Let's turn to Matthew chapter
27 one more time. Matthew 27 one more time. I'm
using for a title and the subject of the message, the remarkable
events around the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The remarkable
events around the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know His
death was appointed of God. We know His death The Lord Jesus
Christ dies for us according to the scriptures. But some very
strange and unusual, unheard of events took place around the
crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to consider
some of these things that we read here in Matthew 27. But first, I want to introduce
this gospel message with a question for us to prayerfully and carefully
consider. And here's the question. Consider
this. Was the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ necessary for the salvation of His people, for the salvation
of His bride, His church, His elect, His sheep, His covenant
children? Was His death absolutely necessary? Was there some other way? No
other way. No other way. Verse 35, they
crucified Him. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, they took by wicked hands
and crucified Him, but they only did what God determined before
to be done. There's no other way. for our
salvation and forgiveness of sin, but the Lord Jesus Christ
put our sin away by the sacrifice of himself. Several reasons that
his death was necessary for our salvation, for our redemption
from the curse of the law, several reasons that it was absolutely
necessary, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ fully and completely
answered the demands of God's holy law and justice. The law of God says one thing,
the guilty must die. The guilty must die for their
sin against God. The soul that sinneth, Ezekiel
18, verse 4, the soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. You all
know this one, Romans 6, verse 23, the wages of sin is death.
Cursed is everyone that continues not at all thing which are written
in the book of the law to do them. The law says one thing,
stop your mouth, you're guilty. Guilty, guilty, guilty before
God. There's no other way for our
God to be a just God and savior, to be just and the justifier,
but in the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's why
the apostle Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing among you, but
Jesus Christ and him crucified. His death was absolutely necessary
to satisfy the demands of God's law and justice for us. In Christ
and him crucified, God is satisfied. God is satisfied with the death
of Christ. The law of God is honored. Righteousness is established
for us by His obedience unto death, even the death of the
cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted
Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at
that name every knee should bow, every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He became
obedient unto death. He submitted willingly to die
for us. In the book of Daniel, chapter
9, verse 24, there is a concerning the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Daniel said, 70 weeks are determined
upon thy people, upon thy holy city, talking about the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he mentions six or seven
things. He came to finish the transgression,
and that's exactly what he did. Called his name Jesus, he shall
save his people from their sin. He came to make an end of sin,
Quoting Daniel 9, 24, to make an end of sin, he appeared once
in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. Daniel says next, to make reconciliation
for iniquity. God was in Christ reconciling
us unto himself. And then it says there, to bring
in everlasting righteousness. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did for us. Blessed is that man to whom the
Lord imputed righteousness with our works, saying, blessed are
they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Daniel
is telling us and prophesying unto us to him give all the prophets
witness of what the Lord Jesus Christ would accomplish. To finish
transgression, to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation
for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness. He gives that
to us freely by his grace. Next he says to seal up division
and prophecy. That is to fulfill all things
written of him. He didn't come to destroy the
law and the prophets, he came to fulfill all things. And then
Daniel finishes up his prophecy by saying, to anoint the most
holy, the Lord Jesus Christ is the anointed Messiah, prophet,
priest, and king, to establish our salvation. Now our blessed
Lord and God can show us mercy, not at the expense of his holy
justice. Psalm 85 declares, mercy and
truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Where'd that happen? At the cross.
Let's read about it. Hold your place there in Matthew
27. And let's turn over here to the book of Romans. Book of
Romans chapter three. Book of Romans chapter three. Verse 23 says, we've all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3, 23, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse 25, whom God set forth
for ordained, see the marginal reference, to be the propitiation,
that is the blood atoning victim. propitiation, atonement for our
sin, through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance
of God, the long-suffering God, to declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of
those who believe in the blessed Savior. Here's one other scripture
on that. Turn to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians. Chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Look at verse 18, 2 Corinthians
5, 18. All things were of God, who has
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the
ministry of reconciliation, to which the God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech you by us, We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled. God's reconciled. Now, lay down
your shotgun. You be reconciled. Verse 21,
for He had made Him to be sin for us. You need to have this
marked in your reference there. For He had made, that is God
the Father made Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. So I'll go back to my question.
