Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro*

We are working through a section in our statement of faith that focuses on the person of Jesus Christ.

Again, for review, when we say the person of Jesus Christ, we mean: /undiminished deity and perfect humanity in one person forever./

The portion reads as follows:

/5.

//That Jesus Christ is the Son of God, sent by the Father, begotten by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary; that He lived a sinless and obedient life, suffered and died on the cross vicariously for the sins of those who believe in Him; that God raised Him from the dead, exalted Him both as Lord and Christ, and gave Him the Holy Spirit for His Church.

/

/7.

//That Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and men; through Him and only through Him the believer has access to the Father.

/

We have discussed His humanity and last week we examined His deity.

Today, though Good Friday is a couple of weeks away, we will meditate on our Lord’s death this morning.

I want to travel with Matthew to the 27th chapter and look at some of the events, some supernatural, surrounding the death of Christ.

We talk often of the birth miracles---the star, the angel visitations and the virgin birth.

However, we never really hear about the death miracles.

This may be because Jesus resurrected in three days and we jump straight from the death to the resurrection.

We often read these death miracles in passing, but upon closer examination, God is actually giving us His commentary on the significance of the cross.

What do these events tells us about the most important death in all of history?

According to this text, what does the cross mean for us who believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior?

First of all:

*I.

Darkness: God’s judgment of sin (v.45)*

We pick up the story at the site of the crucifixion.

Matthew tells us that it is now the sixth hour.

This means it is 12pm, noon.

Mark tells us that the actual crucifixion began at the third hour, or 9am (Mark 15:25).

A lot of things had happened already in these first three hours.

Jesus has already uttered three of His seven cries from the cross.

He has prayed for the soldiers who were crucifying him.

He has also promised the criminal hanging next to Him that he would be with Him in paradise.

And He has commended his mother to the care of the beloved disciple, John.

While this was going on, the crowd is pretty boisterous, like though they are at a sporting event.

Some are probably betting on how long each of the crucified men will last.

The religious leaders, including the chief priests and teachers of the law are taunting Him.

Pastor Ray Pritchard adds, “He [Christ] has already been severely beaten.

In fact, it looks like four or five soldiers have taken turns working him over.

His skin hangs from his back in tatters, his face is bruised and swollen, his eyes nearly shut.

Blood trickles from a dozen open wounds.

He is an awful sight to behold.”[1]

Most criminals die with the beating before the crucifixion.

But Jesus has withstood a lot already.

He is then lifted up on a cross beam, with nails through His wrists and ankles, since both places have very sensitive nerve centers, guaranteeing constant torture.

They would also humiliate the crucified by stripping off all their clothes.

Some crucifixions go on for days.

At some point, the soldiers would break the legs of the crucified because “this would ensure that the man, if still alive, could no longer hoist himself up to breathe and would soon expire.”[2]

Jesus would die before they could break His legs (John 19:33).

But nevertheless, as we all know, death by crucifixion was very slow, but excruciating pain.

But that is nothing.

Jesus was about to suffer a much more serious kind of pain.

Notice in the text: “there was a darkness over all the land.”

All of a sudden, darkness, like though someone took a thick, black blanket and draped it over the sun.

It happened so suddenly.

One minute the sun was bright, shining overhead at the hottest and brightest time of the day.

The next minute it disappears.

Was this an eclipse?

Were these dark clouds of a storm?

It doesn’t matter how it happened and it is futile to try to figure it out.

This was simply was a supernatural act of God.

Luke writes interestingly that the “sun’s light failed”(Luke 23:45).

God, who turned on all the lights at creation, now turns it off almost like He’s saying, “You don’t want to see what’s going to happen next.”

Christ, the light of the world (John 8:12), the One who had a bright star flooding the sky at His birth, now faces darkness all around Him.

But why?

Why the darkness?

What is God saying here?

Whenever darkness is mentioned in Scripture, it almost always refers to one thing: judgment (Isa.

5:30; 60:2; Joel 2:30, 31; Amos 5:18, 20; Zeph.

1:14–18; Matt.

24:29, 30; Acts 2:20; 2 Peter 2:17; Rev. 6:12–17).

In Rev. 6:12, when God’s wrath is poured out on the earth, the text says the “sun became black.”

So darkness is a symbol of judgment.

God is light and if light symbolizes all that God is, then darkness symbolizes all that God opposes and what does God oppose?

God opposes sin and everything that comes as a result of it.

And sin is the only thing that God judges.

Jesus is being condemned here…IN OUR PLACE.

God is judging sin here.

Since Christ is sinless (Heb.

4:14; 1 Pet.

2:22), it must have been our sin that God is judging.

And Christ is silent he—no excuses, no explanations---in the darkness because He became sin for us (2 Cor.

5:21).

He is found guilty on our behalf.

It should have been us standing before God, silent as the darkness of our sin is exposed before Him.

Listen beloved, we have some dark sins.

Darkness has covered our hearts because of sin.

But here, look at our Savior.

He has taken your darkness and all of our darkness.

Because He was judged for your sin and if you have placed your trust completely on Him for your salvation, God will never ever judge you ever again.

You cannot be tried for the same crime twice.

This is the law of double jeopardy.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom.

8:1).

Our sin was judged there.

This is what is called the divine exchange.

Our sin exchanged for His righteousness.

Listen to the Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther: “Now I should like to know whether your soul, tired of its own righteousness, is learning to be revived by and to trust in the righteousness of Christ . . .

My dear brother, learn Christ and him crucified.

Learn to pray to him and, despairing of yourself, say, ‘You, Lord Jesus, are my righteousness, but I am your sin.

You have taken upon yourself what is mine and have given to me what is yours.

You have taken upon yourself what you were not and have given to me what I was not.’

Beware of aspiring to such purity that you will not wish to be looked upon as a sinner, or to be one.

For Christ dwells only in sinners.

On this account he descended from heaven, where he dwelt among the righteous, to dwell among sinners.

Meditate on this love of his and you will see his sweet consolation.”[3]

I only stand here only because Christ dwells among sinners.

Welcome Him and worship Him now as the One who took our darkness, being judged for our sin.

Secondly, notice: