The Word of Despair

Sam.

Good morning, church. It’s a privilege to be with you again this Sunday morning. Going through our series entitled Last Words, we’ve been talking about the seven last sayings of Jesus from the cross. And this is week four of our seven week series. And today we’ll be talking about a word of despair.

A word of despair where we see Jesus in despair. He says with a questioning cry, he says, my God, my God, why have youe forsaken me? This is what we’ll be studying today. Why did Jesus say this? Maybe you’ve considered this question.

Why did Jesus say this? Have you ever cried out to God like that? Have you ever felt that God was distant? Like your prayers were bouncing off the ceiling? You ever been there?

I’m talking to believers and those that might be seekers today. Maybe you’ve been praying to God and you just don’t see him answering. You don’t feel his presence. What do you do when times like that come? We all have a sense of loneliness in us.

It’s as if we were made for relationship, but yet we’re surrounded by loneliness in this world. Today we have more social media and more technological advances to keep us connected. So what do we do? We stay home more and we talk to each other less in person and more through technological ways. And we’re a divided people, a people that’s compartmentalized and separated from one another.

But God made us for relationship. First of all, he made us for Himself, and then he made us for one another. We were built for relationship. This is why when you first started going to school, now this is going to make you feel anxious just for a second, you’re going to remember what it felt like to go to first grade or kindergarten when you first started school and hopefully you were accepted by your parents, you had a safe environment. But then going to school, you were looking for, where’s my desk?

Where do I sit? Who do I sit with in the cafeteria? Who will be my friend? And you’re constantly just think back to that moment where you’re looking for someone to be with. But we often feel forsaken.

But what we’re really looking for is acceptance. We’re looking for connection. We’re looking for relationship. It’s a deep need. And I believe that God put it there and he has made us for Himself.

Jesus cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Perhaps because he’s expressing what should have long ago been our heart’s cry. If only we would understand how far we are from God. Absent Jesus, we. We too would join him in this cry, why are you so distant from me?

I want to know you. You made me, and I want to be known by you. This is the cry of the heart, of one who feels distant from God. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus cried out in despair to God, I believe, because of the extravagant exchange, that he was paying for our reconciliation, for our salvation. I think we can understand this cost of this extravagant exchange.

We can understand why he is crying out. And as we look at it today, I think the text will offer three reasons for why Christ cried out in despair when offering this extravagant exchange of his life for us. Let’s look at the text book of Mark. And over the past few weeks, we’ve been mostly in John and Luke, but now in Mark, the seven sayings of Jesus from the cross, the seven last sayings. You have to do a survey of all four gospels to find them.

And so today we’re in Mark. Let’s pick up at verse 33, and then we’ll go down to verse 39. And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, eloi, eloi lama sabachthanai, which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, behold, he’s calling Elijah.

And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, wait, let’s see whether Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion who stood facing him saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, truly, this man was the Son of God. This is God’s word.

Amen. Looking for three reasons. Why did Jesus cry out in despair as he offered his life in payment for us? We’re looking at this. Why did he cry out as he offered this extravagant exchange?

I use the word extravagant because of his willingness to pay that for us of his own life, because he offered, number one, his righteousness for our sin. This is the first reason that he cried out. The first reason he cried out was he was offering his righteousness for our sin. Some look at this and go, well, he must have failed on his mission. I mean, God’s forsaken him.

He must have failed. No, quite the opposite. This is exactly what we would have expected him to say as he experienced the transaction of offering his righteousness for our sin. Let’s look at some details about the first few verses, starting at verse 33. There was a time that this happened.

Specific time of day. We know it was on a Friday. And now according to Mark, we know the hour that this took place. It says between the sixth hour and the ninth hour, there was darkness that came over the land. And it was at the ninth hour that Jesus cried out eloi, Eloi lama sabekthani.

So he’s crying out at the ninth hour. Why such precision in language? Well, follow along with me and I’ll explain. First of all, let’s understand Jewish time. We just switched over to daylight saving time again.

So we have some recent awareness that we have to change our clocks and so forth according to the sun. We do that because we want to have more sunlight during the day, so it fits the day correctly. Well, the Jews measured time not with a wristwatch because they didn’t have a wristwatch, they didn’t have timepieces. They measured it by the sun. And so the first hour was when the sun came up.

