My text this morning is Psalm
chapter 22. If you'd turn there with me please. Psalm 22. This psalm is referred to as the psalm
of the cross. We've been studying through the
book of Psalms in our Bible study on Sunday morning, and this was
the Psalm that we were scheduled to study this morning in the
10 a.m. hour. However, I strongly believe
that it was impressed upon me by the Holy Spirit to preach
from Psalm 22 in this hour. Before us is one of the most
crucial urgent, life-giving questions by our Lord, and it could only
be asked as He hung upon the cross. And here's the question, and
here's my subject for this morning. Verse one, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? I once read that Martin Luther
read and meditated and pondered this passage of scripture over
and over again in his study. And it's said that after a considerable
length of time, he slammed his fist down on his desk and he
cried, my God, who can understand this mystery? God forsaking God. What a mystery that is. This
is not David speaking. He wrote down the words in prophecy,
but these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ from the cross. And when the Lord speaks them
from the cross, He's fulfilling that prophecy that David wrote
of. Matthew chapter 27, verse 46
says, And about the ninth hour, Jesus
cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabothanai, that
is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And those
that heard him didn't know what he meant. And multitudes of men
today still don't. This great mystery must be revealed
and only God can reveal it. And oh, how I pray that God might
be pleased to reveal it to some of you this morning. Who is the one who makes this
statement? It's God. God the Son says to
God the Father, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And
our Lord does not say, my Father, my Father, but he says, my God. Why did he refer to his Father
as God and not Father? Well, I hope to answer that and
I pray that God reveal it to us. God forsaking God. Who can fathom the thought? What
a mystery. God cannot be divided or separated. Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, God
with us. But the Lord Jesus Christ hangs
on the cross as the substitute and the Savior of His people.
And as God, He hangs there to answer to God for their sin. And what a great mystery that
is. Paul told Timothy this, he said, without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Now hold your place here in Psalm
22 and turn with me to John chapter 1. You know this passage, but
I do want you to see it. We'll come right back to Psalm
22. But here in John chapter 1, verse 1, John the Beloved writes and he
says in verse 1, in the beginning was the Word. Now notice these
words carefully. And the Word was with God and
the Word was God. That's talking about Jesus Christ. The same was in the beginning
with God. Christ and God are one and the
same. Verse three, all things were
made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was
made. Friends, Jesus Christ is the
God of creation. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and
the darkness comprehended it not. And darkness still doesn't
comprehend it. And then look down at verse 10.
It's here we read, he was in the world, Christ, he came, he
was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world
knew him not. He came unto his own, that being
the Jewish people, and his own received him not. Now this would
be a good time to ask you the question, how do you receive
the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, it's not as people say.
It's not getting up from your pew, your seat, and walking down
front. That's not it. That's not receiving
Christ. It's not saying a prayer. I know there's a commercial on
TV now by Franklin Graham, and bless his heart, he's wrong.
But he says, you say this prayer after me, you repeat this prayer,
and the Lord will save you. Receiving Christ is not just
repeating a prayer that someone gives you to recite. How do you receive the Lord Jesus
Christ? Well, that word receive means
to take. How do you take Him? You bow. You submit. You cling. You seize. You hold on to Him
for dear life. And to not receive Him is to
rebel against Him. Verse 12, but as many as received,
as many that bowed and submitted and seized and held on to Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name. Well, what did I have to do with
it? Nothing. Verse 13, which were born not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God. That's how every child of God
is born of God, by God. And the Word was made flesh. God was made flesh. Jesus Christ was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Dear
friends, this is God hanging on the cross. And this is God
being forsaken of God, and He asked the question, why? Now
He knew why. But He asked this question that
His people may know. And to know why is to have eternal
life. And if you don't know, may God
be pleased this hour, this minute, to reveal why to you this morning. What a great mystery. God becoming
a man. It was God who was in Mary's
womb. It was God who was born in a
stable. It was God who was, as a 12-year-old
boy, confounded and amazed the elders of Israel and the doctors
of the law in the temple. In Luke chapter 2, that account,
we're told that the Lord Jesus in the temple at the age of 12
heard the doctors of the law and He asked them questions.
You know, as I read that again and thought about it, He wasn't
asking them things that He didn't know. He was asking them questions
that they didn't know. It says that they were astonished
at His understanding and His answers. Our Lord, at 12 years of age,
was asking these educated and experienced doctors of the law
questions they couldn't answer, and He answered them for them
to teach them. After all, He was God. He wrote
the law. Oh, what a great mystery. And
it's a mystery without controversy. God was manifest in the flesh. You hear what I'm saying? God
Almighty, who spoke the worlds into existence, was made a man. And here he was about his father's
business. It's God that hangs on the cross.
