Sermon #88 Series: Matthew

Title: THE CRUCIFIXION

Text: Matthew 27:33-44

Readings: Office: Lindsay Campbell Aud: Mark Henson

Subject: The Crucifixion of Christ

Date: Tuesday Evening - July 9, 1996

Tape # S-72

Introduction:

The title of my message tonight is THE CRUCIFIXION. Our text will be Matthew 27:33-44. Read it with me.

"And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, (34) They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. (35) And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. (36) And sitting down they watched him there; (37) And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. (38) Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. (39) And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, (40) And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. (41) Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, (42) He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. (43) He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. (44) The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth."

These verses describe the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ when he was made to be sin for us and hanged upon the cursed tree. Pause for a moment to consider the words we have just read. This is an amazing, marvelous record. It is amazing and marvelous in our eyes when we remember...

· Who Suffered These Things - The Lord Jesus Christ, The Son Of God, The Lamb Of God, The Only Truly Holy And Good Man Ever To Live In This World.

· For Whom He Suffered - (Romans 5:6-8) "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (7) For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. (8) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

· Why He Suffered - The cause of his great sorrow and agony of body, soul, and spirit was the fact that the Son of God suffered for sin, as the sin-bearer. “Christ died for our sins!”

THE SORROW IN GETHSEMANE - We have seen our Savior’s sorrow in Gethsemane, when he prayed three times, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless l not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Such was the shock of his holy soul at the thought and prospect of being made to be sin that our Redeemer broke out into a sweat of blood. Luke describes it in these words:

Luke 22:44 "Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

THE SCOURGING OF GABBATHA - We have seen the scourging of Gabbatha too. Our Lord was condemned in a mockery of justice at Pilate’s judgment hall, called Gabbatha (John 19:13). There he was delivered into the hands of cruel, barbaric Roman soldiers to be scourged. They took him into the common judgment hall, where they gathered an entire band of soldiers, between five and twelve hundred of them, to scourge our Savior.

1. They stripped him!

2. They mercilessly whipped him with a Roman scourge!

3. They mocked him!

· The Scarlet Robe!

· The Crown of Thorns!

· The Reed Scepter!

· The Spitting!

· The Beating!

“Then they led him away to crucify him!” Tonight, we pick up Matthew’s inspired narrative of the crucifixion at Mt. Calvary. May God the Holy Spirit who gave us this record now fill our hearts with reverence as we meditate upon it and seek to worship the Lamb who was there sacrificed for our sins. The verses before us this evening describe...

THE SLAUGHTER AT GOLGOTHA. "And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull" (v.33).

“Golgotha” means “place of a skull.” This was just another name for Calvary. It was called Golgotha because in this place of slaughter, people who were stoned to death or crucified were simply covered over with a little dirt. Consequently, in a matter of time skulls and bones were everywhere. In this scene of slaughter at Golgotha the Holy Spirit shows us a tremendous display of God’s glorious sovereignty in three things:

1. THE FULFILLMENT OF SCRIPTURE BY MEN WHO HAD NO REGARD FOR THE SCRIPTURES

These soldiers had no more regard for the Scriptures than hogs have for diamonds. Yet they did exactly what God ordained that they would do and said that they would do (Acts 4:27-28; 13:27-29). Thus the Lord God makes even his Son’s murderers to be his witnesses!

Matthew 27:34 "They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink."

This mixture of vinegar (flat wine that had gone sour and bitter) mixed with gall was thought to be a mixture that would prolong one’s life. It was given by the soldiers because they must, according to God’s decree, fulfill the prophecy of Psalm 69:21. "They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."

John Gill wrote, “This potion of vinegar with gall, was an aggravating circumstance in our Lord's sufferings, being given to him when he had a violent thirst upon him; and was an emblem of the bitter cup of God's wrath, he had already tasted of in the garden, and was about to drink up”

“When he had tasted thereof, he would not drink." Our Lord refused to drink of this mixture because he was determined to suffer the wrath of God for us without any distraction or intoxication of mind. And he refused to drink of it because he would make all to know that he would do nothing to prolong his life, but was willing to die now that his hour, the fullness of time, had come.

