Turn with me to Matthew 27. Matthew 27. The Lord willing, we are going to
look at something today. for all three of our services. Bible study, morning message,
evening message, same subject, same title. I'm giving it a one,
two, three. That subject is the seven sayings
of the cross. You may have heard that phrase
before, the seven sayings of the cross. The seven statements
that our Lord made while he was hanging on the cross. Everything
that he ever said is wonderful. If he said it, it's wonderful
and it's of critical importance. And these seven statements that
he made while he was hanging on the cross are worthy to be
highlighted because they are most definitely wonderful and of critical importance. In
seven statements, our Lord declared himself from the cross. Now I have heard these before. I have heard men preach these
seven statements before. I know these, but I've entered
into them like I never have before. And I pray the Lord will really
open us up to this because he declared himself from his own
cross. He declared who he was and what
he was doing from his own cross while he was
hanging there. The question of critical importance
is what did Christ accomplish on the cross? That's the question that separates
believers and unbelievers. Lost and saved. The truth and
a lie. What did Christ accomplish on
the cross? Well, in seven statements, our
Lord told us from his own mouth what he accomplished. And we're going to see who it
was hanging there. And we're going to very clearly
see what he accomplished in hanging there. And I want to treat today
like one big message. I've never done this before.
I've done messages where we've been in the same book or even
in the same verse for three, you know, three services on a
Sunday. But I'm not going to worry so
much about having an outline for each one. As I've looked
at these, it's just a continuation. We're
going to start it. and then continue it and then
finish it. We're just going to let it be
one big message and we're going to divide it into three parts
and this is how we will divide it. For this Bible study, we're
going to look at the first saying of the cross. We're gonna look
at the reason for the first saying of the cross and the first saying
of the cross. Then, for our morning message,
we're gonna look at the second, third, and fourth sayings of
the cross. And then tonight, we'll look
at the fifth, sixth, and seventh sayings of the cross. Now, let's
read just a little bit right here to get the whole scene back
into our minds, okay? Matthew 27, look at verse 22. Pilate saith unto them, What
shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say
unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what
evil hath he done? But they cried out the more,
saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, He took water
and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent
of the blood of this just person. See ye to it. Then answered all
the people and said, His blood be on us and on our children.
Then released Heber Abbas unto them, and when he had scourged
Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers
of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered
unto him the whole band of soldiers, and they stripped him and put
on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown
of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right
hand, and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying,
Hail, King of the Jews. And they spit on him and took
the reed and smote him on the head. And after that, they had
mocked him. They took the robe off from him
and put his own raiment on him and led him away to crucify him.
And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name,
him they compelled to bear his cross. And when they were come
unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say a place of a skull,
They gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall, and when he
had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And they crucified
him and parted his garments, casting lots that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. They parted my garments
among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting
down, they watched him there. and set up over his head his
accusation written, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Then were
there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand and
another on the left, and they that passed by reviled him, wagging
their heads and saying, thou that destroyest the temple and
buildest it in three days, save thyself, If thou be the Son of
God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priest,
mocking him with the scribes and elders, said, he saved others,
himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel,
let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him.
He trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he will have him,
for he said, I'm the Son of God. The thieves also, which were
crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Now, let me give you the first
saying of our Lord, all right? These sayings are scattered over
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You have to go to all four gospels
to find everything that he said, and this is believed to be the
order that he set them in. Turn with me to Luke 23. Luke 23, after all of that was
said to him, and all of that was done to him, everything we
just read, we've gone into detail, we've spent time on that, just
hearing how horrible they treated him. This is the first thing that
our Lord said from the cross. I love this, I've always loved
this, but I especially love knowing now that this is believed to
be the very first thing he said from the cross. Verse 34, Luke
23, verse 34. After all that, then said Jesus,
Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. First
words out of his mouth. Amazing, isn't it? Now in everything that he said,
we see the office he was holding. And in that statement, we see
that he was holding the office of mediator. Father, forgive
them. Forgive them. The whole reason
Christ went to the cross. I would love to ask people, why
did Jesus Christ go to the cross? I would love to ask people that.
