Good Friday Service - Friday, April 15
2022-04-15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61eHS6-z0e0

I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom, but I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer, but this I know in all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom. I cannot give an answer, but this I know in all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

Here, my hope is found. Here, on holy ground. Here, I bow down. Here, I bow down. Here, I'm open wide. Here, you saved my life. Here, I bow down. Here, I bow. I'm in all of you, I'm in all of you, where your love, friends, friends, and my sin, I owe all to you, I owe all to you, I owe all to you, Jesus. Amen.

Shameful sin placed on Him, the hope of every man. Oh, the blood of Jesus washed in me. Oh, the blood of Jesus shed for me. What a sacrifice that saved my life. Yes, the blood, it is my victory.

Savior, Son, Holy One. Testing, testing, testing. See the cloud, the great I am, who takes away my sin. Oh, the blood of Jesus washes me. Oh, the blood of Jesus shed for me. What a sacrifice to save my life. Yes, the blood, it is my victory. Oh, the blood of the Lamb. Oh, the blood of the Lamb. Oh, the blood of the Lamb. The precious blood of the Lamb. What a sacrifice that saved my life. Yes, the blood, it is mine. It is my victory.

Good evening. We are glad to be here this evening, and we are excited to begin our Good Friday service just a little bit different, seeing that we're in the evening a little bit darker than we're used to. Just a minute, we are going to end our service tonight with a time of communion, so if you would like to participate in that, you are welcome to. There's communion elements there in the door. So we're going to go ahead and have a word of prayer, and then we're going to watch a short video, and then we will spend some time in worship and then in the Word of God. So let's go ahead and go to God in prayer. Father in heaven, I just ask that you would bless our time here this evening. We ask that you would help us as we consider that means that you would encourage us, that you would strengthen us, that if we are struggling, that you would give us strength and peace. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

The sun stops shining. "So you're a king, are you?" the Roman soldiers jeered. "Oh, then you'll need a crown and a robe." They gave Jesus a crown made out of thorns and put a purple robe on him and pretended to bow down to him. "Oh, your majesty," they said. Then they whipped him and spat on him. They didn't understand this was the Prince of Life, the King of Heaven and Earth, who had come to rescue them. The soldiers made him a sign, "Our King," and nailed it to a wooden cross. They walked up a hill outside the city. Jesus carried the cross on his back. Jesus had never done anything wrong, but they were going to kill him the way criminals were killed. They nailed Jesus to the cross. "Father, forgive them," Jesus gasped. "They don't understand what they're doing."

"You say you've come to rescue us," people shouted. "You can't even rescue yourself." But they were wrong. Jesus could have rescued himself. A legion of angels would have flown to his side, if he'd called. If you were really the Son of God, you could just climb down off that cross. Of course, they were right. Jesus could have just climbed down. Actually, he could have just said a word and made it all stop, like when he healed that little girl and stilled the storm and fed 5,000 people. But Jesus stayed. You see, they didn't understand. It wasn't the nails that kept Jesus there. It was love. "Papa!" Jesus cried, frantically searching the sky. "Papa! Where are you?" "Don't leave me!" And for the first time, and the last, when he spoke, nothing happened. Just a horrible, endless silence. God didn't answer. He turned away from his boy.

He rolled down Jesus' face. The face of the one who would wipe away every tear from every eye. Even though it was midday, a dreadful darkness covered the face of the world. The sun could not shine. The earth trembled and quaked. The great mountains shook. Rocks split in two, until it seemed that the whole world would break. The creation itself would tear apart. The full force of the storm of God's fierce anger at sin was coming down on his own Son, instead of his people. It was the only way God could destroy sin, and not destroy his children, whose hearts were filled with sin. Then Jesus shouted out in a loud voice, "It is finished!" And it was. He had done it. Jesus had rescued the whole world. "Father," Jesus cried, "I give you my life."

And with a great sigh, he let himself die. Strange clouds and shadows filled the sky. Purple, orange, black, like a bruise. Jesus' friends gently carried Jesus. They laid Jesus in a new tomb, carved out of rock. How could Jesus die? What had gone wrong? What did it mean? They didn't know anything anymore, except they did know that their hearts were breaking. Ah, that's the end of Jesus, the leader said. But just to be sure, soldiers to guard the tomb. They hauled a huge stone in front of the door to the tomb, so that no one could get in or out.

