But I'll tell you a little something
about stubborn. I never saw anybody mount to
anything that wasn't a little bit stubborn. And your pastor
is a determined man. I'm thankful for it. And sadly,
our determination overflows in other areas sometimes, but I'm
certain God will graciously give him some compliance with doctor's
orders. and so thankful for the good report concerning him. Matt,
that was outstanding. Just outstanding. I think you've
been listening to Jerry Lee Lewis. You'll find out after a while.
You have to have a little Southern culture to understand that. Turn
with me to Psalm 22. Psalm 22. In the hours preceding our Lord's
execution at the hands of wicked men, he kept the last Passover
with his disciples. The time had come when the true
Passover must be sacrificed, and he said, with desire, I have
desired to eat this Passover with you. What a strange way
of expressing himself, with passion, with earnestness. I have desired
to eat this Passover with you, because this is the time when
the Passover must be sacrificed, the law must be fulfilled, justice
must be satisfied, my people shall be redeemed." And he went
to Gethsemane, anticipating the horror of being
made sin for us. and cried, My God, O my Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." Paul tells us
by divine inspiration, he cried unto God and was heard because
he feared. What a the God-man in anticipation of
being made sin for us, his holy soul quaked within him. He cried three times, ìIf it
be possible, let this cup pass from me. I wonít attempt to explain
what I canít understand.î He was determined to suffer for
us, but as he anticipates being made sin, He sweats, great drops
of blood falling to the ground. His holy heart was crushed within
him. He's dragged off to Gabbatha,
keeps his mouth shut before Pilate in the judgment hall where they
beat him, mock him, deride him. And there, Peter denies and forsakes
him. But not just Peter, so did they
all. He was left alone as he's numbered
with the transgressors. And he's taken to Golgotha's
cursed hill. And in that place of filth, that
place of death, that place of the skull outside the camp, that
place of uncleanness, The Son of God suffers at the
hands of wicked men, men and women who would have nothing
to do with one another in any other circumstances. The Pharisees
and the scribes and the Sadducees and the harlots and the drunks
and the vile, the street people around them all joined in one
hellish party, poking fun at the Son of God, laughing at Him,
deriding Him, mocking Him. He saved others himself he cannot
save. Leave him alone. Let's see if
Elijah will have him. Let's see what will happen. And
laughing at him, wagging their tongues like silly school children
while he suffered brutal, brutal agony at the hands of men. But
of something he suffered more than any man could heap upon
him. more than any tongue can begin
to describe. He was made sin for us, who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. If you'd like to read when you
get home tonight, and I would urge you to read it while it's
fresh on your mind, this 22nd Psalm, As you read the psalm,
I'm sure you've already asked yourself many times, reading
through this psalm, like Philip did of Isaiah 53, of whom speaketh
the prophet these things, himself or some other man. He's speaking
of some other man. These first 22 verses of Psalm
22, are words recorded by divine inspiration by God the Holy Spirit
inspiring his servant David to write about David's great son
and describing for us that conversation, that one-sided conversation from
his agonizing soul that the Son of God had with his father when
he suffered as our substitute at Calvary. Everything here is
recorded prophetically. They are the very words spoken
by our blessed Savior as He hung on the tree. Here we see both
the darkness and the glory of the cross, both the sufferings
of our Savior and the glory that would follow as a result of His
sufferings. May God give us grace to look
at the psalm reverently. I'm going to try to deal with
some things tonight that need to be clearly grasped by us,
but I assure you will not be understood by you or the one
preaching to you, not while we walk in this world. And we will
not enter into vain conjecture and speculation and handle these
sacred things with idle curiosity, but rather let's see what the
Son of God says and why. Let's begin in verse one. When
our Savior hung upon the cursed tree as our substitute, when
he who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. Now remember, he is now at the
apex of his obedience. He is now at the climax of his
obedience to the will of the Father. He came to do the Father's
will, and now He's come to the very pinnacle of obedience. And as He hangs upon the tree
in obedience to His Father, in the hour of His greatest sorrow
and in the hour of His greatest need, He cries, My God, My God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me? Now, that's the question I want
to address this evening. And I said, address, not answer.
