You can turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 52, please. Isaiah 52, a passage well familiar to all of you, hopefully, that begins at Isaiah 52, 13 and continues to the end of Isaiah 53. We'll read the entire portion. We will keep in, though, on verse 3. but we'll read the entire passage in its wholeness, just so that we get the context.
Just as an introduction though, if any of you had read Spurgeon's Morning and Evening for March 9th, you would have read for the morning portion, Spurgeon closing with these words, All earthly suns have their spots, the fair world itself hath its wilderness. We cannot love the whole of the most lovely thing, But Christ Jesus is gold without alloy, light without darkness, glory without cloud. Yea, he is altogether lovely. And one of the passages that comes strikingly to us off the pages of Isaiah 53 is verse 3.
He was despised and we did not esteem him. So this morning we'll consider biblical esteem for the Lord Jesus Christ. And what it means, that particular portion of scripture, we did not esteem him. Well,
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 52:13–53:12
let's read Isaiah 52 and 53, beginning at verse 13 of Isaiah 52. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high, just as many were astonished at you. So his visage was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men. so shall he sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths at him, for what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider. Who has believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord being revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness, and when we see him There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who will declare his generation?
For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people he was stricken. And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death. Because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he will divide the spoil with the strong. because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. And He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Amen.
Opening Prayer
Our Father, we thank You for this passage of Holy Scripture. God, we praise You for its clarity as it speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ and His death on behalf of His people. We pray, Father, that you would help us to understand that you would send the ministry of your Holy Spirit this morning for edification of your saints, Father, your Christians in this place, and unto the salvation even, Father, of sinners. We pray that we would rightly understand your word. that you would help preach her and hear her, and that you would help us, Lord God, to glorify you in all that we do, that we would take what we hear this morning, that we would take what we know about a holy God, about our own sin, and about such a Savior, and that we would live our lives in a manner worthy of your glorious gospel.
And it's in the name of our victor and redeemer that we pray. Amen. Well,
Introduction
one of the things that the Christian boasts in is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we didn't just get to that. We just didn't get to that point by our own strength. We didn't just someday wake up and realize that Jesus Christ is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000.
We didn't just one day decide and click on a switch and say we esteem the Redeemer and the victor, the Lord Jesus Christ. No, there is something that is behind that, and we will get to that, but suffice it to say that the chief object of the Christian's joy is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one that is the chief object of our affections. He is the one that we love, that we serve, that we ought to live for, and that we ought to preach.
And one of the things, as I said, that jumps off the pages of this particular, among other things to be sure, but one of the things that ought to be striking, that ought to hit us in the heart, is when Isaiah includes himself in something of an indictment of the believing remnant, he was despised and we did not esteem him at verse 3. Now this, of course, was written with vivid language 700 years approximately prior to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And many people, not knowing the Bible, not knowing which, for example, which book of the Bible this comes from, many had thought that this was something that was written after the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, because we have past tense in the passage, but more so because of the vivid and the striking language that we read concerning the death of Jesus Christ. But again, this was written 700 years prior to the coming of Christ.
And Isaiah is writing about the substitutionary, sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. The penal, substitutionary, sacrificial work of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah Preaches Christ, Not Israel
Now, before we get to the main point regarding esteem for Jesus Christ, two things I just want to note briefly before we get there. Firstly, that Isaiah was preaching Christ. and that he was not preaching about Israel or about himself. Now, many Jews today, many Jews after the Lord Jesus Christ and throughout history, well, actually not throughout history, for this first point, many Jews now look back upon the Holocaust, the Jewish Holocaust that Hitler brought down in the late 30s and the 40s, They think that is a fulfillment of Isaiah 53. They thought Isaiah, or they think Isaiah here is preaching about Israel, that Israel was the one that will be bruised, the one that will be afflicted, the one that will be led as a lamb to the slaughter.
Well, clearly we have in Isaiah 53, with our New Testament glasses, that the prophet Isaiah is speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we can, with those precious New Testament glasses, look at this and praise the Christ of our profession, knowing that Isaiah was foretelling of the suffering servant, Jesus Christ, who would come and give himself for his people. But suffice it to say, even before Hitler started his reign of terror, the Jews, many Jews, would see this as referring to Israel. Well, we know it's Christ, and we know that it cannot be Israel, because we have an atonement for sin here.
We have, if that is the case, Israel substituting itself for itself. We have penal substitutionary work and a work of atonement here. And notice that it could not be Israel because the one who is afflicted, the one who is bruised, doesn't open his mouth. Now, we ought not to, with sinful hearts, charge people with being complainers.
But surely the nation of Israel complained, rose up against those who afflicted them. Well, here we have the one who is afflicted and bruised, not opening his mouth as a sheep before its shearer is silent. So he opened not his mouth. But more importantly, why it cannot be Israel and why it cannot be the prophet is because of verse nine. because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth." That could not be said of anyone other than our Lord Jesus Christ.
