Matthew Chapter 27 Verses 1 – 2
• The verdict of the unlawful trial was death…it wasn’t guilty! It started with death and it ended with death and yet something stopped them from carrying out the sentence. Some teach, and they’re technically right (I’ve taught this), that the Jews lacked the right to carry-out capital punishment. Since Rome ruled the land, only Rome could execute…but what about Steven? What about the woman they brought to Jesus earlier in His ministry ready to stone her to death having been caught in the very act of adultery?
• Could it have been the Passover? Or the fact that the entire trial was against their own law and they knew it? Perhaps…those things are certainly true as well…but here’s the thing…1,000 years before this early morning, Psalm 22:16 says, “They pierced My hands and My feet.” 700 years before this morning, Isaiah 49:14-16 says, “I will not forget you! Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands!”
• The Jews condemned Him, His own people sentenced Him, but His execution would come at the hands of the gentiles on a Roman cross…why? It was written…it was known by God before the foundation of the world…and while everything else can be changed, your fate, my fate, your day, my day, your mind, my mind, your heart, my heart…God does not change and His word does not change…why did they deliver Jesus to Pontius Pilate to be crucified? Because it is written….
• Look man, this is huge…sin is strong but the Word of God is stronger! The fate of the day is a mystery…perhaps even a worry, a fear…it’s like tomorrow is in the dark and we can’t see it…but the Word of God is a lamp, it is light…it doesn’t change and it is supernaturally, consistently, always spot-on accurate…this is just one of many reasons to study the Bible and study it and study it and study it…it’s like you’re mapping life out and that map is continually continually continually being proven right!
• I mean can you imagine…hidden treasure is here…, “X” marks the spot…and then you find it…next day, new “X” appears…and then you find it! Not only will you totally become a treasure hunter…I mean who wouldn’t…but in the mix what are you amassing!? Treasure baby! You’re getting RICH…although this treasure is heart treasure, rightness treasure, strength treasure, courage treasure, wisdom treasure, character treasure…Be like Scrooge McDuck swimming through his money vault in your heart and each coin is POWER! HA!!! But I digress…
• And so they bring Him to Pilate and Luke tells us that they brought with them entirely new accusations! Remember what they ended their trial with? “Now we have heard His blasphemy! He is deserving of death!” Pilate would have had them all removed immediately if that’s what they had brought to him…and so Luke tells us in Luke 23 that they accused Jesus of perverting the nation, refusing to pay taxes and opposing Caesar, calling Himself, “King.”
• They had wrongly condemned Jesus. They had utilized dishonesty and foolishness seasoned with pride to make a horrific decision and now they had to plot and work and conspire as to how to bring the verdict about physically. We do the same thing…we know when we are walking in pride and weakness and then we have to work and work and work to try to make it stick or cover it up or control the damage (so much work!)…and to do it they add to their dishonesty and foolishly gross transgressive lies…if you’ve decided against the Lord, I pray you wake up before you commit your heart to this type of treason.
• Why treason? Because this Jesus, this God, your Creator and Father is the biggest fan of your heart and soul that could ever live! All powerful, all mighty, all sovereign and all loving and yet in pride we turn from Him? If our hearts and souls had voices they would cry out treason until they were hoarse! (What do you call a pony with a sore throat – a little horse! HA!)
Matthew Chapter 27 Verse 3
• See this…Judas was filled with remorse, not repentance and there is a HUGE difference! How can you know the difference? What a minute, you can see that difference in the motivation and in the outcome! The reason for the repentance and the result of the repentance! There is being sorry about sin and then there is being sorry for the sin. One is brought on because of what the sin did, the other is brought on simply because the sin ever occurred…Why was Judas remorseful? Because, he “saw that he had been condemned!”
