What I Read in 2021

Here’s a review of my reading material during 2021. I am so grateful to the local library for saving me a small fortune on many of these books, ones that I’ll never read again and don’t have space for on my shelves.

• Absolutely outstanding *****
• Very good ****
• A decent read ***
• Hmm, OK **
• Don't bother * 

 

Systematic Theology - An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine [2nd Edition] (Wayne Grudem) *****

Is there anything that sounds drier, more boring and less desirable to read than a very large book with a title like this? And yet, it is brilliant. I read the first edition when it came out in 1994 and this fully revised and expanded (1,435 pages plus appendices and indices - 16% longer) is absolutely worth every last penny of the £49.99 I shelled out for it. This is a clear, non-technical, detailed and meticulous exploration of every major biblical theme; fifty-seven chapters covering God, his word, creation, humanity in the image of God, sin, redemption, the church and the future. Not only is the emphasis of this book thoroughly Reformed, it is also, as far as I know, unique among Systematic Theologies in being frankly and persuasively supportive of the charismatic ministry of the Holy Spirit in the church today. So, for example, chapter 20 on Satan and Demons not only explains the scriptural basis for their origin and activity, it gives very practical instruction on how to cast out an evil spirit in the unfortunate and annoying event that you encounter one. This is a very helpful reference book to consult when virtually any biblical question arises. But, though it’ll take you weeks to wade through it, it can also be read from start to finish, filling the mind and warming the heart with the greatness of God and wonders of his grace.

The Bible Speaks Today - The Message of Joshua (David Firth) ****

Unless I’m mistaken, this was the very last in the BST series to be published (in 2015). No wonder, Joshua is a very challenging book with its main theme of Israel’s ruthless and merciless conquest of Canaan. There is an awful lot of smiting which of course deeply troubles the modern mind and gives atheists and secularists plenty of ammunition to attack the Bible as a bad book. Of course, it all seems so inconsistent with the God who so loved the world, revealed in Jesus. David Firth readily acknowledges all this and does a good job guiding his readers through the narrative, constantly pointing to its spiritual relevance for followers of Christ, the Prince of Peace. I found this a really helpful accompaniment to my daily Bible reading. It helped me make my peace with the “problem passages” and appreciate the message of Joshua for me in 2021.

The Firm (John Grisham) ****

Grisham’s 1991 breakthrough legal thriller about a top-paying tax law firm tucked away in Memphis that turns out to be a front for the mafia. The firm taps its lawyers’ phones, bugs their houses and cars, and ruthlessly eliminates anyone who talks to the Feds. Gripping plot, classic Grisham. My library copy was a 25th Anniversary edition with an introduction by the author, where he reveals that, after poor sales of his first book, he was going to call it a day on his writing career, but a bootleg copy of the manuscript of The Firm found its way to a Hollywood production company who snapped up the film rights. The film of this book, starring Tom Cruise, launched Grisham to fame and, thankfully, the rest is history. 

The Bible Speaks Today - The Message of Joel, Micah and Habakkuk (David Prior) ***

I read this at three points during the year, starting with Micah, to assist me in my daily Bible reading. The prophets are arguably the most difficult and obscure section of scripture for modern readers and Prior’s reflections really help to illuminate the text. A tiny bit long-winded at times, it could have been more ruthlessly edited, but it is basically a sound read.

Paul for Everyone - The Pastoral Epistles (Tom Wright) **

I found this title in Tom Wright’s For Everyone series a little tiresome to be honest. Too often, I found the plain and clear meaning of a passage given a patronising pat on the head and amended by a “well yes, but Paul’s real point is…” kind of comment. Overall, it left me with the impression that the Bible is essentially the domain of experts with inside knowledge who dispense it to the hoi polloi. I do not mean to disparage scholarly study (the next book to be reviewed shows I appreciate it very much) but there is something about John Wycliffe’s belief that the Bible should be read and understood by every humble ploughboy that seemed a bit out of reach while reading this book.

The Bible Speaks Today - The Message of 2 Timothy (John Stott) ****

By contrast this book just amplified and clarified what would appear to most as the plain meaning of scripture. I just love John Stott’s writings. He was an absolute giant of evangelical scholarship and the church needs more like him today. This is one of the earliest BST books (1973) regrettably in the days before inclusive language became standard in English which you really notice. But, otherwise, this is an excellent companion to 2 Timothy. Clear and readable, it helps bring forth the many treasures of Paul’s last letter, written from prison shortly before the great apostle was executed and martyred.

The Appeal (John Grisham) ***

Unfortunately for impatient readers, Grisham doesn’t get round to the actual appeal referenced in the title until you’ve read 90% of the book. The appeal is against a decisive jury verdict finding a chemical firm to have been grossly negligent, leading to a spate of cancer deaths. Leading up to the appeal is a coordinated campaign financed by big business to get their candidate onto the Mississippi Supreme Court. All just in time to potentially overturn a $41 million award against an obviously guilty defendant. Though this is a work of fiction, it does leave you wondering how on earth appointments to the judiciary can be allowed to get so politicised.

Living the Dream - Joseph for Today: A Dramatic Exposition of Genesis 37-50 (Pete Wilcox) ****

This is a really good exposition of the story of Joseph including a full text from Genesis. Wilcox’s depth of engagement with scripture is excellent and his commentary on the story is insightful. It’s a pity therefore that Wilcox repeatedly compares the narrative with mainstream churches in the west in the 21st Century as they meet the twin challenge of declining attendance and splits over human sexuality. The two are surely not comparable. Whereas Joseph’s eventual blessing and fruitfulness is tied to his countercultural obedience in adversity, the problems besetting many churches today are, in my view, directly related to espousing revisionist ethics and drifting from the anchors of God’s word.

Exploring the Moon - The Apollo Expeditions (David M. Harland) ****

Harland’s scholarly 400-page survey of what the moon landings discovered is very thorough and mostly non-technical, though I learned quite a few geological terms as I waded through this book. It covers data from the unmanned, pre-Apollo landers and post-Apollo probes, but it skips through them and the one-day Apollo 11 and 12 missions quite briefly. Harland devotes the lion’s share of his book to the longer Apollo 14, 15, 16 and 17 missions situated in the much more geologically diverse Fra Mauro highlands, Hadley Apennine, Descartes-Cayley and Taurus-Littrow valley. With constant reference to astronaut transcripts that makes you feel like you’re there with them, this book, more than any other I’ve read, explains how exploration of the Moon has shed light the formation and evolution of Earth, for which much ancient ‘smoking gun’ geological data has long been eroded and recycled by plate tectonics.

