WEBVTT 00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:04.400 So we're here to contemplate Good Friday. 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:07.519 And I I I know what you I know what you could have been doing. 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:09.039 You know what you could have been doing. 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:14.880 You could have been shoving hot dogs and uh beer and soda into your bellies at the Braves game. 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:19.359 I'm aware of that, so you know I'm I'm really impressed, very impressed with you. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:31.120 Um because this is not always, like I said, as I greeted you guys, this is not always the most attractive thing to do, to come to a Good Friday service and contemplate the sacrifice of Jesus. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:41.520 Uh to come to Easter Sunday with brunch and uh you know floral dresses, you know, that that's just the more celebratory thing to do. 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:42.479 And yet we're here. 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:44.960 You're here, you're here, and I'm here. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:47.119 And so why would we do this? 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:49.520 Why would any of us do this? 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:52.079 Why are you here? 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:57.679 Well, because uh we can't do any of this ourselves. 00:00:57.840 --> 00:00:58.479 That's why. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:00.320 That's why you're here to contemplate the cross. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:04.560 You're here to contemplate the cross because you can't do it yourself. 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:06.879 And I've been trying, I don't know about you. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:26.159 Like I said, I have all my self-salvation projects, and I've been trying and trying and trying to justify myself before God with my righteousness and my spiritual record and everything I like to hold up to Him every day because I love to hold it up to Him or to you or somebody to be impressed by me. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:37.439 I love to do that, and I love to have my salvation projects in all those, you know, power, prestige, and position and all of those things, or anything that I produce, just anything that I produce. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:38.400 Right? 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:41.920 And yet none of that justifies us. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:42.879 None of it. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:46.640 And so we come to contemplate the cross because we need the cross. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:48.480 That's what this is about. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:57.280 That there's nothing, there's nothing I can do and nothing you can do to earn love and earn mercy. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:01:58.959 And we need mercy. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:00.079 I need mercy. 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:03.760 I need God's mercy to me because I'm not perfect. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:10.800 And this is the most freeing thing we can hear and remember is to realize that we need the cross and that we're not perfect. 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:15.439 This is unbelievably freeing because I don't want to pay for it. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:18.560 And I've been trying and it doesn't work. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:21.520 The more I try, the more bound I am. 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:44.000 And so to be free from that by the cross, that's incredible to contemplate, to contemplate all of my sin has been put upon him and his righteousness has been put upon me, the more I contemplate that and live in that deep love and that, now I'm free. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:47.039 I'm free when I'm able to abide in that. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:53.280 See, love and mercy that is given to us is always sacrificial, it's always sacrificial. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:03:02.960 Whether it's from your from your mama or your daddy or your grandmama, I mean, if you've ever experienced love and mercy given to you, there was sacrifice by somebody to give it. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:15.280 And so the ultimate act, the ultimate act of loving you perfectly, perfectly, no matter what you do, no matter what you do, is the ultimate act of sacrifice. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:19.680 So I'd like to, in just in the next few minutes, read through Isaiah 53. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:21.599 It's printed out on that sheet of paper you have. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:25.039 I'm not going to read it all at one time, read a few verses, make a few comments. 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:27.840 Uh, but mostly I want just, I just want to read this. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:37.280 I'm make a few comments along the way, but I want this passage, this prophecy about Jesus, why he came, and what he did for us. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:38.879 I just want it to be read. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:45.520 I want it to be read over you, and I want it to sink into us, into our hearts. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:49.680 So Isaiah 53, 1 through 3. 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:56.159 Who has believed what he has heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 00:03:56.400 --> 00:04:03.520 For he, this is Jesus, for Jesus, he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of the dry ground. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:09.199 He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:26.079 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. 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:32.480 So maybe you're here and you're wondering, like, where's God in my grief? 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:43.199 Like this thing happened and I was left out and I was let down and I was hurt and I was wounded, and and maybe you're even scared to go there, to go to go to that place, but you're not quite sure if you're allowed to. 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:44.959 Like, am I allowed to be that weak? 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:48.959 Like as a Christian, am I allowed to be weak, or am I supposed to always have my act together? 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:50.079 And you're allowed to be weak. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:51.120 That's the good news. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:54.639 I mean, Jesus himself, God himself goes into grieving. 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:59.839 God himself is acquainted, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:02.800 And so if you're wondering, where's God in your grief? 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:03.439 Where's God? 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:09.040 Now, I don't I I can't answer why the world works the way it does and why all different stuff happens. 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:10.240 I can't answer all of that. 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:11.519 But I can answer one thing. 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:12.800 Where's God in your grief? 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:13.360 With you. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:14.480 I can answer that. 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:16.160 Now I don't know if you always feel it. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:18.319 I don't know when you'll feel it while you're in your grief. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:19.199 I can't answer that. 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:20.800 But I know he knows grief. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:24.000 He's not scared of grief, he's not scared of you grieving. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:25.439 Doesn't threaten him. 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:27.439 It doesn't threaten him. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:29.040 He knows grief. 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:30.639 I mean, think about the cross. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:35.360 God himself, incarnate God, the face of God for us to see. 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:40.639 In the ultimate act of us seeing him is one of grieving, of sadness. 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:43.839 God, Father, why have you forsaken me? 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:57.040 Verse 4, surely he has borne our griefs, he takes them from us and carried our sorrows. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:02.560 Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:07.279 But he was pierced for our transgressions. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:09.360 So we've done all this, we forget him. 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:14.079 And this is the storyline of history, this is our storyline. 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:16.319 We're inward bend, we love to self-save. 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:19.360 We don't think we need God, we forget him, we come back, forget him, come back. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:22.800 I mean, this is my story, your story, everybody's story. 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:26.959 And even in that, he was pierced for our transgressions. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:29.040 He was crushed for our iniquities. 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:38.000 Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:39.519 So, what does that mean? 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:41.680 I mean, you've been around, maybe you've heard that verse. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:42.639 What does that mean? 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:48.000 I think it means peace is possible because it's by his wounds and not our wounds. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:49.360 That's why peace is possible. 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:51.519 If it's by my wounds, there's no peace. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:53.120 I have to keep producing something. 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:54.639 That's not peaceful. 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:59.279 But because it's by his wounds, the cross is sufficient. 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:00.560 It's enough. 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:07.279 And peace only comes by living in that sufficiency for us. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:08.319 Verse 6. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:11.519 All we like sheep have gone astray. 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:17.120 We have turned everyone to his own way. 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:18.399 Everyone. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:23.040 Me, you, your sweet, holy grandmother. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:25.439 I mean that grandmother, her too. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:28.160 All of us have gone astray. 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:30.639 If you don't think it, just get to know somebody better. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:31.920 You'll see it eventually. 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:35.839 And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:39.279 And then it gets poetic, telling the story of the cross. 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:42.959 He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:51.759 Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shears is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:56.079 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:08:04.240 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. 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:14.800 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. 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:18.000 I mean, even from even from the cross, Father, forgive them. 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:19.680 They don't know what they're doing. 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:25.920 Even from the cross, I mean, this act of incarnate God as vulnerable as can be. 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:31.279 I mean, if you want to know how we should view God, the vulnerability of the cross. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:33.039 So it's a transaction. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:37.679 There's some transaction here, our sin upon him, his righteousness to us, that's incredible. 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:43.279 But there's a vulnerability here for us to see, for us to understand God. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:49.039 And he doesn't know, Father, forgive them. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:53.120 Verse 10, yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:56.399 He has put him to grief. 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:05.120 When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:09.120 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:18.080 By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:30.720 And so all of that, and then we get verse twelve, therefore, all of that, therefore, therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong. 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:33.440 We're going to come back to that and make a couple comments about that. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:43.840 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. 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:48.559 So by the end of this chapter, we need by the end of this chapter, we need this word, therefore. 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:52.159 It's like, whoa, this is getting heavier and heavier and heavier and heavier. 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:55.840 Therefore, because of all of that, here's the deal. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:59.279 Because of all of that, there's two things that are mentioned there in verse 12. 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:06.559 Number the first part, God will divide him a portion with the many, or God will divide him a portion with the great. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:09.840 That's to say this: Jesus is the glorious Savior. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:10.799 There will be none other. 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:12.080 You don't need another one. 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:12.559 Okay? 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:14.720 He's that great. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:21.919 He is supremacy in the universe, and this supremacy in the universe is also our source of love. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:23.200 And that's the second part. 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:24.000 Listen to this. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:26.159 He shall divide the spoil. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:28.399 That's the reward, the good stuff. 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:31.120 He shall divide it with the strong. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:33.679 Now, that I don't love that word there. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:36.399 You know, I started looking at some different other words, different translations. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:38.320 Maybe you've got your Bible with you, you're looking at it. 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:42.000 Sometimes some translations use the word numerous. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:47.440 He shall divide the spoil with the numerous, with the many. 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:50.159 So none of this feels like a victory parade. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:53.440 Like, all right, so if you remember last Sunday, we had a Palm Sunday. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:57.120 He comes marching into Jerusalem, he's on a donkey. 00:10:57.279 --> 00:10:58.559 That's humiliating. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:04.960 Now he's beaten, he's betrayed, he's abused, he's spit on, he's put on a cross, he dies. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:07.039 None of this looks like a victory parade. 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:07.679 But it is. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:13.919 This is the picture of verse 12 is of Jesus returning from a great conquest. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:15.039 This is the imagery here. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:20.080 He's gone out, he has a he's had a great conquest, and the victory was his. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:25.840 And then he shares the spoil with you. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:28.399 That's the picture. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:32.879 So what is this new life? 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:37.360 What's the new life that's created on the backside of the cross because of the cross? 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:39.519 What is this new life? 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:41.039 What's the spoil? 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:51.039 Well, I think it's living, learning to live in that deep love that is given to us. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:58.399 That we are forgiven, that we are relieved of our salvation projects, and that we are forever loved. 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:04.720 And it's never in question because of the cross planted in history. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:08.720 So, my brothers and sisters, by his stripes, you are healed. 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:11.440 By his wounds, you are made whole. 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:17.679 Now we're not serving communion like we usually do every single time we have a service here. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:24.480 And the church has traditionally had a period of silence as part of a Good Friday service. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:27.440 Scares some of you because you have kids with you, right? 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:28.559 Scaring you to death right now. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:30.159 You're like, how long's that gonna be? 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:31.919 Because I'm already worried about that. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:32.559 And you know what? 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:38.799 Scares some of the rest of us because you're like, don't know what I might see if I get quiet enough. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:39.360 Right? 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:44.639 Just play another podcast, another song, another TV show, turn the radio on. 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:49.679 If you get silent, not like silent and you're scrolling, that doesn't count, right? 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:50.480 Like that doesn't count. 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:52.159 You're not that's not silence, okay? 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:54.639 Just because you're not talking or there's not noise. 00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:58.320 I'm talking silent, nothing, nothing. 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:01.519 You're doing nothing, you're saying nothing, nothing. 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:03.120 You go, well, what should I be doing? 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:03.679 Nothing. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:04.960 That's what you should be doing. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:05.759 Nothing. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:06.960 And that's the point. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:13.120 The point is to do completely quiet, to contemplate your life and the cross. 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:14.879 You go, what if I start thinking? 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:16.720 You will start thinking of stuff. 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:19.200 We should be doing this every day. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:23.120 This is contemplative Christianity that we should be doing every day. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:26.240 And you go, well, man, stuff starts to pop up, stuff I don't want to see. 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:27.679 I know, I know. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:29.039 That's the point. 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:30.799 That stuff's already there. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:32.320 It's already there. 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:35.600 It's already doing stuff in your life, whether you want to admit it or not. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:36.879 So just go ahead and let it up. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:39.039 Let it up and let's start dealing with it. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:47.840 And let the silence, just sit in the silence and contemplate your life, and you'll remember some stuff. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:49.360 You'll go like, I didn't know that. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:49.759 What? 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:50.240 And what? 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:51.840 I was 12 and what? 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:54.080 I didn't remember that, or I was 19, I did that. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:54.639 What? 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:56.960 And you remember that, it's fine. 00:13:57.039 --> 00:13:57.919 You can remember that. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:13:59.759 You remember the cross. 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:03.679 You remember how sufficient the cross is for you. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:08.399 And that you just do nothing, as much nothing as possible. 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:11.679 And the reason why is because you're remembering in your silence. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:17.120 You're remembering you can do nothing and you are fully forgiven. 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:21.840 You can do nothing and you are fully loved. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:23.840 That's what silence gives you. 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:26.159 It gives you that you are remembering that. 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:27.519 Because you're doing nothing. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:28.320 I'm doing nothing. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:30.559 I don't have to jump to Bible study, I don't have to jump to something. 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:32.960 I can just do nothing. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:42.480 And even in this nothingness, I am fully forgiven and fully loved because Jesus, God Himself, hung on a cross for me. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:46.720 And so I'm gonna lead us into a period of silence. 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:48.399 It's gonna be 20 minutes long. 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:50.000 No, it's not gonna be 20 minutes long. 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:52.080 Just a few minutes of silence. 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:54.799 Um, and then Sam will lead us in a few more songs. 00:14:55.840 --> 00:15:05.519 God, as we come before you in a few moments of silence, uh help us to recognize that which is in our hearts and bring before you. 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:15.279 Help us to grieve that which needs to be grieved, celebrate that which needs to be celebrated, and help us to contemplate your goodness to us on the cross.