Good Friday or Horrible Friday?

For everyone here. Why is today called good? I would look at the last few hours of Christ's life to see how things unfolded for him.

From a human point of view, this story should be called Horrible Friday. Let's look at Luke 22. We'll start Luke 22, verses 1 to 6.

Now the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, and the chief priests and the teachers-in-law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.

Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the twelve. And Judas went out to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.

They were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present. One of Jesus' disciples agreed to sell Jesus to the Jewish leaders.

This was someone Jesus had poured three years discipling into, and he sold them for 30 pieces of silver. He felt that was of some value.

This is a major attack on Christ. Luke 22, 24 to 26. And a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be the greatest.

Jesus said to them, The king of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who exercise authority over them called themselves benefactors.

But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest of you amongst you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like one who serves. Very human question.

Who is the greatest? They were, the disciples were arguing who is the greatest. This is a blow to Jesus. Three years of discipleship, And that's what they could focus on.

Luke 22, 45. When he arose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.

Why are you sleeping? He asked them. Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation. At a time when Jesus needed support in prayer, the disciples could not focus on what was important, but nodded off.

So this is the most crucial time. Just before the crucifixion, Jesus wanted their support, and they slipped. 22, 47.

While he was still speaking, a crowd came up, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?

When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, Lord, should we strike with our swords? And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

Judas, one of Christ's twelve disciples, betrays him. Luke 22, 45-62.

Then seizing him, they led him away, and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance, but when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them.

A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, this man was with him, but he denied it. Woman, I don't know what you're, I don't know him.

A little later, someone else saw him and said, you were one of them. Man, I am not, Peter replied. About an hour later, another asserted, certainly, this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.

Peter answered, man, I don't know what you're talking about. Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the words the Lord had spoken to him.

Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. Peter, who vowed to die with Christ only a few hours earlier, is intimidated by a slave girl.

And then Luke 22, 63 to 65. The men who were guarding Jesus began to mock in beating him. They blindfolded him, demanded, prophesy, who hit you?

And when they had said many other insulting things to him, the Roman soldiers mocked him. Luke 22, 61 to 71, 66 to 71.

At daybreak, the council of the elders and the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together and Jesus was held before them. If you were the Christ, they said, tell us. Jesus answered, if I tell you, you will not believe me.

And if I answer you, you would not answer. But from now on, the son of man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God. They all asked, are you then the son of God?

He said, the son of, yeah, are you the son of God? He said, you are right in saying I am. Then they said, why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from their own lips.

Kangaroo court. That's all it was. Kangaroo court. Other gospels tell how false accusations were made, but nothing stuck until Jesus admitted to being the son of God.

Luke 23, 1 to 3. Then the whole assembly led away and rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, we have found this man subverting our nation.

He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ. A king. So Pilate asked Jesus, are you the king of the Jews? Yes, it is, as they said, Jesus replied.

So, false accusations. Jesus never said, don't pay taxes and he never wanted to be, never claimed to be a king that rivaled Caesar. He is a king, but he's not a human king.

So anyways, this was again, false accusations. Luke 23, 6 to 11. On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean.

Then he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction. He sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased because for a long time he'd been wanting to see him.

He wanted a circus show. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracles. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him.

Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him, dressing up in an elegant robe. They sent him back to Pilate. Luke 23, 13 to 24.

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers of the people and said to them, You brought me this man as one who incited the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him.

Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. As you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and then release him. With one voice they cried out, Away with this man.

Release Barabbas to us. Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city and for murder. Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again, but they kept crying out, Crucify him.

Crucify him. For the third time, he spoke to them, Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found him no grounds for death penalty. Therefore, we'll have him punished and released.

So this is Barabbas. Not Jesus was chosen by the crowd to be released. Barabbas led an insurrection against Rome and probably murder of a Roman soldier.

John 19, 8-12 describes what happened, 8-12.

Then Pilate heard this. He was even more afraid and went back inside the palace. Where do you come from? He had asked Jesus. But Jesus gave him no answer.

Do you refuse to speak to me? Pilate said. Don't you realize I have the power either to free you or to crucify you? Jesus answered, You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.

Therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin. We see how Pilate was terrified of sending Jesus to be killed. Knowing the stories of Jesus' miracles, Pilate did not doubt that Jesus could call down unforeseen forces to protect himself.

As you read these last few verses, the crowd that had a week earlier, Palm Sunday, had laid palm trees down for Christ to come into Jerusalem. We're now rejecting him because he did not weaned an armed insurrection against the hated conquering Jews, or Romans, against the Romans.

Jesus is seen as captured on trial and defeated, not the mighty general to lead the country into a miraculous victory.

They instead were being cajoled by the Sanhedrin to ask for Barnabas' release. This was the lowest blow to Jesus, rejection by the people.

John 19, 1-3 describes the flogging of Jesus. Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head.

They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again saying, O Christ, or O King of the Jews. And they struck him in the face. So, Jesus was flogged.

And not just flogged, he was beat within an inch of his life. This was a Roman soldier's great revenge. Jewish. They hated the Jews who were never a submissive people.

