(pt97) Matthew

Q: What does the Bible say about the darkness during Jesus' crucifixion?

The darkness during Jesus' crucifixion represents the severity of the sin being committed and the spiritual blindness of humanity. The darkness that covered the land during Jesus' crucifixion was a supernatural event, not a solar eclipse, indicating the magnitude of the crime being perpetrated against the Lord of glory. This darkness symbolizes the spiritual blindness and the blackness of men's hearts without Christ, as described in Scripture. It highlights not only the grim reality of sin but also the depth of Christ’s sacrifice as He bore our sins, becoming sin for us, which led to the Father turning away from Him, showcasing the severity of divine judgment against sin.

Q: How do we know Jesus is the light of the world?

Jesus declared Himself as the light of the world, offering salvation to those who believe in Him. In John 8:12, Jesus proclaims, 'I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.' This assertion underscores His role as the source of spiritual enlightenment and truth, contrasting the darkness of sin and disbelief. Jesus’ teachings, miracles, and ultimate sacrifice demonstrate His divine nature and mission, providing a way for us to be liberated from spiritual darkness, thus affirming His identity as the light for all who trust in Him.

Q: Why is understanding Christ's forsakenness important for Christians?

Understanding Christ's forsakenness illustrates the gravity of sin and the extent of His love in our redemption. The forsakenness of Christ, as captured in His cry, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' (Matthew 27:46), is a profound moment that reveals the weight of our sin and the sacrifice of Jesus as our substitute. This abandonment by the Father was not a sign of separation in His love, but was necessary for Him to bear the sin of the world and fulfill the divine plan for salvation. By grasping this concept, Christians can better appreciate the depth of God’s love and the seriousness of sin, which necessitated such a price for redemption. It reassures us that God’s elect are never truly forsaken, as affirmed in Hebrews 10:14.

Q: What is the significance of Christ's death being described as voluntary?

Christ's death was voluntary, demonstrating His authority and willingness to lay down His life for our sins. The voluntary nature of Christ's death is emphasized in John 10:17-18, where He states that He lays down His life of His own accord. This underscores not only His authority over life and death but also the intentionality of His sacrifice as part of God’s redemptive plan. Unlike victims of violence, Christ willingly endured suffering and death to atone for our sins, demonstrating the depth of His love for humanity. Understanding that He was not taken by force, but chose to give His life willingly, reinforces believers' conviction in the efficacy and power of His redemptive work.

Psalm 37, if you would, and join me in verses 1 through 6. Okay. Psalm 37, beginning at verse 1, we read these words, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. Now that's a picture of our unregenerated self. That's a picture of the unregenerated world right there. Verse 2, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and withered like the green herb.

Trust in the Lord, verse 3, and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. So we see here the Lord encouraging us to walk in His statues. Delight, it says, verse 4, thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass, and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light.

And this is why I was reading this scripture tonight, as the light and thy judgment as the noon day. We're going to begin with our handout. There's two verses that I wanted to share with you. And the title for tonight is The Light of the World in Darkness. And you'll see how that fits right in as we read through our text in a moment.

But I want to begin with John chapter 8, verse 12 at the top of page 1. where we read, Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Again, in the book of John, chapter 12, verse 46, we read these words, I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. Now we'll find out in just a few moments here what that darkness is that it's talking about.

We no longer walk in darkness because our Lord walked in it. This is the third paragraph there of page one. Our Lord walked in it in our stead. Now look with me at our text, Matthew chapter 27, beginning at verse 45. Matthew 27. beginning at verse 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 straight away one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put it on the reed and gave him to drink. The rest said, let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

Now we're going to spend our time tonight considering verses 45 and 46, maybe a little bit of 47. But 48, 49, we'll look at possibly next Friday, and then we'll close with verse 50. So, back in our handout, and we'll spend the rest of our time tonight in our handout. These inspired words, this is right below that third paragraph, these inspired words should always be read with a reverence of heart broken over sin, yet rejoicing at the forgiveness of sin obtained at such a price.

