Who is Jesus Christ? (Part 3) Jesus is Our Suffering Servant

Introduction

Sometimes looks can be deceiving. FBC Salem family, you know my aversion to Chocolate Chip Cookies sometimes because they look awfully close to Oatmeal Rasin cookies and few things wreck your taste buds as much as that evil, sinful, deception! How many of you have heard of Mark Twain before? Mark Twain is one of the most wellknown Missourians and was a popular author. One of his most popular short stories was entitled The Prince and the Pauper. These two boys were born on the exact same day and the pauper always dreamed of being the prince - as many young kids dream of experiencing that type of status. The young boy snuck into the palace and wanted to talk with the prince! As you can imagine, he was captured by some guards, but the prince invited the boy to talk with him. They quickly realized that they looked nearly identical and after they visited for a little while, they came up with the idea to swap clothes. Ornery young boys! During this exchange of clothes, though, the guards came in and they took the actual prince who was dressed in the pauper’s clothes. Quite the reversal here! From the palace to the scrap yard. From the spectacular to the slums. The prince lived this lifestyle for quite some time but then his father passed away and it was time for the prince to become king. The prince returned to the palace and was ridiculed by the people, but despite his poor appearance, he was in fact their King.

It’s interesting to note that Mark Twain certainly was not a Christian because this story certainly makes us think of the life of Jesus Christ whenever He came from heaven to earth. We celebrate a great many things whenever we think of Jesus Christ and His ministry on earth - but many in His day didn’t recognize Him as the Savior He was. They expected a warrior king. They expected a mighty deliverer. They expected a conquering hero. What did they get? The eternal King of glory who came to earth as a suffering servant.

Looks can be deceiving. So many in our world desire crowns and they want the blessings and the dream outcome and they might be tempted to think that Jesus is their meal ticket to get those ancillary things. As we look at God’s Word, though, we see something clear. You don’t get a crown without a cross. Temporary suffering precedes eternal glory. We see this in the life of Jesus Christ and, if you’re here this morning as a Christian, you experience this as well. In this world things don’t always go our way. In this world we suffer. In this world we pick up our cross and deny ourselves… but one day, we will receive a crown. Aren’t you thankful for the amazing work of Jesus Christ? This morning we’re going to be looking at the servant work of Jesus in Isaiah 52:13-53 if you make your way there in your copy of God’s Word. If anyone had the right to be served, it was Jesus… let’s see why Jesus came to serve and why that matters to all of us thousands of years later.

Isaiah 52:13–Isaiah 53 CSB

13 See, my servant will be successful; he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted. 14 Just as many were appalled at you— his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being— 15 so he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard. 1 Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. 4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully. 10 Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished. 11 After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will carry their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him the many as a portion, and he will receive the mighty as spoil, because he willingly submitted to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet he bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.

This morning as we look ahead to Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we’re going to look back at the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our place. As we do this, ask yourself “What have I done with Jesus Christ?” Do I understand what Jesus has done, or am I confused as to why He matters today? Let’s pray and ask God to guide us as we unpack His Word.

The Emergency of our Situation (52:13-53:3)

Emergencies are nothing fun. As new parents, Lindsey and I made it several months before we had to worry about taking Gabriel to the Emergency Room in Springfield but eventually that time came. On a Wednesday night I was leading Bible study in Conway and Gabriel wasn’t feeling the best so Lindsey stayed home with him but by the time I got back home he had gotten significantly worse and his fever had increased. There’s no more helpless feeling than to have a sick child that you can’t do anything to help! Lindsey and I took him to the ER and they were able to give him some medicine and evaluate him and after some observation they sent us back home in the early hours of the morning. I’ll never forget that evening and the wide range of emotions that that emergency brought - and I’m sure that your family can relate. Emergencies aren’t very fun, but there are times where they are necessary.

