1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:01,640 Welcome back everyone. Part 2. 2 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:03,800 So we're going to be hearing from Bill now. 3 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:06,880 And if you're new to Hope, my name is Chris, I'm one of the 4 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:09,640 pastors. This is Bill and we're going to 5 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:13,240 be Bill's going to be speaking as part of a trilogy. 6 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,720 This is Part 2 of his trilogy on the crucifixion as we're getting 7 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,880 coming towards Easter. And the way this works is he'll 8 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,760 speak for about 40 minutes or so, and then from a will it be 9 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:29,760 less, might be less. OK, well, you'll take 40 minutes 10 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:32,920 and then we'll have some time at the end to pray. 11 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:35,920 And we, and that's an opportunity really to respond to 12 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:37,880 what Bill's been saying. If there's something that's been 13 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:41,320 stirring in you or if there's something else in your life that 14 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,120 you'd like some prayer for. And we kind of suggest that in 15 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,440 three ways you can just, if you'd like to just process on 16 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,600 your own, you and God do that. If you'd like to pray with 17 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:54,840 someone around you, do that or if you want to come to the front 18 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:56,520 and we can find someone to pray with you. 19 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:59,040 But we just want to make sure that we, you know, after every 20 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:01,200 Sunday, we've got a space, space to pray. 21 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:05,400 And so that's how we'll, and then we're sort of finished by 22 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:07,160 12:10. That's our sort of timings. 23 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,680 So great to be together, great to be worshipping Jesus 24 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,880 together. And if you've missed Bill's last 25 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:15,920 talk, you can catch up with it on on our website. 26 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,440 It's a link to all of our previous talks and they're on 27 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,800 Spotify and Apple Podcasts and all that sort of thing as well. 28 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:23,960 So you can catch up with it there if you'd like to. 29 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:27,560 Let's pray and then I'm going to hand over to Bill. 30 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:34,760 Lord, thank you for this opportunity to get together as 31 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,720 part of your church. And as Alice was reminding us of 32 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,400 the church in Iran in the first half, we, we're aware that we're 33 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:48,640 part of this global body of Christ that has been set aside 34 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,200 this day, Sunday, each day of the week, particularly to 35 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,360 worship you. And so we're taking the baton on 36 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:57,600 from, I don't know, maybe the French and Spanish and Italians 37 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:00,880 and others a bit to the east of us. 38 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:05,200 And, and then soon will be the American church will be waking 39 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,240 up and, and, and rising to worship you. 40 00:02:09,199 --> 00:02:12,840 And we're part of this body of Christ through history as well. 41 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:18,360 And we're grateful for those who've gone before us and who's 42 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:22,560 who have, who have discovered some of who you are. 43 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,760 And we get to stand on the shoulders of those people and 44 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:29,360 benefit from the things that they've learned and discovered. 45 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:33,640 And it's our prayer as well that that that the generations to 46 00:02:33,640 --> 00:02:38,480 come will be able to grow further from our learning and 47 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:43,320 our maturing as well. We will help us to be good 48 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:48,320 stewards of, of, of truth of the good news of Jesus. 49 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,360 We're aware that that we're small and insignificant in many 50 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:55,160 ways, but we're also hugely significant. 51 00:02:55,480 --> 00:03:00,840 And that you do Jesus said that you you talked about yeast 52 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,640 working through dough. You talked about salt giving 53 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:05,640 flavour. And that's how you describe us. 54 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:10,240 And so we want, it's important that we know and understand and 55 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:12,720 live in light of the truth of who you are and who we are. 56 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:16,840 So we pray that these words that Bill speaks to us this morning, 57 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:22,000 they feed us and equip us to see the world as you intended, as 58 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:27,280 you designed it, help us to thrive so that we can bring your 59 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:28,920 life and goodness to those around us. 60 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:35,880 Amen. Thanks, Chris. 