All We Like Sheep

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.

Isaiah 53:6

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.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.