Matthew 27:35 "And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots."

Again, we are reminded that the Lord God Almighty was in total control of the affairs on this day of infamy. The barbaric soldiers did nothing except what God had long before said they would do. This parting of our Lord’s garments was a fulfillment of Psalm 22:18. "They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture."

Matthew 27:36 "And sitting down they watched him there;"

After they had scourged him, mocked him, beat him, and crucified him, these hardened men sat down to watch the Lamb of God die. Like little boys cruelly throw a worm into a fire just to watch it wiggle, squirm, and die, they watched the Son of God; but to their utter astonishment, there was no wiggling, no squirming, and no dying until he gave up the ghost by his own sovereign will!

Notice also that our Lord was crucified between two thieves, as the prophet Isaiah declared he must be. “He was numbered with the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12).

Matthew 27:38 "Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left."

2. These two thieves also give us a display of God’s sovereign, distinguishing grace in salvation.

You do not need me to remind you that one of these thieves was plucked as a firebrand from the burning out of the very jaws of hell by God’s sovereign grace, while the other was left to suffer the just consequences of his sin. Let it never be forgotten by us that if we are saved, we are saved because God did it. The only distinction between you and me and the damned in hell is the distinction that grace has made.

· 1 Corinthians 4:7

· 1 Corinthians 15:10

· Romans 9:16

3. And in these verses we see a great display of God’s sovereignty in causing reprobate, unbelieving men to declare his truth, to declare the very essence of the gospel, though they never knew it themselves.

I do not know, but it may be that it was the testimony of spineless Pilate, the testimony of these wicked, taunting, jeering Jews, and the testimony of the mocking chief priests, scribes, and elders that became the instruments by which God taught that elect thief the gospel and brought him to faith in Christ. Hear now the testimony that he heard.

a. Pilate declared, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS” (v. 37).

This proclamation was made in Hebrew the language of religion, in Greek, the language of philosophy, and in Latin, the language of science. That was no accident! There is no true religion, no true philosophy, and no true science that does not begin with the acknowledgment and confession that Jesus Christ is King!

b. The priests, scribes, elders, and people, danced in a drunken, hellish party around Immanuel’s cross, and in their blasphemy spoke the truth of God as distinctly as inspired apostles.

(1. ) “Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days” (v40). Though they knew it not, these religious ritualists here proclaimed the fact of our Lord’s death and resurrection.

· He destroyed the temple of his body in death.

· He raised it up again in three days!

(1. ) “He saved others; himself he cannot save” (v. 42). That is the very essence of the gospel! The Son of God died as our Substitute. Because he saved us he had to sacrifice himself!

(2. ) He trusted in God” (v.43). Our Lord Jesus Christ, as a man, lived by faith, in all things trusting God his Father. Thus he taught us how to honor, obey, and live for God in this world - BY FAITH!

(3. ) “He said, I am the Son of God” (v 43). Our modern infidels choose to ignore it, but these people heard his doctrine plainly. Jesus Christ of Nazareth openly, publicly declared himself to be the Son of God. And that is who he is! He is God and man in one glorious Person - THE GODMAN! The Godman..

· In Mary’s Womb!

· In Obedience for Us!

· Dying Upon The Tree!

· Exalted to Save!

I. When we think about the crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ought always to bear in mind, to the best of our ability, THE EXTENT AND REALITY OF HIS SUFFERINGS.

Our Lord Jesus endured all the hell of God’s wrath for us when he bore our sins in his body upon the cross. He suffered all the wrath of God that we deserved in his body, in his soul, and in his spirit. The listing of his agonies is torturous to read. What must it have been to experience! The most savage barbarians in history have not been able to equal the tortures heaped upon the Son of God by the Jews and the Romans who crucified him.

