In Matthew's Gospel in chapter
27, we read the account of Christ's crucifixion. In verse 26, we
read that Pilate released Barabbas 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
upon 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 would 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 priests
mocking him with the scribes and elders said, he saved others,
himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel,
let him 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 am the Son of
God. The thieves also which were crucified
with him cast the same in his teeth. 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 sabakfenai. That is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Likewise also the chief priests
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 am the Son of
God. He trusted in God, let Him deliver
Him now if He will have Him. For He said, I am the Son of
God. He trusted in God, they said. They mocked him because
they did not believe he was the son of God and they mocked how
he trusted in God. Here they've taken him and here
he is nailed to a cross to be crucified, to die. a slow and a lingering death. And as far as these enemies of
Christ are concerned, he cannot escape. And they look on as he
suffers there. And they see no help coming.
And to them, this man who trusted in God, and spake of God, and
spake of God's glory and God's kingdom, and declared himself
to be the very son of God, this man in their eyes was as nothing. Where is thy God? They ask. As we read in the Psalms. Where's
your God now? Where's your God delivering you
now? You trusted in God, you trust
in God, well where is he when you need him? Here you are dying,
where's your God? Here you are in the worst of
circumstances, where's your God? He trusted in God. Here we have displayed before
us the very faith of Jesus Christ. Even his enemies knew he trusted
in God. They knew where his faith was.
They knew in whom he believed, rested and trusted. And they
deride him because they see nothing in it. to the outward eye, his
God had abandoned him. Here he was suffering and dying
and at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli,
Eli, lammas abacfenai, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Where has his faith brought him?
Where is his God? Why is he forsaken? Oh what faith, what trust Christ
had. This is the hour when his faith
was tried. This is the hour above all hours
when Christ must trust his God. Here before us is the faith of
Jesus Christ. We read throughout the Scriptures,
and particularly in the New Testament exposition of the Gospel, that
salvation comes not through works, but through faith. That justification
is by faith, not by works. That we are saved by grace through
faith. how often the apostles contrast
faith and works and show before us that the works of man cannot
save. Their best works cannot save. Our righteousnesses cannot save
us. Our keeping of the law cannot
save us. Nothing we can do in our own
strength and by our own will will make us perfect before God. But salvation comes through faith. Salvation comes through looking
outside of ourselves, outside of what we are and what we do. What we will, what we desire,
what we think and what we say. Outside of ourselves completely
because in ourselves there is nothing but sin. However hard
we strive, however good we think we are, deep down We're full
of sin. Everything we do is tainted by
sin. Everything we say is tainted
by sin. All our desires are ruled by
sin. We're not pure. The heart of
man is deceitful above all things. and despite our best efforts
to reform ourselves, despite our best efforts to seek after
God and to live right before Him, we come in before Him guilty
through and through. We've broken His law from start
to finish. We've fallen short of His glory. We're so full of self-interest,
so full of our own pride and our own glory. that even when
we strive to seek God and even when we strive to live right
before Him and live right before others we're so full of sin and
so full of guilt that we can't possibly be saved He looks upon
us with strict justice and righteousness and finds even the very best
of men completely guilty we're condemned before we start we're
born sinning we're born as sinners we're born full of sin and we
go astray from the womb speaking lies then there's nothing we
can do even if we change our ways there's nothing we can do
about our past sins our past condemns us and the sin within
us condemns us and our sinful heart condemns us we're guilty
then works can't possibly Save a sinner. Which is why in the
scriptures we read that salvation is of God and salvation comes
through our sin being taken away by another. The way a sinner
is saved is through Jesus Christ and His death. The reason Christ
was at the cross here is because He came in the sinner's place
and He stood in the sinner's place to bear the sinner's sin
and sins and condemnation and to die the death that they deserve
to die. And it's because he took the
sins of his people away, and the sin of his people away, and
the condemnation against that sin away, that he can look upon
them and say, be washed in my blood. His blood cleanses from
all sin because he paid the price. And he took the sin away. And