61 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:40,560 Hello, everyone. I was talking to someone last 62 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:45,000 Sunday and they said, are you still doing that series on 63 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:50,880 rediscovering the Gospel? Yeah, I know it, it is going on 64 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:54,360 and on, isn't it? Oh, well, thank you very much. 65 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:58,720 Thank you. But she also said, and I, I'm 66 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,720 not going to name names, but she also said, have you actually 67 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:08,480 told us yet what the gospel is? And so I, I think I'm going to 68 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:13,200 begin by taking stock, OK, just by clarifying where we are. 69 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:20,959 Actually, I have in earlier in the series, I did explain what 70 00:04:20,959 --> 00:04:25,040 the gospel is, but it was kind of blink and you miss it because 71 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:27,880 it's, it's actually really straightforward and it's quite 72 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,480 brief. The gospel. 73 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:34,640 And when I say this, I mean in, in biblical terms, as far as the 74 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:41,720 Bible is concerned, the gospel is the news of the life, death 75 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:45,520 and resurrection of Jesus, of Jesus Christ. 76 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:50,480 That is what the Bible means by the gospel. 77 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:54,560 It's the good news of Jesus, his life, death and resurrection. 78 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:59,240 Now I know that comes as a shock because by and large today when 79 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:03,280 people use that word, the gospel, what they mean is the 80 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:07,680 Christian sales pitch. You know, how do you get saved? 81 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:11,560 These four steps. This is the sharing the gospel 82 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:14,120 means giving people the sales pitch. 83 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,440 And that's fine. We we can use that word in that 84 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,280 way. But the gospel, as far as Paul, 85 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:25,280 for example, is concerned, is simply the life death is the 86 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:29,000 news of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. 87 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:34,880 That's why we call those four books the Gospels, because 88 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:38,960 that's what they are. They tell us the story, the 89 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:42,400 story, which is the news of the life, death and resurrection of 90 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:47,080 Jesus. When Paul summarises the gospel, 91 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,640 which he does in a number of places, and he does it in one or 92 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:56,160 two verses, and it's simply that the Messiah has died and God has 93 00:05:56,160 --> 00:06:00,360 raised him from the dead. That's that is Paul's gospel. 94 00:06:00,840 --> 00:06:04,920 That's the news. Now we're looking at Romans and 95 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:09,280 he doesn't really explain that. He alludes to it a bit at the 96 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:14,800 front in in chapter 1. Now, why doesn't he explain what 97 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,480 the gospel is when he's writing a letter? 98 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:20,080 Because he's writing to Christians. 99 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,160 This is a letter to a church, the church in Rome. 100 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,000 So as far as, as far as Paul and the church in Rome is concerned, 101 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:31,920 it's taken for granted. They know what the gospel is. 102 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:33,960 You know, that's tacit knowledge. 103 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:37,960 He doesn't need to explain to them what the gospel is. 104 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:39,680 It's the reason they're Christians. 105 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:44,880 They know the story. What Paul does in Romans is he 106 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:50,160 explains the meaning of the gospel because it's clear from 107 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:54,240 what the church in Rome is like that they haven't really thought 108 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:57,160 through the consequences of the gospel. 109 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:00,200 They haven't thought through how the life, death, and 110 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:02,840 resurrection of Jesus effects them. 111 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,920 They don't understand it. They don't understand how it 112 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:10,880 works. They don't understand why it 113 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:16,000 matters, why it's important. They don't understand what it 114 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:20,680 changes, what it affects, and they don't understand how it 115 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:25,200 applies to them. And So what we're looking at 116 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:29,040 now, so we're looking at the crucifixion and resurrection and 117 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,600 what I think is the heart of Romans, this letter, which is 118 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,840 chapters 5 to 8, the second quarter of this letter. 119 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:43,520 In the heart of the letter, chapters 5 to 8, Paul explains 120 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:48,520 what does the life, death and resurrection of Jesus mean? 121 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,600 How does it work? How does it save us? 122 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:57,240 How does it affect us? Why does it matter? 123 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:02,120 Why is it important? And in these 4 chapters, he kind 124 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:06,080 of says the same thing three different times, but in very 125 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:08,520 different ways and from different perspectives. 126 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:10,480 And that's what we're looking at now. 127 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:16,360 We're going to, we're going to switch our focus to chapters 567 128 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:22,600 and 8, the heart of the Gospel. What does the, the resurrection, 129 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,280 what, what does the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus 130 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:26,960 mean? Now? 131 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:32,880 He's already kind of explained it a bit in chapter 3, but using 132 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,760 metaphors, and we looked at this earlier in the series. 