Go back with me now to Matthew
27. If you are like me, you feel
unworthy to even read this portion of Scripture, don't you? certainly comment on this. We really don't have much understanding
at all of this. If the apostles said we preach
in part, know in part, how much less us? But we've come to this. We've looked at part of it last
week. crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 45 will serve as a text. From the sixth hour, from 12
o'clock noon until the ninth hour, there was darkness over
all the land. Darkness. I said last week, I think it
was, when we looked at this, that it's fitting that we look
at this horrible scene on a beautiful day such as today. Because our
Lord said that a time when you think not, And
he said, as in the days of Noah, they were eating and drinking
and marrying and giving marriage and knew not until the flood
came that took them away. It's probably a beautiful, sunshiny
day. And so it was on this day until noon, until high noon,
when the sun was at its zenith. That's fitting, isn't it? At
its highest setting, its fullest glory. and in darkness descended
for three hours. I'm not sure I know the full
significance of this, the prophetic truth of this, but I do know
it has something to do with what we're experiencing. Darkness
over all the land. Now, if this whole story of the Lord
being crucified makes us uncomfortable, It should. It should. After all, it's called the offense
of the cross. Everything about it, the actual
crucifixion of our Lord, as well as the truth of it, why he was
crucified, is an offense to the flesh. And it should be. If the
Lord will offend us, and do this work in us, offending
us in our pride, in our sensitivity, so to speak, in our consciences. If the Lord will graciously and
mercifully offend us, show us the actual horror of what happened
here and how we were involved, are involved, then we will not
later be an offense to Him. But there's no way to look at
this. There's no way to look at the
Lord being crucified like this, except as it is. There's no way to look at it
except in its real horror and shame. And it does no good to
try to graphically describe what the Lord went through. Besides,
that wasn't his chief suffering. Although his visage was marred
more than any man, Scripture said, horribly treated and mutilated,
that was not his chief suffering. Isaiah 53 says his soul was made
an offering for sin. Our Lord actually went through
hell on the cross, separation from God. We're going to look
at that, Lord willing, Wednesday night. But this, we're looking
at what the Lord, when the Lord was mocked and ridiculed. The
Lord of glory. And it was done by religion. And some may think, you know,
that we preachers of the gospel Come down too hard on religion. We don't come down hard enough.
We really don't. And religion, you see, these
were religious people. Orthodox, Jews, religious people. False religion. with its many
evil men and women. You know, our Lord linked, He
called people that have done things in His name. Many wonderful
works and so forth. Workers of iniquity, didn't they?
And Paul's religion, as horrible as this was, if they did, it's
still going on today. And here's the subtlety of their
wickedness. False religion has so corrupted
the truth of Christ crucified. Listen carefully. Has so corrupted
the truth of Christ crucified. Why he was crucified. So as to
make this appear to be some beautiful thing. But there's nothing but love
involved here. They've so twisted it and corrupted
it. Even to the point of making this instrument was an instrument
of shame and cruelty and torture. The instrument that, well, the
Lord used to put our Lord to death, make it a piece of jewelry
and a thing of adornment, a beautiful thing to adorn the bodies and
so forth. Religion is so corrupt, isn't
it? Do you wonder why the Lord, you know what the Lord called
the abominable thing throughout the Old Testament? The abominable
thing? The abominable thing? He kept saying that. The abominable
thing. It was graven images. Graven images. Why was the Lord
so, what's the word, so adamant, so insistent that no graven images? Because this is the worst form
of it. Because it's going to come to
this. The worst form of it. Well, this, and as I said, there's no other
way to look at this and deal with this subject other than
the horror that it was and what an ugly thing it was. And this religious crowd we saw
last week gathered for sport. They gathered for sport. Scripture
says that their feet are swift to shed blood, innocent blood,
gathered for sport. A religious crowd of thousands
gathered for sport, and the sport was mocking the King of Glory. Do you hear me? Their sport was
mocking. This is what they mocked Him
more than anything else. His sovereignty. Now you tell
me that's still not going on today. Worse than ever. Worse than ever. Paul warned in 2 Timothy 3, in
the last days, perilous, horrible, terrible times, worse than ever.