he took the judgment and the condemnation away. and what he
suffered in the darkness what he suffered from the sixth hour
through to the ninth hour when he cried out my God my God why
hast thou forsaken me was the judgment and the wrath of God
against all his people throughout all time and because he suffered
and died in their place he brought in for them righteousness and
salvation and life and the forgiveness of sins and the shedding of his
blood washed them from every sin so far from being a defeat
far from being the end of Christ far from being something to mock
and deride him with These hours upon the cross, when he trusted in God, are those
hours that wrought salvation for a countless multitude. And
the death he suffered could not keep them in the grave and could
not keep him in the grave. for despite all that the Jews
did to seal the tomb that he was then buried in, as the chapter
describes, on the third day. On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the sepulchre, and
behold, there was a great earthquake. For the angel of the Lord descended
from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door
and sat upon it. And Christ was risen. The angel answered the women,
fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here, he is risen as
he said. Come see the place where the
Lord lay. Even the grave could not hold
him. Yes, he trusted in God. And because
he trusted in God, He delivered his people from their sins. And
that people who could not deliver themselves, that people who could
not live a right before God themselves, that people who could not save
themselves through their own effort or their own will or their
own works, are justified by faith. They're brought by the power
of God to hear of what Christ did on this day and to look unto
Him by faith and believe on Him who suffered in their place that
they through His death might live. And they discover that
justification and salvation is not by works nor by the will
of man but by the will of God. Through faith. As Paul says in Ephesians, for
by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Through faith. Yes, we'll never
be saved by our works. If we're saved, we're brought
by the work of the Spirit of God who gives us life and faith
to believe on Jesus Christ we're brought to look unto Him by faith
and to believe on Him and to see in this day to see in the
events of this day when He suffered upon the cross our salvation
He trusted in God so there is that faith which God gives unto
His people to look outside of themselves and their own efforts
and to look by faith unto Christ and to know that He is their
Saviour and He delivered them by laying down His life in their
place. But their faith looks and trusts
and rests in His faith. Their faith and their salvation
is founded upon what Christ did on this day. In laying down his
life in their place. In bearing their sins and the
judgment against them. In dying in the place of sinners. Their faith looks to him and
looks to what he did. but looks to what he did as he
trusted in God. Their faith rests in his faith. If you're saved through faith,
If you're saved by the grace of God through faith, it's a
faith that God gives you which looks and rests in the faith
of Jesus Christ and what that faith caused him to do upon the
cross. And without the faith of Christ,
our faith would have nothing to rest in. Salvation is not
simply by faith in terms of us. It's also in terms of what Christ
did. The accusation that the scribes
and the elders brought against Christ, the mockery that they
brought upon him, the scorn that they poured upon him, was that
they derided his faith. They saw in this man a man of
faith, a man who walked before his God and his Father, a man
who spake of his God and his Father, a man who trusted in
his God and his Father, and they saw that faith and they saw that
trust and they saw how he spake and walked before them and they
sneered at it and derided it and mocked it and said it at
naught and here they are crucifying him and they think they've brought
it all to nothing but it's at this very hour that he needed
this faith and his trust in God more than at any other time It's
His faith that brought Him through the darkness. It's His faith
that brought Him through the cross. It's His faith that brought
Him through the judgment. It's His faith that brought Him
through the storms of God's outpouring of wrath upon Him. Like the ark
upon the waters as the storms came down, when Noah and his
family were hid inside, hid inside the ark, The people of God, hidden
in the ark that felt the brunt of the force of God's wrath in
judgment. That ark, a picture of Christ,
in whom the people of God were hid. as he came into the darkness
at this hour, and the judgment and the reigns of God doth came
upon him, and the fires of God doth came upon him. And he, the
ark of God, with his people within, went through the storms as he
trusted and rested in God. Yes, it's his faith that saved
his people. If you're his, if you know his
salvation, you're saved because of the faith of Jesus Christ
and without his faith you'd never be saved. But you may say, surely
it's what he did that saved me, it's his works that saved me.