May God the Holy Spirit sanctify our eyes, our hearts, and our minds as we attempt to meditate upon the Lord's sufferings and to worship Him who suffered all the hell of God's holy wrath for us. Do you see where the title is coming in here, The Light of the World in Darkness? After suffering the wrath of God, our substitute in his body, in his soul, and in his spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ became obedient unto death and yielded up the ghost.

Now the first thing we clearly can see in these verses is the darkness that the world is in without Christ. Matthew calls our attention to the remarkable darkness that covered the land. This is what was not a natural darkness, as in a solar eclipse, but a supernatural one.

I want to stop there for just a moment. I was going over this. I remember hearing a message by Brother Don Fortner describing this word darkness that we read there, when it was a darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. It was almost, not quite, it would be like if you were in a dark room and you put your hand up in front of your face and you could just see just the faintness of that hand. That would be the kind of darkness that this is talking about. When you look up the original Greek language in that, you can find that it explains what that word means in that darkness.

So, it was not a solar eclipse. It was a supernatural, an eclipse specifically performed by God on this occasion. It was an eclipse that the prophet Amos spoke of in Amos 8, verse 9, where he said, it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon. Folks, the stars weren't even shining.

You go out here at rescue and you turn, like go out into the back behind where you can't see any of the lights around, any of the porch lights of anybody else's house, it gets pretty dark. That I will pause the sun to go down at noon and I will darken the earth in the clear of the day.

That's the whole earth. That's the entire earth. That's Amos 8, verse 9, page 2. It lasted for three hours, and it was seen by men in other parts of the world who had no idea what was going on in Jerusalem. Dionysus, a man living in Egypt at that time, wrote He wrote these words, either the divine being suffers or suffers with him that suffers, or the frame of the world is dissolving. This was the remarkable darkness lasting three hours.

Thus, the Lord gives a vivid symbolic display of four things. And the first of those four is the darkness covering the land indicates the severity of the crime being committed. Wicked men were murdering the Lord of glory. Though our Savior died and was slaughtered by the hands of wicked men exactly according to the purpose, will, and decree of God for the salvation of His delect, that's accounted for in Acts chapter 2, God's decrees did in no way excuse them of their sin in crucifying Him. Secondly, the darkness indicated the blackness, the darkness, the blindness of men's heart by nature.

Remember when Paul was persecuting the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus? Remember he was blinded by that light? That light was the Lord Jesus Christ. And here he comes, and he is completely blinded by the glory of God, where he could not see anything, not even his hands in front of his face. He had to be led for several days.

So we see here that this darkness indicates the blackness and the blindness of men's hearts by nature. No impression was made upon these men, though God performed miracles not seen nor heard of before or since all around them. The fact is, man's heart by nature is so blind that no acts of providence, either in goodness or in judgment, can be seen by him unless God takes the scales off his eyes, as he did Paul.

Third, possibly the darkness was designed to declare the emptiness and the darkness of Christless religion. I remember at that time, Judaism had become nothing more than mere ritualism. As such, it was altogether darkness. Religion without Christ, without life, without faith is darkness, no matter how orthodox it might appear.

And then fourthly, the darkness covering the earth was reflective of the darkness that passed upon and engulfed our Savior's holy soul when he was made to be sin for us. Don Fortner wrote this, he said, when the light of the world was made sin, darkness flooded the world as darkness flooded his soul.

Page three. The Holy Spirit also inspired Matthew to record the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was forsaken of his father over in verse 46. It says, and about the ninth hour. This would be about three o'clock in the afternoon, which, by the way, was the same time the slaying and the offering of the daily sacrifice would be going on, which also is a type of Christ.

But at that time, Jesus cried with a loud voice as one in great distress. In great darkness for three hours, he had been silent, patiently bearing all the torment of his father's wrath and utter abandonment and all the assaults of hell. Who can imagine the anguish of his soul? Yet he saw the travail of it and was satisfied. Then he breaks out in a cry of terrible agony, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabatiana.

