Good Friday
Jack kicked off our Holy Week this past Sunday by preaching on the King and His Kingdom. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday 2000 years ago, the Jewish people eagerly expected their King to come with military and political might, driving their evil Roman oppressors from their land and crushing all of the bad guys, giving them freedom and liberation at last.
Everyone expected Jesus to come with a sword, riding on a majestic warhorse like the kings of old, like His ancestor David, who violently beat back Israel's enemies. But Jesus comes on a donkey, with no sword. Indeed, when Jesus’ enemies arrest him, and one of His disciples tries to fight back, Jesus rebukes him and commands him to put away His sword.
And Jesus turns to His enemies and says, “…this is your hour—when darkness reigns." And that’s the last words Jesus’ disciples hear before He is led off into the night to a sham trial, beatings, torture, and eventual execution.
It was so confusing to the disciples. They were ready to fight against the Romans for freedom. But Jesus surrenders to the bad guys without resistance, and in terror, confusion, and despair, they all flee into the night, abandoning their captured King, surely wondering, “What was even the point?”
Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, welcome to the upside-down Kingdom of Jesus, where things are never what we expect and never what they seem.
So what was the point, anyway? Some suggest that the cross was an accident. Modern liberal theologians say that Jesus was a good Man, but he never intended things to play out as they did, and things just spun out of control to the point where Jesus found himself a victim of horrible circumstances.
If that’s true, then the reign of darkness that Jesus speaks of continues to this day without hope.
But the apostle John was actually there the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested; he was one of those confused, terrified, and despairing disciples running for his life.
And years after that fateful night, John, with the clarity that only comes with hindsight and Holy Spirit-inspired wisdom, looks back on the life and death of Jesus and comes to a very different conclusion than 21st-century skeptics.
In 1 John 3:8, John gives us what is essentially the mission statement of Jesus’ incarnation.
Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8
This text sums up the whole point of what Jesus did and why He did it.
In one verse, John sums up an ancient Rebellion, glorious invasion, and a crushing victory.
An Ancient Rebellion
John says Jesus came to destroy the Devil’s works. Which begs the question: What are the works of the devil?
Well, John tells us that the devil has been sinning from the beginning. Now, that phrase “from the beginning” appears in another book that John wrote, which we call the Gospel of John.
Where we find Jesus arguing with opponents who seek to justify themselves through their physical descent from Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation.
They figured that as long as they belonged to the right physical family, they had the inside track with God. But
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”
John 8:39-41
But His enemies keep insisting that God is their father, and notice Jesus’ response.
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:42-44
Jesus is essentially saying sons resemble their fathers. You’re not resembling God. You have murderous hatred in your hearts because the devil is your true father, and he has been a murderer from the beginning.
So both 1 John and the Gospel of John talk about the sinful activity and the murderous activity of Satan “from the beginning.” At the dawn of humanity, when the devil enticed Adam and Eve to join him in sinning, to join him in treasonous rebellion against God. And because the devil is a liar, he convinces them that God is not good, that they will find a better life independent of God.
Adam and Eve take the bait. They sin, and they die! They experience immediate spiritual death…, separation from God and slavery to Sin, while being willful accomplices in that slavery, loving sin and wanting to do it, because their nature became corrupted.
And the corrupting presence of sin also begins the process of bodily decay. Aging, sickness, and, eventually, the grave. And in this way the devil murdered them. He was a murderer from the beginning.
And the sinful hearts of Adam and Eve were passed on to their children.
And therefore all of the descendants of Adam, all of us, have followed in the footsteps of our forefather, joining with the devil in the rebellion against God. Like Adam, we bought the same lie and experienced the same consequence. And in this way, the devil has murdered all of humanity. This is why Ephesians 2 describes mankind as dead.
Now that backdrop is helpful when we read 1 John 3:8. The work that Jesus has come to destroy is the devil’s ongoing murderous work of enticing people into rebellion against God. Look at what John says at the beginning of verse 8
Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil.
1 John 3:8
In other words, those who continue rebelling against God are not children of God but children of the devil, just like those opponents of Jesus in John 8. So, anyone who calls themselves religious who claims to be a “good person” but isn’t really loving and living for Christ demonstrates who their spiritual father really is.
