Good to see you all. If you have your Bibles, turn with me, please, to the book of the Psalms. And we're going to be looking at Psalm 22 this morning. So open your Bibles to Psalm 22.
Psalm 22. And we'll just take a moment to read it. It's worthwhile to take time to read the Word of God. And as we do, just notice some of the different divisions in the Psalm as we do read through it.
So starting in verse 1, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear in the night season and I'm not silent. But you're holy and thrown in the praises of Israel.
Our fathers trusted you, they trusted you, delivered them. They cried to you and were delivered, they trusted you were not ashamed. But I am a worm and no man. I reproach of men and despised by the people.
All those who see me ridicule me, they shoot out the lip, they shake the head saying, He trusts in the Lord, let him rescue him, let him deliver him since he delights in him. But you are he who took me out of the womb. You made me trust while my mother's breasts. I was cast upon you from birth.
For my mother's womb, you have been my God. Be not far from me. For trouble is near. For there is none to help.
Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls abation have encircled me. They gaped at me with their mouths like a raging and roaring lion. I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax. It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potchard and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. You have brought me to the dust of death.
For dogs have surrounded me. The congregation, the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones.
They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them and from my clothing they cast lots. But you, O Lord, do not be far from me. O my strength hasten to help me.
Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen. You have answered me. I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly.
I will praise you. You who fear the Lord praise him. All you descendants of Jacob glorify him and fear him. All you offspring of Israel.
Free as not despised nor poor deflection of afflicted nor as he hid in his face from him. But when he cried to him he heard, my praise shall be of you in the great assembly. I will pay my vows before those who fear him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied.
Those who seek him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nation shall worship before you.
For the kingdom is the Lord's and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him. Even he who cannot keep himself alive.
Apostardy shall serve him and shall be recounted to the Lord to the next generation. They will come and declare his righteousness to people who be born that he has done this. Let's just take a moment to pass God's guidance as we pray. Give me a little jump here under here.
Let's just pray. Dear God, we give you thanks now for your good and good. We thank you for your word that you have given to us, that we can know you, and so that we can have relationship with you. Father, I just pray now that we read through the Psalm and spend the next few moments on it.
May you bring it home to each one of our hearts. God ultimately that we might be changed, that we might have the relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that you have meant for us. We pray this now in His name. Amen.
Well, I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Psalm, but if you notice while we're reading through it, it breaks nicely into two different portions. The first 21 verses go together, and you hear the Lord Jesus crying out from the cross. And then the second half of the Psalm is God answering, and He's answered, and He tells us about this answer. But there's a paradox for us.
See, as He's speaking there from the cross, and you hear the Lord's cry, it's Him crying as a man. You see, and I was mentioning this a little earlier on in the previous meeting, how the Lord Jesus Christ, when He came to the cross, and when He came to the earth, He was a man. Like He had a body like you and I did. Now, His body was not, He did not sin with His body.
But His body, like your body, my body, had aches and pains. His body, He felt, when they told the nails in His hands, He felt that. He understood what it was to be tempted. And so, when He said these things, He was not just saying it for our benefit.
He actually endured the pain, and so much so. And the point was that here He was, He was a man on the cross, suffering these things. And yet He also was God, and with simply a word, He could have ended it all. And yet He didn't.
He went through it all with a very specific purpose. And what was that specific purpose? The specific purpose was that you and I would have redemption forever, that you and I would be delivered from our sin. Now, I'm not sure what your condition is, but the Lord Jesus Christ came to the earth with a plan for every man and woman.
And His plan for you, and His plan for me, is that we don't live our life with hopelessness, without purpose. I was talking to someone yesterday, and we were saying to Him, well, what's the good? There's nobody listening. There's no hope out there.
Nobody cares. And I said, you need to read this Psalm 22, because when you read Psalm 22, you know somebody cares. You see, there is a person right now in heaven who has nails in his hands and his feet. He cares.
And he's done everything possible to show you and I how much he cares. And so we start this Psalm with the Lord Jesus, and we hear His cry from the cross. And if you just quickly turn over with me to Matthew 27, because I'd like you to see this. It kind of helps to register these things in our mind when you actually read them.
Matthew 27, and I feel like I'm cornered here again, so I'm going to break loose if you don't mind. I'm not going to do this, but I feel kind of cornered back behind that. So is this going to mess you up, Matthew? It's going to mess you up.