There was a constant guerrilla war going on with individual Romans being killed whenever possible. The Jews felt they could win a rebellion with the right leader against the Romans like their ancestors had against the Greeks during the Maccabean Revolt which was about 150 years earlier.

From the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar till May 14, 1948, Israel, 2,600 years. Israel was not a nation.

Though they remained God's chosen people, they were always conquered. They were, if it wasn't the Romans, the Greeks, Babylonians, the Assyrians, it was the Turks in the latter days.

England was their control of them in the 1900s. So you see, they were never a nation until May 14, 1948. Though they remained God's chosen people.

Just keep watching for things, for the miracles God will perform in Israel. Matthew 24, 1-2.

Matthew, Mark. Just a week before Jesus prophesied about such a revolt and Jesus was, Jesus left the temple and was walking down, walking away when his disciples came to him calling his attention to its building.

Do you see these things? He said, I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another. Each, every one will be thrown down. So Christ was prophesying that the temple, which was a magnificent building, built of huge stones would be thrown down and not one stone left on one another.

And in A.D. 70, about 40 years after Christ's crucifixion, the Jews rebelled and the Roman soldiers burnt the temple, melting the gold that lined the interior.

The Romans destroyed the temple for the gold and then deported many Jews to other countries. Matthew 27, 45, and 46.

These are the hardest words Jesus ever spoke. From the sixth hour until the ninth hour, darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama shabakani, which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Amen. Amen. Corinthians, we'll go to Corinthians, chapter 5.

And, it explains why. Corinthians 5, 21.

So that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus took our sins, the factor that separates us from fellowship with God.

At this point in time, God turned his back on Jesus. That was the hardest thing. God turned his back. Luke, 23, 44, and 45.

In about the ninth hour, darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. For the sun stopped shining and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out in a loud voice, Father, into your hands I committed my spirits.

When he had said this, he breathed his last. This was his defeat on the cross. This is a story with a truly horrible ending.

ending. If this was the ending. To understand these events, we need to look at them in context of the Old Testament.

It is not by chance that Jesus was crucified just before the Passover. This is a solemn time remembering how each individual was protected from having the firstborn family member die.

Without the blood of the Lamb, nothing could be protected. Let's go way back into Exodus. You have to understand what was happening at this time and why this was important to have the crucifixion at this exact time.

Exodus 12. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, this month is to be for you, the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth month of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.

If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with his nearest neighbor. Having taken into account the number of people there are, you are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat.

The animals you choose must be a firstborn male without defect and you may take them with the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.

The very exact way of doing things. Then they are to take some of the blood, put it on the sides and top of the door frames of their homes where they eat the lambs.

Then that same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water but roasted over the fire, head, legs, inner parts.

Do not leave any till morning. If some is left till morning you must burn it. This is how you eat it with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand.

Eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. This is the scary part. On the same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn, both men and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt.

I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

So this is the Passover. This is the reason that this date was extremely important. The significance to the Jews was never lost. It was the blood.

But what's significant about the blood? Go to Leviticus chapter 17 verse 11. This explains a lot. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar.

It is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. Therefore I say to the Israelites, none of you may eat blood, nor may the alien living among you eat blood.

So it is the blood that makes atonement on the altar. So it is the blood that makes atonement on the altar. Back to Luke.

Luke 23. Luke 23. 44 to 46. Again, I read these verses. It was now the sixth hour, and the darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.

For the sun stopped shining, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. When he had said this, he breathed his last.

the absolute second, Jesus died. The sacrificial's lamb blood paid for all the sins of all who believe in him.

Only the high, before this, in the Old Testament times, only the high priest could go behind the curtain once a year to offer blood on the Ark of the Covenant. And because of this, because the curtain is ripped, ripped in two, now we have the direct access to God.

Not needing a priest to offer sacrifices on our behalf. The Holy Spirit is now with us at all times. Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Levitical law.

So he filled that. He did all the things that were necessary for the people to have true fellowship with God. To understand how the blood of Jesus saves us, we need to define who Jesus is.

Was he a nice guy, a good teacher, or the mighty God creator and judge? Genesis chapter 1 declares how God created the world in six days.

Incredibly, science proves creation because of the complexity of life. Paleontologists find pliable bone marrow in dinosaur bones.

You know, how can something 69 million years old still have pliable bone marrow? The James Webb telescope debunked the Big Bang theory just lately, within the last year.

The farthest galaxies are too mature for the Big Bang theory to hold any validity. Geology over all the world proves Noah's flood. Thousand layer, foot layers of mud, many of them, one on top of the other, and finding trees and bones in certain layers, this proves that things happen very, very fast.

This flood happened very fast. Let's go to Colossians chapter 1, 15 to 20. This is Christ.

This is the definition of Christ. Colossians. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers, or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have supremacy.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.

Jesus is the creator of all things, material and government. He holds all things together. Firstborn from the dead, he alone, alone is able to reconcile everything through his shed blood.

If Jesus had remained in the tomb, it would have been a victory for Satan. After being deceived by Satan, Eve and Adam chose to disobey God, the Lord made a prophetic judgment.

