Tag: forgiveness

September 7th 2025: Nathan Munday

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Genesis 40.

Introduction.

            I wonder if you were aware how often the phrase “third day” comes in this passage? This is a key thought which leads us directly to the gospel. I remember when I was young my first ever novel was by Alexandre Dumas entitled ‘The Count of Monte Cristo.” It speaks of a man by the name of, Edmond Dantès, who is falsely accused of treason. Imprisoned he does not waste the opportunity to get ready, to learn patience, and to plot an escape, and he declared: “God has sustained me” in the afflictions of his imprisonment.

            In this sermon we shall confide our thoughts to the two men imprisoned by Pharaoh, the chief butler and the chief baker. We are presented with two men, two dreams, and two destinies. The setting is in a place of darkness where there is no hope. And into this dire setting the Lord sends His servant Joseph, for it was Joseph alone who could interpret the dreams and show them the way out. We shall consider these two men and their experiences under three headings:

[1] Rebellion.

[2] Revelation.

[3] Reward.

[1] Rebellion.

            These men were not simply household servants, (butler and baker), as may be imagined in some grand household of old, for they are both termed “chief” in their respective positions. In modern terms we might liken them to a high cabinet position in the government (home secretary, or foreign secretary perhaps). In verse 1 we learn that both had “offended” Pharaoh, although we are not told how. This word “offended” is more often translated as “sinned.” They had both sinned against Pharaoh. Both the chief butler and the chief baker were responsible for ensuring that Pharaoh had all he needed and was not given anything bad or offensive. These two were Pharaoh’s closest advisers. It might have been tempting, for example, for the chief butler to squeeze more grapes into the wine diluting it down. This suggestion is not in our text. We have no idea what it was that offended the Egyptian king. Perhaps it was a coup attempt? But the fact that it is not detailed means that we can apply this to all offence or sin against God, for just as these two sinned against Pharaoh, we too have become an offence against God.

            Both the chief butler and the chief baker deserved to be in the prison. Joseph did not deserve to be there. And by nature we are all revolutionaries and rebels. Does not mankind shake his fist against God? Are not many so indifferent to Him that they could not care? Are not all rebels before the Lord? What of Frank Sinatra’s most famous song “I did it my way”? Isn’t this our way too? We like to think that as people we can chart our own course, but such thinking is all wrong. We either live life God’s way or we live it in some fashion according to mere men. There is no third or neutral way. David declared that we were born in sin (Psalm 51:5). We know that we are guilty before God. We are in the same boat that these two men found themselves in. In the same way the two thieves on either side of our Lord as He hung on the cross were thoroughly guilty deserving of death. From Luke’s account we hear one of these thieves blaspheming the Lord as He was there on the cross. The other thief answered in rebuke and pointed out that they were both guilty whereas concerning the Lord Jesus he stated “but this Man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:39-41). After this he then asks the Lord to remember him when He would come into His kingdom, to which the Lord replied “assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:42,43).

            Sin always leads to misery. Nothing good comes from sin. In fact the very wages of sin is death. Far too often we think that the world revolves around us and we feel aggrieved when things do not go our way. Now imagine the International Space Ship. What would happen to it if a needle pierced the outer casing through to the interior? Surely if it is not attended to quickly the end result will be the utter destruction of the whole ship? Heaven is a glorious and wholly pure place. It is impossible for even the tinniest of sins to be found there. Nothing can pierce into heaven to bring destruction. The thought is laughable because God inhabits heaven. The problem of sin is a grave one (excuse the pun). If we are to enter heaven (the place where God dwells in eternity) then we cannot bring our sin with us. It must be removed. Both the thieves were guilty. Both of Pharaoh’s close advisers were guilty. One thief was brought into glory with the Saviour and one was left to pay for his own sins. In the same way one of Pharaoh’s two advisers was restored to his former position and one was hanged.

[2] Revelation.

            The dreams of both men were simple and straight forward enough. The great problem was that neither man understood what they meant. It is very clear from the text that these dreams were supernatural somehow. Both men appeared very sad as a result of these dreams, a fact which Joseph noted. But then into this sad and desperate situation comes Joseph, God’s man. Now Joseph acknowledges that revelation must come from God (“do not interpretations belong to God?” Genesis 40:8). We are not told how Joseph received this revelation. Earlier encounters with this man Joseph show that he was a man of God who could receive revelation. Now Joseph does not hold back on the truth here. To one man (the chief butler) the news is good news, but to the other (the chief baker) the news is bad news. As ministers of the gospel, and as born again believers who must pass on the truth, we cannot simply tell people the good news. The bad news that sin must be paid for must be delivered as well as the good news that Christ has made the way of redemption and forgiveness.

            Now in both dreams we have this recurring phrase “within/are three days” (Genesis 40;12,13,18,19). Both are told that “within three days” they will each be lifted up (Genesis 40:13,19). The word “three” comes five more times in the passage so that this repeated theme is surely significant (Genesis 40:10,12(x2),13,16,18(x2),19). Thus day three is the key date. We are alerted to the fact that our Saviour rose from the dead on the third day (1Corinthians 15:4)! On the third day one would be lifted up to be restored and the other would be lifted up to his death. Now in all of this we can see the Lord’s kindness. There were three days for the chief baker to prepare himself for what was to come. Time is short. In many ways life on earth is a bit like life on the Titanic – the ship that was doomed on its maiden voyage. We think we have plenty of time but we do not! We have but a short time to prepare ourselves to meet with the Lord. How much better if we do it now? The Old Testament is not without witness to this idea of three days or of life being restored on the third day. Consider Jonah who was in the belly of a great fish and was vomited up on the third day (Matthew 12:40). Or what about the prophecy found in Hosea 6:2: “after two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight”?  These all point to the greatest lifting up of all time! On the third day Christ arose from the grave! This is good news! This has changed the world. The good news is not: ‘copy Jesus and be like Him,’ as many may say, but hear the word of life and be born again for Christ is risen! It is not ‘try your best’ but realise your sinful state and know that Christ has done what you could not and has given you life! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will have everlasting life. We have been restored by all that Christ has done. We are being restored as we seek Him and walk in His life. We will be restored when Christ comes again to judge the living and the dead. We do not yet have our resurrection bodies but we are new creatures and the old has passed away. The story of these two close advisers to Pharaoh pictures mankind teetering on the brink of eternity. There are but three days! It was Joseph (a type of Christ) who observed the sadness of these two men and brought hope.

[3] Reward.

            God is kind. It was Pharaoh’s birthday and so there was a celebration or feast. For these two close advisers there is triumph and there is tragedy. For you and I death will result in this same outcome: triumph or tragedy. Now Pharaoh granted pardon to one of his subjects (the chief butler), but how? We are not told, but he was restored to his former position. The chief baker, however was hanged as an example to all. Both of the thieves who died besides the Lord Jesus had an opportunity to turn from their wicked ways towards the Saviour in their midst, but only one entered Paradise. Now in verse 13 we find that the chief butler did not remember Joseph when he had been restored. But the greater Joseph (our Lord Jesus) remembers us! What makes you consider the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you for or against Him? What do you think of the Lord Jesus Christ? Make no mistake He is the revealer of truth and he is the Saviour of the world (exclusively). Do not rely on ‘cultural Christianity’ which is all the vogue today. Christ was lifted up as the spotless Lamb of God even though considered a rebel and a criminal. He died to save us from sin and He rose to bring in new life. What think ye of Him? Our reaction to Him is determinative for our destiny.

            It is very interesting that in the narrative of the four gospels no one dies in the presence of the Lord Jesus. Mary and Martha said that if the Lord had been with them and their brother Lazarus, he would not have died. But the Lord Jesus responded to these sorrowing sisters by saying that He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). Christ is life! Take hold of Him. Listen to the third verse of Hark the Herald:

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that we no more may die,
born to raise us from the earth,
born to give us second birth.

