[0:00] I would like you to turn once again to the book of Isaiah, chapter 53, reading again at verse 10.
[0:14] Isaiah 53 at verse 10. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When a soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his seed.
[0:31] He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied.
[0:45] By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous. For he shall bear their iniquities.
[0:58] Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.
[1:12] In these verses, we have the words of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ concerning his Son.
[1:31] They have the words of the Father, that the Father has a chosen people. And to these, he has given his Son to be their salvation.
[1:49] We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. The whole plan of salvation is described to us here in these two verses.
[2:05] The cause of Christ's death. It's pleased. It was the will of the Lord. It pleased the Lord to bruise him.
[2:16] The reason for that death. So that his soul would be made an offering for sin. When his soul makes an offering for sin.
[2:30] And the consequences of that death, he shall see of the travail of his soul. And shall be satisfied. The Lord's sufferings are described to us here as a travail.
[2:50] Now, it's an old-fashioned English word, but travail means difficulty. It means an action which is very difficult to undertake.
[3:01] Something that is beyond almost human strength and human ability. It's a travail which was laid upon the Lord and brought him to the very brink of his own human strength.
[3:20] It's said that the sufferings of Christ are the soul of his sufferings. But there's more than that for the Lord Jesus Christ. Also, there was Gethsemane.
[3:36] And all that the Lord experienced there. The setting of himself aside to fulfill the will of God.
[3:49] Psalm 40 reminds us of that. And so the whole action in Gethsemane is a working out of that desire to do God's will.
[4:11] Not my will, but thine be done. And the great acknowledging of the Lord Jesus Christ of what God was asking him to do.
[4:23] Yes, he knew it. He'd read the Old Testament. It was part of what he'd been instructed in. He would hear, no doubt, his mother telling him of all the angels that had told her that he was set aside for the falling and the rising of nations.
[4:37] He knew all that, but in Gethsemane he pursues for the first time the cup that his father was asking him to drink. And so Gethsemane was also part of the sufferings, the travail that the Lord Jesus Christ was going through.
[4:54] There was also, after his capture by the soldiers and being taken to Pilate, the flogging by Pilate and the soldiers. The great excruciating pain that he had to endure.
[5:08] Stripped of all clothes and flogged with cords embedded with bones and sharp stones. So that his skin would be flayed.
[5:20] So that he was beyond human recognition. He was marred more than any man. There is the crown of horns which is plaited together and thrust down upon his head so that the blood even pours from his scalp.
[5:41] There is the spitting. There is the nails. There is the spears. There is the thirst. All this is part of the travail, the difficult task that the Lord has been asked to go through and which he is perfectly willing to go through.
[6:02] First, let us remember the perfection of Christ's nation. Altogether free from sin. Even from any thought of sin crossing his mind or his imagination.
[6:20] Yet he came into this world to live with and among sinners. Being perfect, the Lord must have shuddered at all that was happening around him.
[6:32] We sometimes shudder at what we hear and see in the world. And we are fallen human beings. We can't imagine what the Lord must have suffered in his own soul as he saw all the evil and the blasphemy and the hatred of God.
[6:50] And the sin that surrounded him in the world in which he lived. Compelled to hear their blasphemies and their lies and their challenges against God.
[7:01] Thomas Boston has a book called The Fourth Old State of Human Nature. And in that he describes different aspects of human nature. Man in his innocence.
[7:12] Man after the fall. Man in being redeemed and man glorified. But there is also, he says, a fifth case regarding the Lord Jesus Christ.
[7:24] And that's absolute innocence and perfection in a fallen human world. And that was the Lord's condition. Knowing no sin, no thought of sin, no guilt at all.
[7:39] And yet he's in this world which is full of guilt, full of sin, full of blasphemy and cruelty. Not least against himself. He saw and heard the cheating of the publicans.
[7:54] He took one of them to be his disciples, Matthew. He saw the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The way that they kept the letter of the law but could not understand the actual spirituality of that law.
[8:14] And so often we are tempted to go down that same road ourselves. Keeping to the letter of the law and denying the spirituality. He saw also here the faithlessness of the Sadducees.
[8:30] In the way that they denied even that there was a life to come. And denied all things concerning God. All things of a spiritual nature in the Old Testament.
[8:47] And also the formality of the scribes and the lawyers. And so in daily contact with all this. Surrounded by poverty.
