Good evening, everybody. How are you all doing
tonight? Blessed. I am good as well. Well, I'm
excited to see all of you here tonight as we
are gathered to remember the death of Jesus Christ
and reflect on why he had to die. We are going
to be taking communion tonight, and so for all
of you in the room, we will be serving communion
at the tail end of our service. If you are watching
online tonight, I encourage you to get a hold
of your communion emblems and be ready to partake
with us later on. Today, if you do a Google search,
you will find that there is an estimated over
145 ,000 cemeteries in the United States. The
death care industry is said to generate 28. billion
dollars a year. One of the most expensive caskets
ever made cost $400 ,000. And the most expensive
funeral on record is the funeral of Alexander
the Great, which is estimated to be about $600
million in today's money. Now, thankfully, the
average cost of a funeral here in California
is about $7 ,000 to $12 ,000. But even so, that
is why my mom is fond of telling me that when
her time comes to pass, to bury her in the backyard.
And I tell her, Mom, I can't do that. That is
illegal. And so we'll figure out something else.
When it comes to, you know, the ideas of death
and burial, obviously on Good Friday, we're here
to remember what Jesus did on the cross, his
death on the cross for our sin. And biblically,
when you look at this concept throughout the
Bible, one of the things you will find is that
caves are often seen as places of burial throughout
Scripture. For example, Abraham, he purchased
the caves of Machpelah to be a burial place for
his wife, where he himself was eventually buried.
His son Isaac and his wife Rebekah was buried
there, and Jacob and Leah were buried there as
well. Now, even in ancient times and sometimes,
you know, today in places where they still use
caves as burial sites, they would call the more
fancier ones tombs because the cave wouldn't
just be a hole in the rock, but they would actually
carve out benches and seats and vegetables in
the side to put people's bodies in. Now, you
know, obviously caves in this context and burial
and funerals and tombs and graves, all of that
makes us think of death. Those things are associated
with death, and they should remind us of the
greatest statistic ever. The statistic that one
out of every one human will not make it out of
this earth alive. That is the truest statistic
that has ever been. But not only do caves biblically
and graves and tombs make us think of death,
they are also pictures of separation and isolation,
pictures of hiding. and fear and darkness. For
example, the first mention of a cave in scripture
is a story that we've been studying here in our
church lately, the story of Lot. At the very
end of Lot's story, as he was fleeing Sodom and
Gomorrah and ended up fleeing to a town called
Zoar, and then fled Zoar because he was afraid
of the people there, it tells us that he ended
up in a cave. This man whose very sad life started
out with every opportunity to be good, to do
good, to be righteous, to honor God with his
life, ended up having a story that is full of
compromise, full of pursuit of material wealth.
His life was one of being a Christian man, a
believing man who tolerated sin, and ultimately
his story ended in isolation. separation, hiding
in fear in a dark, cold cave. And that picture
was a picture not just of his sad life, but a
picture of the life of everybody who chooses
to walk away from the light of God. That we find
ourselves in a place of dying spirituality. We
find ourselves in a place of darkness and fear
as we find ourselves separated from God in ways
that we never intended. One of the other stories
in Scripture about a cave is the man Elijah,
the great prophet, who after being a part of
this amazing display of God's power up on the
mountain of Carmel, where God's fire came down
and he was a part of this dramatic display of
God wiping out the prophets of the false god
Baal, right after this story we read in his story
that he fled to a cave. where he cowered in fear
and despair, running away from the crazy Queen
Jezebel. Well, as I've said, the story of Good
Friday ends, it concludes with the dead body
of Jesus Christ being laid to rest in a cave.
The borrowed tomb of a rich man carved out of
the rock, a man who believed in him and requested
his body after he died on the cross. But in Jesus'
body going into that cave, we see a very important
picture. A picture of our God who paid the price
for our sin and then himself descended into the
darkness of the caves of our life where his dead
body who died the death we should have died laid
to rest. And in that we see him entering into
the places of fear and isolation and separation
and desperation and despair in our lives. But
the beautiful point of the story of God Friday
is he did all of that to set us free from the
power of sin and death. He did all of that to
come into the dark places of our lives and to
show us the way out. And that is an amazing thing
to celebrate, and that is why we call this Friday
Good Friday. We're going to be going through
that tonight, but before we do that, we have
a very special guest here to lead us in worship.
Dennis Agajanian, multi -award winning Christian
country artist, has traveled the world with Franklin
Graham, has led himself through his music ministry
thousands and thousands to the Lord. He was telling
me just the other day playing a concert, he got
to lead this individual who was a hell's angel,
came to him and said, I've accepted Jesus Christ.
That is the power of God. But I know that Dennis'
most important thing that he would share with
anybody is not the awards, not the accolades,
not the wonderful music career, but the most
important thing he would tell you is that God
loves him. That his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
died for him and set him free forever. And so
tonight he's going to lead us in worship and
after that we'll get into the word of God and
then take communion together. So let's pray.
Father, we love you. God, we're so grateful.
that you had a plan before any of us existed
to save us. Lord, that from the very beginning,
as Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, brought
death into the world, death into our lives, and
ultimately the death of our spirit as our connection
with you was separated, you had a plan to redeem
us, to restore us, God, because, Lord, the power
of sin and death has a grip that we can't do
anything about. And so, Lord, you planned and
you came. You lived a perfect life on this earth,
but then you went as a substitution for us and
died the death we should have died for our sins.
Lord, it is because you died in our place that
we have the opportunity to be set free from the
power of sin and death, to have those chains
and shackles torn away, God. That we would then
be able to follow you who didn't stay in the
grave but was risen again. That we could follow
you out into life and light. God, this Friday
is truly a good Friday because you did that voluntarily
for us because you loved us. And Lord, we want
to worship you for it. We love you so much and
we thank you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Good Friday. You know, in the beginning, there
were no graves. There were no burials, there
were no tombs, no funerals. In the beginning,
it was Adam and Eve created in the image of God,
existing as caretakers of a perfect creation,
existing in eternal light, the presence of God
in perfect fellowship and perfect unity, always
knowing perfect peace and perfect joy. and perfect
happiness. But in this perfection surrounded
by paradise, the Garden of Eden, they were given
a mandate to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill
the earth. Ultimately, to create a human race,
a population of people who would live in perfect
harmony with God Almighty, praising and worshiping
Him for all time. And in this garden, there was
but one rule. Do not eat. of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. Satan, however, deceived
Eve, and she ate of the tree, and then gave to
her husband, who also ate of the tree, and the
moment they did, their eyes were opened. They
truly knew good and evil, but at great cost,
because their disobedience to God's one and only
command was sin. disobedience to God, and that
sin brought death into the world, corrupting
man's nature into just a desire to pursue wickedness,
to pursue selfishness, to pursue its own deity,
casting off any need for God. For man, of course,
was the one with the greatest wisdom. And with
their innocence gone, the Bible tells us that
they realized their nakedness, they sewed fig
leaves together to cover themselves, and they
hid. The first moment of hiding. The first moment
of mankind trying to shield itself from God who
knew all things. Hiding in shame. Trying to isolate
themselves in their guilt from a God who loved
them. This corruption resulted in the death of
their spirit. Their spirit being that element
of their being which connected them to God. That
element of their being which allowed them to
dwell in his presence in perfect fellowship with
him. But not only did their spirit die, death
entered into all of creation. Everything, including
their physical bodies, which were once eternal,
meant to live forever, would now experience sickness
and disease. and decay and death. And we have
to understand, death isn't just an end like many
people view it today. Death, biblically, is a
separation. You see, because of Adam, we're all
born spiritually dead. We were made in the image
of our creator, who is a trinity, Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit. We were made in
his image. having a body and a soul and a spirit.
But because of Adam's sin in the garden, our
spirit died, meaning that the spirit that connected
us to our creator was now severed and we were
separated from him spiritually. Every single
one of us will die physically one day because
the wages of sin is also a physical death. That
as death entered into the world, everything started
to die. Every year as I get older, I find how
little I could continue to do. I used to be able
to go snowboarding and crash spectacularly. And
be like, oh, I'm fine two days later. Now I get
up from the couch too fast and that's it for
a week. Pulling my hamstring, right? Death entered
in. Decay entered in. When our physical bodies
started to die, what that meant is that our soul
would one day be separated from our body and
that soul, which is eternal, the eternal part
of us, would stand before God Almighty, our creator.
And if we reach that point without our spirit
being made alive and reconnected with God, well,
that results in the ultimate separation. where
our soul will be separated from God forever to
experience judgment and suffering in hell forever.
