Lessons for Life with James Long, Jr.
Are you longing to find answers to the deeper issues of life? Join James, a pastor, counselor, and university professor with over 30 years of experience. Hear James as he tackles some of life's biggest questions and helps us find God's solutions to life's struggles. Learn the power of living by God's grace and for His glory. Experience the joy of forgiveness and freedom found in Jesus Christ alone. If you are on a search for freedom, you will love being part of this conversation. Subscribe, and enjoy the show!
Lessons for Life with James Long, Jr.
Pierced for Our Transgressions
ABOUT JAMES AND LESSONS FOR LIFE
Are you longing to find answers to the deeper issues of life? Join Dr. James Long, Jr., a pastor, counselor, and university professor with over 30 years of experience. Hear James as he tackles some of life’s biggest questions and helps us find God’s solutions to life’s struggles. Learn the power of living by God’s grace and for His glory. Experience the joy of forgiveness and freedom found in Jesus Christ alone. If you are in search of freedom, you will love being part of this conversation. Subscribe, and enjoy the show!
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If you have your Bibles, would you turn with me to Isaiah, chapter 53? I'll also have it on the screen tonight. So there are moments in history that are so significant and so sacred that words fail. A battlefield at dawn, a flag that's folded and handed to a grieving family member, a hospital room that's quiet as a person takes their last breath. There is something about that time. There is something about those moments that demand silence. It's saying that the moment is saying everything, and that's exactly what is happening at Good Friday.
Speaker 1:As you look to what the Son did for you and for me. It is amazing. Tonight we're going to look back at a prophecy that was written 700 years before the Lord Jesus Christ, from Isaiah, chapter 53. We come here to stand victorious in the Savior. We come to witness, through the eyes of a prophet, the passion of the Christ 700 years before it actually happened. Isaiah 53 is probably one of the clearest prophecies in all of scripture about what Jesus did and why he did it. This is the chapter that reads like a divine biography of what the Savior did for you and for me, and it invites us to walk slowly past the cross. So I want you to walk slowly and I want you to hear the silence of the lamb, and I want you to realize what it costs to redeem you and me, and I want you to realize what it costs to redeem you and me. So, whether you're a new follower to the Lord Jesus Christ, or maybe you're a skeptic, you're not completely sure, or maybe you've been in Christ for years, I pray that you would hear Isaiah 53 in a different way and I pray that you would see the Savior that bled and died for us, a Savior that was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities and he satisfied the justice of God so that you could be free. So tonight I invite you to four movements in this passage. These four movements go this way and I want you to be awed by the Savior. And we see these four movements.
Speaker 1:Why was he rejected? That's the first one. It's a question of perception. Second, we're going to look at what did he carry? It's a question of submission. Third, we're going to look at how did he respond? It's a question of character. And then, fourth, we'll look at what did he accomplish? It's a question of purpose.
Speaker 1:Now, my prayer is simple. Tonight, my prayer is that you, your heart, would be stirred anew by what Christ has done for you. I pray that you would have a renewed sense of worship and awe at what Christ has done, and I pray that tonight, as we walk through the sacred story, that you'll see a suffering servant. But, greater than that, you'll remember what he did for you and for us. I pray tonight that we would see a Savior who bled and died, a Savior that rose victoriously, a Savior that, amazingly, right now is seated at your right hand interceding for us. So, as we go to this passage, 700 years before your son was even born, I pray that we would hear your words, believe the prophecy and believe the Savior that has come and rose again. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
Speaker 1:Well, I want you to consider tonight this passage from Isaiah 53. And the first view that we're going to look at is why was he rejected? Why was he rejected? And what we see here is this In Isaiah 53, verse 1, it says this who has believed what he has heard and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Speaker 1:Now, what Isaiah is doing here is he opens the scene and he opens with two questions. You see these two questions who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Now Isaiah is speaking prophetically and I want you to think of a group of people, maybe like you and me, that are in the viewpoint of the cross. The cross has already happened, jesus has already died, and we look back at the cross and the people are saying I don't understand how we missed it. Isaiah is speaking prophetically on behalf of a future generation, one who has come to believe in the Messiah, who previously rejected him. It's a lament. They said we didn't see it, we didn't understand. How could we have missed it? This phrase the arm of the Lord has been revealed. That means about the sovereign hand of God In the Old Testament. When that phrase is used, it talks about the power of God to save and to deliver. In other words, isaiah is saying that God revealed his salvation to us in Christ, and the people during his time missed it. I wonder if people will miss it during our times as well. And the question is how could you miss the Lord, jesus Christ, how could you miss what he was saying? Well, I think they missed it because they were looking for someone radically different in their viewpoint. They had this royal king in their minds. They didn't have what Jesus was, because Jesus was a seemingly unimpressive Savior. Watch what it says here.
