Book of Romans, 15:3 - "The Reproaches of Them Fell On Me," Pt. 2 (05/29/2022)

Good morning everyone. We are glad to see each of you today and our online friends glad to have you with us today as well and Jesse and Viviana and Alondra and Joshua thank you for visiting with us today and also Marshall thank you always good to see you.

We needed a little help because we got a lot of folks out of town for the vacation Monday and I can't figure out why they and their kin folks don't come here to visit instead of going there to visit whatever.

So we appreciate our visitors helping to fill pack a few pews this morning and that was a fantastic end of year school event we went to this week just amazing. I did look around. I remember telling Paul when he first came.

I said now brother Paul the last thing I want to see is for the school to outgrow the we don't want the tail to wag the dog and so here's our church and the school's got what 150 in it now plus you put all the parents.

It was like I don't know 500 people it looked like but it was a bunch and I'm glad brother Paul doesn't always listen to me. It's good good that he doesn't but man from the from the minute the two you guys got here God put his hand on that school and blessed it and it's just mushroomed.

And I want to thank Katie and Dave for having the vision to want it to do that. And and they they knew they knew their dad they knew I wasn't called to Christian education. I'm a Pat I'm called a pastor and though I believed in it I wasn't called I wasn't gifted at it.

And so they said why don't we see if we could bring someone in who is and you met through a friend of a friend and here we are. So it's been wonderful and still is wonderful. It's just just amazing. And he's not kidding about cleaning up the church either.

Paul will probably paint every wall by himself. I wish he'd get some helpers but maybe it's therapy. I don't know what that is but it's just hard work is what it is but God blesses everything the man does.

It's just amazing. And Glenda you're always a blessing. I always get to preach after hearing you play and it's it's just wonderful. All right guys let's go to Romans chapter 15 this morning and we've made our way down to verses 3 and 4 and I want to talk a little bit about specifically verse 3 and 4 again.

Verses 3 and 4 again today. So Romans 15 and verse 3 for even Christ pleased not in himself but as it is written the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

And we talked about last time that verse 3 is actually a quote from the old testament uh the apostle paul under the inspiration of the holy spirit quotes the old testament it happens to be psalm 69. And we're going to look at psalm 69 here in a minute if you want to find your way to psalm number 69.

Because that's where verse 3 comes from the reproaches of them. That reproach thee fell on me. What's interesting about it. A lot of the psalms are called messianic psalms. And and even though the holy spirit is writing through the mouth of david as it says in the book of acts the holy spirit spake through the mouth of david.

That shows who the author of the bible is. It's the holy spirit. It's not david uh the penman was david. But um what's interesting about it. The way you can tell a messianic psalm when you see it. And what that means by the way if you weren't here last time it means the psalm appears to be talking about the life of david and sometimes the trouble he went through and the help he got from god.

But in reality due to certain quotations in the new testament it proves this actually talking about jesus christ. So god is using david as a type or a symbol of jesus christ. So that as you read it you see about jesus not about david.

And that's that's what a messianic psalm is. And that's what psalm 69 is that we're going to look at here in a minute. What was fascinating about this one we mentioned this last time is when jesus was on the cross.

He basically was silent while they mocked him while they spat upon him while they told him if you're god come down from there all these things he just he just remained silent. It says he was reviled. And he reviled not again doesn't it.

And yet psalm 69 shows us what he was thinking. Can you even imagine having that information what god the god man jesus christ was actually thinking in his mind in his heart when he's on the cross. And that's so that's what we're studying.

So let's go to psalm 69. And i'm just gonna review the first couple of verses to give you an idea if you weren't here last time what this feels like. So look at look at verse psalm 69. Verse 1 save me.

Oh god. For the waters are come in into my soul. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me. And this is jesus on the cross picturing the blackness of darkness forever which is how hell is described sometimes in the bible picturing true hell which is separation separation from the father.