The first hour is when the sun came up. So on average, that’s about 6am Because Israel’s closer to the equator, there’s less variation in the sun’s rising than the sun’s setting. So around 6:00am, that’s the first hour. Jesus was crucified on the third hour, which would be 9:00am according to the Gospel. So he was nailed to the cross at 9am the third.

The third hour. Then at the sixth hour, all of a sudden, what time would that be? That’s noon. When’s the sun highest in the sky? Noon.

It’s straight overhead. That’s the sixth hour. The sun’s straight overhead. When did darkness blot out the sun so that they were in blackness? At high noon.

That’s when it happened. So from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, in other words, from noon to 3pm There was darkness. And at 3pm Jesus cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why darkness? So we know the time of day.

Now, Jesus was crucified for six hours before he cried out. And there was darkness the last three hours. Why darkness? I believe it’s because all creation was hitting the pause button for just a moment as the sins of humanity were being put upon Jesus. This is a judicial transaction that’s taking place.

God, the judge is now passing sentence that belonged to me and to you. But he’s putting it on his son.

Of course, Jesus Cries out, my God, my God. A transaction is taking place. The righteous One, the Eternal One, is now becoming sin for us. He’s taking on the payment of our sin, and he’s offering his righteousness. Even the darkness was prophesied in the Book of Amos.

Did you know this? The time of day that the darkness would come upon the Holy One was prophesied hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus came. The Book of Amos, chapter eight. And on that day declares the Lord God. I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

I will make it like the mourning for an only Son and the end of it like a bitter day. It was prophesied that the sun would go down, that earth itself, creation itself, would be in mourning as the Father turned his back on the Son and the Son cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It’s recorded in both Aramaic and in Greek. In the original writing. We have it preserved for us in Aramaic and also in English.

In our translation today. He says, eloi, Eloi. El is the Hebrew word for God. Eloi. The ending makes it possessive.

My God. My God. Eloi. Eloi. Saying this caused some in the crowd, perhaps because they were some distance away, perhaps because Jesus was slurring his speech because of the pain and the dryness of his throat.

We see that they offered a sponge of wine vinegar, sour wine up. One gospel writer says it was mixed with myrrh, which had a medicating effect upon the one being crucified. But it’s offered to him to clear his voice. They thought he said, Elijah. He says, eloi.

Eloi. And they thought, well, he’s trying to say Elijah because it sounds like that. See, we don’t. We have the J in English, but they don’t have the J in Hebrew. So they don’t say Elijah.

It’s more like a Y sound. And so they would say, Eliyah, Eliyah. And El is God in Hebrew, right? Anytime you see, the word El in a name means God. And Yah is a shortened version of Yahweh.

So Elijah’s name means the Lord is God, the Lord is God. Yahweh means his name, means the Lord is God. So they think they hear him say Elijah. So one thing is, it sounds like it, Eloi, Eloi. It sounds like he’s trying to say Elijah.

The other thing is, they knew that prophecy said that not John the Baptist, but Elijah would be the one who would be the forerunner for the Messiah. So they were kind of In a way, mocking not just what Jesus was saying, but in a way they were mocking their own prophets that would say this. Now, Jesus says John the Baptist was the Elijah who came and was the forerunner for him. But they’re saying, we want to see if Elijah comes and gets him down off the cross.

He says, elah, Eloi, Eloi. And they thought he was talking to Elijah. And then he says, why have you forsaken me? Look at that word, forsaken. What kind of word is that?

I looked that up. Webster says synonyms might be deserted, abandoned, disowned. Ever felt that? Ever felt abandoned? Ever felt disowned?

I remember, I think I was around five or six years old and my mother took me shopping. That was her mistake. I think she probably had to take me. And she was in the women’s clothing section, which was of course the favorite of a six year old boy. So I was hiding under the dresses.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had that problem with your kids, but I was hiding and I was trying to find some fun in the women’s department at Sears and Roebuck. And I was hiding from her. And instead of making something that made her come looking for me, I lost her. And it freaked me out. All of a sudden I came out from under some dress and I went over to hold hands with some lady who had the same kind of skirt my mom had on, but it wasn’t my mom.

You ever done that? You ever taken somebody’s hand and it wasn’t your mom? That’s the most terrifying moment that you’ve ever had, perhaps at that age, take her hand. And the lady goes, well, hello, honey. And I looked up and I went, you know, like, that’s not my mom.

