March 26, 2025 • 38 mins
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" These haunting words from Jesus on the cross reveal a dimension of suffering beyond physical torture—spiritual abandonment. As darkness covered the land from noon until three o'clock, Christ experienced separation from God the Father in a way that defies comprehension, becoming sin for our sake though He Himself was sinless.
The timing of Christ's crucifixion aligns perfectly with the Jewish temple sacrificial system—hung on the cross at 9am during the morning sacrifice and dying at 3pm during the evening sacrifice. This divine choreography proclaimed Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice, the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world. His cry echoes Psalm 22, a prophetic psalm written centuries before crucifixion existed as an execution method, yet describing with uncanny accuracy the suffering Messiah would endure.
When Jesus died, the massive temple curtain—60 feet long, 30 feet high, and 4 inches thick—tore from top to bottom, signifying that access to God's presence was no longer restricted. Through Christ's sacrifice, we now approach God's throne boldly to receive mercy and find grace. Even the Roman centurion, hardened by witnessing countless executions, recognized something extraordinary in Jesus' death, declaring, "Truly this man was the Son of God."
As we journey through this Lenten season toward Resurrection Sunday, we're challenged to respond appropriately to such a sacrifice. We cannot use Christ's death as permission to continue in sin but must instead live transformed lives worthy of His redemption. The resurrected life He offers isn't temporary but eternal—not just a better version of our old existence but something entirely new and everlasting.
This Easter, let's prepare our hearts to meet this resurrected Lord with anticipation and gratitude, and seize opportunities to share this good news with those who haven't yet experienced the freedom and reconciliation that comes through Christ's sacrifice and victory over death.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
the celebration of the resurrection, the Lenten
season.
I know Christmas gets a lot ofattention and I love the
Christmas season, I love theChristmas spirit, but there's
something about the anticipationof the resurrection.
If I were to sum up the meaningof the resurrection or the
meaning of the Easter seasonwith a verse of the Bible, I
love the book of Job where Jobsays I know my Redeemer lives,
and I think that's the message Iknow my Redeemer lives, and so
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one of the oldest books in theBible is Job and he's talking
all about the resurrection andour Lord Jesus.
And that's what I want to dotonight.
If you have your Bibles, we'llbe in Matthew 27.
As you know, we've been goingover the last words of Jesus on
the cross and his words on thecross.
They inspire hope andencouragement.
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You know, to the thief on thecross he says you'll be with me
in paradise.
He comforts Mary and thebeloved disciple.
Tonight his words spoken fromthe cross are not so much
comforting as they areheart-wrenching.
In Matthew 27, verse 45.
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At noon, darkness fell acrossthe whole land until three
o'clock.
At about three o'clock Jesusshouted in a loud voice Eli, eli
, lemme, shabachtania, whichmeans my God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?
Some of the bystandersmisunderstood and thought that
he was calling for the prophetElijah.
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One of them ran and filled asponge with sour wine, holding
it up to him on a reed stick sothat he could drink.
But the rest said wait andlet's see if Elijah comes to
save him.
Then Jesus shouted out againand released his spirit, and at
that moment the curtain in thesanctuary of the temple was torn
in two from top to bottom.
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The earth shook, the rockssplit apart, the tombs opened
and the bodies of many godly menand women who had died were
raised from the dead and theyleft the cemetery after Jesus'
resurrection and went into theholy city of Jerusalem and
appeared to many people.
If you could just bow yourheads with me, father, god, lord
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, as I seek to bring your wordtonight, I pray that it is your
word.
I pray, lord, that it is not mywords, not what I once said,
but Lord you.
I pray that, father, we wouldhave an anticipation of meeting
Jesus, we would have ananticipation of the work that
you're doing.
And, father, as we get closerand closer to to resurrection
Sunday, I pray each of us has anawareness of the fact that one
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day we will see this resurrectedLord.
One day we will meet thisresurrected Lord and the Lord
that we serve from a distancenow we will see face to face and
I pray that we are ready forthat day.
In the holy name of Jesus, wepray and everyone said Amen.
So there's a lot going on atthe cross.
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There's a lot going on that,unless you understand the
context, you miss.
First, in verse 45, at noon,darkness fell across the whole
land until about three o'clock.
If you look at all of thegospels, it's pretty much
assumed that Jesus was hung onthe cross around nine o'clock in
the morning and then by aboutthree o'clock when he shouted
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out these words my God, my God,why have you abandoned me?
Shortly after that, he breathedhis last and he released his
spirit.
What's interesting to note?
That, if you are a good Jewishperson, the time of 9 am and 3
pm have very importantsignificance to you, because
that is the time that,throughout history, throughout
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the whole temple period, theyhave sacrificed the morning and
the evening sacrifices, and so,as Jesus was hung on the cross
at 9 o'clock, there would havebeen a loud blast of the trumpet
across the whole land ofJerusalem, letting them know
that their morning sacrifice hasjust been killed.
And then, as he passes away, ashe dies on that cross, at about
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three o'clock there would havebeen another loud blast of the
horn letting everyone know thatthe evening sacrifice has just
been killed.
The evening sacrifice has justbeen killed.
What few did not realize atthat point is the final
sacrifice had just been slain onthat cross.
John calls Jesus the Lamb of God, who would take away the sins
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of the world.
And we see through the life ofJesus the whole time.
He is trying to reconcile us tothe Father, trying to teach us
more about God.
As the Bible says, he's thevisible image of the invisible
God.
And here we have on the crossthe ultimate sacrifice, the
ultimate suffering, where Jesusis abandoned by God the Father,
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by God the Father.
Why?
Because the Bible tells us thathe had to become sin for us.
God is a holy God.
In fact, as we looked at at mychurch on Sunday, in the book of
Habakkuk it says God is so holyhe cannot even look upon evil.
You know, you think of theblessings that's given in the
book of Numbers, and the famousone that's used as benediction
is may the Lord make his face toshine upon you.
May the Lord give you peace.
Well here, the Lord did none ofthat for Christ Jesus.
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The Lord had to turn his facefrom Christ Jesus because he
became sin for us.
And it gets even worse when youunderstand the fundamental
truth that Jesus was God.
In John 10, verse 30, jesusdeclares the Father and I are
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one.
He tells the religious leaders,he tells the people that even
before Abraham is, I am.
And that word, I am thecovenant name Yahweh, the name
given to Moses in the burningbush, to tell the people of
Israel their covenant God.
Jesus was God made flesh, godincarnate and like God.
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Jesus was perfect, but when hedwelt among us, he dwelt to be
our portion of sin, to be oursacrifice.
And what is so incredible aboutthe words Jesus speaks my God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?
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Is?
These words were already spokenbefore in scripture.
In fact, these words arebasically a direct quotation
from Psalm 22.
And I encourage you to turnthere just for a minute.
You see, psalm 22 is a prophecyabout crucifixion, long before
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the practice of crucifixion waseven created.
And yet we have Psalm 22, verse1.
And the very same words my God,my God, why have you abandoned
me?
He says every day I call to you, my God, you do not answer.
Every night you hear my voice,but I find no relief.
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And he says in verse 3.
Yet you are holy.
You are holy and enthroned onthe praises of Israel.
Our ancestors trusted you andyou rescued them.
You know.
