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In the midst of his exhaustion and agony, with only a matter of hours remaining before he must face the cross, what were the two matters on the heart of Jesus held right to the end? Reverend Daniel shares with us this message for Good Friday.

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Last evening on Monday, Thursday night, we focused our meditation on the trial of Jesus, recorded in Luke chapter 22, verse 66 to 23, verse 25. In my homily, I shared that Jesus was innocent, yet he was condemned for us. And because of the example of Jesus, it gives us the impetus to endure unjust suffering by entrusting ourselves to God and continue to do good, as 1 Peter would tell us. The service ended last night with the tenebre readings by Brother Sylvester from Luke 22, verse 39 to 53. Tenebre is the Latin word for shadows. So instead of saying tenebre, we can say shadows. The betrayal, the abandonment, and the agony Jesus endured. For us who were present last evening, we saw the stripping of the altar visibly, which reminds us of the humiliation Jesus endured. He was stripped of his garments and denied his dignity. The service ended in darkness with a sense of things left unfinished. We continue the story this morning. This morning we continue to follow Jesus on the way to be crucified and to the point of crucifixion. Last evening I shared of the hostility of the Jewish leadership against Jesus and their determination to have him crucified. Today on Good Friday, we see that it was not all plain hostility against Jesus. There was a segment, there was a remnant of people who were drawn to him. Uniquely but not surprisingly for Liu. We see that the segment that was drawn to Jesus were all from the fringes of society and not from the Jewish elite. We see Simon or Cyrene, who came from the country. So he wasn't aware of what was happening. So he just came from the country and suddenly he was called to bear the cross. So certainly he wasn't part of those who were instigating the death of Jesus in the trial. So we see women mourning and lamenting for Jesus. And we also see the encounter of Jesus with two criminals and a Roman centurion. We see the innocent Jesus moving ahead towards God's purpose for the world on Good Friday. In fact, Jesus emerges as more than a helpless victim. He continued to weigh in on matters that were important to him as he moves forward on the way to crucifixion and to the point of crucifixion. I would like to explore with us uh two matters basically that was on the heart of Jesus, right to the very end. What were the matters important to Jesus, such that despite and in spite of his tiredness and his agony and trauma, he as he made his way to the cross. These were important matters to Jesus. Many of us, if we were given like a short time to live, let's say we have one month to live, we will realign our priorities, we will readjust uh time perhaps for our family, a time to catch up with friends. Perhaps we have not met for 10 years or so. Uh uh, maybe some of us will scramble to make a will or get an LPA and settle all uh estate, you know, our housing uh um uh loans or whatever that we need to do administratively, financially. And towards the last moments, perhaps we would probably want to spend time uh with our loved ones. Um but for others, perhaps it's a time that we may wallow in self-pity. We may shut everyone out and say, Why God, why am I going through this? You know, I don't deserve it. Why am I dying? Right? So there are there are mixed responses to how we will handle death or when we are faced in situations where uh we don't have much time left. So for Jesus, time was down to the hours. It's not about days, but it was a matter of hours before he would be crucified. So we see Jesus on the way uh uh en route to his crucifixion. Firstly, I'd like to suggest to us uh that what I will share today is nothing new. I think I have shared this uh time and time again, but I think once again, looking at Good Friday, I believe these are important themes in the life of Jesus. Right to the very end of his life, these are things that he valued. Firstly, he valued repentance. He valued repentance. When a great multitude of the people and of the women were mourning and lamenting for Jesus, he turned around to them and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children. Jesus continues his prophetic role in pronouncing judgment. But the judgment that Jesus pronounced is in hope of a turning of the people to him. It was a final uh drawing of words that hopefully uh the women of Jerusalem will weep and turn to Jesus perhaps uh in repentance. Perhaps the whole Jews who instigated the crucifixion of Jesus may turn away from themselves and to Jesus. So Jesus' words, weep for yourselves and for your children, and the judgment that he called out uh in the instance in Luke that uh our sister may read for us was built on earlier prophecies concerning Jerusalem. And we see that many times as Jesus approached the cross, his heart and his desire was for the people to repent. In Luke 13, verse 34, he says, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent, how often would I have longed to gather your children together as a hand gathers uh the chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Again in Luke 19, verse 41 to 44, when Jesus drew near, when he saw the city of Jerusalem, he wept over it, saying, Would that you that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace, but they are hidden from your eyes. And then he goes on to announce uh similar judgment that uh we read today. So we see here a close relationship between the rejection of Jesus and the judgment of Jerusalem. The judgment on Jerusalem. The daughters of Jerusalem were told to weep for yourselves and for your children. Jesus said, Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. Historically, the temple built by Herod the Great would be destroyed in AD 70 at the fall of Jerusalem during the early stages of the Jewish war with Rome. So Jesus' words actually directed the