WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.480 Like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:07.940 laid on him the iniquity of us all. 00:00:10.620 --> 00:00:17.559 Prophet Isaiah wrote those words hundreds of years before the crucifixion of Jesus, and 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:22.580 yet few words actually help us to understand better what the cross, what Good Friday is 00:00:22.580 --> 00:00:23.080 all about. 00:00:23.079 --> 00:00:29.699 But the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:39.039 From the earliest days of the Christian church, the cross of Christ was seen as a scandal. 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:46.859 It was the great offense, it was the stumbling block for those who heard the message about 00:00:46.859 --> 00:00:47.219 Jesus. 00:00:47.219 --> 00:00:56.039 And not just because crucifixion was a particularly shameful and horrible way to die, though it 00:00:56.039 --> 00:00:57.659 certainly was that. 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:06.620 In fact, the whole procedure of crucifixion was devised to not just prolong physical pain, 00:01:07.039 --> 00:01:12.819 but actually more than that, to maximize humiliation and shame. 00:01:12.819 --> 00:01:20.559 Roman crucifixion was a way of utterly dehumanizing its victims. 00:01:21.159 --> 00:01:28.159 It was a method of execution reserved only for those considered the lowest of the low, slaves, 00:01:29.179 --> 00:01:32.159 outcasts, minorities, rebels. 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:41.979 And so the cross of Christ was offensive on the one hand because the idea of a crucified Messiah, 00:01:42.859 --> 00:01:52.079 a crucified king, the one the Jews expected to inaugurate a reign of glory, a crucified Messiah 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:54.259 was nonsense. 00:01:54.260 --> 00:02:00.980 But there was a deeper scandal to the cross. 00:02:01.939 --> 00:02:03.260 There's a deeper offense. 00:02:06.060 --> 00:02:08.980 For the message of the cross of Christ is this. 00:02:10.700 --> 00:02:20.400 It's that this, the crucifixion of the Son of God, this is what it took for our sins to be 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:24.420 rectified, to be forgiven, to be dealt with. 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:31.120 Now, I think most of us would admit that we aren't perfect. 00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:33.540 We make mistakes. 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:34.879 We make bad decisions. 00:02:35.379 --> 00:02:37.020 We hurt others at times. 00:02:38.540 --> 00:02:46.400 But still we ask, is our condition so grave, so serious, that it requires the cross? 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:59.680 The truth is that it's only by beholding Jesus crucified for us that we see the real depth 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:01.900 and gravity of our sin. 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:08.300 Consider Mark's gospel account that we've been reading tonight. 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:16.099 Even before Jesus arrives before Pilate in chapter 15 where we picked up the story, he has been 00:03:16.099 --> 00:03:20.780 betrayed, abandoned, and then denied by his closest friends. 00:03:22.599 --> 00:03:28.180 And then he has been arrested, falsely accused, and condemned by the Jerusalem authorities, the 00:03:28.180 --> 00:03:29.400 leaders of his own people. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:37.519 And then before Pilate, he's been exchanged for a known criminal, flogged, mocked, and beaten 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:45.700 by the Roman soldiers, and then finally crucified outside the city gate where, hanging naked and 00:03:45.700 --> 00:03:52.560 struggling to breathe and smelling of filth and excrement, the people ridicule him. 00:03:53.920 --> 00:03:55.560 He saved others. 00:03:56.020 --> 00:03:57.379 He cannot save himself. 00:03:58.219 --> 00:04:06.900 Let this Christ, let this King of Israel come down now from the cross that we may see and believe. 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:11.180 words dripping with ridicule. 00:04:15.860 --> 00:04:24.319 But still, at this point, we have still not seen the full extent of the cross or of the 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:25.379 gravity of our sin. 00:04:27.960 --> 00:04:33.019 Mark's gospel highlights three more aspects of what took place that day. 00:04:33.019 --> 00:04:36.120 First, there is darkness. 00:04:37.219 --> 00:04:39.099 Mark 15, 33 says, 00:04:39.259 --> 00:04:44.299 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 00:04:45.479 --> 00:04:48.419 That is, from noon until 3 p.m. 00:04:48.779 --> 00:04:52.019 In the middle of the day, there was darkness. 00:04:53.299 --> 00:04:55.199 Darkness in the middle of the day. 00:04:55.199 --> 00:05:03.519 You know, it's hard for us to keep track of all the common grace that God showers upon us. 00:05:04.719 --> 00:05:13.219 The breath in our lungs, the food on our tables, the clothes on our bodies, the rising sun every morning. 00:05:13.220 --> 00:05:21.340 But at the cross, these common graces are removed. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:33.600 Jesus, naked and thirsty, must pull himself up by the nails driven through his wrists just so he can take a breath. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:42.800 So there he hangs with food and drink and clothing and breath, all gone. 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:46.140 And then, even the sun goes out. 00:05:49.140 --> 00:05:52.540 In darkness, the Son of God hangs on the cross. 00:05:53.560 --> 00:05:57.439 The one through whom life and light came into being. 00:05:58.020 --> 00:06:01.120 The one who is himself the light of the world. 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:06.920 In darkness, the Son of God hangs on the cross. 00:06:08.199 --> 00:06:12.100 Because he is bearing our sin. 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:20.199 When we, like sheep, turn everyone to our own way, as Isaiah says. 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:28.040 When we do that, we are turning against our creator, the giver of all good gifts. 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:33.160 And as the cross shows us, it is a turn into darkness. 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:39.800 Second, there is dereliction. 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:42.260 Mark 15, 34. 00:06:43.700 --> 00:06:46.580 And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, 00:06:46.939 --> 00:06:48.560 Eloi, Eloi. 00:06:49.520 --> 00:06:51.020 Lema sabachthani. 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:55.520 Which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:00.839 Friends, here is a mystery that we cannot comprehend. 00:07:02.599 --> 00:07:10.979 That God the Son, eternally one with God the Father, could be and is at the cross, God forsaken. 00:07:10.980 --> 00:07:17.240 Jesus is quoting here Psalm 22. 00:07:19.740 --> 00:07:24.580 Jesus, even in his dying moments, has the words of Scripture on his tongue. 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:30.020 He remains the perfect Son of God, even in this extremity. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:35.319 And yet, in the same moment, becomes sin for us. 00:07:35.319 --> 00:07:38.120 He remains the curse of our sin. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:46.920 You see, friends, the real gravity of our sin is not just that we deserve to be cut off from God's good gifts, 00:07:47.159 --> 00:07:53.519 as we saw in the darkness of verse 33, but that we deserve to be cut off from God himself. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:08:02.699 Sin, you see, is not the mere accumulation of bad deeds. 00:08:04.019 --> 00:08:10.199 More fundamentally, it's a tearing of the fabric of our relationship with God. 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:25.259 So grave, so serious, that the only thing that could put it right again is God himself stepping out into the forsakenness for us. 00:08:25.259 --> 00:08:37.299 Jesus' story of the prodigal son tells of a son who demands his inheritance from his father and then goes off into a far country. 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:49.600 And there, in that far country, spends all that he has, all of his father's inheritance, to find happiness and friendship and joy. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:59.040 But there, in that far country, he has lost the only lasting source of joy, the embrace of his father. 00:09:04.860 --> 00:09:07.560 So much for the prodigal son, but how do we get home again? 00:09:10.759 --> 00:09:15.759 You see, the chasm that has opened when we rebelled against God, 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:24.960 the rift that opened up before us is so deep and so wide that we cannot, in our own strength, cross over. 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:29.720 The road back home is too long. 00:09:34.860 --> 00:09:42.279 And so, for us, the Son of God goes out into that far country. 00:09:42.279 --> 00:09:51.259 And he does not merely come to the border of that land and send messages across begging us to come back home. 00:09:53.639 --> 00:09:56.220 No, the Son of God goes the whole way in. 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:01.019 Out into the God-forsakenness of our sin. 00:10:02.539 --> 00:10:04.639 And his robes are torn off. 00:10:05.199 --> 00:10:07.039 And his name is mocked. 00:10:07.319 --> 00:10:09.120 And his body is marred. 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:17.799 And at last, even the eternal love of his father, in a cosmic mystery we shall never understand, 00:10:18.340 --> 00:10:21.179 even the love of the father goes silent. 00:10:23.080 --> 00:10:26.940 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:32.279 There's darkness. 00:10:34.060 --> 00:10:35.299 And there's dereliction. 00:10:35.500 --> 00:10:36.419 There's forsakenness. 00:10:36.899 --> 00:10:37.860 And third, there's death. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:42.060 Mark 15, 37 says, 00:10:42.740 --> 00:10:45.200 poignantly and simply. 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:49.000 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 00:10:52.139 --> 00:10:56.700 Earlier in Mark's gospel, Jesus would describe his death as a ransom. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:01.860 The Son of God came not to be served, but to serve, Jesus would say. 00:11:01.860 --> 00:11:05.259 And to give his life as a ransom for many. 00:11:06.620 --> 00:11:07.919 A ransom is a payment. 00:11:09.019 --> 00:11:13.680 It's a payment to release someone from slavery or to release someone from a debt. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:21.000 But just how costly is our sin? 00:11:21.500 --> 00:11:26.339 What is this debt that we've accrued, that we've turned everyone to our own way? 00:11:26.340 --> 00:11:34.639 It's so easy to exclude ourselves from the real problem in the world, isn't it? 00:11:35.139 --> 00:11:41.920 We so quickly can count up all the good things that we have done and so quickly list all the bad things that we have not done. 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:45.159 And we think, surely my debt is not so great. 00:11:48.039 --> 00:11:49.879 But the cross shows us otherwise. 00:11:51.439 --> 00:11:55.459 The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 00:11:56.679 --> 00:11:59.279 We are all included there. 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:06.839 Too quickly we compare ourselves to other people and think that our debt is not so great. 00:12:06.939 --> 00:12:10.399 But look, friends, at the price Jesus paid. 00:12:10.519 --> 00:12:11.819 The ransom that he paid. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:14.799 Which was his own life for ours. 00:12:18.459 --> 00:12:20.600 Too often we compare ourselves to other people. 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:24.379 But to truly grasp the gravity of sin, 00:12:25.559 --> 00:12:28.980 we have to view ourselves instead in relation to God. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:36.220 Because the magnitude of sin is determined by the majesty of God 00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:38.759 and not by the measure of other people. 00:12:40.620 --> 00:12:46.600 The magnitude of our sin is determined by the majesty of God 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:49.459 and not the measure of other people. 00:12:52.919 --> 00:12:54.419 Imagine two families. 00:12:55.379 --> 00:12:57.399 The first family has one child. 00:12:57.399 --> 00:12:59.679 The second family has two children. 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:07.179 And both families ignore and neglect their children emotionally and physically and so on. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:11.899 Now consider in that example, 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:16.340 is the first family with only one child 00:13:16.340 --> 00:13:20.480 only half as bad as the second family with two children? 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:26.240 Are they only half as culpable because they've done half the wrong? 00:13:29.700 --> 00:13:34.159 Something in us kind of rightly recoils at that suggestion. 00:13:34.800 --> 00:13:35.560 No, we say. 00:13:35.620 --> 00:13:36.519 They're both culpable. 00:13:36.680 --> 00:13:39.060 We can't actually compare them in that way. 00:13:39.420 --> 00:13:39.960 And why? 00:13:40.100 --> 00:13:40.759 Why is that? 00:13:40.759 --> 00:13:48.919 Well, it's because the worth of just one child is so great. 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:54.539 When we grasp the dignity and worth of a human being, 00:13:54.600 --> 00:13:55.279 of a human child, 00:13:55.360 --> 00:14:00.120 we see how great the debt of both of those hypothetical families would be. 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:05.620 And it's the same in our relationship with God. 00:14:06.620 --> 00:14:09.720 When we grasp the infinite worth of God, 00:14:11.139 --> 00:14:14.259 then we see that comparing ourselves to other people 00:14:14.259 --> 00:14:16.500 doesn't actually lessen the gravity of sin. 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:21.019 Because at the end of the day, we've all sinned against God. 00:14:21.019 --> 00:14:28.699 And we've all failed to love and care as we ought to for that which God loves. 00:14:30.419 --> 00:14:34.799 Every angry word and every lustful thought and every moment of greed 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:40.519 is against a creature whom the infinite God loves. 00:14:44.439 --> 00:14:49.039 So no matter what form or circumstance or expression our sin might take, 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:52.599 the infinite God has still been the object. 00:14:54.740 --> 00:14:57.059 And so the cost of that sin, 00:14:57.459 --> 00:14:59.740 the debt that we've incurred, 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:03.399 is nothing short of total. 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:07.339 Our whole lives are forfeit. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:17.099 I wonder if you have ever experienced massive debt. 00:15:17.100 --> 00:15:21.300 A debt that you know you'll never be able to repay. 00:15:23.779 --> 00:15:27.019 Perhaps you know what it's like to be financially in that kind of situation. 00:15:27.240 --> 00:15:33.860 Maybe credit cards or student loans or gambling or addiction or some such thing 00:15:33.860 --> 00:15:38.840 have built up such a debt that you know that there's no way out. 00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:48.519 Or perhaps you know what that's like relationally to be in such a situation. 00:15:48.740 --> 00:15:53.720 You've wronged someone so deeply that there's no way out of the debt. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:57.780 You'll never in your own strength be able to make things right. 