133 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:41,799 He used a range of different metaphors to explain how the 134 00:08:41,799 --> 00:08:43,520 crucifixion and the resurrection work. 135 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:49,320 And he talks about sacrifice, and he talks about law courts 136 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:53,880 and punishment and judgement. He talks about redemption, which 137 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:58,400 is setting slaves free. Now these are all metaphors, but 138 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,720 it kind of raises the question, OK, well, Paul, if these are 139 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,600 your metaphors, can you speak directly? 140 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:08,560 You know, how can you explain it without using metaphors? 141 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:13,280 How does the crucifixion work? How does the resurrection work? 142 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:16,120 What does it mean? Can you unpack it for us? 143 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,280 And that's what it what he does. And that's what I'm going to 144 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:23,720 start looking at today. And we're going to start in 145 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:26,840 chapter 5. Here's how it starts. 146 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:28,400 Now there's a health warning here. 147 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:33,600 Chapters 5 to 8 of Romans are just about the most dense bits 148 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:36,520 of the Bible. It's there's an awful lot going 149 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:42,240 on. It's hard to understand, but my 150 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:49,440 aim this morning is to look at this passage, chapter 5, verse 151 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:54,040 12 and then 15 to 19 and just kind of unpack what's going on. 152 00:09:55,280 --> 00:10:00,480 But I warn you, it's not easy. There's something else. 153 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:07,600 He he refers to one man a lot. Now what he's, what he's talking 154 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:10,160 about. He's thinking about Genesis one 155 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:13,200 to three. The one man that he has in mind, 156 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,760 I don't think he names him in this passage is Adam. 157 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:20,800 And what he's doing in this passage is he's comparing Adam 158 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:24,920 and Christ. OK, Adam and Christ, that's 159 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:28,960 that's his mental pattern, his mental model of what's going on. 160 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:31,240 OK, you ready? Brace yourselves. 161 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:37,280 We'll have a read. Therefore, just as sin entered 162 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:40,480 the world through one man and death through sin. 163 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:45,000 And in this way, death came to all people because all sinned. 164 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:47,280 And then he doesn't finish his thought. 165 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:49,920 He kind of starts a sentence and then gets sidetracked. 166 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:51,800 So I've cut out the next couple of verses. 167 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,360 But then he he returns to his main train of thought. 168 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:58,920 But the gift is not like the trespass. 169 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:03,800 For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how 170 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:07,560 much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace 171 00:11:07,560 --> 00:11:10,960 of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many? 172 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,560 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one 173 00:11:15,560 --> 00:11:18,920 man's sin. The judgement followed one sin 174 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:21,640 and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many 175 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:23,840 trespasses and brought justification. 176 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:29,000 For if by the trespass of the one man death reigned through 177 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:33,400 that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant 178 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:36,640 provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in 179 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,520 life through the one man, Jesus Christ? 180 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:44,360 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in 181 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:49,400 condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted 182 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:51,800 in justification and life for all people. 183 00:11:52,560 --> 00:11:56,360 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the 184 00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:00,240 many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one 185 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:02,600 man, the many will be made righteous. 186 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:07,440 Do you get it? There's two patterns here. 187 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:11,680 There's Adam and there's Christ, and he's kind of saying the same 188 00:12:11,680 --> 00:12:14,400 thing again and again. He's hammering it home. 189 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:19,200 There are these two ways of being human, but they're very, 190 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:22,640 very different. And it's a kind of either or 191 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:25,480 situation. And what he's going to unfold in 192 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:30,920 the rest of 567 and 8 is how you become in Christ. 193 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:34,280 There is a choice that we all have to make. 194 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:41,520 You know, there are some Bible passages which you love and you 195 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:45,560 return to and you feast on and you drink deeply and you read 196 00:12:45,560 --> 00:12:48,080 them again and again and again. And there are others which you 197 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:52,880 kind of avoid. Now, for me, this is 1. 