The Death of Death

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 32

Psalm 32 ESV

A Maskil of David. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Scripture Reading: Genesis 3:14-15

Genesis 3:14–15 ESV

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Sermon:

Well, once again and as always good morning church,

I was surely glad when they said to me, let us go and worship in the house of the lord. Well, this Sunday is a Sunday that i have been looking forward too since about the start of the book of Matthew. So that makes it what? Two years now. And this one is Not necessarily, because The content is what I've been wanting to preach about... though, if i'm being honest. The past four or five weeks up till the next couple weeks. Are really the reason i desired to bring the church to the book of Matthew. But because of the title. Those of you who don't know, i sit down before i start any series. And I do a preliminary mapping of the whole series. And i try to stick to it as much as i can. So I sort of mapping of how we're going to preach through the whole book. And i give little titles of what i think or what i assume... based on the research and study, I've done so far of what i think the basic general title and theme of the sermon is going to be. And for this one, As i did my schedule, i sort of circled it. Because i titled it. Stealing from the title of my favorite book of all time. For those of you that don't know, my favorite book is by a man named john owen. The title of the book summarizes, Better than any title has ever summarized a book before. Title of the book is the death of death. In the death. Of christ.

And in this book, john owen, seeks to unpack all that. The death of christ means for the life of the believer. What it means in terms of his grace and forgiveness, his power and might. So he tries to unpack and he does really unpack in A beautiful... though Not easy way... The richness and the importance Of the death of christ.

And so as we come to Matthew chapter 27 verses 45 through 53 this morning, This is what we will witness. It's jesus. Not just on the cross. But in fact his last moments, On the cross. We've gone through already the trial, after trial, after trial, the humiliations, the beatings, the mockings. Though we will see, there are more mockings to come even in our passage. We've seen jesus march to The place called Golgotha. We've seen him hung on the cross, we've heard the cries of the crowd, the Pharisees, and even the robbers, that are crucified on either side of him, And now, as we draw to the end where jesus will breathe his last, We see the weight and the importance. Of the death of christ. Our passage for today. Matthew chapter 27, like i said versus 45, Through 53.

Matthew 27:45–53 ESV

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

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

Dear Lord, we do Thank you for today. We thank you for the incredible weight of grace that you have given to us. That you would see fit to save sinners, such as us. Even when doing so would cost such a great high price. We thank you for sending your son into the world. To redeem us to save us and to deliver us. We thank you for your son. Our savior, lord and king. The one who willingly offered himself that we might be made whole. We thank you for the spirit at work within our lives showing us and teaching us all of these things. Sanctifying us conforming us into the image of your son. It's in his name that we pray, the name above all other names, the name of jesus christ, our lord Amen. And amen.

As we work our way through this passage...and That's actually what i'd like to just do… just walk through. To see the weight of this passage. to understand The power. And the weight and the beauty and the brutality Of the death of christ as is presented to us. By Matthew in his book. And so, as we open this, There's no detail. That's too small. Matthew is not wasting words. Though it goes by rather quickly, we've spent all of Matthew building up to this, and it feels like it's over in a few brief verses. Matthew packs them full of weight. He packs them, full of important things that we should note. And so even as we get here, we need to note there's a bit of what I've called a miraculous context.

The MIRACULOUS CONTEXT

In verse 45, we read that there's a darkness. That lingers over this entire event this entire time.

Matthew 27:45 ESV

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

As we read through passages like this, we sometimes miss these These little miracles. And in this passage, we might have missed this little miracle because as we read, there's some really, really big ones that are coming. But it's important that We know Matthew wants to give us a physical representation of the spiritual reality, and the weight of pain and suffering that is occurring by pointing out This Miracle.

What is this miracle? well, It's usually not dark from noon to three. It's usually not dark in the middle of the day. Usually, maybe it's like yesterday a beautiful day where the sun is shining. It's not too cold, it's not too hot. It feels great outside. Usually, in the middle of the day, That's what we're feeling. Or maybe it's summertime. And it's burning hot, but it's still not dark in the middle of the day. Even in the cold of winter there are a few hours that we can hope that it is not DARK and that would be about 12 to about 3 or, in the language of Matthew, from the sixth hour to the ninth.

And so that there would be a darkness here and that Matthew would point that out is important. It's giving weight to A theological truth. Even creation here is mourning. The sun refuses to shine. Over all of the land here there is darkness. There's a a darkness That gives weight to The dark things that are occurring here. In truth, this is for us the most important moment ever. The most beautiful moment in many ways. Spurgeon says the cross is the the center of our entire system. Other theologians say such things as without the cross, you cannot understand christ. That the cross is the foundation, the center, and the beginning, and the end of all christian faith. So in some sense, there's beauty here but there's also quite literally darkness to go along with the spiritual darkness. The only innocent man to ever live. Is murdered. Here, he will die. The weight of the sin of the world will be placed upon Jesus's shoulders. So even in this context, The idea that as this sin is piled on the, the darkness increases to show the weight and the pain of our savior. But also of the father Jesus own words that will get to show the weight of what's happening. And so, it's dark. Even here, creation, understands the weight of what is occurring on the cross. And so, with the context of understanding that there's this, this darkness that's lingering over all of this. Then we can get into seeing what happens. And we see the words of jesus.

The WORDS OF JESUS

As far as actual words here that Matthew records these: Eli Eli, lemma sabhaktiani.

That's weird. That's not English. Well, jesus wouldn’t have spoken in English, but why aren't these words translated like all the other ones? It's because Matthew here. For the first and the only time, Fully peels back All Coverings. Fully peels back everything to show us, truly, who jesus was. Up till now every word of jesus Matthew has been writing for us in Greek. And so, as we read it, because all of the Greek is translated into English for us. We read his words in English. but now As Matthew was writing in Greek and writing out. This is what he said. This is what this person said, this is what was happening. There's a break. And we have one phrase written in Aramaic. These would have been the exact words of jesus, exactly As they were said. And what does it mean? My god. My god. Why have you Forsaken me.

Jesus, here is quoting. Psalm 22. Psalm 22 verse 1 as jesus breathes his last. This is where he goes. Psalm 22:1 the psalm of david. My god. My god, why have you forsaken me? The pain of our savior. As he hangs on the cross. In brutal honesty. In his own words. The feeling of all of the sin of the world, being placed upon his shoulders, the feeling even more, so of god himself forsaking him. Note. Jesus didn't go to psalm 21. Oh lord in your strength. The king rejoices. No. Psalm 22. My god. My god, why have you forsaken me? Not psalm 23. The lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Psalm 22:1. My god. My god, why have you? Forsaken me.

And as we read and hear these words, we need to ask. Did god actually forsake jesus. Well. Jesus said he did. Should we be careful how we phrase This? Of course. We know that Jesus was god, there's perfect fellowship and unity within the trinity forever for all time and undivided always. The father loves the son, the son loves the father, they are a united together forever. But here on the cross, As a sin of all mankind is poured out upon the savior. Jesus feels very keenly That god Forsook him. He feels very keenly the weight of The weight of sin that separates from a holy god. Jesus, who up to this moment had never sinned and even in this moment he himself never sinned yet was experiencing all of the sin for that he would pay for their on the cross. Placed upon him that he may be the savior of all.

So did he did god forsake him in one sense? Surely he did. But in another sense, No. For this was once again and as always the perfect sovereign will of God. Jesus wasn't forsaken, rather here jesus was walking in the perfect plan of god to purchase salvation for a people. The way that Luke and john recount The final words of jesus --This is what we'll talk about on Thursday at grace group — But in Luke jesus says, father into your hand. I commit my spirit. Obviously god didn't fully forsake him. But we should not minimize the weight and the pain of these words. And really what Matthew wants to highlight is the weight, the pain, the guttural Pain of jesus on the cross. For we move from the final words of jesus. To the final cry.

the CRY of Jesus

After jesus crying out, my god, my god. Why have you forsaken me? He's mocked by all of the bystanders by everyone coming around. Once again, they offer him not what he needs but some sour wine. So in verse 50, Jesus cries out once again with a loud voice. And yielded. Up. His spirit.

The depth of pain That our savior experienced here Summarized, in a cry. A brutal final cry. As he then yields his spirit. And truly. Fully. Though he was the son of god here. As a man. He died. Here. Fully man. He breathed his last. Here. The righteous son of god. The one born of a virgin. Who walked on the earth for some 33 years. Who lived and walked and ministered, and loved, and healed, and performed, miracles and taught. Here. He died.

With a cry. He's gone.

Here in verse 50. In the cry of jesus, we see The death of christ. But i mentioned, My favorite book. It's called the death of death. In the death of christ. Well, how do we get to there? What's important? We note. I read this in a theology, one of my systematic theology books. It's a lot of these guys is they write, systematic theology books, they feel the need, i think to justify why they're writing like an 800 page book on theology. Because there's a lot of people sometimes myself included who are like i have the bible. This is all the theology i need. Well, why do we need books of systematic theology? Why do we need theology books at all? And he said, Christianity. Is a historical religion. In that it is based on facts, that occurring history. That jesus came lived died and resurrected. Those are facts of history that we then base our lives on. But it's a RELIGION based on history.

There's theological weight, that goes into the facts of history and this is the example they gave: Jesus died. That's a fact of history. Jesus died for sins. Well, that's a theological point based on a fact of history. Jesus died for MY sins. Is personal reflection on a theological point based on a fact of history. And we have to get all the way to there.

So we have to get a theological explanation for just the rote facts of history here. Jesus died. Congratulations. What does that mean for us? But the way Matthew does this. He does it with such skill and beauty. He gives us what I've called a miraculous buildup.

A MIRACULOUS BUILDUP

It starts with. A series of five miracles. We're not going to get to the big one. We're gonna get to the big one in two weeks. But before the big one (jesus himself, raising from the dead), Matthew gives us a series of miracles that paint the theological importance of the death Of christ. It teaches us what John Owen sought to teach us how death itself is conquered In the death of christ. and he does it with a buildup. There's a word if you are reading verse 51, through 53. That i would encourage you to circle highlight underline.. whatever you do. It's important to see it. It's the word “and”.