The Brethren (John Grisham) ***

Not your absolute classic Grisham, but a decent page-turner nonetheless. Three disgraced former judges, now inmates in an open prison, run an extortion scam that unwittingly uncovers a major scandal involving the CIA-backed frontrunner in the presidential race. So the spooks get involved and a modest little extortion racket becomes a multi-million dollar affair where anyone who knows too much is in danger of mysteriously going missing.

A Life in Football – My Autobiography (Ian Wright) ***

Ian Wright is an Arsenal legend, so whatever he wrote in his autobiography I know I’d enjoy it. It’s a quite moving story of a man with so few prospects; absent father, apathetic mother, bad influences on the Brockley housing estate he grew up on, inexplicably overlooked at every football trial he went on and ending up working as a labourer on a building site at 16. But football was his outlet and, at age 22, Crystal Palace offer him a trial after someone spots him tearing up Sunday league football. The rest is history. The usual inside story from the dressing room but also the TV studio and some shocking insights about how endemic racism is in the game.

The Essential Difference - Men, Women and the Extreme Male Brain (Simon Baron-Cohen) ****

A bit of an irony that this is classed under ‘popular psychology’ because of course it is not popular at all to suggest that men and women are essentially different from each other. I should point out that Cambridge Professor Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen’s claim is for the average male and the average female as he carefully explains (and demonstrates via tons of research) how and why men are better systemisers and women are better empathisers. And this is not to do with environmental factors. Even new-born boys and girls display differences on the systemiser-empathiser scale whilst still in the maternity ward. The chapter on biology is a revelation, especially what it says about hormones. I got a bit emotional towards the end when he discussed autism as the extreme male brain; very low on empathy, very high on systemising. Off the scale brilliant but teased at school for being a bit weird. I saw my son Joseph in every paragraph and it broke my heart.

Straight to the Heart of Mark (Phil Moore) *****

Wow. Totally exhilarating journey through Mark’s Gospel in 60 bite-sized chunks. Packed with brilliant illustrations, Phil Moore sees so much in the text culturally, geographically and linguistically. It’s like watching a black and white photo morph into colour and 3-D. What a gifted Bible teacher. Only one tiny, weeny complaint; the often fascinating insights found in the many footnotes would be easier to follow if they were included in the main text - but that’s not enough to downgrade this from the five-star rating I give it.

89 - Arsenal’s Greatest Moment, Told in Our Own Words (Amy Lawrence) ****

Relive the dramatic last game of the 1989 English football season. This is an unusual football book for two reasons: 1) because every word of it, apart from excerpts from Brian Moore’s ITV commentary and a list of the 96 Liverpool fans who died at Hillsbrough a few weeks earlier, is personal testimony and recollection from players, coaching staff, match officials, journalists, fans who were there from both clubs and fans who weren’t. And 2) because no end to a football season has ever - or will ever - or can ever - possibly match this one for jeopardy, drama, suspense or emotion. Journalist and superfan Amy Lawrence does a sterling job of putting it all together.

 

Mother Tongue - The Story of the English Language (Bill Bryson) ***

This is a pretty thorough survey of English; its origins, evolution, quirks, variability, global reach and possible future charted by one of its finest contemporary speakers, the Bard of Des Moines, Bill Bryson. Though not one of Bryson’s absolute must reads (see Notes from a Small Island, Neither Here nor There, A Short History of Nearly Everything and The Body) it is definitely worth your time, though in truth there is much here that is factually debatable. In discussing names of Britain’s 70,000 pubs I enjoyed this gem; “Almost any name will do as long as it is at least faintly absurd, unconnected with the name of the owner, and entirely lacking in any suggestion of drinking, conversing, and enjoying oneself. At a minimum the name should puzzle foreigners – this is a basic requirement of most British institutions – and ideally it should excite long and inconclusive debate, defy all logical explanation, and evoke images that border on the surreal. Among the pubs that meet, and indeed exceed, these exacting standards are the Frog and Nightgown, the Bull and Spectacles, the Flying Monk, and the Crab and Gumboil.”  

Completing Luther’s Reformation (David Pawson) ***

A short book based on four talks by David Pawson a few years before he died in 2020. Pawson was a superb Bible teacher and lateral thinker. He used to call himself an unorthodox evangelical and that’s absolutely right but not at all in the sense of doctrinally unsound. I found myself saying ‘amen’ time and time again when reading this. Luther famously recovered the doctrine of justification by faith but failed to disassociate the church from the state, which hamstrings Lutheran and Anglican churches today, confusing sheep with goats. Luther also preserved the clergy/laity divide, a legacy from the Roman Catholic church which deprives the church of an authentic priesthood of all believers. And he kept infant baptism too, which is hard to defend as the plain meaning of Scripture. However, Pawson’s thoughts on Israel and remarriage after divorce need more nuance in my opinion. There are some amazing faith-stirring anecdotes in here too but it could - and should - have been much better edited for publication from the spoken word.

Joseph – A Story of Love, Hate, Slavery, Power and Forgiveness (John Lennox) ****

The second book I read this year about Joseph, they were both good but this one was marginally the better of the two in my opinion. One third of the book traces important themes in Genesis 1-36 as Joseph’s family history will have strongly shaped his understanding of the world growing up. Lennox explores the text of chapters 37-50 in some detail, bringing light onto many curiosities in the story, not least the game of cat and mouse Joseph played with his brothers before revealing himself to them. The book is also excellent for its many thoughtful pastoral applications.

