Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 53. Some of you may have picked up the words to a hymn that were backed by the bulletin on the back table. If you did not, that's not the greatest loss, but I am going to be referencing this hymn in parts of this message this morning. I was going to read it to you, but I thought it would be better for you to have the words there with you. Neil, are there some more of those? Neil, are there some more of these back there? If anyone would like to have a copy and you don't have one, if you don't mind, just raise your hand. Do we have anybody that needs one of these? Very good. We're not using it right this moment, but we will look at some of the lines later in the message. Our text this morning is Isaiah chapter 53, verses 4 through 6. These three verses make up the third stanza or the third strophe of what we identify here as the Lord's, the servant song. It's the fourth servant song. So it's a song about the Lord's servant as He is identified back in chapter 52, verse 13, where this song starts. Behold, my servant. So this is the third stanza. The first stanza, which was the last three verses of chapter 42, was something of an introduction, an introduction to the experience of this servant. We have there the threefold exaltation that is mentioned. In verse 13, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. We also had the picture there of His humiliation that He was to experience, that His appearance was marred more than any man, His form more than the sons of men. and then also reference to the nature of His salvation, that it is a universal salvation, and by that we mean it is a salvation that is broader than merely bringing the Jewish people into the Kingdom of God. But it was a Advancing of God's kingdom to include both Jew and Gentile. We do not mean universalism. We do not mean that all are saved, but we do mean all types of people, Jew and Gentile, are brought into the kingdom of God. That was something of the introduction that we noted in the first three verses. The second stanza, which was the first three verses of chapter 43, dealt with the nature of the rejection. We looked at this some last week. The rejection of this servant, though he is God's agent, in fact, identified as the very arm of the Lord, and what's conveyed there as being the arm of the Lord, he is an extension of the very person of God. So there is some suggestion, if not a very clear suggestion, of the divinity. of this Messiah being the arm of the Lord. But even as such, there was in him no visible significance. There was nothing you could look at about this servant and think, well, this is a man of some importance. Rather, He came in very ordinary life. As we looked at last week, there was nothing extraordinary about Him, and in fact, He proved to be despised by those who gazed upon Him. He had, verse 2, He had no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. Verse 3, He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one from whom men hid their face, he was despised, and notice here the first person plural, and we did not esteem him. Even those who were the beneficiaries at first sight regarded that there was nothing significant about this servant. As we come to this third stanza this morning, the prominent theme or thought that we find in these three verses, verses four, five, and six, is the word substitution. the emphasis on substitution, that the suffering that the servant endures is substitutionary in nature, that he is bearing the shame, he is bearing the guilt, he is bearing the penalty that is due to others, not that which is rightfully due him. So he suffers in place of, he suffers for the benefit of, and he suffers because of the sin of his people. So follow with me in the reading of God's word here. Chapter 53 of Isaiah, beginning in verse 4, verses 4, 5, and 6. Surely our griefs he himself bore. and our sorrows He carried. Yet we ourselves esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all. to fall on Him. We have taken as our guide for the study of this servant song, the first words of chapter 52, verse 13, Behold My Servant. That's our guide as we continue to look through these verses that we want to do as we are instructed to give due consideration to this one who is the preeminent servant of God. This one who embodies servanthood. Servanthood is so much of his character, so much of what he does, that he is identified as a servant. And so we want to rightly consider him as he is revealed to us in this fourth servant song and in this particular stanza of this particular servant song. It does tell us this, as we are instructed to behold my servant. And then we are given the vivid picture of this servant in these next few verses. It tells us that we are not free, nor are we wise, to draw our own conclusions in regard to this servant. We're not free to think what we will, to conclude what we will in regard to the person of Jesus Christ. Though we're not free to it, we're not wise to do so. Because rest assured, if we turn to our own conclusions, our own opinions, they will be faulty. There are many people in the world who've come to their own conclusions about who Jesus is and what he actually did. And the problem is their conclusions are completely anti-scriptural. We are dependent upon divine revelation. So He has not only told us, Behold My servant. He set before us these are the things to see. These are the things you must consider and rightly consider these things. So as the Lord, as God has set Christ, Jesus Christ, his servant before us, we do indeed want to behold him as he is set forth in the word of God, in particular as he is set forth here in verses four, five, and