Good Friday | XXXIII (33) | Pastor Scott Thomas

Hello, hello, friend. Thank you so much

for tuning in here at Free Life Chapel,

where we help you discover and live the

free life in Christ. My name is Cotti,

and I'm so glad that you're tuning in

with us. If you ever find yourself in

the Central Florida area, come visit us.

We want to connect with you face to

face. But until then, visit our website,

freelifechapel.org, to find out more

about what's happening at your church.

There's a phenomenal message in store

just for you. I hope you're encouraged.

In Jesus's culture, he was in training

for 30

years. It was only after you turned 30

that you could become a

priest. Jesus was in training for 30

years and only ministered for three. He

did a lot in three years, didn't he?

Like when you open your Bible and you

read the stories of what he's teaching

and and and and the miracles that take

place, all of that happened in three

years. That wasn't when he was in his

20s. That only happened between 30 and

33 because he would not have been

legitimate in anybody's eyes in his

culture. He followed the the the

footsteps. He followed what the rabbis

taught because he was very locked into

his culture. He was 30 years old when he

became the Levite. And three and three

years he did his miracles and his

teaching. And his goal when he came was

to actually heal the divide between man

and God. And that's what I want to talk

to you tonight. This Good Friday

service, what makes it good? There's

nothing good about it when you look at

it. It was bad for Christ, but good for

us. Would you tell somebody, it's good

for me. It's good for me. And and I'm

I'm so glad I'm so glad that he did

this. And I want us to take a a sincere

look at what he did. and actually find

the the the blessing, the power, the

benefit, the impact, and remind us what

it is that he did on this Friday.

Different than what happens when he gets

up out of the ground. This this night is

different. This this sacrifice is

different. We can't just run it all

together because the climax of Jesus's

purpose on the earth, it all hit at 33

years old with a sacrifice that nobody

else could do. A lot of good people had

died for good reasons before now, but

nobody had done what Jesus did.

On that

night, on the night where the whole

passion actually began, it started with

a meal. Jesus and the disciples were

around a table and Jesus is talking with

them about what's going to happen. And

he began to talk about how this bread is

my body and and this cup is my blood and

his expression what's about to happen.

It was a Passover seder if you have any

context as to what that is. And and then

he left that meal. He left that mill and

went to a place called Gethsemane to go

pray. Gethsemane is is is is a little a

little area where it's filled with olive

trees because Gethsemane was an olive

press. It's a place where they took

olives and they put them on a big

rolling stone slab and they crushed the

olives to squeeze the life out of them.

That's why Gethsemane literally means

the place of pressing. Jesus is in a

place of pressing where the life is

being pressed out of him to the point

that he is now sweating great drops of

blood in Gethsemane. And you remember

the prayer that he prayed. Father, let

this cup pass from me.

Nevertheless, not my will, but your will

be done. Big

prayer. He he he he didn't want to go

through this. He knew what was on the

way. He was fully conscious, fully aware

of everything that was about to happen.

He knew on the God side of who he was.

You see, he was 100% man and 100% God at

the same time. So while he was a human

like you and I, he was fully aware

looking backwards on this as to what was

going to happen. He knew the beating. He

knew he was there when the man who was

going to beat him was created.

He knew the stories behind every person

that he would look at face to face. And

the only reason they were still sucking

air is because he gave them breath that

morning.

And here he is. And he's in this place

in Gethsemane. and he says, "Let this

cup pass from me." That sounds like a

prayer I would pray. That sounds like a

prayer you would pray and rightfully so.

But he prayed one p one aspect of that

prayer in his humanity and then he

finished the prayer.

Nevertheless, he finished it in in

surrender and submission to his father.

Nevertheless, not my will but your will

be done. From that point on, the Roman

soldiers came. They arrested him. Judas

kissed him. sold him out for 30 piece of

silver. We see him arrested and he's put

on kangaroo trial but by by the

religious elite. They bring him in

blindfolded. They begin to beat him,

mock him, laugh at him, prophesy. Who

was it that just hit you? Then they took

him from there and took him to Pilate.