women to the importance of looking beyond the present moment to the consequences of the nation's sin. The nature of the calamity that Jesus envisions is accentuated by the reversal of the usual state of blessedness. Children are generally seen as expressions of uh God's favor and blessings. But in this uh coming catastrophe, it is better to be barren. Yet there's a glimmer of hope as the women were told to mourn on behalf of the city, they would have an opportunity to respond to Jesus with with repentance. We need to take Jesus' words of judgment seriously by repenting and turning to him. Listen to what Hebrews 10 verse 26 to 27 tells us. He says, if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, then no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Secondly, closely related to repentance, is the theme of salvation and forgiveness that Jesus was offering right up to the very end of his life. The verb to save is used repeatedly in this scene, in the verses that was read before us. The word save, to save, can't you save yourself repeats itself four times with respect to Jesus' alleged incapacity to save himself. We see that in Luke 23, verse 35. The people stood by watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, He saved others, let him save himself. If he is the Christ of God, his chosen one. In Luke 23, verse 37, uh uh it says, and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. In Luke 23, 39, one of the criminals who were hanged reeled at him, saying, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. What is striking is that Jesus' uh inability to save himself or his his knowledge of knowing that he can't save himself to fulfill the plan of God does not render him impotent to save others. Towards the end of Jesus' life as he was, even on the cross, Jesus continued to offer forgiveness and salvation. He continues to offer and save salvation and to save others. Victims of crucifixion were often stranded in a horn-like projection with legs bent and twisted and fastened to a cross by a single nail through the heels. Each breath that Jesus takes requires him to push against the nails on his hands and feet. Every movement for Jesus is alternating from excruciating pain to excruciating pain, even if it was to catch a breath. And yet Jesus at that moment had the strength to utter words of great importance, words that were significant. In his deep pain, physical pain and agony, Jesus managed to utter the word of forgiveness to the soldiers who crucified and mocked him. So right up to the very end of the life of Jesus, he was hoping for a turning. Repentance and forgiveness is key and central to the life of Jesus and his ministry. Right up to the very end and the very breath, this is what he does. And in Luke 23, 34, he said the famous words Jesus said, Father, forgive them, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they cast lots to divide his garments. We catch again a glimpse of what forgiveness looks like in the account of the penitent criminal whom Jesus promised a place in paradise. You know, right up to the very end, hanging on the cross, he said, Today, to the penitent criminal, today you will be with me in paradise. And again, uh, but not surprisingly for us in Luke, the penitent criminal exercises astounding insight into the status and identity of Jesus. Uh, he he uh addressed the fellow criminal on the on the other side of the cross and said, We indeed uh justly we are receiving the due rewards for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. How did he know Jesus was innocent? He had insight of that, and then he goes on to say in Luke 23, verse 44, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. How did he know the name of Jesus? How did he know to refer to him as Jesus? The the word the name Jesus uh is is is used in Luke whenever it refers to Jesus' status as a Davidic Messiah, as the one who saves his people. It's a name, the name Jesus is spoken by others who seek restoration. A few weeks ago we talked about how the blind man cried out, Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me. And a criminal, a penitent criminal, again is the first to recognize that Jesus' death is not a contradiction of him being the savior. Right? The Jews couldn't see that. Uh the disciples couldn't see that, but a criminal on the cross acknowledges that he is the savior. So again, uh the irony in Luke, those who are supposed to see the disciples, the Jewish leaders, those religious leaders could not see, but God lifts up the lowly, lifts up the unworthy. So Jesus was relentless to his very last breath and continues to do what only he can do: urging repentance, extending salvation and forgiveness. I'd like to share a short uh uh abstract from uh just an uh a short article by Salt and Light, uh dated April 4th. This is by uh Dr. Tan Laiong, who is a medical missionary. So he he writes for Salt and Light reflections on this uh holy week on Jesus' death and resurrection. So this I think is his second installment. So he captioned this cleaning is not for show only. Cleaning is not for show only. What I learned from a cleaner at a running track. So this is his encounter with a cleaner uh who regularly cleans the running track in which he runs on. So he describes it this way. He, referring to the cleaner, would be there at the crack of dawn and was clearly a person who was careful and proud of his workmanship. I got to know him a little over the several days that he was working on the running track. Uncle Lim used a spray jet to clean the running track. I would go and jog a few rounds, but he went slowly, almost inch by inch. Curious about the whole process, I asked him, I asked Uncle Lim if it wasted much water. Uncle Lim told me that the jet spray uses much less water than old methods of scrubbing and brushes. This is more effective, he said, and saves a lot of water. We should use new technology, he said. On another day, I asked him, since the jet spray is effective and uses less water, why not put a few jet sprays on a buggy and just drive the buggy around the track? That