Thank you, Gabe and Sherry, for
your service. All right, go with me to the
book of Matthew, chapter twenty-seven. Matthew chapter twenty-seven. Read with me verses forty-five
through forty-nine. Matthew twenty-seven. Verse forty-five. Now from the
sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about
the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli,
lama sabachthani. That is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there
when they heard that said, This man called it for Elias,
and straightway one of them ran and took a sponge and filled
it with vinegar and put it on a reed and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us
see whether Elias will come to save him. As a much younger preacher, I
was willing I thought I was able to deal with passages like this, but I have been reluctant to
deal with it. Now, I've almost been avoiding
it. In order to preach, you have
to feel impressed My God, you want to
feel. Led by God, his presence with
you. For something to touch you. Generally
must touch my heart. So I've been waiting to feel
right. And that I never will. Suffice
it to say. That I am not worthy to deal
with this passage. I feel. I don't even like reading it
out loud, do you? You notice I don't make any attempt
whatsoever to. To say it, as our Lord said it,
he cried with a loud voice, heaven and earth heard it. Dare not do that. And I'm not
able to tell it and you are not able to hear it and receive it
and enter into it. After this is over, I will be
ashamed of how I have dealt with this, and I believe you will
probably be ashamed that it didn't touch you like you'd like. But we're going to look at it.
It has come up, hasn't it, how Christ was forsaken by God, a
God-forsaken man. Now, our Lord was put on the
cross At nine a.m. Third hour. And it says in verse
forty five from the sixth hour. That's twelve noon. From the
sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the
land. Darkness. Christ was lifted up. And at twelve noon. The cross
of Christ Christ crucified is the is the peak, the glory, the
culmination, the zenith, the highest point of the gospel in
the Christ crucified. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
This is his glory, his greatest glory, is what he did for his
people on Calvary Street. And it's fitting, isn't it, that
at twelve noon, when the sun, the physical sun, S-U-N, was
at its zenith, at its highest point in the heavens, shining
down upon this earth, the one whose head it shone the brightest
on was the sun of righteousness who was hanging on that cross. It's no mere coincidence that
that which we obtain, or that which we get physical life from
on this planet, the S-U-N, No coincidence that God called his,
that great light, that which gives us light, the sun. Right. Well, it was now darkness. And
he'd reached its zenith, then darkness covered the land. The whole earth was in darkness
until the ninth hour when he gave up the ghost. And verse
forty-six says that he cried out, the ninth hour. When it
was all over, when it was finished, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus,
cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. That is to say, or be interpreted,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now, we read that,
didn't we, in Psalm 22. As with everything in the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ, everything in his death was prophesied in
Scripture. Because this is the Christ, there
was no other, there is no other, never shall be. This is the Christ. Scripture bears witness of who
this was. This is the Christ, the Son of
the Most High God, the Son of Righteousness. And this Our Lord
said this, that the scriptures might be fulfilled, because they
are they which are written of him, testify of him. And we read
it there in Psalm 22, those very words where he said, my God,
my God, why'st thou forsaken me? David wrote that Psalm, physically
wrote that Psalm, but you know. that David never went through
this sort of thing. David never saw all his bones. In that chapter it says my bones.
They're all I can see them all. David never was given vinegar
to drink. David never had his beard plucked
out. David never had these things
happen to him. David was speaking in the spirit
of God, of Christ. This was the words of Christ.
Well, in verse forty-seven, these that stood by, those bystanders,
those who did not know the Christ, who were not looking for him,
those bystanders who did not know the truth of Christ, they
misunderstood. They did not understand who this
was, why he was there, and what he was saying. They did not understand,
nor do they now. And so they said, this is what
they said, this man called for Elias. And as with everything concerning
Christ, men are ignorant. Man is ignorant of what he said,
who he was, and what he did when he was hanging on that cross.
Men are still ignorant, aren't they? Did they know what Peter said
had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of God.