Why Pilate? Because Pilate was the was

the man that was o that represented

Rome. The power, the authority that was

existent there. And so they wanted to

get his approval. And the religious

didn't want to get Jesus's death on

their hands. So they would turn him over

to Rome. So we convicted him as a Jew,

but now we want you to do our dirty

work. You do the killing. And Pilate

looks at him and goes, "I can't find

anything wrong with him." And the

scriptures tell us that Pilate's wife

had heard of Jesus. Pilate, leave it to

a woman. Pilate's wife was fully aware

of who Jesus was. And she told Pilate,

"You better not put a hand on him. You

better not touch him. You don't know who

this man is. He's done some cra you got

to read your Bible. You don't want to be

a part of this." So Pilate like backs up

and he goes, "Look, look, I I I don't

know what to do. In fact, let me send

him to Herod. Herod was the king of the

Jews who was appointed by Rome. And so

he he sends him to Herod trying to get

Jesus off of his responsibility. And and

then then Herod turns around and sends

him right back again. And so so we've

got this interplay of people. What do we

do with him? Pilate now was looking at

him and he goes, "I still can't find

anything wrong with him. There's there's

nothing I can leverage against him that

deserves crucifixion." And so Jesus

brings him to the people and he says,

"Do you want Jesus or Barabbus? Which

one do you want? I'm going to give you

one of the prisoners." And and the crowd

begins to scream for Barabus. Give us

the thief. Give us the murderer. Give us

him. Kill Jesus. This was what the

crowd, this is not the same crowd that

celebrated when he came into Jerusalem.

This was a religious crowd that had all

been put together to make sure that

Jesus was silenced once and for all.

From that point on, Pilate then said,

"Fine. If you want to go here, we'll go

here." And so then he releases them to

start the flogging. Now, the Roman

soldiers, they pull out what's called a

cat of ninetails. That is a that's a

piece of wood about 18 in long that has

nine strips of leather hanging off of

it. inside laced inside of the leather

of bone and pieces of metal and things

that are sharp in nature that would

leave after he was beaten with 39

stripes over 1,400 wounds on his back.

In fact, the way one New Testament

writer writes it that by his stripes you

are healed. Literally the word is not

stripes but stripe because there was

nothing left to his back. You couldn't

count stripes. His back was gone when

they finished. So this is they beat

Jesus. Then they put a crown of thorns

on his head. They put a purple robe on

his back and pressed it into the wounds

that they had just made through the

beating. Then they began once again to

mock him and punch him and revile him,

laughing at him. In fact, the Bible says

they beat him in the head with a

rod. Pilate then goes back to the

people. I've done my part. Will you

please take him?

And the people began to cry, "Crucify

him!" You see, this is this is odd

because in this Roman culture, in this

day and age, the Romans would either

beat you or crucify you. You never did

both.

Jesus had already been beaten 39 times.

I don't have time to get into the

desript descriptives as to what that

would look like and how that would go

down. It's very meticulous and it's not

just my opinion. Even medical doctors

have written about this. It is heinous

what would happen because it wasn't just

his back. Those strips of leather would

wrap around his side. They would grab

his stomach. They pulled off everything

from his hind quarters to his stomach to

his side. That many say you could see

his kidneys from behind. It wasn't that

he was just beaten to be weak. Muscle

was missing from his back.

They were beating the life out of him.

And then everyone says, "Now crucify

him."

So Pilate said, "Fine." And Pilate goes

and he washes his hands. He said, 'I'll

have nothing to do with this. You want

him crucified, we'll crucify him. And

they did. They put a beam on his back

that would have weighed 110

pounds, just after the beating. Again,

not in a weakened state, in a state

where the muscle is gone. The muscle

can't be weak. It doesn't exist anymore.

The beam of 110 pounds is laid across

his back and he's told, "Take it. Carry

your cross up a hill to

Goltha." He gets to the top. He lays

himself down on this. They put the the

beam across that was across his

shoulders on an upright post. They nail

him to this post. One in each hand, one

spike in each hand. It would have been

in this area right here. Never in the

hand. Jesus's body would have pulled off

if the nails were there. He they put it

right here so that the nail would be

cinched between the ulna and the radius

of the arm and it would hinge on the

wrist and he could hang suspended

there. So they nailed him to this cross.

