His Crucifixion

And if you would open up your Bible to Matthew chapter 27,

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

we're going to be looking at the crucifixion account of Jesus and what preceded it.

Kind of alluded this to in my prayer, but

maybe some of you came in this morning and you, when it comes to salvation,

when it comes to Christ crucified, your thoughts are kind of like,

yeah, that happened, I'm so happy for it.

But really, it doesn't make that much of a difference in your life.

May God stir your heart this morning through His Word.

Maybe some of you are in here this morning and you are,

you've been trying to fight pride in your life.

You've been trying to live for others, or maybe you know you should be.

But really, it's been a hard, hard thing to die in you, this desire to live for yourself.

Well, this morning, we're going to see Jesus give Himself up.

And it is such an example of humility.

We're also going to see is what the Apostle Paul calls the matter of first importance.

That which makes a difference.

That which prioritizes, is in pole position in the life of a church.

This is first things.

That Christ was crucified.

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

And the main thing, when it comes to biblical Christianity,

can be summed up in two words.

Christ crucified.

And so this morning, I'm going to read Matthew chapter 27.

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

And we're going to start in verse 27.

And I'm going to read through verse 61.

And then we're going to walk through it.

There are six scenes here.

And we're going to walk through each scene.

And I'm going to make a point and then bring it to bear.

But let's just read God's Word together.

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters,

known as the Praetorium.

And they gathered the whole battalion before Him.

And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.

And twisting together a crown of thorns,

they put it on His head and put a reed in His right hand.

And kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying,

Hail, King of the Jews!

And they spit on Him and took the reed and struck Him on the head.

And when they had mocked Him,

they stripped Him of the robe and put His own clothes on Him

and led Him away to crucify Him.

As they went out, they found a man of serene, Simon by name.

They compelled this man to carry His cross.

And when they came to a place called Golgotha,

which means place of a skull,

they offered Him wine to drink mixed with gall.

But when He tasted it, He would not drink it.

And when they had crucified Him,

they divided His garments among them by casting lots.

Then they sat down and kept watch over Him there.

And over His head they put the charge against Him,

which read,

This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

Then two robbers were crucified with Him,

one on the right and one on the left.

And those who passed by derided Him,

wagging their heads and saying,

You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

Save yourself!

If you are the Son of God,

come down from the cross.

So also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked Him,

saying,

He saved others.

He cannot save Himself.

He's the King of Israel.

Let Him come down now from the cross,

and we will believe in Him.

He trusts in God.

Let God deliver Him now,

if He desires Him.

For He said,

I'm the Son of God.

And the robbers who were crucified with Him

also reviled Him in the same way.

Verse 45.

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness

over all the land until the ninth hour.

And about the ninth hour,

Jesus cried out with a loud voice,

saying,

Eli, Eli,

Leme Sabachthani.

That is,

My God, my God,

why have you forsaken me?

And some of the bystanders hearing it said,

This man is calling Elijah.

Elijah.

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.

But the other said,

Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice,

and yielded up His spirit.

And behold,

the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

And the earth shook,

and the rocks were split,

the tombs also were opened,

and many 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.

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,

and said,

Truly,

this was the Son of God.

There were also many women there,

looking from a distance,

who had followed Jesus from Galilee,

ministering to Him,

among whom were Mary Magdalene,

and Mary the mother of James and Joseph,

and this mother of the sons of Zebedee.

When it was evening,

there came a rich man from Arimathea,

named Joseph,

who also was a disciple of Jesus.

And he went to Pilate,

and asked for the body of Jesus.

Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.

And Joseph took the body,

wrapped it in a clean linen shroud,

and laid it in his own new tomb,

which he had cut in the rock.

And he rolled a great stone

to the entrance of the tomb,

and went away.

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there,

sitting opposite the tomb.

The main thing is to keep the main thing,

the main thing.

And here before us,

is the main thing.

Christ crucified.

So let's walk through these six scenes,

and let us see what God would have for us this morning.

Let's look at verses 27-31.

Jesus is mocked in the praetorium.

I'm not sure if you noticed this

when we read through it just moments ago,

but the way in which

these Roman soldiers were mocking Jesus.

