INTRODUCTION
• VIDEO CLIP
• SLIDE #1
• If all one knew about the life of Jesus was what we saw in the video clip, one could easily conclude that Jesus failed miserably.
• Here was a man who made bold claims about being the Son of God, about being the Messiah, as well as stating that when you looked at Him, you were looking at the Father (John 14:9)
• Jesus made claims that He the Father were one in John 10:30, He claimed He existed BEFORE Abraham (John 8:58).
• Jesus made many claims, and truth be told, anyone can make a claim; however, it is another story to back up the claim.
• During The Illusion Series, we have been looking at some of the illusions people were taken in by, both during Jesus’ ministry and even yet today.
• We examined the Illusion that Jesus was powerless, and last week we examined the illusion that Jesus was not God.
• For some here today, you may be struggling with what you believe about Jesus.
• The whole God becoming man could come across as stuff of myth, making it easier to believe the illusions versus embracing the truth concerning Jesus.
• The closest disciples of Jesus, the ones who heard the teaching, who saw the miracles, who saw Jesus raise a man from the dead who was in the grave for four days, when push came to shove, they struggled with what they believed about Jesus, for a time anyway.
• When you look at the clip we showed taken from the Gospels, it sure looks like, no matter what you believe concerning Jesus, feeds into the illusion that no matter what the miracles pointed toward, and whoever Jesus claimed to be, that Jesus failed!
• Today we will spend the bulk of our time in Matthew 27:45-50, this passage takes us to the point of Jesus dying on the cross, feeding into the illusion that Jesus failed.
• If Jesus failed, then the illusions of Jesus being powerless and not being God would be true.
• By the way, if Jesus failed, there are ramifications for us to this day and for eternity (1 Corinthians 15).
• Let us begin our journey together by looking at Matthew 27:45-49
• SLIDE #2
• Matthew 27:45–49 (CSB) — 45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over the whole land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” 47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling for Elijah.” 48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and offered him a drink. 49 But the rest said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. The illusion that Jesus gave up.
• Have you ever worked on a project, a project you were excited about, one that you had poured yourself into, only to find out once you got deep into the project that you were not going to be able to complete the project, the project was going to be a failure?
• Once you hit that spot in the project, did you find your energy dropping, did you see your enthusiasm for the project begin its steep descent into Bummerville?
• When one faces a situation that seems to be a lost cause, many tend to give up.
• Giving up is a classic sign of knowing one failed or was about to fail.
• When you look at Jesus from the time after He was arrested until He died, he is not giving off the vibe that He is going to succeed.
• IT almost would appear that God Himself had given up.
• There was a supernatural darkness that took place in the region. This darkness could represent the judgment to come or possibly a manifestation of tremendous sorrow on the part of God.
• During Jesus’ trial, we are told that Pilate was amazed that Jesus would not answer the accusations raised against Him. Why would you not defend yourself unless you have given up?
• Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested when He said that He could call down an army of angels to stop it.
• Why did He let them beat Him and spit on Him or injure Him in anyway? Jesus is giving off the illusion that He has given up.
• While Jesus was hanging on the cross as people are mocking Him, He cries out, MY GOD MY GOD WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED ME?
• Sounds like He has given up.
• It sounds like all hope is gone.
• Jesus is quoting the first line of Psalm 22.
• The cry out of Jesus is not what it appears to be. The grammar of Jesus’ cry out to God indicates that the abandonment Jesus felt is over and past, the verb tense denotes a completed action in the past time.
• As Jesus speaks, He is no longer forsaken, but the pain of that separation, even though temporary was nonetheless painful!
• The physical agony was horrible, but the spiritual alienation from God was the ultimate torture. Jesus suffered this double death so that we would never have to experience eternal separation from God.
• The context of this psalm indicates that this was a prayer of expectation for deliverance, not a cry of abandonment.
• Nonetheless, the whole psalm is a prophecy expressing the deep agony of the Messiah’s death for the world’s sin.
• Jesus knew that he would be temporarily separated from God the moment he took upon himself the sins of the world because God cannot look on sin (Habakkuk 1:13).
• This separation was the “cup” Jesus had dreaded as he prayed in Gethsemane (26:39).
• Once Jesus cries out, the crowd seems to gain excitement because they think He is crying out to Elijah to save Him, and the people are hoping for one more magic trick from Jesus before He dies.
• The soldiers understand his words as a petition for Elijah to come and save him.
• Once again those who surround the cross assume that only an immediate miraculous deliverance from the cross could validate his claims.
• Once they assume that he is calling for some sort of miraculous deliverance, one of the soldiers ran to get a sponge which they soaked with wine vinegar and offered it to Jesus to drink.
