I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to Matthew 27. Matthew 27. A few days ago, I was looking at verse 46, Matthew 27. And my heart truly was stirred. The verse just arrested me. And that which I had formerly
prepared to preach as one of the messages this morning, I
felt as though this is what I was going to have to preach. I believe
this is the message of the hour. Matthew 27. Verse 46, And about the ninth
hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is to
say, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? This question that the Lord asked,
that the Lord cried from the cross, to me exposes such wonder,
such majesty, such mystery of depth, that we dare not consider
it lightly. Men speak of this verse of Scripture,
they quote it. But as Martin Luther said one
time after mulling over and mulling over and mulling over this particular
verse of Scripture, and he said, God, forsaking God, who can perceive that? Oh may we this morning, And I'm
just as serious as I can be. I don't know how to say this
seriously enough. May we by the grace of God do
spiritually as the Lord commanded Moses to do when Moses saw the
burning bush and then started to walk over there next to it
Look at it, find out. And the Lord spoke to him out
of the bush, and he said, Moses, Moses, take your shoes off, because
the place that you're standing is holy ground. This morning, I want us to remember
something. where two or three are gathered
together in my name, and I'm convinced that two or three are
gathered together, then Son, in His name, He said, I'm in
the midst of you. And He hears, and He knows, He's
aware. I want to honor Him. I want to say, that which is
magnifying to our Lord. Now I know this, of everything that can be said
about this question, my God, my God, why? Why? Why? There's the word. That's
the word right there. Why? hast thou forsaken me?"
Of all the things, the depth of that question, I know this
for a fact. He wasn't asking for information.
I know that. Now listen, I know this. I know
this. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. He's God Almighty. He's the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. The fullness of the Father, the
Son, and the Spirit. He's the fullness of that bodily. And he was not asking something
that he didn't know. He's omniscient. Yes, Peter,
three times. Peter, do you love me? Third
time Peter said, Lord, You know all things. You know I love You. I know this, I know he wasn't
questioning his father. He wasn't crying out, questioning
the father's forsaking of him, as if the father had made a mistake. I know that. I know that. Now brethren, I want to consider
something about this question that's been a great help to me
the last few days while I studied. And I pray it will be to you
too. Here's my question. Why did he ask that question? Why did he ask the question?
He's God. He knows everything. He didn't question his father.
I know that. Well, before I go into this for
just a few minutes, I want us to consider a couple
of scriptures. Now, let's listen to these two
scriptures. We've read them before. 2 Timothy
3, 16, 17 says this, All scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
and listen to this one, for instruction in righteousness. That is, for
the foundation of our faith, Scripture is given, breathed
of God, that the man of God may be perfect, matured, throughly
furnished, unto all good works." Now, here's what I know. I know
that the Scriptures are God-breathed. They are and have one to whom they look and speak. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I know that it's God's Word to His people. Now, the world may
try to read this book. Those that God Almighty has,
as of this point, not called out of darkness, they may make
claims to it, but unless they meet the character of those believers
described in this book, this book is not to them. This book
is to God's people. It is concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. So I know this, that all Scripture
And I just read a scripture. Why hast thou forsaken me? My God, my God. Why? I know this. That scripture right
there was God breathed. It's profitable for correction,
reproof, instruction, instruction in righteousness. And then I
want you to turn, if you will, to John 11. I want to read one
other one. John 11. Now the Lord is at the
tomb of Lazarus. He's told him to remove the stone. Martha has questioned him and
said, Lord, I don't know if you know this, but my brother's been
dead four days and by now he's starting to stink. The Lord said in John 11, 41-42, Then they took away the stone
from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up
His eyes and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me. And I knew that Thou hearest
me always. But because of the people which
stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent
me." Now, do you know what he just said? Father, I know that
you hear me always, but I verbalized it for the benefit of those that
were standing by, that they might believe, that they might hear. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. I said it out loud for their
benefit. Whenever he was speaking to his
disciples, John 17, he was giving them instruction on what he was
going to be doing and the scripture says, I'll just read this to
you, the last verse of chapter 16 of John and the first verse
of chapter 17, now listen, He's speaking in the last verse of
16, John 16, 33. These things have I spoken unto
you. And he's talking to his disciples now. That in me you
might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I've overcome
the world. And he's talking to them. He's
talking to them. The next verse, verse 1, chapter 17. These words
spake Jesus. He was talking to them. And he
lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. He was getting ready to pray
his high priestly prayer, of which I thank the Spirit of God
that he saw fit to record it. John chapter 17, one of the most
beautiful, blessed to my heart, books in all the scripture concerning
the Lord's high priestly prayer. Father, I know you hear me always, but I'm going to say this out
loud for them, for their benefit. Now this morning, I dare not
presume to plumb the depth of the fullness of the Lord's words.
