Gospel Truth

Speaking of JESUS, the Bible says ... 

Isaiah 53[6]

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his own way; 

and the LORD has laid on him 

the iniquity of us all.

[10] Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days, 

and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

[6] We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his own way; 

Sheep really are dumb creatures. The first thing you notice about them is that they all follow each other, even though none of them knows where they are going. Another thing you notice about sheep is they are vulnerable. They are not good at defending themselves.

Nowadays shepherds pen them in to keep them safe. In the olden days the shepherd really was that, a Sheep-herder. The shepherd would herd the sheep and lead them to good grazing ground and keep them safe. Without a shepherd the sheep would certainly stray and that would mean real trouble.

The Bible says that we are like sheep without a shepherd, that is sheep that have gone astray. 

If we are honest, we cannot deny this is true. The truth is we pretty much totally ignore God and do our own thing. Just like sheep we have gone our own way, like sheep we have followed the crowd. The crowd of lost humanity. We have joined them, thrown our lot in with them, believed what they believed, desired what they desire, valued what they have valued, behaved like they behave and have had little or no regard for our maker. Every single one of us has turned our back on God.

In turning away from God we have all made ourselves filthy with sin. This is what 'iniquity' is, sin.

Another metaphor the Bible speaks of is 'robes of righteousness, pure and white' but we have stained ours with sin. Every wrong deed we have done is a stain. Every wrong thought, word, attitude of heart is a stain on your robe and mine. That is why JESUS said ...

Matthew 12 [36] 

But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. [37] For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

I cannot imagine how many careless words I have spoken, I cannot remember a fraction of them. But each one is a stain and I will have to account for every one of them - not a single one will be forgotten on that day.

 That is also why Jesus warns us ... 

Luke 12 [2] 

There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be made known. [3] What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

and ... 

1 Corinthians 4 [5] 

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. 

and ... 

Hebrews 4 [12] 

For the word of God is living and active. ... it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. [13] Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

We are like a piece of rotten fruit that looks scrumptious on the outside, but when you bite into it is it black with rot, crawling with maggots - yuk, you spew it straight out. 

1 Samuel 16

[7] But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

In other words, we look at a person and think, "They're ok" but God sees right through a person, God sees what is on the inside. He sees the whole person. He sees you and He sees me.

Adam and Eve 

Adam and Eve sinned and when they did the Bible tells us they did two things. They hid and they tried to cover up their nakedness.

We do the same, we try to hide the truth about ourselves and we try to cover up our nakedness, or to put it another way, we don't want anyone to see our shame. But the very fact they wanted to hide things exposed their shame, and it is the same for us. 

"Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

When I was a little boy, about 7 years old, there was a skanky family that lived across the road. I went into their house a few times. Every time the wall of smell hit me as their front door would open. It was overpowering. On one occasion I came out of their home, and as I walked my hand brushed my jacket and I felt something wet - it was poo! Yuk! It was on my jacket and on my hand, their poo! It made me sick! I was really angry, disgusted and upset. Our robes are unimaginably worse. That is just the sad truth.

We, like sheep have followed the crowd and wandered so far from God we are lost. We hide most of our wickedness in our thoughts. We have all committed crimes against God and humanity in our minds and hearts. We thought 'no-one knows', but the truth about us is not hidden from God. But ...

The Lord has laid on Him [Jesus], the iniquity of us all.

Good News!

Here is the good news for us, the amazing news.

The Lord, who sees every stain on our robes, takes the robes off us and lays them on Jesus! Think about that. The God who sees everything and to whom we must give an account is the one who takes away all our sin and has laid it upon Jesus. Not some of it but absolutely ALL of it. 

But it goes further than that. It tells us that Jesus' life was made 'A guilt offering'. All the filth we are stained with means we are all carrying a heavy load of guilt. For us it is normal to live life weighed down with a load of guilt. But we are a million miles from how God intends us to be - guilt free! Imagine how different we would be if we had never, ever sinned at all. We would know nothing at all of guilt or shame. We would have no regrets - not a single one. God does not erase the stain on guilt from our memory, but he has dealt with it so that it never comes up in our relationship with Him. So far as He is concerned, it is as though we have never sinned.

Psalm 103

[11] For as high as the heavens are above the earth, 

so great is his love for those who fear him;

[12] as far as the east is from the west, 

so far has he removed our transgressions [sins] from us.

God did this because He loves us. Consider how much He loves us to do that for us. 

Consider JESUS kindness to us. For JESUS, to have to put on our filthy robes was awful. It was bad enough me getting someone else's poo on my jacket and on myself. JESUS took upon Himself the sin of the whole world and experienced all of our guilt. He did it so that we could know the joy and freedom and lightness of spirit that comes with being completely forgiven by God.

But as we close these thoughts we must remember the most important thing of all, that is the reason for all our mess in the first place.

[6] We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his own way; 

God has dealt with all our sin so that we can stop going astray, turn back to Him, stop following the crowd and instead follow Him. That is where sin begins, turning our backs on God. Turning back to Him is what the Bible calls repentance. It means acknowledging the truth. That we have ignored God, that we have sinned, that we do need forgiveness and that rather than turning our backs on Him, we are now coming back to Him, acknowledging He is God and He alone, through JESUS death on the cross can save us from the ultimate consequences of our sin.

What will you do? Continue to turn your back on God or turn back to God?

If you choose to turn your back on God, then you turn your back on the only one who can deal with the problem of your sin. You turn your back on the one who loves you and offers you salvation.

If you turn back to Him, you can experience forgiveness and the joy of knowing JESUS as your great Shepherd.

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd,* I shall not be in want.*

[2] He makes me lie down in green pastures, 

he leads me beside quiet waters,*

[3] he restores my soul.* 

He guides me* in paths of righteousness* 

for his name's sake.*

[4] Even though I walk 

through the valley of the shadow of death,** 

I will fear no evil,* 

for you are with me;* 

your rod and your staff, 

they comfort me.

[5] You prepare a table* before me 

in the presence of my enemies. 

You anoint my head with oil;* 

my cup* overflows.

[6] Surely goodness and love* will follow me 

all the days of my life, 

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD 

forever.

Want to know more, come to church. St Georges Hall, Sunday @ 10.30am.