Tag: Sin

Jesus became your scapegoat

When Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and charged with the assassination of President Kennedy, he made the comment that he was just a patsy. I believe that there are people who are imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. I believe there are people who are sitting on death row for crimes they did not commit. I believe that our criminal justice system has put people to death who were innocent of the crimes they were sentenced to die for. Having said that, I am just as certain that, even if it was not as dramatic and tragic as these, so many of us can reflect back to a time where we were actually accused of something we didn’t do. Maybe the police were not involved. Maybe your parents weren’t involved. Maybe the only consequence you suffered was a loss of a friend because they believe a rumor that you did something you really were innocent of.

In the Old Testament the Israelites, in Leviticus chapter 16, are instructed to observe sacrifice ceremony of atonement. Jewish people today celebrate it still. They call it Yom Kippur. The word Yom means “day” in Hebrew. Kippur means “to atone”. In the English language we call it the Day of Atonement. In Leviticus chapter 16 verses 15 through 22 we see instructions to the Israelites on how to proceed with a ceremony for atonement. Today there is fasting and prayer for the entire day. However, I would like to talk about an Old Testament ceremony that I find interesting.

Leviticus 16:15 – 22

15then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: and he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. And there shall be no man in the place until he come out and have made atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. And he shall go out on to the alter that is before the Lord and made an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them up on the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

It is in this chapter and in verse 26 we see this goat called a “scapegoat”. This is where we get our present day use of this word. Upon this goat is laid all of the sins of the Israelites. This goat is permitted to “escape” into the wilderness. Remaining in the Old Testament but moving ahead in time we come to the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah is known as one of the greatest prophets. In the beginning of his prophesying, Isaiah is well respected and very well-liked. But as time goes on, and as Isaiah continues to prophesy the future truthfully, more and more people are offended by his words. Does that sound familiar? It was just as common to revile the truth and hate the truthsayer back then as it is today. There are fewer and fewer men standing in pulpits preaching the truth because there is an increasing number of men and women who are offended by the very same truths that Isaiah prophesied about in the Old Testament. The truth is, Isaiah spoke a lot about the coming Messiah. He prophesied often about Jesus the Christ. In chapter 53, in the book of Isaiah we see the great profit talking about the final sacrifice, the final atonement.

Isaiah 53:2 – 6

2For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried out our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

In this chapter, and in these verses, we see a prophet, living in the Old Testament times, take an Old Testament ceremony and combine the two acts required in the ceremony of atonement into one final sacrifice. Upon the cross Jesus Christ was sacrificed. His blood flowed like a river of life from up top of Mount Calvary. Bruised, pierced, flesh cut wide open, and put to death we see Jesus our Lord take the place of the first goat. When darkness came, and Jesus felt the loneliness of the absence of His heavenly Father, as God put upon him the sin of all the world, we heard him cry out “it is finished” and die. With the sin of the world on his shoulders we see him take the place of the second goat. On the Cross, Jesus was executed for crimes he did not commit. On the Cross Jesus became your scapegoat!

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16 is probably one of the most familiar verses of the Bible in the entire world. It is a snapshot of just how much God truly loves his children. It is repeated in ceremonies over and over again. But do we understand fully, the need for that love. Because of the love of God, otherwise known as Agape love, we were given the gift of atonement through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This gift was given because of God’s righteous and perfect love. Let us not forget that the Israelites were commanded to participate in the twofold sacrifice procedure on the Day of Atonement because of their sinfulness. Likewise, we needed the final sacrifice, the final and most perfect SCAPEGOAT because of our sinfulness. We need to focus on the fact that our sin is to such a huge degree, that there is nothing that man can do for himself to create an effective scapegoat. I cannot save you, and you cannot save me. That is how doomed we are without the perfect scapegoat. Jesus Christ committed no sin. Yet he took our sin to the cross. He did not try to defend himself. He never said I didn’t do it. He was a willing patsy, he was a willing scapegoat. Upon him was laid the sin of all of us. And if you choose to turn your life over to him, he will take your sin and he will put it in a place where you will never see it again, like the goat that goes to the wilderness where no one lives. God’s love provides us with this avenue to redemption. But we cannot forget there is a reason why he had to do what he did, there is a reason why he had to show us such a great love. And that reason is because we are a fallen creature, filled with sin, driven by a desire to serve our flesh.

The scapegoat has already taken the sin, he has already gone to the cross, he has already provided the cleansing blood that wipes away sin, and he has already died and sacrificed himself for you. Are you willing, on this day, to give him all of your sin? Are you willing to take advantage of the greatest love that anyone man could possibly know, and repent? Are you willing to turn away from the desires of your flesh, and live a life for the scapegoat who died for you on the cross, himself being an innocent man? Are you willing to put all childishness and folly behind you and be a follower of Christ?

If you stand in the mirror what will the reflection tell you about yourself, and what are you going to do about it? May the peace of God be abundantly heaped upon you and your house, straight from the cross to the Christian!

We need to suffer loss to value gain!

