Guilt — Wayne Guindon

Good morning. It's a privilege to be here. Thank you. Is that uh, coca-cola? I'd like to read in john's gospel chapter three john's gospel chapter three and reading in verse 14 As moses Lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must The son of man be lifted up.

That whosoever believes in him Should not perish but have eternal life. Again as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the son of man Be lifted up. The lord will bless to us the reading of his word.

Personal Background and the Search for Fulfillment

It's a privilege for us to be here this morning. We spent 10 years in el salvador preaching the gospel. My wife is from guatemala. And up in the northern part where the mayan runes are where a part called tical.

And uh, I grew up in prince edward island. Does anybody know where prince edward island is? Lift your hand if you know prince edward island who is the most famous person in prince edward island. Who is the most who?

Anne of green gables, that's right. She's a little girl that doesn't even exist and she's more famous than all the people that do exist. Anyway, I I brought a friend from richmond over there a few years ago.

And he said he couldn't believe it that all the shrines set up to anne of green gables everywhere. You go people are buying dolls of her and bringing them home to japan and bringing them home to British columbia and and all this kind of stuff, but it's a very touching story.

And that's where I grew up in that beautiful little place called prince of rhode island, but I left prince of rhode island when I was about uh 20 years old and I came out to british columbia. Because I came out here and I wanted to have a good time and I wanted to go to british columbia where Everybody is rich and everybody drives nice cars and everybody wears nice clothes and they have nice jobs and.

So I left there and and I came out here and and I was out here for about three months. And then I went back to prince around because I didn't have a good job and I was working on the railroad. Bang and railway ties, you know like.

Like the old i've been working on the railroad with a big hammer and the rain was coming down and snow was coming down. I'm thinking this is not a very good job. So I got homesick and I went back home to prince around but then a couple years later I said, I think i'll go back out there friend.

Invited me out. So we come back out here. And the next time I came out it was a different story because I come out. And back in those days I was uh, I was not a christian and I was going out with my friends.

And we used to go drinking and we used to go Smoking marijuana and things like that the bad kind of things that we used to be doing. And I had this emptiness in my heart and I remember uh I was I was sitting at home one night and I got a telephone call and a man phoned me and he says listen.

He says i'm here from prince of rhines. And i'm having some meetings in ladner gospel hall over in ladner. Just through the tunnel there and he said i'd like to know if you'd like to come out to hear me.

Well, I didn't want to hear anybody preach. But I wanted to go to see someone from back home from where anna green gave us live. And I went over to see this old white haired guy and I and he was standing up front and he was preaching away.

And he was telling he said every one of us are sinners and he said there's a hell up there. There's a hell down there. Pardon me. There's a hell down there and you don't want to go there and there's a heaven up there.

And and if you can get up there. That's the place where you want to go and he talked about the flames of hell and he talked about the glory of heaven. And you know after that meeting i'm thinking wow, this is the same as the catholic church.

That's how deaf I was because I grew up in the catholic church and we would go there and the priest. He would be standing like this with his back to the people and he'd be talking in another language.

And we're supposed to be understanding what he was saying. And and when I was a little boy, I was learning that, you know God's up in heaven and he has all your good deeds on one side and all your bad deeds on the other side.

And god looks at the two sides and he says okay when you have a few more good ones and bad ones. Okay, come on in. But that's not what it's like. That's not what it's like. Is it you know that. You haven't been coming here week after week after week and you think you're going to get to heaven because you're a good person.

The Father Sends the Son as Savior

Well, that's why I came here this morning. And I my burden is to speak about the cross and somebody says well father's day. Couldn't you give us a father's day message? I'm going to speak a lot about the father this morning, too.

Because the bible says the father sent the son To be the savior of the world. Isn't that wonderful news? The father sent the son to be the savior of the world. Is he your savior this morning? Is he yours?

33 years ago on the 19th of march 1976 I accepted jesus christ as my personal savior on that very night I had eternal life. And I knew that I would never go down to hell. I would never see the flames down there.