The Bible calls that the second death. It's not
a ceasing to exist. It's an existing forever
without connection to the life -giving Spirit
of God Almighty. And in hell, we will be isolated
in darkness. In shame, in guilt, suffering the
just penalty that is due to us because of our
sin. Now this condition of sin has been passed
down from mother to child ever since the very
beginning. It's a condition that every single
one of us suffer from today and we could do nothing
about. Because the corruption of sin that is
within us, a part of our nature, is total. We
are all guilty. And as guilty people, we deserve
the penalty for breaking God's law. Now the Bible
tells us the wages of sin is death. And the Bible
also says that without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. But the problem
is, is there is nothing we could do, no work,
no sacrifice. No amount of blood that can be
shed from an animal or from ourselves, none of
it. would suffice. Because everything we could
possibly give to pay the price for our sin comes
from a corrupted people. Which means everything
we could possibly give is corrupted. It would
be nothing that would satisfy the perfect, holy,
pure righteousness of God. And it would never
suffice to atone for our sin. But God knowing
that, In God loving us still in the midst of
our sin, God loving us beyond any love we will
ever experience, his creation, he had a plan
to deal with that problem. He had a plan to deal
with sin. He had a plan to deal with the grave,
death, which would keep us separated from God
forever. And it was a plan that would fully satisfy
his justice. Because he is a just God. And those
of us that have broken his law, we deserve to
pay the penalty. That is justice. But he had
a plan that would satisfy that while allowing
fully for grace and mercy and forgiveness at
the same time. The plan is, the plan was that
he would send his son. The second person of the
Trinity, God the Son, would come to this earth,
clothe himself in flesh. Live as a human, setting
aside his divinity but still fully God, living
without sin, never erring in one single point
of the law, perfect in every way. And yet, he
would go to the cross to die in our place. He
would be the one to serve as a substitute for
us. He would die in our place, the death that
we deserve to die. for being sinners. And he
would die for us the guilty, that God's justice
would be satisfied, that his holiness would be
honored, and yet allowing for that love, that
grace, that mercy and forgiveness to be extended
to us. He did that so that we, his creation through
faith, could be forgiven of our sin because there
was nothing we could do to pay the price for
it. But if God who is perfect paid the price,
if God who is perfect said, that sin debt that
you owe, I've wiped it clean. I've offered the
sacrifice that was perfect and I want to give
that to you. He did all of that so that we could
be forgiven. The penalty haven't been paid and
our dead spirit could be reborn, made alive again,
resurrected. To have the opportunity to be reconnected
with our creator, God Almighty. To have fellowship
with the one who loves us so much. But before
he could defeat death, before he could defeat
the penalty of sin and force it to release its
hold on us, before he could do any of that, before
he would come out of the grave, alive again,
risen, having defeated sin and death forever,
before all of that, He had to go into the grave.
He had to go into the darkness where we were
shackled so that he could lead us to the exit.
So he could show us the way out. This is what
Good Friday is all about. About him dying on
the cross for our sins. About him being buried.
His descent into the darkness. Our darkness.
Your darkness and my darkness to save us. And
so what I want to do is just read to you guys
a harmonized version of what took place this
night. Harmonized means it's pulling from all
four Gospels, because I really do believe that
the Word of God speaks for itself. And so starting
in Luke chapter 23, it says this, Pilate called
together the chief priests, the leaders, and
the people, and he 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 is 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 together, take this man away, release
Barabbas to us. He, Barabbas, had been thrown
into prison for a rebellion that had taken place
in the city and for murder. But 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 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. 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 mocked him, they stripped
him of the robe, put his own clothes back 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. And 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 the sign because
the place where Jesus was crucified was near
the city and it was written in Aramaic and 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.
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 destroyed the temple and rebuilt 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 the
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're 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. That is, my
God, my God, why have you abandoned me? When
some of those standing there heard this, 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. A jar full of sour wine was sitting
there, and so they mixed, or so they fixed a
sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop 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, into your
hands I entrust my spirit. Saying this, he breathed
his last. You know, there are scoffers today
that dare say that Jesus didn't really die. He
just hung on the cross, passed out. You know,
but, you know, he survived the whole thing. He
didn't really die. And one of the things I want
to read to you now is really a summary from a
medical doctor who analyzed the crucifixion,
the method of death that Jesus underwent on the
cross. And it really points out a few things
for me. One, yeah, he died. Crucifixion was terrible.
