[0:00] If you would open up your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15 is in your New Testament.! It's on page 1142 of your Black Pew Bible.
[0:12] ! Which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved.
[0:35] If you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received.
[0:49] That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. That He was buried. That He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
[1:02] May God bless the hearing of His Word. This weekend is a Gospel weekend. And what I mean by Gospel is the Christian good news.
[1:15] That Jesus Christ died and was raised to rescue sinners from God's wrath. And to reconcile them to Himself in peace.
[1:31] There are a lot of Gospels out there. Various people making various claims of good news of various sorts. There are political Gospels.
[1:46] The Gospel according to the right and the Gospel according to the left. There are the Hedonistic Gospels. That promise good news in pleasure.
[2:01] There is the Gospel of greed that says you will be happy with as much as you can get. There is the Gospel of ease and entertainment.
[2:15] Which is to deliver you from boredom. None of these so-called Gospels can actually save you from God's wrath to come.
[2:33] And this weekend is the weekend that we as Christians uniquely set on our calendar. The Friday and the Sunday to remember the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
[2:47] His death and His resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4. Did you notice that the Apostle kind of draws out highlights to items of the Gospel.
[2:58] Two essential facts. Two vital claims to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In 15, 3 he says it this way. The first claim is Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.
[3:15] And then the second claim is in 15, 4. Where we read that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
[3:25] Both the cross of Christ, His death, and the resurrection of Christ, the empty tomb, are vital to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
[3:36] You pull one of them out, you cease to have a Gospel. And tonight, what I'm going to focus on is what happened on Friday. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.
[3:52] And so I'm going to move through it in three steps. Our sins. Christ died in accordance with the Scriptures. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only good news by which sinners can be saved from God's wrath.
[4:08] So let's talk about our sins. 15, 3. Christ died for our sins.
[4:21] Sin is any thought, any feeling, any word, any deed that opposes God's holy character in moral will.
[4:37] His perfect moral will revealed in His Word. Any thought, any feeling, any word, any action that opposes God in His Word. That's sin.
[4:48] Sin. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And the Bible pictures sin in a variety of different ways. It describes sin as a rebellion, as idolatry, as even a disease.
[5:01] We tend to sin in one of two ways. We sin by way of commission, which goes like this.
[5:13] God tells us something not to do, and we do it. We commit a sin. And then we also sin by omission. God tells us to do something, and we don't do it.
[5:24] Either way, it's grievous in God's sight. Jesus said it this way. When it comes to being the standard by which we are to aim for, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
[5:43] In all of your thoughts, in all of your feelings, in every word you speak, in every action that you do, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
[5:53] And all of a sudden, we are all very aware that none of us is perfect in the room. No one's perfect in this room. And what that can do is this.
[6:07] We can say, well, okay, none of us are perfect. And we lose sight of what God is actually calling us to. Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
[6:19] We all fall short of God's glorious perfection. Has anybody played the board game operation? Hasbro?
[6:31] It's this little dude laid out on his back. His name is Cavity Sam. And the goal is to take tweezers, and you bring those tweezers, and you're reaching the different cavities of Cavity Sam, and you're to pull out different ailments, and your metal tweezers are to go in there, and the goal is to get it out without touching the sides.
[6:49] Because if you touch the sides, the red nose glows, and there's this buzzer that goes, So when you're playing the game, everybody playing is lighting up the light and buzzing the buzzer.
[7:05] Maybe one person can at one time pull out an ailment without touching the side. When it comes to our speech, when it comes to our thoughts and our feelings and our actions, every time we think something or speak something, it's like we're reaching in for perfection, and we inevitably hit the side, hit the buzzer, light goes off, you've sinned again.
[7:42] One day in my life is a bunch of lights and buzzers. I'm guessing it's similar with you. We sin, we sin often.
[7:53] We sin so much, we get used to sin. We minimize sin. We diminish it. And one can ask this question.
[8:04] It's like, what is the big deal about sin? Well, sin, the big deal about sin, is the one you sin against.
[8:18] A perfect, holy God. Do you know what happens when a perfect, holy, and just God is sinned against?
