[0:00] If you've been here the last couple of weeks, you'll know that we've been spending some time in Isaiah 53.
[0:16] This is the chapter of Isaiah where we hear about the suffering servant. It's a prophecy we've learned 700 years before Jesus came on the scene, a prophecy about his coming, his death for sinners and his resurrection for our salvation.
[0:32] It's been incredible to walk with this through you. Chris took us through the first week and really set up for us the big theme of the book of Isaiah. He said that the book of Isaiah is really about three big themes, those being judgment, hope and restoration.
[0:49] A first of all judgment that God was going to judge the people of Israel because of their wanton sin and rebelliousness. That Isaiah's job was to come and proclaim that judgment.
[1:00] And that judgment was going to come in the form of exile. That God was going to exile them from the land that he'd brought them into. A profound judgment particularly for the people of Israel, these Jews who are so tied to their land.
[1:12] But even with that judgment there was hope. That God said that he was going to turn his back on them for a little while but it wasn't going to be forever. That he was going to bring them back to be with him.
[1:25] That they were going to be restored as the people of God in the land of the living God. And then the restoration would come. The third big theme of the book of Isaiah that God was going to restore his people.
[1:40] And it wasn't just going to be through rescuing them from exile. But it was going to be rescuing them from their sin that got them there in the first place. And we heard Chris told us that that's what the chapter 52 and 53 of Isaiah is about.
[1:54] This suffering servant who would win for the people redemption and restoration. That he was going to die in their place for their sin. And that was going to be the method God used to save them and restore them.
[2:09] And last week we talked about the injustice of the death of this man. That he was led like a lamb to the slaughter though he had done no sin. Done no violence. That there was no deceitful talk in his mouth.
[2:20] He was slain for us. The injustice of that. And this week we're going to talk a little bit about God's purpose. In crushing the suffering servant.
[2:34] God's big picture purpose. In killing his son. So I'm going to pray for us. And then we'll get to work on the passage. I want to keep you fixed on the passage itself.
[2:46] That will be up on the screen. We're going to walk through it together. So let's bow our heads. Let's pray to the God who inspired these words. Father thank you so much for your word. Thank you that you speak clearly to us.
[2:59] We thank you so much for this beautiful chapter of scripture. Tells us about your servant. That perfect sacrificial servant who died for us.
[3:12] Lord some of what you have in this. These two short verses is hard for us to understand. And even hard to come to terms with. So please help us. I pray that your spirit would just enable us to be able to understand.
[3:24] Your word and be changed by it. I pray these things in Jesus good name. Amen. Wonder about how you guys feel about. How do you feel about people who.
[3:38] Take advantage of. Weak defenseless people. How do you feel about. People who. Deliberately and wantonly. Abuse.
[3:48] Weak and defenseless people. How do you feel about. People who torture. Weak and defenseless people. If you're not really down with people like that.
[4:00] If you're not really kind of on board. If you're not big fans of people like that. Then you probably wouldn't have liked me growing up. I was. I was just a. Just a testimony to. Original sin.
[4:10] And total depravity. That was. That was me as a kid. And I had a younger brother who was way worse than me. And so when we got together. There was always trouble. He used to call us.
[4:21] Even from the age of like five. When he couldn't pronounce it. He called us the troublesome twosome. And there was a song that went with it. Anyway. So. We used to get together. And we had a. A younger sister.
[4:31] Adopted from South Korea. Five months old. She was. Seven years younger than me. And so she was. An available. Accessible. Subject for our.
[4:42] Torture. And terrorism. And I could go into. Many and. Varying examples. Of how we used to torture her. But I won't. Because you might hate me. I'm not.
[4:52] I'm not proud of it. But it's true. That was the way that we treated her. Now. Bullying of any kind is. Is. Is less than. Godly.
[5:04] Bullying of any kind. Is. Is kind of ugly. But just. Imagine if we ramped up the stakes. A little bit. What if. What if we went from teasing her. Playing tricks on her. To. To abusing her.
[5:15] What if my brother and I. Took pleasure. In punching her in the face. As a one year old. Little girl. What if we. What if we started to take pleasure. In pulling her hair out.
[5:26] By the root. What if. What if. What if we. Started to enjoy. Burning her with. A cigarette lighter. What if. What if.
