Good Friday 2011 - Barabbas or Christ?
Vern Peterman · Apr 22, 2011
Holidays
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926232277483

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Well, good evening and welcome to Holly Hills for our Good Friday celebration. We will be having lots of things tonight. We have song, we have scripture, we have kids, we have lots going on tonight. So, welcome and we will begin with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. Father, we thank you from these busy schedules that we have.

Father, just to be able to gather here and remember what an amazing time of remembrance this is, as we remember these incredible days, the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Father, we can't even begin to think of how you came up with this plan that you allowed your son to step out of heaven, come take on the form of a man, and have us crucify him to pay for all of our sins, for the sins of the whole world. We could never come up with a plan like that, and yet you did, and we thank you for it. It shows your love, your mercy, your grace, all of your attributes in that. We thank you for this time, again, just remembering the Lord Jesus going before men and having them crucify him.

Father, we thank you that it didn't end there. We joyously remember on Resurrection Day, Father, that you accepted the payment for all the sins of the world. through the blood and body of the Lord Jesus Christ. So Father, we thank you for this time of remembrance that we can do that. We pray that as we sing and look at scripture and dramatic presentations, all these, Father, that we'll be honoring to you and glorifying to you. So Father, we just thank you for this time. And we can't thank you enough for what the Lord Jesus Christ means to each and every one of us. We thank you again for that plan of salvation that you have through the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. All right.

Please stand up, and we will sing Amazing Love, three stanzas. My Lord, what love is this? Hey, so dearly that I, the guilty one, may go free. Amazing love, oh what sacrifice The Son of God giv'n for me My debt He pays, and my death He dies That I might live That I might live And so And watched him die, disguised, rejected And oh, the blood he shed flowed for me Amazing love, oh what sacrifice The Son of God giv'n for me Like Danny Pace and my Pippi Dots, that I might live, that I might live. And now, this love requires love, like rivers of wine.

Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, Great, you may be seated. Well thank you for coming to our remembrance of our Lord Jesus and I have the privilege of kind of doing the first part and then Mike's going to do the middle part and the kids are going to do a section and then Vern's going to finish it up with the end part and we'll do the Lord's table.

So the part that I have starts maybe in a familiar place that you've read in scripture. It starts in the Garden of Gethsemane. It starts with the Lord praying and then it moves from there. Judas arrives with the Roman cohort and and he's arrested, and he's taken actually to the Jewish leaders.

I'm going to cover that part. I think Mike's going to cover the part with Pilate, and the kids are going to dramatize that. But interestingly enough, as I kind of read through this, there's actually three parts to the trial, so-called trial. There's Annas, which is one of the high priests, then Caiaphas, and then the Sanhedrin. So the so-called trial that they gave Christ lasted the entire night. So by morning, he had been up all night, Then we move on to the Pilate, and he rests the day, and then he's crucified. So, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Lord took his disciples, Peter, James, and John, and they went there to pray.

And this, you know, I've looked at this, and it strikes me, the Lord really agonized over this. And one of the questions is, why did he agonize so much? He was fully God and fully man, but he agonized over this. And it strikes me that it says in 2 Corinthians 5.21, He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So he was made the very essence of sin, something that a holy God never had in all eternity past, never had come into contact with. And I think that was the abhorrence that he felt there.

His first prayer in the garden was this. He said, my soul is deeply grieved. It says, my father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not my will, but your will be done. So he speaks of this cup, and I think the cup represents the sins of the world collectively, and there's this picture of him drinking that, and he says, first of all, if it's possible, I don't want sin, I hate sin, I abhor sin, but if it's your will, I will do it.

Then his second prayer, in the intermediate he goes along with Peter and John, they're kind of snoozing, right? They're trying to stay awake, I guess, but they fall asleep. He comes back, he admonishes them and says, well, you guys aren't really helping me here, you're falling asleep. He goes back the second time, he says, my father, if it cannot pass away unless I drink it, your will be done.

Same kind of picture, he has to drink this cup and it's the sins of the world. He goes back a second time, he says, you guys are still sleeping, And then the third time he prays the identical prayer to the second time. If it's possible, let this cup pass from me. And at the end of those prayers, it's time for a transition here. He says, Are you still sleeping, resting? Behold, the hour is at hand.

The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. So at this point, we see Judas arrive. And Judas arrives with what's called the Roman cohort. And that word cohort, apparently, from looking at it, could be upwards between 300 to 600 men. So think about this. Here's the Lord. He's in this garden. And actually, supposedly it's an olive garden. I kind of came across that too in studying. So here arrives 300 to 600 men to capture one person. To capture him, quote unquote. And is he really going to be captured? Is he going to resist them? Not at all. The Gospel of John portrays this very well.

It says, so Jesus, knowing all things that were coming upon him, went forth and said to them, the cohort, whom do you seek? So he approached them. It's sort of like the police come to interview you. You say, oh, hi there, officer. I'm here. Who are you looking for? He said, it's me. It's me. I'm here. Whom do you seek? And they answered, Jesus of Nazarene. I am he.

And it says, Judas was with them. Now in other accounts, Judas of course kisses the Lord Jesus, and there's other aspects. But this account is kind of interesting. So it says, when he says, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground. Can you imagine three or six hundred people falling to the ground? I'm not sure, we don't know. But it's kind of interesting it says that.

Then the dialogue repeats itself again. Therefore, he, Jesus, asks them again, whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazarene. And Jesus answered, I told you, I am he. So if you seek me, let these others go their way. The other disciples were with him. He said, let them go. Don't bother them. And they didn't. They let them go their way.

So at this point, Simon Peter kind of steps into the picture, and he's going to help out Jesus. He gets out his sword, and he chops off the high priest's sleigh's ear. And Jesus said, Peter, put the sword back in the sheath. The cup, which we've been speaking of, the sins of the world, which the Father has for me, shall I not drink it?" He said, Peter, that's not the Father's will for you to fight for me.

So at this point, the Roman cohort, these three to six hundred people, they arrest him, and they bind him, and they take him off to the first trial, so-called trial. This is with Annas, and it seems like there's Annas and Caiaphas, and I kind of discovered this as I read through this, There's a group of high priests, if you will, and they kind of take turns being the high priest. So Annas was the first of the high priests he went to. And Annas questioned Jesus. And Jesus answered. And here's what Jesus said, I spoke openly to the world, always taught in the synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together, I spoke nothing in secret.

Why do you question me? What you have heard, I spoke to them. They know what I said. So actually, one of the officers struck him at that point and said, is that the way you answer the high priest? And Jesus said, have I spoken wrongly? Testify of wrong? But if rightly, why do you strike me?

So at that point, that kind of ends Annas' interaction with the Lord. And now we move on to Caiaphas. So he was taken bound to Caiaphas. And it says, now the chief priest Caiaphas and the whole council kept trying to obtain false testimony against the Lord to put him to death.

So their game plan was, if we can find a charge against the Lord Jesus, we can then take him to the Romans and they'll put him to death. But they had to find a charge. So they're looking for something to charge him with. And some came forward and said, well, this man said he was able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.

And Caiaphas stood up and said, do you not answer? What is this they are testifying against you? But Jesus kept silent. Then the high priest said a very interesting thing. He said, it's like you're in a jury room. He says, I charge you by the living God to answer me. Tell me whether you are the Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus answered. In this case, he said, you have said it. You said it yourself. Nevertheless, I tell you that you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest Caiaphas tore his robes and said, He blasphemes. What further need do we have of witnesses? He deserves death. So at that point they beat him. He was spit upon. They slapped him. They mocked him.

So by that time the night was just about finished and it starts with the next part where he goes to the Sanhedrin and it says, When it was day, or as soon as day came, the council of the elders, or the Sanhedrin, assembled before the chief priest and the scribes. They led him to the council chamber. And they brought two charges. These are two charges that after a full night of deliberation they came up with. This is the charges they charged him with. First one. If you are the Christ, tell us. And this is what Christ said, if I tell you, you will not believe me. If I ask you a question, you will not answer me.

