Journey to the Cross and Beyond (Part #5)

Isaiah 53:1-12

Introduction:
When you’re studying Isaiah 53 it’s like you are standing on holy ground (Exodus 3:5)

There are approximately 80 references to Isaiah in the NT and most come from this chapter. It is quoted or alluded to more than any other chapter of the OT.

This chapter has been called, “The Gospel according to Isaiah.”

It deals with the Suffering Savior...Jesus Christ. Had the religious leaders of Jesus day recognized that Jesus was the fulfillment of this chapter they would have accepted Him as their Messiah. The problem was that they weren’t looking for a Suffering Savior they were looking for a Conquering King to throw off the Roman oppression and restore Israel’s national sovereignty.

To illustrate that this chapter is about Christ...tell the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8).

D.L. Moody described the paradoxes of this chapter: “Despised, yet accepted and adored. Poor, yet rich. To die, yet to live.” He indicated that “The Rabbis said there must be a double Messiah to fulfil this chapter.”

The context of this chapter really begins in Chapter 52:13-15 and is made up of five stanzas or sections containing three verses each.

1. A Surprising Savior (52:13-15)
2. A Rejected Savior (53:1-3)
3. A Suffering Savior (53:4-6)
4. A Righteous Savior (53:7-9)
5. A Sovereign Savior (53:10-12)

Read through the chapter and point out that every aspect of Christ as found here:

• Christ’s birth (53:2)
• Christ’s life (53:3)
• Christ’s suffering (53:4-6)
• Christ’s death (53:7-8)
• Christ’s burial (53:9)
• Christ’s resurrection (53:10)
• Christ’s exaltation (53:12)

As this prophetic chapter reveals, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus was no accident. This was the work of our sovereign God to provide salvation/redemption for all mankind (Acts 2:23)

Illustration:

• Look to the cross and see its width…it is wide enough to include you and everyone else, too.
• Look to the cross and see its length…it is long enough to reach you where you are.
• Look to the cross and see its depth…it is deep enough to give you life and life more abundant.

No matter how you look at it, or how you measure the immeasurable love of God…you will find that it is more than enough for anyone who would approach this God of grace and mercy.

According to Isaiah...Christ brings at least four things to us through His suffering:

1. Peace (v. 5)
1. ...With God

• cf. Romans 3:10-18; Ephesians 2:1-3
• Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1-2)
• cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

2. ...With others

• For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:14-18)

According to Isaiah...Christ brings us:

2. Healing (v. 5)

• This is actually best understood as a metaphor for the forgiveness of our sins.
• It has been argued by some that physical healing is in the atonement (and it is in the eternal scheme of things), but to suggest that God must heal today on the basis of this passage is an unfortunate misreading of the obvious intention of the text. The entire context deals with the problem of our transgressions and iniquities and the means of our peace that we may be spiritually healed.
• That is certainly how Peter explained the text:

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:21-25)

• In view of the spiritual provision that is met by the atonement of Christ, it should be understood as, “by his stripes we are forgiven.”

According to Isaiah...Christ brings us:

3. Righteousness (v. 11)

• Justification is a legal term that indicates someone who is declared righteous, even though they are still in a sinning state.
• It involves the imputing of Christ’s righteousness to us.
• Jesus took our sins and gave us His righteousness.
• For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
• One of Paul’s favorite phrases is, “in Christ.” Our righteous standing before God is because we are “in Christ.”
• “And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6)
• For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)
• For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)
• There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)
• For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
• Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

According to Isaiah...Christ brings us:

4. Intercession (v. 12)

• The intercession here refers to Christ pleading for men before the Throne of Mercy as our Redeemer and High Priest.
• The “intercession for transgressors” began on the cross and it continues until the last day.
• Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. (Romans 8:34)
• Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Romans 7:25)
• My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1)
• Moses interceded for his people and offered his life in exchange for them. This is an example of what it means for Christ to intercede for sinful mankind. (cf. Exodus 32:32)

Closing Illustration:
Bryan Chapell tells this story that happened in his hometown: Two brothers were playing on the sandbanks by the river. One ran after another up a large mound of sand. Unfortunately, the mound was not solid, and their weight caused them to sink in quickly.

When the boys did not return home for dinner, the family and neighbors organized a search. They found the younger brother unconscious, with his head and shoulders sticking out above the sand. When they cleared the sand to his waist, he awakened. The searchers asked, "Where is your brother?"

