Our text is found in the opening
words of the psalm that we read, Psalm 22, in the first part of verse 1. My God, My God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring the first part and words I'm
sure that we're familiar with words of course that were spoken
by the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross as we have it recorded
there in Matthew chapter 27 we're told about the ninth hour he
cried with a loud voice saying Iloai Iloai Lama Saraktara which
being interpreted is my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? So there in the New Testament
it's spoken in the original but then also we have the interpretation
of course in the New Testament it's the quotation from the Hebrew
of the Old Testament and then the interpretation as we have
it in the Greek language, which is the language used for the
New Testament Scriptures. But we have this faithful translation
before us in our authorised version. And here of course we have a
psalm that is so evidently a messianic psalm, a psalm that speaks very
clearly and plainly of the Lord Jesus Christ and all of his sufferings. And what do we learn concerning
those sufferings? Well, we see that they were real
physical sufferings that Christ had to endure. His was a true
human nature, a real human body. inhabited by a true human soul
and he suffered he suffered in the body and what sufferings
he says in verse 6 I am a worm and no man reproach of me and
despised of the people in verse 14 I am 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, my strength is dried up like a potsherd
and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and thou hast brought me
into the dust of death. He's describing very real sufferings
that he's enduring in the body and of course he's very much
suffering here at the hands of men, wicked men. who as he suffers
and bleeds and dies do nothing but taunt him. Verse 12, many
bulls he says have compassed me strong bulls of Bashan have
beset me round they gait upon them with their mouths as a ravening
and a roaring lion. And verse 16, for dogs he says
have compassed me the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me
they pierced my hands and my feet, I may tell all my bones,
they look and stare upon them. Physical sufferings, yes, but
sufferings very much at the hands of wicked men. But when we come
to the psalm we see that the first thing that the Lord speaks
of is those sufferings that he endures at the hands of God. And these are his chief sufferings. This is the principal suffering
that he must endure upon the cross. Suffering not so much from men,
but suffering under God, bearing in his own person the wrath of
God against all the sins of his people. My God, my God, he says,
why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? Here we see then that the chief
part, as I say, of those sufferings were what he had to endure from
God, his inwards troubles, the darkness that he feels in his
own soul as he makes the great sin offering, the hidings of
the face of God. This is what the Lord is having
to endure and he was so dreadful, so awful for him, who was ever
always the Holy One of Israel. Isn't this part of the beauty
of the book of Psalms as we've said so many times before because
here in the Psalms it's as if the veil is being drawn aside
and we are permitted to gaze into the very soul of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We see something of those inward
experiences that are transpiring in the very depths of his heart
as he makes the great sacrifice for sins. The prophet says in
Isaiah 53, if we read with the margin there in the 10th verse,
when his soul shall make an offering for sin. Here is the soul of
all the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is the sufferings
of his soul. And that's so plainly said before
us, I say, not only here in this 22nd Psalm, but in other of the
Psalms, these Messianic Psalms. We're looking at the soul, the
human soul of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does he say here
in verse 20? Deliver my soul, he says, from
the sword, my darling, from the power of the dog and we have
that parallelism which is so peculiar to the Hebrew poetry
and we have the same truth as it were repeated my soul is equivalent
then to my darling or as the margin says my only one deliver
my soul from the sword my darling my only one from the power of
the dog how the Lord feels these things then in the very depths
of his being. And so I want us as we turn to
these familiar words, this opening clause in verse 1, I want us
to consider something of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus
Christ as we seek to make preparation those in the church to come subsequently
to the table of the Lord. The man is to examine himself
says the apostle and so he is to eat of that bread and drink
of that cup do we not do well to examine ourselves in the light
of what Christ endured examine ourselves in the awful character
of our sin not that that should keep us from coming to partake
of those blessed elements some may have read that little incident
in the life of that remarkable man John Duncan of Aberdeen,
Rabbi Duncan. One occasion when he was the
minister there, I think it was at St Luke's Free Church in Glasgow
and it was communion season and there were the people and there
