Isaiah 50:1-52:6 Why do we suffer?

Isaiah 50:1-52:6

One day the children do not come back from school. Instead, a policeman arrives at work and takes you to the police station. The government has decided that you are a threat to your children and has taken them away to protect them.

You’re unfaithful to the one you love. You are wracked with guilt over your sin, but can’t seem to stop.

You lose your temper too quickly, you are impatient, you lash out. You hurt the ones you love.

Every evening you sit at home watching pornography. You are desperately lonely but can’t seem to make a relationship work.

A man divorces his wife. Now he lives with another woman while sharing the custody of his kids. Life is difficult trying to juggle the demands of the ex-wife, the new girlfriend, and all the kids.

An unmarried woman has sex and then falls pregnant. Ashamed, she decides to abort her baby. And now is wracked with guilt.

One day you’re happily working in the fields outside your home when helicopter gunships come over and firebomb your village. You run for your life.

A man stands up for Jesus – and is thrown in jail, into a hole in the desert.

A man takes a stand at work – he will not lie. He is fired.

Your friends or your family know you’re a Christian and constantly make little jokes at your expense, making you feel foolish. Your family keeps saying things like “you’ll grow out of it soon”.

Those little stories are true in most churches in most places in the world, and they are probably true here.

Why do we suffer? Why are our lives often such a mess?

The first reason we suffer is the one we least want to hear: We suffer because of our sin.
The second reason we suffer is because of other people’s sin.
But Jesus dealt with our sin by suffering in our place.

1. We suffer because of our sin

50:1 This is what the Lord says: “Was your mother sent away because I divorced her? Did I sell you as slaves to my creditors? No, you were sold because of your sins. And your mother, too, was taken because of your sins.

The “mother” is Jerusalem, the capital city. It lies in ruins. The people of Israel are in a foreign country, Babylon, taken there as prisoners of war. It was not a great time to be an Israelite.

Why? Why O Lord are we suffering? Do you have no power? Are you defeated?

2 Why was no one there when I came? Why didn’t anyone answer when I called? Is it because I have no power to rescue? No, that is not the reason! For I can speak to the sea and make it dry up! I can turn rivers into deserts covered with dying fish. 3 I dress the skies in darkness, covering them with clothes of mourning.

It was not a lack of power that lead to them being taken to Babylon. The Lord was not defeated. It is not His fault that they are suffering – it is theirs. No, you were sold because of your sins. And your mother, too, was taken because of your sins.

It is blunt. It is straightforward. It is the truth. And we don’t like it.

Because we like to blame everybody else for our situation, don’t we? It wasn’t my fault, she said... he did... my parents didn’t.... And so on. And the big one: God did... or God didn’t... do something so I had to sin, there was no other choice.

We make bad choices and then suffer the consequences of what we have done. Israel turned their back on God, disobeyed his word, lived their way and not his way – and then cried out “Why O Lord” when things went wrong.

How often are we the same?

We don’t trust God with money. We don’t give. We’re not generous. And we find we’re always scrabbling for money. Always short. Always trying to protect the little we have but finding it runs through our fingers.

Or relationships! We have sex before we’re married. We move in together with no thought, no plan. We have sex with other people, people we’re not even together with. This creates problems!
In fact it is abuse. We are abusing the women we are sleeping with if we are not committed to them. It’s abuse even if they are willing. It’s abuse because we are using them as tools for sexual stimulation instead of viewing them as whole people, as women made in the image of God.
Pornography is the same. You are watching people being abused for your pleasure. Next time you watch porn, look into their eyes. See them as men and women made in the image of God.

Why, why should we stop with pleasurable experiences? As we’ve seen in Isaiah so far – because it is an idol, and idols fall. Remember the Babylonians running away with thtier idols. And because we love the Lord! We stop sinning because he is our all in all. He is our source of greatest pleasure, of deepest joy! Why should we fiddle about with sin when we have the glory of God to experience? The gospel is incredible – that He should give his life for me. That I should know him not just as God at a distance but His Spirit lives within me. I am His and He is mine. He knows me perfectly, intimately, I was made for him and He is my everything. And no matter what I do He loves me and he showed that once and for all by dying in the cross in my place. What have we to compare with that? There is nothing in the world that can compare with being completely known – everything the good the bad, the brilliant, even the worst parts of us – he knows us ... and he says “I love you”.

You see, Israel forgot their God. 2 Why was no one there when I came? Why didn’t anyone answer when I called?

They didn’t have their eyes fixed on him.

There’s a song called “Walk on Water” by Audio Adrenaline which has these words. If I keep my eyes on Jesus I can walk on water. I’ll be alright when the wind blows, I’ll be alright when the waves come crashing, I’m not afraid no, no, for this is my Father’s world.

Why do we forget this? Why do we so quickly take our eyes off Him and sink. Down into sin and suffering. So, much of our suffering is our own sin, our own disobedience.

And the challenge to Israel 2600 years ago is the same challenge to us. Will we repent? Will we take ownership of what we have done? We will admit to ourselves that we are the reason for our suffering, for our lives being in a mess. We have not responded the way we should have. We have not followed in Jesus’ footsteps. We have not kept our eyes on him.

Dear friends, I am so grateful that our gospel is not fix yourself up. It is not pretend that you are a decent person. It is not cover up your sin and put on your Sunday best and fake it til you make it.

No, it is brutally, painfully honest about who we are. But oh what a joy to not have to pretend, to cover up, to put on a fake smile. The relief in being able to say, yes I am a sinner, and I have sinned.

