For our Scripture reading tonight, if you would turn with me to Matthew 27. Matthew 27. I had indicated in the bulletin that we would start at verse 15, but let's back up a few verses and begin reading at verse 11 through 26. For those of you who are visiting with us tonight, we've been taking some time, a couple of services, is to consider our suffering Savior, the suffering servant Jesus Christ in Isaiah 53. Tonight, we consider verses 7-9 of Isaiah 53. We'll turn there in a few moments. We'll read together first, beginning at verse 11 of Matthew 27. Hear now the Word of God. Meanwhile, Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked Him, Are You the King of the Jews? Yes, it is as you say, Jesus replied. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you? But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge, to the great amazement of the governor. Now it was the governor's custom at the feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time, they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, Which one do you want me to release to you? Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ? For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message, Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him. But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. Which of the two do you want me to release to you? asked the governor. Barabbas, they answered. What shall I do then with Jesus, who is called Christ? Pilate asked. They all answered, crucify Him. Why? What crime has he committed? asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, crucify Him. When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. I am innocent of this man's blood, he said. It is your responsibility. All the people answered, Let his blood be on us and our children. Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified. And now if you would turn with me to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, we considered His rejection in the first three verses. His redemption in verses 4-6. And now tonight, beginning at verses 7-9 as our text. 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. Dear people of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the suffering servant, was rejected by man because He didn't fit man's expectations of a Messiah. He submitted Himself, He substituted Himself for His people, even those who rejected Him, and he suffered the wrath and punishment of God against the sin of the world. The Lord laid on him our iniquity and our guilt. He was punished instead of you and me for the punishment that we could not bear. And congregation, what's to be our response to such a great salvation? Alleluia! What a Savior! Now, boys and girls, you can understand what I'm talking about. You can understand what Jesus did. I know that you can. Think of it this way. Did you ever do something wrong and you were going to get punished from your mom or dad? And you knew that that punishment was going to hurt? It was going to sting. But then all of a sudden, your brother or your sister said to your mom or dad, wait, punish me instead. I'll take his or her punishment. Now, if your brother or sister has never done that for you, I'm not surprised. My brother and my sisters never did that for me. And I've never seen one of my children willingly offer themselves in the place of one of their brothers or sisters. But that's what Jesus did for His people. He took the place of His people completely. And the text tonight shows us another aspect of Christ's suffering that we need to consider. that he did it voluntarily. And therefore, I preach to you this Word of God, that the suffering servant, his resignation. First of all, without protest. Secondly, in the midst of a scandal. Third, for his own. And then finally, rewarded with honor. Verse 7 says again, 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. Now included in the phrase, He was oppressed and afflicted, is all of Christ's suffering, which we've already considered in the first six verses of this chapter. Again, He was despised and rejected. He was a man of sorrows. He was not esteemed. He took up our infirmities and sorrows. He was stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God. He was pierced, crushed, punished, and wounded. And we need to understand, congregation, that all of this was merciless treatment. The Jews were out to destroy Him, even as we could figure out from our reading in Matthew 27. But worst of all, He was rejected by God the Father. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ knew what bitter anguish and agony that would be. He knew it. And that's why His sweat was like drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prayed. And when Jesus cried, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? He was suffering the fierce wrath and punishment of God against our sin. God the Father turned His back on God the Son so that Christ was not for a time. He was not experiencing the favor and love of His Father, but He was experiencing all the torment of hellish agony that God had to pour out against our sin. And before He went to the cross, He knew what was coming. Praise God that for those who believe on Him, we will never have to know because we cannot endure it. But Jesus Christ endured all of this without protest. Sheep may not be the smartest or the brightest animals in the world, but they're relatively submissive. In a sense, they walk willingly to the place where they are to be executed. And when they are being sheared, when their wool is being shaved off, they don't make a sound. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who, as John the Baptist said, takes away the sin of the world. He was the one final sacrifice for sin, fulfilling all of the Old Testament animal sacrifices for sin. His death on the one hand was not glorious at all, but it was a curse as we know. It was cursed by God to hang on a tree as He bore the curse for us. Yet His death was also glorious in what it accomplished for you and me. But you see, beloved, through all of His suffering and oppression and affliction from beginning to end, And Jesus Christ never protested. He never resisted. He never insisted that His rights were being violated, all the things that we would cry out. And we know what He could have done, don't we? After Peter cut the ear off of the high priest's servant in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said, Do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen thus? You see, our Lord had a just defense which He could have offered and He would have gotten off because He was innocent. No one could stand up against His defense. But even Pilate said that He was innocent as we said this morning. Yet the Bible says, as we read in Matthew 26, beginning of verse 12, when He was accused by the chief priests and the elders, He gave no answer. Then Pilate asked Him, Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you? But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge, to the great amazement of the governor. In 1 Peter 2, Peter quotes the end of verse 9 where it talks about in our text that there was no deceit in His mouth and He had done no violence. And then Peter says, Who when He was reviled did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed himself to Him who judges righteously. Just as Adam, representing all of mankind, sinned voluntarily and willingly and broke the covenant, the second Adam, Jesus Christ, had to voluntarily and willingly fulfill all righteousness and suffer and keep the commandment in our place in order for God's justice to be satisfied. Beloved, the suffering servant did not open his mouth. He didn't complain. He didn't resist. He didn't say, it's not fair! Or, it's not worth it. With so many things, that's our attitude. If it doesn't benefit us, or if we think we're being cheated, we're quick to cry out, it's not fair! Or, it's not worth it. Think about this just for a moment with me. Just think about it, congregation. What if our Lord had said, it's simply not worth it? But He didn't. He suffered without protest because He came to die for His people. He was willingly led to death because He knew the eternal benefit to those who would believe. Ecclesiastes 7, verse 7 says, Surely oppression destroys a wise man's reason. In other words, it drives him mad, whereas another version says, it turns him into a fool, but not Jesus Christ. As one commentator said, by his wisdom he could have evaded the sentence, and by his power have resisted the execution. But dear people of God, he opened not his mouth because it was his will to do the will of his Father. It was not our Lord's work to protest and proclaim His innocency, but it was His work to give His life a ransom for many. It's interesting, but not surprising that His only words of defense were for others. When He was being arrested in the garden, He said to the troops and the officers of the chief priests and the Pharisees, I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way. Speaking on behalf of His disciples. His work of suffering unto death was something that only He could do. And congregation, He still speaks on behalf of and in defense of His people as He sits at the right hand of His Father. And when Satan stands to accuse us of our sin, and believe me, He has much to accuse us of, our Advocate, Jesus Christ, also stands before God the Father and says, You have already punished Me for His sins. For her sins. He is free. she is free. Christ willingly resigned Himself to suffer for sin. And this becomes even more awesome as we consider that He did this in the midst of a scandal. The first part of verse 8 says, By oppression and judgment He was taken away. And who can speak of His descendants? Now there are various ideas even among Reformed scholars of what these sentences mean. And although the interpretations may differ, somewhat I believe that they don't change the main focus of the text and I believe that the best understanding with regard to the first phrase by oppression and judgment he was taken away is that this is possibly referring to his being arrested and bound as a prisoner and his trial and death sentence Christ was taken away from freedom and taken into bondage by oppression and judgment but this oppression was an unjust oppression this judgment was an unjust judgment he did not suffer and die for his own sins as we consider this morning but for the sins of others he remained silent in the midst of a scandal the scandal being that the trial was rigged it was illegal he had done nothing worthy of being arrested let alone being worthy of death he had broken no law but he was sentenced because of the hatred and the rejection of the people Matthew 27 makes it clear that even Pilate understood that he had been handed over because of the envy of the people and then he was cut off from the land of the living which is a reference to a most violent death but not only this but Barabbas who deserved to be imprisoned and punished was scandalously set free. And so have we been set free. Congregation today, when our judicial system acts in this way, when so many punishments don't seem to fit the crime, whether too lenient or not lenient enough, we just shake our heads in disbelief. Yet his generation didn't give this a second thought. The text says, and who can speak of His descendants? Again, there are a few different ideas of what this means, but the word translated speak implies meditation or giving something serious thought. Our Lord's descendants, His generation, should have been impacted by His death, but they gave it no thought. They should have protested the suffering and death of the Messiah, but they didn't. Christ Himself could have protested. But He wouldn't. Yet we know, don't we, that behind the scandal of the unjust trial and death of Jesus Christ was the plan of God who used the wickedness of the Jews and Pilate to accomplish His work of redemption. Even as we quoted our Lord saying a few moments ago that Scripture must be fulfilled. But also when Jesus died, You see, He was taken away from something. He was taken away by death from the oppression and the judgment and the unjust trial. And His death was the beginning of His exaltation and His glorification. When His redeeming sacrifice was finished, when the debt for sin had been paid in full, and God was satisfied, our Lord was taken away from all of the injustice that had assaulted Him as He committed His Spirit into the hands of the Father. Beloved, those who reject the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ or those who say that He is not the only way of salvation or those who believe that His suffering and death were not necessary for salvation continue