Welcome to the Islands Christian Church podcast.
Subscribe to hear a new episode every week.
Thanks for joining us, Lord, We thank you for letting us worship
today and sing to you. Thank you for the team that
gathered early to make that easy for us.
And we pray now that we'll hear what you have to say to us from
your scriptures as we remember that this is Holy Week, the week
that your son came in triumphantly but was then
arrested in a sham arrest and trial.
And we pray God that we would remember all that he's done for
us right now. In the name of Christ, we pray,
Amen. All right, today we're going to
talk about the cross. And at the end of our time
together, we'll be a celebrating communion.
So if you've been wondering like when's we're going to have
communion at the end of our time together today, something I like
to say often is this, that the gospel message of Jesus Christ
is scandalous, is scandalous. We can be forgiven of all our
wrongdoing, everything we've ever done wrong.
We can be forgiven of that. And at the same time, we can be
given right standing before God because of Jesus's
righteousness. That's scandalous.
It's scandalous. And at the heart of this
scandalous message that you can be forgiven and you can be made
right with God, at the heart of that is a scandalous event.
Jesus dying on the cross was not what anyone who knew him thought
would happen. Jesus died a criminal's death
between two criminals. And while there are multiple
scandalous things that took place around his trial and his
execution, there is one scene that we're going to focus on
today. It's a moment where for those
who were there that day, they would have thought Jesus was
cracking. He was breaking under the
pressure, but in reality he wasn't cracking.
He wasn't breaking under the pressure.
In reality He was holding firm to the mission of His life for
the very reason He was born. So go with me to Matthew chapter
27, verses 45 through 46. Matthew 2745 through 46 here,
Jesus, it's on the cross, nearing the end of his life.
He has survived a beating that most people who received did not
survive. He's nailed, He's bleeding, he's
naked before a crowd of people. And this is what Matthew records
for us from that scene. Matthew 27, 45 through 46.
From noon until 3:00 in the afternoon, darkness came over
all the land. About 3:00 in the afternoon,
Jesus cried out in a loud voice. Eli, Eli Lama Sabachthani, which
means My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
There are three ideas from this text.
We're going to see a cry, a question, and a resolve.
So if you take notes, those are the 3A cry, a question, a
resolve #1A cry. First of all, we see this cry
from Jesus, and the word cry is a sanitized translation for
sure. The Greek word here is not like
a whimper or a cry. This is a shriek.
This is a loud scream. It's the kind of cry.
It's the kind of shriek that everyone there that day would
have noticed, would have looked up and paid attention to.
It's the kind of moment that everyone would have.
It would have burned in their memory.
Have you ever been anywhere heard someone shriek a cry and
you can still remember that sound?
This is what's happening here. This would have burned in their
memory. I want you to notice that
Matthew records the cry in the original Aramaic.
Why would he do that? Why would he tell us?
Eli, Eli Sabakhthani, Lamasabakhthani.
Why would he record the original Aramaic?
What is the language that Jesus spoke?
This is the actual words that came from the cross.
These, this is what he said. This is this is, you know, when
we read the Bible, we'll read Jesus words in English, Matthew
or Luke or John, they're writing them in Koine Greek.
So they're taking Jesus as Aramaic.
They're putting it into Greek and then we're putting it into
English. But this is Matthew saying, I'm
going to give you exactly what he said in the Aramaic.
Why is he doing that? Because there were eyewitnesses
there that day that distinctly remember the shriek, the scream
coming from the cross. And so Matthew says, I'm going
to record it like we all heard it because we all heard it just
like this. Now, if you're a skeptic of
Christianity, maybe you're not a believer in this whole story.
Let me just ask you to think about this.
If you were making up a story about Jesus, if you're making up
a story about a a man who died on the cross, this is not what
you would expect the founder of your made-up religion to say on
the cross. In other words, you would not,
you would not have him say these words.
You, you would have him instead, instead have kind of a hero's
death. You would have him say some
encouraging, some challenging, some courage words there at the
end of his life. I think of all the time of, of,
of the end of Braveheart, you guys, what does he say?
What does he say aloud? Freedom, right?
We all know that, right? Like, that's if you don't know
that. If you haven't seen the movie
Braveheart, is it? You've not seen it?
Wow. Shocked.
