The Wondrous Cross

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 31:17-24

Psalm 31:17–24 ESV

O Lord, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol. Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt. Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind! In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city. I had said in my alarm, “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help. Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!

Scripture Reading: Zechariah 12:10

Zechariah 12:10 ESV

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

Sermon:

Good morning church. I was glad when they said to me, let us go and worship in the house of the lord.

For our passage for today, will be looking at Matthew chapter 27. Versus 33 through 44. And one thing we're going to have to deal with. It's something we've dealt with a lot in Matthew, especially here at the end. And that is Is Matthew's sense of irony. Matthew has been using Irony quite liberally. We noted it last week a few times. The mocking of the soldier saying, hail king of the Jews. Which is ironic because he is truly king of the Jews. The irony of the crowds saying, “His blood be upon us”, not knowing as they spoke that that was truly their only hope. And we could go back. Jesus brought before the Sanhedrin. And the irony of the only innocent man who's ever lived receiving the verdict that, he deserves death. The irony of looking for false witnesses. The irony of betrayal by a kiss, we've seen a lot of irony.

And here, as we draw close to the end of Matthew, to the end of the passion narrative, ultimately here, to the crucifixion... The irony continues to grow. More than even before we will see that Matthew will use A lot of it. And so as we read this passage and as we're going to look at it, It's important to remember that, what we read, and what we see, and what we know — There's layers and levels to this. And so as you read through, and think through this, even before we dive into our notes, and the points, and all of that stuff, I wanted to sort of think through. All of the ways. That Matthew is telling us things without telling us things and using irony to show us the truth of our savior.

Matthew chapter 27 starting in verse 33.

Matthew 27:33–44 ESV

And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

These are the words of the lord for us this morning. Let's open with a word of prayer.

Our father in heaven. We do thank you for today. Thank you for the precious gift of your son. Our lord, our king, and our savior jesus christ. We thank you for the work that he did on our behalf. We thank you for the precious offering that he made on account of sinners, such as us. We thank you for the hope of salvation and healing we have -- not in our own strength and might -- but in HIS work, We thank you that though it was a high cost to pay. He did not consider it too high. But instead willingly offered himself for us. Thank you for your son, thank you for the spirit. The one who is our comforter Our helper. The one who teaches us All of these things. The one who opens our eyes, who reveals to us the truth of who you are and what you've said. We pray that you would speak to us this morning For it is in jesus name, we pray. Amen. And amen.

As we read through this. There's a lot going on. We're going to look at it as i mentioned in terms of irony. But to get there, i just want to take maybe a step back deal with some context, really some larger, “the whole book of Matthew” sort of context to help us see why irony is so important here. One of the things that we should notice is almost surprisingly missing here is Matthew's seemingly favorite phrase. If we were to go all the way back to matthew chapter 1 chapter 2 now at 92 sermons ago, At the beginning, we had the genealogy and then we got into the birth narrative. And there is this phrase we heard over and over again. “This was took place to fulfill.” over and over and over again, Matthew wanted us to see Old Testament fulfillments in almost every detail of Jesus life. So we read over and over again... “This took place to fulfill”. He wanted us to see this took place to fulfill. What this prophet said. Here, this took place to fulfill what that prophet said there.

And now we get to what Matthew's been building up to... The event that jesus prophesied multiple times in the book of Matthew. The defining moment of jesus life his ministry. The moment where salvation for god's people is purchased. And it's one verse long. “And when they had crucified him, They divide his garments.” It's less than a verse. It's half a verse. Verse 35. SO he hurries here, and he doesn't give us what we might expect from him. None of Matthew's slow plotting. No getting us to see that this fulfills whatever it does in this passage. And he surely could have.

We could pick a whole bunch of things that were fulfilled. I mean the cross is the fulfillment of almost all old testament prophecies and one way shape or form. He could have said, jesus here crucified. This was to fulfill the entire sacrificial system of the Old Testament. He doesn't give us that. The offering of wine and gall that was prophesied about. This picture of jesus hanging between two robbers. All of these things are things that profits have spoken about... but yet Matthew is silent on this idea of “this was so that this was fulfilled, or that was fulfilled”, SO let us ask: why?

