back to indexBerean Community Church Good Friday Service 4/7/2023
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For those of you guys coming in, we're going to try and 00:01:59.300 |
If you have a gap in between, please do scooch towards the center here, 00:02:06.300 |
Just fill in the seats so that we can fill in every chair as much as possible. 00:02:10.500 |
And then additionally, we do have seating there in the back room that's open for 00:02:14.500 |
all, but again, for those of you guys who are coming in now, 00:02:17.540 |
we do have a lot of seats closer to the front here on the sides as well. 00:05:14.300 |
there are some seats over to my right on this column or section. 00:05:18.700 |
Again, I'd request that if there are empty seats next to you, for 00:05:21.980 |
all the aisles just to scooch in towards the center. 00:05:24.500 |
So this aisle, if there's seats next to you, just fill them in towards the center. 00:05:30.460 |
We are gonna have a packed house and there's overflow on the cafe side, but 00:05:33.860 |
we wanna just make sure we try to fit as much people as we can in here. 00:16:14.900 |
As we begin, I'd like to read this passage for us from 1 Peter 224. 00:16:19.700 |
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and 00:16:24.060 |
live to righteousness by his wounds he had them healed. 00:16:26.860 |
As we have reflected on the events leading up to the cross 00:16:31.260 |
through this Passion Week, let us continue to honor the Lord tonight. 00:16:34.980 |
As we give praise and thanks to him for his ultimate sacrifice and 00:16:38.140 |
death on the cross, that we would be forgiven of our sins and 00:20:45.500 |
I do have just a couple of announcements before we continue on with our time 00:20:50.740 |
This coming Sunday, we have a 6 AM sunrise service out in the courtyard here. 00:20:58.820 |
But by the time we're done, about an hour into the morning, 00:21:04.340 |
And we will have a time of devotion, really taking the moment to celebrate 00:21:10.460 |
And then we will continue on with our 9 o'clock and 11 o'clock services. 00:21:14.540 |
So if you do have friends and family that you're reaching out to, 00:21:21.260 |
And I believe we will have informational materials in a booth 00:21:27.700 |
And there will be lunch provided for both services. 00:21:30.540 |
We're just gonna ask you guys to grab and go if you're coming to the first. 00:21:36.740 |
Also tonight, just in case I forget, we are having communion, 00:21:44.780 |
If you guys do have a gluten allergy, and I'm saying this now so 00:21:48.020 |
that I don't forget, that specific table will 00:21:56.860 |
So let me go ahead and pray for us, and then we'll continue in a time of worship. 00:22:02.380 |
Lord, what a somber and sobering evening this is, 00:22:13.740 |
as we think upon your last hours before your crucifixion and death. 00:22:19.740 |
We pray tonight, Father, that you would make yourself known. 00:22:27.580 |
That the cross of Christ would be placed at the very center 00:22:33.580 |
of this evening's worship, of the sermon, the communion. 00:22:41.740 |
And even as we leave here, that we would think deeply upon 00:22:45.620 |
the crucifixion of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. 00:22:53.220 |
So as we sing, I pray that you would stir our hearts 00:22:57.260 |
simultaneously to brokenness and yet to hope. 00:23:02.620 |
As we hear your word, I pray that you would speak, that you would protect, 00:23:10.140 |
guard, and guide this pulpit so that your word would go forth and 00:23:14.380 |
bear fruit for your glory and for our growth. 00:23:20.380 |
We come here as broken people in need of much grace. 00:23:25.220 |
So Lord, would you lead our time of worship tonight? 00:23:32.180 |
>> Let us all rise as we continue our time of praise. 00:32:17.820 |
>> Good evening. If you have your Bibles, if you could turn with me to Galatians chapter 6. I'll be reading from verses 12 to 15. It will also be provided up here on the screen for you. Galatians chapter 6. Verses 12 to 16. And this is the reading of the word of God. 00:32:29.820 |
Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh, try to compel you to be circumcised simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. 00:32:53.820 |
But may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision but a new creation. Let's pray together. 00:33:15.820 |
Father, give us ears to hear. And would your word be honored this evening. And I pray for your help, Lord, that we would exalt and magnify Christ alone tonight. And we pray that you would give us sober spirits, attentive ears, and softened hearts. And we lift this time into your hands. And we pray all this in Jesus' name. 00:33:43.820 |
So tonight we remember what looks to be the closing moments of the loneliest week in all of human history. Today, Good Friday, wraps up the events of what we call the Passion Week. The Latin word "patiore," from which we get the word "passion," it means to suffer. 00:34:05.820 |
