Welcome our brethren that are
watching online. I think several of the churches
up north are not able to have services today because of the
weather. So I understand we have several that are joining us. We're glad they're here. And
we're glad we live in Florida, aren't we? that we have a great high priest
that is passed into the heavens. Jesus, the son of God, let us
hold fast our profession, for we have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in
all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. That word boldly means
with confidence. God's saying to you and I, if
you're looking to Christ as your priest before God, you can come
with confidence into the very presence of God to receive mercy
and grace in your time of need. I wonder how many of us are needy
this morning. Needy. I'm not talking about
you've got a shortfall in your finances. I'm talking about a
need to have your sin put away. A need to have the hope and assurance
of salvation. What a heavy burden that is if
God puts it on your soul and the only one to relieve it is
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's stand together. Bert's
going to come lead us. on the hymn on the back of your bulletin. It is finished, sinners hear
it, Tis the dying victors cry. It is finished, angels bear it,
Bear the joyful fruit on high. It is finished, it is finished,
tell it through the earth and sky. Justice from her awful station,
Mars, the sinner, he's no more. Justice fused with approbation,
What does Savior did then bore? Grace and mercy, grace and mercy,
Now display their boundless joy. Hear the Lord Himself declaring,
All perform He came to do. Sinners, in yourselves despairing,
This is joyful news to you. Jesus speaks in, Jesus speaks
in His own faithful words and truth. It is finished, all is
over. Yes, the cup of wrath is drained. Such the truth these words discover. Thus the victory was obtained. Tis a victory! A victory none but Jesus could
have gained. Crowned the mighty, conqueror
crowned him, Who his people's foes overcame. In the highest
heaven thrown him, Men and angels sound his fame. Great is glory,
great is glory, Jesus bears a matchless name. If you would turn with me please
in God's word to Luke chapter 19. When we meet in the young people's
class Bible study, we start every class by asking, what's this
book, the Bible, all about? And we finally, through repetition,
they understand this is a book about Christ and how he saved
sinners. So when we read these passages,
we ask ourselves, what does this tell me about Christ and how
he saved sinners? Zacchaeus has just come down
from the tree, and the Lord has met with him. And all the religious
ask, how could he eat with a sinner? But aren't we glad he does? We're
so glad. We'll start in verse 10. The
Lord told them, he said, for the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost. And as they heard these things,
he added and spake a parable. because he was died to Jerusalem,
and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately
appear. They thought that his kingdom
was an earthly kingdom, and they would be the beneficiary of that
earthly kingdom. But we know that's not true.
And here's the parable, verse 12. He said, therefore, a certain
noble man went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom
and to return. This is Christ. And he called
his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto
them, Occupy till I come. And verse fourteen, But his citizens
hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not
have this man reign or rule over us. And that is the cry of every
child of Adam and Eve. And if you say, well, I've never
said that, then my fear is just because you're still saying it.
We will not have Christ rule over us. And it came to pass that when
he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded
these servants to be called unto him to whom he had given the
money. that he might know how much every man had gained by
trading. I believe this money is the gospel.
It's the gospel. God had given them the light
of the gospel and left. Now he's returned. Then came
the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And the Lord said unto him, Well,
thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful in very little,
have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came,
saying, Lord, thou thy pound hath gained five pounds. And
he said, Likewise to him be thou over also five cities. And another
came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept
laid up in a napkin. It's the bushel over the candlelight,
isn't it? For I feared thee, because thou
art an austere man, that's a strict man. Another gospel says a hard
man. Thou takest up that thou layest
not down, thou reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto
him, out of your own mouth will I judge you, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere
man. taking up that I laid not down,
and reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore then thou gavest not
thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have
at least required my own with usury? If you'd just put it in
the bank, I'd have got something. But you did nothing with what
I gave you. And he said, and then it stood by, take from him
that pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. And they
said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds already. God's already
told us the gospel to those who have shared the beauty of the
gospel with others. He's going to take it from those
who do not love it and give it to those who do. And I say unto
you that everyone which hath shall be given from him that
hath not, even that he hath, shall be taken away from him.
And here's verse 27 I want us to see. But those mine enemies
which would not that I should reign over them. These people
that did not want me to reign over them, bring hither and slay
them before me." Even if you're sitting here as
a believer this morning, there was a time when you said, I will
not have this man reign over me. But aren't we glad that the
king and the ruler reigns over us. And there was a day in His
power that He made you and I willing. And we said, Oh Lord, come now,
reign over me, rule over me. And that's the prayer of every
believer, that God, we're so thankful that Christ reigns.
