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welcome to everyone it's good to be in the house of our God on this Lord's Day evening for our call to worship you can turn to Psalm 2 Psalm 2 and I'll begin reading in verse one why do the Nations rage and the people plot a vain thing the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying let us break their Bonds in pieces and Cast Away their cords from us he who sits in the heavens shall laugh the Lord shall hold them in derision then he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress them in his deep displeasure yet I have set my king on my Holy Hill of Zion I will declare the decree the Lord has said to me you are my son today I have begotten you ask of me and I will give you the Nations for your inheritance and the ends of the Earth for your possession you shall break them with a rod of iron you shall Dash them to pieces like a Potter's vessel now there therefore be wise o Kings be instructed you judges of the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all those who put their trust in him amen will you can turn with me in your hym books to number 212 hymn 212 we'll stand as we sing together to sing us to PR all glor for all his glorious my mighty Soul scatter my Aly our souls myly my mighty R in and to the [Music] greates his mesty May glor [Music] to well let us pray our great and glorious God we thank you again for the privilege to gather in your house on your day we praise Father Son and Holy Spirit we bless you for so great a Salvation we thank you for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ we thank you for the day that you've set apart for worship and we pray tonight that you would be glorified that as we come to the father through the son in the power of the Holy Spirit God would be all in all in this place we ask that you would encourage and strengthen us and build us up in our Most Holy Faith we pray God that you would confirm our faith and strengthen it as we gather together under the word of God and in the under the means that you've given in terms of the supper we ask that you would be pleased to bless richly this local body that you would indeed cause us to to glorify and honor you in this community as well God bless each of the families and and all of the individuals here and may it be the case that we would know The Nearness of God as our Good As We Gather tonight we are mindful of your Holiness of your majesty and of your glory we are mindful as well of our own our own waywardness at times and that remaining corruption that the Apostle deals with in in Romans and Galatians so we confess our sins to you now trusting in the forgiveness of sin we know Lord God that it's a it is because of what Christ has done as the Apostle summarizes so beautifully in him we have Redemption through his blood the Forgiveness of sins according to the riches of God's grace we rejoice in that not so that we may continue in sin that Grace May abound but when we do sin we are mindful of the fact that we have an advocate with the father even Jesus Christ the righteous so wash us now and uh cause us to to focus our attention and our minds upon the worship of our great God may your spirit enable us and may He guide us and direct us and may we know his presence and power as well for any and all who've come here that are dead in their trespasses and sins we pray that you would awaken them you would show them their sin show them the the glory of Jesus Christ that one who lived who died and who was raised again the third day so that men women boys and girls could have everlasting lasting life we pray that for our gathering here we pray that for other churches here in chilak we thank you that we're not alone in this community we pray for your rich blessing upon other churches that are preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ we pray as well throughout this nation we ask God in heaven that you would bless the pulpit we know father that ultimately it's not politics it's not uh uh just man's Ingenuity that's going to fix things here we live in a day and age that is O obviously Wicked and law and Godless similar to the days of the prophet Isaiah when men call evil good and good evil so our hope is in uh no no other thing than in the blessing of God Almighty upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ so send it forth from SE to Sea and may Christ indeed have dominion here as well we pray for the uttermost parts of the earth we know Lord God that the gospel is going forth we are encouraged to hear of the work of Christ in China and in Myanmar we're encouraged to hear about about what's going on in Africa and all over this globe and we pray in particular for the persecuted church we know there are multitude that are in prison multitudes that are losing jobs and losing homes and and and even under the threat of death are nevertheless continuing steadfast in faith in our blessed savior may you continue to encourage them may you build them up and may you use their testimony and may you use the word that they preach to bring other Sinners out of Darkness into Marvelous Light we thank you again for this opportunity to gather together we pray that you would be found in the midst of the Saints here as we'll read later in the psalm you are enthroned upon the Praises of Israel and we rejoice in that and we pray now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen well you can turn with me again in your hym books to Psalm 22 Psalm 22 be as in bravo we'll stand as we sing [Music] together his glor his [Music] PR his all his face stand now all hising to for on his God answer his prise godest in PR your all you now I worship you and my I worship you and my you shall be the shall live and evering PR and never prous allation from to be wonderous [Music] will we can turn with me in your Bibles to the Book of Psalms again Psalm 22 Psalm 22 for our meditation prior to the supper I'll read the entirety of the psalm but our Focus will be on the first half from verses 1 to 21A so beginning in Psalm 22 at verse 1 to the chief musician sat to the deer of the Dawn the psalm of David 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 and in the night night season and am not silent but you are holy enthroned in the Praises of Israel our fathers trusted in you they trusted and you delivered them they cried to you and were delivered they trusted in you and were not ashamed but I am a worm and no man a 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 trusted 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 on my mother's breasts I was cast upon you from birth from 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 of basan have encircled me they gape at me with their mouths like a raging and roaring lion I am poured out like water and all my bones B are out of joint my heart is like Wax it is melted within me my strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue clings to my jaws you have brought me