The child replied, "I’m standing on his shoulders"

With the sacrifice of his own life, the older brother lifted the younger to safety. The tangible and sacrificial love of the older brother literally served as a foundation for the younger brother’s life.

Jesus took our place on the cross. We are standing on the shoulders of the salvation God has made possible through His Son. What a sacrifice! He didn’t have to do it! He chose to do it for each one of us!

Journey to the Cross and Beyond (Part #2)

Text: Luke 19:1-10
Title: Journey to the Cross...and Beyond (Part #2)

Jesus passes through Jericho, a location 1,000 feet below sea level, headed to Jerusalem, which is 2,400 feet above sea level. This is Christ’s final journey to Jerusalem where he will be crucified and raised from the dead.

Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector, which probably means he was the “commissioner” of this district of Jericho with other tax collectors working under him collecting the taxes. This would mean that he not only received his own wage, but made commission on all the other tax collectors, as well. All tax collectors were despised by their fellow Jews because they were viewed as collaborators with the Roman government, which oppressed them. They were also guilty of extorting money from their fellow countrymen by forcing them to pay taxes well beyond what Rome required. This is the means by which tax collectors enriched themselves.

Zacchaeus embodied two facets of the nation’s populace: the outcast/despised on the one hand and the proud/self-sufficient on the other. Both needed the Savior.

Three Important Reminders for Broken People:

1. God says I matter...even though I feel small and insignificant.

A. He was small in physical stature.

B. He was small in the “view” of others...because he was a tax collector.

• Despite this man’s wealth and official power, he is unable to penetrate the crowd.
• The tree he climbed was a Ficus sycomorus, i.e., the fig-mulberry. It grew in the Jordan valley to a considerable height; the low, spreading branches made it fairly easy to climb.
• Zacchaues runs ahead and climbs up in the tree to see Jesus. It is highly unusual for a wealthy Jewish man to run, let alone climb a tree. Any sense of pride that he normally might have exhibited as an official of power and wealth was totally gone.
• He was hungry for something that was missing in his life and he had not found in the other avenues of life where he had searched.

2. God gives me hope...even though others have written me off.

A. He commands Zacchaeus to come down from the tree. Jesus takes the initiative in helping Zacchaeus!

B. He went to eat at Zacchaeus’ house.

• In this culture, to eat with a person who had ill-gotten gain was viewed as if that person were “a partaker in the crime.” One of means they used for dealing with a person like Zacchaeus was to shun him. Some Jewish Rabbis said that you didn’t even have to treat tax collectors as human beings, but as animals.

C. The essence of what it means to be lost (19:10) is that you are separated from the One Who gives meaning, purpose, and value to life...now and in eternity!

3. God won’t give up on me...even though I’ve done some really bad things.

A. Zachaeus’ life was dramatically changed by the power of the Gospel.

• The law required a penalty of one-fifth as restitution for money acquired by fraud (Lev. 6:5; Num. 5:6, 7), so Zacchaeus was doing more than was required. The law required 4-fold restitution only when an animal was stolen and killed (Ex. 22:1). If the animal was found alive, only two-fold restitution was required (Ex. 22:4). But Zacchaeus judged his own crime severely, acknowledging that he was as guilty as the lowest common robber.

B. “Salvation has come to [you]” (19:9). Notice how he addresses Jesus Christ as “Lord” (19:8).

• Zacchaeus was changed through an experience with Christ, not a command of Christ!

• “When you meet God in Jesus Christ you get swept up into a story of such cosmic drama and beauty that you are forever changed.” --J.D. Greear

• Nobody is beyond the grace of God and anybody can become His child...by faith in Jesus Christ! He’s still changing lives!

Journey to the Cross and Beyond (Part #1)

Why Christ Had to Die…

Illustration: Man on the street interviews…if you ask people why Christ had to die, many/most wouldn’t know the answer!

Illustration: Young lady that said she wasn’t a sinner when I asked her about her relationship to God.

What has happened to the knowledge of sin?

