[0:00] Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lamb of God for sinners slain. Jesus Christ, we praise your name. Amen.
[0:12] ! We've been walking through the account of Jesus' death this evening from the Gospel of John. And I just want to circle back to just one verse that we've already read this evening from John 19, verse 30.
[0:26] If you'd like to open up in your own Bibles or the Pew Bibles there in front of you, you can find our passage there in John 19, verse 30. And I just want to ask one question this evening tonight, which is, what makes Good Friday good?
[0:42] Why do we call the death of our God good? Growing up in my house, every Sunday there was a battle over who got to read the Sunday funnies first.
[0:56] And that was what we called the comic section in my house. I had to wrestle with three sisters, some one of four. And we would take turns reading a page. We'd tear that paper apart.
[1:07] I'd have a page. My sister would have a page. My sister would have a page. My sister would have a page. And we'd work an assembly line rotation until all of the comics had been read. And just about every Good Friday, a comic called BC comes to mind, written by a guy named Johnny Hart.
[1:25] I believe he's no longer with us now. His grandson is now writing the comics. But he wrote a comic called BC that featured a bunch of cavemen and prehistoric animals, really wrestling with a lot of life's hardest questions.
[1:42] And oftentimes around Good Friday, Easter, Christmas time, they would kind of put a Christian twist onto the comic. And the comic that I'm thinking of featured one caveman sitting on a hill looking out into the open, out into the sky.
[1:58] And he said, I really don't understand why they call it Good Friday. In fact, you know what? I hate the term Good Friday. This caveman friend was standing behind him.
[2:09] And he said, well, what do you mean? The man answered and he said, well, they hanged my Lord on a tree that day. Of course, that's a natural way to think of Good Friday.
[2:22] If that's all that you understand that happened on Good Friday is that Jesus died on a tree, then of course it's not very good, is it? It's a bad, bad Friday. And so the other thinks for a minute and then he responds, if you were going to be hanged on the tree that day and someone offered to take your place, how would you feel?
[2:45] The answer, of course, is good. This evening as we reflect tonight on the death of Christ, the songs that we've sung, the scriptures that we've read, the topic that we're considering tonight with the death of Jesus on the cross, it's somber.
[3:04] It's sad. It's heavy. I read this week and today, as I'm sure many of you did this week, I read about the death of Christ. We've read about his humiliation, being mocked and ridiculed, slapped and spat upon, a crown of thorns placed upon his head.
[3:25] We've read and we've heard about his pain and his suffering, nails in each hand hung upon the cross, excruciating physical pain, spiritual anguish.
[3:37] My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And then we've read ultimately about his death. And no doubt the events of this day are very sad and very heavy, but I do hope that tonight we can also see that this sacrifice, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, is very, very good for sinners like us.
[4:03] Amen? Amen. Amen. Our passage this evening gives us the final words of Jesus Christ before his death on the cross. Of course, these aren't his final words.
[4:14] The resurrection is right around the corner. He will live and he will speak again. He lives and he speaks today. But here in John 19 verse 30, we see his final words before he bows his head and gives up his spirit and enters into death.
[4:32] And what does he say? John 19 verse 30. Look there with me. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished.
[4:44] And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. It is finished. It's three words.
[4:56] Just one word in the original, tetelestai. It's a beautiful summary of what makes Good Friday so good for those who believe. And so what we need to do tonight is we need to understand exactly what is finished at the cross of Christ.
[5:12] For one thing, for Jesus, it is finished, is the completion of a perfect life. See, on the cross, hanging there on the cross, is no ordinary man.
[5:25] This is the perfect son of God. He died beside two thieves, yes, besides two guilty criminals, but he himself was no thief.
[5:37] He himself was completely innocent. This is the perfect son of God who came in total obedience to an eternal plan of God for the salvation of sinners. And for 33 years, he lived an entire life of total obedience to the Father.
[5:54] Complete submission. Perfect obedience and perfect resistance to every temptation. The author of Hebrews, it tells us that he was tempted and tried in every way as we are yet without sin.
[6:12] So now, because he himself has suffered when tempted, now he is able to help those who are being tempted. As Jesus hangs on the cross, as he hangs his head and gives up his spirit, he's bringing an end to a totally perfect life, which means it is finished for Jesus.
[6:32] This is the completion of a perfect sacrifice. The sacrificial system of the Old Testament, if you know your Bible, you know that the sacrificial system in the Old Testament required the slaughter of animals to pay for the sins of the people.
[6:48] And all of this was a very bloody system. And it temporarily paid for the sins of the people. It required a spotless, perfect lamb without blemish.
[7:00] And their shed blood covered the sins of the people. But now we see in the death of Christ, all of this was just a temporary pointer to something that's more real and more lasting and more effective and more permanent and more efficient for the cleansing of sin.
[7:19] Jesus Christ on the cross is the perfect sacrifice for sinners. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
[7:32] Here, Jesus is blameless, perfect, innocent, and He is slaughtered as a sacrifice in the place of sinners.
