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Good evening. How are you all doing tonight? Awesome. Well, we want to say, as Rick was

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saying earlier, happy Good Friday, which is always a strange way to say it, but we are

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here tonight to celebrate one of the most monumental events in the history of mankind

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and one that has changed our eternity forever. It is the start of this weekend that we know

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culminates in the wonderful story of the resurrection, but tonight we are here on Good Friday to

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celebrate something very, very good that God did for every single one of us. And I want

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to open tonight's service by reading a harmonized narrative of the crucifixion before we spend

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some time worshiping God for who He is and what He's done. And so I'd like to start

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reading in Luke chapter three, verse 13. It says, Pilate called together the chief priests,

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the leaders and the people, and said to them, you have brought me this man as one who misleads

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the people. But in fact, after examining him in your presence, I have found no grounds

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to charge this man with those things you accuse him of. Neither has Herod, because he sent

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him back to us. Clearly, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will have him

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whipped and then release him. Then they all cried out together, take this man away, release

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Barabbas to us. He had been thrown into prison for a rebellion that had taken place in the

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city and for murder. Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate addressed them again. But they kept

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shouting, crucify, crucify him. A third time he said to them, why? What has this man done

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wrong? I have found nothing in him, no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore, I will have

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him whipped and then release him. But they kept up the pressure demanding with loud voices

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that he be crucified and their voices won out. So Pilate decided to grant their demand and

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release the one they were asking for, who had been thrown into prison for rebellion

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and murder. Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. And after

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having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified. Then the governor's soldiers

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took Jesus into the governor's residence and gathered the whole company around him. They

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stripped him and dressed him in a scarlet robe. They twisted together a crown of thorns

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and put it on his head and placed a staff in his right hand. And they knelt down before

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him and mocked him, hail, king of the Jews. Then they spat on him, took the staff and

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kept hitting him on the head. After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe,

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put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. As they led him away, they

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seized Simon, a Cyrenian who was coming in from the country and laid the cross on him

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to carry behind Jesus. Two others, criminals, were also led away to be executed with him.

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They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means place of the skull. They tried

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to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. There they crucified him

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and two others with him, one on either side with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had

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a sign made and put on the cross. It said Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Many

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of the Jews read this sign because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city

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and it was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate,

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don't write the king of the Jews, but that he said I am the king of the Jews. And Pilate

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replied, what I have written, I have written. Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them because

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they do not know what they are doing. And they divided his clothes and cast lots. This

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happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that says they divided my clothes among themselves

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and they cast lots for my clothing. This is what the soldiers did. Those who passed by

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were yelling insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, you who would destroy the

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temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the son of God, come

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down from the cross. In the same way the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked

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him and said he saved others, but he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel. Let

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him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God

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rescue him now if he takes pleasure in him, for he said I am the son of God. Then one

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of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him. Aren't you the Messiah? Save

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yourself and us. But the other answered, rebuking him. Don't you even fear God since you are

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undergoing the same punishment? We are punished justly because we are getting back what we

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deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, Jesus,

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remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, truly I tell you, today

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you will be with me in paradise. When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until

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three in the afternoon. And about three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud

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voice, Eli, Eli, Lema sabachthani, that is my God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

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Then some of those standing there heard this and they said he's calling for Elijah. After

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this when Jesus knew that everything was now finished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,

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he said I'm thirsty. And a jar full of sour wine was sitting there so they mixed a sponge

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full of sour wine on a hissop branch and held it up to his mouth. When Jesus had received

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the sour wine he said it is finished. And Jesus called out with a loud voice, Father,

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to your hands I entrust my spirit. And saying this, he breathed his last. The big question

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is why did Jesus have to die? And that's what we're going to be answering tonight as we

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want to spend time worshiping him for his death on the cross, the death that paid the

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price for all of our sin, and really look at why he had to do that, why he had to suffer

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such a great and tragic death on our behalf. So if you'll pray with me now, Father, we're

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so grateful. We're so grateful, God, for what you've done for us. Lord, we're here tonight

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to remember your death on the cross and yes, it is a Good Friday because, Lord, the death