Is the death and crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ absolutely necessary for our salvation? Absolutely. Delivered for our offenses and
raised again because he justified, because he justified us. Now
go back to Matthew 27. What did these remarkable events
around the cross and the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ declare
unto us? Even all the events around the
crucifixion of Christ declare unto us the gospel of God. Who
was in charge that day? Pilate thought he was. You remember
Pilate said, don't you know I have power over you to crucify you
or let you go? Remember what the Lord said?
You don't have any power over me unless it's given you of God. The Lord Jesus Christ was in
charge that day. Nothing happened that day that
was not decreed of Almighty God. Now, several events I want us
to look at here. First of all, our Lord Jesus
Christ was crucified, as we read in Mark 15, verse 25. The Lord
Jesus Christ was crucified the third hour, or 9 a.m. on that Friday morning. It was
a time It was the exact time of the morning sacrifice that
was offered in the temple. Every morning, at 9am, the third
hour, a sacrifice was made there on the altar of sacrifice, and
it was made as a sacrifice for sin. The exact time that that
offering was made, the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. This is
God's sacrificial lamb. It says there that He died the
ninth hour of the day, The 9th hour of the day, when it was
the 9th hour, from the 6th hour there was darkness over all the
earth until the 9th hour. We know at the 9th hour he said,
Father into thy hand I commend my spirit. He died the 9th hour
of the day, which was the time of the Evening sacrifice, the
morning sacrifice, the evening sacrifice. You see, none of these
things just didn't happen. It wouldn't happen in a circumstance. It was purposed and determined
of God. So even the time of his crucifixion
and the time of his death declared unto us the fulfillment of what
was pictured under the law. Christ is our Passover who was
sacrificed for us. He dies for our sin according
to the scripture. The risen Lord said to his apostles,
all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law
of Moses and the prophet in the psalm concerning me. The time
of his death. The time of his crucifixion was
all determined of God. Now, here's the second thing
I want us to see. The Lord dies according to the
will and purpose of God to accomplish our salvation. Here's the second
thing. In verse 45, it says, from the sixth hour, there were
darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. Now, this is
not just a mere eclipse of the sun. This is a total blotting
out of the sun. Darkness, complete darkness from
high noon, three hours of darkness, complete and total darkness,
until the Lord Jesus Christ gave His life for us. Three hours
of darkness, the sun refused to shine from the sixth hour
to the ninth hour. That happened because it was
prophesied in the book of Amos. Listen to this scripture, Amos
8 verse 9, Amos 8 verse 9, and it shall come to pass, In that
day, saith the Lord, I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and
I will darken the earth in that clear day. Now, what can we learn
from these three hours of darkness? We learn the darkness and deadness
of our sin, the sin of our heart before God. Men love darkness
rather than light because their deeds are evil. Men are not only
in the dark, but they love darkness. Secondly, we see also the darkness
of religion without Christ, which is lifeless and useless. Judaism
was nothing in that day but darkness and ignorance. And any religion,
I don't care what you call it, what they promote themselves
to be, any religion without Christ and him crucified, accomplishing
all of salvation is darkness and death, no matter how upright
or orthodox it may appear, or how moral it may appear, apart
from the Christ of God accomplishing all the salvation of God's people,
it's nothing but mere superstition. It's darkness, blindness, and
ignorance. I think that's what that darkness
there is typical of. You remember those Jews, so proud,
so full of self-righteousness. Abraham was our father. The Lord
said, if Abraham were your father, you would do what Abraham did.
Abraham believed me. They said, God is our father.
You know what the Lord said? You remember? John 8, 44, you
are of your father, the devil, and the lust of your father will
you do. He's the father of lies, and
you've believed his lie. We'll also see the blackness
and darkness of our sin upon the Lord Jesus Christ that he
was made sin for us. When the light of this world
was made sin for us, complete darkness flooded this world and
flooded his own soul for us. He was forsaken of God. My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was forsaken of God as
our sacrifice for sin that we may never be forsaken of God. How can God forsake God? The Lord Jesus Christ is God
manifest in the flesh. Martin Luther looked at this
verse for years, for months and months and weeks. He said, God
forsaking God? No man can understand that. But
it's true. It's true. God's too holy. God
the Father's too holy to look upon God the Son as he's made
sin for us. Now, in my puny mind, I think
of The Lord Jesus Christ dying there for the sin of His people.