And that all the events of our lives are in His hands. And I
speak, every believer says, I'm glad I'm there. Lord, that's
where I want to be. I want to be in your hands. I
don't want to make my decision because they're always wrong
and they always lead to destruction and death. Let us pray to the
Lord. Lord, we've gathered here this
morning confessing that, Lord, we are
guilty sinners. and pray that you would speak
to our hearts this morning, that you would cause us by your
Spirit to submit to you, to rest and to believe on you and in
you. Lord, that we would be glad that
you rule over us as our King and Ruler, and pleased that you
would squash any thoughts we may have of wanting to rule for
ourselves, for they are foolish and they are evil. We pray for
those who are gathered, Lord, that you might be pleased to
bring your lost sheep home today. And Lord, that you would enable
us to follow after you and plead with you, Lord, save us, save
us this day. and that we would look to you
and live. We ask it for your glory. Amen. We're going to sing to him number
340. Number 340, if you could please
stand. Nearer, still nearer, close to
thy heart. Draw me, my Savior, so precious
thou art. Hold me, oh, hold me close to
thy breast. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. Nearer, still nearer, nothing
I fear. not as an offering to Jesus my
King. Only my sinful, now contrite
heart grant me the cleansing. Thy blood doth impart Let me the cleansing Thy blood
doth impart. Nearer, still nearer, Lord, to
be Thine. Sin with its follies I gladly
resign, All of its pleasures, all and its pride, Give me but
Jesus, my Lord crucified. Give me but Jesus, my Lord crucified. Nearer, still nearer, my life
shall last. Still safe in glory my anchor
is cast Through endless ages ever to be Nearer, my Savior,
still nearer Have you ever felt forsaken by
God? It's a horrible feeling. But if you're a child of God,
it's just that, a feeling. Feelings come and feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. My only warrant is the word of
God. None else is worth believing. I will never leave you or forsake
you. David said, I was young and now
I am old, and I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor their
seed begging bread. And the only hope that you and
I have, the only hope that you and I have that God will never
forsake us is that he did truly forsake the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 22. This wasn't a feeling. Oh, it
was a feeling. It went to the depths of his
soul. But this feeling was based on truth. For God Almighty, when
he saw sin on his own son, was forced by his holy justice to
forsake him. When the Lord Jesus Christ cried
on Calvary's cross, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, which is interpreted,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He wasn't saying,
well, you know, it seems like God has forsaken me, but I know
he hasn't. When the sky was blackened and
the presence of God was completely absent from the Lord Jesus Christ,
it was more than a feeling. Why did God forsake Christ? Christ, forsaken of God. He died on a cross alone. Now you and I have very little
understanding of what that means. We go in and out of our communion
with God. If you're a believer, If the
Lord's never been pleased to make himself known to you, then
you've never experienced his presence at all. But if you're
a child of God, you have the experience of going in and out
of fellowship with him. Sometimes you feel his presence
very near. Other times you feel forsaken
by him. And in those times when he withdraws the awareness of
his presence, he puts into your heart a desire to draw near to
him again. The Lord Jesus Christ, here's
what we can't understand. This is the mystery of the gospel. And yet we know it's true because
God declares it to be true. The Lord Jesus Christ for all
eternity, for all eternity had had nothing but perfect bliss
in his relationship with his father. The best experience we've
ever had in communion with the Lord does not even begin to compare
what he knew in his relationship with the father. And yet when
he went to Calvary's cross, he was forsaken of God. It is the
cup that he asked the Lord, if there be any other way that this
cup can pass from me, let it be. He wasn't talking about,
well, there were two men right there on his right and his left
that were suffering the same physical suffering that he was
suffering in terms of crucifixion. The bitter dregs of God's wrath
that he would drink to its bitter end, the separation that he would
have with the father on Calvary's cross was real. It was real. Some have suggested that, well,
you know, it was just a legal thing it was just something
that God had to do in order to in order to put the sins of his
people away and That it was that it was very objective But not
subjective in terms of the Lord's feelings It's not what the scriptures
teach Look look at me look with me. I want us to look at at three
things about our The forsaking of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's
cross. This is not an original outline.
Many gospel preachers have preached this simple three-point outline.