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you died paid the price for every single person that would ever put faith in you. God, you

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died to pay the price for our sins. Lord, a price we can never pay. And, Lord, we know

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according to your word that you were the perfect, spotless, blameless, atoning sacrifice for

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the entire world. And, Lord, the details of what you went through are indeed gruesome

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as we study into these things, Lord, but we know that you did it for the joy set before

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you, that you endured the cross and you despised the shame, Lord, that you would have a reconciled

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relationship with us whom you love so much. We thank you, God, for all of that. And, Lord,

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we want to start tonight, Lord, in worship of who you are. We praise you as the King

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of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Jesus, we praise you as God Almighty, the one who came

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to this earth and clothed himself in flesh. Lord, we know that as the Father was in heaven,

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you were here on earth as the Son, Lord, and you died. And, God, there's nothing we could

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do to ever earn that. But, Lord, you don't ask us to earn it or deserve it, you just

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simply ask us to believe in it, Lord, and we believe. But, God, sometimes we do need

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to think about why you had to die. And, Lord, I pray that you would speak to us tonight,

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that you would encourage us tonight, God, and that you would do a great work in our

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hearts as we remember the cost of our salvation. We love you so much and we thank you for everything.

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It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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Happy Good Friday. Today is not a normal Good Friday service. Thankfully, Pastor Nathan

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has read through the story and harmonized it for us. And I, if you don't know who I

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am, I'm Pastor Rick Ice. I run the youth ministry here and I also assist Pastor Nathan here

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at Hosanna. So, if you've never seen me, it's because I'm in the other building. So,

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but I'm here today and I have the pleasure to teach youth a lot. And, recently, actually,

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I taught at a couple of schools for their Christian clubs and this study was put on

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my heart by God because it's really important, especially for the youth to understand and

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even us as older Christians to remember the answer to the question, why did Jesus have

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to die? Because it's real easy to go, well, yeah, Jesus had to die, of course. Okay, why?

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And much like some of the kids, when I asked them that question, they just looked at me

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and went, uh, hmm. Some of them gave the answer and I'm not going to give the spoiler, that's

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later on in the study. But the better part is when they gave the answer, I then asked

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them, okay, what's your supporting reasons? What Bible verses do you have to support your

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answer? And they couldn't give me any. And so, this is why I think this is so important

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going through this study and really diving into why did Jesus have to die. So, today

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we're going to be looking at scriptures and making a case for why Jesus had to die for

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us specifically. So, with that, we'll pray and get into it. Dear heavenly Father, we

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just thank you, Lord. First and foremost, we thank you for what you did for us those

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two thousand some odd years ago, just tying on the cross for us, for setting up this whole

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plan and saving us, Lord, because the honest answer is you didn't have to, but you did.

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And we thank you for that, Lord. And we just pray that your word would just enter into

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our hearts and we would memorize and remember these words so that when people ask us, why

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do we believe in a Savior who died, it's because you had to, Lord, and we know the truth. In

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Jesus' name we pray, amen. So, today's study is called, Why Did Jesus Have to Die? The

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Holy Court Case. The reason it's the Holy Court Case is because tonight I'm going to

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use some extreme examples and put you guys in an extreme example and show that we're

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all criminals in a Holy Court Case. So, hold on, sorry, my beard is very itchy. We all

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are on trial and to understand this Holy Court Case in this trial, you need to understand

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a basic court case because not everyone does and don't worry, I'm not going to get into

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like, oh, you need a lawyer and you need all these things. But, to understand, let's say

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someone commits a crime. From there, they get arrested and eventually have a court date.

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That court date, they go before a judge. If the judge finds them guilty, the judge then

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gives them a sentence or a punishment fitting the crime. For instance, an armed robber,

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a murderer, they do something wrong, they commit a crime, they get caught by the cops,

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they end up in court, and normally here in California they sit in jail and take our taxes.

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But, we, to understand, have committed a holy crime. All of humanity has committed this

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holy crime. Every person, dead or alive, has sinned. Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned

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and fall short of the glory of God. So, with this, we understand that we've all sinned

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in one way or another. Each one of us may have different sins that we've committed.

