I Believe — Jesus Christ Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was Crucified, Died, and Was Buried

Text: Isaiah 53:4-6

Theme: The rejected servant knew human sorrow and suffering, but his suffering had purpose, because he bore punishment for our sins to bring us peace.

We’ve come to that segment of the Apostles’ Creed that states: "I believe Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried." It is noteworthy that the Creed passes immediately from the Virgin Birth of Jesus to the death of Jesus with no mention of anything in between. There is nothing about his sermons or his miracles. Not a word about Jesus walking on the water or confronting the Pharisees or healing the sick. In so doing the Creed reminds us that Jesus was born to die. The word suffered sums up everything that happened between his birth and his death. Isaiah prophesied that he would be “ ... a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief ... “ (Isaiah 53:3). His sorrows began almost immediately. When he was born, King Herod tried to kill him. When he began his ministry, the people of his hometown took offense at him, and attempted throw him off a cliff to his death. His own family tried to confine him believing he was mentally deranged. At the end of his ministry, the crowds turned against him, Judas betrayed him, Peter denied him, and his disciple forsook him. His sufferings did not begin with his Passion Week, but they climaxed there and ultimately led to the cross.

This morning we look specifically at the fourth great confession of the Christian faith: "I believe Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried." I will tell you that I’m going to focus in on the suffering ministry of our Savior in absorbing all the wrath of God against sin that should be rightly directed at us. To do that, we’re going to look at the most remarkable passage in the Old Testament — Isaiah 53.

Written over 700 years before the life of Jesus, chapter 53 unmistakably speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only men with blind eyes, and deaf ears, and hard hearts, and dark minds can read this chapter and not see in it Christ’s redemptive work. Every detail of the prophet’s words correspond so closely to the person and work of the Lord Jesus that no one with normal powers of thought could reason otherwise.

This morning we will look at The Agony of the Righteous Servant. The three verses reveal that God’s Anointed One

Bore Our Burdens

Received Our Punishment, and

Was Crushed for Our Rebellion

I. THE AGONY OF GOD’S RIGHTEOUS SERVANT

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4–6, ESV)

1. in a few concise statements the Prophet Isaiah prophesied the redemptive ministry of God’s Holy Anointed One — we know him as Jesus

A. BEARING OUR BURDENS

1. in vs. 4 the passage states the true reason for the our Lord’s suffering

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4, ESV)

a. Jesus was smitten by God’s wrath so we don’t have to be smitten by God’s wrath

2. notice the contrast between He and our in these verses

a. this stanza of Isaiah’s poem — for that’s what it is; poetry — reveals that the sufferings of God’s Righteous One were not for any evil deed he had committed, but were in fact the result of "our" sins, and resulted in "our" healing

ILLUS. Every once in a while the news will report that someone who has been in prison for over twenty years has been exonerated for their crime. Often it’s because of new evidence, or some eye witness has come forward or DNA is found that implicates someone else in the crime. It is a failure of justice when a person is convicted and punished for a crime that they did not commit. Sometimes official misconduct and racial bias leads to wrongful conviction. In such cases we often speak of a travesty of justice. When innocent people are exonerated we always rejoice.

1) the Passion accounts of all four gospels make it clear that Jesus was innocent of the charges brought against him by the Jewish authorities

a) even Pontius Pilate seems to understand that to execute Jesus would be a gross miscarriage of justice

2) it is, however, a miscarriage of justice that sinners ought to rejoice in

3. Jesus willingly suffered injustice so that repentant sinners might be justified

a. he was smitten by God and afflicted, but he was smitten and afflicted for us!

b. do you understand that, as a sinner, you should rightly receive all the wrath that Jesus received on your behalf?

