GOOD FRIDAY 25

“NO LONGER STUCK”

WELCOME:

its not an accident you showed up tonite: I stand before you tonight the most least likely candidate to be doing what I’m doing… I didn’t grow up in a Christian home going to church knowing the Bible I really even in God… But at the age of 19 after losing my mother to cancer, I was alone and desperate to know if there was more to life than what I’d experienced…

Eventually ended up in a church the gospel was preached and I realized I needed God and I needed saving now 23 years later on the im a christian, my family serves and loves God… God gave me a brand new beginning, not a second chance. But life, real life.

and I say all that to say that if you need God he can do for you what he did for which is meet you in your hour of need

READING:

The bible talks about the death of Jesus on the cross this way in luke. and its in Luke we see the Gospel and the cross collide in a single moment

Luke 23:32–43 ESV

32 Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. 35 And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” 39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

“Today you will be with me in paradise.”

THE CROSS IS THE CORE OFTHE VERY GOSPEL…This is the gospel in a single and emphatic moment. The thief to one side of Jesus…Even in Jesus last agonizing almost towards the point of death on earth as a man, was extending the hand of grace to another… a thief… a sinner… it was good news for someone who was willing to hear it.

This was a moment that looked like the end for this thief, this sinner… was actually his pathway to life. eternal life

What the enemy meant for evil… God will turn for GOOD. I think if we’re honest tonite we feel something for this thief. We all do. Got it. He saw it. He recognized… He made it.

Doesn’t matter how lifeless and dead to the world someone is, there is always hope for the one who looks to the cross (Listen to The apostle Paul)

Ephesians 2:1–10 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Let’s pray together….. open blind eyes. He would reveal himself more clearly?

Growing up in the suburbs just outside of the city of sydney, it was my dream at one point to work in the city like my father. when i was a young boy he worked in one of the tallest buildings in sydney. little did i know that a building down the road was building built, a skycraper that would be the place where i would have my very first job. the city group tower and i worked on the 50th floor, the very top for the firm i got my first job with…. When i worked there i was always amazed at how quickly the elevator would take me from the ground floor and in almost a split second once everyone was in and the buttons were pressed and the doors were closed…

the elevator car would all of a sudden SHOOT up at an incredible speed. The first time I rode in it I got dizzy it was so quick.

But i never really thought about how the elevator worked, it just went up. And came down.,, so eventually i looked into how an elevator does that. How does a passenger car with all that weight shoot up so fast like that

in a smoothe and stable way.

well the answer… as i learned was the counter weight on the otherside of the wall of the elevator which is perfectly timed, engineered and weighted to be able to counter act the weight of the elevator that its lifting.

It’s what balances out and lifts up the passengers in that car.

See this is what the cross of the lord Jesus actually is

this is what the sinless, perfect, lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is for you and for me.

He is, on that cross, dying for the worlds incredible weighty sin…. The perfect lamb of God , the perfect counter weight

John 1:29 “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

WHEN YOU COME TO THE CROSS YOU HAVE TO ASK WHY, WHY WOULD SOMETHING LIKE THIS TAKE PLACE. SO GRAPHIC. SO AWFUL? When you stand at the foot of the cross and consider it.. that’s when the spirit of God comes…and an empthatic compassionate response just doesnt quite cut it.

It’s NOT a cross of compassion

It’s not a cross of unfortunate sequence of events

It’s a cross of power. Of dominion. Of justification penalty that sin brings forth!

It’s where the justice of God… collides with the mercy of GOD.. which shines forth the grace of God to ALL WHO WOULD APPROACH WITH A HEART IF REPENTANCE

WHEN JESUS DECLARED FROM THAT CROSS “It is finished”

It meant everything that would ever weight us down or hold us back from enjoying total loving and blessed relationship with God was FINISHED. DONE. PAID FOR. AND NOW AVAILABLE.

GOOD FRIDAY ISNT AN EVENT IN A CALENDAR.ITS A MOMENT THAT CHANGED THE EORLD FOREVER.

YOU SEE THE ENEMY (WHO KNOWS THE POWER OF JESUS ON THE CROSS) doesnt want you to pass the line of compassion, because on the other side of the line of compassion is what the bible calls conviction: i become convinced that i am stuck at the bottom of the proverbial elevator shaft and my sin is so weighty and offensive to an all perfect, all holy God that its gonna take a whole lot more than effort on my part to get me 50n floors up

no the enemy wants you to sit there, at the bottom, under the weight and say something like: isnt that awful, what a pity look at what they did to that galilean carpenter - that poor guy….

