Let's take our Bibles together and turn to Matthew's Gospel and the chapter 27. Matthew's Gospel and the chapter 27. Just returning there again, welcoming the Lord's name. Again, good to see visitors amongst us tonight. Welcome you all. I pray that God will bless and encourage your hearts with us tonight as we meet together around the Word. Certainly keep our families in prayer. I trust You'll know God's blessing and help throughout the week. And also mindful, we prayed this evening at the 5.15 prayer meeting for those who find this time of year difficult. Again, feeling the loss of loved ones, empty chairs around the table. Do keep each other in prayer, please, this week, that God will give grace and comfort and encouragement to each and every one of our families during this time. Remember again, just a change of schedule this week, a prayer meeting on Friday evening, Friday night with Zoom link. Please keep that in mind, seven o'clock in the will of the Lord. Next Lord's Day evening, we trust everyone, Colin Mercer, bringing the word. Again, Nia Noma, formerly from the Greenville Congregation. I do pray for Brother Mercer, he brings the word. Next Lord's Day evening, here visiting family this coming week. Remember also our plans to do something next Thursday afternoon. To say something, the nursing home is fixed, 2.30 in the nursing home. Looking at the time, we may have time for an open air and lunch before that. We'll see how it all goes, but if you can, if you're planning to come to the nursing home and sing with the folks there, please do bring some lunch and stay. And then we need to leave here at about 1.45 or thereabouts. So please plan, have lunch here. And then if some of you are willing to go across to do a quick open air, we could do that also next Lord's Day afternoon. We'll see how things work out for that next Lord's. They do pray for that though. Pray that God will give wisdom and guidance in that whole matter. Well, let's read together Matthew 27. We're gonna read together from the verse number 26. Of course, you find a pilot here. Then released the Barabbas unto them. And when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him saying, heal, king of the Jews. And they spit upon him. and took the reed and smote him on the head. And after that, they had mocked him, and they took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on him and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, whom they compelled to bear his cross. When they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say a place of the skull, and they gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall, and when he tasted the wrath, he would not drink. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which is spoken by the prophet. They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down, they watched him there, and set up over his head his accusation written, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Then there were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyeth the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise, also the chief priests, mocking him with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if you will have him, for he said, I am the son of God. With these also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Now from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there when they heard that said, this man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put it on a reed and gave him the drink. The rest said, let be, let us see whether Elias will come to see of him. Jesus, when he cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. Amen, may God indeed be pleased to bless his word to your hearts tonight. Let's sing once more before we come to the word of God. The hymn number 92, joy to the world, the Lord is come. We'll stand together to sing this to the Lord's praise. Lord is God Let earth receive her King Let every heart prepare Him room Let heaven and nature sing Let heaven and nature sing Heaven and earth and nature sing. Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns. Let men their song employ. ♪ Of fields and floods ♪ ♪ Of hills and plains ♪ ♪ Repeat the sounding joy ♪ ♪ Repeat the sounding joy ♪ ♪ Repeat, repeat the sounding joy ♪ ♪ A more blessed day ♪ ♪ Nor fault defends the crown ♪ He loves to make his blessings flow ♪ Far as the curse is found ♪ As far as the curse is found ♪ ♪ He rules the world with truth and grace ♪ ♪ And makes the nations prove ♪ ♪ The glories of his righteousness ♪ Amen. Again to your Bibles, please, and let's turn once more to Matthew's Gospel and the chapter 27. Our text tonight is the words of verse number 35 as we conclude this series, short series, on things that are fulfilled in Matthew's gospel. I think you can see the word once more. It's in our text here, and they crucified him and parted his garments, casting lots that it might be fulfilled, which is spoken by the prophet. They parted my garments among them and upon my vesture did they cast lots. Really a very remarkable scripture, and I trust it'll be a blessing to all our hearts tonight. Let's bow together and pray and ask for God's grace. Oh, eternal God and Father in heaven, we do come again in the name of our Savior. No other access, no other approach. We pray for the grace, again, that we need to understand the word and the grace that we need to apply it in our lives and in our hearts We pray, O God, for the grace to preach and to hear. We ask, O God, that Christ would be exalted in our midst as we bring this Lord's day to a close. We've thought about the Savior throughout the day. O Father, we've thought about your Son and our Savior. Help us to honor him