I've seen something that utterly ravishes my heart. Something that radically has
altered my life. Something that governs everything
I seek. something that rules my life,
something I hope never to cease beholding. Newton expressed what
I'm talking about better than I can. In evil long I took delight,
unawed by shame or fear, till a new object struck my sight
and stopped my wild career. I saw one hanging on a tree in
agonies and blood who fixed his languid eyes on me as near his
cross I stood. Sure never till my latest breath
can I forget that look. It seemed to charge me with his
death, though not a word he spoke. My conscience felt and owned
the guilt and plunged me in despair. I saw my sins. His blood had
spilled and helped to nail him there. A second look he gave. which said, I freely all forgive. This blood is for thy ransom
paid. I die that thou mayst live. In the psalm your pastor read,
Psalm 22, we are allowed to hear the Son of God speak. as he hung
upon the cursed tree, suffering all the fury of God's holy wrath
and justice as our substitute. When you read the Psalms, understand
these are Psalms. They express the true feelings
and experiences and emotions and desires of the men who were
inspired of God to write them. But if you read the Psalms with
any care at all, you look at them and say no mere man can
be the one who's here speaking. No mere mortal can be the one
who is here being described. And you're right. Because while
those psalms clearly do, this psalm our pastor has just read
to us, clearly does describe for us David's own heartfelt
experience. Yet it's clear, and the scriptures
everywhere make it abundantly clear, that this psalm gives
us the words of one who is indescribably, infinitely greater than David.
And all of the Psalms are what we would call Messianic Psalms.
They all speak of the Savior. But here, we're allowed to hear
our Savior speak to his Father and our Father, to his God and
our God, when he was dying in our stead upon the tree. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? These words no mortal can comprehend. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? That's the question I want to
address in this message. I said address it, not answer
it. Answer it, I can't. Why was he forsaken? Why was he forsaken? If there is any place in scripture
that might be described as that spot of ground on which Moses
stood before the burning bush as holy ground, this is that
place. God keep me, oh God keep me from
reading or considering are discussing the things here revealed with
any measure of lightness, with any measure of carnal philosophy
and carnal reason, and give me grace to hear the Savior speak. Why hast thou forsaken me? Our Redeemer is here at the apex
of His obedience. He's come to the very crescendo
of His purpose for coming into this world. He's at the very
height, at the very height of that which He came here to do,
doing His Father's will for the saving of His people. And when
He suffers the wrath of God in our stand upon the cursed tree,
He cries, My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry unto
thee in the daytime, but thou hearest not. And in the night
season, And am not silent. I read those words with utter
astonishment. With utter astonishment. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
appears to have been astonished. Look at verses 4 and 5. He says,
you hear the prayers of others, You forsake not others. Our fathers
trusted in thee. They trusted in thee and thou
didst deliver them. They cried unto thee and were
delivered. They trusted in thee and were
not confounded. They weren't confused. They were
not put to shame. But I cry unto you all the day
long. On that day when God turned the
midday into midnight and the sun refused to shine for three
indescribably long, immeasurably long hours, He said, I cry to
you in the night and you hear me not. Why hast thou forsaken
me? Now these things are written
in the book of God. for our learning and for our
understanding that we, through the patience and comfort of the
Scriptures, might have hope. And I hang all the hope of my
immortal soul on this one thing. When the Lord Jesus Christ, God's
darling Son, was made sin for me, He was utterly, utterly, utterly
forsaken of God. That I might never be. And by the one sacrifice of himself,
he forever put away my sins. He not only bore our sins in
His own body on the tree, He bore them away. And yet, when
we read in verse 3, our Holy Savior, when He was made sin
for us, He seems to answer His own question. He seems to answer
His own soul's cry. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And then He says, but thou art
holy. O thou that inhabitest the praises
of Israel. Why was the Lord Jesus forsaken
when he was made sin for us? It was because the Holy Lord
God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. He cannot look
upon sin. Thou art of pure eyes, Habakkuk
tells us, than to behold evil and canst not look upon iniquity.
Here in Psalm 22, 3, our Savior, when he was dying under the wrath
of God, justified God in his own condemnation. He says, why
have you forsaken me? And he answers, because thou
art holy. Why have you forsaken me? Because
I am made sin. It is now just and right that
I be forsaken of God. And he calls him not, oh my father,
oh my father, why have you forsaken me? But rather he cries, oh my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He's so pure, so holy, so
righteous, so just, that God can by no means clear the guilty,
even when the guilty one is his own darling son. Rather than
in his holy character, his justice, his truth, they slighted him.