I would never hear the people screaming down there. I knew I was going to be in heaven with the lord. Jesus christ who shed his precious blood. This is what this verse says as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must The son of man must jesus be lifted up.

The Necessity of the Cross

So what we're going to talk about this morning. Is the necessity of the cross because we have that word must. Why was it necessary that jesus was crucified if you think you can get into heaven because you're a good boy?

If you think you can get into heaven because you're a good girl or you're a good woman or you're a good man. If you think you can get into heaven because you've been doing the best you can. Then god made a mistake sending his son jesus.

Why couldn't god have just said? Okay, I forgive you just don't do it again. You have Parents that say that don't you? They said that's okay this time. I forgive you. Just don't do it again. And what happens?

Tomorrow you're doing it again. Next week you're doing it again the next week you say i'm sorry mommy. Next week after you're doing it again. Your teacher says be quiet he just goes out of the room. Soon as he leaves the room.

Oh, everybody is talking and throwing pencils and erasers and and uh, All kinds of things like that. Things are no different than when I was a little kid. I know there's different jokes and there's different words and all that kind of stuff, but the human heart Is evil and that's what we're going to talk about because first of all sin necessitated the cross.

Definitions and Expressions of Sin

What is sin? This is a little bit of an like a sunday school class this morning. We're going to give you a bunch of definitions. It's not a multiple choice, you know when god used this word sin. He just didn't say okay.

This is sin one thing. No, he used the word sin and he used it in in various means. He talked about sin as missing the mark. He's talking about a target. A man standing up here and he has he has a big target up there, you know.

Like like those dart boards those big circles and he draws back the arrow on the bow and he lets it go. And the arrow goes and goes and goes and goes and before it gets the target. It falls on the ground.

It doesn't even hit the target. Missing the mark when I was a little boy. We used to watch Robin Hood. We used to watch William Tell. William Tell was the man that had to shoot the apple off his father's head.

What do you think of that? How would you like to have your dad put an apple on top of your head and you'd have to stand really still. And your dad's at the back there with an arrow. All of a sudden you're sort of I want to put my hands up over my eyes.

At least he doesn't get me in the eye. That would be terrible. Missing the mark and then sin is transgression. That's another bible word. It means overstepping the boundary says Don't go past this line, you know when those banks in the banks they have a line don't go past the line.

Why? Because sometimes you're in the bank and there's somebody over the top of you that says here you're at the cash machine trying to put the number in and the person. You think they're trying to look at your number on your on your machine your pin number.

Another one is error. We all make mistakes, don't we? Who here gets a hundred percent in all of their exams? I would I was happy when I got 70 on my exams if I got a pass I was happy. Sometimes I got an 80 and sometimes 90 and then I was wow.

And I think my mom should be making a special cake. Well, you're supposed to be getting 90. You're not supposed to be getting half of the half of the answers wrong. You're supposed to be studying. Okay.

Another one is trespass. That's a strange word. But what it means is my will over God's. So your dad says do this and you said no i'm doing this. Another word is lawlessness. Disregard for the law. There's this when I was coming down here.

Uh, I don't know where the where the I guess the road's out that way right number five road. And there was a sign there slow down slow down slow down. And as I get up there, I was looking there's a little camera inside there.

I hope they don't mail me. An envelope in the mail and saying listen, mister, you have to pay. I hope it was the guy in front of me. That was going too fast so that's what overstepping lawlessness a complete disregard for the law and then there's something like Unbelief you talk to your friends.

Our brother here talked about sharing your faith with your friends in school. Caleb was sharing his faith this week and he was saying, you know. He heard some they were talking the kids in school were talking and they said that in three years.

There's going to be a giant meteorite hit planet earth and blow earth up. Now, I don't know if he was watching a cartoon on tv or what he was watching. But that's what the kids were talking about in school and one of his friends was really concerned and caleb said When that happens i'm not going to be here because the lord jesus is coming before.

