To Matthew chapter 27. Matthew
27. Let's begin reading in verse 45. Matthew
27, 45. Now from the sixth hour, There was darkness over all the
land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus
cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that
is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of
them that stood there when they heard that said, this man calleth
for Elias. 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. The rest said, let us see whether
Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again
with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil
of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. and
the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and 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 unto many. Now when the centurion
and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake
and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying,
Truly, this was the Son of God. And many women were there beholding
afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto
him. among them or among which was
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother
of Zebedee's children. It's hard to imagine that folks would want to talk
about anything else than the perfect righteous service of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's hard to imagine. But the glorious good news that
we have to declare, that God's declared in our hearts, and that
we have to declare in this world, is that by Christ himself, the
salvation, the total salvation The redemptive work, the atoning,
satisfying work is accomplished. It's done. It is done. Christ Jesus has
made complete satisfaction to God for everyone for whom he
died. He's obtained eternal redemption
for everyone for whom he died. And each one shall be brought
to hear His voice by His voice, by His power, by His dominion. And each one shall be brought
to confess Him and to follow Him and to look no more anywhere
else to this blessed Redeemer. Now, I want you to see a few
things that's just revealed here in this message. about these
last three hours our Lord suffered on the cross. First we see darkness. Verse 45 says, Now from the sixth
hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth
hour. In Amos 8, 9, the Lord said,
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'll darken the
earth in the clear day. It means here that for three
hours, complete and total darkness covered the whole earth. The
whole earth for three hours in the middle of the daytime. The
darkness we see here tells us something about the nature, the
sin of each one of God's elect that Christ died for. When we
see here what was done to Christ, we need to remember this, that
it was not immorality that did this to Christ. It wasn't the
immoral off-scouring of the earth. religious people. And this is
what we are. When we're born in this world,
we're religious. We're religious, vainly religious. And these folks were doing everything
they did, claiming to do it for the support of God's honor, claiming
to do it for God's glory, claiming to do it out of a desire to keep
God's law, claiming to do what they did for God's people. But if Christ is not all, then
all is vain, and all is nothing but absolute, complete darkness. Now, in this darkness, we also
see what Christ bore. When you see all those around
the cross with the blood on their hands and the vileness of the
hearts of these people. You can behold those, the very
nature of those for whom Christ died, and you behold the very
darkness that Christ himself suffered, but he endured himself. He's the light. He's the light
by which the sun, the S-U-N, gets its light. He's the light
of the world. And when Christ suffered for
these three hours on the cross, the sun in the sky had no light
to shine. darkness covered the earth. I remember when I was about 14
or 15 we were coming back from church one day and we stopped
to get something to eat and this lady was she was complaining
about how bad how bad things were and how bad the times were
and everything else how they just never been a day as dark
as our day about 1985 or 84 something like that. This day right here when Christ
died is the darkest day ever. We see in this day right here
what every man is that's born in this world. Complete and total
darkness. Second thing we see here is a
forsaking. Look at verse 46. About the ninth
hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama
subachthanai, that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? The Lord is being sacrificed
or giving himself a sacrifice at the time when the daily sacrifice
was offered. because he is the one whom the
daily sacrifice pictured. He's the one who gave the law
of the daily sacrifice, and he's the one whom that law pictured.