[8:58] Surrounded by starvation and drunkenness and paganism. He has to endure it. In him was no sin. Yet he is compelled to live in this world.
[9:13] He is compelled to bear that sin himself. The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.
[9:25] How true it must have been of him. As he says in the garden. My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death.
[9:38] Think of what sin deserved at the bar of God's throne. And think of all that being laid on Christ.
[9:50] Laid to his charge. Laid to his responsibility. But he was innocent. Condemned not for his own sin.
[10:01] But ours. Bearing sin and mocking rude. In my place. Condemned he stood. So that Paul could say.
[10:12] The life that I now live. I live. Through the strength. Through the ability. Through the love and grace. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who loved me. And gave himself.
[10:24] For me. And so was a sheep. Before. Its shearers is done. So the Lord opened not his mouth. He didn't. Deny anything. He didn't try and claim his rights.
[10:36] He didn't try and stand on some platform and say you can't do this to me. He went humbly. To. The destiny that was his calling.
[10:49] His whole life through. The sin beta. And ultimately the sacrifice for sin. He. Did it. Trusting. In God.
[11:00] And the Lord didn't. Only suffer for us as. Individuals. We can think of. Our own sins individually. We think of all that we've done wrong.
[11:13] Surely we can blush. At what we have done. In our lives. The sins we have committed. Against each other. The sins we've committed against God himself. As David. David would say.
[11:24] Against thee. The only. Have I sinned in thy sight. And done this ill. Doesn't only suffer for us as. Individuals. But for a great.
[11:37] Multitude. Which no man can number. Of every people. And kindred. And tribe. And nation. That great multitude. Which is spoken of.
[11:48] In revelation. Is for those people. And those sins. This great multitude. Which no man could number. And this great multitude. Which have come out of. Great tribulation.
[11:59] This great multitude. And the Lord will take. And lead. To the great white throne. Where he shall. Not only judge them. And set them free.
[12:10] But where he shall lead them to. And feed them at the very fountains. Of. The water of life. And so. By his once.
[12:21] Offering up. Of himself. A sacrifice. Satisfy. Divine justice. He has put away. All sin. And he has put away.
[12:33] All judgment. And then. We can ask. What travail. What difficulty. Did the Lord endure.
[12:48] Going back again. To Gethsemane. He lies there. Prostrate. In the garden. Sweating. And drops of blood. Tortured. By Pilate.
[13:01] Hanging on that. Accursed tree. Made a curse. For us all. And why. For the joy.
[13:11] That was set before him. We are the joy. He. He. His great desire. Is to present us. Thoughtless. Before his own presence.
[13:24] With exceeding joy. His own joy. And so. With the joy. That was set before him. He endures the cross. He despises the shame. And is set down.
[13:35] At the right hand of God. And he does it. So that. We might share. His glory.
[13:46] And we. Might share his throne. Not only that we might see his glory. That we might.
[13:57] Share the glory he had with the father. Before the world was. Seeing. The travail of his soul. He shall be satisfied.
[14:12] It's not true. That. Christ. Died to save. Every member of the human race. But it is true.
[14:23] That he died. That every man. Might be spared. There's a book called. The Marrow of the Gospel. Written by.
[14:35] A man called Fisher. And others. Church. And. There's a. A teaching there. Which says. Christ. Is dead. For every man. Woman.
[14:45] And child. He's not saying. Christ. Died for everyone. But he's saying. Christ is dead. For every. Man. Woman.
[14:55] And child. In the same way. As. We can say. Perhaps. Someone who's. Living. Perhaps. In a crafting area. Where there's.
[15:07] Grants. And loan. For your cross. The grant. Is there. For you. All you have to do. Is apply for it. In the same way.
[15:18] Christ. Being dead. For every man. You are there. It is made available. For you. To apply. For the benefits. Of that death. And only when you apply.
[15:30] For those benefits. And they become yours. You can say. Christ. Died for me. He died. For my sins. His blood.
[15:41] Cleanses. Me. From every sin. For he tasted death. For every man. The reason.
[15:53] We're gathered here. This morning. Is because. He died. And that we might hear. The good news. Concerning. Of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[16:07] The evangel. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. The good news. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dying for you. And for me. But he's a substitute.
[16:18] Only for those who. Believe. In him. And. And belief. Entails. Or entails.
[16:29] Trust. And. Understanding. And obedience. By.
