Good Friday 2009

Oh Oh Oh the the you Thank you. How deep the Father's love for us, How vast beyond all measure, That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure. How great the pain of searing loss The Father turns His face away As wounds which mar the Chosen One Bring many sons to glory Behold the man upon the cross, My sin upon his shoulders. Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice, Call out among the scoffers, It was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished. I will not boast in anything, No gifts, no power, no wisdom, But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.

Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom. Why should I gain from his reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart. His wounds have paid my ransom. a few songs together here.

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the praise of glory died. My richest gain I count but loss and more content on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should coast, save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood.

Sleep from his head, his hands, his feet. Sorrow and love, though mingled now, Did e'er start strong, and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose. so rich a crown. My Lord, what love is this and thinks so dearly That I, the guilty one, may go free. Amazing love, no one's sacrifice, The Son of God, given for me.

My debt He pays, and my death He dies, that I might live, that I might live. And so they watched him die, smiles rejected, but all the blood he shed Amazing God, O what sacrifice has the Son of God given for me? My debt He pays, and my death He dies, that I might live. that I might live. And now this love of Christ shall flow like rivers, wash your guilt away. The Son of God, live for me. My debt He pays, and my death He guides, That I might live. And I, I live Your only son, no sin to hide, but you have saved him from your side.

To walk upon this guilty sword and to befold the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the Holy Lamb of God You washed me in His precious blood By Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God The gift of love He crucified. They laughed in scorn, weep as He died. A humble king they named the God, And sacrificed the Lamb of God.

O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, Before we really get going here, I just wanted to take a moment and We'll just thank the Lord for our time together this evening. God, we thank you for our time this evening. We thank you that on this good Friday we look back and look at your love being poured out upon us. Really just the amazing sacrifice that you made so that we could be in fellowship with you, so that you could live in us, and so that we could abide in you. Just bless our time this evening. I pray that we learn something new about you or be reminded of something that we already knew. But really just enjoy our fellowship and enjoy our time looking at what you've done for us.

In Jesus' name, Amen. So the passage that I'm going to look at this evening, that I get to share with you guys, is really just all about the Father's love for us. And what we're going to look at is 1 John, chapter 4, verses 9 and 10. And we've got them up here on the screen, but I'll read them as well. So 1 John, chapter 4, verses 9 and 10.

By this, the love of God was manifested in us. that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through him. And in this is love, not that we love God, but that he has loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Now, when we look at these verses, what you really see in verse 9 is kind of where God's love is, and verse 10 is a little bit about what God's love is. And the words there, he says, by this love, or by this, the love of God was manifested in us.

And that word manifested is to make visible or known what had been hidden or unknown previously. When it's used of a person, it's used to describe who they are, who and what one is. So through the cross, God has made his love clearly visible and tangible. Furthermore, God has made his character well known to the cross. And then the words that are just pretty amazing there, I mean, God has decided that he's going to make his love understood to us. That's amazing. But possibly what's even more amazing is where his love is recognized, and that's in us.

That says they're manifested in us. And then when we look at the. The second half of that verse, he's really so he says, by this, the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent his only begotten son into the world so that we might live through him.

You know, and oftentimes Good Friday can be viewed as sort of a sad and somber day where, you know, we, oh no, Jesus died, but this is God's plan. This is what he had in mind. You know, when we look at these, when we look at this verse, we can see pretty clearly that this isn't a sad and somber day, but this is a joyous day. And I mean it was God's plan it was it was God that sent his son his only begotten son His one and only the one-of-a-kind son of God to suffer and die on the cross For his love and life to be manifested in us So so really don't don't be sad and somber today be joyous and It's a day that we get to see God's unfathomable love poured out on mankind through his unimaginable planning and his immeasurable grace and mercy.

And when we look at verse 10 there, it says, in this is love. So we kind of get to know what love is. We know where it is. God's placed it on us and here we see what it is. And it's not that we have loved God. but that he has loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Christ's love and life in us has nothing to do with us.

