Friday 2nd April 2021 - Good Friday

[Music] so well good morning everybody and uh welcome to victoria baptist church and welcome if you're watching at home the live stream or later in the day it's great that we can come together to reflect on this good friday and what it means to us i find it really poignant this year particularly something very beautiful about emerging from shielding as we think about the weekend that jesus emerged victorious from the grave but today we're going to look at the event that precedes that his death on the cross the the punishment that brought us peace being upon jesus christ we're going to pray and then we'll have a song on the screen behind me so let's pray heavenly father we're thankful to you that we can gather freely in the name of jesus christ holy spirit on this day when we remember the death and resurrection of our lord jesus christ inspire us afresh remind us lord of of what that means lord that we can have access to god the father because jesus paid the price for our sin lord we pray that you'd be glorified in our midst this morning that you would be the center of all that is said and done as we remember you amen so our first uh hymn is from heaven you came and let's remind ourselves of the servant king who came not seeking to be served but to serve obviously if you're in the room you can't sing out loud but if you're at home feel free to join in [Music] from heaven you came helplessly [Music] not to be soft but [Music] he calls us the servant king [Music] [Music] he chose to [Music] is he calls us now of worship to the servant [Music] come see his hands and his feet the scars foreign he calls us [Music] the key [Music] so let us [Music] each of us [Music] is [Music] you [Music] we're going to read from john's gospel and remind ourselves of the event that we're thinking about today here's your king pilate said to the jews but they shouted take him away take him away crucify him shall i crucify your king pilate asked we have no king but caesar the chief priests answered finally pilate handed him over to them to be crucified so the soldiers took charge of jesus carrying his cross he went out to the place of the skull which in aramaic is called golgotha here they crucified him and with him two others one on each side and jesus in the middle pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross it read jesus of nazareth the king of the jews many of the jews read this sign for the place was where jesus was crucified near the city and the sign was written in aramaic latin and greek the chief priests of the jews protested to pilate don't write the king of the jews but that this man claimed to be the king of the jews pilate answered what i've written i have written when the soldiers crucified jesus they took his clothes dividing them into four shares one for each of them with the undergarment remaining this garment was seamless woven in one piece from top to bottom let's not tear it they said to one another let's decide by lot who will get it this happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said they divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing so this is what the soldiers did near the cross of jesus stood his mother his mother's sister mary the wife of clopas and mary magdalene when jesus saw his mother there and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby he said to his mother dear woman here is your son and to the disciple here is your mother and from that time on this disciple took her into his home later knowing that all was now completed and so the scripture would be fulfilled jesus said i am thirsty a jar of wine vinegar was there so they soaked a sponge in it put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant and lifted it to jesus's lips when he had finished when he had received the drink jesus said it is finished with that he bowed his head and gave up his spirit now it was the day of preparation and the next day was to be a special sabbath because the jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the sabbath they asked pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down the soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with jesus and then those of the other but when they came to jesus they found that he was already dead and they did not break his legs instead one of the soldiers pierced jesus side with a spear bringing a sudden flow of blood and water the man who saw it has given testimony and his testimony is true he knows that he tells the truth and he testifies so that you may believe these things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled not one of his bones will be broken and as another scripture says they will look on the one they have pierced we're going to have a moment or two of prayer and intercession if you're at home you can say out loud when i say christ our savior and lord please say the response be our light and salvation and here in the room if you want to say that in your mind pray along let's pray almighty god our heavenly father we give you praise and glory for this good friday we thank you for the amazing love that enabled you to send your son jesus into the world for our salvation holy spirit we thank you for empowering jesus to face his suffering for each of us on this special day we remember that amazing sacrifice on the cross lord jesus we give you thanks for willingly taking the way of the cross and paying the price for our sin christ our savior and lord be our light and salvation we pray for your forgiveness for the many things that we've said and done either willingly or inadvertently that have put distance between us as we confess our