When I come to a scripture such
as Psalm 22 we have this evening, remember when Moses approached
that burning bush and the voice out of that burning bush spoke,
take off your shoes, this is holy ground. That's the way I
feel when I read this. Take off your shoes, this is
holy ground. This is talking about the intimate agony suffering and pain of the
Lord Jesus Christ to save such as we are. To save such as we
are. That's amazing grace. That's
amazing love, is it not? That thou, my God, should die
for me. Now, the title of this message
is just going to simply be the Psalm of the Cross. The one that
the Apostle Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing among you but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Without Christ crucified, we
would still be under the wrath and judgment of Almighty God.
Without Christ crucified, we'd have no righteousness before
God. Without Christ crucified, we'd have no redemption from
our sin. It is absolutely necessary. And
thank God in His mercy, the Lord Jesus Christ stood as a lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. And in the fullness
of time, he came to fulfill all that God had purposed, him being
delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God. Wicked men took him and crucified him. That is true.
But they only did what God determined before to be done. It wasn't
what wicked men did that's our hope. They did their worst. They drove the nails in his feet
his hands and in his feet. They pierced his side with a
spear. But it wasn't what wicked men
did that's our hope. They plucked out his beard. They
spit in his face. They crushed his brow with a
thorns fashioned in a crown and blood ran down his face. But
it wasn't what men did that's our hope. It's what God was doing
at the cross. You see the difference? You see
the hand of God. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Yeah, it pleased Pilate. It pleased Herod, the Jews and
the Gentiles, the Romans, the religious Jews. Pilate said,
behold your king. We have no king but Caesar. Remember,
there was a Jewish tradition that at the Passover, they would
release a prisoner. The Romans would release a prisoner. Remember, there's a man named
Barabbas who was a scoundrel. And they released Barabbas. They
said, give us Barabbas. Pilate said, what about this
guy over here? Crucify him. Crucify him. That just sums up
how depraved our human nature is. Give us a thief, a robber,
and a murderer. You give that robber to us, and
that one who is the lovely son of God, you kill him. Don't tell
me we're not depraved. Say, well, if I'd been there,
I wouldn't have done that. Yes, you would. We were there. Our sins were laid upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. God made him to be sin for us.
Now this Psalm, Psalm 22, along with Psalm 69, are both all about
the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified, dying for our sins
according to the scriptures. The old commentators, when they
write about these two Psalms, And I'm sure they're right about
this. But these two Psalms, Psalm 22 and Psalm 69, are the most
quoted Old Testament scriptures that are found in the New Testament.
In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These two Psalms are quoted more
than any other place in the Psalms or in Isaiah. These two Psalms.
You see, God makes much of the death of his beloved son. Remember
our Lord said in Luke 24, all things must be fulfilled which
are written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and Psalms
concerning me. All things must be fulfilled.
He dies for our sins according to the Scriptures. Now, indeed,
this is the gospel psalm, but haven't we seen, as we've studied
through these psalms, that all these psalms are gospel psalms?
They all tell us about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
psalm, like many others, all 150 psalms, they're full of the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This Psalm 22 consists
of, and you can make a division into two parts, In verse 1 down
through verse 22, his sufferings for the sin of his people. The
Lord laid down his life for the sheep, verse 1 down through verse
21. And then in verse 22 down through
verse 31, we see the glory that should follow and the blessedness
of that salvation that's accomplished by him. I love what it says in
verse 31, they shall come and shall declare his righteousness
unto a people that shall be born. The only reason we have eternal
life is because Christ died to put away our sin, that he hath
done this for us. Christ once suffered for our
sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. It is finished, he said, it is
finished, it's well done. Look at verse one, Psalm 22,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so
far from my salvation, from helping me? In the words of my groanings,
my crying, my roaring agony and pain. Now here we see the exact
words Our Lord repeats upon the cross. How did he know to repeat
this? Who do you think wrote Psalm
22? He doing everything he's doing to fulfill scripture? No
one can understand how God can forsake God. You've heard the
story of Martin Luther, the old reformer. He was sitting at his
desk, his study, most of one particular day. And he pushed
back his chair and slammed down on his desk and his wife said,
well, what's the matter? He read that verse. My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? And he said, no man can understand
how God can forsake God. That's what happened. That's
what happened. No one can understand how God
can forsake God. But we understand to some extent
why, because it says there in verse 3, thou art holy. God, holy, we read that Sunday,
didn't we? Isaiah 6, holy, holy, Lord God
Almighty. We can understand why God the
Father had to forsake God the Son. The Lord Jesus Christ was
actually made sin for us, actually became guilty for us. He bare our sin in his own body
on the tree. And when sin was found upon him,
We read in another prophecy, God too holy to look upon sin
with favor. He had to forsake him because
our sin was laid upon him. Over in Psalm 69, it says, the
reproaches of them that hath reproached thee are fallen upon
me. That's what happened at Calvary.