When He cried from the cross, My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me? But may we consider to His honor
and to His glory and to His praise these words in the fullness of
their meaning. Here again, I am not silly enough
to stand here and tell you that I've got a handle on the fullness
of what our Lord was saying. But I pray that in the fullness
of their meaning, may the meaning include that
they were spoken for our benefit, that we might be caused to hear
and to consider, why was he forsaken? My God, my God, why? Hath thou
forsaken me? And here's my question. Why? What does the Scriptures
have to say about the Lord being forsaken of the Father? Now I know what the world says.
I know, you know, He was there and He died for everybody's sins
and He just died. He just died. He just died. Died
for sins. Make salvation possible for all
men. And whoever, you know, gives
Him their heart, and whoever exercises their free will, and
you know, I'm going to tell you something. That's a lie. You cannot back
that up. There's no Scripture for that. So I know better than that. I
know better than that. I'm going to come back to my
question. speak to me and reveal to me
out of your Word. Now, I don't want to presume
on anything. If I can't find it in the Word of God, then I'm
going to tell you something, it's not even worth saying. Lord,
what do you have to say about why Christ Jesus the Lord was
forsaken? Why? I jotted down about 13 things Reduced them to three. Three things I'm going to bring
out. And Lord willing, include all the 13 that I had. I'll just
come right down to the heart of it. Here's the first one.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now, turn to Psalm
22, 1-3. Psalm 22, 1-3. Without a doubt, we can read
these three verses and we can without any reservation, we can
with assuredness of heart, we can say this. This was spoken,
moved upon by the Spirit of God prophetically concerning Matthew
27, 46. Now let's read it. My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me? And from the words of my roaring,
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not. And in the ninth season, and
am not silent," and look at verse 3, "...but Thou art holy, O Thou
that inhabitest the praises of Israel." Now I'm going to tell
you something. Those words were spoken for our
instruction. for instruction in righteousness."
Now what does the Scriptures have to say about why the Lord
Jesus Christ was forsaken? Because God's holy. God is holy. Eli, Eli. Strength, strength. That's what it means. Strength,
strength. Why hast thou relinquished me,
you who are able to uphold? That's what he asked. Why? The
answer? Because you're holy and righteous
and just. That's the reason. Here was the
Redeemer. The Scripture says, 2 Corinthians
5, verse 21, For he, the Father, hath made him sin. He was dying, being made sin. He who knew no sin. Here he was, bearing the sins
of his people, bearing the sin, the guilt. He'd borne our iniquities, carried
our sorrows. And there being made sin, the
Father, in absolute perfect union and agreement and oneness with
the Son, the Son who laid down His life, He said, I'll lay down
my life for the sheep. The Father made him sin in accordance
with God's everlasting covenant of grace and mercy toward His
people. He made Himself answerable for
their guilt. And where sin was found, and
there is sin, there is sin in the holy, harmless, Lamb of
God, He who knew no sin personally, made sin. And where sin was found, the law said judgment, death. The wages of sin is death. And He who knew no sin made sin
for His people. God is just. He's just. Why hast thou forsaken me? Because
God's holy. It was for us, His elect, His
people, His bride, His church that He died. I laid down my
life for the sheep and God Almighty is holy and He experienced. He learned obedience. You know what that means? He
experienced it. And by one sacrifice, one sacrifice,
why hast thou forsaken me? Because by one sacrifice he hath perfected forever those that God eternally loved
and set apart, sanctified for Himself. Why hast thou forsaken
me? Because we deserved it. And God's not going to sweep
sin under the rug. Man's a sinner, and God is holy. And being found in Him, in the
substitute, there's the substitute, and we're in Him. All God's sheep
eternally chosen in Him. And we're there. And we're there.
We're there. You say, I don't understand that.
I don't either. But I'm telling you, the Scriptures
declare that we're there. Brother Scott said, where God
puts a man, God keeps him right there. I was crucified with Christ. Why hast Thou forsaken me? God's
holy. Secondly, because God delights
to show mercy. Why hast thou forsaken me? Because God delights to show
mercy. Turn with me, hold your finger
there, and turn to Exodus 33. Exodus 33, verse 14 to 19. Exodus 33. Here again, I'm not going to
tell you anything I haven't told you before. Exodus 33, verse
14. And he said, God speaking to
Moses, my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest.
And he said unto him, if thy presence go not with me, carry
us not up hence. That's what Moses said back.
For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have
found grace in thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest
with us? So shall we be separated, I and
thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the
earth. And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also
that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight,
and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee,
show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee, And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Show me your glory." The Lord
said, here's my glory. I'm going to save my people. I'm going to show mercy to them.