[8:31] There is like a theological reaction. It produces the wrath of God in response to sin.
[8:43] God's wrath is His just, measured, precise response to sin, to our sin. And it's to punish sin.
[8:59] God's wrath is not to be trifled with. It's not to be diminished. We tend not to like to think about God's wrath, but we must think about God's wrath because God's wrath is an outworking of God's justice.
[9:20] And we do not want to be living in a universe in which God is not just. We can't have it both ways. Jesus speaks about God's wrath.
[9:32] Listen to what He has to say. This is John 3, 36. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
[9:44] Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. Remains on him.
[9:55] In Romans chapter 2, we read this about God's wrath. 2 verse 5. God's wrath is real.
[10:17] He's not indifferent towards sin. It provokes His just wrath. There's a phenomena happening in our country.
[10:29] Anybody know the name Elon Musk? There has been a string of Tesla vandalism. Video after video of people keying Teslas because they hate Elon Musk.
[10:45] Well, regardless of what you think about Elon Musk, this is just vandalism. It's an attack on his character, on his being.
[10:56] It might be owned by somebody else, but it's at him. And so whether you realize it or not, your sin is a keying of God's holy character and perfect will.
[11:12] It's moral vandalism against God. And I'm taking so much time to talk about sin because I want you to feel the weight of it.
[11:23] The Bible is very clear that each one of us is responsible for every one of our own sins against God.
[11:36] Everyone will be held accountable to God. In Matthew 25 and Revelation 20, we have these two great white throne judgment scenes.
[11:49] all are held to account. The consequence of sinning against a holy, perfect, eternal, just God is a holy, eternal, just punishment.
[12:11] The punishment fits the crime. So here's what I'm trying to help you think about on this Good Friday 2025.
[12:22] Our greatest problem is a wrath of God problem. A wrath of God problem that has been provoked by our sin, and we are under his wrath, and we must one day give an account to him.
[12:43] And I'm going to just be straight with you. There's no other gospel. There's no other gospel in the world that is going to bring good news to the ears of those who know they're condemned by their own sin.
[12:59] There's only one message. There's only one gospel. There's only one good news. It's of first importance because it deals with God's wrath.
[13:15] And so we move from talking about our sins to now let's talk about some really good news. Christ died. Christ died for our sins.
[13:34] As you know, the word Christ is a title. It means Messiah. And the Old Testament is full of prophecies of the coming Messiah, the coming Christ, God's anointed one who would come and establish a forever kingdom.
[13:50] In fact, we spend a lot of time talking about the coming of Jesus during Christmas time. And one of my favorite passages, I would preach on this every December if I could, it's Isaiah 9, 6 and 7.
[14:08] Listen, of this Christ. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. It's a human being. And the government shall be upon his shoulder.
[14:23] He's a king. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
[14:33] Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom. To establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.
[14:46] The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. You see, the Christ is totally God, mighty God, and totally man. Child given to us, a son given.
[14:57] And what you need to know about this Christ as totally God, second person of the Trinity, he's eternal.
[15:09] And what you also need to know about this Christ is that when he took on human flesh, he was the perfection of humanity. He never sinned once. He was a sinless human.
[15:21] And so what that does in one person, totally God, totally man, you have the perfect go-between, a holy God and a sinful man.
[15:32] Yet he never sinned. His name is Jesus. The good news of the Christian gospel is that this Christ, this totally God, totally man, eternal and sinless, died.
[15:51] Where did he die? He died on a hill outside of Jerusalem called Golgotha or Calvary. When did he die?
[16:02] He died nearly 2,000 years ago. We're second coming up on two millennia and his death is as effective as it has ever been. How did he die? He died by crucifixion, which is one of the most horrific ways to die.
[16:17] It's designed to bring about the most pain physically, psychologically, socially. It's humiliating. But the real question is why?
[16:37] Why did the Christ die? Why? Why did this Jesus, totally God, totally man, eternal and sinless, why did he die?
[16:50] He was sinless. Christ died for our sins.
