Hopefully you still have your
Bibles open there to Psalm 22. That'll be our text this morning.
The question I want to look at this morning is, why hast thou
forsaken me? I had initially thought that
I would wait and deal with that question when we get to the book
of Matthew, looking at the different questions asked in Scripture,
but I felt led to look at that this morning. Why hast thou forsaken
me? That's what the question our
Savior asked in verse one, Psalm 22. My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me from the words of my roaring? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime,
but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not
silent. Now David is the man who penned
these words. He wrote these words because
When David wrote this psalm, this is the way he felt. And
every believer understands that, we've all felt that way at some
time or another, haven't we? There's been a time you felt
like the Lord's not hearing me. He doesn't hear, I cry to him
in prayer, but the Lord does not hear. And this is the way
David felt when he wrote this psalm. Now, remember that, we'll
come back to that here in just a few minutes. These are the
words of David, but they're also the words of the Savior on the
cross. I'm told that the Savior quoted this Psalm from the cross,
and I tend to believe it because what is recorded that he said
on the cross is much of what is written here in Psalm 22.
Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David wrote these words
because he felt this way, but he also wrote the words that
Christ would say on the cross over a thousand years before
the Lord Jesus was ever born. Only God could do that, couldn't
he? This is why Psalm 22 is commonly referred to as the psalm of the
cross. This is the psalm of the cross,
not just because it gives us the events of the cross or what
people said and did at the cross. This psalm gives us the message
of the cross. This psalm tells us why Christ
was on the cross and what he accomplished while he was there.
The psalm begins, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 31 verses later, it ends with,
it is finished. The phrase that he hath done
this, that's what it means, it's finished. It begins with my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And ends with, it's finished. Now something mighty important
happened in those 31 verses, didn't it? So the question I
want us to consider this morning is, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Now you know this, the Savior's
not asking this question for his information. He knows what's
going on there because this is his will being carried out. The
Savior asked this question for our information so that we will
know what it is he's accomplishing on the cross and why he's there. The Savior asked the question
and then he gives us the answer. And the first reason the Father
forsook the Son is God is inflexibly just. God must always be just. He must always do what's right,
because God's holy. See that in verse three? But
thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. See, the
Savior asked this question, so we'll know that the Father's
dealing with him in justice and holiness. The cross. This is how Almighty God can
save his people in both justice and mercy. both justice and mercy,
and it's through the suffering, through the death of Christ,
the sinner substitute. The father forsook his son at
Calvary because the father had made his son sin for his people. The savior, this is something
I probably quote in almost every single message. Christ was made
sin. Now we can't understand that.
We can't understand how that can be We just know it so because
that's what God said in his word. This is something only God can
do. The Holy Son of God. Took the sin of his people. Into
his own body. He made that sin to be his sin. Even though he never committed
sin. And when the son was made sin, the father gave his son
absolute justice for that scene. He gave his son everything that
sin deserves, because that's what God's holy nature requires.
And you'll notice that's what's happening here. The savior, the
son doesn't cry to his father from the cross. He cries, my
God. He cries to God, the judge, because
that's who's punishing God, the judge. He's punishing him for
sin. The father took away his holy or his loving presence from
the son, because God's holy. He's inflexibly just. He can't
even look on sin. Even when that sin's found in
his beloved son, God must punish sin. Every sin, he must punish
it. That's what he did at Calvary.
Look at Isaiah chapter 49. See, this is the only reason,
the one and only reason that the father would forsake his son. It's because
of sin. Isaiah 59 verse two. But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from
you that he will not hear. The father separated himself
from his son. He would not hear him. He would
not hear him in mercy. He would not hear him in love
and grace because the son had been made sin and that sin was
made to be his sin. And that separation was so complete,
the father wouldn't hear the prayer of his son. The Lord promised,
I will by no means clear the guilty. His son was made guilty
and the father wouldn't clear him. The father punished his
own son. He poured out all of his holy
fury upon his son without even a hint of love, without even
a hint of mercy, because God the father is holy and he's just. Now that means, since God's holy
and he's just, that means God must punish sin, right? But it
also means he can't punish the innocent. Punishing the innocent,
that would be unjust. That wouldn't be right. The father
did not put an innocent man to death at Calvary. He put a guilty
man to death at Calvary. Now I can't explain that. I just
know it's so. The holy son of God never stopped
being holy, but he became guilty of all of the sin of his people. And that's why the father punished
him. Let me show you that, verse six, back in our text. But I
am a worm, and no man, of reproach of men and despised of the people.
