But it wasn't always this way.
There was a time when each one of us was outside the flock of Jesus.
For some of us, it was a long time.
For some of us, it was a short time relative to our age.
But none of us were born followers of Jesus.
Isaiah reminds us of this in Isaiah 53, verse 6.
God speaking through Isaiah,
We all, like sheep, have gone astray.
Each of us has turned to our own way.
Sheep have a tendency to wander,
to leave the way of the shepherd and to go off on their own path.
And when it comes to animals, we kind of expect it.
But when it comes to you and I, we're not animals.
We were created for a beautiful relationship with God.
And we were given the best and the perfect way to walk in by our Creator.
And what did we do?
We went astray, like sheep often do.
We turned to our own way, just like sheep often do.
And sadly, it was not an accidental or innocent or unintentional wandering
or turning away from God, but a deliberate one.
Even a defiant one.
I'm talking about Adam and Eve.
The first human pair that God made.
The Bible tells us that something happened that day.
That day that we turned away from God.
Death came into the world.
Corruption.
Evil.
Sin.
And ever since that day, just like sheep often do,
every human being has had this same tendency to go astray.
To turn away from the God who made us and loves us.
Because of what happened that day long ago in the garden,
it's in our very nature to do this.
To rebel.
To disobey.
To be selfish.
And even to do things that we know deep down are wrong.
Just as King David said in Psalm 51,
he was confessing his sins to God there.
And he said,
Surely I was sinful at birth.
Sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
And we might wonder at that.
Can David possibly mean that he was sinning and doing evil,
even in his mother's womb?
But let's not forget that this is poetry.
What David means is that the inclination,
the desire,
the tendency towards what is wrong
has always been there in me.
As long as I've lived right back to the very beginning,
it's part of my very nature.
So it's not that some people grow up and make bad choices
to sin and do wrong,
while others grow up and make good choices
to obey God and do what is right.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray.
Each and every one of us has turned to our own way.
As sheep often do, so have we.
Much of the story of the Bible is God helping us to understand
that this is what is going on in our hearts.
that we have a big problem.
And even as he worked to reveal this truth to us over the centuries,
we continued to go astray.
We continued to think,
no, I don't have a problem,
and if I do, I'm going to fix it myself.
I can do this on my own.
I don't need to listen to you, God.
This is kind of how the big story of Israel in the Old Testament goes.
God revealed himself to them.
He gave them wonderful promises.
He gave them some commands and instructions,
good ones, right ones.
And what did they do?
On the whole, except a few,
they turned away from him.
Again, and again, and again.
They went their own way.
They did things that were evil.
And this is a problem.
God is love.
But he is also just.
He will not tolerate wickedness and corruption in his world forever.
He will not allow people to simply get away with the wrong things that they have done.
I mean, think about this.
What would our nation be if there was never any consequence when people did wrong?
Never any punishment for those who break the law.
What would our nation be if those who were in charge simply turned a blind eye to everything?
It would very quickly spiral down into chaos,
pandemonium,
anarchy,
a power struggle,
a bloodbath.
And there are some places in our world that operate like this today.
Inevitably,
inevitably, the strongest and most powerful rise to the top,
and they rule oppressively
over those who are weaker
through violence.
And people cry out for justice
in those places
when they are wronged,
when they are hurt,
and often they get none.
God will not allow this world,
which he has made,
to have that kind of an end to the story.
He is good.
He is just.
And while he has permitted people to go their own way to an extent and for a time,
he will not allow us to go on in our corruption
and selfishness
and pride
forever.
He would have to be corrupt
to do that.
And so chapter after chapter after chapter of Isaiah
is God telling his people, Israel,
that if they do not turn away
from wickedness
and turn to him,
he is going to destroy them.
He is going to give them
what they deserve.
He is going to put a stop
to the violence,
to the murder,
to the wicked ways.
And just like with Israel,
God has promised
not only
did he do that
then,
but to do that with
the whole world
someday.
A day of final judgment.
A day in which
the people of earth,
all of them,
receive
what we
are due.
the Bible says that this world
will be destroyed
by fire
and that everyone
will enter into judgment
and God will be
the judge
and he will see
that everyone
gets what they deserve.
so we have a problem,
a big problem
because according to God,
all of us
have gone astray.
Each of us
has turned
away.
We've all sinned
against him
and not just a little bit,
but a lot
in all kinds of ways.
what we deserve
is to be
taken out,
wiped off the face
of the planet
and even worse
after that
to suffer
punishment
forever
in hell.
Now I know
some of you
might be thinking,
hell?
How could he?
That sounds
way too harsh.
But as we read
the pages of the Bible,
God tells us
that actually
it's not
way too harsh.
