Good morning. This coming Wednesday is Christmas
Eve, and we decided this past Wednesday night that we would
have services, but move them from our normal time at 7 to
5. So this coming Wednesday night,
we'll have our midweek service at 5 o'clock. Tonight, Donnie Bell is going
to be over in Sarasota preaching and some of us are going over
there. I'm going to bring one of the messages and Donnie will
be preaching the other message. If you'd like to go with us,
please be sure to let me know so we can arrange for transportation. And then on January 8th, 9th,
and 10th, which is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning,
We're going to have a conference in Sarasota, and Don Fortner
and I will be preaching at that meeting, so I wanted you to know
about it. Covet your prayers for that meeting, and the group
over there has done a lot of work in letting the community
know that we're having that meeting, and we're hopeful that the Lord
may have some other sheep in the area that will come and become
part of the work there. All right, let's go to the Lord
and ask Him to bless this service. Our Heavenly Father, we approach
Thy throne of grace in the name of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is our Savior, our substitute, and all our satisfaction before
Thee. We ask that you would send your
Holy Spirit and power to bless your word and cause us to find
our hope in Christ. That you would lift him up, even
as he was lifted up on Calvary's cross, and that we would be drawn
to him and find our comfort and our hope in all our salvation
in his accomplished work. We pray for the services in Sarasota,
both tonight and for the conference coming up next week, two weeks. And we ask, Lord, that you would
bless the gospel messages to the hearts of your people. And
we ask, Lord, that you have lost sheep in that area, that you
would gather them together with those that have been found and
enable us to worship in spirit and in truth before they. We
ask it in Christ's name, Amen. There can be no doubt in the
heart of any child of God as to what is the pivotal event
of human history. The one thing that determines
all else is, without a doubt, the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is the crux of the matter. And all that we know about God
and about salvation hangs on that pivotal event. that it happened historically
cannot be questioned and what was accomplished is believed
and rejoiced in the heart of God's people. Now accompanying
the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, God Almighty performed
six miracles during those hours that our Lord was hanging on
that cross. six miracles. We know that there
were seven sayings of Christ from the cross but there were
also performed by God six very specific miracles that took place
while our Lord was hanging there and particularly when he gave up the ghost and cried out
to the father into thy hands I commend my spirit what were
those miracles and what was the purpose of those miracles the
Lord doesn't perform miracles for the purpose of impressing
men he has no need to persuade us or to impress us with his
power He's not, he just doesn't. He's omnipotent and he knows
that and he's not in any way threatened by anyone that doesn't
believe that. So why would the Lord perform
these miracles? Well each one of them attest
to what was being done on Calvary's cross. And the Lord performed
these miracles for the purpose of declaring to us what it is
he was accomplishing as he hung there suspended between heaven
and earth as the sinner's substitute, bearing in his body the sins
of his people, satisfying divine justice, and putting away our
sins once and for all. The first of the miracles is
mentioned in Luke chapter 23. Would you turn with me there?
Luke chapter 23 at verse 44. Now Jewish reckoning of time
began with the sunrise. which would have been around
six in the morning. So the sixth hour would have
been high noon. Alright, so we see in Luke chapter
23 at verse 44, and it was about the sixth hour and there was
darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour and the sun was
darkened. That's the first of the miracles.
God Almighty performed a miracle for three hours. The sun's light
was taken away. This was no eclipse of the sun. An eclipse only lasts for a few
minutes. This lasted for three hours. The hand of God darkened the
sun that came into the world in order to illustrate what was
happening to the Son of Righteousness. We saw the other day in Psalm
19 that the Son of Righteousness is like a bridegroom coming out
of his chamber and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race
and nothing is hid from the heat of it. And every time we see
the sun rise and every time we see the sun set, we are reminded
that this is given to us to remind us of the rising and the setting
of the Son of God who brings light and life into this world. He said, I am the light of the
world. In me is life. and that life
is your light. And so what do we have here?
