WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.800 We've been moving through Matthew in this series 00:00:02.800 --> 00:00:05.299 in the mornings for about a year now, 00:00:05.299 --> 00:00:07.299 and we're coming to the end. 00:00:07.299 --> 00:00:10.000 It's so easy when we're reading the Bible 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:15.000 to kind of get lost in the moment to just kind of skim over 00:00:15.300 --> 00:00:17.100 what's there, what we're reading, 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:20.100 and lose sight of the major picture, 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:25.100 the overall kind of gist of what God is getting across. 00:00:25.900 --> 00:00:27.699 It's easy to do. 00:00:27.699 --> 00:00:30.099 I remember a few years back, 00:00:30.099 --> 00:00:33.100 a study that I was in that changed the way 00:00:33.100 --> 00:00:35.500 that I view the Bible forever, 00:00:35.500 --> 00:00:38.299 was through the book of Genesis. 00:00:38.299 --> 00:00:40.000 It can be kind of a difficult book. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:41.200 It's an ancient book, 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:43.799 and it's written in a strange way, 00:00:43.799 --> 00:00:45.600 and it's about old stories, 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:48.299 and there's all these questions that we bring to the table. 00:00:48.299 --> 00:00:50.799 But I remember going with this group of friends 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:53.200 from our church through Genesis, 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:57.600 week after week, we were struck deeply 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:01.100 with the sense that God is determined 00:01:01.100 --> 00:01:03.700 to bless his sinful people. 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:06.799 We were struck over and over by this idea 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:10.900 that look how humans fail again and again and again. 00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:12.200 We're not worthy, 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:17.200 but why does God keep relentlessly pursuing and loving us? 00:01:17.299 --> 00:01:20.000 That's the kind of big picture 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:21.900 that we so easily lose, 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:26.299 and it's a gift of God when it lands on our hearts 00:01:26.299 --> 00:01:27.799 in a special way. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:32.099 Now, I want to consider that in this passage 00:01:32.099 --> 00:01:35.000 because the whole Old Testament, 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.399 the whole Bible up until this point 00:01:37.399 --> 00:01:42.400 is God relentlessly pursuing his sinful people with love, 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:47.000 people that don't deserve that love. 00:01:48.900 --> 00:01:51.299 And it's been driving to this moment right here. 00:01:51.299 --> 00:01:56.299 This execution of this guy from Nazareth 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:00.599 is the center point. 00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:05.099 It's the focal point of all of that stuff that came before. 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:10.599 There's in Exodus 34, Moses asks God, 00:02:10.599 --> 00:02:12.300 he says, show me your glory 00:02:12.300 --> 00:02:14.599 and God hides him in the cleft of the rock. 00:02:14.599 --> 00:02:16.000 You probably know the story. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:20.000 God passes by, allows Moses to just glimpse his back, 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:22.000 and he declares his name. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:24.000 And part of what he says about himself 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:27.000 in that crucial moment in the Old Testament 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:32.000 is God says, I forgive iniquity, transgression and sin, 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:36.000 and I will by no means clear the guilty. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.000 Do you see the tension between those things? 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:43.000 I forgive all the guilt, 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.000 and I will never clear the guilty. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:48.000 How is that possible? 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:53.000 Justice and mercy, they don't seem compatible. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:58.000 How do we reconcile that paradox? 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:00.000 It's right here. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:01.000 This is how. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:07.000 This is the thing that all of that has been driving toward. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:11.000 This is where the love of God on the cross 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:15.000 is where justice and mercy kiss. 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:20.000 This is the greatest possible display 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:22.000 of the greatest possible love, 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.000 of the greatest possible person. 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:27.000 And it's just in these verses. 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:29.000 So we're going to read, 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.000 we're going to pull apart and examine today 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:36.000 and think about and be confronted by 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.000 just a little section here that we read, 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:40.000 it's verses 45 to 50, 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.000 and we'll read it again in just a moment. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:47.000 Now God is determined to destroy evil, 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:53.000 but he's determined to destroy evil without destroying you. 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:57.000 And as people where the evil and the sin 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:01.000 got way deep down in us when Adam and Eve fell in the garden 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:03.000 way back in Genesis 3, 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:05.000 it's inseparable from us. 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:08.000 How will God destroy evil without destroying us? 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:09.000 How is this possible? 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:11.000 The answer is here. 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:15.000 And it's curious, as I was reflecting on Matthew 27 this week, 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:16.000 on this crucifixion narrative, 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.000 as I said, probably the most important, 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:23.000 crucial piece of literature that exists, 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:25.000 let alone in the Bible. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.000 Matthew doesn't seem to add any comments on it. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:33.000 He just kind of, he seems to just tell it like it happened 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.000 and he doesn't apply it to your lives 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:38.000 or he doesn't make a call of repentance and say, 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:42.000 now reader, put your trust in this crucified savior. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:44.000 He doesn't do that. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:45.000 Isn't that strange? 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:47.000 Have you ever thought about that? 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:50.000 Or does he? 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:53.000 And I think he might. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:57.000 In verse 54, the Centurion, part of the execution squad, 00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:01.000 sees all of the signs that accompany the death of Jesus. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:04.000 There's darkness, there's a curtain torn in the temple. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:07.000 The earth shakes, the rocks split. 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:12.000 Toons are opened and the dead stand up and walk around the city. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.000 The Centurion looks at all that and says, 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:18.000 truly, this was the Son of God. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.000 That's a theological conclusion. 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:23.000 The Centurion is doing theology 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:26.000 because actually Mark is giving us commentary. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:30.000 Mark is explaining more than just the facts. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.000 Mark is not a reporter. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:33.000 He's a teacher. 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:35.000 And I'm sorry, Matthew, I've been saying Mark. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:37.000 Matthew is not a reporter. 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:38.000 Oh, same goes for Mark. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:39.000 He's not a reporter. 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:40.000 He's a teacher. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.000 And he's guiding us into understanding and applying what 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:48.000 happened 2,000 years ago on Golgotha. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:54.000 And in that passage and in his explanation, 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:59.000 in his commentary, is the best news you could ever hear. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:05.000 In these few verses, we will find freedom, real freedom, 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:11.000 eternal joy, hope, the deepest comforts. 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:13.000 But to get to all that comfort, 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:16.000 we have to go through some discomfort. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:19.000 We have to stare into the darkness a little bit. 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:29.000 So let's read verses 45 to 50 one more time. 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:38.000 Now from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:40.000 until the ninth hour. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:43.000 And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:44.000 saying, 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:49.000 Why, Eli, lemme sub-Aqthani, that is, my God, my God, why, 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:52.000 have you forsaken me? 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:55.000 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:57.000 this man is calling Elijah. 00:06:57.000 --> 00:06:59.000 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:01.000 filled it with salt wine and put it on a reed 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:03.000 and gave it to him to drink. 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:06.000 But the others said, wait, let us see whether Elijah 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:08.000 will come to save him. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:10.000 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:15.000 and yielded up his spirit. 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:18.000 Three hours of darkness, middle of the day, 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:24.000 from noon to 3 p.m., what happened during those hours 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:27.000 of darkness on Golgotha? 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:30.000 Well, there's the facts of what happened. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.000 And then there's the facts below the facts, as it were. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:39.000 And then there's what it means and how it impacts us. 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:45.000 So the facts of what happened, it's physical pain, 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.000 physical agony. 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:52.000 Roman crucifixion was a standard execution procedure 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:58.000 designed to remove the victim from consideration as a human. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:03.000 It was designed to humiliate them and shame them 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:07.000 as much as possible so that you wouldn't even relate to them 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:10.000 as part of the human race. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:18.000 We get the word excruciating from this word to crucify. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:22.000 So the execution squad took him outside of Jerusalem, 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.000 outside the gates, outside the city, 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:28.000 to a hill called the Place of the Skull, or Golgotha. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:30.000 They hung him between two common thieves 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:33.000 because they didn't think that he was any better. 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.000 And in fact, they thought he was worse 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:37.000 because he had been making these grand claims 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:39.000 about being king of the Jews and the Son of God. 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:41.000 So they put a sign above his head to mock him. 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:45.000 This is the king of the Jews in multiple languages 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:49.000 so that no one missed the point. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:53.000 His impotence to be saved or to save himself was mocked. 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:56.000 Come down, save yourself if you're so powerful. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:59.000 Oh, if you're the Son of God, God must delight in you, 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:04.000 but he doesn't seem to because he's not rescuing you. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:08.000 He was beaten, he was stripped. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:10.000 It was brutal. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:12.000 It was torturous. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:20.000 He was in unspeakable physical anguish and agony. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:25.000 So those are the historical facts of what happened. 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:31.000 But Jesus' death was only one of thousands of such executions. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:36.000 I read somewhere that there was something like 30,000 crucifixions 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:41.000 in this area in just this generation alone. 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:46.000 Why did this crucifixion of this backwater Nazarene guy 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:49.000 change the world forever? 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:54.000 Why does this one save souls? 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:57.000 Well, to answer that question, we have to go to the facts below the facts. 00:09:57.000 --> 00:09:59.000 We've talked about physical agony, 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:04.000 but we need to talk about soul agony. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:07.000 Remember Thomas' sermon from last week, 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:11.000 and we talked about, and maybe in your city groups you talked about this as well, 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:16.000 the silence of Jesus during all of the proceedings leading up to the crucifixion. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:20.000 Like a lamb led to the slaughter, like a sheep to the shears. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:22.000 He was silent. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:24.000 He didn't complain. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.000 He didn't yell out. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:30.000 He didn't curse anybody. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:35.000 Jesus has only one complaint in this whole episode. 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:38.000 I've been abandoned by my God. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:40.000 That's his complaint. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.000 In the ESV it says he cried out with a loud voice, which is true, 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:47.000 but it's a unique word, and it's not used elsewhere in the New Testament, 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:50.000 because it's a unique moment. 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:55.000 And the essence of this word is that he screamed. 00:10:55.000 --> 00:11:01.000 Jesus shrieked that he'd been abandoned by God. 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:04.000 It's not just a yell. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:06.000 So we need to reiterate this. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:10.000 When a crown of thorns was pressed into his skull, he didn't scream, 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:12.000 and he didn't complain. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:16.000 And when his back was beaten and laid on the rough timber of the cross, 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:20.000 he didn't complain or yell. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:26.000 When his hands and feet were nailed to the tree, he did not complain. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:31.000 It's at the peak of this darkness, 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:35.000 when he experienced the far worse agony being abandoned by God, 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:38.000 that he shrieked. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:45.000 It's pain at the level of the soul, not physical pain, soul agony. 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.000 And if we thought the crucifixion was bad, this kind of pain is far worse. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:54.000 Now, we can't really explore fully what's going on here, 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.000 what's happening in the Trinity right now. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:01.000 That's beyond the scope of human reasoning and human understanding. 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:06.000 But we can see what's written, and we can see the pain. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:11.000 Now, any time a loving relationship ends or is broken, there's pain. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:17.000 But I suggest that the pain goes equivalent to the duration and intimacy 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:20.000 and perfection of that relationship. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.000 For instance, if you are in a dating relationship for three months 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:26.000 and no one's having a good time and it's uncomfortable, 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:30.000 when that relationship's broken, no big deal. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:32.000 Kind of a relief. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:36.000 If you've been married for five years and you're growing closer 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:42.000 and it's a sweet marriage and your spouse leaves you, unspeakable pain. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:48.000 If you've been nurturing a marriage for 50 years and your spouse leaves, 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:53.000 exponentially worse. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:13:01.000 Jesus, as the eternal Son of God, has been in perfect love and unity 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:06.000 and intimacy with his Father for eternity. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:10.000 When that loving relationship is removed, 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:16.000 we can't even begin to imagine that level of anguish. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:20.000 That's why Jesus quoted Psalm 22 in Aramaic, 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.000 Eli Eli Lemeseb Akhthani, 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:26.000 are the opening words of the Psalm that comes right before, 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:29.000 the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:38.000 Because to get to those still waters, Jesus had to go through the abandonment of Psalm 22. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:45.000 David in Psalm 22 is saying, it feels like God has abandoned me. 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:54.000 Jesus quoting Psalm 22, screaming it, says, God really has abandoned me. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:59.000 That relationship is broken. 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:02.000 Now why the soul agony? 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:05.000 We need to go a step further, just one more step, 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:07.000 and keep staring into the darkness. 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:09.000 Remember, Matthew's a teacher, not a reporter, 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:12.000 so he's not just giving us data and information, 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:14.000 he's giving us commentary. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.000 And it's inspired commentary, 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:18.000 so God himself is speaking through Matthew 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:25.000 and is explaining and applying this Roman execution right in these verses. 