Do you remember last week,

we talked about Jesus was before Pilate.

He was up on the charge of treason.

He's claiming to be a king.

Pilate tries to get him off.

He doesn't think he's guilty,

but the Jewish crowds are yelling,

crucify him, crucify him.

And Pilate washes his hands and says,

hey, this is your responsibility.

They say, his blood is on our heads.

And so Pilate gives in,

hands him over to the Roman soldiers.

They bring him,

they scourge him,

which is a brutal whipping.

And then in verse 27,

these soldiers,

they bring him into the praetorium

before the battalion,

which would have been about 600 soldiers,

a cohort.

They stripped him,

and they put a scarlet robe on him.

A scarlet robe would have been

akin to the royal robe of a king.

It was mockery.

It would have been one of the short,

scarlet capes of one of the Roman troopers.

It would have been obvious

that they're making fun of him.

But they don't stop there.

They put a crown of thorns together

on his head.

It was to imitate the laurel crown,

the laurel wreath that went around Caesar.

Caesar,

you're the king.

Here's your crown.

And they pressed it on his head.

Verse 29.

But it didn't stop there.

They put a scepter in his hand.

It was a reed.

You know what cattails are?

We see cattails in swamps.

That's akin to what we're talking about.

It was complete mockery.

And then they kneeled down.

Job 29 and

paid a mock homage.

Hail, king of the Jews.

It would,

a ring of hail Caesar.

So these Roman soldiers,

they couldn't resist the opportunity

of this guy who's claiming to be a king.

Now they have the opportunity

to get him ready for crucifixion.

And they're brutal.

Their mocking is awful.

They spit on him.

And they start beating his head

with that reed,

with his crown of thorns on him.

All the while,

we know what's going on.

For those of us

who've been studying Matthew together,

we know that Jesus,

he was born of a virgin,

conceived by the Holy Spirit.

His other name is Emmanuel,

God with us.

We know who these soldiers

are mocking.

They have no idea.

We know that he's a descendant of David.

That he's in fact

David's greater son,

Psalm 110.

That he is the true king of Israel.

We know that.

They don't.

And so they mock the one

who truly is the king.

What is striking here

is how Jesus responds.

He doesn't.

He's silent.

He's letting it happen.

He's not doing anything to stop it.

These Roman soldiers

don't see him for who he is.

And we,

almost 2,000 years later,

we do.

But this mockery

by these Roman soldiers,

this wasn't the worst thing

that happened

on this Friday.

This is before 9 a.m.

The trial itself

before Pilate

would have been at daybreak.

Mark tells us

that Jesus was actually

crucified at 9 a.m.

So this has happened somewhere

maybe 8 a.m.

that Friday morning.

So they get the deed done.

They mock him

behind praetorian closed doors.

And then they redress him

and then they bring him out

in order to crucify him.

And that moves us

to our next scene

in verses 32 through 38.

They bring him to Golgotha.

Verse 32,

as they went out,

they found a man of Cyrene

named Simon.

Now,

they compelled this man

to carry his cross.

What's going on here?

Why would they do that?

What's happening?

Why would they take

this guy named Simon

and force him

to carry Jesus' cross?

It wouldn't have been

the whole cross.

It would have been

the cross member.

The pentibulum

is what it was called.

And it weighed somewhere

between 75 and 100 pounds.

And so if Jesus,

who had been scourged,

had already lost

a huge amount of blood,

he is struggling.

His body is failing him.

And so they're going

to bring him out

of the city

of Jerusalem proper.

And they're going

to crucify him outside.

And so he's having

to carry this cross.

His body fails him.

And so the Roman guards,

which would have been

four of them,

they're not going

to carry his cross.

And so they're within

their legal bounds

to say,

you take up his cross

to Simon of Cyrene.

And he does.

He's got no other option.

But as soon as you hear

that name Simon,

what should be going

through your head?

Where's the rock?

And it reminds us

that Jesus has been

abandoned by his own.

Verse 33,

they come to this place

called Golgotha,

the place of a skull.

It had a reputation

for death.

And just as a side note,

when we use the word

Calvary,

Calvary comes from

a Latin word,

Calva,

which means skull.

