Good Friday 2026

Good Friday 2026

Welcome:

Good evening, church family. I am so glad that you are here at Eastern Shore Baptist Church on this sacred Good Friday. Tonight, we gather to remember.

Roughly two thousand years ago historians tell us that Jesus hung on a cross. He was crucified as a common criminal. He had been tried, convicted, tortured, hands nailed to wooden crossbar and feet nailed to a vertical beam. Jesus hung naked, dehydrated, bloody and beaten for six hours. The last 3 hours of the ordeal was marked with supernatural darkness that fell across the land. Jesus died. We know that Jesus died because the Biblical narratives all claim the same thing. Jesus is dead. We also know that Jesus died because of extra Biblical, non Christian contemporary historians reported that Jesus had died. We know that Jesus gave up His Spirit on Friday. This day is marked throughout history as Good Friday. We call it “good” only because we know the rest of the story. However, for Jesus’ followers, this was not a day of celebration. It was a day marked by sorrow, confusion, and deep darkness. In many ways, it was the darkest day the world had ever known.

Jesus is dead. It appears that Satan has won. 

Everything is now lost. The hope of humanity vanished. The way to the Father is now closed. The promise of eternal life slipped through their fingers.

Jesus’ followers must have felt the crushing weight of grief. 

They were probably embarrassed. They had all left careers and families to follow this itinerant Rabbi who would now be lost to history. Now they would have to go home, tails tucked between their legs and admit that they were all foolish. They wasted their time. They wasted their lives. 

They would become laughing stocks. They would be forever mocked and jeered.

The disciples had lost their Teacher, their Leader, their Friend. Mary had lost far more than a son. She was left holding the weight of grief and the questions that must have flooded her heart. What about the promise? What about the words spoken to her so many years before?

Luke records that moment for us:

Luke 1:30–33 NLT

“Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

Back then, Mary asked, “How can this be?”

On this day, standing at the foot of the cross or somewhere in the shadows of grief, the question must have changed. How can this promise still be true… now that He is gone? Her son was dead. Had the angel lied? Did she experience some hallucination? Was she just as much a fool for believing as Jesus’ disciples?

For all those who had encountered Jesus, everything felt shattered. Mary and Martha. Lazarus. Mary Magdalene. The Roman centurion. The Samaritan woman. The one forgiven in the street. Every life He had touched now faced the same painful reality. The One who healed, who restored, who forgave… was gone. Dead.

From a human perspective, it looked like darkness had won. It seemed as though evil had the final word.

Even creation responded. The sky grew dark. The earth shook. Rocks split. Tombs opened. All of it pointing to the weight and wonder of what had just taken place.

This was a heavy, heartbreaking day.

Church…we know something they did not fully understand in that moment.

Sunday is coming.

Sunday will bring victory.

Sunday will restore what was lost.

Sunday will answer every question raised on Friday.

Sunday will silence every voice of doubt and defeat.

Sunday, the stone will not stay in place.

On Sunday, the grave will not hold its prisoner.

On Sunday, Jesus will stand alive, and everything will change.

Tears will turn to joy.

Fear will give way to faith.

Confusion will be replaced with clarity.

The King was not defeated, He was accomplishing redemption.

The cross was not failure, it was fulfillment.

Sin was being crushed.

Death was being conquered.

Hope did not die that day, it was secured.

So tonight, we pause and we remember the cost. We feel the weight of the cross. We reflect on His body broken and His blood poured out.

Friends, we do not gather as people without hope. We come as people who know the rest of the story.

Why?

Because Sunday changes everything.

Instructions:

Before we come to the table tonight, let me share with you a handful of instructions.

Communion is one of two ordinances that we observe here at Eastern Shore Baptist Church, the other being believer’s baptism. These two ordinances are sacred. They point us directly to Jesus, His perfect obedience, His sinless life, His sacrificial death, His victorious resurrection, and the promise that He is coming again.

At ESBC, we practice what is often called open communion. That simply means if you are here tonight and you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you are seeking to walk in obedience to Him, and if you are connected to a local body of believers, then you are welcome at this table. We are thankful you are here and honored to share this moment with you.

Before we take the bread and the cup, Scripture calls us to pause and look inward. We are to examine our hearts, confess our sin, and submit ourselves again to the authority of Christ. The Apostle Paul gives us this instruction in 1 Corinthians 11:26–31:

1 Corinthians 11:26–31 NLT

For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again. [27] So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. [28] That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. [29] For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. [30] That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. [31] But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.

So tonight, let’s examine ourselves. Let’s pray together. Let’s slow down, quiet our hearts, and come before the Lord with humility.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father,

In this holy moment, we come before You and ask You to search our hearts. You see what no one else can see. You know every thought, every motive, every hidden place within us.

