WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.720 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:27.199 Please take your Bible with me to Matthew chapter 27. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:36.079 This is such a powerful text before us this morning, coming before the Lord Jesus at the cross. 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:38.799 I don't have any kind of fancy introduction. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:40.880 I'm just going to read the scriptures. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:48.799 Please take your Bible or your device and make your way to Matthew 27, beginning at verse 45. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:53.520 Been making our way through Matthew's gospel, and we are nearing the end. 00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:06.560 Matthew chapter 27, beginning in verse 45, Matthew recounts for us the last hours on the cross. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:14.400 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:23.120 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Ali, lama sabakhani. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:28.319 That is, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.480 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, This man is calling for Elijah. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:42.000 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:48.079 But the other said, Whoa, whoa, hold on, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:54.319 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. 00:01:54.879 --> 00:02:08.479 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, all the way from the top to the bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:20.879 The tombs also were opened, and many of the bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:34.319 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what had taken place, they were filled with awe and said, Truly, this was the Son of God. 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:50.159 I want you to go with me into the deepest, darkest hell that has ever been on this earth. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:56.960 I'm asking you to go there with me because that's where Matthew leads us. 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:05.759 Matthew leads us to that deepest, darkest hell on earth. 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:16.479 Because it's there that we find our Savior and with him the doorway to heaven and heaven's hope. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:23.360 I don't know that we could ask for a better tech to prepare ourselves to participate in the Lord's table together. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:31.120 And to do that, I want you to think with me about three characteristics of the Lord Jesus that we find in these verses. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:38.000 And once we do that, then we're going to see Matthew's defining takeaway. 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:46.960 So first, Matthew records three characteristics of the Lord Jesus, and the first characteristic is found in the darkness. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:57.280 What you need to know about this darkness is that the shepherd, the good shepherd of the sheep, entered that darkest valley to save his sheep. 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:06.560 Matthew tells us it's about noon, the sixth hour, in a way of reckoning of that day. 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:12.240 The day's brightest and most intense moment of light. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:17.839 But suddenly there is no light. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:31.360 The greater light created to rule the day had no light to give during the last three hours of its maker's substitutionary life as the second Adam. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:40.800 Now we're tempted to read something into the text that Matthew didn't make explicit. 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:49.920 Matthew doesn't tell us that the whole world was dark, but he says the entire land was dark. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:52.240 That's fair to ask. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:53.600 What does that mean? 00:04:55.040 --> 00:05:00.160 It's hard to tell when Matthew uses this phrase elsewhere in his book. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:03.279 It seems to always refer to the whole earth. 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:11.360 So is the whole earth covered in this strange darkness, or is it the land of Palestine? 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:12.560 Is it Jerusalem? 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:14.879 We don't really know for sure. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:18.720 It's challenging to be emphatic on all of the details of the darkness. 00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:21.120 Matthew merely describes the event. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:24.560 Darkness was over the land for three hours. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:27.680 And we're tempted to go beyond that. 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:33.439 And it's not wrong to wonder what this darkness means. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:38.560 But we're not given details to answer our questions conclusively. 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:44.079 But we're right to ask, what's up with the darkness? 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:48.720 It seems like somebody just turned off the lights. 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:55.839 Matthew and Mark are nearly identical in their presentation of this event. 00:05:56.399 --> 00:06:00.240 John, interestingly, doesn't mention the darkness at all. 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:06.399 But Luke says the sun's light failed. 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:08.000 It failed. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:09.839 Luke 23, 45. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:17.040 The light ceased for three hours because it failed to penetrate this strange darkness. 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:25.839 We're not told if the sun's nuclear fusions suddenly stopped happening. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:35.360 We're not told if there is an eclipse or if the cloud cover was so thick and heavy that the darkness was impenetrable. 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:36.800 We aren't told. 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:43.920 I think that there are two most likely options, though, for this darkness. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:51.759 One is that the darkness represents the abandonment of Jesus to the powers of this present darkness. 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:59.519 The other is that the darkness is the presence of God in judgment against our sin placed on Christ. 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:01.920 Think about those with me for a minute. 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:16.560 Let's take the first one that this darkness is the representation of the evil forces that God has allowed to influence our sin-cursed world and even the darkness of sin itself. 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:20.959 We see this all throughout the New Testament, even in the Gospels. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:28.720 Matthew chapter 4, verse 10 represents people dwelling in darkness without Christ. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:32.160 They live in the region of the shadow of death. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:46.000 Matthew chapter 8, also Matthew chapter 22, describe darkness as a place of terror and judgment, saying, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:58.399 To the religious leaders, Jesus said in Luke 22, 53, this is your hour, and then he describes that hour as, and the power of darkness. 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:07.279 John chapter 1, verse 5 says, People loved darkness rather than light because their works were evil. 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:19.279 That's why Jesus said in John 12, 35, Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:26.319 Again, in Acts 26, 18, darkness is equated with the power of Satan and the reign of sin. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:33.279 And so Romans 13, 12 says, Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:41.440 Because, Ephesians 5.8 says, For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:48.480 But perhaps the most familiar to most churchgoers is Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12. 00:08:50.320 --> 00:09:06.799 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:11.120 Maybe that's what's going on. 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:24.879 That for three hours the presence of evil was so intense and so prevalent that the light of the sun couldn't pierce through it. 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:34.559 On the other hand, several times in Scripture, darkness and the shaking of the earth are connected to God's presence. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:55.360 For example, perhaps the most clear demonstration of this is in Deuteronomy chapter 4 on Mount Sinai, where Moses records that Israel came near and stood at the foot of Mount Sinai, and while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. 00:09:57.039 --> 00:10:08.799 He says a chapter later in Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 11, that God spoke to all of the assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:17.759 So God's present there, wrapped in thick darkness that even seems to be felt in some way. 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:25.440 2 Samuel 22, 12, God made darkness around him, his canopy. 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:33.840 Solomon said at the dedication of the temple in 2 Samuel 22, 12. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:36.799 I'm sorry, 1 Kings 8, verse 12. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:42.639 The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:46.960 What do we make of that? 00:10:49.840 --> 00:11:03.600 Perhaps the being of God, because it says he is light, that the only way that his glorious presence does not destroy everything that is unholy is if he wraps himself in darkness. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:13.519 There is one more interesting passage, and that is Psalm 18, verse 9. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:20.240 It says, God bowed the heavens and came down. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:25.200 And thick darkness was under his feet. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:27.679 So which is it? 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:32.960 Is the darkness the forces of evil or the presence of God in judgment? 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:38.159 I can't say for sure. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:42.320 I take the route that it's the presence of God in judgment. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:50.159 We can say with certainty that there was supernatural darkness for three hours in the middle of the day. 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:59.039 And it was during that time that Jesus intensely felt as though the Father abandoned him. 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:09.120 And it's during that time that the Savior bore the awful weight of sin in those dark hours. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:14.159 He who knew no sin became sin for us. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:21.600 That's why the prophet Isaiah wrote that it was the will of the Lord to crush him. 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:47.679 During that time that his soul made an offering for guilt, and out of the anguish of his soul, he will see and be satisfied, because by his knowledge the righteous one, God's servant, would be accounted righteous, and so bring many to be accounted to be righteous because he would bear their iniquities. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:13:06.480 Now we can also say, friends, confidently, that this moment, these three hours of darkness, were the deepest, darkest valley that any human being has ever walked. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:16.720 No other valley of the shadow of death compares, for this was hell on earth. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:30.960 In a way that only divine thought can comprehend, the incarnate Son bore the full weight of God's wrath and the curse against sin for all who would believe in him. 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:37.919 For three hours he endured the darkness of hell that ought to have been our eternity. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:51.519 This was such hell that it's almost blasphemous for us to just casually or flippantly call our trials a kind of hell. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:59.600 Jesus was surrounded by outward darkness. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:15.440 And at the same time, he felt the inward darkness of eternal hell apart from the grace of God, and he endured that valley of deep darkness to save his sheep from that darkness of eternal wrath of a holy God. 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:21.840 Do you see his love for you in the midst of that darkness? 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:28.960 He endured that valley for you. 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:33.919 Because he first loved you. 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:44.000 The second characteristic of the Lord Jesus is heard in the first cry that Matthew recounts. 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:57.039 And it's there that we see the Son enduring the deepest abandonment known to man so that he would never abandon his own. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:07.360 Three hours of darkness brought the day to the time of the evening sacrifice, the ninth hour, Matthew calls it. 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:08.799 It's generally 3 p.m. 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:21.039 And Matthew recounts the Lord's words in a way that makes us see Jesus looking back at the three hours that he's just endured. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:33.840 He endured three seemingly eternal hours of hell, and with the sudden return of the sun's light, Jesus cries out, Ali, Ali, Lemma, Sabakhni. 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:41.360 That's the only time in Matthew's gospel that he records Jesus' words in Aramaic. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.960 So it seems significant. 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:54.080 But I regret to inform you that we may never figure out the intricacies of that cry, this side of heaven. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:58.879 Theologians have wrestled with that statement for millennia. 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:04.240 But I think there are still some truths that we can cling to. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:11.519 Whatever this means, we have to remember that the Trinity is inseparable. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:15.679 There are three persons and one God. 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:26.000 The three persons of the Godhead cannot be separated or pitted against one another without destroying the deity of the persons or the singularity of our God. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:38.559 That means Jesus did not cease to be God the Son during those three hours of darkness, nor did he cease to be human during those three cursed hours. 00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:41.279 He remained the God man. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:51.759 Somehow, as he bore our sin on that tree, the incarnate Son felt the abandonment expressed by the psalmist in Psalm 22. 00:16:53.600 --> 00:17:01.360 He never ceased to be God, and he never ceased to be an indivisible person in the Trinity. 00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:14.319 Yet he endured something so trying and so agonizing that the only words capable of expressing his anguish were the words of the psalmist. 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:17.759 Why have you forsaken me? 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:48.400 The most truthful, the truth, in human form, the most objective person to ever walk this ball of dirt knew, knew that he had experienced a temporary change in the divine relationship that was nearly inexplicable for God the Son. 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:52.960 Why? 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:59.519 Because the scriptures say he became a curse for us. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:10.480 That's not an aspect of deity. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:18.559 The incarnate Son had not known the wretched curse of God against sin. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:30.079 He, the purest of sons, had not experienced even in his humanity what it was to sin, much less to be sin. 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:41.359 In those hours, God the Son endured the deepest, darkest abandonment as he became sin for us. 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:52.319 But look at how, look at how he clung to the Father even in his distress. 00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:57.839 Listen carefully. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:01.200 The Good Shepherd. 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:13.200 The Good Shepherd can lead his sheep through the valley of deepest darkness because he knows what it is to trust the Father when it feels as though the Father is absent. 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:19.839 I can't express the sense here any better than F. 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:20.000 D. 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:21.039 Brunner. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:26.880 It's a lengthy quote, so bear with me. 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:32.720 He says, this cry looks like a cry of despair at first. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:39.200 Like a temporary loss of faith, as if Jesus and God were no longer close. 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:46.640 Yes, Jesus, right here, perhaps better than anywhere else, teaches us exactly what faith is at its deepest level. 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:50.799 It is believing God when we do not feel Him. 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:58.319 When Jesus asked God about God's absence, when Jesus prayed, My God, why did you abandon me? 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:02.880 Jesus may have taught faith better than any other story in the gospel. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:10.000 Real faith may be calling on God even when experience says God is not there. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:19.119 Jesus' last words before death teach us the gospel within the gospel. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:43.200 They tell us that Jesus took our abandonment, our questions, our feelings of betrayal, our most agonizing experience, and still believed in the God he could not feel and was surely tempted to disbelief. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:51.599 That's a shepherd you can follow through the deepest, darkest valleys of life. 00:20:55.279 --> 00:21:03.759 Now the perception around the cross that day was that Jesus was calling for Elijah. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:08.160 Elijah was sometimes referred to as Elias. 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:15.200 So you can understand how some might have understood Ali as being a call for Elijah. 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:28.480 But the perception is that Jesus is calling for Elijah because Jesus is only a messianic pretender who needed to call for Elijah. 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:36.720 Elijah was, we might say in today's world that he was kind of the Jewish patron saint of those who need help. 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:40.160 For lack of a better way of describing it. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:58.640 But if we put this in the context of all of Scripture, we see that this is just describing what God has always said. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:00.799 Let me give you a Couple of examples. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:03.119 First from Isaiah 50, verse 10. 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:08.000 Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:19.759 Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:25.359 That's what Jesus is doing. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:31.680 Then we see in Ezekiel 34, verse 12, a little bit different perspective. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:38.480 As the shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, by the way, where are the disciples? 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:40.720 Scattered. 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:46.640 The shepherd's been struck, and so the sheep have scattered. 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:57.039 As a shepherd who is among his sheep who've been scattered seeks them out, so I will seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on what day? 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:02.960 Interestingly, on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:28.640 On that day of thick darkness, Jesus walked the deepest of darkest of valleys, trusting in the Father's purpose and the Father's will, and the Father's care for him, so that everyone who trusts in him might know he is the good shepherd who can be followed and who has promised to never leave you and never forsake you. 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:42.799 So will you put your trust in him that even when you can't feel him and he doesn't seem present, that he is still faithful to his promise? 00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:51.039 There's a third characteristic of our Savior in his second cry. 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:58.480 And that second cry shows us that there was no restraining the Savior at the moment of salvation. 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:06.799 You know, good stories often have a critical moment where it seems like everything hangs in the balance. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:09.200 If it goes one way, then it's going to be terrible. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:12.640 If it goes the other way, then hallelujah, a great story. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:17.680 We're at that point in Matthew's biography of Jesus' life. 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:27.039 But it's not merely Jesus' life, but God's eternal plan that hangs in the balance. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:43.920 You know, if we don't know the story's end, if we haven't flipped the page yet and know that, oh, the tomb's going to be empty on Sunday, if we don't know that yet, if we don't know the end of the story, we might question if Jesus is indeed who he said he is. 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:46.880 He's on the cross. 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:48.000 He can't do anything. 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:51.759 Everybody's mocking him, saying, let him come down from the cross if he's the Christ. 00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:56.400 If God trusts him and loves him so much, let him come down from the cross. 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:04.000 If we don't know the end of the story, we might be tempted to think maybe he is just a pretender. 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:20.400 Doubt and fear can overwhelm us as we see the one we trust and love hanging there, as the passers-by hurl insults and the religious leaders insist on folks leaving him alone to see if Elijah does come to rescue him. 00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:24.559 Have you ever had doubts? 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:26.880 Be honest. 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:31.839 It's not wrong to have doubts. 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:35.920 It's not wrong to have questions flood your soul. 00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:42.559 But it's what matters, what matters is what you do with those doubts. 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:47.599 What's most important is what you do with those questions. 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:53.920 Remember that even Jesus felt forsaken and alone. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:26:04.880 There was such a distinction, some kind of rupture in what was normal in the Trinity, that Jesus felt that desperately. 00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:11.680 But when he felt abandoned and forsaken, he did not turn from the Father, but toward him. 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:13.200 My God. 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:14.640 My God. 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:22.640 We have from the other gospels that his final prayer was, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:27.920 Turning toward God when life doesn't make sense is an act of trust. 00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:31.119 And Jesus leads us in that example. 