And he's taken us home and I don't have to worry about being burned up because I am saved. I know my sins are forgiven. And his friend says, you know, i'd like to be a christian, too. I'd like to not have to worry about any danger.

I'd like to be Saved. I'd like to have my sins forgiven. I'd like to know that i'm going to heaven for sure. So let's talk about some examples of sin. I talked about already about falling short of a given standard.

You know, I remember when I was about 24 years old. I wanted to be in the rcmp. Back, then the rcmp had very strict standards and you had to be five feet. Nine inches tall. So I walked in there and the and the officers he's standing here.

I said I wanted to be a rcmp officer and he looked at me and he said you're pretty short. Aren't you? I said i'm taller than you are. And I was there like this here and i'm Really stretching out my spine.

They try to get hot outside. I was tall enough. But some people they come in. And no matter how much they stretch. They can't reach the mark. And that's what it's like we're trying to stretch up to heaven we're trying to reach god's perfection and none of us can meet god's perfection because.

Every one of us we have all these blemishes called sin and then there's Other examples of sin. Deliberate acts against someone. You go up and somebody and hit them on the face. When I was in school, do you know what we used to do?

We used to have those big orange erasers, do you ever have those or do you have those orange erasers, you know for Rubbing out the uh the wrong answers, you know for your corrections and you're doing math.

We used to take those erasers and we'd go like this here. Rip it up the back of the guy's head that was sitting in front of us and that really hurt. It didn't look like it hurt and nobody even saw you doing it.

You went like this here and the kid was screaming and the teacher got mad at him. That's a deliberate act now don't be trying this tomorrow, okay. And then there's deception. It's like you see a little kid and you say who took that behind your back.

Wasn't me. What do you got in your hand? Deceiving mom and dad. Deceiving your teacher. I'm a dad i've learned all these tricks about. About what that I used to do when I was a kid. So I know my kids can't get away from them.

And then there's moral perversity. Kids that are watching things on the internet that they shouldn't be watching. And then there's drunkenness. And then there's blasphemy. What is that saying bad words.

Swearing and then there's stealing. And then there's telling lies that everybody does. And then there's physical or sexual abuse taking advantage of girls. That you shouldn't be doing cheating on exams.

Guilt, Sin, and the Human Heart

You know last week we were sitting in the living room and all of a sudden we heard this. But it sounded worse than that it was boom. And all of a sudden we went running to the window and we looked out and we saw two cars.

That were in an accident. And i'm thinking this is strange. How are two cars going to. We don't live on a corner we live on a main street. And all of a sudden one car ran into the back. How is it possible on the main street with nothing else?

That one car would run into the back of the other one. Well, my son caleb. He ran out very fast because he's very nosy. He wanted to find out what was happening. He ran out there and he was listening to what everybody was saying.

And you know what he found out. Some kids were hiding in the bushes and they were throwing water balloons at cars. That's really fun. And all of a sudden they kept on missing and they kept on missing and finally they hit a car and that lady.

She was so scared. She slams on her brakes. And the car behind ran into the back of her and it was a big accident. Do you think that was sin what those boys were doing throwing water balloons? But you know, they would probably say well, I didn't really.

Our water balloons not going to damage your car. I'll tell you a true story now. When I was about 12 years old or maybe 10 years old I don't remember how old I was. I lived in the city and then we Had to move way out to the country 10 miles out in the middle of nowhere.

And you'd got a car coming down the road every 15 minutes. And it was apple season and a friend of mine. And me we went into the apple orchard and there was all these apples on the ground. And then there was cars zooming by every now and 15 minutes.

And he said you think we can hit one of those cars? I said i'd like to try. So we got our apples up and we saw it coming. We started throwing apples. Never hit any. And then all of a sudden bang. It hit the side of the car and the car slammed on the brakes and we went running down.

Why do we run away? We felt guilty. Why do we feel guilty? It's called sin 6 ,000 years ago in the garden of eden. It all started with an apple my sin. Started with an apple. That big sin of mine that that Sin that remembering doing that bad thing that has stuck with me for years and years and years.