But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God on high. So that was the first charge. The second one, and they apparently all said this, maybe in unison, are you the Son of God? And he said, yes, I am. They said, what further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from his own mouth. So the two charges after all night is now daylight, that he was the Christ, the Messiah, and that he was the Son of God. And both of those were true. And those are the charges that they charged him with.

So there's more to come. Courtney's going to lead us in a song now. I'm also the exercise director. Stand up. Stand up. If you'd like to follow along on this one, if you're in the back and you can't see, or you'd like to look at the music that goes along with this, you can look in the red hymnal under 318, and we'll sing four stanzas of that.

I see the King of the Presence, and He's just a desert man. I wonder how he can love me, a sinner condemned and poor. How marvelous, how wonderful, may my sin surely be. How marvelous, how wonderful, is my Savior's love for me. He had no tears for his eyes, but sweat drops of blood flowed down. How wondrous, how wonderful my song shall ever be! How wondrous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me!

I'll be with you when you're gone. I'll be with you when you're gone. I'll be with you when you're gone. I'll always love you. I'll always love you. I'll always love you. I'll always love you. Okay, we like that song a lot, but we will end on verse four here. His praise I blest shall sing, Will be my joy through the ages. Will you sing of His love for me? How marvelous, how wonderful may my song ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me! When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

Meanwhile, Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? Yes, it is as you say, Jesus replied. When he was accused by the two priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked them, Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you? But Jesus made no reply, not even a single charge, to the great amazement of the governor.

Now it was the governor's custom at the feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, Which one do you want me to release to you, Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ? For he knew it was a divinity that they had handed Jesus over to. While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message.

Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him. But the two priests and the elders pursued the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. Which of the two do you want me to release to you? asked the governor. What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? Pilate asked. Why? What crime has he committed? asked Pilate. Pirate saw that he was getting nowhere but got inside and a poor was searching.

He took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. I am innocent of this man's blood, he said. It is your responsibility. Let this man Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified. Okay, would you please stand? Now we're going to sing for God so loved the world.

Twice through. You'll sing to set me free Till day is coming back What more do you need? All I know is love is what you need You're the love of the world We need you to be true In time you'll see You'll sing to set me free Okay, please be seated. Am I on? You hear me? You hear me okay?

I want to talk today about Christ's rejection and the humiliation that he suffered. As Roger talked about that he kept silent and he didn't answer the high priest when he was being questioned, when they were asking him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One? Jesus said, I am, and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Tearing his clothes, the priest said, What further need do we have of witnesses? When Jesus said, I am, he used the phrase ego eimi, which means that he claimed to be God, and they knew what he meant, and that's why they were so angry with him. So the high priest tears his clothes, and then Mark says, and you have heard the blasphemy, how does it seem to you?

And they all condemned him to be deserving of death. And then the Jewish leaders, these really sophisticated fellows, began to spit on him. And they blindfolded him and they beat him with their fists and said to him, prophesy. And the officers received him with slaps in the face.

In Mark 15 through 14, We just talked about the feast that Pilate or the governor was allowed to release a prisoner whom the crowd requested. The one that they released to the crowd was this man Barabbas who was an insurrectionist and who had committed murder. And the crowd went up and began asking him to do, which was the custom, to release somebody to them.

And Pilate said, do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? So, why do you think Pilate wanted to release Jesus? He didn't want anything to do with Christ. Well, a couple of reasons. One, Pilate hated the Jews. And the feeling was mutual, the Jews hated him. And he thought that the Jews wanted him to do the dirty work for them. He figured it out. He knew what they were up to. And so Pilate was trying to turn the tables on them. In verse 17 it says, For he was aware that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy.

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd and asked him, to release Barabbas to them instead. Answering again, Pilate said, then what shall I do with him who you call the king of the Jews? And of course they yelled, crucify him. But Pilate said to them, what evil has he done? But they shouted even louder, crucify him.

