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God’s Brave Love-Part 1 (Part A)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston
The Truth Network Radio
November 22, 2024 6:00 am

God’s Brave Love-Part 1 (Part A)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston

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November 22, 2024 6:00 am

An outline of the suffering of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament 700 years before it happened. All laid out in great detail, God’s plan to save humanity by giving Himself as a substitute to atone for our sins. God’s brave love plan was not reckless, but purposeful to accomplish what He had in store.

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If we put ourselves in this place, we'd say, you know what, I'm solving a more powerful, I'm going to ditch the people that are a problem. I know I've practiced that in my life.

That guy's a pain in the neck. I'll find somebody else to be a friend with. But God continues to reach out. There is nothing humorous in this fifty-third chapter as we know it. It is all glorious concerning the substitutionary work of Christ and the tragedy concerning his rejection. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Isaiah.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Isaiah chapter 53 with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Isaiah chapter 53. If I were to ask you, what are the, name three of the most powerful chapters in the Old Testament, what would you say? I would, I mean, it depends, you know, from a pastor's perspective, I would say, well, Genesis 1, and I would say Psalm 23.

But there's no way I'd leave out Isaiah 53. This is, if there were a such thing as super-sacred chapters in the Bible, this would be one of them. It is an overwhelming chapter to expound upon. The message or the consideration is God's brave love, part one. There is a temptation to take the easy way out for me to just breeze through the 12 verses.

But I think it's just too much here to do that. This is the story of the crucifixion of Christ 700 years before it happened, and you would think that the author was standing in front of the cross, that he was witness to the things that the Gospels tell us concerning Jesus. This is also one of the chapters that had Israel paid attention to it. They would have understand why Messiah came to suffer and die. But, of course, many of them could not tolerate a suffering Messiah.

They missed the revelation in their own Bibles about the two comings of Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53, he came as the suffering servant. Psalm 2, he comes as the ruling Messiah. There's other verses and sections in the Old Testament in addition to these two, but these are the two very pronounced ones that would take away any excuse as to why I missed that Jesus is the Messiah had I lived in ancient Israel when he walked and witnessed the things he did. Now, a brief review of what I covered last session in Isaiah. Up to the 12th century, the rabbis believed that Isaiah 53 applied to the Messiah. But as Christians began to point that out to them, that, hey, Christ, he fulfilled Isaiah 53 and there's nobody else.

There's not even a close second runner-up. It's him. It could be nobody else. Well, after that, they began to change their view on Isaiah 53 being interpreted as referring to a person, the person of Messiah, and they began to apply it to Israel, to personify it. Well, it's really the nation of Israel. Well, then you look at verse 8 and you say, how could Israel die for the sins of Israel?

That's not possible. And who declared that Israel, looking at verse 9, was innocent of sin and therefore suffered unjustly? All the kings and the chronicles is about the iniquity of the kings and the people and their idolatry. No, Isaiah wrote about an innocent individual, not a guilty nation.

And he made it clear that this individual died for the sins of the guilty so that the guilty might go free. Now, there are a lot of those that come along, liberal theologians. Why bother? If you're a liberal, why bother with theology? You're going to shape God in whatever image you want him in anyway. You're not going to receive any revelation, but they come along. Daniel could not possibly have written his prophecies before they happened. Too much detail, too accurate. Well, logic would say, but wait a minute, we cannot dispute that Isaiah wrote the 53rd chapter before Christ was born.

It was already in circulation and everybody knows it. You would think they'd say the logical conclusion is that there is an absolute God who can tell the future, who does tell the future, who fulfills what he prophesied or predicted for purpose. That would be too easy. That would make too much sense.

But, you know, this is a common habit. This is what Paul is dealing with when we covered Romans 3. He's dealing with people that are otherwise intelligent, but when it comes to the things of God, to the spiritual realm, everything falls apart. The New Testament, of course, comes along and affirms that this is Jesus of Messiah, the only begotten Son. So if you're taking notes and you're going to review the notes, because there's no point really taking notes if you're never going to check them.

