Great Friday: The Hour of Tragedy

It's so good to have you on this great Friday to celebrate the Lord's death and his subsequent resurrection And tonight I want to talk to you about the hour of tragedy. It really is an hour of triumph, but tonight It's an hour of tragedy And it's summed up in four very simple words in all four Gospels It says the same thing and the words are Luke 23 33 there they crucified Him That's all it says There they crucified him very simply stated But it is the most supremely significant statement ever written Why is that?

Everything before these four words was in preparation of this hour Everything Everything after these four words is a proclamation About this hour because the cross is the central aspect of Christianity Everything leading up to this time Was to prepare everyone for what was about to happen Since then We proclaim that which took place on Mount Calvary Paul said it this way in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 or 1st Corinthians chapter 1. He says we preach Christ crucified In chapter 2. He said we determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him Crucified in 1st Corinthians 11.

It says concerning the Lord's table, which we are about to partake in a few moments here That as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup You proclaim the Lord's death Until he comes John W. Stott has written a book on the cross of Christ and in it He says these words despite the great importance of his teaching his example and his works of compassion and power None of these was central to his mission. What dominated his mind was not the living but the giving of his life And then he says the Lord's Supper Which was instituted by Jesus and which is the only regular commemorative act authorized by him Dramatizes neither his birth nor his life neither his words nor his works, but only his death Nothing could indicate more clearly the central significance which Jesus attached to his death It was by his death that he wished above all else to be remembered There is then it is safe to say no Christianity without the cross If the cross is not central to our religion ours is not the religion of Jesus The crucifixion is Central to everything The resurrection is essential to everything For one is the hour of tragedy in the other the hour of triumph But everything pointed to this time For this time these four words there they crucified him Is what theologians call the the apex of redemptive history?

The crucifixion is the apex of redemptive history and the resurrection is the climax to redemptive history But remember this Everything centers on the cross It is the most significant hour in the history of the universe For without the cross There is no redemption And so we celebrate What our Lord did on this day? Because of its supreme Significance In fact, let's look at it this way before time ever began in eternity past The Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world So before the world was ever created Before the universe was ever created before you and I were ever created God had a plan we call it the predetermination of the cross It was all predetermined in eternity past This was all God's plan So when Christ hung on Calvary Street and People spat at him and mocked him He was scourged and beaten That was the plan It wasn't a secondary plan it wasn't an alternate plan it was the plan For it says in the book of Isaiah the 53rd chapter that it pleased the Lord to crush his son Peter in Acts chapter 2 said these words after the resurrection men of Israel Listen to these words Jesus of Nazarene a man Attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst just as you yourselves know this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and for knowledge of God You nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death This was God's plan And so eternity passed before the world was ever created we had the predetermination of the cross When you come to the Old Testament you had the preparation for the cross For in the Old Testament Everything that took place was pointing to the hour There they crucified him All the symbols and all the rituals and all the ceremonies and all the shadows.

They all pointed to the Messiah The Messiah who would give his life away for the sins of man That was the plan So in the Old Testament you have the preparation for the cross In fact if you think of Psalm 22 probably the most significant Psalm dealing with the crucifixion of the Lord it was written 1,000 years before Christ Think about that in Psalm 22 which depicts for us the crucifixion of the Messiah. It was written 1,000 years before Christ and then you go to the book of Isaiah Isaiah chapter 53 It talks about how the Messiah would be pierced for the sins of man Speaking once again about the coming cross That was written 700 years before the Messiah Then you had the book of Zechariah Zechariah 12 verse number 10 where Israel will one day look upon the one whom they've pierced and will mourn for him as an only child was written 550 years before Christ.

Why is that important? It's important because There was never a crucifixion until 500 years before Christ Because it was a plan it was a predetermined plan and Everything in the Old Testament was preparing Israel for the coming Messiah Who would die? For their sins So the Old Testament is about the preparation of the Messiah whether it's Genesis chapter 3 verse number 15 where the Messiah would crush the serpents head where the Genesis chapter 22 where the Messiah would offer his life as a as a Substitute or all throughout the Old Testament ceremonial system whether it's in the tabernacle or in the temple It was all pointing to the Messiah who would come and die So you have an eternity past the predetermination of the cross In the Old Testament you have the preparation for the cross When you come to the Gospels you have the revelation of the cross Now it's all going to be revealed Christ is going to reveal it and he began to Reveal it in different kinds of ways But in Mark chapter 8, he would say the Son of Man must suffer speaking of the the absolute necessity of the cross and Then in Mark chapter 9, he said the Son of Man will be delivered over he will be speaking to the certainty of the cross and Then in Mark chapter 10 you had the fact that the Son of Man will be Delivered over to the Gentiles and he will be scourged.

He will be beaten. He will be mocked you have the brutality of the cross But every time he spoke about the cross, he spoke about the victory of the cross for the Son of Man will rise again Because everything about the cross would be vindicated on Sunday the resurrection of the Messiah And so all throughout the Gospels there was this Revelation of the cross. That's why in John's gospel. You have seven different times in which it references the hour The hour of tragedy the the hour of triumph in Luke's gospel.

