good friday...

My heart mourns and rejoices on this great and terrible day. It is this day that we Christians look to the cross of our King and stare at the awful penalty of our sin. The judgment and destruction I so truly deserve as one who has committed treason against my King has been poured out upon Jesus.

For those who would like to take some time to meditate on the cross during this Good Friday, I recommend what I hold in my heart as the greatest sermon I have ever heard. Check it out here.

On this Good Friday I encourage and challenge you to wrestle with the King who was murdered that you might be pardoned. You and I have turned our hearts from worshiping the King of heaven and chosen to worship worthless things, and more particularly ourselves. We spit in the face of our creator on a regular basis. His response is to come and take the wrath we deserve for these actions.

My glorious king, thank you for your mercy extended to me. Cause the world to see the glory of the cross that they might truly understand the joy of the resurrection. To you be glory in the earth forever.

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After making this post I stumbled across this quote on another blog and found it very worthy of inclusion here:

To put it bluntly and plainly, if Christ is not my Substitute, I still occupy the place of a condemned sinner. If my sins and my guilt are not transferred to Him, if he did not take them upon Himself, then surely they remain with me. If He did not deal with my sins, I must face their consequences. If my penalty was not borne by Him, it still hangs over me. There is no other possibility.--The Cross in the New Testament by Leon Morris