Thank you, Sarah. Psalm 22. Towards the end of this psalm, it changes to our Lord speaking as the accomplished
Redeemer, and He begins to speak and he says in verse 22, I will
declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation
will I praise thee. We know that's quoted in Hebrews
2 applied to the Lord. And he begins to command worship
and when he commands it graciously in the heart that's when we worship
him. And here's the reason he says
verse 28, for the kingdom is the Lord's He's the governor
among the nations. He's the king we just sang about.
Come thou almighty king. He's that king and He's the one
that gives worship in the heart. And this is His promise. Now
look down at verse 30. A seed shall serve Him. That is a people that He redeemed. It should be accounted to the
Lord for a generation. His chosen generation. They shall
come. And they shall declare His righteousness. They're going to speak of His
righteousness. Not anybody else's, but His righteousness. Unto a
people that shall be born. They're going to be born again.
And they're going to declare that He hath done. And really the word there is
that it is finished. They're going to declare His
righteousness and they're going to declare It is finished. To
preach the gospel is to declare Christ's righteousness. They
shall come and shall declare His righteousness that He hath
done. That Christ is the righteousness
and they are going to declare His righteousness, that He is
the righteousness. and that by His work He's finished
it. He's established righteousness
for His people. This is why the Apostle Paul
said, The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved is the power of God. This is the
power. He said, It's the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed. This is the righteousness, His
righteousness. This is what the gospel is, His
righteousness. They shall come and declare His
righteousness. Now He hath finished it. Paul
said we preach Christ crucified. And to the Jews a stumbling block
and to the Greeks foolishness. They say we've heard that enough. We're tired of the light bread.
We're tired of the manna. Talk to us about our righteousness
now. He said, but unto them which are called, whether they are
Jews or Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. His people want to hear about
His righteousness. He said, God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the
world is crucified unto me and unto the world. That's why He
said, I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Why? Because Christ promised
it and He fulfilled it in Paul. A seed shall serve Him. That's
what He's done in every faithful minister of the gospel and every
believer. They shall come and shall declare His righteousness
unto a people that shall be born that He had done this. So this
morning we're declaring Christ our righteousness. We are remembering
Christ our righteousness, how He hath done it, how He hath
finished the work. We are going to look at our suffering
substitute and satisfaction accomplished by Him. This is all our salvation. This is how He made His people
the righteousness of God in Him. It is finished. It is finished. Back in verse 1, our Lord speaking
from the cross says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Now why did God forsake him?
He's on the cross and God forsook him. He's God, I thought. He is God. He's the God-man. Why did God forsake him? God
forsook our Savior because He who knew no sin was made sin
for His people. This One who knew no sin, this
One who said, I was cast upon you from a mother's breast, I
hoped in you from the womb, He said. This One who was created
perfect, born, came and inhabited a body prepared for Him in perfection,
unlike any other person born into this world. He was made sin for His people.
The great mystery of our Savior's work, it's all a mystery. It's
all a mystery. It's all we see so dimly and
so little of it. And this is what we're going
to be eternity learning about and hearing about what He's done,
what He accomplished. But He said in Hebrews 2.10,
it became him. for whom are all things, and
by whom are all things, and bringing many sons unto glory, to make
the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. And
then he said in Hebrews 2.17, Wherefore in all things, in all
things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren. that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the people. In order to make the captain
of salvation to be the perfect savior to bring many sons to
glory, Christ had to suffer in the room instead of his people.
It's not just the suffering, it's why he was suffering and
what he was accomplishing by that suffering. He had to be
made like unto his brethren. When we talk about substitution,
he was in all things made like those he came to save. He was
made of a woman without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. You can't explain that. We just,
we believe it. He was made in the likeness of
flesh. He was made of a woman. He was
made under the Law. This is a great mystery. The
Lawgiver made Himself to be under the Law He gave for His people. And He was made sin, the Scripture
says. He hath made Him sin for us who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. He was made a curse for us. Great is the mystery of godliness.
This was what was due to Him because He was made sin. Because He bore in His own body
on the tree the sins of His people. He was made a curse for us. to answer to justice for His
people. And Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us. So that's why
He was forsaken on the cross. He was made to be what His people
are. A real, true taking of our place
on that cross. So that God took all the sin
of all his people in every generation, the thoughts, the word, the deed,
everything, and made him to be sin for us. This is... We don't try to explain that.
