It is so very, very good to see
all of you here tonight. And especially good to see so
many of you young couples here. Some here almost on their honeymoon. She's been married just a few
weeks. And I'm delighted. I'm delighted and encouraged.
And I will encourage you, as you build your lives together,
build your lives fixed upon the worship of God our Savior, His
calls, His kingdom, His glory, His people. Everything else,
secondary. Everybody else, secondary. Every other event, secondary. I promise you, you'll never regret
it. It won't happen. He who died for us, died for
us all, that we who live by Him, should not live unto ourselves,
but unto him that died for us and rose again. That's the most
reasonable claim I know in the universe. I'm not my own. I've been bought with a price.
And the more I experience of his grace and know of his grace,
the more I want to know about His grace in the accomplishment
of redemption and salvation for my soul. I study, and I don't
discourage the study of good theology. It'll do you good. It'll do you good. Learn the
doctrine. But doctrine isolated from the
cross ain't worth spitting. No doctrine. No doctrine. Any understanding you think you
may have of the word of God at any point, isolated from the
cross of Christ, is a false understanding, a misunderstanding, a wrong understanding
of the word of God. Right now I'm preaching to our
congregation here every Tuesday night from the book of Leviticus.
and every Sunday night from the book of Isaiah. And I refuse
to move ahead a verse, except I can move ahead showing our
assembly here how that passage of scripture is intended by God
the Holy Ghost to teach us something about Christ and him crucified,
about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I make it my business,
God helping me, I make it my business to study the cross and
I never tire of it. I'm never bored by it, only more
excited. As God will enable me tonight,
I want to talk to you a little bit about the darkness and the
glory of the cross. Turn with me, if you will, to
Psalm 22. Psalm 22. The darkness and the
glory of the cross. We will read the first three
verses of this magnificent psalm, and understand as we read the
psalm, we're reading the words of a
man by the name of David, who wrote by the spirit of inspiration,
not about himself, but about another who was to come, his
son who is his Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. And every word
in the psalm must be understood as spoken by or in reference
to or as a result of. what our Lord Jesus Christ suffered
and accomplished at Calvary as our substitute. At the apex of
his obedience, our Savior came to the time of
his greatest sorrow, and he cries out, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? The darkness and the glory of
the cross is clearly made manifest in the answer to that question.
And I'm going to try to address it in this next few minutes. I pray for your soul's benefit.
I can't answer it. Don't pretend that I can answer
the question. But I've got to address it. I've got to declare
it. I pray God will cause you to
hear it. Why hast thou forsaken me? When our Lord Jesus was made
sin for us, darkness covered the earth for
three hours. And the darling of heaven cried,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Our all-glorious
Savior was forsaken, utterly forsaken, so utterly forsaken
by God, His Father, that His Father refused to hear the cries
of His own darling Son in the moment of His greatest need. Why art thou so far from helping
me? And from the words in my roaring, oh my God, I cry in
the daytime, but thou hearest not. And in the night sees it,
and am not silent. I read those words with astonishment. And I won't attempt to explain
what I can't imagine. But the Lord Jesus himself, Appears to have been astonished
by what we read here look at verses four and five He speaks
and says Lord God my father You hear the prayers of others None
of your people have ever called on you and you didn't hear them,
but not me You don't forsake anybody else Has God ever forsaken
you? He promises, I'll never leave
you nor forsake you. But the Son of God cries, thou
hast forsaken me. Our fathers trusted in thee.