And so when we talk

about Calva,

we're talking about

Golgotha,

the place of a skull,

the place known

for death.

In verse 34,

the soldiers offer

Jesus wine mixed

with gall.

Now you see that

in your Bible

and you're kind of like,

well that was really nice

of them.

What changed?

They're just being

to be sweet.

It wasn't.

Has anybody in the room

innocently

kind of grabbed

a glass of water

and you start drinking it

and then you realize

someone spiked it

with salt?

Has anybody

experienced that before?

You put it to your lips

and you're like,

ah!

And then you hear

the chuckles, right?

That's what's happening.

The soldiers spiked

this wine with gall.

It was very distasteful.

As soon as Jesus

puts it on his lips,

it's gross.

He's not going to drink it.

Then the Roman soldiers

are like,

gotcha!

It's more of the same.

More mockery.

Verse 35,

this is striking.

It's so understated.

And when they had

crucified him,

they divided his garments

among them

by casting lots.

Matthew's just

matter of fact.

It doesn't go into

big detail.

And the reason why

is if you're living

in the first century

and you were the

recipients of this

gospel originally,

you would be very

familiar with

crucifixion.

It was estimated

that Rome would

crucify upwards

to 10,000 people

every year.

And so you would

have been used

to seeing crucifixions

even though they're

horrific.

They're an awful

way to die.

Crucifixion was

reserved for the

worst of criminals

and the lowest

of society.

It was designed

to inflict the

maximum amount

of pain

for the longest

amount of time

in the most

humiliating of ways.

And just to give

you a sample of it,

we have an English

word, it's called

excruciate.

Have you heard

that word before?

It's one of our

words to try to get

at the worst kind

of pain we experience.

And literally,

what excruciate means,

it means out of

the cross.

X out of cru,

C-R-U-C,

that's short for

crux, cross,

out of the cross.

Our English word

for worst possible

pain has its root

in the cross.

And he was

crucified naked.

That was the Roman

way of doing things.

Probably would have

had a loincloth on

to be respectful

to the Jews,

but it would have

been humiliating.

That's why they

were dividing

his garments up

among them

and casting lots

for them.

It actually fulfills

Psalm 22, 18.

And what you're

going to see is

Psalm 22 is

backlaid against

this.

Matthew helps us

see that this is

fulfillment all over

the place.

One other thing

you need to know

is that Jews

considered someone

who was crucified

as being cursed

by God.

Paul says,

quoting Deuteronomy,

cursed is everyone

who is hanged on a

tree.

And what you need

to know is that

Jesus is coming

under the curse

of God at these

moments.

But the question

we need to start

asking is,

I thought Jesus

was innocent.

Why is he being

accursed by God?

For who is he

being accursed?

Verse 36,

the guards sit

down and keep

watch over Jesus.

They're protecting

him.

There's the possibility

someone would try

to steal someone

off a cross.

But Matthew's

really set this up

because these

Roman guards,

there's four of them

with a centurion,

they are watching

what is about

to happen.

And we know

what they're about

to see.

They have no idea

what they're about

to see.

And what they are

about to witness

is going to change

them.

They're going to be

those who say,

hail, king of the

Jews, mockingly,

to one saying,

truly, this was

the son of God.

They're going to see

something.

But they don't know

what's happening yet.

verse 37, we learn

about what was

tacked above Jesus'

head.

Criminals would

have had this sign

put above them

that would say

who they are.

This is Jesus of

Nazareth and what

they're charged with.

He's charged with

being king of the

Jews, tongue in

cheek.

It was mocking

Jesus and thumbing

their noses at the

Jews.

Here's your king.

And what we see

going on here is

very subtle, but

very important to

see.

Though they think

that it's mockery,

we know it to be

true.

This is Jesus.

Do you remember

what his name

means?

The Lord saves,

Matthew 1.21.

And it's, he's the

king of the Jews.

It's true.

And he's hanging

on a cross.

To Jews, this would

have been a

stumbling block.

To Greeks, it would

have been just a

fool's errand.

But this is the

second time now we've

seen king of the

Jews show up in our

section.

The first one was a

mocking hail king of

the Jews, but it's

true.

And now it's, it's

written on the sign

above Jesus' head on

the cross.

