And adore If you have a Bible with you Please take it And turn it to the gospel Of Matthew Chapter 27 Matthew chapter 27 If you're new with us To covenant We've been working our way Through the book Of revelation But last week Today And over the next Couple of Sundays We're going to be looking At some accounts From the gospels Matthew chapter 27 Going to be reading A fairly long passage today Verses 27 through 54 And if you'd be so kind As to stand As I read this portion Of God's word This is the word of God It is without any error All of it is true It is for our good And it comes to us With the authority Of God himself As his word Then the soldiers Of the governor Took Jesus Into the governor's Headquarters And they gathered The whole battalion Before him And they stripped him And put a scarlet robe On him And twisting together A crown of thorns They put it on his head And put a reed In his right hand And kneeling before him They mocked him Saying Hail King of the Jews And they spit on him And took a reed And struck him On the head And when they Had mocked him They stripped him Of the robe And put his own Clothes on him And led him away To crucify him As they went out They found a man Of Cyrene Simon by name They compelled This man To carry his cross And when they Came to a place Called Golgotha Which means Place of a skull They offered him Wine to drink Mixed with gall But when he tasted it He would not drink it And when they Had crucified him They divided his garments Among them By casting lots Then they sat down And kept watch Over him there And over his head They put the charge Against him Which read This is Jesus The king of the Jews Then two robbers Were crucified With him One on the right And one on the left And those who passed by Derided him Wagging their heads And saying You who would Destroy the temple And rebuild it In three days Save yourself If you are The son of God Come down From the cross So also The chief priests With the scribes And elders Mocked him Saying He saved others He cannot save Himself He is the king Of Israel Let him come down Now from the cross And we will believe In him He trusts in God Let God deliver him Now if he desires him For he said I am the son of God And the robbers Who were crucified With him Also reviled him In the same way Now from the sixth hour There was darkness Over all the land Until the ninth hour And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out With a loud voice Saying Eli Eli Lema sabachthani That is My God My God Why have you Forsaken me And some of the bystanders Hearing it Said This man is calling Elijah And one of them At once ran And took a sponge Filled with sour wine And put it on a reed And gave it to him To drink But the others said Wait Let us see Whether Elijah Will come to save him And Jesus Cried out again With a loud voice And yielded up His spirit And behold The curtain of the temple Was torn in two From top to bottom And the earth shook And rocks were split The tombs Also were opened And many bodies Of the saints Who had fallen asleep Were raised And coming out Of the tombs After his resurrection They went into The holy city And appeared To many When the centurion And those who were with him Keeping watch Over Jesus Saw the earthquake And what took place They were filled With awe And said Truly This was the son Of God This is God's word Let's pray Now oh Lord We ask your blessing Upon your word That as it is read And preached That we would receive it In faith And by your spirit Lord Would you speak to us And this we ask Through Christ our Lord Amen You may have a seat Don't worry I'm just getting Something to drink Had allergies all week It's a problem Well perhaps Mercifully for us Matthew Spares us The details Of the crucifixion Did you notice that There was no mention Of the crucifixion Itself Any of the gory Details Of that act In fact None of the gospel Writers Describe the actual Crucifixion Of Jesus Beyond the simple Statement That he was Indeed crucified Now we know Enough about The practice Of crucifixion Particularly Under the Romans In that day To know that It was both Physically Excruciating Beyond description