PASTOR LUKE LEZON | GOOD FRIDAY

Man, anybody grateful for Good Friday

tonight? Come

on. Anybody grateful for Jesus tonight?

Man, I feel like I'm interrupting

something, honestly. But uh so let's

let's get through this together. Y'all

take a seat. Hey, welcome to Lifebridge

Church, everybody. If you uh haven't

been here before or you and I haven't

had the chance to meet yet, my name is

Luke Lison and I get the opportunity to

serve you as one of our pastors here and

we are so grateful to be gathered

together in this house tonight and that

worship is genuine and true. It is not

show and fun. We believe that Jesus

Christ has done something significant on

our behalf and that's what we're here to

celebrate this evening. And you know we

are here really for that in celebration

and recognition of a moment that is both

pivotal and critical in our faith. This

is an unbelievably significant night in

the life of our faith. A night where on

this side of the cross we find ourselves

filled with devastation. Knowing that it

is us that put Jesus Christ on the cross

as a result of our sins and yet

anticipation for what's to come. knowing

that Sunday is on the way. And so we are

here tonight to celebrate a man who is

crucified on a Roman cross like a common

criminal. Good is how we described this.

Good is how we have described this

Friday for millennia. And I think

regardless of where you stand in your

faith or how long you have known Christ

as your Lord and Savior, I think

everybody in here, if you've just got a

shred of honesty in you can admit to

call this day good is

odd. Like to think about this like a man

being crucified and celebrating that

that's an odd thing to say. That's good.

That's a that's a good thing. I mean,

you look at all of the things that we're

talking about here. Like, if you're on

the outside looking in at what it is

that we're doing tonight and how it is

that we're celebrating, you would not be

able to refute someone just on the

surface saying it's a bizarre thing to

celebrate crucifixion and act like

that's normal. Uh like to say that it's

good that someone is beaten, mocked,

scorned, spat on. That is a bizarre

thing to say, "Hey, we love that. That's

a good thing that you feel like being a

believer on the outside, you must think,

hey, you got to be borderline

masochistic to be in on this thing. Good

is how you describe a lot of different

things in life. Good is how you describe

food. It's how you describe friendship

in ideal circumstances. It's how you

describe marriage. Uh I it's how you

describe mournings that have relative

peace attached to them. Right? You do

not describe men being crucified as

good. You don't do that. That's weird.

And yet, while we know that that's

understandable, I think we just have to

acknowledge that there's a lot of

different people that occupy the room

and that are watching online right now,

there are those of us that have

surrendered our life to Jesus Christ.

And we've heard this message a million

times. And if that's you, you know that

there is no amount of times where you

can be like, "And I think I'm good."

that this is something that we need to

hear every single day and it never gets

old. Uh but then there are some of us

that are in here as well. And quite

honestly, uh you're someone who's heard

this story of the crucifixion many

times, but you have not yet come to put

your faith in Jesus Christ. Or really,

honestly, if you're in here, you have

before, but you really haven't

surrendered to him as your Lord and

Savior. Because honestly, you're you're

kind of living with one foot in whatever

I want to do and one foot in I guess I

kind of need to do whatever it is that

he's telling me to do. But then there's

some of you where honestly you have not

heard this in detail and at length and

on a timeline to where it makes sense

and you haven't put your faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ either. Here's what I

want you to know. Regardless of where

you stand as you run the gamut of

possibilities of where you could stand

in relationship or out of relationship

with Jesus Christ, when we step out of

this place together here tonight, we

will have a much better understanding as

to why it is that we call this Friday

good. primarily from this angle that we

are here to recognize the fact that we

are not just celebrating that a man is

being crucified but rather we are also

celebrating that the crucifixion of this

man Jesus Christ is simultaneously the

coronation of the king of kings and so

what I want to do is look at Matthew 27

Matthew 27:27–31

verse 27 through31 that's where we're

going to be we're going to continue on

from there for a moment uh as we

continue moving moving through this

passage, what I want you to know is that

if it's your first time here, we're big

Bible people, okay? Uh like like

unashamed of what it is that people are

saying out in the fringes of social

media and all the other things that are

just toxic spaces and algorithms that

are reminding you that you're right when

you're wrong. And so we believe that

this is the words of life. We believe

that the truth is laid out for us in

here. That every page points to Jesus

Christ in some way, shape, or form. that

it is inspired by the Holy Spirit. And

so, as the rest of the world is

bickering and trying to figure out

what's wrong with everybody, we are here

to say we know that we've got some flaws

in us and sin that needs to be dealt

with. And this book will confront it

wholeheartedly. Amen. And so, we are

going to be in God's word tonight or we

have no reason to gather. And so, we're

going to be in Matthew 27, beginning in

verse 27. Y'all ready for the word? It

says this. Then the governor's soldiers

took Jesus into the governor's residence

and gathered the whole company around

him. They stripped him and dressed him

in a scarlet robe. They twisted together

a crown of thorns, put it on his head,

and placed a staff in his right hand.

