Go back with me, if you would,
to Psalm 40. A moment ago, we saw the truth
of the gospel. The truth of substitution. The mind and the understanding
of substitution. Now I want us to see the heart
of substitution. A moment ago we looked at the
gospel from the outside looking in. And now I want us to see it from
the inside looking out. The heading under the title says,
this is a Psalm of David. David did feel this. David did pin this. He did write this. He personally meant it. When he said in verse five, many,
Oh Lord, my God are thy wonderful works, which thou has done. Don't
we say the same thing? And thy thoughts which are to
usward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would
declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered."
Isn't that amazing? The thoughts that he has had
towards his people, they don't make a number that
high. And they make a lot of numbers. It's amazing. David believed
that in his heart, all of God's people believe that in their
hearts. But even though David was inspired to write these words,
these are the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. These are the very words of Christ
himself, this particular song. tells the end from the beginning,
and then it recalls the beginning. For that reason, I want to start
with verse 6, and then we'll come back to verse 1. Now, as
we read this, let's listen to salvation. from the mind and
the heart and the point of view of Christ himself. Okay. Verse
six, our dear Lord said to his father, sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. burnt offering and sin offering
hast thou not required." He said, Father, you have clearly made
it known to me, you've whispered it into my ear, that it is impossible for the
blood of bulls and goats to take away the sins of our people,
those that you gave to me. You know the story of Cain and
Abel. From the moment Adam sinned,
from the moment man fell, God immediately killed a lamb, didn't
he? He immediately showed him, this is what is required to pay
the debt. Then their sons, Cain and Abel. Abel brought a lamb. God loved Abel. And it says God
had respect for what his offering represented. But that lamb never
did put away one of Abel's sins. Abel was a sinner, just like
the rest of us. And it never did do it. Abraham
killed a ram. You remember that? He took his
son up to Mount Moriah. God said, you go kill your son.
And he put him on that altar, and just before he stabbed that
knife, behold, A ram caught in the thicket and Abraham laid
hold of that ram and he killed that ram. And on that particular
day, that ram did save the life of his son Isaac on that particular
day. But that ram never did put away
one of their sins, either one of them. Moses killed a lamb. Moses told
every house in Israel to kill a lamb. And this continued for
generation after generation. Four thousand years. Over and over again. Men and
women felt the guilt and the horror of their own sin against
God. They felt it. And they knew the only thing
that God would accept as a payment was blood. So they offered animal, after
animal, after animal for 4,000 years. 2,000 to Moses, two more
thousand after Moses. And in those 4,000 years, not
one time did God the Father say, I'm satisfied. Not one time. The Lord Jesus Christ says in
verse 7, Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me. This entire book is concerning
what I'm going to do for my people, what I'm going to accomplish
for my people. The whole book, start to finish. Verse 8, He
said, I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within
my heart. Your holy law that must be upheld, that is
in my heart. I know what I'm going into. I
willingly take this upon myself. I'm going in with my eyes wide
open. I see what the law requires.
Verse 9, I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. You
know, man can stand up and preach all he wants to, but if God does
not speak, there's no preaching that happened. I have preached
righteousness. in the great congregation. Lo,
I have not refrained my lips. O Lord, Thou knowest. I have
not hid Thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared Thy
faithfulness and Thy salvation. I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness
and Thy truth from the great congregation. What is God's righteousness? What is God's faithfulness? What
is God's salvation and his loving kindness and his truth? It's
Christ himself. He said, in me, all the glory
and the goodness of God is revealed. It's all revealed in me. He said,
this thing is not going to be done in a corner. Let all the house of Israel know
assuredly, let the entire congregation, the great congregation know assuredly
that I'm about to fulfill every jot and tittle of the law. I'm about to uphold all holiness
and righteousness. And in the process, I'm going
to redeem every single one of my people from their sin and
their destruction. Now, I want to step back from
the message. I want to step back from the
notes. You know how the Lord told Moses,
you're standing on holy ground. Before we begin reading this
in just a minute, we're going to we're going to read some scriptures
right now. We're going to start reading
some scriptures. And before we start reading them, I want us
all to take a minute and acknowledge we're standing on holy ground. Ask the Lord to open your heart. OK, just take a minute. Ask the Lord to open your heart.
