Broken For You - Dr. James Tour

[Music] thank you for the invitation to share with you tonight we want to share with you from the passage and we're going to start in Isaiah 52 chapter Isaiah chapter 52 verse 13 and we're gonna read right on into Isaiah 53 now this is an amazing chapter most Jews do not read this portion that we're gonna read tonight now most Jews will tell you that they've read it because they assume it's on the yearly reading list because what happens in a synagogue is in every synagogue in the world they will read the same Torah passage the same passage from the first five books of what we call the Old Testament and and and what they call the the the the Tanakh they will read read from the Torah these first five books but then they'll take a complimentary passage from the songs of the prophets which are the rest of the Tanakh or what we would call our Old Testament here and and they'll read that but they skip this portion so this is not on their reading list so whatever reason they've chosen to not read this when they do read it it's quite amazing so I'll tell you one of my my experiences with this I was with an Orthodox Jew in Israel and Orthodox Jews will engage with me when I'm in Israel they're less less likely to engage with me here in the US and conversations because in Israel they're less threatened and I told him about Isaiah chapter 52 and I J effete chapter 53 and he says oh I know all this I said okay let's read it together and you tell me you tell me don't you think somebody could read this portion and think that it's about Jesus Christ he says okay let's read it together so you read it in your Hebrew Bible I'll read it in my English Bible because my Hebrew is not very good and I will read it and you just read along I got halfway through this portion and he said enough and he closed his book his Bible this is what we're going to read tonight because it is so compelling that this is speaking about Jesus Christ Isaiah chapter 52 reading from verse 13 behold my servant will prosper he will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted it says behold my servant will prosper we're gonna learn about prosperity tonight what does prosperity look like in the eyes of God concerning his son and it says behold my servant will prosper oh how I love God's shells and wills when he says it will happen it has to happen heaven and earth will break apart to make it happen if he says it will happen it has to happen a man can say I will be there he may or may not come a woman could say I will do this she may or may not do this but when God says it will happen it has to happen he says behold my servant will prosper he will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted just as many were astonished at you my people so his appearance was marred more than any man in his form more than the sons of men when Jesus went to his scourging when Jesus was couraged he came out after his scourging and he was so marred the Bible here says his appearance was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men he was more beaten than any man had ever been beaten in a Roman scourging this is not the Jewish scourging that's thirty-nine lashes this is this is the Roman scourging the ripping of the skin covered in blood skin ripped off he comes out Pilate his judge looks at him and says behold the man behold the man this is the image of a man we are so distraught in our day where a man doesn't even know what it means to be a man this is the image of a man you want to know what it means to be a man it's this it's total self donation for the other if this word if this thought if this action is not the love of God is not in love it is not the love of God if this is not in the other's best interest it is not the love of God if this word that I say to you if this fought toward you if this action is not in your best interest it's not the love of God this is total self donation one for another this is what he did he was so shredded for our sins he carried his sin our sins with us upon himself and took it upon himself he was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men verse 15 and Isaiah 52 thus he will sprinkle many nations in this way he will sprinkle many nations this word nations this word nations is characteristic of the sprinkling of the Gentiles going beyond Israel Israel was too small for him the world is what he says I'm going to bring them all in and by the way the world is too small for him heaven and earth are too small for him this is why his father has set him at the right hand at its very right hand it says through this he's going to sprinkle many nations it is through this act that he opens up the door to the Gentiles to the non-jews he's going to sprinkle many nations any Jew will look at this and understand as soon as it says nations this is a message to the Gentile world this goes beyond Israel Kings will shut their mouths on account of him for what had not been told them they will see and what they had not heard they will understand the Gospel message goes right forward and penetrates the heart some people think it is difficult to witness to the to the intellectuals that is the only people that I ever witness to it is that's my world I twenty years ago I finished up with a ten year prison ministry it did it wasn't generally witnessing to the intellectuals of society for the last twenty years I've just focused on campus ministry I speak to undergraduates at Rice I speak to undergraduate all over the country I speak to graduate students at Rice and all over the country and I speak to professors all over the country I would say 80 to 90% of the people that I sit with and explain the gospel to receive the Lord yes they receive the Lord the gospel is penetrating the gospel the simple Gospel message is penetrating Kings will shut their mouths on account of him you begin to speak the words of the gospel boom it shuts their mouths for what had not been told them they will see all of a sudden they start to see and what they had not heard they will understand all of a sudden they start understanding well pick this up later on now let's turn to Isaiah 53 chapter 53 verse 1 who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed you know it says in Isaiah 6 in Isaiah 63 he says there's nobody can go for me I'm gonna bring salvation by my own right hand God says I'm gonna do it myself I'm gonna do it myself so he comes in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ and he does this to whom as the arm he describes himself I will by my own right hand I will do this this is how he describes it I'm gonna do this he does it in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ fully God comes to this earth as a man and witnesses to us and shares with us and teaches us what it is like to live before the Father what does it mean to live before the Father for he grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground he grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground this is speaking of the root this stem coming up from the root of Jesse the Bible speaks of the root of Jesse this is the father of King David Jesus is of the line of David not via Solomon but by a Nathan by via Nathan David's other son Nathan because via Solomon the line had been cut off because of the sin of Jehoiakim and so he tracks it right on back through now through the two Nate than his son and it goes right to Jesus he says he is of the route he comes up like a tender shoot he grew up a form of the root out of parched ground he had no stately form or Majesty that we should look upon him nor appearance that we should be attracted to him he had no stately form or Majesty what happens when somebody who's some great high politician or some great king of some place you immediately show some respect to them because of their position Jesus had no stately former majesty none that we should look upon him no stately form or Majesty there was nothing there nor appearance that we should be attracted to him there was nothing in the physical appearance of Jesus that was attractive I don't know what your view is of Jesus but probably some six-foot-three european-looking person most Jews don't look like that it says he had no stately form or Majesty that we should look upon him there was nothing there physically now the bible does speak of physical physical beauty in some people it says David was ruddy and handsome appearance he says Absalom his son David's son had long thick flowing hair it says it says of a king King Saul he was head and shoulders taller above all men it says of Abigail that she was a beautiful woman but what does it say of our Lord Jesus he had no stately form or Majesty so there was nothing in Magisterial about him that made people look at him he had no appearance that we should be attracted to him no appearance have you ever not liked the way that you look ever did you know that's a big struggle with many of us I've always wanted to be different I want to be like six-foot for the life of every party in it those all beyond me I couldn't do it I couldn't change that was it there was nothing in Jesus that attracted to people to him physically so if you're not content if you're not happy about the way you look welcome to the life of the Messiah I mean this is this is where he was I'm not kidding you when we moved to Houston 20 years ago we had a real-estate agent and she must have built us up to to her husband telling him about us and everything and tell him about me that I was gonna be working at Rice and months later we were at a at up we'd been invited to a common gathering and she was so excited to see me there because now her husband was there and she brought her husband to come and see me and so she says oh wait here I've got to get my husband he's got to meet you I've told him everything about you and he came walking up and there's this big texan man in his texan boots and he stops and he looks at me listen is that it he turned to his wife he says is that it that's it I mean Jews have little DNA our brains are big but if DNA is small but that's the way Jesus was did you know I some messianic scholars read this verse now this will really surprise you they read this verse and they say Jesus was probably five foot four with crooked teeth you say no that can't be that's not my image I'm just telling you what it says it says there was nothing in him physically you've got to deal with what the scriptures say there was nothing in him physically that attracted people to him so if you feel bad about the way you look you can't change that but welcome to the world of the Messiah that in spite of the way we feel about our own looks God can use us powerfully if he had been movie star looking then we would say well it's no wonder the way he looks no there was nothing there this is our Lord this is our Lord there was nothing in him Magisterial there was nothing in him physically that made people look upon him so thank God for the way you look and say Lord use me just as I am use me it says it says he was despised verse 3 he was despised and forsaken of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief he was despised and forsaken of men despised now I know that there's people that don't like me I don't know anybody who despises me you know this man was despised by so many you think you have a rough life welcome to the world of the Messiah he says it says he was despised and forsaken of men have you ever been forsaken have you ever had anybody forsake you have you ever been left because somebody left you it says he was forsaken he understands what you're going through he understands your pain this is our Messiah a faithful high priest not some great movie star not some great earthly king this is our Messiah this is the description of him it says that that he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief other translations will sometimes say that that he was he was he was a man who had pain and acquainted with sickness have you ever had pain and sickness have you ever had sorrow and grief my Jesus knows what that's like our Jesus knows what that's like you see this picture there's so much revealed about Jesus in the Old Testament that's not even recorded in the New Testament here we have a description of him as a person what he was like it says when Jesus was walking on the road to Emmaus he started to teach the people and he says they said after he