Good evening. How are you all doing tonight? Awesome. Well, we want to say, as Rick was
saying earlier, happy Good Friday, which is always a strange way to say it, but we are
here tonight to celebrate one of the most monumental events in the history of mankind
and one that has changed our eternity forever. It is the start of this weekend that we know
culminates in the wonderful story of the resurrection, but tonight we are here on Good Friday to
celebrate something very, very good that God did for every single one of us. And I want
to open tonight's service by reading a harmonized narrative of the crucifixion before we spend
some time worshiping God for who He is and what He's done. And so I'd like to start
reading in Luke chapter three, verse 13. It says, Pilate called together the chief priests,
the leaders and the people, and said to them, you have brought me this man as one who misleads
the people. But in fact, after examining him in your presence, I have found no grounds
to charge this man with those things you accuse him of. Neither has Herod, because he sent
him back to us. Clearly, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will have him
whipped and then release him. Then they all cried out together, take this man away, release
Barabbas to us. He had been thrown into prison for a rebellion that had taken place in the
city and for murder. Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate addressed them again. But they kept
shouting, crucify, crucify him. A third time he said to them, why? What has this man done
wrong? I have found nothing in him, no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore, I will have
him whipped and then release him. But they kept up the pressure demanding with loud voices
that he be crucified and their voices won out. So Pilate decided to grant their demand and
release the one they were asking for, who had been thrown into prison for rebellion
and murder. Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. And after
having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified. Then the governor's soldiers
took Jesus into the governor's residence and gathered the whole company around him. They
stripped him and dressed him in a scarlet robe. They twisted together a crown of thorns
and put it on his head and placed a staff in his right hand. And they knelt down before
him and mocked him, hail, king of the Jews. Then they spat on him, took the staff and
kept hitting him on the head. After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe,
put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. As they led him away, they
seized Simon, a Cyrenian who was coming in from the country and laid the cross on him
to carry behind Jesus. Two others, criminals, were also led away to be executed with him.
They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means place of the skull. They tried
to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. There they crucified him
and two others with him, one on either side with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had
a sign made and put on the cross. It said Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Many
of the Jews read this sign because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city
and it was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate,
don't write the king of the Jews, but that he said I am the king of the Jews. And Pilate
replied, what I have written, I have written. Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them because
they do not know what they are doing. And they divided his clothes and cast lots. This
happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that says they divided my clothes among themselves
and they cast lots for my clothing. This is what the soldiers did. Those who passed by
were yelling insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, you who would 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 with the scribes and elders mocked
him and said he saved others, but he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel. Let
him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God
rescue him now if he takes pleasure in him, for he said I am the son of God. Then one
of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him. Aren't you the Messiah? Save
yourself and us. But the other answered, rebuking him. Don't you even fear God since you are
undergoing the same punishment? We are punished justly because we are getting back what we
deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, Jesus,
remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, truly I tell you, today
you will be with me in paradise. When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until
three in the afternoon. And about three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud
voice, Eli, Eli, Lema sabachthani, that is my God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Then some of those standing there heard this and they said he's calling for Elijah. After
this when Jesus knew that everything was now finished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
he said I'm thirsty. And a jar full of sour wine was sitting there so they mixed a sponge
full of sour wine on a hissop branch and held it up to his mouth. When Jesus had received
the sour wine he said it is finished. And Jesus called out with a loud voice, Father,
to your hands I entrust my spirit. And saying this, he breathed his last. The big question
