WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.439 Chapter 27. 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:08.080 As we continue on through this first gospel of our Christian New Testaments. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:16.960 If you're using the Pew Bible, you can find that on page 885, Matthew chapter 27. 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:26.640 We'll be looking this morning at verses 45 to 56. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:31.839 Matthew 27, 45 through 56. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:33.280 This is God's word. 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:39.840 From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over the whole land. 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:52.000 About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloy, Eloi, Lama Sabakhthani, that is, my God, my God, why have you abandoned me? 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:58.560 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, He's calling for Elijah. 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:06.239 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and offered him a drink. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:10.560 But the rest said, Let's see if Elijah comes to save him. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:16.319 But Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:22.239 Suddenly the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:25.760 The earth quaked, and the rocks were split. 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:37.200 The tombs were also opened, and many of the bodies who had fallen asleep were raised, and they came out of the tombs after his resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:50.239 When the centurion and those with him who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, Truly this man was the Son of God. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:56.879 Many women who had followed Jesus from Galilee and looked after him were there, watching from a distance. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:04.000 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's sons. 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:06.640 Let's pray again. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:17.840 Father, we're asking for you to help us today to be trusting in the work of Jesus Christ, a work that we need. 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:30.479 We see the weight of our own disobedient inclinations, the thoughts and attitudes of our heart that rightly calls out judgment. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:36.319 And yet we see the beauty of mercy, the beauty of substitute and the sacrifice of another. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:53.120 So we pray that as we even consider this passage this morning, you would help us to take confidence to know that though there is death in the world and death in some ways still at work in us, yet our Christ has accomplished all that's necessary to defeat death. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:03:00.080 That indeed it was finished upon that cross, that we have this assurance through Scripture. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:02.319 We pray these things in Jesus' name. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:03.199 Amen. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:15.039 In 1648, John Owen, he's a Puritan pastor, published a book called The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:16.960 Let me, did you catch that title? 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:21.439 The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:23.520 This is how he begins. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:36.879 He's got a note to the reader, and he says, If you are as many in this pretending age, a title gazer, and you come into books as Cato into the theater to go out again, you have had your entertainment. 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:38.000 Farewell. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:42.639 He wasn't really someone who was trying to pump up his sales and flatter the public. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:48.719 But as he gets actually into the substance of the book, he opens with a couple of questions. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:52.319 Why did the father send the son into the world? 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:57.439 And what did the son of God actually accomplish when he came into the world? 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:01.599 And then he surveys a number of passages right at the beginning of the book. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:12.319 And the summary we could say from that survey, one way to summarize it would be to say that the father sent the son into the world to put death to death. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:20.399 And that what Jesus actually accomplished when he came into the world was to put death to death. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:23.759 Now, it's he's not the easiest person to read. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:34.240 But why do I start there? 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:41.519 Well, I start there because the title of the sermon today is Putting Death to Death. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:47.680 So if that title sounds a little bit familiar, I'm telling you, it's it's an illusion there. 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:50.000 Don't accuse me of plagiarism. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:57.519 But even more important, much more important than John Owen warrant, we have biblical warrant. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:04.959 2 Timothy chapter 1 tells us that God saved us and called us to a holy calling. 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:19.519 Not because of our own works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which has now been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:22.399 So it's right there in Scripture. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:24.560 This is what Jesus came to do. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:26.720 This is what he did. 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:37.680 I also mentioned that book by John Owen because of the way he starts it with if you're just a title gazer and you're not ready to apply your mind, yeah, find something else. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:47.439 Sometimes when we come to familiar portions of scripture, we don't really come ready to engage our whole heart and soul and strength and mind as God's people. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:50.720 But these are some familiar words for those of us who know the Lord. 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:56.480 Come ready to listen today, come ready to hear the details of this passage and all that it tells us. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:03.120 And most importantly, it's not a topical sermon, obviously, on John Owen or any book that he wrote. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:05.920 It's a sermon on this passage in Matthew. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:17.439 And if you look at verse number 50, right at the heart of our passage, it says that Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:19.839 Jesus died. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:22.879 It's right there at the heart of this passage. 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:27.920 But what's the significance of his death? 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:36.639 I'm gonna argue this morning that Jesus put death to death. 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:39.759 That's the big argument. 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:43.839 And there's a lot of clues that will point us in that direction. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:53.439 So if we're willing to accept that argument that Jesus put death to death, then that demands a response from us. 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:55.920 And we'll come to that response at the end. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:00.879 Jesus put death to death. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:03.439 Here's the first step of the argument. 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:08.240 First step is this Jesus truly experienced death. 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:10.079 Now we just saw that in verse 50. 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:11.519 You can look at that again. 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:13.600 Jesus gave up his spirit. 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:16.160 So he didn't just talk at death from a distance. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:18.079 He didn't speak about death. 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:22.319 He didn't come to do kind of cosmic battle back and forth with death. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:22.959 It is true. 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:27.439 Hebrews tells us he came to destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil. 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:29.519 So there is battle going on there. 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:40.319 But he entered into the deepest and darkest human experience, an experience that we're all going to have to go through one day. 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:42.000 And he died. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:59.439 He wasn't caught off guard or taken by surprise. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:06.480 As he himself said, I lay my life down, I take it up again, no one can take it from me. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:13.360 So even in this very act of death, Jesus was active in giving himself over to the Father. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:19.839 You hear in the book of Acts, Stephen will say when he's being stoned, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:21.040 It's a prayer. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:28.079 It doesn't say that Stephen gave up his spirit, the way that Jesus did that right here. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:36.240 And the gospel writers all record this testimony because they want us to know that Jesus is accomplishing something in his death. 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:49.919 And the reason why he has authority, even in this moment of very human weakness and staggering suffering, he's still in control because he's not merely a human being. 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:51.600 He's God of gods. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:09:01.679 The creed that we recited this morning rehearsed that truth, that he's indeed begotten and God of gods from eternity past. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:11.759 And if it's true that Jesus is God, we're already entering very deep and mysterious waters. 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:16.080 First Timothy six. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:25.679 God is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, who alone is immortal. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:28.399 God cannot die. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:31.759 That's part of what it means to be God. 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:41.919 So when we say Jesus is truly God, but he died, how can we fit that together? 00:09:42.399 --> 00:09:44.559 This is already a lot of mystery here. 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:52.879 But remember that though Jesus was truly God from eternity past, he's also truly human. 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:59.360 This is a marvelous thing that he experienced death through his human nature. 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:03.200 We sing a song called An Can It Be. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:12.879 There's a verse of that song, it's not in our hymn book, but there's a verse that begins this way Tis mystery all, the immortal dies. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:17.440 Who can explore his strange design? 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:30.960 Now, even to be able to say that the son experienced death through his human nature, that's still so harrowing and humbling. 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:32.559 Why would he do that? 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:36.159 He did it for us. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:41.679 It wasn't a parlor trick to show his ability to have two natures and one person. 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:47.039 He came for us and for our salvation to live and to die. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:50.559 And that brings us to the next step of the argument. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:52.720 So Jesus put death to death. 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:58.559 He did that by experiencing death, truly experiencing death. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:02.879 And in that experience of death, he bore the judgment of God. 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:06.720 He actually bore the judgment of God. 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:11.279 We know this is true from what the whole Bible says, but where do I get that from our passage here in Matthew? 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:12.799 Well, there are a number of clues. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:14.879 So I go back to what I said at the beginning. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:24.960 Keep our minds engaged with all the clues that Matthew gives us to show us through this narrative that when Jesus dies, he's bearing the judgment of God. 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:27.840 First, just the very fact that he died. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:31.360 Now I'm repeating myself, but why do people die at all? 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:33.440 Why did Adam and Eve die in the beginning? 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:37.759 Because they had sinned and the judgment of God was coming on them. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:39.600 Why did people die in the flood? 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:41.200 God was giving his judgment. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:46.320 So the very existence of death in the world at all is a sign of God's judgment. 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:50.240 Romans 6 23 says, the wages of sin is death. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:54.080 And the Lord rightly pays out those wages. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:56.399 But there's another clue here. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:05.200 The second clue that Jesus was bearing the judgment of God in his death is that it says darkness came over the whole land. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:06.320 Verse 45. 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:14.639 Interesting detail, kind of ominous. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:17.039 Yes, but it's more than that. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:20.879 Exodus chapter 10 records this. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:31.840 Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:42.399 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:58.080 God brought darkness over the whole land of Egypt, way back in the Old Testament, as one of the plagues that was a sign of judgment against the Egyptians. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:09.519 There was darkness over the whole land of Egypt, and now there's darkness over the whole land of Israel, because God is bringing judgment. 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:14.080 Israel is just as sinful as Egypt. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:21.279 And just as Egypt and just as Israel, we too deserve the darkness of judgment. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:26.320 Amos chapter 8, verses 9 and 10. 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:32.320 In that day, this is the declaration of the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon. 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:34.879 What did we just read about in Matthew? 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:36.960 It goes dark at noon. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:39.759 I will darken the land in the daytime. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.399 I will turn your feasts into mourning, Amos says, all your songs into lamentation. 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:48.000 I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:55.600 I will make that grief like mourning for an only son, and its outcome like a bitter day. 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:06.799 Amos takes the events of the plagues in Egypt, the darkness and the death of the firstborn son, and he says, that's a pattern. 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:09.200 It's a pattern, it's going to happen again. 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:20.720 And we see it right here in the crucifixion that there's darkness and the death, not this time the death of Egyptians' firstborn or even Israel's firstborn, the death of God's firstborn son. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:25.759 A third clue Jesus is offered sour wine. 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:34.240 Verse 48, immediately one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and offered him a drink. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:42.879 This seems like it's one of the more compassionate, small compassionate acts amidst the crucifixion. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:46.639 It seems like someone's trying to help dull the pain. 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:47.200 Right? 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:54.399 Like when you watch an old western and the cowboy takes a quick swig of whiskey before he cuts the bullet out of his own leg with his pocket knife. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:56.799 Seems like that's what's going on here. 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:02.159 But listen to Psalm 75, verse 8. 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:12.159 There is a cup in the Lord's hand, full of wine blended with spices, and he pours from it all the wicked of the earth will drink, drain it to the dregs. 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:24.480 Revelation 14, 10 says that those who worship the beast will drink the wine of his wrath, which is poured full strength into the cup of his anger. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:30.639 Why is Jesus offered this sour wine? 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:33.840 There's judgment imagery here. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:37.279 Fourth clue. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:51.039 Isaiah 29, verses 5 and 6. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:56.399 Your many foes will be like fine dust, and many of the ruthless like blowing chaff. 00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:06.720 Then suddenly, in an instant, you will be punished by the Lord of armies with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise. 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:08.080 Jeremiah 10, 10. 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:11.279 But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God and eternal king. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:16.879 The earth quakes at his wrath, and the nations cannot endure his fury. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:33.039 So I'm not saying that every single time there's an earthquake, God is specifically judging someone, or that every single time the sky gets dark, God is specifically judging someone, or that every time you have a glass of wine, God is specifically judging. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:57.600 But what I am saying is here, Matthew, under God's inspiration, is giving us all these narrative details, things that actually happened, but he's recording the details that happened in light of the scriptures that have come before it and connecting it in with other scriptures to show us that in the event of the crucifixion, when Jesus experiences death, he's bearing the judgment of God. 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:00.960 God is pouring out his wrath on the Son. 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:08.319 And that leads us to the most important and most clear clue of that. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:12.319 Jesus cries out that he's abandoned by God. 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:15.599 Verse 46. 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:25.839 And Matthew records it and then even translates it into Greek for his listeners. 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:37.359 But this dramatic cry, Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabacthani, and then Matthew makes clear that he's saying, My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:41.759 Some of your translations use the word forsaken. 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:46.400 This is more than a cry of loneliness. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:53.440 This is not Jesus came to earth like you know, you go to summer camp and he's just missing his heavenly home. 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:55.119 It's not that at all. 00:17:55.680 --> 00:18:01.359 He's experiencing the very weight of God's wrath, and that's why he cries out. 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:06.079 And it's the physical pain, but it's much more than just the physical pain. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:11.359 You see this here in the way that he doesn't cry out, my hands or my wrists or my head. 