The Mighty Miracles at the Cross

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Grace, much more abounds. Praise God. Well, I'd like for you to go ahead and open your
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Bible to Matthew chapter 27. This is the crucifixion chapter, and it is loaded up.
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There is so much here. As Jesus dies, there are so many accompanying signs.
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I will not be able to touch on all of them. As you turn in there, I'd like to say a few things in way of introduction that some of these miracles are from heaven and some of these miracles are from the earth.
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But they are all in a class of wonders that God has wrought by themselves.
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And all the gospel writers speaks of this. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and they report it just as it is.
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But Matthew, unlike the other writers, surrounds it with reports of the miracles that took place when
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Jesus died. And it is not surprising that the miracles accompanying the death of Jesus since they accompanied
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His birth are so important. James Montgomery Boyce says we talk about His birth miracles, the virgin birth itself, the angel visitations, the star that guided the wise men.
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But we do not pay much attention to the miracles that took place at the crucifixion. And he goes on to say there is probably a good reason for that.
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And what is that? He says Jesus' death was followed by His resurrection, which is the most important miracle of all.
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And we get so focused on that event. Nonetheless, it is striking that the first three gospels record miraculous events that took place at the time
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Jesus was on the cross, Boyce says. And when He died, but through Matthew's account, it is the most complete, end quote.
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So, beloved, today as we come before the foot of the cross, and that is where we go today, we come before the foot of the cross.
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We see the gospel in its clarity. We see something that God is doing.
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We take this time to gaze and worship as God the
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Father does great miracles and signs and wonders that took place while Jesus' son was dying.
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The great question that looms over the Old Testament is not the question, is
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God good? Is God gracious? But the real question is, is
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God righteous? That's the question that looms over the entirety of the
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Old Testament. And it's very obvious that God is gracious. God is merciful.
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God is good. You know, think of it. Sinners survive. Sinners live another day.
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Sinners prosper. Sinners are even blessed. And believing sinners are forgiven. But so the great question before us is, how can
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God do that and be righteous? That's the question. And that's what's set before us today.
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Now, brethren, I like to say this. The cross of Jesus Christ answers that question. The cross is the great symbol.
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As horrifying as it was, and as excruciating it was, it was invented by the
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Romans to put the end of a man completely, to crucify him in a slow, agonizing death.
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But God did His wonders at the cross. Christ died to satisfy the wrath of God as a sacrifice, as the
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Lamb of God upon the altar. And that was the altar of that Lamb being slaughtered.
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The Lamb of God was slaughtered on the cross, ultimately unto God, just not for our salvation.
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Though that is a secondary miracle that Christ did do, a very important one.
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Or we would not be saved. But you need to see today, along with me, that ultimately
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Jesus Christ died unto God. He died ultimately primarily unto
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God to satisfy the wrath of God and to proclaim God as being righteous.
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See, that's the answer. The cross is the answer to that. The cross is the answer that God is consistent, and yet He's gracious and He's merciful.
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So what am I saying? God displays all of His attributes on display on the cross.
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The cross is the answer to that. All of the attributes of God are put on display before us, before the world, as Jesus Christ died.
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So keep this one great truth in mind. Jesus is God's Lamb. John 1 .29,
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behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
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Not sins, plural, but the sin once and for all. So in saying that, as we look in Matthew chapter 27, let me begin with verse 45, and we'll be reading to verse 54.
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There's no way we could cover everything here in this whole chapter. It's so loaded up. There's so much that took place in this entire chapter.
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But you see that Jesus delivered him to Pilate. Then we see that Judas repents, but we know that it's not genuine repentance, right?
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It's worldly sorrow. And we see that he hangs himself.
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Barabbas is freed. Then Jesus is scourged. The crowds cry out, crucify
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Him, crucify Him. The same crowds a week before said, Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the
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Lord. Then Jesus is led to Golgotha, the place of the skull.