• This word for remorseful may be translated in your Bible as repentant but don’t get tripped up…this is an entirely different word then the word for repentance in Romans 2:4, which reads, “The goodness of God leads you to repentance…” Remorse like this is natural in all of us. It leads to self is being sorry for the result and sorry for being caught…repentance which leads to God is being sorry for the action of the sin period…and then there’s even a next level…being sorry for the heart even capable of it in the first place!
Matthew Chapter 27 Verse 4
• Oh man I wish we could read more than one verse but this is HUMONGENOUS! Why? Judas had been with Jesus in public and in private, non-stop for over three years…and what he has done to Jesus is eating Him up! I mean have you ever done something against someone and you’re just being eaten up about it? What do you do? Well maybe you’re not as evil as I am but I search for justification…anything that I can console and convince myself that they deserved it! But years with Jesus and nothing…!
• If there was any flaw in Jesus’ character or a lie embedded in any of this…Jesus proclaimed that He Himself was God…that alone would have given Judas justification to have Him killed…but this is HUMONGENOUS! Judas was like…dang man, He is God! This confession confirms it! Why? Because when he returns to his masters he says, “I feel bad! He was my Friend! He loved me!” NONE of that! “He lived a lie. He told us what was really going on in private!” None of that! “I have betrayed innocence,” – meaning Jesus was absolutely perfect, AND, “I have sinned,” – that’s a statement to Jesus’ deity!!
• His dying words, His last statements, the last time we hear from him ever in all of eternity, the betrayer of Jesus proclaims Jesus to be exactly who He said He was…the very Son of God. The Savior sent to die for the sins of the world…The Jews could find nothing wrong with Him…eventually condemning Him based on a lie…the gentiles could find nothing wrong with Him…Pilate will say later in this Chapter, “I find no fault in Him,” and even His enemy, His betrayer, the Son of Perdition…man the implication is this…even Satan finds no fault in this Jesus…He is perfect in all ways and even to all peoples and principalities…
Matthew Chapter 27 Verses 5 – 10
• Wow…this is crazy. Judas throws back the 30 pieces of silver…he hadn’t spent them…had just been looking at them since the night before…and their hypocrisy flexes…we can’t keep this money, its blood money…it was before, man… And so they use it to buy the potter’s field in which to bury strangers…very very odd but very very significant.
• The potter’s field would be the trash heap, the dump for pottery that was flawed or broken or unusable…and this is much deeper than just these few statements, but check this out…Isaiah 64, “We are the clay, and You our potter…” A stranger to God, you’re buried…unusable and broken into pieces…but there is a way to restore clay…even hardened clay…did you know that? How? By heating it enough…and soaking it long enough in water…it becomes soft again…and check this out…the price for Jesus, the price paid for Him, for His blood…bought all those broken pieces…
Matthew Chapter 27 Verse 11
• I wish this was an honest question…but it most likely wasn’t. Jesus is probably dirty, looks exhausted, beaten, bloody…and THIS is the King?? That’s the thought and tone here...
Matthew Chapter 27 Verses 12 – 14
• We’re simply out of time but one more thought here as we close…this is the second time Jesus appeared in front of Pilate. The first time Pilate sent Him to Herod to be examined but Jesus didn’t say a word to him…so Herod sent Him back…and history tells us that Pilate was a man of extraordinary cruelty and ruthlessness. He was unkind to the Jews. He hated everything but more power and yet here we see Him stopped, stunned and softened by the presence and power of Jesus…
• I pray, man I wish, man I hope, man I DREAM of one of you, just one of you…going towards Jesus because of this church, perhaps even this teaching…drop the noise, drop the toys, and go find Him on your own. Why? Because it doesn’t matter who you are or how hardened or hurt or hangry…He loves you…He’s waiting for you, He’s calling to you…and He will touch you…and then this church, His church, His kingdom starts body building!!!