198 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:57,640 Can you guess out of those two categories of Bible passage, 199 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:01,040 where do you think? Naturally I would put this 200 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:05,520 passage? It's not in the first camp. 201 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:08,520 Why? Because it's hard. 202 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:11,400 It's difficult to work out what's going on. 203 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:14,880 It's hard work. But secondly, I have a real 204 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:21,280 issue with Adam and with the the way that Paul or, or I, I had a 205 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:26,320 real issue with the way that Paul seems to understand Genesis 206 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:30,320 one to three, because he seems to read it historically. 207 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:36,160 He seems to think there was this real one man long, long time ago 208 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:40,000 who made one bad choice and as a result, everything's gone wrong. 209 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:44,240 And why? Why don't I like that? 210 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:47,160 And what kind of why do I see it that way? 211 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:50,280 Well, because we know that in the old days people were stupid, 212 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:56,920 whereas now we're smart. Isn't that? 213 00:13:56,960 --> 00:13:59,640 Isn't that true? In the old days people were 214 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:03,640 stupid, but today we're smart. And so we we understand this is 215 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:08,520 myth, don't we? Well, hang on a minute. 216 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:12,920 First of all, we don't know what Paul thinks. 217 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:18,000 He might be speaking literally. He might be reading it 218 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:21,480 historically, or he might be reading it as a myth. 219 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:26,960 He doesn't say. It's a mistake to assume that in 220 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:32,600 those days, those people around at the same time of Paul, they 221 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:36,800 all read everything literally. We know we've got plenty of 222 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:41,680 examples from contemporaries of Paul, both Christian and Jewish, 223 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,840 who are very sensitive to different genres, different 224 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:51,000 literary genres and sensitive to the category of myth. 225 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:57,760 For example, Philo, Oregon, Clement of Alexandria, 226 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,360 Augustine, you know, these are all people about the same time. 227 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,600 Oregon's fantastic. He's absolutely scathing about 228 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:08,920 people who read Genesis one to three as history. 229 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:10,760 He said, can't you, can't you see? 230 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:14,840 Of course it's myth. So we, we mustn't assume that 231 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:18,160 just because, you know, Paul lived a long time ago, he must 232 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:22,960 have read it historically. But the key thing is how is he 233 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:28,320 reading it here? He's reading it theologically. 234 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:34,760 He's reading these two types, these two patterns, but he's 235 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:36,800 thinking it through theologically. 236 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:39,800 He's he's interested in life and death. 237 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:43,520 He's interested in sin and righteousness. 238 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:47,280 He's interested in judgement and grace. 239 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:51,240 Those are his categories. We don't know how he's reading 240 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:54,480 it. And what I find fascinating is 241 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:59,160 if we read Genesis 1 to 3 the same way, kind of through Paul's 242 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:06,400 lens theologically, and then we think about the gospel, which is 243 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:10,800 the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus, and we 244 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:16,880 look at those events through the same theological lens, then what 245 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:19,480 do we see? What do we notice? 246 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,320 And that's what we're going to do now, if that's all right. 247 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:33,800 That's this morning's plan. So here we are, Genesis 1, God 248 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:40,640 and Adam, Adam with God. Now, what happens in Genesis 2? 249 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:45,600 Basically, God gives Adam a choice. 250 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:54,880 What God does is he creates for Adam the opportunity to exercise 251 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:58,040 free will. He gives him a choice. 252 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,760 I mean, there's a lot going on with the the tree of the 253 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:04,000 knowledge of good and evil. But in some ways it's really 254 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,119 simple. You know, he could have drawn a 255 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:09,040 circle on the floor and said, don't stand in that circle. 256 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:15,760 You know, there's one command and he gives Adam a choice. 257 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:22,319 Is it yes God or no God? Do I agree or do I not agree? 258 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:27,359 And God makes it crystal clear that there are consequences 259 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:34,400 riding on this choice. If you do this, you will die. 260 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:37,920 Absolutely. Big consequences. 