Do turn in your Bible to Isaiah 53.
! Isaiah 53.
Samuel 53.
Samuel 54.
In the States they have to commemorate God's goodness in bringing their pilgrim fathers and allowing them to settle in the US.
There's this really strange tradition, isn't there?
If you've seen the West Wing, you'll know about it.
The presidential pardon of the Turkey.
It's real. It happened last November 2.
No one's really quite sure where it came from.
Some people blame President Truman.
Some people go as far back as Abraham Lincoln.
But every year on Thanksgiving, the President of America, the so-called most powerful man in the world, partners a Turkey.
You can go onto the White House website.
There are two turkeys.
A couple of years ago, one was called Pumpkin and Pecan.
There's names for the turkeys.
Previous winners include Marshmallow and Yam, Biscuit and Gravy, Stars and Stripes.
It's odd, isn't it?
And there's a question where you can send in your question to the President.
What happens to the Turkey after it's been pardoned?
Well, apparently for 15 years, the turkeys were sent to Kidwell Farm.
Wait for it.
Frying Pan Parade, Virginia.
The last couple of years, they've been sent to Disneyland.
So instead of ending up on somebody's Thanksgiving dinner, these turkeys spend the rest of their lives in freedom.
Another question from the website.
Once a turkey is pardoned, would eating it be considered a federal crime?
He says, I need to check with the Attorney General.
Bizarre, isn't it?
Absolutely bizarre.
At the heart of Thanksgiving, there is, isn't there, a pardon for the most powerful man in the universe.
At the heart of the Christian message, is a pardon for the most powerful man in the universe.
And it's not for turkeys.
It's for human beings.
And that is the message of the gospel.
The gospel.
There is a pardon from Jesus, God's servant, our Savior.
And yes, he is the most powerful person in the universe.
But you wouldn't know it, would you, from Isaiah 53.
It doesn't look like it.
The message of Christianity, in many ways, Isaiah 53, boils down to its simplest form.
That Jesus, God's servant, our Savior, died that you and I might live.
That's why Philip, in Acts 7, can tell that if you're a eunuch, that this servant who suffered and died in the most appalling circumstances, that this is good news.
And it's good news when you understand what it's about.
Now, Isaiah 53 is a poem.
It's a song in five verses.
And it's written in 750 years before Jesus was born.
And it's written in such a way, very carefully written, that you are to read it from the inside out in.
The emphasis falls on the middle section in Isaiah 53.
The middle section, that he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him.
That is the middle section, verses 4 to 6.
And so the whole thing is constructed in a way that deliberately leads you to that point.
God has the first word and the last word in the song.
So if you look at chapter 52, verses 13 to 15, God introduces his servant.
He says, behold, look at my servant.
He says, my servant will be raised and exalted and highly lifted up.
That's the first verse in the song.
And then we'll see the last verse in the song is chapter 53, verse 12.
Where God says, I will give him a place amongst the great.
I will divide him a portion with the many.
I will divide the spoil among the strong.
I'll give him a place among the great ones, literally.
So, as far as God is concerned, Jesus really is the most important and powerful person in the universe.
He is highly exalted.
The highest place that heaven affords is his by sovereign right.
And yet, in between the beginning of the song and the end of the song,
we are shown something that seems to completely contradict that.
We're shown three things about the servant.
Before we want to get into that, I want us just to notice the trailer for the film.
The trailer is really verses 13 to 15, where God introduces his servant to us.
And he gives us the main theme of the film.
God shows us what the servant is going to do.
And it's bewildering.
Because it's contradictory.
Look at verse 13.
He is successful.
He is triumphant.
He is highly exalted.
But in verse 14, he is disfigured.
He is disgraced.
And he is mutilated.
It's the same person.
So, look what it says.
God says, behold, my servant will act wisely.
He will be raised and lifted up.
And he will be exalted.
But in verse 15, people are appalled at him.
As many were astonished at him.
Because his appearance is so mad.
He is so disfigured beyond human resemblance.
He doesn't even look like a human being, according to verse 14.
So, one minute, he's in the highest place of the universe.