And they knelt down before him and

mocked him. Hail, King of the Jews. Then

they spat on him, took the staff, and

kept hitting him on the head. And after

they had mocked him, they stripped him

of the robe, put his own clothes on him,

and led him away to crucify him. Will

you pray with me?

And Lord, there's there's no amount of

conversation or unpacking that we

could engage in here tonight that would

suffice as as mining the depths of what

this moment means, not just for us here

in this moment, but really all

throughout human history, what it means

for the world. And and so Lord, as we

gather with a short amount of time to

celebrate what it is that you've done on

our behalf, I pray that it won't land on

us lightly. That yes, we're on this side

of the cross, but yes, it is also true

that we find ourselves here recognizing

that the Lord had to go to the cross as

a result of our own sinfulness. And so,

thank you, Jesus, tonight for your

sacrifice. Would we step out of this

place with even deeper gratitude than we

may be stepped in with? Lord, we love

you. We praise you and we thank you. We

ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen. You really got to ask yourself,

how do we arrive here when you read a

passage that is uh as kind of scandalous

as the one that we just read? Like like

what happens to lead us up to a group of

soldiers doing this to another man? And

if you would just for a moment indulge

me here. I I want to go back five days

ago. Five days ago, what we see is that

Jesus Christ is riding into Jerusalem on

a donkey, on the f of a donkey, which is

significant because hundreds of years

before that, the prophet Zechariah had

said in Zechariah 9:9 that the King of

Zechariah 9:9

Kings would ride in, that the Messiah

would ride into the city of Jerusalem on

a donkey, on the full of a donkey, which

is significant because typically in that

time in in the ancient near east,

whenever kings would ride into cities,

they would do so on a horse. and they

would either ride into a city with the

intention of conquering it or they would

ride back into their own city to signify

that they had conquered and they would

do that on a horse symbolizing power.

But here we see that Jesus Christ is

riding into the city of Jerusalem how on

a donkey which is significant because

rather than riding a horse that

signifies power he's riding upon a

donkey which is symbolic of peace that

we see that Jesus Christ is riding into

Jerusalem and he intends to conquer but

he's going to do so in a peaceful manner

that he might bring peace between us

between God and man by standing in our

place as a sacrifice on our behalf. He

rides in on this day where the people

are shouting hosana. And then just a few

days later, we see that they're going to

be shouting and chanting crucify him.

And as you fast forward in time and go

through Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday,

you get to Thursday night last night.