they were now to serve the congregation with the aliments, the bread
and the cup and Rabbi Duncan observed a woman before him who
was holding back who let these things pass her by and he came
out of his seat and went up to the woman and took with him the
bread and the cup and he urged her to take, he says woman take
it it was all done for sinners it was all done for sinners so
we examine ourselves and prove ourselves and know ourselves
and only discover what we are, sinners, that's no bar then when
we come to the table of the Lord. We don't come because there's
any worth in us. Where do we see the awfulness
of sin? Well we see it of course in the
holy law of God. There is a law work that is to
be accomplished by the law is the knowledge of sin. Whatever
things the law saith or tells us it says to them who are under
the law that every Most may be stopped and all the world become
guilty before God and the law condemns the sinner. But it's
not enough is it to see sin there, we have to come to the sufferings
of Christ. This is where the Lord's people
see the great horror of their sin in the wounds, the bleeding
and the dying of Him who is their Saviour. So let us come to these
words. My God, My God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And two things. First of all,
we have here what is a cry of desertion. But then in the second
place, we see that it is also a cry of faith. It's a cry of
desertion and it's a cry of faith. And that's the division that
I want us to follow. for a little while as we look
at the text. First of all then, what is the
significance of the words that are spoken by David, but really
they belong to David's greatest son, the Lord Jesus Christ. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Christ is here experiencing the
penalty of sin. This is a penal cry in that sense. He is experiencing the penalty
of sin. And the consequence of sin is
at least twofold. What does sin result in? It results
in death. Spiritual death is what comes
because of sin. We have it of course in the biblical
account of the fall in Genesis chapter 3, where our first parents
were disobedient to the command that God had given. God had declared
quite plainly to Adam what would be the consequence if he disobeyed
the command concerning that tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. In the day that thou eatest thereof, God said, thou shalt
surely die. The margin says, dying thou shalt
die. There is a death that is immediate. And what is that death that's
immediate? It's a spiritual death that came upon Adam and Eve. And then there is subsequent
to that, of course, a physical death. Adam and Eve, in due course,
die. and then ultimately there is
a death that is an eternal death. Not annihilation, a death that
is eternal, a death that is without end, which is the awfulness of
hell, is it not? Though plain is God, as he tells
us these things in Holy Scripture, none can deny these things, It's
recorded there in Ezekiel 18, the soul that sinneth, it shall
die. You sin, you die. The wages of
sin is death, says Paul in Romans chapter 6. And there are these three deaths,
there's a spiritual death, there's a physical death, there's an
eternal death. And that latter strangely in the revelation is
sometimes spoken of as the second death, the second death. Dr. Gill says it's eternal, it's house offering. The amazing thing is of course
that the Lord Jesus Christ when he came into this world he tasted
death. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 9, he
tasted death. He endured that dreadful punishment,
the penalty, that comes because of sin. It is a penal crime. The consequence
of man's rebellion against God, man's sin in the sight of God
is death. And what is that death? Well,
it's a separation. It's a separation. there was
spiritual death, there was an immediate separation from God. As soon as Adam and Eve had sinned,
what do they do when God comes, as was his woes, into the garden? They hide themselves. No more
are they in fellowship with God. They seek to conceal themselves,
to hide from Him, which is a futile thing to do. Because as we said
this morning, God is omnipresent God is in all places, God is
omniscient, God knows all things but they feel you see that there
is something now that is separated between them and their God and
then of course at the end of Genesis chapter 3 we see how
that separation becomes so dreadfully final thrust forth out of the garden
of Eden the Lord God said behold the man is become as one of us
to know good and evil and now lest he put forth his hand and
take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever therefore
the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the
ground from whence he was taken so he drove out the man and he
placed of the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming
sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of
life. He drove out the man. Oh, there was a terrible separation,
your iniquities have separated between you and your God and
your sins have hid his face from you, says the prophet. And then of course when there
is physical death there is also a separation, is there not? When
God made man he created him in his own image after his own likeness
and where is the seat of that image? It is in the soul of man.