And I say had did they know they would not make any attempts whatsoever
to imitate that they would not be glorying in a piece of wood
they would not be making idols and pictures of this they would
not hold pageantries and and do plays and make movies out
of this our Lord's glory. And they would say if they really
knew who this was they would not put his name everywhere in
such a blasphemous fashion if they did know who this was and
what he was doing there they would not no man would play the
part that's hypocrisy that's acting. They would not go through
the motion they would understand that his true passion that his
true glory that his true sufferings were not physical. And they cannot
be displayed and cannot be imitated. And no man would dare if they
did fear this one. and knew what he was doing, they
would by no means detract from his glory by making it a spectacle
for men to feel sorry for him. Did they know? Our Lord said,
in dragging that cross to Calvary, our Lord stopped. There's some
women that were weeping for Him. They were weeping. They were
sorry for Him. They were sad. They were grieved
because He was suffering so. And our Lord stopped and stood
up in His full height. Do you hear me? The whole world is weeping for
Jesus, for Jesus. And our Lord stopped and stood
up in His full glory and turned to them and said, Weep not for
me, weak for yourselves, and for your children." Do you understand
what he meant there? You do. Very few do. Well, these that stood by the
cross, they didn't understand who this was and what was happening
here. And they said, he's calling for
Elias. And one of them, verse 48, Why
this man felt led to do this? I don't know what was going through
his mind. I don't know. Except to just torture him more
fully in his misery. Vinegar, you know, when you're
parched. Our Lord was thirsty hanging
on that cross. When you go through pain, your
mouth dries up, doesn't it? He said that. I'm parched. My
tongue is cleaved to the roof of my mouth. That's what we didn't
read it, but it is written. Our Lord was part was thirsty,
said I thirst and one of them ran to to to add to his suffering
and got vinegar of all things that would worsen your thirst
and put it on read and stuck it in his mouth and why he did
this. Why? What he felt in doing this
was just malice and meanness and so forth. But I'll tell you,
I know why he did this. Wicked men took and with wicked
hands crucified the Lord of glory, but I know why they did it. They
did what they wanted to do, what their evil hearts wanted to do,
but they did what God determined before to be done. And in Psalm
69, it is written of the Christ. In my thirst they gave me vinegar
to drink. See, he's fulfilling the scriptures
in his life and now in his death. They must be fulfilled, because
this is indeed the Christ. And even that Roman soldier,
after it was all over, had to acknowledge this indeed was the
Son of God. That there be no doubt in our
minds, and we saw the last time how that our Lord took that vinegar
but didn't drink it, and there'll be no bitterness in our death. There'll be no bitterness, the
bitterness of vinegar, no gall and bitterness for us. No, Christ
took it for us. That's why. But that the scriptures
might be fulfilled. Psalm 69, 11. Well, others said,
verse 49, the rest said, let, let, let be. That's enough. Yes, it is. That's it. They're not going to touch him
now. not going to touch this sacrifice again until he's dead, until he bows
his head. Then the soldier's going to come
by and still not going to touch him, except take that spear and
blood and water's got to come out. And then they'll take his
lifeless body down. But they said, that's it. Let
it be. That's enough. God said, that's
enough. And then they said, let's see
whether Elias will come to save him. Earlier they said he calls
on God. Let's see if God will have him. You know, at this right now,
God isn't. God isn't. God won't have him. That's what's happening here.
This man is being forsaken. My God you've heard that term
a lot have you over the years God forsaken people says God
forsaken this God forsaken that don't have a clue. You don't
have a clue. Our Lord Jesus Christ here what
is happening here is a man is being completely forsaken by
God a man while still on this earth yet hanging on the cross
is going through the equivalent of hell, what hell is. Hell is
to be forsaken by God, be completely left alone by God, no presence
of God, nothing, no mercy, no love, no grace, no kindness,
no nothing, but nothing but wrath and judgment and torture and
so forth, death. A man is being forsaken, a man
is going through, he didn't go to hell, our Lord Jesus Christ
did not go to the physical place called hell or Hades, but he
went through it, the equivalent of it. The God-man, that is,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's crying out to God, he's being
forsaken by God and he's crying out to God, as all men will. Some will do it to their salvation. Some, while on earth, by the
mercy and grace of God Almighty, by the power of the Holy Spirit,
some will be made to see their sin, which separates them from
God. Some, by God's mercy and grace,
by His Spirit, some, while still on this earth, before it's everlastingly
too late, some will be made to see that they've been separated
from God, a forsaken, worthless worm. I'm a worm. David said,
I'm a worm, no man. Who is man? What is man that
thou art mindful of him, especially me? And they will cry out in
salvation. Here's the first cry of a newborn
baby, my God, my God. God be merciful to me, he said. some day. All who have not cried that while
on earth will indeed cry out. My God, my God, why has God forsaken
me? And he won't answer. That's what
Proverbs 1 says. He said, When you call, I won't
answer you, and I'll laugh when your calamity comes. That's what
the Lord says. That's scripture that's God's
word Robert. What is hail? What is hail? Is it a literal place carry with
me to Isaiah twenty eight Isaiah chapter twenty eight is it a
literal place is there really a lake of fire lake that burns
with fire. Isaiah twenty eight you most
do not believe. in hell today. Just like they
don't believe anything that God says completely rejected they
turned away their ears all said. From the truth unto fables. They keep to themselves teachers
preachers so-called have been itching ears tell us what we
want to hear don't tell us what this book says it just judges
us it just condemns us. It tells us that this God who
is God we will not have a God no God for us now you tell us
what we want to hear. And we'll pay you accordingly. Most do not believe one in three
only one in three so-called clergy or preachers believes that there
is a hell. That's incredible. Whatever God's
word says we believe no way to call in question anything that
God says is called God and not a matter of interpretation. But
yet that's what they do. Let me quote one of these fellows
he said and here's a lead us to the leading man what college
name he said I do not believe. I do not believe that there is
a place called hell, to which people go for everlasting punishment.