Van Morrison: No Surrender (Johnny Rogan) ***

At 498 pages (plus glossary, discography, index and 96 pages of notes in a smaller font) you’d be forgiven for wondering if this is actually two books. Actually, it sort of is. It’s both a painstakingly researched biography of musician and singer Van Morrison and a commentary of the complex political environment surrounding the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Rogan connects the two by portraying Van Morrison throughout as another Ian Paisley. While it’s true that both men are intransigent, belligerent, obdurate figures with an unmistakable voice and who rise to prominence at roughly the same time in East Belfast, I’m not sure there’s enough in that to make it the overriding motif of this biography. If this book were a railway journey, the train takes ages to pull out of the station and reach cruising speed; we don’t get to Astral Weeks until page 212. Still, Rogan does a decent job of chronicling Morrison's prolific and brilliant career (up to Magic Time) though he, like everyone else, fails to really get beneath the impenetrable armour of Morrison’s surly, prickly, erratic and at times explosive personality.

The Sixth Extinction: Biodiversity and Its Survival (Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin) ***

Did you know that 99.9% of species that ever existed are now extinct? One of the fascinating facts in this absorbing book. Leakey’s parents are famous for their studies in human origins but Richard Leakey is more in conservationist mode than paleontologist mode here. I found much to agree with in this book. I also found a lot to disagree with; Leakey’s assertion that homo sapiens is ‘an accident of history’ for example. This book fails to satisfactorily account for 1) the sudden appearance of many thousands of entirely new life forms in the Cambrian era, achieved in a heartbeat of geological time, and 2) the mystifying scarcity of intermediate fossils between species, two things Darwin noted and hoped would be resolved with a more complete fossil record than the one he knew. So nothing here persuades me that I should give up being an old earth creationist (I should add that I accept evolution by natural selection as a major - but not the only - mechanism in the formation and development of life on earth). The fossil record reveals that there have been five huge extinction catastrophes in our planet’s history and Leakey contends that we are living in a sixth, one which could conceivably see the end of our own species. He argues that this current great extinction event is almost exclusively wrought by ourselves, before asking whether or not it matters to us if 50% of the earth’s species might disappear by the end of the 21st Century. He admits that his projection is speculative and contested, but I found his thesis persuasive. And, yes, it really does matter.

Life on the Edge: The True Story of the Hero who Saved the Lives of 29 People at Beachy Head (Keith Lane) **

This is a short summary of how the dedication of one man, following his wife’s suicide at Beachy Head, helped dissuade others from jumping to their death from the same notorious East Sussex cliff face. He reveals how his wife’s fatal jump led him to such a dark place that he almost followed her on the first anniversary of her death while he was actively trying every day to prevent strangers from ending it all. There is much to learn and absorb here about the pathways of despair and loneliness in a season of grief. Some clearly saw Lane as a maverick who, due to the publicity that inevitably followed him, actually drew attention to the location as a prime suicide site and unwittingly made the situation worse. Lane disputes this and the statistics he quotes would appear to back him up. He is critical of others involved in the field; notably the local council, a Christian volunteer force, and a jobsworth coastguard and police service, especially over what he sees as an inflexible approach to health and safety - and on this I did sympathise with him. To be fair, this is of course only his side of the story and I suspect others might have a slightly different perspective on the disagreements he sometimes had with other agencies. Lane also writes positively about some strange experiences with spiritualists following his wife's death that leave little doubt that some of them certainly are in touch with spiritual realities (from a Christian perspective, dark and nefarious ones, however comforting they might feel at first). It's for this reason that I would not recommend this book to others.

Money and Happiness

American stand-up comic Henry Youngman, once said, “What's the use of happiness? It can't buy you money.”

Actress Bo Derek gave another perspective when she said, “Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping!”

And British comedian Spike Milligan put it another way; “Money can't buy happiness, but it can get you a more pleasant form of misery!”

Oddly enough, the word “contentment” occurs seven times in the Bible, and in six of them the context is money.

It is sometimes noted that Jesus spoke more about money than about almost anything else. It was he who said that our attitude towards money is a gauge of our spiritual health. “For where your treasure is there your heart will also be.” (Matthew 6.21). No wonder; it impacts so many aspects of our lives; earning, budgeting, saving, spending, hording, wasting, gambling, running up debt and giving.

He also said that managing our personal finances diligently is a requirement for being given spiritual responsibility. “If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” (Luke 16.11).

When Jesus questioned people on how serious they were about following him, he often did so in the very un-British way of bringing up the subject of money.

“Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Luke 18.22).

“No one can serve two masters; either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6.24).

And again: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10.25).

I once challenged a congregation (in a very un-British way) from the pulpit to conduct an experiment to determine if God can be trusted. Since God permits us - indeed invites us - to test him in Malachi 3.10 by tithing and then seeing if he will not pour out abundant blessing in return, I invited anyone who had never given the Lord their first tenth to start doing so, and then see if he disappointed them afterwards.

For anyone who has never done this before, this is terrifying. What if it doesn’t work for me? Isn’t this irresponsible given my situation? What if it plunges me into debt?

So I offered a three-month trial. The deal? You give God your first 10% and pray that he will bless and provide in such a way that the remaining 90% goes further during that time.

If, at the end of three months, anyone felt that God had not blessed them as he has promised, the church treasurer would refund them every penny. No questions asked, no judging, no assumption of failure… all your money back, case closed.

Three months on, no one claimed a refund from the treasurer. Because not one person dared take up the challenge.

Would you have done? What do you think the way you handle money says about your faith? And about your general state of happiness? 

Sex and Faith

Well, what an honour and privilege to be the first ever male speaker at the annual Arise Ladies’ Night Out.

I suspect I may earn the distinction of also being the last, but I do admire you for taking the risk.

I’ve never been an after-dinner speaker before but I’ve heard that the polite custom is to ask the organiser if there is any particular subject the audience might like the speech to be about.

The novelist George Bernard Shaw was once invited to do an after-dinner speech on the subject of sex. So when the moment arrived, he stood up and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure…” and then sat down again!

I thought I should speak to you tonight on the same subject.

When I say “sex” I actually mean it in the sense it is used on your birth certificate or passport. I mean “male and female.”

In equality legislation, sex is a protected characteristic which means that men and women have identical rights in law. We are of course equal.

But men and women are I believe also different from each other in a number of very important ways.

For example, it’s often said that men just don’t listen.

Even when I was a boy, my mum used to say to me that I have two faults; not listening and… errr… something else.

