Psalm 22 this evening. The title
of the message is simply the Psalm of the Cross. the psalm
of the cross. As you read through the gospels,
and I mean by that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you'll find much
that is recorded about the death and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
Christ recorded throughout the scripture, but a lot of it is
given to us here in Psalm 22. It certainly is the psalm of
the cross. Here indeed is a gospel psalm,
and I'm convinced as I studied these psalms and work our way
through these psalms, all of the psalms are gospel psalms. They're all about Him. They're
all about Christ. All scripture is given of God,
and all scripture is God-breathed, and all scriptures testify to
this fact, to Him give all the prophets witness. They all speak
about our blessed Lord and Savior, His person, who He is, His work,
His glory, His salvation, all that He has done for us. And
we do declare His righteousness, and we do declare what He hath
wrought for us. I brought a message this morning
from Acts chapter 15 when Paul and Barnabas came back from their
first effort at preaching the gospel, and when they came back
to the church there in Antioch, they told the church there in
Antioch as they went around preaching the gospel, what great things
God hath wrought. through them. And this is the
same message that's declared here in Psalm 22 verse 31. They shall come and shall declare
His righteousness. That's the righteousness of God
provided through Christ Jesus. And a people that shall be born,
born of grace, born of the Spirit of God, born from above. And the message is what God has
done for us. Now, this Psalm, Psalm 22, consists
of two parts. His suffering for the sin of
His people in verses 1 down to verse 21, and then following
verse 22 down to verse 31, His glory that should follow and
the blessedness of that salvation accomplished by Him. Salvation
is accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not mission aborted. It's not mission attempted. It's
not mission impossible. It's mission accomplished, he
said on Calvary's tree. It is done. Finished. It's over. Completed. I finished
the work, he said, that God had given me to do. We must never
think of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ as a defeat. It's not a defeat. It's a victory. It's a victory. A victory over
sin, death, hell, and the grave. It's a victory, a glorious victory. Now, let's take a look at verse
1 of Psalm 22. And these words are written in
anticipation of the Lord Jesus Christ dying as the Lamb of God,
as the sacrifice appointed of God, and our Lord declares this
from the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping
me? And why, from the words of my
crying the words of my groaning as he cries upon the tree. Now these words are recorded,
the exact words are recorded in the gospels and repeated by
the blessed Lord. Now no one can understand how
God can forsake God, and that's who the Lord Jesus Christ is.
That's who's dying here on Calvary's tree. He's the God-man mediator,
fully and completely and totally God, and yet a real man. But how can God forsake God the
Father, forsake God the Son? How can God forsake God? I can't
understand that. I can't understand that. No one
can understand how God can forsake God, but we can understand to
some extent why. Why that happened. Why that happened. You see, God is holy. Holy. That's the center core
of His character. God is holy. We talk about His
love. God is love. but his love is
holy love. God is merciful, but his love
has to be in harmony with his holy character. If you look at
all the attributes of God as you would look at a wheel, the
center hub of God's character is holiness. He is holy because
He's God, and yet from that center character we have the spokes
of God's mercy, the spoke of God's love, the spoke of His
grace, His electing love, His redeeming grace, but it's all
in correspondence and in harmony with His holy character. God
must remain holy even in the salvation. of his people, he
cannot compromise his holy character. And that's the beauty and glory
of the gospel, how God can be a just God and a Savior. God is holy. We're going to see
that in just a minute. The Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's
tree. What really happened there? What
took place there on Calvary's tree? You know, a lot of people
just see a pitiful man that has been mistreated by other men,
and they have a tendency to feel sorry for poor Jesus, and they
forget that this is God's sacrifice. This is God's land. It's not
what men did that day there at Calvary. That's not our hope.