Isaiah himself said in chapter 6 that he was a man of unclean lips, that he dwelt among a nation of unclean lips, among a people of unclean lips. This is certainly the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, not only from that do we know, but when we turn to the pages of the New Testament, we have, of course, an inspired commentary or an inspired interpretation of what Isaiah 53 was writing about. Philip chases down the Ethiopian that was riding along on the chariot.
The Ethiopian was reading what? He was reading Isaiah 53. And Philip overtakes the chariot on foot and begins to ask questions. Do you know what you were reading?
And the Ethiopian says, no, please help me. I'm paraphrasing. And Isaiah, or Philip, beginning with that scripture, Isaiah 53, what we just read, preaches Jesus to him. So we have an inspired interpretation of what Isaiah 53 was all about.
John chapter 12, just very briefly, we have something of a rejection of the gospel message. And this is picking up in verse 37. But although he, speaking of Jesus, had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord being revealed. We have, again, inspired commentary upon the meaning of Isaiah 53.
Not only that, but just one more before we move on to the next point. This is Jesus from his own lips. Jesus from his own lips affirming the fulfillment of Isaiah 53. Then he said to them, But now he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack.
And he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. Luke 22 verse 37 For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in me. And he was numbered with the transgressors, for the things concerning me have an end. So this is Jesus from his own lips, attributing rightly Isaiah 53 to himself.
And again, it can only be speaking of our precious Christ, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Penal Substitutionary Atonement in Isaiah 53
Secondly, this is, or Isaiah is, writing about penal substitutionary atonement. This is Isaiah, again, 700 years prior to our great suffering servant coming upon the scenes in the Incarnation, writing about penal substitution. First off, the work of the suffering servant was one of substitution. Note the language here, the language that we have between some personal pronouns, the he and the him and the his, that language, and then the our and the we and the us. the language or the relationship between those words as it touches upon the doctrine of substitution.
Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, down at verse 5, but He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. Never just skip by this passage and not notice the wonderful language of substitution, Christ for us, our on Christ, or ours put upon Christ. The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. The work of the suffering servant was one of substitution.
Now, the language that we find in our New Testaments very often, and yes, of course, the old, but when we're reading of the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament, we have the language of his death being used with the language for us. Now that might not strike you as amazing, but that language, the Greek preposition, actually carries the force and the meaning of, on our behalf, or in our stead, or for the sake of. So when we read the language, Christ died for us, we also read the language, Christ died in behalf of us. Christ died for our sakes.
And it's a wonderful truth, when we open up the pages of Isaiah, when we come here, we're not just reading, and we need to get this too, we're not just reading history before it happens, We're not just reading, okay, Isaiah's writing about the crucifixion prophetically. He's writing it before it happens. That's great. No, it's not just history before it happens.
It's not just prophecy. It is divine commentary on the work of the suffering servant. What does it mean, God? Well, it means that this suffering servant, my servant, will be afflicted by me on your behalf, Christian.
That's what it means. It's God's divine commentary on what the cross work means. And it's very interesting that when we get to the New Testament, we read in the gospel accounts of what happened at the cross. We read the historical account of what happened.
But nowhere in the New Testament, at least in the gospel accounts, do we have such vivid language of what Calvary actually means. That this suffering servant would be wounded, would be wounded for our transgressions, that he would be bruised for our inequities, that the chastisement for our peace would be upon him. Of course, when we move to the epistles, we do have that. And just very briefly, we're going to get to one of these things in a moment.
But 1 Peter chapter 1, 1 Peter 2 uses this language of Isaiah 53 when speaking about the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is 1 Peter 2 at verse 24, speaking of Christ, "...who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls." We have Peter there using the language of Isaiah 53, by whose stripes you were healed, in the context of speaking to the substitutionary work of Christ. Also, 1 Peter 3 at verse 18.
For Christ also suffered once for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. Which touches upon the fact that Christ's work of substitution on the cross was a penal That means or pertains to the legal requirements or the punishments due to a violation or a fracture of the law. Christ's work wasn't just in our place, although that is grand and amazing, But in dying for us, in dying in our place, he took upon himself the sanctions that were due to us for violating the law of a holy God. And we have that language in the text of Isaiah 53, verse 11b.
By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many. That justification carries with it the weight of the law or the weight of legal language. It's not just an ambiguous, ethereal justification that's floating out in mid-air somewhere. No, that's a legal justification.
That is God declaring a sinner righteous based upon the perfect, obedient work of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we speak of Christ's cross-work, we speak of it in a two-fold manner with regards to His obedience, His preceptive obedience. and his penal obedience. His precept of obedience, kids, that means that the Lord Jesus Christ obeyed the law of God. He did the will of his Father, he came into the world and he perfectly obeyed every jot and tittle of the law. his penal obedience refers to the fact that he willingly took upon himself the punishment that was due to the breakers of the law who were breaking the law.
