If you know if you know that the cross was not the defeat of Jesus, but it was the victory of Jesus Would you say amen? Amen, my name is Ryan. I'm a lead pastor here at Peace Church. I also want to welcome you here this morning this morning I did it. I did it This evening this evening. Hey as you take a seat way and turn to your neighbor and say So you didn't go on spring break either, huh? I do also want to give a special shout out to, yes, the whaling crew that made the trek to come visit us, also for the high schoolers who are packing for their spring break trip, that they're going to be going out with our church tomorrow, praying for all of you guys.

So as we get going tonight, as we continue tonight, I want you to put your thinking caps on. I'm going to give you a question. I know it's kind of a hard, awkward question, but I want you to think about this. Here's your question. What is something you want other That you don't want to get Hmm your sinful gears are engaging right now, aren't they? Hard one, isn't it? I'll give you some how about this humbled? We want other people to get humbled, but that's not such a fun pill to swallow for us. What about getting proven wrong? Is there part of you that just likes it when other people get proven wrong, but you never want to get proven wrong? Or it's tax season.

How about audited? You want those CEOs to get it, but not us. You know, maybe you're the exception here, but here's something I bet that you want other people to get, but you don't want to get caught. Caught and then prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We call this justice.

You know what it's like, I mean, you Michigan drivers, we know what it's like when that snowy, icy day is and we're driving like sane people and then you got that one weird guy in the four-wheel drive truck just plowing right by you, making everyone get all nervous Kevin it's you I know you will you're just thinking I want that guy to get pulled over so bad but when you're going 10 miles per hour over the speed limit you've got a good excuse right because we want other people to get justice not us now justice what is that justice is getting the punishments that you deserve now hear me don't confuse justice with vindication. Vindication, everyone wants vindication. That's when you're proven innocent.

"Justice is when you break the law and you get what's coming to you."

You know how it is, every now and again, there's some big trial that grips just the mind and the heart of the nation, and we watch this trial unfold. And when that verdict gets handed down, if it goes the way that we think it should go and if justice has been brought, there's just something that just, it reminds us that not all is lost. There's something about when justice is done, when justice is done, we feel wrongs are made right. When justice is done, it makes us, when justice is done, it makes us feel like not all is broken in this world, that there is some good left. See, justice is one of the things that we do like. We just don't ever ourselves want to be brought to justice.

Now, Good Friday, what we're going to talk about tonight, Good Friday is about justice. That's what our theme is here tonight. It's all about justice. Good Friday is a day that Jesus Christ died on the cross, but what does that even mean? Do you know why Jesus died on the cross? On Good Friday we see that Jesus went to the cross and on that he took the punishment for your sins and for my sins so that we wouldn't have to. Good Friday is that day where the sins of the world were punished, where the sins of the world were brought to justice. Good Friday, this is why we call it Good Friday, even though it's the day that our Savior died. Because on Good Friday is the day that God's promise of justice was brought. Now, this is the theme we've been working with for this entire Easter series. Need I remind you what we've been kind of looking at? And it comes from 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 19 and 20. It says this, it says, For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, was not yes and no, but in Him it is always, say it with me, always yes. For all the promises of God find their yes in Him.

2 Corinthians 1:19-20

19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

And today we're looking at God's promise of justice and how that was fulfilled also in Jesus Christ. As we look at today, tonight, as we look at the yes and amen to the promise of justice if you have your Bibles, would you please turn to Luke chapter 23? Now as you turn in there and we're thinking about justice Psalm Psalm 9 tells us that God sits on a throne of justice. It was Isaiah 61 where God says that he loves Justice our God is not a God who will tolerate evil forever He will make all things right in the end.

Our God is a God of justice, but not in the ways that many of us think. It's better, grander, and more eternal than what we can possibly imagine. And Good Friday puts this all on display. So we're going to read about this moment of Jesus Christ on the cross. So would you hear God's word? The Gospel of Luke, chapter 23, we'll look at verses 44 on down. 44 to verse 49. Would you hear God's word?

Luke 23:44-49

44 It was now about the sixth hour,[a] and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,[b]45 while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. 47 Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” 48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. 49 And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.