Just the other day, Kathie said to me, “John, you’re not even listening are you?” I thought, that’s a funny way to start a conversation…

Women on the other hand, I have observed, are excellent listeners.

Our roles in human reproduction are perhaps the most obvious difference. Women alone have the awesome privilege of carrying and giving birth to children.

Essential difference is genetically engineered in every cell of our bodies. As I like to put it, X is not Y and Y is not X. You can say what you like, but your sex is your sex.

We are anatomically different of course. Bone density and muscle mass in males and females are not the same and, though you can always find exceptions, the male body plan tends to be somewhat angular while the female version is usually more curved.

This may or may not be true, but recent government data has suggested that women who put on weight are 98% more likely to live longer than the men who point it out.

My friend's wife bought a dress with a map of India printed on it. She put it on and asked him, "Does Mumbai look big in this?"

Cambridge Psychology professor Simon Barron-Cohen argues from his extensive research that on average women tend to be better empathisers and men are better systemisers, and that this comes from differences in the way male and female brains are wired.

This explains why we have agony aunts but not agony uncles. If you had agony uncles, it would be like this…

Dear Phil. I went to work last week and after a mile my car stalled and wouldn't start. I walked back home and found my wife kissing the postman. I’m desperate. Can you help?

Dear Reader. The most common cause of vehicles breaking down in the first mile is dirt in the fuel pump. A quick flush with WD-40 should do the trick. You’re welcome.

In my opinion, women are usually much more practical than men, they have more common sense.

I mean, when Kathie was giving birth to our daughter, the nurse said, “What about epidural anaesthesia?” Kathie nodded, but I said, “I’ll handle this. Thanks, nurse, but we’ve already picked names for the baby.”

A long time ago, in the days before Facebook and texting, a young man and his fiancée used to write each other love letters every day.

They lived some distance away and whenever they met up, they talked about everything they had written.

He said, “When I get a letter from you, I always kiss the back of the envelope before I open it because I love to think how your soft lips touched it before you put it in the post.”

She blushed and looked very embarrassed. He said, “What’s wrong?” She said, “Actually, I moisten the envelope flap on the dog’s nose!”

There is no story in the Bible where a woman’s practical common sense is more obvious than the one people think a lot about at this time of year, where the angel announces to Mary that she has been chosen to give birth to the Messiah.

He gets really carried away. “You will conceive and give birth to a son, You are to call him Jesus [which means saviour]. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of Israel’s greatest king, David, and he will rule and reign forever And oh, his kingdom [takes deep breath of awe and wonder] will never end.”

And Mary very sensibly says, “Look, this is all very well but I have never had sexual intercourse in my life, how do you think this is going to work?”

I was reading Matthew’s Gospel earlier this year and I noticed something I had never seen before. No less than five times in that Gospel, Jesus speaks to his male disciples and says, “Oh, you of little faith.”

But in chapter 15, he goes on tour and meets a woman. A foreigner. Poor. Desperately anxious about a disturbed and troubled daughter. At her wits’ end. She actually makes a bit of a scene. She kneels before him, looks him in the eye and says, “Lord, help me!”

And I love this; she doesn’t let Jesus go until she gets what she asks for. In stark contrast to what Jesus says to his men, “Oh, you of little faith, how long must I put up with you?” Jesus looks at her and says, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her sick daughter is healed at that very moment.

Ladies, likewise you all have huge potential and capacity for great faith.

Jesus notices your faith. He commends it. He loves it. And he wants to act on it. Let the lioness within you roar! Change the world.

After Dinner Speech at Ladies' Night Out, 26 November 2021

Wonderful Counsellor (Isaiah 9.1-7)

Introduction

A few weeks ago, Kathie and I spent a week in Paris to visit family there. Our trip coincided with the tenth birthday of our first grandchild.

I still remember very clearly a decade earlier getting a call from our eldest son breaking the news that his wife Beki had given birth earlier that day to a little girl.

Shortly afterwards, the first photos appeared. We studied them very carefully, and decided our new granddaughter had the best possible start in life – she looked nothing like me!

The announcement of the birth of a new baby always spreads a bit of cheer, doesn’t it?

Who is not pleased and relieved to hear that mum and baby are both doing well? Who does not marvel at the first pictures of this new-born bundle of cuteness? Who is not eager to learn the baby’s weight and most importantly the name he or she will be given?

Two of the best-known and most stunning prophecies in the Bible are essentially birth announcements (and for those of you who like a bit of highbrow music they both feature in Handel’s Messiah).

In Isaiah 7 there is the “Immanuel” prophecy; “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” [meaning God is with us].

But today, we’re going to focus on the opening verses of chapter 9: “To us a child is born, to us a son is given.”

Here’s what it says:

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past [God] humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honour Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.

For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.

Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Prayer…

Over the next four weeks leading up to Christmas at King’s, we’re going to be zooming in on each of the four descriptive titles that are given to the coming Messiah; Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and today, Wonderful Counsellor.

Background

But so as to help us see and savour the full force and majesty of this prophecy, I need to give a bit of background.

When Isaiah spoke these words, about 750 years before Jesus was born, he was living in what had been, less than 200 years earlier, a great and prosperous nation that was the envy of the world.

By now though, Israel was diminished and in acute decline, torn apart by civil war, divided into two nations, squeezed and humbled by rival powers on its borders, and under threat from the increasingly dominant empires of Assyria and Babylon.

The people of God at the time Isaiah spoke this prophecy were led by a weak and corrupt king called Ahaz. Under his leadership, God’s people suffered military defeats and national humiliations. The nation was almost constantly at war. And invariably on the losing side.

Ahaz didn’t listen to the prophets or take any notice of Scripture. He promoted a cult of idols.

He actually made the worship of the living God illegal and locked the temple doors. He even offered some of his children as a human sacrifice to the pagan god Molech.

This is why Isaiah talks about an atmosphere of pessimism and gloom, about people walking in darkness and living in a land of deep darkness. Isaiah’s world was - spiritually - a terribly gloomy and depressing place.

A Child Is Born

But as chapter 9 begins, against all the odds and out of nowhere Isaiah says,

“There will be no more gloom” (v1).

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light, and on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (v2).

“To us a child is born, to us a son is given (v6).

