Christ's Sacrificial Love: Understanding Isaiah 53

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And God did provide a way that He had before the beginning of time to pay our sin debt because He knew we couldn't pay it ourselves. I'm so thankful that He loved us enough to share that with us, but He still let us have free will. He still allows us to struggle and to strive and to pout and to moan and to cry, but what about poor pitiful me? [00:40:23]

But as we read Isaiah chapter 53, we're going to find out that Jesus took upon Himself all the sins of mankind, past, present, and future. He's taken that burden, and we can't even comprehend that amount of burden. To us, it's a burden if we stump our toe in the middle of the night going to the bathroom. [00:41:05]

He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we did not esteem him. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. [00:43:26]

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon him. And by his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. [00:43:53]

The immense suffering, the torture, the brutality that Jesus had to bear was for the sin of all men, for my sins. I put him there, Lord. I'm just thankful that you loved us so much that you put a substitute in our place. For we could not endure the things that Jesus endured for us to pay that sin debt. [00:44:39]

We know that the human Jesus struggled in the garden as he prayed. And then he, after his struggle, realized not his will, but your will. And he surrendered to that. Lord, we thank you that when we get to that point in our lives, which some it's daily, some it's ever so often, but when we get to that point where we realize we can't do it, we don't want to do it, but we finally surrender to your will. [00:45:06]

We're in a spiritual warfare. So, when Satan starts attacking us like he is in every family in this congregation, you're not immune to it. You're open for Satan to attack. And the closer you get to God, the more Satan's going to whoop on you. And you say, well, that don't make me want to be a Christian at all. By his stripes, we are healed. [00:50:02]

Servants' bearing of griefs and sorrow signifies the taking on of both guilt and the consequences of sin. It's an act of substitution. And it's central to understanding Christ's work. He is our substitute. We had a debt to pay that we could not pay. Some people like to make it financial. If we just wiped out all of your financial debt, would you be happy? [00:53:55]

The burden of our griefs and sorrows was deep and it was hard. Secondly, the price of our peace in verse 5. Verse 5 says, but He was wounded or pierced for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. The penalty for our sin. God, we're born into sin. Do you understand that? [00:55:27]

So what I want you to understand is when we fall off, when we turn away, when we turn aside, God has not kicked you to the curb. God has not said He's done with you. He's sitting there just like the father in the prodigal son story saying, and when you walk back home, when He sees you, He runs to you and embraces you and accepts you in His family. [00:58:24]

Cultivate a heart of gratitude. Remember that person that saved your life 20 minutes ago? That person that picked you up off the floor after you were choking to death or suffering from a heart attack or whatever, pulled you out of whatever the situation might have been. Understand that your heart of gratefulness needs to be that times a gazillion for the Lord Jesus Christ. [01:10:45]

As we prepare to move forward to the Lord's Supper, I invite all of you to search your soul, search your heart, search your mind, make things right in that setting, and let the Lord work out those opportunities that we all need to be a part of. Glorifying Him every day in all that we do. [01:18:24]

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