Putting the Good in Good Friday

Jesus is quickly thrown backwards with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly but to allow some flexion and movement. The patibulum is then lifted in place at the top of the stipes [the vertical beam]…. The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified as He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain – the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet. At this point, another phenomenon occurs. As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward… Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically He is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen… Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermit tent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber: Then another agony begins. A deep crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart… It is now almost over – the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level – the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues – the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air… The body of Jesus is now in extremis and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues… His mission of atonement has been completed. Finally he can allow His body to die. Excerpted from: The Crucifixion of Jesus, Arizona Medicine v. 22, March 1965, p. 183-187. C. Truman Davis

John 19 details the greatest travesty in all of human history.

And yet, we have the audacity to call it good.

And for Good reason. I pray that by the end of next week….you will agree, we are right to call this egregious day, GOOD.

Look with me at John 19 while we consider the events of this day.

Body

The Delivery - John 19:1-16.

John 19:1–16 ESV

1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” 12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus,

Understand this…The Romans ENJOYED dealing in death and ridicule.

The soldiers, enjoyed what they did.

Pilate had Jesus flogged…whipped with a cat of nine tails

Strips of leather with sharp objects attached at the end.

Would not be uncommon or unheard to be rip large chunks of flesh away when it rips clear. So horrendous was this that often muscle and even organs would be laid bear.

Jewish law only permitted 40, often stopping at 39, 1 shy from what they believed would be the final death blow.

Rome knew no such restriction. The beating would continue until the beaters were exhausted, or as was more often the case, the person died.

This beating would leave Jesus so weak that he would be unable to carry his cross by himself.

The soldiers, it might appear, took it upon themselves to mock him in the process of flogging.

They twisted together the crown of thorns - LARGE thorns..

They put the robe on him and mocked him as a King.

They knelt before him, mocking worship.

They struck his head with reed sticks, driving the thorns deeper into his scalp.

They struck him with their hands.

This was not just a standard whipping intent on getting a point across. It was a mocking and humiliating, degrading act performed by men so wicked they took perverse pleasing in it.

Pilate, for his part, was trying to pacify the Jews without resorting to death.

He says, I am brining him out to you so that you might know I find no guilt in him.

He hoped, it seemed, that the severity of the beating would be enough to pacify them and satisfy their bloodlust.

It does not.

CRUCIFY CRUFICY!

Pilate - do it yourself. I find him not guilty

Remember Pilate knows the law.

He is also known to come on strong but vacillate under pressure

He knows they cannot crucify him. He seems to hope that this tactic will get them to back down on their bloodlust.

Either that or is is sign of how exasperated he is getting and how close to losing control he is getting…to even suggest he would give the Jews the right of capital punishment, a right that the Romans held tightly, was no small matter. IF this was what he was in essence doing…he was close to losing control and it would cost him most dearly, I am sure.

We have a law….

The Jews read Pilate’s tactics and decided they would have none of it. They sensed an advantage and sprung.

They remind Pilate that they have already tried him by their standards and found him guilty of death.

He has made himself out to be the Son of God.

By our law, he must die.

Lev 24:16.

Leviticus 24:16 ESV

16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

They could not get Pilate to find him guilty against Roman law, so now they cite their own.

Pilate is even more terrified by this statement.

Pilate’s fear rose from superstition. He may not have been a believer, he may have been cynical. He may have been a greedy, self serving man, but like the rest of Rome, they were superstitious. To think that this man MAY have divine power…that was a reality too real and scary for Pilate to blankly dismiss….especially considering he had just had this man flogged…and if he was truly the son of a god, he could potentially invoke his vengeance on Pilate.

When he returns to Jesus, his question, “Where are you from?” has nothing to do with earthly geography but everything to do with… “Are you a god from the heavens or a man from earth?”

Jesus does not answer. Perhaps in fulfillment to Isaiah 53 or perhaps just because he had nothing new to say or add…He had already told him his kingdom was not of earth…

Pilate appears to be offended and insulted by Jesus’ silence. He may not be used to such displays of indifference and disrespect of his power.