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:30.000 And so to get at that, what I want us to do is look at the darkness. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:31.000 I don't mean that metaphorically this time, 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:35.000 I mean actually think about darkness in this story. 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:40.000 Like I said, from noon to 3 p.m., the sun is darkened. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:42.000 There is darkness in the land. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:45.000 That's strange. 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:48.000 Many people have said, oh, well it was just an eclipse, 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.000 it just is a coincidence. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:52.000 That's not really possible. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:54.000 It's too long for an eclipse. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:56.000 This is during Passover, 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:00.000 which is at a time of the month when an eclipse really just isn't possible. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:02.000 It's not an eclipse. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:07.000 Plenty of people have offered other natural explanations, 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:09.000 but none of them suffice. 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:12.000 You may as well try to explain away Jesus walking on water 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:15.000 and raising up the dead. 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:18.000 This is a supernatural darkness. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:22.000 God has turned out the light. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:25.000 If it's supernatural, then God has done it. 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:28.000 It's a sign, it's a miracle from God. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:33.000 So it's God's own commentary on the death of his son. 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:35.000 So what is this sign point to? 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:37.000 What does this commentary say? 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:42.000 Well first, we're going to look at how Jesus talks about darkness in Matthew. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:47.000 He has a few things to say about darkness before he experiences this darkness. 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:50.000 And then second, we're going to go a little bit further back into the Old Testament 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:52.000 and look at application and what it means for us. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:58.000 So first, how does Jesus talk about the darkness in Matthew? 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:03.000 Well, he uses the word darkness three times in a very particular way. 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:06.000 Outer darkness. 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:11.000 So outer darkness suggests inner light, and we'll get to that in a moment. 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:16.000 So he speaks of this outer darkness in chapter 8, chapter 22 and chapter 25, 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:20.000 twice as a parable and once is a statement of fact. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:23.000 So we know he's not merely being hyperbolic here. 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:26.000 Jesus isn't just being metaphorical. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:30.000 He knows something about this darkness that it's real, that it's tangible. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:36.000 So I'm going to read briefly for you these three passages. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:44.000 So from chapter 8, he's speaking to the Centurion who had faith that put Israel's faith to shame. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:48.000 And Jesus says to him, I tell you, many will come from east and west 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:52.000 and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:57.000 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. 00:16:57.000 --> 00:17:02.000 In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:06.000 Now, let me pause and just point out two things here. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:11.000 The first is all of these three have to do with the kingdom of heaven. 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:12.000 We'll talk about it in a moment. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:19.000 And the second is what always goes with the outer darkness is weeping and gnashing of teeth. 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:24.000 Matthew 22 from a parable, Jesus says, 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:27.000 when the king came in to look at the guests, 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:33.000 the king had invited everybody from the area into a wedding feast in this story. 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:36.000 When the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there was a man who had no wedding garment. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:40.000 He said to him, friend, how'd you get in here without a wedding garment? 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:41.000 And he was speechless. 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:47.000 Then the king said to the attendants, bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:51.000 In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:58.000 The last one, Matthew 25, this is the parable of the investment, right? 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:03.000 Where you're given talents that one guy buried and didn't yield an investment. 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:08.000 And Jesus says, for to everyone who has will more be given and he will have an abundance. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:13.000 But for the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:16.000 and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:22.000 In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:28.000 So as I said, each of these three instances of Jesus using the darkness language in Matthew 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:32.000 has to do with the kingdom of heaven. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:37.000 And the other thing that we need to see is that the people who are cast into the outer darkness 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:44.000 are the faithless, the uncommitted, the unfruitful. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:50.000 The faithless sons of Israel who thought that they just deserved a place at the table in the kingdom 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:53.000 are cast into outer darkness. 00:18:53.000 --> 00:18:58.000 The uncommitted guest at the wedding who just didn't even bother trying. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:03.000 The unfruitful servant who just buried the talent in the ground. 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:13.000 In other words, people who are cast into outer darkness are sinners like you and me. 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:17.000 That's the place that we deserve. 