Good Friday Service (Jeff Kliewer)

The Death of Jesus and the Meaning of Good Friday

So glad that everybody's here. Good Friday, the night that we remember the death of Jesus on the cross. Let's go to our Lord in prayer. God, tonight we stop and we remember, but we should never forget, that you died the sin death that we deserve.

We deserve to die, for we are all sinners who fall short of your glory. But you died the death that we deserve. We thank you that you are the tabernacle that dwelt among us and yet was torn in order that we could dwell with you forever.

We thank you, God, that you are the light of the world that was put out in order to end the night. We thank you that you are the table of showbread that was broken, that we could have life and sustenance.

You are the holiest place, the holy of holies, and the curtain that was torn. You are the ark of the covenant, the very presence of God in the mercy seat where your blood was sprinkled. You are that sacrificial lamb that gives up its life for sinners like us.

You are the great high priest who goes into the holy place. And not over and over again, but once and for all, you paid the price on that good Friday. Jesus, we look to you tonight and ask that you would teach us by your word to see your death more clearly and to be transformed by it to go forth and live for you.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You all will recall the story of Joseph from the Old Testament. He was sold out by his brothers. He was sent into a pit and then into captivity in Egypt. While he was there, he rose because God blessed him in everything that he set his hand to do.

But even as he prospered in Potiphar's house, Potiphar's wife accused him of trying to rape her. And so he was thrown into a dungeon and spent many years suffering in that way. But he came out delivered because he was able to have dreams that he could interpret for the pharaoh, and he foresaw a famine in the land.

And so he began to make preparations. And for seven years in a race against time, Joseph stored away food in order to rescue people. And then one day, his brothers that originally sold him out arrived in Egypt.

And he recognized them, but they did not recognize him. He was in hiding for a moment until he revealed himself to them and wept on each of their shoulders and called forth for his father to come down to Egypt to live in Goshen and so be saved from the famine.

And all of these things that happened, even the suffering and the sin associated with that suffering, was ordained by God. Because in Genesis chapter 50, verse 20, we learn these very important words.

God meant it for good. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good to save many people alive. It was only through the suffering and then the redemption that came through that that the Israelites were able to be saved from a seven-year famine, which would have done them in, according to chapter 42, verses 1 to 2, and chapter 45.

They would have died, but for what happened there. So fast forward now to Joseph, not the brother of the other 11, but Joseph of Arimathea. Turn with me to Luke chapter 23, verses 50 to 56, the final paragraph of the crucifixion story.

It is the story of the burial of Jesus Christ by another Joseph. And there are incredible parallels between Joseph, the patriarch, and Joseph of Arimathea, particularly that God means for good what man means for evil.

The work of God in Joseph of Arimathea and in all who will come to faith in Christ was a certainty before the foundation of the world. Nothing that happened to Joseph, the brother, was a coincidence. All of these things were planned to save many people alive.

The language of the text in Genesis 50, verse 20, says God meant it. It means he planned it. He intended for what happened to happen. It was a certainty from before the foundation of the world. All of his purposes will come to pass.

But in a race against time, Joseph had to publicly identify with Jesus. That is, Joseph of Arimathea had to come out of the closet, as it were, as a believer in Christ. He could not stay in hiding. He could not be a secret disciple.

And in the same way, the story of Joseph of Arimathea calls to each of us to identify with Jesus Christ, to come out of hiding, to no longer be a secret disciple, if that's what you are, but to come out and proclaim him from the rooftops, to go tell it on the mountains.

So let's read it. Luke 23, verses 50 to 56. Now, there was a man named Joseph from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action.

And he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid it in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid.

It was the day of preparation and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices, anointments.

On the Sabbath, they rested according to the commandment. May the Lord bless the reading of his word and teach us through the exposition as we look carefully at the very words that God has given us. The first thing that we're to see is that Joseph was a secret believer who had been justified by faith.

Look at verses 50 and 51. We're told here he was a good and righteous man. Now there's a conflict in the saying that he is a good and righteous man because when the rich young ruler came to Jesus and said, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus recited for him the 10 commandments. And the rich young ruler said, all of these I have kept since I was young. He thought he was good and righteous because he had tried so hard to keep the commandments.

But Jesus then told him to go sell everything he had, give it to the poor and come follow him. He was calling for a radical obedience and in that conversation he said, there is none who are good but God.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. There is no one righteous, no not one, according to the scripture. So how is it that we have here a man who is called good and righteous?

Look at that in verse 50. He's a member of the council, that is the Sanhedrin, the 70 ruling elders. He is a very important man. Is that why he's good? Because he's so religious. Says he's a good and righteous man.