Answer it, I can't. Declare it, I must. Why was he
forsaken? And we're not left to speculate
about why he was forsaken. Our all-glorious Redeemer tells
us how utterly forsaken he was. So utterly forsaken that the
father refused to hear the cries of his own darling son in his
hour of greatest need. Look at it. 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
am not silent." I read those words with utter
astonishment. What must have been going on
in his heart? I recall when I was about eight
or nine years old, it was probably the only time I ever tried to
do anything in my life just to please my father. He was on the
road a lot, drove a truck, and they had a tool shed. And I decided
I'd clean it up for him. And I spent the day cleaning
it up, knowing he was coming home. I mean, I worked a Trojan
day's work. I stayed with it all day. And
I had that thing spotless. And along with other things that
I did, he had a, Several boxes of things, you know, nails and
screws and washers, little ones and big ones and bolts and nuts. They were taking up a lot of
room on the table. So I put them all in one big box. And I was
so anxious for him to see what I'd done. And believe me, to
this day I wish he hadn't seen it and wish I hadn't done it. But you cannot imagine. how heartbroken
I was with His disappointment and anger. This hurt a whole
lot more than what He gave me on my backside. And I can still
show you some scars from what He gave me on my backside, literally. Our Savior, when He has perfectly done His
Father's will, is forsaken of Him. Forsaken. He cries in the daytime. You won't hear Him. He roars! His Father is silent. You won't
hear Him. I can't begin to imagine these
things, but these things are written here for our learning.
that we through patience and consolation of the scriptures
might have hope. And I hang all the hope of my
immortal soul upon this one thing. 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, he bore them away. And yet when we read
the third verse, our holy Savior, when he was made sin for us,
answers the cry of his own soul's agony. The father has turned
his back on him and he cries, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? But thou art holy, O thou that
inhabitest the praises of Israel. Why was the Lord Jesus 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. Our Savior was forsaken
of the Father when He was made sin for us because justice demanded
it. Thou art of purer eyes than to
behold evil, the prophet said, and canst not look upon iniquity."
Here in this third verse, when our Savior was dying under the
wrath of God, He justifies God in His own condemnation. because
he was made sin for us. He proclaims the holiness of
God in the midst of his agony. He is so pure, so holy, so righteous,
so just, that he will by no means clear the guilty, even when the
one made guilty is his own darling son. He will by no means clear
the guilty. Our Savior, who knew no sin,
who had no sin of his own, who was born without original sin,
who even from his birth is that Holy One throughout his life,
who knew no sin and did no sin, and in him is no sin. Yet on
Calvary, the Holy Lord God made him sin for us, who knew no sin,
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 the redemption
of our souls, the Son of God was made sin for us. Made sin. I don't know how God
could be made flesh and never cease to be God, but He was. I've read a few theology books
in my time. I understand what folks say about
hypostatic union and all those things. And you know why I think
they invent big words that nobody can understand? Because they
haven't got a clue what they're talking about. Not a clue. God was made flesh and dwelt among us. I don't know
how all the fullness of the infinite, incomprehensible God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit can dwell in the body of that man who lived,
died, and rose for us, but it does. In Him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. And I don't know how God, who
is life, can die and yet never die, but He did. Is that what
the book says? God purchased the church with
his own blood, what the book says. And I sure don't know how
he who knew no sin could be made sin, though he never sinned,
but he was. These things are mysteries beyond
the reach of human comprehension, but they are facts of divine
revelation. to which we bow with adoration
and wonder. I realize this is difficult for
some folks to get hold of. And it might be difficult for
some of you, I hope not. God's bigger than we are. Did you get that? He's just a
little bigger than our puny brains. He condescends to speak to us
in human terms about himself, telling us, using words describing
himself that can't possibly identify him as God. The hand of the Lord,
where is it? The arm of the Lord, where is
it? He condescends to speak to us about covenant grace and covenant
mercy and covenant redemption and speaking to us in the language
of men just so we can get some little apprehension of who He
is and what He's done for us. But don't ever get the notion
you're going to figure God out. It's not going to happen. It's
not going to happen. Just as soon as you think you've
got something figured out, I promise you, you're going to find a monkey
wrench in the works going to mess everything up. It's just
not going to happen. Turn with me, if you will, to
Psalm 40. As we look at the Scriptures,
both with regard to this awesome thing, why was he forsaken, and
with regard to anything else. Now listen carefully. Listen
carefully. I understand a little something
about logic and philosophy and so on. Read what the Scriptures
say. and believe what the scriptures
say, and rejoice in what the scriptures say, whether you can
get hold of it or not. You see, understanding comes
by believing. Believing never comes by understanding. I said that the way I meant it.
