Measure Upon Measure – Guilt And Shame – The Restoration Of God - Part 2 Series

MEASURE UPON MEASURE – GUILT AND SHAME – THE RESTORATION OF GOD - Part 2

We commenced a study on The Restoration of God where we have been looking at the consequences of Adam’s sin, and there are 6 consequences of sin we will consider. We continue with GUILT AND SHAME.

THE SAVIOUR’S ROAD - SHAME

We have just looked at the first consequence of man’s sin. Now we shall consider how Christ identified with man in that consequence. I will repeat just a small section from the first message – [[It could be stated in this fashion: SERENITY RUINED - what was perfect peace in the garden, collapsed. SIN’S RESULTS - various consequences flowed from Adam and Eve’s sinful act. Lastly, THE SAVIOUR’S ROAD - meeting the consequences face on was the Saviour’s work. Not only were the consequences dealt with specifically, but also He has added much more in blessing. “MEASURE UPON MEASURE” is a title we could give this whole study.

In the first message we examined the serenity that was ruined, and what the results of sin were (just one - GUILT and corresponding SHAME), and now we look at the SAVIOUR’S ROAD in dealing with that sin and guilt we have inherited. In this, we look at how the Lord Jesus Christ dealt with that awful problem because we were incapable of dealing with it. There would be no solution without the Lord.

Shame and guilt have passed to every man and woman ever born but the Lord Jesus Christ, being sinless, had no inherent guilt or shame of His own. But there was a time when shame and guilt covered Him, and it is in that episode that He identified Himself with sinful man. That was the road Jesus took when He was fulfilling these verses – {{Psalm 40:6-8 “Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired. My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, “BEHOLD, I COME. In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I DELIGHT TO DO YOUR WILL, O my God. Your Law is within my heart.”}}

The psalmist in this same Psalm 69:7 wrote, {{“because for Your sake I have borne reproach. DISHONOUR HAS COVERED MY FACE.”}}. And again in Psalm 69:19 he wrote, {{“You know my reproach AND MY SHAME AND MY DISHONOUR. All my adversaries are before You.”}}

I wonder how many on that Golgotha morn looked upon His face and thought that He had to be an evil man otherwise He would not have been on that cross. They recognised the shame associated with the cross and reproaching Him, they left. Little did they know that it was for the sake of the Father (and for sinful man) He was hanging there in reproach, for the Father’s whole purpose of eternal salvation was being worked out that day at Calvary. He was put to an open shame in front of His adversaries.

Paul wrote a most profound declaration in 2 Corinthians 5:21: {{“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”}}. It was when He became sin for us that He identified with the consequences of our sin by making them His own. That verse speaks of substitution. There is a lot of substitution in the bible. That is the Saviour’s Road for He journeyed where we could not. He did what we could not. He achieved what we could not.

Why did He do that for us? Very simply, He did it because we could not, but that is so simplistic. There was a divine purpose worked out here that we will never comprehend where the love of God, along with grace and holiness and retribution in penalty, was being enacted to bring us sinners into the place of eternal forgiveness and peace. I do not want to delve here into those theological matters suffice to say this. Jesus Christ died for me, satisfying all the divine requirements of a just, righteous God. He was despised by man and suffered the ignominy of hateful, mocking, sinful human beings who put Him to an open shame. It really is too deep for us.

In Hebrews 12:2 it is written, {{“... fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who FOR THE JOY SET BEFORE HIM ENDURED THE CROSS, DESPISING THE SHAME, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”}}. Here we are told of two deliberate acts of the Lord on our behalf. He ENDURED the cross and He DESPISED the shame. Crucifixion was a tortuous death but He endured it. The shame associated with that particular death was immense.

Picture for a moment the spectacle on Calvary. There, at that Skull place, was the Creator of the world, of the universe in fact, the Saviour of mankind, hanging naked between two genuine criminals. When He became sin for us, He identified with our sin, taking all our sin, and therefore with our shame, taking all our shame. He made our shame His very own. The shamefulness of man’s sin became His very own covering. He was a spectacle before the whole world and before the demon masses, which possibly rejoiced at the occurrences of that day. But He despised the shame of the cross for the joy that was set before Him. Those who hear me or read, think of His love that endured all those things; that despised the worst that humans could do to Him. It was love for you and for me that underpinned all He did that day.