Friday, April 15, PM

But welcome, it's wonderful to gather together tonight on Good Friday. And we will be singing and reading the Word of God and talking about why it is a Good Friday. As we praise the Lord for sending us His Son to die on the cross for our sins, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Let's begin with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for this evening. We thank you for this opportunity, a special time, a special service to rejoice in the salvation that is accomplished in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

We pray that you would strengthen our faith tonight, that you would rejoice our hearts as we consider your Son. Help us to stir one another up to love and to good deeds, that we would hold fast the confession of our hope, which is in Christ.

We pray these things in His name, Amen.

The Cry of Psalm 22 and the Suffering Messiah

I'm 22, from the Word of God. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? Oh, my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.

Yet, you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted. They trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued. In you they trusted and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads. He trusts in the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, for he delights in him.

Yet, you are he who took me from the womb. You made me trust you at my mother's breasts. On you was I cast from my birth. And from my mother's womb, you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.

Our first psalm is from our psalm book, number 22B, My God, My God. It's echoing in music what you just heard read. The tune will be familiar to you. 22, beginning at verse 12. Many bulls encompass me.

Strong bulls of Bashan surround me. They open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within my breast.

My strength is dried up like a pot's herd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws. You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me. A company of evildoers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and feet.

I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. But you, O Lord, do not be far off. O you, my help, come quickly to my aid.

Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the mouth of the lion. You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will tell of your name to my brothers.

In the midst of the congregation, I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him. All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him and stand in awe of him. All you offspring of Israel. For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted.

And he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard when he cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation. My vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied.

Those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord.

And he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship before him. Shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him.

It shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn. That he has done it. The next two songs are from, the first one's from HMA, The Power of the Cross.

115 and then we will move into When I Survey the Wonders Cross. In your regular hymn, the 185. So 115 in your HMA, 185 in your blue. And it speaks about the power of that cross where he had done it.

Thank you for, again, I thank you for the joy of singing together these wondrous truths about our Savior Jesus Christ and his work upon the cross, his suffering in our place. And for our sake, beneath your holy and wrathful gaze, as you made him to be sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteous of God in him.

We pray tonight that as we read your word and hear again the story of Christ and his person and work on our behalf, that we would rejoice that there would be a resounding and resonating and growing and lasting amen in our hearts as we consider our Lord Jesus Christ.

It's in his name that we pray, amen. We live in a time, everyone is pushing their own story. And the most important thing about anyone is their own story. And the thing that needs to be heard most clearly, most often, most loudly, in greatest detail is one's own personal story.

These are my beginnings. These are my identifiers. These are my struggles. These are my oppressions. These are my new experiences. These are my musings. This is the way that people in our paganized society, a pluralistic society, engage with one another.

I'll tell you my personal story, and I expect you to give a full and hearty amen to me. And I'll listen to your personal story, because I know you expect me to give a full and hearty amen to you. No matter what you say about your origins and experiences and identifiers and oppressions and so on, my job is to say amen to you.

And no matter what I say about me, you have to amen me. At the very end of the book we call 1 John, the Apostle says, little children, beware of idolatry. The most important thing in this world today is not your story and it's not my story.

We're not to simply engage with one another and hear everybody's story and then everybody celebrates one another. The story that matters the most, the story which makes sense of everything else, is the story that God has enshrined in every facet of history, the story of Jesus Christ.

It has long been the program, long been the plan, long been the approach to remove any confidence about there being such a common and objective history for the world. History itself is treated now as simply the material one uses to spin a tale that best fits with their own perception of reality.

So one person tells history in their way, and another person tells history in their way, and they always tell it from whatever perspective will advantage them the most. And that's how history is seen today.

And some, in the name of Christianity, have embraced that and sought to divorce the truths of the gospel from any objective, verifiable history in and of itself. I'm going to read a little bit from Bavink, Herman Bavink, and he's going to talk about history a little bit.

He says, the strivings of those who want to turn Christianity into a philosophical system are superficial. The religion that will save humanity from sin and bring it into mastery of the good must be history.

It must exist in a series of divine acts that carry on from the beginning to the end of history. Christianity is not exclusively a teaching about salvation. It is salvation itself brought about by God in the history of our world.

Revelation begins in Eden, carries on through the centuries, receives its center in the person and work of Christ, and concludes with the end of the ages. He goes on to say, Christianity is not hostile to history.

It is the animating idea, the leading thought, the all-pervasive leaven in it. Christianity gives history its content and form, meaning and goal. Christianity makes history what it is and what it must be.

Because everything in this world that God has made is in orbit around his Son, Jesus Christ, that in all things he may have the preeminence. As I was going over the Gospel of Mark in preparation for this week, for Palm Sunday and Good Friday and Easter, I was reading through chapters 14 and 15 of Mark and was struck by how important it is that we pay attention to Christ's story, to the story that matters the most, the one that should captivate our attention, the one that makes sense of everything else going on in this world today.

