Sermon: Why Have You Forsaken Me?

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We're going to turn our Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 27. Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 27.

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We're going to do 27 .32 -50 today.

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We're nearing the end of Matthew's Gospel, his historical narrative of the life, the ministry, the death, resurrection, and ascension of Messiah the

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King. So, Matthew 27, starting in verse 32.

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Hear now the word of the living and the true God. As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name.

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They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called

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Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they offered him wine to drink mixed with gall.

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But when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.

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Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read,

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This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.

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And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying,

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You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you're the Son of God, come down from the cross.

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So also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him, saying, He saved others, he cannot save himself.

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He's the King of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross and we'll believe in him. He trusts in God.

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Let God deliver him now if he desires him. For he said, I am the Son of God.

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And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

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And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.

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That is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, this man is calling

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Elijah. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.

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But the other said, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

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Thus far is the reading of God's holy and inspired Word. Let's pray together as a church. Lord, we come before Your Word humbled.

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We know, Lord, that in ourselves we were worthy of all that's before us.

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And Lord, we know that in ourselves outside of You, Lord Jesus, we have no right to even hold this revelation, to be in this place, to be forgiven people, to hear

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Your Word. And so at once, we yield ourselves to You, humble ourselves before You in Your Word, Your revelation.

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And Lord, we ask for You to teach. For You, Lord, to minister through the proclamation of Your Word to every one of us under the hearing of Your Word.

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For those who have not turned to Christ and trusted in Him and bowed the knee to Christ, we pray that You would grant eyes to see, hearts that are soft, repentance and faith.

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And for those of us that know You, that are Your children, bought by You from this terrible moment that's before us, we pray that You would change us, renew us, transform us, humble us, renew our minds.

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We want to worship You, Lord Jesus. We pray that through the proclamation of Your Word today, we would worship

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You even greater than we ever have. We pray, God, You get the teacher out of the way today, that Lord, people would remember

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Your Word and what they learned from You, and forget the teacher in Jesus' name. Amen.

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I mentioned in the bulletin today as we are in this section of the passion of the Christ, the death of Christ, the brutalization of Jesus, the mockery of Jesus, the humiliation of Jesus, I mentioned that there really is no way for me to adequately and completely and comprehensively teach this.

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And there really is no way. There's so much here in this moment that we need to minister to us, to change our hearts and minds, to challenge us over our own sin and our own guilt.

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There's so much here we could learn from in terms of the glory of Jesus. There is so much here.

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To be honest, as a pastor, as I'm examining the text and considering how do

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I be a blessing to the people of God? How do I teach? How do I encourage? How do I make much of Jesus through this text?

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I had to confess there's parts where I feel like I'm hitting a wall. Do I go here and then here?

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That could take another four years. There's temptation to say, you can hang on this single point that we need.

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We need to hear. We need to be challenged on. We need to grow. And there's so much depth to this.

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So much is happening. So I have to just confess that I'm inadequate to be able to fully unpack the glories of the

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Messiah and his passion. But I hope that inspires you and encourages you that I'm going to scratch the surface as your brother and as your pastor right now.

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I'm going to scratch the surface and I hope it whets your appetite and it challenges you and encourages you to continue to mine the riches out of this great treasure before us.

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I'm barely going to touch it. I have to confess that. But there's so much happening here that I want to make sure that we understand because it is truly glorious.

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It is a powerful thing. You see, when you look at Matthew's gospel, it's the first gospel in the

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New Testament that wasn't divinely ordered that way in terms of we had a word from God that said put Matthew first and then put

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Mark, then put Luke, then put John. There's no divine revelation of where the list should go.

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But we start with Matthew, the beginning of the New Testament. And I personally think that's a very good choice to put this first.

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And the reason why is because Matthew's gospel, as we've said before, is so focused on the connecting points between God's revelation that was previous to where they were at now.

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This is historic narrative. This actually took place in history. They were walking there. You can see these places.

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Jesus bled and died in this real world, this physical world. This is not simply poetry or symbolism.

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However, this is very important. Oftentimes we are so afraid as Christians to sort of spiritualize a text because we've seen the abuses of that that at times we miss the glories of the depth of the symbolism and the poetry and the beauty that's right there in the text.

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And what's important in terms of thinking about Matthew is that Matthew's whole goal the entire time is to keep pointing the people of God and those who read this to the fact that this is

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God's revelation in its climax. This is the story that we have been longing to see fulfilled completely and now it happened.

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It's right in front of us. So Matthew's emphasis over and over and over again in this gospel is to do what?

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Is to keep saying this was to fulfill. This is because this prophet said this.

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This is because this text promised that this was going to happen. However, I think at times we have a very surface level reading of the

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Bible because what we do when we go to Matthew is we look for that moment where Matthew keeps doing that and we say okay that's the fulfillment that Matthew's pointing to and you just need to wait until he says it to realize that he's making the connecting point.

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Now that's Matthew's theme the entire time. Sometimes he tells you this was to fulfill what Isaiah said.