[5:37] What if we went all the way. What if. My little brother and I. Took pleasure. In killing. My little sister. How would you respond. You'd be outraged.
[5:49] Wouldn't you. You'd want justice. You'd want us locked up. The key thrown away. You'd want. Justice to be done. For this. Defenseless. Weak. Innocent. Little girl. So what are we.
[6:03] To make of this passage. Tonight. What do we make of. Isaiah 53. Verse 10 to 12. So here we have. In this passage.
[6:14] An innocent. Man. The servant of the Lord. A man who's been subjected. To the most repellent. Unjust. Suffering. And torment. Verse 7 says.
[6:26] He's a man that's led like a lamb. To the slaughter. Verse 8 says. He's a man. Cut off from the land of the living. He's the victim of an outrageous.
[6:37] Contemptable. Brutal. Suffering. And violent death. What should our response. To that be. To the death of an innocent. Servant.
[6:52] What should our response be. What should God's response be. The perfect. Just. Righteous God.
[7:02] What should his response be. To that kind of oppressive. In. Unjust death. You can read it for yourself. Look at verse 10. It says.
[7:13] Yet. The Lord was pleased. To crush. Him. Severely. Yet. The Lord was pleased. To crush.
[7:24] Him. Severely. Pleased. Pleased. Let's get this straight. An innocent man dies.
[7:35] An unjust death. And the Lord God Almighty. Is pleased. And doesn't even stop there. It's more to it than that. He's not just pleased.
[7:46] The Lord is pleased. To crush him. It's not as if he's just seen him die. And he's pleased by that. No. He's pleased to do it. God did it. God crushed him. And he was pleased.
[8:01] What's going on? Let's just get to the point. If you ask 10 people on the street.
[8:13] Could you worship a God. God. Who takes pleasure. In crushing. Innocent people. 10 people would say no. Who can worship a God.
[8:26] Who willingly. And with great pleasure. Crushes. An innocent person. And it gets worse than that.
[8:37] Doesn't it? We've been saying throughout this series. That the suffering servant. Of Isaiah 53. Is none other than. A prophetic designation. For God's only son.
[8:47] Jesus. So the reality of this passage. Is that God not only takes pleasure. In crushing. An innocent man. But that God is doing it.
[8:57] To his own. Son. Kind of sounds a bit like. Extreme. Child abuse.
[9:08] Doesn't it? Seriously. A father. Taking an innocent son. And crushing him. Severely. Sounds like.
[9:20] Child abuse. It's exactly how. A Christian author. Steve Chalk. From the UK. That's how he says it. He describes it that way. In his book. The lost message of Jesus.
[9:31] He says that. That view of the atonement. That God. Crushed his son. For our sake. He says this. Quote. This view of the atonement. Is cosmic. Child abuse. A vengeful father.
[9:44] Punishing his son. For an offense. He has not even committed. Cosmic. Child abuse. Is he right.
[10:00] Does this passage. Isaiah 53. 10 to 12. Does it. Does it reveal God. To be an unjust abuser. Of his own son. Let's look at it together.
[10:13] Let's go to verse 10. I'll read it for us. It says. Yet the Lord was pleased. To crush him. Severely. When you make him a restitution offering.
[10:25] He will see his seed. He will prolong his days. And by his hand. The Lord's pleasure. Will be accomplished. It's clear here. God.
[10:36] Is active. In the crushing. Of his son. And he's pleased to do it. But. But.
[10:49] But friends. This is not. An arbitrary. Act. So much violence. Committed against children. So much. Violence.
[11:00] In general. Is done. Completely. In an. Arbitrary. Capricious. Way. If you ask an abuser. To justify his abuse.
[11:11] He'll say stuff like. Just trivial stuff. Like. The kid knocked over my glass. So I knocked him out. Or. You know. The wife overcooked my steak. Or. You know.
[11:22] The apprentice. Run. Cut the wrong. The wrong length of wood. So I tore him a new one. Or. You know. That guy in the bar. Looked at my girlfriend. The wrong way. It's completely.
[11:33] Arbitrary. It's. It's whimsical. It's. It's wrong. It's. Punishment. Punishment. Doesn't fit the crime. Friends. This. This.
