Isaiah 53, we'll begin reading at verse 13 of chapter 52 and read through the end of chapter 53. Let us hear God's Word. Behold, My servant shall feel prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled. He shall be and be very high. As many were astonished at Thee, His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. So shall he sprinkle many nations. The king shall shut their mouths at him, for that which they had not been told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall they consider. Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of my people was he stricken. He made his grave with the wicked. And with the rich in his depth, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bared the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Thus ends the reading of God's holy and inspired Word. This Lord's Day morning, as we come to our quarterly celebration of the Lord's Supper, we come again to Isaiah 53, or more accurately, Isaiah 52, 13-53. We come to look at this passage which deals with the subject of Christ and Him crucified. We come to consider the very heart of the Gospel itself. We come to a passage, as I've said before, that is full of the unsearchable riches of the Lord Jesus Christ. We come to a chapter of the Old Testament that's quoted more frequently than any other chapter in the New Testament. We come to a chapter of Scripture in what many have called the fifth gospel, Isaiah, which James Durham says of this chapter, all this chapter looks more like a piece of history of the gospel than a prophecy of the Old Testament. You see, we find in Holy Scripture that the great redemptive acts of God are preceded by prophecy. God tells us they will come. And then having come, He then informs us of what took place in those great redemptive acts. But the fact is, is that most often in prophecy, in a declaration of what God will do, most often the prophecy is not as clear as the history or the explanation of the history. And yet here in Isaiah 53, we find this prophecy that is very, very detailed. Very detailed and very historical, even though it precedes that which will take place. Written hundreds of years before, since these things were established in the counsel of God from all eternity, they were just as sure as they ever could be. And come to us through the mouth of Isaiah. as he prophesies to his people leading up to the captivity that they would face. Now, as we've been looking at this chapter, we noticed in verses 13-15 of Isaiah 52, we've seen the servant of the Lord, Christ's exaltation in verse 13, and His work in verses 14 and 15. But having spoken optimistically of the work of the spread of the gospel, as He will sprinkle many nations as the gospel goes forth, as kings will shut their mouths and bow down before Christ. We see Isaiah asking two rhetorical questions in verse 1. He asks first, who hath believed our report? In light of the optimism of the furtherance of the gospel, we recognize that it is not yet. And so Isaiah records this rhetorical question which speaks of the contempt for the gospel of Christ. In other words, not many have believed the report, and it's still true today. The report has gone forth, and yet, so few have believed. Yet, he asks another rhetorical question, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? In other words, he informs us that those that have believed the report of the Gospel are those to whom the Lord has revealed Himself by His grace. It's those, and those only, who do not have a contempt for the gospel and a contempt for the Christ of the gospel, but who in fact, by God's grace, have now come to esteem the gospel because they've come to esteem Christ Himself, the Servant of the Lord. But having spoken the contempt of the gospel of Christ in verse 1, we find the reasons why in verses 2 and 3, there's contempt shown for the gospel because there's contempt shown for Christ Himself. Because Christ will come not as King in His first coming, but He will come as one in humiliation. One humbled. And so many will be shocked. And He will be the stone of stumbling for many. They will not esteem Him. But having spoken of the fact that many will show contempt for Christ, God through Isaiah in verses 4 and 5 speaks of the suffering of Christ. the ground of his sufferings, as well as the end of his sufferings. Having spoken of his sufferings in verses 4 and 5, Isaiah comes to speak of the disease, our disease, and God's remedy for it in verse 6 as we looked at last quarter. But this morning we come to look at verse 7. You come to see here in verse 7, God speaks of the nature of and the disposition Christ had under His sufferings. Here God speaks of the nature of Christ's sufferings and the disposition that He had under His sufferings. He was oppressed and He was afflicted. Yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." You see, what we've seen already thus far in this chapter of Isaiah 53 is that the Lord God, Jehovah, Father, is the ultimate cause of the servants' suffering. We