Yes, it is. because he died upon the cross
that you're saved. But he only died because he trusted
in his God. He was only able to offer himself
up because he believed and trusted that what he was doing at that
hour would bring about the salvation of his people. He could enter
into that darkness and suffer the forsaking of his own father. bear the sins of his people and
the judgment that should come down, he could go into the abyss
and cry out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Because despite all the outward
circumstance, despite all that came upon him, he knew and believed
that his God would bring about the salvation of his people.
through the offering up of Christ in their place. He knew that
though he died, they would live. He knew that he would be satisfied. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him, Isaiah says in chapter 53. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall
see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. He shall see of the travail of
his soul. He knew that though he suffered,
though he travailed in his soul at that hour, he believed and
trusted that he would see the fruit, see the results, see the
salvation of all those for whom he suffered. He knew that though
he was in darkness, the light would return. He trusted in God. He trusted in God, they said. Let him deliver him now if he
will have him, for he said, I am the son of God. He was the son
of God. He is the son of God. And his father did deliver him.
Not at that moment, because he must suffer if he would deliver
his people. But on the third day, he rose
again victorious. His trust was not misplaced. His faith did not come to nothing. He saw the travail of his soul
and was satisfied. He saw the results. He shall
see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. He bore their iniquities. That's
why the darkness came upon him. That's why the judgment came
down upon him. That's why the father forsook
him in beating and bruising him and judging him for their sins. But when he drunk the cup of
God's wrath to its dregs and there was no more to drink, then
he saw their salvation. Then his faith was rewarded. He trusted in God. Do you see
his faith here? Do you believe in his faith?
Do you see that it's his faith and the works of his faith, what
that faith caused him to do in laying down his life as it were
passively? His great work of faith was to
die. was as it were to stop doing
anything else and take the consequences which were born upon him. Or what faith? Paul expounds upon this faith
in various places in the epistles in Romans and Galatians and Ephesians. We read in Galatians 2, knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law. But by
the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ,
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. We believe on Him that we might
be justified by His faith and not by the works of the law.
It wasn't Christ's obedience to the law that saved us. though
until this dower upon the cross he had magnified and fulfilled
and kept that law perfectly and the law could find no fault in
him nevertheless despite that God still had to lay the sins
of his people upon him and it's this bearing of those sins and
taking those sins away and the judgment of them that justified
his people we're justified by what happened
at this hour in his death through his faith therefore we believe
on him that we might be justified by his faith and not by the works
of the law Paul goes on, for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. By the works of the law as performed
by us, or by the works of the law as performed by Christ. If
it was Christ's works of the law which justified us, then
there would have been no need for him to die, and this statement
of Paul's would be undefined, because Paul says, by the works
of the law shall no flesh be justified, but by the faith of
Jesus Christ. But if while we seek to be justified
by Christ, we ourselves are also found sinners, is therefore Christ
the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again
the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead
to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. Now righteousness does not come
by the law. It comes through the death of
Christ. If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead
in vain. Well, he died because righteousness
doesn't come by the law. He died to bring in righteousness
through his death. And that righteousness comes
in because of his faith. because of the trust that he
had in God as he died that God would lay upon him the sins of
his people and judge those sins according to righteousness and
blot them out. And so bring in the righteousness
of God for his people. The law brought in our judgment. The law commanded our death. The law as our substitute, commanded
the death of Christ when God took our sins and laid them upon
him. When he suffered in the place
of his people, the law condemned those sins which were theirs
and condemned Christ as he bore them. That's what the law did. It did not bring salvation, it
did not bring righteousness, it brought condemnation. But
Christ, in bearing the judgment of the law, in bearing the penalty,
in dying in the sinner's place, and in looking up unto God by
faith, and trusting in Him as He suffered in their place, brought
in righteousness for them. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, says Paul. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
me. What did Christ do through his
faith? He loved Paul and gave himself
for him. That's what his trust and his
faith in his God caused him to do. He loved him and gave himself
for him. And in giving himself for him,
he died for him and Paul, mysteriously, in the purpose of God, died with
him. The old man, Paul, the old man's
soul was slain. And the old man being crucified.
The new man Paul rose again with his saviour Christ and he rises
again in a newness of everlasting life and he says I'm crucified
with Christ nevertheless I live but Christ live within me what
is this life he's got now it's Christ And the life which he
now lives in the flesh, he lives by the faith of the Son of God.
