Illus: But if you really want to look at some “Bloopers”, the best place to look for them is in the church bulletin or on church signs. These are all true messages put on church bulletins and church signs.
• Don't let worry kill you--let the church help.
• Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church.
• Weight Watchers will meet a 7 p.m. at the First
Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
• The rosebud on the altar this morning is to announce the birth of David Alan Belzer, the sin of Rev. and Mrs. Julius Belzer.
• This afternoon there will be a meeting in the South and North ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both ends.
• This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.
• The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind. They can be seen in the church basement Saturday.
• Thursday night--Potluck supper. Prayer and medication to follow.
• Eight new choir robes are currently needed, due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
• The senior choir invites any member of the congregation who enjoys sinning to join the choir.
• At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.
• The Rev. Adams spoke briefly, much to the delight of his audience.
• The eighth graders will be presenting Shakespeare's “Hamlet" in the church basement on Friday at 7 p.m. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
• Pastor is on vacation. Massages can be given to church secretary.
• Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
We often HEAR THINGS or SEE THINGS, and immediately we recognize that something is wrong with what we have seen or heard.
For example, those who know the scriptures can hear certain preachers preach, and if they preach something from the Bible out of context, they immediately recognize that SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH WHAT THEY JUST HEARD!
For example, in our text for this sermon, some preachers have preached on this passage of scripture and taken this passage out of context and taught something the scripture does not teach.
I am not suggesting that all these preachers who take this verse out of context are doing it because they do not love the Lord. There are some preachers who have had no formal training, and the things they preach are the things they have heard others preach. And unfortunately, if others have interpreted this passage incorrectly, they just ignorantly do the same thing.
Illus: When it comes to ignorance, these preachers make us think of three fellows that went deer hunting.
• The first one says he's going to get a buck. He goes out, and indeed comes back with a buck. The other two hunters ask how he did it. He says, "I see tracks. I follow tracks. I get buck."
• The second hunter says that he's going to get a doe, and he does. They ask him how he did it, and he says, "I see tracks. I follow tracks. I get doe."
• So the third hunter says, "I'm just gonna shoot at anything I see."
So he goes out and comes back half a day later all beaten, bruised, bloody, and totally trashed. The other two hunters ask him what happened and he says, "I see tracks. I follow tracks. I get hit by train!"
There are many good ministers in the pulpit who are ignorantly following the tracks that someone else laid out for them to follow. This passage deals with the SPIRITUAL MAN, and they ignorantly apply it to the PHYSICAL MAN.
So that we do not make the same mistake, let’s look at this passage more closely, we read, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and WITH HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6)
Notice, these verses of scripture say, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Illus: I like what Alexander Maclaren said about this passage, he said. "You thought that He was afflicted because He was bad and you were spared because you were good. No, He was afflicted because you were bad, and you were spared because He was afflicted."
Then he adds, "The transgressions are done by us, and the wounds and bruises fall on Him. Can the idea of vicarious suffering be more plainly set forth? . . . It says as emphatically as words can say, that we have by our sins deserved stripes, but the Servant bears the stripes which we deserved, and that therefore we do not bear them."
He was a marked man. God singled Him out for our punishment. These verses talk about the tremendous price Christ paid for our redemption, as lost men and women. The Bible clearly states:
• He was wounded for our transgression
• He was bruised for our iniquities
This passage of scripture is talking about our spiritual condition.
Our problem is spiritual. The "transgressions" and "iniquities" are evidence that the law of God has been broken.
Isaiah does not cut us any slack here, he lays it on thick and heavy concerning our spiritual condition.
• In verses 5 and 8 he speaks of our TRANSGRESSIONS
• In verses 5,6, and 11 he speaks of our INIQUITIES
• In verse 9, he speaks of our WICKEDNESS
• In verse 12, he speaks of our SINS
Spiritually we are in bad shape, we need spiritual healing.
As we look at this passage of scripture in the context it is written, we can only conclude that he is talking about the SPIRITUAL MAN’S HOPELESS CONDITION.
Let’s look at Isaiah 53:4-6 more closely to see what these verses teach us. This is a wonderful passage of scripture, for example it teaches us-
I. THESE ARE SERIOUS WORDS
Our life revolves around words each day. Some of these words are to be taken seriously and some are not. But those who are considered to be wise, evaluate words more closely than the foolish.
Sometimes those we consider to be wise among us have made some very serious mistakes, because they did not read instructions very wisely.
Illus: Some Scientists at NASA built a gun specifically to launch dead chickens at the windshields of airliners, military jets and the space shuttle, all traveling at maximum velocity. The idea is to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl, to test the strength of the windshields.
The British Engineer heard about the gun and asked if they could use it to test some windshields of their new high speed trains.
Arrangements were made, and a gun was sent to the British engineers. When the gun was fired, the engineers stood shocked as the chicken shot out of the barrel at unbelievable speed, crashed into the shatterproof shield, smashed it to smithereens, blasted through the control console, snapped the engineer's backrest in two and embedded itself in the back wall of the cabin, like an arrow shot from a bow.
The horrified British engineers sent NASA the disastrous results of the experiment, along with the designs of the windshield, and begged the US scientists for suggestions.
NASA responded with this memo: “Read the instructions again. If you had read the instructions better, you would have noticed that you forgot to thaw the chicken."
Words mean something. THESE ARE SOME VERY SERIOUS WORDS.
