Beacon Good Friday Service: April 18, 2025

Actually, let's let's stay standing and I'll read the text for today. Um, but before we do that, since children, you guys are all gonna be here with us. I have some tasks for you. The first task is for you to answer this question, what makes this Friday good? And you have to pay attention in this sermon. The second task is you have to give me the animal fact that I give you in the sermon. And then the third task that you guys have is to write down three words that you've never heard before that you're gonna probably hear today. And if you give me all of those tasks faithfully, I'll keep an eye out, and I'll think of an appropriate reward. All right. So let's read Galatians chapter 6, 12 to 15.

And this is going to be the reading of God's word. As many as are wanting to make a good showing in the flesh, these are trying to compel you to be circumcised simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised, do not even keep the law themselves, but they want to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. But may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world, for neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision but a new creation. Let's pray together. Father, we pray that you would open our eyes, open our ears to see and hear truth proclaimed, and that we would respond appropriately to every truth that is proclaimed, that with humble hearts, that with longing hearts, that we would want to understand the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So we pray that you would cause all of our minds and our hearts, our heads to fully engage in this evening so that, Father, you would be honored and magnified in this place, and that you would help us to grieve and feel the heaviness and the weight of the significance of this evening, and yet still hope and trust in the goodness of this Friday. So we pray for just your blessing, protection, and your provision over this time. We pray that the Holy Spirit would move our hearts to appropriate worship and the exaltation of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. We thank you, Father, for just your provision of a means to be reconciled to you. We pray this in Jesus' name. So, children, three tasks, three words that you've never heard before.

The animal fact that I'm gonna give you, and then um, what makes this Friday good? So tonight we remember uh what looks to be the closing moments of the loneliest week in all of human history. Today, Good Friday wraps up the events of what we call the Passion Week. And why do we wrap up this week tonight? It's because Sunday will be all celebration and surprise. Sunday will be a day devoid of all passion. Okay, the Latin word patior, from which we get the word passion, it means suffering. And so there will be nothing remotely close to suffering on Sunday. But today today is the climax, the height of the sufferings of Christ. And this week, Jesus Christ, fully man, fully God, suffered uniquely on the road to the cross.

His suffering was quite holistic and all-encompassing. His suffering was first social emotional. In the beginning of the week, he was informally rejected by the leaders of his own people. He was then rejected by the very crowds that had celebrated his every miracle, who had watched his every move, and who had once hung on every single one of his words. And then he was betrayed by one of his very own hand picked apostles for a mere 30 pieces of silver, fulfilling the prophecy made in Zechariah 11. And then he was within earshot when Peter, the leader of his chosen group of announc uh apostles, renounced and denied any association with him. And remember, Peter was the man who just one single meal prior to this had pledged allegiance even to death.

And so the informal rejection of Christ throughout the week quickly gained momentum and became a formal and a legal one. In a matter of a few hours, Jesus was tried by Annes and then Caiaphas, by the rest of the Sanhedrin, and then eventually by Pontius Pilate and by Herod. Pontius Pilate was he customarily pardoned a prisoner on the feast of Passover. But amazingly, this mob at this particular Passover wanted Barabbas released, even though Pilate was doing all that he could to push them on the release of Jesus. The crowds demanded the release of Barabbas, even declaring that they were willing to incur all the divine guilt and the curses upon themselves and even upon their children. So this Jewish mob was literally hellbent on getting Jesus killed.

And they were willing to even let loose Barabbas. And this is a very shocking and a strange request. Mark 15, 7 and Luke 23, 19, describe Barabbas as a murderer and as an insurrectionist. John's account describes him as a robber, which is a very like a sinister burglar. Okay, it's not just bandit robber. Matthew 27 16 describes Barabbas as a notorious prisoner, which means his very name would be synonymous to our Charles Manson or Jeffrey Dahmer. So the Jews, having taken their cues from their religious leaders, they ask for Jesus to be killed and Barabbas to be released. And it seems like the leaders of the nation got what they wanted. Mark 15, 11 to 15.

The chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. But answering again, Pilate was saying to them, Then what shall I do with him whom you call the king of the Jews? And they shouted again, crucify him. But Pilate was saying to them, Why? What evil did he do? But they shouted all the more, crucify him. And wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he delivered him over to be crucified. So the crowds, many of whom have cried out, Hosanna, Hosanna, just days before, had either now returned home or had changed their tune to crucify him, crucify him. And in their minds now, Jesus had gone from possible Messiah, possible King of promised King of Kings, to a charlatan, a troublemaker, a rabble rouser.

And then Jesus is tried, he's mocked, and now he's completely abandoned. For even those who had walked most closely with Jesus had all but scattered. So then his passion, his suffering, would move from being primarily social emotional to now also intensely and almost inhumanely physical. And Matthew's account provides us with additional details. Then he released Barabbas for them, but after having Jesus scourged, he delivered him over to be crucified. Then when the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium, they gathered the whole Roman cohort around him, they stripped him, put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting together a crown of thorns, they smashed it on his head and a reed in his hand, and they knelt before him and mocked him, saying, Hail, king of the Jews.

And they spat on him, and they took that reed and began to beat him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they took the scarlet robe off him, put his own garments back on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they were coming out, they found a man named Cyrene, named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear his cross. So Jesus is bloodied and beaten to almost an unrecognizable pulp. So first Jesus is scourged with chunks of flesh, ripped off his back, his arms, his legs, his chest. Because when a scourging happens, a whip with teeth, bones, and rocks clamps onto the skin and rips it apart every time they pull it off. And then a crown of thorns is forced on his head, and then with thick reeds which were in abundance on the banks of the rivers of Israel, it's like a thinner version of bamboo.

And no doubt these cruel soldiers took delight in aiming right at the crown of thorns, and they hit Jesus again and again and again. Isaiah 52 14, the section that describes the future Messiah as a suffering servant, says that his face is so bloodied and beaten that he did not even look like a human being after it was all done. So Jesus Christ is so beaten that he did not have strength to carry his own cross. So the scriptures say that Simon the Cyrene is recruited from the crowd and forced to carry the hundred pound beam up to Golgotha. And so began Jesus Christ's crucifixion. And 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.

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.

French doctor Pierre Barbet, giving a medical description of the crucifixion, writes, and I quote, the legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy square, wrought iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats this action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement.

A nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed, and the victim is now crucified. End quote.

And they cast lots, dividing up his garments among themselves. That's a strange sight. Notice what the soldiers are doing in all of this. They are dividing up Christ's garments as memorabilia of the occasion. And these pagans have no idea that they are fulfilling Psalm 22, verse 10. And at the close of the Passion of the Christ, the Christ Jesus suffered first socially emotionally, and then physically through scourging, bludgeoning, and crucifixion. But the greatest suffering, his spiritual suffering, wouldn't happen for another few moments. And we're going to talk about his spiritual suffering at the very end, but I want to hold our attention here at the cross of Christ at the crucifixion of the Lamb of God, of which we are to make our soul boast.

May it never be that I would boast except in the cross of Christ. Now that reads nicely.

What does it look like to boast in nothing but the cross? I just walked us through some of the horrors of the crucifixion. What part of that process do you and I exclusively boast? Think about the logic. What are you boasting about? What am I supposed to boast about when I visualize the cross of Christ? If this is our only boast, what is it? The gospel narratives actually help us a lot.

Luke basically tells us that there were two thieves crucified with Jesus. There was one on the left, there's one on the right. Matthew's and Mark's accounts both give us some additional details, and I'm gonna read Marks for you.

One on his right and one on his left, and the scripture was fulfilled, which says he was numbered with transgressors. And those passing by were blaspheming him, shaking their heads, and saying, Ha ha! You who are going to destroy the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross. And in the same way, mocking him to one another. Look at that guy. The chief priests, along with the scribes, were all saying, he saved others, he cannot save himself. Let this Christ, the king of Israel, not come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe. Those, both of them, who were crucified with him, were also insulting him.

We aren't given any details as to who they were outside of their one broadly categorized crime. Thievery.