You have the the divine musts in Luke chapter 2 verse number 49 when Christ was 12 years of age, the only recorded statement of our Lord Before his ministry at age 30 when he told his mother Don't you know that I must be about my father's affairs My father's business and what was the father's business to send his son? To die in Luke's gospel the ninth chapter He said the Son of Man must suffer in Luke chapter 13 It says the Son of Man must journey to Jerusalem why because he must die at Passover In Luke's gospel at the end in Luke chapter 24.

All these things are written So that the Son of Man must fulfill the law of the prophets in the Old Testament It was all designed So in eternity past you have the predetermination of the cross in the Old Testament. You had the preparation for the cross in the Gospels you have the revelation of the cross and then you come to the book of Acts and there you have the explanation of the cross as the Apostles would begin to explain everything about why the son of the Master the she'd be the Messiah the master of the universe had to come and die for the sins of Israel And they had to explain it to everybody as they began to explain it They'd be persecuted because of their explanation, but they would explain clearly The mission of the Messiah that he came to die for sinful man so in the book of Acts you have the Explanation of the cross and then you have the epistles and the epistles all about the application of the cross How do you apply what Christ did to your life?

Because now you're crucified with Christ as Paul would say in Galatians chapter 2 verse number 20 and that he would say in Philippians 1 For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. So the epistles give us the application of the cross And then when you come to the book of Revelation You have the celebration of the cross Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive glory and an honor and praise Over and over again go back to the Old Testament. You have one one Passage of Scripture that speaks to the Messiah as lamb.

That's Isaiah 53 Come to the Gospels you have two Scriptures that speak of the Messiah as lamb John 1 29 John 1 36 And then you come to the epistles and you have two references to Jesus as lamb Acts chapter 8 and 1st Peter chapter 1 verses 18 and 19 But when you come to the book of Revelation 28 Different times the Messiah is referred to as the lamb because that is his apocalyptic name That's how he will be remembered all throughout eternity as the lamb that was slain So when you get to heaven, you're gonna celebrate the lamb Because it'll be the Lamb of God Who came to take away the sin of the world and the only reason you're there is because he's taken away your sin He did it So you'll spend all eternity celebrating the lamb And then when you come to eternity future When you come to the eternal state You have the exaltation of the cross because the eternal state Once again, the lamb is exalted above all else so much So that he illuminates the New Jerusalem No need for a Sun no need for the moon No need for the stars because the glory of the lamb will light the city because he will be totally exalted today You have an invitation to the cross Because that's the invitation that Christ gives In fact, the Bible says these words in in John's Gospel John chapter 12 Verse number 20 now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast These then came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and began to ask him saying sir We wish to see Jesus We wish to see Jesus Somebody's actually coming to see Jesus.

These are some Greeks, right? The triumphal entry has already taken place maybe they've already heard about what people said when they saying Hosanna glory to God in the highest and they were able to bless that as he who comes in the name of the Lord and they took off their garments and they laid them down and they They swung those palm branches because they wanted to celebrate the arrival of the king So maybe these Greeks are coming because they want to see who the king is is this a military king Is this a political king?

What kind of King is this? Is this Jesus? So the only way to find out is to go to somebody who who knows Jesus So they go to Philip because he's from Bethsaida and Bethsaida is on the outskirts of the Decapolis Which was a Gentile region there in Israel And so they would go to Philip and ask him and say Philip we want to see Jesus question is How would Jesus be seen? How does he want to be seen? So Philip takes him to Andrew and Andrew came and told Jesus and These are the words that Jesus says the hour has come What hour?

the hour of tragedy The hours come up to this time the three previous statements about the hour in John's gospel or The hour has not yet come My hour has not yet come why he was on a divine timetable See the position of the cross is so important to understand that everything ran right on schedule Nothing was out of kilter. Nothing was done by accident. Everything was done by divine appointment He was a complete control of every situation of every event leading up to the cross while he was on the cross While he was off the cross and resurrected again Everything was under the divine timetable of the Lord God of Israel everything But now he says now he says the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified He wants you to see him in all of his glory, but in order to see him glorified You must see him crucified Because without that crucifixion he would not be glorified He knows that and so he says truly truly I say to you unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies it remains alone But if it dies it bears Much fruit he's speaking of his crucifixion That he's going to die and upon his death.

