The Doctrine of Justification | Introduction (11/02/2003)

All right, we're gonna be in Luke chapter 18 starting with verse 9, but we're introducing a new topic today.

We've been talking about the finished work of Jesus Christ and all that it accomplishes and We've been talking about the fact that it makes us acceptable in Christ today

We're gonna turn to a new topic and it still deals with the finished work of Christ But this is one of the greatest topics in the

Bible one of the greatest doctrines to study And it is all wrapped up in the finished work of Jesus Christ, and it is the doctrine of justification

Probably one of the most majestic doctrines in the whole Bible. It is the doctrine that Martin Luther took from As he came out of the

Roman Catholic Church the doctrine of grace Justification by grace not by works and he went back to Augustine's works and his writings on justification by grace and brought that back to life and Ended up being separated from the

Catholic Church because of this great doctrine there was a group of Protestants It's probably a misuse of the word by common usage, but it is the true usage of it

Because a Protestant is someone who protests the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope the authority of the

Pope there was a group of those people that date back all the way to 300 AD that never were a part of the

Catholic or the Protestant movement as we speak of the Protestant movement. In other words, they did not come through Martin Luther They were already there when he showed up on the scene.

They were called Waldenses. They were called Anabaptists They had different names throughout that time period but they were

Bible believers and throughout the time period they believed in justification by grace and by faith

So this doctrine of justification we will just introduce it this morning And we'll spend another

Sunday or two talking about it, but to introduce this topic. I want to use just one passage rather than Jumping around into all the different verses that deal with justification because there are many in other words

We could study it as a topical study, which is a good thing to do We may look at it more topically next

Sunday But today I want to look at it in a passage and what's interesting to me is many times we do study topically

It's a great way to study when you're first saved because you need to cover the great doctrines of the

Bible It's good to study them topically But eventually as you mature in the

Lord you more and more like to study passages and you may find your topic within that passage and study the whole passage and What happens when you take a passage like Luke chapter 18 and you study it with a view to?

Justification and you see many things that we usually read it as different parts of Luke a story here and a story here and a

Parable in a in a point that Jesus makes in another parable and we don't read it as a whole

Sometimes or sometimes we read it that way, but we don't study it that way. So we tend to study it in its parts and Today, I think you'll see as we study this great doctrine of justification starting with about verse 9 and you read the entire passage and you see

Everything that it has to contribute To our understanding of this one doctrine even though there are many other things to study in the passage

Look at it from the point of view of what it contributes to our understanding of justification so start with Luke chapter 18 in verse 9 and He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves

Underlined that it's a key to understanding the rest of the passage this morning Certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and Despised others doesn't necessarily mean they hated them like we would use the word despised today

But what it means is they didn't want to be around them. They they didn't believe in their system

They felt like they were all just lost sinners and they didn't really want anything to do with them at all.

And in that sense They despised them they separated themselves from these other people

Now what's amazing to me that first verse where it says they trusted in themselves describes most religion today 2 ,000 years almost after Jesus wrote that I guess we don't have to say almost anymore

Give or take a few years because our calendar is different 2 ,000 years later.

It still describes the religion of the day All religion including the quote great religions of the world such as Muhammad ism or Islam and Buddhism and Hinduism and even

Judaism and I would have to say unfortunately many forms of people who call themselves

Christians and Then the cults that came out of the Christians such as Mormonism and the

Jehovah's Witnesses and Armstrong ism All of them have one thing in common They trust in themselves

That they are more righteous than others It is a system a man -made system to try to reach

God through doing things that please him what's amazing is you if you go back to the

Greek history and the gods of the Greeks You'll find that all of those gods and they are many that but they all have one thing in common

They have a natural propensity To be angry with man the

Greek gods come angry and They have to be propitiated and it's interesting because the

New Testament writers picked up this word Propitiation and taught it as a Christian doctrine, but they use the word in a different way than it's used in the pagan religion

Because in the pagan religions you are presented with a God who is angry already at man

And you have to do things to please these gods such as do set human sacrifices sometimes they would sacrifice their own children to these gods and they would do it oftentimes around Halloween time to try to Keep these quote angry gods from destroying their crops and so forth.

