Good Friday | Sorrow And Joy (April 2nd, 2021) - Mike Armstrong

Now, on Good Friday as today is, I am always kind of reminded of, but really conscious of the tension that exists today.

You know, the tension that exists as we consider the you know the death of Jesus and how that was at the same time uh awful, okay, and awesome.

Okay, it was it was both, right?

As Christ followers, I think we're all somewhat cognizant uh of that.

It's it's that tension uh between the the heaviness that you and I feel as we as we contemplate everything that Christ went through, right?

With his his uh his trial, his sham of a trial, his his execution, the shameful treatment at the hands of sinful men.

And yet at the same time, I you know, I really think there's this presence of awe that we have about all of that, right?

This joy that we that we feel as we consider the significance of his death uh for us, you know, especially as we anticipate the resurrection, the celebration three days from now.

And I know we're all looking forward to that.

Okay, but all of that tension that that I've you know just kind of mentioned there, just so we know, it's appropriate.

It is good and it is right for us to feel that mixture of things going on inside of us.

And and it's certainly something that we see expressed even in the scriptures themselves.

And so as I read uh for us, with us here through Matthew uh 27, I want us to really lean into this as our main idea.

And this is really our response as we consider all that Good Friday is, and it's gonna be on the screen, but it's this I am filled with awe as I consider both the sorrow and the joy of the cross.

All right, well, as we pick up the story here in uh Matthew 27, verse 45.

Matthew 27:45

Let me bring you up to speed a little bit here in the rear view already by this point in the narrative.

Uh Jesus has been uh betrayed by Judas.

He's been completely sold out, he has been arrested, he's had Peter deny him three times.

The rest of his disciples have scattered in fear and in confusion.

He has been led away by the Roman guards, he's been put through this joke of a trial, he's been beaten, he's been mocked, he's been accused, he has been all of these things.

And he's been on the cross.

He's had his, you know, the nails put through his hands and through his feet, and he has been raised up on it, he has been hoisted up on it, and as we pick it up again here in verse 45, he has been up there already for three hours.

Okay, so allow the significance of all of this, the weight of all this to strike us.

And as I always say when we go through a narrative text like this, really try and put yourself at the at the scene of this, literally the scene of the crime.

Consider you know, what it would have been like to be observing this, to be experiencing all of this uh for the first time.

But here's what it says again, verse 45.

Follow along.

It says, now from the from the sixth hour, okay, the sixth hour is is noon, just so we're aware here.

Okay, from the sixth hour, there was, notice, darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

Okay, so if you're doing the math and you're kind of converting it now to uh how we understand uh counting the time, we know that that's that's 3 p.m.

Okay, so there's darkness that is covering the land now for uh three hours while Jesus is up there hanging on the cross.

Now, those who have you know looked at the passage before and have read this have tried to explain this away.

Tried to explain the darkness as something other than what it truly is.

And some have said, well, this is you know, this is a solar eclipse, and it just you know coincidentally happened to come at the exact same time as these events, but but that is not true uh at all.

Because um, and we know this because uh Christ's death happened during Passover, right?

And some of you may uh recall that a Passover always happened uh when the moon was full.

Okay, and we know that uh a solar eclipse can't happen uh when there is a full moon.

Okay.

Um neither is this darkness, neither can this be explained away as a dust storm, as uh some have suggested.

Uh no, this was this was far too big and expansive of an area to be explained as a mere dust storm.

I'm not sure that we would explain a dust storm necessarily uh as darkness, and that's it.

We'd probably have some other descriptive words.

Let's be honest.

It was a dust storm, it would just tell us that.

Okay, rather, this darkness is to be understood here as a supernatural act.

Okay, this is this is God's indignation over the over the heinous act of murdering his sinful or his sinless son.

Okay, that's exactly what it is.

So just really here, you know, allow the kind of the eeriness, if I can use that word, the eeriness of this situation, this moment here, and and the sorrow of it to settle on you a little bit.

Three full hours of God making it clear that he is displeased.

This is an awful, shameful act uh that has happened.

Right?

Not exactly uh a high watermark for humanity.

Okay, but now verse 46, let's continue.

It says, in about the the ninth hour, again, 3 p.m., it says that Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lemme sabactani, that is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Some of the bystanders, hearing it, said this man is calling Elijah.

Okay, so there appears to be some type of confusion or misunderstanding here, as they apparently mistook Jesus' cry, his words here, as a plea for Elijah to come down and and save him.

Okay, but we I mean we know that that's not what Jesus was saying uh at all.

In fact, his words here is uh is a quote directly out of Psalm uh 22, Psalm 22, verse 1, actually, and and it's a psalm that ultimately ends in a cry of victory.

Psalms 22:1

And so you think of of that here.

There's there's kind of a almost a tease here in the text of the joy that this sorrowful moment would ultimately uh produce.

