Romans 5:12-6:5 Jesus the new Man.

Romans 5:12-6:5

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Today I’m going to teach you how to cheat death. But wait! There’s more: I’ll give you the secret to triumphant living. To living in victory over your sin. I’ll give you the secret to eternal life. And all this for only 99 999! (We need to buy a building.)

No! Actually, Jesus gives us all this – for FREE! Not death, but life. And triumphant living, victory over sin – in dying to ourselves, and being raised to life in Jesus.

See our problem is that we are in Adam. We are human beings. Human beings sin. Sinners die. Uh-oh.

We need to be remade. We need to reboot the human race. And that’s what Jesus does. He is the new Adam. In Him, we die to the old way of Adam, and are spiritually raised to life. He is the new Adam. We are human beings 2.0. We are the gloriously restored humanity – humanity as we were meant to be, but better, because in Christ we will be raised incorruptible, perfect, not in the image of Adam, but the image of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Amen.

Just two points today.

1. Adam brought sin and death

2. Jesus brings grace and life

1. Adam brought sin and death

12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

Sin entered the world. In the original Greek the first word in v12 is “therefore”. The Holy Spirit through Paul is coming back to and building on what has come before. Sin entered the world and we are all sinners. What’s the therefore there for? To remind us of what came before! Not 5:1-11 but chapters 1-4. I just want to spend a few minutes reminding us of what we have learned so far, because it all comes into focus in this passage.
Chapters 1 to 3: We are sinners, under God’s wrath. We see God’s wrath revealed in the world around us as He lets sinners sin. He gives us over, abandons us, to experience the sinfulness of sin. He gives us what we want, and that is terrifying (chapter 1). And chapter 2 says that following the law or being good is no help, because the law just shines a great big spotlight on our sin, and being good – well, it just reveals us as hypocrites, because the same things we criticise others for, we do. We all say lying is wrong, yet we all lie. Judged by our own judgement.

Do we see now why salvation must be by grace and cannot be through us? As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one. (3:10).

And so we are made righteous by receiving the free gift of righteousness. We are given Jesus’ righteousness. In Christ we are reconciled to God because in Christ we are justified, redeemed, and propitiated.

This deals with the threefold problem we have with God.
1. We have broken his laws and are so declared guilty. As a righteous judge he must find us guilty.
2. We are slaves to sin. We can’t stop sinning, and are therefore cut off from God.
3. We are under God’s wrath. Because of our sin, which is saying to Him “I wish you were dead”, and seen in how horribly we treat each other, God is rightly angry with us.

So in Christ those problems are dealt with.

We are guilty, so God justifies us. God as judge says: righteous. It is a legal declaration. Under the law, we are righteous. No longer a spotlight on our sin, but now a spotlight on Jesus’ righteousness.

We are slaves to sin so God redeems us: God buys us from slavery to sin. Jesus paid the price on the Cross to buy us back. We now belong to God. Slaves of righteousness. We are twice bought. We belong to God because he made us, and belong to God because he bought us with his blood. So we are no longer slaves to sin, but servants of God.

We are under God’s wrath, so God propitiates us. God sacrifices himself. For the wages of sin is death because sin is rejecting God, and to reject God is to reject life and so we die. Instead, Jesus took our place as our substitute. In Christ we are no longer under God’s wrath because in Christ we died and so satisfied his right anger. There is now no condemnation, no anger for we who are in Christ.

In Christ we are justified, redeemed, propitiated. There is no further judgment over us. We are no longer slaves to sin. God is not angry with us anymore. We are reconciled to God, and we have peace with him. We live in the realm of grace.

Therefore.

12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

The Holy Spirit through Paul now ups the ante. He makes things much worse for the person who is still clinging to the delusion that he can make himself right, justify himself before God.

Because of the problem of original sin, even if we lived a perfect life, we would still be condemned. You see, we are “in Adam”. We have inherited his sin. He is our representative if Jesus is not.

How do we know that Adam is our representative? We die. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

“But” you might say “sin is breaking God’s law. There was no law to break before Moses, so how can you say they sinned?”

13 Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break.
14 Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did.

Death is the great evidence that we are sinners. No sin, no death. But we all die as proof that we are sinners. We grow old because we are sinners. We suffer because we are sinners. The only one who did not stay dead is Jesus. The resurrection is vital. If Jesus stayed dead, then he too was a sinner. But because death could not hold him, he proved his righteousness – a righteousness he gives to us. Because Jesus rose from the dead we – you and I – can be certain that in Christ, we are ALIVE!

The awkward phrasing in v13 is puzzling “But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break”. It’s puzzling because it’s something he’s going to address in chapter 7, so it’s just in seed form here, not really explained. There we read that we have died in Christ, and the law does not apply the dead people. You can’t say “hey, you disobeyed the law”. He’s dead!
So before the law came we couldn’t actively choose to disobey God’s law. God says “do this” and we choose to do the opposite. We can’t sin by breaking the law if there’s no law!

But, we still die! Even those who didn’t disobey the law still died. Why? Because they are in Adam. We all inherit his sinfulness. We are all condemned because he is our representative. So even apart from the law, we die.

So whether we actively rebel against God, or just passively go along “in Adam”, we’re in the same boat. 14 Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did.
You can’t argue before God that “I didn’t actively disobey you, so you have to accept me”. Even if we didn’t sin like Adam, we still have Adam’s DNA, his sinful nature. If you don’t believe me – wait until you have kids. Because I did not sit them down one night and say “Kristin, Kaleb, an essential life skill you need to learn is lying. So I’m going to teach you how to lie.”
It came naturally from them, from within.
I didn’t teach them to fight, and argue, or disobey me. That came from the nature within. Every single one of us confirms with our words, thoughts, actions and inactions that we are children of Adam. And so every one of us will rightly deteriorate and die.