So Halloween arose from the pagan attempt to propitiate angry gods and demons and so forth and they dressed up like demons to try to make the demons think that Demons were already there.

So they'd leave their crops alone and it goes with a lot of history to Halloween But it comes back to the fact that these gods

Had to be propitiated because they were angry with man Wrathful, it doesn't take that meaning in the

New Testament and and our Christianity the true biblical Christianity because God did not move away from man man moved away from God in the garden if you remember and That is the way it happened.

God did not have an angry stance with man he loved man and said man is good and he placed him in the garden and said all is good and Then he rested on the seventh day

But Some where After Adam taught taught his children what

God had taught him after they fell and God Himself the

Lord killed the first animal shed the first blood on the planet earth to provide an offering and Clothes Adam and Eve if you remember in the animal skins because the fig leaves were not enough that was man's

Religion you see that's meant man always wants to figure out a way to do it his own way So when you think of all these other great religions of the world think of fig leaves they don't cover anything up and God Shed blood which pointed to the coming

Messiah the Savior of the world And clothed them with the skins of the sacrificial animal

Somewhere after that as Adam taught his children and their children and their children

About the sacrifice and about the coming Messiah Somewhere as Cain goes out into the world and you have the seed of Satan going out spiritual seed of Satan Cain is a physical picture of that and it goes out into the world man began to desire to worship

God in his own way and Actually Cain was the first one he is the father of that He did not want to worship

God in a way that pleased God. He wanted to worship God in a way that pleased himself and So religion became self -centered and humanistic in all religion except true biblical

Christianity is still that way today and this is such a great picture of it And he spake this parable into certain which trusted in themselves

That they were righteous and Despised others who what who didn't follow their system.

They set up the system They follow it proving their righteous hopefully and others who won't follow that system

They despise them because they don't have the same religious system the same way It is most of the wars of this world have been fought over those religious systems and they're still being fought today over those systems

Verse 10 two men went up into the temple to pray the one a Pharisee and the other a publican

Well, it was the Pharisee who was trusting in himself The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself

God I Thank thee now isn't it interesting we read that to mean he prayed with himself to mean he just prayed in in his mind

But you could read that to say that God wasn't there. He just prayed with himself He prayed in such a way that he was by himself praying to himself

But the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself God I thank thee that I am not as other men are the rest of them are extortioners and unjust and they're adulterers

Or even as this publican and he probably pointed at the public and that's interesting as we read through this passage

Towards the end of the passage. We're gonna have Jesus Giving the historical account of Zacchaeus and what was

Zacchaeus? What was his way of making a living? He was a publican could he might have been the man that this

Pharisee was pointing at I Don't know maybe not but certainly a similar man

If it wasn't Zacchaeus it was a buddy of his They knew each other both being publicans

It quite likely could have been him I don't know how many publicans were allowed in one little section of Roman territory

I wouldn't think they would allow but one Because he doesn't want to split his takings

But anyway, we won't belabor that point It is interesting though that the Pharisee points to a publican and says

I'm glad I'm not a sinner like him Verse 12 now he begins to list part of his religious system

He says I fast twice a week. Therefore if you don't do that, you're not right with God is his implication.

I Give tithes of all that I possess therefore if you don't do that just like I do that you couldn't possibly be right with God because I Trust in myself and in my religious system and you're not doing it

Therefore you can't possibly be right. All of this is just laced with this kind of philosophy verse 13 and the publicans standing afar off Would not lift up so much as his eyes into heaven

But smote upon his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner now our eyes turn from this

Pharisee Who the world would view as a religious and a righteous and a good man with his whole act together our eyes turn from him to a man that we would all hate it would be greatly hated because he takes up the

Taxes and we know he's an extortioner because he takes more taxes than the Roman government requires and he keeps the rest for his own living and he lives to excess and Our eyes look over and we focus on him and we notice that the man is over there and he will not look up to God as a

Pharisee was looking up towards heaven praying probably, you know, probably Everyone could see exactly what he was doing because he wanted people to see what he was doing

The publican didn't dare look up to heaven because in his heart

Which was under conviction of the Holy Spirit He smote his breast and knew that he required mercy

Now there's something hidden. There's a hidden gem in this that you won't see unless you go to the Greek language

So let's look at this word merciful God be merciful to me a sinner the truth is

God Cannot be merciful as men think of mercy

We've talked about that many times God can't just say okay, I forgive you I'll look over that one and we'll move on do better next time

God's righteousness and justice Cannot allow that But it's fascinating that this word does not really mean merciful.

