Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
April 28, 2002 AM
That God Should Die For Me
Reading - Matthew 27.45-49
This morning we continue our lessons on the cross, specifically the words uttered by Jesus while he was dying there. Everybody is interested in the words of a dying individual... What did he say? This morning we hear Jesus cry out... My God... My God... Why have you forsaken Me.
Before we go any further... I want us to catch a glimpse of the fact that, it was our creator... our God... who came to this world to die for us. No... I can't explain the how of it... I just want us to accept the fact by faith.
Listen to these scriptures which affirm this fact:
In the beginning was the word... And the word was with God and was God... Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made... And the word became flesh and dwelt among us... We saw his glory... The glory of the only begotten who came from the Father... Full of grace and truth.
Being in the same nature, God... He did not count equality with God something to be held on to but emptied himself... Taking on the very nature of a servant... Being made in human likeness... Being found in appearance as a man... He humbled himself and became obedient to death... Even the death on a cross.
He is the image of the invisible God, for God was pleased to have all His fullness to dwell in him... and through him to reconcile all things to Himself... In him we have redemption... Even the forgiveness of sins through his blood shed on the cross.
This week... I read about a church in Italy where there is a large picture of the crucifixion. Pictured behind Jesus on the cross was a huge shadowy figure. The nails that pierced the hands and feet of Jesus go through the hands and feet of God. The spear that was thrust into his side goes through the heart of God.
Church!... Do we understand this morning that... On the cross...
- Our God...
- Our creator...
Died for our sins?
Martin Luther once said...
If it were only a man who died on the cross we are still in our sins... We are still lost. I like the way Charles Wesley put it in song:
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior's blood?
Died He for me who cause Him pain?
For me... Who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love!!! How can it be
That thou... My God... Should die for me?
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son....
Amazing grace... Amazing grace... That saved a wretch like me.
Now... What I want us to do is to examine this cry of anguish from Jesus... And see what we can learn about our God... His love... and our sins.
Eli... Eli... Lama Sabachthani... My God... My God... Why hast thou forsaken me?
First... We feel his pain.
Jesus has been hanging on the cross since nine o'clock in the morning.. Now it is past noon. Jesus had been flogged before crucifixion. This was not normally the procedure. It was usually one or the other... But not both. It would appear that Pilate scourged Jesus, hoping to appease the Jewish officials and later release him. However, at the insistence of the Jewish authorities... Jesus was sentenced to crucifixion.
The flogging left the back of Jesus in open wounds. The sharp pieces of metal... rocks... and glass had left his flesh in long bloody ribbons. The pain in his wrists... arms... and feet was... by this time maddening. Plus... As he pulled and pushed himself up so he could get another breath, the open wounds on his back were more than humanity could stand.
History tells us that crucified men would curse the pain... and the crucifixion team with ugly, foul language. It was all a part of a most excruciating death sequence. But Peter, who was an eyewitness, tells us that Jesus suffered without deceit in his mouth. While others made fun of him, he did not return their hurtful words... He uttered no threats... But entrusted himself to God the father.
David... In Psalm 22 gives insight into the pain of Jesus:
I am poured out like water... All my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax... It has melted away within me.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
You lay me in the dust of death.
Dogs have surrounded me;
A band of evil men has encircled me,
They have pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones;
People stare and gloat over me.
They divide my garments among them... And cast lots for my clothing.
Church... I don't believe there is any way that we can aquatically appreciate the love of God for us, until we catch a glimpse of the pain he suffered on the cross for us.
Secondly... We see the darkness.
The first three cries of Jesus from the cross were spoken in daylight...
- Father forgive them...
- Today you will be with me in paradise...
- Dear woman behold your son...
But at high noon something happened.... God intervened... And the world was cast into an unexplained darkness from the sixth hour until the ninth... From noon until three o'clock.
This was no ordinary darkness. It was like the last plague before Passover. Exodus 10.21 says... A darkness that could be felt... Total... Absolute Darkness.
Inmates in state and federal penitentiaries tell us of such darkness. The absolute darkness of solitary confinement... A small room without any light. Here one must feel for the bed... toilet... food... water. There is only endless... silent darkness. Prisoners describe their feeling in desperate terms... Terms like...
- Maddening...
- Lonely...
- Hopeless... Helpless...
- Lost...
- Confused...
- Forgotten...
- Abandoned...
- An absolute hell.
But then that is what hell is... Isn't it?
- An economy where God is not...
- Where there is absolute... outer darkness...
- Where there is no hope...
- Where we are abandoned by God forever...
- Maddening loneliness...
This must have been how Jesus felt, as He cries out in anguish... My God... My God... Why have you forsaken me.
Why the darkness?... I don't know for sure... But I have some suggestions.
First... Darkness has always been associated with sin. God and sin cannot coexist... The prophet said... Our sins have separated us from God. Church, when our sins were laid upon Jesus, God... In a real sense forsook him.
- Indeed it was our sins that drove the nails...
- Our sins that caused his pain...
- Our sins created the darkness...
- Our sins that brought the separation.
Secondly... Darkness is always associated with God's judgment of sin. Here we see God's hate for sin... His judgment against evil men... Including us. Church, when we look at the cross every Sunday in the communion... We need to feel a profound sense of guilt and condemnation. We must understand that in these hours of absolute darkness, Jesus became legally guilty of all our sins.
