Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neiberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Niber. Psalm 22 has been called by many
the psalm of the cross. Let me read a few verses from
it and you'll see why I say that. These are the words of the Lord
and he says, they gaped upon me beginning in verse 13 with
their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I'm poured out
like water and 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 and my tongue cleaves to my jaws.
Thou hast 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. These are the words of
the Lord Jesus. I may tell all my bones, they
look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them
and cast lots upon my vesture. It was foretold that this would
take place. So you see why this is called
the Psalm of the Cross. And in the first verse we read,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And why art thou
so far from helping me? And the words of my roaring."
Now, David is speaking, Did David know that he was speaking prophetically
the words that the greater son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ,
would cry from the cross? When he cried, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? I don't know if David knew that
these would be the words of Christ from the cross. Perhaps he knew,
but David was speaking as he felt. He felt as though he himself
had been forsaken by God. Now, I know what it's like to
feel that I've been cast off by God because of my sin, not
because of unfaithfulness on God's part, but I know what it
is to feel like I've been cast off and that he's forsaken me
because of my sin. And I believe David felt that
way. Every believer has felt that
way before. When we feel like because of
our sin, we've been cast off and that's what we deserve. David
says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now, the Lord
Jesus Christ never sinned. For 33 years, Jesus of Nazareth
lived a perfect life in continual communion with his father. He
never sinned. The father said of him, this
is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. He could say of
himself, I do always those things that please the Father. He could
say to those who were against him, which of you can convince
me of sin? They could not do it. Yet his
friend Judas betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver, the equivalent
of about $18, and his father didn't help him. Remember what
David said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why are
you so far from helping me? And from the words of my roaring. As he's brought before the high
priest and falsely accused and mocked and mistreated and abused,
his father did not help him. Peter denies that he knows him,
and all the disciples forsake him. And his father did not help
him. He's brought before Pilate, then
Herod, back to Pilate again, beaten, scourged. They hit him
in the face with a reed. They spit on him. They put a
crown of thorns on his head and mock him. And his father did
not help him. He's condemned to be crucified,
and he's led away to be nailed to a cross, and his father does
not help him. They nail him to a cross. They
lift it up in the stand, and there he is all by himself. And His Father does not help
Him. Now while He was on the cross,
all of a sudden, the whole area, was it regional or all over the
world? I don't know, but there was thick darkness. The sun ceased
shining. It refused to shine in protest
as it saw its Maker nailed to a cross. And there was nothing
but darkness. I feel quite sure that the people
were scared to death. What is this? Perhaps all you
could hear was the moans and groans of the three men nailed
to a cross in agony and pain. And from that darkness, after
three hours of darkness, we read in Matthew chapter 27, Verse
45, Now from the sixth hour there was darkness all over the land
until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus
cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, which
is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now I've entitled this message,
Why Was He Forsaken? Now, the fact that darkness was
over the land lets us know that there's not much we can really
understand about what was going on. This was a transaction between
the Father and the Son, and there's much that we really can't understand. darkness. If we could understand
it, there wouldn't be that much to it, would there? If we could
fully comprehend what was taking place. But these puny minds can't
get a hold of it. But we can see some things. Why
was He forsaken? Now when our Lord cried out from
the darkness, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? This
was His lowest point. And it was also the height of
his obedience to his father. Now I have three very simple
points to this message. First, the reality of him being
forsaken by his father. Second point is the reason he
was forsaken. And the third point is the result
of him being forsaken by his father. First, the reality of
the Savior being forsaken. Now when David said this in Psalm
22, he felt as if he'd been forsaken, but he was not forsaken. You see, the Lord never forsakes
His people. He says, I will never leave thee,
nor forsake thee. David felt as if he'd been forsaken,
but God would never forsake any of His people for any reason,
because they're accepted in the Beloved. David was not forsaken,
but the Lord Jesus Christ was truly forsaken by God. The physical suffering, who can
begin to imagine what it would be like to be nailed to a cross,
to have your beard ripped out and the crown of thorns pressed
upon your head. He'd been beaten with the cat
of nine tails and his visage was marred more than the sons
of men. You couldn't even recognize him as he hung there on the cross. Who can tell of the physical
sufferings, but the soul suffering was infinitely worse. He was
forsaken by his friends. He was forsaken by his disciples,
left alone. Matthew 26, 56 says, Then all
the disciples forsook him and fled. He had no helper. He was
forsaken by God, abandoned, deserted, He went through all of this without
the presence of His Father. Now for 33 years, actually for
eternity, He had enjoyed the presence of His Father, communion
with His Father, and now His Father forsakes Him. At this
time, now listen to me real carefully, at this time He was suffering
what a damned soul would suffer. cut off, abandoned by God, left
to Himself. And the pain of this was much
more acute for Him because of who He was. He was suffering
what a damned soul would suffer. And at this time, He could not
even call God His Father. He didn't say, My Father, My
Father, why have You forsaken Me? He said, My God, My God,
why have You forsaken Me? You see, damned souls would never
address God as Father, and He is suffering all that a damned
soul would suffer. My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me? He lost all light, all communion. He was cut off and shown no mercy. nothing but his father's awful
frown and righteous indignation. He was forsaken by God. Now while he was hanging on the
cross in physical pain, emotional and spiritual pain, he was doing
so alone, forsaken by God. Now listen to me. God didn't
say, son, I know these sins are not yours, they belong to somebody
else, but I'm treating you as if they were your sins. Not at
all. Not at all. He was forsaken by
God. You know, there would be a bit
of nobility in thinking, well, I'm suffering for sins I didn't
commit, and I'm doing it for them. If you were thinking that
way, there would be some relief. He didn't, he couldn't think
to himself, I'm suffering for sins that belong to somebody
else. These sins became his sins. He became guilty of these sins. When the sins of God's elect
were placed upon him, they became his sins and he owned them as
such. He said, my iniquities have gone
over my head as a heavy burden, they're too heavy for me. He
said that prophetically in the Psalms with regard to Himself
speaking that yes David was saying it, but these are the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ as well He couldn't say well at least
these sins are not my sins. No he knew he was guilty He didn't
have any of his people saying we know you're doing this for
us, and we love you for it. No he was all alone completely
forsaken forsaken by his disciples and but forsaken by men, forsaken
by God. How truly isolated and alone
he was. Now, why was he forsaken? He really was forsaken by God.
Why was he forsaken so? Here's the answer to that question. Because I deserve to be forsaken
like that. That's why he was forsaken. That
is what I deserve. As the sinner substitute, he
bore the sins that I deserve to be forsaken for. First Peter
2.24 says, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the
tree. Now, I don't know how that is,
but it is. God took the sins of his people
and he placed them in his son and his son became guilty of
those sins and deserved to be completely forsaken by God because
of sin. He was guilty before God. Why
was he forsaken? Because that is exactly what
I personally deserve. You see, he did what he did as
a representative man. He so identified with His people,
I think of that scripture Matthew 121, Thou shalt call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. He so
identified with His people that their sins became His sins. You see, for His righteousness
to become mine, And if I'm saved, His righteousness does become
mine, and I'm the very righteousness of God in Him. If I'm saved,
but for His righteousness to become really mine, to where
it actually is my own personal righteousness, my sin had to
become His personal sin. God is just, and God will by
no means clear the guilty. Christ was guilty, and God punished
Him for sin. For God to have heard him or
have helped him at this time would have been contrary to divine
justice. God said, I will by no means
clear the guilty. And He will by no means clear
the guilty. Christ was guilty. The reason
I'm spared is because I have no guilt before God. If I had
any guilt, He wouldn't spare me. Christ bore my guilt. Christ
bore my sin. And He suffered the awful wrath
of God, the wages of sin, His death. He was made sin and forsaken. He must be. The reason He was
forsaken is because that is what I deserve. He was forsaken because
this was God's eternal purpose. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ,
and here's another one of the great mysteries of the Scripture,
the Lord Jesus Christ is called in Revelation 13.8, the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Before the creation
of the world, there we have the Lamb slain. And it doesn't say
the Lamb who would be slain. It says the Lamb having already
been slain. You see, in God's mind, in God's
purpose, in the vast transcendent God, everything is right now. And Christ, before time began,
was the Lamb slain. But here's what's so special
about this. Before there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. And God's elect have always been
viewed in the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
As a matter of fact, Ephesians 1 verse says, according as he
has chosen us in him, the lamb slain in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him. You know, when Peter was preaching
on Pentecost, he began here. This is not where men begin,
but this is where God begins. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, Peter said, you have taken
and with wicked hands have crucified and slain, but it was because
he was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. We read in Acts chapter 4 where the early church said,
Christ was forsaken because it was God's eternal purpose. He
was forsaken that the scriptures might be fulfilled. You see, when David said, My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was saying this prophetically.
This is what the Lord is going to say from the cross. And like
I said, Psalm 22, in this very same psalm, he says, They pierced
my hands and my feet. cast lots for my garment." All
of this was foretold. Everything that he did, he did
that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Now, these men, when they were
casting lots for his garment, they didn't know that they were
fulfilling Scripture. They were doing that because
they wanted his garment, and they didn't want to tear it up. It was worth something,
and so they were just casting lots to see who would get it.
But they didn't know they were fulfilling Scripture. But if
you look at the events surrounding The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
Christ, it's almost like everybody read, what do we do next? Okay,
here it is. Because everything is foretold.