Can't get any worse than this. Yes, it can. And in the last
days, there will be blasphemers. Blasphemers. The name of God
is on the lips of small children now. In the name of God, all
these wicked fellows come saying what they're saying in the name
of God, when all the while they're bringing Him down. They've consulted
to bring Him down from His glory. They're blaspheming God. They're
not exalting God and praising the Lord, nor the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, they gathered for sport,
and that's pretty much what it still remains today, sport, entertainment,
isn't it? And the mocking continues. Peter prophesied that. He said
in the last days, chapter 3 of 2 Peter, in the last days scoffers
shall come, mockers walking up their own lusts, that is, covetous
desires and so forth, scoffers and mockers. And the first thing
he said they would be is that willingly ignorant, willingly
ignorant, now listen carefully, willingly ignorant of creation, that the heavens were of old
standing out of the water. God, the heavens declared. Isn't
this what Romans 1 begins telling us about? And yet men are willingly not
thankful, do not acknowledge him as their creator, doing everything
they can to bring him down from his excellency. Because if God
is not our creator, that means we don't answer to him. He doesn't
own us. And so there's a conspiracy,
a worldwide conspiracy. to try to disprove the Creator,
the creature. What a fool, what a fool, to
try to disprove the Creator. Well, the willingly ignorant
of creation, and he went on to say, willingly ignorant of the
flood. What was the flood all about?
What was the flood that brought in the death of millions, if
not billions, on the earth? What was the picture of? God's
angry. So what are men doing today?
A while back there was this infatuation
with Noah and his ark. Everybody used it as an adornment
and so forth. A symbol of God's absolute anger
and wrath against us. And right now, there's a movie
on. And I have to say this. I have
to be faithful to you. Don't you dare. approve of that by your presence,
or allow your children to do so. I've been doing it for some
time, and made fun of God's holy angel, Michael, the archangel.
Sod them out there west. Sod them, you know, as an agenda.
And we import it all. Make fun of God Almighty. The
flood. Look at Isaiah 59. Isaiah chapter
59. Most of you know these. these verses, but let's look
at it again. Isaiah 59. What we're looking at is darkness
over all the land. You see why I'm saying what I'm
saying? It's darkness over all the land. And religion's a reason. The entrance of God's Word bringeth
light, doesn't it? But it's out of season now. God's
Word. Turn away their ears from the
truth unto fables, and therefore they are in darkness. Isaiah
59, verse 1, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it
cannot save. Most so-called fellows today
don't even believe he has any hands, do they? It's incredible how far it's
come down. Verse 2, he says, your iniquities
have separated between you and your God. This is the message
we preach to our generation. Don't go at them first with the
love of God, but rather, God's angry with the wicked. Fear the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Repent, our Lord said. Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Because our iniquities have separated
us and our God. They must be. It must be so. God is holy. Your sins have hid
His face from you. He will not hear. He will not
hear. This is why there's one mediator
that God will hear. This is why it must be so that
Christ said, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. That
there's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Why? Because He won't hear us outside. God won't hear. You remember
this, Jim, years ago at President of the Southern Baptist Seminary
down in Dallas, Texas, made this comment that just sent the world
in an uproar. He said, God doesn't hear the
Jews. You remember that? God won't hear the Jews. And
what he was saying, rightfully so, that God only hears people
through Jesus Christ, whom they reject. But it caused an uproar. It caused more of an uproar today
than then. That was years ago. This is still true, isn't it?
It's still true there's one mediator between God and man. And verse 4, look at it. It says,
None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth. Our Lord
said if you'll do His will, you'll know the doctrine, whether it
be of God or man. He didn't. None's calling. What's the problem?
Have not, you ask not. They're not asking for truth,
pleading for truth. Trust in vanity and speak lies. Look at
verse, going down to verse 8. It says, the way of peace they
know not. The way of peace? What's the
way of peace? This is what we're looking at.
