Purpose: To explore the agony of Christ's suffering.
Aim: I want the listener to worship Christ because He became a curse for them.
INTRODUCTION: While the scorching heat of the Palestinian sun beat down on Christ as He hung on the Cross He spoke three different times between 9 am to 12 noon. Then, at noon, God turned the lights out. As the song writer, Isaac Watts put it, "Well might the sun in darkness hide, And shut its glories in, When Christ the mighty Maker died, For man, the creature's sin."
Then for three hours Jesus suffered silently in total darkness. "There were three days of darkness in Egypt before the Passover (Ex.10:21-23); and there were three hours of darkness before the Lamb of God died for the sins of the world." -- Warren Wiersbe.
Starting about 3 pm Jesus spoke four more times beginning with this mournful cry in
"About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?' that is, 'MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?'"(Matthew 27:46).
When Martin Luther studied this text he could not sleep all night. The next morning he looked at this again and said, "God forsaken by God, who can understand it?"
Charles Spurgeon explained it this way, "We can no more measure the depths of His suffering than measure the heights of His love."
What this fourth saying from the cross does is to give us a glimpse into the hellish pain and agony that Jesus suffered because of His separation from His Father.
This agonizing question from the cross does have an answer and we find that answer in the Psalm that Jesus was quoting. In Psalm 22 we have the most amazing prediction of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ anywhere in Scripture. David wrote these words one thousand years before death by crucifixion was invented, and yet he writes as if he were standing at the foot of the Cross of Christ.
►Vs.1-22 I. Prayer From the Christ
► Vs.1-2 A. The question "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?"
These words were spoken in agony, and yet hope does shine through. Jesus never lost sight of the fact that the God of the universe was also His God, although He does not refer to God as His Father, which He had done so many times earlier.
► Vs.1b 1. Why is God so far away? "Far from my deliverance"
This experience is what Jesus was referring to when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane: Matthew 26:38-39 38 ..."My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." 39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." (NAU)
Drinking from God's cup refers to enduring God's wrath. "For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, and the wine foams; It is well mixed, and He pours out of this; Surely all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs." (Psalm 75:8).
"Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Arise, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk from the LORD'S hand the cup of His anger; The chalice of reeling you have drained to the dregs." (Isaiah 51:17).
"For thus the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me, "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it." (Jeremiah 25:15).
Revelation 14:19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. (NAU)
► Vs.2 2. Why is God absent in daylight and darkness? "I cry by day... by night"
While the sin of mankind was being heaped on Jesus, God the Father had to turn His back on Jesus. God did not deliver Jesus in the heat of the day or in the blackness of darkness.
2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, ... (NAU) This separation was necessary because of God's holiness.
► Vs.3-21 B. The answer
► Vs.3-5 1. God is holy "You are holy"
God's holiness demands that sin we punished. "Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. ..." (Habakkuk 1:13).
Leviticus 5:17 "Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. (NAU)
The only description of God that is repeated three times is His holiness. Isaiah 6:1--4 ... I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. (NAU)
► Vs.6-21 2. Jesus was cursed
Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us--for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"-- (NAU)
► Vs.6-8 a. His curse involved shame "A reproach of men"
Jesus had already been forsaken by the religious rulers, the adoring crowds as well as His closest friends just as God predicted in, Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (NAU)
Luke 23:35 And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One." (NAU)
► Vs.9-10 b. His curse was God's will "Upon You I was cast from birth"
Here is a reference to Christ's miraculous birth. All of this was part of God's plan. Luke 2:34--35 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed-- 35 and a sword will pierce even your own soul--to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." (NAU)
As Job put it: Job 13:15 "Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. ... (NAU)
► Vs.11-13 c. His curse involved demons "bulls of Bashan"
Those observing the Crucifixion of Christ were like blood thirsty wild animals. This was probably largely due to demonic influence. 1 Corinthians 2:8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; (NAU)
Colossians 2:14--15 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. (NAU)
► Vs.14-21 d. His curse involved physical suffering "I am poured out
like water"
Vs.15 John 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, "I am thirsty." (NAU)
Vs.18 Jesus became poor for us. Matthew 27:35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. (NAU)
2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. (NAU)
►Vs.22-31 II. Praise To The Christ
► Vs.22-24 A. Christ's followers will exalt Him "praise Him...glorify Him"
1 Corinthians 2:2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. (NAU)
Vs.23 . Psalm 33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. (NAU)
Vs.24 Hebrews 5:7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. (NAU)
► Vs.25-26 B. Christ will deliver the afflicted "afflicted will eat and be satisfied"
Psalm 107:9 For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good. (NAU)
2 Corinthians 1:8--10 For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; 9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; 10 who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, (NAU)
► Vs.27-31 C. Christ will establish His Kingdom "He rules over nations"
Vs.29 Philippians 2:10--11 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NAU)
Vs.31 Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. (NAU)
The last phrase is literally, "He has finished." This can't help but make us think of Christ's last words from the Cross: John 19:30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. (NAU)
CONCLUSION: The purity and holiness of God demands that all sin be cleansed. Hell is God's purifying incinerator, made to cleanse all Creation of every speck of sin. The glorious news is that God's absolute holiness can also be satisfied by what Jesus did on the cross.
Isaiah 53:6,10 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; . . .(NAU)
In his early teens, John Newton ran away from England and joined the crew of a slave ship. Some years later he himself was given to the black wife of a white slave trader in Africa. He was cruelly mistreated and lived on leftovers from the woman's meals and on wild yams he dug from the ground at night. After escaping, he lived with a group of natives for a while and eventually managed to become a sea captain himself, living the most ungodly and degenerate life imaginable.
But after his miraculous conversion in 1748, he returned to England and became a self-less and tireless minister of the gospel in London. He left for posterity many hymns that are still among the most popular in the world. By far the best-known and best-loved of those is "Amazing Grace." [He also wrote, "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken," "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds"] He became the pastor of a church in England, and to this day the churchyard carries an epitaph that Newton himself wrote: Out of the Depths: An Autobiography [1]
John Newton, Clerk,
once an infidel and libertine,
A servant of slaves in Africa,
was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Preserved, restored, pardoned,
And appointed to preach the faith
He had long labored to destroy. [2]
John Newton wrote this poem about how the cross changed his life.
In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopp'd my wild career:
I saw One hanging on a Tree
In agonies and blood,
Who fix'd His languid eyes on me.
As near His Cross I stood.
Sure never till my latest breath,
Can I forget that look:
It seem'd to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke:
My conscience felt and own'd the guilt,
And plunged me in despair:
I saw my sins His Blood had spilt,
And help'd to nail Him there.
Alas! I knew not what I did!
But now my tears are vain:
Where shall my trembling soul be hid?
For I the Lord have slain!
A second look He gave, which said,
"I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou may'st live."
Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.
With pleasing grief, and mournful joy,
My spirit now if fill'd,
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by Him I kill'd!
John Newton, 1725--1807 [3]
[1]Chicago, Moody, n.d.], p. 151
[2]MacArthur, John F., Romans: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (Chicago: Moody Press) 1994.
[3]Source Unknown. Multiple, 10,000 Sermon Illustrations, (Dallas, Texas: Biblical Studies Press) 2000.
