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“Jesus came to be with the Father for an interlude before his betrayal, but found hell rather than heaven opened before him, and he staggered.” – William Lane

Session 4 of the Next 2009 Conference
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“Dear friends I am going to preach to you again upon the cornerstone of the gospel. How many times will this make, I wonder? The doctrine of Christ crucified is always with me. As the Romans sentinel in Pompeii stood to his post even when the city was destroyed, so do I…every thing else can wait, but this one truth must be proclaimed with a voice of thunder. Others may preach as they will but as for this pulpit it shall always resound with the substitutions of the Christ…Our blessed Savior would have us hold his death in great reverence; it is to be our chief memory we cannot think of that death too often.” – Charles Spurgeon

Some from Spurgeon’s church believed that they knew all they needed to know about the gospel. Some perhaps are present this day with indifference towards the gospel, having grown up in the church, having heard the message of Christ preached countless times.

If we are indifferent to this message, or even tempted to be indifferent to the message of the cross we would be wise to heed the message of Mr. Spurgeon. We cannot think of his death too often because in this life his death is a matter of first importance. Scripture is gloriously redundant on this topic. And if you are a Christian, you will not cease to think and to glory in his death and the life to come. Heaven is never indifferent to the cross, it never gets tired of the cross. We will never cease to praise Christ for his death. We are never done with the cross, nor ever shall be.

We cannot think of that death too often. Everything else can wait.

Mark 15:33-39.

We are ushered by Mark to the foot of the cross where we are informed by Mark of the deepest mysteries of the cross. It is not the physical suffering on the cross. There is little detail on the physical suffering of the Savior in Mark. Simply “and they crucified him.” Why the brevity and no specifics?

The answer is that the original readers were aware of the crucifixion. He desires that our understanding of the cross be theologically informed. A physical description would be superficial and would bring about a sentimental feeling. Our observations would not reveal the deepest mysteries of the cross. The cross involves more than physical suffering.

There at the cross we clearly hear the Savior’s cry. There we observe the savior breath his last and die on the cross. There we discover that the cross is more than physical suffering. Much more. In order to understand the cross one must perceive first the forsaken savior.

1) The Forsaken Savior (v. 33-34)

For 3 hours the savior has been hanging on that cross. At noon darkness moves in and this darkness overwhelms the land. It is atmospheric confirmation that the savior is suffering for our sin. This period culminates with the cry of the Savior. That cry informs us that something much deeper than physical pain and suffering is taking place. In order to understand this, we must take a brief visit to the Garden of Gethsemane.

Gethsemane prepares us for Calvary.

Mark 14:32.

Prior to his betrayal and arrest 15-18 hours before the crucifixion the Savior’s soul is very sorrowful even unto death. His sweat becomes like blood falling down to the ground. What is going on? Why this sudden extreme distress of soul?

It is the cup. In the garden he confronts the cup. In the garden he contemplates the cup. It is the cup that dominates his soul in the garden.

What is the cup?

This cup is a reference to the wrath of God. The cup of his wrath. He will ultimately be forsaken by God. He is getting a foretaste of what it means to be the sin bearer. This distress is so great he prays that it will be taken away from him.

“Jesus came to be with the Father for an interlude before his betrayal, but found hell rather than heaven opened before him, and he staggered.” – William Lane

Though sinless, he staggers. As he contemplates the cup, he staggers. Though sinless he prays for an alternative. Twice he prays for this. Twice he hears silence from the Father. God the father is silent because there was no alternative. If there was an alternative God the father would have given it. But God so loved the world that He remained silent in the garden when the son asked for an alternative in the garden. The son loved sinners so much, he resolved to drink the cup. Prior to that cry on the cross the Savior is drinking that cup. He is being made sin. For 3 hours he is the object of God’s furious wrath against our sin. Not a few seconds. Not a few minutes. Hour after hour. After hour. When is this going to stop?

