You got the idea about seven o'clock on Friday night to go to the family reunion and that started at one o'clock on Saturday in Vince Colton. She got up at four o'clock in the morning and went to Vince Colton. He's got an advantage. Happy birthday, young Mary Clark. This began our worship service this morning. Remember, 200. How firm a foundation these saints of the Lord. Affirm the foundation, ye Saints of the Lord. He is made for your faith in his excellent Word. What more can He say than to you He has said, to you who for Him used to Jesus have wept? If not I am with Thee, O King of dismay For I am Thy God, I will still give Thee aid I'll strengthen Thee, help Thee, and cause Thee to stand Upheld by my gracious omnipotent hands. With whom the deep waters I call thee to go, the rivers of woe shall not be. I read. shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee, I only desire thy cross to consume and thy gold to be found. A soul that on Jesus can lean for repose I will, God, I will not be served to His foes! That soul for all hell should never to shake I'll never, I'll never, I'll never forsake. That was Scripture Reading and Prayer. We'll sing it in our 222. If you have your Bible, turn to me to Psalm 88. 88th Psalm. The introduction to this psalm reads, A psalm, or psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief musician upon the mellah of the amask of Haman, the Ezra of Canaan. O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee. Let my prayer come before thee and climb thine ear to my cry, for my soul is full of trouble. My life draws nigh into the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit. I am as a man that hath no strength. Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou remember'st no more, and they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit and darkness, and the deeps of thy wrath lie hard upon me. And thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves, Selah. Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me. Thou hast made me an abomination unto Thee. I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction. Lord, I have called daily upon Thee. I have stretched out my hands unto Thee. Wilt Thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise Thee? See not. Shall Thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave, or Thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark, and thy righteousness in the hand of thee for good punishment. But unto thee, if I cry, O Lord, in the morning, shall my prayer prevail thee. Lord, why castest thou my soul? Why hidest thou thy face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die, from my youth up. While I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted. Thy fierce anger goeth over me, the terrors that cut me off. They came round about me daily like water, and encompassed me about altogether. Lover and friend, thou hast put far from me, and my acquaintance in the darkness. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word, for the clarity of it, for the honesty of it. We thank you that when men cry out unto thee, when they are your children, they cry out in honesty about their own condition. Help us, Lord, to see Jesus Christ in this passage, for we know that all the scripture speaks of him. All scripture is about him. This is his book. Help us this hour to worship you as we consider these things. We pray for those who are sick and going through trials, who've lost loved ones. We ask the Lord to be merciful to them and gracious to them. He calls them to fix their hearts and minds. You're the only place in this universe where there is true health and comfort, and that's in the face of Jesus Christ. Help us now to worship you as you ought to be worshiped. singing your praises with hearts full of thanksgiving as ruined sinners saved by grace. Help us now, we pray in Christ's name, amen. Number 222, there is a meal with blood. There is a mountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel's veins And sinners plunged beneath that blood Lose all their beauties Oh Beneath that flood, there's nowhere He'll be staying... The dying King rejoiced to see that fountain in His name... And there may I, though thou let me, wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away. shall never be saved be saved Hail, all the race of church of God! It's day to sing the Lord's! It's day to find pain, thy sorrow's dread, thy glowing blues of blood! Healing blood has been my thing and shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. Redeemer has been my faith and shall be till I die. I'll sing bye-bye to slaves I'll sing bye-bye to slaves you. I pray, Father, again we approach in the name of Christ, the blessed name, the wonderful name, the name given to him when he was born, the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the unspeakable gift that you've given to every one of your children. You've given him and he's given his all. Let us return to thee that which belongs to you with joy and thanksgiving and hearts full of praise. In Christ's name, amen. ? ? ? ? you I invite your attention back to Psalm 88. You were listening while I read the introduction to this psalm. It's called Massacle. Thirteen of the psalms are Massacles. These types of psalms, where few in number, can carry considerable weight. And these psalms have a specific purpose. When you read a psalm, and the introduction says it's a Massacle, It means it's designed to be sung in public worship. The word masko means to understand, to understand. And