The sufferings of Christ

… Turn with me please to the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, just a few verses at the end of the chapter. 53rd of Isaiah, we'll read from verse 10 to the end of the chapter. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bear the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Now turn back to the book of the Psalms, Psalm 22. We'll read a verse or two here and there for the sake of time in the first half of the Psalm. Commence at verse 1. Psalm 22, verse 1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night seasoned, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Not down a little bit. Verse 10. I was cast upon thee from the womb, thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a pot should, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. And thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O Lord. O my strength haste thee to deliver me. Deliver my soul from the sword, and my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth. The 22nd chapter of Luke's Gospel. Luke chapter 22. Well-known verses. Luke chapter 22, verse 41. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing to remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood, falling down to the ground. Verse in the 12th of John. John chapter 12, verse 27. Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. John chapter 19. John chapter 19, verse 16. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away. And he bearing his cross, his cross, went forth into a place called the place of the skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him. Verse 30. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. And finally, there's well-known verses in the second chapter of Philippians. Philippians chapter 2. One verse will suffice. Philippians chapter 2, verse 8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Good brethren, I want to speak this afternoon about the sufferings of Christ. I want to speak about them in three ways. If you just turn back to Isaiah chapter 53, and look at the verses that we read together, you will find that in the context of those verses, three times we have a reference made to his soul. And I want to take up these three expressions and speak to you from them, together with the scriptures that one has read. On this subject, which one must say first of all, beloved brethren, is a subject which should be very dear to all our hearts. It is a subject that we have to tread carefully and prayerfully. And one simple desire, beloved brethren, in turning you to these well-known scriptures, is that perhaps the Spirit of God will so bring before us the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and his love, and the way that that love led him into suffering in order to accomplish the will of God and our blessing. One simple desire is that thus the Spirit of God might so work in our hearts and produce perhaps a deeper affection in our hearts for himself. Because, beloved brethren, no matter what we do, whether it is service for the Lord or service for one another, here is the key to everything. The one lever that the Spirit of God can use in order to motivate us through this world in a pathway which is according to the will of God and will thus glorify him is this affection for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I don't believe, I don't know of anything else that will so draw forth from my heart and your heart this affection for himself other than our prayerful consideration which may lead to our appreciation of what he suffered for you and I according to the will of God. And so these three mentions of his soul, I'll just point them out to you. Verse 10, When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. Now that expression obviously brings before us the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Godward. Verse 11 it says, He shall see of the travail of his soul. They perhaps bring before us those inward feelings of that holy, spotless, sinless, perfect man, not only in his death but in anticipation of his death, not only that but in his life also as he moves through this world in perfect obedience to the will of God and as a consequence was a holy sufferer. We often speak of it. One was encouraged a moment ago when our brother in prayer mentioned it that he indeed was the man of sorrows, the travail of his soul. And then lastly in the last verse again, He hath poured out his soul, a wonderful expression, bringing before us the fact that in his perfect obedience he withheld nothing and completely committed himself to the will of God. In fact Peter uses that very expression in his first epistle. When you remember he tells us concerning the Lord Jesus Christ who when he suffered he threatened not. When he was reviled he reviled not again but committed himself to him as judge of righteousness. He poured out his soul unto death. So I just want to look at the subject again of the sufferings of Christ in regard to this first matter when he, Jehovah, God, made his soul an offering for sin. That beloved brethren I believe is one of the most profound statements of scripture. When God made his soul an offering for sin. And in connection to that I turned you over to Psalm 22. Psalm 22 is that psalm that brings before us the Lord Jesus Christ in his sufferings for sin. As you probably know many of the psalms can be linked with many of the offerings in the first and second and third chapter of Leviticus. Just by way of help to those who study the scriptures I trust we all do, old and young. Psalm 40 corresponds with the truth of the burnt offering. Psalm 69 again that our brother quoted corresponds with the truth of the trespass offering. Psalm 16 which is the psalm of the dependent man corresponds with the truth of the meat offering. But beloved brethren Psalm 22 is the psalm that corresponds with the sin offering. This is the psalm that brings before us those holy inward feelings of the Lord Jesus Christ. When to quote again Peter's epistle he bear our sins in his own body on the tree. And to quote Paul in the third, fourth, fifth, sorry of second Corinthians when he who knew no sin was made sin. I would ask you beloved brethren to ponder that expression. There are many expressions of scripture beloved brethren that I believe we can get great gain from by sitting in quietness and meditating upon. Allowing the spirit of God to bring the meaning and the reality of scripture in his way home to our hearts. He who knew no sin was made sin. You know that's one of those verses of scripture that in a mystical way brings before us the uniqueness of the person of Christ. It could never be said of any other man that he was made sin. It could never be said of you and I that at a moment in our lives we were made sin. Because that expression of was made presupposes that there was a moment when he was not that. That was never true of you and I. We were born into the condition that was a result of Adam's fall. Not so he. Remember the words of Michael the archangel to Mary before his birth that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called son of God. That holy thing. And yet in order to carry out and make effective the will of God in order that he might answer to that question that was posed right at the beginning of time when Isaac and Abraham ascended Mount Moriah and the question was asked, behold the fire and the wood. There is the two things that speak of God's judgment and man's responsibility. The holy requirements of God brought before us in scripture in the figure of fire. And the responsibility of man in his manhood brought before us in the wood. There are the two trees by the way of the garden of Eden. The tree of life. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And they run right through scripture. But the question was asked, but where? Where is the lamb for a burnt offering? John Baptist you remember points him out as he sees Jesus walking towards him. Behold the lamb of God bringing before us the glory and uniqueness of his person. No other man could so be described. And then secondly bringing before us the work so great and tremendous. The bearing away of the sin of the world. And yet into time had stooped a divine person as a man in order to take up for God, for the glory of God and the eternal blessing of men the matter of the removal of sin from the world. And this beloved brethren involved his death. His death. And so this is the sin offering. It brings before us the Lord Jesus. Remarkable how that so many hundreds of years prior to it actually taking place this was written by the psalmist. How wonderful are the scriptures of God. Fulfilled for us and reiterated in Matthew 26 and Mark chapter 14. Where the Lord Jesus the first time that it is recorded that he referred to my God. Only twice is it recorded that he referred to his God thus. On the cross. And in the garden you remember when he appeared to Mary. But here as the representative man having taken up the matter of sin our hearts are directed to him on the cross. And this pitiful cry, because it is a pitiful cry. There are things that we lose in our English language that the student of scripture can find in the original language. We are told by those who understand the Hebrew language that there is an expression in between these words. And the only way that you can translate it into English is like this. My God, sob. My God, sob. Why hast thou forsaken me? It was a cry, beloved brethren from the heart of one who is experiencing the terrible fulfillment of Isaiah 53 when God made his soul an offering for sin. Does that not solemnize our hearts, beloved brethren? Does that not on the one hand give us to understand how terrible sin was in the sight of God and yet how often, how lightly do we treat sin? Let us never treat sin lightly. It cost God his son. I haven't time to go into the details of this psalm. But there are verses which stand out that appeal to one's affections. Verse 11. Be not far from me, for trouble is near. And there is none to help. We sung an old little hymn, didn't we? None could follow thee there, blessed Savior. Thou didst measure sin's distance. He did it alone. He did it alone. You know, you can divide the first half of this psalm into three. And again, it's worthy of note that if you just make a note of these things it helps you to the understanding of scriptures Down to verse 11 of this psalm we have the Lord Jesus suffering under the hand of the judgment of God for sin. From verse 12 to the end of verse 15 he speaks of being in the midst of bulls of Bashan. And these were the Jews. You know, those that sat down watched him, and railed on him cast his own words in his teeth. Verse 16 to verse 20 For dogs have compassed me, they were the Gentiles. Those men who, in actuality, Roman soldiers the cruelest race that ever lived. How remarkable it was that such a death was unknown until the times of the Romans. Crucifixion, it was unknown historically in the world despite the fact that David had described it years earlier in his psalm. And yet it was unknown until the time of the Romans. Isn't it terrible to consider, beloved brethren that the most excruciating death that can be meted out to a man awaited the coming into this world of God's own son in order that that death might be meted out to him. That, beloved brethren, is a terrible condition of enmity that is the natural lot of each one of our hearts. Deceitful above all things. Desperately wicked. What a terrible death it was. But that was the death that was meted out to God's son. Should it not affect us, beloved brethren? Should the consideration that such a death that was meted out to your savior and mine not draw forth a response of thanksgiving and love to him? Such as said the apostle Paul when he