All right, we're looking at chapter 52 and 53 today. Let me pray for us before we jump in. Gracious and loving Father, we thank you for today. We thank you for your living word. We know, Father God, that your word goes forth and does not return until it has accomplished its purpose.

We pray that you would give us more and more confidence in the things that you have ordained. That we would not rely upon our own resources, turn to the very things, Lord God, that the world turns to. Help us, Lord, to have confidence in you, that as we humble ourselves before your throne, that our confidence may come from you and you alone.

And so we pray, Father God, that your Holy Spirit would illumine your word, and we judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart. I pray that if in our inner being, in our thoughts, in our emotions, in any way, Lord God, there's anything that is crooked before you, we pray, Father, that your word would enlighten us, strengthen us, empower and sanctify us, Lord God, for the sake of your name.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, so let's look at Isaiah chapter 52. All right, so the first question of last week was, chapter 52 begins with the third awake. So if you look at the three separate passages, chapter 51, 9, and 17, and 52, 1, what are the similarities, what are some things that you found, and obviously those three things kind of ties the passages together.

What do they teach? So each one of these calls to awake, and then it's followed by be strengthened or to stand up, right? Meaning God's about to do something. It means to pay attention, that God's going to bring revival, he's going to be bringing rebuke. But in other words, to whatever it was that was status quo, it should no longer be, right?

And that's what he means by awake, to stand up. And again, we see the same language in the New Testament, where God is calling his church to be reawakened, to no longer be lukewarm, and he says to awake, right? So the first call to awake in 51, 9, it's awaken of the servant for the Lord's action.

Basically saying that this is what the Lord is about to do, so awake and pay attention. So obviously that's in preparation for what he's about to tell us, that all the promises that he's made is going to be fulfilled in the servant that's coming. So the first awaken is, awaken and pay attention because he's coming.

Okay. So the second awaken is a reminder to Israel of their past sins. Again, this is a consistent pattern that we see. Whenever God moves, he first brings awareness of their sins. You see now? Okay. So again, there's a consistent pattern that we see over and over again, that before God brings revival, that revival basically is recognizing their sin and Jesus Christ as a solution to their sin.

But if they don't recognize the sin that they're under, the judgment that they're under, then when Christ comes, what purpose would he serve? Right? So that's a constant pattern that we see. So when we're praying for revival, you know, I mean, oftentimes the churches get together and we pray for revival.

Revival basically is asking God to take a close look at your heart and your life. Right? Because until there is confession of sin, there is no revival. Typically, when we pray for revival, we're praying for revival for other people. Lord, convict them, convict those people. But really, revival is praying that God would come and reveal your inner being and who you are.

Right? Because that's the reason why he comes. So again, the second awaken is awaken so that you would be aware of the wrath of God, but the solution that he's about to bring with his servant. And the third call is a promise of restoration. Right? So the Lord is about to move.

The Lord is coming because of your sins. And then finally awake because the Lord is coming. Right? So if you look at chapter 52, it begins by saying, Awake, put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your beautiful garments of Jerusalem, the holy city. So what is the idea, the imagery of putting on a beautiful garment represent?

When would you put on a beautiful garment? Wedding. Wedding. Funeral. Funeral. You just ruined it. Just nullified it. Something important. Right? They're able to put on new clothing because the Lord is going to bring cleansing. Right? It's kind of like after you take a bath, you're able to put on new clothing.

You don't put it on when you're dirty. So it says, put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Does that mean that the new kingdom is going to come that only the Jews are going to enter?

What does that mean? So this promise of restoration and forgiveness, when he says there's not going to be any uncircumcised or the unclean. Is he saying that only Jews will enter? That this promise is only to Jews? No, right? So what does he mean by unclean? Only the true repentant.

Right? Only those who are truly his. Not just physically, but those who have been circumcised in the heart. Right? And obviously we see that in the later part of the context that this promise is very universal. He's not talking about just his select group of Israelites. He's talking about how his kingdom is going to extend beyond that.

So what does it mean when God says he will redeem his people without money? What was the answer? If you look at verse 4, I believe, right? Yeah. "Thus says the Lord God, 'My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrians oppressed them for nothing.'" So what does it mean that they were oppressed for nothing?

What does that mean? Israel didn't get anything out of it, right? Israel, basically their oppression was forced upon them. It was violently taken away from them. Right? So in other words, because they were forcefully taken away without money, God's going to forcefully restore them. And it's not going to cost money.

