 Let's open our Bibles together to Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15. We're gonna be looking at verses 33 through 38 as we consider Good Friday. So in chapter 15, beginning at verse 33, reading to verse 38, Mark writes, now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Alawi, Alawi, Lama, Sabachtani, which is translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Some of those who stood by when they heard it said, look, he's calling for Elijah. Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed and offered it to him to drink, saying, let him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now as we pick up the story here, this is the Good Friday story, Jesus has been crucified and has been on the cross at this time for three hours. In chapter 15, verse 25, Mark tells us that he was crucified at 9 a.m. And as we pick up our story here in this verse, it is noon. So from noon until three, there's darkness over all of the land. It's interesting when you consider that, that on the night that Jesus was born, we remember that the sky was filled with supernatural light. That's because Jesus is the light of the world. And therefore it would be fitting that his birth would be accompanied by light. When you look at Luke chapter two, verses eight and nine, it says there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid. So on the night that Jesus was born, the sky was filled with supernatural light, yet on the day that he died, at noon when the sun is at its brightest, the sky becomes dark. Now Mark tells us that from noon until three in the afternoon, darkness filled the land. It was for a space of approximately or for a period of three hours. The question has to be asked, why was it dark? Why the darkness? When you read your Bible, you'll notice that very often, darkness is used as a symbol. It's a symbol for judgment. You see that symbol of darkness for judgment in both the old as well as the New Testament. In the Old Testament book of Exodus in chapter 10, verses 21 and 22, it says the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt. Darkness that can be felt. So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. In the book of Amos in chapter five, verse 18, it reads there, what do you who long for the day of the Lord? Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. And so in the Bible, darkness very often is the symbol of judgment. You see it in the Old Testament and you see it also in the New. Matthew 25, verse 30, throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And so darkness very often is in the Bible, both Old and New Testament, a symbol of judgment. And so the thought we would have here is that the cross is a place of divine judgment. The sins of the world are being poured out vicariously on the Son of God. And supernatural darkness expresses God's response to sin. Habakkuk 1.13 says it like this, your eye, you are of pure eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness. So God never looks at wickedness with pleasure. There's nothing about wickedness that causes a holy God to be attracted. So darkness is a symbol of judgment. Now one ancient writer points out that the land was dark for three hours. So there are basically two applications you can get from that. One, as he was writing, he said, this would be a picture of the spiritual darkness that enshrouds those who crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. Spiritual darkness. 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4 says that like this, even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Spiritual darkness so that when somebody comes and presents the gospel of Jesus Christ because somebody is in darkness very often, they reject that light that has been presented to them. They are enshrouded in darkness. They are spiritually dark. But it also could speak of the light that returns after three hours foreshadowing the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ because even as darkness encompasses the land, the light will ultimately spring forth. And so darkness is there and we see it. It says in verse 34, in the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eloi, Eloi, Lamasabhaktani, which is translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The gospel writers have preserved very few words of the Lord Jesus Christ as he was speaking on that cross. Luke tells us, for example, in chapter 23 verse 34, that Jesus said this. He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. He also says in Luke 23, 43, that Jesus said assuredly, I say unto you, today you will be with me in paradise. John tells us in chapter 19 verses 26 and 27, when Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son, he said to the disciple, behold your mother. And so Jesus did speak that's been referred to as the seven sayings of Christ from the cross and he speaks and it's recorded no less than seven things that he said, but here Jesus is crying something out. He's saying, why have you forsaken me? He's crying out and he's crying out and the word crying speaks of crying with anguish. He's crying out with anguish because of the separation that he is experiencing. He's in anguish because of the separation that he felt for the first and the only time in all eternity. He's taken upon himself the sin of the world and he's experiencing the isolation that sin produces. The Bible says to us in Isaiah 59, too, your iniquities have separated you from your God, your sins have hidden his face from you, so they will not hear. Sin makes separation. Sin brings separation and we know that from a personal experience, we know that from our lives. We know that if a husband and his wife has an argument that until that thing