It was now about the sixth hour. Now let's just stop right there for a second. Let's just clarify something. As we read this, in this moment of Scripture, what we see here is that Jesus has already been arrested. He's already been tried. He's already been tortured and he's already been nailed to the cross and he's hanging there on the cross as we are reading this passage. Now let's clarify here. Now the Jews, what they did back in the ancient world is that they started marking the hour at dawn. And so when it says the sixth hour, it's the sixth hour from dawn, roughly saying about 6 a.m. So when the scriptures say that it was about the 6th hour, that means from 6 a.m. So we're talking basically about noon here and knowing that Jesus was crucified in the third hour, roughly around 9 a.m., this means Jesus at this point in our passage has been hanging on the cross for three hours. Already three hours. With the most horrendous excruciating pain ever invented by the depraved human mind.

So back to our passage, verse 44, it was now about the sixth hour and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour while the sun's light failed and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus calling out in a loud voice said, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.

And having said this, he breathed his last. Now, when the centurion saw this, saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, Certainly, this man was innocent. And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home, beating their breasts. And all of his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee, they stood at a distance, watching these things. Let's pray and then let's look at this passage for a little bit tonight.

Father God, we come before you here on this Good Friday and today we remember the great sacrifice of our son, of your son, and our Savior, the Father. Please do not let the cross just become

an ornament in our homes or a decoration for Easter. Help us to remember what the cross is, what happens on the cross. Holy Spirit, we need your presence. We need your guidance. We need your power. We need you as our comforter, as we think about what Christ has done on our behalf. And it's in his name we pray. And if you agree with this prayer, would you say amen? Amen.

So friends, here on this Good Friday evening, here's your one main idea for tonight.

Main Idea: The cross is God's yes and amen to the promise of justice.

As we look at this passage, we're gonna pick up on three things.

1. The cross is where our separation from God was removed.

Let's start with this first one here. The promise of justice. The cross is where our separation from God was removed. The cross is where our separation from God was removed. Look at verse 44. It was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

So for three hours, there was darkness while the sun's light failed. Now whether this was a celestial cosmic event with just supernatural timing or it was an actual supernatural event, either way there was darkness covering the land. But I want to focus on that next line because I think that's where we're gonna find something beautiful here tonight.

And it says this, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Now the curtain here is referring to the curtain in the temple that was in the innermost room of the temple. The innermost room, many of you probably know, was called the Holy of Holies, or the Most Holy Place. t was the innermost sanctuary of God's temple. It is where God's holy glory and presence would reside. It was so holy that only one priest, once a year, was allowed to go in to make sacrifice. It was the holy of holies. It was the most holy place. And a curtain separated that room from us. Now listen, these weren't the old fancy drapes that you remember from church back in the day. This curtain was 60 feet high, it was 30 feet wide, and it was almost 4 inches thick, the width of a man's hand. This curtain was more like a shield, protecting sinful people from God's beautiful, enormous glory. And that curtain was torn in two.

Now when that curtain was torn in two, it was symbolic in the sense that there was no longer any separation between us and God. That because of what Jesus had done, he removed the barrier, he removed the separation, he took our sin and wiped it away so that we could approach God again.

But here, listen, we're reading from the Gospel of Luke here but the Gospels of Matthew and Mark both also say that the curtain was torn, but their Gospels add a little detail. It says that the curtain was torn from top to bottom. 60 feet high, 30 feet wide, 4 inches thick from top to bottom. It was like God Himself took that curtain and tore it and welcomed us in. Because our sin has been removed and been paid for. Our crimes against God found their punishment and fulfillment in Christ. And And God is saying there's no more separation. Come home. Come into my presence. Hebrews chapter 10 says this, Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh. Jesus is the curtain that was torn.

"Jesus is the final and complete sacrifice so that we, sinful people, can enter into the presence of God again. That our sin, which separated us from God, making us unworthy and unable to withstand the presence of God's glory, Jesus' death fulfills the payment, accomplishes the punishment for our own sins. Because the cross was an act of justice that removes our guilt because of the sins we've committed, but only once we place our faith in Christ."

The cross is where our separation from God was removed. And the second thing we see is the cross is where our sin against God was punished.