is why did Jesus have to die? And that's what we're going to be answering tonight as we
want to spend time worshiping him for his death on the cross, the death that paid the
price for all of our sin, and really look at why he had to do that, why he had to suffer
such a great and tragic death on our behalf. So if you'll pray with me now, Father, we're
so grateful. We're so grateful, God, for what you've done for us. Lord, we're here tonight
to remember your death on the cross and yes, it is a Good Friday because, Lord, the death
you died paid the price for every single person that would ever put faith in you. God, you
died to pay the price for our sins. Lord, a price we can never pay. And, Lord, we know
according to your word that you were the perfect, spotless, blameless, atoning sacrifice for
the entire world. And, Lord, the details of what you went through are indeed gruesome
as we study into these things, Lord, but we know that you did it for the joy set before
you, that you endured the cross and you despised the shame, Lord, that you would have a reconciled
relationship with us whom you love so much. We thank you, God, for all of that. And, Lord,
we want to start tonight, Lord, in worship of who you are. We praise you as the King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Jesus, we praise you as God Almighty, the one who came
to this earth and clothed himself in flesh. Lord, we know that as the Father was in heaven,
you were here on earth as the Son, Lord, and you died. And, God, there's nothing we could
do to ever earn that. But, Lord, you don't ask us to earn it or deserve it, you just
simply ask us to believe in it, Lord, and we believe. But, God, sometimes we do need
to think about why you had to die. And, Lord, I pray that you would speak to us tonight,
that you would encourage us tonight, God, and that you would do a great work in our
hearts as we remember the cost of our salvation. We love you so much and we thank you for everything.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Happy Good Friday. Today is not a normal Good Friday service. Thankfully, Pastor Nathan
has read through the story and harmonized it for us. And I, if you don't know who I
am, I'm Pastor Rick Ice. I run the youth ministry here and I also assist Pastor Nathan here
at Hosanna. So, if you've never seen me, it's because I'm in the other building. So,
but I'm here today and I have the pleasure to teach youth a lot. And, recently, actually,
I taught at a couple of schools for their Christian clubs and this study was put on
my heart by God because it's really important, especially for the youth to understand and
even us as older Christians to remember the answer to the question, why did Jesus have
to die? Because it's real easy to go, well, yeah, Jesus had to die, of course. Okay, why?
And much like some of the kids, when I asked them that question, they just looked at me
and went, uh, hmm. Some of them gave the answer and I'm not going to give the spoiler, that's
later on in the study. But the better part is when they gave the answer, I then asked
them, okay, what's your supporting reasons? What Bible verses do you have to support your
answer? And they couldn't give me any. And so, this is why I think this is so important
going through this study and really diving into why did Jesus have to die. So, today
we're going to be looking at scriptures and making a case for why Jesus had to die for
us specifically. So, with that, we'll pray and get into it. Dear heavenly Father, we
just thank you, Lord. First and foremost, we thank you for what you did for us those
two thousand some odd years ago, just tying on the cross for us, for setting up this whole
plan and saving us, Lord, because the honest answer is you didn't have to, but you did.
And we thank you for that, Lord. And we just pray that your word would just enter into
our hearts and we would memorize and remember these words so that when people ask us, why
do we believe in a Savior who died, it's because you had to, Lord, and we know the truth. In
Jesus' name we pray, amen. So, today's study is called, Why Did Jesus Have to Die? The
Holy Court Case. The reason it's the Holy Court Case is because tonight I'm going to
use some extreme examples and put you guys in an extreme example and show that we're
all criminals in a Holy Court Case. So, hold on, sorry, my beard is very itchy. We all
are on trial and to understand this Holy Court Case in this trial, you need to understand
a basic court case because not everyone does and don't worry, I'm not going to get into
like, oh, you need a lawyer and you need all these things. But, to understand, let's say
someone commits a crime. From there, they get arrested and eventually have a court date.
That court date, they go before a judge. If the judge finds them guilty, the judge then
gives them a sentence or a punishment fitting the crime. For instance, an armed robber,
a murderer, they do something wrong, they commit a crime, they get caught by the cops,
they end up in court, and normally here in California they sit in jail and take our taxes.
But, we, to understand, have committed a holy crime. All of humanity has committed this
holy crime. Every person, dead or alive, has sinned. Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God. So, with this, we understand that we've all sinned
in one way or another. Each one of us may have different sins that we've committed.