Predicting the sex of an unborn child, when you think about it, is not that hard. There’s a 50% chance of getting it right.

I guessed that our first child would be a boy. We had a little girl.

I then predicted that our other three children, one after the other, would all be girls. All three were boys. You can see I’ve never been blessed with a prophetic ministry...But Isaiah was and he said, there’s going to be a royal baby; it’ll be a boy (v6). And he got it right first time. Like I said, 50:50.

But then the odds lengthen considerably.

Isaiah also says where the child is going to be from (v1). He says God “will honour Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea.” That’s where the light will shine.

In other words, the child will be associated with northern, not southern, Israel. Nothing good ever happened in the north. No one important came from the north. The centre of power and the engine of the economy were, like in the UK today, down south. But Isaiah says, “All that’s changing.”

At the same time that Isaiah was speaking, there was another prophet called Micah. Micah was saying, “Look, there’s going to be a new baby, a great ruler, our Messiah, and he will be from… the south, born in the little town of Bethlehem, about 80 miles from Galilee.

Some people read Isaiah 9 and Micha 5 and say, “Ah, you see! The Bible contradicts itself! One prophecy says the Messiah will be from the north and another prophecy says he’ll be from the south.”

Well, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, as both Matthew and Luke clearly say.

They explain how a new Roman poll tax and an international census were perfectly timed to get one heavily pregnant mother to exactly the right place, Bethlehem, at precisely the right time, when a new star appeared, so Micah’s prophetic word would be unerringly fulfilled in meticulous detail.

But after that, Jesus grew up and lived most of his life in Galilee as the New Testament also clearly attests.

He was known as Jesus of Nazareth (which is up north). The focus of his ministry was mostly around - and on - the Sea of Galilee.

You see, God watches over his word.

Predicting the future is not easy. In 1962 The Decca Recording Company rejected the Beatles. They said, “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out. 

In 1977 Ken Olson, Chairman of Digital Equipment Company said, “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

But when God predicts the future, it is always spot on.

The editors of the World Christian Encyclopaedia once conducted a remarkable study. Going through the whole Bible, page by page, they listed 735 separate future predictions. They noted that predictive prophecy amounts to roughly 27% of all Bible verses.

Then, with an open Bible and a stack of history books, they learned that 596 of the 735 prophecies recorded in Scripture have already been verifiably fulfilled; that’s about 81%.

Of the 19% of biblical prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled, that’s 139 different predictions, most are about the return of Christ and the end of the world.

In other words, God is very careful to fulfil every prophecy in this book. And he will honour every promise in it too.

Read and mark every promise in his word to you. He will do what he has said he will do; you can count on it.

This is important for some of you to hear this today. God’s word is true. Believe his promises. He will be with you to the end of the age. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. He will not leave you or forsake you. He will complete the good work he has started in you. No, nothing will or can separate you from his love.

God’s great and precious promises to you have the copper-bottomed guarantee of Jesus Christ his Son.

Don’t let appearances to the contrary let you lose your focus. Is it north? Is it south? It’s both. God knows what he is talking about, and you can trust… his… word.

Isaiah gives no name for this new king who’s going to be born. He just says that when he comes, it’ll be as a light and he will bring to an end spiritual darkness wherever he goes.

Wonderful…

Jesus has about 200 names and titles, more than any other figure in history.

One of them is Light of the world. “I am the Light of the world,” he said. “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Four more of Jesus’ names and titles are listed here. Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The one we’re looking at today is Wonderful Counsellor.

We use the word “wonderful” today to describe the most mundane experiences.

We had wonderful weather on holiday. What a wonderful goal. Wonderful Copenhagen. These new underpants fit wonderfully…

But Isaiah says, “No, when people encounter this Messiah they will marvel, they will be filled with wonder.”

The word that he uses is pelé in Hebrew. Alec Motyer in his commentary The Prophecy of Isaiah says this word translated “wonderful” means “what is out of the ordinary.” It is used fifty-four times in the Old Testament to describe the awesome acts of God. There, the sense is “supernatural,” “confounding human knowledge,” “unfathomable” and “miraculous.”

When you read the Gospels, you see time and time again how fittingly this word is used to describe Jesus.

People were indeed amazed at his miracles. They said, “We’ve never seen anything like this!”

Jesus kept telling people, “Don’t tell anyone what I’ve done for you today,” but they couldn’t stop themselves. Word about him spread like wildfire.

They marvelled at his wisdom and his unique authority when he spoke. It was nothing like the dreary, sanctimonious moralising they were used to hearing.

People came from miles to see him and hung on his every word. Whenever he opened his mouth, the atmosphere was electric.  

Jesus is still wonderful today.

Nicky Gumbel of the Alpha Course tells the story of Jean Smith, from Cwmbran in Wales. She was in her mid-sixties. She had been blind for sixteen years. She could only go out with the aid of a white stick and a guide dog.

An infection had eaten away at the retinas (the mirrors) at the back of her eyes – and they could not be replaced. Not only had she lost her sight, she was in constant pain.

Jean went on an Alpha course. On the day away to focus on the Holy Spirit, she noticed all of a sudden that her pain had gone.

She went to church the following Sunday to thank God. The minister anointed her with oil for healing. As she wiped the oil away from her eyes, to her amazement, she saw the communion table in front of her. Jesus had miraculously healed her.

She had not seen her husband for sixteen years. She was amazed at how white his beard had become! She had never seen her daughter-in-law before.

Her six-year-old grandson who used to guide her around the puddles to avoid her getting her feet wet said to her, “Who done that Gran?” She replied, “Jesus made me better.” “I hope you said thank you, Gran.” She said, “I will never stop saying thank you.”

This is Jesus in 2021. This is what he’s like. This is what he does.

If you know Jesus personally you will understand from experience how wonderfully life-changing an encounter with him is. Everything about him was, is, and always will be, truly wonderful.

…Counsellor

He will be called wonderful… counsellor.

This may seem a strange title, really. What do counsellors do? 

If you’ve ever had counselling, you know they listen, they encourage and they show understanding. They also help their clients to see the issues they face more clearly or in a different way. 

The bottom line is that good counsellors help broken people get mended. They help messed up people get sorted.