Matthew 27 vs 1-14
Calvary Chapel Cherry Creek
July 16, 2017 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Matthew 28 vs 1-20
August 27, 2017 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Matthew Chapter 28 Verses 1 – 2 • Mark tells us that they were bringing spices to anoint the body, why? Because no doubt Jesus had been prepared for burial in a hurry due to the Passover and because of the quickly approaching Sabbath, and so they went to finish the job (if you will). But Mark also tells us that as they went, they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone?” They have a real problem in that statement! • It’s estimated that the stone used to seal the tomb weighed a couple tons! Certainly too big for the Mary’s to displace! I mean, I suppose they could have been body builders! Working that crossfit there in the temple gym…but even if they were buff, that boulder wasn’t budging! That’s not all though. Matthew told us in the last chapter that the tomb was sealed…so not only who is going to have the strength to move the stone, but who is going to have the insanity to break the seal!? That would mean certain condemnation by the Roman and the Jewish authorities (who by the way are definitely still there guarding the tomb! – I mean, this IS the third day!). • What’s my point? Crazy obstructions, disincentives, interference! But get this, they’re discussing it on their way! And note this, they’ve gathered spices…they’ve bought them…they’re invested…and they’ve risen early and they’re carrying those spices…they’re putting in work! This is the point that I’m getting to…we read the Word and we hear clearly the direction of God…often contrary to our reason and even our own expectations…BUT…that stone is not their responsibility. Neither is the seal…and neither is the Roman Guard…their only responsibility is to get to Jesus! • When we went through Mark I made this statement and I’m just as thrilled to make it again today, faith is often the denial of senses, sight and sentiment (emotions) for the sake of scripture! Every awesomely miraculous thing in your life or ministry or break through in your marriage or work or whatever will come with this kind of hope in faith…that in order to get to the Lord, man the path seems to be so very difficult…go…you may just find the rock rolled away, the seal removed and the guard passive and paralyzed…and perhaps even an angel waiting for you (then your only problem will be, “how do you talk to an angel!?” HA!) • One last thing here, never under estimate the importance and power of simply being there. The ministry of presence! Look at what God does just because these chose to be there!! So very important… Matthew Chapter 28 Verses 3 – 8 • One simple question I have for you. A question I love to ask and the answer I LOVE to teach…Who raised Jesus from the dead? God? Jesus Himself? The Holy Spirit? If you answered any of those then you know what? You’re right! The Holy and Eternal and Mysterious Trinity…the Godhead Three in One is expressed explicitly in the resurrection of Jesus Christ! • Want to see?… this is so cool! God raised Jesus from the dead! Acts Chapter 13 Verses 29 and 30 say, “Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead.” • Ok, hold that truth and look at this…Romans Chapter 8 Verses 10 and 11 say, “And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” So the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead! • Let’s complete the picture – because indeed the Bible is clear…Jesus raised Himself from the dead! John 2:19, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up!” And in John Chapter 10 verses 17 and 18 Jesus said, “My Father loves Me because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again!” • And so how is it that Jesus raised Himself, yet God raised Him, yet the Holy Spirit raised Him? Because indeed they are all One God! A clear and awesome testimony of the Trinity in the resurrection that I wanted to show to you! Mark it down, remember it! Matthew Chapter 28 Verses 9 – 10 • Notice these women immediately, their response to Jesus, seeing Him after He was dead and now is alive again…their response is to worship Him! That is it, man! Your response to meeting Jesus is not to now be right in every argument or to take up your sword and defend Him…that’s an un-risen Jesus! (Like Peter in the garden!) The natural response isn’t to harden or close down or whatever…the natural response if you’ve truly encountered Jesus ALIVE is WORSHIP! • And this is so cool…An hour ago they were walking in the thought that everything was lost…Jesus is dead…now they are filled with awe, joy and worship because they know everything is gained because Jesus is alive! • Continue the scene – watch this! Jesus receives their worship…and His response is legend! You’re with Me now…no more fear…Go, and tell My brethren! Never before, throughout all 28 chapters, had Jesus referred to His disciples as His brethren…they’d always been His children, His creation, His friends, His disciples…but now, because of what Jesus has done, we share in the very eternal inheritance of the