sin please forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness help us to walk in your ways and serve as you served christ our savior and lord be our light and salvation lord god we pray for the world you created lead us in your ways of peace and justice guide the leaders who care for the nations comfort strengthen and encourage those who suffer through war division and all kinds of violence release and build up those who are persecuted for righteousness and faith in you bring them hope and encouragement in the midst of suffering christ our savior and lord be our light and salvation father we pray for your compassion on all who are suffering with physical illness dealing with mental illness and those facing harsh treatment to deal with disease lord we pray for those in our church family who are suffering in various ways we lift their names to you in our hearts now we pray for the lonely the hungry and the homeless in this holy week be with all who are suffering as you understand what suffering really is lord be light to those who walk in darkness and bring hope to all who are depressed unwell or in mourning christ our savior and lord be our light and salvation holy spirit strengthen your church and enable us to remain faithful to the truth in these ever-changing times we pray for the services over this weekend all around eastbourne around the country and the world both physical services and those online that will proclaim the message of the gospel to strangers family members and friends we ask that you will open the eyes of each soul we love that they might come to know you as redeemer and savior if they don't already christ our savior and lord be our light and salvation we give you thanks jesus that you are willing to suffer in our place today as we reflect on the events of calvary let that place of suffering become our source of peace have mercy and compassion on us your children and where and when necessary lord enable us to take up our cross and follow you no matter the cost christ our savior and lord be our light and salvation amen we're going to worship with another song thank you for the cross lord do thank you thank you [Music] thank you for this lovely thank you now all i know [Music] is you [Music] jesus [Music] is thank you for the cross lord thank you for the price away thank you for this love lord thank you for [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] of heaven is [Music] [Applause] see [Applause] i am the darling of heaven [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i'm going to uh read some verses from psalm 22 and then bring a few thoughts uh around this and it's really an amazing and prophetic psalm written by king david so the words are very familiar to us and i want you to think about jesus reciting this psalm and thinking through this psalm as he hung on the cross my god my god why have you forsaken me why are you so far from saving me so far from the words of my groaning oh my god i cry out by day but you do not answer by night and i'm not silent yet you are enthroned as the holy one you are the praise of israel in you our fathers put their trust they trusted and you delivered them they cried to you and were saved in you they trusted and were not disappointed but i'm a worm and not a man scorned by men and despised by the people all who see me mock me they hurl insults shaking their heads he trusts in the lord let the lord rescue him let him deliver him since he delights in him yet you brought me out of the womb you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast from birth i was cast upon you from my mother's womb you have been my god do not be far from me for trouble is near and there's no one to help many bulls surround me strong balls of bashan encircle me roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me i am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint my heart has turned to wax it has melted away within me my strength is dried up like a pots herd and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth you have laid me in the dust of death dogs have surrounded me a band of evil men have encircled me they have pierced my hands and my feet i can count all my bones people stare and gloat over me they divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing but you oh lord be not far off oh my strength come quickly to help me deliver my life from the sword my precious life from the power of the dogs for he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help posterity will serve him future generations will be told about the lord they will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn for he has done it this is the most amazing psalm and we know that on the cross jesus cried out those words my god my god why have you forsaken me i wonder if he was thinking back to david's words from a thousand years before his own birth what else was jesus thinking as he hung on that cross in agony we know a little from the gospel writers the things that he said things like i'm i'm thirsty and as we heard from john's gospel to mary and john son here's your mother mother here's your son even in the midst of his own agony and pain he's meeting the needs of other people and caring for his family and friends and of course he said the most powerful words in history further forgive them they know not what they do but as we we listen to these words my god my god why have you forsaken me we have to ask how did jesus feel in that moment when he was god and had been with god through all eternity but in this moment because he became sin for us and sin separates us from god he must have felt utterly forsaken and despondent where