GOOD FRIDAY 2004

            With the release of Mel Gibson’s powerful movie, The Passion of the Christ, this Good Friday 2004 has stirred the hearts of many and has also raised many questions.  In an article titled, “Questions of Jesus’ Death” from the Dallas Morning News and reprinted in our local paper on February 28, 2004, we are told:

            . . . But for others, it’s why he died – whether his death was necessary to atone for the sins of humanity.  Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” which opened Wednesday, raises questions other than anti-Semitism for some Christians. At issue is whether the death of Jesus was necessary to reconcile the world to God – a view no longer sacrosanct in some circles . . . “It doesn’t make sense to me that God would need to be satisfied by sending his son to be killed,” said Kip Taylor, a religion major at Texas Christian University.  “That’s a vengeful God and not a God I want to worship.”  For most Christians, Jesus’ death has long been considered the fulfillment of Scripture – entirely sacrificial, virtuous and redemptive . . . “My death is no more important than my birth or every day in between.  Why should it be any different with Jesus?” Kelly Webb said after a class on the Gospels at TCU.  “If all that mattered was his death, why did he spend three years teaching and preaching?”

            . . . “Historically, the church has homogenized all the voices in Scripture and made them fit this understanding of God,” said Elizabeth Johnson of Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga. . . . A specialist on Paul, she believes his sacrificial references are misinterpreted.  “It’s not that God is mad and Jesus takes the licks for us,” she said.  “Paul’s much more interested in what it means to say that Jesus’ death changes the structures of the universe, brings in a new creation and makes life out of death.”

            . . . If Jesus didn’t die for sin, the ramifications are enormous for Christians.  The church’s doctrine of original sin is called into question.  So too, are the meaning of redemption, salvation and Jesus’ mission on earth. . . “It’s just bad theology to say God had to kill his son as a payback for sin,” said Sandra Schneiders, a New Testament scholar at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif.  “It makes God sound bloodthirsty.”  Perhaps, she said, redemption is found in Jesus’ teachings about the kingdom of God. Maybe he came to Earth to show humanity how to live – to feed the hungry, give shelter to the homeless. Or maybe he died simply for his unpopular, even subversive, beliefs rather than for the sin of the world . . .

- The Dallas Morning News, Susan Hogan-Albach, Feb. 28, 2004

            As you can tell there are many opinions out there, even by so-called religious people.  But here’s the thing, I really don’t care about someone’s opinion about God and the Bible, it is worthless. The issue is not about what we feel but what God has to say in His Word, the Bible that counts.

            And when you think about it, the salvation issue is a matter of life and death here and eternally.  Jesus wants to give us abundant life here and now but apart from Him you are dead in your trespasses and sins and you just exist in life.  Also, Jesus wants to give to us eternal life with Him after these bodies go back to the dust of the earth but apart from Him you will have eternal life in the Lake of Fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!

            Thus, when a movie as powerful as this comes out that is stirring millions of people, the enemy steps in an says that it isn’t true, Jesus didn’t die for our sins, and how tragic that is!  First of all we must realize that we are sinners separated from God.  Now that is hard for many to accept, they feel they are good people.  Back in 2002 a survey said that 56% of people believe “if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a place in heaven.”

            You may feel that way but you are wrong.  Paul in Romans chapter 3 tells us that no one is righteous before God; no one is good before God, not even one person, why?  We are told in Isaiah 59:1-2, “Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.  But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.”  Also, Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:1-3, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

            And there are many, many places we can go to in the Scriptures to prove this point, that our sins have broken our fellowship with God; they have separated us from God.  Now, in saying that the obvious thing for man to do is to try and reach up and touch God by doing good works, going to church.  Doing this activity and that activity. The problem with that is it won’t work for we are told in Hebrews 9:22 “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”  Also, in the Old Testament we are told in Leviticus 17:11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”

            Thus, Christianity is not man reaching up to God but God reaching down to sinful man and pulling him out of the miry sin that he is in are restoring him, reconciling man back to God by the shedding of the blood of the perfect sacrifice as Jesus said in John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

            I am not sure why people can’t read this and understand it, for it is very clear, the Scriptures are not confusing but if you reject the truth, you won’t see the truth!  This work that was done was not something that was thought up in the New Testament, but was spoken of in the Old Testament.

In Isaiah 53:2-11 we are told, “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.  Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.  He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation?  For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.  And they made His grave with the wicked — But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.  When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.  He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.”

            Also, study the first Passover and you will clearly see it is a picture of what Christ has done for us.  You must take a lamb for yourself and sacrifice it, placing the blood on the doorposts and lintel of the door and as you did this, the blood would flow and form a cross, interestingly enough!  All who did this in Egypt, both Jew and Gentile, the angel of death would pass over them and for those that refused, the angel of death came upon them and their firstborn child was taken!  As we take the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ into our lives, as His blood covers our sins, we are made alive again in Christ!  You see, it was predicted in the Old Testament and it was also symbolized in the Old Testament.  We also see this symbolized in Zechariah 3:3-5, where we are told, “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.  Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, ‘Take away the filthy garments from him.’ And to him He said, ‘See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.’  And I said, ‘Let them put a clean turban on his head.’  So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the LORD stood by.”

