Thank you for listening to Servants for Christ. In all that we do, in all that we say, we want to give glory and honor to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for tuning us in as we get into the wonderful Word of God. For the next few minutes, let's take the beautiful Word of God and share it with each and every one of you as we have a sense of anticipation to take the Word of God and to listen to its truth for each and every one. Amen, thank you for tuning us in. I'm Darrell Bailey, Servants for Christ. As we continue with our Sunday night message on Easter, amen, as we talk about the marvels associated with Calvary. The marvels associated with Calvary. Take your Bibles with us to Matthew chapter 27, verses 45 through 56. And as you turn with us, we're going to be reading as we preach tonight, here the countdown to Easter in 28 days, the countdown to Easter. Here this Sunday night, March the 3rd, 2024, as we look at Christ being hung on the cross, the miraculous events that happened, which demonstrated perfectly that the cross was a triumph and not a tragedy. The cross was the Messiah's great triumph. And we see several things that shows the marvels that are associated with Calvary. When I think of the word marvel, I think of something being filled with wonder and astonishment. And when we see what Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary, let's have a word of prayer. Father, in the name of Jesus, we come into your presence thanking you for Bethel Crossroads Baptist Church. Lord, that you've called us all to be saints in Taylorsville, Georgia. and around the world, and we lift our voices in one accord. We recognize that you are God and everything was made by you and for you. And we call into being those things that be not as though they were. We thank you that we all speak the same thing. There is no division among us. We're perfectly joined together in the same mind. Lord, as your representatives, give us boldness to speak your word. Lord, as we thank you that we have men and women of God that are workers, and Lord, that operate in the ministry and intercession of the Holy Spirit. Lord, thank you, Father, for the many gifts within the body of Christ, and we acknowledge the wonderful Son of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Lord, I pray, God, that may we grow in witness as a body of believers. May we become stronger each and every day. I pray for the many that are lost. I pray for all of our family. I pray for our Yarbrough family, Lord. I pray for our Thomas family. I pray for the Bailey family. Lord, I pray, God, that you will reach out, and no matter where they are, Lord, whether from the jailhouse all the way down from to and fro and back again, I lift them up in the name of Jesus. And I ask you, Father, to do a supernatural work as we all continue to labor while we can before we are taken from this walks of life. Thank you for this great honor and privilege as we pray for the lost that they might find salvation in the word of God, in Jesus's mighty name. Thank you, Father, for saving us and forgiving us of our sins. In Jesus we pray, amen. As you look at the word of God and we see the marbles that are associated with Calvary, praise God. I'm glad that Matthew chapter 27 verse 45, the word of God says, now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. It was dark from noon until 3 p.m. Normally, the bright part of the day, God said that that's enough. That's enough. He refused to allow the sun to reveal his son any longer. And so, I'm glad that we hear from the cross, Psalms 22. where he says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and the night sees it, and am not silent, but thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee and were delivered, they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, despised of the people." Here in Psalms 22, when we look at the marvels of the Son, we could go on and on about Psalms 22. But I'm glad Jesus was dying for the whole world. The whole world was dark, not an eclipse. This was not a natural phenomenon. God intervened in a marvelous, miraculous way. And I'm glad that when we look and realize that what the Lord was doing that day when he was on the Calvary, Boy, I'm going to tell you, the terrifying darkness, a supernatural darkness that hung over the land from the sixth to the ninth hour, or according to our time, from noon to 3 p.m. Think for a moment, just imagine who it was hanging on that cross. God's only son, the sovereign lord of all beings, both visible and invisible. The great architect and the creator of the whole universe of all nature. what he was doing there on that cross. He was bearing the sins of all men, bearing the judgment and the wrath of God against sin for all men, dying the death of man, doing all that was necessary to free us from sin, death, and judgment that we might live forever. Oh, what the depth of God's plan is. Hallelujah. I'm glad that each and every one of us, when the facts are really thought about the wonder of all the things. Amen. The darkness that demonstrated that Christ was definitely God's Son. Amen. I tell you, the darkness that symbolized the darkest day of human history, the day when the Son of God Himself was being put to death for the sins of men. The