Good Friday 2026

Jesus opens the way to God through the cross. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, good evening, everyone, and welcome. My name is Trevor. I'm one of the pastors here, and I'm sincerely glad that you've chosen to join us for our gathering this evening. Good Friday is historically a time when Christians around the world gather to contemplate the darkest day in all of human history. The day that Jesus Christ was crucified for the sins of the world. As we consider the death of Christ together this evening, I'm using a children's book called The Garden, The Curtain and the Cross for my outline for this message. The content is entirely my own, but the framework and the language came from that little book. And I hope tonight that it's as worshipful for you as it has been for me. In three of the gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke describe darkness falling over the face of the whole land as Jesus hung on the cross bearing the shame and condemnation for our sin. Then with his dying breath, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, It is finished. The question before us tonight is, what was finished? When Jesus said those last words, what exactly was it that he accomplished? Well, to answer that question, we have to go back to the beginning, to the Garden of Eden, where it all began. The first verse of the Bible says, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In the seven days he formed the skies, the seas, and the land, and then he filled them with birds and fish and animals. And throughout Genesis 1, God repeatedly says that he saw that it was good. Then, on the sixth day, God made our first parents, Adam and Eve. Male and female, he created them after his own image and likeness. And according to Genesis 131, God saw that it was very good. God's good creation was teeming with life, plants and animals and people, flourishing according to God's good design, as it should be. Everything and everyone in perfect relationship with God and with one another. No evil, no suffering, no death. But then something terrible happened. Deceived by Satan, Adam and Eve disobeyed God, plunging the world into sin and death. God gave them permission to eat of any tree of the garden except for one, the tree of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. And he says in Genesis 2, 17, that the day you eat of it, you will surely die. And that's exactly what began to happen. The moment Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they introduced sin into the world, and with it rebellion, fracturing the entire created order and leaving death and destruction in their wake. From that moment on, sin alienated mankind from God, from one another, and from the created order, causing everything to descend into conflict and violence and evil and death. See, sin was a debt that Adam and Eve owed to God, and death was the payment. But God was merciful. Instead of putting Adam and Eve to death for their sins, he substituted an animal in their place, paying their debt and covering their shame with its skins. And then God does something surprising. He kicks Adam and Eve out of the garden. At first glance, this seems like it's a cruel punishment that he would send them away from his presence. But in reality, it was an act of divine love. You see, at the center of the garden was a tree, the tree of life. And if Adam and Eve were to take and eat of the tree of life, they would live forever in their corrupted, fallen condition, alienated from God and from one another forever. So in an act of love that was more painful than we could imagine, God graciously kicks them out of the garden. And Genesis 3.24 tells us that God stationed angels at the entrance of the garden with a flaming sword that turned back and forth every which direction, so that if they were tempted to go back to the garden, they could never eat of the tree of life and live forever. From that day forward, the angels served as what you could call a keep out sign, reminding Adam and Eve that though God made them to live with him, they couldn't enter his presence because of their sin. The rest of the Genesis account records humanity's slow descent into rebellion and ruin as Adam and Eve's descendants go from bad to worse. Generation after generation of Adam and Eve's descendants reject God, continuing to create order and disorder and chaos. The created order continues to unravel, and mankind finds itself plagued by suffering and evil. Thousands of generations passed, and God's people remained separated from him because of their sins. But God was merciful. In the midst of their sin, he refused to abandon them. Instead, the book of 1 Kings describes that he makes a way for them to be in relationship with him again, instituting the sacrificial system and the temple, where God's people could atone or pay for their sins at the sacrifice of an animal. But the temple wasn't random. The temple was intentional. You see, every aspect of the temple, from front to back and side to side, was designed to look exactly like the Garden of Eden. Everywhere you looked, there were palm trees and pomegranates and open flowers covered in gold with angels carved into every wall and stationed at the entrance to the holy place. And in the center of the temple was the Holy of Holies, the most holy place where God's presence would dwell among his people. Inside the Holy of Holies, you found the Ark of the Covenant, which represented God's throne on earth. There's a mercy seat where sacrifice was made to pay for sin, and golden angels situated on the mercy seat. And there was a huge linen curtain, several inches thick, called a veil, that stretched from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. And on it were massive warrior angels guarding the way to God. The curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. God's presence dwelled there in a special, consecrated way, just as it did in the Garden of Eden. And only the high priest could enter once a year on the Day of Atonement to pay the penalty for sin. He'd purify himself through ceremonial cleansing. He'd pass through the curtain into the holy, most holy place, and there he would pay for sin by sacrificing an animal. Like the angels in the garden, the curtain served in a very real and tangible way as a massive keep out sign, reminding his people that God was always near, but not accessible because of sin. Like the garden, it was