1) we should have been whipped

2) we should have been spit upon

3) we should have stood before the mob howling for our death

4) we should have carried the cross up that hill

5) we should have been stripped naked and humiliated

6) we should have been nailed to the cross

7) we should have been in torments and thirsted

8) we should have suffered and died and gone to hell

4. the atoning death of Christ is a truth so profound that scholars have been unable to fully plumb its depths

a. think of it—Jesus, God’s Son, the second person of the triune Godhead — died to pay the penalty for our sins!

b. various theories have been advanced to explain what happened on the cross, but Scripture teaches that substitution lies closest to the heart of this great mystery

1) an innocent substitute bore the sins of all God’s Elect

ILLUS. Cliff Barrows, longtime music and program director for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, tells of the time his two young children did something wrong. Although they were gently warned, they repeated the offense and needed to be disciplined. Barrows writes that his heart was pained at the thought of having to spank his children. He called Bobby and Bettie into his room, removed his belt, and then bared his own back. He then knelt by his bed, and told each child to whip him 10 times. At first they were disbelieving, but Barrows told them that a penalty for disobedience had to be paid. The children sobbed as they lashed their daddy’s back. Then Cliff hugged and kissed them, and they prayed together. Cliff Barrows writes, "It hurt, but I never had to spank them again."

5. God’s Righteous One has borne — literally took up — our griefs and sorrows

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24, NIV84)

a. the language of carrying and bearing sets the stage for the substitutionary understanding of our Savior’s suffering

1) he took up our sin in order to take away our sin

b. this is the language of the Jewish sacrificial system—especially from Leviticus

1) there the sacrificial animal carries (nasa’) the sins of the sinner away, so that the sinner does not carry them anymore

2) the animal does not merely die because the sinner sinned, but in the sinner’s place, suffering what the sinner would have to suffer if it were not for the sacrifice of the innocent

c. in the same way, the word translated as bear or took up implies the bearing of a burden for someone else

1) God’s Anointed One is not suffering with His people, but for them

6. in bearing our griefs Isaiah writes that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted

a. Isaiah 52:14 tells us that God’s Anointed One was disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness (Isa. 52:14)

1) it’s Isaiah’s way of saying that our Lord was beaten to a bloody pulp

2) he freely submitted to such treatment in order to carry our griefs and infirmities

b. the word griefs in Isaiah 53:4 can literally be translated as illnesses of the soul

1) I can’t think of a better way to describe sin

a) it is a decease of the soul, a spiritual deformity we are born with and the only cure is found in the blood of Christ

7. Isaiah also tells us that God’s Anointed One will carry our sorrows

a. there are many sad events in life that cause us deep sorrow, and we often carry our sorrow for many years

b. but nothing makes us more sorrowful then when we come to the realization of just how monstrous our sin is before a holy God

1) not a sinner has lived who understands the depth of their own depravity

2) not a sinner has lived who sees their sin as God sees their sin

c. only when a human heart experiences the depths of sorrow over the sinfulness of their sin can they know God

ILLUS. This is the truth behind the second Beatitude — “Blessed are those that mourn ... “ especially those who mourn over sin, especially their own sin.

d. Jesus is the one who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows

ILLUS.In his hymn And Can It Be, Charles Wesley came to a realization of the depth of his sin, and how saving grace comes through the depth of Christ’s love. “...Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God should die for me?

... He Bore Our Burdens ... And Our Heaviest Burden is Our Sin

B. RECEIVING OUR PUNISHMENT

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5, NIV84)

1. the images Isaiah uses in vs. 5 now shifted from illness to injury and become more severe

a. I’ve always liked the KJV reading of he was wounded for our transgressions

1) however, that reading does not do the Hebrew word justice

2) it literally means to be pierced through and through

b. one who is pierced through and through usually dies

ILLUS. One commentary said, “The word hints at a violent death.” And I thought “Oh really?”

3. crushed indicates breaking something into pieces and in some cases even pulverizing it

a. Jesus was crushed under the weight of our sins and the judgment of God that fell on him

b. sin kills, and our sin killed Christ — my sin, and your sin crushed the life out of our Savior

ILLUS. When Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion hit theaters in 2004, there was much controversy in the press over what critics perceived as anti-Semitism. Gibson seemed to be blaming the Jews for Christ’s crucifixion. Well, Gibson is correct; the Jews were responsible ... and so were the Romans, and the Greeks, and the Russians, and the Japanese, and the Germans, and the ... well, I think you get the point. If you’re of the human race, of whatever nationality, you’re responsible for the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your responsible, not because you’re German, or Greek, or Spanish or Hungarian, or Jewish, but because you a member of Adam’s Fall race.

