Sermon #1233
Title: THE INFALLIBLE EFFICACY OF
CHRIST’S ATONEMENT
Text: Isaiah 53:10-12
Reading: Psalm 22:1-31
Subject: The Glorious Success of Christ
Date: Saturday Evening - May 18, 1996
Redeemer Baptist
Church - Louisville, KY
Sunday Evening -
May 19, 1996 - Danville, KY
Tape # S-56
Introduction:
What happened at Calvary? Did the Lord
Jesus Christ redeem us from all iniquity; or did he merely make us redeemable?
Did he actually put away our sins; or did he merely make it possible for our
sins to be put away? Did the Lamb of God reconcile us to God; or did he merely
make us reconcilable? Did he justify his people; or did he simply make it
possible for them to be justified? Did he effectually secure the salvation of
those for whom he died; or did he only make salvation a possibility for them?
Did the incarnate Son of God actually make atonement for sin by the shedding of
his blood; or did he just make a stab at it? Hear the Word of God as it was
spoken by the mouth of his prophet Isaiah. Here is a true, divinely inspired
description of the sin-atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ and its
results.
Isaiah
53:10-12 "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. (11) 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.
(12) 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 bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors."
Did you catch that phrase, “He shall be satisfied”? How I love this
word of promise! Let me state it as emphatically as I possibly can. “He,” the Son of God, our glorious
Substitute, our great Sin Offering, our divine Savior, the one who died in our
place at Calvary, “shall,” without a doubt, without the possibility of hindrance,
most assuredly, “be satisfied,” fully, completely, eternally satisfied!
·
He was
satisfied with the terms of redemption
proposed to him as our Surety in the covenant of grace before the world was
made.
·
He is
satisfied with his purchased possession, his bride the Church.
·
He is
satisfied with himself as a ransom price for the satisfaction of justice.
·
He shall be
satisfied with us.
Proposition: Isaiah 53:10-12
is an inspired declaration of complete, effectual redemption accomplished by
Jehovah’s Righteous Servant, our Substitute and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I preach an undefeated and
undefeatable Savior! It is written, “He shall not fail!” The Son of God
can never be frustrated in his purpose, defeated in his design, or hindered in
his work. Christ was not conquered at Calvary. He conquered! He did not die as
the helpless victim of circumstances. He died as the Lord of all things, the
one who rules all circumstances. And he will not be defeated in the end. Oh,
no! “He
shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied!” The cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ shall never be discovered a miscarriage. The Lion of
the tribe of Judah must prevail. Our text is a proclamation of The Infallible Efficacy Of Christ’s
Atonement. That is the title of my message to you tonight - The Infallible Efficacy Of Christ’s
Atonement.
The subject matter before us is a
matter of utmost concern. The one thing that characterizes every messenger of
satan is a denial of the efficacy of Christ’s atonement. The one point of
doctrine upon which all false prophets are agreed is this - They all deny that
every soul for whom Christ died shall be saved. They may give lip service to
Bible doctrine and Bible terms; but they deny the very foundation of the gospel
- Substitution. The modern day prophets of Baal preach a redemption that
redeems no one, an atonement that atones nothing, and a salvation that saves no
one. They preach possibility redemption, possibility atonement, possibility
grace, and possibility salvation.
Today we are told that the sacrificial
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ does not, in itself, secure the salvation of
anyone, but that it only makes salvation possible for everyone. We are told
that the blood of Christ becomes effectually operative by man’s faith, by man
deciding to believe on Jesus, by the act of man’s great free will. Nonsense! Such doctrine is utter heresy! That is not the
teaching of this Book!
I want you to hold your Bibles open on
your laps at Isaiah 53:10-12. We are going to look at these three verses of
Scripture line by line. I want you to see clearly that this passage of Holy
Scripture, in harmony with the entire Volume of Inspiration, talks not about a
frustrated Christ, but a satisfied Christ. Christ is not our helper. He is our
Savior! He is not an accomplice in salvation, but the Accomplisher of
salvation!