six. And in verse four, we see that he is revealed as one who bears our sins curse. He bears our sins cursed that Jesus, this servant, He is one who experiences the miseries of this life. He has already identified in v. 3 that He is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And then He picks up that language in v. 4 in regard to the sorrows and the grief. And in v. 4, surely our griefs He Himself bore and our sorrows He carried. Even the conjunction that's used, that very first word, v. 4, surely, that it's used here to affirm a truth, but it's used also to emphasize what is an unexpected explanation in regard to the sufferings of the servant. Yes, he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we would expect that as any part, as any member of the human race, because we all have our sorrows and we all have our griefs, but that's not what this one experienced. He did experience the hardships, the trials, the miseries of this world, but He took that which was rightfully ours. It was our griefs He Himself bore, our sorrows He carried. What's included in these griefs can be sickness, but it's wider, inclusive of all manner of suffering. the suffering that this servant, the suffering that Christ has endured. It was for us. It was rightfully ours. Our griefs He bore. He carried. He lifted them up off of us and took them upon Himself. Our sorrows. Our pains. He carried, He shouldered them again, taking as though they were His own burden to be carried. And we see in Scripture that many times the word sorrow there, it represents simply the fruit of sin. That we experience much in the way of sorrow because we sin as part of it. That it has a consequence. It has an accompanying hardship with it. And the words here of our griefs He bore, our sorrows He carried. The terminology here of bearing and carrying. These are terms that are found in the Mosaic Law in regard to the Old Testament sacrifices. that in the Old Testament sacrificial system, we find that they're the one that is a sinner. They're the individual that is defiled. He bears his guilt. He bears his punishment and he bears his sin. Turn with me to Leviticus chapter one. I'm sorry, Leviticus chapter five. We all know Leviticus, that's a scary book to look into, isn't it? What in the world does all of this mean? But there are things that we can glean from here in regard to the language here of bearing and carrying. Leviticus chapter five, verse one, if a person sins after he hears a public adoration to testify when he is a witness, whether he has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his guilt. In other words, his guilt is upon him for an unwillingness to testify about that which he has. He is he's an eyewitness to he knows. but he bears his guilt." We see in the same chapter, verse 17, if a person sins and does any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear, there's that word, he shall bear his punishment. And we find over in Leviticus chapter 17, Leviticus chapter 17 verse 16. Speaking of some of the purifications, verse 16, if he does not wash them or bathe his body, then he shall bear, there's the word, he shall bear his guilt. And then we find, and these are certainly not exhaustive, another occasion in Leviticus chapter 24. Verse 15, you shall speak to the sons of Israel saying, if anyone curses his God, then he will bear his sin. So we have there the picture of the one who is a sinner, the one who is defiled. He has his guilt. He bears his guilt. He bears his sin. He bears his punishment. That's clearly found in the teaching of Scripture as laid out in the sacrificial system. But that's not all we find. We also find in this same text, in the same book, in the book of Leviticus, we find this principle of substitution. This principle whereby a substitute bears the sins of an offender. For example, we see in Leviticus chapter 10. Leviticus chapter 10, why did you not eat? This is Moses' instruction to Aaron after he did not eat. This is after his two sons were killed. Why did you not eat the sin of offering at the holy place? For it is most holy and he gave it to you to bear away the guilt of the congregation to make atonement for them before the Lord. And then we find in Leviticus chapter 16, Leviticus chapter 16, beginning in verse 20. This is the instructions regarding the high priest. When he finishes atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall offer the live goat. Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the," note the words here, "...the iniquities of the sons of Israel, and all their transgressions," note those two words, iniquities and transgressions, "...in regard to all their sins, He shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hands of a man who stands in readiness." And note the terminology in verse 22. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land and he shall release the goat in the wilderness." So we have two things set before us here from the Old Testament sacrificial system. One is the one that is a sinner, the one who is defiled. He does in fact bear his guilt. He bears the punishment. He bears the sin. But there is also a principle of substitution whereby he who is guilty can have his iniquities placed upon another pictured for us in the scapegoat of chapter 16 of Leviticus, verses 20 through 22. And we find further even within our text back in Isaiah 53, we find the idea of substitution further noted in verse 5. He was pierced through for our what? There it is. Transgressions. Crushed for our iniquities. Remember those two words, transgressions and iniquities, from Leviticus? There they are again. He bore the iniquity, verse 6, the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. There