to the dust of death for dogs have surrounded me the congregation of 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 for my clothing they cast lots but you oh Lord do not be far from me oh 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 all you who fear the Lord praise him all you descendants of Jacob glorify him and fear Him all you offspring of Israel for he has not despised nor abhor the Affliction of The Afflicted nor has he hidden 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 Nations shall worship before you for the kingdom is the Lords 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 a posterity Shall Serve him it will be recounted of the Lord to the Next Generation they will come and declare his righteousness to a people who will be born that he has done this amen well let us pray father in heaven we thank you for this wonderful Psalm we thank you for the reality that its application it's its main subject is the suffering of our blessed Lord Jesus on our behalf we thank you that he went to the Cross we thank you that he endured the shame we thank you that he went through all of this in order to save us from our sins God may you again encourage our hearts as we come to this Psalm may you encourage our hearts as we come to the supper and may you strengthen Us by your Holy Spirit and may we walk in a manner that is consistent with our high calling again forgive us now for all sin and unrighteousness and we pray through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen well we come now to Psalm 22 it's the psalm that Jesus had on his lips when he went to the cross and we see that specifically in the gospel of Matthew you can turn there Matthew chap 27 specifically in the section where he is on the cross so Matthew 27 we're going to bounce back and forth a little bit tonight but notice specifically in verses 45-52 now from the 6th hour until the 99th hour there was Darkness over all the land and about the 9th hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying Eli Eli Lama sabak that is my God my God why have you forsaken me some of those who stood there when they heard that said this man is calling for Elijah immediately one of them ran and took a sponge filled it with sour wine and put it on a re and offered it to him to drink the rest said let him alone let us see if Elijah will come to save him Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his Spirit then behold the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth quaked and the Rocks were split and the graves were opened amen so going back to Psalm 22 going to look at two things first the subject of the psalm and you see that in the super scripture notice verse one in the Hebrew Bible reads to the chief musician sat to the deer of the do on a Psalm of David so we'll consider the subject of the psalm briefly and then move to the prophetic meaning of the psalm in verses 1B to 21A but notice it is a prophetic word we have the fact that David wrote it but David is writing about something here that transcends his own experience certainly David suffered you see it in 1st Samuel chapter 16 he goes from Shepherd to the anointed king of Israel well once the Holy Spirit comes upon him once he receives that anointing from Samuel then his troubles begin there's a life of distress and hardship for David first of all from Saul he has the struggle with internal enemies but as well from the Philistines he has the struggle with external enemies just about everybody dis uh disdains and despises David and lots of people want to see him dead but what we find in this Psalm as I said transcends the suffering of David it does not describe his trials and afflictions Alec moer makes the observation the song goes beyond any experience of David's while it could arise from some time of his suffering it goes far beyond such to torture and death we are listening to David the prophet looking forward to the suffering Messiah and there he quotes or rather alludes to acts 230 in that day of Pentecost when Peter is preaching he invokes David and he calls him a prophet in Acts 2 and verse 30 so Psalm 22 is written by David under inspiration of the spirit but it's not about David it's about David's greater son even the Lord Jesus the one who was promised to come from that particular line now the psalm breaks down into two sections verses 1 to 21A deals with the suffering and the death of the Messiah and then verses 21b to 31 deals with his exaltation the fact that he was uh raised from the dead and exalted and ascended on high where he led captiv it captive and he gave gifts to men so what we have in Psalm 22 is what we find throughout the gospels what we find throughout the Epistles what we find throughout the Scriptures it is a description of the suffering and the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of All Those whom the father had given him and then that subsequent exaltation to the right hand of God most high so the psalm is quoted verse 1 in Matthew 27: 46 as we've seen verse 8 in Matthew 2 7 at verse 43 Verse 15 is is is at least alluded to in John 19 probably Psalm 69 is back there as well and then Verse 18 is quoted in Matthew 27:35 and then in the latter half verse 22 is quoted in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 12 so that it's about Christ I don't think is open for dispute and Bonar in his little commentary on the Psalms he entitles Psalm 22 Messiah mesah bearing the cross and wearing the crown Messiah bearing the cross and wearing the crown and that's the movement in Psalm 22 now that brings us secondly to the prophetic meaning of the psalm and it focuses as I said upon the suffering and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ I want to look at three things first the distress of the Messiah secondly the suffering of the Messiah and then thirdly the confidence of the Messiah but first notice the distress you see that there in 1B the Lord Jesus Takes this upon his lips and he says my God my God why have you forsaken me why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning I think there's some misunderstanding in terms of what these words represent in fact there's a famous song a famous Christian song and the man that writes the song says that the father turns his face away from the son others suggest that what the father does here with reference to the son is that he abandons him wholly that's not what's happening again Jesus here is expressing the distress of his heart according to his Humanity as he suffering under the Wrath and fury of God most high for us men and for our Salvation the fact that the psalm tells us that he petitions Yahweh or his father while he's on the cross indicates that there wasn't an abandonment it indicates that the father didn't turn his face away in fact in the second half of the psalm the Lord Christ underscores that notice in verse 24 for he has not despised nor abort the Affliction of The Afflicted nor has he hid in his face from him