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[0:00] Isaiah chapter 53. We'll read the entire chapter. Who has believed our message?

[0:11] And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground.

[0:22] He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering.

[0:37] Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows.

[0:51] Yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.

[1:04] The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray.

[1:16] Each of us has turned to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.

[1:27] He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is silent. So he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away.

[1:38] And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgression of my people, he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with a rich in his death.

[1:52] Though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer.

[2:03] And though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days. And the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.

[2:19] By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong.

[2:33] Because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

[2:44] Dan Brown's book and popular movie, The Da Vinci Code, builds an elaborate story on the lie from apocryphal writings claiming that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had children by her.

[3:04] And that there is today, then, this secret society of the physical offspring of Jesus. Well, the whole thing is a lie, even if it is an old lie. The truth is that 2,000 years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ lived for 33 years as a pure, unmarried, single man.

[3:25] That on the cross, he died childless, without descendants. And yet today, the world is crawling with his offspring. Not a secret society, but the church of Jesus Christ.

[3:40] Not a physical offspring, but the spiritual offspring of Christ. I invite you to look once again at verse 10 of the chapter that was read.

[3:55] A chapter that Philip told the Ethiopian eunuch is speaking about Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah. And verse 10, Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer.

[4:09] And though his life is made a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days. And the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

[4:20] So let's consider tonight the children of Christ. Or the offspring of Jesus. He will see his offspring is said of Christ.

[4:37] Now it was a sad thing in Israel to die without descendants. To have a branch in the family tree end with one's death.

[4:48] In fact, as I was reading this week in Nahum, I found that it was part of the curse that God decreed for wicked Nineveh because of their endless cruelty to others.

[5:00] He said, you will have no descendants to bear your name. So that was a curse that was put on the Ninevites. No descendants to bear your name.

[5:10] And that's what it looked like when Jesus died on the cross. When he was cut off from the land of the living, he died childless. And yet wonder of wonders, verse 10 says, he will see his offspring.

[5:27] He has children and he will see them. Now usually when a man died childless, his death sealed his childlessness. Death ends all hope of descendants.

[5:39] Oh, but this was no ordinary death that this man died. For rather than making him forever childless, his death actually produced many children.

[5:53] And that's the first of two points tonight from this text. It's just this, that the death of Christ produced a numerous offspring. The death of Jesus produced a numerous offspring.

[6:05] Though his life was made a guilt offering, he will see his offspring. What a strange womb is death. That it would bring forth living offspring.

[6:20] It's the paradox of the gospel, isn't it? That life, eternal life, comes to us through his death. And so his death produces this numerous offspring, a whole family of children.

[6:36] And that's the way the Lord Jesus spoke of his approaching death in John chapter 12 and verse 24. He said, I tell you the truth. You might have a hard time believing this.

[6:48] And that's why he prefaces it with, I tell you the truth. It is true, nonetheless, that unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.

[7:00] But if it dies, it produces many seeds. And it's that reality that enables farmers to make a living. If every seed put in the ground only brought forth one seed back, there would be no farmer in the business.

[7:16] But because when the seed goes into the ground and dies, it brings forth many seeds. Therefore, there's this harvest. And it's interesting that Jesus is saying the same about his death.

[7:33] But if he does not die, he remains childless. He remains without a seed. He remains just one single individual. But if he dies, he, by dying, produces many seeds.

[7:48] It's the same word used for descendants and offspring in other verses in the New Testament. Yes, through his death, by dropping into the grave, through death, will bring forth many seeds.

[8:07] Many seeds. And this is because his death was far different from other men's death. It was a sacrificial death. Isaiah 53.10 calls it a guilt offering.

[8:19] An offering for guilt. Guilt. The Bible says he will not leave the guilty unpunished. That he's too holy for that.

[8:31] God is too holy to leave the guilty unpunished. He will punish them. With death under his wrath.

[8:42] That's the wages. And then with the second death, which is eternal torments in the lake of fire. The second death. So, are you guilty of sin?

[8:54] He will not leave the guilty unpunished. Do you have a strategy to deal with the guilt of your sin? God did. And so he gave his one and only son to be a guilt offering.

[9:08] He laid the sin and guilt of his people upon him. And then he punished him for it. Giving him what our guilt deserves. Death under his infinite wrath.

