A FEW months ago, I upgraded my computer. I got a new second hand mainboard, but kept my old CPU chip. Then I searched all the second-hand sellers until I found the chip I wanted, in WA.

When the chip arrived, I looked at it. It was fine. All the pins were there, none was bent, the chip didn't smell burnt or have any black charred bits. I paid for it, ran home, plugged it in, turned on the computer... and it didn't work.

Guess whose e-mail address was no longer operating when I tried to get an answer on what had happened?

In the past few months, I've had a lot to do with people from different religious backgrounds to ours. Jews, Muslims, Buddhists — they are all around. And I've wondered how to present the gospel to them.

During the week, I got hold of a book on how to witness to Muslims, but a lot of the principles apply to the others, anyway. One thing they said was, “Don't knock Islam, or Mahomet. That's typical of what Muslims have been doing, lately — knocking Christ and Christianity. Don't do it. Don't get into tit–for–tat. Show people Christ, and the truth of the gospel, and let them find life that way.”

It's good advice. We aren't about arguing which is best. We are about revealing the Person who is the Truth, and letting his truth win through. If we think in that way, we'll never go wrong. It doesn't matter if it's one of the great religions which stand in distinction against the gospel of Christ. It doesn't matter if it's one of the counterfeits, like Jehovahs Witnesses or Mormons. It doesn't matter if it's a theologically orthodox "Christian" who doesn't really know the Lord. Show them Jesus, and let his truth do its work.

What does this have to do with upgrading my computer? Well, as I said, our job is not to start arguments with people over which religion is superior. But I do think it is quite appropriate for us here today to realise that all the others look fine, they have all their pins and none is bent, there is no burnt smell or visibly charred bits. But when you plug them in, it doesn't matter how many switches and jumpers you set, they don't work.

I never did find out exactly what was wrong. It wasn't that that chip was totally dead. Bits did something. The power-on tests started, but never concluded. It's more frustrating than if nothing works at all.

I kept thinking, “Maybe if it won't work at full speed, I can try a slower speed, and still be better off.” I tried this way, I tried that way, but nothing worked.

And that's what people do. They find something that looks fine on the outside, and they plug it in and set it up right, but it never goes beyond the self-test stage, it never actually works all the way to full operation.

The problem is that there is only one basic choice: you either try the perishable things that don't work, or you receive the redemption that comes from the blood of Christ.

18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Over recent weeks, I have outlined the gospel to you, and I am thankful that Paul fleshed that out with his exhortation last week to take the gospel out into our community.

We have seen how much God loves us. We have understood that Jesus came to bring us abundant life. We have understood how sin and self-will stand between ourselves and the fulfilment of God's will in our lives.

We have seen something of the depth of the sinfulness in our own hearts, we have noticed the way that we are constantly driven by self–interest and self–will.

The old prayer of confession said, “... there is no health in us.” It's true, isn't it? It's not that we are all the chief of sinners. Each of us can look around and see other people, and each of us can say, “I'm a better person than some of the worst and I'm a worse person than some of the best.”

They say that comparisons are odious, and I can tell you that God isn't into odious things. He doesn't compare. He is absolute. He looks, he sees the truth of our hearts, where every thought is only, always evil.

I have a confession to make. Even a refined person like myself occasionally goes and checks the plumbing in the course of the day. If you don't know what I do when I check the plumbing, ask me afterwards.

I'm not going to give you a blow–by–blow account of what I do, much as I'm sure you want to know all. But I will tell you that I often feel just mildly confused and disoriented when I'm in there. The Gents' is basically a fairly tidy, well–lit structure, and it isn't bad at all for such an old building. But nothing is straight. The door doesn't line up with the line of tiles on the floor. The wall isn't quite square. Even the hook behind the cubicle door is tilted around 2 degrees, at a guess. It's like going into one of those Hall of Mirrors places in Sideshow Alley, even worse, because it's almost right.

Each of us is like that. Even the best of us doesn't have one straight side. Not one line is not crooked.

At least the Gents' at Roy Morgan's was made that way. You and I, we weren't made that way. God made each of us perfect. You can imagine him coming back and checking, and looking in horror at how badly sagged and twisted and distorted we are. “Didn't I make this one perfect? Look at this! The devil himself must have had a hand in this!”

It doesn't matter if the damage is large or small: it is still there. Sometimes the larger damage is easier to fix than the little stuff.

Peter wrote,

18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

I've seen so many people rescued from a life of disastrously bad choices, through faith in Christ.

That's why we want to share the gospel with people. Some religions want to impose laws to make everyone behave well, and never get into trouble. Even some Christians think that's our main reason for existing.

But the gospel isn't that way at all. If a law is needed to protect the vulnerable, that's one thing. But a law to make people good is an impossibility: why waste time on it? The solution is to get down to transformation. Show people that they are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. That's what begins the process of straightening the crooked and making the rough places plain.

There were men at Fairfield Baptist Church when I first went there who had been saved from alcoholism.

I don't worry much if you like your occasional drink or not. I like a Guinness when it's hot weather, or a glass of red with my dinner. Other Christians I know are strict teetotallers. Making rules about these things doesn't solve anything.