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:13.680 He cries out, my God, my God. 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:23.839 This is the same Jesus who said in Matthew 11 27, All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:32.480 No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son. 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:37.359 In John 10 30, Jesus says, I and my father are one. 00:18:38.960 --> 00:19:03.839 Can you can you just even imagine from all eternity a personal relationship that is pure and whole and seamless and unbroken, absolute mutuality and love, experienced not just for the seasons of our human lives with parents or spouses or children, but forever. 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:07.680 And now he he cries out in anguish. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:11.839 What must that have been like for our Lord? 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:12.880 We we can't imagine. 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:16.400 Again, these are waters that are too deep for us. 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:26.000 It's a mystery still that the Son, who's one with the Father, can speak of being abandoned. 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:37.920 Now, Jesus didn't himself deserve judgment, but he was wounded for our transgressions. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:40.799 He was crushed for our iniquities. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:43.279 It pleased the Father to bruise him. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:50.559 The punishment that brought peace was on him, and it's with his stripes that were healed, friends. 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:52.559 This is for his people. 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:57.920 And that brings us to the next step of this argument. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:02.319 Before we turn to our response, Jesus put death to death. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:14.799 But then he also secured the covenant blessings of salvation. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:24.000 So, friends, listen, this is much more than just salvation from, this is salvation to. 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:28.720 This is more than just salvation from the wrath of God. 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:32.880 This is salvation to the covenant blessings. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:38.000 We get to enjoy a relationship with God. 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:46.400 We're not just spared from his judgment, we can actually call him our father, just as Jesus called him our father. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:51.440 And we see a couple of clues for that as well here in the passage. 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:54.480 First, look at verse 51. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:04.480 It says, suddenly the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:06.480 Now, wait a minute. 00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:11.599 The crucifixion is out on a hill on Golgotha. 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:14.960 Where did a sanctuary and a curtain come from? 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:24.400 Matthew is telling us, as the narrator, inspired by God, he tells us about what's going on somewhere else. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:31.039 It's like a movie where the action's going on, and then all of a sudden it flashes to something that happens in a different location. 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:38.799 He's telling us about what's going on in the sanctuary or the temple, as some of your translations have. 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:44.000 This is the temple in Jerusalem, a temple that God had first established, it had been rebuilt. 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:55.279 And that temple had a curtain that separated off the most holy place, the holy of holies. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:59.759 This is where the Ark of the Covenant is stored, the throne room. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:02.400 Of God, God's very presence. 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:08.079 But only the high priest could go in that room once a year. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:12.960 He goes in on the Day of Atonement to offer a sacrifice. 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:27.200 That temple, that room, that curtain, that high priest, they were operating according to the pattern of the old covenant. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:30.240 The covenant God had established. 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:38.319 But that's why I say that Jesus secured covenant blessings because he came to inaugurate a new covenant in his blood. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:44.480 And as the curtain is torn in two, it's the end of the old covenant because the new is here. 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:54.640 And we see very clearly it has to be the work of God because the text tells us it's torn in two from top to bottom. 00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:58.960 Don't think of like a shower curtain in your bathroom. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:04.240 This was a curtain that was 60 feet high, seven inches thick. 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:13.680 For it to be, this fabric to be torn in two from top to bottom, it's clearly God's testimony that it's his activity that's taking place here. 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:27.359 So at the very same time that God is pouring out judgment on his son, he's affirming the reality and success of the son's work in establishing this new covenant. 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:34.400 And now it's not the high priest that can go in once a year, the curtain's open for all who come through Jesus Christ. 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:35.519 That's you and me. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:39.519 If we come turning from our sins, trusting in Christ, we have access to the Father. 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:47.200 What privileges and blessings are ours through Christ? 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:48.880 It's amazing. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:55.359 There's another clue here that Jesus secured those covenant blessings of salvation. 00:23:55.759 --> 00:24:03.279 There's many more that you'll have to read the whole Bible to see all the covenant blessings that are secured, but just access to God is right here that I point out. 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:06.640 There's another clue, verses 52 and 53. 00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:08.240 Let's look at those again. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:13.680 The tombs were also opened, and then Matthew gives us this detail, interestingly. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:23.759 Many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and they came out of the tombs after his resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many. 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:29.200 When's the last time you heard those two verses for a Good Friday sermon? 