction to Jesus, let us ask, what is our own biggest sin?
[34:37] Is it not the many times that we imitate the onlookers in verse 2 and 3 of our chapter and the Samaritans as we go along and hid our face from Jesus?
[34:51] When he comes near to us in the gospel message, we shut our ears and we look away. we refuse to look with gratitude on Jesus as the one who is offering us mercy.
[35:06] In the preaching of the gospel, we are told of what the salvation of sinners cost the Saviour personally, and yet we hide our faces from him and we esteem him not.
[35:21] Today, for the person who has come to Jesus for salvation, this may be causing you the greatest grief, as you recall how lightly you regarded Jesus when you first heard of him many years ago, perhaps as a child in your home, as a teenager under gospel preaching, but alas, how you hid your face from him and you esteemed him not.
[35:49] You may be saying, we heard the report with the hearing of the ear. Yes, the arm of the Lord was revealed to us, but we did not understand who he was until we heard him by the hearing of faith.
[36:07] Now, you say, I repent daily, as I call what my sins cost the Saviour. The writer to the Hebrew writes, wherefore, for Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
[36:25] Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. But the prophet brings us to the heart of his message, and to the heart of the gospel, when he says, surely, he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.
[36:50] Yet we did a demon streak, and 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.
[37:05] 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.
[37:16] How do we explain the cross of Golgotha? How do we explain the place of a skull? How do we explain the death of the son of God?
[37:28] The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. In these verses that we have just quoted from the chapter here, there are two subjects brought before us, he and our us.
[37:48] Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.
[38:06] The chastement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
[38:34] Two subjects, he and us. Whatever our opinion is about religious subjects being painted, there is a painting by Rembrandt entitled The Raising of the Cross.
[38:55] And into that painting Rembrandt paints himself. He paints a blue figure there around the cross and he says that is me.
[39:07] As one of the men crucifying Jesus, he includes himself in the scene. And that is the way that the prophet now presents to us the servant.
[39:19] He becomes more personal and he brings the suffering servant of Jehovah before us and reminds us that we are not apart from the scene that he brings before us.
[39:34] That we are not apart from what is taking place here at the cross of Golgotha. He was wounded for our transgressions.
[39:46] He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. We note that although his sufferings were for us we had no part in the sufferings but he suffered for us.
[40:11] He stood alone. Psalm 69 Reproach have broken my heart and I am full of heaviness and I looked for some to take pity but there was none and for confidence but I found none.
[40:25] Isaiah 63 I have trodden the wine press alone and of the people there was none with me and I looked and there was none to help and I wondered that there was none to uphold.
[40:37] He stood alone and our reckoning was yet we did his demon streaking smitten of God and afflicted.
[40:47] In other words we were as those who were saying he must have deserved all that he suffered. Many at Golgotha thought that way and they left and they went home convinced that Jesus got what he deserved.
[41:09] They did not see that he was wounded for our transgressions that he was bruised for our iniquities. But the prophet brings us to the very core of what was happening at Golgotha.
[41:27] Jesus as the servant of Jehovah suffered alone in isolation from everyone but he suffered on their sins that was not his own but our sins and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
[41:47] There came a point of forsakenness on the cross when Jesus suffered not only in isolation from humanity but he suffered in distinction from the Lord himself as the Lord laid on his servant the iniquity of us all.