said, son of God loved me. Yes, the son of God loved me and gave himself for me. And that, beloved brethren, involved for him the death of the cross. For him it was the will of God because no other way could sin be put away. No other way could God be glorified in regard to the matter of sin. And he accumulated sin of the whole world from Adam right through to the end of the millennium. You know, beloved brethren, we don't often consider sin and its extent. But that little expression, the sin of the world, it commenced at Adam and it goes right through to the end of the millennium. That whole weight of sin, beloved brethren, Isaiah tells us again in 53, God caused it to meet, because that's a little translation of it, God caused it to meet on him, one solitary, forsaken, lonely man. And he felt it. And that's why this psalm opens with these words. We perhaps can understand the forsaking of Peter. Poor Peter. I have prayed for thee. We can perhaps understand the other disciples who all forsook him and fled. But here we come against something that is inexplicable. We cannot comprehend. And it seems almost the awfulness of it, the terror of it, searched his own soul. And thus he cries, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Such is his perfection. He immediately supplies the answer. Consider it, beloved brethren. He justified God even in forsaking him at that moment. Such was his perfection. Thou art holy. What was he? Was he not the Holy One? Was he not sinless, spotless, impeccable? Beloved brethren, were it not that Scripture didn't use the words, on our lips it would be blasphemy. But Scripture says he was made sin. And in his death sin was removed. But I must pass on. It's the first one. Jehovah, God, made his soul an offering for sin. Pass over to the second expression. Often, you know, we quote that verse, He shall see of the trial of his soul. And we love the end of that verse, don't we? And shall be satisfied. Yes, beloved brethren, God has seen to it that there is an answer to the sufferings of Christ that is perfectly commensurate with the depths of those sufferings that he alone endured, but that God measured. And God has measured them. And such depths was the suffering, so likewise shall be the joy. But that's another subject. But he shall see of the trial of his soul, beloved brethren. And he shall be satisfied. I can honestly say that there's nothing that thrills my soul more than to know and appreciate that in the coming day he shall look upon his assembly, that which according to Ephesians 5 Christ loved and gave himself for in order that he might present it to himself, the spotless church. And when that moment comes in time, beloved brethren, when we shall quit this scene and meet the Lord in the air, then he shall see God's answer for him personally, for his own joy eternally, the answer that God has given him and that for which he gave himself. And he shall look upon you and I, beloved brethren. Yes. Let us bring a right home to ourselves. He shall look upon you and I. Oh, beloved brethren, we are that company of people that Christ values more than anybody else in the world, that which he gave himself for. And when he sees us there in glory, able to sustain the glory of that scene, having bodies like unto his own, he shall look upon the travail of his soul and praise be to God, and we shall be satisfied. We don't need to wonder whether we shall be satisfied, beloved brethren. We will see him. We shall be like him. We shall praise. We shall adore. Beloved brethren, it will never go wrong. It's true. It will never end. And it will never go wrong because it's all been secured for God and for our eternal blessing and for his glory by his death and resurrection. And that will never go wrong. But, you know, we're thinking about the first half of that verse, the travail of his soul. Oh, those beloved brethren, if you read through the Gospels, and let me tell my fellow young believers, if you read the Gospels, get to know him. If you haven't got a concordance, buy one. And look up the words of Scripture in order that you might completely understand what Scripture is saying. Get to the real meaning of Scripture. And I'll tell you this, you'll find a treasure that only those that search find. You know, there was a moment in the life of Peter when the Lord said to him, launch out into the deep. One of the types of seed that grew up in the story of the parable, it was deficient on account of the fact that it had no depth. Beloved brethren, there is a treasure in the Scriptures for those who search and dig, but there's a price to pay. There's a price to pay. Travel of thy soul. This expression brings before my heart the inward feelings of the Lord Jesus Christ as he moved through this world, as the man of sorrows. I'll refer you to several instances of Scripture quickly, the time is going, but I think I've got a few minutes to spare, we were a few minutes late starting. But you know, the wonderful thing about the Lord Jesus Christ and his holy life here, and in regard to the miracles that he did, and this let me warn you is something that a lot of the modern translators of Scripture completely overlook. He wasn't just a miracle healer. He wasn't just a miracle worker. Scripture says he himself carried our sorrows and bore our infirmities. And if you look where that verse is quoted in Matthew 8, it has no reference at all to his death. It's a reference to his life. It comes at the end of that day, you know, when the whole area was gathered to him, and it says he healed them all. But that Scripture tells me, beloved brethren, that there wasn't one person that he healed. There wasn't one devil that he cast out or demon that he cast out. There wasn't one act of mercy and grace that he did, that he did not enter into the circumstances of that poor person first. And that's why he was the man of sorrow. I'll go through just a