Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 53 from the Hardback Tymbal, number 53,
How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds in a Believer's Ear. We'll sing
the last phrase in each verse twice. Let's all stand together. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals
his wounds, and drives away his fear. And drives away his fear. Dear name, the rock on which
I build my shield and hiding place, my never failing treasury
filled with boundless stores of grace, with boundless stores
of grace. Jesus, my shepherd, brother,
friend, my prophet, priest, and king, my Lord, my life, my way,
my end, accept the praise I bring. Accept the praise I bring. Weak is the effort of my heart,
and cold my warmest thought. But when I see thee as thou art,
I'll praise thee as I ought. I'll praise thee as I ought. Till then I would thy love proclaim
with every fleeting breath. And may the music of thy name
refresh my soul in death, refresh my soul in death. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles to Psalm
22. Psalm 22. I've titled the message from
Psalm 77, Forsaken by God. And it is a psalm of our Lord crying out
to his Father as is Psalm 22. Psalm 22. 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 in the night season, and am not
silent. Here's a window into our Lord's
heart as he is experiencing being forsaken of his father. And in
spite of the fact that the father is not answering him, he says
in verse three, but thou art holy, thou art holy. O thou that inhabitest the praises
of Israel, our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted and thou
didst deliver them. Thou art the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Here's my hope. 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, and despised of the people. All they that
see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out their lip. They
shake the head, saying, he trusted on the Lord. that he would deliver
him. Let him deliver him, seeing he
delighted in him. But thou art he that took me
out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when
I was upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee from the
womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from
me, for trouble is near. For there is none to help. None
to help. Our Lord went to the cross all
by himself. Let's ask the Lord's blessings
on our time together tonight. Our gracious and merciful Heavenly
Father, we come before thy throne of grace aware as you have made us of
our need for grace and our dependence upon thy dear son for all of
our acceptance before thee. Lord, outside of him, we have
no righteousness. We have nothing that would merit
favor with thee and all that we have in and of ourselves would
require your holy judgment. Lord, what great hope we have
in knowing that you have poured out your wrath. On our sin bearer. My dear son, our substitute and
our surety. Lord, we pray that you'd be pleased
this hour to cause us to see him in thy word and bring us
by your spirit to rest our hopes in our hearts. In his glorious
person and in his finished work. We thank you for the. For his
faithfulness and fulfilling all that he. All that he committed
to do. And Lord, we. Pray that we would. Find hope in thy salvation. We ask it in Christ's name and
for his sake. Amen. Number 224 from the hardback
teminal. Let's all stand together once
again. I know not why God's wondrous
grace to me he hath made known, nor why unworthy Christ in love
redeemed before his own. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. I know not how this saving faith
to me he did impart, nor how believing in his word brought
peace within my heart. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. I know not how the Spirit moves,
Convincing man of sin, Revealing Jesus through the Word, Creating
faith in Him. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. I know not what of good or ill
may be reserved for me. Of weary ways or golden days
before his face I see. But I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noonday fair, Nor if I walk the vale with Him,
Or meet Him in the air. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 77, please, Psalm 77. I do not deny the fact that some
believers struggle all their lives with depression. There
are troubles and afflictions in this world and uh... each one of god's children have
different thorns in the flesh that they have to deal with i do not doubt that depression
is real and uh... and i'm sure never having really
experienced it myself that untangling the cause of it is very complicated
The scripture makes it clear that we are made up of body,
soul, and spirit. We are physical. We have physiological
issues that can relate to afflictions and discouragements and depressions. We have emotional issues and
spiritual issues. That having been said, I think
there is something much, much more encouraging in Psalm 77
than words to the depressed. Is the Lord able and will He
