I invite you to turn with me this morning as we read together from Psalm 22, the first eight verses. As we know, a messianic psalm points specifically to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and along with that we'll turn to Matthew 27, verses 45 to 53, the text being Matthew 27, verses 45 and 46, the fourth saying of our Lord from the cross, Psalm 22 and Matthew 27, beginning in verse 1 of Psalm 22 as we hear now the Word of God. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me? So far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night and am not silent. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One. You are the praise of Israel. In you our fathers put their trust. They trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved. In you they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me. They hurl insults, shaking their heads. He trusts in the Lord. Let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him. since He delights in Him. Turning over to Matthew 27, verses 45-53. From the sixth hour until the ninth hour, darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, Which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? When some of those standing there heard this, they said, he's calling Elijah. Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, now leave him alone, let's see if Elijah comes to save him. And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs and after Jesus' resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, in all four gospel records, a spotlight, as it were, shines on Calvary and on the cross of Jesus. Now boys and girls, you know what a spotlight is for. You know what it is. You know what it's used for. It's meant to illumine, to highlight something specific. It's meant to draw our attention to something in particular, to make something more visible, more clear, to see something that's important. And there are many different spotlights and they're used for many different things, but for example, think of a stage on which a theater production or maybe a musical is taking place and the spotlight is there to highlight the main character or the soloist. And with this text in a strange sort of way, a spotlight shines on the darkness surrounding the cross. Now, it is strange because we know that a light generally illumines the darkness. It helps us to see what is hidden by the darkness. But this is strange because this spotlight, as it were, shines on this darkness, and what we see is only darkness. And that's what we are to see. And this is fitting because as Jesus Christ fulfilled the one, the most important purpose for His coming and emptying Himself. And that purpose was to descend into the hell of the curse of the cross as He came to fulfill that purpose. Nothing could be seen. Yet so much was revealed by that darkness. And so much was accomplished in that darkness. And of course, this is so different from the great men and heroes and the saviors of this world who are known for the great visible things they do in the sight of men. It's so different as our Savior's greatest and the most severe part of His work was hidden from the sight of men as He Himself was removed from the sight of God. And beloved, as our Savior hung on the cross, rejected by men who were shaking their fists at God. The very worst came, as the Savior is abandoned by His Heavenly Father. And this abandonment was carried out, first of all, on a dark stage. Again, that spotlight illuminating that darkness is to be our focus, beloved, because in that darkness, we are to see and we are to understand. our Savior's suffering and all that He endured in our place. And it's on that dark stage where Christ's suffering changed hands. It changed hands from the first three hours. Now, we know that all of this was the work of God, to be sure, but it begins, you remember, by focusing on the judgment that was poured out upon Him by the hands of wicked mankind. And, of course, that's clearly seen in the physical crucifixion. He had already been hanging on the cross for about three hours by this time. And no doubt, it looked like the work of men. His body was beaten. It was torn. It was bloody. It was physically nailed to that cross with the intention of torturing Him in the worst way possible, with the most excruciating pain that man can inflict. And man's judgment, we know, included the taunting and the mocking, laughing at Him, rejecting Him, not understanding that the reason He did not save Himself, the reason He did not come down from the cross is because He was saving others. But the beauty of this for you and me is that Christ's focus during those first three hours as He hung on that cross for all to see His focus, as we have said before, was not on His own suffering, but His focus was on others. His focus was where it had always been on His people as those first three sayings of the cross clearly showed us. A word of forgiveness. A word of salvation. A word of provision and of comfort. And beloved, this is to be amazing and comforting for you and me because He was there for others. But at noon, things changed. Verse 45 says, From the sixth hour until the ninth hour, darkness came over all the land. At noon, things changed as his suffering, as it were, changes from the hands of men to the second three hours in a particular way by the hands of God. And we must understand that this darkness was indeed the work of God. It was no eclipse, as some would have us to say. Of course, that's God's work too. But this was God's work in a particular way. It was no eclipse. It was the time of the Passover, the time of the full moon. But the light of the sun at noon literally went out for three hours. The very same sun that stood still by the hand of God many, many years before for Joshua, so that God's people could gain the victory over their enemies, now gave up on His own Son and goes out on Him, turning away from the captain of the army of the heavenly hosts. And it was on this dark stage where the Savior's purpose was experienced. Now we know that the cross and the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ was the most decisive event in all of time. For all eternity. It was there that the battle for eternity was fought. It was there that the battle for the souls of men was fought. It was there that what is utter foolishness in the eyes of the world became the power of God and the salvation for those who believe. And people of God, that darkness was deep. It was an intense and unforgettable darkness. It's not simply dark clouds covering the sun where you can still basically see what you're doing. It was a black darkness, paralyzing, you-can-do-nothing-in-it kind of darkness. You can't move. Boys and girls, the kind of darkness when you wake up in the middle of the night and there's no nightlight and there are no lights visible and it's pitch black. It makes time stand still. And that deep darkness, beloved, introduced a torture far more deadly than man could ever inflict. And that darkness represented the light of God's glory and favor turning away from His only begotten Son, shutting off on Him. And that darkness came with an announcement. That darkness announced the coming and the arrival of God's wrath. And we know that in Scripture, darkness is a symbol of judgment. In the Old Testament prophecies, we see this over and over again. In Isaiah, in Ezekiel, in Zephaniah, in Amos. And as well, the prophet Joel in chapter 2 says, Below the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. And then in verse 10, before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened and the stars no longer shine. The Lord thunders. The day of the Lord is great. It is dreadful. Who can endure it? And the darkness on Calvary also fulfills what we read in Joel 2, verses 30 and 31. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. You see, beloved, at noon the judgment of the cross was taken out of the hands of Christ's enemies as the judgment of God descended upon His only begotten Son who endured that judgment in silent submission for three hours before He had prayed, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me. But now He is silent as He submits in obedience to the wrath and the punishment of His Father poured out upon Him because of the sin of His people. Sin committed against the Most High Majesty of God. But all the while, Christ's focus was still on His people and the salvation that you and I so desperately needed. And it was on that dark stage where God's wrath burned hottest against our substitute. As the darkness, the darkness of the judgment and the chastisement for our peace was laid upon Him, the wrath of God was burning itself out in the very heart and soul of Jesus, resulting in indescribable agony. Intense agony, indescribable anguish, terrible isolation and forsakenness of heart and soul as the spotless Holy One was made filthy with our sin as He became a curse for us. Beloved, our Savior understood the full weight of that curse, every ounce of it as it were. it was utter torment. It was hell. Hell came to Calvary that day. And our Savior descended into it. He bore its horror in the place of its people. And the truth is, people of God, we are so very ignorant when it comes to this. We often talk piously, yet flippantly, about the fact that Jesus Christ was punished in our place. But by the grace of God, beloved, we will never, ever truly know what that means. We can only describe it with words. But by the grace of God, we will not know it by experience because that hell has been removed from His people. And think about that thick black darkness, beloved. No eye was allowed to see the torment of hell. no eye was allowed to see one suffering the wrath of God. But during those three hours, our Savior tasted the full cup of God's wrath. He tasted death to the full. He suffered all the terror and anguish of hell itself, and as He reached the lowest depths of abandonment, He expressed that in the second place with a cry of anguish. Verse 46, about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And beloved, with that cry of anguish, that cry points to real judgment. Maybe like me, when you were a child, when I was about to get a much-deserved spanking, even before I got that first swat, I'd start crying. I'd scream out in pain, hoping that my parents would back off a little bit. It hardly ever worked. But our Lord Jesus Christ did not cry out until the end, until he had suffered every last bit of it. His cry of anguish pointed to real judgment. He was forsaken by God as during the darkness, God saw all of the sin and the rebellion of the world on Christ and turns His face away from Him. And how do we describe the character of that forsakenness? We cannot understand it. You and I cannot accurately measure it. Again, the best we can do is describe it with words. It's a feeling of being cast out, a feeling of being rejected against our Savior. It was intentional separation and total eternal abandonment from the glory and the mercy of God. This was complete separation for one who only knew perfect fellowship with his Father. Who had said before, I and my Father are one. But in the place of the intimacy of that oneness was now only a wretched barrenness. And only an impenetrable cry of horror as the Son of God was completely out of his Father's favor. And what's ironic, beloved, is that resulted in a Good Friday. That resulted in what we call a Good Friday. That which was so awful is so wonderful for believers. Because the stain of our sin has been removed. The crimson scarlet stain of the sin that covered our souls needed a miracle stain to remove our boys and girls. And Jesus Christ is the only one. It has been removed by Jesus as all of the misery and corruption and guilt of our sin has been laid upon Him. And this was His only word of complaint. But it's no wonder that as He was crushed with His very life squeezed out of Him that He cried, My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me? As if he was saying, I can understand the nation rejecting me. I can understand my family rejecting me. I can even understand my disciples turning their back on me. But why you, my God? Yeah, beloved, with that cry, our Savior reveals a full payment. Not a partial payment, but a full payment. I mean, he knew the reason why, didn't he? He knew better than you and me that it was because of our sin. Yet He had to live through it Himself. He had to discover the full breadth and the depth of the guilt and the punishment for our sins. And He had to feel the full extent of its curse. And nothing was withheld from Him. God held nothing back. And He came for such a time as this. You see, our Savior's question, beloved, is really a question of astonishment that it was this bad, that rejection by God is this terrible. And that's why our mediator and deliverer had to be true God in order to be able to endure this suffering in His human nature and make a full payment. A congregation that points to the danger. The danger that exists for the naive. How many souls out there? How many souls in here? How many souls are pathetically naive to that suffering in hell? How many souls are pathetically naive to the torture that is waiting for those who are outside of Christ? People of God, we are not to be fooled. Boys and girls and young people, we all must look to the cross, look at the cross, and as that spotlight shines in the darkness, we are to remember that no eye was allowed to see. The truth that God will punish, that's the truth of the cross. God will punish sin. He will not shrink back. He will not change His mind against the wicked and the rebellious who have spurned the cross and rejected that perfect sacrifice, never think that God won't punish sin. Because this