again in the hearing of the word tonight. And may it bring blessing to each and every soul in Jesus' name. Amen. There is one word that is often used to describe the entirety of the Lord's earthly ministry, at least up to the cross, and that is the word humiliation. It's a technical term used theologically really in distinction to His exaltation. It's not perhaps used in the way we might use it now. We might say we were humiliated in some way that we were embarrassed by some action. And that's not the sense of the word here. Again, the word is prominent in our confessions, our catechisms, and our confession of faith, the larger catechism that we use. Question number 46, the answer says this, The Lord's humiliation, it refers to, again, His humility, it refers to Him emptying Himself, coming, humbling Himself, taking the form of a servant. His humiliation refers to His willingness to take the lowly place for the salvation of sinners to come to sin for us, to give Himself for us. closely connected to the thought of the Lord's humiliation is the thought of the Lord's poverty. These things come together in the scriptures. Again, we're thinking today about the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. And you know the story very well and you know immediately his coming is marked by poverty or by humiliation. Even the very place. Thy Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the princes of Judah. Matthew 2 verse six. The humble place, not born in Jerusalem, not born in the palace, but born of course in Bethlehem. And Mary brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. And we're being caused to see by the gospel writers, of course, reflecting what happened historically, we're being caused to see the poverty and the humiliation of the savior of mankind. Even when the days of Mary's purification were completed or accomplished, Luke chapter two tells us that they came to give that appropriate offering. And the offering was a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. And the whole picture is one of humility and poverty. And so after that, we know the story sought in this very series. He goes to Egypt and comes from Egypt and dwells in a city called Nazareth, a place despised. No good thing comes out of Nazareth. He should be called a Nazarene. Poverty, humiliation. You know, these things are not minor details. If you see something that is occurring so regularly in the narrative, you are being told by the Lord to take notes, to consider carefully the necessity of the Lord's poverty and humiliation. And so he even warned those who considered being his disciples, foxes of holes, birds of the air of nest, but the son of man hath not where to lay his heads. Luke 9, 58. I think you get the picture, don't you? The theme of humiliation and poverty is a key gospel principle. A principle that Paul himself draws upon, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for all your sakes became poor, that ye through poverty might be made rich. Here we're being told by the apostle to consider these things. to consider the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that that grace, that graciousness that would leave glory, set aside the glory of heaven and come into poverty, that we might be rich, or if I said this morning, we might be blessed. and blessings not material but far greater, blessings that far exceed the material blessings of this world, the spiritual blessings that come in Christ, the unspeakable gift of God. That gift comes to us because Christ became poor for us. Because of his poverty, we come to know riches. And it is that theme that I believe arises again in the last of our fulfilled texts. They crucified him and parted his garments, casting lots. We're seeing again the poverty and the humiliation of the savior. You see the events of the crucifixion of Christ are described in great detail across the four gospels. And at times for ourselves, we need some explanation of the events. Again, verse number 34 describes the vinegar mingled with gall that was given to him, if you like, an ancient form of pain relief potion. And the Lord declines. But all of the events, we need to understand the context and the history, but all of them come with theological significance, doctrinal power, saving power, gospel power. Again, I remind you, this is the last of the fulfilled texts we're gonna look at in this short series. And I remind you, why would we bother studying this? Because again, we see the Lord God as being sovereign and omniscient. We're gonna see something tonight that if you stop and think about it, it will blow your mind. I mean that most sincerely. You're gonna see a display of the sovereignty and the omniscience of God. that ought to cause you to tremble in the presence of God. He knows every detail, every particular. He's sovereign and control, not just of individual people, but the great, if you like, the geopolitical affairs of this world that brings the Romans to the ascendancy. that determines the very number of soldiers that would draw lots on that occasion. Each and every detail precisely predicted and ordained by our God in such a way that we need not live in doubt and fear, but live in strong confidence and faith. Our God is sovereign and omniscient. He is graciously involved in this world that he makes these prophetic predictions and brings them to pass because he's not distant and far off. He's not aloof. He's close to his creation. He works in his creation for the glory of his name. He does so faithfully and reliably what he says he will do. Both in Christ's first coming, of course, as we anticipate his second coming. These things are true again tonight, a seemingly small