darkness that symbolized the darkness of sin, which demands darkness to carry on its acts. Oh man, sin which leads to the most terrible darkness of all death, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The darkness that symbolizes the darkness of a human soul and its work. The darkness of a human soul being born by the Son of God for all mankind. Oh, I tell you, that darkness that symbolized the withdrawal of the light of God's presence from the sinner, Christ hung upon that cross as the sinner for all of us, the sinner who was becoming sin for us. And that darkness that symbolized the anger of God at sin, sin and the sinner deserve nothing but the judgment of darkness. Sin deserves no light from God's presence, none whatsoever. And so, what did we see? we saw the marvel of the sun amen but then secondly we saw the marvel in the sanctuary because in Matthew chapter 27 verse 51 the bible says and behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and the earth did quake and the rocks rent Boy, I'm going to tell you the miracle and the tearing of that veil, torn from the top 60 feet up in the air. This was during that earthquake. Man would tear from the bottom. But the miracle and the teaching of the veil, the veil separated the holy of holies from the holy place. Only the high priest could enter. Then only on the day of atonement and the ark and the mercy seat were kept here. And this was the place where the sacrifice for sin was placed on that mercy seat. Jesus's death on the cross took the sacrifice into the heavens. No need for the Holy of Holies anymore. And so, we look and we realize that through this, Amen. the great veil of the temple that was torn. In the minds of the Jews, the veil was one of the most important things in the temple. Why? Because it surrounded the Ark of the Covenant, which symbolized the very presence of God himself. And it was huge and beautiful, made of the very finest materials. It was 60 or more feet high. And to get some kind of an idea of the magnificence of the veil, imagine one of the other temple veils described by Josephus. He talks about Josephus and some of the writings of Josephus. And this is one of the things that he says, the old Jewish historian. Before these doors, there was a veil of equal largeness, where the doors had embroidered with a blue and fine linen and scarlet and purple and of a contexture that was truly wonderful. The mixture of colors and its mystical interpretation was of a kind of image of the universe. By the scarlet, there seemed to be signified fire. By the fine flax, the earth. By the blue, the air. And by the purple, the sea. And this curtain that was embroidered upon it all, that was mystical in the heavens. We see that that veil was torn from top to bottom. It symbolized the direct access to God. It was the veil that separated the holy of holies from the holy place. And up until this time, only the high priest could enter the holy of holies, and he could enter only one day a year, the Day of Atonement. But now through the body of Christ, any man can enter the presence of God. He can enter God's presence and pray any time, any place, praise God, because of what the Lord did in the marveling of that sanctuary, the earthquake that began to come about. symbolism that represented the earth could have quaked under the weight of the sin placed upon its architect and creator. The earth could have quaked and torn at its rocks to symbolize the fatal blow to Satan's dominion. Praise his body name and soul. We see that the work of all of the marbles associated with Calvary, the marbles of the sun, the marbles in the sanctuary, amen. But thirdly, we see the marble of the stones themselves, because in Matthew chapter 27 verse 51, And behold the veil of the Templars ran entwined from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rampant skipped down to Matthew chapter 27 verse 54. And now when the centurion, they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God, the message. that the sun refused to shine and reveal what man had done to the Savior. But the rocks cried out, this is the Son of God. Praise His mighty name. Boy, when we look and see that from this earthquake Man, all of the things that begin to take place, the resurrection of the many saints. Boy, I tell you, the graves were opened during the terrifying earthquake, amen. Bodies that did not arise until after Jesus' resurrection. Christ had to be the first to arise from the dead, the first who was never to die again, praise his mighty name. And so, between those events, the cross and the resurrection was evidently the time that Jesus bore the full punishment of death and hell from all mankind's sins. He tasted death for every man, woman, boy and girl, both physical, spiritual, hallelujah. And I'm glad that Peter added, he said, he went and preached unto the spirits in the prison. Boy, I thank God. Many people believe that before the resurrection of Christ, all dead people went to a place known in scripture as Hades. Hades was divided in two areas, paradise and hell. And the spirits of believers went to paradise and the spirits of unbelievers went to hell. And some people believe that when Christ arose, he took the saints of paradise with him to live in the presence of God forever. ever and ever and ever, and since Christ's resurrection, all believers go immediately into the presence of God. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. When you're born again, into the family of God. Paul adds, when he ascended up on high, he led the captive captivity captive, but he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth, and the graves opened, and then the bodies being raised. Boy, that Christ led captivity, sin, death, and hell captive. He conquered all the enemies of man and set man free to arise and live forever in the presence of God. And so, I'm glad that this symbolized the quest of death by Christ. The sting is now taken from death, amen. Praise his mighty name. Oh, the stinger's been plucked and pulled out, praise God. And so, it symbolized the resurrection of believers that all will rise and be recognized and know one another, praise God. I'm glad he said marvel not at this for the hour is coming in which that all are in that which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. Amen. And so, I'm glad every one of us, we're looking for that day. So the marvels associated with Calvary, the marvels of the sun, the marvels of the sanctuary, the marvels of the stones, amen, and the rocks and the graves that were moved that day, praise God. Man, this is the marvels of Easter itself, praise his mighty name. And so, we see the marvels of the sepulcher as well, because as it moved those graves, the marvels of the saints and their showing, amen. I'm glad that there was a defendant that was on trial for murder and there was evidence indicating guilt, but there was no corpse. But in the defense's closing statement, the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, he resorted to a trick. And he began to get up and he said, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all. The lawyer said as he looked at his watch, within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom. He looked around the courtroom door, and the jurors, somewhat stunned, all looked on eagerly. A minute passed. Nothing happened. Finally, the lawyer said, actually, I made up the previous statement, but you all looked on with anticipation, and I therefore put it to you that there is a reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed, and insist that you return a verdict of not guilty. Boy, I thank God the jury, clearly confused, retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty. But how, inquired the lawyer, you must have sundown. I saw all of you stare at the door. And boy, I thank God, when we look and we begin to realize what the Lord is doing. The jury foreman replied, he said, oh, we did look, but your client didn't. You know what? It was evident from the way that he acted that the defendant didn't really believe the victim was still alive. And the question for all of us is this, as the world looks at our lives, is it evident to them that we believe in a living savior? What are you doing on Sundays? Oh, you're at Walmart? Oh, you're at the mall? Oh, you're at a ball field with your kids? Huh? Is it evident? The evidence will tell on us. We see the marvels of the sun, the marvels in the sanctuary, the marvels of the stones and sepulchers, but also we see the marvels of the soldiers. Praise the mighty name of Jesus, because When we look at verse 54 of Matthew chapter 27, Now when the centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. There was a transformation that was taking place. They feared greatly. And so, when we look and realize the confession of the centurion and others, something happened to some of those standing at the foot of the cross. When the earth quaked upon the hills of the darkness, the centurion and his soldiers feared and they exclaimed, truly this was the Son of God. And the confession was genuine, much more than just feeling that Christ was innocent and a special person to God. The soldiers could not fully understand what Son of God meant, but they knew Christ claimed to be the Son of God, and in witnessing Christ's words and purposeful behavior on the cross, they more than likely believed his claim to be true. And so, I'm telling you, not only the transformation that they feared greatly, but the testimony. Truly, there was a son of God. Some time ago, there were some robbers that stole a 14-foot bronze cross from the Calvary Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas. This cross had stood at the entrance to this cemetery for more than 50 years. The thieves apparently stole it more for money than art. They cut it off at the base, hauled it away, most likely cutting it up in small pieces that they could sell it for 50 cents a pound. The cross weighed about 900 pounds. netting around about $450, and the cross's actual worth was $10,000, or in today's dollar, $50,000, and the thieves obviously didn't even know the real value of the cross as an object. Instead, they set it for as much a cheaper price as for scrap metal. This is still true for many today. They're willing to settle for less important parts of Christianity, like the filling parts, and fail to appreciate the deeper things of God that may not have an emotional base to them. They like the celebration, but they don't like the commitment. Oh, Lord help us in America. The marvels that