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This was to fulfill this text. But oftentimes if you know your Bible you'll realize that Matthew doesn't need to always do that and he doesn't.

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He's actually showing you that Jesus is the climax of the story of Israel. God's son.

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God's servant. Israel. He's showing you that Jesus is the climax of the human story of the image of God of Adam.

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Jesus is the climax of that story. And in the text before us this is real brutalization.

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This is real mockery. This is real abuse. This is real slander.

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This is real false witness. All at the foot of the cross with God incarnate.

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God as a man dying for the sins of his people. This is the reality of what took place before that cross.

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And by the way it's also consider this. The disciples the disciples themselves were so confused.

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Even after having heard Jesus constantly tell them I'm going to Jerusalem they're going to kill me and then three days later

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I'll rise again. They witnessed this horrifying scene. They witnessed it.

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They were there. They could probably taste the metal from all the blood shed in the air.

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So when Jesus dies and then he's buried in that tomb and they roll that rock in front of it in some sense it makes sense from a human perspective the disciples are walking on a road to they're walking on the road to Emmaus and they're just like we thought he was the

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Messiah he was killed and here's Jesus walking alongside them. Here's the point. This is a normal human experience to see somebody so brutalized to see all the forces of darkness at the foot of the cross

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I've mentioned it was like all of creation was revolting against their king and their God in that moment.

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We are so sinful that there's this massive revolt. Who's guilty? Yes, Pilate's guilty.

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He's a coward. He knows Jesus is innocent. He washes his hands of it and says he's innocent you see to it.

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He yields to the mob. He knows he's not guilty. You've got Herod and his mockery of Jesus putting a white robe on him which was really his glory.

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You've got the battalion and the Roman soldiers brutalizing Jesus hundreds of them hundreds of them brutalizing

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Jesus mocking Jesus with the scarlet robe and the purple robe all this is taking place.

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Then you've got the chief priests and the elders and the scribes at the foot of the cross as if as if it wasn't bad enough that this man is suffering and dying and bleeding and suffocating that he's so brutalized that he's barely as recognizable as a human as though that weren't enough there at the foot of the cross mocking him during the death watch waiting for him to die.

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And everybody witnessed this. They saw it take place. And so yes it had to feel from a human perspective this is total defeat.

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This doesn't look like a powerful Messiah. This doesn't look like the king of the world that we are promised the one that's going to bring all the nations to God Jews and Gentiles together and bring redemption all over the world and establish justice and peace.

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This doesn't look like it. It looks like utter and complete massive failure is what it looks like.

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They saw it. It really happened. However, it wasn't just that moment.

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There was an entire story told long before it took place. Something they were rehearsing.

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The Jews the people of God had gotten God's revelation and they were rehearsing and rehearsing and rehearsing waiting for Mashiach to show up on the scene.

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They had been reading the hymnal the Psalms. They had been singing those songs. And what's amazing is

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Matthew knows it. And so he's telling you the story. If you're a Jewish person raised in synagogue having the

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Jewish hymnal the Psalms sung throughout your entire life when you are

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Jewish reading Matthew's gospel here in Matthew 27 you know what's happening. You can't help but see it.

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He's quoting from the Psalms in this entire section. What they were rehearsing through their songs and the things that they truly meant from the heart before God that God had delivered to them through these hymns in the

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Psalms as they were singing those they didn't even realize that one day this would be the experience the true experience of Messiah himself.

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Have you ever done this? Have you ever had a struggle in life as a believer? Difficulty?

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Loss? Tragedy? Pain? Where's the first place that you run?

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Often times for me it's the Psalms. It's the

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Psalms. Of course you can go to promises from Jesus that are like in this world you will have trouble but be of good cheer

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I've overcome the world. That's soul satisfying to me. It's a verse that's constantly on my heart and my mind as a pastor dealing with a fallen world and trying to bring light into darkness.

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In this world you will have trouble but be of good cheer I have overcome the world. But the place that I've run to so often is the

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Psalms. Psalms that just describe perfectly this fallen human experience that will be so honest.

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There's so much integrity in the Psalms. Honesty about our experience. I lift up my eyes to the hills where does my help come from?

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My help comes from the Lord the maker of what? Heaven and earth. Right?

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All the Psalms talking about all these armies surrounding and then God will vindicate me and protect me.

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There's so much honesty and integrity in the Psalms in terms of real dramatic painful human experience and then it will lead right into the victory of God and who

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God truly is in your trial and your pain and your suffering. There's so much integrity and honesty and pain and brokenness in the

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Psalms but also leading to truth and victory in God. That tells you so much about God as Father and warrior in your midst and protector.

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However, what's amazing is that who would have ever thought that all that was in their hymnal, the

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Psalms, would be something that Jesus would just walk right through and experience. We oftentimes think about the humiliation of Jesus and where does your mind go?

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You think about the humiliation of Jesus. You think about this moment. He's brutalized. They mock

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Him with the robes. They put the crown of thorns on His head. They beat Him. They pull out His beard.

