What's so good about Friday? | Between Sundays | Ep.3

We hear the term "Good Friday" but do we truly know the power of that day and what it truly means? Join us as we dive into the powerful story of WHY Friday is so GOOD.

References : 

Judah Smith "Jesus is Loving Barabbas" : https://youtu.be/IPah8hxFTaM?si=W8MxXjfbFrRL089g

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Well, hey guys, I want to welcome you back to Between Sundays. I know that it's been a little bit, and we've been having people ask us, hey, when are you gonna drop the next episode? Um, when's the next one coming out? And so today, I thought we would do just a special edition of Between Sundays, and we would look at what we're in today called uh Good Friday. Good Friday. I think for a lot of us, um, with the events that took place on Good Friday over 2,000 years ago, we may look at Good Friday and go, man, what is so good? What's so good about Friday? Um, and actually, there's a lot there. This is the day that Jesus is um set on trial and he goes through the whole process. And um, I want to dive into that just a little bit today to give us a little clearer picture, if you will, of why why this Friday is so good, right? The day that Jesus dies, like why is that referred to um as Good Friday? Because if you look at it from an outside perspective, without knowing the details and everything that's going on, it really looks like the the worst day in human history, right? The Savior of the world is is crucified. Um, but there's this scripture out of 2 Corinthians 5 21, and it says this that God made him who knew no sin to be sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God. Um, and this has everything to do with Good Friday. That this was the biggest exchange in human history. This was the biggest trade that ever hit uh planet earth, that that Jesus took my place so that now from my place I might be righteous because of what Jesus did. You see, this is that this is Good Friday. And the story that I want to focus in on today is the story as Jesus is on trial there at uh before Pilate and before all the religious leaders and all the all the Jewish people here at the time. Um, there was this custom as they're celebrating Passover where they would release one prisoner. Like one prisoner would get released and set free no matter what they did. Um and this is like the scene that we come into here on Good Friday as Pilate brings up Barabbas. This is the guy we want to focus in on today, Barabbas, um, who's a known criminal, who's an enemy against Rome. He's leading a rebellion, he's doing all sorts of nasty, mean things. Um, you have that guy, and then you have Jesus, right? The savior of the world. And so this is a huge moment. Like the crowds are gathered, um, uh, everybody's standing in this place, and like I said, the tradition was there's a prisoner that's about to be released between Barabbas and Jesus. Now, what we know about Barabbas is Barabbas wasn't like a guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and just got pinned with something. Um, but Barabbas was actually a criminal, he was a bad dude. Um, and so you have Barabbas and you have Jesus who were here before the people, and Pilate makes um this announcement: man, who do you who do you want me to release? Remember, this is Good Friday. Who do you want me to release? And the religious leaders at the time have already made up their mind, man, we are getting rid of rid of this Jesus, right? We're taking him out. He is destroying what we have tried to build. Um, and and and we got to get rid of this guy so we can continue on with our plan. And so they stir up the crowds, right? They stir up the crowds as Barabbas and Jesus are presented between the two, and they say, they shout, they begin to shout, man, give us Barabbas, give us Barabbas. All of this can be found here in Matthew 27. Give us Barabbas, give us Barabbas. And so what Pilate does is he's like, man, I don't I don't want anything to do with this, right? Um, so he washes his hands, he does all the things, and he releases Barabbas because of the crowds, and he sets Jesus on the path, right, to the cross at this time, as the Jewish people and the religious leaders are screaming, man, crucify him, crucify him. And I want us to think about that today, right? Um, that that the guilty, the guilty walks free in this moment, and the innocent gets condemned to death. The guilty, the one who deserves it, the one who did the things to lead him up to this point to actually be put on the cross, that guy, Barabbas, he walks free in this moment, and Jesus is condemned to to death. And I think as you look at that story from the outside, man, you go, oh man, that's terrible. Like, have you ever been in a moment where you've seen somebody who was innocent get pinned for something that they didn't do, right? There's like this there's this righteous anger, there's this anger that rises up inside of us that goes, man, that's not that's not fair, right? That's not that's not fair. This shouldn't be happening. How can this be happening? That guy's the one that actually did it, not this guy over here. And so Pilate releases Barabbas and sends Jesus on the journey the rest of the way here to the cross. I think when we really look at this story, right, that the guilty walks free and the innocent is condemned to death, um it's kind of hard to look at. And when then when you personalize it for each one of our lives, here's what we understand, and here's where it really turns. That me and you, we are all Barabbas. Now, let that just sink in for a minute, right? That guy who was guilty, the guy who did the thing, the guy who like messed up, the one who deserved the punishment, the one who deserved to be on the cross because of the actions, right? Because of what he has done leading up to this point, that Barabbas, that's uh that's me and you. The guilty one, right? Walks free. And if you look at it, you take it inside of each one of us, we understand this, man. We we we are the guilty ones. We're the ones that have messed up, we're the ones that have sinned, that we've fallen short of the glory of God. But this is when this 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21 comes into place and we see the plan of God actually playing out before our eyes, that God made him who knew no sin to be sin, that he took on our sin, right? So that me and you, today, like where we were sitting, that we might become the righteousness of God. And so when you look at it, as Jesus is heading to the cross, he's about to be from this spot taken and be whipped and led to the Golgotha, and uh the nails put in his hand and in his feet and pierced in his side, like everything that is going on here. This is what the that big that big phrase, right? Substitutionary atonement. You just learned a