Paul basically puts it this way in Romans chapter 3. He says, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. to demonstrate his righteousness and for the demonstration of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be the just and the justifier. See, God is just and he's also our justifier. God's love and life as God intended, it has everything to do with God and his character. And in both of these passages, we see the word propitiation used, and propitiation is the satisfaction of God's character, the wages of sin or death, obviously, as we read in Romans. And Christ kind of exchanges those wages of sin for eternal life.

He satisfies God's righteous character on the cross. So tonight, as we look back at the cross, remember why it needed to take place. Sin broke fellowship with God and his righteous character need to be satisfied. And there wasn't anything that we could do about it.

Christ on the cross demonstrates God's love for us. It repairs the sin issue and puts us in a place whereby faith, God's love is made evident in us and we can live life as God intended it through Christ. So the cross is the greatest demonstration of a truth that needs to be understood, and it's that God loves you. The cross brings understanding to just how deep the Father's love is for us. I'm going to read primarily from Matthew 27, verses 27 through 46, and then finish up with John chapter 19, verses 28 through 30. This is a teaching briefly on the crucifixion of Christ.

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around him. They stripped him. and put a scarlet robe on him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and a reed in his right hand. And they knelt down before him and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. They spat on him. They took the reed and began to beat him on the head. After they had mocked him, They took the scarlet robe off of him and put his own garments back on him and led him away to crucify him.

As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, who they pressed into service to bear his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they gave him wine to drink mixed with gall. And after tasting it, he was unwilling to drink. And when they had crucified him, they divided up his garments among themselves by casting lots. And sitting down, they began to keep watch over him there.

And above his head they put up the charge against him, which read, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. At that time, two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those passing by were hurling abuses at him, wagging their heads and saying, you who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. In the same way, the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him and saying, He saved others. He cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel. Let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now, if he delights in him. For he said, I am the Son of God. The robbers who had been crucified with him were also insulting him with the same words.

Now from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all of the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, ìEli, Eli, Lama, Sabathethani, which is, or that is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Of all the pain that Christ suffered, this was the most horrible one, because this was the place where the Father turned away from him because he had been made sin for us. And God cannot look on sin. This is the event that caused him to sweat blood in the garden. He and the Father had had intimacy in a loving relationship from eternity until this point. And because he was made sin for us, the Father turned away from him.

Now, in John 19, 28 through 30, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished to fulfill the scripture, said, I am thirsty. A jar full of sour wine was standing there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to his mouth. Therefore, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. The Holy Heart was broken, sent from the Father's side. The Son of God forsaken, the Holy Sacrifice.

For me He was forsaken, For me he died alone, My sin forever taken, That I might be his own. The Holy Lamb was stricken, Abandoned and alone, He bore the world's afflictions, for it has his own. For me he was forsaken, for me he died alone, my sin forever taken, that I might be his own. And when my heart is broken, torn by my sin and pride. The Son of God, now risen, will draw me to His side. For me He was forsaken, for me He died a whole, my sin forever taken.

Well, this evening we're all going to celebrate the Lord's table, but there's a passage I think that is kind of germane I'd like to share before we start. I think it's actually it's the Ephesians passage. It says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us to the adoption of his sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he fully bestowed upon us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight."

Well, in this passage, I think it's just wonderful. It talks about what we have in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the last couple of verses, 7 and 8, really kind of get to the heart of the matter. And actually, some of the songs that we've sung tonight kind of focus on the redemption that we have in our Savior.

And the first part starts off, we're blessed. We're blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. He predestined us to adoption as sons. And then verse 7, it starts, in Him again, in Him we have redemption through His blood.

And if you look carefully at that, it's actually the redemption. This is the redemption that only God could do. And a man can redeem. If I need some extra cash these days, I might go out and take my watch and take it down to the pawn shop. And I might come back at some point after I have a good job and redeem that watch. That's an earthly example of redemption. Well, God's example of redemption is mind-boggling.

We already kind of covered that to some extent, but it required the blood of His Son, the death of His Son on the cross. And it says we are having, literally, we are having redemption. It's an ongoing process. Redemption is an ongoing process in the believer's life, his entire life until we go to be with the Lord. So it's not something that's just a blip. It's a continuum, if you will.

