Hope for You

Thank you for you on this Good Friday. If I've not met you before, my name is Steve. I'm the

senior pastor here at St. Paul's, and I'd be grateful if you could have John 19 open in front

of you. And also, just for a bit of a heads up, John chapter 4 as well. You may need that as we

John 4 · chapter mention

go through too. Let me just jump straight in and say, Easter is what Christianity offers a world

that is losing hope in its ability to fix itself. That's Easter. It's what Christianity offers you,

you who cannot change, you who cannot find peace, cannot find security, cannot find hope,

cannot find meaning. And so today and the next three Sundays, we as a church are going to be

looking at hope and the hope that Easter offers this world. And already, Deb has indicated this

time a year ago, we were in lockdown. We were not able to meet together as we are now because of

COVID-19. In the past year, we have been in the midst of the worst global pandemic in a century

and hopes even now of an early solution and for life to go back to normal is dashed again and again

and again and again. And the problem we know with this pandemic is not just sickness. Virtually every

sector in society will be impacted and will feel the repercussions of COVID-19 for years to come.

And especially the vulnerable in our society. They will bear the greatest burden once again.

Death, pandemics, injustice, family breakdown, social isolation, cancel culture, the threat of wars.

None of it has stopped. None of it has stopped while we have faced a global enemy against the life of

humanity. Which is confusing for us. In the West, particularly. For over two centuries now,

Western societies like ours have put hope in the progressiveness of history. To put it simply,

every day and in every way, we're getting better and better. And yet we're not.

It's the strong belief that came out of the age of enlightenment that every generation would

experience a better world than the one before it. The assumption is that via human reason, ingenuity,

science, once freed from the superstitions of beliefs from centuries past, we would have a better future

future together. Now we should have learned that lesson. We haven't. We should have learned that

lesson in the first four decades of the 20th century. In the space of four decades, we faced two world wars

like we'd never seen before. A global pandemic and the Great Depression. In fact, in the 20th century

alone, more people were killed in wars than all history prior combined.

What followed those four decades was the Cold War and the threat of nuclear holocaust.

And it seems that the greatest threat to our hope for a better world is not the natural environment

around us, but the various forms of evil that spring from the heart of the human being.

Science could come up with a vaccine for COVID-19, but it can't eradicate human evil.

Now by evil, I don't mean just the really big stuff like, you know, the Jewish Holocaust.

I mean the ordinary cruelties of self-interest day by day in business, racism, arrogance, pride,

dishonesty, corruptions, abuse, sexism, the countless acts of selfishness that we all practice day by day.

And that brings me to Easter.

And the hope for humanity.

The word the Bible uses for hope is so much stronger than the one that's used in the English language.

It means a profound certainty.

Profound certainty.

Christians are profoundly certain,

even in the midst of pandemics and hardships,

that God is guiding every twist and every turn of their life towards the resurrection of their bodies

and their souls for a new, eternal and perfect world where everything wrong doesn't exist.

It's a profound certainty.

And all of this profound, certain hope is fixed.

All of it is fixed to the explosive three days

where the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth,

happened around 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem, Israel.

In time, in space.

It's a certain hope.

And so my plan today is to take us into the beginnings of those events

and really just focus on two things.

Two things that Jesus said on the cross in that Bible reading that was just read out to us.

And the first of those things reveals the nature of the hope that Jesus offers us.

And the second thing that he says is how we can take up the hope that he offers us.

So first of all, that's all I'm saying.

Two things.

Take a little while, but two things.

The nature of his hope,

the nature of his offer of hope.

At the end of the crucifixion.

So this is John 19.

If you want to dive into that, it'd be really helpful.

John chapter 19, the end of his crucifixion account.

John 19 · chapter mention

We read this in verse 28.

Later, knowing that everything had been finished.

And so that the scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said,

I am thirsty.

Now, our first reaction to that is,

well, of course he's thirsty.