[11:43] Isn't the case. In this passage. God. Isn't being. Arbitrary. In crushing. His son. This. Crushing. Of his. Only son. The sinless.
[11:54] Suffering. Servant. This crushing. Of him. Is according. To God's. Perfect plan. Read verse 10. Again. It says.
[12:04] When you make him a restitution offering. That is. When you kill him. When you kill your son. He will see his seed. He will prolong his days. And by his hands. The Lord's. Pleasure. Or.
[12:15] Plan. The Lord's plan. Will be accomplished. There's a plan. That's being unfolded. In the crushing. Of God's son. God is accomplishing something.
[12:28] Great. As he wills. The death. Of his only son. You hear it from the words of Jesus himself.
[12:38] 700 years later. The servant speaks. John chapter 3 verse 16. You might have heard it before. Jesus says. For God so loved the world. That he gave his only son.
[12:50] That he crushed his only son. So that whoever believes in him. Should not perish. But have eternal life. That's the plan. That's why God takes pleasure.
[13:03] In crushing his son. Because it's so that we. Might have eternal. Life. Let's get it straight.
[13:15] Because Steve Chalk. And others like him. Who propound this. Cosmic child abuse. Kind of theology. Is becoming more popular. And you might come across. And you might be tempted. To agree with them.
[13:26] We need to get it straight. God is not. God. God is not an abuser. Of his son. God crushes his son. According to a perfect.
[13:37] Plan. The crushing. The suffering. The slaughter. Occurs. According to a perfect. And infinitely loving. Plan. This is how the apostles.
[13:48] Described it. You heard in the New Testament. Reading tonight. Acts chapter 4. This is verse 27 and 28. They address God. Together. And they say. For in fact. In the city. In Jerusalem.
[14:00] Herod. Pontius Pilate. The Gentiles. The people of Israel. Were assembled. Against your holy servant. Jesus. Whom you anointed. To do. That is. Those people.
[14:10] Who crushed him. Were doing. Whatever your hand. And your plan. Had predestined. To take place. God's.
[14:22] Perfect. Plan. The betrayals. The trials. The beatings. The crucifixion. The death of Jesus. Was all directed. By God's hand. And so.
[14:35] In the death of his son. God is unfolding. His predetermined. Infinitely loving. Salvation. Plan. I got a book here. This book was really.
[14:50] Really. Important. In my conversion. It's like a. At. What do they call these things? Coffee table book. And it's.
[15:01] It's Max Licato. And it's called the cross. And it's. Just some selected writings. About Jesus. Really poetic. Really beautiful. And I remember being. For the first time in my life.
[15:12] Moved. By his description of the cross. I'm just going to read you. It's the passage. Make the point. He says. The cross was no accident.
[15:25] Jesus death. Was not the result. Of a panicking. Cosmological engineer. The cross was not. A tragic. Surprise. Calvary was not. A knee jerk.
[15:35] Response. To a world. Plummeting. Towards destruction. It was not a patch up job. Or a stopgap measure. The death of. The son of God.
[15:46] Was anything. But. An unexpected peril. No. It was the plan of. It was a part of. An incredible plan. A calculated choice.
[15:58] It was the Lord's will. To crush him. The moment. The forbidden apple. Touched the lips of Eve. The shadow. Of a cross.
[16:08] Appeared on the horizon. And between. That moment. And the moment. The man with the mallet. Placed the spike. Against the wrist. Of the wrist of God.
[16:19] A master plan. Was fulfilled. It was the Lord's will.
[16:32] To crush him. Severely. You might say. Fine. It's part of God's plan. God has a big plan. All of this is happening. According to his perfect.
[16:43] Infinitely loving plan. But what's the point. What's the point. Of the death. Of this innocent man. If you read. The suffering. The song of the suffering servant. Up till this point.
[16:53] If you've been listening. Over the last couple of weeks. You get to this point. In verse 10. And the question. On your lips. Should be. What's the point. An innocent man dies.
[17:06] What is the point. That. I want to say. That God is accomplishing. In the crushing of his son.
[17:17] At least. Two things. And there's more than this. But I want to talk about. Two. Of the major things. That he's accomplishing. Number one. He's accomplishing. Justification. For rebels.
