It's so wonderful to see you,
see so many friends, new people, so many old friends, folks we've
known for years and years, and so delightful, so enjoyable. And you know, it is to us, we
gathered out here this evening. People's come from far away,
come from near, went to a lot of expense, a lot of time, a
lot of effort. And there's only one reason anybody
do that, is their head over heels in love with the Lord Jesus Christ,
and they want to hear somebody preach the gospel of the free
grace of God in Christ. What a blessing that people would
come and gather around and listen to preachers preach. And it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them they believe. What
a blessing, what a privilege that we have together like this.
Oh, what a blessing. I can't tell you what it does
for my heart. It just thrills my heart. I'm going to read one
verse of scripture, Exodus 33 and 18. It says Moses, after
God done told him, I'll go with you. And he said, don't carry
me up if you don't go not with me. And one of the brethren read
this the other night and that's what we want. We want God's presence. And Moses, after God done told
him that he had found grace in his eyes and he's going to do
what Moses wanted him to do. And then Moses turned around
and said, I beseech thee. Show me thy glory. What else
do we need to see? Lord, show me thy glory. Show
us thy glory tonight. Would you turn with me to Matthew
chapter 27? I'm so delighted to be with you.
Kind of a great honor. And a couple of thoughts that
came to me while I was sitting there. Do you know the most intimate
private worship any of us ever has is in public worship. That's how God speaks. And thinking
about this passage of scripture, I think you're going to understand
why I say this after I read it. I think I know something about
what Paul meant when he said, I was with you in weakness and
in fear and in much trembling. This passage of scripture makes
me conscious of my own weakness, fearful lest I misrepresent God,
and with much trembling, lest I be a stranger to what I'm saying. Matthew 27, verse 45. Now from
the sixth hour, noon, There was darkness over all the
land until the ninth hour, 3 p.m., 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? It's noon, the sun was at its
zenith, and Christ had already been on the cross for three hours. bearing the physical, the emotional,
and the spiritual pain of the cross. He had a nervous system
just like you and I, and the physical pain he was enduring
cannot be imagined. It would be useless for me to
try to describe what he was going through at this time. The emotional
pain, people were mocking him and making fun. of him, if you
be the Christ, come down. There were some nine or 10 taunts
that are recorded during that time. And this was a sporting
event. They wanted to be spectators
of his death, to be going through that and having people make fun
of you. And all of a sudden it became
pitch black. Luke's account says the sun was
darkened. There's only one who can do this.
God himself. This was not a solar eclipse.
This was the thick darkness that might be felt. And during those
three hours, we don't read of anything being said. The mockers,
the detractors, I think at this time, are scared to death. They're afraid to say anything. We don't hear where the Lord
said anything during this three hours of darkness. Darkness is
a symbol of judgment. Cast them into outer darkness
where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Unseen
things are happening at this time between him and his father.
God's judgment against sin. And in this darkness, this silence
was broken When he cried out, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now this is the fourth or
the middle saying of the seven sayings of the Savior from the
cross. The first saying, Father, forgive them. They know not what
they do. And you can be sure that everybody
he prayed for was forgiven. This is Christ, the intercessor. He can't ask the father for something
and the father say no. Everybody he prayed for was forgiven. The second saying was after that
thief looked up or beside him and said, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom He knew that the Lord would not
remain on that cross, that he would come back as a mighty victorious
king. How'd he know that? Same way
you do if you do. God revealed this to him. And
the Lord in majesty of a great king said, verily I say unto
you, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. The third saying
of the savior from the cross was when he looked at his mother
and said, Woman, behold thy son. And he looked at John and said,
Behold thy mother. Now remember this, God doesn't
have a mother. People talk about Mary, the mother
of God. Mary's not the mother of God.