And we we looked in the proverbs last week a particular proverb where it shows jesus with the father before anything was created. It's a beautiful passage. He was always with the father always the father's delight it says.

And it also says that jesus was particularly fond of the planet earth when he could see all of creation with his foreknowledge. But he was particularly fond of the planet earth and of human beings. And this is exactly why the father even though the entire human race should be fallen because all have sinned and come short of the glory of god.

The father decided in his wisdom and love to give us the saved to jesus his son as a love gift. And we're a remnant. The vast majority of humans will not make it to heaven. Bible said jesus himself said wide is the gate broad is the way to hell.

And many there be that go thereby. And narrow is the gate to heaven and few there be. Because the father saved a remnant of that entirely fallen hill deserving race he saved some of us and gave us as a love gift to his son jesus.

And you go in proverbs you see before time began before anything was made it was made. Jesus with his foreknowledge could view the earth and loved it loved the humans. And so the father gave him some humans he saved some.

That's what saved me. Ladies gentlemen isn't it wonderful if we're sitting here and we're saved today saved from a fallen race and from the same blackness of darkness that jesus was picturing because as he was on that cross the scripture tells us that god swept back in time and forward in time and took the sins of all of his people.

Everyone that god foreknew before the foundation of the world everyone that god saw as his own child the the elect those who would be saved the sheep not the goats the wheat not the tares but everyone that he saw that was his.

He took their sins yours and mine and put them on the body of jesus. While he was on the cross he bore our sins in his body. And during that time the father who is holy and separate from sin turned his head from his son separated himself from jesus.

And jesus is feeling it right now. And he's telling us about it. I mean the holy spirit told us about what he's feeling and thinking in his mind while he's on that cross he is beginning to feel and sense and understand the separation from god that he has always been god and with god.

Uh john 1 says that john chapter 1 verse 1 says that. But here all of a sudden he is separated. And this is what he's feeling. And it feels this this water flooding in on him where he feels like he's his soul is drowning.

That is the feeling of hell this idea of a deep mire. Scientists even tell physicists tell us that in the center of the earth right now if you were there you would feel a feeling of continual falling because there's no gravity uh in the middle of the earth.

And that is where uh shoal is. That is where um hades is the holding place for the lost until the lake of fire until they're cast into there later in our future. But uh so he was feeling that feeling of falling.

He was experiencing hell for us in our place as our substitute. And this is called the great doctrine of the substitutionary death of jesus. He died in our place. He died for us. And the english word for is kind of interesting there because it not only means that he died in our place but it means he died because of us.

He had to die to save the very remnant that the father gave him. He died because of us and in place of us. And it's happening. It's happening right here. He is experiencing that separation from the father that he had never experienced in all of whatever we call eternity past which is kind of a funny word if you think about it because there's no time there and we call it past which is a time we don't know how to talk about it even we don't know how to say all the eons of time before time began.

See that's funny. There's no way to talk about it. But all that there was i can tell you this about it. All there was was god. There was no stuff like we think of stuff. There were no planets yet. There was no ocean.

There were no mountains. Jesus said in that beautiful psalm we looked at last week that before the waters were i was you know before the mountains were before he created the mountains. I was there with him his continual delight before the father all the time.

But there's no time. So it's hard to talk about it. So what you had was the father the son the holy spirit. How do we even know there is eternity because love demands an object. If god didn't exist as a trinity there could be no love.

And yet the bible says he is love. He had to have someone to love even before he made anything. So the holy spirit loved the father. The father loved the son. The son loved the holy spirit. And so forth god has always existed as he does now.

He doesn't change. So the son was there and the father and the son and the holy spirit had a council before anything was made. And jesus raised his hand said i will die for them because i do love the planet earth and i love the human beings and i want some saved.

So if that's what it takes father i will do it. And he agreed to do it before the the bible says in the book of revelation he was slain before the foundation of the world. And the father and the son's mind before they made anything.

Jesus was already slain for us. And while this is happening he hasn't given up the ghost yet. But he's already experiencing hell because he is separated from the father right now while we read this and so this is amazing information.

