When we think about the cross
and we think about the sufferings of Christ, we think about all
that we learn from the word of God concerning his atoning work. Reality is, is that there is
really only one specific place in your Bible where you get a
view of the cross from the cross. And that's amazing too, as much
as the, Theology of the atonement and the cross of Jesus Christ
is for us our actual identity as believers. We are Christians
who bear the cross of Christ both objectively as the means
of our salvation and then subjectively because we are partakers of the
divine nature. And we all ought to know something
by now of what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus
if you are a believer. And I hope to press some of that
experiential work of which our Lord has chosen and designated
to share with his church with you tonight. But as I stated,
there are only two places in the word of God where a vivid
first person testimony of Christ's suffering on the cross is given. The two places are where we are
normally introduced to the seven sayings of our Lord, which we'll
look at here shortly. Then the other place is Psalm
22 where we just were which is what I'm going to develop a little
bit for us tonight what I mean that there is no other place
in scripture where you get our gain or acquire a First-hand
account is because every other place in the scripture the Spirit
of God speaks about the sufferings of Christ as a witness to his
sufferings but the Spirit of God does not Himself speak from
that place of suffering in the stead of Christ. That you were
privileged to hear in part in Psalm 22, which we will go back
and look at here shortly. And I pray that the Spirit of
Christ would work to help you see the enormous experience of
Jesus Christ Himself from that place. This is why what I am
calling our message tonight is a view of the cross from the
cross. They have said that Isaiah is
like the fifth gospel or even a pre-gospel narrative in Isaiah
chapter 53. It's one of those places where
you and I know that it speaks of Jesus Christ, behold my servant. And then he talks about how he
shall grow up before him as a tender plant, how that he is despised
and rejected of men, and how that surely he hath borne our
griefs. And you have heard this too,
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter. But that's a narrative
about Christ's sufferings. It is not Christ speaking in
the first sense. You and I are observing what
happens to our master, but we are not aware of what he thinks
about it. That's only given to us in Psalm
22 and in the seven sayings, which I hope to tie together
for us tonight. The explicit firsthand testimony
is given in Psalm 22. And so I would have you to go
back there as we begin to work this through. Here, you and I
will learn some things about the God-man, the God-man. And as I said in the opening
of our worship tonight, and that's truly what I pray it becomes
for you is worship. We are standing on holy ground.
There is no more holy ground than Calvary, than the place
where our master revealed the glory of his father and the glory
of himself as the only substitute for sinners. And there we get
an opportunity to learn about Him who loved us and gave Himself
for us. And so what I would call your
attention to as we look at this language is the fact that Christ
is burying the wrath of God in the place of sinners. I know when I say that, that
does not necessarily strike you as overwhelmingly strange when
it should. Why is Christ hanging there? Why is the Son of God on Calvary's
tree? What put him there? I submit
to you two reasons for which Jesus is hanging on that cursed
tree. The first is the will of His
Father. The will of God. The Lord Jesus
Christ is hanging between heaven and earth at this time because
of the will of His Father. But not just the will of His
Father. The will of man. There are two wills operating
here at this moment. The will of God and the will
of man. The purpose of God is working
right now, and the purpose of man. The desire of God, the counsel
of God, and the wisdom of God is working at Calvary, is it
not? But also the desire of man, and the foolish wisdom of man,
and the outrageous counsel of man is also working at the same
time in one place. They have converged in a blatant,
open, hostile opposition, one toward the other, in that one
place, on that one person. Christ is hanging between heaven
and earth because of God and because of man. That's why he's
there. And the reality is this, that
the reason why Christ is hanging on Calvary as a consequence of
the will of men is because men reject God's Son. All of humanity has rejected
Him. And if you have not worked it through by nature, you would
reject Him too. By nature, we all have rejected
Him, have we not? Is that not the way that the
author puts it in Isaiah chapter 53? We all hid, as it were, our
faces from Him. We esteemed Him, stricken and
smitten and afflicted of God. We turned our faces from Him. We would have done the same thing.
Had we been there, our counsel would have been, crucify Him!
It's called rejection, ladies and gentlemen. Rejection. This
is an astonishing fact. This is what Acts chapter 2 says.
By the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, that's
God's will, have you with wicked hands crucified the Lord of glory. God's will and man's will meet
at the same place at the same time and they collide. And what
man says by that, by that action is, to a holy God, we reject
you. We reject you. And guess what
God says to them? I can handle it. Can you? Can you? God can handle our rejecting
him, but will we be able to handle
it when he rejects us? The cross, I submit to you, allows
us to contemplate that ultimate question that we will all have
to face. Will we be able to handle what
God's Son handled when men rejected Him and God rejected Him? Very good question, isn't it?
Which brings me to my first point as we work this through. Psalm
22, verse one. I'm gonna go through a basic
observation of what I call seven observations of the master's
perspective from the cross in Psalm 22. Seven observations
to lay a foundation. And then we'll move forward into
the seven sayings of Christ. And I wanna deal with the fifth
saying tonight just to nurture our thoughts around the ominous
nature of this work. Seven observations, seven observations. So in Psalm 22, verse one, will
you mark what it says? My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? The way Matthew puts it is, Eli,
Eli, lama sabachthani. And Mark puts it this way in
the Aramaic, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. Which is really
interesting because if you follow me in my outline, here's what
I'm saying. The question that's raised in
Psalm 22 verse one, is what I call an inexplicable predicament. This is why you gotta slow down
when it comes to the cross. I'll raise the question, how
can God forsake God? This is what I mean by the inexplicable
predicament. How can God abandon God? This is the question that the
son is raising my god my god Why have you forsaken me? that's
the theme of psalm 22 verses 1 through 20 the essence of it
the the the Fundamental reaction of god against sin Is that god
must reject it. He must neglect it. He must have
been it but he has abandoned He has neglected He has rejected
his son. Has he not? Listen to the language.
I want you to hear the God-man, not just the God, the God-man.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Have you ever felt
forsaken? Now listen to the exegetical,
the explanation of what it means to be forsaken. You are far from
helping me. That's what he means. You are
far from helping me. The sense of my experience Father,
is that you are far from helping me. You are far from the words
of my roaring. Amazing. Christ is calling on God and
he is not sensing him. That's called abandonment. That's
called rejection. That's called neglecting someone. When you hear them crying and
roaring and you don't respond, and they alone depend on you. So the master from the depths
of his soul, this is not theatrics. It's saying, I've called, I've
called, I've called, I've cried out, I've cried out, and you
are not only not helping me, you are far from helping me. He builds this argument in verse
two, oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but you are not hearing
me. And in the night season, I don't
stop. I don't keep silent. I'm crying even more at night.