            Not only that but now this is realized in our lives through the person and work of Jesus Christ as Paul tells us in Romans 3:23-26, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”  Also, in I Peter 1:18-21 we are told, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.  He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

            That is the reality, that is why we are gathered here this evening, to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to thank Him for His sacrificial love towards us, willing to go to the cross of Calvary and endure all that pain and suffering for us because He loves us that much!

            I think for many, until they saw the movie, The Passion of the Christ, they never realized all that Christ went through, the pain, the suffering, the beatings, the brutality, but the movie changed all that.  If you have seen the movie you know what I am talking about, but let me also say this, the movie held back, it did not portray all that Christ went through, what He really looked like when they were through, if you can believe that!  They spat on Jesus, they hit him with palms of their hands, He was scourged, which was the Roman third degree.  They would whip a prisoner as he was tied to a post with his back exposed and the whip had metal, sharp rock, even glass tied to the ends with leather cords so as the whip came down upon the prisoners back, it would rip flesh off!  The whipping would start out light and if you confessed your crime it would remain light.  If you didn’t each time the whip came down, it would be harder and harder.  Jesus had nothing to confess so He took the full thrust of those forty lashes upon His body.  His back must have been like raw meat!  Scourging was so bad that many died at the scourging post; they never made it to be crucified!

            Not only that, but they covered the face of Jesus with a cloth and hit Him with their fists!  They plucked out His beard!  They placed a crown of thorns upon His head and a purple or scarlet robe upon His back to mock Him as king, which must have been painful as they removed the robe from His raw and bleeding flesh!  All this before He was crucified!  It was so bad that Isaiah tells us, some 700 years before this event took place, “Just as many were astonished at you, So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men.”  Isaiah 52:14.

            Not only was there the physical pain that Jesus suffered but He also suffered the pain of a broken fellowship with the Father as the sins of the world were placed upon Him, and for 3 hours, from noon till 3 PM darkness covered the land and as this occurred Jesus cried out, “ . . . ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’”  Matthew 27:46.  Never before and never again will Jesus experience what He experienced that day, but for those 3 hours, the pain of separation was felt, and I believe this was even more painful for Him than the physical beatings He received, if that were possible!

            In saying all that, let me show you the passion, the mission of Christ.  It was Passover and Joseph, Mary and their son Jesus headed to Jerusalem to celebrate this feast with many others.  Jesus was 12 years old and it was the first time He was allowed to enter the temple.  This was a truly special occasion for Him and His family.  After the Passover the crowds left the city to return home, including Mary and Joseph and as they were a days journey out, they realized Jesus was not with them.

            You see, they traveled in groups and you know it can be easy to lose a child, especially when you think he is with someone else.  So they return and found Jesus 3 days later, which may be a picture of His death and resurrection.  I like what Mary says when she finds Jesus, “. . . ‘Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.’”  Luke 2:48.  Mary was a little upset; you don’t want to lose the Messiah?  And listen to what Jesus says, “. . . ‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?’”  Luke 2:49.  You see, Jesus came for one reason, to do the work of the Father, to complete the will of the Father for His life!  And we see Jesus repeat this over and over again, that He came to fulfill the will of the Father!

            Yes, the victory is seen in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ but I believe the battle was truly won in the Garden of Gethsemane!  Please turn to Matthew chapter 26 and let’s begin reading in verse 36. We are told, “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, ‘Sit here while I go and pray over there.’  And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.  Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.’  He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’  Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?  Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’  Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.’  And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.  So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.  Then He came to His disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.’”  Matthew 26:36-46.

            As Jesus enters the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, He is “sorrowful.”  It comes from the Greek Word LYPEO, (loo-peh’o) and it means, “to be grieved or sad to the point of distress.”  You see, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane, which means “olive press” and He was going to be crushed and as He was crushed the oil of the Holy Spirit would be dispersed to His disciples and to us!  Keep in mind that Jesus knew what was before Him, He told His men what was going to happen, and now He takes those that were close to Him as He prays, He takes Peter, James and John with Him, but they slept while Jesus was in agony in the garden, during this time of intense battle!

            In Luke 22:44 we are told, “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”  This condition of sweat becoming like drops of blood is called hematidrosis and it occurs during times of great stress as tiny blood vessels are ruptured and this blood mixes with the sweat!

            Now, if there were any other way for us to be reconciled to God then the death of Jesus don’t you think the Father would have responded to the prayer of Jesus as He said, “. . . ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me . . .’”?  Matthew 26:39.  Of course He would have, the thing is, there is no other way.  Jesus said in John 14:6,     “. . . ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” And Paul said in I Timothy 2:3-6, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”

            In Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ, the movie opens up with this scene in the Garden of Gethsemane and he shows Jesus being tempted by Satan not to go through with His mission.  Now the Scriptures don’t specifically say that Satan was there in the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus, but it truly was a spiritual battle! We saw Satan in the wilderness tempting Jesus and he could have been in the Garden also!  In any case, Jesus was exceedingly sorrowful.  He was asking the Father if there was another way. He was in agony over this situation that was before Him.

