The central saying from the cross—”My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”—represents the most difficult moment in redemptive history when the Father turned away as the Son bore our sins. The supernatural darkness during those three hours came not from God but from the gathering powers of evil, attempting to extinguish the Light but finding themselves defeated instead. Through this abandonment, Jesus opened the way for us to draw near to God with confidence. We can now approach God with a true heart in full assurance of faith, just as Jesus demonstrated when He committed His spirit to the Father. Because Jesus was forsaken, we need never be.

Automatically Generated Transcript

[00:00:00] okay good evening Salisbury Baptist Church it’s exciting to be sharing with you here from the Woody Point studio it is still raining still windy here I understand there’s a lot of flooding it’s difficult to get around a church so we’re doing church this way so I’m sorry I don’t have a band here for any singing but I’ll do my talk and then we’ll be done we perhaps I’ll just give a bit of a plug for next Sunday hopefully we’ll be back to normal next Sunday you’ve probably seen already that there’s going to be communion in the morning and the night and we’ll finish off all of my series next week as well all right so tonight we are doing number three in the seven sayings of Christ and it shall be hopefully real good we are on the Bible app you can follow through you can

[00:01:06] get the power point that you’ll see on the screen hopefully from the link that you’re about to see on the screen or if you use the Bible app you should I don’t think it’s gonna work if you’re not actually at the church, it’s tied to the location, don’t worry about it. Let’s get into the Bible reading. We are up to the central of Jesus, perhaps the most important saying of Jesus on the cross. Here we go. We’re gonna start reading Matthew 27, 45 to 53, it goes like this. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the land until the ninth hour and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani, that is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said this man is calling Elijah and one of them

[00:02:04] at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the other said, wait, let’s see whether Elijah will come to save him and Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook and the rocks were split, the tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. What a freaky thing to see that would have been. And now to go on to Mark’s version of that little period of time too. And when the sixth hour had come, this is Mark 15 verse 33, and when the sixth hour had come there

[00:03:01] was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. This sixth hour, ninth hour, measuring time that way, it’s usually taken to mean from 6 a.m. That’s the start of the day, the sixth hour would make it midday the ninth hour 3 p.m. So midday to 3 p.m. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice Eloi Eloi lema sabachthani 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 and 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, breathed his last and the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. I’m gonna pray and then we’ll

[00:03:58] get underway. Let’s all pray. Father we thank you for this opportunity to look to your word and we pray that as we briefly look at these perhaps the most precious of things that Jesus said from the cross we pray that you will help us to understand and help us to see how we need to trust you just like Jesus did. Lord we ask all of this in Jesus name. Amen. Well those of you have been listening to me over the last couple of weeks we’ll probably be able to guess what’s going to happen here. We are looking at these sayings of Jesus from the cross and really analyzing them and in the process learning what it means to take up our cross and to follow Christ. The seven sayings of Christ from the cross are I believe a model for our faith. Jesus is the ultimate person of

[00:05:05] faith and it will be good for us to follow him. You see ultimately each of us completely dependent on Jesus for life and destiny and how he died informs our faith and shows us what our faith should really look like. We should forgive like Jesus did from the cross because we have been forgiven like he forgave. Unlocking this will require us to say into your hands I commit my life just like Jesus did from the cross. From the second saying we learned we bring nothing to the table because Jesus told the thief today you’ll be with me in paradise. We don’t need to bring anything to the table because Jesus said it is finished. He paid for it all and we simply come saying into your hands I commit my life. The thief that’s all he could bring we’re just the same and the

[00:06:12] one that we missed it’s Jesus is talking to Mary and to John and he well his mother and closest friend let’s call them that but he didn’t take action to alleviate the sword through their hearts as they watched him die. He didn’t neglect them but he also didn’t do what they would have wanted and that is to save himself. He had to complete his divine task and that took precedence over these core relationships with his own family and his closest friends and us saying into your hands I commit my life means even that these core relationships of ours need to be given to Christ. That’s what we would have talked about if we had enough time but tonight we’re talking about the central sayings it is the central saying of the seven it’s the fourth one and it’s the most difficult

[00:07:11] for us to comprehend it’s almost too precious to talk about it feels like we’re on holy ground. We have to come to grips with the fact that Jesus was forsaken by the Father. The one who said I and the Father are one. How could the Father forsake the Son? Why would he forsake his Son? Those who are eternally one and now one has forsaken the other and the other has surrendered to it by choice. The sky had gone dark for three hours. We know it’s not an eclipse because the Feast of Paths Passover is set by a full moon and you can’t have an eclipse at a full moon only at a new moon. Plus eclipses just last for a couple of minutes this period of darkness lasted for three hours. There is no doubt that there’s some kind of supernatural phenomena here. Some say it

