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Six Hours That Changed History | Mark 15:33-39 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Mark 15 beginning in verse 33. And when the 6th hour had come,
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  there was darkness over the whole land until the 9th hour.
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  And at the 9th hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Elohi Elohi,
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  Lama Sabakhtani, which means my God, my God, why have you
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  forsaken me? And some of the bystanders
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  hearing it, said, Behold, he is calling Elijah.
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  Someone ran and filled the sponge with sour wine, put it on
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  a Reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, wait, let us see
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  whether Elijah will come to take him down.
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  And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathe his last.
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  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to
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  bottom. And when the centurion who stood
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  facing him saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said
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  truly, this man was the Son of God.
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  The more I read and study the New Testament, the more I
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  realize how much I need to read and study the Old Testament.
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  And that includes a familiarity with the sacrifices that the
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  Lord God instituted for His people, Israel under the Old
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  Covenant. I understand that these ancient
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  practices were elaborate protocols and fulfilled purposes
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  for that time. But you have to understand that
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  those particular rituals foreshadowed elements of the
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  death of Jesus Christ. And I think it's important for
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  us to see it that way, that those specific sacrifices were
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  not just practical, they were prophetic, that they all pointed
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  to this one sacrifice to come. And the more that we believe
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  that and engage with our Bibles and its totality and make these
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  connections between the left side of your Bible and the right
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  side of your Bible, the more I assure you this, that your heart
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  will erupt in praise and adoration as you see the
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  masterpiece of God's ways. And in this short time, I want
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  to give you a glimpse of that. I want to show you in your
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  Bibles how there's a particular sacrifice that's not often
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  considered with what Jesus does here that was fulfilled, and it
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  will grant a greater significance to what Jesus did
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  on our behalf. And so we read these verses, but
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  now I'm going to ask you to turn with me to the Book of Numbers
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  and let's look at chapter 28 together, beginning in verse 1.
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  Numbers 28, beginning in verse one.
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  It says here the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Command the
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  people of Israel and say to them, My offering, my food for
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  my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to
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  offer to me at its appointed time, and you shall say to them,
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  this is the food offering that you shall offer to the Lord. 2
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  male lambs a year old, without blemish, day by day as a regular
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  offering. Again, there's a large catalogue
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  of different sacrifices that Israel were to honor in their
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  worship to God. And what you and I just read
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  here is a unique one. It's called the regular burnt
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  offering. It says regular offering here in
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  verse 3, but when you go to verse 6, it elaborates and says
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  this is the regular burnt offering.
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  And here's what this regular burnt offering comprised of.
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  It was a daily act of worship and it was something that the
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  priest had to honor by taking two lambs in the prime of their
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  lives, one designated to be placed on the altar, completely
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  consumed by the flames, and then for that lamp to be replaced by
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  another year old lamb at the evening time for the same
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  purpose. Now what this sacrifice implies
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  is this, that the altar at the entrance of this worship center,
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  called the Tabernacle and later the temple, would never be
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  extinguished. That altar, that place of
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  sacrifice, would never become cold.
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  It would never lose its fire. It was to be a continual cycle
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  of sacrifices uninterrupted. And the purpose of this visual
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  and even the aroma is to cause the people of Israel to remember
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  that God is worthy of continual sacrifice, that God demands of
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  us and he deserves not sacrifice based on convenience, not
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  sporadic worship, but constant, constant.
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  And this is what they would see and this is what they would
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  smell. And as Christians, it symbolizes
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  our call to surrender to the will of God, a heart posture
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  that is to be maintained every day, every morning, every night,
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  every week, every month, all the years of your life.
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  And Paul alludes to this in Romans 12/1.
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  You know this very well when he says, I appeal to you therefore,
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  brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as
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  a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him, which is your
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  spiritual worship. Again, let me remind you that
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  what was unique about the regular burnt offering is that
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  it was continuous and it was complete.
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  All of the animal, nothing was held back, nothing was reserved.
