Please join us at our FREE GRACE CONFERENCE, JULY 16-18, 2010 in Pennington, NJ. For more information go to www.FreeGraceMedia.com. The conference and meals are free but we have provided a place to register to help us plan for the meeting. Hope to see you there.
Title: Remembering Christ
Text: Psalm 22
Date: July 4, 2010
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
I Corinthians 11: 23: For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25: After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26: For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
This morning we have come here to remember Christ Jesus the Lord as we partake of this unleavened bread and this cup of wine. The broken bread and the wine show the Lord's death--his body broken and his life's blood poured out--which was shed for many for the remission of sin. (Mt 26: 28.)
Our text is most holy ground: Psalm 22. These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ as he suffered as the Substitute for his people. The Psalm begins with the very cry of the Savior on the cross--"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me." It ends with our Lord's words on the cross in verse 31: "he hath done"--or as it is recorded in John 19: 30: "It is finished."
In the marginal reference you will find how often this Psalm is quoted in the gospels. I encourage you to look them up--each one--in your time. You will find that the very actions of the soldiers and those who mocked the Lord is recorded here all these many years and came to pass just as the Spirit of God moved David to prophesy here.
Psalm 22: 1: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [The Redeemer tells us how forsaken he was] why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? 2: O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
The Holy Savior tells us why he was forsaken.
Psalm 22: 3: But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
I. THE SAVIOR DECLARES THAT HE WAS FORSAKEN OF GOD BECAUSE GOD IS HOLY.
Just and the Justifier
Christ came to manifest the righteousness of God--that God might be just and the Justifier of all who believe. For God to be satisfied toward those for whom Christ died, Christ had to be made sin and to bear the justice we deserved. Sin separated all God's elect from God.
Isaiah 59:2: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Concerning the elect of God, Peter said, Christ Jesus "his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree," (I Peter 2: 24.)
Isaiah 53: 10: Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11: He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
The Savior was forsaken by the Father when he was made sin for us because God's holy justice demanded he be forsaken.
The Believer's Inheritance
Not only did he make satisfaction to God for the sin of his people through this shameful death. But here is the Holy One--Christ Jesus who was called of the Holy Spirit that "holy thing" formed in the womb of the virgin, this one who "knew no sin". Here is the Faithful One--who was set forth of God and faithfully manifested the righteousness of God. And here in the midst of his unimaginable suffering, fulfilling the very purpose for which God sent him, dying under the wrath of God, he declares that because he was made sin, God is just for forsaking him.
Application: If there was ever a verse of scripture that ought to shut our mouths from boasting of some pretense of holiness which we have performed, this is it. If ever there was a verse which ought to cause us to glory in Christ our Holiness, it is Christ Jesus in the midst of this soul agony, declaring God Holy for forsaking him. That is holiness. That is faithfulness.
II. CHRIST MADE HIMSELF OF NO REPUTATION
Psalm 22: 4: Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. 5: They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. 6: But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
Charles Spurgeon: "This verse is a miracle in language. How could the Lord of glory be brought to such abasement as to be not only lower than the angels, but even lower than men. What a contrast between "I AM" and "I am a worm"! yet such a double nature was found in the person of our Lord Jesus when bleeding upon the tree. He felt himself to be comparable to a helpless, powerless, down trodden worm, passive while crushed, and unnoticed and despised by those who trod upon him. He selects the weakest of creatures, which is all flesh; and becomes, when trodden upon, writhing, quivering flesh, utterly devoid of any might except strength to suffer. This was a true likeness of himself when his body and soul had become a mass of misery — the very essence of agony — in the dying pangs of crucifixion. Man by nature is but a worm; but our Lord puts himself even beneath man, on account of the scorn that was heaped upon him and the weakness which he felt, and therefore he adds, "and no man." The privileges and blessings which belonged to the fathers he could not obtain while deserted by God, and common acts of humanity were not allowed him, for he was rejected of men; he was outlawed from the society of earth, and shut out from the smile of heaven. How utterly did the Saviour empty himself of all glory, and become of no reputation for our sakes!"
Psalm 22: 7: All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8: He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
Here he is: making himself of no reputation--declaring himself not only lower than the angels, but lower than men--a worm and no man. Now what was it you and I were bragging about? What was it we were complaining about? What does the Hebrew writer remind us of?
Hebrews 12: 3: For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4: Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
III. BEHOLD, THE FAITHFULNESS OF CHRIST TO GOD.
Christ is the Son of God but Christ is the Faithful Son of Man.
Christ is the Holy Man. In the midst of indiscernible suffering he owns all his strength, all his dependence, upon God.
Psalm 22: 9: But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. 10: I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly. 11: Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. 12: Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. 13: They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. 14: I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. 15: My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. 16: For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. 17: I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. 18: They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. 9: But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me. 20: Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
No Refuge for Our Refuge
This word "darling" means "his soul". His soul was forsaken by all. There was no one who sought after him as a friend, or cared for him, or comforted him.
Psalm 142:4: Refuge failed me; no one cared for my soul; I looked on my right hand, but there was no one who would know me;
Consider this: in order that his sinful children might have a refuge from such awful wrath, Christ suffered for them with no refuge!
Psalm 22: 21: Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
Between this verse and the next is a marked change--a relief. I think this is the last manifestation of Christ's unwavering faithfulness to God. "The horns of the unicorns" represents Christ’s strongest enemies: Satan and his principalities and powers, the sanhedrim of the Jews, Herod, Pontius Pilate. As he bore their terror he faithfully called upon God. Now he says "save me from the lion's mouth." Up till now God has not answered him, yet he believes God. I think this "lions mouth" is probably the last enemy--death and the grave. Perhaps the fulfillment of this verse is in Luke's gospel.
Luke 23:46: And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
Whereas Christ highly exalted God by making himself of no reputation, and taking upon him the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Philippians 2: 9: Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11: And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The Prophet King
Psalm 22: 22: I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
How can these vile sons of men be called his brethren? It is because of what he suffered. The Hebrew writer says:
Hebrews 2: 10: For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11: For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12: Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Take note: Our King Jesus is as successful in sending forth his witnesses, in spirit and in truth, as he was at making his brethren the righteousness of God.
Remember, when our Savior first ascended, he appeared to Mary Magdeline
John 20: 17: Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
From his throne in glory, God the Father and his Son, Christ our King continue to send forth the Holy Spirit, to give pastors after his own heart and through them Christ declares the faithfulness of God to those for whom he died. And they hear him and follow him.
Effectual Command in the Day of his Power
Here is his effectual command in the heart that makes his children willing in the day of his power.
Psalm 22: 23: Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. 24: For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
Never was man so afflicted as our Saviour in body and soul from friends and foes, by heaven and hell, in life and death, but all those afflictions were sent in love. The load laid upon him was with a view to his ultimate glory and to the accomplishment of Christ's chief desire--the glory of God and the salvation of his people. Through it all Christ was the matchless jewel of Jehovah’s heart. The experience of our covenant Head and Representative is our encouragement to glorify the God of grace.
Psalm 22: 25: My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
If Christ's praise is of the triune God, who is it that those born of his Spirit shall praise?
His Promise.
Psalm 22: 26: The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. 27: All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. 28: For the kingdom is the LORD’S: and he is the governor among the nations. 29: All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. 30: A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. 31: They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
IT IS FINISHED!