[16:42] The travel. Of his soul. Many. Shall be saved. And. He shall be satisfied. And then. By.
[16:52] His knowledge. My. Righteous servant. Shall. Injustify. Many. How can we be made. Righteous. Only.
[17:04] By the way. Of the cross. Only. By the way. Mentioned. In. The text. Of God's word. By the. Oracles.
[17:15] By the teaching. Of God himself. By the knowledge. Of Christ. It doesn't matter. What. We might have done.
[17:26] In this world. Into which. Family. We've been born. Or to which church. We belong to. It doesn't matter. How. Learned.
[17:36] We might. Have become. It doesn't matter. Anything. That you might have achieved. In this world. It's only. By the.
[17:47] Knowledge. Of Christ. Martin Luther. The man. Who. Began. The great. Reformation. In. The western world.
[17:58] He came across. This. This text. Which says. The just. Shall live. By faith. Justification. By faith.
[18:09] Alone. And that developed. Into the reformation. And the great. Outpouring. Of God's grace. And mercy. Upon a world. That was. Was darkened.
[18:20] By ignorance. People used to talk. About darkest Africa. And darkest Africa. Meant. That there was no knowledge.
[18:30] There was no enlightenment. Of the knowledge. Of God. In that place. And missionaries. Went. To dark. To darkest Africa. To bring light. To give the light.
[18:41] Of the glory of God. In the face of Jesus Christ. To them. And today. In places in Africa. There are. Congregation. Vast congregations. Who praise God.
[18:52] And worship God. And so also. In the western world. There was ignorance. Congregations. Only heard.
[19:03] A language. They didn't understand. As priests. Who couldn't perhaps. Understand the words. They were reading. Proclaimed. A Eucharist. Or sacrifice. In Latin.
[19:16] It's only after. The reformation. In Europe. And then in Scotland. That people had a Bible. They could read. People could read. About the great work.
[19:26] And the love of God. In Christ Jesus. And that led to. The great advances. That there are. In the world today. Of commerce. And industry. And the academic.
[19:39] Progress that has been made. Sciences and medicine. All brought about. By the gospel. Because the desire arose. To read the gospel. To understand. The great work.
[19:50] And the love of God. In Christ Jesus. And that's why it's so important. For us to be. Immersed in God's word. It's our first knowledge. All other knowledge.
[20:02] All other degrees in life. Stem. From your understanding. And the foundation. You build for yourself. Here. In God's word. Without it.
[20:12] We have no foundation. We're like that man. Who built. His house. Upon sand. It'll all crumble. At the end of life. There'll be.
[20:23] Absolutely. Nothing. No hope. In this world. No hope. In the next world. No God.
[20:34] In this world. No God. In the world. To come. You see.
[20:44] Life eternal. Is that we might. Know the living. And true God. And Christ Jesus. Whom he sent. God.
[20:56] I want to ask. Do we know Christ? Do we know him. As Lord. And God. Or is he somebody. We just read about.
[21:07] In the Bible. When we close it. We forget about him. Do we know him. As the one. Who is. Life. Itself to us. And do we know.
[21:19] Ourselves. As nothing more. Than that we are sinners. Sinners. Who are saved. By grace. Each and every one of us. Here today. Can surely make.
[21:29] That confession. We are sinners. Sinners. Saved. By the grace. And the mercy. That this is. In God.
[21:40] Through Christ Jesus. Are we at the last. Convinced. That if we cast ourselves. Upon him. We must.
[21:53] And be saved. Remember in the epistle of John. If you. Confess your sins. He is faithful and just. To forgive you your sins.
[22:05] And to cleanse you from all. Iniquity. He is faithful to his word. And there is absolute justice. In what he has promised.
[22:18] He cannot not. Forgive your sins. If you confess them. That's the great. Wonder of the gospel. Whatever.
[22:30] We might have been. Whatever. We might have done. Whatever has tainted our lives. If we confess our sins. He is faithful.
[22:41] And there is absolute justice. In God. That he will. Forgive. Our sins. And that. Is God's. Covenant. Do we.
[22:53] Know him. So as. To believe in him. And to trust in his finished work. That is for us. And for our salvation. Do we claim that work.
[23:05] Do we claim that. Work on the cross. That. We might live. If we do. Then we're justified. How then.
[23:17] Can we know him. Well the scripture says here. And your soul shall live. But only here. But read.
