Out of the anguish of his soul, Jesus will see and be satisfied. Now, what could possibly come from the appalling suffering of Jesus that would be so good that Jesus would look back at all that he suffered on the cross and say that it was well worth it? Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick. And Colin, that’s a big question. What is it that would make all the suffering which Jesus went through worthwhile? Well, it’s stated so wonderfully in this verse we’re looking at today. In these words, many will be accounted righteous. Many. There’s going to be a vast community in the presence of Jesus forever and forever of people who are counted righteous because of what he accomplished on the cross. That’s the thing that’s going to bring Jesus satisfaction forever. We’re looking at a wonderful verse in a marvellous chapter of the Bible. Isaiah chapter 53. We’re almost through in our journey. We’ve been going verse by verse through this marvellous chapter. This is one of the harder verses to understand, but it’s rich and it’s deep and it’s wonderful. And its message goes to the very heart of what is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ. Right, so let’s go there. Please join us, if you can, in Isaiah chapter 53 as we begin our message, Satisfaction. Here’s Colin. Well, please open your Bible at Isaiah and chapter 53. We have two more weekends in this marvellous chapter that tells us what Jesus accomplished in his life, his death and his resurrection. The first eight verses of this chapter focus on the life and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah tells us about how the Son of God would come into the world, how he was despised, how he was rejected, how he was oppressed and pierced and crushed and wounded. He was cut off out of the land of the living. And then we saw that verse 9 is really the turning point of this whole chapter. The people who condemned Jesus consigned him to a grave with the wicked. That’s what they thought he deserved, but it’s not what happened. A man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea came forward and Jesus was given an honoured burial in a new tomb. And then last week we looked at verse 10 where the focus is on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw that Jesus will get the will of God done. He will bring many children to birth. He will have many offspring and they, like him, are going to live forever. And I felt last week as we looked at verse 10 together, you know, this could easily be the end of the chapter. Jesus is risen. He lives forever. The will of God will prosper in his hand. What more is there to say after that? But the Holy Spirit is not done. He has more to teach us about what Jesus has accomplished. Now in 10 verses, Isaiah has taken us then through the life, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the natural question at this point is, what is Jesus doing now? And that is the focus of verse 11, which is before us today. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Out of the anguish of his soul Jesus will see and be satisfied. Now what could possibly come from the appalling suffering of Jesus that would be so good that Jesus would look back at all that he suffered on the cross and say that it was well worth it? And you know, the resurrection is not an adequate answer to that question. I mean, think for example about the Holocaust. There were people who survived that awful evil. But no one who endured the Holocaust would ever dream of saying that they were satisfied because they survived it. Now what we’re being told here in this verse is that something came out of the anguish of Jesus and that what came out of his suffering was so good that Jesus was glad that he endured it. Now what could possibly come out of Jesus’ suffering that would lead him to say, I am satisfied, I am glad that I did that, it was well worth it. And Isaiah answers that question in this verse. He tells us that Jesus will make many to be accounted righteous. That’s what comes out of the death of Jesus that is so satisfying to him. He will make many to be accounted righteous. Now other translations use the word justified here. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many. But the ESV Bible that we use in the church is especially helpful here because it gives us the meaning of the word justified, which is accounted righteous. Isaiah then tells us in this verse, here’s the verse in a nutshell, he tells us that Jesus is satisfied because his people are justified. Out of the sufferings of Jesus will come a vast company of redeemed people who will be reconciled to God and will enjoy him forever and ever. And when Jesus looks at these people, well, he is satisfied. Now we’re going to ask three questions of this wonderful verse today. We’re going to ask the question, why are we justified? And then how are we justified? And then lastly, who will be justified? And then we’ll seek to apply what this verse teaches us to our own lives today. First then, why are we justified? And notice what Isaiah says, So Jesus makes us right with God by counting us righteous. And I want to link this today with a verse in the New Testament that I think is one of the most astonishing verses in all of the Bible. And that is Romans chapter 4 and verses 4 and 5, where we read this, To the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Now, do