A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: What does it mean that Jesus was a man of sorrows? The thing I believe He recoiled from was the sin of the world because He had never sinned.

Guest (Male): That sinless Son of God took our sin upon Himself. Pastor Greg Laurie gives us a glimpse of the pain Jesus felt.

Greg Laurie: He was the man of sorrows, but He stepped right into our broken world and felt the weight of it. Jesus didn't just send us a sympathy card from heaven. He showed up in person.

Guest (Male): None of us likes to pay bills, and we particularly don't want to pay our next-door neighbor's bills. Well, spiritually speaking, the Bible is clear that a price had to be paid for the sins of mankind, a high price. But Jesus paid it on our behalf.

We owed a debt we couldn't pay, but Jesus paid a debt He didn't owe. And today, on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us see just what agony Jesus went through in settling our debt.

Greg Laurie: I think most of us will do just about anything to avoid pain and inconvenience. At the first sign of a headache, we pop a Tylenol or Advil, or maybe an aspirin. We go into a panic if our phone battery drops below 20%. It almost looks like a medical emergency. We try to avoid pain and inconvenience.

I know with my crazy hip issue that was bothering me for a couple of years, I kept putting it off. I went to the doctor; he did an MRI. He said, "You're bone-on-bone. It's just going to get worse. When you can't stand it anymore, come back to me." I said, "Okay." So I got cortisone shots. After a while, I had to go. I ended up on a cane. I thought, "I am not going to be a guy with a cane. No!"

So I had this surgery done. The funny thing is, in my attempt to avoid pain, I was having more pain. When I finally got the surgery, the pain was immediately gone. So in trying to avoid pain, I prolonged it. But that's how we are as human beings. We're trying to avoid any kind of inconvenience, anything that will trouble us.

But I want to talk about Jesus and how He did not avoid the pain. He embraced the pain. He went toward the pain when He went to the cross and died for the sins of the world. He stepped right into it. In fact, when He was hanging on that cross, as you recall, they offered Him a sponge filled with a fluid that would have a numbing effect. I must tell you, He was in the worst pain you can imagine after what they had done to Him: shredding His back with the Roman cat-o-nine-tails, punching Him in the face, ripping His beard from His face, the crown of thorns on His head. Oh, it was so awful. And yet, He didn't take anything to numb the pain. He faced it all for us.

And we're going to look at this in Isaiah chapter 53. If you were to ask what is the most important single chapter in the Old Testament, Isaiah 53 probably would be the answer. If it's not the answer, it would be one of three that you might cite. Years ago, I've told you about this before, I was having lunch with Billy Graham. I asked him after our lunch was done, "Billy, if an older you could speak to a younger you, what would you tell yourself? What would you encourage yourself to speak on more?"

His response was, "I would speak more on the cross of Christ and the blood because that's where the power is." And that is so true. There is power in the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it's so important to talk about. Any evangelistic message that does not make a beeline to the cross is missing the point. Sometimes in our attempts to crossover, we forget to bring the cross over.

There's a place for one's personal testimony, and I'll often start my messages by just telling my own story, as you would probably do when you're talking to someone about Jesus. But I know that the power is in the cross. The power is in the message of the blood of Christ that was shed for us. But we ask, why is that so important? Simple answer: because we sinned against God, and a price had to be paid for our sin. A substitute had to be offered.

In the Old Testament, that would be the slaying of the lamb. It was a ceremony they would undergo where symbolically they would take our sins and place them on that animal that would be put to death. But it was fulfilled in the New Testament by Jesus Christ. Everything was pointing to Him. As I've said before, Jesus is in the Old Testament concealed; He's in the New Testament revealed.

So He fulfilled it all, and that's why John the Baptist said of Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." We don't see that in any place more clearly than right here in Isaiah 53. What's interesting is it's one of the most detailed accounts of the crucifixion. Now you might say, "No, Greg, the most detailed accounts are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John." I wouldn't argue with that, but there are actually details in Isaiah 53 you don't find even in the Gospels. Ironically, this was written 700 years before the event.

How did that happen? Isaiah was the prophet Isaiah, and God gave him a glimpse into the future. You see, God can speak of the future as accurately as you can speak of the past. I would even say more so because I often get my past muddled. I'll be telling a story to some people about something that happened to me, and my wife will say, "That's not the way it happened." I'll say, "You weren't even there." She said, "True, but you told it to me differently the first time." And doggone it, she's right. So I can't even remember the past accurately.

God remembers the past and of course can then predict the future. So when God tells us that there will come a world leader one day called the Antichrist, you know that's going to happen. When God tells us a great period of difficulty will come on our planet known as the Great Tribulation period that will last for seven years, you know that's going to happen.

And when God tells us there's going to be an event where all true believers are caught up to meet the Lord in the air before that Tribulation period and before that world leader is revealed, you know that's going to happen. And when God says Christ is going to return in the Second Coming, you know that will happen too, and all of the other things that the Bible speaks of.

So we're in our series "Jesus and You Too." We've looked at some Old Testament appearances of Christ. We saw Him, of course, in His wrestling match with Jacob. We saw Him there in the story of Abraham and Isaac. We saw Him appearing to Gideon and Joshua before they went into battle. Recently, we saw Him in the fiery furnace walking with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And now we shift gears to this chapter in the Old Testament that speaks in great detail of the mission and work of Jesus Christ.

C.H. Spurgeon, the great British preacher, said of Isaiah 53, "This chapter is the very heart of the gospel. It's the Bible in miniature." It's so significant. So let's look at it together. But before we do, let me sort of set the table, if you will. I've told you this story before, but remember after Jesus was crucified and He rose again, He appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Now they did not know He had risen again. So He joins them in conversation and, loose paraphrase, "Hey guys, what's up? Why the long faces?" "Oh, haven't you heard about Jesus of Nazareth?" "No, tell me about Him," says Jesus. And so they tell Jesus about Jesus, and they don't do a very good job. "Well, we were hoping," past tense, "He would have been the one to deliver Israel, but He was crucified, and it's been three days since this event happened."

And then Jesus says to these two disciples, "Oh fools and slow to believe all the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?" Then we read, "Beginning at Moses and the prophets, He interpreted to them all the Scriptures concerning Himself." Wow, I wish I could have heard that message. I would like to have been a fly on the wall. A guided tour of all the Messianic passages pointing to Jesus. And these guys are thinking, "Man, this guy really knows the Bible. You'd think he was there or something." Yeah, getting warm, boys.

Then at the end of their journey, He reveals Himself to them, and they realize they've been talking with Jesus Himself. But I'm sure He took them to Isaiah 53 because that would be the first go-to passage or one of many you would go to talking about Jesus in the Old Testament.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We're so moved to hear from listeners that join us from all over the world, from every background, every profession, every age, and in every circumstance of life.

Guest (Female): Hi, Pastor Greg. I want to thank you for leading me to Jesus in 1974 as an 18-year-old girl. My big sister had given her heart to Christ and dragged me to Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California, to the youth service where a young you said, "Leave your pride in your seat and come to Jesus." Praise God I did. Thank you, Pastor Greg.

Guest (Male): How have these studies in God's Word touched your life? If you have a story to share, why not call us and let us know? Call 1-866-871-1144. That's 866-871-1144. Well, we're about to look at Isaiah 53 today as Pastor Greg brings us an important message called "The God Who Feels Your Pain."

Greg Laurie: Let's go now to Isaiah 53 and read a few verses, starting in verse 1. "Who has believed our message? To whom is the Lord revealed His powerful arm?" Speaking of Jesus, "He was a tender plant, a root out of dry ground. There was nothing to attract us to Him. He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care." We'll stop there.

If you're taking notes, here's point number one: Jesus was ordinary in appearance. Now usually when you see a film about Jesus, whoever is cast to play the role is usually a very attractive guy that catches your attention. He's easy to pick out from all of the other characters in the story. But according to the Bible, He was ordinary in appearance. Verse 2 says, "There was nothing beautiful or majestic about His appearance, nothing to attract us to Him." In other words, Jesus wasn't in the GQ Galilee edition. He was just Jesus. You know, He was a man that would blend in with the crowd.