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  The entire beast was made into a fragrant offering.
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  What Paul's saying here with using this familiar languages,
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  your bodies, your lives have that same purpose in the new
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  covenant. Here's the key difference.
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  You're not giving a debt offering, you're giving a living
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  1A living sacrifice. So we're not talking about
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  martyrdom necessarily. We're not talking about one
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  event. We're talking about a lifestyle.
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  And the same way that land would be placed on that altar and
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  would burn and burn until it was replaced, your one life is meant
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  to be set apart on the basis of His grace to be granted to Him
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  continually, without reservation, without hindrance.
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  Now here's the beautiful thing. This does point to a practical
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  truth of our sanctification. But as I said earlier, it points
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  to the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  And you'll find that in a parallel passage of what we just
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  read in Numbers 28. So look at Exodus.
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  Now look at Exodus 29 and notice how this provides a distinct
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  instruction with the same sacrifice, the regular burnt
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  offering, It says in Exodus 2942 and 43 HLB a regular burnt
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  offering throughout your generations at the entrance of
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  the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you
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  to speak to you there. There I will meet with the
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  people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory.
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  Do you see it? This daily offering of a new
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  lamb in the morning, a new lamb in the evening, was essential
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  for God to engage with His people favorably and intimately.
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  That constant sacrifice created and provided a consecrated
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  platform for God to meet with His people.
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  That's why he was saying this is important.
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  And God's heart is that He would commune with His people all the
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  day, all the time. And they had to show it on their
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  part that they wanted that kind of intimate relationship with
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  God by providing the sacrifice all the day, all the time.
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  But here's where the Lord Jesus Christ is the greater regular
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  burnt offering. Because when we come to him, we
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  realize that as a true Lamb of God, who is the Son of God, all
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  he had to do was make a single sacrifice.
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  A single sacrifice that was sufficient for God to sanctify.
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  Not a place you not so that He can dwell in, a location so He
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  can dwell in your heart. Our relationship with the Lord
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  is no longer depended upon. A daily effort to bring new
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  lambs being slaughtered, fresh blood being poured out every
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  morning and every night. What you have with the Son of
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  Man and what He did 2000 years ago on that particular day was
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  enough. And it will always be enough.
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  And if you doubt that Christ fulfills the regular burnt
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  offering, go back to what we read in the beginning of the
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  service in Mark 15 and look at the times when Jesus was on the
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  cross. Go to Mark 15.
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  We didn't read this, we read it last week.
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  But look at verse 25 of Mark 15. This was the hour when Jesus was
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  nailed on the cross in Mark 1525.
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  We read and it was the third hour when they crucified him.
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  Now Mark is using the Jewish method of calculating the hours
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  of the day. So the third hour here equates
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  to our time as nine AM, 9:00 AM. Is that morning or evening good?
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  This is when Jesus was crucified.
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  He was nailed on the cross in the morning.
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  When did he die? Go to verse 33 of Mark 15.
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  And when the 6th hour had come, there was darkness over the
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  whole land until the 9th hour. Now the 9th hour when he died
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  would mean that he died at 3:00 PM.
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  Now that's the afternoon. And so let's pause here and
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  think back to the regular burnt offering, a lamb in the morning,
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  a lamb in the evening. Now I come and I read my Old
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  Testament faithfully and I read the Gospels, and I realize that
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  Jesus Christ, whom John the Baptist said he is the Lamb of
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  God who takes away the sins of the world, was crucified in the
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  morning. And I'm expecting it for it to
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  say. And then he died in the evening,
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  but it says he died at 3:00 PM. So I got thinking.
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  I read this earlier this past week and I've been thinking
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  those past few days seems to be like an incomplete picture of
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  the regular burnt offering until I was out and about and it hit
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  me like lightning. And I pulled out my phone to my
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  Bible app and I reread what we opened with at the beginning of
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  this sermon. Look again at verse 33.
