Christ forsaken, sinners saved. And that's the issue of the gospel,
because the death of Christ, his sufferings unto death, for
the sins of his people, is actually our salvation. And that's what
people don't understand, a lot of people don't understand today,
that if Christ died for your sins, That means he's the propitiation
for your sins. That means the law and justice
of God is satisfied in your case, and you cannot perish in a sinner's
hell. And that's the comfort that we
have. As Brother Jim preached a couple
weeks ago, you cannot be separated from the love of God in Christ.
And that's an impossibility, because he will not let you go.
And so, we need to understand that if Christ is forsaken, it's
not just to make salvation a possibility, if sinners will cooperate, because
the word of God tells us that we, by nature, we won't cooperate. And I say this on our TV program
all the time, I say, I know people don't like to hear this, but
I'm here to preach the scriptures. I'm not here to preach what you
like to hear, naturally. I'm going to tell you what God's
Word says. And I know that if the Spirit
of God doesn't do a miraculous work of grace in the new birth,
you're going to walk away unbelieving. That's just it. Why do I preach
things like that? Because it's the Word of God.
Christ said it. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. Well, in these verses,
look at verse 45. It says, now here he is on the
cross. We're continuing to look up until
the time that he actually dies, gives up the ghost. And understand
now, this is a substitutionary work that he's doing. It's for
a particular people, his sheep. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep, he said. Not for everyone without exception.
And it says, now from the sixth hour, And there was darkness
over all the land until the ninth hour. And of course, that's like
from high noon to three o'clock in the afternoon. In other words,
it's not a time that's gonna be dark. But now darkness was
all over the land, it got dark. Now what we have here, Matthew's
account of the last three hours of Christ's suffering on the
cross. and he again he endured these
the all that he did in all the hours leading up to this in his
life his death he did as our surety which means this that
means that the lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all that's
all of his people all of his sheep And that's the doctrine
of imputation. That's what that is. That's why
that's so important. We need to understand, especially
when we come to this time, when he makes this statement that
we're going to read that's so fascinating and so awe-inspiring. It's awesome. People will say, well, we just
can't understand this. There are things about the depths
of it and what he's going through and his sinless mind and all
that, we just can't grasp hold of, but we do have explanations
in the word of God concerning what's going on here. And so
he's suffering as our surety, our substitute, our redeemer,
and it's all because of the sins of God's elect imputed to him. Now even in what he's saying
here, he's not a sinner. Never became a sinner, never
was made a sinner, never corrupted or contaminated with our sins.
And so he's still the impeccable, spotless Lamb of God. The just suffering for the unjust,
the righteous suffering for the unrighteous. And yet, everything
that's happening here, God is just to punish him. And that's
amazing. And how can that happen? That's
the question. So here's this darkness from
high noon till three o'clock. Darkness filled the land. The
prophet, I've got in your lesson, the prophet Amos spoke of this
time in Amos 8 and 9. This is a prophecy where Amos
said, it shall come to pass in that day, the day of the Lord,
saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon
and I will darken the earth in the clear day. That's a prophecy. And here it is fulfilled. And
so these were dark hours. I put in your lesson that this
darkness is symbolic of sin in man in his natural state and
enmity against God. Christ had to go through that
darkness. See? And it didn't begin at noon. But that's when the darkness
began, the physical darkness. This is a physical manifestation
of the power and work of God. He's control of the earth. He's
the creator. The sun, we talk about the sun
rises and the sun goes down. We know that scientifically that's
not right, but that's the way the weatherman puts it. So sun
rise and sun set, all of that. God's in control. so this darkness
is the Savior Himself going from the darkness of separation between
Himself and His Father that would eventually bring Him and His
people into the light of righteousness, eternal life, and glory. And
so look at it in verse 46, It says, in about the ninth hour,
Jesus cried with a loud voice, and it's recorded, Eli, Eli,
lama sabachthanai. That is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Wow. The father forsaking the
son. And, of course, we have issues
of the Trinity here. We know the Bible teaches that
we worship one God who manifests himself and subsists in three
persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. That's a cardinal doctrine of
true Christianity. Those who deny the Trinity deny
God, because that's how God reveals himself. You remember the Savior
when he was baptized, beginning his public ministry. You know
he talked about how that baptism is going down into the water
coming up out of the water is a symbol of his prophetic symbol
of his death burial and resurrection to fulfill all righteousness
and you remember what happened the spirit descended in the form
of a dove and the father spoke in a audible voice from heaven
this is my beloved son and and how Christ himself, especially
in the book of John, you know, he talks, you know, how his will
and the Father's will, he spoke of his own submissiveness as
the mediator to save us from our sins. And so here he is at
the pinnacle of his work, about ready to give up the goat. My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now some scholars, I should
put scholars in quotes because they think they're scholars,
but anyway. Some scholars say that the Lord
spoke in the current language of Aramaic here. Some say he
spoke in the Old Testament Hebrew. There's some even say he mixed
it up. I think it's a no-brainer. He spoke in Hebrew here. Because
this is a direct quote, as you know, from a messianic psalm,
the psalm of the cross, which begins in Psalm 22 and verse
one, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And so he's
declaring the fulfillment of that prophecy here. And that
psalm also, it portrays his separation from the father for the sins
of his people imputed to him. because that's what had to happen.
Sin separates us from God. That's why in salvation, the
issue of sin has to be taken care of. In fact, when people
say, we talk about salvation, what do I need to be saved from?
Well, a lot of people say, well, I need to be saved from hell.
We do. I need to be saved from sickness.
We do. But ultimately, it all boils
down to that three-letter word. We need to be saved from sin.
And that's the problem that separates us from God. Well, Christ, having
been made sin, not by becoming a sinner, but by the imputation,
the accounting, the charging, reckoning of our sins to Him,
our sin debt, He had to be separated from the Father. And that Psalm
22 speaks of that. Now, David, when he wrote that,
he's speaking in a limited way of himself, but he's speaking
prophetically. as a type of Christ. And Christ
had to become sacred. But it doesn't end there. That
psalm also goes on to present the final exaltation of Christ. And I've put in your lesson here,
the psalm continues to say, listen to this. Now this is after he
said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? For thou hast
heard me from the horns of the unicorns, which I believe is
wild oxen. I will declare thy name unto
my brethren in the midst of the congregation. I will praise thee.
So after he is forsaken of the father, there is a satisfaction
and a righteousness completed. which will result in the salvation
of all of his people, Old Testament and New. And it goes on in the
last two verses of that Psalm 22, listen to this. It says,
a seed shall serve him. It shall be accounted to the
Lord for a generation. They shall come and shall declare
his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath
done this. So that's the final result of
it. So here he is, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Again, this statement reinforces
the biblical truth of the trinity of God's persons. And I think
we need to understand here, when he cries this out, he's not asking
a question out of ignorance or for information. He's fulfilling
the prophecy. And it's really, you might say
it this way, it's a rhetorical question. He knew full well why
the father was forsaking him. He'd said it, he taught the disciples. And it was because of the fact
that he had to go under the wrath of God for our sins. And he knew that, but when he
cries this out, it would have been nice if the people had been
familiar with the scriptures, to know what he was talking about,
but look what happened. It says in verse 47, some of
them that stood there when they heard that said, this man calleth
for Elias. Now, when he said Eli, Eli, they
thought he's calling for Elijah. Well, Eli, Eli means my God,
my God, and that's Hebrew. Now they spoke Aramaic at this
time. So if he was speaking Aramaic
when he said this, they would have known what he was talking
about. But he spoke in the original Hebrew, which they were ignorant
of. And that's how David spoke it in, wrote it in Psalm 22. So, revealing their ignorance
of the scriptures. You know, how many times did
Christ tell the religious leaders, you do err, not knowing the scriptures. And you remember in John 5, 39,
he said, he said, search the scriptures, for in them you think
you have eternal life. They are they which testify of
me. They didn't know that. These were supposed to be like
people, you know, we talk about Bible scholars and THDs and MDivs
and all of that. And they don't know the Bible.
