Good Friday: The Cross, Your Guilt, & The Life You Must Lose

Summary

Podcast Summary: Wretched Radio with Todd Friel

Episode Title: Good Friday: The Cross, Your Guilt, & The Life You Must Lose
Date: April 3, 2026
Host: Todd Friel (with Jimmy Hicks and Fortis Institute contributors)
Podcast: Wretched Radio

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Episode Overview

This special Good Friday episode is a deep and passionate meditation on the meaning of the cross in Christianity, focusing on Christ’s excruciating crucifixion, God’s hatred of sin, the radical display of divine love, and the call for listeners to die to self and receive new life. Todd Friel, with vivid and sometimes graphic detail, walks listeners through the prophetic significance, the medical and historical realities of crucifixion, and the profound theological implications for every person.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Cross as the Center of Christianity

• The cross is the overarching theme throughout the Bible and the foundation of Christianity.
• Without the cross, “there’s no answer to anything” (00:13).
• The cross is where God’s love and His hatred of sin collide most powerfully.

The Meaning of "Excruciate" & The Suffering of Christ

• The English word "excruciating" comes from "the cross" (Latin: ex cruciate), underscoring the agony Christ suffered physically and spiritually (00:53–01:30).
• Good Friday is described as "good and yet horrific...horrible, and yet it is beautiful" (00:53).

God’s Hatred of Sin and His Love for Sinners

• Friel emphasizes repeatedly: “God hates sin...He can whack them on the spot. And if nothing else, he's going to kill him and send them to hell forever. That's how much he hates it.” (03:15)
• The Ten Commandments serve as God’s standard; breaking even one is enough for judgment.
• The cross is ultimately where both God’s wrath against sin and unfathomable love for sinners are revealed.
• “He says, I love you so much. I’m going to come down off of my bench and I’m going to take the punishment...” (05:40)

The Prophecies and Fulfillment in Christ’s Death

• The crucifixion was prophesied 700 years before the event.
• Friel draws heavily from Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 as both medical and spiritual descriptions of the Messiah’s suffering and purpose (02:00, 15:30, 29:40).

The Brutality and Shame of the Crucifixion

• Medical account of the scourging, mocking, and crucifixion:
  • Use of Roman flagellum/cat-o-nine-tails (15:00)
  • Stripping, shame, and public mocking
  • The physical trauma: “according to one expert, it didn’t get lacerated like Mel Gibson showed. It got ripped and it went through the muscles, and their organs would fall out of their backs.” (15:47)
  • Blood loss, dehydration, and pain described in explicit medical terms
  • Nails through wrists/feet, likely through Achilles tendon; the agony of breathing (18:50)
  • Cause of death most likely suffocation after hours of excruciating agony (29:30, 39:29)

The Uniqueness and Offense of the Cross

• Crucifixion seen as the most disgraceful death in the ancient world; reserved for “the scum of the earth” (32:20–36:10).
• Both Jewish and Roman cultures found the idea of a crucified God absurd or offensive; yet for Christians, it is “the center of our faith.”
• Early preaching focused almost exclusively on the cross—despite its offensiveness—because that is where salvation was purchased.

The Call to Die to Self

• Christianity is described as the “hardest religion in the world” because true discipleship means dying to self (44:00).
• “If you want to die with Jesus Christ so that he can give you new life...you’ve got to let the law kill you.” (46:00)
• Repentance is not just a prayer or a feeling but a spiritual death and rebirth: “Let the Law show you what a wretch you are. And then look at his kindness and let it kill you and die to yourself. Then put your trust in Jesus Christ.” (51:10)
• If one hasn’t experienced true repentance and transformation, “You haven’t died yet...Grace isn’t amazing to you. It’s only intriguing because you don’t understand what a wretch you are.” (50:36)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Todd Friel [00:13]:
  “There’s no Christianity without the cross. There’s no answer to anything.”
• Todd Friel [01:10]:
  “Good Friday...it is good and yet it is horrific. It is horrible, and yet it is beautiful.”
• Todd Friel [03:05]:
  “God poured out his anger and his wrath that day on his only beloved son. Why? He hates sin as much as you can hate or as much as you can love anything.”
• Todd Friel [05:40]:
  “But instead of doing that, he stands up, walks off of the bench, takes off his robe, wraps it around you and says, but I’m going to pay the fine for you.”
• Todd Friel [29:40]:
  "He was despised and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried. It was our sorrows that weighed him down...But he was wounded and crushed. For our sins that God hates."
• Todd Friel [44:00]:
  “Christianity is the hardest religion on the planet. Islam, piece of cake...Christianity, hard, very hard. Why? Because you have to die. You have to die to yourself. You have to be crucified with Christ.”
• Todd Friel [51:10]:
  "Let the Law show you what a wretch you are. And then look at his kindness and let it kill you and die to yourself. Then put your trust in Jesus Christ."
• Todd Friel [53:10]: (Paraphrasing the closing hymn)
  “When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died... Oh, the wonderful cross...that I may truly live.”

