WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:24.079 Jesus, it is uh hard to believe that you would subject yourself to all of this uh willingly because you love us and because you longed for us uh to be uh to be with you so much uh that you were willing to do whatever it took. 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:44.640 And so we come this evening wanting to be uh captured, wanting to be uh drawn uh to this uh incredible sacrifice, this incredible display of love and mercy that you have shown us. 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:59.359 We know that we can't appreciate uh the good news until we first uh understand how bad the bad news really is, and so we pray that you would give us a real uh sense of our sin as well this evening. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:06.640 That we would see that we had uh we had no hope apart from you. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:12.000 And yet you came and knew just what we needed and provided it. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:20.480 And so we pray that you would use our time this evening uh to help us understand that and believe that more uh and more. 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:36.640 We are uh we are unworthy, we are undeserving, we are grateful and humbled to know that we belong to you because of what you have done for us. 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:40.319 So thank you for your word, uh, thank you uh for your spirit. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:45.599 I pray that you would use them this evening for your glory and for our good. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:47.200 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:48.560 Amen. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:53.920 Jesus in my place. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:02:01.120 It's one of the, maybe one of the simplest ways we can think about uh defining the gospel. 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:03.200 Jesus in my place. 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:14.719 When we think about the meaning of this week, the meaning of Good Friday, it's ultimately about what Jesus did, and that he did it for us. 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:18.080 His life, his death, his resurrection. 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:22.560 It really is our only comfort in life and death. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:28.479 There's a sermon clip that keeps uh popping up on my uh on my feed. 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:37.439 It kind of does every year around this time, and it's a it's a sermon clip from uh Alistair Begg, who's a um uh pastor in Ohio for a long time. 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:42.080 And uh he's talking about, you know, maybe you've heard this question before. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:48.960 Uh you know, the the question, uh if you got to heaven and they asked you, you know, why should I let you in, uh, how would you respond? 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:57.520 And uh he says, uh, if your answer is in the first person, all right, you're starting in the wrong place. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:10.800 He says, if you say, well, it's because I did this, or because I believed this, or because I uh have you know have been a good person, whatever it might be, if you start with the word I, then you've then you've missed the whole point. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:14.800 The answer to that question is always in the third person. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:16.719 It's because of Jesus. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:25.680 It's because of what he has done for us, it's because of what he had uh did on the cross and suffering and dying in my place. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:34.319 He lived for me, he died for me, he was raised for me, and he's given me faith to believe. 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:36.319 Jesus in my place. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:54.879 This is the hope that we have, and this is what we think about and what we remember on Good Friday, that everything that Jesus went through in suffering uh we deserved, and yet he took it uh on himself in our place. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:57.439 Tonight we're gonna look at one verse. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:04.479 Uh, and uh and this verse illustrates uh this idea of Jesus uh in my place really uh really well. 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:12.080 And we're just gonna look at a couple of things that this verse helps us see. 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:16.639 It's uh 2 Corinthians 5, 21. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:29.839 And this is what Paul says For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:40.079 For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:41.360 This is it. 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:43.279 Jesus in our place. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:46.560 So there's a couple things we're gonna look at. 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:49.439 First, our need for him. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:52.399 It's where we have to, it's where we have to start. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:05:02.800 The reality that uh that we desperately needed him to come or uh or or we would be without hope because there was nothing we could do on our own. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:06.879 And so the verse starts, for our sake. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.680 This gets to the heart of what uh why we call it Good Friday. 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:21.040 We said before, on the surface, we've heard we've heard songs, we've heard scriptures, we've recited things about how awful Jesus' suffering was. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:25.839 Physical pain, relational abandonment, God's wrath. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:31.600 We'll talk about these things more in a minute, but but it's not the description of a good day. 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:38.079 And yet we call it Good Friday because he went through all of those things for us, for our sake. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:44.639 Our salvation starts with the understanding that we're in trouble. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:49.519 We read from the Jesus Storybook Bible earlier about Adam and Eve in the garden. 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:57.680 They rebelled against God, they they believed the lie of uh of the serpent over the truth of what God had told them. 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:04.079 They did what they wanted to do instead of what he wanted them to do, what God wanted them to do. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:07.199 Uh, and uh and everything fell apart. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:19.040 Sin broke their relationship with God, it broke it broke the world around them, and it broke God's heart that his creation uh would turn from him. 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:25.279 Now, do you remember what happened uh when God kicked them out of the garden? 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:28.800 And do you remember what he did to make sure they didn't come back to the garden? 