He took upon himself the sanctions and all those punishments that the law required for a fracture of it. And that's what we have when we read at verse 6c, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And the glory, the glory of that penal substitutionary work is the imputation or the reckoning or the crediting that comes along with it. God imputed to Jesus Christ or reckoned to him the iniquity of us.
He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the other imputation. He took Christ's righteousness and reckoned that to us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So Isaiah was preaching Christ, not only that, he was preaching penal substitution, that the Lord Jesus Christ died on our behalf and took upon himself the weight of the law's requirements for us.
Four Questions on Biblical Esteem
Now let's move on to Isaiah 53.3, this language of esteem. Isaiah 53.3 we have the language, Isaiah including himself in something of an indictment against the believing remnant. And he was despised, or he was despised, and we did not esteem him. Now, what does esteem mean?
We actually have two uses of the word esteem in our passage. At verse 3, and at verse 4. The esteem that we have in verse 3 is that regarding someone with honor, with appreciation, and with the respect that is due to them. The second use of the word esteem that we have in verse 4 is just a general judgment or opinion.
So it's not that we find, oh, we didn't esteem him, but then all of a sudden we do esteem him. No, it's two uses of the word. One is more specific, again, appreciation or honor shown to one regarding one with right honor. And the second one, yet we esteemed him stricken, is that we simply adjudged, or according to our opinion, he was smitten by God and afflicted.
So, looking then at the esteem of our Lord Jesus Christ, or proper biblical esteem, we're going to look at four things and hopefully move through them, yes, quickly, but not irreverently. First, why, or first, we did not esteem him, a simple observation. Secondly, why we did not esteem him. Thirdly, why we esteem him now.
And fourthly, why he is worthy. of esteem.
First: We Did Not Esteem Him
Firstly, we did not esteem him. The text clearly states that God's people did not esteem him, and generally that he was rejected by men. There's a distinction in the text between men generally, although that portion is brief, and between the believing remnant. But notice, of course, again, that we did not esteem Him.
Verse 3, He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised and we did not esteem Him. We know from our New Testaments, of course, that Jesus Christ was not esteemed by His people, by the people that He came to, by the Jews. He came to his own and his own did not receive him John 1 10 and 11 and Not only not only did they not esteem him upon his coming Although for various times and at various stages they were as we read this morning amazed with his teaching there was marvel Nevertheless his people did not receive him.
They hated him and they despised him also Matthew 27 verses 30 and 31 Then they spat on him, and took the reed, and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they took the robe off him, put his clothes on him, and led him away to be crucified." It is no mystery when we say that Christ's people, generally speaking, or the Jews, the covenant people, the Old Covenant people did not esteem him, or that he was despised and rejected by them. But Isaiah is referring to, at verse 3d, the believing remnant. He is not there referring to, generally speaking, the Jewish people.
How do we know that? Well, verse 1, the prophet says, who has believed our report? Speaking of the reports of the believing remnant, or the prophetic message, the message preached by the believing remnant, Old Testament Christians, Old Testament believers, when we say believing remnant, the Old Testament in this case, in the context of Isaiah 53, the Old Testament believers. But also, it cannot be the Jews generally, which would include unbeliever and believer.
Why? because Isaiah's writing continues when he says he was despised and we did not esteem him, we read next, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. And he continues with that first-person plural language, referring to himself and to the believing women. And it can only be them. Very often, preachers will use the language, and to a degree, rightfully so, referring to sinners generally, all we like sheep have gone astray.
Well, according to Isaiah 53, that text actually only applies to Christians. All we like sheep have gone astray. unbelievers, generally speaking, are astray. They are sinful, they have wicked hearts, wickedness reigns in their mortal bodies and they go about doing sin and loving it. But nevertheless, with regards to our passage, Isaiah, when he says, all we like sheep have gone astray, he's speaking about believers.
Why do we know that? Because we believe in particular redemption. because we believe in limited atonement, definite atonement, but because the Bible also, of course, serves as the foundation for our belief in those things. And Isaiah writes after saying, all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. The of us all, or the us all in that passage, are the sheep who have gone astray.
So we cannot say that the sins of those who are waving their fists up at God in hell right now were heaped upon the Savior, and somehow the Lord Jesus Christ was unable to redeem them. No. All we like sheep have gone astray. Yes, unbelievers generally, but believers.
All believers. All we like sheep had gone astray. We had turned everyone to our own way. And the implication, of course, The implication, of course, and we'll return to this with a little more course later, is that every last one who loves the Savior, every last one Christian, every last saint needs to own that confession of Isaiah that we did not esteem.