Some words out of an article posted today by a woman by the name of Nancy Guthrie. It was entitled, "When Jesus died on Good Friday, it wasn't just him who died." The death of Jesus was the end of priesthood. The death of Jesus was the end of the sacrificial system. The death of Jesus was the end of the temple made with limestone, but it was not the temple it was meant to be. The death of Jesus was the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement. The death of Jesus was the end of once a year access into the presence of God by one high priest. The tearing of the veil, in essence, threw open the door. Because the sins of all those who put their trust in Christ are fully dealt with in the death of Jesus. Forgiven sinners are now welcomed into the presence of God in union with Christ. And I'm going to be reading Scripture out of Isaiah 53:103. 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 crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is the steadfast love towards those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us." We're going to be worshiping together, singing three songs, and then Brent and Brandon are going to come and share some words with us.

You can stand if you'd like, or if you'd like your name seating, you can. I rest my soul on Jesus when the mountains shake. I put my trust in Jesus the moment I awake. And when my soul is lost at sea, He will be my rock. My vision be in Christ. This grace is always God. His love is like the mighty ocean. His love for me will never stop. Oh, His arms are strong enough to carry me through it all by the grace of God. I upon His shoulders, safely brought this far. Helper of my helpless soul, the King of broken hearts. His love is like the mighty ocean. His love for me will never stop. Oh, His arms are strong enough to keep through it all by the grace of God. You are the passion of my life, Lord Jesus. You are the song within my soul. My strength, my hope, my all in all is You. Jesus, You.

When breath grows still and night draws near, I will not be afraid. I know the plans He has for me don't finish at my grave. His love is like the mighty ocean. His love for me will stop. Oh, His arms are strong enough to carry me through it all by the grace of God. Who breaks the power of sin and darkness? Whose love is mighty and so much stronger, the King of glory, the King above all kings? Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder? Who leaves us breathless in awe and wonder? The King of glory, the King above all kings. This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place. That you would bear my cross. You would lay down your life. That I would be set free. Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. Who brings our chaos back into order? Who makes the orphan a son and daughter? The King of glory. The King above all kings.

With truth and justice. Shines like the sun in all of its brilliance. The King of glory. The King above all kings. This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place. That you would bear my cross. You would lay down your life. That I would be set free. Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place. That you would bear my cross. You would lay down your life. That I would be set free. Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. I pray. I pray. The sound of your great name. All condemned. Feel no shade at the sound of your great name. Every fear has no place at the sound of your great name. The enemy, he has to leave.

At the sound of your great name. Jesus, worthy a sound that was slain for us. Son of God and man, you are high and lifted up. Let all the world will praise your great name. All the weak, find their strength at the sound of your great name. Hungry souls, receive praise at the sound of your great name. Jesus, they find their rest at the sound of your great name. And the dead are raised at the sound of your great name. Jesus, worthy is the Lamb that once lived for us. Son of God and Lamb, you are high and lifted up. Then all the world will praise your great name. Redeemer, my hidden Lord Almighty. My Savior, Defender, you are my King. Redeemer, my hidden Lord Almighty. My Savior, Defender, you are my King. Jesus, worthy is the Lamb that was slave for us. Son of God and man, who are high and lifted up. And all the world will praise your great name. Your great name. Your great name.

This Good Friday reading is adapted from the Old Testament and the New Testament. "Behold, and the Lord said, as a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called out against him, he is not terrified by their shouting or daunted by their noise. So the Lord of Hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. The Virgin shall conceive and bear a son. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. I gave my back to those who strike. My cheek to those who pull out the beards. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. The Lord God helps me. Disgrace. I have set my face like a flint. I know that I shall be ashamed. He who vindicated me, I know that my Redeemer lives. At the last, he will stand upon the earth.