So i want to pick up where we left off last time. Verse 6. Look at psalm 69 verse 6. Because you know in a little bit it starts to get it kind of starts to turn a corner. And where we left where we had to stop last week it was just like it was like the son of god's experiencing hell.

And we had to stop. We ran out of time. So let's pick it up there. Let not them that wait on thee oh lord of hosts be ashamed because of me he says for my sake that means because of me. Let not those that seek thee be confounded because of me or for my sake.

Oh god of israel because for thy sake i have become a reproach. Shame has covered my face. I am become a stranger into my brethren and an alien into my mother's children. And so jesus prays within his heart a prayer for his own disciples that they see see jesus understood what they were doing.

I mean there weren't any of them left. There were a few women and john. All the rest of them ran. They fled the scene. They were not at the cross when he was dying. Most of them were gone because they were ashamed.

Now what were they thinking. What would you be thinking. Is you walk with him three years and he promises you know i'm the god man. You know you know me. And then all of a sudden humans killing and they mock him.

And they say if your god come down for that cross and he doesn't do it so what would you be thinking. You would be ashamed. You would be embarrassed that you followed him. You would be your hope would be gone.

That's where you and i would be. And that's where these guys were. And so jesus while he's still on the cross while he's experiencing hell he's praying for his disciples because he knows how they're going to feel when he dies.

Think about that. They're praying for us too. Any of us in our lifetime that that experience a doubt. Don't we have times when we doubt this is a prayer for us. We have like the least little thing can go wrong in our life.

We doubt god. I mean it's not. It's not like it's not like the father watching his son being butchered so that he's beyond you can't even you can't even comprehend it. He's a human before he ever even got to the cross.

It's not that bad what happens to us. But. But we just think okay god's not there. Listen. Nothing has ever happened to us that god hasn't suffered himself. He'd never expect us to do something. He hasn't gone through.

You lose a child to death. He lost his only begotten son. Didn't he. And so uh there there's just nothing bad enough. David was talking about what happened at the school uh this past week. It's horrifying to think about that.

It's not anything near what the father experienced when he watched his son die. And if you don't believe it look at what happened. The skies turned dark around the entire planet. The earth quaked. Some dead came out of their graves and walked around.

That didn't really act. If you're not careful you'll misread that that the graves were open at that moment. But the dead didn't come out walk around until after jesus was resurrected because he came out first.

But think you just think about how the father felt when guilty fallen humans killed his son who was god who brought nothing but love to this world brought nothing but good and love to this world. And they slew him.

And yes terrible things happen. But guess what. Adam and eve asked for it. So we got what we asked for. They said okay. Satan said hey all you know right now is good. Wouldn't you rather know good and evil like we do.

And so he said yeah. So she ate the fruit. So she wanted the evil with the good. And so now that's what we get. So don't blame god for it. Blame adam and eve. You may get to heaven. You'll get a chance to tell them that if you want to thanks a lot for the things that you caused to happen on this earth.

But guess what. If it'd been us we'd probably done the same. We'd probably tasted that fruit. Wouldn't we. We probably would have. We're human side out. We'll blame them at all. We'll probably just be amazed to see them talking about celebrities.

How would you like to meet adam and eve. Right. And they're going to be adam and steve. By the way i just had to say that probably needs to be said more. Um so here here he's praying for his disciples.

Don't let my death bring shame. Don't let them think that because i'm dying that we lost. That's what he's really saying. So look at verse 9. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. And the reproaches of them that reproach they are falling on me.

That is the exact quote that we found in romans a minute ago paul was quoting this psalm in the book of romans. The hatred of the fallen race the hatred of satan himself for the father for god the father has been placed upon jesus when he was on that cross.

So every human every demon satan himself all of hell who hate god with every fiber of their being poured all that out on the son of god. Because they knew that for any parent they would far rather die themselves than to see their child die.

