1 Peter 1 verses 10 to 13 says, "As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied that the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ was in them, was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

And then one more scripture I want us to look at before we get into Psalm 22 is Luke chapter 24. The gospel of Luke chapter 24. And verses 44 to 47 say this: "Now he said to them, these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and he said to them, thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem."

Now Peter said in first Peter chapter one that the prophets prophesied of the sufferings of the Christ and the glories to follow. And Jesus said that he'd open their minds to understand the scriptures that everything from the Old Testament, from the law and Moses and the prophets and the Psalms spoke of his glories and his coming. And I want us to keep that in mind because Psalm 22 encompasses all of that. 

The first half of this, verses one to 21, describe the sufferings of Christ on the cross. This is called the Psalm of the cross. The second half of it describes the glories to follow. And the Psalm of the cross, this was written at least 1,000 years before crucifixion was even developed as a form of execution. David had no idea, as he penned these words, just like the prophets of old did not understand the things that they were speaking of; it says that they looked intently to see what these things were that they were speaking of. David had no understanding, no idea of the things that he was writing. He was speaking from his own heart. He was in some kind of a troubled state. I tried to seek out the background of this, and I was having difficulty with that. But there was something going on in his life, some anxiety, something that was going on in his life when he penned these words. But what came out was a description of Roman crucifixion and what Jesus Christ was going to suffer. 

So here it is in Psalm 22, strikingly described in detail. So let’s look at this Psalm, Psalm 22. And I'll read first of all, we'll read the first 21 verses. It says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer. And by night, but I have no rest. Yet you are holy, oh you who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.”

“In you our fathers trusted. They trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were delivered. In you they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me sneer at me. They separate with a lip. They wag their head saying, commit yourself to the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him because he delights in him.”

“Yet you are he who brought me forth from the womb. You made me trust when upon my mother's breasts. Upon you I was cast from birth. You have been my God from my mother's womb. Be not far from me for trouble is near. For there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me as a ravening and a 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 potsherd and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. And you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me. A band of evil doers has encompassed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. But you, oh Lord, be not far off. Oh, you my help, hasten to my assistance. Deliver my soul from the sword, my only life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth, from the horns of the wild oxen. You answered me.”

Now these words are recorded; these first words in this first verse, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” are recorded by both Matthew and Mark in the Gospels of Jesus on the cross about the ninth hour, three o'clock in the afternoon, just before he gave up the ghost. He cried out and he said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” These words, of course, are the agonizing cry of anguish, of yearning, of longing for the nearness and the help of the God whom he knew his entire life, his entire existence upon this earth. 

Actually, what he understood and recognized and had before the foundations of the world, what he had from all of eternity with the Father, he's suddenly now is at a loss. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Far from my deliverance. You're far from my deliverance and from hearing my cry.” Never in all of his earthly existence was he separated from his Father. Never in his eternal existence was he separated from his Father. But now he finds himself seemingly all alone, as he who knew no sin was now made sin for us. Everything else Jesus could endure— all of the pain and all of the suffering that he went through leading up to the cross and at the cross, all of that he was able to endure. But this, this separation from the Father was something that was too much to bear. And so he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In verse two, he says, “Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.” And this calls to my mind the reminder of the Garden of Gethsemane before the crucifixion. Jesus goes into the garden alone. He brings his disciples with him and says, “Wait, watch with me and pray.” And he goes on before them and he falls on his knees and he says, “Oh Father, oh Father, if it is possible, let this hour pass for me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus was coming up to that time. He knew before, long before he ever got here, he knew when he came to this earth, what he was coming to do. But there's something we need to understand about Jesus Christ and something that we overlook oftentimes, I think, and that is that Jesus came to this earth as a man.

He didn't cease to be God, but Philippians says that he laid aside all of his dignity as God, he laid it all aside and walked this earth as a man. That means that he did not rely upon the fact that he was God as he walked, but he walked the same way that you and I have to walk. In fact, I believe it's Hebrews, it's in chapter 12, it says that Jesus, that we should fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of the Father. He is used as that example of faith. He walked this earth as a man. Everything that he did, he did as a man. He walked in trust with God. 