Really But it was also Deeply Publicly Humiliating But the emphasis Of the gospel Writers Is on the Spiritual suffering Of Jesus That he endured And the deeper Meaning of his Death Why did Jesus Die What was God Doing on the Cross And that's not to Say that Jesus Was somehow able To rise above The physical Agonies of the Cross There's nothing In scripture That suggests that And in fact We know enough About the miracle Of the incarnation And the son Of God Embodying Human flesh To know That he did Indeed suffer On the cross Just as any One of us Would physically There's nothing In scripture That tells us That somehow He was transported Out of the Physical agonies As he was Beaten and Scourged with Whips And then having Spikes driven Through his Wrists and Through his Feet That somehow He was able To rise Above that He was God After all But he was God in the Flesh He was a Man just Like any Of us Now that Jesus died On the cross Is a historical Fact Ancient historians From Josephus To Tacitus All mentioned The crucifixion Of Christ And so Many died That way Rome was Quite Prodigal In the way That they Would crucify Criminals And insurrectionists Sending warnings Publicly That no one Should ever Think Of committing The crimes Of those Who were Publicly Crucified But Jesus' Death Stands out As unique Because both Of who He is And why It is That he Died Jesus died That is He was Crucified The scriptures Tell us Four Sinners He died As the Lamb of God Who stood In our Place And as we Saw In the Passage Last week From Matthew Chapter 26 Jesus was Condemned In a Sham Trial Before his Own People The most Grotesque Miscarriage Of justice In human History And now Having gone Through a Second trial This time Before the Roman authority Pilate The governor Jesus is Handed over To his Torturers To be Beaten And lashed And whipped Within an Inch of his Life And we See there Beginning in Verse 27 That added To the Physical Torture Was the Spiritual And mental And emotional Torture Of mockery And I want You to see There In the Mockery Of all Of those Surrounding Jesus In these Moments I want You to see A connection Between Unbelief And mockery Because it Takes a lot Of effort To be an Unbeliever You've got To know This About the Unbeliever They are Not settled In their Position They are Not comfortable In their Unbelief It takes A lot Of work To not Believe And so What is Added so Often To unbelief Is the Element of Mockery Derision It sort of Fuels that Unbelief Discontent With simply Not believing Because it Is so Hard And takes So much Effort To not Believe Mockery Must be Added To it You have To keep In mind That the People In and Around Jerusalem At that Time Many of Them had Heard the Power of Jesus' Teaching Many of Them Had seen And witnessed The miracles That he Worked But now In their Unbelief To steal That effort To reject Jesus They add Mockery To it Notice They place A scarlet Robe Upon his Back Mocking His claims To be The son Of God They press Thorns Into his Scalp That had Been woven Into a Mocking Crown They place A scepter But not Really a Scepter A reed Within his Hand All so that He would Appear To be A Bloody Shredded Empty Vessel Of a Man In mockery Of his Claims To be The son Of God And each One of Those Props Not only Stood in Mockery Of him But they Each Inflicted Their own Kind of Physical Pain For instances The robe Would have Been rubbed Across his Shredded Back And then Ripped away From him The thorns Pressed into His head The reed Used to Strike him In the Face And then Adding Further Insult They Bowed Before him The very Soldiers Who had Scourged him Now bowed Before him In mock Worship Saying Hail King of The Jews Well after The soldiers Have had Their fill They Take Jesus Away To the Place Of Crucifixion Which we See in Verse 33 Is outside The city It is the Killing Ground An Unclean Place Who knows How much Blood And detritus Had spilled Into the Soil Of that Place It was Set near A cliff And the Face of That cliff To this Day Resembles The face Of a Human Skull Thus Its name Golgotha The place Of the Skull And this Was all Very public For those Being executed It heightened Their shame