I think literally if you saw a group of people and Jesus was standing there, I don't know that you would know which one was Jesus. You say, "Greg, why do you say that?" Do you remember when Judas Iscariot went to tell the leaders he was going to show them which one was Jesus? I mean, he had to betray Him with a kiss. If Jesus looked the way He looks in religious art, you'd know who He is. He's the guy with the blue sash. Jesus always has the blue sash. He might have a lamb wrapped around his neck, he might be holding a staff, and he always glows in the dark, right? No. Jesus would blend in with the crowd. He was ordinary in appearance.

Jesus did not come from the marble palaces of Rome or from the halls of Herod. He came from dusty, funky little Nazareth. We don't realize what Nazareth actually was. He was born in Bethlehem, but He was raised in Nazareth. Nazareth was a nowhere place in the middle of nowhere. And it was sort of—it sort of had a reputation for immorality. Here's why: because when Roman soldiers would be on their way from one place to another, they would stop in Nazareth.

And so immorality took place there. It was sort of like the Barstow of the Bible. I'm not saying Barstow's known for immorality, but Barstow's known for a place where you gas up and get something to eat on your way to the river or whatever. But it's not like, "Hey, I'm from Barstow." That's not something you would necessarily be proud of, though you may be. But it was not a significant city. A Jesus of Rome? Okay, now we're talking. Or Jesus of some other important place. Jesus of Nazareth? What? Nazareth?

That's why Nathaniel, when he heard this, said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" You see? So Jesus came from an ordinary place, and He was ordinary in appearance. But you see, when God looks at us, He doesn't look on the outside. He looks more at the inside. And, you know, when He went back to His hometown after He began His ministry, He was primarily rejected. In fact, we read He did no mighty work there because of their unbelief.

He went into the synagogue. He read the scroll of Isaiah, in this case, 61, Isaiah 61, where it says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach glad tidings, to heal the brokenhearted." And as He reads it, He closes it and says, "This day this Scripture is fulfilled in your eyes." Wait, did He just say what I think He said? Is He saying He's that guy? Is He saying that passage is talking about Him? Isn't He the son of Joseph? Didn't we watch Him grow up? That's what He's saying. That's exactly what He was saying.

And they turned against Him and took Him to a cliff and wanted to push Him off. And the Bible says He walked right through their midst. "Sorry, boys, not today. I'm not going anywhere. I have a work to do still." Rejected by His own people. So here was their problem: they were looking for a militant Messiah, and God was sending them a suffering Savior.

Oh yes, the Lord does promise in Scripture that one day the King will return, but that's the Second Coming. But before He would return in glory at the Second Coming, He would first come to suffer for the sins of the world. And they had missed that point altogether. So He was ordinary in appearance.

Number two: He was extraordinary in what He came to do. So though He was ordinary in appearance, He was extraordinary in what He came to do. Look at Isaiah 53, verse 3. "He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not." We'll stop there. What does it mean that Jesus was a man of sorrows? Does it mean Jesus never smiled? Does it mean Jesus never laughed? I don't think so at all.

In general, Jesus was a pretty happy, upbeat person. Why else would children be drawn to Him? And we know that the Bible speaks of the fact that Paul writes of the glorious good news entrusted to him by the blessed God. And blessed is just an alternate word for happy. So effectively, Paul was saying, "I'm bringing you the message from the happy God." Jesus Himself said, "I told you these things to make you completely happy as I am." So if He walked around with a constant frown on His face and all He did was weep all day long, that's hardly a man who could describe Himself as happy.

So I think in general He was a happy person, even as God is a happy God. You know, we don't think of God as a happy God or a smiling God. Sometimes we think of God as an angry God or a disinterested God. But did you know that when God sees you, He smiles? His face lights up. In Numbers 6, a promise that the priest would pronounce over the people was given, where they would say, "The Lord bless you, may the Lord keep you, may the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you His favor and give you peace." I love that. The loving God, the happy God, the smiling God.

But Greg, we just read He's a man of sorrows. Oh yes, He was. He was a man of sorrows when He bore the sin of the world at the cross of Calvary. When He hung there and cried out those words, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," which means, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" That was Him being the suffering Savior, being the man of sorrows.

When He contemplated the horrors of the cross in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was under such intense pressure. Dr. Luke—Luke was a physician, by the way—he said He sweat as it were great drops of blood. What does that even mean? Some medical experts think that Luke, in his first-century way, was trying to describe something known as hematidrosis.

