Good Friday, April 10, 2020 PM

I want to welcome you to our Good Friday service this evening, and I trust that you have been preparing your hearts for our time in the Word, and that this would be a blessing to you and your family as you worship in your homes and as you worship the Lord on this very important night.

Let's begin with a word of prayer. Father, we come before you tonight, and we are in awe of what you have done for us in giving us your Son, for his sacrifice upon the cross and his death satisfying your wrath.

We are for words that are far more appropriate, that are hard to fathom, hard to gather all what we should say about our own unworthiness and the worthiness of Christ. But Father, we come before you and we give you thanks.

And we stop and we spend time and we acknowledge the great gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, for our salvation and ask tonight that you would lead us through your Word, that you would give us a clear sense of what occurred on that evening, on that day when Jesus Christ died upon the cross for our sins.

I pray that you would help us to have a clear understanding of what happened in the historical facts, the spiritual realities, the theological significance of what it means that Jesus died for us. I pray that you would help us now as we read your Word and as we consider the meaning of the text, I pray that you would have your way in us, that you would lead us to worship you, that you would give us what we need as our Heavenly Father.

And we pray that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit as we worship you. We pray all these things for the sake of Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well.

Pleased.

Amen.

Well, I don't know what you have been reading this week and preparing your hearts for this special time tonight, Good Friday and also for Easter, for Resurrection Sunday. I do know it is incumbent upon us to take every advantage that we can, even if we cannot truly have church, that we could still think about what God has to say from his word and to hear a sermon.

I get to preach a sermon. We are not able to have communion or to worship together, but as much as we can, I think we should take every advantage to worship our Savior, Jesus Christ, especially at this time.

And so perhaps you've been reading through the Gospels, reading through the different accounts of the Passion Week of Christ from Palm Sunday on, either in Matthew, Mark, or Luke, or John. And if you have had the opportunity to read through Matthew, especially Matthew 27 and verses 11 and following at this critical point in time in Matthew's recording of the person and the work of Jesus, we see that Jesus is described as the Lamb of God.

We see the Lamb of God led to the slaughter. We see him as King of the Jews, but rejected and forsaken of men. And here in Matthew 27, verses 45 through 54, the emphasis is on his identity as the Son of God, the Son of God rejected, the Son of God crucified for us and for our salvation.

And then if you keep on reading, and I know that we will, we keep on reading, we see him raised to reign supreme. And in all of these particular historical details, it's not just a story. It's not just the facts that this event occurred after this event, which occurred after this.

Event.

But we are to consider the theological significance of what this means. And that's why we have all the scriptures. We have all the scriptures to tell us who Jesus Christ is, what it means that he lived and dwelt among us, that God the Son took upon human flesh, that he died upon the cross and was raised from the dead.

We need to think about these things together. So if you are able to, wherever you might be, I encourage you to stand with me as I read this passage, Matthew chapter 27, verses 45 through 54. This is the word of the Lord.

Now from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. That is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, this man is calling for Elijah. Immediately, one of them ran and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave him a drink.

But the rest of them said, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

The tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs. After his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now the resurrection and those of the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and things that were happening, became very frightened and said, truly, this was the son of God.

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Many years ago, I was talking to the folks I was pastoring and encouraging them that we ought to have a good Friday service and why that would be important.

And one of the dear saints said to me, she said, I don't understand why they call it Good Friday. How could it be a good Friday when Jesus was crucified upon the cross? Why is Good Friday good? What does it mean that this day of the week in this particular week would be called good?

Well, the good of Good Friday is the glory of God in salvation. The good of Good Friday is the glory of God in salvation, the glory rendered to the father by the son and the glory rendered by the father to the son, the glorification of the father and the glorification of the son.

You see, the work of redemption, the work of redemption, the work of salvation proceeds out of a relationship. The work of redemption proceeds out of a relationship, the relationship of God, the father and God, the son manifested by God, the spirit.

We have a sense of this in John 17. In John 17 verses 1 through 5, Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane, this is what he prays. This is often called his high priestly prayer. And this is how it begins.

John 17 verses 1 through 5, Jesus spoke these things and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that the son may glorify you, even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he may give eternal life.

This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Now, Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was.

The hour of Christ's redemptive work was at hand, and it was an hour for glory. The son desired to glorify the father, and the father desired to glorify the son. This prayer that Jesus prays in John 17 is answered in the details of the suffering and the crucifixion, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As we look at this passage, as we look at what happens, we're not looking at a passage that tells us what we must do. This is a passage about what God has done. This is not about what we must do. This is about what God has done.