He would bear much fruit and it says He loves his life Loses it and he hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life If anyone serves me he must follow me and where I am there My servant will be also if anyone serves me the father will honor him With the invitation comes that admonition Listen if you want to see me you must see me glorified, but to see me glorified You must see me crucified. But if you want to see me for who I really am and you want to follow me you must hate your life in this life Or you lose it or If you love your life, oh, excuse me if you love your life you're going to lose it, but if you hate your life You'll gain my life You see Christ always gave the invitation with an admonition Saying that if any man follow me let him deny himself take up his cross and and follow me And they would go into the same kind of statement of Luke 9 If you if you want to keep your life today, you're going to lose it But if you're willing to give your life away today for my sake You'll find it Are you willing?

to follow the crucified Christ And Christ would go on to say these words of verse number 27 now My soul has become troubled in what shall I say father save me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to the hour father glorify Your name glorify your name So before the statement the apex of redemptive history There they crucified him The Bible says these words in Luke 23 When they led him away, they seized the man Simon of Cyrene coming in from the country And placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus Again very simple verse Most who read it don't think much about it But in all reality, it's a most powerful illustration of Christianity Simon is from Cyrene North Africa modern-day Libya He would come to Israel for Passover For there were Jews in Cyrene at the time And he would come to Passover.

Maybe he had heard about this Jesus. Maybe he hadn't Maybe while he was there if he came early would know a little bit about what was taking place with this Jesus Maybe not but evidently he was on the the Via Dolorosa the road of sorrows The road that would lead outside the Damascus Gate to the place called Calvary And he was there in the crowd Hundreds thousands in the streets of Jerusalem But one man Only one was compelled to carry the cross accidental No, it was all providential Why don't we know that?

Because Simon had a son His name was Rufus and Mark would speak about Rufus in his gospel Who was instrumental in the church at Cyrene and Simon had a mother actually had a wife Who Paul would say in Romans? Acted as his mother by taking care of him That would tell us that what would God was doing was something very unique in this man's life as he came to observe the crucifixion And as he was compelled out of the crowd to carry the crossbeam of Jesus because he was beaten so severely that he was Unable to continue on and maybe they were in a hurry to get to Calvary Maybe they didn't want to wait any longer But they compelled just one man Simon of Cyrene to come out of the cross to get out of the crowd to carry the crossbeam He followed behind Jesus as The perfect illustration of what it means to follow Jesus If any man come after me, let him deny himself take up his cross and Follow me It was almost like he wanted to give one last illustration of what it meant to be a follower of Christ And then it says these words And following him was a large crowd of the people and of women who were mourning lamenting him But Jesus turning to them said daughters of Jerusalem stop weeping for me Now these were mourners probably hired mourners that's what they did in those days Granted they probably had some kind of sympathy for Jesus because he was beaten so severely.

He was virtually Unrecognizable as a man according to Isaiah's prophecy And so maybe they felt a tinge of sadness for him But he didn't say I just really appreciate your support Thanks for being behind me and crying for me I really I'm touched No, it's not what Jesus said He said stop weeping for me He says this but weep for yourselves and for your children Don't weep for me Weep for yourself For behold the days are coming when they will say Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed Now we read that we think okay.

What's the big deal about that if you're Jewish and you live in Israel and you don't have children you're ostracized as If somebody happened to you that you're some kind of sinner that God's not blessing you, right? the greatest curse a woman could ever feel was not to be able to have children and to nurse those children and to raise those Children and Christ says don't weep for me Because the days are coming where they're going to give a blessing to those who don't have any children That happened in 80 70 some 40 years later When the Roman governor Titus wrote into Jerusalem and plundered the city So much so that They crucified so many Jews That historians tell us they ran out of lumber to crucify any more of them and they says this Then they will begin to say to the mountains fall on us and to the hills cover us What is that That's Revelation chapter 6 Revelation chapter 6 where it says they say to the mountains and to the rocks fallen us and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb For the great day of the wrath has come and who was able to stand so Christ gives a near prophecy as well as a Longer future prophecy Says don't weep for me Why?

He concludes with these words For if they do these things when the tree is green that is full of life full of fruit full of sap Because Christ is the green tree. He says What then will happen? to the dry That's Israel the dry barren soul of Israel If they're doing this to me And I'm the green tree of life What do you think they're going to do to you? Who refused to believe in who I am? the crucified Messiah the king of Israel You see Everything points to the cross It's a central aspect of Christianity the crucifixion is central to the ministry of Christ To the meaning of Christianity The resurrection is essential to the meaning of Christ and the message of Christianity But the cross is central to everything So we come together this evening To do as our Lord commanded to take a moment to once again remember What he did?

for on the eve of the crucifixion He would celebrate officially the very last Passover many Jews today around the world are celebrating Passover even as we speak But none of them are sanctioned by God Why? Because everything that Passover pointed to the Messiah Was fulfilled on Calvary's cross And so on that last night that Thursday evening Before he would be crucified on Friday They sat around and commemorated that last Passover and There would be a night of transformation We would transform the Passover to the Lord's Supper when he said this cup is the new covenant in my blood This do in remembrance of me and They were celebrating Everything that Ezekiel said that Jeremiah said when it came to a new covenant that Israel longed for Well, they would receive a new heart And they would receive a new soul They'd become new creatures new creations because of the transforming work of What our God does on?

Calvary's cross