had appeared to them and and and he disappeared from the presence they said we're not our hearts burning within us when he spoke to us along the road and opened the scriptures to us he opened them what Scripture not the New Testament it hadn't even been written yet it was the Old Testament he was opening this word to them and explaining it says he explained himself in the scriptures this is what were he's talking about he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and like one from whom men hide their face they hid their face from him that means they look at him like oh not that guy I don't know if that pain has ever hit you have you ever had that pain once when I was in college there were several guys myself and several other guys and we were talking to this really beautiful young lady and I wasn't saying much I mean what am I gonna say and everybody's talking and I just said like one sentence and she looked at me like I mean I'll tell you that broke my heart it did even to this day there's still a little wound there I mean you guys may laugh about this but I'm telling you and all of you have been hit by this all of you have been hit by this and you know the pain you know the sting like why don't I just go somewhere and just die you know what I'm talking about it says he was despised and like one from whom men hide their face he was despised and we did not esteem him he knows what it's like to have a person just turn away and disgust we didn't dismiss despised so it says it twice in this one verse in verse 3 he was despised in the beginning and then in the last sentence of it again he was despised do you think the Scriptures was trying to teach us something no Jesus wasn't despised yes he was despised multiple times this is our Lord this is what he's gone through for us surely our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried again pains the sickness sorrows and grief what is your pain what is the pain that you go through today what is the pain he says he says that our griefs he bore our sorrows he carried yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken smitten of God and afflicted yet we just let him go we esteemed him stricken smitten of God that we just he got what he deserved I remember my mother the first time this this was in in the 1970s when I came to the Lord she wanted to see what I was into I said go ahead read the New Testament and she read the entire New Testament something that very few Christians have even done from Matthew to Revelation she read the entire thing I said would what do you think she said I don't blame them for killing Jesus for what he said who is he this young man in his thirties coming against these religious leaders that have dedicated their lives to helping people who is he to say to them you're whitewashed tombs how dare you speak like that he got what he deserved does that shake you up well if you're not a believer and you're a Jew that's exactly what you're going to say then I told her to read the Old Testament she read the entire Old Testament from beginning to end again something that very few believers have even done when she got down I said what do you think she said he warned us God warned us over and over again he warned us my mother passed away just a few months ago and I got hold of her Bible and and my dad was taken taking her jewelry and giving it away to the kids I said I don't care for any of the jewelry I just want the Bible he says you could have the Bible she recorded nine times where she read that Bible from Genesis to Revelation she came to the Lord in the year 2000 it's recorded right there and on page 1 of Genesis chapter 1 the day that she came to the Lord and the day that she got baptized she said my husband Eli he's gone to his poker game I'm getting baptized today she put it right in her Bible the Word of God is powerful you want to see somebody saved you get them to read the New Testament twice if you do not know the Lord I challenge you to read the New Testament twice and when you read it pick it up and say Lord speak to me if this is real speak to me sometime during that process you will not complete it a second time sometime during the process you will get saved it happened I mean there was a professor rice he was reading the New Testament I said you get saved he laughed at me little while later he came to me I just want to know I became a Christian he said I knew you what you can't read the New Testament twice without getting saved it says in verse five but he was pierced through for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities and the chastening for our well-being fell upon him and by his scourging we are healed he was pierced through for our transgressions how much clearer would you like God to make it could he have been more explicit this is a picture of Jesus right here in the Old Testament you say well it must have been written after his life no it couldn't have been this is all figured out guys let me tell you the Dead Sea scrolls were found the Dead Sea Scrolls are from 300 years 300 BC before Jesus was born they record Isaiah 53 more than any other thing they record Isaiah 53 over and over again Isaiah 53 is recorded this was written 700 years before the birth of Christ we have copies of the scriptures that date back before the birth of Christ this is describing our Lord this is the description of him the evidence is right here 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 has turned to his own way but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall upon him you know the Scriptures talk about this the Scriptures tell us this it says that Jesus died for the ungodly jeeze died for the ungodly in in not in Romans chapter 4 it says he dies for the ungodly he gives himself for the ungodly think about this this is an interesting thing that the Jesus would would suffer and die for the ungodly in in Romans chapter 4 verse 5 it says that he gives himself for the ungodly he is our advocate you know what an advocate does an advocate pleads on behalf of the innocent please they plead on behalf of the in Vincent Jesus pleads on behalf of the guilty he pleads on our behalf we are guilty and he pleads on our behalf he says come