“Never let it be forgotten that He had a real human body, a body exactly like our own, just as sensitive, just as vulnerable, just as capable of feeling intense pain.” J. C. Ryle

A. Crucifixion was the most indescribably horrid form of execution ever forced upon a human being.

The person crucified was stretched out on his back on a piece of timber. His hands were stretched out on the cross piece, and nailed through the wrists to the wood with huge spikes. His feet were crossed one on top of the other and nailed together with a huge mallet driving the spike through them both and fastening them to the wood. Then the Lord Jesus was picked up on the cross and it was dropped into a socket three or four feet deep, with his body attached to it! There he hung, not dying suddenly (No vital organ was touched!), in excruciating pain for six long hours. There he hung, naked, shamed, covered from head to foot with the excrement of others men’s foul throats and his own holy blood. His head, his hands, his feet oozing with blood, throbbing in pain, the Lord of glory hung there for six indescribable hours of hell.

B. Yet, his agony of soul was infinitely more excruciating to him than that of his body.

1. The Lamb of God was made to be sin for us!

2. He was forsaken by his Father.

3. He was slain by the sword of his own holy justice.

II. When we think about the crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ought always to remember with deep reverence, gratitude, and praise “HOW THAT CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES” (1 Cor. 15:3).

The gospel is much more that the mere declaration of the fact that Christ died. The gospel is the declaration of HOW he died. The gospel has not been preached until it has been told “HOW that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” Let me summarize it for you in three words.

A. VOLUNTARILY

Our Lord Jesus Christ died as a voluntary victim. He was made to be sin; but his own hand laid our sins upon him. He was slain by the sword of justice; but his own hand held the sword.

· John 10:14-18

B. VICARIOUSLY

All our Lord’s sufferings were vicarious. He suffered not for his own sins, but for ours. He died as a substitute in the room and stead of chosen sinners.

Matthew 1:21 "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."

2 Corinthians 5:21 "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Galatians 3:13 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:"

Hebrews 9:28 "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."

1 Peter 1:18-20 "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (20) Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,"

1 Peter 2:22 "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:"

1 Peter 2:24 "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."

1 Peter 3:18 "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:"

Isaiah 53:5-6 "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."

Isaiah 53:8-10 "He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. (9) And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (10) Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand."

Do not be satisfied with vague, general ideas about substitution and atonement. Everything our Savior did and endured as a man was for us, as our vicarious Sacrifice. Was he scourged? “With his stripes we are healed.” Was he stripped? It was that we might be clothed. Was he condemned? It was that we might go free. Was he mocked? It was that we might be blessed. Was he numbered with the trangressors? It was that we might be numbered with the sons of God. Was he unable to save himself? It was that he might save us. Was he made to be sin? It was that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Did he die? It was that we might live through him,

C. VICTORIOUSLY

We the Word of God asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ was and is triumphant and victorious in his death, the meaning is just this - HE SHALL HAVE THAT FOR WHICH HE DIED. His people shall be saved. His Father shall be glorified. He shall be exalted forever!

Isaiah 53:10-12 "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (11) He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (12) Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

Hebrews 10:10-14 "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (11) And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: (12) But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; (13) From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. (14) For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."

Romans 8:1-3 "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (3) For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:"

Romans 8:33-34 "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. (34) Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."

Application:

I hope that each of us will be enabled of God to carry this message home with us and make it spiritually profitable to our souls.

1. Are you a believer?

· Be Very Thankful.

· Adore the Infinite Merit of Christ’s Atonement! - Our sins are many and great; but his blood is infinite and his grace is greater than all our sins!

· Hate your sin! Sin is the cause of our Savior’s agony.

· Devote yourself to Christ, who devoted and gave himself for you!

2. If you are yet under the wrath of God, I urge you now to flee away to the Son of God and take refuge in his cross.

Illustration: Barnard at Old Faithful

“There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;

And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains!”