Good Friday 18 April 2025

Nollamara Church Of Christ Sermons.Raw transcript of meeting:

Date Of Sermon: 18 April 2025

Speaker: Jamie Boland

Sermon Title: Good Friday Message

Scripture Reading: Mark 15:21-32

 A certain man from Cyrene Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufuss was passing by on his way in from the country and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Go Gofer, which means the place of the skull. Then they offered him wine mixed with meh, but he did not take it and they crucified him dividing his clothes.

They cast lots to see what each would get. It was nine in the morning when they crucified him, the written notice of the charge against him Red, the king of the Jews. They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, so you who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself in the same way.

The chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. He saved him others, they said, but he can't save himself. Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross that we may see and believe those crucified with him also help heaped insults on him. At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, and at three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice.

Eli. Eli, which means. My God. My God. Why have you forsaken me,

Christian? You're welcome.

Okay. Don't commit this time to our.

We can't imagine what you went through all this day.

You took the form.

Jesus, we thank you for your life giving you.

We thank you that you went to the cross. So Greg, your love for us, we ask now.

In July 2018 the eyes of the world were on Thailand. Twelve young boys had entered a cave along with their football coach. Shortly after they entered, heavy rainfall flooded the cave system. Their way out was blocked, leaving them trapped.

These boys were lost, and they were trapped in darkness. They had no way of getting out on their own; and they had no way of communicating with the outside world.

If you’re in this situation, you’re thinking, “This is where we die. We have no food. We have no water. We have no way of saving ourselves. We will perish unless someone comes from the outside to save us.”

To make matters worse, the flood waters kept rising. This made rescue extremely difficult.

And so, the question is, how will the world respond? “This is life, bad stuff happens! They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They’re not world leaders; they’re just young boys from a poor country. It’s not worth the risk or the expense to save them!”

No. That was not the response. The world saw what happened, and the world mobilised. The world said, “We cannot forsake those boys. Let’s do whatever it takes to save them!”

The rescue operation was massive. Ten thousand people from over one hundred government agencies. More than one hundred divers. They brought in pumps to pump out billions of litres of water.

Divers risked their lives to navigate this cave system looking for signs of life. On the tenth day of being trapped – lost, alone, without hope, and in darkness – suddenly a light shines.

Two divers made their way through these incredibly narrow passages, and out of the muddy water their torch light shone. They found the twelve boys and the coach huddled together; they were in an elevated section of a cave.

Can you imagine how that would have felt? They’re probably thinking, “We’re not alone. We’ve not been forgotten. Someone came.”

That was day ten. It took a week to work out how to get them out. During that time one of the divers died on his way out of the cave. Despite this the rescue mission continued. The loss of one life was considered worth the cost.

On day sixteen two boys were the first to be rescued. The process to save them was complex and dangerous. It took until the eighteenth day to save the last of these boys. The world mobilised, and did what it took to rescue them.

Now maybe you’ve never been in grave physical danger. Maybe you’ve never been in a situation where you needed some kind of dramatic rescue.

But think about our spiritual lives. This was us. We were lost. We had no hope. We were in darkness. And like these boys, we would have perished unless someone came from the outside to save us.

This is the human condition. We are trapped in sin and death. Heaven saw, and heaven mobilised. Heaven sent its best.

Jesus Christ the Son of God entered this world. He shone his light into our darkness, and he gave his life to rescue us. Jesus said, “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” That was us! Good Friday is all about heaven’s rescue operation.

You can read about what it took to rescue these boys. The operation was extremely complex. Today I want us to reflect on what it took for Jesus to rescue us.

We heard in our reading how Jesus was mocked while on the cross. The religious leaders shouted, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself. Let him come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday the crowd shouted, “Hosanna!” It’s a Hebrew word which means, “Save us!” The crowds hoped that Jesus would deliver them from Roman oppression. They didn’t really understand what his rescue mission was about.

In the same way, the religious leaders also misunderstood. “He saved others, but he cannot save himself. Come down from that cross and prove that you’re the Christ.” They didn’t understand that the cross was the rescue operation. Jesus needed to stay on that cross if he was going to save us.

