Sermon Tone Analysis

Why is Good Friday, Good?

Turn with me to .

remain standing if you are able as we read God’s Word.

the Word of the Lord says...

:16-It is the moment that you see God's perfect righteousness merged with His grace and mercy.

PRAY

Father, God we come to you this evening amazed at what you have done and accomplished through Christ on the cross.

I pray that you would continue to humble me and that you would speak through me.

Lord when I am on the verge of saying something that you do not want me to Lord shut my mouth.

Hide me behind the cross, Lord let your words be heard.

Lord speak to our hearts in a way that cause us to change our minds and the way we think.

Lord I pray that you would be glorified.

We ask this in the name of the Lamb that was slain for our behalf, Jesus Christ…AMEN

Please be seated.

When John says that Christ bore His cross, we might visualize, as some artists have in the past, Jesus struggling down the road bearing the complete cross on His shoulders.

That’s not the way it happened.

It was customary for the romans, when executing prisoners, to prepare the vertical beam of the cross at the crucifixion site before the actual execution.

the prisoner was then given the crosspiece, the horizontal beam, and required to hoist it on his shoulders and carry it to the place of execution.

So before Jesus made His way from the Praetorium to the Place of a Skull, Golgotha, outside the gates of Jerusalem, the vertical piece had already been planted in the ground, and Jesus was forced to carry the crossbeam.

On many occasions, prisoners were not able to accomplish the task, depending on the severity of the scourgings they had received immediately before going out to the execution site.

We know from the other Gospels that Jesus was not able to carry His crossbeam the entire way, and that a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, was commanded by the soldiers to pick up the crossbeam for Jesus and take it to the kill of execution.

What a picture of Jesus not being able to physically carry the crossbeam…How much more difficult do you think it is for us to carry and bear our crossbeam because of our sin.

Once at the execution site, the prisoner was placed plat on the ground and his arms were either nailed or tied to the crossbeam.

In the case of Jesus, nails were used.

Then the prisoner was hoisted up and the crossbeam was attached to the vertical beam, usually by nails.

A tiny platform was affixed toward the bottom of the vertical beam as a place for the feet of the prisoner to be secured, and then the feet were nailed or tied to the vertical beam.

That small platform was provided so that the prisoner could push his body up, raising his diaphragm so that he could breathe during the agony of crucifixion.

At first glance, that may seem to be a drop of mercy for the condemned prisoner.

On the contrary, it was done to extend the torture, because prisoners dying by this method involuntarily gasped for breath, and if they could not draw air, they would die much more quickly, usually by asphyxiation.

by allowing the prisoner to push himself up, an almost involuntary action, the executioners prolonged the agony.

If you had not heard it before the Romans were good at torture and execution.

WHY IS GOOD FRIDAY, GOOD?

It is the moment that you see God's perfect righteousness merged with His grace and mercy.

In order for the good news of the gospel to have meaning for us, we first have to understand the bad news of our condition as sinful people.

The good news of salvation only makes sense once we see how we are or were enslaved.

Another way of saying this is that it is important for us to understand and distinguish between law and gospel in Scripture.

We need the law first to show us how hopeless our condition is;

Suppose we pour a measure of salt into a container of pure water.

The salt affects every drop of the water to the extent that all the formerly pure water becomes salty.

From that time on, every bit of water drawn from that container is salty and no pure water can be drawn.

This is similar to the depraved condition of man.

The first sin was an act, one act that brought sin into the human race.

Since that one act the very bloodstream of the human race has been polluted.328

It is the moment that you see God's perfect righteousness merged with Him grace and mercy.

then the gospel of Jesus’ grace comes and brings us relief and salvation.

What did Pilate believe about who Jesus was?

There is a point that Pilate sees no guilt for Jesus and attempts to get him freed.

Pilate makes the claim that he has the authority to release Jesus or to crucify him.

Jesus challenges this and then after that the Jews not only challenge the thinking, but they also reveal that Pilate does not have that power.

What authority does Pilate have?

Pilate does not have authority it’s fake, it is a mask.

The authority that Pilate thinks he has is really in the hands of the Jews.

With that being said the only reason that the Jews have that authority is because God had given it to them.

You see, the plan for the redemption of creation, the redemption for you and me was moments away from happening.

The redemption plan that had been set in motion since before creation.

This redemption was revealed to Adam and Eve before they were removed from the garden.

What are they being "forgiven" from?

Now remember back to this morning and think, what have I done today that when looking back I now see and understand that it was dumb.

Now with whatever it is that you have done, think to the condition of your heart at the time.

What condition was that?

I don't mean were you saved or not, I am talking about the attitude and intention of your heart at the time.

At that moment were you ignorant to what you were doing?

Well Guess WHAT, JESUS IS CRYING OUT TO GOD TO FORGIVE YOU!!!!

Ignorance!!!! Being Dumb!!! Guess who else has been given the chance to receive forgiveness for being dumb....YOU AND ME!!!!

Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman told of a distinguished Methodist minister in Australia who preached on sin.

One of his church officers came afterward to talk with him in his study.

He said to the pastor, “Dr.

Howard, we don’t want you to talk so plainly as you do about sin, because if our boys and girls hear you talking so much about sin, they will more easily become sinners.

Call it a mistake if you will, but do not speak so plainly about sin.”

The minister went to a utility closet and brought back a small bottle of strychnine that was clearly marked “Rat Poison.”

He said, “I see what you want me to do.

You wanted me to change the label.

Suppose I take off this label of ‘Poison’ and put on some milder label, such as ‘Essence of Peppermint.’

Don’t you see what might happen?

The milder you make the label; the more dangerous you make the poison.”1256

On the cross in the midst of being killed and humiliated Jesus cries out on our behave that God may forgive us.

Crying out that we are ignorant and do not know what it is that we are doing.

I think this applies to more than just the moment that Jesus is on the cross.

You see He is crying out that God would forgive those that have crucified Him.

Because they do not understand that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is the Son of God.

Or if in fact they do understand this then they are rebelling against God, like many times before and they do not see or understand that is what is happening.

They are dumb!!! Either way Jesus is crying out for their forgiveness.

There forgiveness of their sin.

The cross is Jesus’ response to our sin.