For that, just get the CD. But anyway, if you're taking notes and you're going to look back over them, this may be a helpful overview of Isaiah 53. It really begins in chapter 52 at verse 13. We covered that last session, that chapter divisions are not always perfect.

It doesn't harm anything. It just means when they divided the chapters centuries later, they didn't get them all as close to being perfect as they could have. Well anyway, Isaiah 52 verses 13 to the end really through 15 and all the way to chapter 53 that we're looking at verses 2 and 3, we have the sacred substitute.

That's a big deal, because when Adam and Eve sinned and they realized they were nude, God slew innocent animals to cover their nudity, or their consciousness of nudity, that was born out of disobedience, of listening to the devil instead of listening to God. And that set the pace for the sacrificial substitute, the sacrificial atonement, the vicarious death of Christ. This is doctrine, this is easy doctrine.

It's just the big words kind of mess it up sometime. And it's found throughout the Old Testament into the new. Leviticus 16 deals directly with the atonement, and this is what we find in beginning in chapter 14 verses 13 through 15 and then in to chapter 53 verses 2 and 3. And then verses 4 and 6 of Isaiah 53, we not only have the sacred substitute, we have the suffering substitute.

And in the English language, this alliteration works wonderfully. It's not forced. He is a sacred substitute. Nobody else could have been the Passover lamb but Christ, and he suffered in our place, the suffering substitute. Verses 7 and 9 give us the submissive substitute that he didn't fuss, he didn't resist, he could have called legions of angels and ended it all. But he restrained himself in his sovereignty because of love.

No other reason. Love. Love for sinners. And then verses 10 and 12 of Isaiah 53, we have the sovereignty of the substitute that he is Lord.

This wasn't just a servant, another prophet like Isaiah or Ezekiel or one of the others. This is the Son of God. And you pile it all together and you have the sovereign love of God. I don't mean that we're sovereign love in the same way that Reformed theology would use that word.

I disagree with their use of that word but they don't own the phrase. Sovereign love is a God who is almighty and loves us. He doesn't have to love us. Being sovereign, he'd do whatever he wants to do. And if we put ourselves in his place, we'd say, you know what, I'm sovereign, I'm all powerful, I'm going to ditch the people that are a problem. I know I've practiced that in my life.

That guy's a pain in the neck. I'll find somebody else to be a friend with. But God continues to reach out.

There is nothing humorous in this 53rd chapter as we know it. It is all glorious concerning the substitutionary work of Christ and the tragedy concerning his rejection. Peter points back at this in his first letter in the first chapter, verses 10 through 12, of his, of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you. Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating, when he testified beforehand, the sufferings of Christ.

I have to stop there. I've got to get out of this verse because I want to teach on it. But here he says that Christ, the Spirit of Christ was in the Old Testament prophets attesting to his eternal state. And then he says attesting to his suffering. So it's Christ telling the prophets, I'm coming, I'm going to suffer for sinners.

That's what Peter is saying. I'm not going to read the rest of 1 Peter 10 through 12 because there's so much more here. But you can take it for yourself and you can see that, man, Peter is giving us commentary on Isaiah 53. So Isaiah 53 displays the cost of salvation to God and the brilliance of prophecy from God. There's no way you can, there's no brilliant author that can write this stuff. It has to come from heaven to men.

And whatever difficulties may accompany it are part of the processes of defeating a nagging devil who is petty. It is impossible to think of these words in Isaiah 53 as fulfilled by any other human being than the Jesus of Nazareth. So in Luke's gospel when Christ had risen from the dead after being crucified before he reveals himself on a larger scale, he comes across two of his followers who agree, we thought he was going to deliver us. And he joins them on the road to Emmaus and just inserts himself, hey, what's up?