see that in a passage like Zechariah 13.7 where we read, a Waco sword against my shepherd. Against the man that is my fellow. Here the father says, a Waco sword. I'm about to punish my son who is a shepherd. But he's my shepherd. He's the Shepherd of God's people at My command. I'm going to cause My sword to come against the man, but the man that is My fellow. His equal. Empowered in glory from all eternity. So it is the Father who is the ultimate source of Christ's suffering. And yet we have to ask ourselves if that's true. Was it against the servant's will that he suffered, or did Christ suffer voluntarily? I believe the Lord gives us the answer here in this passage. His suffering was voluntary. We learn here, did not Jesus tell us in John 10.17, Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it up again. Jesus says, I'm going to lay down my life. And that in a unique way is a reason why the Father loves me. For my willingness to suffer for my people. But we also see in this passage, not only that Christ was prepared to suffer voluntarily, but He was willing to suffer patiently. He opened not His mouth. We're not to take that absolutely. We see that Jesus did speak as He went before the high priest and Pilate, but He didn't speak to defend Himself. He didn't speak to utter railings against those that would condemn Him to die. We see Him demonstrating patience as it was prophesied of old. So, He opened not His mouth and then we are given two metaphors that demonstrate Christ's disposition before His accusers. He was as a lamb that would be sacrificed. He was as a sheep that was to be shorn of its wool. Let us consider in this text the nature of Christ's sufferings and then the disposition of Christ under His sufferings. First, in verse 7a, the nature of Christ's sufferings. He was oppressed and He was afflicted. Here we learn that the Father exacted the elect's debt upon the mediae. He was oppressed. Quite literally, in the Hebrew, this could be translated, it was exacted. That the Father exacted the debt. It was exacted. And He was afflicted. Literally, and He answered. It was exacted of Him and He was ready to pay. That's what it said. John Gill could say, the debt they owed, the debt that God's people owed was required. The payment of it was called for. And He, Christ, accordingly answered and paid the whole, every farthing, every dollar, every penny, and canceled the debt. The debt was called in and Christ was prepared to pay for it. Now, just consider that for a moment. Some of you may be experiencing some debt. Some of you do have a creditor. Some of you can imagine what it would be like to have a debt to someone. Now, would you be incredulous if the one that you owed a debt to was taken to prison and made to pay for your debt? Would you not marvel? And yet, marvel even more. Wonder of wonders, Christ voluntarily went to pay our debt. And it's more than monetary. It's a death of eternal punishment for our sins that He voluntarily took to Himself. We see the nature of His sufferings. Paul in Hebrews could say in Hebrews 7.22 as he describes the many blessings that are ours in our High Priest Christ who is of the order of Melchizedek, could conclude in verse 22, by so much In other words, by all the things I've said, by so much, was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. You see, the book of Proverbs, we're told not to be surety for someone. We're told not to sign over someone's debt as though we'd be prepared in all cases to take it upon ourselves. And yet, Paul in Hebrews is seeking to explain why Jesus is such a great shorty. That He would be willing to take upon Himself the debt of our sin. And for that reason, He's the shorty of a better testament. Now, there's some debate as to whether testament here refers to what we call an old, a last will and testament, or whether it refers to a covenant. But either way, Christ's death is that which pictures forth is bequeathing to us an eternal inheritance as a testament. But His death is also a picture of the death of an animal when two would covenant together and commit to one another. When one in authority would commit themselves to certain prerogatives of love and compassion towards those under them. They would kill an animal to display What would come upon them if they failed to keep their promises to those under their authority? And so, Christ's death is a picture of both. A sure, a better testament, a better covenant. Because He is our High Priest forever. He's the High Priest who didn't have to offer a bullet for His sins. Because He had no sins. He's the High Priest that went into the Holy of Holies and the veil was rent so that we may now through Him have free access, bold access in Him to the throne of grace, to the mercy seat ourselves. We need no priesthood. There is no priesthood in the New Covenant besides the Lord Jesus Christ Himself because of His once for all finished work of atonement. You see, Christ was willing to do this. He did this voluntarily. Consider his words