And here Matthew records Jesus being Offered Quote Wine To drink Mixed With Gaul Now this Is different From the Sour Wine That is Offered Him Later Sour Wine Was a Very Sort of Typical Daily Drink For many Of the People If you Were a Roman Soldier You Would have Most likely Had a Flask Of sour Wine With you This is Something Very Different This is Wine Mixed With Gaul A kind Of Poison Something So bitter So Unpleasant That Handing it Or Passing it To a Crucified Man Would have Only Added To the Intensity Of their Suffering Injury Upon injury You see Now look Again at Verse 35 And They Crucified Him That's the extent of The detail That Matthew Gives us About the Actual Crucifixion Which as I Said is Right in Line with The other Gospel Accounts There is No Lingering Over the Gruesome Details Not that It's wrong For us To understand The utter Cruelty And death That came About by Crucifixion In fact I Think it Serves us Well to Know something Of what Our Lord Suffered On our Behalf For Romans Crucifixion Was so Degrading That if You were A Roman Citizen The only Way To execute You by Crucifixion Was from A direct Decree From Caesar Himself And so it Almost never Happened That a Roman Citizen was Crucified For Jews Death by Crucifixion Was a Sign of A divine Cursing Upon you Indeed Their own Law said Cursed is Everyone who Is hanged From a Tree And I Think that That is The point Of the Gospel Writers Economy Of words When it Comes to The The physical Details of The crucifixion They are Jealous For us To focus On the Spiritual Suffering Of Jesus Which is The true Center Of this Event As Paul Tells us In 1 Corinthians 15 The central Message of The gospel Is not Just that Jesus died But that He died Quote For Sinners Isn't This what We sing That he Died For us In my Place Condemned He stood Hallelujah What a Savior Sealed My Pardon With his Blood Five Bleeding Wounds He bears Received On Calvary They Pour Effectual Prayers They Strongly Plead For me Forgive Him Oh Forgive They Cry Nor Let That Ransomed Sinner Die Till On That Cross As Jesus Died The Wrath Of God Was Satisfied Forbid It Lord That I Should Boast Save In The Death Of Christ My God Nothing In My Hands I Bring Simply To Thy Cross I Cling Over And Over We Sing It Because This Is Truth That Must Be Declared It's Truth That Has To Be Sung The Son Of God In All Of His Eternal Perfections Hangs On A Cross Humiliated His Body Destroyed For Us Verses 37 Through 44 Capture I Think One Of The Most Outright Demonic Scenes In All Of Scripture Jesus Is Surrounded On All Sides By Gleeful Mockery Mockery From The Soldiers Mockery From The Passers By Mockery From The Jewish Religious Elites Mockery From The Romans That Were There Mockery From The Criminals Dying On Either Side Of Him They Taunt Him By Repeating The Charge That Was Made Against Him Earlier In His Trial Before The Sanhedrin Where The Charge Against Him Was If You May Remember This Is What Jesus Said He Said He Was Going To Destroy The Temple But Then He Raised It Back Up In Three Days It Would Have Been Blasphemy Treason Against God's People To Say I'm Going To Destroy The Temple But Of Course That's Not What He Said It's Not What He Said At All In Fact What Jesus Said Was Not That He Would Destroy The Temple But That They Would Destroy This Temple He Said And I'll Raise It Up In Three Days And By That Was Of Course He Was Referring To His Very Own Death And Resurrection This Very Moment Jesus The Temple Was Murdered And He Would Indeed Be Raised Up In The Space Of Three Days So There Their Own Words Were Used As An Unconscious Prophecy As To What Jesus Was Doing In That Moment They Deride Him For Saving Others When He Cannot Save Himself And They Don't Understand Because They Cannot See They Don't Understand The Wicked Irony Of Their Words That The Very Reason Why There Can Be Any Salvation At All Is For Him To Stay On That Cross There Is Coming Down From The Cross If He Is To Save Sinners How Ironic That The True Nature Of Jesus And The Purpose Of His Cross Are Stated Unknowingly Again And Again By The Very Ones Who Killed Him In Verse 45 We're Told That At Noon Darkness Fell Over The Land Now