Good Friday Devotion 2023
Notes
Transcript
WHO HE IS
WHO HE IS
Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
Christ is holy. He is beautifully holy.
In Him there is no shadow of turning.
There is no double-mindedness in Him regarding what is right.
Acts 3:14 describes Him as the Holy and Righteous One
Acts 4:27 calls Him the Holy Servant, Jesus
Hebrews 7:26 reminds us that He is a High Priest who is holy, innocent and undefiled
1 Peter 1:19 calls Him the unblemished, spotless Lamb
In Mark 1 and Luke 4, He is even recognized as the Holy One of God by the demons.
He is holy in who He is.
Christ has always been holy. He is holy right now, in His resurrected flesh, seated at the right hand of the Father.
Christ is holy in what He does.
He was holy as the world was created through Him.
He was holy when He is seen appearing in the Old Testament in His pre-incarnate glory.
He was holy in His birth in Bethlehem.
He was holy in the temptations in the wilderness.
He was holy in His baptism.
He was holy in His healing.
He was holy in His teaching.
He was holy in His dying.
He was holy in His rising.
He was holy in His ascending.
He is holy in His care for you.
He is holy in His shepherding of your soul.
He is holy as He sits at the Father’s right hand.
He will be holy in His return.
And He will be holy as He reigns over the new heaven and new earth forever.
And so, Christ—the holy Savior is able to pray from His position of righteousness—as He suffers for our sins—Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
How could they know they are attempting to murder God?
How could they know they are jeering at the One who intricately formed them in the mother’s womb?
Even with the Law and the Prophets and all that Christ said and did—there was no way to absorb the full weight of the heinous sin they were committing.
They were treating the Holiest Person to ever cross the horizon of this world like a polluted garment.
Like a disgusting thing to be discarded.
And so, the Holy One, mercifully prays for them— “Forgive them.”
WHO WE ARE
WHO WE ARE
But that is not our prayer. That is His prayer.
He is holy. We are not.
He could say,” Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” You must use another plea: “Father, forgive me through thy Son’s precious blood.”—53.585
Charles Spurgeon
We must use another plea.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
This is our plea.
If we understand who we are before God, we cry out for our own forgiveness because our sinfulness demands it.
To do anything less would be finding out you have some horrible disease, but not being compelled to pursue a cure.
We are not holy in who we are.
We are born sinners.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Our hearts are so wicked that it is hard to even understand them:
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
And we are not holy in what we do:
We transgress God’s laws in all sorts of ways, failing the whole thing when we fail at any point
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
And these sins leave us speechlessly guilty before God.
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
There are times in our lives in which we will pray for others to be forgiven, but when we stand before Jesus’ cross, we must start with the reality that we are sinners.
That it should have been us.
That we deserved the punishment He bore for us.
We have to own up to the fact that it was our sin that held Him there.
And we count the praying Savior on that Cross as our only hope.
Salvation comes through a cross and a crucified Christ.
Andrew Murray
This is what we are counting on.
We believe this is the only way to salvation—through the Savior who hung on the tree for our sins.
The Savior who suffered to bring redemption. The Savior who died so that sinners who do not understand the full weight of their offense, could find grace and come back to God.
The world calls it foolishness. They can’t understand how life comes through death.
But to us it is God’s merciful power to save.
A crucified Savior rescuing a condemned people.
And we are sinners clinging to Him. Clinging to our Savior.
THE ENEMY-LOVE OF CHRIST
THE ENEMY-LOVE OF CHRIST
He is holy. We are not.
The Holy One prays for the unholy Ones.
And we the unholy ones pray to the Holy One and plead for forgiveness by His blood.
This is what we have seen.
We might sum it up to say that we are a people who are relieved in our souls that Christ loves His enemies.
If He is holy and we are not, then we should be His opposition—not His friends.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Is not the same enemy-loving heart behind the words, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?”
And we never understand Christ to be more lovely than when we see Him loving like this:
Christ was never more lovely to his church than when he was deformed for his church.
Richard Sibbes
So yes—that crucified Savior praying prayers for the mob who mocks Him—He is beautifully holy. And He has love for those who are not. Praise God.