Okay, good. All right. So Matthew chapter 27, and I'd like to read with you verses 46. And here you see the Lord Jesus, He's on the cross.
And it says there in verse 45, we'll start there. It says from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness. It says over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with the loud boy saying, Eli, Eli, Lamont Sabakthini.
That is my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? Can you do something here? You're able to handle it.
I know that. Now, just, oh, wow. I guess we've got some volume in that time. Yeah, you won't.
Just turn over a couple pages there just so you get a better appreciation. Hebrews chapter 5, and look what it says here in verse 7 and 8. Speaking of the Lord Jesus, it says in verse 7, who in the days of his flesh, the Lord Jesus, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, now in the New King James, it says here, with vehement cries, it means with just the most depths of his being he cried, and it says tears to him who was able to save him from death. That was God his father and was heard because of his godly fear, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
You see, it was not a walk in the park for the Lord Jesus. It was not him just going through the actions. The Lord Jesus truly suffered. He suffered the depths of his being.
And perhaps you've seen that and heard that before, but that when he went to the garden, and when he would pray, and he would pray to his father, and he would say, Father, if it is possible, take this cup from me. And it says that in his prayers, it says being an agony. He was in such agony thinking ahead to what he would endure in the cross, that it says he sweat, it says, as it were great drops of blood. So, and apparently I didn't realize this, but it is physically possible when someone is under extreme stress to actually have blood come out of their pores.
That is the extent that he went to, that the thought of what he would go through, the suffering he would endure. And so he did suffer. He did suffer at the, at the, at the, at what he would go through on the cross. And this is what Hebrews chapter two, or five is telling us.
And then another verse in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, lamentation that tells us, he says, is there any sorrow like my sorrow? Because you see, it wasn't, we can empathize to a certain extent with his physical sufferings. We look at that and we think, oh how painful that would have been. And we see how they would have whipped him, and now they would have beat him, punching him and all the things they would have done through him.
And then, and then being put on the cross and the suffering of the cross. But you see, the Lord Jesus, from what I can read, the agony that he endured, yes he suffered physically. But that's not why he was asking for his father to remove that cup, up because it was on the cross that he would suffer for sin. And you and I, we can hardly begin to understand what it would mean for him to suffer for sin.
Why? Because you and I have grown up in the world that is just infiltrated, it's saturated in every way with sin. You and I are born sinners. The Bible says it all of sin and fallen short, and we're so short of God's standard of holiness and perfection, but yet he is the standard for holiness and perfection.
And he came down and he lived with you and I. And and and can you imagine how day by day living even in the middle of that? And I don't it's just so hard to give any example to give us, but it's like something being so perfectly pure and white. And can you imagine a lady with a beautiful wedding dress on and having to live and get ready for that in the most filthy of all garages that's got grease and oil splattered everywhere and she's trying to keep it clean.
You see the Lord Jesus was so pure and it's not that he would have become besmirched by the sin around him, but how it affected him? And ultimately to go to the cross to pay for your sin and for my sin. And to be made sin for us who knew no sin, there was no sin in him. And yet God was going to judge him for your sin and for my sin.
And that's that's what really vexed his holy soul as he was there in the garden. And then on the cross that that he would be there suffering for your sin and for my sin. See the physical really was such a small part of what the Lord Jesus Christ would bear on the cross. And so he could say is there any is there any sorrow like my sorrow.
But now look in verse two of the Psalm it says there. He says it says verse one and two he talks about my God my God why if you forsaken me and we read that. But then in verse three goes on to say but you are holy. You see why have God forsaken me?
And he says God is holy. And in Habakkak he would say that God is a pure eyes and behold evil. And he cannot look at an equity. And here he was judging his son for your sin and for my sin.
You see in our world system we can never have justice and mercy together. You see when you and I go to court or when something happens to us. If somebody does something to us we want justice. Right?
You watch little kids together and something bad. Mom he did this and he wants the full weight of mom's wrath to come down on his brother's sister. Right? Yeah.
You got a punishment. They did this to me. Okay. Now let's reverse the tables.
Okay. Suddenly it's them that's doing the offending against their brother's sister. Now do they want justice? No.
They want mercy. And this is that the way we are. Okay. When it's against us we want justice.
When we're the one offending we want mercy. And you can never have the two because even if we go to court and the judge looks down and he says well you know you're not too bad of a guy and you haven't done too much wrong before. I guess I won't do this. He's not doing justice.
