WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.360 Great, well, let me give you all a very warm welcome to our Good Friday service this morning. 00:00:09.740 --> 00:00:21.179 ! It's good to have you with us this morning. If you don't know me, my name is Steve. I'm one of the leaders of the church here and the full-time pastor. It is great to have you with us this morning as we gather together. 00:00:21.179 --> 00:00:39.840 Our plan this morning is to focus on the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and to remember what he has done for us. We're going to spend our time considering the grace of God, the depth of our sin, the wonder of the achievements of the cross. 00:00:40.420 --> 00:00:51.039 We've come together to remember that at the heart of Christian faith is not our action for God, but his action for us in the person of the Son on the cross. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:01:00.240 We're going to hear from a couple of church members who are going to give us some reflections on passages of the Bible that have spoken to them particularly about the work of Jesus on the cross. 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:05.620 We're going to sing together, we're going to listen to God's word, and we're going to be sharing the Lord's Supper together. 00:01:05.620 --> 00:01:13.819 So let's begin by praying. Let me pray for us. This is a prayer adapted from the Valley of Vision. Let me read this to you and let's pray together. 00:01:13.819 --> 00:01:26.619 Heavenly Father, you have brought us rejoicing to the cross where we fling down all our burdens and see them vanish. 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:41.900 Where the mountains of our guilt are leveled to a plain, where our sins disappear, though they are the greatest that exist and are more in number than the grains of fine sand. 00:01:41.900 --> 00:01:48.920 For there is power in the blood of Calvary to destroy sins more than can be counted. 00:01:50.240 --> 00:01:58.020 At the cross there is free forgiveness for poor and meek ones and ample blessings that last forever. 00:01:58.019 --> 00:02:10.979 The blood of the Lamb is like a great river of infinite grace, with never any diminishing of its fullness as thirsty ones without number drink of it. 00:02:10.979 --> 00:02:20.479 O Lord, forever your free forgiveness will live, that was gained on Calvary. 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:30.579 In the midst of a world of pain, it's a subject for praise in every place, a song on earth, an anthem in heaven. 00:02:31.319 --> 00:02:34.159 It's love and virtue knowing no end. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:43.599 We have a longing for the world above, where multitudes sing the great song, for our souls were never created to love the dust of the earth. 00:02:44.579 --> 00:02:50.599 Though here our spiritual state is frail and poor, we shall go on singing of Calvary's anthem. 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:57.719 May we always know that a clean heart full of goodness is more beautiful than the lily, 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:07.900 that only a clean heart can sing by night and by day, and that such a heart is only ours when we abide at Calvary. 00:03:08.900 --> 00:03:09.579 Amen. 00:03:10.139 --> 00:03:10.479 Amen. 00:03:10.939 --> 00:03:14.960 I'm just going to share a short reflection on a verse from Hebrews. 00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:17.280 It's Hebrews 12, verse 2. 00:03:19.699 --> 00:03:24.699 Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. 00:03:24.699 --> 00:03:34.519 For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 00:03:36.060 --> 00:03:40.519 I often find myself quoting, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:44.780 To me, it's such a reminder of Jesus' love for us. 00:03:45.399 --> 00:03:48.899 For the joy he knew was to come in a relationship with us. 00:03:48.900 --> 00:03:55.659 This moment, these moments of relationship with Jesus were worth the sacrifice he made on the cross. 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.400 It talks about pioneer, the one who starts something. 00:04:00.780 --> 00:04:02.099 He was at the beginning. 00:04:02.939 --> 00:04:04.420 He leads by example. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:06.340 He lived by example. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:10.640 He doesn't ask of us what he hasn't already endured. 00:04:11.319 --> 00:04:14.140 He endured the worst possible suffering already. 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:18.079 One, so we won't have to, and frankly, we couldn't. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:23.659 But two, I think there is something for us to learn of suffering through Jesus' endurance. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:32.180 He went to the cross so he could display to us that the suffering we will experience in this life as we follow him is worth it. 00:04:32.519 --> 00:04:34.740 It results in joy in the end. 00:04:35.159 --> 00:04:36.819 Joy in heaven with the Father. 00:04:37.060 --> 00:04:39.799 Joy in eternity unlike we have ever known. 00:04:41.219 --> 00:04:45.939 Knowing the joy of the future, the joy of this moment with him, he endured. 00:04:45.939 --> 00:04:53.180 He loves us so much that he went to battle with the biggest enemy we will ever encounter and says, 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:54.219 I defeated him. 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:57.560 You will fight a battle with that enemy in this life. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:02.459 For the joy you will see in the future, endure like I did. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:06.240 Endure and even experience a taste of that joy now. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:09.819 And experience victory in its fullest in eternity. 00:05:10.660 --> 00:05:16.759 But as the next verse says, we are to consider him so we don't grow weary and lose heart. 00:05:18.060 --> 00:05:21.160 John 16, 33 sort of encompasses that too. 00:05:21.300 --> 00:05:24.860 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:27.120 In this world you will have trouble. 00:05:27.579 --> 00:05:29.900 But take heart, I have overcome the world. 00:05:29.899 --> 00:05:33.859 Our precious Jesus had to die on the cross. 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:36.159 And many times I want to ask why. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:37.000 Why him? 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:39.099 Why did he have to suffer? 00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:40.799 The one who was perfect. 00:05:41.419 --> 00:05:42.839 I should be on that cross. 00:05:43.659 --> 00:05:44.379 Yes, I should. 00:05:44.719 --> 00:05:45.539 And we should. 00:05:45.699 --> 00:05:50.439 For all our sin and disobedience and our walking away from God time and time again. 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:53.259 But we could never cover that price. 00:05:53.679 --> 00:05:55.099 So he went to the cross. 00:05:55.100 --> 00:05:59.120 He knew that 2,000 years later we would be talking to him. 00:05:59.220 --> 00:06:00.700 We would be praising his name. 00:06:01.200 --> 00:06:02.580 And for that he went to the cross. 00:06:03.939 --> 00:06:07.820 I believe God has always wanted to know us. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:11.560 I'm not sure I will ever get over the fact that he created me. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:15.260 The creator who created me wants to commune with me. 00:06:15.620 --> 00:06:17.800 To have a relationship with me. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:23.200 And it is to restore this communion that Jesus died on the cross. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:26.560 And it is in the joy of the communion with his creation. 00:06:27.019 --> 00:06:29.439 The joy of the redemption of his people. 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:32.659 The joy of restoring his people to himself. 00:06:33.039 --> 00:06:35.339 That took him and kept him on that cross. 00:06:36.219 --> 00:06:39.159 He considered it worth it to die on the cross. 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:42.159 What an immense amount of joy it must have been. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:45.300 To keep someone enduring through a suffering like that. 00:06:45.980 --> 00:06:46.699 What a love. 00:06:47.579 --> 00:06:49.000 It could only have been Jesus. 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:49.279 Jesus. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:54.219 Thanks, Natasha. 00:06:54.479 --> 00:06:55.060 Appreciate that. 00:06:56.199 --> 00:06:59.680 I'm going to share a little bit from Psalm 22. 00:07:00.519 --> 00:07:02.959 So if you want to turn there, feel free. 00:07:04.019 --> 00:07:09.899 Just Steve asked us to share something that's been impactful for us as we think about the cross on Good Friday. 00:07:10.180 --> 00:07:14.019 And so as we read this psalm, it's a psalm of lament. 00:07:14.019 --> 00:07:23.259 It's David pouring out his feelings, his emotions, a lot of raw emotion to God. 00:07:24.459 --> 00:07:28.159 And so in this psalm, he's honest. 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:30.199 He's telling God, like, this is how I feel. 00:07:30.259 --> 00:07:40.219 He oscillates between things that are true about God, but his feelings of raw emotion, of being in a difficult place, of being lonely, in anguish, despair. 