That's a woeful condition, isn't it? Please slow down when you
read your Bible. And especially when you hear
the words of God, let him show you what he experienced. So you can learn something about
suffering. so that we might bear the imago
Dei in the redemptive sense and be happy that we never ever have
to go through this. Point number two, a remembrance
of God's faithfulness. They're described in verses three
through five. Not only does he plea and acknowledge in confession
that his father's not hearing him, but then he goes on to say
something quite interesting, very insightful, and certainly
instructive for people of God. Oh my God, do you notice that
he doesn't charge God with folly? He returns to saying what? Oh
my God, my God who has forsaken me, my God who has neglected
me, my God who has rejected me. You're still my God. You're still
my God. You're going to learn something
tonight. You're still my God. Because you know what people
will do? Tell the truth. People will determine whether
God's going to be their God, so long as God's doing what they
want him to do. And what the Son of God is saying
is, no matter what you do, you are my God. Are you hearing me? No matter
what you do, you're still my God. If you save me, you're my
God. If you don't save me, you're
still my God. But then he says something quite
instructive. He says, Oh Lord, my God, I cry. You don't hear
me, but you are holy. Verse three. And you inhabit
the praises of what? Oh, another deep, profound theological
truth for the child of God to capture and brace and own and
use in the time of trouble. See what our master is doing
here? I can tell you what he's doing. He is reminding us of
God's nature and character. That God loves to dwell in the
praise of his people. That God loves to hear his people
call upon him. That God not only enjoys, that
God is by nature inclined to be in the midst of those that
call upon him. You know the scripture, call upon me in times of trouble.
and I will deliver you and you will glorify me. It's God's nature
to deliver those that call on him. Is that true? This is what
makes this so strange. The son of God is reminding God
of his nature to dwell with and participate in the weakness and
the sufferings and the trouble of the people of God. You know
what he's saying? God, this is what you do. This is what you
do. This is who you are. Have you
found him to be that way, saints? Have you found God to show up
when you cry out and call upon him and then wait on the Lord?
Will he come? Now watch this. He then reminds
the father of how faithful he has been to the church in time
past. Our fathers trusted in you. They
trusted and you delivered them. They cried unto thee and you
delivered them. They trusted in thee and they
were not confounded. You see what he's doing? He's
juxtaposing his own experience with the experience of the saints
before, and he's saying, you delivered them over and over
and over again. In fact, had God not delivered
all the saints from the days of Adam to the days of Mother
Mary, Christ would not even be here. The Son of God is appealing
to the faithfulness of God, the covenant keeping God to do what
he has always done. We must be dealing with a massive
mystery of redemptive proportions that we cannot understand for
God to now break with his pattern of faithfulness to all the saints
from the beginning of time to now and then stop with Christ. Something awful must be taking
place. for God to appear to be out of
character. Are you guys hearing me? This
is profound. This is profound. Third point. He goes on the call to do what
I call a confession of our absolute depravity. After he acknowledges
that through the ages of time, God, you have delivered your
people. There will not be one person in heaven or in hell who
will be able to say that God lied, that God failed or that
God changed. But look at verse six. Here's
the conundrum. Here's the mystery. Here's the
paradoxical reality. But I am a worm and no man reproach
of men and despised of the people why do I describe this statement
in verse 6 this way a confession of our absolute depravity experienced
by him because it's our ugliness that he's bearing it's our ugliness
it's our sin that has sunk us so low that we have lost, as
it were, the beauties and splendor of the image of God, and we are
like worms, are we not? We are all like worms. And here
the son has descended even lower by identifying himself as less
than a worm. You step on worms. You crush
worms. You lowly esteem worms. You regard
worms not. The furthest distance between
a man and a worm is here contemplated. It's a man talking, but he views
himself as a worm. And this is a consequence of
all of our sin being poured upon him. My sin alone makes him a
worm. Do you hear me? And the interesting
thing about this is that he feels that I don't. I have never thought
myself to be a worm. Wormy, yes. A worm, no. You know how we do. You know how we feel bad? You
know how we view ourselves in as negative a light as we possibly
can, right? You know how we struggle with
depression and how we struggle with low self-esteem and how
we really struggle with our character and our attributes and who we
are? Can I get a witness? Now watch
this. But have you ever said, I'm just a worm? I'm less than
a worm. You have not. Because you don't
know what that's like. because all you bear is your
own sin, not the sin of all of God's people from the beginning
of time to the end of the world. That weight crushes you down
when you think of the fact that God is forsaking you because
of you. That's what's going on here.
But I am a worm and less than a worm, and I'm a reproach of
men and despise of the people You and I should be talking like
that. Not him. You and I ought to be talking
like that. We deserve what we get. Because we are filthy and
nasty and sinful and wrong, aren't we? We make a ton of mistakes,
don't we? And we do it openly and blatantly
and against God. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. We act way out of our high dignified
calling as the sons of God. He created us in his image and
his likeness with his attributes and qualities and gave us dominion
over the world. We're supposed to rule over everything
with God, but we act like worms, bereft of any moral, ethical,
spiritual attributes. You don't ever expect a worm
to do right or wrong. But this is the way Christ is
feeling at this time because of what he's experiencing. Fourth
point, the response of what I call the blind and the ignorant to
the mystery of the atonement. Look at verse 7 and 8. He says,
they laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. That
is, they run off at the mouth. They shake their head. When you
do that, you are portending that you know something. You're acting
as if you are above and beyond the frame, that you are outside
of the scope of the experience of that thing, and you are showing
a condescending pity on them. Really, this demonstrates the
blindness of humanity. So I'm gonna give you a truth,
child of God, around the cross. If we shake our heads and we
act as if these men are acting, and we go, poor Jesus, we miss
his glory. We totally miss his glory. The cross does not elicit from
us pity It elicits from us wonder and silent awe that Christ would
trade places with us. Are you hearing me? He never
asks for pity. He's walking to the cross and
the professional mourners start crying and he turns to them and
say, do not weep for me. You don't understand. I run this
thing. You're totally missing the point.