would be faster, right? Um he smiled and said, no, human touch. You still need the human touch and the human eye to direct the spray. Not anyhow, should. You must see where the dirty, slippery parts are. People, especially some of the office people, think we should spray the track to make it look nice and clean. The real reason to spray the tracks is actually to make it not slippery so runners do not fall. The runners can run faster when I do a good job. Goes on to say, cleaning is not for show only. One morning, Uncle Lim told me that he would be heading off to another running track the following week. So I thanked him and he replied that he was just doing the job. I said that we thank him as we runners make the track dirty. I pointed to the black soles on my feet, on my shoes, indicating that the soles rub off on the track, and so he has to clean that off with the jet spray. Uncle Lim shook his head and said, No, the dirt on the track doesn't come from your shoes. You don't run that much. The dirt comes from the pollution, the passing cars, and the haze. You can carry on running, don't worry. I thank him again for keeping the track clean and making it non-slippery for amateur, amateur joggers like me. Uncle Lim said with a sigh. I can clean the track, no problem. But who can clean our hearts? Our insides and our hearts, also black and dirty. But I cannot put a jet spray inside the human body. Who can spray and make it clean? Right? So this was an opportunity to share the gospel. But that that was indeed a real encounter that uh uh Lion had with this uncle. Right? So cleaning is not for show only, right? So it's not just getting the job done. Uh not cosmetic changes to appear good. Human touch is needed. And if we apply this to sin is to sin in our lives, you know, oftentimes we we hide things, you know, we appear that things are going well, we put up a good front. But when God, when Jesus deals with our sin, he needs to do deep cleaning or deep cleansing in our lives. It's not only for show to look good, right? Human touch is needed. You know, when Jesus came on earth, he didn't just use a jet spray and spray all of us clean, right? And suddenly we are clean, but he he goes to each one of us, touching our lives individually, washing us, cleansing us, forgiving us, offering us salvation. The touch of Jesus is individual. It's not using a jet spray and spray all of us clean. Right? Therefore, there's a need for us to repent and turn to Jesus. There's a need for all of us to experience his forgiveness, to allow him to spray and make you clean. So the story of Uncle Lim ends uh in an open-ended way. So I wonder if I have a chance to meet Lion, I would ask him what was his answer. You know, his reflection stopped there. You know, um who can spray and make it clean? Perhaps he may have shared the gospel with him, I don't know. Or perhaps Uncle Lim is a Christian. Like so, these were on the heart of Jesus our repentance, forgiveness, and salvation. So these were things that were on his heart, and even right now, today, we can have the hope that Jesus desires to wash us, he desires to forgive us. Um the word by our sister uh Nolin, which we see from the Lord earlier, shared is at for us. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Jesus longs to cleanse us, he longs to make us clean. That is on his mind as he made his way to the cross, right to the very end of his life, as he was there. He forgave the criminal, the those who crucified him, he invited a criminal to paradise. So we now move on to the act of Jesus' crucifixion. It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. The sixth hour is usually 12 noon in uh the calculations, till the ninth hour is uh About 3 p.m. So it's usually the brightest part of the day, right? If there's no rain and all, it's usually uh scorching hot, especially in Singapore, right? We know if we want to jog and run or we want to have some activities, usually that is the time where we don't. 12 to 1 is not a good time because it's the hottest part of the day. Yet the irony is during the time where it should be hottest, the sun's light filled. There was darkness over the whole land. At the betrayal and arrest of Jesus, when Jesus addressed the chief priests, officials of the temple and elders, he declared that this was their hour and the power of darkness. So Jesus at this moment now was experiencing, bearing the sin of the world on himself. He had to fully experience the darkness on his own from 12 noon to 3 p.m. while the sun's light filled. Luke records that the curtain of the temple was torn in two. It was the temple, the curtain of the temple is about 80 feet high. It's about an 80 feet high curtain, which could only come down by the intervention of God. The view in the temple of the day was separated the holy place from the most holy place. Priests were allowed to minister in the holy place regularly, but only once a year on the day of the atonement could the high priest pass through the inner curtain into the immediate presence of God. So the most holy place represents the very presence of God there. So in fact, Moses was instructed in Leviticus 16, verse 2. The Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron, your brother, do not come at any time into the holy place inside the veal, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. So there's a sense in the Old Testament that the presence of God is veiled because of the holiness of God. No one, once a year, only uh the high priest can enter to make atonement for the most holy place. Even he has to do that with great caution and trepidation and fear, such that even Moses instructed Aaron. Uh the Lord instructed Moses to tell Aaron to be beware of how you approach God, because if you don't approach God in the right way, you will die. So the implications of the tearing of the curtain of the temple recorded in all the Gospels at the death of Jesus is that we have now direct access to God the Father through Jesus. Jesus Himself is the new temple, the new most holy place, with no curtain barring us from intimacy