are two truths that really come to light in this verse and even this section. One is Christ's solidarity, Christ's identification with His people. He enters into the human experience in every aspect of it, doesn't He? He becomes one with humanity, one with his people. He suffers with his people. He suffers for his people. He takes what we deserve as our own. He's not protected from the miseries of living in this fallen world, is he? He is a man of sorrows and grief. There is a true solidarity, there is a true coming together in oneness with His people that's clear in the ministry of this servant. But not only do we see here a solidarity with His people, we see the other side of that, and that is that we also see Christ's solitude and separation from His people. his solitude and separation from his people because of the uniqueness of who he is in his person and the uniqueness of what he is accomplishing by his work. And that separation is indicated by the emphatic use of the subjects and the pronouns throughout this verses where it helps to distinguish between the servant and the sinner. The emphatic use of our griefs became His burdens. Our sorrows became His load. A complete transfer from sinner to substitute. So although there is this solidarity and this oneness that he has with his people, there is also a separation that he has from his people. There is a distinction to always be maintained between Christ and his people because of who he is and what he is accomplishing on their behalf. And it is this being one with us and yet at the same time separate from us. that uniquely qualifies Christ for His work. The reality is, He is human. He enters into the human race. He takes upon Himself human nature, free from depravity, free from sin, free from the rebellion that stain our hearts and that in fact identify our nature. Because He is free from this depravity and free from this rebellion, He is able to stand in the place of those who are guilty. He is able to bear their guilt, to bear their sin in His humanity, but also we see in His divinity, the importance that He was separate from us, that He was in fact God. He was free from human limitations. so that he as one man who was, in fact, God, was able to bear the burden, able to bear the sin, able to bear the curse of many, not just one, but of many. But how was this viewed? Surely our griefs he himself bore, our sorrows he carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. The punishing hand of God is in fact raised against the servant, but rather than grasping his work as substitutionary on behalf of others, his work substitutionary on behalf of sinners, This servant, this Christ, He is in fact regarded by men as being under God's due judgment. In other words, the things that came upon Him were the things that He deserved, just as much as anybody else deserves such affliction, such trial, such hardship. So we are called to behold this servant. Behold this servant of the Lord, this one who bears griefs, this one who bears sorrows that indeed are not of his own doing. They are ours. They were taken as his own in order to deliver us. from sin's misery, sin's curse. But what has fallen? What is blinded humanity's response? God has dealt justly with him, smitten of God and afflicted. He must have had it coming. How shall we see Him as any different? How would we conclude anything any different? Why do we think any different in regard to this servant than the masses think? It is because God's kind grace to our hearts, where we see These were the things taken upon Him because they were due Me. Behold this servant." We see here in verse 6 that He is revealed as one who bears our sins penalty. I'm sorry, verse 5. He bears our sins penalty. We'll note here, as we read through and work through verse five, that the message here is becoming even clearer. The details are becoming more precise, more exact. So that you would expect in the reading of Isaiah 53 to say, this is a description of the crucifixion of Jesus, the sorrows and the passions of Jesus. And many have being compelled to confess that very thing. The language that we find here in verse 5 becomes rather graphic. Some of it, as we read through some, is physical, dealing with physical or visible aspects as they are inflicted by the hands of men. Some of the sufferings here are invisible. They're not seen to the naked eye, but they are genuine even as they are inflicted by the hand of God. Some seem to describe His sufferings at the hands of men and God. So as you're reading through this verse, you think, well, is this talking about what's physically taking place? Or is this talking about what's going on in reality from God the Father? And actually, sometimes it's not so clear. We can't make those distinctions as cleanly as we might like to. But we do know that these things are indeed true of Him. Verse 5, He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him. And by His scourging, we are healed. So we have here the passion, the suffering of Christ, the suffering of this servant. He is, first of all, described as pierced through. speaks of a fatally piercing with a sword. Is this speaking of the piercing of His side? As we know, Christ experienced by those who came by to see if He was truly dead or not, they pierced His side. Or is there a greater suffering, a greater sword here? the sword of divine justice that is brought against Christ. If you have that hymn, O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy head? Third stanza, Jehovah lifted up His rod. O Christ, it fell on Thee. Thou wast so stricken of thy God, there's not one stroke for me. Thy tears, thy blood, beneath it flowed. Thy bruising healeth me. And