261 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:42,720 And so fundamentally, the question that Adam has, the 262 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:47,920 choice he's got to make is, will you acknowledge me as God? 263 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:54,520 God says to him, Will you let me be God in your life? 264 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:57,920 Will you depend on me? Will you trust me? 265 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:03,600 Will you trust my judgement? Will you let me be your God? 266 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:10,440 Or do you want that role? Do you trust your own judgement? 267 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:13,560 Are you going to depend on yourself? 268 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:19,520 Are you going to turn away from me and not allow me to be your 269 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:25,280 God? And we know what happens. 270 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:32,560 Adam makes a bad choice. And the consequences that Adam 271 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:37,520 had been warned about, they occur. 2 main consequences. 272 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:43,000 First of all, separation. All of a sudden we have these 273 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,720 two categories. We have heaven, the place where 274 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:50,760 God is, and the world, the place where human is, and they're no 275 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:54,520 longer the same place. There's a separation, there's a 276 00:18:54,520 --> 00:19:00,400 barrier between the two, and then there are ultimate 277 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:04,880 consequences. On the left hand side of the 278 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,880 line, these are the people who are living and heading towards 279 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,480 life. On the right hand side is the 280 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:14,280 people who are dying and heading towards death. 281 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:19,760 Death reigns. As Paul says in Romans chapter 282 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:29,120 5, Adam makes a bad choice and in a way this thread runs 283 00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:31,240 through the whole of the Old Testament. 284 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:38,040 If we think about Israel, Israel takes the place of Adam and 285 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:41,720 running all the way through the story of Israel is this attempt 286 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:47,840 of humans to get close to God. And what they find again and 287 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:50,640 again and again is it's mighty hard. 288 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:53,160 I love this. I mean love it. 289 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:58,000 I love the story of Mount Sinai in Exodus and God comes down on 290 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,320 the mountain. But the warning is don't touch 291 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:03,480 the mountain. You'll get zapped. 292 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:07,280 You know, you can come close, but not too close. 293 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,000 You can approach the mountain, but don't touch it. 294 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:15,760 Only one person. One human is allowed to go up 295 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:18,680 the mountain and get extra close to God. 296 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:27,400 Same picture in the temple, no? Yes, the presence of God is in 297 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:31,080 the Holy of Holies. But who's allowed to enter the 298 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:37,840 Holy of Holies and how often and at great risk, you know, the 299 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:40,800 chief priest. And so we we get this picture 300 00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:45,760 that there's this separation. It's really hard to get close to 301 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:47,680 God. It's hard to approach him. 302 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:51,400 It's possible, but it's really, really difficult. 303 00:20:53,480 --> 00:21:00,840 And so by the end of the end of the Old Testament, Israel has 304 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:03,880 become Israel stands for all of humanity. 305 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:08,240 And the question is, how are we going to bridge that gap? 306 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:13,160 How is it possible for humans to get close to God? 307 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:15,400 That's the question we're asking. 308 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:20,080 How can we be with him? How can we get near to him? 309 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:27,960 Are you ready for the gospel? Remember, the gospel is the 310 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:31,200 events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. 311 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:34,360 It's the four gospels. How did the Gospel start, 312 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:39,680 particularly Matthew and Luke, The Nativity. 313 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:49,200 Here's the nativity. The question everyone is asking 314 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:54,720 at the end of the Old Testament is how can we humans get close 315 00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:56,800 to God? How can we approach him? 316 00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:59,000 How can we overcome that barrier? 317 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:05,160 Well, here's a surprise. He comes to us, God with us. 318 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:11,200 Emmanuel, we've been trying to make the journey, but he 319 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:14,360 approaches us. He comes and joins us. 320 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:20,880 And he's not just with us. He's chosen to become like us. 321 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:26,720 He's become human in order to be with us. 322 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:32,960 He's taken on humanity and more than that, he takes on our 323 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:37,560 identity. He identifies with us and stands 324 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:39,640 with us. Do you remember the story of the 325 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:47,320 baptism, especially in Matthew? Jesus lines up, he cues up to be 326 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:50,640 baptised by John, John the Baptist. 327 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:53,000 Now what's going on in this baptism? 