It's what God was doing there that day. The Lord looks beyond
the instrument of the cross to the author of the cross and he
says, ìThis is of God.î For where it says, we read it in verse
15, ìThou hath brought me into the dust of death.î Who killed
the Lord Jesus Christ? God Almighty killed him, that's
right, that's right, I know wicked men did what they wanted to do
but they did what God determined before to be done, it pleased
the Lord to bruise him, it pleased Pilate to put him to death, we
know it pleased the Pharisees to kill him, they did all they
wanted to, how they hated him, how they plotted and planned
to do away with him But ultimately, we must come to this realization
that it pleased God to bruise him. That's what happened at
Calvary. The Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree was actually
made sin for us. And being actually made sin for
us, if you'll find Isaiah 53.10, he actually became guilty for
the sin of his covenant people. This wasn't a type and a picture. This was reality. This wasn't
an animal sacrifice, a foreshadow and type. This is the reality
of the Lord Jesus Christ bearing the sin of God's covenant people
in His own body and is doing so counted guilty before God. It says that here in Isaiah 53
verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him He hath put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul,
and if you look up that word offering, guilty for sin. That's what it means right there.
You look it up in the original. Guilty for sin. Well, he shall
see his seat, 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. The Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary�s
tree was actually made sin for us. Now here�s another scripture,
find 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians and here�s a tremendous verse,
you know where I�m going already don�t you? Chapter 5, 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. Now you need to mark this in
your Bible, I trust that you have already and commit it to
memory because it tells us so much of the gospel. For God,
verse 21, God had made him sin for us. Those two words there
have been added, to be. God made him sin for us. The one that knew no sin, he
had no sin, he knew no sin, he committed no sin of his own,
he's a holy, harmless, high priest of God. He knew no sin, he was
made sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The Lord laid on him our iniquity. And I mean by that when I say
our iniquity, not all of the sin of all men that ever lived.
That's what the false prophet calls universal redemption. We
don't preach and believe that. We teach and preach what he says
in his word, for the transgression of my people was he stricken. call his name Jesus, he shall
save his people from their sin. So when I say that he was made
sin for us, I'm talking about the Lord Jesus Christ bearing
the sin of a particular people. His elect, those for whom He
represents, for those for whom He came in the flesh as the surety
of the covenant, as the mediator of the covenant, as the Lamb
of the covenant, as the sacrifice of the covenant, He came as a
representative man representing those people, and that's for
whom He dies, that's whose sin that He is bearing, the sin of
His covenant people. The Lord Jesus Christ was actually
made sin for us on Calvary's tree. It wasn't a play-like thing. It wasn't a phantom thing. It
was a real thing. God reckoned to the Lord Jesus
Christ, laid on him or imputed our sin. The sin of God's people
charged those to crime. And our sin being charged to
Him, He actually became responsible and answerable unto God's holy
law. Now, I want you to look at this
with me. Psalm 37, verse 25. Psalm 37 verse 25, and this gives
us some insight as to what was going on on Calvary's cross,
as the Lord actually made sin for us. Now remember He cried
out, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? Now look at
verse 25 of Psalm 37. David said, I've been young,
now I'm old, yet I've not seen the righteous forsaken. nor his
seed begging bread." David said, I've never seen a righteous man
forsaken. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the righteous
one, is forsaken of God. Why? Sin. Sin. Sin has a separating quality. Sin. Now listen to this. God
will never forsake a righteous man. That's so. We just read
that. But the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree was forsaken
of God. This gives us some glimpse of
what was going on while Christ, the Lord Jesus, hung on the cross.
He was certainly a righteous man, for he never sinned. Yet
he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God has
never and will never forsake a righteous man, but as a sin-bearing
substitute, Christ was so truly made sin that the Father forsook
Him. And in bearing our sin in His
own body on the tree, He deserved to be forsaken of God because
He was made sin. It was the justice, holiness,
and righteousness of God that caused God Almighty to forsake
God the Son. But here's a wonderful thing
revealed in the gospel. Here's a wonderful assurance.