deliver His children from afflictions and from discouragements and
depressions? Yes, yes, He will, He will. Psalm 77, I've read a lot of
commentaries on Psalm 77. I've listened to a few messages
on Psalm 77 from men that I respect. And almost completely without
exception, the words of Psalm 77 were presented as words of
encouragement to those who are suffering from some sort of mental
or emotional or physical affliction or depression. My heart goes
out to anybody that might be in the midst of that and I would
say to you that these words that Asaph prays to the Lord would
be good words for you to pray. But I would also say to you that
to see these words as the words of the Lord Jesus Christ as he
was being forsaken of God will be of greater encouragement to
you and will be of great encouragement to every believer regardless
of what their troubles are, what their afflictions are. we often are reminded that we
don't really understand anything that we believe and that's true
and uh... the more the more the lord reveals
himself to me the more i come to realize how little you know
it's that old axiom the more i the more i understand the more
i realize i don't know and uh... and that's that's so true are dealing with a mystery here
that is beyond our comprehension. As far as what the Lord Jesus
Christ suffered in the afflictions that he bore in his body, in
his soul, and in his spirit, as he was forsaken of God as
our substitute and as our sin bearer on Calvary's cross. though
we're not capable of understanding it. I don't want us to look at
Asaph as an example. You know, aren't you encouraged
when you read Hebrews chapter 11 about all those Old Testament
saints? It starts with Abel and Enoch
and Moses, Abraham and Sarah and Moses and goes all the way
down through David And the scripture never says, look to these individuals
for your encouragement. The point that I'm making, matter
of fact, in chapter 12 of Hebrews, right after these men and women
are mentioned, the scripture says, seeing therefore that we
are compassed about with such a great cloud of witnesses, let
us lay aside the sin. that doth so easily beset us,
every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us. And
let us run the race with patience, looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith, who for the hope that was set
before him endured the cross and despised its shame. So that, you know, To say that
these were words from a man who was suffering from depression
and that we can learn from his example how we ought to pray,
I think is missing the point, is missing the point. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ when he actually was forsaken of God. He actually
was. I was thinking of of an illustration. When we feel forsaken of God,
we feel completely overwhelmed. We fear, perhaps, Asaph says,
the Lord has cast me off. His mercy is clean gone. His promises are not for me. We may experience those feelings
of affliction, discouragement, and even maybe moments of depression
when we reflect on these things. But I was thinking of an illustration
of a numbers line. And take a numbers line and it
has zero in the middle of it and the plus numbers are on one
side and the negative numbers are on the other side. And we
sort of bounce between negative one and positive one. You know,
and if we're on the positive side of zero, we feel pretty
good about things, and we're on the negative side of zero,
we get discouraged. But we, our whole lives, we're
just kind of vacillating back and forth between negative one
and positive one. What is impossible for us to
comprehend is that the Lord Jesus Christ went from the infinite
end of the positive scale to the infinite end of the negative
scale. How can we enter into that? He
went from perfect acceptance and perfect enjoyment in terms
of his relationship with the Father to being cut off and forsaken
of God. We're so accustomed to sin and
we're so accustomed to living out of fellowship with God for
periods of time that we have no understanding of what the
Lord meant when he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? The Lord Jesus Christ went from
the infinite end of the positive scale to the infinite end of
the negative scale. He went from perfect communion
with the Father to total estrangement with the Father. He went from
perfect happiness to complete sorrow. And here we are moving
back and forth on one side or the other of the zero. He went from the infinite to
the infinite. Why did he do it? Why would he
suffer such a thing? This is this is the cup that
he pleaded with the father in the Garden of Gethsemane. Father,
if there be any way this cup can pass for me. Let it be Lord. Oh, I don't want to. I don't
want to experience sin. I don't want to be cut off from
God. I don't want to suffer. This,
this estrangement from my father who I have been in perfect communion
with for all eternity? And yet he did. He did. He did it out of fulfillment
to the promise that he made to the father. And he did it out