They drew one spike through both feet

and suspended him between heaven and

earth. And according to timelines, if

you read the timelines and you begin to

work the gospels, and I did this all

over again this week, he was hung at

9:00 am in the

morning. That means he was beaten before

9:00

a.m. The sun went black on him at 12

noon. I wish I had time to get into

that. And then he died at 300 p.m. in

the

afternoon. He was on the cross for six

hours.

Why did he die at 3 p.m.? Because that

was the exact time when all Passover

lambs were dying in the temple.

The lamb of God was dying while the

lambs for sacrifices were happening. And

according to Josephus, a historian and a

writer, Jewish writer, there was

probably there was upwards of one over 1

million people in Jerusalem expected

somewhere around 250,000 sacrifices

going on. And here Jesus is dying on the

cross at the exact same time. I I it's

it's it's a heinous picture. And we've

seen the movies and and we've heard

these stories and and I've got to tell

you this year it just it just hit me

different all over again. And I I I've

read it. I've heard it all my life. I've

I've preached it. But there's something

about reawakening that and and it

hitting you deep again and reminding you

what our savior did for you and for me.

And the only reason is because of love.

There was no obligation. And there was

just love. Love. We didn't deserve it. I

done nothing to for him to say thank

you, Scott. Here. Are you kidding me?

That was just love put him on the cross.

Love kept him on the cross. Not nails.

Love did that. God's love for you and

for me. It's been it it it's rocked my

world. I found myself uh crying

throughout this week uh during worship

tonight. I could hold it together. I'm

almost dehydrated. I'm like puddles

coming out. I I'm just the awareness of

what he did for you and for me. And as

he's sitting on the as he's on the

cross, the last thing he said, and we

know this in the gospels, John 19:30,

John 19:30

John says this, when he had received the

drink, Jesus said, read this, "It is

finished." And with that, he bowed his

head and gave up his

spirit. It is finished.

Tatelisty in the Greek to

telly. There's I want I want to focus

for the for the closing moments of of

tonight and and draw your attention to

this word because there's something

inside of this word that if you and I

don't understand why Jesus said this and

what was meant when he said it, we will

miss a great part of the impact of what

you and I get to be here for and

celebrate tonight. And so you're going

to have to excuse me because for the

rest I I've got nothing but good news.

Is it okay if we talk some good news

right now? Cuz all that stuff

beforehand, man, that makes me feel

heavy and I'm not enjoying any of that.

I got to tell you right now, I hate even

talking about it. It guts me to talk

about it. But but I I I want to I want

to show you something on the other side

of this. When Jesus said, "It is

finished to telly." I've got to take you

here. There's two there's two big keys

inside the grammar of what he said. uh

he he the Bible is so specific. It's not

just the words. It's the grammar that is

used to begin to reveal the impact of

what he said. Uh tatelisty means it is

finished. But I want you to understand

number one uh the totalist is a word

that's used in the perfect tense which

means which which means this it

describes a completed action in the past

that has a continuing result for the

future.

So, so it's it's perfect tense like it

was done then but all that was done then

for what's about to come that that's

that that's locked inside just the

grammar. All right. So you'll hold on

and then and then and then the second

part of this grammatical picture is

this. It this word then it pushes our

attention to see the present results of

the action that has been finished. In

other words, the Bible is telling us

this in the perfect tense. His death is

the death for all time. It wasn't just a

oneoff event. It was done today and it

will last for eternity. That's that's

the first picture. And then the word

comes and it tells us this. It's an

action that was finished. So I need you

to look ahead, which means do not focus

on the cross. I need you to focus on the

results of what the cross did. That is

finished. and I finished that so that

you could have this. This is

grammatically what's even just locked up

inside of this where the removal and the

defeat of sin has been done. This this

word totalist has four different

meanings how it was used in the culture.

And I I got to take you here real quick

and show you this. This is this is so

cool because it's got greater meaning

than what you and I can read. When

people read this phrase, it is finished.

Uh it it seems to be oh and he's going

to drop his head and die. It's so sad.

