Greatest Death of All (Part B)

Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last.

Again that deliberate act. He is sovereign, dismissing his humanity. Luke 23 46, Father into your hands I commit my spirit. That is the bone, the flesh, and the blood.

Those things that limited his sovereignty he is now getting rid of. Exiting the body without dying as we die. Dying nonetheless he tasted death.

Now here's Pastor Rick with his study called The Greatest Death of All in Mark Chapter 15. Our greatest needs as people, as human beings is to feel loved by the one we love. God himself seeks our love.

The Bible is about loving God. Loving each other. We can live without love but we cannot live well without love. And those who are not being loved, they can become quite a problem in life or others. You know, just the indecent people becoming savage. Love is a big deal and where it is absent there is trouble in its place. It becomes Satan's playground. And as you're growing up in life you don't know these things yet and you have to learn them. And this would account for sometimes our youth being just absolute knuckleheads in their youth. They've not yet figured these things out.

But give them some time and some instruction and love and patience. And that's ministry. This is how it is done. You don't have to like it or approve of it.

It's how it is done. You do have to face it. And you know the feeling of wanting to retaliate against somebody. It's a natural feeling. It's just not a spiritual feeling. It's the flesh. And we Christians, we know when we get like that we're wrong and we work.

We scramble to fix it because we believe it's worth it. Because we believe Christ is worth it. In his humanity, he alone, there on the cross at this time now, unloved. Now he wasn't alone. There were humans there.

But between the father when he makes this cry, this is what he's experiencing for the first time in his humanity. Because he was not alone. There were those, the women were there. John was there. Even Peter was there. We'll get to that later.

But he was in the background. The final cry of his humanity at this point, I thirst. And he never resented being made the sacrifice. How unlike us, right? We serve the Lord and we feel like we're not appreciated.

We become bitter. Leave the church. Leave the ministry. I'm not serving anymore.

I said I'm done. Exactly what Satan wants us to do most of the time. Not what God wants us to do. I think, you know, you can hear an angel giggling sometimes saying, where's his backbone? That's all it took to take him out?

I didn't know you could take out a fighter jet with a paper clip. I don't want to be that kind of Christian. But that doesn't take away the pain.

I can say no, I'm not, I'm going to keep serving. It's just not as much fun. When was it supposed to be fun? When was the cross of Christ supposed to be fun? He never resented the shame and the filth of our sin on him.

He faced it. Isaiah 53, he shall see the travail of his soul. The New King James has the labor. The Old King James has the travail, and that's a closer meaning to how it is formed in the Hebrew.

It is a labor, but it is a hard labor. He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. God was careful to put that in the Bible for us. He was careful to say that he is going to be crucified for you, and he's not going to be bitter about it.

He's not going to have that, you know, this is another fine mess you've gotten me into, kind of a response. It says, by his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. He shall take it, and he does. Death, the last enemy, stirs doubt, but that doubt can be overcome. Luke writes this, he says, and when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

And having said this, he breathed his last. So you go to the book of Revelation, and these angels are always in a loud voice saying something. They're always bellowing it out with just such force and such strength.

So much so it captures our attention. And another angel said, with a loud voice, it's thunderous. And here he is dying, and incidentally, people didn't die in six hours on the cross.

They lingered for days. This, of course, was something that Pilate was impressed, he took notice of that. He's dead already? Yeah, because he didn't die, he gave up his spirit.

He walked out on you. You don't get the satisfaction of saying you killed the Son of God. He's demonstrating that you might call it death, but he gave up the spirit, his humanity. He dismissed it. I'm done with you. And where Luke now writes about, into your hands I commit my spirit, he was in total control with a loud voice he is doing these things, being forsaken by God, bearing the punishment of sin. And this is not fiction, this is fact. Verse 35.

Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, look, he is calling for Elijah. I should say, while I'm speaking about these things, I want to be very careful not to try to whip up the audience emotions. Just stick to the facts, the truth, and those theatrics. To try to get you, to appeal to you, to make you cry over this or something.

I don't want to do that. I want us to just look at the facts and face them in truth and love. And all that goes into being a disciple of Christ. In verse 35, we read it, verse 35, some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, look, he is calling for Elijah. Now the bystanders, who of course misunderstood what he was saying, when he said Eloi, Eloi, they thought he was saying Eli for Elijah, Elijah.

And so they're not putting anything together. Many Jews did believe Elijah would come back because he was taken away in a chariot of fire. And Malachi chapter 4 talks about Elijah coming back. Verse 36, then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to him to drink, saying, let him alone, let us see if Elijah will come and take him down. Well, the voices are interrupted when they're saying, look, he's calling for Elijah, then someone runs to get the reed, the sponge for him, and then someone else talks again.

So you can kind of miss that if you read over it too quickly, but that's what's going on here. There is present some unnamed soul that has some compassion. He ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine. Why not a cup on a stick, for example? Well, a T-shaped cross like he was on would be very difficult to tilt his head back to take a drink.