And this is the default position for all of humanity, with hearts bent towards rebellion against God; indeed, the Bible goes as far as to say that all mankind stands as enemies against God.
And if that’s true, we’re all dead, we’ve all been murdered, and that’s the essence of the evil work that the devil has been doing from the beginning. It all started with an Ancient Rebellion, but that leads to…
A Glorious Invasion
Immediately after Adam plunges the human race into darkness. God turns to the serpent, the devil, and tells him that an offspring, a son, will come and…
“…he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:15
That’s not just prophecy, it’s a declaration of war. And a proclamation of future victory for this coming son. And thousands of years later, John writes that…
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8
Christ didn’t come mainly to teach us ethical principles or be a good example. He instead came as an invading warrior on a seek-and-destroy, skull-crushing mission, which also turns out to be a rescue mission.
God the Father, speaking of Christ, says…
…I will give you as…a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.
Isaiah 42:6–7
The image depicts a warrior-hero with a sword in one hand and a torch in the other, invading the enemy stronghold, kicking down doors, and leading prisoners out of the bondage of darkness into the freedom of light.
And so Jesus, the light of the world, came. He appeared to release spiritually dead men and women from slavery to sin and Satan.
Jesus comes to reverse that death to reverse the murder the devil committed and to give dead people new life by causing them to be born again, transforming them into new people.
Right after John says that the Son of God appeared to destroy the devil’s work, John writes,
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
1 John 3:9
When Jesus saves a sinner, their heart becomes a new heart that once loved sin, and Satan’s ways are now awakened to the beauty of Christ and God’s ways. Fists that were lifted in defiance against God are now open hands lifted in praise to God, the one who was in bondage to unbelief, now believes. He isn’t perfect…but he’s now going in a new direction, a new trajectory.
And even when the believer sins, he feels convicted and desires to change and grow, and why? Look at the end of v.9. Because he has been born of God.
And so the coming of Jesus is an aggressive invasion meant to bring back from captivity those held in bondage to the kingdom of darkness, conquering the hearts of former rebels who colluded with the devil, turning our hearts back towards God.
But of course, to do that, Jesus first has a skull to crush.
So we have an Ancient Rebellion, a glorious Invasion, and….
A Crushing Victory
In verse 5, John gives us another way that Jesus destroys the devil’s work…
….he appeared in order to take away sins…
1 John 3:5
The primary mission objective in Jesus’ invasion was to eliminate the devil’s work by eliminating sins, which is important because if Jesus’ mission is simply to make you a better version of yourself, then the mission is a total failure!
Because we don’t need to simply be better people, we need to be forgiven people, a reconciled people reconciled to God. Otherwise, we’re still at odds with God, the devil murders us, and he wins.
And this is where the story takes a twist. Jesus often spoke of going to Jerusalem, where he would suffer and be killed, and His disciples thought that was crazy. They insisted this would never happen to Jesus.
He was, after all, the King! Kings conquer, Kings crush the enemy! Hence, all of the excitement from all of the people when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday…
And Jesus was indeed coming as a King to conquer and destroy the enemy and bring deliverance, but it was not the kind of deliverance they wanted or expected; it was the kind of deliverance they needed
King Jesus came to wage war not against Rome but against the devil, and the way Jesus wins is unlike any other war ever fought. Jesus crushes the devil by being crushed…
Friends, as much as we love Christmas, we should love Good Friday even more! Because Good Friday is the point of Christmas! While Bethlehem was the beachhead of the invasion to destroy the devil’s work, the final battlefield where the decisive victory was won was at Golgotha, also known as the place of the skull, where Jesus would wage war against the enemy, not bearing a sword but carrying a cross.
It’s not what anyone would have thought; it’s shocking, it’s amazing. It’s the upside-down Kingdom of Jesus.
In the next chapter, John writes…
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:10
Propitiation means the removal of God’s wrath against sinners by the death of Jesus. Now, you need to understand something.
Jesus came into the world because God was angry with you, which might offend you, but we need to understand that our sin has offended and angered God.