But the next minute, he's at the point where he doesn't even look like a human being.
Just a chunk of meat.
So, you don't know, in verse 13 or 14, whether to be amazed or appalled.
You don't know whether to be delighted or disgusted at him.
Can it be the same person?
And so, God says, after introducing in his sermon, in verses 13 and 14,
So he shall sprinkle many nations.
And kings will shut their mouths because of him.
Because what they were told, they see.
And that which they've not heard, they understand.
Kings will shut their mouths.
Royalty will be speechless.
And many will be astonished.
There's amazement at the servant king.
There's a sense of shock at the servant king.
There's a sense of fear and a sense of joy.
And you and I are so familiar with it.
That it doesn't astonish us.
It should shock us.
A.W. Tozer wrote in a radio broadcast.
And his title was, Is the O Missing from Your Faith?
If you go through a good old hymn book,
and you go to the index,
and you look at O,
you will see that previous generations
wrote lots and lots of hymns,
beginning with O.
So think of some of the older songs.
And can it be?
And can it be that I should gain an interest
in the Saviour's blood?
Died he for me,
who caused his pain,
for me who him to death pursued.
Amazing love.
How can it be?
That thou, my God,
shouldst die for me.
Tis mystery all.
The immortal dies.
Who can explain
this strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph,
the angel tries,
to summon the depths of God's.
It's astonishing.
They were not told about it,
but they will see it.
They've not heard about it,
but they will understand it.
And it's not something that you could have guessed.
And God tells us
two things that the servant's going to do.
In this introduction,
in this trailer,
verse 13,
he says that he will act wisely.
It doesn't mean he's got a high IQ.
That's not the point.
You can be very intelligent,
can't you,
and not be wise.
But this says,
my servant will act wisely.
In other words,
he will know what to do
to bring about God's purpose.
Another translation says,
my servant will prosper.
In other words,
he will succeed at what he's going to do.
So you look at the life of Jesus,
and when he's 12 years old,
in the temple,
he knows what he's doing.
The little boy has got lost in the big city,
and his mum and dad are frantic.
But when they find him,
he's there talking with the doctors of the law,
in the temple.
And they're cross, aren't they?
The parents are angry with him,
and they're worried.
And that comes out.
Your mother and I were looking everywhere for you.
What were you thinking?
Do you remember what Jesus said?
Didn't you know that I'd be about my father's business?
You mustn't think of Jesus
as some kind of wide-eyed,
innocent,
abroad,
a kind of evolutionary freak,
who's not like the rest of us.
Jesus knew what he was doing at 12 years old.
He knew what he was about.
He knew he was about his father's business.
He is the servant of the sovereign Lord,
who's come to do his father's will,
which is the sufferer to die.
My servant will act wisely.
He will prosper.
He will succeed in what I've asked him to do,
God says.
He knows what he's about.
But what is it he's about?
Look at verse 15.
So he shall sprinkle many nations.
Do you remember when we went back
through the book of Leviticus,
and the day of atonement,
that's what the priests were to do.
They were to take the blood of an animal,
and they were to sprinkle that blood
over everything.
Over the people,
to make atonement for their sins,
to declare that they were now right with God.
Sprinkling is what the priests did.
And why did God want the priests
to take the blood of an animal
and sprinkle it over everyone and everything?
Why?
To teach the seriousness of sin,
and the holiness of God.
That you can't just breathe
into the living God's presence
as if nothing has happened.
God is holy,
and we are sinners.
And you see,
not even Aaron,
Israel's great high priest,
not even Israel,
God's chosen nation,
can approach God in their own right.
The blood is going to be sprinkled.
Someone's got to die.
And the surprise, of course,
is what the servant will do.
In verse 15,
the servant's blood,
which is sprinkled,
atones for not just
the nation of Israel,
but can you see it,
for many nations.
That's the surprise.
That is the mystery
that Paul calls in the New Testament.
That this servant,
who's going to shed his blood,
is going to sprinkle
many nations,
Jew and Gentile,
and reconcile many nations
to God.
That's his job.
One of the three things.
First of all,
let's see the reality
of his suffering.
Look at verse 1.