Just thank God it's so. Believe God. Why would God not
help him? He says there in verse 1, Why
art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my
roaring, my groaning? O my God, I cry in the daytime,
but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not
silent. Why would God not hear him? One
reason is God will not help him because it was God bruising him
in place of his people. It was God doing to him what
was being done. He says there in verse 15, Thou
has brought me into the dust of death. Isaiah 53.10 said it pleased
the Lord to bruise Him, He hath put Him to grief. Men nailed
Him to the tree, the sins of His people put Him there, willingly,
but it was God who put Him there. It was God who bruised Him on
that cross. He was doing what God determined
before to be done. Another reason God wouldn't answer
him, wouldn't hear him, is because it pleased God that his son have
all preeminence. To have all preeminence in redemption, Christ must tread the winepress
of the fury of the wrath of God alone, with none to help. Psalm 142.4, he said, refuge
failed me. No one cared for my soul. I looked
on my right hand, but there was no one who would know me. Christ
said that. If he's going to be our refuge,
if he's going to be the one his people can look to for refuge,
if he's going to be the one that will help his people and be our
sucker, our comforter, when there is no other comfort, he had to
suffer alone. so that his sinful children will
have a shield from the fury of God and a refuge of safety. He must not only suffer alone,
he must do so with perfect faith, praying to the Father. This is
the faith of Christ. This is the faith of our Redeemer.
We see it all through this psalm. He kept crying to the Father.
When he was there, he kept crying to the Father. He kept calling
out to the Father. In verse 7 he says, All they
that see me laugh me to scorn, they shoot out the lip, they
shake the head, saying he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver
him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. But thou
art he that took me out of the womb. This morning we saw how
a sinner can walk in darkness and have no light, have no perception
of God being there for him. Rob just read how Job suffered
that. Job suffered that more than any
other man on this earth. God took all his children at
once. He took all his possessions at
once. He took all his friends at once. Everything was taken from him
at once. Nobody has ever suffered like that except this one. He
suffered more. And he kept crying, Thou art
he that took me out of the womb. He hoped against hope. He believed
when there was no answer from God toward him. Thou didst make
me hope when I was upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee
from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's
belly. Oh, be not far from me, for trouble's
near. There's none to help." By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. This is the obedience by which
his people are made righteous. Do we have faith? It takes far less than this to realize we need to be saved
by His obedience. Far less than this and you and
I will be just wilted away and unable to think we have no hope. Be like Job. ready to die. This one here never stopped. He never wavered. He never wavered
in his obedience, in his faith to God. That's the faith by which
we're saved. That's the obedience that pleased
God. He's obeying God perfectly, positively,
as he's bearing our sin away under the justice of God. That's
love. That's faith. That's the faith
and love by which He saved His people, right there. The faith
and love by which the law is fulfilled. That's the faith and
love in which He tells us to love one another. Do we love
as we ought? Not even close, do we? That's
perfect faith and perfect love. That's why we don't trust our
faith to save, we don't trust our love to save or anything
we do to save, trust Him to save. That's perfection. That's what
God's pleased with. That's why He has all preeminence. He's the head of the body, the
church, who's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminence. And then, God
forsook him and would not hear him, He said, ìWhy hast thou
forsaken me? Why wonít thou hear me?î God
forsook him and would not hear him because God is holy. Thatís
what we see here. Thatís what weíre learning here.
God is holy. He says here in verse 3, ìBut
thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.î I like that wording, ìThou that
inhabitest the praises of Israel. You're holy. Our fathers trusted
in Thee. They trusted and Thou didst deliver
them. They cried unto Thee and were delivered. They trusted
in Thee and they were not confounded. They were not ashamed for trusting
in Thee. But now listen to what Christ says about Himself. But I am a worm and no man. God is holy, and as His holy
character demands that His law has got to be honored, He's got
to be just. His holy character demands He
must get all the glory, He must be the justifier. He must be
the one that honors it, and He must be the one that saves His
people. And so God being holy poured out His holy wrath on
the substitute of His people because Christ was bearing all
the sin of all His people. That's why He did this. Thou
art holy, but I am a worm and no man. Now we know Christ was
made lower than the angels. But here He says lower than men. He said, I am a worm and no man. That's the contrast between I
am and I am a worm. He's the great
I am. He's the one that appeared in
the burning bush to Moses and when Moses said, who shall I
tell sent me? He said to them, I am that I
am. hath sent thee. This is the great
I am. We saw one of them today. I am
the light of the world. We are going to see more. We
saw him saying John 6. I am the bread from heaven. I am. We are going to see him
say I am the door. I am the good shepherd. He is
the great I am. You know what that means? He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. That's who this is. God. Equal with God. He's God. But when we read that He made
Himself of no reputation, when we saw last week how to fulfill
the law of Christ is to bear the burden of our brethren, here's the perfection of it.
