Begins Easter Friday 2017

Father, thank you for your love for us in the Lord Jesus.

Thank you for this passage.

Lord, you need to break through so we can understand how deeply, deeply, deeply we need you.

And what you've done to bring us home to you.

So help us to come home to you today and we ask it for your sake.

Amen.

Many years ago, I worked at a place.

It was one of the best jobs in the world as far as I was concerned.

It was Mount Capitan National Park.

I worked for the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

And Mount Capitan's claim to fame is that it is the highest peak in Australia outside of the Snowy Mountains.

It's not a massive claim to fame if you live in Europe, but it's a claim to fame.

It's 1,510 metres above sea level.

It's hardly even called a mountain, really.

It's really a hill.

But it's not so impressive.

But what makes it impressive is it stands beside the total contrast of the northwest slopes and plains of New South Wales.

Just 55 kilometres west of Mount Capitan is the town of Narrabri, where I grew up.

And it stands at a staggering 200 metres above sea level.

And it's on the edge of the vast plains of western New South Wales.

And the contrast between Capitan and Narrabri is quite staggering and very significant.

You see, the view from Narrabri is pretty pathetic, really.

You can't really see anything at all.

But on a good day, at the top of Mount Capitan, you can see 11% of New South Wales.

That's even more than what you can see from the top of Mount Kosciuszko.

Mount Capitan is at least 10 degrees cooler than Narrabri.

And it got almost twice the amount of rain that Narrabri received.

A wonderful oasis.

And there is a similar staggering contrast when you look at the passages that Sam just read to us that's on our sheet this morning.

The contrast is from death to life, from hell to heaven, from slavery to freedom, from pessimism to hope.

It's a staggering contrast.

The contrast from who we are without Jesus and who we are in Jesus.

For those of us who have joined us for today, the theme over the past few weeks we've been working through here at St. Paul's is the journey home.

And it might seem a bit strange, after several weeks into that theme, that my goal today is to take us back to the beginning.

And where the journey begins.

But Good Friday is where the journey begins.

For all of us.

And there are three things that I want you to see in these verses this morning from the Bible.

Firstly, the journey that we need rescuing from.

Secondly, the journey that we're rescued for.

And thirdly, how you begin that journey home.

So, first of all, the journey we need rescuing from.

It's in verses 1 to 3.

And it's really important as we get into this that if you've got an illness, you need a correct diagnosis.

On the side here, I've got an insulin pump.

I'm a diabetic.

It's no good me going to a doctor and a doctor saying to me, what you need is some Panadol.

You need to understand the illness you've got in order to get the correct medicine to deal with the disease you've got or the issue that you've got.

And the first three verses are a comprehensive panoramic picture of the human condition outside of God.

And it says quite bluntly, dead, dead in transgressions and sins.

Now, the Apostle Paul, who wrote these words, is making an absolute statement.

He doesn't mean that the Christians at Ephesus were merely in danger of death,

but that they were in a state of real and present death before Jesus intervened.

Death is not a figure of speech here.

He's not using hyperbole.

These people are absolutely dead.

Now, although he speaks of Gentiles in verse 1,

he includes his fellow Jews in verse 3.

The state of spiritual death is universal, is what he's saying.

He's not describing some decadent, depraved segment of society,

but all of humanity from top to bottom,

dead in transgressions and sins.

All people are spiritually dead apart from Jesus.

And when Paul says dead, he means it to have universal and an absolute application.

No exceptions here.

No exceptions.

So what does it mean to be dead in transgressions and sins?

After all, you know, look at us here today.

You know, people whose bodies are active and minds are sharp

and whose personalities are brimming.

What does it mean?

It means to be enslaved.

Notice the word followed in verse 2,

and it's there again in verse 3.

It says in verse 2,

you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air.

And then again in verse 3, it says,

gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.

And the word followed there means to be mastered.

It means to be controlled by something.

The reason we are dead in trespasses and sins

is that we are as helpless as a dead body.

Completely controlled.

Totally mastered.

Unable to move.

Unable to act on our own.

There are three things here that we are enslaved to.

Verse 2, it says,

we're enslaved to the ways of this world.

Verse 2 also says that we're enslaved to the ruler of the kingdom of the air.

That's talking about Satan, devil.

This morning I want to notice just the key idea.

It's in verse 3.

Now, the term flesh there in verse 3 doesn't mean human flesh and bones.

Like, you know, that stuff.

It literally refers to self-centered human nature.