- All the ugliness...
- The terrorism...
- Child abuse...
- Racism...
- Murder...
- Adultery...
- Homosexual activity...
- All the greed...
- Lying...
- Hate...
- And gossip... Fall upon Jesus at the cross.
How appropriate Paul's words in Second Corinthians 5... For he has made Him (Jesus)... Who knew no sin... To be sin for us... That we might become the righteousness of God through Him. No wonder such a hideous event was veiled... Hidden from human eyes!!!
Well might the son in darkness hide
And shut His glories in,
When Christ, the Great Maker died
For man... The creature's sin.
We hear the scream. Eli... Eli... Lama Sabathani. Have you ever wondered why the Holy Spirit preserved this cry in Jesus' original words... In Aramaic?... I don't know. What we do know is that this is the only place in the New Testament scripture where Jesus addresses God as God... It was usually Father.
- In the Garden of Gethsemane.. Jesus has a God who strengthened him with angelic visitors... But on the cross... He turns away.
- In Gethsemane... He could have called ten legions of angels to deliver him... On the cross... He cries to God... With no deliverance.
- Previously... He said... The Father had not left Me alone... Now the Father has turned his head.
- In the Garden, the Son was tempted to forsake the Father. On the cross, the Father forsook the Son.
We must know that the Son was not forced to suffer and die here. We must know that God was not forced to suffer here. They both chose to suffer. Church... They both chose... Willed to suffer... So that you and I could be forgiven... Saved.
This cry of distress was not a cry of distrust... but a cry of anguish. A cry of the suffering savior suffering. Not only the pain of physical suffering... But the pain of spiritual death... Separation from God due to our sin.
This brings us to trying to comprehend the separation. Forsaken is a powerful word. Think about it...
- A husband forsakes his wife...
- A child is forsaken... abandoned by their parents.
So why did God forsake the Son?... Because his absolute holiness demanded it. I believe the prophet Isaiah expressed it well in Chapter 53.
- He took on our infirmities...
- He carried our sorrows...
- He was pierced for our transgressions...
- He was crushed for our iniquities...
- Our punishment fell upon Him...
- By His wounds we are healed...
Church... I want you to visualize your sins... All of them... Laid upon him. You see, there is no way to transfer sin... without transferring its penalty. So... As we partake of this communion each week...
- I want you to visualize your sins... All of them laid upon Him.
- I want you to see God turning away.
- I want us to feel His pain...
- His loneliness...
You see... He was abandoned to outer darkness... So that we... Here this morning... Might walk in the light!
Let us understand the sacrifice. Church.. Jesus didn't just die for us... But for God. Go with me for a moment to Egypt.... It is the night before Israel's deliverance. Each family was told to kill a spotless... blameless... sacrificial lamb... and paint his blood upon the door post.
- Yes!!!... It was placed there for the people!
- But... It was also put there for God.
God said... And when I see the blood... I will pass over you.
You see... It made no difference whether...
- The member of that Jewish family...
- That household...
- That church...
Had committed great sins or lessor ones... It didn't matter... When God's instrument of death came to Egypt... He saw the blood... and they would be exempt from God's judgment.
No wonder... No wonder... Paul says... We are children of God by faith... For as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ -- Have been clothed... Have been covered with Christ. Folk... When God's judgment comes... He doesn't see our sins... But rather the blood of Jesus. And so... There is now therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ... Those covered... clothed with Christ. Indeed!!!... What an amazing sacrifice He is for our sins... Amen?... Amen!!
Now... The question this morning is this... Will we accept His love... and His loving sacrifice? You see...
- He was forsaken by God... So that God could say to us... I will never forsake you or leave you.
- He went through that darkness... So that we might walk in the light.
- He was cursed... So that we might be blessed.
- He was condemned… That we might not be commended.
- He suffered hell's separation... So that we might enjoy heaven's fellowship.
- He drank the cup of woe... So that we might drink the cup of joy.
- He was forsaken... So that we might be forgiven.
Spurgeon wrote...
- Without the cross... There would have been a wound for which there was no ointment.
- Without the cross... There would have been a pain for which there was no balm.
You see folk... Either Jesus bears our sins... and their consequences... Or we do!... Or we do!!
On the Island of Formosa, they used to offer human sacrifices. One day their beloved Governor persuaded them to stop. After years of no human sacrifices, the people became restless... demanding a human sacrifice. Their Governor told them.... All right, tomorrow, you go deep into the forest and there you will find a man in a red robe with a mask and tied... Offer him. They did!!... And when they unmasked the sacrificed man, it was none other than their beloved governor.
At the cross... When the darkness gives way to light... When Jesus of Nazareth is unmasked... we see that the One on the cross is none other than our Creator God!!
Amazing love...
How can it be...
That thou...
My God should die for me.
What will we do with His love???
This morning we are given one more opportunity to... Respond to His love... To accept the Christ of the cross as our Savior... by faith... repentance... confession... and New Testament baptism.
Perhaps we have sins that we need to bring to him and his blood... By confessing and acknowledging them. This is our chance to be forgiven by the Christ of the cross.
Will you come as we stand and sing this invitation song.
