We turn to God's Word again in
the 22nd Psalm, the Psalm that we read earlier in the service,
Psalm 22, and directing your attention this morning to words
that we find at the end of verse 29, and none can keep alive his
own soul. In Psalm 22, the end of verse 29, and none
can keep alive his own soul. His 22nd Psalm is evidently messianic,
a prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and as you are
aware, When we come to the New Testament we discover how the
actual Hebrew itself of verse 1 is quoted in the Gospel. We have those words in Matthew
27 concerning the death of the Lord Jesus Christ there in Matthew
27 at verse 46. 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? The very words that we have here
at the opening of the psalm. But not only Is it the opening
words that we find Christ uttering there upon the cross, but also
he quotes the final words of the psalm. Those words at the
end of verse 31, He hath done this. or more literally, thee hath
done. The word this in italics has
been introduced by the translators. Literally, it says it is finished
or it is done. And it was these words also,
remember, that we see the Lord Jesus Christ uttering as he comes
to the end of all his sufferings. We're told in John chapter 19
and verse 30. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. Through all of his life, the
one great burden that motivated him was that of accomplishing
the work that the Father had given Him to do in terms of the
eternal covenant. He could say, my meat is to do
the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work was the
work that God had given Him in the covenant that He must accomplish. And so when we See him praying
in the 17th chapter of John, just previous to those sufferings,
that great high priestly prayer. He addresses the Father and says,
I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. And what a word is that? He hath
done this. It is finished, said the Lord
in His dying minutes. Holy Ghost, repeat that word,
full salvation's in it, says the hymn writer. Oh, that God
would indeed be pleased to repeat that blessed word in our souls'
experience, that we might know that the salvation that Christ
accomplished is truly a finished work. He has done all that is
necessary in order to the salvation of his people. He has finished
the transgression, he has made an end of sin, he has made reconciliation
for iniquity, and he has brought in everlasting righteousness. Now the psalm then speaks to
us so clearly of the Lord Jesus Christ from the opening words
of verse 1 to these final words in verse 31. Here we are reminded
in some way of his sufferings, that they were very much physical
sufferings, Now, in verse 6, he says, I am a worm and no manner
reproach of men and despised of the people. How he had to
endure great anguish in his body. He seems to speak of these things,
for example, in verse 14, I am poured out like water. all my bones are out of joint,
my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels, my
strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my
jaws, and thou hast brought me into the dust of death." There
was that aspect to his sufferings, that physical aspect, how he
was treated so cruelly, how he was whipped and the crown of
thorns forced about his brow. and there upon the cross he is
that one who was pierced, as he says here in verse 16, they
pierced my hands and my feet and the spear was thrust into
his side. There was certainly a physical
aspect to the sufferings, that awful Romish form of execution
which was crucifixion. and is very much of course in
that suffering at the hands of men. What a spectacle! And then
he speaks of that here in the prophetic psalm. Verse 12, many
bulls have compassed me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me
round, they gait upon me with their mouths as a ravening and
roaring lion. Verse 16, dogs have compassed
me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierce
my hands and my feet I may tell, all my bones they look and stare
upon me. It was very much a public execution
and how the crowds would gather and witness his terrible sights
as he was put to death there upon the cross. But first in
the psalm we have mention of the fact that he suffers at the
hands of God. Isn't that the significance of
the opening words? He's the chief and the principal
part of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? It was not so much those external
sufferings not so much that physical aspect of what he was experiencing,
dreadful as that was, but really his chief sufferings were those
inward sufferings, those sufferings that he was enduring in his soul. He was in darkness, and he clearly
felt the hidings of the face of God. And isn't this one of
the great beauty with regards to the Psalms? In the Gospels,
in each of the four Gospels, we have some detailed description
of the crucifixion, but when we come to the Psalms and these
Messianic Psalms, we see more the sufferings that were taking
place in the soul of the Lord Jesus Christ. It has been observed
that it's as if the veil is drawn aside and we're