Some of you are like, hey, I've never murdered someone. Hey, I've never stolen something.
But I've lied. But either way, we've all committed some kind of crime. Sorry, guys, my beard
just makes this really annoying. But, we've all committed some kind of crime, some kind
of sin. Now, if you might be thinking, and those of you watching online might be like,
oh, no, I've never sinned. Never. I'm a good person compared to other people. I'm okay.
I'll get into heaven, right? Well, I have a test for you. It's a really good test. Ray
Comfort, actually, I feel like is the one that pioneered it, if I remember correctly,
from Living Waters. But, it's the Ten Commandment Test. It's real simple. Let me ask you a question.
Have you guys ever stolen anything? No? Never stolen anything? Yeah? You can raise your
hand. Yeah? Guess what? What do you call someone who steals something? A thief, right? Have
you ever told a lie, no matter if it was a white lie? You know, you tell your kids to
get them to go to sleep early at night. Yeah? Okay. What do you call someone who's told
a lie? Uh-huh. Now, have you ever hated anyone in your heart? You're like, man, that person
stole my drink at snack, and it's not fair. You can tell I deal with youth. But, Jesus
says if you hate someone in your heart, you've committed murder. So, what do you call someone
that commits murder? A murderer. We can go on. We can talk about blasphemy. You ever said
the Lord's name in vain? You know, say OMG and take His name out of authority that He
is deserved. Yeah? That's blasphemy. So, according to our own admission, we are lying, murderous,
thieving blasphemers. And you can go on throughout the rest of them, and even compare yourself
to the rest of the law, and you realize, mm, okay, I'm not that good of a person. I'm not.
Guess what? That's every human being. We've all committed this crime. Now, sin, to understand,
is our crime against God. It's not just our crime against other people and ourselves,
which sin does affect them. It's a crime against God, who is holy and righteous. And just like
a crime has a punishment, so does sin. Romans 6, 23a says, for the wages of sin is death.
That is the punishment for the crime of sin. Death here, specifically in the Bible, is
also known as the second death, or what people like to call hell. Hell for eternity. Revelation
21, 8 says, but the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters,
and all liars, their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which
is the second death. This, right here, is the punishment for sin. Now, some of you might
be like, well, hold on, hey, my sin isn't that bad, right? I didn't murder people. I
didn't, well, I mean, look back at the Ten Commandment Test, we kind of did, the intent
and the point we have. But if you might be saying this, right, you're like, oh, I've
only told one lie in my entire life. Kudos. Like, seriously, if you did, that's awesome.
But to give you an understanding of how this works, commit one sin, and you're a sinner,
just like commit one crime, and you're a criminal. A murderer and a thief broke two different
laws but are both classified as criminals and both have punishments. A good way to understand
this and the way I like to say it is, imagine there's a roof above you with a chain link
to a bar, and there's ten links on that chain. You're holding on to the bar, right? So bar,
chain, roof, you're holding on. It looks weird in a suit, doesn't it? You're holding on to
the bar, and there's literally lava below you. If one of those links break, what happens?
You go down with it. Only one. It's only one link. The rest of the links are fine. No,
you broke one law, you're a criminal. You sinned once. You are a sinner. And this is
what we are as humans. Because remember, like Roman said, we've all fallen short of the
glory of God. So, remember, our crime before God is sin. This is important, and this is
the first point of understanding our holy court case. We've all sinned, and sin's punishment
is eternal separation from God in hell. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 8 through 9 says,
In flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction,
away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. Man, you know, what's
funny is some people are like, man, I don't want to spend hell, I don't want to go to
hell for eternity and burn, and I feel like people miss the point. The biggest issue in
what makes hell hell is literally the absence of the presence and glory of God. That's heavy.