I believe it's because Matthew wants us to just see the cross. And what he does to get us to see the weight, the beauty and all that is going on in the cross is his use of irony. He's putting the right words in the wrong person — the right thought, but with the wrong heart, And our job as those who read and hear and understand Matthew is then to see past the facade to the truth of who jesus is.

And so, we're just going to walk through this passage noting each time. What is said or what is done, that highlights the irony. And the beauty. Of this passage.

The first we could "Pseudo” note. There's no note for this. He's crucified at a place called Golgotha the place of the skull. Place of death. This is where we all receive life.

But then, note in verse 34, They offer him wine to drink. But it's not wine, it mixed with gold. And he tasted it, but when he tasted it, He would not drink it. Here, Matthew wants us to see and understand. The messiah’s RESOLVE

THE Messiahs RESOLVE

Truly jesus is here, the messiah, the savior, the deliverer of god's people. And as he comes, he's being crucified and they offer to him -- One who's been standing before sham trial after sham trial; Who was beaten whipped mocked to the point where he did not have the strength to carry his own cross So Simon from cyrene was forced to carry it for him. Probably super dehydrated, probably not drinking since the lord's supper the evening before. And so they offer him wine but it's not real wine. It's wine mixed with gall.

If you were to read through the commentaries and people who think through, well, what exactly is this and why didn't jesus drink it? There's sort of three answers you get.

One is wine mixed with gall is just a sick joke. That, that what they're doing here is jesus is thirsty. Famished, literally dying. Dehydrated And so to meet this most basic need They offer in wine with gall, which won't even serve this purpose. It's like one of the commentary said, it's like ordering a lemonade and getting pure lemon juice. It's not what you want. It's not what you ordered and it's not what you need in this moment. And so maybe he wouldn't drink it because this is just another layer of the inhumane ridicule and shame that he's facing. If that's the case, we see here, our savior's resolve as he will not turn through all of this.

But maybe. It's not just that this is a sick joke, it could be — others think that maybe what this wine mixed with gall is is it's a sort of ancient Pain relief. This is Tylenol, ibuprofen. Some pain relief. And in this case, why wouldn't the savior take it? It's because he knew the messiah here. Would not take it because he knew he must bear the full brunt of the wrath of god. He was resolved to be the messiah the savior, the deliverer, no matter what the cost.

Finally, the third option. Some people think that this was actually A sort of cyanide pill. A way that he could kill himself before even the full pain of the cross kicks in. Again, here are messiah's resolve -- He wouldn't take that either. Because what was in store for him, The pain that was set before him, Had to be in this way, in this time. So that he could be the messiah of all. As they offer him this wine with gall, no matter what, the reason, no matter what it stood for, no matter what, no matter what it was. Jesus would not take it because His resolve was to do, the will of the father.

We could flip back to jesus’ prayer, this Prayer that the cup would pass from him. Jesus will not here drink from this cup of gall and wine because the cup he must drink from is the cup of god's rath. And he's resolved To do it.

The first irony is though, they offer him wine. He will not take it, the second one. Is seen starting in verse 36.

Matthew 27:36–38 ESV

Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.

Here We see. The kings reign.

The King’s REIGN

Again, the words they speak are the truth. This is in fact, jesus, he is the king of the Jews. But as we noted last week, Here, he's the king suffering. It's ironic that in verse 36. They feel the need to keep watch over jesus. The one who keeps watch over our souls. Here. They feel the need to keep watch over Jesus -- make sure he doesn't do anything — when he's the one who created the world and all that's in it. He's the king. They put this plaque mocking him, their plaque speaks the truth. And here, the king is reigning. Even as he hangs in between two thieves.

Two thieves, who are... We read in verse 44, also reviling him and mocking him in the same way. We'll talk more about these two on Thursday night at grace group. But Matthew here doesn't have the same happy story that Luke does. We don't get to read of the second thieves conversion in Matthew. Instead Matthew wants us to see the king's reign here in humiliation in shame in ridicule. But yet he is still king. And he's reigning HERE.

