GOOD FRIDAY, 2002
At this time of day many years ago, Jesus’ body lay in the tomb. Many of His followers were in shock not realizing what had taken place. We are not told what happened between the burial and resurrection we can only try to put ourselves in their place.
Twenty four hours ago they had been with our Savior, having a meal and looking forward to the Passover meal they were going to partake of this Sabbath. But, now He is gone and as they look back on the last twenty four hours and all that happened, what do you think their thoughts were?
At times like this I believe we tend to remember the last things we did with the person now gone. So, would they have remembered the last meal? How before the meal He had washed their feet.
John 13:3 10
3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God,
4 got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself 5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
6 So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, "Lord, do You wash my feet?"
7 Jesus answered and said to him, "What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter."
8 Peter said to Him, "Never shall You wash my feet! " Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me."
9 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head."
10 Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you."
Then they had their last meal with Him.
LUKE 22:19 23
19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.
21 "But behold, the hand of the one betraying Me is with Mine on the table.
22 "For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"
23 And they began to discuss among themselves which one of them it might be who was going to do this thing.
They would soon know who betrayed Him. Maybe they were thinking about how they tried to find out who was the greatest and one found out something he did not want to know. Who Is Greatest
LUKE 22: 24 34
24 And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest.
25 And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called "Benefactors.’
26 "But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant.
27 "For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
28 "You are those who have stood by Me in My trials;
29 and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you
30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; 32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. "
33 But he said to Him, "Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!
34 And He said, "I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me. "
Then did their thoughts turn to the time in the garden and how in so many ways they let their Savior down?
LUKE 22:39 46 The Garden of Gethsemane
39 And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him.
40 When He arrived at the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation. "
41 And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray,
42 saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done."
43 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.
44 And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.
45 When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow,
46 and said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation."
In MATTHEW 26:36 45 we find that Jesus left to pray three times and each time He returned He found them asleep. They were thinking how could we have slept when our Savior was in such pain. Did they remember how their Savior was arrested, how one of their own turned Him in, how they themselves had ran away?
MARK 14:43 52
43 Immediately, while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs, who were from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
44 Now he who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him and lead Him away under guard."
45 After coming, Judas immediately went to Him, saying, "Rabbi! " and kissed Him.
46 They laid hands on Him and seized Him.
47 But one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear.
48 And Jesus said to them, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me, as you would against a robber?
49 "Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me; but this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures."
50 And they all left Him and fled.
51 A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they seized him.
52 But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked
They all had betrayed Him. Would they think about how He was tried first my Caiaphas.
MATTHEW 26:57 68
57 Those who had seized Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together.
58 But Peter was following Him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in, and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.
59 Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death.
60 They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward,
61 and said, "This man stated, "I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days."’
62 The high priest stood up and said to Him, "Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?"
63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, "I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God."
64 Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself, nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT 14AND OF POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN."
65 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy;
66 what do you think?" They answered, "He deserves death!"
67 Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him,
68 and said, "Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?"
PETER would remember this well.
MATTHEW 26:69 75
69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him and said, "You too were with Jesus the Galilean."
70 But he denied it before them all, saying, "I do not know what you are talking about."
71 When he had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and said to those who were there, "This man was with Jesus of Nazareth."
72 And again he denied it with an oath, "I do not know the man."
73 A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, "Surely you too are one of them; for even the way you talk gives you away."
74 Then he began to curse and swear, "I do not know the man! " And immediately a rooster crowed.
75 And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, "Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times. " And he went out and wept bitterly.
One who is not with them is Judas he like Peter was sorry about what he did, but unlike Peter he could not handle his remorse.
Matthew 27: 1 10 Judas’ Remorse
1 Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death;
2 and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor.
3 Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4 saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself! "
5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself
6 The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood."
7 And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers.
8 For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
9 Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "AND THEY TOOK THE THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER, THE PRICE OF THE ONE WHOSE PRICE HAD BEEN SET by the sons of Israel;
10 AND THEY GAVE THEM FOR THE POTTER’S FIELD, AS THE LORD DIRECTED ME.
Would they remember all the trials how He was mocked how they placed a crown of thorns on His head, beat Him, spat on Him, how the crowd ask for a murder and not Jesus. How after all of this they had Him carry an old rugged cross to Calvary. Could they bear to remember the cross and how their Savior died?
LUKE 23:33 49 The Crucifixion
33 When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
34 But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.
35 And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One."
36 The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine,
37 and saying, "If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself
38 Now there was also an inscription above Him, "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS." 39 One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, time YOU not the Christ? Save Yourself and us! "
40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
41 "And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong. "
42 And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!
43 And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."
44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour,
45 because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two.
46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT. " Having said this, He breathed His last.
47 Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, "Certainly this man was innocent."
48 And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts.
49 And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things.
MATTHEW 27:57 66
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.
61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the grave.
62 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate,
63 and said, "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, "After three days I am to rise again.’
64 "Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, "He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first."
65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how."
66 And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.
We have all at one time or another have let our Savior down, but we must be like Peter and not let our remorse get the best of us. We must continue doing our Savior’s work. Christ paid a great price for us and we must not let it go for nothing.
Tell the story of the 350 donuts.
There was a boy by the name of Steve who was attending Seminary. In this Seminary, classes are held during school hours. Brother Christianson taught Seminary at this particular school. He had an open door policy and would take in any student that had been thrown out of another class, as long as they would abide by his rules. Steve had been kicked out of his sixth period and no other teacher wanted him, so he went into Brother Christianson’s Seminary class.