That would make God hellish, in my view. That's right, in
his view. I believe God is love. And we
may speak of God's judgment, but God always judges in order
to save, not to condemn. And Malachi said, Where is the
God of judgment? Where is it? Well, as in all things, men reveal
their utter ignorance of God's Word. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
when he was facing some Pharisees, he said, You do err. All of your
error, all of your ignorance is in this. You don't know the
Scripture. You do err not knowing the Scripture. not knowing the word of God nor
the power of God, the might of God, the authority of God, who
God is and what he does. You err not knowing the scriptures
that reveal God, so you don't know God. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, look
at Isaiah 28, and this is what they say, verses 14 and following. He says, The Lord says, Hear
the word of the Lord, you scornful men that rule this people in
Jerusalem. You've said we've made a covenant
with death. With hell we are in agreement.
We're in agreement. There is none. And when the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come nigh. We've made lies
our refuge. Under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God. Behold, I lay in Zion for
a foundation stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure
foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste, meaning he's not going to leave there, that firm foundation. That's where he's going to stay.
He's going to hang his soul, his salvation, everything on
this firm rock. God will set his feet on this
rock, and that's where he's going to stay. And judgment, he said. Judgment
also what I laid to the lion, and righteousness to the plummet.
And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the water
shall overflow the hiding place, and your covenant with death
shall be disannulled. Your agreement with hell shall
not stand. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, you will be trodden down by it. Turn with me to Luke, the Gospel
of Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. The Lord Jesus
Christ himself spoke more often of hail than anyone. Say we believe that he that now
are not you the son of the living God. that no man had seen the
father, no man knoweth the father save the son, he to whomsoever
the son reveals him. I believe, we believe, don't
we, John, that he is the Christ. He hath come to declare God to
us. He hath come and everything he
says is the truth, because he is very God of very God, the
true God and eternal life. And everything he said, we believe
it, don't we? And we reject, let every man
be a liar. This man is the truth. What do
you say? Well, here's what the Lord Jesus
Christ said about this subject, okay? And this is enough, isn't
it? Luke 12, look at verses 4 and
5. Our Lord said, I say unto you,
my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and
after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn
you whom you shall fear. Fear, fear him which after, now
here's after death, here's who after he hath killed hath power
to cast into hell. Yes, I say unto you, fear him. So, Brother Mack, these are not
the words of an old itinerant wild man standing on the corner
of New York Street with a sign in his hand. Prepare to meet
thy God and you're going to hell. These are the words of the Son
of God. That's what he said, didn't he?
And many other passages that he wrote. And Peter wrote this.
The Apostle Peter later, the Lord had him write this, that
men are willingly ignorant. That is, they refused to believe
certain things. He said, one was creation. They
refused to believe that God created all things, that we're creatures.
That means God is the potter and we're the clay. They refused.
Peter said they're willingly ignorant, that God created all
things, and they were in his hands to do with as he pleases. You make something, it's yours
to Have not the potter power over the clay to make one vessel
an honor and another an abomination? Has he not? Yes, he does. Well,
God is the potter. He hath made us, and not we ourselves. Not evolution. He's the creator.
And he went on to say they're willing to ignorant. of a flood,
that this God is angry, and that this God looked down from heaven
upon the sons of men to see if there were any that did seek
after God, that any did call upon God. He said, they all together
become filthy, and God said, it repented me, I've made man.
I will destroy man. And he did. And he said, a flood. And they made up all sorts of
notions about ice ages and this and that and the other, when
it was nothing more than the flood that turned this world
upside down and reformed it. The flood of God's wrath, the
overflowing scourge. That's what we read about in
Isaiah 28. The overflowing scourge of God's wrath. And that's what
they said in Noah's day. They said, oh no, God loves us.
No, it will not come to us. And Paul even wrote about that
in Hebrews, he said the gospel was preached to them that are
in hell right now. Through Moses, through Noah,
through Noah. The gospel was preached to them
by Noah. Noah, preacher of righteousness, who's God's holiness, righteousness,
angry. Who by no means cleared the guilty.