It's not going to be through political maneuvering or financial investment. The Lord has other plans. Right? But this doesn't mean that the redemption is going to be free. In fact, the whole chapter 52, verse 13 and on, all the way to chapter 53 and on, is going to demonstrate the tremendous cost that the Lord is going to pay to redeem His people.

Right? So, again, if you look at the language carefully, and He says, He's going to redeem His people, but He said it's not going to be with money. Now, obviously, it's not spelled out. It's like, it's not going to be a political overthrow. You're not going to become a rich kingdom, and then you're going to be the superpower.

But isn't this exactly what the Jews were looking for? Right? Because He said that the Messiah is going to come because of your sins. He's going to come and restore. And He said, all the judgment, the wrath that's upon you, was taken forcefully, but my redemption equally is not going to be by money.

Right? In other words, it's not going to be like other kingdoms. It's not going to be like what you were thinking, one kingdom overthrowing another kingdom. Right? And then He says, and then He spells out how this redemption is going to take place in chapter 53. Right? And that's why chapter 53, Yeah, that's why the next question we asked on Friday is, how come chapter 52, verse 13 through 15, is connected to chapter 53?

Anybody kind of have a, you know, part of the reason why I asked this question is because I want you to get the flow of the text. Right? Instead of just verse by verse, like, why was this verse, these verses, attached to chapter 52, rather than 53? Wouldn't it have been made more sense if this was attached to chapter 53?

Did that make sense? Like, what are some thoughts that you had, why you think, again, theoretically, there's no right answer. I'm just asking you guys to kind of think through this. Why do you think that the people who divided up the chapters put these verses with chapter 52, rather than 53?

Take a minute to talk about it in your group. Okay? Because I want you to think through the flow of the text. It'll help you to get more out of the scripture if you can grasp the flow of thought that's going through. Okay? Okay. I agree. All right. Don't do your homework now.

Only share what you already have. Okay, so what are some thoughts you have? Why do you think that it was divided where it was divided? Some of you guys want to share? Again, this is not a right or wrong answer. I'm just asking for your observation of why do you think.

Because oftentimes when we study chapter 53, they'll throw in chapter 52 verses 12 on. Right? Why didn't they begin the chapter there? Anybody want to give it a -- again, this is not a right or wrong answer. It's just your observation. Okay. All right. Okay. So to make the contrast.

Okay, good. Like I said, I'm just asking you for observation. That's good. Anybody else? So, okay. So why was that not connected to chapter 53? Okay. So because of the language. Okay. Okay. All right. That's good. Anybody else? Any other table? Okay. Good. Good observation. Anybody else? Okay. All right.

Like I said, I mean, there's no wrong answer. I'm just asking you to make some observation. And when you're studying through the Bible, if you study through it and just kind of read it, and it's like, "Oh, I get it," then you're going to miss a lot of stuff if you don't sit there and ask questions.

You know, so I just kind of wanted you to get in the habit of asking questions and digging, because when you're asking questions, that's how you get insights. Okay. So that's a common thing. Like, why didn't they attach -- I mean, I've read everything. There's no clear thing, but you can clearly see in chapter 53, there's a beginning.

Chapter 53 begins by, "Who has believed what he has heard?" It's almost like at the end of chapter 52, like Preston said, it's almost summarizing. Here's the Messiah's going to come. He's going to come to redeem. And then this is the way he's going to -- he's going to be exalted.

And then this is the way he's going to be exalted. And then he says, "Here's what's going to happen." He's going to go into an extensive, detailed description of the Messiah. And chapter 52, at the end of it, is almost like a summary of what's going to happen. And then he's going to go into detail.

So it's almost like the thesis, and then introduction, and then he goes into the main part. So again, that's just my observation. That's my opinion. It's not a fact. But I just want you to get in the habit of exercising your mind that way when you're studying through Scripture.

And this is just what I said. So you can kind of see the beginning of chapter 53 is the transitional verse. And this section of Scripture is extremely important. Where does chapter 53, at this section, come out in the New Testament? It's very prominent. Somebody is reading this in the book of Acts.

A Ethiopian eunuch is reading this text and says, "Who is this?" It's almost like that's what was intended in this. We see it in the New Testament because we know that He was crucified. He was marred. He was beaten. But imagine for people who are reading this who haven't seen that yet.

And the setup for the introduction of the Messiah is He's going to come and He's going to redeem His people. He's going to wipe away your sins. He's going to be highly exalted. And He said there's going to be no uncircumcised in this place. Everyone who's going to be entering is going to be clean.