the scandal with regard to Christ's saving work. They minimize His work. In essence, they wipe His work. They slap it out of His hands. And as long as they despise the suffering servant, they have no hope. Yet God's people are to be comforted as they realize that Christ resigned Himself all the way to death for His own. The end of verse 8 says, For the transgression of My people, He was stricken. Again, a reminder as we have all throughout this chapter that He did not suffer and die for His own sin. Because He was sinless. He did it for others. He took the place of God's people. Not everyone. Not everyone. He took the place of God's people. This is not universal atonement. But it is limited atonement. Again, we need to understand, beloved, as I began to point out this morning, that we didn't ask Jesus to do this. We didn't even want Him to do this. And listen to this. By nature, we despised and we rejected Him for doing this. Yet, He took our place voluntarily. And as we read in our background Scripture reading this morning from Romans 8.5, but God demonstrates His own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Praise be to God that when we couldn't see past our nose and see our urgent need, that He knew it perfectly and He ordained to take care of that need. You see, God chose a people for Himself, as Paul says in Ephesians 1, before the foundation of the world. And in Christ, Paul says, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. And as we also said this morning, His death for my life. What a wondrous exchange. I borrowed those words from a song. Maybe some of you know that song. But it's beautiful. His death for my life. What a wondrous exchange. We are to be humbled, congregation, yet filled with joy that our Lord didn't say, it's not worth it. To glorify God, Jesus Christ valued God's chosen people enough to die for them. As Romans 5 also says, very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But for an unrighteous man? For someone who's not worth it? Forget it! In and of ourselves, we had no value. There was nothing intrinsic about us that made us worthwhile for Christ to do this. Except God's electing grace. And therefore, in Christ's congregation, we are now given the status of sons and daughters of the Most High God. And finally, Christ's resignation was also rewarded with honor. Verse 9 says, 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. Again, this is one of those texts where there can be various interpretations. even to this verse, and again, even among the Reformed. But I believe that the best interpretation comes from Scripture itself. As we know, our Lord was put to death as a common criminal with other criminals. And He would have received a criminal's burial, possibly even in the potter's field. Remember that? The field of blood, the field that the chief priest purchased with the 30 pieces of silver that they first paid to Judas Iscariot to betray Christ and he later threw it back at their feet? The Jews' desire would have been to dishonor and disgrace Jesus even in His burial. And do you know what? That would have been the icing on the cake for them. Because then they could have said, see, He was wrong and we were right. But God the Father rewarded Christ with honor in His burial. Back in Matthew 27, a little later on in the chapter, we read verses 57-60, As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away with the rich in His death. Now the point of verse 9 of our text is not to say that all wicked men are poor or that all rich men are righteous. That's not the point of verse 9. But Christ was given an honorable burial after a dishonorable death. And as I said a few moments ago, this was the beginning of His exaltation and glorification as He was taken away from all of the injustice by His death as He entered the presence of His Father. And what was the reason for this honor? He had done no violence. Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. Christ never offended in word or deed. The text once again points to His perfect innocence and that He didn't need to die for Himself, but for others, and that He fulfilled all righteousness and He satisfied God. Beloved, as we have considered the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 thus far, are you humbled by what Christ endured for His people? He suffered from the moment He left heaven and came to this earth. He was despised and rejected by men. Yet He secured redemption for His people by voluntarily resigning Himself all the way to death. He suffered eternally so that those who would believe on Him by grace through faith wouldn't have to. And that is to be a joyful truth for those who believe. Our lives, congregation, are to reflect and express that the joy of the Lord and of His forgiving grace is indeed our strength. But once again, the urgent warning here that those who refuse to repent and believe on Him but instead continue to reject Him will suffer the eternal wrath of God because of their own sin. Jesus Christ did not remain silent for them and therefore they will suffer eternal hell where the Bible says there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. That is the place of eternal protest. But Christ remained silent and He did not open His mouth so that those who humbly submit to Him in faith and trust will one day and for eternity sing, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Beloved, for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, your place of eternal judgment has been taken by Christ and He has given you to share in His place of glory. And let us humbly praise God that our Lord didn't say it's not worth it because they're not worth it. But instead, He laid down His life for those He calls His friends. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, what can we say to all of this? Except praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You, O Lord, that You have, through Jesus Christ, satisfied for all of our sins. that You now receive us into Your glorious presence, that we enjoy fellowship with our God even in this life through prayer and through Your Word applied to us by the power of Your Spirit. And Father, we pray that You will continue to prepare each one of us for that day when Christ comes again as we look forward to our eternal home. Lord God, hear our prayer for Jesus' sake. And in His name, Amen.