I mean, you know, it's the Middle East.

It's really sand and sun there.

It's really hot.

He's been crucified under the Middle Eastern sun.

He's losing lots of fluid.

In fact, one of the things that you died from in crucifixion was dehydration.

You died from dehydration amongst other things.

And so, but if we linger over those words a little bit,

we realize that in actual fact,

it might be something significant that's happening here.

Maybe there's something a little bit deeper.

We need to think about this.

You see, because Jesus has suffered an awful lot up until this point, right?

He has been beaten in the face with fists.

He has been lashed with a whip across his back in such a way.

His back looks like a chunk of steak.

He's had tent pegs.

No, no, no.

You know, not three-inch nails.

He had tent pegs driven through his hands and his feet.

He's had a crown of thorns squeezed over his head and lacerated his head.

He has endured all of that and he's not complained once.

Not once.

Not even a whimper.

He's accepted it.

He's submitted to it.

Not even an, ow, that hurt.

Nothing.

Nothing.

So why now, why now at the end of all of that, does he say,

actually I'm feeling thirsty.

There's something deeper going on here.

Something a bit deeper than just mere, I need a drink.

And what's going on deeper here is,

is a connection to something happened that much earlier in John's gospel,

in John chapter four.

Early in this biography, Jesus encounters a woman at a well.

She's a Samaritan woman.

And she is a mortal enemy of the Jewish people in the first century.

And she is surprised, as she goes to draw water from the well,

that Jesus says to her, a mortal enemy,

can you give me a drink?

Jesus says to her in chapter four, verse 13,

everyone who drinks from this water,

the water that you will draw from this well,

will be thirsty again.

But whoever drinks the water that I give them,

will never thirst again.

Indeed, the water that I give them,

will become in them a spring of water,

welling up to eternal life.

So again, even as he asked for a drink of water in John four,

he's talking about here something that's much deeper than mere physical thirst.

That's because in the Bible, thirst is a metaphor for emptiness.

It's a metaphor for spiritual emptiness

that comes when we do not put God, our creator,

at the center of our life.

For instance, Psalm 42,

as the deer pants for the streams of water,

so my soul pants for you, my God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

Where can I go and meet with him?

You see, it's one thing to believe that God exists,

as the vast majority of our world still does.

But it's quite another thing to have him as the central reality of your life.

It's not belief in God,

an intellectual assent that God exists,

that our souls need so much as meeting God,

knowing God, experiencing God.

Without meeting, knowing, experiencing God,

without him being the central reality of our life,

we thirst.

We die.

That is, it's possible to have a belief in God,

but have something else as the central defining reality for your life.

If I may continue this metaphor a little bit more,

these other things,

success, approval, comfort, friendship, family,

sex and romance, influence, money,

a whole range of things,

power,

the actual drink that we are pouring into our souls to quench the thirst,

the emptiness that we feel on the inside.

We are hoping that these things will fill us up

and satisfy us and give us hope.

And the point that Jesus is getting to

is if we attempt to quench the thirst of our soul

with anything else than the love and the beauty

and the comfort of God in Jesus Christ,

then we will thirst again and again and again and again forever.

Only God in Jesus can fully and satisfyingly quench the thirst of our emptiness.

Everything else is like drinking seawater.

It just simply makes you more thirsty.

And so back in John 4

and Jesus meeting with this Samaritan woman,

Jesus says,

the water that I will give them

will become in them a spring of water

welling up to eternal life.

And so the woman hears this

and he goes,

Sir, give me that water right there.

Give me that water

so that I don't thirst

and I don't have to keep coming here,

drinking,

you know,

drawing the water here.

What's amazing here,

Jesus wants to give it.

She immediately wants it

and then Jesus doesn't give it to her.

Not straight away.

Instead,

what appears to happen

is that Jesus seems to change the subject in John 4.

He says to her,

well,

go and get your husband.

And her reply is,

well,

actually,

I don't have a husband.