Think of Jesus on the crosscrying hear me, my God, my God,
why have you abandoned me?
And the reason being is verse 3, you are holy.
And though at that moment, yes,Christ was God, he was not holy
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.
At that moment, he was forsaken.
He was sin for us.
And you read further on in Psalm22, and you realize that it
depicts Jesus' agony on thecross.
In verse 11, don't stay farfrom me, for my troubles is near
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and no one can help me.
In verse 11, and tearing intotheir prey, can you get the
agony?
The death on the cross was aserious matter.
The death of Christ on thecross was a serious matter and
it was a painful matter.
It was what Christ suffered foryou.
Not surrounded by loved ones Infact, his loved ones had
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abandoned him, other than Maryand John.
Not surrounded by friends, he'ssurrounded by enemies.
In verse 14, my life is pouredout like water.
My bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax meltingwithin me.
My strength has dried up likesun-baked clay.
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My tongue sticks to the roof ofmy mouth.
You have laid me in the dustand left me for dead.
My enemies surround me like apack of dogs.
Evil gangs closes in me.
They have pierced my hands andfeet.
I can count all my bones.
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My enemies stare at me andgloat.
They divide my garments amongthemselves and throw dice for my
clothing.
Whom but Jesus could this versereference when it talks of the
pack of dogs?
Oftentimes in Scripture,especially in the Old Testament,
the idea of dogs are used forenemies surrounding you, or even
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the demonic surrounding you.
And you think at the cross,what kind of demonic forces were
present to gloat over Jesus?
What kind of demonic forceswere present to watch God, the
Son God in the flesh, die infront of them?
And I'm sure they took greatdelight in it.
Of course, I'm sure they didn'tquite understand what was going
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on and Jesus dying on thatcross, abandoned by God.
And what do the people do?
It says they thought he wascalling out to Elijah.
They missed it.
It says some offered him wine ona sponge sour wine.
Most likely it was a mixture ofsour wine and likely it was a
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mixture of sour wine and sourwine being a mixture of vinegar.
If you ever got vinegar on acut, you know how painful that
is.
Some people use this verse tosay well, they had compassion on
Jesus.
They tried to give Himsomething to drink.
You have to understand that,the pain that he would have been
in when that sour wine, thatvinegar, touched His lips.
The second thing you ought tonote where did they get the
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sponge from?
At the crucifixion, that spongewas a military-issued toiletry
item used to clean oneself aftergoing to the bathroom.
This is what they did to ourLord and it burdens me even more
to know this is what they didto our Lord and it burdens me
even more to know this is whatthey did to our Lord on my
behalf.
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I should have been up on thatcross.
I should have been theresuffering.
We should have been there.
And yet we get to sit here andworship Him, we get to be called
sons and daughters, we get tobe called His children, not even
His slaves, but His childrenJoint heirs with Christ.
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How does any of that make senseother than the overwhelming
love of God?
You see, the Bible makes itvery clear that Jesus was God.
Philippians 2.
Philippians 2, verse 6.
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Though he was God, he did notthink of equality with God as
something to cling to orsomething to hold on to.
That's profound.
I mean, who among you arewilling to give up something as
powerful as that, your divineprivilege?
I mean it's hard enough to findpeople to give up an hour or
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two on Sunday to come to church.
And here God is setting asidehis own divine privilege.
Rather than clinging to that,rather than clinging to his
status, it says, instead he setaside his divine privilege, the
Greek word being kenosis to giveit up.
He took the humble position of aslave and was born as a human
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being.
When he appeared in human form,and he humbled himself in
obedience to God and died acriminal's death on the cross.
You know, you see, in moviesand popular TV or popular books,
you know there's what we callnoble deaths and there's what we
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call not noble deaths, andthere's always these noble
deaths for the hero.
Finally, if they have to die adeath, at least it's a noble
death.
Our Lord died a criminal'sdeath on the cross.
And, yes, now we can praise Himand we can say thank you for
that.
But the people at that time didnothing but scorn Him.
You see, on that cross, christidentified Himself with us.
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Remember when Peter tried todefend the Lord Jesus and cut
off the servant's ear?
And Jesus says don't yourealize?
If I merely asked, my fatherwould send an army of angels
down to rescue me.
But then how could theScriptures be accomplished?
He said you see, the Bibletells us, rather than
identifying himself as God,which is who he was, but rather
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than identifying himself withGod, rather than standing up and
saying you can't treat me likethis, isaiah 53, verse 12, says
he counted himself among therebels, he counted himself among
you and I.
And when the father had to pourout his wrath on somebody, he
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said pour it out on me, give itto me.
And this is where we read sooften in the scriptures, in
Isaiah, where it says that hewas marked for us, he was beaten
and abused for us, all of us.
It says like sheep have goneastray, but God laid on him all
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of our sins.
I don't know about you, but Idon't even want to have to
answer for my own sins, letalone all your sins.
And here Christ says no,identify me, count me among
those rebels.
And yes, you can talk about thespirit or the physical suffering
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on the cross, which was greaterthan any of us has probably
ever experienced, the whipping,the beating being hung there.
You realize, the Roman regimentthat hung Jesus on the cross
was a special regiment.
Rome did the very same thing,kind of like the Nazis did.
The Nazis had a special groupof Gustavos or SS agents who
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would persecute prisoners andpersecute the Jews.
The Romans did the very samething.
The Romans had a specializedunit.
They didn't go into battle likeother soldiers.
Their only job, from sunup tosundown, was the beating and
executing of criminals.
And that's who they gave Jesusto.
And they beat him worse thananyone.
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In fact, the book of Isaiahtells us he wasn't even
recognizable after all of theordeal.
And in fact, when they finallyled him away to be crucified, it
was not because they had mercyon him, it was not because they
felt like Jesus had enough.
The Bible tells us very clearlywhen they had grown tired, when
they had grown tired of mockinghim when they had grown tired
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of abusing him.
That's when they said okay, nowlet's crucify him.
That's our sins, that's theseriousness of our sins.
But I think that this verse inMatthew 27, and what it reveals
to me, is that even worse thanthe physical suffering on the
cross was the spiritualsuffering on the cross, the
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spiritual anguish of Christ, godthe Son, one of the members of
the Trinity.
The spiritual suffering that hehad to endure to take upon all
those sins that even the Fatherhimself could not even look upon
.
His own son, his very same sonwho he claimed at his baptism
saying this is my beloved son,with whom I'm well pleased.
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And now he turns his face away.
Remember, in the garden, whenJesus was agonizing, he prayed
to God, if it be possible.
Remember, in the garden, whenJesus was agonizing, he prayed
to God if it be possible, letthis cup of suffering pass from
me.
And then he said not your will,but my will.
And then they hang him on thecross.
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And what do the people say?
He saved others, but hecouldn't save himself.
You realize that was a truestatement.
He could not save himself andsave others.
He had to choose, and he choseus.
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You see, in that cup that Jesusasked to pass from him, that
cup that he did not want todrink, it was the cup of God's
judgment, the cup of God's holyjudgment that was meant for you
and I.
The book of Jeremiah, inJeremiah 25.
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Jeremiah 25, verse 15.
This is what the Lord, the Godof Israel, said to me.
Take from my hand this cupfilled to the brim with my anger
and make all the nations whom Isend you drink from it.
