the first part of it a couple
of Sundays ago, and wanted to finish it up. We weren't here
last Wednesday because of Thanksgiving. But I want to deal with the second
part of it, starting there in verse 21. You remember that this
psalm was written a thousand years before our Lord actually
went to the cross. And it's as if someone was standing
there telling us exactly what went on. exactly what was going
on. And it describes, as Isaiah 53,
Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, when you read those two, those are
first eye accounts of the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes
it's Him speaking, sometimes it's the Father. In this particular
psalm, it's our Lord Jesus Himself, Him speaking. And it's a solemn,
when we come here, it's a solemn thing to look at our Lord Jesus
Christ and His suffering on the cross. And it opens up with our
Lord crying suddenly because He was abandoned by God Himself. My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me? And all this is just abandoned. It's only mentioned two times
in the Matthews and Marks Gospel. And this is the first time in
all of eternity that the Father and Son were separated. And God
said, it's your sins that have separated you from your God.
And when sin was placed on Christ, charged to His account, the Father
being of pure eyes to behold evil and to look upon iniquity,
forsook His own Son in order to receive you and I. and make
us accepted in the beloved. It's the only way that God could
be just and punish our sins and justify us when we come to believe
on His dear Son who bore our sins in His own body on the tree.
So we, our sins were paid for. Christ said, I'll pay their debt.
I'll pay for their sins. I'll die the death that's due
them, the punishments that do them. The wrath of God that's
due them, if you'll let them go and give
them my righteousness. And our Father said, I'll do
that. And our Lord Jesus Christ. That's how God can be just. I
was punished for my sins. I was forsaken of God on the
cross. And that's why the rule goes on the Savior. You know,
and not only was the Father and Son separated there, the first
and only time, We witness the contempt that humanity had for
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, they, they said, you know,
he said, they said, you know, they laugh me to scorn, they
shoot out their lips at me. Call them as animals, he says,
the bulls and the roaring lion. And how he suffered in his physical
body, beaten beyond recognition. His tongue was cleaving to his
mouth because he was so parched. He called them dogs. And that
was like animals around him. Jesus our Lord was surrounded
by them. Blasphemies came from the lips of those that were around
him. And you know where the torment came from and all that blasphemy
came from those animals that surrounded him? It was us. It
was us. It was us. And all that physical
torment that our Lord Jesus suffered on the cross, we can't imagine,
but the spiritual torment, being forsaken of the Father, and crucifixion,
what an awful, awful death to die, is capital punishment for
crimes. And even though our Lord had
no crimes of His own, He suffered for our crimes. Was it for crimes
that He did groan? upon that tree. Was it for crimes
that I had done? The Mighty Maker died. Well might
the sun in darkness hide, and shut his glories in. When Christ
the Mighty Maker died, for man the creatures sinned." And so
I want to start there. And our Lord, even though He
was in such a state on that cross, He knowed that God would remain
faithful to him. He remained confident, I should
say, in the faithfulness of the Father to him and what the Father
would do for him. He said there, save me from the
lion's mouth. Paul said the same thing. The
Lord saved me from the lion's mouth, just like he saved Daniel.
And that's what our Lord said. The lions, they came around me
and they ravening as roaring lions. He said, save me from
the mouth of the lions. You've heard me from the horns
of the unicorn. from the horns of those deer
that had those little horns. He said, You saved me from the
lion's mouth. And that's what he did. He says,
Lord, this is the cry of the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ. But look what it said here. Our
Lord Jesus came to accomplish the salvation of His people.
And it says there in verse 22, I will declare thy name unto
my brethren in the midst of the congregation, while I praise
thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him. All ye in the seat
of Jacob, glorify him, and fear him, all ye seat of Israel."
Our Lord came here to accomplish salvation, the salvation of His
elect, and He despised the shame. We sang it in the hymn tonight.
