Matthew 2024

Matthew chapter 27 and verses 45 to 56.

And Caroline is going to come and read for us, and then Tom Smith, 1 of our elders is going to come and preach that to us. From noon, until 3 in the afternoon, darkness came over all the land. About 3 in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice Eli, Eli, Eli, Lemma Sabutani, which means my god, my god, why have you forsaken me? When some of those standing there, heard this. They said, he's calling Elijah.

Immediately, 1 of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said. Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him.

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in 2 from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split, and the tomb broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tomb after Jesus resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake, and all that had happened, they were terrified and exclaimed. Surely, he is the son of god. Many women were there watching from a distance, they had followed Jesus from galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalen, Mary the mother of James, and Joseph and the mother of Zebedee's sons. Thank you, Caroline.

Good evening. Nice to see you if we've not met before. My name's Tom. Would love would love to meet you after the service. And, as Chris said, we are continuing this series in in Matthews's Gospel, and we have before us this evening, really the heart of the Christian message, and for some of us, it will be familiar.

Others may that it may not be very familiar, but, we all need the help of of god's spirit to understand it, and, to apply it to our life. So let's come to our our father now and ask for his help. Heavenly father, we've, just sung, for for us. He was made sin. Oh, help me take it in.

And, that is our prayer now. Help us to take this in. Help us by your spirit. Bring these words from from our minds to our hearts, maybe treasure Christ more, this evening. You pray in his name, amen.

In the late seventeenth century, newspapers in London I am I'm told, were, started to feature sections where readers could write in and, anonymously ask for advice. Then those questions would be digested and and then publish in the paper in in a public way. And that has become like the agony ants if you're familiar with that kind of idea or, dear prudence thing is is is another 1. And, and they describe personal troubles, relationship advice, marriage advice, family disputes, and, and then the reply would be would be public. We'll have a listen to this fourth century.

Marriage disputes that ancient writers have recorded. A pagan man asks the Greek god Apollo. How do I dissuade my wife from the Christian faith? How do I dissuade my wife from the Christian faith is the question? Here's the council given.

I think it it we have it on the screen. Let her go. She pleases. Persisting in vain delusions and singing in in lamentation for a god who died in delusion who was condemned by judges whose verdict was just and it was destroyed by the worst of deaths, a death bound with iron. The advice is if she chooses to follow a god who died, a god who died, then let her go on as she pleases.

She's deluded. See that deluded. And my god is deluded. Thinking his death achieved anything when really it destroyed him. What kind of god?

Dies. A death bound with iron. That is crucifixion bound with iron. What kind of gods dies that death? Could we really say that disdain towards the cross?

Is any different today? I found online forums where this sort of question was asked on Reddit and other places, and the advice was similar. 1 1 piece of advice was you can't fix a crazy person. You know, you're you're deluded. You're deluded.

If you believe Jesus's death on the cross, did anything. Well, what does this passage say to that response? What does this passage say? Well, I'm gonna break it down in 3 parts. Firstly, versus 45 to 50.

Keep the passage open. Christ bore the judgment are sin deserved. Christ bore the judgments are sin deserved. Matthew has been building up to this point, throughout the gospel. From the outset, he said that Jesus is immanuel.

God with us. Jesus is the Messiah. He's the son of god. He's the king, but he's not the king the Jews expected. We've seen that.

Because this king must suffer. And imagine this king's royal anthem, it would be filled with minor chords because in this section we've seen that this king has been betrayed. This king is being betrayed by his own friend and another word for betrayal is abandoned or forsaken. He's been being forsaken by his friends. And then he was set up and mocked and beaten by his own people, the Jews.

And then he was handed over to the Romans who released a known prisoner instead of him and persuaded by the crowd, put him to death. Made an example of him by this horrific crucifixion among rebels, forsaken by his friend, forsaken by his own people, forsaken by by the Romans, and now forsaken by god. We pick up in verse 45. From noon until 3 in the afternoon, darkness came over all the land. It's the middle of the day.