few. If you read wonderful chapters, Mark 7, 8, and 9, I'll run through them quickly, just these incidents. Take, for instance, the man of whom it was said that he was born deaf and had an impediment in his speech. They brought him to the Lord. And they said the Lord put his fingers in his ears. Do you know what it says next in Scripture? It says he looked up to heaven and he sighed. He sighed. And if you care to look up the meaning of that word, you'll find it's very difficult to translate. It was almost like an inaudible prayer from his soul. What was taking place, beloved brethren? He was going to heal that man? Yes. Why was he sighing? Beloved brethren, he was feeling in his own soul the terrible condition of that man, the results of sin on God's very creation, sin that had shut man's eyes to the word of God, sin that had closed man's lips in response to God. He had the remedy. It was in himself. But before he applied the remedy, Scripture says, he sighed. Turn over to the next chapter. The Jews come to him seeking a sign. Unbelief. He says he sighed deeply. Man's unbelief, my beloved brethren, to him, I say it reverently, was a deeper sorrow than the ears that couldn't hear and the lips that couldn't speak. Far worse is a heart of unbelief. He sighed deeply. No miracle there. He left them. He left them. There are many other Scriptures. Go into the next chapter. The Lord comes down from the mount of transfiguration. They bring unto him one whom the disciples could not heal. I can't go into the details of it. In the largeness and wonder of his person, he says, bring him to me. He had the remedy of every condition. And you know, after the Lord had dealt with the man, and notice how the Lord speaks of him. Scripture speaks of that person. It says he had a foul spirit. He was deaf like that other man. He was dumb, and he was demon-possessed. What a terrible condition. That, beloved brethren, is what Romans chapter 1 teaches us when we understand that sin has ruined man. Sin ruins our lives. It ruins our bodies. And it ruins our affections. And the disciples couldn't do anything about it. They asked the Lord why. Do you know what he said? This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Let me ask you, who had prayed? Who had fasted? Who had chastened his soul? It was the Savior. A moment before the glory of the millennial's kingdom was shining from his person, the top of the mountain, one step to the glory for him but alone, he descended to the bottom where man's terrible condition existed. And that condition had to be remedied were you and I to share his glorious throne with him and involve for him prayer and fasting. Go on, beloved brethren. John chapter 11. When he beheld Mary weeping, he said he groaned. He groaned. The Savior in the midst of sorrow, caused by death, the result of sin. And when he looked at Mary weeping, he said he groaned. And then we have the shortest verse of Scripture. Jesus wept. Beloved brethren, he knew the sorrow of Mary's heart. He knew the sorrow of God's heart because he was there for God. They lead him to the grave. Roll the stone away. Where have you laid him? He says he groaned within himself. A deeper expression. He was agitated in his soul. He was a man of sorrows. And then I read to you those well-known verses in Luke chapter 22. And just speak briefly about this holy portion of the Word of God. We read that verse first of all, you know, in John 12 when in anticipation of the cross with the shadow of the cross in all its gloom, looming upon his holy soul. He says, Father, save me from this hour. Father, save me from this hour. He felt it, beloved brethren. Jesus, knowing all things that were going to come to pass, went forth. He knew that every step he took was taking him nearer and nearer and nearer to the cross. And he knew what that cross meant to him. And he says, Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. And he moves onward. He takes with him his disciples into the garden of Gethsemane. You know, beloved brethren, these are milestones that we often travel. And you know, you young people, think of these things. They're easy to remember. Gethsemane. Gabbatha, which is Pilate's judgment hall. Golgotha. Easy to remember. Gethsemane. Gabbatha. Golgotha. And if you thought about them every night, beloved brethren, we'd walk through this world, holy, and separate from it, and kneel to the Lord. But as he entered into Gethsemane, he says he was withdrawn from them, stones cast, Luke in his gospel brings before us the details of the dependent man, the perfection of his manhood. You don't get this in John's gospel, because there he's a son. But here is that man that we read of in Philippians chapter 2, who humbled himself, became obedient, and he knew what that obedience was going to involve. Hebrews tells us that though he were a son, though he were a son, in order that he might be a high priest for you and I, who are going to have to walk through this world in a path according to the will of God, or after him, in order that he might be a high priest for you and I, it says he learned, that word means experimentally, what obedience meant. How did he learn it? By the things which he suffered. Can you wonder, beloved brethren, that if you and I walk according to the will of God through this world, we might be involved in suffering? It's worth it. It's worth it. You might lose everything down here, but there'll be glory with Christ above. Every little thing that I suffer for and with Christ down here, God will take and display in that glory age. When he takes each one of us and arrays us in glory, it was him. He was withdrawn from them and he kneeled down and he prayed. He says his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground. Do you know, beloved brethren, that sweat is only mentioned three times in the Scriptures. Only three times. I'll not deal with the middle one. It's