granted a sight of the inward experiences of Christ, those
things that were transpiring in his human soul when he poured
out his soul onto death. Here is the context then. in
which these words that we've announced as a text are found. None can keep alive his own soul. Clearly, as the psalm is a messianic
psalm, it is speaking here principally of the Lord Jesus Christ and
that that was taking place in his human soul. And so first of all, I want us
to consider from these words something of that experience
of Christ. Christ was a real human life. And we're told, are we not, for
as much as the children were partakers of flesh and blood,
he likewise took part of the same. He became a man. He took
upon him not the nature of the angels, but he took upon him
the seed of Abraham. He identified himself. with men. God sends him in the fullness
of the time and he is made of a woman. It is a remarkable statement,
is it not, that we find there in Galatians chapter 4, he is
the seed of the woman. The human nature of the Lord
Jesus Christ is only derived from his mother. Mary the Virgin
is with child, but she's with child of the Holy Ghost. But that human nature, though
his mother was a sinful woman, was of course preserved from
all original sin. What was conceived is spoken
of as that holy thing that would be called the Son of God. We read of God though sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin. He comes to identify with the
sinner, though he himself is the sinless one, and is a man.
Or the reality of that human nature, he had a felt dependence
upon God. He had to live a life of faith
here upon the earth, a life in which he was very much aware
of his dependence. He would pray, we read of him
praying and actually we read of him speaking to the Father
through the night, all night he would spend in prayer to his
Father. For example, in Matthew's Gospel,
And there in chapter 14, we're told, verse 23, when he had sent
the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain of pots to
pray. And when the evening was come,
he was there alone. Away from the multitudes that
were always thronging about him, he sought the face of his God. He poured out his soul in prayers
to God. We're told of him again, are
we not, by the apostle writing in Hebrews chapter 5, who in
the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayer and supplication
with strong crying and tears unto God, he was hurt in that
he fled. though he were a son, yet learned
the obedience by the things that he suffered. He was the Son,
the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father, but here we see him as
a man, a real man who is dependent upon God and he prays. And he
can say on another occasion to God, I knew that thou hearest
me always. He didn't see God's face in vain. But God heard his prayers, but
here he says, Oh my God, I pray in the daytime and thou hearest
not, and in the night season, and am not silent. When he comes
to the end, in all the agonies of his soul, what is he doing
ultimately? Here upon the cross he is pouring out his soul as
a sacrifice to God. In Isaiah 53 we're told, in verse
10, reading with the margin, when his soul shall make an offering
for sin. The text reads, when they shall
make his soul an offering for sin. But the margin, more literally
rendering the Hebrew, when his soul shall make an offering for
sin. How he poured out his soul unto
death. And so here, What does he say
in verse 20? Deliver my soul from the sword,
my darling from the power of the dog. And remember, the parallelism
that is the peculiarity of the Hebrew poetry, and so here, in
verse 20, we see that my soul is equivalent really to my darling. Or as the margin renders it,
my only one. His soul, my only one. What is
a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own
soul? What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? Said this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he was aware of his only
one, his soul. This is that that he is to pour
out unto death, he is to experience that awful curse that has come because of
man's rebellion against God, the punishment of man's sin,
the separation of body and soul. When God created man, we're told,
are we not, in the second chapter of Genesis, his body was formed
of the dust and God breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life and he became a living soul. How these two, body and
soul, belong together, and what is dying, it is the separation,
the tearing apart of the soul from the body. And this is what
he experienced. The Lord Jesus Christ experienced
a real death. A real death. This is the consequence
of man's fall into sin, is it not? What had God said? to Adam
there in the garden concerning the fruit of that tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. He was not to eat of it. There
was a testing of man there in the garden and he was prohibited
that fruit. And God said to Adam quite plainly
in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Or as
the martyr says, in the day that thou eatest thereof, dying thou
shalt die. In a sense, death was immediate.
