Do you remember the Etch-A-Sketch? That little red drawing toy with the two knobs, that you can make pictures with? There's a commercial on TV showing a little girl sitting on the floor playing with an Etch-A-Sketch. The little girl is drawing a picture with it, then after making a mistake, she simply shakes it up, and it completely erases the picture. Meanwhile, her father is sitting in a nearby chair, looking through his Visa bill, frowning and shaking his head. He sees his daughter shaking the Etch-A-Sketch, and wonders, "why not?" Glancing this way and that, he starts shaking the Visa bill. And wouldn't you know it, in the commercial, all the debts on his bill suddenly shake out to zero! All debts completely erased!

Wouldn't it be great if life would work the same way? Are there disturbing choices you made in the past that still haunt you? Past decisions that just don't seem to go away? Is your life filled with one regret after another? Has your conscience convicted you of the truth that you haven't been perfect? That you have missed the mark with God? "The wages of sin is death," the Bible says. God is very serious about sin - it's deadly! So what can we do about it?

It is amazing how some people respond to this "comfort-devouring monster" called guilt. The first and most popular way is to deny the seriousness of sin. When others sin against us, it is serious, of course, but when we do it, it's not so bad, is it? I mean, what's all that wrong about cheating on tests? On resumes? On taxes? On expense statements? On your mate? "Back off!" we say. I'm one who enjoys doing what I choose: Drugs when I want them. Sex when I want it. The best of the best when I feel I deserve it. What's your problem if I'm critical of those I don't like? Those I resent for some reason? Those I choose not to forgive? Those I feel superior to? Those I can't tolerate? So what if I ruin somebody's reputation? Somebody's marriage? Somebody's family? Somebody's hockey career? Somebody's future? Somebody's church?

The second way we respond to guilt is playing the "blame game." Pretending to be a victim, we deny responsibility for our actions and try focusing attention elsewhere. Like Pontius Pilate. When he was forced to make a decision about Jesus, what did he do? He let the crowd choose. He asks them, "Who shall I release? Jesus or Barabbas?" The crowd shocks Pilate by screaming for Barabbas, the one who had been imprisoned for murder! And the crowd wanted Jesus crucified! So is Pilate responsible now? Not in his mind! Just like Adam, hiding in the Garden of Eden after eating the forbidden fruit. When God found him, he pleaded, "It's not my fault! The woman that you made gave it to me!" Pilate even washed his hands as if to say, "Don't look at me. Blame the crowds. It was their choice. I'm not guilty. My hands are clean."

The third way we try handling guilt is by some act of self-infliction. We figure the best way to cope with guilt is internalizing the pain and taking it on ourselves. Like Judas Ischariot. Judas agreed for the price of 30 pieces of silver to hand his Lord and Savior over to his enemies. He led them right to the garden and identified Jesus with a kiss. Yet what happened later that night? Judas hung himself! The pain of his guilt was so overwhelming that he could no longer go ahead with his life. The demons of his guilt got the better of him. He first tried dealing with his guilt by returning the money to the authorities. They were no help. They wouldn't take it. They laughed at him. It was too late to turn back. So he called life quits.

You may not go to that degree in handling your guilt. Yet there are other ways in which we can internalize our guilt and allow it to bombard us. We can "beat ourselves up," choosing to live in the dark isolated environment of our soul. This is the "empty way of life" that Peter talks about in our text. We are locked up in the past, unable to move into the future that God has designed for us. We can become emotionally immobile or relationally inept.

On April 7, 1972, a Piper Aztec airplane carrying 7 mission workers lost its right engine and crashed in Papua New Guinea, killing everyone aboard. The Aztec had just rolled out of the maintenance hangar the day before following a 100 hour inspection. The chief mechanic was stunned when he heard the news of the crash. Reviewing in his mind each step he had performed in inspecting that right engine, he suddenly recoiled in horror. He remembered that he had been interrupted while tightening a fuel line and had never returned to finish the job! That faulty connection had allowed raw fuel to spray out and catch fire while the Aztec was in flight. The mechanic's guilt at being responsible for the deaths of his companions crushed him. For days he did not know what to do. The other mechanics tried to help him, as did his own family.

How do you deal with something like that? How do you deal with guilt? Denying it? Blaming others? Taking the pain on yourself? Is there a better way? Is there a healthier way? Is there a manner that frees us from our past and offers us a future with forgiveness and hope? Consider these words from Isaiah 53: "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

Did you catch the word "our"? God is not inflicting his Son with any sort of deserved punishment. The Christ who hung on the cross did not have it coming. Rather it is our suffering that He bore! It was for "our transgressions" and "our iniquities" that He endured this anguish-filled pain. Not just the human, physical suffering of flesh being separated from bone, but worse, the spiritual suffering of Son of God being separated from Heavenly Father. And those words: our, we, us, drive home the truth that the Christ has suffered in "our" place!