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When they drink from it, theywill stagger, crazed by warfare.
I will send against them Psalm75, verse 8.
For the Lord holds a cup in Hishand that is full of foaming
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wine mixed with spices.
He pours out the wine ofjudgment and all the wicked must
drink it, draining it to itsdredges.
The Lord holds a cup in Hishand, pouring it out on the
wicked, the cup of His divinejudgment.
Revelation talks about the winepress of God's judgment Getting
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ready to be poured out.
And who steps in but ChristJesus?
And takes that cup, draining itto its dredges, to where you
and I don't have to suffer thatterrible fate where Christ Jesus
drank it in full.
And what does he offer us inexchange?
But the cup of the new covenant.
He says I'll take yoursufferings, I'll take your sins,
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I'll take everything from youand in exchange I give you the
cup of the new covenant.
Your sufferings, I'll take yoursins, I'll take everything from
you and in exchange I give youthe cup of the new covenant.
And this new covenant meansfellowship with God.
This new covenant means thatnow you and I have a way to be
reconciled to God.
But please hear me, when Jesustook that cup from you, he
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wasn't thinking oh, if I takethis cup, they can go on living
their sinful lives and I'll washaway all their sins.
Jesus was thinking if I takethis cup from them, they have a
way out of their sinful lives, away into fellowship with God, a
way to break that cycle of sinthat had been infecting the
human race from the verybeginning and start anew.
This is what he says.
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You must be born again.
He says you want new life, youwant to be with me.
Paul says we are dead to sinand raised to new life in Christ
.
But I have met far too manyChristians who use the death of
Christ on the cross to continuein that same sinful cycle.
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Oh, christ will forgive me.
Oh, god has mercy.
Now, god's mercies are anewevery day.
And while that is true, youcannot use verses like that to
say you don't have to changeBecause I don't know about you.
But my Bible says repent,repent and be saved.
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Repent and be saved, repent andbe baptized.
Turn from those sins.
And here's what's so profoundabout Christ taking our sins In
the sanctuary.
It says back in Matthew 27,verse 51, at that moment the
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curtain in the sanctuary of thetemple was torn in two, from top
to bottom.
In our Bible study we just wentover Yom Kippur, the day of
atonement.
This was the one time of yearthat man was allowed into the
presence of God, the one time ofyear where not everyone but
only the high priest was allowedto enter into the Holy of
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Holies, where the Ark of theCovenant was, where the presence
of God was, and offer sacrificethere.
Do you realize, before Christ,none of you would have ever had
the chance to be in God'spresence, none.
We would have never had theopportunity or the chance to be
in the presence of God.
We were forever forced to beoutside.
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Because if we were to stand inhis holy presence, the Bible
says God tells Moses to tellAaron he can't just come in and
out, because if he comes in andout I'll strike him dead.
And then here comes Jesus andhis death on the cross, so
powerful, so profound that thatcurtain that had separated man
from God for so long was torn.
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And it was not torn bottom totop, it was torn top to bottom.
And it was not torn bottom totop, it was torn top to bottom.
And I don't know about you, butwhen I think of curtains often
I think of these little piecesof fabric that let the light in.
This curtain was no littlepiece of fabric, in fact, it was
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estimated to be 60 feet long,30 feet high and 4 inches thick.
And with Jesus' death it wastorn.
Why?
Because now, through ChristJesus, you and I had a chance to
be in the presence of God.
Now, through Christ Jesus, wecan approach God's throne.
The Bible tells us in Hebrews,if you look in Hebrews 4.
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Hebrews 4, verse 14.
So then, since we have a greathigh priest who has entered
heaven, jesus the Son of God,let us hold firmly to what we
believe.
I pray that there is nothingthat shakes your faith, there is
nothing that shakes yourconfidence in Christ, because he
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is our high priest who hasstepped in our presence, who has
stepped in the presence of God,laying down his life, his blood
and the Holy of Holies to giveus access into the very presence
of God.
And it says in verse 15, thishigh priest of ours understands
our weakness, for he faced allthe same testing that we did,
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and yet he did not sin.
He understands our weaknesses.
I take this also to mean hewon't put up with our excuses,
because he's understoodeverything, he's done all the
same testing that we've gonethrough.
You might say, well, jesus, youdon't understand.
You don't understand how I feel, or this makes me happy, this
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is what I want.
He understood all of it, hefaced all of it and yet did not
sin.
You can't give him anyhalf-hearted excuse, but what
you can do.
And it says in verse 16, so letus come boldly to the throne of
our gracious God.
There we will receive his mercyand we will find grace to help
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us when we need it most.
Let us come boldly before thethrone of God, not timidly, but
boldly.
Not with fear, it says, butwith confidence.
We will receive His mercy.
And, boy, that's what we needthe mercy of God, because it is
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only by God's mercy that you andI could ever hope to get to
heaven.
It is only by God's mercy thatyou and I could ever hope to
receive forgiveness of our sins.
And guess what the Bible says,that God has mercy to give you
because of our sins.
And guess what the Bible saysthat God has mercy to give you
because of Christ Jesus.
But I don't want you to miss theimportance of Christ's
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sacrifice on the cross.
I think sometimes we can be soremoved from the crucifixion it
happened over 2,000 years agothat we forget how serious of a
matter sin is.
That's something the people ofIsrael were intimately aware of,
because every time they sinnedthey had to take one of their
lambs or their goats.
They had to take it to thepriest and watch that lamb die
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in their place.
Yes, I don't know about you,but if you were a little boy or
girl and you grew up playingwith a lamb and then one day
your parents said let's takethat lamb to the temple and you
had to watch that lamb die,you'd have a pretty good
understanding of how serious sinis.
And sin is still serious, butfor you and I.
It is Christ, jesus and Hisblood that was so powerful that
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it negated any need for furthersacrifice, because he paid it
all.
But how dare we use the bloodof Jesus to continue to sin?
How dare we use the name ofJesus to continue in our sinful
life?
Paul says living means livingfor Christ and please hear me, I
think there's a big differencebetween living for Christ and
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living for yourself in the nameof Christ.
Why, why does Christ get allthe glory?
Why must we live for Him?
Because the Bible says in 1Peter 1.18, for you know that
God paid a ransom to save youfrom the emptied life you
inherited from your ancestors.
Please hear that that's thelife you have apart from
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ancestors.
Please hear that that's thelife you have apart from Christ.
It's empty.
It is empty and, yes, you canfill it with whatever you want,
and many people use manydifferent things and many
different vices to fill theirlife, but what they're missing
is Christ, because their life isempty without Him.
And if you want to remain inthat empty life, then you can go
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through your whole life tryingto find purpose, trying to find
meaning.
But I promise you, no matterwhat you do with your life apart
from Christ.
The only inheritance, the onlylegacy you can hope to leave is
a hole in the ground, and Christsaw our empty life.
And what did he do?
What did God do with that?
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He says God saved you thesecond half of 1 Peter 1.18, and
the ransom he paid was not meregold or silver.
This word mere it quiteliterally means common or
ordinary, not mere gold orsilver.
I don't know about you, butI've never treated gold or
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silver as mere.
I'm always like what Gold orsilver?
But there is not enough gold orsilver on this entire earth to
pay for your sins.
