The soldiers by and score I see my savior. I see my Savior die. He's shed on by his Father's throne, who once in mercy came. For all his love to sinners show. I see my Savior die. He's shed on by his Father's throne, He hangs by a tree. This past Friday we had a Good Friday service. That's what it's traditionally called, Good Friday. What's good about it? Jesus died, and we're celebrating it, and call it Good Friday. There's different ideas about why it was called Good Friday. One of them is just kind of a play on words, like, well, what it's supposed to mean is God's Friday instead of Good Friday. Another idea just kind of gives it an implied meaning. It's good because Jesus died for our sins, so we'll call it Good Friday. But if we look at the etymology of that word good, tracing Good Friday back to when they began calling it Good Friday, the history of the word good, actually it means holy. Last Friday was Holy Friday. Well, that certainly sits better with me considering that it's Holy Friday. I heard someone say on the radio this past week that Easter is a Christian's holiest holiday of the year. And they even surmise that if you ask a group of Christians, what's the biggest holiday of the year for Christians? And they would probably say Christmas. Well, Christmas is good. I'm not diminishing that, okay? I am not becoming a Scrooge. But Christmas was just a necessary step to the reason, Easter is the reason for Christmas. The reason we have Christmas is so that we could have Easter, the resurrection from the grave. Do you remember years ago? Oh, I'm gonna give a story that makes me sound like my dad now. Back when I was a kid, years ago, businesses would close down on Friday, on Good Friday. I remember, here it comes, well I remember, my public school would dismiss at noon on Friday so that everyone could go to their church's Good Friday services. See, we have been losing the holiness, the sacredness of Good Friday over the years. It's something that many times we try to fit in, if we can. Last Friday we focused on the death and the suffering of the crucifixion. Now to some that may be a bit morbid. Maybe even a touch of sensationalism by focusing on the, ooh, the death part of it. But I don't think so. I think there's a reason for focusing on that. When I turned 11 years old, my family lived in South Carolina. My parents, six kids, a cat and a dog. My dad was a full-time student at Bob Jones University with six kids. Three of my siblings were in a Christian school, so there was that bill on top of it. My dad went to school during the day, he worked afternoons, he worked nights, he worked weekends as an electrician's helper. Just common laborer's job. On my birthday, I received a pouch, a little pouch to attach to the handlebars of your bicycle where you could put stuff in it, because of course every 11-year-old needs one of those. And so I put that on my bike. It was just something to attach to my bike. And I received a skateboard helmet, because I was a big skateboarder when we lived in Michigan before we moved down there. Well, my parents realized in South Carolina, there are no flat roads. It's all this. And you gain some speed going down those hills. And there's their favorite son of the four flying down this hill without a helmet on his head. So I said I wanted a skateboard helmet. The pouch wasn't leather. The helmet wasn't a skateboard helmet. It was this big, two-inch thick, clunky hockey helmet. And I looked like an idiot wearing it. Now, I made sure to share my assessment of those gifts with my parents as I opened each gift. ungrateful kid. But it's worse. You see, I didn't realize the cost involved in providing me those things. I wished I still had that big, clunky, dorky hockey helmet just to sit on my desk and remind me of the lesson learned, which I didn't learn until years later. My dad was doing everything he could just to keep food on the table for us. Regularly, people from the university would come by with bags of groceries just so we could eat. And I didn't appreciate the costs, so I didn't appreciate what was given to me. That's why we have Good Friday, so we appreciate what God has given to us even more by remembering the costs. Unless we focus on the costs of our salvation, we cannot fully appreciate what the cross means to us as Christians. Jesus, He paid a tremendous price, and we've heard about the 39 stripes, maybe sometime this past week it's been on different stations, the Passion of Christ, you've watched the movie, the Cat of Nine Tails, all the different movie depictions, but here's what they don't pick up on. Isaiah 52 14, it says, as many were astonished at Thee, His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men. The Bible teaches if you didn't know that was Jesus, you wouldn't even have recognized Him. Now that's what the movies don't get right. The cross was the price of our salvation. Oh, to see the dawn of the darkest day Sing, sing for us today. Now the ground beneath, grace as its maker, bows its head. ♪ Christ be praised ♪ you. Just need to get my breath. The cross is a, it's a horribly beautiful thing for a Christian. Because of the cross, because of the suffering, the debt, the penalty for our sin has been paid. Romans 6.23, it says, the wages of sin, the debt of sin, the penalty of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Jesus, God's Son, willingly died for us. Then he was buried. His disciples, their heart was broken. They were disenchanted. They were confused. They couldn't figure out how this had happened. It wasn't in their plans, but it was God's plan. They thought it was over. But God's plan wasn't completed yet that day of the cross. Three days later, Jesus came back from death. Victory. He rose from the grave. He had beaten death. Death holds no power over a Christian. Depends on how you look at it. I guess you could say a Christian doesn't die. We just change our residence. The moment our heart stops here, Still beating in heaven. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 54, it says, so when this corruptible, I'm referring to our bodies, shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. We sang about that earlier as a congregation. Verse 55 of that passage, it says, oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? Jesus won that victory for us. Verse 57 says, but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Victory over the grave comes through Jesus Christ. No other way. Death holds no power over a Christian. because He arose. His resurrection means eternal life for us. And this is why we celebrate this day called Easter. An angel came and bore the stone away. Let every heart be glad this Easter day. Behold the empty tomb, O come and see. From fear of death he set his people free. He gave them life. Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave The cross, the grave, the resurrection, He did that for us, but not just for us. You see, 2 Peter 3 9, it says, the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is Long-suffering to us word not willing that any should perish But that all should come to repentance That verse said he's long-suffering Patient So patient with us I've shared this with folks here before Because I didn't accept Christ until I was 19. I Prior to that, man, my parents had me in church all the time. I sang all the junior church songs. I could sing This Little Light of Mine better than anybody. When it came to sitting on a tack, I knew how to do that too. And did everything. But I never trusted Christ for the forgiveness of my sins. And you see, I thought I was still gonna go to heaven. because of all this stuff that I had done. And yet every Sunday, I kept hearing about Jesus dying on the cross, and it's because Jesus died on the cross that I can have forgiveness for my sins and go to heaven. I estimate 700 times I heard that message. and rejected it. God is so patient. He's proved that with me. Parents, you ever have that conversation with your kids? How many times do I have to tell you, you know? You've already told them three times this morning to clean up their room. Imagine having to do it over 700 times before they finally do it once. God is so long-suffering, not just to me, to everyone here, to everyone listening or watching this service right now. God is patient. God, Jesus, they followed through on this plan for all peoples, not just those that go to church. but for those that don't go to church as well. God followed this plan, Jesus submitted to this plan, not for those that worship Him, but also for those that maybe worship other gods. Jesus died on the cross. for those, even for those that raise their fists to God and say, there is no God. Jesus knew they were going to do that, and he died anyway. It's kind of like this 11-year-old boy that opened his presents and said, it's not leather. Wow. Jesus is so long-suffering. He's patient. John 3, verse 18, it says, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because, here's why, Here's why, everyone who doesn't accept Jesus as their Savior goes to hell. Not because God is a mean God, because they're condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation. Here it is. Here's why the condemnation, the condemning factor is in that. Well, so what if I don't believe in the name of the Son of God? Why does that condemn me? Here it is, verse 19. This is the condemnation. Light, Jesus, has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light. because their deeds were evil. Here's a metaphor for us. Let's say we have a bad heart. We need a heart transplant. Some in our church family have received transplants of different kinds before, and it's always an exciting thing. But we have a bad heart, we need a heart transplant. without that transplant, we will die. A donor steps forward. You get the call, okay? You get the call from the hospital, and they say a donor has stepped forward, and they're going to be a perfect match. This donor steps forward, and, oh, wait a minute, there's a wrinkle. They are willing to die so that we can live. Whoa, it's a live donor. That changes things, doesn't it? It's kind of cool that someone would be willing to give me their heart. But the person needing the heart, that's you or that's me. We need that heart and we reject it. Why? Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter why, what our reasons are. We rejected it. Now, if I reject that heart, am I going to live any longer? No. I'm still going to die. Why? I still have a bad heart. I did before the gift was offered to me. and I reject it, I still have a bad heart, I'm condemned already, as the verse says that we just read. Now, did the person that offered me their heart, did they sentence me to death? No, I already was sentenced to death. I did it myself. to myself, not the one offering the gift of life. My friend, I'm not asking you to join my church. I'm not asking anything from you. I'm asking if you will receive forgiveness for your sins so that you can go to heaven when you die. There is no other way. John 14, six, it says, but Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. There's no other way into God's house. I've illustrated it this way several times. Let me do it again. If you come to my house this afternoon, after dinner, and you knock on the door, I'll say, hey, come on in. Have a seat. We'll talk. We'll visit. I'll show you my coffee roaster, you know, take you out in the garage, let you sit on my bike, you know. But if you come to my house at 2 o'clock in the morning, I catch you crawling through a window. I'm gonna give you a whole different greeting. Does that make me mean and unkind and unloving? No, it's my house. I determine the rules and the ways and the methods and the means to come into my house. Heaven, that's God's. He gets to determine that. And he tells us how it is through Jesus, not by being a good person or going to church or praying or giving money or all these other things. It's through what Jesus did on the cross when he died. You remember what he said? It is finished. The debt for my sin was completely paid for. Nothing else left for me to do but accept the gift that Jesus offers. God's plan included Jesus coming back from the grave. But God's plan still isn't done yet. There's more. You see, his plan includes you coming to him. Would you bow your heads please? Let me ask you here this morning, And if you're watching our service, either now or later, please call me and we can talk more. But those of you that are here this morning, do you know for sure you're going to heaven? Man, I'm telling you, I grew up from four years old all the way up through high school, going to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night. I did everything that every church kid is supposed to do. except during the week, Friday nights and weekends, I was a complete opposite. But I thought I was going to heaven because I really was kind of a good person. But that's not how we get to heaven. Do you know for sure you're going to heaven because you are trusting completely on what Jesus did on the cross? I wonder if there's someone here this morning that would say, Pastor, I'm not sure. But I would like for you to pray for me about that. I'm not sure, but I want you to pray for me about that. How many here this morning would raise their hand and just raising their hand, saying, Pastor, I'm not sure. Would you please pray for me about that? Anyone at all as I look across the room? Yes, thank you. Thank you so much. Anyone else? Pastor, I'm not sure, but I desperately want to make sure my sins are forgiven, that I'm trusting Christ. Heavenly Father, God, thank you. Thank you for bringing us together here today, but thank you for Jesus. Thank you for what Jesus willingly allowed himself to be for us, a sacrifice. God, I pray for this individual that wants to make sure. God, I pray that they would seek me out or someone else before they leave today so they could have that matter settled. In Jesus' name.