March 29, 2002

Good Friday Evening Service

Service Theme – "There is Power in the Blood"

Matthew 27:45-54

God’s Power Brings Life

1. Introduction

1. Illustration – You know, it was about seven weeks ago that we had that vicious windstorm. It knocked down trees, damaged property, and brought havoc down on our area. But in the hours and days to follow another danger started becoming apparent. There were so many power lines down that many people were without electricity for a long time. The danger wasn’t necessarily that people were without power. The danger was that without power many people could not run their pumps to get water. You see, in our society, the only way to get safe, drinkable water is to use electricity to pump it. If we had been in a desert area or had no other means to get water, people would have started being in real trouble after three days, because that’s about how long a person can normally survive without water. Power brings water, and water brings life.
2. Context – When Jesus died on the cross, His power didn’t bring water. His power brought life. That life giving power that Matthew 27:45-54 talks about is what we’re looking at tonight.

1. Scripture Passage

1. His Power Brings Life

1. I’ve known many people who have died. I’ve been to several funerals and memorial services. At each one there’s generally been people crying, people remembering, the deceased being honored for what they did in this life. Usually following would be the trip to the cemetery and the graveside service. I can’t say that I’ve ever felt a physical earthquake, although sometimes I have felt emotionally rocked. And I can’t say that I’ve seen any of the graves open up and people start coming out praising God. I’ve seen a lot of things in this world but I’ve never seen that happen.
2. But then again, there are a lot of things going on in the world that I never see or feel or hear or touch or taste. Does that make them any less real? Absolutely not. When I hear about things around the world from a reliable source, I know I can believe them. Likewise, we can know that a reliable source has shared with us what happened when Jesus died because this source witnessed first hand all of these events. Matthew was so certain of his experiences with Jesus that tradition has it he was martyred for his faith. The fact is that Jesus did die and that Matthew recorded the events surrounding His death.
3. So what? There are three major events in this passage that are incredible to think about. First, Jesus chose the moment of His death. Usually people who were crucified could take up to a couple of days to die from suffocation brought on when they become too weak to lift themselves up to breathe. Jesus died after just a few hours on the cross – at the time that the evening lamb, the daily sin offering, was sacrificed. Our passage tells us that Jesus gave up His spirit. He chose to die right at the moment the lamb was sacrificed. Jesus is the Lamb who died to save us from our sins.
4. Second, the curtain in the temple was torn in two. This was a very thick and heavy to prevent anyone from seeing inside. The curtain served as a barrier between man and God’s holiness. When God tore the curtain in two, He invited us to share in His holiness, to become holy as He is holy. More than that, He removed the barrier between Himself and man. For hundreds of years before Jesus died, only the high priest could enter into the presence of God, and then only once a year after specific sacrifices were offered and specific rituals observed. When Jesus’ death enabled God to tear the curtain in two, we were enabled to approach God without fear, to enter into personal relationship with the Almighty. In other words, Jesus through his death on the cross has enabled us to be friends with the God who created the universe! That is a powerful truth, but only if we choose to receive Jesus’ gift of Himself as a sacrifice for our sins!
5. The third major event is recorded in verses 52 and 53 - The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. ⁵³ They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. So much divine, life-giving power was released when Jesus died that it actually brought people who had died loving and following and serving God back to life! That is power! What does that mean for us? Simply this – the power that brought the dead back to life is more than able to bring us back from spiritual death to life through relationship with Jesus Christ. The whole point of Jesus dying on the cross was to bring the spiritually dead back to the spiritual life with God they were created for! Jesus died so that He could be the sacrifice that allows God to forgive our sins, removing the only thing standing between us and God.
6. So you see, there may have been three separate main events in this passage in our eyes, but really there was one main event with three powerful consequences. Jesus died on the cross for us. He chose the moment of His death to coincide with the sin offering to show us that He is our sin offering, the offering that can make us right with God. The power of His death ripped the barrier between us and the presence of God apart, opening up the possibility that we can experience His presence personally. Life-giving power has been released, power that can bring us back to life spiritually. It’s a free gift. All we have to do is accept it. All we have to do is to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, confess our sins, ask Him to forgive our sins, commit ourselves to follow Him, and then follow Him. What happens if we’ve already done that? Then all we have to do to receive His life-giving power is to open our hearts up to Him and allow Him to clean out those closets we’ve kept locked up from Him. You see, Jesus’ death on the cross wasn’t about death – it’s all about life. Living life to the fullest by His power. Being in a personal relationship with God. God’s power brings life. Our own power brings death. Which are we going to choose?
7. Illustration – Dr. Frank Harrington, pastor of a large Presbyterian church in Atlanta, ("The One Who Goes Ahead!" Peachtree Presbyterian Pulpit, April 12, 1998) spoke about the massive cross he puts up in front of his church every Easter that is covered with all kinds and colors of flowers. "A little drama played itself out on one of our buses two or three weeks ago. There was a new bus driver who was not familiar with us. It was his first Sunday and he was in animated conversation with someone who was riding the bus. When he drove in, he suddenly saw this huge cross we erect out front .... Right in the middle of his conversation, he interrupted his train of thought and exclaimed: 'My God, somebody BIG must have died.' He was thinking about one of those little white roadside crosses that we put up, sad to say, when somebody's been killed. Let me tell you, friends, somebody big did die for you and for me. But he came back." Somebody big did die for you and me. Let’s all receive the life-giving power He is offering us this Easter.

1. Conclusion

1. Please bow your heads and close your eyes. Where are we at on the power scale? Have we only sipped a little bit at this life-giving power released for us by the death of Jesus for our sins? Or are we drinking of it wholeheartedly as God wants us to? How much of His power are we experiencing in our lives right now?
2. We’re going to spend a few minutes in prayer talking with God and allowing Him to respond. If you’d like to come forward to the altars to pray, please feel free to do so. And if you’d like someone to pray with you while you’re at the altar, please raise your hand once you’re there. Let’s all spend some time alone with God.