And there's a couple of pairs of words in the Greek, and I don't want to get too deep here, but I love these words. They're so picturesque. There's a word called agaradzo, and another word called ex-agaradzo. And I guess I'm not a good scholar on the Jewish customs or the Greek customs of that time, but to buy in the marketplace. If I went out to a marketplace to buy something, I might buy something and take it home, and I say, oh, I'd like to sell this again. I'd take it back and I could resell it. Well, that's ex-agorazo. Ex-agorazo.

I might buy something and put it in my safe deposit box and never sell it again. Well, ex-agorazo talks about what Christ did on our behalf. He purchased us never to be returned to the slave market of sin ever again. It's an impossibility. So that's wonderful news.

The second set of Greek words are lutros and apolutros. Lutros is the idea to let loose or to free, and Apollutros has the idea the same, letting loose or to set free, but upon payment of ransom. So we're back to this ransom again. And what was the ransom? It was his blood. It was the wonderful blood of the Lord Jesus.

As was said before, Kurt said it, this is a wonderful thing. People think Christians are, are they really all together? Blood is wonderful. It is wonderful when it purges you out of the slave market of sin, which is what happened. So this redemption was through his blood. And what's neat is, if you look carefully at that verse on the overhead there, it makes an equation. I like equations.

It says redemption is equal to forgiveness of our trespasses. Not just anybody's trespasses, our trespasses, my trespasses, your trespasses. So the Lord makes it personal. We've been forgiven of our trespasses. And trespasses are one of the words for sin in scripture. It's to fall by the wayside, to lapse, to error, wrongdoing. And it's used in many places. A couple examples that I found.

A little later in Ephesians, Ephesians 2.5 it says, Even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved.

And then in Colossians 2.13 it says, When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him. having forgiven you all our transgressions." Notice again, all the personal pronouns. Are, we, you. Wonderful. This is for us. It's personalized. And the last little parts are, it's according to his riches. God is very wealthy. He's abundant in riches. Surpassing riches.

And in Ephesians 2.7 it says, the surpassing riches of His grace. Then lastly, He lavished this upon us. It's superabounded upon us.

And there's a passage in 2 Corinthians that talks about God is able to make all grace abound to you. And I found a little quote by Macaulay, which I'll listen to occasionally. And he stated that redemption is so deeply rooted in Christ that he is not only the provider of redemption, but he himself is our redemption. He has provided it, but by his very nature he's our redemption.

So as we celebrate the Lord's table tonight, I think it's wonderful to remember what Christ has done for us. So if I could have Kurt give thanks for the bread. Father God, we thank you for for sending your son to pour your love out upon us so that we might know your love and that we might know life as you intended it, life that can only be lived through Christ. And just what an amazing demonstration of your righteousness, your love, your character that we can abide in, that we can live through you and have that same love, that same righteousness, that same character. So we just thank you for for giving us newness of life and for the death of Christ on the cross as his body was broken. Amen. uh uh In 1 Corinthians 11, starting in verse 23, it says, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. I'd like to have Alan give thanks for the cup. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this time. You've given us the opportunity to pause for a moment, reflect on the moment when our identification with you began. And that was via the death of your Son on the cross for our sins. And we pray that you'll bless us to our bodies now and as we reflect on the blood of Jesus Christ. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. so do do you And continuing in 1 Corinthians 11 with verse 25, in the same way he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is a new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. you Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One. Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ His Son. Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One. He faints because he's given Jesus Christ his Son. And now that the weak see, I am strong, that the poor see, I am rich, because of what the Lord has done for us. And now let the sick say, I am whole, and the bound say, I am free, because of what the Lord has done for us. He'll face. He'll face.

I'm forever grateful to you. I'm forever grateful for the cross. I'm forever grateful to you. that you came to seek and save the lost. You did not wait for me to draw near to you, but you clothed yourself with frail humanity. You did not wait for me to cry out to you, but you let me hear your voice calling me and I'm forever grateful to you. I'm forever grateful for the cross. I'm forever grateful to you that you came to seek and save the lost. that you came to seek and save the Lord.

Lord, as we gather here this evening, we are indeed grateful. You loved and you gave. You loved and you gave. We give you thanks for that. And Lord, we just ask as we go from here that we would have resounding in our hearts that gratefulness, that thankfulness for the love that you gave. In Jesus' name, amen. . . . uh . . you. a a a a a you