And this was the week of the Passion, of the suffering of Christ. And Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, suffered uniquely on the road to the cross. His suffering was quite holistic and all-encompassing. And his suffering was first, socio-emotional. 00:34:27.820 |
In the beginning of the week, he had been informally rejected by the religious leaders of the nation of Israel. And he was rejected by the leaders of his own people. And then he was rejected by the very crowds that had celebrated his every miracle, who had watched his every move, and who had once hung on his every word. 00:34:51.820 |
He was betrayed by one of his very own hand-picked apostles for a mere 30 pieces of silver, fulfilling the prophecy made in Zechariah 11. And he was then within earshot when Peter, the leader of his chosen group of apostles, vehemently renounced him and denied any association with him. 00:35:15.820 |
And remember that Peter was a man who had just one single meal prior to this, had pledged his allegiance even to the death. So the informal rejection of Christ throughout the week quickly gained momentum and became a formal and legal one. 00:35:35.820 |
In a matter of a few hours, Jesus was tried by Annas and then Caiaphas, by the rest of the Sanhedrin, and then eventually by Herod and Pontius Pilate. 00:35:47.820 |
Pontius Pilate customarily pardoned a prisoner on the feast of Passover. And amazingly, the mob at this particular Passover wanted Barabbas released, even though Pilate was doing all that he could to push them on Jesus, on the release of Jesus. 00:36:07.820 |
And the crowd demanded the release of Barabbas, even declaring that they'd be willing to incur all the divine guilt and subsequent curses upon themselves and even upon their children. 00:36:21.820 |
Mark 15, 7 and Luke 23, 19 describe Barabbas as a murderer and as an insurrectionist. John's account describes him as a bandit. 00:36:34.820 |
Matthew 27, 16 describes Barabbas as a notorious prisoner, which means his very name would be akin to our Charles Manson or Jeffrey Dahmer. 00:36:46.820 |
And they had taken their cues from their religious leaders. And these religious leaders had been very busy. 00:36:54.820 |
Mark 15 tells us that the chief priests had been hard at work toward this as they were stirring up the crowd. 00:37:04.820 |
And now it looked as if they got everything that they had wanted. And I want to read for us Mark 15, 11 to 15. 00:37:13.820 |
"But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him," paunts his pilot, "to release Barabbas for them instead. Answering again, Pilate said to them, 'Then what shall I do with him whom you call the king of the Jews?' 00:37:29.820 |
And they shouted back, 'Crucify him!' But Pilate said to them, 'Why, what evil has he done?' But they shouted all the more, 'Crucify him!' 00:37:47.820 |
And wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them. And after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. 00:38:00.820 |
So the crowds, many of whom had cried out, 'Hosanna, Hosanna,' just days before, had either now returned home or had changed their tune to 'Crucify him, crucify him.' 00:38:14.820 |
In their minds now, Jesus had gone from a possible Messiah into perhaps the promised King of Kings to now a charlatan, a troublemaker, and a rabble-rouser. 00:38:30.820 |
And we read that Jesus is tried, mocked, and now completely abandoned. For even those who had walked most closely with him had all but scattered. 00:38:43.820 |
And then his passion, his suffering, would move from being primarily social, emotional, to now also intensely and inhumanely physical. 00:38:55.820 |
And Matthew's account provides us with additional details. Matthew chapter 27, 26-32 reads thus, 00:39:04.820 |
"Then he released Barabbas for them, but after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. 00:39:13.820 |
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around him. 00:39:26.820 |
They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and a reed in his right hand, 00:39:38.820 |
and they knelt down before him and mocked him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' 00:39:46.820 |
And they spat on him, and they took the reed and began to beat him on the head. 00:39:56.820 |
After they had mocked him, they took the scarlet robe off him and put his own garments back on him and led him away to crucify him." 00:40:05.820 |
So he is bloodied and beaten to an almost unrecognizable pulp. 00:40:10.820 |
First, Jesus is scourged with chunks of flesh being ripped off his back, ripped off his arms, his legs, his chest, 00:40:21.820 |
and then a crown of thorns is forced on his head, and then with thick reeds, which were in abundance on the banks of the rivers in Israel, 00:40:37.820 |
The soldiers specifically and repeatedly beat him on his already bloodied head. 00:40:47.820 |