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  And when the 6th hour, which is noon, had come, there was
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  darkness over the whole land until the 9th hour.
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  You see what this means? That although Jesus did die in
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  the afternoon, something supernatural occurred.
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  This blackness blanketed the land and gave the appearance of
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  the evening. And so in a symbolic way, we see
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  Jesus Christ as a regular burnt offering, nailed on the cross in
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  the morning and giving up his life under the midnight
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  blackness during midday. But this darkness also means
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  something else. I find it interesting that when
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  you recall the birth of Jesus Christ from Luke's vantage
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  point, we learned that it happened at night.
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  And Luke 2 verse 8, we're told that it happened at night.
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  And that night had many awesome things happening, including
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  this. An Angel of the Lord appeared to
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  a group of shepherds out in the field at night.
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  But do you remember what happened when they appeared?
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  Says there that the glory of the Lord shone around them.
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  So at the birth of Jesus Christ, though it was at night, there
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  was a heavenly light that blazed on the scene.
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  And now as we come to the death of Jesus Christ, at the peak of
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  the day, we read of this blackness covering the sky.
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  God was behind this blackness. This was not coincidence.
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  This was not an act of Satan. We know for certain that this
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  darkness that covered the whole land was orchestrated by the
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  Father. And that is more confirmed when
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  again you read the Old Testament.
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  What do you discover? That in many places, when God
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  causes this darkness to occur over a place, it is often
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  equated with a readiness of His judgement.
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  And so my personal reading, I just finished the book of Amos
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  this week, and I stumbled upon a passage concerning something
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  that you've probably read called the Day of the Lord.
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  That might sound like an exciting title, but it's
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  actually supposed to be a terrifying 1 because the Day of
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  the Lord is consistently something that refers to God's
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  wrath visiting a people, and in many passages it points to His
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  ultimate judgement to come with His retribution against the
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  wicked, the day of the Lord. And let me quote to you what
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  we're told about the Day of the Lord from Amos's writings and
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  Amos 5 verse 20. You don't have to turn there,
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  just listen, please. Is not the Day of the Lord
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  darkness and not light and gloom with no brightness in it?
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  I mentioned this to you to highlight that when this unusual
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  darkness overshadowed Calvary, it signalled that God's fierce
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  judgment was ready to be unleashed.
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  For three hours of darkness from noon till 3:00, there was a
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  spiritual transaction that was taking place that none of us can
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  explain or even conceive with our imaginations.
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  God showed up on Calvary and He was performing a work on His Son
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  who willingly chose to become the sin bearer of humanity.
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  And so shattering was this experience to the Son of God
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  that he voiced His lament by quoting the first part of yet
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  another Old Testament prophecy, Psalm chapter 22.
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  Do you see it in verse 34? My God, my God, why have you
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  forsaken me? Pause.
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  In what way did God the Father forsake God the Son?
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  Definitely not the Son of God separating himself from the
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  nature of God. Definitely not Jesus Christ
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  temporarily disconnecting himself from the essence of
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  divinity. Nor is this forsaking.
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  This is so important because I believe many people
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  misunderstand this. Nor is God the Father forsaking
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  this experience that the Son was lamenting and echoing from David
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  and Psalm 22, indicating that God the Father was absent from
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  this moment. Now.
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  Instead, he was present, but in a different way.
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  God was very much present, but He was present with His
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  terrifying judgement. In other words, when Jesus is
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  lamenting, why have you forsaken me, He is vocalizing that He has
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  tasted the separation of the Father's comfort and warm
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  affection, the intimate communion that he's always known
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  has been veiled. And it was so agonizing to him
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  that he said it with a loud cry. I want you to imagine this for a
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  moment. We've been studying the trial of
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  Jesus, the torture of Jesus, and now the crucifixion of Jesus.
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  And we got glimpses of what he endured, the slander, the
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  spitting, the slapping. And what do we find in Jesus?
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  A silent lamb. There was no outburst.