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Then He's crucified. And now in verse 45, hear the word of the
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Lord. And now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.
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And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, That is, my
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God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And when those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, this man is calling for Elijah.
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Immediately one of them ran and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and he put it on a reed and gave him a drink.
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But the rest of them said, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit.
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And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And the earth shook and the rocks were split.
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The tombs were opened and many of the bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised coming out of the tombs.
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After his resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared to many.
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In verse 54, now the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, truly, this was the
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Son of God. Let's pray. Father, I want to say a short prayer.
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Because You're the one that can only touch the hearts this morning, as I only can touch the ears, reach the ears.
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So, Father, my prayer is this. Our Lord, speak for Your servant hears.
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In Jesus' name, Amen. We see the first act of God.
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We see the first great miracle that God was doing on Calvary's cross as Jesus, the
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Lamb of God, was dying. Between two thieves. The greatest event that the world will ever know.
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And we read it in verse 45. Now from the sixth hour, darkness, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.
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There are many miracles that surround the cross. And God was doing many works as Jesus hung there dying.
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And taking upon Himself the wrath of Almighty God. It's beyond our comprehension.
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But the best we can do is, by the help of the Spirit of God, to teach us the things of Christ. Let's look at exactly what the text is saying.
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Now, this is the first miracle. According to the Scripture, it lasted from 12 noon to 3 pm.
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Three hours of complete darkness. Luke, in 23, 44, 45 says it was now about the sixth hour and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour because the sun was obscured.
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The sun itself was obscured. The earth was plunged in absolute darkness.
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Very similar, we're reading, as Brother Ben goes through the book of Exodus, you notice there are judgments that's coming upon Egypt.
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Ultimately, we will see that there are 10 judgments that came upon the land of Egypt that God brought.
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The 10th would be the final one that will set God's people free. That would be the death of the firstborn.
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But the ninth judgment was a judgment of darkness. Similar here,
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God brought darkness on the land, the whole land. But here, and we read in Exodus in the land of Egypt that lasted for three days, by the way.
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It was a force of darkness and the Bible calls it a darkness in Exodus 10, 21, a darkness that could be felt.
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Think of that. You can feel the darkness. This was such a blackening out of light that was intensified.
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A true miracle of God. This is the very first miracle and it's a very important miracle because it is something that God did with His hand.
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Now, think of this. In no sense, in no wise was it an eclipse for various reasons.
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An eclipse lasted just for a few minutes. But this lasted for three hours.
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The darkness lasted for three hours. Three hours. Now, within those three hours, we don't know everything that took place because our little finite minds cannot comprehend the
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Almighty God and what He was laying upon His Son on that day. But I assure you,
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Jesus Christ was taking upon Himself the wrath of God. It was a miracle of God from the heavens.
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When God's hand blotted out the sun. During those three hours,
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Jesus broke into silence three times. Once He said, and it was the first prayer that He said on the cross,
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Father, forgive them for they do not know what they're doing. That was His first prayer.
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The next, He said to the penitent thief, Truly today, you will be with me in paradise.
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And the third, He said to His own mother, Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother.
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And Jesus was basically putting His own mother in the care of John the Apostle. Now, I want you to think of this.
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Each of those first three sayings on the cross were expressions of the compassion and the grace of Jesus Christ.
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The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. I want you to think of it.
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In one of those acts of compassion that Jesus speaks,
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Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do. He acts and He asks the Father for forgiveness for the very ones who crucified
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Him. That nailed Him to the cross. And the next act of compassion,
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He welcomes a wicked man, a wicked thief into paradise.
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And this man repents. And Jesus said, Today, you will be with me in paradise. That was a miracle.
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And the third, He shows tender, loving compassion to His own mother,
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Mary, at the foot of the cross as He hangs there in shame.
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Each act showing grace and mercy. And as I read this, I have to hold back tears because it is so touching.