I felt abandoned. It was my fault. I was hiding. Some of you are hiding from God. It’s your fault that you’re forsaken.

But Jesus became forsaken by choice. He chose to be forsaken that you might be accepted. He took on our sin, that we might become his righteousness. Why did he say this? Eli Eloi, Lama Sabektane.

It’s two reasons. I want to give you two reasons. One is he’s fulfilling prophecy. He’s saying verbatim what the Bible said he would say. Did you know that?

Did you know? He’s saying exactly what was predicted he would say 1000 years before Christ came, David prophesied that the son of David would say this from the cross. Look at Psalm 22, verse 1, Psalm 22, verse 1. This is David crying out from his own soul, but also inspired by the Holy Spirit and in this way prophesying. He says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

There it is. There it is, word for word. 1,000 years before the Son of David came. The Son of God came. There’s David saying the same thing.

He feels distant from God. He says, why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning? And then he begins to go even farther. Even though I think he’s expressing something he was feeling. He begins to, in the Holy Spirit, describe a scene that no Jewish person had ever seen.

Because Romans didn’t exist yet. The Roman Empire had not come yet, and Roman execution called crucifixion had not been invented yet. But we see David, 1,000 years before its arrival, describing crucifixion. Listen to this. All who see me mock me.

I’m still in Psalm 22. All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads. He trusts in the Lord.

Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, for he delights in him. I’m poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax.

It is melted within my breast. My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to my jaws. You lay me in the dust of death, for dogs encompass me. A company of evildoers encircles me.

They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing, they cast lots. Every detail of this a thousand years before Jesus.

Friends, you can trust God’s word. What he says will happen will happen what he promises he will keep. Jesus says the very words that were prophesied that he would say. But he’s not just fulfilling prophecy. He’s feeling the sins fall upon him.

Darkness falls over the land as the wrath of God which has been stored up for us. What do I mean by wrath? That’s a disturbing kind of word to ascribe to God. But you can’t have love and acceptance without justice and holiness. One without the other makes not for a good parent or not for a good father.

You need the balance of the both. And he’s been holding back his judgment. It’s been storing up for the day that Jesus would pay for. And now he pours it out. And darkness falls over the earth.

And Jesus feels the sins of man fall upon him. He says, eloi, Eloi, my God. Because now he can’t say my Father. Remember his first prayer, his first word from the cross. Father, forgive them.

They know not what they do. He prayed for the ones crucifying him, and he prayed to the Father. But he doesn’t pray to the Father here because he doesn’t sense the Father. He senses the judge.

So the Son receives the sin of man in a holy, extravagant exchange. He offers his righteousness. Paul says this to the church at Corinth. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Sin just wasn’t put on him. He became sin. The sinless one, the Holy One, the Eternal One, took on everything that you’ve never told anyone, every secret sin that you have, because you’re too ashamed even for your closest friend or spouse to know. It’s on him. It’s on Him.

It’s on Him. He became that for you. And then he offers his righteousness. This is the extravagant exchange that’s being offered now. One of our church members gave me a $50 Lowe’s gift card.

I can’t remember if it was for Christmas or what the event was. I forgot it was in my wallet. If you’re here right now, I apologize. I know I probably told you thank you, but I forgot I had was in my wallet. But this weekend, my wife and I went to Lowe’s, and we had some things we wanted to buy.

I love going to Lowe’s. Robin likes to stay in the flower area, so we get a new flower every time I take her. It’s like my payment to get her to go with me.

So there are places that I don’t want to go that she has to pay me. Usually she has to feed me to get me to go to the fabric store or something like that. So anyway, she buys a flower and we go to Lowe’s. I like to look at stuff at Lowe’s. So we bought some stuff, and we had a cart full of things, things we need around the house.

And I go up, like, it’s like $80. And I remembered. Finally I remembered that that $50 loads card, that gift card was in my wallet. So I pulled it out and I said, hey, I’ve got a gift card. And so I said I couldn’t remember how much it was.

It was $50, but I couldn’t remember. And so I hand it to her, and I was like, man, maybe this will knock it down to zero. Who knows, you know? So she puts it on, and then you get Kind of like. And it says 30 something and change.

And I’m like, well, that’s not too bad. That’s good. You know, I still owed $30, but that gift card which somebody gave me and I forgot I had it, knocked it down to $30. That was awesome. Here’s why I’m telling you this story.

