 In Matthew chapter 27 beginning at verse 45, Matthew writes now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, Lama, Sabattani, that is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Some of those who stood there when they heard that said, this man is calling for Elijah. Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. The rest said, let him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come to save him. Jesus when he had cried out again with a loud voice yielded up his spirit. Obviously there are a lot of events that have transpired prior to this particular portion of Scripture. We know that the Lord had been betrayed. He had been betrayed into the hands of sinful men by one of his apostles, one who is referred to or known as Judas. Judas had sold the Lord Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver and had arranged for the Lord to be taken when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. And as he had led a troop there to take him, he had betrayed the Son of God with a kiss. And he had pointed them out to those who had come to arrest him. Jesus was taken, Jesus was put through the mockery of trials and ultimately had been condemned to the penalty of death. He was led to a cross and he was crucified. The Bible here in verse 45 says, from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. Jesus was sentenced as we compare Scripture with Scripture. Jesus was sentenced at six a.m. He was crucified at nine a.m. And from nine a.m. until noon there were several things that the Gospels record that transpired. When you look at the different accounts you see that there were soldiers who were there who were gambling for his garments. You note that he endured the ridicule of the thieves as well as the passers-by, the chief priests, scribes and elders. And he had welcomed the thief into paradise. And now it's at least three p.m. And at this point Jesus has been on the cross for several hours. That's what Matthew is pointing to when he says from noon until three p.m. there was darkness over all the land. The Bible tells us again in Luke chapter 23 verses 44 and 45 it was about the sixth hour. Darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour for the sun stopped shining. So the question would be asked even as we begin to look at this passage tonight why was it dark? What is the symbolism? What is the reason for the sun to stop shining? Why is darkness pointed out here in Scripture? Well when you read your Bible you'll discover something about darkness. Darkness very often is used as a symbol of judgment. All the way in the Old Testament book of Exodus in chapter 10 verses 21 and 22 we read the Lord said to Moses stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt. Darkness that can be felt. So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. So darkness was a symbol of judgment that God was bringing on the nation of Egypt. When you look in the Old Testament book of the prophet Amos in chapter five verse 20 the question is asked will not the day of the Lord be darkness not light pitch dark without a ray of brightness? So darkness is a symbol of judgment in the Old Testament as well as the new. In Matthew 25 30 it says and throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And so darkness is very often a symbol of judgment and so when we see that darkness is over the land we see that the cross is being regarded as a place of divine judgment because the sins of the world are being poured out vicariously on Jesus the Son of God. The darkness that existed revealed the judgment of God upon the sin of mankind. And this points to the fact that Jesus took upon himself the judgment that was rightfully ours. He was at perfect sacrifice that satisfied his father's righteous requirements and God's wrath. Jesus is referred to in Scripture as the Lamb. In John 1 29 it says that John saw Jesus coming toward him and said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And so the Lord Jesus Christ when he went to the cross was actually taking upon himself my sin. The reason he was put to death was so that he might atone for me that he might bring me into a relationship with God that he might pay the penalty that was due because as Scripture teaches so very clearly everyone is a sinner all sin and fall short of the glory of God. And sin makes a separation between God and me. It causes me to have no relationship with him. And so God because he loves us wants to do something to bridge that chasm to bridge that gap between us and that's what the Bible very clearly teaches. So Jesus Christ is that one who takes the hand of a righteous God and touches the hand of an unrighteous person and can unite them because he made atonement for us because he satisfied his father's righteous requirements. God's requirements for us to enter into heaven include the fact that we need to be perfect. There's nobody on the face of the earth who can satisfy those requirements except for Jesus Christ. In order for me to have a relationship with a perfect God I have to stand it in a place of perfection and I can't do that. So what God chose to do is he chose to take my place as Jesus himself the Son of God went to a cross for me. And so God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now when we speak about sin the sin is falling short. Sin is missing the mark. It's that which lacks perfection and the Bible teaches that sin is what we do by nature and it also makes very clear reference to the fact that sin can be pleasurable. We wouldn't do things that were sinful if they didn't give us pleasure. They're pleasurable and so the Bible teaches that sin can be pleasurable but it also points out that sin has terrible results because sin will separate you from God. Sin will make that communion that you could have had with God an impossibility. You see Jesus there in verse 46 is crying out with a loud voice and when he cries out is my God my God why have you forsaken me. He was in anguish because of the separation he felt for the first and only time in all eternity. And so Jesus was experiencing that which you and I experience as sinners though he knew no sin he took upon himself my sin and experienced that on my behalf. It's been said spiritual death is broken communion. Jesus had a taste of such broken