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How can any of us not be moved? With a heart of affection of the acts of mercy that our
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Lord showed even being crucified. This is the way God is. He is completely gracious and merciful, unlimited, infinite, even in the midst of His sufferings.
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And all the excruciating pain physically, but what He's about to take upon Himself would be something that would be far beyond the physical.
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At noonday, when the sun is at its very height, an astounding miracle is done and God puts out the sun.
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Now, I want you to go with me and think of this. Complete darkness takes place. And interesting enough, even the
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Romans and their history records, and you can check this out, in their history books recorded that there was darkness over the known earth at this time.
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We don't have a lot of detail on the darkness, but only that it was completely dark for three hours.
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And what I love about this is, and I was sharing this with my wife on the way here, the gospel writers actually are restrained.
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They don't speculate. They don't throw other words on top of it to speculate on it or to reminisce.
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They simply report it as it was and as they saw it. And I told my wife,
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I said, that's the clarity of Scripture and the credibility of these writers.
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And they leave the interpretation to the Spirit of God. They record exactly what they saw.
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And don't you love that? Revelation, Jesus says, basically, when the
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Word of God says you don't add to the Word of God, you don't subtract from it. It is what it is.
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And I like what Scrolls says, when God says it, the argument's over. Because this is
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Almighty God. Now here we are, we're standing before the cross and yet, this is
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God's first commentary, if you will, on the events that happened there and darkness was the first symbol or the first miracle that took place and it is the symbol of judgment, obviously.
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That's what darkness is, it's judgment. God brings judgment and He pours that judgment upon His own
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Son. God's salvation is spoken of light and you read in Isaiah, it makes me think of the prophecy that was fulfilled when
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Jesus was born and when He came into the world, what does it say? In great darkness a light has shone.
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Jesus is that great light. In great darkness. And the light will overcome the darkness.
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God's judgment is spoken of as darkness and in Scripture even tells hell is even called outer darkness.
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Hell itself. So what is the meaning of this darkness of the sun and those three hours from the high noon until Jesus died?
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Now let me say this, I've already touched on this, but in some way it was God's hand covering the suffering of His Son.
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It's a mystery. I'm not going to elaborate on something I don't know, but I can tell you this, it was a mystery and it's a mystery that we cannot fathom.
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All we can do and the best we can do is worship because God and only
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Jesus knows. Submitted of God and afflicted,
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Isaiah 53 says, it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. We cannot enter into the infinite understanding, the deep, deep mind of the infinite unfathomable mystery of God as He turned
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His face from His Son and when
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Jesus cried out, why hast thou forsaken Me? I never will forget, the first time
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I read the commentary on G. Campbell Morgan as he brought this text to light, he says, here
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I put my pen down and I bow and worship because all we can do is take off our shoes because we're on holy ground.
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That's one of the greatest commentaries I think I've ever read on that text. The sun went out, darkened, it refused to shine.
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Isaac wants, we're going to sing it after a while when we have communion, he said this, well might the sun in darkness hide and shut
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His glories in? When Christ the mighty maker died for man, the creature sinned. Beloved, it's a miracle into which we cannot enter into the sufferings of the
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Son of God. And the Lord from heaven, the holy God, turned
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His face away and darkness came upon that land and in that time and three hours of darkness,
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Jesus took the wrath of God. Next, we see the second miracle that comes before us.
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Like I said, we could camp right there on the darkness, but I want to move forward to bring everything
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I possibly can before your eyes today as we behold the Lamb of God. Next, we see the second miracle of Calvary.
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There's many, many miracles. I'm going to lose count, we're going to lose count in a minute, but anyway, the miracle of divine separation.
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The first being there was a divine darkness, now there's divine separation and only our
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Lord can know this. No one else can dare enter there. The text in verse 46 says
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Jesus cried out with a loud voice. He cried out and literally the
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Greek says He screamed out. He screamed out.
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That is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
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Notice he didn't say my father. It was my God, my
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God, twice. Again, this incomprehensible text.
