Well, I said I wasn't going to
mention our mistakes, but we did have a bunch of them.
I am very honored to be here. I've been looking so forward
to being up here and meeting So many of you and seeing your
new building, it's beautiful. It's just beautiful. I'm so thankful
to the Lord for the ministry here. I am so thankful for my
dear friend and brother. And my dear friend and sister.
We have been friends for a long time. And I just love them so
much. I look up to both of you. I respect
you for the work's sake. And you have a wonderful pastor
here. Just a wonderful pastor and a wonderful pastor's wife.
I just love him. I love him. I'm very humbled.
Very honored. Turn with me if you would to
Psalm 22. Psalm chapter 22, what we are
about to see in the first three verses of Psalm 22 is something
that is so holy. It is so, so holy. This is something that our eyes
are not worthy to look on. So holy. This is our Lord crying
out to God the Father from the cross. This is a moment between God. This is a holy, holy moment. A private moment between God
the Father and God the Son. This is a moment between the
throne and the cross. Now, I can't imagine that there's
hardly anyone who's old enough to know anything about history
that does not know about the cross. I can't imagine there's anyone
who does not know that this man, Jesus Christ, died on the cross. The cross is the issue of life. The cross is the message of the
gospel. The preaching of the cross is
the power of God unto salvation. But preaching the cross is not
just preaching that the cross happened. Preaching the cross is preaching
what happened on the cross. It's not just preaching that
the cross happened, which is what so many people stand up
and do. They preach that the cross happened. But that's not
preaching the cross. Preaching the cross is preaching
what happened on the cross. What happened on the cross is
the gospel. That is the gospel. There is
only one gospel message. The apostle Paul said, there's
not another. There is one. Anything other
than exactly what happened on the cross is not the gospel. Now our Lord asked His Father
a question in this defining moment of our lives. And then He answered the question
right after He asked it. He asked a question, and then
He answered it. And what He tells us right here
will forever be the message of the gospel. Psalm 22 verse 1,
He said, 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 night season, and am not
silent. That was his question. Why hast
thou forsaken me? Why hast thou forsaken me? The
subject of this message and the title of this message is Why
was Christ forsaken? Why was Christ forsaken? Everybody
knows that He was forsaken. Everybody knows that He was.
But the saving declaration of the gospel is, why was he forsaken? Why? The preaching, the understanding,
the believing of why? Why was Christ forsaken? Why did God the Father forsake
Christ? He gives us the answer in verse
3. He said, it's because thou art holy. Thou art holy. Now, if we miss
this, we'll miss salvation. If we miss this, we will miss
the gospel and we will miss Christ. We'll end up missing Christ.
On the cross, the Lord asked the great question of salvation. Why hast thou forsaken me? And on the cross He gave us the
saving answer. He said it's because thou art
holy. Thou art holy. Now if we want
to know the truth of the gospel, if we want to understand what
is the actual message of the gospel, we're going to have to
find out what the word holy means. If we want to understand the
gospel, We're going to have to find out what holy means. Our
Savior said, the reason this is happening is because you are
holy. You're holy. What does holy mean? The definition of the word holy
is perfect, just, clean, pure, Psalm 145 verse 17 says, The
Lord is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works. Holy means He must do what's
right. That's what it means. He must
do what's right. Who is going to stand in that
holy hill? He that has clean hands and a
pure heart who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully." If God is holy, it means He can only do
right. He can only do right. Now, what
is right? What is right? What determines
whether something is right or wrong? How do we know what's
right? Turn with me, if you would, to Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7 verse 12 says, Wherefore, the law is holy, and
the commandment holy, and just, and good. The law that God gave. God's law is holy. It's holy. God is holy. God's
law is holy. God is His law. God is His law. God must do the
law. God can only do the law because
God is the law. When God gave the law to Moses,
He said, this is what I demand to stand in my presence. This
is what must happen if a sinner is going to stand in my presence.