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Some of you are like, hey, I've never murdered someone. Hey, I've never stolen something.

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But I've lied. But either way, we've all committed some kind of crime. Sorry, guys, my beard

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just makes this really annoying. But, we've all committed some kind of crime, some kind

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of sin. Now, if you might be thinking, and those of you watching online might be like,

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oh, no, I've never sinned. Never. I'm a good person compared to other people. I'm okay.

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I'll get into heaven, right? Well, I have a test for you. It's a really good test. Ray

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Comfort, actually, I feel like is the one that pioneered it, if I remember correctly,

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from Living Waters. But, it's the Ten Commandment Test. It's real simple. Let me ask you a question.

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Have you guys ever stolen anything? No? Never stolen anything? Yeah? You can raise your

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hand. Yeah? Guess what? What do you call someone who steals something? A thief, right? Have

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you ever told a lie, no matter if it was a white lie? You know, you tell your kids to

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get them to go to sleep early at night. Yeah? Okay. What do you call someone who's told

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a lie? Uh-huh. Now, have you ever hated anyone in your heart? You're like, man, that person

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stole my drink at snack, and it's not fair. You can tell I deal with youth. But, Jesus

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says if you hate someone in your heart, you've committed murder. So, what do you call someone

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that commits murder? A murderer. We can go on. We can talk about blasphemy. You ever said

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the Lord's name in vain? You know, say OMG and take His name out of authority that He

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is deserved. Yeah? That's blasphemy. So, according to our own admission, we are lying, murderous,

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thieving blasphemers. And you can go on throughout the rest of them, and even compare yourself

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to the rest of the law, and you realize, mm, okay, I'm not that good of a person. I'm not.

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Guess what? That's every human being. We've all committed this crime. Now, sin, to understand,

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is our crime against God. It's not just our crime against other people and ourselves,

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which sin does affect them. It's a crime against God, who is holy and righteous. And just like

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a crime has a punishment, so does sin. Romans 6, 23a says, for the wages of sin is death.

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That is the punishment for the crime of sin. Death here, specifically in the Bible, is

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also known as the second death, or what people like to call hell. Hell for eternity. Revelation

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21, 8 says, but the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters,

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and all liars, their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which

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is the second death. This, right here, is the punishment for sin. Now, some of you might

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be like, well, hold on, hey, my sin isn't that bad, right? I didn't murder people. I

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didn't, well, I mean, look back at the Ten Commandment Test, we kind of did, the intent

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and the point we have. But if you might be saying this, right, you're like, oh, I've

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only told one lie in my entire life. Kudos. Like, seriously, if you did, that's awesome.

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But to give you an understanding of how this works, commit one sin, and you're a sinner,

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just like commit one crime, and you're a criminal. A murderer and a thief broke two different

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laws but are both classified as criminals and both have punishments. A good way to understand

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this and the way I like to say it is, imagine there's a roof above you with a chain link

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to a bar, and there's ten links on that chain. You're holding on to the bar, right? So bar,

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chain, roof, you're holding on. It looks weird in a suit, doesn't it? You're holding on to

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the bar, and there's literally lava below you. If one of those links break, what happens?

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You go down with it. Only one. It's only one link. The rest of the links are fine. No,

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you broke one law, you're a criminal. You sinned once. You are a sinner. And this is

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what we are as humans. Because remember, like Roman said, we've all fallen short of the

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glory of God. So, remember, our crime before God is sin. This is important, and this is

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the first point of understanding our holy court case. We've all sinned, and sin's punishment

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is eternal separation from God in hell. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 8 through 9 says,

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In flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not

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obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction,

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away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. Man, you know, what's

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funny is some people are like, man, I don't want to spend hell, I don't want to go to

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hell for eternity and burn, and I feel like people miss the point. The biggest issue in

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what makes hell hell is literally the absence of the presence and glory of God. That's heavy.