[00:08:20] was created by God that in this period of forsakenness that the Father in forsaking the Son turned his back on the world and as a consequence created the darkness. There’s no doubt that it is during these dark hours that I think the Father was laying the sins of the world on to the Son. It was after those hours of darkness and after that forsakenness that Jesus looking back over the period cries, my God, my God, why had you forsaken me? It’s in the heiress tents so the forsakenness is finished. God had laid on him the sin of us all, making the sinless sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. The Son being made sin was forsaken by the Father. Now I think that’s how we’d understand what’s going on but I don’t think that the darkness came because the Father had

[00:09:24] turned his back on the Son. You see God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Jesus is proclaimed to be the light of the world. He can’t bring darkness. Luke gives us a clue as to what was happening in chapter 22. Jesus said to the chief priest and the officers of the temple and elders who had come out against him, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs when I was with you day after day in the temple? You did not lay hands on me but this is your hour and notice this bit and the power of darkness. It’s the hour of power but it’s the power of darkness. The darkness was caused by evil and so Jesus was subject to Evil’s darkness that had gathered to witness his demise. Paul called Satan the Prince and power of the air, the ruler of

[00:10:32] darkness. The Apostle John gives witness in John chapter 1 verse 5. He says the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. I think he was talking about Jesus and in particular the darkness that came at the cross. And Paul says a similar thing in Colossians 2.15. He says he disarmed the rulers and authorities and he put them to open shame by triumphing over them in it or in Him it says it should be it. That is the cross. So, there was a public spectacle made of Satan and his demons. The forces of darkness gathered in open view but they couldn’t extinguish the light. Satan had come to extinguish the Sun but found that he was extinguished himself. So, the darkness and ended, Jesus, looking back, said, My God, my God, why had you forsaken me?

[00:11:34] Darkness now defeated, sin atoned for, Jesus could then say after that, it is finished. And so can we say, it is finished. And then we can say, Father, into your hands, I commit my life. These events, the events of Jesus’s death on the cross and the things that were happening in the spiritual realm, were of such significance that graves were emptied. The earth shook and the curtain in the temple, shielding God’s presence from the people and the holy of holies, was torn in two from the top to the bottom, from the top because it was God who did it. And it’s of great significance for us because it means the way to God is now open. Nowhere is that significant expressed more clearly than in the book of Hebrews.

[00:12:39] The book of Hebrews, it’s all about the comparison of Christ to the Old Testament system. You’ve got a superior sacrifice offered by a superior priest in a superior temple to enact a superior covenant, and the language of the Old Testament system is used in stating the significance of this superiority. And because of that, it’s easier for us to understand about Jesus and what was happening for him. Of particular interest to us tonight is the language of approach. In Hebrews, it reads, Draw near. It’s used in the Old Testament to ascribe the entrance of the high priest into the holy of holies, of coming into God’s presence, of being in a connected place to God that

[00:13:34] is the opposite of forsakenness. The high priest had to follow very specific preparations and actions. He had to bring the blood of bulls and so on, and he came in with fear of his life. He would draw near to God in absolute fear that he would die. Since Jesus says it is finished and entered the heavenly sanctuary, having already achieved eternal redemption, the curtain in the temple was torn in two, indicating the way to God was now open, and all of us are called to draw near. The writer to the Hebrews exhorts us to do it. Here’s a list of all the stuff that’s in the book of Hebrews. There’s seven occurrences of the word of particular interest, the occurrences where there is the

[00:14:41] temple and the operations of the temple in view, although we understand that for Jesus the temple is in heaven. But I think if you read them all, it’s possible that all of them are referring to that. But of particular interest are the two that have got the green references there, chapter 4 verse 16 and chapter 10 verse 22, where it takes the force of command. Let us draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. And it goes on to talk about a priest being like us in every way. And then chapter 10 verse 22, it says, draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with

[00:15:37] pure water. We’re going to focus our attention on that one in Hebrews, but we could talk about them. We just haven’t got time. I want to limit ourselves to there. But in particular, it’s because it has instructions, if you like, or conditions upon which this drawing near can occur. Let me read Hebrews 10 verses 19 to 23, the little section that contains this. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, in other words, Jesus has said it is finished and the way to God is now open. There’s a new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain that is through

[00:16:29] His flesh. But since we have a great high priest over the house of God, so I’m taking that to mean Jesus has died on the cross for us and a great high priest over the house of God, He’s alive in heaven, having been raised from the dead and is now a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. That’s kind of how Hebrews talks. And then because of all of that, let us draw near how with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful.

