Shock And Awe (Focusing On Christ Death On The Cross) Series

Focusing on Jesus Dieing on the Cross

Mathew 27:45-54

Introduction

A. For the last couple of weeks we have been hearing about this Shock and Awe strategy.

B. The Idea is simple. You hit the enemy with your best shot

C. You let him have everything

D. By doing this you make him afraid, and hope for a quick surrender or at least a serve reduction of their force and moral

E. The Bible had its own version of shock and Awe

F. It is recorded in Mathew 27:45-54.

G. Read Mathew 27:45-54

H. Here we see both shock and awe

I. Specifically

a. Shock

i. The Shock of God not Helping Him

ii. The Shock of Jesus’ Words

iii. The Shock of the rejection by the people

b. Awe

i. The Awe of the Curtain being Torn

ii. The Awe of the Tombs opening

iii. The Awe of the Roman Soldiers

I. Shock

A. The Shock of God Not Helping Him (Vs. 46)

1. Explanation

a) We have probably read this verse many times

b) But let us stop and think about it like it was the first time we read it

c) First of all what I find so peculiar is that every version mentions the Aramaic words that Christ spoke

d) Now this particular words are interesting

e) Many of your Bibles will probably tell you that this is a direct reference to Psalm 22:1. It is!

f) But why would Christ speak those Words?

g) I do not think that is the right question, why wouldn’t He speak those

h) Folks he is on the Cross suffering, think about it, I would feel like God has left me

2. Application

a) What can we learn from this verse and apply it to our lives?

b) Christ never sinned, we know that, He was the only sinless person to live

c) Notice He cried out to God and was feeling abandon

d) That is shocking, but notice something here

e) Crying out to God is not sin

f) Asking God “Where did you go” is not sin

g) God is big enough to be able to handle those pleas

h) It may not always seem like it, but God has promised

(1) And He never has broken any promise

i) God Promised that “He will never leave us, or Forsake us”

3. Illustration

a) I used to struggle with this concept a lot. I would go away to different retreats and camp and “Feel God’s Presence” come home and it would seem that it was gone. I felt like there was something wrong with me. You know what?

b) Here is where we go wrong, we like to feel God when we are worshiping Him, if we don’t we get discouraged. But we should not be worshiping God to feel something, the purpose is to worship God

c) Yeah there will be times you “Feel” God more then others

d) But He has never left you, and never will leave you

B. The Shock of Jesus Words

1. Explanation

a) The people around totally did not understand what Jesus was talking about, what else is new huh?

b) Verse 47 tells us they were confused and did not understand

c) There are two different ways to interpret this

d) One you could say that they willing misinterpret Jesus statement just to make fun of him a little more

(1) This however is probably not the case, due to the fact of the darkness that was occurring, that probably would have ended the mocking of Jesus somewhat at least

e) The other way it to understand that the Jews were expecting Elijah all along as the Messiah

(1) The thought that this was the last mind game Jesus was going to play on them.

(2) They figured that He was just trying to call Elijah to make Himself seem special, but had nothing to back it up with

2. Application

a) Here is the lesson

b) The Savior was right there in front of their Eyes and they missed it.

c) They totally blew it.

d) They were not willing to change their ideas and accept Christ

e) We do the same thing today

f) We like to try and make God fit into our Theology

g) We will design God around our Theology instead of our Theology around God

3. Illustration

a) When designers design a car, they start off with who is the car for? What is the purpose the car? They do not design a car a say well it looks like a convertible lets market it towards young families. Now they design the car with the needs of the potential buyer in mind

b) It is ridiculous to do it the other way

c) That is what happens when try to make God fit our Theology