As the Lord Jesus Christ was truly made sin for His people,
He died as a sinner's substitute that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him, and that being so, the Lord will never forsake
His covenant people, as we are made righteous in Christ Jesus. You see that? God made Him sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. God will never forsake a righteous
man. We just read that. That's what
every believer is in Christ Jesus. He is our righteousness before
God. We stand justified and complete
in Him. He suffered once for our sin,
the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. Bring us unto Him. Now, Psalm
22, look at verse 2. Oh, my God. Now, if just somehow
picture in your mind, we can enter into some degree as the
Lord is dying for our sin. And we get some insight as to
what's going on between God the Father and God the Son as this
great transaction takes place, as the Lord Jesus Christ is actually
making atonement, satisfaction for our sin. Oh my God, he said,
I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not. And in the night
season, I'm not silent. Our Savior, our blessed surety,
never stopped praying for those for whom He represents. He's
praying for His covenant people. In the daytime, in the nighttime,
in the daytime of His ministry in the flesh, He was always going
about doing the Father's will, the Father's business, representing
us. As he lived a perfect life honoring
God as a real man, he's working out a perfect righteousness for
his covenant people. You see, he didn't need to work
out one for himself, did he? He is righteous. But as the man
and surety and mediator of those people, he's working out a perfect
righteousness for us. He prays for us. He lived for
us as a real man. And in the night season of His
agony in His death, who's on His mind? Who is on His heart? They said, if you be the Christ,
come down from the cross and we'll believe you. Oh, He's not
going to come down. You know why? He's dying there
because he loves his bride. He loves his church. He loved
the church, and he gave himself for the church. Our sin laid
upon him, and he is so taken up with love for his bride, for
his church, that he willingly and joyfully endures the wrath
of God for our sin as he dies in our room, and he's determined
to put an end of our sin by His death. He was a man of prayer. Although forsaken by the Father
as He was made sin for us, He never stopped interceding for
us. You think of that. We were on
his heart, on his mind. Here in his love, John said not
that we loved God, but that he loved us, and that Christ was
the propitiation, the satisfying, atoning victim for our sin. What
held him there? His love for His covenant people.
It wasn't the nails. Those nails were not a problem.
He could have done away with those nails. It's His love. He loves His church, and He gave
Himself for the church. And even now, As our surety and
glory, as the forerunner entered into glory and seated on the
heavenly throne at the right hand of God, He even now represents
us and intercedes for us right now. As we worship our great
God, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses our worship and
makes our prayers and our praise and makes it acceptable unto
God. through Christ Jesus. John put it this way, my little
children, these things I write unto you that you sin not, but
when you do, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. You see, he made an end of sin,
he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now look at verse
3, here we get some insight. what's going on, but thou art
holy. Why was the Lord Jesus Christ
forsaken? Well, God is holy. It says in
Habakkuk, I believe it is, chapter 2, that God's too holy to look
on sin. God's too holy to look on sin
with favor, but thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises
of God's people Israel. Now, thou art holy. How holy is God? How holy is
God? Holy beyond description. Holy
beyond description. When sin was found on the Lord
Jesus Christ, being put there by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, for he was a lamb slain before the foundation
of the world, he'll be delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. When sin was found on Christ,
the holy sword of God's justice killed him. and justly so, justly
so. Now you can find this scripture,
Zechariah 13, because you can find Matthew, Malachi, Zechariah. Zechariah 13 speaks about the
sword of God's justice. Zechariah 13 verse 7, a Waco
sword. Against my shepherd. Against
who? My shepherd. This is a good shepherd.
The chief shepherd. The great shepherd of the sheep.
Awake, O sword. That's the sword of God's justice.
The sword of His holiness. Against my shepherd. Against
a man that is my fellow. Sayeth the Lord of hosts, smite
the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. And I'll turn my
hand upon the little one. God's going to have mercy upon
us, the little ones, because the shepherd was smitten to put
away their sin. You see that? I like what Owen
said. He talked about John Owen earlier.
I remember reading a statement by him years ago. He said, when
sin was laid on Christ, sin committed suicide. Because he put an end of sin.
He put an end of sin. God will by no means clear the
guilty. The Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's
tree as he stands in our room and in our stead, guilty as charged
before God, the sword of God's justice had no alternative but
to plunge the heart, plunge the sword of God's justice into his
heart. And that's what happened on Calvary. Our Lord speaks from the tree.