Part of this comes from Malachi:

But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings … (Malachi 4:2).

May you know the healing of your soul unto life!

April 14th 2025: Andrew Bowden

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Luke 19: 29-44

“And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.” Luke 19:28.

There is an account of Palm Sunday in each of the gospels. The setting is the approach of the greatest festival in Jerusalem, Passover. It remembers the time when God delivered His people from slavery in Egypt, when a lamb was slain, when firstborn were sheltered and the blood and were spared. It prefigures the great Paschal Lamb, Jesus. Before the foundation of the world God had a plan. We see here the working out in the fallen world, ravaged with sin, where God is about to establish His greatest masterpiece from eternity past – a mighty awesome event.

Our Lord is coming to His hour, His time. Our Lord here is coming to Jerusalem. It is a moving scene. The crowds, having witnessed Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, are euphoric. They extol Jesus as the king. It is out of keeping with the Lord’s ministry. Our Lord always suppressed any hint of euphoria. Alongside Psalm 24 there is an intimation of a coming glory, like on the mount of transfiguration. It is an awesome event.

  1. The fulfilment of scripture.

Earlier, in chapter 18 verse 31, going up to Jerusalem is all the outworking of what was recorded in holy scripture centuries before. There are predictions concerning His birth, His manner of life, the nature of His ministry, His suffering, death, Resurrection, and His ascension into glory. It is a book of marvels, come down from heaven. Think of the various typography, of Joseph and others, looking forward to Christ to come. It sets forth the wonder of the coming Jesus. God’s covenant love and mercy.

Jesus, when He refers to prophecies, say they testify to Him. For Jesus is the central figure of holy scripture, of the Trinity, the cross, the gospel message. They are all wrapped up in Jesus. 

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
    Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
    righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
            (Zechariah 9:9).

See all the incredible details, detail fulfilled in this event. God verifies His word.

Scripture has always been under attack. In Genesis we have the word of God under attack by Satan. When we come to holy scripture, we ought to revere it. All the truths and glories of the visible Christ need to be fleshed out, in and through us, as it was with Jesus. We cannot appreciate Him, we cannot love Him unless we are steeped in God’s word. We need to be enraptured in Christ. We need to see afresh Jesus. We need to absorb God’s word. The Bereans searched the scriptures daily, to see for themselves the wonder of these things.

  • The excitement of the crowd.

Our Lord arrived at Bethany and the crowds converged and extol our Lord, His kingship. There is great excitement yet they cannot realise fully that He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Christ has come as King. That is what is celebrated in Revelation, above all else. He came to vanquish Satan, to abolish death and bring life. He has come to establish the basis of a royal pardon. It is a finished work, a glorious work. The cross is God’s masterpiece. Christ cried on the cross, “It is finished!” Our pardon, our forgiveness. We can never bring anything of ourselves. Jesus came to vanquish the devil, but more than that, to set up a realm of grace. The Kingdom is within you; it is eternal and spiritual. It banishes all guilt, all shame. It is all of God’s grace.

We see here His majesty. He knows where the colt is tethered and what the objections will be. He knows all. He Has rebuked the forces of darkness. Here, He is calm and composed. We see some of His humanity, riding on a donkey, in peace. How many, many, many lives of subjects have been laid down for a monarch? But here, the King lays down His life for His subjects.

There is euphoria, a celebration as Jesus enters Jerusalem. There was euphoria with the angels at His birth. The first carol service was celebrated by angels. In Psalm 24 we see our Lord ascended and sits at the Father’s right hand. As He is received into our hearts we are welcomed as children of God. There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

  • The Pharisees and their resentment.

The Pharisees could not stand so much being made of Christ. They had a cold, formal religion. There will always be opposition to the gospel. We see moves to make the gospel more palatable. But the gospel begins with the reality of who we are – sinners. It is uncomfortable. That is the bad news. But the good news is that forgiveness and pardon can be found through Jesus Christ. He is precious, Lord of all. Everything should be laid at His feet, joyfully – our talent, our time and gifts.

October 20th 2024: Gareth Edwards

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Luke 18:9-14 The Pharisee and the Tax Collector – which are you?

I want to take you back to school and exams. We looked forward to exam time! Probably not! A favourite way of phrasing a question was ‘compare and contrast.’ That is exactly what Jesus does in this parable; He compares and contrasts a Pharisee and a tax collector. Although it is a parable, it may be based on a real event. Whether it really happened or was a story, we know it is realistic. We have written examples of the prayers of some Pharisees which bear a remarkable resemblance to this Pharisee’s prayer. This is very realistic.

We see two men in the same place – the temple. They are both doing the same thing – praying. But that is as far as the similarity goes. These two men are poles apart. Which of these two men are we like? We may want to say we are not one or the other. But the truth is everyone of us is either one or the other.

First, let us look at the Pharisee. He is full of himself. Standing was a normal posture for prayer. But what is abnormal is the nature of this man’s prayer. He addresses God and initially refers to the Lord. But subsequently, he never refers to the Lord again. The Pharisee is talking to himself about himself. He is congratulating himself. There is no confession of sin, of seeking forgiveness. He stands in the presence of a holy God yet feels no sense of guilt. When Isaiah is in the temple and God’s presence is so real, Isaiah can only confess he is a man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:1-5). In Luke 5:8 Simon Peter fell to his knees saying, ““Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” In the presence of divine power, Peter can only humbly bow, acknowledging his sin.

This Pharisee, in his pride, praises himself for avoiding the vices so prevalent in others. Then he parades how devoted to his religion he is. The Old Testament only required fasting for one day a year, on the day of Atonement. But the Pharisee voluntarily fasted twice a week (Monday and Thursday). The law required certain crops to be tithed (Deuteronomy 14:22). But the Pharisees went further, even tithing the herbs from the garden. This went way beyond what was required and expected, in order to establish their righteousness and to parade their religious devotion. What the Pharisees said was no doubt true, but he does not see the sin in his heart undoes all his deeds. The Pharisee despises the tax collector and many others.

Pride is always a sin and a mistake. It is the deadliest of sins. We live in an age when we are told to love ourselves, we are not to be down on ourselves. That means we are encouraged to compare ourselves favourably to others. That increases our pride. There can be no pride when we compare ourselves to the righteousness of God. When we compare ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, to His perfect, sinless life, there can be no pride. There can be no pride in a Christian.

The deadliest form of pride is religious pride. It is the most deceptive lie. It is the cause of many being condemned to eternal damnation in hell. It is the most dangerous thing in the world to think we are acceptable to God because we go to church, we pray, read the bible, do good works and serve him. None of these compensate for the overwhelming sinfulness of our lives. We can never earn our salvation. Being proud is natural, the normal inclination of our hearts.

Let us consider the tax collector. He is also full, but not full of himself – he is full of repentance. This man knows and feels his sin. Whereas the Pharisee despised others, the tax collector despised himself and acknowledged he is a sinner. Tax collectors with doubly hated: They were regarded as collaborators with the Roman authority, and also regarded as thieves. Although despised by others as a traitor, none despised this man more than himself. He is ashamed of himself.

We see in the tax collector three things:

Firstly, He stands at a distance. He goes to the far corner of the temple, far away from the holy of holies, to pray. He does not come close to the presence of God. Secondly, he does not even lift up his eyes to heaven. Thirdly, he continually beats his chest as a demonstration of remorse for his sin. He knows he can do nothing other than hope that God would have pity on him, a sinner, “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’”(v.13).

To be merciful is to be propitiated. It’s not a word that is familiar to people today. It is a Bible word which means to remove wrath, for god’s anger to be redirected away onto another. The tax collector knows he cannot escape God’s wrath. He can only hope God will lovingly turn His wrath away from him. He knows he does not deserve mercy but he asks for it anyway.