that caused the argument is resolved, there's gonna be a break of communication, there's gonna be a break of relationship until she apologizes. We know that because sin makes separation. And that's something very practical. As a parent, if you have a child and the child and you have difficulty, the child has done something wrong. There's gonna be a break of fellowship until it is restored, until somebody says, I'm sorry, until reconciliation takes place. It's a very natural and very real thing that we all experience. But the bottom line is, is the Bible makes it very clear that sin makes separation. There are those who'll say it seems as if God isn't listening to me. It seems as if my prayers only reach the ceiling and then fall uselessly on the ground. They're dead, there's no power behind them. Why is not the Lord listening to me? And the Bible says to us, because our sin makes separation, we need to have reconciliation. There needs to be a restoration of relationship. And when we have unconfessed sin very often, it creates a barrier between our fellowship with God. As an unbeliever, I have no relationship to God. There is no communication taking place because the prayer that God wants to hear first and foremost is a prayer of confession where I say to God, forgive me a sinner because my sin has made a separation between me and you. And so Jesus Christ was sent in order that he might bring us to a relationship with the Father. I'll have sin and fall short of the glory of God. And the Bible says the wages of sin is death. And it's appointed to men to die once and after this the judgment. But the Bible also says God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus said if you hear my word and believe on him who sent me, you will have everlasting life. So this is the record God has given to us eternal life. This life is in his son. He who has the son has life. He who has not the son of God has not life. And so what the Lord has done is the Lord has given to us opportunity to have that separation that sin has made to have that separation dealt with and it was dealt with on the cross when Jesus Christ died for us. With one hand he took the hand of his holy Father and with the other hand he reached out to us and he bridged the gulf that separated us between us and God, that gulf of sin. And that's what the cross was all about for the Lord Jesus Christ to take upon himself the sin of the world as the Lamb of God. The Bible tells us he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us and that we might become the righteousness of God in him. As he suffered on the cross, Jesus fully experienced man's separation from God. Now what was he experiencing? What kind of separation did he experience while on the cross? Again, it wasn't a separation of nature. It wasn't a separation of his essence. It was not a separation of substance. It was a separation of fellowship. Somebody once said Jesus had a taste of such broken communion, the first and last he ever experienced in those desolate hours when darkness lay upon the earth and upon his soul. Jesus was our forerunner in every kind of experience, even to the feeling of God's frown of disapproval on sin that he might become our high priest understanding all our infirmities, being tempted in all points like as we, apart from sin, he felt the way a lost sinner feels without himself having sinned. He had that sense of separation. When you read your scripture, you'll notice that he did not cry out when he was accused and the Bible does not record that he cried out when he was crucified. But he did cry out when he was separated. Now as this is taking place in verse 35, it says, some of those who stood by when they heard it said, look, he's calling for Elijah. And someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a read and offered it to him to drink, saying, let him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come to take him down. Now this is not a reaction of sympathy or compassion. This is not the reaction of somebody who wants to cause him to feel comfort. This was a reaction of mockery. This was not out of curiosity and this was not out of religious fear. What they were doing is they were actually mocking him and notice with me how they twist his words into a cry for Elijah and not for God. Now there was a prophecy that Elijah would introduce Messiah to Israel. It's found in the Old Testament book of Malachi, chapter three, verse one, behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. And so they mock this as if Elijah will come and formally introduce Jesus to them. Now as this is taking place, someone ran verse 36 and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a read and offered it to him to drink, saying, let him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come to take him down. Well, John tells us that this occurred after Jesus said he was thirsty. In John's gospel, chapter 19, verse 28, it reads, after this Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said I thirst. Now the scripture he's referring to was found in the Psalms in Psalm 22, verses 15 through 17, where it says, my strength is dried up like a potsherd, my tongue clings to my jaws. You have brought me to the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me. The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I count all my bones. They look and stare at me. It may be that a military guard came and brought some sour wine to him. The sour wine would be high in water and low in alcohol content. It would be used to quench thirst, but it's also something fulfilled in scripture where it says in Psalm 69, 21, they also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink. Now as we look at this passage, we