of love for his bride. We cannot enter into what that
means. We cannot comprehend it. And
had the Lord not given us the words of Psalm 22, and had He
not given us the words of Psalm 77, we would have no window at
all into the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ as He is suffering,
being forsaken of God. Here's our hope, brethren. We
get on the negative side of zero, we look unto Jesus. who went
all the way to the end of the scale. We look unto Him and we know
that, Lord, the discouragements and the afflictions and the troubles
that I'm experiencing are nothing compared to what You went through. You bore all the sins of all
of your people, of every generation. Lord, I have felt being cut off
from God, but I've never been cut off from God. Never been
cut off from God. His grace has never been cleared
gone from me. His promises have never been
ineffectual for me. I may have felt that way, but
it's never been so. It was so with Him. It was so
with Him. He knew what it meant to be cut
off from the Father, to be forsaken of God. And this psalm makes
it so clear. This is the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This isn't some depressed psalm
writer by the name of Asaph that is telling us about his struggles
with faith. This is the encouragement that
the child of God needs to know that Christ has experienced what
I go through infinitely beyond anything that I know anything
about. And when I need encouragement for my faith, when I need encouragement
for my discouragement, I don't look to Abel. I don't look to
Abraham. I don't look to Moses. I don't
look to Sarah. I don't look to Samuel or David
or all those men and women that are mentioned in Hebrews chapter
11. I look unto Jesus who is the
author and the finisher of my faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross. He suffered for me. And he knows
so much more about it than I could ever, ever even my, my, my experience
with affliction is nothing compared to his. Yeah. Look at what the Lord says in
verse one. There's a, there's a, a, a, a
change that takes place between verse one and verse two in this
song. I cried unto God with my voice,
even unto God with my voice, and He gave ear unto me." Well,
that's a good thing. Aren't you encouraged when you
pray unto the Lord and you feel His presence and you know that
He's hearing you and He gives you peace and hope and encouragement? The Lord Jesus Christ knew that
better than we've ever, ever experienced it. In John chapter
11, when he went to the tomb of Lazarus, when Mary and Martha
were grieving and the Lord grieved, the scripture says, he wept.
He wept. He grieved over the affliction
that they were experiencing. And then he prayed, out loud,
Father, I know that you hear me always. But I'm praying this prayer so
that they'll know that you're my father and that you're hearing
the prayer that I asked. I cried unto God with my voice,
with my voice. And then in. Luke chapter 10,
the Lord said, Father, I thank Thee. I thank Thee that Thou
hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed
them unto babes, even so, Father, seem good in Thy sight. And then
He turned to the disciples and He said, You've been given life
that those Pharisees don't know anything about because God's
answered my prayer for you. I prayed with my voice and God
heard me. I prayed for the father to raise
Lazarus from the dead. And when I said, Lazarus come
forth, he came forth. Why? Because I prayed with my
voice to the father and he heard my prayer. John chapter 17 was
prayed at the last supper. And the spirit of God gave John
the ability to remember everything that the Lord Jesus Christ said.
He prayed this prayer with his disciples. The scripture says
in John chapter 17, and when he finished they went out to
the Mount of Olives and he went straight from there to the Garden
of Gethsemane. Turn with me to John chapter
17. I prayed with my voice and thou
heard me. We have We have recorded in the
Word of God that the Lord Jesus Christ oftentimes retired unto
himself and spent all night in prayer. All night. Now when the Lord
prayed with the Father, it wasn't like when you and I pray. We
can't pray without being distracted, can we? We don't pray very long
without our minds going off on something else. Prayer is a struggle
for us, isn't it? Real prayer. It wasn't for him. He spent all night in fellowship
with the Father, crying out to the Father, and the Father heard
every word. He was communing with His Heavenly Father, just
like He had done for all eternity. I cried unto the Father with
my voice, and He heard me. And when the Lord prayed in John
17, and He said, These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His
eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy
Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him
power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as
many as Thou hast given Him. He lifted up His voice. This
happened at the Last Supper. The disciples were all there.
