In the sermon titled 'Forsaken,' delivered by Scott Brown, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is explored through the lens of biblical prophecy and the fulfillment of God's plan for humanity. The sermon emphasizes the mocking that Jesus endured as a representation of the rejection of His authority by humanity. This rejection is seen as the root cause of all sin. Through His suffering and death, Jesus is depicted as creating a new family of believers, a community that transcends individualism and embodies the righteousness of God. Psalm 22 is highlighted as a key text that underscores Jesus' experience on the cross, with its themes of forsakenness and eventual triumph resonating throughout the sermon. The message stresses that Jesus' sacrifice was not only for individual redemption but also for the creation of a joyous, holy community. The sermon concludes with a call to recognize the magnitude of sin and the profound mercy of God, encouraging believers to live in light of their redemption and embrace their role in the congregation.

Good morning. Please follow along with me as I read aloud verses 35 through 44. Then they crucified him, and divided his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet. They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Sitting down they kept watch over him there, and they put up over his head the accusation written against him, This is Jesus, King of the Jews.

Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and another on the left. And those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, "'You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.' Likewise the chief priests, also mocking with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others, himself he cannot save. If he is the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have him.

For he said, I am the Son of God. Even the robbers who were crucified with him reviled him with the same thing. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we worship you and we praise you and we thank you for your word which you've provided to us through the Holy Scriptures. Father, we pray that you give us ears to hear this morning and that you provide Scott with wisdom as he exposes upon today's sermon text.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Here again we have a text before us that helps us to see again what God has done to secure the happiness of his people, how he despised the shame for the joy that was set before him. He thought the shame that he would experience on the cross would be such a small thing to do, to endure, in order to secure such a wonderful thing for His people, to set them free from their sins, to make them a family, to make them actually a family that has a way to live together, to make them a people for God's own possession, to bring them together, to make them more than they ever could be on their own, to make them a family that would love one another in spite of the variations and the differences and the offenses that happen naturally in church life, but to make them a people who, when they see each other, they don't just see one another as skin deep, but they see who they really are. Cleanse, made holy, sons and daughters of God. That's who they see when they see one another.

And they become a new community, a completely different kind of subculture in the world that doesn't exist anywhere else. And it's a beautiful subculture when it is governed by the Word of God. But here is the story of how Jesus Christ came to secure a bride, how he came to make a family. This is what God has always done. In eternity past, when God was in heaven with with his Son and with the Spirit, they were a family loving one another.

They created the world. And then the first thing that God does after He creates the world is He makes a family. He puts the Adam and Eve in a garden, and He says, go make a bigger family. Be fruitful and multiply. And then he comes to Abraham and he says, in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

There's a whole other expanding family that's taking place there and then all through the Old Testament the prophets speak of this coming great expansion of the Kingdom of Heaven, another family. Lord Jesus Christ is sent by His Father into the world, and what does He do? He makes a family. He makes a family for Himself. And he does it through suffering for their sins.

And so this passage of Scripture is so helpful. It's such a revealing passage, particularly for all who deserve to be forsaken by God. And yet, instead of being forsaken, actually being made a people, being brought into a family, and then having a father and have brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers together. These who deserve to be forsaken by God. And here before us is the most important matter on planet Earth, and it's this.

What do you do with creatures who deserve the wrath of God, who rejected His authority, who've mocked Him, who've walked after the pattern of the world instead of according to His laws, who actually really flat out deserve to be forsaken because of their behavior. What do you do with sinners? What do you do with those who rebel against the authority of God? And that's all loaded into this passage of Scripture. And What you do is you bring them to the cross where all of history is interpreted through this one single event.

And we preach Christ crucified and His death and His resurrection. Because it's the Rosetta Stone of all of history. It explains everything in history. It shows the purpose of all things. It shows actually what God meant when He was in eternity past in a community of love, a family where there was honor and love and there was submission and there was obedience.

What did he mean by that? He meant that he would be one who would reconcile sinners to himself And he would make sinners into a family. Creatures who were being reserved for wrath would be brought into a completely different experience through the blood of his son. So what's here is a picture of God's fury coming down upon the Son of God. We've been here for several weeks and these passages are very, very similar.

And so you've been hearing similar things throughout this section of Scripture. And he is pouring out his fury against sin and he's laying it upon his son. Now, there are two really striking realities that I want us to have in our minds as we move through this passage of Scripture. And the first is this, and we've seen this already. Matthew is going to great lengths to describe the mocking that Jesus Christ has revealed.