No, verse 51 gives us the answer to this. He had not consented to their decision and action and he was looking for the kingdom of God. He was good and righteous by faith in Christ. The book of Matthew tells us he in fact was a secret disciple of Christ.

By faith he trusted that Jesus was the king. He had been looking for the kingdom of God and he heard the stories. Here's one who opens blind eyes. There in the temple one day, Jesus declared, I am the light of the world.

He probably heard Jesus say these very words. And unlike most of the ruling elders, the 70, here was one along with his friend Nicodemus who did not consent to have Jesus killed. In other words, he believed him.

And we're told in Matthew he is a secret disciple. So he is being justified by faith in Jesus. Now he didn't have a full understanding. Before Jesus came, people were justified by faith in the amount of revelation they were given in the Old Testament.

They needed to be looking forward to a Messiah, looking for the kingdom of God as we see in verse 51. But Hebrews 9, 15 says, Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

In other words, those who were looking for the coming king could not be justified until the king died. In order for the will to go into effect, there had to be the death of the one who made the will. So their sins were not forgiven until the death of Jesus, yet they were justified by faith because God saw and knew that Jesus would die for them.

Old Testament saints are paid for by the same blood that paid for us. Even though it hadn't happened yet. Here, Joseph of Arimathea is good and righteous by faith in the shed blood of Jesus. He just didn't see it yet.

He was still trusting animal sacrifices. Those were only a covering that was pointing to what was about to happen here. So we know at this point, he is believing as much has been revealed to him at that time.

Now look, in verses 52 and 53, we learn a very important message. And this is kind of my big idea today. This is what I want all of us to take from the text. That secret believers, if their faith be living, if their faith is genuine, secret believers will come out and publicly identify with Christ.

Jesus said, if you are ashamed of me before men, I will be ashamed of you before my father and all of the angels. And that parallel language means you're not welcomed. You're not belonging to me because you don't acknowledge me before men.

You don't confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Meaning you don't believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. So let's look at this. Verses 52 and 53. Now picture, first of all, before I read it, picture who Joseph of Arimathea is.

He's a rich man. So rich that he can pay workers to hew out of the stone his own tomb. Nowadays, if you were to dig a hole in stone, you would use dynamite. You'd blow that sucker to pieces, right? Back then, to hew out of the stone a tomb meant you needed to pay workers with chisels and hammers.

This is a lot of work. And only the very rich would have their own tomb carved into a rock. He was also from Arimathea. And I tried to research, what is it about this town of Arimathea? And there's very little about it.

I did find, however, in a non-biblical book that dates before the New Testament called Maccabees. Anybody heard of it? Roman Catholics do include that in the Bible, even though it was never regarded as scripture by Jerome or any of the church fathers until 1545.

Side note. Point being, it's in there. And Arimathea is mentioned as a place in Israel that was transferred from Samaria, the northern kingdom, to the southern kingdom. And when that happened, it was marked as a place that was safe from taxes.

So I wonder if the rich man moved there for a reason. It would be like a rich New Yorker moving to Florida to shelter his wealth from the property taxes and the state taxes and city taxes. He's living in Arimathea, a tax-protected town.

He's a very rich man. And the traditions say that he would travel to Britain and he had a trade that was amazing. And his friend Nicodemus is also noted in the Talmud as being the third richest man in Israel.

He had a dowry for his daughter of 12 ,000 denarii. He was a rich man. These two guys were very, very wealthy. But poor in spirit until they come to know Christ. Now, in that context, picture this dignified man, esteemed, everybody looks up to him.

He's part of the 70 ruling elders. He probably got that position partly because of his wealth. Right? Now look at this. He secretly believes. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid it in a tomb cut in stone where no one had ever yet been laid.

The other gospel writers teach us that it's his own tomb, but don't breeze past the words here, then he took it down. Imagine what it means for this dignified man. The language of the text says he took the body down.

That means he had to ascend that cross and dislodge the nails from the wrists of our savior. In his flowing robes and his dignified, esteemed outfit, with all of the other Sanhedrin looking on from a distance, he first of all goes to Pilate, putting his life at risk, identifying with Jesus.

And then he climbs and he pulls the nails out of Jesus's hands. Removes the crown of thorns from his head and removes that nail from his wrists. And the body of Jesus flops with all its weight into his arms.

This is a baptism in blood. This is no dignified retrieval of the body. You know, when I always pictured it, it was like on a flannel graph in Sunday school. You guys remember flannel graphs? Where you had like the felt characters?

And you just picture Joseph of Arimathea. He goes and he gets the body and do-do-do-do-do, puts it in the tomb. But picture what this would have been like for him, pulling this dead body from a cross.