Understanding comes by believing. Believing never comes by understanding.
Give you an example. If I knew that I had the scientific
knowledge and brilliance, I could sit down with some evolutionary
scientist, well-known, and I could convince him factually that evolution
is a joke and creation is real, I wouldn't spend five seconds
trying to convince him. Not five seconds. Because he'll
never believe God just because I've convinced him. But if ever
he comes to believe God, He'll laugh at evolution and believe
God, and understand that the worlds were framed by the Word
of God. In the beginning, God made the
heavens and the earth. All right, so here's Psalm 40.
Here again, we're allowed to hear the agony of our blessed
Redeemer's soul when he was made sin for us. Here, his language
is even more specific in declaring that our sins are made his. Here
again the Lord Jesus calls our sins his own because he hath
made him sin for us. Now the one speaking in the psalm,
beyond any question, is our Lord Jesus Christ himself. We know
that because God the Holy Spirit, who wrote this psalm, I know
David wrote it, he wrote it as he was carried along by God the
Holy Spirit, who also wrote the tenth chapter of Hebrews, tells
us in Hebrews chapter 10 that the one speaking in Psalm 40
is Jesus Christ the Lord. So there's no question about
who's talking here. Our Lord Jesus knew that being made sin
for us, he would be brought into a horrible pit and filled with
distress. And yet his love for us is so
great that in verse 7 he declares his readiness to assume a body
and to accomplish his father's will in the salvation of his
people, agreeably to the terms of the covenant of grace made
with the father before the world was. And he says in the volume
of the book, Lo, I come, I delight to do thy will, O my God. Skip down to verse 11. withhold not thy tender mercies
from me, O Lord. Let thy lovingkindness and thy
truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me. This is
much the same as what is said in John chapter 12. 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 the Son of God
brought to such sorrow and grief? Here's his answer. He hath made him sin for us. Indeed. He could never have suffered
the wrath of God as our substitute. He could never have suffered
the unmitigated vengeance and fury of the Holy Lord God had
he not been made sin for us. And the word made, with reference
to our Lord Jesus being made sin, not one time is it a legal
term. Not one time. Somebody said,
he made sin by imputation. No, no. He was made sin, and
our sins imputed to him because he was made sin. And there's
a huge difference. Listen to this. The Lord God
declares twice, he that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth
the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord. Justice
cannot impute sin where there is no sin. Justice cannot impute
righteousness where there is no righteousness. And God Almighty
gives us the imputation of righteousness because we're made the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ. And He charged our Savior with
our sins, because He was made sin for us. Hear our Savior's
words in Psalm 40, verse 12, and worship Him. Innumerable
evils have compassioned me about. Our sins were innumerable, and
so were His griefs. From every quarter, all the accumulated
sins of all God's people for all time in all parts of the
world, all the sins of God's elect at one time made to be
His. The blessed One of God who knew
no sin and did no sin is made sin. Read on. My God, I can't grasp that. My
iniquities, He owns them His just as really
as He owns Himself Jehovah's Servant. My iniquities have taken
hold on me. They seized me so that I'm not
able to look up. I can't lift my head to heaven
and call on You, my God. He had no sin. But our sins were
laid on Him. He took them as His own and He
was made sin. And the transfer of sin to the
Savior was real and produced in Him as a man the horror which
forbade Him to look up into the face of God, bowing Him down
to the dust, crushing Him with anguish and woe intolerable. Oh, my soul. What must my sins have done to
me? Had God found them on me and
crushed my soul to the lowest hell forever? He was made sin. And when He was made sin for