And I believe in Hebrews chapter two, as he quotes towards the end, in Hebrews chapter two, he quotes and he says, concerning his walk with God, he says, “You are my, you know, I trust in you.” Talking about, this is how he lived his life. He walked his life as a man, trusting the Father, and that's the same way that you and I are called to walk. Amen? That's exactly how we're called to walk. Jesus walked that before us. Everything that he did, he did for us and on our behalf. So he says, “Oh my God, I cry by day, but you did not answer, by night, but I have no rest.” And so there's that anguished cry again, “Lord, where are you? I am in need right now,” because at this moment in time, the entire wrath of God was poured upon him for the sins of mankind. 

But he doesn't blame God. In verse three, he gives the answer. He says, “Yet you are holy, you who are... Yet you are holy, oh you who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.” He doesn't cast reproach upon God. I understand sometimes that the cry of the heart is so desperate and deep that we cry out, “Why?” But it's not casting dispersion upon God, it's that longing to know what it is. “Lord, why is this happening?” He understood, he knew what was going on, but yet it was almost unbearable for him to be separated from his Father at this time. And so he doesn't cast reproach upon God but recognizes that he is holy and beyond reproach and that his judgments are just. And that's something to remember. That's something to remember. God is beyond reproach and that his judgments are just. 

And he says, “Yet you who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.” What were the praises of Israel? Did they not praise him for his mercies? Wasn't it the mercies of God that caused the praise to well up from them in which they offered it to God? And it says that God is enthroned upon the praises of Israel. Praise God. He says, “In you our fathers trusted. They trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were delivered. In you they trusted and were not disappointed.” So here on the cross he is crying out to God. And I believe that this is the prayer of Jesus on the cross. I really do believe that this is, these are the words of Christ on the cross as he says this. 

And he calls to remembrance all the mercies of God towards Israel. “Oh, they cried out to you.” He's remembering after they had been brought, first of all, in Egypt as they cried out under bondage. And they cried out to the Lord and the Lord heard them and answered them and brought judgments, heavy judgments upon the Egyptians and led his people out. He recalls how he led them through the wilderness and how oftentimes they cried out and God was compassionate and gracious and met them. And in the time of the judges, when they fell and they sinned and God brought judgment. And they cried out in the midst of that and for God for deliverance and God was merciful and just and forgave them. Just like you and I, as often as we fall. 

I heard someone say the other day, they were talking, I believe it was Janice, I think you said it, something about getting up in the morning and wanting to serve the Lord. And what's the first thing I do? I sinned. Or maybe it was you; I don't remember. I woke up and I yelled at my children or something like that. You're laying there wanting to give yourself to God. But they cried out to God and they trusted, and they were never disappointed or ashamed. 

And Jesus from the cross recalls and remembers all the goodness of God to the children of Israel. But then look in verse number six, it says, “But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.” Now that's a heck of a thing for the Lord of glory to say. I am a worm and not a man. Now get the idea of the complaint as he's pouring it out before God. Our fathers trusted in you. And they cried out to you and you answered them, but me, it’s as though you're not hearing me. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt like God wasn't answering your prayers? You ever felt like God just wasn't paying attention to you? And Jesus from the cross in his humanity cries out in anguish. And he says, but I am a worm and not a man. What does that mean? What does it mean that I am a worm and not a man? It means that I am lowly and I am despised, and I am trampled underfoot. In fact, one of those words is used of Jesus in Hebrews chapter 10, when he says that, you know, that those who reject Christ, they trample underfoot the Son of God and put him to open shame. 