But here's the thing, we can't get away from this. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 27 says, And
just as it is appointed for people to die once and after this judgment. Now, criminals
nowadays can run from the police. There's the shows, like cops, you know, bad boys,
bad boys, what you gonna do, right? People remember that? You can run from the cops,
and there's even people who have lived their whole life committed a bunch of crimes, died
and never got caught. But they cannot run away from this. No one can. We're all going
to die once and then judgment. It's honestly trying to run away from this is like trying
to run away from someone while you're on a treadmill. You're like, I'm gonna get away,
I swear, turn up the speed faster, keep going. Or it's like you ever have those dreams where
you're trying to run away from someone, but for some reason you have the inability to
run. Anyone? You're like, let's go, why can't, it doesn't work. And it's this weird dream
and you wake up, it's so weird. But that is a perfect example of us trying to get away
from our sin. You're stuck. We're gonna get judged. We can't get away from this. We one
day have to face the judge. And guess what? The next point is God is the judge of our
holy trial. It's not another person that we can like schmooze and pay him some money because
God himself being the final judge of all mankind as it says in Psalm 75, 7, for God is the
judge. He brings down one and exalts another. God, the judge, isn't like human judges. He's
not fallible. He doesn't make mistakes. He is righteous and holy. Unfortunately, there's
human judges out there that guess what? They're human, which means they're sinners, and they
make mistakes and fail. I mean, a perfect example of failed judges is a court case a
long time ago. It's in 1857. It's not that long. But the court case of Dred Scott v.
Sanford in 1857, this literally overturned the Missouri Compromise and stopped laws that
would free slaves. The Supreme Court literally said, nah, stay slaves. That is horribly wrong.
But again, those judges are humans and they're sinners. They make mistakes. Thankfully, we
have the 13th and 14th Amendment, which overturned that decision. And thankfully, God is a holy
and righteous judge. God is God, not man. He does not make mistakes. He does not fail.
Now to understand, God is a righteous, holy, just, and perfect judge. We have three scriptures
that show us this, and many more, honestly. But the three that we'll look at first is
Deuteronomy 32, 4, says, the Rock, his work is perfect. All his ways are just. A faithful
God without bias. He is righteous and true. 1 Samuel 2, verse 2, there is no one holy
like the Lord. There is no one besides you, besides you, and there is no rock like our
God. And Psalm 1830 says, God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is pure. He
is a shield to all who take refuge in him. Obviously, there's a lot more scripture that
describes how great and amazing God is, what his character is, who he is, how he is actually,
love, and so many more things. But this understanding is how God judges. God judges us according
to our character and according to the law that he set up. Because if you understand,
the law actually reveals God's character of holiness and righteousness. And that is the
standard that we are judged against. So God, being a righteous, holy judge, puts us against
the Ten Commandments, puts us against the law. And I mean, honestly, we remember taking
the test a few minutes ago. We're all found guilty. We're all found guilty. Now there's
a problem. And the problem is simply this. We are sinners. God is this perfect judge,
and he has to find us guilty for breaking the law. We deserve hell and hell only. Now
some people will ask, but God loves us, right? Can't he just let us off the hook? No. That
is wrong. Now yes, God does love all humans. But it is wrong to say, God will just let
me off the hook because he loves me. God is a good judge and a good parent. He doesn't
let us disobey and go without punishment. And as this judge, he cannot let us go without
punishment. Because Psalm chapter 9, verse 7 through 8 says, but the Lord sits enthroned
forever. He has established his throne for judgment, and he judges the world with righteousness.
He executes judgment on the nations with fairness. So let's look at that question again. Can't
God just let us off the hook? Here's an example to get us to understand why God can't just
do that. We, and this is going to be an extreme example, but all of us, imagine you yourself.
You are on trial for the crime that you committed, and you committed murder. I'm sorry. Take
that back. I messed that up. Wrong one. No, you are not on trial. You're at a court case
for the trial of the man who killed all of your family and friends. Literally, a man
came in and killed all of your family, all your friends, gets caught by the cops, and
now you're at the court case. And the man's sitting there, and he sees the judge, and
the judge looks down at him and goes, this is my son. I love him. I can't send him to
prison forever. I can't give him the death sentence. You know what? I'm just going to
let him go scot-free because I love him. Is that righteous? Is that just? No. That's not.