He looks up into heaven, he lifts up his voice. That's what Psalm
77 is talking about. I cried with my voice unto God
and he heard me. And you know this high priestly
prayer, what a glorious prayer it is. Father, I pray not for
the world, I pray for them which thou hast given me out of the
world, thine they were and thou hast given them unto me. I pray
that thou would keep them from the world. And hear the Lord
saying in Psalm 77, I cried with my voice unto God and he heard
me. He heard me. Peter, I've prayed
for you. I prayed for you, Peter. And when you're converted, encourage
the brethren. There's there's there's our hope. Our hope is that we have an advocate
with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one who offers
up prayers. for us. The Lord Jesus Christ had constant
communion with the Father. He was in perfect peace. You
know what it's like when the Lord just cracks open the window
of heaven and allows a little bit of His light to come into
your heart. You feel comfort. You feel hope. You feel peace.
You feel gladness. And we just get a little bit
of it, don't we? And the Scripture says that He
was anointed with the oil of gladness, that's the Spirit of
God, above His fellows. He came as the Christ in the
full anointing of the Spirit of God. So He spent His whole
life in perfect peace, in perfect harmony, in perfect comfort,
in perfect fellowship with His Heavenly Father. The little bit
of, the little taste, of God's grace that we experience moment
by moment, day by day. He had the fullness of it all
the time, all the time. Perfect bliss, perfect strength. And that's what he's saying in
Psalm 77. I cried unto God with my voice. even unto God with
my voice, and he gave ear unto me." When I prayed, me and my father
were just in perfect harmony, in perfect communion, in perfect
fellowship, perfectly all the time. Now that's something we
can't imagine, can we? We don't know what that means.
But here's what the Lord experienced. Something happened in the garden. The sins of God's people began
to be put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now his prayers have changed.
Now he's praying with a heavy heart. Now he's suffering. Now he's agonizing in prayer. Why is he agonizing in prayer?
Why? Why is he sweating great drops
of sweat? A bloody sweat. Why? Because already his fellowship
with the father is beginning to be forsaken. Notice what he says in verse
two. In the day of my trouble, His trouble began. My hour has
come. Glorify thy son." And then what
he prayed in John 17? His prayers change now. Oh, he's
struggling in prayer more than you and I. What causes you and
I to struggle in prayer? It's the lack of awareness of
the presence of God, isn't it? We seek to know Him and sometimes
the heavens are like brass and we just want the Lord's presence
and that's why we're in prayer and hear the Lord's pouring out
His soul in prayer and the Father's not answering. The Father's not
answering. He's not here. He's not responding. He's not communing with the father.
He's doing, in the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. My
soul ran in the night and cease not. My soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God and was troubled. I complained and my spirit was
overwhelmed. Thou holdest my eyes waking. I am so troubled that I cannot
speak. I have considered the days of
old and the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance
my song in the night. I commune with my own heart,
with my own heart. You see, he's communing with
himself now. And my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off forever? And will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean gone forever? Doth his promise fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious?
Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? That's why he cried, My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? His communion with the Father
has been broken because now he's the sin bearer. The sins of his people are being
placed on him and God's eyes, according to Habakkuk, are too
pure to look upon sin. When God saw the sins of his
people on his dear son, See, the Lord Jesus Christ is going
into the holies of holies now. You remember when the high priest,
once a year, went in and had very detailed instructions on
how he was to dress and what he was to wear and how he was
to go in through that veil and put that blood? One thing that
he couldn't forget, don't come in here without blood. Don't
come in here without blood. The Lord Jesus Christ is going
into that holies of holies. And he is putting his blood,
the blood of bulls and goats never put away sin. All those
sacrifices, the old Testament never satisfied the demands of
God's holy justice. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
do it himself. And this is, this is, this is
a window into his heart. You say, well, sometimes I feel
like God's mercies are clean gone. Sometimes I feel like the
Lord has cast me off. Well, we may feel that way, but
God did cast him off. God did forsake him. You see, For God's people, our
sins have been on Christ and put away for all eternity. Even before we knew the Lord,
He knew us. Even before we found deliverance
from our sin, our sin had already been put away before Him. Christ
is that. And that's what the Lord is praying
here. He said, I looked into the days of old. What's the Lord
Jesus Christ doing? He's reflecting back in His own
heart. I communed with my own heart.
