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[0:00] Could you turn with me now to the chapter we read in the prophecy of Isaiah. I would like tonight to center our thoughts around the words you will find in verse 6. We shall read verse 5. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away by. I gave my back to the smiters, my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

[0:52] I would like to consider these words. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

[1:09] Now this morning we were considering the two great combatants that ally the people of this earth.

[1:30] On one hand you have Satan, and on the other hand you have Christ, the Son of God. And we went to a length to explain how the devil deceives. The devil is a liar from the very beginning.

[1:51] We continued on to look for a short time at the great Redeemer of mankind. We want to look at Christ.

[2:02] Christ. I would further like to take you tonight and look at Christ Jesus further and more deeply.

[2:16] See the prophet is here speaking of no other than the suffering servant of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ. And this prophecy is referred to by Christ as we read in the Gospel of Luke and in chapter 18, verse 31 following. And it was brought to fruition when Christ was taken before Pilate.

[2:48] Pilate had questioned him and then led him out to the soldiers. And the soldiers had taken Jesus and they maltreated him.

[3:06] And it can only be Jesus that Isaiah is speaking of. Many people argue the case and say this is in the Christ. How could Isaiah see this far ahead? But the Spirit of the living God worked in the hearts of the prophets and he showed them great things that they themselves did not understand at the time that they prophesied.

[3:33] But who else could say, I clothed the heavens with blackness and I make sackcloth the covering, save the creator God, save him who created all things out of nothing.

[3:55] I gave my back to the smithers, Christ said, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.

[4:09] What a descent this is from the almighty omnipotent position that Christ held as the creator God. God, him that veil the heavens, him that placed all the stars in his cosmos.

[4:29] There he is, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He came with gracious consension, which does not veil, and he did not veil his own face from the spitting of man.

[4:51] But he allowed man to spit upon him. He allowed man to deride him. It is none other than God, the God-man, Christ Jesus, that is spoken of here.

[5:08] He who says, behold at my rebuke, I die up the sea. He who can make the rivers a wilderness, and yet he is at the same time a man of sorrows.

[5:29] He is at the same time a man of sorrows. He is at the same time a man of sorrows. There is a strange depth of sadness when we read these words. When we read the words that I gave my back to the smithers.

[5:44] This is God coming into the scene of man's time. This is the treatment that man gave to the holy God.

[6:01] God manifest in flesh. This is the judge of Israel whom they have smitten. This is the judge of all the earth whom they have smitten.

[6:17] And it was at Christ's third trial when he was delivered to the Gentiles. Pilate gave him up to cruel scourging.

[6:30] The scourging was whipping. It was the use of a lash. And this lash was made of sinews of ox. And intertwined and twisted into the sinews of the ox were the huckle bones of sheep.

[6:49] And fine slivers of bone. In order that every strike or every stroke of that lash would tear the skin.

[7:03] And scourging was so great a punishment. That it was said to be worse even than death itself. And sometimes people died under the lashing and under the strokes of the lash.

[7:24] Yet, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, voluntarily gave his back to the smithers.

[7:35] And they ploughed deep furrows with that lash into his back. He took it upon himself.

[7:51] And the soldiers then, after they had done that, mocked him even more. And they mocked him by giving him a mimic coronation.

[8:05] They put a robe upon him. And they sat him on an imitation throne. And they put a crown of thorns upon his head.

[8:18] How far would men steep to bring about this thing to the Creator God? Not only that, they touched and they pulled the hairs out of his beard.

[8:41] Well, to the Jew, the beard was a very, very special thing. If you touched a Jew's beard, you caused him great offence.

[8:56] Just to even pat it. But even worse than that, if you took his beard and you plucked the hair out of it, it was a great offence to him.

[9:08] It degraded him. Yet here, the Lord never turned his face away. never turned his face away from those who would pluck the hair one by one out of his cheek.

[9:30] Even more than that, they smote him and they spat in his face. He stood there. He stood there and he stooped to the lowest tank of cruelty in order to mock the Lord Jesus Christ.

[9:50] And what happened on his part? He offered no resistance whatsoever.

[10:02] Pilate took the Lord Jesus Christ out in front of the crowd and he said to them, Behold the man.

[10:15] Behold the man. man. Today, the scripture takes Christ to you. Says to you today, Behold the man Christ Jesus, the Lord of lords and King of kings, despised, rejected of men.

[10:38] Look with awe. Look with amazement. The suffering servant of God.

[10:50] Suffering. Humiliated. Being prepared for the ultimate humiliation. That of the cursed death on the cross.

[11:04] Scripture teaches that cursed is everyone that hangs upon a tree. But on that tree and round about that tree and about that cross the blood of Christ was spilled for sinners.

[11:31] And in a way the trial that shrowned about the cross is sacred. There the blood of Christ was spilled for sin.