The Holy Spirit makes manifest in the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit makes manifest the divine glory of the father and the son and the work of salvation. This is the good of Good Friday, the glory of God in salvation.

Let's consider, first of all, how the son glorified the father. How the son glorified the father, verses 45 through 50. The son glorifies the father by submitting himself to his father as the object of his father's wrath.

He is all at once both the slaughtered lamb and the scapegoat of the day of atonement. We find in Christ the sins of his people atoned and abolished. Here we have the son glorifying the father with a completed obedience all the way to.

The end.

And so he fulfills all righteousness for the sake of his people. In verse 45, we are reminded that the son glorifies the father in that he is judged by the father. The key term for this is the word propitiation, a satisfying payment, the payment of a ransom, the satisfaction of the offended justice of God.

Verse 45, notice the details. Now, from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. Now, from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. And that doesn't sound like much, but it's a whole lot.

Marks 15 .25 tells us that they crucified Jesus Christ at the third hour. That means that Jesus was nailed to the cross at nine o 'clock in the morning. Remember that he had been tortured and under trial over the hours of the night in the early morning.

So he was nailed to the cross at nine o 'clock in the morning. And after three hours of enduring physical agony and hateful scorn, darkness falls upon all the land at high noon. And that's what it means from the sixth hour to the ninth hour.

That's what that means. From 12 noon to three o 'clock in the afternoon, a strange foreboding and supernatural darkness encompassed the land, encompassed the land. How far did this darkness reach? Did it, it says, up fell upon all the land.

Was it simply that little area around just outside of Jerusalem? Was it, was it Jerusalem? Was it, was it more than that? Was it dark in Bethlehem? Was it dark in Samaria? Was it dark in Galilee? Darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.

I imagine this means all, all the land where the Jews lived. Even as darkness fell upon all the land in Egypt for three days, the plague of darkness, the judgment of God upon all the land for three days.

So darkness falls upon this land for three hours from 12 o 'clock to three o 'clock in the afternoon. Now, many will try to explain this darkness with some sort of natural phenomenon. Some have claimed that it was a dust storm which blanketed the area, but that would hardly have caused a full darkness.

And in such conditions, the crowd and the guards would not have remained to mock and make comments. Others have suggested there was some kind of lunar eclipse these three hours. Well, that isn't matched with any kind of astronomical calendar.

The best way to explain this darkness is to listen to the Scriptures. We've already talked about darkness as a form of judgment that God caused to fall upon the land of Egypt. But also, in other places in the Scripture, darkness indicates the judgment of God.

Darkness indicates the judgment of God. In the prophecy of Amos chapter 8, Amos 8 verses 8 through 10, we read about God's judgment upon Israel, a promised judgment that would fall upon Israel. And as we read through Amos 8, 8 through 10, we discern several similar ingredients to the judgment that came upon Christ.

And so we hear this connection, Amos 8 verses 8 through 10. Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it. Oh, I'm in the wrong chapter, Amos 8. Because of this, will not the land quake and everyone who dwells in it mourn?

Indeed, all of it will rise up like the Nile and will be tossed about and subside like the Nile of Egypt. It will come about in that day, declares the Lord God, that I will make the sun go down at noon and make the earth dark and broad daylight.

Then I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your songs into lamentation, and I will bring sackcloth on everyone's loins and baldness on everyone's head. And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, and the end of it will be like a bitter day.

We hear the same ingredients, the earthquake, which we read about in our text, the mourning at a time of festival, which of course happened in our passage as well. We read about the darkness, the sun going down at noon, the earth dark and broad daylight.

And so these ingredients that God used as a judgment upon his son Israel, we find again upon his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of Israel. We have all these same things happening here in our text.

When we read that the sixth hour, from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, that darkness set upon all the land, what is happening? What is happening is that Jesus Christ is being crucified. The son of God is suffering under the wrath of God, that he who knew no sin became sin on our behalf, that our iniquities are being put upon him, that our transgressions are laid upon him, and he is suffering in our place and for our sake.

When Paul says that he was crucified upon the cross, when he was killed for us, according to the scriptures, it wasn't simply that the scriptures had testified that the Messiah would die, but that the scriptures had testified the manner of his death, that he would die as a substitutionary sacrifice for us.

And that is what is happening here. The son has already prayed to the father in the garden of Gethsemane, and he has accepted the father's will. He has agreed to drink the cup of God's wrath, to drink it down to the dregs in the place of his people.

And these three hours of darkness signal the time at which God poured out his wrath upon his son. It was in this manner that God's holy justice and his furious wrath were satisfied, propitiated by Christ.