[17:02] I want to introduce you three words right now that talk about his sacrificial death. Penal, substitutionary, atonement.
[17:17] Penal means penalty, to be penalized. The death that Jesus died, he bore as a penalty. He bore the wrath of God meant for us.
[17:31] He was penalized with our penalty. Substitutionary. Means in our place. Christ died for our sins on our behalf.
[17:51] The wrath meant for me fell upon him in full. The penalty that was for me, Jesus took on himself as my substitute, as your substitute.
[18:06] And it was an atoning death. It was a removal of the penalty of sin by a satisfying of God's wrath. You remember that God's wrath, because God is eternal, it is eternal in its scope.
[18:22] Well, the eternal Son of God bore all of God's wrath for eternity, six hours one Friday afternoon.
[18:34] Which means, he bore all of God's wrath for our sins. all of it.
[18:52] And by it, he rescues sinners. Christ, totally God, totally man, eternal and sinless, died in our place, bearing the penalty for our sins, God's wrath, satisfying God's wrath, once and for all, removing the penalty of sin, we've been atoned.
[19:18] Penal, substitutionary, atonement, he died for our sins. There's another reason. There's another reason why he died.
[19:35] Because he loves you. He wanted to reconcile you to himself. But God demonstrates his own love towards us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
[19:53] Out of love for us, he died for our sins. To rescue us from God's wrath and to reconcile us to himself in peace.
[20:06] Jesus. This, this is the best news any sinner knowingly condemned by their sin. This is the best news they'll ever hear.
[20:19] Because God's wrath was poured out on full on another in your place. Jesus.
[20:32] There's no other gospel. because no other gospel can rescue you from God's wrath. And it is such a loving message.
[20:46] The last phrase we move from. Our sins. Christ died in accordance with the scriptures. Christ's penal, substitutionary atonement, that sacrificial death.
[21:01] it turns out that it is central to God's plan of salvation for the fullness of time as evidenced by the testimony of scripture.
[21:18] There are many Old Testament scriptures that prophesy of the coming of the Christ. But one stands out as a as a clear prophecy of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ, of the Christ.
[21:41] And we've been reading it tonight. Isaiah 53. This was written 700, 750 years before Jesus walked the earth as a man.
[21:51] and it's about the substitutionary work of the Christ. I'm going to read a portion of it, a portion Cindy just read, but I'm going to read it in a way I want you to listen for the substitutionary work of the Christ.
[22:13] Surely he has borne our griefs. Substitute. And carried our sorrows.
[22:25] Substitute. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions.
[22:37] Substitute. He was crushed for our iniquities. Substitute. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
[22:49] substitute. And with his wounds we are healed. Substitute.
[23:01] All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Substitute.
[23:15] Would you look down at verse 10? yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. The loving will of God. The holy will of God.
[23:29] The just will. Because in the death of Jesus, God is able to remain just and the justifier of sinners. It's glorious.
[23:44] In accordance with the scriptures, the penal substitutionary atonement of the Christ is the fulfillment of Isaiah 53.
[24:03] Which means God has a plan, has had a plan all along to rescue sinners from his wrath and to reconcile them to himself in peace through Christ's death.
[24:19] You see, the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is one long good news about Jesus Christ.
[24:32] Do you know what it does? If you're getting this, it makes you realize what's written in Romans 8.1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[24:45] There is no more wrath hanging over our heads because of what Christ has done. And that should make your soul sing. That's the good news.
[24:57] That's the amazing grace. Good Friday is a reminder of the Christian good news that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.
[25:14] And that's what this table is about. The bread and the cup, they represent the body and blood of Jesus given for us, sacrifice, his death, to be able to rescue us from God's wrath.
[25:33] wrath. If you trust in Christ alone to rescue you from the wrath of God, you are welcome to the table.
[25:49] But if you're not a Christian, just pass the elements, just pass them by. at this point, I'd like to ask those serving to come forward.
[26:04] And what we'll do is we will distribute the elements, all of us will receive them, we'll take them together after I read some scripture, and then I have some words before we move on.
[26:17] Let's Thank you.