Again, there's that tension in it, right?

And what Jesus is doing here as he shares, he utters these words, is that he's communicating that he had to be temporarily forsaken or cut off from his normal experience of fellowship with his father.

And that he had always existed, and he was experiencing that as he absorbed just the burden of our sins, of all of humanity's sins for all time.

And and at the same time, the wrath of his father poured out on him instead of us in that moment.

I mean, if you think about it, such a I mean, such a profound moment, right?

Such a, I mean, even a mysterious one, to be sure.

Again, it's here where we we again sense this tension of immense sorrow, and and yet for us, joy, right?

Uh as we look back on Good Friday and all of this with the benefit of hindsight, right?

We know the rest of the story and how it plays out.

We'll get into that again in a moment here, but let's again pick it up in verse 48.

Keep going with me.

It says, and one of them at once ran and and took a sponge and filled it with sour wine, put it on a reed and and gave it to him to drink.

Okay, so this was like a merciful act by somebody here to to give Jesus a drink.

This sour wine was something that was was common, and it was drank among the kind of the working class, wasn't very good by all accounts.

Okay, but verse 49 then, here's how others respond.

It it says, but the others said, and and again, pick up on the mocking tone here, they say, wait, let us let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.

Jesus, it says this in verse 50, and Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

And so, right there, of course, the moment where he passes six hours of suffering on the cross.

Then notice this, verse verse 51, it says, and behold.

Okay, that word behold means uh pay attention.

Okay, it means notice this here.

It says, Behold, the the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Okay, if you've been here with uh with us for a good Friday before, we've explained this, but I want to pause for a second and and and talk about this for just a second, again, a moment.

Okay, the the curtain that that this is talking about is the the curtain that existed and surrounded the Holy of Holies, as it was called, in the middle of the temple.

Okay, this was uh a curtain that that blocked off the area where uh the Ark of the Covenant and the stone tablets uh existed.

And this was the place where they understood God's presence dwelt with them.

Okay, and so it says here that the curtain itself was torn.

Why is that significant?

Well, the Holy of Holies, just so we know, it was it no one was allowed to enter that.

No one other than the high priest, this one guy.

And and that only once a year, he was only able and allowed to enter in according to God's law once a year on the Day of Atonement, and that only after he'd gone through this very elaborate cleansing, spiritual cleansing ritual so that he could go in and address the Lord on behalf of the people.

The Holy of Holies, this was not a place to be messed with, and the curtain signified the barrier that existed between God and man.

Now, again, a little bit here about this curtain so that we understand it.

You know, I was thinking as I was kind of working through this, I'm thinking about these curtains here, right on either side.

These curtains are, I don't know, 12 feet tall or something like that.

They are paper thin.

Okay, the the curtain here though, we know that they were 60 feet tall, okay, that went all the way around, and they were about four inches thick.

Okay, so a serious curtain.

All right, and it tells us here uh in the very text, in verse 51, that the ten that it was torn in two from top down to the bottom, which again signifies that God did this.

This wasn't something that man did.

This wasn't some some like whoops, the you know, the curtain wasn't strong enough or sturdy enough, and it just kind of disintegrated.

No, this was the Lord Himself from the top, tearing it down to the bottom.

Why?

To signify that the barrier between God and man was now removed.

And it was removed because of Christ's sacrifice, it was because Jesus Christ satisfied the righteous requirement that God had played on us, placed on us, but we couldn't fulfill.

And so Jesus stepped in and he bore our sins, he bore our shame, and he took the wrath of God, the full punishment for every single sin that had ever been done or ever would be done.

And again, in this incredible moment, there's this incredible picture that this barrier has now been removed, and we now have direct access to our Father, our Heavenly Father, by way of Jesus Christ and his act for us.

This is the power, this is the amazingness of Good Friday.

But let's keep going here.

In verse 51, it continues.

This isn't the only thing that happened.

It says, Behold the curtain temp, uh curtain of the temple, we know this, torn in two, and it says this, and and the earth shook.

The earth shook, and and and the rocks were split.

Now understand that in this area in Palestine, uh earthquakes were not uncommon.

Okay, but this was a particularly significant one to the point where uh rocks uh were actually splitting.

Again, this is a sign of God's judgment uh towards mankind for the murder of his son.

Okay, verse 52, notice this.

The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep, understand that means had died, they were they were raised and and and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection.

Okay, so notice here how how even Matthew gives us a little taste of the joy that was to come.

Right?

And in the midst of this judgment, in the midst of the awfulness of this and the condemnation, all of it, there's this hint that, hey, the resurrection is coming.

And as we understand, like Jesus' death here, that is obviously the focal point of this passage, but I feel like we don't really give this verse enough consideration.

Right?

Do we do we recognize what's happening here?