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:33.759 Uh he put it he put an angel, right, with a s with a sword at the uh at the gate. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:40.399 Um it was this it was this visual reminder of their separation from God. 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:47.040 In the garden, they had they had walked with God, they had they had talked with him, they had a relationship with him. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:50.480 Apart uh from him, after sin. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:54.959 Uh there's a flaming sword keeping them, uh keeping them from him. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:00.879 Sin turned them from friends of God to enemies of God. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:08.160 And that sin's been passed down from generation to generation, so that when we're born, we're not born neutral. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:11.360 We're born with hearts that rebel against God, too. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:16.399 It's this inheritance that we have from uh from Adam and Eve. 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:21.600 This nature that's been passed down generation after generation after after generation. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:33.120 Uh it's kind of like if you think about the Olympics, uh, you know, an individual athlete wins a gold medal, but when they show the counts of medals, uh, who does it get credited to? 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:34.240 Their country, right? 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:37.360 Uh the you know, the United States has this many, uh, this many golds. 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:40.079 Uh you know, China has this many uh golds. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:47.360 And so the individual uh is a representative for uh for their country, and their country gets credited with what they have done. 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:50.399 This is what it's like for uh for us. 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:54.639 Adam was our representative in the garden. 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:59.839 Because he sinned, uh, he passed his sin on to us. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:04.560 And so our need for God is not just because we've done some things wrong. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:05.600 We we have, right? 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:15.040 Uh if we're if we're honest, we can think about uh the ugliness of our own hearts and the and the thoughts and the things that we've said and the things that we've done over the course of our lives. 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:17.199 And yet our need is even bigger than that. 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:20.560 Because our rebellion against God is in our very nature. 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:26.480 We sense this separation from God and and we see it throughout the Bible. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:33.919 We sense it every time we feel guilt and we think, there's nothing that can cover over this guilt. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:35.120 How can I get rid of it? 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:37.840 It feels what I've done is so terrible. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:39.679 I I can't stop thinking about it. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:42.720 How can I uh how can I ever get rid of it? 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:49.919 Or maybe when we feel so unseen, we don't think anyone could ever understand us or what we're going through. 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:55.759 Or maybe when we're so lonely that we don't think anyone would even want to really uh know who we are. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:59.679 Because we know who we are, and maybe we don't like what we what we see. 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:05.519 And so we sense this separation from God in our daily lives. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:10.000 But we also see the separation illustrated throughout the the Bible. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:26.000 It's it's one example after another of uh of God and his people and something that keeps them turning from him, uh turning to him, and instead turning to idols and turning to all of these different things to find life in things other than God. 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:30.799 One example is uh is the curtain in the temple. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:38.240 You know, they build this temple, there's this holy of holies in the center that is supposed to be the presence of God there. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:45.279 And then they're told to make this thick curtain to go up uh to keep the people separated from God's presence. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:47.120 It's just like the flaming sword. 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:53.519 There's this barrier uh that um that keeps people from uh from the real presence of God. 00:09:54.159 --> 00:10:05.519 And it's meant to leave us thinking: what could ever tear through that curtain and return things to the way that they once were in the garden before the fall? 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:11.039 This is why he needed to come for our sake. 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:19.360 There was an article in the Washington Post uh earlier this week, and the title was Save Jesus, Ignore Easter. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:35.039 And the the idea of the article is you know, Jesus said some nice things, he was a nice guy, and so people should stick to that and forget all of the kind of spiritual miracle kind of kind of stuff uh that comes with uh that comes with Easter. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:46.240 The problem is if we really understand the seriousness of our sin and the depth of our need, then we understand that a good teacher and a nice guy isn't enough. 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:48.320 We need a savior. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:56.080 And I think this is what the rest of 2 Corinthians 5.21 helps us to see. 00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:04.320 It explains the salvation of Jesus in two parts our sin to him and his righteousness to us. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:07.360 Uh first, our our sin to him. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:09.120 What does it say? 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:13.919 He made him to be sin who knew no sin. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:21.120 The Bible's clear that the punishment that we deserve for our sin is death. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:24.080 Physical death is a consequence of sin. 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:25.679 Spiritual death is too. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:31.519 That separation from God, from the one who made us and the one that we're made for. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:38.639 We can see this in the Old Testament interaction between God and Abraham. 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:54.399 There's this moment where God is making a promise, a covenant with Abraham, and they're making this agreement that God is going to be his God and his family's God, and uh and they are gonna be his people. 