you notice as you look at these two verses that the Apostle Paul is using the same language as Isaiah, counted as righteous. And I want you to notice from Romans in chapter 4, who it is that God counts righteous. The Apostle Paul says that God justifies the ungodly. The ungodly. I mean, it’s one of these verses that you look at and you say, is that really right? Surely it should say, God will justify the godly because they are righteous. But think for a moment about what that would actually mean. If God justified the godly because they are righteous, then in order to be justified, in order to be right with God, we would have to become godly. And not just a little godly, we would have to become godly through and through and godly all the time. We’d have to pray more. We’d have to witness more. We’d have to serve more. We’d have to give more. And if we didn’t, we would not be justified. And how could any of us ever become godly enough for God to justify us? We are sinners by nature and by practice. And if the teaching of the Bible were that God justifies the godly, there would be no hope for any one of us at all. None at all. So thank God. Try and take this in today as we look at the Bible and what it actually says. Thank God that the Bible does not teach that God justifies the godly because they are righteous. It teaches that God justifies the ungodly, and he does it despite our unrighteousness. Try and take in this most amazing good news. God justifies the ungodly. See, what that means is God justifies, makes right with himself, people who have not lived as they should. God justifies people who have not prayed as they should. God justifies people who have not served as they should. God justifies people who have not loved as they should. Have not loved God with all their heart and have not loved their neighbor as themselves. And think about this. God justifies people who have not believed as they should. Yes, we must believe if we are to be justified, but which of us believes as we should? And the truth is, isn’t it, that we stumble along with our many questions, our many doubts, and our many fears. Lord, I believe, but help me with my unbelief. Jesus justifies sinners. He makes many who are not righteous to be accounted righteous. So there’s the first question. Why are we justified? And the answer to that question, quite clearly, from what Isaiah is telling us here, is that Jesus makes us right with God by counting us righteous. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and our message, Satisfaction, part of our series, The Gospel According to Isaiah. And don’t forget, if you ever miss one of our messages, you can always go online to openthebible.org.uk. There you can go back, listen again, or catch up to any of our previously broadcast messages. You can also find our messages now as a podcast. Go to your favorite podcast site, search for Open the Bible UK, look for the purple banner, and subscribe to the podcast to receive regular updates. Back to the message now, here’s Colin. Jesus makes us right with God by counting us righteous. Now, the second question, how is that possible? How can Jesus count us righteous when we’re not? How can he justify us when we all know that even at our best, we still fall far short of the life to which God calls us? And there are two answers to this question, and both of them are in this wonderful verse from Isaiah and chapter 53. How are we justified? First answer, by the righteous life of Jesus. Notice that Isaiah says here, By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous. So you see, Jesus is described here, and this is very important, as the righteous one. What Isaiah is telling us is that the Lord Jesus Christ joined the human family. And when he joined the human family, he lived the perfect life that none of us has been able to live. But notice that the word righteous occurs twice in this verse. That’s very significant. Isaiah describes Jesus as the righteous one, and then he goes on to speak of the many who will be accounted righteous. So where does this righteousness that leads to the many being accounted righteous come from? Well, it’s perfectly obvious, isn’t it? It comes from the righteous one. It comes from Jesus himself. When you trust yourself to Jesus, God counts the perfect righteousness of his own dear son as yours, and we are justified by the righteous life of Jesus. And that’s the first part of the answer, and here’s the second. It’s in this verse. We are justified by the sin-bearing death of Jesus. Notice what he says. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. And if you look ahead, you’ll see in verse 12 that he repeats the same truth again, that Jesus bore the sin of many. He bore our sin. He bore our iniquities. He took them upon himself. Now, the Gospels tell us the tragic story of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus. And you may remember that when Jesus was condemned to death, Judas was filled with remorse. He really regretted what he had done. And so he went to the chief priests, the religious leaders of the day, because he wanted to return the money that they had paid him to betray the Lord Jesus Christ. I have sinned, Judas said to them, because I have betrayed innocent blood. And then Matthew records what the chief priests said to Judas. What is that to us? They replied. That’s your