Adam brought sin and death

2. Jesus brings grace and life

18 Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.

V18 continues the sentence that was interrupted back in v12. Paul was going to contrast Adam and Jesus – directly, but then realised he needed to explain more. 12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned… v18 but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.

That’s the contrast and the comparison. Because Jesus and Adam are both alike and different. They are alike in that both stand as our representatives. Both did one act which determined our destiny. Adam sinned and brought death, Jesus died in our place and brought life.

But they are also different. For Jesus is greater than Adam. The second Adam is greater than the first.

15 But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.

Adam sins once, and condemns many. One to many. But the grace of God in Jesus Christ is that the many are swallowed up in the one act of grace. Imagine a jar full of marbles. It’s easy to smash that jar. One act. And many marbles . It’s easy to destroy, very difficult to restore.

So Jesus and Adam are similar in the one act affects many, but Jesus is so much greater because his one act fixes everything. Restores everything. V 16 continues: 16 And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.

Sin breeds sin. From Adam’s one sin the world was plunged into chaos. Just think of how quickly things escalated: their firstborn son, Cain, murdered his brother Abel. From one act of disobedience, “no I’ll decide thanks for myself”, and then there’s jealousy, envy, hatred, and then a man standing over his brother with a rock.
In Greek mythology we read of Pandora’s box. Pandora, the first women on earth was given a present of a box (or jar) by the god Zeus, and was warned not to open it. Of course, full of curiosity, she opens it – only to unleash all the horrors of evil and death on the world. She desperately tries to close the box, but can’t. How can you close Pandora’s box once it’s been opened?

Well, you can’t. But Jesus can. The Pandora’s box of sin has doomed the world. One act of Adam has destroyed us. But Jesus is greater. Because his one act gathered all the doom of man from all of time and space, even deep within us. Our sin, all of our sin, sins in our past, sins now, sins in our future, sins we’re not aware of, sins we are aware of and should have stopped doing but we keep choosing to do – even those sins Jesus gathered. His one act of righteousness on the Cross pulled all these sins, this Pandora’s box of doom. From all of time and space and he pulled it all down onto his body and put it to death with his own death. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
Hallelujah! Praise Jesus. Because in him our sins have been dealt with. They have been killed. We have died to sin and so now live for Christ.

In Jesus we are humans as we truly are meant to be. Renewed, the new man. A new start. A new humanity. Adam is dust to dust. Christ is death to life. Eternal life.

And the law is no threat to this. Oh yes, the law shines a spotlight on our sin and says “Out! Out! Condemned!”. But v20 God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.

Our sin is no threat to God. The greater our sin, the greater his grace. It’s like when I was growing up and arm-wrestling my Dad – the stronger I got the stronger he got! Or that’s how it seemed. He obviously wasn’t using his full strength when we were arm-wrestling. But the harder I pushed, he just was able to effortlessly match it. I could not overcome his strength.
Likewise our sin cannot overcome God’s grace. The greater our sin, the greater his grace. He effortlessly matches it. So v21 So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We can sum up the argument of this chapter like this: “Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned, so righteousness entered the world by one man, and life through righteousness”

Or to put it very simply: In Adam we die. In Jesus we live!

Ok. But what does that mean for us then. How does that affect how we live. And so in these last few moments we’re going to let the Holy Spirit apply these truths to us through 6:1-5

Ro 6:1–5 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

The first effect this being in Christ and not in Adam should have is: obedience. We are set free from sin. We are no longer in Adam. We don’t have to sin any longer. We can do what is right.

3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. 5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.

We are dead to sin, and alive in Christ. We have a new power in us.

You know we often get frustrated with our sin, but often it’s because we’re trying to fight sin in our own power. “C’mon, pull yourself together” “Do better” “You fool, you idiot” and so on. Berating ourselves, mentally beating ourselves up. This is not the way of the Christian.

Do we not believe that in Adam we are subject to sin that leads to death? And that we are powerless to stop it?

We cannot fight sin. But Jesus can. So we need to ask him for help. Jesus, I have sinned again. I can’t fight this, but you can. I believe in your grace, paid for on the cross, that means you will accept me. That means you hear my prayer. Help me to die to sin, and live for you, Lord!

We’ve had a few baptisms in this church, and they’re a great visual picture of this dynamic. We die to ourselves, and we live for Christ. We give up on ourselves, our own power, our own efforts, our self-reliance. We die as we go under the water, and we rise up to relying on Christ, on the Spirit’s power, on his one act that brings us all life.

Let us die to sin, and live for Christ. We are no longer in the old man, Adam, but in the new man, Jesus Christ. Let’s live like it. Amen.

Mark 8:34-38 Jesus lives and you die…and LIVE!

Mark 8:34-38

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Jesus.

Swear word. A great moral teacher. A threat to State security. A fairy tale. A myth. The Living God in the flesh. Messiah.

He is a divisive figure. Someone who 2000 years after his birth, death and resurrection continues to dominate world events. But who was he? Or perhaps who is he?

As we’ve read through the first eight chapters of Mark’s gospel we’ve seen an amazing man doing amazing things. A man with awesome power, truly terrifying power. We see the demons, evil spirits, trembling before him, so afraid. We see even his own disciples, dearly loved friends, terrified after he speaks to a storm and it obeys him. Who is this man? They wonder. Jesus is to be feared.