Have you felt the weight of your sin, the enormity of your rebellion against God? You must come under the conviction of your sin, acknowledge your sin. In Matthew chapter 5 Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This does not mean poor in material terms – blessed are those who know they are spiritually bankrupt before God. Jesus goes on to say, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” This refers to those who mourn deeply for their sin. They know the depths of the corruption that is theirs and they grieve how they have offended a holy God.

We must accept we are Pharisees by nature and justly the object of God’s wrath, that we are the tax collectors and sinners by nature and justly deserve God’s wrath, before we can even begin to hope that He will have mercy on us. We can have mercy because He showed no mercy to His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He died in our place on the cross bearing the responsibility for our sin.

Jesus propitiated God’s wrath at Calvary. God’s just wrath against my sin was mercifully turned away from me and consumed Jesus in my place. My sin was paid in full at the Saviour’s death. God’s wrath burnt itself out on Jesus as He was condemned in my place. Our only hope of mercy is found in repenting of our sin and trusting in Jesus Christ alone. There can be no pride, only brokenness.

Jesus said it is the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who returns home from the temple justified – acquitted of all his sin, reckoned to be righteous. He is penitent therefore he is justified. He alone of the two is viewed as if he had never sinned at all. The Pharisee saw himself as being righteous but in fact was full of sinful pride, whilst the tax collector knew he was full of sin but he is declared righteous.

Here is the greatest contrast of all between the two men, a turning of the tables. The proud Pharisee is humbled whilst the humbled tax collector is exalted. That is God’s way. In James 4:6 we read, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” God confounds human expectation. It is not the self-confident religious who is saved but the penitent sinner.

It is only safe for you and I to be on our knees, lest the wind of God’s wrath should blow us to eternal damnation. We have to stay on our knees, not just in prayer, but constantly remind ourselves, ‘on your knees.’

Each of us needs to be justified, to be declared righteous. This is only possible if we are clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ. There is no other way to know forgiveness of sin except to take Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Will you repent of your sin and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation today? Now? Will you be on your knees now? You don’t have to do this physically. Be humbled before God, as you are convicted of your sin, and cry out, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ The penitent sinner who humbly seeks God’s mercy will find it because of the life and death of Jesus.

We cannot earn mercy but we can receive it if we humble ourselves, confess our sin and depend totally on Jesus. Have you done so?

The Pharisee or the tax collector – which are you? It is for you and God. Make sure that if you are being a Pharisee, you are a tax collector humbled before God, trusting in Christ for forgiveness. It is the only way. May those of us who have been humbled by God’s grace be like the tax collector. May His continuing grace to us keep lest we stray to be a bit like the Pharisee.

August 25th 2024: Jonny Raine

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Isaiah 52:13 – 53

In a town there is a rule that every man must be clean shaven. Everyone who does not shave themselves must be shaved by the barber. There is only one barber in the town who only shaves people who do not shave themselves. This creates a problem for the barber. Who shaves the barber? The barber must be shaved but he cannot shave himself because the barber only shaves people who do not shave themselves. What can he do? The mathematician and philosopher Bertram Russell came up with that paradox.

A paradox is when two things are true but contradict each other, they don’t really go well together. They are against each other, but they are both true, so they have to go together. Sometimes, we find such profound things in the Bible that they fall into this category. The passage that we are looking at has 5 paradoxes – 5 pairs of things that are both true, but also go against each other.

Isaiah is in two halves. Isaiah chapter 40 onwards begins the second half. From chapter 40 onwards a figure is introduced, called the Servant. God’s servant was supposed to be Israel, God’s people in the first half of the Bible. They were supposed to be His servant for the nation, to take God’s blessing to the nations. But they failed in that because of their own sin. So, God is promising through this Servant figure in the second half of Isaiah, that He will send His own Servant who would both bring about the forgiveness for Israel for their own sin, but also bring God’s blessing to the nations. Who is this Servant? Jesus. Only Jesus could do what was needed. Only Jesus could bring about the forgiveness of sin for God’s people, not only to Israel but to all of the nations. Blessings are being included in God’s people through forgiveness. Only Jesus could fit the bill of the Servant of God. How He is going to do that, is what this Servant Song is all about.

In this Servant Song we have 5 contrasting images of this Servant, of Jesus.

  1. He will be elevated through degrading.

To elevate is to make much of. Think of the influencers in our society. When was the last time someone famous was ugly? The ugly ones are rare. Normally, people we lift up are attractive people. The path of elevation for the Servant is through degrading. In chapter 52:13-15 we see He Will be elevated but many will be appalled. He will be injured so much that His appearance will be disfigured. He will be exalted. He will be worshipped. But in order to get there He must go through a path of being beaten so badly that He will be barely recognisable. The paradox is that He will be elevated but it is through being degraded.

  • Power through rejection.

The second image takes this further. There will be power through rejection. We read in chapter 53 this question, “Who has believed our message?” The message is what we have just been told. Who is going to believe that paradox? That just doesn’t happen. This is followed by a parallel question, “To whom is the arm of the Lord being revealed?” In other words, how is God’s strength going to be shown? The arm of the Lord is His strength. Often, our power is in our arms. How is God’s strength going to be revealed through His Servant, because this doesn’t look like power?

If we think about those in our society who are the most powerful – the super wealthy, the tech world and industry, the business leaders in our world – they don’t get to these positions of power through rejection. Normally, they get to positions of power through being the most powerful person. They will have faced rejection at some point in the process, but the actual getting to the position of power requires being the popular person. Politicians have to have the support of the party and the support of the country. They have to be popular with the people in order to lead.

But the means of God’s power being exercised is through the One who will be despised and rejected (v.3). He will experience suffering. That’s how God’s power works. It is not on the surface level of just popularity. It is on a deeper level. There is nothing superficial about God’s power. It is not just about popularity or appearance.

This should help us share the good news about Jesus. It should give us confidence. We don’t have to have the nicest church building, the greatest marketing campaign. God’s power came through rejection – rejection of God’s Son.

  • Serving through substitution.

The Servant Song is like the holy part of Isaiah. Verse 4-6 is the holiest part. How will God save His people? One is going to die in place of another. He took our pain. He took our suffering (v.4). The suffering that Jesus endured was our suffering.

Why did He have to suffer? “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brough us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (v.5). He had no sin, no iniquities, no transgressions. Our sin, our iniquities, our transgressions caused Jesus to suffer. It should have been our suffering. Yet Jesus took our sin upon Himself and suffered in our place.

For sin there is a punishment that is deserved. Only when that punishment is spent can peace with God finally be established. That peace is not brought about by us being punished for our own sin because we could not be punished enough. Jesus was punished on our behalf. Verse 6 explains this further. We have got lost, gone our own way. As we have wandered rebelliously away, that sin was laid on Jesus, the suffering servant. Jesus is our substitute. He stands in place of us and takes the punishment for us. He suffers for us. He pays for our sins because we cannot pay for them ourselves.

We have a choice. We can endure eternal punishment for sin we cannot pay for ourselves, or we can choose to have Jesus pay for our sin on our behalf, our substitute. If you have never made that choice, please, today accept Jesus has died for you so your sin can be forgiven. We can only be saved when we know Jesus died in our place.

  • Atonement through submission

For most people, if you knew you were going to suffer a violent and humiliating death, you would fight for an escape. Death is not good. Ever. But Jesus, as He faced death, did so knowing how painful it would be. But still He went willingly, submitting Himself to the cross.

Verse 7 foretells of Him,
“He was oppressed and afflicted,
 yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.”
(Isaiah 53:7).

Being given over to death was like a lamb being given over to slaughter. We see the theme of sacrifice – the sacrifices that were made in the temple. We see the theme of substitution. For the Israelites in the first half of the Bible they needed a lamb to die for sacrifice in their place. Atonement is when sin is taken away and people are made right with God. Jesus made atonement for us. He was killed and buried, even though He was innocent. He did that willingly. Why? For the transgressions of His people. (8b).

  • Life through death.