responsibility. It’s on you, Judas. Your sin is on you. That’s what they said. And that led Judas Iscariot to complete and utter despair. The religious leaders of the day told him that his sin was on him, period. And he couldn’t live with it. And he went out and he ended his life. Now, who can blame him? If our sins were finally on us, there would be no hope for any of us whatsoever. Imagine for a moment arriving at the gates of heaven. And there you stand before God Almighty. And in absolute fear and in trembling, you say, I have sinned. And God replies, what is that to us? That’s your responsibility. Well, if that were to happen, there would be no hope whatsoever. Carrying the guilt of your own sin is a burden that ultimately no one can bear. But Isaiah has already told us where hope is found. Back in verse 6. All we like sheep have gone astray and the Lord has laid on him, on Jesus, the iniquity of us all. And do you see he’s now coming back to this wonderful truth again in verse 11. And he says, and he, Jesus, shall bear our iniquities. They’ll not be on us. They’ll be on him. And then he says the same thing yet again in verse 12. He bore the sins of many. See, justice says, well, your sin is your responsibility. It’s all on you. But you see, Jesus comes to us in mercy. And he says, I will bear your sins. I’ll take them from you and I’ll put them on my own shoulders. Your sins will be on me. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Martin Luther once described what it meant for our sins to be laid on Jesus. And for him to bear our iniquities. Let me read to you what he said. Our most merciful Father, seeing that we were overwhelmed and oppressed with the curse of the law, and that we could never be delivered from it by our own power, he sent his only Son into the world and laid upon him the sins of men, saying, You be Peter, that denier. You be Paul, that persecutor. You be David, that adulterer. You be the sinner that did eat the apple in paradise. You be that thief which hanged upon the cross. You be the person who committed the sins of all men. See therefore that you pay and satisfy for them. Think about this. It is very wonderful. God the Father said to his Son, I’m going to put my name in. You be Colin, or my wife’s name. You be Karen. You put your name in there. You take his place. You take her place. You bear his sins. You bear her sins. And see that you pay and satisfy for them fully. Jesus took our place. And this is the very heart of the message of Isaiah and chapter 53. Expressed so wonderfully in verse 5. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And by his wounds we are healed. The reason that we are counted righteous is that Jesus bore our sins. He carried them. Our sins were laid on him. And because they were laid on him, that means they are no longer on us. That is why in the New Testament we read these wonderful words. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Those are great words indeed. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And it leads to the question, are you in Christ Jesus? If you are, you will know that there’s no condemnation for you. If you don’t know this, I hope you’ll take some action today. Pray a simple prayer asking the Father to forgive your sins past, present and future. Through the sacrifice of Jesus. And then tell someone about it. Maybe a trusted Christian friend or family member. Or go along to a local church fellowship. You’ll be sure of a warm welcome. Go and talk to the pastor there. Or go and pray with the prayer ministry team. And write and tell us about it. You can email us at hello at openthebible.org.uk Open the Bible is supported by our listeners. That’s people just like you. If you feel that’s something you’d like to get involved in you can do that by going to our website. That’s openthebible.org.uk There you can set up a donation in any amount. If you’re able to set up a donation in the amount of £5 per month or more we’d love to thank you by sending you a free gift. It’s two copies of a book called More Than A Carpenter. Written by Josh McDowell. Colin, why is this book so important? Well, I’m always drawn to books that are tried and tested. And God has used this book, More Than A Carpenter, for more than 40 years. And it has been a means of God’s work in many, many people’s lives. But I think it’s perhaps a book that many today are not aware of. And so I’m just delighted that we’re making it available. More Than A Carpenter deals with real questions that a sceptic might have in regards to the Christian faith. So Josh McDowell deals with questions like what about science and what about the new atheism and how do we know that the Bible is reliable? So this is a really helpful book for believers to help us be clearer and more confident in our witness to Jesus. And it’s also a marvellous book to give to anyone who’s asking honest questions about the Christian faith. And that’s why we’d like to send you two copies. Two copies. One for you and one to give away. In return for setting up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible for £5 per month or more. Details on our website, openthebible.org.uk. For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick. And I hope you’ll be able to join us again soon. Open the Bible How do we come into a right relationship with God? Find out next time on Open the Bible.