Very often we can get perhaps a little self-complacent in our Christianity and we can sneer or we can look down and lift our noses at maybe younger Christians or at unbelievers generally and say, oh, they don't esteem my Christ. Well, lest we get popped up, unless we get a little arrogant, which we never ought to do, we need to recognize that we need to speak the same words as Isaiah. We did not esteem him. He was despised and I, did not esteem him.
Now, why did we not esteem him? Why did we not esteem him? Well, first of all, because of cosmetic and external reasons. We have something of that in this particular passage, and bear with me when I use that language Because, as Christians, I affirm with you that Jesus Christ is altogether lovely and sheaf among ten thousand.
But notice the language of Isaiah 53. For he shall grow up before him, verse 2, as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness, and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
Now, there is something, I mean, Jesus Christ himself, or if we were to turn to the Psalm of the Cross, we would read the declaration of the Savior himself, I am a worm and no man, despised by the people and rejected. Now, something that we need to realize when we're considering this, so that we don't also, at the same time, fall into some sort of Christological error, imputing some form of ugliness to the Saviour, let it never be. We need to understand, though, when Jesus Christ came in the Incarnation, He was obviously rejected by men, and outwardly speaking, the people who saw Him and witnessed Him marveled that He would boast of being from Heaven. marvel that he would boast and that he would speak with such authority. What do we have in that account of the unbelieving Jews who were before him in John 6 or in other accounts of the gospel?
They would respond by saying, is this not the carpenter's son? Is this not the son of Joseph? Is not his father and his mother with us? Are not his brothers and his sisters with us?
How can he say then that he came down from heaven? they would find nothing lovely in him, they would find no form or comeliness, they would find no beauty that they should desire him. One man commenting on this has said, he lacked the superficial beauty so enthralling to modern taste. This is something that ought to strike us, and we'll see this as we close a little bit later, but he lacked, Christ lacked, a superficial beauty so enthralling to modern taste. Isn't that the thing?
Isn't that how we operate? The modern man likes to operate based on tastes, based on fancies, based on appearance. First of all, we like our winners, don't we? We really like winners.
Whether it's sports or entertainment or politics or whatever it might be, we like to heap up to ourselves those who win, those who are victorious, those who are lovely, those who are prominent, whatever it might be. And so when we, and by we I mean generally speaking men and women, boys and girls, But when we come across one who seems like he is losing, or when we come across a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, we generally don't want to latch on to someone like that. We want to latch on to a victor, to a winner, not to one who has come as a root out of dry ground, who has no form or comeliness, and no beauty that we should desire him. When we go out and buy a car, we don't grab the regular looking clunker.
When we go to get whatever, we don't grab the dusty and the dirty and the ugly. We grab the thing that is beautiful, the thing that appeals and enthralls our modern taste. So, when we come to the New Testament, and when we compare the Jews' response to Christ and His words, and we come to Isaiah 53, oh, we can see something of a reason, a cosmetic and an external reason. Now Christ did not arrive, of course, in His Incarnation when we think about the fact that Jesus Christ came to this world.
When we think about the fact that that One who was altogether lovely prior to His Incarnation, in Heaven, before the praise of angels when He was the recipient of Isaiah falling on his face as dead, when he was the recipient of so many praises, when he was the recipient of worship, when we think of such a Christ like that, we think that if we were to back off three of our Christian glasses, we'd think that he'd enter into the world on that white horse already. We wouldn't wait to be seated upon the white horse 40 years later or 33 years after his coming. No, he would enter into this world on the white horse with sword wielded, running and trampling for the victory of his people. But when we come to the New Testament, what do we find?
We find that he did not arrive in his incarnation with pomp or trumpet blowing. He was for a time a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a That's what he was for a brief time. He was raised, he was born the son of a carpenter. He was raised, no doubt, or likely, in the family business.
He lived his years out, and then he came upon the scenes as one from Nazareth, as one from Galilee. What good thing comes out of that place? And that's our Lord Jesus Christ. That's our Savior.
But what does he do? He teaches righteousness. He indicts the scribes and the Pharisees. He charges the unbelieving Jews. with wickedness, with not following after God the way that covenant people ought to have followed after them.
He indicts, he teaches, he preaches, he announces his coming crucifixion and his resurrection, and then he actually goes through with, after that prayer in the garden, the work of his Father unto the death upon the cross. And getting to that point, the cross itself, not just to mention the incarnation of Christ as such a lowly entrance into our lower world, again, wrapped in swaddling clothes, being born or coming out of Galilee, coming out of Nazareth, but then to wrap up his 33 years of existence in this lower world, we come to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then what do those untouched by grace do? They spit at him, they beat him, they mock him, they revile him, they jeer at him, they hiss, This one who didn't have any form or comeliness, this one who we didn't desire prior to him being hung upon that Roman tree by Roman nails, look at him now.