It’s why we have trauma counsellors, marriage guidance counsellors, hospital counsellors, career counsellors, bereavement and divorce counsellors, post-natal counsellors…

All of us are broken in some way. All of us carry pain, and disappointment, and shame, and wounds.

Good counsellors also give trustworthy advice. If you have a really big decision to make you know how priceless really good advice is.

We all need wisdom we can trust.

It’s why mountaineers look for local guides. It’s why leaders seek out mentors. It’s why sportsmen and women value good coaches. It’s why government ministers have advisers. It’s why big business hires consultants. It’s why the Queen has a Privy Council.

Looking back over 2021, for many of us, it’s been a year of disappointments and dashed hopes.

 England, at last, get to the final of a football tournament only to lose it in yet another penalty shoot-out. A vaccine is rolled out for Covid-19 only to find it doesn’t really work as well as many expected. Western nations finally pull out of Afghanistan, after 20 years of costly nation-building, only to see the Taliban back in control within days.

We are undoubtedly living in a world of vastly increased complexity. The stresses and strains on the family, on education, on healthcare, on the economy, on the environment, just feel overwhelming.

Our world leaders arrive in office on a wave of optimism and euphoria only to discover they just don’t know what to do.

This is why we should pray for them for sound judgment; they have to find solutions to impossible situations.

The world needs wise counsel.

The world yearns for someone marked with greatness and understanding and gravitas who brings clarity and light. Someone who just seems to see into the heart of the problem. Someone who gives you belief that they can solve the unsolvable.

Basically, the world needs Jesus and his wisdom.

Again, the Gospels give abundant testimony to how perfectly Jesus fulfils this prophecy.

People constantly tried to trap him with trick questions and impossible conundrums.

Jesus always saw through the motive behind the question, understood the issue, knew what to do about it, and how to say it in plain language.

How often did he say, “Err, I’ll have to think about that and get back to you”? When did Jesus ever say, “I’m out of ideas”?

And if you know Jesus personally you will know from experience that he is a source of life-saving wisdom.

This is my testimony after four decades of following Jesus. The more I laid my life’s decisions before him in prayer, the more light I saw.

Ending

There’s a scene in the Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian, where Aslan, the Christ-like lion, appears to the little girl Lucy for the first time in a long while. “Welcome child” he says. “Aslan,” says Lucy, “you’re bigger.” Aslan says, “That is because you are older, little one.” Lucy doesn’t quite understand. She thinks Aslan would get bigger because he is older. And Aslan says to her, “I am not [older]. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

As we grow in faith, Jesus will seem to us greater, truer, wiser, more glorious. He truly is our wonderful counsellor.

At the first Christmas a child was born. A Son was given. And he is Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Do you need wisdom today? Do you feel lost and confused? Do you not know where to turn? Do you need to hear the utterly dependable voice of Wonderful Counsellor whose words bring light?

His name is Jesus, and he is here.

Let’s stand to pray…

Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 21 November 2021

Remember

I would guess that relatively few in our country know that the centre of gravity in terms of casualties and strategic battles in the Second World War was some way east of Berlin. 

How many of us know that there were double the number of deaths in Warsaw than in London during the Second World War? 

Less than 1% of our population died in World War II; in Belarus the figure is 25%. The UK suffered about 150,000 military war deaths overall from 1939 to 1945. The number who fell in the USSR is estimated to be about eleven million.

Understandably, every country tends to focus on those aspects of a war which most directly affect it. Our national consciousness at Remembrance here in the UK is shaped by events like the Somme, Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, D-Day and so on.

Ever since the Armistice Treaty in 1918 annual services of remembrance have given thanks to God for the freedoms we enjoy and that were secured at so high a price; the lives of soldiers and civilians, plus many wounded to say nothing of the pain endured by loved ones when they learned that their husbands, fiancés, sons and fathers would never come home again.

103 years after the war that was supposed to end all wars, it has been estimated that perhaps 120 million people have been killed in armed conflict. However righteous the cause, however noble the objective, war always leaves heartbroken widows, fatherless sons and daughters and grief-stricken mothers who have to bury their own children.

Our acts of remembrance honour and lament the many who died too young in the fields of battle, and we stand with those most traumatised by war’s devastation. If we held a minute's silence for every victim of the holocaust, we would have to be silent for eleven and a half years.

As is often quoted in remembrance services and on war memorials, Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15.13). 

He said these words just hours before he died, giving his life not just for his country but for the whole world, to liberate it forever from the tyranny of sin and eternal death. His unique sufferings secure an enduring peace with God, having power to cleanse all who turn to him in repentance of all guilt and all sin for all time.

Sir Winston Churchill wrote a six-volume history of the Second World War, which told the story of that conflict from the British point of view and it won him the Nobel Prize for Literature. The last volume was intriguingly entitled, Triumph and Tragedy: How the great democracies triumphed, and so were able to resume the follies which had so nearly cost them their life.

These are words that should trouble our national consciousness and stir deep repentance in us. At this time of national remembrance, we do well to remember that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, quarrelling, and slander be put away from you, along with all hatred. And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4.31).

The Crucifixion (Luke 23.26-49)

Introduction

The kings and queens of the United Kingdom are presented at their coronation with a golden sphere, called the orb. Adorned with 375 pearls, 365 diamonds, 18 rubies, 9 emeralds, 9 sapphires, 1 amethyst and a piece of polished glass, it is a serious bit of bling!

It represents our planet Earth and set at the top of it is a cross. When it is placed in the monarch’s right hand, the Archbishop of Canterbury says these words: “Receive this orb, set under the cross, and remember that the whole world is subject to the power and empire of Christ our Redeemer.”

What a thing! Death by crucifixion – long dreaded as the grimmest, cruellest, most terrifying, most distressing and most painful form of capital punishment ever devised, unequalled for public disgrace and humiliation – now depicted on top of the world, majestically bejewelled.

Nations, empires, kingdoms, thrones, political alliances, dominions, superpowers - the cross towers over them all.

What is it about the cross of Christ? It’s the shocking miscarriage of justice of an innocent man. It’s the most tragic and criminally unjust judicial murder in history. But it’s much deeper than that.