some say that the word masko was repeated at certain points in the singing of the song by the congregation and served as a kind of musical rest designed to cause the congregation to pause and to contemplate the meaning of what they had just sung. Masculine is a contemplative pause designed to cause one to stop for a moment and meditate, to understand. And being a congregational hymn, it is not specific to one person, but relates to all the children, those who are bought by blood and justified by grace and given faith to trust the merits of the Son of God. And this song is sung upon a time called Mahala Leona. Mahalath is an obscure word used only a couple times in the Psalms descriptions. It is held to mean concerning affliction. Concerning affliction or concerning the afflicting disease. The afflicting disease of humanity is sin. It is the singular pandemic that is the scourge of humanity of which there is no natural, man-made, or religious cure. The words leoneth means to humble, to be humble, and to provide an answer. So this psalm is designed to cause men to stop and to understand the sin that afflicted someone and under which he was humbled and possibly to understand the answer for it. This psalm, as every psalm is, is about the Lord Jesus Christ. What is to be meditated upon and endeavored to understand is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men may have many opinions about sin, In this day and age, you hear people call different things sin. Often, if you're of a different political opinion than someone else, you're the sinner. Some discounted, especially their own sin, as many of the Pharisees did. They grievously sinned, but discounted their own sin by constraining other men to stop doing the sin they were doing. Some put sin in a box or a bottle or relegated to regional convictions or local society. I remember one church in Winston-Salem down on 150 that boasted that there were no smokers in that church. And in order to be holy, you couldn't smoke cigarettes. That's what they believed. Our Lord made a fool of such language when he said, it is not what enters your body that defiles you, but what comes out of your heart that defiles you. Others think sin is just a behavior. Many men have many opinions about it. But the opinions of men are like men's noses. Everybody's got one. and the only estimation of sin, the only place where sin is understood. The only estimation of sin that is of any value is the true estimation of sin, and for that we must hear from God, who knows sin and its horror and its just recompense of punishment. Sin is an assault on the character of God, And any and all sin is worthy of eternal damnation. Any and all sin is worthy of eternal damnation. Our Lord said, the soul that sinneth, and He did indeed say, drinks too much, smokes too much, goes to too many movie shows, sinneth. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. That's the payment for it. On Calvary we are able to understand the penalty for sin. See the true intent of sin. You can see what men feel about God and how God feels and just as it deals with sin. You haven't been dealt with according to your sin, even if you're an unbeliever. If you're still walking on this earth and breathing, God hasn't dealt with you for your sin. He will, but He hasn't yet. There's only one place where a man was actually treated in the manner that God poured His wrath out upon him for sin. Only one in all of human history. On Calvary, we begin to understand the penalty for sin. and how God deals with it. On that tree, our Lord Jesus Christ was subject to the full undiluted wrath and vengeance of God. We don't know anything about that. But this psalm is a rehearsal of the mind and thoughts and words of our Lord Jesus Christ. He hung there in agonies and blood. And remember, he was a human being. He was very God of very God. But he didn't have, as a human being, a way to stop pain. In fact, he endured it for others. He voluntarily did. He didn't shut off his nerves where he didn't feel the pain that men put him in. He felt the nails piercing his feet, the nails piercing his hand, the crown of thorns pressed down upon his head. He felt the spear pierced in his side. He felt all of that as a human being. He hung there in agonies and blood having voluntarily given himself to the abuse of his creatures and vicariously suffering the penalty for sin at the hands of the righteous judge of all the earth. Here in solemn worship, and that's what happened on Calvary, you're talking about worshiping God. Here in solemn worship the congregation is to pause and to contemplate and to meditate on the afflicting disease that the one who humbled himself to answer it accomplished salvation. This is the thoughts that we're to have as we travel upon this earth. This is what we're to consider I know so much comes in our way and in our view and through our ears that causes us to consider other things, but I'm telling you this, the only thing valuable to us to consider and meditate upon and masticate, that's what the word meditate means, like a cow chewing the cud, the only thing worthy of our attention in this world is what happened 2,000 years ago on Calvary's tree outside Jerusalem on a lonely hill called Golgotha. The salutation that begins this psalm reveals so much about who is to meditate upon the afflicting disease. It is called the song for the sons of Korah. or song of the sons of Korah. Korah, along with Dathan and Abiram, sought to be their own priest, and the result of their sin was that they