And how could you not know what's going on? And then when it was his turn to talk, Luke tells us what took place. Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scripture, the things concerning himself. So we know what happens to a people who have a Bible and don't use it. Israel in the days of Jesus. They had this chapter and many others.

Why could they not? Look at the miracles, the arm of God, and understand this is the one. We don't care how he does it, he's the one. And we're going to worship him.

Well, some did that, but it was a minority, a remnant. Another overview of this 53rd chapter is the birth of the servant, verses one and two, and I can't wait to get to that. The life and ministry of the servant, verse three, I repeat the substitutionary death, verses four through nine. That should have been me on the cross.

I should pay for my filth, not him. That's why we love him, we sing songs of praise to him. This is why we weep sometimes when we pray. And so when theologians, and some theologians are good, many of them are not, but when they speak about the vicarious atonement this is what they mean, Isaiah 53. And vicarious in the place of another. Lord please send us believers so we can share these things with. Wouldn't you love to have a chance to share Isaiah 53 with an unbeliever? That's what Philip had with the Ethiopian eunuch.

Who does this man speak of, himself or someone else? And beginning at this scripture, Philip expounded to him the scriptures and what happened? The Ethiopian was baptized on his initiation. Here is water, what stops me from being baptized? So we have this vicarious death, but verses ten and twelve give us the victorious resurrection.

Again, the alliteration is marvelous in the English. I don't know what to do with French or Spanish if it works this way, but in the English you have V for vicarious death and then V for victorious resurrection and it's accurate, there's no strain to make that happen. And all of it connecting remarkably in the New Testament, events and teachings. You have the teachings, but you have the events to back up the teachings. Now we look at the first verse, who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? Report is a very accurately translated word, but doctrine would have been just as accurate. Had the translators decided who has believed our doctrine, it would have been right. Our belief system, our teaching on this. And so Isaiah indicates that he is about to deliver a detailed message that is unworldly.

Thus it's beginning, it's introduction. Who's going to believe this? It's so remarkable. And as a nation they repeatedly refuse to believe the messages proclaimed to them by anointed prophets who preached with such authority that we look back over the thousands of years and say, man, how did those guys know to say those things? With such confidence and faith.

For them, their message was the substance of things hoped for. It was God. Now he says who has believed our report? Well that refers to all the faithful prophets, all the faithful who preached God's word over the centuries. In Isaiah's day, it would have really been Micah. Micah's the one to say he's going to be born in Bethlehem. Who believed that? Because he was born in Bethlehem and they didn't believe it. Search the scriptures, see if anything is.

I mean, come on. Their own Bibles were mute to them because they decided they were immune to its teachings. Well, John the apostle interprets this verse by the rejection of Jesus Christ. Look, listen, John chapter 12 verse 37. Although he had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

So John says, how could they miss this? They had their Bibles. Today we have churches that have Bibles and don't use them. Though they have the gospel message and that might be it. And they think on the strength of knowing the gospel message that therefore somehow they're closer to God. That they may be saved or not.

But why would you bury the word of God? There's so much to give us. Someone asked me, how long does it take to prepare for like a wedding or a funeral?

At least five hours, at least for maybe a ten minute sharing. You go over your facts to find out, God, is this me or is it you? There's a lot of hard work. All Christianity should be hard work, whether you are a pastor in the pulpit or you are a person in the pew. Christianity has got blood on it and sweat too or else it's not going to yield much. So, Isaiah, as with most messengers of God, spoke and as we speak to often inattentive people. There are people that didn't care what he had to say, there are people that don't care what we have to say. Or, if attentive, if they're listening, as in Isaiah's day, to this day there are those who ridicule and refuse to conform to the message. Paul, likewise, twenty years after the crucifixion resurrection quotes this section of Isaiah 2.

He too is dealing with people that aren't listening or are listening but don't care to comply with what is inescapably the truth. And so in Romans 10 he says, but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Prior to that, Paul was saying, we've got to send preachers out or else how are they going to believe?