How do you explain that the fierce opposition the cross still attracts all over the world? When ISIS spread over Iraq and Syria the first thing they did in every town was to smash crosses on church buildings to bits. Satan hates the cross.

Even in the UK, we have all heard of Christians who’ve been bullied, demoted and sacked for wearing crosses at work. There’s a case going through the courts at the moment contesting that very issue. People want to censor the cross.

A few years ago, the supermarket chain Lidl airbrushed out a cross on the roof of a Greek church that featured on its yoghurt packaging. People are uncomfortable with the cross.

As we draw towards a conclusion in this series of highlights in Luke’s Gospel, today, we find ourselves at the cross; this instrument of death – abolished centuries ago – but which still inspires so much uneasiness, so much fear, so much hostility and, for us, so much worship.

There are over 40 different verses in the New Testament that specifically point out that the death of Jesus is “for us”, in our place. Here are just 5 of them:

Luke 22.20: This is my body, this is my blood given for you. 1 Peter 3.18: Christ suffered for us. 2 Corinthians 5.21: God made him who had no sin to become sin for us. Galatians 3.13: Christ became a curse for us. Romans 5.8: While we were yet sinners Christ died for us

But it won’t be the focus of what I say today because Luke’s Gospel, surprisingly perhaps, says nothing at all about what the crucifixion means – none of the Gospels do.

I once went into a DVD rental store (in the days when such things existed and was struck by noticing Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was in the horror section. It is a harrowing film, difficult to watch in places.

But neither Matthew, Mark, Luke or John sensationalise the passion; there’s no gruesome detail at all. There’s no appeal to the emotions. All four simply report, in an almost matter-of-fact sort of way, the minimum facts and in particular how the different people who witnessed it interacted with what happened.

Let’s read it then; Luke 23.26-49.

26 As the soldiers led [Jesus] away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ 31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” 36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” 38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the Jews.

39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” 48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Prayer…

How Did We Get Here?

How did we get here? How did it come to pass that the loveliest life the world has ever seen was terminated in the ghastliest fashion mankind has yet devised?

Jesus, remember, challenged his enemies saying, “which of you can find a fault in me?” No one could utter a word. Silence. And that was his enemies.

As we saw last Sunday, all the charges against him during his trial were false. He was manifestly innocent. His judge said again and again that he found the case against him without merit and dismissed it.

And still they crucified him. Not even the most powerful man in the region, Pontius Pilate, could stop it. Jesus didn’t try and get out of it. He accepted the cross. He had predicted it on several occasions. Indeed, he planned it.

Sometimes people ask, “why do bad things happen to good people?” But, as R.C. Sproul said, “that only ever happened once - and he volunteered.”

Before they finally succeeded in killing Jesus, there were no less than five failed assassination attempts on his life.

In Matthew 2.16, Herod tried to kill him in Bethlehem with the sword. In Matthew 4.5-6 Satan tried to kill him at the temple by talking him into jumping off a high roof. In Luke 4.28-30, locals in Nazareth tried to kill him by throwing him off a cliff. In John 8.59, the Pharisees in Jerusalem tried to kill him by picking up rocks to stone him alive. In John 10.31 and 39 the Judeans in Jerusalem attempt the same thing.

But each time they failed because Jesus alone decided when he would die, where he would die, and how he would die. Jesus had already said, “No one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord.”

Even beaten up and pinned with iron spikes to his cross, looking utterly crushed and defeated, for Jesus it was all going exactly as planned.

Luke’s narrative mentions a large cast of characters; there’s a crowd of women, Simon of Cyrene, there are low-ranking soldiers who have the gruesome job of driving these nails through his wrists and ankles, there are two condemned men either side of him, some religious rulers, a Roman centurion and various other passers-by who stop to watch.

If you had been there, what would you have made of it all? What would you have said or done? Of all the characters around the cross, which one would you have been?

1. Simon - Resentment

In v26 the soldiers grab a man from the crowd called Simon from Cyrene and they make him carry the crossbar behind Jesus whose strength is failing after being deprived of sleep and food, and subjected to a Roman flogging.

In Roman-occupied Judea, any citizen at any time could be pressed into service of a Roman official and have to walk 1,000 paces or 1 mile. You get a tap on the shoulder with a Roman spear and you do what they say.

Everyone resented it and only complied grudgingly. But Jesus said, “If they make you walk one mile, walk two.”

Cyrene is in modern-day Libya; that’s over 1,000 miles away. Simon is more than likely visiting Jerusalem at that time to celebrate Passover. Maybe he’s saved up for years to fulfil his ambition of attending a great festival like this one in the City of David.

After his long journey from North Africa, he finds himself ordered at knifepoint to carry a 50 kilo, blood-stained plank of wood that’s got the smell of death all over it. I’d understand it if Simon of Cyrene had a bit of a chip on his shoulder about that.

Do some of us feel like a bit like he might have felt? Do you ever wonder to yourself, “What am I doing here?” Has following Jesus become an inconvenience, a weary chore for you? Have you become less willing to count the cost, take up your cross and follow Jesus than you used to be?

2. The Women – Sympathy

Or maybe you identify more with one of the women. In v27-31 some women meet Jesus on his way to execution, and their hearts break with compassion and pity for him.

They see this poor man getting beaten up and they can’t help but feel for him. They begin to sob.

Maybe you’re a bit like one of these women when you think about the cross. You see the unfairness and the injustice of it and you feel sorry for that nice man who suffered so badly.

But Jesus doesn’t want pity or sympathy. “Don’t cry for me,” he says. “Cry for yourselves…” He is saying, “this is more than a very bad day for one man; this is the entire nation of Israel rejecting its Messiah.”

Jesus knows that, forty years later, the Romans will besiege Jerusalem for two years and then pound the entire city to rubble. Days of terror and carnage will follow.

Jesus says here that the consequences of rejecting the Messiah will make women wish they had never brought children into the world to witness it.

“If people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Jesus says this in Aramaic, but it will be recorded in Greek and then much later put into English, so it loses a bit in translation. It means, “If this is how the Roman military treats the innocent, how do you think they will punish the guilty?”

Jesus is not looking for sympathy – he wants you to see the bigger picture; not just what happened to him but what it means for you.