That is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Again, I quote from Brother Don Fortner. He says, here our Savior speaks as a man, the man chosen, made, ordained. and anointed by God with the oil of gladness above his fellows. As a man, our Lord was upheld and strengthened by the Father just as we are.

As a man, he trusted God, loved Him, and prayed to Him just as we do. Only He did so perfectly without sin. Though now the Father hid his face from him, still he expresses strong faith in him and love for him. When he is said to be forsaken of God, the meaning is not that he was separated from the love of God or did not know the reason for his abandonment. Our surety, our Lord Jesus, now stood in our place as our substitute, bearing our sins. He had been made sin, remember? He had to endure God the Father turning his back upon his son to satisfy divine justice.

This cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It expresses the very soul of his sufferings as our substitute. Indeed, all the wills and the howls of the damned in hell to all eternity will fall infinitely short of expressing the evil and bitterness of sin. But here we see how vile a thing sin is. When God found our sin upon his darling son, he forsook him in wrath.

Whenever we read these words, hear them or think about them, my God, my God, why ask that for a second? We ought to be immediately reminded of the fact that our Lord God is infinitely holy and just. Page five, or page four. As such, he must and will punish all sin.

Our souls should be flooded with deep appreciation of God's infinite love, aren't you? Aren't you filled with the love of God because He first loved us? How indescribable. Everlasting, saving love for us. And we ought to be assured that God's elect shall never be forsaken, not in this world or in the world to come. Now, Hebrews chapter 10, we told this one thing that just gives us such great assurance, for by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? These are the words of our blessed Savior when he hung upon the cursed tree as our substitute. When He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, at the height of His obedience, at the time of His greatest sorrow, in the hour of His greatest need, the Lord Jesus cries out to His Father, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? If we look at Psalms 22, where the Holy Spirit gives us the agonizing Excuse me, just a minute, I'm starting to get the hiccups. If we look at Psalms 22, where the Holy Spirit gives us the agonizing cries of our Redeemer in greater detail, prophetically, we're going to find him answering his own heart in a rendering cry.

In 22 verses 1 through 3, we read these words, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me? And from the words of my roaring, O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season am not silent. But thou art holy.

Here's the reason why God had to turn his back on his Son, who was made sin for us. God the Father cannot look upon sin. Now remember, in Hebrews, we're told very specifically that the blood of bulls and goats did absolutely nothing. God had to prepare His Son a body, a body that could go to the cross and shed His blood and die. walk in darkness, even though it was for three hours, it was as though he walked in darkness for eternity, our eternity.

So our Lord says, but thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. So utterly forsaken that the father refused to hear the cries of his own darling son in the hours of his greatest need. Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring, O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent?

I read these words," this is from Don Fort, and he says, "'I read these words with utter astonishment. I will not attempt to explain what I cannot imagine, but these things are written here for our learning, that we might, through patience and consolation of the Scriptures, have hope and hang all the hope of my immortal soul upon this fact that when the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for me, he was utterly forsaken of God and put to death as my substitute.

And by his one great sin-atoning sacrifice, he has forever put away my sins. He not only bore our sins in his body on the tree, he bore them away." Don Fortner, page five. Thou art purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Habakkuk 1, verse 13. That's God Almighty. He is so pure, He cannot even look upon iniquity, including the iniquity that His Son was made in our stead. Our Savior had no sin of His own.

He was born without original sin, being even from birth the Holy One, as stated in Luke 1.35.

Throughout His life, He knew no sin, as stated in 2 Corinthians 5.21.

He did no sin, as stated in 1 Peter 2.22.

And in Him is no sin, as stated in 1 John 3.5. But on Calvary, the Holy Lord God made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

2 Corinthians 5, 21 again. Just as the incarnation, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, as we read in John 1, 14, in substitution, He was made flesh, He was made sin for us. And I don't know how God could be made flesh and never cease to be God, but He was. I do not know how God could die and yet never die, but he did. Acts 20, verse 28. And I don't know how Christ, who knew no sin, could be made sin and yet never have sinned, but he was.

