Good Friday 2020 at SGFC

Open the eyes of my body, open the eyes of my heart, open the eyes of my soul, see you, see you high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory, see you, see you, see me, sing harmony home, open the eyes of my heart, open the eyes of my heart, see you, open the eyes of my, open the eyes of my heart, see you, see you high and lifted up, Shining in the light of your glory For I ask of Christ we sing Holy, holy, holy Holy, holy, holy Holy, holy, holy Holy, holy, holy You are holy You hide within Shining in the light of your glory For I ask of Christ we sing Holy, holy, holy I lift it up Shining in the light of your glory We sing holy, holy, holy Welcome to our Good Friday service that we are doing through the internet because of everything that is going on right now.

I welcome you and I thank you for joining us and I thank the Praise Team for being here tonight to lead us in this time.

I want to begin by reading Scripture tonight.

We're going to go back into the Old Testament and we're going to read a passage of Scripture which tells of the coming Messiah and what He would do as the suffering servant of Yahweh.

So we're going to look at Isaiah 53 and we're going to read verses 1 through 6.

Who has believed what He has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground, He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised and we esteemed Him not.

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 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.

May God add His blessing to the reading and to the hearing of His Word.

Praise the Lord for this wonderful Word on this Good Friday.

May we pray.

Our Father and our God, we come to You in Jesus' name.

We thank You for this opportunity to come to You in song, in Scripture, and to hear the Word preached.

Lord, we pray that as we sing together tonight, that our voices, though they be separated, would be unified as one as we sing together the songs that remind us of who Christ is and what He has done.

Lord, let it be that in our singing that we truly have a time of praise to our Lord.

Father, thank You.

Thank You for Good Friday.

Help us to understand how truly good it is that our sins have been forgiven.

Lord, we thank You.

We praise You.

We give You all glory and honor.

In Jesus' precious name, amen.

Well, we're going to continue tonight, and we're going to sing together a few songs, have some Scripture readings, and then we'll have a short message as we celebrate Good Friday together.

♪ On a hill stood an old rugged cross The emblem of suffering and shame And I love that old cross where the dearest and best For a world of lost sinners was slain So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it someday for a crown Old rugged cross circumcised by the world Has no wondrous objection for me For the dear Lamb of God That was born with a heart to bear into dark Calvary So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it someday for a crown In the old rugged cross, stained with blood A wonderful beauty I see For to the top of that old cross, Jesus suffered and died To pardon and sanctify me So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it someday for a crown Our last scripture reading was some 700 years before the coming of Jesus Christ And it prophesied about the very things that would happen to Jesus when He was on the cross And so now we're going to turn our attention to the Gospel of Matthew And we're going to read about what happened to Jesus in fulfillment of that scripture If you want to open your Bibles, it's going to be Matthew chapter 27 And we're going to read verses 11 to 26 and then we're going to read verses 45 to 50 So Matthew chapter 27 beginning in verse 11 Now Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus said, You have said so But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer Then Pilate said to him, Do you not hear how many things they testify against you? But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted And they had this notorious prisoner called Barabbas So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, Whom do you want me to release to you, Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ? For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, Have nothing to do with this righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him in a dream Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus The governor again said to them, Which of the two do you want me to release for you? And they said, Barabbas Pilate said to them, Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? They all said, Let him be crucified And he said to them, Why, what evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, Let him be crucified So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, I am innocent of this man's blood, see to it yourselves And all the people answered, His blood be on us and on our children Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified Now we're going to move to verse 45 This is the recounting of the death of Jesus from the words of the gospel writer Matthew Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lea ma sabachthani, that is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, This man is calling for Elijah And one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink But the other said, Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit So is the reading of God's holy, inspired, and inerrant word We do Do you feel the shadows deepening? We do Do you know that all the darkness stopped the light from getting through? We do Do you wish that you could see it all the way through? We do Is all creation coming? We do Is a new creation coming? We do Is the glory of the Lord's name alive within our hearts? We do Is He good to keep your mind at ease? We do Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole? Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll? The Lion of Judah, who conquered the grave, He has saved Israel and the land of God, He has done the same Is He worthy? Is He worthy? Of fasting and honor and glory? Is He worthy? Does the Father truly love us? He does Does the Spirit of the Lamb love us? He does Is Jesus our Messiah, forever those He loves? He does Is our God intended to tell of you? He does Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole? Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll? The Lion of Judah, who conquered the grave, He has made Israel and the land of God, He has done the same Is He worthy? Is He worthy? Of fasting and honor and glory? Is He worthy? Does the Father truly love us? He does Is He worthy? Is He worthy? Of fasting and honor and glory? Is He worthy? Well again, if you're following along with your Bibles, I want to invite you to turn to the Gospel of John and we're going to look at just one verse from the Gospel of John.

