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1 Peter 2:24
Amen. I want to readjust. Amen. Thank you, Alex, for leading us this morning. Gunnar, if you're watching this, we love you and we miss you and we've prayed for you. We're preaching a series, we've paused, nay whom, and preaching a series just calling, not super creative, the gospel of Christmas, just to remind us that the gospel of Christmas and the gospel of Easter and the gospel of the New Testament and the gospel of the Old Testament, it's one gospel.
It's God's gospel. It's the good news of what Christ has done by his righteous life, his substitutionary death, and his victorious resurrection. John MacArthur says this, the glory and value of the gospel is too often underestimated and underappreciated in the church today.
And I agree. I want to begin this morning with a bit of literary refresher, not to bore you, but I want us to not lose the plot of Christmas. And in order for you to be reminded what I'm saying, understand and grasp what I'm saying, I'm just going to remind us, what do we mean by plot?
Well, here's just a literary definition. The plot of a story is the sequence of events that shape a broader narrative with every event causing or affecting each other. In other words, story plot is a series of causes and effects which shape the story as a whole.
So just think about this for a minute. If you're watching a movie or you're reading a book and you don't understand the plot, then you don't understand what's going on. You don't understand the story.
You may watch a movie and you didn't catch the plot. You're like, I don't even understand the point of this. What is the point? And I said last week that too many people have lost the plot of Christianity and focus on the wrong things or or they focus on certain things with at the exclusion of the important things.
Right. So if we want to recover the plot of Christianity, my argument is we need to recover the plot of Christmas because essentially they're one in the same. You know, you watch the Hallmark. I mean, not this church, y 'all don't watch Hallmark, but you watch the Hallmark Christmas movies, right?
And somewhere there's some sort of sappy line about the true meaning of Christmas. You know, what what is it? Is it about family? Maybe even you've posted this. Christmas is about family or it's about good food or fun or gifts or generosity or giving people warm coats or or the Christmas spirit.
Or how about this one? Singing loud for all to hear. Me and Piper, we do that one, actually. But none of those things are not bad. None of those things are bad in and of themselves. I affirm the goodness of those things.
But I'm I'm emphatically saying here that if we focus on those things, we lose the plot. So so please turn to first Peter two, that's where we're at today. And I'm just going to give you the plot of Christmas now.
Christmas is about God providing. A sin bearer, the virgin. Bore a son. The sun. Bore our sins. The manger bore a king. The king. Bore our curse. The Magi bore gifts. God's gift. Bore our guilt. The angels bore witness to the Savior.
Bore our wages. And he rose again from the dead. You get it? That's that's the plot. Do you see the big picture? Satan's power overthrown. Death's hold undone. God's wrath satisfied. Heaven gained. The kingdom advanced.
Why? Because God sent forth a sin bearer. God in the flesh bore our sins. God, in his grace. And his love. Gave forth Christ. So the sermon title born by people to deliver. That's the plot. Don't lose it.
First Peter 224. Let's stand as we honor the reading of Scripture. First Peter 224. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin. And live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Father, help us to not lose the plot. Help us to understand the story. Help us to understand the grand narrative. Help us to understand the point. The central focus. Help us to get this. We can pound our heads upon this truth day after day after day after day after day.
And then one thing goes awry. One thing goes wrong. One thing goes south. And we forget it. And we go off to something else. Lord, keep us in the faith. Keep us focused. Keep us on the path. Keep us on the narrow way.
Lord, we come before you this morning as those who confess. We need a sin bearer. If we don't have a sin bearer, our sin is too heavy for us to carry. We can't carry it. It'll crush us. We'll suffer under its righteous punishment for all eternity.
We confess to you our need. And we believe that you've provided that need. And that sin bearer has a name. It's not just an abstract thought. It's a person.
It's Jesus.
Lord, help us to understand that today. We pray this isn't just a cute little cliche, fun little Christmas series. But let's reorient our lives. We'd understand the gospel. And then we would take this gospel into our homes, into our neighborhoods, into the city.
We'd proclaim. We'd go tell it on a mountain. God has done something about our greatest need. He's provided a sin bearer. Help us, Lord. Some today need to put faith in that sin bearer for the first time.
They've played games. They've played pretend. They've been hypocritical. Lord, today, by your sovereign and effectual grace, break through their hardness of heart. Draw them to yourself. Encourage us in the gospel today.
And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Born thy people to deliver. That just comes from that song. I think we'll sing it at the end. Come thou long expected Jesus. Born thy people to deliver.