You need to understand it is finished

was a declaration of you should have

killed me a long time ago if you thought

you were going to shut me down. But now

the best is yet to come. This this it is

finished was a whisper of victory. You

thought you if in fact the Bible says if

the enemy would have known what he was

doing, he never would have had Jesus

crucified. So Jesus is about is is in

this it is finished is kind of smackt

talking the enemy right at the end where

the enemy is about to throw a party. The

balloons are about to hit. In fact the

confetti is flying and once the confetti

flies and Jesus says it is finished. The

enemy is like stop the party. What have

we done? Anybody ever played Anybody

ever played uh uh uh Jenga?

Y'all know you So Jenga's the stack of

blocks, right? And everyone's got to

pull a block one at a time and you got

to go around in circles and and the goal

is to to not be the one who makes

everything topple. Y'all know what I'm

talking about? Yeah. Well, well, what

happened here on on it is finished? The

enemy thought he was pulling a safe

block and it was all over. Only for

Jesus to say, "Oh, you shouldn't have

pulled that block right there because

that's where the whole thing fell." He

thought he had it all together only for

Jesus to flip the script. Here's what I

want you to understand. It is finished.

it. That phrase literally meant this.

The sacrifice is

completed. He's 33 and he's finished

with the sacrifice. In fact, in the

Hebrew, the word would be shalim. It

means complete, whole, peaceful.

Promises have been kept. And there's a

reference to a reward now that is

coming. You see, this this phrase was

very popular in Jesus's culture. It's

the same phrase that rabbis would speak

on the day of Yam Kapour. The one day a

year that sins would be forgiven. One

day a year. You didn't go get

forgiveness of sin every day. There was

one day a year that sins would be

forgiven. And the high priest would take

the lamb, kill the lamb, put it on the

altar, go into the holy of holies, and

he would sprinkle the blood there. And

when God saw the blood, the sins of

Israel was forgiven. They were they were

covered for another year. But they had

to do this over and over and over every

year again. The animal could only cover

sin. It could not take it away. But when

the high priest finished on the day of

Yan Kapor, he would step outside of the

tent and he would shout

shalam, which means it is finished. And

everybody exhaled and were so grateful

because they knew that they were back in

right standing with God. What what is

atonement at onenessment with God again?

We are one. There's nothing separating

us. There's nothing dividing us. We're

all back on the same page again. Jesus

had heard this word. The Jews in the

area, they had heard this word. We read

our Bibles that it tells us that he said

to that is the Greek translation of what

Jesus would have also declared when he

said shalim as a Jew. That's what he was

said. But here's what I want you to

understand. In order to have Yam Kapoor,

you have to have two things. A priest

and a

lamb. There had to be a lamb that was

that was identified, a lamb that was

perfect, a lamb that was spotless, a

lamb that was without blemish. That's

what it took in order to cover sins in

the Old Testament. So for Jesus to be a

legitimate

sacrifice, a priest had to identify and

qualify Jesus publicly in order for him

to be allowed to be the sacrificial

lamb. So where do you get that priest

that would be willing to qualify Jesus

publicly because all of them have been

working to get him killed? Where do you

find a priest that could qualify him so

that he is fitting every type and shadow

of the sacrificial lamb? Well, this

priest in order to to be a priest, you

had to be born inside the lineage of

Aaron. Aaron was the first high priest.

Watch this. Watch this. This is amazing.

And before Jesus was born, in fact, six

months before he was born, there were

two descendants of Aaron the high

priest. Their names were Zachariah and

Elizabeth.

And they had a little boy named John.

You might know him as John the Baptist.

He was the forerunner of Jesus. He was

the one that was going out and

proclaiming who Jesus was going to be.

And the Bible tells me this in John 1

29. John saw Jesus coming down the road.

And he declared, "Behold the lamb of God

who takes away the sin of the world."

You have to understand what happened.