He's doing mercy because in our world we can't have both. But God could do both. Why? Because he would punish his son for your sin for my sin.
But then he could show you and I mercy because he'd already executed justice. And you see justice is so important folks. Justice is fundamental to the salvation God gives us. Why?
Because you see if our sin is not paid for, if your am I sin is not paid for, if it hasn't been completely paid for, then you and I would kind of be creeping around God going I hope he doesn't remember what I did back then. What if he we would always be doing like that? But because Jesus has paid all of the sin on the cross we don't have to do that. Why?
Because it's been completely paid for and now God can demonstrate his mercy towards us. You see that's why we've been talking about here in his love not that we love God but that he loved us and gave his son to be a satisfaction for our sin. The Lord Jesus has satisfied God completely for our sin. And so we see God is holy and that's a great thing that God is holy.
Why? Because God would deal with sin. He would not shuffle it under the carpet like we would do. He wouldn't say oh well it's okay.
He dealt with sin and he dealt with it in his son. And so he says you were holy and here was a son. He was bearing our sins in his body on the cross at that very moment. And as I already said he was made to be sin for us.
You see God, it's in Isaiah 53 verse 6, God made to rest on him on the Lord Jesus Christ the iniquity of us all. He bore our sins in his body. When he was suffering on the cross he was carrying the weight of your sin and my sin on himself. He was being judged for it.
And so what happens? Well in verse 4 and 5 look what he says there. He talks because the Lord Jesus, this is kind of the testimony of what he would go through on the cross. He says how our Father is trusted.
They trust in God. And if you read through the Bible you'll see how over and over again Israel would turn to God. And they'll cry to God and what God would do? God would answer them.
And that's the testimony of the Bible. It says they cried and they were not ashamed. And the idea is of somebody going out and depending on someone and that person failing. You see God never once failed him.
And the amazing part is that when you read the story of the history of Israel were they faithful? They weren't where they. They failed over and over and over again. Read the book of Judges.
How many times God would warn them and then they'd go after some idol. And then they'd get in trouble and come under some king. And then they'd cry to God and God would deliver him. And then they would do it all over again.
But the history and testimony of God was when they cried to him they were never put a shame. You know that says every bit is true today as it was back then. That when men or women will cry to God, God will never put them to shame. Never.
Except once. And that was when the Lord Jesus was on the cross. That God would forsake his son on the cross. So that you and I would never ever be forsaken.
That God would as it were that he would step back from his son and that he would punish his son. Imagine that. Punishing his own lovely son for your sin of mind. And he would punish him so that we would never have to be ashamed.
That we could call to God and know that God would answer us. And that God would hear us. And then he goes on look what he says there in verse 6. He says there.
He says I'm a worm and no man. See that was the way that people that's what they thought of him. That he's next to nothing. In the word their worm I looked it up and it's basically two words that they were there.
The one is a maggot and the other is a crimson worm that they would actually they squeezed him to get the juices out of the dior robes or the garments crimson. And so he's being compared to that. That's what they estimated him as a maggot and this grub worm. That that that was really of no value.
And yet there's something quite amazing by taking that. Here the Lord Jesus is compared to a worm. When you step on a worm what does a worm do? Does a worm fight back against you?
It doesn't does it. Did the Lord Jesus in any way resist what they did to him? He didn't he bore it all. Now Satan what does Satan compare to?
He's compared to a snake. What does a snake do? It doesn't like to be stepped on. It will rise up and bite you if you try to step on it.
How different? The Lord Jesus Christ he bore everything. He bore it without murmuring. That's what Isaiah 53 talks about doesn't it?
That like a land he was led to the slaughter and his sheep before his shear was done. He didn't open his mouth. He allowed this all to happen. He allowed himself to be despised like that.
When with a very word can you imagine if just in front of those people in one moment he had just as a word opened up his glory so they could see it? He would have dazzled them all even in the garden when they came to him and he said I am. They said who are you? They're looking for Jesus of Nazareth.
He says I am and they all fell down. Just the word. And yet he allowed himself to be treated like a worm and no man despised the people. It says they're in verse 7.
Everybody who sees me they ridicule me they mock me. They stick out their lip kind of thing. They say yeah right. Do people do that today?
They still do don't they? You're talking about Jesus. Yeah right. They stick out their lip they make faces.
