The Sin Bearer

Well, the title of today's study is The Sin Bearer. The Sin Bearer. The Bible says that we have a fundamental issue in our lives this morning. It is a fundamental issue that is irrespective of our status in society. It's a fundamental issue that is irrespective of our gender, irrespective of our background. Because it is the fundamental issue that we are all sinful. We are all sinful. We find that the Bible addresses this issue throughout all of the New Testament and the Old Testament. What we find with regards to sin is that never, never in the history of God's dealings with mankind, did He ever say, that's okay.

Don't worry about it. God has never excused sin. He's never discounted sin. He's never just simply dismissed it. Why is that? Why is that? Many have wondered, why can't God just let it go? Why did He have to respond to sin with the very life of His Son? Have you thought about that? Well, it's because of His righteous nature. Because of His righteous nature, He cannot just say, forget about it. It's not possible for Him. Because of His righteous nature, sin must be dealt with. That can be a very hard thing to understand, especially in society in this day and age.

Living in the environment in which we do, the modern mind doesn't understand God's righteousness. It doesn't understand the concept and the fact that God is pure, and God is holy, and His law is pure, and His law is holy, and sin goes against those very things. Sin goes against all that is holy and all that is pure. So God must deal with it. He must deal with it. And again, when you begin to read your Bible, you discover that it is just full of examples of God dealing with sin. And it's so interesting to come to the understanding of how God deals with sin. Do you know? Do you know how God deals with sin?

The way He ultimately deals with it is through substitution. Substitution. God designed it to be such that someone other than the sinner would bear the sin. God designed it as such that someone would substitute or bear the sin and its penalty so that the sinner, the actual offender, may be forgiven. It's the substitution principle of God's, where the sinner is forgiven on the basis that someone else bore their sins. Turn with me to 1 Peter 2, if you will. 1 Peter 2 and verse 24.

Paul writes of this very issue, speaking of Jesus Christ, as our sin-bearer, the one who bore our sins on our behalf. 1 Peter 2 and verse 24 is absolutely fascinating to come to this revelation here. Chapter 2, 1 Peter 2 and verse 24, just one verse. Speaking of Jesus here, Jesus, it says, "...who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed." So, in other words, Jesus was the sin-bearer.

He was the substitute, the substitute provided for all of mankind. That might be a concept that is familiar to you, but I want you to know that this notion, this notion of bearing sin, this notion of justice executed, but executed on someone innocent, is a concept that is very alien to most of the world. But it's the very principle that God has established, and it is from the beginning. If you know to look for it, you will see it throughout the entire Scripture.

The substitution principle is introduced to us in many ways and is on full display in the story of Abraham and Isaac. Let's see that. Turn with me to Genesis 22. Genesis 22 and verse 6. Here we'll see in Genesis 22, we'll see this substitution principle.

What we're going to see is that a substitute would bear or take the place of one who was bound for pending death here. Genesis 22, and let's read verse 6 through 14. What a story this is. Really try to put yourself here and imagine this moment between a father and a son. Genesis 22 and verse 6. So, Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son.

And he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here I am, my son. And then he said, Look, the fire in the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering.

So the two of them went together. Verse 9. And when they came to the place of which God had told them, and Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac, his son, laid him on the altar upon the wood, and Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, Here I am. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

Then, think of this moment, then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked.

And there behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns.

So Abraham went, took the ram, offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided. Let's stop there.

The Lord provided a substitute on that day, a substitute to take the place of the one who was bound for pending death. Can you imagine what was going through Abraham's mind as he lifted that knife with full intent to plunge it into his son?

But right at that moment, what does he hear? Abraham, being called out to him from heaven, must have been overwhelming, must have been overwhelming as he lowered the knife and looked over and there, caught, is the ram. There, provided, a ram to take the place of his son.

I can imagine him looking back at his son, tears probably flowing at this point, barely unable to unbind his son, begin to unbind him. I'm sure there was just such an embrace at that moment. The Lord provided a substitute, a substitute to take the place of one who was bound for pending death. Another substitution principle comes to us in Exodus 12. Let's turn there and see this. Exodus 12 in verse 21. Exodus 12 in verse 21. Here, we're going to read the story, of course, of the Passover in Egypt. How each Israelite family here took a lamb, killed it, sprinkled its blood on the lentil, the post of the door, and only in this way were they safe from the judgment of death. Let's see this. Exodus 12. Let's read verse 21 through 23.