Whether The Immediate Cause Of That Darkness Was Some Physical Phenomenon Like Thick Storm Clouds Or Whether The Cause Was More Directly Supernatural The Whole Point Is That The Darkness Is A Divine Act Of God In That Moment God's Holy Revulsion At The Wicked Treatment Of His Son And Out Of That Darkness The Lord Jesus Cries Out In Verse 46 My God My God Why Have You Forsaken Me Let Those Words Hang In The Air For A Moment This Is Holy Ground No More Anguished Cry Has Ever Been Uttered Than That And What Jesus Is Doing Is He Is Appropriating The Very Opening Words Of Psalm 22 A Psalm Of David As David In A Moment Of Great Distress And Despair Lifted Up Those Words My God My God Why Have You Forsaken Me Now What What David Is Doing That Moment Is He Is Giving Voice To That Time Of Desolation In His Life We Don't Know Exactly What Historical Event Or Events It Was Connected To But There Was A Time Certainly More Than Once When David Felt Utterly Despairing In The Absence Of God You Know One Of The Most Precious Promises That God Attaches To His Covenant Of Grace With His People Is Found In Deuteronomy Where He Says To His People I Will Never Leave You Nor Forsake You I Will Never Leave You Nor Forsake You And What Does David Cry Out In Psalm 22 My God My God Why Have You Forsaken Me Now In That Moment And As The Psalm Progresses It Becomes Clearer And Clearer That The Lord Is Not Forsaken David The Lord Is Not Forsaken David Indeed Even In David's Great Sin That's Described In 2 Samuel Even Then God Did Not Forsake Him Because God Has Promised I Will Never Leave You Or Forsake You And So So When We Feel Those Moments Moments Of Desolation When We Feel That God Must Have Forsaken Us Because That's The Only Conclusion We Can Come To Based Upon Our Observation Of Current Events In Our Life This Must Mean That God Has Forsaken Me Please Know That Is Not What It Means It Cannot Mean That Because God Will Never Forsake You Christian And By The Time We Get To The End Of Psalm 22 David Is Once Again Lifting His Heart In Praise To His Faithful God In Fact It's Interesting If You Get A Chance To Go Back And Look At Psalm 22 The Superscript Of That Psalm Or The Heading Of That Psalm Which Is Something That David Wrote It Wasn't Added For Contemporary Bible Translations But The Superscription Says A Mascul Of David To The Tune Of The Doe Of The Dawn Now We Don't Know What The Doe Of The Dawn Was It Was Obviously A Musical Score But Does That It Seems Like It Should Be You Know When David Is Crying Out My God My God Why Have You Forsaken Me That Seems Like It Would Belong To A Funeral Dirge Or Maybe Something From Metallica But Not The Doe Of The Dawn The Doe Of The Dawn Because The Movement Of That Psalm Is One From Darkness To Light Well The Reason Why That Was True For David The Reason Why It Was True That He Could Begin With My God My God Why Have You Forsaken Me And End With The Doe Of The Dawn The Reason Is Because Of What Is Happening Right Here On The Cross To Jesus This Is This Is A Holy Mystery Remarkably This Is The Only Time Recorded In Matthew Mark And Luke Where Jesus Refers To God Without Calling Him Father Our Lord's Experience Of Being A Curse On Our Behalf Forsaken By God And We Need To Be Careful Here Jesus Is Cry Is Not To Be Understood As Some Sort Of A Fracturing Of The Trinity I've Heard It Explained That Way That At That Point There's A Fracture Between The Father And The Son No No That's Really Bad Theology Nor May We Conclude That At That Moment The Father Ceased Loving The Son Bad Theology The Father Has Always Loved The Son They Have Always Been United In Eternal Union Within The Triune God Head So So What's Going On Well We May Say For Sure That As The Incarnate Word Of God The God Man In His Human Nature Jesus Experienced A Level Of Anguish In That Moment That Not Even You Or I Will Ever Be Subjected To And So He Cries Out In Genuine Torment Experiencing The Divine Wrath Bearing Our Sins Upon His Shoulders Calvin Would Have Us To Know And I And I Agree With Calvin Here And I'm Sure He'd Be Relieved Of That But Calvin Would Have Us Know That In The Apostles Creed When We Confess That Jesus