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Important Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:13 – The centrality of the cross begins
• 01:10 – Excruciating pain of the cross and meaning of "excruciate"
• 03:05 - 07:00 – God’s wrath, the Law, substitutionary atonement
• 14:57 – 21:00 – Medical/scientific detail of scourging & crucifixion
• 29:29 – 36:10 – Shame and horror of crucifixion in ancient culture
• 39:29 – 43:58 – Medical cause of death, biblical prophecy, and significance
• 44:00 – 51:10 – The cross and the necessity of dying to self/repentance
• 53:10 – Closing hymn "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross"

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Theological Takeaways

• The cross is not merely an event but the essence of Christianity, demonstrating both God’s just wrath and extravagant love.
• True conversion involves a deep awareness of one’s sinfulness, a dying to self, and a new birth in Christ.
• The gospel is not about happiness or self-fulfillment but about being made righteous before God.
• Grace is only truly amazing when one grasps both the horror of sin and the price paid at Calvary.
• The call is urgent: “Today is the day of your salvation...pull off of the road, pour out your heart to God and put your trust in Jesus Christ.” (52:45)

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Final Reflections

Todd Friel’s Good Friday message is a mix of sobering detail, urgent warning, and a heartfelt plea to respond personally to the message of the cross. The episode powerfully reminds listeners of the physical and spiritual agony Christ endured, the gravity of God’s holiness, and the joy and cost of true discipleship. This is a Good Friday reflection that cuts through sentimentality and gently (but firmly) presses every listener toward the foot of the cross.

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Transcript

[Todd Friel]

Foreign.

[Wretched Radio Announcer]

Radio begins in 3, 2, 1.

[Congregational Singer]

It's about the cross.

[Todd Friel]

It's about my sin. Cross is the reigning theme from one end of the Bible to the other. There's no Christianity without the cross. There's no answer to anything.

[Jimmy Hicks]

Without the cross, Christ died and his death is sufficient for my sin. And I will spend eternity with him in glory.

[Todd Friel]

Don't look to material blessings as evidence or token of God. Look to the cross. You want to understand what the love of God is all about? You don't need to open up a theological dictionary. You simply look at Calvary. It's at that place that the love of God was most radically put on display. There is where you define the love of God. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son.

[Wretched Radio Announcer]

It's time for Wretched Radio with Todd Friel.

[Todd Friel]