It's recorded in Lamentation 1. Verse 12, is it nothing to
you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me. Who did it? The Lord hath afflicted
me in the day of his fierce anger. How could God be angry with His
Holy Son? Sin was laid on Christ. Oh, I tell you, it's not as if
the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin, as some of those educated
theologians like to say. He was actually made sin for
us. I believe that. I believe that's
what this book teaches. Just as we are actually made
the righteousness of God in Him. That's real substitution. That's
real satisfaction. And that's what this sinner needs,
because I'm a real sinner. We see God's love in giving His
Son, don't we? Everybody knows John 3,16, don't
they? God so loved that He gave. And
we do see the love of God in God giving His Son, but we see
the holiness of God in forsaking Him, and the holiness of God
in demanding his life for sin, for the wages of sin is death.
Rather than the holiness of God be snubbed or slighted, the Savior
must pay the full penalty for sin. What does the full penalty
of sin demand? Death. Had he not been made sin,
he could not have died. When sin is finished, it brings
death. That's what it says in the book
of James. The Lord Jesus Christ took all our sin, the sin of
God's covenant people, the elect, the elect of God, and took all
of our guilt, and took the curse due us for our sin, and in doing
so, expiated, put an end, made an end of sin, both of the penalty
and of the sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He says this in the
book of Hebrews chapter 9. Not as our great high priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ, didn't bring the typical animal sacrifice. The typical priest of old, under
the law, brought the blood of bulls and goats, didn't he? But
the Lord Jesus Christ, being the great high priest, did not
bring the typical sacrifice, did he? The sacrifice he brought
was himself. And as the sacrifice for sin
himself, it says that he obtained for us, his covenant people,
eternal redemption, eternal salvation. It also says in Hebrews 9, verse
26, that he appeared, that he appeared once in the end of the
age to put away sin, to put away sin. It's not an attempt. We don't have an attemptment,
we have an atonement. He didn't make an attempt to
put away sin. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. This is
what happened at Calvary. It's recorded in Galatians 3
that He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. There is no one for whom the
Lord Jesus Christ died. As representing those covenant
people, there is not one sheep of Christ that can perish. That's
right. He paid their sin debt. There's
nobody in hell for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died? Couldn't be. How can God's justice demand
a double payment for sin? If he paid the debt, then his
covenant people are set free. You remember when they came to
arrest him? They said, here I am, now you let these go. That's
the gospel. Here I am, he paid the debt,
and then he sets us free. He sets us free. He redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. I don't know why people want
to hang on to the law. The law's finished. He said, I didn't come to destroy
it, I came to honor it, came to fulfill it. Was it John Bunyan
that wrote that song? I can remember a portion of it. The law demands perfection. And Bunyan, considering that,
he said, run, run, the law demands, but give me neither feet nor
hands. The gospel bids a sweeter song.
It bids me fly and gives me wings. Oh, it does. Stands fast, therefore,
in the liberty with which Christ has set us free. He put away
sin, the sin of His people. And my friend, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is He that condemneth? Who is He that condemneth? Christ
has died. end of story. Christ had died,
the end of sin. They rather has risen again who
is even at the right hand of God. Now, let's read on in Psalm
22 and see if we can get a little further here. Our fathers, Abraham,
Job, Jacob, our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted and you
delivered them How did he deliver them? How did he deliver Abraham? Remember what our Lord said,
Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad. God delivered these fathers by
the same way he delivers us today, by the blood sacrifice of Jesus
Christ and by his grace. God had mercy on them on the
anticipated satisfaction of the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They cried unto thee and were
delivered. They trusted in thee and were
not ashamed, were not confounded. They knew why God had mercy on
them, because their sin was put away by that coming Lamb of God. Moses, our Lord said, wrote of
me. But look what it says down in
verse 6. I am a worm. I am a worm. Now you get a hold of what's
being said right there. I am a worm and not even a man. A reproach
of men despised of the people. I am a worm. Now what a basement. What humility! What a miracle
of grace! What a contrast! Our Savior speaks
from the burning bush to Moses. I am that I am. And here the Lord Jesus Christ,
as He dies in our room and in our stead, identifying with us,
He said, I am. Same one. Turn over here to Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41. He was made lower
than the angels, we read in Psalm 8 verse 4. In Philippians 2,
he became a servant of no reputation, became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Identified with sons of Jacob
as a worm. Isaiah 41. Look at verse 14. thou worm, Jacob." He dying for
the covenant sons of Jacob. He's a God of Jacob. Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. You men of Israel, I will help
thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. He was
made lower than the angels. He became a servant of no reputation. Identified with Jacob as a worm. a sinner, a transgressor. He was numbered among transgressors.