[9:20] It was a sacrificial death. And then this guilt offering was not only sacrificial. It was substitutionary. It was the innocent in the place of the guilty. It was a life laid down for another in death.

[9:35] And since Jesus is God as well as man, his death has infinite merit. So that it's able to cover the guilt, not just of another one, but of many.

[9:49] And so his death secures the forgiveness of many. Because he laid down his life as a ransom for many.

[9:59] The many are freed from death as the wages of sin. They're freed from the second death, the lake of fire. And instead they receive life. The gift of eternal life.

[10:09] And so, yes, the guilty are not left unpunished. They were punished in their substitute, Jesus.

[10:22] And so, because he died, they have life and become his children. His spiritual offspring. Because his life was made a guilt offering in death, he will see his offspring.

[10:37] It's in the plural there. Just to emphasize the great number of offspring. He will see his offspring.

[10:48] Indeed, the Bible speaks of them as a multitude that no man can number. More than the sands of the sea. More than the stars in the heavens. Those were phrases to teach that is beyond counting.

[11:04] And all as the fruit of his death, the reward of his suffering. Alec Mottier speaks of the blessedness. What a blessed outcome of his death.

[11:16] We stray as sheep. We return as children. We all like sheep have gone astray. Verse 6. But by his death, we come back as his children.

[11:30] What a grace that rebellious sheep that love to wander and go our own way. Return as the beloved children of Jesus. With his own spiritual life in us.

[11:41] Yes, Isaiah 53 is telling us that the death of Jesus produces a numerous spiritual offspring.

[11:53] And it's not alone in that testimony. Psalm 22 is another one of those chapters in the Old Testament that is like Isaiah 53.

[12:04] And you would think almost that it's the record of a newspaper reporter that was at Calvary that day as Jesus was crucified. So clear are the references to the crucifixion of Christ.

[12:19] And so Psalm 22 begins. My God. My God. Why have you forsaken me? But it ends.

[12:31] A posterity will serve him. The word there is the same word as Isaiah 53.10. An offspring. Descendants will serve him.

[12:43] Yes, his death. Dying rejected. Dying childless. Dying forsaken. Will produce a numerous offspring.

[12:53] He will have a seed. Who will serve him. Who will bear his name and image. And who will proclaim his righteousness. Strange death this, isn't it?

[13:07] Unique. That true believers are the offspring of Jesus through his death. Now usually when we think of ourselves as believers being children.

[13:19] We usually think of being children of the Heavenly Father, don't we? And indeed that is the predominant way the Scripture presents our adoption and our sonship into the family of God.

[13:33] As children of the Heavenly Father. But the Bible also speaks of believers as being the offspring or the children of Jesus. I've given you two Old Testament texts.

[13:44] Isaiah 53.10 and Psalm 22.30. But now let me give you two New Testament texts. In John 13 and verse 33 on the night that Jesus was betrayed. Jesus says to his disciples.

[13:58] My little children. My little children. They were his. And then Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 13.

[14:09] A text where Isaiah chapter 8 and verse 8 is being quoted. And we get to hear Messiah, Emmanuel, talking to God his Father.

[14:21] And he's overheard to say, Here am I and the children you have given me. Here am I and the children you have given me. We are Christ's children.

[14:31] His offspring. His descendants. His spiritual seed. And notice his children were given to him by God. Here am I and the children you have given me.

[14:43] John, more than any gospel writer, often refers to those, to believers in Jesus as those whom the Father has given him.

[14:54] Jesus, I say John records it, but it's Jesus who says it and speaks of those that the Father has given him. We think of the many references in that high priestly prayer in John 17, verse 2.

[15:08] Jesus talking to his Father. For you granted your Son authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Isn't that something?

[15:19] Jesus had authority over all men to give eternal life to who? To those that the Father had given him. He goes on to pray.

[15:29] They were yours, but you gave them to me. And he ends his prayer. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am that they may behold my glory.

[15:40] The glory I had with you before the world was created. So these children were given to the Son. When were they given to him?

[15:52] Well, before the creation of the world, in that eternal covenant of redemption between God the Father and God the Son within the Trinity, in that eternal plan of salvation, the Father chose and gave to his Son a people as a love gift to be his children, his offspring.