Our surety must suffer and he must die because he was made
sin for us. Now understand the scriptures.
Understand the scriptures. He knew no sin. He knew no sin. He had no sin. he did no sin. From the moment that he came
into the world, entering into his mother's womb by the miraculous
conception of God the Holy Spirit, forming that holy humanity in
the womb of the Virgin Mary. As our Savior comes into his
mother's womb, he cried, Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God! And he came forth from his mother's
womb nine months later, crying, Lo, I come to do thy will, O
my God! And he always did. There was
no taint of evil in him. He was born in this world in
holy humanity without the aid of a man. Conceived not from
a man's seed, but from the seed of the woman. He is the woman's
seed. He is the firstborn. In the Old
Testament, God made a law concerning the firstborn. He that openeth
the womb is mine. And the law of the firstborn
refers to Christ who is the firstborn. You see, there was never one
who opened the womb in his birth. The womb is not opened in birth.
The womb is opened in conception, except for one woman's womb.
Her womb was opened when her son came forth, the firstborn
of every creature, the firstborn of all things, the firstborn
among the family of God. He comes here as God's firstborn
one, and he comes here in perfect holiness. And while he lived
on this earth, he never committed evil. Imagine this. His heart
was never cold with malice and never hot with lust. He never
had a thought that was unclean or spoke a word out of place. Never. He's holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sins. He knew no sin. He did no sin. He's without sin. And now He, who knew no sin,
has made sin for us. Made sin. on Calvary's cursed
tree. The Lord God made Him who knew
no sin to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Just as in the incarnation the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, so in substitution
He who was made flesh was made sin for us. Now, I don't know
how these things can be. I don't have any idea how they
could be. I don't know how God could become
a man and never cease to be God, but he did. Theology is books. Theology professors,
when I was in school, they were very great to emphasize the fact,
and you've heard pictures said, God did not become a man, man
did not become God, the Son of God assumed argument and all
that stuff. We can't state things just like
they said. It was a hypostatic union. That sure helps, doesn't
it? That's not what the book says, is it? That's not what
the Word says. John 1.14 says the Word was made
flesh. God the Son became what you and
I are in the totality of his being and never ceased to be
God. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. How can the incomprehensible
infinite God who is spirit in all the fullness of his being
reside in the body of a man? Nobody can explain that. But
that's what the book says. The word was made flesh and dropped
among us. I don't know how God, who is
life, could die and never die. God cannot die. God cannot die. God's immutable. God cannot die. And yet, we read in Acts 20,
28, that God, God, God purchased the church with his own blood.
How can God, who cannot die, die? I don't know, but He didn't. That one who died in our stead
is God. He is God. Brother Owen was asking
me last night about some things with regard to our Lord's humanity.
He said, could it be that our Lord did this as a man? And I
said to him something that I'm not sure I've learned it yet.
But I know this is so. You can't separate His deity
from His humanity at any point in His existence. Our Lord Jesus
is God in the flesh. God. Everything He did as a man,
He did as God. Everything He experienced as
a man, He experienced as God. How can God die who cannot die? I don't know, but God purchased
the church with His own blood. And I don't know how Christ,
who knew no sin and did no sin, who could not sin. He could not sin. He could not
sin. I don't know how he could be
made sin and yet have never sinned, but he was. Look at John chapter
2. You turn to John chapter 2. Hold your hands there. And then
turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. John chapter 2, our Lord and
his disciples are at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee and
the Lord Jesus began to do miracles. This was the beginning of miracles.
We're told in verse 11, this beginning of miracles at the
marriage feast in Cana of Galilee is that by which the Lord Jesus
began to manifest forth his glory. He began to pull aside the veil
and cause men to see he's God. He began to manifest forth His
glory, so that now as He performs this miracle at the marriage
of Cana in Galilee, the Lord Jesus is showing His disciples
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and His disciples
believed on Him. What did He do? They had run
out of wine. And the Lord's mother, Mary,
said, whatever he says to you, do it. And they had six large
water pots. Six large barrels. And the Lord
Jesus said to the servants at the feast, fill them with water.
Fill them with water. And then he said, take it to
the governor of the feast. He didn't say anything. He didn't
do anything. He said, take it to the feast.
