But there are some days that are special, and we look forward to them.
Let me mention four days on our calendar that I personally consider special.
• Mother’s Day
• Father’s Day
• Christmas
• Easter
Christmas and Easter are the only two religious holiday’s days we have on our calendars.
The popular belief is that Christ was crucified on a Friday and rose on a Sunday. But neither of these suppositions is supported by the biblical record.
BUT LET ME ASK YOU A QUESTION…why are today's Christian holidays observed with so many rituals and customs that are not mentioned or sanctioned anywhere in the SCRIPTURES?
For example:
• What does a Christmas trees and Christmas lights on our homes have anything to do with the Lord’s birth. NOT A THING!
It is just a custom in how we celebrate Christmas.
• What does colored eggs and have to do with the resurrection? NOT A THING!
It is just a custom in how we celebrate Easter.
We need to ask ourselves why today’s Christian holidays are observed with so many rituals and customs that are not mentioned or sanctioned anywhere in the Bible.
I THINK I KNOW WHY!
I believe it is because the RESURRECTION OF CHRIST is so important to us that the devil wants us to get so caught up in RITUTALS AND CUSTOMS that we will not concentrate on THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
Can we find any historical or biblical record of His disciples keeping Easter as a special day we are to celebrate?
No!
Instead of celebrating Easter, they kept the Passover, instituted by God centuries earlier at the time of the Exodus when God’s people were in bondage and the blood on the door post saved every first born. (Exodus 12:13-14; Leviticus 23:5)
These two Christian holidays the devil has been successful in taking the spotlight off of Christ.
(1) In Christmas Christ has been replaced by Santa Claus and Rudolph the red nose reindeer being in the spotlight. WHAT A SHAME!
(2) In Easter Christ has been replaced by the ritual of Easter eggs and Easter clothes. WHAT A SHAME!
And we wonder why our boys and girls do not know anything about the Lord Jesus!
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
By replacing the Word of God that tells us of HIS BIRTH and HIS RESURRECTION!
There is a real DANGER we Christians need
to beware of!
WHAT IS THE DANGER?
The danger is that anytime we are constantly exposed to something, THE EXCITEMENT WEARS OFF!
Illus: When I was a child I could hardly wait for Christmas to come. But after eighty-two years of celebrating Christmas, I am no longer excited about Christmas like I use to be as a child.
THE EXCITEMENT WEARS OFF!
Illus: For example, most of us like ice cream. In fact, some of us love ice cream.
However, as much as we all enjoy ice cream, did you know that if we ate ice cream every day, three times a day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty-five days a year, the thrill of eating ice cream would soon wear off eventually?
When we are constantly exposed to something, the EXCITEMENT WEARS OFF EVENTUALLY!
Illus: That is the reason playing sports and GOING HUNTING, FISHING AND GOLFING is so much fun. We do these things every now and then not every day.
But if we were exposed to these things every day of our lives, the EXCITEMENT WOULD EVENTUALLY WEAR OFF.
I am glad that we have such a day as this set aside every twelve months that we can celebrate the RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
Let us forget about all the CUSTOMS and RITUALS of mankind for Easter and look into the word of God that talks about the RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
Let me show you several things in Psalm 22, so that the gospel of the Lord Jesus might become fresh to us again.
Psalm 22 is a wonderful chapter about the crucifixion and the RESURRCTION.
When you examine this chapter closely, you will see that Christ, as He goes through this very dark time in His life, He sees the resurrection hope at the end of this chapter.
Illus: My wife and I have two Chihuahua puppies, and they are very entertaining. The other day one of them gave my wife a very strange look and my wife said to me, WONDER WHAT SHE IS THINKING. I told her I had no Idea.
I am certainly not a MIND READER, and I certainly cannot read the mind of dogs.
But let me ask you something, when Christ was hanging on the cross paying the price for our sins what do you reckon was on His mind.
Illus: There is a song that states, WHEN HE WAS ON THE CROSS WE WERE ON HIS MIND.
Psalms 22 that is exactly what was on His mind. (You! You! You! You! Everyone here was on His mind as He hung on that cross)
This is a Psalm that allows us to get into the mind of Christ as he hung on the cross for our sins and see things from His perspective.
First, let me show you-
I. HIS STEADINESS
There were many things that Satan put before the Lord, to try and stop Him from accomplishing what He had come to accomplish.
The devil could do anything to stop the Lord, He was RELENTLESS!!!
For example, we see-
A. HIS SUFFERING
Did you know suffering is a deterrent?
I hate taking shots with a needle.
Illus: My wife and I got married in North Carolina and when I found out that N.C. requires anyone applying for marriage license, they had to take a shot I almost decided I was NOT going to get married.