Who has believed
what he's heard from us?
It's unbelievable.
And to whom is the arm
of the Lord being revealed?
For he grew up before him
like a young plant
and like a root
out of dry ground.
He had no form or majesty
that we should look at him
and no beauty
that we should desire him.
He was despised
and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief.
It's unbelievable.
Who's believed our message?
What is that message?
What we saw in Isaiah 50 last week,
it is a message
about great strength
in great weakness.
God's strength
in his servant's weakness.
The arm of the Lord
revealed
in a tender shoot,
a root
out of dry ground.
The arm of the Lord
in verse 1
is a phrase
that crops up,
doesn't it,
in the Old Testament
again and again.
So we're told
that God
rescued
Egypt,
Israel,
out of Egypt
with an outstretched arm.
God did that.
God rolled up
his sleeves
and stretched out
his arm
to rescue
his people
out of slavery
from Egypt.
And again
and again
we find that phrase
used to describe
that event.
The arm
of the Lord
has done that.
His arm
is not too short
to save.
The Lord
rolled up
his sleeves.
I've seen your plight,
I've heard your cries
and I have come down
to deliver you.
The arm
of the Lord
stands for
his outstretched arm,
his strength
to rescue.
The arm
of the Lord
means his power
to save his people.
David Morgan
was one of the leaders
in the 1859
revival in Wales
and David Morgan
was a very boring
preacher.
And people didn't
like to listen
to David Morgan.
There were other
preachers that they
preferred to listen to
because he was so dull.
Anyway,
he was new to preach
at one of these
great gatherings
and just at the
outbreak of the
revival,
someone introduced
him and prayed
for him and this
is how they prayed.
He said,
Lord David Morgan,
not much of a preacher,
just a tattered
old sleeve.
Put your arm
in him.
It's a great prayer
for a preacher.
Just a tattered
old sleeve.
It's not a
designer label.
Jesus,
it's not even
a designer label.
What is he?
He is a tattered
old Galilean
peasant
homespun.
I mean,
can anything good
come out of Nazareth?
Nazareth was
even on the map.
He is the
illegitimate son
of a Galilean
peasant.
Is this the
son of a
carpenter,
they said?
Why should we
listen to you?
Who has believed
our report?
Who has believed
our message
that the arm
of the Lord
is going to be
revealed
in this tender
shoot,
this root out
of dry ground?
You expect
some kind of
charismatic figure,
some dynamic
conqueror,
some Alexander
the Great,
not some
not particularly
good looking
Galilean
peasant,
that you
wouldn't even
cross the
road for.
You might
think,
we want
someone like
Israel's
first king.
Do you
remember Saul
who stood
head and
shoulders above
the rest?
Or King
David who
had this
charismatic
personality
who was so
good looking,
who was so
popular with
the people?
No,
this servant
will be
despised,
verse 3,
and rejected.
It's no
wonder Isaiah
says,
who's believed
our report?
They were
expecting,
weren't they,
a dynamic
deliverer?
They were
expecting a
mighty king
and instead
they got a
tattered,
ragged,
empty sleeve
of a man.
Forget about
the stained
glass windows,
forget about
the images
in the
children's
Bible,
Jesus was
not impressive
to look
at.
In fact,
if Jesus
walked past
you in
the street,
you wouldn't
pay the
blindest bit
of notice
because he
had no
form or
majesty
that you
should look
at him.
He had
no beauty
that you
would desire
him.
He was
Mr.
Average.
And so
how can it
be that the
one that God
is going to
use to save
the world
is like
this?
So why
did God
choose to
do it
this way?
Well,
let's
secondly
see the
reason for
his
suffering.
And this
is the
heart of
the poem
from verses
4 to
6.
And it
is structured
in such
a way that
all the
emphasis
lies here.
Surely
he has
bore our
griefs,
carried our
sorrows,
yet we
considered him
stricken,
smitten by
God and
afflicted,
but he
was pierced
for our
transgressions,
he was
crushed for
our
iniquities,
and upon
him the
chastisement
that brought
us peace,
and by his
wounds we
are healed.