00:15:57.860 --> 00:16:02.860 There's nothing that you could do to repay or repair the damage that's done. 00:16:02.860 --> 00:16:13.519 The cross is a scandal and a stumbling block because it says that our sin 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:17.060 has buried us in a debt that we can never repay. 00:16:19.419 --> 00:16:27.120 And the interest will accumulate and compound faster than we can ever hope to make amends for. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:31.720 And the principle still remains untouched. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:41.600 The cost is so great that the Son of God must die to ransom you. 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:49.840 The only thing that could release you from the ever accumulating debt of your sin 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:52.279 is the death of Christ. 00:16:52.279 --> 00:16:56.819 The payment of Jesus' own life for yours. 00:17:01.419 --> 00:17:07.339 The cross shows us that our sin is greater than we could have ever imagined. 00:17:13.160 --> 00:17:14.519 So friends, tonight then, 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:21.779 I wonder if you would be willing to come to terms with the gravity of sin. 00:17:22.279 --> 00:17:28.960 Will you confess to God 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:33.559 that you have so often minimized your sinfulness, 00:17:33.700 --> 00:17:35.599 so often compared yourself to others 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:37.579 to feel better about yourself 00:17:37.579 --> 00:17:39.460 and in so doing, 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:41.039 ignored God all the more? 00:17:43.559 --> 00:17:45.059 Will you admit that you've often 00:17:45.059 --> 00:17:46.519 mentally excluded yourself 00:17:46.519 --> 00:17:48.460 from the company of those kind of people 00:17:48.460 --> 00:17:50.960 thinking that they're the real problem 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:51.660 and not me? 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:57.920 And tonight, 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:00.639 would you be willing to look hard at your life right now? 00:18:02.460 --> 00:18:06.240 What so-called little sins have you been harboring? 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:10.920 What grudges have you continued to bear? 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:17.359 What frustration and angry words have you continued to excuse? 00:18:19.720 --> 00:18:24.259 What lustful, selfish thoughts have you continued to indulge? 00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:28.700 What discontentment and jealousy have you continued to harbor? 00:18:28.700 --> 00:18:29.960 What sin is the most? 00:18:29.960 --> 00:18:32.480 What do you mean to God? 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:33.480 What sin is the most? 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:38.680 And will you see in each of these seemingly innocuous sins, 00:18:38.940 --> 00:18:40.940 their real gravity, 00:18:41.460 --> 00:18:44.340 that like a cord, 00:18:44.460 --> 00:18:45.960 each one is connected 00:18:45.960 --> 00:18:47.960 and inseparably tied 00:18:47.960 --> 00:18:49.380 to the sin 00:18:49.380 --> 00:18:51.519 for which Christ was crucified? 00:18:51.519 --> 00:19:05.299 tonight make your confession to God in prayer and where necessary make your confession in person 00:19:05.299 --> 00:19:12.039 to those whom you've wronged and do so knowing this 00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:21.139 that the son of God not only had to die for our sins because they were so great 00:19:21.140 --> 00:19:29.680 but he also chose to die for our sins because of his immense love for us 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:39.220 into your darkness and dereliction and death Jesus willingly went for you 00:19:39.220 --> 00:19:46.440 in an exchange that brings you into his light and into his favor and into his life 00:19:46.440 --> 00:19:55.440 mark's account of the crucifixion ends with the temple curtain being torn in two 00:19:55.440 --> 00:20:01.240 and a roman centurion proclaiming truly this man was the son of God 00:20:01.240 --> 00:20:13.180 mark showing us there that God's presence and God's favor are now freely available 00:20:13.180 --> 00:20:22.880 to everyone and to anyone who believes even those of us who hammered the nails 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:26.380 let's pray 00:20:26.380 --> 00:20:43.380 our father we confess that we often don't take time to think about the gravity of our sin before you 00:20:43.380 --> 00:20:50.300 lord there are so many other things and so many other topics that consume our thoughts and our minds and our hearts 00:20:50.299 --> 00:20:53.859 lord it's hard we confess to come to grips with this 00:20:53.859 --> 00:20:58.259 and yet we also thank you 00:20:58.259 --> 00:21:01.359 that you've shown us 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:03.700 in one 00:21:03.700 --> 00:21:06.759 great act of the cross 00:21:06.759 --> 00:21:09.500 not just how great our sins are 00:21:09.500 --> 00:21:12.139 but how powerful 00:21:12.139 --> 00:21:14.079 was your victory over them 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:17.680 lord give us real humility 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:21.740 give us real repentance 00:21:21.740 --> 00:21:25.380 grant us real faith tonight we pray 00:21:25.380 --> 00:21:27.279 in Jesus name 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:28.080 amen