We're going to look at John chapter 19 and verse 30.

So John 19 and verse 30.

When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, It is finished.

And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Father in heaven, as I seek to preach Your word now, I pray first and foremost that You would keep me from error.

For Lord, I am a fallible man and I am capable of preaching error, and I don't want to preach error for the sake of Your name, for the sake of my conscience, and for the sake of my hearers, Lord, that they would hear the truth.

And Lord, that Your Holy Spirit would fill me as I preach, and that He would be the ultimate teacher.

For Lord, if the Spirit of God is not the teacher, then the teaching will be in vain.

So Lord, I pray that tonight those hearing my voice would be moved toward a closer understanding of what the Gospel is, a closer understanding of what the cross means.

And Lord, for those who do not know Jesus, that this would be to them a challenge to their very soul, that they would understand that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

We pray this all in His name and for His sake.

Amen.

The title of tonight's message is, What is Finished? What is Finished? The cross is a horrendous method of execution.

The person dies by asphyxiation.

The lungs are crushed under the weight of one's own body.

Therefore, it is without doubt that to speak during crucifixion would be difficult, almost impossible.

One would have to take his feet, push down on the nail in the foot, lift up his body weight on that single nail which has gone through both feet, and use that to be able to breathe in so as to say something.

This is probably the reason why we have so relatively few statements of Jesus from the cross.

There are only seven recorded statements of Jesus from the cross.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Luke 23, 34.

Verily I say unto thee, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.

Luke 23 and 43.

Woman, behold thy son.

Son, behold thy mother.

John 19, 26 and 27.

Eli, Eli, laima sabachthani.

Matthew 27, 46 and Mark 15 and 34.

I thirst.

John 19, 28.

Into thy hands I commit my spirit.

Luke 23 and 46.

And finally, it is finished.

John 19 and 29.

Given time, we could examine each of these and each one's significance, but now I want to focus only on one.

And that is, it is finished.

And I want us to answer this question.

What is finished? What is it that Jesus said is finished? Many of you have heard the term tetelestai.

That is the Greek term that is used in this passage to translate the phrase, it is finished.

And often the word tetelestai is translated, paid in full.

And that is the proper term.

That's the transactional term.

But the root of tetelestai really needs to be understood because the root of tetelestai is the Greek idea of telos.

And the word telos means end or purpose, ultimate object or goal.

So when Jesus said tetelestai, when Jesus said it is finished, what he was saying is that I have completed my purpose.

I have achieved my ultimate objective.

I have reached the end for which I began.

So tonight I want to look at three ways that Jesus achieved his ultimate objective on the cross.

I want us to see three ways that Jesus fulfills his ultimate objective that he set out to do.

First and number one of the ways that Jesus achieved his ultimate objective on the cross is that it was in the types and symbols of the Old Testament had been fulfilled.

The types and symbols of the Old Testament had been fulfilled.

From the very moment Jesus began his ministry, the language of types and symbols was used.

John the Baptist saw him and what did he say? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, he says, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

Jesus also said, As Jonah was three days in the belly of the whale, so will I be three days in the belly of the earth.

And we can go all through the Old Testament and see over and over and over again how Jesus is fulfilled in types and symbols.

Jacob's ladder is a symbol and type of Christ.

The manna from heaven is a symbol and a type of Christ.

The priesthood itself represented what Christ would become as our great high priest and every act of the sacrificial system pointed forward to the work of Christ.

This is why Paul would tell us that the Sabbaths and the feasts and the ceremonies were all shadows, but they have their substance in Jesus Christ.

That's Colossians chapter 2 and verses 16 and 17.

He said, These are a shadow of things to come, but the substance of them is Jesus Christ.

After the resurrection, Jesus met two men on the road to Emmaus.

In Luke 24, 27 it says this, And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them and all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

And then in Luke 24, 44 it says this, Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Notice what he says, All of the prophets, all of the law of Moses, all of the Psalms must be fulfilled.

How are they to be fulfilled? They're fulfilled in Him.

They're written about Him.

The Old Testament is about Him.

It's about Jesus.

So the first thing that is achieved in the cross is the fulfillment of the Old Testament signs, types, and symbols which all pointed to Him.