but when he cried to him he heard Christ knew that experientially upon the cross as this Psalm relates so as we look at the particular cry I want to EXP explain it first as to what it does not mean and secondly as what it does mean first it does not mean that there was any division among the persons of the Trinity it does not mean that there was any division among the persons of the Trinity doesn't mean there was a breach it doesn't mean that there was some separation it doesn't mean that there was some sort of a of a disorder in terms of God at intra the father's forsaking the son was not at the level of the ology proper it was not at the level of what we call AD intra God's relations the persons to one another father Son and Holy Spirit there's no rupture in that there's no division there there's no breach there additionally we need to understand that the Triune God did not suffer on the cross that's bad theology that is not good it is Jesus according to his Humanity as the Son of God who goes to the Cross so there was no division among the persons of the Trinity but as well there was no dissolution of the hypostatic union now remember the hypostatic union refers to the fact that that Jesus is one person in two Natures there's no rupture there there's no dissolving there there's no breach there Jesus is both man and God and on that cross he continues to be our confession in chapter 8 paragraph 2 tells us with reference to the hypostatic union so that two whole perfect and distinct Natures were inseparably join Jo together in one person without conversion composition or confusion which person is very God and very man yet one Christ the only mediator between God and man again there's probably a lot of other things we could say here but know this there's no uh breach or no division amongst the persons of the Trinity and as well there's no disolution of the hypostatic Union of Our Lord so when we ask the question what does it mean what does it mean when Jesus says my God my God why have you forsaken me it doesn't mean whole abandonment if it doesn't mean the father turning away his face from him then what it does what does it mean I got four things I want to consider first the Lord Jesus suffered on the cross according to his humanity and this expresses that his sufferings were real his blood was real his death was real it didn't just appear to be that way it wasn't just sort of a stage show but Christ suffered and when he cries this cry that is the evidence of his true Humanity this is exactly what we'd expect of a man who goes to the cross and does receive in himself The Punishment Due to sin so the Lord Jesus Christ suffers on the cross and notice specifically in verse one he says my God my God not my father my father the fact that he says my God my God indicates that he is speaking according to his Humanity when we locate him on the cross in Matthew's gospel he's there according to his human ity Divinity doesn't suffer Divinity doesn't ache Divinity doesn't bleed and Divinity doesn't die it was necessary that the Lord Jesus Christ be both man and God in fact John Gil says God is the god of Christ as he is man so the very statement itself does not suggest what some try to tell us that it does that there's a rupture in the persons of the Trinity that there's this whole sold abandonment on the part of the father with ref to the son no The Father loves the son the father approves of the son the father Delights in the Son and the father is glorified in the son's suffering so whatever Jesus means here cannot suggest for a moment that there's some sort of a div division between Father and Son secondly the Lord Jesus suffered on the cross for our sins he goes to that cross and he says my God my God why have you forsaken me that's the due punishment for sin in Earth and so Christ as our substitute Christ as our federal head Christ as our public person goes to that cross for us for us men and for our Salvation you know the passages Matthew 1 and verse 21 he will save his people from their sins well how does he do that he lives for them he dies for them he's raised again for them Matthew 20:28 the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many 2 Corinthians 5:21 God the Father made him God the son who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him so Christ suffered on the cross according to his Humanity Christ suffered on the cross for our sins the Church Father Hillary says nay it was we who were Forsaken and disregarded so that it was as appropriating our personality that he offered these prayers he stood in our stead he prayed our prayer he said the very thing that is true of humanity suffering under the Wrath and fury and curse of God most high this was real it happened it occurred and this expression from Psalm 22 on the mouth of the Savior indicates the case thirdly the Lord Jesus suffered on the cross as determined by the father he suffered on the cross as determined by the father there's two passages we ought to consider here Romans 8 and: 32 the Lord Jesus was delivered to the cross by the father according to the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:32 Paul says he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things who sent Jesus to the Cross that's a perennial question was it the Jews well they were certainly complicit was it the Romans they were certainly complicit was it you and I we were certainly complicit but as the father was a plan and purpose of God most high isn't this Peter's Point again on the day of Pentecost in Acts chap 2 and: 23 he underscores the reality that Godless hands nailed Jesus to the Cross but it was according to the predetermined plan and purpose of God most high when the apostles pray in Acts chapter 4 they understand that pilate and Herod do exactly what God's hand had determined beforehand to do the father undertook on our behalf this is what the scriptures teach uh uh uh repetitively when Adam and Eve sin it's not they that run to God it's God who comes after them when the B uh power Builders at Babel try to rise up and make a name for themselves and God confounds their lips uh lip what happens on the heels of that God calls Abram out of er the caldan and he covenants with him it's God who seeks and saves that which is lost and that's the emphasis that we find in scripture the father sent the son with all that that entailed perfect life of obedience a death as sacrifice and substitute on the cross and Resurrection again the third day and as well well he delivered him to the Cross but he didn't deliver him from the cross Isaiah the prophet in chapter 53 at verse 10 yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he has put him to grief so what you have there is the father sending the son to the cross and it pleases the father not in a sick twisted sadistic way but in the John 12 sort of way when Jesus says father glorify your name and the father says I have glorified it and I will glori glorify it again the father is