Descended Into Hell The The Creed Is Referring To That Moment Right There That Jesus Experienced Hell The Wrath Of God On The Cross At That Moment As He Feels The Curse Of Sin As He Feels The Forsaken Of God Paul In First Corinthians Tells Us Of Jesus As He Who Knew No Sin Was Made Sin On Our Behalf There Jesus Bore Our Ugliest Most Vile Thoughts And Actions He Bore Our Selfishness And Our Pride He Bore Our Lust And Our Hatred He Bore Our Anger And Our Arrogance He Bore Our Profanities And Adulteries And Intoxications He Bore Our Smug Self Righteousness He Bore Our Laziness Our Love Of Money Our Love Of Pleasure Our Ingratitude Our Cruel Indifference He Bore It All Every Every One Of Our Shameful Thoughts And Acts The Lord Jesus Bore Upon His Shoulders He Knew My Sins In That Moment Not Only That He Bore The Judgment That That Sin And Filth Required And That's Why Jesus In The Words Of The Great Hymn Is Our Double Cure Be Of Sin The Double Cure Save From Wrath And Make Me Pure You See Because On The Cross He Carried Both Our Sin And The Judgment That Our Sin Deserved He's The Double Cure He Saves Us From Wrath And He Makes Us Righteous He Bore The Wrath Reserved For Me Now All I Know Is Grace Very Often From This Pulpit We Hear The Words Of God's Ancient Benediction His Blessing Upon His People That's Recorded In The Book Of Numbers Chapter Six The Lord Bless You And Keep You The Lord Make His Face To Shine Upon You Does That Have Extra Weight Now The Lord Lift Up His And Give You Peace And As We've Said Before The Only Reason That Blessing Can And Should Be Pronounced Upon Us Is Because On The Cross Jesus Received The Exact Opposite Of That Essentially What Jesus Was Hearing On The Cross Was The Lord Curse You And Forsake You The Lord Cast Darkness Over You And Turn His Face Away From You And Put You To Grief We Get The Benediction Because On The Cross Jesus Took And He Bore The Malediction My God My God Why Have You Forsaken Me That Moment For Jesus Was For The Purpose Of Our Hearing The Words I Will Never Leave You Or Forsake You Then In Verse 50 Matthew Describes The Moment Of Our Lord's Death For The Second Time Jesus Cried Out We Are Told With A Loud Voice And What Sort Of Cry Was This We're Not Told In John's Gospel John Records Jesus Crying Out It Is Finished And He Bowed His Head And Gave Up His Spirit Was This A cry Of Anguish Was It A cry Of Victory Certainly Certainly Certainly The Whole Scene Gives Witness To The Anguish That Christ Endured But Surely This Final Cry Was Also The Moment Of Great Triumph Because He Enters Death At That Moment To Destroy It And Here We Ought To Consider Just How Determined Jesus Was In His Mercy Notice That He Yieldeded Up His Spirit That Is No One Takes His Life From Him Jesus Only Gives His Life It Cannot Be Taken From Him He Must Offer It Willingly And I Want You To See Just How Determined Jesus Is In His Mercy At What Point During The Torture If You're The Son Of God Do You Say You Know What Stop Recall What Jesus Told His Disciples In The Garden On The Night That He Was Arrested Don't You Know He Said I Could Call Twelve Legions Of Angels With A Word To My Father And He Would Deliver Me From This Don't You Know That He Said That In Reference To Peter Drawing His Sword Saying Peter You Don't Need To Defend Me I Could Call All Of This Off With A Word And Through It All As Those Cat Of Nine Tails Bore Into The Flesh Of His Back With Each Stroke He Determined To Show Mercy On Us With Each Pounding Of The Spikes He Chose Mercy For Us With Each Word Of Mockery And Filth About Him And His Heavenly Father He Was Determined In His Mercy There Is In The Death Of Jesus This Tenacious Determined Mercy Every Single Moment He Said No To His Right To End It All At No Point Was Jesus Deliverance From The Cross Ever More Than A Single Breath Away Fate Did Not Force Him To Endure The Vicious Beatings No Power Outside Of Himself Held Him To The Cross Roman Spikes Got Nothing On The Son Of God What Bowed His Back To Those Vicious Whips What Held Him There On The Cross Were Not The Instruments Of Roman Torture But His Own Determined Mercy And Then Beginning In Verse 51 A