It's the self-centered human nature which drives us,

which masters us, which controls us.

According to the Bible,

the reason we are dead in trespassions and sins,

the reason we are enslaved to sin,

is because the human heart is profoundly self-centered.

Every one of us.

The 16th century church reformer and theologian Martin Luther

put the condition of the human heart quite succinctly.

He described it as curved in on itself.

Curved in on itself.

Absorbed in self.

Looking inside self-centered.

That is what it means to be human apart from God.

And Luther said that our nature is so deeply curved in on itself

that it, to quote him,

wickedly, curvedly, and viciously,

seeks to use all things, even God, for its own sake.

It's like all of us had this little computer

in the center of our heart

that never, ever, ever stops.

It is constantly analyzing everything,

every person, every object,

every interaction, every event,

every setting.

It's analyzing the basic question,

what's in it for me?

Everything is being analyzed

by how it benefits my happiness,

how it benefits my glory,

how it benefits my comfort,

my reputation,

my control of all things.

How does this help me?

How does it serve my interests

and fit my interests?

How does this make me happy?

Everything gets put through that grid

and the computer never stops.

Now, it's obvious to most of us, I think,

that self-centeredness can make us a pretty cruel person.

You know, it's not hard to identify the dictators

and the tyrants who were egotistical and proud

and self-centered and murderous

and they want to get their own way

and they will do whatever it takes,

even immoral things,

in order to get their own way.

More often than not, though, however,

self-centeredness actually makes you

a really moral person.

It makes you a good person.

If everything is about my need

to feel good about myself,

then there is no better way

for that to happen

than for me to be a good person,

a moral person.

You see, self-centeredness drives most people

towards attempting to live a good life,

trying really hard to serve the needy,

to be a good child to a parent,

to honor my parents in some way,

to be a good parent to my children,

a good friend who assists wherever they possibly can,

a good person,

a dutiful person who does what's expected of them.

And what lies beneath all of that

is a self-centeredness

where we do it for ourselves,

where we do it to help ourselves.

We do good things to be noticed by people,

to receive the applause of people.

It's so we can feel like we've got a meaningful life.

We feel like we're a good person

when we've got the acclaim of others.

Now, I'm not sure if you remember

one of the greatest Hollywood classics

of the last century,

the first Rocky movie,

starring Sylvester Stallone.

Now, quite frankly,

he's an underrated actor

who should have by now won an Academy Award.

Nominated three times,

pipped at the post each time.

Poor guy.

It's amazing he was nominated three times, frankly.

His love interest in that movie

asked him why he was fighting

the world champion, Apollo Creed.

It was a spectacle fight.

He was not expected to win in any sort of way.

And his reply,

if you can get through the mumbling

and get the translation right,

his reply is,

I want to go the distance.

Then I'll know I'm not a bum.

Now, deep down inside of us,

if we ever allow ourselves to go

to that recess of our hearts,

we all feel like bums.

We're trying to do something

to convince ourselves

and to convince the world

that we're not

and that we're good.

And so we evaluate everything

in terms of whether it makes me look good

or whether it doesn't make me look good.

Self-centeredness can make you a tyrant.

Self-centeredness can make you

a moral and a good person.

But self-centeredness can almost,

so make you a very religious person.

We can devote ourselves to obeying God

and turning up to church

and reading the Bible

and praying and giving

and doing all the sorts of things

that we've been doing right here,

right now,

all good things and right things to do.

So how do I know

when I'm doing it for me?

When things aren't going well

for you in life,

you start to pull away

from these good things.

It's because you're doing these things

in order to do,

as Luther says,

use God.

We do good things

and expect God to come through for us.

Be generous to someone.

God's going to be generous to me.

It means it's all about us.

It's awful to think about it,

but it's possible to, in fact,

even to get into Christianity

to have God serve us

rather than for us to serve God.

It's astounding.

Self-centeredness clings to everything

in our lives

like a rash.

Verse 3 uses the word craving

to describe our self-centeredness.

It's a word that means inordinate desire.

It means that our egos

are addictive.

The little computer is addictive.

It means that we are living for our own glory

and it will never be enough

in the same way that a shot of heroin

for an addict will never be enough.

There's got to be more.

The little computer in us

is in overdrive,

running evaluations,

but no amount of glory,

no amount of acclaim,

recognition,

comfort

will ever be enough.

It's addictive.

And it's never satisfying.

And it makes you miserable.

C.S. Lewis,

the Oxford professor

and author,

wrote that there is nothing more

enslaving and miserable

than self-centeredness.