Now this is the interesting part right here because the Roman culture had a procedure that could be used in a courtroom And it was called the Law of Acclamation. Let's say that the magistrate had judged someone innocent in this case. But the crowd could create such an uproar against the verdict of the magistrate that the verdict could be changed. And that's what was happening here. The verdict was reversed by public opinion.

And so they're screaming in an uproar crucify him and so this what's really going on here is this rule that the Romans had which was called the law of acclamation so Pilate was under Roman obligation because of the charges against Christ to he was charged with high treason they said they said look he claims to be king and there's only one king and that's Caesar and so in Mark 15 15 Mark says wishing to satisfy the crowd Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. That's the law of acclamation. Couldn't prove him guilty.

So, if you were arrested in the Roman culture for high treason, they had one of three penalties. The first one was they would consign you to the beasts in the arena. That doesn't sound like a good option. The second one was that they would crucify you, or the third one was that if you weren't a dangerous person, they might exile you.

Crucifixion was a particularly nasty thing, and the cross really came in two pieces. You were nailed to that first and then stuck up on the upright piece. And here's another interesting fact. The higher up you went off the ground, the greater humiliation it was. They crucified a lot of people at eye level. just had their feet off the ground a little bit. But if they put you up high, it meant that the shame and the humiliation for the victim was greater.

And we know Jesus was hung up high because when they handed up the sour wine to him, they had to put it on a pole and hand it up to him. So the cause of death usually from crucifixion was just exhaustion. A lot of times in crucifixion they didn't put the nails in people, they just tied them and they left them there for days until they died.

So this method of execution probably was the most cruel ever devised by man. Now, there's a significance to why the Jews would yell to crucify him. In the Jewish economy, the law did not allow for crucifixion. What the Jewish law allowed for was a criminal or a blasphemer to be stoned to death.

But after they were dead, the law said you could hang him up on a tree and let his body hang there, and that was the ultimate sign that God had cursed them. So a blasphemer in the Jewish system was stoned to death, and then hung up on a tree for a day so that everyone knew that hanging on that tree was a curse of God.

And it came from Deuteronomy 21, where it says, If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, he is put to death. And you hang him on a tree, and his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day. For he who has hanged is accursed of God. so that you do not defile your land with the Lord and God gives you an inheritance. So the Jews wanted Christ crucified by the Romans but also hung up high on a tree. Now, the last part of this is what I would call the mockery that Jesus suffered.

And what's interesting about this is that the soldiers, in Mark 15, the soldiers took him away into the palace or the praetorian And they called together the whole entire Roman cohort. So as Roger said, there's 300 to 600 men around him and they dressed him up in purple. And after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on him and they began to acclaim, Hail the King of the Jews. And this was not polite. This was mockery. And they kept beating his head with a rod or a reed and spitting on him and kneeling and bowing before him. After they had mocked him, they took the purple robe off of him and they put on his own garments and they led him away to be crucified. What's interesting about this is that this is a unique feature in the crucifixion of Jesus. Mockery was not a normal practice of crucifixion.

So Jesus did suffer physically tremendously, but also he suffered emotionally and mentally. And what's interesting in verse 19, this scourging, the word for scourging is a word that's durative. It means that it went on for a really long time, a really long time. In Luke 23, 35-39, I want you to pick up here what the attitude is of everybody that's involved in this circumstance.

And the people stood by looking on, and even the rulers were sneering at him, saying, he saved others, let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him, coming up to him and offering him sour wine and saying, if you're the king of the Jews, save yourself. One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at him saying, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. Passerbys, those passing by were hurling abuses at him and wagging their heads and saying, ha, you who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross. In the same way, the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking him among themselves and saying, he saved others, he can't save himself.

Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross so that we may see and believe. And those who were crucified with him were also insulting him. Now, here's the ultimate. In Matthew 27, 45, And now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon the land, until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This is a cry of distress. Have you left me? Have you deserted me? Because Jesus was made sin for us, even God rejected him that day.