Son of God…being hidden in Him…, (and what grace is this! You’d think they would expect rebuke!). One other cool revelation… • Back in Matthew Chapter 25 Jesus said in verse 40, “In that day the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” This statement by Jesus to these women…go and tell My brethren…the King has come and in that the Kingdom has come! Matthew Chapter 28 Verses 11 – 15 • So let me get this straight…while you were asleep, you saw the disciples come and steal the body? Hmmmm. Any of you remember what happened last night while you were asleep? Matthew Chapter 28 Verses 16 – 17 • Matthew doesn’t give us the account of Thomas in that Jesus welcomed him to physically experience the wound left from the spear that pierced through His heart and the punctures left from the nails in His hands…and so that could be what he is referring to here but the word in the Greek is interesting. Its distazo…this isn’t a doubt of unbelief necessarily but rather of unfamiliarity! • Thomas or even some of the other disciples felt distant (distazo) in a way…this was so different…this was so brand-new…the implications of the whole scene were intensely overwhelming! What does all of this mean? And so the disciples, even those closest to Jesus, in the midst of worship…listen it can feel distant that God has given His grace…it’s not deserved, you haven’t earned it, you can’t walk into worthiness for it…you just simply receive! Matthew Chapter 28 Verses 18 – 20 • All power has been given to Me in heaven and on earth…such an anemic translation…look at the Greek in your own time…What Jesus says is what was due to Me has been delivered…Death has bowed, the Law has acknowledged, the enemy has been defeated and sin has surrendered…it is finished…therefore…go (you don’t need power or authority…I have all of that…your only responsibility…go) and make disciples. • How? How did Jesus make disciples? Baptizing them? He baptized no one…How did He make disciples then…? Loving them and teaching them the truth. Remember that disciples are made…they’re not spontaneous… And when you love His people like He loves them…well, that’s when I’m most catching up to Him…that’s when I see Him the most clearly…as He promised…I am with you always!
Matthew 27 vs 52-66
August 20, 2017 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Matthew Chapter 27 Verses 51 – 53 • Certainly one of the strangest couple of statements in all of scripture. We don’t really know anything more about this event because no one else mentions it at all. Not any other Gospel, not Paul, not Jude (even in the midst of the creepy stuff he talks about)! So all we can do is take it at face value and move on. Matthew Chapter 27 Verses 54 – 61 • I love this squad, this cast of characters. First, we have Matthew talking about a totally spooky scene…that the dead somehow come out of the graves…and although the timing of that is at the resurrection (which hasn’t happened yet), that eerie account actually goes well with this squad. Why? Because the rough and hardened soldier, the centurion comes to life. He joins women like Mary Magdalene, the formerly demon-possessed woman who followed Jesus from Galilee. Joseph of Arimathea… • According to Luke Chapter 23 he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the group who called for Jesus’ crucifixion AND he was a very wealthy man…hold that thought. His buddy Nicodemus, confused and confrontational, conflicted and cowardly, coming to Jesus under the cover of night so as to not be discovered in John Chapter 3…Jesus had repaired all of them! • Restored them all, settled all of them and in that peace and power, they are now all one association. It is amazing, simply amazing, that the power of the touch of Jesus on a heart will always manifest itself in people of all different types, backgrounds and bents becoming family. Gentile killer (the centurion), demon-possessed prostitute (Mary Magdalene), harsh religious elitist (Joseph of Arimathea) and even the fearful (Nicodemus)… • The body of Christ, like the body of Christ actually being the body, should be unifying! Look at this cast of characters! Proverbs 6 talks about things the Lord hates and among the list is one who sows discord among brethren. Do you think a week before the cross Joseph of Arimathea would have been anywhere near Mary Magdalene? But now they are rallied around what Jesus has done! • Divisiveness, negativity, ill will, insult and all the like is not permissible within the body of Christ. That’s just all there is to it. But know this…it is SO easy. You know what’s hard? Unifying…gluing…bringing crazy different freaky and fault-ful people together…but here’s the shocker, each of you has the ability, capability and power to do it…what you lack is the worship! • Here’s your task, starting tomorrow because I can bet that many can’t start today…because it’s already happened…but do this tomorrow…say nothing negative, nothing…, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Oh church, have we forgotten that commandment? That love thy neighbor thing, yea I really meant that! HA!) And at the end of