Gospel Preaching of Isaiah - 3 - John MacArthur

Thank You Jessica beautifully beautifully done I I don't think he'll ever be the same after being so overexposed to Isaiah 53 as we have been in terms of thought and even in music that was written by one of those Jews that that chapter melted his heart Marty Goetz a Jewish believer who wrote that and is a preview of the future salvation of Israel himself a converted Jew I've been in ministry with him a number of times and always greatly blessed and he has a rich understanding of the Old Testament that comes through and that that song you do remember that at the end of how our Lord ministry on the road to Emmaus that he ran into two of the disciples who were caught up in the sorrow over the way things had gone and they thought they confessed that he would have been the Messiah but he had been killed and you remember that Jesus then opened the scripture and taught them everything concerning himself beginning at Moses and the prophets and all the holy writings the three Jewish sections of the Old Testament he went through them all and taught the things concerning himself about his suffering and about his glory and Peter says that doesn't he first Peter 1 10 and 11 that the prophets wrote down things they didn't understand and they looked into those things to see what time and what person they were writing about concerning the one who was to come and suffer and be glorified those two great aspects of the career of our Lord Jesus are featured here in this section of Scripture as we already saw in verse 50 chapter 52 verse 13 to 15 God introduces the career of Messiah by making reference to his glory initial glory to his humiliation and suffering and then to his ultimate and final triumph and glory in verse 15 that's the broad sweep over the career the details then show up in this confessional that comes from the Jews and is recorded in chapter 53 verses 1 through 11 a I guess you could say now we have been looking at this confession which focuses up to this point on the humiliation of Christ and we're going to come to the final section in these five stanzas we have looked at the startling servant in the opening stanza we have looked at the scorned servant in verses 1 through 3 we have looked at the substituted servant in verses 4 through 6 and we have looked at the submissive servant who submitted himself in his trial in his abuse and in his death to the will of God in silence and now we come to the final stanza which is the and I always think of several words I'd like to use the sovereign servant or maybe even the satisfied servant both would be true let me read you the final section verses 10 to 12 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 that's a dramatic change and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand as a result of the anguish of his soul he will see and be satisfied and that's where the confession ends the Jews will one day confess not only the significance of the humiliation of Christ but they will confess his coming glory his satisfaction this final stanza is kind of like a reservoir into which all the main rivers flow here the enigma of of chapter 52 verses 13 to 15 which is an enigma because you have a glorious one humiliated and then glorified again then here it is explained we've gone through the humiliation and now comes the full explanation following his marring his abuse and even his death is his resurrection and his exaltation you're going to see it clearly because you are so familiar with the New Testament and that's as it should be you should not miss a detail of this incredible ending to this section of Isaiah up to this point the provisions and the benefits of the servants death have been viewed from the perspective of the redeemed people namely Israel but there is a shift as we come to the section that I just read to you we have a few more words from the penitence and then we hear from God and that is really important did they get it right was the confession legitimate if this is what Israel said how do we know that this is right they've gotten a lot of things wrong is this an accurate confession is this an accurate assessment of the meaning of the death of Christ and the answer comes in God's response in which he affirms it did the Jews understand it rightly and God will give us his final assessment of this perception of the cross but before we get to that the way up starts with a brief summary of the humiliation the Lord was pleased to crush him putting him to grief if he would render himself as a guilt offering Yahweh is in the fatik position here while men were crushing him as we read earlier back in verse 7 he was afflicted he was oppressed he was crushed back in verse 5 men were doing their best to crush him and they actually crushed him all the way to death they were doing the worst that sinners could do but at the same time God was crushing him and God was pleased to crush him God delighted in crushing him while sinners would were doing the worst they could do God was doing the best he could do he was God's lamb behold the lamb of God he was God's chosen lamb God selected lamb and his death was the work of God verse 4 he was stricken he was smitten he was afflicted of God they were right about that and here we find that in fact God was the executioner in spite of what the popular heresies surrounding a new perspective say this was divine child abuse and God found pleasure in it by the way according to Ezekiel 18 God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked but he found great pleasure in the death of the righteous one God's delight and listen and God's pleasure in crushing his son was not in his pain but in his purpose his pleasure was not in the agony it was in the accomplishment it was not in his personal suffering but in his salvation this is really a staggering reality that God could could find pleasure in crushing the life out of his own righteous son in order to save us the unrighteous God was pleased the Lord was pleased to crush him putting him to grief making him sick literally at Hebrew vicariously sick with all the afflictions that come with substitutionary suffering he crushed him painfully he crushed him agonizingly in fact even in anticipation of the crushing Jesus was sweating as it were great drops of blood in the garden and eating if it was God's will for him to somehow