and 250 of their followers with them were swallowed up by the earth in a flame of fire. They believed themselves to be holy in themselves and worthy to offer up sacrifices acceptable to God by their own will and their own doing. Their attitudes and actions revealed that they highly esteemed themselves, but not the High Priest. They lightly esteemed the Lord Jesus Christ. This is sin in its original horrible state. It is a creature rejecting the Creator. It is the sin of unbelief and pride, of self-will and self-deification. Making this psalms for the sons of Korah, saying this psalm is to be sung by sinners, worthy of death. Sinners who understand the well-deserved penalty for sin, making this psalm for sons of Korah, says the psalm is about us. Such sinners only know they're sinners, Preachers stand in pulpits in this day in which we live and tell people they need Christ. But if you ask them, they'll tell you they don't need Christ. Because they don't need Christ. Need is something known. Need is something felt. Thirst, hunger, these things we understand. If you tell a man who's just drank a gallon of water that he's thirsty, he's going to call you a fool. God is the one who creates hunger in a man. God is the one who creates need in a man. And if you're a sinner today and understand what that means, that means you're an enemy of God. By nature, you want to kill God. You want to dethrone God and take his place. That you hate God by nature. That's what it is to be a sinner. You understand that. You didn't come up with that in your natural state. No man knows that, save by the preaching of the gospel in the hands of the Holy Ghost come down from heaven. Sinners, the old poet said, sinners are a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made them so. They are awakened to their condition by the Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel and the best part of their life is to pause and meditate upon Christ and what He's done for them. This is true worship. This is why we gather here on Sunday and Wednesday. We come here to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. This is masculine understanding, contemplating the affliction of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you're a sinner saved by grace, if you know in your heart that you and everything you do is deserving of death, you're admonished to rehearse this song and understand your afflicting disease and the only cure for it. Paul's here, my friends. Stop and think here. Let it never be far from your mind. Think about it while you're at work. Think about it while you're driving your car. Think about it when you lay down at night before you go to sleep. Think about what God has done for you in Jesus Christ. What is described here are the sufferings of the soul of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53 10 says He made His soul an offering for sin. He made his soul an offering for sin. His physical sufferings are never to be discounted. They are a clear representation of what men feel about God. And what they would do indeed did do so when they were allowed to touch God. God only allowed men to touch Him one time. What did they do? The description of the vileness and the hatred and the malice they expressed on the Lord Jesus Christ tells you what men by nature think of God. What did they do when God allowed it to be touched? Allowed men to touch it? They ripped him to shreds. They treated him so horribly he looked like a beast and not a human being when he hung on that cross. They beat him. They punched him. They ripped the hair out of his face. This is what men by nature think of God. This is not an abnormality in human behavior. These men that did this were men of religion. Men of standing. They became like beasts and animals themselves. Like ravening wolves, they tore the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ. They brutalized Him. And these sufferings, as cruel as they were, and they were cruel, did not pay for your sins. His soul, the suffering of his soul, and those three hours of total darkness, and his subsequent giving up the ghost was the thing that answered God for the payment for your sin-making. Somebody got to die for sin. You, who are a substitute, have to die for sin. These words remind me of the words of Christ in Lamentations 112. Jeremiah spoke lamenting, but spoke as he was the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lamentations 112, it says, is it nothing to you? And the actual meaning of that is, it is nothing to you. It is 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, wherein the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Is it nothing to you, ye that pass by? Here is a soul afflicted by God, This is the perfect man who never sinned, who never had a wayward thought, suffering as a man undergoing the righteous penalty for sin. I think the best way to look at this is simply follow the words as they are written and pause to consider our afflicting disease for which our Savior suffered and died, comparing Scripture with Scripture. We're going to use our Bibles today, so put them onto your lap. We're going to go to the Scriptures. For the scriptures teach us over and over again what our Lord felt when He was suffering for our sins, when His soul was afflicted for us. Beginning in verse 2, it says, let my prayer, let my prayer before Thee, come before Thee, and climb Thine ear to my cry. But unto thee have I cried, O Lord, and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. This speaks of his suffering. He's praying to the Lord over in Hebrews chapter 5. It speaks of our Lord and why he suffered. In Hebrews chapter 5, in verse 5, it says, So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he that said unto thee, Thou art my son today, have I begotten thee. And it saith in another place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obeyed him. Called of God, a high priest, after the order of Melchizedek. This speaks of our Lord's suffering as a son, as the son of God. He still suffers these things. Back in our text it says, for my soul is full of troubles and my life draws nigh unto the grave. what our Lord said throughout scripture about dying. In John chapter 12. Verses 27 through 33. Now is my soul troubled, the Lord said. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified and will glorify thee. And the people therefore stood by and heard it, said it thundered. Others said an angel spoke to him. And Jesus said, this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world, now is the prince of this world cast out, and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto myself. He spoke of the death, that he should die, the manner of death, a troubling death, a death of trouble, death of trouble. In Matthew 26, he said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will but Thine be done. Back in our text in verse 4, it says, I am counted with them that go down into the pit. I am as a man that hath no strength. He's counted with them. In Isaiah 53, 12, it says, He was numbered among the transgressors, numbered among the transgressors. And by His skill, my righteous servant has justified many, for He shall bear their iniquities. I am a man that hath no strength. A psalm that many say was actually repeated fully on the cross by the Lord Jesus Christ is Psalm 22. It begins with these words which our Lord actually spoke on the cross after he came through what men can do to a man, after he came through the punishment of God in those three hours of darkness. He said this in Psalm 22, My God, why art thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me? And from the words of my Lord, in verses 14 and 15 of the same chapter, he said, I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it melts within the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a pocket shirt. and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought me to the dust of death." Sounds just like verse four, I am counted with them that go down to the pit, I'm a man that hath no strength. Verse five of our text, he says, this free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou remember'st no more, and they are cut off from thine hand. John Gill said, if he was a free man, he was only among the dead, not among the living. If he was free in any city, it was the city of the dead. put himself as a dead man, as one belonging to the state of the dead, who are free from all relations, from all business and labor, and removed from all company and society. He found himself quite neglected as one, as one whom there was no more care and notice taken of him than would have been taken of a dead man. Like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more, they are cut off from thine hand. In Isaiah 53, in verse 80, it says, his servant was cut off from the land of the living. In Psalm 16, verse 10. It says, for thou will not leave my soul in hell, neither will thou suffer my only one to seek corruption. Peter repeated that verse showing that David did die and did go to the grave, but the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the grave and he quoted that verse in Psalm 16, thou will not leave thy anointed in hell or suffer thy anointed to suffer destruction. Back in our text, in verse six, as thou hast laid me in the lowest pit in darkness into the deep. The lowest pit over in Matthew chapter 27. Verse 45 and 46 it says, the thieves also which were crucified with him. Is that Matthew chapter 27? The thieves also were crucified and cast asunder their teeth. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness upon the land for the ninth hour. That's casting into the deep. In Psalm 69, verses 1 and 2. It says, save me, O God, for the waters will come unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing. I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. Back in our text, in verse 7, it says, thy wrath lieth hard upon me, lieth hard upon me, in lamentations. Jeremiah spoke concerning the sufferings of him because of sin for himself. He said, I am a man that has seen affliction by the rod of thy wrath. That can never really be replied to human beings that are alive and well on the face of the earth. You never experienced wrath. God, this has to be someone who's actually experienced it. Jeremiah never actually experienced that. He had some hard times. They treated him like a dog, even though he was the only prophet for Judah in that day. They treated him like a dog. They discarded him, laughed at him, mocked him. We're doing our study in Jeremiah. Today's lesson, we're going to the potter's house for the Lord to teach him what he's about to say to Israel. But he said, I'm a man that has seen affliction. I'm a man that has seen affliction. a man that hath no strength. Remember our Lord said, I thirst. I thirst. Verse 7, thy wrath lies hard on me. Psalm 38, verses 1 and 2. O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thy sore displeasure. For thy hair is too fast in me, and thy hands presseth me sore. These are the words of one who's actually