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  But when it came to this darkness, when it came to the
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  Father judging our sin on the Son, he cried.
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  He cried with misery, agony, pain.
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  An old minister observed it rightly when he said that at the
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  earliest infancy Jesus suffered at the hands of men.
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  The earliest phase of his ministry, Jesus suffered at the
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  hands of Satan. But when it came to the cross,
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  Jesus was destined to suffer at the hands of God.
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  That's what we're witnessing here.
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  The Lord Yahweh chastising his anointed shepherd.
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  We're witnessing that and strangely though this is
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  inconceivable, we somehow behold a beauty in it and that's
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  unfortunately not the case for many who witnessed it first
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  hand. Notice how some interpreted
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  Jesus words in verse 35 and some of the bystanders hearing it
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  said behold he is calling Elijah.
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  What are you talking about? They misinterpreted the words of
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  Jesus Elohim, and they began to think to themselves, oh, he's
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  calling upon the prophet Elijah. Now, why would they come to that
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  conclusion? They came to that conclusion
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  because they were familiar enough with their own scriptures
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  that Elijah was transported into heaven, He didn't die.
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  And that Malachi promised that before the day of the Lord would
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  come, before God would come and clean up the whole world, before
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  judgement would arrive and he would establish his Kingdom,
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  Elijah would go forth as a forerunner.
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  And so in their mix thinking, they're thinking, OK, he's
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  calling upon Elijah. He claimed to be Messiah.
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  He claimed to be the Son of Man. So maybe Elijah's going to show
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  up. And I thought, how did you
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  mishear him? Because again, it says there in
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  verse 34 that he cried with a loud voice.
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  He didn't whisper it, He didn't mumble it.
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  He cried it with precision. He cried it from the depths of
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  his heart. And so you might be surprised.
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  How do they hear Elijah? I'm not surprised actually,
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  after meditating on it. Why?
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  Because think about the hearing of most of the people throughout
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  Jesus ministry. The things that he said about
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  himself, the things that he taught, how it was
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  misunderstood, how it was misapplied, how it was missed
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  all together. Do you think it'd be any
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  different as they come to the final moments of Christ's life?
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  They misheard it. They misinterpreted it.
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  You know, I was looking at this and I thought to myself of a
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  verse that we studied many months ago in the book of Mark.
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  Jesus in one of his teachings said something that we apply to
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  an entire sermon concerning our relationship to God's voice and
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  his word. Can I remind you, as we're ready
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  to wrap up the book of Mark in a few weeks, look at Mark 424 and
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  remember what Jesus said in one of his teachings.
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  And he said to them, Mark 424 And he said, Jesus said to.
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  Them pay attention to what you hear.
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  It's possible even for you to say in love.
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  I say this for you to be hearing but not paying attention to what
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  you're really hearing. I want to be surprised if some
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  of us are thinking about laundry food.
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  Why do you think Jesus said pay attention to what you hear?
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  Because it's possible for us to be hearing but not really
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  listening. And that comes with
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  ramifications. And with all the horrors that
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  took place on Calvary, let me add this one.
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  The irresponsible hearing of these bystanders.
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  You're saying why? Why are you making it so
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  extreme? I'm making it extreme because of
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  their lack of hearing led to their lack of understanding that
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  prophecy was being fulfilled right before their eyes.
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  Psalm 22 was being realized and here they are thinking, oh,
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  Elijah, it might come. And here's what I did.
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  I studied this the other day and I stepped back reading this
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  passage, meditating on it, putting it together.
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  Lord may never be so of me that as I read your word or hear your
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  word that I miss what you're really saying.
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  I don't want that to happen to me.
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  I don't want to miss what you really reveal about yourself.
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  I don't want to miss about what your prophecy say about the
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  future. I don't want to miss about what
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  you demand of me as a Christian. I don't want to misinterpret
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  anything. I don't want my preconceived
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  notions, my ideas, my distractions to get in the way
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  of what your mouth is saying. I'm telling it to me now.
