Christ Crucified

Good evening. This is an unusual service. We're gathering on Friday evening to meditate upon the uniqueness of this day almost 2,000 years ago. This is the day we gather to remember specifically Christ died. We gather every Sunday to remember he died and he rose again. I hope you'll join with us Sunday morning as we meditate upon the joy of the resurrection But tonight we're just going to be thinking about the cross from the text that Bethany just read. And it's a meditation in the sense that I just want to walk through and think about the different aspects of this day. The first thing I want us to think about is the darkest day. This was the darkest day in the history of creation. Literally, look at verse five, the sun stops shining. In the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land, according to verse 45. That's noon. At the high point, when it should have been the brightest in the day, there's darkness. I actually wonder if what's going on here with the earthquakes and the rocks splitting, if this is something like what Paul talks about in Romans 8, the earth groans. The, the, the creation is recognizing the Creator just died. And He didn't just die. He, He was crucified. Jesus, the one who spoke these things into existence. Jesus, the, the one who, who, who breathed life. He's given up His own spirit for His creation. Now we need to think about what it means to be crucified, verse 35. This was the most shameful, cruel way to put someone to death. It was reserved for the worst criminals, the most despised, those who had done the most damage. And the idea is you put a nail in each hand, or the wrist really, and the feet, and it's not that pain or the bleeding that kills them, it's the suffocation. as they have to pull up on the nails through their arms and their feet to get air. They eventually get so exalted they can't breathe anymore. And it's just a constant torture designed to be so. Christ was crucified. And the whole account here from 32 to 44 is just, it demonstrates the rejection of Christ. The soldiers are casting lots. Interestingly, that actually fulfills a prophecy from Psalm 22. Their warning is garments. Who cares if he's suffering? The soldiers mock Him. Those who pass by, verse 39, they deride and wag their heads at Him. The chief priests, the religious leaders. He claimed to be the Son of God? He saved others? Could, can He not save Himself? Here we have not only the Creator, but the one who came to save us from our sin. Fully despised and rejected. No, I say this is the darkest day because our Creator was murdered by the creation. It's also a very illuminating day for us. Because it really gives us the truest picture of what our sin is. Here we see sin fully acted out. We see what our sin actually looks like to God. We would rather Him be dead so that we can enjoy our sin. We would rather Him be dead and not getting in the way of our program and our ideas. It's interesting if you think about what we're called to, to love the Lord your God with all our heart. Sin is using our lips for lying instead of praising God. Sin is using our eyes to look at things like pornography rather than wanting to see the glory of God. That's how we reject God. How we despise Him. How we actually act as if we would rather Him be dead, so that we could do the things we want, rather than worshiping Him that we deserve. So as we look at these, these actions, and we might think to ourselves, we would never do this. Friends, this, this is what our sin looks like. that this is the grossness, the heaviness, the weightiness of our own sin that deserves judgment. It was the darkest day. I also want to insist that this was a necessary day. It was a necessary day. There are seven declarations of Jesus on the cross. We only have one of them here in Matthew's account, verse 46. My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Notice he's not saying Father. He's now fully representing man. He's now calling upon God the Father, but not as Father, but as one who is fully feeling the punishment for his sin, removed from the eternal love of the Father, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? After thinking about this, I want us to meditate the fact that this day was necessary. Jesus had to come and die for our sins, die in our place. Jesus had to come and be forsaken. Now that needs qualified. It wasn't necessary in the most absolute sense. It was only necessary because God promised He would save us from our sins. This was necessary only because God committed Himself to save us from our sins, and there's nothing He can do other than keep His promise. If we go back to Genesis 1 through 3, Genesis 1 and 2 are these wonderful chapters that show us the design and the goodness of God and His creation. And then we see Genesis 3 and our rejection of Him, our, our just very insistent declaration that we would rather have eyes open to see things that God did not set, set before us, and do what He said not to do. And the punishment is we should die. And then if you look at when God comes and approaches man, it's gracious. He comes graciously and approaches man in their sin. And when he starts talking to the serpent in the middle of that curse, it takes him eight lines before he gets to promising that he's going to reverse this curse. He's going to send his own son. He promises a son will be born who's going to crush your head, Satan. That's Jesus. But he also says Satan is going to strike his heel. heel-striking is what we see right here. Christ being crushed for our sin. But it ultimately is a victory over sin and death. Some of this necessity, it's encouraging. God has made promises. And he keeps those promises all the way to the point of whatever, however painful they are. To the death on the cross. It is encouraging to see that nothing is going to keep God from keeping His promises, even sacrificing His own Son, or the Son giving up His own life. Now it's necessary that Jesus is forsaken because He is going to have to suffer the consequence for our sin. What happened to Adam and Eve in the garden? They were cast out of God's presence. They were removed far, but yet not completely crushed. They experience that removal, the consequence of their sin. Jesus Christ experiences the full removal from God. No more grace. No more mercy. No more love. Just wrath. Christ experiences what we deserve. Now it's interesting to think about what takes place in the cross. Christ is not only receiving sin against himself, in the mockery, the nails, the crown of thorns, the laughing, the crucifixion. But he himself was actually paying for that very sin while on the cross. The last thing I wanted to see about this day. It was the darkest day. It was a necessary day. It was a good day. We are here on what we call Good Friday. But we do not understand how good it is until we realize how sinful we are, and the kinds of sins that put Christ on that cross. And now we can see how it was an actual good day. Look at verse 51. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Now to be very clear, the curtain was given to Israel by God. It was a place of worship. But the curtain that is referred to here, it was designed to keep us out. It was an obstacle. It was a barrier, because our sin could not go into the very presence of God. And in his declaration, the curtain being torn in two, it's good that Christ died, because now access is granted. Sinners can come into the presence of a holy God and not be consumed. Because he's paid the penalty for our sin. We, we, we can meditate upon Hebrews and that he calls us to enter Balzi in the name of Christ. Because Jesus has died for all of our sin, if we believe in him. He's risen and he now is ascended to the right hand of the Father. It's also a good day because, look at verse 52, the tombs were empty. The dead are given new life. And here's where we even see a glimpse of the promise we have that we will also have a risen eternal life. Death is defeated in the death of Christ. The last way I want us to think about how it's a good day is how worship takes place. Look at verse 54. When the centurion, that is one of the, he was overseeing the other soldiers at the cross, 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. Now, that title is extremely important. We can actually just see the importance in it if we look up to verse 43. The chief priests, the scribes and the elders, those who are supposed to be leading Israel in the worship, they should have seen that he's the son of God, but yet they're actually mocking him. Verse 43, he trusts in God? Let God deliver him now, if he desires for him. For he said, I'm the son of God. Let's listen to the centurion. This sense of awe is a fantastic moment, where God has allowed him to see who Jesus is. It's illuminating. He has just seen, surely this is the Son of God, after all these events have taken place. If we think about this though, I kind of wonder how he has to reflect on everything that's happened. Right? He's at least declaring as a Gentile centurion, this is a righteous man. I believe because of the way God has orchestrated this story, he's actually declaring more than that, but he's at least declaring this is a righteous man. He's a good man. He now has to think back. I put that crown of thorns on his head. I oversaw putting the nails in his hands and his feet. I heard the Jewish leaders mocking, and I snickered, and I laughed. The Sicurian actually, the tradition has it, he's the one who would have put the spear into his side to secure and assure that he was truly dead. He now has to come to grips with the fact that he has actively participated in the death of the righteous one, the Son of God. What kind of anxiety must be taking place here? What do you do when you come to that conclusion? Surely this is the Son of God that I've mocked, laughed at, nailed to a cross, put a crown of thorns on his head, and stabbed the spear to make sure he was dead. What do you do? I hope you remembered one other thing Christ said on the cross. From another gospel we know, Christ says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. This is his only hope. He just murdered God himself. He just murdered the only true righteous one. He just murdered the Son of God. The only hope he has is that Jesus is who he said he is. Jesus came to do what he said he would do. He's a son of God who came to save sinners by dying for their sins so that we might be forgiven. The only thing he can possibly do is confess his sin and trust that Jesus Christ would forgive him. As we conclude this meditation, and Christian, I want you to consider The, the, the weight. The depth. The grossness of our own sin. And, and I want us to see here that what we need to really meditate upon is what, what, what happens on the cross that not only shows us the depth of our sin, it shows us the depth of God's love. How deep the Father's love for us. Christ came knowing this is what was going to happen. The Father sent His Son knowing and even planning this is what was supposed to happen. There is no doubt in His love. There is no doubt in the power of His ability to keep His promises. Christian, I hope you're encouraged with the assurance that you can confess your sins and be forgiven. If you're not a Christian this morning, or this evening, I'm so glad you're here. I pray you will be convinced that the greatest sin we've participated in, Christ died for our sins. And even more than that, I pray you'd be convinced that you can confess your sin to Christ, believe that He died for your sin, and that He is going to rise again, and you can be forgiven. The guilt that plagues you. The uneasy conscience that constantly bothers you. He's the one who's come to heal by forgiving us of our sin. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you have shown your love and your power. Even on this darkest day where you let us, without hindrance, act out in our sin, Lord, help us to see how powerful our sin is and be terrified. Help us, Lord, to see the power of your love and be encouraged. Help us, Lord, to see the invitation to confess our sins to Him and only Him who can forgive. Thank you. Thank you that we can come. and be pardoned for our iniquity because Christ has died on our behalf. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.