Now that word worm there means maggot. That's what it means. You getting a view in your mind
of a bunch of maggots on a garbage pile? That's what the son of God said
he had become. That's what he was made, a worm. It's the same
word that's used to describe God's sinful people. Isaiah 41
verse 14, fear not thou worm, Jacob. Jacob, you're a worm,
you're a sinful worm. Christ the substitute became
what his people are. He became a worm so that he could
make his people what he is, holy and righteous. Isn't that what
2 Corinthians 5.21 is all about? For he hath made him sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. The Son of God was made what
he was not, so he can make his people what they're not. Now
the maggot that's referred to here is a specific maggot. It's a scarlet worm. I didn't
know there were different kinds of maggots. Apparently there
are. It's a scarlet worm. This worm is what they used to
dye linen red in the tabernacle. Remember how they had red threads
and garments dyed red and these things? Well, they got that dye
from this worm, the scarlet worm. When the female worm, this maggot,
is ready to give birth, what she does is she attaches herself
to the trunk of a tree, and she dyes attached to that tree, and
her Larvae are protected by her dead body until they're eventually
born. And when she dies, I guess as
the larvae come out, I don't understand how all this works,
but anyway, when she attaches herself to that tree, you know
what happens to that tree? She stains it red. And they use that,
they would go gather that up and use it to dye garments red. The worm died, so her young could
live. That's what happened at Calvary.
Christ was made of one. He was made what his people are
and he died so that his people could live. You see, the father
made his son guilty of the sin of his people so he could slaughter
him in justice, right? The father couldn't slaughter
him. He couldn't allow him to be put to death if he was innocent,
right? He had to make him guilty and so the father could slaughter
him in justice. But now the sin is gone. All
the sin that's laid on Christ is gone under his precious sin-atoning
blood. Now the father can show mercy
to his elect and give them life. See, both justice and mercy were
carried out of Calvary because God is just. He's just. All right, number two. The father
forsook his son so that he keep his promise to the Old Testament
believers. Verse four, our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted
and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee and were
delivered. They trusted in thee and they were not confounded.
It seems like the Savior's saying, our fathers trusted in thee,
they cried, you heard them. They cried and they were delivered,
but I cried, you don't hear me. I cried, you won't deliver me.
Now the fathers David talks about here are the Old Testament believers. And God promised them, he came
and made promises to them. He promised them salvation, life,
through the death of the sacrifice, through the death of a substitute,
through the death of another. God made that first promise to
Adam and Eve. Remember when he was thrusting
them out of the garden? God made promise to Adam and
Eve, the seed of woman's coming. And he's gonna crush the serpent's
head. Adam and Eve were naked, they were ashamed, they tried
to cover themselves with those fig leaves, and God gave them
a picture of covering their shame by killing that animal, probably
a lamb, and clothing them in the skin of that animal. Well,
about 4,000 years later, the father forsook his son at Calvary
to keep the promise he made to Adam, that the seed of woman
is gonna crush the serpent's head. You see, when Christ died,
As a substitute for his people, he took away Satan's power to
be able to accuse God's people anymore. He can't accuse them
because sin's gone. When Christ was crucified, yes,
his heel was bruised, wasn't it? But he crushed Satan's head. He put Satan out of business
by his sacrifice for his people that took their sin away. Then
sometime later, God made promise to one of Adam's sons, Abel,
He made a promise. Abel, I'm gonna accept sinners
in the blood of the sacrifice. Sinners can come worship me in
the blood of the sacrifice. That's why Abel came worshiping
God, offering a lamb. He didn't bring the, I bet, you
know, they had to eat. I bet Abel had a garden too,
don't you reckon? But he didn't bring fruits and
vegetables from his garden. He brought a lamb because God
promised him sinners can worship me in the blood of the lamb.
I'll accept sinners in the blood of the lamb. And about 6,000
years later, God kept that promise he made David. Christ, the lamb
of God. That's how John the Baptist identified
him. Behold, he said, look, this is the lamb of God. But not just
any old lamb. This is not a lamb that's a picture.
This is the real McCoy. This is the lamb of God come
to take away the sin of the world. And God accepts his sinful people
in the blood of Christ. It's all because of the blood.
The blood takes away the sin that would separate us from God.