Jesus is arrested and betrayed in the

Garden of Gethsemane, which is

significant for this reason. Gethsemane

is a Hebrew word that's a combination of

two Hebrew words. Gat meaning oil and

shem meaning press. Gethsemane literally

means oil press. And so traditionally

whenever a king was about to ascend the

throne in the ancient near east and in

Israel in particular, you see that

olives would be crushed in order to get

oil and you would anoint that king with

oil to signify that God was with them

that they had favor that the spirit of

God was with them before they ascended

the throne. And here we see that there

is a reversal of things going on in this

moment. Rather than having oil poured

out to anoint the king after crushing

olives, we see that the king himself is

being crushed under the weight of our

iniquities and sins. And we see that

rather than having oil pour out, blood

and grace are starting to pour out of

the King of Glory as he's beginning his

suffering process. And as you see the

morning start to turn and it's Friday

morning. He's arrested and betrayed. One

of the 12, Judas, will come and betray

the son of man with a kiss in one of the

most dramatic turns of events in human

history. And what you see is that Jesus

is then led away with this mob with

clubs and swords. And you see that they

will take him to the former high priest

home, Annis. And then you see that he

will be escorted to Caiaphas, the

current high priest's home. And you see

that as they bring him into kind of an

open courtyard area that there's going

to be a false trial that he will endure

that all of a sudden you see that the

Sanhedrin gathers all of these uh

political officials of the day are

heaping all of these different claims on

Jesus saying that he broke the law in

this way that he blasphemed in that way

but none of the things are holding water

none of the things are holding weight

even Caiaphas recognizes that some of

the things that are being lobbied

against Jesus they're not really

anything that Is that meaningful and

worthy of condemning him to die upon a

cross? And so, Caiaphas ends up asking

Jesus a question point blank that is

pivotal for us to understand that Jesus

Christ does in fact make a God claim in

the scripture. He just says, "Hey, let's

just get this out of the way." Like,

"Are you the Messiah? Are you the son of

God? Tell us if you are." And after

Jesus has been silent through all of

these accusations, Jesus looks up at

Caiaphas and says to him, "You have said

it." which is just a clever way of

saying you're exactly right and from now

on you will see the son of man seated at

the right hand of power and coming on

the clouds of heaven and Caiaphas and

those in the Sanhedrin rip their robes

and condemn Jesus as a blasphemer and

want to condemn him to death but they

can't under Roman jurisdiction and so

they bring him to Pontius Pilate and

when they bring him to Pontius Pilate he

feels like the charges are out of whack

it doesn't make any sense why you would

want to kill this guy and so Pilate

brings Jesus in for questioning and says

to him, "Are you the king of the Jews?

Are the things that they're saying about

you true?" And Jesus says, "I am a king,

but my kingdom is not of this world."

And so he gets sent to King Herod

because Jesus is also from Galilee. And

Herod rules in that particular province.

And so King Herod gets his eyes on Jesus

after being curious about what he's

like, hearing about the miracles that

he's done and all of the things that

have happened. And as King Herod sees

him, Jesus just stands silent before

him. He doesn't say anything. So Herod

sends him back to Pilate and the riots

are starting to rise. People are losing

their minds whether they want him killed

or whether they don't want him killed.

We see that all of a sudden people are

at odds with one another. And so Pilate

ends up saying in order to appease the

people I will have him flogged, which is

terrible in and of itself. But then

he'll wash his hands and surrender him

over to the will of the people. And

that's where we pick things up. Jesus

Christ has just been flogged and is now

surrounded by these individuals that are

going to mercilessly mock him for the

text that we just read here. And I want

to read it together again because I want

you to see that while we often will talk

about this being the crucifixion of

Jesus and it is, there is also something

significant that happens leading up to

the crucifixion. And it is the literal

coronation of the king of glory laid out

for us right there in five acts in

scripture. Notice what it said again as

we go back to the word. It says, "Then

the governor's soldiers took Jesus into

the governor's residence and gathered

the whole company around him. They

stripped him and dressed him in a

scarlet robe. They twisted together a

crown of thorns and put it on his head

and placed a staff in his right hand.

They knelt down before him and mocked

him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews."

They spat on him and took the staff and

kept hitting him on the head. And after

they had mocked him, they stripped him

of the robe and put his own clothes on

him and led him away to crucify him. A

grotesque

coronation in five acts. And you go,

where where are you seeing that? And I

think that's a great question to answer.

And so you look at the first thing that

we see here. And in act one, you see

that there's a gathering. Matthew

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

chapter 27 27 says what? That they

gathered the whole company around him.

There's a gathering and that's

significant company. The word that's

used here uh in Greek in the original

language, it's a word that means

battalion or or cohort. It literally

means a tenth of a legion. A legion of

Roman soldiers would have been about

6,000 Roman soldiers. And so a tenth of

that, you're talking roughly 600

soldiers have gathered together here

around Jesus Christ. And they do so with

the intention of having a public

demonstration of profuse humiliation of

the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet what we

also see is that while they intended to

just put forth this public humiliation

of him, they also are forgetting the

fact that whenever you have a coronation

of a king, there are always witnesses.

They are witnessing right now the

coronation of King Jesus before he will

ascend his throne. And what we see is

that they are going to gather as

witnesses alongside heaven that is

waiting on the edge of its seat in this

moment. There is a gathering in the

first act which is significant. The

second act that we see is that there is

the clothing of the king Jesus that

you'll see in verse 28. What does it

say? It says that they stripped him and

dressed him in a what? In a scarlet

robe. They stripped him in line with the

public humiliation of crucifixion. That

you would not just be hung up there for

everybody to see, but oftentimes you

would be hung bare so that people could

see that you are not only being

humiliated because you're suffering like

a criminal on a cross, but there's

nothing to hide the shame of your whole

body up there for everybody to see. What

we also see is that it's not just that

it says that they stripped him. It says

that they also dressed him, which is an

ironic turn of events because what we

see happen is that a Roman military

official would take their cloak and

drape it over the shoulders of Jesus

after we see that he has been flogged,

bloodied, and probably slumped. And in

that moment, what they don't realize is

that the cloak that they drape around

Jesus' shoulders is also one that is

scarlet. In other words, it's royal.