And it's that same idea. I am a worm and not a man. The king of glory, the creator of the ends of the earth who ought to be loved and adored is on the cross and he is despised and he is trampled underfoot. He is rejected by men. And he says, I am a worm and not a man. I don’t even have the dignity of a man. You understand, when they crucified in those days, it was complete and total abject humiliation for the one who was being crucified. They stripped him naked, put him up on the cross, and left him there to die. It was the greatest of indignity. And Jesus said, I don’t even have the dignity of a man anymore. I'm a worm and not a man. 

The Israelites were heard in their prayer, but I remain unheard, left, and forsaken. It is as if I was a lowly creature, as to be trampled underfoot, who grovels in the dust. 

Let's go to Isaiah chapter 52. Isaiah chapter 52, beginning at verse number 13, I want to start reading: “Behold, my servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, my people, so his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. Thus he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths on account of him. For what had not been told them, they will see. And what they had not heard, they will understand. Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground. He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised, and we did not esteem him.”

And so as Jesus is praying from the cross, he's saying, I am a worm and not a man. And he quotes Isaiah chapter 53 there. He says that, I am a reproach of men and despised by the people. Now, for what reason was he despised and rejected by the people? Didn’t he just spend three and a half years, three years healing their sick, raising the dead, preaching the gospel? Everything he did, he did for them. And remember that just a couple of days before this, they led him in procession into Jerusalem, shouting and singing and shouting, hallelujah and hosanna to the king, laying out the palm branches and welcoming the king of glory into Jerusalem. 

And how fickle and feeble is man that within just a few hours, they would turn and start to cry out, crucify him, crucify him. Why? Because he didn't come like they thought that he should come. They thought he should be coming as a Roman conqueror, destroying the Roman Empire and leading Israel into the kingdom. And now here is their king, crucified, a reproach of men, despised by men. 

Verse 7, all who see me sneer at me. They separate with a lip. They wag the head saying, commit yourself to the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, because he delights in him. Let's go to Matthew chapter 27. And let's look for just a moment at this account. Because again, directly quoted here, directly quoting from this psalm, in Matthew chapter 27, beginning at verse number 39, those passing by were hurling abuse at him, wagging their heads, and saying, you who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. In the same way, the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him and saying, he saved others. He cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel. Let him come down from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now, if he delights in him. For he said, I am the Son of God. 

And so we have here, as he is on the cross, they're hurling abuse at him. Everybody that sees him, like he said in Psalm 22, they who see me, all who see me, sneer at me. They separate with a lip and wag the head saying, commit yourself to the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, because he delights in him. Even the thieves on the cross next to him were hurling abuse at him. These are the sufferings of Christ on the cross. And as a man, he is bearing our sins on the cross. 

And we're getting such a clear picture of what was going on there. But then in verse 9 and verse 10, he says, yet you are he who brought me forth from the womb. You made me trust when upon my mother's breast. Upon you I was cast from birth. You have been my God from my mother's womb. And so Jesus recalls his early life, when he first came into the world, when he who created the heavens and the earth stepped out of eternity into time and came to this earth as a baby. And he was cast upon, he was laid upon his mother's breast. And he was cast upon God and made to trust in God from his birth. 

And so we can see from his early life. Remember how Herod desired to kill him? The Magi had come to worship. And Herod now, the king, was worried that this king should rise up and steal his kingdom. So he sought to have him killed. And how God protected him. How God spoke to Joseph in a dream and said, get up and go to Egypt with Mary. And how God provided for them in that time. Remember how the Magi brought those gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh? And these were used, of course, by Mary and Joseph to sustain them while they were in Egypt. God watched over Jesus Christ. We see when one of the first times that he was preaching in his own hometown. And he said something that really bothered the people. He was talking about how God ministered to Gentiles. And it says that with anger, they sought to drive him out of the town and throw him off the cliff. This is his introduction into the ministry. He's preaching the gospel for the first time and they want to kill him right away. And God protects him as he walks out from the midst of that. 

So here he is from the cross. And he's remembering the things that God has done and how God has protected him up to this point. And again, his cry is, be not far from me. Verse number 11, for trouble is near. For there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me as a ravening and a roaring lion. As you were with me at that time, come to my aid now. And this, again, speaks to his being alone. He did this on his own. He was all alone when he paid for our sins. There was no one there to help him. He had no help. He did this on his own.