A. THEY SPEAK OF DISEASE
Before you have HEALING, you must first have SICKNESS. Notice, the Bible says “We are healed”. All mankind has been plagued with this spiritual disease called sin.
(1) SIN IS AN EPIDEMIC DISEASE
Today we have those who are concerned about AIDS, and they should be. Millions are dying because of this deadly disease that is spreading like wildfire around the world. As bad as this disease is spreading in America, it is spreading even faster in other countries.
Many of our young people who are involved in pre-marital sex will never live to reach middle age.
• It is bad when thousands of people are infected by a disease
• It is tragic when millions are infected by a disease
• BUT LISTEN, IT IS CATASTROPHIC when all mankind is infected by SIN
This is a hereditary condition. It began with Adam, and has been passed down to every person who is a descendent of Adam and Eve. (Except Christ) Every child that is born has a SIN NATURE, and is CONCEIVED IN SIN!
David said in Psa. 51:5, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
SIN IS AN EPIDEMIC DISEASE, but also-
(2) SIN IS AN EXCRUCIATING DISEASE
The devil is great at deceiving. One of the biggest deceptions on this earth is that sin brings happiness.
• In Proverbs 13:15, we read, “…The way of transgressors is hard.”
• Look what the Lord said to Paul at His conversion, in Acts 9:5, we read, “And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”
You may be a lost person today, and I may have never met you before in my life, but I know one thing about you according to the scriptures. If you have not accepted the Lord, you are traveling down the HARD ROAD.
This is what this dreadful disease called sin does to a person, it brings excruciating pain and misery into their life. The lost world today is suffering because of sin. They try to relieve themselves of these sufferings by turning:
• TO ALCOHOL
• TO DRUGS
• TO SPORTS
• TO TELEVISION
Illus: One lost man said, “Everything is fine during the day when I can stay busy, but I dread to see night time come because I have to confront this misery in my life, knowing I might go to sleep one night and wake up in Hell. I am so miserable!”
This is why many go home and drown themselves in television, trying to get their mind off of their pitiful, pathetic life.
WHAT IS THEIR PROBLEM? Their problem is that they have been affected by this spiritual disease called sin, and it has brought misery to their life!
This sin is present in their life, and it is still growing, and one day it will completely destroy them.
SIN IS AN EPIDEMIC DISEASE out of control and no man on the face of the earth can help us. NOT ONE! The only One who can help us is the Lord Jesus. Jesus Christ suffered for our sin. He was stricken for us.
Isa. 53:4, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”
The Bible tells us How He suffered. Look at Matt. 27:26 “Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had SCOURGED Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.”
Illus: Mel Gibson made a movie about the crucifixion. He stated in an interview with Bill O’Reilly that he wanted to make this movie based on the scriptures. O’Reilly pointed out that many of the people in Hollywood were condemning him for making this movie depicting how Christ suffered for our sins. But thank the Lord, Mel Gibson had enough love for the Lord, he said, “I feel it is important that folks can see how he really suffered for the redemption of mankind.”
He is right, very few people know how He suffered for our sins.
We have looked closely at these verses and found that THESE ARE SERIOUS WORDS. But also-
II. THESE ARE SWEET WORDS
We all like sweet words spoken to us, don’t we?
Illus: A man was very ill and on the verge of dying. The doctor called the man's wife in and said, "There are three things that you can do to help your husband back to health." "What are they, sir?" she asked.
• "One: You must make him three huge meals every day”
• “Two: Never argue with him”
• “Three: You must brag on him constantly”
“If you do all three of these things routinely, he will live a long life.” On the way home, when the husband asked what the doctor said, the woman replied, "Sorry, honey, but you aren't going to make it."
But these verses speak sweet words to us.
A. THEY SPEAK OF HEALING
When Christ died, we were healed in Him. When we look at the long list of our sins in 1 John 1:7b, we see these words at the end of the list, “….the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
There was only one cure for our sin, and that was Jesus Christ the Lord.
Men have tried to mix other concoctions, but nothing else is effective.
• MEN HAVE MIXED IT WITH CHURCH MEMBERSHIP
• MEN HAVE MIXED IT WITH CEREMONIES AND RITUALS
• MEN HAVE MIXED IT WITH FLOWERY SPEECHES
• MEN HAVE MIXED IT WITH LAWS AND ORDINANCES
None of these man-made cures will work to rid us of sin. The only cure is found in the blood of the Lamb of God!
B. THEY SPEAK OF HONOR
Christ is honored for HE HAS HEALED US. His stripes bring healing that nothing else can bring!
His stripes healed our sin of every kind:
• PAST SINS
• PRESENT SINS
• FUTURE SINS
Praise the Lord, WE ARE HEALED!!
But the good news is that when Christ died for our sins, He died for all of our sins.
Illus: Erwin W. Lutzer said it this way, “Christ's death on the cross included a sacrifice for all our sins, past, present, and future. Every sin that you will ever commit has already been paid for. All of our sins were future when Christ died two thousand years ago. There is no sin that you will ever commit that has not already been included in Christ's death.” (Erwin W. Lutzer (1941- ))
Conclusion:
“ ...with his stripes we are healed...”
I. THESE ARE SAD WORDS
A. THEY SPEAK OF DISEASE
B. THEY SPEAK OF SUFFERING
II. THESE ARE SWEET WORDS
A. THEY SPEAK OF HEALING
B. THEY SPEAK OF HONOR