They trusted and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee and
were delivered. They trusted in thee and were
not confounded. But I cry unto you all the day
long. I'm not silent in the night,
and you hear me not. Why hast thou forsaken me? Those things are written here
by divine inspiration for our learning that we, through patience
and comfort of scriptures, might have hope. And what I'm about to say for
myself, I'm confident many of you here, maybe most of you here,
would say amen to. I hang all the hope of my immortal
soul on this fact. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
made sin for me, he was utterly forsaken of God and put to death as my substitute. And by his one great sin atoning
sacrifice, he has forever put away my sins. He not only bore
our sins in his body on the tree, oh blessed be his name, he bore
them away forever. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Your sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. Because one day, at the midnight of time, the
Son of God cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? When we read verse three of Psalm
22, When our Savior was made sin
for us, he answers his own soul's agony. He cried, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? But thou art holy. O thou that inhabitest the praises
of Israel. Why was he forsaken? forsaken
by His Father when He was made sin for us because the Holy Lord
God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and cannot look
upon sin. Our Savior was forsaken when
He was made sin for us because justice demanded that He be forsaken. Here in Psalm 22 three, when
our savior was dying under the wrath of God, he justified God
in his own condemnation because he was made sin for us. He says,
why have you forsaken me? It is because you can't look on
me. You're a purer eyes than to behold
iniquity. And that's how I hang here on
this tree. He proclaims the holiness of
God in the midst of his agony. He who is God reveals his glory
at least in part in this statement made to Moses. I will by no means
clear the guilty. Even when the guilty is his own
darling son. Rather than his holy character
be slighted. Our surety must suffer and die
because he was made sin for us. Now understand the scriptures. He was born without sin. He had no sin. He did no sin. When he came into this world
and all the while he lived in this world, he was from birth
that holy one. In him is no sin. But on Calvary's
cursed tree, the holy Lord God made him who knew no sin to be
sin for us. He made him that horrible, obnoxious, dark, hideous, evil thing called sin. For us, for this reason, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Wondrous grace. Amazing love. Just as in the incarnation, the
word was made flesh and dwelt among us, in substitution, he
who was made flesh was made sin. Now I won't attempt to explain,
and I've read lots of fellows try to explain, and none of them
do it well. They all make a mess of it. I
will not attempt to explain how this happened. I flat don't know. But that doesn't keep me from
believing what I read in this book. I don't know how the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. How could God, the incomprehensible
God, whom the heavens cannot contain, dwell in human flesh? I don't know, but it is. I don't
know how God, who is life, life, could die, but he did. I don't know how Christ, who
knew no sin, and did no sin, and had no sin, could be made
sin, and yet have never sinned, but he did. These things are
mysteries beyond the reach of human comprehension. but they
are facts of divine revelation, essential to the glory of God
and the saving of our souls. They're facts of divine revelation,
essential to the glory of God and the saving of our souls.
Hard as it is for many to realize, And I know fellas like to think
themselves theologians. They're masters of the study
of God. I'd cry if I couldn't laugh.
Masters of the study of God. But they need to learn something. All of us do. God's just a little
bit bigger than your puny brain. And you're not gonna fit him
in your box. And I'm not gonna fit him in my box. What do you
do? You bow to the word. You just
bow to the word. The scriptures tell us about
our Lord Jesus Christ when he began to show forth his glory.
That's exactly how it's described in John chapter two. He did a
remarkable thing. He turned about 60 gallons of
water into 60 gallons of wine. I just had to say that at a marriage
feast. Now, if you don't like that,
tough. But he did it to show forth his
glory. How does that show his glory?
Oh, he performed great miracles. None of our Savior's miracles
were intended. None of them were designed to
be Jaclinda's fables. None of them were designed to
impress you with his power as a man who is God. That was not
the intent. They were designed and intended
to teach you that He is God, the Christ, who came to fulfill
all that was written of the Christ in the Old Testament prophets.
He made the water wine. He did not pretend the water
was wine. He did not make the water taste
like wine. He didn't put post-it notes on
the barrels and say, this is wine, but it was really water.
