The Death of Jesus

About this sermon

Introduction: Six hours. I want you to think about how long six hours are. Think about standing in one place for six hours. Think about sitting in a hard chair for six hours. And now, think about having already been beaten, bloodied, weary, and stripped naked —hanging by nails in your hands and feet, on a cross for six hours. Jesus was crucified at 9:00 am. We saw that in verse 25. When we come to verse 33, He has been on the cross for three hours. And in the next verses we see the final three hours. What we ARE ABLE to see is a man suffering on a cross for six hours. What we CANNOT see is that as that man hangs there, He is absorbing to Himself the wrath of God for the sins of people. What human eyes cannot behold is the Lamb of God, the Son of God, enduring the wrath of God for our sins. We know it was taking place. The Bible tells us it was taking place. The cry that He utters, and that we will hear in a moment, demonstrates that it was taking place. But the most awful part of the cross was hidden from human eyes. The only reason we know about it is because the Scriptures tell us about it. ESV Isaiah 53:10 Yet ait was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief;1 bwhen his soul makes2 an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; cthe will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Isa 53:6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. ESV 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also asuffered1 bonce for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, cthat he might bring us to God, being put to death din the flesh but made alive ein the spirit, And yet, for all that misery, what we see in the death of Jesus is not just misery. We see majesty. We see victory. The Triumph is not declared until resurrection, but even in His death we see some of the fruit of His Triumph. We hear — one more time — the clear vindication of His innocence, of His sinlessness, of His true identity – and hear it from a most unlikely candidate. We hear it from a Gentile. We hear it from a Roman soldier. This morning we see the death of Jesus, and we look at it under four headings. (1) The Sign (vs.33). (2) The Scriptures (vs.34-36). (3) The Surrender (vs.37-39). (4) The Servants (vs.40-41). THE SIGN (vs.33) When we look at verses 33-38, we are looking at, as John MacArthur put it, the highpoint of salvation history. John MacArthur – “Verses 33–38 depict the highpoint of salvation history, the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. His sacrificial work of redemption was planned by God in eternity past (Titus 1:2; 1 Peter 1:18–21; cf. Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9) and will be celebrated in heaven through eternity future (Rev. 5:6–12; cf. 22:3). It was there, at Calvary, that the long-awaited and acceptable Lamb of God died to satisfy divine righteousness by paying sin’s penalty in full for all who would believe in Him (cf. Col. 2:14).”

Topics

• Heaven & Eternity
• Jesus Christ