Do you not know, he asks, that I have the authority to release or you to kill you?

Jesus now breaks the silence…

Your only authority, he states, is given to you by another…from above.

Your authority is a stewardship authority, a borrowed authority.

The implication…if your authority is given you….it can be taken away.

THEREFORE, the one who delivered me over to you (Not Judas but the Jews…specifically Caiaphas) has the greater sin.

Caiaphas is more culpable. Pilate remains responsible for his part in it, but the reality is, Pilate was not entrusted with the word of God, the prophecies. Pilate was not the protector of God’s house and God’s word. Pilate was not presented with the overwhelming evidence of Jesus’ Messiahship. Caiaphas was.

Thus, Caiaphas was guilty of the greater sin.

Pilate remained unconvinced of his guilt…and/or…being overwhelmed with superstitious uncertainty, sees nothing worthy of death and continues to make attempts to set him free.

Which we know….fails.

The final straw…when they threaten him with the reality that refusal to put him to death could look as if he were siding with a new king, a different king and placing himself at odds with Caesar.

Making one last attempt, “Shall I kill you king?”

Even this does not quell it. All options exhausted, at the 6th hour (about noon), he hands Jesus over to be crucified.

Pilate is already in Rome’s eye for not keeping proper control over his region, he cannot risk another upheaval, and seeing no other option, he concedes.

The Crucifixion - John 19:16-27.

John 19:16–27 ESV

16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” 23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Golgotha. The Place of the Skull. Calvary (in Latin)

The place Jesus died.

Near to the city.

Public, visible.

Crucified there…with criminals…though he had never committed a single wrong.

The Cross

The cross occurs in at least four different forms:

(1) The form usually seen in pictures, the crux immissa, in which the upright beam projected above the shorter crosspiece; this is most likely the type of cross on which the Saviour died, as may be inferred from the inscription which was nailed above His head;

(2) The crux commissa, or Anthony's cross, which has the shape of the letter T;

(3) The Greek cross of later date, in which the pieces are equally long;

(4) The crux decussata, or Andrew's cross, which has the shape of the letter X.

The suffering implied in crucifixion naturally made the cross a symbol of pain, distress and burden-bearing.

As an instrument of death the cross was detested by the Jews.“Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree” (Gal_3:13; compare Deu 21:23), hence, it became a stumbling-block to them, for how could one accursed of God be their Messiah?

Galatians 3:13.

Galatians 3:13 ESV

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

Deuteronomy 21:22-23.

Deuteronomy 21:22–23 ESV

22 “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

1 Corinthians 1:22-24.

1 Corinthians 1:22–24 ESV

22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Even the Romans considered it a curse to die upon a tree. I suppose that is why they thought it up. As the blood thirsty and cruel nation is, they used the very death that was so abominable to them to inflict upon others.

Because of this, Roman citizens were exempt from this form of death.

The usual mode, that of which Christ died, was familiar the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Persians, and Babylonians. Alexander the Great even put to death 2000 Tyrian captives this way.

The Jews were subject to this form of death by both the Syrians and the Romans.

The punishment was meted out for such crimes as treason, desertion in the face of the enemy, robbery, piracy, assassination, sedition, etc.

It continued in vogue in the Roman empire till the day of Constantine, when it was abolished as an insult to Christianity.

Among the Romans crucifixion was preceded by scourging (as we saw with Jesus), undoubtedly to hasten impending death.

The victim then bore his own cross, or at least the upright beam, to the place of execution.

When he was tied to the cross nothing further was done and he was left to die from starvation.

If he was nailed to the cross, at least in Judea, a stupefying drink was given him to deaden the agony.

The number of nails used seems to have been indeterminate. A tablet, on which the feet rested or on which the body was partly supported, seems to have been a part of the cross to keep the wounds from tearing through the transfixed members (Iren., Adv. haer., ii.42).

The suffering of death by crucifixion was intense, especially in hot climates.

Severe local inflammation, coupled with an insignificant bleeding of the jagged wounds, produced traumatic fever, which was aggravated the exposure to the heat of the sun, the strained of the body and insufferable thirst.

