Well, I hope I didn't mess up
the live stream. I clicked the wrong thing, but
I think it'll come back on. If you'll open your Bibles now
to Psalm 3. Not Psalm 3, I'm sorry, Psalm 22. Psalm 22. I've been all over the place
this week with ideas of what I would preach
this morning. I felt like a kid in a candy
store. Just couldn't decide which one. And on the one hand, that sounds
like it'd be a wonderful thing, but on the other hand, it makes
it difficult to focus in one direction. But I've settled on one verse from
the book of Psalms, at least it will provide the theme for
what I want to speak on. It's in verse 24 of Psalm 22. For he, and that is Jehovah God,
he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted
one. He has not hidden his face from
him, but has listened to his cry for help. This psalm begins with, well,
what I was thinking of when I wrote the words to that hymn, with
heart-wrenched cry. He goes to die. These were the
words that were going through my mind. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I cannot
imagine any words so despairing as those words. is David, and I don't know what
was going on in David's life that moved him to write these
words. I don't believe it was just a matter of the Lord saying,
David, write this down. These Psalms that we read, though
they point to Christ, God inspired them in David by the experiences
through which David himself went. And David knew, I believe he
did, knew that while on the one hand he was writing about himself,
that it was his descendant who was going to fulfill these words
much more than David ever would. But whatever it was that drew
this from the lips of David, and moved him to write down this
psalm, that must have been awful. To feel forsaken of God has got
to be the most wretched emotion that has ever been. It's not
something a man can work up in himself. It's not something I
can work up in you. I know preachers have tried.
I've tried. I should have known better, but I can't work anything
up in you that's worth being worked up. I can tell you the truth and
just hope that the Holy Spirit of God will use the truth to
work in you and me those thoughts and feelings that are appropriate
to the truth that we've heard. But to be forsaken of God, now
there's nobody here who has yet been forsaken of God, but I know
that at least some of you have gone through times when you thought,
and it certainly felt like, you'd been forsaken by God. Why are you so far from saving
me? Trouble comes and you pray, and
trouble stays. and you pray some more, and trouble
stays, and it stays, and it stays, and you pray, and you pray, and
it seems like the Lord's not listening, that he's gone out
of the salvation business, and you're on your own. And then
it says, so far from the words of my groaning, I looked this
word up, it's translated groaning, In the King James, it says roaring,
and they say it's related to the roar of a lion, but speaks
essentially to the howl of any wild animal. Now, when you think
of a howl, you think of pain. Animals don't howl for joy. If they're hurt, I've I remember a dog getting
hit and didn't kill him, at least not right away, and he went running
away howling. That's a sad thing to witness. And then you think of a howl,
you think of isolation. Another thing that dogs, they
howl. All by themselves in the middle
of the night, they'll just start howling. And it sounds so lonely. They howl, hoping somebody will
howl back. But he says, you're far from
the words of my howling. Oh my God, I cry out by day,
but you do not answer by night and am not silent. This was not
just a prayer that David threw up one day and nothing came back.
And he said, well, I guess God's not listening. But day after
day, And night after night, he had lifted his heart up to God. And it certainly seemed to him
that God wasn't listening and that God didn't care and that
God had forsaken him. But we know that these words,
while they can be applied to our experiences, how we feel,
find their complete fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ, who
uttered these very words from the cross. And it's interesting
that when we read them in the New Testament, they don't say,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It first gives them
out in the Hebrew or the Aramaic which these words here in the
book of Psalm express it, ele ele lama sabachthanai. That's
what he cried out, and the gospel writer says that.
He cried out with a loud voice ele ele lama sabachthanai, which
being translated means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken
me? And I can't think of any reason for the writer there to
spell it out in Hebrew, except he wanted to be certain that
you understood this came from right here. In fact, there are
those who speculate, and it can only be speculation, but they
speculate that was but the beginning of what our Lord said, and he
began there at Psalm 22, and he quoted this Psalm, and the
next, and the next, and the next, and on until you get to Psalm
31, verse five, the first words there are, into your hands I
commit my spirit, which were the last words of the Lord Jesus
Christ. If you need any other proof that
the Old Testament is about Jesus Christ, I don't know what more
proof could be given. These are the very words that our Lord
spoke, even as he poured out his soul unto death. And so when
we look down to verse 24 and we read, for he has not despised
or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one. He has not
hidden his face from from him, but has listened to his cry for
help. We can take that as an assurance that when God sees
us going through affliction and we cry out to him, he hasn't
forsaken us. He has seen us. He knows he cares. And at the right time, he will
deliver. Now, that's That's what you and
I can take from it in terms of our own experience as we go through
this life. But when we look at this and apply it to our Lord, it
has a different meaning. In verse 22, we read this, I
will declare your name to my brothers. Now this is the Lord
speaking. I will declare your name to my
brothers. And he did. The book of Hebrews
says he is not ashamed to call us brothers. Imagine that. I'm ashamed to call me brother.