When He said it is finished, He was saying all of those types, signs, and symbols have their finish, their end, their telos in Me.

The second thing that He achieved on the cross is that the prophetic announcements had been realized.

Not only were the signs and the symbols and the types fulfilled, but the prophetic announcements were realized.

Types and symbols are pictures of Christ, but prophecies are announcements of Christ.

They're different.

The Old Testament is filled with types and symbols which point to Christ, but it also has direct, unambiguous announcements about the coming of Jesus Christ.

These announcements are what caused the great anticipation in the heart of the people of Israel.

Think about what the woman in Samaria said to Jesus.

We know that Messiah is coming.

How did she know that? How could she say in John 4, 25, I know Messiah is coming? Well, the reason why she could say, I know Messiah is coming, is because that had been announced by the prophets.

The prophets said Messiah is coming.

When did they say it? There are well over 100 specific prophecies about Messiah which are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the seed of the woman, Genesis 3, 15.

He is the seed of Abraham through whom all nations will be blessed, Genesis 12, 3.

He is the rightful and perpetual heir of David's throne, 2 Samuel 7, 12, and 13.

He is the one born of the virgin, Isaiah 7, 13, and 14.

He is born in Bethlehem, Micah 5, 2.

He is the stone the builders rejected who became the cornerstone, Psalm 118, 22, and 23.

He is the one upon whom the Spirit of God rested, Isaiah 11, 2.

He is the one who establishes the new and eternal priesthood, Zechariah 3, 8 and 9.

He is the suffering servant despised and rejected of men, Isaiah 53, 2 and 3.

He is the one oppressed and afflicted yet who opened not his mouth, Isaiah 53, 7.

He is the one by whose stripes we are healed, Isaiah 53 and verse 5.

It's on and on and on and on.

There are prophecies and promises of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And someone might say, well, could Jesus have fulfilled these by accident? Could Jesus have fulfilled these simply by happenstance? A Christian convert from Judaism named Louis Lepidus said this.

He said, the odds are so astronomical that they rule that out.

Someone did the math and estimated that the probability of just eight prophecies being fulfilled is one chance in 100 million billion.

If you took that number of silver dollars and you covered the state of Texas, it would cover the state of Texas in a depth of two feet.

And if you marked one silver dollar among them and had a blindfolded person wander the whole state and bend down and pick up only one coin, that are the odds that Jesus would fulfill only eight of the prophecies that were of him.

And yet he fulfilled well over a hundred prophetic announcements as to who he was.

So not only did Jesus, when he said it is finished, not only was he referring to the types and symbols, but he also was talking about the prophetic announcements.

He has fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah.

He has fulfilled the prophecies of Micah.

He has fulfilled the prophecies of the Psalms.

He has fulfilled them over and over and over again.

But finally, not only when he said it is finished, not only were the types and symbols of the Old Testament fulfilled, not only were the prophetic announcements realized, but thirdly and finally, the Father's wrath was satisfied.

The Father's wrath was satisfied.

I will say this.

There are more than three things that Jesus meant when he said it is finished.

That we could spend all night going through what all was finished.

But I think this one takes preeminence over them all.

Because yes, when Jesus said it is finished, he meant he was done fulfilling the types and symbols.

When he said it is finished, he was done fulfilling the Messianic prophecies.

But in the final analysis, the most important thing, the thing that he was finished, and it was most important that he was finished, was that he satisfied the wrath of Almighty God.

On that cross, when Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.

The biblical word for this is propitiation.

Propitiation means to satisfy.

And it satisfied God when Jesus went to the cross.

Because God's wrath, which was due me, and was due all who believe in Christ, was poured out on the Son.

Romans 3.21 says this, But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe, for there is no distinction.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

But it was to show his righteousness at this present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

This one paragraph in Paul's letter to the Romans shows us the plight of man's sin and the power of the work of Christ.

The plight of man's sin.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

But the power of the work of Christ is in the propitiatory work of Christ.

Man is helplessly lost in sin.

God is just and therefore must punish his sin.

He cannot simply excuse it and remain just.

God is also merciful, though, and he wants to save.

And so he sins his son.

And he sins his son to prave the way for salvation, where it would not forego his justice, but it would display his justice.

On that cross when Jesus died, the wrath of God was being poured out on the son, displaying the justice of God and the mercy of God.

Justice in him receiving the punishment and mercy in that he was giving the punishment to the undeserved son who took it willingly.

The Bible says he drank the cup of God's wrath down to the very drop.

He drank the wrath we deserved as our substitute.