Speaker 1:It says in verse two for he grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of the ground. He had no form of majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. See, jesus didn't arrive with splendor. He came here in quiet. He came here like a tender shoot, a fragile one. That's what the passage says. And he's coming out of this dry ground. That is happening.
Speaker 1:The spiritual time was dry and broken and Jesus was breaking through at that time. Now, he wasn't coming in royalness and he wasn't coming in the splendor. This wasn't what the people were expecting. You see that he has no form or majesty that we should look upon him. That form of majesty suggests regalness, and they were looking for some regal king and they did not get it. They didn't have a commanding presence in Jesus. They did not see who they thought. That's not Jesus. That's not the way he was walking. He would actually walk through the streets of Nazareth and people didn't even notice him. And it was reasonless because in their minds, when they were looking for a Messiah. They were looking for somebody who was a very impressive person. They were looking for somebody who was a warrior, not a wanderer. They were looking for a commander, not a carpenter. And they were looking for a crown, not a cross.
Speaker 1:It wasn't just that he was an unimpressive savior, but in verse 3, it shows this. It says that he was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrow and acquainted with grief, as one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him. Not Not only was he an unimpressive Savior, but he was a sorrowful Savior. Jesus wasn't just simply ignored. It says he was despised. You could see it twice. He was despised and rejected. Near the end, he was despised and we had esteemed him. Not, he was a man of sorrow, because he was crushed by that rejection. The King of kings, the Lord of Lords, has come here among us. We didn't recognize him. We went right by him. He wasn't the kind of person that people gravitate to. In fact, he was the kind of person that people turned away from and he bore the pain of this world that just didn't want him, and I wonder if that's us today. He entered the sorrow by himself for you if you trust in him. We didn't esteem him. The passage says we didn't value him. We saw no significance in Jesus. He was just a nobody. In fact he was a nobody that was being crucified. So he must have done something wrong.
Speaker 1:I wonder tonight, as we sit down and think about these first three verses, I wonder about the question of perception for you and me. I wonder if in our age do we miss him too? You know, today Jesus is constantly being rejected. His name is on the lips of so many people today, but usually when it's on their lips, it's on their lips, and not in reverence and not in worship, but in a curse and in anger. And his name is voiced day after day, not in awe, not in worship. But I wonder if it's that people are rejecting him because they're not closely seeing who he is. They just don't see him at all. They go through life and they don't even consider him. And that is what happened with these people. But I want you to know some good news Even though we did not esteem him, he esteemed his father and he desired a relationship with you. He came here to be dismissed and abandoned. He came here to be mocked so that you could be set you. He came here to be dismissed and abandoned. He came here to be mocked so that you could be set free. He came here to turn ones who have turned away from him to turn their hearts to God.
Speaker 1:The second thing we see is that what did he carry? Now, this is huge. Verses four through six. In verse four it says surely he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him, stricken, smitten by God. Has anybody carried the weight of somebody else's guilt? Maybe you were blamed for something somebody else did and as you went through that, maybe you went through that silently and you carried that heavy burden. But that's not really the way our world works. Our world is a world where, if you were mistreated, you yell and scream. If you're mistreated, you want to mistreat other people.
Speaker 1:Well, now Isaiah is turning this vision from the rejection of the Savior to the redemption that the Savior provides. He moves from a world's perception of a Savior who doesn't see him to the purpose of why God came here. He didn't come here by mistake. He came here to rescue his people. Jesus suffered and died for us for our sin. Because you say, surely he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteem him, stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.
Speaker 1:Now you know what was happening during this culture, in this time, the people that saw Jesus hanging on the cross. Crosses were not a big deal, they were lining the roads and whenever you would see a person hanging on a cross, you would assume that that person had done something wrong and that was the reason why they were hanging on the cross. So when Jesus was hanging on the cross, they would say well, you know what? He's just another fake Messiah. He is nobody.