suffered these things. David, as the sweet poet of Israel, wrote these words down. And he was a man who suffered a great deal. His own son turned against him. He made a lot of mistakes. That's the one thing I love about the scriptures. As great as our heroic characters are, like David with a sling in his hand, defeating a giant called Goliath is a wondrous thing. I was watching the other day of a fellow using a sling on YouTube. Man, he was accurate with that thing. David hit Goliath right between the eyes and killed him. Killed him dead. David lusted after Bathsheba, committed adultery with her. I had to pay fourfold for it. I can lie to you as a man of like passions as we are. I love the fact that the Bible tells the truth about people we call heroes. They were always heroic. Thy wrath was laid hard upon me. Thou hast afflicted me. Verse 8 back in our text says, Thou hast put away mine acquaintance from me. Friends have forsaken him. Remember what our Lord said in Zechariah chapter 12. He said, when he pulled out that sword of justice, they plunged it into the heart of his fellow, the sheep scattered. Peter was a man who always stood with Christ. At least he said he did. He said, others may leave you, but I'll never desert you. I'll always be with you. The Lord left him and says, before the cock crows, before dawn breaks and the rooster starts crowing, you go down and deny me three times. And as soon as he was arrested, Peter Raymond, he had three people ask him, you know that man, weren't you with that man? He was the one that was with Jesus. Well, he denied it three times. The last time he cussed. He said, I don't know the man. Our Lord said, thou hast put my acquaintance as far from me. Far from me, I am shut up and I cannot come forth. My eyes mourneth by reason of affliction. It says in verse 9, I have called daily upon thee. That's what our Lord said in Psalm 22. We just read, I pray to you day and night. Day and night of my afflictions. I come to shut up, but I can't come forth. He's nailed to a cross. Nailed to a cross. Verse 10, will thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead rise and praise thee? Selah. Selah is another one of those words that they don't really know what it means, but they think it was a time of contemplation to stop and pause and think, what does he mean by this? What is being said here in this passage of Scripture? Will thou show the wonders of the dead? Shall the dead rise and praise thee? Yes, the dead shall. Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave? Without faithfulness in destruction, only sinners saved by grace can look at that grave and say, our sins were buried there. Our sons' sins went to the grave with Him and they didn't come out with Him. We can praise God for the grave and the sins. Shall our wonders be known in the dark? And in our righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? These questions are designed to contain more power in the inquiry, to question, to ask, to think on these things, to dwell on these things, to meditate. What does this mean? I'm still in wonder of it. That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is very God of very God, the very creator of this world, the sustainer of all things, the fullness of the Godhead bodily came down here to this world. And lived righteously and perfectly before men and in the midst of men. Didn't have a place to lay his head, never went more than 50 miles from his hometown. And he, the son of God, who was a very man, lived among the wretches of this world. The good people didn't want anything to do with him. The religious people didn't want anything to do with him. And I'm telling you, if you preach the Christ of today and you tell people who Jesus Christ really is, religion ain't gonna want to have nothing to do with you either. They don't want you to just leave their company or keep your mouth shut. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say, well, we know you believe different than we do. We still want to have fellowship with you, but just don't mention it. Just don't say what you believe. We're supposed to keep our mouths shut. Tell people who Jesus Christ is. Tell them who Jesus Christ is. He's the Son of God who came to this world and actually and truly and fully redeemed His people from their sins by His sacrifice on Calvary Street. That's what He did. There's no if, and, or but. He's not a Redeemer of unredeemed men. That's a foolish notion. That's an oxymoron. He's not a Savior of unsaved men. That's an oxymoron. He's a savior. That means he's saved. He's a redeemer. That means he's redeemed. Meditate. Contemplate on the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ and realize it was your sin that was laid upon him. These questions are designed to make us contemplate and meditate. The same kind of question asked by our Lord. He says, what does it profit a man if he gained the whole world and loses his soul? That kind of question. He's not saying come up with an answer. We know the answer. The answer's in the question. It's called a rhetorical question. What does it profit a man if he gained the whole world and loses his soul? Well, the answer is it don't profit him nothing. He will show wonders to the dead in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord risen says He was raised for our justification. Romans chapter 4. His love and kindness was declared in the grave because of His love and kindness He sent Christ to the grave with our sins to bury them forever. His faithfulness is declared