I'm crying out to God, but God's not answering. God's cut me off. So I'm communing with my heart
and I'm remembering the days of old. I'm remembering those
times when I was with the Father, experiencing His promises. I remember all the way back in
eternity when we entered in. How do we speak of these things? How do we speak of these things?
We can only talk about them in terms of what we know. In eternity
past, what does that mean? In eternity, leave out the word
past. The Lord Jesus Christ is looking
all the way back, isn't He? Hath God forgotten to be gracious?
Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Yeah. No grace
at the cross. No tender mercies. The fullness of God's wrath and
his justice and his judgment being poured out from heaven
on the Lord Jesus Christ. We have no idea what that means. But we know he did. And we know
he did it for us. We sympathize with somebody goes
through a very difficult time that we've never experienced
and we may we sympathize with them, don't we? We meet someone
who's lost a child or maybe going through some real traumatic experience
and and we can be brought to tears over the trouble that somebody
else has been going through, even though we don't know anything
about it. We've not gone through it ourselves. Well, here we're experiencing
something that's far beyond our ability to comprehend. God break
our hearts and cause us to see what the Lord Jesus Christ did. Turn to me to book of Hebrews. We've looked at this passage
on several occasions in the past. Hebrews chapter 5. Here is Psalm 77. Hebrews chapter
5 verse 7. Who in the days of his flesh
when he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying
and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was
heard and was heard in that he feared. Though he were a son,
yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, and
being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation
unto all them that obey him." Here is the Lord Jesus Christ.
offering his prayers and supplications with tears, trusting God, even
though God, even though he had no fellowship with God, he had
no communion with God. Go back with me. You see how much more encouraging
this psalm is than if we just read it as the words of Asaph,
who's struggling with doubts and fears and depressions and
discouragements? Verse 10, and I said, this is
my infirmity. This is my infirmity. This is
what I agreed to suffer for my bride. But I will remember the years
of the right hand of the Most High. I remember that God hasn't changed. The Lord Jesus Christ now becoming
the sin bearer beginning in the garden and going all the way
through the cross until he bows his head and says, it's finished. It is finished. Father into thy
hands, I commend my spirit. The father hadn't changed. That's
what he's hoping in. His hope is, father, you haven't
changed. I know I've changed in your sight because I'm burying
the sins of my people. But my hope is that you've not
changed. and that your promises are just as true now as they
were when you made them when I was at your right hand. I will remember the works of
the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders of old. There's our hope, isn't it? In
times of affliction, in times of discouragement, remembering
what God has been faithful to do in fulfilling his promises. Now let me give you a little
bit of a warning here because I've heard people say, well,
you know, I remember what God did for me when he blessed me
here and there and spoke to me. I'd be very careful about remembering
those kind of things. Because, you know, maybe that
wasn't the Lord doing that. You know, I've heard people say,
well, I know God's for me because he did this or that for me in
the past. Yes, he's the same today as he was then. And if
he ever blessed you with his grace, you can be sure that he's
not gonna stop. But here, the Lord's telling
us to remember the days of old. Go back beyond your life. Remember
the things that I did for my children in Israel. Remember the promises that I
made in the covenant of grace. Those will sustain you. Your
experiences might be subjective, but these are not. These are
not subjective. I will meditate also on all thy
work, verse 12, and talk of thy doings. I'll meditate on the
work that you've done, the work of redemption, the work of atonement,
the work of satisfaction, the work of justification. Lord,
all those things that you did when you brought your precious
blood into the holies of holies and put that put it on the mercy
seat. There's the work that I'll reflect on. I know your work
was perfect. I know your work accomplished
what you set out to do. And whenever I feel like your
mercies are clean gone, that's what I'll think about. That's
what I'll look to. And I'll also know. that when
you said, are your mercies clean gone forever? They were. They were. You knew what you
were talking about. And I will talk of thy doings. You know, when you get discouraged,
what do you want to talk about? yeah I don't know much about
depression personally I think person has to have a lot more
intelligence than I have to experience real depression but I do know
this I know there's some sin involved in depression I know
there's some self absorption involved in depression I've talked
to people they just well they won't talk about it won't talk
about themselves talk about their troubles their problems their
that You know, it's like going down in a well, isn't it? The
deeper you go, the darker it gets. And here's what the Lord
said, I'll talk of thy doings. Let me talk about what God's
done. That'll bring you out. That'll lift your spirits. That'll
cause you to get your eyes off yourself. Let's talk about what
He's done. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. We saw that in Psalm 73, didn't
we? I was jealous. I envied those who walked with
no bands in their death. They walked in peace. They didn't
struggle with these two natures like I struggle with. And then
I went into the sanctuary of my God and I knew their end. I knew their end. This is the
place to come, isn't it? This is where Christ has lifted
up. This is where we hear about what he's done, what he's accomplished,
what he suffered. Thy way, thy way. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
way. He said, thy way is in the sanctuary. Here's where I'm gonna
lead you. Where am I going to lead you?