Why do I believe there is a God? Why do I believe in heaven and hell? Why do I advocate so hard on salvation and sin? There are many people walking around denying Christ because they are in control of their life, or so they think. I know this to be the truth because I used to be one of them. I know how it goes; I know what the thought process is. As long as you didn’t bring the message of sin and salvation to me, I was cool with letting people do what they wanted because I was not being blocked from doing what I wanted and I wasn’t being made to feel any kind of way about doing what I wanted. That’s a big deal to the sinner. ‘I want to do it because it is fun and makes me happy’. ‘You cannot tell me how to run my life’. The funny thing is that none of us, not a single one of us is wise enough and powerful enough to run our own lives. Some of us have to go through some terrible times before we look toward God for the help and answers He has always been ready to provide. Why do bad things happen? Could the truthful answer be so that we seek the face of God? Could it be so that we strengthen our relationship with Him daily? Could the answer be that we need to feel pain to enjoy health, endure hardship to enjoy prosperity, endure sadness to appreciate joy, suffer loss to value gain, experience blindness to truly see? Could the answer be that bad things happen because man truly believes that he is the creator, the true authority on morality, the keeper of the rules and as a result we are the ones that actually create the bad? Of course we do not create weather tragedies, but the same God that creates the flood, also draws back the water. Yes, we know not the hour of our departure from this earth, as well as the departure of others. This is not a reason to hate God, but a reason to cling firmly to the cross so we can rejoice in loss.

I have one verse for today. No commentary, just a verse and my thoughts on it. I hope you read this and see how our flesh calls us to be the old selfish man, and that the spirit calls us to rely on the holy word of God, to call out for the Holy Spirit.

1 Peter 1

12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Because the LORD Jesus loved us, he ordained the disciples to go out into the world and preach his gospel. They did that, and they rose up churches and created more disciples. The churches have followed that line up until this very day. God is still calling his children to preach and teach his gospel. All because he loves you. If you love HIM, you will follow HIS teachings.

I like verse 14. Notice, sin and lust are of your ignorance, meaning what you did not know. Once you have been told the truth, once you have the knowledge, Christ does expect you to turn from those ways and be mindful of Him, not your own thoughts, wants, and addictions.

As this chapter ends with verses 24 and 25, notice that Jesus tells us that relying on ourselves results in death. This is not a reference to the earthly death. This is a metaphor to eternal death. A blade of grass and the flower, they wither away and never return. To live according to man’s ways, man’s thoughts, satisfying man’s flesh is to live for a season, and then to wither away and never return. Eternal death is not just an empty space; it is a consequence for not being obedient. So eternal death will not be pleasant. Think about this, if there is such a thing as eternal life, well then there must be an experience that you will be able to comprehend for all eternity, right? Well….. what then I ask, is eternal death. Do you think that you will not know you are dead eternally? Will you have an experience that lets you know, constantly, that you are dead and you are absent from our God? I don’t think Heaven is a never never land that I won’t be able to touch, nor do I think hell will be a never never land that, after death, you just fade away into some darkness unaware of where you are. I think you will know you are not in heaven, that you are absent from the presence of God, and that this knowledge will not be pleasant.

I am a sinner. I do not believe at all that I am better than anyone else. I make mistakes everyday. But I praise God that my mind has be changed. I know where morals come from and it is not me. I know who the creator is and it is not me. I know who mends the broken and heals the sick, and it is not me. That is the difference between me and the unsaved sinner. I know I cannot do anything for myself. The sinner still thinks they have control. I have to speak God’s word if I am going to have any purpose at all. Without God, there is no purpose, just sin. I opened my eyes to one amazing thought many years ago. Satan does not care at all about me. He has one goal, and that is to cause as much pain in the heart of God as possible. You truly need to believe on Christ to know why this is important to Satan. I used to believe Satan thought that if he built a big enough Army of unrepentant sinners, he would be able to defeat God. I dismissed that thought because I now that an endless army of human souls against God is no army at all. There is no match for the powerLESS against the powerFUL. So it then occurred to me that even satan knows he will lose. His effort is not to build an army with the thought of beating God and his effort is certainly not to keep you from earning rewards in heaven, but to disconnect our relationship with our creator. His effort is to keep you from having a genuine relationship with God to hurt God because is all about himself, has been ever since being ejected from heaven. Satan wants to hurt God for hurting him. You and I are just tools in that effort. Satan could not care one inch about us or anything about us. He knows they things we long for and lust after are all things that will send us straight to hell. And that is why he makes those things look so good, and that is why he leads us to believe we can live without God, that we create morality, that we are greater scientists than God himself. He knows that as long as we are in hell, we are not with the Father, and that hurts the Father. That is the goal of satan.

We need to read these verses and truly understand that we need to rely on God before it is too late. God is the head of our lives and He needs to be at the top of our priority list, at the forefront of all our thoughts, and in every act we commit.

If you stand in the mirror, what will the reflection tell you about your relationship with God and what are you going to do about it? May the peace of God be abundantly heaped upon you and your home, straight from the cross to the Christian!