Speaker 1:But when he hung on the cross, he was not bearing his sin, but yours. He says that it was his pain, our pain, that he bore there. You see the word he bore our grief. That word, born, carries the idea of carrying something off that somebody can't hold up for themselves. Jesus was lifting our pain, he was lifting our grief, he was lifting our heartache, he was lifting the burden of sin off of you and me, and he carried it on his own for you. He doesn't just sympathize with you, he substitutes himself for you. He took God's anger so that you could be free. He bore you, god's wrath for you. The irony is that. You see this last line. We esteemed him, stricken, smitten by God.
Speaker 1:Most people assumed at that time that Jesus was being punished for his own sin, but he wasn't, because Isaiah makes it clear in verse 5, for this reason he took our grief. It says he was pierced for our transgression. He was crushed for our iniquity. Upon him was chastisement that brought us peace, and by his wounds we are healed. He bore our pain, but then he bore our punishment. I want you to see these words that Isaiah is piling on here, and what each phrase that he gives is more staggering than the last one. He says he was pierced for our transgressions. His hands, his feet, his side were pierced so that we could be free, and he was crushed for our iniquities. The servant was emotionally crushed. He was spiritually crushed. He was physically crushed so that you could be free. The chastisement, the punishment that brought us peace, the punishment that secured your reconciliation with God, was upon him, and with his wounds we are healed. Do you see the negatives and the positives? He was pierced. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. And now look at the positives peace and healing that are provided through the Lord Jesus Christ for you. This is written 700 years.
Speaker 1:This is not a poem. This is prophetic reality. This actually occurred. Jesus Christ substituted himself so that you could be set free. Jesus was punished instead of us. He was punished on behalf of us, if you trust him. That's what we call substitutionary atonement in theology, and it's the idea that Jesus was punished in your place. The song goes in my place, condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood, and what does it go? Hallelujah, what, what a savior. And that is what Jesus is doing for you. He bore our pain, he took our punishment.
Speaker 1:Now verse 6 tells us something different. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone, everyone, to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now this verse summarizes our human problem, our human condition. The astonishing grace of God is also seen in here. We're stubborn, aimless sheep. We reject him when it says that we've gone astray and turned away. This is not ignorant and this is not a sense of innocence. This is a willful rejection of God. We turn away from him and that's what we do. And the shock here is this as you and I turn away from him and reject him, you would think that God would pour his anger upon you, but what he did, amazingly enough, is he poured his anger upon his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to set you free. It says that he was laid here. The Lord laid the Hebrew word behind it means to strike with violence, to cause to meet. It paints a picture of a head-on collision between your sin and Christ's body and Christ's board, for you and for me.
Speaker 1:So the first question we had to figure out is why was he rejected? People just didn't see him. The second thing we need to understand what did he carry? He substituted himself for you. He's carrying your guilt. So I wonder if you're sitting here tonight with guilt that gnaws at you. If you're sitting here tonight constantly thinking about the fact that God can't possibly forgive you and the guilt that gnaws at you or the grief that overwhelms you. Maybe you're sitting here tonight believing that you cannot be saved. Jesus Christ says I can do this for you. That means that when he hung on a cross, every lie, every lust, every ounce of rebellion that believers had against God, christ paid it. All that believers had against God, christ paid it all Canceled debt. The cross is not a tragic point of history. It is a triumph that Christ has provided for you.
Speaker 1:Third phase how did he respond? Now, this is interesting because if you look in verses seven through nine, it tells us how he responded. It says in verse seven it says this he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a sheep that is before its shearers is silent. So he opened, not his mouth. You know, we live in a world today where every offense is erred, every injustice is shouted from the rooftops.
Speaker 1:But Jesus Christ went to this cross innocent, and he said nothing. And he said nothing. He said nothing to Caiaphas. He said nothing to Pilate. He said nothing as those people were ramming nails into his hands and feet. He said nothing, he was silent. That's not us. When we get cut off on the road, we yell and scream. Jesus was submitting his will to the Father and the reason why he was silent was because he came here on a mission. His life was not being taken from him. He was giving his life so that you could be set free.
Speaker 1:I want you to see the gospel here in verse 7. He said he was oppressed, he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. He was like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. He is not dragged, he's not kicking and screaming. He was led to the slaughter like a sheep that is before shears are silent. So he opened not his mouth. Silence was not weakness. His silence was a submission of strength. He was strength and he was submitting himself to the Father's will for you.