Why? Because they still don't believe in him. And what else does it say? Listen to what they say not only what they did but look what they said.
They said he trusted in the Lord. Let him rescue him. Let him deliver if he delights in him. See they were looking at him there and they're seeing him on the cross and they would say these things against him.
That the Lord Jesus Christ, that if God delight in him he should come and help him. And you know the amazing thing was that circumstances appear to hold to agree with them. Because in their mind how could he be anybody if he's there on that cross? If truly God loved him.
If God delighted in him why would God allow him to be on that cross? You see they missed the whole foundation of what he came to do. They missed the foundation of everything he said. And what was that?
Well it was all that he came to suffer and to die for them. He came. He came for that very purpose. You see to them that was a contradiction of everything and yet for him it was the culmination of everything.
It was the very pinnacle of why he came to this earth. And if you look back throughout history from the very beginning it says that he was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. And then when sin came in the world God's promise was that one day there would be one who would come who would crush the head of the serpent. And where would that happen?
Well it would happen on a little hill outside of Jerusalem on a cross. In our minds that's a total contradiction but in God's mind that was a completion of his work. There on the cross that Jesus would die on the cross and that in spite of what everybody would say about him this was God's plan. God did that through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so they were mocking him but God was completing his work to save us. And you know something when you think about that everyone here goes to difficulties. All of us do. Some go through very profound difficulties and pain and sorrow.
And there's someone who can say he understands. And that someone can help us. And so when we go through that we can know that God would ultimately use this for the good of all mankind. Well if God could do that then surely he can give me the strength to go through what I'm going through for his glory.
I may not be able to see the end of the road right now. You may not be able to see the end of the road right now. But you can rely on the fact first of all that the one whom you trust in will never allow you to be ashamed and secondly that he doesn't do anything without purpose. There is an end in sight.
And that he is Lord over all these things. Not those people standing around the cross shouting out mockery. And you know in the same thing when things happen to you and I sometimes people look at us and they may say well you know why does that happen to them? Oh there must be something wrong.
You must be doing something wrong. Think of Jesus. He must have done something wrong. Yeah God was using that for his glory.
So be patient. Wait on the Lord like the Bible says and he will strengthen you. But now notice a little further he goes on and he says you see this and this is amazing verse 9. He shows his dependence on God because he says how God had taken him from the womb and he says I have trusted on you literally from my birth.
And he goes on to say that I was cast on you from my birth from my mother's womb. You have been my God. And so you see the Lord Jesus that from his very infancy he was completely dependent on his father. And if you watch his testimony throughout his whole life it was a testimony of complete dependence upon God.
And that as well that should be the testimony of every Christian. You know that's awful hard because our world and this world teaches us that we are to be independent. We are to stand alone. Be a man.
Kind of we were taught this as a young you know be a man stand up. You know you got to suck it up and be strong. And what does the Lord Jesus teach us? That we are to be completely dependent on our father.
Because it says I do nothing of myself is what he would say. He only did what his father told him to do. He only said what his father told him to say. Can you imagine if that was a testimony of every Christian in this world?
Imagine how many fights in families would just be eliminated. How many problems between couples would be eliminated. How many problems in the workplace would be eliminated because Christians would be doing what they were supposed to do. Saying what they are supposed to say.
Now maybe you are a perfect example. I know I am not. You can come and give me some lessons maybe at the end if you are a perfect example. But imagine that.
Walking in the spirit. I was listening to him this week and this preacher was saying he met this young man and this young man was just trying so hard to live the Christian life. And he was so he was telling the preacher. He says I just don't I can't do it.
I don't know what to do. And I am struggling so hard. And he was naming these sins he was struggling with. The preacher said well the Bible says you are supposed to walk in the spirit.
Why don't you do that? Well the young fellas says well okay. So just pray and ask God to show me how to live. Yeah.
Well I will start tomorrow. Why not start right now. Okay. So the next day he ran the young man and the young man came out.
I am so scared I am going to lose it. Because what do you mean? Well he says I finally feel like I am free. He says I just can't imagine living like this all the time.
He says well that is how you are supposed to live. And the point is he was trusting the Holy Spirit to guide him. And show him what he says. And that is the way we are supposed to live.
So you see the Lord Jesus living in complete dependence on his father. And then it says in verse 11 there he says he cries out to God for help. He says don't be far from me for trouble is near. And there is none to help.
