You know, it’s easy to live when you think that you won’t be held accountable for your actions. And I think when we look at the world around us, for the most part they at least hope—they hope that they won’t have to be held accountable for anything that they do, anything that they say. And so they just live the way they please, live in sin, immorality, corruption.
It’s easy when you think you won’t be held accountable, when you won’t have to give account, when you won’t be held responsible for the things that you have done. Just think, well, I can just live my life, and so be it.
Accountability Before God
You know, usually we give ourselves license to do evil when we think that we won’t be held accountable.
The Bible is clear. Whatever man thinks, whatever man does, whether openly, whether in secret, the Bible is clear: there is no creature—not even you—there is no creature that is hid from His sight. God sees everything.
God sees everything. There’s somebody here, and you think that God doesn’t know absolutely everything about you presently and about your past. God knows everything: every thought, every motive, every word that has come out of our mouth, everything that we’ve ever done, etc. God knows everything.
And it is Him to whom we must give account.
You know, there are people that say, “Well, I was born this way,” when perhaps they’re confronted. “I was born this way.” Well, what does that translate to? You can translate it easily. I mean, these people, if they were honest, maybe they would say, “Well, I’m totally trying to avoid being held accountable. I was born this way.”
And if you really analyze that phrase, there’s a very subtle admission, perhaps. Well, perhaps willing to say, “Well, maybe there’s something wrong with me. Maybe I’m not perfect after all. But it’s certainly not my fault. It’s society’s fault. It’s the family within which I was brought up.”
Always trying to avoid being held accountable.
Repentance Means Taking Responsibility
But you know, repentance is not only saying, “I have sinned,” because a lot of people, again, they’ll say, “I have sinned, but then it’s not my fault. I was pressured.”
Repentance is saying, “I have sinned,” and it’s to take responsibility for the sin that I have committed. It’s to own up for the crimes that we have done. That’s what they are. They are crimes. They’re not mistakes.
Again, “mistake”—it has a nice veneer, has a nice coating on it that kind of makes it seem that, you know, I won’t have to give account. It was a mistake.
No, sin is not a mistake. God has given us a conscience. We know right from wrong. We’ve all chosen to do wrong, and God holds us absolutely, 100 percent accountable.
A lot of people—oftentimes, from speaking to people, it seems to me anyway—people often want to be spiritual. I mean, after all, there’s a spirit side of us. We have a spirit. We are a soul. We’re not just material.
And so naturally people want to gravitate to something that is bigger than them. Of course, that’s a longing for God. A lot of people don’t really want to come to God, and so they gravitate to perhaps spiritual systems and, you know, Eastern, Western religions, and lighting candles, and having a little altar there, and, you know, that kind of suits me.
What’s that? It’s all systems where there’s absolutely no accountability. It’s just a power, higher power. “Oh, that suits me. I don’t want to have to give account to some spirit somewhere.”
No. People always trying to avoid, flee responsibility.
I wonder tonight, someone in our midst, will you be ready to be held accountable for your sins—sins against God—not to flee anymore? Because the Bible is clear. We must give account. We must give account. It’s going to come one day.
And, you know, refusing to give account often assumes that we’ll get away. We deceive ourselves and we think, “Well, I’m not going to give account. I won’t be held responsible because maybe, just maybe, there’s a way that I’ll get away with it.”
[The captions are unclear for a brief phrase here.]
It also assumes that God doesn’t know. We think God doesn’t know, and we can just hide it, and hopefully in eternity God will have overlooked our sins, as if He is not all-knowing, as we’ve already touched on.
Or perhaps it assumes that maybe the sentence will be lowered. I have a sense of guilt, as I suppose we all do. The fact plainly that we avoid being held accountable is because there’s something within us that tells us we’re guilty, right?
But continuing down that way will not lessen the sentence. No.
And avoiding accountability gets no one into heaven, really.
People might wonder—you see this chart here. You see a broad way; we mentioned it on past nights. A broad way, says the Lord Jesus, that leads down to destruction, leads down to hell.
And someone may wonder, “Well, what kind of people end up in such a place? Murderers, or rapists, or Hitler-type people? Who ends up in such a place?”
Well, one thing is certain: people who refuse to be held accountable, sadly, will end up there.
God Wants Us to Admit Our Guilt
But you know, the truth is God wants us to take responsibility. Why? Because He wants to bless us. He wants to bless you.