But two, what it points out to me is the depth
of depravity of our sin. The extent that God
had to go to justify us through judging our sin.
Jesus on the cross took the full wrath of God.
The full wrath for every single one of us breaking
his law. The full wrath for every human of all
time breaking the law. The full wrath for every
sin you've ever committed, ever are committing,
and ever will commit. And the cost of our sin
was ugly. Crucifixion was invented by the Persians
between 300 and 400 BC. It was perfected by the
Romans in the first century. It is arguably the
most painful death ever invented by man, and
it is where we get our term excruciating, which
means out of the cross. It was reserved primarily
for the most vicious of criminals. The most common
device used for crucifixion was a wooden cross,
which consisted of an upright pole permanently
fixed in the ground with a removable crossbar,
usually weighing between 75 and 100 pounds. Victims
of crucifixion were typically stripped naked
and their clothing divided by the Roman guards.
In Jesus' case, this was done in fulfillment
of Psalm 2218. As a gesture of Roman kindness,
the prisoner was offered a mixture of vinegar
and wine as a mild anesthetic. This anesthetic
was refused by Jesus. As a result, he bore it
all. The apostle Peter said this of Jesus in
1 Peter 2, 24. He himself bore our sins in his
own body on that tree so that we, having died
to sins, so that having died to sins, we might
live for righteousness. For it's by his wounds
that you have been healed. The victim was then
placed on his back and his arms were outstretched
and nailed to the crossbar. The nails, which
were generally about seven to nine inches long,
were placed between the bones of the forearm,
the radius and the ulna, and the small bones
of the hands, the carpal bones. In ancient terminology,
the wrist was considered to be part of the hand,
so the nails through the hand would be consistent
with this placement. The placement of the nail
at this point had several effects. First, it
ensured the victim would indeed hang there until
he was dead. Secondly, a nail placed at this
point would sever the largest nerve in the hand
called the median nerve. The severing of this
nerve is a medical catastrophe. In addition to
severe burning pain, the destruction of this
nerve causes permanent paralysis of the hand.
Imagine the pain of hitting your funny bone,
but unceasing and constant. Furthermore, by nailing
the victim at this point in their wrist, there
would be minimal bleeding so that there would
be no bones broken, or and there would be no
bones broken. The positioning of the feet is
probably the most critical part of the mechanics
of crucifixion. First, the knees were flexed
about 45 degrees, and then the feet were flexed
bent downward an additional 45 degrees until
they were parallel to the vertical pole. An iron
nail about seven to nine inches long was driven
through the feet between the second and third
metatarsal bones. In this position, the nail
would sever the dorsal pedal artery of the foot,
but the resultant bleeding would again be insufficient
to cause death. The resulting position on the
cross sets up a horrific sequence of events which
results in a slow and very painful death. Having
been pinned by nails to the cross, the victim
now has an impossible position to maintain. With
the knees flexed at about 45 degrees, the victim
must bear his weight with the muscles of his
thigh. However, this is an almost impossible
task. Try to stand with your knees flexed at
45 degrees for five minutes and you'll see. As
the strength of the legs gives out, the weight
of the body must now be borne by the arms and
the shoulders. The result is that within a few
minutes of being placed on the cross, the shoulders
will become dislocated. Minutes later, the elbows
and the wrists also become dislocated. The result
of these dislocations is that the arms would
end up as much as six to nine inches longer than
they normally were. With the arms dislocated,
considerable body weight is transferred to the
chest, causing the rib cage to be elevated in
a state of perpetual inhalation. Consequently,
in order to exhale, the victim must push down,
placing their full weight on the nail that's
through their feet to allow their rib muscles
to relax. The problem is that the victim cannot
push very long because of the searing agony of
the nail tearing through the nerves between the
metatarsal bones of the feet and, in addition
to the legs, being extremely fatigued. As time
goes on, the victim is less and less able to
bear weight on the legs, causing further dislocation
of the arms and further raising of the chest
wall, making breathing more and more difficult.
Great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles,
knotting them in deep, relentless throbbing pain.