It's the same reason why God can't just let us into heaven scot-free. God is a righteous
judge. God can't let a sinner go without punishment just because he wants to. It goes against
his character. So here's the question then. How can a just and righteous judge give punishment
while also letting us into heaven? Remember, punishment is the second death, eternity in
the hell separated from God. Heaven is eternity with God in his presence. Here is where Jesus
comes in. Jesus literally became our surety. For those of you that don't know what surety
means, it literally means a person who takes responsibility for another's performance of
an undertaking. For example, their appearing in court or the payment of a debt. Colossians
chapter 2 verse 13 through 14 says, and when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision
of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. He erased
the certificate of debt with his obligations. That was against us and opposed to us and
has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. Remember the example of the murderer whose
father was the judge, the guy who killed all of your family? Well, yeah, that guy is actually
you and the judge is God. God looks at us and goes, whoa, what are you doing? But guess
what? How can that judge pay for the son's debt, the crime, the same way that God did
for us? By becoming man, living the perfect life, fulfilling the law and the prophets
and then dying on the cross, bearing our sins for us, bearing our debt, becoming the perfect
sacrifice, becoming our surety. God does love us, but he is a just and righteous judge.
Punishment for our sins had to be dealt. First Peter chapter 2 verse 24 literally says, he
himself bore our sin in his body on the tree so that having died to sins, we might live
for righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed. But why did God do this? We understand
that we are sinners. God is the holy and righteous judge. And to let us into heaven for free,
he still needs to punish sin. So he took it on for us. He took our punishment and debt.
But why? Why would he do that? Really simple. John 3, 16, for God so loved the world in
this way, that he gave his one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will
not perish but have eternal life. The key to understanding this is it says God loved
the world. World means people, not the physical earth, but us, those that are of this world.
There is a mistake that people make though. They hear this and they think the cross was
an afterthought of creation. They think, oh, God is angry, mad at humans. And so Jesus
goes behind God's back and dies on the cross and sacrifices and changes God's mind. There
are a couple of problems with this understanding. One, it takes away the trinity because Jesus
and the father and the holy spirit are all God. God can't go against himself. Like you
can't sneak around your own back and if you can, wow, good luck. But the truth is God
had this planned all along. The truth is God had this planned because he loves us and he
had it planned before creation. Acts chapter 2 verse 22 through 24 says, fellow Israelites,
listen to these words. This Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with miracles,
wonders, and signs that God did among you through him. Just as you yourselves know,
though he was delivered up according to God's determined plan and foreknowledge, you used
lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him. God raised him up, ending the pains
of death because it was not possible for him to be held by death. Notice verse 23 says,
though he was delivered up according to God's determined plan and foreknowledge. Here's
the thing. People forget, we all do, that God is God. God is not made in the image of
man. Man is made in the image of God. We are all beings and similar beings. God is a one-of-a-kind
being. He is all-powerful, all-knowing. We are not like him. And he knew before creation
that Adam and Eve were going to eat of the forbidden fruit and the fall of mankind was
going to come. So he already planned, before creating, all of it already planned to die
for us. Why? Because he loves us. This is the reason Jesus had to die for us. And the
truth is, Jesus didn't have to die for us because God could have been totally right
and totally just in killing Adam and Eve and ending it there. But he loves us so much
that he has endured with all of our sins and everyone before us and those to come. And
he endures patiently with our sin and stubbornness because he loves us and gives us the opportunity
to be his and to be a part of his family. It's all because he loves us.
Sorry if this isn't falling off. There we go. God loves us so much. So before he created
creation, he planned on Jesus dying on the cross. Matthew 16, 21 for more proof. From
then on, Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem
and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes to be killed and to be
raised the third day. That was the plan all along. And Jesus explained it to his disciples
who, as we know, apparently forgot. They had their own idea of what the Messiah was going
to do and it didn't turn out so well for them. But actually it did turn out well afterwards,
whatever he raised. But the truth here is, Jesus died for everyone. You are given a choice.