So He basically makes a promise like this Messiah is going to answer all your problems. All the sins, all the wrath that's coming upon you. He's going to come. And then He says, "Here He comes." And then the introduction, you would think He's going to be coming in glory.

He's going to have horses behind Him. He's going to have chariots. But the introduction is He's going to be beaten. He's going to be marred beyond. And the Lord is going to place on Him the iniquity of Asah. And He's going to sprinkle His blood. And so it's almost like God put kind of hints like a mystery.

He put enough hints there to look at it and say, "What is that?" And isn't that exactly how 53 starts? He said, "Here comes the Messiah who's going to deliver you from your sins." "He's going to be highly exalted, but He's going to be marred beyond human recognition." Who is that?

What is that? So chapter 53 begins by, "Who has believed what He has heard from us?" "And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" This mystery that we just kind of presented to you. Do you understand what this is? And then He goes on. And then He says in chapter 53, "Furthers this mystery." Why would the King, why would the servant of the Lord who's going to deliver His people be beaten?

Why would He be despised? Why would He be acquainted with sorrow? I thought He's coming to deliver us from our sorrows. Why would He be stricken? Why would He be afflicted? So again, when we go to 1 Peter chapter 1, He said that the prophets, even as they were prophesying, what does it say?

They were looking intently. Like, "What is this? Who is this? Who's going to fulfill this?" So you can see that, again, all Old Testament prophecy is meant for that purpose. Kind of give an outline to kind of eagerly look. But then this particular passage in 53, who could this be talking about other than Christ?

Who could have possibly fulfilled this other than Christ? So we see that Ethiopian eunuch is reading this text and saying, "Who is this?" And it was almost like half of the gospel presentation was already done. And all they had to do was, "Jesus fulfilled this." He didn't have to say, "Well, He came and He suffered." Because He read this.

Who's going to take away our sins? Who's going to be beaten for us? Who's despised? Who's going to be stricken? Who's going to bring us back from our sins? So after reading this, like, "Who's going to do this?" And he said, "Jesus came and already did it." And so his next response is, "Then what prevents me from being baptized?

Now I want to convert and believe Him." So the gospel is already embedded in this, clearly. In what way will God exalt His servant? Again, as we mentioned, He was marred beyond human semblance. He was despised, rejected, crushed, and afflicted. I mean, you know, I was really meditating and thinking about this this whole week, and how not only is this strange, but it's an absolute contradiction to everything that you and I are taught and believe.

Somebody who's going to come and conquer, deliver, redeem, restore, that he's going to be marred, despised, rejected, crushed, and afflicted? Who is despised and rejected in our culture? It's not a trick question. It's just, you know, it's a very straightforward question. Who is despised and rejected in our culture?

Criminals. That's it. Criminals, yes. Poor. Just think about it. It's not a trick question. Homeless. Okay, Christian. He's thinking too godly. Is it Leasier? So think about it. Think about just if you're a Jew reading this, right, that your Messiah is going to come, and this is the description of the Messiah.

You know, I would think that you would almost read this like you're reading the, you know, the, what do you call it, the genealogies. You're kind of reading it, but you don't understand it. You know, all these names come up, and it's like, "Oh, I wonder why God put this in here?" And you just read it.

You know what I mean? It's like, "Oh, Messiah's going to come. He's going to be beaten, despised, rejected. I'm just not smart enough." Maybe the rabbis would figure that. Maybe you go to the temple, and you go study enough. Maybe this is going to make sense. I feel like, you know, the Jews would have just kind of just kind of hovered over this, what they call a fan reading.

You ever hear that? You read your Bible with the fan on, and just kind of pages turn. You're not really getting any out of it. You say, "I read it." Right? So this is one of those places in the Bible where it wouldn't have made any sense. Like why would the Deliverer come this way?

So not only is it weird, it completely contradicts everything that you and I know. Now, the reason why I'm kind of milking this is because this is the fundamental principle of Christianity. This is the fundamental principle of Christianity. When the disciples were following Jesus, they said, "If you want to live," what did he say?

"Pick up the cross. If you want to be great, be the least." Right? "He who serves is the greatest in the kingdom of God." So what Jesus is saying, this principle of him coming to deliver by dying and by being despised, by being rejected, is the fundamental principle of Christianity.

Christianity is not just strange. It contradicts the world. Right? That's why I said if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. Because it's not like, "Okay, you know, this is where the world is going, and Christianity happens to be going this way." It's going the opposite direction.