It's because of the blood, just like God promised Abel. Then
sometime later, God made a promise to Abraham. He told Abraham,
God's elect, your seed, those who have the faith of Abraham,
they're gonna live through the death of the substitute. That's
what Abraham and Isaac learned at the top of Mount Moriah. Abraham
getting ready to kill his son, like God told him to do. He's
gonna slit his son's throat. He's gonna draw and quarter that
body. He's gonna burn it to ash. And right as he's ready to lift
that knife and slay his son, God told Abraham, stop. And behold,
behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its
horns. And Abraham took that ram and he offered that ram up
in the stead as a substitute for his son Isaac. And Abraham and Isaac stood and
watched that sacrifice. Now, they'd seen lots of sacrifices
before, hadn't they? Don't you reckon they paid a
little closer attention to that one than ever before? They watched that ram die, and
this is what they knew. Isaac lives. Isaac's coming down
off this mountain to go back to those servants because the
ram died in his place. The substitute died in his place.
Remember when the Lord said Abraham saw my day and was glad? This
was the day. The Lord showed Abraham what
that means. And Abraham, just like we saw in our lesson this
morning, he had to be astonished. He was astonished. Abraham saw. This is how God is going to save
his people from their sin. It's by the death of his son,
the Lamb of God. And at Calvary, God kept his
promise. Dabran. He slew the Lamb of God
so that his people would go free. Then God made a promise to his
people. They were in bondage in Egypt. And God made a promise
to his people. In the picture of the Passover
land, remember the Lord had sent 11 plagues and Pharaoh said,
I'll not let your people go. God hardened his heart and he
would not let them go. Pharaoh hardened his heart, but not let
the people go. God said, all right, Moses, I'm
gonna send one more plague. And after that, the Egyptians
are gonna thrust you out. You get ready to go. You're going
tonight. He gave him the Passover lamb.
And God passed through the lamb that night and slew every firstborn
where there was not blood on the door. The firstborn in the
Israelite houses lived. You know why that firstborn lived?
The lamb died in his place. And the way we know the lamb
died in his place is the blood was sprinkled on the door. Because
of that blood, the firstborn lived and God's people went free,
completely and utterly free. That was a picture. God promised
his people. Well, God kept that promise to
his people Israel at Calvary. He kept that promise to spiritual
Israel. Christ died in the place of his people so that they lived. and His blood is sprinkled by
the Holy Spirit on our hearts, we go free, free from bondage
to the law, free from the controlling power of sin, free from the fear
of death. We go free, free by the blood
of Christ. God kept His promise to His people
Israel at Calvary. You see, all those Old Testament
fathers, they were saved. the same way, exact same way
you and I are. It's by faith in Christ. By faith
in Christ. They're all like Abraham. They
all saw Christ's day, and we're glad. Now, I wouldn't reckon
that they see him as clearly as we do, because we have the
recorded, finished work of Christ. We have his sacrifice recorded
for us, but they saw. Salvation is by grace through
faith, and it can't be any other way, because God can't change.
See, those Old Testament believers look forward to Christ the same
way we look back on Him. And their faith in Christ, they
trusted Christ. They trusted that God would sacrifice
that land, His Son, to put their sin away. That's their hope of
eternal life. They died in faith. They know
what Hebrews 11 says? They died in faith. This was
their hope. They hung on to it to their dying
breath. And that faith would have been
in vain if the Father had not turned His back on His Son of
Calvary. The father turned his back on
his son to keep his promise of redemption that's through the
blood of Christ. All right, thirdly, the father
forsook the son of Calvary because this is God's eternal will and
purpose being carried out. Now scripture tells us that before
God created anything, God the father, God the son, God the
Holy Spirit, all that existed at that time, they got together
And they determined that they would save a people. The father
chose a people that he would save out of Adam's fallen race.
And they determined they would save those people by the sacrifice
of the son. It would be made flesh so that
he could redeem his people from their sin. That was the eternal
will and purpose of the triune God. The redemption price would
be paid by the son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. See, God always saw the sin of
his people as put away in the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. This was always God's purpose.