And Jesus says,

you're absolutely right.

You have no husband.

The fact is,

you've had five husbands

and the man you're currently with

is not even your husband.

She wants to take up the offer of eternal life.

He changes the subject.

Brings up her broken,

messed up love life.

Why?

What are you doing,

Jesus?

Why be so harsh

at this point with her?

Why change the subject

and be so harsh?

And yet he isn't.

He isn't changing the subject.

And he's being incredibly tender.

He's pointing out to her

that all her messed up love life

is simply a result

of her looking

to men

to give her

what only God

can give her.

To use the metaphor again,

her life

has revealed

she's been drinking

sea water

all her life

in the form of relationships

with blokes.

and she is thirsty.

She is never satisfied.

And Jesus offers her fresh water

that will fill her up

and satisfy her forever.

The reason her life

is going so poorly

is because when

we look to someone

or something

other than God

for the love

and the significance

and the beauty

and the security

and the hope,

we will thirst

again

and again

and again

and again

because it will never

ever

satisfy.

satisfy.

You will thirst

for eternity

if you live your life

that way.

What she needed

was God

as the living reality

at the center

of her life.

She needed to have

the love of God

at the center

of her life

so she didn't need

to look

to the love of men

to give her

what only God

can give her

to truly satisfy her.

So Jesus was not

so much confronting her

but in actual fact

lovingly convicting her

and putting her

to a greater hope.

And what is interesting

about this Samaritan woman

is that she had

belief in God

but it wasn't enough.

Jesus wasn't

the center of her life.

God was not

the defining reality

of her life

and Jesus

in this encounter

helped her to see it.

Other things

were more important.

That's the background

of John 19

so let's just

flick back now

to John 19

and the crucifixion

of Jesus.

That is the reason

why Jesus

is thirsty.

His thirst

is a picture

of what he is

really going through

on the cross.

On the cross

Jesus Christ

is experiencing

the ultimate thirst

as the prophet

Nahum

in the Old Testament.

Centuries before

he put it like this.

Who can withstand

his indignation?

Who can endure

his fierce anger?

His wrath

is poured out

like fire.

On the cross

Jesus

was getting

what the whole

human race

deserved

for putting

its evil

in putting

everything else

apart from

God

at the center

of their lives.

He was getting

what we deserve

for our life

of ignoring

our created God.

He was experiencing

the divine

justice.

It was like

a million

Middle Eastern

sons

burning

down on him.

He is thirsting

thirsting

in our place

so that we

can have

living water.

He is dying

of spiritual

thirst.

He is being

emptied.

The one

who was always

full

was being

emptied

so that we

can be filled.

He is experiencing

the agony

of being separated

from God

the fountain

of living water

so that we

can have

direct access

to the fountain

of eternal

living water.

Jesus experienced

the agony

of separation

of love

from his

father.

The experience

of his

fire of judgment

so that we

can experience

his presence

and love

and the

never ending

refreshment

of the water

of eternal

life.

He got

what we

deserve

so that we

can get

what only

he rightly

deserves.

He suffered

so that we

can have a

river of life

welling up.

That is his

favour,

his love,

his approval,

his acceptance.

That is the

nature

of his

offer of hope

for us

this Good

Friday.

So secondly,

how do we

take it up?

The last

thing that

Jesus breathes

on the cross,

the last thing

he says is

in verse 30.

It

is

finished.

Now

Jesus is

using a

word here

that means

totally paid

for.

Totally

paid for.

It's a

word that

you used to

write across

an account

in the

first century.

Paid in

full.

See,

one of the

great

and wonderful

paradoxes of

history

is that

here

on the

cross

just

outside

of

Jerusalem

is the

helpless,

powerless,

almost dead,

dependent

Jesus

on a

cross

and his

last words

that he

uttered,

I did it.

I've

triumphed,

I've

accomplished

it,

it's

finished.