They can criticize it. They may know Greek. They may
know Hebrew. But they don't know truth. And
that's the problem. Not much truth. Somebody said
there's a lot of religion, but not much truth. And it says,
So they said, well, he's calling for Elijah. No, he wasn't. He
was speaking the word of the Bible, the prophecy. Now, as
a man, the man chosen, made, ordained, and anointed by God,
which I've got here, He was anointed with the oil of gladness above
his fellows. He was upheld by the strength
of his Father and of the Spirit, just as we are. He trusted God. Listen, some people say, well,
he was made a sinner, he was corrupted. No, everything that
went through his mind and his heart was perfectly, perfectly
in accord with righteousness. Notice he said, my God, my God. He didn't forsake the Father.
The Father forsook him. And again, that had to be in
order for us to be saved. Christ had to be forsaken for
you and me to be saved. So understand that, you know.
And like that guy up in Toledo, Ohio, that preacher, had thousands
of people looking to him. He said, oh, if I'd have been
there, I'd have stopped it. Are you crazy? This is the work
of God. This is our salvation. And there
is no salvation apart from the obedience unto death of Christ.
He had to be forsaken of the Father. But all through that
time, he perfectly trusted his Father, and loved Him, and prayed
to Him, just in a perfect way. And I put in here, though now
the father hid his face from him, and we talk like that, he
expresses strong faith in and love for him. And when he said
this, to be forsaken, it's not that he was separated from the
love of the father, or did not know the reason for being abandoned,
forsaken. He stood in our place, bearing
our sins, and endured abandonment by God the Father to satisfy
justice. And this line, I mean, it expresses
the very heart and soul of his sufferings. Somebody said, no
man ever suffered like Christ suffered. I think that's true,
I believe that's true. You know, there are times in
our lives, even as believers, we may feel like God has abandoned
us, but not like this. First of all, God hasn't abandoned
us if we're his children. You know that. We may feel like
he has, but he hasn't. Remember what Christ said, I'll
never leave you nor forsake you. I'll never let you go. No separation
from Christ. No separation. And there's not
a thing on this earth, including ourselves, that can separate
us. But Christ really was separated.
Now how do you describe that? How do you explain it theologically?
I don't know. But I do know that the father
forsook the son and the reality of his forsaking his son should
leave us with no doubt that he will forsake and condemn all
who stand before him without Christ. If Christ hasn't been
forsaken for you, wasn't forsaken for you, you'll be forsaken.
all to whom God imputes sin will perish. They'll be condemned
forever. But those who stand before God
in Christ, you know, I didn't put this in your lesson, but
there's a verse over there in 1 John chapter four. Let me just
look that up real quick and read it to you. Because in this, we
see not only the justice of God, but we see the love of God for
his people. 1 John 4, 10, for example, hearing
his love, not that we love God. See, his loving us was not conditioned
on our loving him, but that he loved us and sent his son to
be the propitiation for our sins. So here we see the love of God
in action for his people. sending his son to be the propitiation.
But look at verse 16. It says, 1 John 4, 16. And we
have known and believed the love of God hath to us. God is love,
and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Herein is our love made perfect. Now, can I say that I have a,
I can say as a believer, as a sinner saved by grace, that I love God.
and that I love Christ and I love his people. But is my love perfect? And the answer is no. I have
a rival within me and it's called self. And that keeps me from
loving you as I should and you me. But so what does he mean
when he says herein is our love made perfect? The literal translation
of this would be herein is love with us made perfect. And to
be made perfect means it has been complete and reached its
goal. And what is that love with us? How has it reached its goal?
Well, do you believe and rest in Christ for your whole salvation? Are you pleading his blood alone,
his righteousness alone? That's the goal. And so what
he says here, herein is our love made perfect, that we may have
boldness in the day of judgment. You see that? Boldness in the
day of judgment, standing before God, who knows our hearts, knows
our thoughts. How can we have boldness? Look
at it, because as he is, as Christ is, so are we in this world. I'm as righteous as Christ right
now. Not based upon anything I've
done or anything I've tried to do, but it's based on His work
for me. His righteousness imputed to
me. And when I see that and believe
that and rest in that, that love that God has given us and is
with us reaches its goal. Bringing a sinner to Christ.