was his eternal father in this moment of terrible agony and this psalm psalm 22 was written by king david a thousand years before jesus walked on the earth yet it sums up so perfectly the experience that jesus would encounter on the cross david wrote this at a time when he was surrounded by physical enemies when there were battles all around him and when he was fleeing for his life from a jealous king saul he was certainly in a time of distress himself and he wondered if god was with him or not but then of course the same david a little later wrote psalm 139 where he says where can i go from your presence where can i flee from your spirit if i go up to the heavens you're there if i make my bed in the depths you're there if i rise on the wings of the dawn and settle on the far side of the sea even there you're with me your right hand holds me fast but utterly prophetic of what jesus was going to experience we can find common ground between this psalm and the accounts of the gospels and also parallels with isaiah chapter 53 that awesome chapter which tells us that the messiah the coming king the rescuer our deliverer our redeemer would suffer and go through terrible agony in our place those words my god my god are recorded by three out of the four gospel writers and as we go through the verses of this psalm we can see some of the details that jesus could have easily spoken and been thinking about so in verse 6 david writes i'm scorned by everyone despised by all the people and of course isaiah 53 begins with the words that tell us the messiah who was to come jesus would be like this he had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him nothing in his appearance that we should desire him he was despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not jesus must have related to these words and again isaiah was written 600 years before jesus walked the earth and before the the the crucifixion as a form of torture and execution had even been invented verse 7 says all who see me mock me they hurl insults shaking their heads and you can see that same detail recorded in matthew's gospel he says that the people surrounding jesus are hurling their insults the robbers on the crosses either side were hurling their insults and people on the ground were shaking their head in disbelief and rejection of jesus we're told that he was mocked and sneered at and the psalm tells us in verse 8 he trusts the lord they say let the lord rescue him let him deliver him since jesus delights in him and of course that detail again is recorded by the gospel writers and the psalmist describes being surrounded by enemies he says strong balls surround him and and that's symbolic of the kind of fertile ground of of the areas around israel um saying that the the bulls the the livestock in that area were really strong healthy animals and he's saying these bulls this is this is the greek and roman culture and it's really strong and it's coming against him like prey being torn open jesus relates to that and matthew in his gospel says that jesus is surrounded every detail of this psalm is played out in reality and mark adds that jesus was spat on and think before he even got to the cross jesus was taken by the praetorian guard the most barbaric of soldiers and he was led like a lamb to the slaughter he was surrounded by them they were like roaring lions tearing apart their prey and what does jesus say he says i'm poured out like water i'm poured out and isaiah 53 tells us that he poured out his life unto death there are interesting physical uh points of relation that jesus acknowledges and this psalm acknowledges he said all of my bones are out of joint and later all of my bones are on display and as we heard in john's gospel when the soldiers came to break the legs to hurry up the death of those being executed on crosses they broke their legs to speed up that that that process of dying but when they came to jesus they found that his bones didn't need to be broken because he'd already given up his spirit and was dead you know the passover lambs that were used in the festival of passover had to have no broken bones and jesus is that lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world in verse 15 the psalmist says my mouth is dried up and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth and jesus on the cross says i'm thirsty such a vivid description and then he says my heart has turned to wax it's melted within me and the soldiers finding that jesus was already dead shoved the spear into his side and out poured blood and water and i'm told that medically that's the sign of a ruptured heart jesus heart indeed had turned to wax the psalm says dogs surround me a pack of villains encircles me they pierce my hands and my feet and these are small words that we can easily overlook it could be taken as poetic you know dogs surrounding him like a a pack of animals but there's a little play on words because the hebrew word for dogs is very similar to the hebrew word for the gentiles so he's saying the gentiles are surrounding me the romans that crucified him a pack of villains encircle him both the soldiers and the thieves and villains on the cross either side they pierce my hands and my feet written years and years before crucifixion was known and those words fulfill other psalms and and the prophecies of zechariah that all jesus's bones would be intact his bones wouldn't be broken but people would stare and gloat over him and we see that the soldiers gambled and played games to win his precious and expensive clothing but i think as jesus was hanging on the cross and he cried out those words he would have thought of