Good Friday 2026 | Jesus on the Cross

Ecclesiastes 7:4 says, "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure." It's an odd verse, isn't it? It's one I've read several times and paused on. What does that mean? "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure." It's an odd verse.

I think its point is most of us would rather run to the house of pleasure. We don't want to talk about death. We don't want to talk about suffering. We'd rather run to the house of pleasure. But death is a great teacher. Death clarifies what's important. Death focuses our attention. It forces us to ask hard questions that we otherwise perhaps would never ask ourselves. "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure."

Tonight, we're focusing on not just any death, but we're focusing on the death of Jesus Christ. Like I said before, I look forward to Sunday. This service always feels heavy. In my family, my wife hates violent movies. I'll confess there are some that I enjoy, but if we're going to watch them, I have to sit there with the remote in my hand, and every time there's a violent scene, I have to fast-forward. Otherwise, she's going to leave the room. She just doesn't do violence. I get that. We want to fast-forward through this, especially when we consider the necessity of the cross.

That's where I want to begin. I want to talk about three aspects of the cross. This message and the message you'll hear all weekend at Watermark, I'm telling you, is the most crucial, important message you'll ever hear in your life. It's not my message; it is the message of the Bible that God has preserved in his text so that you would know him. So, we're going to look at the necessity of the cross, the exclusivity of the cross, and the sufficiency of the cross. These are so important.

The bad news I have to share with you is that our sin necessitated the cross. The Bible is very clear. In fact, Paul spends three whole chapters, in Romans 1-3, making it very clear. I'll sum it up for you. Romans 3:23: "…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…" You can underline the word all. That means me. That means you. Anyone you've ever met. Anyone in leadership. Every one of us has sinned.

That begs the question…What's sin? That's a word we use a lot around church. Sin is anything we do that is contrary to the character and will of God…our selfishness, our pride, our anger, our rudeness, our lust. We've all sinned. But the bad news gets worse. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death…" Think about what a wage is. A wage is anything we earn. Because of our sin, which we've all committed… Paul says in Romans we are without excuse. All of us are guilty. The consequence of our sin is death.

We don't just die a physical death and experience suffering in this world, which we certainly do, but we've been separated from a holy God. You say to me, "Blake, why can't he just overlook the sin?" Because he cannot compromise his character and who he is. He's a holy, just, and righteous God who cannot turn a blind eye away from sin any more than a judge today can just overlook a crime that's committed. He would no longer be just. How much more so a holy, eternal, perfect, righteous God in heaven.

So, we have a problem. We are guilty of sin, and we stand before a holy God, and we are without excuse, every one of us. This really does contradict today's way of thinking, doesn't it? In our world, most of us live by this idea of relativism. "Well, Blake, I hear you. It's not that bad. I mean, I'm better than the other guy. I haven't done what he's done." But the other guy is not the standard.

Subjectivism would lead you to believe it's all subjective and sin is not really that big of a deal. "You do you; I'll do me. You do your truth; I'll do my truth." "Your truth, my truth." That's not what Christianity teaches, regardless of what you might hear. Christianity teaches us there is an absolute moral truth that is anchored in the character of God who is holy, righteous, and just. We have offended, rebelled against, and committed cosmic treason against a just, holy, and righteous God.

The Bible says, "Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point has become guilty of all." So, yeah. Maybe some of us live a more moral lifestyle than others, but that's not the standard. If I put two drops of poison in your drink or 200 drops of poison in your drink, you will refuse to drink it. Why? Because it has been contaminated with poison. We stand without excuse before a holy, righteous God.

It is at the cross of Christ where we must understand the justice of God and the love of God are on perfect display simultaneously. The wrath of God was poured out on his Son Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53 says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

At the same time, in only a way in which God could do it, Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." So, at the cross, we see the justice of God and the love of God poured out. Why? First Peter 3:18 makes it really clear. "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit…" Why was the cross necessary? Because of your sin and mine. God simply can't look away.

The second aspect I want you to consider is something that's really unpopular these days. It's the word exclusivity. We don't like that word, but the Bible is really clear. At the cross, Jesus served as our substitute by paying the penalty for our sin. The verse that is so foundational to our theology is 2 Corinthians 5:21, that God made him who knew no sin… He was sinless. He was perfect. "God made him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him." Do you see that? Christ was the perfect substitute. He died on that cross in our place. He paid our penalty. He didn't deserve it. Our sin put him there.

By nature of who Jesus is, that he was fully God so as to be without sin and fully man so as to serve as our substitute, that he could take our place… As the God-man, he bridged the gap between a perfect, righteous, holy God and a sinful people. This is the reason there is no other means by which you can be reconciled to God. You may not like it. It may sound politically incorrect, but the Bible leaves us no choice. There is no other means.

Jesus leaves us no other choice. He's so explicit, isn't he? In John 14, he's so clear. "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." Acts 4 makes it clear through the apostles' teaching. "…for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." First Timothy talks about how Christ is the one mediator between a sinful people and a holy God.

Again, this contradicts society's teaching. Indeed, all roads do not lead to heaven. It makes a great bumper sticker; it is just not what the Bible teaches. Jesus paid our penalty by serving as our substitute on that cross. That cross was necessitated by our sin, yet it invites us to be reconciled to God. But there's only one way by which we can be reconciled. It's through Jesus Christ.

