“All we like sheep have gone astray…”

The first words are “all we”. That is, me, you, each of us. None of us can say: Not me. All we have gone astray. What does it mean? To go astray means not to know the way. When a child gets lost in the forest, they do not know the way back.

Straying is often a way of life for many people. Many people are confused, do not follow God, and may have a university education, yet they are straying. When someone asks them: What is the purpose of your life? Why do you live? To eat, sleep, drink, accumulate possessions, grow old and die? And what you have accumulated, you don’t even know to whom you will leave it. So what is the meaning of your life? All the learned philosophers will present different theories, but they will not give a clear answer. None of them will really answer the most important question: What is the meaning of my life? What is the meaning of my suffering? Only God can answer that. He gives us His Word, which is our light and our way. Jesus Himself is the way.

So most people are straying. How many people are on earth now? Something over six billion. And who among them has the assurance of salvation? How many are Christians? One billion? And of those Christians, how many of them have the assurance of salvation? How many truly live with Christ and in Christ? They are straying even though they are baptized. They are in fact baptized atheists. They don’t know whose they are. For example, if you go to a university in a Christian country like Poland or Italy and ask about the nitty-gritty of Christianity, what Christianity is actually about, most of the people there don’t know. They have had various lessons, they may remember the catechism from their childhood, but they are not converted people. They are not those who have made a decision for Christ and have a clear purpose in life. They are straying. Not to mention the other so-called Christian nations of Europe. Students know more about Hinduism, about yoga, about all kinds of philosophies, but they don’t know who they are, even though they are baptized. Many do not even know that they are baptized, they do not know Christ. They have heard about Him in theory, but they have not met Him personally. They have not been converted, are not aware of their sin and have not accepted Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. Many used to go to confession and receive Holy Communion as children, but they only remained on the surface. They may have had a little faith in the beginning – a child’s faith – but then came puberty, studies, and they lost their faith completely. They fell into various sins and have practically nothing to do with Christ. They have received the spirit of the world, united with it, and are spiritually dead.

What is life without Christ? An American preacher wrote: Life without Jesus is a painful emptiness. It is an unquenched thirst and an unquenched hunger. For all the fleeting desires, such a life is a life of disappointment, a life of lost hope, and a path of emptiness. A life without the Lord Jesus is a life without light. Life with Him, on the other hand, is a life in the truth, in the light, where one finds true happiness, because in Christ one has eternal life.

“…we have turned, every one, to his own way…”

How have we gone astray? By each walking our own path. God gives us His plan, His path, but we walk our own. God’s Word says it’s a sin to walk our own path. Who is programming the old path? Self-will, sin. Even when we do seemingly good things. When we are not Christ-centred and doing God’s will, we sin. Once we stand before God’s judgement seat, our good deeds and our truth will not stand, because our duty is to seek and do God’s will. Jesus said: “My food is to do the will of God.” (cf. Jn 4:34) Jesus teaches us to pray: “Father, …Your will be done.”

When the devil leads us astray, he never makes it clear. He wants us to think of his ways as our own. “We have turned, every one, to his own way…” But God offers a way of salvation. We, the deceived people, do not want that. We want to go our own way. But where do our own ways lead? And where do they end? They lead to destruction and end in hell. Each of us has gone his own way. That’s the picture of mankind, and that’s the picture of every man until he turns to God.

“…and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Who is the Bible referring to? Jesus. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.” (1Pe 2:22)

What does it mean that God has laid on Him – Jesus – the iniquity of us all? We can imagine it like this: One hand is me, the other hand is Jesus. The book is sins. Those sins were on me, like a death sentence. God laid my sins on Him – on Jesus. If God has laid them on Jesus, where are they now? On Jesus (like the book on the other hand). And your soul is now free of them, because He took them upon Himself, because He died for your sins, He shed His holy blood for you. God’s Word says that His blood cleanses us from all sin and our souls, cleansed by the blood of Christ, are now white as snow. We must know this. This is how we are saved, how we have passed from death into life. But if I am under guilt and sin, God’s Word says, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23), so I am under the sentence of death. All have sinned, all have gone astray. Romans 3:23-24 says this even more clearly: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” So it says clearly that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are justified freely. How? Through the redemption in Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus alone. Romans 3:25 says: “God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.” The key word here is ‘faith’. Notice that the point is that a person is freed from guilt, justified. This justification is through Christ. Then there is the word ‘blood’ – we are justified by the blood of Christ. And we are justified through faith. Christ died for all people, yet not all will be saved. Only those who believe. Only those who receive. That is why we are obliged to preach the Gospel.

Download: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Is 53:6)