God doesn't have a mother. God's the independent, self-existent,
eternal one. But Jesus of Nazareth had a mother
to let us know that he is a real man with a real mother. The fourth statement, my God,
my God, why have you forsaken me? We'll come back to that in
a moment. And then the fifth statement, I thirst. No one's
ever suffered like him. This speaks of his physical sufferings. And then I love his words. The
sixth statement, it is finished. When he first came and the angel
told Joseph of his birth. He said thou shalt call his name
Jesus for he shall Save his people from their sins and when he said
it is finished he hath Saved his people from their sins They're
saved. They're saved. This is Christ
the Redeemer who redeemed everyone for whom he died and then the
last statement Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. Even when he was forsaken by
the Father, he never quit trusting the Father. Christ the believer,
and this middle statement is the ground of all the other statements. Father, forgive them. And there's
one singular reason why they're forgiven, because he was forsaken. He could look at that thief and
say, today, you will be with me in paradise. And there's one
reason he could say that to that thief or somebody like me or
you, Because he was forsaken. There's one reason why he became
a man. God was manifest in the flesh,
so he would be forsaken. When he said, I thirst, it's
because he was forsaken. When he said, it is finished,
it's because He was forsaken. And that is now over. Forsaken no longer. When he said, Father, into thy
hands I commend my spirit, he trusted his father completely,
even when he was forsaken. All of these other statements
are predicated on this one statement. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Did you know that this is the
only time he addressed his father as God? How many times through
the reading of the gospels do you hear holy father, my father? But here he says, my God, my
God, why have you forsaken me? The forsaken soul is not to call
God father. Forsaken. This is not a type
or a shadow. This is reality, abandoned, forsaken. This is what happens to damned
souls. Now, do you see why I'm afraid
when I talk about this? Now this damnation that our Lord
experienced on Calvary's tree, no man has ever experienced.
Let me give you two reasons why. Number one, because damned souls
hate God while they're forsaken. He loved his Father. And a damned soul never experiences
the fullness of damnation because they can never satisfy God. That's
why hell is eternal. But he experienced the fullness
of damnation. Real and unspeakably horrific,
real wrath against real sin. The felt reality of the wrath
of God against sin. At this time, in these hours
of darkness, He's drinking the cup the Father gave him to drink. You remember in Gethsemane's
garden when he said, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me. He was given a glimpse of the
contents of that cup even then. The cup of the sins of his people
that he was to drink dry. The cup of damnation that they
actually deserve. the full sense of the abandonment
that sin deserves. He who knew no sin, he who was
holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, he was
made to be intimately acquainted with sin. Don't anybody ask me
what you mean by that because I don't know. I don't know. He
really bore our sins in his own body on the tree and he was abandoned
by God. Now that doesn't mean the father
stopped loving him. Romans or John chapter 10 verse
17, the Lord said, therefore doth my father love me because
I laid down my life that I might take it again. Never did the
father love him more. This was the ultimate act of
obedience, forsaken. by God. I say this with fear
and trembling, but the scripture says the Word was with God. There was an eternal withness
between the Father and the Son, and that withness at that time
was broken. And He was abandoned. He was
forsaken. And he had absolutely no sense
of the father's favor. Now, let me tell you one thing.
Let me tell you one thing about this. This tells us how God views
my sin and your sin, you who look on sin but lightly, nor
suppose the evil great. Here may view it rightly, here
its guilt may estimate. When my sin became his sin, God
forsook him." That is what God thinks of sin. I'm glad that
this was in the darkness. because there's no way we can
see or enter into this. I realize completely that I'm
speaking of things that are way beyond me. Martin Luther said
regarding this statement, God, forsaking God, who can understand
this? Certainly not me. Now, as I've
already said, this is what our sin looks like to God. And nothing
less than this is what I personally deserve right now from God because
of my sin. To be abandoned, to be forsaken,
to be left to myself, to have God withdraw his presence from
me and I'm left to deal with nothing but his awful wrath. Is it any wonder Peter said when
he first really saw who the Lord was, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. Oh, Lord, you
don't want to have anything to do with somebody like me. Now,
when he made this cry from the cross, The middle saying, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He said this, that the scripture
might be fulfilled. How many times do we read that
over and over and over again? And I think it's so fitting that
the words, last words from the cross, father into thy hands,
I commend my spirit is a scriptural quotation from Psalm 31 five.
What high esteem the Lord had for the Holy Scriptures. And
here he is, while he's dying, quoting this scripture from Psalm
22, 1, when David said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Now, there's a big difference
between what when David said it and when the Lord said it.
When David said it, he felt it. No question about that. He felt
it. But he wasn't forsaken. The Lord was forsaken. And when he said, my God, my
God, why have you forsaken me? He didn't say this because he
didn't know the reason why. He gave the answer in verse three
of Psalm 22, but thou art holy. At this time, he did not have
this sense that the father knows that these sins really aren't
mine. They belong to somebody else.
He had no sense of the blessed presence of God, the Holy Spirit. He didn't have his people gathered
around him saying, oh, thank you for doing this for us. We
love you for this. Most of all, he couldn't save
himself. These sins really aren't mine. They belong to somebody else.
