The second thing was transgressions. Transgressions were deliberate violations. You knew to do better ,but you decided well I’m just going to do what I’m going to do anyway. The third is iniquity. Iniquity is quite different, and that’s the one we want to address today, because this is the root cause. Iniquity is an inner twist in a person’s life that bends them towards sins and transgressions. It’s something crooked inside you, so even if you’re brought up in a good environment, you still get twisted, and still do bad stuff. So iniquity is the issue.
Now there’s three different words, three different offences, one single issue that dealt with it. It’s the blood of Jesus Christ. Legally, the blood of Jesus Christ puts and deals a death blow to the issues of sin, transgression and iniquity. In Isaiah 53, Verse 5 and 6, I want you to have a look at this. We’re going to focus on iniquity which is the root cause, the major thing that lies behind the sins and failures and issues we have in life. When you begin to see this, you’ll begin to see tremendous victory that Christ has won for us.
Isaiah 53, in Verse 5 and 6; He was wounded for our transgressions, deliberate violations of God’s laws. He was bruised for our iniquities. Bruised means He suffered internal haemorrhaging. His blood was shed as the blood vessels were shattered internally for our iniquity, our crookedness. He shed blood so you could no longer – you don’t need to be crooked any more on the inside. You don’t need to be under the power of anything on the inside. Notice what else it says. It says He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, by His stripes we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. We’ve turned, every one to his own way. Now look at this. You’ll see the significance of this Verse in a moment. The Lord laid on Jesus Christ the iniquity, crookedness, perverseness, of us all. He didn’t just deal with your sin failures done in ignorance. He didn’t deal just with your transgressions, deliberate actions against Him. He actually initiated an answer for the root cause that drives us into dysfunctional and sinful behaviours, and we want to have a look at that.
The first thing we want to have a look at is iniquity. What is iniquity? In the New Testament they use one word, sin. So most of the time, Christians, we use the word sin; well I sinned. Actually we need to be quite clear what we’re talking about here. Are you dealing with sin? Are you dealing with transgressions? Are you dealing with iniquities? They are three different things. They all need an answer. They all need an answer, not just that you just generally – oh God, won’t you just forgive me all? You know God in times will allow His grace to flow, according to the knowledge we have to cover it all, but as we grow we need to learn how to deal with things properly.
So first thing is it’s an internal corrupting force. When Jesus was speaking with the Pharisees in Matthew 23, Verse 28, notice what he – remember he said this to them. Now these are religious people that look good. He said outwardly you appear to men to be righteous. You look good. But he said inwardly, you’re full of hypocrisy and iniquity. The word there is iniquity, so what he’s saying is to religious people. He’s saying outwardly you’ve got all the behaviour looking good, you’ve got yourself dressed up, you’re behaving meticulously on the outside – but I know what’s in your heart. It’s full of hypocrisy. You’re acting out something, because really there’s iniquity, there’s a sinful power operating in your heart. You just look good on the outside. The real issue is you’re full – he said this – full of iniquity. Full of it in other words. That’s where the expression came from I suppose – you’re just full of it. So there it is.