We see that Jesus has authority – authority over the spirit world, authority over Creation – the wind obeys him, the water obeys him; even death obeys him, sickness flees at a word from him. Only God has this kind of power.
Only God is feared by the evil spirits. They would not fear an angel – they too are angels, fallen angels. But their Creator? Yes. They fall down at his feet screaming in terror “What do you want with us Jesus, Son of God.”
Only God can command creation to obey him.
Only God has power over death.
Only God can forgive sins. All this Jesus does. And very significantly, he does this in no-one else’s name. He does not call on God the Father, he does not cry out O Great Jehovah, he does not say “in the name of… “.
We do. We pray in the name of Jesus. We cast out demons in the name of Jesus. We pray for the sick in the name of Jesus. It is the name of Jesus that has power. No other name. He is God Almighty, and that’s why it is right that the glory goes to him.

Mark’s gospel opens with these words: 1:1 This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus is the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek) which means the Promised Rescuer. He is the one promised in the Old Testament, the first part of the Bible, the one who will rescue us all from sin and death. Christ is not his surname but his job description. Jesus: saviour of the world!

And in 8:29 Jesus asks his disciples: “But who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”

Who is Jesus? He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Rescuer. He is our Saviour and our God.
He is the one who should be feared, the one with great authority, great power because he is Almighty God, holy and perfect.
But he has come not to judge us, not to condemn us, but to save us. He is Messiah, Rescuer. But what does that mean? How is he going to save us? And what do we have to do? What does it mean to follow him? That’s the message of chapter 8-16.

1. Jesus’ death brings life

Peter has just made the good confession “You are the Christ!”. Yes! But then things go very wrong. Jesus starts saying the most outrageous stuff! 8:31–33 (NLT) Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. 32 As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. 33 Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Peter had a different plan for Jesus, and probably, himself, as one of Jesus’ closest followers. Peter saw glory and honour – a victory procession into Jerusalem, Jesus the victorious King, riding into Jerusalem after beating the Romans, Israel’s oppressor, and setting Israel free. That’s the Messiah he thought was coming.

But his point of view was too low, too human. God’s view is high and lifted up! Yes, there will be a victory procession: Jesus, beaten and bloodied, carrying his cross through the streets of Jerusalem as people jeer at him, spit on him, mock him. There will be a great battle: Jesus on the cross, refusing to give in to the temptation to “Come down from the cross, that we may see and believe” “Ha he saved others, but he can’t save himself” “Save yourself, “Messiah””. No. His love keeps him there, until he can give up his life with a loud cry, and descends into the darkness of Hell itself in order to defeat Hell, defeat sin, and defeat death itself: the great enemies not just of Israel, but of the whole world!
Lift up your eyes, Peter, and see the great vision! Yes, I will suffer and be killed – but in three days will rise again. My death and resurrection will bring new life to all people throughout the world, through all time and space- this is what the Temple is about, the sacrifices all point to my sacrifice, the meeting place between God and man. This is what Moses looked forward to, what David was promised, what Abraham was promised. This is it! Lift up your eyes Peter.

This is so important Jesus says it three times. As we’ve just read in 8:31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. then again in 9:31 (NLT) He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.”

And again in Mk 10:33–34 (NLT) 33 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. 34 They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.”

Many people, like the disciples, do not understand Jesus’ words here. Many who call themselves Christians try and explain away the cross – or even deny it. Some feel sorry for Jesus. But this is the heart of the Gospel. This is where we see God’s awesome love. This is how God can forgive sinners – by bearing the cost himself. This is love: that Jesus lays down his life for us who believe in him.

In Halifax, Canada, in 1917, a ship carrying high explosives was on fire and about to explode in the harbour. 2000 people died in the explosion – but the death toll could have easily been much higher. Because the train station was right next to the harbour, and passenger trains carrying hundreds of people were coming in, unaware of the danger. Vince Coleman, a train dispatcher, had started to flee – but, remembering those trains, turned back, stayed at his post and began broadcasting messages to stop the trains coming into the city. His last words (via Morse code) were "Hold up the train. Munitions ship on fire in the harbour and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Goodbye boys." He was killed in the explosion, but saved hundreds and hundreds of people. He gave his life so that hundreds of others might live.

Jesus’ death on the cross was no mistake, no misstep by a popular teacher who made too many enemies and suddenly got trapped by them. No, this was the deliberate purpose of God, the great rescue plan made before the creation of the world, to showcase his glory, his love, his compassion, his power. This is Jesus plain teaching. What a glorious God we serve! Praise him!

Jesus’ death brings us life.

So then, what does it mean to follow this great Saviour, our Rescuer, our God, our King? It means we must die.

2. Our death brings life: we must die to ourselves to truly live

Jesus uses shocking language here. We’re kind of used to it, so we miss the impact this would have had: 34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Crucifixion was the worst punishment the Romans could dish out. It was reserved for enemies of the Roman state and for the worst criminals. No Roman citizen could be crucified, it was that bad. Follow him on that path? The path of rejection, humiliation, even death?