Nah

you see if you are willing to look a bit closer: at the nails, at the crown of thorns, at pierced side… what you’ll actually see…. is that it was meant to be you. it was meant to be me that shouldve been spat on, reviled, beaten and crucified. And sent off into the outer darkness to be lost forever…that was what we deserved.he was crucified for my son.

HE WAS CRUCIFIED FOR MY SIN. THATS THE MOMENT AT THE CROSS THAT CHANGES EVERYTHNG

WHEN we recognize that meant to be me, he was? but he was perfect - how does that work? then mind considers… and the heart gets convicted…and the spirit of God is at work in a person.

AND YOU THEN HAVE TO ASK THE QUESTION: WHAT DOES THAT NOW MEAN FOR ME

RECENTLY I HAD THIS WEIRD EXPERIENCE BUT IT WAS ONE THAT GAVE ME MY OWN PERSONAL UNDERSTANDING OF THIS I WAS ON A HUNTING AND SOUTING MISSION WITH A BUDDY OF MINE and the area i was going to was through some marsh grass and it was a tidal area and we went at totallty the wrong time and instead of being dropped by the boat at the exact spot where i could just walk along the shore to the spot on solid ground we discovered that the tide had gone so far out that either wasnt going to go to that spot or my buddy could drop me about 150 yards short of the dry spot… and instead i would just have to hike through what looked like wet marsh and mud and oysters and ofcourse me being aussie… and a man… and stupid: you all know what i told my friend.

“just drop me off here, ill be fine”

…. And come to find out, after about ten steps further i was up to my stomach in mud. i mean like, full legs covered, above my belt line.

(Picture)

now i want you to know - i tried everything i could to shake my legs free

i tried to use everything i had

but what i realised with every movement, every attempt to free myself.

i was completely and utterly stuck. i was ruined.

It was in every sense of the word a HOPELESS situation.

and it was getting dark, and the tide was going to start coming back in soon.

So after about 10 minutes i realized this was not fun anymore - out of the corner of my eye i saw someone who had made their way up the creek trolling in the shallow water and i was behind this little bit of marsh so i could see him but he couldnt see me (and i think i reaked him out a bit when i yelled with a pretty loud and desperate voice: HEY/// HEY MAN - CAN YOU HELP ME

(and sure enough once he realized it wasnt a ghost or something he answered me and he called back to my friend who dropped me off… who came back and with some help from some plywood and whatever else was in the boat that day….he rescued me.

(we still went hunting tho!)

You see this is a picture of what the gospel is. what the cross represents and what the empty tomb is all about

JESUS, THE GREAT COUNTERWEIGHT, COMES NOT TO MAKE BAD PEOPLE GOOD. he comes down not to make our existing situation. Feel better be more manageable, or give us a little bit of comfort in our own predicament

He comes to rescue us The cross isn’t about making bad people good or good people a little bit better it’s about dead people come alive

HE COMES TO MAKE DEAD PEOPLE LIVE. TRULY LIVE.

ARE YOU ALIVE IN CHRIST TODAY?

If we’re honest…We cannot help ourselves. and unless we, like this thief next to Jesus realise our predicament and cry out - we wont be saved, this cross will only be some weird lifeless meaningless tradition in our lives which sparks a but of compassion and curiosity once or twice a year

Psalm 40:1–3 NIV

1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.

so my question today is what about you?

Is Jesus your savior… or just a supplement?

We love anything and everythiug that will add to our lives. make us a bit better.

What about recognizing today that what you really need is the counterweight to come.

to lift you out of the mud

and is the only one who can raise you up and seat you in the heavenly places.

are you sinking today… what you need is not something to come and make your situation more comfortable, manageable. what you need is a rescue, a savior.

Will you cry out to him today?

INVITATION.

Romans 3:23 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6 ESV

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The story of my stuckness

I thought I was OK… but I wasn’t

I tried to help myself…. But I couldn’t.

All I could do was cry out….. for help

He came to my rescue

Was the only one who could help me

And now I’m OK.

This is exactly how salvation works

We are in a predicament

A sinful state

We cannot help ourselves

If you think about it for a second, what exactly is it that a dead person can do?

Says that we are dead in our transgressions…. So then if that’s the case, what are our options?

What’s your move if you’re dead?

Are you gonna talk your way out of it?

Are you gonna work your way out of it?

Are you going to reason your way out of it?

You just have to question what is it that a dead person can do?

Verses:

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