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They smash His head. He's so disfigured. They whip His back. They tear

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His back open. They nail Him to a cross. You think about a moment like that and it is so filled with pain and brokenness and yet what's amazing is that that was the story all along.

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It's what Mashiach was going to enter into and it's a humiliation. Yes, however,

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Christ's humiliation actually begins long before that. Where does His humiliation begin?

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According to Philippians 2, where does it begin? The Incarnation. When God stepped into human flesh to live the life that you and I have failed to endure all of this brutalization and pain, all the slander and the gossip and the lies, all of them are everything.

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But the humiliation of Jesus began actually at His birth, at the

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Incarnation. Think about this for a second. What's the Apostle Paul say clearly in Philippians 2?

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That Jesus existed in the very form of God and He didn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped or held onto.

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But what did He do? He emptied Himself. He emptied Himself and He became obedient even to the point of death.

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So Jesus' humiliation begins in that Incarnation. It goes throughout His entire life and here is the climax of the humiliation of the

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Son of God in this moment. But Matthew has a much deeper story than just what's on the surface.

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Just consider this. Matthew's historical account of the life, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of the

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Messiah is meant to display the supremacy of Christ and the climax of God's revelation in history.

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Again, He keeps doing that. It's right there before you from the very beginning. This was to fulfill as it is written.

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This is what Isaiah spoke. So in Matthew 1, as you get to Matthew 27, you'll see

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Matthew's point because Matthew 1 begins with what? The lineage of the Messiah. Jesus has the royal right to the throne.

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Here is the line landing on Jesus. He's Mashiach, the King. Matthew 2, verse 14, you see that Matthew is purposefully connecting, listen, the story of Israel with the story of Jesus.

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So for example, when God... You can answer me here. When God redeemed Israel, took her out of slavery, brought her through the

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Red Sea into the Promised Land, where did He bring her out of? Where was she in bondage?

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Egypt. And what's interesting is that we miss this at times. In Matthew 2, verse 14, there's a description of Jesus' flight to Egypt where they're trying to kill

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Jesus because Messiah is born. Okay, where is He born? Who is the Messiah? Let's just kill all the babies.

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And so Joseph is warned how? In a dream. And so what does he do? He takes his wife and his adopted son and he goes into Egypt.

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And what's the text say from Matthew? Out of Egypt I called my son. Wait a minute. That was about Israel.

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Out of Egypt I called my son. Matthew says, no, that was really about Jesus because Jesus goes into Egypt.

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It's like a recapitulation of the story of Israel and then Jesus comes out of Egypt. Matthew's doing that.

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He's connecting the story of Israel and Mashiach. He's the true son. He's the righteous servant.

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Matthew knows that. In Matthew 3, what do you have? John the Baptist is there according to the scriptures, the forerunner that was promised.

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Matthew quotes that. And what's the forerunner saying? Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

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And what's he do with Jesus? Jesus enters into the Jordan River. John the Baptist baptizes

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Him. I believe that was an anointing of the Messiah. But here's what Matthew is interestingly doing.

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He has Jesus coming out of Egypt, like Israel, going through the waters of baptism.

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And then what takes place next? Immediately the story goes where? It goes to Jesus going into the wilderness for how long?

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40. Anyone recognizing that story? Israel out of Egypt, through the waters, going into the wilderness.

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So you can see that Matthew is giving you the historical account of Jesus, but he's really showing you that this story about Israel was a story about Jesus.

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Because where Israel was not a faithful servant, where they were not a faithful son, which is what they're called in the

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Old Testament, Jesus is. He's the faithful servant. He's the faithful son.

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So where Israel is just wandering in the wilderness, they will not obey God's word. They will not lean on Him and look to Him.

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Every time there's a trial presented to Jesus in the wilderness, He has victory where Israel failed.

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He has victory where Adam failed. What does Jesus do that Israel and Adam didn't do?

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He lands every time on the word of God. He quotes from the word of God.

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Where Satan brings the trial and the temptation, Jesus is quoting the word of the living God. He has victory over Satan in the wilderness.

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And then what takes place? You move from that part of the story in Matthew 3, defeat Satan in the wilderness, to Matthew 5, you see

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Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, most famous sermon in the history of the world where Jesus shows that He is the true lawgiver.

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He's the true lawgiver. He explains the law of God where they were distorting it. He explains it.

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He is the lawgiver. He goes up to a mountain and does what? He gives the law, explains the law.

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So you can see the whole story of Israel and Moses and David and all the rest was really a shadow of what was to come in Jesus.

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So this really happened. But it's something that was already underway. It was already being prepared for them to understand.

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You see, Jesus is the culmination of Israel's story. He's the faithful servant.

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He is the faithful son. He's the perfect Adam. The image of God.

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Just consider one more point as you get to Matthew 27 to show you the layers and the glory here in this text.