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How can we know this? We cannot know this. We cannot go there. Only Jesus went there.
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We will never know, even our glorified state once we get to heaven. A lot of people say, oh, I know everything. Forget that.
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I mean, you'll know a lot more than you know now, but you will not know this kind of depth. No matter how great the saint is, this is only for Jesus.
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How can God be separate from God? How can the
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Trinity be divided? Creatures of the earth, we dare not even try to answer those kinds of questions.
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It's absolutely holy ground and we come humbly at the feet of the cross. And we do this again, as I say, and you'll hear me say this time and time again, and I think what
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Brother Michael says this morning about a burning bush experience, it's as if we take off the sandals from our heart, off our feet, because we are standing on holy ground.
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Here God is a consuming fire and He consumes sin because on His Son.
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Beloved, this is holy ground. Even the holy prophets were coming face to face with God, would even put their hand to their mouth and be silent.
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For here we see Jesus, the Son of God, separated, He's alienated, bearing the punishment of our sins.
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The sin that took Him there. You know, the more I go to the cross, the more
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I see, Lord, I hate my sin and I want to love you more. I want to hate sin and I want to love righteousness and we know the righteous one.
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And to look on Him and His suffering. James Montgomery Boyce says again, at the same time, quote, the darkness cried out against the blackness of our sin and testified to the tremendous cost to God of our redemption.
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Verse 48 to verse 50. There's still six hours until His crucifixion.
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And Jesus is strong enough, even though He's lost much energy, there's no telling how much blood
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He's lost. Oh, the precious blood, strong enough to scream out.
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He screams out and He's not going to slowly face, or should
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I say, fade into a coma and not take the pain. No, He takes all of it.
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He drinks the cup, but He doesn't halfway drink it.
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He drinks all of it. And at the crucifixion, in Roman times, sometimes a crucifixion, a person to die could take days.
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Yet Jesus takes it, the pain to the full. The physical pain to us is incredible.
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But did you know even the physical pain does not even match the spiritual alienation that He took?
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Folks, He took hell. He took alienation from God. And then
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He will yield up His spirit in the right time. If you read this, it is in God's timetable.
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You notice the life of Jesus as He went from His birth all the way to the cross.
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He desired and He walked in such perfection, not only being sinless, but He walked perfectly in accordance to the spirit of God as a man.
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But everything was in God's perfect timetable. Isn't that incredible? Everything was perfectly timed.
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You even read this one text, I don't remember exactly where it's at, but it says they tried to lay hold of Jesus and they tried to catch
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Him and He would get away because the Scripture says it was not for His time. It was not
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His time. So He knew it needed to be everything on the Father's timetable.
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Now, I want you to think of this. If you compare the gospel of John and the gospel of Luke, you find that Jesus had already said, it is finished in John 19, 30.
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And He already said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. And that brings us to the next great miracle in verse 50.
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Notice verse 50. This is a miracle of acceptance. He's rejected of God the
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Father, but now there is an acceptance. Verse 50, And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit.
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He screams out. The work was done. The victory is won.
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Paid in full. The price was paid. God the Father was satisfied.
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He volunteered to lay down His life. And by the way, you remember that wonderful text. Jesus said,
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No man takes my life from me. And He says, I had the power to lay it down and I had the power to take it back up again.
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And Jesus knew when the Father departed, but He also knew when He was forsaken, but He also knew when
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He was welcomed. Now, we don't understand all that, but that's what took place.
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And notice these miracles. Notice in each one of these miracles,
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God is in absolute full control. To the human eye, it looks like things are out of control, but God is in perfect full control.
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Now, I love that about God, don't you? It looks like there's total darkness, and there was.
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But Jesus knew that was not the end. Oh, this is wonderful.
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When Jesus said, All authority is given unto Him, unto me. He said, It didn't mean some authority.
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We're talking about all authority. We're talking about all power. Not some, but all power.