[16:13] And then he entrusted them to Christ to care for them as a father does for his children, to do everything necessary to bring them to glory. And that included dying for us as a guilt offering.

[16:26] So we were given to Christ by the Father, but actually purchased by the bloody death of Jesus, that we might belong to him.

[16:37] It is through his death for us that we've become his offspring. And so because of his dying as a guilt offering, this suffering servant of Isaiah will see his seed.

[16:51] He will see his offspring. Jesus, the Son of God, is the one who says, Here am I and the children you have given me. And this should not be altogether strange to us to think of the Son of God as having children.

[17:06] How many of you are sons and have children? Yes. So too the Son of God has children, spiritual offspring.

[17:21] And perhaps that's why when prophesying of Messiah's birth, Isaiah says of him in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6, that he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

[17:39] Everlasting Father. The baby born of the Virgin is the Everlasting Father. The Father from eternity, having been given a spiritual offspring, who will be brought to life by his death.

[17:54] So that's the first point from our text, Isaiah 53, 10, that the death of Christ produced a numerous offspring. And if your trust is in Christ, you are one of those children of his.

[18:09] But notice what else our text says. It not only says that he will have offspring, but that he will see his offspring. He will see his offspring.

[18:20] And so our second point is that a living Christ sees his offspring. Seen is an activity of the living, not of the dead. So if this crucified, rejected, buried servant of the Lord who was cut off from the land of the living is said to see his offspring, there must be life for him on the other side of the grave.

[18:45] Indeed, there must be a resurrection to life for him to see his offspring. And that's no small point of what Isaiah is saying, I believe, in verse 10 and 11. Though he dies as a guilt offering, yet he will see his offspring and prolong his days.

[19:03] Verse 11, that after suffering, he will see the light of life and be satisfied. So death was not the end of the suffering servant. He rose again to endless days.

[19:15] You talk about prolonged life, endless days. He was dead, but he's alive forevermore. And he lives and is able to see his offspring.

[19:26] So dear offspring of Jesus, your salvation is in the hands of a living Savior who sees you. He can see you. He sees his offspring.

[19:38] He sees you in all your need. And he responds to your need as a loving father would do for his children. So when he saw your need for a guilt offering, he offered himself as the sacrifice in your place.

[19:56] He sang that song, he saw me plunged in deep distress. He flew to my relief. For me, he bore the shameful cross and carried all my grief. He saw me in need and presented himself as the guilt offering.

[20:10] And then years ago, he saw you going astray. Some of you, it's been many years ago. Some of you, not so long. But he saw you. Straying as a helpless, lost lamb, rejecting him, going your own way, the fast way to hell.

[20:30] But he saw you as one given to him by the Father. He saw you as one bought by his precious blood. And so like the hound of heaven, he tracked you down.

[20:42] Just as he tracked down that Ethiopian eunuch on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. As he tracked down, so he tracked you down.

[20:53] And he brought the gospel to you. And he brought a new birth to you. And he brought the Holy Spirit to you. He brought repentance and faith to you. And all of that was purchased by his death for you.

[21:04] He purchases all of these gifts that he brought. He saw you. And he saved you. And he still sees his offspring. His eye is still upon you to protect you, to keep you.

[21:17] Because the job that he was given by the Father is to see you brought all the way home to glory. Not to make it for a day, a week, a year, ten years.

[21:29] But to make it all the way to heaven. And his job is not done until you're there. And so he sees his offspring. And his eye never slumbers nor sleeps in his watch care over his children.

[21:43] And reading the account of Elijah on Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal praying to Baal and cutting themselves, trying to get his attention.

[21:57] And how Elijah taunts them and pokes fun at them. You see, maybe the gods are sleeping. The gods, they get tired too.

[22:07] And they need a nap. They're like us, you see. But not our God. He never slumbers nor sleeps. His eye is always on his offspring. The Lord Jesus always sees them.

[22:20] He sees you sorely tempted and tried. And he sends you all sufficient grace. He sees what no one else can see. Your weakness. Your limits. Your fears.

[22:32] Your heartaches. Your regrets. That you love him no more than you do. And that you serve him no better than you do. He sees all of that. He sees his seed. It's a living Savior who sees you.

[22:43] And because he always lives to intercede for you, he's able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him. The living Christ always has his eyes upon you and delights in you.