God's justice was fully and finally satisfied concerning the guilt of all who repent of their sins and believe in Christ. What does this mean? It means that this is a good Friday. This means that you can be confident of the forgiveness of God.

God's forgiveness is not based on whether or not you remember to always ask for it at every juncture of your life. God's forgiveness is not based on your ability to recognize whether you have sinned or not.

God's forgiveness is not based on the manner in which you ask. If you are truly contrite enough, God's forgiveness is entirely based upon the work and the merits of Jesus Christ. You could be confident of God's forgiveness if you trust in Christ.

First John 1 9 says, if we confess our sins, God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we confess our sins, it says that God is faithful. He is faithful to what?

He is faithful to the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. And he is just to forgive us our sins. He is just because he has propitiated our sins in Christ upon the cross. And that's why he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Some believers live in fear. Some believers, those who trust in Christ, who love Christ, who know him to be their savior, their king. These believers, some of you as believers live in fear that you may be cast into hell.

Look to Christ.

Do not fear.

Your hell was cast upon him. There is no more hell left for you. Forgiveness from the father is ours to the son. Jesus said at the last supper, he said, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

So the son glorifies the father by satisfying his justice and demonstrating his mercy. The son is also glorifying the father here as he is forsaken of the father. We have not only propitiation, but we have expiation.

Not only the satisfaction of the justice of God, the offended glory of God concerning our sins, but we also have expiation, the removal of our sins, the removal of our guilt from before the holy purview of God.

Verse 46. About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, That is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You see, at the end of these three hours of wrath, having suffered the judgment of God due to his people, Jesus cries out with this loud voice.

The word here is very strong. It's powerful and emotional. Jesus is in real agony here as as he knows not the gracious presence of God. His judgment is drawing to completion. Jesus is rocked to his core and at the core is truth.

Truth. And he utters the words of his ancestor, David. We find here in Jesus the true David's son. Psalm 21 is on the lips of Jesus as it is in his heart. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He is not crying out in denial of God.

This is not apostasy. He is suffering in faith as he is willingly accepted this very cup from his father's hand. That we read this agony of Christ. That we know that he is being judged of his father in this way.

That God had forsaken him. That is a great mystery. We are not left with anything but awe at this point. For without injury to the trinity or the dissolving of the hypostatic union. God remaining immutable, impassable and indivisible.

The son is forsaken of the father as Christ dies upon the cross. We don't have any explanation for that. But we have great encouragement because of it. Remember that on the day of atonement there was one animal that was sacrificed.

That the priest laid his hands upon the head of the animal. Thereby symbolically transferring the sins of all the people to the head of that animal. And then its throat was slit and the blood collected.

And the blood was taken into the holy of holies and sprinkled upon the very mercy seat of God. But there was another animal, this scapegoat. And when I was growing up I thought the scapegoat had it better.

But the scapegoat also dies. The scapegoat was also treated in the same way. The high priest laying his hand upon the animal. The symbolically transferring the guilt of all the sins of the people upon the scapegoat.

And this scapegoat was led out into the wilderness. Far, far away. Into some dead end canyon where no one would ever see it again. And it was left there. Abandoned there to wander and stagger and die.

So also the son, the sin bearer, is abandoned to death. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And it is into this abyss, into that unknown. Into the grave that Jesus carried our sins away from God.

How far has our guilt been removed? How far away have our sins been removed from God? As far as the east is from the west. As far as the east is from the west. So far has he removed our transgressions from us.

From before the face of God. Having been made sin and judged accordingly. Now the son is forsaken of the father. God has shown him no mercy. And now he gives him no communion. And this was all for our sake.

That God would show us mercy. That we would have communion with him. And so Christ screams the scream of the damned. Elie, elie, elema sabachthani. He screams the scream of the damned. That we might sing the song of the redeemed.

Which goes like this. Salvation belongs to our God. Who sits on the throne. And to the lamb. It is in his judgment and in his abandonment that he has saved his people. He has saved them from their sins.

He has given his life as a ransom for many. The absolute horror of the son upon the cross. Abandoned of his father. That should convince us. That should convince us. We who believe upon Christ. Beyond the shadow of a doubt.

That the manner in which God has dealt with our sins. Is absolute, final and eternal. God is not waiting around to still decide whether or not he's going to judge us. He's not waiting around still just trying to decide.

If he's going to condemn us to hell. Based on our performance over the course of our life. Look our guilt has been propitiated. Our crimes expiated. There is therefore now no condemnation. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Son glorifies the father by his propitiation. By his expiation. And in his obedience to the father. In his justification of his people. Verses 47 through 50 stress the full obedience of Christ. Verse 47.