Today's word is excruciate. Do you know what the word excruciate means? Hello? Today is the day that our God died. It is Good Friday and it is good and yet it is horrific. It is horrible, and yet it is beautiful. It is all of those things and way more all wrapped into one. It was excruciating. In fact, we get the word excruciate from the cross. It's a Latin word. Ex out of, cruciate, cross out of the cross. When you think excruciate, you think horrible pain. No better personified exemplified than on the cross. That is how somebody died on a cross in excruciating pain. Our God died today. What happened there? Today we are going to fix our eyes on our God, on Jesus, the author, the perfecter of our faith. As Hebrews tell us who, for the joy set before him, endured the excruciating cross, scorning its shame. And then he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. What happened that day on the cross? If you can understand what happened that day on the cross 2000 years ago, your life will never be the same. I'm telling you, this is the core issue. This is it. This is everything. Let's go back. Let's go way back in time and figure out what happened there. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was prophesied by 700 years before it actually happened. That this person would be beaten would be hideous in his appearance because he was throttled so badly at the hands of man and that he would be dying a horrible death. And it pleased God to do that. It pleased God to do that to Jesus Christ. Why? Why did it please God to see somebody Suffer his own son. Suffer so horribly? It's because he hates sin. God poured out his anger and his wrath that day on his only beloved son. Why? He hates sin as much as you can hate or as much as you can love anything. You do not understand and comprehend how much God hates sin. God kills people for sin. He can whack them on the spot. And if nothing else, he's going to kill him and send them to hell forever. That's how much he hates it. Does Hell go on forever? Better believe it does. That's what it says. It's everlasting torment. Well, that seems mean. Well, you don't understand how much God hates sin. He hates it a lot. No better example do we have of God's hatred for sin than that day on the cross. You see, God gave a set of rules. They're called the Ten Commandments. It's his perfect representation of his perfect character and his nature. For you to go to heaven with God, you got two ways of getting there. First way, keep those 10 Commandments. Be perfect. You done that? Have you kept those 10 Commandments? Yeah. You haven't? Guess what? God, the just judge of all the world, is going to judge all people according to what they have done. And he is going to pour out his anger and his wrath on everyone who practices evil deeds, who refuses to repent and who lives for themselves. There will be trouble and calamity on that day because he hates sin. Your little white lie. God sees all lies as sin. You can mask it, you can package it. You can put a little pretty bow on your white lie. And God hates it. And he'll send you to hell in a heartbeat for that one sin. If you're being honest with yourself, you got way more than one. He hates it. He hates it. Now, there's another way you can get to heaven if you haven't kept those commandments. You can have somebody satisfy God's anger, his just, righteous anger, because he's going to pour out his anger on you. Or he could pour it on somebody else. Somebody else could pay the fine for you just as if you were standing in a courtroom. And the judge, the just judge says, I have found you guilty. You are an offense to the state. You are an offense to the laws. You've offended me with your behavior and your careless attitude toward the law. And I'm going to send you away forever. I have the right. I have the authority. I have the power. And I am right for doing it. But instead of doing that, he stands up, walks off of the bench takes off his robe, wraps it around you and says, but I'm going to pay the fine for you. I'm going to pay the fine for you. It's exactly what Jesus Christ did 2000 years ago. He came down from heaven, the just judge who will judge you someday came down from heaven and said, I'll pay the fine for you. And he took the anger and the wrath that God should pour out on you and he poured it out on his only begotten, beloved son, Jesus Christ. That's what happened. God hates sin. But amazingly, because he loves you and he loves me. And I can't figure out for the life of me why. I cannot figure out for the life of me why. Think of those secret sins. Think of the stuff that goes on in your brain. Think of the stuff that you've thought about. How's about the time you spend on the Internet? How's about the thoughts when that babe walked by at the office? How's about madam watching that soap opera? How's about just those thoughts alone? And yet somehow, despite all of that, he says, I love you so much. I'm going to come down off of my bench and I'm going to take the punishment to satisfy my judgment, my justice, my laws will be filled, justice will be satisfied because I'm going to pay the punishment for you. That is the message of the cross. And if you do not know it and your walk has been in and out and hot and cold, you don't get it. There's two things you must remember. God hates sin, but he loves you. And there's no better place to understand that. There's no better place to get a handle on that than to go to the cross. 