Psalm 22. Psalm 22. This Psalm is known as the Psalm
of the Cross. That's what I've titled it, the
Psalm of the Cross. We could call it the Psalm of
our Substitute. or surety, we could call it the
psalm of our salvation. This psalm is right there beside
of Isaiah 53, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21,
For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Someone said that
is the gospel in a verse, and Isaiah 53 is the gospel in a
chapter. And here we have the gospel of
substitution in this psalm. Charles Spurgeon made this statement,
HE SAID THIS PSALM MAY HAVE BEEN ACTUALLY REPEATED WORD BY WORD
BY OUR LORD WHEN HANGING ON THE TREE. IT BEGINS WITH MY GOD,
MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME, AND ENDS ACCORDING TO SOME
IN THE ORIGINAL WITH IT IS FINISHED. IT IS FINISHED. BUT BEFORE HE
CAN CRY, BEFORE OUR LORD CAN CRY, IT IS FINISHED. HE HAS TO
CRY MY GOD, And He identifies God, Almighty God, as His God,
as a MAN. You see, we hear the Lord Jesus
Christ as a MAN hanging on the cross. our MEDIATOR, our SURETY
HANGING ON THE CROSS, and you'll notice how He identifies Himself
with us because He says OUR FATHERS TRUSTED IN THEE, OUR FATHERS. He identifies Himself with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and He identifies Himself with us. And here He says MY GOD, not
A GOD, MY GOD. And what's the greatest reason
that God has forsaken the Lord Jesus Christ? Why does He cry
like this? Well, you've been here a long
time, you know the answer. I like asking questions that
people know the answer to. You know the answer. He was made
to be sin for us, that's why He was forsaken. our sins were
laid on Him. He bore our sins in His body
on the tree. This actually happened 2,000
years ago. 2,000 years ago the Son of God
came into this world, took upon Him flesh, went to the cross,
nailed to the cross, and there He's bearing our sins in His
body on the tree. He's BEARING THEM AWAY! He's not just BEARING them, He's
BEARING THEM AWAY! He's PUTTING AWAY OUR SINS! And
God who's HOLY, God who's JUST, MUST PUNISH SIN! Have you sinned? Have you sinned this morning?
Have you sinned in thought? Now, either you're going to be
punished for that, or Christ was punished for that. YOU KNOW THE REASON WE ARE SITTING
HERE THIS MORNING IN COMFORT? WE'RE SITTING HERE THIS MORNING
IN GREAT COMFORT! WE HAVE A VERY NICE PLACE TO MEET IN, A VERY
COMFORTABLE PLACE TO MEET IN, WELL DRESSED, WE'RE NOT HERE
IN RAGS, WELL DRESSED, IT'S BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST HAS DIED FOR US,
AND THERE'S A LOT OF PEOPLE on this earth who benefit from Christ
dying for us, from Christ dying for a multitude of sinners, Christ
dying for His elect, this world benefits from it, it benefits
from it, us being here, Christ dying for us. Because that sun shines on the
just and the unjust, the rain falls on the garden of the unjust
as well as it does the just, but that rain is sent for you.
they just get the benefits of it that's all they're just getting
the benefits of it now the greatest reason he makes
this cry is because he's hanging on that cross as our substitute
taking our place before God's law standing before God's law
and this is hard to comprehend but standing before God's law
as me You know, I played football in high school, and when I first heard the gospel,
believed the gospel, I thought of substitution like, you know
how you go in and substitute for somebody and they call somebody
out? Well, there's a form of that, but it's MORE than that.
That person coming in to take my place is not becoming ME. He's not ME. Christ was made
to be SIN, that's ME. that's what i am i am sin that's what i am i don't
just sin i am sin and he took my place before god's law as
far as god's law is concerned god's law punished me god's law
punished my sins that's why God can justify me because they're
they're gone or put away they've been dealt with they've been
dealt with every one of them sin by sin thought by thought
action by action has been dealt with you know I in the past I've
thought of Christ dying for my sins as a you know as as a whole
as my sins and that's so but lately I've been thinking of
the Lord dying for my sins sin by sin You know, if you broke
the law, if you go to the law, what do they do? They open the
books and here's the offense. Here's the reason you're here.