It's true.

verse 38, there's

two robbers crucified,

one on the other,

each side of him, and

they're called robbers,

but there's, there is

a reasonable belief to

believe that these were

more than robbers, that

these were actually other

freedom fighters, other

insurrectionists.

And the idea behind it is

Barabbas was their leader.

And he would have been

crucified in the middle of

them.

And so what's happened is,

if that's true, Jesus

gotten swapped out for

their insurrectionist

leader.

But what we see come the

end of verse 38 is the

stage has now been set.

Jesus is hanging on a

cross with these

insurrectionists on

either side.

There's the Roman guard

watching him.

And now we move to the

third scene.

The passerbys, the

leaders, the criminals,

themselves.

And what Matthew does, he

moves us from this

activity of these Roman

soldiers now to the

reviling of the Jews.

In verses 39, we read

this.

And those who passed by

derided him, wagging

their heads.

These were, these were

Jewish passerbys,

sojourners coming into

the city.

This is just everyday

activity that they've been

doing.

They're wagging their

heads is a fulfillment of

Psalm 22, 7, where we

read, all who see me,

mock me.

They make mouths at me.

They wag their heads.

And so these are ordinary

Jews walking by.

Jesus would have been

crucified in a place that

was very prominent and

public.

And so people just coming

in and out of the city,

they'd have to see it.

It was Rome's way of

saying, don't mess with

us.

And these passerbys are

saying in verse 40, you

who would destroy the

temple and rebuild it in

three days, save yourself.

This is what was accused

of Jesus and the hearing

in Caiaphas' house in

chapter 26, 61.

And they're referring to

something Jesus said back

in John chapter 2, 19,

John 2 · chapter mention

records for us, where Jesus

wasn't actually speaking

about the temple proper in

Jerusalem.

He was talking about his

own body.

He was saying, hey, destroy

this body of mine and in

three days later it will be

raised.

And the great irony of

this all is that he is

going to give himself in

order to save others.

And then they go on to

say in verse 40, if you are

the Son of God, come down

from the cross.

These passerbys, these

Jewish passerbys, they

obviously don't understand

why the Son of God had

come.

They're thinking, hey, if

you come down from the

cross, that will prove

you're the Son of God.

But we all know that it's

because he stayed on the

cross, it proved he was the

Son of God.

And that's exactly what

you're going to see the

centurion say.

He's going to witness

everything in verse 54.

He's going to say, truly,

this was the Son of God.

He saw the way he died.

He stayed on the cross.

He'll be in his very dying

that his identity is

confirmed to those who

believe.

Well, these Jewish

passerbys persist in their

blindness.

righteousness.

And Jesus has no

response.

He doesn't say anything

from the cross to them.

And then in verse 41, we

start seeing the Jewish

leaders get in on the

play.

And it's very subtle.

There's a very subtle

shift here.

If you look in verse 40,

you see the passerby saying,

you who would destroy the

temple.

You save yourself.

You, you, you, you, you.

You.

They're speaking to him on

the cross.

And then in verse 41, the

chief priests, scribes,

elders mock him saying, he

saved others.

He cannot save himself.

They're not even giving him

the dignity of speaking to

him.

It's like their backs are

turned talking to one

another.

He, he, he can't even save

himself.

He saved others, but he

can't save.

They're not talking to him.

It's like when someone

talks about you in your

presence, but they're not

talking to you.

They're just humiliating him.

He saved others.

He cannot save himself.

The irony, of course, is

that he's giving himself to

save others.

He's the king of Israel.

Let him come down now from

the cross and we will

believe him.

Even if he did come down,

they would not believe him

because their heart are so

hard towards him.

They're thinking that, hey,

we will acknowledge the

reign of this king if he

comes down.

And the reality is he's

establishing his reign by

staying up.

There's that phrase again,

king of Israel.

In verse 43, these Jewish

leaders quoting Psalm 22,

8, he trusts in God.

Let God deliver him now if

he desires him.

For he said, I'm the son of

God.

Oh, Jesus, if he has that

special relationship with

God, if he is really God's

son and he trusts God,

then God should deliver him

if he desires that.

He will want him to be

delivered.

