We are going to be looking @ the 22nd Psalm today.
o The purpose of todays message is to give you hope when you feel abandoned.
o To challenge you to study Gods’ Word
We are going to look @ 3 key points:
? God keeps His promises
? God finishes the job
? Jesus is always thinking about us
Open your bibles to Psalm 22: (Let’s stand as we read Gods Word)
Read Psalm 22:1-6 (Please be seated)
Although we don’t know the exact situation to cause David to cry out to the Lord in such anguish, there were many times in his life that he faced tribulation and persecution. But he is obviously agonizing over something and feeling that God has abandoned him. Have you ever felt like David?
Psychological effects: the feeling of abandonment has severe psychological effects:
? Creates trust issues
? Anxiety
? Feelings of being unloved, unwanted
? Blaming yourself or others
? Depression- which in itself, leads to a host of other illnesses.
In all likelihood, David was experiencing all of these!
Let’s peek into a little bit of history.
As the King of Israel, David undoubtably had an intimate understanding of what we now call the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the OT.
Here’s what is written in Deuteronomy 17:18-19
This is referring to any anointed King of Israel.
“Also it shall be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites.
And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes.”
So having this knowledge, He knew of Gods promise in
Genesis 28:15
So here’s a quick backstory:
Jacob is on the run from his brother, because Jacob deceived his father Isaac, by telling Isaac that he was Esau.
While he was on the run, he stops at a place to sleep overnight. He uses a stone as a pillow and falls asleep.
Here he has a dream of a ladder stretching from earth to heaven and angels, ascending and descending on it.
God speaks to him and says this:
Let’s begin in Genesis 28:14
“Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
15: behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you”.
This is what God spoke to Jacob, Isaacs son.
Check out what God says to Isaac, Abrahams’ son:
Genesis 26:4 “I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven, I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed”.
Now, let’s see what God tells Abraham in:
Genesis 22:17
Quick backstory-Abraham was being obedient when God told him to take Isaac to the mountaintop as a sacrifice, and when God saw his obedience he spared Isaac and blessed Abraham.
Let’s begin in Genesis 22:16 “By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17: blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is on the seashore, and your descendants; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies”.
Did you catch the prophecy in those verses?
Do you see a pattern here? From Genesis chapter 22 to 28?
? God keeps His promises
? God finishes the job
When we are feeling abandoned, that is the time we most need to go to Gods Word!
David would have also been familiar with:
Deuteronomy 4:31
Let’s begin in v. 30 “When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice,
V31. (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.”
Ask others to read v. 31 from their bible.
God is reminding us!
Anyone here ever need to be reminded of things? Anything? Everything?
*Me asking Lisa to remind me of something…
When you are in that moment of despair and forsakenness, know:
? God keeps His promises
In Psalm 22:1 It is almost as though David is crying out “My God, My God; I know the promises you have made, but remind me again…”
Let’s go to Deuteronomy 31:1-8
I think this is so critical for us to realize that God is a finisher!
Read from my bible, then say:
Moses is telling his people, “I’m gonna hang on this side of the Jordan, I’ve run the race, y’all go on with Joshua from here.
I’m not going with you, but God is going with you. HE is the finisher!
Moses is reminding them what God promised.
-Sometimes we have to be reminded-
? God keeps His promises
? God finishes the job
Ok y’all, I know we have looked at a lot of scripture today, but I just feel we ALL need to hear this!
So right after Moses talks to his people, comes the book of Joshua.
In Joshua 1:5 Here God goes, just a promisin’ again as He speaks to Joshua:
v.5 “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you, nor forsake you.”
? God keeps His promises
? God finishes the job
Let’s go to a couple more passages of scripture before we get started into todays Word!
1 Kings 6: 11-13
v.11 The word of the Lord came to Solomon:
v.12 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father”.
Let’s look at that promise God gave to David. It is found in:
2 Samuel 7:1-17 (give quick recap)
The Lord spoke to the prophet Nathan to tell David to build a temple for the Lord to dwell in. Remind David that since I brought my people out of Egypt, I’ve lived in a tent.
The Lord told Nathan that Davids’ son will build this temple, which Solomon did. It was later destroyed and rebuilt. By Jesus’ time this temple was known as Herods Temple. This was the same temple that Jesus stood in, overturned tables and foretold “destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in 3 days”
Throughout these scriptures we’ve examined today, not only do we see a theme that:
? God keeps His promises
? God finishes the job
But there is one other common thread.