I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons. Zeal for your house has consumed me. The reproach of those who reproach you has fallen on me. The stone which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous to our eyes. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse. A branch from his roots shall bear fruit. He grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of the dry ground. No form or majesty that we should look at him. No beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. As one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised. We esteemed him not. And when Jesus and the disciples had sung a hymn, "Blessed be the one

who comes in the name of the Lord." We have blessed you, Lord. God is the Lord. He has illuminated us. Tie up the festival offering with ropes until it reaches the corner of the altar. I will thank you, my God. I will exalt you. Thank the Lord, since he is good, since his kindness is forever. They went out to the Mount of Olives, and they went to a place called Gethsemane. And Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch." And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

And Jesus came and found the disciples sleeping and said to them, "The hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, see, my betrayer is at hand." And immediately, while Jesus was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. And when he came, Judas went up to him at once and said, "Rabbi." And they brought Jesus before the Jewish high court. And they brought Jesus before the Roman governor. And they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, where they crucified him. The inscription of the charges against him read, "The King of the Jews."

Let's pray. Father in heaven, we just ask that you be with us this evening. As we spend some time in your word, we ask that you would encourage us, that you would help us to see that at the cross was not just the death of your son, but the death of our sin and the death of fear, the death of hopelessness, and the death of our shame. We thank you for the good that you have done for us. We thank you for the power of your word, the power from the Old Testament to the New Testament, and how you have inspired your word and tied it all together. I thank you for Jesus and for grace. It's in his name we pray. Amen. One of the things about darkness is it tends to make everything seem worse than it really is. I've shared this with some of you before, but I was camping by myself out in the middle of nowhere.

It was an actual campground, but there was nobody there. It got dark, and I was just kind of sitting there enjoying the evening. I had a little fire going, and still you couldn't see much past your little four or five feet around the fire. I was making some dinner, putting it on the fire to warm everything up. As I'm sitting there, I hear these sort of crunch, crunch, obviously footsteps in the woods, but not like where the trail would have been, where other campers would have been, was sort of coming up behind me. My first thought is that either it's a Sasquatch or like a man with a hook, and I'm in serious trouble. I just sort of sat there thinking, "Well, maybe it's something else." You sort of hear these footsteps, and they're getting closer and getting closer.

It was a few minutes where I'm kind of running through all of the X-File episodes that I've seen about aliens and all of these things, and they're running through my head. Finally, he's like, "Well, I got a flashlight." So I turn the flashlight on and turn around behind me, and there is the fattest raccoon that I have ever seen. And he has this look on his face like, "He's either going to try to sell me a used car or steal my dinner." And I imagine, because of his size, it was the second. And it was interesting, because we probably experienced this, that as soon as the light goes on, those things that seem so dark and so scary in the midst of the unknown, all of a sudden it changes everything about them. In the midst of this life, there is a fear that I think sort of brings all of humanity together, and we may not like to admit it.

I told the kids the other day that I fear no man and only one woman, because they're like, "Dad, are you afraid of anything?" And I said, "Nope, I fear no man and only one woman." And we don't like to admit, oftentimes, that we're afraid. But there is a fear that regardless of whether we admit it or not, most of us have faced or will face. And that's when we come to the end of our life. If it was a movie, it would be the part where the end flashes on the screen and the credits begin to roll. And for us, that thought can be terrifying. And I want you to think for a minute about how we deal with this fear. So oftentimes what we do when we face the fear of death is we seek to avoid it and distract ourselves from it.

So we just don't want to talk about it. And then we want to fill our lives with so much stuff that we don't ever have to address the thing that we are most afraid of. And so maybe we dive into our hobbies or we dive into our work or we dive into endless entertainment in hopes of silencing that fear in the back of our head. But then, maybe that doesn't work, and maybe we decide instead of trying to avoid it, what we'll do is we'll try to make this life count. And we'll fill this life up with as much good things as we can. Maybe we'll seek out adventure. And so the popular thing, you know, we'll make a bucket list. All these things that I want to do before I die. And what's interesting about a lot of people's bucket lists,

if you read through all the adventures they want to have, there's a lot of those items that are going to bring death a little sooner than it might have otherwise. And so maybe we try to fill up our life. And maybe it's not with adventure, but we say, "I'm going to seek meaning and purpose. I'm going to embrace this cause in the hope that through the effect of our labor, our life will live on. Maybe we'll try to avoid death as long as possible. We'll just eat lettuce and carrots, and we'll seek to be as healthy, and we'll exercise in the hope that we can just eke out a few more years out of this life. Or maybe we'll seek an active medical miracle. This pill that I can take will let me live till I'm 300.