That's the plot. That's the plot. I think 1 Peter 2 .24 pairs well with Matthew 1 .21. I'm not going to go too much into Matthew 1 .21. We have the privilege and honor of hearing Matthew 1 .21 preached this Christmas.
Christmas Day, but from Pastor Jacob. So be praying for him. But I will quote it because it's important. It pairs well with 1 Peter 2 .24. And that is, she will bear a son. So this is the angel talking to Joseph.
Remember, Joseph's like, look, I've, I mean, you understand. Like, you understand the problem with the conflict here. He's engaged, he's betrothed, she's pregnant. But they haven't known each other. That's a problem for Joseph.
I can't do this. I'm going to put her away. The angel says, no, no, listen. This is God's doing. This is God's son. And in verse 1 .21, it says, she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. Because he will save his people from their sins.
Why did Jesus come? He came to undo what was done in the Garden of Eden, if you will. To reverse the curse. To destroy the works of Satan. To satisfy the demands of God's holy law. That's the plot of Christmas.
He came to save his people from their sins. Now, the reason that that pairs well with 1 Peter 2 .24 is because Matthew 1 .21 sets forth the purpose of Christmas. And 1 Peter 2 .24 shows us how this is carried out.
Think about it. Jesus saves his people from their sins.
How?
By bearing their sins.
That's the point. So last week we talked about the person of Christ. And we awed, I hope, in his infinite glory. And we beheld his majesty. Christ alone is our only suitable and all sufficient Savior.
We saw that. And then this week, and maybe the next couple weeks, we look on the work of Christ. So remember, the gospel is not what you do. The gospel is what Christ has done. So what exactly did Jesus do for his people?
And what we're seeing this week is that Jesus is the sin-bearing Savior. The sin-bearer. He bore, listen to the text, he himself bore our sins. Why is that so important this morning? Why does that get me excited and passionate even from the beginning?
It's because the text is giving us the central truth of Jesus bearing our sins. Joel, Osteen, not to everyone having a Friday every day. That's not what Jesus bore. Not the secret to getting a promotion.
Not a get-rich-quick scheme. He didn't bear a cancer-free life. Or not for days that never have thunderstorms or flat tires. He didn't even secure for you to have a quote-unquote holly jolly Christmas.
Right?
Where everything's right, everything's perfect.
The family's all together. That's not what Jesus did on the cross.
Rather, he did something much greater.
He bore our sins.
This is the good news.
The work of Christ.
It's not about your self-esteem. It's not about your success in the pursuits of this world. It's not even about having a certain number of days that you're guaranteed on earth. It is about our sins.
Our sins. You hear me?
Our sins. Listen, that's where we've got to start today. Because you don't understand well enough sins. Neither do I. So number one, the severity of sin. He bore our, think about it. Now, this will come into play later in the sermon.
But he bore, the text says, he himself bore our sins. Now let's just play, look at the Bible, right? Look at the Bible and you tell me. You can interact. Is that singular or plural? He bore our sins. Singular sin or sins, plural.
You tell me, what's your text say?
Plural.
He bore our sins. Now, let's think about that for a moment. In order to think about sins in the plural, we're going to go back to sin in the singular. We'll get to the plural, trust me. But sin in the singular, sin entered into humanity through our first parents, Adam and Eve.
Now, what is sin? Any child who's been to Sunday school for a while could probably answer that basic definition. Well, sin is the bad stuff you do. That's a workable definition. It's not sufficient. It's workable.
So let's break that down a little bit more. First, the essence of sin. Now, if you notice in our text, sin is used twice. Once in the plural, once in singular. I'm not saying that's important, but just of note, it's in verse 24.
It's used twice. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. So sin is used twice in the text. Remember, I told you already that Peter is quoting, he's really leaning heavily on Isaiah 53.
So Isaiah 53 says that he, meaning Jesus, was pierced, why? For our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed.
So I haven't even really given you a definition of sin. Now I've just maybe compounded the issue because I've given you two more words that the text uses. So now we have 1 Peter 2, 24 uses sin. And then Isaiah 53, 5 uses transgressions and iniquities.
Okay, what is all this stuff?
Let's just think through it. So transgressions, the Hebrew word has a connotation of rebellion. Iniquities has the idea of being guilty, misdeeds, wrongdoing. And in our text, the word sin, the Greek word has the idea of missing the mark.
Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned. All have missed the mark. God has this perfect mark, we've all missed it. Not just in a little bitty way, it's like I'm shooting back there at one of those wreaths and how I've missed it, I've shot this way, right?
