And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. What was laid on Christ? It says iniquity. Verse 11. at the end says, he
shall bear their iniquities. Verse 12 at the end says, and he bear
the sin of many. On whom was iniquity laid? The scripture says, him. It was
laid on Him. Peter said, He, His own self,
bear our sins in His own body on the tree. It was He Himself
that bear our sins, and He did so in His own body. The body
prepared Him for that purpose. Who laid iniquity on him? The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity. Repentance and faith doesn't
lay iniquity on him. It's not done when the believer
is called out of darkness into his marvelous light, but the
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity. He did it once and the work is
finished. whose iniquities were laid on
Him. Verse 6 says, All we, those chosen
of God in Christ before the world began, all we who like sheep
have gone astray. The iniquity of us all. If it was our iniquity, That
says to you and I, brethren, there was nothing in us acceptable
to God. That's why He came. Nothing in
us that was acceptable to God. It was our iniquity. They are
all gone aside, the psalmist said. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. Having laid on Him the iniquity
of all his people, what then did the substitute bear in his
own body? Just judgment. Verse 5 says he
was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. Verse 8 says, towards the end
there, it says, he was cut off out of the land
of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken. I want to look at the spotless
lamb and then the substitute and then the glorious good news.
First of all, Christ Jesus is the spotless Lamb of God. Christ never was, nor could Christ
ever be the committer of transgression, for He never committed any. Christ came into this world to
fulfill the law, the whole law. and every precept was daily his
delight in heart, in word, and deed. All that was written in
the prophets he fulfilled. He was always continually about
his father's business. He was tried by Satan, he was
reviled by men, and yet not one sin was found in the heart. Even one thought of sin was found
in this holy, harmless, undefiled, perfect servant of the Father.
Christ Jesus as a man. made of a woman, made under the
law, made flesh, was examined by the law and found spotless. Just as the lamb under the old
covenant was to be put up and examined, this lamb was spotless. He offered himself through the
eternal spirit without spot to God. Therefore, when the hour
was come, when the hour was come for which He came into this world
because He was the only righteous man, because He was without spot
and without limits. Christ Jesus was the only one
fit to undergo this absolute transaction for His people which
only God could bring to pass. Now let's look at the substitute.
The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. What does it say and what does
it not say? It says the Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity. Punishment followed. Punishment
that we can't possibly fathom. Punishment that was a stroke
that was hell itself that we can't even imagine, but not before
the iniquity itself was laid on Him. If God says, the Lord hath laid
on Christ the iniquity of us all, that's what the Lord did. The Holy Spirit does not say
it was as if the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity. God does
not say it was as if He bore our sins in His own body on the
tree. The Spirit of God does not say
it were as if He was made a curse for us. I want you to hear me, children
of God. Listen to this. Your iniquity became Christ's
iniquity as truly as it was yours. And not yours only. but the iniquity
of every chosen child of God. Why was it a necessity for the
Lord to lay on Christ the iniquity of His people before bruising
Him? All our hope, brethren, is that
the judge of all the earth shall do right. That's our hope. It was not for crimes that our
Savior did commit Himself. But the Lord laid on Him the
iniquity of us all. And therefore the Lord justly
poured out wrath upon Him. Arts have jury duty this week. I was thinking about this. If you had a child, your own
child, And that child was murdered. And the person who did it was
caught red handed. And there was two or more witnesses
that saw it, that witnessed it. And you were brought before the
judge and that criminal was brought before the judge and all the
evidence was brought forth. And the judge declared him innocent. you would say, that's an unjust
judge. If you were accused of a crime
that you didn't commit, you didn't commit it at all, and there were
two or more witnesses that knew you were innocent of all charges,
and you went before that same judge and he found you guilty,
you would say that is an unjust judge. If you ever had to stand
before that judge, if you ever had to stand before that judge,
you would absolutely have no assurance whichever way he would