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It's another miracle. Verse 51, Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
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Now, this is a whole sermon. I don't want to just touch on it. The great veil that separated the holy place from the most holy place in the temple,
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Matthew, Mark, Luke, and all report of the tearing of it. And it was torn by God's hand, another act of God from His hand.
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It was torn from top to bottom, signifying that this was something that God Himself did, and the event was very heavy with spiritual significance.
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If you study about this veil, it was 60 feet long, 30 feet wide.
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And the same rabbis say in the Talmud that it would take 300 priests to raise it up and to lift it.
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The historian Josephus tells us, so strong and mighty that the veil, that teams of horses could not pull it asunder.
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And yet, at the voice of Jesus, when Jesus cried out, it is finished,
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God took that veil by His hand, and He tore it from top to bottom.
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Doesn't that make you want to shout? A mighty miracle of God by the hand of God.
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Notice all these miracles that's taken place, but this one's so significant. And after the veil was torn by God's almighty hand, the earth shook and the rocks split.
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God shook the earth. According to Hebrews 10, 19 through 22, the
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Bible says, Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which
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He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is His flesh, since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near.
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That's where the cross brings us in. Draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
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There's another text in Luke, it talks about another miracle that takes place, and I surely don't have time to go there.
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I'd like to preach a whole sermon on this sometime. When the soldier pierced him on his side to make sure he was dead, blood and water came out.
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Oh, the blood and the water, beloved. The blood that cleanses from all sin.
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The water that washes whiter than snow. Beloved, this is very powerful.
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And by the way, Paul says, this is the power of the cross. You know, you could take all the powers of this world.
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There's nothing that compares to this kind of power. Absolutely nothing.
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And what a lesson it is in this. It's an imagery in this verse, it's taken from the sacrificial, talking about the veil, of the sacrificial ceremonies of the old covenant, where the blood was sprinkled as a sign of cleansing and the priests were continually washing themselves in the sacred vessels and basins of clear and pure water.
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And there was animal sacrifices offered constantly, constantly. But now
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God in Jesus Christ tore the veil asunder and every eye could look sweeping into the presence of God.
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I tell you what, this makes me want to shout for joy. Because now it's a new and a living way.
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Because Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. You know,
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I was reading a devotion and I shared this with Brother Keith. This is something glorious. You know, you think of it.
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We are to preach and preach the whole counsel of God. And Paul confirmed that.
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But when he talked about that, I know nothing saved Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What he was talking about, that this is the primary importance of the whole
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Bible. Take away the cross, you take away Christianity. And it's not a golden cross too.
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My old mentor at Holmes College of the Bible, he said, you ever seen anybody go around with an electric chair around their neck?
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That's the truth. In other words, it means execution. He was going to be executed.
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Oh, I tell you what, this is glorious. Because through the blood and the water of the Lord Jesus Christ, the tearing of the flesh of the
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Lord Jesus Christ, when He was broken there, it is as if God tore the veil.
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And now we could come boldly. That doesn't mean arrogantly. That basically means you have confidence in God that you can go right into the presence of God.
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The throne of grace, the throne of mercy. Don't we need that throne of grace?
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Don't we need that throne of mercy? That favor, undeserved favor that we don't deserve it.
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That mercy that God shows compassion to the uncompassionate. Right into the presence of the throne of God to ask help in time of need.
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I tell you, when I get down personally, and when I see my world's falling apart, there's one place
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I can go, beloved. And one place that you can go. And you go to the cross of Jesus Christ. Nothing else will last.
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Everything else will dim in comparison. But the cross stands firm. While everything will fall apart,
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I assure you the cross will stand firm. God rends the veil.
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Our entrance right into the very presence of God. That's what it means. There's so much more I can say about that, but I got to move on.
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The next miracle we find that is within the same text there is the earth quaked and the rocks were split.
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The earth quaked and the rocks were split. When our Lord shouted the word of victory, by the way, again, it is finished.