to me this is the message of the gospel come to me come to me this is the message of the gospel come to me all of us like sheep have gone astray if you think you're pretty good you're deluded you're not pretty good let me tell you what we're gonna have within 50 years a hundred years at the most but I think within 50 years we'll be able to plug right into a brain and project up your thoughts on a screen how would you like that how'd you like your thoughts on a little screen on your forehead so that your spouse can see exactly what you're thinking how would you like that if our thoughts do not condemn us we are deluded I'm very fast condemn us we are corrupt ultimate corruption in every way if there be any good in us if there be any good this is from God we of ourselves are totally corrupt and it says all of us 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 he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he did not open his mouth like a lamb that is led to slaughter and like a sheep that is silent before his Shearer's so he did not open his mouth even his vacillating judge came to him and said you're not even gonna speak up and Pilate said I find no guilt in this man I don't find any guilt in him there was no guilt in Jesus he had trial a trial before the Sanhedrin he had trial before the civil courts he had trial before it before the Sanhedrin again again and again he was tried yet he did not open 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 for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due Jesus was cut off out of the land of the living for our sake he was cut off out of the land of the living for our sake if you do not know the Lord today my heart is totally for you this message is for you if anybody gets something out of this other than you guys that's great but this is for the unbeliever today I am just driven to go after the unbelievers if you do not know Jesus Christ I want to say the message of the gospel is come come it says that he was cut off out of the land of the living for our transgressions for our transgressions he says come to me come to me this is your day this is your day the Bible describes this you are among the elect the elect means those who are called to come and he say well how do you know among the elect because you wouldn't be here if you weren't among the elect you wouldn't be here really Satan would have you doing something somewhere else you wouldn't be here if you weren't among the elect this is for you to come this day to Jesus don't let this day pass by I have no authority to tell you this message tomorrow the Bible says behold now is the day of salvation now is the time today is the day of salvation the Bible says come to Jesus today today he has given his life for you verse nine his grave was assigned with wicked men yet he was a rich man in his death because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth he was going to be thrown in a commoners grave but a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea came in and got him and put him in his own grave he was in a rich man's grave how can you how can you write this seven hundred years before the man is born without this being of God this has all been worked out any historian will tell you this is way predates the birth of Jesus any historian will tell you that so if you say oh this is bunch of nonsense no you are believing a bunch of nonsense this is not nonsense this is real stuff and your life is on the line don't let this day pass by for all you know that the decree may come leave him alone he's given unto idols as the scripture say in Hosea or even worse set your house in order for tomorrow you shall die come to Jesus today come to him verse 10 but the Lord was pleased to crush him putting him to grief if he would render himself as a guilt offering he will see his offspring he will prolong his days and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand there it is again he will prosper he will prosper it has to happen God said it will happen he will prosper you want to know the prosperity message it's tonight this is the prosperity must this is what it means to prosper in the Lord I don't know what kind of views you have about other types of prosperity but this is what's imaged for us in prosperity in the Lord this is what's imaged for us prosperity in the Lord is total self donation one for the other if you come to that point you are prospering when you give of yourself for the other this is scriptural prosperity verse 11 and as a result of the anguish of the soul we'll see it and be satisfied by his knowledge the righteous one my servant will justify the many as he will bear their iniquities the message of the gospel is this that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us he gave himself for us therefore I will allot him a portion with the Great and he will divide the booty with the strong because he poured out himself to death and he was numbered with the transgressors yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors the New Testament tells us that Jesus lives to make intercession on our behalf think about that why does Jesus live he lives to pray for us Jesus lives to make intercession on our behalf are you a father are your husband you are called to pray for your family you are called to pray you can't just say I leave that up to my wife no you are called to pray for your family you are called to pray for your wife you're called to pray for your children I rise up first thing in the morning I pray for my wife and I pray for my children we are called to do this Jesus demonstrates this to us he intercedes for the transgressors he intercedes on our behalf Jesus lives to make intercession on our behalf we are called to do this this is our job and I'm gonna wrap up with this this is the thing that I see breaks all the intellectuals in Romans chapter 10 verse 9 Romans chapter 10 verse 9 says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved this is the this is the hurdle right here you've got to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead and I will look at these intellectuals and I will say it is hard to believe in a resurrection isn't it yeah it is hard because