And what

he's

accomplished

for us,

what he

describes,

is beautifully

described for

us a little

bit later

in the

New

Testament.

It

says,

Christ also

suffered once

for sins,

the righteous

for the

unrighteous,

to bring

you

to God.

You see,

there's this

infinite

chasm between

us and

God and

Jesus has

done

everything

required.

He has

paid every

debt that

we owe

to God,

dealt with

every single

bit of

shame and

guilt and

sin.

He's

accomplished

it all,

there's

nothing

more to

pay.

There is

nothing more

that we have

to do to

bridge the

gap between

us and

God.

And so

contrast,

contrast

Jesus'

last word

here with

the last

word of

Buddha.

The last

word of

Buddha,

strive

without

ceasing.

Jesus,

it's

finished.

I've

thirsted for

you and

it is

finished

versus

strive

without

ceasing.

ceasing.

Now let

me say,

there's a

lot of

admirable

things about

Buddhism,

like the

self-denial

and the

recognition

that selfishness

is one of

humanity's

biggest

problems.

problems.

But if you

know anything

about

Buddhism,

you would

know that

the

eightfold

path of

Buddhism is

extremely

hard and

incredibly

demanding and

you would

never actually

have hoped

that you've

done enough.

Strive

without ceasing.

Keep

going and

you may get

enlightenment.

fulfillment.

That's why

these last

words of

Jesus here

is so

important.

I've done

all the

striving for

you.

I've done

everything to

bring you to

salvation.

I've thirsted

so that you

might be

fully satisfied.

Religion is

where you

give God a

performance and

hope and

hope and

hope that he

might wishful

thinking,

that he may

in fact bless

you.

The core

message of

Christianity,

the core

message of

Easter,

the good

news of

Easter,

which is why

it's called

Good Friday,

is that God

blesses us in

Jesus Christ

and we get

to live,

to love and

serve him,

the only one

who has

already given

us every

love,

every blessing

and every

acceptance.

Jesus has

done it all,

fulfilled it

all.

Any effort

on our

behalf to

make his

completed,

finished work

any better

actually makes

it worse.

Anything that

we think we

contribute makes

it worse.

It unpacks

it, any

effort, any

striving.

When Jesus

says it is

finished, what

he actually

means is it

is finished.

finished, we

cannot receive

his salvation

and act as

if we can

add to it.

So let me

just go on a

little bit of a

tangent here.

There are two

kinds of people

in this world

who attempt to

add to the

finished work of

Jesus.

There's the

one kind of

person is the

beat myself up

person and the

other person is

prove myself

person.

There's the

self-beaters and

the self-provers

and all of us

on one way or

another on a

scale there.

The self-beater is

the one every

time someone

criticizes, they

are just going to

crumble.

They are

devastated and

they beat

themselves up.

Every time they

do something wrong

and make a

mistake, they

beat themselves

up.

In fact, it's

quite possible that

you did something

30 years ago and

you're still

beating yourself

up about it.

You cannot get

past it.

You feel bad

about it.

In fact, you

only feel good

about yourself

when you are

feeling bad

about yourself.

You're a

beat yourself up

person and you

need to know

this Good Friday

that Jesus was

beaten up from

you and it

was finished.

He paid for

your sins.

Why do you

still keep

trying to pay

for them?

It is finished

attempting to

add anything

to what

Jesus done

simply detracts

from it.

The other

person is the

self-prover.

They usually

feel much

better about

themselves than

the self-beater.

They're often

proud, self-made

person.

You've done a

little bit of

success in life,

you think it

means something.

The need to

have money,

success,

possessions,

family,

career, in

order to

feel secure

and significant

means you

are trying to

add to

Jesus' work

to make us

all secure

and acceptable.

The message

of Christianity

is that we

are all,

every single

one of us,

is a sinner

saved by grace

if we trust

in the

finished work

of Jesus

who has

thirsted for

us.

what

Christianity

tells us,

what

Isa

tells us,

is our

hearts

are more

evil than

we ever

dare to

believe.