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Before this moment in the story here before us, before this moment, when

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Jesus is betrayed, where was He found? In a garden, the garden of Gethsemane.

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So this whole story has been a story of Jesus is the true and perfect Israel. And then as Jesus is facing this moment where He's going to atone for our sins,

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He's going to redeem His people from their sins, Jesus is found in Matthew's story in the garden of Gethsemane.

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And where He's in the garden, of course, for humanity, the temptation to yield, the temptation to run, the temptation to fold in upon yourself,

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Jesus in the garden does what Adam didn't do. And that is submit Himself to the revelation and the will of God for Him.

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So Jesus is our victory. He's what Israel was supposed to be and do. He is what

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Adam was supposed to be and do. Jesus is the climax of the entire story. This is why there's so much obvious divine fingerprints all over this text.

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Only God can do this. Only God can do this. Just consider for a moment, something to have in the back of your mind as you read this.

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Very important. Is that when you think about what we have in the Old Testament as we call it

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Revelation, before Christ comes, you're talking about multiple different authors over hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years of composition.

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Different geographical locations. Sometimes these people aren't even connected to each other in location.

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And there's no internet. There's no data files. There's no quick communication and easy communication with others.

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This is just people going through experience, hearing revelation from God and walking through history.

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And yet as you read that revelation from the beginning to the end of it before Jesus comes, you see all the marks and pieces and parts and symbols pointing directly to Jesus.

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Like for example, Psalm 22, where Matthew is quoting from here a psalm written about a thousand years before the time of Christ.

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So think about it. The people of God in the Old Testament are singing this song for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years long before Jesus has his crucifixion.

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And little did they know that they'd be singing the very song that would be on full display at this moment of the passion in detail.

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It's a powerful thing. Just consider this moment before we come to Matthew 27, 32.

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You've got the robes. The symbolism there where they put a white robe on Jesus and then they put a scarlet robe on Jesus.

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Then they put a purple robe on Jesus. All very, very important colors in terms of biblical imagery and symbolism.

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The righteousness of Jesus. Him bearing our sin and carrying that scarlet robe.

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And then Jesus who is the royal king. Purple. All of that. They're doing it as mockery.

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It was really His glory. You think about before this moment the humiliation of Jesus.

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The brutalization of Jesus. The mockery of Jesus. Even into the crucifixion and murder of Jesus. We have the beating of Jesus.

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This is key. Have you seen the movie The Passion of the Christ?

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How many of you guys have seen that? I'm not going to get into a debate right now of whether it's appropriate to create a movie like that.

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I know there's people who have very intense convictions about the second commandment violation and doing a portrayal of Jesus.

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That's not what this is about. However, there's something interesting I saw an interview with Jim Caviezel about the making of that film and he makes the point that they were very, very aware of the fact that Isaiah chapter 52 near the end of 52 moving into 53 it talks about Mashiach who's to come about 700 years before Jesus comes.

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It gives a full description of His life and His death and what He's going to do for us. All that. It's powerful. If you haven't read it, read it.

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But in 52 it talks about the Messiah is going to be marred beyond human semblance. He's not even going to be recognizable.

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So it's anticipated that Messiah is going to be so brutalized that you almost can't even recognize

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Him. And Jim Caviezel talks about how when they were making The Passion of the Christ and they were going into those scenes of the brutalization of Jesus and all of that they recognized that the text says that after all this scourging and beating of Jesus that He was so disfigured that you almost couldn't recognize

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Him as human and he said for the film they had to make a decision not to go all the way.

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They couldn't go all the way and do what the text clearly says was the case and that so beat and disfigured

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Jesus that He no longer looked human. They said because at that point they figured the audience would completely disconnect and no longer recognize the humanity of Jesus.

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If they did what the text says and what we know from history would have been done with hundreds of Roman guards beating you as professionals they wouldn't have been able to make a connection with the audience any longer.

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They thought people would check out no longer connect to the humanity of Jesus or even leave the theater. That's the humiliation of Jesus before this point.

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You have to consider that. The lashes that Jesus took. The cat -of -nine -tails.

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The brutalization of Jesus. The beating of His face. Unrecognizable. The crown on His head.

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The symbolism there just in that is so powerful. I've never gotten over it.

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I've never gotten over the glory of that crown. That at the beginning of the Bible when the fall enters into human experience what does

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God say? One of the very visible reminders of fallenness and creation is that the ground itself will bring forth what?

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Thorns. So the curse was supposed to be seen visibly in all these thorns and these

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Roman soldiers with no connection to Torah or the Word of God they fashioned together a crown of thorns and they smashed it into His head and they thought they were mocking

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Jesus and that crown was His glory. He was dying on that cross for the sins of His people wearing on His head the very symbol itself of the fall.

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That's what they were doing. Jesus of course moves through the robes and of course ending on this moment before us the sign.

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You see what's interesting here is when you think about why was Jesus what could they do to Jesus? You have

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Roman rule and they have their laws you can only be crucified and killed under their laws, breaking their laws you have of course temple laws different circumstances and different punishments applied there but they bring

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Him to a Roman to Pilate and they're like crucify Him kill Jesus, give us

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Barabbas kill this guy. How?

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Why? The only way they could crucify Jesus in terms of any legitimate cause would to actually accuse

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Him of being an insurrectionist that you're claiming to be the king Caesar's the king

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Caesar is lord no other lords but Caesar you cannot say you're the king over Caesar and so yeah

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I guess you could say that Jesus is considered insurrectionist but Pilate even knows that's not true because he even says to Pilate my kingdom is not of this world otherwise my servants would fight it's not to say

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His kingdom is not over this world and in this world but Jesus is in His statement to Pilate showing

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Him it's not what you think it is, it's not that kind of kingdom there's no threat there of military force and fighting.

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Jesus has to even resist His disciples desire to start taking up the sword and fighting in this way so Jesus is essentially being mocked and put on trial and killed for the crime of insurrection you're claiming to be

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Messiah the king of the Jews, the king over the world and so they put a sign over His head, king of the

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Jews, this would have been a mockery of Jesus, get this, and a mockery of the

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Jews the Romans are mocking both Jesus and the Jews, hey Jews here's your

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Messiah we've got Him, pinned to a cross, we killed your Messiah it was mocking both

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Jesus and the Jews powerful thing and in the text here what do we have it says 32 as they went out they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name they compelled this man to carry his cross a few thoughts on this,

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Simon the Cyrene from Africa we suspect that Simon here is also the same

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Simon in the book of Acts but what's interesting here in this moment you've seen it now, all the symbolism right, the robes the crown, everything taking place in this moment,

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God already had these symbols right there in place the whole way through so you could recognize it when it was in front of you, but what's interesting about this moment with Simon is just consider it for a second,

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Jesus is so brutalized He's so broken, He's so weak from everything that took place to Him, that He can't even carry the cross anymore and what's interesting is that if you were living in this time, if any of us were living in this time and we saw this, you saw somebody with Roman soldiers and they were carrying the cross you knew that that was the death march you knew that that only ended in one place and that was your death, this guy is going to die but what's interesting is that in this moment if there were any bystanders watching, what would they have thought in that moment they would have thought

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Simon was being crucified, so Jesus can't carry the cross and so Simon is carrying

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Jesus' cross they probably would have been like that guy is going to get killed sad for that guy that guy is going to die in a moment but what was amazing is that Simon should have been carrying that cross think about it there's just so much imagery and symbolism in this moment,

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God's allowing these things to take place where Simon actually should have been the one carrying the cross dying for his own sins, but what happens when they get to the place of the crucifixion

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Jesus takes that cross wow, that's a powerful thought because this text should be you and me it should be me that's a powerful thing to think about every moment here before us is layered with the glory of God in his divine fingerprints

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Jesus carries the cross, ultimately and takes our death he's the true substitute this is beautiful but in this moment you also have verse 33, it says and when they came to a place called

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Golgotha which means place of a skull they offered him wine to drink mixed with gall it's interesting that if you were there that day, and we think we know where Golgotha is today there is some dispute on this so much time has gone by, it had to be something that was close to this area there is a place today that you can go in Israel today and they're pretty sure that that was the actual place, it does look like a skull so whether it is or not, so much time has passed by, is it this one, is it this one, but in this day it's a place called the place of the skull, so apparently this location looked like a human skull, and so if you consider even the moment here before us in actual history the symbolism

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God is carrying along the whole time to display to all of creation what he's actually doing in this moment you have

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Jesus wearing the crown of thorns, the very symbol of the fall as he is penetrating the skull

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Jesus the Mashiach, Jesus the Messiah, our Redeemer, the Prince of Peace, our Shepherd, our

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Savior his death conquering our death is there imagery here also that God intended

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I can't be totally sure, this would just be speculation, that goes all the way back to Genesis where the woman's seed will crush the head of the serpent and deliver the mortal blow to our enemy, is there imagery there, it's possible it's possible, but this moment where it says that they gave him wine to drink mixed with gall, here's another example of them just attempting to mock and hurt and wound wine mixed with gall gall was essentially poison the reason they gave people on the cross wine mixed with gall is because gall was a poison that would make you vomit so while you're thirsty, while you're suffocating on that cross, while you're bleeding, while you are in agony, we've said this before the word excruciating literally means out of the cross so when you say, oh man

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I hurt myself that was excruciating what you're saying when you say excruciating is out of the cross kind of pain,

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Jesus is getting all that, and they would give them wine and gall to make them throw up so while you're suffocating and bleeding and crying in agony, you're also vomiting all over yourself so there's more attempts to hurt and to wound and to mock

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Jesus, and so they give him wine with gall but what's amazing is if they knew their

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Bibles they should have gone, wait wait wait we sang about this we were singing songs about this

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I had Tim before service, I love when Tim does our psalms, don't you I had Tim before service do

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Psalm 69 so you should have already heard it, I want you to go there for a moment as they give