we've only got this data point it's not like you see people raising from the dead every day and then I say to them this you know you can look at this you can examine this there's more written more documented about the resurrection of Jesus Christ than any other event in that period of history and time more written about that than anything else any scholar any scholar of religion regardless of what religions with their from any academic scholar of religion they can be Hindu they can be Christian they can be Buddhist any academic scholar of religion will indeed say that the disciples of Jesus believed him to have risen from the dead all right but you don't even need that the only way that I can explain this is exactly how I explained it to them the only way that I can explain how men and women all the time I see it with my own eyes intellectuals men and women all the time coming to Jesus and believing in his resurrection is this that God has placed this truth on the heart of every man and woman that's the only way there is nothing so incredible as a resurrection that I could make you believe in this in a five-minute conversation no way if I say I'm gonna make you believe in Santa Claus no never gonna walk out believing in Santa Claus but because this is true that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead physically from the dead in in in Luke's Gospel it says that in the end of Luke in Luke chapter 24 it says Jesus appeared to his disciples and they thought they were seeing a ghost to spirit and he said to them come touch my hands touch me feel me I have flesh and bones I'm not just a spirit then he said to them you got something to eat let's give him some fish she just likes fish he was always cooking fish on the beach and it's if he eats it it's got to be Jesus and he took the fish says he ate it he says I asked you he says have you he said he said spirits don't eat spirits don't eat Jesus said that Jesus said spirits don't eat did you see me eating I ask you have you ever seen a spirit eat no you haven't Jesus is right spirits don't eat heroes physically from the dead it's not just a spiritual thing he said to Thomas Thomas didn't wanna believe says I will never believe in this in the end of John's Gospel Jesus said appeared to him he said Shalom Aleichem he says come take your finger because Thomas said I won't believe until I stick my finger into the holes in his hands until I stick my hand into the hole in his side so he appears to them he says Thomas come here and Thomas is like this is come here Thomas you take your finger and you stick it in a hole in my hand now I want you to take your hand and stick it in the hole in my side you imagine Thomas is like just know deep deep go in there this is flesh Jesus rose physically from the dead I am speaking now to the unbeliever here God has placed the truth in your heart already the truth that Jesus has risen from the dead that truth is already there in your heart and I ask you this day as I pray I'm going to close in prayer to invite Jesus into your heart to proclaim that Jesus is Lord and I believe he's risen from the dead if you are a believer and you have never believed really in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ just a spiritual I'm calling you right back to what the scriptures say we must believe in his resurrection and his resurrection was not a spiritual thing it was a physical thing so physical that the disciples died because of this died for this testimony it is physical and if you've drifted away from the Lord I'm calling you back this day the Word of God is true every word in this book is true every word let everything else be a lie this book is true long after you're dead and gone this this word will remain because it's true this book is true this was a prophecy and it's just piled upon fact upon fact evidence upon evidence how much more would you like to understand that this book is true to bow before God and to say Lord thank you for your word oh how I love his word oh how I love the Bible it is true every word in the Bible is true read it meditate on it and you will be blessed let's pray Abba Father I pray in the name of Jesus then you come upon this place right now by the power of the Holy Spirit I pray here this day for those who do not know you that they would repeat in with me in this prayer Lord Jesus forgive me because I am a sinner Lord Jesus forgive me thank you for carrying my sin on the cross with you thank you Lord Jesus for dying for me I believe that Jesus is Lord and I believe that he has risen from the dead thank you Lord fill me to overflowing with your Holy Spirit thank you Lord and father I pray today for those that know you but have never taken deep hold of the fact of the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ I pray Lord that this day they would take hold of that and that they would trust your word for those that have vacillated concerning your word father I pray that they would take hold and bow before you and say Lord forgive me for sinning against you by not believing your word lord I pray forgive me and father I pray for my brothers and sisters here today give them a greater love for the word of God a greater love for Jesus in whom is body all goodness and all truth the very son of God the one whom we worship the one whom we honor the one who is written about here the very arm of God who brought salvation to this world thank you Lord Jesus glory be to your name glory be to your name for you bore it all upon yourself on the cross our sin you carried on our behalf you were wounded you abused abused you were beaten you are marred more than any other man you are the one who Lord praise be to your name glory be to our Lord Jesus Christ and for your glory I offer this to you Lord amen

Channel: Houston's First

Views: 33,629

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Keywords: christian, christianity, jesus, jewish, messianic jew, easter, bible, biblical evidence, gospel, salvation, maundy thursday, resurrection, houston, chemistry, science, engineering, professor, rice university, god, christ, isaiah

Id: 3DlWkDkNLQo

Length: 38min 32sec (2312 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 22 2019