Like, we've completely missed it. All of this, 1 John 3, 4 is helpful, it says sin is lawlessness.
So what is sin?
Sin is the thoughts and the actions and the motivations and the desires that you have that are contrary to the will of God.
Yes, I said even desires, right?
To desire, for example, this is debated in evangelicalism today. To desire sin is sin. Hey, look, if someone says, hey, look, I'm attracted to sin, but I don't act on it, so that's not sin. False. To desire sin is sin, right?
So you say, well, I mean, I desire to be a homosexual, but I don't act on it, so I'm okay. No, that's sin. So desires, deeds, actions, motivations that are contrary to the will and law of God. Now, you've got to pause and consider here.
I'm going to get to the gospel, I promise. But you have sinned.
You've sinned.
You have done things, even this morning, in motivation. There's no one here that walked into this morning that we could say, oh, man, you are 100 righteous today. There's something, right? In your life, your sins are quite numerous.
More numerable than... You want to start talking about them? You want me to start talking about mine? You want to come up here and start touting the things that I've done in my past? The things I'm guilty of?
The times I've failed being a husband or father? Worst things I've done in my past? Things I've fallen short of the glory? Do you want to do... Is that what we want to do? Like, this is sin. You understand?
These things were contrary to the will and the law of God. The essence of sin, friends, is rebellion against God.
Thomas was treason. You're guilty.
We're rebellious against God, Most High. The God who is righteous and pure and awesome and wonderful and holy. We've broken His law. A .W. Pink puts it this way.
What is sin?
Listen to this definition. Sin is saying, I renounce the God who made me. I disallow His right to govern me. I care not what He says to me, what commandments He has given, nor how He disapproves. I prefer self-indulgences to His approval.
I am indifferent to all He has done to and for me. His blessings and gifts move me not. I'm going to be lord of myself. Sin is rebellion against the majesty of heaven. It is to treat the Almighty with contempt.
Oh, how vastly different a thing is sin from what the world supposes. How insensible are the unregenerate to the glory of God and that which is due unto Him from us. This is the essence of sin. Some of you are listening to this, maybe children, maybe teenagers, maybe adults.
And I might as well just be trying to move a rock with a water pistol.
It's not doing anything.
You don't care. You think about that for a moment. That is the reality of sin in our life. It has caused us to be wretches. That's the essence of sin. And that leads me into my second point here under this heading, the effects of sin.
This sin, this rebellion, has affected man in every conceivable way. I'm not going to run through all the scripture references. I'll just give them to you. So maybe you go back and you listen to this sermon later or something.
You can hear the references again or maybe you can write them down. But sin has affected our minds. Our minds, we don't think rightly, Titus 1 .15. We don't think rightly because of sin. It has affected our hearts, Jeremiah 17 .9.
Our hearts are deceitful. It has affected our wills, right? We're talking about free will, free will, free will. Listen, sir, ma 'am, your will is enslaved to sin. Your will wants to do what its master says.
It has rendered us unwilling and unable to submit to God. Romans 8, 7 and 8. Did I forget the last one? Romans 3 .11. And it has left us in a state of spiritual deadness. Deadness, Ephesians 2. And this is what theologians call total depravity.
Total meaning not that we are as bad as we could possibly be, but that every, as Pastor Jacob has taught us in our Sunday school, every single part of a person is tainted by sin. And there is no neutrality.
All have sinned. Every person outside of Christ does not want God. God just gives everybody a choice, right?
Yes, He does.
He does give everyone a choice. Every single person who has ever lived has the choice to worship God or worship idols. Problem, they worship idols.
That's what they want.
It's like I'm going to give the vulture the choice of a dead, rancid possum or a beautiful Caesar salad that Stephanie made. Here you go, vulture, what do you want? He's going to choose his nature. He's going to choose the possum and so have you.
All humans outside of Christ who are rebels against God's commands. Listen, if you're in Christ this morning, it's exactly where you used to be before you were a Christian. You're not here today because of how good you are.
We're talking about the effects of sin. That's how sin has affected man in every way. But listen, let me also mention another sub-point here. It's not just that sin has affected man. Sin has also affected the relationship between God and man.
So let's press for just a moment. Sin has obliterated the relationship between God and man in such a way that God is willing and able to send sinners to hell for their rebellion. There are some passages in the scripture that you don't know well enough.