Look at him now. They'd walk by in contempt, they'd walk by in contempt, at the very least indifference, jeering at Christ. Why didn't we esteem him? Well, for yes, those external and cosmetic reasons, but
The Root Cause: Sin and Depravity
primarily and over that and above that, it is because of sin. Let's just get to the bottom of it. Let's cut to the chase. It's not as if these people, the believing remnant, it's not as if the Jews before Christ in his day and before the crucifixion just didn't get it.
If they really got it, then man, we would have put in our lot with Jesus or we would have signed up for Christ. That wasn't the issue. It's not that Christ wasn't lovely enough or the issue wasn't just external appearance and the cosmetic outside of our Lord Jesus Christ. No, the issue is sin.
The issue is depravity. The issue has always been the fact that man is dead in his trespasses and in his sins. The issue isn't the apparent ingloriousness of the earthly Christ, it is the actual, the real ingloriousness of man and his wretchedness. That's the issue.
Now when I say the apparent ingloriousness of the earthly Christ, I don't mean earthly as in worldly, but the incarnate Christ, the one who came down from on high to our lower ignominy. when we read or when we consider the fact that this wasn't just for cosmetic and external reasons, but for sin, it's a good exercise for us to do, to enter into a wholesome recollection of our own lives. Now many preachers will rightfully say that we should never, with some sort of sick fascination, enter into a historical retrospect of our lives as sinners. And that's true. We should never enter into some sort of sick fascination and just flesh out all of our sins in sort of glory and roll around in transgression, to roll around in fracture upon fracture. of the law of God in our own transgression.
However, it is a wholesome and it is a righteous exercise to look back and to reflect upon fracture of fracture. It is a righteous thing to look back and to remember what we did as sinners before amazing and victorious grace touched us. Spurgeon put it this way, he said, let us seriously peruse the diary of our memory Let us seriously peruse the diary of our memory, for there the witnesses of our guilt have faithfully recorded their means." Sometimes we can, as Christians, we can get puffed up, we can get complacent, especially, mostly, when we're so far removed from our own conversion, when we're so far removed from that day when we first learn of such a Christ, when we first learn of the grace of a holy God. And when we get to that point, we can have that complacency.
We can almost say, no, I never did. I didn't show disesteem for the Savior. I always esteemed Him. I've been a Christian from day one.
I can't remember a day when I wasn't a Christian. Well, either you're not a Christian, or you need to think a little bit harder. You need to remember. If you don't have some sort of a medical condition where you really can't remember that far back, you really need to think harder because there was a time when you did not esteem Him.
There was a time when you did not love Christ. There was a time when you despised and rejected Him. When you would have, along with those first century Jews, walked past the cross with content. Never let yourselves think.
Never let yourselves think, again, not for an exercise in sick fascination, but so that you can lift your hearts to a risen Christ and worship Him alone and nothing in your own heart. But never think that if you were there in first century Palestine, that you would have been above holding the hammer, or that you would have been above holding the Roman nails. Never think yourself above that. We like to get angry with the Jews and with the Romans.
We like to get angry with them and say, those wretches who put to death the Lord of Glory. But you need to know that you would have been right there shouting out. If you were employed in the Roman army and you were set, your assignment was to be at the cross, you would have held the hammer and held the nail. We got to never think ourselves above other people because we need to own that profession, that statement, we did not esteem.
And what does the exercise do? When we consider, as Spurgeon also said in the same sermon, when we consider the rock whence we were hewn, the hole of the pit from which we were digged, what does that do or why do we do it? So that our gaze can shift, albeit with eyes of faith, upon the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That's what we do.
We consider sin, we look back, we peruse the diary of our memories and then we can cast our gaze to the one who died upon Calvary's tree to put those sins away. He died, he took upon himself breach upon breach in his own flesh so that we never would have to take upon ourselves breach upon breach in our flesh. He died for us and rose again and now he ever lives to make intercession for us. Why do we not esteem him?
Because of sin. None of us are exempt from Romans 3.23. None of us are exempt from that. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Again, I like the language that Spurgeon uses with regards to the lifelong Christian He says, the Christian whose hair is whitened by the sunlight of heaven, you need to look back upon your life and consider or remember the fact that, yes, you did break the law of God. And you need to shed a tear for sins, for transgressions. You need to shed a tear for those things that you did to the Lord of glory and in rejecting him.
But you get to turn your head from reflecting upon that And you get to gaze with eyes of faith upon such a Christ who is worthy of highest standing. And it's not just Christians of our own day. It's all classes. It's all ages.
The prophets of old, the martyrs, the faithful martyrs, the apostles, all Christians throughout every age do own this profession. What does this prevent us from doing? Well, as Protestants, we don't really have this issue. As Protestants, we don't have our relics and our images and our and our prayer saints and people with glowing heads and babies with wings flying around them.