need to ask ourselves, what is he saying? Another thing that we notice, he's saying I thirst and in doing so he's communicating that he completely understands us. As a man, Jesus Christ is dehydrated. He's genuinely thirsty. Jesus had a physical need. That helps me to understand that he understands my needs. We don't have a God who stands afar off. We have a God who understands. We have a God who understands what it means to be tired in that Jesus would be physically exhausted. We have a God who incarnated, knows what it's like to feel hunger. We know he understands us when we feel lonely. On one occasion, Jesus was speaking to his father and he said, now I am alone and yet I'm not alone for you are with me. In that scripture where he said I'm alone and yet I'm not alone for you are with me, that is one of the scriptures that the Lord gave to me as a young man when I first got saved because it was one thing in my life that maybe many of you had the same kind of experience and that was a deep sense of loneliness and as I was growing up from childhood to young adulthood, if there was anything that I felt and I felt most painfully, it would be loneliness. I was one of those children who was a latchkey kid before there were such things as latchkey kids. In my neighborhood, my mom, because she had a necessity, my mom worked and so my brother and I and my two sisters were left alone quite often while my mom was on the job and I was one of these kids who would come home and was not comfortable coming home to be in an empty house and often it wasn't really an empty house because I would go across the street and I'd get my two sisters who were being taken care of by one of our neighbors and I would bring them across the street and I was the one who would babysit them, my brother wasn't home, he would be doing other things and so I found myself isolated quite often. I found myself as a kid, I was the kid who would go into the bedroom and just close the door and be by myself all the time so loneliness was my best friend if you will. So when I got saved and I began to read through the Bible and I saw Jesus say, I am alone and yet I'm not alone for you are with me. That was one of those scriptures that the Lord imparted to my heart to remind me when he says, I will never, never, never leave you, nor forsake you. And so the Lord Jesus Christ understands those things about us, listen, we have a God who is not a far off, we have a God who is as near as our breath, we have a God who is close to us and a God who understands us and Jesus Christ, though he was dehydrated and genuinely thirsty, he had this physical need, it helps us to understand that he understands my need. The response again, they said, let him alone, let's see if Elijah will come and save him. The response to something like that once again is simply mocking. And so what happens? Verse 37, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, breathed his last. Cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. What did he cry out? He gave what is called the final two statements from the cross. One of those statements is found in John 19.30 where it says, when he had received the drink, Jesus said, it is finished. It is finished as a single Greek word, to telesteye. And the word to telesteye is a word that means paid in full, paid in full. It's one of those words that if you have a credit card, and you make your last payment, and you receive some receipt that they used to stamp them, and it would be in red, and it would say, paid in full. It's the same concept. When Jesus cried out, paid in full, he was saying, it's done, it is finished. And he was speaking of our redemption. Ephesians tells us in chapter one, verse seven, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. And so when the Lord was there on that cross, and he cries out, he's crying out, it is done, it is finished, I have accomplished the task that I have been sent to do. Somebody wrote that Jesus died with the cry of a victor on his lips. This was not the moan of the defeated, nor the sigh of patient resignation. It is the triumphant recognition that he has now fully accomplished the work that he came to do. Paid in full. You cannot add to your salvation by your works. You cannot, I cannot earn my salvation by my works. I cannot go to church long enough. I can't read the Bible long enough. I can't pray long enough. I can't do all those things. I'm not good enough. I'll never be good enough. I never was good enough. And as a believer, I could never become good enough. Not a single thing that I can ever do can add to what Jesus Christ has already done. And what is sad today is I see many people who are actually attempting to make themselves good when in reality the Bible says there's none good, no not one. A dear friend of mine from my youth, his name is Nick, and I were having a conversation many years ago now. I had just gotten saved. It was over 40 years ago. And as we were speaking, he was a good and a fairly decent young man. And as we were speaking, I said to him this, as friends can in a friendly way with somebody that they grew up with, I said to him, Nick, when are you gonna give your heart to Christ? And he looks at me and he says, you know, I've been seriously considering that. He says, I'm gonna give myself to Christ when I work on myself enough to make myself good enough to give myself to him. And I said, let me tell you something. You're an idolater. Now friends can say that. You're an idolater, Nick. What do you mean? I said, you're trying to give God something that he's not even asking you for. You're creating a way of salvation that is based on your works. And in reality, Nicky, what it is saying is, you will never be