During passover time, and by that, we know that the sun is at the highest point. It shouldn't be dark. But it's as if the sun doesn't want to witness what's about to happen. Dark descends. The prophets like Amos use darkness as a picture of judgement.

And remember, in ex this, if you know the story, when there was darkness over Egypt before the death of the firstborn, each time darkness is used in Matthew, it's being used to symbolize judgments. Into the darkness where there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There's this separation, this separation from the light, the light of god's presence and so comes weeping, weeping of profound sorrow and grief. And that's what we see here as Jesus cries out in a loud voice, verse 46, about 3 in the afternoon. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eli, Eli, Lamma Sabakthani.

Which means my god, my god, why have you forsaken me? And as we've noted in the last few weeks, Jesus's quoting here from Psalm 22. And we've we've been we've been shown that the parallels to that Psalm here, that prophetic Psalm Jesus is scorned. He's despised. He's mocked.

He's insulted. He's surrounded. His bones are out of joints. He has a dry mouth. He's naked.

They cast lots for his clothes. He embodies this Psalm. And that was part of the significance of quote in the first line. So he quotes the first line of the Psalm before chapter verses. That's how you'd refer to Psalm.

So instead of saying Psalm 23, you'd say the lord's my shepherd. And he's saying he's referring to me. He's claiming the whole Psalm. It's not just a literary device. He's not just saying these words to fulfill prophecy.

He's not just using it because he's lost for words. Even though that would actually be a good application of this, when we are lost for words, when we do feel forsaken, we can go to the Psalms and pray them. But here, Jesus was actually forsaken. On the cross forsaken. My god.

My god, he repeats. The only time he doesn't call god father in Matthew. The 1 called god with us now seems to be without god. It's an extraordinary thing. What sort of king is saying this?

What sort of son of god is saying this? Don't know about you, but when I think of the promises of god, my mind goes to Isaiah 43. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. Or Psalm 23, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Or Joshua 1, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

It's not god's way to forsake his own. We know that. We trust those promises. Surely not his son. Surely not the 1 he delights in.

Remember, in Matthew, the start of Matthew's baptism, this is my son, the father says. With whom I am well pleased, he delight in him. He says it again at the transfiguration. The 1 who shares in the father's glory, the 1 who has unbroken fellowship with the father, exclusive communion with him. No 1 knows the son except the father.

No 1 knows the father except the son. Why is he forsaken? He's let go. Is cut off. We saw that cut off for sin.

He's abandoned. We don't actually have many of the details of the physical torture of crucifixion here in the passage. So this forsaken, it can't just mean the experience bodily pain that Jesus had, though horrific that was. Well, how is he forsaken? This is a real and raw cry as he's taken on the spiritual weight of the whole world The enormity of all the guilt, all the evil things that have been done, all the horror, and lies, and shame, all that he was not.

He had no sin of his own. And yet he took it on himself. That which he despised. He despised evil. It repulsed him, and yet he became it.

He became a curse. He bore our sins. And so as the infinite horror of rebellion against the most holy god fills his pure soul as the poison of sin infects every fiber of his being. All and about him become sin. And the right unrighteousness breaks his holy heart.

He cries. My god. My god. Why have you forsaken me? The consequences of sin are clear.

Death. And so this suffering and this substitution was so real. In judgment, when Jesus takes sin upon himself, he takes on the punishment for sin a holy god must make because a holy god cannot tolerate sin. He was forsaken. And we know, don't we something of the misery that being disconnected from the life giver?

Brings because each of us work with dead in our sins and cut off. Christ became cut off for us. And sometimes even as believers, we may feel a sense of his, the lord's love being withdrawn. Sometimes you may feel that. And while it, it is a comfort here to us that Jesus knows what it's like to be to be withdrawn, to be cut off, He wasn't allowed to feel the nearness of god.