These things are mysteries beyond the reach of human comprehension. You've heard me say this over and over and over again. These are things that we can't even barely see, let alone wrap our minds around them. But these are facts of divine revelation to which we bow to with great adoration of our hearts, don't we? Don't we think of our Lord with the love that He has put in our hearts for Him because of what He has done for us? You know, I brought this up at the message I preached Wednesday night there in Kingsport.

You know that statement that says, where sin aboundeth, grace aboundeth more? You know what that means? That doesn't mean that the more we go out and sin, or if we measure our sin, we'll have enough grace for it, although we will. What it's talking about is when we see the sin within us. The more we see what we are in this flesh before God, the greater, the more magnified, the more precious His grace comes to us. We get up in the morning, we look in the mirror, and we see this flesh, and it's ugh! But in the heart dwells a new spirit, a spirit that God has put in us, as we read in Ezekiel chapter 36. What adoration we have in our hearts. Second paragraph from the bottom on page five.

Some of them that stood there were, when they heard that they said this, a man calleth on Elijah's. While darkness covered them, they were apparently terrified and silent. But as soon as it was light again, as soon as the Lord cried out, their fear abated and they resumed their persecution of the Son of God. Christ, our Passover, was now being roasted in the fire of his Father's holy wrath. He cried out, I thirst.

And they gave him vinegar to drink. We read in verses 48 and 49, straight away, one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put it on a reed and gave it him to drink. The rest said, let it be. Let us see whether Elijah's will come to save him. He thirsted and drank. the bitter vinegar of divine justice, that we might drink the water of life and never thirst."

John Trapp wrote this, he said, that we might drink of the water of life and be sweetly inebriated in that torrent of pleasure that runs as God's right hand forevermore. Page 6. The Lord Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up to ghosts. Verse 50. We'll close with this. The Spirit of God reminds us that our blessed Savior died a remarkable, self-inflicted death.

His strength was not abated. His last word was not the gasping for breath of a failing life, but the triumphant shout of a conquering king. The son of God voluntarily laid down his life for his sheep. He did not lose his spirit. He dismissed it. His work was finished. His life was complete. Therefore, he laid it down as a voluntary surety. That's exactly how he said he would die.

Listen to these words from John chapter 10, verses 14 through 18. I am the good shepherd. and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice. And there shall be one fold and one shepherd, Therefore does my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." The Spirit of God emphasizes the fact that our Savior cried with a loud voice. He did not speak. as in man beaten, but as a conqueror in the field of battle, carrying away the spoils of his conquest.

Colossians 2.15 says this, having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

He cried aloud that all the earth, all in heaven and all in hell might hear, it is finished. What is finished? Redemption's work was finished. The law's curse was finished. death, hell, and the grave were vanquished. Robert Hawker wrote this, he said, the most glorious views of that life and immortality which Christ first brought to light by his gospel were seen from the hill of Calvary, brighter than Moses saw on the heights of Pisgah. and of the promised land. And that song was sung in heaven, which the beloved apostle heard in a vision. Thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood.

Revelation 5, 9. We think about our Lord taking our sins into the grave, but we don't stop, I think, enough to think about how deep and how far that goes in removing our sins from God's sight. Remember, it's as far as the east is from the west. That means it cannot have an end.

Our Lord took our darkness upon Himself that you and I and all of His saints for whom He shed His blood could walk in His light. I say that slowly because I want that to sink in. I want people to understand it's not the light that you might think you see in this flesh. It's not the good deeds that we might do because God is dwelling in us. It's what our Savior has done. He is the light of the world, as we read in those first two verses. And if He's shining His light in our hearts, we're going to look to Him for everything, especially especially our salvation. Amen.

(pt97) Matthew

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the darkness during Jesus' crucifixion?

How do we know Jesus is the light of the world?

Why is understanding Christ's forsakenness important for Christians?

What is the significance of Christ's death being described as voluntary?

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(pt97) Matthew

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the darkness during Jesus' crucifixion?

How do we know Jesus is the light of the world?

Why is understanding Christ's forsakenness important for Christians?

What is the significance of Christ's death being described as voluntary?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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