The offense is written down. This is what you're being judged
for. This is what you're here for. Our Lord died for our sins,
every one of them, not a one past, not a one overlooked. Not
even what we would call the LEAST INFRACTION. Because with God,
there is no LEAST INFRACTION. Because to offend Him, one point
of the law, is to break the WHOLE LAW. You say, well, all I ever
did was tell a little lie. Well, you broke that whole law
of God. You're as guilty as the man who murdered. Just as guilty. You know what? The person who,
let's just say this as an example. That's not so, but the only thing
a person did was tell a lie. And then you've got this person
here that's a serial killer. You know they're both going to
be in the same hell? They're both going to be in the same
place. Same place. So why does he cry,
My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? You're looking at
the reason he cried that. And I'm looking at the reason.
And he'll tell us here in a few verses that the reason is also
this, Thou art holy. thou art holy. And he said, he said, My God,
my God, why art thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from
helping me and from the words of my roaring? You know, our
Lord prayed. He prayed. He says here in verse
two, Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not
in the night season and am not silent. Our Lord said this once,
Father, I know that you always hear me. This is one time he was not heard. He was not heard. God, so to speak, plugged his ears and he didn't hear him. He had no mercy on him. You know,
there's never a time that God has not heard you. There never
will be a time when God will not hear you. But there was a
time when God did not hear His Son, the one He said, the one
He said, This is My Beloved Son. He spoke from heaven twice. And
He said, This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well. Please hear
ye Him. This is the Son. THAT IN THAT HOUR OF DARKNESS
AND HANGING ON THAT CROSS, HE WOULDN'T HEAR HIM. HE WOULD NOT
SHOW MERCY. HE WOULD NOT HELP HIM. HE WOULD
NOT HELP HIM. HE HAD TO TREAD THE WINEPRESS
OF GOD'S WRATH ALONE. WHEN YOU READ PSALM 22, AND I'M
NOT GOING TO GET THROUGH ALL THIS, BUT WHEN YOU READ PSALM
22, THIS IS WHO IT TOOK AND WHAT IT TOOK TO SAVE Anytime you get to thinking very
highly of yourself, just turn to Psalm 22 and look what it
took to save you. God Almighty had to come down
from heaven and hang on a cross and suffer the penalty of His
own law and His own wrath. That's what He had to do. That's
what had to happen to save us. That's what had to happen. OUR
LORD PRAYED IN THE DAYTIME OF HIS LIFE AND IN THE NIGHT SEASON.
HE NEVER, NOTICE THIS, OUR LORD NEVER QUIT PRAYING. HE NEVER
QUIT PRAYING. YOU KNOW WHAT THAT TELLS US?
HE NEVER QUIT BELIEVING. HE NEVER QUIT BELIEVING GOD.
HE PRAYED AND HE PRAYED AND HE PRAYED. YOU KNOW, OUR LORD TOLD
A STORY ABOUT THE UNJUST JUDGE. And about that woman who came
and she just knocked on the door and he didn't want to answer
her, but she kept knocking and knocking and knocking. And the
judge finally said, he said, I don't fear God or man, but
this woman's driving me crazy. And he answered her. Will our
Lord do less? Will he do less? Will he quit
knocking? Will he quit praying? He never quit praying, even when
God wouldn't answer him. When he said, my God, my God,
Why have you forsaken me? I've cried in the daytime and
in the night." He never quit praying no matter how hard it
gets. Here's another thing I see and
a lesson for us to learn, no matter how hard it gets, NEVER
STOP CALLING UPON GOD! because we get we are tempted
to it can get so it can get tough sometimes so tough that you get
weary of even that you think well the lord's not he's not
he's not hearing me he's not going to answer me he's going
to answer and he does hear you he hears us always no matter
how difficult it gets but our lord here he justifies i think
this is what he's doing in verse three he justifies God, HIS God,
He says, My God, He justifies God for not answering. In other words, He says, Thou
art holy. Thou art holy. I'm bearing the
sins of many. I'm getting what THEY deserve.
