Sermon Central
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A Foreordained Savior Series
Contributed by Todd Leupold on Apr 14, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: Over 700 years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, God Almighty revealed His divine plan for our salvation in excruciating detail so that even today we might have no doubt about His Sovereign Grace.
The Master’s Plan of Sacrifice:
A FOREORDAINED SAVIOR
Perth Bible Church, Good Friday Service April 10, 2009 Rev. Todd G. Leupold
INTRODUCTION:
Seven hundred years before Jesus of Nazareth was born, the LORD God Almighty revealed the details concerning the Messiah (Anointed One) that would one day come to bring salvation and ultimately peace to a sin-corrupted earth. Not only did God reveal this as a general truth, but He explained in agonizing detail just how this Savior would appear, how He would be received, and what He must and would do in order that all who believe might be delivered from Sin and its eternal consequences.
This extraordinary revelation was given to a Jewish prophet, Isaiah ben Amoz, to share to the captives from Gilead and Galilee during their Assyrian captivity in 721 B.C. The specific prophecy concerning the Coming Messiah was given within a greater preaching to Judah about it’s need for repentance. By His divine and compassionate Hand, the LORD made sure that all of this was recorded in His Word and preserved throughout history that all may read them and be blessed!
A.) A SERVANT’S SUFFERING & EXALTATION (Isaiah 52:13-15)
From the get-go God begins unfolding His salvation plan with a greatly unexpected ’zinger’ – the One who will do these things will be a SERVANT!
This is later confirmed as part of the plan and true of Jesus: Philippians 2:5-8
Yet, plain as it may appear and be confirmed in Scripture, it remains something many of us find as difficult to accept as did the people of Judah in the Assyrian captivity.
Why? Because it is the complete opposite of what we would think to do if we presumed to put ourselves in God’s place.
We assume that whatever seems right to us must be right. Too often, we’re like the guy who was so certain that he had figured out the exact time of the rapture that on that date – June 21, 1896, he climbed high into a tree and at precisely 9:04 AM leaped off his branch to meet the Lord in the air. . . It didn’t quite end the way he expected.
Let US, then, put our own assumptions aside and let closely at what the Lord actually and specifically says.
VIDEO: “Isaiah 53”
B.) WHO HAS BELIEVED SUCH A THING? (Isaiah 53:1)
Many of us have already heard, but have we believed to be point of trusting in Him alone for the power of our salvation?
Do our lives reflect the fullness of this truth, or are we like the little ’bus girl’ who one day in Sunday School made a little plaque that read “Have Faith in God.” After church, she got on the bus that would take her home and after it began driving off she realized that she left her plaque in the church. Immediately, she jumped out of her seat, and ran down the aisle of the bus screaming out: “Stop the bus! I’ve lost my ’Faith in God’!
How about you here tonight? Have you ever lost your faith in God? Or come to the sudden realization that what you have been holding on to all of this time was nothing more than a plaque or motto?
1.) A MESSIAH WHO IS LOWLY & REJECTED (vv. 2-3)
The grammatical form introduced here in the Hebrew is what is known as a “prophetic perfect.” This means it is a reference to something that is certain to happen in the future, but expressed as if it had already happened. The emphasis of this style of literature is to strongly emphasize the absolute certainty of the prophecy.
The Messiah is predicted to be one who would be seen as just one more young person who had come from poor and lowly circumstances and who had not yet done anything to establish Himself or His credibility. Nor would there be anything about Him that most would recognize as particularly remarkable or impressive. Further, we would be a man who would appear to be at least as weak as the next man.
Therefore, he would be despised and rejected as a wannabe imposter. Entirely in contrast to the royal, remarkable, established and mighty warrior that humans tend to expect as their heroes and deliverers.
As the apostle John would connect to the person of Jesus: John 1:10-11.
2.) A SUBSTITUTE WHO BORE OUR AFFLICTIONS (v. 4-6)
And yet He alone would have the necessary strength, power, will, and holiness to literally lift off of us and carry Himself all of humanity’s sickness, pain, troubles, mistakes, sins, and divinely required punishment.
So He did, and so He became our substitute, taking it upon Himself to carry and endure what only we ourselves deserved but could not!
ALL for our peace – reconciliation with a perfectly righteous and holy God and through that renewed relationship peace within our own minds, hearts and spirits!