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But here's the thing, we can't get away from this. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 27 says, And

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just as it is appointed for people to die once and after this judgment. Now, criminals

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nowadays can run from the police. There's the shows, like cops, you know, bad boys,

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bad boys, what you gonna do, right? People remember that? You can run from the cops,

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and there's even people who have lived their whole life committed a bunch of crimes, died

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and never got caught. But they cannot run away from this. No one can. We're all going

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to die once and then judgment. It's honestly trying to run away from this is like trying

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to run away from someone while you're on a treadmill. You're like, I'm gonna get away,

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I swear, turn up the speed faster, keep going. Or it's like you ever have those dreams where

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you're trying to run away from someone, but for some reason you have the inability to

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run. Anyone? You're like, let's go, why can't, it doesn't work. And it's this weird dream

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and you wake up, it's so weird. But that is a perfect example of us trying to get away

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from our sin. You're stuck. We're gonna get judged. We can't get away from this. We one

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day have to face the judge. And guess what? The next point is God is the judge of our

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holy trial. It's not another person that we can like schmooze and pay him some money because

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God himself being the final judge of all mankind as it says in Psalm 75, 7, for God is the

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judge. He brings down one and exalts another. God, the judge, isn't like human judges. He's

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not fallible. He doesn't make mistakes. He is righteous and holy. Unfortunately, there's

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human judges out there that guess what? They're human, which means they're sinners, and they

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make mistakes and fail. I mean, a perfect example of failed judges is a court case a

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long time ago. It's in 1857. It's not that long. But the court case of Dred Scott v.

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Sanford in 1857, this literally overturned the Missouri Compromise and stopped laws that

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would free slaves. The Supreme Court literally said, nah, stay slaves. That is horribly wrong.

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But again, those judges are humans and they're sinners. They make mistakes. Thankfully, we

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have the 13th and 14th Amendment, which overturned that decision. And thankfully, God is a holy

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and righteous judge. God is God, not man. He does not make mistakes. He does not fail.

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Now to understand, God is a righteous, holy, just, and perfect judge. We have three scriptures

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that show us this, and many more, honestly. But the three that we'll look at first is

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Deuteronomy 32, 4, says, the Rock, his work is perfect. All his ways are just. A faithful

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God without bias. He is righteous and true. 1 Samuel 2, verse 2, there is no one holy

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like the Lord. There is no one besides you, besides you, and there is no rock like our

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God. And Psalm 1830 says, God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is pure. He

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is a shield to all who take refuge in him. Obviously, there's a lot more scripture that

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describes how great and amazing God is, what his character is, who he is, how he is actually,

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love, and so many more things. But this understanding is how God judges. God judges us according

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to our character and according to the law that he set up. Because if you understand,

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the law actually reveals God's character of holiness and righteousness. And that is the

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standard that we are judged against. So God, being a righteous, holy judge, puts us against

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the Ten Commandments, puts us against the law. And I mean, honestly, we remember taking

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the test a few minutes ago. We're all found guilty. We're all found guilty. Now there's

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a problem. And the problem is simply this. We are sinners. God is this perfect judge,

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and he has to find us guilty for breaking the law. We deserve hell and hell only. Now

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some people will ask, but God loves us, right? Can't he just let us off the hook? No. That

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is wrong. Now yes, God does love all humans. But it is wrong to say, God will just let

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me off the hook because he loves me. God is a good judge and a good parent. He doesn't

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let us disobey and go without punishment. And as this judge, he cannot let us go without

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punishment. Because Psalm chapter 9, verse 7 through 8 says, but the Lord sits enthroned

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forever. He has established his throne for judgment, and he judges the world with righteousness.

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He executes judgment on the nations with fairness. So let's look at that question again. Can't

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God just let us off the hook? Here's an example to get us to understand why God can't just

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do that. We, and this is going to be an extreme example, but all of us, imagine you yourself.

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You are on trial for the crime that you committed, and you committed murder. I'm sorry. Take

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that back. I messed that up. Wrong one. No, you are not on trial. You're at a court case

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for the trial of the man who killed all of your family and friends. Literally, a man

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came in and killed all of your family, all your friends, gets caught by the cops, and

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now you're at the court case. And the man's sitting there, and he sees the judge, and

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the judge looks down at him and goes, this is my son. I love him. I can't send him to

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prison forever. I can't give him the death sentence. You know what? I'm just going to

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let him go scot-free because I love him. Is that righteous? Is that just? No. That's not.