We have the Lord showing us that the very giver of life, the very
giver of light, the one who said, let there be light, and there
was, was by the hand of God being extinguished of his light. he was being put to death. Darkened through his death, the
light was being put out. The one in whom is all life,
the light of men, was being put to death. Three hours, fearful, silent
darkness of gloom during these three hours. The taunts and the
insults of the gamesayers took place before the sixth hour. When God performed this miracle
of darkness, there was silence at Calvary for three hours. The Roman soldiers didn't say
a thing. The Pharisees didn't say a thing. The only sound that
could be heard was the dropping of our Savior's blood from His
body to the ground. God darkened. He separated from His Son. It's the reason
why the Lord cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It is the baptism that the Lord
said that he must be baptized with, that he was straightened
to accomplish. It was the bearing of the sins
of God's people, and as the sin bearer, God Almighty's eyes were
too pure to look upon sin. And the Lord performed a physical
miracle in order to reinforce the truth of what was
taking place. God was doing business with God. And the son was being cut off
from the father. Is there anything that shows
us more of the evil of our sin than this? The evil of your sin cannot be
comprehended by the shame or the conviction that you feel
in your conscience as a result of your sin. That doesn't come
close. It doesn't come close to explaining
the real evil of sin. But this does. This does. the Lord Jesus Christ hanging
on that cross and God Almighty forsaking Him. This is the cup
that He pled with the Lord that there might be some other way.
This was the cup of God's wrath that he was forced and chose
to and willingly drank the dregs of in order to put away our sin
and give us access before God. In Amos chapter 8 verse 9, and
it shall come to pass in that day, now this is the prophecy
of Amos if you'd like to turn with me there, Amos chapter 8, Amos is right before Obadiah,
after Joel, one of those minor prophets in the back of the Old
Testament. Did you find it? Amos chapter 8, look at verse
9. And it shall come to pass in
that day, 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." This is exactly what took place.
It's exactly what took place. This is the day of God exercising
His wrath and His judgment against the sins of His people. What a glorious thing. What glorious
hope we have. Is there any possible way that
God could exercise such vengeance against one who is in Himself
so holy and pure and not be satisfied? Is there? No! No! What the Lord was saying
is, no longer will you need to be cut off. For He's been cut
off among the living. He's been separated from the
Father. He suffered the wrath and the judgment of God. And
now we have nothing but eternal light. The light now shines. No more darkness. no more darkness. You've been translated from darkness
into light. If God was so uncompromising and
unrelenting in His judgment against His Holy Son who bore the sins
of His people, what will it be like when God pours out His wrath
and His fury against those who do not believe? What will it
be like? Turn with me to Luke chapter
23. Verse 27, and there followed him a great
company of people and of women which also bewailed and lamented
him. Now the Lord is carrying his
cross to Calvary and there are some women that are following
after him and weeping and wailing over what they are observing.
Verse 28, but Jesus turning unto them said daughters of Jerusalem
weep not for me but weep for yourselves and for your children.
You know what a good explanation of man-made religion is today? Feeling sorry for Jesus. Just feeling sorry for Jesus.
the little wimpy Jesus that's being preached and believed on
in the world today, the Jesus who doesn't really have the power
to save, the one who made an offer of salvation, the one who's
in the heavens wringing his hands, wishing that men would let him
have his way, hoping that they'll invite him into their hearts
one day, that little Jesus is a Jesus to feel sorry for. And
the Lord says right here, don't weep for me. Don't feel sorry
for me. Weep for yourselves and for your
children. For you think what you're seeing
now is bad? Look what he goes on to say. For behold, the days
are coming in the which they shall say, blessed are the barren
and the wombs that never bear and the paps which never gave
suck. In this day of wrath, in this day of judgment, it's going
to be better that you never had children. Then shall they begin
to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and unto the hills, cover
us up. They'll be wishing for death.
