(Psa 22:1 KJV) To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? (Psa 22:2 KJV) O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. (Psa 22:3 KJV) But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
How was Jesus’ cry from the cross, quoted in Aramaic, received by those standing near? “When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling for Elijah.’ And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down’”
There are two misconceptions about this passage.
1. The people around him misunderstood him, that thought he was calling on the prophet Elijah.
a. Elijah's name means “Yahweh is my God” and could easily be misunderstood
i. They mocked him at his saying
2. Many Christians today misunderstood him
They incorrectly think that God had forsaken his Son, had turn his back on him. But that could not be further from the truth.
I take this position because:
• God can not lie!
(Num 23:19 KJV) God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
• He made a promise that he would never leaver or forsake his chosen:
(Jos 1:5 KJV) There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
So I can easily come to the conclusion that he would not forsake his Son, his chosen who had performed the most important task to save mankind.
Mosses led the children of Israel out of bondage
Joshua led them into the promise land
Jesus saved the whole world
So I take no reservation in proclaiming that God did not forsake Jesus on the cross nor did Jesus accuse his farther of abandoning him.
Jesus wasn't complaining neither was doubting God he was quoting Ps 22.Those who were around ,the Sanhedrin the Pharisees, and the Sadducees knew the law and the scripture.
while hanging on the cross He begins to recite this Psalm.
• Jesus wasn't defeated
• Jesus wasn't complaining.
• Jesus wasn't trying to say God let him down .
If you read the 22 Psalm, you will discover that Jesus is telling us that in your darkest hour in the time when things look worse .you gotta to remember that he inhabits the praises of his people.
Jesus Went all the way to the cross
• carried every burden
• all of the sins of the world
• every sickness
• every disease
and if anybody had the right to complain, it way Jesus
But Jesus is teaching amost important lesson:
• that when you may have reservations about the power of God to save you,
• When you may have concerns about God leaving you in the dark, when you don’t feel God’s presence.
Read Psalm 22:1
• that explains the frail, inconsistent, doubtful conditionon of the flesh
• move on to verse 2 that reminds you to call on God day or night
• and remember in verse 3 that He inhabits your praise.
I know that praises get results!
• when you're in your darkest hour
• when you're down and out
• when things are going crazy
• when you don't understand
you don't need to go around and complain about God, claiming that He has put you down.You just need to go and Meditate on verse 3.
if you gotta get in private prayer space by yourself and just start tapping your feet’
you don’t need any music. You can just hum a few bars our that praise song that excites you about the goodness of God
You have got to get your praise on. Why is this important?
1. because the praise in you is brings the company of God.
When you praise him, you can expect company ( when I was a child I loved it when my mother who say we are expecting company)
When company came,
• we would have the best meal,
• when company came I had someone to play with me.( I was an only child so lots of my play was by myself)
but I would get excited when company would come, because I had some to play with.
2. Praise produces something!
I have an Ancestry account. I love tracing back to see who my distant ancestors were.
The books of Chronicles are ancestral accounts.
1Chronicles chapter one From Adam to Abraham
Chapter 2 A Genealogy of David
Chapter 3 Descendants of David
Chapter 4 Descendants of Judah
Judah mean Praise.
We praise and we'll worship but we need to stop sometime and say but do you really know what praise can do in your life?
when I look a 1ch 4:1 I see that Judah, praise produces something.
• And in 1Ch 4:1 The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.
I was preparing this sermon, verse 4 jumped at me, It was telling me that this was not just a chronological account.. no it's not just Ancestry. So I read it again and it brought me to this question:
• Do you really understand praise?
• Do you really understand it’s power?
I remember when I used to sit in church and look funny at those who would physical praise God. I used to say to myself “It doesn’t take all that” but when you realize what power praise has then you start to do the necessity so you can activate the power in your life.
I know Old Testament scripture is for interpretation and you can use it in the prophetic. I started to look up the definitions of each of these boys names so.
I'm here to tell you;
• you don't need to go around talking about how bad things are
• how messed up you are
• you don't need to go around complaining about everybody else
• you don't need to wonder where your next meal is going to come from you don't need to give yourself a stroke crying aware about But you need to understand the power of praise.
Let’s see what praise produces.
The first son Pharez
Means breach, cut off, divider. This seems like a negative term, but the Spirit led me to understand that Perez is the buffer between you and that which would catch hold to you, and cause you harm and failure.
There are things that would hold you back,
• there are things that would have you believe you can't make it
• things that would restrain you
but Judah produces a Perez in your life, to divide you from the things that are not good to you or for you.
• (Exo 14:19 KJV) And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:(Exo 14:20 KJV) And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.
Hezron the second son
a yard (as enclosed by a fence) hedge as in Job!
• (Job 1:10 NKJV) Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
Satan had intentions of taking job out early, but when he went after Jod, there was a fence all around him.
Satan had no intention to come into God before attacking Job he was gonna take him out early but when it got there there was a Fence, there was a there was a hedge and every side he went on he could not get around it 'cause God had built a Hezron around Job and all that he had.
Praise has produced a Hezron for you.
There are things on the outside trying to get on the inside
• inside health
• inside you head
• inside your family
when you praise you're producing a seal around you
The third son Carmi
Increase of the vineyard-
• John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
• John 10:10 - The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.
• 2 Corinthians 9:11 - Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
The fourth Son Hur Liberty
When you are shackled down by the cares of the world,
• when debt has got you shackled,
• when lack of upward mobility in a job has you shackled,
• when unemployment has you shackled,
• When you shackle yourself by putting yourself in situations
• shacked and you don’t see a way out.
I am here to tell you today that Judah/praise produces Liberty.
• Act 16: 23 They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. 24 So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks. 25 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. 26 Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!
Praise produced Hur and Hur set them free,
• Praise and don’t give up
• Hur may come in the midnight but rest assured, Hur is coming
• He many have to shake up some things, but Hur /Liberty is coming.
• Hur will set you free and whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
Fifth Son Shobal overflowing;
Blessed with overflow is to be filled beyond the brim;
• Overflow is running over
• Overflow is abounding;
So praise, Expecting the blessing of God,
So praise expecting to be honored
• Expecting to be favored
• Expecting to live generously
• Expecting to receive from all resources
• Expecting to see breakthrough
Expecting to keep the blessings and to live a life of overflow.
One more thing I must share with you so your joy, your praise is complete:
When I look at the ancestry of Juda, I noticed that they only mentioned males. And that was their custom.
• But you must realize that to produce and offspring,
• when you produce a decedent,
you must have a partner.
Linage can’t be produced alone.
So it is in the spirit.
Judah had a partner to produce these 5 sons.
Judah produced but, you can't have offspring unless you have a partner to carry the seed.
• someone gotta nurture this
• somebody has to go through the labor in this before it can be birthed
and when it comes to the promises of God, when it comes to the offspring of Praise that partner is faith:
• Abram had faith to produce Isaac
• Hannah had faith to produce Samuel
• Mary had to have faith to produce Jesus
And you must have faith in your praise to produce the results that God wants in your life.
• Heb 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
• Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