us, oh, marvelous depth of love The immaculate, holy Lamb of
God, standing in the sinner's place, is made sin for us, and
He bears in His body with infinite satisfaction all the horrid hell
of grief that conscious souls suffer forever in hell by reason
of sin. There are more than the hairs
of my nails. Therefore, my heart faileth me. when our Lord Jesus was in Gethsemane
and He cries unto God with agony. How can you possibly understand
the agony of His soul as anything other than the anticipation of
being made sin? Tom Wooten, you don't have a
clue what sin is. It's so much what we are, we
don't understand it. We don't have a clue what sin
is before the Holy Lord God. Not a clue. Not a clue. And what we find ourselves to
be when exposed to us by God the Holy Spirit through His Word,
it crushes our hearts. Here is the only man who ever
walked on God's earth, who knew exactly what sin is before the
Holy Lord God, because this man is God, and he's about to be
made sin. And his heart broke within him. Somehow, I cannot imagine acquiring
the debt of another breaking my heart. no matter what the
debt is, no matter what it costs now. Paying somebody else's debt
is not going to crush your soul. Paying somebody else's debt is
not going to break your heart. Yes, thank God, he paid a debt
he did not owe. But he was made sin for us. And justice would never have
demanded the debt be paid by him if he wasn't made to owe
the debt. He was made sin for us. Mine iniquities, he says, are
more than the hairs of my head. But back in Psalm 22 again, as
he hung upon the cursed tree, bearing our sins in his own body,
he cried, verse 6, I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men
and despised of the people. I'm glad you remember what he
said to Jacob, to you, my brother Jacob. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob, for I have redeemed thee." And
this is how he did it. He said, I'm a worm and no man. I was made. I made myself to
be. And I was made. I willingly assumed
that I was made exactly and everything you are for you. And in being
made a worm, A reproach of men and despise
of the people. Verse 14, I am poured out like
water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart, like wax,
is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried
up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou
hast brought me into the dust of death. It was the thought,
the anticipation, of being made sin for us that caused his bloody sweat
in Gethsemane. It was the fact that he was made
sin for us that caused him to be forsaken of the Father as
he hung upon the curse tree. And David understood exactly
what he was writing. Sometimes folks, and I've been
guilty myself, look at the psalms and I think, Surely they didn't
understand what they were talking about. David understood what
he was talking about. Look at Psalm 40, verse 5. He's overwhelmed
by it. Many, O Lord my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy faults which are
to us sworn. They cannot be reconducted in
order unto thee. If I were to declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be remembered. Now, there are
many who tell us these words can't be the words of our Savior.
when in verse 12 he says, My iniquities have taken hold upon
me, and I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs
of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me. Some in their foolish
arrogance even assert that it is blasphemy or heresy to declare
that these are the words of our Savior. But in doing so, they
defy God Himself. These are the things written
in the book of God and put by inspiration in the mouth of the
Son of God. Now, I try to be careful not
to put my words in somebody else's mouth. I've had a little experience. I have fellows all the time,
and they'll say what Don meant to say was, and they'll tell
you what I meant to say. And I won't stand up and scream.
I meant to say exactly what I said. If I wanted to say otherwise,
I wouldn't be bashful by saying it. God the Holy Spirit puts
these words in the mouth of God the Son, our Redeemer. Look in
Psalm 69. Again, there can be no question
that the one speaking throughout the psalm is our blessed Savior.