[00:17:22] A couple of things to understand here to make this clear for us. The first is the command to draw near is relational. Now I know that because these commands to draw near are in the present tense. And so they’re not about location. The writer wants us to be doing it all the time. And so we can’t keep drawing near because we will eventually get somewhere. It’s not about going and coming like the Old Testament priests, nor is it about going and coming into God’s presence like it gets talked about with contemporary worship these days, which in extremes is actually no better than the Old Testament system, where it’s actually said from the platform that we’re entering God’s presence and then everyone goes home

[00:18:24] and comes back next week and does it again. You see, for some in the extreme cases, the altar is now they’re performing stage and the cloud coming down and the presence indicating the presence of God is actually the emotion of the music. But enough of that, a continuous drawing near to a location doesn’t make sense. It only makes sense if you understand it relationally. We know that God is present because of the presence of His Spirit. All who have come to Christ are in doubt, dwelt by God through the agency of His Spirit. But as the American preachers say, He may be resident, but He’s not necessarily the president.

[00:19:18] There is a relational connection that’s required to the God who indwells, hence the command to draw near. When I had a young family many years ago, I still have a young family. And by the way, kudos to Micah who’s controlling things on the streamings. When I had a young family we would often have burritos, refried beans with salsa in them and cheese wrapped up in tortillas, baked in the oven, absolutely delicious for Saturday. The trouble was, on Saturday lunchtime, being a young pastor, when I had a young family I was really struggling with all of my sermons and you have to produce two a week and it doesn’t take long and you’ve run out of material and so you’ve got to come up with stuff. So often Saturday lunchtime I’m in absolute panic and I’m sitting there with a table full

[00:20:19] of little kids. My wife’s at one end, I’m at the other end, we’re all looking forward to chowing down into these little burritos and I’m not actually there, if you know what I mean. I’ve got sermons going in my head, I’ve got my points, I’m wondering if it makes sense. Is it right? Is it true? All of that’s going there and I’m physically present but I’m actually relationally distant. And one day my wife had to knock on the table to get my attention, knock knock knock knock and go, where are you Reg Reg, where are you? And I was right there at the end of the table but I was relationally distant.

[00:21:02] I’m sure you understand what I mean. The same thing can happen to God in us, He is physically present, He indwells us but we can be busy with our lives and be relationally distant, hence the command to draw near. And so what the drawing near is, it’s not getting physically closer, it’s not a location thing, it’s relational. It’s acknowledging that we live there. And it’s true to say that because Jesus was forsaken, we shouldn’t be. We should be in connection with God. We can live in God’s presence. The command to draw near is not a command to move somewhere, but to acknowledge that

[00:21:55] you’re actually in God’s presence. Because He was forsaken, you needn’t be. But how can you do it? In Hebrews 10.22 there are just four conditions, four, I only have to talk about two, two of them describe things that we must do, they’re the first two so we’ll talk about them second because they’re the ones that we can do. The other two, number three and four, hearts sprinkled clean and washed bodies were taken care of when we received Christ. When you receive Jesus into your life, you are made new and you are washed clean. That’s the testimony of the Scriptures, that any person, no matter how sinful, is washed

[00:22:47] clean and able to enter the presence of God. And so complete is that cleansing, that it should purify your conscience. Yep, Jesus drank to the dregs the cup of your sins and mine. He rose victorious from the grave and He entered heaven having already obtained eternal redemption. One sacrifice, once for all time. And if you want to come into this life in the presence of God, this is where you need to begin. This is your prerequisite. You must know the benefits of Christ’s death for you.

[00:23:33] As a once and for all cleansing, it occurs at your conversion. The tense of these original words proves it, they are perfect participles. I learnt the significance of this for me when I was at a funeral, one of the very first funerals that I attended. It happened to be Jim’s mum, Pastor Jim’s mum. We used to call, everybody called her, I think, Lass. It was at the Mount Crematorium and there was just a handful of close family people, a couple of ring-ins, me being one, sitting at the back with a friend. And I’ll never forget it, well, I’ve forgotten most of what happened then. It was so long ago, but there was something happened.

[00:24:31] I had a visitation from God. And it happened when we were singing the hymn, it is well with my soul. The way I got to be careful, because Jim was there and I’m about to say, I didn’t think we the congregation were singing the hymn very well. And perhaps it’s because we were all emotional and crying and weren’t singing, but I do remember that Jim’s dad was singing it out loud, and his voice stood out to me. I hope you know the hymn, you know, it is well, it is well with my soul, with my soul it is well, it is well with my soul. Well, that’s the hymn we were singing and all of a sudden we came to verse 3 and I was overcome with the reality of the words.