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Jesus this wine mixed with gall if you were a Jew at the foot of the cross you should have been like wait a second, something's familiar about just even this moment, they had been singing these songs about please save me

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God in Psalm 69 it says and I'm not going to do all of it but just get some of it, you see the pain in here, save me oh

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God for the waters that come up to my neck I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold, I have come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me

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I am weary with my crying out, my throat is parched my eyes grow dim with waiting for my

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God, more in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies, what

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I did not steal must I now restore oh God, you know my folly, the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you, let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, oh

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Lord of hosts, let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, oh God of Israel for it is for your sake that I have borne reproach the dishonor has covered my face

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I have become, listen, a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons, for zeal of your house has consumed me and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me, so you can see here in the psalm, the psalm is so honest, you ever had that kind of pain in your life, you can sing this psalm and be honest but look what it says in terms of save me oh

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God in verse 21 it says they gave me poison for food and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink they gave me gall for food so at this moment of the crucifixion, they're watching their own messiah go through the tragedy of the psalms itself

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Jesus is tasting and experiencing all the pain of this fallen world and everything that we have that we're constantly surrounded by,

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Jesus is tasting it, he's feeling it, he's experiencing it, all the evil, all the pain, all the humiliation, and in this moment they should have been like, hey wait a second, this seems familiar to me

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I've been singing about this why does this moment feel so familiar they should have recognized what was taking place before them so back to Matthew 27 in Matthew 27 verse 35, it says and when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots

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I want you to hold on to that thought for a moment, they divided his garments among them by casting lots then they sat down and kept watch over him there this was it had to be the most wretched thing to experience, have you ever have you ever been on the death watch have you ever,

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I don't mean crucifixion, have you ever had a loved one, where you sat by their bed, as they were dying, have you experienced that, a friend a loved one where you've sat by their bed and you've watched them even go through the death throes those moments where they're gasping it's so hard, it is hard, even if it's not the brutalization that you have here in the text, it's an awful, painful experience

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I remember the first time that I experienced it was with my friend Charlie he had been fine and then

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I got word one night that he had collapsed at work, he was rushed to the hospital so I rushed to the hospital as his pastor and I'm at the hospital and I'm there when they bring him the news that they've scanned his head and they found 20 tumors in his brain, 20 he was about 37, 38 years old and we knew that death was coming there was nothing that they could do about it he had just months maybe months to live and I was there with him at his bed side with his family when he was dying and I'll tell you there is something so painful about watching a loved one go through that when you're on the death watch, you're watching you're spending time praying for them, encouraging them but you're watching as the chest rises and then falls and then it just stops for like 15 20 seconds and you're thinking to yourself are they gone?

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is this it? is this it? and then all of a sudden they come back and so it's this hours long process where your heart just goes from pain to okay they're okay to more pain to it's just intense and it just wears on you draws you closer to God let me tell you that but that death watch even for a loved one in circumstances that are so different than this is so difficult now

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I want you to imagine the cross the blood the brutalization

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I want you to imagine the suffocation that kind of death throw from Jesus the big gasp for air trying to push up on the cross with the ankles gasping for air falling down again the back torn from the beating rubbing against this wood opening his wounds even more those big gasp for air and then the slumping down and then is he dead?

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did he die? and they're there it says they sat down and kept watch over him there they're there for the show they're there on the death watch they're just watching him suffer and be in agony and pain while the people at the foot of the cross are still reviling and they're mocking him it's such a painful moment it is truly difficult to comprehend how we can be so evil in humanity that we could ever accept behavior like this it had to be such a vile experience you see crucifixion

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Albert Muller brings this up I think he made a good point here crucifixion was not just it was an act it was a thing that happened crucifixion was as Muller points out it means crucified crucifixion literally means crucified it's where they nailed you to the cross so you have your crucified nailed to a cross but crucifixion was not just the crucified it was not just the moment of nailing you to a cross crucifixion was also that long process of gasping and bleeding and suffering and death it was not just that moment of being crucified it was an entire process now in verse 37 it says and over his head they put this charge against him which read this is

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Jesus the king of the Jews this is them mocking Jesus saying here's your weak

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Messiah we've had victory over him and in verse 38 it says then two robbers were crucified with him one on the right and one on the left now

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I think there's more to the text in Isaiah than just this but I do think it's at least this

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I want you to see this with your own eyes so you know where to go go to Isaiah 53 in Isaiah 53 it's that text that gives the full display of the suffering

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Messiah and ultimately his victory but in Isaiah 53 verse 9 the text says and they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man in his death although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth they pointed out that Isaiah couldn't say that about himself he said that he was guilty of sin and nobody in human history is guiltless or righteous all your heroes in the

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Bible Moses his failures on the page his sins on the page David his sins on the page Isaiah he recognizes that he has sinned and yet Isaiah writes that this one who is coming has done no violence and there's no deceit in his mouth so he's making his grave with the wicked but he's done no violence and there's no deceit in his mouth