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All this took place. That's glorious. The earth responded.
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The earth responded. It's waiting for its regeneration. You know, this world that's out there, they look at this earth as mother earth.
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But I'm here to tell you, this earth is waiting for a regeneration. It's waiting for a change.
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Beloved, we have no idea of the magnitude of what
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Jesus did on the cross. It not only changes us and a hard heart, which is a divine miracle and a great miracle, but it's going to change the earth.
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It's going to be a new heavens and a new earth one day. And Jesus, when he took the crown of thorns upon himself, he took the curse of the earth.
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The thorns will be taken away. The pain, everything will be reversed.
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I'm telling you, when it comes to the scriptures and everything in the 66 books of the Bible, when you come to this chapter, you come to the primary reason why
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God did what he did. Everything goes to the cross. When our
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Lord shouted the words of victory, it's finished. The earth responded. Why? Because it's giving of the law of God that condemns us.
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No man has kept the law. None of us has kept it in its perfection. Only Jesus did.
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Only Jesus. Scripture says it. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
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And in the law and its giving, you know what happened at Mount Sinai? Lightning was flashing. Heavens were filled with the mighty thundering of God's awesome voice.
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And you can read the text in Exodus and we'll be reading it. We're coming up on it here in a few weeks, Lord willing. The whole mountain shook.
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There was such loud thunderings and voices of trumpets. And the children of Israel literally thought they were going to die.
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They trembled. Well, that's the way it is at Sinai. We tremble. We quake.
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The rocks were split. Oh, but the holy law of God, the perfect standard by which man is tried is condemned to death.
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But oh, can I say this, beloved at Calvary's cross, the love and the grace and the mercy of God was poured out in redemption.
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So that you and I can be redeemed. We don't deserve it.
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We deserve the justice. We deserve the blow.
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And Jesus took the blow. The earth shook. All the tremors of Sinai were absorbed in Mount Calvary.
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Mount Calvary took the absorption of the law. I want you to think of that. Everything Jesus took.
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I tell you, when you read a text like this, it should melt our heart more and more to fall in love with Jesus Christ more and more.
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And to hate sin even more and more. Oh, He is such forgiveness and love and grace through His blood in Jesus.
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Broke down the middle wall partition. So mighty and so powerful was
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Jesus' shout of victory when He said, It is finished. The earth shook and the wonder and the glory is in the regeneration that is yet to come.
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Well, next we see another great miracle. Look at verse 52. The tombs were opened.
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And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. Oh, this is glorious.
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Now, all I can tell you about this is much to be said about the resurrection to come.
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But this is really what took place here was a foretaste of final resurrection to come. Only Matthew alone mentions this miracle.
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It's interesting, isn't it? The miracles that surrounds Jesus' death is absolutely staggering.
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And it's just awe -striking. But at the same time that the earth shakes and the rocks were split, the tombs were splitting up.
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And the Scripture says, Out came the resurrected saints who have been given glorified bodies.
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Now, we know what the Scripture says. They don't literally go into Jerusalem until after the resurrection of Jesus.
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That's interesting. Why? Because Jesus is the first fruits. Jesus is the first fruits.
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And all the others are the following. See, God knows exactly what
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He's doing. There's no mistake with God. What's God saying here?
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God's saying for the saints, you and I who are washed in the blood, there's going to be a future resurrection.
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You and I will be resurrected. I worked with a guy. I'm working on him, but I know
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I can't reach his heart. This guy, he is hard. I tell you what,
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Brother Keith knows what I'm talking about. He works with guys. Everybody knows what I'm talking about. You all work with people who have a hard heart. I said we were going,
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Ben was reading through Exodus and talking about Pharaoh, hard in his heart, hard in his heart, hard in his heart. I think about this guy
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I work with. I had a chance, this is me and him, one on one on Saturdays.
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He shows up, he's an ice cream guy. We got to talking about it.