Hematidrosis is a special condition one experiences when they're under such intense stress they perspire, and their perspiration is mixed with blood. Is that what Luke was describing? Could be. But we know at that point, contemplating the horrors of Calvary, He was a man of sorrows. And by the way, though He knew everything that was going to happen to Him, though He knew how He would be mistreated and the physical abuse He would have to go through, the thing I believe He recoiled from, that caused Him to say, "Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me," that thing I believe was the sin of the world because He had never sinned.

He never even had a single thought out of harmony with His Father. So to take all the sin of the world—I mean, just take my sin alone, that's too much—but to add yours, and then all of our sin collectively, that was what caused Him to recoil. So yes, He was the man of sorrows, but He stepped right into our broken world and felt the weight of it. Jesus didn't just send us a sympathy card from heaven. He showed up in person.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie with a moving look at just what Jesus experienced as He gave His life for our sins. And there's more to come as this study continues here on A New Beginning. Sin is serious business. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. Jesus Himself, God's only begotten Son, gave His life to pay for our sins. Yes, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. The question is, have we accepted that free gift of eternal life? Pastor Greg has more to say about that.

Greg Laurie: Jesus did all the heavy lifting. He carried the cross for you. He died on that cross that He carried. This isn't about what you do; it's about what He's done. But here's what the Bible says: whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So let's just say that you're caught in a rip tide out in the ocean and you need help, and there's a lifeguard at the stand, and they see you. You've got to call out to them and let them know you need saving. And the same is true when it comes to eternal life. Jesus is ready to save you. Will you call out to Him?

You say, "Well, okay, how do I do that?" You do it through prayer. And prayer is just talking to God. So listen, I'd like to lead you in a simple prayer. And if you pray this prayer after me, I believe God will hear it and answer it, and Christ will come to live inside of you. Thousands of people have prayed a prayer like this over the years that we've been doing this radio broadcast and have seen their life change. There's no power or magic in a prayer. It's all about your commitment to Christ, but this is a way to call on the name of the Lord in this prayer.

So if you want Jesus to come into your life and forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want to fill that big hole in your heart, just pray this prayer after me. You can pray it out loud if you like. Pray it in the quietness of your heart. But pray these words if you would: Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that You're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin. I am sorry for my sin, and I turn from it now. And I choose to follow You from this moment forward. Be my Savior and my Lord, be my God and my friend. Thanks for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

Listen, if you just prayed that prayer, I want you to know that God has heard you and has answered it. The Bible says, "These things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life." That you may know! It's yours now. God has given it to you because it's the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Congratulations and welcome to the family of God.

Guest (Male): Yes, yes, that's right. And listen, we want to help you begin your new relationship with the Lord on the right foot. Would you let us send you a free gift? It's Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. You know, literally millions of people have read this edition of God's Word. New believers love the study helps written just for them, and they appreciate that it's in an easy-to-understand translation.

Well, we'll send it to you today. Just ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. You can call anytime, 24/7, 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, zip code 92514. Or simply go online to harvest.org and click on "Know God." Pastor Greg, we're so thankful for the work God is doing through this ministry. We're touching lives for eternity, and we're really thankful for our friends who see the fruit of this ministry and invest so this work can reach even further. Isn't that right?

Greg Laurie: Absolutely. When you invest in Harvest Ministries, you're investing in the souls of men and women, boys and girls. And what is the value of a soul? Well, let me personalize it. What's the value of your soul? What's the value of the soul of your husband, your wife, your son or your daughter, or your mom or your dad, or your best friend? Well, I would say you probably couldn't put a price tag on it. It's so valuable.

Well, listen, God says all souls are Mine. God loves us and sent His Son to die on the cross to pay the price for all of our sin so we could be forgiven and come into a relationship with Him. I can't think of a better investment of my resources, of my money, than in the work of the kingdom of God. So we would ask you to prayerfully consider investing in Harvest Ministries as we continue on to fulfill the Great Commission.

Guest (Male): Yeah, that's right. And you can make your donation right now at harvest.org or write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24/7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Well, next time, more insight from Pastor Greg's reassuring message, "The God Who Feels Your Pain." Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.