It's not even the Greek word That's used and translated into the word mercy mercy Elsewhere in the

Bible. It's actually a very important Greek word and it is

Helos come a he But it comes from a word

Helosterion, which we've talked about before a couple of years back when we were teaching through the sacrifices in the

Old Testament Helosterion is the word if you look at the

Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament Bible The word helosterion is used to describe the lid or the covering of the mercy seat

You remember the mercy seat? The mercy seat was a place of judgment.

It had a covering over it and when when The Levites would sprinkle the blood on that place.

It became a mercy seat rather than a judgment seat And The word for that is helosterion

It is the place where the blood propitiates

God now remember out of all of the finished work of Christ that we've studied there's

We look at most of them as pertaining to us to God's children such as reconciliation such as redemption and even justification

But there is one that we've studied that is not pertaining to us but to God himself and which one is it

Propitiation It is man who is reconciled but is God it is

God who is propitiated so that when Jesus died on the cross and Finished his work of the cross and gave his blood

He did not as the hymn we sang this morning do it just for us

All I need to know is that Jesus died for me or Howard how to say it Charlotte Tell me sing that little part

It is enough that Jesus died for me is false Now I'm not knocking the song

In fact, I love that song because I know that whoever wrote it knew the rest of the story, too But I'm just saying

I'm trying to make a point It really is not enough that Jesus died for me because if Jesus had not died for the father also

We would still go to hell Because unless the blood had propitiated

God We could not have been reconciled or redeemed to God so Propitiation is huge in the mind of God and in the mind of God that he's given us in the scriptures and The word circles around the very place of Propitiation which is that he lost

Arion the seat of the mercy seat the covering where the blood is sprinkled

Now, this is the root word that this word for merciful comes from. It's a little bit longer word than he lost

Arion. It's He lost. Oh my hey and It means to make

Propitiation To make propitiation and there's only one who can do that and that's the

Lord Man with his religious acts that Pharisees standing there trusting in himself

Looking up to God saying here's my system. I've done it So in that wouldn't that be cool if you could do that you you define your own system

And then you do it and then you're right with God That's what Joseph Smith did the father of Mormonism he wanted to have

I'll say because the children in the room intimate relations with women and their daughters and many of them

He wanted to have an orgy all the time So he goes out and he gets out somewhere where no one can see him and he finds a book

That he says came from God Which says it's okay to do that so isn't it wonderful man can write his own rules and then step back and say

God look I kept them and Expect God to be pleased. That's religion.

That is the religion of the world. I don't care whether you call it Mormonism It doesn't or is Islam. It doesn't matter what you call it or even some forms of Christianity today, unfortunately

Because they set their own rules and they go about to keep them and if you don't keep them you're not in the in the sect

But it's interesting that when this man Beat his breast and would not so much as look up to heaven.

He simply said God Make propitiation

Unto me a sinner be propitiated with respect to me a sinner

He did not say be merciful now

One might ask how did this man? Know to say that How did this man who was a

Jew? Well, this man was familiar with the Old Testament Sacrifices since when we come into the early parts of the

New Testament, they're still in the Old Testament economy He knew well The sacrificial system he knew about the scapegoat

And He knew that that goat did two things not one that it reconciled man and redeemed man

But it also propitiated God God was satisfied with what that picture which was the death of the true lamb as the payment for sin so God's justice is satisfied

By that blood and that's what propitiation means in this poor sinner

Would not even look up to God, but he did know what to say He said

God May you be propitiated with regard to my sin now? He may not have known all about how that happened, but he knew that's what had to happen

Which is more than 98 % of everyone who calls himself a Christian today are religionist knows

So what a beautiful hidden gem we have there in the word merciful The same word is found in Hebrews chapter 2.