I'm bearing their sins, and what you're doing is because you're
holy. Your wrath on me is because you're
holy. Brethren, this is written for
us to learn from, to really learn a spiritual lesson. God is holy
in all His ways. God does nothing wrong. God can
do nothing wrong. All His judgments are in righteousness. even when his son's hanging on
a tree and he's punishing him, he's punishing him in righteousness. And then verse 4 and 5, Our Lord
pleads the past dealings, as I said, with the fathers. He identifies himself with the
fathers but he takes also courage here and he takes some hope in
that he says here, Our fathers trusted
in you This is how to pray. I tell you, if you really want
to learn how to pray, listen to our Lord over in John 17 and
listen to our Lord pray. Our fathers trusted in thee,
they trusted and you delivered them. You know, that's like saying,
that's like saying in a I think it's in a psalm, call
upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you, you shall
glorify me. That's the same sense in which
he's saying this. Our fathers trusted in you and
you delivered them, you never failed them, and you will not
fail me. You didn't fail them, you'll
not fail me. They cried unto thee and were
delivered. They trusted in thee and were
not confounded. See He's drawing some hope here,
we can't even begin to enter into the agonies of the cross
but He's drawing some hope here that the Fathers trusted Him
and they always delivered them and He's going to deliver me
too. But He says here, He doesn't say you deliver them and I'm
your son, I'm your only begotten Why are you not answering me?
He doesn't say that. Here's what He says. He continues
to identify with us. I am a worm. I am a maggot. This is the Lord of Glory saying,
I am a maggot. What was Jacob called? What did
God call Jacob? Thou worm, Jacob. Thou maggot,
Jacob. We're watching a movie here.
Several days ago in this, it was back in the 1800s, and this
guy had a bad sore, and they put maggots on it to try to keep
from gangrene setting in. I thought, ooh, that's tough
doctrine back then. But he says, here, I'm a worm. And the old man, he never made
a reputation for himself. He said, I'm not even considered
a man. I'm a worm and no man ever reproach
of men and despised of the people they they hate me they still
do they still do as I said a little week ago I said this Jesus is
popular not the Lord Jesus he'll never be popular but Jesus is
popular Madison was telling Vicki last
night, she said, I can't believe how religion is getting so popular
here on campus. It's just popular to be one of
these Jesus... I don't want to say Jesus freaks,
I'm trying to be careful. I'm not being blasphemous because
I'm talking about another Jesus. Paul said they'll come preaching
another Jesus. another gospel, another spirit,
and I keep telling her that's another Jesus. That's not the
one of this Bible. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
the same one that's real popular right now. No, He's despised
and rejected. Just tell who He is, that's all
you got to do. Just tell the truth on Him and
you'll see how despised He is. ALL THEY THAT SEE ME LAUGH ME
TO SCORN. THEY HATE ME. THEY LAUGH ME TO
SCORN. YOU SAID YOU WERE THE SON OF
GOD. LOOK AT HIM HANGING THERE ON THE CROSS. NOBODY TO HELP
HIM. THEY LAUGHED HIM TO SCORN. THEY
SHOOT OUT THE LIP. THEY SHAKE THE HEAD SAYING HE
TRUSTED IN HE TRUSTED ON THE LORD THAT HE WOULD DELIVER HIM.
LET HIM DELIVER HIM. SEEING HE DELIGHTED, SEEING GOD
DELIGHTED IN HIM, LET'S JUST WATCH HIM DELIVER HIM. YOU KNOW WHAT THEY WATCHED? THEY
WATCHED HIM DIE. THEY WERE JUST SOLIDIFIED IN
THEIR DELUSION BY WATCHING HIM DIE. GOD DID DELIVER HIM THREE
DAYS LATER, RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD. And when He raised Him
from the dead, He raised us from the dead. We have been raised
from the dead. We've not yet experienced that
yet, but when we die, we will. And then in the resurrection,
when we receive that new body, we'll receive a new body, a new
heaven, a new earth, and everything will be new. Everything will
be new. Here in verse 9, But thou art
he that took me out of my mother's womb, I am yours. He never lost
his confidence, did he? THIS IS FAITH! Now listen, and
this faith is our righteousness. His faith and faithfulness. He
believed God. He believed God the way you and
I OUGHT to believe God. He believed God PERFECTLY. I
was talking to a pastor yesterday. And he was talking about when
that which is perfect has come, and he was talking about the
Word of God, and he was going to preach on that today. And I thought about this after
we had that discussion, and I sat in my study, and I thought, You
know, we really don't know perfection, do we? When I would do good,
evil is present with me. That which I would do, I do not.
