Good Friday Service

Call to Worship

Welcome to this Good Friday service at First Baptist. Our hope is that you would enter expectantly, worship deeply, and leave quietly this evening with your heart centered on the suffering of Christ for you and your salvation. Tonight’s service will be unique in that elements of liturgy, such as the public reading of Scripture, responsive reading, and confession, will be used more prominently. Liturgy means “work of the people.” It invites participation in worship, responding to God for who He is and what He has done. Our hope is that, instead of being spectators, you would respond communally and actively to God tonight.

On this night we remember and celebrate the crucifixion of Christ. He who is King of angels was arrayed in a crown of thorns, beaten, mocked, and forced to carry His own cross to Golgotha. We gather this evening like those who were gathered around the foot of the cross. We hear our voice among the mockers, and above them all the voice of the crucified Savior cries out, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” And as Christ breathed His last, we, too, echo those who gathered that day saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

May the Lord incline our hearts and open our eyes to His great love as we worship Him.

Hymn #446 - Blessed Assurance

Invocation

Corporate Confession - Responsive Reading

Celebrant: Like the disciples in Gethsemane, we fell away from prayer at the beginning of the trial.

People: Forgive us, O God, for we know not what we do.

Celebrant: Like Caiaphas and the high council, we spit in Your face and slapped the Son of God.

People: Forgive us, O God, for we know not what we do.

Celebrant: Like Peter, three times when questioned, we denied knowing the Son of God.

People: Forgive us, O God, for we know not what we do.

Celebrant: Like the people who cried out for Barabbas, we yelled, “Let Christ be crucified!”

People: Forgive us, O God, for we know not what we do.

Celebrant: Like Pilate, before the yelling crowds, we wash our hands and wrongfully say, “I am innocent of this man’s blood…”

People: Forgive us, O God, for we know not what we do.

Celebrant: Like the soldiers who prepared Jesus for His crucifixion, we have stripped You, placing a crown of thorns on Your head, bending our knees not to praise You, but to mock You.

People: Forgive us, O God, for we know not what we do.

Celebrant: Like the centurion standing at the foot of the cross, we hear Jesus of Nazareth cry out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” In the distance, the curtain of the temple is torn, the earth begins to shake under a sky of darkness, and we look up filled with awe…

People: Truly this was the Son of God.

Hymn #174 - I Gave My Life for Thee

The Lord’s Supper

This evening, through our celebration of the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim the death of Christ. These elements, which represent the body and blood of Christ, are a visible sermon to us; they are the gospel in tangible form.

They proclaim to us the great drama of redemption in Christ: salvation in the present (“for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup”), salvation in the past (“you proclaim the Lord’s death”), and salvation in the future (“until he comes,” 1 Cor. 11:26).

In light of such a salvation, the apostle Paul warns us, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord” (v. 27). Before we partake of the Supper, let us examine ourselves this evening, recognizing both the gravity of our sin and the weight of Christ’s glorious sacrifice

The Pastor’s Book: A Comprehensive and Practical Guide to Pastoral Ministry (Sample Prayers of Confession)

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1–2a).

Heavenly Father, we come to this meal that you have prepared for us to remind us of our sin and of your sacrifice, and to help us even now to grow in grace. So, Lord, do help us, in this time of meditation before we eat of this bread, to confess our sins to you, to acknowledge our indebtedness to your free grace, and to be grateful for your steadfast love. We pray this in Jesus’s name. Amen.

Moment of Silent Personal Confession

Prayer of Confession

Distribute the Bread

Prayer for the Bread

The Pastor’s Book: A Comprehensive and Practical Guide to Pastoral Ministry (Sample Prayers for the Bread)

Our dear Lord, the bread that we are about to partake of is symbolic of the human body in which you dwelt incarnate among us, sinless, for thirty-three years. And when you were crucified, you bore our sins in your body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. And by your wounds we were healed (see 1 Pet. 2:24). You took our place and paid a price that we could never pay.

Seal this to our hearts as we eat the bread, representative of your body broken for us. Amen.

Matthew 26:26 (ESV)

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

Distribute the Cup

Prayer for the Cup

The Pastor’s Book: A Comprehensive and Practical Guide to Pastoral Ministry (Sample Prayers for the Cup)

Our gracious God, we thank you this day for the new covenant, the covenant sealed through the blood of Jesus Christ. And we drink this cup in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, asking him even now, through the Spirit, to commune with us as we commune with each other. With grateful hearts, O Christ, we drink to you and of you. Amen.

Matthew 26:27–28 (ESV)

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Reading - The Jesus Storybook Bible - “The Terrible Lie”

You see, sin had come into God’s perfect world. And it would never leave. God’s children would be always running away from him and hiding in the dark. Their hearts would break now, and never work properly again.

God couldn’t let his children live forever, not in such pain, without him. There was only one way to protect them.

“You will have to leave the garden now,” God told his children, his eyes filling with tears. “This is no longer your true home, it’s not the place for you anymore.”

But before they left the garden, God made clothes for his children, to cover them. He gently clothed them and then he sent them away on a long, long journey—out of the garden, out of their home.

Well, in another story, it would all be over and that would have been... The End. But not in this story.

God loved his children too much to let the story end there. Even though he knew he would suffer, God had a plan—a magnificent dream. One day, he would get his children back. One day, he would make the world their perfect home again. And one day, he would wipe away every tear from their eyes.

You see, no matter what, in spite of everything, God would love his children—with a Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.

And though they would forget him, and run from him, deep in their hearts, God’s children would miss him always, and long for him—lost children yearning for their home.

Before they left the garden, God whispered a promise to Adam and Eve: “It will not always be so! I will come to rescue you! And when I do, I’m going to do battle against the snake. I’ll get rid of the sin and the dark and the sadness you let in here. I’m coming back for you!"