So you can't hold on to these two things because you're going to be torn apart. So even the way that we do church, even the way we do evangelism, we have so many worldly principles that if we apply enough knowledge, if we apply enough principles, apply enough of our wisdom, and we think if we're smart enough, if we're organized enough, that somehow we can bear fruit and we can deliver people, we can do all this, it contradicts what we know of Scripture.

Right? Everything that we know of Scripture keeps telling us to humble yourself, humble yourself, that you are not able. Right? It is when we are weak, He is strong. Not when we are strong, we are strong. Right? So this is the fundamental principle of Christianity. And if we stray from this, it doesn't matter how successful we become.

At the end, we get the credit. Right? So again, Isaiah 53 isn't just about redemption of our sins. It's a whole new principle of the Kingdom. His Kingdom is going to function like nothing that you and I have ever experienced before. And the church is to reflect this principle.

It's coming here to become least, not the most. In what way will those who have not been told and seen and not heard understand? Obviously, it's a reference to the Gentiles. The people who have not been given the privilege of the law, that the Lord is going to expand His Kingdom beyond.

Right? So again, it begins by saying, right, "How will it be received?" First one. "Who has to believe what He has heard from us?" In other words, it's going to be difficult to believe. Right? You know, I really want to encourage you, whenever you study the Bible, especially when it comes to the Gospel and evangelism, always approach it like you're a non-Christian.

Always approach it like a non-Christian. If you were to share the Gospel with a non-Christian, what kind of questions would they have? Sometimes, growing up in the church, we kind of heard so many things, and a lot of it didn't fully make sense, and we didn't ask because we've just gotten so encultured by Christianity.

But when you really dig through what the Gospel message is, and this is one thing I was really wrestling with and thinking about this, meditating all week, right? In what other context would we consider just to let go of a criminal? I can't think of a single situation where a criminal who is deserving of punishment, that the judge comes and says, "He's free." Where we would consider that just and gracious.

Even if he said, "You know what? Instead of punishing him, I'm going to punish my son." In what context would we consider that to be just? And yet, that's the message of the cross. The core message of the cross is, he's letting go of guilty sinners because he placed that upon his son.

So think about that as a non-Christian. How does that make sense? I'm not going to answer that for you. I want you guys to really think about that. I want you to really dig through the fundamental things about how Jesus loves us, he died for us, his son, our sins were placed upon his son.

In what other context would we just say, "Oh, that sounds fair." I'm going to let you guys wrestle with it. Think about it. He said, "Jesus' upbringing, not only was he marred, despised, his upbringing showed no potential of any kind. He was despised, rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

As one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not." There was nothing about his background. Nothing physical, nothing financial, no education, no family background. The only thing that kind of made him stand out was that he came from the tribe of Judah. He comes from a kingly line.

Other than that, there's nothing special about Jesus. The region that he grew up in, in Galilee, was occupied by the Romans. In respect to spiritual, political standards of living matters, it was indeed dry ground. God can bring the most wonderful thing out of dry ground. So basically, the whole thing is saying that out of nothing came Christ.

The word "despise" is used three separate times. Is this simply in reference to his crucifixion? And obviously, this whole chapter 53 isn't just talking about his crucifixion. We talk about his suffering, his whole life, his incarnation, his upbringing, his friendship. Even his family background. Most scholars believe that the reason why Joseph is not on the scene while he's doing ministry, at some point between when Jesus was at the temple and the time that he comes to minister and he gets baptized by John the Baptist, they believe that his father probably passed away.

So Jesus, being the oldest brother, probably had to work to take care of his family. And again, this is all conjecture, but knowing the culture of that time and what is written and what is not written, most scholars believe that Jesus, again, experiencing human suffering, that he probably lost his father early on, which was very common at that time.

And being a physical laborer and being the oldest brother of that family, he had to take care of his mom. So you can understand the connection that he had with Mary. The connection maybe he had with his brothers. So his suffering wasn't just that moment that he went to the cross.

His suffering was from the moment he was incarnated until he was crucified and resurrected. So again, I hope you guys took some time to really meditate and think through the descriptions that are given about our sins. That it's grief, sorrow, transgressions, iniquities. That these are all qualities of sin.

When we allow sin in our lives, it causes grief, sorrow. And then the words that are used to describe our redemption. He bears our grief, carries our sorrows, stricken, smitten by God, afflicted, wounded, crushed, chastised, and whipped for our healing. I think this is why it's so important that when we worship God, our heart is just as engaged as our mind.

If you're reading that somebody went through this for you, and you don't have any kind of heart connection to this person, it's not going to mean much. It's just a theological statement. And you say, "Oh, he did this for me, so I benefited." But what causes you to move, what causes you to surrender your life, is when the person who did this, you have a personal relationship with.