That's why Peter said, or Paul said, you know, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him, what joy? The joy of satisfying his
Father, honoring his Father, glorifying his Father, the joy
of fulfilling the scriptures, the joy of saving his people. For the joy that was set before
him, he despised the shame. Oh, he was ashamed what they
did to him. And he bore shame and scoffing
rude. When he in my place condemned,
he stood. He despised that cross, that
shame, but he endured that cross, despising the shame, and he sat
down at the right hand of the Father, because that's what he
came to accomplish. And I tell you, it says in Isaiah
53, it pleased the Lord to bruise him to make his soul an offering
for sin. He shall see his seed shall prolong
his day, and the pleasure of the Lord prospers in his hands. And I tell you, look over here,
it says there, I will declare thy name unto the midst of the
congregation. You know, this is in Hebrews
2. Look in Hebrews 2. Our Lord Jesus
Christ said the same, Paul said the same thing over here about
what our Lord would do in our union with Christ. He said, I
will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the
congregation. That means with his resurrection,
and that's what he did all the days of his life. He proclaimed
the name of God. He proclaimed God. He said, how
can you receive honor one of another who does seek the honor
from God? Came down from heaven to honor,
glorify my father, not myself. Look what he said here. In verse
10, for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are
all things and bringing many sons under glory to make the
captive of salvation perfect through suffering. For both he
that sanctifies and they who are sanctified, Christ who sanctifies
us, And they who he sanctifies were warned. Now listen to this,
for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Now what
they say, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the
midst of the church, will I say praise unto thee. Now how in
the world did we learn the name of God? How did we learn anything
about God? Our Lord Jesus Christ saying His praises to us. He
sang the name, the praises, and He declared His name among us. That's how we learn the name
of God. That's how we learn about God. Christ taught us. Our Lord
Jesus Christ says, nobody knows the Father, only the Son, and
He to whomsoever we repent. And so our Lord Jesus Christ
came here, and that's why he said to Philip, when Philip said,
Show us the Father, and that will be sufficient. You know
what he said? If you've been with me such a long time and
you've not seen me, he that has seen me, seen the Father. So,
beloved, that's what our Savior does every time we meet. He declares
the name of the Father. He makes us know about God. If
you see, everything that God is, the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, dwells in our Lord Jesus Christ. When you saw Christ,
you saw God. If you want to know God, you've
got to see Christ. If you want to have a relationship
with God, it's in Christ. If you want to be accepted of
God, it's in Christ. If you want to glorify the Father,
it's in Christ. And God, Christ came and made
God known unto us. And he said, I'll declare thy
name. Where'd he do that? What'd he say? In the middle
of the congregation, in the midst of the church. And he calls them his brethren.
Oh my, we call Him Lord, we call Him Savior, we call Him Master,
we call Him Redeemer, we call Him justify, we call Him Jehovah's
to give you the Lord our righteousness, and then He turns around and
says, you know what? You're my brethren. Not ashamed to call
us brethren. Oh my. You see, that's why Paul
said, I could wish myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren. And I tell you what, our Lord
Jesus Christ, He didn't die just for Jews. He died, you know,
Paul said this, he says, but they're not all Israel, which
are of Israel. Neither because they're the seed of Abraham,
but all thy children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be
crowned. And I tell you what, and I'm
going to tell you something else. Look over at Mark 3 with me just a
moment. Mark chapter 3. You know, we've
seen that where our Lord Jesus Christ said, I'm going to talk,
I'm going to tell the Father. I'm going to tell the children.
I'm going to tell everybody about you, Lord. I'm going to come
tell everybody about you. And how many times did our Lord
say, I am? How many times did He say, I
am? You go through the New Testament.
You just go through the Gospels. And I believe it's seven times
our Lord called Himself, I am. Seven means perfection, completeness.
He was God manifested in the flesh. I am the life of the world. I am the bread of life. I am. I am. And oh, look what he said
here at Mark chapter 3 and verse 35, talking about brethren, being
brethren. Verse 31, And there came then
his brethren, his mothers, and standing without sin unto him,
calling him, and the multitude said about him, and they said
unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek
of thee. And the answer said, Who is my mother? Who are my
brethren? And he looked round about on
them which said about him, and he says, Behold my mother and
brethren, for whosoever shall do the will of God, the same
is my brother, my sister, and my mother. Who is it? Do the will of God. Oh my. Then look back over here what
else he said in Psalm 22. He said in verse 23, You that fear the Lord, praise
Him. That's what Christ is telling
us now. You that fear the Lord, praise Him. Bless His holy name. Give praises unto God. We have
no one else to praise but Him. He did it all. He entered into
the covenant. He sent His Son. He commended
His love toward us. He's the one who provided us
a Savior. He's the one who sent Christ
of the seed of a woman. And, O Beloved, are you the seed
of Jacob? Who's the seed of Jacob? I told
you they're not all Israel, which are of Israel. You know, I tell
you what, we're in the true circumcision, worship God in the Spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus. That's who we are. Are you the
seed of Jacob? Jacob had twelve sons. He is
Israel. Well, we're the spiritual Israel.