328 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:58,840 Well, people are the sinners, People who want to change, who 329 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:04,640 recognise their need to change and repent as a way of saying I 330 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:10,080 want to turn to you God. They come to John in the 331 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:14,240 wilderness and they're baptised and John sees Jesus there and he 332 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:18,920 says this is wrong, You know, you should be baptising me 333 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,600 because relative to you I'm the Sinner here. 334 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:28,240 But Jesus insists, he says no, no, so that all righteousness 335 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,920 can be fulfilled. No, I need to be baptised. 336 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:34,920 Why? Because he's standing with us. 337 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:38,600 He's taking on the human identity. 338 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:44,120 It reverses the Old Testament picture. 339 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:53,920 And so we come to Easter. OK, think about Gethsemane. 340 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:04,320 Think about Gethsemane in Genesis one to three. 341 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:14,360 We had a man in a garden, and this man is given a choice, and 342 00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:19,840 it's an easy choice. The consequences of saying yes, 343 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:26,840 Lord, are only good. The consequences of saying no, I 344 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,000 don't want you to be my God, are only bad. 345 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:42,560 And what does he say? No God, no God, not my God. 346 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:51,200 In Gethsemane we have a man in the garden who's confronted with 347 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:55,440 a choice, and it's an agonising choice. 348 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:01,720 The consequences of saying yes, Lord, are horrifying. 349 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:07,800 And what does he say? He says I acknowledge you as 350 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:12,360 God, I choose you as my God, I submit. 351 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:22,400 And so we come to Good Friday, the crucifixion. 352 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:32,360 I think the crucifixion is far more astonishing and far more 353 00:25:32,360 --> 00:25:39,200 miraculous than the resurrection, because bringing 354 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:44,080 things to life, creating life, giving life, well, that's what 355 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,400 God does. That's the business he's in. 356 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:53,800 But the idea that God should die, well, that's not what God 357 00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:56,880 does. That's extraordinary. 358 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:04,960 Remind me, what is the penalty? The the price you pay, the 359 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:09,720 consequences, the fruit, the wages, the punishment, the 360 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:16,720 outcome of sin. The outcome of sin is death. 361 00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:25,760 Did Jesus sin? No, Jesus is faithful and 362 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:30,920 obedient and yet the consequence of Jesus faithfulness and 363 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:35,320 obedience is death. It's all wrong. 364 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:37,800 It's back to front, it's upside down. 365 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:46,520 That is far more shocking than Easter Sunday. 366 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:52,160 But then we come to Easter Sunday. 367 00:26:55,440 --> 00:27:04,760 New life. In Romans 5, what Paul presents 368 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:11,320 us is two ways of being human. There's the Adam pattern, and 369 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:14,040 there's the God, and there's the Christ pattern. 370 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:23,520 There are two ways to be human. I mean, the way Paul puts it is 371 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,280 you can be in Adam or you can be in Christ. 372 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:31,760 You can follow the Adam pattern or you can follow the Christ 373 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:36,440 pattern. The Adam pattern is unfaithful, 374 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:42,040 turning away from God and dying. The Christ pattern is faithful, 375 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:47,560 trusting God, depending on him and heading for life, living and 376 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:52,240 heading for life. And for Paul, this is the 377 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:56,840 meaning of the gospel. This is the meaning of the 378 00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:58,600 crucifixion and the resurrection. 379 00:28:00,120 --> 00:28:06,720 We can choose, we have a choice to be a different kind of human. 380 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:11,000 And he summarises this different kind of human in a very simple 381 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:15,560 phrase, which is in Christ. And he'll spend the next 3 1/2 382 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:20,160 chapters unpacking what it means to be in Christ, how you can 383 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:24,400 become in Christ, what it looks like, and particularly how's it 384 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,440 going to work? Because humanity's track record 385 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,920 has been pretty bad. So why should we be confident 386 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,520 that this time it's actually going to work? 387 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:38,600 So there are loads of questions, loads of questions about this, 388 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:43,240 this pattern, this idea. And Paul is going to unpack them 389 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,920 over the next few chapters. And we're going to look at them 390 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:49,200 over the next few talks in this everlasting series. 391 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:52,760 But for now, I want to make 2 observations. 392 00:28:54,920 --> 00:29:02,120 First one is this I mentioned before. 