If you read the New Testament and compare the references back
to Psalm 69, nine times, nine times in the New Testament, nine
times, references made to the 69th Psalm. And every time, the
psalm is referred to as speaking the words of our Savior. Every
single time. Look in Psalm 69, verse 1. Save
me, O God, for the waters have come in unto my soul. I sink
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. My 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 back
what I took not away." Now tell me, anybody, anybody, whose words
are those? Whose words are they? Clearly,
our Master said, they hated me without a cause. They're my enemies
wrongfully. Those are His words, aren't they? No man with honesty can deny
that these are also his words. O God, thou knowest my foolishness. The word is perversity. And my
sins, to have a marginal translation, the word is guiltiness. O God,
thou knowest my perversity and my guiltiness are not hid from
thee. The first Adam, when he stood before God, sinful, attempted to hide his
sin from God with a fake leaf of his old making. The last Adam,
when he bare our sins in his own body on the tree, when he
was made sin for us, speaks to God, his Father, in heaven. He says, O God, you know my perversity. My guiltinesses are not hid from
thee, as if to speak A word of confession as our great high
priest of God our Father for us publicly before all heaven,
earth and hell. He acknowledges himself our head
and representative and acknowledges and confesses our sins for which
he is suffering the wrath of God. Oh, what grace, what unparalleled
love, what mysteries are here. When the Lamb of God was made
sin for us, He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him, it behooved Him thus to suffer and to cry, O
my God, Thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from
Thee. But read on. I want you to understand all
the while All the while, his heart sticks
on us. In verse 6, as he suffers the
horrid wrath of God as our substitute, he intercedes for us before God. Look at it. Let not them that
wait on thee, O Lord of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. Let not
those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. And his prayers are heard. Listen
to the gospel promise to you, Joe. Listen to it. He that believeth
on me shall not be ashamed. He that believeth on me shall
not make haste. He that believeth on me shall
not be confounded. The Savior says, O Lord, now
I bear their sins. Let them never be ashamed who
look to me and build on this foundation. Verse 7. Again, our Savior claims our
sins and our reproaches as His own, as if to say these things
are not just pasted on Him, not that He is just simply treated
as though He were a sinner, but rather He has made sin for us
when His soul was made an offering for sin. Because for thy sake
I have borne reproach, shame hath covered my face. Verse 19. Thou hast known my reproach,
and my shame, and my dishonor, and mine adversaries are all
before thee." Was the reproach really his? Was the shame really
his? Was the dishonor heaped upon
him, really dishonor heaped upon him? Were the adversaries really
his adversaries? Well, of course, Brother Don.
Who would ever imagine thinking otherwise? I can't imagine. Reproach hath broken mine heart. I am full of heaviness. I looked
for some to take pity, but there was none. For comforters, but
I found none. And my reproach made his reproach
breaks his heart. And he suffered and died alone.
In the light of that, turn to Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63. Who is this that cometh from
Edom, with thy garments from Basra? This that is glorious
in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength?
I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art
thou led in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth
in the wine vat? I trodden the wine-breasts alone,
and of the people there was none with me. For I will tread them
in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall
be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my
redeemed is come, and the two are identical." The day of vengeance. When all
the fury of God is poured out to the full satisfaction of justice
is in my heart. And this is the year of my redeem. He promised I will remove the
iniquity of that land in one day. And he says it's come. Read
on. And I looked, and there was none
to help. And I wondered that there was
none to uphold. Where are you now, Peter? James,
John, where are you? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Therefore mine own arm brought
salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me. Oh, thanks be unto
God for His unspeakable gift. No wonder Paul called it unspeakable. unspeakable. Do you understand
what we've read in these three Psalms? Do you here see Christ
as your surety, your sin bearer, taking all your guilt, all your
sin, assuming total responsibility for all that you are and all
that you have done and all that you will do? Do you see Him made
a curse for you? Do you see Him as your substitute? Your surety? Your Savior? Do you trust your immortal soul
on this Redeemer? If so, let your soul be ravished
in His love and adore Him and praise Him. Come back to Psalm
22 again. Verse 23. Ye that fear the Lord Call ye the seed of Jacob, glorify
him, and fear him, all ye seed of Israel. For he hath not despised
nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he
hid his face from him. But when he cried unto him, he
heard. Verse 46, The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall
praise the Lord that seek him. Your heart shall live forever. A seed shall serve Him. Somebody
is going to hear Him and believe Him and bow to Him. It shall
be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come
and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born
that He hath done it. Oh, blessed Lord Jesus, how I
thank You. for standing in my room instead. Being made sin for me. And bearing all the hell of God's
unmitigated wrath for my sin. Until justice sovereign is swallowed
up in your holy being. never to be exposed again. For
with one tremendous draft of love, drinking damnation dry
for me. Wonder of wonders. He hath made him sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. And just as really as he was
made sin, we are made the righteousness of God in him. And just as justly
as he was rewarded for sin with the fury of God's wrath when he was made sin, We shall be rewarded with all
the glory and bliss of eternal life in heavenly glory with Him,
because we fully deserve it, being made the righteousness
of God in Him. Amen. Thank you.