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:34.000 We've heard the cry, Why have you forsaken me? 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:36.319 We've heard the curtain torn in two. 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:39.440 Don't usually get those verses for the Good Friday sermon. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:41.839 Now, those verses bring up some questions. 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:43.200 I can't answer all those questions. 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:44.400 Who were these saints? 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:45.599 How many were they? 00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:50.480 Like after they got resurrected, they have to die again, or they just get to go to heaven like Elijah did. 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:51.759 I don't know. 00:24:53.039 --> 00:25:00.799 But Matthew records this event because it shows us that death has been defeated. 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:06.160 That when Jesus died, death's not going to have the last word. 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:08.720 The saints are coming to life. 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:11.680 And what's true of Jesus is true of his people. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:13.279 He's the first fruits. 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:16.240 And what's true of those saints will be true of us. 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:28.880 Now we'll come in a couple of weeks here to Christ's own resurrection, but just note now for the present time that the covenant blessings of resurrection life have been secured through the death of Christ. 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:33.440 And it's stamped with the certainty of these saints' resurrection. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:37.839 Death can't hold them once Christ Himself has died and defeated death. 00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:44.720 Christ through this work, he didn't do a little bit. 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:48.160 He didn't try to help us along. 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:52.400 No, the Lord was successful in all of his work. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:01.279 And that brings us finally to our response. 00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:05.920 So Jesus put death to death. 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:08.160 He did that in his experience of death. 00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:11.359 He did that by burying the judgment of God as he died. 00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:16.559 He secured the covenant blessings of access to God and resurrection life. 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:18.960 What's our response to that? 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:21.200 First response should be awe. 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:22.880 Look at verse 54. 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:35.680 When the centurion and those with him who were keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, Truly this man was the Son of God. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:44.400 We sometimes see those images of Jesus hanging on a cross, and it evokes pity. 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:47.680 And that's an appropriate response. 00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:51.359 Jesus was cruelly and wrongly killed. 00:26:52.480 --> 00:27:01.279 But pity does not capture the entirety of what is going on in this momentous event. 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:12.400 You could translate the verse this way these soldiers were filled with fear extremely. 00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:18.160 Holy terror is not something to avoid. 00:27:20.160 --> 00:27:25.279 We live in a world that just always wants to make everything light. 00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:34.960 Holy terror is not something to avoid, especially when we come to an event that has eternal and momentous weight like this event. 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:37.519 We should embrace holy terror and awe. 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:44.720 Come behold the wondrous mystery, slain by death, the God of life. 00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:46.960 Stop and stand in awe. 00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:51.759 Another response should be a response of trust. 00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:55.440 You don't see this, I'll admit, explicitly in this passage. 00:27:55.599 --> 00:28:00.960 We don't know for certain the centurion, these soldiers, did they have a true heart faith that recognized the Messiah? 00:28:01.119 --> 00:28:02.240 Perhaps they did. 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:11.920 But in light of all that we've seen in the passage about the reality of what Christ accomplished, how can we not trust him? 00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:17.119 Trusting him means that we turn from our sins. 00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:20.319 We see the horror of what sin did to Christ. 00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:24.000 We see the horror of what sin did in our own lives. 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:31.599 Isaiah that we'll come to after Matthew, and we're going to be looking at tonight, Isaiah will talk much about the horror that sin brings. 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:36.000 So turn and trust. 00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:44.559 Trust means that we take what's revealed in Scripture and we lean into it. 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:48.319 And some of you might be saying, Well, wait a minute, Micah. 00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:52.640 You're saying that Jesus put death to death. 00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:57.039 That's a nice story, but I don't see it. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:00.319 I see death all around. 00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:02.799 I see death in the world. 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:08.160 That's not the end of the story. 00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:12.480 The eyes of faith seize hold of what happens here. 00:29:12.559 --> 00:29:14.400 And it's not a blind faith. 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:26.240 We'll talk about Christ's resurrection as witnesses of the resurrection, but faith seizes hold of God's word above the limitations of our own experiences. 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:35.599 And just as there is a delay, Christ's death and resurrection, Christ's death, the resurrection of these saints, our resurrection, it has to be worked out over time. 00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:40.480 But in God's plan, all that was necessary to defeat death has been accomplished. 00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:48.480 And trust grabs hold of God's word and says, Yes, I want that more than what I see with my own eyes. 00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:57.279 Sometimes as we get older, we see the effects of death in our bodies. 