We don't keep up, before ourselves, saints and other people to worship and to pray to. But what does this do? The fact that saints throughout all ages owned this profession, we did not esteem them. The fact that even the Apostle Paul, who, remember, called himself the chief of sinners, everyone is leveled by the cross of Calvary.
Everyone is level by the cross of Calvary. There is no longer Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, man nor woman, whatever or whatever. All are one in Christ Jesus. That doesn't mean some sort of mystical synergy of our bodies.
That means that we're all at the same level. The cross is a great leveler. I think one of the statements that I've heard before is that the ground is level. at the foot of the cross. There is no Christian and then better Christian and then super Christian and then elite Christian and then Paul, although we look back upon Paul and say, woe is me that I'm such a wretch and that I'm not like Paul.
Nevertheless, in Christ Jesus, we are one. We are all justified the same as Pastor Butler said last week. We all have the same amount. of justification.
Third: Why We Esteem Him Now
Why do we esteem him now? This is a very easy answer. Now, easy not in the sense that we shouldn't spend a whole lot of time on it, but easy in the sense that it's a biblical and a simple answer. Why do we esteem the Lord Jesus Christ now?
Because God made us alive when we were dead in our trespasses and in our sins. That's why we esteem him now. Biblical theology doesn't allow for the notion that we esteem him now because we're better than Johnny Pugoe to the left or to the right. Biblical theology doesn't allow us to say, well, I esteem him now because I worked myself up inwardly unto such an esteem.
No, biblical theology only allows us to say that we esteem him now because God made us alive when we were spiritually dead. Oh you reformed folk, that's just some old staunch Calvinistic saying. Well no, it's actually Paul in Ephesians 2, 1-10 under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That's what it is.
He, or you being dead in your trespasses and sins, He made alive. And it was according to His loving kindness, according to His mercy, according to the richness of His grace. Why do we esteem Him now? Because God made us alive. and brought us out of spiritual death into spiritual life in Christ Jesus.
Turn again to 1 Peter just for a moment. Just because we have there an obvious connection. We have there an obvious connection just on this topic of why we esteem him now. Wonderful language coming from Brother Peter.
In two places we have, of course, in Isaiah 2, 1 Peter 2, again the language that he used of Isaiah 53 of Christ, by whose stripes you were healed. Verse 25, For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. We were like sheep going astray. Believers, saints, were like sheep going astray, but we've now returned to the shepherd and overseer of our souls.
But turn back a page. Turn back a page to chapter 2 and verse 7. He's already spoken about the fact that the Word, that Word that endures forever, that we were brought forth, we're born again by that incorruptible seed, the Word of God. And he speaks about us being living stones, chosen people, those who have been brought to God through Jesus Christ.
And then verse 7, Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious. That ought to be a statement, brethren, that, though there's only a few words in it, ought to reverberate in our minds. Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious. Why?
Because we consider Isaiah 53, we consider the fact that we are included, we ought to own, and we ought to own with great grief, yes, but we ought to own rightly that statement, he was despised and we did not esteem him. And then we consider the fact that now we do esteem him. Why is that the fact that we esteem him? Not because of anything done by us, not by anything wrought in holiness of our own hearts, but by the grace of the living and true God.
We can look at that, we can look at the fact that we did not esteem Him, we can look back upon our own lives, that wholesome exercise of considering sin, and then we can read a passage like that, therefore, to those who believe He is precious. And we ought to be amazed, brethren, by the contrast that we find with that preciousness that the Christian holds his Savior in, in high esteem. When we look at Isaiah 53, you don't need to go there if I brought you away from it and you're not there now. But the contrast that we find in Isaiah 53, and this ought to bring us to a greater esteem of Christ Jesus, when we see the contrast that we find here, we find that we don't believe, or we find that we don't esteem Him, that He was despised and rejected, that we hid our faces from Him, we esteem Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but then what happens? but He was wounded for our transgressions and He was bruised for our iniquities.
We ought to be amazed by that. Yet we didn't esteem Him, but even though we didn't esteem Him, God bruised Him for us. Isn't that amazing? We didn't esteem Him, we hid from Him.
We esteemed Him stricken by God and afflicted. He had what was coming to Him. Right? That's what we would say, well yeah, when they were looking upon the cross, He's getting what He deserves.
That's what they would have been thinking. That's what we would have been thinking, untouched by victorious grace. But we come here, and as Christians, we ought to bow both knees when we read the fact that we rejected Him, did not esteem Him, but He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The second contrast is the beauty and the glory of Christ Jesus in His saving work. We read all of this language of not complaining in the face of the aggressors and his opposers, the fact that he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth, and then the contrast, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he has put him to grief. It's a double contrast there, that ought not to force us to our knees and ought to force us to put coffee mug down and uncross our legs and praise the Christ of Holy Scripture. That we can now esteem him. because of the grace of a holy and a righteous, a merciful and a kind God.
