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[0:00] This morning, go ahead and take your Bibles, turn over to Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15 as we continue in our series here this morning with Mark chapter 15 as we're going to look at the hour that Christ died.

[0:15] And we're going to take a look at some things here this morning from the Word of God. And you know the Scripture speaks, every Gospel speaks about the hour that Christ died.

[0:26] The time that it took place, the events surrounding it, and the hour that was there. You know, when it speaks about an hour here in the Scripture, it's talking not just an hour of time, but a period of time in which things took place.

[0:44] It was an hour, though, that I want you to understand was established on God's timeline. You know, what took place? Jesus didn't die at a random hour. Jesus died on the hour that was chosen, specifically for that event.

[1:00] You know, the Bible tells us it was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. I mean, think about the reality. It was foreordained.

[1:12] In other words, God established that Jesus was going to come and die to pay the price for our sin before even the foundation of the world. God had a plan in place.

[1:24] It was an hour that we saw, that we see before us today. The hour that was mentioned earlier in His earthly ministry. You know, Jesus, even in His ministry, spoke about the hour that He was going to die.

[1:38] You know, it talks about where it talks in John 7 where it says, No man laid hand on Him because His hour was not yet come. You know, we see this terminology that is there.

[1:51] And we find here that it was in the garden that He told His disciples that the hour had come. Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. And which He told those that came to Him, rest Him.

[2:04] But this is your hour and the power of darkness. He told them what was taking place at each step, each method or each dynamic along the way.

[2:15] It was in the garden that that took place. And as they led Him away towards the cross of Calvary, the hour for which He came knowing that what was going to be required to pay the price of sin.

[2:28] To pay the price and to restore our relationship with the Father. To restore what God had set forth even in the garden where He could walk with Adam and Eve in the garden.

[2:44] And that sin separated and divided. And we see that that separation was now going to be dealt with once and for all.

[2:55] And we're going to see a beautiful picture take place. Even though there's much cruelty, there's a wonderful picture that we see. A wonderful thing took place in the midst of this hour.

[3:08] So if you found Mark chapter 15 this morning, let's stand together and honor reading of the Word of God. We'll pick up in verse 25 here this morning. Let's read down a few verses here today down to verse 28.

[3:21] But if you want to follow along, it says this, Let's pray.

[3:46] Heavenly Fathers, we come before you this morning. Lord, we just thank you that you have things scheduled in time. Lord, the events, the purpose that you have. Lord, we know that you have set forth from the very foundation of the world this particular event.

[4:03] Lord, you had it in your calendar. Lord, knowing that we were going to be needful. Lord, you prepared in advance for a need we didn't even realize that we needed.

[4:15] Lord, we pray to us to have your hand upon each one here today. Lord, as we just understand the importance of this hour. The importance of what took place upon the cross.

[4:29] Lord, as we look and consider these things this morning, I pray to you just stir hearts and minds here today towards you. Lord, we might not go out the doors just as we came in, but Lord, realizing the importance of the hour.

[4:43] And Lord, we just ask it all in your precious name. Amen. May be seated. You know, see here that it was the ninth hour, the third hour of the day, the hour of the crucifixion of Jesus.

[4:59] You know, we can see here it was an hour of despair. I mean, we see this, the despair of those that had followed Jesus throughout his ministry, giving all that they had into his service.

[5:11] And they were witnessing the one they trusted as the Messiah, the deliverer, was there upon a cross facing the cruelest of deaths. You know, his followers would have felt hopeless.

[5:25] It looked like there was great despair going to happen. That something tragic was there. But I want you to understand that Mark simply says something here to us.

[5:36] As he tells us here in verse 25, it says, and it was the third hour and they crucified him. You know, today we talk a lot and give a lot of details about the crucifixion.

[5:49] But you might say, well, why do the gospel writers really don't expound a whole lot? Well, part of the reason for that, when Mark said, hey, he was crucified, it was a common enough thing happening that they didn't need a descriptor.

[6:05] They understood what it meant to be crucified by the Romans. Everybody there that day, even as they saw Jesus going up the hill, everybody that Mark wrote to and the other gospel writers wrote to, and throughout the New Testament when it's mentioned, they weren't living in abstract when it talked about the crucifixion.

[6:26] There was probably not a single one who had not either seen it personally happen to somebody that they loved or that they saw have it happen to. Each of them, because they used it as a means of punishment that would get people's attention.

[6:43] It was very public. So in other words, when Mark here writes this out, he says that he was crucified, he's not going into detail for a reason because he said everybody already understood.