00:07:40.220 --> 00:07:43.940 He's kind of going back and forth between those the whole time. 00:07:44.180 --> 00:07:47.920 And this song then became a song for Israel to sing in those moments. 00:07:48.060 --> 00:08:01.800 So it was something that countless Israelites throughout time would have sung when they were feeling the pangs of death or the loss of a loved one or life not living up to what they thought that it should have been. 00:08:01.800 --> 00:08:07.280 And this would have been a psalm that might have been on their lips and doubtless was on many of their lips. 00:08:08.579 --> 00:08:10.120 And it's a song for us today. 00:08:10.759 --> 00:08:11.960 We can sing this. 00:08:11.960 --> 00:08:18.139 We, in our moments of difficulty, can pour out to God. 00:08:18.220 --> 00:08:23.900 We can lament he is able to take that, and he answers that, and we'll see that here. 00:08:24.780 --> 00:08:29.660 And so on this Good Friday, I don't want to just rush past what today is, right? 00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:40.040 So if we think about and put ourselves in the shoes of the people that were there when I do that, everything that they had poured their hope into as followers of Jesus seemed to be gone. 00:08:40.540 --> 00:08:41.800 It didn't exist anymore. 00:08:41.980 --> 00:08:43.440 It had just died on the cross. 00:08:45.060 --> 00:08:47.440 And so let's jump into it. 00:08:47.460 --> 00:08:50.200 Just read the first 21 verses I'll read here. 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:59.680 With that in mind, that, yeah, that this is a song of lament, that it's David working his way through his emotions as he's in this difficult place. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:00.379 And so it says, 00:09:00.379 --> 00:09:03.220 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:09:03.500 --> 00:09:07.779 Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:11.279 My God, I cry out day by day, but you do not answer. 00:09:11.559 --> 00:09:14.139 By night, but I find no rest. 00:09:14.840 --> 00:09:17.039 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One. 00:09:17.340 --> 00:09:19.240 You are the one Israel praises. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:21.960 In you our ancestors put their trust. 00:09:22.179 --> 00:09:23.580 They trusted and you delivered them. 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:25.960 To you they cried out and were saved. 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:28.720 In you they trusted and were not put to shame. 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:31.320 But I am a worm, not a man. 00:09:31.500 --> 00:09:32.420 Scorned by everyone. 00:09:32.700 --> 00:09:33.779 Despised by the people. 00:09:34.220 --> 00:09:35.740 All who seek me mock me. 00:09:36.120 --> 00:09:38.160 They hurl insults, shaking their heads. 00:09:38.680 --> 00:09:40.139 He trusts in the Lord, they say. 00:09:40.360 --> 00:09:41.500 Let the Lord rescue him. 00:09:41.940 --> 00:09:44.379 Let him deliver him, since he delights in him. 00:09:44.940 --> 00:09:46.580 Yet you brought me out of the womb. 00:09:46.899 --> 00:09:49.620 You made me trust in you, even at my mother's breast. 00:09:50.220 --> 00:09:51.899 From birth I was cast on you. 00:09:52.379 --> 00:09:54.899 From my mother's womb you have been my God. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:57.960 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near. 00:09:57.960 --> 00:09:59.720 And there is no one to help. 00:10:00.400 --> 00:10:01.580 Many bulls surround me. 00:10:01.740 --> 00:10:03.680 Strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. 00:10:04.160 --> 00:10:06.100 Roaring lions that tear their prey. 00:10:06.540 --> 00:10:08.280 Open their mouths wide against me. 00:10:08.800 --> 00:10:10.540 I am poured out like water. 00:10:10.780 --> 00:10:12.360 And all my bones are out of joint. 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:14.580 My heart has turned to wax. 00:10:14.700 --> 00:10:15.759 It has melted within me. 00:10:16.400 --> 00:10:18.420 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd. 00:10:18.560 --> 00:10:21.180 And my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. 00:10:21.800 --> 00:10:23.300 You lay me in the dust of death. 00:10:23.660 --> 00:10:24.680 Dogs surround me. 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:26.620 A pack of villains encircles me. 00:10:26.979 --> 00:10:28.739 As they pierce my hands and my feet. 00:10:29.179 --> 00:10:30.639 All my bones are on display. 00:10:30.859 --> 00:10:32.739 People stare and gloat over me. 00:10:33.219 --> 00:10:36.500 They divide my clothes among them and cast lots from my garments. 00:10:37.199 --> 00:10:39.419 But you, Lord, do not be far from me. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:40.839 You are my strength. 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:42.679 Come quickly to help me. 00:10:42.959 --> 00:10:44.099 Deliver me from the sword. 00:10:44.519 --> 00:10:46.979 My precious life from the power of the dogs. 00:10:47.579 --> 00:10:49.979 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions. 00:10:50.599 --> 00:10:53.399 Save me from the horns of the wild oxen. 00:10:53.399 --> 00:10:57.600 So just pause right there just to say for a moment to anybody who's there, 00:10:57.720 --> 00:10:59.980 to anybody who feels like this is where they are, 00:11:00.419 --> 00:11:01.699 that that's an okay place to be. 00:11:02.899 --> 00:11:04.360 That you're not alone. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:08.199 That that is part of the Christian life to feel that way sometimes. 00:11:09.319 --> 00:11:10.860 But David continues. 00:11:11.059 --> 00:11:15.360 And there's been this turning where he now sees some of the great things that God has done. 00:11:15.539 --> 00:11:18.340 And it seems like he's maybe been delivered from this situation. 00:11:18.340 --> 00:11:19.160 And so he goes on. 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:19.540 He says, 00:11:19.540 --> 00:11:22.759 I will declare your name to my people in the assembly. 00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:24.220 I will praise you. 00:11:24.460 --> 00:11:25.440 You who fear the Lord, 00:11:25.940 --> 00:11:26.500 praise him. 00:11:26.820 --> 00:11:28.180 All you descendants of Jacob, 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:28.960 honor him. 00:11:29.280 --> 00:11:29.860 Revere him, 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:31.280 all you descendants of Israel. 00:11:31.780 --> 00:11:35.240 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one. 00:11:35.660 --> 00:11:37.980 He has not hidden his face from him, 00:11:38.160 --> 00:11:40.240 but has listened to his cry for help. 00:11:40.899 --> 00:11:44.120 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly. 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:46.659 Before those who fear you, 00:11:46.820 --> 00:11:48.080 I will fulfill my vows. 00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:50.399 The poor will eat and be satisfied. 00:11:50.779 --> 00:11:52.779 Those who seek the Lord will praise him. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:54.740 May your hearts live forever. 00:11:55.320 --> 00:11:58.340 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. 00:11:58.759 --> 00:12:01.700 And all the families of the nations will bow down before him. 00:12:01.860 --> 00:12:03.580 For dominion belongs to the Lord. 00:12:04.060 --> 00:12:05.360 And he rules over the nations. 00:12:05.820 --> 00:12:08.299 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship. 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:12.080 And all who go down to the dust will kneel before him. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:14.020 To those who cannot keep themselves alive, 00:12:14.540 --> 00:12:15.740 posterity will serve him. 00:12:15.920 --> 00:12:18.100 Future generations will be told about the Lord. 00:12:18.580 --> 00:12:20.580 They will proclaim his righteousness, 00:12:20.980 --> 00:12:22.759 declaring to a people yet unborn, 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:24.160 he has done it. 00:12:24.980 --> 00:12:28.740 And so when we now fast forward and we think about Good Friday 00:12:28.740 --> 00:12:31.340 and we look to the cross where Jesus said on the cross, 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:33.759 my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:12:34.259 --> 00:12:35.960 That wasn't a theological question. 00:12:36.400 --> 00:12:36.820 God knew. 00:12:37.140 --> 00:12:39.759 Natasha just read for us that it was for the joy set before him 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:41.220 that he went to the cross. 00:12:41.220 --> 00:12:44.279 He was actually activating this whole psalm for us to say, 00:12:44.460 --> 00:12:46.879 when you're in your anguish, when you're in your pain, 00:12:47.060 --> 00:12:47.820 I feel you. 00:12:47.980 --> 00:12:48.560 I know that. 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:50.700 I know what it feels like to be forsaken. 00:12:51.420 --> 00:12:54.440 But he's actually also activating the second half of that to say, 00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:57.620 this is also true of me that I have delivered you through this, 00:12:57.720 --> 00:13:00.899 that even if that doesn't feel true for you right now in that pain, 00:13:01.060 --> 00:13:05.139 it is true for you as it is true for me as you are a follower of Jesus. 