10.23.22 - Mark 15:33-41

Open your Bibles to Mark 15:33-41. •We’re continuing our study of the Gospel of Mark.  •This morning we come to read of the final three hours of Christ’s crucifixion.  •In the text before us, we will read Mark’s account of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is the climax of redemptive history.  •Everything has pointed to and waited for this moment as our Lord hangs on the tree.  •Our Lord suffers and gives His life as an atonement to save sinners from the wrath of God.  •This was planned from eternity and covenanted within God Himself.  •It was promised first to Adam and Eve after the Fall.  •It was promised to God’s People through the prophets of the Old Testament.  •It was pictured throughout the OT and it’s offices and systems and laws and sacrifices.  •Everything has worked for and toward this moment.  •And now it’s here: Our Lord hangs upon a Cross and makes atonement for sinners.  In this text, our salvation is revealed: •The Lamb of God is sacrificed. •God visits the Cross in divine justice and wrath.  •The Son of God cries out in God-forsakenness as He bears our sin.  •The Savior gives His life willingly.  •The curtain of the Temple is torn in two.  •And a Roman soldier confesses the truth about Jesus.  This text reveals the darkness of the Cross.  •It reveals that our Lord suffered the wrath of a holy God in the place of sinners.  •But through the darkness, the light of our salvation shines forth in the bleeding wounds of the Savior.  Brothers and sisters, all of Scripture is holy. But as we read the passage before us, we are keenly aware that we are standing on holy ground.  •As you sit under the ministry of the Word this morning, allow yourself to be awestruck at the wonder of the Cross of Christ.  •Hear these old truths with fresh ears. And allow the goodness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to wash over you once again.  •And, by God’s grace, we will leave here marveling at and rejoicing in the finished work of our Savior.  •May God bless us this morning as we hear His voice speaking through His Word.  If you would, and are able, please stand with me for the reading of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God.  Mark 15:33-41 [33] And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.  [34] And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  [35] And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”  [36] And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.”  [37] And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.  [38] And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  [39] And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” [40] There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.  [41] When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. (PRAY) Our Heavenly Father,  We come to you now in need. We always come to you in need. We are needy sinners.  But God, we come to ask you for help to understand, believe, and profit from the ministry of your Word.  We cannot accomplish these things ourselves. You must help us.  And we know that you promise to bless us with yourself as we humble ourselves before your Word.  And so, we ask that you would do what you’ve promised to do. Keep your promise to us and bless us.  Show us your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Show us your glory displayed in His Cross.  Comfort us with His suffering. Give us life by His death. Sanctify us as we look to Him in faith.  Glorify yourself in us today by the mighty working of your Spirit through your holy Word.  We ask these things in Jesus’ Name and for His sake.  Amen.  1.) Let’s go ahead and dive into our text: [33] And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.  •The sixth hour, according to Jewish time reckoning, was noon. (The clock started at 6AM.) •And from noon until 3PM a thick, heavy darkness came over the whole land. How far it went, we don’t know. But it had to have at least covered Jerusalem, where this was all occurring.  This was not a solar eclipse.  •Passover happened during a full moon. A solar eclipse can only happen during a new moon.  •More than that, an eclipse only lasts for a few minutes. This darkness lasted for THREE HOURS.  •And IT IS NOON. The sun is at it’s highest point in the sky as our Lord hangs on His cross.  •And then, the sun simply goes dark. The sky goes dark throughout the whole land.  What is this?  •This is a divine sign. God has done this. This is unnatural. God is doing something within the created order that is meant to signal something to those present.  •God is doing something here. The suffering and impending death of Jesus is significant.  •God wants us to see that this is no normal death. Jesus is not some common criminal on a Roman cross.  •There is something bigger going on here. And we would do well to pay attention to the darkness the has descended upon the land.  Darkness is symbolic in the OT. It is symbolic of God’s wrath.  •The Ninth Plague that God sent upon Egypt was darkness over the land. Exodus 10:22 says, “…and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.” •In Isaiah 10:9-10 God is declaring judgment upon Babylon and says, “Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.” •In Amos 5:20 the Day of the LORD, the day of God’s judgment is being spoken of. And Amos says, “Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?” •Jesus Himself spoke of the wrath of God in Hell as a place of “outer darkness.” •God’s judgment is spoken of as a time of darkness. And sometimes darkness itself was a literal judgment of God.  