Or maybe we go even more absurd, and we say, "When I die, freeze my head, send it into space, in the hopes that someday somebody will be able to revive me." You see, so many times we find ourselves trying to fight this fear, whether it's through avoiding it, or filling our life with something else, or actively seeking to fight it. But what we find, if we're truly honest with ourselves, is that so much of our life is a reaction to this fear of the unknown that I have. And then, into this darkness of fear, what I want to do tonight is to shine the light of the Gospel. And the word Gospel means good news, and so we want to shine some good news into the darkness of this fear. And as we do that, I think, especially on this evening, on Good Friday,

we're immediately confronted with that thing that we're afraid of. We're immediately confronted with death, the very thing we've tried to distract ourselves from, and avoid, and fill up our life, and seek some way of defeating it, and here we are. And there's a question that has always sort of hung over my head, and we talk about it almost every year, that on this day that is sort of universally known as Good Friday, why? Because when we talk about Good Friday, we're talking about the literal murder of an innocent man, and yet here we are saying, "This was good." Think about the events that led, and Brent and Tiffany helped us a little bit with that a few moments ago. But Jesus, during His public ministry, for example, He'll teach. And He'll teach it in such a way that people are amazed because He teaches with authority because He truly has authority.

He teaches in a way that people understand. People say, "I've never heard anybody teach like this." And it's a wonderful revelation of the Word of God. In fact, after His death and resurrection, He's on the road with a couple of disciples, and they don't know that it's Him, and He's teaching them. And you know what they said? "Our hearts burned within us." Jesus had a way of teaching that changed and transformed people. But He wasn't just a great teacher. He deeply and truly loved people. He loved the people that we struggle to love. He loved the hurting, and He loved the broken, and He loved the outcast and did good for them. He also demonstrates throughout His life great power, whether it's over nature by calming the storm, or over sickness by healing, or even over death,

where He wakes somebody up by just saying, "Lazarus, for example, come out." And Lazarus, who's been fully dead for three days, been buried, walks out of the tomb. And what happens? These things, Jesus' popularity and His power, it begins to bring Him into conflict with the religious leaders of the day. Maybe because He's threatening their power, maybe because He's threatening their finances, but they seek to kill Him. And it comes to a point near Passover, where Jesus has just raised Lazarus from the dead, and the religious leaders are so angry, they say, "Look, the whole world has gone out after Him." And they say, "We're not just going to kill Jesus, we're going to kill Lazarus too." And kind of cover up the evidence of His miracle. And so they begin to plont. And on the Sunday that precedes this Friday, Jesus comes into Jerusalem as a King.

On Monday, He will cleanse the temple. Tuesday, we'll have the Day of Questions where He spars back and forth with the religious leaders. Wednesday, we don't know much of what happens. We have preparations for the Passover on Thursday. And Jesus gathers with His disciples to remember God's deliverance through eating a lamb that has been sacrificed. His disciples not knowing at that moment that Jesus was that Passover lamb who was about to be sacrificed for the good of the people. Following this, they go to the garden. They sing a psalm or a hymn, and they go out to the garden to spend the night in prayer. The disciples don't know what's happening, but Jesus prays, "Father, if it is Your will, let this cup depart from Me." And He prays so strongly with such emotion that the blood vessels in His forehead rupture,

and it begins to look like He is sweating drops of blood. And into the midst of this, you see the light of torches and the stomp of soldiers' boots as they begin to come up to the Mount of Olives, and they come and they arrest Jesus. And they begin to drag Him through a trial after trial that is a mockery of justice. He'll go before the Jewish officials three times. From Pilate to Herod and back to Pilate. And this sham of a trial, they can't find anybody who will declare Him guilty of anything. Even their witnesses come, and their witnesses in the midst of the trick themselves. Pilate will try numerous times to release Jesus, saying, "I can find no reason." This man and the crowds cry, "Crucify Him." So Pilate, hoping to appease the crowds, has Jesus flogged.