One time I was working when I was uh, I was about 18 years old. We're working at kmart food in the grocery department and my friend and I we were two of the best workers that the boss had. And he asked us to go into the milk cooler and and no he'd asked to do something.

We walked past the milk cooler and we know in the milk cooler there was chocolate milk and I was a poor kid. And I didn't have any chocolate milk when I was growing up. He said come on in here. There's chocolate milk and he's and he would end he opened up a quart of chocolate milk.

And he said you keep guard on the door. And you look up and see the boss is coming. So he opened up he was drink drink drink. He's okay. Now it's your turn and i'll keep a watch. So i'm there drink drink drink.

I don't think he had very good eyesight because the boss snuck up and came into the milk cooler. And here we were with chocolate milk running down our face. We were guilty. That's why the lord jesus christ Had to die on the cross.

Sin, Leprosy, and the New Birth

Do you know what leprosy is? I remember seeing a movie with lepers about leprosy once. And these these uh, there were these were people who were stuck in the leper colony. And they were all there and some of them were missing noses and some of them were missing ears.

And some of their missing fingers and he and that and these Prisoners they escaped there and the lepers they took them in. And the leper he said would you like a drink of coffee? And the guy said no, no, no, no, he said no our type of leprosy.

It's not contagious. So he passed the cup of coffee to the man. And when he passed it the man's finger was stuck to the cup the man's finger fell off. And I said wow, that is so disgusting but the bible Talked about the lord jesus christ.

He was healing lepers everybody else when they saw the lepers. They went on the other side of the street, but the lord jesus christ. He went over and touched them. You know leprosy brings sure death. And sin brings sure death.

Leprosy makes a separation between the lepers and everybody else. Sin makes a separation between the sinner, which is you and god. But you know. There's all kinds of things there's comparisons. Leprosy is ugly.

And sin is ugly. But you know, there's a big difference between leprosy and sin. Not one leper Makes fun of his leprosy. Lots of sinners they make fun about their sin. Oh, yeah we're doing this and we're doing this and they put the photos on the facebook and they they they do all kinds of terrible things.

Terrible things that they do. In john chapter 3 and verse 3 and verse 7 he repeats it twice he says. Except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of god you must be born again. So the first verse we read in john chapter 3 and verse 14.

It says the son of man. Jesus must be lifted up. And then the lord turns it around to you. He talks about himself, but he also he always includes us. You know last night or last. What what night do we have the the guatemalans over?

Tuesday, we had we had a bunch of guatemalans. They're here from from guatemala. And they're working in the greenhouse. You see all those greenhouses over in delta. Well, they're importing people from mexico and people from from uh from Guatemala and from different countries in the world and and they're working over there.

So we had these here guatemalans. Over working over to our to our house. I was going to tell you a reason for that. But anyway, it's it's gone out of my mind. Uh, pardon me anyway in this. In this version here.

It says except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of god. You must be born again. And in that verse there's no mention of prayers. There's no mention of being a good boy or a good girl. There's no mention of going to church.

There's no mention of turning over a new leaf. Or there's no mention of giving money. How Can a person get to heaven? Remember the lord jesus christ. He says father forgive them. For they know not what they do.

Repentance, Judgment, and the Great White Throne

I want to ask you a question now. You've read that verse a lot of times haven't you you've heard a lot of people preach on that verse. Father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. Do you think?

The roman soldiers when they were punching jesus on the face. Do you think they knew what they were doing? How about judas when he betrayed the lord jesus christ, do you think he knew what he was doing?

Of course he did he went into the council and he says I have betrayed innocent bloods. And he threw the money down in the temple floor. He was guilty. How about pilot? He says I find no fault in this man.

And then he washed his hands in the basin. What were they doing? They were saying it's not my fault. It's yours. The responsibility is on you but listen you Have to say I have sinned. Remember the The prodigal son.