For Adam and for Eve, death was immediate. That is, that spiritual
death. That spiritual death which meant
an awful separation from God. And then, in due course, there
would be physical death, And then, if not reconciled to God,
whilst here upon the earth, there would be that eternal death.
An eternal separation from God. There are those three aspects,
are there not? The consequence of sin. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. The wages of sin is death. As I said, there is that threefold
aspect. With Adam there was immediate
death, the day that thou eatest thereof, dying, thou shalt die. There was a spiritual death and
then a physical death. And if not reconciled to God,
if not saved, there would be a spiritual death. The wages of sin is death. And so as the sin bearer, the
Lord Jesus Christ must die. As we read here in text this
morning, none can keep alive his own soul. The Lord Jesus Christ must taste
death. This is what he came for. He
came, of course, into this world as the last Adam. That's how he's spoken of, both
in Romans 5 and also in 1 Corinthians 15. He comes as the last Adam. The first Adam then, in many
ways, is a type. of him that was to come, even
the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does Christ do? What Adam had done, in a sense
we might say the Lord Jesus Christ is that one who puts right. Whereas
Adam disobeyed God, the Lord Jesus Christ obeys God. And he became obedient, remember,
unto death, even the death of the cross. He must go to that
extent in his obedience if he's going to reconcile the sinner
to God. That sinner who sinned in Adam,
that sinner who has sinned in his own person, the Lord Jesus
Christ must suffer as his substitute in his room and in his stead. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
one then who is dying. died the just for the unjust,
to bring that sinner back to God. And as he experienced death,
so also, of course, he experienced separation there upon the cross. And isn't this what he is speaking
of in the opening words of the Psalm? He feels forsaken. It's a cry of dereliction, really. He feels deserted. What a mystery
there is, what a mystery there is in the dying of the Lord Jesus
because we know that even as a man upon the earth he is never
anything less than God. He never ceases to be God, even
in the state of his humiliation. Even when he comes into this
world as that one who is the servant of God, in terms of the
eternal covenants, that is the case, but with regards to the
Godhead, he can never be anything less than one who is equal to
the Father, because the three divine persons Father, Son and
Holy Ghost are co-eternal and they are co-equal. And that God
who is one, undivided, is also indivisible. How then can it
be that he who is God, manifest in the flesh, could be forsaken? There's a mystery. There is a
mystery in his dying, there is a mystery of course in his birth,
the mystery of the incarnation, the miracle of the virgin birth,
and so too when he comes to the end of his life. There is that
that we find inexplicable, we cannot fathom it, we cannot understand
it, and yet here is the truth of it. that he is one who experiences
in dying that separation from God. And again we see that that
was the case with regards to our first parents when they sent
in the Garden of Eden. What do we read at the end of
that sad and solemn third chapter of the book of Genesis? when they disobeyed God, when
they fell in with the devil's lie and partook of what God had
forbidden, there is separation. The end of the chapter, therefore
the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the
ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man And he
placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and the flaming
sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of
life." No more is man in paradise, no more in that place where he
can enjoy communion with God. It was a terrible separation
that was experienced by Adam and Eve. And this is the consequence
of sin. Not only death, But separation,
your iniquities, have separated between you and your God, and
your sin hath hid his face from you. And so with those who come
eventually to experience the horrors of that eternal death,
there is for them an eternal separation and the Lord Jesus
Christ speaks of it of course in the course of his ministry
remember Luke chapter 16 where he speaks of the rich man and
Lazarus and how both of them come to die and Lazarus the beggar
is taken into Abraham's bosom and there he is in the presence
of God but what of the rich man Well, he goes to his appointed
place. And there he is in torment. And he cries there and he says,
Father Abram, have mercy on me, said Lazarus, that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am
tormented in this flame. But Abram said, Son, remember
that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise
Lazarus evil things. And now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented. And beside all this, between
us and you, there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which
pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that
would come from thence. There is a great gulf fixed. There is an eternal separation. That is, how is it not to be
eternally separated from the place where God is? Man created in God's likeness,
made in God's image, obviously created to enjoy communion with
God, and yet eternally separated from Him. That is the awful torment.