as we find them in Psalm 40, verses 6 and following. We might not recognize these as Christ's words upon a first reading of Psalm 40, but when we recognize that Paul in Hebrews 10, verses 5 and following has told us that these are Christ's words, then we know for sure that they are. So Jesus speaking here says, "...sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. Mine ears thou hast opened. Burnt offering and sin offerings thou hast not required." Here He's speaking absolutely. Not that God didn't require the sacrificial system, but God was looking beyond the sacrificial system. There was something more there than what's on the surface. Speaking of the inadequacies of the sacrificial system, He says, then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book it is written of me. Here we have the words of Christ saying I'm prepared to come. I volunteer. I'm prepared to come and do just what's been spoken I would do. As it's written in the volumes. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, my law is within my heart." Here we see, do we not, Jesus' clear willingness to die the death for His people. So, we see the nature of Christ's sufferings, but I want us also to see the disposition of Christ under His sufferings here in verse 7b and c. He openeth not his mouth, he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." Here we see the son joyfully submitting to take upon himself the debt that's being exacted upon the elect. You see, Jesus Christ paid the debt And He bore the punishment without any dispute or without any hesitation. That's what we learn from these words. Yet, He opened not His mouth. Clearly, these words speak of the harmlessness and the innocence of Christ. Peter, in considering Jesus as the spotless Lamb of God, could say in 1 Peter 1.21, the precious blood Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. You see, because Christ was without blemish and without spot, because He was without sin, His blood therefore is so, so very precious to the saints. It speaks of His harmlessness. But it also speaks of His meekness and patience, I think, primarily. Again, consider the words of Jesus Christ in the Psalms. Some find it difficult to find Him there. But yet, He is so, so very present there. In Psalm 38, 13 and 14, we read these words. But I as a deaf man heard not, and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. Thus I was a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs." Consider also the words of Psalm 39.9. I was dumb. I opened not my mouth because thou Ditched it. Because this is what you've planned, because this is what I've taken upon myself, I will be silent and voluntarily offer myself for the sins of my people. Matthew Henry commenting on these words says, by his wisdom he could have evaded the sentence. And by his power have resisted the execution. But thus it was written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer. He laid down his life. He wasn't forced. He wasn't coerced. He was commanded. And yet, he did it willingly in love for us, his people. We see the disposition of Christ stated there. He opened not His mouth, but we also see the disposition of Christ illustrated. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is done. You have two metaphors, two illustrations of Christ's disposition here. The first one, as a lamb to be slaughtered. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. This appears to be a reference to Exodus 29-38 where we have the command for two lambs to be brought morning and evening for the morning and evening sacrifice on a daily basis. Anyone who knows a little bit about animals. It's a lot easier to bring a lamb to the sacrifice than to bring a sow or a pig or many other animals. Here, Jesus uses this illustration. Those lambs come. They know not what's about to take place. And so, he says, Jesus is just like that. Remember the words of John the Baptist. as we see them in John 1.29, John seeth Jesus coming unto him and he saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. Here early on in Christ's ministry, John the Baptist, the forerunner, now has come to meet Jesus and he recognizes Him to be Messiah. He recognizes that He is the Lamb of God. He recognizes He is the One that was pictured as the Lamb sacrificed morning and evening on a daily basis. As the Lamb sacrificed at the Day of Atonement year by year by the High Priest. He recognizes Him to be such. And He recognizes that because He is such, He will take away. Take away. He won't ignore it. He'll take away sins. The sins of the world. Not just the sins of the Jews only, but the sins of people of all races. He recognizes that the Gospel is about ready to go forth beyond the Jewish people. Through the Lamb. The Lamb of God. who we have spoken of in the book of Revelation, in the Apocalypse of John, in John 13.8, we read of Him as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The Lamb slain from or before the foundation of the world at the very beginning. From the very beginning. Before