The swelled about the rough nails and the torn lacerated tendons and nerves caused excruciating agony.

The arteries of the head and stomach were surcharged with blood and a terrific throbbing headache ensued.

The mind was confused and filled with anxiety and dread foreboding.

The victim of crucifixion literally died a thousand deaths.

Tetanus not rarely supervened and the rigors of the attending convulsions would tear at the wounds and add to the burden of pain, till at last the bodily forces were exhausted and the victim sank to unconsciousness and death.

The sufferings were so frightful that “even among the raging passions of war pity was sometimes excited” (BJ, V, xi, 1).

The length of this agony was wholly determined by the constitution of the victim, but death rarely ensued before thirty-six hours had elapsed. Instances are on record of victims of the cross who survived their terrible injuries when taken down from the cross after many hours of suspension (Josephus, Vita, 75).

Death was sometimes hastened by breaking the legs of the victims and by a hard blow delivered under the armpit before crucifixion.

This was ALWAYS a public event. It was meant to humiliate and demean the sufferer AND instill fear in all others in order to control the people.

Thus, everything that took place here was seen by MANY.

All the while they did this…Jesus opened not his mouth

Isaiah 53:7.

Isaiah 53:7 ESV

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

1 Peter 2:23.

1 Peter 2:23 ESV

23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

Can you imagine how unnerving it would have been for those soldiers?

I am sure most, if not all, of the other victims they crucified sore, cursed, and called down every manner of vulgarity on the soldiers.

Jesus did not.

He may have called out in pain, I am not sure how he could not. He was human and he knew pain. But he did not curse or swear or in anyway act in any vulgar or obscene way.

THAT, I am sure, they took notice of.

As Stephen Charnock noted, “His calmness was more stupendous than their rage…”

And this was JUST the physical suffering…and not even the WORST of Jesus’ suffering.

The Divine Suffering

Imagine, pure innocence, having to bear the weight and filth of our sin…the entire world’s sin.

The wrath of God was poured on him.

First and only schism in the Trinity.

All this, they did to the god-man Jesus…they put him to death by crucifixion

The crime?

Which was always posted on the cross so that all passing by who dared to stop and read, knew why they were put to death in such a manner.

There wasn’t one. Pilate did not believe he was guilty.

So, he placed the statement, King of the Jews.

On offense to the Jews who asked him to change it. A request that Pilate flatly refused.

The soldiers, with nothing to do now but to stand by and wait for these men to die, occupy themselves with diving the property of Jesus (and possibly even the other two men) amongst themselves. The tunic, being one piece, they cast lots for lest they rip it and destroy.

All of this was done to fulfill scripture….

Another clear sign to the religious leaders…IF THEY had known scripture, if they had eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand….they would have realized their error then…but they did not.

THIS…all of this…JESUS DID WILLINGLY.

For me.

For you.

For us.

So that we could have a hope and possibility of restoring the intimacy with him that we were created for with him….if we but confess our sins, repent of it, and place our faith and trust in him through willing submission to His lordship.

Before his death, Jesus did one final thing…

He tended to the care of his mother.

The number of woman present here is disputed somewhat, but as we compare the accounts and consider, there were likely four woman

Mary, Jesus mother

John is the only one that records her presence and this is most likely in keep with her low profile in the NT and throughout Jesus ministry. It ought to serve as a statement to the Catholic church that elevates her to a status far beyond what even she would claim or desire.

A comparison of Matthew 27:56 and Mark 15:40 suggests that Jesus’ mother’s sister was Salome, the mother of the sons of Zebedee (i.e., James and John). She appears elsewhere in the New Testament by name only in Mark 16:1 as one of the women who bought spices to anoint the body of Jesus. If she was the mother of James and John, she also appears in Matthew 20:20–21, where she asked Jesus to grant special places of honor to her sons in the kingdom. MacArthur

Mary, the wife of Clopas is somewhat of a mystery to us, we are not really sure who she is but she is the one who kept vigil with Mary Magdalene at the tomb as well as the one who came to the tomb the morning of his resurrection. She was also the mother of James the Less, James the Son of Alphaeus (Clopas is a variant)

Mary Magdalene of course is prominent in Christ’s resurrection accounts. She is the same one who Jesus cast seven demons out of. She is also commonly thought to be the former prostitute mentioned in Luke 7. MacArthur, however, asserts that there is no need to necessarily connect these two. Either way, it is clear she was devoted to Jesus.