Our Lord being made our peace. The chastisement,
the whipping. We looked this morning at chastening,
the rod, didn't we? Scripture says, by his stripes
we are healed. He took our weapon, chastened
us. The chastisement necessary for
our peace was laid on him. He made peace for us. How? Blood. Blood. Without shedding of blood,
there's no remission. There's no reconciliation. There's
no peace with God. God's offended. God's angry.
We can't appease Him. The way of peace they know not.
Down in verse 9, he says, judgments far from us, neither doth justice
overtake us. We wait for light, but behold,
obscurity, for brightness, but we walk in darkness. And down in chapter 60, look
at verse 2, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, gross
darkness the people. Aren't you thankful for the buts
in Scripture? Salvation, buts, God. And you
who are children of wrath, walking in darkness, even as others,
but God. Verse 1 says, Arise, shine, for
thy light is come, the glory of the Lord is risen upon them.
The children that walked in darkness have seen a great light. Yes,
us. In here, some of us. Didn't have a clue why Christ
was hanging on that cross. Why He came. Now go back to our text. Oh,
in the midst of all this darkness, there's light in there. Oh my. You know, it's like people,
the Lord is hanging here. The Son of Righteousness has
arisen with healing in His wings. He's hanging here on the cross,
yet there's darkness over all the earth. Not everywhere. There's light which cannot be
seen in the hearts of some people. There's a few sitting down there
at the foot of the cross, one named John. Glorious light is
flooding his soul. And we'll see in a moment more
than that. But it's like, you know, days we wake up and the
clouds obscure the sun. You know, it's a dark day, perhaps,
dark clouds obscure it. We say the sun's not up, or the
sun's, or nighttime, sun's down. No, no, no. Now, the sun is never
down. You understand? The sun is never
down. The sun never moves from where
it is. The sun is as it is and always will be as it is until
the Lord is through with it. See, we're the ones that turn
away. We're the ones, this earth full of these maggots are the
ones that turn away and cannot see His glory, the sun. We say the sun's down. No, no,
no, no. You're down. You're backward. You've turned
away backward. You just don't see Him. He's
up. They say we see Jesus made a
little lower than the angel, and that's how they still see
Him in them. Oh, bless God. Some people, by His grace and
mercy, see Him high and lifted up. reigning and ruling at the
right hand of Stephen. All those Pharisees stoned him
and beat him to death with a rock. Stephen said, I see the Son standing
at the right hand of God. Well, you don't see what you
see. No. It's hid these things from
the wise and the prudent. Well, in our text, it says, They
that passed by the Lord on the cross wagged their heads shook
their heads. We looked at that last week,
how they just rejected Him. And all we, Isaiah 53 said, He
was despised and rejected of me. All we, like sheep. We're
not born knowing the truth, believing the truth. And all we, wagged our head and
shook our heads at that. You hear this, who Christ is,
who God is. I don't believe that. A fellow
told me one time, he was a preacher so-called, and I worked with
him on the railroad, and I began to talk to him about our Lord.
And he quickly concluded that my God wasn't his God. And he
said, Henry, he said, I'll believe anything but that. And he did. And they do. They do. Anything but the truth. None call it for truth, Isaiah
said. Aren't you glad the truth calleth
for us? Confronteth us. Oh, my. Well, they wagged their
head, mocking him, taunting him, defying him, the king. It's no
coincidence, folks, that this is their chief mockery of the
Lord Jesus Christ. No coincidence. Said it three
or four times here in this one chapter alone. The king. Pilate
said, Art thou king? He wouldn't answer him. Kings
don't answer peasants. Kings aren't the ones to be questioned.
They do the questioning. Answer not a fool according to
his folly. So he didn't. You don't make demands of the
king. and vice versa. Pilate said,
Art thou a king? And then he said to the people,
What are you going to do with he that is called the Christ,
the King? What about your King? And the soldiers mocked him,
King of the Jews. And they put over his head, God
Almighty sovereignly had them put over his head in three different
languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. So that there would be
no mistake by anybody, have they not all heard, yes, what? The
king of the Jews. Now here he is. And they protested
and said, don't say that, say he said he was. He didn't say
he was. He didn't say he was. They said
they lied on him here. They said he said, I'm the son
of God. He didn't say that. He did not say that. He never
stood up. He shall not cry or cause his
voice to be heard in the street. He shall not. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of the Most High God, the King of Glory, didn't
come down to this earth to try to get anybody to believe him.
