Come to think of it No.6 Why call it Good Friday?

I'm going to play a song. Sometimes grace will betray, and this we praise and sing, Praise of thee, Father, they who turn us to their King. Then crucify Him, then rise and eat them by its flame, And care for these who suffer in your sight.

In death, Lord, pray, I pray, and walk with God. In life, I swear and sing, all stories to divine, Ever was, from death, King, ever was free. Now praise Him, my friend, because we praise Thine own King.

Sing number nine in songs of faith. Almighty God, we bring you praise. Almighty God, we thank you.

The reading is from the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 27, verses 45 to 55. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.

That is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. And the rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent. And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

Now when the centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. And many women were there, beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him. Amen.

And in their heart of sorrows, condemned to be and die, those each begotten, pious men of old, And teach me, save me, O teach me the value of your song. O teach me, all you heathen, that save me from the dark night of Judaism. O teach me that in the hour that sin hath died, yet still my love for Jesus I only have suffered.

O teach me, all you heathen, thy love beyond compare. Thy love will reach every people, and end all self despair. Yes, teach me till then, O Lord, in this world of mine.

Stop thee, O grave, reflection of that pure love of mine. O teach me, Lord, in the grace of every teaching, O teach me, and O teach me, for I need thee from this time. The King of all the sinners, the Lord, and the Saviour, and I. The King of all the sinners, the Lord, and the Saviour, and I. Let's have our Bibles open at the passage that was so feelingfully read to us.

That is from the Gospel of Matthew, and the verses which speak of the death of our Lord Jesus in the 27th chapter. These Sunday evenings I've been trying to get you to think things through with me. And by things I refer to topics that sometimes perhaps are a puzzle to people.

I believe that first of all the Word of God is directed to our minds. I believe the Lord looks upon us as intelligent beings. Our minds are gifts from God, and we have reasoning ability over and above that of any other animal in the animal kingdom.

And then from our minds our hearts are quickened, and our emotions are impassioned to serve the living God. Well, we're going to think. We're going to think through this evening and somewhat briefly on why we call the day on which Jesus died Good Friday.

Good Friday. Harold Wilson once went on record as saying that a week is a long time in politics. There was a film made some while ago which talked about the longest day.

And what I want to say is that from a biblical perspective a period of 24 hours can be exceedingly long. And given up to the chronicling of the events that surround the death of our Lord Jesus are really a disproportionate number of chapters in the Gospels, because the significance of those 24 hours and what happened in them is of such eternal consequence. So in the 27th chapter we read in the first verse about the time early in the morning.

And then as you move to the 45th verse, the time is set at the 6th hour of the day. And in the same verse the 9th hour of the day. And then in the 57th verse the evening approaches, taking us right to the 62nd verse when we spill over to the next day.

You see, it's a compression of what happened within those 24 hours that occupy the minds of Matthew and the rest of his colleagues who wrote the synoptic Gospels and also John who comes in with the fourth Gospel. As though during that period, those 24 hours, something of dynamic consequence took place. You know, I love old-fashioned hymns as well as the modern renderings of songs from the New and Old Testament.

And very often in the 17th and in the 18th centuries, favourite periods for me in history, the hymn writers would cause us to propel ourselves back as though we were actually there by the cross during these 24 hours, taking stock of what was happening. Not just the 17th and the 18th century hymn writers, but even those old negroes on the plantations in the southern states of the USA. They too would think of the bondage that they were under and it would help them to consider the bondage of our Lord Jesus.

And so in their spiritual they would sing, Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when the sun refused to shine? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord? That long day, so very important to the degree that Isaac Watts, not a negro spiritual writer, will nonetheless take up the same sentiments and in his native Southampton will pender him when I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died. See, says Watts, inviting us all as though we were there.