They, you know, they see him to be a martyr. They see him
as a good man fighting for a good cause. And, you know, a lot of
people die for their cause. A lot of people do. But I would
love to ask people, why did Jesus Christ go to the cross? The whole
reason Christ went to the cross was because his people needed
a mediator. A mediator is one who will go
between two people who are at odds with each other. That's
a mediator. Two people who are at such odds with each other,
they need somebody to get between them. Somebody to reconcile them. That's
what a mediator is. Who was that hanging on that
cross? That was our mediator. What was he doing? He was mediating. He was reconciling. Father, forgive
them. Forgive them. There are three
things that I want us to notice about the people back in our
text. All right, turn back to Matthew
27. Number one, it's the fact that
there is a declaration of salvation in everything that they said.
You can see the cry of salvation in everything that they said.
Look at verse 25, Matthew 27, verse 25. It says, then answered
all the people and said, his blood be on us and on our children. Now they said that viciously. They said that irreverently and
rebelliously and just flippantly. You know, Pilate was saying,
what has he done? You know, he washed his hands and he, they
said, well, let his blood be on us then. We'll take the blame.
Crucify him. His blood can be on our children.
They'll take the blame too. Crucify him. They said that in such hatred
of him. But what they said is the very
hope of the true child of God. Our hope is that the blood of
Jesus Christ is on us and on our children. I am telling you
right now. I think I have one hope in life. And it's that the blood of Jesus
Christ is on me. And I'll include my wife in that
because when two people get married, they're one flesh. and my children. That's what
I want. That's what I want. One desire.
Come the end of this thing, one desire. I need the blood of Jesus
Christ to be on me and on my children. Verse 39 right here. They that
passed by reviled him, wagging their heads. Can't you see them
just shaking their heads at him? And saying, thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days. And he was talking
about his own body. And they, you know, they thought
he was talking about that building. Thou that destroyest the temple
and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the
son of God, come down from the cross. Doubting him, that's what they
were doing. They were doubting him. They called him a liar. saying he wasn't, you're not
able to do what you said you were gonna do. The glory of the cross, the glory
of our hope is in the fact that he did not come down from the
cross. The glory of it all is that love held him on the tree.
Love kept him on the tree, he didn't come down. Verse 41, likewise
also the chief priest mocking him with the scribes and elders
said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel,
let him now come down from the cross and we'll believe, come
down and we'll believe you. He trusted in God, let him deliver
him now. If he'll have him, he said, I'm
the son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him,
they said the exact same thing. Both of them, they were saying
the exact same thing. Everybody was mocking him for what he was
doing. Now, in my notes, I wrote the
word selah. That means pause and think about
that for a second. Think about that. Everybody was
mocking him for what he was doing. This is the greatest moment and
the greatest event in existence. And everybody was
mocking him for what he was doing. But their mockery is our hope
of glory. He could not save himself. Justice
wouldn't allow it. You know that justice would not
allow it. The holy demands of God's holy
law would not allow it. But the people, they couldn't
see that and they laughed at him. And they insulted him and
they hated him and they lashed out at him. And that's the second thing I
want us to notice about all of these people. All they did was
spew out hatred against him. That's all they did. And what was the first thing that
came out of his mouth? Soon as he got up there, first
thing that came out of his mouth, father, forgive them. Forgive them. That's a mediator.
That right there is a mediator. Men and women will never realize
how desperately they need a mediator until they themselves have an
encounter with the holy God. The holy God who hates man's
sin against him and punishes man's sin against him. If the
swift judgment of God is ever revealed to us, We will cry out
for a mediator. We'll cry out for a mediator.