For example, Psalm 55 says that God hates all evildoers. Now that's a problem for man, isn't it? Because, follow the logic, all sin is evildoing. And the text says God hates all evildoers. So do not, I'm telling you, underestimate the holy justice of God.
If you die apart from Christ, God will punish you eternally for your sin. And the church will sing about it. That's Revelation. It's not that God punishes sin in hell. God does not punish sin in the abstract in hell.
You understand?
He punishes sinners.
He punishes sinners. This is justice. That's not God being mean. That's God being holy.
You want to talk about the holiness of God? You want to sing holy, holy, holy? You want to sing about only a holy God? That's what it means for God to be holy. He will not have fellowship with sinners in and of themselves.
He's acting consistently with His perfections. Because He's holy, because He's righteous, because He's pure, because He's good. Because He has an infinite hatred of sin. Because He is love. Because He is zealous for His own glory.
Because He is just. He has a holy and passionate hatred toward all sin. Psalm 75 verse 8 says this. For in the hand of the Lord is a cup with foaming wine. Imagine this. Imagine this. In the hand of the Lord is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed.
And He pours out from it. And all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. They will drink the wrath of God.
So here's review.
The essence of sin is rebellion. The effect of sin is that we're guilty, vile, helpless, hopeless. We've been rendered unable. And we're not victims of sin. We're perpetrators. I mean, yes, we've all been victimized by sin.
Maybe someone has done something wrong to you. But I'm saying we're perpetrators of sin. We're spiritually dead. We're morally bankrupt. And this really isn't maybe I should have entitled this part of the sermon, Merry Christmas, You Filthy Animal.
Not really a self-esteem booster. But I hope you understand why we have to do this. I mean, there's a secondary benefit. It helps you understand why your kids are the way they are. It helps you understand they're acting like their parents.
It helps you to understand how we are to raise our children. It helps you to understand why marriage, even for believers, is so hard sometimes. It helps you understand why society is the way it is. Understand why people inexplicably do the things they do.
Because mankind is sinful and rebellious. And they've woefully missed the mark of God's perfect glory. But none of that is the most critical reason we need to understand sin. The most critical reason that we must understand the human condition is because it helps us to understand the weight and the beauty and the glory of the Gospel of Christ.
Do you understand what the text is saying to us? He Himself bore what? Our sins. When we rightly paint the black canvas of human depravity and wickedness, then we see the Gospel diamond shine all the more beautifully against the backdrop of the reality of depravity.
He bore our sins. He didn't bear our mistakes. He didn't bear our, you tried your best. He didn't bear our poor decisions. The text says, He bore our sins. Now I get it, and everything I just said was sin.
But don't minimize sin. That's the severity of sin. Let's point, let's go to point two. Secondly, the suitability of the sin bearer. Now, a little review from last week. He Himself. No one else bore our sins.
Only Jesus. Even Trinitarily speaking, we want to be careful, we don't want to try to divide the Trinity, that would be heresy. You guys know one of my lifelong goals is to not have a heresy named after me, and I want to keep that up in this sermon.
So we don't divide the work of the Trinity. We're very clear there is distinct roles played. So Jesus bears our sins. Not the Father, and not the Holy Spirit. It's the person of Christ. Now why is He alone suitable to be our sin bearer?
Well, first thing about this, He's God, right? He's God. So remember this, who is the offended party? Between God and man, there's enmity between God and man. There's a separation between God and man.
Who's the offended party? It's not man. Now, you may shake your fist at God. You may act offended. You may say that God has given you an unfair lot, or He's been bad to you.
That'd be a lie.
He's been nothing but good to you. He's blessed you beyond what you deserve. You're not the offended party. God is. Therefore, only the offended party can make amends.
You can't make amends for the offense.
You can't undo what you've done. The separation's too wide. It's God. Only God can make atonement. Furthermore, have you considered the weight of verse 24? He Himself bore our sins. I don't want to be too silly with this, but have you thought about how much that weighs?
To lift up, to carry, to hold onto our sins?
Who could do that? Not a created being.
Not a God.
Only God could bear our sins. Not an angel. Not a mere man. Nothing created. There really is no other way of salvation. There's no other power in the universe that could even begin to save a single soul.
Other than the gospel. He's God. Secondly, He's a righteous man.
It's fun.
It's fun to learn words sometimes and be reminded of words.
Little words.
That's why I love the Bible. What does it say? He Himself bore whose sins? Our sins. So He's fully God, but He's also truly man. He's a righteous man because He doesn't have to bear His own sins. He's bearing our sins.
