Okay, now let's turn once again
to Mark 15. We'll start here in Mark chapter
15. Now notice carefully verse 39. Mark 15 verse 39, And when the
centurion, this Roman soldier, which had just crucified the
Lord, stood over against him and saw that he so cried. That is, the Lord cried all those
sayings from the cross. He said, it is finished. Father,
into thy hands I commend thy spirit. And he gave up his life. Gave up the ghost. This centurion,
he said, truly, truly, this man, this man, this man was and truly
is, forever shall be, God the Son, the Son of God, the only
begotten, well-beloved of the Father. Now, the title of the
message today is simply this, taken from verse 39, the centurion's
confession. His confession. Now, I want to
bring us back one more time to this scene at Calvary, and behold
the Lord Jesus Christ as He accomplishes our salvation for us. As He declares
in His last breath that salvation is of the Lord,
He declares, I finished the work the Father has given Me to do. It's recorded in John 19, 30.
He said, It is done. Mission accomplished. Mission done, complete. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have indeed finished the work
of redemption that the Father hath given to the Lord Jesus
Christ. But I also want to consider this.
I want to consider all the miraculous events that took place that day. which caused this hardened, burly,
mean, ornery Roman centurion to openly confess that the man
he just nailed to the tree is none other than God manifest
in the flesh. This indeed is the Son of God. It's also recorded, we'll read
it in a moment, over in Luke, 23 verse 47, he said something
else. He said these words. Now when the centurion saw what
was done, he glorified God. Glorified God saying, certainly
this was a righteous man. Was a righteous man. He was,
he is, and he forever shall be a righteous Man, what did this
callous, hard-hearted sinner see to cause him to make such
a drastic, glorious, and true statement? It's recorded in Matthew
27. We read it a moment ago. And
sitting down, they watched him. How he died. They listened to
what he said. This Roman centurion heard the
Lord Jesus Christ tell that dying thief, today you be with me in
glory. He heard all these sayings of
the Lord saying, it's done, it's finished. He heard sitting down. He was by him and sitting down
and watching him They sat down to watch Him to make sure that
no one attempted to remove or rescue the Lord from His crucifixion.
And in doing so, in His sovereign providence, the Lord in His sovereign
providence forced this soldier and his buddies. This man was
a centurion. He was a captain. That means
he had under him 100 men. He wasn't a private. This man
was in charge that day. He was in charge in this detail
that was to crucify these three men, the two thieves and the
Lord Jesus Christ. And in doing so, by God's sovereign
providence, He forced this soldier and his army to behold the events
that took place around the cross that day and brought this Roman
centurion to make this bold statement This man is righteous. This man is God. Oh, what a statement. Really,
when you think about it, a miracle of grace. A miracle of grace. Now let me show you some of the
things which this man saw. Now, it's obvious he didn't see
the renting of the veil. But there are some things that
he did behold and that he did see. Let me show you some of
the things that this man saw and other things that happened
that day. And may God the Holy Spirit, now here's my prayer
for us. May God the Holy Spirit convince us that indeed the Lord
Jesus Christ is God. manifest in the flesh, that He
did come to save His people from their sins, that He is not a
defeated, frustrated Reformer, that He is the victorious, conquering
King, Lord of Lords, and King of Kings. May the Lord bring
us in our hearts to convince us that He is my Savior, that
He is my Lord. May God be pleased to convince
you, your needs, of this man. You see, there is one God and
one Mediator between God and man, this man. He is the Mediator. He is the sacrifice for sin,
the God-man, Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's look
at some of these events here. Some of them are recorded here
in Mark 15 and others in Matthew 27, and we'll consider both.
First of all, let's look at this. In Mark 15 verse 33, and when
the sixth hour was come, now this is high noon. This crucifixion
procedure started at 9 o'clock in the morning. Started at 9
o'clock in the morning, the third hour. And now it's high noon. And there was at high noon, there
was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. from twelve
o'clock. Now, what would you think tomorrow
at high noon? It's almost high noon now. What
would you think in ten minutes it'd be twelve o'clock? What
would you think in ten minutes at high noon, all of a sudden,
I mean, like that, it's total darkness? I bet that would catch
somebody's attention, wouldn't it? I bet somebody would be,
wow, what is going on? What is happening? Here it is
on this day. At midday, it suddenly becomes
midnight. How did that happen? It was as
though the sun refused to shine on this scene, as though nature
itself mourned over such a horrible sight. The sun refused to shine. Now the skeptics might say this
darkness was just something that naturally occurred. Maybe it
was a solar eclipse. Oh no. Oh no. It was something
that supernaturally occurred by the power of God. Even the
prophet Amos hundreds of years ago prophesied that this event
would take place just exactly the time of day that it would
take place in the book of Amos. Chapter 8, verse 9, it's recorded,
"...and it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God,
that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken
the earth in a clear day." You see the power of God involved. God who has all power over all
things. Now, what is this darkness? around the cross for three hours.
