Bloody Friday

Introduction

Welcome

Welcome to New Life Church.

We pursue the God who is passionately pursuing a lost world.

We do this with one another through worship, by the word, to the world.

In a few moments, we're going to be taking the Lord's supper together.

Passage

I'm going to be reading from the Book of Acts in chapter 10

Here Peter is addressing a Roman centurion by the name of Cornelius.

He is in Cornelius's home and says,

37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Pray

Story Of The Two Farmers

Somebody asked me a why do you call it Good Friday?

It's like the biggest misnomer of anything you could name anything.

You're celebrating death.

You're celebrating a violent crime that was committed.

You're celebrating torture.

Some will even say, as you are celebrating the death of this religious leader-- the founder of your religious movement.

The events of Good Friday

After the Passover, Jesus was arrested and underwent six separate trials

Finally, Pilate gave Him over to crucifixion (Luke 23:23)

He was scourged and crucified, hanging on the cross for hours before finally dying

It's what Good Friday points to that makes it so good

God is so perfect and we are so imperfect that Jesus was the only solution to dealing with our sin

We are sinners by nature and by nurture

The death of Jesus was necessary to placate the wrath of God on humanity

Jesus dying on the cross was not the end

The term Good Friday comes from a time when good meant sacred, holy, or righteous

Good Friday Points To A Good Person

Jesus is the personification of all that is good (John 1:46)

Peter said in verse 37 and 38 “Jesus went about doing good and healing all those who were oppressed by the devil.”

No one is good except for God (Luke 18:18-19)

This means Jesus is God

It also means we as people are not good

Jesus is the good Man because He is the God-man

The Roman centurion acknowledged that Jesus was a good Man (Luke 23:47)

Jesus healed people who were oppressed by the Devil (John 10:10)

Acts was written by Luke, a doctor.

The Devil wants to take from you; Jesus wants to give to you

Satan wants to rip you off; Jesus wants to bless you abundantly

Good Friday Points To A Good Plan

God's plan was to substitute the only good Person, for all of us bad people

Jesus was the only perfect Person who could die an atoning death

The plan of substitution

We can be justified because Jesus stood in our place

1 Peter 3:18:  For Christ also suffered[b] once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

God decided to treat Jesus like we deserve to be treated so that He could treat us like Jesus deserves to be treated

Isaiah 53:4-4: Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.

Christianity is a bloody religion

It is all about sacrifice

“Cut the Bible anywhere and it will bleed”

Abraham foreshadowed it when he almost sacrificed his son Isaac

No remission for sins without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22)

The lamb sacrifice pictured it in Leviticus

The psalms poeticized it

The prophets predicted it

All of the Bible points to the crucifixion

The Old Testament looks toward it

The New Testament looks back at it

Between 20 and 40 percent of the gospel accounts are devoted to the suffering of Jesus on the cross

Gospels: the presentation of the sacrifice on the cross

Acts: the reaction of people to the sacrifice on the cross

Epistles: the implications of the cross

Revelation: the culmination of the cross (Revelation 13:8)

Good Friday Points To A Good Purpose

Remission of sins

Remission = forgiveness

God's purpose is forgiveness

On the cross, Jesus cried for forgiveness for those who crucified Him

This is not a natural thing for a person to do

Me and traffic

Imprecatory psalms

Psalms in which the author calls down the judgment of God on someone

The honest feeling of the author (Psalm 58:6)

Jesus knew forgiveness is mankind's greatest need

Jesus' death was not the end of the story; it is the theme of the story

Closing

During Communion look at our Savior through the lens of the elements

Looking back to the cross (Luke 22:19)

Looking to the present—intimacy with the Lord

Looking to the future (1 Corinthians 11:25)

Remember the great hope of the church that Jesus is coming back

When we take Communion, Satan gets scared

There will be an end to his reign

Jesus will set up His earthly kingdom