The previous night Jesus went with his disciples to the garden of Gethsemane. He said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” Jesus didn’t feel this way because he knew he was about to die. He felt this way because he knew he was about to take on the weight of all human sin.

Jesus had never experienced sin before. He had seen it; he had grieved over it; he had forgiven it. But unlike us he had never succumbed to it. Unlike us he had never been tainted by it.

Now he was about the take the entire weight of the world’s sin upon himself. This is why his soul was crushed with sorrow to the point of death. We can’t even begin to imagine what this would have been like.

We cannot imagine what Jesus suffered when he took on the sin of everybody who ever lived. And the gospel writers don’t even try to explain it. They simply report how Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

The religious leaders taunted him, “He saved others, let him save himself.” They didn’t understand that what was happening was something far, far deeper than what he had already done.

Yes, he had saved others by physically healing them. Yes, he had saved others by setting them free from demonic oppression. And yes, he had saved others by raising them from the dead. But what they were witnessing here was something far more profound. There was something else that was holding him to that cross.

The Apostle Paul would later write, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus became accursed for our sake. He took on our alienation from God. He entered our darkness. He took responsibility for the world’s evil and absorbed its consequences. 

The world saw those boys in that cave, and the world did not forsake them. Heaven saw us trapped in sin and death, and did not forsake us. God considered the loss of one life worth the cost. Even though this one life was far more valuable than every other life put together.

We could put the life of Jesus on a scale and weigh it against every beautiful thing that will ever exist. Every planet, every star; every form of beauty in creation. Every beautiful piece of music and art. We could weigh it all against Jesus, and his one life would outweigh it all.

You don’t understand the value of something until you see its price. Only by looking at the cross do we begin to understand the weight of God’s judgment against sin. It cost the life of the infinitely valuable Son of God. This life which is worth more than every thing of beauty we could ever know. When we consider what heaven gave, we can begin to see the value we have in heaven’s eyes.

Jesus willingly came and took our place. He was forsaken for us. Centuries earlier the prophet Isaiah spoke. “Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

At the cross Jesus became sin for us. This is what caused his soul to be overwhelmed with sorrow in that garden. It was when Jesus became sin for us, that he experienced separation from the Father for the first and only time. 

The people who witnessed this mocked him. They hurled insults. They considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.”

There is a song we sing. It says, “How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure! That he should give his only Son, to make a wretch his treasure. How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns his face away; as wounds which marred the Chosen One, bring many sons to glory.”

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

A few weeks ago, there was a story on the news. A seventeen-year-old boy dived into the ocean. Just below the surface was a sandbank. He dived into the water, hit the sandbank and snapped his neck. Doctors fear he will be permanently paralysed. His mother was distraught. Fighting back tears she said, “There’s an instant moment that you immediately grieve what his life was going to be. I just wanted to take his place.”

That’s what love does. It sees the pain and the brokenness of the one it loves; and it longs to take all that upon itself to set the loved one free. This is what we see at the cross.

I want to close by reading another verse from this song, “How deep the Father’s love for us.” These words say it far better than I ever could: “Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon his shoulders; ashamed I hear my mocking voice, call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held him there, until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life, I know that it is finished.”

Let's pray.

Father, I feel so just empty of words to say right now.

All we can say is thank you. Thank you Jesus for going to that cross. We'll never truly know how much it cost to see that sin upon our cross. Jesus, we thank you that you thought of us, that your desire was to bring many sons to glory. And that's what held you there on that cross, Jesus, may we live our lives to the praise of your glorious grace. Amen. Amen.

Amen.

Thank you Pastor Jamie for the word.

It really helps us to reflect in our hearts on what Jesus did. It's not just any old thing, and we should always remember that not just this Friday, but every week.

So we're gonna close this service and we wanna bless all of you.

May the strength of God sustain us, and may the power of God preserve us. May the hands of God protect us and may the way of God direct us.

May the love of God go with us today and forever. Let's pray.

Dear Lord, thank you. Thank you for dying on that cross for us. We love you. We love you. And now as we head off home, we ask that you stay with us, be with our families, and that we may have a blessed day.

We ask all this in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. My God accompany all of you and go around and say hi to a couple of people around you.