[22:57] He looks upon you with delight. As he sees you, the Bible says he rejoices over you with singing. It's not a just observing kind of look.

[23:08] No, it's a look of delight with which he sees his offspring. More delight than any human parent ever had in his human children. He sees you as the fruit of his suffering.

[23:20] As the reward of his travail on Calvary. And he looks on you with satisfaction. That's what verse 11 says. That he will see the light of life and be satisfied.

[23:32] He looks at you with delight and says it was worth it. Calvary was worth it. You were the joy that was set before him. The joy for which he endured the cross and scorned its shame.

[23:44] It was a joy to bring many sons to glory. And the very prospect of bringing you to glory and revealing the glory of God in so doing kept him going.

[23:57] That joy of standing with you at the last day and presenting you to the Father. Father, here are the ones you gave me. Here am I and the children that you've given me.

[24:10] And not one of them will be missing. Amen. All present and accounted for. Every single one the Father chose and gave to his Son.

[24:22] They'll be there on his right hand. What a scene. What a match between that Lamb's book of life. The role that will be called up yonder.

[24:36] And then here's this mass of people on the right hand of the Son of God. I don't know if they're going to call the role. It would take a while. But there's a lot of time in heaven, isn't there?

[24:48] And the role begins. These are the ones that God the Father chose and gave to his Son to save. And they start down through. Present. Present. Present by the grace of God.

[25:04] Present. A monument to mercy. Present. Present. A debtor to mercy alone. Present. A hell-deserving sinner saved by the blood of Jesus.

[25:15] Present. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me from the wrath to come. And as the role goes down, what you find is that every single one that was given to the Son is here.

[25:29] Not one more. Not one less. Because the work of salvation is in the hands of Jesus. And as we stand there, we'll know that we owe it all to him who died as a guilt offering to justify us.

[25:46] Who rose again to save us. Whose eye was ever on us. And recovered us when we fell. And renewed our faith when it was lagging. And our love and our repentance. And our repentance. It's all due to him.

[25:57] And he who raised us up at the last day will show that he brings his own all the way to glory.

[26:11] He will see his offspring. And oh, what joy the sight will afford to him. Every last one given to the Father. Bought with his blood. Regenerated by his Spirit.

[26:23] Now safely home at last. That's what he wanted. Father, I want those you've given me to be with me where I am. Here they are. To see his glory. It's his great satisfaction.

[26:38] To see his offspring gathered around the throne. And if he will be satisfied with us, how will it thrill and satisfy us? To be there with him. To look on him.

[26:49] To rejoice. See him rejoicing over us. This is the one Isaiah speaks of in Isaiah 53.10. He will see his offspring. He will prolong his days.

[27:02] And now this phrase. And the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. Now what is this will of the Lord that will prosper in his hand? Well, it's God's eternal plan of redemption.

[27:13] It's God's eternal plan of salvation. His good pleasure to save a people for himself from the coming wrath. His plan of reversing the curse and making a new heaven and a new earth where only the righteous dwell.

[27:27] And live forever as God's people in God's place. Under his rule and blessing. That's the plan. That's the will of the Lord. And it will prosper in his hand.

[27:41] Wondrous plan. Wondrous plan. But how? How will such a glorious plan ever be realized? And who has a hand that's mighty enough to make the plan prosper?

[27:54] Who can pull it off against all the obstacles in the way? And by the way, the greatest obstacles are not the world, the flesh, and the devil. The greatest obstacles are God's own justice.

[28:05] How do sinners get to go to heaven with a holy God? Who has shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of such a plan and to make it succeed?

[28:19] To be a sinless sacrifice. To take the infinite punishment due to sinners. To die and satisfy God's wrath and justice. What angel in heaven? What man on earth?

[28:31] No, there is none. None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

[28:41] There is no other mediator between God and man but the man Christ Jesus. There was no other good enough to pay the price for sin. He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.

[28:53] And this is your security, dear Christian. You who have fled to Christ and put all your trust in him to save you. It is the son of God himself who undertakes to bring about God's eternal plan of salvation.

[29:07] To save every single one that the father has given him. And this plan will prosper in his hands. His children's salvation is in his hands.

[29:18] And oh, how good it is for us that it is. That it's in his hands and not in ours. Because Jesus never fails. Our hands are weak and failing.