But the two thieves hanging on each side of Jesus must have committed some pretty egregious crimes if they were condemned to die by crucifixion. The worst form of capital punishment. And these two, apparently, also after having been beaten and bloodied themselves, they're joining in on the insults and the mockery. These must have been some bad, bad dudes. How hardened must you be that while you're hanging on the cross, completely stripped and naked, hanging by your wrists and your feet, you have enough energy to mock and insult the guy next to you. The words which are translated were insulting him, are in the imperfect tense. The imperfect tense is used to describe a past action or state in which it's incomplete and ongoing.

So this wasn't just one insult or one word of mockery. It was a steady stream of it. Come down on the cross. You saved your others. You can't save yourselves and us. Right? It's just like the hyenas from Lion King. They're just laughing and mocking him. It was a steady stream. And both thieves were hanging there, wasting their dying breath, and their last of their energy on belittling Jesus. At least at first. And you we all know the story doesn't end there. Something happens. One of them at some point stops. And we're not a hundred percent sure why he stops, but he stops. Maybe it was the overhearing of Jesus' father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. But we are told that the number of naked, bloodied, insult spewing, crucified thieves goes from two to one.

And let me read the narrative for you. And one of the criminals hanging there was blaspheming him, saying, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other answered and rebuking him said, Do you not even fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? We indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done, but this man has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise. So here in verse 41, we get an absolutely perfect statement of a boasting in the cross.

But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. But may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. So firstly, and secondly, boasting only in the cross of Christ means one, it's wholeheartedly acknowledging that Christ's suffering was unjust. And two, wholeheartedly acknowledging that my condemnation and my suffering is just.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. You guys know that passage. So this boasting thief, who literally could not boast in anything else, was actually living this out. He was literally hanging there naked. And when he physically departed from the world, he departed naked. And my guess would be that very, very few people in all of human history ever get saved, being that literally and figuratively naked. He's saved, and he dies in the same condition. And the hymn, rock of Aegis, cleft for me, is literally this man's conversion story and his testimony. Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to the cross I cling.

Literally. Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly. Thank you for washing me, Savior, right before I die. And just like we saw in Genesis chapter 3 in the Proto Uangelion. On those who are naked and shame filled, God once again will make a sacrifice, cover the nakedness and the shame, and pass him over.

Would you guys agree with that? This thief could not but boast only in the cross. The thief whose name we don't even know had absolutely nothing he could boast in except his utter and total helplessness. For this man, the literal message of the cross was the power of God for salvation. He believed and was thus immediately saved. Luke 23, 41 to 43. We indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done. But this man, the Christ, has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. And he said to him, Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise. And so here's a sobering thought. Neither you nor I at any point in time was more fit to be saved than our redeemed brother there hanging on that cross.

Neither you nor I at any point in any time was ever more fit to be saved than our redeemed brother hanging on that cross. That should have been you, that should have been me. And if we were to join him in this boasting, it may go something like this. And it can actually only go something like this. I fully deserve the wages of my sin. I have no one else to blame for my lot. I too have cried out, crucify him, crucify him. I put him there. I mopped him. His death is my fault. He has done nothing wrong. But praise God that I am saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in this man alone, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. And may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So my condemnation and my suffering, had it not been for the cross of Christ, had it not been for the lavish grace of God, would have been well deserved. So boasting in the cross of Christ means acknowledging that Christ's suffering was unjust. It's wholeheartedly acknowledging that my condemnation and my suffering would have been just. So without the cross of Christ, standing between us and a holy, holy, holy God, of whose glory we fall utterly short, we stand condemned. We fully deserve the full brunt of the wrath of God. It's our pride that tries to deceive us into thinking that we don't. We have nowhere else to go. This is our boast. This cannot but be our boast. We have nothing more than what that redeemed thief on the cross could ever offer to the Lord.

Amen. Sobering thought. You are no better than that thief on the cross. You are never more helpful than that thief on the cross. Ephesians 2.8, 9. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. We do not deserve. Today you will be with me in paradise. So boasting only in the cross of Christ means wholeheartedly acknowledging that Christ's suffering was unjust, wholeheartedly acknowledging that my condemnation, my suffering would have been just. And thirdly, wholeheartedly acknowledging that by his grace alone, I am now walking in newness of life.