2. The cross is where our sin against God was punished.

Our passage continues. Please look in your Bibles again. Verse 46 says this, then Jesus, crying out in a loud voice, okay at this point, six hours on the cross, crying out with a loud voice, said, Father into your hands I commit my spirit, and having said this, he breathed his last. This is where our Savior dies. He breathed his last after crying out to God, my friends, you will have a final breath. I don't know what your future holds, but I can tell you this, at one moment in the future, you will breathe your final breath. What then?

What then? Jesus, even in his last moments, shows us the way. With his final breath, he cries out to God, faithful to the literal bitter ends our Savior was, yet he was dying as a common criminal. Yet he was so innocent, even a Roman soldier who had no affiliation with Jesus, a centurion, looked upon this man, saw what was happening, and not just realized Jesus was innocent, but you see what it says? He actually praised God. You could also translate that saying he glorified God. He knew something miraculous was happening in this moment just by the sheer experience of seeing Christ on the cross and seeing him raise his voice. Jesus was innocent. He was righteous. Jesus was sinless.

Yet listen to what 2 Corinthians says, verse 21, it says, for our sake, he, meaning God, God made him, Christ, to be sin, him who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus who was sinless, God placed on Him all of our sin, and then nailed Him to a cross and watched Him die. And that righteousness that was the very fabric of who Christ was, when we place our faith in Him, we get that righteousness now. So that not only are we guiltless before God, we are seen as righteous before God.

Did you hear that? You're not just seen as innocent before God, but you're seen as righteous before God. This is the power of the Christian faith. This is the power of what Jesus has done that no other religious leader could even possibly come close to offering you. And this is because, and only because of Christ. God placed on Jesus the weight of our sin, your sin. You know exactly what sins we're talking about. Other people may not, but in the deepest parts of your heart, you know exactly what sins you've committed. And God took those and placed them on his own son.

"And Christ paid the punishment for those sins so that you wouldn't have to. So that you could be counted as righteous, and not just that, but you could be brought into the very presence of God with sin no longer separating you. My friends, repent of your sins and place your faith in Jesus. Do not delay. I do not know when your last breath is going to come."

In His last moments, Jesus did not rebuke us. He did not renounce God. In His final breath, did you see what it says? Jesus cried out, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. This was not just a nice statement. This was not just a man full of passion in the fulfillment of his mission. Jesus, in case you didn't know, he was quoting the Bible. He was quoting Psalm 31. Even in his last moments, Jesus is showing us how to be faithful to God. He was innocent, and yet justice had been done because the sins of the world were being held to account in the death of Christ. Someone else got your justice. Someone else paid your penalty, and it was Jesus. Jesus has done for us what we could never do for ourselves. And that is cover the cost for our own sins. So here's the critical question. Here's the question for you. How?

"How is Jesus able to do this?"

Now listen to me. You get the Mormons knocking on your door. This is the question you ask them. How is Jesus able to do this? Not just that he did this, but how is Jesus able to pay the penalty for all the sins of the world? There's only one way because it is only Jesus. And my friends, it's because Jesus was not just fully man and fully God. This is the key that unlocks the atonement for all who would place their faith in Jesus. Because here's how it works. Because Jesus was fully man, he was able to pay for the sins of mankind. But no one person could ever pay for everyone's sin. But if you're fully God and fully man makes him literally the only way unto salvation.

"It's because he's fully God and he's fully man. This is why we worship him. This is why we trust him. This is why we know that he could accomplish what we could not. This is why Jesus is literally, physically, spiritually the only way."

He's the only one who is fully God and fully man Jesus Christ is the second member of the Trinity who literally stepped out of eternity stepped into history when he was born on that Christmas day God the Son took on flesh Received the name Jesus. We call him the Son of God He's the only way and because of that we can lead to this final point, that the cross is where our salvation in God was secured. And everyone said, Amen.

3. The cross is where our salvation in God was secured.

Verse 48, and the crowds that assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, they returned home beating their breasts.

Now what's going on here? Culturally speaking, this means that they were walking away in grief. They weren't celebrating this from their perspective. They simply thought that something terrible, something shameful that had happened. So they walked away thinking, what a shame. And then they went home. I mean, they thought, well, that's terrible. She seemed like a nice guy. He seemed like he meant well, what a shame. And then they walked home. But not everyone. Did you notice this?