And for that, for him, that is unbearable. That is that is that is the grief that he cries out. Why? Why would this king say he's forsaken? This is a problem, friends.

This is a riddle. This is a question that can only be answered by 1 thing. And that is love. This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

For us. For us, he was made sin. He was doing the will of god by being abandoned by god. And so when he cried out in pure anguish, why have you forsaken me? He did it so that we didn't have to.

They think did you notice that he he when he says he lie, Eli, they think he's calling for Elijah, making a mistake. He was calling out to god. After taking on sin himself, this is extraordinary. He, as though I are cursed and left alone. I, as though him embraced and welcomed home.

Even in this moment of the most intense suffering possible, imaginable, the most intense persecution Did you notice he was the 1 in control? He was the 1 who gave up his spirit? He's obedient to the point of death. Having warned that this day would come. He went through with it.

All the way. We and we know the illustration to draining the cup of god's wrath to the very last drop. See the sinfulness of sin. And that we needed such a sacrifice to atone for it. Well, that was absolutely pure.

The spotless lamb of god again, we sung. What love is this? Oh, help. Oh, make me understand it. Help me take it in.

What it meant to thee, the holy 1 to bear away my sin. Make me understand it, lord. I can't. At infinite cost to himself, being forsaken by God, Jesus paid our debt. What are the implications for this?

What are the implications? Well, I recently read on the Christian Life, which is a book on the late, Tim Keller. And in it, Keller recounted a time when a woman who had been coming to his church, had started to hear for the first time that she could be accepted by god not on the basis of her behavior, but by god sheer grace. And she said this was a scary idea, a scary idea. And he asked her what was so scary about free, unmerited grace.

And she said this in reply. If I was saved by my good works, then there would be a limit to what god could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with rights. I would have done my duty, and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if it is really true that I am a sinner saved by sheer grace, at god's infinite cost, then there's nothing he cannot ask of me.

She knew that if Jesus really had done this for her, if you really had taken on the curse. If he really had been forsaken by god completely dealing with her sin, then she was not her own. She was bought with a price, and that changes everything. Maybe we never get over what it costs to bring us home. Never forget that we'd been bought with a price that we are not our own.

Secondly, we see in this passage verse 51 and fifth to 53, Christ's death defeated sin and death. What's the answer? It's this question that that Jesus cries out. What's the answer? We thought a little bit about that already, but what else does the text say?

Verse 51, at that moment, at that moment immediately. There's an immediacy of what happens next and the rhythm of the verse emphasizes that. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in 2 from top to bottom. The air shook, the rocks split, and the tombs broke open. Wow.

There's mini series of miracles that follows. Think of how much happens in just the short, but, just short sentence. God is going to show the cosmos. What is his death achieved? A death bound with iron?

Well, notice, firstly, that the temple curtain was torn. In 2 from top to bottom. This finely woven barrier that hung around the heart of the house of worship. It's a shield sinners from from the presence of a holy god guarding the entrance to the holiest place the holiest, the holy of holies. This was the curtain of curtains.

It was a a permanent guardian to this dwelling place of god. And a permanent reminder that full and unmediated access to god's presence was closed. Closed because of sin. And under the old covenant, god's dwelling place could only be approached by Israel's representative. The 1 man, the high priest, who once a year on the day of atonement, after a cleansing ritual, after the incense, after the blood, after the sacrifices, only then could he attempt access.

And given the role this curtain played in in the ceremonial system, it was purposefully thick. Okay? It was hands width thick. 60 feet tall. 30 feet wide.

This was a huge, huge thing and it was ripped into. Not sure if you've ever tried to rip even just the carpet. It's not not an easy task. And we're told it was ripped from top to bottom. Can you imagine the sound of that?

This is incredible. And noah's ark sized illustration, visual aid, and it's like a megaphone shout in the separation is no longer. The separation is no longer. Christ's sacrifice achieved, unrestricted access to god's presence. And this would have been completely mind blowing for Maddie's readers.