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  I telling it to me the other day.
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  Now I'm telling it to you. I don't want to miss what your
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  word has to say when it's preached, when it's read, when
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  it's when it's heard. I don't want to miss what you're
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  doing in the world. I don't want to miss what you're
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  doing in my life. I don't want to be blind and
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  deaf to to all that you might be conveying.
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  But because of whatever reason, my ears are caked and I can't
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  really perceive it. And so I miss it.
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  Behold, he's calling Elijah and then something happens in verse
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  36. Someone ran and filled with a
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  sponge sour wine and put it on reading, gave it to him to
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  drink, saying wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take
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  him down. That seems like a random act,
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  but it's not. When you compare it to John's
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  account. John tells us one of the seven
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  sayings of Jesus on the cross. 2 simple words, I thirst.
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  When you compare it, you realize that Jesus said I thirst and
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  John tells us to fulfill scripture.
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  Yet another prophecy. He said I thirst and this man
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  ran to fulfill that need. And before you think that this
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  is a ray of mercy in a very dark and gloomy and evil sight, Mark
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  tells us and clarifies the real reason why he went through all
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  this trouble to help Jesus with his thirst.
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  He said it right. Wait, let us see whether Elijah
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  will come to take him down. It wasn't a quench his thirst.
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  It was to satisfy his curiosity or even to mock him.
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  And again, it's amazing how any part of the Bible can provide
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  practical application and instruction, and it's no
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  different here. I look at this and I realize
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  that as dark again as everything has been reading Mark 15, it
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  gets even darker. Even in this one act.
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  The depravity of man is so vile, and it shows us what you and I
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  are capable of. Unrestrained, unhinged.
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  If the Holy Spirit doesn't harness our hearts, we can even
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  look at opportunities to provide mercy and charity and seize it
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  instead, to make it about us, to satisfy selfishness and
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  carnality and the flesh. You have a man who provided
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  drink and you think that's nice of him, but in reality he just
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  wants to see a show. Laura, I don't want to ever,
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  ever look at potential opportunities to do good in your
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  name and manipulate it for my sake, whatever that sake is.
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  And that's why in Romans 12/9, the Holy Spirit tells us,
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  believers, let love be genuine, genuine.
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  And I could have said love. He said no, no, it's possible to
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  love with laces of hypocrisy. It's possible to love and it's
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  polluted. Only the Holy Spirit in His Word
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  can decontaminate our love and make it pure holy.
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  Let love be genuine and regardless of this person's
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  motive, you know what Jesus does in order to fulfill Scripture.
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  He plants his dry lips on that dirty sponge and he takes a sip.
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  And after he takes a sip, we read Fulfilling Psalm 6921.
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  We read that He made a loud cry and then breathe his last.
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  I can assure you that when Jesus made this loud cry, it wasn't a
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  screech of agony. It wasn't a taunt of anger.
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  Because John tells us what was behind that loud cry. 3 words
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  that you know very well. It is finished.
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  And he didn't whisper it the way I just did.
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  He thundered it with triumphant authority.
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  Oh, I wonder what that sounded like.
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  It is finished. That was strange for somebody
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  who was suffering crucifixion because your lungs were
• 26:06
  collapsing, you were losing breath, you were dying of
• 26:08
  exhaustion. And yet this is just another
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  idea to confirm that Jesus was completely in control.
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  It is finished. What was finished?
• 26:22
  The achievement of atonement, the complete obedience of Christ
• 26:28
  that would make our salvation necessary was complete.
• 26:32
  The suffering that He needed to endure to make the payment for
• 26:34
  your sin and mine was done. The fear that mankind has
• 26:40
  suffered with concerning death has been put to an end because
• 26:44
  of His death, and the uncertainty of our entrance into
• 26:48
  eternal life has been solved forever.