of how thou hast made us for thyself, said Augustine. Our
souls are restless till they rest in thee. O those who are
in that dreadful place are ever restless, ever find rest, separated
eternally from God, the great God fixed. And the Lord Jesus
Christ, when he comes to experience death, you see, knows what it
is to endure that terrible separation. That's the significance of these
opening words. My God, my God, why art thou
forsaken? Why art thou so far from helping
me? It's a final separation that
the Lord Jesus Christ is enduring and the wonder is, of course,
because of who He is. Because He is God, manifest in
the flesh, there is that which is infinite about His experiences. And so in those hours upon the
cross He endures what His people must have endured for an ever-ending
eternity, when He made reconciliation for sin. We read of him, do we
not, in the course of his ministry, praying to God, in John chapter
12, he says, Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour.
Father, glorify thy Son. It's interesting that the Puritan
John Flavel, with regards to those words, makes the observation
that when he says, now is my soul troubled, now is my soul
troubled, Flavel says it is a word that has the idea of that trouble
that those are experiencing who are in hell, they are troubled. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
troubled as he came to die. He could not keep alive his own
soul, he must die. He was born to die in that sense.
The Lord Jesus Christ does not feign his troubles as he is hanging
there upon the cross. There was a reality. In all those
terrible sufferings he felt these things. he felt the dreadful
burden of those sins that were laid upon him he was no stoic
as he bled and died in those dreadful sufferings upon the
cross and why was it that he had to suffer such agonies? well he was made sin was he not?
he hath made him to be sin says Paul, who knew no sin that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him, he knew no sin
and yet he was made sin we can't just explain it away by saying
well it means he was made a sin offering, he was that but how
he endured, you see, the terrible reality, the awful burden of
all those sins that were laid upon his holy soul he couldn't
keep alive his own soul He sinks under that dreadful burden, the
weight of the sins that were laid upon Him. This is the experience
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we must, as we turn to the Psalm,
recognize that first and foremost. The Psalm speaks of Him. It must
be so. All the Scriptures speak of Him,
as He said to the Jews, search the Scriptures. In them ye think
that ye have eternal life, and these are they that testify of
birth. Whatever part of scripture we come to, we must desire surely
to behold the Lord Jesus Christ. Now sometimes I have people say
to me, and only recently someone said to me, oh I like an experimental
ministry. What do they mean by that? Well
often times I fear that people mean that they want the preacher
just to talk about himself, anecdotes, experiences. That's not real
experimental preaching. Real experimental preaching surely
must be rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ. What was Paul's determination
when he wrote to the Corinthians? He said that he determined to
know nothing amongst them save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Save Jesus Christ, that is the
person of Christ. and Him crucified. That is the
work of Christ. And so this is what He preaches.
Read through the Acts what the Apostles preach. In the Acts
they are preaching Christ. And they are preaching the work
of Christ. They speak of His resurrection from the dead, having
accomplished all that great work. All preaching is to center in
Him. because all the Scriptures center
in him. And so here in Psalm 22, first
and foremost, we're to seek to understand what the Psalm is
telling us about Christ, and the awful reality of those things
that he experienced as a man when he came to make the great
sacrifice for sins. when he poured out his soul unto
death and that fountain was opened for sin and uncleanness the efficacy
of that precious blood that was shed without the shedding of
blood no remission of sins how he had to bleed and die to save
his people but then we have to recognize in the second place
that the Psalm doesn't only speak of Christ but it speaks of the
believer, and it speaks in some measure of the believer's experience. And so I want us to turn to that
for a little while. It is entitled, The Psalm of
David. David is the author of the psalm,
that is, the human author of the psalm. David is writing under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. As Peter says, those holy men
of God in the Old Testament, he's speaking of the Old Testament
Scriptures, those holy men of God spoke as they were moved
by the Spirit of God. So David writes under inspiration,
but David is writing out of his own experiences. This is how
the Spirit of God works. We're not to imagine that inspiration
means that the Spirit simply dictated the words, and men like
David just wrote the words down without any feeling, without
any experience. No, that's not the way of inspiration.