What He was telling him was, this is what I am. How good does
someone have to be to stand in the presence of God? as good
as God. And he told Moses, this is what
I am. How good and right is God? Read his law. Read his law. Let's open his law. He said,
I didn't come to put away the law. I came to fulfill it. I came to fulfill every jot and
tittle. Turn with me over to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 1 says, Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also you have
received, and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved,
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures." You know what he's telling us
right there? Why? He's telling us why. Why did
Christ die? Why was Christ forsaken? Verse
3 says, For I delivered unto you first of all that which I
also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again
the third day according to the Scriptures. What Scriptures is
he talking about? The only Scriptures they had
then. The law that God gave to Moses, the law and the prophets. He's saying this is the gospel.
Christ died for our sins according to His holy law. God the Father
forsook Christ according to His holy law. Our Lord asked the
question, As He hung there, suffering the punishment and the wrath
of the sin of His people, He asked the question, Why hast
Thou forsaken Me? And He immediately acknowledged
the answer to His Father. He said, It's because you must
do right. You must do right. You are holy. You must judge according to your
holy law. You must. What's written in the
Law? What did the Holy God write in
His Law? What did He write in His Law?
Look with me at Exodus 23. Exodus 23. Now in chapter 20,
He gave the Ten Commandments. And in the following chapters,
He continued giving commandments, laws. In Exodus 23, verse 7 says,
Keep thee far from a false matter, and the innocent and righteous
slay thou not. He said, do not kill an innocent
man. Do not do it. He said, I will not have it.
I will not have it. That's wickedness in my eyes. He went on to say in verse 7,
for I will not justify the wicked. That's a holy law of God. Do
not kill an innocent man. Turn with me over to Deuteronomy
19. Deuteronomy 19 verse 10 says,
that innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the Lord thy
God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. He said, if you shed innocent
blood, your life is going to be required for it. If you shed
innocent blood, It's sin against me. It's sin. Look at Deuteronomy
27. Deuteronomy 27 verse 25 says, Cursed be he that taketh reward
to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say,
Amen. The holy God said in His holy
law, whoever kills an innocent person is cursed. Whoever does
it is cursed. And we could just keep going.
We could look at scripture after scripture after scripture. Let
me show you one more. Go with me to Proverbs chapter
six. Proverbs six, verse 16 says, These six things doth the Lord
hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto Him. A proud look, a lying
tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. God said, I hate it, I
will not have it. I will not have it. If that is
the case, let me ask us this question. Why was Christ forsaken? Why was Christ forsaken and slain? It's because He was made to be
guilty. When we hear the truth that He
paid our debt, He paid our debt. It's called redemption. He paid
it in full. The price paid in full. When we hear that, the flesh
wrongly, hold on to the word wrongly for just a minute, the flesh wrongly gets the idea
in the mind that we sinners got ourselves into a debt that we
could not pay. Total, total bankruptcy. Debt, couldn't pay it. The debt
of sin, the bankruptcy of sin. No money to give. And the great
banker, the judge said, that's it, time's up. Payments
due. Either pay the debt or suffer
the punishment. Pay it or suffer. So Christ,
being the rich inheritor of all things, said, how much does he
owe? And the great banker gave the
price, and he said, I'll pay it. And the great banker was
satisfied, and said to the debtor, you're free to go. The banker
was happy, and the debtor was set free. Now, if that's the
case, if that is what happened, why was Christ forsaken? Why was Christ made to suffer
the punishment and the wrath and the destruction for bearing
our sin? Paying off someone else's debt
is a great honor. It is a great, great honor. That
is something that is in perfect agreement with God's law. He said, give. He said, help your neighbor.