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:07.440 And so that's my encouragement for you today, 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:09.580 that no matter where you are on that journey, 00:13:10.040 --> 00:13:14.260 that these things Jesus has felt and they are true of him. 00:13:14.440 --> 00:13:16.480 And because of that, they can be true for us too. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:25.680 If I could just ask you to take your Bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:32.360 I want us just to spend a little bit of time looking at just one verse from 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:34.060 It's on page 1162. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:38.300 If you've got a Bible from your chair, 1162. 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:43.779 Let me read that verse to us. 00:13:43.859 --> 00:13:47.379 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21. 00:13:50.299 --> 00:13:58.339 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, 00:13:58.740 --> 00:14:05.339 so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:14:06.500 --> 00:14:07.099 Let me read it again. 00:14:07.100 --> 00:14:13.740 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, 00:14:13.920 --> 00:14:19.379 so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:24.180 In just one short, quite simple sentence, 00:14:24.440 --> 00:14:29.580 Paul summarizes for us the great achievement of the cross of Jesus Christ. 00:14:29.580 --> 00:14:34.160 Here you have, in very few words, 00:14:34.160 --> 00:14:41.600 a description of the exchange of the cross between the sinless Jesus and sinful humanity. 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:45.920 That God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:48.879 so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:14:49.220 --> 00:14:52.080 Now let's just walk through it, clause by clause, really briefly. 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:53.600 Let's start with the beginning. 00:14:53.780 --> 00:14:54.920 God made. 00:14:55.680 --> 00:14:56.240 God made. 00:14:56.340 --> 00:14:59.500 In other words, if you want to understand Good Friday, 00:15:00.280 --> 00:15:03.660 you must start in the counsels of God. 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:05.480 That's where you begin. 00:15:06.379 --> 00:15:10.060 God is the actor, the initiator, the planner, the saviour. 00:15:10.059 --> 00:15:15.819 God is the one who is in the cross reaching out in love to his people. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:20.239 Salvation is God's work before it's anybody else's. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:23.259 And so as you and I look at the cross this morning, 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:26.080 as we share bread and wine together, 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:29.779 we are staring down the barrels of the work of God. 00:15:29.899 --> 00:15:31.720 This is him in action. 00:15:32.620 --> 00:15:35.220 God did this for you, for me. 00:15:35.980 --> 00:15:37.519 What is it that God did? 00:15:38.340 --> 00:15:41.720 Well, he took him who had no sin. 00:15:42.740 --> 00:15:45.279 Of course, this is Jesus, but think about what it means. 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:47.620 Never an angry word. 00:15:48.820 --> 00:15:49.980 Never an evil desire. 00:15:49.980 --> 00:15:51.480 Never a proud heart. 00:15:52.600 --> 00:15:54.240 Never a dark motive. 00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:55.960 Never dishonest. 00:15:56.100 --> 00:15:56.860 Never uncaring. 00:15:57.019 --> 00:15:57.879 Never gossiping. 00:15:58.200 --> 00:15:59.060 Never lazy. 00:15:59.259 --> 00:16:00.060 Never resentful. 00:16:00.180 --> 00:16:00.740 Never greedy. 00:16:00.899 --> 00:16:01.500 Never selfish. 00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:05.399 Of course, Jesus had to be like this, didn't he? 00:16:05.420 --> 00:16:07.879 In order for him to be the sacrifice, 00:16:08.019 --> 00:16:09.980 the suitable sacrifice for our sin. 00:16:10.899 --> 00:16:12.500 I'm reading through Leviticus at the minute. 00:16:12.580 --> 00:16:14.539 And one of the things that you get over and over again, 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:16.000 lamb without blemish. 00:16:16.340 --> 00:16:17.379 Lamb without blemish. 00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:19.300 It has to be perfect in every way. 00:16:19.779 --> 00:16:23.359 Jesus can have no sin of his own if he is to pay for hours. 00:16:23.719 --> 00:16:25.719 He has to be perfect and spotless. 00:16:26.179 --> 00:16:29.419 But it's not just that he has to be in order to achieve salvation. 