Good Friday 2026 - Most Important

Message

Good Afternoon Friends.

My name is Pastor Joe Vivian, welcome to our Good Friday service.

Over the next three days we will seek to not only see Jesus Clearly though His Word but to also surrender and grow closer to Jesus.

If you are able, I’ll ask that you stand as we read God’s Holy Word together.

Are focal passage comes from 1 Cor 15:1-8.

1 Corinthians 15:1–8 CSB

1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.

Pray

I want each of us to first understand that from these 8 verses, we see the Gospel’s Core Reality. Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried, and He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and He appeared to many witnesses.

What do you consider Important? What ranks up there as being significant and essential to who you are? What shapes your character? What drives and motivates you?

Again, what do you consider Important?

I titled this message, Most Important. Because Paul considered this most important, v.3a.

1 Corinthians 15:3 CSB

3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received:

He considers this foundational, not an optional theology, but as the bedrock of Christian faith. Christ’s death, burial and His appearances.

This should mean so very much to those who are followers of Jesus. This should be Most Important to who we are as Christians, Who we are identified with.

This also means that Good Friday cannot stand alone. No.

It points forward, it points towards His resurrection, it points to His victory over death. It is the saving act of God that points us to the resurrection, where sin and death are finally defeated.

Paul then takes time to emphasize this Importance in the second half of verse 3. “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures”

Friends, His death was not accidental but purposeful, fulfilling Old Testament prophecy.

Isaiah 53:3 CSB

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him.

Psalm 22:16–18 CSB

16 For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones; people look and stare at me. 18 They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.

See, this transforms Good Friday from a tragedy into redemption.

We too often forget what the Cross truly speaks to. It addresses all of humanity’s fundamental problem…Sin separates us from God.

Romans 3:23 CSB

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

Isaiah 59:2 CSB

2 But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen.

Please listen to me on this…without this substitutionary death, without Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins, there is no salvation to proclaim.

His death paid the penalty we could not pay.

This is why Christ’s death matters.

But this is not the end.

In three days we will celebrate the Empty Tomb.

1 Corinthians 15:4 CSB

4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. The resurrection proves that Jesus defeated sin and death.

This is of the Utmost Importance for each of us.

If you are here today and do not have a relationship with Christ, then the Cross is meaningless. It holds no value and this is just another Friday.

However, I don’t want you to walk away uniformed.

Paul makes it Clear:

Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

He was buried, and He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and He appeared to many witnesses.

Hear me on this..Everyone who repents and believes in Jesus is forgiven.

Salvation is a gift of God’s grace, not earned by works.

Those who trust in Jesus are made right with God.

Jesus is alive and reigns as Lord.

All who believe in Him have eternal life.

This is of most importance…this is Clearly Jesus.

Romans 1:16–17 CSB

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.

This declares the Gospel! This makes it Active, not merely a remembrance.

Romans 10:9–10 CSB

9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.

Today is the day to declare this a Good Friday because Sunday is coming and you can celebrate your new faith or for some, your restored faith in Jesus Christ.

Robert E. Coleman wrote this,

“If we want to know what is like, let us look at Calvary.”

As we close, I want to encourage each of us this Good Friday. What Paul shared with the church of Corinth is the same message for each of us.

The Gospel they heard and received is the same message that is presently saving them and sanctifying each of them. This is also true for each of us. This truth of Jesus Christ continues with each of us as followers of Him.

“Most Important” to Paul is that the power of the cross is not just nostalgia, it’s an active salvation for all is us today!

Christ died for our sins

The resurrection is inseparable from the gospel: I cannot preach Good Friday without pointing to Resurrection Sunday.

Believing in Christ = believing in his resurrection

The gospel saves and sustains —This is present-tense, not just historical.

Today, this Good Friday, we remember that Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, willingly died on the cross for our sins according to the Scriptures.

His death was not the end, but the saving act of God that points us to the resurrection, where sin and death are finally defeated.

Friends, you and I will have all of eternity to thank Jesus for today.

I will close with the questions I asked earlier:

What do you consider Important? What ranks up there as being significant and essential to who you are? What shapes your character? What drives and motivates you?

Again, what do you consider Important?

Let’s Pray