And there really was none to help him was there. But then he goes on and he talks here about the in verse 12 to 15. I have kind of broken the two sections here. 12 to 15 and then 16 to 21.
It says there are 12 to 15. You would see the Jewish leaders like bulls surrounding him. And these bulls were from the north of Israel. There is a beautiful pasture land there in Bayshian.
And they would get nice and big and strong and fat. And it was just like the Jewish leaders. They had as a word got fat on the work of God. And they would come around the Lord Jesus just looking for an opportunity to attack him.
And you remember how their words keep coming at him. And that is what his verse says. They gave on me with their mouths. It is like they are just all over him.
And they are waiting. And now here they have them on the cross. And they think they have one. They have finally eliminated their problem.
What they don't realize was the problem was right here. The problem never was the Lord Jesus. The problem always was right here. And that has been the problem with mankind from the very beginning.
It is right here. The rebellion is in here. And what we do is when God exposes that we can do one of two things. We can rebel against that light that comes in.
Or we can come to the light. We can come to the light. Why? Because only in the light can we see God.
And we can know the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. And only in the light can we have life. And so we can either come to the light or we can go from the light. And so here these bowls they surrounded him.
And they would heap upon him. Look what it says there. Verse 14 to 15. His response had no strength.
My important light water just totally without strength. And my bones are out of joint. They say he would have just been just everything disjointed. My heart is like wax and these next verse described this total lack of strength.
And from what I understand the suffering of the cross in itself would have been excruciating. And on top of that it says he was my tongue cleaves to my jaw. He was thirsty. And he brought me to the dust of death.
He was there at the point of death. And ultimately he would lay down his life wouldn't he? He would lay down his life to die for us. And so you see there the Lord Jesus completely without strength.
And again it just comes through so clearly. He was a man and he is a man. He suffered these things. And then in verse 16 it talks about the attacks again of his enemies.
And I looked at the verse there dealing with dogs. You can disagree with me on this. But I tend to think they were the Romans. Dogs was often in the Old Testament.
The New Testament is often used as a derogatory term. It wasn't a good thing to be called dogs. I'm a dog. And he says the dogs have surrounded me.
The congregation wicked and closed me. And they pierced my hands and my feet. And remember it wasn't just the Jews that came around in that mocha Lord Jesus. But you remember that the Romans did that too.
The soldiers did that didn't they? They took and they put on him a robe and they would put a crown of thorns on his head and give him a read and tell him and they beat him over the head and they would tell him to prophesy. And then later while he was on the cross they would come to him and they would mock him as well. Ha, quite a king you are hanging there on the cross.
And they'd mock him and make fun of him. You see the Romans, the reality is this folks that all of mankind had their hand in the death of the Son of God. We can't as we're saying well you know what, that's not true. I would have never been part of that.
You see when we look at them there's the religious people. There's all the people just staring around not one of them. Think of all the people who had eaten his bread. Think of all the people who had been healed.
And they could have very easily come before Pilate and said no don't do that. He fed 5,000 one shot plus women and children on a conservative estimate. I would say there would have been at least 10,000. Imagine those 10,000 there coming before the Pilate and saying no don't let that happen.
And if they were silent there was no one there saying no. They allowed him to be taken and to be crucified to the cross. And the reality is none of us is innocent. We are all guilty of sin.
And the Lord Jesus Christ is the payment for your information. We need to remember that the price that was paid for our sin. Because you got to understand this if we don't appreciate the price paid for our sin then we're going to never appreciate the value of the salvation I have. If we don't appreciate the Lord Jesus Christ work on the cross you'll never appreciate how expensive if I could use that word.
How precious is the life that I have. It costs so much. You see it's one thing you know. And there's been many stories of this but my parents came across Canada many years ago.
Last summer my brother took them down to peer 21 and got a printout there of the manifest of the boat. And when they actually came to Canada there was their names on the list that are arriving to immigrate into Canada. But you know it was just a boat ride for them. But for some people some people have had to sacrifice their lives so their children could make it to freedom.
So their children could have a new life. And can you imagine someone whose parent they had seen their father and mother die so they could get on that boat and making it to hear. Can you imagine how they would cherish their freedom? It would be entirely different than you or I who were just used to it.