Rather,
we have the tendency
to try to justify
ourselves.
We have the tendency
to deny
the seriousness
of our offenses,
of our sin.
The tendency
to say,
I know I've done
some bad stuff,
but hell?
The truth is
rebelling
against the good
and glorious
God who created
the universe
is in itself
an evil
so great
that yes,
hell
forever
is what we
deserve.
It's not
overkill.
It's justice.
It's what's right.
It's the punishment
that fits
our crime.
So we're all
in big trouble
with God
because we've
all like sheep
gone astray
and turned
away from God.
But here
is the amazing
and wonderful
good news.
There's more
to this verse.
We all like sheep
have gone astray.
Each of us
has turned
to our own way
and the Lord
has laid
on him
the iniquity
of us all.
What is he
talking about
here?
Who is
him?
Despite the
fact that
we've rebelled
and sinned
and gone
astray,
God loves
the people
of the world
that he has
made.
While there
is justice
in the heart
of God,
there is also
great love,
great mercy,
great compassion
for the people
that he has
made.
Make no mistake,
the day that
Adam and Eve
rebelled in the
garden was a
day that God's
heart was broken.
The people who
God made and
loved had put
themselves in a
position where
God owed them
justice.
And yet in his
heart of hearts,
he did not want
to give them
what they truly
deserve.
or to see
them suffer
what was
right.
And so God
himself made
a way for
them to be
rescued and
saved from
what they
deserve.
This is what
the whole Bible
is about.
And not just a
way for them,
but it's a way
for all people
throughout the
ages, a way
to be saved,
a plan to
rescue, a plan
that really
works.
And God
began revealing
to us how it
works little by
little over the
centuries.
A free gift of
forgiveness, of
divine pardon for
all who would
simply turn to
God and trust
that he would
look after it.
And then as
centuries went
by, God revealed
more and more
about how this
plan of salvation
works, he let
us know that
we can't just
be forgiven of
the wrongs that
we've done.
Just like a
criminal can't
just be forgiven
for breaking the
law.
Somebody must
serve the
sentence that
justice requires.
And if it
isn't you or
me, then it
has to be
somebody else.
Somebody who
isn't himself
guilty of
breaking the
law.
And so, God
told through the
prophets of a
man who would
come.
A man who
would come and
take the
punishment that
we deserve upon
himself like a
substitute so that
justice would be
done, the
sentence would be
served, and we
could be spared
what we deserve
and fully
pardoned.
Isaiah spoke of
a servant of
God who would
come.
This is what the
whole chapter,
Isaiah 53, is
about.
This special
servant of God,
a man who
would be
despised and
rejected by
people, who
would suffer
much and who
would know
great pain,
a man who
people would
think of as
very low and
be a man who
would be
hated, a man
who many would
think was under
God's curse and
punishment because
of his own sin and
wickedness as they
saw how brutally he
was treated.
But, as Isaiah
tells us, a man
who would suffer
not for his own
sins, but for
the sins of
others.
Let me read you
what it says in
verse 5, just
before these
verses we've been
looking at.
But he, this
servant, was
pierced for our
transgressions.
He was crushed
for our
iniquities.
Transgressions and
iniquities are just
two different words
for sins.
And God tells us
that this
servant who
would come
would be
pierced and
would be
crushed, not
for his own
sins, but
for ours.
He goes on, he
says, the
punishment that
brought us
peace was
upon him, and
by his wounds
we are healed.
So this
servant of God
who would
come would
have God's
punishment upon
him, yes.
And it
would be a
punishment, not
for his own
sins, but for
ours.
A punishment
that would
bring us
peace with
God.
Hundreds of
years later,
after Isaiah
spoke these
words, they
were fulfilled.
this servant
came.
What God
said would
happen, happened.
Jesus, the
Messiah, came.
And while
Jesus was
loved and
accepted by a
few, many
hated him and
despised him and
rejected him.
Eventually, the
day came when
they conspired
against him and
killed him.
just as it
says here
through the
words of Isaiah,
they pierced
him.
They pounded
nails through
his hands and
feet and
nailed him to a
wooden cross and
hung him up to
die.
And just as God
foretold through
Isaiah, the
people looked up
at him there and
thought, here's a
man who has
suffered so
brutally because he
is under God's
curse.
how great his
sins must be.
He's being
punished by God.
But the reality
was this.
He was pierced,
not for his own
sins, but for
our sins, for
our transgressions,
in order to
bring us peace
with God, in
order to bring
us healing, to
see our big
problem with
God cured.
We all, like
sheep, have
gone astray.
Each of us has
turned to our
own way, and
the Lord has
laid on him
Jesus, the
iniquities of
us all, the
sins of us
all.
He punished
Jesus in our
place.