the end of the psalm which says that the lord has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one he's not hidden his face from him but he's listened to his cry for help and that's echoed again in isaiah 53 verses 10 to 12 where we're told that although it was the lord's will to crush jesus and cause him to suffer and although the lord makes his life a guilt offering he will prolong his days and after the suffering of his soul he will see the light of life and be satisfied god was pleased with the messiah who would pour out his life unto death and i love at the end of this psalm it tells us that future generations will be told about the lord and here we are two thousand years on from jesus's death and resurrection still talking about what jesus did for us david prophesied that these future people would proclaim jesus's righteousness that his his act on the cross would be declared to a people yet unborn it's 3 000 years worth of people and then finally at the end of psalm 22 we're told he has done it he's done it he's done what he's accomplished salvation for all who will put their faith in him he's fulfilled that need for a sacrifice sacrificial lamb pure and unbroken who would take away the sins of the world and of course that's echoed in those amazing amazing words it is finished when jesus cried out those words my god my god why have you forsaken me he's saying this is it i'm the one that's fulfilling the the prophetic utterance in that psalm i'm the one who was prophesied by isaiah he would come i'm the i'm the suffering servant who will redeem you from your sin he's saying this applies to me these verses these words they're mine it applies to me but it affects you it affects us now the people not yet born at the time of his crucifixion he was thinking about us he knew us before the foundation of the earth we're the ones who benefit from this death and resurrection we're the ones who were yet to come who would proclaim the event that brought our salvation and we proclaim jesus's righteousness because we know we have none of our own before god before the lord god almighty and because it's done because it's finished sin is dealt with that's why today is a good friday jesus thought about everybody else in the scenario around him he promised paradise to the thief next to him he prayed forgiveness for those who were mocking him insulting him and gambling over his clothes we don't know how and to what extent the praetorian guard had abused and mocked him probably in every foul way you could imagine but one centurion realizes surely this man is the son of god jesus is thinking about his mother his family and his closest friend john and he's thinking about us and all of those in the last 2 000 years who have called on his name for salvation you know jesus as he went through that crucifixion was able to endure it because of the joy set before him and the joy that was to come was knowing that people would come into right relationship with god because on the cross he reached out his hand and he takes god's hand in one and our hand in the other and bridges that gap between us and god god hasn't despised or scorned the suffering of jesus the afflicted one he's accepted it as the penalty for our sin and jesus knew that god the father was pleased not with this horrendous act of violence against his son but pleased with his son's willingness to endure it for our sake and i think that's what must have kept jesus going until everything was complete and he could finally breathe his last and give up his spirit commending himself into god's hands i'm pretty sure he was thinking about the joy set before him of being reunited with god his father and our heavenly father and for the joy of the good outcome of good friday i'm going to play you a song that i've written and we'll have a time of silent reflection for a few moments [Music] afterwards [Music] it's easy to [Music] [Music] with oh lord it's easy to forget that you understand the trial and the temptations in the desert land you were a guiltless [Music] i know i caused [Music] again [Music] when you forgive set me free so when my [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] again [Music] and when i fall to my knees life [Music] me [Music] so when i struggled in faith i'll find myself at the cross again [Music] is [Music] oh i find myself [Music] at the cross again i find myself [Music] at the cross again um my prayer for each one of us and and jesus's invitation is that we come to the cross perhaps for the first time to realize and accept the exchange of his life for my sin or perhaps if you've been a christian believer for a long time coming back to the cross again to say thank you let's stand together as we sing our final hymn which the last verse of which just sums everything up for us and it's when i survey the wondrous cross please stand if you're able [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] oh is [Music] is [Music] is [Laughter] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] my [Music] indeed it does lord thank you for the cross for all that you achieved and accomplished for us by enduring it for our sakes and thank you lord that though it's friday sunday's coming that death is not the end that there's a resurrection yet to come may the peace of the lord be with you all as you reflect on his sacrifice and as you return to celebrate his overcoming in jesus name amen the lord bless you and please don't linger but make your way as directed thank you very much [Music] [Music] you

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Length: 54min 31sec (3271 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 02 2021