This week, our country was ravaged with emergencies in schools and my hometown of Ozark was no exception as the high school was put on lockdown on Monday afternoon. We live in a sinful, fallen, messed up, broken world, friends. Events like this force us to long for the day whenever wrong is made right and evil is done away with forever! Do you know what the root problem with these types of emergencies is? What is the root problem behind sickness? What is the root problem behind school shootings? What is the root problem behind instability and insanity? Sin. Our situation is dire as humans because of our sin! Sin separates us from our God. Sin is anything that we think, say, do, or don’t do that displeases God and the emergency level situation is that we’re all guilty of sinning and we have this pesky fallen, sinful nature. This is bad news! So, what has God done to help with this situation? We see in our text in Isaiah 52:13 that Isaiah shares that God’s servant will be successful. He will be raised. Lifted high. Exalted. What does this mean? This is a Messianic prophecy - a prophecy looking forward to the promised Messiah who we know as Jesus Christ. What exactly does Jesus do? Let’s look to Galatians to help us out as Paul writes.

Galatians 4:4–5 CSB

4 When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

In the midst of our problem and suffering - God always had a plan and that plan was to send His Son to redeem and adopt sinners like you and I into His forever family. That’s great news! How will this happen? Through suffering, as we see in our text. His appearance is disfigured, not even resembling a human being, He is turned away from, despised, not valued, and rejected. Where does this happen to Jesus? Namely, the cross! Look at what Paul shares in the introduction of Galatians

Galatians 1:4 CSB

4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

We all face emergencies in our life but what is the biggest emergency in our lives and what is the root of all other emergencies? The emergency is our sin in the eyes of a holy God! What does Jesus do? Into this world of sin, suffering, and sorrow, Jesus comes and He gives Himself to rescue us. Do you notice this? So many are confused as to why Jesus had to come to the earth as this suffering servant. Some say that He was forced or that the fault lies with the Romans and Jews - certainly they are responsible for their actions, but they didn’t force Jesus’ hand. Jesus Christ went to the cross willingly! He could have snapped his fingers and a legion of angels could have descended and wiped the earthly powers out… but this arm of the Lord, this suffering servant, this Jesus was despised and rejected, and He was willing to do whatever it took to save us from our sins. As John 10:18 tells us

John 10:18 CSB

18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

You and I are facing a serious problem, so God sent His Son to provide a solution! Why the cross, though? Why Jesus? Why do we celebrate all of these things during this Holy week? For that, we have to understand, 2nd,

The Extent of our Sin (4-10)

For those who were with us last week, we talked about how sometimes people view sin as a sickness that we simply need some medicine for in order to overcome… The failure with this type of understanding, though, is that sin is much more like terminal cancer than a common cold. We don’t just need some DayQuil, we need a miracle! Our sin is serious and we need a Savior. This is why Jesus comes to do something for us that we could never do for ourselves and He sacrifices Himself on the cross in our place.

In the Old Testament we see a foreshadow of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in Genesis 22 as Abraham and Isaac go up to make a sacrifice to God on Mount Moriah. There’s just one tiny problem in Genesis 22, though. Abraham tells his servants that he and his son will both come down the mountain together but Isaac starts to look around. He sees the wood. He sees the elements necessary to start the fire. He sees the mountain peak they’re walking toward. Just one tiny problem… there is no lamb. Look at Abraham’s response in verse 8.

Genesis 22:8 CSB

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together.

We know that God provided a lamb for Abraham, but sin is so serious and its extent is so intense that God couldn’t just send an ordinary lamb to save us… Our sin requires something greater - a greater sacrifice. Look at how John the Baptist greeted Jesus

John 1:29 CSB

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

That lamb that was promised in Genesis 22 points us to the perfect lamb who would come and suffer. Jesus endured death as a lamb but He devoured it as a lion. How does Jesus do this? How does Jesus save sinners from their sin? By being Himself the lamb of God who is sacrificed in our place. All of these Old Testament sacrifices told God’s people that sin leads to death. Sin requires sacrifice. The extent of our sin is great! And sure enough, here comes Jesus. Who never once sinned - crushed by the Father for sinners like you and me. Look at what 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us about this

2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB

21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We see substitution language here and it’s exactly what we see nearly 700 years before Jesus’ death here in verse 5 of Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53:5 CSB

5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.