Oh,
we like
sheep have
gone astray,
we've turned
everyone to
his own
way,
and the
Lord has
laid on
him the
iniquity
of us
all.
What does
that imply?
It implies
that we are
not at
peace with
God,
in fact we
are at
war with
God.
We are
rebels
against
God.
That's what
sin really
is.
The
punishment
that brings
us peace
with God
was upon
him.
it should
have
been on
us.
Notice how
he piles
up the
words here
to describe
our
plight.
The word
transgression,
it means a
willful and
a deliberate
rejection of
God's law.
It's don't
walk on the
grass and you
walk on the
grass.
It's a
crossing of
the boundary.
It's a
deliberate and
willful rejection
of God's
moral law.
And God
says you
shall not
commit adultery
and we
say I
don't
care what
God is
going to
say.
It
makes me
feel good.
You
shall not
lie but it
doesn't matter
what God
says.
Everyone
lies.
That is
transgression.
It's
crossing the
boundary that
God has
set.
And the
word iniquity
is a
different word.
It comes
from the
word to
bend or
to twist.
And it
reflects that
there's a
pervertedness
about human
nature.
That it's
not just
what I
do is
the
problem.
It's
what I
am.
I am
not a
sinner
because I
sin.
That may
sound
complicated but
it's very
very important
to get
hold of.
I am
not a
sinner.
You are
not a
sinner because
you sin.
You sin
and I
sin because
I am a
sinner.
And so
my problem
is not
just the
things I
do or
that I
don't do.
My problem
is what
I am.
And
amazingly
Jesus pays
for that.
He pays
for what
I do
yes but
he pays
for what
I am.
He
became sin
for us.
He who
knew no
sin
became sin.
So just
as on the
day of
atonement
the sin
of the
people do
remember it
when we
looked at
Leviticus
it was
laid on
the goat
and the
goat was
led into
the wilderness
so Jesus
takes the
sins of
his people
upon himself
and he
carries
them away.
He
was
delivered
up for
our
offenses
Paul
says in
Romans
not his
own
he
hadn't
committed
any
offenses
but he
was
delivered
up for
our
offenses
and raised
for our
justification.
George
Bernard Shaw
once heard
this message
the same
message I'm
preaching to you
this morning
and he
heard the
message of
the cross
and the
substitutionary
atonement
of Jesus
and he
was so
offended by
it as
many people
are.
He got
up in
the middle
of the
sermon
and he
stormed out
of the
room and
he said
as he
left the
church he
shouted out
I'll pay
for my
own sins
thank you
very much.
And that's
what proud
human beings
want to do.
We don't
want to be
in anybody's
debt.
Kingsley Amis
gave an
interview to
the Telegraph
in the last
week of his
life he
wasn't a
Christian and
this is what
he said.
He said
one of the
great advantages
of Christianity
is that it
offers an
explanation for
sin.
I haven't
got an
explanation for
sin.
Christianity
has got one
enormous thing
right.
Original sin.
But one of
the benefits
of organized
religion according
to Kingsley
Amis is that
you can be
forgiven your
sin.
Which must be
a wonderful
thing he said
in the last
week of his
life.
And then he
paused apparently
for a very long
time in the
interview and he
bowed his head
very low and
said I carry
my own sins
around with me.
There is nobody
around to
forgive them.
How terrifying
that is in the
last week of
your life.
I carry my
own sins
around with me.
There is no
one to forgive
them.
But there
is.
But there
is.
There is
someone there
to forgive
them.
Who is he?
Well he's the
most powerful
man in the
universe.
There is
forgiveness.
There is
pardon from
the chief
executive
officer of
the universe
and there
is a
pardon from
Jesus.
Why?
How is it
possible that
because this
man who is
indeed highly
exalted in the
highest place in
the universe,
this man has
been to the
depths and
he's taken
your sin upon
himself, he's
paid the
price.
Behold the
man upon a
cross, my
sin upon his
shoulders.
The word
for it is
substitution.
It's at the
heart of the
Christian message.
Substitution
is not
difficult to
understand.
It really
isn't.
Mothers say
to their
children, or
at least they
do when I
grew up, go
and get some
milk from
me.