Anyway, so at the end of that movie, you know, he's dying and
he's being tortured. In the midst of his torture, all
he has to do is say he'll be loyal to the king, and he won't
say it. Instead, he says freedom, Right?
And it echoes throughout the people.
And they're like, you know, and when you watch the movie, you're
kind of moved with chills. You're like, yeah, OK, so.
But that death is the legend. Just so you know that.
I'm sorry, Did I ruin that for you?
That's a legend. Sorry, John, that's a we don't
actually know what he said. That's made-up.
We would expect if you were making up a legend, you would
have just that kind of death, right?
You would have Jesus on the cross saying freedom.
Instead he says, why God? Why God have you forsaken me?
That's not what you would expect.
And even skeptics of the Bible and skeptics of Christianity
will say this. So if you're a skeptic, this is
something skeptics say. They say that that there is good
reason to believe that this is a genuine authentic recording of
Jesus's death, that this is how it happened because this cry is
recorded in the Scripture. The fact that Matthew would
record this suggested it actually happened this way.
And Jesus cries, why God? Why God?
And this is a cry of desperation and a cry of pain.
He cries out, Why God? Why?
Let me ask you a question. Have you ever cried similar
words? Why?
We have all experienced that moment, and here's Jesus
experiencing his why have you abandoned me moment.
Now here's the thing. Jesus chose these words on
purpose. In other words, this wasn't just
an emotional outburst. This was Jesus choosing words
strategically. He's asking this specific
question for a reason. And that's our second idea this
morning, a question. So we have a cry, and now we
have a question. And what is this question?
My God, My God, why have you forsaken me Now in this question
that Jesus is asking from the cross in all of his pain and his
excruciating death, This is a question he's asking on purpose.
It is not random. It has a reason.
Jesus is not just choosing some random words.
He's actually quoting A Psalm. He's quoting Psalm 22, which is
a Psalm of King David. So David wrote the Psalm.
Now listen to the very first verse of Psalm 22.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
There's Psalm 22 verse one, my God.
So there's Jesus quote. Now what he's doing on the cross
is he's saying these words in Aramaic and everyone who heard
them would have remembered them. And Matthew records them for us.
And Jesus chose them specifically so that we would
know what Psalm 22 says. And listen to the rest of verse
one. Why are you so far from saving
me, so far from my cries of anguish?
David's this is David, King David writing this.
Verses 7 and 8 say all who see me mock me.
They hurl insults, shaking their heads.
He trusts in the Lord. They say, let the Lord rescue
him, let him deliver him, since he delights in him.
Verses 13 through 16 David writes in his Psalm Roaring
lines that tear their prey open, their mouths wide against me.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax. It has melted within me.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks
to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death.
Dogs surround me, a pack of villains and circle me.
They Pierce my hands and my feet.
Verse 18, They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my
garment. This is King David thousands of
years before Jesus is on the cross.
This is King David and he's describing something and what
he's describing is something he's never experienced.
He's describing an execution, but it it's not an execution he
walked through. It's not an execution that he
lived. He was never executed.
Instead, what David is doing is he's being led by the Holy
Spirit in in the inspiration of this poem centuries before
Jesus. And Jesus quotes this Psalm on
purpose in the middle of his excruciating death because it
points to a reality about this death he's experiencing.
This death, according to Psalm, is an execution.
This Psalm 22 is describing an execution, someone who's being
executed. Jesus quotes Psalm 22 on purpose
to say the execution David was singing about, which is a
strange thought thing to write a song about, right?
The execution that David is writing a poem about, that
execution was always pointing to me, because my execution on this
cross is not random, it's not an accident.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David was
foretelling this moment, a moment that he himself did not
live. But I am not living.
So the question why am I being forsaken?
Why am I being mocked? Why am I being torn apart?
Why are my hands and feet pierced?
Why are they gambling for my clothes?
Well, it's a purposeful death. This is a an on purpose
execution. Jesus is dying on the cross for
a reason. If it is indeed an execution,
then an execution is an exercise of judgement.
That's an exercise of justice. No one is executed unless it's
an exercise of just justice. And this is the reason Jesus is
executed. He's executed for justice.
It's judgment. He's suffering the judgment of
God. You remember the little detail
that Matthew said? He said at noon the sky went
dark. Do you guys remember that?