This is the first time I ever have, and I hope it'll be a blessing
to you. The reality of Christ being forsaken. The reason for Christ being forsaken,
and the results of Christ being forsaken. the reality, the reason,
and the results of God Almighty forsaking the Lord Jesus Christ
on Calvary's cross. And we know that David was a
man after God's own heart and the scriptures in Acts chapter
2 when Paul, when Peter, I'm sorry, preached the first gospel
message there in Jerusalem as the church on the day of Pentecost.
David spends, Peter, I'm sorry, spends a lot of time in that
message quoting David. And here's what he says about
David in Acts chapter 2 verse 25, David speaking concerning
him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face for he is on my
right hand that I should not be moved. David knew when he
wrote Psalm 22 that he wasn't writing about himself. He knew
that he was being inspired by the Spirit of God to write about
the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of David, the one who would
come that David was only a type of. He was the sweet psalmist
of Israel. He was a man after God's own
heart. He was the king. He was the shepherd
of Israel. But in all those things, he only
foreshadows. what would be fulfilled in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter makes it clear in quoting
from Psalm 16 that David knew what he was saying. He knew that
he was talking not about himself. He was talking about Christ.
I've made this statement before and I'll make it again. This
goes along with what we looked at in the first hour. Every word
in this book As you said, Michael, points us to Christ. In the volume
of the book it is written of me, I get so frustrated in reading
commentaries and hearing men who talk about messianic psalms. And of course Psalm 22 would
be agreed on by everyone that this is a messianic psalm. Every
psalm is messianic, as is every chapter in this glorious book. It all points to Christ. But even an unbeliever can see
that Psalm 22 speaks in such glorious detail about exactly
what happened on Calvary's cross, but they don't enter in in faith
to the reality of what the Lord Jesus Christ was experiencing,
the reason why he was experiencing, and the result of what he experienced. And that's what I hope we'll
be able to enter into. That God the Holy Spirit will
enable us to believe that what the Lord Jesus Christ suffered
on Calvary's cross was real to him, that the Father wasn't saying
to him, well, you know, I know these aren't yours, but we know
they weren't. This is all about substitution.
People say, well, you know, if you impute the sins of God's
people to Christ, then you defile the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean,
there are people who say that. And so they make this imputation
nothing more than a legal thing that took place in heaven. It's
not what the scripture teaches. Look what he says, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime,
but thou hear us not and in the night season and I'm not silent. Yes, we have a high priest who
is able to be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He bore in his body the sins
of his people, yet he himself Yet he himself was without sin. But never do we hear him say,
well, God, you know that I'm, that these aren't really mine.
You know that I'm just, that I'm just, I like what Scott Richardson
said. He said the, the, the imputation of sin on the sin bearer on the
substitute is not a pasted on imputation. And every word that
we hear from God's Word, the reality of what the Lord Jesus
Christ went through was that he felt. You know what guilt
and shame feels like? You do, don't you? And yet it's
what you and I experience when we experience guilt and shame
is so slight. And it lasts for such a short
period of time, doesn't it? We get over it pretty quick,
don't we? We move on pretty quickly. And what we experience, it doesn't
go too deep, does it? The Lord Jesus Christ experienced
the reality of shame and guilt to its infinite degree. He knew by experience how evil
sin really was. Sin doesn't bother us too much.
It really doesn't. Not when we compare how it affected
him. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken? Lord, I cry, my roarings go out. Now we know that he was without
sin himself. God Almighty spoke audibly from
heaven on at least two occasions, maybe three and said, this is
my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The Lord Jesus Christ
said of himself, he said, I always do the will of the father. in the volume of the book it
is written of me, to do thy will, O God. And he himself was able
to say to his enemies, which of you can convince me of sin? Now, who of us can do that? Who
of us can stand publicly and say, anybody here, can you expose
anything wrong with me? That's what the Lord was saying.
Truth is, if you knew me, all you would have to say about me
is that he's a sinner. Everything about him is sinful.
But the Lord Jesus Christ was the holy, harmless, undefiled
Son of God who lived His life in absolute, perfect obedience
until He went to Calvary's cross. And then He bore in His body
the sins of his people, and he experienced the shame and guilt
of sin to the depths of hell, forsaken of God, like you and
I have never known it. Turn with me to Psalm 40. Now we know that Psalm 40 is all
about the Lord Jesus Christ. For it's quoted in Hebrews chapter
10. Look what he says in verse seven. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will,
O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. He made the law of God honorable.