In fact. Paul gets into this in the Book of Philippians. Because here he is willing to humble himself to the wrath for sin and to this shame. Humble himself to this death here. He's now been given a name above all other names. Because he was willing to do this. He now reigns in heaven, we read this last week, in revelation chapter 5. Because our king is here reigning on the cross. He now reigns forevermore calling us, his people to worship him for all time. The king is raining. Even here.

Because of his resolve he brought he was brought to this place. He's not here against his will. Willingly He sacrificed himself for us. Willingly He endured. He's still here. Even on the cross. Is the king. He's our messiah. He's OUR king. And he's our savior. And here. We can see the savior's work.

The Saviors WORK

We see this in the mocking of those who are passing by Verse 39, “those who pass by derided him, wagging their heads.”

Shouldn’t have done this jesus. You had it all before you. You could have been king. That whole donkey thing, we were all cheering, your name, “hosanna to the son of David”. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. And they begin to taunt him. And they taunt him with the words that were brought by the false witnesses. We saw, when we went through that, Jesus did say something like this, in john, But again these misunderstood words are used against him. The people walking by and wagging their heads say: “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the son of god come down from the cross.”

And in this we see the savior's work, we'll look at this in reverse. The second thing they say, if you are the son of god come down from the cross, the truth is this: because he is our savior — Who’s also the son of god — He won't.

Here he will as one preacher puts it: “Drink Damnation dry”. Every bit. Of god's wrath poured out on the cross. And because he is the savior and because he is the son of god, and because of his love for those whom he will save, he will not save himself. That's why he won't come down from the cross.

But then note the charge they brought against him. “The one who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.” Well, how will that happen?

Again, John is helpful here. John and his gospel. John chapter 2. He gives us the heart of why this mocking is so ironic. John's writing much later than Matthew, and john is much more interested in sort of theological musings than Matthew. So, a lot of the times he will Give explanation as to what's being said. And this gives light to what jesus does here.

In john, he says IF YOU (that's an important distinction) But there is an implied YOU tear down the temple. I'll rebuild it in three days. His disciples remembered this.

John 2:21–22 ESV

But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

So why didn't jesus come down from the cross? Why did he stay there? Matthew saying the same thing as john, Because by dying here and then raising again on the third day the savior's work will be completed. He will be our savior. And in fact, by dying on the cross, here he starts what will culminate in his resurrection and the temple is rebuilt.

And so now because of the savior's work he has offered. Once for all time, a sacrifice, not in a temple, made by human hands. A temple that will be destroyed. But rather in the heavenly places, he has offered once for all time, the sacrifice to save all of us, and it's here on the cross. These people are wagging their heads tisking at jesus. Taunting him. Bringing up what they thought was the charge against him, bringing up what they thought was, the reason he was hanging up there. And he was, Just not for the reasons they assumed. Here, the temple of his body is being destroyed, so that in three days, it will be rebuilt. Here he is not coming down Though he could so that he could complete the saviors work.

Just to stay in Matthew. We can see it even at His betrayal and arrest. Jesus knows he could call down the angels who could deliver him. He said More than 12 legion, hundreds of thousands of angels at his beck and call. He could come down. But he won't. For, he's the perfect savior.

And then the most pointed. And vile mocking. Comes from those. Whose only desire was to hang him here on the cross. The ones who schemed and plotted. Now here, as jesus suffering and dying the brutal death on the cross. They still can help but taunt and show their hatred and disdain for this man.

Matthew 27:41–42 (ESV)

So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself

So hjere is some tragic irony. They knew the heart of what Jesus came to do. What was his sin? Saving and helping people. They actually knew this. They knew of all his healing. They knew of all the good that he did. It doesn't matter to them. So they continue.

Matthew 27:42 ESV

“He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.

Actually… No, you won't. Jesus said this and he was right: your hearts are hard. We already talked about the seven woes to describes and Pharisees. They've seen miracle after miracle after miracle saving and healing and helping others. Why is him coming off the cross going to be any different. So no, You will not. They will not believe him because their heart is set against him. Jesus knew this. In fact, this is why there are times when he said i'm not going to do any more miracles here, you guys the hearts are hard. Nothing i can do, can change it, so i'm done. Jesus Coming off the cross would not change their mind, it would just make them all the more mad.

