Last Wednesday night the Lord inspired me to give a message at the Broward Outreach Center entitled, “The Message of Good Friday and the Cross”. As many of you know, other than Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday are the two most famous days on the Christian calendar. This message was meant to clarify why Jesus Christ died on the cross and how it affected mankind. Below you’ll find parts of the message I gave and have expounded on a few areas for reading clarity.
God’s Holiness
I started the message by asking a question, “when you think of God, what would you say His character is like”? I received many answers including, loving, full of grace, mercy, long-suffering, forgiving and eventually received the one that I was looking for, Holy. It is certainly true that God is loving, merciful as well as the others, but it’s His holiness that demanded Christ’s sacrifice. God is Holy, perfect, unblemished, pure, and set apart from sin. A good analogy would be, water and oil which simply don’t mix.
Man’s Fall
We then looked at Genesis Chapter 3 where we find the fall of man due to the disobedience of Adam and Eve when they ate from the tree of good and evil. God had warned Adam to stay away from this specific tree but they listened instead to satan, the deceiver, and disobeyed. This disobedience was man’s first sin and affected both his standing with and his relationship to God. Because of their sin, they could no longer be in His presence due to His holiness. Scripture says that as soon as they ate from the tree they were full of shame and tried to hide themselves from God as they had lost their innocence. Soon they realized there would be consequences for their actions. After receiving a stern lecture from God, they were cast from the garden and now separated from their creator. It does not mean that God didn’t love them, for His nature is to love, but there had to be a consequence for their sin. God gives us a few examples of these consequences in Chapter 3. Eve would now have pain during child-bearing and a desire to rule over her husband. Adam would now sweat and be burdened as he took care of the land. What use to be easy in the garden of Eden now became hard.
God’s Plan of Redemption
But the good news is God was already at work setting up a new plan of redemption where man could be reclaimed back to Himself. We then looked at the Old Testament that spoke of God’s relation to the children of Israel and how in the book of Leviticus commanded the priests to offer a blood sacrifice for the people’s sin once a year and be forgiven. The highest priest would enter the Tabernacle and bring with him a spotless lamb. He would then kill and present it to the Lord inside the Holy of Holies which is where the Ark of the Covenant and the presence of God was. We find in Scripture in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 9, that there is no remission or put another way, forgiveness of sin, without the shedding of blood. So even before Christ came we see how God gave instructions to the priesthood on how man could be spiritually reconciled back to Himself. This process of animal sacrifice lasted several hundred years leading up to Christ’s birth.
Christ’s Atonement
Scripture gives us many names for Jesus Christ but two of them are the Son of God and Word of God who existed with the Father from the beginning. He is the Alpha and the Omega which means He always existed and will exist forever. He came to earth with a unique purpose and role in that He would die for the sins of man and offer forgiveness to all. While on earth He displayed His power through miracles of healing, feeding thousands with two fish and several loaves of bread. Like today, some believed in Him and received His forgiveness, but others didn’t. For whatever reason many couldn’t see His goodness and outstretched hand and instead of reaching for it, looked to find fault in Him. Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, bore our sin and shame that we may live. In the book of Isaiah, Chapter 53, written 400 years before Christ’s arrival, scripture tells us that there would be one who would be led to the slaughter like a sheep who is silent. One who would be rejected by men and acquainted with grief. This prophecy would be fulfilled by Jesus who would be humiliated, spat upon, rejected, beaten and eventually crucified. When questioned by Pontius Pilate, who thought Jesus’ life was in his hands, Jesus responded by saying, “you have no power over Me and could call upon legions of angles to rescue Me if I wanted”. But Jesus knew His purpose on why He was born, so He obeyed His Father and went to the cross to die a horrific death. When He died on the cross, His blood, would be the atonement for our sin. Believers now can claim the “Blood of Jesus” to cover our sin when they truly repent of their sin and stand before God almighty, not based upon what we have done but based upon what He did. In the same way, our physical bodies require blood to live, spiritually we need Christ’s blood to wash away our sinful nature and be able to approach God. Jesus ushered in a new and better covenant. His blood was now a replacement for the sacrifice of animals and for those who believe in their heart, confess Him as Lord, and repent of their sin, they become new creations through Christ. His blood was the eternal sacrifice we needed to be in good standing with God.
For by grace we are saved, through faith, and not of ourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
The Power of Resurrection
The message of Easter is that Jesus conquered even death and three days after being crucified was raised from the dead through the power of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. His believers went from being scared that their leader had been crucified to being filled with a new sense of courage, purpose and joy. Their disbelief of what happened turned into belief that Jesus was who He said He was, the Christ, who came to die for the sin of man and that His kingdom was not of this world, but an eternal kingdom, which He is preparing for all who believe. Later, the Holy Spirit would come upon the disciples and give them boldness and wisdom to proclaim the Good News of Jesus resurrection without fear.
The book of Romans tells us that believers are united with Christ through His resurrection and live in His fullness for God has raised us up with Him. The Apostle Paul put it this way, “It’s no longer I who live, but the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus living in me”. (Rom. 8:11). Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are sealed in Christ and one day will be reunited with Him for eternity. As the Apostle John put it in Chapter 3 verse 16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life”. Have you accepted His payment for your sin? If not, say this simple, but profound prayer, “Dear Lord, I am a sinner and fall short of your glory, I turn from my sin and look to you as my Lord and Savior. Wash away all my sin and give me a new heart and love for You that I may love others the way You love me. I am a new creation through You and look forward to my future as I follow You all the days of my life! In Jesus name, Amen!!