That's my glory. That's my right. Does the Lord
not do as He will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth? Does God have the right to show mercy? Yes, but
He's not going to do it at the expense of His justice, His holiness. Show me your glory. Christ is
the express image. of the glory of God. Show me
your glory. I'm going to reveal my Son to
you. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to show you mercy
and compassion. I'm going to cause all of my
goodness to pass before you. Now listen, before the foundation
of the world, Ephesians 1-4, you can go back and read it again.
I'd advise you to. The Father purposed to show mercy
to a people that He everlastingly loved. Chose them in Christ,
that is, made Christ to be their surety. Chose them in Him. That they should be holy and
without blame before Him. And all the responsibility of
that was laid on the surety. This is my will. I'm going to
show mercy to whom I'm going to show mercy. And I'm going
to give you the responsibility. You're going to pay their debt.
And you're going to make them holy. You're going to come into this
world and you're going to live for them. And your obedience, I'm going
to take and I'm going to robe them in it. And you're going to suffer the
penalty of their disobedience. You're going to be their surety.
I'm going to show mercy to them. For them to be made the righteousness
of God, Christ had to come into this world as a man. And word,
thought, and deed obeyed God Perfectly. This is my beloved
Son whom I'm well pleased. And Almighty God who has magnified
His Word above all His name. That's where Psalm 138.2 says,
Thou has magnified Thy Word above all Your name. His Word, His
Word, His Word. Depend on it. He said, My counsel
is going to stand. Christ must die that God might
show mercy or he gonna die according to the scriptures I will have mercy, I will have
compassion the sheep must go free because God's pleased to
show mercy and I can tell you according
to scriptures God even right now has a remnant at this present
time according to the election of grace, and they're going to be saved.
They're going to be saved. I can tell you if there's some
of His sheep in this room today that God has yet to call out
of darkness, I can tell you this, if He's everlastingly loved you,
chosen you in Christ, I can tell you this, I know for a fact He's
going to call you. If He's pleased to call you today,
I pray so. But if not, He's going to call you. And so what I'm
going to do is I'm going to keep preaching the gospel. And I'm
not going to give man any glory. I'm going to give all the glory
by the grace of God to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know the
Spirit of God is going to bless this message. For Christ to be made Sin. God's going to be satisfied.
God's going to show mercy. Why hast thou forsaken me? Because I delight to show mercy. Thirdly, lastly, why hast thou
forsaken me? I'll tell you this. It's that
the Son might receive all the honor and all the glory and all
the praise. John 17 again, the Lord Jesus
praying, verses 1 and 2. And He said, these words spake
Jesus and lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the
hour has come. Glorify Thy Son that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee. as Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him." Never was Christ more glorified, more
magnified. Never was He more magnified as
the Lamb. Here is God's Lamb. Here is God's
Redeemer. Here is God's great High Priest. In the Old Testament, the High
Priest would take the blood, kill an animal and catch the
blood. On the Day of Atonement, sprinkle the blood on the ark,
on the mercy seat, the cover over the ark. But Christ, as
God's Lamb, laid down His life and with His
own blood went in and sprinkled His own blood into the very throne of God.
My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? You're the Lamb. You're the Lamb. According to God's eternal covenant
of grace, God Almighty chose Him, He elected Him, and
we in Him, as the great high priest. The priest appeared before
God in the stead of the people. God was approached by a priest. And they presented their gifts,
the people's gifts and sacrifices to God. The Lord Jesus Christ
presented Himself. I have pre-stood before God and
men, the Mediator. There's one Mediator. Between
God and men, it's the man. This is the one in whom the Father
first trusted. This is the one in whom the Father
is well pleased. And He is the faithful servant
of Jehovah. Here's what happened. He didn't
fail. He didn't fail. He finished the
work that the Father had given Him to do. And to finish the
work in the redemption of God's people, God's elect, He must
be forsaken. The Lamb. God had provided Himself
the Lamb. Oh, what glory was put upon Christ
as the Father committed to Him the great work of redemption,
bearing our griefs, stricken of God, afflicted for us. Wounded for our transgressions
and bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace
was upon Him and with His stripes we're healed. Father, glorify
me. Father, glorify me. Glorify me
as Your Lamb. God Almighty in the forsaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ was shown to be just. God's mercy was shown to be totally
found for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. The law was honored. Wrath before God's elect was
cast as far as the east is from the west. Victory over death
and hell and the grave was finished. And eternal happiness for the
church Peace with God was assured by His blood. Never did Jehovah
more fully glorify the Son through the whole of His ministry than
by the one offering of Himself. My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me? He said that for my sake. Here's
why. God's just and God's merciful. And Christ gets all the honor
and all the glory and all the praise. Amen.