And it's God being forsaken of God. Who can understand such
a thing? Well, I know this much. I don't
need to understand it. Only believe it. It was God working
in a carpenter's shop. He who made the trees that provided
the wood now made tables and chairs from that wood. And you
know that folks just had to say, Joseph and that son of his, well,
they make the best furniture in all the country. What a great
mystery. It's God that became a man. It
was God that men hated without a cause. It was God that men
ridiculed. It was God that men sought to
destroy. It was God that men falsely testified
against. It was God that men arrested.
It was God that men beat. It was God that men judged. It
was God that men spit upon. It was God that men crucified. And it's God who is now on the
cross and he cried with this question, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? You know, today people are infatuated
and consumed with so many different things, the mysteries of the
world, some call it, whether it be archaeology or space or
medical wonders, UFOs, aliens, supernatural things. People are
obsessed with the unsolved mysteries of the world. You know, I remember
years ago, Brother Maurice telling us one time that government scientists
had spent millions of dollars on the study of some supposed
dinosaur tracks. And they were measuring the distance
between these tracks that they had found, and they were trying
to determine, they spent all this money trying to determine
if it was a big dinosaur walking or a smaller dinosaur running. That's the kind of mysteries
men and women are taken up with. But none of these things, and
I repeat, none of them compare with the mystery of godliness. And the mystery of godliness
is without controversy. God was manifest in the flesh. God became a man. Is there a
greater mystery than that? That word controversy means debate. It means to dispute, argue. It
means contention. We don't debate the gospel. We
declare it. God becoming a man is without
controversy. Either you believe it or you
will perish. Our Lord said to believers, unto
you it is given. We know what that word means.
Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of
God. Paul wrote, I would not brethren,
it's revealed to the people of God called brethren, that you
should be ignorant of this mystery lest you be wise in your own
conceits. Romans 16, 25 reads, now to him
that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and
the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of
the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now
is made manifest, revealed by God, by the Scriptures of the
prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God." This
has got to be revealed to you. It will never mean anything to
you until God reveals it to you. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2,
verses 7 and 8, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom, which
God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of
the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. Having made known to us,
Paul continued in Ephesians 1.9, having made known to us the mystery
of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed
in himself. According to Ephesians 3, verse
3, it's the mystery of Christ. The fellowship of the mystery,
verse 9 in Ephesians 3. The mystery of the gospel, Ephesians
6, verse 19. That hidden mystery made manifest
that God's saints, Colossians 1, 26. It's a mystery. The mystery
of faith, 1 Timothy 3, 9. And what a mystery faith is. that God and mercy would quicken
some and give them faith and pass others by. That's a mystery. But the mystery of all mysteries
is my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This is the mystery
of the Bible. The eternal God and the person
of God's Son became flesh, became bones, and He was forsaken by
God His Father. It was God who made Himself of
no reputation. It was God who took upon the
form of a servant. It was God who was made in the
likeness of men. God did that, and what a mystery! It was God who being found in
the fashion as a man humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. And that's why he's being
forsaken. Paul said, but God forbid that
I should glory, save or accept in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what we glory in. What
God has done for sinners. We ought to be amazed every time
we open this book and look into these scriptures. And when we
do enter into, when we do open the scriptures and look into
them, we enter into a realm like no other, above all worldly thinking,
all worldly understanding, reason. And we see above everything that
we ourselves can do. With men, many things are impossible. Believing is impossible with
men. But with God, all things are
possible. We sing amazing grace. By God's
grace, we sing amazing grace because God's grace really is
amazing. Everything found in God's word
is amazing, especially his grace. When the Lord healed the sick
and diseased and possessed, the people are said to be amazed
and they said, is this not the Son of David? When our Lord healed
that man with the palsy, the people were amazed and Christ
said, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. And the Jews cried, who
but God can forgive sins? Jesus Christ is God. In Mark
chapter 6, when Christ said to the storm, peace be still, and
the wind ceased, apostles were so amazed in themselves beyond
measure, and it says they wondered. What did they wonder? They wondered
if this was God. And He was. What manner of man do the storms
and the winds obey His voice? God! On the third day when Mary and
those other women came to the sepulcher and didn't find the
Lord Jesus, they trembled. And it says they were amazed,
but they shouldn't have been. This was God. And death in the
grave cannot hold God. When the Lord healed the possessed
man who was thrown into the water and the fire, you remember him?
