Good Friday Service 2020

[0:00] Hey guys, I'm Brian. I lead our Beaufort site, and this is our Good Friday service. Tonight we're going to be reflecting together on the cross of Jesus Christ.

[0:12] What did it mean? Why did he die? Thankfully, we're not left to ourselves to figure that out. Jesus spoke about his own death a lot. He predicted his death, and he interpreted his death.

[0:24] Tonight we're going to be singing songs that lead our hearts to the cross, and we're going to be reflecting on four passages where Jesus spoke about his own death. But first, as we turn our hearts to worship our crucified king together, I want to read a passage from the prophet Isaiah, which was written hundreds of years before Jesus was even born, that gave us a picture of what kind of man he would be, and what he would do for us, and what his death would mean.

[0:52] Isaiah 53, 3. He was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

[1:08] Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions.

[1:19] He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. Let's worship Jesus.

[1:31] The man of sorrows and Aly哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡哪裡 Sired as he stood against Beaten, mocked, and soared Bowing to the Father's will He took a crown of thorns Oh, that rugged cross, my salvation

[2:36] Where your love poured out over me Now my soul cries out, hallelujah Praise and honor unto you The scent of heaven, God's own Son To purchase and redeem And reconcile the very ones Who nailed him to pass me Oh, that rugged cross, my salvation Where your love poured out over me

[3:38] And now my soul cries out, hallelujah Praise and honor unto you Now my debt is paid It is paid in full By the precious blood that my Jesus spilled Now the curse of sin has no hold on me Yes, who the Son sets free Is free indeed Oh, that rugged cross, my salvation is free Now my debt is paid Now my debt is paid It is paid in full By the precious blood that my Jesus spilled By the precious blood that my Jesus spilled Now the curse of sin has no hold on me

[4:41] Yes, who the Son sets free Yes, who the Son sets free Oh, that rugged cross, my salvation Where your love poured out over me And now my soul cries out, hallelujah Praise and honor unto me Praise and honor, Lord, with your heart to me Praise and honor, glory and power It's all I feel It's all I feel

[5:42] Hi, everybody. This is Tom here.

[6:00] It's my great privilege to be the site leader of One Harbor, Swansboro. And it's also my privilege to do this first reflection this Good Friday. And this reflection is called His Death Means Life for Us And if you think about it, Good Friday is an unusual way to call something that was absolutely horrific I mean, we don't ordinarily refer to a day where an innocent man, as Jesus was, is unjustly convicted He is brutally tortured And then he is killed in a really horrific and painful way We don't normally call that a Good Friday But as Christians, we do Why do we do? Why do we do that?

[6:39] And we want to discover from Scripture What does Jesus say about this day? Get some answers for it We want to answer this This first reflection His death means life for us I want to say this Right at the beginning When we talk about Good Friday I don't think we should think of it as a funeral But we should think of it as a feast And I'm going to keep referring to that So talking of a feast We know there's always a menu And I'm going to read a passage of Scripture Which is kind of a menu Which tells us the amazing good that Friday has associated with it So from John 3, verse 14 to 17 This is what it says As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness So must the Son of Man be lifted up That whoever believes in Him may have eternal life For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son That whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world But in order that the world might be saved through Him So just that passage is a huge feast

[7:42] It's a feast that we're all invited to This is good news indeed So first little point At the cross, Jesus took our place And the Bible makes it so clear Especially in that passage that we just read That Jesus went to the cross in our place We are all sinners We have all committed high treason against the living God And gone our own way And that treason deserves punishment And yet Jesus, this innocent Jesus Substitutes Himself for us as guilty sinners And that's all of us that He's substituting Himself for In Romans 5, 8 it says this But God shows His love for us And that while we were still sinners Christ died for us Folks, this is a feast This is good news This is a good Friday And then secondly at the cross Jesus was taking our curse And curses?