Our sin, the sin of God's people now, the sin of God's elect,
were laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. You remember Isaiah 53. You know what separated him from
his father? You remember Isaiah 59 verse
two, where it says, our sins have separated us from God. That's
what happened at Calvary. Would he bear our sin in his
own body on the tree? God is too holy to look upon
sin even when it's found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me
give you another scripture here. Look over here at Psalm 37. We know the Lord Jesus Christ
was a righteous Savior, right? Had no sin, knew no sin, did
no sin. Psalm 37, look at verse 25. I've been young, David said,
now I'm old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his
seed begging bread. Now that tells us something.
God will not forsake a righteous man. The Lord Jesus Christ on
Calvary 3 was really actually made to be sin for His people
and when sin was found on the Lord Jesus Christ and in the
Lord Jesus Christ, God had to forsake Him. God will never forsake a righteous
man that gives us some glimpse of what was going on while Christ
hung upon the cross. He was certainly a righteous
man. He never sinned in his person, never. But yet he cried, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? One of the old writers, someone
in the past, said, God has never and will never forsake a righteous
man, that is, his covenant children. But as a sin-bearing substitute,
Christ was so truly made sin that the Father forsook him.
In bearing our sins in his own body on a tree, he deserved to
be forsaken by God. It was the justice and righteousness
of God that caused the Father to forsake his son. But here's
a wonderful assurance. Just as Christ was truly made
sin, everybody he died for as a substitute and surety is made
the very righteousness of God in Christ. And the righteous
will never be forsaken. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
was forsaken, he'll never forsake us. You remember that? In Hebrews
chapter 13, he said, I'll never leave thee, I'll never forsake
thee. Because he was forsaken, being made sin for us, he'll
never forsake us. We are made, the right God made
him to be sin for us. Who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God. Get a hold of that. The righteousness of God in Christ. How righteous do you need to
be to stand before God? as righteous as God. That's why
your morality won't do. If righteousness is by your morality,
Christ died in vain. Now look at verse two. Oh my
God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hear us not. And in
the night season, and am not silent. There's no silence to
me. The Lord Jesus Christ was a man of prayer. Oftentimes,
he would leave his apostles and go out into a mountainside, and
there all night long, he'd pray unto the Lord, cry unto his Father,
cry unto his Father. Now, we know something about
prayer as believers, but not like that, not like that. Our Savior and surety and mediator,
intercessor never stopped praying for us. He prayed in the daytime
of his ministry in his life. He prayed in the night season
in the agony of his death. He was a man of prayer, even
though forsaken by the Father and made sin for us, he never
stopped interceding for his covenant people. Even right now, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He laid down his life for us,
risen again, delivered for our offenses, raised again for our
justification. What is a God-man mediator doing
sitting on the throne of God? He ever lived to intercede for
us right now. He's still praying for us. Father,
I will that all you've given me be with me where I am. that
they may behold my glory. He ever lived to intercede for
us right now. You remember we studied through the
book of Luke. One of the first things our Lord said upon Calvary's
tree when they nailed his body to the tree. You remember the
one that I think is the first thing he said? Father, forgive
them. There he praying for his people.