He had no sins of His own to bear because He perfectly kept the law of God as a true and righteous man. And then thirdly, I'll mention this, He's the Messiah. How is He suitable to be our sin bearer? He's God.
He's man. And He is Messiah. What I mean is, the reason that Peter can quote Isaiah 53 is because Isaiah 53 speaks of Jesus. You understand?
He is the Messiah.
He is the one that Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 and Jeremiah 33 and Jeremiah 31 and Genesis 3.
And all of these texts.
And so many more point to. 1 Timothy 1 .15. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. This is His purpose. The severity of sin, the suitability of the sin bearer. Thirdly, the success of the Savior.
We're going to break this down even further. He Himself bore our sins. Bore our sins. First, let me tell you this. The sacrifice of Christ was personal. We live in a world today that doesn't understand pronouns in more ways than one.
But this is important. This is a third person plural pronoun.
Our.
The sacrifice of Christ was personal. Our sin left us unworthy, unlovable, separated from God. But notice in the text that Jesus doesn't just attack sin in the abstract. He doesn't just attack sin in general.
The text says.
He Himself bore our sins. Isaiah 53 .6 All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to His own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Remember that pronouns have an antecedent.
An antecedent is what is the noun that the pronoun is covering. So what does our mean? I think we can learn that from 1 Peter 1. So when Peter says He Himself bore our sins, he's talking about himself and he's talking about who he wrote the letter to.
So I'm just turning in my Bible, turning back to 1 Peter 1 and verse 1. So let me see, Peter, who are you writing this letter to? Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.
So when he says over here in 1 Peter 2 .24 that He Himself bore our sins, then we understand that Jesus was successful on the cross because He bore the sins of His people. He bore the sins of the churches.
That's who the letter is written to. I'm just doing context. His sacrifice was personal. Let me put it to you this way. I, one of your pastors, Quatro Nelson, I cannot accept the idea that God had any purpose or intention in the death of His Son that was not fully and perfectly fulfilled.
God has a purpose in this sin bearing and it will come to fruition. Let me say that the death of Christ is sufficient for the world. It's sufficient for 10 ,000 worlds. You want to talk about the sufficiency of Christ?
Then we could think that one drop of the blood of Christ could save 10 million worlds. This is the worth of Jesus Christ. He is precious,.
Worthy, sufficient.
This is the reality. Any person who lays hold of Christ by faith can be assured that the death of Christ is enough. We preach a sufficient atonement for the sins of the world. But, this is also true. Christ took names to the cross.
His sacrifice is personal. He bore our sins. He died personally for me. He died as me. In my place, condemned, He stood. Ephesians 5 .25 says He gave Himself for the church. So, don't think for a moment this morning that Jesus won't get all that He paid for.
Christmas is a great time news illustration because this happens. You get a present for your kids. They open it up and they've broken it in like 30 seconds. How? I was like, what? That's not what I thought I paid for this.
What I paid for was a piece of junk. Jesus doesn't buy junk. Well, yeah, He does buy junk.
He turns it into treasure.
But, He's going to get what He paid for.
And, we see this in the reality of atonement. God will rescue a people for Himself out of the mass of fallen humanity for the glory of His name. And, how will He do this? The text tells us, because He bore our sins.
Secondly, the sacrifice of Christ was, this is a fun word, propitiatory. So, the sacrifice of Christ is personal. The sacrifice of Christ is propitiatory. Now, what does that mean? It just simply means that it is a wrath-satisfying sacrifice.
You understand? Jesus doesn't die as an example. Merely as an example. Jesus doesn't only die to conquer Satan. He does do that, certainly. But, also, Jesus dies as a propitiation.
A wrath-satisfying sacrifice.
So, listen to this. You remember Psalm 75a, I just said just a few minutes ago.
You remember that?
Where God says that He has a cup of wrath.
Full of foaming wine.
He's going to make all the wicked. Drink it.
Problem, right?
Problem. Your children are wicked.
They sin.
Sin is wickedness. It's lawlessness.
You, in your life, you've been wicked. God promises, Psalm 75a, the wicked are going to drink this cup.
So, what do I have to look forward to?
I'm going to drink this cup of the wrath of God? Well, in Matthew 26, Jesus, you all know this story, but some of you just haven't connected the dots.
And that is, Jesus prays,.
Father, if it be possible,.
What?
You know it.
You've grown up listening to this story your whole life. You're wondering, why does He say it like that?
Why does He use that word?
Let this cup pass from me.
Why is He talking about a cup?