What does
that mean?
You be my
substitute.
You go down
to the
shops instead
of me and
you get the
milk instead
of me.
And Jesus
went down
into the
depths of
humiliation.
He took
upon himself
the curse
of God
because of
sin so that
you did
not have to
go there.
Bearing shame
and scoffing
rude in my
place,
condemned he
stood.
Those funny
programs,
you know the
airport things
where someone
sees there's
something weird
about a
passport.
It was a
valid passport
but the
photo didn't
quite fit so
they send it
off to the
lab and
they find out
that somebody
has put their
own photo on
someone else's
passport and
that is
fraud.
There's a
sense in
which that is
the message of
the cross.
That is what
Jesus has done
but it's not
fraud for him
to do that.
Jesus has
substituted his
identity for
ours so that
you and I
can get into
the kingdom.
It's not
fraud, it's
perfectly valid
because Jesus
is what you
and I are
supposed to
be.
He is the
image of the
invisible God.
He is the one
you were meant
to be like
but you haven't
been that
person.
He came
and lived the
life that you
should have
lived but
you've not
lived it.
And he died
the death that
we deserve so
that you don't
have to die
that way.
He has
substituted his
identity onto
our passport so
that you can get
into the kingdom
of heaven.
He was made
sin for us, he
who knew no
sin so that we
might be made
the righteousness
of God in
him.
Substitution, it's
not difficult,
is it?
You're playing
football and
somebody's having
a lousy game
and so the
manager pulls
you off and
he sends on a
substitute.
And so that's
precisely what I
want you to do
this morning.
If you want to
know how to
become a
Christian, then
listen carefully.
You are playing
a lousy game
and you know
where your life
is going and
you know that
you need a
substitute.
And you
know that you
are bound
to lose if
you carry on
playing in
that way.
And the
Bible tells
us that God
has provided a
substitute for
you.
A substitute
who can come
and take your
place so that
there may be
victory instead
of pathetic
failure.
So that you
can get up on
the podium at
the end and
get your
medal.
Not that you
deserve it.
not that you
earned it.
You've played a
lousy game but
he is your
substitute.
And so will
you call on
that substitute
if you've
never done
that before?
To call on
the Lord
Jesus to be
your substitute.
To admit
your life is
going nowhere
really in the
end.
And I need
you to come
on the field
and be my
substitute and
a standing
for me.
thirdly the
reward of his
suffering.
Verses 7 to
12.
What does
Jesus get for
his pains?
What is his
reward for his
sufferings?
Because at
first it doesn't
look very good.
Verse 7.
He is deprived
of justice.
Can you see
that?
Just again
notice the
words.
He is
oppressed,
afflicted,
led like a
lamb to the
slaughter.
He is deprived
of justice.
He is deprived
of descendants.
verse 8.
As for his
generation who
considered that
he was cut
off from the
land of the
living.
He struck
down in the
prime of
life.
He doesn't
have a secret
life in
France like
Dan Brown
says.
He doesn't
have descendants.
He was a
single man.
He chose to
be a single
man.
It was a
choice that
he made.
It wasn't
easy for
him.
You were
single here
this morning.
You need to
understand that
Jesus understands
the pressure
that you are
under.
as single
people.
He chose to
be a single
person without
children.
Even though
everything in
him as a
human being
would have
wanted to
have a
family.
He chose
to go that
way.
He had no
children.
He had no
descendants.
He was struck
down in the
prime of life.
He wasn't
even buried in the
family vault.
Look at verse 9.
And they made
his grave with
the wicked and
with a rich man
in his death.
And I used to
think that's why
it all turns.
That's the good
part.
He gets a
comfortable grave
to lie in.
Things are going
better.
Joseph
Barmothea.
He comes up
with this
tomb and it's
wonderful but
it's not.
Because when you
read the book
of Isaiah,
what do you
find out about
the rich?
You find out
that the rich
were corrupt.
And the point
is this.
For a Jew,
you see,
it was so
important to
be put in a
family vault.
To be gathered
to your own
people.
Don't you see
that all the way
through Genesis?