He said he he says father. I have sinned. You remember the man in the temple. He says god have mercy on me a sinner. Do you ever see in front of the courthouse? There's a statue called lady justice. Everybody's seen her.

She's up there and she has a set of scales in one hand. She has a sword in the other hand. And she is Blindfolded. What does that mean? That every one of us if we have to go to court. Maybe you would be falsely accused of doing something one day.

So all of a sudden you're in the court, what does that mean? It means the judge is not looking at you to see if you're chinese or to see if you're mexican or guatemalan or russian. He is not looking at what you look like.

He is hearing only the evidence. That's what the idea is a blindfolded. So he's hearing all the evidence. And then the lady is there and she has to scale so she's weighing up the evidence. Do you think if you were to die tonight?

That you would go to heaven. Because all the evidence is there against you. It's not if there's 50 sins on this side and 50 sins on this side in god's scale. There only has to be one sin. Here and you won't get into heaven.

So that's why the lord jesus christ had to be lifted up. Now if we think about this this image of this lady with the scales. Translate that into the bible and over in chapter 20 of revelation. And there was a great white throne paul or john said he says I saw a great white throne.

And him that sat upon and not her. Not her god is not a lady. Sometimes you know why people make god a lady. Because they remember their mom. She didn't punish them and their dad. He was really strict and he gave them the belt.

Because I like to have a god that makes them. Oh, she's more compassionate. She's not going to give us a spanking. She's not going to send us down to hell but dad. Oh, he's the one that takes off the belt or I remember, uh.

Having to run away from my father's boot. I wasn't a bad kid. I was a good kid. He should have seen my brothers and my sister. They were something else. But that's what he says. I saw the dead small and great stand before god and the books were opened.

And another book was open, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of the things were which were written in the books according to their works. So god has a record of everything that you have, you know nowadays we're living in almost a paperless society.

You know, I don't think anybody here has a bank book. But you know when I was a kid, I had a bank book. My wife came here to canada. She went to bank and she says I want to open up a bank book so a bank account and after I asked her where's your bank book.

They didn't give me one. Well, how do you know you have money? Do you have no proof that you have money? You have to trust these guys. But the bank book, you know what in the bank book it says. Deposit one hundred dollars withdrawal fifty dollars deposit fifty dollars withdrawal deposit.

So everything that you put in the bank or took out of the bank there was a record but up in heaven God has a secretary and he's writing down all the things. Could you imagine that? It's not just that god knows everything.

God is omniscient he knows everything that you do. The bible says men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. It's very strange that you see something Evil during the day. Most of the evil activities happen when the lights go out.

Why? Because they like to go into the shadows. Yes, there's there's robberies during the day. But what do the robbers do? They put these masks on and all you can see is their eyes. Men love darkness rather than light so.

God's Holiness, Justice, and the Necessity of Atonement

The necessity of the cross was necessary because sin necessitated it but the holiness of god necessitated it too. Up in heaven in isaiah chapter 6 isaiah had a vision of god. He says in the year king uziah died.

I saw the lord. Do you know who king uziah was? He was a king in israel. And he walked into the temple one day where he wasn't supposed to walk and he says I am going to offer to god my offering. And as soon as he walked into the temple He was covered in leprosy from the head to the toe.

He had all these white blotches all over him and he ran out of there as fast as he could because he knew that god Had smitten him god had punished him for his sin. The bible says in revelation 2127 There shall in no wise enter anything into heaven that defiles.

Why? Because in isaiah chapter 6 the angels were around the throne and they cried. Holy holy holy lord god almighty. And then it says in second corinthians 5 it says he has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.

That we might be made the righteousness of god. And then the justice of god demanded it. Romans chapter 6 in verse 23 says the wages of sin is death. But the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord.

Here's a verse that people Never never never never hear in the year 2009. It's a verse in ezekiel chapter 18. And verse 4 I want you to pay attention at this point. Behold all souls are mine. All souls are mine, you know when I was 18 years old I said it doesn't matter about god.