He obeyed it perfectly. From the very depths of his soul,
in every thought, in every word, in every deed, he kept the law
of God to the inspection of God Almighty. And God was pleased
with him. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have refrained my lips,
O Lord. I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest it. I have presented myself to my
people as the only hope of their righteousness, and I've done
it without reservation. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. I've made
it clear to men that though they go about to establish their own
righteousness, they do it because they're ignorant of the righteousness
of God. I've made it clear to my church
that I am the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. I've done that. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord, let thy lovingkindness and thy truth
continually preserve me. Now he's calling on the Father
based on his obedience. He's calling on God Almighty
based on his obedience to preserve him and to reward him for his
faithfulness. for innumerable evils have come
past me about." I was talking to somebody about this passage
of scripture recently, and I asked them about this verse. And they
said, well, undeniably, those verses you just read refer to
Christ. But now David's speaking of himself, and I read the Bible
bifocally. That's what he said. I read it
with bifocals. I've got bifocals on. I understand what it means
to see something bifocally. You look through the top and
you see one thing. He said, I read the Bible bifocally. In other
words, he was saying, well, David was talking about Christ in verse
11, and he was talking about Christ at the first part of verse
12, for innumerable evils have come past me about. But now,
after the semicolon, or colon, he changes to talk about David. How foolish is that? This is the reality of the Lord
Jesus Christ being forsaken. That your sins became him, became
his, so really. that he owned them for his own,
and suffered and died to put them away. For innumerable evils
have come past me about, mine iniquities have taken hold upon
me, so that I am not able to look up." He couldn't look up
to the Father. The father was nowhere to be
found. He showed him no mercy. There was no grace. He was completely
unlike you and I have ever experienced. The Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's
cross was completely forsaken by God. That's the reality of the crucifixion. And that's all you need to know
about your sin is that when God saw it, on his own darling son. He was forced by his holy nature
to completely forsake him. And now the Lord Jesus Christ
is crying out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Notice that the Lord Jesus Christ
could not, he could not call on God as his father. Any other place where we see
the Lord praying, He's praying to His Father. But having been forsaken by God,
all He could do is refer to Him as God. His union, His relationship,
His fellowship with God Almighty had been severed. And he cries
in agony as a result of bearing his sins in our body. My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Lamentations is just after
Jeremiah. If you want to turn with me there
quickly in your Bibles, Lamentations chapter one. Lamentations chapter one. Now
I want to begin reading in verse 11. All her people sigh. They seek
bread. They have given their pleasant
things for meat to relieve the soul. See, O Lord, and consider,
for I have become vile." Now, there's only one person that
can say that. You and I were born vile. When Job saw his sin, He said, behold, I am vile. I am vile. Jeremiah is speaking
prophetically of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he says, when he
says, for I am become vile. The sins of my people have been
imputed to me. And now I am something that I
wasn't before. This is the reality of our Lord's
death. This is the reality of your sin
and mine. Look at the next verse. Is it
nothing to you all that you pass by? Behold and see if there be
any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith
the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. This is the wrath of God being
poured out from heaven, the fierceness of His anger, His justice being
satisfied. God Almighty is punishing the
Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of His people. From above hath he sent fire
into my bones, and it prevailed against them. He hath spread
a net for my feet, he hath turned me back, he hath made me desolate
and faint all the day. The yoke of my transgressions
is bound by my hand. and they are wreathed and come
up upon my neck. He hath made my strength to fall. The Lord hath delivered me into
their hand, for I am not able to rise up. My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? The reality of the Lord Jesus
Christ being forsaken. The Lord hath trodden underfoot
all my mighty men in the midst of me. He hath called an assembly
against me to crush my young men. The Lord hath trodden the
virgin, the daughter of Judah. And in the winepress, everyone
scattered, left him all by himself. He had
no comfort from his disciples, no comfort from his people, no
comfort from God. He was cut off, suspended between
heaven and earth, all by himself. The reality of what the Lord
Jesus Christ suffered on. And listen, as I've said, we
can't appreciate, we can't enter into this experientially. Oh,
but that God would give us the faith to believe it's true. To
believe it, Lord, whatever all that means, I know it's true. For these things I weep, mine
eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should
relieve my soul is far from me. My children are desolate because
the enemy prevailed. Zion spreadeth forth her hands,
and there is none to comfort her. The Lord hath commanded
concerning Jacob that his adversaries should be round about him. Jerusalem
is a menstrous woman among them. Your righteousness is as of filthy
rags. The Lord is righteous, for I
have rebelled against his commandment. Don't read that with bifocals. Just know that whatever this
means, the Lord Jesus Christ has owned the sins of his people. The reality of imputation was
so real and so true to the Lord Jesus Christ over and over and
over again. He calls your sins and my sins. You see, the justice of God couldn't
be satisfied unless they became his. He couldn't offer himself
up as a sacrifice for sin if the sins were not charged to
him, if they were not imputed to him. Which brings us to the second
point. The reason why the Lord Jesus Christ was forsaken of
God. And I've already mentioned it
in my introduction. So that we would never be forsaken. We deserve what he got. Do you believe that about yourself?