Again, these Jewish leaders

are thinking, hey, if he is

who he claimed to be, then

God's going to bring him

down.

He's going to rescue him

from the cross.

But they don't seem to

remember Isaiah 53, 10,

which says it was the will

of the Lord to crush him.

Jesus does trust in his

father.

And God's not going to

deliver him.

He's going to crush him.

He's going to crush him.

They don't see it.

They reject Jesus as their

Messiah.

Son of God, King of Israel,

taken together equals Messiah.

They reject him.

And Jesus doesn't respond.

Verse 44, the Jewish criminals

on either side of him, they

get in on the game.

They revile him the same way

Luke tells us, are you not

the Christ?

Save yourself and us.

Us too.

We know later that one of them

will actually have a dramatic

change of heart and he will,

to that day on the cross,

will be the day of salvation

for him.

But Matthew records for us

here, it's all the Jews

in this area are heaping up

reviles on him.

It is like a chorus of

revilings of these Jewish

spectators.

The passerbys, the leadership,

the criminals on either side,

they've rejected Jesus as the

King, the Son of God, and they

revile him.

Remember, Jesus, this is not

about power.

Jesus had the authority.

He healed sick people of their

sicknesses with just a touch.

He just spoke words to raging

seas and they were peaceful.

He spoke a word of exorcism to

legions of demons and they left

their victim.

And he raised people from the

dead.

This is not an issue of ability.

It's not that Jesus cannot save

himself.

Jesus will not save himself.

He's choosing not to save himself.

He's choosing to give himself.

And these Jews around him right now,

they don't get it.

They don't see it.

But for all this Jewish reviling,

it's not the worst of it.

This isn't the worst of it.

It's what happens in 45 through 50

that's the worst of it.

And now we move to scene four.

His cry of dereliction and his

death.

In verse 45, we see darkness

coming over the land.

It's the sixth hour.

That means noon to the Roman mind.

So it's noon and there was

darkness all over the land.

It would have been very odd.

Do you remember, do you all

remember the solar eclipse this

past summer?

It was high day.

If you're in Missouri, you'd be

like, this is weird and freaky,

but kind of awesome.

Some have speculated that what's

happening here on this Friday

is a solar eclipse, but the reality

is it would have been Passover,

it would have been full moon,

and apparently you can't have a full

moon and a solar eclipse at the same

time.

So it's not a solar eclipse.

Something else is going on.

What is this darkness for me?

Jesus has been on the cross for three

hours, 9 a.m.

It's noon.

Darkness is coming over the land.

Back in Exodus, before God, the

tenth plague in which God pours out

death on the firstborn and he

provides a Passover lamb.

And before that, the ninth plague,

darkness.

Three days of darkness.

It starts getting at this sense of

judgment.

God's wrath building up.

Throughout the Old Testament, there's

a linkage between darkness and

judgment.

Now, if it's true that this gathering

darkness is a manifestation of God's

judgment, we've got to start asking a

question.

What is God's wrath being aimed at here?

Why is God's wrath being gathered

visibly?

What is happening?

We have the Son of God on the cross,

and we have darkness gathering in this

area, in this land.

Who is this judgment aimed at?

Verse 46.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The judgment isn't on the Roman soldiers.

The judgment isn't on these reviling

Jews.

This gathering judgment is falling upon

the Son of God on the cross.

His wrath being poured out on Jesus.

In verse 46, we're told that it's the

ninth hour Jesus cried.

3 p.m.

Friday afternoon.

He's been on the cross for six hours.

This darkness has been there for three

hours.

This judgment being poured out on Jesus

for three hours.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

This is the worst part of it.

This is what Jesus has been dreading in

the garden.

This is the cup that he was going to be

drinking that he didn't really want to

drink but was willing to drink out of

obedience to his Father.

He's quoting Psalm 22.1.

Psalm 22 is about an innocent man who

suffers greatly.

It's that basic and simple and that is

exactly what's going on here.

Jesus is experiencing God forsakenness.

It's the cry of dereliction, of cry of

abandonment.

He's drinking the cup.

And we've got to ask, well, in what sense

is Jesus being forsaken here?