And you see the Lord Jesus Christ. He paid the ultimate price so that you and I could have life. And then if you read on it says there in all these prophecies it's amazing if you follow through and we don't have time to look at them. But all the different prophecies about the Lord Jesus.
It says are them dividing verse 18 they divided my garments among them in cast lots. And what did they do they did their very thing didn't they. They took his clothing and one piece of it they they broke into four parts and they separated to the soldiers. But then his coat it says was made of one it was one and it was one seam throughout the whole thing.
So rather than ripping it because it would ruin it they said well let's gamble for it. Like even to the smallest detail it was completely fulfilled. Why did that matter? Why did that matter?
Well you see God wanted them to know this is the one I'm sending. And he gave them so many prophecies that if they would take all these prophecies and start taking them off at the end of they would have to say it could only be him. Right down to him going to the cross. And here he is even think of it there they are they're taking them.
And if somebody had been thinking all of a sudden the ripping is closed just like he said and they're gambling for his coat. Like can you imagine there was no doubt this was the son of God. This was the one God had promised. And so the prophecies were fulfilled.
And so he goes on there looking a little further and he cries to God for deliverance. And again he's speaking out there he says don't be far from me. Oh my strength hasten to help me. You see his dependence on God again and asking for deliverance and to be saved.
But look and I like the way the new king James says I'm not sure which translation you're using. So I say perversion but I'm translating you using. It says at the end of the king in verse 21 at the end of it he goes save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild ox and then there's a pause. And then it says you have answered me.
You have answered me. God answered the Lord Jesus. He did answer him. How did God answer him?
Did God take him off of the cross? No. God would allow the Lord Jesus Christ to go through that. But God would demonstrate his value.
He would demonstrate sorry his estimation of what Jesus did three days later. Because what it says in Philippians chapter 2 is that yes Jesus died and he laid down his life and obedience to his father. But now what has God done? It says God has raised him up from the dead.
How many other people have God raised to live forever in the history of mankind? No other one. He raised him up from the dead but it didn't stop there. It says and he's raised him up and he's given him a place above every man and woman and child above everything in creation.
He's given him that place above everything. That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things in heaven, of things in earth and things under the earth. And every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. You see God answered and how did God answer?
He answered by raising him up from the dead and exalted him above everything else. That's how God answered the Lord Jesus. Oh yes he allowed him go through that because your and my salvation was at stake. But then he answered by lifting him up and giving him the highest place so there is nothing and there is no one hired in him.
So that at the end of Matthew chapter 28 he could say to his disciples all authority is given to me. See as a creator he had the authority but then he could say as the Redeemer all authority is given to me. And then he would say them go you go in my name. See if you're a believer in Lord Jesus Christ when you go out from here you go out in his name and you represent him.
And when you speak to people you speak to them in his name. And that's why we have to be very careful how we speak to people that we speak in the name of Jesus. But very quickly I want to just go over a few of the thoughts here in this next section here. Because now the whole tone has changed.
Because this is the second section of the Psalm there starting verse 22. And he begins by saying I will declare your name to my brethren. We have to understand something prior to this there were no brethren. We were all enemies.
We were aliens the Bible says. Especially when I don't know if there's any Jews here I'm not one. But aliens I'm a Gentile. And I was an alien it says from the Commonwealth of Israel.
But now in Christ Jesus you were far off we were far off from God have been brought nigh by the blood of Christ. We have been brought close to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what his work did. And he calls us brethren all because he would die in the cross for us.
That he would suffer for us. That he delivered us and it actually says he's the first board among many brethren. And then look what he says there. You who fear the Lord praise him.
Do you fear God? You praise God. You praise God and I'm not just talking about here in Sunday morning we come and there's some songs out there so you start singing and you kind of feel the music and the beat coming through. Don't you know I'm talking about.
You wake up and the back's kind of stiffens. Go to the morning and you kind of sing everybody around and flip the feet out. I'm up. I'm not.
Can you praise God in the morning? Seriously. Can you praise God because see it all comes around to perspective doesn't it. You know.
Man that aches but this whole body. I'm not in this body forever, just in case you had a doubt, I'm not in this body forever. It's not gonna be too long. You know, today, I could finish the day in heaven.
That's what the Bible says. If you believe the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're trusting him, we could finish the day in heaven. Doesn't that give you a little bit of happiness? Or you may wanna alert your face, okay?
Just so they know that. But the reality is, I'm going to finish in heaven. Yes, we go through trials, everybody does. There's things sometimes that they almost could crush you down, but we have something to rejoice for.