That in order to have any kind of deep

red dye or any kind of purple, it was

expensive. You had to be a ruler or of

nobility to be someone that had that

kind of color in your possession. And

so, we see here that they intended to

put a crude costume on Jesus and say,

"This is who you think you are." Little

do they know that they have just put the

color of a royal robe around the true

king. And as they do so, they don't

recognize not only is it the color of

nobility and ruling, it's also the color

of blood which he will shed on other

people's behalf, even those that are

mocking him in this moment. You see that

there's not only going to be a

gathering, and there's not just going to

be a clothing, but in a third act, and

probably the one that most of us know

better than any else, we see that there

is going to be a crowning of the King of

Kings. Here in Matthew chap 27 in verse

29 it says they twisted together a crown

of thorns and put a staff in his right

hand. They twisted together a crown of

thorns. Isn't it interesting that in

Genesis chapter 3 17 and 18 at the fall

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

of man when Adam and Eve break faith

with God and we see that sin enters the

world God says something interesting to

them. He says, "Because of you, the

ground will be cursed and thorns and

thistles will rise from the earth." You

fast forward to Galatians chapter 3:13

and it says that Jesus Christ redeemed

us from the curse by bearing the curse

on our behalf. What is happening here is

when they place the crown of thorns on

Jesus, they are putting sin on his head

and stamping it through his flesh and

into his skull. That we see that he's

going to bear the curse and break the

curse that you and I might be freed from

that curse. And we see that they're

going to put a staff in his hand. And

you read that and you're like, "What'

they do? Throw an iron scepter in his

hand like a king would rule with?" No,

it was a thin, weak reed, making fun of

his claim. They're saying, "You're a

poor beggar. You don't get a crown of

glory. You get a crown of thorns." They

put a scepter in his hand that's

supposed to act like a scepter, but

really isn't. They're like, "No, no, no.

You've got a thin, weak claim to any

kind of throne." But what they do not

realize is that this king will rule, but

he will rule through different

circumstances. He will rule through the

humility of being the king of glory who

will end up bearing the world's

sinfulness and brokenness in his very

body that you and I might have life in

his name. We see that there is going to

be a gathering around the King of glory.

There's going to be a clothing of the

King of Glory. There's going to be a

crowning of the King of Glory. There's

also going to be bowing before the King

of Glory that you see here. It says they

knelt down and mocked him.

They knelt down as you would when a king

would walk into a room that you would

pay homage. You would pay respect. There

was reverence for the position even if

you did not like the person which some

of y'all can take back to work on

Monday. And so we see

here that as they're bowing before the

King of

Kings, they're doing so not in a way to

show honor and respect, but they're

reving

him. And in this moment, they're being

sarcastic in the way that they're

pretending to worship him, saying, "You

are no king. You are suffering at our

hands. But what they do not know is that

he will stretch his hands that they too

might be saved." And the way that

they're worshiping here before the

suffering king is just a foreshadowing

of true worship that they will end up

demonstrating just hours later when the

sky goes black. that we see that there

is a bowing before the King of Kings as

well. We see that there's gathering,

clothing, crowning, bowing, and now we

see that there will be the procession.

It says in Matthew 27:30 and 31 that

Matthew 27:30

they spat on him, took the staff and

kept hitting him on the head. It says

they mocked him, they stripped him of

the robe and put his own clothes on him

and they led him away to crucify him. a

continuation of the coronation. How? The

royal

procession. How most of us probably

picture anyone that's ascending a throne

is that you will see that there is a

royal procession. He will walk and

people will line the streets watching as

he's being led away. And these soldiers

think that they are leading Jesus Christ

to the cross where he will be ended. But

what they do not understand is that

they're leading him to a place where he

will not be ended, but he will be

enthroned forever. That you see in

Matthew chap 27, as you keep reading in

verses 45- 54, it says this, "From noon

until 3:00 in the afternoon, as Jesus is

hanging on the cross, darkness came over

the whole land, Jesus cried out again

with a loud voice and gave up his

spirit. Suddenly the curtain of the

sanctuary was torn in two from top to

bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks

were split. And when the centurion and

those with him who were keeping watch

over Jesus saw the earthquake and the

things that had happened, they were

terrified and said, "Truly, this man was

the son of

God." It ends with the enthroning.

You see that the centurion and those who

were with him say truly this is the son

of God. Who is the centurion and those

who are with him? The very ones that had

just performed this coronation for the

king. The ones that are beating him,

mocking him, spitting on him that you

see that it is the same individuals that

as soon as they enthroned him on high,

they realized in that moment he is who

he said he is. He's the king of kings.