[8:38] What is that about? Maybe you're a visitor watching this Curses? What's going on there? And this is what the Bible teaches That because of our sin There are consequences Just like when your kids mess up There are consequences Like when you and I break the law of the land There are consequences And the main consequence One amongst many Is that we will all die one day And you may think Well we're all going to die Yes, but this is a death Where we die And then we go to a place That's a lost eternity There is no God there It's not a happy and good place to be But Jesus comes along on Good Friday He takes our place He takes the curse of death that we deserve And He puts it upon Himself And so Jesus takes the consequences of our sin And places them on Himself for us Again, I want to say this This is good news This is a feast This is a good Friday And then thirdly at the cross Jesus was clothing us As Jesus hung on the cross We know the story

[9:39] There were a bunch of soldiers At the foot of the cross And Jesus obviously had a very nice garment It was in one piece The Bible says someone had given it to Him Or put it on Him as He was carrying the cross And they're throwing dice for it And the Psalms tells us That this is a picture of Jesus And what He's doing for us He's willing to take our dirty, filthy, unrighteous, sinful, rebellious garments And He's willing to put them on Himself And then take His pure garments His pure life And put it on ourselves These garments that He gives us on Good Friday Allow us to know Him To walk with Him To know the only true God And to walk with the only true God Again, this is good news This is a good Friday This is a great feast that we're being offered And then fourthly and lastly On the cross Jesus was tearing heaven open for us Because of our sin We had no access to God We were designed to fellowship with God

[10:40] But sin stopped that Because God is holy and we are unholy And so how can unholiness ever mix With the true and pure and only God? We're unholy and sinful people We're not allowed into the presence of a holy God But Jesus by dying on the cross By taking our place on the cross By taking our penalty for our sin He makes a way for us to confidently To confidently enter into the holy place He's taken our sinfulness And our treason and our rebellion And given us His holiness and purity So that we can freely walk into the presence of an almighty God And we do that as sons and daughters When we accept what Jesus has done on the cross of Calvary It's a good Friday It's a great feast It's good news Hello, good evening My name is Brian Hart I'm one of the pastors at the Moorhead City site We are now going to consider that when Jesus talked about his death

[11:42] He said that it meant the defeat of spiritual darkness Which is a very counterintuitive idea So turn with me to John chapter 12 And we're going to read verses 27 through 33 Now is my soul troubled And what shall I say?

[12:02] Father, save me from this hour But for this purpose I have come to this hour Father, glorify your name Then a voice came from heaven I have glorified it And I will glorify it again The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered Others said an angel has spoken to him Jesus answered This voice has come for your sake, not mine Now is the judgment of this world Now will the ruler of this world be cast out And I, when I am lifted up from the earth Will draw all people to myself He said this to show by what kind of death He was going to die The paradox of the cross is that It means the opposite of everything that it looks like It looks like it only means death But it comes to mean life

[13:03] It looks like it's a crushing defeat But it comes to mean an overwhelming victory Now I think that for a lot of us When we consider the Easter weekend We think the victory moment only happens on Resurrection Sunday It's true, the cross means nothing without the resurrection But it is very important to understand That the death of Jesus is the victory of Jesus And the reason that is true Is both wild and wonderful Jesus said that he must be lifted up Which may sound like that's a reference to his resurrection Or perhaps being seated at the right hand of the Father But it's actually a reference to his death And sounds very much like something he had said in John chapter 3 He said that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness So must also the Son of Man be lifted up That whoever believes in him would have eternal life

[14:05] Jesus is actually reaching way far back in Israel's history To a very strange story recorded in Numbers 21 Where the Israelites wandering in the wilderness Had been very disobedient Serpents had been sent in as a kind of discipline And people are being bitten by these snakes And they're being tormented And some of them are dying And God tells Moses to raise a bronze serpent in the air And whoever looked at the bronze serpent Would be saved from the actual serpents Who were tormenting and afflicting them Well, the Bible goes on to tell us that on the cross Jesus became sin Like the bronze serpent He becomes the very thing that is afflicting us And when we look to him, we're saved Now, I think some of the reason Or part of the reason why some people struggle to understand How the death of Jesus is actually the defeat of Satan Is because when you look around It seems like Satan is still having plenty of success in the world