the day, put a little mark somewhere, perhaps on your fridge to show you did it…and then do it the next day and the next…in no time at all you know what will change drastically? YOU! • Your attitude, your mood, your mannerisms, your heart, man…if you’re not imparting grace then you are DEPARTING it when you divide the body…and division of the body begins in the abundance of our dark hearts and our mouths simply sell us out! • A story is told of a couple in marriage counseling and after months of session after session they just were getting nowhere…they just couldn’t see past each other’s shortcomings. It was so seemingly hopeless that they were heading for a split. And so the pastor told them look, one last thing to try, for the next 2 weeks I want you both to complement each other every day and for the next 2 weeks I want you to not say anything negative in front of or about each other. • Sincerely do this…they agreed and he sent them away…they never returned…they killed each other…HA! NO just kidding…they never returned to counseling! Their hearts slowly changed…healed…got back in line with the heart of God who said “Father, forgive them! They are SO in sin but they are SO in need!” Their hearts changed, their faces changed, their affections changed…and it all began with attacking their own divisive hearts! If you are divisive, defensive, negative, critical and condescending…that ain’t Jesus in you…He brings all kinds of creeps into communication and companionship and complete peace!! • Back to the scene. Jesus is buried and He is buried by Josepth of Arimathea, a rich man. Can you be wealthy and be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Absolutely! And here’s the thing…this guy wasn’t just wealthy, he was crazy rich! He had a tomb carved out of the side of a mountain! I mean, talk about a non-essential! BUT, notice when it came to the Lord, he gave it to Jesus! If you have a lot, if you are wealthy, is that a good thing? Well, is it yours or is it His? Ultimately rich or poor, a lot or a little, no difference to the Lord…I mean come on…you’re either filthy rich or dirt poor, HA! Pretty much the same thing…but do you honor the Lord with what you have…that’s the real question. Matthew Chapter 27 Verses 62 – 63 • Isn’t that just interesting!? Back in Chapter 26, the false accusations against Jesus, one of them was that He would destroy the temple of God and build it again in three days…and they all looked at Him sideways and ridiculed Him…well here it is…they knew the whole time what He was saying. Isn’t that just interesting…folks can hear, they can even understand, but the truth is, they choose not to believe Jesus…is that your heart towards Jesus? To you, is He just a deceiver!? WOW… • And notice this…look at their statement to Pilate…, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive…” What does that mean? He is dead. That’s important because there are numerous heretical thoughts out there including what’s called the “Swoon Theory” that ultimately attempt to explain away the resurrection…but listen, without the resurrection then all is lost…and the truth of the account is that even the enemies of Jesus admitted, stated, witnessed Him dead… • A funny letter was written to a Christian Magazine on this topic…Dear Eutychus: Our preacher said on Easter, that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think? Sincerely, Bewildered • Dear Bewildered: Beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails with 39 heavy strokes, nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear through his heart; embalm him; put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens. Sincerely, Eutychus. HA!! Matthew Chapter 27 Verse 64 • They’re not afraid of the disciples! They had all scattered. They’re not afraid of the body of Jesus being stolen! If the body was stolen and the disciples began to proclaim that He had risen from the dead, what are they going to do? Prop Him up with strings Weekend at Bernie style!? Leave Him hidden!? No one would believe them! • He is risen? Where is He then? What they were really afraid of is what if Jesus is the Truth!? They were really afraid of Him doing exactly what He said He would do…and that fear…which is still prevalent today…there is no quenching it…seal all you want…guard all you want…If Jesus is the Savior then there’s nothing that can stop Him from fulfilling His Word! Matthew Chapter 27 Verses 65 – 66 • This isn’t Pilate sending them away empty handed…this is him giving them a guard…they did have a way to guard the tomb themselves and they wouldn’t need permission for that…they wanted a Roman guard…the threat of death…and they got it…which, in the end, served to only make that much more certain that God raised Himself from the grave! The tomb was so well guarded that it can be certain that the body wasn’t simply stolen…way to go chief priests…thank you! HA! • And I love this…the stone speaks of a material obstacle…the seal speaks of a personal obstacle…the guard speaks of a societal, governmental obstacle…but nothing, nothing can contain or constrict the power of the Lord!