00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:32.899 He must be because of who he is. 00:16:32.899 --> 00:16:38.659 Him who had no sin is the divine son. 00:16:39.319 --> 00:16:41.860 Co-holy with the father and the spirit. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:47.399 It's probably a better translation of the word had is the word knew. 00:16:47.899 --> 00:16:50.759 Not as in brand new, but as in no new. 00:16:51.019 --> 00:16:51.179 Right? 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:55.340 He who knew no sin. 00:16:55.340 --> 00:16:59.740 So it's not just only that Jesus didn't possess sin. 00:16:59.899 --> 00:17:02.200 And it's not even that he didn't know about it. 00:17:02.259 --> 00:17:02.420 Right? 00:17:02.620 --> 00:17:05.079 The father, the son, and the spirit are experts in sin. 00:17:05.460 --> 00:17:06.779 They know all about it. 00:17:07.340 --> 00:17:09.059 They see it, don't they? 00:17:09.740 --> 00:17:12.279 Rather, it's the relational word, isn't it? 00:17:12.279 --> 00:17:17.259 Jesus had no knowledge, relational knowledge of sin. 00:17:17.339 --> 00:17:19.839 He knew nothing about sin. 00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:21.799 It was disconnected from him. 00:17:21.899 --> 00:17:24.139 He had no experience of it. 00:17:24.220 --> 00:17:26.299 He was untainted and unblemished. 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:28.259 He was absolutely holy. 00:17:28.379 --> 00:17:29.960 He was the divine son. 00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:37.880 And God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:46.380 Of course, to make the innocent son to be sin requires that that sin comes from somewhere else, doesn't it? 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:47.779 And this is the transfer. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:51.640 Our sin laid on Jesus Christ. 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:55.060 Our anger. 00:17:56.040 --> 00:17:57.660 Our dark motives. 00:17:58.340 --> 00:17:59.440 Our pride. 00:18:00.100 --> 00:18:01.360 Our unkindness. 00:18:02.140 --> 00:18:03.840 Our selfish self-interest. 00:18:04.040 --> 00:18:05.640 Our idolatrous materialism. 00:18:05.780 --> 00:18:06.840 Our harmful desires. 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:07.860 Our wicked intentions. 00:18:08.259 --> 00:18:11.600 All of them heaped onto Jesus Christ. 00:18:11.860 --> 00:18:13.200 For us and for our benefit. 00:18:14.340 --> 00:18:15.200 Our good. 00:18:15.380 --> 00:18:15.980 His injury. 00:18:17.220 --> 00:18:19.220 It's mind-bending, isn't it? 00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:19.560 Right? 00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:23.980 The one who knew no sin now knows our sin. 00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:29.279 Not simply because he is the judge of sin who stands distant from it. 00:18:29.500 --> 00:18:35.019 But also now because he carries our sin in himself to the cross. 00:18:35.639 --> 00:18:40.460 In a way, Jesus knows more of the horror of your sin than you do. 00:18:41.899 --> 00:18:45.319 You and I, we can only imagine, can't we? 00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:49.579 What perfect holiness would do in response to your sin? 00:18:50.579 --> 00:18:51.319 Can you imagine that? 00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:57.059 What would perfect holiness do when it encountered the dark motives of our hearts? 00:18:57.700 --> 00:18:58.779 We can only imagine. 00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:01.039 But Jesus knows. 00:19:01.779 --> 00:19:03.700 Because that's what he experienced. 00:19:04.700 --> 00:19:06.879 He took our sin on himself. 00:19:07.299 --> 00:19:09.500 Our moral debt loaded onto him. 00:19:09.500 --> 00:19:12.980 So that in him. 00:19:13.059 --> 00:19:14.079 That's what comes next. 00:19:14.299 --> 00:19:14.960 In him. 00:19:15.619 --> 00:19:16.900 This is where Paul says we are. 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:18.599 We are in Christ. 00:19:18.819 --> 00:19:20.680 Faith unites us to Jesus. 00:19:21.220 --> 00:19:22.700 This is how this transfer works. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:30.539 It's not so that we kind of transfer us into some kind of distant, far-off person who we have some vague idea might exist. 00:19:30.539 --> 00:19:36.899 It's not that Jesus kind of dies to make salvation sort of theoretically possible for people who he has no relation to. 00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:37.559 No. 00:19:37.859 --> 00:19:41.119 We are counted in him by faith. 00:19:42.099 --> 00:19:44.859 Faith scoops us up in Christ, if you like. 00:19:44.940 --> 00:19:47.720 So that not only does Jesus die for us. 00:19:47.720 --> 00:19:50.700 But the Bible says we die in him. 