Notice the “he” and “we” usage here. He (Jesus) was pierced because of OUR rebellion. He (Jesus) was crushed because of OUR iniquities. He (Jesus) was punished to give US peace. So that WE would be healed through HIS sacrifice. The rebellion in the Garden of Eden is dealt with on the Hill of Calvary as Jesus took our punishment upon Himself! As He suffers and dies, though, not only does He take our sorrow and sin, He gives to us His righteousness. Some are a little caught up on what this healing means in Isaiah 53. Many pentecostals will argue that this means that we are to be physically and emotionally healed because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Some of these same people believe that you can lose the healing that Jesus won for you. I’m not sure about you - but Jesus doesn’t lose anything and He doesn’t lose any person. The healing that Jesus gives is permanent. It’s not a temporary physical healing in view here, it is something so much greater! Jesus heals us spiritually for all eternity from the punishment, power, and (one day) the presence of sin. See, you and I worship a God who is familiar with suffering and pain and heartache. As British pastor John Stott once asked, “In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God that’s immune to it?”

Jesus suffered (see Hebrews 4:15), Jesus is not simply a symbol of suffering, though, we see in the life of Jesus a life of hope. We see in His life that suffering has a purpose and His suffering on the cross provides us with hope today as we begin to understand that suffering in our lives does not get the last word. Our suffering is not meaningless, our God is big enough to use it for something good, even if we can’t see that good immediately. We don’t always understand what is going on or why specific things happen around us - but we can always trust that God can turn evil into good. We see that as clear as day on the cross as the Son was crushed. See, God turns suffering into something spectacular for Christians as God’s plan is accomplished on the cross!

In the midst of our suffering, we can trust in God’s plan knowing that He is with us… whenever we suffer, we can point people to the source of our hope and redemption and salvation. Our sins are many, but the mercy of our Savior is so much more!

That might sound really nice, but how do we know it to be true? How can we rest assured that this salvation and redemption is legitimate? Let’s think through this together. Have you ever been lost? We’ve all been spiritually lost at one point in our lives, but there’s a high likelihood that many of us have been physically and mentally lost a time or two as well! Do you remember how hopeless that feeling is? Say you’re in a foreign place and you’ve lost contact with the rest of your family or friends or team and you’re lost - or if you have a small child who was with you one moment and the next is no where to be seen - these situations are traumatic for us. Being lost is a big deal! Isaiah 53:6 tells us that this is true for all of us - that we are like sheep who have gone astray. We’ve gone our own way rather than following THE WAY. My grandparents had a farm near the Lake of the Ozarks and they had lots of different animals but sheep weren’t one of them, so my familiarity with sheep is lacking a little bit, but it doesn’t take a genius to know that sheep have a knack for getting lost and getting into some trouble.

There was a story from a shepherd years ago who marked the ear of a sheep after its birth because the sheep belonged to this shepherd. After a period of time, though, the sheep deliberately walked away. The shepherd searched and searched for this sheep and after a long period of time, found the sheep who was no longer a little lamb but a full grown sheep that was being sold at auction. The shepherd knew this was his sheep and he told the auctioneer this as he noted the mark on its ear. The auctioneer looked at the shepherd and said, “Regardless of it this sheep was yours, you have to bid and pay for it just like everyone else.” Sure enough, the sheep is up at auction and the shepherd is competing with another farmer who wants the sheep as well. Eventually the shepherd gets the sheep but he had to pay an outrageous price… But he has his sheep back. He has a double right to the sheep. He owned the sheep since birth and he also redeemed the sheep by paying for it. See, each one of us are made in God’s image. But each one of us have given into sin and we have turned to our own way and gone astray. Therefore, because of the extent of our sin, God placed our sin upon His Son who suffered in our place and was silent before his opponents. Can you imagine that? If you and I were falsely accused and sentenced to death whenever we had done nothing wrong, we would write the newspaper, we’d post on Facebook, we’d tell everyone that we knew and loved that we were innocent… but not Jesus. Why? Because this was necessary for our redemption. There had to be a perfect sacrifice to redeem imperfect sinners.