That is part one of the gospel. I am a sinner. And oh the glory of part two: I am forgiven in Christ. We might be greedy, angry, selfish, sexual sinners. But we are loved with a love that is unbreakable, that is guaranteed by Christ on the Cross.

So this morning start by admitting your sin before the Lord. We normally do this after the service, but I’m going to ask us to do it now. Let’s take a few minutes to confess our sin to the Lord. Just quietly, between you and God. I am a sinner. I need your grace.

<< 2 minutes >>

Let’s pray the confession together:
ALL: (5) Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we have sinned against you in what we have done, said, thought, and left undone.

We repent of our sin. Have mercy on us, most merciful Father. Amen.

Alright. Point 1 was this: We suffer because of our sins. I suffer because I am a sinner.
That is the beginning of the Christian life, and it is the continuation of Christian life. Every day we need to confess our sin, and receive his grace. Don’t believe the lie. Instead, confess your sin.

But there is a second reason for our suffering. We suffer because of our own sin, but we also suffer because of other people’s sin.

2. We suffer because of other people’s sin

4 The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. 5 The Sovereign Lord has spoken to me, and I have listened. I have not rebelled or turned away. 6 I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mockery and spitting. 7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame.

This is the cry of the servant of God. He comes with his words of wisdom – God’s wisdom – and it’s thrown back in his face. He comes with words of comfort and they beat his back and pull out his beard.

Some of us have been through that. Maybe not physically, but that’s what it FEELS like. People rejecting us just because we follow Christ. Sometimes going out of their way to be downright nasty to us. Sometimes even threatening us with violence or even death. And yes, some people even in this church have been threatened with death for believing in Christ.

But often, you know, there’s no big religious reason. They don’t really care what you believe – they just see you as a target to pick on. People – sometimes we suck. We’re just nasty. Watch kids on the playground. Hah, you’re different.

Probably many attacking Isaiah were just jumping on the bandwagon – haha, make fun of the weird prophet. I’m reading through Acts with my kids and when Paul was in Ephesus a riot broke out. And it says that most people didn’t even know why they were there! Just an excuse to go wild.

We’re sinners – any excuse to sin! Those around us are sinners. Those we live with are sinners. And sinners sin. And we suffer because of their sin. Just like our sin affects others – hurts them, makes their life miserable – so their sin affects us.

The lying wife. The disobedient child. The cheating boss. The unfaithful friend. The sharp words said in anger which cut us deep. Being left out. Being laughed at.

How do we respond? Well, how does the servant respond? 7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame.

We put our trust in Him. We know that he is faithful. We know that He treats us, sinners, with love and grace and mercy. And so we treat others, when they sin against us, with the same love and grace and mercy.

We set our face like stone, determined to do his will. We trust God. We get our security and significance from Him. Even when we stand alone, we are not alone because He is with us. Even when the one we love cuts us deep with her words we respond not with sinful rage but with patient correction, with strong love because we belong to Him.

Why? Because He suffered in our place. He knows what it is to suffer. He knows what it is to experience people sinning against him. And he responded in love. He came to suffer in our place.

3. Jesus suffered in our place

7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will.

Luke 9:51 When the days drew near for [Jesus] to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. (ESV)
It is hard unyielding determination. Jesus will not be swayed from his mission. He will go to Jerusalem, he will go to his death in order to rescue the world. He will not be stopped. His face set like stone. The Servant of God in action.

6 I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mockery and spitting.
Jn 19:1–3 Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. 2 The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. 3 “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.

Jesus offered his back to the whip, his face to those who struck him. He did not hide from mockery as they spat at him. His face was set like stone. He will follow through. He will obey his Father, no matter this cost. This is what it means to follow Jesus. We follow in his footsteps, even to death.

51:17 Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem! You have drunk the cup of the Lord’s fury. You have drunk the cup of terror, tipping out its last drops.
22 This is what the Sovereign Lord, your God and Defender, says: “See, I have taken the terrible cup from your hands. You will drink no more of my fury. 23 Instead, I will hand that cup to your tormentors, those who said, ‘We will trample you into the dust and walk on your backs.’ ”

Mt 26:36–46 Then Jesus went with [his disciples] to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” 37 He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. 38 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” 39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
40 Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 41 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!” 42 Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.”

Jesus drank the cup of suffering, the cup of the Lord’s fury that we, like Israel, like the disciples, deserved. But instead, he drank it.

It is like the bodyguard seeing the bullet heading towards the president, and he jumps in front of it. Bang. The bullet hits him instead of the one it was meant for.
It is the man who stands up in a hostage situation and says “No, take me instead”.

That is the sacrifice Jesus made, but oh so much more. He drank the cup we could not drink, he took the punishment we deserve for our sins, so that we could be free. Free! Free to know him, to worship him, to love him as we should. Glorious freedom!

Because of Jesus’ work, because he drank our cup, we can say:

Is 52:1 Wake up, wake up, O Zion! Clothe yourself with strength. Put on your beautiful clothes, O holy city of Jerusalem [O holy people of Rock International Church], for unclean and godless people will enter your gates no longer. 2 Rise from the dust, O Jerusalem. Sit in a place of honour. Remove the chains of slavery from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

We are free!

Brothers, let us take responsibility for our sin. Acknowledge our sin as we repent. I am a sinner, and so are you.

And I will not lash out at other sinners but will respond like Christ. Christ who set his face like stone. Christ who drank my cup of judgement. Because I am free. Free to be like Him. Free to follow him… to turn away from sin, and obey Him, for He is with me, and He will not let me down.