He said, love your neighbor. Why would He suffer vengeance
when honor is due? Why would God kill an innocent
man? Why would God kill an innocent
man? If God killed an innocent man,
and if Christ accomplished innocence, if Christ made us to be innocent,
what's to stop God from killing us? God kills innocent men. To believe that, is to believe
that God is not holy, is to believe that He's unjust,
but God is holy. God is holy. Turn with me over
to Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8 verse 32 says,
The place of the Scripture which he read was this, He was led
as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb done before his
shearer, so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation his
judgment was taken away. Why didn't he open his mouth? It's because he was made to be
guilty. Who stands in humiliation? Not the one who has the money
in his hand ready to pay. The one who stands there in the
great debt is the one who stands in humiliation. Look with me
at Galatians chapter 3. Galatians 3 verse 13 says, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. For it is written, Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree. Why was Christ forsaken? It's
because God made Him to be guilty. That's so fearful to me. That
is so fearful and holy. Never did our Lord commit sin. Never. He was the spotless substitute. Perfection. Absolute perfection. The gospel in one word is substitution. substitution. He was the perfect,
spotless substitute. But for our sake, from the crown of His head to
the sole of His foot, He became what brought the curse on us. Sin. He made Himself to be the actual wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores of sin. It's the only way God could forsake
Him. It is the only way. God is holy. He's holy. God the Father looked
at His own Son. In the moment that Christ made
Himself as Hebrews 7 says, to become us. He became us. In that moment, God looked at
Christ and He saw us standing there. Substitution is not a
theory. It's a transaction. And He looked
at Christ and He saw us standing there. God looked at His own
Son made to be everything that we are. And He said, according
to holiness, you must be forsaken. You must
be forsaken. And God Almighty, according to
holiness and according to justice, poured out His wrath and He killed
the guilty man. He said, I will by no means clear
the guilty. I will not do it. That's the best news I've ever
heard in my life. Just a minute ago she was playing that first
song she played and one of the lines in that song says, I cannot
tell how or why He should have lifted me. I can't figure this
out. I cannot figure this out. His holiness is the solid rock
a believer stands on. The security of the gospel is
in the fact that God's holy. He's holy and He will only do
what's right. He will by no means clear the
guilty. He will by no means clear the
guilty. And He will by no means condemn
the innocent. He will by no means. As soon
as God judged and killed the guilty man, he turned and looked
at his people, now being substituted with Christ. Substitution is
not a theory, it's a transaction. He turned and looked at his people,
seeing that Christ was made to be from the crown of his head
to the sole of his foot, wounds and bruises and putrefying sores,
everything they were. And at that very moment, all
of his own were made to be, from the crown of their head to the
sole of their foot, the righteousness of God. We became as holy and as pure
and as spotless as God. That's so fearful to me. God looked at us and He saw us
standing there made to be everything Christ is. And He said, according
to holiness, according to the holy law of God Almighty, you
must be set free. You have to be. God Almighty
said, I cannot punish you, I can't kill you. I'm holy. It would go against
my holiness. It would undo my holiness, and
that can't happen. That cannot happen. Therefore,
because of, as the scripture says, the beauty of holiness. Oh, the beauty of holiness. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
That's in Romans 8. Turn with me over there. We'll
close with this. Go to Romans 8. Romans 8 verse 33 says, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. You know what that means? Because
of what He became. Because of what our Lord made
Himself to be. Because He endured and He conquered
death and sin. Because of everything He accomplished
on the cross. He won the victory. Because He
truly did put everything away. It is finished. Because of that,
God the Father in all of His holiness, in all of His justice,
has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every
name. And according to holy justice,
God Almighty has decreed this is what must take place. This
is what must be done. This is the only thing that's
good and right. Every time you hear His name, Every single time you hear His
name named, every knee must bow, and every tongue must confess
that He's Lord. In agreement with all holiness,
God the Father has now agreed, my people are justified, and
my Son is Lord. That's why Christ was forsaken.
That's why He was forsaken. That His people might be justified,
and that He might be Lord. And He is, isn't He? And we love
it, don't we? And we're going to be crying
that for all eternity, aren't we? He is Lord, He is Lord, He
is risen from the dead, and He is Lord. Every knee must bow. Every tongue must confess, Jesus
Christ is Lord. That's good news to me. Thank
you, Brother Clay.