He's not. And he declares the name of the
Lord to us in a way that no one else can. He declared the name
of the Lord in his life. He declared the name of the Lord
in his preaching. He declared the name of the Lord in his suffering. In the Sunday school lesson this
morning, we were in a portion of the book of Isaiah. And it
says, I, the Lord, love justice. I delight in justice. Well, here
it is. Christ's suffering is justice.
And therefore, when Christ suffered on the tree, he declared to us
the justice of God. And you know, so I, well, isn't
that a demonstration of the love of God? Yes, it is. But it's
a demonstration of God's love by God executing his justice
against Jesus Christ as our substitute. God's love. Now understand what
I mean by this. God's love can't save anybody. Love motivated God to save his
people, but it's not the means of salvation. The means of salvation,
means of your, my salvation, is what is theologically called
substitution. Peter describes it as this, Christ
died the righteous one in place of unrighteous ones to bring
us to God. Our salvation came by an act
of justice executed against Jesus Christ. And in that, Christ declared
God's name to his brethren. And he says, you who fear the
Lord, praise him. All you descendants of Jacob,
honor him, revere him, all you descendants of Israel. Now, who
is that? Well, actually that refers to
everyone who God has called in sovereign grace and who believes
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. While it uses names like
Jacob and Israel, these are symbolic names. The congregation of the
Lord is made up of a spiritual Jacob, of a people who know what
they are. who know what they are by nature,
that they're scoundrels, that they're cheats and they're liars.
You can't trust them. They're wicked. They've gone,
everyone to his own way. That's what the name Jacob signifies. It's actually derived from the
name for your heel. And Jacob was the heel grabber.
He's the one that while you're walking along minding your own
business or he'll reach out and grab you and trip you up and
make you fall. and then take what you got. And so we could read this, you descendants of the scoundrel,
you who bear his image, you who are just like your father, Jacob, honor him. Honor this one who
declares the name of the Lord in his sufferings. and then revere
him, all you descendants of Israel. This was a name given to Jacob
by God. Now, Isaac, excuse me, Isaac and Rebekah
gave him the name Jacob. That was his name by natural
birth. But there came a time when God
met him, wrestled with him. and got him to submit. God said to him, let me go. And
Jacob said, I won't let you go till you bless me. God said,
all right, tell me your name. And you could just see Jacob,
my name, Jacob, sinner, worthless, unworthy. And God said to him, you shall
no longer be called Jacob, but your name shall be Israel, one
who prevails with God. So how can anybody prevail with
God? It's simple. You cannot, by power,
prevail with God. You cannot, by your righteousness,
prevail with God. But Jacob said, I won't let you
go till you bless me, which was a long way of saying, have mercy
on me. Our Lord, the Lord, walking through
the city of Jericho, healing lots of people, teaching as he
went along, Lots of noise, lots of people reaching out to him. And some insignificant man who
sat by the road, he's blind and begging. He must have heard of Jesus before,
but now he realizes Jesus is right nearby and he begins to
cry out, Jesus, son of David, Have mercy on me. And his cry
prevailed and the Lord stopped. The Lord didn't stop for anybody
else. He stopped for the one man in Jericho that cried out
for mercy. That's how you prevail with the
Lord. You call for mercy. So all you Israelites, you who
have prevailed with the Lord, And actually God said, you'll
be named Israel, you've prevailed with God, you prevailed with
men. And how's that? How do you prevail over men?