[11:44] My friends, you and I have to come to the foot of the cross. If we come anywhere we have to come there.

[11:56] Near Calvary's stream still flows. There is a way prepared through the blood of the Lamb. of God.

[12:09] Now I would like to look at Christ Jesus tonight in four different ways. Firstly, I would like to look at him as the representative of God.

[12:25] Secondly, I would like to look at him as a substitute for his own people. thirdly, look at him as the servant of God.

[12:41] Lastly, as the comforter of those that he redeemed. Four pictures of the suffering servant.

[12:52] first we see the despised and rejected Lord as the representative of God.

[13:05] God himself came into the world in the passion of Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus was God manifest in flesh.

[13:19] He entered into this point of the Jewish history into the earthly Jerusalem when the fullness of God's time had come.

[13:32] And at the same time God came near to mankind. God came right in amongst us. He came and he called and he is still calling.

[13:51] He called at that point in time. Men followed. He is calling today and men will follow. And generations yet unknown shall yet praise and glorify the Lord.

[14:09] He came with all his divine power about him. He came in power and as he came he didn't repeat all the plagues of Egypt for he didn't come to smite men.

[14:29] He came to seek and he came to save those that are lost. He came for those whom the Lord had given before time began.

[14:46] And the wonders and miracles done by our Lord Jesus Christ showed the loving kindness and mercy of God.

[14:58] He healed the sick. He helped the hungry. he fed the hungry. He raised the dead out of the grave.

[15:11] He cast out the devil out of the unclean man. He gave sight to the blind. This Christ did as he walked among men.

[15:28] And today as the spirit of the living God works in this earth and among men today. Yes, those who are spiritually blind, their eyes are open.

[15:42] Those who are sick inside and bound by the devil, the Lord sets free and they are free indeed. Those who are hungry and are seeking for something to fill the empty vacuum of their shoes.

[16:03] The bread of heaven has come. The Lord Jesus Christ has come. And that the desire of your heart would be to this, bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more.

[16:21] The glory of the Godhead was, though in a way it was veiled, was in the passion of Jesus Christ.

[16:32] And there was no essential attribute of God absent from Jesus Christ. He did the works of his father and those works bore witness of whom that had sent him.

[16:53] He had come in the father's name God was passionately in the world when Jesus Christ walked among men.

[17:07] When he came among men, he was unacknowledged. People didn't acknowledge him as to who he really was. It says here, when I called, there was none to answer.

[17:22] when Christ calls in your heart today, when he has been calling in your heart maybe over the past months, maybe the past years, you have heard the gospel.

[17:41] Have you answered? Have you heard the voice of God calling? Have you answered? for in Jerusalem and in Israel at that time, a few the remnant taught by the Spirit of God recognized him and rejoiced.

[18:05] Remember the old man Simeon as he took the Lord in his arms and he said, behold, mine eyes have seen the salvation of God.

[18:16] every time you hear the gospel, matter who you are, you hear the word of God and pray that your eyes may be opened, that you may see the salvation of the living God.

[18:37] That few remnant rejoiced, but yet as he walked and as he spoke and he healed among the people, the Jews saw signs of who he was, signs of who he was burst through periodically in these miracles.

[18:59] What man could raise another from the dead and still the people would have nothing to do with him.

[19:11] Their cry was when he came when Pilate took him in front of the people. Their cry was away with him, away with him, crucify him, crucify him.

[19:30] Is that you tonight? Is that in your heart tonight? Is that your cry are you saying tonight? Stop it, away with him, away with him, I want nothing at all to do with him, crucify him.

[19:49] Jesus was God's representative and in his human nature he was sinless, he was flawless and he was faultless.

[20:05] Christ Jesus was perfect and he had only one motive as God's representative and that motive was to do the will of his father.

[20:22] He did not, God didn't need to speak to him in visions or in dreams as he spoke to the prophets of old. Christ Jesus understood the mind of God and the things he heard of the father, the things he heard personally from God, he made known to men.

[20:50] In this revelation we have here before us, the things made known by God are made known unto men. And he says of himself that he spoke not his own words, but the words of him that sent him.

[21:11] He didn't do his own works or his own deeds, but my father that dwelleth in me, he said, doeth the work. He came to the weary, he came to the cast down.

[21:29] Jesus Christ went in among the people. He mixed and he mingled and as doing so he knew them and he knew the way the people thought, he knew the way the people behaved.

[21:47] He ate with the publicans, he ate with the sinners, he took the children and he blessed them. My friends, Christians among us, all too often when we come to a saving knowledge of Christ, we tend to withdraw from the world, we tend to keep away from those who are outside of Christ, but our Lord and Master never did that, he went in and he mixed and he mingled and he sought out those who needed him, he knew their weaknesses, yes I'm sure oaths and cursings were heard by our Lord and Saviour, I'm sure he knew the drunkard and he knew how much she sat and drank and he knew all the bad habits of the people, why?