2000 years ago this day, Good Friday, when Jesus Christ, God himself, died for you. What happened there? I want you to consider before we get to the cross. The health of Jesus Christ. Most people think that Jesus Christ, you know, blond haired, blue eyed, six feet tall. Wrong probably. According to these people who go back and they figure out based on the size of the skulls of people who lived that time, their bones, Jesus would be considered short in our day. Average in his day, about five, two, that's it. Short hair, dark hair, probably curly and not a good looking man because the Bible tells us there was nothing beautiful about him. Nothing to attract us to him, nothing. Boy, in our, our day and age when we get so attracted to the good looking people, nothing about him. Average looking fellow. I'm telling you something else. He was a man. He was a man's. Man, he was a carpenter. He was in not only good health, but he was strong, he walked a lot, he was in good shape and he was tough. That was our Jesus. He had to have been. For what he endured, you need to know the night before he was crucified, in the morning that he was crucified, he was forced to walk 2.5 miles in chains around town. When was the last time you went walking two and a half miles? You were pooped, weren't you? After, after two and a half miles, man, you're done. Jesus did it without sleep and with a whole lot of stuff going on on his brain. Luke 22:44. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When Jesus was in Gethsemane before his trials began, he was stressed. He entered this day healthy, but he begins it stressed, with a stress that you, you and I can't get it. The only place in the King James version of the Bible where the word agony is used, right here. And the Greek word for agony, you should know, means to be engaged in combat. So Jesus is engaged in combat about what he is going to go through and go through what he does. You need to know that when the Bible says that he sweated great drops of blood, it's true. Let me give you two examples of this happening. The medical term for it is hemohidrosis. Here's how it works. The capillaries around the sweat pores become fragile and leak blood into the sweat. A case history is recorded in which a young girl who had a fear of air raids in World War I developed the condition after a gas explosion incurred in the house next door. Here's another report. A nun who, as she was threatened with death by the swords of the enemy soldiers, was so terrified that she bled from every part of her body and died of hemorrhage in the sight of her assailants. And it happens. And it was happening to Jesus because he was in agony. He was in combat. There was a spiritual war going on. He was stressed and then he was walking. Have you ever been called before a judge? Speeding ticket, whatever. You go to that room, man, you sit there sick to your stomach, don't you? That's over a speeding ticket, that's over a misdemeanor. Nothing. Oh, something worse. Maybe they're going to send you to jail. Nothing. Compared to the trial that Jesus was facing. This was life or death. And he knew it was death. And he knew the type of death he's walking, he's stressed, he's sweating drops of blood. He's standing in trial, multiple trials, by the way. And after Pontius Pilate has said, which do you want, Jesus or Barabbas? And the crowd screams, Barabbas had to break his heart. Do you remember Jesus Christ just a few days earlier, came riding into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives on a colt, humbly, in peace, a king. People were cheering him, they were applauding for him. Josephus says there might have been over two and a half million people in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover. So when Jesus came entering in and they praised him and they threw palm branches before him and sang hosannas, it could have been hundreds of thousands of people. And what was Jesus doing? Crying for people he loved, who refused him, who didn't get it. The people who were singing his praises, they didn't get it. They were wanting a political king and it was breaking Jesus heart. The night culminates now with the people screaming, give us that thug. Heartbreaking. And so he gets handed over to be beaten and crucified. We're going to continue taking a look at the excruciating death of Jesus Christ because once we get this, everything changes. And it happened 2,000 years ago. Today on Good Friday,

[Fortis Institute Promoter]

ask most Christians what they know about hermeneutics and you'll likely get. Herman, who? That sounds like somebody's uncle. Is that the guy that always comes and just stays quiet in the back of the small group? Hermeneutics is actually the art and science of interpreting scripture. And if you don't know how to do it rightly, you're going to read the Bible wrongly. Worse, you're actually going to be an easy target for every false teacher with a podcast and a proof text. Herman, who is basically a master's level education in how to read the Bible correctly and it's condensed into something that you can actually finish. You'll learn how to interpret a 2000 year old book in a 21st century world without twisting it into something it was never meant to say. By the end of it, you'll never read scripture the same way again. And you'll never have the wool pulled over your eyes by someone who sounds confident but doesn't know what they're talking about. Herman, who it is streaming right now for free on Fortis. Download the app on your smartphone, on your smart TV, or just simply go to fortisplus.org no retreat. That's the name of Fortis Institute's Spring

[Jimmy Hicks]

Match campaign And here's why. The culture we live in right now

[Fortis Institute Promoter]

has made it pretty clear it has

[Jimmy Hicks]

very little interest in the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[Fortis Institute Promoter]

We're being told to keep our faith

[Jimmy Hicks]

quiet in public or to soften what

[Fortis Institute Promoter]

we believe so it goes down easier.

[Jimmy Hicks]

Fortis Institute has no intention of doing either one. We exist to advance the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and this spring we're doing it as loudly and as boldly as we know how. Your gift will help launch two new podcasts. It puts Todd Friel's new book, Go Serve youe King into print through HarperCollins and and it puts the gospel back onto college campuses where it's least welcome and most needed. Our goal is $250,000, and we're asking if you would prayerfully consider helping us get there. You can find out more right [e-mail]

[Fortis Institute Promoter]

donate thanks for listening to Wretched Radio today. Look, here's something that I've noticed, and maybe you have, too, but it's really easy for us to treat our faith sometimes like a category. Sunday is Sunday.

