GOOD FRIDAY SPECIAL "The Man on the Middle Cross Said I Could Come"

We walk through the story and glory of Easter, from Palm Sunday expectations to the cross, to the hope of the empty tomb. We come back to one breathtaking truth: we are saved by what Jesus has done, not by what we can prove, earn, or explain.
• Palm Sunday and the triumphal entry into Jerusalem
• the crowd’s shifting expectations from “Hosanna” to “Crucify Him”
• the thief on the cross as a picture of salvation by grace through faith
• why the foundation of our faith is Christ’s work, not our works
• a Good Friday prayer breakfast and the Alistair Begg “middle cross” clip
• a personal moment with Wayne Grudem and the power of simple gospel clarity
• the central question of Easter and the evidence of the resurrection

If you found any of what you heard today helpful, please share it with others who may benefit. And if you would like to support the content that we put out, please consider making a donation at reallifeministry.us.

Transcript

Welcome And Why This Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Real Life Ministry, where we are dedicated to teaching and encouraging Christians to live free and live strong. Your host today is Ryan Rice, a Bible teacher, a pastor, entrepreneur, and a writer. Join us as we dive into various topics and how they relate to faith, values, and making a positive impact in America. Let's dive into it.

Event Invite On Israel And Iran

Palm Sunday And The Crowd Turns

The Thief On The Cross

Prayer Breakfast And A Setup

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Alrighty, guys. Welcome back to another episode of Real Life Ministry. It is Good Friday. So I'm dropping this podcast to you quick. I'm recording it on Good Friday, posting it on Good Friday. And before we get started today, um, for well, let me just say where we're gonna go in this podcast. I just want to use this podcast to encourage believers through this kind of Good Friday Easter season. If you're joining us for the first time, welcome. So glad that you've joined us. Um Ryan Rice here serving as a lead pastor of North Valley Church, founder of North Valley, founder of real life ministry as well, dedicated to live free and live strong. So we're gonna unpack some of the story and glory of Easter, uh, specifically the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the resurrection, and some of my thoughts on from Monday, from Palm Sunday, um Monday, Thursday, Good Friday, and then into Easter Sunday. So before we do, though, I want to I've got a dog in the background shaking his neck. Um I want to share with you a little bit about this event I've got coming up. Uh it is live, you can check it out, at real lifeministry.us. It is a special event called Think Biblical About the Geopolitical, equipping believers to put the Bible first in matters of Israel, Iran, and America's future, grounded in scripture, not headlines. And so this is an event, it's a call to clarity in a world of cultural confusion, political chaos. Christians need clarity. This isn't an event about partisan talking points, it's about eternal truth, God's word applied to complex geopolitical moment we are in. It's designed to help you to think biblically before you think politically, to apply scripture to Israel, Iran, America's future, and then respond with faith versus fear, and to live courageously as Christ's followers. So Dr. Daryl Del Hussey will be there, Chancellor of Phoenix Seminary. I just saw him this morning. Pastor Emeritus has got still Bible, um, over 50 years of pastoral ministry, renowned pastor, theologian, author dedicated to Bible exposition. Then you got Lieutenant Colonel Alan West as well, former U.S. Congressman, um, a combat veteran, Christian, constitutional conservative, served 22 years in the U.S. Army and represented Florida's 22nd district in Congress. He is a Republican U.S. congressman from Texas. Looking forward to having him. And then I'll be a part. And we're going to be launching my book, Think Biblical About the Geopolitical. And the goal would be is that attendees would be able to get an advanced copy uh when they buy buy one on the pre-order link. Uh that's going to be coming soon. Uh, and when you show your proof of purchase, you purchase one for a friend, and then I'll give you a copy before you leave. So that's the hope. That is the heart. That is May 2nd, and you can go register for that event. It's spots are limited, real lifeministry.us. Real life ministry.us. It's May 2nd here in Phoenix. We'll North Valley will be hosting it. It's going to be a great event. So hope hope that you can join us. Okay. Um, gosh, let's talk about some other stuff. Let's talk about Good Friday. Um, but backing up, I taught a message on Palm Sunday just about the glory and the triumph of Jesus coming into Jerusalem. Uh it was quite a scene. I mean, he rides into the east gate. Uh, the Romans are sitting, standing perhaps in the Antonio fortress, overlooking kind of what's going on. Jesus rolls in with this entourage of uh dusty disciples, and people are shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. It is uh the city has swelled um to perhaps um over a million, according to Josephus, a Jewish historian. And there's real hopes that Jesus is gonna be the deliverer. That was last Sunday that we celebrated that. They're waving palm branches. The palm branch was a a national uh identity of of Israel. It was a symbol uh for them in many ways. Uh, they are wanting a deliverer. They are they are in the the seasonal mood of thanking God for their liberation. And um that is remembering their deliverance out of Egypt from Pharaoh. And so crowds have formed, they're chanting to the Romans. This looks like a power parody. Um they don't get it. They