Exodus 12 verse 21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families and kill the Passover lamb.

And you'll still take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, strike it on the lentil, the two door posts with the blood that is in the basin, and none of you should go out of the door of the house until morning. For the Lord will pass through and strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lentil and on the two door posts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses and strike you. Let's stop there. So again, only in this way were they able to escape the death of their firstborn sons. And there was no other way that the death of the firstborn could be addressed on that day, except by the sacrifice blood of the lamb. On that day, the life of the lamb served as the substitute for their firstborn. So then, moving forward in the pages of history, we come to that faithful day when John the Baptist looks down the path and he sees Jesus Christ coming. And what does he say?

Behold, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin from the world. The Lamb of God. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin from the world. That's John 1, verse 29. You can look that up later.

Suddenly, Jesus Christ walks across the stage of human history as the ultimate substitute, as the ultimate sin-bearer. Not just for one boy Isaac, not just for many boys in the Israelites, but for everyone. The sin-bearer for everyone. He came as the substitute for all of mankind.

And in coming to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we see that sin is ultimately dealt with in this way. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is how God ultimately dealt with sin. Amazing. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. We're going to read of this very thing. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. This is fascinating. It's a fascinating passage of Scripture here.

Paul is going to reveal this very thing that we're speaking about, that how sin was ultimately dealt with on that day in which Jesus Christ was killed. And it is staggering.

2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. Just one verse. An incredible truth here revealed.

2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us.

That we might become the righteousness of God in him. Wow.

God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. In other words, Jesus Christ was not only made flesh, but he was also made sin at this moment. At the moment of his sacrifice, he was made sin for us.

Staggering. This is the truth of the sacrifice. And this is what we want to grapple with today.

We want to grapple with what actually occurred there at this stake in which he was nailed.

Because it is at this sacrifice scene that we are confronted by a fundamental question. We are confronted by a fundamental question with regards to this substitution principle. And it's this. Why such a cruel punishment be carried out on a person who did nothing to deserve that punishment? Why a sacrificed Christ? Have you thought about that? Why a sacrificed Christ?

Why did someone who lived so powerfully and perfectly, why did he have to die?

If you've never asked that question, I want you to know that you and I both, we cannot become a Christian, a true Christian, without facing that very question. Because until we begin to understand all that the lifeless picture of Jesus Christ means, until we understand that picture of a lifeless Jesus Christ, we can never truly embrace our need of it. Until we understand the wonder of all that occurred there on that stake in which he was knelt, we can never truly bow to its gravity and the gravity of its meaning. Jesus was made sin for us. So we can ask it once again, what occurred, what happened at that moment of Jesus' death when he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? What happened at that moment?

Indeed, right at that moment, right at that moment, Jesus Christ took your sin.

He took my sin. He took your guilt. He took my guilt. He took my guilt right at that moment, just before that spiritual knife was plunged into us, just before that death angel entered into our house.

Jesus Christ stepped up and he stepped in.

And he said, wait, let me. He was our sin substitute on that day, and therefore he experienced just complete separation from God, complete separation from his Father. He felt at that moment, he felt his Father's presence leaving him right at that moment. And as he cried out, my God, my God. Why did he experience that separation at that moment?

Well, we know sin separates us from God, don't we? It separates us. So Jesus Christ becoming sin at that moment separated him from his Father. He experienced absolute separation. And if you think about it, how could man and God the Father ever hope to come together?

How could we ever hope to come together with God the Father? If God is holy and pure, even unable to look upon his Son when he became that sin bearer, and we, by our very nature, are sinful, how could reconciliation ever happen?

It can't. It can't, right? Right. Unless. Unless, of course, God the Father would take the initiative and send someone to bear mankind's sin upon himself. Someone to bear it all, all of it, thereby making it possible for mankind to know the wonder of his Father's presence.

Turn with me to 1 John 2. 1 John 2, let's read more about what happened there there when Jesus Christ drew his last breath. 1 John 2, let's read verse 1 through 2.