According to the plan of the Father, in order to save His people, someone needed to die – one who would then rise again from death. At His ascension, He was lifted up from death to life and glory – all because He was willing to bring about forgiveness. He shares His life with all who will follow Him.

If Jesus has done all of that, how to be respond? We ensure the benefits of what Jesus has secured are for us. Have you truly accepted Jesus has died for you? Have you truly accepted that He bore your sin upon the cross and that you could be forgiven? If you have grown cold in your faith and have doubts, come back to the cross, to see what Jesus did on your behalf. Will you accept Jesus today and make this message your own? Will you come to Him and say, ‘Sorry God, I have done so much wrong. Will you please forgive me for my sins?’

The second response is to have such great joy and delight in your life in what has been done for you, that we let this dwell within our hearts. Are you filled with joy? You should be! Will it overwhelm us? It should do. A willing servant was able to go to the cross and die in our place for our forgiveness. That should fill us with a sense of joy and delight.

March 28th Good Friday 2024: John Scanlon

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Matthew 27: 29-42

We ponder on the word of God and how it describes this great event that took place so long ago. We picture it in our minds, different people in different ways. You can imagine the big crowd there, watching. In those days, it was probably the only entertainment they had. Attending this execution of the Lord Jesus Christ we have the curious, the crowd followers, the passers-by – so hardened to the suffering of others. Crucifixion was entertainment. They were guilty of saying things amongst the crowd they would not say otherwise. They were guilty of being one of the gang. Passers-by became a mob.

What had changed peaceful citizens into a mob crying for blood? A week earlier they had cried out ‘Hosanna,’ now ‘Crucify Him!’ These people may have had nothing against Christianity, but joined in with the crowd so they didn’t feel left out. We see crowds like this today, for example, at football matches. Were these passers-by responsible for the death of an innocent man? Yes! As we all are. On judgement day you will need to give a personal account, not be part of a crowd.

In His agony Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Forsaken by God! Who on earth can understand that? Jesus was crucified at 9:00 a.m., the third hour, the hour of the morning sacrifice. At noon, when the sun burnt so brightly, darkness fell until the 9th hour, 3 p.m. This was the time of the evening sacrifice when the lamb was offered as a daily sacrifice in the temple. This was a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, the Lamb slain for the world. During that time of darkness, no sound came from Jesus on the cross. There was absolute silence. When the darkness had passed, that was when Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

How can we understand that dramatic scene? How can we express its meaning? We can grasp some of it by examining the following:

  1. The desperation of the cross.

Was there ever a cry so filled with desolation? Many people misunderstood and thought He was calling for Elijah. From childhood He had been misunderstood (Luke 2, John 2:19). The crowd laughed, they mocked and jeered. The religious leaders were quite correct when they said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.” (Matthew 27:42). He saved others but He could not save Himself because He set His heart on saving others. “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”(Hebrews 9:22). He came to this world to save you and me, to obtain forgiveness for sinners.

  • Separation from the Father.

This is a mystery. Forsaken – heart rendering. Being forsaken was no new experience for Jesus; all His life He had been forsaken. His own family turned away from Him, His own nation rejected Him, the disciples forsake Him and fled. He knew what it was to be forsaken, yet He was always conscious that He was not alone, for the Father was always with Him.

He told His disciples at the Last Supper in the Upper Room, “Behold the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” (John 16:32).

Yet, now on the cross He cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Nobody stood by Him. There is no opening of the heavens. There is no voice of God. There was no strengthening angel by His side as it was in Gethsemane. He is completely alone, forsaken by God. But does God ever forsake His own? All history, all human experience, all scripture indicates not. God has promised, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ Yet He forsook Christ at Calvary. What can it mean?

The answer is to be found in the significance of the death of Christ. It wasn’t an eternal separation from God. The divine nature cannot be separated from the human nature. Jesus was eternally God.  The Father couldn’t be separated from the Son in the Godhead. It could not mean that the Father had forsaken the Son in the sense that He no longer loved Him, because God truly was well-pleased with Jesus for sacrificing Himself on the cross on behalf of others, and carrying out God’s will even unto the point of death. It was because all the sin of humanity was placed on Jesus. Therefore, God abandoned His Son; in His holiness He could not look upon sin. Jesus was obedient unto death.

The sins of the world separated the Father from the Son. Sin separates us from God. Jesus was the substitute for our sin, taking our place on the cross. All of the sin and iniquities of the whole world was placed on Him. Think upon on that – all the greed, all the hate, all the lust – Christ bore the sins of the world. Isaiah 53 foretold it. Consequently, all the wrath of God was poured out on Christ. Every nail driven into His body, every stripe on His back, every thorn – all this He endured for us, for our sin.

He stood between a sinful world and a righteous God. He suffered in our place. Christ still said, in spite of His suffering, “My God, my God.” He held strongly to His faith in God. God always stands near to those who can cry out, ‘My God. my God.’ Our Lord Jesus Christ, like Job, was saying, ‘Thou He slay me, yet I will trust in Him.’

It was a cry of victory. Here, Jesus was completing the work He came to carry out. He was accomplishing the will of the Father. This was His supreme moment of triumph. God authenticated it by accepting the sacrifice that was offered. The veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, as if God was reaching down from heaven to tear it apart and say to mankind, ‘Come to me now through the sacrifice of My Son. You have no need anymore of an earthly priest to intercede for you. Instead, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

We are told salvation is found in no-one else, for these is no other name under heaven given about men whereby we must be saved. Jesus Christ was born as Saviour. He has accepted the penalty on your behalf. He has suffered for us. We can look to Him and no other, for salvation. Turn to God in repentance and confess your sins and you can be numbered among those for whom Christ died.

A closing thought. On that day there were three men on three different crosses: one not caring about the damage he had caused by his awful life, defiant to the end. One next to him whose death was intended to repair the damage caused by centuries of sin. And one who regretted the life he led and, although he was at the point of death, truly felt sorrow for the sins of his life and wishing he could atone for those sins. He turned to the one who hung next to him, who was truly the Son of God, who was able to tell him not only where he was going, but when, ‘This day thou shalt be with me in paradise.’

That promise is also for us if we truly repent of our sins. We too need to turn to the Saviour, to seek the forgiveness that was purchased for us at such a high price.

January 7th 2024: James Allan

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Psalm 85

All was not right in Judah and Jerusalem. The setting for this Psalm is the years after the Lord’s people had returned from exile in Babylon. They set to work on rebuilding the temple, relaying the foundations of the temple. Then work on the temple slowed and gradually ground to a halt. In Haggai we read that people spent money on their own homes, not the temple (Haggai 1:9). The people came under the Lord’s judgement (v.10). The temple was eventually constructed, and people began to work on the city walls (Nehemiah). Yet again, work began and then ground to a halt (Nehemiah 5:10). The poor were suffering. People were guilty of marrying women from pagan nations. Children were growing up in homes not worshipping the Lord, they did not even speak the language of the Lord’s people. (Nehemiah 13:24).

This psalm is written, most likely in the days of Haggai (v.12). It was written to a restored people, who had known the Lord’s salvation. They had been under God’s judgement – the Lord had taken them into captivity into Babylon. But then they had experienced His salvation (v1). They were in exile, but now they had been restored.

However, all is not well. Salvation is needed again. There is sin that needs to be repented of (verses 4-5). ‘Restore’ could be translated as ‘repent.’ The people are living in sin again. The psalmist especially longs for revival so the people may rejoice in God (verses 6-7). The people are a restored people, but now they’re back in the land they need to be once again a people who will delight in Him.

We are, today, people who have received, known and experienced the Lord’s salvation. But do we have a sense of what verses 6 and 7 mean? Are we seeking to find what we need in things other than the Lord himself? In crisis, do I look to other things and not the Lord? I am in Christ, so I have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. If you are truly in Christ, yet living in other things and the Lord is not first in everything, then you are never more happy then you are holy. For the believer, you are safe in Christ. But as a Christian you need the Lord to turn to. Do you know the joy of the Lord?

