If thou, LORD, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who may abide it?. (Psalm 130: 3)

Although we love the beauty of the Coverdale Psalter which is found in our Book of Common Prayer, we sometimes need to go to another translation to understand some of the more difficult passages.

Let us look at a contemporary translation of Psalm 130:3 to understand it better: If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared.

What indeed would happen to us if God "kept score" of our sins in a strict balance sheet kind of way? What would happen if our Lord had a divine scorecard, where every deed and every misdeed is added up? Every time you sin, it counts against you, and every time you do something out of completely selfless motives, (assuming that is even possible) well, then those count in your favor. What would happen? Would you win or would you lose? If the "wages of sin is death" what payment have we earned from God when he tallies up our scorecard? In an "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" kind of world a person gets what he earns, you get what you pay for and you get what is coming to you. If God kept score, we would be doomed to hell for our sins. God reminds us of this again and again in His Law. As St. Paul tells us, ultimately the Law can only condemn. Weighed in the balance, we all far short. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." So if God kept score, and only rewarded us on our merits, I would be lost and you would be lost.

"If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? That is the question. The answer, of course, is no one. Not one of us could stand up to the unending gaze of God's Law. Why, because God's standard is perfection. This is why the Psalmist cries out, Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.

This Good Friday, as we gaze upon our Lord's Passion and death, it is clear that He is dying upon the Cross because of you and because of me. We are all part of the crowd that cried "Let Him be crucified" Like all of fallen humanity we have some of Herod in us, wanting to be personally entertained and impressed before we can deem Jesus "worthy". We are all Pontius Pilate who took the path of least resistance, condemning Jesus to death even while knowing he was innocent . We are all the soldiers, who willingly carried out unjust orders. We are all like the disciples who scattered at the thought of taking personal risk and fled or denied Jesus when the going got tough. While the people who crucified Jesus were personally responsible, they are also types or symbols of fallen humanity. Thus in a real sense, we are all guilty of the crucifixion because our sinful nature is the reason Christ had to come into the world. If we believe the Bible, there was no other way for us to be saved.

If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? Left to ourselves, we are lost, alone and dead in sin. But we are not left to ourselves. That is the great, wonderful message of salvation that comes to you today.

But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared. We learn two things from seeing the Son of God die on the cross on Good Friday. First, we learn that our sins put Him there. Second, we learn that God loves us enough to sacrifice his only begotten Son so that we can be forgiven.

Forgiveness. It's a word that slips off our tongue like it cost nothing. Yet if we think about it, many of us have a difficult time forming those words in our own lives, don't we? The say "I forgive you" is always costly to our human pride. When Jesus says "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do", do we have any understanding of what those words cost?

When God says "I forgive you" through the offering of his Son, these are the most expensive words in the whole world. That word, forgiveness, cost Jesus Christ the Son of God His life. God's intent to solve the problem of human sin and forgive us is the reason Christ came into the world.

But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared. When Jesus cried out from the cross, It is Finished, He paid the price for that word, forgiveness. He cried from out of the depths, for He was abandoned and smitten by God, so that you would never face the great pain and suffering of separation from God which He endured. It is in His death that we have forgiveness. It is only in His death that we may rejoice in God's forgiveness. You see, God does keep score. He does weigh sin in the balance. But the value of the offering of His Son on the cross exceeds the collective debt of sin accumulated by all of fallen humanity. The blood of Christ cancels the eternal debt we owe for our sins, provided we respond to God's offer of living in covenant with him.

David, in his Psalm declares:" He Himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. God bought back your soul and my from Satan. We have been purchased at a great price. God Himself brought you out of the pit. And His work for forgiving your sins goes on to this very day. His Word of absolution and forgiveness is not something cheap: for it was purchased on the cross.

As we prepare to celebrate Easter I implore you to give thanks to God for this greatest of gifts, Don't let the sun go down upon your sins. Lay them at the foot of the cross. Confess your sins and God will nail them to the cross. For that tree of death is the tree of life for us. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It was our sins, not in an abstract way, but in a terrible and personal way, that put Christ on the cross, He who was without sin, became like sin for us. But it was not only our sins that put Christ on the cross. It was also God's love that put Him on the cross.

If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared. God forgives. He gives Himself. He washes us in the blood of Christ and makes us clean. He feeds us with His very body and blood. He puts the word of absolution into our ears so that we will not die, but live. Truly this is Good Friday. For the greatest good was accomplished by Jesus Christ today. In the name of Jesus Christ, the propitiation for our sins, and our only mediator and Advocate.

Amen.