in having received punishment for our sins. Destroying our sin in his body, he says. Romans chapter 8. He will never charge his people with sin. Never. That's what it said, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. You want to know what blessedness is? Well, blessedness is having a fine house and a lot of money in your pocket. Now, that's going to go away and you're going to leave it to somebody else. I guarantee somebody else is going to get it. And you can put that card in your will for me if you want to. Those are not blessings. Those are temporal things. Things to be enjoyed, for sure. Things that God gives us to enjoy, but they're not real blessings. Real blessing, the only one we really got is eternal life. We're never going to die. We're going to forever live in the presence of God Almighty. Worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ and singing, worthy is the Lamb that has slain and redeemed us by His blood out of every kindred and nation and eternal people. It's faithfulness. is declared in that having received punishment for our sins, destroyed our sin, we will never charge these people. Indeed, wonders are known in the dark, as this psalm says, though we are not privy to them. The wonder of those three hours of darkness is that the vilest of sinners was redeemed, and the righteousness of God is known in the hand of forgiveness. That's what it says. How can I text? The rights of his God are known in the land of forgiveness. Or the land of forgiveness. What is the land of forgiveness? What does God say? They use that kind of language. Jeremiah 31, we talked about the new covenant repeated in Hebrews chapter 10. He said, because of this one sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, by which he perfected for everything that is sanctified, he will remember their sins no more. That's the land of forgetfulness. That's how it's worded in our text. The land of forgetfulness. In our text, verse 14, the Lord has cast off thy soul. Why hidest thou face from me? Our Lord said the same in Matthew 20. Why hast thou forsaken me? Eloi, eloi, lamas, abactoni, my God. My God, why has Thou forsaken me? And I'll be honest with you, I've pondered that all my life, since the Lord, well not all my life, since the Lord saved me, I've pondered that, exactly what it means, it's real. I know that it's easy to say, well God turned His back on him because he was made sin. But that's probably the truth. But still, the wonder of it is there. Amazing thing about it. Thank God the Father, in the hour where his son was most honoring and glorifying him. He was at the height of his intercession. The most glorious moment, fulfilling what he came to do perfectly and exactly. And in that great scenario that God created in his purpose, God turned it back on his son. And all I can say is, go figure, because I can't. I can't figure it. Verse 15, he says, I am afflicted and ready to die for my youth. What does that say? Scripture says he came to this world not to set up a kingdom that was of this world, not to restore Israel, not to die as a martyr, not to die as some cheap expression of God's love. He came in this world to die. I shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. He came, the scripture says, he set his face like a flint towards Jerusalem. His whole ministry to his disciples was telling them here, Lord, and there, Lord. Got to go to Jerusalem. Got to go to Jerusalem. Got to go up there. Men gonna mishandle me. Men gonna do bad things to me. I've got to go to Jerusalem. And he did. I'm ready to die for my youth. I'm ready to die. Verse 16. Thine fierce angers of wrath has grown over me. I am consumed with the blow of thy hand, it says in Psalm 89. The terrors have cut me off. My scripture says in Daniel chapter 9 verse 26, the Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself. But not for himself. Verse 17, they came round about me daily like water. They compassed me all together. Remember what our Lord said in Psalm 22? He said, like water. Your wrath is just covering me like water. I'm drowning in it. And verse 18, he says, lover and friend, thou put far from me. The sheep were scattered. Our Lord Jesus Christ didn't die with a whole bunch of people. He died alone. His mother didn't come to the cross, but he sent her away with John to take care of her. The other disciples were hiding in the dark. Nobody wanted him. They stood and they mocked him, and they stuck out their tongues, and they spat upon him, and they mocked him and laughed at him, saying, you say you're the savior of men? Save yourself. Come down to that cross. Save yourself. He saved others he cannot save himself and they didn't know he was telling the truth. Contemplate these things. Meditate on your afflicting disease and upon the one who humbled himself to bury it and answer God for it. Because your afflicting disease is worthy of death. 2,000 years ago for the elective God, for the chosen, for the bride, for the church, the Lord Jesus Christ took that affliction and bore it in his body on the tree. As a man, it was hurtful and painful. And there was agonies involved. And so he cried like a man. He cried to you all day. Your wrath is like the water running over me. My friends have deserted me. My friends have deserted me. But there's righteousness in the land of forgiveness. And the dead shall praise thee. He accomplished salvation for his people. This is the Christ of the Bible. And this is who the Bible is about. Father, bless us to understand and pray Christ's name.