And so the sponge would make up for that. It would allow the individual on the cross to still get some moisture that way. Psalm 69, because this is a prophetic moment being fulfilled, they also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink. And of course, that verse is applied to this moment here, where it says, saying, let him alone, let us see if Elijah will come and take him down. So these voices are happening around this person trying to give him some relief on the cross. The mockery is this, let the forerunner come and save the precious Messiah. That's the bitterness that's in their tone.

This was entertainment for them, and of course, it's that way to this day in many ways. Verse 37, and Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. Again, that deliberate act. He is sovereign, dismissing his humanity. Luke 23, 46, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. That is the bone, the flesh, and the blood, those things that limited his sovereignty, he is now getting rid of. Exiting the body, without dying, as we die, dying nonetheless, he tasted death. John chapter 10, Jesus makes it clear, no one takes my life, I'm going to give it up. Hebrews chapter 2, this is a very special phrase here. He says, we see Jesus. Here's Paul writing to the Hebrews, and he is saying, we see Jesus for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. That's what he was doing on the cross, so that Jesus said, whoever believes in me will not die. It's a transition. When the believer dies, it's a step out of here and into there.

It's just like that. We'll have to wait to see it. You don't get to try it out and come back and write a book on it.

If you get a book on, you know, I saw a light and a near-death experience, throw it in the trash, better still, bring it to the bonfire. I mean, it's just utter nonsense. I don't care how sincere.

You may say, well, I had that happen to me. So, does that make it Scripture? Of course not. And you say, I'm offended by that. Well, I don't mean to offend you, but the truth really doesn't care.

Again, you know, the facts are the facts. We start going down that road and everybody can start making up all sorts of things. So you open up a door for Satan by adding things to Scripture that shouldn't be, or treating things as though they were Scripture because you experienced them. You can experience a lot of things that are foul, but you think they're holy.

Otherwise there would be no people walking upstairs on their knees telling you they've seen the face of Jesus in sandwiches or something like that. And so we come along and we shut down those false emotions. I like to laugh. I love my emotions when they're riding high.

I don't appreciate it when someone manipulates my emotions, though. So back to these verses, which I think are beautiful enough. Verse 38, Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. It was that massive curtain that was in the Jewish temple, between the holiest place of the temple and the holy place. Only the priests got to go into this chamber, these rooms in the temple.

The courtyards were free for everyone. You go into the first section and the lampstand was to your left and it was the showbread to your right. And then a little further up was the golden altar where the incense was offered. And then there was the curtain that was a barrier, the holiest of holy places where the Ark of the Covenant was. The high priest could go in only once a year to atone for the sins of the people.

So it's very special. And to have that curtain torn on this day at this time is very significant. You would think that one of the high priests would say, oh, we got this wrong.

But unbelief is that serious of an opponent. Exodus 26 tells us about this veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the most holy. And it's very significant that it is tearing as Christ has died for our sins. It's signifying that the way into God's presence is open through his Son. When Jesus said, I am the way, I am the way, the veil is moved. We come to God, to the holiest of holies, through Christ.

So he had asked for a sign. They got a few of them. And it was wasted on them. So you're listening to a good sermon.

Is it wasted on you? I don't necessarily mean now, though I do not exclude now. But I mean wherever you are. Maybe you're sitting in a car and someone's listening to someone else preach a good sermon. That can happen.

Other men are able to preach good sermons. I've never heard it happen. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

Press my luck. Anyway, as I've already mentioned, the sun was darkened, the veil was torn, the rocks were split, the earth quaked. This was radical. Matthew writes this, he says, Then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split. God was not pleased with sin and what was going on. I think more so that men weren't seeing.

They had every reason to see who he was. Jesus said, you know, if they don't sing these praises, the very rocks will cry out. And here they are, the rocks split. These were signs of God's displeasure. And, you know, when God gave the law, it was also accompanied by such extreme events.

Mount Sinai, the earth did quake also. But the law is fulfilled in Christ and the curse is removed. Romans 10 for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. And so we can talk about the atonement, but while we talk about the atonement, we know that our sins are not only pardoned, they're canceled.

As I mentioned, they're made to not be. The creator of the universe has uncreated my sin because of his son, wills them out of existence. This is some serious forgiveness.

This is why Satan is the accuser of the brethren. And he comes along and says, you're really not forgiven. God can't forgive that kind of sin. You've been forgiven for this sin too many times.

You don't get another time. This is the lie of Satan, the accuser of the brethren, because he hates the fact that he cannot undo what has been done with this death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And unfortunately, many of us fall for it. We fall for the lies of the devil and we walk around with the guilt. And I'm not saying this is, you know, not at all, not teaching lawlessness. Our motivation for loving, for obedience, really is based on love.

The love of God, that he loves me so much. I don't want to offend him. And there's some other things involved too, but that is the bottom line. Truth is not enough.