00:11:55.200 --> 00:12:01.679 And uh and so he says, this is what it means uh for me, this is what I'm committing to uh to be your God. 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:07.600 And then he says, Abraham, this is what you're committing to uh to uh to be uh to be my my people. 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:10.559 And uh and then they do something interesting. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:20.639 God tells Abraham to to take these birds and these animals and to cut them into pieces and to make this pathway uh with uh with the pieces of the animals on either uh on either side. 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:35.919 And uh the the culture of the time was uh in in making sort of a contract or an agreement, uh you'd say, uh you'd you'd do this, you'd cut these animals, you'd put the pieces down, and both sides of the people making the contract would walk through it. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:50.480 And uh, and in essence, what they would be saying is, uh, I'm I'm making this commitment to you, and if I uh break our commitment, if I don't keep my side of uh of the deal, uh then um then this is what should happen to me. 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:57.840 I should be torn to pieces like these uh like these animals and uh and and killed for not keeping my my part of the of the bargain. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:03.039 And so uh and so Abraham sets these things out, but then something kind of unexpected happens. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:06.399 Uh God is the only one that goes through the pieces. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:12.639 Uh he uh he appears as uh as this kind of flaming uh pot and torch and he and he passes through. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:15.039 But Abraham, he doesn't make Abraham pass through. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:18.799 He knows Abraham's not gonna keep his side of the bargain. 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:19.039 Right? 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:22.879 He knows uh his people are going to fail again and again. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:26.320 They're gonna be unfaithful time after time after time. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:38.559 And so, in his love and his faithfulness and his commitment to Abraham, to his people, to us, he says, I'm gonna keep both sides of the agreement. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:48.159 He says, I'm gonna stake myself to the punishment if either side fails to keep their end of the bargain. 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:52.320 And this is exactly what Jesus is doing on the cross. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:54.000 He takes our place. 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:57.279 We're the ones that failed, we're the ones that are unfaithful. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.879 We're the ones that deserve suffering and death. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:04.960 And Jesus suffers the agony that our sins deserve. 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:07.919 He dies the death that we deserve. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:09.919 He's been faithful. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:13.360 We're the unfaithful ones, and he takes on our sins. 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:16.879 He actually becomes sin, the verse says. 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:23.120 He's made sin so that he could take on the wrath and the punishment of God that our sins deserve. 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:26.879 Tim Keller says this. 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:33.360 He says, Had Jesus come with a sword to destroy all evil, there would have been no one left afterwards. 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:39.200 Instead, he came not with a sword in his hands, but with nails in his hands. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:43.200 He came not to bring judgment, but to bear it. 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:47.279 And this is what he's done for us. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:55.039 This is him becoming sin and taking our sin on himself so that he could bear the judgment that we deserve. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:58.559 Because we would be without hope, without it. 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:01.759 The cross is where justice and mercy meet. 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:08.000 Justice because the evilness of sin deserves punishment, and mercy because he takes on what we deserve. 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:13.279 This is why Jesus' death is so bloody and so ugly. 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:26.399 Fleming Rutledge said, had he died in a more merciful, less deliberately dehumanizing way, it would not be possible to see in his death the sum of all horrors. 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:32.240 There's a reason why he suffered the way that he did. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:39.200 My guess is we've all looked around the world and at some point we've been shocked at the evil we've seen. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:44.480 It can be hard to imagine how some of the wrongs in this world could ever be made right. 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:52.799 And you may have also looked at your own heart, I know I have, and thought, how could what I've done ever be forgiven? 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:56.000 How could what I've done ever be made right? 00:15:57.279 --> 00:16:02.320 In both cases, the suffering and the shame of the cross give us hope. 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:05.679 Because Jesus paid for it all. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:09.039 He knew the evil in the world, he experienced it. 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:13.120 He knows the sinfulness of my heart and of yours. 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:14.559 Because he knows us. 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:21.679 And he took all of that on himself so he could stand in our place and take what we deserve. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:24.879 Listen to this from uh from J.I. 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:25.440 Packer. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:28.159 It's a it's a little bit long, but it's uh but it's really good. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:40.639 He says, What matters supremely, therefore, is not in the last analysis the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it, the fact that he knows me. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:45.519 I am graven on the palms of his hands, I'm never out of his mind. 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:50.879 All my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative in knowing me. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:54.399 I know him because he first knew me and continues to know me. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:57.519 He knows me as a friend, one who loves me. 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:05.839 And there is no moment when his eye is off of me, or his attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when his care falters. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:26.480 There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him from me in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, or quench his determination to bless me. 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:39.599 It's called Good Friday, not because of the brutality of the cross and that somehow being good, but because the goodness of God's heart towards his people. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:45.839 It's on full display as Jesus suffers and dies in our place, so we can belong to him. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:50.799 Jesus buys us back from death for life with him. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:55.200 And the goodness of what Jesus has done for us, it gets even better. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:58.000 It's sometimes called the great exchange. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:05.440 Not only does he take our sins on himself, but the verse tells us he gives us something in return. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:10.240 His righteousness, his good and perfect righteousness. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:12.000 How does the verse end? 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:15.920 It says, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:19.039 His righteousness to us. 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:25.839 Jesus doesn't just forgive us and then leave us with a blank slate to go on and now try and go be a good person. 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:27.680 He gives us his righteousness. 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:33.200 We're credited with the perfect life that he lived, as if we had lived it. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:43.039 So when the Father looks at his children, when he looks at me, when he looks at you, he sees us clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:45.359 So what does that do for us? 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:48.240 What does that mean for us from day to day? 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:50.960 Well, one, we can live for him with joy. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:54.079 The cross changes our perspective on what we do. 00:18:54.319 --> 00:19:05.359 If we already have the righteousness of Jesus, then nothing we do to try and earn it is um is necessary. 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:13.759 When we look at the good things that we do, we're not trying to build up this good resume that then we can take to God and see, look, say, look, I've earned it, I deserve it. 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:16.240 You owe me. 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:18.799 We already have it. 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:23.440 We already have his righteousness, we already have his love and affection. 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:31.599 And so instead, what we get to do is to live with thankfulness for what he's already done for us and what we've already received from him. 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:34.480 The pressure to perform is off. 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:37.599 Instead, we get to have joy in living for him. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:43.440 And even better than that, we can be confident that his joy is in us. 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:48.880 Do you remember what the Father said to Jesus as he was getting baptized? 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:53.680 He said, This is my father, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:20:01.440 And he said that to Jesus, and uh those words to him, and now those words are for us, for those who belong to him. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:09.119 Those are the words he offers to us as we're clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:15.039 He speaks joy and love over us as his children. 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:19.039 This is why we can approach this communion table with confidence. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:23.359 Remember when we talked earlier about the barrier between us and God? 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:26.079 The curtain that was put in the temple. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:31.519 The Bible tells us as Jesus died on the cross, the curtain was torn in two. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:38.799 This is the hope that we have that we can enter into his presence. 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:50.480 Once again, Charles Spurgeon said, when Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom so that big sinners like me could get through. 00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:54.480 That's our hope. 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:59.359 If you're in him, you can come to this table. 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:02.000 Not because of anything good that you've done. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:03.759 You're a big sinner. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:06.960 But only because of what Jesus has done for you. 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:10.720 He stood in your place, he took your sin. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:12.880 He's given you his righteousness. 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:16.720 The barrier between you and him has been removed. 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:23.119 Your sin has been taken away, and you can come to him because you've been covered with the righteousness of Jesus. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:35.759 And I'll just say for a moment, I realize, you know, some of you here may not be at that point where you've trusted your life to Jesus, where you're resting in him for your goodness and for your righteousness. 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:42.640 These words in the middle of 2 Corinthians 5.21 are so important in Him. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:49.920 All of these things that we've talked about tonight are good and true, but they're only true for those who are in Him. 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:55.359 And the good news is His arms are wide open to you. 00:21:56.319 --> 00:21:59.519 He longs for you to come to Him. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.400 And he wants to welcome you in. 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:06.319 But this is why we say that this table in front of us is a family meal. 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:08.240 It's for those of us who are in him. 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:22.160 And so if that's not you tonight, then we'd ask you not to come and take of the elements, but instead to consider all that you've heard here tonight about Jesus and who he was and what he's done and even what he's done for you. 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:27.119 And maybe even put your faith and your trust in him for the first time. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:41.680 But if we're in him, then in a minute, we're going to come to these tables, and you'll have the opportunity to come boldly and confidently to receive his mercy, to receive his grace, and to commune with him. 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:47.200 And so we're going to do a couple things here as we prepare for communion. 