Ask the Lord to open your your eyes, your mind, your being,
your soul. Ask the Lord to let you enter
into this. I am. This is holy, holy ground. And may our Lord bless us through
this. He said, lo, I come. And here's
what he did. Turn with me over to Mark 14. Mark 14, our Lord came to this
earth in the body that was prepared for him. And for 33 and a half
years, he earned a perfect righteousness to give to his people. An absolute perfection that they
could never accomplish for themselves. A perfect record. Everything
that he was in thought, in deed, in body, and in soul was spotless
perfection in the eyes of God the Father. When the time came
for him to completely trade everything that he was and earned I mean completely trade everything
he was and earned with everything that his people were and had
earned when he became them and when
they became the result of that. It says in Mark 14 verse 32, And they came to a place which
was named Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples,
sit ye here while I shall pray. And he taketh with him Peter
and James and John and began to be sore amazed. That means thrown into terror. It means thoroughly alarmed. It means terrified. It means struck with amazement. It means utterly astonished. over the sin that was being pressed
into him. Verse 33, he taketh with him
Peter and James and John and began to be sore amazed and to
be very heavy. Very heavy means utter distress
and anguish. The concordance says this is
the strongest Greek word in the New Testament for depression. This is the strongest word that
the Greek translation has for depression. Absolute depression
overtook the God-man. And it was because of the sin
that he was being made to be. Verse 34 says, and he said to
those three disciples that were with him, this is what he said
to these three men, he brought three men with him, and he said
to them at this moment, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death. I'm overcome with so much sorrow. You ever been overtaken with
sorrow? You know, in glory, there's going to be no more sorrow. You
know why? It's all being poured on him
right now. And he said, I'm overcome right
now, I have a depression in me. And I have a sorrow in me. It is so great it could kill
me right now. He told three men that this could kill me right
now. Verse 35, and he went forward
a little and fell on the ground. Luke's account says he was in
absolute agony and he started sweating, as it were, great drops
of blood, and he fell on the ground. And he prayed that if it were
possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba,
Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup
from me. Nevertheless, not what I will,
but what thou wilt. That's the gospel. God the Father
willed for him to be our substitute. And he willed for him to be our
substitute. He said, if that's your will,
then that's my will. Verse 43 says, And immediately,
while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him
a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests
and the scribes and the elders. Verse 53 says, And they led Jesus
away to the high priest, and with him were assembled all the
chief priests and the elders and the scribes. Chapter 15 verse
one says, and straightway in the morning, the chief priest
held a consultation with the elders and scribes as the whole
council and the whole council and bound Jesus and carried him
away and delivered him to Pilate. Verse 15 says, and so Pilate,
willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them and
delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified. Verse 25
says, and it was the third hour and they crucified him. Verse 34 says, verse 33 says,
and when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole
land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus
cried with a loud voice saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. which is being interpreted, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Turn with me to Psalm 22. Psalm 22 verse 1 says, 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. My margin right there says there
is no silence to me. Where are you? Where are you? I'm dying. Please help me. Please help me. I can't stop crying out to you,
please help me. Turn back to Psalm 40. Verse 11 says, withhold not thou
thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Not them, me. Mine iniquities, not theirs,
mine, have taken hold upon me. so that I am not able to look
up. They are more than the hairs
of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. I'm dying. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded
together that seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be driven
backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate
for a reward of their shame that say unto me, aha, aha. But he said in verse 16, let
all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such
as love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. Verse 17, he said, but I, he
said, let them rejoice. He said, but I am poor and needy. You know what poor means? Wretched. He said, I am wretched. You know what Paul said? Oh,
wretched man that I am. So Paul's substitute said, I
am wretched. In Psalm 22, he said, I am a
worm. Didn't he say, fear not thou
worm, Jacob. He said, I am a worm. He said, but I am poor and needy. Needy means a destitute beggar. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tearing, O my God. Please make no tearing. Now turn with me to John 19.
John 19 verse 28 says, After this, after all this, Jesus, knowing
that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
said, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar, And they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon
hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And I'm telling you, all of heaven
erupted with joy. Can you imagine glory looking
down on this moment? Every angel that does his bidding.
Those seraphims that continually cry, holy, holy, holy. The culmination of holiness. And heaven erupted with joy.
It's over. It's over. That's it, it's over. And he
bowed his head and he gave up the ghost. Go with me to Matthew 28. Matthew 28 verse 1 says, In the
end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day
of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to the sepulcher.
And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of
the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the
stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like
lightning, and his raiment white as snow, and for fear of him
the keepers did shake and become as dead men. And the angel answered
and said unto the women, fear not ye for I know that you seek
Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here. As he said, he's not here. I can't imagine the smile that
angel had on his face. His raiment white as lightning.
And here they come with tear tracks on their cheeks, spices
in their hands. And he said, fear not ye. Come
here. See the place where he lay. He's
not here. Just like he said. Now hold your place right there
and go back with me to Psalm 40. Right here, our precious Savior,
Redeemer, and friend, the Lord of glory delivers the good news
of the gospel to us. Because of what He accomplished
for us, we can say the same thing right along with Him. Psalm 40
verse 1, He said, I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined
unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a
rock and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in
my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear
and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man that maketh
the Lord his trust. and respecteth not the proud,
nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to usward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be numbered. How precious is this gospel we've
been given? How precious is it? What's it
worth? What is it worth? How glorious is our Redeemer? How full of awe are we over just
getting a small glimpse of what he did for us? How much love does that put in
our heart for him? How much love? How much thanks? How excited are we knowing what
that redemption means for us? How excited are we to see him? How excited are we to hug him
and say thank you Lord for saving my soul. For love's sake. For mercy's
sake. For Christ's sake. Let's go back
to Matthew 28 and listen to his final word to us. Matthew 28 verse 19. He said, Go ye therefore and
teach all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Let's all stand together.