Isaiah 52, which will be our sermon text on the 53. Starting Isaiah 52, 13, and read to 53, 12. Isaiah 52, 13, this is God's word. Please give careful attention to its reading. Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him for that which has not been told them they see and that which they have not heard they understand. Who has believed a report what he has heard from us. And to whom has the arm of the Lord been 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. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him, stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before it cheers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away, and as for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people, they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death. although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to 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 shall bear their Iniquities therefore I will divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide this foil with the strong because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for The transgressors now, let's turn over to our New Testament reading Which is taken from Hebrews chapter 4, verses 14 to 16. Hebrews chapter 4, 14 to 16. Again, this is God's Word. Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time. Thus ends the reading of God's Word. May He add His blessing to it. Please be seated. Let's pray and ask God to bless our time in His Word. Heavenly Father, this is Your Word. We do pray that You would bless us as we open up this text of Scripture in Isaiah 52, Isaiah 53, that the same Spirit that inspired this text would bring illumination, understanding, and application Lord, that we would benefit immensely today. If there are any here that don't yet know you, we do pray that you would grant them new hearts, that you would grant them the gifts of repentance and faith. And for each of us, for all of us, that we would recognize what a great thing you have done for your people. And how amazing, truly amazing you are. What great lengths you've gone to for your people. Lord, we commit ourselves to you. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Well, this afternoon, we're looking at, to me, one of the most amazing texts in all of scripture. It's just, As I was studying this text a few weeks ago, I'm preaching a sermon series in Irvine in a church that I'm planning in Orange County, and we're looking at the gospel in the Old Testament and just kind of going from one passage to the next and just pulling the passages out where Jesus is clearly seen in Scripture. And I just kind of sat for a couple of days as I got to this passage and just kind of was just thinking, like, what can I do with this text? Like, what can I say about it? I should probably just read it and pray and then sit down. But I worked through that. I moved on past that. And I still think this is a mountaintop text in the scriptures. I remember in my mid-twenties, I was really excited about taking people to church and sharing my faith with people around me. And I had a friend that I went to high school with that lived down at the beach, and I was going to church in Costa Mesa, and I was living inland a few miles. And I'd circle, I'd go way past church to pick him up and then drive him back to church. And I remember I had just read through this passage Not too long before, and I gave him my Bible in the car, and I said, read this passage. And he read it, and I said, who's this passage about? And he said, he doesn't know his Bible very well. He's not even a Christian, I don't think, at that time. And he says, oh, it's about Jesus. And I said, correct. I said, do you know when it was written? He said, no, and when was it written? I said, it was written 700 years. before Jesus came. This text was written 700 years before Jesus came. Maybe you heard me read it, and you're like, oh, that's all about Jesus. It is. And the amazing thing is that the Spirit of God inspired this text to be written so many years before he came. But who but God could come up with this kind of, and I hope you'll understand even more fully once we're done with our time in the Word, but who but God could write a text that is so fitting. I'm convinced, by the way, that part of the way that Jesus came to understand his own mission, what he was supposed to do when he was here, when he became a man and was learning and growing, we read about that. He grew in his understanding of God and his understanding of the Bible, his understanding of his own task by reading and studying scripture. He wasn't just zapped. He wasn't just born here with intimate knowledge of what he was doing. Part of what he was learning was from studying Scripture. I think this was a go-to text for him. I think he studied Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53 a lot as he grew up as a young man. So I want us to think about this glorious passage of scripture, as some commentators have said, this isn't so much prophetic, it's not so much a prophetic word in advance, as it is the gospel of Isaiah. I mean, he has the ability to say, somehow, and we know it's by the Holy Spirit, that this is the good news of Christ, his suffering, his victory, as clearly as New Testament writers. He not only explains what would happen in advance, but what it was about, the what, and the why. And we'll see that as we go through. And so we'll talk about these things, that his victory is certain, his victory comes through suffering, and that his victory secures eternal blessing for many that believe in him. Quickly, the book of Isaiah. As you think about the book of Isaiah, 66 books written 700 years before Christ came, Really, it's 39 chapters of you need to repent, Israel, because you're in big trouble, you've committed a ton of sins, and it's about other nations being judged, God passing judgment on other nations. And it's just, it's really kind of a tough book, and the gospel's sprinkled in, but as you get to chapter 40, you kind of turn a corner, and it's really this, the rest of the book is about