That's what

the cross

tells us.

Our hearts

are more

evil than

we ever

dare to

believe and

we are

more loved

than we

ever dare

hope or

imagine.

At exactly

the same

time,

the person

who tries

to prove

themselves

doesn't

understand

that they

can never

do it

because in

fact they

are more

evil than

they could

ever possibly

imagine.

Conversely,

people constantly

trying to

atone for

their flaws

by beating

themselves up

never will

because they

are already

loved and

affirmed more

than their

wildest dreams

could ever

hope.

God

humbles the

one and

affirms the

other.

It is

finished.

Jesus'

death on

the cross

doesn't

make us

a contributor

to our

salvation.

It is

our

salvation.

All of

our overwork

and anxiety

and constant

striving,

our lack

of gratitude

and rejoicing

is because

we do not

know that

it is

finished.

It's

done.

the amazing

truth of

Easter is

summarised

really

succinctly

in a

little bit

later in

the New

Testament.

Here is a

trustworthy

saying that

deserves full

acceptance.

Jesus Christ

came into

the world

to save

sinners

and he

did it.

It's

finished.

is there

any more

wonderful

news for

people like

us who

know we

cannot measure

up to the

demands of

our own

conscience,

let alone the

demands of

our own

holiness,

while still

living in

fear of what

this future

of this world

might hold.

Easter is

full of hope

for the

self-beaters

and the

self-provers.

it is full

of hope

for you.

It is

finished

in Jesus.

So see

your need

met in

him and

centre your

life on

him.

The hope

of Easter

is summed

up so

wonderfully

and possibly

the most

famous Bible

verse of

all.

God so

loved the

world that

he gave

his only

son that

whoever

believes in

him should

not perish

but have.

eternal

life.

One of the

things that

we get to

do as

a bunch

of people

gathered in

a room like

this today

is to

celebrate in

a visual

form the

death and

the resurrection

of Jesus

with the

communion

elements.

We get to

do this

together,

have a

physical

reminder of

the hope

that we

have in

Easter.

Can I

just say

that if

you are

someone who

trusts in

the Lord

Jesus,

you are

someone who

got your

life centred

on Christ

right now,

then I

would invite

you to

participate in

these elements

right now.

If you are

someone who is

with us today

and you are

just not

sure where

you are or

if you might

be clear you

don't know

where you are,

can I just

encourage you to

let these

elements go

past you?

Take this

opportunity right

now to

reflect on

what we have

just seen in

John 4 and

John 19

and find

that the

thirst of

your soul

is only

ever satisfied

in Jesus

Christ.

And as

we receive

these elements,

bow your

head and

receive Christ

for the first

time.

Do that

today.

But

acknowledging

that we

are flawed

and we

are sinful

people,

up on the

screen,

we're going

to say a

prayer

together

acknowledging

our need

for

no,

it's not

on the

screen.

So let

me instead

lead us in

that prayer.

Bow your

heads.

This is for

the kids

amongst us

as well,

so I've

sort of

made it

easier for

them to

grapple with

some of

this language.

Oh

Father God,

we are

sorry for

living,

for

ourselves,

for loving

other things,

other people

more than we

love you,

and forgetting

to pray and

asking you to

forgive our

sins.

Father,

forgive us.

Wipe away

our guilt

and our

sadness.

Take away

our shame.

Change our

hearts to

love what you

love and to

turn away from

what you

hate.

Thank you

for your

love,

for your

never-stopping,

unbreaking,

unbreaking,

always and

forever love.

Thank you

for our

life of

freedom that

we have

because Jesus

died.

Thank you

for our

hope in

Jesus that

never changes,

that never

fades away.

Thank you

in Jesus

that we

never thirst

and are

fully satisfied

forever

in such

a way

that the

well of

water of

life just

flows into

us.

And so

in Jesus

name we

give you

thanks.

Amen.