Good Friday Sermon

This is the time of the year to talk about the Passion of Christ.

Why do we call it passion?

Passion is something that you believe in so much that your willing to suffer for it.

Why Go Over The Graphic Imagery?

1) Because we want this to be imprinted in our memory.

The story of the knife when I was a boy.

2) Why? So that we know what Jesus went through to purchase you and me. What love that the Father has that He gave His only begotten Son to be to tortured for you and me.

What happened during a Roman scourging?

First the greek word for scourging is phragello.

It was the most horrific words used in the ancient world because the terrible images that immediately came to mind when a person heard it.

1) When a decision was made to scourge and individual,

a) the victim was first stripped completely naked so his entire flesh would be open and uncovered to the beating

b) victim was bound to a 2 foot high post and bound by his hands to a metal ring.

c) the mere anticipation of the whipping caused the victims body:

to grow rigid

the muscles to knot in his stomach

the color to drain from his cheeks

his lips would draw tight against his teeth

2) The whip itself consisted of:

short wooden handle with several 20 inch straps of leather.

the ends of each strap had sharp pieces of metal, wire, glass, and jagged fragments of bone.

this weapon was considered to be one of the most feared and deadly of the Roman world

It was do feared that the threat of being scourged could calm a crowd and bend the will of the strongest rebel.

3) As the beating started:

the end of leather straps curled around the torso into the abdomen, upper chest, back, face, and legs plunging the sharp objects into the flesh shredding the muscles.

Historical records describe a victims back as being so mutilated that his spine would actually be exposed.

Third-century historian Eusebius explains that in Roman scourging, "The sufferer’s veins were laid bare, and their very muscles, tendons & bowels... were open to exposure”

4) This would cause the body

to lose a lot of blood causing the heart to pump harder and harder.

because of so much blood lose blood pressure would drop and often the cause the heart to go into cardiac arrest.

he would experience excruciating thirst, often fainting from the pain and shock

5) And while some prisoners died during their scourging, the process itself was actually designed merely to deliver the maximum amount of pain short of actually killing them, leaving them just enough strength to carry their cross to the crucifixion site.

CONCLUSION

We can see in

Isaiah 53:5 NASB95

5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.

Isaiah 52:14 ESV

14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

This graphic picture is the remind us of the beating Jesus endured so that we could be healed.

If you need healing in your body, you have every right to go to God and ask for healing to come flooding into your system.

Consider the pain Jesus went through, the horrific scourging He willfully endured so you could have the right to go before God and confidently expect to obtain your healing.

honor what Jesus went through by receiving His healing provision for your physical body.

What happened at the cross?

Philippians 2:8 ESV

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

1) Death on the cross was the most humiliating, debasing, shameful, painful method of death in the ancient world.

Such a sight was hideous, designed to discredit and tarnish the memory of the one dying.

The whole sight was ugly, unsightly, repulsive, sickening, vile, foul, and revolting.

2) It wasn’t what we think of when we see a portrait. Jesus was naked (which is a sign of shame in Jewish culture) , beaten, and bleeding profusely before a watching world.

3) 700 years earlier Isaiah correctly prophesied Jesus appearance on the cross:

Isaiah 52:14 NIV

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—

Let’s meditate on the what Jesus did for us so that we can fully appreciate the price He paid for our salvation.