pleased to bruise him again not some sick twisted demented you know AC of cosmic child abuse the way some proponents of or anti- proponents of uh penal substitution would argue the father sends the son to affect the purpose of God in the salvation of a great multitude that no man can number Christ go goes willingly the father sends him for that particular purpose and the son takes it upon himself to go through to the uttermost and then as well the Lord Jesus suffered on the cross and here's where I think we get at this my God my God why have you forsaken me idea is that the Lord Jesus suffered on the cross and experienced the withdrawal of the father's favor the withdrawal of the father's favor not the withdrawal of the father or else the very petition it self would be in vain the father is there the father is pleased on the one hand but according to his Humanity he is suffering wrath and fury and divine Vengeance for the sins that you and I have accomplished so the favor was withdrawn or rather the the Lord Jesus on the cross suffered and uh experienced the withdrawal of the father's favor so notice the favor was withdrawn but not the father the cry itself he doesn't say God God he continually says my God my God it's like just at a terrible analogy but I hope it gets at it to some degree when you and I are afflicted by Yahweh or when we are afflicted by the father he doesn't stop being our father he doesn't end his Covenant relationship with us we we're not supposed to interpret it that way if you do you need to repent oh God's Afflicted me he must have abandoned me I don't think we usually think that and in in in fact Paul tells us in Hebrews chap 12 we're not supposed to think that at all we're supposed to understand that the ones that the father loves he rebukes the ones that the father loves he chases the ones that the father loves he disciplines Jesus says As Much to the church in Leo DEA in Revelation 3:19 so the presence of Affliction doesn't argue for the absence of God the presence of Affliction for the Lord Jesus didn't argue from for the absence of God it argues rather from this withdrawal of his favor the the the kindness the the sweetness of his smile upon him and again he's suffering in our stad according to his Humanity there's no problem at the level of AD inra there's no Divine son and father with any breach or or rupture with reference to the cry my God my God he doesn't cease to be his God and then in the remainder of the psalm Christ expresses his confidence in the father over and over again in fact the whole is a prayer unto God the father in terms of uh of the reality that that he's undergoing the favor was withdrawn in accordance with his penal sufferings for us men and for our Salvation again when we ask the question what's true of humanity what's true of humanity is to cry out when the favor of God is withdrawn from us again going back to our Affliction I hope Affliction sends you to your closet or Affliction sends you to the family altar or Affliction sendss you to the prayer meeting and in that Affliction you cry out to God for Speedy relief you cry out to God for his Aid you cry out to God for his visitation again in terms of divine favor and blessedness Matthew Henry said it this way Christ was made sin for us a curse for us and therefore though God loved him as a son he frowned upon him as a shity that's a far CED different than Su suggesting that the father hid his face from the son now the father looks approvingly upon the son's work the father looks approvingly upon the one that brings glory to him but in terms of His function there as mediator according to his Humanity as our shity he's receiving the penalty of God's Wrath he is satisfying Divine Justice well in the satisfaction of divine Justice there's not a big smile from the father that goes along with it that's what evokes to cry why hast Thou forsaken me John Gil says but he was now without a sense of the gracious presence of God and was filled as the shity of his people with a sense of divine wrath which their iniquities he now bore so again this passage ought not to be interpreted as if something bad or something arai had happened to the Triune God no it underscores the beauty of our Triune God it underscores the glory of the Incarnation of the son the word became flesh and dwelt Among Us well what does it mean did he just appear to be flesh no all the essential properties and all the common infirmities thereof and yet without sin John Flavel says it was a penal desertion inflicted on him for satisfaction for those sins of ours which deserve that God should forsake us forever as the Damned are forsaken by him it is in the the the arena of of Christ satisfying Divine Justice and understanding and UND uh underscoring and receiving in himself that punishment for sin that's why the cry comes my God my God why have you forsaken me now let's look next at the suffering of the Messiah at the hands of men the suffering of the Messiah at the hands of men and interestingly on the cross we only get what happens God word in other words when we see the cross and our lord Jesus hung upon it in Matthew 27 we only get verse one Spurgeon suggests that he may have prayed the entirety of Psalm 22 on the cross I'll I'll read that quote in just a moment the point that I want to make is that it wasn't the beastly conduct of the men that evoked the cry from Jesus in Matthew's gospel but that doesn't mean there wasn't beastly conduct of men that he was undergoing while he hung on that cross us sometimes people say you know we shouldn't sing the Psalms only or we shouldn't sing much of the Psalms because there's not a lot of Jesus there there's as much Jesus in Psalm 22 as there is in Matthew 27 in fact Psalm 202 gives us insight to Jesus according to his Humanity where Matthew doesn't we learn more about Jesus suffering on the cross from Psalm 22 than we do from Matthew 27 in John 19 it speaks of his crucifixion and he was crucified Herman rboss makes the observation in that PL place he says there's not one Trace whatsoever of some sort of passion celebration in the New Testament and I get what he means Roman Catholicism if you go into one of their churches I use that very lightly they've got Stations of the Cross and you're supposed to go and stand before it and wave the incense and the priest says a a few things and you just kind of muddle along and and and and it really fixates upon the the suffering of the Savior uh that that movie that came out years ago The Passion of the Christ that was a celebration of the physical torture of the Lord Jesus Christ I'm not saying it was specifically or purposely but that was the high note of that movie it showed you the penal sufferings or not the penal sufferings but the the wrath of man against the Savior and men are sometimes fixated upon that I think Ritter boss is right there's no trace of that kind of passion emphasis in the New Testament the language is very brief but in the Psalms we