He didn't treat the water as though it were wine. He made
the water wine. And when God made his son sin
for us, he didn't treat him as though he were sin. He didn't
pretend that he was sin. He didn't put post-it notes on
him and say, this is sin. God Almighty never pretends,
Donnie. God never pretends. He doesn't
pretend that Christ was made sin, and it doesn't pretend that
you're righteous. Did you get it? If one is a pretense,
the other's a pretense. God doesn't pretend. He made
his son see. The Lord God, our Savior, speaks
again about this matter a few pages over in Psalm 40. Turn
over there, just look at this. Here again, we're allowed to
hear the agony of our blessed Redeemer's soul when He was made
sin for us. Here, the language is even more
specific, declaring that our sins were made His. Here again,
the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, calls our sins His own because
they really became His. He was made sin. The one speaking,
beyond all doubt, is our blessed Savior. God the Holy Ghost tells
us so, quoting from this Psalm in Hebrews chapter 10. He knew that being made sin for
us, he would be brought into a horrible pit and filled with
great distress. Yet 2,000 years ago, the Son
of God stepped into time And he lifted his hand to his father.
He comes as Jehovah's servant and says, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O my God. What's that? This is the Father's
will, he tells us. That of everyone which he hath
given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise him up again
at the last day. I come here to die upon the cursed
tree, to be made sin, to suffer the wrath of God, to satisfy
the justice of God, to put away the sins of my people, to make
them righteous, and bring them at last and present them before
you. and without blame, to the praise of the glory of the grace
of the triune God. Lo, I come, I delight to do thy
will, O my God. Then in verses 11 and 12, he
prays. He prays for deliverance from
his deep distress, the courtesans. withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy lovingkindness and thy
truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have compassed
me about. I'm not waiting to find out what
to say next. I want you to read these lines. I would not dare say them if
it weren't written right here. I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare
think it, David, if it weren't written right here. Who's speaking? Who's speaking? God's son is speaking. And he
says, mine iniquities have taken hold on me. so that I'm not able
to look up. They are more than the hairs
of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. No wonder he spoke. Now is my
soul troubled. What shall I say, Father? Save
me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto
this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Why was he brought to such sorrow
and grief? He was made sin for us. He could
never have suffered the painful, shameful, ignominious death of
the cross as our substitute had he not been made sin for us. This puts the question out of
question. It puts all questions to silence. Jesus Christ could never have
died under the curse of God had it not been made sin for us.
It could not happen. God's character would not allow
it to happen. God's justice would not allow
it to happen. God says this twice in his word. Exodus 23 and Proverbs
17. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination
to the Lord. I was about 21, 22 years old,
the first time I made an effort at declaring what I see clearly
to be taught in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, at a Bible conference
in my hometown, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And I thought,
oh, at least 25, 30 years my senior was real upset. He said, you will be answered
for that. And I said, well, have fun. Answer
for what God says? Somebody gets upset what God
says, that's your problem, not mine. That's your problem. Hear
the Savior's words in Psalm 40 in verse 12 and worship him. Innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Countless, countless evils. Multitudes of
evils. All our sins, innumerable, all
the sins of God's elect through all the ages of time in every
part of the world at one time gathered in one huge load and
laid on him and made to be his. Innumerable evils, he says, have
come past me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
on me. so that I'm not able to look
up. This transfer of sin from us
to our Savior was a real transfer. In Exodus, Leviticus, you see
the priest comes and takes the sacrifice brought by the Israelite
worshiper and he lays his hands on the head of the sacrifice.