What does this teach us? What can we learn from these
three hours of darkness? Well, I think a couple of things. First of all is this. Let's consider
this. God is too holy to look on sin with favor. It says in Habakkuk 1 verse 13,
Thou art of pure eyes to behold evil and cannot look on iniquity
cannot look on sin. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
made sin for us, when God the Son was forsaken by God the Father
as our substitute for sin, God turned the lights out to show
His abhorrence of sin. When the Lord, all the sin of
God's elect, made concentrated to meet on Him, God turned the
sun. off, blotted out the Son to show
His absolute abhorrence of sin. God too holy to look on sin.
Secondly, the darkness and blindness teaches us this, the darkness
and blindness of divine judgment upon that nation, upon that people. Remember they said, let His blood
be on us and our children. You look at the history of that
nation, oh how they have suffered. They have suffered. And yet,
God in His judicial blindness and righteous judgment, to this
day there is still a veil on their eyes. They are still in
the dark. And they cannot see. This nation rejected the Messiah,
the Jews. It is recorded in Scripture,
they came unto His own, and His own received Him not. They have
all the religious ceremonies, they have all the religious books,
they have all the Jewish traditions, but they have no light. They
have no salvation. They're in the dark. Thirdly,
these three hours of darkness, we see the Lord Jesus Christ
enduring the horrible, holy wrath of God for our sin. During these
three hours, a sacred transaction took place between the Father
and the Son. When the Father laid on Him,
God the Father laid on God the Son. The Lord Jesus Christ, He
bare our sin in His own body on the tree. The Father laid
on Him our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered
once for our sin. The just for the unjust, that
He might bring us unto God. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
in these three hours making perfect, complete, and eternal atonement
for the sin of a certain people. You say, well, I thought He died
for all the sins of all men. That's not what the Scriptures
teach. For the transgression of my people shall He be smitten. Call His name Jesus, He shall
save His people from their sins. All those for whom He died, none! can perish if he paid the sin
debt, then the sin debt is clear. There's no condemnation to those
who are in the Lord Jesus Christ in this three hours. The Lord
Jesus Christ made full payment for the sin of His covenant people. He shed His blood and the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. He made perfect
atonement. He bare our sin and His own body
on the tree, but in bearing our sin, you know what He did? He
bared them away. As far as the east is from the
west. So far has God separated us from
Our sin! You know how complete the blood
sacrifice of Christ is? That God Almighty said, their
sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. Gone. Put away. Put away. Now, this is what this
man is beholding. Three hours of darkness. Now
think about this. Find Luke 23. Mine is Luke 23
for a moment. Now think about this. When the Lord Jesus Christ said
this, I want you to turn to Luke 23, look at verse 46. Luke 23,
verse 46. When the Lord Jesus had cried
with a loud voice, and He said, Father, into Thy hands I command
My Spirit. And having said that, He gave,
He yielded up His life. He gave up the ghost, gave up
his spirit. Now when the centurion saw what
was done, he glorified God saying, certainly this was a righteous
man. Now think about this. When the Lord Jesus Christ gave
up his life, when his soul departed from the body, having accomplished
salvation, you know what happened? The Son came out. The Son came out. Satisfying, signifying and satisfying
salvation done, complete, accepted of the Father. The Lord Jesus
Christ is called in Scripture, do you know what He's called?
The Son of Righteousness, shall arise with healing in His wings. And that's what God does when
He does the work of grace in the heart, in the hearts of His
people. He calls us out of darkness into
His marvelous light. He causes the sun to shine in
our heart to make us confess, to see the glory and beauty of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Himself. When the Lord is pleased
to save a sinner, do you know what He does? He turns on the
lights. He is the light of salvation. He is the light. He said, I am
the light. When He comes in, darkness goes
out. He turns the light on. Now there's
a horrible flip side to that. When God saves a sinner, He turns
on the light. He gives us the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But those
who refuse to believe the gospel, those who refuse to bow to the
Lord Jesus Christ, those who die in their sin, there is reserved
for them an everlasting darkness. Let's read about that. In the
book of Jude, right over there before the Revelation, There's
a little book that hides from me all the time. Jude. Just one
little chapter. And it talks about these who
are unbelievers. Jude. Down in verse 11. Right before Revelation 1. Woe
unto them, for they have gone the way of Cain. Now what's the
way of Cain? Works. Salvation. They've gone the way of Cain.
They ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for a reward, serving
for what they can get. That's what Balaam wanted to
be paid off. And perish with a game saying
of Korah, those who rose up against God's prophet Moses. These are
spots in your feast of love and when They feast with you, feeding
themselves without fear. Clouds are they without water,
carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withered without
fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of
the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars, to whom
is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." That's a pretty
fit description. of unbelievers, twice dead, plucked
up by the roots. There is a blackness of darkness
forever. Well, here's the second thing
I want you to see. Back to Mark 15, verse 37-38.
And when Jesus cried with a loud voice, a loud voice, strong voice, He gave up his life. And something
else happened. Not only three hours of darkness,
the veil of the temple was rent in two from top to bottom. Now, no doubt, the three hours
of darkness arrested the attention of the thoughtless Gentiles.
I'm sure it got the attention of Pilate. I'm sure it got the
attention of the whole Roman legion that was stationed there
the area of Jerusalem. But this rendering of the veil
in the temple, this terrified the religious leaders like Annas
and Caiaphas. It's no mere incident that the
Lord Jesus Christ dies at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. You know what was going on at
3 o'clock in the afternoon? In the Jewish order, under the
Jewish law, 3 o'clock in the afternoon was the time of the
evening daily sacrifice, the burn offering, the sin offering.
They were ministering at that time about the temple. And as
they went about their temple duties, 3 o'clock in the afternoon,
they hear this big... The veil on the temple has been
rent in two. Now this veil in that temple
separated the holy place, that compartment, from the holy of
holies. In that holy of holies was the
ark of the covenant, the broken law, Aaron's rod that budded,
the mercy seat. Only once a year there was no
seam in that veil. Thick, thick veil. Wide, high. There was no semen. There's no
door in there. Only once a year did the high
priest, with the blood of a designated sacrifice in that basin with
the smoke of the incense, somehow he would slip under that veil
once a year and put the blood on the mercy seat. And now here
they're going about, when the Lord Jesus Christ died and finished
our salvation, That veil is rent open. And here
they're standing looking at the mercy seat. Do you know that
got somebody's attention? This veil, this thick, heavy
curtain. And the mercy seat. Behind that
veil was a mercy seat where they made atonement for sin. Typical
of Christ our High Priest. Christ our mercy seat. Christ
our blood sacrifice. Christ our atonement. But now
the Lord ripped it apart as those priests went about their priestly
service. Can you imagine the terror that went through their
mind? The total shock that must have flooded their soul. Now
what can we see about this? What can we learn here? What's
the lesson for us? You see, it just didn't happen,
did it? I mean, exactly when the Lord Jesus Christ finished
our salvation, The Lord ripped that curtain apart. The rending of this veil is significant
of these things. The rending of the veil displayed
in the most vivid possible way the complete fulfillment of the
law by the Lord Jesus Christ. All types, all the requirements,
all pictures are now completely honored and fulfilled by the
Savior, the Lord Jesus. He says in Matthew 5, He said,
I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to honor it. And here the law of God is being
fulfilled. And God signified the fulfillment of that law,
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes it. The Lord signified, He put a
stamp of approval on it in a miraculous way. He tore that curtain apart. Christ has indeed redeemed us
from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. To try to reestablish the law
or to put believers back under that mosaic law is to vainly attempt to sew up
the veil that God ripped up. It cannot be tolerated. The Lord
has set us free. set us free. He's redeemed us
from the curse of the law. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has set us free. We're not under the law. The
law never did justify. The law was given just to show
the exceeding sinfulness of sin, but it never did put away sin.