new phrase today, maybe. Substitutionary atonement, that Jesus was actually our substitute. That this was his mission, this was his plan here on this Good Friday, that Jesus was going to come and he was going to take our place. He was gonna receive the punishment that you and I deserved, that me and you deserved, that was rightfully ours, that he was gonna step into our place and receive all of the punishment upon his shoulders, even to the point of death, so that me and you now today might become the righteousness of God. What does that mean? So that me and you today now can have everlasting life, that me and you today can live the life that Jesus lived, that me and you today now receive the reward that Jesus had and he took on our punishment. You see, this is what makes Good Friday so good. The nails in Jesus' hands on Good Friday, those were the nails that were supposed to be in our hand, in his feet and in his side, and the crown, and everything that is going on here at this time, that was all meant for me and you because we had fallen away, we had done our own thing, we had we we had given in to our own fleshly desires, all this kind of stuff. And Jesus, in this moment, he steps in and he says, I am going to receive what you deserved, so that now you can receive who I am and what I deserve. Man, that's good Friday. That is good Friday for me, that is good Friday for you. That Jesus stepped into our place in the midst of the pain, in the midst of the brokenness, in the midst of the bad decisions, in the midst of missing the mark and all of that, that Jesus stood in that spot and received the punishment that you and I deserved. Can you imagine Barabbas like leaving that place now? The Bible doesn't say very much about Barabbas from this point on, actually, it doesn't say a lot. That Barabbas leaves that place, the guilty leaves that place and is allowed to live life moving forward because Jesus stepped in and took his place. It's a powerful, powerful moment. This is Good Friday. Uh Judah Smith has a video on Barabbas, and I'll I'll I'll put it in the comments, okay? And it's so powerful about what this means for me and you. What God actually did for you and I by sending his son Jesus to die the death that me and you deserved, so that now me and you can live the life that Jesus deserved. And this is this is beautiful. This is the gospel story being played out in front of our eyes. That Jesus was our substitute here, not just on that Good Friday over 2,000 years ago, but even today and here in this moment. That's why Good Friday is so good. And then Jesus hangs on this cross and he says this at the very end. He says, Man, it is finished. To telesty, that's the Greek word. That the payment has been made for every guilt, for every sin, for every wrongdoing, for our wickedness, for our everything, that the payment now has been made so that now you and I can live a free life in God. Not free to our own desires, not free to our flesh and what we want to do, but free to live out the purposes of God for our life. Do you have things that you feel like are still holding you back? Do you have moments that you just can't get rid of out of your mind? And it's like it's always bringing you back to that place, that feeling of shame, that feeling of guilt. I just want to encourage you today that this is what makes Good Friday so good. That Jesus took all of that upon himself as our substitute in that moment so that now you and I can live the life and live out the purpose that God has ordained for us. I love this holy week. Man, we're gearing up for Sunday morning at Radiant Church, and I'm excited for what God is going to do. And if you don't have a place that you normally attend or you uh go to church, man, I want to encourage you. We have so many opportunities this weekend, starting Saturday at 5, um, Sunday at 8.30, and then 10 o'clock. And I want to invite you, man, to come be a part to hear the story of the greatest news that ever hit planet Earth, right? Good Friday, today. This is when it all takes place. The greatest exchange, the greatest trade that ever hit planet Earth, right? I'm a sports nut. Uh so I pay attention to trades. I pay attention to this player getting traded over here and this player getting traded over there. Uh, and unfortunately, uh, I remember last year when Luca uh Doncius was traded. Um, we won't say who he's traded for because it didn't work out. Shocker. Um, but you look at that trade and you go, man, the the Lakers really won on that trade. That's a that that was a great trade for them. Um I'm just here to tell you that that was a great trade as far as NBA goes. But the greatest trade that ever took place on planet earth is when Jesus Christ stood in our place and became our substitute and received what we deserved so that now we may be called the sons and daughters of God. That's the greatest trade to ever hit planet Earth. And this is what this Easter season, this Good Friday, this resurrection Sunday, this is what it's all about. So maybe you've journeyed and you've walked, and man, you've kind of not forgotten about the story, but it's lost its power and its effect upon your life. I'm just here to remind us all today of what this Good Friday is all about. Right? What makes Good Friday so good? It's because Jesus stepped into our place. And guess what? He's still stepping into our place today. And so I hope this encouraged you wherever you are, whether you're in the car, driving, wherever, um you're at the house watching it, whatever it is. My prayer is this is that this would encourage you to let go, to let go of what it is that has been holding you back. Man, God can never forgive me for that. God can never release me from that. I got news for you, he already has. Now this is our opportunity just to step into it. So this is what makes Good Friday so good. Amanda, we were Barabbas, we were Barabbas, and maybe you don't like hearing that, but that's the story. We were Barabbas, and Jesus took what we deserved, and we got what he deserved. And that is the beautiful news of the gospel. He's still doing it today, he's still doing it right here in this moment. And I pray that this like awakens us to the beautiful reality of who God is in our life, who Jesus is, like what this week actually represents. That you and I are now free because of what Jesus did. So let's live like it, right? Let's live like it. Not just on Sundays, but between Sundays. Let's live this story out in each one of our lives and watch what God continues to do. Hey, we love you today. I pray you have a blessed weekend. Man, get to church somewhere and allow God to do his greatest work in your life, in your family's life, and everything that is near and dear to you. Man, Jesse and I love you, and we cannot wait to see you again on between Sundays. God bless you guys.