And the soldiers don't just flog Jesus. Which is essentially, they beat Him until He is bruised and bleeding. And the skin on His back is flayed open. But they mock Him with a crown of thorns and a purple robe, saying, "You're a king." They blindfold Him and hit Him, saying, "Well, if you really were the Son of God, you'd be able to say, "Who hit you?" And eventually they will take that cross member and put it on His shoulders. And Jesus is so hurt and broken, emotionally and physically, He stumbles under the weight of that portion of the cross. They recruit a man out of the crowd to carry it for Him. They take Him to Golgotha. And there, they drive nails into His hands and feet. And they crucify Him. That's where we find ourselves on Friday.

And what's remarkable about this is they didn't just crucify an innocent man. Somebody who hadn't done any wrong, but somebody who had done good at every opportunity. One of the places that has always stuck with me is John the baptizer is in prison for speaking the truth. And he wants to know about Jesus. Is he the one? And so he sends people to find out from Jesus. And Jesus, this is what happens. The men had come to him and they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you saying, Are you the one who is to come or should we look for another?" In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits. And the many who were blind he bestowed sight. And then he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard.

The blind receive sight. The lame walk. The lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised up. And the poor have good news. Gospel preached to them." Jesus wasn't just an innocent man killed at the cross. He was someone who was genuinely good. And it compounds the tragedy even further. So why is this good? To answer that question, I want to go to the book of Hebrews. And the book of Hebrews is a book that was written to struggling Christians to encourage them with Jesus. By saying that Jesus is better. Because these Christians, they were struggling in such a way, they were saying, "Is it worth it to follow Jesus anymore? Why can't I just do something else?" And so the book of Hebrews is there to establish a foundation of the fact that Jesus is better than anything that you could hope in.

And so, this evening, as we struggle sometimes as Christians, because we all have moments of difficulty and struggle, I want to encourage us with Hebrews. But maybe you're not a Christian. Maybe you're interested. Maybe you're curious. Maybe you're none of those things. I want you to see Jesus from this text. That Jesus is better than anything you could ever hope for. So we're going to go to Hebrews chapter 2, and I just want to look at two verses. They're not very long, but they are very wonderful. It says, "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery."

Three things I want you to see from this text this evening. The first is simply this: is that Jesus understands. Notice what it says: "Since therefore the blood, he likewise partook of the same things." And notice the emphasis: that he himself. That's a way of saying that Jesus, seeing our struggle and our hurts and our difficulties, doesn't stand to the side. He doesn't look at you from a distance, but rather he comes close. And he doesn't just say, "Man, you're having a tough time." But it says that he shares in those things. And it's surprising, because Hebrews so far has painted a picture of Jesus as the heir of all things, the firstborn of all creation, the one through whom all things were made, who upholds all things by the word of his power, that he is the radiance of the glory of God.

And how would you expect someone like that to arrive, right? There should be some fanfare. There should be some glory. There should be a disruption throughout all the earth. But Jesus comes sharing in the flesh and the blood of broken children. And he comes close. He partakes of the same things. When my girls were really little, and they would come and try to talk to you, I didn't ever say to them, "Hey, why don't you get up on my level? Stand up here and look me in the eyes." What did I do? When the little kids come, what do you do? You get down next to them. So you can look them in the eye. And you can put your arms around them. That's what Jesus does with us. He doesn't come as God in the flesh and say, "Get on my level."

But rather, He comes down where He can gently look us in the eye and wrap His arms around us. He steps into human history, not in glory or power, but in humility. And Jesus can relate to our struggles. Have you ever looked at someone's life and simply said, "I can't relate to that." Maybe in terms of being less than they are and say, "I can't relate to that lifestyle." Or maybe you look down on someone and say, "I can't relate. How can anybody live like that?" And we've experienced this. There's a difference between knowing something and doing something. There's times we thought, "Yeah, this might be a little difficult intellectually." And then we experience it and we realize it's more than a little difficult. Jesus' knowledge of our struggle is not simply an intellectual knowledge, but it's one that is born of experience.