saved. Because as long as you try to make yourself good enough for Jesus, you will fail. And you need to understand what grace is. What grace is, is God's undeserved, his unmerited favor that he gives to you when you as a sinner turn from your wicked ways, turn to him, confess and say, God, be merciful to me. It isn't something you can do to prepare yourself for him. It's something he's done so that you can be with him. You cannot make yourself good enough for God. That's why God said to his son, Jesus Christ, for if righteousness came by the law, Christ has died in vain. And so I can't make myself right before God. It has to be something God did on my behalf. And that's what Jesus is saying here, paid in full, redemption is taken care of. I have done it and I paid the price. And what I'm to do is receive by faith this act of grace that God has given to me so that I can be saved. I am most miserable in my sin. I live in spiritual darkness. You know, sometimes we hear people give their testimonies. On occasion I give portions of mine, but you only hear the portions of the testimony that the people are comfortable sharing with everybody. My children know my testimony, but they really don't know the whole story. There is a testimony that only God and I know. That's the testimony, that's the true testimony. Because as evil as I have been in front of some, God knows how evil I have been in front of him. He knows the whole story, the thoughts, the words, the deeds, the desires, the impulses. He knows them all. And yet when I came to faith in Christ as you, when you came to Jesus Christ, the blood of Christ his Son cleansed us from all sin. Washed us clean and made us new. And so the cry of the victor, paid in full, is applied to salvation and redemption. And secondly, we know that according to Luke 23, 46, Jesus called out with a loud voice, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. These words are taken from Psalm 31, verse five. Into your hand I commit, into your hand I entrust my spirit. And what is beautiful about this is these words have formed part of the evening prayers for centuries and may have done so for the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, during the time of Christ, it is very possible that the Jewish children who were taught their evening prayers would actually lay their head on the pillow at night and they would be closing their day as they were about to go to sleep by saying, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. Now sometimes we've taught our children evening prayers and we'll say to them, say your prayers and as they're going to bed and all. And now I lay me down to sleep and all of that. And when you think about that kind of prayer, now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep. Well, that's cool, but how about if I die before I wake? What kind of kid wants to hear that before he goes to sleep? If I die, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. The children would pray that, did so for centuries as they put their head down and were about to go to sleep. Father, I pray and I commit my spirit to you. What is so touching is that Jesus prayed this prayer as he laid his head on the cross. As he was accustomed to pray every night, he prayed now for the last time. And he died with a psalm on his lips as he gently, peacefully and willingly died. The little boy who would place his head on a pillow and say, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. He used a cross, a rough cross as a pillow as he laid his head back. And one last time prayed to you I commit my spirit. And the Bible tells us that Jesus cried out with a loud voice and he breathed his last. Matthew once again gives us greater insight in Matthew 27.50. Matthew said, Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and he yielded up his spirit. That word yielded means to send away or to dismiss. When he says he cried out with a loud voice, it gives to us insight into that. This was the moment where it all was done, it was all finished, that was as much suffering as he was going to endure. And he did it with a strong voice showing us that he still has strength in his body. It wasn't a whimper and it wasn't a moan, it was a loud triumphant voice. And he dismissed his spirit. He said to a spirit, go. When you see people who are about to die, very often when they're in their last moments of life, they are not dismissing their spirit of their own will, they're actually trying to keep their spirit by forcing themselves fighting to breathe at that last moment. But not so with the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said it is finished and he dismissed his spirit to the Lord. It's done, it's over. And he had victory. And when that happened according to verse 38, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. There was a veil in the Jewish temple that would separate two compartments in this temple. If you were looking at the temple, the temple was divided into two basic sections. You had the holy place and then you had what is called the holiest or the holy of holies. And what separated the holy place from the holiest of holies was a veil there. It was 60 feet long, it was 30 feet broad and it was as thick as a palm breath. And that veil was intended to remind man of his separation from God. Hebrews 9, 6 and 7 said the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room and that only once a year and never without blood which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. There was no way of entrance into that because that veil would make separation. It was intended to communicate that God was too holy and too pure and the only way to approach him would be to come with blood in an offering. But