Speaker 1:Verse 8 says this. It says by oppression and judgment he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off from the land of the living? Stricken for the transgressions of my people, now watch here. The word oppression means the illegal trials that he went through, and the judgment is the verdict that was given. And he was dragged away. That taken away is the sentence. And then he was cut off from the land of the living. That's his execution. And so, whether it's the illegal trials, the verdict, the sentence, his execution, it all speaks to this violent death that Jesus bore for us.
Speaker 1:But look at the one phrase in the middle who considered that he was cut off from the land of the living? Do you even consider it today? The people in his time didn't even consider it, they just walked right by him. The people in his time didn't even consider it. They just walked right by him. Jesus Christ substituted himself so that you could be free. He was the perfect Lamb of God, the Messiah, the perfect Lamb of God. As heaven was looking down, they were overwhelmed with what Christ was doing for you Verse 9, and they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death.
Speaker 1:Although he had done no violence and there was no deceit found in his mouth, he was innocent. Now his grave here. Back then, if you were one of those criminals, you would have been thrown into this condemned pit or you would have been burned the body would have been burned at the end because you're nobody or you would have been burned. The body would have been burned at the end because you're nobody. You're nothing.
Speaker 1:But what's amazing here is that Isaiah captures something here. He is killed with wicked. So he's got two criminals a thief on his left and his right. He's killed with criminals, but he's buried like an honorable man. He's buried in an unused tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. He's buried in an unused tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
Speaker 1:And what we see is this Isaiah foresaw 700 years before that Christ's innocence would be there. You see, he has no violence and there was no deceit. Jesus was perfect in word and deed, and so even the world would assume that he was bad and evil. Jesus Christ was viewed as righteous. There's this beautiful passage in 2 Corinthians 5 21,. And it goes this way For our sake, god, the Father, made Jesus Christ sin, who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. See, this is the gospel. The gospel is that Jesus Christ would be condemned so that you could be viewed as righteous in his sight.
Speaker 1:So I want you to think about this how do you respond to injustice, when people mistreat you and they do something wrong? When they say that you've done something wrong and you didn't do it, how do you handle it? Do you yell? Do you scream? Do you get depressed? Do you get overwhelmed? What Jesus got was he trusted his father. He trusted that his father was absolutely and totally in control. He didn't grumble, he didn't despair. He knew that God was in control.
Speaker 1:Isaiah invites us to bow before this son. He invites us to look at this son and say I am so overwhelmed because you bore my grief, you carried my pain. You carried my problems and you did it silently and in submission, and you've given me righteousness. That's what he's asking you to consider. So why did we miss him? Number one what did he carry? He carried our weight. How did he handle it? How did he carry? He carried our weight. How did he handle it? How did he respond? He responded with character and submission.
Speaker 1:But the last thing I want you to consider is the fourth thing. Why did he do this? Why would Jesus even do this? Look and see what it says in verse 10. In verse 10, it says yet it was the will of the lord to crush him, for he's put him to grief. That he may carry all of us, that he puts him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt. He shall see his offspring and shall prolong his days, and the will of the lord was to prosper in his hand. I want you to see that the Lord willed this thing and Jesus Christ fulfilled it.
Speaker 1:Before this world was ever created, god looked upon you and said you are rebels and you do not deserve eternity with me. And God wanted to bring you into relationship. So his holiness demanded justice be paid for your sin, but his love for humanity brought about this cross. So Jesus Christ was planned to do this. Yahweh, the sovereign plan of God was to crush his servant. This was not plan B, this was plan A from all of eternity. And why would God ordain to do this? He needed to condemn sin, but he wanted to save you. So Jesus Christ was condemned so that you could be pardoned. Jesus Christ was cursed so that you could be blessed. Jesus Christ was forsaken so that you could be forgiven. It was a costly grace and it's yours if you trust him. Never mistake the mercy of God for weakness. It was bought with blood.
Speaker 1:And in the end of verse 10 here we see that the servant will see his offspring. What does he mean by the offspring? He moves from death to life. He moves from crushing to fruitfulness. And he says he will see his offspring. And his offspring are you. If you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, that before this world was ever created, god looked down through the corridors of time and he said that one is mine. And Jesus says I'm going to pay for that one. I'm going to pay for that one. And he prolonged his days. Death wasn't the end of Jesus. Death did not end Jesus. Jesus rose again and he reigns on high today and the Lord will prosper in him in his hand. The father planned it, but the son accomplished everything.