Let me just read this to you It's translated into the word reconciliation in that verse and really if you wanted a true

Translation in Luke 18 13 where he says God be merciful to me a sinner

It would say God be propitiated with regard to me a sinner in Hebrews 2 16 and 17

The word reconciliation is used it would be better translated propitiation

Because that's what the word is in the Greek So but Hebrews 2 16 for barely he took not on him the nature of angels

But he took on him the seed of Abraham Jesus was not an angelic being

Katie. You were right The Mormons are wrong The Mormons teach that Jesus is an angelic being and I don't care what source you take any source you read about Mormons will tell you that's what they believe and therefore they are wrong because Hebrews chapter 2 verse 16 says

Jesus took not on him the nature of angels But he took on him the seed of Abraham wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a

Merciful and faithful high priest and things pertaining to God to make mark this in your

Bible propitiation For the sins of the people in other words

Because of the sins of the people it does not mean now we know he did do this

He did make reconciliation for the sins of the people, but this verse is not teaching that This verse is not saying he made

Reconciliation for the sins of the people it's saying he made Propitiation because of the sins of the people the little word for in the

New Testament Can mean because of and it means that more often than not He made propitiation

Because of the sins of the people for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted

He is able to secure them that are Tempted the heel osterion the lid or the covering of the mercy seat is

What we're talking about in Luke chapter 18 and same usage in Hebrews Now I'm gonna go back to Luke 18 and we're down to verse 14 now.

I Tell you this man Now Jesus is pointing out both men you have on the one hand a man who looks like he's got his act together

He's a respected man. He sits in the high seats he's respected in the great banquets and He trusts in himself that he is righteous and he despises everyone who uses any other system other than his own religious system, which he himself created and We have on the other hand a man who is not part of that system.

Who's never been a part of it And he knows he's a sinner Somehow he's been made aware

That he's a sinner And he beats his breast and he doesn't even look up because he's humble and he says

God be propitiated because of my sins Jesus looks at both those two men and look what he says in verse 14.

I tell you This man the man who beat his breast and refused to look up and said

God be merciful To me a sinner that man went down to his house justified

So we have an introduction to the doctrine of justification right in this passage

There's a lot to be learned about it by watching this example that Jesus gives This man went down to his house justified

Rather than the other tells me the other is not justified

He didn't say along with the other or this man also went to his house justified

He said this man went to the house justified rather than that man implying that man is still on his way to hell

And he's in the midst of a very rigorous Religious system where he does many things for God in his own mind

But in his own way God has rejected that man and never known that man

But this other man went to his house justified Jesus adds a point to the end of this sentence and makes another

Strong point. He says for everyone That exalted himself shall be embassed

You see those who trust in themselves that they are righteous those people

Exalt in themselves and in their own religious systems Jesus said they'll be abased and he that humble if himself shall be exalted

By the Lord Now, let's look at this word justification verse 14 the

Greek word is Dekai yo -ho Which means to render just or innocent to render just or innocent

When Jesus said this man Went down to his house justified

He is saying that someone else rendered him to be just or innocent

We see that in the definition of the word itself and the usage of the word, but we also see it in the grammar this word justified is in the perfect tense in the passive voice and in the participle mood

The perfect tense is the same in Greek as it is in English and it describes an action

Which is viewed as having been completed in the past once and for all Never needing to be repeated again

Did you get catch that definition? You've heard it before but anything that's in the perfect tense in the

Greek is an action That has been completed in the past Never to be repeated again

Secondly the passive I'm sorry That's the perfect the passive voice means this is done to you by someone greater than yourself.

You did not do the action Someone did the action to you and the participle is in English akin to putting

I and G after a word It's like a continual so you you understand the grammar and the word itself

Jesus said this man Goes to his house already justified

Already justified by someone greater than himself. This is not something he could do himself he was not trusting in himself as the

Pharisee was and the I NG Participle means it is an ongoing

Effect, even though it's a once Completed event that never needs to be done again.