There is a difference between the doctrine of justification and the doctrine of adoption. Think of justification as loving your children. It is a biological fact which cannot be altered, that they are your children. Nothing can alter than relationship. But relationships can become strained. My relationship with the Lord can become strained. Justification means that when I become a Christian, I am righteous in the sight of God. I am clothed in Christ’s righteousness. I am a child of God. I am not saved on the basis of anything I have done. I am a sinner but clothed in Christ’s righteousness.

Although nothing can alter the fact that I am a child of God, my relationship with the Lord can become strained. The Lord disciplines His people for their good. I am adopted. I am a child of God. But we need to keep in step in the Holy Spirit.

In verse 12 the psalmist has confidence.

“Yes, the Lord will give what is good,
    and our land will yield its increase.”

Remember, if this was written at the time of Haggai, the Lord was withholding the harvest so the people would return from their sin. The psalmist is confident, saying, ‘Let us turn from our sin and be confident of the Lord’s goodness, that He will provide.’

“Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
    for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
    but let them not turn back to folly.”         

Psalm 85.8

The psalmist is again confident. If the people turn from their sin the Lord will forgive them. We must turn from our sin and be confident that the Lord is willing and ready to restore. Take encouragement. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). The Lord is willing, and He is able. The greatest blessing of all for a restored people is the Lord Himself,

“Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
    that glory may dwell in our land.”      

Psalm 85:9

What do we want? Surely, the Lord Himself – the knowledge of the Lord’s presence with us to bless us. The ‘gods’ of this world – money, sex, power – promise much, but never satisfy. The Lord is everywhere. We want Him to bless us.

The context of this psalm is a restored people who have fallen into sin, they cry out for mercy,

“Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
    and put away your indignation toward us!”
  Psalm 85:4

The focus of this psalm is verse 7,

“Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
    and grant us your salvation.”
  Psalm 85:7

What is the remedy for a people who need to be restored, who needs to repent, who need to be revived? It is to know the love of the Lord. We need to see the love of God for sinners.

In verses 2-3 the psalmist remembers the Lord’s grace to His people,

“You forgave the iniquity of your people;
    you covered all their sin. Selah
3 You withdrew all your wrath;
    you turned from your hot anger.”

Zechariah 3:1-2 gives a vision of Jerusalem’s High Priest, Joshua. Satan is also there, standing to accuse, in the presence of God. Joshua, the High Priest, who represents the people of Israel, is standing in dirty clothes. The following verses show the gospel, the imputed righteousness of Christ – the great exchange – my sin is given to Christ and He bears the punishment for it on the cross. He gives me His righteousness and I am seen clothed in His perfect righteousness, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If your heart is cold this morning, here is your prayer,

“Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
    and grant us your salvation.”
(Psalm 85:7)

In verse 3 we see the anger of God for sin. Here, we have the doctrine of propitiation. He must oppose all that is evil because He is a God of justice. But how can He turn from His anger? Something has to happen. Sin must be punished. The wrath of God is satisfied in Christ as He bore our sins on the cross. On Him every sin was laid.

Is verse 7 your prayer?

“Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
    and grant us your salvation.”

In verse 10 we are unpacking the gospel in more depth,
“Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
    righteousness and peace kiss each other.”

The attributes of God listed here might seem at odds with each other. Steadfast love and faithfulness meet – a love that gives Himself to His people. In faithfulness we see God is being faithful to Himself. He is pure, clean. How then can He be faithful and give steadfast love to His people? At the cross.

“Righteousness and peace kiss each other.” How is this possible? It is at the cross. I can have peace with God because Christ takes that wrath from me.

“Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
    and righteousness looks down from the sky.”
Psalm 85:11

This reminds us of God’s grace. Faithfulness could be translated as truth. We are given a picture of a crop springing out of the ground. You don’t have to work hard for it. There is truth all around us. If you feel your heart is cold, your priorities are wrong. Like the people of Haggai, you are not building the Lord’s house, you are building your own house. Your life is self-absorbed, building up your own treasures on earth. The antidote is to seek the love of God. How do you do this? Think of what you have: you have God’s Word. Do you read it? You have the local church, the local congregation. Do you come, come with the right mindset? Is the slightest excuse enough to keep you away?

A Christian can say the right words, know the right doctrines, but their priorities can be elsewhere. What can help us? Do you put yourself where the word of God is? You may go to worship with a cold heart, but you can leave with a rejoicing heart.

“And righteousness looks down from the sky.” Without the sun there is no food, no light. We have received everything from the Lord.

“Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
    and grant us your salvation.”

Keep gazing at our great salvation. Set your eyes on Christ and know that intimacy with Him.

June 18th 2023: John Mann

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“10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.” 1 Peter 1:10-12.

Peter wrote to a church very much under persecution. This is summed up in verse 6, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.” These are a people passing through difficult times, suffering for doing good. That’s the kind of world they lived in, and we live in too. In chapter 4 they suffer for being a Christian. We know a little of that, some suffer greatly. Peter’s purpose is to emphasise the greatness of our salvation. What a privilege, what a joy and what a blessing it is to belong to Christ. Peter says it is of greater value than this world has to offer. Nothing in this world comes even close.

Is your heart rejoicing in the knowledge that you know Christ as your personal Saviour? Salvation overrides everything else. It is our priority to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Our life is the opportunity God gives to us to know Christ as our Saviour. Does your relationship with Jesus out-do all earthly pleasures? If we are without knowledge and understanding of God’s saving grace, of the need for forgiveness, then we are missing the whole purpose of what we are here for and we remain in darkness of sins. Peter wants us to rejoice in what the Lord Jesus has done.

Our salvation is all of God’s grace – no merit of our own, no self-achievement. Salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ – faith which is in Christ alone, faith which leans fully on Him. We don’t see Him but it’s the faith that saves. It’s the faith that inspires love, so real it outweighs any adversaries. When we go through difficulties and face opposition, we can always rejoice! It’s a joy the world knows nothing about. We have the joy of knowing we have a Saviour we can turn to. We are wealthy beyond measure. Are you building up heavenly credit? Are you seeking righteousness, storing up treasures in heaven?

Salvation. God planned it from the beginning. He gave us His Word, He gave us the Bible, He gave us prophets. All this leads to His Son, our Saviour and what He did for us on the cross at Calvary. Are you amazed at God’s salvation, what He has done for you, a sinner saved by grace?

The prophets were amazed, even though they were proclaiming something they didn’t fully understand, yet it excited them with great anticipation. The prophets were people who believed the words God gave them. They proclaimed the coming of a Messiah with passion. It was often at great cost to themselves, yet they were excited. They foresaw and understood there was a great salvation coming. Do you search the scriptures as intently as the prophets did?

Does His Word excite us and fill us with a great sense of wonder so we long to know more? The prophets believed there was a Messiah to come in the future. They knew God the future. The full implication what God would do intrigued them and filled them with wonder and amazement. They couldn’t contain their anticipation. They knew it was by grace. They knew God would send His Son and for him there would be sufferings (Isaiah 53). He suffered for the sake and sins of others. Isaiah, who didn’t know the full implication, by the Holy Spirit, presented what the Lord Jesus would do for you and me.

Salvation is God’s doing. He implemented it and completed it (Isaiah 53:10). That is how great this salvation is. It was His will to crush the Lord Jesus Christ and cause Him to suffer in our place. The prophets knew salvation would come through faith in Jesus Christ. They anticipated that great day when the Messiah would come, “It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.” (1 Peter 1:12).

That day has now come. The prophets foresaw these things. The apostles preached these things. In our day, preachers still proclaim the Word of God. We know how the Lord Jesus Christ suffered for our sakes. The gift of salvation is given, it is nothing of ourselves, so we cannot boast. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9). We have this great privilege of hearing the gospel preached week by week. We have God’s gift of faith to believe in Christ. We have glorious hope in Him. Peter wants us to remember the wonder of salvation.