in the book of Jeremiah. The first read of sweat in the Scriptures, in the book of Genesis, sin had come in. God said to Adam, cursed is the ground. Cursed is the ground. And the ground is mentioned in this verse. And God said to Adam, by the sweat of thy face shalt thou live. What did that mean? It meant this. Adam, during his life, was to go to feel upon his brow, in labor, burden and travail, what his disobedience and sin had brought into the creation of God. The expression of that feeling, of Adam's toil, was manifest by the sweat of his face. You think of that, beloved brethren? And yet here in the cross, the last Adam, entering completely into what Adam's sin and disobedience had brought in, in perfect obedience and dependence upon God, he felt in his soul what sin had done for God. And it says his sweat was as it were grey drops of blood falling down to the ground which had been cursed because of sin. Ponder it, beloved brethren. I'm not going to say any more about it. Just repeat that little expression, the travail of his soul. Remember that his sentiments, yes, I use these words of the Lord, they are true, his sentiments, his emotions, and his sympathies were untainted by sin. Beloved brethren, we know what sorrow is. We may know what suffering is, but our feelings and our emotions are affected by sin. We often sorrow because of what it costs us. He sorrowed for God. His sentiments and feelings and emotions were such, beloved brethren, that no man saw it like he did. No man suffered like he did in anticipation of the work that God had given him to do. We read of the travail of his soul. Well, finally, I'll just speak about those words in Philippians 2 and then I'll finish. Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. We read those verses in John's Gospel where he says, he bearing his cross. It wasn't really his, was it, beloved brethren? It was yours and it was mine. It was mine. And if I was to bear that cross, it would involve for me eternal damnation. And so he made it his cross. Oh, dear beloved brethren, there's one person in this room that doesn't know the love of Jesus, that doesn't know the Saviour. Let us tell you tonight, dear friend, whoever you might be, Jesus loves you. And he bore the cross for you. His cross? Yeah, it was mine, Lord. But he made it his. We read also that little verse at the end when he says it is finished. He says he bowed his head. The last act that is recorded of that perfect life spoke of an absolute and complete submission and obedience to the will of God. It wasn't the storm that bowed his head. I have no arguments with that hymn, beloved brethren. Let's keep on singing it. But the bowing of his head was a voluntary action. He did it in acknowledgement that for him to die was the will of God. And he bowed his head. And he did that which no other man can do because no man has power over his spirit to retain his spirit. Ecclesiastes chapter 11. But he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And he dismissed his spirit, the uniqueness, the person of Christ. But he died. He died. The death of the cross. And you know, I put that little expression over against that last one that we read of in Isaiah 53. He poured out his soul. Beloved brethren, what a beautiful expression that is. Do you know, if you look up in the word of God, the use of that expression, poured out, you will find that it's nearly always in connection with a man or a woman or a person lying down his life voluntarily for somebody else. Just think for a moment in the cave of Adullam when David longed and three men broke through the rank to the Philistines and brought him a cup of water. He said he poured it out to the Lord. He poured it out. And he gives us there the secret of the meaning of this little expression. He says they went in jeopardy of their lives. Yes, the pouring out speaks of a life laid down for God. In this same chapter, Philippians 2, Paul uses it himself. He says, if I now be ready to be offered upon the sacrifice of your service, that word literally means, if you look in Mr. Darby's translation, he puts it for you, poured out as a drink offering. Poured out. Paul was speaking of his death. He was going to die a martyr. He wanted it. He wanted to go the same way as his master. Think again of the words of the Lord Jesus. This is my blood poured out for you. Oh yes, beloved brethren, he is worthy to be numbered amongst the great. He's worthy to be given honor and majesty, glory, might, and dominion forever and ever. Amen. He is worthy of that scripture which says that wherefore God hath highly exalted, and again, you'll not find that expression anywhere else in scripture. It's reserved for him. God hath highly exalted him, given him a name which is above every name. He's going to be supreme. He's going to have absolute authority. And he's going to administer the full blessing of God. Amen. It is all on account, beloved brethren, that in perfect obedience, he went all the way to the cross, poured out his soul unto death. I must finish. Let me reiterate what I said at the beginning. We're going to sing a little hymn. It's an individual hymn. But as we sing this hymn together, 283, when I survey the wondrous cross, beloved brethren, let us remember the scriptures that we have read together. Let us think of the person who so loved us and so suffered in order that he might have us eternally with himself. And may the Spirit of God cause these hearts of ours to glow in response and affection to himself. The Lord is coming. He may come before this day finishes. What a wonderful thing that will be to see the Lord. Not see him as the crucified, but to see him as the glorified. Beloved brethren, as the Lord leaves us here for a little bit longer, let us walk the path that he trod. Let us commit ourselves to the will of God, cost what it may. And let us love him and honor him and glorify him in our lives. …