[6:56] There was no question of what he was speaking of or what was happening or what was transpiring. They understood it. Everyone knew that and no further statement was needed.

[7:09] But we find here that the anguish that Jesus faced as he hung there before everyone. Above him hung the charges that they brought against him.

[7:21] You know, you think about the irony of the charges. Above him said, King of the Jews. Pilate put it there as kind of a mockery or trying to degrade and to make fun.

[7:33] But it's sad that what he thought was degrading was actually the proper label. Jesus is the king. He is the one.

[7:45] He is the Messiah that came. He is the one that's going to come again. And we realize this as he hung there and they put that there. Imagine that they placed there the charges against him.

[7:56] They thought they were mocking, but it was a true description. He is the one the prophet spoke of, the one that came to his creation. You know, John chapter 1 says that he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not.

[8:12] And he came unto his own and his own received him not. You know, the anguish, the despair. You know, just think about Christ. Here's the Messiah. He's come. And for the very one he's dying for, the very one's killing him.

[8:24] The dynamic that was there, yet he was fulfilling everything. All that the scripture said was going to take place. Isaiah in Isaiah 53, 12 tells us this.

[8:37] And he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bare the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. You know, look here within what it says in verse 26. It says in the superscription of the accusation was written over him, the king of the Jews.

[8:52] And they crucified. And with him they crucified two thieves, the one on his right hand and the other on his left. And the scripture was what? Fulfilled.

[9:03] What was fulfilled? That he was numbered with the transgressors. Everything of this hour was God knew was going to take place. Two men that's hung on his right hand and his left had transgressed the law.

[9:16] The two that were there because of their sin, while the one in between was there because of theirs. When you consider that Jesus hung between two that were guilty, at the very moment he's taking their sin upon himself.

[9:33] He is there taking that upon him. Those that sought to kill him rejected him. And they passed by perverting what he had said in their actions.

[9:44] I mean, when we read this passage, notice what's taking place in this hour. Look at verse 29. It says, And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, buildest it in three days?

[9:59] Save thyself. Come down from the cross. We see here that they were mocking and making fun of Christ as he hung there that day.

[10:10] The hour of despair that he was there upon the cross. Even the chief priests and the scribes mocked him. Look here at verse 31 in our text. It says, Think about this for a moment with me this morning.

[10:43] As you see this hour, here's the chief priests and the scribes that had mocked. And they're looking on him and he says, Yeah, you saved others. Why can't you save yourself? You know, they're deriding him.

[10:57] They're mocking what he was. You know, Psalm 22 in verse 8 foretold this was going to happen. It says, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Yet let him deliver him, seeing he delighteth in him.

[11:11] It's they're using scripture as a mockery to Christ. Hey, if you can save others, why can't you save yourself? The thing they failed to realize is he didn't need rescued. He didn't need to be rescued.

[11:25] They were not controlling the event. The Bible says that he gave himself. Christ went voluntarily because of the purpose that he had.

[11:37] I mean, look over in Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18. You'll find there in verse 11 that Jesus makes a very clear statement. He says this, For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost.

[11:53] I want you to understand Jesus wasn't out of place. He wasn't in the wrong place at the wrong time. I want you to understand exactly the opposite. He was in the right place at the right time.

[12:07] The hour that God had appointed from the foundation of the world that he would come and pay the price for the sin of the whole world. The hour that was here, John 3 and verse 17 tells us this.

[12:21] It says, For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. How was he going to do that? That's exactly what he was doing. He didn't require rescue, but he was there to rescue you and I.

[12:35] He was there because of our need. He was there because of what he had set forth. You know, 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 15 says, This is a faithful saying and worthy of all exception that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.

[12:55] Now we know Paul used that in his descriptor, but you know what the reality is? We could all say the same thing. We're all guilty. You know, oftentimes we try to plead our own innocence, but you know, the reality is there's not a one of us innocent.

[13:09] All stand guilty before God. There's none that can stand before God and say, look at me. But you consider here the ones mocking him.

[13:21] They'd seen the miracles and they'd heard his doctrine and witnessed the promises of the law and the prophets regarding the Messiah. All the things that were foretold that described who Jesus is.

[13:33] Jesus came and did each of those things. He was perfectly fulfilling the scripture as had been set forth in the Old Testament. We see all the things, the law and the prophets.

[13:47] You know, Jesus even makes mention later, as we'll see, that everything was in the law and the prophets was declared of him. He met those things perfectly. Why did he have to meet it perfectly?

