From Despair to Grace: The Miraculous Journey of Good Friday | Matthew 27:45-61| Pastor Ben Burnett
Mar 30, 2024
Real Life Community Church
Have you ever pondered the profound darkness that enshrouded the land during Jesus's final moments, or the visceral symbolism of the temple veil tearing? Our latest episode delves into these captivating events as described in Matthew 27:45, where we discuss the crucifixion of Jesus and the wondrous occurrences that followed. We grapple with the theological weight of Jesus's anguished cry to the Divine and illuminate its connection to Old Testament prophecy, inspired by insights from John Piper. Both believers and seekers alike will find profound meaning in the narrative of despair transitioning to hope, as we uncover the significance behind the miraculous events that shook the very foundations of faith and spirituality.
This poignant conversation also sheds light on the misunderstood expectations of the crowd at Calvary, awaiting Elijah's intervention, and the transformational moment of the temple veil rending, signifying unfettered access to God. We reflect upon the implications of such access, referencing the encouragement found in Hebrews 4:16. As we conclude this episode, we extend an open invitation to Real Life Community Church, where the journey of faith can continue in communion with others. Come and experience the dawning of Easter's promise, as we celebrate the grace that was made possible through the ultimate sacrifice.
Have you ever pondered the profound darkness that enshrouded the land during Jesus's final moments, or the visceral symbolism of the temple veil tearing? Our latest episode delves into these captivating events as described in Matthew 27:45, where we discuss the crucifixion of Jesus and the wondrous occurrences that followed. We grapple with the theological weight of Jesus's anguished cry to the Divine and illuminate its connection to Old Testament prophecy, inspired by insights from John Piper. Both believers and seekers alike will find profound meaning in the narrative of despair transitioning to hope, as we uncover the significance behind the miraculous events that shook the very foundations of faith and spirituality.
This poignant conversation also sheds light on the misunderstood expectations of the crowd at Calvary, awaiting Elijah's intervention, and the transformational moment of the temple veil rending, signifying unfettered access to God. We reflect upon the implications of such access, referencing the encouragement found in Hebrews 4:16. As we conclude this episode, we extend an open invitation to Real Life Community Church, where the journey of faith can continue in communion with others. Come and experience the dawning of Easter's promise, as we celebrate the grace that was made possible through the ultimate sacrifice.
The following resource is brought to you by Real Life Community Church in Richmond, Kentucky. We hope you're both challenged and encouraged by this message.
Speaker 2:
Matthew 27 and verse 45. As Jerry said, as you said, it's a trap. Would you all stand to your feet, even though you just sat down in honor of the reading of the word it says 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, that is my God. My God, why have you forsaken me? Some of the bystanders hearing it said this man is calling 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 by the way, sorry, I get stuck on that every time and many bodies of the saints were raised, man 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 on 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 the mother of the sons of Zebedee. When it was evening, there came a rich man for Marimathea named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him and Joseph took the body and 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. Heavenly Father, we come and we thank you for your word and we thank you for what you have done. God, we pray that you would sink it deep into our hearts, that we may be cut, and it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen, you may be seated.
Speaker 2:
And so we come to the penultimate moment that some would argue in all of Scripture, the crescendo of everything that we've read from Genesis 1 to now. The Bible tells us that the entire Old Testament was given to us to foreshadow the coming, the death, the resurrection of Jesus, and everything after his resurrection points back to him. And so when we read this story, we read everything that God has been doing up until now. When we read this story, we see the crescendo of all of Scripture, and it starts with amazing miracles and terrifying signs. It starts with darkness and moves to light. It starts with pain and ends in grief. And yet that is not the end of the story, for, as we all know, easter comes, life is taken up again and a way is made. And so tonight, if you're taking notes, there's one thing of all the things that I'll say in this message, I want you to get Christ's death, his atoning sacrifice on the cross, tore a veil making a way for us to enter God's presence. And so, as we look at this story, let us read it as such. It says again now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
Speaker 2:
It's interesting that the death of Jesus starts with darkness that covers the land. You know, we're going to experience a type of this darkness coming up soon. In about a week from Monday, there's going to be an eclipse, and I don't know about you all, but I remember eclipses growing up, but I don't know that we've ever had, at least in this area, total darkness. I don't know that I've ever walked out and it be as night in the middle of the daytime, and I don't know that it'll even get that far here on that Monday, but it strikes me that it seems like it was the darkest of times. If you were a disciple of Jesus in those days, you just saw the one who you thought would come as a conquering king who would kick out this invading army come as a conquering king who would kick out this invading army. You just saw him be captured and led to a cross, and no one comes off a cross alive. If that wasn't bad enough, you saw Jesus beaten and bruised, whipped with a cat of nine tails. I don't know any normal man could survive that, even if you didn't crucify him. And then you hang him on a cross. On top of that, darkness had covered the land.