His statement about Jesus was not an

opinion. It was an official priestly

ruling identifying, marking, and

qualifying him to be the lamb that could

die for the sins of humanity once and

for all. These comments were

intentional. It was laid out and

purposefully built just the way it was

supposed to be. So Jesus is filling two

roles on the cross while he's dying

because you have to have a priest and

you have to have a

lamb. This tells me this that he was our

sacrificial lamb but he was also our

high priest. Watch this. As a lamb he

became our final

sacrifice. As a priest he performed the

sacrifice and he was the mediator over

his own death. He was the one who

allowed it to happen. He was there

overseeing and watching the entire

process. In fact, Pilate looked at him

in his questioning and Pilate says,

"Don't you know I could release you or

have you crucified?" And Jesus said,

"You've got no power that I didn't give

you,

y'all." That's boss right there. That's

straight up boss. That that's that Jesus

wasn't confused in this entire

process. So, when Jesus said, "Watch

this, it is finished." He said it is

finished as the high priest on the day

of Yam Kapor just like it happened in

the Old Testament once a year there were

sins were covered but Jesus is now the

priest on the cross and when he shouts

it is finished in fact the rabbis right

rebbitic history tells us that when the

priest would step out and he would

declare it is finished his voice could

be heard for 15 miles away something

supernatural would come on him so that

everybody in surrounding areas would

know that once and for all it was

covered. When Jesus is on the cross and

he announces it is finished, let me

remind you, he's been beaten. He's been

up all night long. He's dehydrated. He's

missing parts of his back. He's he he

he's he's famished. He's had no food.

He's been hanging on a cross in the sun

for 6 hours. When he says it is

finished, ladies and gentlemen, that was

not a whisper. He didn't just let that

trickle out of his mouth so some

bystander they think they heard

something. He was our high priest. So

that when he said it is finished, the

Bible says the very next thing that

happened, an earthquake hit the ground.

Everything began to shake because there

there was that priestly anointing that

came on Jesus that when he declared, "It

is finished. We're back to a day of Yam

Kapor to put man and God back on the

same page again, but not just to cover

the sins, but to remove the sins once

and for all. Never to have another

sacrifice

again. Somebody shout, "That's my God."

My God. Yes. Yes.

Yes. So, number one, it is

finished. The sacrifice is complete is

what to test meant. But but number two,

it also means this culturally the

mission is

accomplished. The mission is

accomplished. You have to understand in

the Greek culture whenever a servant was

sent on a mission and he completed the

mission and he came back to his master

came back to the servant came back to

the to his employer he would tell that

person to test a lie. I did it. I

completed it. I did everything you asked

me to do. The mission is finished. It's

done. It's

complete. But the question has to be

asked when you hear the phrase it is

finished. You need to discover what is

it?

Because it means several things. If I'm

working and someone sent on a work job,

then okay, I know what it was. Well,

what was it that Jesus finished? Jesus

finished the purpose of God for his

life. Well, then tell me what the

purpose of God was. You've known it all

your life. For God so loved the world

that he gave his only begotten son that

whosoever would believe in him will not

perish but have everlasting life.

Jesus's cry. That was an announcement

that day to the world that God's will

has been finished. At 33, I did it. At

33, I finished what it was that he

called me to do. It was a shout of

victory. It was not a shout of defeat.

It was finishing. I I I've done it. I I

in the face of every obstacle, in the

face of my humanity that wanted to walk

away and shut it down, my mom is

watching this happen. My my brother, my

my my my my cousins, my family, they're

all watching this take place. The

disciples are there. People are crying.

It's a mess. I could call 10,000 angels

right now and wipe them all out. I could

steal the breath out of their body. I've

got to guard my thoughts because one

divine thought in the wrong direction

will end this entire thing. I've got to

hold it together if I'm going to

complete it. And the Bible says he did.

Mission accomplished. The victory was

his. To test a lie, it's done. But but

but to test a lie also means this. In

the business world, this word was used

which means the debt is gone.

This is this is this is a a big it was

well understood. This was this was

prolific. To test was used to announce

that a debt had been cancelled. Either

cancelled or paid off, one of the two,

but the debt was paid in full that

nothing else is owed. And they would do

this in a few different ways. the

contract that that that the agreement

was written on. Whenever they came to

the end and it was paid in full, a

couple of things would happen. One of

two ways. The the person who owned the

contract, not the person who who was

indebted, but the person who then had

the power of the contract, he would walk

in and he would take a a sponge. He

would take something wet and he would

begin to wipe and scrub the parchment

because it was hard to just cover it

with ink. That they would blot

out the

debt, smear it so it was no longer seen.