what you have here is an amazing thing. Verse 38, it says the veil of the temple was torn in two. Notice from top to bottom, God tore it. It's like heaven reached down to earth and took this veil and just ripped it open, ripped it open. And the holy place is now open to all who would come through Jesus. The holy place and the holiest of holies, we can enter in now through the blood of Christ. According to Hebrews 10, 19 and 20, we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way open for us through the curtain, that is his body. That's what's taking place on Good Friday. Jesus has gone through amazing things, terrible pain, beatings where they took him and they grabbed his beard and they took chunks of his beard, twisting and pulling out of his face his beard. They lacerated him as they whipped him, scourging him and opening his back. They placed him on a cross and as they nailed him to the cross and as he's breathing, as he attempted to breathe and that saddle, that seat that he would be seated on was sharpened and would dig into his back and he suffered like that and as he was tormented like that and the spit was on his face and his head swollen as he had hit him with a reed and placed that crown of thorns upon him. And as he looks and as he ministers and as he cries and he finally dies, the veil is torn open. Victory has been won. Access to God through Jesus has been granted and that's what makes Good Friday so good because we can approach Jesus Christ. You cannot enter into fellowship with a holy God if God has not forgiven you of your sins. You cannot have a relationship with a holy God based on works of righteousness that you have done because Isaiah reminds us all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We are all as an unclean thing and there's no way that any human being has ever been good enough to approach God. It takes God making the way to himself possible. He took upon himself my sin. It doesn't matter how many good deeds you try to do. It doesn't matter how many religious things have been done on your behalf. And I was four months old, my mom took me to a small church in Los Angeles right outside of Alvaro Street. It's called the Plaza Church. At the age of four months, mama took me there and I was baptized. When I was around seven, eight years old, I received my first communion. When I was 12, I received my confirmation. And when I was 13, I walked away from everything that I'd learned about God. When I was 15, I started drinking, 16, I started doing drugs and began stealing, lying and doing everything else that went along with the lifestyle that I chose. My mama would tell me when I was little that the place of peace that I would find was always next to her in church and that was true. My mom would take me to church as a little boy. I still remember going to church where I would be seated next to my mom and I would actually press my right arm. I always sat on her left side and I would press my right arm against my mother's left arm and I would lean against her and lean into my mom during mass as I was there in the Catholic Church as a little boy. At St. Pius the 10th church there in Santa Fe Springs. And that was the place of comfort for me. That was the place where I felt safest. That was the place where I felt closest. But because my mom was so ill and because my mom had gone through so much pain and because my mom was in such anger over the things she was going through, my mom had become abusive verbally and sometimes physically with her children to the point that the one person that we loved the most actually began to turn against us. So as a little boy I began to feel isolated. As a little boy I started thinking if the person that you love the most treats you like this there must not be anything on the earth that is really called love. And so when I got old enough I began to rebel and I did so with the vehemence. I did so with a passion. I wasn't the person who drank too much. I was a person who drank themselves almost to death. I was a person who didn't smoke just a joint. I would smoke as many as I could until I passed out. I was the person who would mix the reds with the alcohol and I would see how close to dying I actually could get. That was me. In so much need of attention and so much need I just didn't know what it was and then one day I was invited to go to a church service like perhaps some of you even tonight. And I went to a place called Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa and I drank some beer and I smoked some pot. I was barefooted. I was a hippie. I was 20 years old and I walked into the church expecting fully to be kicked out because if I'd have gone to St. Pius like that they would have escorted me out. They didn't do that there at this church. When I walked in I was strangely welcomed. The music was appealing to me but the guy who gave the Bible study, his name was Lonnie, the guy who gave the Bible study came out and he was a freakier looking hippie than I was. And as he gave a message of the grace and goodness of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ my heart was touched but I wasn't moved to receive Christ but I certainly became interested in what was going on there at this small church called Calvary Chapel. A few months later when my friend Bill who had invited me originally to go to Calvary Chapel once again invited me to go to a church service it was really not a church service it was what was called a Maranatha concert in Hollywood it was December 27th, 1970 when Bill invited me to go to this Maranatha concert he really was not telling me the complete truth it was not just a concert there was preaching of the word. And I went and as I listened to the music they had