4. the reason for the Righteous Servant’s suffering is our transgressions of God’s Law and the iniquities of our fallen nature

a. Christ’s suffering and subsequent death were more than sympathy and compassion for sinners, but it is Christ actually bearing the consequence of our eternal judgment for our sin

b. he was pierced for our (substitute “my”) transgressions ... he was crushed for our substitute “my”) iniquities ... by his wounds we (substitute “I”) are healed

5. the severity of punishment on God’s Anointed One measures how seriously God takes our rebellion and crookedness and depravity

ILLUS. Ahmad Alissa walked into a grocery store in Bolder, CO and killed ten people. Everyone wants to know why. Everyone is speculating on Alissa’s motive. The base motive in Alissa’s life is the base motive in every human’s life ... it’s called sin. There is a fundamental evil that lies in the heart of every person, and unless that person’s heart is changed by the transforming power of Christ, through the Spirit, evil — in its various forms — will always be a part of a man’s life.

a. Americans today typically make light of their sin — they are "shortcomings," or “mistakes" or “misjudgments”

1) on occasion, when we do something “really, really bad” we may actually refer to it as “sin”

2) but, for the most part we play semantic games with ourselves so as to minimize the fact that we are transgressors who are full of iniquities

b. but God will have none of it

1) the refusal of humanity to bow to the Creator’s rule, and our insistence on drawing up our own moral codes that pander to our lusts, are not shortcomings or mistakes

2) they are the stuff of rebellion, and death, and unless someone can be found to stand in our place, we stand condemned

c. but someone has been found

1) someone has taken on Himself the penalty of our rebelliousness, and we have been given entrance into the kingdom

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV84)

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9, NIV84)

6. Christ was delivered for our sins that we might be delivered from our sins

a. the phrase the punishment that brought us peace is better translated the punishment of our peace

b. it reminds us that before God could forgive, His justice had to be satisfied

1) that justice is satisfied in the death of an innocent substitute

a) in the Old Testament it was the death of the Passover Lamb

b) in the New Testament is was the death of the Perfect Lamb of God — Jesus

2) it is only through substitution that fellowship between humans and God is possible

a) in the Old Testament the death of the Passover Lamb brought temporary justification

b) but in the New Testament the death of the Perfect Lamb of God — Jesus — is a once-for-all sacrifice that never has to be repeated

“But when Christ came as the high priest of the good things we now have, he entered the greater and more perfect tent. It is not made by humans and does not belong to this world. 12 Christ entered the Most Holy Place only once—and for all time. He did not take with him the blood of goats and calves. His sacrifice was his own blood, and by it he set us free from sin forever. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a cow are sprinkled on the people who are unclean, and this makes their bodies clean again. 14 How much more is done by the blood of Christ. He offered himself through the eternal Spirit as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will make our consciences pure from useless acts so we may serve the living God. 15 For this reason Christ brings a new [covenant] agreement from God to his people. Those who are called by God can now receive the blessings he has promised, blessings that will last forever. They can have those things because Christ died... .” (Hebrews 9:11–15, NCV)

ILLUS. In his book Pilgrim's Progress, the author John Bunyan writes of his dream in which the book's central character, Christian, comes to the climax of his journey. Christian has searched high and low for something that will bring him peace and help him with the burden he constantly carries. That burden is a backpack loaded with rocks that represents all the sin in Christian's life. Bunyan writes, "I saw in my dream that just as Christian came up to the cross, his burden loosed from his shoulders and fell from his back and began to tumble till it came to the mouth of the sepulcher, where it fell in and I saw it no more. Then was Christian glad and lightsome and said with a merry heart, ‘He has given me rest by his sorrow, and life by His death.'"

d. this ought to be the testimony of every believer: ‘He has given me rest by his sorrow, and life by His death.'"

