The Bleak Time
(Matt. 27:45-55, John 19:30)
[note: I originally preached on this text ten years earlier; this outline is revised and I have added some significant bits of information from my developing Jewish Roots perspective]
1. Spots on my tan shoes from rubber over boots. Tried olive oil, then lemon oil, which worked great.
2. Some solvents will remove only some stains
3. Sometimes two cleaning agents together can be lethal (ammonia and bleach)
4. Today we remember Jesus’ sacrificial death…the shedding of His blood is the only solvent that can remove the stain from your soul…
6. If you tinker with that--try to mix solvents, something deadly results; Jesus is the Savior, not one contributor toward our salvation…
Main Idea: The Work Christ accomplished on the Cross is more than we can know. As we look at some of the details, we can appreciate the benefits of Jesus’ death on our behalf.
I. Darkness: On the Cross, Jesus Became SIN for Us (Matthew 27:45-49)
A. Perhaps the most HOLY time of all history
--------was this an eclipse? A completely supernatural phenomenon? Worldwide or local?….The whole land…the sun stopped shining….3 hours, 12pm to 3pm
B. Jesus was FORSAKEN for us
• Abraham offered Isaac… a ram in his place
• The Father did not stop this sacrifice
1. Jesus quotes Psalm 22 in Aramaic… Eloi, eloi, lama sabacthanai “My God, my God, why have your forsaken me.”
2 The great mystery: The Son Forsaken by the Father
3. Did this darkness imply the “Great Exchange” of 2 Cor. 5:21? The awfulness of it all, that the sinless Lamb of God should be identified with our sin…
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB)
5. Was it particularly at this time that Jesus had to “drink the cup given Him
Application: When I came to Jesus at age 17, I had been religious; I would have said that I was a Christian, but I was trusting in God to go easy on me. When I accepted Jesus, I gave him my sin and he gave me his righteousness. His Spirit brought me to spiritual life, and I knew God would keep his promise of forgiveness and eternal life.
II. It is Finished: The DEBT Has Been Paid (John 19:30)
A. . It is FINISHED!
1. What was finished? The answer: The purpose of His coming….his death as the lamb of God…The accomplishment that would provide salvation for all who believed
B. Tetelesthai means PAID in full
• a commercial term meaning “Paid in full.”
• The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life….(Rom. 6:23)
• Gives are free to the recipient, but someone pays for them…
C. ATONEMENT
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:11-14)
D. He TASTED death for us all
Hebrews 2:9, But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
III. The Torn Curtain: In Christ, We Have DIRECT Access to God (51)
A. This was a MIRACLE
• It was 4 inches thick, 60 feet long, 30 feet wide….torn from top to bottom…hand of God
B. Suggests a CHANGE of relationship between the believer and God
Forty years before the Temple was destroyed the following things happened: The lot for the Yom Kippur goat ceased to be supernatural; the red cord of wool that used to change to white (as a symbol of God’s forgiveness) now remained red and did not change...the western candle in the candlestick in the sanctuary refused to burn continually while the doors of the Holy Temple would open of themselves... (Tractate Yoma 39:b).
C. We come to God through JESUS, not through established religion or others
I Timothy 2:5-6, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
IV. Supernatural Signs: A Call to REPENTANCE (Matt. 27:51-53)
A. The signs were SIGNS (51-53)
(1) darnkness now lifts, right when Jesus dies
(2) land shook
(3) tombs opened, some temporary resurrections…
B. The RESPONSE of the Centurion demonstrated sense (Luke 23:47-48)
(1) surely this was the Son of God
(2) people “beat their breasts” as they were leaving….
C. This made the Jewish leaders LIGHTEN up on Christians
Why was the First Temple destroyed? Because of three evils in it: idolatry, sexual immorality and bloodshed . . . But why was the Second Temple destroyed, seeing that during the time it stood people occupied themselves with Torah, with observance of precepts, and with the practice of charity? Because during the time it stood, hatred without rightful cause prevailed. This is to teach you that hatred without rightful cause is deemed as grave as all the three sins of idolatry, sexual immorality and bloodshed together. [Babylonian Talmud Yoma 9b]
This prepared the way for the conversion of 3,000 folks on Pentecost, explains why the Jewish leaders were so mild in their persecutions ….and why Saul of Tarsus took the lead here because these enemies of Christ had been traumatized…
D. Have your RESPONDED to the call?
It wasn’t too late for these people….and it is not too late for you!
Conclusion
1. Have you received the gift of God which is eternal life through Christ our Lord?
2. How do we receive it? Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ!
3. Jesus finished the work on your behalf! Receive him today.