[15:07] After all, there's still lots of suffering Evil, hatred, destruction And I think the reason we struggle to see the cross As the defeat of Satan Is because many of us have assumed Many of us have assumed That the worst thing that Satan can do to us Is to cause bad things to happen to us But that is actually not true The worst thing that Satan does to us Is to accuse us It's actually what the name Satan means Satan means the accuser What he does is he tempts you into sin Which is a horrible thing But what's even worse Is that he puts his finger in your face He drags out your disobedience In front of you and God and everyone else And he points out that you have broken the law And therefore you belong to him Because he wants to devour you And he wants to destroy your soul But because of the cross That is no longer possible When Jesus died on the cross He gave the devil what the devil wanted

[16:08] Death Something that all of us deserved But now because of that The greatest weapon of the enemy Has been totally silenced Revelation chapter 12 verse 10 says I heard a loud voice in heaven saying Now the salvation and the power And the kingdom of our God And the authority of his Christ have come For the accuser of our brothers Has been thrown down Who accuses them day and night Before our God We wait for the final destruction of Satan His final throwing down But until then He is powerless to destroy us Yes, he can torment us He can even destroy our bodies Just remember That is not his primary business His finger of accusation Can no longer lay claim To any of us Who have looked upon

[17:10] The son of man Who was lifted up for us Colossians says That Jesus actually disarmed The rulers and authorities Those forces of spiritual darkness And triumphed over them And that's because In becoming sin In becoming the snake Jesus beat the snake He disarmed Satan He ripped his fangs out And so Satan rages And he lashes out Against the church Furious that he can't do more Because he's not satisfied To take your money And your stuff And your health And your relationships He wants to eat your soul And now he can't And that's why We're the only group of people In the history of the world That have ever celebrated the fact That our God died And that's because His death is not a defeat It's a triumph It's a masterpiece It's a A cosmic tour Of force Of everlasting glory And so I exhort you In these days Of quarantine

[18:10] And the coronavirus I exhort you to Lift your drooping heads To strengthen your weak knees Jesus Christ has died for you And the accuser can accuse you In light of these things In light of these things I encourage you now To rejoice And worship Jesus And sing it The passion of our Savior The mercy of our God The cross The cross There leaves no question Of the measure of His love Our chains of God Our debt is paid The cross has over With love With love With love

[19:11] With love With love With love With love With love means dead to death and life for dreams the innocent judge guilty of the guilty one walks free that would be his portion and our portion and our sins are gone our debt is paid the cross I've over thrown away for Jesus that sets us free means dead to death and life for me

[20:18] I give my whole life I give my whole life to honor this love by the lamb who was slain I'm forgiven the sinner's savior crown him forever crown him forever for the lamb who was slain I give my whole life to honor this love by the lamb who was slain I'm forgiven the sinner's savior crown him forever for the lamb who was slain he is risen our chains are gone our debt is paid the cross has overthrown the grave for Jesus' blood that set us free he is dead to death and life for me he is dead to death and life for me hello I'm Jesse

[22:04] I lead the Havelock site next we are going to consider that when Jesus talked about his death he said that his death shows us a new way to live for others so let's read from Mark chapter 10 verses 35 to verse 45 and James and John the sons of Zebedee came up to him and said to him teacher we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you and he said to them what do you want me to do for you and they said to him grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left hand in your glory Jesus said to them you do not know what you're asking are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized and they said to him we are able and Jesus said to them the cup that I drink you will drink and with the baptism which I am baptized you will be baptized but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant but it is for those for whom it has been prepared and when the ten heard it they began to be indignant at James and John and Jesus called them to him and said to them you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them but it shall not be so among you but whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be a slave of all for even the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many so we see in this passage a fun exchange we see James and John doing what my kids do when they really really want something they preface their request with dad before I ask could you please just say yes the only difference is James and John had beards it seems like they're attempting to cash in their relational capital with Jesus to secure a spot at his right hand and his left hand but what does that mean what are they asking for here it's worth noting that this request that they make it actually shows they have faith in who Jesus is they believe that Jesus was this long awaited king this Messiah the savior and rescuer of God's people they believed also that he would achieve his glory in other words they were confident he was going to be king with a throne and power and a realm that he would rule over and who would be sitting right next to Jesus' throne sharing in his glory