For three Sundays in a row we have seen only one thing, the mocking of the Son of God, mocking in every imaginable way. Well, not every imaginable way, because there are more here in this passage. And the Romans were mocking him with a mocking robe, with a scepter to mock his authority, mocking by putting a crown upon his head, a mocking bitter vinegar. And now the mocking just continues. And in this passage, the mocking crowd just expands, you know, almost exponentially.

It includes all kinds of other people. The religious, the pagan, the secular, the rich, the poor, the follower, the leader, they're all, they're all the bystander, they're all taking up offenses against the Lord Jesus Christ. So the first thing you see here is this great mocking. What does this all mean? Jesus Christ is taking the mocking that you and I deserve.

Jesus Christ is absorbing in His body all the reasons the church should be mocked by their enemies. It shows how horrible our sins are. We're given a picture of our own hearts and this especially, how much He's had mercy upon us and what he has done to rescue a church and how he has made a family, a family to be pure in his eyes. So that's the first thing that you see here. The second thing is how Matthew goes to great length again to explain how this was prophesied in the Old Testament, particularly Psalm 22.

And God is in... This is a declaration that God is in control of all of history. God is bringing many sons to glory. What does that mean? It means that for maternity past, God has history in His hand.

He's got the whole world in His hands and He is orchestrating all of history for his own glory. And because of that, because of this high-level focus on Psalm 22, we're actually going to, during the sermon, walk through Psalm 22 fairly slowly to get the contours. Because we have to recognize Psalm 22 must be important to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is at the most pivotal moment of all of history in his own life and what is he thinking? What is in his mind?

Psalm 22 is in his mind when he is on the cross. He can't get it out of his mind, and he speaks it there, as Matthew records. And so what is Psalm 22 all about? Here's a proposition. You really can't understand this text without going back to Psalm 22.

Because when Jesus quotes it, he's not just yanking a verse, bleeding and screaming out of context to use it for his own purposes on the cross to say something. He's pulling the meaning out of Psalm 22 in order to communicate what is happening to him. But what is here also is this amazing fact, and that is because he was forsaken, the people of God will never be forsaken. Now you might feel forsaken one time or another. You might feel forsaken today.

You might be sort of in the pit of forsakenness in your own spirit. Is that you today? I mean, my guess is that every Sunday somebody walks in here with that in their souls. But here the Lord Jesus Christ is proclaiming that He has secured you and protected you from being forsaken. For he hath said, I will never leave you or forsake you." So that's the introduction.

Let's take these one by one. Verse 35, the crucifixion, if you have an outline in front of you, you'll see how we're going to be walking through this passage. Verse 35, these very simple words, these four simple words that explain everything that began in heaven. Then they crucified him. Then they crucified him.

Very brief, very restrained, no details, no nails, no wood. People understood what it meant to be crucified. About 30, 000 people had been crucified around the time of Christ. The details of the crucifixion are not the heart of the story. Crucifixion was common.

You know, 300 years earlier, Alexander the Great crucified 2, 000 people in the city of Tyre. Just a few years before this, Alexander Janus crucified 800 of the Pharisees there close by. So crucifixion was a normal part of life in the Roman world, but it was barbaric, painful, it was dehumanizing, it was shameful, it was designed to be a deterrent. Nails were driven through hands and feet, wrists most likely, raised up onto two pieces of wood, legs often broken to finally kill the person. And here the Lord Jesus Christ is being reported as to have been crucified.

This is the death that he came to suffer. And he was crucified. And because he was crucified, you will never receive the curses that would require your crucifixion. The Bible says through the prophet Moses, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. The Apostle Paul quotes this in Galatians as well, speaking of the purpose of the crucifixion.

It is to save those who deserve crucifixion from it. And so because he was forsaken, you'll never be forsaken. Peter says that it was to bring us to God, 1 Peter 3, 18, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive by the Spirit. Notice how Peter presents this, that He suffered to bring us to God, to make us a family, to make us a people for His own possession. Yes, He did die for you individually, but He died for a greater purpose than for your individuality.

He died because He was rescuing a bride. He was making a people for his own possession. A people who would look differently, act differently, talk differently, dress differently, think differently, do everything differently because they are people for God's own possession. God was rescuing a bride by the just for the unjust. Paul says it happened to remove curses against you.