He came on a mission to find his sheep, God's people, God's
children. He said, they will hear my voice.
And he hides himself. He didn't go around trying to
make everybody believe. I'm a king. I'm a king. No, sir. Thy subjects shall be willing
in the day of his power." They're going to hear him say it to them,
not to everybody. Them. See how subtle it is? He said, it's a false witness. He didn't say that. You remember when Pilate said, Are
you king? And he said, Thou sayest. Meaning, you've just been confronted
with who I am. Now you're going to be held accountable
for it. And every time people say the
name God, thou sayest. Every time people say the name
Jesus Christ, thou sayest. Held accountable for it. They
mocked him as king. And we saw in Isaiah 45, they
bowed the knee, didn't they? These unbelievers, these mockers,
bowed the knee to the king in derision, in mockery. But didn't
Christ say they would? Whether in pretense or truth,
every knee will bow. And every tongue confess, Hail
King, thou sayest. Our God is manipulating this
whole scene while hanging on the tree. See, He gets great glory even
in His suffering. They mock Him. The wrath of man,
Scripture says, shall praise Him. The wrath of man. They said things like this. Look
down at verse 40. Here's what they said. Here's
how they mocked Him. If thou be the Son of God. That sounds
familiar, doesn't it? When Satan first came and tempted
our Lord, what did he say? What did he call into question?
What did he raise doubts about? If thou be the Son of God. In
other words, the heir. God manifest in the flesh. Immanuel. If thou be the Son of God. There
is no question. There is much question today
about who Jesus was, isn't there? Huh? They still question this,
aren't they? Aren't they still raising questions today, posing
questions? On TV you'll see things like the historical Jesus and
the miracles of Jesus. And who is this? Who is Jesus?
They asked that then, they're still asking it today. There's
no doubt in my mind who He is. How about you? Huh? Whom say
men that I am? The Lord said today. Well, some
say you're John the Baptist. That'd be a compliment to me,
if you said that to me. Some say you're Elijah. That
would be a real compliment to me if you said that to me. Not
the Lord. You're just a man. Who do you
say I am? Simon? Simon Davis? Who do you
say that this one hanging on this tree is right now? Seemingly
helpless. Who do you say that he is? The
Christ. The Son of the Living God. Oh,
blessed art thou, John Bar Davis. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you, but the Father which is in heaven. This is eternal
life, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus,
the Christ whom He sent. For what? For you. To reveal
Himself in you. To die for you. Substitute. If
thou be the Son of God. Now, there's no doubt who He
is, who He was, and who He is. There's no doubt. His words bear
witness of Him. He said that. His words bear witness of Him,
His works bear witness of Him, don't they? His character bore
witness of Him, didn't it? And as the centurion cried out
in the end, so shall every tongue be made
to confess in the end, truly, this was the Son of God. But most didn't know it. as they
don't now. Darkness over all of them. They
didn't know Him. They saw Him only as Jesus. And
they said things like this, If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you. I told you about that young man
confronting me after Brother William's funeral. A young preacher
confronting me. He said, Why didn't you tell
them who Jesus Christ was, those that don't know Him? You who heard me. I asked them
that heard me. You who know who He is. You see, if you don't
know Him, you don't recognize Him when He's preached to you. And we've talked before how Christ
said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men to Me. Not if I've
made an offer to these wicked, vile, God-hating people. Not
if you ask men to accept Me. No! He said, if I be lifted up,
I'll draw all men. Just declare who He is. All we
did was declare what God had done for Brother William, wasn't
it? What great things the Lord has done for him. Who the Lord
is and who He revealed to him and what He did for him, His
mercy and grace, and people that hadn't experienced that same
power. They didn't hear it. If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly, I told you. But you believe not. Why? You
believe not because you're not my sheep. As I said unto you,
my sheep hear my voice. And all my sheep like to hear
is me glorified. That's all they want to hear
is me high and lifted up. Likewise, verse 41, the chief
priests, that's the right reverence. These are the fellows who were
highly esteemed among men. Chief priests. Mocking him also. The scribes and elders said,
he saved others. Himself he cannot save. We've
got him now. Yeah, he saved others. Say it
again, all together now. He saved others. Join with me
in mocking this Jesus. He saved others. Do you hear the wrath of man
praising Him? He saved others. Himself He cannot save. Truer words have never been spoken. To save me, he cannot save himself. In order for me to live, the
Lamb of God has got to die. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. God made his soul an offering
for sin, so now I will never die. Not just when he died, though
he arose, proving that God accepted him. That's what the next thing
they said. He trusted in God. Let him deliver
him. Now, if he will have him, if God will have him, oh my, if God will have him. And these
pinhead pissant preachers are standing up today saying, will
you have him? What do you do with Jesus? If
you'll have him, if you'll have him, Man, this is why preachers
preach mad. This is why they get up and act
mad. Didn't our Lord say, when He took that whip in the house,
the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. David said, it's
time for you, Lord, to work that might void your law. Oh, that
the heavens would rend themselves and come down. The Lord would
come down. He will. He will, David. Now the door of the ark
is open. This is how merciful God is.