Suffering is a deterrent.
Illus: We all like our dentist personally, but we hate to go to them because we know he/she is going to hurt us, and we try to stay away from pain as much as we can!
When we know, something is going to hurt us, that suffering becomes a deterrent that drives us away.
The Lord Jesus faced tremendous suffering. But He did not allow:
• The jailing
• The name calling
• The beating
• The crown of thorns on his head
• The spitting
• Nails driven into his body
• Nailed to a cross for six hours
• The forsaking of His disciples
None of these things stopped Him…HE WAS RELENTLESS!!!
Look at some of the ways He suffered, and He lets us know what was on His mind:
(1) Look at verse 12. We read, “Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.”
Illus: The land of Bashan was on the east side of Jordan, north of Gilead.
It was noted for rich pastureland that produced some of the large strong bulls of that day.
He is describing these Romans soldiers that crucified Him as the BULLS OF BASHAN.
They used big Roman soldiers to carry out the crucifixion. Because many times it took big strong soldiers to carry out a crucifixion because of the resistance.
But when Christ died on that cross there was no struggle. The Word of God He was willing to die for our sins.
John 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Illus: You see if He had struggled there would be people who would say, He did not die for us, and he gave that Roman soldier a fit as they put Him on that cross.
But John 10:18 Jesus tells his hearers that he is the good shepherd who lays down his life.
But it was not just the Roman soldiers who did this to him; there were others who participated in this horrendous act.
(2) Look at verse 13, we read, “THEY gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.”
The word “Gaped” is the Hebrew word, “Potsah” (Paw-tsaw) which means to OPEN, RIP, And TEAR APART!
I want to ask you a question. How could the Lord Jesus look down from the cross, and see those people below Him acting like wild animals, and pray, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do?”
Illus: I am glad that we do not serve a Savior like me. I would have called down ten thousand angels and made everyone look like burnt toast! O what a Savior!!!
The only way he could have possibly done this, HE LOOKED BEYOND THEIR SINS AND SAW THEIR NEEDS.
You see, God has always hated sin, but God has always loved the sinner.
Illus: It is not a difficult task to love a beautiful dog that comes to us with his tail wagging, but it is a different thing to love a dog that stands before you with his teeth showing, and he wants to rip you apart.
The Lord faced such people on Calvary.
• The Lord prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
(3) Look at verse 14. We read, “I am poured out like water...”
One of the horrible things about the people, who were crucified, was THE EXCESSIVE PERSPIRATION OF A CRUCIFIED MAN IN THE SUN.
He said, “I am poured out like water”
When we are dehydrated, we become weak!!!
And when we are weak, we do not want to do anything…DO WE?
But the Lord set His face like a flint, and He would not let anything stop Him from dying for our sins.
(4) Also, look at verse 14 again, He says, “…And all my bones are out of joint.”
We are told another horrible thing about the crucifixion. When a man is crucified, as the blood drains from His body, he becomes so weak that his body sags, causing the joints to come out of their sockets.
Anyone who has ever had a joint go out of place knows the excruciating pain that shoots through their body when this happens.
(5) Look at verse 15. We read, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.”
He said, “…My strength is dried up like a potsherd…”
• He said I became like a piece of pottery as my strength was poured out.
• On the cross, the Lord had become so dehydrated that all the moisture in his body had gone. He said, “My tongue cleaveth to my jaws.”
(6) Look at verse 16. We read, “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.”
In the scriptures here, the gentiles are referred to as dogs.
Illus: They are yapping like a pack of wild dogs at the foot of the cross.
Jesus was nailed to the cross at 9 in the morning, and He died at about 3 in the afternoon. Therefore, Jesus spent about 6 hours of excruciating pain on the cross.
The Romans of Jesus' day were especially practiced at stretching out their torture methods for as long as possible.
In fact, it was common for victims of Roman crucifixions to remain on their crosses for two or three days before finally succumbing to death.
This is why the soldiers broke the legs of the criminals crucified on Jesus' right and left—doing so made it impossible for the victims to stretch up and breathe, which lead to suffocation.
But when they came to Jesus only after six hours, they did not break his legs because He was already dead.
So why did Jesus perish in the relatively short time of six hours?
It is believed that the Lord suffered so much torture and abuse from the Roman soldiers before He was nailed to the cross the human body could not take any more torture.
Suffering is a deterrent…
Illus: As a pastor I have made many hospital calls but one that stands out above all of them was when I went to see Bro. Otis Davis a member of our church who has gone to be with the Lord.
I had several things I was going to do that day, but I wanted to go by and see Bro. Davis early before I had to take care of other things that day.
