I want, by the help of God the Holy Spirit, to talk to you tonight about Our Magnificent Savior. I want to talk to you about the redemptive, saving glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. My text is Isaiah 53:11.
Every word in this text is full of meaning. The richest, most precious treasures of heaven are here. As I preach to you the doctrine of this text, I will be proclaiming in your hearing the pith and marrow of all sacred theology, the sum and substance of the gospel, the glorious good news of salvation by God's free grace through the merits of Christ's obedience and death as the sinner's Substitute. So give me your attention. "Incline your ear and come unto me. Hear and your soul shall live!"
Proposition:
In this golden text the Holy Spirit teaches us that as the result of one man's obedience to God, the obedience of the God-man unto death, the many for whom He lived and died shall be justified.
Divisions:
You will notice that our text speaks of two people, The One, and The Many, the Lord Jesus Christ and his people. It tells us four things about each of them. So my message shall have just two points I want to talk to you about…
I. First, let me talk to you about THE ONE – THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, OUR GREAT GOD AND SAVIOR, IN HIS FOURFOLD CHARACTER.
I hope none of you ever grow weary of hearing about the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope he has so ravished your heart that the more you know him the more determined you are to know him (Phil. 3:10). Our great and glorious Savior is here set before us in a fourfold character.
A. First, our text declares him to be A Servant – Jehovah says of Christ Jesus, he is "My Righteous Servant."
Well may heaven and earth be astonished! He who is the Creator and Commander of angels, he who distributes crowns and thorns to whom he will, he who is "over all God, blessed forever," became a servant (Phil. 2:5-8).
Think of this and rejoice. The Lord our God, whom the angels worship became an obedient Servant unto God the Father for our sake. When he had fully discharged his work, he was received back into heaven with these welcome words, "Well done, thou good and faithful Servant!" Now his merits are yours and mine. All that he has done he did as our Representative and you and I, believing on him, are "accepted in the Beloved," as though we ourselves had done the service! For Christ's sake the Lord God receives us, is pleased with us, and blesses us!
B. Next, the prophet describes the Lord Jesus as – A Sin -bearer – "For he shall bear their iniquities."
Here is the most wonderful thing in all this Book of Wonders. God became a man and as a man he bare the sins of his people (II Cor. 5:21; I Pet. 2:24).
This is the doctrine of Substitution. It is the grand and glorious, essential and universal doctrine of Holy Scripture. Substitution is so vital to the Word of God that C.H. Spurgeon was exactly right when he said, "Take it out of the Scriptures, and there is positively nothing left." Over and over and over again this very chapter repeats the doctrine of the Bible, Substitution (vv. 4-6).
Our text does not say, "He shall bear the punishment of their iniquities," though that certainly is a truth taught in Holy Scripture. It says, "He shall bear their iniquities." As in type the sins of Israel were laid upon the scapegoat's head, so in truth, not in type, metaphor, or figure, but in truth the sins of God's elect were laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. They were, by a mighty transfer of grace, taken off us and laid upon our Substitute.
1. When did he bear our iniquities?a. In a sense he bore them from everlasting, for he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world – (Rev. 13:8).
b. In a sense he bore them throughout his painful life on this earth (v. 4).
c. He bore our iniquities before Pilate and Herod in his mockery of a trial (vv. 7-8).
d. Certainly and especially, he bore our sins in his own body on the tree (v. 10).
2. Why did the Son of God bear our iniquities? Why did the Lord God lay our sins upon his Son? Why was the Lord Jesus Christ made to be sin for us?
a. Our sins were laid upon the Son of God that help might be laid upon One who is mighty and able to bear them away (Ps. 89:19).
b. Christ was made to bear our sins because there was and is no other way for him to be both a just God and a Savior (Isa. 45:20).
c. He bear in his body the iniquities of his people because it was the desire of his heart to do so – (Heb. 10:5-10; 12:1-2). He said to his disciples, "I have a baptism to be baptized with" (His overwhelming sufferings!) "And I am straitened till it be accomplished."
d. The Lord of glory came here to bear our iniquities so that all may be made to see the tremendous evil of sin (Zach. 12:10).
e. Christ Jesus bear our sins in his own body on the tree to show us the immeasurable love of God toward us – (John 3:16; Rom. 5:6-8; I John 3:16; 4:9-10, 19).
f. God's dear Son bear our sins in his own body to suffer the wrath of God so that we, by trusting him, might have assurance that God will never impute sin to us (Rom. 4:8).
C. Thirdly, our text represents the Lord Jesus Christ as a justifier, or A Savior – "By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify man, for he shall bear their iniquities."
1. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is our justification (I Cor. 1:30).
2. He justified his people by the accomplishment of righteousness and redemption as our Substitute.
4. Sinners receive this free and complete justification "by his knowledge," by knowing Christ - (John 17:3).
D. Once more, our text is speaking of Christ Jesus as one who is mighty to save because it presents him as A Sovereign – The "He" in verse 11 is the One of whom it is written in verse 10 – "The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand" – (John 17:2).
We know and are assured of the fact that he will justify and save every one of the many whose sins he bore in his own body on the tree because he is totally sovereign!
II. Secondly, give me your attention for just a few more minutes, and let me talk to you about THE MANY - THESE ARE ALL THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD, WHOSE INIQUITIES CHRIST HAS BORN.
The Bible never speaks of Christ bearing the sins of all people. He did no such thing. He bear the sins of many! The Word of God never talks about Christ justifying everyone. He does not do that. He justifies and saves many. Who are "The Many" who are, who must and shall be justified by the Son of God. Our text presents them in a fourfold character too.
A. The many of our text are all chosen sinners.C. The many for whom the Son of God has accomplished redemption, the many whose sins he bore in his own body on the tree are all divinely taught sinners – "By his knowledge" (By knowledge of him!) "shall my righteous Servant justify many." (John 6:44-45).
All who are taught of God are well taught. They learn their lesson; and the Lesson is Christ. To be taught of God is to know Christ; and to know him is to trust him –
D. The many for whom Christ died are the many God teaches, and they are All Justified Sinners.
Here me now, my friends. All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, by believing on him, receive from God complete justification. We are…
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