And there's a couple clues in the actual

quote.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The relationship is still intact.

The second person of the Trinity has not

ceased to be the son of the first person

of the Trinity, the Father.

But in some way, in ways that we can't

fathom, there is now a hostility between

Father and Son.

There's something there that's never been

there before for all eternity past.

And we get a flavor of it.

In Matthew chapter 3, after Jesus is

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

baptized, we hear the Father's voice.

This is my beloved Son with whom I am

well pleased.

And then in Matthew chapter 17, after the

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

transfiguration, this is my beloved Son

who I'm well pleased.

Listen to Him.

And here on the defining moment of

salvation, what do we hear from the

Father?

Nothing!

We just hear the Son.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why would He forsake His Son if His Son is

innocent?

Why would He do this?

It's all according to plan.

From before the foundation of the world,

God ordained His Son to be sacrificed for

those who would one day believe, to gather a

people for Himself.

If you turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 5.21,

we read this.

For our sake.

For our sake.

For sinners who would one day believe.

For our sake.

For our sake, He, the Father, made Him, the Son,

to be sin who knew no sin.

He was innocent.

So that in Jesus, we might become the

righteousness of God.

Why would God the Father forsake His

innocent Son?

He put our sin on Him and poured out His

wrath on it for our sake.

In Matthew 20.28, Jesus, speaking of His death,

says, I have not come to be served, but to

serve and to give my life as a ransom for many.

Right here at this moment, Jesus is ransoming

the many.

He's giving His life for all who would one day

believe in the Son and pay for their sin.

A ransom is a payment to release a slave or

for to give a debt.

And Jesus is paying the ultimate ransom price

with His life for you and for me.

The eternal wrath of God was being poured out on the

eternal Son of God.

Remember, this is Passover.

He's our Passover sacrifice whose death delivers us

from God's pending judgment.

Because we're under the blood, God's wrath is satisfied.

It's because of this ransom payment that Romans 8.1 is

something that Christians can say with full confidence.

There is therefore now no condemnation.

There's no wrath.

There's no judgment for those who were in Christ Jesus

because He ransomed me.

He paid for it.

1 Peter 3.18

For Christ also suffered once for sins on the cross.

The righteous for the unrighteous.

He's a substitute that He might bring us to God.

He ransomed sinners in order to reconcile sinners to God.

Why did God the Son,

why was He forsaken by God the Father?

To ransom sinners from their sins.

It comes all the way back to Matthew 1.21

where Jesus is named and He says,

You are the Lord saves

because you are going to save your people from their sins.

And here He is doing it.

Christ crucified.

The King of Israel.

The Son of God.

Emmanuel.

Being crucified and forsaken by His Father

in order to ransom sinners from their sins.

And then it's really odd

because if you turn back to Matthew 27

in verse 47 through 49

you have this really strange event that takes place.

The bystanders there are like,

Hey, this man is calling Elijah.

Eli, Eli sounds like Elijah.

And so they're like,

Hey, hey, hold on a second.

Maybe Elijah is going to come.

Now,

they have no idea who this is on the cross

and they have no idea what He's doing.

That He's accomplishing salvation.

In verse 50,

we read,

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice

and yielded up His spirit.

John records in 1930

what Jesus actually said.

It is finished.

What was finished?

His ransom payment was finished.

Paying for your sin and my sin was finished.

And then in the end of verse 50,

He yielded up His spirit.

It's very clear.

The language is very clear.

His life was not taken from Him.

He gave His life as a ransom for many.

He was willingly there as our substitute.

We move from scene 4

and the main thing

to seeing its immediate effects.

In verse 51,

And behold,

the curtain of the temple

was torn in two from top to bottom.

The curtain being talked about

is the curtain between the holy place

and the holy of holies in the temple.

It was 60 feet high,

30 feet wide,

and what Matthew records,

it was rend from top to bottom.

And so it's like,

what does that mean?

Here's what it means.

Through the death of Jesus,

we all now have access

into the presence of God.

That's what that means.

There's a new way to come to God.

It's through Jesus.

That's the point of Hebrews 9

and Hebrews 10.

But there's another implication.

The temple was then and there

rendered obsolete.

No more need for it.