Why has our Lord Jesus got a cup on His mind when He's talking about the cross? Because the cup is the cup that He will drink for His people. The cup of the foaming wrath of God that He is going to pour out on the wicked.
Jesus steps in and says, I will drink the cup. He is our propitiation. Wrath, satisfying, sacrifice. John Stott put it this way, It is clear from Old Testament usage that to bear sin means neither to sympathize with sinners, nor to identify with their pain, nor to express their penitence, nor to be persecuted on account of human sinfulness, nor even to suffer the consequences of sin in personal or social terms, but specifically to endure the penal consequences.
To undergo its penalty. Who killed Jesus? In one sense, you may say the Jews. In one sense, you may say Pontius Pilate. But in the truer and biblical sense, you would say God as a propitiation for His people.
And this is sufficient because Jesus rose again from the dead. Thirdly, the sacrifice of Christ was purposeful. And I just want to make this note at the end of the verse. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
By His wounds you have been healed. Christ died for a holy people. If you back up just a few verses in 1 Peter 2, verse 9. It says, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
The sacrifice of Christ was purposeful. The sin bearing of Jesus our Savior creates a new relationship between us and God and between us and God's people in the church. And all of these precious promises are made effectual by the cross and they're applied to us by grace alone through faith alone.
What I'm telling you is Christ must be taken by faith. Some of you, the question this morning is not can I have Christ? The question is will you have Christ? And when Christ is laid hold of by faith you understand then that not merely was the work of Christ on the cross sufficient for you but so too is it effectual for you.
God's eternal purposes for His people will stand. The Lamb will receive the full reward.
For His suffering.
Which isn't only about a certain number of people it's also about what these people look like. They will be a holy people. They will be a people after His law. They will be a people after His righteousness.
They will be a people that desire to be holy and to love the church. If you die today.
I hope you don't.
And we live in a fallen world but if you die today and you go to hell you need to know it's not because there's something lacking in the work of Christ. It's because you refuse to lay hold of these promises.
These promises we preach to the world come, come but so many choose sin over the sin bearer. But if you lay hold of Christ you can be assured a divine transaction has taken place. Now our final point this morning.
The splendor of substitution. Jesus committed no sin. If you go back up just a little bit to verse 22 it says it unambiguously. He committed no sin. He committed no sin. So there's not an ounce of the sin bearing here that has to do with His own sin because He fulfilled all righteousness.
That's what we need. We need His righteousness and He procured that in His righteous life. He bore our sins. Now go with this analogy if you will but Christ owned our spiritual resume.
On the cross.
I wish I could preach this rightly. I wish that I could just preach this in a way that we could just understand and we could appreciate. You understand if you go with the analogy of the resume. You understand what's on your spiritual resume.
It's wicked. Think about the things that you've done that nobody knows about. Think about the motivations of your heart. Everybody thinks that you're doing something out of pure and good motives but you know in the recesses of your heart that they're unholy.
There are things that you do that you don't even understand the wickedness of them outside of Christ. But then the text comes in and it says that He bore our sins.
Sins plural.
Not just sin in general.
But our sins personally.
How far we have fallen.
Short of the glory of God.
How hateful we've been even in our marriages. How hateful we've been to one another.
In the church.
How lustful and idolatrous have our hearts been. How self-seeking and self-serving and thieving and self-glorying.
Have we been.
The pride in our hearts. The lying and the stealing and the carnal quest for happiness and looking for satisfaction in things that are not God. And the gossip. The things we spread about other people and the things we put on Facebook and the arguments that we have and the half-truths that we told and the failure to care about Scripture and the prayerlessness in our lives and the lack of giving and generosity and the lack of concern in our lives.
For the glory of God.
And the vile thoughts that we've harbored deep within ourselves and the drunkenness that we've participated in and the sexual immorality the things that you've thought about or done or seen on movies or on the computer screen the laziness, the hypocrisy.
The self-righteousness.
The faulty worship or worshipping money or sex or sports or whatever the case may be. The failure of wives to submit to and obey their husbands.
I don't have to do that.
My husband's not Jesus. I don't have to submit to him or obey him even though the Scripture says. Or the husband's failure to love their wives.
Well, you don't understand.
She's mean.
She's rebellious.
She doesn't listen to me.
And though the Scripture says.
You're to love her like Christ of the church or the disobedience of children.
To their parents.
Or the poor way that we've treated the church how putrid and defiled.
And flat-out worthless.
Is our spiritual resume.