Air can be drawn into the lungs, but it cannot
be exhaled. The result of this process is a series
of catastrophic physiological effects. Because
the victim cannot maintain adequate ventilation
to the lungs, the blood oxygen level begins to
diminish and the blood carbon dioxide level begins
to rise. This rising CO2 level stimulates the
heart to beat faster in order to increase the
delivery of oxygen and the removal of CO2. However,
due to the pinning of the victim and the limitations
of oxygen delivery, the victim cannot deliver
more oxygen while the rising heart rate only
increases oxygen demand. So this process sets
up a vicious cycle of increasing oxygen demand,
which cannot be met, followed by an ever -increasing
heart rate. After several hours, the heart begins
to fail. The lungs collapse and fill up with
fluid, which further decreases oxygen delivery
to the tissues. The blood loss and hyperventilation
combine to cause severe dehydration, and this
is why Jesus said, I thirst. Over a period of
several hours, the combination of collapsing
lungs A failing heart, dehydration, and the inability
to get adequate oxygen supplies to the tissues
causes the eventual death of the victim. The
victim, in effect, cannot breathe properly and
slowly suffocates to death. In cases of severe
cardiac stress such as crucifixion, a victim's
heart can even burst. This process is called
cardiac rupture. Therefore, it could be said
that Jesus indeed died of a broken heart. Suddenly
the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two
from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the
rocks were split. The tombs were also opened
and many bodies of the saints who had fallen
asleep were raised. When the centurion and those
with him who were keeping watch over Jesus saw
the earthquake and the things that had happened,
they were terrified and said, truly, this man
was the Son of God. Since it was preparation
day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain
on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath
was a special day. They requested that Pilate
have the men's legs broken and that their bodies
be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke
the legs of the first man and of the other one
who had been crucified with him. When they came
to Jesus, they did not break his legs since they
saw that he was already dead. But one of the
soldiers pierced his side with a spear and at
once blood and water came out. He who saw this
has testified so that you may also believe. His
testimony is true and he knows he is telling
the truth. For these things happened so that
the scripture would be fulfilled, not one of
his bones would be broken. Also another scripture
that said, look, they will look at the one they
pierced. There was a good and righteous man named
Joseph, a member of the Sanhedrin, who had not
agreed with their plan in action. He was from
Arimathea, a Judean town, and was looking forward
to the kingdom of God. He approached Pilate and
asked for Jesus' body. Pilate was surprised that
he was already dead. Summoning the centurion,
he asked him whether he had already died. When
he found out from the centurion, he gave the
corpse to Joseph. So Joseph took the body. wrapped
it in a clean, fine linen, and placed it in his
new tomb, which he had cut into the rock. He
left after rolling a great stone against the
entrance of the tomb. So every year people ask,
what is good about Good Friday? We read the story
of what happened to Jesus, and it's horrific.
It's horrible. He was treated in such a brutal
way. Yet we come together to celebrate and we
call it Good Friday. Well, it's good because
while we were trapped in the dark cave of hopelessness
and fear, guilty sinners with a death sentence
before us, knowing that one, we would all physically
die, but after that, we would spiritually die,
being forever separated from God. Jesus, the
righteous one. Sinless, spotless, without wrong
in any way, he paid our debt by dying on that
cross. He became our sin so that God Almighty
could pour out his judgment and wrath on it.
And he did it so that we wouldn't have to experience
that. And then after that, he descended into
that dark cave, that tomb. That grave of despair
and fear and death. And he laid there for a few
days. But because the debt had been paid, the
sentence of death could not hold him there. The
sentence of death could no longer stand and Jesus,
who went into the tomb, was now able to set us
free. Was able to set us free, to let us out
of the tomb. the grave, to lead us out into a
glorious life. And why did he do this? Why did
Jesus have to die for us? Well, Hebrews 12 .2
puts it this way. For the joy that lay before
him, he endured the cross, despising the shame.
Do you know what that says? You were the joy
set before him. Each one of us were the joy before
the eyes of Jesus that led him to say, I'm going
to voluntarily go through everything we just
read about so that I can pay the price for your
sins so that you can be saved. So that through
faith in me, God would look at you and say, the
debt is wiped clean. There is no debt anymore.
But not only that, he then went into the grave.
Why? So that in a few days, he could be raised
from the dead and walk out of that grave and
say, you who believe in me, follow me. Follow
me into new life. Follow me into forgiveness.