find a a bit of a lens into what was going on in terms of the Savior when he hung upon that cross again not so we can have the Stations of the Cross and not so we can celebrate passion in terms of physical torture but we get an insight into what happened with the Son of God who loved us and who gave himself for us we we get as it were a bird's eyye view into his experience as he's receiving in himself not only the penalty of God the father but the the punishment and the wretchedness of Beastly men so notice with reference to this he's got reproach the phys or the reproach of men in terms of their verbal assault notice in verses 6 uh 6 to8 but I'm a worm and no man a 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 trusted in the Lord let him rescue him let him deliver him since he Delights in him Brethren I think we need to understand that when we read certain passages of scripture we tend to kind of sanitize it in for instance I was thinking about that passage in John 12 I preached that this morning and I alluded to John 12:19 when the Pharisees said you know if we don't stop this fellow the whole world's going to go after him I don't think it was in the the the vein of a of a serious sort of a reflection and you know a sober sort of assessment on the goings on if we don't get rid of this fellow then the whole world's going to go after him and they're going to upstage us these are wretched vile disgusting human beings they are in Adam they're dead and they've turned their antipathy against the most high it is the psalm to reality why do the Nations rage why do the people's plot ofan thing against Yahweh and against his Christ look at the language Our Savior says but I am a worm and no man John Gil says Christ calls himself a worm on account of the opinion that men of the world world had of him can you imagine that the Lord Of Glory the word became flesh and this is his sort of Declaration I am a worm and no man I'm a 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 trusted in the Lord let him rescue him let him deliver him since he Delights in him they are wicked men there is derision in their voice Yahweh holds men men in derision well that doesn't seem altogether kind well it's certainly wretched and Lawless for men to hold him in contempt and him in derision and this isn't the only place we see this in the prophet Isaiah in the fourth Servant Song of Yahweh we read in Isaiah 53 2 and 3 for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of the out of dry ground he has no form or cess and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him he is despised and re Ed by men uh a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we did not esteem him Brethren when John tells us in the prologue that he came to his own and his own received him not John's not making that up John's got the prophetic script behind him but under the inspiration of the spirit as he takes pen to paper to record the doings and dying of our blessed savior he underscores that reality Paul the Apostle refers to him in Hebrews seven wholly harmless and undefiled and yet men Trad him with contempt they held him in derision they despised him they looked him at looked at him as a worm and not a man we wouldn't know that of the suffering savior on the cross without the lens that we have here in the altar so the Messiah uh is looked upon as a worm by men and and he's ridiculed by men and that's what's happening there in verses 7 and 8 and you see that in Matthew's gospel specifically in Matthew 27 39-44 the section just prior to what I read They're standing at the base of the Cross and what are they doing they're mocking him they're adding insult to injury and it's bad enough he's being crucified for something he didn't do it's bad enough that you've taken the the very worst form of of execution that isn't even uh uh doable with reference to Roman citizens unless they happen to be specifically and particularly notorious Roman citizens didn't get crucified when barabus and his two compon rer up on that cross the text calls them thieves you didn't get crucified for being a thief you got crucified for being an insurrectionist you got crucified for being a revolutionary you got crucified for being a terrorist and that's the way they saw Jesus the religious leaders of the Jews despised and hated him such that they conjured up these charges and they did so in such a way as to get the interest of pontious pilot he forbids paying taxes well that'll make any civil government happy to execute happy to imprison happy to do away with anybody who would ever dare to not pay their taxes but also He makes himself out to be a king why do you think they did that because then pilate would see him as a political threat he would see him as a revolutionary he would see him as a terrorist and he would give The Kill Order and send the suffering savior to the Cross so these men are at the base of the cross he's suffering this shame and they mock him and they insult him and the psalmist tells us that such is the case he trusted in the Lord let him rescue him let him deliver him since he Delights in him they said this with a with a mock and a sneer and a slapping of the knee these were vile men now notice secondly in terms of the suffering of the Messiah the attack by beastly men notice in verses 12 and 13 verse 16 20 and 21 Bulls lion dogs dog lion's mouth horns of the wild oxen from the vantage point of the Cross when we look at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ it publishes to us or declares to us certain Perfections of God it definitely declares his love John 3:16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son it also declares his righteousness Romans chap 3 when God sent his son as a propitiation by his blood it was designed to demonstrate at the present time the righteousness of God that he's both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus so when you look at the cross in terms of the Divine Perfections they come full uh they come through fully but when you look at the doctrine of depravity when you look at the base of the Cross we're not well represented there brethren our fellows are engaged in absolute lawlessness and godlessness and when Jesus in the psalm here describes these particular persons he uses that beastly imagery he uses the language of animals he uses the language of vicious predatory animals that want to destroy him again keep in mind he's wholly harmless and undefiled he is the the the only man that never committed a sin and certainly not a crime time he's the only man that could say you know what they're framing me he's the only man that could say you know what this is a a kangaroo court but he doesn't do that he stands there silent before the Sanhedrin to the mo for the most part he stands silent before Pontius Pilate he describes these persons that put him on the cross in language that should cause us as fellows to hang our heads in shame again it's the father who put in there