[17:28] Explain what that means. In a second. Number two. He's accomplishing. Glorification. For his son. We're going to look at that as well. One.
[17:38] He's accomplishing. Justification. For rebels. Two. Accomplishing. Glorification. For his son. Let's look at the first one. He's accomplishing. Justification. For rebels.
[17:50] Second half. Of verse 11. My righteous servant. Will justify. Many. He will carry. Their iniquities. In the end of verse 12.
[18:01] He. Bore the sin. Of many. And interceded. For the rebels. If you've looked. At the Old Testament.
[18:11] For more than five minutes. You'll know that. The people of Israel. The people of God. In the Old Testament. Were a rebellious people. Just a sickening. Sinful. Rebellious.
[18:22] People. Part of Isaiah's job. As we said. Was to preach. A message of judgment. Against the people of Israel. For their sin. We've seen in previous weeks. That. The exile.
[18:32] Of the people from the land. That profound judgment. Was a result of their sin. God's punishment. For their rebelliousness. And it's easy to sit back. And look at the people of Israel. The Jews.
[18:43] And just shake our heads. Sinful people. It's easy to judge them. It's easy to judge them. So often the Old Testament. Just reads like a bad episode.
[18:55] Of Jerry Springer. It's just. Sinfulness. And drunkenness. And sex. And orgies. And all manner of sin. The people of God. And yet.
[19:06] If we look at ourselves. For just a minute. Are we any better off than them? What if a written record.
[19:16] Was made of your life. Of your heart. Are we any better off? I think we're so much like them. We kind of. Stagger around.
[19:27] Trying to live as the people of God. I think we're exactly. In the same boat. As. The people of Israel. All of humanity is. Everyone who's ever lived.
[19:39] Has been a rebellious. Sinful. Spiritually dead person. We've all wandered. We've all walked away. We've all been lost. We've all given God. The proverbial finger. Every one of us.
[19:51] Paul puts it this way. In Romans chapter 3. That's verse 9 and 12. 9 to 12. He says. What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have previously charged.
[20:01] That both Jews and Gentiles. Are all under sin. As it is written. There is no one righteous. Not even one. There is no one who understands.
[20:11] There is no one who seeks God. All have turned away. All have become useless. There is no one who does what is good. Not even one. Crystal clear.
[20:25] The Bible is crystal clear. Every one of us. Is a rebel. God designed us. In the garden.
[20:37] To be joyful. Willing subjects of the king. He designed us to live in his kingdom. To enjoy eternal love. And infinite beauty.
[20:50] In the rhythm of beauty and perfection. That he set from the beginning. That's where we were designed to be. And instead. In Adam. In Adam's sin.
[21:01] All of us chose to reject God. Given the chance. If we were in the garden. We would have done exactly the same thing. We would have listened to the devil. We would have rejected. The God who made us.
[21:12] And so in doing that. We reject. And exchange eternal bliss. For eternal death and judgment. The wages for sin is death.
[21:24] That's what we get. That's what we deserve. And that's where we land in Isaiah. Our experience is as futile as theirs. Before you judge them. It's as futile as theirs is. It's hopeless.
[21:35] As the people of God today. We don't stand a chance. The more we try to obey God's law. The more we seem to screw up. Have you noticed that? The more you learn about sin.
[21:46] The more that you realize. How much of a sinner you are. Death and judgment. Is our. Unswerving destiny.
[21:57] We can't dodge it. And then chapter 52 and 53 of Isaiah. We get this. Word from God. Isaiah gets a word from God.
[22:07] To tell to the people. It's about an. Suffering servant. An innocent man. The complete opposite of us. The complete opposite of a rebel.
[22:18] Of a rebel. The anti-rebel. He's done everything right. Verse 10 says. The man who has done no violence.
[22:29] And spoken no deceit. That's another way of saying. The perfect man. And God's plan is for this man. Of all men. To suffer on our account.
[22:41] To bear our sin. To be crushed in our place. And he willingly does it. It's not child abuse. The victim is willing. The victim. An innocent man dies.
[22:56] As a sacrifice. For the wicked. And because of his death. The rebels. Are made right. It's what justification is. It's just a big theological word.
[23:07] For. Made right. Made right. With God. The rebels are made right. Through his death. Paul sums it up.