Verse 30, "And no doubt these cruel soldiers took delight in aiming right at the crown of thorns and hit Jesus again and again and again and again." 00:41:02.820 |
Isaiah 52, 14, the section that describes the future Messiah as a suffering servant, says that his face was so bloodied and beaten that he did not even look human after it was all done. 00:41:20.820 |
Jesus Christ was so beaten that he did not have the strength to carry his own cross. 00:41:28.820 |
So the scriptures say that Simon the Cyrene is recruited from the crowd, and he's forced to carry the 100-pound beam for him up to Golgotha. 00:41:43.820 |
Luke 23, 33, "When they came to the place called the skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left." 00:42:01.820 |
French doctor Pierre Barbet, giving a medical description of crucifixion, writes, and I quote, "The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. 00:42:15.820 |
He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. 00:42:24.820 |
But to allow some, or quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly but to allow some flexion and movement. 00:42:38.820 |
And the left foot is now pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed, and the victim is now crucified." 00:43:00.820 |
And throughout the entirety of his physical sufferings, we see that Jesus didn't say a word. 00:43:07.820 |
He was silent like a lamb led to the slaughter. 00:43:11.820 |
And it's impossible to imagine him not screaming or yelping in agony at the physical pain. 00:43:20.820 |
But the scriptures tell us that he did not say a word. 00:43:25.820 |
He didn't give a single command to the myriads of angels who were likely horrified at the scene and eager to unleash all hell on the wicked below. 00:43:37.820 |
Because this was an injustice of cosmic proportions. 00:43:42.820 |
But throughout the entirety of his physical sufferings, he did not utter a word. 00:43:49.820 |
And Jesus is hoisted up on the cross, and he finally speaks, breaking the silence. 00:43:56.820 |
And in Luke 23, we read that he repeatedly says, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." 00:44:09.820 |
And they cast lots, dividing up his garments among themselves. 00:44:17.820 |
Notice what the soldiers are doing in all of this. 00:44:21.820 |
So at the close of the Passion of the Christ, Jesus suffered first socio-emotionally, and then physically through scourging, bludgeoning, and then crucifixion. 00:44:35.820 |
But the greatest suffering, the spiritual suffering, wouldn't happen for another few moments. 00:44:42.820 |
And we will talk about his spiritual suffering at the very end. 00:44:47.820 |
But I want to hold our attention here at the cross of Christ, at the crucifixion of the Lamb of God, of which we are to make our soul boast. 00:45:00.820 |
So I'm going to take us back to the passage I read in the beginning, and I'm just going to read verse 14 for you. 00:45:07.820 |
"But may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 00:45:22.820 |
May it never be that I would boast except in the cross." 00:45:31.820 |
It is, in fact, very sobering, and it's a good reminder for every Christian. 00:45:38.820 |
And what an amazing verse to put in a frame and then hang on a wall. 00:45:53.820 |
What does it look like to boast in nothing but the cross? 00:46:05.820 |
I just walked us through some of the horrors of the crucifixion. 00:46:09.820 |
Of which part of the cross or of this process do you and I exclusively boast? 00:46:18.820 |
What am I supposed to boast about when I visualize a cross of Christ? 00:46:26.820 |
What does it mean to boast only in the cross? 00:46:32.820 |
And we have to get this correct because tonight the purpose and the meaning can be distracted and hindered if we don't land on the proper conclusion. 00:46:43.820 |
The gospel narratives help us a lot in this, actually. 00:46:46.820 |
And I just had Luke 23 on the screen for you. 00:46:50.820 |
Luke basically tells us that there were two thieves crucified with Jesus. 00:46:56.820 |
There is one on the left and one on the right. 00:47:00.820 |
Matthew's and Mark's accounts both give us some additional details. 00:47:12.820 |
They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. 00:47:17.820 |
And the scripture was fulfilled which says, "And he was numbered with transgressors." 00:47:23.820 |
And those passing by were hurling abuse at him, wagging their heads and saying, "Ha! 00:47:30.820 |
You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. 00:47:42.820 |
And in the same way, the chief priests also, along with the scribes, they were mocking him among themselves saying, "He saved others. 00:47:53.820 |
Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross so that we may see and believe." 00:48:03.820 |
Those, plural, both of the thieves who were crucified with him were also insulting him. 00:48:15.820 |
We do not know anything else about the two thieves on each side of the Jesus. 00:48:20.820 |