He's drenched in blood. He is fully identified with Christ publicly for all of Jerusalem to see. Imagine the other Sanhedrin mocking him for the folly. He didn't know that Jesus would rise from the dead.

He just knew what he saw and what he believed. There comes a time when no one can work, but the work of God is always finished in time. Now the dramatic part of the story. You see, if Joseph of Arimathea does not muster the courage to go stand before the king, the governor from Rome, Pontius Pilate, and ask for that body, if he doesn't fight back the pain of the moment and go and retrieve the body of Jesus and then hustle before sundown to get his body into the tomb, then God would be a liar.

Then the promise of Jesus paying for our sins and rising on the third day from the grave would be untrue. Think about this for a moment. All of history was resting on Joseph of Arimathea's shoulders because the prophet foretold by the spirit of God that the Messiah would be buried in a rich man's tomb.

And Jesus himself prophesied in Matthew 12, 40 that like Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the earth, so the son of man must be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

I'm sorry, as Jonah was in the belly of the fish, Jesus would be in the heart of the earth, buried. This had to happen before sundown. In the Jewish construction of time, a part of a day counted as a day and a night.

That was an expression that referred to a day and a night. For Friday to count, Jesus had to be in the grave by sundown. Look at verses 53, 54, I'm sorry, 54 to 56. It was the day of preparation and the Sabbath was beginning.

That word in the Greek means dawning. We always picture dawn as when the sun comes up, but here the Sabbath actually dawns or begins at sunset the previous day, the day of rest when nobody can work. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid.

Now notice the urgency here. Then they returned and prepared spices, anointment. On the Sabbath, they rested according to the commandment. No one can work on the Sabbath. According to the prophecies, Jesus must be in the heart of the earth before sundown.

This would require for Joseph of Arimathea to take the body down with his friend Nicodemus to go to the place where they would prepare the body for burial, wash the body, wrap the body in linen and get that body into the tomb.

Is this the ordinary treatment of a criminal on a cross? No, normally bodies would just be left on the cross for the jackals and for the birds, the vultures to come. And then after due time, the Romans would take that body and throw the body into Gehenna.

Gehenna was a constant fire burning outside the gate. It was the dump of the city. And the bodies would be thrown out there to be eaten by dogs. And yet, in the sovereignty of God, it was the case that the Messiah must be buried in a rich man's tomb.

I want you to see this. Turn with me to Isaiah 53 verse nine. Isaiah 53 is that amazing passage about the death of the Lamb of God for the sheep who go astray. But in verse nine, let this build your faith.

God foretold this 700 years before the death of Jesus and his burial, and they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man in his death. Although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.

The prophet Isaiah has foretold that Jesus's grave would be with the wicked. He was crucified with two criminals, one on his right, one on his left. And he was put in the land of the dead where the angel would say, why do you look for the living one in the area of the dead?

He was, he made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death. Joseph of Arimathea was that rich man. Before the foundation of the world, God had decreed for his son to die a death that he didn't deserve.

It would come by the hands of wicked men. Acts 2 .23 tells us that this was by the foreknowledge and definite plan of God. Acts 4 .27 and 28 says that Herod and Pontius Pilate, the Jews and the Romans, each doing what they desired to do, verse 28, did whatever God's hand and plan predestined to occur.

The reason that we have prophecy in the Bible, which foretells events 700 years yet future, is because there is a sovereign God over all of history. He has a plan and so he can decree the end from the beginning.

And this God that we serve is unlike any other. This God that we serve is known by his omniscience, his foreknowledge. The God of the Arabs, well, the Arabs who come to Christ follow the same God that we do.

But the Mohammedans who follow Mohammed have a God who's never prophesied anything except falsely. Same is true of every religion in the world. Read about the prophecies of Joseph Smith and every false prophet who has ever lived.

And yet the prophets of old foretold the very details of the death of Jesus. And that's why when Confucius was put in the grave, he stayed. When Buddha was put in the grave, he stayed. When Mohammed was put in the grave, he stayed.

But when Jesus was put in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb, it was borrowed for three days and three nights. Like Jonah in the belly of the fish, he was renting that tomb for resurrection. He conquers the grave on the third day.

Now Jesus predicted that he would rise. And the world laughs this concept off. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all record that Jesus predicted his suffering, his death, his burial, and his resurrection.

In fact, I was just reading on Wikipedia to see what the world would have to say. And I stumbled across something that is, to me, truly hilarious. I have a pastor's sense of humor. It says, the hypothetical cue source, widely considered by scholars to be a collection of sayings Jesus used in addition to the Gospel of Mark by the authors of Luke and Matthew, contains no predictions of the death of Jesus.

Now you didn't catch that, but let me explain what they just said. There is a so-called hypothetical document called cue that exists outside of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And scholars say that this hypothetical document is what the other Gospel writers used when they wrote theirs down.

Now, that in and of itself is not a big deal, right? If somebody was writing down everything Jesus said and people would draw off of that to stir their memory, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John using that piece of writing would have, there would be nothing afoul with that, right?

Nothing wrong with writing stuff down and then using it. But this Wikipedia says, the hypothetical cue source contains no predictions of the death of Jesus. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a hypothetical document that no one has ever seen cannot be said to contain no predictions of the death of Jesus.

If it's hypothetical, you don't know what it contains and you have no ground to say what it doesn't contain. But this is quote-unquote scholarship in our day. This is what scholars do. They bring their preconceived ideas to the text and with a anti-supernatural bias, they outlaw anything that is miraculous.

For Jesus to have said that he would suffer and be buried like Jonah in the fish and rise on the third day is a supernatural prediction. Just as supernatural as his being able to resurrect his dead body from the ground.

Absolutely miraculous. This cannot happen apart from a miracle. The world hates such a doctrine. And so they say that the hypothetical document didn't have it, which to me is laughable. Who are they to say what the hypothetical Q source contains or doesn't?

Fact of the matter is all the early sources from the first century, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they record Jesus saying in Matthew 12, 40, just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

With each day counting in the Jewish understanding, Friday and Friday night as one, Saturday and Saturday night, and Sunday, Sunday morning being the third day. On the third day he would rise. That was the way the Jewish authors understood it.

Joseph of Arimathea was fulfilling prophecy in what he did. So it says the Sabbath was beginning and Joseph got that body in the ground just in the nick of time. So in conclusion, look at the Josephs of the Bible.

We could have spent time on Joseph. What's the other major Joseph in the Bible? Jesus' stepfather, right? And there was plenty of similar interactions there where God's sovereignty and human response met in a supernatural way.

Look at the Josephs of the Bible as a paradigm of those chosen to be saved and to be instrumental in the salvation of others. Genesis 50, 20. Take courage from the story of Joseph to publicly identify with Christ.

Even at great personal loss. Church history records that when Nicodemus identified with Christ, he lost all of his wealth. His daughter that was given in marriage for a 12 ,000 denarii dowry was found a few years later gleaning the edges of somebody's field.

It's what the poor would do when they didn't have enough to eat. And what came of Joseph of Arimathea? Church history says he left it all and he went to Britain, the first missionary to Great Britain.

And they say that he actually built a church there. I think he probably used that great wealth to build the first house of worship known to man. Until then, it was all house churches, which is still a great thing, meeting in houses and in the temple courts.

He left it all for the sake of Christ. But you know, he had to come to that point where what was a steadily growing conviction in his heart, that this Jesus is the Messiah, became a public declaration.

He had to go to Pilate. He had to retrieve that body in full view from the top of the mountain and bring that body down to the tomb. Have you done that yet? Have you made a public declaration of your faith in Jesus Christ?

You know, the Bible has given us a way not to be drenched in blood, but to be drenched in water. As Jesus was laid in a tomb and rose on the third day, he now commands all people everywhere to identify with him like this, to be baptized in water.

It is a symbol of being crucified with Christ, laid in a watery grave and brought out of the grave to newness of life. This is the symbol of baptism. It doesn't save you, but coming publicly to proclaim what's there is the step of obedience.

I want to encourage you. In June, we're going to a lake in Marlton. And for many new believers, I think we have eight or nine people already planning to join us in this. We are going to baptize underwater, immersion, that's what baptizo means, and be brought out to walk in newness of life.

It is a public declaration. So I would encourage you, if you're one of the ones to be baptized, have the courage, based on what you see in Joseph of Arimathea, to invite every family member you're willing to invite and your neighbors and your friends.

Be willing to publicly identify with Christ. A growing conviction in your heart that this really is the truth, the prophecies all foretold. That growing conviction must become public at some point. And baptism is God's chosen instrument to go public with your faith.

The Courage to Identify Publicly With Christ

Let's close in prayer. So Father, we thank you for this amazing story of Joseph of Arimathea. Thank you for how it points us to the cross, to get a different angle, to look at the cross from Joseph's eyes, having everything to lose.

His dignity, his reputation, his money, his influence, everything, probably even family members, and yet he went and took the body of Jesus and laid it in his own tomb. God, it reminds us of your great sacrifice for us.

There's nothing we could give in exchange for the gift you have given us. Your cross is far more valuable in the purchasing of our salvation than any gift we could ever give to you. You are worth our very lives.