[23:19] In 2 Corinthians 5. 21. This is one you want to remember. Get tattooed. Now. It's probably the best you can do. Isn't it? Get tattooed. Yeah. Get it tattooed. Okay. So this is 2 Corinthians 5.
[23:29] 21. Listen to it. Memorize it. Tell it to your friends. It says. He made the one. The suffering servant. He made Jesus.
[23:40] The one. Who did not know sin. To be sin. For us. So that we might become. The righteousness. The rightness.
[23:52] Of God. In him. Martin Luther called it. The great exchange. He takes the one. Who knows no sin. And he pours on him. The sin of the world.
[24:03] So that the world. Might be made right. With God. The great exchange. So that's accomplishment. Number one. One. Justification for rebels.
[24:13] Rightness for rebels. We can be right with God. Let's just quickly look at number two. He is in this death. In this crushing. He's accomplishing glorification for his son. That's just another way of saying.
[24:25] Exaltation. That's another big word. It's saying. Worship. He's putting Jesus. Above everyone else. In crushing him. See how.
[24:39] Verse 10. After saying that. This servant. Gives himself. As a guilt offering. Isaiah says. He will see his seed. He will prolong his days. It's a confusing sentence.
[24:50] But I think it means this. Probably means that. After he dies. As a sin offering. After he's slaughtered. He's crushed. He lives again. With prolonged days.
[25:00] In other words. He doesn't remain dead. He'll be raised from the dead. Does this sound familiar? 700 years before. Prophecy about what will happen.
[25:10] And did happen in Jesus. Death. Crushing. Slaughter. And then resurrection. He will prolong his days. Same again. Beginning in verse 11. After this anguish.
[25:22] That he's been through. After this slaughter. Isaiah says. He will see it. And be satisfied. He doesn't go out of existence. He doesn't go to hell. He doesn't. He doesn't go to the land of misery.
[25:33] With sinners. And those who have passed away. He's alive. To see and be satisfied. With his work. He'll give him. Length of days.
[25:43] He'll see it. And be satisfied. He will see his accomplishments. He'll be raised from the dead. That's what he's saying. But that's not glorification.
[25:54] That is vindication. That's God saying. He will not remain dead. He was innocent. He's done what he came to do. Now I'll raise him for the dead. That's him saying. He is right with me.
[26:06] He did something according to my plan. He willingly sacrificed himself. I'm going to raise him. To vindicate him. To say that he is. My son with whom I'm well pleased.
[26:19] That's not the end of the picture. God doesn't want to just raise him physically. He wants to exalt him eternally. Verse 12. After he said that.
[26:32] He's going to bear the iniquities of others. Isaiah then says. Verse 12. Therefore I will allot with him. A portion with the great. So the suffering servant.
[26:44] He's willingly. Faithfully being crushed in our place for our sin. Therefore. Because of that. He will be counted among the great. In eternal life. He'll be exalted.
[26:56] He's going to be praised. On earth. By everyone who's been saved by him. And then he's going to be praised forever. In heaven. By everything. In the new creation.
[27:08] Paul just does a summary of it really. In Philippians chapter 2. Read at the start of the service. It says. Jesus humbled himself. By becoming obedient to the point of death.
[27:21] By being crushed for our iniquities. Even to death on the cross. For this reason. God highly exalted him.
[27:32] And gave him the name that's above every name. So that the name of Jesus. Every knee will bow. Of those who are in heaven. And on earth. And under the earth. And every tongue should confess. That Jesus Christ is Lord.
[27:44] To the glory of God the Father. He was crushed. Then he was raised. And forever. He'll be exalted.
[27:58] The Bible teaches that one of the major reasons. God willed. And took pleasure in the crushing of his son. Was because he wanted him to be. Praised. Every Sunday at Holy Trinity.
[28:11] Every day of your life. Praised in everything you do. And then for eternity. To be praised by everyone. In the new heavens. In the new earth.
[28:24] So I just want you to imagine for a moment. Just imagine the end of the night tonight. Stick around for a chat. Maybe pray with the people up front here. Go out to your car.
[28:39] Start the engine. Drive out of the driveway. Head down. Church road. Turn out onto Doncaster road. And at that point. A truck runs a red light. And smashes. Into your car.