He wrote that it is hell

begun in us

that will eventually

take us to hell

because it's taking us

towards the person

that we are becoming.

The ruler of the kingdom of the air

as Ephesians 2 says.

The framework that every human being

begins with without Jesus

is that if you,

is that you

give your life

for me.

It's me first.

You serve my interests.

That's even how we relate

to our creator,

our sustainer,

our God.

It's me first.

And the Bible's view of sin

is that every part

of the human person

is tainted by sin.

It doesn't mean that humans

are not capable

of any good.

It doesn't mean that

there's no dignity

in human beings.

In fact,

I would argue

the Bible places

more than any other world

worldview,

supreme value

on human dignity.

But it means

that no part

of the human being,

the mind,

the emotions,

the heart,

the will,

is left untouched

by sin and self-centeredness.

And so the consequences

at the end of verse 3

is shocking

to our modern context

that says

we want to be able

to live how we want

without any consequences.

Not only dead,

but condemned.

That's the consequence.

Not only dead,

but condemned.

Verse 3,

like the rest,

we were by nature

deserving of wrath.

That's God's anger.

God's anger

is not like human anger.

It's not a bad temper.

It's not spite.

It's not malice.

It's not animosity.

It's not revenge.

It's not arbitrary.

It is predictable.

And it's not governed

by mood

or by whim.

It is God's personal,

righteous,

constant hostility

towards all

that is evil,

unjust,

and sin.

It is his settled

refusal

to compromise

with it

and his resolve

to condemn it.

And that is

the life journey,

the trajectory

that we are all on

and that we need

rescuing from.

Now in a moment,

I'm going to talk

about how God

saves us

from that life.

But first,

I want to take us

to the end

of these verses

where it talks briefly

about the life

that we are

rescued for.

This is the kind

of life

that God wants

to give us

and this is the life

he wants to bring

us into.

Starting at verse 8,

for it is by grace

you have been saved

through faith.

This is not

from yourselves.

It is a gift

from God,

not by work

so that no one

can boast.

For we are

God's handiwork

created in Christ

Jesus to do good

works which God

prepared in advance

for us to do.

Now there are a couple

of fascinating terms

right in there.

The first is in verse 8,

it is by grace

you've been saved

through faith

and this is not

from yourselves,

as a gift

from God.

It is saying

that we are not

saved,

we do not

give ourselves

the evaluation

of being a good

person by doing

good things

and being moral.

We are not saved

by anything

that we do.

God's salvation,

his gift

is a gift.

This new life

that he wants

to bring us into

is a gift

and once we get

this gift

we start to see

everything in life

as a gift.

It's not my

entitlement,

it's not there

to serve me.

Even faith

is something

that God gives us.

The life

that God

wants us to have

is a life

where we see

everything as a gift.

It's not a life

where we divide

the world up to

into makers

and takers

to quote

a taxi driver

that we had

in the United States.

Everything

is a gift.

We don't

deserve anything.

It's a life

that is lived

through faith

as we're told

here

and faith

isn't just

about intellectual

belief.

It means that

but it means

much more

than that.

Faith

means trust.

It means

resting.

See,

a Christian person

is a person

who's at rest.

They are

characterised

by what

verse 9

says,

no longer

boasting.

They're not

boasting

anymore.

Now,

when we hear

the word

boast,

we hear

bragging.

You know,

look at the

things I've

done and

achieved.

Now,

boasting

meant something

a bit

different

and probably

more profound

in the first

century.

Boasting

for them

was to

give yourself

confidence,

to gee

yourself up,

to face

something really

hard.

That's what

boasting

was in the

first century.

So,

imagine a

military leader

got his

troops there,

rallying his

troops,

getting them

pumped up

because they're

about to run

in and face

death.

He would

stand there

and he'd

boast,

look at the

size of

our spears,

weeny little

spears,

these guys,

and look at

how many guys

we've got.

They've only

got a few

over there.

Look at

our tactics.

We've been

winning all,

our tactics

are much

better than

their tactics.

The soldiers

would go,

yeah,

grab these

spears,

yeah,

I'm going

to die.

That's what

boasting

is.

This is the

sense here.

The boasting

here is

about

where your

confidence

is placed.

And we

are told

here that

one of the

great things

about the

Christian life

is it

brings to

an end

of all

boasting

in self

and into

placing my

confidence

in my

fickle

personal

hope that

I'm trying

to build

for myself.

everyone

is looking

around for

something to

boast in,

to have

confidence in,

to trust in,

to rest in,

in order to

face life.