Well, what are men telling you? Men tell you that if you want
God's blessings, you gotta be good. If you want God's blessings,
here's a list of things to do, and here's another list of things
not to do, and you be sure to do all the things you're supposed
to do and not do any of the things you're not supposed to do, and
then God will bless you. And you know what? If they've
got the right list, they're right. But you just can't do them. You
cannot do the things you're supposed to do and you cannot avoid doing
the things you're not supposed to do. But that's what the world
in one way or another is always telling people to do. How do
you prevail over them? You ignore them and seek the
Lord by his grace and mercy. John put it this way, faith is
the victory that overcomes the world. It's not saying that faith gives
us the power to overcome the world. The mere act of believing
for salvation, as opposed to working for salvation, that mere
act of believing is the victory over the world. Because everybody else is doing
exactly what the world tells them to do. The believer is the
only one running upstream to the world. You Israelites, and why should
we revere God? Because he is not despised. Verse
24, or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one. He has
not hidden his face from him, but has listened to his cry for
help. Now I want you to think a minute
about our Lord there on the cross. And he cries out with these words,
and maybe even more, that we find right here in this
chapter, such suffering. Now in verse six, this abandonment by God And God
laying our sins upon him, worked in him this, I am a worm and
not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. Folks held our Lord Jesus Christ
in such low esteem they had utter contempt for him. And he says, I do not even feel
that I have the dignity of a man. Met him nothing but a maggot,
a worm, a thing of filth. And not only was that true with
regard to how men saw him, he goes on to say, all who see me
mock me. They hurl insults, shaking their
heads. He trusts in the Lord. Let the
Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him since he
delights in him. And they said that to him as
he hung on the cross. Yes, stand back, let's watch
and see. He said, he was a son of God. Let's see if God comes
to his rescue. Look at there, he saved others,
he can't save himself. That's what they were saying
to him. And you know what? When they said he saved others,
he cannot save himself, they were absolutely right. He can't
do both. He could save himself, yes, he
could do that. He could have uttered a word and wiped out
the world. He could have uttered a word
and the nails come out of his hands and feet and him hop down.
and be completely whole as though nothing had ever happened to
him. He could have pointed at each one of his torturers and
taken the life from him. He could have done that. But
if he'd have done that, he couldn't have saved us. And because he
saved us, he couldn't save himself. And God saw that suffering. God
saw it because nothing escapes the eye of God. But God saw it
because God's the one who inflicted it. God's the one who ordained that
this would be the means by which he would save his people. On
the day of Pentecost, as Peter preaches the gospel, he says,
This same Jesus, this Jesus you have with wicked hands crucified,
but you did so according to God's foreordained purpose. I'm sure
the devil having entered the heart of Judas and already in
the hearts of all those Pharisees and the hearts of many of those
Roman soldiers probably thought that he was going to win the
day here. that he'd come up with a plan
for destroying the Lord's Christ, and that he was gonna be victorious
after all. He thought this thing was his
idea. No, it was the Lord's idea. Once again, the devil was just
a tool the Lord used to facilitate carrying it out. And with satanic hatred, Men crucified our Lord. And while they crucified him,
divine wrath fell on him. Fell on him in its full force. Fell on him and made him cry. And how, my God, my God, why
have you forsaken me? And he is the first and only
man on earth who uttered those words, and they were absolutely
true. God in all his saving grace, God in all his love and
kindness left it. And the only God he saw was a
God of justice and wrath. God saw this suffering because
he's the one that afflicted it. God saw this suffering because
he's the only one who could have afflicted it. I know that the
crucifixion was a horrible thing, but that wasn't enough in and
of itself to put away our sin. there must be a suffering inflicted
by God. It says, when he shall make his
soul an offering for sin, it was the will of the Lord to
crush him. Notice there that that's in what
they call the active mood, I believe it is. But he didn't say it was
his will that Christ be bruised, that Christ be crushed, it says
it was his will to crush him. God himself did it. And God saw it, and here's the
response of God to it. He did not despise nor disdain
the suffering of the afflicted one. Now this business that was transacted
there on Calvary was not manward. That is what Jesus Christ did
on Calvary was not toward you and me. It was done on our behalf,
that's for sure. But he was not offered to us. That's why it makes no sense
to say you need to accept Jesus. I'm sorry, Jesus has never been
offered to you. He didn't offer himself to you. The Bible says
very plainly, he offered himself without spot to God. We see his suffering and may
be moved by it. In fact, if we are believers,
we are moved by the tale of his suffering because we know why
he suffered. When he says, my God, my God,
why have you forsaken me? We know the answer. We understand why God forsook
the Lord Jesus Christ. He forsook the Lord Jesus Christ
because our sins had been laid on him. And a God who delights
in justice can do nothing less then abandon those upon whom
he finds sin, abandon them in all his goodness, and instead
show up in all his fierce fury and wrath. God saw his suffering, and he didn't say, well, that'll
mean nothing. He didn't say, well, good try. He did not mock the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, here's the sad thing. We set forth the suffering of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And in one way or another, the
people of this world do despise and disdain his suffering. Say,
how so? Well, they despise and disdain
the suffering, some of them, by claiming that only some hideous,
primitive, bloodthirsty God would inflict any suffering like that.
