Good Friday (2)

Luke 23:33–46 NIV

When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Jesus is our perfect sacrifice

We have talked the last few weeks about how our sins brought death into our lives. How sin comes from our hearts.

All of this comes with a penalty. The bible says - the wages of sin is death.

Death is not just a byproduct. It’s a consequence.

We’re not comfortable with this idea of consequences to our actions. (STORY - How were lawn darts ever a thing?)

But this is justice. This is what it takes to right a wronged world.

The idea that our sins deserve death is what brought Jesus to the cross.

Hebrews 9:26 NIV

He has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Jesus was our perfect sacrifice. He was the one man in all of creation that was without sin. And he went to the cross to pay the penalty on our behalf.

But Jesus was more than just a sacrifice. There’s this special sacrifice in Jewish history.

Jesus is our atonement

Romans 3:25 NIV

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.

In Leviticus, there was a day of atonement performed by the high priest. It was the ONLY DAY that the high priest could enter the holy of holies.

High priest brought an offering for the entire community. Highlight = praying all sins into a live goat and releasing it into the wild, driving it away.

Even though this was an offering made by the high priest - everyone was required to deny themselves and treat the day as holy.

So when the Bible describes Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement, this was a very loaded phrase. It meant:

That we were allowed to stand in the very presence of God Himself on earth

that our sins were removed from us, and taken away by another

That we needed to respond to that

The cross wasn’t just some event that happened over there that we can go, oh ya, that’s nice. and move on with our day. It required a change of OUR life as well.

We receive this atonement by faith.

Thankfully - we CAN change because of the cross.

Jesus is our reconciliation

2 Corinthians 5:18–19 NIV

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.

We talked last week about how we’re made to be connected to God. how the loss of that relationship crippled us as people.

But because of the cross -that barrier no longer exists.

Not only that - we have an invite back to the way the world was made to be. Walking around with God.

Jesus is our Forgiveness and Freedom

John 8:31–32 NIV

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

That’s what is ultimately being offered by Jesus - freedom. Freedom from our sins, freedom from the things that try to crush us and break us and kill us.

It’s not a freedom to do whatever we want - that’s not freedom, that’s anarchy.

But Jesus set us free from the decay of death and the consequences of our failures. We are free to come to God, and have that life-giving relationship with him. We are fully and completely forgiven.

The jews at the time mocked Jesus. They said, if He really was the messiah - he could save himself from death.

but the funny thing is - he not only conquered death for himself. He conquered it for all of us too. ‘If he’s the son of God, he could save himself!’ - Well, he saved us all too.

Jesus offers us a real life. Will we take it?