See from his head, his hands, his side, sorrow and love flow mingled down. And so he goes on, along with many another hymn writer, to underline the importance of this day, this awful day, this terrible day, this disastrous day, which is called in the Christian calendar, peculiarly enough, Good Friday. Now why? Why use such an adjective to describe the day? I'm not concerned about the exact date as Good Friday occurred in this year or next year.

But I am concerned about this seeming contradiction amongst Christian people in taking this day that they have earmarked as being the occasion when they celebrate the death of the founder of the faith. Why refer to it as good? Well, it was a day which saw events, the like of which never happened before. Joshua was a remarkable man, and on one occasion, at his command, the sun stopped.

And we are told that there has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a man. That's Joshua 10 and verse 14. And it was significant, of course, when that day was lost in the Hebrew calendar, but even that, miraculous though it was, seems to me pales into insignificance when you compare it with those 24 hours, the events of which, as I say, are detailed in this 27th chapter of Matthew's gospel.

During that period, there was an eclipse. At least that's how I understand what happened from the 6th hour to the 9th hour, when the sun should have been rather prominent in the heavens, darkness falls across the scene. And at the point where our Lord is crucified, where the darkness presumably is at the most intense, there comes out a cry that is the most awful cry that this world has ever known.

Jesus saying, My God, my God, why? Why have you forsaken me? Now within that cry is the significance of the day that marks it out as a time the like of which there had never been before. Because on that central cross, according to Peter in one of his opening sermons, dies one who is the author of life. And as our Savior hangs there, certain things flow as a consequence of the death that He endures.

You see, many men have died, and that's not the point of this particular verse. There is a tragedy when any man dies the death of a martyr. But the thing that makes this stand out as being utterly unusual, and indeed unique, is the fact that the one who dies is the one who brought the world into existence.

The mighty Maker dies for man. The creature sin. It's that that the gospel writer describes to us, the death of this most remarkable individual.

And within that cry that leaves his lips and is addressed towards the Father is an indication, is a fulfillment of all that Isaiah meant when he spoke about our Lord Jesus as being a man of grief, of griefs, and full of sorrows. You see, this cry that stabs into the darkness is a cry from a man who's been cut. He's been grieved before, of course.

He was grieved by the skepticism of Thomas, one of his disciples. He was grieved by the betrayal of Judas, but by the denial of Peter. But a man at the human level can cope with grief.

He can cope with the stabs that life plunges into his heart, provided he's got God to direct his attention to, and to ask for his help. But you see, in this cry, on that day the like of which there had never been before, it's God who creates the grief. My God, my God, why? Why have you forsaken me? Someone has said that in that cry there is a ruthless authenticity.

In other words, the truth of what happened is indicated by the remarkable nature of what is reported. Christians call this Good Friday because something happened which had never happened before. God died.

And for another reason, because occurring on that particular occasion was something that would never happen again. There's something final about this day. The world could hardly take another 24 hours akin to that one.

In the epistle of the Hebrews, the unknown author tells us in the ninth chapter and towards the end, certain things that are most important about the day that Jesus died. I come to the 26th verse, and halfway through it. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself, just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.

So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people, and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. There's a triplet, three words used in those two verses, which I think are of utter importance. Once, once, once.

The day that Christians call good is a day the like of which there never had been before, and there never will be again. Jesus Christ will not take that cross up Calvary's skull-shaped hill and ever suffer the pain and the torment of crucifixion. The Lord Jesus will never have to repeat.

History often repeats itself. We're just coming up in America to the razamataz of further presidential elections. Looking from the dull eyes of a Britisher, it always seems to me a bit samey, the same old thing, the same old performance.

You change the character, but the context is more or less identical to what you had three or four years ago. But this will never be recycled. The day that Jesus died will know no repetition.

And so from that cry that leaves his lips, we discover something that will never, never be repeated. The relationship between the second person of the Trinity and the first, the Father and the Son, has been fractured. That's pretty obvious, is it not? Inasmuch as our Lord Jesus cries out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He never normally uses that terminology.