For the sake of this text, we are focusing on Mary, the mother of Jesus.

At this point, Joseph seems to have been long off the scene. We do not see him anywhere in Jesus’ adult life. Presumably, he passed away before this.

With Jesus death, a need arises to ensure that as the eldest son, he make sure his mother is cared for. Now, Joseph and Mary did have other sons, but in an act of love and devotion, Jesus transfer care of his mother to John and from that day forward, John took responsibility for her.

The Death - John 19:28-30.

John 19:28–30 ESV

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

The work was done.

God’s wrath was exhausted, satisfied.

Again, to fulfill scripture, he said, I Thirst and a sponge of hyssop full of sour wine was offered to him.

Ps 69:21.

Psalm 69:21 ESV

21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

I love how scripture points out for us, so many times, that in order to fulfill scripture….

Jesus was so deliberate and intentional.

Even while on the cross, in excruciating pain, enduring the worst suffering, he never lost sight of or the will to accomplish EVERY jot and tittle of what he came to do.

When he had recieved it, he said, IT IS FINISHED, bowed his head and died.

Jesus laid down his life.

He gave up…

Active verb

To entrust, to willingly give.

His death was not passive, but active.

Willingly.

Purposefully.

He chose the moment of his death.

He had power over life and death, even his own.

John 10:18.

John 10:18 ESV

18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

And lay it down, he did.

Humanly speaking, his body likely could have and would have endured more. It was quite a wonder to the soldiers that he was already dead whey they came to break his legs.

He was in control of the moment he died and when he knew all was accomplished, he laid it down for us.

The Piercing - John 19:31-37.

John 19:31–37 ESV

31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

Given the timing of these crucifixion’s, they expedited them instead of letting them linger. They did not want these bodies hanging on the cross over Passover and defiling their sacred remembrance.

So, they came to break their legs.

This way they could not push up, making it easier to breath.

Jesus was already dead, making it unnecessary and ensuring yet another prophecy would be fulfilled about not a bone in his body being broken.

So they pierced his side instead and out came blood and water.

The piercing of his side is yet another prophecy fulfilled.

Zech 12:10.

Zechariah 12:10 ESV

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

The presence of the blood and water has been much discussed over the years with a variety of explanations.

There is a physiological reality to it that points to the clear evidence of death.

It could be the evidence that his heart literally burst upon his death from the trauma of all he endured.

Point is, his death was a real death and not some “he passed out and revived in the tomb” theory. He was dead.

The Burial - John 19:38-42.

John 19:38–42 ESV

38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

Not only did Jesus control the time of his death, he controlled his burial.

Jews would not refuse burial to anyone. And yet, criminals were buried outside the city. Rome would usually only deny burial for those guilty of sedition but would instead let their bodies be left to the elements and carrion as the ultimate indignity.

Jesus was not only NOT denied any burial, he was buried with rich men within the city.

Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy and influential man.

He was also a follower of Jesus, but in secret for he fear the religious leaders and the loss of his wealth and privilege.

However, after the death of Jesus, God moved in his heart to be public with his devotion to Christ and in an even more powerful way than before.

He had to go to Pilate, who by now was fed up with these Jews and these religious leaders.

He had to ask for the body of man who had been put to death under charges of being a rival to the emperor.

This is not only a public statement but a public that poses even greater risk than just openly being a follower of Jesus.

But, God impresses upon his heart to do and he does. He is buried in this rich man’s tomb.

Isaiah 53:9.

Isaiah 53:9 ESV

9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

One more prophecy he fulfilled…

Pilate, however, grants permission and Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus in the night, who secretly believed but for fear of losing his position did not make it public, both openly came and took Jesus body to lay it to rest.

