Isaiah 53 - ”There’s Always a Cost” - Good Friday

The Old Testament reading is Isaiah

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

chapter 53.

Who has believed what he has heard from

us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord

been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young

plant and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no form or majesty that we should

look at him and no beauty that we should

desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men. A

man of sorrows and acquainted with grief

and as one from whom men hide their

faces. He was despised and we esteemed

him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs and

carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him

stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our

transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

Upon him was the chastisement that

brought us peace. And with his wounds we

are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray. We

have turned everyone to his own way. And

the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of

us all.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth.

Like a lamb that is led to the

slaughter, and like a sheep that before

its sheerers is silent, so he opened not

his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken

away. And as for his generation, who

considered that he was cut off out of

the land of the living, stricken for the

transgression of my people?

And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death.

Although he had done no violence, and

there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush

him, he has put him to grief. When his

soul makes an offering for guilt, he

shall see his offering offspring.

He shall prolong his days. The will of

the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall

see and be satisfied.

By his knowledge shall the righteous

one, my servant, make many to be

accounted righteous, and he shall bear

their iniquities.

Therefore, I will divide him a portion

with the many, and he shall divide the

spoil with the strong, because he poured

out his soul to death, and was numbered

with the transgressors.

Yet he bore the sin of many, and makes

intercession for the transgressors.

The New Testament reading is John 19

16-37.

So they took Jesus and he went out

bearing his own cross to the place

called the place of a skull which in

Aramaic is called Golgtha.

There they crucified him and with him

two others, one on either side, and

Jesus between them.

Pilate also wrote an inscription and put

it on the cross. It read, "Jesus of

Nazareth, the King of the Jews."

Many of the Jews read this inscription,

for the place where Jesus was crucified,

was near the city, and it was written in

Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek.

So the chief priests of the Jews said to

Pilate, "Do not write the king of the

Jews, but rather this man said, I am the

king of the Jews." Pilate answered,

"What I have written, I have written."

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus,

they took his garments and divided them

into four parts, one part for each

soldier, also his tunic. But the tunic

was seamless, woven in one piece from

top to bottom. So they said to one

another, "Let us not tear it, but cast

lots for it to see whose it shall be."

This was to fulfill the scripture which

says, "They divided my garments among

them, and for my clothing they cast

lots."

So the soldiers did these things, but

standing by the cross of Jesus were his

mother and his mother's sister.

Mary, the wife of Clopez, and Mary

Magdalene.

When Jesus saw his mother and the

disciple whom he loved, standing nearby,

he said to his mother,"Woman,

behold your son." Then he said to the

disciple, "Behold your mother." And from

that hour the disciple took her to his

own home.

After this Jesus, knowing that all was

now finished, said to fulfill the

scripture, "I thirst."

A jar full of sour wine stood there. So

they put a sponge full of the sour wine

on a hissup branch and held it to his

mouth.

When Jesus had received the sour wine,

he said, "It is finished,"

and he bowed his head and gave up his

spirit.

Since it was the day of preparation, and

so that the bodies would not remain on

the cross on the Sabbath, for that

Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked

Pilate that their legs might be broken

and that they might be taken away.

So the soldiers came and broke the legs

of the first and of the other who had

been crucified with him.

But when they came to Jesus and saw that

he was already dead, they did not break

his legs.

But one of the soldiers pierced his side

with a spear, and at once there came out

blood and water.

He who saw it has borne witness. His

testimony is true, and he knows that he

is telling the truth, that you also may

believe. For these things took place

that the scriptures might be fulfilled.

Not one of his bones will be broken. And

again, another scripture says, "They

will look on him whom they have

pierced." This is the word of the Lord.

>> Thanks be to God.

So this week uh as you always get all

kinds of interesting things off social

media I got a interesting post that

actually Jesus didn't die for our sins.

I was quite surprised.

It was a young lady who said that sin

wasn't our main problem but being loved

was the article. And so that her

atonement, which is an atonement

theology out there, was that Jesus died

to show us what love really looks like,

like the depth of love. She didn't say

she didn't believe in the crucifixion or

the resurrection. It was just the

meaning she applied to it. Well, besides

the fact that I don't know, you'd have

to give up a ton of scriptures to say

that,

there's something that this woman didn't

observe or comment on that I would like

to have asked her. You see, there's some

truth that is so true in our world, the

way it's designed, the way God's gives

us, is when we sin, when we do something

to someone else, to creation, to

something, there's always a cost.

There's always a cost. We hurt somebody,

we hurt something, and there's always a

cost. Somebody suffers. Somebody has to

take that.

It's so entwined in everything we think

that I'll take the recent NDP

convention. Do you know did you guys see

that? It went viral for obvious reasons

and not all good. But the point I'm

making is not to talk about the

convention, but here's a group of people

that proudly a lot of them call

themselves atheists.

Okay? And they were the big thing was

that they believed a great injustice had

happened. And justice is a big thing in

our world. And what that means by

injustice is that they have been sinned

against. And the sin in this particular

case was that they were part of a group

of people who had been oppressed. So you

uh that could be because you were uh an

African-American. It could be because

your your sexuality was different or

because of your um gender. All of these

things gave you a mark that you had been

oppressed, that you had been injustly

treated.