hope. And as you read the book of Isaiah, There are these four servant songs. I think it'd be a great sermon series to think about these four servant songs that are chapters 42 and following. In Isaiah 42, you have a chosen servant upheld by God, empowered by the Spirit to establish justice. And he does it gently without breaking the bruised reed or extinguishing a burning wick. And this servant brings hope, covenant, faithfulness, and a light to the nations. So it's for the world. But then you go down to Isaiah 49, the servant is seen to have a divine calling before his birth. From the womb, he's chosen to restore Israel and to be, again, a light to the Gentiles, to the non-Jewish people. And then you go down to Isaiah 50, the servant describes his role as faithful and obedient teacher, enduring suffering and disgrace, but unwavering in his trust in God, resolute in his mission and confident God will vindicate him. And then as you get to this passage, this fourth and final passage of the Servant Songs, Isaiah 52 and 53, the climax here is with his atoning work. He's exalted, but he suffers rejection as he bears the sins of others. You put these four stories together, it points unmistakably to Jesus Christ. fulfilling this image. One last thing to say, there are 15 verses in this passage, and there are five different stanzas. And the center stanza is the most important, and we'll get to that in a little bit and see what that's all about. So first of all, his victory is certain. In verse 13 of Isaiah 52, It says, behold, my servant shall act wisely, God's servant. It says he'll act wisely in the ESV, which is what I'm using. It says he shall be high and lifted up, and he shall be exalted. But that word that's translated wisely can also be translated in a different way, and it is in different translations. The NASB says that he will prosper. Other translations talk about he will be successful, he will succeed. The idea is that he will win. This servant will win. And he'll achieve ultimate victory. Now it could be, and I think this is probably it, through his wise action and activity, he will win the victory. He will ultimately succeed. It's the way that he lives his life. It's the way he does that will win the victory. And these words follow, that he'll be high, lifted up, and exalted. These words mean very similar things, but there's nuance. The idea of being high, physically elevated in terms of status or position, prominence, superiority, a position of authority. The servant is lifted high, right? When you think about a servant, someone who's brought low, who lowers himself, brought up, brought high. The second idea is that he's lifted up, again, exalted to a position of honor by someone else. By the father, probably, right? Interesting. And even more interesting, when you think of these two words together in Isaiah, high and lifted up, Maybe if you've read Isaiah, you think of a certain passage. In Isaiah chapter 6, it says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord upon a throne. What? High and lifted up. Same language. Now we're seeing this servant being described like Adonai, like the Lord, written in verses two and three of that chapter. The angelic beings, the seraphim, are covering themselves and saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. The Lord of hosts speaks of his armies, the multitudes under his control, the heavenly, the earthly, the whole created order all belong to this God. And yet the servant as described using the same terminology, the servant is high above all creation. The servant is lifted up, placed in this exalted place, this position. The servant is equal to God because we know that God shares his glory with no one. And then there's this final word, he's exalted, surpassing greatness, majesty. He is majestic. It speaks of supreme glory. You put this all together and there's this great expectation. He's going to win. He's high and lifted up. He's exalted. He's like the Lord. But then there's this weird thing that happens. You go from verse 13 to verse 14. You think he's gonna be exalted, but what's the mechanism? What's the process? What's gonna take place? Well, it tells us that they're gonna be astonished at him. It tells us they're gonna be astonished, not because he's so high and exalted and lifted up, but first, because he's so marred beyond human semblance. His form beyond that of the children of mankind. Maybe you've never thought about this before, but the exaltation, the lifting high of this servant comes through humiliation and extreme suffering and sorrow. His path to victory, certain victory, wasn't paved with ease, it wasn't paved with grandeur, instead it led to a Roman cross. It's interesting too, one of the things that I think about when Jesus spoke, he said, when I am lifted up in John's gospel, I will draw all men to myself. And it's a double reference, isn't it? When I'm exalted, but also when I'm lifted up on the cross, it's in John 3, 14 and 15. He says, as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, if you know that story, a serpent, deadly serpents came out and started biting the people. And they said to Moses, hey Moses, tell God to take these serpents away from us. God doesn't take them away. He has Moses craft a bronze serpent, put it on a pole and say, anybody that looks at the bronze serpent will be made well. That serpent was lifted up in the air. And Jesus says in John three, I will be like that bronze serpent. I will be lifted up and people, the idea is that people that believe in me will be made well. And so he talks about the fact that he's going to be elevated physically. And even in his exaltation physically, being lifted high physically, he will be exalted even in that. And you have to ask the question, is this normal? You have to ask the question, is this the way the world thinks? And the answer you know is no. See, the way the world thinks about things is the way up for exaltation is up. And we all want, because of our flesh, Because of the old man, we all want God to lift us up. We all want God to elevate us. We all want God to