I've readied 1, with any understanding of of god's holiness, and any understanding of how dangerous it was to have unmediated access. This was Chernobyl radiation type stuff. So so the priests who dedicated to the ceremonial laws, and to whom the temple was everything that well. It's just been turned upside down. The way of salvation is open.

The boundary between god and man removed. Circificial system gone. No more barrier. No more separation. Darkness lifted.

No 1 and no thing, between those who claim the name of Christ and god. What assurance? We need to know this. That Christ death actually made way for life. That no matter how much I've messed up, Christ died for that.

No matter the sin. His payment was sin for sin was bigger. His mercies are more. He's exactly the savior we need. How much more clear could it be that the old way is gone?

We've been enjoying that in Hebrews, haven't we? And therefore, there is never a reason to wonder if if we prayed enough. If we've read our bible enough, If we've done enough, only by the holy 1 dying could we be forgiven? Forgiven from sin and have access to the life giver. And this is illustrated beautifully in the rest of the day The air's shaking.

The rocks are cracking. The tombs are bursting open. They can't stay closed. And as Pete said last week, why would we expect anything different? And now did did you notice Matt?

He fast forwards the future here and gives us a bit of a spoiler. He talks about what happens after Jesus' resurrection. Jesus hasn't been buried yet, and yet he's talking about the resurrection. Dry bones rise up. Why is he doing this?

It's very unlike Matthew. Well, he's desperate for us to know Jesus' death actually achieved a conquering of sin, the temple curtain tall, and it actually achieved a conquering of death. Jesus rose again, and many others after him. We don't know who these people are. Don't know what they did or how many of them there are, but we know they're raised.

It wasn't destroyed by the worst of deaths as Apollo is said to have said. But rather the worst of deaths, destroyed death, what a comfort for us this is, that this is a resurrecting death. There are people in this room who I know even now are confronting the reality of death. Death for loved 1. Jeez defeated death.

Through his resurrection hope. When I first moved to London, I did what many other, people do who moved to London and bought a road bike. You know where this is going already, don't you? And I love this thing. Oh, I loved it.

And I really felt like I knew it like the back of my hands, the way I could get through the gears, the speeds I could hit in Richmond Park. Oh, I loved it. But then I experienced what many of the London has experienced, you know, where this is going. I go to, commute back home, and my bike is not where I left it. It had been stolen in Howard Smith in broad daylight.

Now imagine I told you that the Met Police called me up and said, we've got your crime report. And, we've reviewed the CCTV and we think we know we we've we think we've found the guy, and we're gonna bring him to justice under the full weight of the law. Now what I would say to that is firstly, wow. That's amazing. But I would say that's good, but I want my bike back.

Christ didn't just come to pay the penalty for sin so that we're acquitted just to free us from sin. He did so to bring us back to god to live in enjoyment of his presence forever. And that is to his glory. Imagine I did get the bike back. Wouldn't I treasure it?

Wouldn't I triple lock that thing? Wouldn't I protect it and enjoy it? Wow. Christ's death, defeated sin and death. We've been saved to know god and commune with god and enjoy god forever.

We thought about this this morning too. When we treasure the access Christ bought by enjoying god, we glorify him. We glorify him. That leads me to my final point. Versus 40 54 to 56.

Christ death brings new birth. We're shown, symbolically and visually what Christ's crucifixion achieved here. Matthew wants us to to to know that these events, what they lead to in people's lives. Luther said that the blood of Christ awakens dead bodies, which we just saw, but also sinners souls. Best 54, when the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake, and all that had happened, they were terrified and exclaimed surely this was the son of god.

I find it interesting that the centurion was terrified. This was a man who had just crucified someone. Both the darkness and the earthquakes stirred in him a holy fear, which led to him exclaiming surely. He was the son of god. A gentile man.