This is Galatians 3.13 that I just referred to. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Why? That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

So here, the curses are removed from the people of God so that they would be a fulfillment of all the families of the earth being blessed, as was promised to Abraham. The writer of Hebrews says it happened to bear the sins of many. In Hebrews chapter 9, 28, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time." So the writer of Hebrews says it was to bear the sins of many, and that's obviously true from everything we've read about this passage and spoken of it. Isaiah says it was to carry our sorrows and to bear our griefs, that the chastisement for our peace was upon Him.

So we would have peace, He would be chastised. Paul says that it was so that he would become sin for us. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. Here the people of God become righteous. And as they sit with one another, as they walk with one another in his family, they should think of each other that way, as the righteousness of God.

It should be such a time of rejoicing when we gather, to be in such a gathering that God has redeemed for His own purposes. He did it for the joy that was set before Him. It was for joy that He did it. He did it to make a joyful people. What were the first things that Jesus said to his disciples after the resurrection?

You know what they were? Two words. Rejoice and do not fear. Those two things. It was the joy that was set before him that brought all of this together.

God in his son, his happy son, his son who had the oil of gladness above all his companions, was coming to create a happy people, a righteous people, a holy people, a people for his own possession, and he was doing it for the joy that was set before him. He did it for his own joy. How about that? He did not do it for you. He did it for his own joy.

He did it to bring you into His joy. But not just you individually, to bring a whole people into His joy. I hope we're not just sitting here thinking just so individualistically about everything. But that Somehow we don't understand the language, the plurals that are in all of these texts. Did you notice that all of these texts are in the plural?

They're not really in the singular to you personally. Well, they do apply to you personally. I mean, that is implied. But I think we have to recognize what the Gospel is. It's a story of the redemption of a sinful people by one sacrifice.

So we see that they divided his garments. Here now, not only did they crucify him, they divided his garments in verse 35, and divided his garments, casting lots that it might be fulfilled, which were spoken by the prophet. They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. The casting of lots, it's the word that just signifies throwing, like throwing dice, you know throwing dice up against a wall to see what was happening. That's how they divided his garments.

And they took his headgear and sent it that direction, and his sandals and his outer garment and his belt and everything was dispersed abroad. Psalm 22, 18 and 19 speak of this. And so his garments were literally divided and sent from Him. And here again we have the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. That He is doing something for sinners.

And what he is doing here is This because his clothing was taken you will be clothed The Lord Jesus Christ is stripped in his clothing his clothing is taken away Why so that you would be clothed with robes of righteousness? It is his substitutionary atonement He For he made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God, with those robes of righteousness that the prophet speaks about. And then they accused him, verses 36 and 37. Sitting down, they kept watch over him there. And they put up over his head the accusation written against him, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

So they're watching him, most likely they're watching him to make sure that he actually dies and that he's not taken away. But this is an accusation that is made. This statement, this is the King of the Jews, is an accusation. It is a serious charge. If you go to the Gospel of Luke, you can see more about this whole matter.

He brings some things in that the other writers don't bring in. But what this whole scene was, really, for the last three weeks in our own experience here, this whole scene is a satirical, sarcastic farce. And Jesus is the butt of the joke. This is the King of the Jews. Jesus is the butt of that joke.

This is no king. That's what they're saying. And what they're saying is Jesus has no robe of authority. He has no scepter of any power. He has no crown on his head.

The joke was he's the king of the Jews. King of the Jews. This was a sort of like a sick satirical comedy that they were playing out. Now all throughout this chapter, there's also a running theme that Matthew brings out over and over again. If you could go back to the beginning of this chapter and count how many times The issue boils down to whether Jesus Christ is King or not.

I haven't done that. But I know it's in almost every verse where Jesus Christ's authority and kingship is being belittled. That's really the heart of the matter in this whole chapter that his kingship is being despised in 50 different ways by all kinds of different people. He had been asked this by Pilate in 2711, and he had been mockingly called King of the Jews here in this passage, in this verse here. Now what should we think about that?

Here's what we should think about it. Everything that has ever gone wrong in the world can always be traced back to this one thing, the rejection of the authority of Jesus Christ. Every defilement in your life, everything that has gone wrong in your life can always be traced to one single thing. You can always diagnose what's wrong in your life. Somehow you've rejected the authority of Jesus Christ.

And I'm not saying that if you have a trial, somehow you've rejected the authority of Jesus. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying when something has gone wrong in your life, when you begin to find yourself with bitterness in your heart toward your brother, the rejection of the authority of Jesus Christ is always at the root of it. If you have anger between a husband and wife, you can always go back to that one single sin of the rejection of the authority of Jesus Christ. You're crosswise with your boss.