Right. And they knew that. So they poured all of their hatred and bitterness and bile upon jesus in front of the father. And they thought they had the victory when they killed him. Didn't they. That's what they thought.

But in fact it was the victory because that's what slew satan. So in fact satan was put down at that moment when jesus died and especially three days later when he raised from the dead. And satan began to tremble at that point and still trembling he's angry as a matter of fact.

So this is interesting that this verse in verse 9 of psalm 69 is quoted there. But it shows what fell upon jesus christ. And no matter how holy a life the messiah lived the fallen race of men accused him of evil and they slew him unjustly.

Look at verse 10 he's still showing god is showing us what jesus is feeling and thinking on the inside while he's when i wept and chastened my soul with fasting that was to that was to my reproach. So jesus says look while i was alive while i was in my three years of ministry on the earth when i did good things when i healed people on the sabbath they tried to throw stones at me.

When i healed someone on the sabbath they tried to throw me off of a cliff. When i fasted like the other godly men if there were any did when i fasted that was my reproach. They made fun of me. They reproached me.

They called me evil. When i fasted he said. When i put sackcloth as my garment i became a proverb to them. They mocked me made fun of me. Jesus is thinking they that sit in the gate the leaders like pilot for example uh the roman leaders the jewish leaders those that sit at the gate and speak philosophy all day they spake against me jesus said.

And i was the song of the drunkards. Drunkards mocked me when he was on that cross. They mocked him. Didn't they. And you know to this very day the leaders of this world mocking they mock god. They take their little bitty fist put it up there.

God said we'll show you what we can do. Well he's going to show him what he can do pretty soon in our near future because at the second coming of jesus christ he's going to fill the valley of maggetto with blood of these leaders and humans and their armies that will rise as high as the the uh halter on the horses.

And uh it's not going to be a pretty sight but it is going to be a just sight. So the very things that jesus did to save us caused the people to believe he was a loser and a liar that he wasn't who he claimed to be.

You have doubts now listen that's normal. But imagine how these people felt when they followed him for three years and then he dies at the hand of sinners mocked that he couldn't save himself. How would you have felt.

Would you've had a little doubt you think. But listen doubt is not the end of the world for a christian. Because doubt is just as fleeting as our faith can be sometimes because human faith is fleeting.

And a lot of folks today thank god folks around this church because you've heard me preach a thousand times. I don't preach the whole bible. I just pick the best parts and preach them a thousand times.

Not really but i mean we we understand in this church that we're actually saved by the faith of christ not our own belief. We're given a gift in ephesians 2 8 9 is jesus's faith was given to us. Our faith would have never been strong enough to save us.

Because it's here today and gone tomorrow. We doubt as much as we believe. And if that's salvation we're in trouble. But if you read it carefully uh in the greek anyway and in the king james the other modern versions do not record it properly.

It says that we're saved by the faith of christ. Read galatians 2 uh which one is it says nevertheless i live and i live by the 220. Right. Read galatians 220 and you'll see it says by the faith of christ not faith in christ.

Now that'll blow your mind if you think about it because the world has taught us incorrectly about that. But we have jesus's faith. So listen when your belief turns into doubt you don't need to feel like you're the only human experience in that all these people did when they watched their savior die.

And yet guess what happened to these very disciples three days later when they saw him after the resurrection they became the boldest most strong people on the face of the earth. And they turned the whole world upside down with the gospel peter who denied jesus three times preached one sermon.

5 000 people saved in a moment of time. And the bible says it got to a place where it wasn't like in the jewish days where you had to lay hands on a person to impart the holy spirit. There were too many people getting saved.

They just didn't have enough hands to lay on them. So everything switched dispensationally at that point where it just says as they believe the holy spirit dwelt their bodies. That's how it is now. You don't have to lay hands anymore.

Now in the church age when you believe the holy spirit and dwells your body you can be on the desert by yourself. Maybe have one little page out of this bible and you read it and the holy spirit calls you and you say lord what can i do like paul did.