I. “Yet, it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief.”
Our Savior died by the hand of God,
according to the will of God, for the glory of God. Though our Lord Jesus
Christ “knew no sin,” the Lord God
was pleased to bruise him in the place of sinners for sin. We recognize that
our Redeemer was crucified by the hands of wicked men; but he was delivered to
their hands by the will of God (Acts 2:23); and those wicked men did nothing
but that which God himself had purposed and “determined
before o be done” (Acts 4:27-28). The death of Christ was no accident, or
after thought! The death of Christ was in the mind and heart of God from
everlasting (Rev. 13:8). The eye of faith looks beyond the malice of the
Jews, the weakness of Pilate, and the
Roman cross, and traces the death of Christ back to its original source, to the
heart of God himself.
·
Romans 5:8
·
I John 4:9-10
A. The Lord Jesus Christ died
according to the purpose, decree, and will of God.
·
I Peter
1:18-21
·
Acts 13:28-29
We do not, we dare not impute to God
the sin and guilt of the crime. Wicked men did exactly what they wanted to do.
God did not force them to act as they did. But he did absolutely govern and
control their actions and used them to accomplish his own purpose of grace
toward his elect. Not a single action, circumstance, or pain involved in the
Savior’s death came to pass except by the decree of God.
1.
This is a foundation truth of Holy Scripture. See that you hold it firmly. -
God Almighty has written a book of sovereign and absolute predestination.
·
Revelation 5:1
“Chained to
His throne a volume lies
With all the
fates of men,
With every
angel’s form and size
Drawn by the
eternal pen.”
Nothing
escapes the will, purpose, decree, and power. of God. Everything that comes to
pass in time was ordained by God in eternity. You may be sure that God Almighty,
who feeds the sparrows, clothes the lilies, and numbers the hairs of our heads,
left nothing to chance or circumstance regarding the life and death of his dear
Son.
The death of
Christ is the very core of predestination. It is the center and mainspring upon
which God fashioned all his other purposes. It is the foundation upon which the
structure of God’s decrees was built. Jesus Christ is “the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world” because “it pleased the LORD to bruise him.”
·
Long before
there was a sinner God provided a Savior.
·
Before the
sheep went astray God made Christ our Shepherd.
·
Before we fell
in the first Adam we stood in the last Adam.
·
Before ever we
broke God’s law Christ was our ransom.
·
Before we
became polluted Christ was our cleansing Fountain.
·
Long before we
incurred the debt of sin Christ stood as our Surety to pay our debt.
·
Before we were
cursed by the law Christ was our Redeemer.
·
And before
ever we died Christ was our Resurrection and our Life!
2.
The Son of God was sent into the world to die for us because the Lord God loved
us with an everlasting love.
·
Jeremiah 31:3
·
John 3:16
·
John 13:1
·
I John 4:9-10
·
The Father
loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
·
The Son loved
us and came to die in our place. “He
loved me and gave himself for me.”
·
The Spirit
loved us and formed the holy humanity of Christ in the womb of the virgin to be
a sacrifice for our sins.
3.
The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to die in order to accomplish his
Father’s will.
In the fullness of time God the Father
took his dear Son from his bosom and freely delivered him up for us all. “Herein
is love!” The offended Judge took his own holy Son, whom he dearly
loved, and gave him up to suffer the pains of hell to accomplish the redemption
of our souls, in order to save traitors and rebels who would never love him in
return, except he create love in us!
A. Understand this too - Our Lord
Jesus Christ voluntarily laid down his life for us as our Substitute.
When our text says, “It pleased the LORD to bruise him,” we
must not forget that he is the Lord God who did the bruising as well as the one
bruised. Christ was not a forced surety but a willing one, a willing Servant, a
willing Savior, a willing Substitute, and a willing Sacrifice.
·
Psalm 40:6-7
·
Proverbs
8:23-31
·
Isaiah 50:5-7
·
John 10:17
·
Hebrews 12:2
C.
Yet the unutterable agony of Christ’s death upon the cross was inflicted upon
him by his Father’s own hand.
We read of the terrible agonies he
endured in Psalm 22 as he hung upon the cross, suffering the wrath of God.
Those woes were aggravated by the fact that it was the Father’s hand that was
turned upon his dear Son in wrath, and that at the very height of his
obedience! “It pleased the LORD to bruise
him.” Oh, how he bruised him!
1.
Christ died a very violent death.
His death could not be by natural causes. Christ was a penal Substitute. He had
to die as a slain victim, as a sacrifice.
2.
He died a terribly painful death,
tormented in body and in soul.
·
Beaten and
Crucified!
·
Forsaken by
Friends and Mocked by Men!