bless us in the ways that we imagine in our own minds, in our own hearts. We want ease. We want prestige. We want the easy life. But what we see in the life of Christ and what we see in our own lives is oftentimes God brings us low before he raises us up. Oftentimes the great work God does is in and through our suffering and hardship. And yet so often we think, oh, we're going through this hard season. We're going through this difficult trial. Where is God in this? Or is God in this? Or does God know what he's doing? And the answer is absolutely yes. Oftentimes, in fact, God's greatest victories are won through seeming defeat. Through the darkest times, God is often doing his greatest work. And the greatest example of that is here in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in the work of our Savior. He will be high and lifted up and exalted, how? By being marred beyond comprehension or recognition. I think it's interesting, it's fascinating to me, and we're not gonna touch on all of this, obviously, we don't have time, but we're gonna hit the bullet points of this text of Scripture. Obviously what we're talking about here is what we call the passion, the last few days of Jesus' life, the suffering that He's going through when He went through the unjust trials. when he was beaten, when he was kept up overnight. I mean, when he was whipped and the skin was ripped out of his back, these nails were getting in, the bone was getting in, they're just ripping the flesh. They're covering his face and punching him in the face. And it's hard to take a blow when you don't know where the blow is coming from. And he was marred beyond recognition. He was so beat up that it was appalling I don't know if you've ever seen maybe a MMA fight or something like that, and you see sometimes people get beat up, and it's like, dude, his face, he doesn't even look like a human being anymore. Like, multiply that to some degree, but this is what Jesus would look like. And it's so interesting to me as I think about this, because here's the perfect man that comes into the world, as we think about it at Christmas time, we think about Jesus coming into the world. And we think about it, and it becomes this really romantic thing, right? It's like, oh, the baby Jesus, and we just think about This baby away in a manger or whatever we sing these little songs but he came to suffer and die and And by the way, the thing that people do with Jesus That by the way, the thing that you would do with Jesus left to yourself is what they did to Jesus what what fallen sinful man wants to do with God when God shows up in human form and is to beat him, crucify him, kill him. Man hates God left to themselves. And we talked about it in Sunday school, like without faith and repentance, without recognizing God's law, like we don't really have Christianity. We have man's form of what Christianity should look like, but we don't have God's Christianity, the only kind that saves, the only kind that's real and true. And so he came into the world, and it was a sham, the way that he was treated. There was no justice. There was nothing true that really happened. Hey, which one should I give to you? Here's Barabbas, a murderer and an insurrectionist, and here's the perfect, sinless God-man. What did they say? Give us Barabbas. That's what we all do. left to ourselves. And so Barabbas went free, and Jesus went to the cross. And I think it's interesting, too, because as the passage goes on, as we don't have time to get into it, this passage would actually make a really good sermon series, maybe five sermons, three verses each, a stanza for each sermon. But the idea is they also thought that what Jesus was going through was the judgment of God upon him because he was a blasphemer, because he was making himself equal with God. And what he was going through was the judgment of God, but it wasn't for his own sin. It was for theirs. And so they esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted because he was, but he was going through what he was going through for us. So the victory was certain. The victory came through suffering, and the suffering came because of your sin and mine, so that we could be forgiven. And I hope you understand and realize when God decided to save a people for himself, There there weren't like 17 different ways he could have done it and he was like, let me see I think I'm gonna go with sending my own son into the world taking on humanity Living a perfect life and then dying the sinner's death And I think I'm gonna go with that one of the 17 choices. There are there was only one choice This was the only way possible And so God did it and so God did it and And so, again, when we think about Jesus coming into the world, when we think about what he did, it looks like foolishness to the uninitiated. It looks like folly to the unconverted. It looks ridiculous to those who don't yet believe. And unfortunately, at times, we can get so caught up and consumed with what the uninitiated think that we can fail to stand up boldly and say, God is on our side. We are on the side of truth. Truth is on our side. We have life eternal here and now. And if God is for us, who can successfully be against us? Paul the Apostle says, Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel. Why? It is the power of God. It is the power, the gospel is the power of God. This suffering servant that's beat beyond human recognition that dies on the cross. This is God's method. This is God's way. This is God's only method and his only way for man to be reconciled with him. And we must proclaim, we must share, we must call people to faith and repentance using the entirety of the gospel message. If people are going to come to believe in God. And by the way, this is something that has to be at the very core and at the center of this church. And you all have to, you make up this church. You are not only the members, but you also make up the culture of this church. And you all have to decide together that this message is not gonna be just the message that goes forth from the pulpit, but