00:00:00 During the Korean War, there was a small infantry unit that was hit pretty substantially on a freezing hillside. And as the bullets were sizzling through the air, one soldier who got hit began tumbling down and started rolling down the hill. And even as he was rolling down, the shrapnel had torn and ripped his clothes. And by rolling down on this rocky terrain, by the time he landed, most of his clothing was almost obliterated. And then one of his squadron colleagues ran down to rescue him. And as he saw 00:00:46 his fellow soldier who was riding in pain and was in agony, he was watching something that he couldn\'t believe. This soldier was trying to pull the bare minimum clothes that were around his body, not to tie and stop the bleeding, but to cover himself. Because there was one thing that kept going through his mind because he didn\'t want anyone to see him like that. And what his fellow soldier did was something beautiful. before he could bandage his wound. Sensing what his friend was going through and thinking, 00:01:31 he removed his jacket, wrapped it around his friend, lifted him up, and carried him into safety and rescued him. Years later, when someone interviewed the soldier, this is what he said. He said, \"I don\'t remember the bullets. I don\'t remember the bleeding. I don\'t remember the pain. I just remember that someone covered me. Someone covered me.\" War is never pretty, isn\'t it? In olden days of warfare where trench warfare was common, soldiers would line up on the trenches and there was this 00:02:25 one phrase called going over the top when they would just climb from one trench to go into the other. And at that time they will be hit with enemy bullets and bombs and grenades. But there were some who would fall and it was indiscriminate. But those who made it alive after that went through what they call a survivor\'s guilt. And the guilt was this. Why did I make it alive and the others died? You know what we saw in these two illustrations was how someone who was in excruciating pain and shame needed to be covered 00:03:20 and someone who is going through guilt needs freedom. If these two things moved you, what happened on the cross was something infinitely far more deeper than all of these things. We all carry these three things in our lives, isn\'t it? Shame, pain, and guilt. And that is what Jesus came to address on the cross. In fact, the gospel story that was read to us was written by one of his favorite disciples, the apostle John. And when he tries to present the events of Good Friday to us, unlike the other gospel writers, he 00:04:10 narrows down into only three of the sayings of Jesus. We all know there were seven sayings of Jesus. And typically in some churches, they go over all of these seven sayings. And each of these three sayings of Jesus are exactly connected with these three things that all humanity wrestles with. It deals with shame. It deals with pain. It deals with guilt. And Good Friday is good because Jesus has made a way to overcome your shame and my shame. your pain and my pain and your guilt and my guilt and that is what I want to walk 00:04:57 us through briefly this evening from the text that was read to us. Firstly, we see on the cross Jesus bore our shame and overcame it. You know in the gospel text that was read to us, it begins with saying how the soldiers took the garments of Jesus and divided it. The crucifixion of people on the cross was a practice that involved hanging them absolutely naked. And Jesus was here. He\'s God. He hung naked and bruised, exposed to all the elements and exposed to all the people who were staring at him. 00:05:57 Shame is something and one of the first things that Jesus experiences on the cross. And the Apostle John wants us to lock in on that. Why is that? Shame is universal, isn\'t it? Shame comes when we do something wrong and want to cover up or when others do something wrong to us as well that makes us want to hide. It\'s a huge topic and perhaps I\'m hoping to do a workshop later on to talk about this. Especially if you\'re in Asian cultures, shame is a big deal. In fact, the cross was not invented by 00:06:48 the Romans. It was invented in Asia by the Persians. And it was imported to the Mediterranean region, historians say, by the Carthaginians. And the Romans just perfected it because the basic point of the cross was to combine extreme physical pain with extreme shame. as the torturer who is torturing this person was left to go through this pain. You know, the Romans were probably meaning to shame Jesus even further, not just enough of letting him suffer this by making him hang between two other naked thieves. 00:07:47 This scene looks very dismal, isn\'t it? But what John wants to remind us was that this was already foretold. This was actually part of God\'s plan from the beginning. He says in verse 24, \"This was to fulfill scripture.\" And he points to Psalm 28 which is a song that was sung by King David almost thousand years before Jesus. You know the cross was not a cosmic accident. Jesus Christ was not the accidental victim of the Roman Empire. The cross was always part of God\'s sovereign plan and purpose to redeem you 00:08:42 and me. And yet when Jesus was on the cross going through this pain and shame, he does what you and I do when we go through pain. He was meditating upon this psalm, this song that was written a thousand years ago. In fact, he begins his first words by saying the first words of Psalm 22. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And he ends his last word is the last words of the Psalm 22. It is finished. And everything that is happening in his mind is captured by this psalm which is called a messianic psalm. 00:09:33 And as he begins this there were others who experienced the same shame and Jesus speaks on that. In fact, Psalm 22 gives more graphic info about the shame where people were saying all sorts of things. Here is Jesus experiencing shame for something he never did. And Psalm 22:6 and 7, they talk about two things. But I am a worm and not a man. Scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads. You know, one of the things I\'ve 00:10:25 experienced as I\'ve counseled people who have gone through abuse when they were young is two things happen to them. When someone wrongs you so badly, it affects your sense of identity where you begin to think that you were responsible for it and that has an implication where you think I am nothing and they blame themselves for it and feel they are wrong. But shame gets amplified when someone reflects that back in hurtful words because shame says you are nothing. And it was not just Jesus alone who was 00:11:16 experiencing this cosmic shame on the cross. Even before his cross accomplishes it, the first word that he says recorded in the John\'s gospel is he looks at his mother. Imagine a mother, can any mother see her son or daughter or child naked before an angry mob of ruthless, violent people? The first response will be to somehow rush and clothe my child. Isn\'t it? Mary could not do that. She had to watch her son bleed and and and and lay exposed to the whole world. And in a oriental culture, it is not 00:12:08 just individual shame. It is a social shame. Her son was not just naked. He was hanging between two criminals. And and those of you who come from those cultures will know what will be asked is what kind of a son did you raise? You raised a wretched criminal who is hanging on the cross. What is the sense of your worth as a mother? Isn\'t it? Even in his own shame, Jesus first wants to cover the shame of his mother. And that\'s the first word he does. He says,\"Woman, behold your son.