Where that worshiper laid his hands and he ceremonially made
a symbolic transfer of guilt from the man to the sacrifice. But it was just a symbolic transfer,
nothing else. There's nothing symbolic about
this. He hath made him sin for us. Who knew no sin? That we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. And being crushed under the load
of sin. Crushed so that his bones are
out of joint. and his heart melts within him
like water. The friend of sinners bears all the weight and the
fury and the heat of an angry just God poured upon The souls
of men for eternity in hell's dark pit. Oh, the darkness. Oh, the darkness that covered
Calvary's Hill that day. Oh, the darkness that flooded
the soul of our blessed Savior that day. He who knew no sin. He was made clay, the thing he
hates worse than anything, sin. And he took it willingly. Willingly. Willingly. He drank the bitter
cup of the wrath of God. and took unto himself our sin
that he might drink that cup until damnation was dry and justice
was satisfied. And God would have no reason ever to
be angry with Don Fortner again. That's called redemption. Every
soul for whom the Son of God suffered the wrath of God is
freed from condemnation or any possibility of condemnation of
any kind. God will never charge with sin
the sinner for whom the Son of God was made sin. but rather
we are made the righteousness of God in Him. Oh, blessed, blessed
Savior. He, who is the infinite Jehovah,
hath made Him His eternal, infinite Son, Jehovah Himself, the God-Man,
made him sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Because there's no other way
for justice to be satisfied No other way for God to be just
and yet justify the ungodly except by the satisfaction of justice
in the person of our blessed substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is pictured for us wonderfully
in scripture. Turn with me, if you will, to
Hebrews chapter seven. Hebrews chapter seven. In the 69th Psalm, our Savior
again speaks of this matter of him being made sin. And eight
times in the New Testament, quotations are made from Psalm 69, where
our Lord refers to this. Our Savior cried, save me, O
God, for the waters are coming into my soul. I seek in deep
mire where there's no standing. I'm coming to deep waters where
the floods overflow me. I'm weary of my crying. My throat
is dried. Mine eyes fail while I wait for
my God. They that hate me without a cause
are more than the hairs of my head. They that would destroy
me be mine enemies wrongfully are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away. Those words cannot honestly be
attributed to anyone but our Savior. And then he said, oh
God, thou knowest my foolishness. The word is perversity, perversity. Mother Rae, that's all you and
I are by nature, just perverse. Perverse. The Son of God says,
thou knowest my perversity. He speaks of sins in this 69th
Psalm. He says, my sins. If you care to read the marginal
translation, my guiltiness. when God made his son sin for us he took our sin and he took our
guilt and our sin and our guilt to use the word became his aren't
sufficient He hung in darkness upon that
cursed tree, made a curse, made a curse because he was made sin,
because he was made guilt. And God cries awake, O sword
against the man that is my fellow, smite and slay the shepherd. And so great, so infinite, so
meritorious is his sacrifice that it atoned at once for all
the sin, perversity, guiltiness, cursedness that he was made by
the hand of justice. This is marvelously portrayed
for us in the Old Testament sacrifices, particularly on the day of atonement. You will remember in Leviticus
or Exodus chapter nine and verse seven, God commanded Moses that
Aaron, the high priest in Israel, must make atonement first for
himself, and then for the people. The most minutely detailed picture
of our Savior's work at Calvary, given anywhere in the Old Testament
types, is Leviticus 16. Aaron the high priest, on the
high day of atonement for Israel, goes into the Holy of Holies
with the blood of the sacrifice. to make atonement first for himself
and then for the people. Now look here at Hebrews chapter
seven, verse 25. Wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come to God by him. Oh, hear
me, Christ is able to save any sinner, even you, even me, who
comes to God by Him, by faith in Him, looking to Him, trusting
Him. How come seeing He ever liveth
to make intercession for them? For such an high priest is exactly
the kind we need. And what it means, became us.
who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily, as those high
priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then
for the people's. For this he did once, when he offered up himself."
Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? So infinite,
so great, so magnanimous, so efficacious, so worth everything
is the sacrifice of God's darling son that at one time by the sacrifice
of himself he made atonement for his sins. and for his people and God said that's enough that's
enough now here is the glory of the
cross justice is satisfied and now God declares his glory in
another statement I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious I
will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I am God, forgiving,
iniquity, transgression, and sin. But he said, I will by no
means clear the guilty. And in the same words, says forgiving
iniquity, transgression, and sin. How can that be? One day,
2000 years ago, God in the flesh cried, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? And the answer is given with
clarity, because God You cannot look upon sin. And now, God looks on, look up here. Will you look here? God looks
on me. And says, I can't see sin in
him. I don't see any perversity in
Don Fortner. How can that be? Because he doesn't
have any. Christ was manifested to take
away our sins. What's the next line? In him
is no sin. Now right where you are, come
to God, trusting his son right now, and go home with no sin
forever.