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It's the same reason why God can't just let us into heaven scot-free. God is a righteous

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judge. God can't let a sinner go without punishment just because he wants to. It goes against

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his character. So here's the question then. How can a just and righteous judge give punishment

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while also letting us into heaven? Remember, punishment is the second death, eternity in

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the hell separated from God. Heaven is eternity with God in his presence. Here is where Jesus

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comes in. Jesus literally became our surety. For those of you that don't know what surety

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means, it literally means a person who takes responsibility for another's performance of

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an undertaking. For example, their appearing in court or the payment of a debt. Colossians

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chapter 2 verse 13 through 14 says, and when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision

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of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. He erased

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the certificate of debt with his obligations. That was against us and opposed to us and

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has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. Remember the example of the murderer whose

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father was the judge, the guy who killed all of your family? Well, yeah, that guy is actually

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you and the judge is God. God looks at us and goes, whoa, what are you doing? But guess

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what? How can that judge pay for the son's debt, the crime, the same way that God did

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for us? By becoming man, living the perfect life, fulfilling the law and the prophets

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and then dying on the cross, bearing our sins for us, bearing our debt, becoming the perfect

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sacrifice, becoming our surety. God does love us, but he is a just and righteous judge.

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Punishment for our sins had to be dealt. First Peter chapter 2 verse 24 literally says, he

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himself bore our sin in his body on the tree so that having died to sins, we might live

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for righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed. But why did God do this? We understand

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that we are sinners. God is the holy and righteous judge. And to let us into heaven for free,

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he still needs to punish sin. So he took it on for us. He took our punishment and debt.

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But why? Why would he do that? Really simple. John 3, 16, for God so loved the world in

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this way, that he gave his one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will

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not perish but have eternal life. The key to understanding this is it says God loved

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the world. World means people, not the physical earth, but us, those that are of this world.

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There is a mistake that people make though. They hear this and they think the cross was

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an afterthought of creation. They think, oh, God is angry, mad at humans. And so Jesus

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goes behind God's back and dies on the cross and sacrifices and changes God's mind. There

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are a couple of problems with this understanding. One, it takes away the trinity because Jesus

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and the father and the holy spirit are all God. God can't go against himself. Like you

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can't sneak around your own back and if you can, wow, good luck. But the truth is God

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had this planned all along. The truth is God had this planned because he loves us and he

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had it planned before creation. Acts chapter 2 verse 22 through 24 says, fellow Israelites,

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listen to these words. This Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with miracles,

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wonders, and signs that God did among you through him. Just as you yourselves know,

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though he was delivered up according to God's determined plan and foreknowledge, you used

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lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him. God raised him up, ending the pains

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of death because it was not possible for him to be held by death. Notice verse 23 says,

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though he was delivered up according to God's determined plan and foreknowledge. Here's

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the thing. People forget, we all do, that God is God. God is not made in the image of

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man. Man is made in the image of God. We are all beings and similar beings. God is a one-of-a-kind

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being. He is all-powerful, all-knowing. We are not like him. And he knew before creation

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that Adam and Eve were going to eat of the forbidden fruit and the fall of mankind was

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going to come. So he already planned, before creating, all of it already planned to die

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for us. Why? Because he loves us. This is the reason Jesus had to die for us. And the

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truth is, Jesus didn't have to die for us because God could have been totally right

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and totally just in killing Adam and Eve and ending it there. But he loves us so much

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that he has endured with all of our sins and everyone before us and those to come. And

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he endures patiently with our sin and stubbornness because he loves us and gives us the opportunity

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to be his and to be a part of his family. It's all because he loves us.

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Sorry if this isn't falling off. There we go. God loves us so much. So before he created

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creation, he planned on Jesus dying on the cross. Matthew 16, 21 for more proof. From

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then on, Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem

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and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes to be killed and to be

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raised the third day. That was the plan all along. And Jesus explained it to his disciples

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who, as we know, apparently forgot. They had their own idea of what the Messiah was going

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to do and it didn't turn out so well for them. But actually it did turn out well afterwards,

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whatever he raised. But the truth here is, Jesus died for everyone. You are given a choice.