The faith which Paul received through the Gospel by the power
of the Spirit of God to believe in Christ, and to believe in
his salvation, and to believe in his death, is the very faith
by which Christ brought in that salvation. It's the very faith
of the Son of God. That's the faith Paul receives
as he's made one with Christ. Because Paul knew that he could
not be justified by the works of the law but by the faith of
Jesus Christ. So he believed in Jesus Christ
that he might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by
the works of the law. Oh, what salvation Paul saw in
the faith of Jesus Christ. He says elsewhere in Romans,
but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
all them that believe, for there is no difference. At this hour,
upon the cross, The righteousness of God was manifested by the
faith of Christ without the law. By the faith of Christ without
the law. Christ upon the cross was not
working. He was not keeping the law's
commands. He was suffering under the law's penalty and judgment.
And in contrast to what the Lord did to him in judgment, we see
his faith and trust in God as he puts himself under its penalty. In Philippians, Paul mentions
again that his desire is to win Christ, his desire is to be found
in him, not having his own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ. the righteousness which
is of God by faith. Oh what faith Christ had and
how we see it at this hour. He trusted in God. He trusted in God. He was not the only one who trusted. He trusted in the Father. But
as the father sent his son into the world to go to the cross
and to suffer under the outpouring of God's wrath, and so fulfil
that eternal covenant made between the Father and Son and Holy Ghost
as the Father looked on and as the Father sent his own Son and
knew that his Son would be led up the mountain as Abraham led
Isaac up the mountain and knew that he would be sacrificed the
Father too suffered it was the Father here offering up his Son
in order that his people might be saved. Oh, the son felt the
bruising. Oh, Christ felt the rejection,
as it were, because of what he was made to be, because he bore
the sins of his people. He felt the agony in the darkness,
but oh, what an agony the father felt as he had to slay his own
son, as he had to beat him and bruise him. as he killed him
because of the sins that he bore and how the father trusted in
Christ. He trusted in his own son. He trusted that he would go to
the cross. He trusted that he would bear
his people's sin. He trusted that he would go through
the judgment and he trusted that he would rise again. He trusted
his son. He knew his son loved his people. He knew his son loved him. He
knew he would do all that he had promised to do. Oh how the
father trusted in his own son. They covenanted together. They
made a promise in the Godhead. He kept his promise. The son
kept his promise and the father kept his promise. They could
not break it. Paul speaks of this in Ephesians
and chapter 1. Speaking of Christ, in whom we
have we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory
who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. We believe in Christ. We trust in Christ. We know that
his death was effectual. But the first to trust was the
Father, who loved him and gave him. as he loved his people and
gave himself for them. Oh what trust, what faith the
father had in his own son. The faith of Christ, the trust
of God in his own son. Some will tell us that these
verses which point to the faith of Christ should be read as his
faithfulness. He went to the cross, he died,
he did all that he promised to the Father, he was faithful.
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but
by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, they say. Even we have
believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the
faithfulness of Christ. or verse 22 of Romans 3, even
the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ,
or faithfulness of Jesus Christ, they say. But the translators
haven't used the word faithfulness, they've used the word faith.