·
Made to be
Sin!
·
Forsaken of
God his Father!
·
All for the
Satisfaction of Justice!
3.
Our Redeemer died a horribly shameful
death. He “endured the cross, despising
the shame.”
·
As a Shameful
Man
·
In a Shameful
Condition - Naked! Cursed!
4.
The Son of God died a specifically cursed
death. It is written, “Cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree.”
5.
Our great Savior died a slow, lingering
death.
·
Others
gradually grew weaker as they suffered. He was full of life to the end.
·
Others were
given gall and myrrh to stupefy their senses. He was given gall and vinegar to
intensify his pains.
·
In all his
pains and agonies, there were none to help, not even a sympathetic soul to look
upon him with pity.
Here
is the cause of our Savior’s death...
·
The Purpose of
God to Save Us.
·
The Love of
God for Us.
·
The Grace of
God to Us.
“It pleased the LORD to bruise
him; he hath put him to grief!”
II. Now, look at this next line -
“When thou shalt make his soul an
offering for sin.”
Why did the Lord of glory endure such a death as this? The
Lord God bruised his Son and put him to grief upon the cursed tree because he
made “his soul an offering for sin.”
Christ died as he did, he had to die as he did, so that he might be a suitable
Substitute and Sin Offering to God for his people. Here are four
reasons for the crucifixion, four reasons why the Lord Jesus Christ
died the painful, shameful, ignominious death of the cross.
A. Christ died the death of the
cross because he must bear the curse of the law in his death if he would save
us.
·
Galatians 3:13
·
Deuteronomy
21:22-23
B. The Lord Jesus died the horrid
death of the cross to fulfill the Old Testament types as a sin offering.
Those sacrifices were always lifted up
upon an altar before God. The brazen serpent was lifted up on a pole. Even so,
God’s great sin offering, the true sin offering had to be lifted up.
·
Numbers 19:9
·
John 3:14
·
John 12:32
C. Our Savior died as he did upon
the cursed tree to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies concerning his death.
·
“They have pierced my hands and my feet” (Ps. 22:16-17).
·
“They shall look on me whom they have pierced” (Zech. 12:10).
D. The Lord Jesus endured the
death of the cross for us, as our Substitute, that God might be both just and
the Justifier of all who trust him.
·
Romans 3:24-26
·
Psalm 85:10-11
·
Proverbs 16:7
·
Isaiah 45:20
Illustration: The two Goats on the Day of Atonement
1. The Lord’s Goat - Truth
2. The Scapegoat - Mercy
Note: God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Yet “It pleased the LORD to bruise him!”
Now, beginning with this next sentence
and going through the rest of the chapter, Isaiah shows us what the certain,
just, and inevitable results of Christ’s death must be. Do not ever think that
the results of our Lord’s death are uncertain. The Arminian, the freewiller
must say, “There are no sure and certain results of Christ’s death. Everything
is left to chance. Everything depends upon what man will do. Everything is
determined by man’s will.” Blasphemy! In these next lines God the Holy Spirit
tells us exactly what the results of Christ’s death shall be. It is written, “He shall not fail!” Our Lord’s death
was not a gamble, a crap-shoot. He effectually accomplished all that he came
here to do. Here we see the infallible efficacy of Christ’s atonement.
III. “He shall see his seed.”
We do not have to guess who his seed are. His seed is the
generation (Ps. 22:30) that shall serve him, the whole body of God’s elect. He shall
see them, everyone of them...
·
Justified!
·
Regenerated!
·
Sanctified!
·
And Glorified!
·
John 12:24, 32
IV. “He shall prolong his days.”
That simply means that, once he has by
his death fully satisfied the justice of God and put away the sins of his
people, he will be raised from the dead to declare in the most public,
undeniable manner possible that all for whom he died are forever justified.
·
Romans 4:25
Being raised
from the dead, he shall then be exalted and glorified to give eternal life to
all his redeemed ones.
·
John 17:2
·
Romans 14:9
V. “And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”
Again, notice that word shall.
Everything that God wants done shall be done by the risen, exalted,
glorified Christ. All the pleasure of God’s eternal purpose is being and shall
fully be accomplished by King Jesus!
·
Revelation
10:1
·
Romans 8:28-31
Move on now to verse 11.