[29:29] His are strong and availing. The work which his goodness began, the arm of his strength will complete. And so the work of your salvation, dear child of God, is in his hands.

[29:41] And therefore, it will most certainly prosper. I think there is this drama in heaven in Revelation chapter 5.

[29:53] That this very idea of the will of the Lord. This plan of redemption. And it's represented as being on a scroll with writing on both sides.

[30:03] And there in Revelation 5, you see this scroll in the right hand of God. This grand plan of salvation. And there it is. God's will for human history.

[30:13] To save a people for himself. And the angel proclaimed in a loud voice. Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll? In other words, who's able to open up and to bring to pass this grand plan of salvation?

[30:29] To make the will of the Lord to prosper. But no one in heaven or earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. And John says, I wept and wept.

[30:41] Because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll. And we might as well weep with him. Is this wondrous plan of redemption to fail for lack of one worthy to make it prosper?

[30:56] And then one of the elders said to me, do not weep. See, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.

[31:08] And then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain. Standing in the center of the throne encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.

[31:20] And he came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb.

[31:31] And they sang a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain. And with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

[31:44] You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God. And they will reign on the earth. And all the myriad of angels sang, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and blessing, glory and blessing.

[32:00] And every creature joined in the praise. This reigning lion and lamb that was slain is the great servant of the Lord in Isaiah 53.

[32:12] And the will of the Lord Jehovah will prosper in his hand. He will bring it to success. Here's a hand strong enough for his mighty to save.

[32:24] Here are shoulders broad enough to bear the full weight of infinite wrath. And to bear the sin of many because the government shall be upon his shoulders.

[32:36] And here's a guilt offering unblemished enough and meritorious enough to justify all those ungodly that were given to Christ. For by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many and bear their iniquities.

[32:51] Here's blood precious enough to pay the full price of sin and to satisfy the justice of God. Yes, praise God, the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

[33:04] Not only by his death. Because he ever lives to save us. And he sees his offspring. And so he sees us not as a mere spectator who must just look on and do nothing.

[33:17] But no, he sees us and he's active in saving us from ourselves and Satan and the world. And you see, he's been given all authority and power to gather his family home.

[33:31] All the offspring. All those the father gave him. He's been given all authority to gather them. To bring them home. To finish what he started. To bring them safely to glory.

[33:43] The Lord's will. The Lord's will. Is prospering. And it's prospering. In you, dear brothers and sisters.

[33:55] The church of Jesus Christ is the standing miracle. On the earth. That there is a people. That Jesus Christ. Sees. And is saving. He says in John 6.

[34:08] All that the father gives me. Will come to me. And whoever comes to me. I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven. Not to do my will. But to do the will of him who sent me.

[34:20] And this is the will of him who sent me. That I shall lose none of all that he has given me. But raise them up at the last day. For my father's will is that everyone who looks to the son.

[34:31] And believes in him. Shall have eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day. You see the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. And not one of them will be missing.

[34:43] It's why he came down from heaven. It's why he perfectly obeyed God's law. It's why he was offered up as a guilt offering. It's why he rose again and never lives. To see his offspring.

[34:54] And why he's coming again to raise us up. The will of the Lord must prosper. So what have we seen tonight? We've seen that the death of Jesus. Produces numerous offspring.

[35:06] And it's a living Christ who sees his offspring. Our salvation is in his hands, brothers and sisters. Rejoice in him.

[35:17] Rejoice in this death that has made you his offspring. Spurgeon says he will never cease to feast his eyes upon the harvest of his death. Those eyes which once wept for us are now viewing us with pleasure.

[35:30] Does he delight in you as his child? Oh, then delight in him for making you his child. Did he die to make you his child? Then live for him whose child you are.

[35:42] And live in a way that honors and glorifies him. Does he see his offspring? Is his eye ever upon you? Then let your eye ever be upon him.

[35:53] Run the whole race through life looking unto Jesus. We see him tonight reflected in the elements of the cup and the broken bread.

[36:08] But one day your eyes will see him and will meet his eyes. We're going to see him face to face. The one who saved us by his grace.

[36:20]  What a day, glorious day that will be. Let's come together then tonight as the offspring of Jesus to his feast. Amen.