All those for whom he prayed for, Father, forgive them. They're
forgiven. Our sins are forgiven. Because
he ever lived to intercede for there's one mediator between
God and men, that's the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look
at verse three, and here we get a little indication of what's
going on, how the father can forsake his holy son because
his holy son was made sin for us. But thou art holy, O thou
that inhabitest the praises of Israel." God's church, God's
elect. Thou art holy. God is holy. Holy, holy, holy
Lord God Almighty. How holy is God? He destroyed the whole world,
except Noah and his family. God is holy. He burned Sodom
and Gomorrah to the ground. Why? God is holy. He's gonna
destroy this heaven and earth once again when he comes again.
Why? Because God is holy. But the
epitome of the holiness of God is seen when the Lord Jesus Christ
on Calvary's tree dies as a sinner's substitute, he bears the wrath
of God because God is holy. God is holy. The holy sword of
God's justice was plunged into the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. His justice. Thank God his justice
was vindicated and satisfied. You remember the prophecy in
Zechariah 13. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd.
That's the sword of God's justice. His holy justice against the
man that is my fellow. Say it, the Lord of hosts. Smite
the shepherd. That's what happened at Calvary.
That's what happened at the cross. Turn over here to Isaiah 53.
You remember? Isaiah 53 verse 10. Isaiah 53 verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He had put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. Thou shalt make his soul guilty
because of our sin. He shall see his seed. He shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.
By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities." That's what happened at Calvary's
cross. We see God Lovely son. We see God's love
giving his son for us. God so loved that he gave his
only begotten son. When John talks about love, here
in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us. He
sent his son to be the sacrifice for our sin. We see something
of God's love giving Christ as the sacrifice for our sin. But
we also see the holiness of God in forsaking him and then killing
him rather than the holiness of God be snubbed or slighted,
the Savior must pay the full penalty of sin, death, death. The guilty must die. The Lord
Jesus Christ died for us. The wages of sin is death. He
died for us. And the fruit of that is the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Lord
Jesus took all our sin, took all our guilt, took all the wrath
of God, took the curse. of the law due our sin and in
doing so made an end of sin, made an atonement for sin. Both
the penalty of the law, satisfied. The precept of the law, satisfied
by Christ and Him crucified. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. Curses, everyone continues,
not in all things, but are written in the book of the law to do
them. But he redeemed us from the curse of that law. The law
says the guilty must die. That's why he died. Guilty. Because of our sin. Over here in Psalm 40, our Lord
called our sin his. He said, they're more than the
hairs of my head. Our sin was so laid upon Him
and made to be one with Him that He identifies Himself. We don't
use the phrase that the Lord Jesus Christ was made a sinner.
We don't use that phrase because He never committed sin in His
person. What we do say, what the Scriptures say, the Lord
laid on Him the iniquity of us all. We do use the term God made
Him sin for us. He had no sin of his own. Now
look at verse four and five. Our fathers trusted in thee.
Psalm 22. Our fathers trusted in thee.
They trusted. They trusted. Our fathers, Abraham. Abraham believed God. It was
counted him but righteousness. Isaac, Jacob, Moses. They trusted
in thee. And you delivered them. They cried unto thee and you
delivered them. They trusted in thee and they
were not confounded or ashamed. And here the Lord Jesus Christ
dies to put away their sin. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Old Testament
believers, and countless others, Old Testament saints, were saved
by the anticipated merit of Christ's blood and righteousness being
shed. You remember the scripture. whom
God set forth to be the propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness that he might be just and the
justifier of them which believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, he
was set forth to be the propitiation, the mercy seat for our sin. He
was set forth. Now, if I remember right, That
word set forth, and I was quoting there from Romans chapter 3,
but that word that means set forth, he was set forth. If you look, don't look now,
but in Romans 3.25 where it says whom God set forth, it means
that he foreordained. He foreordained him to be the
sacrifice for our sin, the sacrifice for the sin of God's people.
Because Christ died for saints, Old Testament and New Testament
saints, and put away their sin, they by faith looking to Christ,
their surety, their savior, were able to live and die in faith.