And all of a sudden you are saved. And uh at that very minute you're in dwelt by the holy spirit. So all of these things jesus foresaw and the doubt that they had he knew he knew what would happen when he came out of that grave.

He knew they would become the bravest most amazing witnesses that ever lived. Uh over the rest of their lives. Many of them were killed for their faith later why would they die for a lie. I mean if they didn't think jesus was out of that grave why would they die.

But you know what they saw him he said. Look put your finger in the holes in my hand. Look at my side this is me i am. I'm jesus. I'm here i'm back. And we're going to change the world together. And they became the boldest people that ever lived literally turned the world upside down.

You go into every place every corner of this world where you see any kind of a good economy. And you see life is pretty good. It's because it's based on the gospel. It's it's where the bible has been.

And you see where everything is dirty and filthy and they're poor and they have nothing. That's where muhammad went. You know that's where buddha was. So so so those people changed the world in the first century.

And we've been doing it ever since. It's our job now to be the salt and the light. And that's what we're here for to be salt and like well we're here to glorify god and to bring glory to god. But our secondary duty is to be salt and light in this world.

So so uh here we see in verse 13. But it's for me my prayer is unto thee oh lord in an acceptable time. Oh god in the multitude of thy mercy. Hear me in the truth of thy salvation. Now this is what's interesting this this particular verse.

Let me take a drink. Everybody take a deep breath and wake up for a second. It's funny being a pastor. You can see it's funny being out there and seeing me too. I know that's funny but it's fun to be able to watch all these people at once because it's like this last sunday was like this.

We couldn't start the service because everybody was yakking because everybody was just all excited and it stayed that way all through the sermon. And today it's like everybody stayed up too late last night because it's holiday and we watched movies or whatever we did.

Right. So wake up because here's what i want you to see this morning. This is pretty amazing if you take everything we talked about last sunday where jesus is experiencing the water flooding him like he's drowning in the and the mire which is the clay that you it's like think of quicksand is what it speaks of where you sink in the harder you try to get out the the farther you sink and you can't get out and it kills you.

Right. That's what he felt like he felt like he was. He was gone and he was he was experiencing hell all right. But today as we keep reading we get all the way down to verse 13 it begins to change. Because the father did not leave him in hell.

Did he. The father did not leave himself separated from his son. Did he. And so look at this verse 13. But as for me my prayer is unto thee oh lord in an acceptable time. In other words when the time is right when the time is acceptable oh god.

And the multitude of your mercy hear me. Because he's crying out for god to save him. And god's not there from his viewpoint god is gone because god separated himself from him. And that's how people in hell feel every second of every all millennia of time that they're there which is forever.

They feel that all the time separation from god. And now he's saying but have mercy on me. Hear me. And the truth truth of your salvation. Now this gets a little bit interesting if you know a little bit about hebrew.

Because when you look at this phrase at an acceptable time hear me. See jesus. Jesus being the god man understood why god wasn't hearing it. But as a man he didn't understand. Does that make sense. I mean he he kind of understood it.

But as a man he felt the disappointment. It's it's amazing. No one could have made this up. You know you can't. No human can make up a story like this. Because when humans make up stories they make themselves look good.

Right. This makes the humans look pretty bad. At an acceptable time though then i want you to hear me while i'm on the cross during part of the time that i'm on the cross you won't hear me. I will experience hell in the place of and for and because of all my people and your people.

The father the one. Listen. Bible says no man comes to jesus unless the father draws him. And jesus said of all them i will lose nothing but will raise them up in the end. That's the people we're talking about the ones he will save and so he suffered this hell for them.

But yet he says in an acceptable time hear me and have mercy and don't let me stay like this. Wow. So this word in hebrew for acceptable is rot zone is how you pronounce it but it literally means delight.

The most common meaning for it is delight. So you would have to translate it at a delightful time but doesn't seem to fit. Does it. It can be translated acceptable which is a better king. James guys got it right.