Ask God to open your eyes today to see that the cross is about you. If you had been the only spiritually lost person on earth, he would have still gone through the whole ordeal just for you, because he loves you that much.

3. The Leaders and Soldiers - Ridicule

Some resent him. Some pity him. Others mock him. In v35, the unbelieving religious leaders show their contempt. “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

The soldiers in v36-38 just find it funny. “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

There are people today, I see them every time I browse my social media, who love an opportunity to ridicule Christianity and sneer at Christians.

Sadly, we sometimes deserve to be the butt of jokes. But at times there’s just hatred and contempt behind it. These are the kind of people surely who would have taunted Jesus as he made his way to the cross.

Probably none of us here today can relate to those who laugh and jeer at Jesus as he hangs there dying. But maybe there is just one here this morning; this might be the first time you’ve ever been in a church and it all seems like a bit of a joke...

Or perhaps someone one day will overhear a recording of this talk, someone who just dismisses Jesus as a laughingstock, who uses his name as an expletive…

Listen! Jesus leads the greatest and numerically strongest movement in world history. The church world-wide is still growing. He has no peer, no rival and no equal.

He laughs off every failed attempt to side-line him. Many more millions will leave everything they have to follow him long after you’re dead and forgotten.   

Don’t risk an eternity of darkness and unquenchable thirst and bitter regret separated forever from God. Turn to Christ today. Come humbly to Jesus in repentance and faith.

4. The Cynical Thief – Disrespect

It was prophesied in Isaiah 53, 750 years before Jesus was born, that he would be put to death with the wicked. All four gospels affirm that Jesus was crucified between two thugs. But only Luke tells us what they said.

In v39 it says that one of them hurled insults at him. “If you were really any kind of Messiah you’d get yourself out of this predicament and if you were worth the time of day you’d get us out of it as well!”

This is, in fact, a very commonplace way of talking to Jesus. Some messiah! Where were you when I was overlooked for that promotion and pay rise? What kind of Saviour were you when I fell and ended up in A&E? If you were really the King of kings and Lord of lords, how come you can’t even make the bus come on time?

Is that how you talk to God sometimes? But Jesus is not your domestic servant. Or mine!

He is worthy of praise precisely because he calms a thunderstorm with one word of authority, and yet he refuses to use his breathtaking power to come down from the cross.

5. The Repentant Thief - Faith

In v39-43 there is one of the most amazing conversations in the entire Bible. Both Matthew and Mark agree that both rebels begin by heaping insults on Jesus.

But at some point during the six hours of crucifixion, one of them changes. Was it when he hears Jesus pray, “Father, forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing”? It doesn’t say.

But I think there is a moment when he looks up at the signs above their heads which informed onlookers of the crimes for which they were being punished. Above his own head; “thief”. Above the other rebel’s head; “thief.”

And he confesses the sin in his life. “We are getting what our deeds deserve” he says.

“I’m a sinner; a thief. I did it. I admit it. It wasn’t the bad crowd I got into or some genetic predisposition to get into crime. It wasn’t my parents’ fault or the rough neighbourhood I grew up in. There are no excuses. I plead guilty. I deserve this. I have broken God’s laws.”

And then he looks at the sign above Jesus’ head; “This is the King of the Jews.” His head is crowned with thorns, his hair matted in blood – but in a moment of grace and faith he sees it - this is a real King!

Jesus is the only flawless, perfect life ever lived and in a flash of insight this thief sees it. “This man has done nothing wrong” he says.

He looks at this exhausted, blood-stained, dying man and – unbelievably – he can see the big picture: this is not the end of Jesus. “Remember me when you come in your kingdom” he says. He’s going to have a kingdom in which he will yet reign and rule. What amazing faith.

Jesus answers him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Listen! No matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, and how many times you’ve done it, no matter how big the mess you’ve made is, it’s not so beyond the pale that Jesus can’t clean it up.

And this dying thief is all the proof you need that it’s never too late to admit your sin and ask Jesus to remember you.

In the New Testament, Hell is described as a dark place, a lonely place, a thirsty place and a Godless place. On the cross, Jesus endured darkness, abandonment, thirst and separation from God. He literally went through Hell as he took on himself your guilt and mine.

But because he died for the sins of the whole world, no one needs to end up in hell. You, like that repentant thief, can be with the King in paradise.

6. The Centurion – Enlightenment

Finally, the Centurion. In v47, it says, “The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” Mark’s Gospel quotes him in full. “Surely, this was the Son of God.”

What happened to make this man say that?

Luke says, “It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two at 3pm, the exact moment the Passover lamb was slain to atone for sin…

The sky at midnight was bright with angelic glory when Jesus was born and it was dark at midday when he died.

For three whole hours, in fact, it went eerily dark until Jesus bowed his head and died at 3 o’clock. And then, as soon as he died, it brightened up again.

That’s what the Centurion saw. And in a moment of grace and faith he literally saw the light.

Ending

Who are you in this story? A bit annoyed to be associated with it against your will? Feeling sorry for Jesus but not really getting that his death is for you? Laughing at it all? Seeing your sin and thanking Jesus for forgiveness?

We’re going to share Communion in a moment as we remember the Lord’s sufferings for us and renew our allegiance to him as our King and our love for one another as his beloved bride. We are on holy ground.

The musicians are going to lead us in worship but as they get ready to do that, let me end with this true story.

Some years ago, a Chinese church leader called Allen Yuan was arrested and imprisoned because of his faith in Christ. He was 44 years old.

His wife had to raise their six children (aged from six to seventeen) alone and also care for an elderly mother.

Yuan was in jail for 21 years and throughout that whole time he never once saw his family, or had any Christian fellowship, or even saw a Bible.

Conditions were harsh. He suffered terrible isolation. At times, the temperature in his cell dropped to -29°C but he was never ill.

All that time people urged his wife to remarry, saying Yuan must have died. She had several proposals. But she refused each time, saying she would never remarry until she had concrete proof her husband was dead.

He was finally released when in his mid-sixties. He had missed all his children growing up to adulthood. He had missed his wife. Life was hard for her too obviously.

But whenever people would speak to him about the high price he had paid for following Jesus, he would smile with joy and simply say, “Nothing compared to the cross.”

 

Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 31 October 2021