He was treated with such contempt, ridicule, and scorn, and considered
a worm, less than a man. They said, you're a devil, you're
a madman, despised as a people, rejected by his own nation, and
deserted, deserted by his own apostles. and forsaken of God,
I'm a worm. I'm a worm. I tell you, that's
as low as you can go. A worm. You don't even think
about a little red worm crawling across the sidewalk, do you?
You don't have any pity on a worm, do you? Occasionally I'll see
one on the sidewalk and I'll kick him over in the grass. But
he's just a worm. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord
of glory, became a worm for that I might be a prince of God. Think
of it. Oh, that's substitution that
I need. That's the savior that I need.
He despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. He came into his own nation,
his own people, his own country, and everybody, somebody said,
thumbs down on this man. Away with him. Crucify him. We
have no king but Caesar. And yet it says, verse 7 and
8 in our text, despise of the people, oh how they despised
him. He went about doing good, healing
the sick, feeding the multitudes, raising the dead, giving sight
to the blind. Why did they despise him so? Men by nature, let's be honest,
hate God. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. They didn't mind the miracles
so much. What these religious folks hated was when the Lord
Jesus Christ said, when you've seen me, you've seen God. They
despised God in their heart. That's right. Despised of the
people. And then it says here, all they
that see me laugh me to scorn. We read that in Matthew 27. They
shoot out the lip. They open their mouth, they shake
their head in rebellion against God. And they, what's in the
well of the heart, the heart that's deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked, what's in the well of the heart always
comes out through the bucket of the mouth. Do you know that?
And here's what comes out through the bucket of their mouth, blasphemy
against Him. He trusted on the Lord that he'd
deliver him, let him deliver him, saying that God delights
in him. They didn't think that he was
the one son of God, did they? 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. I was cast upon thee from the
womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly. What do we see
here in verses 9 and 10? I tell you what we see here.
He remained what he was. I read this by John Gill 25,
30 years ago and it stuck with me. He remained what He was,
the Word, the eternal Word that was with God and the Word that
was God. And then it says in John 1, 14,
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And old John Gill said,
He remained what He was and became what He was not, flesh and dwelt
among us. He that was the Ancient of Days,
the eternal God, became an infant of a day old. One who inhabits
eternity inhabited a body of a man. A body prepared for him
by God. That's who this one is. The God-man. The wise man came and said, where
is he that's born king? He's king. He's always been king. He's king of all the earth. Thou
art he that took me out of the womb. As just an infant born. not born of man, begotten of
God the Holy Spirit. He had not the virus of sin.
He had not the fallen nature that we have. But let us never
forget, He was tempted and tried and tested in all points like
as we are, yet without sin. He was a real man. He hungered. He thirsted. He worried in body. He sat on Jacob's well and asked
a woman for a drink of water. He was a real man. This is the
one who came to represent us. 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
womb. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
incarnate, God manifest in the flesh. Great is the mystery of
godliness for God was manifest in the flesh, justified by the
Holy Spirit, vindicated by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit
owned him as the Holy One of God. Now look at verse 11, be not
far from me for trouble is near. Trouble is near. You know, our
Lord didn't turn from trouble. He didn't turn from trouble.