And so it was not mere gold orsilver.
It was the precious blood ofChrist, the sinless, spotless
Lamb of God.
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It says God chose him as yourransom long before the world
began, but he has revealed himnow to you in these last days.
Long before the world began,when God confronted Satan in the
garden for the terrible sinthat had just happened, god told
him I will put enmity betweenyou and the woman and between
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your seed and her seed.
And he tells Satan that one daythe seed of the woman would
come to crush his head and,though Satan could crush his
heel that the seed of the womanwould be his death blow.
That seed of the woman wasrevealed to be Christ Jesus,
born of a virgin, born without asinful nature, born to be the
spotless lamb of God.
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And in verse 21, it saysthrough Christ you have come to
trust in God and you have placedyour faith and hope in God,
because he's raised Christ fromthe dead and has given him great
victory.
So Christ then becomes the keyto having a relationship with
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God, the Father.
Christ then becomes the key tohaving a relationship with God,
because it is through Christ wehave come to trust God.
It is through God sending Christto earth, it is through the
ministry of Christ that we getto see the love of God and we
get to see how precious Godloves us, as my Bible says, as
our Bible says, for God so lovedthe world, he gave us his one
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and only begotten son Verse 22,.
You were cleansed from yoursins when you obeyed the truth.
So now you must show sincerelove to each other as brothers
and sisters.
Love each other deeply with allyour heart, for you have been
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born again, but not to a lifethat will quickly end.
Your new life will last foreverbecause it comes from the
eternal living God.
As Scripture says, people arelike grass, their beauty is like
a flower in the field the grasswithers, the flowers fade, but
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the Word of the Lord remainsforever.
So the new life that we inheritin Christ is not one that is
temporary, but one that iseternal, is not one that passes
away, but one that will live oninto eternity.
And it says and the word is thegood news that we preach to you
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, the good news of thescriptures, the good news of the
gospel.
That's what gospel means, goodnews.
So then, what is your responsein light of this?
Well, the Bible tells us thattoo, in 1 Peter 2.1.
So get rid of all evil behavior, be done with deceit, hypocrisy
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, jealousy and all unkind speech, and, like newborn babies, you
must crave the spiritual milk sothat you will grow into the
full expression of salvation.
Cry out for nourishment nowthat you have heard, or now that
you've had a taste of theLord's goodness.
The Bible tells us that sinbecomes a trap for us.
(31:21):
He who sins becomes a slave us.
That sin becomes a trap for us.
He who sins becomes a slave tothat sin.
But whom the Son sets free isfree.
Indeed, christ on the cross wasseparated from God by his sins
in order to bring us and toreconcile us into the presence
(31:42):
of God.
As Jesus talks of the shepherdwho leaves the 99 to find the
one, jesus left the eternity ofheaven, the glory of heaven, to
reconcile us, his lost sheep, tobring us back in to his
heavenly home.
And just as God raised Christfrom the dead, the Bible tells
(32:02):
us that one day the Lord willreturn to bring us all home with
Him.
Jesus died, yes, in shame, hedied in sin, but he was risen in
victory.
He was reconciled to God andnow reconciles all of us to God.
(32:23):
But I earnestly, earnestly begyou, don't use the sacrifice of
Christ to continue in your oldway of living.
I want to just read to you onelast part in Matthew 27.
I want to just read to you onelast part in Matthew 27.
(32:47):
Matthew 27, verse 54.
The Roman officer and the othersoldiers at the crucifixion were
terrified by the earthquake andall that had happened, and they
said truly, this man was theson of God.
(33:09):
And many women who had comefrom Galilee with Jesus to care
for him were watching from adistance.
Among them were Mary Magdalene,mary the mother of James and
Joseph, and the mother of Jamesand John, sons of Zebedee.
I love verse 54.
This Roman centurion, thisRoman officer.
(33:31):
How many men had he watched die?
How many men had he executedhimself?
How many men had he watchedbeaten and never blinked an eye?
Roman officers, roman soldiers,were often just convicts
serving out their sentence inthe military rather than the
(33:52):
prisons.
What kind of terrible deeds didthis officer do?
And yet the centurion and theothers, upon seeing the death of
Christ on the cross, were somoved that they declared truly,
this man was truly the Son ofGod.
This becomes a profoundstatement of who Christ Jesus is
(34:16):
, that even those who wereenemies of the cross, those who
were enemies of Christ, findthemselves bowing their knees,
find themselves declaring thatthis was the Son of God, the Son
of God who died in your place,who died in my place, that we
might be reconciled to theFather.
(34:39):
So, as Lent continues and as weget all the way ready for this
resurrection Sunday, thisresurrection celebration, I pray
that you have an anticipationof meeting this resurrected Lord
.
I pray that your hearts areready for this resurrected Lord.
That's the whole purpose ofLent to prepare your hearts for
the resurrection, because Ipromise you, one day, soon,
(35:00):
we're going to see thisresurrected Lord.
I think you look at the signsof the time.
I don't know how much longer wehave, but I promise you it's
not going to be too much longerand I pray that each and every
one of you have an excitementupon meeting Jesus and each and
every one of you have gratefulhearts because of his sacrifice
(35:22):
on the cross, and I pray thatthose grateful hearts will
encourage you, will prompt youto testify.
This lost world needs ChristBoy.
There are so many problems inthis world today, but guess what
?
Jesus is the solution for allof them.
And I'm sure each and every oneof you knows somebody who
(35:43):
doesn't know the Lord.
Maybe they're your family, yourfriends, somebody you worked
with, somebody just in your area.
When is the last time you'vegiven them the gospel message?
When's the last time you'vetold them about Christ?
You know, just like Christmas,easter is often a celebration
that's not just celebrated amongChristian homes, it is often
even the unsaved.
Just like Christmas, easter isoften a celebration that's not
just celebrated among Christianhomes, it is often even the
(36:04):
unsaved, the unbelievers.
They still have Easter dinneror Easter celebrations, or at
least Easter icons.
What a wonderful time to showthem the true meaning of this
season.
What a wonderful time towitness to them, and I pray that
you don't miss opportunities togive them this gospel message.
(36:26):
Bow your heads with me, heavenlyFather.
Lord, god, what did we do todeserve your great love for us?
Truly, lord, the answer isabsolutely nothing.
In fact, all of our lifepointed to the contrary.
(36:46):
Lord, we weren't seeking you,you were seeking us.
We weren't desiring anythingmore from you, but you wanted
more from us.
Lord, you chose, you chose usChose to punish your perfect Son
in our place.
(37:10):
Father, it is through Christthat we are reconciled and I
pray, lord, that each and everyone of us has the confidence,
the boldness, to now come beforeyour throne in the name of
Jesus, knowing that our sins areforgiven, that our sins are
completely wiped away, that,lord, that you have moved them
as far as the east is from thewest, that you have forgotten
(37:32):
them.
Father, the blood of Jesus is sopowerful that it completely
eradicates our sins from thefabric of the universe that you
can't even find them.
So, father, I pray for twothings this season.
I pray that we would all havean acute awareness of that
(37:53):
forgiveness.
And, father, I know for many ofus and that means we have to
forgive ourselves, and I praythat we would do that.
Number two, father, I pray forthe lost, for those who don't
know you, for those in our ownhomes or our own circles of
influence, and, father, if wehave missed opportunities, I
pray you forgive us for them.