are associated with Calvary, the marvels of the sun, the marvels in the sanctuary, the marvels of the stones and sepulchers, the soldiers, But I thank God as I close out, the last thing that was the greatest marvel of all, you'd have to flip over over into Luke chapter 23 verses 39 down to verse 43. And the Bible says in one of the male factors, which were hanged, railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself in us. But the other answerer rebuked him, saying, Doest not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Boy, I thank God there's a rejection because the male factor that hanged that rail saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But there's a reception as well because as we look at the word of God, and he said unto Jesus, the other one, Lord, remember me. When thou comest into thy kingdom, boy, and Jesus said to him, verily I say to thee, today shall thou be with me in paradise. The only difference of the two men, one rejected Christ and the other received him. Oh. Spurgeon once told of a man who had been sentenced to death by a Spanish court, and because he was an American citizen and also of English birth, the consuls of both countries decided to intervene for his life. They declared that the authorities of Spain had no right to take his life, but their protest unheeded. Finally, They deliberately wrapped the prisoner in their flags, the stars and stripes of an American flag, and the Union Jack of England. To find the executioner, they issued this warning as the man was taken out to be shot. Fire if you dare, but if you do, you will bring the powers of two great nations upon you. There stood the condemned, but the riflemen would not shoot him, protected by those flags and the governments that they represented. Boy, I thank God when we look and realize today, each and every one of us as we're going through challenges of life, what the Lord is doing for each and every one of us. You know what? We see the difficulty. as we go through life, none of us will ever experience the marvels that took place at that time until we meet Jesus Christ. Salvation is one of the greatest gifts. It is one of the greatest miracles of all time. And so, I'm glad that when we look around and we begin to realize all that the Lord has to do for us, amen. Here, we see that as we continue on, that as they protected by those flags that the riflemen would not shoot the two governments that they represented, the man was invulnerable. Their power protected him from death. Listen to me. So does the resurrection of our Lord if we believe and receive him. Just imagine. What depths of God's plan. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out for who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his counselor or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever, amen. I'm glad every one of us that we can realize that in a few more days in this month, we're gonna be celebrating Easter. And I hope that this Easter will be an Easter that captivates you, that we see all of the marvels of Easter that transpire right in front of us, amen. The marvels that are associated with Calvary, praise God. How that we see the marvels of the sun, the marvels in the sanctuary, the marvels of all the stones where the rocks rent and cried out proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God. The marvels of the sepulchers, the graves that were opened and many bodies of the saints who had died arose after Jesus' resurrection and appeared to many. The marvels of the soldiers, the centurion, of those with him who were watching Jesus saw the earthquake and the other miraculous events and declared, truly, this was the Son of God. But out of all of those marvels, what we saw out of Luke on that cross, the marvel of salvation, one of the criminals who was crucified with Jesus recognized him as Lord and asked to be remembered when Jesus came into his kingdom. And Jesus assured him that he would be with him in paradise. Father, thank you, Lord. Thank you for all that you've given us. Lord, for watching over us and giving us everything that we have. Start a revival within all of our hearts and lives. Lord, start a reviving, Lord, that we may rejoice through your mercy and loving kindness, oh Lord, that you've granted all of us salvation. You've created in us a clean heart, oh God, and renewed a right persevering and steadfast spirit within us. You've restored us to joy of our salvation, that you've uphold us with a willing spirit. And now Lord, I know God that as you teach your transgressors your ways and that sinners shall be converted, may they all return to you. May you cleanse our ways. Keep watch. And may your word conform our lives and may your great promises be ours as we cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates and defiles our bodies and spirits and brings us and consecrate us to a fear of God with our whole hearts. Lord, I pray, let us not wonder or step aside. May we keep your commandments, your word that you've laid up in our hearts that we might not sin against you, a cleansing us through the word and the teaching that you give us, that we delight in your statues, and we will not forget this Easter, what the marvels of Easter are all about. In Jesus's marvelous mighty name, amen. you