He made himself of no reputation. How much? I am a worm and no man. Did that for you, Rob. Did that
for you, Jeff. I am a worm and no man. Bearing the sin of his people.
Bearing the wrath of God. Bearing this wickedness at the
hands of men. Bearing whatever things we can't
see that the devil was causing him to bear. All these things
he was bearing at one time. Hell is what he was bearing for
us. He called himself a helpless,
powerless worm, which is just despised by those
that tread upon it. If you ever just walked along
and stepped on a worm, did you go home and lose sleep that night
because you stepped on a worm? That's the heart of everybody
dancing around that cross and having a party. They were treading
on him. And he said, I'm a worm and no
man. The essence of agony. Doing that for us. who hated
Him, who were just, if we'd have been alive, we'd have been right
there, but for Him quickening us and giving us eyes, we'd have
been right there in the crowd, dancing and treading on Him.
And in fact, it was for our sins of doing that for which He was
dying. Not just your bad sins. Every
thought that is not perfect deserves that right there. Every love that is not perfect
love deserves that right there. All the privileges and blessings
which belong to the fathers that they received from the father
were kept from him. All the common acts of humanity
from one to the other was kept from him. He was rejected of
men. They hid their faces from him.
I won't read it again, but you can read, a reproach of men and
despised of the people. They laughed me to scorn. They
shoot out the lip. They shake the head. That's our sin every day. That's
what we're doing every day in our sin. They gaped upon me with their
mouths like a ravening and roaring lion. Dogs, he said. Dogs are all around
me. Like hyenas. They enclose me. That's the enmity of our hearts
against God. Have you ever hated God that
much? That's the enmity of our heart. Sweet little grandma that makes
nice good sweet pies and always welcomes you over and is nice
and kind to you and just don't seem like she'd ever do anything
wrong. In her flesh, that's the enmity of her heart. If you ever are treated hard,
And if somebody acts like they think they're better than you,
we ought not be surprised because that's what we did to Christ.
It's exactly what we did to Christ. He called himself a worm and
no man also because he's bruised beyond recognition. You see these
paintings, they hang on walls and they show him there. Even
that movie they made about him. I don't suggest you go see that
movie. It's idolatry. But you would not want to hang
a painting on the wall of what he looked like on that cross. Go to Isaiah 52. I'll show you
what he says about it. In proportion to how He was bruised, in proportion to how He was bruised,
that's how greatly He washed away the sins of His people. And in proportion to how greatly
He was bruised, that's how wisely and prudently we behold Him there
on that cross. When we talk about the power
of God's salvation, this is what we're looking at. This is what
He was doing on that cross. When we talk about the wisdom
of God to save, that's what we're looking at on this cross. Now
look what He says, Isaiah 52, 13. Behold, My servant shall
deal prudently. He's wisdom. And on that cross,
He's dealing prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled
and be very high. How did He come to that exaltation? By highly exalting God and His
character, His holiness. How did He do that? By making
Himself the very least. By making Himself a worm and
no man. Look, and in great purport, as many as were astonished at
Thee, before this thing is over, they were just astonished at
what happened. I don't know what happened. I
have some speculation about what happened, but I'll keep it to
myself. But it's more than what you and
I think. His visage was so marred more
than any man. That means his appearance. And as he says here, his soul,
his inner heart was made an offering. It was marred more than any man
in his form, more than the sons of men. That's what he meant by I'm a
worm and no man. But listen to this. So shall
he sprinkle many nations. as prudently as he dealt, as
exalted and extolled and very high as he is, as astonished
as men were, as much as his visage was marred more than any man
and his form more than sons of men in direct proportion to the
depths that he went to He sprinkled His people wherever they are
in this world. Washed away our sins in direct
proportion. See, this is why we talk about
what He did. It's just not some flippant,
heartless, cold transaction that took place. It's just a doctrine. However proportion to how He
suffered that, that we deserve, that's the proportion to which
He sprinkled us from our sin and saved us. However He was
made sin, that's how You made righteous. Kings shall shut their mouths
at Him. For that which had not been told
them, they shall see, and that which they had not heard shall
they consider. He goes on to say, down at the
end of this psalm, everybody's going to bow to him. Everybody's
going to bow. His people are going to bow now. His people are going to bow now. You know what made Job say, I
abhor myself in dust and ashes? He saw him. He didn't say, I abhor my friends. He said, I abhor me. And he comes and he makes his
praise known. He tells us here, he didn't abhor
the affliction of the afflicted. God heard him. God raised him. And He is the King now, our Prophet,
Priest and King who sent forth His Gospel and keeps preaching
His Word in the midst of His people and commanding worship
and bringing us to extol Him and exalt Him and give Him all
the praise because He accomplished this for His people. Read down
there, it says, a seed shall serve Him. Why do you believe
Him? Why do you serve Him? Because
He did this for a particular people. It should be accounted
to the Lord for a generation. They are that chosen generation,
precious to God. They shall come. Do you think He suffered this
and He is not going to go and tell them about it for whom He
did it? You think He is not going to draw them to Him and make
them know He did this for them? Each one he did this for, he
saved, he justified, he made righteous. They shall come, they're
going to hear about this. And once you've heard about this,
you know what you've got then? You've got one message. Just
one. What are they going to go forth
talking about? His righteousness. His righteousness. You want to come to God by your
works? Well, we just saw what He requires. That's what God
requires right there. That's all you got to do if you
want to come to Him by your works, by your love and your faith.