We're the one called of God and all His people. And all you in
the seat of Jacob, glorify Him! Glorify Him in your words, in
your preaching, in your praying, in your lives, and fear Him! All you in the seat of Israel.
Stand in awe of Him. Walk before Him quietly, softly,
humbly, honoring Him, blessing Him, praising Him. And then he
says, look here, this is an incredible verse of scripture right here.
For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the
afflicted. Now he was afflicted, greatly
afflicted. And then when he looks at us
who are afflicted, he doesn't despise us, he doesn't abhor
us, and we have affliction, and we have the afflicted among us.
And you know what? Even though he was afflicted,
he doesn't despise. He looks at us and look what
he says. Neither has he seen his face from. We did our best
to wear our faces from him when he was stricken, smitten of God.
But he sees us in our afflictions, sees us in our burdens, sees
us in all our troubles and our heartaches and our sorrows. And
what does he do? He said when he cried unto him,
he said, I hear you. I hear you. Keep Psalm 22 and
look in Isaiah 63. That's why it's so wonderful.
I cannot imagine. I was talking to Joyce this morning.
Do you know what it would be like to live in this world and
the people that you love and not have anyone to go to and
turn to? No hope to go through this world
and leave this world and have no hope. No one to talk to, no
one to take your burden to. That's why Mary and Martha said
when Lazarus got sick, they sent word immediately to Christ, said,
He whom thou lovest is sick. And just as quick as he got there,
said, Lord, if you would have been here, he wouldn't have died.
The Lord's always present. And we're all going to go that
way. But in all of our afflictions, He was afflicted. In all of our
sorrows, He bore our sorrows. And when we're afflicted, And
we call on Him. He listens. He don't turn His
face away like we did Him. He don't turn His face away.
He said, I don't abhor them. I see their afflictions. I see their burdens. I see that
great heartache. I see that body that's so weak.
I see that mind so depressed. I see those things. I see everyone.
And He said, I will hear them when they call on Me. I'm going
to listen. I'm going to listen. And look what he said here in
63 and 9. Listen to this. Bless his holy name. In all their
affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence
saved them. Listen to this. In his love and
in his pity he redeemed them, and he buried them and carried
them all the days of You think you can buy all that
by yourself? He's tearing you. He's tearing
you. And guess what? He ain't going
to set you down until He sets you down in glory. Ain't going
to set you down until He sets you down in glory. And oh, beloved,
look what He says there in verse 25. He says, My praise shall
be of thee again in the great congregation. My praise shall be of thee in
the great congregation." And that great congregation is all
of his people, all of his saints of all ages and all places. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, My
praise shall be of thee. I'm going to praise you. I'm
going to honor you. I'm going to speak of you. And
I'm going to praise my Father. I'm going to bless His holy name.
I'm going to call him my righteous father. I'm going to call him
the one. And he told Mary, he said, Mary,
test me not, for I'm not yet ascended to my father and your
father, my God and your God. And he says, my praise should
be of them, the great congregation. And he says, you know what? I'll
pay my vows before them that fear him. And you know what he
did? He said, Father, all that you've
given me, I've not lost a one of them. All that you've given
me, I've kept them. He said, I paid my vows. I told
you that I'd die for them, I did. Told you I'd pay their debt,
I did. Told you that I'd never lose one, I haven't. Told you
that I would keep them through thy name and word. Told you that
I'd sanctify them, and I did. Everything I told you that I'd
do and I vowed to do for them, I did it. He said, I kept my
vow. And that's our salvation, is
what? Between God the Father and God the Son. Our salvation
is in what they did. And if that covenant can be broke,
then we can be lost. But because the Father and the
Son entered into that covenant and Christ made those vows. You
reckon Christ could break His Word? You reckon His Word could
ever fall to the ground? No. No. I'm not going to. He calls it a great congregation.
What makes it a great congregation? God made it great. God made it great. He's the one
that made it great. He's the one that made a multitude
that no man can number. And I'll just say this as an
aside. I personally believe that there'll
be a greater congregation in heaven than there will be in
hell. I don't believe that the devil
will end up with more people than Christ did. I just don't
believe that could possibly happen. And I'm going to tell you why.
Every infant that's ever died, Every child that's ever died,
every Down syndrome child, every person
that was born with a mental deficiency that could not think for themselves
and do for themselves. Now, you think for a minute that
God would let Christ not have a lesser congregation than the
devil would? I don't believe it for a minute.
