Jesus is looking at the gate of hell, and He's standing over it, saying: bring it on. That's the yoke of our Rabbi.
When they were learning to walk behind their rabbi, the best student of the day got to be the line-leader. As they were walking behind their rabbi, the rabbis wore these shoes with these flaps; and it was a dusty region, so the best student of the day was the one walking closest behind him. You could always tell who that was, by the one who got covered in the dust of their rabbi. They would get covered, from their waist down, in the dust of their rabbi.
But when they went back to the temple, it wasn't dust you wanted to wash off; it was dust you wanted to show off - because it meant you were the best student of the day. It was an honour to be covered in the dust of your rabbi.
Remember there was this one place, where it says that Jesus couldn't do any miracles; so He taught them to shake the dust off their feet? He wasn't telling them to curse anybody. He was saying: bless them with the best blessing you can give them. It was an honour to be covered in the dust of your rabbi.
We define sin as bad things that we do - and it is; but sin is far bigger than that. Sin is anything that isn't perfect. Paul said: we were given the law so we would know what sin is.
If you read Leviticus, you'll find that it's a sin to have dandruff. Look at your neighbour and see if they're sinning! No ma'am, he's bald! It was a sin to wear eye glasses. It was a sin to have a period. It was a sin to give birth.
Leviticus 12:6-7 says that after a woman has given birth, she must bring a sin offering, to make atonement for her loss of blood. Why? Because you were never intended to have hard labour in childbirth - that was a result of sin; and anything that's a result of sin, was sin.
The point is that we need a saviour; that we can't live it; and the problem is that sin was very contagious.
There were two words” Tamei and Tahor; which meant unclean and clean. The problem with ‘unclean’ was that it was very contagious; so if somebody here had dandruff, all I had to do was touch them, and I would be Tamei. If a lady here was on her period, all I would have to do is touch her, and I would be Tamei.
Like what did you do back then - wear a sign? It made you unclean if you touched furniture, where a husband and wife had been intimate in the last three days. Did you put a sign up?
I was teaching this in a pastor's home one time, and he made everybody get off the couch! He was like 78! See, the yoke of our Rabbi cleansed us from all uncleanness.
There's one writer that says: if we say we're without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth isn't in it; but if we confess that we're sinful, that He is faithful and just to cleanse us of all of our uncleanness.
The Hebrew word for Iniquity was Avon; three letters: ayin, vav and nun. Ayin was written as an eye; vav as a hook; nun was ‘fish that were multiplying’ (1 fish became 2, 4, 8). So when a Hebrew person read the word iniquity they read: “whatever your eye hooks-to, multiplies”.
There are 3 levels to sin in the Hebrew people: iniquity; sin; and transgression.
Iniquity was when your eye hooked to something, and it multiplied. Sin was when you're drawn away by your own lust, and enticed. So if my eye gets hooked to that jacket I just: oh, I want that jacket; I desire that jacket; it builds a lust inside of me for that jacket.
Now once I'm drawn away by my own lust, and enticed, now I'm sinning.