Text: Isaiah 53:11
Subject: The Redemptive, Saving Glory Of Christ
Date: Sunday Evening - April 17, 1994
Tape # P-99
Introduction:
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…
· The One - The
Lord Jesus Christ.
· The Many - All the Sons and Daughters Of
God.
Note: The Bible talks about Christ and his
people - The One and The Many.
John 11:47-52
Romans 5:18-21
I Corinthians 15:21-22
· 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.
· 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).
· He is a Voluntary Servant (Isa. 50:5-7).
· He is a Servant to God (John 10:16-18).
"My Servant."
· He is an Ardent Servant (Psalm 69:9).
· He is a Righteous Servant "My Righteous
Servant" (Mt. 3:15).
· He is an Accepted Servant - (Heb. 1:1-9).
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!
· 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.
· When did he bear
our iniquities?
· In a sense he bore them from everlasting,
for he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world - (Rev. 13:8).
· In a sense he bore them throughout his
painful life on this earth (v. 4).
· He bore our iniquities before Pilate and
Herod in his mockery of a trial (vv. 7-8).
· Certainly and especially, he bore our sins
in his own body on the tree (v. 10).
· 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?
· 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).
· 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).
· 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."
· 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).
· 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).
· 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).
"From whence this fear and unbelief?
Hath not the Father put to grief
His spotless Son for me?
And will the righteous Judge of men
Condemn me for that debt of sin,
Which, Lord, was charged on Thee?
Complete atonement Thou hast made
And to the utmost farthing paid
Whate’er Thy people owed.
Nor can His wrath on me take place
If sheltered in Thy righteousness
And sprinkled with Thy blood!
If thou has my discharge procured
And freely in my room endured
The whole of wrath divine:
Payment God cannot twice demand,
First, at my bleeding Surety’s hand,
And then again at mine!
Turn then, my soul, unto thy rest;
The merits of thy great High Priest
Have bought thy liberty!
Trust in His efficacious blood,
Nor fear thy banishment from God,
Since Jesus died for thee!" - Toplady
· 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."
· The Lord Jesus Christ alone is our
justification (I Cor. 1:30).
· He justified his people by the
accomplishment of righteousness and redemption as our Substitute.
· "I have finished the work" - (John
17:4).
· "It is finished!" - (John 19:30).
· He is the Justifier and Savior of
"many."
· If many, why not me?
· The many who are justified by Christ are the
same many whose iniquities he bear.
· Sinners receive this free and complete
justification "by his knowledge," by knowing Christ - (John 17:3).
· 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!
· 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.
· The many of our text are all chosen
sinners.
· "His Seed"
· "My People"
· "The Seed of Abraham" (Heb. 2:16)
· The many spoken of here are all redeemed
sinners.
· We are all by nature sinners in need of
redemption, guilty and justly condemned.
· Christ has accomplished redemption (Gal.
3:13) and obtained it for many (Heb. 9:12) - Who are they?
· 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 -
· As the Servant of God!
· As the Sin-Bearer!
· As the Savior!
· As the Sovereign!
· 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…
· Freely Justified (Rom. 3:24).
· Fully Justified (Acts 13:39).
· Forever Justified (Rom. 8:32-34).
Application:
· Come to Christ now!
· Without him you are lost, under the wrath of
God!
· Soon you must meet God!
· The only way of acceptance with God is
Christ!
· Children of God, be at peace. If you now
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
· Your sins are gone!
· Your debt is paid!
· You are justified!