I just don't. Even though hell has enlarged
itself every day. But you think of all the children
in the flood. You think God, it was the wicked. And I tell you, I know that they
wasn't innocent. But I believe that Christ entered
into covenant agreement to take those unto themselves. I believe
that He entered into covenant agreement. I believe that He
took their sins upon Himself. And I believe just like He had
to give us faith, I believe when they entered into glory, He gave
them faith. I believe that they had to repent. I believe our
Lord Jesus Christ in His death bought their repentance, paid
for everything that God required from them. He gave it to them
and gave it for them. That's why it's called a great
congregation. Now you think about that for a little while. I just do not believe Let's take,
do you get it? The devil will walk up to God
and say, I got more than you did? And you sent your son to
die? And I got more than you did? I just can't see that happening. By that time, he's going to be
in a chain and he won't open his mouth ever again. He'll be
in that bottomless pit. And all he says, and I'll tell
you what, makes it a great congregation, God made it great. And Christ
saved a great congregation. In fact, he said it's a multitude
that no man can number. Ten thousand times ten thousands
and thousands. In fact, our Lord Jesus Christ
has a kingdom, and I'll tell you, and he said he'd have an
everlasting dominion. And I tell you, God's elect,
and our Lord, they come out of every tribe, kindred, and tongue,
and our Lord pledged to redeem all of them. He's fulfilled.
He's fulfilled. There's people, I'll give you
an illustration, there's people in China right now, got computers. They get to watch preaching on
computers. I read about a young girl who
has a computer, and she's got to listen to grace preaching
on computers. Gather her family around and
say, you've got to watch this, you've got to listen to this.
And there's people that, him and me, I don't know how many
of his sermons have been translated into Chinese. by a woman that
we know, and she takes his messages and translates them into Chinese
so that they can be broadcast into China. You think God ain't got some
elect out of every place? That's the time you think he's
giving up on a place, he goes back in there, there's one of
my elect, there's one of my sheep, and he goes against him. Oh, bless His name. What did
He say? My praise shall be unto Him,
and I'm going to pay my vows. Now, He's paid His vows. He said,
I've got other sheep, and they're all over the place, and I'm going
to go get every single one of them, and I'm going to bring
them to you. Oh, listen, let's get down here
to verse 26. Oh, our Lord Jesus is so wonderful. Oh, what a Savior. What a Savior.
The meat shall eat and be satisfied. You know what the meat means.
That means people that don't put themselves forward. They're
pliable. They're submissive. And they
shall eat and be satisfied. I'm satisfied with what Christ
feeds me with. Aren't you? I'm well satisfied. I've got the children's bread,
and I'm well satisfied with it. And they shall praise the Lord
that seeketh Him. When the Lord seeks us that meat,
He seeks out the meat, they shall praise the Lord, because He's
the One. Blessed are the meat, and your heart, He looks what
He says, and your heart shall live forever and ever. I was
listening to a preacher yesterday, and he says, now when you hear
that I'm gone and I'm dead, that I've passed away, he said, don't
you believe a word of it. He said, I'll just start living
whenever you hear that. I'll just, I'll never die. He said, my heart's gone there
forever. When they say I'm gone, just don't believe a word of
it. I'm just talking. No, when they say he's passed
away, no, no, no, no, no. He's just gone to glory. Oh, I think I could have shouted.
I was running while I listened to that. I just about got off
the treadmill and shouted. Oh, that blessed my heart to
know Him. But all you hear is passed away.
He said, don't believe a word of it. Oh, listen. Look what else he
said. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto
the Lord. All the ends of the world. He said, Ask of me the
heathen for thine inheritance, and I'll give them to him. You
go to the east, the west, the north, and the south. And not
what he said in Isaiah 43. He said, Give it up! Give them
up! And all they shall remember,
and they'll turn unto the Lord. They'll remember their sin. They'll
remember His redemption. They'll remember His blood. They'll
remember His cross. And they'll turn unto the Lord.
And all the kindreds of the nation shall worship Thee. All people
from all nations are going to worship You. And then look what
He says, For the kingdom is the Lord's. You know, Pilate asked
Him, he says, He said, are you a king? He says,
thou sayest. And he said, if I have a kingdom,
it's not of this world. My kingdom, not of this world.
If I did, we'd fight. But our kingdom, not of this
world. And I tell you, our Lord Jesus, even us as subjects of
his kingdom, we're not of this world. Not of this world. And
he said, his kingdom, the kingdom is the Lord. And always, forever,
and oh Lord, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. And I love
this, that here's the governor among all the nations. Who's
governing this place? Oh boy, there's some people I
just don't even want to hear talk, you know. I just despise
hearing their voice. But boy, I always think, boy,
the Lord's governing this place. The government's on His shoulder.