He knew, he told his, he warned his disciples, didn't he? as
they came into Jerusalem, that final week, and as he went about
cleansing his temple, cast out the money changers and all those,
and he told his disciples, he said, in just a little while,
I'm going to be Betrayed, I'm going to be arrested, I'm going
to be beaten and killed, and be raised again the third day.
He knew trouble was near, but he did not turn his face from
it. Matter of fact, it says in Isaiah 50 verse 7, he set his
face like a flint. No one could move him. And Peter
said, Don't go, don't do it. Remember what the Lord said to
him? Peter, get out of my way. You don't savor the things that
be of God, but the things that be of man. No one could deter
him from going to the cross. No one. He said on one occasion
when Peter took a sword and tried to defend him, you remember what
he said? Peter, put up your sword. I don't
need your help. I can call 12 legions of angels. That's 60,000 angels to wipe
out these con men. He doesn't need our help. Trouble
is near, but I tell you, he didn't turn from trouble. He said there's
none to help. There's none to help. Our God had one son without sin,
but none without sorrow. Trouble is near, and there is
none to help. He must, as the high priest,
as the high priest of old, there was none to help. His disciples
all turned tail and ran. They forsook him. the Lord Jesus
Christ as the Great High Priest, and fulfilling that office that
was pictured in the Old Testament and the Old Covenant, that High
Priest on the Day of Atonement went into the Holy of Holies
with the blood of that designated sacrifice, but I tell you what,
he went in there by himself, didn't he? As a matter of fact,
it says in Leviticus chapter 16 that no one was even allowed
in that tabernacle area when the high priest went under the
veil with the blood that put it on the mercy seat, signifying
that the Lord Jesus Christ by Himself made atonement for sin. There was none to help. none
to help. He must accomplish salvation
by himself for it says that in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3, when
he by himself purged our sin, sat down to the right hand of
God. In Isaiah 63, turn over there,
Isaiah 63, we have another description of what's going on
here as the Lord Jesus Christ intercedes for us as the Great
High Priest of God by Himself, with Himself. Isaiah 63, you look at verse
1, who is this that cometh from Edom? With dyed garments from
Basra, this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in
the greatness of his strength, I this speak in righteousness
mighty to say, wherefore art thou red in thine apparel and
thy garments like him that treadeth the wine-fat? I have trodden
the wine-press alone. The winepress of God's wrath
alone, and of the people there was none with me. I will tread
them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury. Their blood
shall be sprinkled upon my garment, and I'll stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in
my heart. The year of my redeeming is come. I looked, and there was none
to help. I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore
my own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury It upheld
it. He accomplished salvation by
himself. He must tread the winepress of
God's wrath alone, alone, alone. In verses 12 down to verse 18, we have here these verses described
for us the vivid detail The trouble that he endured, the sorrow he
endured in body and soul on the account of sin being laid on
him. The bullies of religion ganged up on him like a wild
pack. of dogs, vicious, bloodthirsty
animals, and the heat of God's wrath was most intense for six
hours as he endured this immense agony upon the cross. He said, my heart is like wax
melted in the midst of my bowels. Why was his heart melted? The
heat of God's wrath. This sight was so horrible on
Calvary Street. At high noon, God blotted out
the sun. Three hours of darkness as all
of our sin, now I think about this, all of our sin accumulated
together and made to meet on Christ darkness because of our
sin. And God, who is light, in Him
is no darkness at all, had to forsake Christ as He dies for
our sin. Well, I'll let you read the rest
of these verses as it describes our glorious Lord and His sacrifice. And you can read the record in
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And you can see the rest of all
that went on there. But the bottom line is this.
The Lord Jesus Christ made full satisfaction for our sin, defeated
every enemy that was against us, that was contrary to us,
and he made complete satisfaction to God's holy law and justice.
And doing so did make salvation a possibility. He made salvation
an absolute certainty for his covenant people. He's a victorious
Christ. Thanks be to God who gives us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He's not a failure. He cannot fail. He shall not
fail. He did not fail. He's a victorious
Christ.