And some of those who were standing there when they heard it began saying. This man is calling for Elijah. Immediately one of them ran and taking a sponge. He filled it with sour wine. And put it on a reed.

And gave it gave him a drink. But the rest of them said. Let us see whether Elijah will come and save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice. And yielded up his spirit. Jesus is speaking in the Aramaic.

Eli, Eli, lamas bakhtanai. This was misunderstood by some of the people there. And they weren't listening to him very well anyway. So they began to mock him for calling out to Elijah. They had a tradition that since Elijah did not die.

But was taken up by God in a whirlwind. That somehow Elijah would return. In an equally instantaneous way to help those in distress. And so they figured Jesus was referencing that superstition. And perhaps his dehydrated voice was very hard to understand.

So one of them goes and offers him a sharp tasting wine. Used by the common folks as a daily drink for their meals. And this was how the prophecy was fulfilled. Psalm 69 verse 11. They also gave me gall for my food.

And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. The mockery continues as some of them there. Tells them not give him anything to drink. And see if Elijah will come and give him a drink. They're mocking him.

They think he's begging for help. But in fact Christ is crying out in the agony of obedience. He's being obedient to the end. In verse 50 we read that Jesus cried out again with a loud voice. What is this?

Well John tells us what he said. John 19 verse 30. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine. He said, here's the great cry.

It is finished.

And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. This phrase, it is finished. It's a single word in the Greek. It means it has been accomplished. The atonement of the son. His sacrifice is now completed.

His work has come to a full and satisfying end. So now that he has fulfilled all righteousness. Now that he has willingly given his life for his sheep. He says it is finished. We find that in verse 50 he yields up his spirit.

He willingly gives up his life for his sheep. No man took it from him. He laid it down in obedience to the father. The son is glorifying the father in this obedience. He glorifies the father by completely perfectly.

In all righteousness obeying the father. And this absolute righteousness is our only hope. That Christ became sin on our behalf. That we might become the righteousness of God in him. When you trust in Christ.

When you forsake every scrap of hope. Every last excuse before God. And your only hope of being right with God. Is the fact that Jesus Christ lived and died. And was raised for you. And that he reigns over you.

It is the righteousness of Christ. It is the worthiness of Christ himself. That is your standing before God. His righteousness covers you. His righteousness is such that when God looks upon you. God cannot find the slightest deficiency.

Because the son glorified the father. With complete and absolute obedience. You who are in Christ through faith. Can be confident of the full acceptance of God. God would as soon reject his resurrected ascended glorified son.

As reject you who are in Christ. And this is how the son has glorified the father. And why Good Friday is good. But also the father glorifies the son. Verses 51 through 54. God the father glorifies Jesus Christ.

Revealing that he is truly the son of God. And we're not left to wonder at how effective. How powerful are the sufferings of Christ. Heaven and earth fracture in an explosion of glory. Death works backwards in the death and resurrection of Christ.

Now look at the rending of heaven and earth. Verse 51. And behold the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And the earth shook and the rocks were split. This veil in the temple concealed the holy of holies.

Embroidered into this veil were golden cherubim. Which signified God's holiness. And the deadly peril which awaited any who dared to enter in sin. You may remember at the garden of Eden. After God had exiled Adam and Eve from his special presence there in the garden.

That he placed a cherubim with a flaming sword. Which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. And it was into the veil of the tabernacle. And later on the veil of the temples. That the golden cherubim was woven to picture just that.

The curtain, this veil that was torn into. Was an elaborately woven fabric of 72 twisted braids of 24 threads each. It was 60 feet long and 30 feet wide. That it was torn from top to bottom. Indicates, signifies that it was God who desecrated his own temple.

Jewish records actually record that 40 years prior to the destruction of the temple. At the very time of the death of Christ. The doors of the temple all opened up of their own accord. In this manner, God was signifying that heaven itself was open.

Now there will be direct access to God through Christ his flesh. Serving as the veil described for us in the book of Hebrews. In fact, in Hebrews chapter 10 in verse 19. It says, therefore brethren since we have confidence to enter the holy place.

By the blood of Jesus. By a new and living way. Which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh. We can enter the very holy place through the veil of Christ. There's no need for a temple.

No need for a veil in a temple. We have Christ. And so the tearing of the veil signifies the obsolescence of the temple ritual. And all the laws governing it. Jesus himself is the new temple. The meeting place of God and man.

The old is obsolete.

It was ready to pass away even at this point. The torn veil serves as a sign of the temple's impending destruction. Which was a historical judgment and a theological necessity. The end of the old covenant.

