In Psalm 22 and verse 1 we read
the following. 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 in the
daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and
am not silent. My God, my God, Why hast thou
forsaken me? When Jesus Christ was taken outside
of the city of Jerusalem, when he was led forth to that place
they call Golgotha, the place of a skull, when he bore his
own cross, when he was nailed to it, and lifted up to die. The people all having turned
against him, the scribes and Pharisees having encouraged all
men to cry out, crucify him, crucify him, away with him. We will not have this man to
reign over us. When he was lifted up in the
heat of the sun to die that horrible death upon the cross, All men
forsook him. All men forsook him. The scribes
and the Pharisees had pleaded for his death. The common crowd
which once heard him teach and preach had turned against him
and cried out away with him. His own disciples for fear of
man had not prevented the death of Christ. There was none to help. He was taken away and slain between
two thieves as a common criminal. All men forsook him. We read in Matthew 27 and verse
39, and they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads and
saying, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in
three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come
down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests
mocking him, with the scribes and elders said, he saved others. Himself he cannot save. If He
be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross
and we will believe Him. He trusted in God, let Him deliver
Him now, if He will have Him. For He said, I am the Son of
God. The thieves also which were crucified with Him cast the same
in His teeth. All men forsook Him. There was none to help. not even
his disciples, not even those who had heard him, believed on
him, followed him. When he needed them most, they
slept. When he needed them most, they
were scattered. All men forsook him. Not just then, but throughout
time, Throughout the ages, throughout history, every man, child, woman
and boy born upon this earth has forsaken Jesus Christ. Every one of us has shut our
hearts to Him and the knowledge of Him. His message has sounded throughout
the ages. The apostles went forth to preach
and declare that Christ died and that he rose again. And yet
generation after generation has shut their ears and closed their
minds and forsaken the one that died upon this cross. You and I forsook Christ. We shut our hearts to him. We
shut our ears to his gospel. We paid no attention. Countless
numbers today will think, consider, talk about rejoicing anything
and everything but Christ and him crucified. Religious people will talk about,
consider, debate, question, study just about every point that they
can think of at the expense of considering
Christ in his hour of need. They will discuss end times.
They will discuss the church. They will discuss how we should
celebrate the Lord's Supper. They will discuss baptism. They
will discuss the writing and keeping of the scriptures. They
will discuss church order. They are fascinated with just
about every matter. But so often, intentionally or
unintentionally, they neglect and forsake the heart of the
gospel that Christ died for sinners. All men forsook him. All men forsake him to this very
day. including you and me. His death is nothing to them.
They that pass by reviled him wagging their heads. Is it nothing
to you all ye that pass by? Is it nothing? Whose sorrow is
like under his sorrow? We spoke recently of others who
felt forsaken. Others who were desolate. God's
people, forsaken by the world. Forsaken by religion. And at
one time they felt forsaken by the God they sought. And we considered
how God was determined to save them. He would not rest until
they heard the message. of the death of his son in their
place, of his blood shed that they should live. There are others
who've been forsaken, but their sorrow is nothing compared to
the sorrow of this one who cried out, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? For there was one who was forsaken,
who deserved not to be. One who died who was innocent. One who suffered for the sins
and the crimes of others. One who was forsaken by all. Whose sorrow And suffering was
unlike the sorrow and suffering of any man, before or after. Whose sorrow is like unto my
sorrow, Christ says. Matthew records, from the sixth
hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying,
Eli, Eli, Lamas Abakfenai. That is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? The very words which in prophecy
Hundreds of years earlier, David recorded in Psalm 22, when he
wrote of that Saviour to come, and of his cry from the cross,
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 in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the
night season, and am not silent. but thou art holy, O thou that
inhabitest the praises of Israel. 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 am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despise of the people.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn, they shoot out the
lip, they shake the head, saying, he trusted on the Lord that he
would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he
delighted in him. But thou art he that took me
out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when
I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the
womb. Thou art my God for my mother's
belly. Be not far from me, for trouble
is near. for there is none to help. Many
bulls have compassed me. Strong bulls of Bashan have beset
me round. They gaped upon me with their
mouths as a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water
and all my bones are out a joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and that has brought
me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me. The
assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and
my feet. I tell all my bones they look
and stare upon me. They part my garments among them
and cast lots upon my vesture. 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. I will declare thy name unto
my brethren in the midst of the congregation. Will I praise thee. Remarkable words Remarkable prophecy
in how clearly, how fully they were brought to fulfilment when
Christ was nailed to the cross. He literally cried out the very
words that David wrote in prophecy. The reaction of those that passed
by. Though they could not help their
actions for it was foreordained of God. The reactions were exactly
as recorded here. They said, they cried out, he
trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver
him seeing he delighted in him. They parted his garments as lots. They pierced his hands and his
feet. It could not have been fulfilled.
