Sermon Tone Analysis

The High Price of Peace

Isaiah 53:1-12

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - May 26, 2014

*[PIC 1] One of the most famous pictures of World War II is of five brave Marines raising the American flag on the island of Iwo Jima.

More than five thousand Marines gave their lives in that horrific battle.

Think about that: 5,000 Marines gave their lives to capture an 8-square-mile island from the Japanese.

They did that, because the life of our nation and the lives of freedom-loving people all over the world depended on it.

*[PIC 2] Today there is a large statue to honor the men who fought and died in that terrible battle.

The statue is based on this picture, and it is just across the Potomac River from Washington D.C.

*The man in the center of the Iwo Jima picture was John Bradley.

After the war, Bradley moved back to Antigo, Wisconsin, married his high school sweetheart, and raised a family.

John Bradley won the Navy Cross for saving a fellow Marine's life, but he preferred not to talk about the war.

And he absolutely refused to accept the hero worship that others tried to put on him.

When his young son James said something to his Dad about being a hero, John Bradley replied: "The heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who didn't come back."

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*Our veterans would say the same thing.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day and it should be much more than a day-off for us.

We should remember the over one million men and women who sacrificed their lives to help make us free and keep us free.

*Today we are talking about the high price of peace, and the high price of peace is death.

Someone had to die.

But the only one who could die to give us peace with God was Jesus Christ.

God led Isaiah to prophesy this great truth 700 years before Jesus was born.

So, on this Memorial Day weekend we remember those who died for our country, and we remember Jesus.

1.

We remember Jesus, because He is the one who stood in our shoes.

*Church: That's what Jesus did.

He stood in our shoes.

[1] There will be times when we feel undesirable and ugly.

Verse 2 reminds us that Jesus has been there.

As Isaiah said, "He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground.

He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him."

[2] There will be times when we feel lonely, despised and rejected.

Jesus has been there.

In the first part of vs. 3: "He is despised and rejected by men. . .

And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him."

[3] There will be times when we are in sorrow and grief.

Jesus has been there.

In vs. 3, He was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief."

[4] There will also be times when we are bruised and in pain.

Jesus has been there too.

In the first part of vs. 5: "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities."

*Whatever you are going through, and whatever you will go through, the Lord Jesus understands, because He has been there too.

And He went there for us!

In vs. 4: "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows"

*In James Michener's historical novel "Hawaii," an old man got sick with the terrible disease of leprosy.

The year was 1870, and lepers were outcasts in Hawaiian society.

They were forced to live in leper colonies far from their loved ones.

*When the old man shared this sad news with his family.

His wife knelt down before him and offered herself to be his "kokua."

A kokua was a healthy person who willingly committed to go with and nurse a patient with leprosy.

These kokuas moved to the leper colony and ran the risk of also catching that horrible, crippling, incurable disease.

So before they were allowed on the ship that took them away from home, an official would stand on the deck and ask them: "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" (2)

*The kokuas had to be willing to take on the disease.

They had to be willing to stand in the leper's shoes, and that is exactly what Jesus did for us.

So we remember the one who stood in our shoes.

2. And we remember the one who brings our blessings.

*Jesus Christ brings our blessings!

Think about the blessings of peace and healing we see at the end of vs. 5.

There God's Word says this about Jesus: "The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

These are just two of the great blessings Jesus wants to give His people.

[1] Healing: By the stripes of Jesus Christ we are healed!

*What kind of healing is He talking about here?

The best answer is: All kinds!

-- Physical, emotional, spiritual, and the eternal healing believers get when we go to Heaven.

*Let me talk about physical healing for a moment.

Some people think that they were healed by the doctor or surgery or medicine.

And surely God uses all three.

But all healing ultimately comes from God.

He is the source of all of our blessings!

[2] And one day He will bring the blessing of peace to this whole world!

*One of the greatest periods of peace will be when the Lord Jesus returns to reign on earth for a thousand years.

Isaiah 2:1-4 describes that future time of peace with these words:

1.

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.

3.

Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; he will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.''

For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4.

He shall judge between the nations, and shall rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

*And yes, Revelation 20 tells us that there will be one more major battle after that.

But Jesus Christ is in the process of bringing universal peace.

*Robert Capa was a famous photographer who specialized in taking pictures of war.

He recorded some of the most intense moments of the Spanish-American War and World War II.

In 1954, while on assignment in Indochina, Robert Capa was killed by a land mine.

Mr. Capa used to joke that hopefully one day his business card would say: "Robert Capa, War Photographer -- Unemployed" Someday, all war photographers will be unemployed.

But that is a blessing that can only come from the Lord Jesus Christ.

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*Someday, God will bring the blessing of peace to His world!

But right now, you can have the greatest peace of all!

Right now, through the Lord Jesus Christ, you can have peace with God.

That's why Romans 5:1-2 says this to all Christians:

1.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

2. through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

*You can have peace with God and peace in your heart, knowing that one day Jesus Christ will bring the blessing of peace to this whole world!

All real blessings come through the Lord Jesus, so, we remember the one who brings our blessings.

3.

And we remember the one who suffered for our sins.

*In today's Scripture, Jesus Christ is the suffering Lamb, and He suffered for our sins.

God's Word stresses this truth for us seven different times in vs. 5&6.

Seven times in two verses!

5.

But He was wounded for OUR transgressions, He was bruised for OUR iniquities; the chastisement for OUR peace was upon Him, and by His stripes WE are healed.

6. ALL WE like sheep have gone astray; WE have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity OF US ALL.

*Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins.

He took on this mission with the strongest commitment, and we begin to see the Lord's commitment in vs. 7: "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth."

*This prophecy was fulfilled during the trials of Jesus in the hours before the cross: First before the chief priests in Matthew 26: