Author: Geoff Murray

What’s in a name?

Geoff Murray Sermons

Video
Sermon: Sunday, 21st May, 2023
Speaker: Geoff Murray
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25

We’re going to look at the meaning of the name of Jesus in Matthew 1:21. This name gets to the heart of the deepest problems in us and our world. The problem of sin. We read that the angel appears to Joseph and says, ‘You are to call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.’ That is the meaning behind the name. The Lord saves. In other words, as a Bible commentator put it, it’s like his name is ‘God to the Rescue!’

Jesus has, in his very name, the answer. He will save his people from their sins. Jesus saves his people from their sins in three very specific ways. He saves from the penalty of sin, he saves from the power of sin and lastly, when Jesus comes again or we die, whichever happens first, he saves us from the presence of sin.

Jesus saves from the penalty of sin

We can go online and find out answers for most things, but the question you might get various different answers on is: how can I be saved? You might be thinking ‘Saved from what? I don’t need to be saved!’ In the same way that there are penalties to pay in life when we break the speed limit, misbehave in school, or consistently turn up late for work, it’s no different with us and God.

The Bible tells us that all have sinned against God, broken his laws and his standards and that the penalty for that is God’s judgement. Now of course we have done good in our life, but that doesn’t cancel out our wrong. It would be like receiving the penalty notice for speeding and replying to the authorities, ‘But think of all those times I kept the speed limit.’ Or being docked wages for always being late and saying, ‘Well, I suppose if you think about it, I always get my work done in the end.’

Think of it, if we have sinned against God and the penalty is judgement and we reply, ‘But I’ve done good as well though.’ It still doesn’t remove the penalty for your offences.

What are the offences we are supposed to have committed against God? It doesn’t take long to establish that when we go through the most basic of his commands: the ten commandments. As we can see, even going through a few of the commandments, we have found ourselves on the wrong side of God’s law. The penalty for that is God’s judgement.

‘But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will repay each person according to what they have done… ‘But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.’ (Romans 2:5–6, 8)

But Jesus steps in and he will save his people from their sins. As we’ve just seen recently at the end of Luke’s gospel where Jesus was crucified, this was not a general symbol of his love, nor a moral example of laying down your life for others, but primarily as a payment of the penalty that stood against us.

‘God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith.’ (Romans 3:25)

For those who don’t think they’re good enough to be accepted by God. Who see that the penalty for sin was looming but it was taken by Jesus for them and they therefore trust in Jesus’ sacrifice in their place to pay the penalty for their sin, it is them for whom the penalty of sin is taken away.

If you see you sin and your need of a saviour, and you put your trust in that saviour Jesus as one who paid the penalty for your sin, that penalty is removed. You’re no longer to pay the penalty of eternal and everlasting judgement. You’re free. Do you believe that Jesus died to pay the price for your sin? That He died to save you from your sin? If you believe that, you are free from the penalty of sin.

Notice the emphatic wording of the sentence. Not that he might save his people from his sin, or he could save his people from their sin, but that he will save his people from their sin. If your trust is in him, it is no gamble, it is not a case of ‘hit and hope’, he will save you from your sins.

There have been some new faces at church over the past wee while, perhaps you are a Christian, perhaps you’re not sure where you lie with Jesus, you’re unclear maybe what Christianity is all about. Here being a Christian is brilliantly summarised by a guy called Michael Green

Christianity is not good advice about morals. Christianity is about God and what he has done for us.

It’s the common misconception isn’t it? Christianity is about being good, and as a consequence, people in society look down their noses at Christians because ‘They think they’re so good.’ Or as someone I know often says of Christians, ‘That’s not very Christian of them.’

Though following Jesus means we seek to obey what he says, it doesn’t mean Christianity is about being good, it doesn’t mean we think we’re good people. Christianity at its utter core is all about Jesus Christ, it’s in the name.

What do you think of Jesus? How will you respond to him? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved from your sins! There’s no two ways about it. Not that Jesus might save you or he could, if your faith is in him, he will save you from the penalty of sin which is judgement because he took that judgement for you. Put your faith in him then! Trust in him and he will save you from your sins.

Jesus saves from the power of sin

As Christians, in order to function well, we need the right fuel and that fuel is Jesus. Jesus didn’t just save us from the penalty of sin by taking our judgement on himself, he also saves us from the power of sin and the sway it holds over our lives.

Why obey God? Why do what he says? If your answer is ‘Simply to keep God happy with me’ or ‘because it’s the right thing to do’ or even ‘because God told me to’, sin will continue to have power over you. You will not be able to break free from destructive sinful patterns of life, your joy will be shattered, and you will hate God.

Instead, as Christians we seek to obey God, we seek to honour him with our lives, not to keep him happy, not because he said so, but because he saved us and we are grateful! He saved you not because you deserved it, not because he looked to you and thought how worthy you were, not because of anything in us, but because of his free, undeserved kindness! God have his only Son to pay the penalty for your sin so you could be free from that!

And then out of gratitude and love for God we seek to live for him because he has saved us and so our joy is in him! When our joy and gratitude is in him for all he has done we no longer obey in order to keep God sweet, we no longer obey because its the right thing to do, we obey because we love him and because we love him we want to obey, we want to follow, we want to give our lives for him!

‘Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.’ (Colossians 2:23)

The law cannot set you free from the grip of addiction, nor set you free from destructive habits built up over time. The law cannot remove your envy, nor take away your bitter anger. The law cannot heal division and strife. It can tell you not to sin, but it has no power to remove our desire for sin in our hearts.

It is when our joy is in Jesus that our obedience flows and that the power and dominion of sin no longer holds sway! If we want freedom from the grip and dominion of sin in our life, we must replace our warped sinful love for sin and as we see Jesus in the gospel, instead love him. It is love for him which will remove the power of sin over our lives.

Are you finding yourself in repetitive habits that you want to break? It might be the grip of people’s opinions and you’re always fearful of what people think so you bend over backwards to appease them but just end up feeling empty.

It might be that you keep losing your temper with your family and you just wish that temper wasn’t there. Your short temper flares up in a moment and then instantly you regret it, you’re too ashamed to even say, ‘Sorry.’

It might be that you are finding it hard to be a Christian witness at work, you find too often that you’re getting dragged into things that you wish you weren’t. It feels good at the time joining in with the banter, it’s a good laugh, but then you get home and you slump on the sofa feeling a failure in your inability to be a consistent witness at work.

Or maybe your friends are gossiping about someone and you know its wrong but sometimes you find yourself joining in. It’s fun to have a chuckle at someone else’s expense, it takes your mind off all of your shortcomings. But the niggling feeling in the back of your head is, ‘I shouldn’t be doing this…’ and that niggling feeling gives way to guilt and then shame.

The good news of Jesus Christ is that you’re exactly the person Jesus came to save. Those sins are exactly the types of sins that the angel said Jesus would save you from. Isn’t that the best news ever? Doesn’t that make you want to sing for joy?

Friends, it is that right there that removes the power of sin over your life! That knowledge that…. ‘For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!’ (Romans 5:10)

Do you feel the weight, the guilt, the regret of sin, addiction, destructive patterns of life? In steps Jesus who will save his people from their sins. That’s how you and I are enabled to follow Jesus. That’s how you and I are able to obey God. Not out of obligation, not out of duty, out of a joyful gratitude, thankful for the fact that Jesus never gave up on you, he’s never given up on you, and he never will give up on you. You who feel so inadequate, you who feel so guilty, you who don’t measure up, it is you that Jesus came to save.

And because he hasn’t given up on us, how can we give up on living for him? No, because he hasn’t given up on us, our response is one of joy, gratitude, and loving obedience! In the face of Jesus and his grace, the power that sin holds over us has to go. Sin is no longer the dominant love in your heart, Jesus is. Sin is no longer the dominant power in your life, the Holy Spirit is!

So if your default position, as mine is, is to think of obedience in terms of just keeping God off your back, or just because it’s the right thing to do, sin will not go. But friends, we have a saviour who has saved us from the penalty of sin, let that good news free us from the power that sin has over us and lets live for him!

Jesus saves from the presence of sin

How often we look on at our world in disbelief and sadness at the brokenness of this world and we just wished things were different. How often we can look at our own lives and see things that aren’t right and wish things were different. How often we let out that sigh when we realise we’ve sinned and that sigh says, ‘I’m so done with this!’

Jesus will save us from the presence of sin when we die or when he comes back, not right now. Sin will always be present in this life. Right now we wait with sighs, with frustration because sin is present, but there will be a day where Jesus will save us from the presence of sin, where sin will be no more. How can I be so sure?

‘But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.’ (2 Peter 3:13)

‘Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practise magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practises falsehood.’ (Revelation 22:14-15)

Sin will literally be shut out. There is no space in Heaven for sin. Sin will be removed forever. No more wars, no more greed, no more pride, no more hate, no more injustice!

That sin you have always struggled with, GONE!
That addiction which has a strong hold on you, GONE!
The jealousy, GONE! The anger, GONE!
The bitterness, GONE!

Friends, if your faith is in Jesus, he has saved you from the penalty of sin, he is saving you from the power of sin, and one day, praise to his name, he will save you from the presence of sin!

We’ll no longer look on at the world and ourselves in horror, sadness and dismay, we will look on him in wonder, worship, and delight! We will no longer suffer because of the sin of others, we will no longer sin against God ourselves. Sin, evil and wickedness will be no more, paradise restored! And all made possible by Jesus who will save his people from their sins.

Peace to you…

Geoff Murray Studies in Luke

Video
Sermon: Sunday, 23rd April, 2023
Speaker: Geoff Murray
Scripture: Luke 24:36:49

It seems there’s a peace problem in our world and in our hearts. Do you ever feel that? Relational difficulties, social anxiety, grief, loss, our own anger, fears, and worries? There’s no peace in the world, there’s no peace in ourselves, and often our ideas of God are so far removed from the notion of peace. Isn’t he the guy in the sky just giving us grief because we got it wrong again? Peace? Isn’t that all just a pipe dream?

We have before us a wonderful passage in the Bible. Jesus has just risen from the dead, he appeared to two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, Cleopas and another, and they’ve now joined the 11 disciples. Now Jesus appears to the eleven disciples, plus Cleopas and his friend. As Jesus appears to them he speaks peace to them, he proves to them how they can know for sure that they can have peace, and then he makes a promise of the Holy Spirit’s coming.

1. Peace proclaimed

Jesus was tried in the courts and crucified as a criminal. Where were his friends? They all legged it. Simon Peter denied even knowing him three times. They had royally mucked up. What does Jesus say after his resurrection? ‘Peace to you!’ I would respond with bitterness, anger, resentment. But Jesus? ‘Peace to you!’ He responds not by scalding them, but by speaking to them words of gospel peace. Though Jesus was wronged by his disciples, he proclaims peace to his disciples.

These words of peace are desperately needed. Because as humanity have fluffed their lines as it were, we’ve sinned against God, we’ve sinned against other humans, we have sinned against God, we have sinned against others, we’re fundamentally not at peace. The disciples, without Jesus are not at peace with God.

Here he proclaims this peace over his disciples. How are we to understand what Jesus is saying? What we don’t have is Jesus speaking some nice words to make his disciples feel better amidst their failure. He’s not just saying the word ‘peace’ as a nice sentiment, but he is the one who can actually offer peace. He’s speaking words of peace as a reality of what He has achieved through his death and resurrection.

Paul the Apostle writes that ‘For in Him (Jesus) all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who were once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds.’ (Colossians 1:19-21)

Before Jesus steps in, that is the position of the disciples, before Jesus offers words of peace, they are not at peace with God but alienated from him. But Jesus comes and reconciles us to God by means of his death on the cross, he brings us back to God. He takes the punishment for our sin Jesus brings peace to our relationship with God. That is how Jesus is able to speak words of peace to his disciples. He’s not just being nice. He’s actually achieved peace. Peace between them and God. It’s what makes Romans 5:1 possible ‘Therefore since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

That when they place their faith in Jesus taking their place in judgement, taking the blame on their behalf, being their saviour, they can have peace with God, it’s what makes the proclamation of peace possible.

What about you and me? It’s exactly the same. Because Jesus’ dying on the cross is not something only for the people there and then but is a once for all sacrifice for you and me. Though our sins would separate us from God and put us at enmity with him, his grace overcomes our sins and when our faith is in Jesus Christ and in his work on the cross that peace is achieved. That niggling feeling that something isn’t quite right gives way to peace because Jesus has dealt with our greatest problem of sin and makes us right with God because our faith in Jesus.

We might feel like the disciples, indeed we are like the disciples. Faltering and failing, finding ourselves doing, saying, and thinking things that are at odds with God and his standard in His law. Feeling jealous, bitter, angry, vengeful, we might overindulge and be given to greed, we might be prideful thinking we are good enough for God and that God should just be thankful we’re on his team. Whatever it is, we are just like the disciples.

We could go one of two ways with this, we could shrug our shoulders indifferent to Christ and his death on the cross or we could feel our consciences pricking us, challenging us, and wonder where to go.

Indifference : For those who are indifferent, for those who don’t feel their need for God, life will continue to feel unsettling. Peace will always remain that thing that is elusive because peace cannot come from yourself or from others. Christ is the only one that can put that right. He says to those whose faith is in him “peace to you.”

A tender conscience : You might be knowing there’s something wrong in you, your sin, your weakness, you know you deserve God’s wrath. You trust in Christ for salvation, but you find yourself tripping up on the same sins again and again. You wonder if Jesus really is still putting up with you, and if he is you think he’s probably on the brink of giving up. Here is the saviour, Jesus Christ saying to you this morning: peace to you.

“There is more mercy in Jesus than there is sin in us.” (Richard Sibbes)

You might feel weighed down by your sin this morning, you might feel crushed by your sin, but we have one who was crushed for our transgressions so that he could say to you this morning, ‘Peace to you!’

That is true for us. As we feel the weight of our sin, feel the even greater weight of the immense saviour who took your sins from you that he could say, ‘Peace to you!’ Can you have peace this morning? You bet you can! Jesus has come so that you can have peace. So come afresh this morning and hear the words of the Saviour, ‘Peace to you.’ Receive and rest in that peace that he has won for you and rest in Him.

2. Peace proven

The disciples are scared at Jesus’ appearing they think it’s a ghost, but Jesus reassures them. He reassures them by proving he is who he says he is, that it really is Jesus who is before them! There is a conspiracy theory knocking around the internet that Vladimir Putin has body doubles and there are all sorts of reasons being dreamed up why there are doubles, some even claiming that the real man is dead!

How do we know that the risen Jesus is the real Jesus? The Jesus of the past 23 chapters of Luke’s gospel, the Jesus who died on the cross?

  1. His wounds
  2. His body
  3. His eating
  4. His explaining the scriptures
  5. His witnesses

The sceptic among us might seriously doubt that Jesus can make a difference in our lives, that He do anything about our peace or lack of it. It’s a bit of a tall order, isn’t it? Well, here is how you can trust that Jesus can make a difference, that he can give you peace, that you can take him at his word. He has risen, not someone claiming to be Jesus, but actually the real person. We know because of the nail marks on his hands and feet, we know because he came before the disciples and showed them his wounds and his physical body, he ate in their presence. The resurrected Jesus isn’t a fake or a hoax.

How do we know he can deal with your lack of peace? The guy rose from the dead bodily, is anything too hard for him? Is your low-level anxiety too much for him to handle? Is your depression too much for him to bear? Is your grief too much for him? Guys, he rose from the dead, nothing is too hard for him! These words of peace he spoke to the disciples after his resurrection, he can meaningfully and truthfully speak to you.

He won’t take away all our problems, but he will deal with your biggest problem, the lack of peace which exists between you and God. Through faith in Him, we can have peace with God. The gulf in distance between us and God because of our sin was closed by Jesus on the cross that we could have peace with God. How do we know that he can really make that happen? Because he rose from the dead!

3. Peace promised

In verse 49, Jesus says ‘Behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.’

Now, we know Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirt because Luke’s second volume, the Book of Acts at the start speaks of Jesus telling the disciples to wait for ‘the Holy Spirit to come upon you.’ And then at Pentecost in Acts 2 the Holy Spirit falls from heaven on his people. Now, the language ‘the promise of the Father’ is interesting because the Spirit, in John’s Gospel, is promised by Jesus, what is specifically meant by the promise of my Father?

In Isaiah’s prophecy we have the language of the Spirit of God being poured out from on high and peace dwelling with the people of God. (See Isaiah 32:14-17) We have here the people of God, having received peace from Jesus Christ, waiting for the promised Spirit to come and of course the Spirit has not as yet come to the people, but they are to wait patiently for that promise to be fulfilled. Just as the promise of the Father was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus, so also will the promise of the Father be fulfilled in the coming of the Spirit, but all that is left is to wait for Him to come.

For us, we know the Spirit has come and He lives in us as his people because Pentecost happened, because we know inwardly of the Spirit at work in our lives, the Spirit has come from on high and lives in us, but we also have to wait. We wait for the final promise to be fulfilled, where Jesus will come again to put all things right. To judge the wicked and to save us, to lead us into eternal and everlasting joy and peace in Jesus Christ. Where all sin and suffering will be eliminated and where we will be in perfect peace, unhindered by our sin or others, unhindered by our suffering or the suffering of others.

But now we wait. And as we wait, we must remember that we are people of peace. We have been given words of peace from Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Peace lives within us. So, we do not need to fear tomorrow. How? Because we have peace with God through Jesus Christ. We could face the loss of friends, family, we could lose it all, as Job did, yet we could still have peace because we have peace with God through Jesus Christ.

‘I have spoken these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation but take heart I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33)

And while we wait we have work to do in serving Him. We have in this passage, Jesus explaining how it is written in the scriptures how Jesus must suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

‘How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace.’ (Isaiah 52:7)

Friends, Jesus has proclaimed peace to you, now go and proclaim peace to Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, and the world! Not peace in our situation or circumstances, not peace in our money or possessions, but peace in the fact that Jesus has died and has risen that whoever trusts in Him will no longer be in eternal opposition to God but will be at peace with God! We have a message of peace because we have a saviour who has brought peace to us. Now go proclaim it! To your neighbours, to your friends, to your colleagues, Jesus, the Prince of Peace has a message of peace he has given to us.

It is written, not just that Jesus must suffer, die, and rise, but that He may be proclaimed to the whole world! Who is there in your life who does not know Jesus? Who is it you can speak to about this Prince of Peace? There are many in this world not at peace because they’re not at peace with God, what peace the gospel message brings! Go and tell this good news of peace to many that he may be known, enjoyed and praised among many in Kirkcaldy!

Salvation, faith and devotion

Geoff Murray Studies in Luke

Video
Sermon: Sunday, 2nd April, 2023
Speaker: Geoff Murray
Scripture: Luke 23:44-56

Here in this passage we see clearly judgement and salvation side by side as Jesus takes our judgement so that our salvation is made possible.

Judgement and salvation (verses 44-46)

We have been on the road to the cross for some time, and in the last couple of weeks we looked at the crucifixion together and here we reach the end of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and even into his burial. And we begin by seeing in verse 44 that as Jesus is hanging from the cross, darkness covers the land.

1. The darkness

Now, this isn’t a natural darkness. It isn’t a nighttime crucifixion or an evening crucifixion where darkness would be expected. As Jesus hangs there from the cross, and darkness covers the land it is the sixth hour until the ninth hour. To you and me, that is noon until 3pm. It is noon until 3pm and it’s dark outside. As Jesus hangs from the cross in the middle of the day, darkness covers the land.

Now why would it be dark in the middle of the day? That just doesn’t make sense. It was at the time of the Passover, a time of the full moon where there would be no possibility of an eclipse.

The only possible suggestion would be something supernatural. That the God who created the natural world in all its regularity, routine, and rhythm interrupted that regularity with something supernatural. What was it that God was trying to communicate by disrupting the natural order and bringing darkness in the middle of the day.

Now you might wonder why I had Shona come up and read an obscure passage in Amos 5 about something called ‘the day of the Lord’. Well, this idea of the Day of the Lord helps us understand exactly what’s going on at the cross, namely judgement and salvation.

We get to the prophets and the passages like Joel 2, Amos 5, Amos 8, and Zephaniah 1 which speak of the day of the Lord as judgement as the sun being turned to darkness. Now, for Old Testament Israel, in the first instance, this is talking about judgement coming upon Israel because of their persistent disobedience to God. However, we get to Jesus’ crucifixion and the sun is turned into darkness, darkness covers the land, there are strong images of the Day of the Lord of judgement occurring.

So God is overruling the natural order, turning daylight into darkness, this is the day of the Lord and judgement has come and it is coming upon Jesus. The blameless, faultless Son of God experiencing the darkness of God’s judgement upon himself. The judgement that was due to us was given to him. He took the blame as if he really was to blame.

Jesus the innocent became Jesus the guilty.
Jesus who loved his Father in Heaven became Jesus who hated his father in Heaven
Jesus the patient became Jesus the irritable,
Jesus the way and the truth became Jesus the liar.

Darkness covered the land because it was the Day of the Lord where God’s wrath was poured out, but it wasn’t poured out on us as we deserve, but upon his Son who didn’t deserve it. We, the guilty, go free, Jesus the innocent is condemned.

2. The curtain

Alongside judgement is salvation. And we see how salvation comes about in another strange event, the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

This idea of the ‘curtain of the temple’ might be a bit foreign to some of us. Why is there a curtain in the temple anyway? When humanity turned their backs on God, God could not dwell in any personal sense closely with his people. He was holy and humanity was not.

So when there was a temple built for God’s people to worship Him there, there was one curtain up which only the priests could go behind to make sacrifice, and then beyond that was another curtain which only the High Priests could go into called the Holy of Holies once a year to perform sacrifices. It was there in the Holy of Holies where the presence of God fully dwelt.

It seems all my spirituality comes from my son’s children’s books and children’s songs, but he has a book which describes the curtain in the temple as a massive ‘Keep Out’ sign. There was no sense in which God could dwell with his people because he was so holy and we were so sinful. But as the temple curtain is ripped in two, what does that mean? It means the big ‘keep out’ sign is torn up. All that is necessary for God to dwell with his people has been completed and he invites us to draw near.

Now we have access to the fullness of God’s presence by the blood of Jesus. And this means that we don’t just have access to some measure of God in a temple like the people of God in the Old Testament. It means we go beyond the curtain, it means we have access to God’s presence in all its fullness. There is no curtain separating us from the presence of God, there is no barrier between us as sinners and a holy God, because by the blood of Jesus, poured out on the cross, we have been made clean, and can therefore with full assurance draw near to God.

Our sin has been paid for because of the death of Jesus on the cross, we no longer are impure, unclean, unable to come into the presence of God, Jesus has cleansed us from our sin by the blood of Jesus, so now we can draw near into the presence of God in all boldness and in all faith because Jesus has made that way open to us.

Faith and salvation (verses 47-49)

Now, this great salvation has been won for God’s people, but it still requires a response of faith. And we see that in the response of the Roman Centurion in verse 47 who sees what has happened and he praises God and declares Jesus to be righteous, or more accurately to the Greek, declares Jesus to be innocent. We know from Matthew and Mark’s account that he also confessed that Jesus is the Son of God.

The Roman Centurion isn’t unmoved by what he saw, by what he heard; no he feels deeply and responds in light of that. He responds in faith and worship. Faith in who Jesus is and then praises God. This isn’t some cold stiff realisation of truth ‘Ah, of course, it all makes sense now, Jesus is the innocent Son of God.’ No it is a reality which he confesses, and it results in praise to God.

It’s really wonderful to highlight who it is who is responding. It is a Roman Centurion. The first person who responds to Jesus’ death after it happens is not a Jew, someone of the people of God of old or his followers, it was a Gentile, a Roman Centurion. Gentiles were not those who followed the God of Israel, they might have been religious, but their religion was not centred on the God of Israel. Gentiles may have been irreligious, pagan. And here we have, immediately after the death of Jesus, a Gentile responding positively to Jesus.

This is a display that Jesus is not only for Jews but for non-Jews too. That the first person to speak of Jesus, who confessed Jesus was a Roman Centurion, shows that salvation is possible for non-Jews too. At the time, a totally unlikely candidate in the eyes of God’s people, yet he was the first one to respond.