It was always God's purpose to pay the price for the sin of
his people by the blood of his own son. That was always God's
will. God didn't give the law to Moses
and say, well, that didn't work. So, you know, we're gonna try
playing B. You know, God didn't try Adam
and say, well, that didn't work. And so now we're going to try
plan B, the law. That didn't work. Now we're going
to try plan C, salvation in Christ. No. God's eternal purpose was
to put away the sin of his people by the blood of Christ. Calvary. Everything that happened there,
everything, every detail, you know what it is? It's God's eternal
will and purpose being carried out. That's what it is. What
God purposed in eternity, he did in time. He accomplished
in time. The father plunged the sword
of justice into the heart of his fellow, his own son. But he made his soul an offering
for sin. The father and the son did business
in the soul. And the father used sinful men
as an instrument to plunge the sword of justice into his body.
Men could touch his body. Men could, because the blood
must be shed. His body must be torn. His body
must be pierced. It must be. The father used men
as an instrument to accomplish that. And the Holy Spirit inspired
David to write exactly what these men would do. Both Jew and Roman,
he wrote exactly what these men would do more than a thousand
years before they did it. And then they did it. and it's
recorded for us what they did. You know why? So we'll know for
sure what they were doing is carrying out God's will. I read
that to you in Matthew chapter 27 to open the service. Everything
that's said here, that's what they did in it. Look at verse
seven. All they that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the
lip, they shake the head, saying he trusted in the Lord that he
would deliver him. Let him deliver him now, seeing he delighteth
in him. Isn't that exactly what they
said? They threw dice for his garments. Rather than tear his
garment in several pieces, they threw dice for it. Because that's
what David said that they did. Everything they did, they did
to fulfill God's eternal will and purpose. Look at verse 12. Many bulls have compassed me.
Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me
with their mouths Ravening and a roaring lion. I'm poured out
like water. All my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax. It's melted in the midst of my
bowels. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt. My tongue
cleaveth to my jaws. He cried, I thirst. Thou hast
brought me into the dust of death. He suffered and died. For dogs
have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have
enclosed me. They pierced my hands and feet. They nailed him
to the tree with nails through his hands and his feet. I may
tell all my bones." He's so stretched out that he can tell all of his
bones. They look and stare upon me. They part my garments among
them and cast lots upon my vesture. Both the Jews and the Roman soldiers
did exactly what the Old Testament Scriptures said they do. They
did it exactly. It's like they used the Old Testament
Scriptures as a script in a play. They just followed the script
in the play. But you know that's not what
they were doing. These scribes and Pharisees and elders, I mean,
their business was to be in those Old Testament scriptures, to
study them as lawyers, studying those scriptures. The scribes
wrote them down. You'd think at some point they'd
stop and say, you know, all this sounds familiar. But they didn't. They didn't. They were so consumed
with hatred for Jesus of Nazareth They did everything their wicked
hearts could imagine to do to him. That's why he suffered as
no man ever suffered. They poured out their hatred
of God Almighty on the body of that man. And when they did everything
that they wanted to do, you know what they did? They accomplished
God's eternal purpose. Not their will, they accomplished
God's will. Let me show you that in Acts chapter four. Acts chapter four. This is something that's really
thrilling to think about. Look at verse 26. The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ for of a truth against thy holy child, Jesus,
him thou has anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." See, only
God could make all that happen. Only God could make men do what
they wanted to do to accomplish his eternal will and purpose. And that's the assurance of salvation
for God's people. Nothing's changed from then till
now. It's been 2,000 years since our Lord gave up the goats, but
nothing's changed from then until now. Salvation is still God's
eternal purpose. And God's gonna save those people.
And nothing will make him change his mind. This is his eternal
will and purpose. Salvation of God's people, sure.
There's a lot of things in this life you can doubt, but this
don't have to be one of them. God's gonna save his people.
He's not gonna lose one of them. And I'll tell you something else
that's assuring for God's people. You know, I told you at Calvary,
all that was happening was God's eternal will and purpose being
carried out. You see that, don't you? The people, those Roman
soldiers, those Jews, did everything the Lord said that they'd do. What's the date today? January
28th, 2024. You know what's happening today? Same thing that happened at Calvary. God's eternal will and purpose
is being carried out. And it's happened every day of
all the time of creation. What is happening is God's eternal
will and purpose being carried out. What's going on in your
life today? What kind of week have you had?