393 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:09,240 Paul uses all sorts of metaphors to explain the gospel, and in 394 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:11,760 particular to explain the crucifixion and the 395 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:17,000 resurrection. And The thing is, in our day, in 396 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:21,080 evangelical circles, one of those metaphors has become 397 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:27,920 central, become quite dominant, the metaphor of kind of the law 398 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:33,640 court, picture God as judge, judgement and punishment. 399 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:40,040 This metaphor has become central and kind of elbowed the others 400 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:44,240 out, I would suggest. But also, it's read literally. 401 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:50,040 It's often read literally. If if you ask some people to 402 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:54,240 summarise the gospel, they'll, they'll say something like God 403 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:58,040 punishes Jesus so that we can escape punishment. 404 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:01,680 That is the summary of of the gospel. 405 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:08,760 And many people object to that, and they object, I think 406 00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:13,320 rightly, because it makes God into this cruel master, this 407 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:20,920 cruel judge, this cruel monster. And today's big argument in 408 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:24,240 Christian circles is often around that question. 409 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:31,440 It's one reason why I'm doing this series is to try and, you 410 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:35,160 know, contribute, not contribute to the argument, but bring some 411 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:39,560 understanding, you know, who's right and who's wrong in this 412 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:43,640 argument. Penal substitution view of 413 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:48,560 atonement or not, Which side do you land on, Bill? 414 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:55,480 Well, here's my question. If if the gospel is the news of 415 00:30:55,480 --> 00:31:00,800 the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the historical news of 416 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:07,000 real life events that happened 2000 years ago, then who killed 417 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:13,040 Jesus? I'll tell you it was Roman 418 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:18,880 soldiers on the orders of the Roman political leader, 419 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:27,160 encouraged by the Jewish religious leaders and under 420 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:31,520 pressure from the mob. I mean, that's what we read in 421 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:35,880 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Those are the historical event. 422 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:42,080 That's how Jesus ended up dead. In historical terms, it was 423 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:46,680 military power, human military power, human political power, 424 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:50,280 human religious power and people power. 425 00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:56,920 Who killed Jesus? We did, We did. 426 00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:01,400 How appalling to suggest that it was the Father. 427 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:14,440 But if the penalty for sin is death, and He did not sin but 428 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:19,880 died, if He died as a consequence of His choice to be 429 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:25,280 with us and to become become like us, to stand with us, is 430 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:28,520 there a way in which He took our punishment? 431 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:35,080 Well, yes there is. He came and stood with us, and 432 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,080 so along with us He took that punishment. 433 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:47,400 And if as a result of his life and death, we end up living even 434 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:53,520 though we deserve to die, is there a way in which is it like 435 00:32:54,080 --> 00:33:00,120 his punishment sets us free? Well, yes, it is. 436 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:05,600 So the metaphor has value. It says something important. 437 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:11,720 It provides A valuable insight. Paul chooses his metaphors for a 438 00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:14,480 good reason. They're saying something 439 00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:18,440 important. But we need to be really, really 440 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:23,440 careful about how we use them. In particular, we need to 441 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:29,280 clarify that they are metaphors. We mustn't read them in a 442 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:37,040 wooden, kind of simplistic way. What I find striking about the 443 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:41,800 argument, the argument which seems to be raging in Christian 444 00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:49,960 circles, is that both sides read these passages in the same way. 445 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:57,480 They read a metaphor literally. And one side says, well this if 446 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:00,320 this is what the Bible says, then we need to believe it even 447 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:01,880 though it makes God into a monster. 448 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:07,040 And the other, the other side says, if this is what Paul is 449 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:11,239 saying, then we need to set it aside. 450 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:16,920 We need to dismiss it because it turns God into a monster. 451 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:21,920 Neither side, I would suggest is reading it very well. 452 00:34:28,530 --> 00:34:31,650 There was another reason I didn't like the passage, which 453 00:34:31,650 --> 00:34:36,850 is it seems so unfair because Paul seems to be suggesting that 454 00:34:37,449 --> 00:34:42,760 I'm condemned to the right hand side of the picture because of a 455 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:47,400 choice Adam made. Now how is that fair? 456 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:52,639 Adam, whoever he was, if he existed, made this choice a 457 00:34:52,639 --> 00:34:55,639 long, long time ago and as a result I end up on the right 458 00:34:55,639 --> 00:34:58,280 side of the picture. I'm being punished for his 459 00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:03,960 choice. And what I notice is that Paul's 460 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:08,280 explanation of the gospel, his explanation of Jesus death and 461 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:14,080 resurrection, what that does is it puts us in Adam's place. 