Good Friday 2025

Read Luke 23:26-49

This passage, this narrative, these truths are at the heart of Christianity...and in a sense we feel in a unique way that we are walking on Holy Ground.

“This doctrine of the death of Christ is the very core of Christianity. Leave out the cross, and you have killed the religion of Jesus. Atonement by the blood of Jesus is not an arm of Christian truth; it is the heart of it.”(Spurgeon)

Don’t forget the heart of the gospel Sparta Center Church.

The Gospel — Heart of the Bible - At the Heart of the Heart is the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

The Great Problem of The Bible

God — Creator of All — Made Us to Dwell With Us (to share Himself)

Human Sin Rebels Against a Holy God

Due to presence of sin we are separated from God and under the just condemnation our sin deserves. This is critical. — He is Holy.

God is not pieces and parts or a collection of attributes He weighing against Himself. God is God. God is Holy. He cannot just overlook sin as if that is love.

Consequences of Human Sin

Separation between God and Man

Legal debt incurred against God’s holiness.

Sin nature inherited — leading to slavery to the power of sin for each human

Corruption of all creation because of human sin

Satan the accuser uses sin to cause harm and accuse

God’s Great Solution — The Giving of Himself

It required the giving of Himself to eradicate and erase sin.

Not out of need but out of the sheer generosity of His character.

God and His glory is the center of the story — we are benefactors of His self-giving glory.

At the heart of God’s solution — the gospel, the good news — is the atonement.

The Atonement: The death of Jesus is the perfect atoning sacrifice where God placed the just penalty of our sin on Jesus, punished Him as our representative substitute, and through faith grants us the status that Jesus has as the righteous Son. Jesus takes on our sin and we gain Jesus status of righteousness.

Leviticus 1:4 “You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you.”

Romans 3:25 “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—”

Romans 5:6–8 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

1 Corinthians 15:3 “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,”

Hebrews 9:12–14 “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

The atonement covers sin

The atonement removes sin

The atonement brings peace between us and God

The atonement creates a status of righteousness for us in Christ

The atonement draws us near to God eternally

The atonement is applied to us by faith

This is our confidence, not in us, not in the power of our faith, not in our performance, not in our strength. But in the strength of a beautiful Savior who died for us.

My faith has found a resting place, Not in device or creed; I trust the ever living One, His wounds for me shall plead. I need no other argument, I need no other plea, It is enough that Jesus died, And that He died for me.

Three Moments to Learn From

The Cross - While Simon was carrying Jesus’s cross—what was really happening was that Jesus was about to carry Simon’s cross into death. Will you let Jesus carry your cross? (vs. 26)

The Thieves - Jesus could not save Himself to save us. Which thief are you? (vs. 35-43)

The Centurion - The Roman soldier who had witnessed so many deaths, understood this to be unique. The veil is torn and the mighty saving God is going out into the world. The separation has been removed. Do you see God as righteous and present? (vs. 44-47)