We aren't given any details as to who they were outside of their broadly categorized crime thievery. 00:48:30.820 |
We do not know what specifically they've done. 00:48:34.820 |
But the two thieves hanging on each side of Jesus must have committed some egregious crimes if they were condemned to die by crucifixion, the worst form of capital punishment. 00:48:47.820 |
And these two, apparently, after also having been beaten and bloodied themselves, are joining in on the insults and the mockery. 00:49:04.820 |
How hardened must you be while you're hanging on the cross, completely stripped and naked, hanging by your wrists and your feet to have enough energy to mock and insult the guy next to you? 00:49:22.820 |
And the words which are translated, "were insulting him," are in the imperfect tense. 00:49:29.820 |
And the imperfect tense is used to describe a past action or state which is incomplete and ongoing. 00:49:38.820 |
So it wasn't just one insult or one word of mockery. 00:49:45.820 |
And both thieves were hanging there, wasting their dying breath and their energy on belittling Jesus, at least at first. 00:49:58.820 |
But for us who've been churched, we know that the story doesn't end there. 00:50:08.820 |
We're not 100% sure why he stops, but he stops. 00:50:13.820 |
Maybe it was the overhearing of the Father, "Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." 00:50:20.820 |
But we are told that the number of naked, bloodied, insult-spewing, crucified thieves goes from two to one. 00:50:29.820 |
And let me read the narrative for you, Luke 23, 39-43. 00:50:34.820 |
One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us." 00:50:46.820 |
But the other answered and rebuking him said, "Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 00:51:02.820 |
And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. 00:51:13.820 |
And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom." 00:51:21.820 |
And Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise." 00:51:30.820 |
Here in verse 41, we get an absolutely perfect statement of a boasting in the cross. 00:51:39.820 |
"We indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. 00:52:00.820 |
"But may it never be that I boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." 00:52:12.820 |
So firstly and secondly, I'm giving you two points at once. 00:52:18.820 |
Boasting only in the cross of Christ means, one, wholeheartedly acknowledging that Christ's suffering was unjust. 00:52:32.820 |
And two, wholeheartedly acknowledging that my condemnation and my suffering is just. 00:52:43.820 |
In Job 121, Job, who appears to be almost prophetic, he laments, 00:52:52.820 |
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall depart. Blessed be the name of the Lord." 00:52:59.820 |
This boasting thief, who literally could not boast in anything else, actually was living this out. 00:53:14.820 |
And when he physically departed from the world, he departed naked. 00:53:21.820 |
And my guess would be that very, very few people in all the history of mankind get saved being that literally and figuratively naked. 00:53:36.820 |
The hymn, "Rock of Ages," cleft for me is literally this man's conversion story and his testimony. 00:53:45.820 |
"Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling, literally. Naked, come to thee for dress. 00:53:56.820 |
Helpless, look to thee for grace. Foul I too, the fountain fly. Thank you for washing me, Savior, before I die." 00:54:12.820 |
And just like what we saw in Genesis 3 and the Proto-Ewangelium, on those who are naked and shame-filled, 00:54:21.820 |
God, once again, will make a sacrifice, cover the nakedness, cover the shame, and pass them over. 00:54:31.820 |
There is not a more naked testimony than this. 00:54:36.820 |
The thief could not but boast only in the cross. 00:54:42.820 |
This thief, whose name we do not even know, had absolutely nothing he could boast in, except his utter and total helplessness. 00:54:55.820 |
For this man, the literal message of the cross was the power of God for salvation, and he was thus immediately saved. 00:55:07.820 |
Luke 23, 41 to 43, "And indeed we are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. 00:55:18.820 |
But this man, the Christ, has done nothing wrong." 00:55:22.820 |
And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom." 00:55:26.820 |
And Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise." 00:55:37.820 |
Neither you nor I, at any point in time, was more fit to be saved than our redeemed brother hanging there on the cross. 00:55:58.820 |
And if we're to join with him in this boasting, it may go something like this. 00:56:17.820 |
I, too, have cried out, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" 00:56:27.820 |
His death is my fault. He has done nothing wrong. 00:56:31.820 |
But praise God that I am saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in this man alone. 00:56:47.820 |
Before the world was crucified to me, and I to the world, 00:56:55.820 |
