Three Scripture Readings
We’re going to read in the book of Ezekiel. He was a prophet, and the Lord had some very interesting things to say to the people through him. We’re in Ezekiel chapter 33, verse 10. Ezekiel had been told, “I want you to go to my people, and I want you to warn them from me.” So Ezekiel was a mouthpiece, a messenger from God to the people. This is one of the things he said:
“If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?” — Ezekiel 33:10 (NKJV)
What then? What comes after that?
Now I want you to turn to the beginning of your Bible, to Leviticus. We’re going to read part of the story of something that took place on a very solemn day for the children of Israel: the Day of Atonement. They had a lot of festivals, but this was the most solemn day of the year for them. I’ll give the background in a little while, but here is what it says about Aaron, the high priest:
“Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man.” — Leviticus 16:21 (NKJV)
He didn’t miss anything. He put all of it on the head of the goat, and the goat carried it away.
One final reading, in the book of Isaiah, chapter 53 and verse 6. These are wonderful words:
“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.” — Isaiah 53:6 (NKJV)
The first part of the verse tells us what we’ve done and who we are. The second part tells us what God did: the Lord God has laid on Him, the Lord Jesus, the iniquity of us all. That sounds very familiar after Leviticus 16, doesn’t it? Someone carrying something for someone else.
Sin-Bearers
What I want to speak about tonight is sin-bearers. That’s why we used the earlier examples: people carrying their packs, hikers carrying their equipment, whatever the case might have been. I want us to think about sin-bearers. We have read about three of them this evening, and we’ll go over them one by one as time permits.
Sin Is Our Problem
A Very Simple Command
A lot of times, when it comes to the story of Adam and Eve, you hear the little phrase, “Well, Eve ate the apple.” I don’t know if it was an apple or not, and it doesn’t matter. Whatever kind of fruit it was, it was forbidden fruit. God had said, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” It’s a very simple command, like something mom and dad say to the kids, even the older kids in the house: “Don’t touch that. That’s for supper. That’s for company. That’s for tomorrow. Don’t take it.” We all know what that means.
God said that to Adam in Genesis chapter 2, and in chapter 3 she ate the fruit, and so did he. It’s a simple commandment, and even though it seems so innocuous, so “who cares? They ate a piece of fruit,” God cares, because it was direct disobedience to the commandment of God.
I don’t think we’ll ever preach the gospel without preaching about sin. If there were no issue of sin, there would be no need for a Saviour. There wouldn’t be any danger, and there wouldn’t be any penalty or consequence to worry about. Sin is our problem. The biggest problem you and I have as human beings is sin. And not just sin in general, but my sin and your sin.
Breaking God’s Law
Everyone who commits sin breaks God’s law. That’s what sin is by definition, a breaking of God’s law. That’s how J.B. Phillips puts it in his translation of that passage.
Imagine the Ten Commandments written in stone, by the finger of God, and man choosing to break God’s law. I’ve tried to illustrate it this way. Have you ever tried to bend a piece of stone or slate? Some people say, “Well, I just bent the truth a little bit.” But you can’t bend stone. As soon as you try, what does it do? It breaks. That’s true for every one of us. We can’t bend God’s law, because when we try, we break it. That’s what sin is.
Where Are Your Sins?
So here is a personal question for everyone in this room tonight. It’s very simple, and sometimes very hard to face: where are your sins? Not “there’s sin everywhere in the world.” That’s not the point. Where are your sins right now?
The truthful answer to that question determines, for every one of us, where we will be when we die, because your sins are either on you or they are on Christ. Which one is it? Please be honest.
We’ve been hearing about how people want to sidestep and slither out from under responsibility. They don’t want to feel the glaring eyes. They don’t want to be under the finger of someone who is pointing out the issue and trying to deal with the problem. I hope you’re willing to be honest, not before me, but before God. Where are your sins?
“We all have sins,” someone says. “I would agree. But I haven’t done the bad ones.” That’s not the question. When the Lord speaks of sins, when the Scriptures write about sins, yes, they talk here and there about specific sins, but the issue is sin of any kind. The first sin was to disobey, to take something that God said, “Don’t take.”
The First Sin-Bearer: The Sinner
We have read about three places where there is a sin-bearer, and the first one is the sinner himself or herself. We read these words, and they are very personal: “If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we die that way, how are we going to live?”
Missing the Mark
In the New Testament, Paul writes to the Roman Christians and says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” They have all missed the mark. In some cultures, when someone is using a bow and arrow and shoots and misses the bullseye, they say a word in their language that translates as “I’ve sinned.” I can’t remember exactly which language it is, but that’s the idea: missing the mark. That’s what sin is.
You say, “None of us is perfect.” You’re exactly right. Imagine there’s a little red dot on the ceiling, and God said, “Everyone who can reach that red dot can go to heaven.” You’d say none of us would make it, right? Some of us would be a little closer, but all of us would miss the mark. That’s what God is saying about us spiritually before Himself. Whatever opinion you have of yourself, the bottom line is that we have all fallen short. We have all missed the mark.