Everyone is

trying to find

something to

give us that

sense of

value,

that sense

of worth.

Some of us

look to

careers,

some of us

look to

our family,

some of us

look to

salaries,

some of us

look to

moral decency,

some of us

look to

religious

performance.

A life

looking at

things to

boast in is

a life

that's

scrambling,

scrambling

for identity,

scrambling

for self

worth,

and it

is

exhausting.

And as

C.S.

Lewis says,

it makes you

miserable.

And the

new life

that God

gives us

is a gift,

and because

it's a gift,

we are set

free from

that,

liberated from

trying to

find our

boast,

trying to

find our

confidence,

from within

ourselves to

pin our

hopes on,

and in

verse 10

it says

this wonderful

vision of

the new

life,

he says,

we are

God's

handiwork,

created in

Christ Jesus

to do

good works,

which God

prepared in

advance for

us to

do.

In the

old life,

we are

dead in

our sins,

but the

new life

is described

as God's

handiwork,

we are

his artwork,

his

masterpiece.

No longer

dead,

but instead

remade,

set free to

do good

works without

the constant

calculation of

whether I've

done enough

to get the

applause that

I so

desperately

desire.

God's

greatest

masterpiece is

humanity

saved from

condemnation,

made alive and

set free from

slavery.

The old life

means we work

hard in the

hope of getting

the applause,

the praise of

the praiseworthy,

the new life

because we have

the praise of

the most

praiseworthy

already.

We are set

free to serve

and love with

free abandon.

So we've

seen the

life that we

need to be

saved from

and the

life that we

are saved

for.

So how do

we begin

this journey?

Where does

it start?

And the

answer to

that is

both profound

and simple.

It says in

verses 4 to 7

that God has

done something

incredible in

Jesus.

It says,

because of his

great love for

us,

God who is

rich in

mercy made

us alive

with Christ

even when we

were dead in

transgressions.

It is by

grace you've

been saved.

And God

raised us up

with Christ

and seated us

with him in

the heavenly

realms in

Christ Jesus.

Notice the

last verse in

verse 6.

God has

raised us up

with Christ

and seated us

with him in

the heavenly

realms.

Now the

first recipients

of this

letter knew

exactly what

that meant

in the

Roman world.

You see,

in the first

century Roman

world,

the conquering

war,

the general

would return

from a great

victory and

he was given

as a reward

the greatest

place of

honour in the

capital city.

And that is

the seat

beside the

throne of the

emperor.

right hand

seat.

Jesus died,

he was

raised again

and he was

given the

place of

greatest honour,

the seat on

the right hand

throne in the

heaven.

It can't

mean that we

are raised

from dead

literally

because I

don't think

that I've

died just

yet.

I'm jet

lagged but

I'm not

dead.

It can't

mean that

I'm in

heaven because

I'm still

here.

It doesn't

mean that we

are literally

seated with

him there

just yet.

It means

that we are

legally seated

with him

there right

now in

Jesus.

You see,

when you

believe in

Jesus,

all your

sins are

so hidden,

they are

so covered

that you

are treated

as if you

have done

everything

that Jesus

has ever

done.

Through

Jesus,

God delights,

he honours,

he accepts

and he

rejoices over

us in the

way that he

has his

perfect

obedient son.

How can

that be when

we have

been so,

so self-centered?

The key

there is in

verse 7,

he might

show the

incomparable

riches of

his grace

expressed in

his

kindness

to us

in Christ

Jesus.

The word

kindness

there of

Christ

Jesus

literally

means a

costly

action.

It's more

than just

saying,

you know,

I love

you.

It is

putting your

money where

your mouth

is,

as we say,

or for

Jesus'

sake,

it is

putting his

life where

his mouth

is.

The first

three verses

tell us

that the

essence of

sin,

which is the

reason why

we are

dead,

is putting

ourselves

where only

God should

be,

the center

of our

lives,

on the

throne of

our lives,

in control

of our

lives.

That is

what sin

is,

is putting

ourselves

where only

God

deserves

to be.

Salvation,

according to

the Christian

faith,

is the

exact opposite.

And salvation

is God

putting himself

where we

deserve to

be,

on the

cross.

That's

what Good

Friday is

all about.

Jesus took

the just

and the

righteous

punishment

from God

that we

deserve for

putting

ourselves

in the

place where

only God

belongs,

on the

throne as

rulers of

our lives.