The earthquake is listed right alongside the rending of the veil. The very same verse. The earthquake rends the earth as God rent the veil. Earthquakes are also a symbol of God's judgment. His mighty acts.

In this context we find that through judgment God reveals his salvation. As the tombs of the saints are broken open. And then after Christ's resurrection there are dead who are raised to life. And come out and walk among the people in Jerusalem.

And so we have the veil is torn and the earth is torn. Sin and death are both defeated in Christ. All that separates us from God is conquered in Christ's death and resurrection. In the rending of the veil we are reminded of the new covenant.

In the rending of the earth to bring the dead out of the graves. We are reminded of the new creation. And so we should rejoice that the new covenant has come in Christ. That through him we have access to God.

And we should rejoice the new creation has come in Christ. That in him we have life now as regenerate and in the hereafter as the resurrected. And the resurrection of the saints is spoken of in verses 52 and 53.

The tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the tombs after resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. So even as the death of Christ was accompanied by the torn veil and earthquake.

Signifying the new covenant and the new creation. So also the resurrection of Christ was accompanied by signs as well. We read that the saints of the previous generations were raised. I don't know who they were or what happened to them afterwards.

But the Old Testament anticipated that the Messianic age would begin with the resurrection. And indeed it did. Christ, Paul says, is the first fruits of that resurrection. And so we find even here that the last days of the old covenant arrive in Christ's death and resurrection.

The end of the old age had come upon all men and the new had begun. These resurrections are curious. Only Matthew records them. But what do they really mean? These resurrections, like all of other miracles of Christ, are a foretaste of what Christ is going to do in His ultimate victory.

Remember that Christ went about healing the sick. And He caused the lame to walk, the blind to see. He cast out demons and He raised the dead. And in His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, He stomped old Slewfoot right in the head.

He wins.

And now He is risen and He is reigning. And in His return, this will all be in concert with the end of evil, the end of sickness and death, the end of tears. The Father glorifies the Son in the rending of heaven and earth.

And in these resurrections and in revealing His true identity to the nations. We see this in verse 54, the revelation of the Son of God. God glorifies His Son even in the grace He gives to the Roman soldiers.

Verse 54.

Now the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, truly this was the Son of God.

Great fear falls upon these Roman soldiers. The centurions acknowledge the very clear connection between the death of Jesus Christ and all the things that they see happening around them. Jesus as the promised Messiah, the unique Son of God, He is seen, where is He seen most clearly?

Well, in His passion, in His death, in His resurrection. The Jewish religious establishment mistook the nature of His Messiahship and they even mocked Him by the very title that the pagans now confess Him.

This confession signals the beginning of a new people of God drawn from all the nations. And from the very beginning, we find throughout the Old Testament that the gospel of Jesus Christ is for all kinds of people.

It's even for those who have mocked Him. The gospel is even for those who abuse Him. The gospel is for those who have previously rejected Him. We're never going to be able to formulize how some have ears to hear and eyes to see, but we can trust this.

God grants repentance and faith through His Spirit to all manner of people, not many wise, not many noble, not many mighty. We should praise God that by His doing, we are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

We should thus boast very greatly, boasting of God's glory in the revelation of His Son and the salvation of His people. Do you know this Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ, the Son of the living God? Are you trusting in Him for the forgiveness of your sins?

Do you know that in Christ you are forever forgiven, accepted by God simply because of who Christ is and what He has done? Do you know, do you know the glory of salvation, which comes out of this triune relationship of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit?

Do you know that you have direct access to God by the merits of Christ? Do you have hope of resurrection and eternal joy in the new creation? This is why Good Friday is good. This is why Good Friday is good.

Because of the glory of God and salvation. How God the Spirit manifests the glory of the Father and the Son and the glory of the Son in the Father. Let's worship Him together today. Father, I thank you for the time that we've had in your word tonight.

I pray that it has been a blessing and encouragement to strengthen our faith, to help us to hold fast to the truth, to put our focus upon our great Savior and King, Jesus Christ, and what it means that by His life and His death, His resurrection and His reign, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that it is here, here, that we have salvation in Christ, that He reigns over all, and He reigns in us and through us.

His reign is known in this world. I pray, Father, that you would give us great joy tonight as we contemplate, as we meditate upon the meaning of the death of Christ, as we anticipate rejoicing and meditating on the meaning of the resurrection of Christ.

On Sunday. Lord, thank you for loving us and thank you for giving us your Son. We pray all these things in His name.

Amen.

May the love of the Father and the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Until next time.