Before I got to his room at the hospital, I could hear him screaming down the hallways due to the pain He was enduring.
When I went into the room it was filled with his family weeping for him.
When I went to his bedside, he grabbed my hand and would not let go looking me in the eyes saying, “Pastor, pray for God to take me, I cannot stand this pain.”
I saw his condition and I made a decision then I was going to have to cancel all my appointments that day because I could not leave Bro. Otis in his suffering!!!
Later on, the day I told the family that was weeping why you folks don’t go home because they had been there all night and I told them I will stay with him.
They did, they could not take his crying for help anymore and they left weeping.
I called my wife, and she came to help me. All day he cried out for someone to help him.
They gave him all kinds of medicine and not any of the medicine brought him any relief.
About 9 O’clock that night he settled down and we thought he was getting some relief. But shortly he took one deep breath, and it was the last breath he ever took.
I told you that story for a reason. Can you imagine the six hours He hung on that cross the suffering he went through?
It was not because something He did, it was because something we did!!!
He was the sinless Son of God dying on that cross for our sins.
The LORD wanted you to know HOW MUCH HE SUFFERED FOR YOU. (You! You! You! Everyone in this congregation)
That is why we have Psalm 22 that He was there not for anything He did; He was there BECAUSE OF WHAT WE DID!
We have looked at some of HIS SUFFERINGS, but He refused to allow these sufferings to keep Him from dying on the cross for our sins. HE WAS RELENTLESS!
Also, look at-
II. HIS SEPARATION
Look at verses 2-6. We read, “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.”
(1) Look at Verse 2. The Lord said, “Day and night I weep, but there is no reply.”
The Bible tells us in Hebrews 4:15, that Christ was, “…in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
We clearly see this in these verses.
Have you ever felt like this?
The Lord knows how you feel.
(2) Look at verses 3-5. He is reminded God has delivered the great men of the past, but there is no deliverance for Him.
Have you ever felt that God has helped others, but there is no deliverance for you?
(3) Look at verse 6, He is saying, “But I am a worm.”
Have you ever felt like this? “I am a nobody!”
(4) Look at verses 7-8. He said He had become the laughingstock of His enemies.
Have you ever felt like this?
The Lord knows how you feel. He experienced the same thing on the cross that every one of us has faced but He did it without sin.
We have looked at:
I. HIS STEADINESS
II.HIS SUFFERINGS,
But now look at-
III. HIS SEARCHING
Look at Psalm 22:1. We read, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”
Notice, the words, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Before, he always addressed God as His father, but now he was saying, “My God, My God!”
He did not pray, “My God, My God…”
• When he was beaten
• When he was jailed
• When he was nailed to the cross
• When he was forsaken by the disciples
But at some given time on the cross he became the sacrifice for our sins, He cried these words from the cross, in Matthew 27:46, “…My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? “
Illus: Dr. J. Vernon McGee said,
• At His trial He was silent
• When they beat Him, He said nothing
• When they nailed Him to the cross, He did not whimper
But when He took upon Himself our sins God forsook Him, He roared like a lion MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAS THOU FORSAKEN ME!
Illus: It is a terrible thing in this life:
• When a child is forsaken by his parents
• When husband forsakes their wife
• When a wife forsakes their husband
But until a person dies and goes to hell and realizes they have been forsaken by God almighty, they do not know what being forsaken really is.
God the Father and God the Son are one, but when Christ took on our sins on that Cross, He was experiencing what the lost man will experience in hell.
In HIS SEPARATION from God on the cross, He was paying the price for our sins, so that we will not be separated from God the Father for eternity.
We looked at:
I. HIS STEADINESS
II. HIS SEPARATION
III. HIS SEARCHING
But let us also look at-
IV. HIS SHAME
Look at verse 17. We read, “I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.”
What this simply means is that the Lord Jesus was crucified practically naked. Can you imagine the embarrassment, for the Holy Son of God to be stared at in His nakedness?
Illus: That is no problem for some people. They will peel off as much clothing as the law allows, and then some. THEY ARE SHAMELESS!
Illus: We have people today who go to the beaches, and they never get in the water. They just parade around in their skimpy bathing suits. Listen, they are not going to the beach because they like the beaches, they are going there because they want to strut their stuff!
But the Holy Son of God was not like that. He said, “They look and stared upon me.” They had taken His clothes and gambled for them.
As we read through the gospel, and hear the gospel preached, we must never forget the great price the Lord Jesus paid for our sins.