The illustration I like to use is very simple. I have my key chain, yet there's only one key that's going to open the front door of my house. I could take the key to Watermark, and I could really believe in it…really, really believe in it. I could try really, really hard to open up the front door to my house. I could go to another key and keep trying and really believe. The reality is there's only one key that opens that door. Christ is the only means of salvation.

The final point I want us to consider is the sufficiency of Christ, that Jesus' death on the cross secured our salvation, that the work is finished. This is an incredible truth. You see throughout all of the Old Testament there was a sacrificial system that was just a shadow of the substance of what was to come. You see it beautifully told in this passage from Hebrews, chapter 10:

"And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified."

It's a quite extraordinary contrast, isn't it? The insufficiency of all of the sacrifices that were made throughout the Old Testament, looking forward to the ultimate sacrifice. The priest would stand, and he would have to make repeated sacrifices, yet our sin was never taken away. It was insufficient. Jesus Christ, as our Great High Priest… Notice the contrast. He sat down because of a single sacrifice to take away all of our sins and make us righteous.

His righteousness was credited to our account. We have been justified, declared righteous, and we have peace with God because of what was accomplished on that cross, that Jesus Christ lived the life we couldn't live and died the death we deserve, and he sat down. While on that cross, he said, "It is finished." That's the cry of the Reformation, that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the Scriptures alone, only to the glory of God alone.

We bring nothing to the cross but sin and resistance. That's all we bring. We are saved by grace alone, God's unmerited favor. In faith alone, in our trust in what the sacrifice represents on our behalf. In Christ alone. There is nothing else we can add, no penance, no duty, no sacrifice. That is the message of the Bible. To the glory of God alone. There is no room for boasting.

So, we've talked about the necessity of the cross, the exclusivity of the cross, and the sufficiency of the cross. Where does that leave us? It leaves us with having to make a decision. You can't avoid it. The wise go to the house of mourning, and I'm asking you to consider the significance of Christ's death and ask yourself a really simple question. You have three choices, and to not choose is to make a decision. I'm saying it as plainly as I can. I don't know how to be more clear.

In order to be rightly related to God, because we will all stand before him when we die… "It is appointed for man to die once and after that face judgment." Every one of us will die, and we will stand before a holy, righteous, perfect God. You can either trust in your great works and all of the things you've done…your kindness, your acts of charity, the number of times you've read the Bible, how kind you are to the widow next door…I don't know…whatever it is that makes you feel good about yourself.

You can trust in all the good you've done and in what Jesus has offered you or you can simply trust in grace alone, the sufficiency of the cross. I just want to play it out, and I want you to understand the argument you're making, to make it so clear. If you trust in your works alone, that you're good, that you believe your good outweighs the bad, that you're not as bad as the next guy and certainly God will accept you, then necessarily, what you're arguing is that Christ died on the cross unnecessarily. He didn't need to die. It was not needed.

If you believe that somehow you take your good and what Christ did for you, and certainly that's good enough, then Christ's death on the cross was insufficient. Really, that's what you're arguing. He needs your help. Somehow what you bring is sufficient. But it's only when we place our faith in Jesus Christ that what we are saying is that cross is sufficient, and we rest in the finished work of Christ.

It's because of that, John will later write in 1 John 5, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." How can anybody know that? You can know it because of what God has promised in his Word. You can know it because it doesn't depend on what you've done but the finished work of Christ.

Everyone has to make a choice. You can't just go, "That's a message that's good for the next guy." You have to decide. Romans 10 makes it so clear that "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart…" "And believe in your heart." That's what it says. "…you will be saved." But we all have to make a decision.

"The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning." My hope and prayer for you is that you won't skip through Good Friday but you'll stop and consider what Good Friday represents. I promise you, if you do, Sunday is going to be so much sweeter. I'm not going to talk about Sunday yet, although I sure want to. I'll just tell you, three days later he rises again, validating all he claimed, said, and did, and because he lives, even though you die, you will live with him. But that's Sunday. Let me pray.

Lord, would you help us not to miss Friday? Would you help us to feel the weight of that dreadful day? It wasn't someone else's sin that put him on the cross; it was my sin. My sin put him on the cross. I thank you, Lord, that that cross represents a bridge between a sinful people, each of us, and a holy God, that we could live in relationship with you and be called your children. There's no other means, Lord, and we give you thanks.

I thank you for the sufficiency of the cross, Lord, that the work is finished and, because of that, we can find rest. So, we come to you, Lord. Help us to search our hearts. Show us what we can't see on our own. Father, for those who are blind, give them eyes to see. For those who are indifferent, bored, inoculated to the truth, Lord, would you stir their affections? Would you grip their attention?

For those, Lord, who are suffering, for those who have been betrayed, whose hearts are heavy who come into this room, may they recognize, just as that song says, Lord, we serve a God who weeps, who can empathize with our pain, who entered into our world of pain and suffering to show us that he loves us, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. That's the God for me. Not the Buddha who sits there, lifeless, empty, immune to our pain, but the God of the cross. We pray these things in Christ's name, amen.