The Sin Bearer

This is the first of three messages on the theme of the Sin Bearer. These messages are written to all those going through struggles and persecution. It’s written to the hurting, the dying, the LOST. We must always anchor our hope as we pass through tribulations in this life and stand fast by the Cross of Christ. If that is gone, the star is extinguished whose light cheers the downtrodden, shines on the injured and brings light to the oppressed. Charles Spurgeon said this long ago – "if we lose the Cross, if we miss the substitutionary sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have lost everything!" Those words may seem archaic to some, but neighbor it’s the foundational message of the gospel of Jesus. It’s not just "part of the gospel" – it’s THE gospel!

By Chris McDonald

Text: 1 Peter 2:24-25 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. [25] For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Luke 4:14-18 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. [15] And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. [16] And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. [17] And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, [18] The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Charles Spurgeon said this long ago – “if we lose the Cross, if we miss the substitutionary sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have lost everything!” Those words may seem archaic to some, but neighbor it’s the foundational message of the gospel of Jesus. It’s not just “part of the gospel” – it’s THE gospel!

There is no place for comfort like the cross. It is a tree stripped of all foliage, apparently DEAD; yet we sit under it’s shadow of truth with great delight and it’s fruit is sweet to our taste.

Song 2:3

As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under HIS shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

Our message and love for the Cross of Christ is not a mystical fascination with some talisman used to ward off evil spirits. We are embracing the ONE who died on the Cross and set the captive free – the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who set at liberty those who were bruised, who opened the eyes of the spiritually blind and destroyed Satan’s power over the bruised and oppressed. We are embracing what HE DID on the cross in destroying the powers of hell itself and delivering man from the penalty and power of sin.

Col. 2:14-15

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; [15] And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

By the suffering of Christ we find comfort in the fact that He is at the right Hand of God interceding for us in our current trials. The cross is a great source of encouragement and grace for those who will embrace it as our Lord. We never get tired of writing about what HE did for us there. It’s such a deep subject that if we started today and started writing down each day something He did – we’d never find the books in the universe to contain them! Such was the attitude of John!

John 21:24-25 - This is the disciple which testifies of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. [25] And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

Hope For Slaves

Peter’s address in this passage was to servants. In Peter’s day nearly all servants were SLAVES.

1 Peter 2:18-24 - Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. [19] For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. [20] For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. [21] For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: [22] Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: [23] Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: [24] Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

If we are called to suffer today, as servants in Roman times often were, we will comforted by a vision of our Lord buffeted, scourged and crucified. Yet in His silence, we embrace and see His majesty and glory. If these sufferings are entirely undeserved and we are grossly slandered, we can be comforted today by remembering HIM who committed no sin and in whose lips no guile was found. Jesus is the Head of the Guild of Sufferers: He did good, and suffered for it, but He took it patiently. Our support in carrying the our cross, which we ALL are appointed to bear, is only to be found in HIM – the Sin Bearer, who “bore our sins in His own body on the tree.

There are three things the Sin Bearer has done for us – He bore our sins, He changed our condition and He healed our spiritual diseases.

He Bore Our Sins

1 Peter 2:24

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

The first thing is the bearing of our sins by our Lord, who “Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree.” These words assert our Lord Jesus really did bear the sins of His people. Peter was echoing the words of Isaiah:

Isaiah 53:6

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.

Isaiah 53:8

He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Isaiah 53:11

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Isaiah 53:12

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

He was “numbered with the transgressors.” Every one of us reading this, including myself, was one of those transgressors! We were lost and undone without God and His Son when He reached down His hand for me. Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see. Oh, precious is the flow, which washes white as snow, NO other fount I KNOW, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood of the Sin-bearer can save us from sin, hell and death.

He suffered in our place. Man was guilty and condemned to die under the law of God. But thank God, the Lord Jesus Christ poured out His soul unto death. He bore the iniquity of many and for the transgression of HIS people was He stricken. It pleased God to smite Him. God knew the awful price it would take to redeem man from His sinful condition! It would not be anything less than blood itself. Man needed a Saviour and there was only one Redeemer who could do that. Man could not save Himself but one LIKE MAN had to redeem the like of creation. That is why Christ is called the “Second Adam.” Had He redeemed us as deity that would not do.

So, in the greatest act of love in the annals of human history, God became MAN, emptied Himself of all His glory, stripped Himself of the expression of His deity, came and humbled Himself to the point of death and made Himself walk in the confines of Adam’s flesh.

Philip. 2:6-9

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: [7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: [8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. [9] Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

Col. 1:14-15

In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: [15] Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

1 Cor. 15: 42-50:

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: [43] It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: [44] It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. [45] And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. [46] Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. [47] The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. [48] As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. [49] And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. [50] Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

The New Covenant is the message of the Sin-bearer:

Hebrews 9:28

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

2 Cor. 5:21

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Galatians 3:13

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Ephes. 5:2

And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.

