Introduction: Ever feel helpless? Ever feel hopeless? Ever wish
someone would help you? Do you try to get help when you feel like
that? Who do you call? In our lesson today we learn that we are
helpless and hopeless without God. Not only is God willing to help
us, but the extent to which He has already helped us is, frankly,
unthinkable. Let’s take a journey into God’s incredible love for
hopeless humans!
- The Need for Ransom
- Read Isaiah 50:1. The Lord is speaking to someone. Based
on the questions the Lord is asking, what is this person’s
situation? (Not only has this person become “motherless,”
but this person has been sold into slavery.) - What caused this person to be a slave and motherless?
(His sins.) - Read Isaiah 50:2. How many people have helped this person?
(None. No one was there.) - Why has no one helped? (This person had not asked God
for help. God says, “Here you are, all alone in
slavery without even your mother. Why didn’t you
answer your phone? Why didn’t you call? Did you think
I was unable to help?”) - Do you have times when you feel all alone and no one
is there to help? - What is God’s answer to this situation? (“Call
Me,” God says, “I can help.” Actually, God says
something even better, “I called you. Why didn’t
you answer?”) - Our Ransom
- Read Isaiah 50:4-5. What is an “instructed tongue?” (One
educated by God. This person knows what to say to help the
weary.) - Would you like an instructed tongue?
- What kind of attitude does the person with the
instructed tongue have? (A teachable attitude. Recall
last week we discussed ( Isaiah 43:8) people with ears
who could not hear, eyes which could not see? This
person has open ears to God’s instruction. This
person is not rebellious. This person is willing to
step up to God’s will.) - Read Isaiah 50:6. What kind of reward is this for having
the right attitude? - You know the saying, “No good deed goes unpunished?”
Well, here we have the proof, right? - Seriously, step back a minute and retrace the “where we
have been” with these texts. We started out with a person
who is hopelessly in slavery because of sin. We have God
saying you are all alone, you need help – why didn’t you
answer the phone? We then find this unnamed person has a
great attitude, but is getting beat up. What are these
texts all about? (This is a prophecy about Jesus. We are
the hopeless, helpless, motherless slaves to sin. God says
He can (v.2) rescue and ransom us. Jesus, who has the
“right attitude” comes and suffers on our behalf.) - Read Isaiah 50:7. Who do you think is speaking here? (This
is Jesus speaking.) - What attitude does this text say Jesus had when He
was being tortured for our sins? (He relied on His
Father. He relied on God for His self-worth. He was
determined to fulfill his work (set His face like
flint).) - Read Isaiah 52:13-14. We have skipped many verses to
continue our theme. What part of Jesus’ life do you think
about when you read the phrase, “raised and lifted up?”
(Jesus’ crucifixion.) - Notice verse 13 starts out “My servant will act
wisely.” Was Jesus “acting wisely” in His
crucifixion? (Jesus’ arrest, torture and crucifixion
was a choice. He could have turned away. But, praise
Him, He did not.) - What does verse 14 say about the extent of the
beating that Jesus’ took on our behalf? (His face was
so beaten that you could not recognize Him. My
readers will recall that a few weeks ago I was in a
debate with another Bible teacher over whether Mel
Gibson’s The Passion of The Christ was too violent.
The other teacher argued that the Bible minimized the
violent aspect of the crucifixion and that the movie
was overdone. I think this text settles that
argument: “His form was marred beyond human
likeness.” You had a hard time telling it was a human
face.) - Read Isaiah 52:15. How does Jesus’ crucifixion “sprinkle
many nations?” (Leviticus 3 and 4 repeatedly mention that
in the sanctuary services blood must be sprinkled on the
altar for the various ceremonies dealing with the
forgiveness of sins. Isaiah is creating a word-picture
that Jesus’ crucifixion is the fulfillment of the
“sprinkling” done in the temple service for the removal of
sin from the sinner.) - The Report
- Read Isaiah 53:1. Who is the messenger? (Those who are
sharing God’s message.) - What does it mean to reveal the arm of the Lord? (A
reference to the arm of God is a reference to His
power. Verse 1 is asking, “Who has heard and accepted
this report about the power of God?”) - Read Isaiah 53:2. Who is being described here? (Jesus.)
- Look at all of the descriptions of Jesus in verse 2.
If you had to summarize them, or make a conclusion
based on them, how would you describe Jesus? - What does a “tender shoot out of dry ground”
suggest about Jesus? (He was fragile in a
hostile environment.) - Would you naturally be attracted to Jesus if He
were in this room in human form? (No. He was not
someone who you would gravitate to because of
His appearance.) - Read Isaiah 53:3. What kind of life did Jesus lead? Would
you trade yours for His? - You need to explain something to me. We decided that verse
1 meant that the power of God was being revealed. In
verses 2 and 3 the revelation is about a tender fellow who
is not good looking and is not having a “good day.” How is
this a revelation of God’s power? (This is a critically
important point: God’s power is not about what we value in
humans. It is not about beauty, intelligence or wealth. It
is not about pleasant surroundings. Jesus’ power arises
from God alone. God’s message is that He works through
human weakness. Jesus emptied Himself of earthly
advantages so that we could see that the power in His life
was the naked power of God.) - Read Isaiah 53:4-5. Whose infirmities and sorrows did
Jesus take? (Ours.) - Which infirmities and sorrows are we talking about?
(Those described in verses 2 and 3. This gives us
another view of the reasons why Jesus was poor, not
handsome, not born of influence and was beset by
sorrows – He wanted to show us that He went through
the same kind of things we go through. He “carried”
our problems in life.) - Verse 4 says we blamed God for what happened to
Jesus. Who does it suggest we should blame? (It is
our fault Jesus suffered, not God’s fault.) - What do all of these bad things that happened to
Jesus on our behalf bring us? (Peace and healing.) - What kind of peace? (At least peace in the face
of trouble.) - What kind of healing? (At least healing from
sin.) - Read Isaiah 53:6. Is there anyone who does not need Jesus?
Anyone who can (and has) handled sin on their own? (All of
us have gone astray. Jesus carried the sins of all of
us.) - Read Isaiah 53:10-12. What was the reason for Jesus to go
through all of this? To suffer all of this? (He paid the
penalty for our sins. He bore our sins. He justified us
and He intercedes on our behalf. - Why does verse 12 say that Jesus bore the sin of
“many” and not “all?” (Because it is our choice to
accept what Jesus has done on our behalf.) - Friend, the ultimate answer to all of our problems in life
is Jesus. Jesus agreed to suffer in our place. He agreed
to pay the penalty for sin so that we could live forever
with Him. How about answering God’s phone call to you?
How about repenting and accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for you
today? - Next week: Desire of Nations