God wants to save you despite your guilt, despite your sins. God wants you to own up, admit before God your guilt.
Anyone here says, “Tonight I’m gonna come out of hiding. Tonight I’ll expose myself before God.” God wants to bless you.
You know, in the court of law—when, uh, I don’t think we have that in Canada, but in the States I know that there is such a thing as a plea bargain.
A plea bargain in the court of law means, when the defendant is brought up—the defendant is the person who is being accused, who is about to spend time in prison or whatever it may be—if the defendant pleads guilty, in other words, is held accountable, takes responsibility for his actions, that agreement says the person pleads guilty, the sentence will be lowered.
The sentence will be reduced for free just by admitting guilt. The sentence is reduced, and there can be a little bit of mercy shown.
But of course, if he refuses, then there’s no mercy. It’s a full sentence.
But, you know, with God it’s similar, except it’s even better.
All people who are willing to admit their guilt before God, God is not merely able to reduce the sentence, but He can remove it altogether—completely, fully, definitely, and forever remove the sentence.
Those who plead guilty, God can show mercy. God can show mercy. But those who refuse, God can do no other than to judge sin.
What Does “Made Sin for Us” Mean?
Now, you know, we’ve read in 2 Corinthians something quite amazing. If you would understand the verse—and I hope that you will by the time this meeting is over, at least my short portion.
The Bible says, “For He”—that’s God—“made Him”—that’s the Lord Jesus—“who knew no sin.”
The Lord Jesus knew no sin, never sinned. He’s perfect. Unlike you, unlike me, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
You say, “What does it mean that Him who knew no sin, the Lord Jesus, was made to be sin? What does that mean?”
That doesn’t mean that He sinned. No. The text says that He has no sin.
You know what that verse says? It says that Christ became accountable for our sins.
The Lord Jesus there upon the cross, He was answerable for our sins before God. He answered to God for the sins of the whole world.
There at the cross, He bore sins that were not His own—not His own. There upon the cross, He bore a judgment that He did not deserve.
God, in His grace and His mercy, He saw mankind. He saw you and I still perhaps fleeing accountability. God had mercy. God had pity.
He said, you know, “These poor people, there’s no way they can save themselves. There’s no way they can get out of the situation in which they’re in.”
God says, “I’ll send My Son, and He is the One who will be held accountable for their sins,” even though He had committed no sin. Not a thing.
The Sinless Christ Takes the Sinner’s Place
There’s somebody here, and you’re willing to be honest before God, and you’re willing to admit your guilt before God.
There can be a full pardon. The sentence can be fully removed.
Why? Because another, the Lord Jesus, stepped in your place.
You know, at the cross He was there: the Lord Jesus, the just for the unjust. It’s you. He was there, the righteous One for the unrighteous one, the sinless One for the sinners, that we in Him might be made the righteousness of God.
It’s quite a thing to think of the Lord Jesus, who was willing—even though He never had committed a single sin—to be held responsible for the sin and the consequences of sin, the condemnation that sin brings. He was willing to be held accountable for your sins.
You have to think that there are still people who do not want to be held accountable for their own sins. Christ was willing to be held accountable for your sins, but you still refuse to be held accountable for your sins.
Think about that for a minute.
The Lord Jesus was willing to humble Himself to such an extent that you might be saved. I hope there’s no one here not willing to humble themselves.
The good news is, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us”—answerable for our sins, accountable for our sins. The full sentence of our sins was passed upon Him.
And if someone was just to trust Him without any works, just trust Him—saved even tonight, have God’s salvation even tonight.
And those who are saved, those who have recognized in the Lord Jesus the One who bore their sins on the cross, who died on their behalf, who died so they could be free from sin and hell, these people will never have to give account for their sins.
Never, never, ever, ever. Not today, not tomorrow, not in eternity. Never be held accountable for their sins.
Why? As the Lord Jesus was accountable for their sins.
Pardon Is Not God Overlooking Sin
You know, my sins—I’ve mentioned it last night, but it’s a great truth—my sins have not been overlooked.
I’m pardoned, but not because God gave me a free pass, as it were, without doing anything about my sins.
No. My sins were dealt with. My sins were judged righteously upon the cross. The Lord Jesus died for them. He was accountable for my sins.
Thank God I’ll never have to give account, even for the secret things I’ve done.
What about you tonight?
Your conscience troubling you? Willing to be held accountable?
Look to the Saviour.
He who knew no sin—God made Him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