In my puny mind, I try to wrap myself around that, and this
darkness has appeared there at that time for three hours. You
think of all the sin of God's elect. All the sin of God's elect,
from all the ages. all coming together and meeting
together and being laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It was
such a great blackness and darkness of sin, it blotted out the sun. That gives us some kind of an
idea of what's going on here. The Lord Jesus Christ bearing
our sin in His own body on the tree. So we see the complete
darkness over all the land. Not only Jerusalem, but I think
it was darkness that spread over all the earth as well. Something,
something special, particular happened at this time. God was
accomplishing our salvation. Here's the third thing I want
us to look at, verse 50, Matthew 27, verse 50. Jesus, that is
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners, when he cried again,
With a loud voice, he yielded up the ghost. Now, it's not recorded
here what he said when he yielded up his spirit, but we saw a couple
weeks ago in Luke 23, 46, he said this, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. And then in John 19 verse 30,
we had those seven sayings of the cross two weeks ago. The
Lord Jesus Christ said, it is finished. It's finished. The
Lord Jesus Christ, there's another remarkable event here. The Lord
Jesus Christ gave his life for us. When we were yet without
strength and due time, Christ died for the ungodly. No one
took his life. They didn't take his life. He
gave himself for us, not the blood of bulls and goats. He
wasn't the priest who brought in like the priest did under
the law, the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own blood.
He entered into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
lose his life. He gave his life and his soul
an offering for sin, a ransom for sin. He gave his body. He
gave his soul. He gave his spirit unto God to
put away our sin. And at the time appointed of
God, he dismissed his soul from his body and entered into glory
as the forerunner for us. He's entered in and He's seated.
And we are seated in Him. You see, it pleased the Lord
to bruise them. This is God's lamb. This is God's
sacrificial lamb. Is it nothing to you, all you
who pass by? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done to me, done to me with
the Lord, has afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger.
recorded in Lamentations chapter 1. Let me read this to you. Isaiah
53. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. He made his soul an offering
for sin. He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He gives
us eternal life. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. Is God the Father satisfied with
the death of God the Son? Absolutely. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquity. His last words were not that
of a failing life cut short, but rather of a shout of a conquering
king who glorified God and all that he accomplished. You remember
he prayed in John 17, Father, I've glorified thee on the earth.
I've finished the work you gave me. Now, therefore, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. He did not die as a helpless
victim. He died as the appointed sacrifice
of God to put away our sin. He triumphed over sin himself. You can turn with me if you want
to. I'm going to turn to the book of Colossians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, and I'm going to read from Colossians
chapter 2. If you don't want to turn, let me just read it
to you. Colossians 2 verse 13, and you being dead in your sin,
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which is
contrary to us, he took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross, Colossians 2, 14, and having spoiled principalities
and power. He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them, and notice the marginal reference, himself. He triumphed over all the enemies
with himself, by himself, accomplishing our salvation. So they did not
take his life, He gave His life, an offering and a sacrifice for
sin to put away our sin and to establish righteousness for us. Now here's the fourth one I want
us to look at. Verse 51, back in Matthew 27. At the time of the evening sacrifice,
when the Lord Jesus Christ gave His life as a sacrifice for our
sin, He yielded up the Spirit unto God, He went back to glory. You remember he told that dying
thief, now, this day, you'll be with me in paradise. They
took his body down from the tree. We're going to see that next
week. Buried it. And the body was buried for three
days, but the Lord himself was not there. His spirit went back
to the Father who gave it. But notice this. When he died,
something happened here. In verse 51, behold, the veil
of the temple was rent in two. in twain from the top to the
bottom, the earth did quake, the rocks rent, the graves were
opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and
came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into
the holy city and appeared to many." Now, several things here. The first one is this, another
remarkable event, the veil of the temple was torn from top
to bottom. Now remember in that tabernacle
there was a holy place separated from the Holy of Holies by that
thick, heavy veil. Some people say it was four or
five inches thick. It was a veil of blue and scarlet
and purple fine twine linen, heavy, thick, covered the whole
part from the Holy of Holies to the holy place. Under that
veil, once a year, the high priest of God went in under that veil
with the blood offering and sprinkled that blood on the mercy seat.