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:46.000 This is a critical truth for dealing with our internal strife when life doesn't go as expected, or when we're just struggling to understand why things are the way they are. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:52.319 Jesus shows us that he knows. 00:27:06.240 --> 00:27:12.160 But the echo of human distress makes it feel like everything's hanging in the balance. 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:26.880 Less than 24 hours earlier, Jesus was on his knees sweating blood, saying, Father, if there's any other way. 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:34.480 I know there can't be any other way, but just in case there is. 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:39.440 But in the end, I'm going to trust you no matter what. 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:48.559 Someone is compassionate at the cross and attempts to give Jesus a drink. 00:27:50.640 --> 00:28:00.799 However, it was sometimes thought that giving crucified victims a drink increased their torment by lengthening their suffering. 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:06.799 Everyone else shouts, leave him alone. 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:16.640 The word wait there means to leave, to leave off, to let him alone, to leave him there. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:17.680 Don't give him a drink. 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:18.640 Wait, wait, wait. 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:20.799 Let's see if Elijah does come. 00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:25.119 They're more interested in seeing Elijah. 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:27.920 And isn't that typical of our humanness? 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:40.160 Our hearts direct us away from him at those critical moments when truly seeing Jesus is the very best thing for us. 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:51.359 We become distracted by something insignificant in the eternal perspective instead of keeping our eyes on the author of our salvation. 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:57.519 The crowd does not see a savior hanging on a cross, but a condemned criminal. 00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:03.039 And so they insist on leaving Jesus alone in case Elijah comes to rescue him. 00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:05.440 Now that would be a sight to see. 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:22.799 And in an ironic twist of words, Matthew uses the idea of leaving, leave him alone to end this terrible scene suddenly. 00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:30.799 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:36.880 You know, crucifixion is a slow, agonizing death by asphyxiation. 00:29:40.799 --> 00:29:43.359 Just a big way of saying you can't breathe. 00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:48.960 Your body is sagging on the cross and it's putting pressure on your lungs. 00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:58.960 And so any energy that you have left in your arms and your legs is spent on lifting your body up to give room for your lungs to take in air. 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:04.559 And as your energy and your strength are depleted, so is your ability to push yourself up. 00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:08.000 And as you can't push yourself up, you can't get air and you can't breathe. 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:14.319 Suddenly Jesus yielded up his spirit. 00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:22.160 That word for yielded is the same word as leave or wait in verse 49. 00:30:24.079 --> 00:30:26.799 They wanted Jesus left alone. 00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:32.559 Instead, he left them alone by leaving his body. 00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:44.880 But in that play on words, Matthew shows us that Jesus is in complete control. 00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:51.920 He does not need Elijah, for Elijah needs the salvation that only Jesus can provide. 00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:56.559 He does not need Elijah, for Elijah needs Jesus' death. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:04.160 Crucifixion could last for days. 00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:06.720 Days. 00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:13.119 But Jesus can choose the exact moment of his death. 00:31:14.079 --> 00:31:26.480 And Matthew recounts that the moment when the darkness left and the light returned was the same moment when the atoning sacrifice for sin was made a short distance away in the temple. 00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:35.759 So we move then from the characteristics of the Savior to Matthew's single defining takeaway. 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:42.400 When Jesus dies, the world reverberates. 00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:45.119 And it does so. 00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:49.440 Because atonement is complete. 00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:55.599 Satisfaction, the sacrifice, has been made. 00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:08.160 There are times in the Bible when the grammar of the language in which Scripture was written makes a tremendous difference in understanding its meaning. 00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:18.640 So, for example, there's a place in Galatians where the Apostle Paul's argument hinges on whether or not a word from the Old Testament is singular or plural. 00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:31.119 The grammar of Matthew's account here in verses 51 to 53 is also critical for understanding what Matthew intends us to hear. 00:32:33.359 --> 00:32:42.000 There are seven, seven passive verbs, one right after another in these few sentences. 00:32:42.319 --> 00:32:48.480 That means that a verb's subject is not doing the action, but receiving the action. 00:32:48.559 --> 00:32:49.599 It's being done to them. 00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:51.039 They're being acted upon. 00:32:51.279 --> 00:32:58.480 And theologians call these divine passives because God is the implied person causing the action. 00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:07.680 So notice, beginning in verse 51, the temple curtain was torn all the way from top to bottom, ripped into. 00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:11.440 The earth was shaken. 