[13:58] Because there's no chance. If you met every one of the prophecies in the Old Testament perfectly, there's no question who you are. You know, you might have somebody randomly make, you know, correlate something.

[14:12] You know, we even see that today. Somebody might just happen to be at the right place at the right time and hit one thing. But the odds of hitting every prophecy in the Old Testament to go through everything from his birth, where at, what was going to happen, all the way up through how God planned everything.

[14:33] You imagine months before his birth, there was a group of men from the east came to worship him. They traveled months to get there. You consider the dynamic of God's plan being put into action.

[14:46] But, you know, the Bible makes it very clear. These men mocked Jesus. They thought it was an hour of despair for him, saying, if you saved others, why can't you save yourself?

[14:57] But what they missed is they failed to hear the very thing that God told them. The very thing that Jesus proclaimed to them. Look over in Luke chapter 16 for a moment.

[15:08] Luke chapter 16, you see Jesus here telling a story about the rich man and Lazarus. And he gives an account. The rich man in hell is pleading.

[15:20] He says, send somebody back from the dead and they'll believe. If there's something miraculous happen, they'll believe. If somebody rises from the dead, they'll believe. But in verse 31, he says this, You know, the reality is, if you don't believe what the word of God gives testimony to who God is and what Christ has done, it doesn't matter whether you think somebody rose from the dead.

[15:50] Because the validation, his resurrection is the validation of everything. When we understand the three hours here that had passed, we find here the hour of darkness.

[16:05] Look in verse 33 with me. And he says this, And in the sixth hour was come, which is noon, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. There was darkness, a thick darkness over the whole land.

[16:18] You know, people spend a lot of time speculating on how all this applies and different things. How much would it cover from the whole earth to a local event or reality?

[16:30] It really doesn't matter because when we see what was happening here, for three hours from noon until three o'clock, the scriptures were fulfilled. Amos 8, 9 says, And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that will cause the sun to go down at noon and will darken the earth in the clear day.

[16:50] You know, I want you to understand what happened here is just a record of what God had instructed, what God had said happened and what was going to happen. You know, think about how many times did the Jews come and demand a sign from heaven?

[17:05] I mean, you think about it. They came, give us a sign and we'll believe. Give us a sign and we'll believe. The whole process, even the darkness was a sign to them.

[17:19] But you know what the problem was? It wasn't the sign, it wasn't the miracle. The fact is they chose not to believe. The Bible tells us, Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. If you reject the word of God, it doesn't matter on the rest of it.

[17:35] Because the foundation of what we believe is contained in this book. It's a foundation of all that we have. You know, they wanted a sign.

[17:46] You know, think about even a darkness upon the land. Think about Pharaoh. When the darkness came, I mean, you'd think that would get his attention. That wasn't three hours, that was three days.

[17:57] But you know what? A sign, people look for a sign. But you know what? A sign never saved anybody. We look for something miraculous. But they miss the very reality.

[18:09] You know, you say, why would darkness not affect him? You know, think about what Jesus said over in John 3. John 3 and verse 19 says, These hours between noon and three, the hour of Jesus as he was being crucified, and darkness came upon the land.

[18:41] Why was there darkness? Because Jesus was bearing the load of sin. The light of the world was bearing the sin of mankind. Look over to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 for a moment.

[18:55] 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21. It says, For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

[19:12] Jesus, when the darkness came, was bearing the full load of my sin, your sin, everybody's sin.

[19:24] The load of every person, all their sin, was placed upon him. Isaiah 53 verse 6 says this, All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

[19:45] The reality of sin was upon him. 1 Peter 3.18 says, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.

[20:02] We see the darkness as Jesus faced the burden and the weight of sin upon him.

[20:14] He became sin for us. Something we can't even comprehend what was taking place. It tells us in verse 34, Look what happens. It said, In the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Aloia, aloia, lama sabachini, which is being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

[20:35] I want you to see here, Jesus was suffering for the sin of mankind. The Father could not look upon sin. But I want you to realize what was happening. 1 John 2 tells us this, it says, And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.

[20:53] I want you to see what, it's very important to understand what's taking place here. Because Jesus didn't just pay for the sins of some select, he paid for every sin, that all could be saved.

[21:05] He said, I'm going to take care of everything. He excluded nobody. He took sin upon himself. 1 Peter 2, 24 says, who in his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live under righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed.