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  It is finished. And when he made this cry,
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  something supernatural happened. You think how much more can
• 27:06
  happen? Well, we read what happened just
• 27:08
  like that midnight at midday, as one preacher put it, there was
• 27:14
  another act of God where? Look here, verse 38 and the
• 27:19
  curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
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  The Bible's so specific from top to bottom, showing that it was
• 27:25
  God who ripped that veil. What is this curtain all about?
• 27:30
  Well, for hundreds of years when God called the nation of Israel
• 27:34
  to build that worship center that we referenced earlier,
• 27:36
  there was this thick veil that separated the people from the
• 27:41
  most Holy place where God resided and manifested His
• 27:43
  glory. And that barrier served as a
• 27:46
  constant reminder that our sinfulness separates and
• 27:49
  alienates us from enjoying the fullness of God's presence.
• 27:55
  So that's what the priest saw. That's what the people
• 27:57
  understood. And it was, it was there.
• 27:59
  It was there always, always, always.
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  And only one time of the year could the high priest enter in
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  for a few moments representing the people of God.
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  And now what we see here is, which I find so fascinating
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  because throughout the years, all the lambs, all the bulls,
• 28:19
  all the goats, all the birds that were slaughtered in the
• 28:22
  millions, how much blood did they accumulate?
• 28:25
  How much blood did they sprinkle?
• 28:27
  It didn't shred an inch off that veil.
• 28:31
  And yet when the Son of God shed his blood, it ripped that veil
• 28:35
  like a piece of Kleenex. That's what God was after all
• 28:40
  along. Now we have entrance into his
• 28:45
  presence. And listen to this.
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  It's not about just us going into the Holy of Holies.
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  That's the symbolic picture. It's the fact that God who
• 28:52
  reside in the Holy of Holies now moves out and lives in US.
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  What accomplished that? The blood.
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  And now God is committed to find his home, which He did in His
• 29:04
  temple, which is the church, not this building.
• 29:07
  Buildings are wonderful. We got to meet somewhere, you
• 29:10
  and I collectively, the temple of God, where the Holy Spirit
• 29:14
  dwells and God is committed to making us his permanent address
• 29:17
  until we meet him for face to face and enjoy him without any
• 29:20
  interference for all eternity. That's what we're in.
• 29:23
  That's the new covenant. But more than the the entrance,
• 29:29
  the symbolic picture of us now having gotten God having us, we
• 29:33
  see here with the ripping of the veil, the cancellation and
• 29:37
  nullification of the old covenant and the inauguration of
• 29:39
  the new covenant, we don't need temple sacrifices anymore.
• 29:43
  We don't need to shed anything. What he has done is enough now.
• 29:47
  And So what we have here is the inauguration of the new
• 29:49
  covenant. There is now a new way in which
• 29:51
  we relate to God, in which we worship God, in which we are
• 29:54
  grafted into the program of God. And since this time, millions
• 29:59
  have been joined, millions have been adopted into this wonderful
• 30:02
  covenant. Do you think that this temple
• 30:08
  veil ripped and nobody noticed it?
• 30:13
  I haven't. We touched on this a few weeks
• 30:15
  ago when we were talking about the power of the gospel and one
• 30:20
  little part of the sermon where even Pharisees were saved.
• 30:24
  Do you remember? We talked about that briefly,
• 30:26
  and that's found in Acts chapter 6, verse seven.
• 30:28
  You don't have to turn there, but let me remind you that we're
• 30:30
  told early in the church, the church movement, it says, and a
• 30:36
  great many priests became believers.
• 30:40
  I wonder how many of those priests were in the temple
• 30:42
  witnessing that veil tearing. I wonder how many saw it and it
• 30:49
  registered and they were ready to receive Jesus as their
• 30:54
  Messiah. The veil tore from top to
• 31:00
  bottom. The priests were not the only
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  one who were saved. We read of an individual in
• 31:07
  verse 39. This is our last verse before we
• 31:10
  break bread. And when the centurion who stood
• 31:14
  facing him saw that in this way he breathed his last.