communion the first and last he ever experienced in those desolate hours when darkness lay upon the earth and lay upon his soul. Jesus was our forerunner in every kind of experience even to the feeling of God's frown of disapproval on sin that he might become our high priest understanding all our infirmities and being tempted in all points like as we apart from sin he felt the way a lost sinner feels without himself having sin. Jesus became that perfect sacrifice he paid our price he purchased our redemption. The Bible tells us in Galatians 3 verse 13 that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53 verse 5 speaking of Messiah wrote that he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed. So Jesus suffered he suffered on that cross and as he did so he fully experienced man's separation from God and in taking upon himself the sin of the world he experienced the isolation that sin produces. Again Isaiah in chapter 59 verses 1 and 2 said surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save nor his ear too dull to hear but your iniquities have separated you from your God your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear before you get saved there are times when you will say that you can actually experience that you can say it feels as if my prayers go as far as my voice travels and then falls to the ground it's like heaven is brass and when I cry out it seems that I get no no help it seems as if God is not responding well the Bible says the issue has to be dealt with the issue of sin and until the issue of sin is dealt with there'll be no real communion there'll be no fellowship you're not going to have a relationship with God due to your sin because sin will make a separation it causes a disjointed relationship it's it's not even a real one until that sin is dealt with and because God is perfect and cannot look at sin with approval God will reject it. Habakkuk 113 says concerning God your eyes are too pure to approve evil and you cannot look on wickedness with favor so Jesus experienced being forsaken by God it was not a separation of nature or essence it was not a separation of substance it was a separation of fellowship when you look at the life of Christ and when you especially look and see what took place just prior to crucifixion you find it interesting even incredible that he did not cry out when he was accused and he did not cry out when he was crucified but he did cry out when he was separated somebody wrote these words mark the conclusion of the suffering of Jesus for a lost world here he drank to the dregs the cup of sorrow grief and pain on our behalf in these hours when the sun refused to shine upon suffering deity Jesus found fitting expression to his feeling of desolation in the words of the psalmist as the Lord Jesus Christ is there there are those who are standing by notice verses 47 through 49 it says some of those who stood there when they heard this said this man is calling for Elijah now this was not curiosity this is not religious fear this was actually mockery it was made clear by the reaction when they said let him alone let us see if Elijah will come to save him when Jesus was actually fulfilling what the psalmist had prophesied in Psalm 22 concerning Messiah where the psalmist writes everyone who sees me mocks me they sneer and shake their head saying is this the one who relies on the Lord and let the Lord save him if the Lord loves him so much let the Lord rescue him as the Lord was there suffering as Jesus was there suffering on that cross somebody ran and took a sponge according to verse 48 filled it with sour wine put it on a read and gave it to him when they did that that was an action of mercy more than likely done by a roman military guard this wine the sour wine this vinegar that they gave to him was was high in water and low in alcohol content it was used as a way to just quench thirst it was more than likely a response to what Jesus was saying because John records and gives us greater insight into what was taking place in John 19 28 and 29 there it says later knowing that all was now completed and so that the scripture would be fulfilled Jesus said I am thirsty a jar of wine vinegar was there so they soaked a sponge in it put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant lifted it to Jesus's lips you have to picture that for just a moment this is one of the few acts of tenderness and mercy that occurred at that cross the bible tells us in Psalm 69 21 they also gave me gall for my food for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink and with his lips moistened and his throat cleared Jesus can speak and what is it that he says well I want you to notice something here in verse 50 it simply says Jesus when he had cried out again with a loud voice yielded up his spirit what did he cry out Matthew doesn't record but we know by looking at other accounts of what took place what he cried out first by looking at John 19 verse 30 it says when he had received the drink Jesus said it is finished when Jesus cried out it is finished that's a single Greek word in what it means is paid in full the debt is over it is paid in full salvation was won on the cross paid in full is something that anybody who has a credit card or owes somebody some money feels good about when you see it when they get that stamp and they put it on whatever it was that you owed that debt on and they put that stamp there and it says paid in full Jesus was paying in full my debt I could add nothing to it there's nothing I can do for it see one of the biggest problems Americans have and I think people in general I think it's a very very human thing is that we think that we can purchase pretty much anything that we desire we think that we can purchase it if you have enough money you can buy pretty much anything that you can rightfully afford if you have some plastic you can buy an awful lot of things you really can't afford because plastic makes you instantly rich and you can take that plastic and you can go into a store and you can purchase whatever you want you want some shoes buy them you want you know an outfit buying you want a suit buy it you want a car just sign on the dotted line you want a house go and purchase it you can do that and so we have a tendency of thinking that we