December 18, 2020
The Problem
Let’s start with the problem. Isaiah said, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We left God’s path to follow our own.” (Isaiah 53:6) Let me say that again. You guys are way too quiet. We’re like sheep – all of us. And the problem is, we’ve strayed away from God. We’ve left God’s path to go our own way.
Like sheep. That’s not a compliment. If Isaiah had said, “Men and woman, you are like lions” – that might have been a compliment. If he said, “You guys are like eagles” – that might have been a compliment.
But when he compared us to sheep, he was basically saying, “You guys are not the brightest crayons in the box.” Think about it! You can train a lot of animals. You can train a dog, you can train a dolphin, you can train an elephant, you can even train lions and tigers and bears – oh, my! But you can’t train a sheep.
The point is: Sheep’s not a compliment. Sheep are basically known for three things. They’re weak. They’re witless. And they’re wayward.
• Sheep are weak.
They’re totally defenseless. If a coyote comes after a sheep, how can a sheep defend itself? It can’t go, “Ha!” and flash its fangs. It can’t fly away, it doesn’t have quills, it can’t shoot poisonous balls of spit. They’re essentially defenseless. They don’t even say, “Hey, you run that way, I’ll run this way, then one of us will live.” No, sheep huddle up and say, “Take your pick. Whichever one of us you want.” Sheep are weak. And …
• Sheep are witless.
In other words, they don’t think for themselves. They tend to follow the crowd. If one sheep does dumb stuff, the other sheep says, “Boy, that looks good. Count me in.” In fact – true story – in the year 2005, 1500 dumb sheep followed each other off a cliff in Turkey. 1500! You would think that after the first sheep, or the second sheep, or the third sheep, one of them would say, “This is not a good plan. I’m backing off.” But, no. 1500 had to follow each other off the cliff. The bad news is 400 of them died. The good news is, the rest lived because the first 400 made a sheep pillow, and the rest were going boing, boing, boing. Sheep are weak. Sheep are witless. And …
• Sheep are wayward.
They wander. “Hey, where ya going, little sheep?” I don’t know, looking for something. Happiness over here. Oh, if I buy those shoes, I’ll be happy. Nope, that doesn’t make me happy. That just makes me in debt. I’ll try that experience over there. Oh, no. That hurt. When Isaiah said, “All of us are like sheep,” he wasn’t saying, “Wow, you guys are amazing!” He was saying, “You need a lot of help.”
So, what’s the answer? Isaiah told us straight out. Right here in the pages of Scripture, Isaiah told us. 700 years before Jesus was born, Isaiah told us. And 700 years before Jesus was born, Isaiah said, “God is going to send us the answer. Let me tell you what to watch for. Let me tell you the details.”
We’ve got a problem, folks. But here’s the answer …
The Answer
God will send His own Son to die in our place. God will take care of our problem. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s path to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him – Jesus, God’s own Son, will be the answer – the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all. He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet He never said a word. Remember, when Jesus was put on trial, he never said a word to defend Himself. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. (Isaiah 53:6-7) 700 years later, John the Baptist would point to Jesus and say, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Have you ever been hurt? Mistreated, rejected, attacked? Jesus understands! He was despised and rejected – a man of sorrows, acquainted with the deepest grief … Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins! No, men and women, no! When Jesus went to that cross, He was there to cross-out our sins. When He was hung on that cross, He was hung up for our hang-ups! He was whipped and beaten, punished and pierced – remember those nail-pierced hands! He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. (Isaiah 53:3-5)
Let me tell you something else: His hands and feet were pierced, but it wasn’t nails that held Him to that cross … it was love. Love for you. Love for me.
Let me tell you something else: His hands and feet were pierced, but it wasn’t nails that held Him to that cross … it was love. Love for you. Love for me.