Do you hear me this morning? How could you ever be accepted by God based on your history?
How could you ever for one moment.
Think, yeah, well, at least I'm. There's a long line of people waiting to get to heaven. At least I'm in front of those people. Have you considered yourself? Not only do we have nothing on our resume that would warrant us into heaven we have a vast innumerable multitude of things.
That bar our entrance.
Into that holy place. I had a friend one time he was going to be a state trooper or, I mean, maybe not really a friend but anyway, I knew him he was going to be a state trooper. Well, turns out there's a questionnaire, I guess to be a state trooper have you ever done illegal drugs?
Well, in his past and he wanted to be honest he changed he would never do illegal drugs again but in his past he had done illegal drugs so he answered honestly yes, yes, I have. And that mistake barred him from ever becoming a state trooper.
Now, if that's the righteousness of the police how far exceeding is the righteousness of God? How much worse for sinners? We have innumerable sins on our resume how could anyone ever hope to get to heaven?
Because you understand, right? Heaven's not your right. It's not your right.
It's a foreign country.
It's not what you deserve. It's not what God owes you.
It's a place of sinlessness.
And holiness.
It's not a place.
For people who have messed up.
For people who have sinned.
It's not a place for people.
Who have broken God's law. It's not for the defiled.
And the shamed.
And the guilty. And that's the wonder, honestly, isn't it, this morning? Not that so many people go to hell.
The wonder is how does anybody go to heaven?
How is this possible?
How can we, who are so wicked, enter into the eternal fellowship with a perfectly holy and righteous God?
This is the plot!
God has provided a sin bearer.
You hear me this morning? This is the gospel.
On the cross,.
Jesus takes our resume and He crosses out our name.
And He puts His own.
He says, they're mine.
Those sins are my sins. I will carry them to the cross. I will take them to Calvary.
I will bear the burden. I will bear the guilt. I will bear the shame.
I will substitute myself.
And place in my people and I will, for the joy set before me, endure the wrath of God. This is the gospel of Christmas.
Hey, I'm sorry that your family.
Won't get together like you want.
It does break my heart and it is sad.
But I got good news.
Jesus bore your sins. That's the good news.
That's the gospel. Hatred and love, justice and mercy, wrath and grace meet perfectly in our substitute.
On Christ's account, pure, white, unstained is written all of our rebellious deeds. All of our not doing what God said we should do and all of our doing what God says we shouldn't do and all of our sinful motivations and all of our law breaking.
Jesus owns them, takes them, bears them. He's credited with our crimes and he dies. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21 says that God made him sin who knew no sin. And then he dies and he rises again from the dead.
And man, I probably shouldn't talk like that.
Man,.
Brother,.
Sister, sir,.
Ma 'am, the greatest need that you have in the universe is not that you'd have a better job or bitcoin would hit a certain price or that you'd have a certain president or your children would behave a certain way or your marriage would be better or the Razorbacks would be good.
The greatest problem is our sin against a holy God. And listen, people are going to hell every day. You understand that? You understand that? Every day. Every day there's a wreck. The heart stops. There's a sickness.
There's a cancer patient. They succumb. And we think this idea of well, if you die you go to heaven.
No,.
There are people that are dying every day and they're going to hell.
But it doesn't have to be that way for you.
Christ.
Is God's solution to the greatest problem that we have. It's great to give gifts. It's great to be generous. It's great to feed people. It's great to donate cokes. It's great to take a name off the angel tree.
This is all good.
I don't have a problem with those things.
I'm just telling you.
Please don't lose the plot. Christ.
It's Christ.
Our enmity with the righteous God.
Is the problem.
And Christ is the answer.
His holy hatred against sin.
And the sufficient sin-bearing work of Christ.
Is the answer.
I'm going back to the last sermon.
Most Christ.
Give me more Christ.
It's my only hope.
This is why the Son of God was born. This is why Jesus came into the world, y 'all. This is the gospel of Christmas. God has given us a sin-bearer and His name is Jesus. Is that your hope today? What love God shows the world.
Listen, I wonder if the text says He bore our sins why are you still bearing them? Why would you bear them for all eternity in hell since a sufficient substitute has been provided? What do you think God would say to someone in this room on the day of judgment who heard this sermon?
Listen, not because I'm a great preacher. I listen to my preaching sometimes and I'm like, ugh. I wish I could be better. God is worthy of a better preacher. But listen, I know this. The content of what I'm preaching will hold you accountable on the day of judgment.