So they not only despise the one who suffer, they despise
the God that made him suffer. And they count the whole thing
to be a fairy tale. and say if that's what God's
supposed to be like, well, there is no God. You know, we're not allowed to
decide what God is like. He is like whatever, I mean,
he is as he is. That's just the way he is. Whether
or not you like it. And we cannot determine whether
or not God exists by whether or not his declaration of himself
fits what we think a God should be. But they despise the God of justice,
therefore they despise the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's
how others despise it. They despise it by thinking that
it's not enough. You say, well, how do they do
that? By trying to add something to
it. Those, as we used to call them,
bachigadas. Well, yes, Christ died for sins,
bachigada. Salvation's by grace through
faith, but you gotta, and they always got something that you
put after that, something for you to do, as though this isn't
enough. You say, well, you gotta stop
your sinning. Well, if I can stop my sinning, why does the
Lord have to suffer for me? No, you gotta do your best. I'm
already doing that. It's not good enough, is it? No, they despise him by adding
to it. That's why Paul said, I tell
you, if you be circumcised, and that was just the particular
extra that people were trying to enforce in the Church of Galatia.
And he said, if you be circumcised, Christ profits you nothing. You have made nothing of the
suffering of Jesus Christ. They despise it and disdain it
when they say it's not enough. Our Lord saw his own sufferings,
and when they were over, he said, it is finished. And unfortunately,
most of what goes under the title of Christianity says, well, not
quite, not quite. Well, friends, if he didn't finish
it, then it was worthless. Because
that's the only two choices, perfect or worthless. So they disdain and despise the
suffering of the Savior. Another way they despise and
disdain the suffering of the Savior is acting like it is in
their hands to determine whether or not it will do them any good. That's what I heard growing up.
Well, Jesus Christ died for everyone. Don't let that be in vain. I
remember there was a song. It was, well, what would have
passed for a contemporary Christian song back when I was young, which
means it's a rather old song now. But it was one for youth
groups to sing, and it was for the Lord's table. And so it quotes
a little bit of what the Lord said when he established the
Lord table, and it says, This is my body which is broken for
you and for you I bore the pain. This is my body which was broken
for you. Oh, don't let it be in vain.
That is to despise and disdain the sufferings of the Lord. They
can't be in vain. If our Lord suffered for my sins
and I am not saved, it means that either he didn't suffer
enough or he was not qualified to be my substitute. One way
or another, you're casting shade on the Lord Jesus Christ to say
that he suffered for somebody's sins and yet that person ends
up in hell anyway. The Bible, the Old Testament
says he shall not fail. And he didn't. And God didn't despise his sufferings.
He came before God as the high priest used to come into the
most holy place. And that high priest would come
in with jewels, 12 jewels on a breastplate. Each one of those
jewels represented one of the tribes of Israel. He didn't go
in for the Gentile nations. High priest didn't go before
God for all the people of the world. He went in for those of
the house of Israel, of the house of Jacob, the congregation of
the Lord. And he represented them. And if he did it right,
and he went in there with blood on the day of atonement, then
Israel's sins were forgiven, period. The national sins, the
covenant was reestablished for another year. God's favor was
upon them. Why? because the required sacrifice
had been offered. Well, Jesus Christ went into
that most holy place, not made with human hands and not with
the blood of bulls and goats, but he went in with his own blood
and he offered that in the presence of God. And God didn't despise it. He
honored it. Christ said, it is finished,
and God said, that's enough. I agree, son. I agree. He saw the suffering of Christ, and he rewarded Christ for his
suffering. It is written, ask of me, and
I'll give you the nations for your inheritance, and God did. God did. He said, sit here at
my right hand. I'll make your enemy as your
footstool for your feet. And he is. He didn't disdain that
suffering. He didn't hide his face from
him. But when the suffering was completed, he answered his cry
for help and raised him from the dead and seated him in the
heavenly places at his right hand and holds him high. and says, this is my son in whom
I'm well pleased, you better be pleased with him too. That's what God says, you better
be pleased with him too. Kiss the son, says the scriptures,
lest he be angry and you perish in your way. People think repentance
is about stopping doing this sin and stopping doing that sin.