Taking all of this together we see that darkness is an emblem of the fierce judgment and wrath of God.  •And darkness has descended upon the land as our Lord hangs on the Cross.  •God is signaling to everyone what is happening to Jesus in this moment: Jesus is experiencing the judgment of Almighty God.  •God has turned His face away from Jesus, so to speak. The light of God’s grace and kindness has turned away from the Lord Jesus.  •Contrary to popular belief, the darkness did not signify the absence of God. Rather, it signified His presence.  •But it is a presence of judgment and wrath. It is His holy and terrifying presence.  •In the words of John MacArthur, God has visited Calvary. God has descended upon the Cross to execute judgment and justice on His only begotten Son.  But why? Why is God doing this? Why is God doing this to His sinless Son? •Jesus is the One whom God declared, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” So why has God visited His perfect, sinless, Son in wrath? •The answer: Because He who knew no sin has been made sin for us. (2 Corinthians 5:21) •Because the Lamb of God has had the sins of all who ever did or ever would believe on Him placed upon Himself.  •Because the righteous One has been made guilty for the sins of His People.  •AND THE SIN MUST BE PAID FOR.  God is holy.  •He is a righteous hater of sin. He is the righteous judge who will by no means clear the guilty.  •Sin incurs a debt of judgment and punishment and damnation from God. And God is holy. He will not look the other way.  •Hear me: Our God will not compromise His holiness. He cannot. For to do that would change God. And He is the unchangeably holy God.  •And so there must be a payment for sin. Justice must be served. Divine justice must have it’s vengeance.  •And Jesus has come to “give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).  •He has come to suffer divine justice on behalf of those who would believe on Him.  •And now the payment is being made. Justice is being served. Divine punishment is being poured out. The wrath of God is being borne by the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Apostle Paul explains the work of Christ at the Cross most clearly in Romans 3.  •And there we read this:  “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:23-25a) •Here the Apostle tells us that Jesus was put forward as a PROPITIATION by His blood.  •“By His blood” refers to His Crosswork where He suffered, bled, and died.  •And Paul says that His Cross, what Jesus did on the Cross, was a propitiatory work.  To “propitiate” means to satisfy wrath and make satisfaction.  •To “propitiate” is to take make peace with God by means of a sacrifice.  •And here the Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus was the propitiation for sin.  •That is, at the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ bore the wrath of God in the place of sinners. And in doing so, He TOOK AWAY the wrath of God for those who trust in Him.  •He made peace between God and sinners at the Cross.  •He bore the justice of God that was due to sinners at the Cross.  •And He made a full payment for sin that takes away God’s wrath for those who believe.  Jesus had spoken of a cup that He must drink.  •It was the cup of God’s wrath.  •And Paul tells us that at the Cross, Jesus drank the cup down to the dregs.  •He drank and drank until there was nothing left in that awful cup for us.  •We could put it this way: God EXHAUSTED His wrath on Christ. And because Christ has suffered it in our place, there is NO WRATH LEFT for those who trust in Jesus.  And because God’s justice has been satisfied, God now shows MERCY to those who come to Him through faith in Jesus.  •God’s mercy was purchased at the Cross. Mercy for us.  •Mercy is NOT GIVING YOU WHAT YOU DESERVE.  •And because Christ has taken the punishment of God in our place, we do not have to ever suffer it.  •Our God can JUSTLY be merciful to those who believe because of what Jesus did on the Cross.  •Because the darkness of God’s wrath descended upon Christ, the light of His mercy can shine brightly on those who believe.  And now, because of what Jesus has done at the Cross, Paul goes on to say,  “This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:25b-26) •God is both JUST and the JUSTIFIER.  •God has not turned away His justice and holiness. He has kept both intact.  •But because of Christ’s work, He can also be the justifier, the one who declares sinners to be righteous in His sight, because Jesus has taken away their sin by paying for it.  •It has been famously and rightly said that at the Cross, justice and mercy kiss one another.  Let me say this another way from another text: •Exodus 34:6-7 says, The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousand, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” •This presents a problem, doesn’t it?  •God will by no means clear the guilty.  •But He will forgive iniquity and transgression and sin.  •HOW? How is this possible?  •THE CROSS! (Even under the Old Covenant, the Cross of Christ was in view.) God doesn’t clear the guilty.  •God doesn’t sweep our sin under the rung and act like it didn’t happen.  •He doesn’t wink at our sin and “give us a pass.”  •He doesn’t forget His justice in order to show us mercy and forgive us.  •He can’t do that. He is the unchanging God.  But I’ll tell you what He does do: •He lays our sin upon Christ and judges Him in our place at the Cross.  •He condemns sin and exacts justice and punishment and vengeance for our sins on Jesus Christ in our place.  •And by His suffering and death, we receive the forgiveness of sins promised to those who trust in Him.  At the Cross, God saved us from Himself, by Himself, for Himself.  •He saved us from His judgment and wrath, through His Son, so that we would be forgiven and brought into fellowship with Him forever.  •The three hours of darkness happened because this was all happening to our Lord at the Cross.  •And God wants us to see it. Because it was happening FOR US AND FOR OUR SALVATION. 2.) And Jesus is making atonement for sinners, we hear His cry from the Cross:  [34] And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  •This had to be a bone-chilling thing to hear.  •Jesus screams from the Cross. He cries out in utter agony and despair in this moment.  •He bellows from the depths of His human soul, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus is quoting from Psalm 22.  •This is a Psalm of David that, like the other psalms, finds it’s fulfillment and fullest expression in Jesus Christ.  •This psalm speaks of the Righteous Sufferer. The One who had done no wrong but is suffering horribly.  •The One who had done no wrong Himself but has been abandoned by God.  •And Jesus is applying this Psalm to Himself, because IT IS ABOUT HIM. Particularly the opening lines of God-forsakenness.  •(The whole Psalm applies to Him. We’ll come back to this later.) But see this: In His human nature, Jesus is being utterly abandoned by God.  •God has hidden the light of His face from Jesus ENTIRELY.  •And nobody alive has ever endured this.  •Consider this: All mercy, all comfort, all goodness, all blessedness that comes from God is GONE from Jesus in this moment.  •Jesus is shown NOT AN OUNCE of kindness from God.  •Let me put this as clearly as I can. And maybe it will shock you: At the Cross, God was UTTERLY MERCILESS to Jesus.  Again, nobody alive has ever experienced this.  •All of us experience some extent of mercy and kindness and grace from God every moment of our lives. (Even the most wicked person on earth.) •But not Jesus. He is God-forsaken at the Cross.  •Isaiah 59:2 says, “but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” •And in His work of atonement, Jesus is experiencing the most extreme version of this.  •He who had done no wrong, but only lived for the glory of God is now being forsaken by God because He has become sin for us.  •He who has had perfect fellowship with God is now experiencing being cut off from fellowship with God.  Even the breath that God allows to come into Jesus’ lungs is but to continue the torment of divine punishment.  •Not even His continued living is a mercy.  •It is all a means to continue the execution of divine justice.  •Again, our Lord is forsaken on the Cross.  Brothers and sisters, this is Hell.  •God-forsakenness is Hell.  •I personally think that the descriptions of Hell given in Scripture are metaphorical.  •And metaphors always point to something greater than themselves.  •Eternal burning, a bottomless pit, being cast away from God, outer darkness, a lake of fire, weeping and gnashing of teeth, all of these are emblematic of being forsaken by God.  •And being God-forsaken is WORSE than the descriptors. (How? I don’t know. And I don’t want to know.) NOTE: Don’t misunderstand me.  •Hell is a real place. Where unsaved people really go. And they really go there for all eternity.  •It just must be worse than the descriptors given in Scripture.  •To be truly, really, and fully God-forsaken is so horrible, dreadful, painful, and awful that we cannot fathom it.  •And that’s why the metaphors are used in Scripture. And that’s why we rightly use them in conversation about the horrors of Hell.  I say all of this to reiterate a point to you: •In His cry of forsakenness, we are reminded that Jesus is truly absorbing the punishment due to sinners.  •In a very literal way, Jesus suffers Hell in our place.  •How exactly this worked, I don’t pretend to know. But this is the teaching of the Word of God.  •Jesus feels the guilt and suffers the true punishment for sin as if He had committed the sin Himself.  •And this is why He cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 3.) And it’s at this point that some of the bystanders come into play again: [35] And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”  [36] And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.”  They either misunderstood His cry or desired to mock Him some more.  •And so, they gave Him a drink of vinegar wine to make Him more alert.  •And with this drink, our Lord’s mouth was wetted so that He might cry aloud a final time before giving up His spirit.  4.) And that leads us to to v37:  [37] And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.  •Mark doesn’t tell us what Jesus cried out before dying. So we have to look to Luke 23:46 and John 19:30 to hear what He said.  •And in Luke we read, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” •And in John we read, “It is finished.” Now, we don’t know the order that Jesus spoke these words. But we do know that two sentences are His last words from the Cross.  •It’s just an opinion, but I think that His final words are in John 19:30. “It is finished.” •But even if I’m wrong, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that He said both sentences.  •So I want to focus on the cry of Christ in John 19:30.  What we translated into three words (“It is finished”) is actually one word in the original.  •And, to paraphrase Spurgeon, in one drop of language there is eternity of glory.  •Jesus cries out with a loud voice, “It is finished.”  •But what was finished? His suffering was finished.  •Every prophecy about His suffering and death was fulfilled.  •His work of redemption that He had come to do was fulfilled.  •He had accomplished the will of God. He had achieved the purpose for which He came into the world.  Atonement had been made.  •God’s wrath had been satisfied.  •The propitiation that saves sinners had been made.  You know, we’ve found instances in ancient documents where the word Jesus cried out was also used.  •And they are transaction documents. They’re essentially receipts.  •And the word means “PAID IN FULL.” •The transaction is over. It is finished. It is accomplished. The deal is done. The owing party has paid. And the one owed is satisfied with the payment.  Jesus says, “IT IS FINISHED! Sin is paid for. It’s over. It’s done. Everything is accomplished. God is satisfied in what I HAVE DONE FOR YOU!” •This is the most glorious thing that I can declare to you: Your Lord says, “It is finished.” •For those who trust in Christ, your salvation is finished. It is accomplished. It’s a done deal.   •There is nothing more to be done. There is nothing for you to add to His work. IT IS FINISHED! •If you needed to add to His work in ANY WAY, He could not have rightly said, “It is finished.” •But indeed, He said it. And He is no liar. He is the sinless Son of God.  If it were not finished, He would’ve said, “It’s mainly finished. But there are some things you need to do to really finish the job.” •BLASPHEMY! •Jesus said, “It is finished” because IT IS! •For all who come to Him in faith, rest assured, you are saved.  •There are no good works you need to do. There is no atonement you need to make. There is no satisfaction you need to render to God.  •JESUS HAS DONE IT! He has done it all! •You need only look to Him in faith, believing that He has accomplished your salvation! And He will save you! Charles Spurgeon once said,  “Take comfort in this—the redemption of Christ’s Church is perfected. Not another penny need be paid for her full release. Those who He bought with blood are forever clear of all charges, paid for to the utmost.  All those overwhelming debts that would have sunk us to the lowest Hell have been discharged, and they who believe in Christ will appear with boldness before the throne of God itself.” •Amen.  •Our Lord cried out, “It is finished.” And then He willingly gave up His spirit and died.  5.) Now we come to the results of His death.  •Mark records that something amazing, another divine sign, happened as Jesus died on the Cross.  •[38] And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  •The curtain of the Temple. The huge, thick, tall curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place was torn in two from top to bottom.  The Holy of Holies was God’s throne room in the Temple.  •It’s where God promised that His peculiar presence would be with His People under the Old Covenant.  •The curtain, then was as close as a person could ordinarily get to God’s presence.  •But even at that, only priests could get that close.  •The only time a human being could get closer to God’s presence was once a year on the Day of Atonement when the High Priest would go behind the curtain and sprinkle blood to cover the sins of the people.  But now the curtain is torn in two.  •Matthew 27 tells us that there was a great earthquake at this time as well.  •So the ground shakes and the curtain is torn. And Mark tells us that it was torn from TOP TO BOTTOM.  •What does all of this mean?  •Well, no human being can cause an earthquake. And no human being was on a ladder in the Holy Place to tear the curtain when Jesus died.  •This means that THIS WAS AN ACT OF GOD.  •God tore the curtain from top to bottom. From Heaven, as it were, God reached down and ripped the curtain in two.  •And He did this to signify some things to us. He did this to signify some of the results of Christ’s work on the Cross.  There are many things that the tearing of the curtain speak to us.  •But I’m only going to point out two of them this morning: 1. There are no more sacrifices ever to be offered again in that Temple.  •God Himself tore the curtain because He had departed from that place.  •He no longer desired the blood of animals to be shed to cover sin. He no longer would be present in the Holy of Holies as the High Priest sprinkled blood before Him to cover sin.  •Why? Because Jesus Christ has offered the full and final sacrifice that TAKES AWAY SIN.  The Jewish sacrificial system was dead the moment that Jesus died.  •No more sacrifices for sin were required. They were obsolete.  •More than that, to offer another sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins was now blasphemy is the eyes of God. (“It is finished,” remember?) The Great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, Jesus Christ, had offered the final sacrifice for sin.  •As the Author of Hebrews explains, “He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for His own sins and then for those of the people, since He did this once for all when He offered up Himself.” (7:27) •Again, we read, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” (9:11-12) •And again, we read, “And ever 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.” (10:11-4) Even before His resurrection from the dead, in the tearing of the curtain, God put His “Amen” to Jesus’ words, “It is finished.” •No more sacrifices for sin.  •Jesus has secured an eternal redemption for those who believe in Him.  •Jesus has, by a single offering, perfected His saints and made them CLEAN in the eyes of God.  •In the tearing of the curtain, see a sure sign that God has accepted the sacrifice of Christ in your place.  •The blood of the Lamb of God has been in the Holy of Holies and you are forgiven.  2. The work of Christ has granted us access to God.  •Direct access to God through Christ belongs to us.  •The curtain was a barrier. It represented the separation of God from sinners.  •But now the curtain is torn. The barrier is gone. There is a path of entrance into the presence of God.  The Lord Jesus Christ has torn down every barrier that once kept us from God.  •Our sin that kept us from fellowship with God has been taken from us.  •The sin that left us open to the judgment, wrath, and condemnation of God, has been taken away by the blood of Christ. And we now have fellowship with God.  •But catch this: It’s only through Christ. It’s only through the Mediation of the Great High Priest that we have communion and friendship and access to God.  •But for those of us who believe, IT IS OURS! We are now children of the God we once were enemies of.  •We are now His special possession. We are His. And He is ours.  •We can now cry out to Him. We can be comforted by Him. We can call Him our Father.  •All of His blessings are now ours because we have been brought into His presence by Christ.  •And He desires to be near to us. He loves us.  •He loved us before. And that’s why Christ died for us.  •But now, we have the freedom of access to our God and Father who has redeemed us in Christ.  There is no more separation, no more estrangement, no more fear of wrath, no more condemnation.  •The curtain has been torn. And God is now our God through faith in Jesus Christ.  •We can KNOW HIM now. Once we couldn’t. But now we can. In a profound, intimate way, we know God through Christ.  •Because Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We can now say “God is MY God. And He has accepted me in Christ.” The curtain has been torn.  •And God speaks a glorious word to His People in it.  6.) Now we come to the confession of the Centurion at the Cross: [39] And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” •I think that this Roman soldier was converted at the Cross. He confessed that Jesus is the Son of God.  •Now, did he fully understand everything? No. But I think his confession could’ve been just as sincere as Peter’s was earlier in Jesus’ ministry. (True and real. But still needing more to be given later in the resurrection of Christ.)  Who knows what all this soldier had seen and heard? •He could’ve been privy to much information. After all, he was the leader of Jesus’ execution squad. (Centurion oversaw 100 soldiers. He oversaw the crucifixion of Jesus.) •Maybe he had heard of what Jesus taught and did in Jerusalem.  •No doubt he heard the accusations of the Jews against Jesus: That Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and King of the Jews.  •He saw how Pilate had declared Jesus to be innocent of all charges.  •He had witnessed how Jesus didn’t curse or rail at those crucifying Him but had accepted His death.  •He had seen how Jesus ministered to one of the men crucified with Him and told him, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” •He had seen how Jesus had prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” •He had seen how the sky went black for three hours.  •He had seen how Jesus didn’t slowly die, but had energy enough to cry out loudly and then die moments later. (Not normal or possible for crucifixion victims choking to death.) •He had heard how Jesus entrusted Himself to God at the Cross before He willingly gave up His spirit.  •He had felt the earth quake at the death of Christ.  And it’s in light of all this that a profound realization occurs to this Roman soldier: “Truly, this was the Son of God!” •Again, no doubt this man would need much teaching. Just like the Apostles did after the resurrection of Christ.  •But I see no reason to doubt that He came to true faith in Christ as he saw Jesus die.  •Church tradition even says that this man was converted that day.  He saw that there was something different in Jesus.  •There was something different about His death.  •He didn’t do anything deserving of death. But died willingly.  •There was something significant to what had just occurred. His death had meaning. God was saying something here.  •Jesus was no ordinary man. Not at all. He must be the Son of God.  Brothers and sisters, I want you to see some things things from this: 1. The worst sinners have hope in Christ.  •This man was the leader of the execution squad and oversaw Jesus’ crucifixion.  •And God sovereignly worked faith in this man’s heart.  •Truly, God has mercy on whomever He wills.  •Truly, nobody is beyond the grace of God.  •Salvation is for all who will confess in faith that Jesus is indeed the Son of God.  •There is hope for the worst of the worst. Jesus’ death is powerful to save all who will believe, no matter what they’ve done.  And this is how it always is, isn’t it? •God causes sinners to behold significance in Christ’s death. God causes us to see something different in Jesus as we behold Him crucified for sinners.  •And that’s what He uses to bring us to Christ.  •This man just experienced it literally.  •The Cross of Christ is the birthplace of faith. It is at the Cross that God grants us faith to see Jesus Christ rightly. 2. We learn here something of what it means that Jesus is the Son of God.    •Mark 1:1 tells us that this Gospel is about Jesus the Son of God.  •And now, in His death, we find out what that means: •The Son of God is the Servant of the LORD.  •The Son of God is the One who does the will of Father perfectly, even to death.  •The Son of God is the One with whom the Father is pleased.  •The Son of God is the One who, by the will and foreordination of God, dies as a ransom for sinners.  7.) A final thing I want to point out to you from this text is found in v34. (Go ahead and turn to Psalm 22. I’ll wait.) •There Jesus spoke the first line of Psalm 22.  •And He really did mean it. He was being forsaken by God.  •But I can’t help but to think that He meant more than just to express His anguish of soul.  •I think there is more to it than that.  By quoting the opening verse of the Psalm, Jesus was making reference to the whole Psalm.  •The opening lines of psalms are what they were known by. They served as titles. •Let me ask you this: If I quote “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound…” what do you do? •You think of the rest of that stanza to Amazing Grace.  •If you know the hymn well, you may go on to think of the entirety of the hymn if you had time to meditate on it.  At the Cross, I think Jesus intended to bring the entirety of Psalm 22 to mind for everyone who heard Him. (And especially us who read this text.) •And this isn’t a stretch. The Psalms were the hymnal of the Jews. They knew them. They sung them often.  •And Psalm 22 is a Messianic Psalm that they would’ve been familiar with, especially the religious rulers who were present that day.  Psalm 22 is a psalm of suffering and lament.  •And it prophesies in stunning detail EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO JESUS AT THE CROSS.  •But again, the first half is utter lament sprinkled with faith from the Righteous Sufferer.  •The Messiah speaks of being forsaken by God, mocked by everyone, told that God doesn’t love Him.  •He is pierced in His hands and feet. He is naked. He is thirst. He is surrounded by wild animals that threaten His life. He is in distress and anguish of soul.  But then there is a turnaround in the Psalm.  •In the second half of v21 we read this: “YOU HAVE RESCUED ME FROM THE HORNS OF THE WILD OXEN!” •God rescues the Messiah. Rescues Him from despair, destruction and death. Rescues Him from all His enemies.  •Brothers and sisters, Jesus is expressing faith in v34! •He’s expressing faith that His God-forsakenness won’t be the end for Him.  •Remember, He says, “MY God, MY God…” God is still His God!  •Jesus is full of faith that God will not let Him rot in the grave. His suffering and death will not be the end.  •And it wasn’t! On the Third Day God raised Him from the dead in glory! And there is something else to see. It’s toward the end of Psalm 22. A celebration of the Messiah.  •In vv27 we read, “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.” •And in vv30-31 we read, “Posterity shall serve Him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn, that He has done it.” •These are prophecies of what the Messiah’s suffering would result in: The families of the world would come to know God. And and generations would serve Him and proclaim that HE HAS DONE IT. •Done what? Brought the world to know God.  •The suffering of the Messiah would bring life to the world. It would bring salvation to the earth.  The centurion may have been the firstfruits of this prophecy.  •A Gentile came to confess Jesus because of His work on the Cross.  •And many, many more will follow until Jesus has dominion over the whole world.  •Brothers and sisters, He has done it.  8.) As I come to a close, let me leave you with this: •Rejoice!  •He has done it! Your Savior has done it. It is finished.  •The New Covenant that saves sinners has been inaugurated in the blood of Christ.  •The wrath of God passes over you who believe on Him because it rested upon Him at the Cross.  •The Temple curtain has been torn.  •The Son of God has died and been raised.  •And you are saved in Him.  May God grant each one of us joy in our hearts as we behold the crucified Christ and look forward to the day when all the families of the nations serve Him.  •Amen.