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Good Friday
Good Friday
13 See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. 14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness— 15 so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?
Why is it good Friday?
Good Friday is good Friday because without Jesus work on the cross, we are lost forever.
26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then “ ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’ 31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” 32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 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. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 35 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.” 36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” 38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews. 39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” 44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. 47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” 48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. 50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. 52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
Imagine the shock and horror of Jesus followers who did not yet realize that He was coming back.
All of history revolves around this short scene that we just read. Something happened on that cross.
Tonight I want to briefly consider the things Jesus said on the cross...
Jesus revealed things about His nature, his mission, and his anguish on the cross in 7 statements.
In these statements we find a few things.
The God who was man
The Man who was God
Christ’s Mission
Fulfillment
Luke 23:34 “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Even on the cross Jesus understood that his mission was a mission of forgiveness. If the Father’s wrath was poured out on anything other than Jesus, this mission would fail. And in knowing that, by asking God to forgive them, Jesus is in a way saying, “Father, the wrath that is deserved for nailing me to the cross, pour it out on me now.”
“I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Only God could make such a promise to someone. This was the first glimpse of hope on the cross. And this is also where we see the mission from Christ revealed further. The thief on the cross was a descendant of Adam, as are we all. This meant that from birth, this man was separated from God. His thievery couldn’t have separated him any more than he already was, and absolutely nothing he could do would restore this relationship he was made to have. Jesus could restore this relationship. Jesus death paid for sin that separated man from God. This is why the curtain tore in the temple when Christ died. The curtain that had previously symbolically and physically separated man from God was now ripped from the top down symbolizing what had just physically occured on the cross. Jesus made a way.
Woman, here is your son, here is your mother. AND
“I am thirsty” These statements of Christ’s reveal that He is fully man. In His anguish he is caring for His mother, and his best friend. Additionally he is thirsty! One of the heresies that perpetuates to this day is the idea that Jesus stopped being God when he died on the cross and was only a man. God doesn’t get thirsty. People do. And Jesus was a real flesh and blood person. Observers would have seen his blood splashing on the ground beneath the cross. The soldiers nailing him to the tree would have felt his hot breath as they knelt by His face.
“My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” For the first time since eternity past, the Father turned His face from the Son. The Trinity had always existed in perfect fellowship. This shows the depth of love that God has for His people, and the extreme penalty of the cross. Even more painful than the sin that Jesus bore on the cross was the separation from the Father that became necessary when he bore that sin. How could God do this? The answer is a mystery, but the mystery is love. The cross is shrouded in mystery, how could His death mean that I live? I am the sinner, He is the God. This remains a mystery to me.
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Even in death, Jesus was seeking the face of His Father.
“It is finished”
For those standing around the cross I’m sure the only thought was, “His life is finished.” But it was more than that. Jesus saying “It is finished.” is the gospel.
A sacrifice was needed to restore man to God. And the sacrifice was completed. What this means is that no more sacrifice was needed to justify man before God. It’s complete. Done. Once, for all.
Those who are found in Christ are sons and daughters who have been washed, and completely justified before God. This is why it’s called Good Friday.
What is more good than justification? What could be better than this? Well, maybe justification with resurrection.
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
says “I have been crucified with Christ.” If Jesus is to stay in the grave the verse would stop there.
The cross is utter weakness. IF there is no resurrection. If Jesus is risen then the cross becomes power.
Let’s consider some things
Do you know that Jesus loves you?
Do you know that our Master laid down His own life so that you might have life in Him?
Do you know that when they sow your body like a seed in the earth that Jesus will hold you and sustain you in the judgement?
Do you know that you have invaluable worth firstly and lastly because you are His and His righteousness is what clothes you?
I want to close by reading a hymn
1
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
2
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away:
Wash all my sins away,
Wash all my sins away;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.
3
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power,
Till all the ransomed ones of God
Be saved, to sin no more:
Be saved, to sin no more,
Be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed ones of God,
Be saved to sin no more.
4
E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die:
And shall be till I die,
And shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.
5
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing Thy power to save:
I’ll sing Thy power to save,
I’ll sing Thy power to save;
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing Thy power to save.
Let us be a church who sings of God’s power to save. Let us be a church who is humbled by the work of the cross, and glories in the resurrection.