It has been done to him by God But the effect of it goes on every day

So we have a past tense of our salvation, but we have a present tense. We have a past tense of our justification

But we have a continuing Justification. In other words, there is one who is seated at the throne of God as your advocate right now today

It keeps on arguing the case that you are Justified and he cannot lose that case because it's based upon his own blood and his own perfect Sacrifice and upon this he less starry on this mercy seat that already has his blood his perfect blood sprinkled all over it the case is based upon the blood and The case cannot be defeated so we see our first point in this passage self exaltation and Justification don't reside in the same person

If a person is self -righteous and trust in themselves and their own religion for salvation. They are not justified before God point number one

Now, let's go to Luke 18 verse 15 as we move our way through the passage

And they brought unto him also infants. Now, you see we study these as separate stories You know, you know, we do as we read through it.

You're gonna say oh, yeah I remember we had some school lesson on that once when I was a kid And yeah, we had a little son school lesson on this once when

I was a kid Probably all came out of the quarterly because the quarry likes to take one little piece of it stick it in there

I don't I just remember these stories But it's not written as five stories.

It's written as one whole truth about Justification look at verse 15. They brought unto him also infants.

Jesus is not through teaching about justification He's just going to use a different example

They Brought unto him also infants that he would touch them but when his disciples saw it they rebuked him as sad, isn't it?

They had to learn But Jesus called them unto him Did you little children hear that sitting there with Miss Charlotte today?

Jesus called the little children and said come sit on my lap. He loved the little children and still does

So Jesus called them and to him and said allow the little children to come unto me forbid them not and Then he pointed to these little children just like these seated right over here and he used them as A model and an example to teach about justification now, look what he says

For such is the kingdom of God Truly when

Jesus uses that word in English King James barely when he uses that he's making a point

He says I tell you the truth Truly I say to you

Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein

What is he teaching us about? justification Justification Is not caused by knowledge or pride or strength but by childlike faith now remember

What does justification mean the definition of it? to be rendered just To Be rendered just it the whole thing proves that it has to be done by another you cannot render yourself just as An adult would try to do a child would never do that.

So they get maybe a little older Start learning from mom and dad But a child just has faith in their parents that what they say is in fact what's gonna happen

And that's the kind of faith Jesus describes that has to do with justification

Justification is not caused by knowledge or pride or strength as an adult would have but by childlike faith verse 18 and A certain ruler asked him saying good master.

What shall I do to inherit eternal life now? Here's another little story we study Can't you see these you seldom just read through and look at them all in the context of the discussion on justification

But it's another story. We're starting here. The man says good master. What should

I do and Jesus you remember the answer? Why do you call me good? Why did he put that in there?

It doesn't make a lot of sense unless you understand he'd already been talking about justification for a long time he had already used the

Example of the Pharisee and the publican and the Pharisee trusts in himself

Jesus said now Jesus said here comes one to him and says good master. He said why you call me good

Can a man be good on his own is the point that he's making if all I am is a man.

Can I be good? and He's probing the young man to see who the young man will say that he is is one thing

But he's also pointing out the young man You called me good. Does that mean you think you're good?

What shall I do to inherit eternal life Jesus why you call me good none is good

Whoa None is good Save one that is

God Are you that good? He's asking the man because he's confronted here with another man just after telling the story about the

Pharisee a Lawyer comes now a lawyer is someone who is studying the law the

Judaistic law. He is a legalist He's a man who thinks if you keep this law, you're good and Jesus said why do you even call me good?

There's only one good and that's God and he's saying can you get this? You're not good But the young man didn't get it.

Did he? At least from what we can see so far, but we really don't know what's going on in his heart

But look what happens Well, they'll know us the commandments do not commit adultery do not kill do not steal do not bear false witness

Honor your father and mother and the young man said all of these have I kept perfectly from my youth.

He implied that And Jesus in his heart Is shaking his head?

now It goes on and it says that Jesus said, you know

He heard these things and he said yet you lack one thing you've done all your religious acts

Now go sell everything you have distributed to the poor and That will cause you to have treasure in heaven.