But Jesus
wasn't even
gathered to his
family in death.
he was strung
up like a
common criminal.
And he was
put in a
rich man's
tomb.
It's the
ultimate
humiliation.
For the
servant to be
buried with
the rich,
it's like a
final insult.
God's servant
doesn't do
what they do.
He's not like
them, but he
gets buried
with them.
And even
after he has
died, he's
counted amongst
the wicked
and the
corrupt.
Crucified between
two thieves.
Buried with
the rich.
And if we
were to stop
there, you
get depressed.
We'd give
up.
We would
say, wouldn't
we, Jesus
is a heroic
failure.
A loser.
But the
final word
belongs to
God, and
that's why
we're here
this morning.
Look at
verse 10.
Three little
letters.
Yet.
Yet it was
the will of
the Lord to
crush it.
be
Yet it was
the will of
the Lord to
crush him.
He was
put into
grief.
When his
soul makes
an offering
for guilt,
he shall
see his
offspring.
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.
By his knowledge shall the righteous one
My servant make many to be accounted righteous
And he will bear their iniquities
Belsa Mandela spent 27 years in prison
Suffering locked away by a racist regime
Do you remember when he was released from prison?
It was an amazing thing wasn't it?
He was released from prison
Walking out of Robben Highland
And then within a matter of months it seemed
He was the president of South Africa
He went from being powerless
And dishonoured and disgraced and defeated
And he went from rock bottom to scale the heights
And became a world statesman
That's what Jesus has done in a more profound way
And far reaching way than Mandela
He hit rock bottom
He was despised and rejected
Scorned and mocked and beaten and killed
And yet now he is risen and ascended
And exalted at God's right hand
And look at verse 10
The will of the Lord will prosper in his hand
That is today
That's 2000 years after the crucifixion
The will of the Lord will prosper in his hand
That's what he's doing this morning
He is sitting at God's right hand
And his will is prospering
53,000 people will become Christians today
Somewhere in the world
Only 3,000 people became Christians on the day of Pentecost
We don't see that do we
We don't see very much of that
But we need to pray that that will change
But the will of the Lord is prospering in his hands
What is the will of the Lord?
It's to sprinkle many nations
The word many
It crops up again and again
In verse 11 and 12
He will make many to be accounted righteous
He will justify many
Verse 12
He bore the sin of many
What is his reward?
He was a childless man
Cut off in the prime of his life
What is his reward?
It's more people than you can number
Many people, many nations
He doesn't have a family
He dies childless
And yet his descendants
Just as God promised Abraham
Are more than sand on the seashore
And as he looks at his church today
He loves it
And he delights
Behold I and the children you have given me
And as he looks at you and I
And this vast family around the world
This vast growing family
The church
And as the gospel is preached throughout the world
His heart is filled with delight and love
Because Jesus died for our sins and rose again
And he's up there with the great ones
Who says that?
They're probably not your friend at work
They ask you what you're doing
You said you went to church
And they look at you
And you've got three hands
He's a footnote to history
Isn't he?
According to our world
They don't rate him
But God does
And his resurrection
Is his vindication
Do you remember at the day of Pentecost?
Peter said this man that you took
And you slew
And you crucified him
That was your verdict
You throw him on the slag heap of history
You thought you got rid of him
But God has raised him from the dead
And made him Lord
And so today
You have to think again
Don't you?
God's verdict
On the crucified
Suffering servant
Well he raised him from the dead
And he served notice
On the entire human race
Of the final verdict
That on that last day
Every knee will bow to him
And every tongue will confess
That Jesus Christ is Lord
So this is the one
Who was deeply humiliated
But is now highly exalted
And to this day
Verse 12
He is dividing him
A portion with the many
And he's seeing
Of the travail of his soul
And he is satisfied
There is forgiveness of sins
For what you have done
There is forgiveness of sins
For your guilty conscience
There is forgiveness of sins
For the skeletons in your cupboard
From the most powerful man in the universe
Who purchased it
At such cost for himself
And there is forgiveness
A presidential pardon
Not for turkeys
But for you and I sinners
Won't you take it?
Let's sing