Our dignity. I think of David who was criticized for how he danced before the ark. His own wife mocked him, and he said, I'll become even more undignified than this. I pray that over our congregation that we would become even more undignified.

If we gain a reputation for being too loud with the gospel, too dogmatic that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, Lord, I pray that we would scorn our own reputations, that we would desire to be counted worthy of suffering, shame from our family members and our neighbors for the sake of the name, and I pray that this conviction grows in us to the point where we can say, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe, first to the Jew and then to the Gentile.

I pray that you stir in us a passion for Jesus that no longer stays in hiding. I pray for every secret disciple who hears the teaching of this word, that you would stir up in them courage to be baptized and to go forth telling the world that Jesus died for the sinner and rose on the third day.

Come fill us with your Holy Spirit, God, that we would speak as we ought to speak, grant us boldness, pray that you would remove from this people any spirit of fear, for perfect love casts out all fear.

I pray that you would stir us up, that you would blow like a wind through this place, that we would go forth and proclaim the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus. Let's stand and sing.

The Cross, the Garden, and the Lord's Table

To Galgatha, they drove nails deep in his feet and hands and on the cross I heard him say, Father, forgive them. Oh, never have I seen such love in any other eyes. Into thy hands I commit my spirit, he prayed.

And then he died. I stood for what seemed like years. I'd lost all track of time until I felt two tiny hands holding tight to mine. My children stood there weeping. I heard the oldest say,.

Father, there's so much that we don't understand.

I had them in my arms and turned to face them. I said, dear children, watch. I just want a picture in your mind, being on the Via Della Rosa and seeing the meek man go by and see the arrogant man go by and feeling no compassion.

And then hearing somebody say, there's Jesus. And I want in your mind, I want you to think of Christ carrying that cross as he struggled and the blood coming down, rolling down onto the ground. And then he falls.

And then Simon is told to take the cross and he takes it. And they go up to Galgatha. And the soldiers, according to what they were told, they drive nails in his feet and his hands and they put him up on the cross.

But he went there willingly. The night before in the Garden of Gethsemane, as he was anticipating what was gonna happen and as the agony of what he was going to experience had him sweating drops of blood, that was gonna be painful what he would go through.

And the death would be agony. But the reality that at one moment in time, our Savior, the Son of God, would be on that cross with every sin I ever committed, every sin I ever will commit. And in that moment, he said, Father, Father.

And he knew at that moment in time that the Father could not look because of the sin. But he went willingly and in the garden, he said, not my will but thine be done from before the foundation of the earth.

That was foretold. Now go back a couple of days into that upper room where Jesus was with his followers. And he took the cup and he took the bread and he shared that meal and he told them of things to come.

My brothers and sisters, we sit here cleansed by the blood of Christ because he prayed not my will but thine be done. Yes, the Roman soldiers did it, but this was God's love act for us. And so we get to gather together and we do it once a month.

This is the, it can't be a better day than this to share the Lord's table. And I'm reading now out of 1 Corinthians 11. For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you. That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. I'm gonna give you a minute to peel off to get the wafer. If there's anybody else that needs one, Pastor Jeff has a few left, raise your hand.

Our Father, we come to you in humble gratitude. You on that cross with my sin, shedding that blood, once for all, the sacrifice that was totally satisfactory to the cause that won our salvation. Lord, we know that the tomb didn't hold you.

We know that you arose and that you are ascended at the throne of God. And so Lord, we take these elements in remembrance and in thankfulness. So we take and eat this bread. After the same manner, he also took the cup when he had supped, saying, this cup is a new testament in my blood.

This do ye as often as ye drink of it in remembrance of me. And before we go on, I want to take the second part and let's take a moment and recognize. For often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come.

Therefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. So before we share in the cup representative of the blood that cleanses us in your heart, take a moment, turn to the Lord, confess.

Lord, every sin that we have confessed is against you. Every sin that we confessed is a testament that we are not deserving. Every sin that we confessed was borne by Christ on the cross. So as we've confessed these sins, we come worthily because you have promised that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

We remember now, Lord, the blood shed for us. Take a drink.

As we close our service this evening, we're gonna sing one last song together. If you can stand with me, if you feel comfortable, let's praise the name of the Lord our God together.

Yes, my mom, where Jesus bled and died for me I see his wounds, his hands, his feet My Savior in joy and tranquility Raising still the doubter to the hero and the coward

To the prisoner and the soldier To the young and to the older All who hunger, all who thirst All the last and all the first All the paupers and the princes All who fail, we then forgive them All who dream and all who suffer All who love the Lord