Go over to Exodus 20 with me. Exodus 20, the heading at the
top of my page says, God's fearful presence. When he came down on
Mount Sinai and that whole mountain just exploded in fire, it was
a fearful presence. God's fearful presence, the children
of Israel. sinned against God in the wilderness,
and the consuming fire of God's judgment fell on Mount Sinai,
and everybody saw it, the people saw it, and they were afraid
at God's fearful presence. Now look at verse 18, Exodus
20, verse 18. And all the people saw the thunderings
and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain
smoking, and when the people saw it, they removed and stood
afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak
thou with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us,
lest we die. They said, Moses, we need a mediator. You speak to us for God. And you speak to God for us. We need a mediator. We will die
in our sins if we don't have a mediator. There's only one God and he doesn't
change. That's the same God today. Same
God men and women are dealing with today. Look at number 16
with me. Couple of books over. Numbers
16. This is some of that sin that
the children of Israel committed. This chapter talks about a rebellion
from Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and the people that were with
them. And because of their rebellion, it says in this chapter, you
can read it for yourself sometime, that God caused the earth to
open up And it swallowed those three men and everybody with
them and then the earth closed up again. You know, you could
see like a big sinkhole coming and everybody falling in and
then there's just still a sinkhole. But God just opened up, swallowed
them and closed. And the children of Israel murmured
at it. After he did that, they murmured
at God's judgment. Now look at verse 44. And the
Lord spake unto Moses saying, get you up from among this congregation
that I may consume them in a moment. He said, Moses, get out of the
way. I'm going to consume them. And they fell upon their faces.
That's Moses, Moses and Aaron. They fell upon their faces. And
Moses said unto Aaron, take a censer and put fire therein from off
the altar and put on incense. and go quickly unto the congregation
and make an atonement for them. For there is wrath gone out from
the Lord, the plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded
and ran into the midst of the congregation. And behold, the
plague was begun among the people. And he put on incense and made
an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead,
the dead people and the living God. And the plague was stayed. He mediated for them. They fell,
as soon as God said, get out of the way, Moses and Aaron fell
on their face. And Moses looked over at Aaron,
he said, you run and go get a censer, get coals off the altar of sacrifice,
grab some incense, throw it on there, let it start smoking,
and you run out in front of those people as fast as you can. And
however long that took to do, verse 49, Now they that died
in the plague were 14,700 beside them that died about the matter
of Korah. And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation, and the plague was stayed." That's
serious, isn't it? That's serious. Had they not
had a mediator to go between them and God, every one of them
would have been consumed. Every one of them. And that's
exactly how it is for all of God's chosen elect people on
this earth. Had we not had a mediator, every
single one of us would have been consumed in God's wrath. And
I say every single one of God's chosen elect people because our
Lord said in John 17, I pray not for the world. I do not intercede for the world. I did not come to mediate for
the entire world, but for them which thou hast
given to me." 1 Timothy 2 says, there's one God and one mediator
between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. And for all of
the chosen souls God gave to him, he cried, Father, forgive
them. Father, forgive them. All right,
I'll leave us here on this note. Turn to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. I told you there were three things
that I wanted to point out about the people in our text. Number
one, the irony of what they said. Number two, their hatred and
rebellion and mockery, just the level of sin against the Lord. That's all they were, was sin
against the Lord, the mediator. All right, number three, it's
the Lord's actual effectual mediation for all of their rebellion and
mockery and sin. The fact that the Lord actually
mediated for them. He said, Father, forgive them. And the Father did. He did. Acts chapter 2, Peter right here,
he was preaching to the very ones who were standing at the
cross that day. Look at verse 22, Acts 2, 22. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. You did it. You were the very
ones who actually did it. Look at verse 36. Therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest
of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Verse 41, then
they that gladly received his word were baptized. In the same
day, there were added unto them about 3000 souls, 3000 of the
very ones standing at the cross that day were forgiven. Isn't that wonderful? Look at
chapter 4, this is another occasion where Peter was preaching and
chapter 3 tells us it was still men and women who were standing
at the cross. Chapter 4 verse 1, As they spake
unto the people, the priest and the captain of the temple and
the Sadducees came upon them, being grieved that they taught
the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the
dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in hold unto
the next day, for it was now eventide, howbeit many of them
which heard the word believed. And the number of the men was
about 5,000." 5,000 more. At least 8,000 of the very
ones who were literally crying, crucify him. I hate him. I want him dead. The father forgave him. Why? Because they asked for it? No,
their mediator asked for it. Father forgive him. It was all
because of the work of the mediator. Now we're going to pause right
there and we'll pick it up in just a minute. You're dismissed.