And he's here having the iniquity of all his people laid upon him. He's here bearing our sins in
his own body on the tree. He's here being made a curse
for his people. And because he was, God the Father
refused. God Almighty refused to look
upon him. He refused to look upon him. God's of two pure eyes to behold
iniquity. and he separated himself from
his son in divine justice. One of the old writers said this,
here we see the sacred humanity of the blessed Redeemer lifted
up between heaven and earth to show to angels and to men the
spectacle of redeeming love and to declare it one and the same
moment and by one and the same act of the suffering obedience
and bleeding sacrifice of the Son of God the eternal and unalterable
displeasure of the Almighty against sin, and the rigid demands of
His inflexible justice, and yet the tender compassion and boundless
love of His heart to the elect of grace." Christ Jesus demonstrating,
bearing, manifesting the very unalterable displeasure of God
against sin. Here we see it. When we go to
the cross, everything you want to see about the glory of God,
you see at the cross in Christ and His suffering. You see here
that God will not clear the guilty. He will by no means clear the
guilty. And everyone that He saves are
guilty. That's why Christ is dying. Christ
is bearing the forsaking of God in order that He might satisfy,
that He might completely answer the demands of holy justice. And the demands of holy justice
is the soul that sinneth must die. And death won't do it. Did you know that? Death won't satisfy. This suffering
is an eternal suffering. This suffering is an eternal
suffering that you and I, if we perish in unbelief, you and
I can't satisfy it. This is a death that is an eternal
satisfaction that he's bearing. Wrath. Absolute, total wrath. And yet, at the same time, it's
the display of the compassion and the particular saving distinguishing
love of God Almighty He's saving his people from their sins. That's
why his name is Jesus for he shall say Savior Hosea he shall
save his people from their sin Now this is the this is the service
that pleases God. This is the obedience, the righteousness
that pleases God. This is true righteousness, true
obedience. And that's the third thing we
see. This is obedience unto death. Look now at verse 47. Some of
them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth
for Elias. 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. The rest said, Let be. Let's
see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had
cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost." Jesus
yielded up the ghost. Everything that our Lord did
was voluntary obedience. everything he did. And if he
would have been, had his life taken from him, rather than yield
up the ghost, rather than yield up life from himself, it wouldn't
have been voluntary obedience. There's not anybody, anybody
who's been executed, which this what this was, was an execution. Nobody's been executed ever did
it voluntarily. Christ here has no one taking
his life from him. He voluntarily yielded up the
ghost. He yielded his spirit into the
hands of the Father. This act right here was just
as much voluntary obedience as the first act. The first act
of assuming the body of humanity in the womb of a virgin. was
a voluntary act of obedience. And every act of obedience from
the womb all the way to right here was all voluntary obedience. This is the obedience required
to come into God's presence. This is true holiness. This is
true holiness. It requires absolute perfect
obedience. This is that perfect obedience.
There's no other satisfaction, no other obedience, no other
righteousness that God will receive but this one right here, Christ
the Lord. This is the fourth thing we see,
satisfaction declared. Look here in verse 51. And behold,
the veil of the temple was rent entwined from the top to the
bottom. and the earth did quake, and
the rocks rent, and 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 unto
many." We see three miracles here. The first one is the veil
in the temple. This was a veil that was extremely
thick, wound with twined thread. It was This was a miracle for this thing
to split right into from the top to the bottom. This was the
veil that separated the holy place from the most holy place. It separated the court into which
the priest went from that holy place where the ark was, where
the mercy seat was, that holiest of holies. It pictured the very
presence of God himself. Nobody could come into the presence
of God himself but a high priest. That's the only one. And he could
only come one time in the year. And he could only come with the
blood of a lamb. All of this picturing Christ
Jesus who is the high priest. Christ Jesus who is the lamb.
Christ Jesus who alone could enter into the presence of God.
And when this veil rent from the top to the bottom, it declared
God is satisfied. His holy law is completely and
totally satisfied. Justice is accomplished. And
it went from top to bottom and it declared Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. He's
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Now
look at Hebrews 10 verse 20. Hebrews 10 verse 20. If we're
going to come into God's presence, this is how we come. Hebrews 10. Let me read verse
19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness. The word means liberty. to enter
the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way. This way is new and this way
is a living way. That veil was not a living way,
and that veil was an old way. This way into God's presence
is new and living, which He hath newly made consecrated for us
through the veil, that is to say, it's His flesh. That's the
new and living way, His flesh. We can't come in our flesh, we
come in His flesh. in his obedience. 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 pure water. Pure
water. Alright, here's the second miracle
that happened. The earth quaked and the rocks
rent. Whenever the Lord, let me read
this to you, Psalm 18. Psalm 18. The Lord said, I will call upon the Lord who
is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
The sorrows of death compassed me. The floods of ungodly men
made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed
me about. The snares of death prevented
me. In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried unto
my God. And He heard my voice out of
His temple, and my cry came before Him even into His ears. Then
the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the hills
moved and were shaken." Look at these last words, "...because
He was wroth." God not only satisfied His judgment
and poured out His wrath upon His Son, but once He did that,
He declared loud and clear that as diametrically opposite to
God being well-pleased with His Son, God is highly displeased
with what man has done to His Son. Highly displeased. It speaks to the shaking of everything
that can be shaken. The whole world and the whole
earth and everything that can be shaken except for Christ and
His kingdom which cannot be moved. It can't be shaken. He realized
that this whole world, we saw a lot of beautiful scenery. in
14 days, we saw some beautiful, beautiful scenery, flew over
a lot of a lot of earth, and a lot of sea, and saw a lot of
earth and a lot of sea saw some big rocks. Every bit of it's
gonna be removed. Every bit of it's going to be
dissolved. And there's going to be a new
heavens and a new earth that can't be moved. Because everything
in that new heavens and that new earth is the new creation. Everything is made by the word,
Christ himself, all over, all new, all in righteousness, and
it can't be moved. It can't be shaken. That's what
the Hebrew writer said. His voice then shook the earth,
but now he says, yet once more I shake not the earth only, but
also heaven. And this word yet once more signifying
the removing of those things that are shaken as of things
that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. and this resurrection of these
saints. We see the veil rent from top
to bottom. God declaring, I'm completely
satisfied. Christ is the end of the law.