Like, some of you are like, why is he telling us this story? Here’s why I’m telling you this story. There was a moment in time that split time in two. We call it the year zero, if you will. This is the year 2017, Anno Domini, which is the year of our Lord.

This is, this is 2017 years from when Jesus was born. But along about 33 AD, somewhere in there, at long about the ninth hour, about 3 o’ clock on a Friday afternoon, a transaction took place. And God judged all of our sins upon Jesus. And Jesus had an amount of righteousness that was sufficient to pay for it. Now, how could one man pay for all men’s sins?

This man was sinless. His righteousness was eternal, for he had lived throughout eternity. How much righteousness did he have? He had all righteousness. Did he have enough righteousness?

Well, let’s consider what must have happened at that point. I’m in debt to God because of my sin debt. I have overdrawn the righteousness bank, if you will. And I have stacked up service charges. I have stacked it up.

I’m in debt. The only way I can get back, even with the bank, is to make a deposit. But then I’m still only at zero. Here’s what Jesus Whenever God poured out his judgment upon Jesus, his righteousness was enough that it brought me up to zero. But it didn’t stop there.

It kept coming. It kept coming. It kept coming until he gave me his righteousness. So that when I stand before a holy God, I’m received as a son. I’m not in the negative anymore, nor am I at zero.

I have the righteousness of Christ. Do you understand what I’m saying? He took your sin and he gave you his righteousness, which was more than enough to bring you back to zero. It brought you up to acceptance.

Your sins are not just paid in full. There’s a deposit made to your account called the righteousness of Christ. So that when God looks at you, believer, when he looks at you that have received Christ Jesus, he sees no sin in you. He sees the blood of Jesus. He sees the righteousness of Christ ascribed to your account.

To do otherwise would be injust because Christ has Paid for it. He’s made the deposit. Jesus cried, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me so that we might cry, my God, my God, thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for saving me. How do we receive it?

There’s nothing to be done. You can’t die that death. You can’t pay for your sin. You don’t have the righteousness to be pay for it. The only way to have this is to say, yes, I recognize what he did on the cross.

I understand what he was saying when he said, my God, my God, that was. He took my despair. He took my sin so I might have his righteousness. How do we. You receive it, you believe it.

Just like that’s how you get a gift. You say yes to it. You own it. Now, here’s the second reason that he said this word of despair. The first is because it’s costing him something.

He’s paying his righteousness in exchange, and he’s receiving our sin. And the world is darkened with the wrath of God as the wrath of God is poured out upon Jesus. And there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because he’s already paid out his condemnation. He took my condemnation that I might receive his acceptance.

And then secondly, he gave his life for our death. This is the extravagant exchange. This is what’s happening at the ninth hour on that Friday 2000 years ago. An extravagant exchange is happening. The ninth hour.

He gave his life for our death. It says in verse 37, Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. He uttered a loud cry. Interesting Greek description here in the Greek language. Phonein megalane.

That’s where we get the word megaphone. Couldn’t resist that. He cried out in a loud voice. This gospel was written by a young man named John Mark. John Mark is writing for a first, for an eyewitness named Peter.

Simon Peter. This is what ancient church fathers have agreed on, that he was not an eyewitness. John Mark was not. He was inspired by the Holy Spirit. But he seems to be giving us the story from Peter’s point of view.

Now, you remember that Peter denied Jesus three times. And he wasn’t at the foot of the cross with the disciple John and with the women. He was on the outskirts. He’s watching from a distance. So at the very end, he hears him cry out that.

That Eloi. Eloi Lama Sebek. But then he hears him. He utters a loud sound, but he can’t make it out. And then he breathes his last.

The other gospels and we’ll get to that in the coming weeks. Tell us what he said at the end, when he breathed his last, when he cried out with a loud voice. Mark doesn’t capture it, I think, because he’s got Peter’s account. And as I’ve said before, the reason we have the four Gospels is it gives us four different perspectives from the same events. You know, a lot of us are watching basketball this weekend, and we’ll watch it, and we’ll watch our teams more closely than will be others.

We’ll probably all get the scores right, but we might remember different details according to our interest. Peter’s perspective here, captured by John. Mark seems to be. He couldn’t quite hear what was being said, but he could confirm this. He breathed his last.