VI. “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.”
There is that word shall
again. Twice it is given in this sentence. The Holy Spirit intends for
us to understand that there is absolutely no uncertainty about what the
consequences of Christ’s atonement are. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
shall never be discovered a miscarriage! This text is talking about a satisfied
Savior, not a frustrated assistant! When the Word of God talks about the
satisfaction of Christ, it is talking about two things: Christ making
satisfaction and Christ being satisfied.
A. By his one offering for sin,
our Redeemer has completely satisfied the law and justice of God.
·
Galatians 3:13
·
I John 1:9
Illustration: The One Room School
B. By his sin-atoning death, as
our Substitute, our Savior satisfied all types, shadows, and prophecies of the
Old Testament Scriptures.
·
Genesis 3:15
·
Psalm 22
·
Isaiah 53
·
Noah’s Ark
·
The Ram Caught
in the Thicket
·
The Paschal
Lamb
·
The Scapegoat
·
The Brazen
Serpent
·
The Smitten
Rock
C. The crucified Christ presented
to sinners in the gospel satisfies all the demands of a guilty conscience, all
the needs of a convicted sinner, and all the desires of a renewed heart.
·
Hebrews
9:12-14
·
I Corinthians
1:30
·
Psalm 73:25-26
·
Philippians
3:7-14
D. And the Son of God shall be
satisfied with his ransomed people.
I take that to mean that our Redeemer shall be satisfied
with the results of his sin-atoning work as our Substitute.
·
Satisfied
because they all shall be saved.
·
Satisfied
because they shall be perfectly saved (Eph. 5:25-27; Isa. 62:5).
1.
He was satisfied with his work when it was done.
·
“I have finished the work...” - Righteousness!
·
“It is finished!” - Redemption!
2.
He is satisfied with the reward of his obedience - His Exaltation and Glory
(Phil. 2:8-12)
3.
He is satisfied with his present position and work as our great High Priest (I
John 2:1-2).
4.
The Son of God shall be satisfied when he sees his seed, all his seed saved,
completely saved (John 6:37-40).
·
Called by his
Spirit.
·
Converted by
his Grace.
·
Conformed to
his Image.
5.
He shall be satisfied in the day of the great and glorious resurrection day.
·
The
Resurrection (I Cor. 15:51-58).
·
The Judgment -
“Come ye blessed.”
·
The
Presentation (I Cor. 15:24-28).
·
The
Everlasting Blessedness of His People - The Marriage Supper.
·
The
Everlasting Praise of His Own Great Name (Rev. 4:11-12; 5:9-14).
Nothing will satisfy Christ short of
the complete salvation of his people (Matt. 1:21). Nothing will satisfy the
believer’s heart short of perfect, complete conformity to Christ (Phil. 3:10).
And both Christ and his saints shall be satisfied.
I am certain that this is the meaning
of the phrase “He shall see of the
travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied” because that is what the next
phrase declares.
VII. “By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall
bear their iniquities.”
All the many whose iniquities Christ
bore on the tree shall be (There’s that word again - shall.) justified, and
they shall be justified by his knowledge. Perhaps that means by the knowledge
of him; but I prefer to stick with our translation. Christ shall justify his
elect according to his knowledge of those for whom he died.
·
John 10:14,
27-28
Now
look at verse 12. Here the prophet summarizes all that he has said concerning
the glorious, infallible efficacy of Christ’s redeeming work as our Substitute.
VIII. "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 bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
A. Here is a declaration of Christ exaltation and glory. - "Therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with
the strong.”
B. Here are the reasons for his exaltation and glory. The Lord Jesus Christ is seated at the
right hand of the majesty on high because his work is finished and his work was
and is a complete success!
·
“He hath poured out his soul unto death!”
·
“He was numbered with the transgressors!”
·
“He bare the sin of many!”
·
“He made intercession for the transgressors!”
This
he did “not merely in a petionary way, but by presenting himself, his blood,
righteousness, and sacrifice, pleading the merits of these and calling for, in
a way of justice and legal demand, all the blessings which were stipulated in
the everlasting covenant, between him and the Father, to be given to his people
in consequence of his sufferings and death.”
John
Gill
·
John 17:9,
20-24
·
Christ made
intercession for us in the garden.
·
Christ made
intercession for us on the cross.
·
Christ makes
intercession for us today in heaven (I John 2:1-2; Rom. 8:33-34; Heb. 7:24-25;
9:24).
·