\" Then he said to his 00:12:50 disciple, \"Behold your mother.\" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home and he covered her. You know, shame began not at the cross. It began at the Garden of Eden. We all know the story of Adam and Eve. Once they desired to breach and break their relationship with God. Once they were cut off from God, they experienced nakedness and shame and tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. But God intervenes and clothes them first. And here God is clothing us again. There it was just an animal 00:13:42 that was sacrificed and its skin was taken to give a covering for Adam and Eve. Here it was God\'s own son who was sacrificed and God is going to clothe us with his righteousness to cover us when we trust in him. At the cross, Jesus is stripped so you and I can be clothed. Today, if you\'re experiencing shame, either because of something you did or have done in the past or because of what something has been done to you, my dear friends, Jesus is inviting you to come to him. Some of you perhaps carry different 00:14:34 kinds of shame, perhaps a parenting regret. For some, it was your past failures or things you did to others that still haunts you. For some, it can be hidden family wounds that just the thought of it makes you cringe. Or for some, you feel that you are just not enough. No matter what you did or have done and keep thinking and saying to yourself, I should have done better. The cross says that you\'re not defined by your worst moment. Bring your shame into the light. Stop hiding even in your own home. Shame says 00:15:17 hide and Christ says come. So my dear friends, Good Friday can be good for you to stop hiding or trying to cover yourself and receive the covering, the righteousness of Christ alone, the perfect righteousness of Christ. Just like the father in the prodigal son gave his best robe to the son who went and devoured his entire wealth and put his signate ring on him and welcomed him home. This good Friday Jesus is waiting to welcome you home. Secondly, as we move to the second words of Jesus recorded in this gospel, we see 00:16:03 that on the cross Jesus bore all our pain. It says in verse 28, \"After this, knowing that all was now finished, said again to fulfill the scripture, I thirst.\" You know, this cross is a slow suffocation combined with dehydration and exposure to the elements. The pain was not instant. It was meant to be prolonged agony. And the words that Jesus said was, \"I thirst.\" There\'s another story that Jesus says to his disciples when he\'s alive where the same words I thirst was said by somebody 00:16:45 else. It\'s the story of rich man and Lazarus. You know there was this rich man who indulged his life in the pleasures of this world without care for the poor and needy. And at the end of his life, he goes and he departs and goes to the place called hell, which is basically a place without God\'s presence where his judgment is executed. And he looks up and he pleads to God saying the same words, I thirst. You only will just give me a drop of water by dipping your finger. It will quench my thirst. 00:17:25 And there was Lazarus as well. You know, it\'s sort of similar to the vibe of Silicon Valley, isn\'t it? Work hard, party hard, live your best life now, have pleasures. You know, a place without God\'s presence is hell. And he gives it to those who want that pain and pleasures are opposites. You know, he lived for a life of pleasure and ended up in a life of perpetual pain. And most people tend to do that. There are all these counterfeit pleasures that this world offers and we try to go after 00:18:11 them, but they leave us high and dry literally. But what Jesus was experiencing here analogically is hell. He was experiencing everything that the rich man experienced after he died even while he is now alive. Complete separation from his father. exposure to all the elements and the hostilities of the world combined with extreme physical pain that he can feel in his senses where he says I thirst. What Jesus was going through on the cross was hell on earth where his father has turned his face aside 00:19:06 and that is a place that is deserved for everyone who chooses the world\'s pleasures. We all deserve that place and he took it on our behalf. Jesus experienced that thirst. So you and I can never will never have to. If Jesus had not thirsted, you would thirst forever. You know, sin begins with desire and ends in eternal torment. And Jesus came to absorb that for you and me. And thirdly and lastly the third saying of Jesus on the cross says Jesus bore all our guilt when Jesus verse 30 had received the 00:19:56 sour wine. He said it is finished and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. You know the word finished in Greek means um fulfilled. There are three things Jesus fulfilled. First, theologians call this the active and passive obedience of Christ. Jesus lived a perfect life you and I could never live. But Jesus died the death that you and I deserve to die in order to fulfill God\'s sense of justice. Secondly, he fulfilled all the prophecies. It was not an accident. It was told. Every single thing that was 00:20:35 told about Jesus was finished on the cross. And thirdly, he became our complete perfect guilt offering. We saw that last week. You know, God is just. He can\'t just simply say, \"Oh, I forgive you and now just go do good things.\" Jesus had to offer himself to satisfy God\'s justice. Every sin you and I have committed. Every lie, every hidden thought was placed on Christ and was fully paid. Which means then there is nothing left for you and I to pay. You know that soldier said, I just 00:21:18 remember that someone covered me. One day when you stand before God, you won\'t say I fixed myself. You know, the Bible says our righteousness are nothing but filthy rags before God\'s sight. They\'re not good enough to cover us. But maybe I hope you and I can say Jesus covered me. Some of you are still lying on that battlefield, exposed, wounded, trying to cover yourself. May I request you stop hiding your shame. Stop numbing your pain by getting busy or escaping into other things. And 00:22:08 stop carrying your guilt. Come to Christ. Because when he said it is finished, he meant your shame is covered. Your pain is redeemed. Your guilt is paid. So you can say Jesus covered me. If you are carrying shame, pain and guilt today, don\'t leave with it my dear friends. Bring it to Christ. Bring it now as we prepare to take part in this communion.