Or or they would they would come in and

the man who owned it, who was saying,

"Yes, you paid it off." He would put a

massive X on it. And that X was also a

declaration to all that were around that

this debt has been paid in full. In

Colossians chapter 2 verse 14, it tells

Colossians 2:14

us that your debt and my debt was nailed

to the cross, which is exactly what

somebody did when they paid a debt off.

They were so excited they would take

that parchment outside and historians

tell us they would nail it to the post

of their house. So everybody who walked

by, they would see that and realize,

"Wow, this is a good guy. His debt has

been paid." Ladies and gentlemen, let me

help you with something. There was a

debt you could not afford to pay. There

was something I owe that I had no

capacity to fix that situation. But one

greater than I. His name is Jesus. He

stepped in. He said, "I got you, dog. I

got you." And he stepped in. This is

before I knew him. Before I cared about

him, I was acting a fool. I didn't love

him. But he said, "I love you in spite

of you, Scott. I'm going to do something

for you to test shalim. It is finished.

I'm wrapping it up and I'm going to

forgive you. I'm going to blot out all

that's wrong. I'm going to put my mark

on your life and I'm going to nail it to

the cross. Your debt is over. Would

somebody shout debtree? Just shout

debtree in this

room. All debt of sin, failure, wrong,

it's it's gone. There's nothing else you

can do, ladies and gentlemen. You've

been set free from the debtor. I don't

know what your life was like before

Jesus, but that's over. the the the

anger, uh the mess, uh the the the how

you ran the streets, what you used to

do, the murder, the pride, the

rebellion, the jealousy, the anger, the

lust, the past, all of that stuff. That

is gone. It's over, blotted out, marked

out, nailed to the cross. It is done.

Let me help you with something. If

you're eating lunch and somebody says,

"Hey, I want to buy you lunch." Your

first answer is an immediate yes.

I recommend

it. And after they pay for that

lunch, you don't owe anything

else. It's

done. Stop trying to pay for a lunch

that's already been paid for

because you can't afford it anyway.

I've been taken to some dinners before

by some people that were classy. I don't

know why I was there, but we walked in

and it was the kind of place that they

don't even put the prices on the menus.

They just have the food listed there.

And I'm like, "Excuse me, can I How much

is this?" And like I'm like, "Okay, I'll

take like a half a head of lettuce and

you a little bit of like like what in

the world?" And and and I'm just sitting

there and and and the the people who

took it said, "We got this. Don't worry

about it. Order whatever you want." I'm

like, "Thank you." And so, man, I had a

good time. I'm just telling you right

now that Jesus has taken you places and

pay him for stuff that you could never

afford. So you can have an experience in

life that you could never have. Why?

Because it is finished to test the lie.

It's over when he died on that cross.

Oh, I love this. Colossians 1:14 says

Colossians 1:14

his son paid the price to free us, which

means that our sins are forgiven. Your

debt is gone. This fourth and the last

one is this test. Test a lie. It

literally means new life.

Jesus is on the cross, y'all. And he's

announcing good news with his last

breath. He wasn't crying in defeat. They

beat me. They got me. It's over. But

he's shouting, "Oh, silky silky." Okay,

that's my translation. That's That's

what I say.

This word literally to test it means the

end of one season and the start of

another. It could be used at the end of

a year and starting another year to test

it is finished which means it is

starting. That that's exactly that's

exactly what's going on. It was the

turning point in a person's life. It's

when the old was changed over to new.

The old is gone. The new is here. Jesus

said, "It is finished." New your new

life is here. So, he moved your mess

from today to yesterday. He put a time

stamp on your life. You're no longer

your past. You're no longer how you used

to think. You're no longer how you used

to act. That's over. It is finished.

You're no longer your reputation. You're

more than that. The Old Testament

prophecies are now fulfilled. It's

solid. Now we've got BC and AD. Jesus's

death literally split time down the

middle. Now you've got everything before

Christ and everything after Christ or

like I I like to say before Christ and

after delivered because that's our

testimony in here. You've got a BC

before you knew Jesus. And then after

you said yes to him, you after that

delivered state. We like you in your AD

more than we like you in your BC. I

promise you right now. But this is our

reality. And the distance between God

and man is

gone. When Adam and Eve were in the

Garden of

Eden, the perfect place. Why was it

perfect? It wasn't because the fruit was

great. It wasn't because the animals

were great. It was because God's

presence was there. And man, watch this.