Well, if you want to be a follower of Jesus, that is what you must do. It’s choosing to follow Jesus, wherever that path may lead. For some of disciples it led literally to crucifixion. They were called upon to die for Jesus, to be crucified for him. But that’s not just what it means – it doesn’t mean we all have to get on a physical cross. No. look at verse 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

We are called to “lose” our life – not on nothing, but for Jesus’ sake. In other words, live our life as if it belongs to Jesus, and not to us. To make friends for Jesus. To work for Jesus. To serve our families for Jesus. To use our money for Jesus. We’ll talk more in the next weeks about what it means to live for Jesus.
Note that he says take up your cross.. daily. It’s not doing one big act of sacrifice and then you’re done with it. It is every day living not for yourself and yur glory, but living for Jesus. It is 10,000 little sacrifices, a lifetime of often unnoticed loving acts, which cumulatively become huge – for Jesus. It’s not just big acts – it’s all the little moments which mark you out as a follower of Jesus. And if you are faithful in the little, you will be faithful in the big. Living every moment as a son or daughter of God.
Because that’s the only way to live! “This day, choose life” said Moses, the prophet of God, to the people in Deut 30:19. Jesus, the true Prophet, the better Prophet, the better Moses leading the better Exodus (rescue) is saying: “Choose life!”.

Why? Because to live any other way leads to death. Even if, by ignoring Jesus, you could gain the whole world, what a waste because you lose your very soul. V36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? Steve Jobs was on top of the world. He’d rebuilt Apple into the biggest and most successful company in the world. But he died. And he died rejecting Jesus. What a fool, says Jesus. Do you think he can offer Apple stock to God? He owns the Universe! For what can a man give in return for his soul?

Only Jesus can save us. Only his blood is sufficient to be a perfect sacrifice. Only Jesus is enough. Nothing else will work.

You know, it’s a tragedy when people die for the wrong reason. I remember one of my classmates got high on drugs, got into his car, sped down the highway with no seatbelt on, and smashed into a tree. Dead. What a foolish way to die.
I remember reading about a man trying to impress his friends with a chainsaw, said “Ha, watch this!” and swung it at his own head. Obviously, he died. What a tragedy.
To die for the wrong thing is a tragic. It’s foolish. And Jesus says the only wise thing to die for, is him. Everything else is foolishness.

38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels

Let your life reflect your devotion to Jesus. If you have been rescued by him, let your joy shine through. Christians should be talking about Jesus, excited about Jesus, waiting for Jesus’ return, praying to Jesus, preaching about Jesus, teaching about Jesus, telling their children about Jesus, giving their money for Jesus, giving their time for Jesus, making friends for Jesus, choosing where they will live and work for Jesus. Our lives should be one big advert proclaiming JESUS! I am saved by his grace. Put your puny ambitions to death, your foolish plans for you life to death, and follow Jesus on the road to humiliation, to death, and to eternal GLORY, eternal life.

Because if you don’t, if you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. Even if you gained the whole world, what benefit is that if you lose your soul? How many of the rich and famous feel empty, lost and alone. How many artists, actors, top sportsmen confess to reaching the top to find nothing there except anxiety – worry about the next person who’s going to come and take the crown from you. What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

There is only one way to save your soul, your very life – and that is to give it up to Jesus. We were designed, created to obey God. Our reason for existing is to glorify God. That is our purpose.

Following Jesus is both the easiest and hardest thing to do. Easiest because everything is done! He died for us, he rescued us, he brought us new life, his Spirit is given to us to live a new life, and he will take us to Paradise. And nothing we do can separate us from that, because it is guaranteed, underwritten, by his blood.
But it’s the hardest thing because we have to give up pretending to be God. We have to acknowledge our dependence on him. We have to obey him, to live life as HE wants, not as we want. That’s hard, and that’s why Jesus describes it as taking up your cross – that’s dying! 9:35 Give up your life for my sake. We must nail our old life, our selfish ambitions, our foolish desire for self-determination (that’s deciding for ourselves) – nail it to the cross! Say I am dead. Jesus lives instead. I am his. Imagine if all of us really started living like that. Let it start tonight. Make a decision to die to self, and live for Jesus. Because if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And if you don’t the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

The Jews, the disciples, wanted a political saviour to swoop in and rescue them – but they misunderstood the problem. The problem is not circumstances, but deep in our heart. Jesus did not come to rescue them (or us) from physical oppression, but spiritual oppression. They saw the burden of Rome, but not the burden of sin! Jesus came in order to rescue us from our sin, taking the punishment upon himself, the warrior King, fighting by dying, the suffering servant upon the cross, faithful to the end.

The rescue is available to everyone, but the cost is a change of allegiance – instead of the kingdom of ME, you know belong to the kingdom of God. Instead of you pretending to control your life, you know bow to Jesus and let him control your life. You die to self and live for Christ. You are not your own, you belong to him.

But that’s worth it, because he is the life-giver. In Jesus, and him alone real, joyful, free, life is found; eternal life. And he can guarantee it because he is the Creator God, maker of heaven and earth, vast in his glory and majesty – yet so full of love and compassion that he becomes as nothing, the servant king, willing to suffer and die in order to rescue a people for himself. If you belong to Jesus, bear his name with joy and gratitude, and live for him, no matter what the cost.

Pray – think about where you have denied the Lordship of Christ. What area of life do you consider your own? What area of life are you dissatisfied with, not trusting his Lordship?

Perhaps need to give you life to him.

Life! The New Creation

Revelation 20:7-21:8

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Two weeks ago I was in the car on the way home from Kongsberg – and I was sitting in a long traffic jam – an hour and a half. Now that was an everyday thing in Cape Town, even in Oslo - but in Notodden?
That traffic jam meant something. It meant that something had gone very wrong. And as I finally reached Notodden I saw the reason why: a truck with a damaged front on the left side of the road… and on the right - a car smashed up really badly, front end collapsed. The car had drifted over into the wrong lane and collided head-on with a truck. The driver of the car was killed.

Death sucks. Whether it’s sudden like a car accident, or “expected” after a long life - death is always brutal. And we feel it. It’s a strange thing really. Death is a natural part of things. It’s the circle of life, and all that. But we hate it, we rebel against it.

