Sunday, August 1, 1999   

As we have often seen, the best commentary on the Bible is the Bible. When we come to Isaiah 53:6 we find that certain New Testament verses that serve as a Divine commentary:

OLD TESTAMENT	NEW TESTAMENT
1. "All we like sheep have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6a)	1. "There is none righteous, no not one All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:10, 23).
2. “ we have turned everyone to his own way..."(Isaiah 53-6b)	2. “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s” (Philippians 2-21)
3. "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6c)	3. For he that made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (II Corinthians 5:21)

Isaiah 53:6 is a balancing of the books. There are two debit entries against us and one credit entry:

DEBIT	CREDIT
1. "All we like sheep have gone astray"	1. "The Lord hath laid on him iniquity of us all"
- This pictures man's fallen and depraved state.	+ This one credit entry clears the debits from the books for all who believe.
2. "We have turned every one to his own way." - This is each individual's personal sin.

I. DEPRAVED

     A. Depravity is universal. "All we like sheep have gone astray." Baptists believe in and the Bible teaches Total Depravity.

          1. Defiled- total depravity means that man if defiled in his heart and mind. In Noah's day, it was said of man, "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5).

          2. Since the days of Noah, man has not improved. Ephesians 4:18 says, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart."

          3. The depravity of man is complete- it is total. No good thing comes from the unregenerate heart.

                    a. Take a glass of water, put a drop of ink in it, and the ink will, discolor the whole glass of water. Sin has corrupted the whole man. "Paul said, 'For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18).

                    b. Depravity is so complete that, without God's help, man will never see Christ as the only way of salvation. The scripture says, "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and He to whomsoever the Son will reveal him' (Matthew 11:27).

          4. Total Depravity means that man is unable to come to Christ in his natural state. This is the inability of man.

               a. Man cannot save himself and will not turn to Jesus for salvation until he is sanctified, set apart, by the Holy Spirit unto salvation (John 1:12-13, 6:63-64; 5:24).

               b. Man, left to himself cannot come to Christ. He cannot come because he will not will to come. John 5:40, "...ye will not come to me, that ye might have life."

               c. Man is free to come, a free moral agent, but he is unable to come. Turning to Christ is a spiritual act and according to scripture man is spiritually dead. "And you hath he quickened who were dead......"

     B. "All we like sheep have done astray." Departure from God is represented here by sheep straying.

          1. The Bible teaches that all sinned in Adam, in Adam, all went astray.

               a. Adam, the first man, was originally in the fold. He was created in a state of uprightness.

               b. When Adam went astray, we all went astray (Romans 5-12).

               c. Although we all went astray in Adam, we are individually responsible and accountable for our own wandering and going astray.

          2. There is not creature more prone to wander and lose his way than a sheep without a shepherd.

               a. When Adam fell, he hid himself from God - he did not seek God.

               b. The Bible teaches us that God sought Adam out. God called him and Adam came to the Lord. Genesis 3:9 says, "the Lord God called unto Adam..." God sought out His lost sheep.

              c. All sheep have wandered from the fold and will not return to it until the Lord seeks and finds them.

                    1) Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:1 0).

                    2) When the Lord finds the sheep, He places it on His shoulder and carries it back into the fold (Luke 15:4-7).

                    3) The sheep cannot, will not, and does not return to the fold in his own strength.

                    4) Sheep are unable to return, to bring themselves into the right way.

II. DEVIATED

     A. We have deviated from God, "we have turned every on to his own Way

     B. "We have turned every one..."

          1. No man can excuse himself for "we have turned every one..."

          2. Every one of us have our sins, our errors, our shortcomings, our pains and miseries. Remember, "There is none righteous, no not one."

     C. On, the wickedness of man's mind, of man's heart, of man's way, of his inclinations. Man thinks that he is going to make it on his own, his own way, his own power. It seems right to him. Proverbs 16:25 - "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

          1. Some follow the path of fame and will do anything to gain it.

          2. Others seek fortune and would sell out for a mess of pottage.

          3. There are those who follow the path of religion. Friend, you don't need religion; you need Christ!

               a. Some trust in works - Ephesians 2:8-9.

               b. Some trust in baptism - Acts 2:41.

               c. Some trust in church membership.

               d. Jesus plainly teaches that many religious folks are going to spend eternity in hell (Matthew 7:21-23).

III. DELIVERED

     A. All of the wandering and foolishness of the sheep was laid on Jesus Christ.

     B. Our sins were laid on Jesus by the Father, "The Lord hath laid on him... "

          1. God chose Christ to be the redeemer of lost sinners. He laid our wickedness on the sinless Lamb.

          2. We sinned against God; He is the one we turned from. It was His justice that had to be satisfied.

          3. "Laid" is the Hebrew word paga meaning "to strike upon, to fall against, to fall upon (hostility), to attack."

               a. Our sins like an invading army, in hostility, fell upon Christ.

               b. Christ suffered for my sins, not His. He was not a sinner. He did not become a sinner- but He bore my sins.

I

     C. The Father has laid the sins of every believer on Christ His Son. The Father did not spare His Son, but delivered Him up for us all (Romans 8:32).

CONCLUSION:

The ONE with no curse became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13).

The ONE with no sin was made sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21).

The ONE who is the only just one died for the unjust (I Peter 3:18).