judge. Ever. None at all. The righteousness
of God is that He is the just judge. Turn to Proverbs 17, to
your left there. Proverbs chapter 17. I want you to read this and I want
you to consider this. Proverbs 17, 15. He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just,
even they both are abomination to the Lord. Read it again. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination
to the Lord. The judge of all the earth has
and shall do right. Some say then, it's unjust Christ,
who is innocent, to have iniquity laid on Him. If God should take Christ and
force Him to bear it against His will, it were injustice indeed. But Christ willingly offered
Himself to bear the iniquity of His people. that God might
satisfy His own justice and thus be the justifier of His people. This was what He promised when
He entered into suretyship engagement in the everlasting covenant of
grace before the foundation of the world. John 10.17, He says,
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I laid down my life,
that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, But
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. He being thus willing to take
our sin upon Himself, it is no injustice of God to make Him
sin for us. In respect of His own person,
He's innocent. He never committed a crime. But
in willful submission to the Father, the Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity itself of every child he represented. I want
you to hear this. Now listen, the mystery of the
cross, the mystery of the cross of Christ, the mystery of the
gospel of Christ is not that God punished an innocent person
on Calvary's cross. That's not the mystery. Though the iniquity was no act
of His own. The mystery of the cross is that
the just one, Christ Jesus, because He is just. Christ who knew no sin, because
He is just, even as the Father. willingly submitted himself to
the Lord who took the iniquity off his children and laid it
upon Christ, making him sin so that God was just to pour out
wrath upon Christ. And at the same time that he
did that, God in perfect righteousness justified his people from all
our sin. That's the mystery of the cross.
Someone may object, saying, well, the Lord had punishment laid
on Him, but not iniquity itself. The whole purpose for which the
Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life was to declare the righteousness
of God, to declare God just. If iniquity itself had not been
laid upon Christ, it had been injustice for the Lord to have
bruised Him. The Holy Spirit declares plainly,
he himself bear our sins in his own body on the tree. The Lord
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He bear the sins of
many. He bear our transgressions. And because he did, he was made
a curse. For he hath made him who knew
no sin, sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. And because he bore our sin,
it was in perfect harmony with holy justice that he was wounded
for our transgressions, that he was bruised for our iniquities,
that the chastisement of our peace was upon him, that God
be just and do that perfectly, justly, and according with His
holy justice, and at the same time justify His people. And
this is all our hope, brethren. This is all our hope. This is
a deep, deep fountain. But if you will plunge yourself
into this fountain and drink of this fountain and become as
intimately connected with this fountain as you possibly can,
I assure you, you'll find peace for that tormented conscience
of yours. This is the fountain where that, this is the soul
cleansing fountain right here. And the more you find out how
truly this is so, the more you'll find peace for your soul. Some
may object that sin was imputed to him. Absolutely, sin was imputed
to him. But God's accounting, His reckoning
is as absolute as the financial accountant. Brother Pete is our
treasurer and he's an accountant. He's good at what he does. He
knows what he's doing. And when he accounts for something,
in that account, it's because it's there. And if it's unaccounted
for, it's not there. God's accounting is just that
real. If he accounts it to be there,
it's there. If he accounts it not to be there,
it's not there. According to the law of this
book, the holy and just judge of all the earth pronounces guilt
only where iniquity is found and pronounces innocence only
where there is none, where there is no iniquity. This book never
separates sin from guilt. They're one in the same. Separate
them and sin becomes an absolutely innocent thing. This book never
does that. Never. Some may object that this transaction
was actually like what took place on the Day of Atonement. I've
heard men say that, that what took place at Calvary was exactly
the same as what took place on the Day of Atonement, and there's
no mystery about it. That which took place under the
Old Covenant was a type. It was a shadow. A tithe means
it was as if the sins of the people were put on the goat.