Only the high priest, once a year, would go in. No one else was
allowed. Those who tried to were killed. The Lord Jesus Christ, being
our Great High Priest, having accomplished all salvation for
us, the Lord took that veil that prevented us from entering into
the presence of God, He took that veil and tore it up, in
that He fulfilled all things for us. Now He says, come, come
you heavy laden, come unto Me, I'll give you rest. Oh everyone
that is thirsty, come ye to the waters. That very thick veil
that separated us from God, is now torn up, and we have an entrance
into the very presence of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, in Him
we have full and free access to the throne of grace, into
the very presence of God. You remember reading from Hebrews
chapter 4, seeing that we have a great high priest that is passed
into the heavens, who is tempted and tested in all points like
as we are, yet without sin, let us therefore come boldly with
liberty to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in a time of need. We can only do that
because the Lord Jesus Christ has opened up the way of salvation. What is that way? Christ. Christ
is the way. Christ is the only way, the truth
and the life. He said, no man comes to me but
by and through our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm thinking
of a scripture if I can find it here. Don't turn, let me just read
it to you. Over in Hebrews chapter 10, it said, their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more, because Christ put them
away. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ, by a new
and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that
is to say, his flesh, Having a high priest over the house
of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance
of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with the pure water of the gospel. Let us come boldly
to the throne of grace. That veil no longer separates
us from God. He said, come, come, reconcile. We're reconciled unto God. Now
here's the fifth thing I want us to point out, the remarkable
event. In Matthew 27, look at verse
51 again. Verse 51, the veil of the temple
was rent from top to bottom, signifying salvation is from
the top down, not the bottom up. And the earth did quake,
there was a great earthquake, and rocks were rent. Remember when the Lord Jesus
Christ came into Jerusalem for the last time, riding upon that
donkey, and the folks cried out, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Remember? And the Pharisees told
the Lord to rebuke them, rebuke your disciples. And he said,
if they don't praise me, the stones will cry out. Now we see
that happening, don't we? The stones do cry out. The earth
shakes. The earth trembles. Who can shake
the earth? None but God. The rocks were
rent. All creation is made to glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole creation groaneth and
travaileth in pain until now, and that's what we see happening.
The Lord Jesus Christ is that rock of ages upon which we rest. Remember in the wilderness journey
of 40 years, Israel in the wilderness? You remember Moses was told by
God to smite that rock when they needed water, and out of that
rock, with that smitten rock, came water out of that rock that
was rent and supplied them water for 40 years. The Lord Jesus
Christ is that smitten rock, and out of that rock is water
of life. Out of that rock flows eternally
the well of free grace. Also, this is a picture, too,
of those stones being broken, being rent. It's also a picture
of God breaking hard-hearted sinners and giving them a new
heart. Ezekiel writes about it, he says,
a new heart will I give you and a new spirit I will put within
you. I'll take away that stony heart out of your flesh and I'll
give you a heart of flesh. That stony heart, it'll give
us a new heart, make us new creatures in Christ. Now here's something
most mysterious in verse 52 and verse 53. But this is the fruit
of his salvation. And the graves were opened Verse
52, Matthew 27, the graves were opened and many bodies of the
saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after
his resurrection and went back into the holy city, back to Jerusalem,
and appeared unto many. Now this happened after his resurrection. These saints, who and how many,
were not told. Some have speculated it was Abraham,
Moses, Isaac, Jacob, maybe Simeon waiting for the consolation of
the Lord. Maybe it was John the Baptist that was raised up. And
he went back into the city and showed himself. Remember, John
was beheaded. So we don't know who these saints
are, but we know they were raised up and presented as trophies
of his resurrection glory, trophies of his so great salvation he
accomplished, trophies of his power over sin, death, hell,
and the grave. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
first fruits of the resurrection He's become the firstfruits risen
from the dead, but there's many more to come. And these are some
of the firstfruits of the firstfruits. Isn't that a marvelous thing
to look at? Our Lord said, because I live,
you shall live also. I am he that liveth and was dead. Behold, I'm alive forevermore.