detail. a great large event and yet included by the gospel writer. They parted my garments among them upon my vesture did they cast lots. I want to point out three things really just that arise from the narrative and I trust we can we can draw them together tonight for the encouragement of our souls. First of all we need to note the soldiers are here rewarded The Roman soldiers were required, some of them at least as part of their occupation and employment to perform the horrid act of crucifixion. These were trained soldiers. And part of the training has to be the willingness to put someone to death. All they went through in that regard. But leaving aside their training and all that they do, there is something remarkable regarding the garments here. Verse number 35, they crucified him and parted his garments, casting lots. Now to understand this, it's helpful to go across to John's gospel also. Look across to John chapter 19, because John gives a detail that Matthew does not supply. John 19, and the verse number 23. John 19, 23, then the soldiers, when they crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts to every soldier apart and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam woven from the top throughout. And they said, therefore, among themselves, let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, they parted my arraignment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things, therefore, the soldiers did. Again, it's recognized by the authorities of that time that there were really four pieces of the garments worn at that time that had been shared out. And these garments were used really in some form as a payment for the soldiers. And they could sell them, they could use them in some way. And they were seen as a reward. Gill and Spurgeon use a term that had to look up, perquisite. P-E-R-Q-U-I-S-I-T-E. It refers to a benefit which one enjoys or is entitled to on account of one's job or position. It's a new word to use this week coming. It's a reward, part of their payment. So there were these four pieces. There was the headgear, the belt, the tunic, and the sandals. Those four pieces were shared out evenly. one soldier receiving one of those four pieces. But then there was this fifth piece, the outer garment, the most valuable piece of clothing of a Jew at that time. The outer garment, and of course the hem of which that woman had touched many months earlier. This outer garment that was put together in one piece, again, it tells that it was without seam, more than from the top throughout. You can imagine the necessity of careful workmanship in such a garment. And so rather than cutting apart, leaving no value to any of them, they decided to cast lots for that garment. A direct fulfillment of Psalm 22 and the verse number 18. What is remarkable is that is a Psalm of David. This prediction, hundreds of years earlier, indicates precisely the type of death the Lord would suffer. Precisely. And commentators note that this did not impact David's life. He's speaking prophetically here. It wasn't an area of Jewish practice. This is reserved for what the Romans would do in the night of crucifixion. So long before the Romans come to the chief place of ascendancy, the psalmist is writing prophetically of Messiah, his own greater son, and he's predicting exactly the sort of death he will die. And God has so ordained all the details. so that four soldiers divide the four pieces, they're left with the outer garments, and they cast lots, and the precise language of Psalm 22 is fulfilled. Now there's more in this passage from Psalm 22, we'll see that. But the details help solidify the other matters. We're gonna look at that great cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? But it is the detail of the garment that brings the Bible reader back to Psalm 22 and sees in Psalm 22 the experience and the suffering of the Messiah, the one that would die for our sins. It is that seemingly inconsequential detail of the garments that bring us into this psalm with such certainty that it can only be true of this man named Jesus. Not simply true of one supposed Messiah, one Christ, but this particular man, Jesus, who claimed to be the Christ. He came to die. not by stoning, as could have happened in John chapter eight, or to die at the hands of Herod in the early part of his life, as we saw in Matthew's gospel, or even dying by the devil's invention, the temptation on the top of the temple. He dies by a death planned by God, a death under the curse, as we saw this morning, hanging upon a tree, Every detail precise, every detail important. We were talking after Bible class this morning. You can't leave out one part of the gospel. If you take one part out, the whole thing falls apart. Every precise detail important, including the nature of Christ's death. It had to be the death of a criminal, a bloody death, a curse of death. And the crucifixion was the death that God ordained. God has sovereignly orchestrated all things to this point. The soldiers will part the garments and Christ would suffer. So we see the soldiers rewarded. Secondly, we see the savior shamed. Again, back across to Matthew's gospel, we see the savior shamed here. You see the taking of the garments is yet another aspect of the Lord's poverty and humiliation. He who was rich became poor. In our mind, the language of Philippians chapter two, he made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, found the fashion of man, he humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. We know the text. And yet here, what do we see? Well, in the language of this gospel narrative, we see they crucified him. That's our text, and they crucified him. What