[Jimmy Hicks]

Work is work.

[Fortis Institute Promoter]

Parenting is parenting. And somewhere in there you try to be a Christian. But it doesn't always feel like it's all connected. That's why Dr. Jon Kratz and his podcast Integrated is so incredibly important. Dr. Kratz is a pastor, he's an author, he's a biblical counselor, and he's a Fortis Institute fellow and the host of Integrated. And he is helping people see how scripture speaks to every part of their life. Not just the spiritual stuff, but the practical, everyday. How do I actually live this stuff out? And if what we're doing at Fortis Institute has been a source of encouragement for you, I want to ask you to consider joining us as an ongoing monthly gospel partner. Help us continue producing content just like Integrated that connects the dots. Go to fortisinstitute.org right now and find out how to join us. Wretched Amazing Grace Amazing Gospel.

[Wretched Radio Announcer]

Titles of Christ in the Bible, Jesus is given many titles that teach us about who he is and what he has done. Jesus is called the Mediator. God is holy and cannot have fellowship with sinful men. But Jesus is both righteous man and holy God. And through him we have direct access to God. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Friel.

[Todd Friel]

Hello. This is Good Friday Day. We have to focus on the cross. If you can get this, your walk will change. It'll never be the same. I guarantee it. We're going back. Let me share with you some doctors. I do need to give a great deal of credit to one Dr. David Terasaka. He's a doctor who took a little look into what happened historically with the scourging, with the beatings, and with the crucifixion and how somebody died. Crucifixion was an art. They got good at it. They got real fine at it. Let's go to this doctor's report about this. He says this. They used a flagellum. You were stripped. You were completely naked. By the way, can you imagine more shame than being naked in front of your mom, your best friends, your family? Imagine the shame. And there's Jesus, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, stripped naked in front of a bunch of sadomasochists. I wonder how much mocking went on right there, right then. But these guys stepped up. They used something called a flagellum. You were tied to a post, which left your back entirely exposed. And then the flagrum or the flagellum. It was small pieces of bone and metal attached to a number of leather strands. The cat O9 tails is what they called it. Now, the number of blows that Jesus took is not recorded in the Gospels, but it is pointed out in Deuteronomy 25. 3. The number of blows was set at 40, but later reduced to 39 to prevent excessive blows. By a counting error, the victim often died from the beating. 39 hits were believed to bring the criminal to quote one from death. Roman law, however, didn't put any limits on the number of blows given. According to Josh McDowell, during the flogging, the skin was stripped from the back, exposing a bloody mass of muscle and bone. Hamburger. According to one expert, it didn't get lacerated like Mel Gibson showed. It got ripped and it went through the muscles, and their organs would fall out of their backs. That's what Jesus endured. And what do you think happened there? Extreme blood loss. Imagine how much you'd be bleeding if your skin was just entirely stripped off. And the muscle. There was a ton of blood loss going on. So there he stripped. They put a scarlet robe on him, put the old crown of thorns, put a staff in his right hand, knelt in front of him, mocked him some more, spit on him, and then took the staff out of his hands and struck him on the head. And again and again. And then he was beaten by the roman soldiers. Isaiah 56 tells us this. I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. That was written 700 years before it actually happened. What individual could possibly control and make that happen? Couldn't. This was all predestined, all of it that we read about and that we celebrate. Isaiah 52:14. Just as there are many who were appalled at him. His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man, and his form marred beyond human likeness. He took a whoopin'. He got throttled by these guys whose specialty was pain. Severity of the beating was not detailed in the Gospels, however, the book of Isaiah. They pulled out his beard. Yo, have you ever even just pulled out a whisker? You ever done that? Pull a nose hair, that'd make you cry? How's about getting your beard pulled out of your face? What do you think that does to the skin? Beat him so much you couldn't even tell it was a human being. That's the type of beating that he took. All right, so now all of this has happened. He's been getting beat. He's been getting scourged with the flagellum, the cat, O9 tails. He's got the crown, the hat of thorns on his head. And now he walks about 650 yards carrying not the whole cross, but nonetheless. He carried something called the patibulum across his shoulders. It was just the crossbar weighed about 80 to 110 pounds. In a situation in a state like that, can you imagine what that would be like? That's what he did. So he carried it. He carried it for 650 yards and then he gets onto the cross. Let's take a look and see what happened at Psalm 22:16 and 17. Dogs have surrounded me. A band of evil men has encircled me. They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. People stare and gloat over me. The crucifixion was prophesied a lot in the Old Testament. You just heard it from Psalm 22. Take a look at Isaiah 52:13 says, My servant will act wisely. He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted. And then in John 3, Jesus refers back to that, that he would be a fulfillment of that prophecy. Hey, that's supernatural. That isn't coincident. You can't control that type of stuff. That's supernatural business going on there. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. All kinds of foreshadowing in the Old Testament fulfilled when Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross. Crucifixion site we read, was purposely chosen to be outside the city walls because the law forbade such within the city walls. For sanitary reasons, the crucified body was sometimes left to rot on the cross and serve as a disgrace, a convincing warning and deterrent to passersby. Sometimes the subject was eaten while alive and still on the cross by wild beasts. Let's get into the specifics. The procedure of crucifixion may be summarized as follows. Again, I do need to thank Dr. David Terasaka for this medical information. The patibulum, remember that's the crossbar, was put on the ground and the victim laid on it. Nails about 7 inches long and with a diameter of 1 cm, that's about 38 of an inch, were driven into the wrists, maybe higher up, maybe lower down. They were nonetheless driven through the body, which, by the way, would be right in the vicinity the area of the median nerve causing shocks of pain to radiate through the arms. It was possible to place the nails between the bones so that no fractures or broken bones occurred. Studies have shown that nails were probably driven through the small bones of the wrist, since nails in the palms of the hand would not support the weight of a body. That's, by the way, why they tied those cords around his forearms, because otherwise it might rip. So it was a little extra support. Very thoughtful of them. In ancient terminology, the wrist was considered to be part of the hand. Standing at the crucifixion site would be an upright post called the stipes. Standing about 7ft high wasn't way up in the air, just barely off the ground. In the center of the stipes was a crude seat called a sedulum, which served as a support for the victim. The patibulum that was the crossbar was then lifted onto the stipes, and the feet were nailed to the stipes. To allow for this, the knees had to be bent and rotated laterally, being left in a very uncomfortable position. And then what was called the titillus was hung above the victim's head. And that's why we think that Jesus was hung on a T cross. There are a lot of different shapes of cross. You had an X cross, for instance, or you had one with the bar on top, the patibulum on top, where you couldn't hang something. That sign, the titleus, couldn't have gone above it. So we think that that's why it was a T cross. Now, you should know this also. Recently they've been finding some of these nails at crucifixion sites that are only so many inches long. They weren't long enough to actually go through a foot on top of another. You couldn't go through two feet and then be nailed in the wood. So they think now that instead of one foot on top of the other, they had them straddle the cross and then the nails were banged through the Achilles. Physical suffering on the cross. Psalm 22:14, 15. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax. It has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death. Don't know if you remember seeing Gracia Burnham being interviewed by whoever Dateline 2020, whatever the special was after she and her husband or she was rescued. Her husband was killed. Martin and Gracia Burnham, when they were acting as missionaries. And she described being thirsty. She said one of the worst things was being thirsty. She said, your tongue swells, you're consumed by thirst. You are so thirsty. I think we forget about the thirst. And when Jesus said, I thirst, I think the reason that was said personally is because it was a reminder of how excruciating thirst is. Horrible. Gracia Burnham said it was one of the worst things of the whole ordeal. You're consumed by it. You can think about nothing else. Let's go to the cross, though. Again, according to the good doctor, having suffered from the beatings and flogging, Jesus suffered from severe hypovolemia, from the loss of blood. The verse that Psalm 22 that describes dehydrated state and loss of strength. When the cross was erected upright, there was a tremendous strain put on the wrists, arms and shoulders, resulting in a dislocation of the shoulder and elbow joints. The arms being held up and outward, held the rib cage in a fixed and inspiratory position, which made it extremely difficult to exhale and impossible to take a full breath. Got asthma. You know what that's like. Can't get a full breath. You ever find yourself doing that just to suck in a big one? So your lung, uh, forget it. For six hours. Not for Jesus. Couldn't get a full breath. The victim would only be able to take very shallow breaths, which incidentally, would explain why we just have those short statements from Jesus. As time passed, the muscles from the loss of blood, loss of oxygen, and the fixed position of the body would undergo severe cramps and spasmodic contractions. Death by crucifixion. According to the good doctor. Here's how it shallowness of breathing causes small areas of the lung to collapse. Decreased oxygen and increased carbon dioxide causes acidic conditions in the tissues. That's got to feel good. Fluid builds up in the lungs and the heart is stressed and it eventually fails. It's a slow, awful, torturous process. The worst, the absolute worse. So there hangs our Jesus, our God, having been beaten, punched, scourged, flogged, spat upon, had to walk, carry stuff, his back shredded on that rough cross, hanging there with nails through his hands, through his feet, struggling for breath. And Isaiah 53 tells us that it pleased God to do that because God hates sin and yet he proves his love and dies for us while we were yet sinners. Let today be the day that grace becomes amazing. Get it today. Go to the cross