            As Jesus prayed, He came to the following conclusion.  In Matthew 26, verses 26 and 39 we are told, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will. . . O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”  The cup He was about to drink was the cup of the wrath of God, which was to be poured out upon Him as He bore the sins of the world for us. But as He prayed He was strengthened and it was not His will that He was seeking to fulfill but the will of the Father, which became the will of the Son!  We truly see the humanity of Christ in this situation!

            Jesus entered the Garden of Gethsemane in agony; He was exceedingly sorrowful, we have seen that already.  But when He surrendered to the will of the Father He was at peace and we are told in Matthew 26:45-46, “Then He came to His disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.’”  The issue is settled, no more anguish, Jesus prayed to the Father and was comforted. He was going to the cross; the matter is settled!

            As Jesus went to the cross of Calvary, as He was about to give up His Spirit, to die, He cried out “It is finished!” or TETELESTAI in the Greek.  What was finished? What was paid in full? The penalty for our sins and thus, the work that Jesus began, the work of the Father for His life, He now completed, our sins were paid in full and thus, we have been reconciled to God through the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary!

            It is as Paul said in Colossians 1:19-22, “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.  And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.”

            We started out this evening with people questioning why Jesus died, and some in seminaries across America feel it was not to pay for our sins, but they should be ashamed of themselves!  Many others feel the same way, but they are wrong.  It may be their opinion that the work of Jesus was to teach us to live good lives, the problem with that kind of thinking is it goes contrary to the Scriptures; you can’t be good apart from Christ!  Jesus came to set us free from our sins, to reconcile us back to God and thus, there needed to be the shedding of blood for that to occur, a perfect sacrifice, which Jesus was!

            As I begin to rap this up this evening, let me share with you these words from Arthur W. Pink as he said regarding the words of Jesus, “It is finished!”  We are told:

            “It is finished.” Reader, do you believe it?  Or are you trying to add something of your own to the Finished Work of Christ to secure the favor of God?  All you have to do is to accept the pardon which He purchased. God is satisfied with the Work of Christ, why are not you? Sinner, the moment you believe God’s testimony concerning His beloved Son, the moment every sin you have committed is blotted out, and you stand accepted in Christ!  O would you not like to possess the assurance that there is nothing between your soul and God?  Would you not like to know that every sin had been atoned for and put away?  Then believe what God’s Word says about Christ’s death. Rest not on your feelings and experiences but on the written Word.  There is only one way of finding peace, and that is through faith in the shed blood of God’s Lamb.

            “It is finished.” Do you really believe it?  Or, are you endeavoring to add something of your own to it and thus merit the favor of God?  Some years ago a Christian farmer was deeply concerned over an unsaved carpenter.  The farmer sought to set before his neighbor the Gospel of God’s grace, and to explain how that the Finished Work of Christ was sufficient for his soul to rest upon.  But the carpenter persisted in the belief that he must do something himself.  One day the farmer asked the carpenter to make for him a gate, and when the gate was ready he carried it away to his wagon. He arranged for the carpenter to call on him the next morning and see the gate as it hung in the field.  At the appointed hour the carpenter arrived and was surprised to find the farmer standing by with a sharp axe in his hand.  “What are you going to do?” he asked.  “I am going to add a few cuts and strokes to your work” was the response.  “But there is no need for it,” replied the carpenter, “the gate is alright as it is. I did all that was necessary to it.”  The farmer took no notice, but lifting his axe he slashed and hacked at the gate until it was completely spoiled.  “Look what you have done!” cried the carpenter, “you have ruined my work!”  “Yes,” said the farmer, “and that is exactly what you are trying to do.  You are seeking to nullify the Finished Work of Christ by your own miserable additions to it!”  God used this forceful object lesson to show the carpenter his mistake, and he was led to cast himself by faith upon what Christ had done for sinners. Reader, will you do the same?

        - Arthur W. Pink, The Seven Sayings of the Savior on the Cross, pp. 118-120

            The Scriptures are clear even though man may try to contradict them, the question is “Will you believe and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior?”  If not, why? The work was completed and if you reject it, you reject Jesus and you will die in your sins.  It is as Spurgeon said, “Morality may keep you out of jail, but it takes the blood of Jesus Christ to keep you out of Hell.”

            Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane in agony and He left in peace as He surrendered to the will of the Father.  This evening you may have entered here in agony, troubled, not at rest, even though you know the Lord, and I will tell you this, you can leave in peace as you give it to God and surrender to His will and not yours!  If you don’t know the Lord, you will not leave in the peace that God has for you until you surrender to Him.  Whatever the case, the choice is yours, but the work is finished!

Let me leave you with these words of Paul to the Colossians as he tells us in Colossians 2:11-17, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.  So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”  Praise the Lord for His love for us, that He has freed us from our sins, paying the penalty for our sins in full!  May we never forget what it cost Him that we might live!