Maybe you've had someone say to you, "I know exactly how you feel." And you know, looking them in the eyes at that moment, they have no idea how you feel. They're just saying that that's not what Jesus does. Jesus has walked where you have walked. He has experienced what you have experienced. And what you see throughout the New Testament in the Gospel accounts is that Jesus sometimes had struggles with his family. At one point, his brothers come to take him home because they think he's crazy. Jesus has struggles with people. He has friends that abandon him. There's times where Jesus gets so tired, falls asleep in the boat in the middle of a storm. Jesus weeps, standing next to the grave of a friend. The shortest verse in the Bible, but perhaps one of the most powerful pictures of the humanity of Jesus,

is John 11:35 where it simply says, "Jesus wept." Seeing the grief of his friends, knowing the love that they have experienced, he weeps. Jesus knows what it's like to face the struggles that you feel, not just intellectually, but because he's walked where you have walked. And in this, we see that there is a deep contrast. You see, every belief system in the world will say this. They'll focus on bringing you up. Here's how to get to where you want to be. Here's what you need to improve to make yourself better. But Christianity, instead of trying to get us to go higher, Jesus comes down to us. Every other system of belief will say, "Here's the tools to fix yourself. Here's a compass and a map. Good luck." Christianity says that finding God is not some sort of a treasure hunt,

because God has come to find us. Jesus has experienced what you've experienced. He's walked with you. He has come to find you. One of my favorite Christmas verses is found in Matthew 1, where it simply says, "His name will be called Emmanuel." And Matthew gives us a little parenthetical reference, so we know what that means. Which means, "God with us." Jesus comes close. And then, surprisingly, for the disciples, Jesus dies. "That through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death." "That is the devil." Now, I want you to think about that for a minute. What the writer of Hebrews says is remarkable, and in any other context might be humorous. "That He, through death, might destroy the one who has the power of death." "That is the devil." That's like saying to a drowning person, "You know what you need is some more water."

You see a guy drowning in a lake, you toss him a bottle of water. You say, "How does that help?" The writer of Hebrews has just said that through death, Jesus destroys death. And we look at that and we say, "How can that be possible?" To understand how Jesus, through death, destroys death. We have to understand that this is not a recent problem. In fact, it begins almost immediately in your Bible in Genesis chapter 3, and at the root of death is sin. Where Adam and Eve choose themselves and their way over God's way. Two paths diverge, where God has called them to walk, and they go this way. And every person, and in every generation since, has made the same choice as our first parents. God has said, "Walk this way," and we've said, "Okay," and we go the other way.

Paul says in Romans, "The wages of sin is death." For this, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Or in Corinthians, that the sting of death is sin. Sin comes because of death. So what happens if somebody who dies has no sin? Right? The grave cannot hold them. Several years ago, we had a friend who had gotten a parking ticket several hours away. And she said, "I wasn't there. I looked at my time card. I was at work in Winchester." And I said, "I really like to write angry letters, and I don't get the opportunity very often." And I said, "Give me this stuff, and I'll write an angry letter and fax it to them." And so I faxed all the evidence with my angry letter about wasting government resources on something as small as this.

And what turns out is their automatic license plate reader had read the license plate completely wrong. It wasn't even the same type of car. And because of that, it was like 20 minutes, and she gets a call back saying, "Hey, we're really, really sorry about this, but you don't deserve this ticket." So what happens if somebody who has never sinned, and at every opportunity has done what is right, dies? The grave simply can't hold them. That's how Jesus triumphs over death. Why are you here? Where are your sins? There aren't any? You don't belong. You can't stay. You're not qualified. And what Jesus does is He destroys death. We might say, "Well, that's good for Him." But what about us? Here's what the writer of Hebrews says next. That Jesus delivers. He delivers all those who, through the fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery.

Everything we do, ultimately, if we could truly see our real motives, is to either focus on distracting us, or to fight death, to make life now. We're doing everything but dealing with the enemy in front of us, and Jesus delivers us. And it's not just a picture of rescue, but it's a picture of absolution. The Greek word literally here means that somebody has a bill, or something due from someone else, and that debt is paid, and they are released. You see, Jesus doesn't just personally triumph over death and sin. What He does is He takes our place. 2 Corinthians 5 says, "For our sake He made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." At the cross, Jesus says, "I will pay the price for their sin."