All throughout the Bible, darkness is symbolic of God's
judgment, God's bringing judgement.
God's judgement is falling on Jesus.
That's why he's being forsaken. That's the purpose of his death.
Every execution is happening because of judgement, and this
is God's judgement. Now, if there's judgement on
someone, the assumption is that there's guilt.
Judgment would not come, especially from a perfectly just
God, unless there was guilt. But the reason for this judgment
is not any of Jesus's guilt. The Scriptures tell us that
Jesus was without sin, and yet he's receiving judgment as if he
were guilty. Well then, for whose guilt is he
being judged? For my guilt, judgment has
fallen on Jesus. Judgment and justice is coming
to him for my guilt. And for your guilt.
He's not guilty, but he's experiencing execution as if he
were guilty. I'm guilty and you're guilty.
Now. I know, I know.
This feels uneasy. It this feels uneasy.
We, we don't like the idea of guilt.
Pop culture, pop psychology says you shouldn't feel guilty.
Guilty. Guilt is bad for you.
We don't like the idea of guilt. But listen to me carefully.
If you deny that we have guilt, then you're also denying that
there's any such thing as right and wrong.
So if you say there's no such thing as guilt, I'm not guilty.
You're not guilty. We're just living our lives.
Then you're also saying there's no such thing such things as
right or wrong when you also deny guilt.
So you deny that there's no such thing as right or wrong.
You're like, hey, there's there's no right or wrong.
But you also deny that we ever need forgiveness, that we ever
need someone to forgive us, to restore relationship with us.
Because you've never done anything wrong.
Why would anyone need to forgive you?
But you're also denying repentance.
You're saying, well, I'm not guilty.
I've never done anything wrong because I'm not guilty, then
there's no need to change. So this feeling of like, I don't
think there's a such thing as guilt and I don't think people
should feel guilty is to say that there's no right or wrong,
is to say there's no such thing as forgiveness and to say
there's no reason to ever change, that no one should ever
change. So if you say there's no guilt,
if you deny that guilt exists, then whatever you do is neither
bad nor good, is simply a choice.
That's it. If someone hurts you, then you
are simply suffering because of their choices.
They are not guilty and you are not a victim.
This is the reality. If you say there's no such thing
as guilt, I'm not guilty. People aren't guilty.
The people are just people. This is not what the scriptures
teach and we know that. This is not how the world works.
We know there is right and wrong and when we do what's wrong, do
you agree with this? When we do what's wrong, we feel
it. Do you ever notice that?
Like you feel it? And if you tell a little white
lie, as soon as it comes out of your mouth, it's kind of like
you lose your cool with somebody 1015 minutes later.
You're like, when we do wrong, we feel it.
Now what we what we struggle with to believe is that all
guilt requires there to be judgment.
And you know that you believe that because if someone had done
something to hurt you, something terrible, while you would
forgive them because Christ compels you to, you would still
would like the justice system to work on your behalf to bring
judgment against their law breaking.
But I always say about justice and judgment, you know, justice
for thee, but not for me. But that's not how it works.
If we're all guilty, then we're all subject to judgment.
And I have guilt and you have guilt.
Everyone has guilt. And the Bible teaches the wages
of our guilt or the payment for our guilt is death.
And that's not just physical death, that's separation from
God. But God in his infinite mercy
and his grace placed all the judgement for my guilt and for
your guilt on to Jesus. And so when Jesus refers to
Psalm 22, a clear description of an execution, this is what he is
saying. He's saying this is not an
accident or meaningless death. This is judgment from God placed
on me on your behalf. This is an execution.
It's not one I deserve, but it's what I'm taking.
He's not the one who's guilty, but he remains on the cross and
he fulfills the calling of his life.
He stays. And that's our third idea, a
resolve. So we have a cry, a question and
a resolve. The words my God, my God,
they're an indication of something.
You see, when God made covenant with his people, he said I will
be your God and you will be my people.
In other words, now you can refer to me, the creator of
heaven and earth, as. My God, this is covenant
language that Jesus is using. You can refer to the creator of
the world as my God. And so when Jesus uses my God,
he's using covenant language. So these two words, my God, also
show us something else. Not only is it covenant
language, but it shows us the real pain of the cross.