(38:14):
But I pray that you wouldencourage our witness that there
would be no more missedopportunities.
Be no more missed opportunities, lord.
I pray that each and every oneof us knows you and loves you
and serves you with each andevery breath that we have.
the celebration of the resurrection, the Lenten
season.
I know Christmas gets a lot ofattention and I love the
Christmas season, I love theChristmas spirit, but there's
something about the anticipationof the resurrection.
If I were to sum up the meaningof the resurrection or the
meaning of the Easter seasonwith a verse of the Bible, I
love the book of Job where Jobsays I know my Redeemer lives,
and I think that's the message Iknow my Redeemer lives, and so
(00:24):
one of the oldest books in theBible is Job and he's talking
all about the resurrection andour Lord Jesus.
And that's what I want to dotonight.
If you have your Bibles, we'llbe in Matthew 27.
As you know, we've been goingover the last words of Jesus on
the cross and his words on thecross.
They inspire hope andencouragement.
(00:44):
You know, to the thief on thecross he says you'll be with me
in paradise.
He comforts Mary and thebeloved disciple.
Tonight his words spoken fromthe cross are not so much
comforting as they areheart-wrenching.
In Matthew 27, verse 45.
(01:05):
At noon, darkness fell acrossthe whole land until three
o'clock.
At about three o'clock Jesusshouted in a loud voice Eli, eli
, lemme, shabachtania, whichmeans my God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?
Some of the bystandersmisunderstood and thought that
he was calling for the prophetElijah.
(01:25):
One of them ran and filled asponge with sour wine, holding
it up to him on a reed stick sothat he could drink.
But the rest said wait andlet's see if Elijah comes to
save him.
Then Jesus shouted out againand released his spirit, and at
that moment the curtain in thesanctuary of the temple was torn
in two from top to bottom.
(01:46):
The earth shook, the rockssplit apart, the tombs opened
and the bodies of many godly menand women who had died were
raised from the dead and theyleft the cemetery after Jesus'
resurrection and went into theholy city of Jerusalem and
appeared to many people.
If you could just bow yourheads with me, father, god, lord
(02:06):
, as I seek to bring your wordtonight, I pray that it is your
word.
I pray, lord, that it is not mywords, not what I once said,
but Lord you.
I pray that, father, we wouldhave an anticipation of meeting
Jesus, we would have ananticipation of the work that
you're doing.
And, father, as we get closerand closer to to resurrection
Sunday, I pray each of us has anawareness of the fact that one
(02:28):
day we will see this resurrectedLord.
One day we will meet thisresurrected Lord and the Lord
that we serve from a distancenow we will see face to face and
I pray that we are ready forthat day.
In the holy name of Jesus, wepray and everyone said Amen.
So there's a lot going on atthe cross.
(02:49):
There's a lot going on that,unless you understand the
context, you miss.
First, in verse 45, at noon,darkness fell across the whole
land until about three o'clock.
If you look at all of thegospels, it's pretty much
assumed that Jesus was hung onthe cross around nine o'clock in
the morning and then by aboutthree o'clock when he shouted
(03:10):
out these words my God, my God,why have you abandoned me?
Shortly after that, he breathedhis last and he released his
spirit.
What's interesting to note?
That, if you are a good Jewishperson, the time of 9 am and 3
pm have very importantsignificance to you, because
that is the time that,throughout history, throughout
(03:32):
the whole temple period, theyhave sacrificed the morning and
the evening sacrifices, and so,as Jesus was hung on the cross
at 9 o'clock, there would havebeen a loud blast of the trumpet
across the whole land ofJerusalem, letting them know
that their morning sacrifice hasjust been killed.
And then, as he passes away, ashe dies on that cross, at about
(03:55):
three o'clock there would havebeen another loud blast of the
horn letting everyone know thatthe evening sacrifice has just
been killed.
The evening sacrifice has justbeen killed.
What few did not realize atthat point is the final
sacrifice had just been slain onthat cross.
John calls Jesus the Lamb of God, who would take away the sins
(04:16):
of the world.
And we see through the life ofJesus the whole time.
He is trying to reconcile us tothe Father, trying to teach us
more about God.
As the Bible says, he's thevisible image of the invisible
God.
And here we have on the crossthe ultimate sacrifice, the
ultimate suffering, where Jesusis abandoned by God the Father,
(04:51):
by God the Father.
Why?
Because the Bible tells us thathe had to become sin for us.
God is a holy God.
In fact, as we looked at at mychurch on Sunday, in the book of
Habakkuk it says God is so holyhe cannot even look upon evil.
You know, you think of theblessings that's given in the
book of Numbers, and the famousone that's used as benediction
is may the Lord make his face toshine upon you.
May the Lord give you peace.
Well here, the Lord did none ofthat for Christ Jesus.
(05:11):
The Lord had to turn his facefrom Christ Jesus because he
became sin for us.
And it gets even worse when youunderstand the fundamental
truth that Jesus was God.
In John 10, verse 30, jesusdeclares the Father and I are
(05:39):
one.
He tells the religious leaders,he tells the people that even
before Abraham is, I am.
And that word, I am thecovenant name Yahweh, the name
given to Moses in the burningbush, to tell the people of
Israel their covenant God.
Jesus was God made flesh, godincarnate and like God.
(06:00):
Jesus was perfect, but when hedwelt among us, he dwelt to be
our portion of sin, to be oursacrifice.
And what is so incredible aboutthe words Jesus speaks my God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?
(06:20):
Is?
These words were already spokenbefore in scripture.
In fact, these words arebasically a direct quotation
from Psalm 22.
And I encourage you to turnthere just for a minute.
You see, psalm 22 is a prophecyabout crucifixion, long before
(06:41):
the practice of crucifixion waseven created.
And yet we have Psalm 22, verse1.
And the very same words my God,my God, why have you abandoned
me?
He says every day I call to you, my God, you do not answer.
Every night you hear my voice,but I find no relief.
(07:01):
And he says in verse 3.
Yet you are holy.
You are holy and enthroned onthe praises of Israel.
Our ancestors trusted you andyou rescued them.
You know.
Think of Jesus on the crosscrying hear me, my God, my God,
why have you abandoned me?
And the reason being is verse 3, you are holy.
And though at that moment, yes,Christ was God, he was not holy
(07:26):
.
At that moment, he was forsaken.
He was sin for us.
And you read further on in Psalm22, and you realize that it
depicts Jesus' agony on thecross.
In verse 11, don't stay farfrom me, for my troubles is near
(07:57):
and no one can help me.
In verse 11, and tearing intotheir prey, can you get the
agony?
The death on the cross was aserious matter.
The death of Christ on thecross was a serious matter and
it was a painful matter.
It was what Christ suffered foryou.
Not surrounded by loved ones Infact, his loved ones had
(08:18):
abandoned him, other than Maryand John.
Not surrounded by friends, he'ssurrounded by enemies.
In verse 14, my life is pouredout like water.
My bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax meltingwithin me.
My strength has dried up likesun-baked clay.
(08:39):
My tongue sticks to the roof ofmy mouth.
You have laid me in the dustand left me for dead.
My enemies surround me like apack of dogs.
Evil gangs closes in me.