They'll be wishing for something to separate them from the wrath
of God. For if they do these things in
a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? If this fury and wrath of God
is so horrible upon the green tree, the Lord Jesus Christ who in
himself is life. What's going to happen when the
fury of God's wrath comes against the dry tree? It's going to be a whole lot worse. This darkness that the Lord miraculously
caused on the face of the earth during those three hours in which
Christ hung on the cross not only reminds us of what business
was being performed and accomplished between God the Father and God
the Son in the putting away of our sins, but it also reminds
us of the eternal darkness and judgment that will come one day
against all unbelievers. give me grace to escape that
day. Matthew chapter 27. Don't know if we'll get through
all of these miracles, but I would definitely wanted to deal with
the first two. Actually the one that we just
read about from Luke chapter 23. I stopped short of reading
the rest of that verse if you noticed in verse 45. And the
sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was rent in the
midst and Matthew tells us in Matthew chapter 27 at verse 50
Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice with a loud
voice what is he crying father into thy hands I commend my spirit and he did it in great confidence
and great faith and when he did that in a loud voice he gave
up the ghost and behold notice behold the veil of the temple
was rent in twain from top to the bottom and the earth did
quake and the rocks rent When the Lord cried with a loud
voice, the veil was rempt." Now Hebrews chapter 10 makes it very
clear what that veil was. And if you go back to Exodus
chapter 26, you can read there of the instructions that the
Lord gave Moses about that veil. This is the curtain that separated
the holies of holies from the outer court of the temple. And
only once a year could the high priest go behind that veil. And
when he went in, he went in with a blood sacrifice on the Day
of Atonement. And he put that blood sacrifice
on the mercy seat. And God said to Moses, here I
will meet with you. That mercy seat was pure gold
on top of the Ark of the Covenant, in which was the tablets of the
Law, the Rod of Aaron, and the Ofar of Manna. reminding us that
that tabernacle is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ as our
prophet, as our priest, and as our king. And the only way that
we can get access into God is for Him, as our High Priest,
to go into the holies of holies and put the blood of the Lamb
on the mercy seat. God said, here I'll meet with
you. All those Old Testaments were pictures, you know that.
For when the Lord Jesus Christ gave up the ghost, that blood
that he shed on Calvary's cross, the scripture tells us was not
applied to a mercy seat made by the hands of man, but was
applied to that mercy seat in heaven. And what the Lord's doing
here is he's saying, no longer is it necessary. These types
and shadows and pictures are no longer needed. we have access
into the throne room of grace by the veil that was rent. Now
if you go back to Exodus chapter 23 the Lord gives us very detailed
description as to how this veil was made. This curtain was built. It was the scripture says of
cunning work and the top of the veil was blue and the bottom
of the veil was scarlet and the middle of the veil was a mixing
of the two colors gradually until they came together in the middle
and the middle of the veil was what do you get when you mix
when you mix blue and red? Purple. purple. Now what do you suppose that
veil pictures? What does blue picture? It pictures
heaven, doesn't it? It pictures the deity of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the place from which he came. What does
red represent? It represents blood, doesn't
it? It's a picture of his flesh. It's a picture of His humanity,
and it's on the bottom. And what's in the middle? The
mixing of these two. The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
in all of His royalty, in all of His glory, is pictured in
those two colors being put together in purple. And like a great sword
wielded by God Himself, This veil was rent from the top to
the bottom. And in Acts chapter 6, you know
what was going on. This happened the sixth hour. That's the hour of the evening
sacrifice. There were priests in the temple
making preparations for sacrifice exactly when this happened. Don't
you know the whole city was in wonderment about the darkness
that was hovering over Jerusalem for three hours? And now the
earth quakes, and the veil is rent from top to bottom, and
in Acts chapter 6 the scripture says, and not a few of the priests
believed. What other explanation could
they have? I mean, they were in there, they
saw it happen. They saw the veil being rent.
Turn to me to Hebrews chapter 10. Look at verse 17. and their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more." Now that's what you
need. That's what you need. I don't
know what all, whatever else you might need in the temple
realm of things, what you need and what I need is for God to
put away our sins and say to us, I remember them no more.