It's not magic. The word has to be spoken and opened up. If Jesus felt that it was necessary to expound on the scriptures of himself, we must feel that way. Don't you know it's a scene in homes, you have a Christian home. Parents love teaching their children Bible things and that's how it should be. What's the alternative?

Unacceptable. And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Well, the arm of the Lord are his miracles and actions. His strength. And it's not always self-evident. In fact, most of the time it's not. God's message must be revealed and opened up.

Well, if you're a Jew in the ancient Israel and you had a Bible and you were familiar with it, you would know that the heavens declare his glory. But what else? That it? Okay, I see he's creative, he's powerful.

What does that have to do with me other than it scares me? And no, that's why we have the prophets. That's why we have the stories. You want to see the patience of God in the story of Moses before Pharaoh, the patience of God with those Jews in the wilderness, the patience of God with the church, easily prove how many Sapphira and Ananias do we see today?

None. He's not going around striking people dead. Love suffers long, is patient.

Love never fails, not agape love. So those who reject the Messiah because of his cross are those who are detached from their scripture. They actually said he deserves to die, he's a blasphemer. Because there was nothing he could say, there was nothing he could do that would sway them away from disliking him.

And why is that? Because he was no respective persons. He couldn't flash credentials. Do you know who I am, Jesus? I don't care who you are, he could have said, do you know who I am?

Watch this. But that's not how he handled them. They disliked the revelation of his self-imposed humanity and his restraints on his sovereignty. They wanted him to beat the Romans up and anybody else that was Gentile. And so in 1 Corinthians, Paul says, but we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. The Greeks, they can't understand a king who allows himself to get crucified and the Jews, they decided they could not accept a Messiah who was crucified when their own scriptures told them so, as I mentioned, like in Psalm 2. Isaiah 53, Psalm 2. In that order, not in that, Isaiah 53 of course deals with the suffering and two with the victories. The cross of Christ would never have been had not Jesus overruled his sovereignty with love. If he just simply applied his sovereignty, he would have killed anyone that tried to kill him. But love overruled that sovereignty. One law overruling another law with no violation of God's law. And so when Jesus said in Matthew 26, do you think that I cannot now pray to my father and he will provide me with more than 12 legions of angels?

How much more? Does it matter? We know what one angel can do from Isaiah chapter 31, 38, 39. Verse 2, for he shall grow up before him a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness and we see him, when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

Well, they lived that one out. The father sending his son to die for sinners does not mean that the father's love faded for the one he sent to die. On the contrary, so we read, for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. This is the language of love under the father's care as a tender plant.

He watched everything that was going on. He did not send Christ into the world to the virgin birth and say, well, okay, I'll check back into you when it's time for public ministry. The father saw his son, Isaiah 52 verse 13. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Thrice during his humanity as Christ walked three times, the father made it clear that the son was before him as a tender plant. Matthew 3 17, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Matthew 17 5, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

Hear him. John chapter 12 verse 28. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.

A tender plant in his care. They were never separated because the branches are part of the tree. And this is one of the greatest metaphors for explaining to us the humanity of Jesus Christ. When we say the humanity, we don't mean that he worked in soup kitchens. We mean God became a human without giving up being God. His deity remained and his sovereignty was restrained. And he lived in the spirit as a perfect Adam, as Adam should have lived. Tragically, it was not how men saw him. And it is not how the world sees him as this tender plant before God, the Christ. This suffering servant given to mankind is the Nazarene. John, in his first letter in the fourth chapter, he writes, and we have seen and testify that the father has sent the son as savior of the world.

And he could have put on right behind that and nobody else. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio today. Cross Reference Radio is a ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you'd like to learn more about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.

You'll find a number of teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of new additions of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Isaiah with Pastor Rick right here on Cross Reference Radio.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-11-22 08:13:18 / 2024-11-22 08:22:14 / 9

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