Pilate and the Guilt of the Crowd
When the Lord Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, the soldiers took Him and bound Him and brought Him to stand in front of the judge, Pilate. Pilate was a political man, we know that. He cross-examined the Lord Jesus, this man who had been brought to him to be tried. During that process, Pilate’s wife sent a message: “Don’t have anything to do with this just man.” She had been dreaming, and her dreams troubled her about Jesus, who was on trial.
Pilate said, “He’s innocent. I can’t find one single thing wrong with this man.” And then he called for a basin of water. You can see him putting his hands in the water, washing them, looking at the people and saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person. You see to it.” Again, he admitted that this was a guiltless man. And then he sentenced Him to death. What a travesty of justice.
You know what the people said? “His blood be on us and on our children.” That wasn’t literal blood they were speaking about. It was guilt. The guilt of what they had done would remain on them and on their children.
The Weight of Guilt
Guilt is a very unpleasant thing, isn’t it? I’m sure that everyone here could give me an experience, a time when you did something or said something and you just felt awful. It’s like all of a sudden you’re sick to your stomach and something inside just hurts, and you just want to hide your face. That’s guilt.
Romans chapter 3 says the law was given so that every mouth might be shut and all the world become guilty before God. Why does it say “all the world”? Because all the world are human beings, and all have sinned and fallen short of God’s standard. Like it or not, we are all found guilty in the presence of God. It’s what God said, and it’s what God sees. The psalmist said, “My sins are so many. They’ve gone over my head like a heavy burden. They’re too heavy for me.”
Taking Responsibility
We’ve been hearing about accountability, about assuming responsibility for what we’ve done. About thirty-five years ago, we were repainting my son’s bedroom. He was getting a little older, and we decided to get him a set of bunk beds, which he had wanted for a long time. The painting was all done, the new beds were in, and so on. I went in to tuck him in for the night, pray with him, and say good night. When I went in, I looked up at the ceiling, which I had just finished painting, and there was a mark on it. I looked at him and said, “Who did that?” knowing full well who did it.
You could see the wheels turning. He has an older sister and a younger sister. He said, “Well, if Bethany didn’t do it, and Rachel didn’t do it, I must have done it.” [laughter] He couldn’t escape the finger being put on him, the guilty one.
We don’t like that, especially when it comes from God. But God wants you to understand that you are guilty before the One who, as you have heard, knows all things.
The Second Sin-Bearer: The Scapegoat
The second sin-bearer we read about was the scapegoat. That word isn’t in the verse, but I’ll explain it. What we read had to do with all the iniquities and all the transgressions and all the sins of the people.
Aaron, the high priest, had a duty that day. They would take two little goats, and by casting lots, drawing straws, however you want to say it, one of those goats was chosen to die. Its blood was shed and sprinkled in the Holy of Holies. The other goat was the scapegoat.
This is what it said: Aaron would lay both his hands on the head of the living goat and confess all the transgressions, iniquities and sins. The words “lay his hands” don’t mean what we might picture, just resting a hand there. What it really means is that Aaron leaned on the goat with all of his weight, not to hurt it, but to say, “I’m identifying with this little animal in what I’m about to do.”
Mind you, there were a million or more, maybe two million people gathered around. All the Jews, all the people who had come out of Egypt, were gathered there, and I’m sure you could have heard a pin drop. Aaron would speak: “Lord, in this vast audience there are people who have told lies. There are people who have stolen something.” As he spoke those things, it was as if that little goat had an invisible saddlebag. It might have been a lie, and that goes on the goat. It might have been coveting, wanting what someone else has. It might have been stealing. Whatever it was, as he confessed those sins one after another, God wanted the people to realize in their minds: that’s an innocent little goat. It didn’t do anything wrong, but we did. And Aaron is taking what we did and putting it on an innocent victim. He would speak until he was finished.
Then a rope was given to a fit man, someone chosen beforehand, and that little animal was taken out into the wilderness, bearing the sins, and let go. Imagine if this happened right here, with millions of people gathered around, watching and listening as that little goat went out with the man. They turn and they watch, and they watch, and they watch, and pretty soon that little animal disappears over the horizon. For that moment, it’s almost as if the sins are gone. They weren’t literally gone. They were atoned for, covered, just covered until the next time. But the people were to realize that little animal was bearing their sins as an innocent victim.
The Third Sin-Bearer: The Saviour
I want you to think of the third one, from Isaiah 53 and verse 6: the Saviour. The Lord Jesus became the sin-bearer. Please pay careful attention to those simple words, because they are simple. The Lord God did something for you. The Lord God laid on the Lord Jesus the iniquities of us all.