1. Secularization of society
2. Self-love psychology
3. Sympathizing with relativism
4. Silence of churches

If you don’t understand sin you will never appreciate the cross:

• Sin is always against God (Psalm 51:4)
• Sin is selfishness/egoism (Romans 15:3; 1 Corinthians 13:5; 2 Timothy 3:2, 4; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)
• Sin is failure to love God (Mark 12:30; Romans 11:30)
• Sin is treachery – deceitfulness with/unfaithfulness to God (Ezekiel 18:24; Isaiah 48:8; 1 Chronicles 5:25; Psalm 78:57)
• Sin is rebellion/Insubordination to His commands (1 John 3:4; 1 Samuel 15:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:3)
• Sin is failure to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31; Romans 1:21, 25)
• Sin is missing the mark (1 John 5:17; Romans 3:23)
• Sin is trespassing the boundary/law (Romans 5:14; 1 Timothy 2:14)

“God is holy, without spot or blemish, or any such thing, without any wrinkle, or anything like it, as they also that are in Christ shall one day be (Ephesians 5.27 ). 

He is so holy, that he cannot sin himself, nor be the cause or author of sin in another. He does not command sin to be committed, for to do so would be to cross his nature and will. Nor does he approve of any man’s sin, when it is committed, but hates it with a perfect hatred. He is without iniquity, and of purer eyes than to behold (i.e. approve) iniquity (Habakkuk 1:13).

“On the contrary, as God is holy, all holy, only holy, altogether holy, and always holy, so sin is sinful, all sinful, only sinful, altogether sinful, and always sinful (Genesis 6.5). In my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing (Romans 7.18 ). 

As in God there is no evil, so in sin there is no good. God is the chiefest of goods and sin is the chiefest of evils. As no good can be compared with God for goodness, so no evil can be compared with sin for evil.” (Ralph Venning, The Sinfulness of Sin, Section II, p. 9 – lived early to middle 1600’s) .

All of us have been touched by sin:

1. Inherent Sin (the inclination toward sin) – Adam’s inner nature was transformed by his sin of rebellion. We’re not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.
2. Imputed Sin (To credit something to another’s account) – From Adam to Moses, all humans deserved punishment for sin, but not because they had broken the law. Since the giving of the Law all humans also have imputed sin.
3. Individual sins – sins committed every day…from the seemingly innocent untruths we tell, to the most despicable sins imaginable to humankind.

“While it is true that the full meaning of the death of Christ cannot be captured in one or two slogan-like statements, it is also true that its central meaning can and must be focused on several very basic ideas. There are four such basic doctrines:

1. Christ’s death was a substitution for sinners (He died in our place).
2. Christ’s death was a redemption in relation to sin (to purchase us from the slave market of sin).
3. Christ’s death was a reconciliation in relation to man (to reconcile man to God to remove the barrier of separation).
4. Christ’s death was a propitiation in relation to God (to satisfy the holy demands of a holy and just God).” –Dr. Charles Ryrie

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures… (1 Corinthians 15:3)

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4)

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace… (Ephesians 1:7)

Does God really love us? I say look to the crucified Jesus. Look to the old rugged cross.

• By every thorn that punctured His brow.
• By every mark of the lacerating scourge.
• By every hair of his beard plucked from his cheeks by cruel fingers.
• By every bruise which heavy fists made upon His head.  God said, "I love you!"
• By all the spit that landed on his face.
• By every drop of sinless blood that fell to the ground.
• By every breath of pain which Jesus drew upon the cross.
• By every beat of His loving heart. God said, I love you!"

SURVIVING THE RIVER OF DEATH
Max Lucado, in his book, “Six Hours One Friday,” tells the story of a missionary in Brazil who discovered a tribe of Indians in a remote part of the jungle. They lived near a large river. The tribe was in need of medical attention. A contagious disease was ravaging the population. People were dying daily.

A hospital was not too terribly far away — across the river, but the Indians would not cross it because they believed the river was inhabited by evil spirits. And to enter its water would mean certain death.

The missionary explained how he had crossed the river & was unharmed. But they were not impressed. He then took them to the bank & placed his hand in the water. They still wouldn’t go in. He walked into the water up to his waist & splashed water on his face. It didn’t matter. They were still afraid to enter the river.

Finally, he dove into the river, swam beneath the surface until he emerged on the other side. He raised a triumphant fist into the air. He had entered the water & escaped. It was then that the Indians broke into a cheer & followed him across.

Isn’t that what Jesus did? He entered the river of death & came out on the other side so that we might no longer fear death, but find eternal life in Him. --Max Lucado, "Six Hours One Friday.”