Repenting is stopping despising and disdaining the sufferings
of the Lord Jesus Christ and instead give him honor and glory
and call him Lord. That's what the Bible says God's
determined to make everybody do. Because of his sufferings,
God highly exalted him and gave him a name above all names, that
at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of tongues of things
in heaven and in earth and below the earth, and every tongue confess
that Jesus is Lord. You don't see God saying, well,
son, I see that you suffered and we'll see how things work
out. No. He said, I see your suffering. And you prayed to
me, Father, I would that those that you have given me would
be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. And son,
you're gonna get it. You're gonna get it. What's that mean for you and
me? Well, if we're among those that
were given to the son, you say, well, how can I know that? Well,
if you have trusted. your soul to the care of the
Son and you're among them. Because nobody but those who
are chosen believe. They weren't chosen because they
believe, they believe because they were chosen. But if you're
among those chosen who were given to Christ, someday you will be with him
and you will behold his glory. Right now, we try to imagine
His glory, but I'm sure we can't even get close. Right now, we think upon His
suffering, and that's what we're supposed to do. In this particular
phase of our existence, our eye is to be turned to the cross.
We do understand he's on the throne. We glorify him for that. But Paul says, I determined to
know nothing among you except Christ and him crucified. God
forbid that I should glory in anything other than the cross
of my Lord Jesus Christ. That is the central focus of
faith and the life of the believer in this world. Both of the ceremonies
that the Lord Jesus gave us point to His death. Paul said, by this you do show
forth the Lord's death till He comes. That's what we're about.
Christ and Him crucified. We've seen that. We see it with
the eye of faith. But someday it'll no longer be.
the suffering Savior we see, we will look upon His face and we will be amazed at the
glory we see. And then we'll be amazed at this,
that the same glory we see in Him has been worked in us. For it says, John the Apostle
said, It has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know
this. When he appears, that is, is
made manifest, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. No longer seeing him as he was. Seeing him as he is. high and
exalted and seated upon a throne. We'll see him as the victorious
warrior of God upon a white horse and a sword coming out of his
mouth, smiting the nations to save his people. And we will not disdain nor despise
his sufferings. even then for we shall see what
they accomplished. We know as a matter of doctrine
what they accomplished. We shall then know as a matter
of experience what those sufferings accomplished. And we will be
literally and completely amazed. God listened to him and the cry
of his help. So it says, from you comes the
theme of my praise and the great assembly. Before those who fear
you will I fulfill my vows. It says our Lord went steadfastly
to Jerusalem to fulfill his vows. And what's the result? The poor
will eat and be satisfied. and they who seek the Lord will
praise him. May your hearts live forever. Father, thank you for this testimony
regarding your son. We thank you that you had respect
into his sufferings. And that you worked in us so
that we would have respect for his suffering. And now, as we observe this ceremony,
Lord, in which His suffering is shown to us symbolically.
We pray that your spirit would testify with our spirits again
that through Christ we are the sons of God. It's in the name
of Christ we pray, amen. James and Scott, if you'd come
up and help us with the Lord's table. While they hand out the bread,
we will open to number 176 in the hymnals. Break thou the bread
of life, number 176, and you can remain seated. ? Break thou the bread of life
? As Thou didst break the moats
beside the sea, Beyond the savage, I seek Thee, Lord. I swear it, and for Thee
obey me. Hast Thou the truth, dear Lord,
to me, to me? Hast Thou didst bless the bread
by Galilee? When shall a bondage cease? Will letters fall? And I shall find my peace, my
all here and now.