Let no one ever say that Jesus did not die. Let it not be heard that an imposter took his place. As the Koran states, let it not be Ever thought that he swooned and only passed out. As some skeptics have charged this Jesus died. He breathed his last, literally, in the Greek.

He expired.

He was dead. Now, the Roman soldiers were expert executioners. I don’t think anyone ever got away from a Roman execution by swooning or by feigning death. And to be sure, if you’ll remember, they took a spear and they pushed it into his side to make sure he was dead. Jesus died, Gary, okay?

He died. We’ve already. No, I’m making a point. He took your death. He died.

He literally died.

So you don’t have to have that death. That was the cost. That was the cost of our redemption. He died so I don’t have to. Here’s what it says in Romans.

God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while were we still sinners. And since we’ve been made right, made righteous, put right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. Because Jesus is raised.

He took my death. How do I know it’s my death? Romans teaches me, Romans 6:23, that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, make no mistake, Death is already at work in our world. Why is there war?

Why is there hunger? Why are there disasters and disease in God’s good Earth? If it’s so good, what’s wrong with it, Death has already made its appearance on planet Earth. Death is at work in you already. As I confessed him in the first service, my left knee has been giving me a little trouble with all this weather change.

Death is already at work in my left knee. I’m sure my right knee is not far behind. I’ve got a stiff neck this morning. Where did that come from? I didn’t notice it until I tried to back out of my driveway and I was like.

The only way I could see behind me was to turn my whole body around. Like, what is wrong with you when you have to walk around like this? Death is already at work. Go ahead and laugh at me. It’s at work in you too.

The young people are going, it’s not working. Me it is. It is. When you’re young, you’re like, I’m 12 and a half. Because we’re trying to get older.

And then somewhere around 20, 21, we start lying about our age. Death’s at work. It’s already at work. It’s already at work. Look in the mirror.

It’s already at work. These bodies will not make it to glory. We receive Jesus and then he gives us a new resurrection body, a glorified body. So wear this one out. When does eternal life begin for the believer?

Is it at the moment we face God? The moment we pass away? Is that when it begins? No. Eternal life begins the moment you receive Jesus.

A transaction takes place on your behalf. He’s already paid for your life by offering his death. And the quality of life is given to you at the moment you receive him. So you will not die. This body will die, but you will not die.

And this eternal life is not just quantity, meaning it lasts forever, but it’s of a quality of life, which means it’s full and overflowing. John 10:10. Jesus says, I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly, which means full and overflowing. So it’s quality and quantity. He gave the best kind of eternal life, the kind of life that comes from God.

See, he’s the one who breathed into the nostrils of the man that he formed from the dust of the earth. And he named him Adam. And he blew into his nostrils the breath and he made him a living soul. But here, Jesus the second Adam breathes out his last so that we might be born again.

He died so that we might live.

I was reading a report. It was first reported by NBC News. A woman named Denise Wagner. Her 24 year old son had died of a drug Overdose. She was heartbroken.

Her son had put on his driver’s license that he was an organ donor. And so she was interested after she got somewhat over the grief to find out, I wonder if he helped anyone. She found out that five people were helped. One person received his heart. Now this is private information.

It takes two parties to express willingness to reveal who was who. So she expressed her interest and so the word went out to the recipient of the heart. So Denise is around 50, 50 years old. Her 24 year old son’s heart is now in 55 year old a woman whose heart was failing her and she was going to die. Her name’s Susan Adcock.

And so she says, yes, yes, I would like to meet the mother of the boy, of the son who gave me his heart. And so they met. It was a very tearful meeting as these two mothers met. One who gave her son’s heart, one who received her son’s heart. As they met, they embraced and they began to cry.

And Deborah leaned down and pressed her ear against the other mother’s chest so that she might hear her son’s beating heart. They had thanksgiving together. Their families had thanksgiving together that fall, four months after. Now that’s a shadow, that’s a suggestion of what Jesus has done for us. Because if you give your heart, you die.

But he’s given us a new heart. And the only way he could do it was to give his. His heart had to stop so ours could start. Are you with me? Do you understand spiritually?

I’m speaking to you. To be made alive, he had to die. He took our death. He cried, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me that we might cry out, my God, my God, thank you for rescuing me.

In John 5 it says, Truly, truly, this is Jesus speaking. I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me as eternal life, he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. He gave his life and took our death. He gave his righteousness and took our sin. And then the third reason that he cried out was he gave his sonship and took our separation.