The Lord Jesus Christ came, He put away sin, and then He tore
up the law, signifying it's fulfilled. He honored, established it. Secondly,
the veil. Renting of the veil means that
God Himself has opened the way for sinners to approach Him through
the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now, back under the law,
the only way a sinner could approach God was through that Old Testament
priest. You had to have a designated
priest, and he had to represent you before God under that veil
on the mercy seat. Now God has tore that open and
He has given all His covenant people, sinners, ungodly, wretched
sinners, He has given us the way into the holies of holies
by the blood atonement of Jesus Christ. The Lord said, I am the
door. I am the door. Turn to the book of Hebrews now. Rending of the veil means that
God Himself has opened a way for sinners to approach Him through
the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 4, notice
verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmity,
but was in all points tempted in life as we are yet without
sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Let us come boldly now unto the throne of grace." How come? Seeing
we have a great high priest. He's opened the way for us to
come. Now stay right in Hebrews here and find Hebrews 10 verse
14. Hebrews chapter 10. See, the way's been opened. Christ
is the way. Christ is the door. Christ is
the priest. Christ is the altar. Christ is
the sacrifice. He is the mercy seat. You see,
it's all fulfilled in Him. Hebrews 10, verse 14, For by
one offering hath He perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Wherefore, the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, for after
that He has said before, This is a covenant that I will make
with them after those days. Sayeth the Lord, I'll put my
laws into their heart, my gospel principles, and write them in
their minds. Will I write them? And their
sins and their iniquities, will I remember no more? Look at verse
18. Now where remission of these is, there's no more offering
for sin. Don't go back and sew up that
veil. Don't go back under the law. There's no more offering
for sin. Don't bring another offering
for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest of holies by the blood of Jesus
Christ, by a new and living way which He made consecrated for
us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, having a high
priest over the house of God, let us draw nigh with a true
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." What
is that water? It's the Gospel. The Gospel of
Christ. Now, here's the third thing. The rending of the veil. The
veil was rent also to declare unto us that the way of salvation
is of the Lord. It was rent, notice carefully,
it was rent from top to bottom. That means that salvation is
from the top down. Salvation is not from the bottom
up. That is, we don't work our way
up. Salvation is not of the will of the man, the will of the flesh,
it's the purpose and grace of God. It's from the top down.
Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord in its
origination, its execution, its application, its sustaining power,
and its ultimate perfection. It's all of Him. It's God who
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to God's own purpose and grace from the
top down. It's of the Lord. Now, I want
you to turn to Matthew 27 now and look at a few more things
here. Matthew 27. Matthew 27.50. Matthew 27.50. The Lord brought
a great earthquake. A great earthquake. You see it
in verse 50? When the Lord Jesus had cried
again with a loud voice, He gave up the ghost, and behold, a veil
the temple was rended to from top to bottom, and the earth
did quake. And the rocks split open. The Lord made all creation to
groan and shake and recognize this momentous, glorious event. Even the rocks were made to cry
out and declare that salvation is of the Lord. It's recorded
in Luke 19 when the Lord Jesus Christ, the King, of Zion came
to Jerusalem. Remember, riding on an ass? You
remember we studied that? And the Pharisees and people
started to say, Hosanna! Glory to God in the highest!
And the Pharisees said to the Lord, just tell the people to
hush. And the Lord said, if they don't
cry out, the rocks in the mountains would cry out and give glory
unto God. That's what's happening here.
The rocks split open. And they cry out and the rocks
declare that salvation is of the Lord. We see the complete
power of God displayed, don't we, over all things. We read
in Psalm 18, Wednesday night, then the earth shook and trembled.
Well, who shakes the earth? Who controls the earth? Well,
who created the earth? The foundations also and the
hills moved and were shaken because of His wrath. God controls all
things. He shook the earth that day.
God is the King of all the earth. Now, we've seen a recent display
of this, haven't we? A recent earthquake in Haiti.
230,000 people dead. We've seen another earthquake
in Chile. and hundreds of more have died. One day this whole earth will
pass away at the shaking of God's command. Heaven and earth will
pass away and He will make a new heaven and a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness. Every time the Lord sends an
earthquake, a tornado, a tidal wave, a tsunami, an earthquake,
a hurricane, He is warning us of wrath to come, judgment to
come. The end is near. God shook the
earth. Something else we see in the
splitting of these rocks. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
is known as the Rock of Ages. The rending of those rocks there
on that day signified the rending of that rock, the Lord Jesus. You remember the story of Moses
in the wilderness? Forty years in the wilderness,
leading all those children of Israel as they came out of that
Egyptian bondage, four hundred years. Some people think there
were two or three million people that wandered in the wilderness,
in a desert land, for forty years. They didn't have any water. Couldn't
go down to Walmart. I mean, there was no water. God
told Moses, to stand before the rock, take that rod that He delivered
them through the Red Sea and smite the rock. You remember
what happened? He did smite the rock and water
gushed out of that rock. Some think that that water gushed
out of that rock for 40 years and followed them wherever they
went, that river followed them. But that is a picture, my friend,
of the Lord Jesus Christ crucified. When He was crucified, came out
of His side living water that a man may drink thereof and never
die. That rock was smitten. Smitten and afflicted of God.