Lord, we confess our sin to You. Not trying to justify it, not trying to hide it, but laying it down at the foot of the cross. We admit our need for Your forgiveness and Your cleansing grace.

Thank You that Your mercy meets us right here. Thank You that Your grace is greater than our failures. Thank You for Jesus, for His body that was broken and His blood that was poured out so that we could be made right with You.

Father, as we take the bread and the cup tonight, help us to do so with reverence and gratitude. Remind us of the price that was paid. Fix our eyes on the cross. Strengthen our hearts to walk in obedience.

We remember. We honor. We proclaim.

We do all of this in the powerful name of Jesus,

Amen.

Message:

Tonight, we return to 1 Corinthians 11, to the words of the Apostle Paul written to the church.

Paul is addressing a serious issue. To the Corinthian Church, the Lord’s Supper had become casual and careless in their hands. What was meant to be a moment of worship had turned into self-indulgence. Some were overeating, others were drinking to excess, and the heart behind the supper had been twisted and turned into something it was never meant to be.

Paul writes to correct them, calling them back, reminding them that this is not just a meal, it is a memorial. It is a holy moment that demands reverence. He even warns them that continuing in this careless way would invite the very judgment of God.

It is important for us to remember something here. Paul was not physically present in that upper room on the night Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. He was not seated at the table when the bread was broken and the cup was passed.

So where did this come from?

Paul tells us, “I pass on to you what I received.” Much of what he shares was handed down from those who were there, the apostles, the eyewitnesses. Men like Peter, James, and John who sat with Jesus that night. Men who saw it, heard it, and never forgot it. Paul spent time with them, learned from them, and no doubt asked them to recount every detail of that sacred evening.

Now, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul brings that moment to us.

It’s as if the Bible becomes a Time Machine that takes us all back to that moment where Jesus breaks the bread and drinks from the cup. Paul is doing his level best to put us back into that moment. Can you see the room? Can you see the table? There are the disciples. There is Jesus at the head of the table. The weight of what is about to happen is in the air.

Tonight, as we read these words, do not just hear them. Step into the moment. Picture the room. See the faces. Watch as Jesus takes the bread and lifts the cup.

Let’s stand together as we read what Paul passed on to the church, beginning in 1 Corinthians 11:23.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NLT

For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread [24] and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” [25] In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people-an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” [26] For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.

The Bread:

It was January 2nd, 2007, in a crowded subway station in New York City. A man named Cameron Hollopeter suddenly collapsed onto the tracks after suffering a seizure.

There were people around Cameron when he fell but none were willing to take the risk to rescue the man. The train was coming. The lights were visible. The rumble of the tracks grew louder. If someone were to dive in to save the seizing man, they may die trying to rescue him. Everyone just watched. Everyone waited. 

There was no way Cameron Hollopeter could save himself.

A construction worker named Wesley Autrey was standing nearby with his two young daughters. In a split second, he made a decision. He didn’t run. He didn’t freeze.

He jumped.

Autrey leapt off the platform, onto the tracks, and covered Cameron’s body with his own. He pressed him down into a small drainage trench between the rails and laid on top of him as the train passed overhead.

The train rolled over them. Inches above them.

When it was over, both men were alive.

Autrey later said he wasn’t thinking about himself. He just knew someone needed help, and he acted.

I think you see where this is going.

John 15:13 NLT

“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

That man on the tracks had no ability to save himself. The danger was immediate. The outcome was certain.

Wesley Autrey stepped in. He used his own body to shield another man from what would have surely taken his life.

Friends, that is a picture, just a picture, of what Jesus has done for us.

Sin is not small. 

Sin is not harmless. 

Sin is deadly. 

It places us on the tracks of God’s judgment with no ability to move, no ability to rescue ourselves.

Jesus saw us.

He did not stay at a distance. He did not shout instructions from heaven. 

“Hey somebody get down there to save that fella!”

No! Jesus stepped into our world.

Jesus did way more than cover us. He became our substitute.

2 Corinthians 5:21

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus placed Himself between us and the full weight of God’s wrath. He took what we could not survive. He endured what we deserved.

His body was given… for us.

He became our Savior.

He became our Substitute.

He became our Shield.

Friends, are you thankful tonight for the sacrifice of Jesus? Are you grateful that He stepped in when we could not step out?

Thanks be to Jesus, we are no longer condemned. We are no longer outsiders. We have been brought near. We are adopted, forgiven, made new.

The bread reminds us of more than just His sacrifice. It reminds us that He alone satisfies the deepest need of our soul.

Matthew 5:6 ESV

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

The Bread Passed

Luke 22:19 (NIV)

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

They ate the bread. 

The Cup:

I want to take you back, not just to Calvary, but all the way to the beginning.

Back to a garden.