If I said, "Your mom did this for you," it would affect you differently. If I said this, "Your husband or your wife did this for you," you would have a deeper affection for whoever it is that you have a personal relationship with. But when we, a lot of times when we talk about the Gospel and His suffering, it's just a figure, some power.

Somebody from 2,000 years ago did it, and then mankind was restored. It's kind of like, sometimes we're no more emotionally connected to what Jesus has done, than what Adam did when he fell. Just theologically, we know we fell, and theologically, we know we were redeemed. But is there a personal connection, affection for Christ, that causes those words, "Bore our grief." That's my Savior that I pray to, that's my Savior who saved me, who went through all of that.

When He was being whipped, that was whipping that I deserve. He stepped in my place to get that. And that's why I think worship, when we come before God, not only listening to the Word of God, but participating in worship is very important. Because worship is what causes our hearts to be affectionate toward Christ, and be open and moldable, so that the Word of God would come and mold you.

So it doesn't just mold the way you think, it molds the way you feel. And so when your heart and mind is being formed, then you are transformed. What happens to somebody who's only being transformed in the way that they're thinking? It's a Pharisee. Everything's right and wrong in their head.

But there's no compassion, there's no mercy, there's no grace. Because everything is just right thinking and right doing. So I don't think there's... true change always has to be mind, heart, and will. So you can't separate your heart. So that's why I think when you read something like this, if you read that, and then you say, "I bore a grave, carried our sorrows, stricken..." And you just kind of read it as like a doctrinal statement from the Bible, I mean there's a disconnect.

There's a disconnect with the reality of like, "That happened for me. My Lord did this for me." So when somebody blasphemes His name, we don't personally get offended. We like mentally like, "Oh, hey, we should be offended." But we're not actually offended. If He's my Lord, shouldn't it be offensive?

I'm not saying that we need to go on a crusade or anything. But if that was about my mom, it was about my kids, it was about people that I love, my wife, somebody that I have affection for, then those words are very personal. It's not just some door that got open.

It was, "This is my Lord that went through this for me." And transformation happens when these things become real. That's why I think worship and prayer is so important because it causes us to be moldable, and then the Word of God comes in and actually shapes us. But if we're not moldable, the Word of God comes and chisels away at something that's hardened, and it's kind of hard to mold.

I asked you for, you know, I put some of them down. I'm not going to go through all of them. I hope you guys at least took some time to comb through how many prophecies. These are not even comprehensive. There's a lot more than that. But basically, Chapter 53, over and over again, every single minute detail, right?

Even the way that he was going to be rejected, the way that he was going to suffer, all of these things are written down and is fulfilled. So if you look at the Gospel, especially the last week of his life, you know, Chapter 53 is being fulfilled, you know, point by point.

And all of this to point out that this was not by chance. This was God ordained. This prophecy came hundreds and hundreds of years before this happened to convey that this was in God's heart all the time. So, you know, we're going to take some time to worship before we I'm going to let you guys go into your group.

But I really want to encourage, you know, all of us to think about where our affections are. I mean, Chapter 53 is really a gut wrenching. And I know some of you guys are thinking like, oh, I have three verses. There's so many verses, you know, but each one of those verses, I mean, if I could, I would have given you the whole chapter, whole Chapter 53, because every single word in Chapter 53 should really be a hammer that hammers our heart and rekindle an affection for Christ.

Because if your affections are somewhere else and you're just putting in your time because you're a Christian and you're a member of a community church and transformation is not taking place. Christian life is such a drag if it's not being motivated by affection for Christ. Giving is a drag.

Every time you write a check for time, you think about what you can do with this money. All the time that you come to church, the drama with, you know, just getting along with people, you know, it's a lot of work putting up and trying to be gracious. You know, like turn the other cheek.

Are you kidding? I have a hard time, like just not punching harder. But if it's not, if the affection for Christ isn't motivating us, Christian, Christian life is a drag. You have your hard life as it is, and then you add more, more things that you have to do as a Christian.

So it's absolutely essential for us that we come before the Lord and that if our hearts have become dry, that's where your emergency in life is. It's not your job, it's not your relationship, it's not your health. If your heart is not right with God and your affection for Christ, for whatever the reason, is hardened, your emergency is not finances.

It's that. Right. And that needs to become our priority so that we can we come before the Lord and our worship is genuine in spirit and in truth. I'm going to take a couple songs to get you guys ready and take some time to pray. (water splashing)