with God. So after committing his spirit to the Father, Jesus breathed his last. This then prompted a response from the centurion in Luke 23, verse 47. Now, when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, Certainly this man was innocent. So once again, we see a Roman uh centurion, uh, not part of the Jewish elite, uh, recognizing those events as God's divine intervention. So it declared, he declared him innocent, right? After uh looking at what happened and all the events that happened. So in his death on Good Friday, Jesus absorbed our sins fully on himself and opened a way of new access for us to God the Father. So this is the principle of uh substitution and representation underlying Jesus' death. Leviticus 17 verse 11 is a key text. He says, For the life of the flesh is the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. So Jesus, while he was on the cross, he shed his blood, and through the offering of his blood, he made atonement for us. Death is the penalty imposed for sin. Jesus represented us, he took our place, he bore our sin, he embraced our darkness, he took our place by shedding his blood to cover, to make atonement for our sins. Hebrews 9, 24 to 26 reminds us, for Christ has entered not into the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was he to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own. For then he would have to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, Jesus has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So what did the death of Jesus accomplish for us? Um there's an old hymn, perhaps all of us would remember, right? It says, Rock of ages, right? So rock of ages, clear for me. Uh let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flow. Then it says, Be of sin, the double cure. Right? So uh a lot of the hymns when it was being written, especially by the Wesley brothers, has packed in theology, right? So it does teach us something, the songs, the words. So it's it's meaningful, the hymns are meaningful. So what does it mean? Be of sin, the double cure. What is the double cure that the song is talking about? And then the song goes on to say, save from wrath and make me pure. So the double cure, firstly, is to the deal is to deal with the penalty of sin. The wrath of God is the penalty for sin. We need to be safe from divine wrath. We have violated God's laws in thought, word, and deed and came against his will. We are alienated from God and suffering his wrath. So the appeal in the hymn, Rock of Ages, is for the blood of Jesus to save us from divine wrath and judgment. So while Jesus was on the cross on Good Friday, bearing the sins of the whole world, experiencing the darkness of sin upon his physical body. He's saving us from the penalty of sin. Save us from the wrath of God because of our sin. So the death of Jesus on Good Friday saves us from divine wrath, the penalty of sin. No longer will need will we need to cower in fear that God will judge us because of our evil deeds. Because we have Jesus, the one who mediates between us, God will still hold us accountable for our continual sins. But the wrath of God has been poured out on Jesus on Good Friday. So it's tremendous if you think about it. Jesus on his way to the cross, what was on his mind was repentance, forgiveness, and salvation. On the cross, he brings it to his fullness when he absorbed our sin on himself in darkness. He absorbed the wrath of God on himself. Like the song uh Man of Sorrows sung last night reminds us uh the sin of man, the wrath of God on it on him, on Jesus was it late. So Jesus not only saves us from the wrath, but the second part is also important. It says, uh, be of sin, the double cure, save from wrath, and make me pure. So Jesus saves us from the penalty of sin, but he also saves us from the power of sin. It isn't enough to be delivered from the penalty of sin. God delivers us from his wrath, but we must also be set free from sin's power, not just the penalty and the wrath of God upon our lives. So through the work of Jesus applied by the Holy Spirit to us, we can find strength and power to overcome the power of sin and to resist temptation, to grow in the likeness and conformity to Jesus. Jesus on the cross is to us the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Jesus came to save us from the penalty of sin, from the wrath of God. He came to also save us from the power of sin. Sin no longer is binding upon our lives. That's the good news of Good Friday. We are saved from the wrath of God. We are saved from the power of sin upon our lives. No longer, as Christians today, as we believe what Jesus did on the cross on Good Friday, can we say that we have no power over sin in our lives? Because Christ is the power to overcome sin. So through a process of restoration, of healing that God does in us by the Holy Spirit, whether through healing and deliverance, through inner healing, through counseling, through various means, God will use. But the power is there. The power to break sin is there. That is why we hear of testimonies and we celebrate that. How people are released from smoking addictions, the desire is no longer there. How men and women are set free today as they encounter the power of the gospel and the power of Jesus to break sin. And we hear that and we rejoice. A sinner coming home, someone who has been leading a wayward life, comes home and breaks, uh, the power of sin is broken in his or her life. And I think this is one of the greatest joys I have as a pastor. I I guess a lot of us too, as uh members of the church, wherever we hear you know, a breakthrough in someone's life or something good happened in their lives, how God gave, healed the person, restored the person, delivered the person, Lord, we rejoice because the transforming power of God is at work. You know, the power of sin is broken. Jesus saves us from the penalty of sin. He saves us from the power of sin.

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We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Eastern Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.