In the Garden of Eden, God placed Adam and Eve in a perfect world. There was no sin, no suffering, no death. Everything existed in harmony just as God intended. In the middle of that garden, however, God placed a tree.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

That tree was not evil. That tree was purposeful. That tree was necessary.

Love requires a choice. Love cannot be forced. Love cannot be programmed. Love must be freely given. For humanity to truly love God, humanity needed the ability to choose otherwise.

God, in His wisdom, gave that choice.

Genesis 2:16–17 (ESV)

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’”

That tree represented a decision. Trust God or reject Him. Walk in obedience or pursue self-rule.

Adam and Eve chose disobedience. Sin entered the world in that moment. Death followed immediately. Fellowship with God was broken. Creation itself was fractured.

One tree introduced the curse.

Now consider another tree.

Not located in a garden, but raised on a hill called Calvary.

Jesus hangs on that tree.

1 Peter 2:24 (ESV)

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

The connection is unmistakable.

The first tree brought sin into the world.

The second tree bore sin for the world.

The first tree resulted in death.

The second tree provides life.

The first tree revealed rebellion.

The second tree revealed redemption.

At Calvary, blood was shed. Not symbolic blood. Not repeated sacrifices. The blood of the Son of God poured out.

Hebrews 9:22 (ESV)

“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

You probably have never heard the name Arland D. Williams Jr. Mr. Williams was a native of Illinois. His buddies nicknamed him “Chub” because when he was a kid he was on the heavier side. He grew up, graduated from high school. He served in the military for two years after graduating from the Citadel. He became a bank examiner. There was nothing particularly special about Arland D. Williams. No one would even know his name if not for January 13th 1982. 

On that day, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the icy waters of the Potomac River. Arland D. Williams was on that flight. Rescue helicopters arrived and began lowering lifelines to the survivors. Williams, reached for the rope. He could have taken it and saved himself. Instead, he handed it to someone else.

The helicopter came back again. The same thing happened. He gave it away.

Again and again, he passed his chance at life to another person. Arland D. Williams chose to say in the icy cold waters so that complete strangers could pass over him to salvation and security. 

Finally, everyone had been rescued. Everyone but Arland Williams. 

By the time rescuers returned for him, he was gone.

He gave his life so others could live.

President Ronald Reagan announced that a 46-year-old bank examiner from Atlanta was the “mystery hero” of 1982’s Air Florida crash. The man who passed a lifeline to others before drowning in the ice-covered Potomac River.

The Citadel to this day remembers the bravery and sacrifice of Arland Williams. A scholarship in William’s name is awarded each year to a student who demonstrates bravery, courage, and endurance. A portrait of Williams hangs prominently in the University Center of that institution.  

Arland Williams sacrifice reminds us of Jesus. Every drop of Jesus’ blood tells that same story, only greater. No hesitation. No second thought. No holding back.

Every drop satisfied the justice of God. Every wound opened the way back to the Father. The curse introduced in Eden was being addressed at the cross.

Galatians 3:13 (ESV)

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…”

Jesus succeeded where Adam failed. Jesus chose obedience where humanity chose sin. Jesus offered Himself so that we could be restored.

The cup in your hand represents that sacrifice. His blood was not spilled accidentally. His blood was poured out intentionally.

Jesus received the cup of wrath so that we could receive the cup of grace.

Forgiveness is found in His blood. Cleansing is found in His blood. New life is found in His blood.

The Cup Passed

Luke 22:20 (NIV)

In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

The drank from the cup. 

Closing Prayer:

Heavenly Father,

We stand in awe of what we have just remembered. The cross is not light. The cross is not simple. The cross is where sin was judged and grace was given.

Tonight, we have seen again the cost. The body of Jesus broken in our place. The blood of Jesus poured out for our sin. The weight of our rebellion placed on His shoulders. The wrath that we deserved, He willingly received.

Father, thank You for Your Son. Thank You for Jesus who stepped in when we could not step out. Thank You that when we were helpless, You made a way. Thank You that when we were dead in our sin, You gave us life through the sacrifice of Christ.

Lord, let this not be a moment we forget when we walk out of this room. Let the reality of the cross shape the way we live, the way we love, and the way we follow You. Give us hearts that are humble, lives that are obedient, and a faith that is bold.

For those in this room who know You, stir our gratitude. Deepen our devotion. Remind us that we have been bought with a price.

For anyone here tonight who has never trusted in Jesus, draw them to Yourself. Open their eyes to see their need. Give them the courage to respond. Let tonight be the night that they move from death to life, from lost to found, from condemned to forgiven.

Father, we leave here with hope. Not because Friday was easy, but because Sunday is coming.

We love You. We worship You. We thank You.

In the mighty and saving name of Jesus,

Amen.