I was recently talking to someone trying to share the gospel. And we started talking about for the purpose of miracles in all of Scripture. Their thought was “It's just hard to believe in miracles” which showed up in the thought: I can’t believe the bible because I can’t believe that miracles would happen. To them they just they don't make sense. They're hard to believe. They made the comment, you know, I grew up reading harry potter and i don't see much difference between the magic in harry potter and the miracles in the bible. My answer is that we have got to understand that God has a purpose. These miracles aren't just these special fun things that happen. God always has a purpose for every miracle.

They function as CS Lewis said as “god's megaphone”. And so often we see miracle after miracle because these miracles prove that jesus was who he said he was. They're not just crazy events that happen to make us Go “ooh and ah”. And I bring this up because the person i was talking to, you said, “well, I mean maybe you're right i mean maybe if i saw these things, i would believe who jesus is but i just can't see it.”

And there my response was “No, you would not”. Here these Pharisees Witness, jesus saving, others performing miracles -- casting out demons, healing the sick, and lame — Lepers are cured — the lame walk — the blind received sight — the deaf can hear — the mute can speak. They've seen all of this, they don't care. Miracle after miracle. And here they are taunting him. Just do one more. Just save yourself come down from the cross.

Matthew 27:43 ESV

He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”

There Pharasees here. Call for the sun. To deliver himself. But this just shows that They just don't get the son's deliverance.

The Son’s DELIVERANCE

The reason he's on the cross Is verse 43. He trusts in god.

You see the pharisees are here, taunting him. This is, this is Matthew's, use of irony. They're taunting him. Oh you trust god. Well maybe god can deliver you. No, the reason he's on the cross is because he trusted god. This is been the point of Matthew. We could look back to jesus, praying in Gethsemane. He wants us to see and get this. Jesus there prayed: My father if this cannot pass unless i drink it -- your will be done.

Jesus is trusting the father that though this is painful, this shame, this pain, he must endure --He's trusting the father that this is his will, and this was is what must be done. We'll come back to this phrase in the middle, “let god deliver him now”. But lets think of the last part first: If he desires him.

Here's the beauty of the cross. God Desired Sinners So much. That he would allow the son to perish.

We say this verse all the time, we The reason we all like it is because it sounds “For god. So loved the world”. But the second half is this, is the cross. “that he gave his only son”. Them saying “if god desires his son”, note. God Does. That is his only begotten son. The irony here is that he would desire sinners. So much that he would offer his son.

So, they mock him. “Let god deliver him now”. Not realizing that they are on the cross was purchased OUR deliverance.

The son's deliverance. Isn't here on the cross. We'll get to and see the son's vindication. The son's power, the son's might. In fact, the son doesn't need to be delivered for He's the high king of heaven. He doesn't need to be saved in this moment because he himself allowed himself to be put there. He doesn't need to be delivered because he's now in the perfect will of the father. \

And now we could go to Isaiah 53. The passage, we've been reading and talking about throughout this whole passion narrative. Because, He is here. Bearing, our griefs and caring our sorrows. He was despised rejected by men.

Isaiah 53:10 ESV

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

So he doesn't need deliverance. But because here jesus would endure these things. We Find deliverance. We find healing, we find hope. All of the truth of everything in the cross is here in this passage But everyone's standing around this day was too blind to see.

We have A messiah. A Deliver. A King. Our savior. God’s Son

Our messiah, knowing the pain. That was set before. Him did not balk. Knowing that what was set before him was the very cup of god's wrath. He still endured. Are king ruling and reigning, even in the midst of this suffering. Jesus. Our savior. Working for our salvation. Offering sacrifice that we may be washed clean. Purchasing for us. Deliverance. Not some trite. Frail fleeting earthly deliverance, but deliverance from sin. And death. Here at the cross. This is why we can sing. This is why we did sing. Of the wondrous cross.

Let's pray.