more specifically but oh the anguish oh the cry
oh the depth of feeling we see recorded from this one this one
who cried out my god my god why hast thou forsaken me Why hast thou forsaken me? There are many who deserve to
be forsaken. There are many whose sins rightly
set them at a distance from Almighty God. God is pure and holy and
perfect. He cannot look upon the wicked
He cannot have sin in his presence. It is so contrary to his perfect
righteous nature. He will judge the sins of all
mankind justly and fairly. The wages of sin is death. We have earned it. We deserve
it. We deserve to be forsaken. But
this one who cried out never sinned. He never fought one sinful
deed. He never spake one sinful word. He never committed one sinful
action. He was perfect. He was pure. He was the Son of God. The Son of God, Jesus. The Christ. He was Himself God,
equal with the Father, equal with the Spirit. He dwelt with
His Father from before the beginning of time, from the midst of eternity. He always was. He has no beginning
and no end. He is righteous, pure, perfect,
holy, before all and above all. The Son of God. Then how could
the Son of God come to cry out to God his Father? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Where was he when he cried? Outside
Jerusalem. in that place called Golgotha,
the place of a skull, the place of death, outside the camp, not
in the city, not where the religious were, not where those who claim
to follow God were, but cast out by man. Cast out by the religious. Outside in a disgusting place. A place of death. Cast out. Nowhere. 33 years of age. He'd ministered
in and around Jerusalem. He taught the truth. And they
would not have him. cast out. David here, type of Christ, in
his closing days before his death writes in 1 Chronicles 29 and
it is recorded there when he died that he had reigned seven
years in Horeb and 33 years in Jerusalem. 33 years. The king in the city of the king and Christ
of whom he was the figure in his thirty-third year was cast
out from that city rejected by man and slain. What did he cry? My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? So personal He cries out to his
God. The phrase is repeated twice. In Arabic, whenever a word is
repeated twice, it represents an intensity of feeling, an emphasis
on that word. My God, my Lord, my Father, why
hast thou forsaken me? How amazing. that the son of God should feel
forsaken by his own God. The innocent, the pure, the perfect
son of God should be forsaken by God. And yet that's how he was. Why
hast thou forsaken me? How did he cry? He cried out
in anguish, in pain, in torment, in isolation, in the darkness. The light of the sun was taken
away at the sixth hour, we read in Matthew. Until the ninth hour. Three hours in the darkness Christ
suffered. And at the end of those hours
He cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? As God's wrath was poured out
upon his own Son in the darkness for what he had been made to
be, for what was laid upon him, because in the sight of God he
stood as the sinner, He bore the sins of His own. He was made
sin and God's wrath and anger against sin was poured out upon
His own Son, who died as a substitute for His own. In that darkness,
in that suffering, forsaken, Christ cried out. He cried out in anguish. he felt his father's anger he
felt the distance he'd never been separated from his father's
love he'd never known his father look upon him once in anger he'd
never known anything but the pleasure and the love and the
delight of his father and here he was not just feeling his father's
displeasure but his father's total displeasure, his father's
total fury and anger at the awfulness which he had become, at how dreadful
a person he was in God's sight, for he stood as the sinner. And
God judged him as that sinner. Oh, the depths of his suffering
from which he cried, eternal, endless, The wages of sin is
death. Eternal death, eternal separation
from God. Then for Christ to die for His
own, to take that punishment away, He had to take that death
away. He had to take that eternal wrath
away. His suffering though but three
hours in time was an eternity of God's wrath. contracted to
a span. And out of that depth, that endless
suffering which went on and on and on, with no hope of escape,
that endless suffering, that endless anger, that endless beating
and bruising, out of such depths he cries, My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? When did he cry? He cried when
the light of the sun was removed. He cried when the world went
dark black. When all men had forsaken Him,
they'd passed by in the light, they'd looked upon Him upon that
cross, they'd reviled Him, wagged their heads, mocked Him, scorned
Him, spat upon Him, despised Him. When all men had forsaken