Series Of Remarkable Events Are Described By Matthew First We're Told That The Curtain In The Temple That Is The Curtain That Portioned Off The Holy Of Holies From The Rest Of The Temple That Curtain That Curtain Which Separated The Place Of God's Special Holy Covenantal Presence With His People The Place Of The Annual Sacrifice Of Atonement For The People Of God The Curtain Which For Bid Anyone Other Than The High Priest From Curtain We Are Told Was Torn In Two From Top To Bottom Picture God Grasping It Like This And Ripping It In Two It's Time Had Served Its Purpose It Was God's Way Of Saying To His People That Had Been So Burdened By Their Sin The Way Has Now Been Made Your Sins Have Been For Given Your Guilt Has Been Removed Your Redeemer Has Saved You And I Want You To Know That Now You Can Come Where Once Was Off Limits To You Now Your Mediator Has Made The Way God Would Be With His People In A Way That They Had Never Known Before And At That Moment The Earth Shakes And Rocks Were Split In Two Well Of Course It Was In The Bible The Standard Phenomenon Indicating God's Presence Is That The Earth Would Shake God Had Not Fled The Scene He Had Not Abandoned His Son In Fact He Is So Near That The Earth Could Not Help But Tremble With Awe And Then In Verses 52 And 53 It Gets Weirder And Only Matthew Mentions This And He Doesn't Give Us Any Details We Only Know That On Sunday Morning In Direct Connection With Jesus His Own Resurrection So Some 36 Hours Or So After Jesus Dies Saints That Is Believing People Who Had Died They Rose To Life And Entered Jerusalem What Happened To Them Subsequently We We We're Not Told But Surely These Resurrections Served As Dramatic Signs To The Significance Of The Lord's Own Death And Resurrection Those Resurrections On The Day That Jesus Was Raised Served As An Announcement That Even In Death The Lord Will Not Leave Us Or Forsake Us That He Will Raise Us Up That Death Will Not Have The Final Word And Just Doesn't It Make Sense That On The Morning That Jesus Rose The Tombs Of Believers Around Him Couldn't Stay Closed Either Three Signs The Torn Curtain The Shaking Of The Ground The Resurrection Of The Saints These Are The Signs Of Life At That Place Of Death Three Signs That Tell Us That Jesus Entered Death And Destroyed It As Our Mediator He Tears The Curtain In Two So That We Have Access To God As The Lord Almighty He Shakes The Ground So That The Tombs Around Him Open Up And As The Risen Lord He Raises Up His People Incorrupt We Often Visit The Graves Of Loved Ones In Order To Remember Them And To Express Our Grief And Such Acts Are Appropriate And Meaningful For Us But That's All We Can Do For Them We Can Only Remember Them But When Jesus Went To The Place Of Death He Went There Not To Remember He Went There Not To Memorial Eyes He Went To The Place Of Death To Undo It To Destroy It And The Reaction Of The Centurion And His Fellow Soldiers In That Moment There In Verse 54 This Is The Point Of All Of This Because When They Saw Him They Came To The Only Conclusion Truly This Is The Son Of God Friends Have You Made That Same Confession Have You Looked To The Cross And Confessed In Faith That Jesus Is Truly The Son Of God Have You Believed In Him Have You Believed That God Raised Him From The Dead Have You Put Your Faith In Him That That's The Appeal Here That Is The Only Right Reaction To All Of This Not To Just Ponder It And Say Well Those Are Some Interesting Claims Maybe I'll Think About That No The Time Is Now The Moment Of Salvation Is Now That As You Hear The Cross Proclaimed As You Envision The Work Of Christ For You Dying In Your Place What Will Your Response Be The Stakes Cannot Be Higher This Is Not Just Simply Fuel For An Intellectual Debate This Is Not Just Simply Fodder For A Philosophical Conversation This Is A Call To Believe In The Son Of God Who Gave His Life For Us Do You Believe On The Cross Jesus Tasted The Bitterest Dregs Of The Wine Of God's Wrath So That We May Feast On The Richest Store Of Life And Joy And Peace What Wondrous Love Is This That Caused The Lord Of Bliss To Bear The Dreadful Curse For My Soul And That He Did Hallelujah Let's Pray And