They have pierced my hands andfeet.
I can count all my bones.
(08:59):
My enemies stare at me andgloat.
They divide my garments amongthemselves and throw dice for my
clothing.
Whom but Jesus could this versereference when it talks of the
pack of dogs?
Oftentimes in Scripture,especially in the Old Testament,
the idea of dogs are used forenemies surrounding you, or even
(09:22):
the demonic surrounding you.
And you think at the cross,what kind of demonic forces were
present to gloat over Jesus?
What kind of demonic forceswere present to watch God, the
Son God in the flesh, die infront of them?
And I'm sure they took greatdelight in it.
Of course, I'm sure they didn'tquite understand what was going
(09:43):
on and Jesus dying on thatcross, abandoned by God.
And what do the people do?
It says they thought he wascalling out to Elijah.
They missed it.
It says some offered him wine ona sponge sour wine.
Most likely it was a mixture ofsour wine and likely it was a
(10:04):
mixture of sour wine and sourwine being a mixture of vinegar.
If you ever got vinegar on acut, you know how painful that
is.
Some people use this verse tosay well, they had compassion on
Jesus.
They tried to give Himsomething to drink.
You have to understand that,the pain that he would have been
in when that sour wine, thatvinegar, touched His lips.
The second thing you ought tonote where did they get the
(10:27):
sponge from?
At the crucifixion, that spongewas a military-issued toiletry
item used to clean oneself aftergoing to the bathroom.
This is what they did to ourLord and it burdens me even more
to know this is what they didto our Lord and it burdens me
even more to know this is whatthey did to our Lord on my
behalf.
(10:47):
I should have been up on thatcross.
I should have been theresuffering.
We should have been there.
And yet we get to sit here andworship Him, we get to be called
sons and daughters, we get tobe called His children, not even
His slaves, but His childrenJoint heirs with Christ.
(11:09):
How does any of that make senseother than the overwhelming
love of God?
You see, the Bible makes itvery clear that Jesus was God.
Philippians 2.
Philippians 2, verse 6.
(11:33):
Though he was God, he did notthink of equality with God as
something to cling to orsomething to hold on to.
That's profound.
I mean, who among you arewilling to give up something as
powerful as that, your divineprivilege?
I mean it's hard enough to findpeople to give up an hour or
(11:56):
two on Sunday to come to church.
And here God is setting asidehis own divine privilege.
Rather than clinging to that,rather than clinging to his
status, it says, instead he setaside his divine privilege, the
Greek word being kenosis to giveit up.
He took the humble position of aslave and was born as a human
(12:18):
being.
When he appeared in human form,and he humbled himself in
obedience to God and died acriminal's death on the cross.
You know, you see, in moviesand popular TV or popular books,
you know there's what we callnoble deaths and there's what we
(12:38):
call not noble deaths, andthere's always these noble
deaths for the hero.
Finally, if they have to die adeath, at least it's a noble
death.
Our Lord died a criminal'sdeath on the cross.
And, yes, now we can praise Himand we can say thank you for
that.
But the people at that time didnothing but scorn Him.
You see, on that cross, christidentified Himself with us.
(13:06):
Remember when Peter tried todefend the Lord Jesus and cut
off the servant's ear?
And Jesus says don't yourealize?
If I merely asked, my fatherwould send an army of angels
down to rescue me.
But then how could theScriptures be accomplished?
He said you see, the Bibletells us, rather than
identifying himself as God,which is who he was, but rather
(13:30):
than identifying himself withGod, rather than standing up and
saying you can't treat me likethis, isaiah 53, verse 12, says
he counted himself among therebels, he counted himself among
you and I.
And when the father had to pourout his wrath on somebody, he
(13:54):
said pour it out on me, give itto me.
And this is where we read sooften in the scriptures, in
Isaiah, where it says that hewas marked for us, he was beaten
and abused for us, all of us.
It says like sheep have goneastray, but God laid on him all
(14:15):
of our sins.
I don't know about you, but Idon't even want to have to
answer for my own sins, letalone all your sins.
And here Christ says no,identify me, count me among
those rebels.
And yes, you can talk about thespirit or the physical suffering
(14:35):
on the cross, which was greaterthan any of us has probably
ever experienced, the whipping,the beating being hung there.
You realize, the Roman regimentthat hung Jesus on the cross
was a special regiment.
Rome did the very same thing,kind of like the Nazis did.
The Nazis had a special groupof Gustavos or SS agents who
(14:58):
would persecute prisoners andpersecute the Jews.
The Romans did the very samething.
The Romans had a specializedunit.
They didn't go into battle likeother soldiers.
Their only job, from sunup tosundown, was the beating and
executing of criminals.
And that's who they gave Jesusto.
And they beat him worse thananyone.
(15:20):
In fact, the book of Isaiahtells us he wasn't even
recognizable after all of theordeal.
And in fact, when they finallyled him away to be crucified, it
was not because they had mercyon him, it was not because they
felt like Jesus had enough.
The Bible tells us very clearlywhen they had grown tired, when
they had grown tired of mockinghim when they had grown tired
(15:44):
of abusing him.
That's when they said okay, nowlet's crucify him.
That's our sins, that's theseriousness of our sins.
But I think that this verse inMatthew 27, and what it reveals
to me, is that even worse thanthe physical suffering on the
cross was the spiritualsuffering on the cross, the
(16:07):
spiritual anguish of Christ, godthe Son, one of the members of
the Trinity.
The spiritual suffering that hehad to endure to take upon all
those sins that even the Fatherhimself could not even look upon
.
His own son, his very same sonwho he claimed at his baptism
saying this is my beloved son,with whom I'm well pleased.
(16:29):
And now he turns his face away.
Remember, in the garden, whenJesus was agonizing, he prayed
to God, if it be possible.
Remember, in the garden, whenJesus was agonizing, he prayed
to God if it be possible, letthis cup of suffering pass from
me.
And then he said not your will,but my will.
And then they hang him on thecross.
(16:50):
And what do the people say?
He saved others, but hecouldn't save himself.
You realize that was a truestatement.
He could not save himself andsave others.
He had to choose, and he choseus.
(17:10):
You see, in that cup that Jesusasked to pass from him, that
cup that he did not want todrink, it was the cup of God's
judgment, the cup of God's holyjudgment that was meant for you
and I.
The book of Jeremiah, inJeremiah 25.
(17:31):
Jeremiah 25, verse 15.
This is what the Lord, the Godof Israel, said to me.
Take from my hand this cupfilled to the brim with my anger
and make all the nations whom Isend you drink from it.
(17:52):
When they drink from it, theywill stagger, crazed by warfare.
I will send against them Psalm75, verse 8.
For the Lord holds a cup in Hishand that is full of foaming
(18:14):
wine mixed with spices.
He pours out the wine ofjudgment and all the wicked must
drink it, draining it to itsdredges.
The Lord holds a cup in Hishand, pouring it out on the
wicked, the cup of His divinejudgment.
Revelation talks about the winepress of God's judgment Getting
(18:38):
ready to be poured out.
And who steps in but ChristJesus?
And takes that cup, draining itto its dredges, to where you
and I don't have to suffer thatterrible fate where Christ Jesus
drank it in full.
And what does he offer us inexchange?
But the cup of the new covenant.