Too rigid, too hard. If God just gave me truth and no love, I wouldn't have a chance. But this love is demonstrated, as the Bible clearly says.

Now, most of you know this, and yet you still like hearing it. I know I'm not boring you by repeating these essential facts of the cross. What a challenging task for a man to go into the pulpit and talk about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Who is worthy for that? Well, we're made worthy by the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, you couldn't preach to unbelievers.

You couldn't lead a soul to Christ. God has set this up and it is magnificent. But we have to see it as such. That helps a lot to be free to know that, listen, you're going to mess up, but that's okay. You know, tell a little child, you're teaching a child something, you say, it's okay if you mess this up. And then they could just freely move and, you know, wreck the place.

It'd be fun, you know. I mean, anyway, let's move on. So, from that moment, the cross, it either admits you to God with the temple veil torn, or you are excluded because you won't go in through Jesus Christ. We are free from that entire sacrificial system. Hebrews 8, a new covenant or the New Testament. He has made the first obsolete, that is the Old Testament, that sacrificial system. The lessons are still there for us.

Now, what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. And that is, again, Paul telling the Jews to stop being Jews and to now start being Christians. That's what the Hebrew letter is all about. Heaven is out of the question if Jesus Christ is rejected. That is the teaching of the scripture. Verse 39, so when the centurion who stood opposite him saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, truly, this man was the son of God. None of the gospel writers say, and he died, not in the gospel stories.

Paul and others will give that in the preaching. But they don't, because they're focused on, no, he really didn't die, he gave up the spirit kind of a thing. But Matthew 27, so when the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus. So evidently, not only did the centurion come to this realization, truly this man was the son of God, but those Roman soldiers with him also took hold of this view.

So he is speaking for the men. There was this revelation, and we don't read about it again in the Bible, because they're not the centerpiece of the story. That's one reason why, and what happens to them is anybody's guess. But if you're reading this and you've not given your life to Christ, then what's going to happen to you is more of an important question than what happened to them. Did they truly believe at the cross? Did it last, or did they go back to their Roman ways? What's going to happen to you when you come and you listen to the gospel preached by someone? Are you going to say, wow, that was pretty deep, I can see it, and then go back to your ways like it never happened?

Quite challenging. Now, there were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the less, and Josie's, and Salome. Well, as verse 41 will tell us, and Matthew also, there were many women from Galilee. Earlier, these women had been right up close to the cross, but they withdrew because it's just too painful to be that close to him in agony, and so they moved back far. John chapter 19 gives us that they were, that's where Jesus could say to Mary, behold your son, if you were far away, it wouldn't work.

Many broken hearts were at the cross on this day, and again, everything happened so suddenly, these women were told, they loved him, they provided for the Lord material, his material needs, and there they were going about their business and they were told, he's been arrested, and then within hours, they crucified him. Mary the mother of James the less and Josie's. This distinguishes one Mary, everybody was named Mary. There's a lot of Mary's going on, some of the men were named Mary.

No, they weren't. But it was a very common name, and James the less, the son of Alphaeus, and Matthew, he's one of the apostles, that's his mom there. So there's a lot of family was plugged into the ministry of Christ, and here it says in verse 41, who also followed him and ministered to him when he was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

So the Galilean ministry was more successful than the Jerusalem ministry. These women, they provided for his needs, they gave money to him, they likely gave food, shopped for food, prepared food from time to time, a lot of activity going on. Their husbands would share in this. Their husbands were very much a part of this also. Now, I often read in the commentators, you know, they all take a chance, well, the women were at the cross, but the men fled, and there's always any chance they get to make those apostles look bad. It seems like they take it.

I don't share that view. Just because it doesn't say they were there, doesn't mean they were not, and I'll get to why I believe that in a moment, but the women could get away with standing there. No one's going to come and arrest them and crucify them, but the guys, they had a higher risk at this time, and they knew that. Well, the money that these ladies gave to the Lord for the ministry was kept in a box, and Judas kept that box, and of course the Lord knew that he was helping himself to what these women had offered him, and that worked against Judas. But Peter, when he writes to the church, the persecuted church, he says, I, who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ.

Well, he couldn't write that if he weren't there. John will close out his gospel saying, I saw all this happen. Well, we know John is there because he's addressed, but if Peter, somewhere in the crowd was there, we have every reason to believe so were the other apostles. Maybe Thomas. I don't know what Thomas. Thomas was a, thank you, Lord, for a man like Thomas in the Bible. He was the missing man. When everybody else was where they were supposed to be, Thomas was missing, and I can identify with that because I know some of you.

Well, this is the death unlike any other, and even though it is common to us now because we sing about it, we read about it, we're very knowledgeable about it, may it never become something that is boring to us and not exciting. It is everything to do with Christianity. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross-Reference Radio. You can search for Cross-Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of Mark, right here on Cross-Reference Radio.