Hebrews 9:26

For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

These days as many errors and denial of truth sweep the Body of Christ, there has sprung up a teaching of “modernism,” and “the Jesus Died Spiritually Doctrine,” which explains away the substitutionary and vicarious sacrifice of Christ. But let me tell you this. There is no other gospel message that can save the souls of men and set the captive free and break the power of Devil over a hell-bound race of Adam’s fallen sons. These modern haters of the message of the Cross deny, denounce and deride the cardinal doctrines of the MOST HOLY FAITH, which Jude warned us to “earnestly contend for!”

Jude 1:1-3

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: [2] Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

[3] Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith, which was once delivered unto the saints.

This is as clear in Scripture as the sun is in the heavens! We suffer through the sin of Adam, so are we saved through the righteousness of Christ. Another caused our fall, and SO IS OUR RISING AGAIN! We are under a system of representation and imputation, no matter what anyone or any movement says against it. The transference of our sin to Christ is a blessed fact clearly revealed in the Word of God and graciously confirmed in the experience of our faith in the Cross of Christ!

Isaiah 53:4

Surely he hath borne our grief, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Isaiah cried, “SURELY, He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows.” Neighbor, that statement is to you and me today personally. He, as the Sin-bearer, has come to bear the results of sin – GRIEF and SORROW! Sin causes GRIEF and brings SORROW. There is no way around that. Man looks for the solution to his problems through education, money and changing his environment. But man’s problem has never been social or economic, it’s been SPIRITUAL! The modern gospel addresses every OTHER aspect of man’s being EXCEPT his SPIRITUAL being. And that is why millions perish and go to hell, many thinking they are actually saved.

If the modern church would quit raising trivial objections to this great truth. To question and debate the Cross is like the crime of the Roman soldiers when they divided His garments among themselves and cast lots for His clothing:

John 19:24

They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.

He Bore Our Sins Personally

The Holy Spirit is very explicit: “Who Himself bore OUR SINS in His own body.”

It was not by delegation but “HIMSELF.” And It was not in someone’s imagination, it was “in His own body.” Observe, also, the personal aspect from our side of the question: He “bore our sins” – MY SINS and YOUR SINS. As surely as it was Christ’s own self that suffered on the cross, so truly were they our own sins that Jesus “bore IN HIS OWN BODY ON THE TREE." Our Lord has appeared in court for us, accepting our place at the stand.

Isaiah 53:12

He has appeared at the place of execution for us and has borne the death penalty upon the gallows of doom in our place. In His own person, our Redeemer has been arraigned, through innocent. He has come under the CURSE, through forever blessed. He has suffered to the death, though He had done NOTHING worthy of blame.

Isaiah 53:5 - 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.

He Bears Our Sins Continually

The sin bearing on our Lord’s part was continual. He began His divine ministry bearing our sins as the Lamb of God.

John 1:28-29 - These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. [29] The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.

He was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” indicating that when He went to Calvary, bearing His Cross, He was bearing OUR SINS on the tree. God had foreordained and already made the decision for this in the annals of eternity past. Especially in the agony of His death, He stood in our place, and upon His soul and body burst the tempest of justice that had gathered through our transgressions.

As one Baptist preacher preached recently, “look at the Cross and see what our sin did. Look at the cross and see what HE did to our SIN! Look at the cross and see the Saviour hanging, bearing our sins and redeeming our curses. Look to the cross.” Look to the cross. Look to the cross. Look to the cross. Preacher, preach the message of the cross. Stop telling your people to look to YOU or the movement you belong to. Stop telling your people to look to humanistic psychology. Stop telling your people to look to everything under the sun except the cross. It’s the cross, the cross, the cross where mankind is set free from the bondages and the powers of darkness.

Alcoholic, LOOK TO THE CROSS; Drug addict, LOOK TO THE CROSS; Homosexual, LOOK TO THE CROSS; If you’re battling anger and rage, LOOK TO THE CROSS; If you’re battling sexual sin, LOOK TO THE CROSS; If you’re battling self-righteousness – LOOK TO THE CROSS; see the humility of the Saviour. If you’re battling any sin right now – LOOK TO THE CROSS.

If you’re downtrodden, hurting and confused, LOOK TO THE CROSS; If you’re not sure what day it is and you want to commit suicide, LOOK TO THE CROSS and see the LOVE of the Redeemer for you friend. He has come and bore the sins of many and made intercession for the TRANSGRESSORS. He was NUMBERED with us, so He could bring us out of the horrible miry clay of sin and hell. My Lord, My Lord, can you feel that neighbor? LOOK TO THE CROSS and see the sin bearer. See the sin bearer who can change your life today.