He says I'll take yoursufferings, I'll take your sins,
(18:58):
I'll take everything from youand in exchange I give you the
cup of the new covenant.
Your sufferings, I'll take yoursins, I'll take everything from
you and in exchange I give youthe cup of the new covenant.
And this new covenant meansfellowship with God.
This new covenant means thatnow you and I have a way to be
reconciled to God.
But please hear me, when Jesustook that cup from you, he
(19:21):
wasn't thinking oh, if I takethis cup, they can go on living
their sinful lives and I'll washaway all their sins.
Jesus was thinking if I takethis cup from them, they have a
way out of their sinful lives, away into fellowship with God, a
way to break that cycle of sinthat had been infecting the
human race from the verybeginning and start anew.
This is what he says.
(19:43):
You must be born again.
He says you want new life, youwant to be with me.
Paul says we are dead to sinand raised to new life in Christ
.
But I have met far too manyChristians who use the death of
Christ on the cross to continuein that same sinful cycle.
(20:03):
Oh, christ will forgive me.
Oh, god has mercy.
Now, god's mercies are anewevery day.
And while that is true, youcannot use verses like that to
say you don't have to changeBecause I don't know about you.
But my Bible says repent,repent and be saved.
(20:23):
Repent and be saved, repent andbe baptized.
Turn from those sins.
And here's what's so profoundabout Christ taking our sins In
the sanctuary.
It says back in Matthew 27,verse 51, at that moment the
(20:50):
curtain in the sanctuary of thetemple was torn in two, from top
to bottom.
In our Bible study we just wentover Yom Kippur, the day of
atonement.
This was the one time of yearthat man was allowed into the
presence of God, the one time ofyear where not everyone but
only the high priest was allowedto enter into the Holy of
(21:12):
Holies, where the Ark of theCovenant was, where the presence
of God was, and offer sacrificethere.
Do you realize, before Christ,none of you would have ever had
the chance to be in God'spresence, none.
We would have never had theopportunity or the chance to be
in the presence of God.
We were forever forced to beoutside.
(21:34):
Because if we were to stand inhis holy presence, the Bible
says God tells Moses to tellAaron he can't just come in and
out, because if he comes in andout I'll strike him dead.
And then here comes Jesus andhis death on the cross, so
powerful, so profound that thatcurtain that had separated man
from God for so long was torn.
(21:56):
And it was not torn bottom totop, it was torn top to bottom.
And it was not torn bottom totop, it was torn top to bottom.
And I don't know about you, butwhen I think of curtains often
I think of these little piecesof fabric that let the light in.
This curtain was no littlepiece of fabric, in fact, it was
(22:18):
estimated to be 60 feet long,30 feet high and 4 inches thick.
And with Jesus' death it wastorn.
Why?
Because now, through ChristJesus, you and I had a chance to
be in the presence of God.
Now, through Christ Jesus, wecan approach God's throne.
The Bible tells us in Hebrews,if you look in Hebrews 4.
(22:50):
Hebrews 4, verse 14.
So then, since we have a greathigh priest who has entered
heaven, jesus the Son of God,let us hold firmly to what we
believe.
I pray that there is nothingthat shakes your faith, there is
nothing that shakes yourconfidence in Christ, because he
(23:12):
is our high priest who hasstepped in our presence, who has
stepped in the presence of God,laying down his life, his blood
and the Holy of Holies to giveus access into the very presence
of God.
And it says in verse 15, thishigh priest of ours understands
our weakness, for he faced allthe same testing that we did,
(23:35):
and yet he did not sin.
He understands our weaknesses.
I take this also to mean hewon't put up with our excuses,
because he's understoodeverything, he's done all the
same testing that we've gonethrough.
You might say, well, jesus, youdon't understand.
You don't understand how I feel, or this makes me happy, this
(23:57):
is what I want.
He understood all of it, hefaced all of it and yet did not
sin.
You can't give him anyhalf-hearted excuse, but what
you can do.
And it says in verse 16, so letus come boldly to the throne of
our gracious God.
There we will receive his mercyand we will find grace to help
(24:24):
us when we need it most.
Let us come boldly before thethrone of God, not timidly, but
boldly.
Not with fear, it says, butwith confidence.
We will receive His mercy.
And, boy, that's what we needthe mercy of God, because it is
(24:48):
only by God's mercy that you andI could ever hope to get to
heaven.
It is only by God's mercy thatyou and I could ever hope to
receive forgiveness of our sins.
And guess what the Bible says,that God has mercy to give you
because of our sins.
And guess what the Bible saysthat God has mercy to give you
because of Christ Jesus.
But I don't want you to miss theimportance of Christ's
(25:14):
sacrifice on the cross.
I think sometimes we can be soremoved from the crucifixion it
happened over 2,000 years agothat we forget how serious of a
matter sin is.
That's something the people ofIsrael were intimately aware of,
because every time they sinnedthey had to take one of their
lambs or their goats.
They had to take it to thepriest and watch that lamb die
(25:35):
in their place.
Yes, I don't know about you,but if you were a little boy or
girl and you grew up playingwith a lamb and then one day
your parents said let's takethat lamb to the temple and you
had to watch that lamb die,you'd have a pretty good
understanding of how serious sinis.
And sin is still serious, butfor you and I.
It is Christ, jesus and Hisblood that was so powerful that
(25:58):
it negated any need for furthersacrifice, because he paid it
all.
But how dare we use the bloodof Jesus to continue to sin?
How dare we use the name ofJesus to continue in our sinful
life?
Paul says living means livingfor Christ and please hear me, I
think there's a big differencebetween living for Christ and
(26:20):
living for yourself in the nameof Christ.
Why, why does Christ get allthe glory?
Why must we live for Him?
Because the Bible says in 1Peter 1.18, for you know that
God paid a ransom to save youfrom the emptied life you
inherited from your ancestors.
Please hear that that's thelife you have apart from
(26:43):
ancestors.
Please hear that that's thelife you have apart from Christ.
It's empty.
It is empty and, yes, you canfill it with whatever you want,
and many people use manydifferent things and many
different vices to fill theirlife, but what they're missing
is Christ, because their life isempty without Him.
And if you want to remain inthat empty life, then you can go
(27:04):
through your whole life tryingto find purpose, trying to find
meaning.
But I promise you, no matterwhat you do with your life apart
from Christ.
The only inheritance, the onlylegacy you can hope to leave is
a hole in the ground, and Christsaw our empty life.
And what did he do?
What did God do with that?
(27:25):
He says God saved you thesecond half of 1 Peter 1.18, and
the ransom he paid was not meregold or silver.
This word mere it quiteliterally means common or
ordinary, not mere gold orsilver.
I don't know about you, butI've never treated gold or
(27:46):
silver as mere.
I'm always like what Gold orsilver?
But there is not enough gold orsilver on this entire earth to
pay for your sins.
And so it was not mere gold orsilver.
It was the precious blood ofChrist, the sinless, spotless
Lamb of God.
(28:06):
It says God chose him as yourransom long before the world
began, but he has revealed himnow to you in these last days.
Long before the world began,when God confronted Satan in the
garden for the terrible sinthat had just happened, god told
him I will put enmity betweenyou and the woman and between
(28:29):
your seed and her seed.
