In Matthew's Gospel, the 17th chapter at verse 22, we are reminded of these simple words, And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hand of men, and they shall kill him. And the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry. And I thought this Lord's Day to say a few words on the subject of the sorrow at the Savior's death. And as I thought about this text, I thought through the Scriptures and couldn't come up with a single instance where the Scriptures tell us that we should lament the death of the Lord Jesus. Isn't that interesting? And yet He knew His disciples, would be full of sorrow. He didn't tell them beforehand to make them feel sorrowful, but rather to give hope. For He said He would be delivered into the hands of men and betrayed and put to death, and the third day He would be raised again. There's hope there, isn't there? This was so that they would not be overcome with grief, And yet, the Scriptures tell us, they were exceeding sorry. There was the promise of His resurrection, and yet, as we know, they seem to have completely passed it over and ignored it, not taking it into account at all. It was the elephant in the room, as it were, promised of old that Messiah could not see corruption in the grave. and promised by the words of the Lord Jesus Himself on several occasions to His disciples, and yet they perceived it not, they remembered it not. You remember in Luke's Gospel, the 24th chapter, those words which the angel said to the women who went to see the Lord Jesus at the grave that Sunday morning. The angel said to them, why seek ye the living among the dead? He's not here, but is risen. Remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered His words." All that time they were so preoccupied with the sorrow of the death of Jesus, they completely forgot the words of promise and of hope that He had given them to encourage them that the third day He would rise again from the dead. And even when they were prompted by the angels to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, when they told the disciples, it says at verse 11 of Luke 24, that their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. So even after there's evidence of the resurrection, in the empty tomb and the reminder by the angels of the promise that Jesus had made that the third day he would rise again. Even then, the disciples wouldn't believe it and couldn't conceive it and couldn't grasp it in the least. But I thought it was interesting to think about why the disciples were exceeding sorry. Why were they sorrowful The one reason that they were not sorrowful, which is perhaps a tragic reason, they were not sorrowful because he was dying to save them. The scriptures seemed clear that they had no conception of the purpose of His dying there on the cross, that they had not listened to the prophets, that they had not grasped the necessity that Messiah should make an offering for sin. Of course, nowhere in the Gospels does the Lord Jesus explicitly explain his death that way. Although he did say that he came to give his life a ransom for many, at the Lord's table he certainly said, this is my blood of the new covenant shed for many for the remission of sin. And yet, it seems that in a didactic sort of way, he never sat down and went into the detail of why it was that he should suffer and die for the sin of his people. It reminds us, doesn't it, of what Isaiah foretold about the Savior's death. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, like a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. It is as if the Lord Jesus played ignorant, like a lamb who never knew why he was to be put to death at the altar to make atonement for the sin of his people. Yet we know that the Lord Jesus was completely aware of the purpose of his death, but he didn't go out of his way to explain it to his people, did he? because it was necessary that he should go gently like a lamb to the slaughter in a sort of an uncomprehending way for all the people not to realize what it was he was about to accomplish there. And the disciples were completely dumbfounded by the whole thing. And so therefore we know they did not sorrow because Jesus was going to die for their sins. You know, I thought about how rare it is for us to watch a person deliberately sacrifice himself to save others that he loves. Usually, when that sort of thing happens, it happens in a split moment, doesn't it? It happens so quickly that we have little time to react before the death has happened. and the person has given himself up to save his friends. And therefore, we don't have usually an opportunity to sorrow at the prospect of it, do we? We may sorrow after the fact that a person has laid down his life to save his friends, or even to save people that he didn't know. But there's little time beforehand for reflection or for grief, and I suppose that it would have been a horrible burden indeed If the disciples had known, fully comprehended the purpose for which the Lord Jesus set His face like flint to go to the cross, it was for them that He died. It was to take away their sin that He must suffer at Calvary. It was in order to bring in