ultimately but the Romans were complicit the Jews were complicit certainly we were complicit for the sins of his people he went to that cross Davis makes the observation he describes his suffering in beastly terms Bulls surround him verse 12 but in the next verse Bulls become a lion that tears up its prey and Roars in verse 16 dogs circle around these are not the house Pat variety but the half- wild garbage moers of the near East but the canines are human they are a Congregation of evil doers in verse 16b the Beast imagery implies as Alec moer says that the assault lacks any of the constraints of humanity this is a frenzy this is a bloodthirsty mob from the first Cry of away with him away with him crucify him to the mocking to the insult and to the last breath when he gives up the spirit these people are wretched these people are Godless but the the the text doesn't stop notice the torture inflicted by men verses 14 to 18 we see first the effects of crucifixion in verses 14 and 15 and then the actual reference to crucifixion in verses 16b to 18 but notice the effects according to verses 14 and 15 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 pot shirt and my tongue clings to my jaws you have brought me to the dust of death there's that Divine initiative again even on the cross the Lord Jesus acknowledges that this is it first and foremost man's sinfulness that put him here it's the father's purpose and the Covenant of redemption for the son to redeem his people from their sins now notice with reference to the suffering he gets very detailed and very specific murant as a likely consequence of the unnatural position of a crucified person other words when he says my God my God why hast Thou forsaken me the explanation is simple under the penalty of God's Wrath for Sinners there is that withdrawal of divine favor the smile of God not the withdrawal of the Divine not the withdrawal of God when it comes to the infliction of pain thrust upon Him by men he gives that detailed description and again I think the the the the the 1928 and John alludes to this if it's not you know direct quotation this along with Psalm 69 when Jesus says I thirst when he's on on the cross but then notice that reference to crucifixion specifically in verses 16 to 18 for dogs have surrounded me the congregation of the wicked has enclosed me they pierced my hands and my feet it's intriguing the English versions here follow What's called the sepagan the septuagesima which is the the Roman number for 70 because the story goes there were 70 men that worked on this particular translation so you've got this Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament you've got the Hebrew mastic text reading in the margin but with reference to this we notice that there is a clear reference to crucifixion now how do we Jive that mastic text and lxx I don't want to get too bogged down but but Davis again makes the observation in 1997 a Hebrew text from nahal he was published which actually reads they have pierced a and this Hebrew text is a thousand years earlier than our traditional Hebrew text the Greek translation the septu agent from about 200 BC also took it this way now there's a man by the name of Michael rlck and he has a book on the Messianic hope he deals with Genesis 3:15 and the opening up of that promise of the seed of the woman that crushes The Serpent and he makes the observation that the mastic text at places got rid of messian interpretation that would have indicated or confirmed that Jesus was the Messiah and He suggests as much here with reference to verse 16b in the mastic text rlck says plainly the mastic text rendering avoids the christological implications of predicting the crucifixion thereby taking the less Messianic rendering and making it more acceptable to Judaism it's probably something about that and yet when we come come to this passage I just want to try to confirm you that this is a reference to crucifixion several hundred years prior to the crucifixion Again David is writing as a prophet about his greater son the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord Jesus Christ invoking this Psalm on his lips as he does from the cross validates and confirms that and so all those hundreds of years prior to the crucifixion we have this reference to the crucifixion they pierced my hands and my feet I can count on my bones they look and stare at me they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots Matthew 27:35 this isn't just kind of a vague possibility of fulfillment see I think there's that idea outside the church and unfortunately inside the church yeah the prophecies are kind of vague and a bit ambiguous and you really got to press to see fulfillment in the new test T not even a little bit Brethren not even a little bit this is as obvious and as clear as could possibly be many years prior to the crucifixion David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit tells us about the crucifixion so when the Jews for instance reject or resist the notion of the suffering Messiah they're absolutely off base the Same Old Testament that promised an eternal Messiah that promised a Divine Messiah that promised a powerful Messiah also promised a suffering and dying Messiah and a resurrected one so as we move our way through John's gospel and they ask the question how can you say that the son of man dies again they had the concept of power they had the concept of eternality but they didn't have the concept of suffering Paul says that into his own day in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 the Jews seek after signs the Greeks seek after wisdom but we preach Christ and him crucified to the Jews what a stumbling block a scandal why because they couldn't conceive that Messiah would actually die he would come he would subjugate their enemies he'd give them all new cars and new houses and money and bank accounts and chickens in every pot and he would restore geopolitical Israel to a place of prestige they missed it by a long shot and so the psalmist calls it the psalmist prophesies and that shows the contempt of those Jewish leaders in first century Israel that missed this significant piece of Redemptive prophetic messaging and then notice we've got the confidence of the Messiah and we'll end here he affirms the Perfections of God even while he's on the cross notice in verse three but you are holy enthroned in the Praises of Israel see what's happening to the Savior doesn't compromise the holiness of the father what's happening to the Savior demonstrates the Holiness of the father demonstrates the righteousness of the father demonstrates that he's both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ the forsakenness of the son does not mitigate the Holiness of God the forsakenness of the son shows or demonstrates or validates the Holiness of God Spurgeon made the observation he said however ill things may look there is no ill in thee Oh God we we are very apt to think and speak