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Choose Jesus and let him become your surety. Let Jesus be the one to take your punishment

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because if not, it's on you. Let Jesus be the one that say their debt is covered when

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we're judged after our death. Now choose to deny Jesus and you take your debt on your

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own shoulders. You will be judged accordingly against a righteous and holy judge. Remember,

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Hebrews 927, and just as it is appointed for people to die once and after this judgment,

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it's going to happen either way. So please, choose Jesus. If you haven't, humble yourself

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and understand your need for him. Let him be the one who pays your debt because if not,

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you have to pay it for eternity. And for those of you who have already chosen him, remember

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this. Remember that he died for you and why he died for you. Let his scripture reinforce

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that fact and embolden your love for him because guess what? He didn't have to do it, but he

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did it because he loves you. Remember, God is righteous and just. He must punish. But

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he loves you so much that he made a way for you to have an eternal relationship with him.

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Although he preplanned all of it and this is why Jesus died for us because he loves

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us. Remember this, John 14, 6, Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth and the life.

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No one comes to the father except through me. So with that, guys, you should have received

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communion. So go ahead and grab your elements. For those of you online, please grab your

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elements. But we're going to be celebrating and remembering Jesus' death for us through

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communion. It's a perfect time today on the day, the remembrance that he did die for us.

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Now go ahead. There's two tabs, guys, for you to understand in here. There's a thin

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see-through one. Go ahead and peel that back. That's how you get to your wafer. And try

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not to spill when we get to the drink because that'll stain. But this bread, this wafer,

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it represents God's body given to us. It represents the death and judgment that he had for us,

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bearing our punishment on that cross. God being a righteous judge had to judge sin.

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And so Jesus, God in flesh, became human so that he can bear our punishment and make a

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way to heaven for us, his body given to us, all because God planned this before creation,

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all because he loves us. So let's pray. Lord, we just thank you so much for enduring the

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beating, the shame, all of the punishment. And the worst part of the punishment is bearing

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all our sin, Lord, and taking that, your full wrath on for us, Lord. We thank you for giving

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us your body. We thank you that you loved us so much that you did this for us, Lord.

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In Jesus' name we pray. Let's partake together. Now go ahead and remove the second tap, peel

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that back and be careful. This juice that we have represents Jesus' blood, the blood

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of the new covenant. It represents the new covenant that we've gained through God's love

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for us. A very unfair deal, unfair for God, because God went through so much for us and

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all he gains is us. But the beautiful thing is, we're all he wanted. He wants you and

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I, so much so, because he loves us that he died on this cross and made this new covenant

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his blood. So let's pray. Lord, we just thank you so much. We thank you for the covenant

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you've made with us, the unfair deal that is so beneficial to us, but you did this because

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you love us. And we thank you for that, Lord. I pray that in this new covenant we'd be emboldened

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to continue to live for you, Lord. Let us remember the truth of the new covenant that

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you've made with us, in Jesus' name, amen. Let us partake. So in closing, yes, today

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is Good Friday and some people don't understand why it's good. They think, ah, Jesus died,

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how is that a good thing? It's because he bore our sins on the cross. We understand

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why it's a good Friday. And in three days' time, he raises again, defeating death and

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sin for us, making a way for us to be with him forever in heaven, with an eternal relationship

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with him. Thank you, Jesus. With that, we'll pray. Lord, you are a holy and righteous judge,

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and we are a wicked and sinful people. But you died on the cross. You bore our punishment

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and our debt, rising again on the third day, all so that we can have this relationship

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with you, and you did that because you love us, Lord. We thank you so much, Lord. And

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I pray that we would go from here emboldened, just alive with zeal for you, Lord, knowing

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that you did this because you love us, Lord. I pray that this would drive us to go out

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and share your word and share your death on that cross with other people so that they

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would understand that they need you, Lord. We thank you so much, and in Jesus' name,

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we pray. Amen.