before I could make this my boast, I, too, was a thief. 00:57:13.820 |
I stole garbage pail kids. I'm dating myself there. 00:57:37.820 |
I regularly stole cash from my dad's, my uncle's, my grandfather's, my other uncle's, and my aunt's wallets. 00:57:49.820 |
I stole Honda and Toyota signs from the trunks of neighbors' cars with a screwdriver. 00:57:56.820 |
I stole packs of baseball cards from local stores. 00:58:05.820 |
As a high school freshman, I saw the unattended offering basket, 00:58:27.820 |
And that wasn't my only severe addiction. I was a gambling addict. 00:58:32.820 |
During my sophomore year of high school, I once ended up owing another kid over $2,000. 00:58:42.820 |
I was addicted to all forms of entertainment. 00:58:45.820 |
I drowned out whatever emptiness I had by playing video games whenever I could. 00:58:53.820 |
I never had a console of my own, so I went to my friends' houses, and I literally stayed there all day, 00:58:58.820 |
playing their games, eating their snacks, and using my friends for what they could give me. 00:59:06.820 |
And in hindsight, I'm surprised that their parents never kicked me out. 00:59:15.820 |
Naturally, I was also a bully, even from the second grade. 00:59:22.820 |
In second grade, I walked by a kid at my elementary school, a kindergartner, 00:59:29.820 |
and I punched him as hard as I could in the stomach for absolutely no reason. 00:59:37.820 |
In the seventh grade, I slugged some other random kid, a stranger, with my bicycle lock, 00:59:46.820 |
because I mistakenly assumed he was laughing at me, which in hindsight he likely wasn't. 00:59:53.820 |
He was just walking and laughing with his friend. 01:00:00.820 |
I stopped growing. I just... 5'11", eighth grade. 01:00:05.820 |
And I towered over the rest of the boys, and so I regularly picked fights for fun. 01:00:16.820 |
I only picked on and bullied the kids who were small, 01:00:21.820 |
and who I deemed to be losers, just so that I could make myself more popular. 01:00:28.820 |
With girls, I was manipulative, jealous, emotionally abusive, 01:00:33.820 |
wanting nothing more from them but to gratify my own pleasures. 01:00:49.820 |
and bought tropical fish from the fish store, 01:00:53.820 |
just to see what would happen if I put them in hot water. 01:00:59.820 |
And in all of this, I'm giving you the rated PG versions of these stories. 01:01:07.820 |
And until my sophomore year of high school, in my folly and my arrogance, 01:01:24.820 |
But God intervened in the spring of 1994, during my sophomore year of high school, 01:01:31.820 |
and He protected me from becoming even worse. 01:01:42.820 |
And may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 01:01:51.820 |
In even the more recent past, I would often preface my testimony by first talking about my dad. 01:02:01.820 |
I would justify all of my wrongs by vilifying Him for all of His wrongs. 01:02:12.820 |
In my pride, I guess I thought perhaps that painting myself out always as the victim 01:02:21.820 |
would garner me more sympathy in my testimony. 01:02:26.820 |
But I'm learning more and more about the heart of God and about the holiness of God through the Word of God, 01:02:31.820 |
and I'm growing to realize that all of the nasty stuff that I just shared with you is 100% me. 01:02:46.820 |
And though it's in my inherited nature to do so, I dare not pull an Adam and say, 01:02:55.820 |
I dare not pull an Eve and say, "The serpent you allowed into the garden to tempt me." 01:03:09.820 |
My condemnation and my suffering, had it not been for the cross of Christ, 01:03:20.820 |
Boasting only in the cross means, one, wholeheartedly acknowledging that Christ's suffering was unjust. 01:03:30.820 |
Two, wholeheartedly acknowledging that my condemnation and my suffering is just. 01:03:39.820 |
Without the cross of Christ, standing between me and holy, holy, holy God, 01:03:46.820 |
of whose glory I fall utterly short, I stand condemned. 01:03:54.820 |
I fully deserve the full brunt of the wrath of God. 01:04:01.820 |
But amazingly, something happened during my sophomore year of high school where I perhaps, 01:04:05.820 |
also like the thief on the cross, heard a father forgive him for he does not know what he is doing, 01:04:13.820 |
and by his grace, I helplessly turned to Christ for mercy. 01:04:24.820 |
I was spiraling, imploding, decaying, and standing condemned. 01:04:31.820 |
I had nowhere else to go, and this is my boast. 01:04:38.820 |
For by grace, I have been saved through faith, and that not of myself, it is the gift of God, 01:04:46.820 |
not as a result of works, so that I may not boast except in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, 01:04:54.820 |
through which the world was crucified to me and I to the world. 01:04:59.820 |
Boasting only in the cross means, one, wholeheartedly acknowledging that Christ's suffering was unjust. 01:05:05.820 |
Two, wholeheartedly acknowledging that my condemnation and my suffering is just. 01:05:11.820 |