the beginning in the counsels of God. In the first animal sacrifice, following the fall, portrayed And that very early giving of the covenant of grace to Adam and Eve. He's that lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So, we see him as a lamb to be slaughtered. God, through Isaiah, also says he's like a sheep that's going to be shorn. Doesn't open his mouth, doesn't complain. He's about ready to get a haircut. And he doesn't complain. There's no boz out of his mouth. He doesn't dispute, but he's silent. Jesus clearly was ready to take on and to accomplish His office of mediator by going to the cross. It's already read in Psalm 40, verse 7, "...then said I, Lo, I come, the volume of the book it is written of me." Jesus was prepared to come and to do what He had been commanded to do. Let me just give you just several cases, just brief statements in the history of Christ's life that exemplify this, particularly in the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 12. Luke 12, verse 5. You can follow with me, but it's not important necessarily if you do. But consider these words. He says in Luke 12, verse 49, I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I if it be already kindled? My ministry is going to bring tribulation. But he goes on to say, but I have a baptism to be baptized with. And how am I straightened till it be accomplished? How be I straightened? I think sometimes we miss the emphasis of this passage because we fail to understand this old English word, straightened. It means I'm compelled. I'm energized to do it. I'm straightened to do it. I'm compelled to do it. Not coerced to do it, but I'm compelled inwardly. to go through with it. So here as Jesus begins to explain to the disciples what awaits Him, He's prepared to inform them, I'm compelled to do it. I'm prepared to go this way. We also find in chapter 18, verses 31-33, these words, Then He took unto Him the twelve and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem All things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of God shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spit on. And they shall scourge him, and put him to death, and on the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things, and the saying was hid from them. Neither knew they the things which were spoken." You see, Jesus knew what was coming, and yet He did nothing to prevent what was coming. He knew it. He communicated it to His disciples. And yet, He didn't thwart what was about to take place. We see that again at the table, where in John 13.23, We see He cheerfully casts Himself upon the work He's about to do. As He passes the sup to Judas, He says in John 13.23, that thou doest, do quickly. Jesus isn't saying to Judas, you better take your opportunity now or you're not going to get it. What He's saying is, I'm ready. Do it and do it quickly. I'm prepared to go to Him. We see Him also submitting to the Father's will in Luke 22.42 in Gethsemane, where He can say, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done. Again, we see. They're in the garden as he's about to be taken. We find Peter smoting the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. We find Jesus telling Peter to put his sword back in the sheath. We find Jesus then touching the ear of Malchus and healing his ear. We see him forbidding that which would hinder him going. to the cross. Finds Him hindering. And so we see that He is cheerfully prepared to undergo it. In application. First, this passage, this verse, is the very verse that an Ethiopian eunuch A eunuch of Ethiopia serving under a great rich queen who is a proselyte Jew who has come up to Israel during one of its feasts, who is heading back in a chariot, heading back with much pomp. And Philip comes and he asks Philip as he reads this verse, who is the prophet speaking of? And Philip, from this verse, we learn in Acts 8.35 says, "...and he began at the same Scripture and preached unto him Jesus." From this very text, Philip begins to preach to the Ethiopian eunuch about Jesus. And so, we have had Jesus preached today. We've had Him preached as we've considered this passage for many, many months. We've had Him preached in the Gospel presentations, Lord's Day by Lord's Day. Have you believed in Jesus? Have you seen Jesus to be Messiah? To be the Christ? And have you embraced Him in faith? Have you come to know Him as your Teacher? as your mediator and as your king, as your ruler and defender, as your Lord. We don't have a lot of details about what Philip said to the Ethiopian eunuch, but we do know that upon that disclosure, upon that exposition of the Word of God concerning Jesus, as they continue on in the chariot, The Ethiopian eunuch says in verse 37, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe that this man, Jesus, is Christ. He is Messiah. He is the second person of the Godhead. He is the Son of God Himself. Demonstrating that he's embraced this Jesus. He hasn't just come to understand him intellectually, but