Speaker 1:Verse 11 tells us this. It also tells us this that the righteous, out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied by his knowledge of the righteous one. My servant, makes many to be accounted righteous and shall bear their iniquities. So what did Jesus get for all his anguish? What did he get for all of his pain? He got you, if you trust in him. He got you as his present. He got you as his reward. I'm going to go through this birth pain, but I'm going to get this beautiful church, I'm going to get this beautiful bride. He took our iniquity and we receive his righteousness. But I want you to notice he says that he makes many to be accounted as righteous. He doesn't say all. He says many. And those that will be accounted as righteous are those that have bent their knee to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior, admit their sin and turn to a Savior, admit their guilt and turn to the gospel grace. You must admit it or you could walk away, like thousands of people did walk past this cross, thinking that he is nothing and nobody.
Speaker 1:Verse 12 tells us this. To end, he says therefore, I will divide him a portion interesting language with the many and divide the spoils with the strong. Now what would happen is when a triumphant king would come back in. They would bring all the spoils that they would get from the land that they conquered, and the king would usually hold on to that in his treasury and it would be his money. But what Jesus did for you and for me was this he didn't just simply save you from sin. He has poured blessing upon blessing upon blessing, he says, the spoils of war I give to you. You become part of his family. He poured out his soul for you, total surrender.
Speaker 1:He was numbered among the transgressors for your sin. He was crucified between two thieves. He bore sin, not his sin, your sin and he's now interceding, right now, this evening. He is in heaven, seated by his father's right hand, interceding for his believers. So I've got a promise for you to hold on to You're not forgotten, you're forgiven, you are free, you are favored, you are free, you are favored, and you're forever secure because Jesus Christ died in your place.
Speaker 1:So tonight there's a table before us as we walk through the valley of Isaiah 53, what we found is it's a sacred ground. We see that Jesus was rejected so that you and I could be accepted. We see that Jesus bore our sin. We see that Jesus did it in submission to his father and we see that you are the spoils of victory. Now we look at this table before us and this table is a communion table. On the very night that Jesus was betrayed, he took a bread and he broke it, and he took a cup and he said this is the new covenant in my blood, in me. Tonight, we're going to symbolize that same thing.
Speaker 1:I want you to think about this. You have a savior who was despised and rejected. You have a savior that was pierced for our transgressions. We have a sufferer who suffered in silence. You have a substitute who was vindicated and our transgressions? We have a sufferer who suffered in silence. You have a substitute who was vindicated and is now victorious. And why did he do it?
Speaker 1:It says this in Isaiah out of the anguish of the soul. He shall see and be satisfied. Jesus saw you, if you trust in him. He saw your shame, he saw your guilt, he saw your helplessness and he says I'm going to satisfy God's justice for them. Will you tonight think about that love? That love is so amazing, that love bleeds for you, that love bore sin for you, that love breaks for you, that love died for you, love breaks for you, that love died for you, that love calls you tonight.
Speaker 1:So, father, tonight, as we come to this communion table, I pray that you would help us to see and to save your son, a body that is broken and blood that was shed for us. Now, tonight, father, as we take this communion table, we know that Jesus Christ died once for sin. He's not bleeding now, he's not broken now. He is forever free. He did it once and he said it is finished and he accomplished his work. Now there are some in this room, father, who have never trusted in your Son. I pray tonight would be the night that they would bend their knee to your Son and trust him again. For the many that are here in this room, father, as we take this cup and this bread, I pray that we would remind ourselves anew of what Jesus Christ did for us. In your Son's name, we pray Amen, amen. So, before we take the table, what I'd ask of you is this If you're a skeptic, I want you to consider this that 700 years before Christ was ever born, jesus came here to be rescued for you.
Speaker 1:If you're a believer who's weary, remind yourself that Jesus took it all. Your security is not found in your strength. Your security is found in him. And if you're living in sin tonight, don't run away in shame. Run to the cross, confess and ask him to turn your heart to him. We remember the light though the darkness falls. Surely you bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Speaker 1:Tonight we stood in the foot of the cross and we listened to the seven last words of Jesus. We looked at a prophecy from 700 years before Jesus was ever born. We sang songs to reverence him. So tonight I want you to focus on that center candle. We relight that candle to remind yourself that, even though Jesus died, he rose again. The light is never extinguished forever, and that's the light that he wants to put into your life. So tonight, as you leave the sanctuary, do me a favor and leave the sanctuary in silence. If you want to stay here and pray and meditate, please do so as long as you would like to. Would you stand with me as we close. It's a passage from Hebrews, chapter 12. It says let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Go in that peace tonight. Be blessed everyone.