Weep for yourself, because you're coming here. Remember what I
said earlier? Mankind rejects him. He says,
I can handle it. But can you? In the day when
God rejects humanity, will they be able to handle it like Jesus
handled it? But here's what they say in their
blindness and ignorance. He trusted on the Lord that he
would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he
trusted in him. You guys hear these words, don't
you? Matthew, Mark, Luke, right? You hear them in the gospel as
they cry out, looking at a man that they think is guilty, worthy
of it, deserving of it, and that they are somehow far removed
from the implications themselves. They're blind, aren't they? And
they are ignorant to the mystery of the atonement. As the apostle
put it in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 8, if the princes of this world
had known, they would have never crucified the Lord of glory.
Had they known, they would have never crucified him. And what
we say is that today, even in our churches, we are woefully
bereft of and ignorant of the cross of Christ. It's not a thing
to be emotionally moved about, but rather to be deeply spiritually
moved. Deeply moved spiritually. Ask
God to open your understanding. Saints pray with me tonight that
God reveal his glory to somebody here at the cross because it's
revealed nowhere else. Sinners will never see God's
glory but right here. And then on the last day where
mercy will not be available. It's right here. This is why
he sends out his little Christians. He sends his little Christians
out to point to the cross. and ask the Holy Ghost to flash
down on the hearts of men and help them see what that's all
about. You will never see God's glory in a saving, redemptive
way, except through the cross. And then on the last day, without
mercy. Our fifth point, an acknowledgement
of divine election and sovereign purpose. This is wild. Listen
to what he says. in verses nine through 11. He said, but you, father, you,
my God, are he that took me out of the womb. Isn't that good?
You did make me to hope when I was upon my mama's breast.
I was cast upon thee from the womb. You are my God from my
mother's belly. He's still not letting God go.
He's going to teach you something about how to trust God in the
midst of trouble, how to call upon God when it's completely
black and dark, how to be able to call on God. Watch this now
and remember who God was when he gave you life, when he gave
you breath, when he gave you a mama to suck on her paps, how
God kept you then and how God will keep you now because that's
what God does for his elect. Do you see it? See, so sometimes
circumstances just don't allow us to be able to get a handle
on any hope or promises here. This is the secret blessing of
the doctrine of election. The secret blessing of the doctrine
of election is that we get to rise up out of our circumstance
and lay hold of God because of His promises and what He did
for us in bringing us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
I'm yours. You chose me. You called me,
you quickened me, you gave me life. I remember, I'm yours. I'm not here because of me, I'm
here because of you, oh God. These are called prevailing prayers
with our heavenly father because of his own work. And sometimes
God brings us to that place where the only thing you can hold on
to is his electing love. Where God can't lie, fail, or
change. He who has begun a good work in you, he will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. That's what even our master is
doing here. That's what he's doing. Our master is teaching
us how to pray in the midst of hell and hang on to the plumb
line of God while going through hell. Do you see it? It's amazing. It's amazing. Acknowledgement of divine election
and sovereignty, verses 9 through 11. Be not far from me. For trouble
is near and there's none to help. Six point. In fact, let me make
this other statement while I'm thinking about this. I need to
make this statement. When you read Psalm 22, the whole of the
Psalm verses one through 31, here's what I want you to get
as we move into our consideration of the seven saints. Christ is
fixed on nobody. but it's God. For Christ, this
is about an exclusive relationship with his God. When you read Psalm
22 verses 1 through 20, Christ is appealing to his God. He's
fixed on his God. He's committed to his God. It's
all about him and who? God. This is an amazing thing. But here's the lesson. Are you
ready? This is the lesson. Your problem in mind is one,
We need God. Watch this. And all we need is God. See, for Christ, the problem
is his God is absent. And the answer is the presence
of his God. Are you guys getting it? It puts
everything in place. everything. And isn't our master
a good teacher? Even here on Calvary teaching
us how to hang on and make sure our appeal is to God and not
man and not circumstances because they will always let you down.
Only God comes through. Only God. Our sixth point is a description
of the monstrous madness of men. We call this in theology zoomorphisms. But I sometimes wonder if it's
morphic. I know it's a zoo. And I love to resist the atheists
and Darwin But we act so much like animals that they sometimes seem to make
a point. Verse 12 through 18, quickly.
Many bulls have compassed me about. Now Christ is not talking
about animals. He's talking about people. Strong
bulls of Bashan have beset me about. And so if you took your
time to work it through expositionally, you will understand that the
raging bull, the rough bull, the careless bull, the hostile
bull are men against God. Listen to what he says in verse
13. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and roaring
lion. Again, he's talking about men.
Now he's talking about the power of words. We'll get into that
when we deal a little bit later on with our seven sayings. Contrary
to what people might say, words do affect us. Verse 14, I'm poured
out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is
like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. Ladies and
gentlemen, there you go. A personal self expressed X-ray
of his own inward being Of which you and I would not know by reading
the historical narrative Christ himself is telling you what he's
going through Do you see it? This is what I meant by a first-hand
account Here it is. My strength is dried up like
a posture my tongue cleaves to my jaw and you have brought me
into the dust of death and Four dogs have come past me. The assembly
of wicked men have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and feet,
the cross. And I can see every bone in my
body. And they stare at me like I'm a strange thing. And they
part my garments among them and cast lots for my vesture. Do
you see it? This is a description of the
monstrous madness of men. You know David knew better than
his first Chronicles 21 12 don't go there. God says David. I'm
a I'm a whoop your butt again But I'm gonna give you three
choices plagues men and me, you know, I David say you Lord you
you you Amazing He says you Lord And I wish I had time but my
sisters are getting it as we are making our way through the
our theology class, our culture jacks us up, doesn't it? We don't
do what's right for our own inward sin and our culture. And God
is saying to David, natural plagues, adversaries of men are divine
discipline by your heavenly father, you father. Do you know why? Because God always mixes his
chastisement with mercy. And true believers know that.
I would rather God judge me and discipline me than any man. Because
according to David's son, Jesus, men are like bulls and lions
and dogs. They are merciless. I'm gonna
tell you a story tonight that will affirm that. But we are
looking at our Savior's view of his own atonement at the cross.
Can you imagine that? God looking at his creatures,
calling them bulls. calling them lions, and calling
them dogs. We are far from the Imago Dei,
aren't we? Far from the Imago Dei. Our seventh one. I call this a request to be raised
from the dead, which is where we will consummate our view here
for the moment. And that's in verse 19 through 21. Listen to
what the Lord Jesus says through the mouth of the psalmist David.