Matthew 27 vs 45-51
August 13, 2017 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Matthew Chapter 27 Verses 45 – 46 • We know from Mark Chapter 15 that Jesus was crucified around 9am. The sixth hour would be noon and so in total, Jesus was on the cross for 6 hours, from 9am to 3pm. Now, from 12pm noon (the sixth hour) to 3pm (the ninth hour) there was darkness over all the land. The word in the Greek for “darkenss” is skotos and it means darkness of night or darkness of sight. This is interesting…I’ve said this before and I continue to find this to be even more true Bible study time after Bible study time again…I think we, I, us, men, women, in totality have only begun to see and understand what happened at the cross of Calvary. • Hold the thought of darkness of blindness just for a moment…for three hours, the earth, in the Greek – the entire earth – lay under complete, spiritual and physical blindness…and at the ninth hour (3pm), Jesus cries out with a loud voice, “My God, My God.” Never before had He referred to the Father as “My God.” It was always, “Abba,” or Father…Daddy…but here, in this thickness of darkness, Jesus erupts…after three hours of silence…three hours of darkness…a voice is heard of a Son that is lost. What on earth happened? What in heaven happened? • John Chapter 1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In the arche the beginning without beginning…the infinite, the eternal now…always was…always was this way…the Word, the Logos, the Word that became flesh, Jesus the Son was with God, God the Father and the Word WAS God. Somehow One. Somehow there is and was distinction of Personhood and yet at the same time, Oneness of unity. Always was this way, from the beginning without beginning. • And the Word, still in perfect unity with the Father, became flesh and dwelt among men. Perfect Son and Perfect Father in Perfect Oneness just as had been ever since ever…but Jesus had a job to do. For the Father so loved the world that He sent His only Son to secure for His creation, salvation unto eternal life. To lead the coup against sin, man’s ever present patriarch and to overthrow the power of sin, the right and reign of sin….which is death. • 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that this Perfect Son, this Jesus the Christ of creation, “For our sake He who knew no sin was made to be sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” And so the weight, the whole, the consummation, the complete kingdom of sin was present at the cross as Jesus faced the penalty of sin…death…and yet was without sin Himself. The substance of sin met face to face with the glory of God, (check this out, man) hidden from the eyes of man as darkness was upon the earth and as Jesus accepted the penalty of sin, in that acceptance, He accepted the responsibly, the liability, the culpability, the ownership for every sin as well…He who knew no sin, became sin. • And He cries out for the first time in all of eternity, never before anything like this from the arche and never again will there ever be…He cries out in the greatest of loss…, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” What happened? Jesus was forsaken. Why? Psalm 22, begins with this prophetic proclamation, and goes on to say, “It is because You are holy,” and Habakkuk 1:13 and Isaiah 59:1 both announce, “You of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.” • Darkness fell upon all the earth. Blindness. Here is a depth of glimpse perhaps further today than before at that cross on the hillside. All men forsook Him. All men, all women, all creation, all the earth, covered with darkness of blindness. Jesus disappeared, He became nothing to all of creation…and for a moment in time, as sin charged the very heart of the Savior and the confrontational convergence caused even the earth to quake, the Father in complete and undefiled holiness, withdrew Himself from His Son and Jesus became nothing to all of heaven and nothing to His Father. Never before and never will there be someone so alone in all of eternity…and Jesus is broken. Matthew Chapter 27 Verses 47 – 50 • Jesus made seven statements while on the cross. “Father forgive them, for they know now what they