A tithe means God treated him as if he were sin. A tithe means
God regarded the sacrifice as if sin had been put away. A tithe
means it was as if. And we know it
was because the whole picture had to be played out again the
next year because it was impossible for the picture to actually do
what it pictured. But if you'll read the book of
Hebrews, the first chapter tells you Christ is the express image. The express image. And throughout
the Hebrew letter, the apostle is declaring to us that everything
that was typified in the shadow, Christ is the express fulfillment
of it. Animals were not in man's nature,
but Christ was made the express nature of the children of Abraham
when he was made of a woman, Hebrews 2.16. Bulls and goats
in shadow and type came under the law, But Christ was expressly
made under the law, Galatians 4.4. Bulls and goats had sin
laid on them metaphorically, but the Lord himself hath expressly
laid on Christ in his own body the iniquity of all his elect
people. The blood of goats made atonement
in a ceremonial way, but Christ's blood has expressly made eternal
satisfaction to God. The blood of bulls and goats
purified the flesh in a shadowy ceremonial way, but Christ's
blood expressly purges the conscience from dead works to serve the
true and living God so that there is expressly no more conscience
of sins in the believer by the Spirit of God. Turn with me over
to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. And I want
you to read something If we introduce the amazing mystery
of the Gospel to be nothing more than the as-if of the shadow,
what are we doing? Verse 29, Of how much sore punishment
suppose ye Shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done to spite unto the
Spirit of grace." If we make the express image to be nothing
more than the shadow, that's exactly what we've done. Counted
his blood an unholy thing. If God bruised one, what are
you saying to us? Well, if God bruised one who
was not guilty, then the whole purpose for which Christ came
into the world to declare the righteousness of God is void. It's absolutely void. But with
the iniquity of all his children laid upon him, our substitute
became the sole person in the behalf of all the elect that
had iniquity upon him. He became the sole person with
all the iniquity of all his elect upon him. He became the sole
person in place of all his elect children, actually the guilty
man in the place of all his elect. Otherwise, God is not just to
bruise him. The life and joy of our soul
flows from this. God is absolutely righteous. If God is not righteous, if God
is not just, then the believer has no hope. If God ever punished
one innocent man or ever cleared one guilty man, then there is
no justice with God. And you're like standing in front
of that unjust judge. You don't know which way he's
going to go. But the judge of all the earth does right. He
does right. He does right. This was such
a real transference of sin and iniquity, our substitute confessed
them to be his own. You can read Psalm 20, you can
read Psalm 38, you can read Psalm 69. In Psalm 69, he said, Oh
God, you know my foolishness and my sins are not hidden from
you. Henry Law said, though guiltless
in himself, he stood before God laden with all the follies and
all the sins of his people. He received the burden transferred
by God to him and acknowledged his imputed guilt. My God, my Savior, did not metaphorically
have his soul crushed with such an exceeding weight that he said,
I'm sorrowful unto death. That wasn't a metaphor. He didn't
metaphorically, forensically, sweat great drops of blood. He
sweat drops of blood. The first words associated with
the curse in the very first garden was, in sorrow shall you eat
of the ground all your days, because it's cursed. And in the
sweat of your face, you'll eat all the days of your life. And
in the second garden, the last Adam said, my soul is exceedingly
sorrowful, even unto death. And his capillaries burst and
he sweat blood. Why? Because he was made a curse. The Lord said, your iniquities
have separated between you and your God. That was the problem. Your sins have separated between
you and your God. And on the cross, the Lord Jesus
Christ cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And he answered it in Psalm 20.
He said, Thou art holy. Thou art holy. In the midst of bearing wrath,
in the midst of bearing judgment, in the midst of bearing all that
could be put upon one, He justified God for doing what
He did and said, Thou art holy. And at the same time, He justified
God so that God might justify, be
the justifier of his people. And at the same time, he is the
justification of his people. Well, I don't understand that. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Faith's the substance. My reason and my understanding
is not the bar of believability. God's Word is. And how God says it is, it's
so. It's exactly so. Because God's just. What's the
good news about all that? What's the good news about that?
Verse 5. At the end of that verse it says,
with His stripes we are healed. When God raised Him from the
dead, He declared before the whole earth, justice is satisfied. He declared before the whole
earth, propitiation has been made. God's just. His people are justified. from all things from which they
could not be justified by the law of Moses. Being made partakers
of Christ, the Spirit of God assures you, assures every believer,
that because Christ bore your sin and the punishment thereof,
the all-knowing God, the all-seeing God, says to you, your sins and iniquities
I will remember no more." They're gone. They're gone. You mean I just ought to count
that it's so? Not like men count, no. Like
God counts. The way men count, you end up
like Bernie Madoff. I'm talking about the way God
counts. How it is, it is. How it is, it is. But in my flesh
all I see is sin and all I see is rebellion against God and
all I see is just sin, sin, sin. I didn't say look at it with
your eyes. I said believe God. Believe Him. As God says it is,
that's how it is. That new man that's born of the
Spirit of God is recreated after God's image in righteousness
and true holiness. I can't see that. I don't understand
that. That's what God says it's so.