That we listen carefully to the story of Jesus Christ, his person and work, his sufferings in our place, and for our sake, for our salvation. That we listen to the text, the God-breathed, unerring, unfailing, living text, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit that we would give an amen to the story, the story of Jesus Christ.

So I'm going to read Mark 14 and 15 for us tonight. Hear the word of the Lord. Hear the story of Christ. At the very center of all the history, we have the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We'll be reading about the sufferings and the death of Christ tonight, and then Easter we'll look at chapter 16 and his resurrection.

The Anointing at Bethany, the Last Supper, and Gethsemane

This is the word of the Lord, Mark 14. After two days it was the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread, and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by trickery and put him to death.

But they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people. And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard.

And she broke the flask and poured it on his head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves and said, why was this fragrant oil wasted? For it might have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor.

And they criticized her sharply. But Jesus said, let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me. For you have the poor with you always. And whenever you wish you may do them good, but me, you do not have always.

She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the 12, went to the chief priests to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray him.

Now on the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, where do you want us to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover? And he sent out two of his disciples and said to them, go into the city and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water.

Follow him. Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared.

There make ready for us. So his disciples went out and came into the city and found it just as he had said to them. And they prepared the Passover. In the evening, he came with the 12. Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with me will betray me.

They began to be sorrowful and say to him one by one, is it I? And another said, is it I? He answered and said to them, it is one of the 12 who dips with me in the dish. The son of man indeed goes just as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed.

It would have been good for that man if he had never been born. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them and said, take, eat. This is my body. And he took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank from it.

And he said to them, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the of olives. Then Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.

But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter said to him, even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be. Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.

But he spoke more vehemently. If I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said likewise. Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, sit here while I pray.

And he took Peter, James and John with him. And he began to be troubled and deeply distressed. And he said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch. He went a little farther and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will. And he came and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, Simon, are you sleeping?

Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again, he went away and prayed and spoke the same words. And when he returned, he found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy and they did not know what to answer him.

Then he came the third time and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going.

See, my betrayer is at hand. And immediately while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

Now his betrayer had given them a signal saying, whomever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him and lead him away safely. As soon as he had come, immediately he went up to him and said to him, Rabbi, Rabbi, and kissed him.

Then they laid their hands on him and took him. And one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus answered and said to them, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to take me?

I was daily with you in the temple teaching and you did not seize me, but the scriptures must be fulfilled. Then they all forsook him and fled. Now a certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body and the young men laid hold of him.

And he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. And they led Jesus away to the high priest and with him were assembled all the chief priests, the elders and the scribes. But Peter followed him at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest.

And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimonies did not agree.

Then some rose up and bore false witness against him, saying, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with hands. And within three days, I will build another made without hands. But even then did their testimony, but not even then did their testimony agree.

And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus saying, do you answer nothing? What is it these men testify against you? But he kept silent and answered nothing. Again, the high priest asked him saying to him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed?

Jesus said, I am. And you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, what further need do we have of witnesses?

You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think? And they all condemned him to be deserving of death. Then some began to spit on him and to blindfold him and to beat him and to say to him, prophesy. The officer struck him with the palms of their hands.

Now, as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, you also were with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied it saying, I neither know nor understand what you are saying.

And he went out on the porch and a rooster crowed and the servant girl saw him again and began to say to those who stood by, this is one of them. But he denied it again. And a little later, those who stood by said to Peter again, surely you are the one of them for you are a Galilean and your speech shows it.

Then he began to curse and swear. I do not know this man of whom you speak. A second time, the rooster crowed. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him before the rooster crows twice.

You will deny me three times. And when he thought about it, he wept. Immediately in the morning, the chief priest held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus, led him away and delivered him to Pilate.

Then Pilate asked him, are you the king of the Jews? He answered and said to him, it is as you say. And the chief priest accused him of many things, but he answered nothing. Then Pilate asked him again saying, do you answer nothing?

See how many things they testify against you. But Jesus still answered nothing so that Pilate marveled. Now at the feast, he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. And there was one named Barabbas who was chained with his fellow rebels.

They had committed murder in the rebellion. And the multitude crying aloud began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them. But Pilate answered them saying, do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?

For he knew that the chief priest had handed him over because of envy. But the chief priest stirred up the crowd so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. Pilate answered and said to them again, what then do you want me to do with him whom you call the king of the Jews?

So they cried out again, crucify him. And Pilate said to them, why, what evil has he done? But they cried out all the more, crucify him. So Pilate wanting to gratify the crowd released Barabbas to them and he delivered Jesus after he had scourged him to be crucified.

Then the soldiers led him away into the hall called Praetorium. And they called together the whole garrison and they clothed him with purple and they twisted a crown of thorns and put it on his head and began to salute him.