[00:25:32] It’s one of the first funerals I’ve been to and there was Jim’s mum in a coffin out the front and the words came out. My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul. And there it came, God spoke to me and said, you know, we could put you in a box and you’re going to be okay because all of your sins have been paid for. What a fantastic level of assurance that gave me. And now I can wake up every day and I can say every sin, Lord, you’ve taken them all. I stand by faith in the death of Christ and I can confidently say that when I’m in a box

[00:26:49] I’ll be with the Lord and I can confidently say every day, Father, into your hands I commit my life. I may still be dealing with the consequences of my sin, I may need to confess my sins in order to maintain my fellowship with God but as far as the presence of God is concerned, as far as my relationship with Him goes, He has taken my sin away. These two perfect participles are the fruit of Jesus having said, it is finished and knows that being applied in my life. Now, let’s get into business. The two things that we can do that are required for us as we draw near. Number one is a true heart.

[00:27:49] I think it’s obvious what a true heart means. A true heart means to be totally honest. It’s easy to say but it’s hard to do. In our world of masks and faces, in our world of wanting to seek approval and so on, we are often trained up. We train ourselves up to not be honest, to not be open with other people but we need to be in order to be in God’s presence. It’s because of who He is. We need to be totally open and honest with Him about who He is. We need to be honest about our sins and who we are.

[00:28:33] We need to be honest about who He is. It’s very difficult to be totally honest. For me, to be honest, it started when I was first converted. converted, I used to have to learn to be open about performance in my spiritual life. Because I’d grown up playing sport and stuff at school, everybody learns, I don’t think I was weird. Everybody learns that to be accepted, they have to perform. You’ve got to be better, you’ve got to get good grades, you gotta get the scores to do the stuff you want to do, if you want to be in the best sports teams, you’ve got to be better than others so you make the grade and so on. And so that was ingrained in me. Then all of a sudden I heard the gospel and I found out that no you don’t need to perform

[00:29:31] just like the thief on the cross found out what you really need is just Jesus and so it was a huge relief in the spiritual realm all you have to do is trust him. And so one day eventually it’s a long story eventually I did I trusted Jesus I said Lord into your hands I commit my life I had a dramatic conversion and my life was tipped on its head everything changed. But it was very quickly that I turned from being someone who was trusting Jesus all the time to starting to think that the way I was before performing that that was important it was important for me to get on in the Christian world it was important for me to be accepted by God it was important for me to be accepted by others. And so for me to be honest I used to say, I used to think that I really have to admit that I need Jesus, that I need Jesus for everything that I do and the truth is we all need Him. What really happened was I’d stopped saying Father

[00:30:53] into your hands I commit my life. I might have committed the idea of me going to heaven when I die to Him but how I lived every day I was taking that back into my own hands and so over the years I’ve learnt that being totally honest begins when I tell Jesus that I need Him but now I find myself asking the question why don’t I admit that need more? Why is it that I so quickly become self-reliant and I’ve learnt that self-sufficiency isn’t my enemy self-sufficiency is my sin and I don’t deal with self-sufficiency by recommitting myself and trying harder that’s part of my self-sufficiency problem. What I need to do is to confess my self-sufficiency as a sin and then I find that it unlocks the power of Christ in my life. As Paul said it’s no longer

[00:32:15] I who live but Christ who lives in me. Excuse me. Totally honest. The second thing is to have full assurance or the full conviction of faith. What does it mean to have full assurance or full conviction of faith? I hope you’re thinking ahead and the conclusion of this point is going to be simply exactly following Jesus’ example when He died on the cross and as He breathed His last He said Father into your hands I commit my life. All that He was His very life itself He placed in the Father’s hands. That is the full conviction of faith and that is what we require too. If we’re going to be people who acknowledge that we live in God’s presence that He’s with us all the time and we’re going to be aware of it in our lives that is the

[00:33:33] place we need to be. Jesus in those hours of darkness when all of hell’s demons were present and the darkness had come to witness His death and demise they were defeated. He was forsaken by the Father during that time. It’s hard for us it’s impossible for us to imagine the tortures that He experienced but when the darkness ended He said my God my God why had you forsaken me the period of forsakenness was over it was finished and then He could trust Himself to God His Father into your hands I commit my life. You know I call it doing business with Jesus when we receive from Him the call of His claims on our lives and we acknowledge our need and we simply surrender all that we are to Him. Father into your hands I commit my life. Let me close in prayer. Father thank you

[00:35:00] for this opportunity thank you that we can look at Jesus words and spend time to understand what’s happening and to see what difference they can make for us. I pray that you would lead us all to be in that place where we can say Father into your hands I commit my life. May we be those who know that level of fullness and Lord I pray that you’ll be preparing us during this week as we gather next time to learn about those great words I thirst and so Lord we commit this time to you thank you for it and we pray in Jesus name.