The thing that stands out paramountly about the ministry of Jesus when he refers to the first person of the Trinity is that he calls God his Father. But from the depths of the darkness, as our Lord sinks lower and lower and according to the creed, descends into hell, a voice comes through, a voice is heard, in which we realize that though the relationship between the Son and the Father has been impaired in degree, although it's been blurred and chipped, it's not completely broken, for our Lord Jesus Christ, as he sinks lower and lower, still reaches out to the throne of God in heaven. Our Savior, unaccepted on earth and unaccepted in hell, nonetheless places his hand on the steps of the throne and it's there and solid and causes no embarrassment to the Father whatsoever.

A cry comes from hell itself to the Father and the cry is not rejected. When Adam sinned, God came looking for him. When the Lord Jesus Christ died for the world, he went searching for the Father.

My God, my God, that will never have to occur again because the relationship will never be fractured in part at all. Some years ago, I was traveling through Germany and I visited the concentration camp of Dachau. I've referred to the experience on several occasions from this pulpit because it's something that sticks on, that lives in my mind.

And in the chambers where they used to gas the Jewish people, as I went, I saw them not only garlanded with flowers, but in the French language and the German language and the English language was expressed the concept that this will never be repeated, ne jamais, never again. And when you consider this day, the like of which there never had been before, you can also read across it, ne jamais, never again. Once, in the end of time, has Jesus appeared to put away sin forever.

And even when the darkness engulfed the scene and it seemed as though the whole situation was utterly helpless, our Lord reaches out to the Father and he cries, My God, why have you forsaken me? But finally, this day, of which there had never been one before and there will never be one again, is a day that's changed every other day. It's a day that changes every other day. That, you see, my friend, is why it's called Good Friday.

Good Friday really is a derivative. It comes from God's Friday. You can never really understand John 3, verse 16 unless you line it up with Matthew 27 and verse 46.

The former says, God so loved the world that he gave. The latter indicates the measure of his love and the great cost that it was. Jesus separated from the Father, the Father giving with such a capacity for love for the world.

God's Friday. When God the Father brought to the finale the plan that he had conceived ages before as to how you and I would be reconciled to him. For that's why Jesus died.

Was it for crimes that he had done? Newton asks. He hung upon the tree. Nay, it was his own undying love and grace beyond degree.

But that love that Jesus has is a love that originates in the heart of the Father. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Explain that if you can because I can't.

But this I do know that the world can never be the same. Since that day, the beneficial consequences flow into the following week, the following month, the following year, the following century and will continue right till the end of time. The benefits of that great day when God the Father gave God the Son as a ransom for the sins of the world and the blessings of his shed blood are applied by God the Holy Spirit to the hearts of all who will receive what the Christ has done.

What a wonderful change in my life has been brought since Jesus came into my heart. We used to sing that in my home city when I was a lad. It's a good song.

I'm sorry it didn't make hymns of faith but they seem to have abolished most of the hymns with choruses apart from one or two that got through the censorship. But what you could say is this, that a wonderful change came into the world the day when Jesus died on the cross of Calvary. And that, you see, is why it is so good.

God demonstrated through the Lord Jesus his love towards you and me. You know, one of the grandest songs that we have in songs of fellowship speaks about the overwhelming love of the Father God. Father, your love is precious beyond all loves.

Father, your love overwhelms me. And you see, the consequence of that day, that great day that we call Good Friday, is this, that the Father has made it possible for your recreation. It all surrounds that day.

You see, the world was brought into existence through the creative will of the second person of the Trinity. He spoke eons ago and the universe and the galaxies were formed. Now, it is a great theologian of about the 3rd or the 4th century that had this to say, what it took God to create, it would take God to recreate.

And don't you see that's the reason why he dies on the cross? Because the Son releases into this world the rejuvenating power that is necessary for you and me to be born again. If any man being Christ, he is a new creation. But where does the power come from? It comes from the shed blood of the Lord Jesus.