And he would. One day, God himself would come.

Scripture Reading - Psalm 22:1-11

Psalm 22:1–11 (ESV)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,

and by night, but I find no rest.

Yet you are holy,

enthroned on the praises of Israel.

In you our fathers trusted;

they trusted, and you delivered them.

To you they cried and were rescued;

in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

All who see me mock me;

they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;

“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;

let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

Yet you are he who took me from the womb;

you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.

On you was I cast from my birth,

and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Be not far from me,

for trouble is near,

and there is none to help.

Hymn #234 - When I Survey The Wondrous Cross

Scripture Reading - Isaiah 53:3-10

Isaiah 53:3–10 (ESV)

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

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.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

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.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, who considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

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.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Scripture Reading - John 19:1-16

John 19:1–16 (ESV)

Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 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.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 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.” 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.” When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 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?” 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.”

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.” 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. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 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.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.

So they took Jesus,

Message - Reflection on the Cross

Read Isaiah 53:3-7

Isaiah 53:3–7 (ESV)

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

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.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

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.

Jesus is the Man of Sorrows

Isaiah 53:3–4 (ESV)

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

The first thing we see here about Jesus is that He is the Man of Sorrows. His life was filled with sorrow, sadness and pain.

What is the source of this sorrow and grief?

He was a man who was despised and rejected.

In verse 2 Isaiah says, Isaiah 53:2

Isaiah 53:2 (ESV)

For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

There was nothing about His appearance that was attractive. He was not the good looking celebrity that we often picture in the tv shows and movies that we often see about Jesus’ life.

Celebrities are often good looking because its those who are attractive that we tend to listen to and think they have something important to say or do.

Susan Boyle - When she was on American Idol, she was nearly laughed off stage by the judges simply because of her appearance. But when she began to sing, she put them all in her place by showing that her worth was more than in her appearance. They did what we have always been told not to do, “do not judge a book by its cover.” But we just can’t help ourselves. We constantly judge by appearances and we miss out on so much because we can’t get past what is on the outside.

But it wasn’t just His appearance. It was His attitude and demeanor.

The people were looking for a King and a Warrior who would overthrow the Roman government. But Jesus did not come in that kind of power. He had power, but it was power to love, forgive, to give up rights to Himself so He could put the needs of others above Himself, most importantly, to put the will of the Father above His own will.

This was not the kind of power the people were hoping for. They saw Jesus as weak and pitiful.

In fact, they saw this weakness as God’s rejection of Him. Surely this man could not be God’s anointed One. They considered Him stricken and smitten by God, because surely God’s chosen One would be more successful, rich, and powerful than what Jesus appeared to be.

But the ultimate rejection of Jesus is the rejection of Him that we are all guilty of.

Jesus is the Man of Sorrows because of our refusal to submit to Him as King and God as He truly is.

The people thought they were looking for a King, but what they were really looking for was someone they could control and manipulate into doing their own will rather than the will of the Father.

It is the rejection that Adam and Eve committed when they took of the fruit because they thought it would be better to be their own gods rather than to submit to the One True God who created and loved them.

It is the rejection that we are all guilty of every time we sin. Every time we gossip, every time we lust, every time we take or covet what doesn’t belong to us, every time we choose to have any other god rather than God Himself.

Every single one of us are guilty of this rejection, and He is the Man of Sorrows because of our outright rejection and hatred of Him.

Jesus Paid the Penalty for Our Sin

Isaiah 53:5–6 (ESV)

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.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

Jesus Quietly and Willingly Laid Down His Life

Isaiah 53:7 (ESV)

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.

Responsive Reading

Luke 23:34 (ESV)

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

People: O what a Gracious Savior

Luke 23:43 (ESV)

And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

People: O what a merciful Savior

John 19:26–27 (ESV)

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

People: O what a beautiful Savior

Matthew 27:46 (ESV)

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

People: O what a costly redemption.

John 19:28 (ESV)

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”

People: O what agony He endured for us.

John 19:29–30 (ESV)

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. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

People: O what a costly redemption.

Luke 23:46 (ESV)

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

People: O what a costly redemption.

Prayer of Confession

Holy God, You alone are holy and righteous, holy and just, blameless and merciful. You alone know the depths of our sin and our depravity. When we were content to walk the earth in rebellion as dead men and dead women, You were good to send us Your Son to breathe life into our death. We were content to be orphans, but You were good to send Your Son to adopt us into Your family. We were content to be scattered individuals, but You were good to make us a people by crushing Your Son instead of us. WE were content to shout out, “Crucify Him!” but Christ was good to whisper, “Father, forgive them.” We were content to choose to set Barabbas free from his chains, but You were good to choose to release us from the chains of sin. We confess that, even after our adoption, we still often live as though we are dead. We often act as though we do not have a good Father. and we often forsake the family of brothers and sisters whom You have saved us into. Father, forgive us when we follow in the footsteps of our enemy and seek to place ourselves above Your throne. We beg that Your Spirit would guide us and direct us toward humility and servant-heartedness, seeking to do Your will above our own, just as Christ does. As we dwell on the agonies suffered by Christ on this Good Friday, let us look forward to Resurrection Sunday, when death itself reaps what it has sown. Until then, may we lament and mourn over our sin, knowing that the price demanded for reconciliation has been paid for by Your Son, Jesus Christ. To You be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Congregational Song - “Man of Sorrows”

Dismiss in Silence

Please pick up your belongings and follow one another quietly as we dismiss in silence. The silent scattering represents the silence of the time between Christ’s death and His resurrection. The disciples no longer had access to Jesus and were fearful that all hope was lost. We leave silently to read ourselves into the story, to imagine what the disciples must have felt, and to long for Resurrection Day all the more.