That which I would not do, that I do. WE DON'T REALLY, WE HAVEN'T
REALLY GOT A GRASP OF PERFECTION. WE KNOW THE DEFINITION OF IT,
WE KNOW HOW TO SPELL IT, BUT THE EXPERIENCE OF IT IS YET TO
COME. BUT IT'S COMING. AND WE'RE GOING TO KNOW PERFECTION. RIGHT NOW WE KNOW NOTHING BUT
SIN, HEARTACHES, SICKNESS, fussing, fighting, carrying,
you know, those are the things we've known. But in a little while, and as
that pastor and I was talking, our little while is really a
little while. We're on the short end of the stick. We are going to know perfection
and we're going to know perfection because our Lord put away our
imperfection. He put away our sins. He says in verse 10, I was cast
upon thee from the womb. He's the only begotten son. You
see a son's given, but the child is born. I'm yours from the womb. When he was born, the angels
said that he was born King and born Savior. He's God's King. He's God's Savior. He's God's
Lamb provided for us. provided for us and he said be
not far from me for trouble's near and there's none to help
me there's nobody to help me all the disciples scattered they
all they all hightailed it out of town they got out they got
away from him smite the shepherd and the sheep are scattered they
will scatter and there's no one to help me no one Henry said once no one
ever died as alone as Jesus Christ forsaken of God and died alone no one to help
him he's got to tread the winepress of God's wrath alone he's got
to do it alone we can't help him we would mess it up like
we've messed up everything else then he speaks here of the pharisees
and the scribes and he says many bulls have compassed me strong
bulls of bastion have beset me about set me around beset me
round he's speaking here the pharisees and the sadducees and
the rulers of israel he calls them bulls the strong bulls of
bastion they gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and
a roaring lion ready to ready to devour ready to devour you
know it's really sad when a man when they couldn't even convict
of any anything wrong pilot said i find no wrong in him and yet
they are if you want to understand if you really want to understand
and see humanity if you really want to see you don't need to
go to prisons that's that's not going to really show it to you
go to the cross go to the cross There's where you'll see humanity,
and there's where you'll see religion without Christ. There's
nothing on this earth meaner than religion without Christ.
Nothing. No one is meaner than people
who are religious but lost. And I am poured out Like water
spent, is what he's saying, just out on the ground, there's nothing
left. All my strength is gone. And all my bones are out of joint. You could count them, you could
count his ribs and his bones, his shoulders were out of joint. My heart is like wax, it's melted
into the midst of my bowels. my strength is dried up like
a potsherd my tongue cleaves to my jaws and listen and thou
has brought me into the dust of death he doesn't say and they
have brought me into the dust of death he says you have you
brought me to this point this is why i came i came into the
world to die HE DIDN'T COME INTO THIS WORLD TO LIVE, HE CAME TO
DIE! AND HE SAID, YOU BROUGHT ME INTO THE DUST OF DEATH, ADAM,
DUST THOU ART, AND DUST THOU SHALT RETURN, AND YOU BROUGHT
ME TO THAT POINT. THE DOGS HAVE COMPASSED ME, THE
ASSEMBLY OF THE WICKED CAN CLOSE ME, THEY PIERCE MY HANDS AND
MY FEET, I MAY COUNT ALL MY BONES, THEY LOOK AND STARE UPON ME,
THEY PART MY GARMENTS, NOT REALIZING THEY ARE DOING EXACTLY WHAT GOD
said they would do this was prophesied up they didn't turn the page
and say what we do next they are doing exactly what they wanted
to do and they are doing exactly what god said they would do and
they're doing exactly what god purposed to do you can't put
all that together that's too high it's The more I preach the
gospel, say the Word of God, I realize how far, far over my
head it is. It s way over my head. Be not
far from me, O LORD, O my strength. Help me, hurry up, help me, hasten
thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword
DON'T YOU LIKE WHAT HE CALLS HIM HERE, MY DARLING, FROM THE
POWER OF THE DOG, MY ONLY ONE. THAT'S WHAT THAT MEANS, MY DARLING
IS MY ONLY ONE. THAT'S WHAT HENRY CALLED DORIS,
DARLING. I DIDN'T REALIZE IT MEANT THAT,
MY ONLY ONE. save me from the lion's mouth
thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn now it starts
to turn in all this anguish and all this pain and all this suffering
now it's light is bursting on the scene now it turns it turns i would declare thy name unto
my brethren in the midst of the congregation while i praise thee
HE THAT FEARED THE LORD, PRAISE HIM, ALL YOU THAT SEEDED JACOB,
GLORIFY HIM, FEAR HIM, ALL YOU THAT SEEDED ISRAEL. 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." Jesus Christ is the only Son
that at one time was not heard, but He says here, all the others
are heard you hear them you know why he hears them because of
christ he hears us in christ's name my praise shall be of thee
in the great congregation does this sound like somebody upset
for the for what they're going through can you go through a
trial however hard it is can you and i can you and i go through
one of the hardest trials whatever it is and say MY PRAYER SHALL BE OF THEE IN
THE CHURCH I'LL PRAISE YOU WHEN WE COME TOGETHER HERE LORD NO
MATTER HOW HARD IT IS I'LL PRAISE YOU I'LL PRAISE YOU I'LL PAY
MY VOWS BEFORE THEM THAT FEAR HIM HE DID DO THAT DIDN'T HE
THE VOWS HE MADE IN THAT COVENANT OF GRACE OUR LORD HAS ACCOMPLISHED
HE'S PAID IT HE PAID IT And He says, THE MEAT SHALL EAT AND
BE SATISFIED. Is that happening to you this morning?
Do you find real satisfaction here this morning? Do you find
that the salvation you have in Christ is satisfying? Is it satisfying? It is to me. It satisfies me. I don't need no more. And THEY
WILL EAT, THEY SHALL EAT AND BE SATISFIED. THEY SHALL PRAISE
THE LORD THAT SEEK HIM. YOUR HEART SHALL LIVE FOREVER.
THEY SHALL PRAISE THE LORD THAT SEEK HIM. NOBODY ELSE IS GOING
TO PRAISE HIM. IF YOU'RE SEEKING THE LORD, YOU'LL
PRAISE HIM. YOU CAN'T HELP FROM IT IF YOU'RE
SEEKING HIM. GOD'S GIVEN YOU A HEART TO SEEK HIM, AND HE'S
GIVEN YOU A HEART TO PRAISE HIM. IF YOU'RE NOT SEEKING THE LORD,
YOU'LL NEVER PRAISE HIM HERE OR HEREAFTER. if you're not seeking
Him. In His Word, here in the service,
in prayer, in private prayer, you're seeking the Lord. All
the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all
the kindreds of the nation shall worship before thee. You see,
He's not a failure. Jesus Christ did not fail, cannot
fail, will not fail. All the ends of the earth shall
praise Him. There's people right now in other parts of this earth
praising the Lord just like we are this morning. And the kingdom
He says here is the Lord's, it's His, He's the governor of all
nations, among the nations. He's the governor of them. Right
now. Right now. He's the governor
of all the nations. ALL THEY THAT BE FAT UPON THE
EARTH SHALL EAT AND WORSHIP. ALL THEY THAT GO DOWN THROUGH
THE DUST SHALL BOW BEFORE HIM." That's right, you're either going
to bow here or you're going to bow there. I promise you, you
and I are going to bow. And every knee is going to bow,
every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. EVERYONE! Not one knee is going
to be missed. Not one. A SEED SHALL SERVE HIM. And you and I are part of that
seed. We're part of that seed. It shall be accounted to the
Lord for a generation, and they shall come and shall declare
His righteousness. That's what we do every time
we preach. We declare His righteousness for salvation unto a people that
shall be born, that He has done this. And I
wrote underneath that He has finished this. It is finished,
that He has finished I get to do that every week and you get
to hear it every week. What the Lord has done, He has
finished our salvation. Well, that ought to make us sing
in the next service. With this in mind, we ought to
really sing from the heart unto the Lord.