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:21.000 Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven in all of these stories 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:27.000 with the sort of language that evokes a feast or like a banquet hall 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:32.000 on a cold, dark winter's night that's just a beacon of light and warmth 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:36.000 and inside you hear laughter and joy and singing and there's good food, 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:38.000 smells wafting out and there's plenty of wine. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:41.000 That's how he visions the kingdom of heaven. 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:43.000 It's that kind of richness. 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:45.000 It's a place of light. 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:55.000 And it's contrasted with this outer darkness, this gloom outside the kingdom. 00:19:55.000 --> 00:20:01.000 Now who has a right to the light of the kingdom but the king himself? 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:07.000 And now the king of light with the right to the joy of the kingdom of heaven 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:09.000 is cast into darkness, isn't he? 00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:16.000 Three hours hanging in the dark. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:20.000 The father's hand of special love and grace for his son, 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:27.000 even the father's common grace has been withdrawn from Jesus at this point. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:32.000 You think about it, God actively upholds us all. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:38.000 He actively, we call it this common grace, that he gives blessing to all of us, 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:44.000 good things to enjoy in nature, but he also mitigates our pain and our suffering. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:48.000 In other words, every painful emotion or experience that you have 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:53.000 is not as bad as it could be because of the grace of God, 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:58.000 because he is actively mitigating that pain for you. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:03.000 And here in the darkness, that hand of grace is withdrawn from his son. 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:08.000 Unmitigated pain and darkness. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:12.000 And in the darkness we see Jesus, the son of God, 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:17.000 willfully entering into the outer darkness to be treated by God as the faithless, 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:21.000 as the uncommitted, as the unfruitful. 00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:27.000 We see the son treated as sin. 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:31.000 He's being treated as though he were sin itself, 00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:35.000 because that's precisely what was happening there. 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:37.000 Donald MacLeod wrote, 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:43.000 the human imagination is not ready to fathom or comprehend 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:50.000 what it is like to be the sin of the world in the presence of God. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.000 Outer darkness. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:56.000 Outside of the kingdom of light. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:00.000 Now there's one other thing I want to explore about the darkness. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:05.000 Remember now, Jesus is being crucified during the Passover season. 00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:10.000 The Passover originated back in the book of Exodus in the Old Testament. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:13.000 And back in Exodus chapter 10 in that area, 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:15.000 God's chosen people are enslaved in Egypt. 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:20.000 Israel's been in slavery for a long time and God has undertaken to free them 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.000 from this slavery. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:26.000 Now you probably know that God sent 10 plagues on Egypt 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:29.000 before Pharaoh finally released the Israelites. 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:32.000 And the last plague, of course, is probably the most well known, 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:40.000 where God passes through Egypt at midnight and kills every firstborn son. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.000 But do you remember the plague that happens right before that? 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:46.000 It's darkness. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:49.000 Three days of darkness. 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:54.000 A darkness, he says, that you could feel. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:59.000 So three days of darkness precede the death of the firstborn sons. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:05.000 Three hours of darkness precede the death of the Son of God. 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:07.000 That's significant. 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:10.000 But what happened to the firstborn sons of Israel? 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:17.000 So remember, the Passover lamb died in their place. 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:24.000 They took a spotless lamb representing innocence, purity, 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:26.000 and they killed it. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:29.000 And they put its blood on their doorposts. 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:36.000 And the Lord passed over the houses painted with the blood of the lamb. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:43.000 The lamb died in the place of Israel's sons so that Israel's sons might live. 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:49.000 God gave them a lamb and said, he'll die instead of you. 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:51.000 That's the gospel. 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:58.000 That is the best news you could ever possibly hear. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:01.000 We have it in the darkness of Golgotha. 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:05.000 Him instead of you. 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:07.000 You and I are sinners. 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:11.000 We have sinned and we fall short. 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:14.000 Present tense fall because we keep doing it. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.000 We fall short of the glory of God. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:19.000 And we deserve that darkness. 00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:24.000 We are the uncommitted, the faithless, the unfruitful. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:27.000 We don't deserve the light of the kingdom of heaven. 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:34.000 But Jesus took our sin, the sin of the world, on his own shoulders, on his own back. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:41.000 He bore it himself like the Passover lamb bore the death that should have been for the sons of Israel. 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:47.000 Jesus was cast into the darkness so that you don't have to be. 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:57.000 Jesus was forsaken, abandoned by God, to make certain that you never would be. 00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:59.000 Elizabeth Browning wrote a poem. 00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:02.000 I'll just read a stanza. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:06.000 Yea, once Immanuel's orphaned cry, his universe hath shaken. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:09.000 It went up single, echoless. 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:11.000 My God, I am forsaken. 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:16.000 It went up from the holy's lips amid his lost creation. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:23.000 That of the lost, no son should use those words of desolation. 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:28.000 Him instead of you. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:32.000 And my final point is an appeal. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:36.000 Look to Christ crucified. 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:37.000 It was sufficient for the apostles. 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:45.000 Paul said to the Corinthian church that he was determined to preach only Christ and Him crucified. 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:57.000 Christ crucified is where all of our hope is, all of our comfort, all of the sweetness with the Lord is in Christ crucified. 00:25:57.000 --> 00:26:02.000 So look to Christ on the cross. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:12.000 See Him hanging there, mangled and abandoned, and bearing the agony of all your sins so you don't have to. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:19.000 Look to Christ and see hanging there all the shame of your past. 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:26.000 All of your faithless inconsistencies with God. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:33.000 All of your warped desires, all the wantings of the wrong thing instead of the righteous one. 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:48.000 See hanging there on the cross, all of your apathy, all of your stinginess, all of your lust, all of your greed, all of your selfishness. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:50.000 Nailed to that cross. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:57.000 Him instead of you friends, all of that stuff has already been paid for. 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:08.000 We've been in slavery to that like the Israelites, but we have been on the cross in that darkness, freed. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:15.000 A final, ultimate, once for all emancipation of the soul. 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:21.000 So you do not have to bear one more moment of your sins hanging over your head. 00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:22.000 Praise God. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:25.000 You do not have to bear one more second of shame of your past. 00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:31.000 You do not have to bear the thought that God doesn't care for you because here's proof that He does. 00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:39.000 God so loved the world, He sent His only Son to die. 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:45.000 He bore it all, all your sin, all of its eternal consequences so that you don't have to. 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:47.000 You're free. 00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:51.000 If you love and trust Christ, you are free. 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:54.000 Do you realize that? 00:27:54.000 --> 00:28:00.000 Now if you're already a follower of Christ, this never becomes old news. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:03.000 We never ever move beyond this moment. 00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:09.000 The gospel, this story, Christ crucified, is our daily bread. 00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:13.000 We don't graduate from here to the next class. 00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:17.000 So we come to Christ and we let Him preach to our hearts. 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:30.000 Christ crucified, Christ crucified, again and again, right now, and in five minutes, and in five hours, and in five days, again and again, that's the Christian life. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.000 Christ crucified, Him instead of me. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:49.000 And here is the fount of all of your renewed life, your refreshment, your spiritual vitality, your security in the Lord, all of your joy, all of your delight will flow from this. 00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:55.000 And if you want to conquer your sins, well this is where you look, where your sins were already conquered. 00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:03.000 If you want to love God more, this is where you look, where the love of God could not be more clearly shown forth for you. 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:08.000 This is the very iridescence of the love of God. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:10.000 This is where His justice and mercy meet. 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:12.000 It's glorious, friends. 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:15.000 Jesus is glorious. 00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:29.000 And you can take all of today's failings and weakness and exhaustion and all of that to your crucified and now risen Savior and realize He already bore it for you. 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:33.000 It's already done. 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:36.000 Okay, one last thing. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:41.000 You need to know there are only two options. 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:44.000 There are only two options. 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:57.000 You can live as you like, bear your own sins, and experience eternal outer darkness, true anguish of the soul, or look to Christ. 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:05.000 Look to Christ crucified and trust that the price that He, the price He paid for your sins was final. 00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.000 No more needs to be done by you. 00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:12.000 So we just look to the cross and we go out and enjoy. 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:21.000 We go out with unshakable, insurmountable, eternally secure joy. 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:27.000 That's what we get with Christ, Him instead of us. 00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:32.000 Let's pray. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:38.000 Lord Jesus, we worship You. 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:56.000 We trust You and we're so thankful that You looked on uncommitted, unfruitful, unfaithful us, unworthy us, and You loved us. 00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:59.000 We love You for it. 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:04.000 Please warm our hearts at those fires today and help that fire to never go out. 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:09.000 Amen.