Now, in Bashan, Bashan was a part of the half tribe of Manasseh on the east side of the Jordan River. And Bashan was renowned for its pasture lands and its rich, fertile fields. And the bulls of Bashan, because of that, it was known to produce bulls who were very strong; remarkable for their size, for their strength, and for their fierceness. When he speaks of these bulls of Bashan, they were renowned for this. They were some of the biggest, strongest, meanest bulls that were ever produced on the face of the earth. 

I think of the running of the bulls in Spain. And those bulls are trying to get them with their horns. Well, this speaks of — I believe that this speaks of the elders of Israel, that it speaks of the elders of Israel who were looking to destroy Jesus Christ, the political rulers and the soldiers, all of them seeking to do away with him. And he says, many bulls have surrounded me, strong bulls of Bashan. 

And he says, I’m poured out like water. All of my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. And you lay me in the dust of death. Well, let me back up to verse number 13, when he says that as ravening and roaring lions. That root ravening means voraciously devouring, and it's the picture of a hungry lion as it attacks its prey. 

And it tears it piece to piece so that it can eat it. And that's how Jesus is seeing these religious leaders and the Roman soldiers and all of them. They're like a ravening and a roaring lion. Just as a lion is about to attack and it roars, it opens its mouth and it voraciously devours its prey. And Jesus is terrified. In his flesh, he’s terrified. Do you get that? Do you understand that? I mean, put yourself in that place. How would you feel? 

In verses 14 to 15, that describes physically what happened to him during this time of persecution. All of his strength gone. And then verses 16 to 18, "For dogs have surrounded me. A band of evildoers has encompassed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing, they cast lots.” 

Now I believe this speaks of the Gentile world. You know, in Psalm chapter 2, it says, “Why do the heathen rage and the nation's divine a vain thing?” You know, they say, “Let us cast off. Let us destroy, get rid of God and of his anointed.” It says that God laughs at them. Just as they sneered and mocked the Son of God, God will sneer and mock them on that day of judgment, when the time for judgment comes. But here we have the Gentiles. He says, they’ve surrounded me like dogs. 

And in the East, they had packs of dogs. Well, you know, they have them sometimes in some of the cities, even in America — these packs of wild dogs. And these packs of wild dogs, they surround and seek to devour, to kill, to rip apart. And he says, they've surrounded me. A band of evildoers has encompassed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. And again, this was 1,000 years before Roman crucifixion. And so we see that the hands of Jesus were pierced, the feet of Jesus were pierced, nailed to that cross. 

And he says, they pierced my hands and my feet. The Romans did this; the Gentiles did this. He says, I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me. They divide my garments among them. And for my clothing, they cast lots. Is this not a vivid picture of the crucifixion? And I believe that this was the prayer of Jesus on the cross. 

In verses 19 to 21, it's his final appeal before he gives up the ghost. He says, “But you, oh Lord, be not far off. Oh, you my help, hasten to my assistance. Deliver my soul from the sword, my only life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth, from the horns of the wild oxen.” You answered me. This is that final cry before he gives up the ghost. Deliver me, my father, deliver me, my God. 

And don’t you like it that even in the midst of that, as he is bearing the full wrath of God as a penalty for our sins, he still calls him my God. How do you respond when God’s dealing with you? How do you respond when God is disciplining you? Do you kiss the hand that disciplines you? Or do you kick from underneath it? Say, “Oh God, this isn’t fair, this isn’t fair.” Jesus didn’t kick. 

First Peter, or second Peter says that, you know, that he was silent. Though he knew no sin, he was silent before those. And, so then verses 22 to 31, and let’s read those, because that's the second half, all right? At this point, Jesus has said, it is finished. It is finished. And he gave up the ghost. What’s finished? The penalty for sin has been paid in full. Your sin, my sin, the sins of all, from from from Adam and Eve all the way to the end of earthly existence. The sins of man have been laid upon the Son of God and he bore our sins in his own body on the cross. And the full wrath of God was poured out upon him. The Father turns his face away and he experiences for the first time separation from God. 