And very briefly,
Fourth: Why He Is Worthy of Esteem
why is he worthy of esteem? The trouble with me was, in trying to prepare for this portion, was where do you begin with why do we esteem Christ? Where do you begin? Because, generally speaking, a spiritually ambiguous person can say, I esteem Christ.
Well, do you really? Do you really esteem Christ? They'll say, well, you know, good teacher, good prophet, a man back in the first century who said some cool stuff. You don't esteem him if that's it.
If that's the extent of it, you hate Christ. You hate Christ. The Jehovah's Witness will say, oh, I esteem Christ Jesus. I love him.
Let me tell you how much I love him. Oh, you despise his Godhead. You hate Christ. You're an enemy.
You don't love him. You don't esteem him. What does esteem mean? a tough one and we would be here all day. But we can wrap it up, and hopefully this isn't a brief irreverence, but we can wrap it up.
Why is he worthy of esteem? Well, the text certainly provides reasons, but how about first his Godhead? We should never, brethren, as Trinitarians, We should never be lazy as Trinitarians and not remember the fact that Jesus is God. One of the reasons why we should esteem Jesus Christ when we read this, or generally speaking, well, because he is God.
We're Trinitarians, remember, there are three persons in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power, and in glory. Equal in power. and in glory. So, when we consider our Lord Jesus Christ as Trinitarians, why do we esteem Him? Because He's God.
Because He's God. Let us never forget, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Precious reality. Why do we esteem Him?
God Most High. And when we have considered the fact that His deity How much more amazing ought Isaiah 53 to be? and get to whatever doctrine. Why don't we consider lapsarian positions, or why don't we get into a deeper analysis of eschatology, or why don't we get to this and that, while there is a wholesome time for that activity. But we often return to the basics of Christianity, to the ABCs, because it's glorious.
When we consider the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ought to move to Isaiah 53 and we ought to be awed. Why do we esteem him? Because God did this. God was manifested in the flesh and came into our lower world to die for many, to justify many, and to rise again.
I want to read this just before we close. Because this, brethren, this brother of old, says it a whole lot better than I do. And this was written, this was a sermon written, 50 years prior to the declaration of the deity of Christ by a council in the early church. But this is an early statement from an early church father.
And so he, Christ, was lifted up upon a tree, and an inscription was attached indicating who was being killed. Who was it? It is a grievous thing to tell, but a most fearful thing to refrain from telling. But listen, as you tremble before him on whose account the earth trembles.
He who hung the earth in place is hanged. He who fixed the heavens in place is fixed in place. He who made all things fast is made fast on a tree. The sovereign is insulted.
God is murdered. The king of Israel is destroyed by an Israelite hand. This is the one who made the heavens and the earth and formed mankind in the beginning. The one proclaimed by the law and the prophets.
The one enfleshed in a virgin. the one hanged on a tree, the one buried in the earth, the one raised from the dead and who went up into the heights of heaven, the one sitting at the right hand of the Father, the one having all authority to judge and save, through whom the Father made the things which exist from the beginning of time, This one is the Alpha and the Omega. This one is the beginning and the end. The beginning indescribable and the end incomprehensible. This one is the Christ.
This one is the King. This one is Jesus. This one is the leader. This one is the Lord.
Amen and Amen.
Application
When we consider the fact that we're Christians, we need to get past a whole lot of things. The chief object of our affection isn't the proficiency by which we can explain the law, or eschatology, or whatever. The chief object of our affection isn't our ability to communicate a gospel message, isn't our ability to repel doctrine and to find heresy. Although we ought to earnestly contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints, the chief object of our faith is the sovereign who was insulted, the God who was murdered, the Lord Jesus Christ who was put to death upon the tree.
Let us always return, because we can get far removed from our conversion and try to carry along in other pursuits, let us always return to this precious truth, that Jesus Christ came into the world, sinners to save, sinners to save. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ of that gospel, is the chief object of our affection and worthy of all esteem. Now that there was more, but I have gone too long, I want to close This esteem for the Lord Jesus Christ, or the Lord Jesus Christ and the biblical esteem that is due him, is an indictment of the world and what it esteems. When we consider the fact that the one worthy of all rejoicing, of all joy, of all worship, was rejected by men, and that men, of course, pursue other objects of their affection, We need to see the indictment of Isaiah here, and that is, it is an indictment of the world and what it esteems.
And if I can carry this argument with your acceptance into the context of doing church, I'm not saying that the people who put up a PowerPoint slide and a projector are in sin. But I am saying that if our Lord Jesus Christ was despised and rejected by men, if right esteem is loving one who was dirtied and bloodied and battered and bruised upon the cross, then we ought to love a church that has a wooden pulpit, wooden pews, and a preacher, whoever it is, who seeks to preach the whole counsel of God. What do we esteem? We esteem the chief object of our affection, the Lord Jesus Christ, a pulpit and an open Bible, and a pulpit that flames with righteousness.
