For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
(Hebrews 10:14)

Many people have experience with 12 step groups, the most famous of which is Alcoholics Anonymous. One of the central ideas in these groups is that help is not possible until a person "bottoms out" that is, until they go as low as the can go literally to "rock bottom" and are confronted with the magnitude of what they have done in their lives to harm themselves and others. Good Friday might be said to the humanity's version of hitting "rock bottom".

Today is they day we remember that humanity once condemned Jesus, the Son of God, to death on the cross. Surely at the most basic level, this was a travesty . Jesus' trials before the Sanhedrin (which was the Jewish High Council) and before Pilate were both shams: gross miscarriages of justice. Virtually every rule regarding fair trials under both Jewish and Roman law were violated. There was no due process exercised in this trial; Jesus was innocent of any wrongdoing – a fact known even to Pilate, His judge. The Messiah comes and offers salvation and is nailed to a cross so that men might claim to be free of God. How much more unjustified could something be?

But consider Jesus' crucifixion from God's point of view. Was Jesus' death justified?

Let us think upon these words of Holy Scripture:

The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23)

All have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3: 23)

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24)

He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people. (Hebrews 9: 26-28)

These Scriptures tell us that from God's point of view, Jesus' death was justified. In fact, it was not merely justified, it was absolutely necessary. Because if Christ had not been offered up on the cross as our substitute, God would, in his prefect justice and righteousness, be unable to forgive us of our sins.

The Bible teaches us that God – our perfectly holy and righteous God – cannot tolerate sin. From his very nature, he cannot tolerate sin. Furthermore, God is just, meaning that he will apply just punishment to every wrongdoer.

So Jesus had to die because of my sin.

Sin! We don't use this word very often outside of Church. Yesterday's sins are today's lifestyle choices. As a society and as individuals we don't like to admit that we are sinners.

What is sin? The word sin is from a Hebrew verb that means "failing to hit the target" like an archer missing his mark. But a more practical definition is: sin is a lack of conformity to the known will of God or a transgression against the law of God.

This definition shows that God is the one who defines sin. God, our Creator, has the absolute authority to dictate to us the terms and conditions of our being able to enter His presence. Sin is nothing more or less than the refusal to recognize and submit to that authority in any area of our lives.

Now, in these days there is much confusion concerning this word, "sin." Many people try to dumb down this idea of sin, to take away its meaning. In fact one idea prominent in many pop psychology churches is the idea that sin essentially any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem. However, sin is not an attack on our self-esteem; sin is rebellion against the Law of God either by doing that which we should not do, or by not doing that which we should do.

Remember how Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments with only two?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. . . . Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37, 39)

None of us can keep even these two commandments. In various ways we do not love God and do not love our neighbor. Every one of us is a sinner, every one of us deserves eternal punishment. Paul in Romans 3 makes this absolutely clear: without Christ's death, all of us are under the just condemnation of God. Listen to these words:

We have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written: "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE." (Romans 3:9-12)

Does Paul mention self-esteem here? No. Paul tells us that every single person, every person here this afternoon, is a sinner; every person here his afternoon deserves an eternity of separation from our holy and perfect God. And we are incapable of restoring the broken relationship with God and from each other that arises from our sins.

So are we without hope? No, although we all deserve God's condemnation, in Christ we are offered a clean slate. We are declared not guilty because Christ has offered Himself as our substitute. God, instead of condemning us as we deserve, has offered to all who believe in Jesus Christ a way to attain his standard of perfection. This way does not depend on our living up to a standard, but depends on God's goodness to us in having Christ Jesus make the payment for the penalty for sin through the shedding of his blood. God, thereby, shows that He is perfectly just, for every sin leads to a just punishment. When we believe that the blood of Jesus pays the penalty for OUR sin, God accepts Jesus' punishment as the full payment for all our sins. So God is not only supremely just, but also supremely loving by making righteous all of us who believe in Jesus.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13).

When the sinless Christ, the incarnate Son of God suffered death on the cross the love of God is proclaimed eternally. In being nailed to the cross, Jesus spread out His arms and said, "I love you this much." There is thus both and profound sadness and a solemn joyfulness at a God who loves us this much.

That is why today is Good Friday. Not Black Friday. Not Sad Friday. Not a day to mourn over the dying Jesus, though his death should sober us. Not a day to feel sorry for Jesus being spat upon, though we need to acknowledge the fact that all this happened because of what we have done. But a day, as John Newton said, for "pleasing grief and mournful joy." Joy because this one sacrifice saves us completely, because in this great act of love Christ Jesus laid down his life for each of us and for all of us.

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.