This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day 4 of our continuing to walk together through Mark chapter 15, verses
33 to 37 today. Let me begin by reading those verses. At the sixth hour,
darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.

And at 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 nearby heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling
Elijah. " One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and
offered it to Jesus to drink.

"Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said. With
a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

These last few days, as we've been walking through this chapter together, the
focus has been on those around the cross. Here in these verses, the focus goes
back to Jesus. And in this focus on Jesus, you hear what Jesus said on the
cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

" We have recorded for us seven different things that Jesus said while he was on
the cross. "Father, forgive them. Into your hands I commit my spirit.

I thirst. " Seven different things that he said in the other gospels. Mark
chooses only one specific statement, "Why have you forsaken me?

" This is a statement. There is depth in what Jesus says on the cross that I
will never truly understand. It plumbs the depths of the Trinity, of the
suffering of Jesus, of what it meant for him to take our sin upon himself.

God wanted us to know what Jesus said that day. Jesus wanted us to know. And so
because of that, there are three things I do want to say about this statement
that I hope lead our hearts to a deeper understanding of the suffering of Christ
and the gift of Christ's forgiveness.

First, this statement is a quote from Psalm 22. Jesus knew exactly what he was
doing when he said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? " He is quoting
from David's Psalm, Psalm 22, a psalm that talks about what happened that day on
the cross, a psalm that looked forward to that day.

He didn't quote the whole psalm, but Jesus, who knew the scripture better than
any of us will ever know it, knew exactly what he was quoting. And that psalm,
Psalm 22, begins with, "Why have you forsaken me? " But it ends with praise to
God.

And I have to believe that that's exactly what Jesus had in his heart. He knew
the feeling of forsakenness that he was experiencing, but he also knew that the
end of the story was praise. As Hebrews tells us, "For the joy set before him,
the joy of our salvation, he endured the cross.

" One theologian says of these verses, this phrase, as it's used in the Hebrew
language, that there's the feeling of, why does this have to go on for so long?
It is such a great load to bear. Will this ever end?

I think we've all had the experience of having to go through a difficulty in our
lives and wondering if it would ever end. When will this ever come to an end?
Think of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross, taking my sin, your sin, our sin,
the sin of billions upon himself.

Will it ever end? The second thing I want to say about this phrase, this
statement of Jesus, is that in saying this, Jesus reveals to us that in some way
he experienced the depths of despair that come from our separation from God
because of our sin. Not because of his sin, he never sinned, he is perfect, but
because of my sin.

He experienced what it meant to be separated from God. Now, Philippians chapter
two is a reminder of the truth of this experience. As Jesus experienced this
that day, it was not simply loneliness, and it was certainly not hopelessness
that he experienced.

What Jesus was experiencing was the experience of emptiness that we have. The
Bible tells us in Philippians chapter two that he emptied himself and became a
human being. He emptied himself to the extent that he gave himself for us on the
cross.

And in so doing, in emptying himself, he experienced in this moment the
emptiness of what it means to be a human separated from God. Now, he was not
actually separated from God, he could not be, he is God. He was still God.

But he felt, he experienced, he felt what we feel when we are separated from
God. And it was more than he could bear, almost more than he could bear. "My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

" Third thing I want to say about what happened that day, there were those
standing there, particularly one man, who completely misunderstood. When he
heard Jesus say, "Eloi, Eloi," he heard "Elijah, Elijah. " And he said, "The man
is calling Elijah.

" And this man made of this statement, this holy moment, a mere curiosity. He
said, "I'm going to go get a stick, I'm going to put wine vinegar on it, I'm
going to see if Jesus will drink it, and let's just stand back and see what
happens. " He was just a curious spectator that day.

I don't ever want to be that when it comes to the cross. Even with this
statement, "Why have you forsaken me? " There are many who walk through what the
meaning of this statement is and realize there are things here that we'll never
understand.

But I don't want to just be curious about what this statement means, just
curious about why God hasn't told me everything. I want to enter into the depths
of what Jesus did for me that day. He gave his life on the cross.

And so the Bible says, with a loud cry, in verse 37, "Jesus breathed his last. "
Now other gospels tell us that he says, "It is finished. " He says, "Into your
hands I commit my spirit.

" But here, Mark just tells us, "With a loud cry he breathed his last. " The
fact that it was a loud cry, that is important. We've been suffering on the
cross, and if you talk to medical professionals about someone who's been
suffering for a long time, they don't die with a loud cry.

They die with a soft whisper because of the suffering that they've gone through.
But when Jesus dies with a loud cry, it's evident that he is giving up his life
from the strength of who he is as God. He's giving it up for us.

Jesus Christ this day gives his life for us on the cross. His blood is shed so
that you can be forgiven, so that I can be forgiven. There was a lot of blood on
that cross.

When you think of the blood that was shed by Jesus that day, you realize three
things. You realize that Jesus suffered because of our sins. You realize that
Jesus Christ was a sacrifice for our sins.

And you realize that he came to save us from our sins. Let's look at those. He
suffered because of our sins.

That's why there was blood that day. That's why there is a cross. Over in
Hebrews chapter 12 verse 4, the Bible says to us, "In your struggle against sin,
you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

" Jesus did. He resisted against sin, my sin, your sin, to the point of shedding
his blood. That was the depth of his commitment.

When you see all of the blood that Jesus shed on that day, it's a clear picture
of the fact that he suffered. This was no antiseptic death. This was no easy
death.

It was a suffering death. Jesus in his death shows us that sin is not pretty. It
is ugly.

It is not something that is easily dealt with. Jesus was willing to suffer, to
go to the full extent of dying, the most difficult death possible so that he
could pay the penalty for our sins. Can you imagine the emotional suffering of
looking at those that he created who were spitting at him, who were jeering at
him, come down from the cross, beating him with sticks and ridiculing him?

Can you imagine the spiritual suffering of Jesus Christ, God himself in human
flesh, taking our sin, a sinless, a perfect, a holy God, deciding to take our
sin upon himself? The blood means that Jesus suffered because of our sins, but
the blood also means that Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins. The blood was
all about sacrifice.

And this sacrifice that Jesus made is something that was pictured throughout all
the Bible. From the very beginning, God knew what Jesus was going to do on the
cross. And so he started picturing very early in the Bible what Jesus was going
to do.

From the Passover lambs to the temple sacrifices, it all looked forward to what
Jesus was going to do on the cross. And so the Bible is able to tell us in
Hebrews 7, 27, unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer
sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the
people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all, once for all, when he offered
himself.

There's a third reason for the blood, for the cross. It's a place of suffering,
it's a place of sacrifice, but it's also a place of salvation. Jesus saves us
from our sins.

He didn't come to condemn us, he came to save us. The Bible tells us over in
John chapter 3, verse 17, "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn
the world, but to save the world through him. " You cannot be more clear than
that.

That's what the blood on the cross is all about, the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
The fact that Jesus Christ wants to save us from our sins. He suffered.

He suffered as a sacrifice. He suffered as a sacrifice to save us, to save you.
Let's talk to him together.

You've never accepted that sacrifice that he made for you. Accept it now. Say to
Jesus Christ, "Thank you, I never really understood that the cross was not just
some historical martyr showing us the way.

The cross was actual forgiveness being offered to me. Thank you for what you did
for me on the cross, Jesus. I accept your forgiveness.

I want to live the life that you've given me to live. Jesus, you are Lord, you
are Savior. Thank you for your forgiveness in my life.

In your name. In your name, amen. " Well, join us tomorrow as we end our look at
Mark chapter 15, we're going to see the amazing things that begin to happen in
people's hearts from the moment that Jesus gives his life for us on the cross.