Either God's true and that's how it is, or God created something
that's not righteous and truly holy. You decide which one you
want to go with. I don't want to go with either
of those. It's so. What God does is so. We're made the righteousness
of God in Him. When you die, your soul, your
spirit is going to go to be with God. And there's not going to
be anything that has to be done to it first for it to come into
God's presence. Nothing. Because it's done. It's done. What a glorious, soul-assuring,
absolute exchange. Listen to this now. Christ took
our persons and was made sin for us, not by any act of sin
performed by Him, but in perfect submission to the Father. And
thus, through the Spirit of God, He has made us the righteousness
of God. not by any act of righteousness
performed by us, but through submission to Him. He delights to show His children
mercy, for His mercy is in perfect harmony with His justice. Mercy
and truth are met together. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather
that's risen again. Who is even at the right hand
of God who also maketh intercession for us. The peace of the conscience,
the peace of the soul, the peace of the heart is knowing that
the same justice that demanded I be condemned when I was under
the curse of the law is the same justice which condemned Christ
in my stead. And it's the same justice which
now demands that there is no condemnation for me but by the
satisfaction accomplished by the death of Christ Jesus. You see? When the Lord says,
blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, when He said, whose
sin is covered, when He said, blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile, it is because there is no transgression. It is because
there are no sins. It is because there is no iniquity
to impute. It is because that one born of
the Spirit is not born of the Spirit of God, he's born of the
Spirit of God. You say, well, that's a mystery.
It's equally a mystery of the Gospel, but it's equally so.
The all-knowing, all-seeing God who knoweth the heart says of
every individual member of his believing bride, this is what
he says, Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. That's Song of Solomon, chapter
4, verse 7. Thou art all fair, my love, there
is no spot in thee. I believe what Paul was saying
in Romans 8 was, if somebody tries to tell you otherwise,
you tell them, I'm going to take God's word for it instead of
yours. I'm going to say it is as God
says it is. And you can say what you want
to. Take it up with God if you want to. But I'm going to rest
on what He said and how He said it. Look at Jeremiah chapter 1. I
think I've got the right scripture here. I want you to see this.
Jeremiah chapter 1. Verse 20. Well, nope, got the wrong scripture. Well, I've done one of clay stunts. I don't have the right scripture
written down. Let me quote this to you though. In those days, And
at that time shall the iniquities of Israel be sought for, and
there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and they shall
not be found." Why? Because they're gone. That scapegoat didn't take them
away. He just, as if he took them away, and next year they
had to do the whole thing again. Christ took them away. I know I have this one right.
Turn to Romans 6 and look at verse 10. I just read this to
you, but I want you to see it now in light of what I've just
set forth before you. Romans 6. Look at verse 10. In that he died, he died unto
sin once. He really did. He really did. But in that he liveth, he liveth
unto God. He really does. Likewise, reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. God says, that's
how it is. It really is. But alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Somebody said, if that
don't light your fire, your kindling's wet. Isn't that so? This is what
the Lord means when He says, Come unto Me, all ye that are
weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Turn now one more
place to Hebrews 9 and we'll be done. Hebrews 9.26. One day,
He's coming again. One day, He's coming again. But He's not going to come back
looking like He did when He hung up on that cursed tree. Verse 26. I'm sorry, verse 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. Brethren, that's all my hope. All my hope. That just as truly as my Savior
was made the sin I am, I made the righteousness He is. It's
done. It's finished. All that remains
is for this body of death to be put off and for him to raise
it created anew in righteousness and true holiness so that I'd
be perfectly conformed to his image. And the purpose why he's
left me here in this body of death now is to teach me that
all my care has always, from before the world began, been
in his hand. And it's been in the best hands
it could be in. And it still is. And He shall
not lose the one for whom He died. And that's true of every
one of you for whom He died. Are you resting in Him? This
is the hope of the believer. This is so. We have a good God. I pray He'd give you a heart
to trust Him and believe Him. Amen.