Dylan Thomas, the Welsh poet, wrote these words:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Is that all there is? Is that what is left to us? To simply shake our fist at death, at hopelessness, to rage against the dying of our light until we snuffed out like a candle burned down to the end?

Actually, yes. That is all there is. Without Christ.

Death is just one of the reminders that something is wrong with the universe that we live in. We rebel against something so natural because for us it feels anything but natural. We fight it with anti-aging products and Artificial Intelligence and Freezing our bodies and anything we can to desperately push back against death. We rage against the dying of the night because we feel – no we KNOW that night should not fall.

And we are right. We were created to life forever. We are eternal creatures, all of us. We have the spark of the divine, you and me, every human being who was ever conceived in their mother’s womb (or in a test tube) – we are eternal creatures.

But we are in a war. We are at war.

1. We are at war

Rev 20:7 When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison. 8 He will go out to deceive the nations—called Gog and Magog—in every corner of the earth. He will gather them together for battle—a mighty army, as numberless as sand along the seashore. 9 And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God’s people and the beloved city.

The picture here is of a battle. Satan released in order to gather the nations – all the peoples of the world, in a war against God and his people. And this picture of war is one that is used throughout the Bible.

See, we like to think of God as an old kindly man in the sky, long beard, slightly senile – just sort of smiling down on us and going tut tut when bad things happen. Maybe wringing his hands and saying oh dear.

But the Bible’s picture of God – the way God has revealed himself – is something entirely different. He is a warrior, a fighter. He is not smiling kindly down on us, because we are at war with him. He’s more Rambo than Old Man. Armed to the teeth rather than losing his teeth!

We are at war with God. Now rightly enough it was we who declared war on him. We want to decide for ourselves how our life will go. We want to decide what is right and what is wrong. We want to be God in our own lives. In effect, we want him to be dead. Nietzsche even said, defiantly, that God is dead. It appears, however, that Nietzsche is dead. And God is still very much alive.

But that is the cry of the human heart. No God. We are at war.

What is it like to live in a war zone? We’ve heard the stories from the Ukraine, from Syria. I remember my friend 20 years ago telling me stories from Sarajevo as the former Yugoslavia broke up in war.

Life takes on a different flavour. You become kind of numb to the destruction around you. You go to sleep and are surprised when you wake up. You walk outside and see that where your neighbour’s house stood – now there’s just a big hole. The house blown apart by artillery fire. You walk to the shops, hoping that today there’ll be some food there – that someone will have got through the blockade with supplies. Life is a struggle, death around every corner. You barely flinch anymore when you hear the bzzt – thunk of bullets whizzing overhead. You scrounge for food, for water, anything to keep you alive. When you hear the boom-boom of the artillery guns you run for cover, and hunker down, just trying to survive.

And that, for a while, becomes normal life. That’s the way things are. You know there’s a different way to live, but it was so long ago when you lived in freedom, in gladness.

That is what we are like. The entire human race. We live in a spiritual war zone. Some of us have given up and say this is the way things are. Some of us have a sense of that which could be. That which we were made for. We have a longing in our heart for a world that we have never seen. A world without death, without sin, without evil. A world where we belong.

We long for a world at peace with God. But how?

Well, what do you do if you’re in a war you can’t win?
You surrender. You raise the white flag, send your envoys (messengers, diplomat), and ask for mercy.

The problem is, we don’t want to. We are the ones who started the war. And we still think we can win it!

But just look at v9. It’s one of my favourite verses. Because the build-up is for some epic Lord of the Rings style battle. V8 the mighty army from every nation numberless. You can see them roaring their victory cry, banging their weapons against their shields “here we come God, we’re coming for you!”. And then… nothing. No epic battle. No charge of glory. No once more into the breach men. This seemingly great and powerful army is not at all a threat to God. Our rebellion is nothing, a mere inconvenience, an annoyance. V9 But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them. And then everyone was thrown into the lake of fire. Like you brush a bug off your shoulders.

We cannot win this war. Our rebellion is a joke. But because we’re locked into sin – that is wanting to be God – we cannot surrender, we will not surrender. But we cannot win. We’re fighting an unwinnable battle. Things will just get worse and worse. So what do we do? Well, because WE wouldn’t send an envoy of peace, God, in his mercy, sent HIS envoy of peace.

Dear friends, this is why the gospel means good news. Momentous, huge, good news.

2. God’s has sent an envoy of peace

21:5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

The one on the throne, God, says that he is making all things new. He says it is finished! He says whoever is thirsty can receive freely the water of life, and then that anyone victorious – those who overcome will inherit the blessing – the blessing of being with him. Not at war, but as children, part of the family. Closer you cannot get.

This is what Jesus did. These are his words, his actions. He was the envoy of peace from God to us: his own Son. We heard John 3:16 last week, those famous words that God loved the world so much he sent his only son… not to judge the world, but to save it.
Every Christmas we read the story of Jesus’ birth (Juleevangeliet). What do the angels announce to the shepherds in the fields: Glory to God in the Highest and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased. (Luke 2:14) Jesus’ birth announces peace, announces a way out of war, a way to be made right with God, a way to regain the reality that we lost when we went to war with God.

It is finished because the cost of making peace has been paid, not by us, but by God himself. Peace costs. Peace comes at a price. War crimes need to be judged. Restitution needs to be paid. Someone needs to answer for the evil that was done.
Those words “It is finished” are the words Jesus cried out on the cross, as Jesus gave his own life so that he could bring peace. He paid the crimes of war – our war, in order to bring the war to an end. It is like the captain falling on a grenade to save his men. Or more like the enemy soldier rushing forward and falling on the grenade to save his enemies. Who would do this? Only God. Only God has love even for his enemies. He paid the cost.