But at death there is a separation of body and soul. The body returns
to the dust as it was and the spirit to God who gave it there
is a separation when there is physical death and there is a
separation in that eternal death in how there is that final separation
as we see in Luke chapter 16 where we read of Lazarus and
the rich man and the rich man dies goes to his appointed place
just as the poor man Lazarus goes to the bosom of Abraham
so the rich man is now in torment and he would that he might escape
but there is no escape there is a great scoff fixed it says
a great scoff fixed terrible separation this is what the Lord
Jesus Christ is experiencing Separation. Forsaken. My God. My God, why art thou
forsaken? Remember how in the Gospel, in
John chapter 12, as the Lord Jesus Christ is evidently contemplating
what lies before him, this death of the cross, he says, now is
my soul troubled. Now is my soul troubled. And
what shall I say? Father saved me from this hell,
but before this course came I threw this out. He knew. He knew what
he must endure. He was troubled. And the word
that's used, troubled, the Puritan John Flavel says
it is that word that is used in reference to those who are
troubled in hell. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
is experiencing. He's experiencing that dreadful
punishment that comes as a consequence of the sin of man, death, separation. My God, my God, he says, why
hast thou forsaken me? Now, we know that God did not
leave his soul in hell. In another psalm he says thou
will not leave my soul in hell, neither will thou suffer thine
holy one to see corruption. Though the Lord Jesus experienced
death, yet he saw nothing of the dreadful corruption that
comes as a consequence of that physical death that men and women
must endure. He couldn't be touched by it.
He was the Holy One. He experienced it. There's a
mystery. Oh, there's a mystery. There's a great mystery, of course,
in Christ coming into the world. A great mystery in the Incarnation. The miracle of the virgin birth.
And there is a mystery in the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Though he really experiences death he sees nothing of corruption. Now, the words that we just referred
to in Psalm 16 are taken up in the New Testament in the preaching
of the apostles. Peter on the day of Pentecost
in Acts chapter 2 and then Paul again in his preaching at Antioch
in Pisidia in Acts chapter 13 each of them referred to those
words in Psalm 16 and verse 10 Thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell, neither wilt thou suffer, Thine Holy One, to see corruption."
And they refer to it in reference to, yes, the real death of the
Lord Jesus Christ, but also the glorious truth of His resurrection.
He was raised again, He saw no corruption. He saw no corruption. And yet, the experience, all that is a terrible consequence
of man's sin. He experienced it. And he experienced
it as a real man. He knew those terrible separations
that we've spoken of. His was a real death upon the
cross. And so the cry in the first place,
I say, it's a penal cry. He's conscious of the penalty
that is being visited upon himself as the great sin bearer. But
then also this cry, this cry of desertion, it's a real cry. How the Lord Jesus Christ felt
these things. He felt these things. Such was
his human nature. He is never anything less than
true almighty God. But friends, let us not lose
sight of this. the blessed reality of his human nature he is always
truly man and he is not stoic he doesn't just go through these
things unfeelingly though he felt these things and
there is that sense we might say in which his human nature
is shrinking from these things how he prays in the garden of
Gethsemane, being in an agony, he says, being in an agony, he
prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood
falling to the ground, agonizing in prayers to God, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me, he says, nevertheless, not my glass,
but thine, Oh, he will submit to the will of God, he will be
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He will enjoy himself. And then,
of course, when he comes to the actual cross and he suffers,
here we have it, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This is a real cross. And why was it that he felt these
things so keenly, so acutely? It was because he was the sin-bearer. God hath made him to be sin for
us, says Paul, writing to the Corinthians. God hath made him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. going to the Romans he speaks
of God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and force he is truly the sin bearer not
only Psalm 22 is prophetic and messianic other Psalms are also
Psalm 69 for example and several times in the New Testament. Psalm
69 is quoted. Remember that occasion when Christ
drives the money changers and those who are buying and selling
in the temple, drives them out of the temple. And the disciples
remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up. Where was it written? Well at
Psalm 69. and verse 9 the zeal of thine
house hath eaten me up and it goes on the reproaches of them
that reproach thee are fallen on mine and again those words
at the end of Psalm 69 verse 9 are quoted by Paul in reference
to Christ in Romans 15 verse 3 Psalm 69 then is clearly a
Psalm that speaks of the Lord Jesus
Christ, as Christ is speaking here in Psalm 22, so he speaks
there in Psalm 69. Now look at what he says in Psalm
69. In verse 5 he says, O God, thou
knowest my foolishness and my sins, for as the margin says
my guiltiness I am not hid from them. This is Christ. Oh God thou knowest my foolishness
and my sins are not hid from thee. How could Christ utter
such words? Christ is the sinless one. He was preserved free from every
taint of original sin. We've already referred to the
great mystery of the incarnation, the miracle of his birth. When
the angel comes to Mary, what does the angel say to her? That holy thing. And so the angel refers to the human
nature. The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore
also that holy thing that shall be born of earth shall be called
the Son of God. What is that holy thing? It is
a sinless human nature. He was preserved from all the
taint of Adam's sin. All who descend from Adam by
natural generation down the centuries, we all partake of that sin. Sin courses down the generation. But in that miracle of His birth,
how the Lord Jesus Christ is preserved from the taint of sin.