No, they became his sins. And it would not be just for
God to punish Christ for somebody else's sins. They literally became
his sins. This is reality. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? In the opening chapter of the
New Testament, we have these words. I've already quoted them
once. This is a verse of scripture that's very precious to every
believer. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
Savior, for he shall save his people from their sins. But now
he has saved his people from their sins. And this is how he
did it. He made their sins his sins. So much so that he cried out
from Calvary's tree, Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that
I'm not able to look up. And beloved, just as truly as
my sins became his sins, his righteousness. His perfect obedience,
his perfect law keeping becomes my personal righteousness. Now, when he cries, my God, my
God, why have you forsaken me? This is the eternal purpose of
God being fulfilled. Revelation 13, eight. He's called
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. In Acts chapter
2 verse 23, Him being delivered by the determinant counsel and
foreknowledge of God. You have taken and with wicked
hands have crucified and slain. This is God's purpose being done.
This is God's will being done. I love that scripture. Acts chapter
4 verse 27 for both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel. That covers everybody. gathered
together to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done." How God is glorified in him forsaking his
Son. Nothing could ever bring more
glory to God. Every attribute of God is magnified. in Him forsaking His Son. Here
we see His justice and righteousness and holiness that He won't let
sin go unpunished even if it's on His Son. Here we see His purpose
being brought forth. Here we see His power in putting
away sin. Here we see His love, His mercy,
and His grace. This is the most glorious thing
to ever take place when God forsook His Son. Now remember this, the
cross was not God's response to the fall, to mess up, to clean
up the mess that Adam made. The fall was for the cross. The
fall was for this glorious event when God forsook God. This is Christ's love for his
bride. Now I want you to think about
that. If you can, this is Christ's love for his bride. Husbands,
love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for it. He was willing to be forsaken
that I might not be. Because he was forsaken, none
of his people will ever be forsaken. And I wonder if there's somebody
here who has a sin on their heart that you fear you're going to
be forsaken because of this. He was forsaken and you never
will be. I don't care what it is. You
never will be. This is a true story. There was
a missionary who was trying to preach the gospel to people that
had a very limited vocabulary. And he was trying to see if he
was getting his point across to them. And he spoke to one
woman to see if she understood what he was saying. And here
is her words. He die or me die. He died, me
no die. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans chapter 8. Verse 32. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not? What could
possibly prevent him? Is there anything you can do
to mess this up? How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Who can bring anything to their
accusation and accuse them of anything? It's God that justified
them. Who is he that condemneth? Satan,
you got anything to say? It's Christ that died. LAW! It's
Christ that died. My own conscience. It's Christ
that died. That's the only thing that satisfies
my conscience. That's it. Nothing else. We just sang that hymn, Jesus
paid it all. All the debt I owed. Aren't you
glad it doesn't say Jesus paid a half the other half I owe?
Jesus paid it all. Now, closing thought. How can
I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, if he did this for me? If I had access to the Lamb's
Book of Life, I know whose name I'd be looking for first. How
can I know if he did this for me? Turn to Romans 5. How can I know if he died for
me? Now, we know from the scriptures
that he died for the elect. He did not die for all men without
exception. And that's very important for
us to understand that. And the reason that's so important
for us to understand that is when we come into God's presence
asking for mercy, we can't come demanding it. Father, you need
to forgive me. You need to forgive me. You don't
come. You come knowing forgiveness
is in His sovereign hands. Mercy is in His hands. He can
give it or He can withhold it. And you can't come to God any
other way but that. So how can I know if He died
for me? Romans 5, verse 6. For when we
were yet real weak. It doesn't say that, does it?
When we had just a breath left. No, when we were yet without
strength, without any spiritual power at all. In due time, Christ
died. for the ungodly. Now here is how you can tell
if Christ died for you. Are you without strength and
are you ungodly? If that description fits you,
Jesus Christ the Lord died for you. To him that worketh not. Is that you? You don't have any
strength. You're ungodly. You can't work. but believeth
on him that justifies the ungodly. Now notice what it said. It didn't
say to him that worketh not, but believes he's saved. Saving
faith doesn't have anything to do with what you think about
yourself. Now write that down. It's so. Saving faith has absolutely
nothing to do with what you think about yourself. Do you believe
on him that justifies the ungodly? Do you believe that when he said
it is finished, the ungodly were justified? Then, beloved, Christ
died for you. And the reason you're saved is
this one singular reason. He was forsaken.