00:29:57.440 --> 00:29:59.200 And we're just, we're just discouraged. 00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:04.559 Say, well, I know, I know death is defeated, but I just don't feel it right now. 00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:07.599 I feel like I didn't sleep last night and I want to go sleep right now. 00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:13.920 Be encouraged that our bodies will pass through death. 00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:22.960 And no matter what difficulties we're experiencing in our bodies, as one of our former pastors said, it's nothing a good resurrection won't fix. 00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:34.400 Trust, friends, that the work is complete, that you have access to God, you can go in and pray to God through Jesus Christ. 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:36.559 You can be saved and find forgiveness. 00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:42.799 The weight of that judgment that you feel in your own souls, that can be gone because of what Jesus did. 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:44.799 You don't need another mediator. 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:46.559 Trust in Christ alone. 00:30:49.440 --> 00:31:03.599 If you think, well, I need a parent or a priest or a pastor or a politician, or if you think you need someone else to give you the good life or get you to God, that's that's the opposite of trust. 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:10.480 Trust grabs hold of the reality of Jesus, the crucified one, who finished the work. 00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:12.640 Hebrews 8, 9, 12. 00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:21.920 He entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 00:31:22.240 --> 00:31:25.759 He didn't try to obtain eternal redemption, he obtained eternal redemption. 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:26.799 Trust in him. 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:31.680 We can't supplement the work of Jesus. 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:38.559 Sometimes we can even think of our own faith or repentance as a kind of supplement to the work of Christ. 00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:40.559 Like, yeah, he did a lot on the cross. 00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:43.680 And then, you know, I got my life in order and I prayed to him. 00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:50.880 And no, yes, God wants us to repent and trust in him, but it's not a supplement to the work of Jesus. 00:31:51.039 --> 00:31:52.000 He did it all. 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:54.720 And we embrace his full work. 00:31:56.240 --> 00:32:00.720 Venture on him, venture holy, let no other trust intrude. 00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:04.480 Final response this morning. 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:10.799 A response of awe and trust, and then a response of allegiance. 00:32:10.960 --> 00:32:12.480 Look at verse 55. 00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:21.119 Many women who had followed Jesus from Galilee looked after him there, watching from a distance. 00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:28.559 Don't take that watching from a distance as though they're about to abandon their faith. 00:32:28.799 --> 00:32:30.799 It's actually just the opposite. 00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:37.200 They have followed him consistently from Galilee, not an insignificant distance, and they've been ministering to him. 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:46.319 There's almost a contrast here between Peter, who watched the trial from a distance, but then he denied Christ. 00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:50.480 And these are going to remain as close as they can to Christ. 00:32:50.640 --> 00:32:54.400 These women who have served him, who have ministered to him. 00:32:55.680 --> 00:33:03.200 This is the Mary who anointed Jesus with perfume, who poured it all out for her Lord. 00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:12.480 These are women who are loyal to Christ because they stand in awe of who he is and they trust him. 00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:17.759 True allegiance stems from awe-inspired trust. 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:36.480 And this is where I want to encourage all of us today, for those that know the Lord, if we're trusting in the Lord, we can minister to the Lord by simply being faithful to Him. 00:33:37.039 --> 00:33:39.359 These women are ordinary women. 00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:07.519 God loves that. 00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:08.960 The Lord embraces that. 00:34:09.119 --> 00:34:10.159 Keep trusting Him. 00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:12.960 Don't say, Well, I can't do as much as I used to be able to do. 00:34:13.440 --> 00:34:14.719 But you're still here. 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:17.519 You're still following the Savior. 00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:20.719 And that's what we all need to encourage one another to do. 00:34:24.239 --> 00:34:27.280 Jesus put death to death. 00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:37.840 And we have to trust in him supremely, certainly beyond our own confidence or ability to even keep walking with him. 00:34:38.559 --> 00:34:47.280 He put death to death, that any terror of conscience that might be in our minds, take that to the cross of Christ. 00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:50.079 See here that judgment's been forever taken. 00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:56.639 Any lack of service you find in yourself, realize that Christ has covered it all through his blood. 00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:01.760 And so when we sing here in just a moment, sing with all of your heart. 00:35:01.840 --> 00:35:10.000 We're going to sing even words that echo this passage of curtain torn in two, dead are raised to life, finish the victory cry. 00:35:10.639 --> 00:35:17.199 All the work has been done, and it's left for us to trust and rejoice in our Savior. 00:35:17.360 --> 00:35:18.480 Let's pray. 00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:29.920 Lord, oh Lord, how we want to know more of Christ, how we want to worship Him more fully with our heart and soul and strength and mind. 00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:41.840 And thank you for weaving all the events of this passage together in such harmonious ways, sobering ways, gripping ways. 00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:45.920 Thank you that Jesus indeed put death to death. 00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:53.199 And so we pray that as we're singing, resurrection life would be at work in us, that we're a new creation in Jesus Christ. 00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:55.679 The old has passed and the new has come. 00:35:55.920 --> 00:35:59.760 And so we're singing as new creatures. 00:36:00.239 --> 00:36:10.800 We're looking back at the cross, but also walking forward in humble trust in this Savior who not only died but now lives and reigns. 00:36:11.280 --> 00:36:17.519 So, Lord, please, as we sing through your spirit, fill our hearts with worship, we pray, this Lord's day in Jesus' name. 00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:18.320 Amen.