A few weeks ago we read the story of the siege of Jerusalem in Isaiah 36. The great and powerful Assyrian army surrounded Jerusalem. But they didn’t attack. No. They sent envoys – representatives, diplomats – to see if they could negotiate a surrender without a fight. “Surrender now, and we’ll look after you. No one can save you. Don’t fight. Don’t throw away your lives on a lost cause, a battle you cannot win.”

Jesus is God’s envoy, and it is his message today: don’t throw away your lives on a lost cause, on a battle you cannot win. Surrender to me. Seek peace. I will look after you.

And unlike human beings, when God makes a promise to look after us if we surrender to him, he means it. He really does look after his people. There is not hidden agenda, no trick, no bait and switch, no small print.

God has sent an envoy of peace, Jesus, to us, his enemies. And to those who accept, those who surrender their lives to him, he promises a new life, a new hope, yes, a new creation. Look, I am making everything new He says in verse 5. And he’s not joking.

3. The New Creation

21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” 5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!”

This is a picture of eternal life. Not sitting around on clouds strumming harps – good grief that sounds deathly boring. But it is a fantastic place to live. A city buzzing with life, with vitality. It is life at its best! And God will be there, amongst us. We will see our saviour’s face – face-to-face. No more sin, no more suffering. No car accidents. No dementia or cancer or war or theft or terrorism or worries about life. No tears or crying or pain. All gone forever. Everything is renewed.

It is this world, this universe, rebooted, restarted, restored, redeemed. This was just the cover and the title page. The new creation is Chapter One of the Great Neverending story, where every chapter is better than the last.
This is the shadowlands – that is the real country. The Real Country our heart longs for. The real country we were made for.

Revelation continues like this, describing the heavenly city of the new creation 21 The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass. 22 I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. 25 Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. 26 And all the nations will bring their glory and honour into the city.

It is life with God, in his presence, in his holiness, without fear, for we have been made holy. This is a gift, what Christ has done. There is no-one in heaven who will say “this is what I have done” or “I did it my way”. No. This is what God has done. All glory to Him.

He is the Light, the sun and the moon. And the best of this world will be in the new creation. All the good things that are and have ever been and will ever be in this world – the best things of this world: they will be there - but better. Perfect. From every nation, every tribe, every people group and culture – the best of us will be there and it will all be giving glory to God.

And as we look around us we will see – ah, that which we loved so dearly here on earth we loved because it was a shadow, a picture, a reflection of the real thing here in the New Creation.

This is the hope of Christianity. A preacher called Mark Driscoll put it like this “For non-Christians this life is the best it will ever be. For those saved by Christ’s mercy, this life is the worst it will ever be.”

There is a great secure hope. The world we were made for. Jesus has come to bring this message: THE WAR HAS ENDED! Amnesty for all. Freedom for all.

Let me end by using a picture of the gospel. Here we are – people. And we have declared war on God. That is sin. We have turned our back on God. We have made a huge distance between us and God – so big that we cannot cross, even if we wanted to.
Here is God – the new creation. This is what we were made for, what our heart longs for. When we catch a glimpse of the shadow of heaven, of God, our hearts long for it. This is what we were made for. And he is a God of mercy, so instead of just blotting us out like we deserve – he sends his envoy, his messenger, his own Son, Jesus, to bridge the gap.

Now, where are you on this picture?

You may be here saying. Yes, I am a sinner. I’ve made a mess of things. I surrender.
You might be thinking “But I’m a good person” And you might be. Maybe that’s why you’re here this morning. There was a good man called Cornelius and the Bible says “his good deeds have come up before God” – so God sent Peter to him to share the gospel. Your good deeds might be the reason you are here this morning. God has had mercy on you by bringing you here so that you can hear the gospel and respond to it. Your good deeds are not enough. You alone cannot make peace with God.

Or maybe you have surrendered your life to Jesus. You may be filled with joy and excitement. I am! What a future. And you know what. That future is now. We already know God. He is with us every step of the way. The Spirit is with us. He looks after us. He keeps us secure in Christ. What blessings now! But then! Oh then! Face to face. Come Lord Jesus, Come!

The offer of eternal life

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Exodus 11 God is sovereign over Life and Death

Exodus 11

1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? 2 Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief. The opening verses of Psalm 22, written by David, the king, quoted by Jesus, the King of Kings, on the cross.

My God my God.
Why did author, David, blame God for his situation? It was his enemies who had surrounded him, evil men, not God.
And why did Jesus quote this? It was not God who crucified him, who had betrayed him.

What David and Jesus understood was this: God is sovereign. He has all things under his control. And so it is right to go to him and say “why have you abandoned me? Why have you let this happen?

God is sovereign. Bible does not hide this fact – it trumpets this! We try to minimise it because it goes against our Western self-determination, make your own destiny cultural philosophy. And we are fools if we do so. Because what use is a god who is not sovereign. What use is a god with no power? He is no god at all!

This chapter is designed to remind us that God is in control. Just before the final plague is unleashed we are reminded that death is coming, that God’s people will live, and that this will most definitely happen because God is sovereign.

1. The warning: death is coming

4 Moses had announced to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD says: At midnight tonight I will pass through the heart of Egypt. 5 All the firstborn sons will die in every family in Egypt, from the oldest son of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the oldest son of his lowliest servant girl who grinds the flour. Even the firstborn of all the livestock will die. 6 Then a loud wail will rise throughout the land of Egypt, a wail like no one has heard before or will ever hear again.

