Our scripture reading is taken from page 1572, 1,572 in our Pew Bibles, and it's Mark chapter 15. We'll read together verses 33 through 41. but our text will be just 33 through 37. Let's begin. Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which is translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, look, he is calling for Elijah. 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 to take him down. And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed his last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 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. There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, James the Less, and of Joseph and Salome, who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem." That is the Word of God. the worst part of Christ's suffering, and I chose to focus on that this year, just taking one part of an old sermon and using it to highlight this particular aspect of the worst suffering of Jesus, or the worst part of his suffering. So, beloved brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, Jesus loved you and He showed how much He loved you. He obeyed His Father when His Father said, who will go to die for these wretched sinners? He said, I will go, send me. He was betrayed for you. He was abandoned for you. He was denied for you. He was falsely accused for you. He was condemned by the religious leaders of the time. He was condemned innocently by the political leaders of the time, by the judicial leaders. He endured physical and mental tortures. He even faced the painful and shameful cross, being nailed through the palm of his hands and his feet. humiliated and crucified naked in front of men and women and children. And you think that would be enough, but it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to satisfy God because you deserve more punishment and he had to take everything you deserve. There's one more area in which he had to suffer and you think all those were bad. going without food and being mocked and even his family turning against him, accusing him of being mad. There's one more area he had to suffer. He had to be forsaken by his Father. And this is our focus today. The headings are two, very simple. Jesus was forsaken for you, it was seen. Second, Jesus was forsaken for you, it was heard. And our goals are that you will be reduced to sadness and tears when you know what you truly deserved, but you will rejoice with gladness. and tears of joy this time when you see what the Lord endured for you. Be sad, but also rejoice. First, Jesus was forsaken for you. How this was seen? Well, darkness. the way you see it. Darkness came over the whole land from 12 noon to 3 p.m. as Jesus silently hung on the cross. It was not a regular eclipse. Eclipse, and I think we're going to have one soon in Niagara Falls, and they're all preparing for it. How long would that last? Mostly a few minutes. It never lasts for three hours. This was not an eclipse as we know them. This was a miracle of God. He was showing them something. That the one who was dying on the cross was unique. He was doing something extraordinary. And this darkness that hit them here was a thick darkness. This is described as a darkness you can feel. When it's so dark, you feel something in your body. Let's say your skin crawl, you don't know where you are, it's so black, pitch black. That's what this was like. But then the Bible says there's something significant happened at 3 p.m. What was this 3 p.m.? Why was it dark from then to then? Well, at 3 p.m., Jesus cried out about being forsaken by his Father. He did this because this was a time of the day of the Jewish sacrifice. This was a sacrifice that pictured Christ's work. This is when the sacrifice was killed and offered on behalf of God's people. And that's what Jesus was doing at 3 p.m. Jesus was the sacrifice. So this great and miraculous sign of darkness confirmed who Jesus was and what He was doing. It mirrored the sacrifice that pointed to Him. So this darkness marked the death. Interesting, the Bible uses this term of the Son of Righteousness, the S-U-N, showing light was coming through this darkness. But there were some other things that happened to the cross to show that God had forsaken His Son. According to Matthew, there were earthquakes. earthquakes on the earth and rocks split open showing God's anger on His Son. A notable impact of earthquakes was commonly used in the Bible to teach of God's anger against sin, an anger that was seen and an anger that was felt, an anger that was unmistakable. Look at the Scriptures now. Grab your sermon notes. Psalm 18, verse 7. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken. Because he was angry." You see what that is tied to? The anger of God that he would shake the earth. Nahum 1.5 together. The mountains quake before him, the hills melt, and the earth heaves at his presence. Yes, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand against his indignation?" Indignation, his anger. The mountains are shaking because God is upset. Here's the difference, though. After the earthquakes, when Jesus was crucified, many dead believers miraculously were raised to life, their tombs were opened up, and they walked right into Jerusalem to be seen and heard. What a remarkable thing. Look at Matthew chapter 27, 51 through 53. Together, and the earthquake, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. What do you see here? The effect of God forsaking His Son, life came. That's what we were seeing there. Death and destruction were replaced with life. His anger and his indignation were satisfied when Jesus was forsaken. And when he died on the cross, completely satisfied. And the picture of men being raised from the dead was saying, what will happen to many? What can we learn here? First of all, Jesus had to have the greatest love for you to not only endure the abandonment of His family, His friends, the church leadership, and the civil authorities, but He had to be abandoned by His Father. for you. That's what makes that even more remarkable. He made an unmatched sacrifice of love for you. You deserve this punishment. He took it for you. Let me illustrate this in one aspect of this. Parents often try their best for their children, right? They endure sleepless nights. You see Maureen, she has an old young man. She will be dealing with a baby. even while recovering from surgery. These things are difficult, and parents endure them all the time. Sleepless night when a child is sick, and throwing up, and you have to be taking care of that child nonstop. Fathers have to often get up, go out in the cold to go to work. Parents have to clean up after their children, do their dirty laundry, cook for them, drive them around, even when they are tired. Sometimes parents have to give up a promotion or even a career for their children. And if you are an adopted child, you understand this more than everyone else. You get this even more. But Jesus had to face much more for you than a sacrificing parent. And you know how much he loved you because he had to be forsaken by his father, the one whom he loved more than you. for you. That's how much he loved you. Now let me make it more personal. Can you imagine then how the Lord feels when you walk away from him? When you're careless about how you live your life, when you fall into sin, when you abandon your spouse, when you don't worship or treat it with contempt or indifference, when you ignore teaching your covenant children, when you don't pray? Can you imagine how God feels, how his son feels when he gave up so much for you and you treat it with indifference? How would you like if you give your wife a precious present and she just tosses it away? If you would be offended, imagine how offensive your life is if you don't take seriously the work of Jesus Christ. One more lesson. All of these pictures of the Old Testament, or pictures of Jesus in the Old Testament, reflect back on something important. It reflects that they were all saved by Jesus Christ alone. This causes us to reject something called dispensationalism. People who say that you were saved in some other way in the Old Testament, that somehow you were saved by keeping the law. You were never saved by keeping the law. No one can keep the law. Everyone was saved by Jesus Christ. Read Hebrews chapter 11. All of them had faith in Jesus. Abraham had faith in Jesus Christ. Sadly, there are many famous people who promote this idea that you were saved in a different way. Jesus is saying, no, there's one way. The way, the blood of bulls and goats could not forgive sins, but his blood alone. So let's move to the second point. They could see that Jesus was forsaken by this great darkness that came over the land, this heavy darkness. They could see that Jesus died. They could see when this happened, the veil of the temple was torn in two so everyone could see what was in the Holy of Holies. And it was, the veil of the temple was, which was about four inches thick. was torn from the top, showing no one took a ladder and climbed up there, and then ripped it. This is the work of God. So they could see this remarkable thing, marked by the forsaking, or conclusion, or rather, the forsaking of Jesus by His Father. But then they could hear it as well. That's our second point. Jesus was forsaken for you. It was heard. So Jesus, having felt the pain of being forsaken, cried out with a loud voice and they heard him. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The loud voice showed that he was in extreme physical, mental and spiritual pain and in agony. He had lost a lot of blood by this time. His muscles would have been aching. His lungs would have been squeezed and his chest would have been pressed in. His bones getting into his lungs and hindering him from breathing properly. Or was it the nails in his hand and feet that he cried out aloud? Yes, for sure, it would be pain from the nails in his feet and hands and crown of thorns on his head. But it was much more than that. His father turned his face from him and that caused the most pain for him. So why would the father turn his face from his beloved son? Why would the father abandon his son whom he loved? Because the son was in the legal position of having man's sin on him. That's what the apostle