They were delivered and saved by grace. They were not confounded. You remember Abraham was strong
in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that all
that God promised, God was able to perform. Behold, I lay in
Zion for foundation a stone, a tritone, a precious cornerstone.
He that believeth on him shall not be confounded, ashamed, or
confused. Now look at verse six. I am a worm and no man. I'm a reproach of
men and despise of the people. Remember Isaiah 53, a man of
sorrow acquainted with grief. We hear as it were our faces
from him. When we see him, there's no beauty
that we should desire him. He was wounded for our transgression,
bruised for our iniquity, but I am a worm. If you look that
word up, it means maggot, a wiggling, stinking, smelly maggot that
feeds on the dead. That tells us something of what the Lord Jesus Christ experienced
being made sin for us. You remember in the garden when
he prayed, Lord, not my will, but thy will be done. And when
our sin, I believe then our sin was being laid upon him and he
was in such agony that his sweat glands started sweating out blood
from his body. That's agony, that's agony. We don't know anything about
the agony our Lord endured. Not only in his body, and that's
an agony, but his soul agony. This is a holy, lovely son of
God experienced sin But I am a worm and no man. I'm
a reproach of men, despised of the people. Remember John chapter
1, it says, he came into his own, his own despised him, his
own set away with him. We have no king but Caesar, despised
of the people. Remember they said, he's a winebibber,
he's a gluttonous man. Oh yeah, and he's a friend of
sinners. Thank God he is. Thank God he is. What abasement,
what a miracle of grace. What a contrast. Now think about
this. Look at verse six. But I am. Now who is the I am? Moses, when he approached that
burning bush and the voice out of that burning bush was, I am
that I am. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am the way. I am the bread. I am the life. I am the way, the truth, the
life. But here he says, I am a worm.
Can you wrap your mind around that? How low the Lord Jesus
Christ. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but took upon himself the form of a servant
and was made in the likeness of men and being found in habit
as a man, fashioned as a man. He humbled himself, became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. He was made lower
than the angels for the suffering of death, crying with glory and
honor. We studied that. In Hebrews 2, but you know that's
quoted from Psalm 8, verse 4 and 5. He became a servant of God
with no reputation. He's identified with Jacob. Jacob
was called the worm. Thou worm Jacob, God said of
him. He's identifying with us, isn't
he? He was treated with such contempt
and ridicule, scorned, considered less than a man, considered less
than a worm, Considered less than a man that called him a
madman. He had a devil. He's Beelzebub. He's a prince of devils. Despised
and rejected of the people. Look at verse seven and eight.
All they that see me, they laugh me to scorn. Now this is what
we read in Matthew 27. they shoot out the lip. If you
ever heard that saying, he just shooting off at the mouth. I
think it comes from this scripture. If you be the son of God, you
come down from the cross and we'll believe you. They wouldn't
have believed him if he did come down. He raised the dead and
they still didn't believe him. And he was raised from the dead.
And they still didn't believe him. They accused the disciples
of stealing his body and saying that he rose from the dead. Oh,
they that see me lap in his corn, they shoot out the lip. They
shoot out their mouth. They wag their head. They shake
their head and say, he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver
him. Let him deliver him. Oh, does God really delight in
him now? Let's see. Let's see if Elijah
will come and rescue him where he called Elam Alam Sabachthani. He called for Elijah. Let's see. Just leave him alone. Let's see
if Elijah will show up and rescue this one. You see the mocking
of men, the depravity and sin of men. You see that at the cross
display, don't you? The depravity and sinfulness
and wickedness of men. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. Look at verse 9. But thou art he that took me
out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when
I was upon my mother's breast. Here the ancient of days became
an infant of a day old. God incarnate in human flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. He was a real man, and yet He
never stopped being God. That's a mystery, isn't it? Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when
I was upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee from the
womb. Thou art my God from my mother's
belly. You see something of the conception
of the Holy Spirit here, don't you? Thou art my God from my
mother's belly. Conceived of God the Holy Spirit
in the womb of a virgin. He had to be. He had to be. He couldn't have that seed of
man, a seed of Adam and a corrupted seed. It had to be the seed of
God. That's why he's called the seed of woman that crushed the
serpent's head. He remained what he was, became
what he was not. God manifested in the flesh.