Nothing of Adam's sin there. That nature, that human nature
is holy. Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, made higher than the heavens. That's Christ in
His human nature. Oh yes, Christ is tempted, sorely
tempted. In all points Paul says, tempted
like as we are, yes, without sin. Remember temptation is not
sin. How Satan would attack him, assault
him, time and time without number. He says to his disciples at the
end, here are they which have continued with me in my temptations.
His whole life one sin of awful temptations. And yet He never falls. He is the Holy
One. Yet, without sin, says the Apostle. How then can the Lord Jesus Christ
utter such words as those that we have in Psalm 69? My sins,
my guiltiness are not hid from He is the innocent one. He is
the innocent one. Look at the cry that he makes
here in the text. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me, me, thine innocent son, thine obedient son, by suffering
side. He's doing the will of God, he's
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Why then,
why should God forsake one who is so obedient toward his holy
will? It's imputation, is it not? He
dies to atone for sins not his own. He hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, says Paul. There's imputation. All the sins of his people laid
upon his account. And Christ dying as their substitute
in their room and in their stands. Oh, there is a great mystery
here. What a mystery there is, friends.
We know that God is one. here in Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord. Deuteronomy 6 verse 4, that's
the great truth that's set before us in scripture. There is but
one living and true God. We do not believe in tritheism,
we do not believe in three gods. We believe in one God. But we
believe that the one God is a triniton. There are three persons. in the
Godhead. And though three they are but
one God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. And who is this one that's speaking
in the psalm? It's God. Oh, this is God. This is God the Son. The one that speaks in Proverbs
chapter 8, I was daily in his delight, rejoicing always before
him. What a remarkable contrast we
have. This is God, this is the I am. And yet, he speaks of himself
as a worm. I am a worm, he says, a nomad,
a reproach of men, and despised of the people. Oh, what a contrast
between a worm and the great I AM, Jehovah Jesus. Here is
the great mystery, you see. Oh, this is the mystery, friends,
that we witness in the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. That there He is so made sin
for His people that He fills the dreadful punishment, that
penalty, that is the sinner's just desert and he endures it.
And why? Because he loves his own. Having
loved his own which are in the world, he loves them. On to the
end, it all terminates in his cross. It is then a cry, a cry of desertion,
a cry of dereliction we might call it, but also in the second
place, let me just say something briefly with regards to This
cry is a cry of faith. It's a cry of faith. Oh, look
at the language. And see again the reality of
his human nature is a man. And as a man, what does he live?
He lives a life of faith. He lives that life of simple
daily trust in God. God is his God. And here is the
language of appropriation, you see, my God, my God, he says. Isn't that the language of faith?
Remember how we read of him in the epistle to the Hebrews, how
there in chapter 5 the apostle speaks of him in the days of
his incarnation, the days of his humiliation. Paul says, who
in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayer and
supplication, with strong crying and tears unto him that was able
to save him from death, and was hurt in that he feared, though
he were a son, yet learned the obedience by the things that
he suffered. All the days of his flesh, and
he's praying, offering up prayer and supplication, with strong
crying and tears and he prayed and he prayed he lived the life
of faith the life of complete and utter dependence upon God
and as I said he uses the language of appropriation and we have
it twice it's repeated is it not my God and then again my
God why hast thou forsaken me He goes on in his prayer, verse
4, our fathers, he says, trusted in thee, they trusted, and thou
didst deliver them, they cried unto thee, and they were delivered,
they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. Or see the language that he employs
here, three times He speaks of that trust that is so significant
a part of saving faith. Our fathers trusted in them,
he says. They trusted in them, and then
again, they trusted in them. And he is speaking of the fathers,
he is speaking here in terms of the covenant, is he not? When
he speaks of the fathers, He is mindful of the covenant. He
is speaking of that great deliverance that God gave to Israel when
they were there in the cruel bondage which was Egypt. And remember friends, are they
crying? Or are they crying to God because
of the bondage? Then at the end of Exodus chapter
2 it came to pass in the process of time that the king of Egypt
died. And the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage
and they cried. And their cry came up unto God
by reason of the bondage and God heard their groaning. Ah,
Mark it, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac
and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children
of Israel and God adds respect unto them. Oh, he is trusting
in the God of the covenant. Have respect unto the covenant.