they would expect maybe a general to ride into town on a white war horse, and here Jesus is on a on a donkey, and they don't have uh they're not coming with all the pomp and the glory uh and the plunders of conquering uh their enemy with gold or uh slaves or imprisoned enemies on a chain, but they come with a bunch of dusty disciples. And so to the Romans, they don't look like a significant threat. The only thing that might be threat would be that of the size of the crowds. But to the Jewish people, it's very confusing because, well, they're they've known about the mighty works that Jesus have done. Luke's gospel tells us that. That they're actually giving praise to Jesus for all the mighty works that he's done, calling him king, too, acknowledging him as a as a king. They want Jesus to be the king, the one who can overthrow uh the powers of Rome and build the temple back up to that of its former glory. But Jesus didn't come like that. And so here's this crowd on Sunday crying out Hosanna, God, which literally means God save us. And then five days later, they're gonna be chanting crucify him. And I'm just thinking, man, how the crowd shifted and how they changed. And there is such a an interesting um just shift, and it shows the sinfulness of man. And this morning, here I am on my front porch, just about ready to get going to this special prayer breakfast for Phoenix Seminary and um Talbot Seminary. They're at the time of this recording, um, they are in works and plan to merge, or Phoenix Seminary will become Talbot Seminary Southwest or Eric Phoenix. And so I'm getting ready to go to this special event, and I'll come back to that a little bit later. Um, and I crack open my Bible and I just read. I read about the thief on the cross. The Bible tells us Jesus is crucified, the Jews have had enough of him. Um as you recall back, if you were listened to the last podcast when everybody's praising Jesus, the teachers, the religious leaders tell them to be quiet, and Jesus says, I'm not gonna tell them to be quiet and stop praising me. Uh, because if they were silent, the rocks would cry out. And so they have accused him of blasphemy, they've accused him of all sorts of things that he's spoken against the law of Moses, the temple, and um claiming to be God, and that's not enough for the Romans, so they say he's calling himself king, and there's no king but Caesar. So it is the Jews and the Gentiles that have Jesus put to death. So he goes to the cross, and here I am reading this morning about this significant event about um Good Friday, and I'm reading about this unbelievable um scene where there's three guys up on the hill uh of Calvary. Uh it is um one g they're they're they're criminals, rightly two guys rightly charged and justly charged for their crimes and will be put to death. One guy starts mocking, and the next starts asking questions, and he realizes that Jesus is the Son of God, and in his last little moments uh he wants to be uh he wants to be made right, and so it's this powerful scene, and then Jesus, in a sense, whatever happens on that cross, there's some dialogue there. Um one guy mocks him, the next guy acknowledges his wrongdoing and believes Jesus to be the Son of God, and he asks him, Will you remember me uh in your future kingdom? And Jesus tells him on that in that moment today, I'll see you, my friend, in paradise. So I read that, and then I go, I'm like, that's just powerful, so powerful, so good. Like the the foundation of our faith is not what we have done, it's what Christ has done. And the good news of the gospel is God Almighty comes to mankind to save and to redeem. So cool, so so so wonderful. And that we have a savior, that Jesus Christ comes for us, and it's not by our works, it's by his work. So I go to this event this morning, jump in the truck uh with Stephen, a guy from our church. He's a Phoenix Seminary student. Uh, meets me early in the morning. We jump in the truck, head down to the Biltmore beautiful of historic Frank Lloyd Wright hotel. Head up to this, you know, it's like a fundraiser slash kind of like vision moment. And I think they do it pretty often every year, uh Good Friday. And so it's like a prayer breakfast and whatnot. And so here we are in this time frame, and you know, um, Del Husey is there, uh president, former president of Phoenix Seminary, Pastor Emeritus, Scottsdale Bible, mentor, wise advisor to me, friend of mine. He's the godfather of the Phoenix Valley. He's there. Um I'm friends with him, grateful for him. He's just such a great guy. He's gonna be speaking at our event. He he speaks. Ed Stetzer is there. Um, Stetzer's written a number of books, he's worked for Moody uh Bible Church, he's worked for, I think, Wheaton College, he's been the president of Life Wave Research, and on and on and on. He's got a long resume. So he's there, he's got a significant role within Talbot Theological Seminary. So he's a keynote speaker. It's all great. And then there was just like this moment where um a couple of worship leaders started doing this song, and it was just this really cool song, and it was actually inspired uh about the this video I'm about to play for you of Alistair Begg describing the foundation of our faith is by grace, not by works, and he describes this man in the middle of the three people that were crucified on the cross. So you have Jesus in the middle, you have a sinner on the left, and a sinner on the right, and then you've got the savior in the middle. And so I'm gonna play for you the clip and just tell you a little bit more about the story. So here it is. Uh you maybe you saw it on YouTube, but the song that they were singing this morning was actually kind of a response to that clip. So here it is.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