• 31:17
  He said truly, this man was the Son of God.
• 31:21
  He was a centurion. He was not just an average
• 31:23
  soldier. He supervised hundreds of
• 31:26
  soldiers. We have right to believe that
• 31:29
  this centurion was part of this whole process, Christ's trial,
• 31:32
  his torture, his beating, the caring of the cross, the
• 31:36
  crucifixion on the cross. He witnessed everything.
• 31:38
  He witnessed the patience of Christ, the elegance of Christ,
• 31:41
  the dignity of Christ. He heard every word that he
• 31:44
  uttered from the cross. And the cherry on the top is
• 31:47
  that when he died, the way he died and the earthquake took
• 31:50
  place and the rumblings happened and the fear and, and all of
• 31:55
  these things accumulating, it dawned on him this man was the
• 32:00
  Son of God. Here's why this is so massively
• 32:05
  important in connection to the gospel of Mark.
• 32:07
  As one unit, Mark records us by the Spirit, yes, but also
• 32:12
  strategically by the Spirit. This is the first time, funny
• 32:16
  enough, we're at the end of the book, and this is the first time
• 32:19
  that through human lips this precise confession was made that
• 32:23
  Jesus was the Son of God. The Father proclaimed it at his
• 32:28
  baptism. He reaffirmed it on the Mount of
• 32:31
  Transfiguration. Demons said it on many
• 32:33
  occasions, but through the lips of a person it occurred for the
• 32:37
  first time here at the cross. And through whose lips?
• 32:41
  A Gentile. This was the Son of God.
• 32:47
  Now, last week you and I remembered that this was not the
• 32:50
  only person who at this time made a saving confession.
• 32:55
  There was a thief on the cross, remember, and he learned from
• 32:59
  his own blasphemies that he was a Sinner from his past life,
• 33:02
  realizing that he was very close touching distance to the Savior
• 33:06
  of the world. And he said other would you
• 33:08
  Remember Me when you come in your Kingdom and Jesus confirm
• 33:11
  today you will be with me in paradise.
• 33:13
  That thief was not just a thief. He was a Jewish thief.
• 33:20
  So even in the the final moments of Christ's mission, the
• 33:23
  culmination of his work, when Jesus is dying, you know what
• 33:26
  happens? A Jew gets saved.
• 33:29
  A Gentile gets saved. What's the lesson?
• 33:34
  Here's the lesson. Whether you're a Jew in this
• 33:37
  place or not a Jew, whether you are a hardened police officer or
• 33:43
  a crazed criminal, if you're a murderer or a blasphemer, no
• 33:50
  matter who you are, as we behold the cross, we are being told
• 33:54
  emphatically, Jesus will forgive you no matter what you've done.
• 34:00
  Here's where I'm ending. No matter what you have done,
• 34:06
  Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, is ready to wash you
• 34:10
  with His blood, delete your debt of sin, make you His own, live
• 34:18
  in your heart, shepherd you throughout your life until you
• 34:22
  meet Him face to face. So there's a time coming where
• 34:28
  His unfiltered presence will shower over us for all of
• 34:31
  eternity. But my constant prayer, knowing
• 34:35
  these truths have been experienced in my life,
• 34:37
  believing that this book is true.
• 34:38
  Lord, help me experience Your glory, Your power, Your presence
• 34:42
  as much as is possible on this side of heaven.
• 34:46
  And that's a prayer that God faithfully answers in many ways.
• 34:50
  Do you have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ?
• 34:55
  Do you, do you, do you? Behold how prophecies have been
• 34:59
  accomplished, how the person of Christ is undeniably attractive
• 35:04
  and unlike anybody else in all of history.
• 35:09
  After what you've heard week after week after week, you see
• 35:13
  this man, after all these events, made a conclusion.
• 35:16
  This man was the Son of God. Can I ask you, what's your
• 35:19
  conclusion of Jesus? Does this only confirm to you
• 35:23
  that he is indeed the Son of God?