462 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:18,760 We get to make the same choice for ourselves. 463 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:25,880 Each of us is in the garden facing the same choice. 464 00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:31,360 We're asked, what do you want? Adam in the garden is face to 465 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:34,800 face with God. And God says, do you acknowledge 466 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,440 that I'm God? Do you trust and depend on me? 467 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:41,760 Do you want to be with me? Do you want to be like me? 468 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:50,480 Will you call me Lord? Do you want to live and I'm face 469 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:55,560 to face with Jesus and he asked me, Do you acknowledge that I'm 470 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:59,320 God? Will you trust and depend on me? 471 00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:04,320 Do you want to be with me? Do you want to be like me? 472 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:11,560 Will you call me Lord? Do you want to live? 473 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:15,720 We're in exactly the same situation. 474 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:22,560 OK, so it may be unfair that I'm on the right hand side because 475 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:28,120 of Adam's choice. But now I'm in the in. 476 00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:31,280 I'm facing the same choice. It's up to me. 477 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:37,720 I can't blame Adam anymore. You know Adam isn't a name. 478 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:41,560 I mean, I know it is. There are people called Adam, 479 00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:45,320 but Adam is the Hebrew for human. 480 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:52,120 We're all Adam, and we're all facing Adam's choice. 481 00:36:54,720 --> 00:37:04,840 What do you want? Let's pray Bill described those 482 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:08,120 two gardens just as as Duncan continues to play, let's just 483 00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:12,520 take our minds back to those, to those two gardens. 484 00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:18,520 There's the Garden of Eden where Adam was describing that 485 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:24,640 proximity of God and humanity, that intimacy, that closeness. 486 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:31,480 And then Bill describes Gethsemane, the garden outside 487 00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:36,680 Jerusalem where Jesus was before he was arrested and then taken 488 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:42,720 to be tried and crucified. And he was in that garden and in 489 00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:47,640 that place he was praying and he'd asked his disciples to go 490 00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:50,600 and pray with him. And he, we read that it is a 491 00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:54,000 real time of anguish for him. It says that as he was praying, 492 00:37:54,000 --> 00:38:01,800 he was sweating blood, such was the extensively pain he was he 493 00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:04,840 was feeling in terms of knowing what he was going to experience. 494 00:38:11,140 --> 00:38:16,660 And then the other image that that Bill described was was the 495 00:38:16,940 --> 00:38:19,060 was the incarnation. You know, those circles that 496 00:38:19,060 --> 00:38:27,300 Bill had, Bill had on the screen where you see God and man, 497 00:38:28,420 --> 00:38:31,900 humanity separate sides of a dividing line. 498 00:38:31,900 --> 00:38:34,660 And how does humanity breach that to get to God? 499 00:38:34,660 --> 00:38:40,760 And, and the surprise is that God is born into into humanity. 500 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:49,880 And Bill describes Jesus lining up on the river Jordan banks 501 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:53,840 together with others where John the Baptist was baptising 502 00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:57,520 people. And Jesus patiently with others, 503 00:38:58,240 --> 00:39:02,520 sort of took his place in the queue and humbly went into the 504 00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:19,670 water baptised by John. So Lord, be grateful that 505 00:39:19,670 --> 00:39:24,630 you've, you've walked these paths, grateful that you've 506 00:39:27,470 --> 00:39:32,910 experienced that suffering on our behalf in Gethsemane, 507 00:39:33,990 --> 00:39:39,670 grateful that you've taken that walk to baptism in the Jordan, 508 00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:45,960 grateful that you've come to live amongst us. 509 00:39:52,390 --> 00:39:55,030 And then the, the, the, the question that Bill put to us 510 00:39:55,030 --> 00:40:01,590 was, will we choose to choose the way of the way of Jesus or 511 00:40:01,590 --> 00:40:05,190 the way of Adam? So I think it'd be good for us 512 00:40:05,190 --> 00:40:08,950 to, to respond to that as well with we've done it 100 times 513 00:40:08,950 --> 00:40:10,790 before, or this is the first time to do it. 514 00:40:10,790 --> 00:40:14,310 If you'd like to to to to pray that prayer and. 515 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:20,000 And and again, just acknowledge our need for Jesus and the life 516 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:23,240 that comes in and through knowing and following and living 517 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:27,320 in Jesus. I'm going to pray that now, 518 00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:36,440 Lord, I recognise that in myself is a is a is a leaning and a 519 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:39,840 temptation to do things in my own strength and in my own 520 00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:41,760 independence. And it manifests in all sorts of 521 00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:47,760 ways in my life. But I've discovered and realised 522 00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:52,040 that life comes through you, Jesus. 523 00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:57,480 And again today I, I want to acknowledge that you are my Lord 524 00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:02,520 and I, I submit to you and I want to follow you and I give my 525 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:11,470 life to you. Thank you. 526 00:41:14,190 --> 00:41:14,510 Amen.