Coming to the hope of the nations, just as Psalm 22 says would happen. That Psalm ends with a victorious statement that, the nations would worship the suffering king. The spirit of god takes the word of god and brings it into minds and hearts who declare that Jesus Christ as lord. Notice the Jewish phrase here. The the word of god that he uses is a gentile to describe Jesus.

He is the son of god. That very last phrase that the religious elite say in this chapter. The irony here. Who is it? Who is it that is first to enter through the torn veil?

Who is it? Who gets to have that privilege of communing with god and enjoy unmediated access in his presence. Is it the chief priests? Is it the teachers of the law who knew the law? Is it the elders?

Could it would it be the high priest? Who would dare to enter on a day that wasn't the day of atonement? No. God wants the very people who had driven the nails in Jesus' hands. Who had mocked them, spat on him.

Beat in. What hope for the worst of sinners, enemies of god. Amazing. Every single believer in Jesus is a miracle. Every single 1.

Dead in our transgressions and sins, yet recipients of free grace. No 1 is too far gone. What confidence this gives us? I thought I brought 1 up, but, oh, there it is. These passion for life booklets I was I was I was reflecting on the confidence that this gives us in this month of passion for life that as the word of god goes out, the spirit of god takes that and changes lives.

We we distributed 56 thousands of these. We we we we hope and pray, through the through the borough, and they're really excellent. I don't know if you've you've you've had had time to to read them but in them, you find 4 testimonies of Kingston residents. Firstly, you have Yasmin, raised in a loving, she says, but deeply broken atheist home, shaped by addiction, abuse and instability. And her life spiraled out of control, and she said she was barely holding on.

A friend prayed for her. And she said she felt the love of god. The next morning, she goes and finds a church, Christchurch servicing. And she says I heard the Christian good news, repented, and gave my life to Jesus that morning. And then you got Greg, who opens up his story by saying when I was 18, my dodgy waist cobs up with me.

I was dragged by a car along the road until I let go. And he talks about the impact that life had on him until he asked. His mom, I think it was, to go along to Hope Chair. She heard the gospel. His life is changed by the love of Jesus.

Then Cara, who grew up going to church, goes off to university. The first Sunday, goes along. Here's about, the the the potential to have a personal relationship with with god, and she says she prayed that Jesus would forgive me and help me follow him that morning. And then our very own Sarah Garcia. Many of us had her testimony at her baptism last year, born into a Hindu home.

Pregnant at 17 migrated to the UK, abusive relationships, alcoholism, found cornerstone, came to know Jesus' love and power, and the power is death and resurrection. Real people. Real mess. Real sin, but a real savior. No delusions.

So when you're tempted to think, people around you are too too far gone. You know, maybe you've shared the gospel with them and think, oh, they're in so deep. They're in so deep. The Centurion was in deep. Yasmin, Greg, Kara, Sarah.

No. No. Was it too far gone? We started with, those pitiful words described in the vain delusions of the Christian. Believing and following a god who died in delusion, a god who was who who was destroyed by the worst of deaths, a death bound with iron.

Is that what it was? The curtain says otherwise. The tombs say otherwise. The centurion says otherwise, the testimony of these Kingston residents says otherwise. Jesus was forsaken by god, faced the judgment of sin deserved, but his death shattered the curse of sin and opened the door to life with god for all who believe.

Let's pray. Help me understand it. Help me take it in. What it costs for you, the holy 1, to bear away my sin. Heavenly father we thank you so much for the gospel of free, unmerited grace.

For what it cost, for sin to be dealt with. We thank you, Jesus, for your submission to the father's will, for your willingness, for your love for us, and we pray that we would take this. We would take this offer, that we would lay our lives down, that we would live for you in in boldness and confidence in in your sacrifice for us. That we would live in hope of future resurrection and that we would be hopeful for the power of your words. We thank you for this month of of passion for life and we pray that many would come to know you.

That you would save souls this month. Give us confidence that you will do that in Jesus' name, amen.