Because there's a new and better way

in Jesus

to come to God.

The temple now

has been rendered obsolete.

Major shift in God's saving plan

for the fullness of time.

The focal point is no longer on the temple.

The focal point becomes Jesus.

The curtain of the temple

was torn from top to bottom.

God initiated this.

God wanted all to come to Him.

Verse 51,

there's an earthquake.

The significance is

the death of Jesus

had immediate creation effect.

It literally shook things up.

One might have this anticipation

of what else is going to happen

among creation

at the start of this work of redemption.

We read that.

Tombs were opened up.

Verse 52.

Now you've got to remember

that the tombs in that day

were tombs hewn into the earth.

And so if there's an earthquake,

rock splitting,

it opens up tombs.

Now that might be a little confusing

to you to read.

The tombs also were opened up

and many bodies of the saints

who had fallen asleep were raised.

The best way to understand that is

on this Friday,

the tombs also were opened up,

complete stop,

and then that and

picks up on Sunday,

resurrection Sunday.

And many bodies of the saints

who had fallen asleep

were raised on that Sunday

and coming out of the tombs

after His resurrection,

they went into the holy city

and appeared to man.

Do you know what happened

as a result?

Old Testament saints

who trusted God

would be raised to life

and what it says is

even Old Testament faith

depended upon the Christ.

Now could you imagine

if you were there?

You'd just taken all this in.

You're just sitting around

watching this.

You're the centurions

and his three other Roman soldiers.

You've seen the revilings

of the other Jews.

You've seen how Jesus

responded to that.

You yourself had reviled him.

You nailed him to the cross.

You've seen it happen.

You saw the darkness come in.

You heard him say,

my God, my God,

why have you forsaken me?

You heard him say,

it is finished.

You felt the earthquake.

And so what we read

in verse 54,

truly,

this was the Son of God.

You have the first Gentile convert

after the death of Jesus.

Jesus.

The centurion,

he's somehow,

someway recognizing

that this is God's Son.

Christ's death

opened up a way

and the immediate response

is a Gentile centurion

confessing Jesus

as the Son of God.

in verses 55 and 56,

Matthew is clear

to show that there are women there.

Though the male disciples

have bailed,

the women are there.

They're holding out.

The last scene

is the burial

in Joseph's tomb.

And that's 57 through 61.

Matt's here.

I'm going to leave that to you

to do a little bit more work

in next week.

But here's what I want you to see.

He's dead.

He really died.

He's put in a tomb.

Here's the point of it all.

This is the climax

of Matthew's gospel.

And he's showing us

what Jesus had to endure

in order to save sinners.

The worst part

wasn't the mockery

of the Roman soldiers.

The worst part

wasn't the pain

of the cross.

The worst part

wasn't the mockery,

the reviling of the Jews.

The worst part

was being forsaken

by his Father.

And he did that

for you

that you could be forgiven.

Ransomed.

He gave his life

for yours.

Let me close with one application.

It means salvation for you.

It means salvation.

If you came into this room

and you're thinking,

oh, I believe that Christ

was crucified.

My prayer

is that you would recognize

that he was crucified

for you.

It is personal.

He did it for you.

When was the last time

you took stock

and thought through

all that the Son of God endured

in order to pay

for your sin

so that you could come

into a real

and living relationship

with God,

it means salvation.

And that's something

we sing about.

That's something

that we proclaim.

That's something

that informs

our very,

very life

as a church.

This is what is of called

first importance.

The main thing

is to keep

the main thing

the main thing.

And when it comes

to biblical Christianity,

the main thing

is summed up

in two words.

Christ crucified.

Christ crucified.

Do you believe

he was crucified

for you?

And if this is the day

that lights are going on

for you

for the first time,

come on down front

after we sing.

I'd be glad

to talk to him

about you.

Let's pray.

God in heaven,

we give you

great thanks

and praise

for all that happened

to Jesus

by your will

on the cross.

we see

the outworking

of Isaiah

20,

of Psalm 22.

We see Isaiah

53 10.

It was your will

to crush him.

And we see him

willingly doing it,

lovingly doing it

to save us.

God,

would you do a work,

press this into our hearts,

change the way

that we live.

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.