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)
Jesus wasn’t alone on that hill that day. Two others hung on their crosses for their crimes. They were probably insurrectionists and murderers.
Both men were dying beside Jesus but their reactions couldn’t have been more different.
One them sarcastically calls on Jesus to rescue them:
“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39)
But the man on the other side of Jesus rebuked him saying,
“Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23:40-41)
This criminal’s heart was probably softened when he heard Jesus pray for His enemies forgiveness.
He admits that he is a sinner and is receiving the punishment that he deserves.
He declares that Jesus is innocent and doesn’t deserve to die, especially like this.
He then makes an audacious request - “Remember me when you come into Your Kingdom.” (John 23:42) Luke tells us that he actually said, “Jesus remember me.”
And yet, Jesus tells him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)
Today
Not years from now but today. Immediately after death. Which, by the way, will be very soon for all three of them.
Paul makes this clear in his letter to the Corinthian church:
“…to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” (2 Cor 5:8)
you will be with me
In a very personal way, this man will be with Jesus, side by side, wherever Jesus will be, he will be as well.
in Paradise
The term paradise is a beautiful word picture. It signifies a royal garden of a Persian king. The highest honor in the land would be if the king invited you to talk a walk in his garden.
In the Bible, Paradise is another name for heaven.
Jesus is promising this criminal that he will be in heaven with Him that very day.
Wait. Hold on? This guy never attended church, or was baptized, or went to Sunday school. He never walked an aisle or said the sinners prayer. He literally couldn’t do any good deeds because he was nailed to a cross.
It was a magnificent example of the sheer grace, mercy, and love of Jesus!
Point to Ponder:
It’s never too late to be saved. If you are still breathing, you still have time.
It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in your past, you can be forgiven. Through Jesus, God can forgive of all your sin and “throw it as far as the east is from the west.” (Psalm 103:12)
Don’t give up on someone. Maxine prayed for her father for 30 years before he came to Christ.
But let me encourage you not to wait till the end to make that decision. Make it now. Jesus died on the cross, for you. For you. For you. In your place, to pay for your sins, to give His righteousness, so you could be with Him in Paradise as part of God’s forever family. That’s why we call it “Good Friday.”
3. The Word of Affection (1:49-2:18)
“When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” (John 19:26-27)
Jesus’s brothers didn’t believe in Him…yet. As He hung on the cross, He looked down to His mother Mary.
Mary was actually living out the prophesy that Simeon had prayed all those years ago when they took their baby to the Temple:
“…and a sword will pierce you own soul too.” (Luke 2:35)
The pain of losing a child is soul crushing. I had a friend who’s little boy got run over by a car. He told me after that event his brain was rewired. That he was a different person.
I remember a father saying, “Losing a child is like having your leg cut off. After time, it stops hurting as bad but every time you look down you are reminded something is missing.”
Jesus, in His pain, recognized the need to make sure His mother was taken care of.
William Barclay writes, “There is something infinitely moving about the fact that Jesus in the agony of the cross, in the moment when salvation of the world hung in the balance, thought of the loneliness of His mother in the days when He was taken away.”
He was no functioning as Mary’s Son but now as her Savior.
She would have a new family, a spiritual family. John would take care of her after He was gone. ?
Se see that in Acts 1 when the disciples were praying together in the upper room:
“They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” (Acts 1:14)
The brothers now believe and they join their mother in the new family of faith.
Point to Ponder:
Some of us struggle with our relationships with our parents but the Bible calls us to:
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. (Exodus 20:12)
We aren’t necessarily called to honor their personalities but we honor their position.
Paul wrote to Timothy:
But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (I Peter 5:8)
Jesus gives us a beautiful example of caring for our parents. How are you doing in his area?
4. The Word of Anguish (2:19-2:55)
“From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Elli lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).” (Matthew 27:45-46)
It was not unusual for people being crucified to scream in pain and curse in their rage. But Jesus again prays.
He prays David’s words from Psalm 22:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?” (Psalm 22:1)
Notice He doesn’t call God Father. Something spiritually devastating is happening to Jesus.
Have you ever felt God-forsaken? Jesus not only felt God-forsaken, He was forsaken by God.
God the Father poured all the sins of the world on to Jesus on the cross. And then the perfect fellowship that the Father and Son had for all eternity was ruptured as God the Father turned His back on God the Son and punished sin.
Isaiah predicted this moment 700 years before Jesus was born:
"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)
The righteous dying for the unrighteous, in our place.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21)
Point to Ponder:
Jesus was forsaken so that you would never have to be forsaken because of your sin.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
Have you accepted this gift?
5. The Word of Suffering (2:56-3:56)
“Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that 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’ lips.” (John 19:28-29)
The Old Testament tells us the Messiah would be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9), He would be innocent (Isaiah 53:9), He would be mocked (Psalm 22:7-8), He would be counted as a criminal (Isaiah 53:12), His hands and feet would be pierced (Psalm 22:16), soldiers would gamble for His clothes (Psalm 22:18), and it even says of the Messiah in Psalm 22:
“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.” (Psalm 22:14-15)
On the cross, Jesus’s was severely dehydrated. His thirst was real. It was something that human’s experience.
In Psalm 69, David writes how the Messiah would be scorned, disgraced and shamed by His enemies and “they gave me vinegar for my thirst.” (Psalm 69:21)
Jesus was 100% human and 100% God. Sometimes we forget that Jesus was human, that He got hungry, thirsty, and tired.
Have you even have shaken your fist at heaven and said, “You don’t know how I feel?”
Well, He does know how you feel. He’s been here, done this, and got the t-shirt.
That’s what the word “incarnation” means. He became one of us.
John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:14) The word “dwelling” is a word picture for “pitching a tent.”
He represented us as a human and lived God’s rules perfectly for us. He took our place on the cross, as our representative, taking our sin.
Point to Ponder:
Are you spiritually thirsty? Jesus promises to satisfy your thirst:
“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37-38)
6. The Word of Victory (3:57-4:07)
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” (John 19:30)
Do you have trouble finishing things? Many of us do. (Squirrel!).
Jesus did not! After taking a drink he didn’t moan or whimper. He cried out in a loud voice, “Tetelestai!” This is an accounting term. It means, “Paid in Full!!”
Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be:
“…wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
I love the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases I John 2:2:
“When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good—not only ours, but the whole world’s.” (I John 2:2, The Message )
Point to Ponder:
When you stand before God, how to plan to pay for your sins? You can’t pay for your sins. You can’t be perfect. Jesus paid your way into heaven. Will you simply say, “I’m with Him?”
7. The Word of Surrender (4:08-4:47)
“Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.” (Luke 23:46)
This was not the gasp of a dying man but the shout of surrender to His Father.
John tells us that Jesus, “Bowed His head and gave up His spirit.’ (John 19:30)
Jesus was in control the whole process. Jesus told the Pharisees:
“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” (John 10:17-18)
Jesus was actually quoting Scripture one more time:
“Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.” (Psalm 31:5)
Jesus didn’t die because He got sideways with the Jewish and Romans leaders. It was planned from before the beginning of time.
James Montgomery Boice reminds us that;
God the Father determined to send God the Son to be the Savior.
Jesus became the Savior in time by His incarnation and by dying in our place for our sins.
The Holy Spirit applies the benefits of Jesus death to the individual by creating new life in which they are born again into a relationship with God through Jesus.
Point to Ponder:
Jesus died for you. God the Father planned a rescue mission to save you, even when you didn’t love Him.
Will you respond? Are you thankful?
Ending Song: The Wonderful Cross
People will write thank you notes and put them on the cross