This is how gracious God is, even to His enemies. The door
of the ark is still open, but be rest assured, judgment is
coming down. Why? This is it. This is the heart and soul of
what God Almighty holds human beings accountable for. I came
down and you hated me. If God will have him, this is
the only man. who ever lives, that God would
have anything to do with. We said before that the flood
was a picture of God's, not love, but anger and wrath. God said,
it repented me, I've made man, I'm going to wipe it out. He's
nothing but, his imagination is wicked and evil from his youth,
continually. Every day, I'm going to just
wipe it out. He's going to do the same thing
again. But God. Old Noah found grace, didn't
he? In the eyes of the Lord. Where was it? Where was the love
of God found? Where was the mercy of God found?
Where was the grace of God found? Who did God spare? Where did
they find this refuge from this wrath? That's what it was, wrath.
Where is the love of sin? It's hidden. It's hidden. The
naked eye. It's in an ark. In Romans 8, verse 39, the love
of God is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. The ark. And when that
overflowing scourge of God's wrath comes, and it will come,
he said, I will smite Egypt, but when I see the blood, I'll
pass over you. Why? For God so loves the world. The world. In that ark were animals
of every type. Every type, a symbol of every
tribe, kindred, nation, people, and tongue under heaven. Black
animals, white animals. Red animals, yellow animals.
That's who they were. That's who they represented.
In the ark, all safe. If God will have him, hmm, the
only way God will have us is in the ark. Accepted in the beloved. Oh, my. And this is the question
all human beings need to ask. Lord, if you'll have me, would
you have me? I plead your son. And the thieves, it says also,
cast the same in his teeth. And there was darkness over all
the land. Darkness. But even as this was going on, even in the
midst of this darkness, light, glorious light, gospel
light, saving light was being shed abroad in the hearts of
Cizzo's thieves. Cast the same in his teeth. Two
thieves. And, oh, I'd love to preach on
this again, you know, but it's not in the text. We're dealing
strictly with Matthew's gospel. But you know the rest of the
story, don't you? The one on his right hand. Right hand? Hmm. All sheep are on the right hand.
One on his right hand, all of a sudden, it's darkness. Everybody's
in darkness. Mockery and taunting and ridicule. It's just a black time. It's
just an evil time. It's an awful time. And today
is a day of salvation. Oh, yeah, every day is a day
of salvation. God is merciful. And right there,
here he is casting a... Yeah, you're... Scales fall from his eyes. Heart
splits wide open. He sees glory. And a few here
and there. And we see later on at Pentecost,
we see that there were thousands. Little did we know, light. Children
that walked in darkness had seen a great life. And that's why
the Lord hadn't ended this thing on earth yet. The gospel is still
being preached, isn't it? There's still sheep out there.
Light. God is still. giving the light
of the knowledge and the glory of God in the face of the person
of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ upon some dark, old sinners. Thank God. Okay. Will the gate
come and lead us in a hill? We have number 110 left standing.