Speaker 2:
And then there's this question that has been on the hearts of people for ages, verse 46,. About the ninth hour, jesus cried out with a loud voice saying Eli, eli, lemme sabachthani, which is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Have you ever asked yourself why that question is in this text, why Jesus would say something like that? People, they look at that passage, that little sentence, and they say, well, jesus must not have been God after all, because he prays to God and he says God, why have you forsaken me? Obviously, it would seem that Jesus wasn't God like we thought he was, but if you actually think about that statement, it does not mean that Christ is not God. People have misquoted that and misused that for years. What it means is a couple things, all of which I just have to go ahead and say I stole from another pastor, one of Pastor Chris's favorites, john Piper. There was a person who wrote this question in and they asked why would Jesus say, why have you forsaken me?
Speaker 2:
Well, if you look at what Jesus is saying, he's actually quoting a passage of scripture. He's quoting Psalm 22. When he says this from the cross At the darkest hour, it would seem Christ is quoting scripture Praise God. What does that tell us? Well, if you look back at Psalm 22, psalm 22 will give us a picture Of what is going on right now. Psalm 22, and my marker fell out, so I'm going to have to turn my real Bible pages.
Speaker 2:
Psalm 22 says this my God, my God, why have you forsaken me, boy? That sounds familiar, doesn't it? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry by day but you do not answer. By night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted. They trusted, and you delivered them To you. They cried and were rescued. In you, they trusted and were not put. It's interesting.
Speaker 2:
Jesus quotes a psalm that, just after the forsaking, it's almost as if you see the salvation. And then it continues and it says but I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me, they wag their heads. He trusts in the Lord. Let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him.
Speaker 2:
Well, that sounds like something we're reading about, doesn't it? We're reading about, doesn't it? Do you know what this sentence tells me about Christ? He and his death were the plan from the beginning. You see, we don't enter this dark time of Jesus' death and lose hope, because what we know is that it was prophesied long before it ever happened. David, he lived about a thousand years before Jesus, before Jesus would hang on the cross. So when we look at the psalm that Jesus quotes, we know that God knew ahead of time what was going to happen. It wasn't something where we lose hope because God knew what he was doing. We lose hope because God knew what he was doing.
Speaker 2:
Jesus quotes scripture for our comfort, and then it continues on, and not only does he say my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It doesn't just say that to give us comfort, but it also says that because Christ was truly forsaken. Some would wonder if the pain of Jesus and we've talked about this before, chris has covered this in sermons prior the pain of Jesus wasn't as bad as maybe it would be for us If God might have numbed the pain for his own son, if the son of God could withstand things that we could not withstand and I would argue, yes, he can withstand the things we cannot withstand but I would urge you to know that every bit of this was just as bad for him as it would be for us, and worse. If you remember, from the garden, jesus prays about the cup, and if you remember that sermon, we talked about the cup of God's wrath which would be poured out on Christ. It wasn't just about pain and death, but it was about wrath. And so when Jesus hangs on the cross and he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's because he is forsaken by God. Can you imagine being Jesus for just a moment in that time? Jesus is the one who has coexisted with the Father and the Spirit for all of his days.
Speaker 2:
I was talking to a lady at work today and she was talking about how it's just good sometimes to have people in your corner. You know what I mean. Sometimes, when you go through the hardest of things, it's just good to know that you've got a friend who you can call and they'll help you out. Jesus has existed perfectly with a triune Godhead for all of eternity. You see, he's existed with Father and Holy Spirit, and we don't serve three gods. We serve one, because they are so perfectly united as one that there is no distinction. They are one and yet they are three. And somehow, in God's great and amazing attribute, jesus was separated. Jesus was separated, jesus was forsaken. Jesus had God's wrath poured out.