There's a massive distinction between the crowd that had gathered and his followers who loved him. Look at verse 49. It says, and all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee, they stood at a distance watching these things. Here's the distinction, my friends. You've got to ask yourself. You can either be part of the crowd that thinks that what happened to Jesus was a shameful thing and then you just go home? Or you look upon what Christ has done and you keep your eyes on Him and you stay with Him. Because the cross is where our salvation in God was secured. Secured because it's Jesus. Even today, culturally speaking, there are many who look upon what Jesus has done on the cross and they think, Oh, how sad. He seemed like a nice guy. He taught some nice things. How sad. And then they go on with their merry lives.

But not us. We stand with our eyes fixed on Christ, knowing that Friday gives way to Sunday. Amen. The cross is God's yes and amen to the promise of justice. Why is this good? Because this means that all the crimes you've committed against God, you don't have to pay for. They've been paid for. God is a God of justice and all of our sin, all the wrongdoing, all wrongdoing will be held to account.

"We either place our faith in Jesus knowing that he's paid the penalty or you will suffer your own penalty forever because that's how long it will take for you to pay your penalty against an eternally holy God."

Either you recognize that you will pay for your sins or you recognize that Jesus already has the cross as a torture device is agonizing beyond belief. It was so painful. It was so painful that the ancients had to invent a new word to describe the pain because you couldn't just say it hurt really bad you Couldn't just say it was really painful So they came up with a new term to describe this unique type of pain. This is where we get the word excruciating excrucio from the cross This was pain of the cross. This was excruciating pain This is what Jesus endured for us and it wasn't just physical torment, it was also psychological humiliation because they crucified people naked. He hung there naked on our behalf. On the cross, Jesus was undertaking the full judgment for our sins.

He was assuming the full wrath of God. He was bearing the weight of the sin of the world as it hung on him, as he hung on the cross with those nails tearing literally his flesh. And all the while he was doing this, it was atoning for your sins. You should not sit there and think, what a shame. You should sit there and think, that should be me.

That should be me up on that cross, but it wasn't. Not just the cross. Not just you on the cross, but you paying for your sins. But Jesus stands where we couldn't, in the place of our own condemnation. And you may be thinking, you may be thinking to yourself right now, where's God's love in all this? Where's God's love? If you wonder about that, let me just tell you right now.

Look upon the cross and you'll see the love of God. Scripture tells us that God demonstrated, demonstrated His own love for us. You wonder where love is in all this? It's probably on the cover of your Bibles, but it's not in the shape of a heart, it's in the shape of a cross. Because the cross is God's great I love you to a world that has rejected Him. This is why we don't scoff at the cross. This is why we don't celebrate chocolate crosses at the dollar store. This is something much more than that.

Christ died for us so that our sins could be paid for, so that we could be counted as righteous, and so that we could be brought into a relationship with the living God again, welcomed to His table, not because of what we've done, but because of what Christ has done on our behalf. And that's what we're going to remember when we celebrate communion here tonight, that we get to do this because of what Christ has done for us. Amen?

So church, let me tell you today, tonight's about justice, but when we gather on Sunday, it's about grace. And that's what we get to celebrate. Today is Good Friday, but Sunday's coming, but we cannot move past this day just yet. We must remember that Christ offers us new life because he gave up his life. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God's promise of justice by what he did on the cross, taking the punishment we deserve. And this is why we call it Good Friday. And with that, would you please bow your heads and let's pray.

Father, we come before you. We just ask, Father, on this day that you, by the power and presence of your Holy Spirit, you would remind us of the great sacrifice of our Lord, who gave up his life so that we could have life, so that we could have relationship with you, so that we could have righteousness. Father, I pray, God, that as we look upon the cross, we would see your great love for us, God. We would see that our Savior stands above everyone else. We would see that the cross was not a defeat, but the cross was a victory over our sin, over Satan, and over death itself. Father, we sit here tonight thankful for the sacrifice of our Savior. Father, we sit here tonight thankful for the sacrifice of our Savior.

It's in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.