Choose Jesus and let him become your surety. Let Jesus be the one to take your punishment
because if not, it's on you. Let Jesus be the one that say their debt is covered when
we're judged after our death. Now choose to deny Jesus and you take your debt on your
own shoulders. You will be judged accordingly against a righteous and holy judge. Remember,
Hebrews 927, and just as it is appointed for people to die once and after this judgment,
it's going to happen either way. So please, choose Jesus. If you haven't, humble yourself
and understand your need for him. Let him be the one who pays your debt because if not,
you have to pay it for eternity. And for those of you who have already chosen him, remember
this. Remember that he died for you and why he died for you. Let his scripture reinforce
that fact and embolden your love for him because guess what? He didn't have to do it, but he
did it because he loves you. Remember, God is righteous and just. He must punish. But
he loves you so much that he made a way for you to have an eternal relationship with him.
Although he preplanned all of it and this is why Jesus died for us because he loves
us. Remember this, John 14, 6, Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth and the life.
No one comes to the father except through me. So with that, guys, you should have received
communion. So go ahead and grab your elements. For those of you online, please grab your
elements. But we're going to be celebrating and remembering Jesus' death for us through
communion. It's a perfect time today on the day, the remembrance that he did die for us.
Now go ahead. There's two tabs, guys, for you to understand in here. There's a thin
see-through one. Go ahead and peel that back. That's how you get to your wafer. And try
not to spill when we get to the drink because that'll stain. But this bread, this wafer,
it represents God's body given to us. It represents the death and judgment that he had for us,
bearing our punishment on that cross. God being a righteous judge had to judge sin.
And so Jesus, God in flesh, became human so that he can bear our punishment and make a
way to heaven for us, his body given to us, all because God planned this before creation,
all because he loves us. So let's pray. Lord, we just thank you so much for enduring the
beating, the shame, all of the punishment. And the worst part of the punishment is bearing
all our sin, Lord, and taking that, your full wrath on for us, Lord. We thank you for giving
us your body. We thank you that you loved us so much that you did this for us, Lord.
In Jesus' name we pray. Let's partake together. Now go ahead and remove the second tap, peel
that back and be careful. This juice that we have represents Jesus' blood, the blood
of the new covenant. It represents the new covenant that we've gained through God's love
for us. A very unfair deal, unfair for God, because God went through so much for us and
all he gains is us. But the beautiful thing is, we're all he wanted. He wants you and
I, so much so, because he loves us that he died on this cross and made this new covenant
his blood. So let's pray. Lord, we just thank you so much. We thank you for the covenant
you've made with us, the unfair deal that is so beneficial to us, but you did this because
you love us. And we thank you for that, Lord. I pray that in this new covenant we'd be emboldened
to continue to live for you, Lord. Let us remember the truth of the new covenant that
you've made with us, in Jesus' name, amen. Let us partake. So in closing, yes, today
is Good Friday and some people don't understand why it's good. They think, ah, Jesus died,
how is that a good thing? It's because he bore our sins on the cross. We understand
why it's a good Friday. And in three days' time, he raises again, defeating death and
sin for us, making a way for us to be with him forever in heaven, with an eternal relationship
with him. Thank you, Jesus. With that, we'll pray. Lord, you are a holy and righteous judge,
and we are a wicked and sinful people. But you died on the cross. You bore our punishment
and our debt, rising again on the third day, all so that we can have this relationship
with you, and you did that because you love us, Lord. We thank you so much, Lord. And
I pray that we would go from here emboldened, just alive with zeal for you, Lord, knowing
that you did this because you love us, Lord. I pray that this would drive us to go out
and share your word and share your death on that cross with other people so that they
would understand that they need you, Lord. We thank you so much, and in Jesus' name,
we pray. Amen.