The Spirit so dealt with him as an individual. And he writes
out of the fullness of his own heart, like all those who are
the authors, the human authors of the books of Holy Scripture.
And so here I say, in this psalm, David speaks of himself in some
measure. None can keep alive his own soul. Now isn't that true, friends?
In both the physical and in the spiritual realm. We all have
to come to that. We all have to come to realize
what we are. We are creatures. We are feeble. We are frail. And we are dependent upon God. Jeremiah says, O Lord, I know
that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that
walketh to direct his steps. We are not independent in any
sense. at an impossibility. We are dependent upon God for
the very breath that we breathe. And so we see how in the first
place with regards to experience in the physical realm we all
have to recognize that we are those dependent upon God for
our very being. Psalm 100 and verse 3, Know ye
that the Lord, He is God, it is He that hath made us, and
not we ourselves, or are we not God's creatures? And here in this Psalm we see
David acknowledging that, verse 9, 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." From the very time of his birth, well,
previous to that really, because he says as much in another psalm,
in the 139th psalm, what does he say? He speaks of God forming
him there in the womb of his of his mother, in Psalm 139 verse
13, he says, Thou hast possessed my reins, Thou hast covered me
in my mother's womb. I will praise Thee, for I am
fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvellous are Thy works, and
that my soul knoweth right, while my substance was not hid from
Thee, when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the
lowest part of the earth. He's speaking there of the embryo
in the womb, and how we see the wickedness of men who didn't
destroy unborn babes in the womb, and think nothing of it, don't
recognize what they're about. But there, or there rather in
Psalm 139, David's so conscious, you see, that even when he was
conceived in the womb of his mother, it's all of God. He's dependent upon God and so
when he comes to the birth as he says here in these verses,
verses 9 and 10, he is dependent upon God. Time and again we see
it throughout the Psalms. Psalm 36, verse 6, O Lord, Thou
preservest man and beast. Is it not God Himself who feeds
all His creatures even when a sparrow falls to
the ground. And when the Lord Jesus is speaking
of the sparrow falling to the ground, He's not speaking of
the death of the sparrow. He's speaking how the bird comes
to the ground to find its food and then takes to the air again.
Every time He comes, it's all of God. He doesn't only preserve man,
preserves every part of his creation, and David recognizes this. None
can keep alive his own soul, cannot preserve himself in life,
he's dependent upon God for everything. And David certainly learned that
lesson when he was anointed to be the king, And yet Saul is
still upon the throne, and Saul is full of all manner of hatred
and bitterness towards him, and Saul is constantly seeking to
destroy him. And he says again in the Psalm,
in Psalm 119, my soul is continually in my hand. He felt his life
was so vulnerable. And he says to his friend Jonathan,
there is but a step between me and death. How David, you see,
was made to really feel these things. And so, when he pens
the words of our text this morning, none can keep alive his own soul.