We have looked at:
I. HIS STEADINESS
II. HIS SEPARATION
III.HIS SERARCHING
IV.HIS SHAME
But let us also look at-
V. HIS SCORNING
Look at these words in Psalm 22:7-8 that describe this crowd that crucified the Son of God for our sins. We read, “All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.”
Illus: On the National Geographic’s television program they showed the deadly snake
called the Diamond Back Rattler.
They showed this deadly snake leaping at a man and biting him on the hand, sending
its deadly venom into this man, almost taking his life.
But as soon as this deadly snake struck, it slithered into the bushes.
In other words, the snake, after it bit the man, had enough decency to slither into the
bushes and not watch the man suffer.
But look at this crowd, “all they that see me laugh me to scorn…”
Matthew 27: 36 said, “And sitting down they watched him there.”
They hated him so much they enjoyed watching Him hang on the cross.
The Lord Jesus suffered all these things and much more, but He was RELENTLESS in fulfilling God’s will for His life.
Isaiah 50: 7 “…Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”
Satan threw everything He could throw in His path to stop Him, but nothing stopped Him from dying on the cross for our sins.
We have looked at
1) His Steadiness
2) His Separation
3) His Searching
4) His Shame
5) His Scorning
But let us also look at-
VI. HIS RESURRECTION
What the Lord Jesus went through on that Cross was devastating.
We cannot imagine the things He had to endure for us on the cross.
The crowd was ignorant of who He was.
The reason we know that is because the Lord Himself prayed, “Father, forgive them, THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.”
Listen, if any one of them knew that He was who He said He was, I do not believe they would have done what they did.
• He told them, but they would not believe Him.
• He did many miracles, but they would not believe Him.
He had ONE VINDICATION. He knew he would be vindicated by His resurrection.
That is, He knew they would kill Him, and bury Him, BUT HE WOULD RISE AGAIN, which would be the proof to support His claim that He was the Savior of the world.
As we look through Psalm 22, we see He is going through the darkest tunnel He had ever been through as He was being crucified.
But as we come to the close of Psalm 22, He sees light at the end of the tunnel.
Such as:
(1) HIS PRAYER GOING THROUGH THIS DARK TUNNEL WAS, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
But we see the hope of His resurrection in verse 21, we read, He said “…For thou hast heard me.”
• What a terrible time it was for Him as He prayed, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
• But somewhere at the end of this suffering we can see a glimmer of hope in that he prayed, “…For thou hast heard me.”
He knew that His resurrection would vindicate Him and prove He was who He said He was.
Also, notice another hope that His resurrection would vindicate He was who He said He was.
Look again at-
(2) HIS PRAYER GOING THROUGH THIS DARK TUNNEL WAS, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
• He used the words, “My God, My God,” as He took on our sins upon Himself.
• But now in His last prayer before death, we read in Luke 23: 46 “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.”
Notice, He is not addressing God as “My God”, but now as “Father”.
THE JOY THAT ALLOWED HIM TO ENDURE THE CROSS WAS IN HIS KNOWLEDGE THAT HE WAS GOING TO BE VINDICATED IN HIS RESURRECTION.
Conclusion:
I told you earlier, I do not believe anyone that was there would have crucified the Lord Jesus had they known beyond any doubt that He was who He said He was.
They did what they did in ignorance. This is why the Lord prayed, “Father, forgive them they know not what they are doing!”
But you today who sit here, you know He died, was buried, and was raised to life again.
And it will be worst for you on the judgment day I believe than it will be for those who actually crucified Him who did not know who He was.
They did what they did out of ignorance, you are without excuse, you know better!
Today as Christians, we looked at all that the Lord has done for us, and I trust the gospel has become EXCITING TO YOU AGAIN.
Illus: A minister preached the simple Gospel story of Christ, but most of the time he preached it with tears running down his cheek.
Other preachers would come to hear him preach, because they were amazed, he preached a simple message, yet people would flock down to the altars in large numbers.
But as time went by, he continued to preach, and the gospel story of Christ became old news to him, and he lost his tears.
He soon began to realize that no one was getting saved anymore, and He asked the Lord what the problem was. And the Lord revealed to him that he had lost the EXCITEMENT of the gospel. He cried unto the Lord, and asked God to make the gospel fresh unto him and give him his tears back. God of course, heard his prayers, and gave him his tears back, and people began to get saved again.
May the Lord give us our tears back as we hear the gospel of Christ, how that HE CAME, HE DIED, HE WAS BURIED, AND HE ROSE AGAIN, so that we might have a Savior to save us from our sins.
I.HIS STEADINESS
II. HIS SEPARATION.
III. HIS SEARCHING
IV. HIS SHAME
V. HIS SCORING
VI. HIS RESURRECTION