The broken body of our Saviour. It flows on, you see, from that day. And it meets us.

And it meets us as a sort of avalanche of love. As the Father and the Son and the Spirit combine to share with us the benefits of the cross. How do you cope with love? Love is not a sentimental slushy thing.

Love is the most powerful force in the universe. Listen to this. I pluck it from a letter which was sent me from aboard the O.M. ship Logos.

It just hit my office last week. It speaks about the O.M.'s, the ship's ministry in Montreal, in Canada. And we're told that in Montreal there are 15,000 people who live on the streets.

That is, they have no home. And references made to Ken and Ben. I read, Ken and Ben are two of 15,000 who live on the streets of Montreal.

Both men spend the entire day drinking. They live in doorways and in winter in the metro, the underground. Both have wandered for years.

Ken's favourite park bench is just outside the O.M. conference centre. He enjoyed a steady stream of O.M. young people. At first he argued.

Later he listened. Robert the cook fed and bathed him. Another cut his hair.

Another washed it. Ben, who received similar treatment, soon received God's forgiveness in Christ. He immediately ceased to curse.

Ken, though softened, has not yet come over. The ship, Lagos, has departed. Ken, visibly moved, said, I can understand hatred, but I cannot understand, nor can I handle love.

That's how I feel as I survey the cross. God Almighty, I could understand you hating me. You see, for me, I don't have the problem of liberal theologians.

The wrath of God to me is a logical consequence of the nature of God. I can understand God the judge. And I can understand God applying a just judgment to me and to my case.

But what buckles me is His love. That I can't comprehend. That I can only accept.

That I can only respond to with my emotions because my intellect cannot contain it. And this, don't you see, my friend, all follows as a consequence of that greatest day of all. A day the like of which there never was before and there never will be again.

A day which has as one of its blessings your recreation. And a day which allows the Christian community that has been formed through the recreative work of the gospel of Christ, not to be doer and miserable, but to enter into such an experience of life that they have a quality of existence on this earth that no other community have. And it's the Father who features.

Note that. Some who perhaps are very conservative in their understanding of Christian experience and worship. It's the Father who features strongly in the story of the prodigal son who when the son comes back to the home country is so elated that he causes a party to be held and there's celebration.

For why? Well, this my son was lost and he's found. He was dead, but he's alive again. This is a time to rejoice.

And it's the Father who instigates the celebration. So you see, in a very special way, the ancients were right in calling it God's Friday. Good Friday.

If a week for Wilson was a long time in politics, how much infinitely longer seemed to be those 24 hours in terms of the consequence, the effect that they've had upon the likes of you and me. But you can only really understand the logic of calling it Good Friday if you've bought up the benefits of the death of Jesus. Let me repeat an illustration.

And with this I'm through. It's of an art gallery. And there's a certain masterpiece being displayed.

It's beyond price. That there are artists who have sent their pictures in who are geniuses is beyond question. At the end of the tour of the gallery, one visitor said to the attendant on duty, Well, I don't think much of your old pictures.

The attendant said, Sir, I would remind you that these pictures are no longer on trial. But those who look at them are, when I survey, the wondrous cross. You see, Watts and the Negro spiritual writer, they respond to God's masterpiece.

And in their response, they judge themselves. Watts and the Negro Christians, they understood Good Friday. Do you? Let's sing.

120 in Songs of Fellowship coming up on the overheads. From heaven you came, helpless babe, and to thy world your glory veiled. This is our God, the Servant King.

From heaven you came, helpless babe, and to thy world your glory veiled. Not to be served as you serve. And in your life that we might live, This is our God, the Servant King.

He calls us now to follow Him. To bring our lives, to live the offering of worship to the Servant King. My heavy load He chose to bear, His darkest sorrows to bear.

And not my will, but God's His plan. This is our God, the Servant King. He calls us now to follow Him.

To bring our lives, to live the offering...