The same thing is true about sins. They are either on you, or on someone else. You cannot wish them away to nowhere, as perhaps you would like to do.
We know, because God’s Word says so, that all are sinners. We know, too, that every sin must be punished, because God is perfectly holy, and so cannot just forget all about sins.
But God did not want to separate us from Himself forever. He loved us, even when we were sinners.
So He made a way to take our sins from us, and yet be perfectly just.
He found a place to put our sins. It was on the Lord Jesus Christ. He was willing to take a human body and a human nature in order to die for our sins.
You remember that when Jesus hung on the cross, there were two thieves crucified with Him, one on either side.
At first both of them were cursing and swearing, but after a while one of them became very silent. He knew that he was a sinner, and that he deserved to be punished.
He knew too, that Jesus had never sinned, and so he turned to the other thief who was still cursing, and said to him, “Do you not fear God? For we indeed deserve to be punished, but this Man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he turned to Jesus and said, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom.” What he said showed that he truly believed in the Lord Jesus. And Jesus turned to him and said, “Today you shall be with me in Paradise.”
At that moment something happened to the sins of the thief who believed. Until then they had been on himself. He had carried them all his life, but when he believed in Jesus, God took them from him, and put them on Jesus.
That was why Jesus was on the cross. He was taking the punishment, not for His own sins (for He did not have any), but for the sins of that thief and of the whole world.
The other thief did not believe. His sins remained on him. They could never be put on Jesus. So the unbelieving thief died in his sins.
Which one of those thieves do you want to be like —the one who believed and was forgiven, or the one who did not believe and carried his own sins, and is still carrying them today?
God says some terrible things about the sins of those who refuse to believe in Jesus.
He says they shall die in their sins; that their sins will follow after them; that they have no coat to cover up their sins; that their sins remain on them.
1. The Unbeliever’s sins—John 8:24; 1 Timothy 5:24; John 15:22; 9:41.
2. The Believer’s sins—Isaiah 53:6; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24: Hebrews 1:3.
Adapted Excerpt From: Donald Grey Barnhouse. “Teaching the Word of Truth.”
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