Genesis 3, 15, And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

Indeed, Satan had struck Jesus' heel. Christ died. Jesus was elated. Luke 24, 5 to 8.

In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here.

He has risen. Remember how he told you while you were still in Galilee, the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful man to be crucified, and on the third day be raised again.

Then they remembered these words. This is the most amazing statement. He is not dead. He is risen. That's for Satan.

He is defeated. Satan doesn't know things. If Satan would have had his way, he would have had mattresses surrounding Jesus so that Jesus died an old man's death, not the death on a cross, because it was his blood that is the sanctification.

Once we realize this, what do we do with it? What do we do with this knowledge? The New Testament gives us instructions on how to receive eternal life and live with God in heaven through the bloodshed and rebirth of Jesus.

John chapter 14, 6-8. Jesus answered, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.

Jesus made it clear that the only way through him is the only way is through him that we can know God. No one and nothing else can be a way to know God.

1 Peter 1, 17-21.

You have called on a Father who judges each man's work impartially. Live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear, for you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God who raised him from the dead and glorified him, so your faith and hope are in God.

God, we cannot buy our way out of God's judgment. The God who created every galaxy in the universe has no use for a few dollars.

Even billions mean nothing to God. Nothing we do is good enough for God. If our own efforts were not perfect, absolutely perfect, they are filthy rags to God.

None of us can ever do anything that's perfect. Romans chapter 3 21 to 25 Now our righteousness from God apart from law has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify.

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. God. There is nobody in this whole world except for Christ that has ever not been a sinner.

Romans 6 23. 6 19 to 23. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural cells.

Just as you used to offer the parts of your bodies in slavery or impartiality and purity and to every increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? those things result in death.

But now you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God. The benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God pays fairly. Eternal death. Can you imagine that? Eternal separation from God, eternal judgment, but also God gives freely.

The gift is free, you earn no right to go to hell. Eternal life through faith. Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 is a powerful verses that really explain what we have.

For it is by grace you have been saved. Through faith in this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not by works so that no one can boast.

We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. God's grace.

He didn't annihilate Adam and Eve. He didn't destroy Noah. He doesn't come down and say the first time you sin you're dead. It is God's grace that you've been saved and it's only through faith.

We must believe in him. We don't earn this. Nothing we can do can get us to heaven. It's because of God's grace and our faith. And this is not from us.

It is from God. A gift of God. And not anything we can do. Not by works so that no one can boast. Clearly, if we don't earn or pay for eternal life with God in heaven, Christ's blood paid for eternal life.

2 Corinthians 7, 10 and 11. Lifetime of repentance.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret. But worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you.

What earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point, you have proved yourself to be innocent in this matter.

So we must judge ourselves. Once we have salvation in Christ, we look at ourselves. It's not just, well, now I've said a few words and I'm going to heaven.

It's a lifetime of repentance, judging ourselves and living a life honoring God. Forgiveness is not achieved by saying a few words, asking for forgiveness and then going on an unrepentant life.

One of the most well-known verses in the Bible, John 3.16, but not just 3.16, 3.16, 17, and 18.

For God so loved the world that he gave us one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. This is the hard part.

whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the God's one and only Son.

It's very clear. If you don't believe in the redemption of Christ and his one and only Son, then there is eternal punishment.

We are condemned. what happened to Jesus? If he is not in the grave, then where?

Revelation chapter 5. Chapter verse 6.

Then I saw a lamb standing as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, came out onto all the earth.

And 11 to 14. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.

In a loud voice they sang, Worthy is the lamb who was slain. To receive power and wealth, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and praise.

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that in them singing, to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be praise and honor and glory and power forever.

forever. So that's where Christ is. He's receiving these accolades and it'll be forever. Revelation 20 verse 10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophets have been thrown.

They will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. This is Satan. This is the devil. Satan is doomed to hell.

This is the crushed head described in Genesis. He has no hope. He never has hope. He rebelled and this is his judgment.

But we read Revelation 21, 6 to 8. He said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

That's Jesus. To him who is thirsty, I give him the drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this and I will be his God and he will be my son.

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

This is the second death. it is clear that those who don't ask for eternal forgiveness are doomed to eternally spend the rest of eternity and it's not really called life but they will spend eternity in a sulfur pit.

Burning sulfur. You cannot imagine how horrible that will be. And that's why it's so important to accept Christ, to acknowledge that he died on the cross.

When Christ cried out to God on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This is the punishment he endured on the cross instead of us.

He paid for that, that we don't have to go to hell. The last two chapters of Revelation tell the beautiful story of heaven, our eternal relationship with other believers, and the most beautiful and eternal relationship with the Lamb of God.

Why is today called Good Friday and not Horrible Friday? This is the good news, the gospel story. We are sinners separated from God, doomed to eternal punishment, but a loving Christ will take that punishment in our place if, that's a big if, we repent and believe in him.

No one is forced to believe in Christ, but everyone is given the option to believe. Thank you. кто to acknowledge minutes to finish