The Transfer of Guilt
11/18/07
(The following was used with a PowerPoint presentation,
the asterisks indicate slide changes.)
*The Transfer of Guilt
Without
a doubt, this is the most fundamental and foundational aspect of
Christianity. It’s profound! There are many who think they understand this
profound truth and yet don’t embrace it.
*Blank
Gen. 3:1 Now the
serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He
said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the
garden’?”
2The woman said to the
serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that
is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4“You will not surely die,” the serpent
said to the woman. 5“For God knows that when you eat of it
your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6When the woman saw that the fruit of the
tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining
wisdom, she took some and ate it.
She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made
coverings for themselves.
8Then the man and his wife heard the sound
of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among
the trees of the garden. 9But the LORD God called to the man, “Where
are you?”
10He answered, “I heard you in the garden,
and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11And he said, “Who told you that you were
naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from
the tree, and I ate it.”
13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What
is this you have done?”
The woman
said, “The serpent deceived me,
and I ate.”
14So the LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your
offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike
his heel.”
*Verse 16 has been
misunderstood… This is not proof that
Adam and Eve had children before they sinned.
I’ll prove it different in two ways.
16To the woman he said,
“I
will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with
pain you will give birth to children.
God’s original intention
was not for the woman to have such pain in giving birth.
Think about it. This is the Garden of Eden, it’s perfect in every way. Why would God cause the woman to experience
such pain in giving birth?
*1
Cor. 15:20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of
those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam
all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
We
were all in the loins of our father Adam we he sinned we all sinned!
*Acts
17:26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the
whole earth
Here
is the second proof that they did not have any children before they sinned…
*20Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
*Blank
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17To Adam he said, “Because you listened to
your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat
of it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will
eat of it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of
the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the
ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
20Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of
all the living.
*21
The
LORD God made garments of skin for
Adam and his wife and clothed them.
This is the very first act in the Bible where we see
the transfer of guilt.
This was a very painful experience for Adam and
Eve. Especially Adam.
*Gen. 2:19 Now the
LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the
birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them;
and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20So
the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of
the air and all the beasts of the field.
Even though it’s not spelled out, God made it
understood with Adam and Eve the importance of sin being covered by blood
sacrifice.
*Gen. 4:1 Adam lay
with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said,
“With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” 2Later she
gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now
Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3In the course of time
Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an
offering to the LORD.
*4But Abel brought
fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked
with favor on Abel and his offering, 5but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.
This is another misconception. Able kept flocks, Cain grew vegetables. So it only would make since that they would
give what they did. Wrong! Abel understood the purpose of sacrifice and
whether or not Cain understood it or not, it didn’t do it.
Now, let me dismiss another problem. Where did Cain’s wife come from? No problem at all; he married his
sister. Adam and Eve had no problem at
all populating the earth rapidly.
*Show my grandmother’s descendants.
*Blank, let’s refocus on the Transfer of Guilt.
Forgiveness under the Old Testament law was based on
the transfer of guilt to an animal.
*Ex.
29:10 “Bring the bull to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his
sons shall lay their hands on its
head. 11Slaughter it in the LORD’S presence at the entrance
to the Tent of Meeting.
*Lev.
4:15 The elders of the community are to
lay their hands on the bull’s head before the LORD, and the bull shall
be slaughtered before the LORD.
This system was only temporary. God of course knew that. He knew what He was doing. This system was only in place until the
perfect came.
*Heb. 9:6 When
everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the
outer room to carry on their ministry. 7But only the high priest
entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for
the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8The Holy Spirit was
showing by this that the
*way into the Most
Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still
standing. 9This is an illustration for the present time, indicating
that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the
conscience of the worshiper. 10They are only a matter of food and drink and various
ceremonial washings—external regulations
*applying until the time of the new order.
11When Christ came as high priest of the
good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect
tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of
goats and calves; but
he entered the Most Holy
*Place
once for all by his own blood,
having obtained eternal redemption. 13The blood of goats and bulls
and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean
sanctify them so that they are
outwardly clean. 14How much
more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse
our
*consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we
may serve the living God!
Let me take this just a little further…
*Heb. 9:19 When Moses
had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves,
together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the
scroll and all the people. 20He said, “This is the blood of the
covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” 21In the same way,
he sprinkled with the blood both the
*tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22In fact, the law
requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood,
and without the shedding of blood
there is no forgiveness.
23It was necessary, then, for the copies of
the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than these. 24For Christ
*did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the
true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25Nor
did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest
enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
Hebrews
is a fascinating book! There is no
place in the Bible that reveals this analogy or typology between the Old
Testament law and the fulfillment in Jesus like the book of Hebrews.
*Heb. 10:1 The law is only a shadow of the
good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it
can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make
perfect those who draw near to worship. 2If it could, would they not
have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would
have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have
*felt
guilty for their sins. 3But those sacrifices are an annual
reminder of sins, 4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5Therefore, when Christ came into the
world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
*6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the
scroll—
I have come to do
your will, O God.’
*(Blank) The religion of man is based on the
assumption that man is capable of being good enough to earn a place in the
kingdom of God.
The
worshipers of Allah believe that by making their extreme sacrifice by taking
their life and the lives of others that they will earn a place in heaven.
Jehovah
Witness, the Mormons and other religions also base their salvation on works.
*Is. 64:6 All of us have become like one who is
unclean,
and all
our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
*Rom. 5:8 But God
demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ
died for us.
*Gal. 3:10 All who
rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is
everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the
Law.” 11Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because,
“The righteous will live by faith.” 12The law is not based on faith;
on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”
*13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law by becoming a curse for us, for it is
written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham
might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might
receive the promise of the Spirit.
*Col. 2:13 When you were
dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you
alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with
its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it
away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the
powers
*and authorities, he made a
public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Have you experienced the transfer of guilt? And if so, what will happen to your life?
*Rom. 7:4 So, my
brothers, you also died to the law
through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him
who was raised from the dead, in
order that we might bear fruit to God. 5For when we were
controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at
work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.
*6But now,
by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way
of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.