The punishment

he took on

the cross

was much

more than

the cruel

and the

excruciating

physical

punishment

of

crucifixion.

It was

a cruel

way to

die.

He took

the wrath

of God

that verse

3 says

we deserve.

He was

cut off

from his

father and

he experienced

the agony

that we

would experience

if we were

cut off

from God

for all

of eternity.

And I

cannot

imagine,

even begin

to imagine

what that

was like

for him.

He sat

in our

seat so

that we

now can

sit in

his seat.

One

person put

it so,

so succinctly,

the essence

of sin

is us

substituting

ourselves for

God,

while the

essence of

salvation

is God

substituting

himself for

us.

And that's

what Good

Friday is

all about.

We have

put ourselves

where only

God deserves

to be and

so God

chooses to

put himself

where we

deserve to

be.

And so

the way

to be

blasted

out of

our

self-centeredness

is to

see that

Jesus saved

us by

doing the

exact opposite

of us.

He saved

us through

the most

radically

unselfish

thing anyone

has ever

done.

Though he

is equal

with God,

he emptied

himself of

his glory,

he came

down,

he took

our place

as a

servant,

he traded

his life

for ours,

and the

contrast of

these verses

is startling.

The very

next words

after verse

3 that

says that

we are

deserving of

God's

wrath says,

but because

of his

great love

for us,

God who

is rich

in mercy

made us

alive with

Christ.

Even when

we were

dead in

transgressions,

it's by

grace you've

been saved.

We were

dead in

our

transgressions,

but God

intervened.

We were

bondage to

sin, but

God intervened.

We were

objects of

wrath, but

God intervened.

God who

is rich in

mercy intervened.

Our condition

was hopeless,

but God

intervened in

grace.

From hell to

heaven, from

bondage to

freedom, from

gloom to

light, from

despair to

hope, from

wrath to

glory, from

death to

life, that

is the

glory and

the magnificence

of Good

Friday.

That's why

it's called

Good Friday.

And when

we see him

doing that,

when we know

he has done

that, when

we see his

mercy, his

love, his

grace, then

it helps us to

see that our

sense of who

we are is

already filled

up.

You can

disconnect the

computer.

His

selflessness has

overcome our

selfishness.

We see

ourselves as

complete because

we are seated

with God in the

place of honour.

We have all the

acclaim, all the

honour, all the

approval, all the

acceptance that you

could possibly want.

There is only one

boast that will

stop all boasting.

One boast that

stops us scrambling

through life trying

to figure out a

way to find the

confidence that we

need in order to

face life, whatever

it's going to throw

at us.

And it's the same

Apostle Paul who

wrote in Galatians

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6,

may I never boast in

anything else but

the cross of our

Lord Jesus Christ

through which the

world has been

crucified to me and

I to the world.

Now I'm assuming

that there are some

people in this room

today and you may

even have been a

regular in this

church for decades

but you need to

start that journey

today.

The journey needs to

begin for you today.

You need to get off

one road and on to

the other.

You need to switch

roads, stop looking

to self, start looking

to God and whatever

you've done, whatever

you've become on this

good Friday,

day Jesus has

possible for you to

come home to him.

Make this good Friday

the day that you come

to Jesus and experience

his love and his grace

and his mercy the day

you go from hell to

heaven, from bondage to

freedom, from gloom to

light, from despair to

hope, from glory to

wrath, from death to

life.

Sorry, from wrath to

glory, death to life.

If that's you, then

there's a really

crucial prayer for you

on the back of our

service sheet.

It's called the

prayer for belief.

I want to encourage

everyone to pick one

up.

Pick one up and look

at that prayer at the

end of the back of the

service sheet.

It's really simple.

Lord Jesus, I admit that

I'm weaker and more

sinful than I've ever

dared to admit, but

through you I'm more

loved and accepted than

I ever dared to hope.

I thank you for praying

my debt on the cross,

taking what I deserve in

order to offer me

complete forgiveness,

knowing that you've been

raised from the dead.

I turn from my sins and

receive you as my Lord

and Saviour.

Amen.

We're going to, Sam's

going to lead us right

now.

Come on up, Sam.

He's going to lead us

into the Lord's Supper

right now, which is

again a reminder of

what Christ has done for

us.

And as he does that, as

we go through this, can

I just encourage you to

ponder over the words of

that prayer and whether

or not that prayer is a

prayer for you to pray

today and to begin the

journey to follow

Jesus.