Him and here at the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the
land until the ninth hour. Here in the darkness, God the Father forsook the Son
here in the darkness God's justice was poured out upon he who took
the sinner's place the innocent who died for the guilty the just
for the unjust here in the darkness the Father turned his face and
could no longer look upon his own son because he was made to
be sin that his people in him might be made the righteousness
of God because he bore their sins in his own body on the tree
because God looked upon him as the sinner, the guilty and judged
him accordingly that's when in the darkness when the light of
the sun was removed. He who is the light of the earth,
of the world, Christ. He who as God dwells in light
inaccessible. He whose brightness shines forth
as the midday sun was made black with sin and the light of the
sun was taken away to demonstrate it. In the darkness he cried. Why did he cry? Because of that
which he was made to be. Because in that darkness his
father truly forsook him. He was forsaken, he cried out,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was forsaken
and he knew it. He knew it. Now some contend
with this. Some question this. Some say
Christ was God. He was always God, eternally
God. He could not have been forsaken.
How could the father forsake his own son? He judged him, yes. He died, yes. But how could he
be forsaken? And yet the Scriptures record
this plainly. They record what happened. They
record what Christ was made to be. They record what he bore.
They record the judgment. And they record his cry. Why
hast thou forsaken me? He was forsaken and he knew it.
He was justly forsaken because if God was just in condemning
sin, then God must treat that sin as it is. And if God is just
to condemn sin itself, then he must treat him who was made to
be sin in the sinner's place as if he was they. The outpouring
of God's wrath upon Christ was equal, the same as that outpouring
of his wrath upon the wicked, who despised God and his gospel,
and enter eternal darkness on that last day. His judgment was
furious. Then how could God not have forsook
him? In those hours of darkness, did
God hold back his wrath? No he did not. He poured it out
in full measure. In those hours of darkness did
God send help and take Christ down from the cross? He did not. He did not. In those hours of
darkness did God the Father spare his Son? He did not. He slew him. He died. He truly died. Then if he died,
his father forsook him. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? He was forsaken because of what
he was made to be, because of what he bore, because of what
he endured. He endured, as Hebrews 12 tells
us, the contradiction of sinners. They would not receive His word. They denied His claims. He said
He was the Son of God, they said, but they would not have it. He
made Himself equal with God, and for this they crucified Him. He spake of the Gospel, of salvation,
and they would not listen. Consider him that endured such
contradiction of sinners against himself. Such contradiction. He endured the cross. He despised
the shame. The wrath of God poured down
upon him. He suffered the contradiction
of sinners, the rejection of all. But he suffered. Greater suffering he suffered.
his father's forsaking of him. He suffered his father's pouring
down his wrath upon him in vengeance. He drank the cup of God's wrath
which God his father gave him to drink. And why did he drink
it? And why did he suffer? Because
he loved the people for whom he died. He loved the ones whose
sins he bore. He loved the ones whose sin he
was made to be. He loved his bride, his church,
his people, his own. Sinners. Sinners like you and
me. He loved his bride and gave himself
for her. Why drink the cup? Because He
would save her, whom He loved. He would save that people whose
names the Father wrote upon His heart in eternity. That people
given to Him. That people He loved with an
endless love. He loved them. And He would save
them. Nothing would prevent it. The
rejection of man would not prevent him going to the cross. The despising
of all the world would not turn him from his purpose for which
he came into this world. The awful agonies of the cross,
the physical sufferings, the spiritual sufferings, the anguish,
the darkness, the sin, the wrath, the fires, and the forsaken of
his father, he would not turn from it because he loved that
people for whom he would die. Because he loved them so greatly
that he would endure, that he would suffer, that he would go
that way. He knew what it would be. He
knew how awful it would be. He knew how undeserved it was. And yet he knew that that was
the only way that he would save them. For their sin must be paid
for. Judgement must be poured out.