And he did. He destroyed a world. And then he went on to say the
same world. Peter said they're willing and
ignorant. That the same world. Listen to me, preachers, the
chief culprit, and this is why people, it's all the faults right
here. Peter said, they're willingly
ignorant that the world, the same world, is kept right now
in store to what? Fire. Fire. Judgment. Well, I'm not trying
to prove hell. Just quoting what our Lord said.
OK? Is it a literal place? Christ
sure seems to say so, doesn't he? The lake that burneth with
fire, literal fire, where the worm doth not. Literal fire? I don't know. But I believe what
he said. But this we do know. We know
this much about God. We see it and we know it right
here. Go back to Matthew twenty seven. That hell, whatever it
is, wherever it is, is where God is not. It is where God casts
out, out of, outcast, rejects and puts those who are not, those
who are forsaken by him. He has nothing more to do with.
When he said there in the judgment, our Lord said this, he'll say
unto you, I never knew you, never loved you, never entered into
into you or you with me I never knew you the part for me you
workers of the neck and he said. I'm them hand and foot who said
this Christ. He's the one. Another famous
preacher said God doesn't put anybody. But our Lord said bind them hand
and foot and cast them into the lake of fire as well Hail is
to be forsaken by God thrown out of his presence. God is. People are so ignorant. God is righteous God is holy
God is. Good God is mercy God is love
God is grace God is kind God is all all those things it speaks
of in first Corinthians thirteen God is. That is God comes from
God. God is love. You take away God,
what do you have? God is holy. This earth is a
sinful place, yet there's some holiness here. There's some people
worshiping the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Yes, there is. We
say this is hell on earth. No, no, no, you don't have a
clue when you say that. Don't have a clue. If you take
away God who is holy, all you have is, I can't, I can't describe
it. You can see little vestiges of
what we call being reprobate or cast out, or God is not. And
throughout this land, like Sodom and Gomorrah, God, and it's no
coincidence, God burnt that city. God said, I'm done with it. My wife and I were talking yesterday
about how that Sodom could not have been worse than what this
world is right now. No way. More widespread now just
the perversion of God looks at this place like a. Is. And he's going to be done. Cast
it all out of it but hold it up. But. God is holy take away where God
is not God the Christ the Holy Spirit is still in this world. Thank God is right, Nancy. He's
still in this world. And if he were, if he weren't,
well, we wouldn't be here, but. Hypothetically, we'd want to
we'd want to get our children and run to the hills. But no, he's he's had just about
he's given his angels charge over his Holy Spirit still leads
and guys and touch not my anointed. No, no, no. Just like lots of
daughters you know lots of them have been no no can't do it. They smothered with our Lord
takes care of. Our Lord takes care of his people.
He's still here. One of these days this earth.
Is going to be totally abandoned by God. When God Almighty through
Christ, when Christ comes to with him, with his people, you
know that all I've thought about that game, he says, bringing
his people with him. They're all coming with him.
You ever there's something wonderful and glorious about to happen
and somebody's going to go, I go, I want to go to when Christ comes,
it says he's bringing everybody with him. Heaven's coming down,
your mother. People, we know, come with him.
It's going to be in the air with the Lord of Glory. Gather His
elect from the four corners of the earth. Come on, my children.
Come! Come! We're going to a great wedding
in the sky! What about the earth? It's God forsaken. And then all hell
breaks loose. Do you understand? And devils and all that loose
in us are loose. Well, they're on chains, but
they're here. But they can't touch God's people,
because there's angels mightier than they, whom God has given
charge over us. But when Christ comes, all hell
breaks loose. That's what he said. That's what
he said. And we will not be here. Here it is our Lord Jesus Christ
himself was forsaken by God. This is what is happening here.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is actually he is actually being made sin. You see God cannot. David said
I have been young and I'm now old yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken. God cannot, will not forsake
a righteous man. The righteous Lord loveth the
righteous. Christ is right now on this cross, sinner. God can't forsake a righteous
man. He's me. He's been made me, sinner. God be merciful to me, the sinner.
one way. God will by no means clear the
guilty and he will by no means judge the righteous. So an actual
substitution took place. And one man was fired from his
job for saying this. God Almighty forsook his son. Why? He was made sin. Am I righteous? I don't see it. Where does it
say I have to see it? I don't feel it. Where does it
say I have to feel it? God said it. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies it.
How? He killed his son. He made him me. He made me him. And he killed him. And I'm crucified
with Christ. I'm not talking doctrine here.