And thirdly, wholeheartedly acknowledging that by his grace alone, I am now walking in newness of life. 01:05:22.820 |
Twenty-nine years later, I am indeed walking in newness of life. 01:05:29.820 |
I have been a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come. 01:05:33.820 |
My heart of stone has been replaced with a tender heart of flesh, 01:05:39.820 |
and there is evidence that the Spirit of God isn't just in my heart as a seal and a deposit, 01:05:45.820 |
guaranteeing for me heaven, but he's actually making me look more and more like his son. 01:05:52.820 |
So there is objective evidence that he's not only my savior, but that he's also my Lord. 01:05:58.820 |
So there is real spiritual DNA there. There has been real fruit. Hallelujah. 01:06:11.820 |
There is still nothing to boast about outside of the cross of Christ. 01:06:17.820 |
There is still residual sin in my flesh of which I am continuing to be sanctified. 01:06:26.820 |
Sin is dead in me, but it is still dying, and I remain weak and helpless. 01:06:33.820 |
And it is a humbling and often a humiliating thing that I am still utterly dependent on the grace of God alone in the work of Christ alone. 01:06:50.820 |
Praise God. A lot of the external has been cleansed. 01:06:56.820 |
A lot of the external has become objectively holier. 01:07:01.820 |
Praise God that when I now tell my kids to be kind to our dog, Bailey, I'm totally not being a hypocrite. 01:07:08.820 |
And I promise that if the Honda or the Toyota that you drive is missing a sign from your car, it's not me. 01:07:15.820 |
But you know what still remains in my flesh? So much weakness. 01:07:21.820 |
In fact, there is nothing good in me outside of Christ. 01:07:25.820 |
It began with grace. It continues only in grace. 01:07:34.820 |
In my weakness, I need his grace to build, to not build my own kingdom in the name of his kingdom. 01:07:41.820 |
In my weakness, I need his grace because I regularly fail in being a Christ-like shepherd, a Christ-like son, a Christ-like husband, a Christ-like father. 01:07:55.820 |
In my weakness, I can still be so susceptible to the thievery, to the rage, and to the deception. 01:08:07.820 |
In my weakness, I need his grace not to gratify whatever residual lusts that exist in my flesh. 01:08:20.820 |
In my weakness, I need his grace so that when I'm wronged, I don't wrong back. 01:08:32.820 |
In this newness of life, I'm still so very delicate, fragile, and weak, and I cannot but still boast in the cross of Christ alone. 01:08:42.820 |
And praise God that he who is great, he who is in me is greater than he who is in the world. 01:08:48.820 |
I do not have to pretend to be stronger than I am. 01:08:53.820 |
And it drives me nuts that there's always that reflexive effort to paint myself as holier than I am or as stronger than I am. 01:09:06.820 |
I am still so weak, but I press on through faith. 01:09:14.820 |
Galatians 2, 20-21 reads, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. 01:09:25.820 |
In the life I now live, in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. 01:09:35.820 |
I do not ever nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly." 01:09:56.820 |
We embrace our sanctification in faith, and we continue in faith to boast only in the cross. 01:10:05.820 |
And I believe that the Lord in his grace ordains things to regularly remind us of these things. 01:10:14.820 |
To remind us that our boast, even as we walk in this newness of life, is still only in the cross. 01:10:22.820 |
The thief on the cross died there on the cross, so we do not know what walking in newness of life would look like for him. 01:10:31.820 |
But we do have an example in the apostle Peter. 01:10:39.820 |
"Even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away." 01:10:46.820 |
And Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times." 01:10:57.820 |
And Peter said to him, "Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you." 01:11:04.820 |
And all the disciples said the same thing too. 01:11:07.820 |
So prior to the crucifixion of Christ, Peter's boast was in his flesh. 01:11:12.820 |
It was in his affections and it was in his loyalty. 01:11:16.820 |
He trusted in his resolve, in his determination to stay loyal to Jesus. 01:11:23.820 |
And he recognized that Jesus had recognized the leadership quality in him. 01:11:31.820 |
Peter trusted in the fact that Jesus had promised to build his church on Peter. 01:11:54.820 |
He's kicking himself. He's weeping and he's lamenting. 01:12:00.820 |
And one of the most sanctifying and powerful gifts that Christ left with Peter 01:12:07.820 |
was to remind him to boast only in the cross of Christ. 01:12:19.820 |
You know what's so sad and ironic about the rooster? 01:12:31.820 |
Travel outside the U.S. You'll see roosters everywhere. 01:12:39.820 |
And Peter, the rock, the fearless leader of the apostles, 01:12:44.820 |
has to wake up every single morning to the chorus of reminders 01:12:50.820 |