Let me tell you something. You can go right back down to the authority of Jesus Christ. You can always trace every problem with sin in your life back down to that issue. We live in a world today where people spend thousands and thousands of dollars to get their problems sorted out through psychiatrists and psychologists and drugs. All of that should just be thrown away and go back down to this one issue and you can find the source of your problem.

Are you lonely today? Are you angry today? Do you have issues with someone today? Most likely, you can trace it right back down to this single issue, the authority of Jesus Christ. Have you listened to him?

Have you listened to what his word has said for how you ought to think and feel and what you ought to do toward your brother, toward your boss, toward everyone, whoever, toward your government? And what we see here is a picture of people completely disregarding his authority. And the Lord Jesus Christ is suffering for that. He is suffering for every person who has ever rejected his authority and has come to him in repentance and who has believed in the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and who has been changed by the mighty power of God. Jesus Christ is suffering this way so that every person who has ever rejected the authority of Jesus Christ in the tiniest, microscopic area of life will receive pardon.

So, I mean, when you find yourself recognizing that you do have anger, you do have bitterness, you have a loneliness that's just so inappropriate in this world, you feel so forsaken, the truth is Jesus Christ has paid for your sin. He has paid for all those times that you've had that condition. Every time you can trace your problem to this sin of rejecting the authority of Jesus Christ. Here's what you really need to know. Jesus Christ suffered for that.

He died for sinners. He became sin. He knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God. So he was accused here. And because he was accused, the accusations of the devil will never stick on you.

He's already taken your accusations for you. When your friend might say, oh, he's calling himself the King of the Jews, or the devil comes to you and says, oh, you think you're such a wonderful Christian. You're nothing. There's a sense in which the Lord Jesus Christ, He destroys the work of the accuser or the brethren. He says, no, I was the accused.

I received all of His accusations. This is the miracle of redemption. And then thirdly, you see these robbers who were crucified with him in verse 38. Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and another on the left. You know, People say you're always known by your companions.

If you know one person, then you're also blamed for that person's goodness or evil either way. The power of association. Here, Jesus Christ is associated with robbers. And the word that Matthew uses here, it's translated revolutionaries. These were, Luke calls them malefactors.

They were criminals. And here, the Lord Jesus Christ is crucified, being associated with criminals. And there's a divine purpose for this. Because Jesus Christ is dying for criminals. He's dying for those who have broken His law, the law of the civil government, and all-natural law, if you want to add that.

But Jesus Christ is dying for those who break laws. He's dying with those who break laws. He's identifying himself with the law breakers. He's saying, I am the law breaker. I'm the criminal.

I'm the revolutionary, out of control, committing murder, insurrection. I am doing that so that an insurrectionist can be saved. I'm doing that so a murderer can be saved. I'm doing that so somebody who hatches a plot and destroys lives can be saved. You know, He was a friend of publicans and sinners.

And he died for robbers as well. Have you ever robbed anything? Have you ever stolen anything? The Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed his four robbers. Paul says, he mentions all these terrible sins, and he says, well, such were some of you.

That's exactly what we see here. The Lord Jesus Christ dies for the criminal. So because he was crucified with robbers, your robbery is atoned for. He who made him who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Number four, the pastors by blasphemed.

Verse 39 through 40, And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, You who destroy the temple, build it in three days. Save yourself if you are the Son of God. Come down from the cross." You see all these different kinds of people that are brought into the next? Now you have just the pastors by. This is the general public.

I take this as these are the people, and they were just walking by. They were just seeing the scene. They weren't part of the crowds. They were bystanders, maybe just going from one place to another and observing this. This is representative of the people who pass by and they see the works of the Kingdom of Heaven and they blaspheme.

They don't really know much, they're really actually very stupid, They've not checked things out. And they're just sort of the foolish populace that walks by and makes a judgment and hurls an accusation against Jesus. And they take something that they heard out of the air. Oh, he said I'm going to destroy the temple. How stupid is that?

Just a normal person who takes a word of scripture and blasphemes it because they are so foolish, they are so stupid, they are so imprecise, they care so little about truth that they don't go to try to find out what something really means. This is the television, you know, video baby generation of our day. They really can't think clearly. They don't consider things in terms of categories. They don't even know how to think at all.

And so they don't. They just pull something out of it out of the air throw it up. It's like ha ha ha ha Jesus Christ is ridiculous. That's the whole theme of this section of Scripture So they're there what says they're wagging their heads in Psalm 22 and here. They're wagging their heads.

It's an interesting term that Matthew uses. It's the word kin-o. It's where we get our word kinetic. You know, they're wagging, you know, kinetic motion. And they're wagging their heads.