Verse 19, be not thou far from me. That's our problem, isn't
it? Oh Lord, oh my strength, haste to help me. Deliver my
soul from the sword, my darling, that is my soul, from the power
of the dog. Same people, save me from the
lion's mouth. For you have heard me from the
horns of the unicorn. I'll stop right there. He closes
by asking God, are you ready? To raise him from the dead. And we will demonstrate that
Sunday. You see, Christ was not gonna be delivered from the people.
He wasn't gonna be delivered from the lion. He wasn't gonna
be delivered from the dogs. He had to be delivered to them.
And so in order for him to be saved, he had to go through it. And now I want you to contemplate
with me the next set thoughts and words that come from the
cross of Christ himself. And I want to deal briefly with
the seven sayings of our master. And I'm going to land on the
fifth one and work that one through with you and me tonight, because
I think we need to consider it. This is awful wonderful. They
say it and it's true. There are seven sayings that
our Lord rendered on the cross. And I wanna call your attention
to them just in terms of a construction that will help. So you can understand
the beauty of the theology, but don't use that word theology
in a abstract technical sense. Understand theology as we teach
it here at Grace. Can I give you the definition
of theology? God talking about God. Is that good? Theos is God, Logos
is word. The Word is about God and God
is speaking through His Word about Himself. Theology is God
talking about Himself and letting us ear-hustle in on the conversation. That's good doctrine. Is that
good doctrine? Let me listen to God talking
about God. Is that what's going on? Is that
what God is doing here? That's theology. And you can
be no wiser than to sit and let God talk about God while you're
in the presence. He that dwelleth with the wise,
he himself shall be what? Now watch these seven sayings.
I'm not going to develop them. I'm going to develop the fifth
one for our thoughts. What I want to notice, I want you to notice
that the seven sayings are in order historically in the text. The first word that we hear from
the cross is given in Luke 23, 34. You don't have to go there.
It's there. Father, Forgive them, for they
know not what they do. Do you see that? Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do. What's going on here
with these words? We have forgiveness requested
by the mediator. The first thing that Christ is
doing is pleading to His Father to forgive sinners. And in fact,
to forgive the rebels that have put in there. Amazing love. Put that card in your back pocket. Because one day you're going
to discover that you were there. You rejected him. You spit on
him. You mocked him and ridiculed
him. You betrayed him. Open-handedly. And then you get
to pull that card out. Let me find that card. Because
I'm in trouble. Let me find that card. Oh, there is forgiveness
with you that you might be feared. Lord have mercy. Do you see it? This is amazing. The first words
that come out of his mouth is mediatorial in nature. The second
words that come out of his mouth, he's speaking to the thief on
the right side. I'm not using political terms.
I'm saying the one that was in his right mind who saw his sin
and saw his Savior and understood what time it was. See, it's one
thing to see your sin. It's another thing to see your
Savior. But if you don't know what time
it is, you're not going to call on him in time of need. The thief
called on him at the right time, didn't he? About to die. And you know what our master
did? Our master allowed the thief to be the first one to plunge
into the font that he just asked his father to open. Is that good? Is that good? All while he's
hanging on the cross, bearing our sins. this day you shall
be with me in paradise this day eternal life granted immediately
to the thief not down the line not at the purgatory right now
this day there can be no more words of assurance than this
day you will be lord say that to me lord say it to me let me
know this day because i'm not guaranteed tomorrow And we richly embrace the reality
of this truth that to be absent from the body is to be present
with the Lord. So upon death, there is no more
suffering, no more interment, no more probation, no more wondering. Immediately entering into our
reward, which is God himself. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
amazing? Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do. This day you shall be with me
in paradise. Wonderful words. And then watch
this. The third thing that comes out of his mouth is how the church
must learn how to take care of one another because we are the
body of Christ. Learn something that amazes me. You know what amazes me? Is ignorant
Christians who will detach themselves from the body and act like they
can survive without the church. ignorant Christians who will
actually set themselves over against the body of Christ as
if they are not a member of that body, and then belittle the body
as if the head will still accept them. That's like your crazy
arm just losing control of itself, just punching you all over the
place, just going off on you. Cut it off, right? because it's not walking in order
and priority of its purpose. The head does not give you and
me the right to reject the body that he made to be co-joined
to him with you as one of his members. And look at our Lord
Jesus Christ, having fully embraced his bar mitzvah and his Jewishness,
a son of the law. He says, take care of your mama.
You know what he says? Son, take care of your mama.
Mama, that's your son. In other words, all he did was
continue what he said in the Gospel of Mark when he said,
who is my mother? Who is my brother or my sister?
But they that do the will of God. You guys got that? So this is very important, child
of God. Please hear our master. His body is precious to him.
Every member. And even on the cross, he's telling
the members, you young folks take care of the old folks, because
they didn't took care of you. Don't you throw them away. You
old people cherish the young people because they are your
strength. When you get too old to climb up those stairs, get
in that car. And all ye love one another,
even as I have loved you. You know what he's saying? Even
from the cross. So our master says, The font
is open, sinners can plunge in, take care of one another. And
then he says in the fourth statement, which is where our Psalm is born,
right? The fourth statement, here it
is. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That's quoted
in Matthew 27, 46, Psalm 22. His cry of his father's abandonment. He's there now. He's there, he's
there. If you don't know, historically,
it's almost noon on Friday. He's hanging there, right? My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He is now in the epitome
of his awareness of God removing his favor and allowing that wrath
to pour upon him. And the next thing you and I
know is the curtains are closed, aren't they? It's black. It's
as if we were watching a play. My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? And the curtains closed. 12 noon, Friday. We're back now to the horror
and mystery of God forsaking God. We've just enjoyed the grace
of Christ speaking mediatorially about taking care of us. And
now we got to get back to the business of What just happened? You know what it is? He who knew
no sin became sin for us. That's what just happened. And
that's what's going to happen to everyone who dies without
a mediator. The curtains are going to close on them. And when they're forsaken of
God because they rejected God, you won't hear them say, my God,
my God. That takes grace. Do you hear
me? The hordes of men and women who
end up in hell will be there because they want to. And while they will be gnashing
and gritting, they will not be repenting. Repentance takes place now. When
you crash, Ask yourself, do you have enough
grace to say, my God, my God, will you forsake me now? Because
this is the season that you make that appeal. Do you hear me?