Follow me into grace and mercy. Follow me into
eternal life to come. You see, these bodies,
these bodies are corrupted. They're all gonna
die. Every single one of us. But for those that
know Jesus Christ, we're gonna go on to eternal
life where our spirit is alive again, connected
to God, allowing us to have life. But if you
don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,
if you've never put your faith in him, never
trusted in what he did on the cross for you,
when this body dies, you will stand before God.
without a born -again spirit. And you will be
judged for every sin you have ever committed,
for the price will have never been paid for you.
This is what we remember here on Good Friday.
We remember what Jesus did, that we would have
a restored relationship with our Creator. We
remember what he did, why he endured the cross.
We remember how much he loved us. We remember
that freedom from the grave and our debt being
paid and us being forgiven and us being set free
is what he purchased for us with his own blood.
Our spirit being made alive and reconnected promised
eternal life in him as it was once in the very,
very beginning before death existed. before we
messed it all up and condemned ourselves to judgment.
If you're here tonight and you don't know Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior, but you realize
that you've led a life of sin, you've led a life
of selfishness, you've led a life of separation
from all that is good. And maybe you've led a
life saying, well, I'm not as bad as the person
next to me. I'm not as bad as this person over
here. None of that matters because you've got
to compare yourself to the righteousness of your
creator. And all of us, when we compare ourselves
to the righteousness of creator, we fall short.
And we can't say, well, I did a few good things
today. It doesn't matter. The Bible tells us
that if you have sinned in one point of the law,
you're as guilty as if you broke all of it. But
God, I came to church on Good Friday. Doesn't
that matter? It doesn't matter what church or
building you walk through. If you do not have
a relationship with Jesus Christ, you're not
saved. And tonight as we are gathered here, I
want to give an opportunity to anybody that's
in this room or if you're watching us online,
that if God is speaking to your heart and you
know that you need to be forgiven of your sin,
you know that you've tried to be a good person
and yet you always end up doing the selfish thing,
the wrong thing. That you've tried to break yourself
free of the self -destructive things like drugs
and alcohol and you've tried to turn everything
around, but no matter what happens, you always
end up in the same pit. God is telling you tonight
it's because death has a hold on you and it will
not let you go. But if you put your faith in
what he did, his work on the cross, the blood
he shed, your debt will be paid tonight. You
will be forgiven tonight. So an opportunity to
receive him tonight is I'm going to give that
in a moment. We're going to pray. And then after
that, we're going to spend time taking communion
together. But let's all bow our heads. Father
God, I come before you tonight, Lord. As we remember
the great price you paid. Lord, sometimes we
could just say it so flippantly, like it's another
good Friday. Oh yeah, Jesus died on the cross
for me, God. But the reality of what you went
through, the reality of what you suffered, is
the picture. of the wrath of God being poured
out on sin. And God, the reality is that is what
we were due. And God, there's so many in this
room tonight that have put their faith in you
to say, God, I believe I'm a sinner. And I believe
there is nothing I could do. I've tried. And
yet, God, I believe that you paid my price, and
so I put my faith in you, Jesus. Lord, those
of us in this room that have done that, we've
experienced the grace and the forgiveness and
the mercy. Lord, we've experienced you applying
to our account your work. And God, we're forever
grateful. But God, if there's some in this room
tonight watching online that have never taken
that step, Lord, I pray right now that they would
realize the radical gravity of their situation.
That the full wrath of God is coming upon them
because they have sinned. But it doesn't have
to be. That Lord, all they have to do is call
out to you in faith. To cry out to you and say,
forgive me, Jesus. And God, you promised in your
word that when we do that, we are forgiven. So
while we're praying, all heads bowed, eyes closed
tonight in this room. If God has spoken to you
tonight, maybe you've been coming to church for
a long time, but in this moment you realize you've
never truly known God. Maybe you're watching
online right now and you're sitting in the privacy
of your home somewhere and nobody's around, but
God is there with you, tapping on your shoulder,
saying, you need me. You need forgiveness. If
there's anybody here online, you're saying, I
need to be saved. I want to be saved. While we're
praying right now, I just want you to raise your
hand here in this room or let us know in the
chat online to say, I need Jesus Christ to save
me tonight. God bless you in the front. Anybody
else? God is speaking to your heart about the
reality of sin, but he's also speaking to you
about the reality of love and how much he loves
you. Anybody else in this room? Just raise your
hand high so I can see it. I see you on the side
there as well. God bless you. If you're online,
obviously I can't see you, but God does. And
if you're wanting to give your life to the Lord
tonight, just simply let us know in chat. Some
of our leaders will reach out to you. We'd love
to connect with you, but it doesn't matter about
that. If you mean it in your heart, God hears
your cry. Anybody else before we pray? All right,
Father, we're so grateful. that you are speaking,
you are working, you are moving. Lord, for those
that are in this room tonight that have said,
yeah, I need to be saved, I want to be saved.