He Bore Our Sins Finally

He bears them no longer, but bore them ONCE and for ALL. The sinner and the sinner’s surety are both FREE, for the law is vindicated, the substitionary sacrifice is complete. He dies no more; death no longer has dominion over Him, for He has ended His work and has cried, “IT IS FINISHED!”

John 19:30 - When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

As for the sins He bore in His body on the tree, they cannot be found, for they have ceased to exist.

Jeremiah 50:20 - In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.

The work of the Messiah was, as Daniel said, “to FINISH the transgression, the make and END OF SINS, to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness.”

Daniel 9:24 - Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

If sin is brought to an end, NOTHING MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE or added to what HE HAS DONE ALREADY! If transgression is finished, there is not more to be said about it. I say that to my word of faith friends. He didn’t need to go to hell and burn in the pit of fire to finish the work of redemption. He FINISHED the work of redemption on the CROSS and needed nothing more but now to SIT DOWN at the right hand of God and be exalted above EVERY NAME!

Heb 1:3 - The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Heb 10:12-17 - But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool,

14 Because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

16 "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."

17 Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."

The Sin Bearer Has Done It Effectively

As we look at the cross of Christ with our holy faith, we see Jesus bearing the stupendous load of our sins up to the tree and on the tree. His sacrifice discharged the whole mass of our moral liability both in reference to the guiltiness in the sight of God and to the punishment that follows! It is a law of nature that nothing can be in two places at the same time, and if sin was borne away by our Lord, it cannot rest upon US!

If by faith, we have accepted the Substitute whom God Himself has accepted, then it is not possible for the penalty to be demanded twice, first of the Surety and then of those for whom He stood.

The Lord Jesus bore the sins of His people away, even as the scapegoat carried the sin of Israel to an uninhabited land.

Leviticus 16:10

But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Our sins are gone forever.

Psalm 103:12

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

He has cast all our iniquities into the depths of the sea; He has hurled them behind His back, where they can be seen no more.

It’s hard to speak calmly and coolly about this! This is the greatest marvel in the universe. It is the miracle of the earth, the mystery of heaven and the terror of hell! If the modern church ever truly sees the guilt of our sin, the punishment due for it and the literally substitution of Christ, the sin bearer, believe me, we would not have to have seminars to get our people motivated and enthused. We would not have to bring in sinful entertainment to get our young people coming to our services. We would not have to sink to the levels of the world system to get our people interested in Christ. The problem today is we’re trying to get man interested in a church instead of preaching the cross and showing those in our care the power of what Christ did for us at the cross.

I can barely write this even now thinking about what He has done for me. Neighbor, it’s the power and the majesty of the cross that will bring a sinful generation of young people back to God. It’s not going to be our contemporary rock concerts, our softball programs, our cell group activities or any such the like. It’s going to be the message of the greatest event in all of human history – the glorious power of the gospel of Christ.

What an amazing thing that the Prince of Glory, in whom there is no sin, who was indeed incapable of evil, should condescend to some into such contact with our sin by being made to “be sin (a sin-offering) for us!” Our Lord Jesus did not handle sin with golden tongs; But He bore it on His own shoulders as our Sacrifice. He did not lift if with golden staffs, as the priests carried the ark, but He Himself BORE the hideous load of our sin, “in His own body on the tree.” This is the mystery of grace that “angels desire to look into!”

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.

As we close this first part of this message series, I find it very sad that the angels of heaven desire to look into this glorious grace that Christ has bestowed upon His church and yet HIS CHURCH desires to look into everything else BUT this! We are looking to man today for deliverance and all the sorted humanistic tools Satan has fed the church making it think that we can somehow keep ourselves saved, sanctified and delivered outside the finished work of Christ. Neighbor, we can’t.

I pray you know the Sin Bearer today. Look to the cross; look to the cross. The Holy Spirit is ringing that statement over and over in my heart right now. Look to the cross, SEE the Sin Bearer and put your faith in HIM today. I speak to the child of God who is struggling right now. Your struggle is because you’ve taken up the anchor of your soul and placed it somewhere other than the cross of Christ. Return to the place where you first saw the light and neighbor, the light will come back!

The Holy Spirit wants so desperately to WORK in our heart and lives today. The only way though He can do that is we have our faith in the proper arena of His prescribed order of victory – the finished work of Christ. When we properly anchor our faith there and KEEP IT THERE, He then comes and does a glorious work and makes us just like our Lord Jesus. Hallelujah, what a thought! Jesus full salvation brought; Victory, victory; Let the powers of sin assail, Heaven’s grace will never fail, victory; victory. Victory, yes, victory, Hallelujah I am free, Jesus gives me victory, Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, HE IS ALL and ALL to me!

Embrace the Sin Bearer today and place your faith in HIM. He loves you today and through this message speaking to your heart that He has not left but is lovingly waiting for you to return to Him with all your heart.

John 6:36-38

But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. [37] All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. [38] For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

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