They're doing things with their heads. And then they're saying something. If you're the Son of God, come down from the cross. Now they misquoted Jesus about this whole destruction of the temple. He was talking about His body.

Again, they really cared nothing about the details. It astonishes me when I talk to unbelievers just how ignorant they are when they quote scripture. They really have not taken any care to understand what it means. They just didn't have the right story. And then they say, if you're the son of God, come down.

This is exactly what the devil said to Jesus in Matthew 4 during his temptation. If you're the son of God, if You're the Son of God, you can do whatever you want. Well, but the Son of God says, I only do what I see my Father doing. So here he's blasphemed by the pastors by, so that you will not be blasphemed for all eternity. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God." And then fifth, the chief priest mocked him.

Now we move from the pastors by. Now we're going into three categories of people. Power, authority, scholarship, all these different kinds of people. Some of these were like at the top of society. If you look at these three categories, chief priests, scribes, and elders, they were at the top of society in a particular area of expertise.

And what they're saying to him is this, he saved others he cannot himself save. If he is the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him now deliver him now, if he will have him. For he said, I am the Son of God." Now they're recognizing that His trust has been in God. And here they're questioning the goodness of God.

They're saying, He trusted in God, let him now deliver him. He's really questioning the goodness of God. This is exactly the same message to Eve in the garden. God is not good. Do your own thing.

You need to think bigger than God. You really need to break out of this, you know, hemmed in, pinch-truncated Christian thinking, you know. Don't just think the way God wants you to think. Think whatever you want. And this is what the Pharisees are saying to him, and the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

Think bigger than God. God doesn't care about you. God is not your father. And then number six, the robbers reviled. Verse 44, the robbers reviled.

Even the robbers who were crucified with him reviled him with the same thing. So the robbers were saying the same thing. Oh, King of the Jews! How are they saying that? They're strung up on the cross.

They still have energy to belittle one that's being killed along with them. And they still have it in their souls to say the same things that those Romans and Jews were saying. I think that's amazing. They're saying the same thing. In Luke we read that Jesus says at this time, Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

Father forgive them for they know not what they do So because he was reviled You will not be reviled he was forsaken so that you would not be forsaken. Now the mocking at the foot of the cross identifies the heart of every sin ever committed, and it's rejecting the authority of Jesus Christ. It includes disbelieving in the goodness of God. It's that heart that says, I can do it on my own. This mocking identifies the various sins that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered for, that the Church will have committed before their conversion.

And it even covers their sins after their conversion. But here the Lord Jesus Christ is standing in. Now, Psalm 22 is the backdrop of this whole passage of Scripture. And somehow in the midst of all of this mocking at the foot of the cross, Jesus is meditating on Psalm 22. And he ends his earthly life by quoting this psalm.

The last verse of this psalm is the last thing he'll say on the cross. The first verse is, at least, is the first thing that we have here in this passage, and in Psalm 22. �My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?� So Psalm 22 is important to this, and it's been our practice to seek the references that the writers of the New Testament quote so that we can understand what they mean. So let's open our Bibles to Psalm 22, and we'll spend the rest of our time walking through this Psalm. And you'll see the connections that are here.

We're going to read the whole Psalm. So go ahead and get to verse 1. As you can see in your outlines, the psalm breaks down into two sections. The first section focuses on the suffering of Jesus Christ, and the second section has its focus on this great family of God praising Him, rejoicing and expanding in the world as a result of His death and His resurrection. So that's the way the Psalm divides.

The first thing you see in the first two verses is this cry of anguish, the forsakenness of the crucified one, the one who is being forsaken so that you would never be forsaken. To the chief musician set to the dear of the dawn, a Psalm of David. Now, let's stop for a minute, just to think about this for a second. We're in Psalm 22, which is a Psalm of a dying shepherd crying out from the cross. That's Psalm 22.

Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. This is a shepherd, a risen shepherd guiding his flock. In Psalm 24, there's an ascended shepherd rewarding his children. There's a logic and a flow to the Psalms, and Jesus Christ has zeroed in on Psalm 22 to correlate with what's happening with him on the cross.

So we should read these Psalms considering that they do relate to one another in some way. And so here the Lord Jesus is quoting this Psalm. Now, it's very similar to Psalm 69. Please turn to Psalm 69 and keep your finger in Psalm 22. Now, Psalm 69 verse 1 says, to the chief musician, set to the lilies, a Psalm of David, Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.