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:58.559 We've got a responsive reading, and it's reading through Jesus' statements from the cross and the things that he said as he hung on the cross and as he suffered and he died for us. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:00.960 And so we'll read these responsively. 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:06.000 And then afterwards, we have a prayer of confession that we'll read together. 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:13.920 And then we'll take a few minutes of quiet before we come to the table. 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:20.640 So I'll read the verses and then we'll say the people part together. 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:26.160 And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:29.680 And they cast lots to divide his garments. 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:32.559 Oh, what a gracious Savior. 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:38.640 And he said to him, Truly I say to you, today, you will be with me in paradise. 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:41.359 Oh, what a merciful Savior. 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:49.759 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son. 00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:52.960 And he said to the disciples, Behold your mother. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:56.880 And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. 00:23:57.279 --> 00:23:59.440 Oh, what a beautiful Savior. 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:11.519 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lemma sabathani, that is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:14.640 Oh, what a costly redemption. 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:22.559 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill the scripture, I thirst. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:26.240 Oh, what agony he endured for us. 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:35.519 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hysset branch and held it to his mouth. 00:24:35.759 --> 00:24:40.160 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished. 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:43.599 And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:46.960 Oh, what a costly redemption. 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:54.880 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. 00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:58.160 And having said this, he breathed his last. 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:01.759 Oh, what a costly redemption. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:15.200 We're going to read this prayer of confession together as a way of acknowledging our need for him as we come to this table. 00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:18.079 Let's read it together. 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:24.240 Father, I plead Jesus' blood to pay my debts of wrong. 00:25:24.559 --> 00:26:23.039 Accept his worthiness for my unworthiness, his sinlessness for my transgressions, his purity for my uncleanness, his sincerity for my duplicity, his truth for my deceits, his meekness for my pride, his constancy for my backslidings, his love for my hatred, his fullness for my emptiness, his faithfulness for my disloyalty, his obedience for my lawlessness, his glory for my shame, his devotedness for my waywardness, his holy life for my impure ways, his righteous faithfulness for my faithless works, his death for my life. 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:24.079 Amen. 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:25.519 Amen. 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:31.359 Hear these words of assurance and pardon, we've been talking about for the last few minutes. 00:26:31.599 --> 00:26:41.920 For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:44.000 Amen. 00:26:45.119 --> 00:27:06.160 That sermon I mentioned earlier from Alistair Begg, he uh he ends it and he and he talks about one of the statements from the from the cross that we uh that we just read a minute ago about the thief on the cross that Jesus uh says, uh, you know, he says, uh, you know, can um uh can I believe in you, can I go with you uh to paradise? 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:09.920 And uh and he says, uh today you will be you will be with me there. 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:19.920 He talks about you know what uh what what that thief on the cross would say as he as he was trying to answer that question when he got to the gates of heaven, why should I let you in? 00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:24.160 He's known Jesus for a matter of you know moments. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:33.119 Uh he's got he's got nothing that he can point to to say, uh, look what I did, or or uh, or look what I've uh look what I've said, or look at how faithful I've I've been. 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:34.319 He has nothing. 00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:51.200 And he says, uh, imagine uh imagine that thief uh saying, um, I I don't know, all I do know is that uh the the middle guy on the cross, uh the guy on the middle cross uh told me I could come. 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:54.559 And that's that's the invitation that all of us have. 00:27:54.799 --> 00:28:01.440 That Jesus, who hung on that middle cross for you and for me, gives us the invitation to come. 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:09.200 And as we're in him, we come and we come finding rest for our souls. 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:15.440 That's what he says to all who are weary and heavy laden, come and I will give you rest. 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:23.839 And so Jesus, when he instituted that uh supper, uh, took the bread and broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:26.720 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:32.480 In the same way, after the supper, Jesus took the cup, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:36.559 Whenever you drink, drink in remembrance of me. 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:39.599 Uh this is what we're gonna do. 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:42.559 Um we uh we're gonna take communion kind of how we normally do. 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:47.119 Um, whenever you're ready, you can uh get up, and there'll be two stations in uh in the back there. 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:50.880 Uh if you are serving communion, you can go ahead and kind of head that way. 00:28:51.039 --> 00:29:04.319 Um and uh and and just for the next minute, I'm gonna give us just uh some silence, uh some time to just reflect on on all that we've uh thought about and sung and said and read and all of these things tonight. 00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:07.119 Um just give us a few moments to reflect. 00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:09.680 Uh, and then uh and then I'll I'll dismiss us. 00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:23.039 Uh and uh while uh while these guys are singing, uh you can uh you can sing, you can uh uh pray, uh you can wait in line and uh and receive the elements and uh and take this uh meal together. 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:31.359 So let's take just a few uh a few moments of silence and then uh and then in a minute I'll uh I'll dismiss us uh to take uh to take any