[24:38] James and John are thinking to themselves man why not us while their request was rooted in faith it also was rooted in selfish ambition and a hunger to be better than everyone else what is interesting is that Jesus doesn't answer their request with a yes or a no he doesn't do that instead he takes their focus off of glory and crowns and thrones look what he says he responds with a question a better question are you able he asks them are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized the cup Jesus is talking about here is his suffering and his baptism was referring to his death and Jesus isn't crushing their hopes of glory and honor he's actually preparing them for it see before we come into Jesus' glory his disciples you and me will suffer many things and pass through death

[25:39] Jesus is saying here that we aren't ready to receive glory until we've embraced the cross so what does that mean what does the cross represent for our lives well the cross is the place where a person is raised up not to glory but to humility this is so unnatural to us we would never go there ourselves we needed an example in fact we needed a trailblazer we needed a pioneer to go in front of us to show us the way to show us how to live that way and that's what Jesus did on the cross he says look at me I'm not building my life up at the expense of others instead I'm laying it down for the sake of others the cross is not just the way to life it's the way of life while we are busy fighting for our thrones to be the top of the heap

[26:39] Jesus climbs up on a cross Jesus that's what he did he climbed up on a cross Jesus shows us what greatness truly is it's humility and it's service and he calls us to join him in the way of the cross on the cross Jesus showed us the right way to live what it truly means to be made in the image of God to be fully human it's service and humility laying down your life for the sake of others let's consider will we answer the call of our king and take the place of humility and service and suffering for the sake of others in our final reflection we're going to consider that when Jesus talked about his death he said that we must follow him in the way of the cross Jesus said this in

[27:41] Mark chapter 8 where he was talking to his disciples and he asked them but who do you say that I am Peter answered him you are the Christ and he strictly charged them to tell no one about him and he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again and he said this plainly and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him but turning and seeing his disciples Jesus rebuked Peter and said get behind me Satan for you are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of man and calling the crowd to him with his disciples Jesus said to them if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul what does it look like to be under the power of Satan if Satan took control of you what would he have you say what would he have you do this passage actually gives us a pretty surprising answer to that some of the things that probably come to mind for us are you know maybe he would have us participate in a pagan worship ceremony maybe he would have us hurt ourselves or someone else physically maybe he would have us scream profanities but in this passage

[29:14] Jesus rebukes Satan in the words of Peter and by the way when Jesus looks you in the eyes and calls you Satan that's a bad day for you but what was it that Peter said that brought that on Peter simply tried to tell Jesus that he didn't really have to die surely he didn't really have to be killed or suffer after all Peter says Jesus you are the Christ that means that Jesus was the Messiah the promised Jewish king who would save God's people who would rule the world who would bring healing to the nations and Peter says Jesus you are that king and then the very next thing that Jesus says is yes I am and I will be killed that doesn't make any sense to Peter he thinks Jesus belongs on a golden throne not on a bloody cross but Jesus tells him yes I am the Christ the king of the world but it's not like what you think he says Peter you have your mind set on the things of men just like James and John before him Peter was looking for a king just like the kings of the world a king whose victory comes through conquering power through being first but Jesus says that his kingdom will come through his life being laid down for others it's very easy to set our minds on the things of men to think the same way that the world thinks about being first having the most wealth having the most power gain the whole world but

[30:38] Jesus says that's the mind of Satan I got a little bit angry lately when I was reading about how there are already countries and companies that are battling over who's going to profit when the coronavirus vaccine is finally produced after all there's a lot of money to be made in something like that if you've got exclusive rights you can really make a fortune off of other people's misery reading that reminded me of Jonas Salk who invented the polio vaccine until Salk's vaccine polio was a frightening global health problem but thanks to his invention that disease has basically been eradicated but Jonas Salk refused to profit at all from his invention when he was asked who owns the patent to your vaccine he actually said the people own it he said could you patent the sun no it's estimated that Salk could have made seven billion dollars off of that patent but he just gave it away so that the most people could have it as quickly as possible that way of thinking of self denial a way of thinking that doesn't consider gaining to profit off of his power and kingship he even went further than that he gave his whole life away in the ultimate sacrifice and then even more surprising

[31:59] Jesus turns to his disciples and he says now you can take up your crosses and follow me just like James and John Peter thought that if Jesus went to a throne then maybe Peter would get to go!