We have a reason to praise God because we have a savior who loves and not only loves us, but he understands what we're going through. And he can help us in it. What a wonderful savior is Jesus, why Jesus? I hope you can sing that.
And so he says praise him because look, look what he says, why should he praise him? He has not, verse 24, it says, for he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted nor has he hidden his face from him. See, God wasn't hiding his face when Jesus called. He wasn't hiding, he's not hiding his face from you.
He didn't hide his face because there was a purpose. They had to be finished. And Jesus knew that. It says that he was chapter 12, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross.
He went through that cross because he saw you and I on the other side. And sometimes I look in the mirror and I think, I don't know how he gets any joy out of this, but he does. And you may have the same struggles as I do, but he does. He delights in you and I, he gave his life for you and I.
And so God, yes, he will allow him to die in the cross, but there was an ultimate purpose in that. And so he didn't despise his pain. He didn't hide his face from him. He heard when he cried.
And so he says again in verse 23, he says, my praise shall be of you in the great assembly. So not just privately, but also with my brothers and sisters. Let me ask you a question, what is your effect on the brothers and sisters around you? How do you influence the ones around you?
Are you kind of the... Kind of the complainer, and they just got a snip-sipping bite everybody down to your level of that nastiness. Or are you the one that because of what God has done for you. And I don't mean God, everything is so wonderful.
Look at me, I am the example for everybody. I can assure you, that's not me. I'm not this really sunny person, you know, bouncing off. That's not true.
But the reality is while we come together and I get, we get, you're just talking. Am I encouraging person because the Lord Jesus Christ lives in me? Or am I just one that brings everybody down to my level of gloom and doom? The reality is what's in you comes out and affects everybody around you.
And he says, I will give praise of you in the great assembly. You praise God, do people know that? Or is it kind of like, well, you know, I'm just one of these quiet brethren. I don't want to say too much too loud.
Well, that's good bad because he says, he prays the Lord in a great congregation. I will pay my vows before those who fear him. The poor, they can be satisfied. And those who seek him will praise the Lord.
If you seek the Lord, you should praise him. Let your heart live for a more. And then he goes on and he speaks of his kingdom. And I'm just going to kind of conclude here because you see, this is not the end of the story, folks.
This is not the end of the story. In fact, it's not the end of the story. It's not just that we're going to go to heaven, you know, because we're all, I'm sure I hope you're looking for it that I am. But his kingdom will be established.
You see, when we look at the cross, and I was saying this earlier, we look at that and we think, why didn't Jesus come? And that's what people, the Jews thought too. We want him to come and we want to get rid of all our enemies. But Jesus came the first time to deal with the enemy of our soul.
Sin, Satan, and death and hell. And he did that. He's defeated them all. The second time he comes back, oh, that next time he comes back, he'll be coming back to rule and to reign.
It says he will be displayed in glory. And can you imagine? I mean, I'm learning to love Jesus. And I can't wait for the day when I see him coming down and he'll stand on the Mount of Olives and everybody will know who that person is on the Mount of Olives.
And I won't be ashamed to say, that's my savior. Will you be ashamed? Are you looking forward that day when his kingdom will be set up on the earth and that he will be praised and he'll be glorified? You see, his kingdom is a kingdom that is forever.
And ultimately, folks, that's not the end of the end of it, is that we will be forever with him. That's what he has for it. But where did it all start? It started with that crying across, my God, my God.
Why is that forsaken me? Is your salvation precious? Do you realize how much it costs the Lord Jesus to purchase your salvation? Well, if you do, then you need to tell them about it.
It should come out of us. And if not, we need to go back again and examine why am I missing the value of what I have. And I realize for taking so long, well, let's just bow on the word of prayer to close us. Lord God, we thank you for your word that you've given to us.
Father, how in it you've given us the clear testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, of his suffering, the anguish that he would go through both physically and in his soul as he would be made an offering for sin. Yet, O God, to think that ultimately you would recognize the work that he had done, that you would be satisfied, that there would never need to be another sacrifice for sin. O God, that there would be deliverance for us from our sin. O God, all we can see is what a wonderful Savior is Jesus, our Jesus.
What a wonderful Savior, Jesus, my Lord. O God, we thank you for him and praise you for the work that you have accomplished through him. And we pray this now in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you.