Good Friday 2022

Good Friday 2022

Assorted Scriptures

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

04-14-2022

For this service, I used a video “The Seven Last Sayings of Jesus Christ”

youtube.com/watch?v=oWK4N5LIUk&t=67s

Famous Last Words

We are fascinated with “famous last words.” Type that phrase into Google and you will find page after page of websites dedicated to last words.

The painter Salvador Dali famously quipped, “I do not believe in my death.”

Humphrey Bogart’s last words were, “I should have never switched from scotch to martinis.”

Economist Karl Marx said, “Go on…get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.”

Civil war General John Sedgwick’s last words were, “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.”

Albert Einstein last words were in German so his American nurse didn’t understand them. We will never know what one of the greatest minds who ever lived said.

Obviously our last words are important. Jesus’ last words from the cross are some of the most important words ever uttered.

There are seven phrases that we will look at quickly tonight, and each one of them presents a challenge to us.

Jesus ate what we call the Last Supper with His disciples and then went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. It was there that Judas betrayed Him with a kiss and He was arrested like a common criminal. ?

He appeared before Caiaphas and Annas, the Sanhedrin, Herod Antipas, and then before Pilate. Pilate publicly declared that he found nothing worthy of death in this case but Jesus was a political hot potato.

The Jewish leaders reminded Pilate that Caesar would not be happy with him letting a prisoner go who claimed to be king of the Jews.

Pilate had Jesus scourged. A whip with bone and glass tore the skin off His back. Most men died from the scourging.

The soldiers put a robe on Him, a crown of thorns, and mocked Him.

Jesus was made to carry the beam of the cross through town to the place of crucifixion - Golgotha. He ca

He was nailed to the cross through His wrists and ankles. Crucifixion was designed to inflict the greatest amount of torture, humiliation, and pain. The prisoner would die slowly, publicly, sometimes taking hours or even days.

Jesus is now suspended between heaven and earth. He has been lifted up as He told Nicodemus He would be.

And that brings us to the first of the sayings from the cross.

The Word of Forgiveness (Video :17-1:07)

“Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

What were Jesus’s first words from the cross? They were a pray addressed to His Father. And what He request? That God send a army of angels to rescue Him? That lightening would strike the soldiers murdering Him?

No, He prays that God would forgive them! These are people who hated Him enough to call for His death. They spit on Him, mocked Him, and celebrated as He hung on the cross.

This is actually the fulfillment of prophesy from the Old Testament book of Isaiah concerning the Messiah:

“For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:12)

And He prays that God would forgive them because “they do not know what they are doing.”

Ignorance doesn’t equal innocence. In these words we see that Jesus understood the consequences of sin and their need for forgiveness.

We actually see the answer to this prayer in Acts when Peter preaches the first sermon and says:

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” (Acts 2:36-38)

That day, in that crowd, there were those who were actually present for Jesus’ crucifixion and even those who participated in it.

Jesus’s prayer powerfully worked that day as 3,000 people were born again and were forgiven.

Point to Ponder:

Have you been forgiven of your sins? Jesus died on the cross in our place. The innocent for the guilty.

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly… But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6,8)

How about a harder question? Is there anyone that you need to forgive? If Jesus can forgive the ones that drove the nails through His wrists, can’t we extend forgiveness to those who have hurt us? ?

2. The Word of Salvation (1:08-1:49)

“Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)