Jesus said in John

John 12:32

12:32 that I am going to be lifted above

the earth and when I am I will draw all

people to me. Jesus is yes talking about

his elevation literally from the earth

as he is nailed to a cross and put up

for all to see. But we also know that

he's not just talking about his

elevation on the cross but his

exaltation on the cross. that the cross

is his throne. Why do we put crosses on

our necks? Why do we get around this

symbol? Because that's the throne.

That's the place from which he said, "I

am the one who gets to rule all things

because I'm reconciling all things

through me." You see that it's on the

throne that Jesus Christ is saying,

"Yes, I will be executed here, but I

will forever be exalted here." It is at

this place where justice and mercy will

meet. It is at that place where holiness

and love will embrace. It is 2

Corinthians 5 21 that says this. For our

sake he made him who knew no sin to be

sin so that in him we might become the

righteousness of God. That Jesus Christ

took on a crown of thorns so that you

could find yourself clothed in

righteousness. Why do you celebrate this

today? Because it's the day that God got

in your grave.

It's the day God got in your

grave. He took on your sin and your

shame and he conquered

it so that you could know I can step

out in the freedom of knowing that I'm a

son. I'm a daughter of the one true

king. This is simultaneously the worst

day and the second greatest day in all

of human history. Why? Because it looks

like death, but it gives me

life. You have life in his name today.

And you might be in here and you're and

you might be like, "Do I?" I don't

know. Those of us who know, we know.

Like we know. And it's it's it's it's

not it's it's not like a golf club

thing. It it it's

like desperately need him thing,

broken beyond belief thing, made whole

by him thing.

Like you you got to understand like you

you only get so many chances to

surrender and have your life mean

something that's going to echo long past

what it is that we're experiencing right

now. And I want to give us a moment

before we take communion. If you would

just bow your heads with me for a

moment. If you've never put your faith

in the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to just

give you an

opportunity. May maybe you're like, you

know what? I I I I don't I don't know

that I've never done this, but you know

what? I' I've been living kind of the

way I want to, but I want to fully

surrender to him that I might be able to

partake in the Lord's supper together

with brothers and sisters in here who

are not better than you, but are just

saying, "We're as broken as you are.

If you've never put your faith in Jesus

Christ

today and you want to make that

decision, would you just raise your hand

if that's you and say, "You know what? I

I want to be fully surrendered to the

Lord Jesus

Christ." And if you would, would you

pray this with me and

say, "Lord, I'm a sinner in need of a

savior.

I I believe that you lived the perfect

life that I could not and that you died

the death that I deserved in my place

upon the cross. I believe that you shed

innocent, perfect blood

willingly so that I could have my sins

covered, taken away, past, present, and

future. I believe you were buried in a

tomb for three days, but you rose to

life again. And because of your life, I

can have life in your name.

Scripture says, "If you believe in your

heart and confess with your mouth that

Jesus Christ is Lord, then you will be

saved." How grateful for salvation in

this house.

Does everybody have one of

these? If you don't have one, we've got

teams

of individuals that are going to come

by. No

shame. We like to have fun at this

church. If you raise your hand, we're

going to make you share a fiveminute

testimony. Kidding.

Kidding. Everybody got one. This is This

is a family thing. This is a family

thing. The heaviness is done for right

now. Family thing. It's all good. Raise

your hand. Uh we we want to read some

scripture

together. On the night

before Jesus is crucified, he institutes

the Lord's Supper.

And and what I want to do is is read

what Jesus said to his disciples,

knowing that we too are his and join in

this

together. Matthew 26

26 says this. As they were eating, Jesus

took bread and blessed it and broke it

and gave it to his disciples and said,

"Take and eat. This is my body." And now

we take and eat and remember his body

broken and torn up for you and

I. Thank you

Lord. Anybody grateful

that your story is not identified by

your scars but by his scars.

It says in verse 27, "Then he took a

cup and after giving thanks, he gave it

to them and said, "Drink from it all of

you, for this is my blood of the

covenant which is poured out for many

for the forgiveness of sins." Anybody

grateful that your sins are forgiven in

this house tonight. I will not drink

from this fruit of the vine from now on

until that day when I drink it new with

you in my father's kingdom. And so now

we take it and drink in celebration all

he's done.

Lord,

your word says in verse

30 that

after sharing in the Lord's

supper, the disciples went to the Mount

of Olives and they

sang. And so Lord, my prayer is that we

would be a people that sing like

we're absolved

of our sin and shame because you took it

upon

yourself. Lord, would we be a people

that have joy in this house

tonight knowing all that you've done for

us? Jesus, we love you. We praise you

and we thank you. We ask this in your

name. Amen.