It is Good Friday, my friends!

In some parts of the Christian world, it is called “Sad Friday” because they mourn over the death of Christ. They commemorate the 12 Apostles who were mourning because Jesus died and their hopes of the Messiah were dashed. Some people today fast and mourn over their sins begging for mercy. In other parts of the world, they flog themselves trying to carry the cross. They are mourning over their sins and condemning themselves. It is a sad time in those parts of the world on “Good Friday”. But I think all of these expressions of faith are too focused on their sins instead of focusing on the love of God on the cross. The Apostles were mourning because they did not know that Jesus died to forgive their sins. They did not know that Jesus was going to be raised from the dead. But today we know the good news and we know that the cross is not a time of mourning but a time of thanksgiving because Jesus rose from the dead!

The death of Jesus Christ is the GREATEST display of LOVE that the world has ever seen. It is not a “sad Friday” but it is a VERY VERY GOOD FRIDAY.

When God loves you unconditionally, we are supposed to rejoice and GIVE THANKS accepting the gift instead of crying on how unworthy we are!

John 3:16 “¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

It is because GOD SO LOVED us on that day that He gave us His one and only Son – Jesus Christ to die on the cross to save those who believe in Him.

Jesus Christ is the Word of God and He is God Himself – manifest in the flesh as the Son of God. Jesus had created the entire universe in the Glory of God.

John 1 “In the beginning was the Word (JESUS), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”

So when Jesus died on the cross, it was God who gave Himself up for us!

This is why Jesus told them that He and the Father are ONE.

John 10 “³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

John 14 “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. “

When Jesus came to the world, it was the FULLNESS of God in the flesh who died for us on the cross and rose from the dead.

Do you know what happened on the cross? We received the FULLNESS of God through Jesus Christ.

We were dead in sin, but when Christ died on the cross, He died with us and made us ALIVE with Him, forgiving ALL sins and making us FULL of GOD – for those who believe in Jesus:

Colossians 2

“⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of God lives in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.”…..¹³ When you were dead in your sins…God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

On the cross, the moral demands of our conscience were TAKEN AWAY being nailed when Jesus died.

We were MADE ALIVE forgiven our sins.

Our sin was that we fell short of God’s GLORY and FULLNESS.

But the FULLNESS of GOD dwelt in Christ and when He died with us and God made us ALIVE with Christ, the same FULLNESS and GLORY of GOD dwells in us.

We have been made COMPLETE in GOD through JESUS CHRIST.

GOD GAVE HIMSELF TO US in CHRIST.

2nd Corinthians 5

^“17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

• If anyone believes in JESUS, then He is a NEW CREATION. Your old-self has not been improved, but you have been made COMPLETELY NEW. You are not a sinner anymore but you are a NEW CREATION.
• God loved us so much that He was in Christ on the cross, not judging the world for our sins but imputing our sins on HIMSELF on JESUS even though He did not sin.
• So that the PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS of GOD found in Christ was GIVEN to us FREELY that we receive by GRACE (gift) through FAITH.
• God took all our sin on Christ and gave the Righteousness of God to us in Christ.

Ephesians 2 “⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

• Can you imagine that?
• We were dead but Jesus died with us.
• Then we were RAISED with Christ in His Righteousness!
• We were SEATED With Christ next to God in HIS GLORY!
• We are FULLY in Christ. We are ONE with GOD in HIS GLORY and RIGHTEOUSNESS.

So this is how God gave us Himself on the CROSS.

Jesus Christ who never sinned took the entire world upon Himself on the cross!

So that we who believe in Christ, received GOD HIMSELF and became the RIGHTEOUSNESS of GOD in Christ.

My friends, this is TRUE LOVE….that the Almighty GOD who created the entire universe decided to GIVE HIMSELF TO YOU.

GOD is the PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS, there is no one righteous but God and His Son Jesus Christ.

We were all sinners, but when we believed in Christ, we RECEIVED GOD HIMSELF through JESUS CHRIST and in CHRIST, we became the RIGHTEOUSNESS of GOD.

We became CHILDREN of GOD, who have the SAME GLORY and RIGHTEOUSNESS of GOD our FATHER through Jesus His SON.

What a Glorious GOSPEL !!

Hebrews 10:4,9-10,14,16-18 “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Then Christ said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first covenant to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

^“For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

“This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.”

When Abraham believed in God, he was made righteous! But look at what this reward of righteousness was?

Genesis 15 ”

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

 

God gave Abraham righteousness! But what is that righteousness?

It is CHRIST HIMSELF…It is GOD HIMSELF…the GREAT REWARD.

This is why my friends, this Friday is a VERY VERY GOOD FRIDAY.

It is a day of celebration.

It is not a day of mourning over your sins and sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

It is a day to CELEBRATE and ACCEPT the LOVE of the FATHER when He gives you a big party with a calf slain for you to eat. The fattened calf was Jesus Himself who clothed you with the robe of His Righteousness, the ring of royalty and the sandals of authority as God’s beloved SONS in CELEBRATION.

Luke 15 ”

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate…..³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and EVERYTHING I have is yours.”

This Good Friday, I want you to see that the FATHER gave you EVERYTHING HE HAS because HE LOVES YOU SO MUCH.

GOD IS EVERYTHING…JESUS is EVERYTHING…and EVERYTHING is YOURS.

He has given you HIMSELF through the death of JESUS CHRIST His Son!

So that you become the FATHER’s SON who has EVERYTHING in CHRIST.