He gave his relationship with the Father and took our distance, our separation, our brokenness from the Father. Look at verse 38. Interesting tidbit here that Mark reports. And you might look like. What did that have to do with the crucifixion?

Well, let me tell you what it had to do. Here’s what it says. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Why? Why is this happening, I will tell you why.

The curtain that he speaks of, that Mark is reporting is also known as the veil that separated access between the holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was on the other side of the curtain, and it separated it from the holy place within the temple. Now, the high priest of Israel was allowed to go back there, and he was the only one allowed to go back there. And he only one day a year, on the day of Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. And when he went back there, he had to be carrying the blood of sacrifice or he would not be accepted. So he had to, very carefully, one day a year, go back there.

And if he did anything wrong, they made sure they had a little chain around his ankle so they could pull him back out, because he’s going into the holy of Holies. And he could only do that once a year. And he had to be bringing the sacrifice to do that. And he would offer prayers for all the people for their sin. Now, this curtain was separating them.

And the nature of the curtain, one rabbi in the first century said it was about the thickness of a man’s hand, which, for me, that’s about an inch right there at the side. So it’s a thick fabric. Can you picture it? And the height in the temple during that time was like 60ft tall. So that curtain, man, that’s a long curtain, and it’s a thick curtain.

The book of Exodus describes how it was made. It says, you shall make a veil, a curtain of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twinned linen, and it shall be made with cherubim, which are angelic beings that would be skillfully worked into it. So there are these angels on the curtain. And you shall hang the veil from the clasp and bring the Ark of the Testimony, which is the Ark of the Covenant, in there, within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the holy place from the most holy.

Holy. That’s the curtain we’re talking about.

And it was torn in two from top to bottom, not bottom to top, top to bottom. Now we know at the ninth hour, according to other gospels, an earthquake took place after Jesus said what he said, after he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? An earthquake took place. And at that precise moment, the curtain tore not from bottom to top, as an earthquake would suggest, but from top to bottom, which. Which suggests that God’s handiwork was being seen.

It ripped down the middle, this thick, heavy curtain that had never happened before. And it happened at the ninth hour, which is the precise time of the third time of prayer during the day. Because they prayed at 9am noon and 3pm our time. And this was the time of the last prayers of the day. So can you imagine being the Levitical priest in there doing your incense thing and you got a big crowd of people out there, except for the crowd that was went up to the crucifixion, the place.

It’s the third prayer of the day and all of a sudden the curtain rips. That’s what happened. What does it mean? It means access is now open to all. He’s torn the curtain that separated humanity from a holy God.

He is now our great High Priest. And we are in him and he is in us. And we have access to the holy of holies, the throne room, the mercy seat of God. As the author of Hebrews teaches us in Hebrews 10, he says, Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain. What curtain?

I just explained that to you. That’s the curtain that is through his flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. Christ has become our great High priest. We are in him.

He is in us. We can go beyond the veil. The veil has been torn in two. From top to bottom. We have access to the Father.

Hallelujah.

Jesus cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because he had lost his access. The one who had always been at one with the Father and the Spirit. Always at one throughout eternity. For now, this very moment, he is severed.

I cannot imagine this.

I love my wife. We’ve been married, I think, 36 years. I should have checked before I started talking just now. 1979. It might be 37 this coming time.

I think she says to me all the time, you know, when we’re talking about end things, you know, she goes, I hope I don’t die before you because I can’t imagine living without you. I say the same thing. You would live longer than me because you know how to take care of yourself. I’m the one that would drive up and die if you were to die. We have these interesting conversations.

You probably don’t. We do. And we talk about this. I think the reason we both can’t imagine life without the other is because we are so connected.

But that’s just a slight taste of how connected the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And Jesus took a big old bite of separation, so I don’t have to feel it from God. He was severed. And he cried out in his humanity and in his divinity, my God. My God.

He couldn’t say Father because it was the Judge. And he. He was separated. Of course, he cried out.

And then we have this saying, verse 39. And when the centurion who stood facing him, saw the way he breathed, the way he talked, the way he died, he says, truly, this man was the Son of God. So now we have a glimpse, and this is not accidental, that Mark reports this right after the curtain. Because as the curtain ripped, the way is open not just to the Jew, but to the Gentile. The way is open to all.