All right, please rise one more time, and we'll sing Lamb of God. We'll sing, if you're familiar with this one, it's the first two stanzas, then we'll sing the chorus, and then the third stanza and chorus. So if you're used to the tune, you have to watch the overhead so you don't get caught singing the chorus. So Lamb of God. For a child, she's too kind He can't stand to part your side What a boy, this guilty son Can't tell me what he'll do when I'm gone When I'm gone, he won't step down He can't get sure he'll rescue her The heart of me in the blood, in sacrifice and labor.

The blood of Christ we bear with love, and of the Holy Spirit with love. We wash thee in His precious blood, by Jesus Christ, in labor and blood. The hands of God, by sin and You'll be the glory to your son You'll be the guy who'll serve you well You'll be the king of the nation You'll be the man of God, you'll be the man of God You'll be the Lord, you'll be the man of God You'll be the Russian, you'll be the Russian Here and Mike have gotten to tell you the account of how Jesus was brought to this time of crucifixion and And the children have assisted with a dramatic presentation as well to do the same.

And then Mike described that horrible set of hours where not only was Christ suffering great humiliation, not only was he suffering great agony and pain, but a separation from the Father that he had never known in all eternity past. And the Father turning away from him after an eternity past of fellowship and love. Now I get to tell you about the part here in Romans 5, 6, and 11 where I talk about what does this mean? How did this happen?

It says, for while we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

We were still helpless. We were yet sinners. Were we in any position to help save ourselves? No. Contribute to the cause? Not at all. Could we help ourselves and then God would help us? No. We were helpless. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Not because we were behaving or acting worthy of his payment on our behalf. Not at all.

It was because of his great love that he loved us. He demonstrated His own love toward us. In verse 9, much more than having now been justified by His blood, declared righteous by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life.

We were helpless We were sinners. We were even enemies, not friends. And yet He died for us. Not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now have received the reconciliation. There was an enmity between ourselves and God because of sin. And we have now, not because of anything we've done, not because of anything we've deserved, we have now been reconciled to God. God didn't go away, we did. Now, through Christ, reconciled to Him.

Romans 3.21-26 goes on like this, But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. This passage talks again and again about God's righteousness, the righteousness of God, His righteousness. It says, Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, there is no distinction.

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Did we earn or add to that salvation? Not in the least. All of us have fallen short. God did it all. The only thing we did was believe and it is not a work. It is not something we get credit for. Being justified as a gift by grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. If someone thinks that they are good enough to get to heaven, they are in deep trouble. All have sinned and fallen short.

If you've ever been across a bridge that goes over a large body of water, I've a number of times been across, say, the Golden Gate Bridge. It's a long way down to the water. And you want to be on that bridge, not just close to it. You really need to be on it. Getting somewhere close is not good enough. This isn't hand grenades. It's not horseshoes. You have to absolutely, completely rely on His work for salvation. God displayed publicly as a propitiation. Now that's a word we don't use very often. It has nothing to do with pitch.

It is the satisfaction of God's character. That's what Christ did. What do we mean by the satisfaction of God's character? God's character requiring absolute justice and absolute righteousness was satisfied when Christ died on the cross. God's character was satisfied entirely by Christ's death on the cross. Only Christ could do it.

This was to demonstrate His righteousness. Again, what you keep seeing in this passage, it's God's righteousness, His righteousness, not ours. Because in the forbearance of God, He passed over the sins previously committed. For the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness, there's His righteousness again, at the present time. So that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Being justified means declared righteous. How does that happen? It is not because you try really hard to be good. It is not because you're better than most or better than average. It is only by faith in what Christ has done. That brings us to the next point. I'm going to switch to the slides here.

1 Corinthians 15, 1 and 2 puts it this way, Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preach to you. And this is the gospel that he preached everywhere, which you also received, so they did receive it and believe it, in which you also stand, by which you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. And here is where he spells out the content that must be believed. In verses three and four, for I delivered to you as of first importance, by the way, that means top priority, okay? Of all the things you could do, this is of first importance. It is top priority.