Finally, in the midst of this horrendous suffering and 3 hours of this horrific suffering he can no longer remain silent. Before, he had given no resistance, not a word of protest. But in the 9th hour, he can no longer remain silent. He becomes the object of the wrath against sin. In the midst of this horror and darkness, he cries out in a loud voice “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” That cry reveals to us the incomprehensible depth of his suffering. The most painful aspect of his suffering was being forsaken by the father during his suffering. That cry has little to do with nails, and thorns, and pain. It is the pain of being forsaken by the father.

He was alone.

“He had not, of course, ceased to be God the Son. He remained one in his being with the father as the second person of the trinity. But he had been cut off from all fellowship with the father from all expressions of his love…now he hung between earth and heaven with no home in either. His Father’s smile was hidden. His Father’s favor was withdrawn. Laden with sins of others, the sinless one sank into the lowest depths of hell as the waves and billows of God’s wrath swept over him.” – Richard Allen Bodey

“It represents the most agonizing protest ever uttered on this planet. It burst forth in the moment of unparalleled pain. His scream was the scream of the damned for us.” R.C. Sproul

More than physical suffering takes place of the cross. Christ was forsaken by his father. The one who did not deserve this in any way took this pain that that no other has experienced. Alone. Only the savior has been the object of the righteous and furious wrath of God and been the forsaken by the father in the process. I cannot identify with that. All I can do is observe it, be humbled by it, and wonder and worship.

This was the scream of the damned in my place. It was the scream of the damned for us. He did this for sinners like you and me. He drained the cup dry, leaving us not a drop to drink. He experienced wrath so that we might experience grace. He was forsaken so that we might be forgiven by the father. He screamed so that we might sing nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ. He was forsaken so that we might never be forsaken.

You cannot rightly or accurately understand the suffering of the savior on the cross if it is confined to physical suffering. Much more than physical suffering took place on the cross.

2) We must understand the dying Savior

He is not only forsaken by the Father- he also dies.

Death is no accident. Death is God’s just punishment for our sin resulting from the sin of Adam and Eve. One day it will be said “And he died.” We all will die because we sin. All of us have sinned and deserve to die. There are no exceptions to this reality. But why death?

“Death is God’s limit on creatures who want to be god…death limits our arrogance.” – D.A. Carson

We are all waiting in line for death, but the judgment against sin is not confined to death. For sinners who have offended a holy God and have not put their hope and trust in the death of our savior, eternal wrath and punishment awaits them. However on the cross this enemy is conquered when the Savior dies in the place of sinners like us. Through his death and resurrection death is defeated and the effects of sin on a fallen world begin to be reversed. Death no longer has the final say because of this death. Our death ushers into God’s presence and eternal life instead of eternal punishment and hell.

His death is like no other, and all those who trust in his death no longer fear death. This death makes all the difference in this life and the life to come.

Death – I am really frightened, but I am not terrified. Why am I not terrified? It’s that death! It’s the difference that death makes. If we did die, the next face we saw, and the next voice we heard would be the Savior. For the Christian no longer fear death because of his death, or live in fear of wrath upon death, but instead – Grace. That’s the difference death makes.

3) The Revealed Savior (v. 39)

The story begins with bloodthirsty Romans bludgeoning the savior and concludes with the Roman centurion saying, “Truly this is the Son of God.”  He becomes the first person declaring that Jesus is the Son of God. This death of this man was revelatory in nature. The death of Jesus was the moment of revelation for the centurion. The full disclosure of the Savior’s unique identity only comes by understanding his death. His identity cannot be understood apart from his death. It was not just for the centurion, it was for all of us.

I cannot relate to the savior’s pain, but I can relate to the centurion and his moment of his revelation. I can say by the grace of God I’ve been there. I’ve had a centurion moment.

Are you indifferent to the cross or are you repentant? Do you see the sacrifice of the savior as your only hope? Do you see the cross as the ultimate demonstration and expression of God’s love for you?

For the Christian I pray that this proclamation of his death leaves you amazed by the grace of God. We cannot think of his death too often.

May this his death be our chief memory from this conference. Everything else can wait.
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*Note: The notes are approximate. Forgive misspellings and typos. We’ll clean all the message notes and have them edited next week.