One of the great influences on my early life and ministry was Donald Grey Barnhouse, who was an early pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church years ago. When he was about fifteen years of age, he heard the testimony of a man who had been a drug abuser and an addict, but who had been delivered from that by the grace of God and whom God had called into the ministry. He was very strong in evangelism. And because Barnhouse, as a young man, heard him and was impressed by him, he went up to him after a meeting, assuming rightly that this man had something that Barnhouse didn’t have. So he asked him about the Gospel, and the man gave him an illustration.

The man took Barnhouse’s left hand, and he said, "This hand represents you." And then he picked up a hymnbook, and he said, "This hymnbook represents your sin. Now your sin is on you and is pressing down upon you because sin is a great burden." And Barnhouse, as he wrote about that later, said he understood that very well because that is exactly what he had been experiencing because of sin.

"Now," said the man, picking up his other hand–his right hand–"This represents the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s no sin on him. He’s a perfect Man. He’s the One who could say to his enemies, ‘Which of you convicts me of sin?’ And they had nothing to say." And again, Barnhouse had to confess that that was true–sin on him, no sin on Jesus Christ.

"Now," said the man, making a switch, "the sin that is on you is placed upon Jesus Christ like this in order that he might bear its punishment. That is what happened when the Lord Jesus Christ took your place upon the cross." Now while that hymnbook, representing Barnhouse’s sin, was representing and resting upon Jesus Christ, the man began to read these verses of Scripture. First of all, he read from I Peter 2:23 and 24: "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness." And then having read that verse, he read from Isaiah 53, verses 4 through 6, from which Peter quotes and to which he refers. "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 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; but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

And then having given the illustration and read the Scripture, he began to interrogate young Barnhouse to see if he understood what he had seen. He asked the question, "Whose sins were laid on Jesus?" And the young man said, "Our sins." "Yes," said the man, "but whose sins are those?" "Well, our sins," he said. "Yes, but whose sins are our sins?" "Well," said Barnhouse, "everybody’s sins–your sins, my sins." "Ah," said the man, "that’s it. That’s what I was waiting for, ‘my sin.’ Say it again." And Barnhouse said, "My sins, so my sins that were on me are now laid upon Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord. I bear them no more." That’s justification.

Study Question

Whose sins were laid on Jesus Christ?

Application

Share the gospel with someone this week using Donald Grey Barnhouse’s illustration.

Further Study

Memorize the passages of Scripture used in today’s illustration: I Pet. 2:23-24; Isaiah 53:4-6.