How could you listen to a sermon like this and hear of the beauty of what Christ has given and hear the sufficiency of His death.
And walk away and say,.
Oh, I'm getting back to my sin. Whatever. You spit in the face of God. If the Bible says whosoever believeth may have eternal life what bars you from being a whosoever? It's only your cold heart.
And may it be warmed.
By the fires of the gospel this morning. Repent of your sins and believe the gospel and you will be saved. Now Christians, let me speak to you. There's a lot of things that you might rearrange in your life.
If you could.
If you were writing your story I'm sure you'd give yourself more money. Maybe better health. Children would be different maybe. But you're not writing your story.
God is.
And could you just pause for a moment today in glory in Christ. Have you considered the weight of your sin? And then have you considered the text that Jesus bore that? Look at what God has done for you.
Can you rest in this wonder today? Can't you trust God? Can you this morning and this Christmas season lay aside your frustration of not being able to keep up with the rat race that is this world? Isn't Christ enough for you?
The guilt and the shame.
And the power.
And the condemnation of sin. God has dealt with it by giving us a sin bearer this Christmas. Listen to me Christian. Listen to me. What more do you need today than to hear these words?
God loves you.
And God has provided a sufficient atonement for you. Rest in that.
Rest and let us go forth. And let us be merry. God rest ye merry.
Gentlemen and ladies. God has provided a sin bearer. And He is enough. Let me do two more applications and we're done. Let me just mention that the gospel is going to produce holiness in us. So Christ is our sin bearer and we bear His fruit in our lives.
Are you resting in the gospel? You'll begin to see that. Others will see that. That is the gospel doesn't merely encourage us to holiness, though it does. But it actually produces holiness.
In God's people.
How can you say that? Because the text says it. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. And then one final application.
Don't miss this one either. Born thy people to deliver. He bore our sins. So just follow the logic. We're not good thinkers sometimes.
But this isn't hard.
If God cares so much about His church, if God cares so much about His people, how could you not? How could you take Christianity and make it be this little individual thing that you're just going to run around with and ignore the church?
If God cares so much about His people, how could we not care.
About His people?
I'm willing to say this. You don't fully grasp Christ's sin-bearing work apart from participation in the burden-bearing love of brothers and sisters in the local church. I'm just saying these go together and I think it's clear from the text.
That the sin-bearing of Christ, it's our sins. It's not just about individuals or even family groups. It's about God building His kingdom.
And that is the church.
The plot of Christmas involves.
The church.
And so one of the ways that we commit to Christ is committing to His body. The church is given expression in local, visible assemblies like Providence Baptist Church.
There it is, beloved.
This is the gospel of Christmas.
Won't you trust it?
Won't you glory in it? Won't you rest in it?
Won't you share it? Let's pray.
Father, we thank You for the sin-bearer. And I leave it all to You. I trust You.
Help me to trust You.
I often don't trust You like I need to. I get concerned sometimes about our church. Are they listening? Are they getting it? Will we continue? I don't know what else to do.
But to preach Your gospel.
And I trust You to apply it. Please apply it. Please draw persons in this room.
To Christ.
Please sanctify the members of this congregation.
We have visitors here today.
Please work in their lives through the preaching of the gospel. Please save our children. I don't ask these things because I have a leg to stand on. I ask these things because of what 1 Peter 2, 24 says.
And, O God, You've given us a marvelous gift in Christ. I think of the words of John Newton. Thou art coming to a king. Large petitions with Thee bring. For His grace and power are such. None can ever ask too much.
So I ask these things, my great and holy and wonderful God, for the glory of Your Son. I want to see Jesus lifted high in this town. And if they want to call us crazy, that's okay or whatever. It doesn't matter to me.
I just want to see Christ exalted. I want You to work through the deception and the darkness, the self-righteousness, the drug problem, the sexual immorality. I want You to pierce all the darkness and shine forth the light of Christ.
If our nation would say, we don't want Christ. May this community say, we want Christ. May the churches here bow the knee to Christ. Would there be more pastors that would just stand in the pulpit.
And say, here's Christ.
Preach against sin. And preach the glory of the Gospel. And if people stop complaining about theological positions, I would just say, look, that church wants Christ. They preach Christ. And would churches stop playing the stupid games that they're playing?
And I don't say this as someone that's... I'm not perfect. You know this. I've failed in so many areas. And if not for Your grace, I wouldn't be standing in this pulpit today. But God, bring more churches along.
These are not the days for foolishness and gimmicks.
Give us Christ.
Start in my heart. Start in His church.