And we read in verse 9, when the ruler of the feast had tasted
the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was, but
the servants which drew the water knew, the governor of the feast
called the bridegroom. The water was made wine. Y'all
got post-it notes down here? The Lord Jesus didn't put post-it
notes on the barrels and say this water is wine. He didn't treat the water as
though it were wine. He didn't pretend the water was
wine. He did not impute characteristics
of wine to the water. The water was made wine. Look in 2 Corinthians 5 verse
21. He hath made him sin. Now in the New Testament there
are three distinct words translated from the Greek into English by
the word made. Three distinct words. The word
that is here translated made in 2 Corinthians 5.21 means mysteriously, wondrously, inexplicably made. Made in such a way that it can't
be comprehended. The Word was made flesh, the
water was made wine, but He hath wondrously, mysteriously made
Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Now these are mysteries beyond
human comprehension. But they're facts of divine revelation
to which we bow with adoration. Hard as it is for many to realize
it, God is slightly bigger than your puny brain. And you're not
going to fit God in your theological box. You're not going to get
everything arranged so now we can write this down and explain
this and make everybody sign a creed and say this is what
we believe. God Almighty is infinite and incomprehensible and His
works are infinitely incomprehensible to you and I who are but pygmies
in the creation of God. But we stand with wonder and
adoration and faith as we bow to and worship our Redeemer.
Turn to the 40th Psalm. Here again we're allowed to hear
the agony of our Redeemer's soul when he was made sin for us.
And the language is even more explicit. He's more specific
here than it was in Psalm 22 in declaring that our sins were
made His. Here again the Lord Jesus Christ
calls our sins His own because He hath made Him to be sin for
us. Now the one speaking in this
40th Psalm clearly is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Now how
can you be so sure of that, Brother Don? At your leisure, sometime
this afternoon, turn to the 10th chapter of the book of Hebrews,
and you'll find out that God the Holy Spirit says to us plainly,
the one speaking here in Psalm 40 is the Lord Jesus, the Son
of God. He knew that being made sin for
us, He would be brought into a horrible pit of darkness, filled
with distress, and yet, His love for us was and is so great that
in verse 7 he declares a complete willingness, a complete readiness
on his part to assume a body, that in this body he might be
made a suitable sacrifice to God Almighty for the salvation
of his people. And he says, according to the
settlements written in the volume of the book from eternity, Lo,
I come, I delight to do thy will, O my God. Now look at verse 11. Here he prays for deliverance
from this deep distress. 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 looking for something
to say, I'm waiting for you to pay attention to what you're
reading. This is the son of God speaking.
And this is what he says, Simon. My iniquities have taken hold
upon me. I wouldn't dream of thinking
that if it weren't written right here in the book. I wouldn't
dream of thinking it, let alone declaring it. I wouldn't dream
that this could be possible. We're not written right here
in the book. The Lord Jesus cries to his God and our God, my iniquities
have taken hold upon me, so that I'm not able to look up. They're
more than the hairs of my head, therefore my heart faileth me. My heart faileth me. Heart failure. Heart failure. So this is just expressing things
in hyperbole. This is just a matter of expressing
things in excessive language. Oh, no. He says, mine iniquities. are more than the hairs in my
head. I'm not able, I'm not able to lift my head
to God in heaven and say, I'm a father. I cry with shame, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? My heart faileth me. We read a very similar passage
in John chapter 12. These Gentiles came and said
to Philip, sirs, we would see Jesus. And the Lord Jesus being
informed that these Gentiles were seeking audience with Him,
He says in verse 27, now is my soul troubled. And what shall
I say? Shall I say, Father, save me
from this hour? But for this cause came I unto
this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Why was the Son of God brought
to such grief, to such sorrow, to such agony? He made Him sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Indeed, Turn to Proverbs chapter
17, if you will. And while you're turning, listen.
Indeed, he never could have suffered. He never could have suffered. He never could have suffered. The painful, shameful, ignominious,
cursed death of the cross as our substitute had he not been
made sin for us. Justice would never have allowed
it. Justice wouldn't allow it. I
don't know anything about your legal system here. But I suppose
that your legal system, like ours in the states, at least
pretends justice. It at least pretends justice.
In the states we have a emblem of justice. The scales of justice
are held out. And there's a blindfold over
the lady's face because justice is blind. Justice considers no
circumstance. Justice considers no condition. Justice considers no age. Justice
considers nothing outside the thing itself being considered.
