The Suffering Savior Pp Series

INTRODUCTION

• SHOW BY HIS WOUNDS VIDEO CLIP.

• SLIDE #1

• We are closing in on Resurrection Sunday. As we get closer to that wonderful time of celebration I want to take you back to the book of Isaiah again as we return to the 53rd chapter.

• I want you to remember as we look at our text today that Isaiah wrote this some 700 years BEFORE the birth of Christ. Isaiah, with great precision almost as a man who saw the events unfold before him, wrote about what would happen to Jesus when He came to earth to save mankind.

• In our last message Isaiah told us that Jesus was going to be rejected by His own people and we still see that rejection today.

• In our passage today we are going to see that Isaiah not only spoke of the rejection Jesus would face some 700 years before it happened; but he also spoke of the suffering that Jesus would endure, giving the people of his day insight as to the why it happened.

• In our society people have the mentality that they do not need Jesus because they are too good to need a savior or they feel that they can follow the path of their choosing to heaven.

• I saw a T-shirt once that showed a picture of Jesus’ bloodied body on the cross with the something that basically said, “If I am alright and you are alright, then why did this happen”?

• Today some look at Jesus and wonder that if He was the Son of God, why did He die like He did? People have a hard time believing that a loving God would allow His one and only Son suffer and die.

• Today I want to talk to you about why God allowed His one and only Son suffer and die on the cross.

• The Easter season is a unique time because it is a time in which many people will come to church that do not usually come. It is a time when we need to really think about what Jesus has done for us.

• It is my hope that after today’s message that we will all have a clear understanding as to why Jesus suffered and died on the cross and by the way why He rose on the third day!

• I hope that today, we will all walk out of here with a renewed commitment to love and commit ourselves to Jesus because of what He did for us.

• SLIDE #2

SERMON

I. WHY THE SAVIOR SUFFERED 4-5

• Let’s look at Isaiah 53:4-5 for the answer to this question.

• SLIDE #3

• Isaiah 53:4-5 (ESV) Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

• Let’s begin by look at the misconceptions concerning His suffering.

• SLIDE #4

A. The misconception concerning His suffering (4)

• In verses 3 and 4 Isaiah tells his listeners that when the Messiah suffered, people would turn their backs on Him because they believed that He had to have done something to deserve the punishment that He was receiving.

• This is part of the reason that verse 3 says that He was despised. At the end of verse 4 we see that we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. People could justify His treatment because they thought He deserved it.

• In Matthew 27:39-44 we see this played out.

• SLIDE #5

• Matthew 27:39-44 (ESV) And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

• The only way that people could be so cruel to Jesus was to write Him off as a sinner.

• Today people write Jesus off as just a good teacher, a fable or anything else to justify not following Him.

• The religious leaders incited the hostile feelings toward Jesus because they did not want to lose their power structures.