And "our place" means "my place." Every one of us must say "I have sinned. In my relationships, actions and thoughts, I am guilty." "Our iniquities" becomes "my" iniquities! "Our sorrows" becomes "my sorrows." It's hard to say at times. We might want to avoid it. But it's true. Each member of the human race must say, "I am guilty before a holy and perfect God."

But did you hear the good news? He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows! HE was pierced for our transgressions! Jesus faced incredible violence at the hands of men as part of the sacrifice needed to pay the serious price for our serious sins. And Jesus faced worse than that - the hatred and abandonment of his loving Heavenly Father - the abandonment that our guilt would have brought upon us. And you know what? By doing this, Jesus took all of humanity's guilt and wiped the slate clean! That's right, just like the Etch-A-Sketch! But this is for real! Better than your credit card debt being gone! Your sins are gone! You are completely forgiven!

But why all the blood? Why all the gore? Why all the piercing, crushing, and wounding? This true story helps illustrate the preciousness of Jesus' blood: Years ago in Oshawa, George and Vera Bajenksi's lives were changed forever. February 16, 1989. A normal Thursday morning. The phone rang at 9:15 a.m. "There's been an accident..." It involved their son Ben. As they approached the intersection of Adelaide and Simcoe Streets near the high school, they could see the lights of the police cars and ambulances. Vera noticed a photographer and followed the direction of his camera lens to the largest pool of blood she had ever seen. All she could say was, "George, Ben went home--home to be with his Heavenly Father!" Her first reaction was to jump out of the car, somehow collect the blood and put it back into her son. "That blood, for me, at that moment, became the most precious thing in the world because it was life. It was life-giving blood and it belonged in my son, my only son, the one I loved so much."

The road was dirty and the blood just didn't belong there. George noticed that cars were driving right through the intersection--right through the blood. His heart was smitten. He wanted to cover the blood with his coat and cry, "You will not drive over the blood of my son!" Then Vera understood for the first time in her life, one of God's greatest and most beautiful truths...why blood? Because it was the strongest language God could have used. It was the most precious thing He could give-- the highest price He could pay. Through God's amazing love we were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ! Nothing else could pay this price! Nothing else could wipe our slates clean! But by Jesus' precious blood, we are completely forgiven!

"The punishment that brought us peace was upon him." What powerful words! Jesus took the punishment that was actually deserved by us. He allowed himself to bleed and become an outcast by God, so that in the end, we could receive the ultimate gift of eternal peace with God. On the cross, He earned for us the gift of complete forgiveness. It's the free gift that offers us second chances and new beginnings.

Remember the chief mechanic whose mistake brought down the airplane and seven lives with it? Well, when the family of Doug Hunt, the pilot who was killed in the accident, was preparing to return home, the mechanic knew he had to see them, talk with them and beg their forgiveness. He could barely get out the words as he sobbed in their presence. "That hand there," he said, looking at his right hand, "took Doug's life." Glennis Hunt, Doug's widow, embraced him, held the hand that took her husband's life, and assured him that she had forgiven him and so had God. Complete forgiveness is powerful!

When we face up to our guilt, we may at times be tempted to run away from God. We may wish that we could hide our faces. Yet, just as the thief on the cross next to Christ discovered, there are times when we cannot run away. We must sit before Christ, not moving, running from, ignoring, or denying Him. We must face the situation straight-on. And the response we will receive from Him? Just as He offered forgiveness to the thief who hung beside Him, He says to us, "My daughter. My son. You are forgiven, completely! I have carried your sins. You do not need to carry them anymore."

There is a story about a man riding down the road on a donkey, carrying a large sack of flour on his shoulders. As he was riding down the road, he was stopped by a person walking on the side of the road. "What are you doing?" asked the walking man. "Why don't you take that flour off your shoulders and put it on the donkey's back?" The man responded, "How can I expect the donkey to carry all of that extra weight? It's not fair." We smile. Yet, we see ourselves in the story, don't we? Does it really make any sense to carry out guilt on our back when the Christ who has offered to carry us through life also offers to carry our sin away? How far away? Psalm 103 puts it this way: "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."

When Christ was nailed to the cross, our sin and guilt was nailed with Him! When He rose again, that was the real victory and guarantee of complete forgiveness! If He remained dead, we could assume He was still paying for sin. But being alive, we know that payment is complete! God has done it! You are completely forgiven! God took the Etch-A-Sketch of your life and shook it up! Now, what are you going to do with your clean slate? Amen.

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