Just like the prophets, we don’t fully understand. We know more than the prophets; we know of the cross of Jesus Christ and His love for sinners. We anticipate that great day when we will know fully, and stand in God’s presence and see our Saviour face to face, and know more and more each day.

It isn’t just the prophets – even the angels long to look into these things. The angels are unable to fully comprehend how it feels for a sinner to be saved by grace. They long to look into this wonderful prospect of sinners being saved by grace. Angels dwelt in the presence of God and understood His holiness and saw His glory (Isaiah 6). They were messengers that God sent (Hebrews 1). They are privileged personal instruments from Him. They are given an awesome presence of their own.

 Angels are perfect beings, free from corruption that blights us. Angels knew the work of Jesus at His incarnation. Angels were involved in the temptation of Jesus (Mark 1). They were involved in His miracles (Mark 5). They were involved in His Resurrection. This is the privilege and blessing of the angels. Angels were involved in His person and glory (Revelation 22). These holy angels, who behold His glory, who carry out His bidding, still cannot fully understand our salvation by grace and long to look into these things. If they are amazed, how much more should we be filled with a sense of joy, a sense of blessing and wonder of the One who saved us? Do we long to know more, to lean forward and marvel?

What a great God we serve and worship. Are we filled with a sense of privilege? Freely we have been saved through faith in Jesus Christ. It is all in Him and by Him. Without Him there would be no salvation, we would still be under the condemnation of a holy God. Are we filled with that same sense of wonder at God’s grace and mercy in saving our eternal souls? Do we express our eternal thanksgivings (Psalm 126).

Peter’s challenges exhort us to never under-value our salvation, to never lose sight of the wonder and glory and grace of the gospel. This gospel doesn’t discriminate – it is free to all who will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness of sins. Peter is writing to Gentiles and people of all nations. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  (John 14:6). Praise God! Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

May 21st 2023: Tom Baker

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2 Corinthians 12:9

The Sufficiency of Grace

When Paul pleads for the ‘thorn in his flesh’ to be removed, the Lord’s response is, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The grace of God is sufficient. God’s grace and goodness towards His people is enough. The apostle Paul came to one of the climatic points of the grace of God. He is understanding and expressing something of the grace of God. In chapter 8 he shows the generosity of the Lord Jesus. He goes on to describe this, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

The Lord Jesus, who is rich in glory, comes to people like us, who are destined for destruction because of our sins. He comes like one of us and lives a perfect life amongst us. He bears our greatest poverty; He bears our sin, goes to the cross for us so we can be exalted and lifted up to God.

Here, Paul tells us about the grace of God in Jesus Christ and how immense it is. He does it in the context of his own weakness and the trials he has faced. Against the backdrop of human weakness, the grace of God shines ever brighter. Paul gives his example – he’s a well-known character in Corinth but others have come in and tried to push him aside. Theses ‘super’ apostles have false ministry. The apostle Paul looks so weak. He speaks far less eloquently. He comes and speaks about a man who died on a cross in weakness for the sins of His people. Though the ‘super’ apostles comes with so much more, he would rather make a big deal about his weakness, so he’s seen less and Jesus Christ is seen more. Against the dark background, the grace of God shines far brighter.

Paul has a weakness which he pleads three time of the Lord to take away from him. We may have prayed for things to be taken away. Paul prayed and pleaded with God. As he pleads with God, he gets an answer which might seem quite surprising. It teaches about Christian weakness and the greatness of God’s grace.

How does God respond to Paul’s plea? 14 years preciously, Paul had an unspeakably glorious vision. He was forbidden from telling what it was about. He was lifted up into the third heaven and saw amazing things. How have the past 14 years been for the apostle after this experience? Has life been easy after this wonderful experience? No! He had 14 years of great difficulty. He had been given a ‘thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan.’ It’s always there, he is always aware of it. It hurts. It has been given to him to keep him grounded. He pleads three times for it to go, but the answer is no.

Why does the Lord not take the ‘thorn’ away from Paul? The Lord graciously gives Paul a reason. It is because of the grace of God. The Christian can know that the answer, whether it’s a yes or no, it is always gracious. He always deals kindly with His people. Everything He gives to His people, even trials and difficulties, are gifts from the hand of a gracious God. The thorn is because of God’s grace. Spurgeon suffered persistent troubles and reflected, “The greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health, with the exception of sickness.” There can be great blessings in the hardships of life.

We have to assume that the Lord Jesus means the same thing as He did in when He said, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Paul is being taught, in the midst of the trial he is facing, the gospel of Jesus Christ is enough. The Lord tells Paul that His grace is sufficient. The grace found in the gospel is all that the Christian needs. We need that grace more than we need our trials to go away.

How does the Christian measure the gift from the Lord? We measure the goodness of a gift by which it makes us love the Lord Jesus more. It is a good gift, no matter how painful it is, if it makes you love the Lord Jesus more. Have you seen the preciousness of Jesus Christ in His gospel? Have you come to understand just how wonderful He is? Have you begun to see beyond the trials and the difficulties, He’s worth much more than anything else?

Who is it who can know the sufficiency of God’s grace? “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). In the first instance it is the apostle Paul. We don’t know what his ‘thorn in the flesh’ was, whether it was a physical illness, false apostles (11:13), or a spiritual struggle from the churches. Some suggest it could be a possible sin he struggles with, but I don’t think so. My surprise is that Paul only struggled with one trial. The truth is, we don’t know, it is left open.

The apostle Paul is an example of someone who is weak. The words are spoken to any who come in weakness who walk with the Lord. In your weaknesses what do you need? The grace of Christ. Christ died for the ungodly. The grace of God is sufficient for any weakness. There’s enough vagueness here to realise God’s grace is enough for any of us. It is sufficient in every area of life – in redemption, in dealing with our sin. The most gracious act of God is seen in the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins. It is finished! It is sufficient for the work of redemption. It’s sufficient in every circumstance of life. You can lose every comfort but if you have the grace of God, if you can know that Jesus Christ is yours, then you have enough, you have all you’ll ever need.

In the end, as we stand before God in judgement, in His presence, what can we offer? Nothing. Even in the best aspects of your life, you can’t deal with the problem of sin. We come and we have Jesus. Nothing but Jesus. God says, ‘Enter in,’ you’re righteous in the sight of God. Can you say, ‘God’s grace is enough for me?’

How is it that God’s grace is sufficient for us? “My grace is for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). God is all-powerful, awesome and mighty. He sustains the universe. He sent His Son into the world and raised Him from the dead as a new creation.

Where do we see most clearly the wondrous grace found in God made perfect? When, out of our weakness, God powerfully displays the glory of His grace, when God works in the weakest of situations. We see it in the wonderful things Jesus says and does in His ministry, in His miracles. But it is most powerful as Jesus Christ laid in a tomb and was then raised from the dead – power out of weakness. When God saves you, He takes you lout of death and sin and brings you to life and uses us in our weakness. This shows the sufficiency of God’s grace. Do your hardships of life draw you nearer to Christ? Christian trials draw you nearer to Christ.

What effect should it have? “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9b). That’s how Paul sees the right response. He is not a professional victim. He boasts in his weakness as a vehicle for displaying the power of Christ. When our weakness is our characterising feature, then we see how great the Lord is. Without grasping the grace and goodness of God towards sinners, this doesn’t make sense. Apart from the grace of God, we seek the need to cover our faults. You don’t need to do that. The God of heaven show grace to all sinners. He knows how weak we are and He loves to deal kindly with us. He doesn’t exploit us in our weakness. He saves us from our sin and uses our frailty to display His glory in all the world. We need to stop, step back and see the big picture. There is a God in heaven who shows His grace towards sinners. In our weakness we must magnify the greatness of God by being totally satisfied in the grace of God.