And justice, God's justice, God's justice would never have allowed
his son to suffer hell. They did not deserve it. They
did not deserve it. Proverbs 17, 15. He that justifieth
the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are
an abomination to the Lord. An abomination? You see, Justice
will not allow one man to be punished for the crimes of another.
Justice will not allow a person to have guilt imputed to him
where justice plainly declares he has no guilt. That's an utter
contradiction. And God's justice could not and
would not impute sin to the Savior were he not made sin. If you
read the scriptures, you will find legal terms used. When it
talks about Adam's sin being accounted ours and imputed to
us. You'll find legal terms used
when you read about the righteousness of God being accounted to us
or imputed to us. But if you read the scriptures,
I searched carefully through this book, And you will not find
neither in the Old Testament nor in the New, neither in type,
nor in prophecy, nor in record of history. You will not find
any reference to any legal term being used when it speaks of
Christ having our sins imputed to Him. The theologians say,
and you may yet hear me say again, He was made sin by imputation,
but that's not correct. Sin was imputed to Him because
He was made sin. Sin could not be imputed to Him
were He not made sin. So that when our Savior hung suspended between heaven
and earth, and God Almighty abandoned His Son, And he cried awake,
O sword against the man that is my fellow, smite and slay
the shepherd. Justice drew forth its dreadful
sword, and not just pierced the Son of God, but was swallowed
up by the Son of God, so that justice now is fully satisfied
by His one sacrifice for sin, because He was made sin for us. It was right for God to punish
Him. It was right for God to punish
Him. And we, who are his, for whom
he was made sin, have been made the righteousness of God in him. Brother Angus, he doesn't just
pretend we're righteous. He doesn't just consider as though
we were righteous. He doesn't just say, well, I'll
forget about the sins and I'll act like they were righteous.
He doesn't just impute righteousness to us. Our Savior's name, Jeremiah
23 verse 6, is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. The
name of His church, Jeremiah 33 verse 16, is Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord our righteousness. You see, we really are one with
Him. We really did live with him.
We really did obey God when He obeyed God. We really did fulfill
all righteousness when He fulfilled all righteousness. We really
did die when He died. We really did arise when He arose. And when the Lord God Almighty
calls us into Heaven's glory and rewards us with the bliss
of life everlasting with Christ Jesus the Lord, it will be right
for Him to do so. Because we will fully, no that's
not right, we do fully deserve heavenly glory in Christ Jesus. Fully deserve it. He has made you meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. who were once children
of darkness. He has made you. He has made
me. Oh, wonder of wonders! He's made me, right now, worthy
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Read
on, Psalm 40, verse 12. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about, Our Savior is beset on every side with countless
woes and evil, compassed all about Him. He was completely
compassed about with all the evil of all His people made to
be His. My iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. The transfer of sin to the Savior
was real. and God forsook him. Oh, what hell would have done
to us had God found sin on us and punished
us for our sins. The Lord Jesus, when he was made
sin, and consumed the fire of God's wrath. The Old Testament
sacrifices, God's fire fell on the sacrifice and consumed the
sacrifice. But he who is the one sacrificed
for sin, when the fire of God fell on him, he consumed the
fire. And justice is satisfied. Our Savior says, they are more
than the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me.
This is what he anticipated in Gethsemane's garden. He cried
three times, oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. He wasn't asking that he might
be kept from dying, he came here to die. He wasn't asking that
he might be kept from suffering on the cross. He made the world
that he might suffer on the cross. He wasn't praying that God would
deliver him from death. He came here to die in our stead. Well, what is he asking? If it
be possible, let this cup pass from me. And as he cries the
third time, he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling
to the ground. His heart failed him. His heart is broken in him. A few years ago, one of the ladies
in our congregation, Regina Henson, Mark's wife, had one of her sons
in the car beside her and she pulled up to a stoplight right
across the street is where the emergency medical technicians
had their office. Had she been anywhere else in
town she'd be dead now. Right across the street she stopped
at a stoplight and just collapsed. We went to see them in the hospital
and the doctors were very perplexed. They couldn't figure out what
was wrong with her. They ask her husband, Mark, has she lost
a loved one, a father, mother, brother, sister, son or daughter?
No. Because they couldn't figure
anything out except what's commonly known as broken heart syndrome. And I didn't realize this, people
really do die of a broken heart. Their heart just ruptures. Just ruptures. That's what happened. to our sin bearer as he anticipated
being made sin, he who knew no sin. This is the only man who ever
lived who knew no sin. And Brother Lance is the only
man who ever lived who really did know what sin is. You and I don't have a clue.
