Friday, April 9, 2004

April 9, 2004


11:17 AM We just added a new section in the Sermon collection called Special Documents. There are 9 documents in the collection—and none of them are sermons, but there isn’t a better place to put them right now. Some of the documents were not written by me. The collection includes the “1975 Clarification on the Holy Spirit,” and “The 1997 Doctrinal Clarification.” Documents I authored include “Worship Vision Statement,” “Creation-Evolution Teaching Statement,” and a four-year-old document that seems very dated—”Y2K Survey Results.” The collection also include the the Elders’ Statement on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage. 9:58 AM Some Good Friday thoughts … “They crucified him with the criminals. Which is more amazing, to find Jesus in such bad company, or to find the criminals in such good company? … Jesus died precisely for these two criminals who were crucified on his right and left and went to their death with him. He did not die for the sake of a good world, he died for the sake of an evil world.” Karl Barth “Since Jesus had no sin either in his nature or in his conduct, he need never have died either physically or spiritually. … Then why did he do it? What was the rationale of his death? There is only one possible, logical, biblical answer. It is that he died for our sins, not his own. The death he died was our death, the penalty which our sins had richly deserved.” John Stott “Forgiving the unforgivable is hard. So was the cross: hard words, hard wood, hard nails.” William Stoddard 6:29 AM Raymond J. de Souza shows why Pontius Pilate was really a very modern man. 6:23 AM Phil Woodrow read my sermon on “The Strangest Part of the Creed” and wrote with this additional thought:

Just finished reading your precious description of Christ descending into Hell … and what a joy to know, absolutely, that His victory is ours as well. One other image that came to mind while reading your sermon was that of our Lord plucking the list Satan was clutching in his hands … the names of all of us “hell-deserving sinners” who had been belonged to him, but freed once and for all time by what our Savior had just accomplished on the cross. As much as he wanted to hold onto that list, Christ slapped him on the side of his head and took it from him … and there our Defense Counsel sits today, at the right hand of the Father, reviewing with HIm that very list containing your name and mine (Luke 10:20). Praise God for such a blessed assurance!!!

6:22 AM Don’t forget the two Good Friday services tonight—6 & 8 PM. The festival choir and orchestra will present “The Seven Last Words of Christ.” Childcare is available. 6:20 AM This is Good Friday—the day Jesus died on the cross. In the history of the church, it was also called God’s Friday—because God offered his Son for the sins of the world on this day. And it was called Long Friday—in remembrance of all that our Lord suffered on our behalf.

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