the special place where God's presence dwelled with humanity. Like the garden, it was protected by angels who guarded the way to God. And like the garden, God was there, but no one could enter his presence except for the high priest. For thousands of years, the keep out curtain hung in the temple for everyone to see. Generations came and generations went, and day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, the keep out curtain continued to remind God's people that we were made to live with him, but our sin keeps us from entering his presence. But God was merciful. And when the fullness of time had come, he sent forth his son, Jesus Christ, to deal once for all for sin. For 33 years, Jesus walked this earth in perfect obedience to the Father, like us in every respect, but one. He was without sin and perfect in every way. His character, flawless. His obedience, perfect, his record, blameless. His purpose to bring us back to God. Throughout his ministry, Jesus proclaimed good news, revealing his identity as God's Son and teaching about the kingdom. Many believed in him, but there are those who hated him because they loved their sin more than they loved God. Betrayed by one of his own disciples, the authorities seized Jesus by night and led him away to be questioned by Caiaphas, the high priest. When he refused to recant of his testimony, the high priest had him sent to Pilate, the Roman governor, where he would stand trial. Finding no fault with him, Pilate attempted to set Jesus free, but the crowds shouted him down, demanding instead that he be crucified. So Pilate reluctantly handed Jesus over to death. The guards stripped him of his clothes, beat him mercilessly, and placed a crown of thorns on his head as they hurled insults at him in mockery. From there they marched him up a hill, carrying his own cross to be crucified between two criminals, and they nailed him there, the sinless Son of God, an innocent man condemned to die for sinners. The skies grew dark, the crowds grew quiet, and there he hung. And after three hours of intense darkness, Jesus cried out those last words, it is finished. And then something unexpected happened. The veil in the temple tore. The curtain that for centuries had kept God's people from his presence had served its purpose and it was no longer needed. The debt had been paid, sin had been atoned for. The way to God was open again because Jesus, our great high priest, made a sacrifice, not of bulls and goats, but of himself, our spotless lamb and perfect substitute. The Greek word for Jesus finished work is to telesti. It's a phrase that is often used in ancient times when a servant would finish his assigned duties. And what he meant by that was, the work that you have assigned to me is finished. There's nothing left to do. And throughout Jesus' earthly ministry, Jesus repeatedly stated that he had come to do the Father's will, predicting time and again that his mission would lead him here to the cross, where he would pay the penalty for sin once and for all. Which is exactly what he did. See, Jesus came to pay a debt he did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay. And that's why there's no more temple, no more curtain, and no more sacrifice. Because Jesus, our high priest, completed his earthly mission by making the ultimate sacrifice for us on the cross. And when Jesus says it is finished, that is what he's talking about. Now, in a moment, we're going to conclude our gathering with two hymns. But before we do that, I'd like to invite you to take a moment to reflect on the finished work of Christ with me. If you've never trusted in Jesus Christ for your salvation, you need to know that there remains a barrier between you and God. Your sin hangs over you like the curtain of the temple, keeping you from Him. And you need to know that Jesus paid your debt so that you could enter in and be with God. But you must receive and believe on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. If that's you this morning, this evening, as we consider the death of Jesus, would you take a few minutes to contemplate what Jesus did for you? Would you consider the sin that is keeping you from God? And would you receive Jesus' gracious invitation to come back to him? Contemplate your debt and contemplate what Jesus did to pay it. You're invited to know God. But you must trust Jesus to enter in. Likewise, if you have trusted Christ for your salvation, there's nothing, nothing that can keep you from God. Your debt has been paid. The curtain has been torn, and you are free to enter in now and forever. Nothing you have done or nothing you ever will do could keep you from God again. Your sin is atoned for, past, present, and future, because the work is finished and there's nothing left for you to do. And if that's you this evening, would you consider as we reflect on our time together what Jesus did for you, remembering what he did to bring you to God? And would you consider this evening the ways in which you still need to die to sin so that you could live to God in righteousness. That when we were dead in our sins and trespasses, Christ died for us. Thank you, Lord, that you looked on us from heaven. And though we owed a debt, you did not make us pay. But you sent your son Jesus Christ to pay the debt for us that we might go free. Lord, I pray for my friends tonight who do not yet know Jesus. As they consider what he accomplished on the cross, Lord, I pray that you would give them eyes to see their sin for what it is. A debt that must be paid. And I pray tonight that they would see Jesus for who he is, the great high priest who paid the debt for them. Lord, they hear your gracious invitation to enter into your presence through Jesus who has opened up a new and living way for us to draw near. Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ who have trusted Jesus for their salvation. Lord, I pray tonight that whatever sin weighs them down, whatever burden they carry, whatever wound has been inflicted upon them by the sins of others, Lord, tonight would they look to the cross and see it washed away. Lord, would they not see their debt any longer, but instead would they see the one who paid it all? Would they walk in freedom of forgiveness and newness of life? Would you let us be a people, Lord, who put our sins to death and live to Christ. That we would not live in sin any longer because it's been paid for and put to death. In Jesus' name. Amen.