Roth must be drunk. He would save them. And he had
to save them going this way. For there was no other way. No
other way but that the innocent should die in the place of the
guilty. Have you heard his cry? Have
you considered the one who cried? Have you beheld him upon the
cross suffering for sinners? Do you know whether he suffered
in your place? Did he cry because God judged
your sins in Christ? Was this the cries of your Saviour? dying for you? Was this the pain
of your saviour suffering for you? Was this the love displayed
by your saviour for you? Was it? Because these cries brought effects
He cried this at the end of those three hours when he had suffered,
at the depth of his suffering. But having suffered, having suffered,
having drunk that cup to the uttermost, he laid down his life. And having died, sin was answered. righteousness was met, judgment
was satisfied, God had no more wrath to pour out upon the sins
of his people for his son had taken it, he drunk it to the
full, he drunk the cup to the dregs, justice was satisfied
and being satisfied God in righteousness looked upon that people in his
son and said They are no longer guilty. They are not guilty. They are perfect. Their sins
have been blotted out. Righteousness has been wrought.
Righteousness is theirs. Salvation is theirs. Salvation. Oh the effects of this death.
Oh the effects of this cry. He was forsaken, yes. but he
did not remain in the grave. He did not remain in the grave. He died, but he did not remain
there. He suffered, but he did not stay
there. And nor did those for whom he
died. But on the third day, he and
they rose from the dead victorious. They rose from the grave. Sin
could not hold them, justice could not hold them. Their sins
had been blotted out, sin had been destroyed and he rose victorious
with a mighty cry, with a mighty shout of victory. Death was swallowed
up by eternal life. It was swallowed up by victory,
as 1 Corinthians 15 tells us. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? It was swallowed up. At the cross,
when Christ died, sin was blotted out by righteousness. Darkness
was dispelled by the light. wrath was replaced by mercy. The anger and fury of God was
replaced by peace. And the judgment of God was followed
by salvation. Salvation. Salvation. The one who cried out, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me, rose. He rose to see those
for whom he died saved. and those who once in the desperate
state of their sin, knowing the wrath of God burns against sin,
knowing that if they remained in sin that they would face judgment
forevermore, those who looked upon Christ, those who were in
Christ, those for whom he died, who once felt forsaken, they
because of his death, they because of his suffering, they because
of his love for them. would no longer be forsaken,
no longer desolate, no longer lost, but saved forevermore with
a mighty and a perfect salvation, a true justification, separated
under God, sanctified, made right, made holy, made pure, made perfect,
without spot and without blemish. Christ died for a countless multitude,
and he saved them with an everlasting salvation, a perfect salvation,
an accomplished salvation. Everyone for whom he died was
saved forever, forever. Was it for you? Was it for you,
O sinner, feeling your guilt, feeling the darkness in your
heart, feeling the depravity of your own soul? Have you fled
unto the cross? Have you gone to the cross and
seen that Saviour crying out in your place? Have you seen
His suffering for you? Have you heard that cry of His? My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me have
you looked and felt that should be me upon that cross that should
be me forsaken not him Have you looked upon Him and seen the
Saviour of sinners? Have you looked upon Him and
seen hope set before you? Have you looked upon Him and
seen deliverance and salvation set in your gaze? Have you called
out upon His name? Have you cried out unto God to
wash you in His blood? For if you have, then you will
know that hope. that perfect hope, that wonderful
hope of eternal life and salvation to come, that wonderful hope
of life in the world to come, that wonderful hope of being
spared death, that wonderful hope of being cleansed from all
your iniquity, for being righteous before God, that wonderful hope
that when you come to stand before Him, when you die, when you pass
into the next world, that you will stand before God and you
can boldly say that Christ my Saviour died for me. I have been
washed in His blood. He, Lord, is my only hope. Save me for Jesus' sake. Hear me for Christ's sake. Oh
what a hope, is that your hope? Or do you face death with a fearful
looking for judgment? Do you expect to be judged for
your sins? Or has God made you hear the
gospel? and open your ears, and cause
you to behold Christ upon that cross, and cause you to hear
his voice calling your name, come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Have you called? have you called upon him who
in the place of sinners, dying that they should live, cried
out to his God, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Amen.