I have faith because I am this, because I am continuing. Loved ones, the only proper answers in the third person because he, because he think about the thief on the cross. I can't wait to find that fellow one day to ask him. How did that work out for you? Because you were you were you were you're not your friend. You've never been in a biblical study, you've never got that judge membership. What are you doing here? Just a few questions for you. First of all, what are you are you are you are you clear of the doctor of justification by my life? What about let's just go to the doctor of structure? And as soon as you go there, it will lead you either to project disparities or a horrible kind of advantage of support. It is only the process of pride of support that deals with the dreadful depths of the suspicion and the potential arrogance of the pride of man that says you know, I can figure this out and I'm doing wonderfully well. No, because the save of God's soul. It's trying to free. That's why you're saying most of your personal life is outside of you. But we know that we're not saved by good work. We're not saved as a result of our professional. We're saved as a result of our dude.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

That is so good. I I just wanted to try to play that one last part.

SPEAKER_03 17:43

Well, I because I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Listen to this.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

So wait, just a few questions for you. First of all, are you are you are you are you on the doctor of justification for the question? I've never heard of it in my life. What about let's just go to the doctor of the structure of the case? On what basis are you? The man on the middle problem.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

That is so good.

unknown 18:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

I don't know, man. What what makes this so special is that it's like God had set up this day for me in just personally my relationship. I'm just sharing with you like what happened with me. I woke up this morning, I just thought I gotta get in the word. I got in the word, I read that passage, and I go to that breakfast, and then in the room are some incredibly significant men. Del Husey, the guy was used by God to confirm my calling to come plant a church in Phoenix. He was there. Got to give him a big hug, get a photo with him. Another guy, Dr. Wayne Grutum, uh, he was there. And God used him powerfully in my life. I I studied his theology um as a new believer. God used him. I I my early connection with Scottsdale Bible uh in coming into the Phoenix Valley and just God used that man tremendously. It was like unbelievable cool stories. And one of the special things that what happened was in my introduction, I was at Scottsdale Bible. Uh they were introducing me to the congregation. This is 13 something years ago, and they uh I I know that there is uh a famous theologian in the church, Dr. Wayne Grudum. And so I say to a prayer, this is based on a sermon Pastor Jamie Rasmussen had preached, pray and ask the Lord for the simple things. So I say to the Lord, Lord, would you send Dr. Wayne Grudom to me because I'm stuck in the sanctuary and all the services, and I'd really love to meet this man if he is truly here. Uh he impacted my life through his writings. And uh in between services, one of the services, here comes this short guy and bald, and he walks into the foyer and says, Are you Ryan Rice? Somebody told me I had to meet you, and I was impressed by the Holy Spirit. I had to come meet you. And I literally just wept because I said, Dr. Grudem, I just prayed for you that we might meet. And he smiled real big and said, I'm here, how can I help? And he has been a friend for the last 13 years. Um, I don't see him very often. Uh maybe a hand maybe a handful of times, two handfuls of times in the last 13 years. He's been on this podcast, and uh probably one of the greatest theologians, I think America's greatest theologian of this century. Uh so the last hundred years. He's