[23:30] Meditate. Discuss. That's what fellowships. Used to be about. Opening God's word. Challenging each other.
[23:41] As to what this particular. Passage meant. Of how it can help those. Who are searching. That's what question days. In the church meant. That the question we put out.
[23:53] And those who gave them. Didn't just give a testimony. But spoke of the tokens. Whereby those who were seeking. Were brought. To an understanding. Of their need. And their.
[24:05] Helplessness. And hopelessness. Without Christ. How can we come. To know Christ. Faith. Comes.
[24:16] By hearing. And hearing. Comes. By the. The command of God. Come unto me. He says. All Jews are weary. And heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.
[24:27] And learn of me. Learn of me. Through my scripture. Verse. Learn of me. Through the indwelling. Of your spirit. Learn of me. From one another. And your soul. Shall live. And rejoice.
[24:44] And how can he know us. That's. Another question. We can know him. By reading his word.
[24:57] By coming to the means of grace. Jesus. Not neglecting it. But coming to it. As often as we can. As we are able. But how. Can he know us.
[25:11] For in the sermon on the mount. The Lord says to some. Depart from me. You workers. Of iniquity. For I never knew you.
[25:25] In the same way. We know one another. Here on earth. Is the way God wants. To know. Him. Wants us to know him.
[25:38] How do we know one another. Here on earth. We are open. We are frank. There's no. Hiddenness.
[25:52] We reveal our hearts. And our hopes. Our ambitions. To one another. In a marriage. A marriage would be no marriage. Unless there was a sharing. There was an openness.
[26:03] There was a declaring. Of all we hope to be. And all we hope. For one another. In the future. But whatever man.
[26:18] Or a woman. Has been a liar. Or a thief. Or a cheat. Or a drunkard. Or a blasphemer. Can we be forgiven.
[26:34] The chief of sinners. Can be forgiven. Each and every one of us. Can be. Forgiven. All. Laid on Christ.
[26:45] Every sin. Imputed to Christ. The invitation is. For all. If you confess your sins. He is faithful and just.
[26:57] To. Forgive us our sins. And to cleanse us. And to present us faultless. Amen. For he shall bear our iniquities.
[27:10] The reason that the Lord Jesus Christ. Is able to forgive us. Our sins. Is because he bears. Our iniquities. Just think of that. Think of that.
[27:21] As we go on in our Christian lives. Think of that. As we recognize. What we are. As we. Perhaps blush at. What we are. And what we did. And what we said.
[27:31] Is. Is. And he bears. Our iniquities. Bruised. For our iniquities.
[27:45] Healed. With his stripes. Our curse laid on him. All. For us. If you read that.
[27:57] This 53rd chapter. It's all. All. For us. Surely he is. Born our griefs. And carried our sorrows. He was.
[28:08] Smitten of God. Yet. He was wounded. For our transgressions. He was bruised. For our iniquities. The judgment. Of our peace. Was laid upon him. And with his stripes.
[28:20] We. Are healed. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. All our sins.
[28:31] Laid upon him. And he is satisfied. He. Is. Satisfied. He is satisfied. With the. Number of the redeemed.
[28:44] A multitude. Without number. Of every people. And tribe. And nation. And tongue. As the stars. In the. In the heavens. And the sand. And the seashore.
[28:56] They are Christ's. Christ's. He is satisfied with the quality of the redeemed that will be presented before him.
[29:10] Again, those words from the epistle of Jude. He shall present them faultless before his own presence with exceeding joy.
[29:22] No spot or wrinkle or stain or guilt. He is satisfied with his own reward.
[29:35] He's given a name that is above every name that are the name of Jesus. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
[29:46] But he's also satisfied with our reward that we might be in the glory he had with the Father before the world was.
[30:00] Searing his sonship, sharing his throne, sharing his rule over all kingdoms.
[30:10] and he shall be satisfied with his finished work.
[30:21] Not only on the cross, but the finished work of building his church. even the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
[30:35] we have a wonderful Savior. A Savior who wants each and every one of us to come.
[30:47] Savior wants to treat each and every one of us in the same mind picture as I try to relate to the children that there is a special place for us. there is a mansion in the heavens and has been prepared for you and you and you and for me.
[31:08] That we might be with him in the glory he had with the Father before the world was. May it be that no one will leave here today without that desire to share with him that glory.
[31:20] No one will leave here today thinking I can thank you.