I'm going to lead you to look unto Jesus, the author and the
finisher of your faith. I'm not going to lead you to
go to Asaph and figure out how to overcome depression. I'm not
going to lead you to look at Moses and figure out how to be
a leader. I'm not going to do that. These
are men and women who suffered the same thing you suffered,
but they got their answer the same place you're going to have
to get yours. looking onto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
your faith. We are surrounded by such a great
cloud of witnesses. What are they witnessing? They're
witnessing to the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what they're witnessing. Thy way is in the sanctuary.
Who is so great a God as our God? Who's like you, Lord? Who's going to help me? I can't
get help from myself. I can't get help from men. There's
nothing in the world to satisfy my need. Oh, but Lord, who's
like you? Who's like you? Now here's Christ
trusting His Father to deliver Him, even though the Father had
forsaken Him. He had no evidence. in terms
of his feelings, in terms of his experiences, in terms of
the Father communing with him like he had before that night. Remember verse 1, I cried unto
God and he answered me. He heard my voice. But now he's
not hearing me. I have no evidence that he's
even there. He's not making himself known. That's why I remember. I remember
his promises. I remember his works. I remember
his ways. And I come to his sanctuary in
order to hear about what he's done. Verse 14, thou art the God that
doest wonders. Thou hast declared thy strength
among the people. Oh Lord, that's what I need.
I need your strength. I don't need you to bolster my
strength. I need to become without strength
that I might find my strength in Christ. When we were yet without
strength, Christ died for the ungodly. When I'm weak, then
I'm strong. Therefore, glory in my infirmities
is what Paul said. He might become my strength. His strength is made perfect
in our weaknesses, isn't it? Verse 15, Thou hast. Here's my hope. Thou hast. The Lord Jesus Christ knew that
the Father had already put away the sins of His people in the
covenant of grace. He was looking back to those
promises in that covenant. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed
thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Remember the sons of Joseph?
Ephraim and Manasseh. You know, there was 12 sons of
Jacob, but Levi didn't have property because that was the priestly
tribe. Joseph didn't have property,
so we lost two. We've got to replace two. Who
are they? Ephraim and Manasseh. And what a blessing, Ephraim.