[28:50] And you're dead. And instantly. You are transferred to paradise. Because you trusted. In the suffering servant. And instantly.
[29:03] You're overwhelmed. By infinite joy. Peace. Love. Satisfaction. And beauty. And then you come face to face with Jesus.
[29:14] And you fall. On your knees. And you weep. With gratitude. And praise. For what he's done. That he was crushed. For you. And then you stand up. And you sing.
[29:24] Like you've never sung before. With just unrestrained passion. Thanking him. For being a suffering servant.
[29:36] Who is crushed. In your place. That's why God was pleased. To crush his servant severely. That you would be saved.
[29:49] And that he would be praised. That you would be saved. And that he would be praised. That you would be saved.
[30:00] Eternally. And that he would be praised. Eternally. So we've come to the end of this.
[30:13] Series. Looking at Isaiah 52 and 53. And it's an incredible song. That Isaiah wrote. That God inspired.
[30:24] Written 700 years before the fact. And written in detail. About Jesus. Life. Death. And resurrection. Exaltation. And Chris.
[30:38] And my hope in preaching this. Is really that you would come away from these weeks. With a fresh. Sense of the awe. Of the passion of the Christ.
[30:51] That he would be crushed. By his father. In your place. For your sin. And that he would be raised again. For your salvation.
[31:04] And for his eternal. Exaltation. That's what it's all about. That's what being Christian is all about. Praising Jesus forever.
[31:16] Starts now. Starts now. I find it so hard sometimes. To praise Jesus. I don't just mean in singing.
[31:29] I'm not a very good singer. So I find it hard in that way. I'm talking about. In every day. Taking the opportunity. At every moment. Paul says in 1 Corinthians. I think it's chapter 12.
[31:42] Verse 31. Whether you eat or drink. Whatever you do. Do it to the glory of God. How do you do that? How do you every day.
[31:55] Do that? Chapter 10 verse 31. I think it is. Chapter 10 verse 31. Okay. How do you do that? How do you every day. Think. How am I going to. Whether I eat or drink. Whatever I do. Do it all to the glory of God.
[32:06] The glorification of God. The exaltation of God. I think the answer. Is in what we've seen. In these three weeks. To see that suffering servant.
[32:16] The perfect man. Who died in your place. To come to terms with that. The injustice of it. The fact that it happened.
[32:26] According to a perfect plan. The fact that Jesus said himself. That it was done. So that you would be saved. So that you would experience eternal life. John 3.16. And then out of that.
[32:40] To start the exaltation of Jesus. To start the worship of Jesus now. It doesn't start in heaven. It starts tonight. It starts. Every day in your life. If you're like me.
[32:55] You're going to need a lot of help. For that to be a reality. You're going to be distracted. And you're going to be disappointed. And you're going to be. Disappointed.
[33:09] With God. And with life. It's going to be hard to do that. So what I want to do. What I want to do is. Pray to the God. Who crushed his son.
[33:20] On your behalf. I'm going to ask him to help us. To be the kind of people. Who worship God. Not just on a Sunday night. But with the whole of our lives. So we're going to pray. And then we're going to stand.
[33:31] And we're going to sing. And that's going to be an expression. Of our thankfulness to God. For what he did for us. So let's bow our heads. Father.
[33:46] In so many ways. We are like. The people of Israel. Isaiah's people. We are sinful people. We are rebellious people. Lord.
[33:56] We get distracted. In so many ways. We don't really live out. Our life's purpose. Which is to glorify you.
[34:07] To worship you. To worship you. In the way we eat. The way we drink. The way we spend our money. The way that we relate. To each other. So Lord. We ask for your help.
[34:19] Please prompt us. During this week. To remember the suffering servant. To remember his willing death. To remember his vindicating resurrection.
[34:30] To remember his glorifying exaltation. To look forward into the future. To eternity. Where we'll spend forever.
[34:42] Enjoying him. And please help us. Enable us. To be able to start that eternal life now. In all that we do. I please Lord.
[34:54] As a church. I pray that when other people come in. And look at us. They would see a people who have got that. And are living it out. So now Lord.
[35:05] As we stand and we sing. I pray that you would enable us. To worship Jesus. In spirit. And in truth. We pray it in his good. Good name. Amen. Please stand.
[35:32] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.