Man walked with God one- on-one, face to

face, talked. Adam and Eve rebelled

against God, sinned. Watch. They were

evicted. When they left, the Bible says

that God put two cherubam

angels. Looks like some of the guys

walking around Free Life Chapel here.

These these the two cher and they've got

a flaming sword standing at the entrance

to the Garden of Eden to block it so

they could never come back. If they

tried to cross it, they would die. You

don't cross a cherub angel. He was the

guardian.

Watch

this.

Jesus is on the cross and he's also

operating as our priest. You see, here's

what's interesting. Those two angels

were also woven into the tapestry of the

veil that went into God's presence in

the holy in the ark of the in in the

temple. So, in other words, to get to

God's presence, you had to the priest

had to go through a veil. And on that

veil were these two angels that were

woven into the tapestry to remind them

of the Garden of Eden. That that was

God's original plan for your life. It

was busted. Now, these angels are here

to remind you that God's presence is

holy and you can't stand his presence

because if I come into contact with God,

I won't be able to handle it. And so the

priest, the only way he was allowed to

go in there and the only day a year is

if he was taking the blood of a

sacrifice in order to sprinkle the blood

and then he would come out and he was

safe. But he had to go through that

veil. You see, here's what I want to

remind you of. When Jesus said, "It is

finished." And the ground shook, the

earthquake hit, the Bible says that the

veil in the temple was ripped from top

to bottom. What was it about that that

wasn't just dramatic? There's a message

inside of that that you and I get to

live it get live out now. Because here's

what happened. When it ripped from top

to bottom, it split the two angels

apart. They were no longer united

together guarding the presence of God as

if they were guarding the perfect Eden

that God had. When the when they when

that the the veil split, then all of a

sudden divine access was given to you

and I. But but Scott, you said if

someone crosses the angels, they've got

to die. Exactly. Jesus crossed in on

your behalf and mine. It killed him, but

it gave divine access to you and I to

recreate our connection, our oneness,

and our unity with God. Ladies and

gentlemen, you are more hooked up than

you understand. In other words, God's

trying to take you back to a place where

you and him are talking face to face,

heartto-heart. I'm for you in your

marriage, and I'm for you at school, and

I'm for you in the dating relationship,

and I'm for you in business, and I'm for

you as a single mama. I'll help you.

You've got divine access to my presence.

All of

this was to keep reminding us who he is

and what he did. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says

2 Corinthians 5:17

this, "Anyone who belongs to Christ is a

new person. The past is forgotten and

everything is new." Would you stand to

your feet in this room, please?

Shalm to test a

lie. It is

finished. That wasn't a wasn't a cry of

defeat. It was a shout of

victory. It was a shout of we did it.

And now hell is going to pay back

everything it stole from you. I gave it

all to bring us back into covenant

relationship, heart-to-heart, one-

on-one with God. No longer going through

a man, no longer having to perform

rituals. You've got divine access to

him. It is

finished. Sacrifice is

complete. The mission is

accomplished. The dead is gone. And a

new season is here. Does that sound like

good news to anybody other than

me? It took a

cross to accomplish that. Heads bowed

and eyes closed in this

room. If you're here tonight and you

say,

"Scott, maybe you've grown up in church,

been around church for a while, but you

didn't really fully understand what

Jesus did. It hits different. You see

it. I get it, man. for me. And I'm

telling you, yes, for you, especially

for you. And tonight, you say, "I want

to I need to get my heart right with

God. I want to give I want to give Jesus

my life. If he would do all that for me,

how can I not? If he would go all the

way and take my place, I deserve that

cross. I deserve that beating. I deserve

that ridicule. But he took my place. He

did that so I wouldn't have to." That's

exactly what I'm telling you. and he

finished it. So there's nothing you can

add to it. Now live your life full of

him. If you're in this room and you say,

"Scott, I want Jesus in my life. I want

to give him me brand new, fresh, clean.