That's our only hope. If He finds one sin left on you
or me, then we have nothing but that darkness of judgment to
look forward to that He spoke about with what shall happen
in the day of the dry tree if they do this to the green tree. Now where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. Once God's put away
our sin, there's no need for any more offering. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. For the entire economy of the
Old Testament, the priest stood outside the temple warning the
people when the high priest was in the holies of holies, doing
his work. And he went in there with a rope
tied around his ankles and bells on his skirt. Well they never
knew if he went in there in an improper fashion or with an improper
heart, God would kill him in there and they couldn't go in
there and get him. So if the bells quit tingling, they had
to pull him out. I mean that's how serious this
Holies of Holies was. And now what's the Lord say? The Spirit and the bride say,
come. That place that was once veiled and only accessible by
the high priest once a year was now opened up for everybody to
see the mystery of it. It's now opened up. And he says,
having therefore, brethren, boldness. We have confidence. This is not
cockiness. This boldness is confidence. We have a sure and steadfast
hope. Why? Because the anchor of our
soul, the forerunner, has gone in before us. And he's made the
way for us by a new and living way which he hath consecrated
for us through the veil. That is to say, his flesh. That
veil. When the Lord Jesus Christ cried
with a loud voice, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,
and he gave permission for his spirit to depart from his body, the veil was rempt. Right there
in the evening sacrifice on the sixth hour, the God-man, the God-man had
been consecrated, had put away our sin. and his blood had been
applied to the mercy seat for the sins of his people. And they
now have confidence before God. And having a high priest? Those
priests were just a type of what Christ would need. We have a
high priest. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance
of faith. What is our assurance? What is
our assurance of faith? Is our assurance that we have
faith? Is our assurance in our commitment,
in our dedication, in our belief, in our faith, in our coming?
No, our assurance is that God Almighty is completely satisfied. with the sacrifice that the Lord
Jesus Christ made on behalf of His people. It's coming before
God saying, Father, the only hope I have is that that blood
that Your dear Son shed on Calvary's cross, the renting of His flesh,
is sufficient before Thee on my behalf. It's the only hope
I have. I have no other hope, no other
way to access Your presence. But with Him, I'm confident. With Him, I'm bold. With Him,
I have full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." How
are you going to have pure conscience before God? The only possible way is for
you not to have any sin. If God says, I remember your
sins no more, What is there? We come before the throne of
grace with full assurance of faith, having our evil conscience
sprinkled with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 23,
let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering,
for He is faithful, that promised. I mentioned in Exodus chapter
26 that that veil is called a cunning work. And the word cunning doesn't
mean deceitful, it means purposeful. It was a purpose work. God designed
it very specifically as to how it would be made and what the
colors in it would be. And it had a message about it,
didn't it? It was a cunning work. It was
a highly esteemed work. The work now was done. Access is made. The forerunner
has gone before us and the anchor of our soul is now both sure
and steadfast and we have access into the very presence of God.
The law has been satisfied. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. God
satisfied. The priest has entered into heaven. The Word of God has come. The old tabernacle could not
be gone into anymore. Why? Because that veil of separation
was now rent. All could enter. Sin had been
taken out of the way. What glorious, glorious hope
we have in the resurrection, I mean, in the sacrifice that
the Lord Jesus Christ made on Calvary's cross. The third miracle we just read
about is the earthquake and the renting of the rocks. And the
message there, do you remember when another mountain experienced
an earthquake? Mount Sinai, wasn't it? When
God came down on Mount Sinai and gave the law. Calvary is
God's answer to Sinai. Sinai is the prophecy of Calvary
and Calvary is the fulfillment of Sinai. And what the Lord's
reminding us here is that which he accomplished at Sinai. Calvary is absorbed, or fiery Sinai is being absorbed
into Calvary. The wrath of the former is now
being hushed by the latter. Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. The law has been fulfilled. The
earth is shaken in order for God to say to us, this is what's
being accomplished. The first three of the six miracles
that were performed at the cross, we'll look at the rest of them
at a later date. Let's take a break.