And
…the wages of sin is death
Romans 6:23
And that death is climaxed in Hell, where the fullness of God’s anger, God’s wrath… towards sin is poured out. It’s eternal punishment and permanent separation from the enjoyment of God’s presence because He is holy, and He can never rightly leave any sin unpunished.
The devil knows this. That’s why he enticed Adam to sin. It’s why he continues to entice. It’s a way of murdering people. He’s going to Hell, and he wants you to join him there. As long as we remain guilty of sin, Hell is guaranteed, and the devil, like a prosecuting attorney, constantly accuses people of sin, which he loves to accuse because those accusations are the key that unlocks the door to the gates of Hell for mankind.
The crowds on Palm Sunday were cheering for Jesus as the rightful king. They were deKingate for His deliverance, and they were waving those palm branches in patriotic defiance of Rome. They were ready for Christ to take His rightful place as ruler, and they wanted Him to immediately bring the fullness of justice to bear. Rounding up and executing all of the bad guys.
But if Jesus were to do that, if Jesus were to give them what they wanted, it would not have just been the Romans destroyed on that day.
The happy cheers of those patriotic Jews would have turned to screams of terror, for ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. We are ALL the bad guys, we are ALL guilty of treason against the King.
But the goodKings of Good Friday is that Jesus came into the world not to judge and condemn the world, but to be a propitiation.
When he died on the cross, the sin of sinners was placed on him, and the anger that God has towards sin and sinners was not poured out on us but turned towards His Son, who became the substitute for sinners.
And with the wrath of God satisfied, justice has been done, and that’s exactly why God can freely forgive anyone who would turn from their treasonous ways and by faith receive Jesus’ propitiatory work on the cross.
And it is in this way that Jesus conquers the enemy! It is in this way that the coming of Jesus brought for His people both deliverance AND justice. Yes, as that ancient prophecy said, the son’s heel would be struck… the offspring would be wounded, that’s the cross. But as that serpent is biting the son’s heel… that foot is crushing the serpent’s skull into the dust, and the battle is won.
Since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
Hebrews 2:14–15
Jesus defeated the devil by taking away his biggest weapon against you, which is his constant accusations. The serpent is now defanged. Because if you’re trusting in Christ, then the devil’s case against you is thrown out of court because the price for your sins has already been fully paid by Jesus, and so God’s verdict for you is “not guilty.”
And you, who were dead in your trespasses…God made alive…having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Colossians 2:13–15
And so it turns out that Jesus was not some poor victim on the cross whose enemies got the best of Him. Instead, on the cross, Jesus checkmates the enemy. The witnesses to His execution had no clue, but Jesus knew, which is why His final words from the cross were not “I am finished,” But “It is finished!”
It wasn’t a cry of despair…but a shout of triumph! He came, He saw, He conquered. And He died. It’s the upside-down kingdom of Jesus, where things are never what we expect, and things are never what they seem.
Now, one might ask, “Why would God do this if we were so awful towards Him, if we didn’t love Him or honor Him. I thought you said, Demer, that God was angry with us. He was.”
That’s true, but don’t forget what John wrote.
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:10
God was angry with us, but God also loved us. He gave up His Son to death to pay for our sins, so that He would not be angry with you anymore. I love the words from that great song that we’re about to sing in a few minutes: “and on that cross where Jesus died, the wrath of God is satisfied. For every sin on Him was laid. Here in the death of Christ I live.”
The warfare of Good Friday, which conquered the devil, also secured peace between God and man so that all who trust in Him can enjoy fellowship with God now and in eternity.
Notice I said all who trust in Him. The good work that Jesus did on Good Friday only benefits those who repent of their rebellion against God, lay down their weapons, and raise the white flag of surrender to the King. To refuse Him is to Kingse His payment for sin; you will pay for it forever.
And so… If you have not received the Lord Jesus Christ, could there be a better moment than now to do that?? On Good Friday… as we observe and remember the death of Christ… why not receive what He came here to do in the first place? His gift of salvation is free because He has already paid the price. So turn from your sins, trust in Jesus, follow Him, and know peace with God because the war has been won. Let’s pray.