And it was deeper than the nails and deeper than the crown of
thorns, and deeper than the beating He took before He was
placed on that cross. The words My God, my God, show
us the real pain of the cross. And I'll be completely frank
with you, this is about the only pain on the cross that we can
relate with just a little. We can relate with the pain of
my God, my God, just a little. Because the worst pain of the
cross that we all tend to forget as we focus on the crucifixion
of Jesus, the worst pain of the cross was not the beating, not
the blood, not the nails. The worst pain was relational.
It was relational. You see, when you lose someone
you love, when someone who's dear to you is taken from you,
you know that relational pain and Jesus is experiencing on the
cross separation from his heavenly Father.
Now that sounds like, well, OK, but hold on.
Listen to what John, the John, the Gospel writer in the Gospel
of John chapter one, verse 18, Listen to what he says.
I'm not going to read it word for word, but he tells us that
that Jesus is the only one who has seen God because he is at
the Father's side. And what the old King James
Version says is that he is in the bosom of the Father and
that's for all eternity. You can't say he, you can't say
he was. He just is.
For all eternity, Jesus and the Father had been connected.
That's what John is describing. This is the nature of their
relationship between the Father and the Son.
For all eternity they were in constant relationship, constant
companionship with each other. And He has been in an eternal
relationship with His Father. And now on the cross that's
being torn apart because God made him who had no sin to be
sin. For us, this is the excruciating
pain. And we know the confusion that
comes with relational pain. We know that.
We know the heartache that comes with relational pain.
And here is what? Here is Jesus in the midst of
that pain, Yet He remains faithful to his Father.
He is resolved in the midst of his confusion, in the midst of
the deep relational pain where He goes, Father, why are you
abandoning me? He stays resolved on the cross.
He does not abandon His mission. He does not call down the angels
to rescue Him. He does not just get off the
cross, which He had the power to do that.
No, instead He showed perfect obedience to the Father even in
the midst of the pain that He was experiencing.
He was obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Why would Jesus do this? Why would He subject Himself to
the pain of separation from God? Why would he have the resolve to
walk through this? Why would he be forsaken?
Why would he have his hands and his feet pierced?
Why would he die as a guilty man when he in fact knew no sin?
The answer is quite simple, But friend, deeply personal for you.
He did this for you. He did this for me, He did this
for you. Jesus gave up His eternal
connection with His Father on the cross so that you could have
an eternal connection with your heavenly Father, your Creator,
for all eternity. He suffered the just judgement
for my guilt and your guilt for my sin and your sin.
And He did this on your behalf. And here's the thing that we
don't realize is we could not have even done it for ourselves
because the payment for our sin is death, which is separation
from God. But God demonstrated His own
love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us. For whom did he do this?
For me and for you. I know these things can feel
legendary and almost fantastical, but please, will
you acknowledge that you're Can we?
Can we acknowledge that we have guilt?
Can we all acknowledge that we're not perfect?
Can we all acknowledge that we've done something wrong?
I can and then can we ask the question if if I've done
something wrong, do I deserve just judgement?
And yes I do. Then once you please place your
faith in this simple truth, God loves you and sent his Son to
suffer and die for you personally.
Jesus Christ is Lord crucified for my sin and your sin.
Now listen to me. Once you place your faith in
this simple truth, you don't have to have all the answers
figured out. Like you don't have to know how
it all works. You just have to acknowledge
that you're guilty, that you're not perfect, and I feel like
most of us are there. And then we just simply have to
accept the free gift of Jesus's death through faith.
He's not waiting on you to get holy enough or get good enough
or go to church enough. He's not.
He's done this for you. Knowing how broken we are, He
knows we're a mess. Do you ever feel like a mess?
I feel like a mess. He died for us knowing we were a
mess. So if you feel like you're a
mess, that's perfect. That means you acknowledge you
need the Savior. He's not waiting on you to get
holy enough or good enough. He loves you.
He experienced separation from God, so you could have eternal
connection with God. He experienced separation from
God so you could be connected to God for all eternity.
He was forsaken and did not deserve to be, so that we who
deserve to be forsaken shall never be forsaken.
God, we thank you for meeting us in this place this morning.
We thank you for the hope ahead of us as we celebrate Easter,
the resurrection of your son Jesus, your power over death,
your victory over sin and the great.
We thank you in Jesus name and all God's people said Amen guys,
God bless. Have a great week.