But about a quarter of those men had been alcoholics until Jesus met them and saved them. There was a big twist in part of the frame there, and Jesus came and cleaned it up and restored the damaged parts.

They were redeemed by the blood of Christ, and they knew it.

The meaning of redeemed is shown in what happened in their lives. Redeemed means, “Freed through the payment of a price.”

These men were freed from their addiction through the price Jesus had paid for them when he gave his life for them. And they were changed men.

When I got my first car, one of them came over several times and helped me work on it, getting it all overhauled and safe to drive. He'd loved cars and bikes when he was younger, and he loved to help with those things. He was silly as a two bob watch sometimes, because parts of his brain were permanently pickled. But he wouldn't turn back to his addiction, because he'd been set free, and God used him despite the damage he'd done to himself. He was redeemed...

...through the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish.

It was the people who thought they didn't have all that much to repent of who were the most difficult to fix.

Our old house at Berala was all out of square, too. It was because the previous owner had done silly things with the roof, and that affected everything else.

Nothing was far out of line, but everything depended on something else, so you couldn't fix the wall without fixing the roof, and you couldn't fix the roof without fixing the ridge pole, and nothing could really be fixed unless the footings were adjusted... it just went on and on. In the end, I propped it and strapped it so that nothing could move any further, and I sold it to a developer.

But I asked a builder about doing the job, and he said it could be done, but would be far too expensive for me. I'd have to sit by while he virtually pulled everything apart and redid it.

If only we would see that Jesus is prepared to do just that! He paid the full price! He was our lamb without blemish, who gave his life as a ransom for many! If he has to adjust every part, he will do it if you and I allow him to.

But let's not get stuck in the self–help section. Sometimes we get tempted to view our faith as a helpful system to make our lives work better. You expect to go through the shelves and find

• Creating a Healthy Self–image
• Getting the Love you Want
• The Gospel according to John
• Finding the Right Life Partner

and so on.

The Gospel does work in the practical side of life. When you know you are truly loved, when you know that God has provided the Lamb caught in the thicket, to be your substitute, then you want Jesus to begin work on your life.

When I came here, I was going through a period of intense personal change. Sometimes it felt that life was about being transformed, and I would get a couple of weeks to catch my breath before the next lot came along.

But the sacrifice of Jesus has a very strong and meaningful theological side.

Never imagine that theology isn't very practical. If you remember the series I taught at night a few years ago about building a stairway to heaven, you'll recall that I showed how false belief systems are based on a distorted view of our humanity and of God.

It's true. The Docetists taught that Jesus only seemed to die on the cross, because they felt that human feelings were too gross for God to experience them in any way, so he couldn't really have become fully human. And the Arians appeared about 20 years ago, with the same problem, but they expressed it differently, and said that Jesus couldn't have been truly divine, because that would have brought his humanity into contact with God.

If false theology reveals a false view of humanity, so good theology shows us how to handle the real world.

A couple of days ago, we were talking in the office about Bill Gates. Now I don't know Bill Gates, and I don't want to make any judgment on him. But a co-worker said, “He gives away a lot of money, to try to compensate for all the bad he's done elsewhere.”

I said, “There's a serious theological problem in that attitude, quite apart from anything else you have to think about.”

One of the girls thought about that and agreed.

How can anyone possibly fix what they did in place A and at time 1, by doing something in place B and time 2?

If I murder you, does it make it alright if I give a big donation to orphans tomorrow? Of course not! I have such an overwhelmingly big burden of guilt from every sin I've ever committed. And the treasure–horde of the good deeds I've done seems puny when I take out everything tainted by self–will and self–interest. All I add to the golden heap hoping to pay for my sins is immediately tainted with my selfish hope to avoid punishment.

I cannot — no matter how hard I try — I simply cannot build a heap of golden good deeds big enough to compensate for the evil I have done.

You ask anyone from any religion other than Biblical Christianity, “What will happen to you when you die?” And you will hear a lot of hoping to goodness, but they can offer nothing better, because they don't know whether they will achieve a big enough heap of golden goodness.

But, praise the Lord, I can say, “I know where I'm going, and I know who's going with me.” I can say it, because I know it. I am not tied to a mill stone, forever grinding in my endless circles, hoping to buy freedom. I am not some modern Prometheus, repeating the same punishments endlessly.

I am not redeemed by perishable silver or gold, but through the blood of Jesus, the lamb without blemish.

What I am totally unable to do, because of my own sin, Christ Jesus has done for me in accordance with the absolute and perfect will of his Father.

When we sing, The price is paid, we are not singing some academic theological idea. It's not like the night Naomi came home from church and said, “We sang a dreadful hymn tonight.” I said, “What one was that?” She said, “Onward Christian Soldiers. It was like singing a theology essay.”

The price is paid... we sing it, because we are released from captivity through the payment,

...through the precious blood of Jesus, a lamb without blemish.

The price is paid! We only need to trust it and receive it in simple repentant faith. There's really no other absolute necessity. The great gold hoard, enough to pay the price of every sin, is the hoard accumulated by Jesus himself, as he gave hs life for you and for me.

Once for all —oh, sinner, believe it!
Once for all —oh, sinner, receive it!
...Christ has redeemed you,
Once for all!

Turn to him, and find life! Turn — and then tell the story, so that the whole world may know. AMEN