October
7, 2012
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
LOCATION
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd Floor
150 Washington Street
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 08553
Telephone: 615-513-4464
Schedule of Services
Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday 11:00 AM Morning Service
Thursday 7: 30 PM Midweek Service
Order of service, announcements, etc, are in attachment. All articles in the bulletin are by the
pastor unless otherwise noted.
One of the main
objectives of the ministry of the Gospel is to convince sinners of their sin
and misery without Christ. Men will not come to Christ Jesus until they are so
convinced. “The WELL do not need a physician.” If you love your soul, seriously
meditate upon this fact and do not allow pride to rob you of the TROUBLING but
PLEASANT realization that YOU ARE A SINNER! Christ is the friend of sinners. Pastor Henry Mahan
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THE SUFFERING OF CHRIST
Isaiah
52: 13-53: 12
In order to understand some degree of the depth of our iniquities, as well
as our complete redemption from sin, we must in some degree behold the depths
of Christ's suffering and the height of his exaltation.
Enmity
and Love
Isaiah 52: 13-15
We see the enmity of man’s
heart against God in the despising of Christ and the torture inflicted upon Christ
Jesus at the hands of men. (Is 52: 14; Mt 27: 27-44) Yet, we see the love of Christ
in that he suffered all of this willingly for his great love for the Father and
his great love for the elect of God—“I
GAVE my back to the smiters, and my cheek to those who plucked off the
hair!"
We Did Esteem Him Stricken, Smitten of God
and Afflicted
Isaiah 53: 4-5
In verse 14, of Isaiah 52, we
read that many were “astonied at Christ, his visage was so marred more than any
other man and his form more than the sons of men.” Then Isaiah 53: 4 says it was because “he
hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” The Holy Spirit connects
this with Christ healing bodily sickness. (Mt 8: 17) Our Substitute bore in his own body the sin of the elect which
causes bodily diseases, deterioration, and death. Although
men’s hands had indeed marred his body, Isaiah 53: 4 says, “YET we did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” The Vulgate Latin version reads,
"we esteemed him as a leprous person.”
These words “stricken, smitten and afflicted” are expressions
used in scripture when God visited a man with severe and sudden sickness. (2
Kings 15: 5; Job 19: 20-21) Many passages which typify Christ’s suffering on
the tree describe it just this way (Ps 22: 14-15; 32: 3; 38: 7; 102: 3-5; Lam
3: 1-4; Job 16: 8) I do not know what
happened to Christ’s visage and form on the cross but by these words “yet we
did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted” it appears that those
who passed by saw something, other than what man’s hands had done, which caused
them to esteem Christ to be a special object of Divine wrath. They assumed it was for sin Christ had
committed himself, but Christ did no sin. It was because “he was wounded
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him…the LORD hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all…for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” (Is 53:
5, 6, 9) Brethren, in order for Christ to say
to elect lepers “I will, be thou clean” cost our Substitute far more than we
realize.
Iniquity
Laid Upon Him
Isaiah 53: 6
In scripture, iniquity means both sin (Lev16:21) and
punishment for sin. (Lev 20: 17) In
order for God to be righteous in executing justice upon Christ, who knew no
sin, the LORD first laid the iniquity of our sin upon Christ then the LORD laid
the iniquity of punishment for our sin upon Christ. (2 Cor 5: 21; 1 Pet 2: 24)
The
Bitter Cup for the Cup of Communion
Isaiah 53: 8
The cup of wine we drink at the
Lord’s Table symbolizes the believer’s communion with God accomplished by Christ’s
shed blood. How amazing that we have
friendship with holy God and enjoy the blessings of grace such as righteousness,
peace, and forgiveness! But never forget, brethren, in order for his children
to drink of this cup of communion our Head had to drink that bitter cup of
wrath dry. (Zec 13: 7; Ps 22: 1-3) In the total darkness of the cross, there could be no communion with the
Father for our Substitute until he had suffered all the consequences of
sin to the full satisfaction of divine justice. Whips fell not only upon
his body, but upon his very soul. (Romans
8: 32; Lam 1: 12; Zec 12: 10; Is
53: 8) But by making satisfaction,
Christ took that bitter cup out of our hands and gave us this sweet cup of
communion.
Christ’s
Victory over Sin
Isaiah 53: 10-12
In direct proportion to the profound depths our Savior
suffered on the cross so Christ highly exalted the righteous God and so God has
highly exalted and extolled Christ very high. (Php 2: 9-11) Christ arose from the grave because he fully
satisfied the justice of God for each and every elect child given him before
the foundation of the world! (Acts 13:37; Rom 4:25) God is so pleased with Christ who so fully
completed the payment for the debt his people owed that those for whom Christ
died as a Substitute can no more be damned again than Christ himself can be.
The honor of God, the faithfulness of God, the integrity of God demand that
every soul for whom Christ died, must be regenerated and given eternal life. He
shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. For those who he
draws to cast all their care on him—with
his stripes we are healed. (Rom 8: 1, 34)
Now, In light of Christ’s great gift to us is any devotion too extreme, any suffering
or sacrifice too great for us for him? O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained
to be!