And so the centurion gives us a glimpse of the beginnings of his own faith. And I believe we’ll meet this man in glory. I believe this centurion, he didn’t know the Gospel yet. He didn’t know a lot. But he looked at what happened.

He goes, I’ve been executing people. I’m a centurion. I’ve been to war. I’ve seen violence. I’ve never seen anyone face death like this man.

This man was the Son of God. And he’ll find out later he is the Son of God. I think this centurion’s in heaven. He’s expressing the beginnings of faith. He’s the foreshadowing of all Gentiles that will come to Christ.

Because the curtain has been torn from top to bottom, we have access. And so Jesus prayed, my God, my God. He cried out, my God, my God. He didn’t cry out, my Father. My Father.

Because he wants us to be not just ones who have access, but ones who can say, my Father. We can be adopted as sons. Listen to these two passages, this one about access, Ephesians 2. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace.

For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. Are you far from God today? You can be brought near. You have access. Through Jesus, you have access.

And then he speaks of. You have more than just access. You have sonship. Now, you might think that’s an unusual word, but let me explain. Here’s what it says in Galatians.

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law. So that we might receive adoption as son. He’s speaking to men and women now, and I’ll tell you why in a second. So that men and women might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying Abba, which means daddy, Father.

So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if you’re a son, then you’re an heir through God. See, sons received an inheritance. In those days, you have equal inheritance. You’re a co inheritor.

Men and women, sons and daughters, you all have the share that the son has. You’re co inheritors with Christ. Whatever Christ has is now yours. He took all of what you used to have and gave you all of what he did have. That’s the extravagant exchange.

He took your sin and gave you his righteousness. He took your death and gave you his life. He took your separation and gave you adoption into the family of God. God as sons.

Perhaps you’ve seen this iconic photograph from 1962 depicting President Kennedy with his son, JFK Jr. Playing under the Resolute desk in the Oval Office. I’m sure there are many heads of state that made an appointment to be with President Kennedy. But this little boy, Little John Jr. He didn’t need an appointment.

He could play under his father’s desk. Why? Why did he have such access? He’s a son. That’s why.

This is a picture. This is a picture of what Jesus has done. He has given you his sonship in place of your separation. He cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So that we might say my Father.

My Father, thank you for adopting me.

John 1:12 says, all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. We don’t have to feel the desperation and despair of separation. You don’t have to stay far from God. You can be brought near. What do I do?

What must I do to be saved? Believe. Believe. What did I have to do to use the Lowe’s card? Remember that?

I had it and use it. But I didn’t earn it. Someone gave it to me. I just had to accept it and use it. Will you accept the extravagant exchange of Jesus?

He’s already done all that’s necessary. Will you receive it and allow it to be applied to your account so that you might know his righteousness, his life, his and his relationship, his sonship to the Father? If you would pray with me in just a moment and receive this, you’ll be able to hear the Father say to you what the Son was not able to see and hear on that day. He will say to you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.

He was forsaken so I might be accepted. He was condemned that I might be received and forgiven. Let’s pray, Father. I pray first for the one that’s far from you today. Is that you?

The one who feels that their sins have been too much, too many. They’ve backslidden again. They’ve fallen away from God again. They just don’t feel worthy to ask for Christ to save them.

You so misunderstand what he’s done. He did it for you. And his righteousness is sufficient to cover all your sin and even to pour out his righteousness to the good on you so that you become the righteousness. Come on, pray. Right now, friend.

Right where you are. Pray. Dear Lord Jesus, come into my life. I believe you died on the cross for me. I believe you have been raised from the grave and that you live today.

Come and live in me. Make me a Christian. I want to follow you. I want you to be my Savior and Lord. Praying that.

Praying that you’re receiving the extravagant exchange that Jesus offers you. Others are here today and you’ve prayed that prayer. You have Christ in your life. But would you repent of the places that you’ve forgotten? The cost that he paid in the way that you follow him today by not turning everything over to him?

What are you holding back? Is it a relationship?

Is it your finances? Is it a job? Is it something you’re doing you shouldn’t be doing, which belittles the cost he paid? Is it someone you’ve rejected? A friend that used to be a friend that you’ve turned away from, but now the Father is saying to you, see what I did to bring you close?

Would you repent and pursue that person to be right with them? Lord, we lift these up to you in all the other ways that your spirit’s speaking to us in Jesus name, Amen.