And there was a cost and I noticed it

cost were these cards. They were called

equity cards. Did you guys anybody see

this? It made the news if you want to

really watch something entertaining

because it was quite entertaining.

And what would happen is you had this

equity card. So if you were an

African-American,

you could go and stand before a

Caucasian because the Caucasians were

the one who had caused all these

problems. If you were a female, you

could go ahead of a male. If you were uh

of a different sexuality than

heteronormal, you could go in front of

them. And then, of course, the issue

became, what if you have a bunch of

these? And one gentleman was quite upset

because he was a transgender Asian male

and people who weren't of his level of

injustice

were cutting in front of him.

The point I'm saying is there is always

a cost. And people want justice. And

people want justice because they want

something to be set to right because

they know something has been done to

them or others.

It's in our being.

And it isn't just a lack of love.

There's something in us that wants

payment

for what's happened.

There was a a Russian guy and he stands

out in my life. His name uh Goule

Archipello was the book he wrote and his

name was Alexander Senskin. I think I

said that wrong.

Yeah. See, you guys know I'm trying

here.

I actually went on Google and you know

you this they have this thing where they

say the name like slowly for you and I

still can't get it.

But not knowing his name doesn't mean he

isn't a brilliant writer. And I've read

the gool out archipelago.

Look at me. I'm doing great today.

But the point of this is he talks a lot

about payment and cost in this book.

You see, he was born uh the son of a

cascade

and this was quite a significant person.

This was during Tsar Russia and this was

they were very well fed. They had they

had land and then there was the

revolution and the revolution went after

people like that because they were the

rich and the rich had to pay the cost

and so the Marxists came in the

Leninists and they destroyed their

family and afterwards the the father

didn't die by the Marxists but he died

because they were kicked out of their

house and he got sick and there was no

medical treatment. So now he lived with

his mother and he had an enemy and it

was the Marxist. They they now had to be

paid. Do you see what I mean?

But then he realized he couldn't pay

these guys. They were the na national

thing and they were militant. So he went

in and he became one. So he became a

Marxist and he realized that absolutely

there has been injustice. We have the

rich people and the poor, the working

class and the bourgeoisi.

And our enemy is the burgeoisi and they

must pay.

And that went on for a while. And he had

his whole life being paying off paying

against these rich.

But then something happened next. The

Germans invaded. National socialisms

crossed the border and they came over

and they did great evil. And he had a

new enemy, a new person who had done

injustice. And there was a cost to pay.

And he joined the the military. And he

came back with all of those soldiers.

And they went back through and they did

things. And if you don't want to read

horrific things that people can do to

each other, don't read that book.

Because what these Russians did is they

came through East Prussia and they

doubled down on what the German the

Germans had done to the Russians cuz

they had a cost.

In just happened, somebody had to pay.

And then he came back into the Soviet

Union and he's looking at Stalin Marxism

and he all of a sudden realizes this is

really evil. What's going on here? It's

controlling. And he begins to write then

against this thing he's been in, Stalin

Marxism.

And what do they do? They arrest him.

And where do they put him? The Goolags.

Now he has a new enemy.

He had the Marxists. He had first of all

he had the Marxists. Then he had the the

National Socialists. Then he has the

Marxists again. And now he has the

bureaucrats in Stalinist Russia. And

they send the Goolags. Now he has his

executioners here, his people who are

abusing him and his prisoners and they

must suffer because they must pay

because it's injustice.

And then finally the people that had him

in the Goolags came up with this

brilliant idea. We don't have enough

soldiers so we're going to have fellow

prisoners oversee you and the fellow

prisoners abuse their prisoners. So now

he had another group of people that had

to pay the cost and it was his fellow

inmates

and he was bitter and he was cold and he

almost died.

And then he looked around and he saw

something unbelievable. It stood out for

him.

The Christians were different.

They didn't hate. They were respectful.

They didn't look for ways to get

vengeance. And as he talked to them, he

couldn't get over who these people were.

And he began to study and he began to

look and then he was finally converted,

became a Christian

all of that time. And the thing that

stood out to him is he knew that there

was a cost and all of these people that

had owed him needed to pay.

But he had an epiphany also.

And I'll read this right out of the

book.

There is nothing that so assists the

awakening of omniscience within us as

the insistent thoughts about one's own

transgressions,

errors, mistakes.

After the difficult cycles of such

ponderings over many years, whenever I

mention the heartlessness of our highest

ranking bureaucrats, the cruelty of our

executioners,

I remember myself then in my captain's

shoulder boards and the forward march of

my body through East Prussia, enshrouded

in fire. And I say,

"So are we any better."

See, the profound thing is he knew there

was a cost. But here's what he also came

to the conclusion.

I've done this stuff.

I'm not just a victim.

I'm also

the one who's done the injustice.

And that's the truth.

The cross matters because there isn't

one group that does injustice.

The fact is we all do.