can we can buy the things that make us most happy and and there's no one to argue that that when you first buy a nice pair of shoes or a nice car or a nice sound system or a nice home there's nobody who's going to argue and say that that that isn't something that you're happy about of course you are you buy a new house you have a heart you have a housewarming party you have you buy a new pair of shoes you dance around the front room I don't know you just like those shoes you get a new suit you wear it to church whatever you do with it you like it but everybody knows that those things are going to wear out everybody knows that that's a temporary joy that's just a high that's just exhilaration it's natural and it's okay there's nothing wrong with it but the things that really matter you can't buy and you know that and as you grow older you discover that more and more just by experience and age you discover that more and age you discover that more and more when you're young you had these ideas that if you had the right relationship if you had the right girlfriend or boyfriend if you had the right relationship you would be happy and then you had a boyfriend or a girlfriend and you had for a while and and you were happy for a while but eventually you broke up you made that other person happy when you broke up but you weren't happy anymore or you get married and you finally say you know I wish I had a kid I wish I had a child you know and and you want to have a child and then the news comes oh we're with child and and you're happy until the baby's 13 then you discover that's not going to make you happy and you discover these things don't you I mean just through life just through in general just experiencing things you save up you want a car you've always wanted this particular car you finally save up and you finally get that car and you drive it out of the out of the car lot and drive it to your friend's house and and it doesn't really matter how expensive that car is it's your car and you're happy you have it my first car was a actually a 55 Chevy I wish I still had that second car I had was a 1957 Volvo it was a three speed I had one it had a back seat and it had a driver's seat but it didn't have a passenger seat and it and it wasn't even painted it just had a it had a like a white a left fender a different color you know hood it was just a mess it was a mess but it was mine it didn't even have a passenger seat my my sister had a little doll kind of a where she had tea parties one of those little sets that they have with small chairs and a small table and we still had it so I took one of those small chairs that used to be hers and I put it for the passenger it was a little yeah I still remember it's a little yellow chair and it fit perfectly and I can still remember taking my mom for a ride in my car and I can still remember it was you know it was a three speed and so I would shift hard into second just to knock her back into the back seat because it wasn't fastened and I would drive and I'd pop the clutch and bang there she'd go and I was laughing her wigs all and it was fun I mean you know but before you know it I wanted a different car I wanted to move up so I got a 58 Volvo and then from there in 1964 comic Kelly any and then from there in 1962 and then from there and from there and from there none of those ever made me happy forever none of them did we know that don't we we think that we can buy something and that it'll make us happy that is just the way man thinks and so we think we can purchase everything even spiritually what we try to do is we try to buy from God things if I work very hard I could do a lot of good things if I make sure that I keep all of the things that are commanded to the best of my ability for sure I'm going to be happy for sure I'm going to be blessed but we discover simple frustration we discover that that doesn't work does it it doesn't you can go to church every day of the week you can give a lot of money to the Lord in your gifts you can serve in every every capacity possible volunteer your life away but it doesn't satisfy take something deeper than that it takes an awareness that there's not a single thing that I can ever do to ever in my own strength get the things that I really need the things that I really need are things that you can't buy in a store you can't get in a car lot you can't even get from another human being no matter how much they may love you and no matter how much they may care for you and devote themselves to you and cherish you and speak to you every day about how deeply they love you and how committed they are no matter how faithful they are no matter how wonderful the children can be the grandchildren or whatever no matter it just is not going to satisfy because there's a longing within us that's much deeper than any human being can ever feel and any material thing could ever satisfy we have a God shaped hole in our heart that only God himself can fill and that comes to the grace of Jesus Christ that comes through God himself it comes from me simply recognizing that I'm a lost individual and I need to be found it comes through me understanding that not a single thing that I do is ever good enough and no matter how good I am I'm never going to be better than Jesus himself so all of my righteousness is his filthy rags in comparison to the righteousness of God and so oh wretched man that I am who is going to deliver me from this body of death Paul would say thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ that deliverance doesn't come through my effort it doesn't come from me doing a lot of good things it comes from the one good thing God did on my behalf when Jesus Christ took upon himself my sin and died on that cross on my behalf there's a thirst within us in John chapter 19 once again remember how Jesus said I am thirsty they gave to him this this vinegar so that he might cry out but he was simply saying whatever human being could say I thirst and then he cries out and says it is finished it is paid in full salvation has been won the price has been paid what is the cost of redemption well in first Peter 1 18 and 19 it simply says you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers but with a precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot redemption