He's not just speaking from theory. Oh, here is a man who knew this
by experience. And it's true of us all, friends,
as the Apostle says there to the Athenians in Acts chapter
17 concerning God in him, we live and move and have our being. And where would we be and what
would we be but for the fact that God is the one who constantly
sustains us, who holds us in the hollow of his hand and preserves
us in life. Now, if that is true with regards
to our physical life, How much more is that true with regards
to our spiritual life? Or do we not know it? None can
keep alive his own soul. No man is able to quicken himself. We cannot give ourselves a natural
life. We have no say at all in our
conception. But God in his Wisdom had appointed
the very day of our birth and so too with regards to the spiritual
realm. We cannot bring spiritual life
into our souls with those who in our very natures are dead
in trespasses and in sins. And if we cannot give spiritual
life to our souls we certainly cannot preserve that life if
we have it in our souls. Remember the Ministry of John
the Baptist said at the end of John chapter 3 John chapter 3
and verse 27 he declares a man can receive nothing except it
be given him from heaven. It all comes from God. And doesn't
the Lord Jesus Christ himself declare that so plainly in the
former part of that third chapter of John? where we have that great
teaching concerning the doctrine of regeneration, the necessity
of the new birth. And he's speaking to a religious
man, the leader of the Jews, verily, verily, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He says, ye must be born again. Oh, how true it is, friend. the
new birth, new life from Him we must receive before for sin
we rightly grieve. And when the Lord comes, what
are the marks of that? This is the thing that we have
to ask, what are the evidences of that new life, that spiritual
life being brought into our souls? Well, Isaiah cries out and he
says, are the laws besides thee about dominion over us? Therefore
by thee will we make mention of thy name." Or we're made,
when God comes to us, we're made to feel the awful horror of our
sins and the lordship that sin has over us. And that we're those
who are in bondage to it. Now we're brought to see that
the very idea of a man's free will is a silly notion. because
our wills are bound to what we are, as sinners. Sin has a lordship. Other lords besides thee have
had dominion over us and we're made to feed it. We cannot deliver
ourselves. By thee only, by thee only will
we make mention of thy name. God must enable us to come and
to seek him and to cry to him. We're not sufficient of ourselves,
says the Apostle, to think anything as of ourselves. Or to be brought
to that, that we cannot even fashion a right thought left
to ourselves. And we see it, we see it so many
times in the Psalms. Look at the language of the Psalmist
there, in Psalm 18, verse 18, he says, Quicken us, and we will
call upon thine eye. All those who want to be saved,
you told me this morning, you would that you were saved. You
want to call upon God, but you want to know that that calling
is real prayer, and that seeking is that that God speaks of. You
shall seek me and find me when you search after me with all
your heart. You say you want to seek with
all your heart. How so? Well, you have to say
to Him, as the psalmist does there in Psalm 18, quicken us
and we will call upon thy name. The quickening must come first.
There must be that communication of spiritual life. None can keep
alive his own soul. It must all come from God. Again,
the language of Psalm 27 and verse 8. When thou said, Seek
in my face, my heart said, Thy face, O Lord, will I seek. But
see the order there. When thou says, When God comes,
and it's not just a bare word of command, it's that quickening
work, it's that effectual work, it's that efficacious grace of
God, when He comes into the soul of a man, when thou says, seek
Him, I face. Ah, then the heart says, I face,
O Lord, will I seek? But not till then. We cannot
give life to our souls, we cannot keep our own souls alive. This
is what David is acknowledging here in the words of our text.
And it's a fearful thing when God begins to show us these truths
concerning ourselves, and our sinfulness, our bondage, our
impotence. When he teaches us that terrible
doctrine of man's total depravity, that a man is unable to do anything.
left to himself. But the guy, look at the language
of the psalmist, Psalm 71, he says, Thou which hast shewed
me great and sought troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt
bring me up from the dust of the earth. Always God quickens you, sir,
and causes the man to see and to feel his sinnership, so God
quickens him again. And he comes then to trust in
the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is spoken of in the psalm.
And so we come back to him, you see, this one who has come just
where his people are, who understands us. He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, is he not? He was tempted in all points
like as we are, yet without sin. Such a gracious Savior, such
a sympathetic High Priest. And this is the one that we have
to look to. And this is the one that we have to call upon. That
he would give us life, and that he would preserve that life when
he has given it, when he has breathed it into our souls. For we know now, not only because
it stands before us on the page of Holy Scripture, we know it
now because God himself has brought it into our very hearts. He's
applied the word. And we are made to feel the truth
of that word. None can keep alive his own soul,
or the Lord be pleased in. So bless his word to us to die,
for his name's sake. Amen.