Let your legacy not be some façade of strength, but let it be the strength of Christ. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

April 7th 2023 – Good Friday: John Scanlon

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Matthew 27: 27-46

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Imagine a spaceship hovering over a planet in which people can beam down. The spaceship can move from place to place in a flash – the ultimate form of travel. You can end up not only in another place but also another time. Imagine something went wrong and we do not know where we are or in what time we are. We start to look for familiar landmarks. As we walk along, we find ourselves on a hill facing a bright sunset. You can see three crosses – no people, nothing else, no signs of activity. Absolute silence. But in your mind’s eye, as you move forward, you get the feeling that you have just missed something. You draw nearer, looking for clues as to what you’ve missed. You see marks on the crosses – nail holes. There are patches of blood stains on the ground. You realise you have missed a barbaric form of death by crucifixion by the Romans. You now know where you are and the time frame. You have perceived from the blood on the ground the life that ran out of three men.

In times past, life wasn’t so precious. The death penalty was given for offences today we would consider quite mild. 250 years ago, in this country, a boy would be sentences to death for poaching a rabbit to feed his family. The scene we are standing at is a sight of battle, battle against sin. The one who died at the end of the fight was the victor. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13). If we’re not familiar with the gospel, we can wonder, ‘What does this mean?’ Can it be that one of the men who died was innocent of any crime and died in the place of someone else, that He laid down His life for others? If so, which one was it? Who benefitted from this unselfish act?

In the gospel we find the incredible but true story of how mankind had become so sinful down through the years, that our just God could not look upon us because of the terrible state we were in. A righteous God demanded that a penalty should be paid to atone for our sins, “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22). A righteous God demands a penalty of death. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).

We learn from this that there is hope. Jesus has paid the just penalty for our sins. In the shedding of blood, He has purchased our forgiveness. The forgiveness of sin is extended to all who repent. But we can’t do what we like. This isn’t just saying sorry, expressing regret or putting on a sad face. Only in true repentance can we reap the benefits of what Christ has done on that cross. Repentance means a complete turnaround from your own way of life, following a different path. It means having in our hearts a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The whole idea of redemption was not an afterthought; it was planned from the foundation of the world. Its fulfilment was announced by Jesus in His final breath when He cried out, “It is finished.”

We are told in the gospel that it went dark for three hours. In this modern world we don’t know what real darkness is like. Imagine what it would have been like before God said, ‘Let there be light.’ Jesus is the Light of the world. When that darkness came as Jesus was crucified, I believe it was the time when Jesus was dead. There was no light anymore.

There were three crosses. Three crosses, three men. Two of the men were thieves, one on either side. They had received the death sentence, which means they were not just pick-pockets. They had been caught, tried and sentenced. The poor man who hung in the middle was ridiculed. We know very little about these thieves. We assume they were both guilty of their crimes. But we see one difference between them – one continued to curse Jesus. He was angry and wanted to blame everyone else for what he had done and showed no regret for what he had done.

The other one thief was different. He had been just as evil but he admitted he was getting the punishment which he deserved, “But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23:40-41).

What had happened to this man? How did he have this change of heart? He was stuck on a cross in full view of everybody else. Somehow, he knew that no matter what he did, nothing would change. He had come to realise that he had brought all this suffering on himself. But within his heart a miracle had taken place. He saw himself as a sinner; he saw the terrible condition of his soul and he could no longer face up to being the man he was. On that day, the Holy Spirit reached out and touched the heart of that man. The miracle of repentance. He felt a burning need for the cleansing of his soul, so he turned to God – to the pitiful bleeding wreck next to him on the cross. He recognised Him for who He really was and said, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42). Those words were welcomed by the man next to him who said, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43). There was no baptism, no Sunday School – only repentant faith was needed.

Three men hung side by side that day. The one on the left died in his sins. The one on the right died free from sin. The one in the centre died for the sins of others. One died in love, one died in despair, one died in faith. In the centre was our Saviour, paying the price for us in the deepest of love, dying on our behalf. On the left of Him stood the man who had no regrets for his sins. He cursed those around him as if they were to blame. He did not care about his past, his present or his future. He was heading for the deepest hell. There are far too many in this world who are in the same state. On His right was a man who saw the error of his ways, who freely confessed his sin, and in true repentance had been welcomed into the Kingdom of God.

Let me ask you today, what about you? Where do you stand? Are you standing on the left of Jesus with unrepentant sin and no care for the future, seeing nothing wrong with the life you’ve led, content to walk on the broad road that leads to destruction? Or do you stand on the right with those who acknowledge their sinful state and throw themselves on the loving mercy of a God, in Jesus Christ?

The choice is yours. It serves no purpose to say, ‘I’ll have to think about it,’ or ‘Maybe next week I’ll start going to church and start reading the Bible.’ You fail to realise that nobody can say how much time they have in this world. Today is the day of salvation. The repentant thief knew that his time was coming to an end and he needed to put it right. Could Jesus have rejected him? Could the man have been told, ‘No, your sins are too many and too great to forgive? Never! In Luke 19 Jesus Himself tells us, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:9). This man was lost – to himself, to the crowd, to the world – but not to God, in Jesus Christ. In His agony and suffering, Jesus reached out to this thief, who was now a child of God. He brought another sheep into the fold, then brought him into heaven. Hallelujah!

We hope that these fictious time travellers would seek a signpost to show them which way to go next. After all, they had been lost once. The cross they saw before them would point the way to God. Anyone who needs to find their way home must look to that cross, to the One who not only knows the way, but He is the Way. He is still reaching out to us, still waiting for us. Follow that sign.

January 8th 2023: John Funnell

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To watch the morning service, please click on the link to our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/QcBDGAezUBE

Text reading: Psalm 51

Text focus: Matthew 6:12: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

            The topic for today’s messages is “forgiveness.” This morning we shall look at the first part of Matthew 6:12 “And forgive us our debts …” and this afternoon the second part, “… as we forgive our debtors”.

“And forgive us our debts …”

            The context of this statement is the model prayer the Lord gave to His disciples. In many ways this verse is the fulcrum or pivot of the whole. The root of all of humanity’s problems and difficulties is the need for forgiveness. But forgiveness from what? The Greek word translated as “debts” is a legal term meaning “to what is justly owed.” In Luke 11:4 where the model prayer is given again the word used there is “sins” (“and forgive us our sins”). This word is rightly translated in Luke as “sins” as it means “departing from doing what is right.”

            Now we have in the model prayer a daily request for forgiveness. Why? Why request this daily? Why is sin seen as a debt to the Creator of all things?

            The answer to these questions is that it is God the Creator who gave us life. Here are just a selection of Scriptures which affirm God’s right to ownership of our lives:

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. (Job 33:4).

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.  (Psalm 139:13).

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10).

God gave us our life. So, every breath we take, every step we make, is all because of God who made us. We owe Him everything. Without Him we have no life.

            Pause a moment. Take a deep breath in and then out. God gave that breath to you – all our breaths are God-given.

            Now God gave us life so that we might delight in Him and glorify Him. But instead, we waste life doing what we want rather than what God (who is utterly good) desires. This departure from what God desires from us is called “sin” and this sin creates a debt. We use our breaths (given of God) for self to do as we please, whereas God actually gave us these breaths to glorify Him.

            I wonder if you have ever borrowed money or maybe you have lent money to someone? What happens if the debt owed cannot be paid? If such occurs, then various things result. There is estrangement. The debtor avoids the lender because they cannot pay. When the lender comes around for the money to be repaid the debtor hides or doesn’t answer the door. There is also the terrible feeling of guilt. The debtor is always in debt to the one who lent the money, and this imbalance doesn’t go away. The debtor feels guilt at not being able to repay the debt owed. Debt also causes shame. A person in debt is considered to be of lower value generally in society. The wealthy are situated in the top ranks whilst those in debt are considered of lower value. Finally, debt causes anxiety. It is something that always hangs over the person. They are never free from the problem, and it leads to worry about how they can continue on and get clear of the debt. Estrangement, guilt, shame, and anxiety are some of the fruits of being in debt when you cannot repay what is owed. Debt is a terrible thing for relationships. If you owe a friend money you cannot repay you will likely feel these effects in your relationship to that friend. Debt causes fear, loneliness, separation, guilt, shame and so on.