says. He became sin for us. So the father could not look on him anymore because he had sinned. The father had to forsake him. The father was too pure to look at sin that was on his son. So God had to withhold, the father had to withhold his kind providence from his son. You don't remember the past after Jesus had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. And he endured the temptation, the three temptations, the lust of the flesh, turning stone to bread, the lust of the eyes, look at the kingdoms of the world, I'll give them to you if you bow down and worship me. And the pride of life, the presumptive nature of sin, jump off the top of the temple and he will have to send his angels to catch you. When Jesus endured those temptations, the Bible says, then he sent his angels to comfort him. Not now. He was by himself because he was facing the wrath of God upon sin. Jesus did not complain about being abandoned, about being denied, about being betrayed, about being spat on, about being beaten and taunted, about being stripped naked and crucified, even in front of his mother. But when his father forsook him, it was almost too much to bear. And this agonizing cry that we hear, Eloi lama sabachthani, this was prophesied a thousand years before that this would happen. When you read about the suffering servant in Psalm 22, you hear these words, verses one and two. Let me read them for you. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me? And from the words, why are you so far from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry in that daytime, but you did not hear, and in the night season, and I'm not silent. His cry out to God went unanswered. One of the unique things about this that they heard was that it was in their own language at the time. The language that they spoke was not Hebrew, but Aramaic. Why did Jesus use Aramaic? Because the people would hear it, and the people would understand it, and the people would appreciate what he had to endure for them. Oh, and some people heard him speak that way when he cried out, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. They said, oh, he must be calling for Elijah. Why would they think that? Because Elijah, or one coming in the spirit of Elijah, rather, was promised by God as the forerunner for the Messiah. But since they discounted him as being the Messiah, they knew this would not be Elijah. So they were mocking him. They should have known that the forerunner who came in the spirit of Elijah was John the Baptist, and John the Baptist had done his work and had died. But that's what ignorance will do to you. Instead of calling the dead John the Baptist, Jesus was indeed calling for His Father. And they should have known because the word Elijah means my God is Yahweh. But Eloi means my God. He wasn't calling for the man named Elijah, but for his father in heaven. And then Jesus said, and they heard it, I'm thirsty. And they gave him some sour wine to drink instead of water. Jesus wanted water, but they would not give it to him. But Jesus refused it because he did not want wine to numb the pain. He wanted to bear the full wrath of God for you. And even as he suffered there, his own father did not provide him anything to drink. He was truly abandoned by his father. Even his call for help went unanswered. What can we learn here? Well, God the Father forsook His own Son and let Him die for you, and the Father had to. He had to die because that's what your sin deserved. Look at Corinthians 15, sorry, chapter 5, verse 21, together. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin, to be as sinful, to have sin put upon him. You could not otherwise be free unless Jesus took the full force of sin. Second, But make no mistake about this, Jesus was only rejected by His Father as a man. The divine Son of God could not be rejected or separated from God. That relationship was always intact. Remember, Jesus was fully God and fully man, and it was the man who was rejected. Unity in the Godhead can never be broken. Lesson 3. You're able to commend your spirit to God when you're about to die because you Have no fear of death. Or you shouldn't have the fear of death. If death comes, you don't try to die, but you shouldn't be afraid to die. Why? Because you will commend your spirit to God. Why? Because you have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. Because He died on the cross for your sins. You can smile at death. The sting is gone. You have new life in Jesus Christ. You know where you're going and therefore you can say like Jesus did, I commend my spirit to you. I was at a funeral this past week of an elder's wife in London. And you know they're sad and yet there's a hopefulness, there's still a joy in their hearts because they know they're gonna see each other again. They know that she is not suffering from pancreatic cancer as before. She's free. And they're rejoicing with her. And so they can go. Just like she said, I'm ready to go. And so you can too, because Jesus secured a place in heaven for you by washing you in his blood. Number four, according to John, Jesus gave up his life, commending his spirit to God and declaring that his work was finished, completing his work for you. And these are the same words that many who have died have cried out. Let me give you some illustrations of this. One of them, most famous, was Thomas Cranmer, an Englishman, who cried as he was being, as he died, Lord Jesus, into your hands I commit my spirit. Look what Jesus said directly, Luke 23, 46. 