I think in deep mire where there is no standing. I have come into deep waters where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail while I wait for God." Here's this picture of just a tsunami of sin, the sins of the world, all of the sins of the body of Jesus Christ being drained out of them and washing over Him As he becomes sin for the church.

Verse 4, those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. They are mighty who would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully, though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it. O God, you know my foolishness, and my sins are not hidden from you. Let not those who wait for you, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me." Let's read that again. Oh Lord God of hosts, do not let them be ashamed because of me.

Let not those who seek you be confounded because of me, O God of Israel. Because for your sake I have borne reproach, shame has covered my face. I become a stranger to my brothers and an alien to my mother's children, because zeal for your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me." This is an exact parallel to what's happening on the cross. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that became my reproach. I also wept, I Also, I made sackcloth my garment.

I became a byword to them, to those who sit in the gates. Those who sit in the gates speak against me. And I am the song of the drunkards. But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord, in the acceptable time, O God, in the multitude of your mercy, hear me in the truth of your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink.

Let me be delivered from those who hate me, And out of the deep waters, let not the floodwater overwhelm me, Nor let the deep swallow me up, And let not the pit shut its mouth on me. Hear me, O Lord, for your lovingkindness is good. Turn to me according to the multitude of your tender mercies and do not hide your face from your servant. For I am in trouble. Hear me speedily.

Draw near to my soul and redeem it. Deliver me because of my enemies. You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you. Reproach has broken my heart and I am full of heaviness.

I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none. And for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table become a snare before them, and their well-being a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and make their loins shake continually.

Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their dwelling place be desolate. Let no one live in their tents, for they persecute the ones you have struck. And talk of the grief of those you have wounded. Add iniquity to their iniquity, and let them not come into your righteousness.

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. But I am poor and sorrowful. Let your salvation, O God, set me up on high, and I will praise the name of God with a song, and I will magnify Him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or a bull, which has horns and hooves. The humble shall see this and be glad.

And you who seek God, your hearts shall live. For the Lord hears the poor and does not despise his prisoners. Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it. Also the descendants of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it." Here, Psalm 69 is so similar to Psalm 22.

Back to Psalm 22. So in the first two verses, there is this cry of forsakenness, which is the exact same beginning of Psalm 69. But now you look at verses 3-5 in Psalm 22, go back there now. He speaks his confidence in God, but you are wholly enthroned in the praises of Israel. Your 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. Here the Lord Jesus Christ is identifying this fact. He was doing this for the joy that was set before Him.

He did anticipate the time when He would look his disciples in the eye and say, rejoice, fear not. He was doing it because he had confidence in his Father. And he's doing it by recounting God's faithfulness to all generations, to those who have come before. Except, he sees himself also at the very same time He sees Himself differently. Verse 6, But I am a worm.

This is the mockery on the cross. 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." Here is this citation that Matthew picks up in his gospel. But here, this is the mockery of the cross. And then he remembers his childhood in verses 9 through 11. But, you are he who took me out of the womb.

You made me trust while on my brother'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." Here the Lord Jesus is mingling in his own thinking simultaneously that on the one hand he is a worm completely despised and rejected at the same time that he's held in his father's hands. He is one who is taken out of his mother's womb and cared for on his mother's breasts.

He's recognizing both of those things at the same time. And then in verses 12-21, his suffering. Now these are all scenes from the cross in verses 12 through 21. Verse 12, many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bation have encircled me.

Here now, in this section coming forward, there are bulls, there are lions, there are dogs, there are oxen with horns, there are all these remarkable animals, these vicious animals that can absolutely tear you to pieces. There's no hope if you're before a raging bull. There's no hope for you before a raging lion or an oxen with horns or a dog or a dog who will tear you to pieces. A mad raging raving dog trained to kill is a formidable enemy And these are the kinds of enemies that Jesus Christ is bringing forth out of this passage of Scripture. I know some of you witnessed highly trained attack dogs just recently.

I saw some video clips. It's absolutely terrifying how vicious and vanquishing these dogs can be. I always thought you could just kick dogs off with your feet because your legs are stronger than your arms. Not so. Not so at all.

These are the kinds of enemies that are being portrayed here before the cross of Jesus Christ. This is part of his suffering. And it's interesting, he speaks of the bulls of Bation. Remember Bation? Remember Bation in the Old Testament?

Remember Og of Bation? Remember him? One of my favorite characters in Deuteronomy. Og of Bation is mentioned 25 times in the Old Testament. He's not a small character.