just been unbelievable. He's helped me in so many different ways, and uh, he asked how he could help, and I told him my wife needed a connection point, and he said, That's funny, my wife offers a fellowship small group for church planters, why? She can join us, and I was like, Oh my goodness, could not believe it. And for a decade, my wife was a part of that. So, anyway, you're thinking, where are you going with this? So, I'm going to tell you something. This is a very special moment. What happened? So, I'm at this event this morning, Phoenix Seminaries breakfast, prayer breakfast. I meet Ed Stetzer again. I've met him several different times, connected with Del Huse, and then I met with Grutom just for a few minutes. Just said thank you. I asked if he could help me on the endorsement for the book. He gave me advice, and uh he's been a big help in so many different ways. Um is struggling with Parkinson's disease. I don't know if you knew that or not, but Parkinson's is a pretty tough disease. It it can change, it can impact the body in so many different ways, but it is a it is a crippling disease, oftentimes physically, uh, where you lose bodily control um of your hands. It's where people shake or they can't walk correctly, or they it's just exhausting. And there's muscle tensions and pain in it, and it's sleepless nights, and there's so many other things that are associated with that. But his mental faculty has been sharp over the years, um, but it's physically affected him. And I saw him today, and I've got a picture I'm gonna post on Instagram to kind of debut this podcast. And he I he came up to me afterwards, or I let's just say I came to him, but he was open to see me and walked up right up to me, and we had already connected pre-kind of keynote speaker, and then after the keynote speaker, and after it was over, he kind of walked back into the room. We made eye contact, and I came close to him and just encouraged him again and said, Thank you for all of you know his ministry. And he says to me, Ryan, I want to ask you a question, and I'm like, Yeah. And mind you, he's got Parkinson's Parkinson's, and it's somewhat advanced. I don't know how advanced it is. Um, but he says to me, in a very humble, this is characteristic of Grudom, he said that song that those guys were singing, he said, I hesitate to ask you this, but I do want to know. He said, I was trying to understand some of the words and what they were singing, but were were they talking about the man on the metal cross being Jesus? And that, of course, he he was just trying to clarify the song lyrics, and he wasn't aware of this, I guess, Alistair Begg video. But he says, and then are is he telling the story? Was he telling the story of the man on the middle cross was went to heaven with the conversation being when asked, you know, how did you get in? His response was the man on in the middle cross. And I said, Yes, Dr. Grudom, that's exactly what the song was about. And he just buckled with tears. And I put my hand on his shoulder and I wept with him over the goodness and the power and the grace of God that our salvation is not by anything we have done, it's simply the grace of God, and that is a message that doesn't get old. And here is a man who is a saint, a scholar, a massive theologian, and he is utterly overwhelmed. And he he wept with me, I wept with him with tears of joy about understanding and seeing that we serve such a great God that forgives us of our sins and admits us into eternal life and salvation, not because of something that we have done, but because what of Christ has done. And he said, but I did. And uh and I'll never forget that. It was so special. It's like he didn't want to miss the moment, his wife wasn't there. I don't know why she wasn't there, I don't know what was going on, but he didn't want to miss the moment and the power and the magnitude of that song. And, you know, it wasn't easy to understand every lyric. I mean, theologically, this guy's as sharp as you can get, but he was just trying to process the song, and the song came from this clip.