They were amazed and spake among themselves saying, what a word
is this? What a word is this? For with
authority and with power, he commanded the unclean spirits
and they come out. You wanna know why? Because he's
God. We shouldn't be amazed. He's
God. But I tell you what does amaze
me. God forsaking God. That's amazing. And oh, what
a mystery, yet the answer becomes the sinner's only hope. Our Lord
from the cross asks three questions, all found in verse one. You answer
them and you have the answer as to why he was forsaken. By
the grace of God, you discover why God turned his back on him. And we've already talked a great
deal about the first question, and the other two are just a
continuation. our second and third part of
the first. Back to Psalm 22 with me. Verse
one, the first question, again, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? The Lord Jesus Christ really
was forsaken by God. He experienced a depth of sorrow,
friends, that no mere man or woman had had or has ever felt
since. Why was Christ forsaken? Well,
verse three shines a great deal of light upon why He was forsaken. It says, but thou, God, are holy. God is so holy that He must punish
sin. and the wages of sin is death.
God is so holy that sin's gotta be dealt with, and the soul that
sins, it shall die. Christ was forsaken because all
the sin of all God's elect throughout all time was laid upon Him, and
God must forsake Him because God is holy and His holy justice
demands it. The Lord Jesus knew why. He said,
for thou art holy. Now you and I deserve to be forsaken. We deserve to be cut off. That's
what the word means. Cut off from any love, mercy,
grace, anything and everything. That's what we deserve. Sin's
what we are. Christ is being forsaken because
He's fulfilling God's holy purpose. God gave Christ a people before
the foundation of the world, and He said, I'm going to save
them. I'm going to redeem them. I'm
going to put away their sin. And all that the Father gave
Him, He saved. That's what's going on here.
That's why God is forsaken God. Christ is being forsaken that
the Holy Scriptures might be fulfilled. He's being crucified
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. God is
behind this. Christ Jesus is being forsaken
of God so that every single attribute of God might be glorified. Every single one. His love. People like to talk about God's
love, but His love for His people is being manifest for those whom
He foreknew and those whom He called. His purpose of justification
is being displayed on the cross, which was determined before the
foundation of the world. His holiness and strict justice
for sin must be executed when it's found even on His beloved
Son. His immutability as the Lord
that changes not is being fulfilled on Calvary's cross, for He's
not a man that He should lie or a son of man that He should
repent or change. Christ was forsaken because God
loved His people. It pleased the Lord to make you
His people. Boy, that's a mystery. It pleased the Lord to save a
worm that I am. Christ took our sin, He made
it His very own. Therefore, God must forsake Him. His justice demands it. That's
why He says of Himself in verse 6, but I am a worm. Now, you know what that word
worm means. We talked about it in great detail
not long ago. It means maggot. He said, I'm a worm, I'm a maggot
and no man. He's standing in my place. I'm
the maggot. He became so for me. It was necessary
that our Lord must suffer. He suffered the just for the
unjust. Why? To bring us to God. In verses
six and seven, we see that our Lord suffered social suffering. The suffering of society. Social
injustice, folks call it. He was despised of the people,
it says. There was no reason for them
to despise them. He was hated without a cause,
without a reason. Verse 7, they laughed him to
scorn. It says they shoot out the lip. They opened the lip. They said
unjust and untrue things about him. He's God. They shook their
head at the mention of His name. Jesus, any good thing come out
of... And then you consider the physical
sufferings of our Lord. In verse 14, He says, I'm poured
out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. Not broken,
but out of joint. My heart is like wax, it's 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. For dogs have compassed me, the
assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and
my feet. I think about those cat-of-nine-tails,
those bone chips intertwined with that leather whip, why it
tore his flesh and exposed the white of his bones. He gave his
back to the smiters. They plucked the hair from his
face, his beard. It says he gave his cheek to
them that smitten him. They put a crown of thorns upon
his head, driving them deep into his brow, and as great drops
of blood, they fell and flowed to the ground. Who are they doing this to? God. They beat him in the face and
they said, you're a prophet, tell us who hit you. And his
visage, his form, his appearance was so marred, so disfigured,
more than any man. I once had an acquaintance, excuse
me, that came from a family of horse trainers. He is a very
handsome young man. And he had a horse kick him in
the face one time, and it broke every bone in his face. And he
had multiple surgeries. I suppose it was 15 years later,
I lost contact with him. You know how it is when you're
young, everybody goes their own way. Several years later, I had
a man come up to me and he said, you're David Edmondson, right?
And I said, yeah. And he goes, do you recognize me? And I didn't. It was that same man. His appearance
had been so marred that he didn't even resemble his former self.
And that's what mankind did to God, the God that created them. And you and I would have done
the same thing. You never convinced me otherwise.
And he said, I'm poured out like water. Even though not a bone
was broken, he cried, my bones are out of joint. His strength
was dried up like a potsherd, just a piece of pottery made
of dry clay. and God was brought, God was
brought into the dust of death. What about his mental suffering,
his soul suffering? Verse 20, deliver my soul from
the sword, my darling, that means the only begotten of the father,
from the power of the dog, referring to Satan and the evil man, yet,
Friends, his social sufferings, his physical sufferings, his
mental and soul sufferings, they don't even begin to compare to
being forsaken of his Father. Why did God forsake him? Because
he's standing in the chosen sinner's room instead. No other reason. God now looks upon him as the
recipient of the full weight of his vengeance. Christ was
forsaken for His people. Dear believer, when Christ cried
with all His being and was forsaken, it was because of God's love
for you. What a mystery that is. The second question is also found
in verse 1. Why art thou so far from helping
me? God had always helped His Son.