The end, the complete acceptance. that God requires of all his
people. And then we see here this shaking
of everything, this earthquake and this shaking, Christ the
power and the wisdom of God, in whom is eternal security for
his people. And then we see the resurrection
of many from the dead, right after his resurrection, declaring
for us Christ himself. He's not only the end of the
law for righteousness, he's not only the wisdom and power of
God, He is the resurrection and the life. He is the resurrection. He is the life. Now those are
the three things brethren we need. We need law satisfied. God satisfied. We need power
and wisdom with God. We need resurrection and life.
Christ is all. Now, here's the next thing we
see. We see a confession. Look at verse 54. Now, when the
centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw
the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly,
saying truly, this was the Son of God. Can you imagine if you
were in that centurion's shoes And you had just played a great
role in crucifying the Prince of Life and then it dawning on
you. This was the Son of God. Well, if you can put yourself in his
shoes and truly enter into what that centurion entered into,
This is the confession of the believer. I put him there. I did this to him and this was
the Son of God. This is the Prince of Life. The
Prince of Life. Every knee is going to bow to
Him. Every knee is going to confess that He is the Lord of Lords
and King of Kings. Can you confess Him? Can you
say Have you seen him by faith to where you could say, this
one who died truly is the son of God. He's truly the one whose
sacrifice is everlasting. It's eternal. It's my complete
and total redemption, my complete and total liberty from everything
I am, from everything that I am against God into God's presence. Can you confess that? This is
where we have to be brought to confess Him, truly confess Him,
from the heart, publicly. This is what comes with a profession.
The last thing we see here is commitment, verse 55. And many
women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from
Galilee ministering unto him. They followed him and they ministered
unto him. Among which was Mary Magdalene
and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of
Zebedee's children. You know Mary Magdalene was the
first one the Lord spoke to after his resurrection. You know of
everybody the Lord saved This woman had seven devils cast out
of her. That's the seven marks the number
of completion. That's the completion of absolute
total bondage and depravity. And Christ cast that out of her
perfectly and saved her perfectly. And you know who the first one
was who came to his tomb? She was. You know who loves the
Lord the most? Those who've been forgiven the
most. You know who committed to Him the most? Those who've
been forgiven the most. You know who desire to follow
Him and minister in any way He would have us to minister? those
that have been forgiven most of them. There's absolutely nothing,
absolutely nothing Christ calls his people unto that's a burden
or it's a delight to those that have been forgiven. To those
that have had so much to be forgiven of. All right, I want you to
see these last things. I'm going to go over what we
just saw. Behold in this darkness, when you see that darkness, behold
God's hatred for sin. Behold what we are. Behold what
Christ bore in his own body. And behold, we need him, Christ
the light. Without him, you imagine, just
imagine when God has removed himself. Can you imagine living
in a world where there is no S-U-N, where there is no sun
to shine in the sky? Can you imagine living in a world
like that? Sun's life. Behold in Christ, as you behold
Him forsaken on the cross, behold His obedience unto death. The
complete and perfect obedience. You know when the Lord says,
behold my servant, whom I uphold. You know when we'll stop wanting
folks to behold our service and want to behold the servant? When
we behold the perfect obedience of God's servant. That's when
we'll find out our service is nothing. It's absolutely nothing. Service. Obedience. And when you behold that, behold
the free pardon of sin, the free justification Christ accomplished
for all his people. And then thirdly, behold in these
miracles, the veil rent, Christ the end of the law, the earthquake,
Christ the power and wisdom of God, the resurrection of those
saints, Christ the way, the truth, and the life. And then last,
when you behold this confession of Him, this is the Son of God,
and you behold this commitment, know this is the fruit. of grace. This is the result of the grace
that he accomplishes in his people. There's a confession from the
heart. Christ is all. He's the son of
God. He's my God. My God. And there's a commitment to him.
All things are made new. Old things are passed away. And
we follow him. We follow him. If that's the
case with you, Commit to Him. Confess Him in baptism. Follow
the Lord. Join in with these saints who
are marching design, who are declaring His name, blowing this
trumpet along the way. That's how God's gathering His
saints. That's how He's gathering them. And you can rest as you
march knowing it's all finished. It's all finished. All right.