Do you believe that if God gave you what you deserve, that you'd
be cast headlong into a devil's hell for all eternity, separated
from God, suffering under the wrath of God without any hope,
any hope of salvation? If God's made you to be a sinner,
you know that's true. And the reason why the Lord Jesus
Christ did what he did is because I deserve to be forsaken. I deserve
to be separated from God. He did what he did in order to
save his people from the wrath that is to come. The angel told
Mary, you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people. People talk about being saved.
I never heard that term growing up, what it means to be saved. The first time somebody asked
me, I remember I was about 20 years old, first time somebody
asked me, are you saved? And my natural response was,
saved from what? Saved from what? I don't know
what you're talking about. Now I know. Saved from the wrath
that is to come. Saved from the judgment of God. Saved from the penalty of death
and hell. Oh, I've got to be saved. This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. The reason
why the Lord Jesus Christ was forsaken by God was to save his
people. Are you looking to him as the
only hope of your salvation? You see, you still have your
Bibles open to lamentations. Look at verse 12. Is it nothing to you that pass
by and see me? You know what? It will be one of two things
to you. And don't try to find any middle
ground. There is none. What we're talking about right
now will either be nothing to you or it will be everything
to you. There's no middle ground. His righteousness became mine. My sin became his. That's why he did it. The reality
of it is that he experienced being forsaken of God. He experienced
whatever hell means. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
experienced. Now, people wanna debate, well,
where'd he go and what'd he do during those three days? I don't
know, you don't know, nobody knows. It's one of those secret things
that God's not revealed to His people. But we know that He died. We know that He didn't see corruption.
I don't know how long it takes for a rigmarole to set in. It
never set in His body. Not one cell in His body broke
down or began to decay. Scripture's clear on that. He's dead. He's dead, completely
dead, put into a tomb. But God saw his holiness and
would not allow his body to see corruption. And in three days,
he raised him from the dead, offered up for our offenses and
raised again because of our justification. That's why he did it. That's
why he did it. He did it to put away the sins
of his people, to justify us before God. God's holy. Go back with me to our psalm
in Psalm 22. Here's the answer. Verse 3 is
the answer to the reason why the Lord Jesus Christ was forsaken
by God. It's very simple, right here
in verse 3. But thou art holy, O thou that
inhabitest the praises of Israel. That's why. When a holy God saw
sin on his darling son. His eyes were too pure to look
upon sin. He had no choice but to forsake
him. And if he did that for Christ,
what do you suppose he's going to do for you or me if he finds
one sin on us? If God should mark iniquity,
who shall stand? If God judges you or me based
on the best thing we've ever done, we're going to hell. Did
you hear that? That's the truth of the gospel.
It's called grace. We're sinners. I will in no means,
or by no means, clear the guilty. You and I are guilty. When the
Lord Jesus Christ prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, Father,
if there be any way this cup can pass from me, let it be.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. There was no
other way. There was no other way. He had
to drink the bitter dregs of God's wrath. He had to be forsaken
of God. He had to die and suffer the
shame and separation of hell for the judgment of our sin.