You see that? We'll go back to our text now,
Matthew 27. As I said in verse 47, some of
them that stood there when they heard that said this man calleth
for Elias, verse 48, and straightway one of them ran and took a sponge
and filled it with vinegar and put it on a reed and gave him
to drink. You know, we talked about that
earlier when the soldiers did that. And it says, the rest said,
let me, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. So they
didn't know what was going on here. In verse 50, Jesus, when
he cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. Yielded
up the spirit. And notice what it says there.
It doesn't say the ghost or the spirit was taken from him. It
says he yielded up, he gave it up. And that emphasized his willingness
to do what he's doing. He did it willingly. Back before
the world began, he willingly accepted the task given to him
by his father to be the surety, the substitute, the redeemer,
the mediator, intercessor, preserver, glorifier of his people. And he said that in John chapter
six and several places in John. He said, no man takes it from
me. You know, the people, us by nature, mankind by nature,
in our minds it was murder. But he wasn't murdered. As he
told them, you know, when Peter cut off that guy's ear, he said,
don't you know I've got the power to call a legion of angels? He could have put a stop to it.
If he'd wanted to, I'll put it to you this way, he really couldn't
have put a stop to it because he'd already made the promise
and he swore an oath and he can't go back on a promise. That would
dishonor him. So understand that. Well, look
at verse 51. And behold, the veil of the temple
was rent or torn in twain in two from the top to the bottom.
Now here we see the physical signs. of the victory of Christ
over sin and Satan and death and hell, over the flesh, the
veil and the temple. You know what the veil and the
temple was all about. That was the veil that separated
the holy place from the holiest of all. And what's happening
here? He's signifying the end of the
old covenant, the abolishment of it, and the beginning of the
new covenant. era. Christ kept the law. The old covenant's gone. There's
no more earthly priesthood, no more need for animal sacrifices. Those things were just types
and pictures anyway. They could never take away sin,
but Christ finished it all. He sealed up all of that, as Daniel said. The veil was rent in two. And
this is one thing about it. You know, people today who talk
about, you may have heard the term dispensationalism and how
they say the temple's gonna be rebuilt and the priesthood. No, that's why the veil was rent
in two. And they sewed it back together
after that, they did. And then later in 70 A.D. the
whole thing was destroyed. No, that priesthood's not gonna
be reinstated. Christ is our high priest. Christ
is our temple. Christ is our altar. Christ is
our sacrifice. See, it's all done. And to bring
it back is to deny Christ. That's what the book of Hebrews
is about. He taketh away the first that he may establish the
second. And it's abolished. And then it says in verse 51,
and the earth did quake and the rocks rent. That's showing the
power of Christ to shake the earth And that shows us his power
to put away sin, to conquer sin and Satan and the devil. God's
in control. Verse 52, the graves were opened
and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. Now there's
a lot of speculation about this. Verse 53 says, and came out of
the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy city and
appeared unto many. Now we're not told a lot about
the ins and outs of all this, but what I believe is that these
were resurrected saints like Lazarus was resurrected from
the dead. And they died again. So were
they recently dead like Lazarus? I don't know, probably. I know
they didn't come out of the grave all rotten like zombies. People,
you know, get all that junk out of your mind. and attacking people
and trying to eat them and all that stuff. I mean, that's junk. But they did come out of the
graves, and they appeared to many people. So I equate that
like Lazarus come forth, and then eventually they died again. Because you cannot, I'm gonna
be preaching on this in the next, today, and Lord willing next
week, about how are the dead raised up, you know? When we
talk about the resurrection of the dead, how's that going to
be like, and what information we have on that, we find it in
passages like 1 Corinthians 13, or 1 Corinthians 15, which I'm
gonna preach from. But anyway, that shows the power
of Christ, in his death on the cross, to bring forth life. for the people. All right, we'll
stop there.