Steve was told that he could not be late, so he arrived just seconds before the bell rang and he would sit in the very back of the room. He would also be the first to leave after the class was over.
One day, Brother Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk with him. After class, Brother Christianson pulled Steve aside and said, "You think you’re pretty tough, don’t you?"
Steve’s answer was, "Yeah, I do."
Then Brother Christianson asked, "How many push ups can you do?"
Steven said, "I do about 200 every night."
“200? Hmmm. That’s pretty good, Steve," Brother Christianson said. "Do you think you could do 300?"
Steve replied, "I don’t know ... I’ve never done 300 at a time." But, do you THINK you could?" again asked Brother Christianson.
"Well, I can try," said Steve.
"Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I need you to do 300 in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it? I need you to tell me you can do it," Brother Christianson said.
Steve said, "Well ... I think I can ... yeah, I can do it."
Brother Christianson said, "Good! I need you to do this on Friday."
Friday Came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the room. when class started, Brother Christianson pulled out a big box of donuts. Now these weren’t the normal kinds of donuts; they were the extra fancy BIG ones, with cream centers and frosting swirls. Everyone was pretty excited it was Friday, the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start on enjoying the weekend.
Brother Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked, "Cynthia, do you want a donut?"
Cynthia said "Yes."
Brother Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?"
Steve said, "Sure," and jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten. Then Steve again sat in his desk. Brother Christianson put a donut on Cynthia’s desk.
Brother Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked, "Joe, do you want a donut?"
Joe said, "Yes".
Brother Christianson asked, "Steve, would you do ten push ups so Joe can have a donut?" Steve again did ten push ups; Joe got a donut.
And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten push ups for every person before they got their donut. Then, down the second aisle, until Brother Christianson came to Scott. Scott was captain of the football team and center of the basketball team. He was very popular and never lacking for female companionship or male friends. Brother Christianson asked, "Scott, do you want a donut?"
Scott’s reply was, "Can I do my own push ups?"
Brother Christianson said, "No, Steve has to do them."
Then Scott said, "Well, I don’t want one then."
Brother Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push ups so Scott can have a donut he doesn’t want?" Steve started to do the ten push ups. Scott said, "HEY! I said I didn’t want one!" Brother Christianson said, "Look, this is my classroom, my class, my desks, and my donuts. Just leave the donut on the desk if you don’t want it," and he put a donut on Scott’s desk.
Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little. He now just stayed on the floor between sets because it took too much effort to be getting up and down. You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his brow. Brother Christianson started down the third row. Now the students were beginning to get a little angry.
Brother Christianson asked Jenny, "Jenny, do you want a donut?" Jenny said,
"No." Then Brother Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten
push ups so Jenny can have a donut that she doesn’t want?" Steve did ten and
Jenny got a donut.
By now, the students were beginning to say "no" and there were all these uneaten donuts on the desks. Steve also had to really put forth a lot of effort to get these push ups done for each donut. There began to be a small pool of sweat on the floor beneath his face; his arms and brow were beginning to get red because of the physical effort involved.
Brother Christianson asked Robert to watch Steve to make sure he did ten push ups in a set because he could not bear to watch all of Steve’s work for all of those uneaten donuts. So Robert began to watch Steve closely. Brother Christianson started down the fourth row. During this class, however, some students had wandered in and sat along the heaters along the sides of the room. When Brother Christianson realized this; he did a quick count and saw 34 students in the room. He started to worry that Steve may not be able to make it.
Brother Christianson went on to the next person and the next and the next. Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time. He was taking a lot more time to complete each set, and breathing hard. Steve asked Brother Christianson, "Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?"
Brother Christianson thought for a moment, "Well, they’re your push ups. You can do them any way that you want." And Brother Christianson went on.
A few minutes later, Jason came to the room and was about to come in when all the students yelled, "NO! Don’t come in! Stay out!" Jason didn’t know what was going on. Steve picked up his head and said, "No, let him come."
Brother Christianson said, "You realize that if Jason comes in, you will have to do ten push ups for him."
Steve said, "Yes, let him come in."
Brother Christianson said, "Okay, I’ll let you get Jason’s out of the way right now. Jason, do you want a donut?"
"Yes."
"Steve, will you do ten push ups so that Jason can have a donut?"
Steve did ten push ups very slowly and with great effort.
Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down.
Brother Christianson finished the fourth row, and then started on those seated on the heaters.
Steve’s arms were now shaking with each push up in a struggle to lift himself against the force of gravity. Sweat was dripping off of his face and, by this time, there was not a dry eye in the room. The very last two girls in the room were cheerleaders and very popular.
Brother Christianson went to Linda, the second to last, and asked, "Linda, do you want a donut?"
Linda said, very sadly, "No, thank you."
Brother Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten push ups so that Linda can have a donut she doesn’t want?"
Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten, very slow, push ups for Linda.
Then Brother Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan. "Susan, do you want a donut?"
Susan, with tears flowing down her face, asked, "Brother Christianson, can I help him?"
Brother Christianson, with tears of his own, said, "No, he has to do it alone.
Steve, would you do ten push ups so Susan can have a donut?"
As Steve very slowly finished his last push up, with the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 350 push ups, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.
Brother Christianson turned to the room and said, "And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ, pleaded to the Father, ’Into Thy hands I commend my spirit’. With the understanding that He had done everything that was required of Him, He collapsed on the cross and died. And like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten."
(I received this through e-mail and do not know who wrote it.)
PLAN OF SALVATION
ROMANS 10: 17
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
HEBREWS 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
ACTS 2:38
38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
ROMANS 10:9 10
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
MARK 16:16
16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
MATTHEW 7:21
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