This is the season that you make that appeal. This is the season
that you determine whether or not you're playing games with
God. So we come to the fifth saying
of Jesus, our Lord, which is what I want to develop as we
close tonight, because this struck me so powerful. It's in John's
Gospel, chapter 19, verse 28. We are at the close of Christ's
atonement experience, which started Thursday night when the mob came
and took him at the betrayal of Judas Iscariot and the abandonment
of the disciples, because he must tread the winepress of the
wrath of God Almighty all by himself. He must be alone. And
when they take him, they cruelly mock him, beat him, scourge him,
shred him to pieces. He doesn't even look like a human
being now. Are you hearing me? He doesn't
even look like a human being. And when the curtains open back
up, the first word you hear is, I thirst. Now let me share something
with you. I was contemplating this, and
we're getting ready to unpack this here more fully. What does
it mean to thirst? What does it mean to thirst?
And how important it is for you and I to understand the sufferings
of Christ. What Christ tells his church
is this. When I call you by my grace, and I save you through
the power of the gospel, and I redeem you, I'm going to transform
your life and I'm going to make you useful in the cause of the
kingdom of God. You are going to be my disciples.
Watch this. And as my disciples, I'm going
to send you forth as sheep among wolves. This is not about building kingdoms
and enjoying mansions on earth and having a good time. There
is a radically important cross theology that if Christians miss
it, they will not be Christian in their life. It was by providence that two
days ago, as I'm working through these texts, I'm thinking about
our master as the great prophet par excellence. He is the epitome. He is the essence. He is the
ultimate prophet from whom all other prophets come. You know
what he told us? In your days, there are going
to be tribulation and suffering, persecution. They're going to
cast you out, reject you. They're going to beat you. They're
going to destroy you. I'm thinking, where is the Western
Christian today? And I'm saying to myself, Lord,
why would you tell Christians that that was going to happen?
Because he wanted them to understand that to call yourself Christian
is to be hated by the world. Hated by the world. A brother sent me a film clip
three days ago. And I saw the title of it. He says, an expression of the
absolute depravity of man. And I just, I didn't mess with
it for a few hours, but as I'm working on my message, I said,
let me see what my brother is saying. And it's a five minute
video of the horrid, horrid destruction
of one Christian family that just took place a few months
ago in Nigeria. Someone filmed The mob in a village
taking five family members, husband and wife, young adult, seems
like a teenager and someone that is preteen, 11 or 12. And the
whole village takes sticks and beat them, beat them, beat them
and throw them into a ditch. beat them and then take the tree
from which they got the stick and throw the trees and the leaves
on Top of them and light them on fire and the whole village
is watching This is the persecution of Christians
This is the persecution of Christians and I said, I don't really want
to watch this but I got to watch this because If you don't look
at it and see it for what it is, you won't believe that that's
your calling when you are a Christian in a God-hating world. And if
you don't face these things, I guarantee you the cross of
Christ will mean nothing to you. Nothing. It's a nice story. It's
a wonderful song. The cross means nothing to you.
But Christ went through what they did and more and told his
sheep, you've got to go through it. You've got to go through
it. You've got to go. If you're going to bear my name,
you've got to go through it. They died being burnt alive because
they were believers. Do you understand that? Do you
understand that? Don't let your Western culture
pervert the gospel and don't lose a real sensitivity to the
real suffering of Christians around the world who are literally
suffering for Christ when we are settled on our leaves and
living carnal fleshly lives and want to call it suffering. You
and I are not suffering. We're not suffering. Much of
our Christianity is a farce. Do you hear me? Much of our Christianity
is a farce. I watched, I watched, Brother
Arthur, as they dragged the man and his wife. She's crying, he's
pleading. She's crying, he's pleading.
The children are already unconscious. Because they use logs to hit
them upside their head. And I watched as those bulls
and those dogs jumped up on them. to pummel them, jump on them
physically because they wouldn't die soon enough for them. And
they kept climbing up out of the pit while they set the fire
on them. And you know what was worse?
The whole village was watching as if it was a movie. You know what we call that, ladies
and gentlemen? Human depravity of heart. That's your heart and mine. Are
you hearing me? That's your heart and mine. We'll
sit there and watch people die like that. And then say, thank
you, Jesus, that it's not me. And I said, okay, Lord, I'll
tell it only because I don't want you to miss tonight's occasion. Is there any sorrow like the
sorrow where with the Lord afflicted him? Look and see, does anyone
care about how God laid his wrath upon Christ? Does that change
the game for you? Does it take you out of your
folly? Does it make you more committed
to the mediator? Does it cause you to reprioritize
your life so that you make your calling and election short? Are
you hearing me? Are you hearing me? Because that's
what this cross is about. Listen, you are highly privileged
to be listening to the gospel tonight. Highly privileged. The only other thing you would
be doing tonight is either engaging in some kind of what food fest
are watching some stupid movie, are engaged in some carnal detail
that has no eternal significance. Am I telling the truth? Am I
telling the truth? And here we are at the feet of
our God. And so let me share with you
for the last few minutes what I believe is meant by this fifth
saying. Our master. He's God, but he's
also what? He's also man. And there are eight things that
I want to say about it. The first is, the fifth saying of Christ
on the cross, I thirst, can be understood first and foremost
as the impact of suffering leading to the brink of physical death. the impact of suffering leading
to the brink of physical death. Some of you in here have been
brought to the brink of physical death. Have you not? And some
of you in here have seen it, haven't you? And you understand
how it closes in on you? And you almost hear the call
coming hither. But I want you to sense it from
our Master's standpoint for a very important reason, verse 15 of
Psalm 22. through 17. Here it is. And ask your soul
at this moment, do I disregard what I'm hearing because I'm
healthy? My strength is dried up like a posture. That's a piece
of pottery, clay, so dry and so brittle. He says that's what
is strengthened. He has no strength. This is eternal
God, the omnipotent I am that I am, who has no strength. You know
what he's describing? What you and I are, apart from
God's grace, without strength. You understand that? This is
why we don't ever accept the false notion that man has some
intrinsic good qualities in him. We never do. We know his condition. He has no strength, does he? This is the condition of Jesus
from bearing the cross, being beaten all night long, and now
hanging there completely exhausted. Do you see it? Do you see it?
Listen to it. My strength is dried up like
a pasture. My tongue cleaves to my mouth. His tongue is cleaving
to his jaws. That's how famished he is. That's how dehydrated he is.