And he typifies these who were before the cross, right here. And Og Abation was the biggest, baddest king in the region. He was so big he had to have a 13 foot long bed. He was huge and everybody feared him. And what God did with the children of Israel recorded in Deuteronomy chapter 3 is God gave them a trial enemy, Sihon, king of the Amorites.

So God brings the children of Israel into a battle with Sihon, just sort of a testing ground, because there's a bigger, badder king that God's going to command them to go against, and that's Og of Batian. And they go against him. And this whole manner, you know, fear not is in Deuteronomy 3, 2, that's what God is saying to the children of Israel. And what he's saying is, when you're attacked, remember the power of God. God delivers.

But if you go through the references to Og of Bation, they all have to do with the victory over evil. And here the Lord Jesus refers to the bulls of Bation. And so in Deuteronomy 3, Og of Bation came out against us. Again in chapter 3, he was delivered into our hands. They took 60 of his cities away of his kingdom.

They were the land of the giants. In Deuteronomy 4 it says, they took possession of his land. They took his land. In chapter 29 of Deuteronomy, it says, we conquered them. In chapter 31 of Deuteronomy, we destroyed them.

In Joshua chapter 2 verse 10, it says that they were utterly destroyed. In Joshua 13, they were defeated and cast out of there. In Nehemiah chapter 9, it says, Moreover, you gave them kingdoms and nations, so they took possession of the land of Sihon, the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, the king of Bation. In Psalm 135 it says this, Sihon, king of the Amorites, Og, king of Bation, and all the kingdoms of Canaan, he gave their lands as a heritage, a heritage to Israel his people. Your name, O Lord, endures forever.

Your fame, O Lord, throughout all generations. For the Lord will judge his people and he will have compassion on his servants." In Psalm 136, verse 20, we read, and Og, king of Bation, for his mercy endures forever. He's brought up in this psalm in order to declare two things. Number one, that God is going to vanquish all of His mocking enemies that are before the cross. These bulls of Bation will be wiped out.

And the other thing is that it's part of his mercy. But here, even Og of Bation and his bulls of his region are brought into this whole thinking of Jesus Christ before the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ was prophesying of himself in the whole narrative about Og of Bation. His enemies are at the foot of the cross here, the bulls of Bation. And they're a great threat, but the greatness of the mercy of God will destroy them.

And that's the whole point there. Then you see Jesus' exhaustion and physical deterioration. Gonna be hanging on the cross for five or six hours. Says, verse 14, I'm poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax.

It has melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, 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." And here the dogs are most likely the Roman soldiers have stripped him and beaten him to a pulp.

He says in verse 17, I can count all my bones, they look and stare at me. Verse 18, they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. Verse 19, but you O Lord do not be far from me O my strength, hasten to help me Deliver me from the sword, my precious life, from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen." With that verse marks a turning point in the Psalm, because the next four words that you read are, you have answered me. And that is the hinge point of the psalm.

And then, this final section of the psalm, which runs from verse 22 to the end of the psalm, is an explanation of what his death would accomplish. It shows a well-fed assembly of triumphant people. It shows God going beyond Israel. It shows God going and making a people who praise Him. So on the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ is quoting this Psalm and he knows in his heart of the victory that's before him yet he's crying out he is suffering it's real suffering he has a real body that feels pain just like your body and mine and he is taking all that suffering for the joy that was set before Him.

And that joy that was set before Him is communicated in the last half of this psalm, in Psalm 22. And it's a promise that there would be a people in the world who would praise God, they would be a happy people. They would be like their Savior, and they would be in a congregation. They'd be gathered together in congregations. You know, it's a marvel to me how God has worked this out in his world, how he's desired to bring people together in congregations to praise him.

He's making a congregation. And he has all these congregations that are part of the big congregation that he's selecting out in the world. You know, Look at all the people that came here today. I mean, everybody got up out of their own free will and they came streaming here. Somehow God gave you the strength to get up out of bed, to stop doing what you're doing.

He gave you enough desire in your heart to come and be part of this congregation that he's speaking of right here in this passage. This is the congregation that Jesus Christ died for. This is the congregation that Jesus Christ has washed and purified and who is glorifying. He's bringing many sons to glory. But he does it as we're working together, all together, in the congregation.

The congregation is a sacred thing. It always disturbs me to see how lightly people take the gatherings of God's people and the physical congregating of these people. It's very serious, it's very important, and it was why Jesus Christ died. Jesus Christ went to the cross to make a congregation, not to make you an individual saint. Well, he did make you an individual saint, but he was doing far more than that.