cry of abandonment, this cry of anguish from our Savior is proof that God has punished it, that God will punish it. Yet the believer's comfort, your comfort and my comfort, is so very great. How? How can it be great? Very simply, because the Savior's cry should have been ours. By being completely forsaken, Jesus Christ completely took our place as He suffered all that was really and truly ours. And beloved, we must continue to understand the separation from God that hung over and still hangs over the heads of those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we must understand that with this cry, Jesus says, God turned away from me that once again He might turn to you. He says, God punished me that He might take away your punishment. God crushed me beneath His anger that He might lift you up in His love. And I was sentenced so that you might be set free. Of course, at times we still feel forsaken, don't we? Depending on the circumstances of this life that we face, we still feel sometimes that God is not there. We want to cry out with the psalmist, How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? But the truth is, in those times, it is not God who forsakes us, but it is we who forsake God for a time. And we must understand that even the wicked in this life are not completely yet separated from God's favor. They enjoy, albeit temporarily, They enjoy God's common favor, His common benevolence, that which we call common grace, yet temporarily. But in those times when we feel forsaken by God, our Savior has left us an example to follow. Here again, we have a quote we know right from Psalm 22, that Messianic psalm. He shows us where we are to look for help. Even in His time of abandonment, He never rejected God. Instead, He confessed His Father even in His pain, As if to say, He is my God, He is my strength. He could confess with Job, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him? His confidence, as the psalmist says in Psalm 22, verse 3, is that God is enthroned on high, and therefore He would not be forsaken. And beloved, His cry was a cry of anguish and discouragement. But it was not a cry of despair and hopelessness, because through it He was in the third place accomplishing eternal fellowship as His cry marked the end of darkness. The end of darkness because the work was completed. He had been forsaken. Love's redeeming work was done. The time of darkness was almost over. The sun was about to be turned back on. And there was a new and blazing brilliance that would shine on a world for which perfect blood had been shed. And this truth was testified to by God Himself as Christ gave up His Spirit. God Himself testified to the perfection and the completeness of the cross. In verses 51-53, at that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life, they came out of the tombs and after Jesus' resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. You see, with the power of His own hands, God tore that massive veil. And it was thick, four or five inches thick. He tore it from top to bottom, that veil that for many years said, no admittance. Keep out. Come in and you die. He tore it from top to bottom because there was no more separation from God's presence for those who were in Christ Jesus. And that way, beloved, has been opened forever because our Savior endured that eternal separation from God for you and me who believe. And what about the tombs? Who came out of the tombs? Not unholy people. Not those who died in unbelief. but only holy people. Those made holy by Jesus Christ. Those who believed by the grace of God. What a beautiful, powerful representation of the power of new life. Not for unbelievers who are still dead spiritually, who still mock, let's see if Elijah comes to save him. That most severe, that most crucial work of Christ is hidden from their sight. They are blinded to His saving work. But for believers, those who would believe Jesus Christ gave up His life, that new life might be given to His people. That we might repent of our sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and find hope in Him alone. And that hope is for all who turn to Him in faith. That is the power of the cross in Jesus Christ, the power of new life to those who believe. Oh, you see, with this darkness and with this word from Christ, we have before us described the reality of hell and the horror of separation from God's love. But at the very same time, beloved, we have a word of life for those He came to save. And by faith, believers see Christ's work in that darkness. And what they see is a beautiful picture of life. That just as His suffering for our sin was covered by darkness, all of our sin is covered by the blood of Christ before the sight of God. And Christ's cry of abandonment and anguish becomes our song of acceptance and assurance that we are able to sing because He was temporarily forsaken. we will never be forsaken. And instead, beloved, our refuge is under the shadow of the wings of our Almighty God. Because by the blood of Jesus, we are not abandoned, but we are adopted and given life forevermore. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, those who are given new life in Christ Jesus are illumined to become conscious of the truth that the hell of God's wrath is so horrible that no one could look upon it. And therefore, beloved, may we walk as children of light, pointing others to the mercy of God and to that salvation which is found only in Jesus Christ. Our Savior cried, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So that we might say with confidence, all might say with confidence who believe on Him, My God, my God, I praise You for accepting me. Again, the fourth word of our Lord from the cross. The middle of His seven words. And therefore now from His abandonment to our assurance. As Paul says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And therefore we might sing with confidence, I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom, but I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom. Amen Let's pray Lord God, our Heavenly Father It is with joy and gladness in our hearts that we call You our Father for the sake of Jesus Christ We praise You, O Lord that You will never forsake us that You give to us that confidence that because You have forsaken Your Son punished Him for us in our place, which we did not deserve, that indeed You will never, ever take Your eye of mercy and grace and love away from us. And Father, may we delight indeed to live as children of God, as those who are a part of the family of God. And may we sing with joy of the work of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, that we serve a risen Savior. Father, we thank You and praise You for such blessed assurance and confidence that You give to us day by day. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake. And in His name alone we pray. Amen.