If we have put our faith in Christ, we are indeed walking in newness of life. We have been made a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. Our hearts of stone have been replaced with a tender heart of flesh. And there is evidence that the Spirit of God isn't just in our hearts as a seal and a deposit, guaranteeing our eternity in heaven, but he's actively making us look more and more like his son. There is objective evidence that he is not only our Savior, but that he's also our Lord. There's real spiritual DNA in us. There is a real spiritual observable fruit. And yes, there is still a ton of weakness. There is still nothing to boast about outside the cross of Christ. There is still residual sin in our flesh of which we are continuing to be sanctified.

Sin is dead in us, but it is still dying in us. But we remain weak and helpless. Amen.

You are still helpless. And it is a humbling and often a humiliating thing that we are still utterly dependent on the grace of God alone, in the work of Christ alone. It's a humbling and often a humiliating thing that no matter how many annual good Fridays have passed since our conversion, we still have nothing to boast about outside of the cross of Christ. If you've been a Christian 30 years, still nothing outside of the cross of Christ. If you're a missionary, a pastor, a deacon, a teacher, you've brought people to saving faith, still nothing except the cross of Christ. Praise God. As a new creation, your external, a lot of it has been cleansed. And a lot of our external has objectively become holier.

But you know what still remains in our flesh? Weakness. Think about this. We have nothing but weakness. So much embarrassing and debilitating weakness. We are so weak. There is nothing good in you, nothing good in me outside of Christ. My salvation began with grace, and it continues only in grace. Your salvation began with grace and continues only in grace. In this newness of life, you and I are still very delicate, fragile, and weak. We cannot but still boast in the cross of Christ alone. Amen. But a couple things. Greater is he who is in us than he who's in the world, praise God.

And we press on through faith. And Good Friday is a good reminder that our only boast is in Jesus Christ. Galatians 2 20 to 21. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live in weakness by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. I do not set the grace of God aside. For if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ died needlessly. So as redeemed people, we walk by faith, we abide by faith, and we embrace our sanctification in faith. And we continue in faith to boast only in the cross of Christ.

Do you understand why you sometimes still struggle with the same lusts, the same sins? It's a glaring reminder of your weakness. And to remind us that our only boast, even as we walk in this newness of life, is still only the cross.

So we can't really follow his example. There's nothing for us to learn from outside of his needless or his neediness. So we don't know what walking in newness of life would have looked like for him. But we do have an example in the apostle Peter. Matthew chapter 26, 33 to 35. But Peter answered and said to him, Even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away. And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And Peter said to him, I know you're an omniscient of God, but even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And all the disciples said the same thing too. So Peter gets a bad rap. Leaders, you know, you get all the blame.

Okay? So prior to the crucifixion of Christ, Peter's boast was in his flesh, in his affections, in his loyalty. Peter's boast was in his talents and in his leadership quality. Peter's trust was in his resolve. He trusted in the fact that Jesus had recognized that leadership quality in him. But it wasn't just Peter. Notice there in verse 35 says that all the disciples said the same thing. Pride is innate within all of us. To boast in our ability to perform for Jesus, to boast in our ability to stay faithful to Jesus, even though all will fall away, I will never deny my Jesus. Peter trusted in the fact that Jesus had promised to build the church upon him. But you know what? Peter at the crucifixion.

Peter's not even there.

And one of the most sanctifying and powerful gifts that Christ left with Peter to remind him to only boast in the cross of Christ was the rooster's crow. One of the biggest gifts that Jesus left for Peter was the rooster's crow. And you know what's so sad and ironic and funny about this? Outside of what I'm assuming Noah's Ark, there have always been more chickens on the planet than people. Did you know the world right now is eight billion-ish people? Did you guys know this? There have always been more chickens than people on this planet. Kids, write that down. There are roosters a plenty in every country in the world. There are roosters everywhere. And Peter, the rock, the fearless leader of the apostles, has to wake up every single morning for the rest of his life to the chorus of reminders that he had denied Jesus.