a perfect righteousness for His people, to execute the new covenant, that he went to the cross and died in our place. And I suppose that the disciples would have been overcome with grief and sorrow if they'd really comprehended what it was, why it was that Jesus died for them. No, they sorrowed for losing a friend and for losing the prospects of the kingdom. This is what they were sorry for. And no doubt the sorrow The prospect of losing a friend is a legitimate grief. It's not to be belittled. It's not to be mocked. But what is sad is their sorrow at the loss of the kingdom. How could Messiah be a savior if he couldn't save himself? Even his enemies mocked him on that point, didn't they? As he hung there on the cross in shame. And how much the disciples must have been sorry and bitterly sorry to think that Jesus was about to overthrow all their hopes that He should bring in the kingdom that Messiah had promised and that they had trusted that He would bring in. You know, they were blind, weren't they, that they didn't grasp the missing part to the kingdom. The missing part to the kingdom, what was necessary before the kingdom could be brought in, was the sacrifice that saved and cleansed the denizens of the kingdom, wasn't it? You know, they thought that all the kingdom required to be fulfilled was for Messiah to show up, take over, and ascend to his throne. That's all it took. There wasn't any flaw in themselves that needed to be addressed. They didn't think there was any, apparently. No, all they thought was that Jesus was to show up and was to take charge. And he was to overthrow all the wickedness Of course, all that's always the wickedness of those people over there, not their own sins. He was to expel the occupiers and rule from the throne of David forever and ever. And so you see, they were right about Jesus being the key to bringing in the kingdom, but they were wrong about what it was he had to accomplish to bring in the kingdom. And they didn't grasp the true impediment to the kingdom. It was not the death of the Savior. It was their sin that was the impediment to reign in the kingdom. And as we've commented many times, if the kingdom had been brought in and their sin not been addressed, not been atoned for, you see, they would have all been destroyed. We would have all been destroyed. There'd have been no kingdom to ruble over. An empty planet, I suppose, would have been all that was left. And so they didn't understand that Christ's death was not the impediment to bringing in the kingdom. It was the necessary precedent for bringing in the kingdom because their sin was the impediment to bringing in the kingdom of Messiah. Their sins were what blocked their enjoyment and survival in Messiah's kingdom. And so they viewed Christ's death falsely as the end of hope for the kingdom and not their crucial salvation and rescue unto the kingdom. This is why Christ's death was necessary and why it was far from being the end of the kingdom. It was the only entrance that they possibly could have into the kingdom, for they needed a sacrifice. They needed an offering. to take away their sin. You remember that the disciples on the road to Emmaus encapsulated this faulty view when they said, but we had hoped that it should have been He who would have redeemed Israel. All the while failing to grasp that when He died on the cross, He was redeeming His people so that they might enjoy the kingdom, so that He might bring it in with righteousness and with hope for His people. and not with judgment and doom. So their sorrow was completely misplaced when they sorrowed for the Savior's death. They should have been sorry for their sins. And these were the true impediments to bringing in the kingdom and the true cause for which the Savior must die. This was not the only emotion related in Scripture to Jesus' death. There was another emotion wasn't there related to sin and the death of Jesus, and that was malicious rejoicing on the part of his enemies. You see, if the disciples were not sorry for their sin, and were not sorry that Messiah had to be sacrificed, to save them from their sin, there were those who were full of malicious rejoicing at the prospect that they thought Messiah was being judged for His sin. The only people with an emotion recorded relating to sin and the sacrifice of Jesus were His enemies. who rejoiced at their view that he was being put to death by God himself in judgment for his own sin. They mocked and they scoffed at him there. They joyed over what they perceived as God's judgment of Jesus for his own sin. You remember, they thought that he was worthy of death because he had blasphemed, saying he was Messiah, the Son of God, when in reality he was telling the pure truth of the matter. The bitter irony, of course, was foretold about the connection between Christ's death and sin and emotional response, wasn't it? For in Isaiah's great 53rd chapter, he records this bitter irony. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities." So you see, it was foretold that the thoughts and the feelings of the people would not be in sorrow for Christ's death, for their sin, but rather rejoicing for Christ's death for what they thought were his own sins, all the while he was dying for the sins of his people. And so the sum of it is this, the wicked haters of Christ rejoiced over their false view that Jesus was killed for his own sin of blasphemy. His disciples wept over their false view that his death destroyed all their hopes for the kingdom of Messiah. And nobody sorrowed that Jesus died for their sins and nobody rejoiced. that Jesus was saving his people from their sins. Jesus told the disciples that this would be the case, didn't he? In John's gospel, the 16th chapter at verse 20, we read this morning where he said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice. and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy." The promise, your sorrow shall be turned into joy, is the part that they didn't hear. What they heard was, ye shall weep and lament, and the world shall rejoice. And just as it had been foretold by Isaiah, so too it was now. The world did rejoice. that that malicious, blaspheming person who held himself out to be Messiah was finally being put into his place at the cross for his sins which he had allegedly committed. And this was what the Lord Jesus foretold would happen the night that he was betrayed. Does Jesus desire us to be sorrowful at the death that he died. This is a question that we might ask ourselves. If the only emotions that surrounded Christ's death at the time, contemporaneous, were misplaced, if they were a gloating and a rejoicing by wicked men and a sorrow by his disciples for entirely the wrong reasons, then what is to be our response to the death that Jesus died, ought we to sorrow at the death he died? Ask this rather, did Jesus desire his disciples to be sad? And the answer clearly is no, he did not. He did not desire his disciples to be sad. Why else did he give them the hope of the resurrection, which they ignored? But more to the point is his gentle rebuke of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. We've studied that text well. You remember that he comes upon them as they are sorrowful at the death of Christ. And in Luke 24 at verse 17, he says unto them, what manner of communications are these that ye have one to another as ye walk and are sad? He asks them, he questions them, why are they sad? What are they talking about? And they go to tell him all about Jesus and how they had hoped that he would be the one who would have redeemed Israel. And after they have unburdened themselves of their sorrow, What does he say to them at verse 25? Oh fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So now, at the end, after the fact, he explains to them from the Scriptures why it was that it was appropriate that Messiah should suffer these things to enter into His glory. Of the glory, of course, not just being His exaltation on the throne of David. More than that, the glory being the sacrifice that He made. That's His real glory, the means by which He saved His people from their sin. more glorious than all the acclaim, all the exaltation is the glory of Christ suffering and dying to save his people from their sin. And so these disciples were rebuked by Christ for their sorrow, for their unbelief, for not knowing that it was necessary that Christ should suffer and enter into his glory. And when we come to believe God's word on the matter, and understand why Jesus' death was necessary and what it accomplished, then we won't be sad anymore. So you see, in a real sense, our emotional stability depends upon believing God's Word and understanding it. Because when we believe it and when we understand it as Jesus explained it to these people, we will not be walking down the road commiserating and be sad because it was appropriate. that Christ should suffer and enter into His glory. And if it is appropriate that Christ suffer and enter into His glory, and if Christ gently rebukes those people who are sorrowful because they do not understand the death that Christ died, and they do not believe and have not received the glory that is His sacrifice for the saving of His people, then we understand that it is not Christ's intention that we should be filled with sorrow over His death, but rather rejoice over His glory. that he's entered into his glory in the saving of his people. And so we won't be sad anymore if we understand what Jesus told these men on the road to Emmaus. We'll be glad, glad to receive Christ's salvation, glad to see our Savior exalted, victorious in the resurrection. You know, Jesus described our proper attitude the night that he was betrayed after he told them, the disciples, that they would be filled with sorrow, but their sorrow would turn into rejoicing. He explained the proper attitude at his death by a common analogy, didn't he? And what was that common analogy? It was the sorrow and the pain of childbirth. And you think about that analogy for a moment. Jesus said, A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come. But as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world. Jesus offers this as the example of how we ought to respond to the death and the resurrection of Jesus. The same as a woman responds to the pain of childbirth and the rejoicing at the delivery accomplished. So much so that she weeps during the sorrow, doesn't she? But she doesn't weep after the sorrow, in thought of the sorrow, does she? She rejoices in the child that's born. And for the rest of her life, what does she do? Does she get all down and weepy and crying over remembering the sorrow of the childbirth? No, she rejoices in her son and in his growth and so forth. She doesn't emotionally fixate upon the sorrowful part. She rejoices in that which it accomplished. And so it is with our rejoicing over Christ. We do not sorrow over his death, we rejoice. in His victory and in the salvation that He bought for us. You remember that the men were sorrowful, but the end was glorious and forever. And this is why the writer of Hebrews said that Christ, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame. He had an eye out for that joy of the saving of his people, that joy of victory over hell and sin and woe. that exaltation that he was sure to enter into, and the saving of his people for all eternity, so that the joy overwhelms the sorrow that is temporary. Jesus didn't so much exhort us to rejoice in his sacrifice and our salvation as he predicted that we would rejoice. You see what he says in John 16 at verse 22, ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. You see that this is not a exhortation to rejoice in Christ's sacrifice and resurrection and our salvation. Rather, it's a prediction that we will rejoice. And isn't it true that we can't stop from rejoicing, that we can't help but rejoice when we understand what we've received in Christ? I thought of the words of that song that we've sung before. Was it for me, he wept and prayed. My load of sin upon him laid, that dark night in Gethsemane. Was it for me, that agony? Was it for me he bowed his head upon the cross and freely shed his precious blood? That crimson tide, was it for me? My Savior died, it was for me. Yes, all for me. The love of God so rich, so free. Oh, wondrous joy, I'll shout and sing. He died for me, my Lord and King. And so it is that the appropriate emotion, when we remember what Jesus did, It's not sorrow and tears. It's great rejoicing. Great rejoicing in our Redeemer. This table is not a sorrowful occasion. It is a glorious one. We're not gathered around a grave remembering someone who died to save us. No, we're meeting here around this table with Jesus. The Scriptures tell us that He's in the midst of us today. He's with us. He's not lying around dead somewhere, and we're not moaning and complaining and sorrowful at the death He died. No, we're celebrating in the presence of our Savior. the death he made to save us for all eternity. And we celebrate his great victory over sin for us at the cross. Let's give thanks for the Lord's tape and rejoice in what our Lord Jesus has done for us. I'd like to ask Brother Whitten if he'd give thanks for the bread that pictures the body of Christ broken for us. The Scriptures tell us on the night our Lord was betrayed that He took the bread, and He blessed it, and He broke it, and He said, Take and eat. This is My body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me. Let's give thanks for the cup that pictures the blood of the Lord Jesus shed to make atonement for our sin. O God, our Father in heaven, we rejoice in Your goodness to us in delivering up Your Son in whom You were well pleased. that you found in Him a perfect Lamb of sacrifice. Thank you for that announcement by John the Baptist. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And we thank you that He was willing to offer Himself up on the cross to save poor sinners. and that we might be filled with rejoicing at His sacrifice, which is His glory, which is His exaltation, even in death it was His exaltation, and we thank Him He's been raised in power and glory to vindicate the work that He did, and that all around, We are full of joy for what He did and for what has happened to us and what happened to Him and what will forever happen to us and to Him. As we gather around His throne one day to sing His praises in person, when we see our Redeemer with our own eyes, oh God, we rejoice in this feast that He left us. and in His great love for us, and in your great love in delivering them up for us, and in conceiving so glorious a plan of redemption, your beautiful gospel of salvation by grace through faith in the offering of Jesus. Lord, thank you for this cup that pictures the bloody shed by which you have set aside and forgotten against us all our sins forever. We give you the praise. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. The scriptures tell us that after they had supped, he took the cup and he blessed it. And he said, drink ye all of it. This cup is the new covenant in my blood for the remission of sin. Do it as often as ye do it in remembrance of me. The Scriptures tell us that as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we do proclaim or preach the Lord's death until He comes. Let's stand and sing number 214 in the Black Book. We haven't sung it in a while. The Crowning Day by D. W. Whittle and James McGranahan. 214 in the Black Book.