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He thinks Christianity is a crutch for people who are Christians. It's a crutch, he says.
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It's all fake. He really believes that when he dies, he's going to be like the animal, no soul.
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I said, oh my friend. I said, you've got a rude of awakening coming to you. I said, you are gambling upon your soul.
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I told him that. And I said, I want to tell you something. I said,
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Scripture says it and that's enough for me. When God says that man was created in his image and that God breathed into him and he became a living soul, that means you're a living soul.
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He said, no, we're not. He said, we're just an entity. I said, no, sir. I said, no, sir.
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I said, I didn't say it. God said it. I said, you're more than an entity. You are a living soul. But anyway, you know where you are and we are.
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You can't make people believe. It takes a miracle. And God has to do something.
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Continue to pray for this man that God would open his eyes. But God can do it. God can do all things.
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And we must have that kind of faith to believe that. Now, I want you to think of this.
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A resurrection is to come. The whole time that Jesus was dying for God, God was doing a great work.
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He was affirming everything that was going on. Think of it as God affirming that this is a judgment on sin.
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And God is forsaking the sin bearer, Jesus, because of his absolute holiness upon his own son, who was perfectly holy.
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He that knew no sin, as Paul says, became sin, a sin offering, that you and I might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
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The great exchange has taken place. And I was thinking of this.
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I said, it's absolutely staggering. And I was thinking, the great exchange, the great exchange.
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Jesus hung before God the Father in complete nakedness and shame.
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But yet, he will clothe us in his righteousness. He takes a thorn crowned brow, the crown of thorns upon him, because one day we're going to have a crown of jewels.
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Jesus was rejected before the Father, so that you and I will be accepted before the beloved and the family of God.
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You are beloved of God. He gives you a new name. He's rejected and we are accepted.
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Our filthy robes of righteousness for his pure spotless robe of righteousness.
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The only thing that pleases God. Everything that we do is tainted and sinful and dirty.
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But everything that Jesus did was perfectly accepted. He takes the judgment of God.
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Oh, this is glorious. I've got to go to the next one. Look at verse 54. We come to another miracle.
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Now the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus. And when they saw the earthquake and the very things that were happening, they became very frightened.
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And what did he say? This is his confession. He said, truly this was the Son of God. Now listen to this.
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This was a hardened soldier. It's just not another ordinary soldier. This is a centurion.
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May have not been a full confession as we think. And it lacked much of what he would undoubtedly come to know later.
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But it was correct. That's all it took because he said, truly this was the
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Son of God. God did this. It was a miracle.
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And can I say this? This was the greatest miracle. People say, well, you mean, pastor, you mean to tell me out of all these great miracles, this is the greatest miracle?
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Oh, only God can change a hard heart. A heart of stone and give it a heart of flesh.
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And write his laws on it. And give us the desires to know him and to love him.
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Oh, that's glorious. But no doubt here, the confession of a repentant centurion soldier speaks out of an awareness of his sin.
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Saying truly that is suggesting a certainty of conviction that speaks of genuine faith.
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Truly. We don't need to take these little words for granted.
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Truly speaks of genuine faith. It was not just a centurion soldier, by the way.
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Scripture says there are others with him. Did you get that? Notice in the beginning of it.
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Now the centurion, those who were with him. So he speaks not only for himself, he speaks for them.
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Isn't that great? These men represent the answer to Jesus' prayer in Luke 23, 34.
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When Jesus cried out and prayed, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they're doing. God the
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Father convicted them and brought them to salvation. To the ones that nailed them to the cross.
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Isn't that glorious? Jesus prays for his tormentors. I thought about it.
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I don't believe not a one of us could do something like that outside of the Spirit of God.
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Because the martyrs and those who... Look at Stephen. He prayed.
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He said, Father, do not lay this sin to their account. You see, it takes the Spirit of the living
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God to give that kind of love and mean it. You think about being hung naked on a cross in those
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Roman days. With nails. And Jesus prays,
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Father, forgive them. You know, Jesus taught on the servant on the map to love your enemies.