[21:25] He took upon the reality of sin that separates us from God. Isaiah 59 and verse 2, this is an important reality, because your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

[21:44] When Christ became sin for us, we don't understand all that, what took place or how it took place. I don't think we can comprehend the price of sin that Jesus took on himself.

[22:00] When he became sin for us, you can do a lot of speculation, but I think the speculation would fall short. But it says that sin separates us from God.

[22:13] When Jesus said, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? He says, why? He's not crying out in a manner of saying that God had forgot about him.

[22:25] I want you to see that God had to turn his face from him, because at that moment, he became sin for us. He took everything upon himself. It's all the fulfillment of Psalm 21, and Jesus was separated from the fathers.

[22:41] He took our sin upon himself. The wrath of God was upon him in our place. I want you to understand, at that moment, he took the wrath that we merited for our sin upon himself.

[22:58] The reality of what he did. The Bible says it was the ninth hour, the hour of death.

[23:08] You know, look here in the passage, what it says, and it says, for some of them that stood by, when they heard it said, behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, let alone, let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.

[23:25] And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. Those standing around the cross, hear him cry out to his father, and they think they're crying for Elijah to come.

[23:41] You know, it's interesting, once again, they find that they misunderstood what Jesus was saying. They misunderstood, they heard what they wanted to hear, not what God had said.

[23:55] How did he end up on the cross? When you think about their accusation, the accusations that they were making against him, was the fact, he said, you destroy this temple, in three days I'll raise it up again.

[24:08] And they thought, they were talking about the physical temple. John 2 says he was talking about his body. You know what? People misunderstand the things of God, oftentimes, because they take what they want, or what they desire, instead of what God has said.

[24:24] You know, they were probably waiting, let's see if Elijah comes. You know, it's here that John's gospel records some events. You know, John gives us a lot more personal connection with the cross, because John was there.

[24:39] How do we know he was there? Because Jesus asked him to take his own mother into his care. What Jesus said on the cross, we could spend multiple messages talking about, But I want you to understand that everything happening, Christ was still in control.

[24:56] He didn't take sin because he had to. He took our sin because he wanted to. There's a difference. They were waiting to see if Elias would come, and Jesus is just looking out for their care.

[25:10] We find that John 19 reveals that Jesus was thirsty, which is why we find here in Mark, he refers to the one that ran to get him some vinegar to drink. And they gave him something to quench his thirst.

[25:25] This is not the same that they offered him earlier. This is a fulfillment of Psalm 69, 21, where it says, They gave me also gall for my meat, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

[25:38] Even to the very end, the pictures and the miraculous dynamics were being fulfilled from the scripture. Every detail God said, I want you to see, to validate, to understand what's happening.

[25:53] And it tells us here in verse 37, it says, And Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost. Now Mark doesn't record what he cried out, but John does.

[26:05] John says what he cried out was, It is finished. It is finished. What was finished? You know, if you say something's finished, you have to say, what got finished? What was completed?

[26:17] What took place? What did Jesus mean when he said, It is finished? At that moment, he gave his life as the perfect Lamb of God sacrificed for our sin.

[26:29] He gave his life. He gave up the ghost. We could spend some time there this morning, but I want you to understand the summary of that is very simple, that nobody took it from him.

[26:45] He gave his life. It wasn't because all his bodily organs failed to function. He said, It is finished. The hour of his death was there.

[27:00] What was finished? The penalty of sin that separates us from God was taken care of. There was nothing else needed to pay for my sin and your sin.

[27:14] Take a look over in the book of Hebrews for a moment. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, and we see this pictured for us. Look at what's revealed to us. It says, Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he sayeth, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared me in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

[27:34] Then said I, Lo, I come in the value of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God, above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offering and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hast pleasure in them which were offered by the law.

[27:52] Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, he taketh away first that he may establish the second, by the which will, will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

[28:09] Now there's a lot contained there, but let me summarize it for you. Very simply, it's telling us that Christ came physically here as the perfect Lamb of God.

[28:23] All those Old Testament sacrifices were nothing but a picture. They rolled sin forward. They didn't take care of sin. They didn't solve the problem of sin.

[28:36] It wasn't a resolution to sin. Everything was a picture to what took place on the cross at this hour when his blood was shed for you and me. Everything points to it that Jesus here gave up the ghost.

[28:49] He was the one that even controlled all the process of this all the way to his very death. We'll look later here in the passages. We don't have time today, so in the future we'll look at some of what took place because they were surprised that he was dead already.