He can't even talk. Do you hear it? Do you see it?
I've never been there. I've never been there. Do you
know what God is telling me? Jesse, honor that. Because there's
a whole lot of people that have been there. From the times of
our master to now, millions and millions of people have suffered
that. Here's the mystery though, and here's the promise. He suffered
it for them. He knows our suffering, doesn't
he? This is a view of the cross from
the cross. This is a special moment for you. This is a special
moment for you. Listen to it. My tongue cleaves
to my jaw and you have brought me into the dust of death. Do you see it? Verse 17, I can
see all my bones and they look and they stare at me because
I'm shriveled up. This is the first reason why
he says I thirst. Now, as I said, sometimes we make the grave mistake
of overlooking or belittling the physical factors connected
with our Lord's suffering. while others overemphasize him
to the detriment of the spiritual reality behind the real cosmic
and heavenly transaction. You and I know that he is bearing
our sin, right? You and I know that the wrath
of God is coming down upon him right now, right? You and I know
that God has abandoned him to his divine justice, right? But
it has affected his body. Because he was the only man who
walked this earth without sin. Do you hear me? And when once
Psalm 22 verse one, which is our problem, which hallelujah
became his problem. When his God separated from him,
he dried up. You got it. You have it. He was disconnected from the
source. That's our problem. That's our problem. Second sub point, the psychological
impact on the mind of the man who what? You better get it. The psychological impact of the
man on the mind of the man who loved us. If you know someone
loves you, are you going to regard their welfare? Are you going
to regard how they feel? Are you going to, if you know
someone loves you, are you going to want to know what they're
thinking? Let me help you think. Let me help you understand what
the one who loved you is thinking right now. As he bears your sin. Not only is he dried up. I can't
imagine that. But look at verse 15. Again,
I'm sorry, look at verse 18. They part my garments among them,
and they cast lots. I'm sorry. Yep, that's it. They
cast lots for my vesture. Be not thou far from me, O Lord,
O my strength. Hasten to help me. What I'm seeing here is Christ's
description of what they are doing to him. In fact, it starts
at verse 13. I'm sorry. Look at verse 13.
They gape upon me with their mouth. as a ravening and roaring
lion. And here's the impact. I'm poured
out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is
like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. I don't even
know what that looks like. Here's what I know. He's conflating
the horrible experience of his father forsaking him with the
mountain of words that are being poured out against him. The mountain
of words. So let me say it like this so
I can quickly move on. Do words hurt? They do. They hurt him. Our words hurt him. Your words
hurt him. Let me bear this out a minute.
Can I do that? Because again, I think that if we don't study
the cross at Lent, We will sin against God, against our neighbor,
against the body of Christ, against members one ye of another. And
when you do, you sin against him. You think so? Y'all think
so? Remember Saul of Tarsus, how
he persecuted the church? And when Jesus caught up with
him, what did Jesus say? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting
me? Learn the lesson. Get it. Because
again, we will separate Jesus from the church Dog to church,
dog to body, dog to members. Am I telling the truth? But the
reality is when you hurt the members, you hurt the head. You
got that? The reason why Jesus can be a
faithful high priest is because in all points, he suffered like
we do with the exception of sin. Got it? This is the psychological
impact upon our master. As he says, their words launch
on me. They gape upon me with their
mouth as a ravening and roaring lion. And ladies and gentlemen,
who here has heard the roaring of a lion? If you have one lion
in this room, this whole building would shake and it would, it
would, it would, it would threaten to fall apart at the roar of
one lion. Would it not? It would threaten
to fall apart at the roar of one lion. Now just imagine if
you were shut up in this room with one lion roaring in your
face all night long. You would begin to fall apart.
Are you hearing me? And this is what Christ is experiencing
for you and me. You know what it makes me do?
It makes me reflect upon his infinite mercy to allow me to
know peace virtually all my life, Eric. I don't know what he's
going through. I've never had that kind of massive
assault. I have assault against me, but
I've never had that kind of assault against my soul to experience
it like that. You guys understand what I'm
saying? Every second, every millisecond, every picosecond that you and
I are stable and sound and rational and whole is a gift. It's a gift. It's a gift. It's a gift. In war, psychological terror
takes place all the time to break you down. They put you in a room
and they come at you like this to torment you. You understand
that? I have never experienced that,
but my Christian brothers and sisters around the world have.
Do you hear that? My Christian brothers and sisters
around the world have gone through it. And when I think about some
countries that seem to never ever have a moment of ease like
we do, I can't imagine it. How do you get up every day knowing,
knowing, knowing that you could be the next target to a massive
just abuse of your being? I think I would fall apart, don't
you? I think I would want to go find a hole, dig it up. Just hide. Or go somewhere and
say, God, take me out. I'm asking you to appreciate
your salvation. Third point, let's quickly go.
Here's what I state, that when I think about our master saying,
I thirst. He first is thirsting for his
God. Do you see that? At some point,
see, when Jesus says, I thirst, I say he's thirsting for God.
Do you remember what David said in Psalm 42, verse 1? My heart,
my heart thirsteth for you, for you, the living God. My heart
pants after God like the heart pants after the water broke.
I pant after you, God. Let me ask you, do you? Do you? Do you? Remember, if we go back
to verse 1, Jesus said, my problem, is one. My problem is one. I need my God. One problem. Ladies and gentlemen, are you
hearing me? My one problem is I need God. You guys are getting
it right. Just God. See, what's amazing
about the text for me is Jesus is not appealing to his circumstance. He's not appealing to being broke.
He's not appealing to any kind of physical problem. He's not
appealing to his emotions. He's appealing to one thing.
He needs his God. This is crazy. Isn't it wonderful?
You know what Jesus is teaching us? Our ultimate problem is we
need to be connected to God. That's right. That's right. And you know what
I've learned? We go for every other substitute
pleasure. We don't say, God, you know what?
Give me more of you. We don't say, God, you know what?
My problem with being unhappy, bitter, nasty, mean, cold, indifferent. You know what my problem is,
God? I just don't have enough of you. That's really the truth.
Is that really the truth? Can I get a witness? Is it really
true that if you had more of God, more of God, it would so
easily offset all of this other crazy stuff we call important?
I'm telling you what, God, I'm getting ready to quickly run
through this so you can get it, because this is beautiful. Jesus was not thirsting for physical
water. He was thirsting for his God.