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Beloved, he demonstrated it. He was more than a walking sermon.
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He was the sermon. He was everything that God said.
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This is my beloved son. Hear ye him. Oh, they did not recognize.
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Think about it. They did not recognize. They were not even aware at the time of crucifying the Son of God and murdering the
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Son of God. And the scope of the wickedness that they did. They did not recognize him. Who he was, the
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Messiah, the Son of the living God, as Peter said. And can I say this with all sincerity?
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Neither did we. We were just as blind. We were like poor beggar
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Bartimaeus on the roadside begging. Jesus, thou
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Son of David, have mercy on me. We were just like him. Guilty and vile and helpless we.
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But you see, it's because of our sin. Spurgeon said.
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Our beloved was nailed to the cross. Suffered the terrible crucifixion.
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There's so much more that can be said about this. I'm just scratching the surface. I'm just going by wave upon wave and just giving us a quick glimpse on Calvary before we go to communion.
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God answers Jesus's prayer, doesn't he? Every prayer that Jesus prayed will be answered.
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Every prayer. The centurion comes to recognize Jesus, who he really is.
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Truly, this was the Son of God. Well, beloved, have you come to this great awareness?
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Have you made this all -important confession? And with your heart, confessions made to salvation.
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With the mouth, confessions made to salvation. But with the heart, man believes unto righteousness. So the heart has to be in it.
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And I really believe that the centurion's heart was there. It's the only way we can ever be saved, isn't it?
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And notice how God spoke. He saw the earthquake and the things that were happening.
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He became frightened. And let me end with this conclusion. God was speaking out when
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He shook the earth. Psalm 19, verse 1, The heavens are declaring the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
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Notice this. In nature, God speaks. Verse 2, Day to day pours forth speech.
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Night to night reveals knowledge. People are without excuse, folks. There is no speech, nor are there words.
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Their voice is not heard. Verse 4, Their line has gone out throughout all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world.
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And in them has placed a tent for the sun. And I want you to think of this. The centurion soldier just saw and witnessed
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God putting out the sun. The darkness came. The judgment came.
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But most of all, the centurion witnessed the death of the Son of God. Hebrews 1, 1 through 3,
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God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom
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He has appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world. And He, in His radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature,
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He upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made a purification of His sins, this is the cross,
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He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. That's the resurrection, the ascension. So praise
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God. Jesus went all the way. And He fulfilled
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God's will to its perfection. Let us pray. Father, as we pray and now we prepare our hearts for communion, as we come to partake of the rewards of Your table,
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Father, I would pray, Lord, may we truly, and just not say this, but Father, in our hearts, truly be in awe of Your mighty works and what
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You did at the cross. Oh, what You displayed there showed such mercy and love, but it also showed purity and righteousness, demonstrated at the cross of Calvary.
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Every divine miracle points to Your glory. And as the apostle says,
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God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. As the old hymn says, in the cross of Christ our glory, towering over the wrecks of time, all the light of sacred story gathers round its head sublime.
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So Father, I pray, direct our hearts and our thoughts on this great cost that You paid. Everything else pales in comparison to this.
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Nothing else really matters because we have found the pearl of great price.
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Father, this great sacrifice as we come to Your table, we know, Lord, that we are not to eat in an unworthy manner or to drink in an unworthy manner.
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And Father, that means that we cannot court sin. We cannot cultivate sin.
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So Father, I would pray within this next few minutes, help us, oh Lord, to confess and ask
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You, oh God, for cleansing, washing by the blood of Jesus Christ that we might partake in a holy and a pure way and not come to this table defiled.
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Father, work Your cleansing work through us, through the precious blood of Jesus. Purify us, wash us, make us clean.
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Let the water and the blood do its work through faith and through Your Word in our hearts as we rejoice in the great gift of Your blessed