hardly of God when we are under his afflicting hand but not so the obedient son it's again that idea that he turned his face away he wholly abandoned him does not jive with the rest of the psalm the Lord Jesus expresses again the the the confidence that he has in the father who is Holy he knows too well his father's goodness to let outward circumstances liable his character there's no unrighteousness with the god of Jacob he deserves no censures let him do what he will he is to be praised and and to Reign A Reign enthroned amid the songs of his chosen people he acknowledges the Holiness of God and he acknowledges the faithfulness of God again I don't want to moralize that's a this a bad place to moralize I guess I want to just make the observation if under this distress Jesus nevertheless confesses the Holiness and faithfulness of God when we are likewise Afflicted again not likewise we're on the CR no no no no don't banish the thought but bre our tendency is to question God our tendency is to accuse God our qu our tendency is to say well why are you know why are you letting these things happen to me Jesus is confessing his Holiness Jesus is confessing his faithfulness he is faithful in the history of his people he says that specifically in verses four and five our fathers trusted in you they trusted and you delivered them they cried to you and were delivered they trusted in you and were not ashamed the faithfulness of God toward the Messiah notice in verses 9 and 10 but you are he who took me out of the womb you made me trust while on my mother's breast I was cast upon you from birth from my mother's womb you have been my God you see there is never this diminishing thought in the mind of the Savior on the cross as he's suffering Divine wrath and curse for us sin our sin and as he's surrounded by these beastly ghoulish men there's no thought whatsoever that anything in terms of God's Perfections had been compromised he loves the father he obeys the father he brings glory to the father he does what the father intended for him to do we're not looking at the complaint we're not looking at grumbling we're not looking at some sort of a a register of of of dissatisfaction in the terms of the Covenant we're looking at true Humanity crying out to God on the cross under the weight of divine wrath and then notice finally in terms of the confidence of the the Messiah he affirms his Perfections and he affirms his presence notice the presence of trouble evokes the petition in verse 11 be not far from me the presence of trouble evokes the petitions in verse 19o not be far from me hasten to help me the presence of trouble evokes the petition in verse 20 deliver me and the presence of trouble evokes the petition in verse 21 save me he affirms the presence of God even while he's on the cross and he's crying out why hast Thou forsaken me if the Lord's cry in verse one meant the utter abandonment of the son by the father then all of these petitions are prayed in vain but 21b tells us they were not prayed in vain and you answered me the Lord God answered him this follows the trajectory that you find in Ephesians chapter 1 the Lord Jesus Christ dies the Lord Jesus is then raised by the father from the dead and he's stationed at at the right hand of the father this follows the trajectory in ma uh Philippians 2: 5 to1 the son who became a slave and the son who suffered the the humiliating curse of death on a cross what happens on the heels of that he's exalted to the right hand of God most high the psalm moves in the same direction as the gospel the psalm moves in the same direction as Paul's Epistles the psalm moves in that direction because it's the truth of God most high and a plug for Psalm singing is simple if Jesus had this Psalm on his lips in his dying hour we as his people ought to have it on our lips in our living hour we ought to sing the Psalms of Zion knowing that they're about the Lord Jesus Christ and they reveal to us things that even Matthew Mark and Luke and John don't tell us Psalm 69 is another very important passage in that regard we get insight into the humanity of our blessed savior as he got under goes the life uh his life of humiliation so in conclusion I would suggest the Theology of the Salter is no different than the Theology of the New Testament the New Testament is patterned after the Theology of the Salter the complaint that the Psalms are silent concerning the Lord Jesus is simply untrue Brethren may I give you a bit of a hermeneutical piece of advice when you read your Old Testament read it as a new testament Christian you mean we can do that yeah yeah you can and and you should you you should when you come to Leviticus chapter 16 on that day of atonement you should be thinking Jesus you should be thinking Jesus you should be thinking blood atonement you should be thinking the experation of our guilt you should be thinking Christ when that scapegoat is prayed over by the high priest and the sins of Israel are confessed and that goat is then driven out into the Wilderness you should be seeing there our Lord Jesus Christ when you come to Psalm 22 let it inform and instruct your mindset concerning the suffering of the Son of God on our behalf in the gospel records read the old Covenant with that New Covenant perspective read the old Covenant as New Covenant Believers in Jesus Christ that's the way the apostles do it that's the way Paul and Peter train us to do it that's the way we're supposed to do it and that's what Jesus affirms when he upgrades the religious leaders when he says to them you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life but these are they which testify of me read the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament the suffering the death the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ in Psalm 22 gives us a perspec perspective that even Matthew's gospel does not as I said Ritter boss on 1918 and John the New Testament has no trace of any pass passion mysticism oriented to the physical torture of Jesus Spurgeon says it may have been actually repeated word by word by our Lord when hanging on the tree it would be too bold to say that it was so but listen to what he says but even a casual reader may see that it might have been perfectly appropriate perfectly legitimate the gospel writers seem to indicate that when they keep citing when they keep uh uh uh highlighting when they keep connecting back to this Psalm of the Cross and then in terms of the glory of the Savior the psalm Echoes the gospels and the Epistles the psalm Echoes the Apostle Paul Hebrews chapter 2 what does Paul say concerning the Redemptive work of Christ for it was fitting for him for whom are all things in bringing many sons to Glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings that gets at well what we find there in Psalm 22 and then the psalm displays the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed effect the Blessed fruit of his death and Resurrection on