He didn't say that's what caused you to be saved He didn't say that would cause you to inherit eternal life.

He said that will cause you to have treasure in heaven But now he says come and follow me and that is the answer to what will give you eternal life

And when the young man heard this he was very sorrowful for he was very rich Could this have been the man in whose grave

Jesus was buried Do we know for a fact this man never got saved just because he walked away from this event

You know Saul walked away from the stoning of Stephen unsaved still but was

God working in his heart But the thing we learned from this story is that justification does not arise from keeping the law or being quote good

Because the best goodness we can have in God's view is as filthy rags

So, let's read on verse 24 and when Jesus saw that he was very when he saw that he was very sorrowful he said

How hardly how difficult it is for those that have riches to enter into the kingdom of God?

well He says it's easier for a camel to go through the needles

I than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven and those that heard it say well then who can be saved

Because some of Jesus's followers like John owned his own business had servants. He was he had some money probably some of the other ones did and He said the things which are impossible with men are possible with God So was there hope for the rich young ruler who walked away from this event?

Well, there was hope But what does it teach us You can't buy

Justification either You cannot buy it with money. In fact money can be a hindrance to true justification

Larger churches are filled with people Who are wealthy and think that if they buy things for the church and do things for the pastor and for the key leaders?

That they're buying their way to heaven Makes them feel better makes them feel better about their wealth makes them feel better about their life of ease makes them feel better about the selfishness they have in their heart and That is the motivation behind why they give these types of people and and this rich young ruler

At least he was honest enough to walk away So you can't buy justification

Verse 28 then Peter said lo We have all left all and followed thee and he said to them barely

I say unto you there is no man that has left house or parents or brethren or wife or children for the kingdom of God's sake

Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time and in the world to come everlasting life

There's been a group of people Before Many years who have espoused from the pulpit and so it comes down into our thought life as as if it's a scripture

Sometimes, you know how that happens you hear little sayings that are preached in different big meetings and gets in here anything well, it's got to be true

I've heard so many preachers say it and Many have said many of the commentators will say that the

New Testament Christianity is Spiritual whereas the Old Testament is physical There is a sense in which that's true because we're in a different dispensation

But the truth is the same people the Old Testament had to be in the heart also, didn't it? So it's not as cut -and -dry as scholars would have you believe

To say that it's all physical in the old. It's all spiritual in the new It's not that cut -and -dry because we can demonstrate that in the

Old Testament There were people who had salvation of the heart such as David But we can also give demonstrations of New Testament people who were given wealth and success in the

New Testament, which are physical things and Use them or I should say

God used that in the person to do his will in the world So sometimes

I think theologians oversimplify But I just wanted to point out that Jesus said if you give up things if you give up Physical things if you give up time with your loved ones that you would normally spend all of it with them and you use some

Of that to go out and minister He said you will receive many more things such as this in this present time.

That's now So that those are some physical things that can come your way now

But he also says and in the world to come life everlasting

Now I will say this The joy in the heart of a born -again person

Who has given something up for the Lord or for others, which is the same as for the Lord? Far surpasses the joy of having those things, doesn't it?

You've experienced that It's manifold times greater

So what Jesus points out in this? little passage of Scripture Is that justification brings with it?

Things in this life, but also everlasting everlasting life in the world to come

Verse 31 says then he took unto him the twelve and he said unto them behold

We go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the

Son of Man Shall be accomplished for he shall be delivered unto the

Gentiles and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated and spit it upon and They shall scourge him and look at this and Put him to death and the third day he shall rise again

Again Then they understood none of these things and this saying was hid from them for the time being

Neither knew they the things which were spoken, but we know what it meant looking back at it

Justification can only be accomplished by the death of the

Savior So we see that self exaltation and justification do not reside in the same person we see that justification is not caused by knowledge or pride or a system or strength like an adult would depend upon but upon childlike faith like a little child would have and We see that justification does not arise from keeping the law or being good nor can it be bought with money

But we see justification brings with it things in this life advantages in this life and everlasting life in the world to come but lastly we see

That justification can only come By the death of the Lamb and he points that out to them

He's been kind of talking around justification throughout all these stories. We looked at this morning.