• 35:25
  Are you still doubting or are you among the blasphemers who
• 35:29
  still mock You know what's amazing?
• 35:32
  When Jesus will be buried, and we're going to study that soon.
• 35:34
  And when he raises from the grave, you actually find out
• 35:37
  that the Pharisees who realize that that tomb was empty still
• 35:39
  didn't believe they conspired and they paid off some of the
• 35:43
  soldiers, telling people, make sure that you let people know
• 35:46
  that the disciples took them away.
• 35:48
  It's amazing how our hearts can be hardened despite all the
• 35:51
  proof before us, but I am. I'm closing here before we open
• 35:56
  this table to ask you please, if you don't know him, be confirmed
• 36:05
  in that conviction. Have certainty to why you'll
• 36:10
  deny him. Don't be indifferent with your
• 36:14
  soul, challenge your skepticism and if you even seek Him in your
• 36:24
  skepticism with an honest heart that wants to know the truth
• 36:27
  with your limited understanding. God is so gracious to lead you
• 36:31
  and make himself known to you. And I pray that every person
• 36:34
  here would walk out knowing that their names have been written in
• 36:36
  the Lamb's book of life. I pray that your soul is saved.
• 36:41
  I pray that you know this Jesus of whom I believe.
• 36:44
  And I preach unashamedly as we come to this table to eat.
• 36:49
  We are remembering his body and his blood.
• 36:53
  And we're going to sing in a moment and go straight to the
• 36:55
  table. And Pastor Ben is going to lead
• 36:57
  us in giving thanks for the elements.
• 36:58
  But it is my duty to ask you that if you're not a believer in
• 37:01
  Jesus Christ that you respectively reserve yourself
• 37:04
  from participating. This is this is something like
• 37:06
  Jesus instituted for his church, for those who believe in the
• 37:09
  message that I just preached. And so if you've put your faith
• 37:12
  in Christ, you're coming here to remember, it's not because of
• 37:15
  what I've done. It's not because of what I've
• 37:16
  shed with this blood or any other person's blood or any
• 37:18
  other animal's blood. It's because of his blood.
• 37:21
  That's what you're OK. So listen, let me tell you
• 37:22
  something. We're celebrating today.
• 37:24
  This is a celebration. So come to this table happy and
• 37:28
  hold those elements with joy. He died for me.
• 37:34
  So if you if you don't believe in that message, I pray that you
• 37:37
  would. And when you do, you can you can
• 37:38
  join this table, but if you don't just watch and what you're
• 37:41
  watching is people lining up coming to take these elements,
• 37:44
  proclaiming by way of drama. I'm saved by his grace.
• 37:48
  Believer, if you believe this message, but your heart is not
• 37:52
  lined up with the gospel way of life, you bring more joy to your
• 37:57
  master by repenting and reconciling with those that you
• 38:01
  haven't reconciled with instead of taking of this.
• 38:04
  So I ask you to reflect on your own life, but let me also say
• 38:08
  that Jesus is not looking for perfection to get to this table
• 38:11
  or us. None of us are welcome.
• 38:13
  But if there's something that you are justifying that you know
• 38:15
  is sin, that's what he means by warning us in First Corinthians.
• 38:18
  If you know it's sin, but you're holding on to it, let go of it
• 38:22
  before you take any of this. But believer also, if you are
• 38:26
  conscious that you're a Sinner, we all are.
• 38:28
  But you know in your, your heart of hearts, I want to live holy.
• 38:31
  I want to live a repentant life. Come, come, come, come.
• 38:34
  This is for you. Praise team.
• 38:35
  Can we come and can we worship? We're going to sing reflectively
• 38:39
  and then we're going to partake. Take this time now as they come
• 38:42
  and prepare. Don't worry about who's beside
• 38:44
  you and just prepare your heart to worship the Lord with this
• 38:47
  ordinance. Shall we do that?
• 38:48
  I'm going to join you here.