That's a better one. But what's really interesting about it is it comes from a little root hebrew word raw saw which means to be pleased with or to be satisfied. Now i want you to think about that a minute.

Because if you know doctrine you just got goosebumps. Because when you talk about the whole of the doctrine of salvation it's huge. I mean you've got justification. You got you got uh i don't want to say the one that's about to teach here but but you've got redemption.

Uh you've got the calling. You know you've got ransom. You got so many ways you can study the salvation experience. In the past tense. In the present tense in the future tense. I mean you got all this.

Uh you're going to be glorified someday. All these things are part of it. But but the part this is talking about is called propitiation. You remember that word who can tell me what the best simplest modern english translation for that would be today.

What is what is propitiation. Satisfied. Well did do you see that in this word itself rot saw means to satisfy a debt. Can you believe that to satisfy a debt. So jesus is on the cross and he's gone through this whole thing about i'm i'm covered by the water i'm drowning i'm falling into the pit.

I'm done. And all the things that i did for you they mocked me for it. They're casting stones at me they're killing me now they're just letting me hang on a cross and i'm done. And then he says but when you're satisfied and the debt is paid have mercy on me and hear me.

And that's exactly what happened it. Listen as soon as the father had placed the sin of every single man woman and boy and girl who would ever be saved upon the body of jesus the father was propitiated.

Now what does that mean. Doctrinally. Propitiation means that a holy good god cannot be in the presence of sin ever at any point. If there's such a thing as a point in i keep pointing at bill because he's a physics professor.

But so if there's any point in time uh at no point in time and no point in eternity can the father ever be in the presence of sin. So how are you and i going to get to heaven. Because we've had sin haven't we.

Well jesus would have to take it away. And to do that he took it upon himself. And when that happened the hebrew word says in an acceptable time the better translation would be at a time when the debt was fully paid and god the father's wrath against sin and his holiness that can't be in the presence of sin was satisfied.

Then you will hear my prayer and you will raise me up. Wow. This is what he's praying. This is what he's thinking. And this fits everything we've ever read in the new testament about this great doctrine of propitiation as well.

Let me just show you. I'll show you in two places isaiah 53 in the old testament and romans chapter 3 in the new testament. Look at what it says about propitiation. Because this is what we just saw happen.

We just saw from the inside innermost parts of the mind of jesus christ. We saw him say to god i know i'm separated from you. But as soon as the debt is paid please come back please come back and raise me up.

And you better believe god answered that prayer. Because every prayer jesus ever prayed got answered yes. By the way we know our prayers get answered yes and no. His god answered yes every one of them.

The only one you might say didn't but it really did was the one in the garden when he said if you could take this cup for me. But what did he end the prayer with. Nevertheless thy will be done. So it was answered right.

But look at this isaiah 53 10. Yet it pleased the lord to bruise him. Now this is old testament talking about the messiah for them in the future when he would come to the earth. All the jews expected it.

They didn't expect it to happen this way i could go into why. Uh at another time we don't have time for that. But basically it's because they weren't reading scripture to the last 300 years before jesus came the pharisees arose and they stopped teaching the real bible.

And they started teaching from books called targums which was what they said the bible actually meant kind of like modern versions of the bible in english like the good news for modern man that's not a bible.

That is a paraphrase of what someone says they think it means. And that is how the jews missed jesus. I've got copies of those in my study where you can read it. And you take this passage in isaiah 53.

And those targums totally changed the wording where it's obviously talking about the coming messiah. They made it sound like we're just talking about the children of israel that the children of israel were the ones that would suffer.

And it totally removed the fact that's talking about a person who would suffer. So they missed it except for anna and simeon who didn't miss it because they read the actual scriptures. Great thing to know.

But anyway yet it pleased the lord to bruise him. So it's talking about jesus. The lord is the father here it pleased the father to bruise the son. He hath put him to grief. So who is it that ultimately put jesus on the cross.