He did what he did that the scriptures might be fulfilled. Why was he forsaken? Oh, I love
this. He was forsaken, and listen real
carefully to this. He was forsaken by God that he
might glorify God. Now, how is that? How could God
forsaking him be for his glory? Well, the Lord said in John chapter
17, Father, the hour has come. Speaking of his death, Father,
the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son
might also glorify thee. You see, when the Lord Jesus
Christ was forsaken by his father, all the attributes of God were
magnified. Now how can that be? How can
that be? When God forsook His Son, God
demonstrated His absolute holiness and righteousness and justice,
how He will not let sin go unpunished. God is just. God is righteous. All wrongdoing shall be paid
for. Nobody's going to get by with
a thing. God is going to be just, and
He's going to punish all sin. But not only do we see God's
justice magnified, we see God's grace magnified, that God would
give His Son like this for sinners, men who deserve, women who deserve
to be forsaken by Him. He would give up His only begotten
and well-beloved Son and have Him die for those sinners. What
grace! What marvelous, loving kindness! Who can get a hold of the love
of God in Christ Jesus that He would give His Son for such sinful
men and women? Oh, how we see the wisdom of
God magnified! God has made a way. to be just,
to be utterly righteous, and yet justify someone who is unjust
and sinful. You see, by virtue of Christ
dying on the cross, God has done something for Himself. He's made
a way for Himself to be just, righteous, let no sin go unpunished,
and yet receive and forgive and justify sinners. What wisdom,
what power God displays in putting away the sins of His people. When Christ said, it is finished,
my sin was put away. It's no more. It's gone. He put it away. Why was he forsaken? Because of his love to his people. Now, I have a wife and a daughter. I love them dearly. If my daughter
committed a crime, if I could take her place, I would. If I
could be sentenced in her place, I would. If I could go to jail
for her, I would. But that wouldn't be just, would
it? Because she's the one who committed the crime. If my wife
became seriously ill, if I would, I would take her sickness to
myself. I love her. I'd rather it be me than her.
But I can't do that. But the Lord Jesus Christ can. He can do all that. He took my
sins and my sorrows. He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. Oh, the love that the Lord Jesus
Christ has to His people. Now, when I think of Him loving
me, I have to say with the songwriter
of old, I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene
and wonder how he could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean. I know this, the reason for his
love to me is not found in me, it's found in his own great heart
of love. Having loved his own which were
in the world, he loved them to the end. Why was he forsaken? because I deserve to be and he
took my place. Why was he forsaken? Because
it was God's eternal purpose. Why was he forsaken? To fulfill
the scriptures. Why was he forsaken? To glorify
God. Why was he forsaken? Because
of the love he had to his people. Now, the last question I want
us to consider is what is the result of him being forsaken? He really was forsaken by God. And there were reasons for Him
being forsaken. But what is the result of Him
being forsaken? Now, the Lord Jesus Christ died. While He was on that cross, the
God-man died. There's another great mystery.
How could He die in the first place? Because of who He was.
But He did. The God-man died. God can't die, man can't satisfy,
the God-man did both. The God-man died, and he was
dead for three days. What happened during that time,
I have no idea. But I know this, when he opened
his eyes, when he was raised from the dead, the scripture
says he was delivered for our offenses, and he was raised again
for our justification. Now here is the result of him
dying, the salvation of everybody he died for. When He said, It
is finished, their salvation was finished. And God tells the
prophet Isaiah to tell, He says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, saying to her, Her warfare is
accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned. She
is received of the Lord's hand, double for all her sins. You
see, Christ Jesus was not making salvation available if we do
something. He was saving. and everybody
he died for must be saved. That's the result of his being
forsaken by God. I love it there in Luke 9, verse
31, when Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration,
and they spake of the decease which he should accomplish. You
see, he accomplished something by his death, the complete salvation
of all of his people. Now everybody he died for will
never be forsaken. He said, I'll never leave thee
nor forsake thee, and he's made it to where they won't forsake
him. Jeremiah 32, 40 says, I'll make an everlasting covenant
with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good,
but I'll put my fear in their hearts and they shall not depart
from me. You see, because he was forsaken,
all of God's people are completely saved. I can't get any more saved
than I am. Hebrews 10.14 says, By one offering,
talking about his death, when he was forsaken by God as the
sinner's substitute, for by one offering he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Thank God that He was forsaken
and that He accomplished the salvation of all of His people
by Him being forsaken. Listen to this scripture. II
Corinthians 5.21 says, For He hath made Him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Because he was forsaken, every
believer is made the very righteousness of God. Believer, don't look
for a thing from yourself. Look to him only. Don't look for a thing from yourself. You look to Him right now, that
one hanging on a cross, the one who hung on a cross, being forsaken
by God and accomplished salvation. You look to Him and understand
that the only way you can be saved is by what He did. Don't look to yourself, don't
look to your works, don't try to make yourself presentable
to God. You look to the Lord Jesus Christ, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. In Lamentations 1, verse
12, these are the words of the Lord speaking prophetically.
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see
whether there be any sorrow like my sorrow, which is done unto
me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. He says, is this nothing to you
now? It's either nothing to you or it's everything to you. And how God meets you is gonna
be seen right here, whether it's nothing to you or whether it's
everything to you. Now we have this message on DVD
or CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniper praying that
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's our prayer. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.