He Opened Not His Mouth Series

October 16, 2016

Morning Worship

Text: Isaiah 53

Subject: By His Stripes We Are Healed – Part 3

Title: He Opened Not His Mouth

Let’s begin by holding up our bibles…

I believe this is God’s word…

I believe it is for me…

I accept it as mine…

I will appropriate it to my life today…

We began several weeks ago in the series we are calling By His Stripes We Are Healed. How many of you know that we believe in divine healing? And the purpose of the series is to help you look at some things that will perhaps grow your faith and bring you to the place where you can just receive by faith all the promises that the Lord has given you through His word.

In verse 1 Isaiah asked the question,

1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

Now we talked about how when the scriptures refer to the arm of the Lord it is talking about His mighty power. To whom has the power of God been revealed? In the New Testament scheme of things – it is to those who believe the report… I want you to listen to me on this. The arm of the Lord has been revealed to everyone who is a believer… in the Spirit. But not every believer will receive that power because they fail to believe the report. Do you hear what I’m saying? Being a believer qualifies you to receive the benefits of God’s power, but a lack of faith, whether it is from wrong teaching, or lack of understanding, or just unbelief, a lack of faith will hinder you from receiving anything from the Lord.

James 1:5-8 (NKJV)

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

To those who have the faith to receive it!

Are you with me so far?

Last week we learned that Isaiah saw in the Spirit some 700 years before it happened what Jesus would go through on our behalf. Look at the words that are used in verses 4 and 5,

Isaiah 53:4-5 (NKJV)

4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

In verse 4 we see that those things that Jesus took upon Himself He did so that we wouldn’t have to. He has borne our griefs – that same word is translated as disease or sickness and He has carried our sorrows – or pain. And the benefit of that is that now, we don’t have to carry them… it’s not that Jesus is still burdened down with the weight of our sin or our sickness or our pain… He carried them away. If all of our sickness and pain and sin were still upon Him then He could never have defeated death and the grave. So the key for us is this, since Jesus has carried it away in the spirit, we must be willing to agree with that work and even though we may feel sickness in our bodies, we must confess and believe in our spirit man that the work is already done. Don’t receive it in your spirit. Resist the devil and he will flee from you…

And by His stripes we are healed.

Somebody shout Hallelujah!

Are you ready to move forward?

Isaiah 53:6 (NKJV)

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.

Is that true? Paul said in Romans that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… And scripture is pretty clear that the fallen nature of man tends to lean toward doing evil. Beginning all the way back in Genesis. Genesis 4:7 (NIV2011)

7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”