One day, very soon, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back,
all believers will be raised up to meet the Lord and to be
with the Lord forever. We read about that in 1 Thessalonians
4, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, the
voice of an archangel, and the dead in Christ shall rise first,
and we which are alive will remain, shall be changed in a moment,
in a twinkling of an eye, and be caught up to be with the Lord
forever. To enjoy that we talked about
this morning, that new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. He'll change our vile body and
fashion it like unto his glorious body. What a day that will be. Let's read this one together.
Turn over to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This whole 15th chapter
talks about, and Adam all died, 1 Corinthians 15. In Christ shall
all be made alive, every man in his own order. Christ the
first fruit, afterward they that are Christ at his coming. Now look over to Matthew, excuse
me, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does
corruption inherit incorruption, but I show you a mystery. We
shall not all sleep. But we all shall be changed.
In a moment, a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on incorruption. So when this corruptible shall
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death. Where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. The
strength of sin is the law. Christ having put away our sin,
satisfied the law, thanks be unto God who has given us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The next remarkable thing I want
us to look at for a moment In Matthew 27 verse 54, here's a
remarkable confession, a remarkable confession. And when the centurion
and they that were with him, now a centurion is one who has
charged over a hundred men. Now when the centurion and they
that were with him, watching Jesus saw the earthquake felt
the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly.
Here's what they said. Truly, this was the Son of God. And we can say, truly, he still
is the Son of God. If you look at your reference
there in the Cambridge, if you have it, the center reference
is Luke 23, 47. And there, the soldier said,
truly, this was a righteous man. He spoke the truth, didn't he?
The Roman soldiers, a remarkable confession. A remarkable confession. This is the son of God. This
is a righteous man. He was and still is the Lord
our righteous. Many of the enemies were made
to confess him. Pilate and Herod both said, I
find no fault in him. Judas said, remember, I betrayed
innocent blood. The dying repentant thief said,
this man has done nothing amiss. He had no sin, knew no sin, and
did no sin. Oh, He was made sin for us, but
He had no sin of His own. So there's remarkable confession.
Here's the last one I want us to consider. Remarkable loyalty. You see that in verse 55 and
verse 56? And many women were there beholding
afar off. Now, what were they beholding?
They were beholding Him. His vision so marred, so beaten,
so bruised, so mangled that He didn't even look like a man.
And yet they're beholding Him. They're seeing in Him and Christ
crucified all their salvation. And many women, they're beholding
afar off. What are they beholding? They're
beholding Him, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering
unto Him, among which was Mary, Magdalene, Mary the mother of
James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's children, the mother
of the Apostle James, John and James. His remarkable loyalty. These faithful women beholding
him could not help him. The Lord needed no help in securing
our salvation. when He had by Himself purged
our sin, they were beholding Him, looking at Him, beholding
Him, but they could not help Him, beholding Him, as Christ
crucified for their sin. May we behold him there that
way, the just dying for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God.
Beholding him wounded for our transgression, that we may be
healed. Beholding him being made sin
for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God. Beholding
him being put to shame, that we may never be put to shame. Beholding him dying for us, that
we might never die. beholding how He loved us even
unto death. Here in His love, not that we
love God, He loved us and that He sent His Son to put away our
sin. You see, He is our resurrection
and He is our life. Let me read this to you. Don't
turn, let me just read this to you. You're familiar with this.
Remember the story of Martha? and Mary, whose brother Lazarus
had died, and the Lord delayed coming. And when he got there,
Mary and Martha, Martha said to the Lord Jesus, if thou has
been here, my brother had not died. This is John 11, 22. But I know that even now whatsoever
thou will ask of God, God will give it thee. And the Lord said
to Martha, thy brother shall rise again. Martha said to him,
I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection the last
day. I know that. And the Lord said to her, Martha,
I'm the resurrection. I'm the resurrection, and I'm
the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" They were
holding the Lord Jesus Christ as their salvation, as their
righteousness, as their resurrection. Here in His love, not that we
loved God, but He loved us. Having loved His own that were
in the world, He loved them to the end. They were beholding
him with eyes of faith. May God give us eyes of faith
to behold him. What remarkable events around
all history, all history, all human history, before and after
all revolve around this one remarkable event, how that Christ died for
our sins, how that he died for our sins according to the scripture,
how that he was buried, how he is raised again according to
the scripture, delivered for our offenses, raised again for
our justification. Well, we're going to see next
week what happened to the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.