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I think it's interesting that Jesus when he dies for our sins is surrounded by the guilty he makes his grave with the wicked

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I do think there's at least that going on in Isaiah's promise that he'd be killed with criminals and the guilty however

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I think Isaiah is saying something much deeper than that he made his grave with the wicked that is to say that Jesus was dying for the sins of God's people counted as the wicked counted as the guilty one make no mistake about it when we're talking about the passion of Jesus we're talking about Jesus being counted as guilty for you being made his grave with the wicked as though he were guilty he wasn't

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Jesus does what he's counted as the guilty one charged as the guilty one so that you would be charged as the righteous one he makes his grave with the wicked and I think it's beautiful there's so much imagery and symbolism that God is packing into this historical moment it really happened like this and it should have been shouting to them all this is what's really going on but he's next to criminals dying alongside the wicked that's clearly there at least that's there but if you look further in Matthew 27 verse 38 or 48 did

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I get that wrong no I got that right 38 you'll see that connecting point with the robbers in verse 39 it says and those who passed by derided him wagging their heads wagging their heads isn't it interesting that it's almost a universal part of human experience no matter where you are whether you're in China whether you're in Africa whether you're in South America North America wherever you are in the world it seems like a universal human experience that I'll just do it what does this mean yes what does this mean no but at the same time isn't it interesting that the wagging of the head can just be a simple no thanks or you can wag your head at somebody in terms of total displeasure and disdain for them

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I remember once I was sitting before a person I'll never forget their face I'll never forget their face they were in conflict and I looked at their eyes while they were in conflict and there was so much hatred in their eyes and the head was like almost uncontrollably like this like this just so much just hatred fill in the eyes and just disapproval the head was just going back and forth we know what that's like when we see that it back the back and forth our children certainly know what that's like when you're in public and they're doing something bad you're like like they know like you know something's coming because your head's going back and forth total disapproval it mentions here in this moment that at the foot of the cross the brutalization the reviling all the mockery all the lies all the slander and it says they're just at the foot of the cross wagging their heads at the

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Messiah wagging their heads so much displeasure and disdain for Jesus before them reviling him and just wagging their heads disapproval no you can't be the

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Messiah we reject who you are and just wagging their heads it's like the universal sign of disapproval and it's at the foot of the cross mentioned by Matthew but here's what

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I wanted to do I'm going to read the rest of this section and then I don't think I could do better than just give you the word of God on it so I want you to stay with me now in the text start again at verse 35 listen and when they had crucified him they divided his garments among them by casting lots when they sat down and kept watch over him there then they sat down and kept watch over him there and over his head they put the charge against him which read this is

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Jesus the king of the Jews then two robbers were crucified with him one on the right and one on the left and those who passed by derided him wagging their heads and saying you would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days save yourself if you're the son of God come down from the cross so also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him saying he saved others he cannot save himself he's the king of Israel let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him he trusts in God let

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God deliver him now if he desires him for he said I'm the son of God and the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour and about the ninth hour

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Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying Eli Eli lemma sabachthani that is my

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God my God why have you forsaken me there's the text but as you know because I've said it so many times amazing grace what that saved

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I once was lost was blind that's the

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Christian hymnal right I give you the word you finish the song I give you the word you just write with it you finish the song been raised in that you've heard it so much it's just threadbare it's easy just with you all the time you even recognize even the music that goes behind the song like that's amazing grace

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I know that song I could sing it and not have to think about it anymore that's what should have happened here when

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Jesus is on that cross dying for the sins of his people saying my God my God why have you forsaken me somebody should have been at the foot of the cross going hey is this familiar to anybody else what if we finish his song he just started for us my

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God my God why have you forsaken me because Psalm 22 go there

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Psalm 22 here's how it starts my God my

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God why have you forsaken me why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning oh my

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God I cry by day but you do not answer and by night but I find no rest yet you are holy and thrown in the praises of Israel in you our fathers trusted they trusted and you delivered them to you they cried and were rescued in you they trusted and were not put to shame but I'm a worm not a man scorned by mankind and despised by the people all who see me mock me they make mouths at me they wag their heads he trusts in the

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Lord let him deliver him let him rescue him for he delights in him yet you are he who took me from the womb you made me trust you my mother's breasts on you was

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I cast from my birth and from my mother's womb you have been my God be not far from me for trouble is near and there's none to help many bulls encompass me strong bulls of Bashan surround me they open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and roaring lion

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I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joints one of the things that would happen to you during crucifixion is your bones would come out of joint and you again you would die from suffocation being pulled down gasping for air and trying to pull back up again all my bones are out of joint my heart is like wax it is melted within my breasts when

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Jesus was crucified the Roman soldiers break the legs of the criminals next to Jesus because they don't want their bodies up there any longer they break the legs of the thieves next to Jesus the criminals they don't break his legs because he's already dead but to make sure that he's truly dead they take a spear they shove it through his ribs it pierces his heart sac blood and water flow out his heart was like wax melted within him my strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue sticks to my jaws you lay me in the dust of death for dogs encompass me a company of evildoers encircles me they have pierced my hands and my feet about a thousand years before the crucifixion of the

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Messiah somehow in divine anticipation and revelation you have the description of crucifixion given in song before crucifixion is even a thing in other words the

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Romans created crucifixion and before crucifixion was created by the Romans the

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Jews were singing about it they pierced my hands and my feet

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I can count all my bones is that a signal towards the fact that the

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Passover lamb would not have his bones broken and they didn't break Jesus bones on the cross they stare and gloat over me they divide my garments among them and from my clothing they cast lots do you see it?

