I invite you to turn with me tonight to Isaiah, the last part of chapter 52 and chapter 53, that most familiar portion of Scripture, pointing forward to the saving sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. We will read beginning at verse 13 of chapter 52 through chapter 53. And considering in this context specifically verse 5 of chapter 53. Hear now the Word of God. Verse 13 of chapter 52 of Isaiah. See, My servant will act wisely. He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at Him, His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form marred beyond human likeness. So will He sprinkle many nations and kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For what they were not told, they will see. And what they have not heard, they will understand. Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him. nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. Yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds we are healed. May God again tonight add his blessing to the consideration of his word. Oh, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, once again, it is our privilege to gaze upon the Lord's table that has been prepared for you and me. To see with our eyes the visible truth of the Gospel that we hear with our ears. Here with this table, we are reminded of what Isaiah pointed forward to some 700 years before. Namely, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of His people. This sacrifice, we know, was the fulfillment of that to which the Old Testament sacrifices pointed, especially the animal sacrifices. The animals, boys and girls, we know, were slaughtered and they were offered on behalf of in the place of another in exchange for another to cover sin in the sight of God and to remove His wrath. We no longer have an altar before us. We don't need to come to an altar. We have a table before us. We no longer bring a bloody sacrifice hoping to appease God's wrath against sin, but we come to a table of celebration and communion. A table that indeed reminds us that the perfect, final sacrifice for sin has been made. That sacrifice we know is Jesus Christ. Of whom Isaiah prophesied, again, as if it had already taken place, but Isaiah prophesied in chapter 53 that he would be unappealing to and he would be rejected by men. Isaiah prophesied of his willingly giving himself without resistance like a lamb led to the slaughter. Isaiah prophesied of his accomplishment that he would justify many. And Isaiah prophesied that he would do all of this by redemption's great exchange. An awesome exchange. Well, again, as we consider this morning, beloved, there are so many in the world who do not understand their sin and the eternal destruction that they are heading for. They have absolutely no clue. They are blinded to that truth. There are so many, even those who claim the name Christian, who truly do not believe that they need a Savior. And sometimes even well-meaning Christians tend to think, well, I'm not so bad. God is probably pretty pleased with me. Yeah, you see, beloved, we need to be reminded again and again and again and again, as the preparatory form says, for we do not come to this supper claiming any merit in ourselves. On the contrary, we come testifying that we seek our salvation apart from ourselves in Jesus Christ. By this testimony, we humbly confess that we are full of sin and worthy of death. Now, that does not mean that this table is meant to discourage us, but this table is meant to remind us of what we receive in the light of what it is we deserve. To remind us indeed of just how much, just how bad you and I need a Savior. This table is meant to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit nourishes our souls with Him by faith. Now we know, of course, that within the broader context of Isaiah's prophecy, Isaiah prophesied of the covenant curses to come upon God's people because of their sin. He prophesied of the captivity that they would be called upon to endure, complete with all of the sorrows and all of the struggles that would be included in that captivity. Yet we also know that throughout his prophecy, Isaiah often lifts their eyes and their minds and their hearts to the mercy and the grace of God's restoration, especially through the one we know as the suffering servant, who, as Isaiah 53 makes clear, paid for our sins. as He would take what is ours and give what is His. And in the context of chapter 53, verse 5, then vividly, the entire chapter, but verse 5 vividly points to redemption's great exchange. Sometimes we refer to it as double imputation. That great exchange includes these two things, death for the life. And secondly, life for the dead. First of all, death for the life. Again, very simply, we know Jesus Christ is the life. Jesus testified of Himself in John 14, I am the way and the truth and the life, as if to say the one and only life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. As God, His very being is life. He alone gives new life. He gives eternal life. And he gives that new life. He gives it as he traveled that pathway of death. Isaiah makes it clear that indeed he would suffer death as he points to slaughter in v. 7. Or as he speaks of being cut off from the land of the living, v. 8. Or as he says he would be assigned a grave in v. 9. Or that his life would be poured out unto death, v. 12. And Paul in Philippians 2 says of Jesus, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death