Most often when we think of obedience, we think of the punishment that follows disobedience, but we should focus on the rewards of obedience. (say it again)
Now hold on to that for a minute!
Ok, what do y’all say we get started with today message?
A few weeks before Easter I brought a message titled
“The danger in the Miracle”.
Toward the end of that message, I got to what I called “The silence of the Miracle”, I read Matthew 27:46 which part of it reads “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”, and in an instant todays message was birthed! Literally, as I read that verse, I saw it, or understand it, in a completely new way! Gods’ Word is never-changing, but it is also alive! It breathes within us!
In a flash I thought “Jesus knew that scripture said “God will not forsake us”.
We’ve looked at 2 of the 3 key points today.
? God keeps His promises
? God finishes the job
Let’s go to the last key point:
? Jesus is always thinking about us
I think, in order to examine this last point, we need to consider Jesus’ words while He was on the cross:
Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do”. And they divided His garments and cast lots.
These are Jesus’ words of forgiveness! He has been through an unimaginable suffering and about to die, and He is thinking about you and me!
? Jesus is always thinking about us
Luke 23:43 Jesus answered Him “truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise. These are Jesus’ words of salvation!
? Jesus is always thinking about us
John 19:26-27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother”, and from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home. These are Jesus’ words of relationship!
? Jesus is always thinking about us
Matthew 27:46 About 3 in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Upon first examination, it appears that Jesus is thinking about himself, but we’ll come back to this.
John 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things had now been finished and so that scripture would be fulfilled He said “I am thirsty”.
Jesus knew that He had to say “I am thirsty” in order for scripture to be fulfilled.
? Jesus is always thinking about us
John 19:30 When He received the drink Jesus said “It is finished”. With that He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. These are Jesus’ words of triumph!
He had done what He came to do.
? Jesus is always thinking about us
Just for a quick moment, let’s go back and look at a couple of things in:
Matthew 27:46
But before we go there, I’m compelled to say I am narrowminded in my belief that Gods Word is perfect in its:
? Specificity
? Exactness
? Incorruptibility
? And in it’s…intention
-And I want to challenge you again, to study Gods Word for yourself!
Let’s look at Psalm 22:1-6 (read from my bible)
Wow, the prophecy in David’s words!
Next, consider this: Jesus’ words are recorded in Hebrew in Matthews writing.
The word forsaken when translated from Hebrew to English means “abandoned or deserted”. This is expressed in an “uncaring abandonment”.
Jesus the Son, knew scripture must be fulfilled,
But Jesus the man was feeling abandoned and “out there” all alone in His suffering.
Have you ever found yourself blaming God for your circumstances, while feeling “out there” all alone?
God, God, why are you letting this happen to me? Kind of like Martha “If only you’d have been here Lord!”
Jesus was human too, y’all!
But when we look at Jesus’ words in Mark 15:34-36, they are recorded in Aramaic.
Check this out. When translated from Aramaic to English, Jesus’ words are:
“My God, My God for this I was destined”
? Jesus is always thinking about us
When you are in those moments of agony, desolation and feeling abandoned, maybe it is for the purpose of putting you in the position of being richly blessed by God!
? Jesus is always thinking about us
? God finished the job
? God keeps His promises
-Call the worship team up-
So many of Jesus’ words on the cross were about obedience. His actions leading up to being on the cross were all about obedience.
Earlier I mentioned that oftentimes we view the word obedience from the perspective of the punishment in our disobedience; but know this, Jesus’ obedience was our reward!
I’ve prayed that todays word would give someone hope in their time of feeling abandoned, and that you will leave here today, committed to study Gods word and discover His purpose for you!
And if you haven’t received the reward of salvation because of Jesus’ obedience, I encourage you to come and get your reward today. It is waiting for you.
If you’ve been making excuses before the Lord, STOP MAKING EXCUSES.
-Personally, I’ve been making excuses why I haven’t been witnessing and spreading the Gospel, and recently God breathed a word into me in a very intimate moment with Him. He said stop making excuses!
As the worship team leads us in a closing song, know the altar is open to come worship at His feet!
I’m going to close with the reading of the 23rd Psalm, while you make your way to the altar.