1 John 2, verses 1 through 2.

What happened when he took his last breath?

1 John 2, verse 1.

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin.

And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.

And then a little later in the chapter, go forward to chapter 4. He explains this again, staying here in 1 John chapter 4. Let's read verse 9 and 10.

1 John 4, verse 9 and 10. He explains it this way.

In this, the love of God was manifested towards us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. And this is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and he sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.

The propitiation, that is the act of taking punishment on the behalf of another. And even going down to verse 14 here of chapter 4, verse 14, we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world, it says.

Monumental moment, monumental moment that occurred at that time, at that sacrifice. The act of Jesus Christ upon the stake was to bear the sin of the entire world, so that he could save the entire world.

And it is only with that understanding that there is an incredible dimension brought to the Christian's life, especially when we gathered around that table just the other night, and took in those symbols of his spilled blood and his broken body in the Passover.

And the Christian only truly understands what occurred on that stake. Once they can understand what occurred on that stake, then and only then can they even begin to grasp the wonder it is to hear that phrase that, He loved me and He died for me.

Don't get lost in those words because we hear them quite often.

Those words mean something. They mean something.

So, it's not only that Jesus Christ was a great teacher. He was the ultimate teacher. It's not only that He was the ultimate example for us. He was.

But we can't lose the fact and we can't lose sight in the wonder of it all that He bore my sin.

And that He bore your sin in His own body on the tree, thus fulfilling God the Father's divine obligation for our sin. It's difficult to grasp that somehow or another, on that day, he was unfolding that which goes back to the eternal councils. It goes back to the very foundation of the world. He was unfolding that on that day when in a covenant between the Father and the Son, it was determined what would be the answer for my sinful heart.

It was determined way back then what would be the answer for my sinful heart.

A covenant between God and the Father, the Father and the Son. Mankind found themselves in a position that would make reconciliation impossible, but He Jesus Christ would now make that possible.

And again, what was determined at that time is that He would endure these things so that we could have our eternity opened up to us and available to us. So, your opportunity to salvation was at great cost. Great cost. The message of the sacrifice is clear. His sacrifice establishes the gravity of sin. Sin is awful. It's awful. And that truth is clearly seen and most seen in that it took the life of God's very Son to deal with it. That's how awful sin is.

In that dying scene, God displays and satisfies His perfect and holy justice by exercising and executing the punishment for our sins onto that of Jesus Christ. At the stake Jesus Christ took upon Himself, sin which He never committed. The non-transgressor, the innocent Son of Man, became numbered with the transgressors.

And if you go back to that scene and the events surrounding it, it's so interesting to see that even that fact became phenomenally difficult for Pilate, Pilate himself, as he was dealing with this issue that they had brought him an innocent man. And he knew it. And on several occasions Pilate even said, I don't even know what to do here. I can't find any reason in dealing with this man in terms of punishment. Let's see that. Turn with me to Luke 23. Luke 23. In Luke 23 and verse 13, we're going to see that even Pilate himself had no basis to charge Jesus Christ.

Luke 23. Let's read verse 13 through 16 here.

Luke 23 and verse 13.

It says, then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, said to them, You have brought this man to me as one who misleads the people.

And indeed, having examined him in your presence, I have found no fault in this man, concerning those things which you accuse him. No, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him. And indeed, nothing deserving of death has been done by him. I will therefore chastise him, and I'll release him. So he says I could find no basis to charge this man. And this back and forth continues. Look at verse 18. Verse 18.

And they all cried out at once, saying, Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas, who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city, and for murder. Verse 20. Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus again, called out to them again. But they shouted, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

And he said to them for the third time, Why? What evil has he done?

I have found no reason for death in him. I will therefore chastise him and let him go.

He's done nothing to deserve death. Go down to verse 39. The scene goes on. Verse 39. We even see here the two criminals discussing Jesus Christ's innocence.

Verse 39 through 41. Verse 39 through 41. Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him, saying, If you are Christ, save yourself and us. But the other, answering, rebuking him, rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we, indeed, justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong.

So one criminal starts to mock Jesus Christ. If you're who you say you are, save yourself and while you're at it, save us. Two, and the other criminal speaks across Jesus Christ.