His shoulder. And He goes on to say, and all
they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship. Oh, He's made
us fat. Made us fat with the gospel.
We'll eat that bread from heaven. We'll eat that manna and drink
from that rock. We shall be fat and eat and worship.
And all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him.
And there we are, we worship Him with fat, we put ourselves
in the dust, make our headquarters down there, and we bow before
Him. And all that that what He says, every knee shall bow and
every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. Oh my, that's what they all bow
down before Him, and we do it gladly. And look what He said,
and none can keep alive his own soul. That's what we know. That's why we bow, that's why
we worship Him. That's why we bow down in the
dust before Him. That's why we go down before
Him and bow before Him, because we know that we can't save ourselves,
and we come to Him, who only alone can save us and keep us
alive. Keep us alive. And then, oh,
I love this right here. Just love this right here. And
a seed, a seed shall serve Him. He said, I'll never leave myself
without a witness. He said, oh Elijah. He said,
it's just me Lord, it's just me. He said, Elijah, bless your
heart. He said, I got 7,000, they've
doubted me a billion. He said, I'll always be a seed.
There'll always be the elect worshiping him. And all this
shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. You know what
that means is? There'll be his generation. You
know, I'm the second generation, I'm the first generation of my
father, second from my grandfather. Generation, generation, generation.
Well, our Lord Jesus Christ, He has one generation. One generation. Every one of us, every child
that's been born of God has one Father. One God, one Father,
and one Lord Jesus Christ. One generation. Adam, Able. One generation. That's all he's
got. And oh, listen to this. I love
it right here. Now listen. Listen to what he
says. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness. Oh,
my. Unto a people that shall be born
that hath done this. Oh, listen to me now. They shall
come and declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born."
Who does this? You and I do. We declare what
righteousness? His righteousness. Declare His
righteousness. Our Lord's kingdom, beloved,
is, you know, when we go out into the world, when we have
something to say to anybody that's unconverted, it's the gospel
that conquers them. It's the word of God that conquers
them. And He does it through the preaching of the gospel.
The gospel's able to conquer the most wicked and violent people
in this world. It's powerful beyond anything
else in this world. And so we declare His righteousness. His. We say, not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name be glory, for thy truth's sake,
thy mercy's sake. And who does he entrust with
the gospel? He says, they shall come. Who's they? You and me.
When we get a chance to witness, you can send a tape, you can
send a CD, you can send a bulletin, you can talk, you can witness,
you can pray before your meals and say, Lord, when people's
unconverted in your house, talk about the righteousness of Christ
in your prayer. I have no righteousness here
before you, Lord. I have nothing to come before
you, but just with thanksgiving for what you've done and who
you are. And then look who you said to. You declare this righteousness
unto a people that shall be born. We don't know who they are, but
they shall be. And that only one message don't
do it. And that's the message of Christ. Declare His righteousness.
And listen to this now. Listen to this. And what are
we going to declare that He hath done this? It's finished. It's done. It's a done deal. Oh, He's declared He is righteous
to people and to people. What did what? We don't declare.
He done this. It is finished. The same cry
that's from the cross. Oh, my. Oh, that's all great. That's
it. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken us? And we go to the cross, and after
we've been there, we come back and start declaring His righteousness. Because we see, born of Him,
His generation, declaring His righteousness. And when we declare
His righteousness, people's going to be born, because we say, He
did it. He did it all. It is finished. Well, then, who done this righteousness?
He did. He hath done this. He hath done
this. What a gospel. What a gospel! Starts out with Christ being
forsaken and us blessing His holy name. Him talking to us
in the midst of the congregation, telling us about His Father and
the great salvation He accomplished. Oh, bless His name. Oh, our Father. Oh, our gracious,
gracious God. What a wondrous gospel we have.
What a truth You've taught us. What joy fills our heart. What
great peace there is in believing. Our hearts are filled. Oh, as
David said, our cup runs over, runs over, and I thank you for
it. Bless these dear saints of God.
And Lord, those who are so sick among us, whose bodies are so
weak and so frail, we ask for Thy great abundant mercy. an
abounding grace. We know Your grace abounds where
Your strength is made perfect in weakness. And Lord, we behold
that constantly and continually. As Paul said, Who is weak? Who
is weak? And Lord, we all are. So make
Your strength be perfect in our weakness. Bring glory to Yourself
through us. Oh, God, help us to declare Your
righteousness. We ask in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.