I received that Christ died for our sins. That simple. According to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. So, let's go over this. What's the gospel that a person has to believe? Because believing is the only way you're going to get saved. Christ died for your sins, which means sins are or were a serious problem.

Christ couldn't come along and just say, I just don't feel quite so bad about them as I used to. It wasn't that God just kind of got gushy or he wasn't quite as uptight as he once was. It's not at all that way. He had to die to satisfy God's character of justice and righteousness and holiness.

When Christ died, he took the penalty that I should have paid. It should have been Vern up there. It should have been me. The chorus of the song goes, Instead of me, he took to blame the misery. Instead of me, he suffered silent agony. and in that final breath he died alone, a sinner's death instead of me." See, he took my place. He took the death that should have been mine.

The next point was that he was buried. That confirms, it proves, it demonstrates that he was really quite dead physically. Oh, some people have suggested that perhaps he was just sort of swooned. He was wrapped all around with cloths tightly, and then on top of that, a hundred pounds of different things were smeared all over him, including aloe. I don't think you're going to breathe through that in a cold, dark, sealed tomb. No, that's not possible. Besides, the blood came out, blood and water, when he was pierced. You truly was dead.

He was raised on the third day. New life for Him and for you and me. That was the completion of what had to take place for our salvation. And it's the completion of what is to be believed for those who are saved. He did it all. He completed it. And one of the things that you'll note about this, this isn't complicated. Do you believe that Christ died for your sins and was buried and rose again?

It didn't take me 15 seconds to say it. It doesn't take that long to believe it. But that's all it takes. That's all it takes. A child can hear that and understand. and believe it and be saved. I know because I was four and a half. It can be done. The gospel is simple. The gospel is simple. But it must be believed. It must be believed that he did it all.

I'd like to ask Roger and Mike to come up as we observe the Lord's table here. Dear Father, how thankful we are that we have this opportunity because of what you've done to celebrate really and remember that your death on the cross to satisfy yourself and your Father about our sins personally and the sins of the whole world. We thank you, Father. Our gratitude is not anywhere close to the price it cost you, but we are thankful that we can and that We live under this incredible grace that you've extended to us. We thank you. We pray in your son's name.

Amen. Thank you. I'll be back in a minute. I'm I'm And the Lord Jesus in 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. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this cup, Lord. We thank you for the fact that it represents your blood. We thank you that your blood was given freely, and we thank you that we can partake of it by faith.

In Christ's name, Amen. the the the the . . . . a a a a a a do do In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. In verse 26, the Apostle Paul wrote additionally this, for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. You know what that means?

Because we're not going to do this forever. You only get to do this as long as we're here, because we'll do this until he comes. All right, the last time. Stand up. You know, I've been through this. It's just a progression if you've seen the songs we've done.

The first three about love, God's love, amazing love, my Savior's love, for God so loved the world. And then we sang Lamb of God, the spotless Lamb of God that paid the price for us. And the last one now, if you know the Lord, You can say this, I am crucified with Christ. We'll sing it through twice. It's been a long time, and we've been so far apart.

But I know that we'll be alright. thank you all for coming out tonight just remember this special time as we've had this remembrance time the crucifixion of our Lord You know, I think of all the news that we get, how many times we hear people die, how many people died today, and we get somewhat callous to the word death. Never let that happen about the crucifixion of our Lord, what that meant. But the important part that didn't end there, the important part is on Sunday when we remember the resurrection, because that's where God accepted the price for all our sins, and He raised the Lord up. And just remember that as we celebrate that these days, what that means. Don't forget what that death means, but more importantly what that resurrection means.

As Vern said, the free gift. I think of what it's like having the gift that is unbelievably big right next to you, but it doesn't do any good until you receive it. So remember, it's a free gift. There's no amount of money or spiritual push-ups or anything you can do to receive that gift. It's by that thing that gets us no credit. Simple faith. Simple belief. Remember that as you go this weekend and celebrate the resurrection. Have a great weekend.