And he says, No, we're being punished justly. This man, this man, has done nothing wrong to warrant this.

Verse 47. Even the officer who, who undoubtedly had seen many, overseen many, many crucifixions. Look at what he says in verse 47.

So when the Centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, What? Certainly, this was a righteous man. So even the Centurion is confronted with the innocence of Jesus Christ. Judas Iscariot, Judas Iscariot, the one who, of course, betrayed him.

After the event had taken place, he was, of course, bemoaning the situation and what had occurred. And he said, Judas Iscariot himself said, I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood. And bear in mind, Judas Iscariot lived with Jesus Christ. And he not only saw the public Jesus Christ, but he also saw Jesus on the inside, in a way. Behind the scenes, he was able to observe his example and see if his, the way he lived his life, if those words were backed up. And despite all that he did, what did he say? I have betrayed innocent blood. You can find that in Matthew 27, verse 4. So, what crime did Jesus commit? None. And again, we've never understood the awfulness of sin until we begin to look upon his sacrifice and understand that an innocent man died on that day. He became nothing, poured out to death. Why? Why? Well, the answer is because of the gravity of my sin. We all need to acknowledge that today.

And so, every time I sin as a Christian, every unpure thought, every unpure word, every unpure action, it's in that shadow. It's in the shadow of an innocent man hanging there dead. There's gravity to that.

How awful sin must be that it would take Jesus Christ to die for me.

He had to die in order to deal with it. But it's important to make something clear here regarding this substitution process, and that is this. We can't just look at it as my sin is now dismissed.

God just dismissed it. The sin of a sinner is just excused.

You can't look at it that way. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 18. We're going to read here of a key understanding that we need to have with regards to how sin was dealt with on that day.

2 Corinthians 5. Let's read verses 18 through 19. Here we're going to see a key understanding. God has reconciled man back to himself through Jesus Christ, but it wasn't just by dismissing the sin or discounting it. Quite the contrary. We'll see here.

2 Corinthians 5 and verse 18 and 19. Notice this carefully.

It says, Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us this ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their transpasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Let's stop there. Paul makes an amazing statement here. God was reconciling the world to himself through Jesus Christ, not counting men's sin against them.

But notice this. It doesn't say he wasn't counting men's sin, does it?

Have you heard that? Oh, God's not counting sin against you. Not so. On the contrary, men's sin would have to be dealt with at the highest of cost, the life of his very Son. Rather than imputing their sin upon themselves, it would be imputed onto his Son. The cost? You better believe there was a cost. The cost of the very life of his Son. So there's no diminishing here. There's no discounting. There's no discounting the gravity of sin. It had to be accounted for, and it was.

So we're not speaking truth when we say, God just lets you off.

The sinner shouldn't feel bad. It really doesn't matter. God's not counting your sins.

Have you ever heard that say, not so? Because he is. He definitely is. In fact, he's either counting them against you and me, or he's counting against his son. But they're being counted for.

So we should feel the weight of that. How can it be that he would substitute for me?

And this is what we want to proclaim this afternoon or this morning, is that there was significance in the death of Jesus Christ. There was absolute significance in him laying down his life for us.

When he was delivered up by Pilate, it was just, it was an absolute disgrace. It was an absolute disgrace. There was no factor within it that represented any genuine justice.

For him to be subjected to the greatest form of punishment, we could say.

Absolute appalling. And this was Jesus. This was Jesus who brought little babies to him, to him, the children. This was Jesus who fed the 5,000. This was Jesus who took a prostitute, turned her life around, transformed her.

He didn't deserve to die. The sinless Son of God. It's just not right.

And you've read enough of the scene to realize just the absolute cruelness of it. How they drove nails through the palms and the feet and propped up, propped it up, and let it jolt into the ground.

Excruciating. You know, about 40% of the gospel, they say, is given over to these events that surround this death, Jesus Christ's death. And if we ask why, well, we understand why. It was the pivotal event in all of human history, his sacrifice.

And so what occurred on that day, God the Father just didn't think it up as some kind of way to correct a defect in the system. No. If you turn to 1 Peter, let's turn there, 1 Peter 1 verse 17, we'll see that that wasn't the case at all.