[Jimmy Hicks]

and it's now time for your daily Fortis News Breaker production of Fortis Institute. Beginning with Colorado, the Supreme Court this week handed down a major First Amendment victory. They struck down Colorado's so called conversion therapy ban. The law had prohibited licensed therapists from helping minors who wanted to work through unwanted sexual attractions or gender confusion, but had no problem with counselors who affirmed those same feelings. One justice, writing for the majority, called out the obvious, saying Colorado wasn't regulating a dangerous practice. Instead, it was picking winners in a cultural debate and using the law to silence losers. Speaking of government mandated gender ideology, 26 states have now joined forces, urging the Ninth Circuit to overturn a ruling that would force Alaska to provide sex change surgery to a convicted child sex abuser who's serving 40 years behind bars. The attorney general for the state of Idaho said plainly that the Eighth Amendment guarantees basic medical care, not experimental procedures that aren't even available to most law abiding citizens. Indiana's attorney general warned that if this ruling stands, it opens the floodgate for similar demands in every state prison system. Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, a transgender I don't know if it's a man born a man or a woman born a woman that's pretending to be. Maybe the other, I'm not quite sure. But they provided an unintentional masterclass in courtroom theatrics earlier this week, yelling I can't breathe while being removed from the courtroom for contempt of court. The attorney has since shut down their law firm. Sometimes the commentary just writes itself. The Trump administration is catching serious heat from pro life leaders after HHS renewed grants to Plan Parenthood for what it's calling a final year. The White House says the grants were locked in during the Biden era and faced significant legal hurdles. Pro life leaders aren't buying it. Live Action's Lila Rose noted that Planned Parenthood kills over 400,000 unborn children annually, but Planned Parenthood is hemorrhaging locations anyway. Two more Indianapolis facilities are closing, citing the loss of Medicaid reimbursements, bringing the nationwide total to 51 permanent closures. An outfit called Youth Abortion Support Collective is now training students as young as 14 to serve as abortion doulas. The program, hosted at multiple public universities, teaches kids to provide emotional and logistical support for women obtaining abortions. A former sex educator turned parent rights advocate warns it's a Trojan horse saying the abortion industry uses student peer education to bypass adult supervision. And on the international front, the United nations adopted a resolution calling for slavery reparations, with 123 countries voting in favor. The U.S. israel and Argentina voted against. And that wraps up today's Fortis News break. I'm Jimmy Hicks. If you want more, you can download Fortis or sign up to become a Fortis Insider for exclusive daily content. Both can be [e-mail] and don't forget, you can also subscribe to Fortis News on your favorite podcast app in order to get these updates daily. And until tomorrow, Go serve your king.