that he had denied Christ, that he had abandoned Christ in the hour of need, 01:12:55.820 |
that he wasn't even present at the crucifixion. 01:13:00.820 |
And I sometimes like to imagine what sorts of thoughts would be running through his head 01:13:12.820 |
I wonder what goes on in Peter's heart when he is talking about the cross of Christ. 01:13:19.820 |
And I also wonder what was going through his mind when he himself was being crucified. 01:13:25.820 |
Can you imagine with me? Imagine what Peter's thinking as he's going to the cross. 01:13:30.820 |
Church tradition had it that he was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to be crucified right side up like Jesus was. 01:13:40.820 |
The fearless leader of the apostles, who was not even present at the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior, 01:13:47.820 |
was saved by grace alone and lived by grace alone. 01:13:53.820 |
And he, like us, had no boast outside of the cross of Christ. 01:14:02.820 |
I want to take us back to the last moments of the Passion of the Christ, Matthew chapter 27, 45 to 51. 01:14:11.820 |
"Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. 01:14:18.820 |
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' 01:14:28.820 |
And that is, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' 01:14:35.820 |
And some of those who were standing there when they heard it began saying, 'This man is calling for Elijah.' 01:14:40.820 |
And immediately one of them ran and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour rind, put it on a reed and gave him a drink. 01:14:48.820 |
But the rest of them said, 'Let's see whether Elijah will come to save him.' 01:14:55.820 |
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and he yielded up his spirit. 01:15:01.820 |
And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook and the rocks were split." 01:15:10.820 |
I had shared with you that Jesus' suffering was first socio-emotional and then physical. 01:15:18.820 |
Here we see the moment of his greatest suffering, his rejection from his father. 01:15:27.820 |
And Jesus' perfect union with his father is fractured, not because of anything he had done wrong, 01:15:36.820 |
but because he would take on the sins of the world. 01:15:43.820 |
A holy God cannot but look on sin with utter hatred. 01:15:52.820 |
And on the cross, Jesus, the sacrificial lamb, is looked upon with utter hatred. 01:16:03.820 |
I'm not sure how many of us have ever experienced a look of utter hatred. 01:16:09.820 |
I'm not talking about a simple look of displeasure or disgust or annoyance or even like a momentary display of anger. 01:16:18.820 |
I'm talking about a look of loathing, of absolute hatred. 01:16:26.820 |
The man Jesus for all eternity had a perfect union with the heavenly Father. 01:16:32.820 |
When he went to pray to his father, I'm sure there was a face-to-face intimate communication. 01:16:40.820 |
Jesus was the perfect son with whom God the Father was well pleased. 01:16:46.820 |
And Jesus had not once transgressed or sinned against his holy father, whom he loved perfectly. 01:16:53.820 |
But on that cross, when Jesus voluntarily takes on the sins of all humanity, 01:17:01.820 |
he bears the hateful wrath of holy, holy, holy God, who hates sin with every part of his being. 01:17:12.820 |
And for the very first time, the perfect and intimate fellowship between God the Father and God the Son is broken. 01:17:19.820 |
And this is the greatest of Christ's sufferings. 01:17:24.820 |
Not man's rejections, not the scourging or being hoisted up on the cross. 01:17:33.820 |
If you do a little bit of reading, you'll discover that many saints have similarly suffered social rejection. 01:17:40.820 |
Many saints have died physically in the same way Christ died. 01:17:46.820 |
In fact, some have died even more gruesome deaths. 01:17:51.820 |
But no one has unjustly suffered spiritually the way Christ suffered when he who had known no sin had become sin. 01:18:05.820 |
So that you and I sitting here today could become the righteousness of God. 01:18:14.820 |
So what is there in the world or in your life or in your religiosity of which you can boast? 01:18:23.820 |
What is there in your life that you can pat yourself on the back for? 01:18:30.820 |
Today is Good Friday. And it's a good Friday. 01:18:36.820 |
Not because the circumstances or the events leading up to it were good. 01:18:41.820 |
This is Good Friday because the veil was torn. 01:18:45.820 |
And now we who had once been far away could now be reconciled and be brought back to the presence of him for whom we were created. 01:18:55.820 |
And so like the Apostle Paul, we only proclaim Christ crucified. 01:19:13.820 |
2 Corinthians 5, 20-21, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ." 01:19:22.820 |
"As though God were making an appeal through us." 01:19:28.820 |
"We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." 01:19:34.820 |