Speaker 2:
2 Thessalonians 1.9, talking about judgment, says this it says they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. Now, this is not talking about Christ. This is talking about people at the resurrection who will enter into judgment, basically will go to hell, and one of the things that we know about hell is it is absolute separation from the presence of God, and the Bible says that the presence of God, that God, is the giver of all good things, and so we know that when the presence of God is gone from us, so we're all good things. Know that when the presence of God has gone from us, so we're all good things. Jesus is forsaken, for he was forsaken for us. Galatians 3.13 says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Jesus became our curse, and so we don't look at this dark time as forsaken, or we don't look at this with fear. We look at this for what it is. This is God who is pouring out his wrath on Christ so that we don't have to suffer that wrath ourselves. Happy Good Friday for it is good. And so it continues. And he says, some of the bystanders hearing it said this man is calling 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.
Speaker 2:
But the other said wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. You ever wonder why they wonder if Elijah will come to save him? Yeah, I won't make you flip over there, but the very last page of the Old Testament in your Bible, the very last chapter, is Malachi, 4, verse 5. And 4 verse 5 says Behold, I'll send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. They're looking for Elijah because they're waiting to see this person who would come. And if you know anything about Elijah, elijah was a great prophet. He was a guy who called down fire from heaven. He was a guy who did all kinds of miraculous works. They're waiting on a guy named Elijah to come before the Messiah comes.
Speaker 2:
And some people get confused and they think that Christ is Elijah. And when Christ is on the cross, then when he calls out for help, they wonder if Elijah is going to come. And if Elijah comes, man, we know this guy's the Messiah, right? Jesus says that Elijah has already come, but the crowd doesn't know. They're waiting to see if someone would save Jesus when they need to be saved by Jesus themselves.
Speaker 2:
And then in verse 50 it says and Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. There's several miracles in that, and that is one of them. Jesus cries out with a loud voice and there's no way physically he should have been able to do that. The interesting thing about yielded up his spirit, by the way, y'all ever read in John where it says that Jesus gives of himself his life willingly, and he takes it back up again when it says he yielded up his spirit. That's literally what it means that he gave his life away. Nobody took Jesus' life. Jesus gave it willingly. And so it says Behold, the curtains of the temple were 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 Another miracle. We see that when Jesus dies, the earth is shaken, no-transcript, and the death of Christ brings change to everything that we ever knew. Are you catching this? Good Friday is good because Jesus came and gave his life willingly and shook the foundations of all that we knew.
Speaker 2:
Something amazing happened. If you were a Jew back in those days, you had to go to the temple, and the temple was the place where someone interceded for you with God. You brought your sacrifice, this thing that was supposed to cover your sin, because the wages of sin is death, and you would bring this animal and you would transfer your sin to it and then you would give it to someone who would kill it and who would take the blood of the animal and sprinkle the blood on the altar. They would take this thing and they would make atonement for you. And no one, no one, got to enter the Holy of Holies, but one person once a year to make atonement for all of the nation. You, as everyday Joe Schmo, did not get to enter the presence of God. The presence of God was a scary thing, because if you went in there improperly, you died. So what happens when Jesus dies? He tears the curtain that was made to separate you from the scary presence of God.
Speaker 2:
The Bible talks about how we should fear the Lord, and yet we can also be so glad that the temple curtain is torn in two. This morning I woke up and I pulled up my Bible app, as I often do, and the verse of the day popped up, and there was no more perfect a verse to help me sum this up than Hebrews 4.16. It says let us then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Why can we draw near to the throne of grace? Because Jesus tore the curtain. His death made a way where there was no way. His death was what allowed us to enter God's presence. And so when we come here and we pray God, would you just allow your presence to come? We can come boldly before his throne of grace. When we pray, we can come boldly before his throne of grace and he hears us. Because the death of Jesus tore the veil man. The death of Jesus tore the veil man. The death of Jesus tore a veil that was supposed to separate us, but no more. You have access to the presence of God.
Speaker 2:
It is a good Friday, it says. There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee ministering to him. It says, went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him and Joseph took the body and 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. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there sitting opposite the tomb.
Speaker 2:
If that's where you stopped, it would seem that darkness had prevailed. It would seem that the worst of times was going to stay the worst of times. But praise God that Good Friday is good because it continues on to Easter. We come to a service on Good Friday to honor the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, a death that tore the curtain so that we could enter into God's presence boldly before a throne of grace, and that is what is offered to you tonight, if you're here and you want that, you can have it. And if you're here and you've known that and you want more of it, you can have it, because the death of Jesus made the way for you. Thanks be to God.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening. If you'd like to know more about how you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ, or if you have questions about our church, you can email us at info at myrealchurchorg. Real Life Community Church is located at 335 Glendon Avenue in Richmond, Kentucky. We invite you to join us for worship Sunday at 1045 am or Wednesday at 7 pm. Visit us online at myrealchurchorg.