set this cup aside people say if if he was committed to doing the will of God so totally and devotedly why would he ever pray like that why would he ever say father let this cup pass from me isn't that demonstrate a flaw doesn't that demonstrate a weakness and it doesn't that demonstrate perhaps the possibility that he could sin well quite the contrary if he hadn't reacted like that it would call his holiness into question if he hadn't reacted that way about the thought of taking on sin then you would question his holiness it does the opposite how else would you expect him to respond to the anticipated sin bearing let me tell you about his his grief his being crushed Jesus did not die the death of a martyr I've read about a lot of martyrs I love the story of the martyrs I have an original Edition three volumes of foxes Book of Martyrs three massive first edition volumes Steve and I share tremendous enthusiasm for the stories of the martyrs he has a picture of a martyr in front of his Bible just to remind him of the price that some have paid but let me tell you somethin bout martyrs they die with a song on their lips you go back and you look at the history so many of them died singing praising God they had a song on their lipstick because they had a song in their heart their words are words of hope trust confidence our Lord's death had none of that none of it he didn't sing there were no hymns there were no songs he didn't recite Scripture so many times the martyrs recited Scripture and found comfort martyrs died under the comfort of the Holy Spirit when they come to that our grace is elevated and expanded to cover the agonizing reality of what is happening and bury it under the anticipation of the hope of glory so the death of martyrs is some kind of magnificent tribute to their love for Christ martyrs you could say die under the sweet comforts of grace martyrs died experiencing the loving enrapturing encouragement of the Holy Spirit martyrs died in the sweet presence of God they died with the taste of heaven on their lips Jesus didn't die that way listen Jesus did not die under the sweet comforts of grace he died under the full terrors of the law comfortless unmitigated he died under the unrelieved judgment of God the law offers no comfort the wrath of God offers no mercy only fury martyrs died with a taste of heaven Jesus died with a taste of hell no sweet comfort out of his mouth came my God my God why have you forsaken me no believer has ever died like that that's how every non-believer dies he died the death of a non-believer comfortless wrath without mercy judgment without comfort why in the world would God put him in that position the Hebrew would read this way because he would render himself as a guilt offering because he would render himself literally he would make his own soul a guilt offering nephesh he would make its use 45 different ways in the Old Testament could find 45 different English translations for nephesh it means the inner person he would make himself a guilt offering perfect obedience perfect wickedness not in one sense imposed on him because he was willing that's why he said in the garden nevertheless not my will but yours be done he made himself a literally a trespass offering there were five mosaic offerings the burnt offering the grain offering the peace offering the sin offering and then the fifth was the guilt or trespass offering three of those were animal sacrifices the burnt offering the sin offering and the guilt offering were animal sacrifices if you read in Leviticus five six and seven the guilt or trespass offering is last and this is the daily sacrifice that was constantly required it was the sin offering the final ultimate sin offering and this is exactly how God viewed the death of Christ as the sin offering the first to the burnt and the sin offering or the trespass offering the burnt and the sin offering had one aspect missing that comes into the literature of Leviticus on the trespass or guilt offering and what is added is restitution restitution or if you will satisfaction or if you like it better propitiation mamekam take time to drag you through all of the study of those things suffice it to say the most complete offering was the guilt offering or called the trespass offering because it contained the idea of restitution satisfaction propitiation in other words it demonstrated the fact that God could be satisfied and that full payment could be made for sin so that the debt would be paid and the sinner would be free so when God views the death of his son it is not a sacrifice with any of the limitations of the first two it is the full sacrifice that incorporates the full satisfaction the full propitiation sacrifice of the servant is the full compensatory payment the whole offering you remember in that guilt and trespass offering do you remember the whole offering was given to God not part of it all of it the whole offering was to satisfy holy justice the other ones a portion was given to the priests and when we confess Jesus as Lord we acknowledge that he is the sacrifice for sin that satisfies God first John 2 he's the satisfaction for our sins and not for ours only but the sins of the whole world someday in the future and this is still the Jews talking they're going to confess expiation that he took our sins and hauled them away and they're going to confess that he brought propitiation satisfaction to the Justice of God this could be a reformed soteriology creed all the elements are there that is why God did what he did to his son because he was rendering him the full compensatory sacrifice to satisfy his holy justice on behalf of unworthy sinners is this not grace upon grace is this not love beyond comprehension and between the phrase he will render himself he would render himself as a guilt offering and the next one he will see his offspring you have a remarkable reality he will see his offspring how can you see his offspring he's dead we we like to think we'll see our children we always say no parents I'm supposed to die before children do we want to see our children grow up and you know I'm at the pointing of 15 grandchildren they go from 22 to 2 you know the older ones are gonna get married and I would love to see their children I would love to see that but but if I die I'll never see that I'll never see my posterity I would love to think that the