[Wretched Radio Announcer]

Know your church fathers. Cyprian was a third century theologian from Carthage, North Africa, where he served as bishop until he was beheaded under Emperor Valerian. Cyprian authored a book called on the Unity of the Church, stressing the unity of the universal church as well as the importance and authority of the local church. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Friel.

[Todd Friel]

Let's go back. Let's endure the cross with Jesus. Let's see what he went through for us. Because God hates sin and yet he proves his love and dies for us while we were yet sinners. Let today be the day that grace becomes amazing. Get it today. Go to the cross. Understand how brutal, how awful, and yet how beautiful and amazing it was. And then humble yourself before Almighty God. Pour your heart out to him. Put your trust in Jesus Christ and I'm telling you it will not be the same. Your walk which has been afflicted. Failure to date will change because you won't have a choice. It won't be your walk, it'll be God walking in you. Let's go to the cross. What happened there specifically medically? I'm reading from a doctor's report. This is how one dies of crucifixion. It appears likely that the mechanism of death in crucifixion was suffocation. The Chain of events which ultimately led to suffocation are as follows. With the weight of the body being supported by the sedulum, that's that little seat, the arms are pulled upward. They're just getting stretched out. This caused the intercostal and pectoral muscles, your chest muscles, to be stretched. Furthermore, movement of these muscles was opposed by the weight of the body. With the muscles of respiration thus stretched, the respiratory bellows became relatively fixed. As dyspnea developed and pain in the wrists and arms increased, the victim was forced to raise the body off the cedulum, thereby transferring the weight of the body to the feet. Respirations became easier. But with the weight of the body being exerted on the feet, pain in the feet and legs mounted. When the pain became unbearable, the victim again slumped down on the sedulum and the weight of the body pulling against on the wrists and against stretching the intercostal muscles. Thus, the victim alternated between lifting his body off the seat in order to breathe and slumping down on the sedulum to relieve pain in the feet. Don't forget rough timber, Hamburger. Back. Up. Down. Up, down. Gasping for air. Eventually, he became exhausted or lapsed into unconsciousness so that he could no longer lift his body off the seat. In this position, with the respiratory muscles essentially paralyzed, the victim suffocated goes on. Due to shallow breathing, the victim's lungs begin to collapse in small areas, causing hypoxia and hypercarbia. A respiratory acidosis with lack of compensation by the kidneys due to the loss of blood from the numerous beatings, resulted in an increased strain on the heart with beats faster. To compensate, fluid builds up in the lungs. Under the stress of hypoxia and acidosis, the heart eventually fails. There are several different theories on the actual cause of death. One theory states that there was a filling of the pericardium with fluid, which put a fatal strain on the ability of the heart to pump blood. Another theory states that Jesus died of cardiac rupture. The actual cause of Jesus death, however, may have been multifactorial and related primarily to hypovolemic shock, exhaustion, asphyxia and perhaps acute heart failure. A fatal cardiac arrhythmia may have caused the final terminal treatment. That is how Jesus died and it was predicted 700 years earlier. We turned our backs and looked the other way as he went by. He was despised and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried. It was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for. For his own sins. But he was wounded and crushed. For our sins that God hates. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped and we were healed. All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the guilt and sins of us all. He was oppressed, he was treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep is silent before the shearers. He did not open his mouth. From prison and trial. They led him away to his death. An excruciating, painful, torturous, miserable, horrible, unimaginable death. It was for six hours, from 9am until 3pm in the afternoon. Jesus Christ hung there while God poured out his anger and his wrath. And as verse 10 in Isaiah 53 says, it pleased God because he hates sin. And there's no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. And so shed his blood he did. And now it is imperative, it is imperative that we understand that message. What? The cross. What? As hideous a description as I just gave to you? Unless you see it yourself, you'll never fully appreciate it. I would like to share with you some quotes from a wonderful book by John MacArthur called Hard to the High Cost and Infinite Value of Following in Jesus from both the Greek and Roman points of view. The stigma of crucifixion made the whole notion of the Gospel claiming Jesus as the Messiah an absolute absurdity. A glance at the history of crucifixion in 1st century Rome reveals what Paul's contemporaries thought about was a horrific form of capital punishment originating most likely in the Persian Empire, but other barbarians used it as well. King Darius crucified 3000 Babylonians. Alexander the Great crucified 2000 from the city of Tyre. Alexander Jannius crucified 800 Pharisees while they watched soldiers slaughter their wives and children at their feet. This sealed the horror of the crucifixion in the Jewish mind. Romans came to power in Israel in 63 BC and used crucifixion extensively. Some writers say authorities crucified as many as 30,000 people around that time. Titus Vespasian crucified so many Jews in AD 70 that the soldiers had no room for the crosses and not enough crosses for the bodies. It wasn't until 337, when Constantine abolished crucifixion, that it disappeared after a millennium of cruelty in the world, crucifixion was a repugnant, demeaning form of execution for the Rabble of society. The idea that anybody who died on the cross was in any sense an exceptional, elevated, noble, important person was absurd. Roman citizens generally were exempt from crucifixion unless they committed treason. The authorities reserved the cross for rebellious slaves and conquered people and for notorious robbers and assassins. This is important to remember. The Roman Empire's policy on crucifixion led Romans to view any crucified person as absolutely contemptible. The Romans used it only for the scum, the most humiliated, the lowest of the low. Your God did that for you. He became the scum of the earth. In the face of all this, here comes Paul. And all he ever talked about was the cross. Can you imagine? We think it's hard to witness today. This is how they viewed the cross. And Paul the. This is all he talked about. God dying on a cross. No, the scum died. You're telling me that God died on a cross? Justin's first apology in AD152 summarized the Gentile view. They proclaim our madness to consist in that we give to a crucified man a place equal to the unchangeable eternal God. Nonsense. John MacArthur's book. If the Gentile attitude was bad, the Jewish attitude was worse and even more hostile. They detested the Roman practice and scorned it it more than the Romans did. In their view, anybody who ever ended up on a cross fulfilled Deuteronomy 21:23. His body shall not remain overnight on the tree, for he who is hanged is accursed of God. Imagine that. And that's the center of our faith. That's the center of our faith. And back then the Jews gagged on the idea of a crucified Christ. You understand the obstacle that early Christians that Paul faced. And yet that's all they preached. The cross, the cross, the cross. Not fulfilled, not purpose. Hey. Paul could have altered the Gospel, but it's not what saves. We should be glorying in what is contemptible to human beings. It's the cross because it's everything. And until you get it, you've got nothing. Let's go back to John MacArthur's book. No wonder the Gentiles and Jews alike hated Paul's message. It was a message that was beyond human belief. No seeker friendly message. It was either an absurdity or an obscenity. If it wasn't enough, the crucifixion bore such a shameful stigma. There was also the shameful simplicity of the cross, a repudiation of worldly wisdom. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring nothing to the understanding of the prudent. If you think you're smart, if you think you're wise, you think you've got your evolution, you think you've got your scientific theories, you've got your whatever, Jesus seminar arguments that this was all nonsense that we believe in. You're the foolish, we're the wise, you're the fool. And until you humble yourself and humble yourself thoroughly, you will know nothing. Your thoughts, your mind is foolishness. It is darkened, it is confused, it is clouded. The true wisdom comes in this objectionable, horrendous, excruciating thing called the cross of Jesus Christ. John MacArthur the gospel confronts man and exposes him for what he really is. It ignores the disappointments that he feels. It offers him no relief from the struggles of being human. Rather, it goes to the profound and eternal issue of the fact that he is damned and desperately needs to be rescued. Only death can accomplish rescue. But God in his mercy, has provided a substitute. There's a lot of messages being preached out there today that say, oh, boy, believe in Jesus and it's all gonna be grand. Wrong message. The biblical message is the cross. The cross. It is where God poured out his anger and his wrath for all time. If you will but repent, humble yourself and put your trust in him. It demands it. It was hideous, it was awful. It was what you deserve, and he took it instead. And while we look at it and we cringe and the Jews and the gentiles alike thought it was horrendous and it was nonsense and it was grotesque, it's beautiful and it's wonderful, and we've gotta go there if we're gonna get it straight and if we're going to get soundly saved.