[7:44] His blood covers our sins. Praise God. God, which means it is finished, is the completion of a perfect plan.
[7:59] Jesus' death is no accident. It is not a tragic event, a tragic accident of human history. This death was the plan of God from before the ages began.
[8:12] God determined to send His own Son as the perfect sacrifice for sinners. We're told the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
[8:24] This was the plan. He's the Lamb that was slain from before the foundations of the world. God's plan from before the foundation of the world was to send His Son and glorify His name in the crucifixion of His Son in the place of sinners like me and you.
[8:44] It's good news for sinners like us. Because now for us it is finished. For us means that everything you and I need in order to be counted perfect in the sight of God is finished.
[8:59] It is found in Him. It is received by faith in Him. All of our striving is finished. All of our earning is finished.
[9:12] All of our worry about whether or not we can ever measure up or whether or not we can ever be good enough or whether or not God might ever accept somebody as messed up as me. All of that is finished.
[9:23] Why? Because simply by faith we receive the perfect record of Jesus Christ. For us by faith it is finished means that our debt is paid in full.
[9:40] His sacrifice is in our place. The wrath of God that was poured out on Him was the wrath of God that was owed to us.
[9:53] And God will never double charge the bill. Jesus Christ endured in full the wrath of God paid in full the debt that you and I owe.
[10:05] In the ancient world merchants just like they do today when there was a bill that was owed when it was paid in full they would write a little note on the top. It was just one word.
[10:16] You know what it said? The same word that came out of Jesus' mouth here on the cross to lest die. It is finished. The debt is paid in full for all who trust Him by faith.
[10:32] So now praise God it is finished means that we who know Him by faith are included in the eternal plan of God.
[10:45] I love the book of Ephesians and how Paul just gushes over what God has done for us in Christ. Listen to this from Ephesians chapter 1. He says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
[11:14] In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us and the beloved in Him we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him things in heaven and things on earth in Him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory in Him you also you also when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and believed in Him you also were sealed with the promised
[12:24] Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory if you have come to Christ in faith then you can say hallelujah this is me I am included in this eternal plan of God in Christ by faith I am blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ by faith I have been chosen from before the foundation of the world in Christ by faith I am holy and blameless before the throne of God in Christ by faith I am adopted as a son or a daughter of God through Christ by faith I have redemption through the blood of Christ I have been forgiven of every trespass I have been united to God by faith in Christ all praise be to God for his glorious grace you see why we call this good
[13:31] Randy Alcorn asks the same question he says what is good about good Friday why isn't it called bad Friday and he answers because out of the appallingly bad came what was inexpressibly good and the good trumps the bad because though the bad was temporary the good is eternal friend we end this evening with Christ crucified but we call it good because we know that just around the corner is Easter Sunday his resurrection is ultimately what makes good Friday so good because by it he conquers the grave and lives to offer eternal life to any sinner who comes to him in faith A.W.
[14:26] Pink says it like this he says it is finished is but one word in the original yet in that one word is wrapped up the gospel of God in that word is contained the ground of the believer's assurance in that word is discovered the sum of all joy and the very spirit of all consolation it is finished we're gonna stand and respond in just a moment by singing together but before we do I would like to invite you to respond this evening each and every one of us to respond this evening with just a moment of silent prayer as we sit right where we are and reflect on the cross of Christ I want you to sit and just pray and I want you to ask yourself and pray through these three questions for just a moment number one is good
[15:26] Friday good for me in other words do I see my sin paid in full at the cross of Christ do I trust Jesus Christ by faith to be the perfect sacrifice for my sin to bring me to God is it good for me second question do I grieve the sin that put him there have I repented of my sin is there any lingering sin still in our life that we need to confess and make right with the Lord this evening is there anything that we need to repent of this evening what better time than now here on Good Friday to confess that to the Lord and then look to the cross and rejoice your sin is paid in full your guilt is removed question number three am I filled with awe and wonder at what God has done in Christ am I marveling at the gospel of
[16:34] Jesus Christ am I filled with gratitude for the Lord for what he's done for me in the life and the death of Jesus let's take just a moment and pray through these three questions and I'll close us in prayer in just a moment let's pray we praise you and we thank you for the cross of Christ and we do pray that for every single individual in this room that we can look at the cross of Christ and say that's good for me that I trust the sacrifice of Christ to be sufficient for me I need the salvation of Jesus Christ that's only found in him he's my only hope to be made right with the holy God is by faith in him only by his blood can I be made right with you I pray every soul in this room would sing those words to you tonight I pray that we would we would grieve and repent of our sin this evening Lord we confess all we like sheep have gone astray every one of us has turned to his own way
[17:40] Lord but we rejoice the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all and Father we pray that each and every one of us would be filled with awe and wonder and gratitude Lord that we would magnify the glory of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ as we reflect on what Jesus has done for us Lord we love you you are worthy of our praise we pray this in Jesus name Amen