I don't believe in god. Do you know what isaiah 59 says? He says your sins and your iniquities have made a separation between you And your god. But I don't have a god. The bible says he's your god and this verse here says behold all Souls are mine.

Every person in this room Belongs to god and he can do whatever he wants With each one of us. It says as the soul of the father. So also the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sins it shall die. The soul that sinneth it shall die.

The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father. Neither the father bear the iniquity of the son. What's that last part talking about? If I do something wrong. Say I go into a store and I rob something.

I rob the cash register. Do you think the police are going to come and they're going to take my son and put him in jail for what I did? No. Or what happens if my son says, okay dad I was watching a movie and I have this here plastic, uh a gun and it looks pretty real.

I'm gonna go in and rob the store. Do you think they're going to put me in jail? They might have a big harsh talking to me, but they're not going to put me behind bars. They might send him to reform school or if they still have reform school.

But they're going to punish him. Because the justice of God demands it. You know, there's a story about a young man. He Was always getting in trouble. He thought it was easier to steal than work. He said his friends would be painting a fence and he said, ah, i'm not going to do that.

Look at your pants. They're all dirty. Let's just go here and into the store and he was when he was sticking chocolate bars in one pocket and. And anything he could fit in his pocket back in the old days your pants were really baggy and sloppy and you had patches every place.

And he had all these departments in his pants and he'd stick chocolate bars in. He said I don't have to work to get chocolate bars like you guys. And as he got bigger and then he started robbing stores.

Finally gets caught. And he goes into the courtroom and the judge is sitting up here in his big bench. And the lawyer is down there with a defendant. And they call him forward and the lawyer comes up and he tries to start to defend him.

Well, listen, he had a hard childhood. And and finally the young man called the lawyer back and he says you get out of here. You're you're so stupid. You couldn't defend anybody. I'll look after my own Problems and he gets up and he makes his defense before the lawyer.

I don't know whatever happened whether he end up in jail or whatever, but he kept on this here life of crime years after years. Now he's about 50 years old and his crime is not a small one like stealing chocolate bars.

He had gone in and he had robbed a bank and he had held hostages and now he is there. And he walks into the courtroom and he sits down beside his lawyer. And he looks up. And he sees on the bench. The man that wanted to defend him 30 years ago.

He's now the judge. You know the lord jesus christ. He wants to defend you now the lord jesus christ. He's saying I went to calvary's cross and I died on calvary for all your sins. So that you don't have to be punished.

But one day it's going to be too late because jesus is not going to be your lawyer. He's going to be the judge. He's going to be sitting on the great white throne. And the bible says the small and the great the rich people and the poor people the people that have good jobs.

And the people that have nothing. The homeless the street people they're all going to stand before god. And then the law demanded it Says the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it unto you to make an atonement for your souls.

It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 22 says. And almost all things by the law purged with blood and without the shedding of blood is no remission of sins. So there's no way That you nor your friends in school neither your mom nor your dad's nor your cousins Can get into heaven without having the bloodshed of the lord jesus christ.

Salvation Through Jesus Christ Alone

And finally the salvation of god Demanded jesus christ dying on the cross of calvary. Matthew chapter 1 and verse 21 thou shall call his name jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Luke chapter 19 and verse 10 says the son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.

Acts chapter 4 and verse 12 neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. The son of man Must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes.

And be slain and raised on the third day. Mark's gospel chapter 14 and verse 9 says the scripture must be fulfilled. The gospel must be published among all nations. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith of jesus christ.

Even we have believed in jesus christ. That we might be justified by the faith of christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be Justified. I remember an old man.

He started coming out to gospel meetings back in prince. Rhode island. They have gospel tents and this month in in the in the gospel in. In outside of charlottetown about 10 miles outside of charlottetown the brothers there.

They have built it looks like a big circus tent. They built they take it out and they and they plant it outside the town outside the town. Excuse me. And they get up and they put chairs in there and they have even electricity and fans nowadays and they have uh preaching every night.