[29:07] They wanted to make sure. But Christ gave up the ghost. He was the one who made that decision for you and me. You know, Titus 2.14 says, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works.

[29:26] You know, Mark tells us also that another important event took place at this very moment. The picture here is something that is a powerful reality of what took place.

[29:38] Look at the next verse there. Verse 38. In this hour, something happened and the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.

[29:51] Here we find that the veil of the temple was torn. Now you need to understand what that means or what's that picturing. In the temple, there was a veil between the holy place and the holy of holies.

[30:08] The holy of holies is where the mercy seat was. The high priest would enter once a year and put the blood of atonement upon the mercy seat.

[30:19] The Bible tells us it would roll forward that sin. It kept piling up and I want you to realize that Jesus took all that sin that day upon himself because he was the ultimate sacrifice.

[30:33] The Bible describes what he did. The reality is he went and put his own blood that was applied on the mercy seat for our sin. Hebrews 9, if you read through there, you'll find that it describes the picture between the old and the new and what took place.

[30:52] One was a covenant that had a time frame, but I want you to see the covenant of Jesus Christ is not contained by time. The Bible says it was once for all.

[31:03] Everything and everyone was included. But I want you to understand the reality of this veil was torn. It's what separated people from God.

[31:16] The ark represented God himself. When the veil was torn, it exposed that there was no longer a separation holding us back. There was no longer one that was separated, but now we can become one.

[31:29] When the veil was torn, it removed what was separating one from God. Ephesians 2 says, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who were sometimes were far off or made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinance to make it himself twain, one new man, so making peace.

[31:57] There was no longer separated by our sin. We've now been reconciled or have the opportunity to be reconciled to God. Jesus Christ removed the barrier.

[32:09] The veil was torn. The separation was done. You know, the hour of his death brings about something else, the hour of decision.

[32:22] Because people have to make a decision about what Christ did for them. There's a decision that needs to be made. This leaves us in the final hour, the hour of decision.

[32:32] You know what? Today is the hour of decision. Today is the moment of decision. 2 Corinthians 6 in verse 2 says, For I saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted that the day of salvation I have succored thee.

[32:48] Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. You know, the question here today is what does the death of Jesus taking your sin upon him, how does it apply to you?

[33:03] How does it impact you? What does his death mean for you? It means we're now in an hour where you can take a choice to call upon him. Recognizing that the sin he took is what separated you from God.

[33:18] Saying, God, I trust that Christ was in my place. That he took sin, took my sin upon himself. It's important to realize that Christ didn't die generically.

[33:33] He died specifically for you. That's hard to fathom how he could understand the reality of you and me. Before we were even born, he took our sin upon himself.

[33:45] The Bible says he loved you so much that he did it. His love for you was there on the cross. He said, they cannot, but I will.

[33:55] Today, the reality is what have you done with Jesus? It's the hour of decision. Do you know for sure that you're saved? Has there been a moment in time when you can look back and understand this is when I recognized I was a sinner and that Jesus is the Savior?

[34:15] Is there a moment in time that you can say I didn't just recognize I didn't give head knowledge but I understood it was not generic but it was personal. That it was for me.

[34:26] Today, if you've never had that reality, I trust that today would be the day you'd call upon him. If you don't know Christ for sure or have doubts, today's the day to make sure.

[34:38] Because I want you to know the Bible makes it clear we have a know-so salvation not a hope-so salvation. It's something you can know that you've been born again. Today, what's the need for you?

[34:54] Maybe you're here today and you're saved. Maybe you just need to take a moment and say thank you Lord once again for what you did for me. None of us deserved it but he went that day for you and me.

[35:07] His heads are bowed and eyes are closed this morning. What about you today? Is the Holy Spirit speaking to you? Can you look back and know there was that moment in time when you personally called upon Christ to save you?

[35:20] If not, why not today? Maybe you just need to say thank you. Maybe you need to say Lord, because of what you've done my life is different. Maybe there's an area of service because of what Christ has done for you.

[35:33] Whatever the need may be, what about you today? Heavenly Father, as we just come before you today, Lord, as we look at this hour upon the cross, Lord, I pray just have your hand upon each one.

[35:45] The Spirit might work upon each heart, each life here today. Lord, that we might be mindful of the reality of what took place in that hour. An hour that we ought not never forget or take for granted.

[36:01] Lord, I pray just would work in a mighty way even here today. And Lord, we just commit this opportunity to respond to you. And we ask it all in your precious name. Amen.

[36:12]  Amen. Amen.