It was planned since the beginning, since the world was founded. This would be the answer to our sinful hearts. 1 Peter 1, let's read verses 17 through 21. 1 Peter 1 in verse 17 through 21, it was determined, God the Father had determined that his Son would fulfill this function of a Savior for sinners. 1 Peter 1, and let's start at verse 17.

And if you call on the Father, who, without partiality, judges according to each one's work, conduct yourself throughout the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, he's building a significance here. But how were you redeemed? How were you redeemed? Verse 19. You were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through him believed in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. So chosen, since the creation of the world, God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son entered into this covenant, and he was to accomplish a work that was assigned to him, and the Father was to glorify him in return.

And that's why when they came to the arrest, arrest him, and Peter pulls out his sword and lops off the guy's ear, that's why Jesus Christ said, What are you doing?

If I wanted to do it that way, trust me, I could call a legion of angels. They'd come and wipe out the whole place. Do you know my role here, Peter? Do you understand, Peter, what I'm doing?

I am fulfilling a purpose. Do you know I am the great substitute? Do you know I am the great sin bearer? That's who I am. And when Jesus Christ prays toward the end of his life, he says, I've glorified you, Father, on earth, and I've accomplished this work, which I was given to accomplish, given to do. In his humanity, he shied away from it. He sweat bloods and drops of blood in his humanity.

But what did he say? No, I've got to accomplish something here. Not my will, Father. Your will be done. So he died in order to fulfill the Father's purpose to redeem a people to himself.

That's why. That's why we do what we do. That's why we do what we do.

That's why we live the way we do. That's why we're sorrowful, deeply sorrowful when we sin.

That's why when we go to approach that throne of grace and ask for forgiveness, it's with a heavy heart. A heavy heart.

And this is and we must absolutely respond to this incredible act of love in this way. Look at verse 13 and 16. It tells us what to do.

Because of all that Jesus Christ has done for you, verse 13, Therefore gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children, not conforming yourself to the former lusts as in your ignorance, but as he who called you as holy.

You also be holy in all your conduct because it is written, Be holy for I am holy.

That's quite a passage. Are we hearing this today?

We're no longer in ignorance of what Jesus Christ has done for us, as it says there.

You don't act in your former conduct as if you're still in your ignorance. No.

Do you know what my son has done for you? Therefore, be holy. Be holy as I am holy.

So we'll never be able to say, I never understood. I never understood that sin thing, that he was my sin bearer. I never understood that. We won't be able to say that. You know, if this doesn't affect you, the only thing that you'll be able to say is, I didn't want it.

Or, I didn't see my need for it. Because we're no longer in ignorance.

Going forward here to chapter 2, staying here in 1 Peter, this is the scripture we read earlier.

1 Peter 2 and verse 24. 1 Peter 2 and verse 24. What does it say?

Jesus, who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sin, might what?

Live for righteousness. That's our response to an innocent man dying. That's our response. That's our response.

We must be compelled, compelled by his death in this way, to live for righteousness.

And we bow our knee today.

We bow to the gravity of all that Jesus Christ did for us. It's our opportunity. We're not in ignorance anymore. So our knees bow to it. And we know, one day, one day, every knee will bow.

All of mankind will know what Jesus Christ did for them on that day.

So let's conclude with that. Let's conclude with that by turning to Philippians 2 and verse 5. And we're going to read a passage about that day when every knee will bow to the gravity and to the one, the ultimate sin-bearer, our Savior, our substitute.

You know, that mind, this understanding of Jesus Christ taking this on us, that mind should be in us.

This is how we live every day with this understanding of all that we've read about today.

So let's conclude here. Philippians 2, and we'll read verse 5 through 11. What a day this will be.

Philippians 2 verse 5 through 11. It says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus Christ every knee should bow of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the God the Father. So here at the conclusion of the Days of Unleavened Bread, let's bow. Let's bow and humble ourselves to the one who humbled himself for us. Bow to the gravity of it, and have it affect you, have it affect you, and move you toward righteousness.

And let's pray for that day when every knee will bow to the gravity of Jesus Christ's sacrifice. What a day that will be, and may that day come quickly.