[22:52] Because he never stood aloof from them, he never stood back from them at all, he went right into them and met them at the point of their need and Christ says to us all, follow thou me, follow me, take me as an example, go meet those outside of Christ at the point of their need.

[23:23] Yes, he came to the weary, yes he did all these things, yet he was scorned, cruelty smote his back, cruelty plucked out the hair from of his face, derision cheered at him and mocked him and spat in his face, this is the saviour of men walking among men, oh can you not see what the devil does to man, but when he came in and tempted the woman in the garden and Adam fell from his first estate, sin entered into each and every one of us, yes we would all in a way spit in his face, how do you answer to the call of

[24:29] Christ tonight, he says in the scripture, come let us reason together, though your sins be as crimson, they shall be white as wool, what is your answer to that tonight, come let us reason together, what he says in another part of the scripture, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, look unto me, unto whom, unto this one who was scourged, unto this one who was last in the back, to this one whose hair was plucked out of his face, to this one who was spat upon, look unto him, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, what is your answer tonight, though that are outside the pale of the gospel, he was secondly a substitute for his own people, when Christ suffered like this, it was not on his own account that he suffered, or indeed was it purely for the Father's sake, but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquity, and the justice meant of our peace was upon him, and by his strength are we healed, this is the way that Christ

[26:27] Jesus was the substitute, never, ever, ever divide between the life and the death of Christ, both are essential to the gospel, how could Christ Jesus have died if he hadn't lived, or how could he have suffered unless he did so while he lived, and death is not suffering, death is the end of the suffering in this life, Christ Jesus could never have made atonement for sin by his own blood if he had not been perfect in his life, he was a lamb without spunk and blemish, there was no defilement whatsoever in Christ

[27:29] Jesus, he was a perfect man, Jesus took upon himself our sin and being found bearing our sin upon himself, he had to be treated as sin should be treated, Adam had fallen, Adam had sinned against God, therefore as Adam sinned, all we through generation after generation, sin passed upon every family in the world, sin deserves to be scourged, sin deserves to be spat upon, sin deserves to be crucified, and because

[28:31] Jesus Christ took upon himself our sin, our sin, he must need suffer, he must need suffer the shame, if you want to see what God thinks of sin, if you want to understand what God thinks of sin, see the son of God's love, see his only begotten son, spat upon by soldiers, and when he was made sin for us, he who took our sins was God, God manifest in flesh, he was made sin for us, he willingly took, took the burden of our sin, then he turned his back to the smithers, they didn't compel him to turn his back, he didn't even seek a way of escape, he could have called ten thousand angels, he could have called on the host of heaven to come and set him free, but what did he do?

[30:05] He stood there and he took it in his own body, the penalty for our sin. Thirdly, Christ took upon himself the form of a servant when he was made in the likeness of man.

[30:31] And look how he performed his duty, look how he went about the duty of a servant. He was first personally prepared for service.

[30:44] he was born into this world in the same way as any child was born. He grew up in this world the same as any child would grow up.

[31:01] He came into his teenage years the same as any teenager and he went on into his twenties and at the time that he was thirty or there about all during that period of time he was learning obedience.

[31:21] The beautiful thing is said about Mary that when he spoke she cherished these things that he said in her heart. Yes he grew up in obedience to the father and after the years that he grew up and then as he prepared to go out on his ministry he learned he learned and he spent years in obedience by the things which he suffered.

[31:57] He suffered shame he suffered derision he suffered being kept out of the synagogue what a servant he was he never went his own errands he didn't go his own messages nor did he go by his own will he always waited upon his father he always waited on the voice of God telling him what to do he was in constant communication with God the father he was found on the mountain side found on the mountain side waiting on God and he knew his father always heard him what a tremendous promise and what a tremendous hope that is for the

[33:00] Christian friend we are ears the same as Christ and the father listens and is always attentive unto our cry he was always conscious of acceptance before God and Christian friend tonight you should be conscious of acceptance before God if you are part of the bride of Christ you are part of him and his church and you have acceptance before God and how are you today Christian friend I'll talk to you now as a servant a servant of the living God or even how are you one who is maybe tottering on the brink and scared to make your stand for God don't know if you got that assurance how do you stand today before

[34:07] God as a servant do you draw back from what God requires of you to do Jesus gave all even to the scourging and the spitting and the death and the cross but we very often when we are offended when somebody rubs us up the wrong way we always demand our rights this is the era today of civil rights we have a right to this and we have a right to that we have a right to the next thing very often we cry out like that we demand our rights but when did Christ ever cry this cry did you hear that cry as it reported here as he scourged his back that they had no right at all to scourge him very often very very often when people rub us up the wrong way we often say to ourselves well