The fact is, yes, I'm sure you've been

hurt and maybe you've been hurt badly by

somebody and you feel they owe you you

owe them a cost. But I can tell you a

truth. You've hurt other people. And

more importantly, you've hurt God.

And there should be a cost.

One thing scripture is very clear from

the beginning is that our God is a just

God.

The people who are being abused are

crying out for justice all the time. He

promises he'll bring justice and that

means there will be a cost.

He acts out against injustice by

bringing judgment against people who

have been terrified and mistreated.

The scriptures are clear and this all

comes because we fell in the garden

and everyone eventually unfortunately

ends up on the side of the guilty. He

tries to use Israel to bring justice and

they become some of the most unjust

people in scripture.

And you're kind of left actually like

Solierkin. Did I say that right this

time? Close enough. You know who I'm

talking about. But you get to the point

now where everybody owes somebody

judgment and now you need judgment. What

is the answer? There's a cost.

So we read Isaiah today and that was the

chap the book chapter he read in his

conversion because he knew about cost.

He knew people had to pay the price and

he read about this guy

this guy who it says surely he has borne

our griefs and carried our sorrows and

yet we esteemed him stricken smitten by

God

but he was pierced for our

transgressions. He was crushed for our

iniquities. Upon him the chastisement

that gave us peace and with his wounds

we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray. We

have turned everyone to his own way. And

the Lord has laid on him the cost of it

all.

What he realized in the truth is the

only way humanity could get out of this

cycle is somebody who doesn't deserve

the cost taking the cost upon himself.

And that's Good Friday. And that's why

it's Good Friday.

You see, we are in debt. All of us are

in debt.

We have a cost and there's no way to pay

it.

We're not good enough. We can't do

enough. And we have just as much debt as

the person we hate.

And we have just as much darkness in our

hearts.

I laughed at someone who said to me,

"Humanity is good."

And I was in Costco at the time.

And it was right during CO and I went to

buy toilet paper and we hoarded toilet

paper based on a virus.

Get the point? Humanity sure good.

The reality is we're not.

We all didn't have to live this man's

life. But we all know deep in our soul

if God has awakened us that there's a

cost.

And that cost was death.

And the cross would be utterly

meaningless

if he didn't do the incredible miracle

of taking that cost upon himself.

This is why it's Good Friday.

Because somebody did what we could never

do

and he saved us.

Wow.

If I met that young lady, I'd ask her a

lot of questions,

but the biggest question is, what do you

do at night when you know

you've just been an awful person?

What does a cross offer you with your

theology? Oh, he's really loving, so he

carried the cross so I can be loving,

too. You're not loving and you wouldn't

have.

The good news, my dear,

is that you're free from your sin and

the payment that is left.

I'll end on a story. I was at a seminary

and it was not regent and it wasn't

good. And this seminary had um a group.

It was called uh Jesus and feminism was

a course. Why I was in this course, I

have no idea, but I was in it.

I didn't really fit. I was a white male

and so I was the outcast.

So I would sit there and watch and I

didn't say anything because they didn't

want to hear from me.

And the prophet who was preaching it

used to be a pastor here in this church.

His name was Ted Severns.

>> You guys remember Ted?

>> And Ted was teaching this class and it

was the most angry women you've ever

seen and me.

And I sat in the very back

and this um this woman got up and

started screaming for justice. We need

justice. We need justice. We need

justice. Patriarchy

put down justice. Justice. Justice.

and I need this justice. And then a

fascinating thing happened. There was an

African-American woman there and she got

up and said, "You sit down. You're

white. I've really suffered from

justice.

You know, you can't speak about

injustice. I lived in the poor

neighborhoods in a ghetto

and you white women have kept us down."

And I watched this injustice and they

probably had some truth to all of it.

And I want to tell you what Ted said

cuz he was a very quiet man, very polite

man. He was not like Emry,

a little fella actually.

And he stopped and he quietly said, "I

hear you guys crying out for justice.

But I got to tell you something. You

don't want justice."

There was dead silence. And he says, "If

you get justice, you're going to get

destroyed.

by God.

Could I hear a pin drop?

The truth is, folks, this is the best

day

and it's the worst thing that happened

to our Lord. But he took your sins on so

that you won't be destroyed.

Paul describes it like this.

For the wages of sin is death, but the

gift of God is eternal life in Jesus

Christ our Lord. The cost of sin is

death.

But he paid it and he's given us eternal

life.

So I'm not going to close, like I said,

with a benediction because I think this

is one big service today. But I want you

to leave

and know this truth. And then as you're

staring at that cross,

recognize that you and I put him there.

And then receive the truth that it is

finished and you're forgiven.

And then we can have the gratitude and

the joy on Sunday to yell out, "He is

risen." Amen.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you

have paid the cost.

Yes, you showed us your deep love on the

cross and thank you for that. You showed

us your sacrificial nature and thank

you.

But Lord, you took upon yourself

the sins of all of us,

our iniquities,

and you were squashed and destroyed

because of it.

May you implant this in our heart as we

go home, as we meditate,

as we think about what happened,

and prepare us for those wonderful words

we will shout out on Sunday.

For we know what's coming.

Amen.