He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

This is why we make the point of this word tetelestai, meaning transaction.

In the death of Christ, a transaction was made.

Christ paid the debt we owe for sin.

God received the payment.

The bill of sale was marked paid in full.

All of the sins paid in full.

All of the debt wiped clean because it's been paid by the blood of the Lamb.

Of all that was achieved on the cross, the most blessed thing that was achieved is that God's wrath against sin was satisfied.

Many people get confused about why we call this Good Friday.

Our Savior was beaten mercilessly.

He was hung publicly.

And he was killed viciously.

How can we call that good? We don't call it good because our Savior suffered.

We call it good because of what he accomplished in his suffering.

The Bible says it pleased the Lord to strike him.

Why? Why would it please the Lord to strike his son? Because in striking his son, he is able to remain both just and the justifier of the one who comes to him through that son.

Jesus takes the punishment we deserve and gives us the righteousness that we lack.

That's why it's good.

That's why this is Good Friday.

It's a good day because our good Savior became sin for us that we could become the righteousness of God in him.

Tonight, if you are outside of Christ, let me tell you something very simple.

If you were to die and face God right now, you would owe a debt that can only be paid by an eternity in hell.

Your sin deserves death.

The Bible says the wages of sin is death, but it doesn't stop there.

It says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you're outside of Christ, the Bible says repent of your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

If you're saved tonight, hold tight to the Son.

Trust him with your whole life and know that no matter what happens in this world, nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus your Lord.

But if you do not know Christ, run to the cross.

Run to the cross.

Know this, there is salvation in no one else.

For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved except the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us pray.

Father, I thank you for this time to study together.

I pray, O Lord, that you would hear the words that have been preached and I pray, Lord, that you would use those words to move on the hearts of men and women.

Lord, if there are those who have heard these words tonight and Lord, you have saw fit to move their heart to believe, I pray that you would convict and convert and change them and bring them to Christ.

And Lord, for the believers who have heard this word, I pray that this would be an encouragement to them that they would understand the goodness of Good Friday.

Oh, what a good day it is.

What a wonderful day it is.

What an amazing thing we have to be able to call this day Good Friday.

For it is good because you have loved us so, that you have given your Son to die for us.

You have given your Son to be our propitiation or to propitiate our sin.

He is the one who has given us salvation.

We thank you, we praise you, we glorify you for all that you have done and all that you are going to do.

In Jesus' name and for His sake, Amen.

This life, He is my hand, my strength, my song This cornerstone, this silent ground Burned through the fiercest drought and storm What heights of love, what lengths of peace When fears are sealed with shining seas I can't get out, I'm buried in the love of Christ, I say Christ alone, who took my flesh Put his life in heaven's place I just rest, swung by the winds, He came to save Till on that cross, as Jesus died The wrath of God was satisfied Every sin, every evil death of Christ, I live There in the ground, beside me By the rope, by His hand He pushed and pulled, He wore and saved Walked for the many roads again And as He stands in victory Since death has lost its will, He is mine Walked with the precious blood This is the power of Christ To find our breath In the scheme of man And all the time we've promised Him To walk in His arms, we know We're in the power of Christ, I say I want to thank you all for joining us for this Good Friday service.

I want to thank the Praise Team for being here tonight and leading us in this time of song.

I want to thank you all for your continued prayers for our church and just know that we are continuing to pray for you as well.

May the Lord continue to be with us as He always has and lead us in His paths of righteousness for His namesake.

This is a difficult time.

This is a time of great uncertainty in the world.

But let us be reminded that we have a Great Shepherd.

The Lord is our Shepherd and we shall not want.

He makes us to lie down in green pastures.

He leads us beside the still waters and He restores our soul.

And He leads us in paths of righteousness for His namesake.

And yea, though we may walk through the valley of shadow of death, we must fear no evil for He is with us.

His rod and His staff comfort us.

He prepares us a table in the presence of our enemies and He anoints our head with oil and our cup always runs over.

Surely, goodness and mercy will continue to follow us all the days of our life and we will be in the house of the Lord forever.

May we be comforted that no matter what we face, no matter where we are, no matter what happens in our life, we have a Shepherd who loves us and is always with us.

Father in Heaven, thank You for this night.

Thank You for this opportunity to worship.

May You be glorified in all that we have done and are going to do.

Thank You, God.

Thank You for this day.

Thank You for Good Friday.

Thank You for Christ, our Great Shepherd.

And help us to remember, Lord, that in Him we need not fear anything.

We praise You for Him in Jesus' name.

Amen.