That's all you got to do. Suffer hell for a people that hate you. and never stop looking to God.
Never stop believing God. Do it in perfect faith and perfect
love and perfect obedience. He's the only one that ever did
it. He's the only one God's pleased with. He's the only righteousness
God will accept. When I think of anything I've
ever done wherein I want to try to get some confidence, I see what He did and I abhor
myself. Why would I ever have such an
ignorant thought that I could do anything when He did it all? But they gonna come and declare
His righteousness unto a people that shall be born. I pray today
somebody here would be born. They shall be. That's why we
preach this. He's going to tell somebody that
He did this for. He's going to tell them. They
shall be born. They're going to be born again. They're going
to believe Him. And here's what we're saying. Now listen carefully. He hath done. That word there,
He hath done. It means it is done. It is finished. It's what He cried from the cross.
It is finished. He made reconciliation for the
sins of the people. He made His people the righteousness
of God in Him. He's now made the perfect captain
of our salvation. He's now made higher than the
heavens. He's made us sit down together
with Him in glory. And the only thing that remains
is for Him to bring us to Him in glory and make us perfectly
conformed to His image. And He'll do it. He'll do it. And what we're doing here today,
now get what he said in this simple ordinance. He said, this
is my body broken for you. He said a lot in that, didn't
he? In that simple statement. This bread is reminding you of
all this I suffered for you. This wine is to remind you of
me giving my life for you. He said, do this remembering
me. You're showing my death till that day when I come back
for you, bring you home. Let's go to Him. Father, we thank
You for this unsearchable gift that You gave Your only begotten
Son. Lord, help us to try to enter
into the love in that that You gave Your Son who was made a worm for worms
like us, that he might set us among princes. Lord, thank you for being holy. Thank you that you satisfied
your justice for us. And Lord, we're thankful that
you don't waver in your justice or your righteousness. By that
same satisfied justice You'll bring us, each one to bow and
rest in Christ, trust You and keep us and not lose one of us. Lord, help us to enter into that. Lord, help us to follow Christ, to abhor ourselves,
to abhor our sins, to abhor our righteousnesses. Make us entirely abhor any thought,
Lord, of such rebellion against You. Help us enter into how that's
what You bore for Your people on the cross, the reason You
were there, Lord, when we would sin, bring this to our remembrance. Make this be the power that mortifies
our flesh. Lord, help us to look to the
cross and remember you've paid the debt. Lord, don't let us be cast down
because of our failure. Don't let us be puffed up by
anything in us. Don't let us be looking back.
Don't let us be looking ahead to what we think we're going
to do. Make us look up to you. Make us keep our affection of
our inward man set on Christ. Lord, help us, truly make us set our affection on Him. Lord,
as we take these elements, help us really and truly to remember.
Enter into it in spirit and really remember your broken body, your
shed blood. Make us each think upon it. and the truth that you did it
for us personally. Father, use this power and this
wisdom to unite your people in the bond
of peace. Make us know we're worms and
the futility of worms fighting worms. And make us know and remember,
by your grace, by your righteousness, we're going to be side by side,
united for eternity at Christ's feet. Make us remember that right now.
You're the only one, Lord, that can do this, and you will do
this in the heart by this message of Christ and Him crucified. Thank you, Father, for this unsearchable,
unsearchable gift. Receive these pitiful words and
receive this, our pitiful worship, but receive
it in Christ who worshipped you and obeyed you in perfection. See us in Him. Accept us in Him. Lord, don't hear us except in
Him. We want only to be found in Him. Thank you, Father. Thank you,
Lord Jesus, for what you've done for us. Thank you, Holy Spirit,
for giving us hearts to know and understand and believe you.
In the name of our great King and
our Redeemer, we ask it. Amen.