That he had abandoned Christ in his hour of need. That he who had boasted in his ability wasn't even present at the crucifixion. Cockle doodle do you stink, cockadu, betrayer, cockadu to do, you suck, cockadu to do, boast only in the cross. Every single morning. Ah. I sometimes like to imagine what sorts of thoughts will be running through Peter's head when he preached sermons on the crucified Christ. I wasn't there. I thought I would be there crucified with him. I also wonder what was going through his mind later when he himself was being crucified. Church tradition has it that Peter was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to be crucified right side up like Jesus.

The fearless leader of the apostles, who was not even present at the crucifixion of his Lord and Savior, was saved by grace, and he lived by grace. He too had no boast except in the cross. And history tells us that his own at his own crucifixion, the apostle Peter boasted in the cross of Christ alone, as he first watched his wife and children being led away to their execution. And as he himself hung upside down on his own cross. Even for the apostle Peter, that was his only boast.

Matthew 27, 45 to 41. Now from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani. And that is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of those who were standing there when they heard it there began saying, Hey, this man's calling Elijah. Immediately one of them ran, taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave him a drink. But the rest of them were saying, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. Because Elijah coming was a sign of the Messiah to come. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and then he yields up a spirit.

And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split. I had shared with you that Jesus' suffering was first social, emotional, and then physical. But here we see the moment of his greatest suffering, his rejection by his father. But through and by this spiritual suffering, through and by his wounds, both physical but more painfully spiritual, we are healed. By his wounds, we are healed. By Christ suffering wrath, we experience pardon. And we are given grace.

Kids pay attention. This is Good Friday because the veil is torn. And now we who once had been far away, are now brought to the presence of Him for whom we have been created. This is Good Friday because Jesus was hated in our stead. And so, like the Apostle Paul, we only proclaim Christ crucified, nothing more, nothing less. 2 Corinthians 5 20. So then we are ambassadors for Christ as God is pleading through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we through him might become the righteousness of God. And working together with him, we also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

Often we quote 2 Corinthians 5 21 only.

Amen.

Whose only boast, again, is only the cross of Christ. We acknowledge that Christ's suffering was unjust. If there's anything unfair, it's that. We acknowledge that our condemnation and our suffering would have been just. Every disease that strict strikes us, every affliction that harms those we love, everything that we're blamed for, everything that we're guilty of, just acknowledge that by his grace alone, we now walk in newness alive. Amen. Good Friday means we celebrate with boldness the cross of Christ. How strange. Like we celebrate the suffering of Christ because that means celebration for us.

I don't feel good. I lament the fact that there is a desire always in my heart to boast in my works. I lament the fact that I boast so much in what I see and what good I am doing compared to those on my left and to my right. I lament the fact that I get happy when I've been consistently reading and praying, and I get so sad when I haven't been. And it's a stark reminder that I am so weak and boasting only in the cross. I don't know if I'm gonna get any less weak with each passing Good Friday.

And that's okay. Because the boast will continue to be that his suffering was unjust. My suffering would have been just. And the only reason I'm still standing, the only reason I'm praising God is the cross of Christ. And that's what makes this Friday so good. Amen. I'm gonna ask the worship team to come up, and we're gonna take a time of communion. And it's especially significant for us today. Before we take in the elements. Here's a few notes. This communion table is for baptized believers. If you're not a Christian or you have not been baptized, just observe, take some time to pray. I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna grab both the bread and the cup. And uh just come on up when you are ready, grab a bread, grab a cup, and then take it back to your seat.

And you can take a seat. And then we're going to partake together after I read a few passages. Okay, so please join me in a time of prayer. Father, I pray that you would help us. That there is nothing for us to boast in of ourselves. But as we grow more and more in holiness, help us to glory in our weakness. Help us to delight that your power is made all the more beautiful and perfect in our weakness. So may we all the more boast in our weakness and magnify and exalt the person of Christ. And tonight, as we share in the cup and in the bread, may we remember that you were broken. Your blood was spilled, not because we were unworthy or that we are special or that we deserved it, but help us to partake in the elements because for us, there was no other route to get back to the Father outside of you being bloodied, beaten, bruised, and scorned.

So help us to have both a delight and great remorse. And would you use that, Lord, to magnify yourself in our lives? And we pray all of this in Jesus' name.