And what makes this amazing is that Jesus himself is the author
of living water. And yet he's been cut off from
that living water himself. Isn't that crazy? He's the one
that said, come unto me, all ye that thirst. If you thirst,
if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink, for out of my
belly flows rivers, rivers, rivers of living water. How can the
well of living water now be thirsty? He's cut off from his God. That's
Jeremiah chapter two. Israel has committed two evils.
They've committed idolatry. They've broken, they've found
sisters that don't work. They've abandoned me, the fountain
of living waters. Again, he's talking about His
need of who? God. Now, the metaphor of the
water is amazing. Because with all the other stuff
we have, without water, we die. All this other stuff you can
have, but without God, you're dead. Am I telling you? Here's the other thing that he
was thirsting for. It's in your outline. Here it is. You know
what he's searching for? Righteousness. He's thirsting for righteousness.
Our master is hanging on the cross, and as the God-man, he
gets it, he gets it, he gets it. Not that he didn't have it
as God, but he gets it as man experientially. You know what?
The problem with our world is our world is an unrighteous world.
Everything's broken in our world. There's none righteous, no, not
one. There's none that doeth good. There's none that seeketh
God. And this is so vividly seen in
this moment when everyone now is rejecting God. Christ is looking
around and you know what he sees? No righteousness at all. Not in his disciples. They've
abandoned him. Not in Judas Iscariot. He betrayed
them. Not in his own people. They crucified
him. On top of that, his God has abandoned
him. You know what's being described
right here? Zechariah chapter 13 around verse 9, when he says,
I will make you a covenant for the people to deliver them out
of the pit wherein is no water. What a crazy thought. What a crazy thought. I'm thinking
Christ is experiencing, in Zechariah, I'm sorry, Zechariah 9 and 11,
he's experiencing what you and I, is our spiritual condition before
we're saved. You guys got that? We're in a
pit where there's no water. We're condemned. And again, the
water is God. God, you got it, you got it. So he thirsts for God, he thirsts
for righteousness. Because righteousness is the
only thing that can satisfy a holy man. And didn't he tell us, blessed
is the man Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for what?
Didn't he tell us that? And you know what that means?
Now watch this, watch this, watch this. When you truly thirst for righteousness,
it means you've been born again. You got a new nature. Because
when you're not born again, you don't thirst for righteousness,
you thirst for sin. When you're saved, you thirst
for God. When you're saved, you thirst for righteousness. When
you're saved, watch this, when you're saved, you thirst for
things to be made right. Because right now, nothing's
right. You see him thirsting? Between
him and his God, here's what he's saying. Father, let's make
it right. I thirst for it to be right.
Why? Because when it's right, God is glorified. When you're
right with God, you glorify God. When you're wrong with God, you
ought to be thirsty. When you're wrong in your family,
you ought to be thirsty for righteousness. Because righteousness is the
only thing that blesses a family. Righteousness is the only thing
that blesses a church. Are you hearing me? Righteousness
is the only thing that blesses. Where righteousness is not there,
you're thirsty. So in the future, when you start
having that sense of, I'm thirsting for something, please remember
the message. You need God. At the time you're
thirsting, remember, you need to be drawing near to God. Because
a new coat's not going to do it. New pair of shoes. Vacation
not going to do it. Are you guys hearing me? You
need God. It's amazing what happens when
God shows up even in your want. And when he shows up, it takes
away your want. You go, you know what? God's
enough. Is that true? The next thing then is not only
the righteousness. This is amazing. He's sitting
there saying, I thirst. I believe he thirsts for our
redemption. Oh, that's good. Galatians 3 13 says curse it
is every man that hangs upon the tree as it is written and
Christ became a curse for us In order that we might have the
blessing and right now is he under the curse and as he's under
the curse Is he not experiencing what it would be like for you
and I if we remained under the curse? not having God not having
righteousness because redemption is not paid doesn't Christ have
to pay the price of in order for his people to enjoy God,
to have righteousness. The price that is paid for the
redemption of our souls is designed to liberate and free us from
the bondage that Christ is experiencing. When God liberates you and frees
you, he frees you by himself, to himself, and for himself. Got that? He frees you by himself,
to himself, for himself. In other words, what Jesus said
in John 8, 36, Whomsoever the Son shall set free shall be free
indeed, is what he's crying out for now. And he's almost there.
Christ is about to close the deal, is he not? But he's still
thirsting. I thirst for their redemption. Here's another thing he thirsts
for, our transformation. As he's hanging on the cross
looking at all of us hell-bound sinners rejecting him, he's looking
past us to what he said to his disciples in John chapter 10,
verse 10. The Son of Man came that you
might have life and that more abundantly. His longing desire
is for his people to know him and to know his God and to know
life and to know it abundantly. He's on the brink of achieving
that, isn't he? But he's thirsting for it. Pastor, why do you say
that? Here's why. I'm selfish, and you are selfish,
and we are selfish. And it's possible that if you
are hanging on that cross, and I was, coach, all I'd be thinking
about is myself. You got it, Deb? He never thought
about himself. His thirst was not about him. Ladies and gentlemen, how ironic
and how wrong and how backwards would it be for him to voluntarily
leave the splendors of glory to come down here and find himself
in a situation where he wants a glass of water for himself.
Don't ever let your theology get twisted by humanism. His
thirst was for his people for whom he died. Are you hearing
me? His thirst was for his body.
His thirst was for his church. His thirst was for every member
of the body of Christ that like Ezekiel's parable of the grave
is dried up right now with him under the wrath of God only to
be nourished and to be quickened and to be strengthened and to
be given moisture by the Holy Ghost when he is finished with
his request. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
He never went through anything for himself. He thirsted for
me. Isn't that crazy? He thirsted for me 2,000 years
ago. And I didn't even ask. And God
gave it to me. Is he good or not? Is he good? Is he good? I never thirsted
for God. I never said, God, I need you.