then look down to verse 5. Jehovah bade his sword awake. What's he speaking of here? He's speaking of the sword of divine justice. Jehovah bade his sword awake. Oh Christ! It woke against Thee. The sword of divine justice that had been silenced for so long against the sins, the offenses of humanity, against the righteous God. That sword is no longer sleeping. That sword is awakened. and is awakened against Christ. Thy blood the flaming blade must slake. What will put out that flaming blade of divine justice? What will quench it? Nothing short of the blood of Christ. What a picture. Thy heart, its sheath must be You see that? Your heart, O Christ, that must be the sheath, that must be the protective covering of this divine sword. All for my sake, my peace to make. Now sleeps that sword for me." What a picture. This One who was indeed pierced through, there was the piercing through of His body, but rest assured, there was a greater piercing. The very heart of Christ, the wrath of God and His divine sword is pictured here against Christ, awakened against Him. And now that sword sleeps for you, dear child of God. Because it was awakened once and for all in Christ, upon Christ. Pierced through, He was crushed. The word there means that He was shattered, trampled underfoot to death. Whether of men or of God, we know that men would surely have trampled Him underfoot, and metaphorically they did so. He was regarded as nothing, treated as worse than a common terminal, put to death, but indeed crushed by God, as we read later, that God was pleased to crush Him. The chastening The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him." Chastening is a severe legal punishment for one who has done wrong. And certainly, Jesus, in the eyes of man, He was perceived as having been wrong. He was charged with having done wrong. But the reality is the greater chastening that He experienced was that legal punishment of our wrongs. that were addressed upon Him by the Father. And by His scourging, we are healed. The scourging, the strikes that are received, the blows that are inflicted. And we know quite well the physical abuse that Jesus experienced at the hands of wicked men. But we also know it was the death blow from the Father, from God the Father. For the guilt of others, not His own. See, the servant suffers severely from God and from men. He was spared no agony from the Father. justly treated only as our substitute. That's the only way that you could say it was justice because it was our guilt, our sin that He bore. In that sense, justice because He took that which was ours. But for men, only injustice and cruelty. What was the purpose of this? Well, we know already from what we've read in regard to back into the last chapter, verse 13, my servant, he will prosper or he will act wisely. He will act to achieve the intended result. And so here we see the substitutionary nature of his work become even clearer. So we see two sides of this. First of all, we see negatively. negatively that it was for our transgressions. He was pierced. Transgressions here speaks of the willful flaunting of God's law. It's something of a legal term. We're guilty of violating a moral code, God's standard, God's law. And here the idea, it emphasizes a revolt and a rebellion against any rightful authority for our transgressions. but also for our iniquities. Iniquities here speaks of the depraved perversion of human nature. It's not so much a legal, legal word as it is an ethical word. That we are depraved, we are corrupt to the very core of our being, and our iniquities are the manifestations of such. So it is for our transgressions and for our iniquities, that again, those two words that we had identified back for us in Leviticus chapter 16. The transgressions and the iniquities of the people. That's negatively that this substitutionary work, it's for our transgressions, it's for our iniquities. In other words, it is done because there is guilt that must be addressed. But positively, It is not only dealing with our transgressions and our iniquities, it is also doing for us, it is a chastening for our well-being and a scourging by which we are healed. Well-being, healing. positively. Chastening for our well-being literally is the discipline or the punishment for our peace. The word there translated well-being is the word peace. It is the word shalom you're probably familiar with. It is punishment that is necessary in order to secure and to restore our peace with God first and foremost. But it's a wholeness of peace. It is a peace with God that has by extension a peace with others and a peace within. It is the peace of life that is given to us. And by His healing, by His scourging, we are healed He brings wholeness to those who are sick, to those who are depraved. This is the nature of his work. Negatively, negatively, he deals with transgressions and iniquities. Positively, he grants to us shalom, peace, well-being and healing. It's the pictures that he gives to us in regard to these things. Why such suffering? Crushed, pierced through, chastening, scourging. All for you, dearly beloved child of God. Because that's what it took. to secure your salvation. That's what it took to deal with your sin. And rest assured, it's completely dealt with. Nothing more needs to be done. All upon Christ. Suffering at the hands of evil men. But also suffering from the just wrath of a holy Father. All of our offenses. All His punishment. He bears our penalty. He is rightfully ours. And then we see in this sixth verse that he is revealed as one who bears our sins' guilt. I realize that some of the distinctions are difficult to make between curse, which would generally deal with the measures of this