That same separation that those who reject Jesus Christ are going to know one day. And oh that should move us to share the gospel with people, to know that one day if they reject this Messiah, that they are going to suffer. That’s what hell is, folks. Hell is separation from God. And Jesus experienced that on our behalf. He took that for us. But it doesn’t end there, because there this is the glorious part of it. Now let’s read it in Psalm chapter 2 beginning at verse 22. “I will tell of your name to my brethren; this is quoted in Hebrews chapter 2 by the way — I will tell of your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him. All you seed of Jacob glorify him and stand in awe of him, all you seed of Israel. For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, nor has he hidden his face from him. But when he cried to him for help, he heard. From you comes my praise in the great assembly. 

I shall pay my vows before those who fear him. The afflicted will eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him will praise the Lord. Let your hearts live forever. Oh, isn’t that glorious? That is the result of all of this. We have eternal life. Those who put their faith and their trust in Jesus Christ have eternal life. You have it now. It’s not something that’s coming; you have it now. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before you. For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and he rules over the nations. 

Did you know that Jesus had to go through the cross to get to the throne? You understand that? The cross was something that had to be endured before the kingdoms of this world could be given to him. That was the father’s plan. For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust will bow before him, even he who cannot keep his soul alive. And who of us can keep our soul alive? Not a one of us. We will all bow before him one day. It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation. I don’t know how many generations removed now from this event has happened, but here I am telling it to the next generation. 

Some of you young people here, you’re hearing about Jesus Christ and what happened to him. This is a part of it. They will come and will declare his righteousness to a people who will be born that he has performed it. It is finished. I want to close with Isaiah chapter 49, and let's go there. Isaiah chapter 49. 

Beginning at verse 1, it says, “Listen to me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar.” Who's he speaking of? He's speaking of the Gentiles, isn’t he? “The Lord called me from the womb. From the body of my mother he named me. His name shall be called Jesus, because it is he who will save his people from their sins.” Amen. “He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand he has concealed me. You know that only those whom the Father calls, that only those whom the Father wills, he reveals the Son to them. No man can come to the Father but by me, he said. 

But he also said at another time that no one can come to me except the Father draws him. And I trust, I pray, that you have understood and felt that yearning, that calling of God upon your heart and your life, because God has concealed him from the eyes of the world. The God of this world, the devil, has blinded their eyes so they cannot understand. But it says that he has concealed me. In the shadow of his hand he has concealed me, and he has also made me a select arrow, and he has hidden me in his quiver. He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will show my glory.” 

But I said, “I have toiled in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing in vanity. Yet surely the justice due to me is with the Lord, and my reward is with God.” And now, says the Lord, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him so that Israel might be gathered to him. For I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God is my strength. And recall again what Jesus said on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And how he says, and my God is my strength.” 

He says, “It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up of the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.” And let me just stop here for just a moment and say that God is not done with Israel, and I hope that you understand that. God has never ever abandoned his covenant with Israel. He will take them in hand again, and in fact that’s what the tribulation is all about. It’s God taking up Israel again and dealing with them so that at the end, when Jesus comes, they will look upon him whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him. Amen? God will deal with Israel. 

He is not done with you. Praise God for that. Amen? How many of us, if God was done with us today, where would we be? But he's not done with you. He’s not done with you. He says to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel, I will also make you a light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. 

Now, I would have to say that Mercer, or excuse me, Winchester, Wisconsin is probably about as remote from Jerusalem as you can get. I mean, really is on the other side of the world, isn’t it? And yet, to us, this salvation has reached. To all who will call upon the name of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One, to the despised one. Remember, he is despised and rejected of men. I am a worm and not a man, despised and rejected. 