[35:23] I have to get it out and get it right with this so and so I have to sort things out I must have it out with this passion or have it out with that passion there because I'm not being treated properly often and often and often this is our cry but look at Christ oh Christian friend look at Jesus he made himself of no reputation and so must we his patient love made him stand before those who scourged him and those who spatter him without a flinch without backing out of it or backing away all too often as Christians we tend to back away

[36:24] Christ went forward and he stood his ground his patient love never uttered a word like the lamb at the slaughter he opened not his mouth he witnessed a good confession by his silence fourthly lastly is set before us tonight as the comforter of his people Christ is able to speak a word in season to the weary why because he himself is lowly and meek he is accessible to us tonight Christ

[37:25] Jesus is accessible to you tonight when one is low spiritually or even in a depressed state one can't take advice from a proud or an arrogant person you ever try to get advice from an arrogant man all you get is a loaded cheek Christ wasn't like that Christ was meek and he was lowly and the comforter that he was the first paraclete he must come as a sufferer he must come in a lowly and a broken spirit if he is to comfort the afflicted if he is to know the troubles and the trials that man has to go through and you know when you look at yourself and you think of going to visit somebody that's poor somebody that's really down and out you don't go dressed up with all your finery on you don't go in your best suit with your collar and your tie on and looking like a new pin if you are going on dripping with jewelry if you are going into the house of somebody that is poor you ask why well you don't want to show off your wealth because then you can't relate to the person that you are trying to talk to so the same is with the master you have to sit down at the side of the downcast man and show him that you are meek and lowly at heart if you want to relate to him you have to sit down beside him and get acquainted with his condition

[39:28] Christ Jesus came from heaven on high came into the midst of mankind not in the courts of kings or of princes or of dukes or of erls Christ Jesus came into the human race at its lowest level they wouldn't even give him a place to be born in today we've got all the amenities pregnant woman today can go into a hospital and there's people running about after her taking her blood pressure nurses running to and fro if she wishes but look where Christ came in look where he came in in a stable in the lowest condition time remember years ago we used to mock at people who used to stay out the tongue road and there a woman there one day gave birth to a child just where she sat you know in very much the same conditions the

[40:45] Lord Jesus Christ came into our scene of time he knows the afflicted he knows the downcast why because he came and entered in at that point of man's existence yes he knows yes your master of your master is Christ your master gave his back to the smiter he gave his cheek to them that plucked out the hair and he hid not his face from shame and from spitting he came and as such he came as the comforter of those who need him are you today full of aches and pains are your joints sore today is your back sore today is your head sore today jesus jesus knows jesus knows all about these things yes even in a deeper way than most of us jesus knows about them because he gave his back to the smiter willingly for this sin of man do you today suffer scandal or slander or derision he didn't hide his face from the spitting of men he took it full frontal full on in the face have you been ridiculed today or lately have men ridiculed you because you have become christians or are you scared or frightened of ridicule in case you stand if you stand out for god in this town i know and i have no fear of saying this i know tonight and i know that the spirit of god is working in the midst of this congregation and i know that the spirit of god is working in this town and i know there are some of you tonight who are scared of ridicule in case you stand out for god look at this man of sorrows look at christ look at what he suffered for the sinner look at christ he who stood all the shame he will lift you up my friend he will take you and he knows your problem and he knows your condition now say to you tonight see christ today that man of sorrows acquainted with grief look at him see what he suffered on your behalf would would you stand out for god or would you turn away and those today who would turn away you spit in his face even add to the scourge if you reject him tonight are you in fear of standing forth and making a profession look at

[45:08]  Jesus look at this man christ jesus who stood in your place he knows your heart he knows your life he knows your fears he knows your anguish he knows your torment and at this very moment in time he knows what you're thinking in your mind right now what think ye of christ this night are you going to turn away and spit in his face are you going to add to the scourge listen to what the blind man said the blind beggar cried out when he asked somebody they said behold jesus of nazareth passeth by my friend tonight jesus of nazareth is in the midst of this church tonight because he promises that where two or three are gathered together in my name i am there in the midst and in the midst of us tonight is the holy spirit of god jesus of nazareth passeth by this blind man cried out and oh that this would be the cry of some disheart tonight jesus thou son of david have mercy upon me oh let this be the cry of some soul tonight here thou son of david he cried much more thou son of david have mercy upon me and jesus answered to you must receive thy sight receive your eyes being opened up and see the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief receive thy sight and thy faith tonight if you look to this man of sorrows and acquainted thy faith shall save thee and the people of god will glorify god tonight if but one receive their sight let us pray before bout sinwood month to post no of t one