And whilst the word could be read in that sense, and whilst
it could encompass that sense, it's the faith that is being
singled out. Yes, Christ was faithful. Yes,
he did all that he promised and purposed. Yes, he was obedient
in all things. And yes, his faith brought forth
works, as faith does. Because he believed and trusted
in the Father, he did come into the world, he did walk before
him perfectly, he did go to the cross, he did lay down his life. But those actions sprang from
his faith. And when Paul says the faith
of Jesus Christ, he means the faith of Christ. The accusation
against him by the scribes here, and the elders, was that he trusted
in God. They saw his trust, they saw
his belief, they saw his faith, and they mocked him. They didn't
mock his deeds and his works, they mocked his faith. And it
was his faith, without the works of the law, his dying in the
place of sinners, that brought in their salvation. And it's
that faith that becomes their faith. Not simply faithfulness,
but faith. A belief in what cannot be seen. A belief in what has not come
to pass. Christ went into the darkness
of the cross believing and trusting in God that what was promised
would come to be. He looked into the darkness and
could not see through it, but he believed he would come through
it. He believed there would be light
again. He believed that all for whom
he suffered would live and would rise up with him. He believed
that though he died, they and he would rise up alive victorious. He looked through the darkness
and believed the promise. And when we are brought in the
gospel to believe on Christ, We believe that which is promised,
we believe that which we've yet to see. We weren't there at the
time, we didn't see this with our eyes. We cannot see God with
the physical eyes and we cannot see what will come about when
we go from this world into the next, but we're brought to see
by faith. God opens our eyes by faith and
we see in the gospel Christ suffering for us and we see in the gospel
Christ buried for us and we see ourselves buried with him and
we see our sins buried with him and we see in the gospel us rising
up with him from the grave in newness of life We see by faith
the righteousness of God which is made ours. We see by faith
the righteousness of God manifested by the faith of Christ. We see
his trust and his hope and his faith in his God and we see the
Father's trust in his own Son and we see the love of God and
the love of Christ shed abroad and it's shed abroad in our own
hearts. We see by faith. and we believe
in that which is yet to come. We know by faith that when we
die we won't be condemned because the condemnation has already
fallen upon Christ. The judgment is passed and righteousness
is brought in. We know that when we come to
stand before God in eternity that we will be clothed in righteousness. We know we've been washed by
their blood because faith tells us so. And which faith is this? Is it something we have by nature?
Is it something we're born with? Is it something we work up or
strive at or convince ourselves to have? No, it isn't. We're
born in darkness. We're born in sin. We're born
blind. We have no faith. But God, in
the Gospel, as we read in Ephesians, by grace gives us faith to see,
he opens the blind eyes to see, and he takes of the faith of
Christ and gives it unto his people. As Paul says, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness of
God revealed from faith to faith from the faith of Christ unto
the faith of the believer which is given unto him as it is written
the just shall live by faith and that faith that's given to
him is the very faith by which Christ died It's the Spirit's work to give
us this faith. By grace, i.e., say through faith
that, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. But this faith causes us to look
unto him who lived, and what by faith, and who came at this
hour as he trusted his God, and died by faith. He trusted in
God. Do you trust in God? Do you have
this God-given faith? Do you look alone unto Christ
and his blood for salvation? Can you, with Paul, say that
you know that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ? So I have believed in Jesus Christ
that I might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by
the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. In which do you seek to justify
yourself? How shall you be justified? By
the works of the law? Your works and others' works?
Or by faith? It's by faith. It's by faith. Yes, Christ kept the works of
the law. Christ kept the law in his lifetime. But that didn't
save us. It's what he did in the hours
of darkness. He trusted in God. He bore the
sins of his people. He took the judgment away. that
the righteousness of God, the perfection of God, which we see
in Christ and we see in his lifetime, for he was perfect and the law
could find no fault in him, because he was perfect. And the righteousness
of God shone out from all he did and all he said. But for
that righteousness to be made ours, for us to be justified,
He must take our sins away. And as He died, He took our sins
away. And as He died, He trusted in
God that God would take those sins away and God would impute
righteousness unto His people in their place. and that people
would die under the penalty of the law, die with Christ, be
crucified with Christ, as Paul says, that they might live again,
and that the life that they now live, they might live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved them and gave himself for
them. Or have you looked by faith under
Christ? Has God given you that faith?
to look under him and to trust in him and to know that in him,
when he died, you died. When he was buried, you were
buried. When the sins were judged and
blotted out, your sins were judged and blotted out. When his blood
was shed, it washed you clean. And when he rose again, you rose
again with him. Will others pass you by? Will
others mock and scoff at you as you journey through this world
and say, he trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will
have it. Will they mock at you? Will they
mock you like they mock the son of God? Will they mock your faith? Will they mock your hope? Yes,
they will. But if you have his faith, you
can be put to death. You can be beaten, outcast, derided,
mocked, scoffed, trodden underfoot and put to death and you will
still trust in God and you, like He, will be saved. For He loved His own and gave
Himself for them. He trusted in God. Do you trust in God? Do you trust in Jesus Christ? He trusted in God. Amen.