1) at the foot of Calvary's Cross we find that our burden of sin and guilt can be laid down at the feet of Jesus

2) once our burden is lifted we will discover spiritual rest and abundant life

... He Received Our Punishment

C. CRUSHED FOR OUR REBELLION

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6, NIV84)

1. all — every person who has ever lived or will live — all of us, without exception — have gone astray

a. the figure of a sheep straying off is a picture of the sinner of running off from God, of alienating ourselves from God

b. it is a picture of open rebellion and is illustrated with the picture of straying wandering sheep

1) sheep are notoriously unmindful and unaware of their circumstances

2) their minds are on the next clump of grass and not much else

3) when looking for food they stray in all directions

4) sheep are prone to get lost

2. how did we go astray?

a. our selfishness, our lack of judgment, our poor decisions, our lusts, our temptations, our ambitions and so much more cause us to go our own way

b. like sheep we don’t seem to be aware of the consequences of our choices

1) and like sheep we can’t always defend ourselves against the consequences of our choice

3. so what did God do to bring us back into His eternal fold?

a. God sent a shepherd to bring us back into the fold — his name is Jesus

““I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11, NIV84)

1) this Shepherd laid down His life for the lost, straying, rebellious sheep

b. God’s Anointed One became the propitiation for our sin

1) propitiation is a a word, which means appeasement, or satisfaction

c. Christ’s suffering satisfied the demands of God’s justice, thus appeasing His holy wrath against believers’ sins

“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” (Romans 5:9, ESV)

II. APPLICATION

1. the words found in Isaiah 53:3-7 are stark: despised ... rejected ... punished ... stricken ... afflicted ... pierced ... crushed ... wounded ... oppressed ... slaughter

2. these are words the tell the cost or our redemption

A. JESUS WAS OUR SIN OFFERING

“And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”” (Revelation 5:9–10, ESV)

1. unfortunately, there are those pastors and theologians within the church who insist we must not emphasize the cross and the bloodiness of Christ’s crucifixion

a. they tell us that for a sophisticated audience such as we now have in our churches that such a message is unappealing

ILLUS. Alan Jones is the Anglican Dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. In 2005 he published his book, Reimagining Christianity: Reconnect Your Spirit without Disconnecting Your Mind. He writes: "The Church's fixation on the death of Jesus as the universal saving act must end, and the place of the cross must be reimagined in Christian faith. Why? Because of the cult of suffering and the vindictive God behind it." Jones goes on to call the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross a “vile doctrine” and Christianity as “toxic”. Unfortunately, he is not alone in his beliefs.

b. this is not a “reimagining” of Christianity — it is a gutting of the gospel

ILLUS. John Stott, a fellow Anglican pastor and one of the most influential churchmen of the 20th century, responds: “We strongly reject, therefore, every explanation of the death of Christ which does not have at its center the principle of ‘satisfaction through substitution.”

c. the Gospel the Apostles preached had teeth to it

1) it bites hard into the kingdom of darkness and rips chunks from it wherever it is preached

2) their’s was a gospel that exalted Christ, lifted the cross up high, proclaimed total commitment to Christ the King, and utterly stripped man of all self-reliance, and self-righteousness, tearing down false religion, and leaving men stripped bare before God in utter dependence on His free grace alone to save them

d. too many pastors and too many churches preach an “easy gospel”

1) the result is that multitudes of religious masses fill the churches, comfortable in their sin, living at ease in Zion in lukewarm pleasure-seeking religion, serving a “Jesus” that is not the Jesus of the Bible, but is rather the bi-product of their own worldly culture and carnal thinking

2. the gospel is all about blood and atonement and propitiation — it’s all about a Suffering Savior, and if that seems unsophisticated, it is because it is

a. the crying need of our era is not a four-point message on how to have a successful marriage, or a six-point message on “how to have your best life now,” but a three-point message on sin, judgment and righteousness

b. man’s great issue is sin, and the sinfulness of his sin, which places him under the wrath of God

c. fix that, and a lot of other things in the sinner’s life gets fixed

3. Christ Is Our Sin Offering

Conclusion: In a Peanuts cartoon, Lucy approaches Charlie Brown with a paper and pen and says, "Here, sign this. It absolves me from all blame." Then she goes to Shroeder with the same paper and says, "Here, sign this. It absolves me from all blame." Finally she comes to Linus: "Here, sign this. It absolves me from all blame." As she walks away Linus says, "Gee, that must be a nice document to have."

We don't have a document like Lucy's, but we do have a Savior who is our Great High Priest, who became our perfect sacrifice that our sin might be atoned for. Jesus Christ went to the cross at Calvary so that we would be absolved of all blame and fully forgiven. I believe that Jesus Christ Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was Crucified, Died, and Was Buried