Transcription downloaded from https://archives.bafreechurch.org.uk/sermons/30583/isaiah-53/.

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[0:00] Are you satisfied with Jesus? Does Jesus satisfy your soul and your deepest needs?

[0:12] As you go from one place to another, you notice differences, and that's as it should be. If I had asked that question as I did, because I confessed, though it's no confession that the message I bring you this evening is one I had the opportunity to share in Moyabamba.

[0:30] As I would pose that question in Moyabamba, I would get a big Amen. But I know I'm not in Moyabamba, and I'm sure many of you in the depths of your heart and soul were saying an Amen.

[0:43] But I'll ask you the question again, all the same. Are you satisfied with Jesus? And you can ask yourself how you are responding to that. And have you found in Him the eternal Son of God, the resurrected Christ, the One who meets your deepest needs?

[1:02] The deepest needs that we all have. All human beings, men and women, boys and girls. The need to be forgiven. The need to be loved. The need to belong.

[1:12] The need to have a purpose and direction in our lives. And Jesus is One who meets all of these needs. And He meets these needs perfectly and wonderfully.

[1:24] And so, I ask you again, are you satisfied with Jesus? As we think of the One of whom we are speaking of, Jesus, we recognize that the work He has done for us is a sufficient work.

[1:44] His work of salvation is a completed work. He has done all that needs to be done that we might be forgiven, that we might be saved, that we might be brought in to the family of God as we trust in Him and in His work for us.

[1:59] He satisfies our soul. Well, all of this is wonderfully true. But this evening, I have a different question.

[2:11] I want to look at this matter from a different perspective. And the question that we want to consider this evening is rather, is Jesus satisfied with us?

[2:25] Is Jesus satisfied with you? Is Jesus satisfied with me? Now, we've read in the Old Testament in Isaiah chapter 53.

[2:39] And our thoughts this evening revolve around one verse in that chapter that we have read. There in verse 11. If you have your Bibles open there in Isaiah 53, it will help.

[2:52] Isaiah 53 in verse 11. We read as follows. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.

[3:07] Or as for some of us, the verse is more easily remembered in the language of the authorized version. He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied.

[3:22] He will see the travail, the affliction, the suffering of his soul and be satisfied. Who has been spoken of in this verse by the prophet Isaiah?

[3:40] Well, we know the answer to that question. This is a chapter that speaks of Jesus. This is a chapter that speaks of His life and death and suffering in our place.

[3:51] And in this verse, as we focus in almost exclusively on the words that we find here, we see Jesus. Jesus is spoken of.

[4:03] And as we consider this verse, we don't find what Jesus is for the believer, but what the believers are for Jesus.

[4:15] We discover, and as we enter into the verse, I hope this will become more and more clear. We discover something of the joy of the Savior over saved sinners.

[4:29] It's almost as if the prophet is giving us this privilege to just open the curtains of heaven just a little for us to get a glimpse of something marvelous, of a satisfied Jesus.

[4:45] Jesus, who as He looks over all that He has done, His completed work, and He sees the fruit of His suffering. He sees the fruit of His travail, of His affliction. He is satisfied.

[4:57] He is profoundly happy as He sees what is before Him. As He sees us, the fruit of His suffering.

[5:09] A satisfied Jesus. Here we have not a gathering of sinners looking to Jesus for salvation, but rather Jesus looking over the company of the redeemed.

[5:24] And looking over us this evening also. And as He looks, and as He considers, He experiences deep joy and profound satisfaction.

[5:38] Well, the verse speaks of a suffering Jesus. And as we consider this verse, and as we divide it up in the manner that we propose to do so, we think around that reality, the sufferings of Jesus.

[5:53] And we're going to consider it in the following way. Consider, first of all, how this verse points to the reality of His suffering. The reality of the suffering of Jesus.

[6:05] But this verse also speaks of the results of the suffering of Jesus. And also, and this is in a sense what has most drawn me to this verse, it speaks also of the reward for Jesus of His suffering.

[6:22] The reality of His suffering, the result of His suffering, but also the recompense, the reward for Jesus of His suffering.

[6:34] First of all then, let's consider briefly the reality of His suffering. After, the verse says, after the suffering of His soul.

[6:48] The travail of soul. And what is being spoken of? Well, we are being pointed to, because this verse doesn't go into all the details, although the chapter does in one way or another.

[7:02] But it speaks of the affliction. It speaks of the suffering, of the pain. All that Jesus endured for you and for me, that we might be saved.

[7:13] That we might be forgiven. And as we think of that suffering in all its aspects, as we think of the physical suffering endured, of the emotional suffering that was His portion also, and profoundly spiritual suffering, which the language here more particularly points to, after the suffering of His soul.

[7:39] A suffering that began when He left the glory of heaven. When He left that intimate communion with His Father. That great friendship with His Father.

[7:50] And He came into this world. And He died a death, even that death on a cross. It began there. As He emptied Himself, as we've read there in the passage in Philippians.

[8:02] The one who had known for all eternity what it was to enjoy communion with His Father. And that's of the creation of the angels, to know the worship of the angels.

[8:16] And as the first believers made their way to heaven, the worship of the church triumphant also. This had been His experience. And He leaves all of that, that He might come to live in this world, and to walk in this world, this planet, for you and for me.

[8:37] And all of that, it was the beginning of travail of soul. The beginning of the suffering that He had to endure. from the glory of heaven, worshipped, adored, a place of peace and joy, from a glorious throne, to a world where He was rejected, and despised, and misunderstood, and tortured, and killed.

[9:03] The reality of His suffering. But the intensity of pain grows as He approaches the cross. That place where He would carry the sins of the world.

[9:16] That place where He would experience the wrath of God, the hatred of God towards sin. That place where He would be accursed for us.

[9:28] That place where He would be made sin for us. And so there is a growing intensity of affliction. There is a growing intensity as we consider this suffering of His soul.

[9:43] The suffering becomes greater and greater and deeper and deeper as the days go by and He comes closer and closer to Calvary.

[9:54] And maybe if we want to simply trace, perhaps in a very superficial way, trace that downward spiral of agony, if we can describe it in that way, we could do so simply reading three verses that somehow take us from one stage of suffering to another.

[10:15] Let's just briefly do that. First of all, let's have a look at what we find in John chapter 12 and verse 27. We're simply going to read three verses without major commentary, but that in and of themselves give us a taste, a flavor, for this growing agony, this deepening suffering and travail that the prophet makes reference to and points to.

[10:39] First of all, then, in John chapter 12 and verse 27. At this point, Jesus is already coming close to the final day. And then, in that verse, we read the following as we hear Jesus Himself expressing what He is going through.

[10:58] Now, my heart is troubled. My heart is troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. And then as we continue that downward spiral, as we go to Matthew in chapter 26, Matthew chapter 26, and as we read in verse 38.

[11:20] Matthew chapter 26 and verse 38. What do we find there? Again, we find Jesus Himself expressing what He is going through.

[11:32]  Then He said to them, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of the Lord.