So, our first miracle as we build this up is And the curtain. Was torn.

And THE CURTAIN

The curtain is the first miracle. Jesus breathes out his last. And where does Matthew immediately go? He takes us into the temple. And there , in the temple: behold. --Look -- Matthew wants us to See clearly. jesus died and now this is the consequence. The curtain of the temple was torn into from top to the bottom.

No man could do this. If any person were to run up and tear the curtain their only hope would be from the bottom to the top (though we should note, no person is ever going to be able to tear this curtain! Only god himself could tear the curtain from the top to the bottom. What does this mean? It means that in the death of jesus, We have now been given access to the very throne room of god.

I said, the darkness with that's a minor miracle and it is because now we get to the big ones and Matthew wants us to build up to this: the curtain being torn means that in the death of christ, as jesus cries out: my god, my god. Why have you forsaken me? When he cries out his final cry, and yields up his spirit in that moment, we now have access to the heavenly places of god. In This curtain being torn in two, Matthew has said in one miracle with the writer of Hebrews writes for chapters. So we now have a perfect high priest. Who offered sacrifice once for all time for us that we may enter the presence of god. As Matthew starts here. He wants us to see in christ, our high priest made an offering that we can stand holy before god.

The curtain was torn. And, The earth shook.

And THE EARTH SHOOK

When Matthew points out that there's darkness over the land, the goal is to show The earth knows something different is happening. Jesus dies. And now creation itself. Once again knows that something different Has happened.

Never again, will the world be the same.

The curtain is torn. So our access in the heavenly places is different, but even the earth itself will never be the same. For christ has died.

The earth starts to shake and tremble, in all of the work of the savior. The earth itself realizes Something big happened today. And behold the curtain of the temple was torn and the earth shook continuing verse 51. And The rocks split.

And THE ROCKS SPLIT

The very foundation. Of everything. It's cracked wide open. Rocks are supposed to be the most stable foundation you have. Jesus told a parable. Don't build your house on the sand instead, build your house on the rock. But what do you do when the earth is shaking and the rocks themselves are splitting? The foundation of everything is now changed. And the rocks give way to THE rock: Jesus christ.

Here. In his death, he shows himself to be the only sure foundation for our lives. So now we look to jesus parables and sure it's good idea not to build your house on sand and to build it on some rock. But note, even the rocks of this earth, they may split, there is only one, sure rock, it's jesus christ. And as he gave up his spirit, as he yielded up his spirit with a loud cry, the curtain was torn. The earth is shaking, the rocks are splitting. Jesus is the only sure foundation, Because of that. Everything's different.

Verse 52. The tombs also. In the Greek, that's the same word “kai”, it's and here. The tombs also Were opened.

AND THE TOMBS OPENED

Here's the buildup. Everything we know about how we interact with god is changed. The earth itself is changed. Such that our only sure foundation is christ. And the world itself is turned on its head. Tombs. Don't open. When people die, they stay dead. The idea that the tombs are open reverses all of human history. Since the beginning of time. We can't miss this.

Adam was Adam and Eve were put in the garden. They were placed two trees in front of them, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Do not eat from that one. If you don't hear the tree of life But they did sin. So removed from them was the tree of life. And so, in genesis, Genesis 3, we get the curse. Knowing that if you eat of this, you will surely die. But then we start to read these genealogies. And it gets a little depressing. Genesis chapter 5, we have our first sort of big genealogy. The book of the generations of Adam, i'm not going to bore you with all of it but a really quick tour:

Genesis 5:5 ESV

Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.

Genesis 5:8 ESV

Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.

Genesis 5:11 ESV

Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.

Genesis 5:14 ESV

Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.

Genesis 5:17 ESV

Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.

Genesis 5:27 ESV

Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.

Therese a pattern and for everyone since adam sinned the pattern is that you DIE. Death has ruled since Adam sin. The tombs are open. Death no longer holds way. Here we get to the beginning of what John Owen was talking about. Christ died. And now the tombs are opened. Matthew gives one more and The tombs were also opened verse 52. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep. Were raised.

And the saints were raised!

And the saints. We're raised. We'll get to our hope. Give me a couple weeks. We're working our way to it. The ultimate hope, the one where paul says, because this happened, we have sure hope for the future, but here, matthew wants us to see, We can't go any further before we see this hope. In the death of christ, we have a perfect hope for the future. Because of his words, because we see. His cry that god has forsaken him. We know that ultimately, he didn't truly forsake him in the sense that we might think and understand. Rather, our sin was placed upon him. Now, we can stand before him. How do we know this? This curtain was torn. The earth itself, shook the earth knows that we should know it too. Christ Now, our sure foundation, the tombs themselves are open. Death has been conquered specifically for The bodies of the saints, who are raised. This is our hope. We can say, Oh death, where is your sting? Death has been swallowed up in victory. Though here. In our passage for today. Victory. Is a cry. These miracles prove. Christ reigns victoriously.

Let's pray.