But now he couldn't. Why? Because he must tread the
winepress of God's wrath alone. Christ must by His own finished
work accomplish salvation for His people. In Isaiah 63 verse
5, the Lord through the prophet Isaiah said, And I looked, and
there was none to help. And I wondered, that there was
none to uphold. Therefore, my own arm brought
salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me." You see, it was
Christ's love and zeal, His fury for His people, His church, His
bride that upheld Him. It was a salvation that only
His omnipotent arm could accomplish. And then the third question is,
why art thou so far from the words of my roaring. You might
find it interesting to know that that word roaring means a solemn
groaning because of sickness and suffering. Christ compares
his prayers to these roarings. God is so far from him that God
does not hear him. Why? Because of all my sicknesses
and because of all my diseases of sin, they've been put on him. And God must forsake him. That's why God was forsaken of
God. It's called substitution. It's
the heart of the Gospel. It's the only hope that you and
I have of being saved. It was the only way that God
could remain just and justify sinners. He is a just God and
a Savior. Through the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ, God is both just and justifier of those who
believe and trust in Christ, Romans 3.26. And you know, one of the missing
notes in preaching today is the holiness of God. We hear a great
deal about God's love and almost nothing of His holiness. Now
listen to me. God cannot Love a sinner apart
from holy justice. God cannot love you at the expense
of His justice. God cannot just say, I love them
regardless. Regardless of what they've done.
No, His justice will not permit it. Sin's got to be dealt with. And it was in Christ. That's
why God forsook Him. The reason God cannot forsake
you, the child of God, is because He forsook His Son upon the cross. God hears us when we cry unto
Him. You want to know why? Because
He refused to hear His Son upon the cross. Look at verse 26. The meek shall
eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that
seek Him. Your heart shall live forever."
Three shells in that one little verse. The meek shall eat and
be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that
seek Him. And your heart shall live forever. Why? The answer's clear. Because
God forsook his beloved son. That's why. Why hast thou forsaken me? So my people shall eat and be
satisfied. What shall they eat? The Lord
said, my flesh is meat indeed. Our Lord said, I'm the living
bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. Christ is the only meat that
satisfies. He that comes to Christ shall
never hunger. Christ says, come at once, come. Come unto me all you that labor
and heavy laden and I'll give you what? Rest. How do you come? Just as you are. What a great
hymn that is. Modern religion just about ruined
it. They'd had us sing it over and over again. I'm sure glad
there wasn't like 10 verses to it, because they'd have had us
singing all day and night, wouldn't they? Try to get us to come down
the aisle and make a profession of faith. How do you come just
as you are? Don't wait to do anything. Don't
ever wait to do anything. Well, I need to get this straight
in my life. You won't. Well, I need to, as my mama used
to say, need to straighten up and fly right. You can't. Come just as you are. You've
got to leave off your doing and trust Christ to do for you what
God requires of you. That's the very reason God forsook
him. All the labor of your hands can
never fulfill what God demands. Did you hear me? Nothing you
can do to fulfill what God demands. Now there's some of you that
know you're guilty and you've grown concerning it. And if you
feel that you're lost and you're ruined, there's no barrier between
you and God. Christ removed it when He was
forsaken. Come to the marriage supper of
the Lamb. God will provide your wedding
garment. In Christ, you have a seamless robe, and it's the
very righteousness of Christ Himself. He provided it when
He was forsaken of God. And when you come, you discover
that you're the bride. You're the church, His beloved.
Look at verse 31. They shall come and shall declare
His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath
done this." And there we have three more shalls. Don't you
love the shalls of the Bible? They shall come. Why? Because God forsook Him. They
shall declare His righteousness, not theirs. Our righteousness,
filthy rags. They shall be born, born again. Why? For the Lord has done this. Salvation's of the Lord. The
Lord had done this. How'd the Lord save you, David,
you wretched worm? The Lord had done this. Salvation's of the Lord. The
Lord did it. And it's all because of verse one. My God, my God. Why hast thou forsaken me? Because
Jesus Christ suffered and was punished, because He pleased
the Father, because He fulfilled the law, because He satisfied
God's holy justice, because He met all God's requirements, righteous
demands, because He was forsaken of God in His people's place. That's why. And what a glorious
mystery. It's revealed to His elect people
by the mercy and grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
loved us and gave Himself for us. And we must add, because
He was forsaken of God.