You might be here at the request of your parents, or you might be here at an invitation but you’re not a believer, you think ‘Nah, this Jesus stuff isn’t for me.’ Look here, we have a Roman Centurion, a non-Jew, someone outside of the typical ‘people of God’ at the time confessing Jesus.

This confession from the Roman Centurion surely says that Jesus is for you too. You might previously have never considered Jesus, you might have thought your path and Jesus’ path would never cross, but the Roman Centurion praising God here in this passage is a clear demonstration that your paths can cross, that Jesus can be considered for you.

So I’d invite you to reconsider, in the light of who it is here that is praising God, the most unlikely of candidates at the time, reconsider Jesus. Jesus doesn’t have a ‘type’, but is available to all. Won’t you take the step of the Roman Centurion and put your faith in him, praise God this morning and commit to following him? If Jesus is for the Roman Centurion, he is for you.

The Roman Centurion has expressed this faith in Jesus, won’t you join him this morning and put your faith in Jesus and enter into this great story of salvation? Of sins forgiven, of access to God the Father, of new life.

Devotion and salvation (verses 50-56)

What really hit me as I was preparing the sermon this week was the devotion of a few people towards Jesus in our Bible text this morning. Their faith in Jesus and their love for him led him to careful and faithful devotion.

1. Joseph of Arimathea

We see first Joseph of Arimathea in verses 50-54, taking Jesus whose body was hanging on the cross in shame and disgrace and giving it a honourable burial. He goes to the authority, Pilate, and asks Pilate if he can take the body down. He wraps Jesus’ body in linen cloth, and places him in a new tomb where no bodies had yet gone.

2. The women

And then you have those referred to as ‘the women’ from verses 55-56 and they don’t even have names, just ‘the women’. Just a group of women who care deeply about their Lord whom they love. And they go home to prepare spices and perfumes for Jesus’ dead body. And then even then, in the last sentence, they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. They were so careful in their devotion not to even break the Sabbath.

Everything that was done, was done with care, love, and adoration for Jesus. They didn’t leg it like the disciples, they didn’t throw their hands in the air and say ‘Well, there’s not much we can do I suppose.’ No, even in the face of their sadness of the death of Jesus, they continue to show him their loving devotion.

We know nothing of ‘the women’, they too aren’t well known but we know that they prepared spices and perfume for Jesus’ body, we know that they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commands. It was their careful, loving devotion they offered to Jesus that day.

What is remarkable is their quiet, faithful devotion. We know nothing really about Joseph or the women apart from what is here in the text. They were little known, yet they served Jesus faithfully and with devotion.

We go about our lives, our day to day and most of it is ordinary, unseen things. Nobody will write a book about us, and beyond our grandchildren or if we’re fortunate, great grandchildren, nobody will know we even existed.

Yet, in the quietness and the ordinariness of life, Jesus calls us to devote our lives to him. It is the normal and natural response of those who have been saved by him, of those whose faith is in him. He has given his life for us and he calls us to live for him in response with careful and faithful devotion.

So as we think of our home lives, as we think of our time alone when nobody is watching us, when we think of our service in church, not much of it is going to shatter the earth, very few people are going to see it, you won’t have this wonderful biography written about you. Yet, this careful, faithful, and quiet devotion is what we’re called to and its a beautiful thing.

As you spend your Sunday afternoon at home and are tempted to get out the work laptop to catch up on some work and you, like the women in verse 56 choose to rest on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment instead of work. Will anybody see that conscious decision not to work on the Sabbath? Will anybody praise you for that decision? Probably not. But it’s a conscious decision to honour Jesus with your life and it is beautiful.

As you sit an exam at school or university, it honours Jesus and is a beautiful thing when you don’t cheat. Will anybody know you made that conscious decision not to cheat? Will anyone praise you for making that decision? No, but it is a conscious decision to honour Jesus with your life and it’s beautiful.

As you are driving alone, it honours Jesus and is a beautiful thing when you don’t break the speed limit. Will anyone know you chose not to speed or will anyone praise you for not speeding? No, but it is a conscious decision to honour Jesus with your life and it’s beautiful.

As you are watching something on Netflix and something comes up that you ought not to be watching and you turn it off. Will anyone else know you’ve turned it off out of love for Jesus? Will anyone see that and praise it? No. But it is a conscious decision to honour Jesus with your life and it’s beautiful.

So as we consider what a great salvation was achieved for us on the cross by Jesus, that he opened the way for us to know God, we are called to respond by faith and for those of us who have responded by faith, God calls us to carefully keep his commands in faithful love to him.

Betrayal, tears and promises

Geoff Murray Studies in Luke

Video
Sermon: Sunday, 5th March, 2023
Speaker: Geoff Murray
Scripture: Luke 22:47-62

We come to today’s passage to find that Jesus is no stranger to betrayal. In fact, two of his disciples, Judas and Peter, have betrayed him in different ways within hours of each other.

We’ll see human sin in their actions, how they respond to that and how ultimately the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is at play even amidst bitter betrayal.

1. Two Betrayals

Judas : As Jesus was speaking to his disciples, a crowd came led by Judas Iscariot. We’ve looked a bit more in depth at Judas’ betrayal of Jesus a few weeks ago, at the beginning of Luke 22 so I won’t go into it all. However, it’s worth highlighting again, this was one of Jesus’ disciples who had followed him everywhere he went, heard his teachings, saw his miracles, yet in the great betrayal, he betrayed Jesus to the religious leaders.

Judas comes up to Jesus and gives him a kiss. A greeting which is normally full of respect, affection, and love is used to signal to the religious leaders which one was Jesus that they might arrest him. We know that particular detail because of how Matthew records the whole thing. Matthew adds an editorial note that Judas had agreed he would kiss the one that was Jesus. (See Matthew 26:48)

‘When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, ‘Lord, should we strike with our swords?’ And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.’ (Luke 22:49-50)

Jesus’ disciples jump straight to his defence and Peter cuts off the ear of one of the crowd. Though it doesn’t say Peter in this passage, we know it is Peter because it says so in John’s gospel (John 18:10). And it comes from a good place, it comes from a love for Jesus which doesn’t want to see him harmed or arrested. It comes from a zeal to protect the honour of Jesus.

Yet this is not what Jesus is after and Jesus’ response shows his remarkable grace.

‘But Jesus answered, ‘No more of this!’ And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.’ (Luke 22;51)

If you were betrayed, how would you respond in that moment? Especially by a friend. You ate together, you lived together, you did everything together. And they betray you. What would you do? Really, what would you do? Most of us would take revenge, we might join in with the disciples and have a big fight, very few would respond the way Jesus did. Not only did Jesus stop the fight, he healed the damage caused to his enemy in the fight.

Now, I’m not trying to say by any stretch that Jesus isn’t a God of justice, wrath, and righteousness and that he just says, ‘Hey, don’t worry about it.’ – like a divine cuddly teddy. You look at the images of Jesus painted in the Book of Revelation, Judas will get what is coming to him as will everyone who does not put their trust in Jesus alone for salvation. But, what we see in the story of Judas is Jesus picking him to be one of his friends, one of his followers, one of his disciples knowing full well ahead of time that Judas was going to betray him. Did he not share food with Judas? Did he not live with Jesus?

Imagine if you knew someone was going to betray you, would you go to the lengths Jesus went to? I don’t think you would. I think you’d be planning a counter offensive!

Not just with Judas but with the man whose ear was cut off. Jesus didn’t have to do that, it’s not as if that man – as far as we know – went on to become a follower of the Lord, yet he was met with kindness by Jesus. Jesus could have stopped the fight and left it at that, but he stops the fight and then he heals the man’s ear.

And that is his general kindness and goodness to us all. Whether we’re believers or not, whether we love Jesus or we just aren’t that bothered about Jesus, none of us deserve his kindness, yet he shows us it, even to those who betray him, who deny his name.

Peter : Peter has been so defiant and so strong, his own promise to the Lord was, ‘I will never deny you!. As we saw in Luke’s account, Peter says ‘I’ll even die for you.’ (Luke 22:23) Yet for all the chat of debating who is the greatest, for all the vows of faithfulness, we have here Peter denying Jesus three times. The servant girl by the fire asks, ‘You’re one of Jesus’ disciples, aren’t you?’ Then someone else asks, then yet another asks and Peter each time denies knowing Jesus.

“Peter’s sheer humanity makes him everyone’s teacher.” (R Kent Hughes)

His ability to get it so right sometimes whilst also managing to get it so wrong at other times is someone we can relate to. Though he has heard the precious promises of Jesus, though he has watched his miracles, though he confesses in John’s Gospel, ‘Where else would we go? You alone have the words of eternal life?’ (John 6:68) His actions send a different message.

How often have we been in that situation? You know the promises of God, you know the joys of the gospel but your actions may betray that. Maybe speaking to a non-Christian and you kind of want to share the gospel but you’re also afraid of what will happen. You nervously fidget, you kick the gospel into the long grass and talk about other things, and then your friend ends the conversation and goes and you haven’t shared the gospel, Why? Because of fear.

So Peter, out of fear, denies Jesus and as he denied Jesus for the third time, just as Jesus said would happen, the cock crowed. And ‘the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter.’ (Luke 22:61) What a gut wrenching moment. To deny your friend, your master, and then to see him look right at you. You have been found out, you’ve betrayed the confidence and trust of a friend. Imagine you were in that situation and you’re Peter. Your insides doing somersaults because you’ve denied Jesus and you know it and Jesus knows it, and now Jesus is looking right into your eyes.

And at that Peter remembered the words of Jesus, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will disown me three times.’ (Luke 22:34) We’ve all been there. ‘Jesus, I’ll never do this again.’ ‘Lord, I promise I’ll always do this.” When rubber hits the road, how we fall short. How our words come back to haunt us, we make a great vow of promise to the Lord, as Peter did and we end up with egg in our faces.

Peter has promised time and again not to deny Jesus, yet three times he does.

2. Two outcomes

And we ask, what are we to make of these two? Judas and Peter. Both betrayed Jesus to different degrees, they both experience a degree of remorse and sadness after their wrongdoing. Peter went outside and wept bitterly (John 22:62), and Judas was seized with remorse (Matthew 27:3). So, what’s the difference? We tend to join the dots and see there is a difference between Peter and Judas and I think for good reason.

Jesus : A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the wonderful verse, ‘Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.’ (Luke 22:31) Jesus never prayed such a prayer for Judas. Judas never was prayed for in this light. When you truly are a disciple, your faith is secure, not because of you, but because of Jesus holding us close to himself.

Satan : Similarly, Satan is at play in the difference. We’re told in Luke 22:3 that Satan entered Judas which led to him conspiring with the religious leaders in the first place. But not so with Peter. Though Satan is at play, Satan never entered Peter like he did with Judas.

Judas : It’s not as if Judas was an innocent bystander who was victim to the supernatural realm. He consented for an opportunity to betray Jesus. (Luke 22:6) Or we read in John 12 of Judas dipping into the disciples’ money bag to line his pockets.

We don’t view Peter of a saint of course, especially in view of what he has just done, but there is so much to Judas’ character which is dubious. And of course we know from Matthew’s account that Judas is ‘seized with remorse’ but it’s interesting in Luke’s portrayal. It’s almost like a dead man walking, he mechanically walks up to his friend and betrays him and then there is no more information given about Judas. It’s as if he’s betraying his friend and he is unmoved by it.

This gives clarity about the difference between him being seized with remorse in Matthew’s account and Peter weeping bitterly. There is the bitter weeping by Peter which is his only and natural response because he loves the Lord and these feelings of sadness and guilt are not there just because he’s done something he shouldn’t, but he’s done something he shouldn’t to Jesus. For all of the feeling of remorse, Judas is stuck there merely in guilt knowing he shouldn’t have done what he done.

What about you? What characterises your response to sin? And I don’t mean the simplistic idea ‘Do you literally weep for your sin?’

If your grief stops at simply feeling bad for having done wrong, not necessarily because you’ve wronged God, consider that your sin has bigger consequences than just you and how you feel, it led to Jesus’ crucifixion. Your sin and mine pierced the Son of God. Nail in each hand, crown of thorns on his head, spear in his side, wrath of God poured out fully.

God made Jesus who knew no sin to become sin for us on the cross. Our wrongdoing, our mistakes, our messes aren’t independent of Jesus, but our sins were placed on Jesus. Each and every hidden sin that only you know about, every thought, every intention, every public action, every one of your sins were placed on Jesus. He took the blame, he took your place, taking the punishment due to you and me for our sins. Why? That we might go free. Consider Jesus, consider your sin, these aren’t two words that are unrelated, they are incredibly interlinked. Jesus took your sin, he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquity. If you are here and you aren’t trusting Christ for your salvation, look to him, Jesus took it all upon himself that we might have forgiveness, peace, and reconciliation with God through faith in what he has done. So put your faith in him, trust in his finished work, and be saved.

3. One promise

What holds Peter close to Jesus in the middle of his betraying Jesus is more than his tears, more than the quality of his repentance, but it is the promise of his Lord that we saw two weeks ago… ‘turn again and strengthen your brothers.’ (Luke 22:32) Mingled in with his tears of grief is surely the hope in the promises of Jesus.

What an incredible comfort it is as a believer. Jesus knew Peter was going to betray him three times, yet he prays for Peter that his faith may not fail and says ‘when you turn back, strengthen your brothers.’

For as often as we get it wrong, for as often as we fail to speak up for Jesus, for often as we seem to mess up, for as often as we feel like we can’t quite get our lives together, for as often as we have betrayed Jesus in our words and actions, we have Jesus who doesn’t give up on us but calls us to serve him with our lives.

You might have barely dragged yourself here this morning, such was the weight of your sin that you felt, such was the deflated feeling of ‘I’ve done it again.’ As believers, like Peter, we’re all in the same boat, seemingly unable to get it together, yet held in the arms of grace, where Jesus is sustaining our souls even right this very minute and he says to you in the midst of your tears, in the midst of your sin, ‘I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, now go and strengthen your brothers.’

In your tears for sin, there is hope. Not hope that you’ll sort yourself out, but hope that even in your failings and your faltering faith, there is one who holds you, one who has not given up on you, one who calls you to live for him.

Your Monday-Friday might be the home, it might be the office, it might be school or university, wherever you are, you might feel deflated because of your sin, but take hope as you go out into the week, into your 9-5, because Christ has his hold of you and he calls you to live for him.

We’re going to sing Psalm 51 in its entirety in response to this sermon. As you sing, confess your sins to the Lord, confess the times you’ve fallen short, but look out too for God’s assurances of his pardon for our sin.

‘If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ (1 John 1:9)