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 Jesus had done what had to be done so you could go free, so you could commend your spirit to God, because Jesus' work for you was completed. Five. But don't be surprised that men would say cruel and even mocking things about Jesus. They don't know Him. They don't know what He has done. You have to speak of Him to them. See, there were others who were looking at Jesus on the cross and they mocked Him. You ever heard people say, who asked Him to die for me when we say Jesus died on the cross for sinners? Or they might say, I don't need Him. Or they will say, why do I need salvation? I have science. Science will save me. That will take care of my health. That will give me the advancements I need. Or some are very blunt, I don't need anyone to die for me. I am ready to die for myself. Pity them when they say that. That's why Jesus on the cross, remember what he said? Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. They didn't even know what they were saying. Pray for them, preach to them. Here's the thing. They're blind and they're deaf. Help them to see, to see how Jesus was forsaken Help them to hear his cry, Father, why have you forsaken me? Help them to hear that he was forsaken for them, that they can live. Let's conclude. The people saw Jesus was forsaken by the incredible thing that happened. And then they heard Jesus directly say he was forsaken by his father. He was forsaken for them. There was no doubt about it. So beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing what Jesus endured for you to bring you spiritual freedom, do you mourn daily for your sins? Do you confess your sins regularly? Do you realize how much your sins cost Him to be forsaken by the Father in heaven? Knowing what Christ endured for you, are you learning to follow Him? Do you make the effort to do so? Do you fight to read God's Word even when you're tired? Or to listen to the sermon? Or to read good books that will help to build you up in the faith? to spend time with your family in regular worship? Do you share the gospel with others so that they can learn? You see, if you're feeding yourself and you are strong, then you will work to multiply your effort. Is your life a witness for Him at your job or in your school? Do people know you are saved? And third, Knowing what Christ has done for you, how well are you worshiping Him? Do you survive Sundays or do you look far for Sundays to be in the house of God to worship Him? This should be the highlight of your week. You should be saying, I can't wait to go to hear God speak to me. Even if you are struggling and tired, say, I got to be there. Because this is the one who gave his life for me. Do you sing with passion? We do that pretty good here, for sure. Sometimes I go into church and think, do you really understand what Jesus did for you? Do you understand the depth of how he was forsaken by his father? You know, it's like somebody did something really good for you. You see them and you say, hey, it's good to see you. And you hug them and you want to kiss them and you want to share a meal with them. You want to have closeness with them because you know how much they've done for you. What about Jesus? Do you have that passion for worship? This is the most important thing you can do in your life. What you're doing here today. This is the most important thing. Your passion for worship will show if you know what Jesus has done for you. Finally, without Christ's death, all men are heading to hell. If you don't want to go to hell, ask God to count Christ's death as yours. This is the only thing that will save you. the fact that he was forsaken. It's kind of interesting how it ties in nicely with the first commandment and the instructions. There's only one God, there's only one Savior, there's only one faith, there's only one church. I pray you will do it today. Let us pray. Thank you, Heavenly Father, that you have given us your words to reflect on again. And in particular, this most precious portion of scripture that deals with the death of the Savior for us. And even more specifically, how the Lord Jesus was forsaken by the Father for us. Yes, His other suffering were bad, but when the Father turned from Him, it's almost too much to handle. But that's what we deserve, and He did it for us. Help us then not to treat it as some just a fact of history, but help us to treat it with the seriousness that it deserves, knowing we now have been saved from our sins and have our names written in heaven's book. and that we will show it in this world by our passion for worship and evangelism, our living for Jesus in a world of darkness. Yes, Lord, let our light shine for Jesus, reflecting the light of the world. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.