people ministering the Bible and in the midst of a few hours of listening and letting myself actually receive what was being said and beginning to think it through I was puzzling as to why I felt so different than the people around me because I had been raised religiously I could argue religiously I knew enough of my catechism to be able to hold my own in arguments when it came to religion but they had something I didn't have and I still remember at a certain point where the Holy Spirit began to minister to my heart in a very personal way and I remember it was like a conversation where God had said to my heart you're not comfortable and I remember responding by saying no I'm not and then it was like the voice spoke back to my heart and said why aren't you comfortable and I remember responding within myself saying I'm not like these people and then the voice that was speaking to me said and what makes you different and I said in return to that voice I'm not a Christian. That was the first time I ever said that I am not a Christian that's the first time I admitted that I thought I was admitting that to myself later on I find in John 16.8 that the Holy Spirit convicts a man of sin, righteousness and judgment and I didn't know it then but what that was is that was called the conviction of the Spirit of God God was having a personal conversation with me in a very real way I knew that I was not like these people there was something different about them you see just two days before on Christmas for me to celebrate Christmas it was to go out and get drunk and to smoke some pot I looked forward to it after I left my parents' house to go and get loaded and drunk that's what I wanted to do and that's what I did two days later there I am at this Hollywood Palladium listening to this man by the name of Arthur Blessed sharing the gospel and the Holy Spirit is speaking to my heart and saying what's the difference between you and these people and for the first time in my life I admitted I am not a Christian so when it came for that invitation when it came when the evangelist said I'm going to invite you to give your heart to Christ there were 4,000 of us that were all seated on the carpeted floor there and he said if you want to get saved today if you want to give your heart to Jesus stand to your feet and I remember as I had my eyes firmly closed and I was clasping my hands in front of me I remember saying Jesus I need you but I'm shy I can't stand in front of anybody but if somebody were to stand with me I would stand Arthur Blessed sooner had I finished saying if someone stood with me I would stand Arthur Blessed says perhaps you're afraid to stand by yourself but if somebody stood with you would you stand and my friend George who was seated next to me tapped me on the shoulder and said to me if you want to stand David I will stand with you and that's how I got saved he tapped my shoulder I knew it was the hand of the Lord through my friend George and that's how I got saved I stood up I stood up and I've been standing up ever since for Jesus Christ because he is worthy I went home my sister Madeline got saved that night I shared with her I have a sister named Madeline she got saved three weeks later I led my mom and my dad to faith in Christ a couple of years later three years later my brother Frank came to faith in Christ and then finally in 1998 my sister Rebecca came to faith in Jesus Christ I started a Bible study in Norwalk in September of 1973 in September of 1974 after my brother got saved I started a Bible study in Ontario my brother invited friends a young woman by the name of Marie came Marie got saved in my Bible study two weeks after attending the first one needed discipling and so I married her God has been good God has been good God can take and transform the most vile sinner there is not a single sin you have ever committed that the blood of Jesus Christ cannot cleanse it requires humility it requires faith it requires a confession it requires a request God be merciful to me a sinner and the Bible says that if you come to Christ he will in no wise cast you aside and if any man be in Christ he's a new creation old things are passed away behold all things are become new and that's the truth all things are become new on two different Easter's over the years I've had people who knew me in my former life come to this church and didn't know that I was a pastor in this church and two different times two different people have approached me and said oh I brought a friend here today to hear you pastor David I said really yeah you know him he went to high school with you and when you came walking out to preach he turned to me and said I don't believe a word he's saying because I know what he was like this is a con he's conning you that's happened twice now he's conning you because I was crazy because they knew me as crazy that was my reputation there's no way that man has changed he could not have changed but yes you can change because God can transform you from the inside out God has a way of doing that absolutely there's no doubt about it my sister Rebecca spent 27 years as a lesbian but Jesus Christ made her made her whole and complete she walked out of lesbianism and has been following Jesus since 1998 God can forgive every sin there's not a single sin that he cannot cleanse we need to understand that and that's what Jesus Christ came to do and so here we are on Good Friday the Lord Jesus Christ dies on a cross but he dies by saying it is finished father into thy hands I commit my spirit he dismisses his spirit be gone spirit and Jesus Christ has done it all for us what we need to do is simply receive by faith that which is offered to us and he will do his work in us