“To the despised one, to the one abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers, kings will see and arise, princes also will bow down because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you. Thus says the Lord, in a favorable time I have answered you.” 

And when did Jesus get his reply? When he was on the cross. “You will not allow your Holy One to see decay?” Think about that as a man. Just think about this. Again, Jesus did all of this as a man, and at the end, as he's about to give up the ghost, what does he say? “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” I have to trust in you. Jesus said, no one takes my life from me, I lay it down on my own accord. I lay it down, I take it back up again. But he didn't take up his own life. He waited for the Father to take up his life, to bring him back to life. That’s the ultimate trust right there in the face of death, when it's all done, said and done, to be able to commit yourself to the Lord. 

And Jesus said at that moment, “Into your spirit I commit myself to you.” Amen. “In a favorable time I have answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. And I will keep you and give you for a covenant of the people, to restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage, saying to those who are bound, go forth! Your sins do not bind you anymore. Your sins have been forgiven you. Praise God.” 

Remember when they let the paralytic down? They cut the hole in the roof and they let the paralytic down because they wanted their friend to be healed? And what did Jesus say to them? “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” Oh, that’s the most important thing. Healing isn’t where it’s at. It’s forgiveness. But he said, so that you know that the Son of Man has power to forgive sins, I say to you, arise. Forgiveness comes first, folks. That’s what Jesus died on the cross for. He bore our sins in his body on the cross. He who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Amen. 

Saying to those who are bound, go forth. And to those who are in darkness, show yourselves. Along the roads they will feed, and their pasture will be on the bare heights. They will not hunger or thirst, nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down. For he who has compassion on them will lead them, and will guide them to springs of water. I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways will be raised up. Behold, these will come from afar, and lo, these will come from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim. 

Shout for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth. Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains. For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted. Amen. Was the cross a sad thing? In one sense it was a very sad thing, but in another sense it is the most glorious victory, because it is through the weakness of the cross that God destroyed sin forever, that he destroyed death forever, and has given to you eternal life. It’s because of the cross. 

That’s why we walk in forgiveness; that’s why we walk in life. Do we deserve it? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. So Jesus said that, you know, in the Old Testament speaking to the Pharisees, he said, “You search the Scriptures because you think in them that you have eternal life, and it’s these that speak of me.” And doesn’t this psalm speak of the Lord Jesus Christ? Doesn’t it speak of that sacrifice that he made? 

I was agonizing over what to preach. I didn’t know what to preach. I didn’t have an awful lot of time to prepare, and Nate says, why don’t you preach on the 22nd Psalm, because this is a psalm that brought about his conversion. He read this and saw in it Jesus Christ. He wasn’t taught it. This was something that he received from the Lord himself. 

Receive it for yourself. I don’t know everybody that’s here. I don’t know where you’re at in your life, but the Word of God says that all who will call upon the Lord shall be saved. Call upon the Lord. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. And so I invite everybody to come to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive life, to receive forgiveness of sins, to receive eternal life. Amen?

Let’s have a word of prayer. Father, I ask that this message would be applied by your Holy Spirit to each and every heart, because without the Spirit, they’re just words. So, Holy Spirit, I ask you to move upon the hearts of everybody who hears these words, to love Jesus more, to glory in what he has accomplished for us and on our behalf. 

Father, we're grateful for the Son of God. We are grateful for the cross. We are grateful that we now have eternal life. Oh, we don’t deserve it, Lord. There’s nothing that we can do. There’s nothing that we can say that would turn your anger away. The only thing is the righteousness of Christ, and upon his righteousness we stand this morning, God. We stand upon the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. Thank you, Lord. 

And Father, I pray that this word would be used to uphold and sustain your people in the coming weeks, that you would strengthen your people and cause them to meditate upon and to think upon the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ, both his suffering, his death, his resurrection, and the glories to come. Lord, we love the Lord Jesus. We love your Son, and I ask your blessing upon each of us as we go from this place today. I ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.