does the Lord have to his name? At the end of his life, nothing. It's almost the ultimate display of his poverty. He ends his life with nothing. The bag was kept by another. They lived upon the bag that Judas had. He had no house to leave. His own mother he put into care of another disciple. And he died with nothing. He was rich, became poor. Literally, with nothing. He died in nakedness. And you think of the theme of nakedness in the Bible. You see it in the garden, of course, they both were naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. What's happening here is the curse The shame of nakedness. Genesis 3, the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. They seek to cover themselves in their shame. The fall brings such shame. So please know what it says in our gospel. Matthew 25, verse number 35, it says there, they crucified him, they parted his garments. And then please note verse number 36, sitting down. They watched him there. Directly after Matthew's account of the parting of the garments, there is that, again, seemingly incidental detail. Someone watching the crowd, and perhaps to this point they had stood. They stood to get a sight because what happened on that occasion was, as we see here, the crossbeam of the cross is carried by the one to be executed on the cross. Simon helps the Savior in his weakness, and yet they get to the hill and the crossbeam is laid in the ground. The one to die is placed upon that crossbeam before being lifted up from earth to heaven and jolted into the ground. So perhaps for a season we can imagine the crowd, they're trying to stand, they're trying to see what's happening here, but now he's crucified and sitting down they watched him there. Sometimes I ask myself the question, what did they see in that occasion? I've preached that message. What did they see on the occasion of the Lord's death? Well, they certainly see a man suffering. They crucified him. They see the agony of one's suffering As I say, it's suffering, and we'll come back to this very soon at the end of the message, the suffering of the agonies of the cross, that physical agony. What is it within the carnal heart of man that they can watch such an event? The Lord's eyes this morning, too pure to behold iniquity, but here the eyes of the ungodly feasting upon a crime of the just one. dying a death he did not deserve. And they watched him suffering. They watched one that had been sentenced. Verse 37, they saw the superscription above his head, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Again, the truth of that statement, and yet mingled in the background of all the falsehood of the trial, and yet they see the sentence above his head. They wonder, how can this be? What could this all possibly mean? Well, they see one dying in shame. Public nakedness associated with such shame and such sin. The Lord took the shame of the curse. He suffered, again, please see this theologically. See this in terms of biblical theology. He suffered the shame of our first parents. Sitting down, they watched him there. He's suffering the shame and the ignominy of our first parents, undoing every consequence of the fall. Joy to the Lord! For as the curse is found, and we're seeing now what happens, sin enters the world. They're ashamed of their nakedness, and Christ suffers the effect of the curse for sinners. He did. What the first Adam failed to do, he obeyed God perfectly, and he undoes all that the first Adam did. He undoes every effect of the fall. You see, the shame we feel in our human wet-nakedness should remind us of our sin. Christ humiliated for our sins. They saw one suffering. One sentenced, one shamed. They saw one still marked by remarkable strength. Again, it says there in the verse number 50, Jesus, when he'd cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. Oh yeah, they saw a man bloodied. His visage marred more than any man. And yet, something different here. This man, his life is not taken from him. He gives his life. In strength, he gives his life. He has the ability to cry with a loud voice, and then he himself yields up the ghost. In strength, he gives his life. And so all of this, all that they saw, was one who thereby was saving others. They heard the language of the mockery of verse number 42. He saved others, himself he cannot save. Exactly. He could not take himself from the cross. He could not call legions of angels. If he was to save others, himself he could not save. They mocked him. They pointed out his weakness. But they In ignorance spoke truth. He did indeed save others, therefore he could not save himself. The strength and the shame of the suffering of our Savior. He's dying on purpose. He's dying on the purpose of God. He's dying according to his own will. He's giving his life They take his garments, but they can't take his life. He gives his life that we might live. The Savior is shamed. And thirdly, and finally, and just briefly, the scriptures are fulfilled. This passage, again I said, indicates again that Psalm 22 is a messianic psalm. Again, we see Again, the cries of the Savior, verse number 46, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The quotation again of Psalm 22. And the verse number one, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You see it also in the mockings. Verse number 43 is also found in Psalm 22. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now. Again, I don't have time to preach on that right now, but that's a remarkable incident. That in their mockeries, they would take the very Psalm that Christ Jesus himself fulfilling. Again, that blows my mind. That they would take Psalm 22, and use it against the Savior. They knew his claims. They knew that he claimed to be the Son of God and they are so blind that they cannot behold the lot casting of the soldiers and say, wait a minute, he said he was Messiah and they're not casting lots for his garments. And yet they still mock him. You wonder why some of your loved ones aren't converted. sheer blindness of the human heart, the inability to see light because their eyes are blind. All of this showing us again that Psalm 22 is messianic. So please turn back as we close tonight. I'm not going to read the entire Psalm. It's lengthy. I encourage you to do so. But certainly we see one He was suffering. And in fact, in many ways, we see the Psalm almost adding detail to the gospel record. In the gospels, we see the events. But in Psalm 22, we almost see the heart of the Savior and his sufferings. One who was despised of men. Verse six, I'm a worm and no man, I reproach of man and despise of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn. See, we read Matthew's gospel and we read that actually happening, but here we're seeing the Savior saying, I hear them. I see them. I've met them. I've wept over them. And they laugh me to scorn. We see the heart of Christ on the cross. In the words of these prophetic scriptures, we see the Savior rejected of all the authorities. Verse number 12, many bulls have compassed me strong, bulls of passion have beset me round about. He's referring to the Gentile dogs that come round him. Again, those Roman authorities that come, they surround him, and they're strong, and they beset him, and he's gonna lose his life. Verse 14, I am poured out like water and all my bones are adjoined. My heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels. The soul of Christ's sufferings, of course, is the sufferings of his soul. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? His heart melting as he bears the weight of sin upon his shoulders. His heart melting as he suffers the darkness of separation from his Father. Not in the Godhead, not without the strengthening help of the Spirit of God, but the removal of the Father's grace and smile. Lift up the light of thy countenance upon me. But the eyes of God cannot behold such iniquity, and so the eyes of God are turned away from his own Son. The Savior suffering what hell is, the absence of God's favor. And so Christ suffers. And yet the prayer of verse number 19 is answered, be not thou far from me, O Lord. O my strength, haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword. Darling from the power of the dog, and he is delivered. Though he dies, he is delivered and he rises again the third day. And the gospel is sealed and true. To close this series, things that are fulfilled in Matthew's gospel, that you believe the truth. They wouldn't believe the lies of this world who would say to you, it's just a fable. It's an old ancient myth like any other world religion. What we're seeing here is something that cannot be made up. Historical prophetic scriptures fulfilled in precise detail that cannot be made or manufactured by the actions of men, but only by the might of God. This is truth. Believe the truth and the truth shall set you free. Don't live in the bondage and the misery of a lie, a lie of your own imagination. Believe the truth and live. These things are fulfilled. And it all were caused to bow down and worship to see the love and grace of God. That he would so love us, that we will be blessed. that Christ for our sakes became poor that we through poverty might be made rich. Let me finish, please, just by quoting some words of J.C. Ryle on this particular part of Matthew's golf. He says this. And here I want to try to tie together everything we've seen today from Bible class to this morning's message and now to this final word for this Lord's the evening. We must not be content, says Ryle, with a vague general belief That Christ's sufferings on the cross were vicarious. He's referring to the word substitute. He's saying you can't just have a vague notion of this. We're intended, he says, to see this truth in every part of his passion. We may follow him all through, from the bar of Pilate to the minute of his death, and see him at every step as our mighty substitute, our representative, our head, our surety, our proxy, the divine friend who undertook to stand in our stead, and by the priceless merits of his suffering, to purchase our redemption. Was he scourged? It was that through his stripes we might be healed. Was he condemned though innocent? It was that we might be acquitted though guilty. Did he wear a crown of thorns? It was that we might wear the crown of glory. Was he stripped of his clothing? It was that we might be clothed in everlasting righteousness. Was he mocked and reviled? It was that we might be honored and blessed. The fullness of the blessing, the gospel of Christ in his poverty, your child of God, you have been made eternally, infinitely rich. May God encourage our hearts. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you again that you have so worked in this world and orchestrated the affairs of human history to the point that we see Christ on the cross. We see one worthy for worship. And yet, oh God, we think of times in the past we may have mocked, mocked truth, mocked Christ. Oh God, maybe now as this evening would come to a close, maybe bow down in worship. Man of sorrows, what a name. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Eternal God, help us to rest on truth, to know the peace of God in our hearts, that we believe the truth. Help us, O God, to look to Christ in every aspect of our lives, to rejoice in the gospel. Thank you, O God, again tonight for every blessing. minister to us in Jesus name.