Well, I can tell you this. Whatever happened, whatever kind
of week it was, You hang on to this because it's so. It's God's
eternal will and purpose being carried out for you. That's exactly
what it is. Exactly. That takes the worry out of the
situation, doesn't it? Whatever's happening to you,
it didn't happen because you made a mistake. No, this is God's
eternal will and purpose. This didn't happen to you because
Somebody's being mean and somebody's awful. No, no, no. That's just
a secondary thing. This is happening because this
is God's eternal will and purpose being carried out for you specifically. Isn't that good? That's comforting, isn't it? You know, our Savior suffered
more than any man has suffered before or since. But even in
his sufferings, He had hope, and that's why I'm wanting to
give us hope in this, in whatever it is you're going through. Here's
hope. Our Savior suffered in hope. Whatever it is you're going
through, I promise you, nothing like He suffered. Whatever it
is you're going through, you can suffer in hope. You can go
through it in hope. The Savior had hope. And it wasn't
like, well, hope doesn't happen, but I'm overwhelmed. The Savior
had an expectation. That's what that word hope means
in scripture. It's an expectation. He had an expectation that the
father would do everything he promised him he'd do. That's
a good expectation, isn't it? Because the father's going to
keep his promise. The savior suffered an expectation that
his suffering would not be in vain. It's not going to be for
nothing. He trusted his father to redeem
everyone, to save everyone for whom he was dying. He trusted
his father that his suffering would accomplish the redemption
of his people and pay their price for their sins. That's what he
says in verse nine. But thou art he that took me
out of the womb. Thou didst make me whole when I was upon my mother's
breast. I was cast upon thee from the
womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly. I've trusted
in you the whole time that I've been a man here on earth. I trusted
you in eternity before creation. I've trusted you all through
this time, and in my dying agony, I'm still trusting you, because
God's gonna carry out his eternal will and purpose. And God's purpose
is this. He's gonna save his people from
their sin. He's gonna have them all glorified together with Christ
in glory. That's God's purpose, and that's
gonna happen. Because God's gonna carry out his will today, just
like he did 2,000 years ago, Calvary. Then here's the last thing. The
father forsook his son at Calvary so that there would be a gospel
to preach to God's people. Now, the Savior suffered until
he died. And they laid a dead body in
the tomb. But three days later, he came out of that tomb because
he arose from the dead. And he arose from the dead because
his sacrifice put away all that sin that had been charged to
him. Verse 19. But be not thou far from me,
O Lord, O my strength, haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul
from the sword, my darling, from the power of the dog. Save me
from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns
of the unicorns. The father, Christ cried that
the father would deliver him, and he did. He delivered him
from the power of those dogs, from the power of those wicked
men. When Christ died, they couldn't do one more thing to him. Oh,
the soldier pierced his side, but didn't do anything. He's
already dead. And three days later, the father
delivered him from the tomb. He delivered him from the grave
because the price had been paid. Christ rose again as proof positive. His sacrifice put away the sin
of his people. Now, if Christ died for you,
this is God's... I hate to say proof, but this
is the evidence You can rest assured your sin debt's been
paid. He raised his son from the dead. If there was any sin
left on him, he wouldn't have been raised. He put away all
of the sin of all of his people by his one sacrifice. And that's
the good news of the gospel. We can call on sinners to trust
Christ because this is a sure thing. We know it's a sure thing
because Christ arose from the tomb. He was delivered for our
offenses and raised again for our justification. This is the
good news of the gospel. And you will hear many different
preachers preaching the gospel of Christ. We're blessed to know
many of them, and I try through conferences and different things
to have as many of them as I know come here and preach to you.
I want you to know them. I want you to hear them. You're
going to hear many different men preach the gospel of Christ. But I can
tell you when you're going to hear. I mean, when you're really
going to hear. when you're really gonna believe,
when you're really gonna receive life from Christ, it's when the
Lord preaches to your heart. When you quit hearing the voice
of a preacher here and hear God in the heart, that's when you're
gonna believe. That's when you're gonna live.
Verse 22, the Savior says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren,
all those people for whom Christ died, Oh, their sin caused him
so much suffering. He says, they're my brethren,
my brethren. I'm going to declare thy name
unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation
will I praise thee. Verse 25. My praise should be
of thee in the great congregation. I'll pay my vows before them
that fear him. The meek, they shall eat and
be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that
seek him. Your heart shall live forever. All the ends of the
earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds
of the nations shall worship before thee, for the kingdom
is the Lord's, and he's the governor among the nations. Isn't it wonderful
that the one who suffered and died for the sin of his people
is also the one that preaches to our hearts? See, he preaches
to our hearts to ensure we hear and we believe. The one who suffered
and died, he's the governor. He's the king of all nations.