our behalf verses 27 and 28 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 let us Behold our Christ in Psalm 22 yay let us Behold Him in the entirety of the book of Psalms because he's all over the place and as we sing them as we pray them as we read them as we rehearse them it is calculated to do our souls a measurable good well let us pray Our Father in heaven we thank you for your word we thank you for this Psalm of the cross that we find those many years prior to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ we thank you for what is written here we thank you for that the application of it in the New Testament and we thank you that you've made us benefactors and recipients as Paul says blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places in Christ may we never forget these things may we Ponder them each and every day and may they be fresh in our minds and hearts even now as we eat this bread and drink this cup and we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen we can turn to Matthew's gospel Matthew chapter 26 where we read the institution of the supper by our Lord in that particular section but beforehand I want to just make a few reminders or give a few reminders the ordinance or Sacrament is for believers only it is a Christian ordinance it's not for unbelievers it doesn't have the power to convert you it's not some sort of magical right it's not something that we do in the hopes that you will become saved no it's for the Blood Bought children of God it's a time for the church corporately to proclaim the Lord's death till he com so if you're an unbeliever we just simply ask that you do not participate secondly the ordinance is for believers who are dealing with their sin again you see that in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 when Paul comes to deal with the church in Corinth it's not just at chapter 11 I mean they had you know a lot of mess there in Corinth it always intrigues me when people say we need to get back to the early church which one Corinthia or Corinth and all their sanctification problems of the churches in southern galatia with all their justification problems there's there's issues whenever you get Sinners even redeemed sinners in in in a place together there's going to be problems so the Apostle has to deal with those problems and when he uh comes to deal in 1 Corinthians 11 he highlights the importance of examination again the examination is not to determine whether you're sinless whether you're perfect I've achieved Perfection this week so I can go ahead and take the supper no that's not what it is it's conscience void of defense toward man and toward God your dealing with your sin by God's grace and according to your ability as well the ordinance is a means of Grace to be sure but the elements are not changed this isn't romanism this isn't a change this isn't What's called transubstantiation the bread remains bread the wine remains wine they become emblems or representations of the Lord's body and blood when he said this is my body this is my blood he is speaking metaphorically he is not speaking literally his disciples would not have thought it was right to ingest blood or to eat his body physically so it's a metaphor designed to emphasize the reception of Christ and his benefits by faith I think that's what's going on in John 6 though not a communion passage it sure shines some degree of light upon it at least to some level and then ultimately the ordinance points us to Christ we're not to be introspective here if you look at get yourself in your sin confess your sin trust in God's faithfulness to forgive you and take the supper it's designed to strengthen it's designed to help it's designed to be something provided by the householder God to the weary pilgrims to fortify and enable them to press on in this present evil age now if the brothers would come and pass out the bread we will read the section appropriate to the bread after that is done and you can please remain seated we'll sing number 1330a 130a again remain seated after you get the bread we'll pray when we all receive it after we read the appropriate part of scripture so Psalm 13A to to and to my my the Lord our the I my soul the Lord my his for God my soul the Mery is well in Matthew chapter 26 the Lord Jesus institutes the supper in conjunction there with the Passover meal so I'll read verse 26 and as they were eating Jes Jesus Took bread blessed and broke it gave it to his disciple or to the disciples and said take eat this is my body well let us pray our blessed God we thank you for what we find in scripture concerning your initiative your divine plan to save your people from their sins we thank you for the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf and for the present power and Ministry of the Holy Spirit who takes these things and applies them and even now Lord God encourage us and strengthen us and build us up in our Most Holy Faith and cause this to be a time of reflection and a time of Celebration and rejoicing at the reality of what Christ did on our behalf and we pray in Jesus name amen we'll take together you can remain seated and turn to 340 340 as far as the the the wine goes there's juice in the outer ring for those who do not want wine the juice is in the outer ring the wine is in the inner part of the dish and we will sing 340 while the brothers pass that out all all all to sing [Music] s my S GL my shall shall be to shall be sing your to s great my for preious all the to to be sa all CH [Music] God reading verse 27 then he took the cup and gave thanks gave it to theming all of you for this is my blood the New Covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sin but I say to you I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's Kingdom when they had s the him they went out to the m us father again we thank you blood of Lord Jesus Christ learn us old Covenant without sheding of that blood there would have been notification know that well we know that without the shedding of blood there's no remission no forgiveness of so we thank you that you sent your son as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world thank you for that forgiveness thank you for your mercy thank you for your grace and we pray in Jesus name 352 stand as sing our service 32 for the Son of God s to hallelu was sh and in my seal my hallelu andless of God hallelu to was his Hallelujah glorious all hisome to sing hallelu oh Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is Mercy and with him is abundant Redemption and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities father thank you for this wonderful day thank you for the blessing of being with your people to praise your great and awesome name go with us now may we know your peace and may we know your nearness and may we glorify you each and every day and we ask through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen will you be may be seated for a brief time of meditation