it goes from your mouths as you go to where you live, where you go to school, where you work, where you hang out with friends. It has to be the message that you share if this church is going to make it. Like that's just real talk. We can't proclaim it from here and then have it hit a wall out there. We can't even just proclaim it from here and have it hit your hearts there and then you go home and you're mum with the message. This is a message that goes from here to your hearts. It changes you in your seats and then you go out there and you pass along the good news as those that have heard from God. as faithful messengers, or 2 Corinthians 5, ambassadors for Christ. We plead with you, be reconciled to God. And the only way to be reconciled to God is through faith and repentance. Friends, think about what your God has done for you. Think about the glory of this passage and the glory of the gospel. Jesus is saved through, Jesus wins the victory through his suffering. We are saved because of his suffering, and it should transform the way we think of our lives, of our trials, our difficulties. The gospel doesn't just save us from our sins. One commentator says, it changes our understanding of suffering. It shows us that God's greatest victories often come through apparent defeat. Be encouraged when you are defeated, when you feel beat down, when you feel like you're losing. God is still on his throne. God is still in control. God is still winning, ultimately, even in your life as you go through hard things. And so he is beaten, he's going through these different things. For us, all we like sheep have gone astray, Isaiah 53, 6. We have turned every one to our own ways and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And he willingly did it. It says that he, in 53, 7, was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a sheep before its shearers, He is silent, he opened not his mouth. The passage says he's innocent, he's done no violence, there's no deceit, there's nothing wrong on his behalf. And yet he goes through this. He doesn't complain, he doesn't say this is unjust, he doesn't say this is wrong. Why? Because the father and the son are doing business on your behalf. Yes, it's unjust on behalf of those people, but justice is being meted out through the injustice of those people. He's taken away, unjustly arrested, tried, and condemned. He's cut off. It speaks of abrupt and violent, the violent nature of his death upon the cross. He's stricken, speaking of divine Judgment. Why these things? The central section, the middle of the five segments. Notice the repetition of 53. Start at 53.3. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. They didn't just ignore him, they actively despised him, and here's why. Here's why this is going on. They thought God was judging him, and he was. but he was judging him for our sins, as we said. Verse four begins with the word surely. It's a word of contrast and emphasis. He's going through these different things. There's no form or majesty. He looks like a normal person. There's no beauty that we should desire him. By the way, if I'm doing this, if I'm God, putting myself in God's shoes, I'm thinking, if I'm gonna send my son into the world, it's the only way to do it. I'm thinking palace. I'm thinking wealth. I'm thinking, ease, make him tall, dark, and handsome like Saul, head and shoulder above other people, make him ruddy good looks like David, something like that. None of that. You see Jesus? He's just like anybody else. He's not floating off the ground. There's no glow over his head. He just looks like everybody else, and people think, ah, this guy's judged by God. Despised, rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. People hide their faces from him. He's despised. We didn't esteem him at all. Surely, though, God is doing something. And here's this section, 53, four to six, these key ideas. Notice the repetition. Despised and rejected, yes, undeniable, but on the other hand, he's doing something incredible. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Notice the repetition of the word our in these verses. born our griefs, verse four, carried our sorrows, verse four, pierced for our transgressions, five, crushed for our iniquities, five, chastised, and that chastisement brought us peace, he's wounded, we are healed, and it's because, again, I mentioned it, but to say it again, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, the collective guilts of mankind, the universality of sin. This is 700 years before Christ came. This is what we call penal substitutionary atonement. If you don't know what that means, if you're not familiar with that term, it means that Jesus stood in our place. He took what belonged to us. We deserve death and damnation. And he went to the cross and took it. By the way, he earned all the blessings that God could bestow by living a perfect life, by obeying in word, thought, and deed. We confess our sins, we're thought indeed, every Lord's Day, every Sunday, sins we've committed, things we've done, things we've left undone, right? He never had to confess. I can't even imagine what it would be like to live a perfect life. But he did. He earned all the covenant blessings. He earned eternal life. And what was his reward? He went to the cross and took the wrath of God upon himself. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he says, Father, if there's any other way, I mean, I see where this thing is headed. I understand my path. I understand what's before me. If there's any other way that this can take place, let this cup pass for me. This cup of wrath, let me go some other way. Let me do some other thing. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done." And what happened? He went through with it, because there was no other way. By the way, I think it's important when you think of that, it's like, oh, was he teetering with sin? Like he didn't want to do what God was calling him to do? No, he was just a healthy human being. I think this is one of those instances. I would like to point this out, because I think a lot of people think that it looks like sin, or he's right up against the line of sin. This is what a healthy individual would do. When facing death on a cross and then the wrath of God being poured out upon them, a healthy person in their right mind would say, I don't want that. I mean, I think it's actually a sign of fitness for Jesus to do that. I think it's in the scriptures because it shows that he's not crazy, he's not out of his mind, he's in his right mind and he doesn't want to go through that. But he says, not my will but yours be done. He submits himself, I'll do it. And he doesn't. It's interesting, the other day, I preached this sermon at a couple of different churches, and a man came up to me absolutely sobbing. Like uncontrollably sobbing after the service. And he lived a hard life. And he was coming, and was regularly coming from the homeless shelter that we minister in. And he made such an astute observation. He said, I'm Barabbas. We are Barabbas. That's actually a great point, isn't it? Like the person that doesn't deserve to be released or forgiven goes free, while the one that deserves to go free goes to the cross. That's the substitution. That's the thing that's made for us. Jesus says, I will pay for your sin, and I'll give you my righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, he who knew no sin became sin. That we might become the righteousness of God in him. The great switcheroo, the great exchange. And I probably say this every time I'm here, forgive me if I do, but I love this idea. It's the worst deal that he ever could have made. It's the worst deal that he ever could have made. I come into the world and I live a perfect life and then I die on the cross for sinners. But it's the best deal that he ever could make for us. Like we sin, fail, fall short, rebel against God, are guilty of cosmic treason, yet the Savior, the Messiah comes to us and says, I will save you from your sins if you will put your trust in me. Now here's what's crazy is when people say, no thank you, I'm good on my own. I can stand before the thrice holy God and I can tell him about the good things that I've done. Or I can tell him about how my good works, my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds. Or I can tell him that I'm better than other people. And I hope you know that will never work. I hope if you're in this room today or you're watching or listening, you understand that you need to throw yourself into the arms of Jesus. You need to receive and rest upon him alone for your salvation. This is the most serious thing you'll ever think about in your life. If you're young, hear me say it. If you're older, hear me say it. This is the most important thing you'll ever hear. Jesus died to save sinners. Will you turn from your sin and put your faith in him? Will you rest in his finished work alone for your salvation and then live in light of that glorious gospel? And then quickly, just as we finish, so many times people think about Jesus, you know, he dies in his 30s, and people say, you know, it's so sad that he never got to be married, that he never got to have kids, you know. But the Scriptures are so clear that in this passage at the end, that his victory secures eternal blessing for many that really are his own, his seed, his offspring. It's interesting as the scriptures go and as you look at the Old Testament scriptures talking about Jesus, in Genesis 315, the first promise of the gospel talks about the seed of the woman that will crush Satan's head. And the ultimate seed or descendant of Eve is Jesus Christ. But that word seed can be taken singularly or in the plural. It's both. And so the singular seed, Jesus, wins the victory through his horrible suffering so we can have this massive number of descendants as fast as the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore. And that number is made up of all those that God had chosen from before the foundation of the world. But on the other side of that coin, that number is made up of all who will repent and believe in Him. Is that you? Are you among that number? It was the will of the Lord, verse 10, 5310, to crush Him, to put Him to 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 because he dies and doesn't stay dead. He rises to live forevermore and have a countless number of offspring. Verse 11, God will see the anguish of his soul and be satisfied. by his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, the suffering servant, will make many to be accounted righteous, justified, because he bears their iniquities. So God divides him a portion with the many, and he, Jesus, divides the spoil with the strong, or better, the many, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. bore the sin of many, and then he also makes intercession for good people, great people, nope, transgressors, sinners, rebels, redeemed and reclaimed like you and me. He ever lives to intercede for us. Dear friend, no matter what you're going through, no matter where you are, if you're his, he's looking out for you. He's praying for you. And he knows exactly where you are. He knows exactly what you're going through. And he knows how to bring you through what you're going through and to bring you home to glory. How does he know that? Because he paid the price personally for you. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for the gospel. Thank you so much for telling us the truth about ourselves, that we're sinners, that we are guilty. that we are deserving of death and damnation and judgment at your hand. But thank you. There's mercy and grace found in Jesus Christ that you sent your own son into the world to live here, to die here, to bear your wrath so that we could be forgiven and made new and be with you forevermore. Oh, Lord, if there are any who don't know you, Lord, grant them the ability to see and hear and understand, to turn from their sin, to trust in you alone for their salvation. And for the rest of us here who do know you, transform us from one degree of glory to another, bring us closer to our Savior, we pray in Christ's name, amen.