But my mediator did. My high priest did. My substitute
did. He stood in my gap 2,000 years
ago and said, father, that boy needs you. That's what he needs. Couple more things. Not only
did he thirst for our transformation because if we're born again,
if we're renewed, if we're quickened by the spirit of God, then we're
going to want the things Christ wants and love the things Christ
love and do the things he does because after all he made us
for that. Is that true? Why wouldn't he want that for
you? And then here are the last three that are just amazing to
me. He thirsts for our union with him. You don't believe that? Why do you think the Son of God
came into this world? Did he come to go without a people
for himself? Didn't he come to get us? Didn't
he come to get us that we might be with him where he is? Isn't
that what he prayed for? John 17, Father, I will that
those whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they
might behold my glory, that they might know the love that you
have For me, for you have loved me from the foundation of the
world. You know what he's saying? I want them to know that. Interesting. Because love then means that
you are destined for glory. And that's why Christ is suffering
for you. That's why he's suffering for you. We're so stupid, aren't
we? Isn't it good to have somebody
praying right for us? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Isn't it good to have somebody
that knows what to say to the Father? Father, they need you. They need righteousness. They
need redemption. They need transformation. They
need union. They need communion. They need
us. They need the Holy Ghost. That's what he's saying. That's
what he's saying. That's what he's saying. He is
not doing this for himself. Christ didn't have one selfish
bone in his body. Read Daniel chapter 9. He didn't
come for himself. He came for his father's people. Here it is. He thirsted for our
communion with him. Give me Revelation chapter 7
verses 14 through 17. I'm closing here. This here is
a happy note. But it's eschatological. What
that means is you and I are traveling through this wilderness right
now like sheep. We are. And we're traveling through the
wilderness. You know what that means? God has to find holes
and wells of water to stop and allow us to drink. That's true. I mean, I would love to say,
ladies and gentlemen, as I wind this up, that you and I drink
fresh water from the well every day and have never, ever thirsted.
It's not true. We have our seasons, don't we?
Don't we have our seasons where we're dry? And God does that
on purpose. So as sheep, we can cry out,
bah, bah, bah. So the good shepherd who loves
his sheep will show up and lead us besides still waters so we
can drink and be satiated and then continue our journey. Here's
the promise, Revelation chapter seven, verse 14. The question
is raised in verse 14. And I said unto him, sir, you
know who these are. And he says, these are they which
came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the lamb. Isn't that an appropriate
verse? Haven't I been talking about trouble and tribulation
and suffering of the saints? And you know what the promise
is? Lord, I am with you always to the end of the world. I'm
going to get you through this. When I was watching my dear brothers
and sisters burning alive, you know what I saw? I saw one
like the son of man in the midst of that pit with them. That's
what I saw. I saw it. Listen, I know it doesn't
make sense to you. I saw God with that family in
that pit. Do you hear me? It was easy for
me to observe because there was grace given to them. God have
mercy to be burned alive. Grace. Are you hearing me? Grace. Great. Now, if God will give us grace
to suffer for him and he told us these things would happen,
wouldn't he give us grace for the lesser things? Got to get it out of God. Got
to get it. Got to get it. You and I are privileged to be
at the cross tonight. Listen to what verse 15 says.
Here it is. Therefore are they before the
throne of God in God's mind God's people are before him and we
shall be with them and we will serve him Day and night in this
temple is a metaphor when we get to heaven no day and night
But just roll with it and he that sits on the throne shall
dwell among them. Isn't that good? The comfort
is that he's among us the next verse. Here it is. Here it is.
Here it is and they show hunger no more Need the thirst anymore
you see Need the thirst anymore You know what that verse is saying?
Down here, we don't experience perfect righteousness. Are you hearing me? Listen, whenever
we're thirsting, it means that we have not experienced the perfection
of righteousness that's ours in Christ. That only comes when
we're glorified. So when we thirst, we have to
say, okay, then that means I'm still not yet perfected. I'm
perfect in Christ, not myself. Is that true? But the promise
is one day we will never hunger, never thirst, neither shall the
sun light on them any or nor any heat. Verse 17. For the lamb
which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall
lead them unto living fountains of water. Do you see it? And
God shall wipe away all the tears of my Nigerian brothers who just
died I watched them. I watched the
husband watch over his family. He was the strongest one. He
was the strongest one. He sat in that ditch watching
over his family being burnt alive. He was on fire. Do you hear me? With the poise and stability of Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego. Now, right now, you don't believe
me because you don't read your Bible and you don't have a deep
enough conviction about who God is. But I know that I had to
say this tonight because here's the truth. The God we serve is a God of
truth and he does not lie. He does not lie. When he says
he will make all grace abound, even when you go through the
fire, I will be with you. When the floods overwhelm you,
I will walk you through it. This is an amazing grace that
God gives to his sheep. who suffer for him at those levels. I was simply privileged to see
it and compelled to tell you that when you act religious,
like God can't repent. because our God can always make
all grace abound in everything that we ask or think. Anytime
there is no trouble, there is no hell, there is no suffering,
there is no suffering that he cannot give us grace to endure
since he swallowed up hell all by himself to save a people for
himself. like you and me, like you and
me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We're going to sing our last
hymn, but here's what I want you to think about as we close. Cause
I thought about this, you know, it's one thing for God to say
what he said. You musicians can come up when you read the Bible
and you go, this is what he said, but it's here. Here's something
that I want you to notice that he did not do. He didn't thirst
for wrath or vengeance against his enemies. Did you get that? He didn't thirst
for wrath or vengeance against his enemies because that will
be the prerogative of the father when the son rises and takes
his seat as the vicar on the cross There wasn't one desire
to send a sinner to hell. Are you hearing me? There wasn't
one desire to send you or me to hell. What wondrous love is
this? What wondrous love is this? Oh
my soul, stand with me. You may not know it, that's okay.
We'll try to make our way through it. It's basically to, Augment
the earlier hymn you heard read by Stephen, Behold My God. It's a beautiful
hymn. How many of you guys know this
one? How many of you guys know? Okay, just a handful of you guys
know. What wondrous love is this, oh my soul, oh my soul. What wondrous love is this, oh
my soul. What wondrous love is this, My voice is hoarse now, but you
guys will get it. Here we go. Hallelujah. So father, we know the good news
of Sunday morning. So between here and Sunday morning,
may these words sink deep down into our soul. Deliver us from
religion. Deliver us from falsehood. Grant
us deeper and more profound and more substantive and more impactful
revelations of your glory. Help us to bow before you as
our God. What wondrous love is this? Oh
my soul. And when from death I'm free,
I'll sing on. I'll sing on. And when from death
I'm free, I'll sing on. And through eternity, I'll sing
on. I'll sing on. And through eternity, I'll sing
on. Amen. Amen. We'll see you guys
Sunday. Thank you guys, thank you, thank
you.