[42:07] As Jesus anticipated the cross he could say when predicting the flight of his disciples behold behold the hour is coming indeed it has come when you will be scattered each to his own home and will leave me alone yet I am not alone for the father is with me but now there came a point on the cross of Golgotha and he was aware of a sense of abandonment even by his father forsakenness was real it was something he had never known it was something that was new why for my sins and for your sins why so that sinners can be saved from the destruction of hell that sinners can be saved and be restored into fellowship with
[43:11] God that sinners like me and you can be reconciled to God he saw the coming storm and the cup and the hour of darkness but inside the cup was this new thing and this forsakenness my friend was not something that he imagined it was real he was alone for the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all the sufferings was awful so terrible because he was the bearing the sins of his people the worst aspect of his sufferings is not the physical sufferings which he endured at the hands of men terrible as they were but the worst aspect of his suffering were those that he suffered at the hands of God on the cross he met God as the judge the father withdrew from his son all sense of divine consolation of divine love of divine fellowship and joy and yet at the same time we must remember that it was not a separation for at the same moment the father the father was forsaking his servant the son
[44:35] God was in Christ his son reconciling the world unto himself he carried what was not his own he carried what belonged to us Jesus substituted himself for us at the cross the leotans call this imputation it is a charge account of someone else Jesus as a servant lifts up and loads our sins and guilt unto himself he takes what our sins deserve unto himself his wounds and bruising was the penalty which he paid for our sins the chastisement that was essential to our peace with God fell on him and by his sufferings we are healed in these verses
[45:41] Isaiah brings before us the sufferings of a unique person the man of sorrows was no other than the son of God he was the son of God upon whom God laid the iniquity of us all you see man's greatest problem is not a low standard of living man's greatest problem is not social problems it is not the quality of education it is poverty it is not poverty and so on man's greatest problem is sin and that is what God dealt with at the cross that is what these verses of Isaiah are all about our iniquities were laid upon Christ all we like sheep he says have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all oh is that not the confession of the person who comes to
[46:45] Christ for salvation as given to us in Psalm 119 I have gone astray like a lost sheep seek thy servant for I do not forget thy commandments or perhaps as we find in 1 Peter chapter 2 for we were as sheep going astray but are now returned into the shepherd and bishop of our souls while the efficacy of the once for all event of Golgotha is still sufficient for the strained sheep the image brought before us by prophet is that while the sheep was strained the Lord was dealing with their sins only God could conceive such a plan of redemption God willed to impute and lay all our iniquities on his servant his son
[47:47] Jesus Christ this was his eternal counsel we have here in Isaiah chapter 3 what they call the prophetic perfect now what do I mean by that well it is though the events of the cross are future to Isaiah it is as if they had already happened and how can that be because they are so certain and therefore Isaiah gives us this picture as if they had already taken place as if things had already happened you know we would say regarding the future well such a thing may or might happen but Isaiah says the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all even though it was many centuries future it was so certain to happen that
[48:48] Isaiah uses the prophetic perfect oh God has taken the initiative and he lays upon Christ the iniquity of us all oh look to him by faith on the cross and see his dying love for sinners like me and you whatever our situation today the blood of Jesus is sufficient for sinners to cleanse sinners from guilt and shame and to give us new life look at the cross of Golgotha where he was wounded for our transgressions where he was bruised for our iniquities where the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him where our iniquities and what our iniquities deserved was reckoned to him what a redemption what a gospel what good news and what is your response today what is your response today do you still despise this gospel do you not esteem this gospel do you value it as nothing
[50:09] Jesus from the cross of Golgotha says to you today come for all things are now ready come for redemption and salvation is available to the chief of sinners yes all we like sheep have gone astray yes we have turned everyone to his own way but look at the cross and there the lord hath laid on him his own son the iniquity of us all he took the initiative he didn't leave us in the pit of sin that we have dug for ourselves but his wisdom and his power the arm of the lord came and the opportunity and the privilege was given to me and you to take hold by faith of that arm and to be taken out from that pit and a new song to be put in our mouth do you know that my friend today by experience and if you don't then that outstretched arm is still outstretched and you take hold of it by faith for he says all things are now ready he will save to the utter most save to the utter most oh who have believed or report and to whom has the
[51:51] Adam of the Lord been revealed may the Lord bless our thoughts let us pray eternal and ever blessed Lord we pray that that would give us this vision wherein we would see the beauty of the Lord in the work of the cross horrible and awful as it was yet thy people see it as beautiful because by faith they understand that he was wounded for their transgressions that he was bruised for their sin that the chastinance of their peace was upon him and that by his wounds by his stripes that they have received the healing of salvation oh Lord what a wonderful experience for sinners such as we are what a wonderful offer is given to us today salvation
[52:54] Christ oh let us not despise it let us not reject it but let us see it as a beautiful gift from our heavenly father through his son Jesus Christ Lord we ask that thou would continue with us that thou prepare the way for our evening service and now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all Amen