[Jimmy Hicks]

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[Jimmy Hicks]

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[Jimmy Hicks]

Right now, wherever you download apps on your smartphone, your smart TV, or just go to fortis plus.org and walk like a man.

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[Todd Friel]

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[Fortis Institute Promoter]

have you ever been sitting in a sermon and your pastor drops a Greek word like he actually expects you to know what it means? Well, in the original Greek, the word metanoia, and you're just nodding along like you totally followed that? What if you actually could follow it? Our resource It's Not Greek to Me is a basic Greek primer that teaches you to read your New Testament in the original language. It's not seminary level memorization. It's just enough to understand what your pastor is talking about, to get more out of commentaries and footnotes and and

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[Wretched Radio Announcer]

Books of the Bible. The Book of Isaiah is a collection of prophecies given to Isaiah. It can be divided in two parts. Isaiah delivered bad news to Israel and the surrounding nations concerning God's judgment, and he delivered good news of salvation for those who repent. Isaiah also offers detailed prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, who offers eternal salvation. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Friel.

[Todd Friel]

Have you ever watched one of those documentaries on the religion of Islam where they show people bowing toward Mecca, their backsides up to the west, their faces bowed to the east, and you just see thousands and thousands and thousands of Muslims bowing down and they do this three times a day. And I remember thinking, oh, I'm so glad I'm not a Muslim. I'm so glad I'm a Christian because that religion is so hard. And then I got saved and I recognized and I realized now that Christianity is the hardest religion on the planet. Islam, piece of cake. Buddhism, no problem. Hinduism, no sweat. Christianity, hard, very hard. Why? Because you have to die. You have to die to yourself. You have to be crucified with Christ. You want to get saved. You want to be made right with God. It is not about saying a little prayer. It is not about asking Jesus into your heart. It is about dying to yourself. If you have heard this broadcast, you've been hearing me describe the cross, the hideous, horrible crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the punishment that he endured, the anger and wrath that God poured out on his only son because he hates sin and blood must be shed for the forgiveness of sins. But he loves us so much that it pleased him to do that because he wants to save you. And you've thought, oh, that's really nice. If you don't know how to access that, if you don't know how to be forgiven by God, we'll miss the boat. We've come to the point now where we've got to. We've understand the. We understood what happened there. So what does it mean? What do we do with that? What do we do with the cross? Let me tell you what Paul said. He said in. Well, I'll tell you what he said exactly in Galatians chapter 2, verse 19. For when I tried to keep the law, I realized I could never earn God's approval. So I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ. I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Paul crucified himself just like Jesus Christ, because Jesus said something, words that people go, well, I don't know what he was talking about there. Mark, chapter 8, 34, 37. And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also he said to them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, and the gospel's the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall it profit a man? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Jesus said, you take up your cross. If you don't, you're not worthy of Me. And that's why Paul said I die. And daily Jesus Christ invites us to be crucified with Him. What does that mean? How do you do that? Paul said so right there in Galatians 2:19. The law killed him. It killed him. If you want to die with Jesus Christ so that he can give you new life, a new heart, a new mind, new desires, and move you from darkness to light and from death to eternal life, you've got to let the law kill you. Look into the mirror of the law. Look at it. Look at yourself in that mirror. Have you loved God so much, every single moment of your life, that your love for your, your spouse, your own children, for your own life seems like hatred in comparison? Huh? Have you done that? Then you've broken his law and he should send you to hell. He should send you straight to hell for that. That alone. That's enough. Have you ever made a graven image of God, A God to suit yourself somebody, a fictitious God? You've broken his law and he should send you to hell. Have you ever taken his beautiful holy name in vain? Used his glorious name as a four letter filth word? He should send you to hell. Have you given him one day in seven? Have you hated a brother or sister? Called somebody an idiot or a moron? You've committed murder in the eyes of God. You've lusted after somebody. God sees you as an adulterer. You don't need to do the act. You need to think the thought. Then he thinks you're an adulterer. Stolen anything, thief. Doesn't matter the value of the object. God sees you as a thief. He sees you as a thief. How have you used your mouth? Have you ever told a lie? Liar. All liars will have their part in a lake of fire. Have you coveted after anything? Of course you have. You live in America. You've desired something that didn't belong to you. Think of it added up sin upon sin upon sin that God hates. And he should, as the just judge of all the world, should judge you according to what you have done. And he should send you straight to hell. Let it kill you. Let that kill you. Let that drive you to your knees. And then look at the cross and look at what happened there 2000 years ago. Instead of killing you. Instead he died for you. Look at the kindness as he gasps for breath. He did it because he loves you as you. As you. Think about how he deserves to send you to a lake of sulfur. Think instead how the nails pinned his hands to a tree and Let that kindness, that amazing kindness, that amazing grace, drop you to your knees. Die. Humble yourself before the mighty hand of God. Want to take you to Romans, chapter 6, verse 2. Romans, chapter 6, verse 2 says this. Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Jesus Christ, we died with Him? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. Romans, chapter 7, verse 4. So this is the point. The Law no long longer holds you in its power because you died to its power when you died with Christ on the cross. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, you can produce good fruit, that is good deeds for God. You won't be controlled by an old nature anymore. He's going to give you a new nature. But that old nature has to die. Let the Law kill it today, not your flesh. You're not going to commit suicide and jump off of a bridge. You. That thing inside of you, it's done. Let the Law kill it and then fall before the throne of God and beg for mercy. He died to give it to you. There is nothing that he would like more than to save you today. So I'm going to beg you. I'm going to beg you. Second Corinthians 5 says this. Since we believe that Christ died for everyone, we also believe that we have all died to the old life we used to live. He died for you so that you can receive new life. And you'll no longer live to please yourself. Instead, you'll live to please Jesus Christ. You don't understand why some of these people, they live for Jesus Christ, but you don't seem to be. You haven't died yet. Love Jesus. Why should you? Why should you? You're not in a right relationship with him. You haven't understand the exceeding sinfulness of your sin and his amazing sacrifice and amazing grace. Grace isn't amazing to you. It's only intriguing because you don't understand what a wretch you are. Let the Law show you what a wretch you are. And then look at his kindness and let it kill you and die to yourself. Then put your trust in Jesus Christ. Verse 17. Those who become Christians become new persons. You're not the same anymore. The old life is gone. A new life has begun. If you are not a new creation, you are not in Jesus Christ. Examine yourself. See if you are on the truth. You are in the truth. Make your calling and election sure. I urge you as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, be reconciled to God. This is not about happiness. It's not about purpose. It's not about territory expansion. Jesus Christ did not get born brutally beaten, whipped and killed so that you could be happy. He did it so you could be made righteous. That is it. For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sins so that we could be made right with God through Christ. And so today, Good Friday, as God's partner, I beg you to not reject this marvelous message of God's great kindness. For God says at just the right time. I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you. Indeed, God is ready to help you right now. Today is the day of your salvation. But you must humble yourself before the mighty hand of God. He will exalt you in due time. Pull off of the road, pour out your heart to God and put your trust in Jesus Christ. Let his law kill you and let him give you new life.

[Congregational Singer]

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died My my rich escape I count the loss and pour content on all my. His hand is free Sorrow and love flowing down Dear ever such love and sorrow Holy all th comp so rich a crown oh the wonderful cross oh, the wonderful cross Give to me Come moment I can find that I may truly live.