Remember the little goat? All the transgressions, all the iniquities, all the sins, all on that little goat. The Lord God, in actuality, has taken all my sins, past, present and future, and laid them upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the one who went to the cross. He was the one who suffered. God did that for me.
“Does That Mean I’m Saved?”
Sometimes people have said, “If it says ‘of us all,’ does that mean I’m saved? Does that mean all my sins are gone?” No, it doesn’t. So what does it mean? I hope you’ll understand in just a couple of minutes.
Gethsemane
Just before the Lord Jesus was taken and stood in front of the judge, He was in a garden, and He literally lay on the garden floor. He was in so much torment, so much anguish about what was about to happen, that He sweat, not water, but blood. It’s a condition called hematidrosis. It changed the very chemistry of His cells, and they leaked blood. Why? Second Corinthians 5:21 tells us that God made Him to be sin.
On that garden floor the Lord Jesus said, “Father, if it’s possible, let this cup pass from Me.” He used that term to speak of all that was going to come, the judgment He was going to bear. “Nevertheless, not what I want, but what You want. Not My will, but Yours be done.”
What He Suffered
He suffered a great deal of pain. We know that He suffered torment in the darkness that we really don’t understand. But I think one of the greatest components of His suffering was this: a sinless, holy Son of God, who had no sin. He knew no sin. He did no sin. In Him was no sin. But He personally, as 1 Peter 2:24 says, carried our sins in His body. By His wounds we are healed.
Sometimes we think of the physical sufferings He endured, and they were terrible. The descriptions of crucifixion are really hard to read because they’re so awful. Yes, there were the nails that pierced His hands and His feet. There was the scourge. As you read the Old and New Testaments, you realize that the scourge went right down to the bone in His back. History says that fifty per cent of people who were scourged never survived just the scourging. And that was only part of what He suffered.
They hit Him in the face. “You’re a king, so we’ll give you a crown.” They plaited a crown of thorns and put it on His head. They put a reed in His hand, and then took that reed and hit Him on the head, wearing that crown of thorns. Do you know what He said? Nothing. And do you know what else? He was thinking of you. He was thinking of me, because He loved you and He loves me. He never said a word. He went like a lamb to the slaughter. He was wounded for our transgressions. As we read earlier in that chapter, He was bruised, crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on Him. By His stripes we are healed.
Is It Nothing to You?
In the Old Testament, Jeremiah gives this plaintive cry: “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which has been brought on me, which the LORD has inflicted in the day of His fierce anger. From above He has sent fire into my bones.” Those words describe things we can hardly understand, but they were written intentionally so that we might understand.
And in the darkness of the cross came that cry: “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” If you die in your sins, you will be without God forever, forsaken forever. He said, “Why have You forsaken Me?” because He was bearing our sin, yours and mine.
Let me just say this. Do you think God will not hold you responsible if you ignore what Christ did, if you pass it by? Please don’t ever think that, because you and I are responsible for Christ dying on the cross. It was for us, and because of us.
It Is Finished
So when will it be true that the Lord God lays our sins on His Son? Look at it. It’s in the past tense. It’s already done, and it’s never going to be repeated. God is satisfied with the work of His Son. He’s satisfied because He loves His Son and finds delight in Him. But He is satisfied on your behalf as well, no less.
You say, “Does that mean I’m saved?” No, it doesn’t.
The Ticket
Suppose there’s somewhere you want to go, and the ticket costs $5,000. Yes, there are tickets that cost $5,000 and more. You say, “I want to go there, but I don’t have any money.” And I put a ticket here for you. It’s paid for. I say, “If you want to go there, take the ticket.” But if you pass it by, you’re not going there. The price was paid, and it was good enough to pay the price.
What Jesus did on the cross was sufficient. It was good enough to pay the price. But if you ignore it and pass it by, you have no one to blame but yourself when you open your eyes in that place called hell. There are only two places where sin can be dealt with, and one of them is hell. We hate talking about hell. But just as real as heaven is, so real is that place called hell. My sins were laid on the Lord Jesus at the cross, and they can only be in one place at one time.
So we read these words again: “The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Does that mean me? Me?
Taking God at His Word
Believing faith is simply taking God at His word. God said, “This is what I did.” And if that’s true, then Christ is never going to suffer again. He suffered once on the cross. He was wounded for our transgressions. That punishment dealt with my sin at the cross of Calvary, so that you and I would be safe.
The end of Hebrews chapter 9 says, “But now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” As the little animation showed, the woman got to the cross, left her burden there, and was free.
I wonder if there’s someone here tonight who is honest enough and simple enough to take God at His word. Remember the passport. Remember the ticket. You know the words, don’t you? I wonder if you will take them tonight. Our prayer is that you will, because the reality is that you may not have another opportunity to trust Christ. It has nothing to do with this church or this church building. But now is the time. Now is the time to be saved. Now is the time that God wants to save you. Might you do so?