For the dark places of the earth, he says, are full of the habitations
of cruelty. There is where his trust is.
His trust is in God. It's a cry of faith. My God!
My God, he says. Is he not trusting in God? And
does he not know that this God is the Holy One of Israel? Verse 3 it says, But thou art
holy, O thou that inhabiteth the praises of Israel. He is the Holy One. And friends,
what does that mean? What does that mean? Well, God
is not a man that he should lie. nor the son of man that he should
repent hath he said it shall he not do it hath he spoken it
shall he not make it good that's the God that he's trusting in
the God of the Covenant and what does the Covenant remind us of?
it reminds us of God's promise but not only God's promise when
God gave promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater
we're told in Hebrews chapter 6 he swore by himself this way
by himself how he has confirmed his word
by an oath if his word fails, he fails how he has exalted,
elevated his word above all his name but thou art wholeness for thou
that inhabiteth the praises of Israel. This is how he comes
in before God. This is how he prays. He is praying
in faith. Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin and the Lord Jesus Christ is the sinless one. All he is
praying is in faith. Now this Psalm can be divided
into two basic sections. In the first
part, verses 1 to 21, we have the cry for help, and he feels
forsaken of God and he cries. He cries for God's help. And
then from verse 21 through to the end, verse 31, we have deliverance. Deliverance by God. And the pivotal
verse there is verse 21. and what do we see in the middle
of that very verse for thou hast heard me for thou hast heard me he goes
on in verse 24 for he hath not despised
nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted neither hath he
hid his face from him but when he cried unto Him. He heard. All things God hears. And the
last time, so slow to cry, so slow to cry. And God hears. And we can never ever see His
face in vain. That's a wonderful thing. The
Lord Jesus Christ assures us Himself that God hears our prayers. He heard the Lord Jesus Christ.
Will you not hear all those who are trusting in the Lord Jesus
Christ? He hath not despised nor abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he hid his face
from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard him. And what do we have to plead
when we come before God? Why do we have this name? the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ this one who is spoken of in
this prophetic psalm and we come to the end of the
psalm and what do we see there at the end of the psalm they shall come and shall declare
his righteousness unto a people that shall be born that he hath
done this look at that last clause he hath done this. And you will observe, as is the
pattern of course in the authorised version, a word appearing in
italics. Now you know the significance
of that. It means that it's not the translation of any particular
word that is already there in the Hebrew. It's been introduced
to bring out the sense in the translation. But such is the
faithfulness of the translators that where they feel it necessary
to bring in an additional English word, they indicate that by using
Italians. It literally says at the end
of the psalm, He hath done. He hath done. It could be rendered,
it is finished. It is finished. And wasn't that
Another cry that Christ uttered from the cross, not only, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? But there in John's account,
he cries with a loud voice saying, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. John 19 verse 30. That's what
it all comes to, the previous to that. why we see him in the
course of his ministry. Back in John chapter 4, my meat
is to do the will of him that has sent thee, he says, and to
finish his work. Though he always had that blessed
end in view, he would do the work, he would accomplish it,
he would finish it. That was his meat, that was his
necessary food, that was what sustained him in life. to do
the will of the one who had sent him and to finish his work. And
then when we come to his high priestly prayer in John 17, what
does he say? I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do. And so upon the cross as we've
said, at the end, He can say in triumph it is finished and
he bows his head and he yields up the ghost, commits his soul,
his spirit into the hands of God. All the work was accomplished.
All friends, this is what we, this is what we plead when we
pray to God, we plead this name. We plead Christ in his person. The God-man, we plead Christ
in his work. His obedience unto death, even
the death of the cross. Surely, surely God cannot, will
not, refuse those who come and place their trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ. For that's where the poor sinner
must come. You poor sinner, me poor sinner,
this is where we must come. We come to the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ and just now of course what that we seek to do
as a church we desire again to come to the cross and to remember
him the one of whom all the scriptures speak, search the scripture he
says these are they that testify of me all the scriptures and
the Lord bear one tremendous name the written and incarnate
word in all things are the same, my God My God, why hast thou
forsaken them? Why art thou so far from helping
them and from the words of my roaring? Amen.