God
and as we've
heard in the
past weeks, it
wasn't something
that God
forced on his
servant, Jesus.
According to
Jesus, it was
something he chose
voluntarily to do.
I laid down my
life for my
sheep of my own
accord.
Lord, if it
were not for
what Jesus
suffered, if it
were not for
his brutal death
in our place,
none of us
would be sheep
in the flock of
God.
We'd all still be
gone astray,
lost, guilty,
and without hope
for that final
day.
And so this is
something that we
should never take
for granted.
We have been
saved.
We have been
brought into the
flock of God.
We have been put
under the care of
Jesus, our good
shepherd.
We have peace
with God because
of what Jesus
did at the
cross.
We have the
hope that someday
we will be raised
from the dead to
life.
never to die
again because of
what Jesus did
for us on that
cross.
And you
wouldn't have had
to do it but
for our guilt and
for our sin.
That's what we
want to remember
this morning as we
come again to the
Lord's table.
We want to
remember that
Jesus'
suffering before,
at, and
up on the cross
was terrible.
The bread that we
partake represents
his body and
how it was
broken as he
died.
The cup that we
drink from represents
his blood and how
it ran out of his
body as he died.
And our eating and
drinking of it
represents that we
have taken unto
ourselves this gift
that his death is.
And we believe we're
trusting in what his
death accomplished,
the forgiveness of
our sins and peace
with God.
So in just a moment
we're going to partake
together of the
Lord's table.
Rod and Charles are
going to come up and
serve the bread and
the cup and we'll hold
on to them until
everyone has been
served.
And then we'll eat
and drink together
in remembrance of
Jesus.
But before we do,
I just want to
remind us one more
time that partaking
of this is not a
casual thing.
It's not a light
thing.
It's a very serious
thing.
According to God's
word, it's something
that only those who
believe in Jesus as
Savior, Lord, King,
Messiah should do.
And so if you do
not believe in Jesus
like that, then I
would ask that you
not take of the
bread and the cup
when it's offered
to you.
This is a serious
matter.
The Apostle Paul said
this in his letter to
the Corinthians.
He was talking to
them about what
we're about to do,
the Lord's table.
He said,
So then, whoever
eats the bread or
drinks the cup of
the Lord in an
unworthy manner will
be guilty of sinning
against the body and
blood of the Lord.
Everyone ought to
examine themselves
before they eat of
the bread and drink
from the cup.
For those who eat
and drink without
discerning the body
of Christ, eat and
drink judgment on
themselves.
That is why many
among you are weak
and sick, and a
number of you have
fallen asleep.
Fallen asleep means
died.
So, this is a
serious thing that
we do.
God wants us to do
it in a worthy
manner, to reflect
seriously on the
death of Jesus
while we eat and
drink.
And so, before we
do, we're going to
take a few minutes
of quiet.
And I want to
encourage you in
these moments to
pray, to examine
yourself, to talk
to God, to think
back over the
things that you
have done, said,
thought that are
wrong.
I want to
encourage you to
confess those things
to God, to ask for
his forgiveness.
It was for real,
everyday choices to
sin that Christ
suffered as he died
on that cross.
Choices that we've
made.
So, think about
those choices.
Confess them to
God.
Ask for his
forgiveness.
Celebrate
solemnly the gift
that his death is
for us.
And then we will
eat and drink
together in the
Lord's name.
There can be a
tendency as we
hear these words
sometimes to
take them so
strongly that we
feel that in order
to eat and drink,
we need to be
perfect.
But the whole
reason Jesus died
for us is because
we aren't perfect.
Because we've
blown it.
We've sinned.
So don't think,
I need to be
worthy.
I need to be
good enough to
come to this
table, to eat and
drink here.
No, that's not
it.
We all, every one
of us, come to
this table as
sinners, as
people who have
blown it.
And so to come
in a worthy
manner just means
that we come
to God in
these moments
acknowledging that
to him.
Acknowledging that
we're sinners
with hearts that
are truly sorry
for our sins
and hearts that
are trusting in
Jesus and what
he did at the
cross for our
forgiveness and
to save us.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven,
thank you so
much for sending
your son.
Thank you that
you did not
just walk away
from us.
Thank you that
you stayed
your justice
and made a
plan to save
us.
Thank you for
sending Jesus
your dear
beloved son.
And Lord
Jesus, thank you
for willingly
doing what you
did to save us.
humbling yourself,
becoming like
one of us
and enduring
the shame
and the
scorn and
the suffering
of the cross
unto that point
where you
died.
I pray that you
would bring
that reality
home into our
hearts again in
these moments
and remind us
and speak to
us of your
love.
I pray that you
would hear our
quiet prayers
in these next
moments.
life and
come to
Thank you.