And this is why the person who says, I'm a Christian, but I don't go to church, that's a contradiction in terms. So Verse 22, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will praise you. Here is a picture of Jesus Christ praising God in the midst of the congregation. The Lord Jesus Christ so says, the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation, that Jesus is walking among the lampstands of the church and he's praising God in the congregation.

He's brought a people together. Now here he says, I will declare your name to my brethren. He's talking about the Jews, I believe, to Romans chapter 1. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. So God is bringing his gospel to the Jews first, and that's this phrase, my brethren, and in the midst of the assembly.

Hebrews chapter 2 finds this quoted as well, beginning in verse 10, For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies, and those who are being sanctified, are all one. For which reason he's not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will sing praises to you. And again, I will put my trust in him.

And again, here I am and the children whom God has given me." It's a picture of God with the children that God has given him, Jesus Christ standing in the congregation, praising God. That's why in verse 23 we read, You who fear God, praise Him. All you descendants of Jacob glorify Him and fear Him, all you offspring of Israel. For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, nor has He hidden His face from Him. But when he cried to him, he heard." Here it's a picture of the offspring of God, the children of Abraham.

It's you and me being brought together to praise Him. This is why He has brought us together. It's the purpose of our worship. In verse 25, 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." Again, this is just another picture of the gathered people of God. You've been saved to be gathered to the people of God, not to sit in your lonely place by yourself, but to be part of a great company, a great assembly. Don't ever despise the gatherings of the people of God.

They are the reason Jesus Christ died so that His people would be gathered in the congregation. Jesus would be there praising God in the midst of them. This is what He wants to do in the world. And He wants to multiply congregations throughout the earth. Congregations where Jesus is right there walking in the lamp stand, shepherding His people, caring for them, speaking through the Word of Truth that He wrote, and then bringing them to what?

To enough happiness in their heart so that they can give praise to make a happy people. And then you see the universal dominion of Christ in verses 27 to 31. This is the Great Commission. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations shall worship before you For the kingdom is the Lord's and he rules over the nations all the prosperous of the earth shall work Eat shall eat and worship All those who go down to the dust shall bow down 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 to declare His righteousness to a people who will be born. This next generation is collected up into the church. It's collected up from the ends of the earth, all the families of the nations, worshiping before God. And here God is establishing His kingdom among the nations, and He's also ruling over the kingdoms.

And then His last words in verse 31, that he has done this, that he has done this. Now the Hebrew terminology literally means it is finished. And so here we just walked through a psalm that quotes Jesus' first words on the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And his last words, it is finished. This psalm takes you from the beginning to the end of Jesus' experience on the cross.

Do you see that? It's remarkable. Written in the ninth century BC, before the event, describing every detail. Imagine if someone several hundred years ago wrote something that described in detail the falling of the Twin Towers in New York City. Imagine that.

Wouldn't that be remarkable? Well, that's what happened here. This is it. Every aspect of it. Well, what do we say about all these things?

Well, I think that we ought to, first of all, so rejoice in what God has done. There's a purpose in our gathering. The Church has a purpose. It was established on the cross. Jesus Christ came to redeem sinners.

Jesus Christ came to bring a people out of the community of the world to form a new community, to be a holy people, a holy nation. And those people have a particular way about them. They are a people who are praising Him. And they have Jesus Christ as their shepherd in the midst of the congregation. What a sweet life that is.

To be able to say the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leaves me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

And even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. My cup, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." And you can so say that because Psalm 22 gives birth to Psalm 23.

We should recognize what a glorious thing this is. And also in the midst of this, how can you miss the horrible nature of our sins. We are given here a picture of our own hearts. Every mocking, every kind of person who mocks, shows us what we have done as a church. Maybe you didn't mock the same way he did, but we all mocked according to this pattern.

We all rejected his authority. We all said, no, you're not the boss of me in this. You can be the boss of me here, but not over here. We've all said that. And God has worked salvation for sinners such that He would bear the sins of His Church on His own body.

So see what He has done to make you a pure family. Yes, that's what I said. A pure family. Washed white as snow. Yes, I said white as snow.

Yes, relieved of all of your sorrows, all of your sins, all of your burdens taken, born on the cross. And so we can say, Hallelujah, what a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless we, spotless lamb of God was he. Full atonement can it be. Hallelujah.

What a Savior. Would you pray with me? Lord, we are amazed at the sufferings that you endured for us. Oh how lightly we've taken our sin and your suffering. Oh that you would give us such a clear sense of how you would have us live in light of your cross.

Amen.