God, those watching online that are realizing
their need for you, Lord, I just pray right now,
God, as they make this profession of faith, God,
that they would just know according to your word
because you promised you are God, you are truth,
you cannot lie. that as they cry out to you,
they are saved. And for those of you that raised
your hand or are watching online, I want to pray
a prayer with you. This prayer doesn't have any
certain particular magic words or anything like
that, but it's simply a prayer of acknowledging
your sin and asking Jesus to forgive you and
come into your life. And so as I pray this, I
just want you to repeat after me these words.
Say, Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned. I've sinned
a lot. I've tried to be good, but I'm not. I've
tried to change things on my own, but I can't.
And God, compared to your righteousness, I will
never be good enough to go to heaven on my own.
But Lord, I believe that you loved me enough.
To pay the price for my sin. To shed your blood,
taking the full wrath of God in my place. I trust
in that. Thank you for loving me so much that
you would die for me. Lord, change my life. Lead
my life. Set me free from the darkness of death.
Set me free from the chains that have held me
back for so long. And God, I believe, according
to the truth of your word, that on this profession
of faith, you have saved me. Thank you for setting
me free. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Well, God
bless you guys. The reason I wanted to do that
before communion... It's because communion is
a thing that the body of Christ does together.
Communion is us coming together as saved people
to remember what he did for us. Communion isn't
really something you should do if you don't know
Jesus. But I'll let you and God deal with that
right now, okay? But for those of you that gave
your life to the Lord tonight, you're in the
family. You're saved forever. The Spirit of God
has filled you. Now, yeah, what's next? We'll
get to all that, but right now, we're gonna spend
time celebrating, celebrating what Jesus has
purchased, the salvation of every single one
of us that trust in him. Now, the night before
his crucifixion, Jesus shared that last meal
with his disciples. It was the last Passover
meal. We call it the Lord's Supper. It was this
meal that the Jewish people did to remind themselves
of their deliverance. from Egypt, how God set
them free from the bondage of slavery, and really
how during that final, final moment of the plagues
that God was dropping upon Egypt, God had instructed
His people, said, look, in order to be saved,
you have to take an innocent, spotless lamb.
You're going to slaughter that lamb, and you're
going to put the blood of that lamb on the doorposts
of your home. And when the angel of death comes
to slay the firstborn on the land, he's going
to see that blood on the doorpost and he's going
to pass over that house. He doesn't stop to say,
well, did the people inside clean themselves
up first? No. He didn't stop to say, well, did
you come to church enough first? No. He says,
I see the blood. Death will pass over this house.
And as Jesus was instituting that meal with his
disciples, he took the opportunity to teach them.
That he was the spotless lamb. He was the lamb
of God who was going to shed his blood. That
as the angel of death would pass over again,
they would see you and me, those who have put
faith in Jesus Christ, covered by the blood.
But not just covered, having our sins washed
away completely. So that death... would no longer
have a claim on our lives. That instead of a
forever separation from God in darkness, in hell,
judged for our sins, instead of that, we would
be united with God in heaven forever, enjoying
paradise with our creator. That's what the bread
and juice of communion remind us of. This is
why Jesus said, as often as you gather, do this
in remembrance of me, so that we never forget
the cost of our salvation. and that we never
get full of ourselves and forget to go, God,
I am nothing without you. Thank you for loving
me so much. So I'd like to invite up the men
of the communion board right now. And what we're
going to do is serve communion to the room here.
I encourage you all to hang on to the emblems
as you get them, that we may all partake together
in communion. We're going to be doing the bread
first. and then the juice. And so please be patient
with us. If you're online, this would be a great
time to get the emblems of communion so that
you could be ready to partake with us. Father,
we love you. We're so grateful for those who
have come due to your family tonight, God. We
remember you. We remember your death on the cross.
It is everything for us, Lord. It is what made
us, made salvation possible. So, Lord, we want
to honor you in this moment as we remember your
death here on this Good Friday. It's in Jesus'
name we pray. Amen.