Turn to John 19. Let's read this. Smitten and
afflicted of God. That rock, the Lord Jesus Christ,
was smitten by the hand of God Almighty. And out of His side
came that precious Sanctifying, saving blood and water. Notice in John 19, verse 32,
the soldiers came to break the legs of the thieves to hasten
death. But when they came to the Lord
Jesus Christ, He had died already, and they did not break His legs.
But one of the soldiers with a spear, John 19, 34, pierced
His side, and forthwith came out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record,
and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that
ye might believe. These things were done, that
the Scripture might be, should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall
not be broken again. And other Scriptures saith, they
shall look on him whom they have pierced. You see, that rock was
smitten and came out of his side, that precious living water. Something else, this rock, the
earthquake and the rocks being split, displays this. Something
else. The rending of these rocks is a picture of conversion. The
Lord Jesus Christ in mercy does break our hard and stony heart
and give us a believing, broken, repentant heart. God is able
to be stoned, our Lord said, or John the Baptist said, God
is able to be stoned to raise up children unto God. Here's the last thing. In Matthew
27 verse 52, something else that happened that day, there was
a resurrection. Verse 52, graves are opened,
and many bodies of the saints, who they were, how many, don't
have an idea, don't have a clue. It just says, many bodies of
the saints which slept arose, and they came out of the graves
after His resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared
to many." Wow! What do we see here? This is
proof of Christ's power over death, hell, and the grave through
His sacrifice. He said, I'm He that liveth and
is dead. Behold, I'm alive forevermore. I have the keys of hell and death.
They're in His hands. He has authority over all things.
Hebrews 2. declares, for as much then as
his children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that he might, through his death,
destroy him, that is, Satan, who had introduced sin, which
brought death. The devil himself crushed his
dominion, crushed his power. You know, this too was prophesied
by Isaiah, written and recorded of Isaiah in Isaiah 26, 19. These words are recorded, "'Thy
dead men shall live together with my dead body, and shall
arise, awake and sing, ye that dwell on dust. For the dew is
as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.'" The resurrection of these saints
by the power of Christ's atoning blood was a full declaration
of the success of His work and the acceptance of His work by
His acceptance of His blood, His redeeming blood. He was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. These
saints were raised up and presented as trophies of Christ's victory. Never think of Christ crucified
as a defeat. It's a victory. of victory over
sin, death, hell, and the grave. The resurrection of these saints
stand as a pledge of our resurrection from the dead. Christ is the
firstfruits and afterwards they that are His at His coming. In
closing, notice verse 54, Matthew 27, and when the centurion, now
when the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus
saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared
greatly, saying, truly, truly, this was the Son of God. This is the Son of God. These
hardened soldiers had crucified many Jews before and thought
nothing of it. But here it says they feared greatly. While the religious Jews denied
Him as the Son of God, They called him all sorts of evil names and
mocked him in all of his office as prophet, priest, and king.
Almighty God forced these ungodly Gentiles to confess His deity. A miracle of grace. That's what
happens when He saves us. A miracle of grace. Some others
of His enemies, the Lord, forced them to confess as well. Pilate
said, I find no fault in this just person. Judas said, I betrayed
innocent blood. The centurion said, we read it
a moment ago, certainly this was a righteous man. My prayer
for us today is that the Lord of glory would sweetly draw us
to Himself and cause us to bow before His sovereign throne and
cause us to own Him as my Lord and my salvation. Maybe like
Thomas of old. Do you remember Thomas? When
the Lord appeared to the disciples? Thomas wasn't there the first
time. But when the Lord appeared the second time, Thomas was there
and he made that confession, my Lord, he said, I will not
believe that the Lord is risen till I see the nail print in
His hand and see that spear hole in His side When the Lord appeared,
he said, Behold my hands. Behold my feet. Thomas said,
My Lord, You are my Lord and my God. May God cause us to see
Him dying in our stead and confess our hope of salvation is totally,
totally in Christ and Him crucified.