He had to. He had to do it in order that
all scriptures might be fulfilled. The testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy. You know, we could probably draw
a big crowd here on Sunday mornings if we just put a sign out on
the road there that told folks that we were delving into the
secrets of prophecy. We were gonna answer the questions
that are pressing for the day and what's gonna happen in the
future. And people love that sort of
thing. The scripture says the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ himself is the spirit of all prophecy. Here's another verse, all the
promises of God are yea and amen in him. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
be forsaken of God in order to fulfill all prophecy. Oh, we
could go through so many prophecies of the Old Testament, beginning
with the serpent will bruise the heel of the seed of the woman,
but he is going to crush his head, destroy the works of the
devil, and deliver those who are held captive by him. Oh,
what glorious reason the Lord Jesus Christ had. He did it in
order to glorify God and what glory he brought to God. He showed
the justice of God in suffering. Being forsaken of God because
of the holiness of God, we see something about the evil of our
sin. Your conscience and whatever
consequences you suffer for bad behavior is not conviction of
sin. Unbelievers have a conscience. Unbelievers will feel bad when
they do something wrong. All men have the law of God written
on their hearts. It's called worldly sorrow which
leadeth to death. Godly sorrow now which leadeth
to repentance is to look upon the one whom thou hast pierced
and sorrow for him as a father sorrow after his only son. It's
having some understanding that what the Lord... In other words,
what I'm telling you is you want to see something in truth about
your sin, look to Christ hanging on Calvary's cross, and know
that that was the only thing that God would be satisfied with
in putting your sin away. That's how evil it was. And the
Lord Jesus Christ said, Father, my hour has now come. Glorify
thy son as I have glorified thee upon the earth. And the Lord
Jesus Christ did what he did in order to bring glory to God.
He was doing business with God. He was upholding the justice
and the righteousness and the holiness and the power of God. The most powerful thing that
ever has taken place on the face of this earth is what the Lord
Jesus Christ accomplished on Calvary's cross. The putting
away of our sin, the satisfying of divine justice, the pleasure
of the Father, what great power. That's why He did it. He did
it in order to exalt the grace and mercy of God. The scripture
says that in Psalm 85 verse 10, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. That's what happened. God was
able to be just and justify sinners because the Lord Jesus Christ
was forsaken on Calvary's cross. And so we have the mercy of God
and the truth of God. We have the righteousness of
God and the peace of God. These things are contrary without
the cross. They cannot be brought together
without the cross. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ
did what he did. The reality of the Lord Jesus
Christ being forsaken by God is that he suffered separation
by the Father to the depths of his soul in a way that you and
I have never known it. The reason why he did it was
to glorify the Father and to put away our sin. You want to
know something about the love of God? Greater love hath no
man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Here's
a mystery of the gospel. How are you going to get a hold
of the fact that God loves you with an everlasting love? Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God? Having loved his own, the scripture
says he loved them to the end. He loved them to the end. That's the reason he did it.
For God so loved the world. Worldlings. Worldlings. Folks outside of Israel. Gentile
dogs. that he gave his only begotten
son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. That's the reason he did it.
And the result, the result is that we have the righteousness
of God. 1 Corinthians 5.21, God made him who knew no sin to be sin. That we might become
the righteousness of God in Him. How are you going to stand in
the presence of a holy God? You're going to have to be perfect.
You're going to have to be perfect. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
5. Hebrews chapter 5. Here's what the scripture says.
This is not Hebrews chapter five, but here's, well, let's read
Hebrews five, verse seven. Look at verse seven. Who in the
days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong cryings and tears unto him that was able to save
him from death and was heard in that he feared. Now, the Lord
was a man of prayers. Oftentimes we see in the scriptures
that he separated himself from the disciples, went into a mountain
and prayed. He prayed to the Father, but oh, never did he
pray like this. Hear, hear his prayer of agony. He's crying out to the Father.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? These are the cryings
with tears unto him that was able to save. Though he were
a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered
and being made perfect. He became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them. You see that word obey? It's
the same word as belief. All them that believe on him,
all them that trust him, all them that obey him, that look
to him, that rely upon him for their righteousness before God.
What is the result? The justice of God is satisfied. The righteousness of God is fulfilled. By one offering, by one offering,
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. I can stand
perfect in the presence of a holy God because of what the Lord
Jesus Christ accomplished on Calvary's cross. Again, I close with Lamentations
chapter 1. Is it nothing to you that passed
by? Behold, and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherein the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." The Lord Jesus Christ, being
forsaken of God, will be everything to you and me or nothing. There's no middle ground. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that
your Holy Spirit would open the eyes of our understanding, that
you would give to us faith. Father, that that we would believe
the declaration of thy word and rest in the accomplished
work of thy dear son. For it's in his name we ask it.
Amen. 118 in the hardback temple. Let's
stand together. When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of Glory died, My riches gained I count
but lost, and pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should
boast, save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that charm
me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. See from His head, His hands,
His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'er such love and sorrow
meet? O'er thorns composed so rich
a crown, Where the home realm of nature mine, That we're a
present far too small Love so amazing, so divine Demands my
soul, my life, my all Thank you.