04/03/2026 Good friday Evening

In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

What does the weight of sin look like?

Go to any graveyard and you can witness it for yourself.

It looks like death.

Who can bear the weight of their own sin?

We'd like to think that we can.

That's how man is portrayed in the movies, after all.

We can almost hear the main character boast, I'll pay the price for my own transgressions.

That's all well and good, except the price for your transgressions, your sin is death.

We'd like to think we can carry the weight.

And what about death?

We try to boast about that too.

Especially if it's all in the name of dying honorably.

If we die honorably, then somehow death is better.

Or it doesn't hurt as much, or it means more.

How does one die honorably?

Supposedly by embracing death.

We'd like to say, I'll die how I want to die.

If anyone loves war movies, well, this is why.

They fought honorably.

They died honorably for a cause that was greater than themselves.

They had a death of their own choosing because they were willing to fight the fight.

But in the end, do we really contemplate why they die?

Do we really pay attention to why we die in the first place?

Do we ever take a moment to realize death is really the wages of sin?

We'd like to think we embrace death because we call it inevitable.

But never do we stop to realize that isn't the way God made us.

We never stop to think this isn't the way we were designed in the image of God.

You weren't made to die, neither was I.

But we all experience it.

Death is the worst enemy.

There is no other enemy greater than death.

That's why God must rescue mankind from death.

We like to act like we rescue people here on earth too.

Especially if you've ever served in the medical profession or as an emergency personnel or in the military or in law enforcement.

We'd like to think that we've rescued someone from death also, but the reality is, well, we've only staved it off for a little while.

Death will occur.

The question is never if, but when.

Jesus is the only answer to our death because he's the only answer to sin.

Only Jesus holds the keys to death in Hades.

Only Jesus saves.

There is no other way around it.

But if you want the Jesus that saves you, then you need the Jesus who is both 100% God and 100% man.

He can't be only one or the other on the cross.

He can't be just one or the other to save your life.

If he's only God but has not flesh and blood for you, then he can't atone for your sins.

If he's not God in the flesh, then he's not the spotless lamb he claims to be, nor can he raise from the dead or have all authority in heaven and on earth.

What Pilate said to the Jews, he says to us, Behold the man.

If the Lord God Almighty didn't take on real flesh and blood, he could not have made the payment for the sins of the whole world.

You need Jesus, who is both God and man.

You need Jesus, the God man, to redeem you, buy you back, both body and soul.

You need Jesus, the Godman, to carry the weight of sin for you, in order to turn your death from being an eternal damnation to a doorway that leads to everlasting life.

Only Jesus, the Godman, with a real body, could be flogged and bleed.

Only Jesus with a real body could thirst.

Only Jesus, the Godman, could conquer our worst enemy, death.

Only Jesus, the Son, could be rejected by the Father and give up his spirit and die for your sake.

He came to take our sin on himself.

But if we want to keep our sin, well then we must keep the death that goes along with it.

If we want to keep our sins, then we're no different than those crying out, crucify him, crucify him, because we don't want Jesus to interfere with what we've got going on in our lives.

We don't want Jesus to disrupt how we have things going.

Just like the Jews and the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, we don't want what Jesus is giving out.

You can't have both your sin and Jesus.

Jesus' death smacks us square in the face because it shows us what we deserve because of our sin.

Not simply hanging lifeless on a tree, but total rejection from the Father.

The Father puts the Son through utter hell, completely forsakes him.

His death is for our death.

He was forsaken by the Father so that you who believe in him could be acceptable to God and made new and right and holy before a most holy God and live.

Death is a call to repentance.

His death means our death as well.

His death calls us to die to ourselves and live a new life in Christ.

His death calls us to live in our baptisms.

His death calls us to let Jesus interfere with our lives so we can let him take away our sins and bear them for us.

When we look at Jesus hanging on the cross, we see where we should be.

His cross meant our condemnation.

His crucifixion is our crucifixion.

The cross keeps us from consenting to our sins, because the cross is the payment for our salvation.

So if we want what Jesus is offering, if we want to receive the forgiveness of all our sins the way he gives it, well then we must be about giving up our sins to let Jesus take care of them.

If you have baptism, then you have all the benefits it gives because Jesus' word tells you that.

If you have the Lord's Supper, you have unity with Christ and one another because Jesus' word promises that.

If you have absolution, you have the forgiveness of sins because Jesus' word declares it to be true.

You have the forgiveness of your sins because the Spirit, the water, and the blood all testify to who Jesus really is, the God man and what he has done for you.

There is no other way out of death.

There is no other way to life eternal.

Not even if you die your way, not even if you die honorably.

But if we want our sins to be taken care of, if we want our deaths to be temporary, if we want death to lose its sting, well then we must be about letting Jesus take away our sins from us so that we can have eternal life with Him.

Only Jesus can say, It is finished, and it remains that way forever.

Amen.

In the name of Jesus.