Imagine you were an Egyptian at that time. Death is coming. Egypt lies in darkness, devastated by hail, locusts, frogs, gnats, boils, sickness, flies, and blood. And now the final judgement has come. Death hangs in the air.

You have seen your king, Pharaoh, stand against Moses and his god. And you probably agreed with him. After all, this was the god of the slaves! Ridiculous that he could have power over the might of Egypt. But as water turned to blood, as frogs appeared, then gnats, then flies, then your animals died, then boils broke out on you, then hail, then locusts, and finally darkness... you can imagine a bit of nervousness at the beginning, then feeling uncomfortable – maybe their God really is powerful -, then fear, then full-blown terror as you look out at your once beautiful country devastated, ruined – and you see the Israelite area perfectly protected – and a cold dread fills your heart as darkness comes over you like a cloud and you can almost taste death. He is coming. He is coming.

But we don’t have to imagine it. We don’t have to pretend we’re Egyptians. Because we know that death is coming. It is all around us. People die every day. Oh, in our society we’re pretty good at insulating ourselves from death. People die away in hospitals or old age homes. We have a little ritual in church and we let our religious rituals comfort us and then we push it out of our minds. But that fear is always there, in the back of our minds, threatening to come out and choke us. What if the God of the Christians really is there? What if there is Someone out there and I am not right with him. The unspoken fears of the Egyptians. The unspoken fears of the Norwegians.

Death is coming. Death is coming for each one of us. Each of us has over our heads a doomsday clock – and as each second ticks by we are closer to our death. Tick. Tick. Tick. One step closer. Each breath you take is closer to your last.

So how do you live, knowing that you will die?

Pharaoh rebelled against it. He refused to accept the judgement. 10:28 “Get out of here!” Pharaoh shouted at Moses. “I’m warning you. Never come back to see me again! The day you see my face, you will die!”

29 “Very well,” Moses replied. “I will never see your face again.”

Some laugh in the face of death. Take more and more risks, seeking the thrill of being on the edge. Some go out to grab all they can, crush everyone in their path. Some surround themselves with loved ones, pouring themselves out in other people, trying to find peace in being significant and remembered. Others try to block out the world with entertainment and noise and virtual realities. But I think most of us just kind of drift along with a vague unease, just pushing the thought of death to the back of our minds. What we should do, is seek a way out of death. That’s the point of the warning.

You see, God could have just wiped them out without warning, without sending Moses to Pharaoh. Just boom – justice for their cruelty in enslaving an entire people and murdering their children. Justice! He could just wipe us out – wham. Justice for all our sins and rebellion and cruelty. Don’t you ever watch the news and wonder why he doesn’t just wipe us out? Well, because even in the midst of judgement there us mercy. There is a way to live forever. There was light among the Israelites!

The stench of death did not hang over God’s people. God’s favour rested upon them. But for the Egyptians... the sword of the Destroyer was pointed towards them. The Grim Reaper, as we call him, waiting with his scythe to harvest the dead from the earth.

Death is coming. What will you do?

2. The promise: God’s people will live

7 But among the Israelites it will be so peaceful that not even a dog will bark. Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites.

From the plague of flies onwards, we’ve seen the Lord make a distinction between his people and the people of Egypt. Although they were affected by the plagues of blood, frogs and gnats, the Lord then showed his power to save.
8:22 But this time I will spare the region of Goshen, where my people live. No flies will be found there. Then you will know that I am the LORD and that I am present even in the heart of your land. 23 I will make a clear distinction between my people and your people.
9:6 And the LORD did just as he had said. The next morning all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but the Israelites didn’t lose a single animal.
9:26 The only place without hail was the region of Goshen, where the people of Israel lived.
They did not suffer from boils or the locusts either, it seems. And of course, when darkness fell, the darkness of judgement and death, Israel had light. 10:22 So Moses lifted his hand to the sky, and a deep darkness covered the entire land of Egypt for three days. 23 During all that time the people could not see each other, and no one moved. But there was light as usual where the people of Israel lived.

The point is this: the Lord can save his people. The word of the Lord can be trusted. When he says “I will save you” we can trust his word!

Have you noticed that the Israelites have pretty much been absent from this story. It’s been Moses and Aaron vs. Pharaoh. We’ve heard nothing from the Israelites. The last we heard of them was all the way back in chapters 5 and 6 – and that was anger and lack of faith! 5:21 The [Israelite leaders] said to [Moses and Aaron, “May the LORD judge and punish you for making us stink before Pharaoh and his officials. You have put a sword into their hands, an excuse to kill us!”

And the people: 6:9 So Moses told the people of Israel what the LORD had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery.

That’s it! The Israelites are bedraggled, discouraged. They had given up. No hope. The light had gone from their eyes. They were beaten down. They had no faith in the Lord. They had no service to him. They did not dress in their best clothes, or offer the right sacrifices or do anything to deserve his rescue. And yet the Lord says “I will save you.”

Moses was wandering around in the desert, a failure – and God called him and said “you will lead my people”. Why? Because God. He decided that Moses would lead the people, and so it happened. Did Moses do anything other than muck up his life? No. But God...

The Israelites are likewise “failures”. Beaten down, discouraged. They are not people of faith. Their faith has been knocked out of them. They do not deserve salvation, yet God saved them.

And so too with us. We are not required to dress in our Sunday best, to get our life in order before we come to Jesus. Our salvation does not depend on us any more than the Israelites salvation depended on them! Our salvation comes from the Lord, not from us!

How often we think like that! “I need to get right before I come to God.” That’s utterly foolish.