of the cross. And that death for the life, beloved, was undeserved. Completely undeserved for Him. Though man thought He deserved it. Isaiah even points forward to that. The attitude of the Jews around the time of the crucifixion. In verse 4, Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. Yet, we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. You see, at the time of the crucifixion, the Jews thought that Jesus was getting what He deserved. That God Himself was displeased with His Jesus. He had been accused of casting out demons by the ruler of the demons, Beelzebub. He was accused on occasion of blasphemy against God. He was condemned as one deserving of death. Certainly, God was giving this Jesus what He deserved. But the truth is, beloved, He was not the guilty. We're just saying, who was the guilty? The answer is certainly not Him. As in verse 9, Isaiah says, He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. And in verse 11, He is described as My righteous servant. And Paul in 2 Corinthians 5 says, For he that is God made him, Christ, who knew no sin to be sin for us, God treated him as the sinner that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And the writer of Hebrews clearly says that he was without sin. His death was undeserved for him. His death was for us. It was for our sin, of those who would believe on Him by the grace of God. Again, this passage makes that very clear, doesn't it? Isaiah speaks of our infirmities. The contrast is unbelievably clear. He, us, Him, our, our infirmities, our sorrows, our transgressions, our iniquities. Verse 5 begins, but He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Transgressions, our rebellion against God, the deliberate, purposeful breaking of His law, our iniquities turning the wrong way because of a crooked nature, our sin. And that sin, as it were, results in infirmities, sickness, and all the sorrow and the misery that comes because of that infirmity. Our society seems to want to call sin nothing more than sickness. But that's not the kind of sickness that we're talking about when we say that sin is sickness or sin results in infirmities. Sin is not sickness in the sense of well, we can't help it. Or we're not responsible for it. Or just take the right pill, have the proper environment or therapy and counselor, and you'll be okay. No, sin results in deadly sickness. The worst, the death, the eternal death sentence. And the consequences of sin, beloved, includes separation from God's presence of His favor forever, and in the place of God's favor, the presence of God's eternal wrath. The consequence includes punishment for our sin forever. And all of that, beloved, was undeserved for Him at the very same time, unbearable for us. You and I could not endure it. We could not bear it. Yet, as Isaiah says, He took up our infirmities. He carried our sorrows. Really, it's interesting what Isaiah says. You see, we didn't ask Him to. We didn't even want Him to. We didn't give it to Him to take. of His own love and good pleasure. He lifted it off of us. Lifting that burden. He put it upon. He took it upon Himself. He carried it away. Kind of like relieving somebody of heavy luggage so that they have nothing and carrying it for them. He took it all. As Peter says, who Himself bore our sins in His own body onto the tree. what we are to understand here from Isaiah is that Jesus Christ took responsibility for our sin upon Himself. He made Himself responsible. We find the same idea in Leviticus 5, verse 17, where it says, If a person sins and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord's commands, even though he does not know it, He is guilty and will be held responsible. We hold each other responsible when we do things wrong. Sometimes, as parents, we encourage our children, when they have done something wrong, take responsibility for it. Make it right. Suffer the consequence. Be responsible. Jesus Christ became responsible. He took the responsibility away from you and me for the guilt and the offense of the sin of His people. He became responsible for its curse and payment to suffer its consequence, eternal separation from God and the punishment of God. And it was unbearable, as Isaiah makes clear as he describes it with these words, stricken, smitten, afflicted, pierced, crushed, punished, wounded. The idea behind smitten might have to do with being afflicted with a terrible disease like leprosy when one was cast outside the camp, outside of God's presence. Jesus was cast outside of His Father's presence. The idea here is that the punishment included being pierced through unto death and being crushed, broken in pieces, shattered as it were. Now we know that our Lord was not literally, physically broken in pieces and shattered, but our God uses language here that you and I can understand. Language pointing to complete destruction, pointing to a violent and a painful death. A death that you and I would not be able to bear. And ultimately, we are to understand here that there was absolutely nothing more that could have been done to Him. Nothing more that needed to be done to Him because of our sin. He endured the worst of the worst that it could ever be in the whole wide world. Though He was completely free from and without sin. He suffered for the sin that was fully and completely ours. He suffered unto eternal death fully and completely for us who deserve to be eternally cut off from God. who deserve to be eternally cut off from fellowship with God. That is our Lord's part of that great exchange. He took that which was completely ours and all that belonged with it upon Himself. And instead, redemption's great exchange includes unfailing life for the dead in the second place. Life for those who were dead. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. Life for we who were dead so undeserved, because as Paul says, we were dead in transgressions and sins. His was the punishment, but ours is its accomplishment. Peace with God. His were the wounds, but ours is the healing. And that peace with God, beloved, means no more contention. No more enmity between God and His saved people. No more wrath of God against us, not even in the least little bit. And you know, that's something that we cannot fully understand or comprehend. Because we still struggle with sin. Because of our sin, we are still somewhat skeptical at times. Because of sin, we still lack perfect trust. And therefore, we are tempted to treat God as if He is more like ourselves with regard to how we deal with others. Sometimes ready to say, Remember when? As if God is somehow holding our sins in His back pocket, ready to pull them out and shove them in our face and say, Remember when? Sometimes we lack that trust and confidence that God is really able to forgive us of our sins. Because indeed, certainly, I'm so bad. But you see, beloved, praise be to God that in Jesus Christ, He no longer has or holds anything against us. And we are healed. Sin is not only a crime against God, but it is a disease which attacks our soul and leads to eternal death. Not only are we reconciled with God, not only do we enjoy His favor, but our sickness unto eternal death and all the consequences of sin that are upon us, we are made well by the wounds of Christ. We still struggle with the effects of sin in this life, but those effects of sin that we deal with do not destroy us or separate us from Him. And the healing that Isaiah speaks of was pictured in the healing miracles, the healing ministry of Jesus. We read in Matthew 8, When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah. He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases. Quoting from Isaiah chapter 53. Christ's physical healing ministry pointed to the truth that one day all of God's people would be delivered from this body of death, including sickness and death and tears and sorrows and all of our physical needs, but ultimately an even greater, being delivered from spiritual death, being given eternal life with a guarantee that that last enemy death will be conquered in the resurrection on that last day. Beloved, this life for we who were dead, though undeserved by us, yet is simply unbelievable. this great exchange that Jesus took upon Himself, all that was ours, all that separated us from God, all that we deserve because of it, He took it upon Himself and He gave us life in Himself is simply unbelievable. As Paul says in Romans 5, Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Paul's point, at least in part, is that we would never even consider doing that for each other. But Jesus did. Jesus Christ took our place. He became sin and a curse for us. He took responsibility for our guilt. He took the liability of our sin. He made it His very own concern. And in its place, He gave us His righteousness. He earned God's forgiveness so that we are justified in God's sight. God sees us as righteous in His own sight. Jesus gave Himself as our substitute in exchange for you and me upon that final altar called the cross. This was the work of God Himself, a work that is so amazing that the very one we offended chose to redeem us. We know that the cross is offensive to those who do not believe in Jesus Christ. They see they're only a weak man who was defeated. We know that the offense of the cross can only be removed by grace through faith in this Jesus who took eternal punishment and the hell that we deserve and He exchanged it with peace and eternal fellowship with God and the glory of heaven completely and absolutely undeserved. We know the offense of the cross is only removed when one sees by faith that that cross is the only path to God's wrath being removed. It is the only path to our sins being forgiven. It is the only path to our salvation secured. And therefore, beloved, as we come to the Lord's table tonight and meditate on what it means, may we remember that apart from Jesus any one of us is only one breath away from eternal death with all of its never-ending torment and suffering for sin but for those who are in Christ Jesus by faith for all who forsake themselves and trust in Him for you and for me all of the never-ending torment and suffering for sin has been exchanged by Jesus Christ and in its place is the eternal glory and the enjoyment of God. And therefore, beloved, may we remember just how desperately we needed a Savior and that God provided perfectly in Jesus Christ. And may that truth fill us with great joy as we see more clearly the glorious grace of God. And may that truth motivate us more and more as we face the circumstances of this life, even difficult circumstances, even those who would reject us to rejoice in the love of God who has not rejected us. Dear people of God, may we never ever take our salvation lightly. But may we truly see our only hope in Jesus Christ and dedicate ourselves to Him as He has already dedicated Himself for us. Amen.