He rules to ensure the salvation of his people. You see, the Lord
is the one that has to speak to our hearts. He has to give
us life. He has to give us faith in Christ.
But I'll tell you, he does it through men preaching Christ
to you. It please God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. The Lord has given us here in
this congregation, I said it right, us, not just me, us. He's given us the great burden
and the great privilege to preach Christ to our generation. The Lord's given that to us. Now that's a burden. I mean,
all the Old Testament prophets talk about the burden of the
Lord. Oh, but isn't it a blessing? Isn't it a blessing to be able
to tell folks about Christ? Isn't it a blessing? Even if
you're not a preacher, somebody asks you a question, you feel
like, well, I can't explain it. Isn't it a blessing to be able to tell them, come
with me in here? It's a blessing. Oh, the Lord's blessed us. And
you know how we are. Most of the time. It feels to
us like, well, nobody's listening. Nobody's believing in that. I
feel like Isaiah. Lord, who has believed our reports? To whom
has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Lord, am I wasting
my time? But we keep on preaching. Because
we've got nothing else to do. Nothing else to do to help people
but preach Christ to them. We keep preaching Christ. We
keep preaching Christ to our generation. Because I tell you
what, this is what I know for sure. Whoever it is that the
Lord has chosen in this generation, He's going to save them by the
foolishness of preaching. So I'm determined to preach Christ.
How about you? Look what David says in verse 30. A seed shall
serve him. I know they will. That's what
we're gonna keep preaching to them. A seed shall serve him.
It shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall
come and they shall declare his righteousness unto a people that
shall be born. That he hath done this. This
is what we're gonna do by God's grace. We're gonna keep declaring
to this next generation his righteousness. His righteousness. that a people
will be born. Now, remember I told you, when
David wrote this song, boy, he really felt this way. He really
felt like the Lord had forsaken him. It felt like that the Lord
would not hear his prayer. This is one of the reasons we've
been told never trust our feelings. Don't trust your feelings. I
don't care what it feels like. I don't care what it looks like.
Trust the Word of God. And we all feel that way sometimes.
There's nothing more miserable than that. Nothing is more miserable
than feeling like the Lord's not hearing your prayer. There's
nothing more miserable than feeling like I can't worship Him, I can't
see Him, I can't hear. I hear the words. I know those
words are true, but my heart is so cold and dead, nothing
more miserable than that, nothing. I know we feel that way sometimes,
but you listen to me. This is his promise to his people.
I will never leave you or forsake you, never. When it feels like
it, it's not so. Our feelings are wrong. Now our
feelings are wrong. This is the promise of almighty
God. I will never leave you. nor forsake you. And you know
why he can keep that promise in justice? He forsook his son
as your substitute at Calvary. See, the death of Christ removed
all the sin of his people. So there's no reason that the
father would forsake his people. All the father has left for his
people is acceptance, is mercy, is grace, it's love. Because
there's no fury left in him. poured it all out on his son,
our substitute at Calvary. That's the message of the cross.
Not just that Christ died, but how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. What did Christ accomplish in
his death? And what does that mean to you
and me, his people, as we go through the rest of our journey
through this veil of tears here below? It's good news, isn't
it? Good news. I hope God bless that
to your heart and thrill you and fill your tank up to help
you get through this one. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, oh, our hearts are broken. Our hearts are softened. Our hearts are lifted up to praise
and thanksgiving to Thee. how that you would accomplish
the salvation of sinful, wretched men and women like we are through
the horrible suffering and sacrifice of our Savior on Calvary's tree,
where you would forsake your own son because of the sin of
your people being laid on him, and that you would accept a people
like we are because his sacrifice has satisfied your justice and
taken away our sin. Oh, Father Howard, thank you.
And Father, I pray that you take your word as it's been preached
this morning. Father, cause it to reveal the
glory of Christ to our hearts. Cause it to strengthen us. To
keep looking to Thee. Keep trusting in Thee. Not looking
at the world around us. Not trusting in the world around
us. Not trusting in what we do, what we think, what we say. But
to trust in Thee. To strengthen and encourage our
hearts. Father, cause us to be faithful
to Thy cause. All for this next generation
that's coming up. Father, I beg of You that You
give to them what You've given to us. a place where they can
come their whole life long and hear the gospel of Christ, to
be pointed to the Savior, to have their hearts comforted and
encouraged and strengthened through the preaching of Christ our Savior.
Father, it's in his name, for his glory, in his sake we pray,
amen. All right, Sean.