Hail king of the Jews. Then they struck him on the head with a reed and spat on him and bowing the knee, they worshiped him. And when they had mocked him, they took the purple off him, put his own clothes on him and led him out to crucify him.

Then they compelled a certain man, Simon, a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by to bear his cross. And they brought him to the place Golgotha, which is translated place of a skull.

Then they gave him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but he did not take it. And when they crucified him, they divided his garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take. Now it was the third hour and they crucified him.

And his inscription of his accusation was written above the king of the Jews. With him, they also crucified two robbers, one on his right and the other on his left. So the scripture was fulfilled, which says, and he was numbered with the transgressors.

And those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, aha, you who destroyed the temple and build it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross. Likewise, the chief priests also mocking among themselves with the scribes said, he saved others himself.

He cannot save. Let the Christ, the king of Israel descends now from the cross that we may see and believe. Even those who were crucified with him, reviled him. Now, when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, which is translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Some of them who stood by when they heard that said, look, he is calling for Elijah.

Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed and offered it to him to drink saying, let him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last.

Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. So when the centurion who stood opposite him saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, truly, this man was the son of God.

There were also women looking on from afar among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James the less and of Joseph and Salome, who also followed him and ministered to him when he was in Galilee and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

Now an evening had come because it was the preparation day. That is the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God coming and taking courage, went into Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Pilate marveled that he was already dead and summoning the centurion, he asked him if he had been dead for some time. So when he had found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Then he brought fine linen, took him down and wrapped him in the linen.

And he laid him in a tomb, which had been hewn out of the rock and rolled the stone against the door of the tomb. And Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joseph observed where he was laid. And so for a night and for a day and for a night, we think about the death of our Savior Jesus Christ, that we may rejoice on the next following morning of his resurrection from the dead.

Father, we thank you for the reading of your word. You tell us to give attention to it. This is the story that should have foremost importance in our minds. This is the story. In its light, we live our lives.

In its light, we tell of our own days and our own times and our own experiences. But it's the story of Christ that matters. Tonight, as we reflect on the sufferings of our Savior and Sovereign Jesus Christ, Lord, increase our faith, increase our love, and increase our hope, we pray.

Is He Worthy? and the Meaning of Communion

We're going to sing a song together, Is He Worthy? So as we sing this song, ask yourself, is he worthy? Is he worthy of you accepting the death, the burial, the resurrection of a holy God, a son set aside for your redemption and mine?

As we sing this, we're going to ask this side of the church to lead in the first verse and you repeat with Haley. Then the next verse, you follow Haley with the lead and we'll repeat. And then we'll sing the balance of the song together.

Is he worthy?

The Lord's Supper, the Passover, and the New Covenant

Lord's Supper to come forward. Let's pray. Father, we come before you and we have confessed together the worthiness of your son Jesus Christ. You have said that you are utterly, fully satisfied in him.

And he has declared in no uncertain terms that it is finished. So here tonight on Good Friday, we eat this bread and confess by this action that we too are satisfied in Christ. And by faith, we declare that his work for our salvation is indeed finished.

Amen. They were to eat in remembrance of God's deliverance of his people from bondage in Egypt and that they had gathered together and dined upon a sacrificial lamb, the blood of which was put upon their house so that the wrath of God would pass over their homes because the Lord in his holiness looked upon this sacrifice and that was that whose blood was shed in their place.

And Jesus takes up the bread that had been eaten all those generations long. And he took this bread and he talked about it in terms of himself, his body, that he would be the lamb of God that would be broken.

He would be the lamb of God who would die in their place and for their sake. And he wanted them to eat it and know that he was their satisfying sacrifice before God. Mark 14, verse 22, and as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, take, eat, this is my body.

Complete our time together celebrating communion on this Good Friday, recalling that moment in history where Jesus told his disciples the significance, the meaning of his coming death. Lord, help us by faith to grasp the significance as well and to rejoice in the shedding of Christ's blood for the forgiveness of our sins.

And it's in his name that we pray, amen. In the celebration of the Passover of the generations to share in four cups of wine at the Passover meal. And Jesus takes that up. And with this red liquid, he brings their attention to what had been enshrined in the history of Israel for so long, the shedding of blood, the shedding of blood for the remission of sins.

That shadow had been thoroughly ingrained into the life of Israel. And in fact, at this very Passover celebration, thousands and thousands of lambs had been slain upon those 39 acres of the temple grounds, their blood all over the place, and yet not a single one of them was sufficient for the salvation of men.

And Christ wanted the faith of his disciples and our faith to be upon him, upon his death, the shedding of his blood. And so he said to them, verses 23 and 24, that he took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank from it.

And he said to them, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Be to God for the new covenant, for our savior, Jesus Christ. Let's sing a hymn together and it will be dismissed. I know that my redeemer lives.

Glory. Hallelujah. Please. That as we leave this place and gather again on Sunday at the story of Christ, his death and resurrection will be first and foremost in our minds and in our hearts. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

Amen. We are dismissed.