Like, like righteous people, God-fearing people who had passed away were literally being raised to life and walking around.

And it says that they were they were appearing to many people.

Right?

And notice how it says they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

I mean, that is that is wild.

You know, notice this, verse 54.

And this is important.

It says, when the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, this is key, they were filled with awe.

And said, This, truly, this was the Son of God.

Again, what a what a tension-filled moment.

Right?

In history, the the the people present in this scene, the centurion, his guards, some of the onlookers and the gawkers, you know, they they even had some sense of the awesomeness of what was taking place here.

They had the wherewithal and could see by the phenomena that was taking place and the way that Jesus handled himself in his execution, in his death, that this was no ordinary death.

Right?

Crucifixion was a common thing back in this day.

But everyone could tell, they didn't know the whole the whole significance of it, they didn't get the whole picture, they didn't realize exactly what was happening, but they could tell, okay, God is at work here.

Truly, this man was God's son.

And of course, you and I, we we feel that.

We feel and sense the awesomeness of that as we look at this.

You know, uh, we're on the other side of the events of Good Friday, of course.

And uh, and as I mentioned, we have the benefit of knowing kind of the whole story here, of not just knowing that he died, but but what his death actually accomplished.

You know, for example, uh, we have the benefit of a verse like uh Hebrews 12, verse 2, right, which was written after these events, of course.

Hebrews 12:2

And and when when the author understood the significance of this, this verse is written, you know, in the context of it, is urging believers, you know, in a life that is difficult and full of trial and challenges for again for Christians to endure and persevere.

And and now here's what the verse says, and and notice it.

It says, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

Great verse.

Look at this though, who for the joy, okay, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross.

Okay, so so you see that the simultaneous grief and gladness encapsulated here.

Jesus endured the the sorrow, sorrow, the atrocity of the cross.

There's the sorrow of it, right?

Why though?

Because of the joy that laid before him, because of the joy of knowing what his death, what his sacrifice would achieve, and again signify.

Namely, that man's sin debt had been paid in full.

That was his joy, the joy that he would be rescuing sinners from hell, rescuing sinners from judgment and wrath and condemnation and an eternity separate from God.

That was the joy that was in front of him.

He was he was glad to do it, he was willing to obey his father in this because of what it would do for you and I.

Jesus satisfied God's wrath.

Because you and I never could.

He did it for us.

He was our substitute.

The barrier, like I said, that existed between mankind and God ever since Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the garden and decided in their pride that they wanted to be in the position of God.

That it's their sin that we've inherited.

We've all, on top of it, have chosen to sin ourselves.

And all of that created this wall that's up between us and God, and none of our none of our actions, none of our morality, none of our behavior can fix all of that.

It was Jesus Himself alone that could do it, and he did.

I mean, what an awesome, awesome thing.

What joy for you and I as we consider all of that, and yet, wow, like what a what a sorrowful event at the same time.

You know, as we read this and again, we just consider the fact that it was our rebellion against God that necessitated it.

Right?

So you can see here how it's just this mixture and kind of blending of joy and sorrow as we take in a day like today, as we look at a passage like this, as we consider the events of Good Friday, as we absorb it all, the right response is awe.

It really is.

To stand in wonder at how awesome our God is, at how loving our Savior is to go through all of this for you and I, and really to allow all of those thoughts and and and those emotions that that we might experience through all this, to just allow it to collide as we process all of this and respond in worship.

And so that's exactly what we want to do right now.

We're gonna have a time of worship.

That's gonna include uh singing a song together.

I'm gonna have John and the worship team come up and and once that uh once we have done that, we're also gonna have uh a time of communion as well.

Trust that you were able to grab the cup on your way in.

If you have not done that, uh now would be uh your time to make sure that you have that ready.

Uh but then I'll come back up and I'll walk us through uh taking that uh together.

So let's pray.

Lord, we Lord, we confess that in and of ourselves we don't even really have the capacity to be able to absorb the weight of everything that we just read.

Of the of the meaning, the significance, the weight of what exactly it is that your death has done.

Lord, we have we have some awareness that is by your grace.

And so, Lord, I pray.

I pray here that in these moments that remain here together this morning, that you would continue to soften our hearts and help us to understand that, Lord, it was our sin that put you there.

Lord, I pray that we would be humbled, mortified even by that, that we would confess these things, that we would seek your forgiveness, your grace, your power.

Lord, as we consider all of that, I pray we would be stirred to not just experiencing the sorrow of our sin and the sorrow of Good Friday, but also the joy, the joy of our salvation, the joy of forgiveness, the joy of being made right with our God, being redeemed, being brought into a right relationship with you.

So, Lord, as we sing, I pray that we would be so moved by your goodness.

Lord, I pray that you would be worshipped, that you would be honored, that you would be glorified.

We pray this in your name.

Amen.