legacy that I've tried to leave to my children they'll carry out when I'm gone I would love to see the precious grandchildren that I love I'm baptizing my way through the ranks not six deep now I would love to see what they become in Christ I would love to see that I would love the joy of seeing that but I I'm gonna die and I'm not going to see that but here's one who died and he will see his offspring we're cut off by death snatched away he died yet he will see his spiritual offspring he will see all the redeemed he will see all the saved of all the ages and they will all be known to him and loved by him and worshiping him and serving him in his presence forever and ever and ever he's not like the king of Babylon in chapter 14 of Isaiah and verse 18 all the kings of the nations lie in glory each in his own tomb each in his own tomb but you've been cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch clothed with the slain who were pierced with a sword to go down to the stones of the pit like a trampled corpse you'll not be united with them in burial because you've ruined your country you've slain your people may the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned for ever prepare for his sons a place of slaughter because of the iniquity of their fathers they must not arise and take possession of the earth and fill the face of the world with cities in other words when the bad people are dead they're better dead I'll rise up against him declares the Lord of Hosts I'll cut off from Babylon name and survivor's offspring and posterity the king of Babylon is powerful as he was was going to be cut off and executed by God he would never see his progeny but our king is not like the king of Babylon he was cut off but only temporarily he will see his offspring and he will know us by name in fact according to the book of Revelation he'll give us a name we've never had before and it's the name which no man knew can't tell you how many people have asked me what's that name I I appreciate the confidence you have in me but then it says he will prolong his days he will see his offspring he will prolong his days then essentially he'll be the possessor of eternal life he is life right in him was life and life is the light of men he ever lives to see all his elect children born into his family and then to live forever with them in glory it's a it's a he bray ism he will prolong his days you find it in exodus deuteronomy in proverbs and it means life without end he will see his offspring his bride in glory forever and that is how the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand he will bring all his sons to glory he will bring his elect bride into the bridal City to be with him forever and ever just magnificent imagery picture of the promised triumph of Christ and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand what is the good pleasure of the Lord what we've already read about it verse 6 the Lord was pleased to crush him and then we just read it again in verse 10 the Lord was pleased to crush him verse 6 the Lord caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him why did the Lord do that because his good pleasure back to verse 10 was to render him as a what as a guilt offering to render him as a guilt offering plan of God was to save sinners and there had to be a sacrifice God's pleasure is found in saving sinners for his eternal glory you heard it said today from Romans for the sake of the name and John writes about that in his epistle and he says the evangelists went out for the sake of the name God is gathering her deemed humanity into heaven for his own glory and God is satisfied in the accomplishment of Christ to make that a reality it will be with equal joy and pleasure and satisfaction to the son verse 11 as a result of the anguish of his soul he will see and you notice in italics in the NA s and see it and it literally says he will see with satisfaction God will be pleased and the son will be satisfied the anguish of his soul by the way carries on the metaphor of childbirth it's childbirth language birth pains labor pains he will bring forth his children and he will see his offspring he will bring forth children and he will see his offspring and be satisfied God is satisfied in the atoning sacrifice of Christ God is satisfied with its result and so is Christ they are satisfied when the redeemed of all the ages are forever gathered in the glory of heaven as a bride as sons and daughters as Kingdom subjects to love and worship and serve in the presence of God for ever and ever and I think especially glorious in the case of Israel because Israel is described in Isaiah 62 as an adulterous wife and like Hosea who bought his wife off the prostitute market God will buy back adulterous Israel and to be satisfied means that that heaven will enjoy this to the full the servants full joy and satisfaction comes in offering himself as a guilt offering to provide forgiveness Redemption righteousness conversion justification salvation transformation sanctification glorification bringing his people to glory the Jews will confess at all they even understand the reason for everything in the future this is still their confession this will be what satisfies God and what satisfies Christ I hope you understand that the whole purpose for all of redemptive work is for the satisfaction of God and the pleasure of God you know we are in a sense incidental to this this isn't about us it is about the satisfaction of God in Christ it is about the glory of God and Christ what a day that will be when we're all gathered in the glory and the bride is complete now with that we come to the closing point here where their confession is now ended and and the enigma of verses 13 to 15 and 50 - that's an enigma the glorious one who is God becomes humiliated and then is glorified what is that about and then that's late in the confession the Jews will see it and understand it as we read down through verse 11a but now God speaks again in verse 11 Yahweh is the speaker and the verbs immediately change they've up to this point all been in the past tense as Israel looks back at the at the Christ they rejected and they now become future tense and God declares what is to come no longer is it a group of people speaking about something in the past it is God who's speaking about something in the future and this is God's