[32:13] to a throne of his own but instead Jesus says I'm going to a cross Peter and you know what you get to come with me you get to have a cross of your own in fact he says that he wants all of us to come with him the invitation of Jesus is broad the invitation of Jesus is gracious it is good news for all anyone who hears can come anybody can get in on this but it's an invitation to come and die he invites us to join him on crosses of our own the idea of loving others and living for others sounds pretty good but the hard part of that means first dying to ourselves denying ourselves you know there's nothing appealing about carrying a cross when we think of a cross because of thousands of years of Christian imagery we think of a standard religious torture of being forsaken completely it was not something you would ever want to pick up and you certainly didn't follow anybody that was carrying one if we were

[33:18] Peter we would have reacted the same way we set our minds on the ways of men too the ways of God defy our vision of what a successful life should look like see Jesus is the king but his kingdom is not like love who denied himself and laid down his home in heaven to be with us he denied himself to take to lay down the privileges of divinity and enter into poverty he denied himself and laid down his reputation by keeping company with sinners and people on the margins of society and he ultimately denied himself and laid down his very life so that he could save us and make us his own and now he turns to us his disciples and he says deny yourself and follow me the crucified king calls for crucified disciples we all want to be on top well Jesus says the last shall be first we all want glory well

[34:19] Jesus says my cross where my life is poured out for the sake of others that is true glory we all want to save our lives Jesus says the way to as we close this evening I encourage you to join us in a communion meal if you're able in this meal we all come to Jesus because this is not something that we can do in our own strength self denial is totally unnatural we need the power of Christ to live as he lived Galatians 2 20 Paul puts it this way I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me as we take communion together as a church family tonight

[35:20] I want us all to remember that he loved me he loved you he gave himself for me he gave himself for you this is his body broken in sacrificial love for you and this is his blood poured out in forgiveness for you and now it is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in us and so let's take up our crosses and follow him what else can we do when we see what he has done for us let's worship once more cross cross on which the prince of glory died my richest gain

[36:45] I count but lost and poor content on all my pride see from his hand his hands his feet sorrow and love flow be gled down oh and dead is such love and sorrow be or thorns compose so rich a crown oh the wonderful cross oh the wonderful cross it's become and die and find that

[38:22] I may truly live! oh the wonderful cross oh the wonderful cross all who gather near by grace draw near and bless your name!

[38:52] the whole round of nature mine!

[39:03] mine that were an offering far too small it's love so amazing so divine!

[39:24] so divine demands my soul and my and my the cross the love the wonderful cross oh the wonderful cross bids me and die and find I may truly live one fall oh the wonderful cross cross oh the wonderful cross all who gather here my grace draw near and bless your name

[40:26] Lord we bless your name Jesus we we thank you for we thank you yourself of sin and you were the one who is crushed in our place and we want to praise you for that we want to thank you that you give us hope and you give us life and you give us love and it's all everlasting It never ends!

[40:55] And we thank you for that grace that pours out again and again! and again! It's in your precious name we praise you and we pray to you tonight Jesus amen amen guys it is it's so good to have you with us this evening remembering the cost that Jesus took upon himself but it didn't end here we have this incredible hope which is coming in just a few days and it's that Jesus put death in its grave and he left it there and he rose to life again on Easter Sunday we want to invite you to join us online once again on Sunday with us as we declare that he is risen will you join us Sunday morning 8am right here on harvardchurch.com forward slash gather we would love to see you there we love you guys have a great rest of your evening night