was secured his voluntary sacrifice was complete but Luke gives us more insight into what occurs because in Luke 23 46 it says when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice he said father into your hands I commit my spirit and having said this he breathed his last into your hands I commit my spirit that's actually taken from the Psalms Psalm 31 verse 5 into your hand I commit my spirit what is beautiful about this how that Jesus was there on that cross and praying a Psalm is that this particular phrase into your hand I commit my spirit has formed part of the evening prayers for centuries for observant Jews Jesus himself may have very well prayed this before he would lay his head on his pillow at night every night of his life that he could speak and what is so touching is that Jesus prayed this prayer as he was laying his head on the cross as he was accustomed to pray every night he prayed now for the last time and that cross became his pillow and he prayed these words and he died Jesus died with the Psalm on his lips and he gently peacefully and he willingly died Matthew tells us in verse 50 that Jesus yielded up his spirit bowing his head John said he gave up his spirit he willingly yielded up his spirit which is a picture of a peaceful death when it says that he yielded that means he dismissed it he sent it away it was an act of his will he determined when it occurred and he sent away his spirit at the precise moment he surrendered his spirit by the conscious act of his own will and when Jesus said into your hands I commit my spirit and now he says here he yielded up his spirit and he put his head and he died Jesus Christ want our salvation as far as those around him could see the promise of the kingdom had died with Jesus they came they took his body down and they put it in a tomb a man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea who was a secret disciple for fear of the religious authorities had gone and boldly asked for the body of Christ Pontius Pilate was greatly surprised that Jesus died so soon because as it was common at that time he could have stayed with strength on that cross for much longer than just a few hours but Joseph came and asked for Jesus his body and he took that body and he and a man by the name of Nicodemus carefully buried that body in a borrowed tomb Joseph's tomb and they sealed it with a stone and when they rolled that heavy stone over the opening of that tomb you can almost hear it as it rolls down the incline and locks in place there you can almost hear the shuttering thud of that stone as it closes and seals that tomb and then they put a seal over it you can almost hear the hearts of those who placed our master in that tomb you can almost sense the pain that they were feeling because as they closed that tomb they were closing off their own hope but that was on Friday and Sunday was still coming a poet said this tomb thou shalt not hold him longer death is strong but life is stronger stronger than the dark the light stronger than the wrong the right faith and hope triumph and say Christ will rise on Easter day it's righty but Sunday's coming and even though their hopes may have been dashed at that moment in three days they're gonna celebrate because Jesus Christ is alive and the name of Jesus is to be honored above all names it is the name above all names it is a name where every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord his name has been substituted others are taking new names and placing them to these people and saying this person can save you Buddha can save you Muhammad can save you know neither one can neither one can give to you life there's only one who can and that's Jesus Christ Jesus Christ because he is the life Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father but by me we have life because he's alive and even though he was placed in that tomb we know that on Easter Sunday he comes alive he is alive for us and he ever lives for us we have a living savior Jesus Christ the righteous and he died yes and and our hearts should sorrow because he didn't die for anything that he had done he died because of what I have done but he has made it possible for me to have life because all I need to do in faith is to turn to him say oh god be merciful and to me I am a sinner forgive me for what I've done and I yield myself to you I confess I repent I turn from those sins and I turn to you because lord I don't have love I don't have joy I don't have peace I don't have satisfaction I have nothing that matters all I have within me is emptiness and I need you and Jesus Christ said I will give you life I am the life and I will give you peace because it comes from me I will give you joy it's the fruit of my spirit and you will have all of these things not just now but forever that's why we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that's why I have put my faith in him that's why I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my redeemer lives and I know that one day I will see him face to face and I know that one day I'll enter into heaven not by works of righteousness which I've done I couldn't do anything to deserve entrance into heaven I couldn't even go and see the president of the United States there's nothing in me that would enable me to be able to see him I can't see him but I can see God I can see God through Jesus Christ God has made it possible for me to approach the throne and obtain grace and mercy in my time of need and that comes through Jesus Christ and no other name it comes because God has made a possible way for me to do that through Jesus Christ and so when I see him clearly portrayed as crucified for me I also know that he rose on the third day for me for my justification and you can know that too it is not because we've tried so hard it's because he has accomplished what we cannot accomplish ourselves and that's why I have faith in Christ because he is able when I'm not and he has been able and will always be able to deliver me completely because that's what God did through Jesus Christ what a savior what a savior we have in Jesus Christ what a blessing it is to worship him because not only did he die but on the third day he rose from the dead and he's alive and that's who we celebrate even as we observe Good Friday