final commentary on the validity of their confession this is God saying their confession is true and accurate middle of verse 11 by his knowledge the righteous one my servant will justify the many and he will bear their iniquities that's all God has to say they were right he will bear their iniquities 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 was numbered with the transgressors yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors and if you think that's redundant because it's already been said then you must remember that it was said by the Jews in retrospect in the future looking back and hear what they say is affirmed by God as a true assessment of his death this is such an important statement to start with by his knowledge the righteous one my servant will justify the many some commentators have suggested that this is by his knowledge of God's plan by his knowledge of divine wisdom and by that knowledge he therefore was able to do what God wanted him to do but it is best to interpret this as our knowledge of him not his knowledge but our knowledge our knowledge of him of his person of his saving work of his death of his resurrection of the gospel so it would read this way by knowledge of him the righteous one my servant many will be justified by knowledge of him the righteous one my servant many will be justified it's by the knowledge of Christ by the epignosis the deep and true and accurate understanding of him that one is justified by knowing him do you see faith and grace there do you see works there no it's by the knowledge of the righteous one my servant that many will be justified this validates salvation by grace salvation by faith this is essentially Romans 10 and of course that is just a critical chapter I told you I wish we had time to dig down into that chapter but we understand the heart of it verse 9 if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you'll be saved it's not about works it's about knowing the truth concerning Christ knowing the gospel by the knowledge of him many will be justified for with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation for the scripture says whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed there's no distinction between Jew and Greek and so forth whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved how will they call on whom they have not believed how will they believe in whom they have not heard how will they hear without how will they preach unless they're sent just as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things however they didn't all heed the good news for Isaiah says Lord who has believed our report so faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ here is God Himself affirming that salvation and justification that great truth of justification that forensic truth comes by the true knowledge of the righteous one my servant that is how the many are justified still looking in the future God speaks how can this happen how can people be justified by the knowledge of the righteous one my servant because he will bear their iniquities this is God Himself defining what Christ did on the cross he will bear their iniquities in verse 12 God says it this way because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors because he bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors God wouldn't buy the new perspective on Paul not for a minute God's understanding of the doctrine of justification is our understanding of it he bore the sin of many he was the guilt offering mediated that's what the verb means when it says he interceded he mediated he's the go-between between God and sinners he made the required mediation that began at the cross and continues when you come down to this idea of his mediation he interceded for the transgressors the three previous verbs he will bear their iniquities he poured out himself to death he himself bore the sin of many those are all in a perfect tense perfect tense means completed action with continuing results the final statement and interceded for the transgressors is imperfect meaning it hasn't stopped his mediating work his interceding work is an incomplete work the book of Hebrews says he ever lives to do what to make intercession Hebrews 7:25 Romans 8:34 the intercession goes on and on and on so God Himself affirms the vicarious substitutionary sacrifice of Christ as the only offering to satisfy his justice the only offering to provide salvation for sinners and the only way that sinners can appropriate that salvation is by knowing Christ faith comes by hearing the word concerning Christ that's why Paul preaches and says I am determined to know nothing among you except Christ and him crucified the only way anybody will ever be saved is to make the confession that the Jews have made here finally look at verse 12 the satisfied servant is the sovereign servant and he is exalted I will allot him a portion with the great he will divide the booty with the strong those are interesting statements after the suffering comes the satisfaction after the sorrow comes the salvation after the death comes the deliverance after the gore comes the glory after the pain comes the pleasure after the thorns comes the throne after the cross comes the throne of the crown the text ends in a glorious triumphant victory parade and the exalted Lord is at the head of the parade this is powerful imagery this is royal imagery this would take you back to verse 15 of chapter 52 when he comes to startle many nations shutting the mouths of Kings who are seeing what they've never seen hearing what they've never heard when he appears in triumph this is first of all a reference to his millennial glory as he established his Millennial Kingdom reign and beyond that is the establishment of his eternal glory and eternal throne in the new heaven and the new earth but I want you to notice two things that are here and we'll wrap this study up I will allot him a portion with the great that that's a bit misleading because the word great is probably not the best translation Hara beam literally means the many the many and you know I told you that the word many actually appears five times here the many other redeemed who have and let's give them the let's grant them that translation the many who have become the great the many who have become the exalted and the elevated and the blast who in the language of Romans 8:17 are now joint heirs I will I Oh God says I will allot him a portion the inheritance you know that he is the heir to all that God has but we are joint heirs and so this is so magnificent I will allot him a portion with the great we are heirs and joint heirs we share in a portion of what rightfully belongs to him can I say it another way he shares his eternal riches with us he will lavish us with it forever another way to say that God says he will divide the booty with the strong who are the strong we are the strong how did we get to be the great in the strong 2nd Corinthians 2 because we triumph in Christ we're in the parade we're in the triumph we're on the victory side we win we go into glory and we are the great and all others are defeated and destroyed we are the strong we receive the spoils the treasures this is staggering when we go to heaven we aren't shuffled off in a corner like permanent glorified janitors to sweep up after the divine parties we're heirs and joint heirs and he is given a portion with us and he divides the booty with us this is just stunning the spoils the treasures of eternal glory eternal riches are ours you remember the priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17 where he pleaded with the Father to bring us all to glory Father I want them to be with me in my glory I don't even know how to process that servant who being in the form of God thought it not something to be grasped to hold on to that gave himself up emptied himself went through shame comes out of shame and the way up starts with the fact that his body wasn't thrown into the dump and it ascends out of the grave in the glory of the resurrection did you notice there's nothing in here about the resurrection but none of it would make sense if there wasn't a resurrection it's so obviously implied that it leaves no question he goes from death to life he gathers his chosen with him he brings them to glory and he shares with them all his everlasting riches I don't know that there are words that I could say I know I can't do it justice I don't know that there are words that anyone could say that could capture the full richness of this but this is the most magnanimous thing in all the universe because we were enemies and unworthy and we will reign with him forever father we thank you for telling us these things even though our eyes can't see our minds can't understand we can't begin to even process this kind of reality we are breathless and contemplating this if we don't praise you now then we're stones if we don't speak the glories of the gospel we are bricks lifeless heartless ingrates if we have even the smallest grasp of this we should explode and erupt in grateful praise and push aside all the petty issues of life which so engage us and steal our joy lord help us to be faithful worshipers and evangels for this glorious gospel empower us to that end you might receive all the praise forever and ever we pray amen well we thank the Lord for the excellence of our Savior and we thank the Lord for the excellence of the ministry that we have received that has pointed us to our all excellent Savior I don't know that I've ever been a part of a conference that has had such glorious preaching as we have received through Isaiah 53 I think we would have to think long and hard to look back to our past in our Christian lives has there ever been a time that we have sat under more potent pointed doctrinal illustrative from the text preaching of the word of God than we have sat under and it has all caused our hearts I think to burst a flame yet again with passionate love and fervent devotion for our glorious Savior Jesus Christ we have not been focused on peripheral issues we have not attended to secondary matters what is central and most important nothing supersedes what we have heard what has been most important has been fed to our souls and so we want the Lord now to internalize this the seed that has been sown to fall upon fertile soil and to bear much fruit in our spiritual lives and so I trust as you go back to the place where the Lord has called you to minister for him that place on the wall where God has assigned you to hold up the standard of God's Word and to shepherd the people of God as you go back I pray there's a renewed fire that is burning in your heart that God has reignited something within you that you will give yourself to his to his people to his purposes to his kingdom as never before I prayed that those of you who have come discouraged will leave encouraged I pray that those of you who have come tired will leave energized I pray those of you who have come flat will leave with a triumphant note in your heart and within your soul for those of you who came dragging in may you be catapulted out by the truth of God's glory we want to sing one last him you'll find it on page 23 it is something just to seal this to our hearts and so I would appeal to you to to rally your own heart and to rally your own soul and to sing and as you sing it will stimulate others around you to sing to the Lord as well so if you would turn to page 23 let us stand as one body with one voice with one heart in one place and sing praises to our glorious God and the case so it here's a while with my small Oh my and so say one name Oh it is aware with my son in my sin oh the Bliss of his glorious thought my sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear here to no more praise the Lord praise the Lord O my soul oh it is with my soul so it is I sold face Oh I Oh and not Oh Oh Daisy Oh me it is a while with my soul soon and here's a one Oh it is well with our soul amen dr. John MacArthur thank you for coming to be with us he is a friend of pastors and he has a heart for us we thank the Lord for him Antonio and Giuliano thank you so much John and Adnan thank you so much for your leadership and your oversight and I want to thank Jessica Roberts for singing tonight as you leave may you leave with the wind of heaven and your sails and may you go for the glory of God all right we're getting carried away now so now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory Majesty Dominion and authority before all time and now and forever amen god bless you you're dismissed

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Length: 58min 34sec (3514 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 02 2012