These aren't all of them We're just out of time. We've got some more in the same passage But he's been talking about it through all these stories using them as examples to teach a spiritual truth and he ends up and says

They will put me to death And that's where they stopped understanding for the time being they couldn't understand that part.

They were grasping Certain other points we studied this morning, but not that one

Isaiah 53 1 says Turn to that We're we're we're not gonna keep you much longer

Of course your much is different than my much Kidding, I'm teasing

But I want you to turn to Isaiah 53 because this thing ends where the message began right here.

This is beautiful You'll see what I'm talking about when we get to it Isaiah 53 the last point

Jesus made at least where we're stopping this morning is That there can be no justification without the death of the

Lamb Isaiah 53 1 who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the

Lord revealed? Can we answer that this morning to the elect

Only Verse 2 for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant.

This means Jesus Shall grow up before the Father God the Father as a tender plant and as a root out of the dry ground

He hath no form nor comeliness. He was not pretty to look at and When we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him

The flesh does not desire the Lord Jesus Christ He is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows he is acquainted with grief and We hid as it were our faces from him because in the flesh we are not attracted to him

He was despised and we esteemed him not he was not something we wanted in our lives verse 5

But he was wounded for our transgressions You could say because of our

Transgressions he was bruised because of our sins the bad things that we've done

The chastisement that we deserve to have peace was upon him not us and With his stripes when they whipped him and beat him before they killed him.

We were healed spiritually and All we like sheep have gone astray.

That's why this self -righteousness of the Pharisees simply will not work You cannot invent a religious system that will make you good enough to make it to heaven because All we like sheep have already gone astray from God's holiness we have turned every single one of us to his own way not

God's way and The Lord has laid upon Jesus the sin of us

Now look at verse 11 He Shall see the travail of his soul and Be satisfied that is the

Old Testament word for propitiation By his knowledge shall my righteous servant the

Lord Jesus Christ justify many For he shall bear their iniquities

That man that stood out there that day and would not so much as look up at heaven and smote his breast and Said Lord be propitiated

Lord be satisfied with regard to my sin Lord be merciful to me a sinner and Jesus said that man went home

Justified that man went home After God had made him as if he had never sinned

God made him clean God took his sins away God removed his sins completely as far as the

East is from the West And he went home a just man and that means just before God That means a holy perfect righteous

God Looked at that man and said that is a good man

Because When God saw the travail of Jesus's soul

He was propitiated He was satisfied and by Jesus's knowledge by knowledge of Jesus Shall my righteous servant justify many

Through Coming to an understanding in the eyes The light is turned on and we see who

Jesus is that Jesus is our propitiation and we run to him We are then justified

For he shall bear their Iniquities well,

I Wish we could go right on through all these at one sitting because it just goes right on in Luke 1835 starts talking about a blind man and then later it ends up with Zacchaeus, but we'll do that next

Sunday, but Justification is so totally different than the religious world music the religious world looks at it as something you do to accomplish and they look at it as an accomplishment that you do through being religious or good and God the

Lord Jesus points out that man went to hell that thought that the man that thought that's how it worked went to hell

But the man that knew that's not how it worked and said Lord do something to propitiate yourself with regard to me

Do something to be satisfied with my sin dead or I'm done that man

Was justified because he was looking to God's solution And that was

Jesus Christ, let's stand and have prayer together Father we thank you for your word.

We thank you for this Magnificent passage of Scripture, which we would say any day we preach from any of the scriptures, but to us this morning.

This is Magnificent To hear this talk from the lips of Jesus Christ again and again through this passage through different examples

Different models is wonderful and Lord, we rejoice in the fact not that we are better than others

That we are not like the sinners of this world But we rejoice in the fact

That the Lord Jesus Christ bore our sins and that you were satisfied

Lord go with us through our time of fellowship. Thank you for the meal. We're about to have and we pray in Jesus name.