We have absolutely no comprehension of what sin is before God. But when He, who is God our Savior,
anticipates being made sin, His heart broke within it. And He cried, Reproach hath broken
my heart. burying our sin on the cursed
tree. Our Savior cried in Psalm 22, verse six, I'm a worm and
no man. A reproach of men and despised
of the people. Verse 14, I'm poured out like
water. All my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of
my bowels, my strength. This dried up like a potsherd,
my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought me into
the dust of death." It wasn't that our Savior anticipated
paying our debt, but that wouldn't break a man's heart. I wouldn't,
if Brother Fisher were to be in debt, head over his heels.
And he's about to lose everything. He's about to lose everything.
And I have lots of money. And I say, all right, I will
pay all his debt, knowing that paying his debt will bankrupt
me and bankrupt my family. And we will both be left with
nothing. But at least I will have his debt paid. That would
cause me pain. That would cause me to think
seriously. But it wouldn't break my heart.
It wouldn't break my heart. Paying a debt doesn't break your
heart. But for the Holy Lamb of God
to anticipate being made sin, isolated, in darkness, abandon
of God, and deserving it, crushed his
Holy Son. David understood what he was
saying. He was overwhelmed by it. Many, O Lord my God, are
thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts,
first I have, which are to us where they cannot be reckoned
up unto us, unto thee. If I would declare them and speak
of them, there more than can be numbered. Look at verse 11,
Psalm 40. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord, that thy lovingkindness and thy truth
continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have come past
me about. My iniquities have taken hold
on me so that I'm not able to look up. They're more than the
hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me. Now, turn to Psalm 69. I'll wrap this up. Again, there's no question the
one speaking here is the Lord Jesus. Throughout the New Testament,
portions of Psalm 69 are quoted and referred to as being the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ. The opening verses of the Psalm
clearly are the words of our Redeemer. He cries, Save me,
O God, for the waters are coming unto my soul. I sink in deep
mire where there's no standing. I've come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me. I'm weary of my crime. 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 mine head. They that would destroy
me, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away. You understand? That's the Savior
speaking. You understand that? Look at
the next line. Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness. and my sins are not hid from
thee." The word foolishness means perversity. The word translated sins, as
is translated in our marginal references, means guiltiness. Our darling Savior owns our perversity
as His perversity and our guiltiness as His guiltiness. It is as though
He were saying here, lifted up on the cross, I suffer without
the gate for my people as their substitute in such a way that
I desire that heaven, earth, and hell have all my perversity
and my guiltiness conspicuously held before them. The first Adam
covered his sins. The last Adam comes and acknowledge
his sins before God, before men, and before hell as the reason
for his death. Now, look at verse six. All the time, all the time, But the whole time he's been
doing this, his heart's on you. His mind is on you. His care
is on you. His soul sticks on me. And He makes intercession for
the very people for whom He suffers these things, whose sins, whose
perversity, whose guiltiness, He's assumed. Verse 6, and He
prays, Let not them that wait on Thee, O Lord God of hosts,
be ashamed for My sake. Let not them that seek Thee be
confounded for My sake, Oh God of Israel. Verse 7, Because for
thy sake I had borne reproach, shame hath covered my face. Thou hast known my reproach,
and my shame, and my dishonor, my adversities are all before
thee. Verse 20, Reproach hath broken
mine heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some
to take pity, but there was none. For comforters, I found none. As he hangs upon the cursed tree,
his head bowed with shame, and he cries, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? And he acknowledges my foolishness,
my perversity, my guiltiness, my sins. Evoke justice by death, by the
hand of my God. And he hangs his head with shame,
shame. He says, now Lord, oh God of
hosts, don't ever let that sinner be put to shame. Don't ever let God be defamed. And this is his promise. He that believeth shall not be
ashamed. He that believeth shall not be
condemned. He that believeth shall not be
confused. So the believing sinner whose head has hung with shame
before God, when he sees Christ crucified, And hears him say, this blood
is for thy ransom paid. I die that thou mayst live. I can lift my face without shame
to God. He said, oh, my father, my father, my father. Oh, may God
give you faith in his Son, that you may never be put to shame,
not while you live, Not when you come to die, not in the Day
of Judgment, not until you come to death.