I'm talking substitution. I'm talking, actually, this is
why we're talking about a man who took my faith, took my weapon,
took my death, took my punishment, took my blame, took it, made
it. Christ said he's a sinner. Kill
him. Turn his back on him. My God,
my God, listen to me. I'm not listening to you. We
say it, we think all the time, why hasn't God answered me? He
hears you. He'll always hear you. Oh yes. Why? Why? Because he didn't hear
his son. Because God spared not his only
son, but delivered him up. He spares no one. We'll never
be forsaken. Why? Because of him. Because of him. He was stricken,
smitten of God. For our transgressions, the transgression
of his people, was he stricken. God made his soul an offering
for sin. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. God made his soul an offering
for sin. Christ was enduring the wrath
and judgment of God against me. which is separation from God
being cut off by God forsaken by God while to this day we see
how could God have anything to do with. Christ in. Creature creating
the image of Christ. And God loves and is well pleased
for his righteousness. God to be paid forsaken by God
is to be without mercy but Christ was forsaken. And therefore,
we have mercy. Listen to this, let me read to
you something here in Revelation, and you can turn to Isaiah 54. I want you to turn there and
close in Isaiah 54. Wonderful closing passage. Isaiah 54. In Revelation 16,
it said, our Lord said this. He said he pours out a vial upon
the earth, several vials. And he said, in verse six, I
quote, they shed the blood of saints and prophets and that.
So God has given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. And it goes on to say that men
were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God,
which had power over these plagues, and they repented not to give
him glory. Give him glory. Give him glory. See, Christ gets the glory. One
hundred percent of everything that he did. even being forsaken
by God. Christ gets all the glory. And
when Christ cried, my God, my God, God actually forsook him.
Old Brother Martin Luther was sitting in his study one day
and they say, I haven't been there,
but they say if you go there where he had his little study,
you'd find an ink stain on the wall where he was writing, trying
to preach from this, my God, my God, through his ink blotter,
stood up, he said, I can't deal with this. He said, God, forsaken
God, is too much for me. Well, he was. And God, who is rich in mercy,
spared not his son, In order to spare us God forsook his son. So that we would not be forsaken.
God rejected his son that we might be accepted. And we fear
don't we fear being cast out every true believer fears knowing
their sinfulness they fear being cast out in the end they fear.
They fear that God will someday forsake them. They fear sending
away God's grace and sending away God's mercy. And so now
that's it. David thought that. David felt
that. And when Christ comes for his
people, they just they fear that they might not be one of them.
Do you? Well, Christ said more than anything
else to his disciples, fear not. Those who look to Christ. And
David said this, David said, the Lord will not cast off his
people. He will not. Why? Because he
cast away his son. The Lord will not forsake his
inheritance. David said, why? Because he forsook
the heir. And I read to you, Psalm 37,
I quote it to you. David said, I've been old and
I've been young, now I'm old. I've never seen the righteous
forsaken. If he'd have hung around, he'd have seen Christ forsaken. So. We're in Christ. Never be forsaken. And here in
closing, Isaiah 54 says this, look at verses seven through
nine. For a small moment. You see,
as he is, so are we. For a small moment have I forsaken
thee. There are times when we feel
forsaken. You know, even before the Lord dealt with us, even
before the Lord came to us and gave us life, there's a great
sense in which we were his. Like he said to Jeremiah, before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew you. There's a time when he sent
his Holy Spirit finally to give this new birth. But for a small
moment in our sins, they hide God's face from us. And we feel
forsaken of God, don't we, and feel like you should. But, he
said, for a small, it's just a moment, that you might loathe
yourselves and not open your mouth like Ezekiel's young lady. But no, he said, with great mercies
will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment. This is speaking of Christ and
us. But with everlasting kindness,
will I have mercy on thee everlasting, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.
And this, he said, this is as the waters of Noah unto me, as
I've sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the
earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke
thee. The mountains shall depart, the
hills be removed, but my kind shall not depart from me, neither
shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that
hath mercy on thee." You will not be forsaken. God said so. This is the bow. This is the
rainbow, isn't it? Christ crucified is God's rainbow
to his people of that covenant. I will not forsake you. Why?
How do we know? Because God forsook his son. And he said, Come unto me. All
of you. Come unto me. All of you. Believe me. I have to lie to you. Never forsake
you. OK, we're going to sing that
great old hymn that we sang so much. How firm is the foundation? Is it number what? 98? 260? Well, I'd rather remember scripture
than hymn numbers. 268. And we're going to sing
especially the last verse. First and last verse. The last
verse says, I'll never, no, never No, never
say two hundred sixty eight standards. How firm a foundation ye saints of
the Lord is laid for your faith. in His excellent Word. What more can He say than to
you He hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus hath pled. The soul that on deep