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:57.079 As our sinful natures are taken in Christ and killed on the cross. 00:19:57.079 --> 00:20:00.699 It's not, is it, that faith makes us better people. 00:20:01.339 --> 00:20:03.859 It's rather faith makes us Christ's people. 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:05.859 And we belong to him. 00:20:06.699 --> 00:20:10.639 We are perfected, forgiven, loved in Christ. 00:20:11.220 --> 00:20:12.960 The best definition of a Christian. 00:20:14.059 --> 00:20:16.779 Someone who is in Christ by faith. 00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:23.899 Paul finishes off, doesn't he, that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:20:23.900 --> 00:20:30.880 I think it's perhaps easy to mistake the Christian life, to think that, okay, being a Christian, Jesus forgives my sin. 00:20:30.940 --> 00:20:32.040 He takes my sin away. 00:20:32.300 --> 00:20:33.700 You may be able to think in that category. 00:20:33.800 --> 00:20:36.240 Jesus has kind of wiped my moral slate clean. 00:20:36.700 --> 00:20:39.680 Let me tell you, that is absolutely true, but it's way better than that. 00:20:40.500 --> 00:20:46.820 Because not only has Jesus wiped your moral slate clean, he has credited you with his righteousness. 00:20:46.819 --> 00:20:56.240 So that not only does God look at you and not see the things that you have done wrong, he looks at you and sees the things that Jesus did right. 00:20:57.480 --> 00:21:02.539 He looks at you and says, you are absolutely perfect in my son. 00:21:03.619 --> 00:21:04.659 You are righteous. 00:21:05.720 --> 00:21:07.179 I am pleased with you. 00:21:07.180 --> 00:21:11.900 One of the old catechisms, you know I like old things, right? 00:21:12.340 --> 00:21:14.900 One of the old catechisms puts it like this. 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:17.140 How are you righteous before God, it asks. 00:21:17.220 --> 00:21:17.759 That's the question. 00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:19.340 How are you righteous before God? 00:21:19.460 --> 00:21:20.420 It answers it like this. 00:21:20.580 --> 00:21:23.200 Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. 00:21:23.880 --> 00:21:29.620 Although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God's commandments, 00:21:29.619 --> 00:21:33.199 have never kept any of them and am still inclined to all evil, 00:21:33.619 --> 00:21:38.099 yet God, without any merit of my own, out of mere grace, 00:21:38.459 --> 00:21:44.799 gives me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ. 00:21:45.459 --> 00:21:50.699 He grants these to me as if I had never committed any sin. 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:57.399 And as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me. 00:21:57.400 --> 00:22:01.940 If only I accept this gift with a believing heart. 00:22:02.820 --> 00:22:04.620 This is the wonder of the cross, people. 00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:11.720 It's that God looks at you and sees all the accomplishments of the obedience of Jesus Christ 00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:13.460 and says, those are yours. 00:22:13.660 --> 00:22:15.980 Those are mine through him. 00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:19.060 So that's what we're celebrating together, isn't it? 00:22:19.140 --> 00:22:24.180 Christ has done all that needed to be done and he did it for us. 00:22:24.180 --> 00:22:35.860 God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:22:37.539 --> 00:22:39.400 Let me pray as we stand. 00:22:39.980 --> 00:22:43.539 Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your love for us. 00:22:44.140 --> 00:22:50.200 That sinners like us can boldly approach you as we come in the name of your son, the Lord Jesus. 00:22:50.200 --> 00:22:58.620 Thank you that Good Friday is good because all my sin on Jesus was laid and his righteousness is given to me. 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:02.120 May we go from this place rejoicing in what Christ has done. 00:23:02.220 --> 00:23:08.039 Bring us back on Sunday to rejoice in his resurrection and in hope eternal as we pray in his name. 00:23:08.500 --> 00:23:08.980 Amen. 00:23:09.420 --> 00:23:09.700 Amen. 00:23:09.700 --> 00:23:09.799 Amen. 00:23:09.799 --> 00:23:09.900 Amen. 00:23:09.900 --> 00:23:10.200 Amen. 00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:10.200 00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:10.200 00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:10.200 00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:10.200 00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:10.200 00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:10.200 00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:10.200