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so listen if you were at the foot of the cross and you know your hymnal your Jewish hymnal you should have finished singing the song with Jesus when he said my

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God my God why have you forsaken me every Jew there should have finished the song with him and they would have realized they were singing the very song that they had sung in synagogue their entire lives and oh wait a minute that's me and that's what was taking place before them but here's what

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I want you to capture about this moment Matthew's not just hodgepodge sort of like taking verses and bringing them together it's a whole experience of what would take place with Messiah don't miss this this is a summary of the message right here

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I want you to hear this please capture this he's not just taking bits and pieces of the Psalms and saying look it actually fits with Messiah isn't that interesting that God foretold all of this no there's more to it than that because Matthew doesn't finish with the crucifixion of Jesus what does he finish with?

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what does he finish with? he finishes with the ascension of Jesus where Jesus says in Matthew 28 18 through 20 all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me he says go therefore make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and he says what teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you so Matthew goes from the passion a page later to the resurrection and ascension of the

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Messiah where Jesus says now go get the nations go get them and why is that?

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because Matthew knows Psalm 22 did you finish the

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Psalm? because here's what the rest of it says in verse 19 but you oh

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Lord do not be far off oh you my help come quickly to my aid deliver my soul from the sword my precious life from the power of the dog save me from the mouth of the lion you have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen

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I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation

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I will praise you so watch this figure here this passion this

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Psalm goes from being laid in the dust of death being despised being reviled having the hands and feet pierced to doing what?

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telling of God's name to his brothers dust of death to proclaiming

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God's name to his brothers what took place after the resurrection? precisely that but it goes further here's what it says verse 23 it says you who fear the

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Lord praise him all you offspring of Jacob glorify him and stand in awe of him all you offspring of Israel for he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted and he has not hidden his face from him but has heard when he cried to him from you comes my praise in the great congregation my vows

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I will perform before those who fear him and it says the afflicted shall eat and be satisfied those who seek him shall praise the

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Lord may your hearts live forever all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the

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Lord and all the families of the nations shall worship before you for kingship belongs to the

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Lord and he rules over the nations Matthew has us in 27 at the beginning of Psalm 22 and in Matthew chapter 28 we have the fulfillment of Psalm 22 where what takes place all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the

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Lord and all the families of the nations shall worship before you what does Jesus say at the ascension what does he say go get the nations go get the nations now

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Psalm 22 fulfilled go get the nations now all the nations are going to return to worship

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God now go get them all the authority is mine go get them disciple them baptize them teach them to obey me go get them you see when you read the passion of the

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Messiah and you seem Psalm 22 there you should all show right now in this moment see through that lens to this room

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I do it as much as I can to remind us you see you're not you're looking at one dude up here right now just one person but when

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I look at you I see a room filled with color I do not just your clothes if James would be in here it'd be a lot of color with his koojis but I see all of the differences every

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Lord's Day I get to look across the room and see all the differences I get to see the white the brown the black

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I get to see all the different colors I get to see all the different backgrounds most of us in this room are all descendants of pagan ancestry

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I would say there's very few of us in here that have like actual Jewish descent so what do you have in this room all the families of the earth returning to worship

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Yahweh it's awesome to see it every Sunday I love it with all my heart the unity of the body

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God bringing together people from every tribe tongue people and nation together to worship and serve Yahweh in a moment here we're going to come to the table all of us with all these different backgrounds for all these different tribes are going to come to the same table to eat the same bread and the same cup same

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Savior and we're going to sing songs worshiping God together in unity saved by Jesus in fulfillment of Psalm 22 you see the passion of the

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Christ Psalm 22 all that pain but it ends with victory you have save me oh God the broken and suffering servant to total victory that is the glory of this moment and by the way that's what

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Matthew's pointing you to you see the cross the moment of the cross the passion of the cross is a moment filled with pain and tragedy and murder and sin and victory victory it's a glorious thing and I hope

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I did it some justice let's pray father thank you for your word Lord Jesus thank you for you endured for me for us thank you that you carried that cross that we should have carried thank you that you took a death that you didn't deserve to purchase us thank you that you did it for the joy set before you thank you that you love us so much that you would endure so much pain for us you truly are the

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Good Shepherd we love you and we trust you it's in your name we pray amen and now we come to the table