has accepted him. He's appropriated him as His Savior. And so, Philip is prepared to baptize him. And he's prepared to cause him to enter into the visible church by that sacrament, the threshold of baptism. So, there's an evangelistic emphasis here. Have you trusted in Christ? If you have, If you've come of age, if you've made public profession of that faith in Christ, so that you might begin to partake of this second sacrament, a sacrament that is for every believer, that you might feed upon Christ in all the means that God has afforded to you. Secondly, we have a word of consolation in this verse. You see, we are in Christ if we are new believers. If we are new creatures and we've come to believe in Christ by faith, a faith not of ourselves, then we are in Christ. And God is very pleased with His Son, Christ. He tells us that in His anointing in Mark, 1317, God speaks of Jesus from heaven. This is my Son in whom I am well pleased. And then at the Transfiguration, we have God the Father speaking verbally from the heavens again. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. We find consolation being in Christ. whom the Father is well pleased with." You see, Jesus, our Savior, has a soul-ravishing love for us, His people. He could say in John 4.34, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and finish my work. What He loves the most, what He loved the most was to do what God had sent Him to do. And that was the joy set before Him. to do what God had commanded Him to do, and to gain the fruit that God had promised He would gain in all of His people. That was the joy that was set before Him and that's why He was willing to endure the cross and despise the shame of it. We need to marvel at the silence of Christ before His accusers. We need to recognize that His silence is an evidence of His love for us. So, we find consolation. We find also comfort. Comfort against the accusations of our own conscience as well as the accusations of the accuser of the brethren. Thomas Manton could say this, this is a true reflection upon Christ. When we see enough in Him to stop the mouth of conscience. That doesn't mean the mouth of conscience is wrong. An uninformed conscience may be wrong. An informed conscience may be rightly accusing us. But the question is, do we then look to Christ? Isn't that what we find the Apostle Paul calling us to in Romans 8, 33 and 34? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? is the question. It is God that justifies. If God justifies, no accusation can stick. That's the point. So, who is He, Paul says, that can condemn? If no one can accuse one who has been justified by God. One who has experienced forgiveness of sin and has experienced God and in fact had God's righteousness, Christ's righteousness imputed to them. How can there be any condemnation for them? Paul says there can be none. What a comfort that is to us. But lastly, there is an exhortation here as well. We find in the Scriptures that Jesus is a pattern of patience. Peter speaks of Christ and His work on the cross as an example. Certainly the liberals would say that's all Christ's work on the cross is. It's just an example of someone humbling himself. And we ought to follow that. There's much, much more there than His example. But His example should not be completely ignored. Peter says in verse 21 of chapter 2, For even here unto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us. He's saying you've been called to suffering because your Savior was called to suffering for you. Leaving us an example that ye should follow in His steps. You see, speaking to the people of God, as the people of God. He's not speaking to them as individuals. He says, Christ has suffered for you. God's called you to that suffering. And He's called you to use Christ as an example of suffering. He says this in verse 21 of chapter 22. As I mentioned in our survey of 1 Peter this morning, then in verses 22-25 of 1 Peter 2, Peter makes four allusions. Four different allusions to four different verses of Isaiah 53. He says, this is what your Savior's done. So what you to do. James Durham could say this in contemplating this text. The many contests, the many high resentments of wrongs, the great grudging, fretting and foaming at them that there are in Christians, say plainly that there is little of the meek and patient Spirit of Christ in and among us, and that many of us know not what spirit we are. He says the grumblings, the complainings, the fretting, the foaming, the fighting says we know little in our experience of being like Christ in submitting to suffering. And so, that's what we're called to. That's what Peter would call us to as he contemplates Isaiah 53. It was Bernard of Clairvaux that could say, I willingly sacrifice myself to thee because thou wert willingly sacrificed for me." Are we willing to offer a living sacrifice unto God? A burnt offering that doesn't die as new covenant priests unto our God because of Christ's willing sacrifice for us as a sin offering. Let us pray.