I'm ready to go hard. I want to just I

want to do what I can to know him,

experience him. I'm going to fail. I

know I'm going to mess up, but I'm I'm

going to keep coming after him. I I want

to know him that way." On the count of

three, if that's you, all heads bowed,

eyes closed, if that's you, on the count

of three, I just want you to shoot your

hand in the air whenever you know,

whenever you're ready. One, two, three.

Right now, shoot that hand in the

air. You can put the hands

down. Heaven took a

picture. Heaven didn't see your hand.

Heaven saw your heart.

Heaven saw you reaching for him. You're

not raising your hand in a room in

Lakeland, Florida. You've got heaven's

full attention right now.

He's excited about this moment with you

because there's something's going to

transpire in this room that we're about

to pray and you're going to go from BC

to AD. Something's about to change in

your life. Everything becomes brand new

from this point on. I want everyone to

pray this prayer. Jesus, Jesus, come

into my heart. Come into my heart.

Forgive me. Forgive me. Change me.

Change me. I believe I believe you died

for me. You died for me. You took my

place. Took my I'm so grateful. I'm so

grateful. I have no way to express it. I

have no way to express it. Except to

give you me. Except to give you me. In

my mess. In my mess. In my failure. I

give it all. I give it all. Come into my

heart. Change me. Forgive me. Forgive

me. Be my savior. Be my savior. I love

you. I love I honor you. I honor you. In

Jesus name. In Jesus name. Amen. Can you

put your hands together in this room for

people? Hands all over this room. hands

all over this

room.

Wow. I'm going to pray for all of us in

this room. But here's what I want to

challenge you. If you raised your hand,

maybe you didn't even raise your hand,

but you you raised your

heart. I want to encourage you to scan

the QR code they're going to put up here

and let us know that you know what, I I

gave Jesus my life tonight. We're not

going to go public with that. We're not

printing it anywhere. We just want to

follow up and just let you know we're

here for you. We love you. We need

community to do this life together. And

that's how you really step in. If you're

if you're serious, you want to go hard,

you want to lean in and really start

taking some steps, we'll help you. We've

got just as many issues as you do. The

person beside you is jacked up. They are

a mess. I'm telling you right now, we we

all got stuff. They ain't nobody got it

all going on. No, there is not. No,

there is not. Starting with the guy

holding the mic right now. We all have

our stuff. That's why we need Jesus.

That's that's why we need Jesus once and

for all. Done. No more sacrifice. He

paid the debt. It's done. And so, but we

do this in community. We walk this out

together. Scan that QR code. Just let us

know. I accept I accept Jesus tonight.

We want to follow up privately with you,

encourage you, love you, and if you

don't want us to follow up anymore, tell

us and we'll stop. We just want to reach

out and connect with you. Now, I want to

pray for all of us in this room. Father,

thank you that we can stand here on this

night that is typically called Good

Friday. And the truth is, we're

overwhelmed by this moment because of

the price that was paid as we look and

we reflect on what Jesus did for us that

we could never do for ourselves. Nobody

in human history has ever done this.

Nobody. Thank you, Jesus, for this price

that you paid and for what we get to

live because of your sacrifice. Tonight,

we give ourselves to you fresh and a new

again. we we open our hearts again and I

ask God that you would remind us of what

your son went through. Jesus, I pray

that that you would remind us through

your spirit as to the price that you

paid for us, the love that you have for

us, that we would feel your love, not

not be mesmerized by a cross, but

because that's over now. We look into

the future and we live out everything

you accomplished on that cross. We are

forgiven. We are free. The debt is gone.

A new season is here. This is the best

time of my life. I've got to keep my

eyes on you so I can experience this

tonight. I say yes to you and your plan

for my life. God, we give you us all

over again. Bless my friends that are in

this room. Lift us to a new level of

understanding who you are that we can

live this abundant life that Jesus

already paid for. In Jesus name we pray.

Everybody said, "Amen." Amen. Amen.

Amen.

Did I or did I not say you were going to

be encouraged? Yeah. Feel free to check

out our website, freelifechapel.org. org

for more encouraging messages. Until

then, I hope you have a great day.