• Some of the confusion as to WHOM Jesus was calling out to could be that the Hebrew word for MY GOD is not very different from the word for Elijah. Those near could have thought they heard Him call out to Elijah instead of to God.
• According to the Old Testament (2 Kgs 2:9–12) Elijah was taken up alive into heaven, and it was common belief among the Jews that he might come to help them in time of need.
• From the outside looking in it looks like Jesus gave up, verse 50 makes the scene appear to be worse.
• SLIDE #4
• Matthew 27:50 (CSB) But Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit.
• SLIDE #5
II. The illusion that Jesus failed and was gone.
• As we talked about two weeks ago, when Jesus was arrested, His disciples first deserted Him, then they ran away.
• They knew that going to the cross was not something they were willing to do.
• Jesus was not the type of Messiah they were looking for so when He was arrested, they deserted Him and ran, they did not just run, they DESERTED HIM!
• Have you ever deserted Jesus because He was not the type of Messiah you wanted? Have you ever deserted Jesus because He did not deliver what you wanted, when you wanted?
• That is essentially what the disciples did, and now with Jesus crying our with a loud voice, HE GAVE UP HIS SPIRIT!
• Did you catch that, HE GAVE UP HIS SPIRIT?
• Note “with a loud voice,” showing that the Jesus did not just allow his life to ebb away.
• He did not die because of physical exhaustion but voluntarily.
• He gave his life, poured it out, laid it down (Isa. 53:12; John 10:11, 15), or, as here, yielded it. He knew exactly what he was doing when he thus offered himself as a substitutionary sacrifice.
• Those who followed Jesus and were watching His life slowly leave Him, now He is dead.
• It looks like Jesus failed and the religious leaders won. The disciples will in a sense, go into hiding.
• All their hopes and dreams are hanging lifeless on the cross.
• Have you had a dream vanish before your eyes? You know how the disciples must have felt.
• They still loved Jesus with all their heart, they just did not know what to do at this point other than to bury Him, and that is what they did.
• What they did not understand is that Jesus did what he did according to a plan.
• SLIDE #6
III. The illusion that Jesus failed was merely an illusion.
• Jesus was dead on the cross, the soldiers on the scene made sure of that with the spear.
• If you don’t know how everything ends, and those who were on the scene would not know what was going to happen on Sunday, it looks like a total failure by Jesus.
• John gives us something that Matthew does not, John records the last words Jesus spoke on the cross.
• SLIDE #7
• John 19:30 (CSB) When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
• What did Jesus mean when He said it was finished? His life? NO, THE PLAN!
• Jesus fulfilled the plan of saving mankind that was hatched before creation! It began with Adam and Eve’s sin and was completed once Jesus died AND He rose on the third day!
• You see, had the disciples listened to what Jesus said instead of hearing what they WANTED to hear, they would not have worried about what was happening because Jesus told then He would RISE on the third day!
• They would have known that Jesus failing was a mere illusion!
• What happened was all in God’s plan.
• Isaiah 53 was written 700 plus before Jesus was born. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain the book of Isaiah. These were written around 200 BC so we know Isaiah was written 700 years before Jesus was born!
• Jesus did not lay in the tomb as a dead failure, He ROSE FROM THE TOMB A VICTORIOUS SAVIOR!
• In fact, Matthew shows that to the very end Jesus maintains control over his destiny.
• He approaches his death willingly (cf. John 10:17–18).
• This points to what John’s Gospel makes explicit, that Jesus comes to the recognition that he has paid in full the debt for sin; with a shout of victory Jesus cries out, “It is finished” (John 19:30).
• John uses a single word FOR IT IS FINISHED to record this triumph, a phrase used often in this sense on ancient Greek receipts, “Paid in full.”
• The redemption that Jesus came to achieve was accomplished once for all.
• The same disciples who ran and hid during the arrest and crucifixion, just days later were boldly proclaiming Jesus in the streets of Jerusalem.
• All of them (except for John) died as martyrs for Jesus. Christianity grew from the 11 who were left to where we are today.
• Jesus is not in the grave. IF He were, we would be in trouble.
• SLIDE #8
• 1 Corinthians 15:12–19 (CSB) — 12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith. 15 Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ—whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. 19 If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.
• PRAISE GOD FOR JESUS!
CONCLUSION
• Jesus did not fail, He completed the plan.
• Because of His sacrifice, we can have our sins forgiven and we can receive eternal life from Him!
• God loves you so much that He send His son to die on the cross for you!
• HE wants to give you the gift of salvation. Do you want it?
• DO you still doubt, I understand, I would ask you to at least consider the possibilities?
• Are you willing to gamble your eternity by HOPING that Jesus is not God?
• Are you burdened down with your past, are you filled with guilt over things in life?
• Let Jesus take those burdens from you!