00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:14.799 The rocks were split. 00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:18.079 The tombs were unsealed and opened. 00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:20.319 The bodies of the saints were raised. 00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:22.559 The raised saints came out of the tombs. 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:25.759 The raised saints, after going into the city, appeared to many. 00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:30.559 Friends, at Jesus' death, God acted on his creation. 00:33:33.359 --> 00:33:40.799 If you've ever had any doubts, any questions as to what's happening at the crucifixion, here's where Matthew tells you what's happening. 00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:59.599 A thick, woven curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the common people, separating God's presence in the Holy of Holies from unholy people, and that is suddenly ripped into by a divine hand. 00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:06.720 God shook the earth, causing the rocks to cry out. 00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:17.440 And it's reminiscent, at least, of just days earlier at the triumphal entry when they told Jesus, hey, calm down your followers so that the Romans don't think there's an uprising. 00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:19.039 And Jesus says, You don't understand. 00:34:19.199 --> 00:34:22.159 If these stay quiet, the rocks will cry out. 00:34:25.119 --> 00:34:28.000 When rocks break, it's like a gunshot. 00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:37.360 Imagine that sound going on all around you as Jesus yields his spirit. 00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:40.960 He broke death's seal. 00:34:42.559 --> 00:34:44.159 The tombs were opened. 00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:47.760 He applied redemption to saints from ages past. 00:34:49.119 --> 00:34:53.840 These are saints that are already dead, who now have redemption because Christ has died. 00:34:53.920 --> 00:34:56.239 Wouldn't it be amazing if one of those was Elijah? 00:34:57.360 --> 00:34:59.440 It'd just be fascinating. 00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:05.280 Yeah, Elijah's gonna come, but only after Jesus dies. 00:35:05.840 --> 00:35:07.599 Because redemption is applied. 00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:09.920 We see that by them being raised from the dead. 00:35:10.239 --> 00:35:16.960 He displays the first fruits of resurrection by causing other people to see and interact with those raised saints. 00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:34.880 And then, as if that's not enough, as if that's not enough, the Gentiles and Roman soldiers, no less, observed the glory of the sun. 00:35:36.800 --> 00:35:41.440 This is one of those little nuggets in Matthew's gospel that's just so precious. 00:35:41.599 --> 00:35:43.280 I wish we could spend time on. 00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:53.519 Verse 54 when the centurion and those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe. 00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:59.280 There's only one other time that that term occurs in Matthew's gospel. 00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:09.440 And that's when Peter, James, and John were up on top of the mountain and saw Jesus transfigured in all of his glory before them. 00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:21.280 Creation reverberated when the Father accepted the atoning sacrifice that day. 00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:26.320 And he made it unmistakable. 00:36:34.400 --> 00:36:37.679 And now the Savior is dead. 00:36:40.880 --> 00:36:48.239 But for those who believe, hope always springs eternal. 00:36:51.920 --> 00:37:00.880 Now and ever we confess Christ, our hope, in life and death. 00:37:01.679 --> 00:37:17.519 For the good shepherd is passing through the valley of deepest darkness, so that those who follow him will know he is a trustworthy shepherd who can safely take us through. 00:37:18.960 --> 00:37:24.800 The shepherd endured the valley of deepest darkness so that we might follow him in trust. 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:38.480 The Son of God endured the most agonizing abandonment so that we might never know that feeling and can always believe and trust that he will never leave us and never forsake us. 00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:50.239 And God the Son was in complete control of this hell on earth to open the door to heaven as the atoning sacrifice for everyone who believes in him. 00:37:53.119 --> 00:38:03.760 And when the centurion saw the glory of the crucified Son, it was as though the stamp is put on there and says, Amen. 00:38:04.480 --> 00:38:05.440 Let's pray together. 00:38:05.679 --> 00:38:10.639 Lord Jesus, may we see you high and lifted up upon the cross. 00:38:11.760 --> 00:38:25.519 And may we who are fallen creatures, weak and unable to do anything to rescue ourselves, may we look to you, the light of life. 00:38:28.159 --> 00:38:30.639 May our hope always be in you. 00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:37.280 May each one of us here this morning and even listening online, may our hope be put in you alone. 00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:53.440 Not because of anything that we've done or anything anybody else has done, but because of your sacrifice on the cross, bearing the weight of sin as the cursed one, so that the door of heaven might be open to we who believe. 00:38:58.480 --> 00:38:59.760 What a savior. 00:39:10.400 --> 00:39:17.280 Be pleased to receive it now as we sing together, expressing our hope and song. 00:39:17.920 --> 00:39:40.159 And as we receive the elements that remind us of your body and your blood, may you be present with us in a unique and wonderful way so that these truths might be embedded in our hearts and minds, so that when we leave this place, we might leave better and more firmly trusting our good shepherd. 00:39:41.360 --> 00:39:43.280 We ask this for your glory. 00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:44.639 Amen. 00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:50.559 That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church. 00:39:50.719 --> 00:39:57.599 Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus. 00:39:57.840 --> 00:40:01.920 You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.