They did so, before Passover began…beating the clock

AND starting the clock as well on the 3 days before Jesus would rise again.

The Good

Left here…this looks ANYTHING but good, right?

It is ironic that we call the best shopping day of the year (historically), that has the BEST (Good) deals, BLACK Friday and we call the WORST day of the year, the one in which we commemorate the worlds greatest sin as GOOD Friday. Seems like it ought to be reversed.

But it is not.

And it is right and good.

It is good, precisely because of what the cross has accomplished.

Romans 5:12-21.

Romans 5:12–21 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

If the death of Christ on the cross is the true meaning of the Incarnation, then there is no gospel without the cross. Christmas by itself is no gospel. The life of Christ is no gospel. Even the resurrection, important as it is in the total scheme of things, is no gospel by itself. For the good news is not just that God became man, nor that God has spoken to reveal a proper way of life for us, or even that death, the great enemy, is conquered. Rather, the good news is that sin has been dealt with (of which the resurrection is a proof); that Jesus has suffered its penalty for us as our representative, so that we might never have to suffer it; and that therefore all who believe in Him can look forward to heaven. James Montgomery Boice

Without the cross…

Hope is a dream.

Hope is a wish.

Hope is a fool’s lie

Hope, either biblically defined or worldly defined (as a wish) is emptied of all substance…if the cross did not happen.

If Christ had not gone to the cross and suffered in our stead, the just for the unjust, there would not have been a spark of hope for us. There would have been a mighty gulf between ourselves and God, which no man ever could have passed. The Cross: A Call to the Fundamentals of Religion. J.C. Ryle

Good Friday is good, because it accomplish good, not because the events themselves were good.

Conclusion

Big Idea: The good in the bleak landscape Good Friday is found, not in the events of the day, but in what the events accomplished.

The Delivery

The Crucifixion

The Death

The Piercing

The Burial

The Good

At the all-important pivot of human history, the worst sin ever committed served to show the greatest glory of Christ and obtain the sin-conquering gift of God’s grace. God did not just overcome evil at the cross. He made evil commit suicide in doing its worst evil. Spectacular Sins by John Piper, Crossway, 2008, p. 12. Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. John Piper

Let me leave you with this prayer written by a Puritan brethren…

Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy, cast off that I might be brought in, trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend, surrendered to hell’s worst that I might attain heaven’s best, stripped that I might be clothed, wounded that I might be healed, athirst that I might drink, tormented that I might be comforted, made a shame that I might inherit glory, entered darkness that I might have eternal light. My Savior wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes, groaned that I might have endless song, endured all pain that I might have unfading health, bore a thorned crown that I might have a glory-diadem, bowed his head that I might uplift mine, experienced reproach that I might receive welcome, closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness, expired that I might for ever live. The Valley of Vision, ed. Arthur Bennett, 1975, p. 42, by permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.

Take hope and joy in this today, Church, and commit yourselves in these truths to be ever growing together to become more like Jesus for the glory of God.

Application

Why is it helpful and good to have such a full and complete understanding of the horrors and wickedness of the cross, as heinous and graphic as it is?

To truly understand the good of the cross, we need to understand the need, the bad.

Understanding the absolute horror of the cross, of Jesus death helps us understand more fully the gravity and weight of our sin. We tend to minimize our sin. We tend to downplay it. Understanding the cross in all it’s horror and terror, helps us understand the severity of our sin. This in turn can lead us to HATE and DESPISE our sin more and invigorate us to fight against it more vehemently.

Why do we tend to dislike focusing on the cross?

What are some practical ways that we can train and discipline ourselves to regularly reflect upon the cross?

Why is regular reflection on the cross important?

Read Romans 5:12-21. What was the good accomplished by the cross? In light of this passage, revisit question 1. How does this passage help us to know the importance of understanding the horror of the cross and our sin?

In what way(s) will you offer worship to Jesus this week in light of your reflection on the cross? Be specific.

In what way(s) do you need to repent of sin in light of your reflection upon the cross?

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