That's what we esteem. Well, no, we need this, and we need that, and we need this. We need ponies. We need puppets.
We need clowns. We need a projector. We need the slide that the projector projects onto. We need such and such and such.
We need a pulpit. We need a Bible. We need a preacher. We need the Spirit of God to touch His saints and to touch those who are not His saints that they might bend the knee to the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Let's esteem rightly those things that we ought to esteem. and let's esteem chiefly and highly and above all, the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, pray for leaders and those in power. Why? Well, remember that we once did not esteem the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're asked to pray for leaders, those who are in authority, those who rule over us. We're asked to pray for them. It's very easy for us to pray imprecatory prayers that God would strike them down. him, and I believe we have biblical warrant, to pray that God would exercise vengeance, to be sure, in this lower world. Not just on that great day of judgment, when he surely will exercise his vengeance.
We should pray that God would exercise vengeance in this lower world, that his righteous name would be upheld, that his reputation would be won in this lower world, that people would act according to law and obedience to Christ. But let's also remember that there are some kings and those who in authority that Paul said God actually saves. So let's remember to pray for them. Let's remember that we were with those kings and those who are in authority who wanted to cast off the bonds of Christ and God from them.
We would have waved that flag. We would have flown the banner of those who rejected and who did not kiss the sun. So let's not think ourselves above those who rule over us, but rather let's pray that the God of victorious grace would cause them to bend a knee. Believers, we need to revive a love for Christ.
We need to speak to our own souls. We need to, like the psalmist, speak to ourselves and revive our souls into the worship of such a Christ. Again, not be bogged down by the meandering trivialities of life or some of the trivialities even within our own walk as Christians that we can get carried off onto, little rabbit trails. Let us revive in our own hearts a love for Christ, or let us pray that God would do so, that God would revive in us a love for Christ, that he would return to us the joy of our salvation.
And unbelievers, esteem Jesus Christ. If there's anybody here who does not esteem him, esteem him. pulled him highly. Oh yeah, he's great. But I'm just going to leave and I'm going to throw hockey cards against the wall, play video games, listen to my tunage and do whatever.
Watch some hockey and I'll maybe consider Christ a little bit later or somewhere down the road when I've had my fun. No, you esteem him now. Now is the time to esteem him. Don't just say, I'll put it off until later because I have such and such and such to do.
No, you esteem him now. I'm going to close with Spurgeon. But if we will not believe his Godhead, if we will not trust him, Christ as the mediator, if we have no part in his sacrifice, if we oppose his gospel, if we reject his claims to our obedience, there is another position we shall have to take up, and that is beneath his feet. Those feet will be heavy indeed.
They were pierced once, but if ever those pierced feet come upon you, they will crush you to powder. Nothing is so terrible as love when it is turned to anger. Oil is soft, but how it burns. Inflame love into jealousy, and it is cruel as the grave.
Beware ye that reject the Savior, for in the day when he cometh, he will smite you with the rod of iron. And even his face, which is full of tenderness today, shall then be full of terror. And this shall be your cry. Hide us, ye mountains, ye rocks, conceal us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.
For the believer, Christ is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. But for the unbeliever, He is that Lamb of God whom you will hide from if you do not bend a knee to Him, if you do not believe in Him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, your strength, and if you do not rest upon Him, knowing that you will sing His praises in eternal life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. The reverberation of every preacher it ought to be.
Believe on Him now. and you will be saved.
Closing Prayer
Let's pray. Father, we rejoice in you. We rejoice in our Christ. Father, we thank you that your people here can esteem him. can esteem him highly, we ask, Lord God, that this would always be so, that we would esteem the Lord Jesus Christ as that chief object of our affection, that we would put nothing else beside him, nothing else before him, nothing else above him, but that he would be solely in our view as that chief object of our joy and of our salvation.
We pray that you go with each and every one of us. God, that you would save those, that you would save those who heard your word, who read your word this morning, Knowing, Father, or we know, Father, that all things are possible with you, that it is impossible with men. We pray that you would save those, that you would cause those who entered in sin and in rebellion, that they would leave, Father, knowing the grace of a loving God and knowing the salvation of such a Christ. We pray that you'd go with your saints, Father, that we would have revived in us a renewed esteem, a high esteem for you, that we would go in obedience, that we would live and we would walk and we would conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of your glorious gospel.
We just pray that you do this now, Father, and help us return, those who will return tonight, help us to return with joy in our hearts for our Christ, that we would look forward to another hour of worshiping and of praising you, our most holy God. We pray in the name of our Victor and our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus. Amen.