Psalm 22- The Price Of The Gift Series

Text: Psalm 22:1-22 and other Messianic Psalms

Into: The Christmas season is defined by some very special traditions. Songs that commemorate the meaning and message of the season. The giving of gifts which reflects the “spirit” of the season! After all what is Christmas all about?

Isaiah 9: 6a For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given-NIV

Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. – ESV

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.-NJKV

And yet to appreciate a gift properly, we must appreciate the price or cost of the gift! There is perhaps not another Psalm or passage of scripture that best describes for us in a very graphic way the great price of the gift that God gave us when He gave us His Son, and the price that Jesus paid to give us the gift of salvation as well as Psalm 22.

It has been referred to as the “gospel according to David”. And one thing that is so amazing about this Psalm that it takes us deeper and higher in many ways than the gospels do!

Impossible you say? Well think about it! Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic gospels, which means they wrote down what they saw. The word Synoptic, in Greek, means "seeing or viewing together." They wrote down what they observed regarding the 3 ½ years that they walked with the Lord during his short time here on earth!

John’s gospel provide us with a greater or wider view because his gospel does begin in time and space, His gospel begins before time, and in the heavenlies!

John 1: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made-NIV

But the Messianic Psalms TAKE US BACK TO OVER 1,000 YEARS BEFORE THE INCARNATION, AND NOT ONLY THAT BUT HE LITERALLY LIFTS US UP IN THE HEAVENLY PLACE AND TAKES US INTO THE INNER CHAMBER, BEHIND THE VIEL AND LET’S US LISTEN IN ON THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN FATHER AND SON, AND NOT ONLY THAT BUT ALS0 INTO THE HEART OF GOD , AND EVEN INTO THE THOUGHTS OF JESUS AS HE HUNG UPON THE CROSS! WOW!

If indeed Christianity is about a PERSONAL relationship with Jesus Christ, and it is just that, then the book of Psalms, the Messianic ones, cab take you into a depth of relationship with him that I pray will ignite your passion, and your love for him, and appreciation for what He has done for you all over again!

And so the goal of this message is this:

Studying the Psalms of Advent, will help us to:

1. Appreciate the pricelessness of the Gift

2. Appropriate the purpose for the Gift.

3. Awaken in us a new passion for the Gift!

Yet before I delve into Psalm 22 - Let’s begin by first looking at, some other Messianic Psalms and Passages:

I. The PREPARTION of The GIFT:

A) Prepared what?

1. It’s as if Jesus looked upon the sacrificial system that could never take away sin:

Hebrews 10: The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

2. And he said:

Psalm 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not; but a body hast thou prepared me: whole-burnt-offering and sacrifice for sin thou didst not require. (Brenton Septuagint Translation)

Hebrews 10:5c but a body you prepared for me

Psalm 40:7 Then I said, Behold, I come: in the volume of the book it is written concerning me (Brenton Septuagint Translation)

Psalm 40:8 I desired to do thy will, O my God, and thy law in the midst of mine heart. (Brenton Septuagint Translation)

B) Picture of His Heart!

Charles Spurgeon - The will of God to redeem sinners by the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ, was most grateful and pleasing to the very heart of Christ. It is said, in Proverbs 8:31, when he was solacing himself in the sweetest enjoyment of his Father, while he lay in that blessed bosom of delights, yet the very prospect of this work gave him pleasure,