SPEAKER_03 28:14

Are you are you uh are you are you clear on the doctrine of justification for the first time? I've never heard of it in my life. And what about let us just go to the doctrine of justice?

SPEAKER_02 28:27

The doctrine of scripture.

SPEAKER_03 28:28

And eventually in frustration is just like on what basis do you think?

SPEAKER_02 28:33

What basis?

SPEAKER_03 28:35

The man on the middle cross said I can come. No, no.

Holy Week Meaning And Resurrection Hope

SPEAKER_02 28:43

And so in the song, and I'm sorry I don't have the song for you, but he says there was such a line that the man in the middle cross said I could come. And Grudim's question was was he saying that the man on the middle cross said I could come? Was that exactly that's what he was saying? Yeah, that's what he was saying. It was, it was, it was a lot. And I put my hand on his shoulder, like I said, and I said to him, he said, okay, I have to go. Thank you, Ryan. That was special. I said, Yeah. And I said to him, Grudem, I look forward to spending a lot of time with you one day, and that was it. And I don't I don't know when my last time to see Grudom will be, but I do know, like, I praise God that there is heaven. I praise God that when Jesus Christ went to the cross, not only did he pay for our sins, but he purchased for us eternal life forever. The man on the middle cross said I could come.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

That's powerful.

SPEAKER_02 30:13

I I think of all the things I've done, I think of all the other people that God could have picked, you know, and he chose me, he chose you. The man on the middle cross said I could come. That's the basis and the foundation of salvation is God. The Lord Jesus Christ and the work on the cross. All all you gotta do is simply believe and receive it. And, you know, I mean, so here I am recording this to help you process. I mean, Palm Sunday, you have this triumphal entry, and expectations were not met. He he wasn't the king they thought he was gonna be, and things start heating up, and then Thursday night comes in the upper room, he breaks bread and pours the wine and tells of his death that is to come, establishes the Last Supper, the the communion, he washes the disciples' feet, teaches them leadership, servant leadership. Uh and then Friday he will be crucified. And it's just a lot to take in. And he died not because of some accident, not because he just got caught up in some you know political trap. He died as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and it's through a simple faith in him, by God's grace, that we are saved. And there's forgiveness available, there's freedom available, and there's a life everlasting. And so I'm just going into this like Easter Sunday, just a lot more jacked up and excited. Sitting under Pastor Thomas Lee's teaching at North Valley was awesome. Um about the the the the Passover meal and the foot washing, and then Friday night with Pastor Sandy Mason and teaching about the the cross of Christ and the forgiveness available and having just experienced all that. It's just so good, and then getting the heart ready for Easter Sunday, the resurrection, so good. So there's freedom in Jesus when you think about the empty tomb, like there is a declaration that Jesus is alive. Probably the most important question the world could ask is Jesus alive? Because if he's alive, that changes everything. And the scripture shit tells us there's an empty tomb. There's evidence everywhere. There are eyewitnesses. The body was never recovered. The only body they found was a living one with the scars still on his hands. The the the message is that Jesus forgives sins and offers eternal life. There is hope and no other name but the name of Jesus. So my prayer is for you is that you take it all in, my friend, that you share with others as well. Just there's such a joy in sharing. I'm gonna send this video over this Alistair Begg, the man on the middle cross. You can Google it. I'm gonna send it over to Dr. Grudem and just tell him how special that was for me to be able to share in that moment with him. And my prayer is that that is for you too. That the only thing that gets you in is that man on the middle cross. You don't have to come up with the doctrine of justification or the doctrine of scripture. You don't have to be baptized. What do you need for salvation? You need a simple faith in Jesus Christ. The man on the middle cross says you can come. God bless.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

Thank you for listening to Real Life Ministry. If you found any of what you heard today helpful, please share it with others who may benefit. And if you would like to support the content that we put out, please consider making a donation at reallifeministry.us. While you're there, check out some of our episodes. And together, let's continue to educate and encourage Christians to live free and live strong.