            But the same is true with regard to God. However, in the case of God, the problems and breakdown is that much greater, for God is prefect and true. We are not in debt to God concerning money or Mammon, but in respect to life. The life we have is given of God for a purpose – a good purpose. We have taken that life and squandered it on baseless, worthless things. As we do so we run up more and more debts in connection with the Lord.

 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23).

Breaking terms with God is breaking terms with the life-giver. This leads to death and ultimately to eternal damnation. God is a God of order and justice, and this problem of our debt is a legal one. We are legally bound and are now owing God what is justly owed. All who sin are breaking the law and become lawless (1 John 3:4). All sin is lawlessness. The use of legal language in the model prayer is given because sin is utterly serious. It is not a matter which can easily be discarded. When we break the law, just reparation and repayment must be made.        

            Sin, our ongoing sin, is the cause of our debt, our increasing debt, to God the life-giver. We cannot give back the life He has given because we do not have the ability to create life. Life can only come from God, the source of life. When He gives life it is a very precious thing and to waste it in sin and all that opposes God is a serious matter. What will happen now? We have squandered life given of God and we cannot ever repay this debt incurred because we do not have the ability to create the life we have wasted. Sin creates: loneliness, guilt, shame, estrangement.

            Now notice also that this is very personal. It is “our” sin. It is “my” sin. It is not just sin in general, but the wasted life moments I have squandered. Now God is just and wholly so. The debt we have built up creates a terrifying situation for us. The Lord God who gave us life holds us totally accountable for this debt that we have incurred personally. All of us are in this predicament. Each of us has wasted the life-breaths we have been given for folly and rebellion, and now the Lord looks on and asks: what have you done with the life and the life-breaths I gave you? Now many will reply at this point: is not the Lord gracious and merciful? Will He not simply let these things go and make no mention of it all? Well, we must understand that God is just and holy. The reason He takes our sin so seriously is because He takes us (His created image-bearers) seriously. Dr. Paul Blackham put it like this:

“He does not hold us to account because He is a tyrant. He holds us to account because He loves us.”

Here is the good news. God values us so highly. He values us so much that He is jealous when we turn from Him and commit sin. Imagine a good father with his children. When they disobey and cause mayhem the father does not stop loving them but disciplines them and brings them to see the error of their ruinous ways. God values us so highly and He will not let us go. He is so serious about us and about our debt that we have incurred that He will do anything necessary to redeem us. He is so serious about dealing with our debt and our due, and so serious about getting us back on track, that He gave us His only begotten Son.

            If you doubt that God is serious about you and your debts He replies: “I am Jesus-serious!” He says unequivocally: “I sent My Son, My Precious Only-Begotten Son for you!” He came into that which He had made (in the incarnation). He became history to pay off all the debt you owed. Your sin was so expensive – seriously, astronomically expensive – that it cost the Son of God His life. Christ fulfilled our potential for He was perfect and sinless. And on the cross He died the just death that we deserved. On Calvary all sin was paid in full.

            If we now have faith in Him and trust Him truly then we are moved from the red to the black! He has done everything legally required to clear all of the debts. There is no limit to what God will do to free you from guilt, isolation, anxiety, fear and estrangement that such debts caused. God the Father loves you, but He hates the sin. He loved you so much that He sent His Only Son to pay the debt you owed by dying in your place, and He lived a perfect life which you ought to have given in return for the life-breath He gave you.

            Why did He do this? It is so you no longer have to hide from God and you don’t have to avoid Him anymore. You do not need to worry about how to make amends. You do not need to be ashamed, nor to feel guilty at all anymore. All that the Saviour did in His life and in His death met the requirements each of us should have given to God our Creator. If you truly trust in Him, you have been washed clean, and the slate of debts has been scrubbed and wiped clean. There is no need to be anxious, nor fearful anymore, for all sins have been dealt with in Christ. And so, we can readily come to Christ for all has been forgiven. Not simply swept away under a carpet, but dealt with fully and legally. There is now no debt left for it has all been paid in full.

            The word “forgive” in Matthew 6:12 is from a Greek word which can also mean “to let go,” “to be released,” or “to be sent away.” It has the idea of freedom and it can also mean “to cover.”

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. (John 8:36).

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. (Galatians 5:1).

And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. (1John 3:5).

And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” (1Peter 4:8).

having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:14).

The Lord has covered, He has washed, He has sent away our sin and released us from it so we can live in free fellowship with Him. Christ paid for it all!

            The Lord wants you to believe the truth that all sin has been wiped out, annulled, dealt with, paid for, and removed, and He wants you to trust this daily. Remember that He asks us to pray this prayer daily. Not simply because we sin every day, but He asks us to pray this daily so that we do not forget that our sins are utterly forgiven. We can thence rest in blessed, loving, full, communion with Him who has freely forgiven us all our sins.

            We can only pray this prayer because of what Christ has done in His life and on Calvary in His death. As a result of Christ’s work we have full and free forgiveness. Now forgiveness comes to us only by us truly knowing Christ. Do we know Him? It is not enough to just believe intellectually – the devil does that, but it does him no good. Do you know Him? Are you in right relationship with Him so that you know that your sins are all dealt with completely?

“… as we forgive our debtors.”

            Sin causes damage to relationships, but God has forgiven us freely. In Matthew 18:21-35 we read the parable of the unforgiving servant. Peter asks the Lord: how often should we forgive someone a debt? Up to seven times? The Lord replies by increasing what Peter thought was a perfect number (7) and multiplies it to 70 x 7, which effectively indicates an infinite number – the complete (7) completion (7) multiplied by all-encompassing (10). Now if we truly recognised the scale of forgiveness by God for our own sins, we must conclude that we have no right to bear a grudge against others. If God has forgiven me all of this, how can I not forgive others when they sleight me or sin against me? In the parable, the amount of debts for each one are meant to show us the incredibly large debt owed to God, compared to the much smaller debts we incur one to another. We might say that the unforgiving servant was forgiven a debt of £1000,000, whilst the debt he was owed was just £10. How we need to recognise the incredible and awesome release of debts we have been given of God! And how insignificant are the debts we are owed one to another. One person likened the difference between the debt we owed God and the debts we owed one another to the height of the cathedral roof in comparison to the minor undulations of the floor surface. The vast distance between the ground and the roof in a cathedral speaks of the immense debt we owe to God, whilst the little bumps and indentations in the floor are the depth or height of the debts we owe one to another.

            Now it is essential we recognise our complete forgiveness in Christ for all sin we have committed, past, present and future. We are now utterly secure with God. We have peace with Him. And so, because God has forgiven us so much, we ought also to forgive one another. If we cannot forgive others, then it is doubtful that we appreciate that we have been forgiven by the Lord. Now in Matthew 6:14 we learn that the forgiven one is a forgiving person. The same is true with regard to mercy. The one who has received mercy is himself merciful. The model prayer of Matthew 6 is a beautifully crafted prayer, but there is a significant amount of space given in this to the topic of forgiveness.

            Stephen, the first martyr, prayed for his murderers as they stoned him, asking for their forgiveness. Now forgiveness is not something we understand as something we earn. Because we are forgiven, we can therefore freely forgive others. If we do not freely forgive others, then there is an issue concerning our salvation. Psalm 137:9 might be considered a very unusual text to turn to. It does not appear to be a very Christian sentiment. However, it is important to note that the Psalmist is not taking such an action himself and he is not telling anyone else to do it either. What he is doing is speaking honestly. He knows that the Lord will bring about justice, and when justice is done it will be good. We have clear commands in the New Testament about forgiving one another.

12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.  (Colossians 3:12,13).

And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32).

Let us bask in the forgiveness of God in Christ and let us freely forgive one another!