"He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him." 01:19:51.820 |
In a moment, we're going to open up the communion tables. 01:19:56.820 |
And I'm going to ask the leaders to come up and prepare for the communion table. 01:20:03.820 |
There's going to be a chart up here, diagramming kind of how we are to move. 01:20:16.820 |
And the communion table is open only for believers. 01:20:21.820 |
If you have not put your faith in Jesus Christ, we ask that you would just observe and refrain. 01:20:31.820 |
But if you are a child of God, I do encourage you to take some time to reflect, to pray, and to think deeply upon what is your boast. 01:20:48.820 |
And then I'm going to pray, and then we're going to get our communion started. 01:20:54.820 |
It reads, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you." 01:21:02.820 |
"That the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was betrayed, he took bread." 01:21:07.820 |
"And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body which is for you.'" 01:21:16.820 |
"In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood.'" 01:21:25.820 |
"Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." 01:21:29.820 |
"For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." 01:21:37.820 |
"Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord." 01:21:47.820 |
"And let a man examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup." 01:21:58.820 |
Father, on this evening, we just ask that you would remind us afresh of the absolute centrality of the cross of Jesus Christ. 01:22:24.820 |
What it means for our past, what it means for our present, and what that means for our future. 01:22:35.820 |
Help us to think deeply upon our sins that have put you there. 01:22:44.820 |
That we would move toward repentance in the areas that we see of residual sin. 01:22:55.820 |
That we would continue to pursue newness of life in Christ out of delight and joy. 01:23:08.820 |
And as we take the communion now, I pray Father God that you would encourage us afresh and fill us with much delight. 01:23:26.820 |
To you be the glory tonight as we partake in the bread and the cup. 01:30:53.820 |
You guys are on the sides. I would encourage some of you guys to come 01:31:03.740 |
toward the middle so that we could facilitate the handing out of the elements. 01:32:27.140 |
The communion table will be closing in about a minute so if you haven't done so 01:32:37.140 |
and you're intending to take the communion, please do come on up at this moment. 01:33:07.900 |
The communion table is now closed. Can we join our hearts in a time of prayer 01:33:28.900 |
as we ask that the praise team to come on back up. 01:33:40.900 |
for the life you lived and then the death you died 01:33:47.900 |
in our stead. We pray, Father God, that you would continue to help us to grow in grace 01:33:55.900 |
and knowing your word and hearing your voice and loving you with all our heart, soul, mind, 01:34:02.900 |
and strength and in turn loving the neighbors that you've called us to love. 01:34:08.900 |
We eagerly await Sunday morning and we pray, Father God, from here till then 01:34:15.900 |
you would cause us to continue in humility and to seek after a greater intimacy 01:34:24.900 |
with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and it's in his name that we pray, amen. 01:34:31.900 |
Let us all rise as we sing our closing praise. 01:34:47.900 |
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. 01:34:57.900 |
Let the water and the flood from that wounded side which flows 01:35:08.900 |
be of sin the double choice. Save from wrath and make me pure. 01:35:21.900 |
Not the length of my hands can fulfill the law's demands. 01:35:32.900 |
Could my zeal no rest behold? Could my tears forever hold? 01:35:42.900 |
All for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. 01:36:11.900 |
Nothing in my life, nothing in my hand I bring. 01:36:18.900 |
Simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress. 01:36:29.900 |
Helpless look to thee for grace. My life to the mountain fly. 01:37:03.900 |
While I draw, while I draw this fleeting breath. 01:37:10.900 |
When my eyes shall close in death. When I soar to worlds unknown. 01:37:21.900 |
See thee on thy judgment throne. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 01:37:58.900 |
Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. 01:38:09.900 |
Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. 01:38:20.900 |
My life to the mountain fly. Wash me Savior or I die. 01:38:34.900 |
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and love of God the Father, 01:38:44.900 |
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each and every one of us 01:38:50.900 |
who makes our boast only in the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 01:38:59.900 |
We'll see you on Sunday. I don't have any other announcements, 01:39:08.900 |
so please do take some time to fellowship and drive home carefully,