Hebrews 9:22 CSB

22 According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

This is what Jesus has done. He was crushed in our place. This was God’s plan in order to redeem sinners like you and me from the punishment of our sin. In order to forgive us once and for all! But do you see the price of our redemption? Like the shepherd who had to pay for the sheep that was already his, our Father paid for our salvation and it cost the life of His Son. The extent of our sin is great… but the salvation of God is greater! May we never gloss over our salvation or take for granted what Jesus has done for us and what He continues to do for us!

The Enjoyment of our Salvation (11-12)

Do you remember what led Jesus to the cross on Good Friday? Pilate had a choice and he left it up to the people: Jesus or Barabbas? Barabbas was a criminal and was in prison because he had helped lead a rebellion in Jerusalem and had committed murder. This was a genuinely guilty dude. Yet, what did the people want Pilate to do? Pilate was about to release Jesus because He had done no wrong - but the crowd cried for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be crucified in Luke 23. In a real sense, we see from the onset of the cross that Jesus was a substitute. It should have been Barabbas… but instead it was Jesus. As you and I reflect on what Jesus has done, we can say the exact same thing. It should have been us… but instead it was Jesus.

Can you imagine that? In our world of corruption it seems like the “haves” want to distance themselves from the “have nots” but in the Gospels we read that this is not so with Jesus. We see that Jesus Christ came to the world to do many things as He fulfilled God’s perfect plan. Let’s look at 3 of those things:

Jesus Came to:

Serve

Mark 10:45 CSB

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Suffer

Luke 9:22 CSB

22 saying, “It is necessary that the Son of Man suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.”

Save

Luke 19:10 CSB

10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

This is Jesus! He came to serve and suffer in our place in order to save us from our sins. This was God’s plan before time began and you and I are a part of that plan. See, God desires for us to repent of our sins and trust in Christ as Lord and to enjoy His gift of salvation today. Jesus invites us to follow after Him and do this work as well as we serve others and point them to our Savior! The work has been finished - Jesus paid it all on the cross as He took our sin upon Himself - and He can relate with us in our suffering as our suffering servant!

Because Jesus does all of these things, we must respond in at least 3 ways:

We Must Trust in God’s Plan

We Must Tell Others about God’s Son

We Must Be Transformed by God’s Power

What have you done with Jesus? This is the question that Pilate faced 2000 years ago before he sentenced Jesus to be crucified… and this is the question that people have asked for 2000 years and it’s the question that you must ask yourself today. What have I done with Jesus Christ? Do I understand the reality of my situation? Do I understand the depravity of my self? Do I understand the gravity of the cross? Do you know this Jesus? Have you repented of your sins and trusted in Him as Lord and Savior today? Sometimes we come to church and we sing songs and we study Scripture and we don’t know what to do in response. Can we be real with one another this morning? I love you enough to tell you the honest truth: Some of you today need to do business with this Jesus. We all need to do business with Jesus in different ways, but maybe you’re here this morning and you’re searching for something to satisfy your soul and someone invited you to worship with us today. Praise the Lord that you’re here. Friend, search no further… you need Jesus! He alone can satisfy and save your weary soul and provide peace and purpose for you today! Come to Jesus today and I’d love to talk with you about what it looks like to trust in Jesus here in just a few moments. Others are here and at this time of the year when we pause and reflect back at what Jesus has done and as you look at your Suffering Servant, maybe you’re convicted because of His amazing love and sacrifice in your place and you’re searching for a way to respond to Him in obedience. If that is you, follow through with obedience as you trust in His Word and share of His salvation with others.