Almighty God prepared him a special body to dwell in, to tabernacle
in without sin. Remember we studied in Hebrews
10 where it said, a body hath thou prepared me. Remember? Oh,
what a body. Oh, it was a real body, real
flesh and blood and bones, but with no sin. Holy Son of God. Look at verse 11. Be not far
from me, for trouble is near. He knew what was happening. He
knew what was coming. When they came to arrest him
when he was in the garden, and Judas, remember, leading those
to the betrayer, sold him out for 30 pieces of silver, and
Judas stepped forth and betrayed him with a kiss. And he said, whom do you seek?
And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. And what happened? They all fell down flat. He said,
no man takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. Trouble is near. You remember
he told his disciples, I must go to Jerusalem. I must be betrayed. He knew what was waiting for
him at Jerusalem. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ
in Calvary was no surprise to him as the eternal God. This was ordained from eternity. He knew when he came that he
was the Lamb of God. The first recorded words of the
man, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he's 12 years old. Remember in
the temple, Mary and Joseph came back to retrieve him. I must
be about my father's business. He was always about the Father's
business. Trouble is near. He said, I set my face like a
flint. He knew what was waiting him at Jerusalem. He knew trouble
was coming. But he walked right toward that
appointed end. He never flinched. He set his
face like a flint to the cross. I must go. At the
cross, verse 12, A man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. As our high priest, he entered
in once into the holy place alone. Having accomplished salvation
for us, he tread the winepress of the wrath of God alone. Many bulls. He's not talking
about four-legged bulls. He's talking about two-legged
bulls. Talking about the strong bulls of religion, the Pharisees. They encompassed me. The strong
bulls of Judaism. They sat around about me. They gapped upon me with their
mouths as a ravening and roaring lion. Satan is called what? A roaring lion. They were the
adversaries of Satan. You remember the Lord said, you
are of your father the devil. Now we see something of his agony.
Verse 14, I'm poured out like water. All my bones are out of
joint. My heart is like wax. It's melted
in the midst of my bowels. The heat of God's wrath just
melted his heart. My strength is dried up like
a potsherd, a piece of pottery. My tongue cleaveth to my jaws.
No wonder he said, I thirst. And they tried to give him vinegar
to drink. Thou has brought me into the dust of death. Now get
a hold of that right there. Thou hath brought me into the
dust of death. Calvary was no accident. This
is the appointed sacrifice of the appointed God for the appointed
people. He is the Lamb of God. God brought
Him to death for us. Dogs, verse 16, encompass me
about. Two-legged dogs. The assembly
of the wicked. have enclosed me. They pierced
my hands and my feet." Crucified. Six hours of agony the Lord spent
upon Calvary's tree. Three of those hours were complete,
total darkness. And I kind of got in my mind,
when all the sin of God's elect were laid upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, it was such a mass of iniquity and sin, it blotted
out the sun. Darkness! Ah, he said, verse 17, I tell,
I count my bones. They look and they stare upon
me. The Lord was stripped naked. He's naked on this cross. They
part my garments among them, and they cast lots upon my vesture. They did exactly what was prophesied
of Him. They did exactly. Be not far
from me, O Lord, my strength. Haste to help me. Deliver my
soul. And he did. When he finished
the work the Father gave him to do, on that third morning,
he was delivered from death, wasn't he? Raised again from
the dead. I am he that liveth and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore.
Deliver my soul from a sword. He did. My darling, my only one
from the power of the dog, save me from the lion's mouth. He
crushed Satan's dominion that was heard me from the horns of
power of the unicorns. Now, I don't know much about
unicorns, but they say that this is referring to an ox and the
horns of an ox, known as a powerful animal. I will declare thy name
unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation. He said,
I will praise thee. I will praise thee.