And he tells Satan that one daythe seed of the woman would
come to crush his head and,though Satan could crush his
heel that the seed of the womanwould be his death blow.
That seed of the woman wasrevealed to be Christ Jesus,
born of a virgin, born without asinful nature, born to be the
spotless lamb of God.
(28:50):
And in verse 21, it saysthrough Christ you have come to
trust in God and you have placedyour faith and hope in God,
because he's raised Christ fromthe dead and has given him great
victory.
So Christ then becomes the keyto having a relationship with
(29:11):
God, the Father.
Christ then becomes the key tohaving a relationship with God,
because it is through Christ wehave come to trust God.
It is through God sending Christto earth, it is through the
ministry of Christ that we getto see the love of God and we
get to see how precious Godloves us, as my Bible says, as
our Bible says, for God so lovedthe world, he gave us his one
(29:34):
and only begotten son Verse 22,.
You were cleansed from yoursins when you obeyed the truth.
So now you must show sincerelove to each other as brothers
and sisters.
Love each other deeply with allyour heart, for you have been
(29:54):
born again, but not to a lifethat will quickly end.
Your new life will last foreverbecause it comes from the
eternal living God.
As Scripture says, people arelike grass, their beauty is like
a flower in the field the grasswithers, the flowers fade, but
(30:14):
the Word of the Lord remainsforever.
So the new life that we inheritin Christ is not one that is
temporary, but one that iseternal, is not one that passes
away, but one that will live oninto eternity.
And it says and the word is thegood news that we preach to you
(30:35):
, the good news of thescriptures, the good news of the
gospel.
That's what gospel means, goodnews.
So then, what is your responsein light of this?
Well, the Bible tells us thattoo, in 1 Peter 2.1.
So get rid of all evil behavior, be done with deceit, hypocrisy
(30:56):
, jealousy and all unkind speech, and, like newborn babies, you
must crave the spiritual milk sothat you will grow into the
full expression of salvation.
Cry out for nourishment nowthat you have heard, or now that
you've had a taste of theLord's goodness.
The Bible tells us that sinbecomes a trap for us.
(31:21):
He who sins becomes a slave us.
That sin becomes a trap for us.
He who sins becomes a slave tothat sin.
But whom the Son sets free isfree.
Indeed, christ on the cross wasseparated from God by his sins
in order to bring us and toreconcile us into the presence
(31:42):
of God.
As Jesus talks of the shepherdwho leaves the 99 to find the
one, jesus left the eternity ofheaven, the glory of heaven, to
reconcile us, his lost sheep, tobring us back in to his
heavenly home.
And just as God raised Christfrom the dead, the Bible tells
(32:02):
us that one day the Lord willreturn to bring us all home with
Him.
Jesus died, yes, in shame, hedied in sin, but he was risen in
victory.
He was reconciled to God andnow reconciles all of us to God.
(32:23):
But I earnestly, earnestly begyou, don't use the sacrifice of
Christ to continue in your oldway of living.
I want to just read to you onelast part in Matthew 27.
I want to just read to you onelast part in Matthew 27.
(32:47):
Matthew 27, verse 54.
The Roman officer and the othersoldiers at the crucifixion were
terrified by the earthquake andall that had happened, and they
said truly, this man was theson of God.
(33:09):
And many women who had comefrom Galilee with Jesus to care
for him were watching from adistance.
Among them were Mary Magdalene,mary the mother of James and
Joseph, and the mother of Jamesand John, sons of Zebedee.
I love verse 54.
This Roman centurion, thisRoman officer.
(33:31):
How many men had he watched die?
How many men had he executedhimself?
How many men had he watchedbeaten and never blinked an eye?
Roman officers, roman soldiers,were often just convicts
serving out their sentence inthe military rather than the
(33:52):
prisons.
What kind of terrible deeds didthis officer do?
And yet the centurion and theothers, upon seeing the death of
Christ on the cross, were somoved that they declared truly,
this man was truly the Son ofGod.
This becomes a profoundstatement of who Christ Jesus is
(34:16):
, that even those who wereenemies of the cross, those who
were enemies of Christ, findthemselves bowing their knees,
find themselves declaring thatthis was the Son of God, the Son
of God who died in your place,who died in my place, that we
might be reconciled to theFather.
(34:39):
So, as Lent continues and as weget all the way ready for this
resurrection Sunday, thisresurrection celebration, I pray
that you have an anticipationof meeting this resurrected Lord
.
I pray that your hearts areready for this resurrected Lord.
That's the whole purpose ofLent to prepare your hearts for
the resurrection, because Ipromise you, one day, soon,
(35:00):
we're going to see thisresurrected Lord.
I think you look at the signsof the time.
I don't know how much longer wehave, but I promise you it's
not going to be too much longerand I pray that each and every
one of you have an excitementupon meeting Jesus and each and
every one of you have gratefulhearts because of his sacrifice
(35:22):
on the cross, and I pray thatthose grateful hearts will
encourage you, will prompt youto testify.
This lost world needs ChristBoy.
There are so many problems inthis world today, but guess what
?
Jesus is the solution for allof them.
And I'm sure each and every oneof you knows somebody who
(35:43):
doesn't know the Lord.
Maybe they're your family, yourfriends, somebody you worked
with, somebody just in your area.
When is the last time you'vegiven them the gospel message?
When's the last time you'vetold them about Christ?
You know, just like Christmas,easter is often a celebration
that's not just celebrated amongChristian homes, it is often
even the unsaved.
Just like Christmas, easter isoften a celebration that's not
just celebrated among Christianhomes, it is often even the
(36:04):
unsaved, the unbelievers.
They still have Easter dinneror Easter celebrations, or at
least Easter icons.
What a wonderful time to showthem the true meaning of this
season.
What a wonderful time towitness to them, and I pray that
you don't miss opportunities togive them this gospel message.
(36:26):
Bow your heads with me, heavenlyFather.
Lord, god, what did we do todeserve your great love for us?
Truly, lord, the answer isabsolutely nothing.
In fact, all of our lifepointed to the contrary.
(36:46):
Lord, we weren't seeking you,you were seeking us.
We weren't desiring anythingmore from you, but you wanted
more from us.
Lord, you chose, you chose usChose to punish your perfect Son
in our place.
(37:10):
Father, it is through Christthat we are reconciled and I
pray, lord, that each and everyone of us has the confidence,
the boldness, to now come beforeyour throne in the name of
Jesus, knowing that our sins areforgiven, that our sins are
completely wiped away, that,lord, that you have moved them
as far as the east is from thewest, that you have forgotten
(37:32):
them.
Father, the blood of Jesus is sopowerful that it completely
eradicates our sins from thefabric of the universe that you
can't even find them.
So, father, I pray for twothings this season.
I pray that we would all havean acute awareness of that
(37:53):
forgiveness.
And, father, I know for many ofus and that means we have to
forgive ourselves, and I praythat we would do that.
Number two, father, I pray forthe lost, for those who don't
know you, for those in our ownhomes or our own circles of
influence, and, father, if wehave missed opportunities, I
pray you forgive us for them.
(38:14):
But I pray that you wouldencourage our witness that there
would be no more missedopportunities.
Be no more missed opportunities, lord.
I pray that each and every oneof us knows you and loves you
and serves you with each andevery breath that we have.
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