Good Friday 4/6/12

GOOD FRIDAY 4/6/12 TEXT: PSALM 130 TITLE: DIVINE FORGETFULNESS We read in Psalm 130 verses 3 and 4, “If You, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, that You may be feared.” What would happen to us if God kept score? What would happen if our Lord had a divine scorecard, where every deed and every misdeed is added up? Every time you sin, it counts against you, and every time you do something out of completely selfless motives that is out of pure love for another; well, then those count in your favor. What would happen? Would you win or would you lose? Seems fair enough doesn’t it, at least if we are behaving ourselves and doing godly things, for certainly we would have more good things than bad things list in the book. That is the way it works in the world, for in the world you get what you pay for, or, you get what’s coming to you both on the good side and bad side of life. But if God kept score, we would all languish in hell forever. God reminds us of this again and again in his Law; you must be perfect. Sometimes an event will happen in your life or a sermon or scripture passage will hit you right between the eyes, and God’s Law brings you to realize just how lost you are. If God kept score, We would be lost, as our psalmist writes in our Psalm for today. “If You, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” That is the question. The answer, of course, is no one. Not one of us could stand up to the unending gaze of God’s Law and say we are not guilty . This is why the psalmist cries out in verse 1 of our Psalm for today, “Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD!”. As we gaze upon our Lord’s Passion and death, it is clear that He is dying upon the tree because of your sins and my sins. We are the crowd crying, “Crucify Him!” We are Herod, who gaped and hoped for some show. We are Pontius Pilate, who committed Jesus to death. We are the soldiers, who nailed him to the cross. We are the disciples, who scattered at the thought of being caught on the wrong side. It is our sins that put him there. They are real, and you and I killed the Son of God. In verse three of our Psalm for today we read, “If You, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” Left to ourselves, we are lost, alone and dead. But we are not left to ourselves. That is the great, wonderful message of salvation that comes to you today. For the psalmist writes in verse 4, “But with You (that is God) there is forgiveness, that You may be feared” We learn two things from seeing God die on the cross that Good Friday so many years ago. First, we learn that our sins put him there. Second, we learn that God forgives. Forgiveness; it’s a word that slips off our tongue like it costs nothing. Yet it is the most expensive word in the whole world. That word, forgiveness, cost Jesus Christ, the Son of God. his life. That word sent him down to earth to be mocked and killed for you and me. “But with You there is forgiveness, that You may be feared.” When Jesus cried out from the cross, “It is Finished!” he paid the price for that word, forgiveness. He cried from out of the depths, for he was abandoned and smitten by God, so that you would never face that great pain and suffering that he endured. It is in his death that we have forgiveness. It is only in his death that we may rejoice in God’s forgiveness. As the psalmist prayed in verse 8, “He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities [from all their sins]”. God bought back your soul from Satan. God himself brought you out of the pit. And his work of forgiving your sins goes on to this very day. His Word of absolution and forgiveness is like the sweetest wine upon our lips; long for that gift from God. Flee to his Word of forgiveness! Don’t let the sun go down upon your sins. Confess your sins, and God will nail them to the cross, for the cross of death is in actuality a tree of life for you. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”. It was your sins, my sins that put him on the cross, but it was also God’s love that put him on the cross. Jesus could have come down. He could have given in and gone his own way. But he stayed the course. He said Amen to God’s love for you. And his love for his Father meant that his love for you would never end. “If You, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, that You may be feared” Thank God that God forgives. He gives you himself. He washes you and makes you clean. He feeds you with his very body and blood. He puts the word of absolution; that is forgiveness into your ears, so that you know you will not die, but live, and proclaim the great works of God. Truly this is Good Friday, for the greatest good was accomplished by Jesus Christ on that Friday; the redemption of your body and soul. Amen.