It makes a mockery of God’s holiness – you really think that you can get yourself right enough to be acceptable to God –seriously?!

And it makes a mockery of the cross. Do you think Jesus would have suffered the agony of death and judgement on the cross if we could simply put on a new suit and try a bit harder and that would make us acceptable? No! It took the firstborn son of Heaven to DIE our death. To take the darkness upon his shoulders and absorb it. We’ll spend more time on this next week, looking at the echoes of the Cross in the Passover here in Exodus.

Because this is a great picture of how God saves. He saves on his initiative, with his power, and, we’ll find out next week, at a great cost. There is a cost to be paid to avoid death. And that cost is a substitute: the lambs that were slain. Representing the Perfect Lamb, the Lamb of God as John the Baptist calls Him, as he gave his blood, his perfect blood, the sinless dying in the place of the sinners, so that we could have life.

It’s all God. He promises. He calls. He commands. He saves. And He pays the cost for that salvation. Praise God!

Praise God for his promise: his people will live.

And that promise is secure, because

3. The Lord our God is the Sovereign Lord

11:9 Now the LORD had told Moses earlier, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, but then I will do even more mighty miracles in the land of Egypt.” 10 Moses and Aaron performed these miracles in Pharaoh’s presence, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he wouldn’t let the Israelites leave the country.

Did you notice something odd about the way this chapter was written? It’s going backwards. It’s like the credits at the end of the movie going down instead of up.

V1 Then the LORD said to Moses. V4 we go backwards 4 Moses had announced to Pharaoh. V9 further back still! 9 Now the LORD had told Moses earlier

Why? Why is it written like this? Chapter 10 ends with the dramatic argument, and you will never see me again! You should go straight into chapter 12. Instead, the author steps out and says “now remember, it is GOD who has arranged all this and who has control”. Why did God want him to write it like this? It seems God wants to emphasise His sovereignty, his absolute control over all things.

Something that struck me in reading these chapters is the Bible’s attitude to “and God hardened Pharaoh’s heart”. For us, this display of God’s complete sovereignty is a problem. We get…uncertain about it, and try to explain it away, or to minimise it. You know… the lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and RESCUED THE ISRAELITES!

The question is then, what is wrong with me? Why am I embarrassed by something that God is clearly not embarrassed by, nor were his people. They exulted in his sovereignty.

I think many problems we have with God, I think our lack of faith in so many areas, our need to twist the gospel to suit us, our mass of false teachers with prosperity gospel promises and your best life now self-help Christianity come from this: we don’t actually believe that God is sovereign. Which really is the same as saying that we don’t believe God is God. Because if God is not sovereign, he is not God. If God’s creation is outside of his control – well, his words are meaningless, his promises do not matter, his judgement can be avoided. He just becomes another entity in creation, one of the gods like Zeus or Thor or Odin or the “Jehovah” of the Witnesses or the “God” and “Jesus” of much modern Christianity.

But the God of the Bible. Wow. He can harden Pharaoh’s heart, just like that. He can plunge a nation into ruin and suffering for standing against him. He wipes out nations for rebelling against him. Even his own people are judged and found wanting and he sends the Assyrians to wipe out the Northern Kingdom of Israel – and it was utterly wiped out, never to rise again. Who is this God?

You know, what matters is not your attitude to God. That’s pretty much irrelevant. What matters is God’s attitude to you. Are you an Egyptian or an Israelite? Are you in darkness or in light?

So the smart thing to do is to beg him for mercy! Because nothing else will work. No amount of bowing and scraping or wheeling and dealing or little offerings or obedience or will change that. There is no way we can get the upper hand. He is utterly superior to us and totally immutable. Immutable is a good Bible word meaning unchangeable, unable to be affected in the sense of manipulating him. We know he is affected by our sin and our suffering – the Lord is with his people. But his emotional attachment does not leave him open to manipulation. He is immutable. High above. Sovereign. He does what he wants when he wants.

And that is good. Because it means that when he says he will judge the wicked it means he will judge the wicked and all the evil that has ever been done on this earth will be dealt with. No-one will escape. Justice will be done. Death, eternal death, is coming for all, no matter how great they once were. All those dictators and warlords – all will stand before God.

And it means that when he says he will save his people it means he will save his people. All those who are in Christ will be saved. His promise is secure because there is nothing outside of his control nothing can interfere with his plans or trip him up. Praise God!

Ps 105 Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. 2 Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds… 25 ...[H]e turned the Egyptians against the Israelites, and they plotted against the LORD’s servants. 26 But the LORD sent his servant Moses, along with Aaron, whom he had chosen. 27 They performed miraculous signs among the Egyptians, and wonders in the land of Ham. 28 The LORD blanketed Egypt in darkness, for they had defied his commands to let his people go. 29 He turned their water into blood, poisoning all the fish. 30 Then frogs overran the land and even invaded the king’s bedrooms. 31 When the LORD spoke, flies descended on the Egyptians, and gnats swarmed across Egypt. 32 He sent them hail instead of rain, and lightning flashed over the land. 33 He ruined their grapevines and fig trees and shattered all the trees. 34 He spoke, and hordes of locusts came— young locusts beyond number. 35 They ate up everything green in the land, destroying all the crops in their fields. 36 Then he killed the oldest son in each Egyptian home, the pride and joy of each family. 37 The LORD brought his people out of Egypt, loaded with silver and gold; and not one among the tribes of Israel even stumbled. 38 Egypt was glad when they were gone, for they feared them greatly. … 45 All this happened so they would follow his decrees and obey his instructions. Praise the LORD!