Many of God's blessings towards Israel came through the tribe
of Ephraim in the Old Testament. Manasseh was given the most fertile
land and the Lord is saying, not only the sons of Jacob, but
the sons of Joseph too, because they make up the 12 tribes of
Israel. All my people, all my people
are going to be recipients of my blessings, thou hast with
thine arm redeemed thy people. Every one of the sons of Jacob
and Joseph have been redeemed. Redemption is not something that
is made effectual by something we do. The Lord Jesus Christ
actually redeemed. When he shed his blood, he went
into the holies of holies, he took that blood, he put it on
the mercy seat. not a mercy seat built with hands,
not the tabernacle of man, but the tabernacle of God. And God
accepted his offer. The Lord was making himself an
offering to the father. God accepted his offer and said,
paid, redeemed. All the sons of Jacob and all
the sons of Joseph have been bought with a price. The water
saw thee, O God, the water saw thee. They were afraid. Now the
Lord's reflecting back on the dividing of the Red Sea when
Moses was told by God to, you know, the waters got out of the
way. They made a way. The waters were
afraid. And that's likened unto baptism. And he goes on to say, the way
of the Lord is through the seas. And so the things that trouble
us, the things that afflict us are afraid in the very presence
of God. Look what he says. They were
afraid. The depths also were troubled.
The clouds poured out their waters. The sky sent out a sound. Thine
arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was
in the heavens. The lightning lighted the world. The earth
trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, in the
sea. The troubles, the turbulence,
the trials, the afflictions of this life and this flesh is the
way. It's the way that God leads his
people. And the purpose of that is to cause us to look unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of our faith, who knew what it was
to be forsaken of God. He knew what it was to be made
sin. He knew what it was to drink
of that bitter cup. Something we don't know anything
about, but he did. He did. And he pleased the father
with what he suffered. And was rewarded with his church,
his bride for his obedience. Thy way is in the sea, thy path
in the great waters. Thy footsteps are not known. Oh, how true that is, isn't it?
when romans a twenty-eight says that you know that all things
do work together for good you know that use don't know how
we're going to work together for good and and that and the affliction
sometimes bring the house to trouble us you know what i don't
understand what you'd be not going to know by footsteps are
not known man devises his ways but god orders his steps You
know, we make our plans, and God has a purpose in all of it,
doesn't He? He has a purpose. Our God has
got a purpose, and He never fails to fulfill His purpose. That's
what the Lord Jesus is believing here on the cross when He's being
forsaken of God. He's saying, Father, I trust
You. I trust You. I know that Your way is through
this sea. At at Red Sea in the Old Testament,
then interesting this called the Red Sea because it's likened
under baptism. And it's a picture of the of
the of the troubles that the Lord Jesus Christ experienced.
In his death. And we go through that. Dow. Let us. thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses. It was Moses. He's a prophet, isn't
he? I will send to you, the scripture says in Deuteronomy, another
like unto him, the prophet who will come as the word and make
the word of God alive. The word will become flesh. And
how do we know the living word by the revelation of the written
word? Don't we? How do we know this
is what Christ went through because he's telling us, he's telling
us this is what the, by Moses, the prophet and Aaron, Aaron,
your priest, your intercessor, he's going to lead us like a
shepherd leads his flock. And He's going to show us that
the afflictions that He suffered on Calvary's cross. Oh, He understands, brethren,
when our feelings are that communed in my own heart. I've cried out
my heart. It seems like the mercies of
God are clean gone. I don't know. The Lord Jesus
Christ knew that. He knew that. And in spite of the fact that
that was His experience, He believed God. Perfect faith. We don't have it, do we? He did. He did. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, forgive
us for being so self-absorbed, Lord, losing sight of what you've
accomplished for us. Lord, thank you for your word
and thank you for the revelation that you've given us of what
you've experienced in order that we might have life Lord, we thank you for your patience,
your mercy. Your. Your goodness and your grace.
We thank you Lord for pitying us as centers and remembering
that were made of dust. But all what great hope and encouragement
we have that. We have an advocate with the
father, one who wasn't made of dust. One who suffered the full
wrath of. Of your justice and was rewarded
with his people. We ask it all in his precious
name. Amen. All right, let's stand
together, Brother Tom. Number 256, 256, let's stand
together. When peace like a river attendeth
my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot,
thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Though Satan should buffet, though
trials should come, let this blessed assurance control. that Christ hath regarded my
helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious
thought, My sin not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to the
cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. And Lord, haste the day when
my faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back as
a scroll. The trump shall resound, and
the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well. with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul, with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. that's that's like