In Isaiah 53, you find, in just a few short verses, ten ways in which Jesus does that. I'll just share with them with you shortly. In verses four through six, you find this, that He has borne our griefs. He has carried our sorrows. He was pierced for our transgression. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace. With His wounds we are healed. And in verse six, the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. And in verse eight, He was stricken for the transgression of the people. And in verse 11, "To make many accounted righteous, He shall bear their iniquities." And in verse 12, "Yet He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." Jesus comes near. He dies, and He does so in order to satisfy the cost of our sin. To save us.

Jesus takes your fear, your sin, your brokenness, your shame to the cross. And we no longer have to hide in guilt and live in fear because Jesus has saved us. One of the ways in which we preach the Gospel to ourselves is through the Lord's Supper. This bread that we eat, this cup, we see the truth that Jesus came to save us. He came close. He died for us, died in our place, and He turns the world upside down. Let me share with you just briefly before we partake of how Jesus does that. In the beginning, there was a garden. And in that garden, there were two people, Adam and Eve. And in that garden, they were disobedient. And then, Jesus finds himself in another garden. And in that garden, He prays that, Father, with tears, He prays that, Father, if it is Your will, take away this cup that is from Him.

And that cup that He is praying to be taken away is the judgment of sin on all mankind. And Jesus is obedient in that garden. Do you see what happens? Adam and Eve are disobedient in one garden. Jesus is obedient in another. Adam and Eve, in their garden, hide naked behind the trees because of their shame. Jesus is hung on a tree. And despite how you've seen this depicted, Jesus is hung naked on that tree. And in doing so, He conquers shame. Adam and Eve begin in paradise, and they are forced outside the gates due to the consequence of their sin. But Jesus dug gates and is welcomed into paradise, and through His victory, we are welcomed in as well. Adam and Eve usher in a curse of thorns. Jesus wears a crown of thorns as He ushers in forgiveness of sin.

Do you see what the Gospel does? It turns around the brokenness that you and I face. It shines the light of hope into the darkness of this world. And so what I would like to do with you this evening, in the dark, and in sort of the quietness of this moment, I'm going to pray, and then I would like us to partake this bread and this cup together. Father in Heaven, we thank You for grace. We thank You for hope. We thank You for the good news of the Gospel. We thank You that You have sent Your Son to take our place, that He was obedient where we have been disobedient, that He experienced the shame that we deserved so that we could be brought in without fear. We thank You for what He has done. Help us this evening as we break this

bread and drink this cup. May we be people who see the cost of our salvation. May this shine light into the darkness of our fear knowing that Jesus has conquered sin and guilt, and we'll see how He conquers death in just a few days. I thank You for Jesus and grace. I ask You to bless this bread and this cup. May we proclaim this good news until Your Son comes again. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We take the bread as Jesus did with His disciples. As He remembers and celebrates redemption and hope with them, let us do the same. And let us take the cup, which even more clearly displays redemption, in the third cup of Passover, where you remember the promise that I am the Lord your God and I will redeem you with my outstretched arms. That

Jesus, in just a few hours from instituting this meal, would redeem not just Israel, but all who would follow Him with His arms outstretched upon the cross. Let's partake. I want us to sing together about our Savior this evening. You can be standing or you can sit in kind of quiet if you want, but it's up to you. Man of sorrows, what a name! For the Son of God to King! Ruined sinners to reclaim! Hallelujah! What a Savior! Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned He stood. Sealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Guilty, violent, helpless we. Spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement, can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! Lifted up was He to die. It is finished was His cry. Now in heaven, exalted high. Hallelujah!

What a Savior! When He comes, our glorious King, all His ransomed home to bring, then anew this song we'll sing. Hallelujah! Once a Savior! Hallelujah! Once a Savior! A word of prayer, and then we will be dismissed. Father in heaven, thank you for the hope that we have in Jesus in the darkness of Friday. Help us to remember that this is not the end, that there is Sunday with hope and joy at the realization that death is not victorious. So help us to live in this hope. Help us to share this hope and to rejoice in this hope. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.