life, and penalty, which is due. Guilt speaks of the reality here that we have sinned. And here, the writer uses a familiar biblical imagery regarding Israel, and also just in regards to humanity at large, where it's described as sheep. We'll note, first of all, the universality of the situation. Verse 6. All of us, all of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us. has turned to his own way. The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. So there is the guilt of every individual. The scripture reminds us, tells us very clearly, that there is none that is righteous, no not one. We've all gone astray, that ethically we We have fallen the bent of our fallen nature. And thereby, the danger of wandering from the protection of the shepherd is the picture that's conveyed here. Instead of staying close to that shepherd, we wander from him. We turn to our own way, a rebellious departure from God's rule to the place of what we would at least supposed to identify as self-rule. I'll live my own life. Thank you. What are the consequences then? All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. Well, you've got it coming then, don't you? What are the consequences of this for the people of God? The consequences of this moral and this ethical rebellion and defiance against God is this. The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. The consequence of our rebellion, our defiance against God is that God, the one against whom we have sinned, He intervenes on our behalf. He intervenes on behalf of the guilty and He's caused the iniquity that was indeed ours. The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. It's counted as though He was the sinner. The iniquities are His. This is the meeting point for all of sin. So that indeed, that conclusion that was reached regarding the servant is stated in verse 4. We ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. There's some truth to that, isn't there? Did he cause the iniquity of us all? to fall on Him. And God Himself, I'll quote here from Alec Motier, God Himself is the one who oversees, who superintends this priestly task of transferring the guilt of the guilty to the head of the sinner. He transfers the guilt of the guilty to the head of the servant. Folks, there is none but God who could do such a thing. How is it that guilt can be taken from one and applied to another? Really? I don't mean symbolically. I mean in reality. How is that possible? It is not possible with men. But it is possible with God and that's what He does. That's what He does to secure the people to be His own. He transfers the guilt of the guilty to the head of the sinless servant. and becomes His. Behold this servant. What a servant. What a salvation. By divine act, according to a divine, eternal purpose. Our guilt placed on our Savior. Our guilt imputed to Him. His righteousness imputed to us. What a salvation! So when you behold this servant, when you consider Christ. Do not lose sight that He is God's sole provision for you against Him. Your sole provision to escape the wrath of God is through Christ. God's provision. Make sure you see Him as such. Make sure you see Christ for who He is, as the One who indeed bears the curse. He indeed bears the guilt. He indeed bears the penalty of our sin. He is your only substitute, and if you would escape God's just penalty for your sin. The only way, the only place is to turn to Him, repenting of that sin and seeing that your only provision is the righteousness of Christ. You must have Christ. Is He yours? Is Christ your substitute? Do you have His righteousness, His sinlessness applied to your record, your life record? And if so, then you are accounted with God as justified, no sin. Or do you still have your own record? your own record of continual sin upon sin upon sin. If so, you've but one place to flee, and that is to Christ. We flee from the wrath of God to the loving, merciful arms of God in Christ. And this is the servant. He bears our curse. He bears our penalty. He bears our guilt. Back to the hymn that I have for you there. The first verse, O Christ, what burdens bowed thy head? Our load was laid on thee. Thou stoodest in the sinner's stead, in the sinner's place. Disbear all ill for me. A victim led, thy blood was shed. Now there's no load for me." Death and the curse were in our cup. Our cup. O Christ, t'was full for thee. Our cup was for him to drink. But thou hast drained the last dark drop, tis empty now for me. That bitter cup, love drank it up. Now blessings draught for me. See this servant. See this servant. as He's set forth before us in this text. God's substitute. So that you do not have to bear the penalty and the eternal consequences of your sin. It's been poured out on Him. Receive Him. Receive this one as your substitute, as your Lord, your God, and as your Savior. Let's pray. O Father, What a glorious picture. And yet, not just a picture, an account of Christ who has suffered for His people. Lord, we thank You this morning as Your people for that which we have escaped that which has become ours, delivered from the very worst imaginable consequences to the unthinkable blessing that you give to your people. And first and foremost, to be at peace with God. So we thank you that we can rejoice and we can delight in Christ, our Savior, your servant. Father, we would pray today that any here who have not, in fact, beheld this servant and seen him for who he truly is on their behalf, Lord, that that would be true today. Open eyes to see. We ask, O Father, for That amazing, that marvelous work of regeneration. Renewed hearts where those who could not see before suddenly see. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.