do.” “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.” “Woman, behold your son! Behold your mother.” “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” “I thirst.” “It is finished!” “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” • Matthew gives us only one statement and its crazy, some of those who stood there thought He was calling for Elijah!? What He did was quote Psalm 22. What He said was Eloi Eloi, not Elijah, Elijah…but some standing by never get past one word…I mean He said, “Why have You forsaken Me?” Not, “Come to save Me!” So they get the message all wrong. They miss the meaning completely. They miss everything really! • Maybe for some but not for me and man I pray not for you either, this simply will not do. There are so many talking heads out there and especially in the “church” that have position or power or some sort of jurisdictional force because of their name and I respect that, they’ve been running this race, but one word from Jesus? Half heard. Can’t do it man. I’m going in. I am going in to see Jesus, myself. And here’s the thing…the dangerous thing in that…I’ve got to have the non-stupidity to do it comprehensively and thoroughly. • God help our younger generations and any folks for that matter who have been disenchanted with the church or organized fellowship and so they take it upon themselves to doctrinally go it alone…WAY MORE WORK…no direction, guidance, authority or corrector in their lives? They have to put in work or they will be tossed around by all sorts of half truths and junk theology…and end up graceless…most likely towards the Body of Christ…no NEED to say, “Father forgive them…” • Many end up holiless! (New word!) Their lives won’t resemble paradise as promised by Jesus in John 10, caring for themselves intensely because man they’re just always trying to recover…feeling forsaken at times…thirsting…and never coming to the peace that is there when sin is finished and living in the constant spiritual presence of God because you’re actually like Jesus but, “oh man that’s just legalism,”…that statement is a mess…one word won’t do…I’m going in…I’m going thoroughly after every word! • And you know what I’ve found? That love does win. Love is everything and all of God. And I’ve found that THAT love is only found in relationship…a relationship that I have a part in and my part is humility and brokenness. Believing from WITHIN Jesus. • So are the reformed folks right? No. Are the legalists right? No. Are the bad pastors and bad churches right? No. Are the good churches and good pastors right? No. There is no one right, not one upon this earth. Jesus alone is right. But love is His way. Forsaking of Himself is His path and passage. Love and courage and honesty and humility is His and the truth. And believing from within Him, thoroughly going in is where there is life! So many live and stake their claim on one word…just like these around Jesus…but you heard wrong… Matthew Chapter 27 Verse 51 • Can you imagine the priests and the people in the temple that day? No one could see or go behind the veil or they’d be goners…only once a year could the high priest go alone and that was a gamble! Now the veil rips and they are essentially in! There is no room separation anymore! They see it all! Terror must have flooded their hearts…then after a moment or two…, “Hey, we’re not dead!” And perhaps a few moments later…well, there’s really no reason now for the high priest to do his thing again…we’re all in now…It’s like it’s finished…the covering of sin…the lawful appeasing of God year after year…what now then? • Everything else pauses, all talking heads muted, time for everything to stop…no more figuring out, no more condemnation of self, no more exaltation of self, no more darkness, no more thirst, no more trying to recover, no more feeling forsaken…press stop on all that noise…it’s all finished because of Jesus…and you, you’re welcomed, acceptable, adequate, admissible…so…go in. You’re world may shake and the rocks you’ve set up as foundational stones may split…so be it…that’s a good thing…what if you heard wrong? • In a moment, on the cross, God the Father went from Dad (Abba) to God for Jesus so that for all of eternity, He could go from God to Abba (Dad/Father) for you…