INTRODUCTION
At the age of 41,Elizabeth Barrett became the wife of Robert Browning, the famous English poet. Her father, a
widower, disowned her.He objected to the marriage
and disowned her simply because he didn’t want
any of his children to leave home and break up the
family! Elizabeth’s biographer wrote that her father
“ruthlessly sought to obliterate every trace of his
daughter.” Elizabeth and Robert Browning moved
to Italy where they lived for five years. Believing
that, with the passing of time, her father’s heart
would soften, Elizabeth wrote hundreds of letters to
him. Almost every week she wrote telling him how
much she loved him and how she longed for a
reconciliation. He never answered one of those
hundreds of letters. Returning to England Elizabeth
sought, through intermediaries, to restore the
relationship. Her father steadfastly refused, deciding
instead, to carry his rancor and unreasonableness to
the grave.
Shortly after his daughter had arrived back in
England seeking to restore the relationship, Mr.
Barrett sent a package to his daughter. It contained
every letter she had written him during the five
years of her absence. The letters were all unopened,
their seals unbroken. What shocked Elizabeth
Browning was the fact that even the special letters
that she had sent in black-edged envelopes and
sealed in black wax, had been left intact. Surely, she
thought, her father would have been concerned,
thinking that the letters indicated that something
was wrong with her or the baby. Yet he had not
even bothered to open these letters.She resigned
herself to the inevitable end, and, in a disconsolate
mood, once again left England. Forsaken by her
father whom she loved was more than she could
bear. Forsaken.“It is one of the most haunting words
of human life and one of the most dreadful of
human experiences.This dreaded word recalls for
many an ocean of tears, heartache, bitter
disappointment, blighted hopes and unbearable
loneliness.”
The horrible pain of abandonment is something our
Savior willing endured for us. He was forsaken by
the fickle crowd who on Palm Sunday shouted,
“HOSANNA, HOSANNA, BLESSED BE THE
LORD.” But a short time later they cried,
“CRUCIFY HIM, CRUCIFY HIM.” He was
forsaken by the religious hierarchy. Stirring up the
people, these religious leaders had Jesus arrested
and condemned. He was forsaken by His disciples.
When He needed them the most they were nowhere
to be found.But all of this was as nothing compared
to what He experienced when, hanging from a cross,
He was forsaken by God.The unbearable pain of
that experience caused Him to cry out saying,
“MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU
FORSAKEN ME?”
“The most gut-wrenching cry of abandonment and
loneliness in history came not from a prisoner or a
widow or a patient. It came from a hill, from a
cross, from a Messiah. ‘MY GOD, MY GOD! He
screamed, ‘WHY DID YOU ABANDON ME?’”
In paying the just penalty of your sin, Christ was
forsaken by God. “Our finite minds will never
penetrate the full significance of these
heart-rendering words that fell from the lips of Jesus
as He died bearing the penalty of our sin. There is a
deep mystery in these words which no human can
fathom.”Nevertheless, they are not without their
meaning.These dying words of our Savior
communicate tremendous truths, truths which we
need to know if we are to live victoriously. His cry
from the cross speaks to us of the terrible penalty of
sin.
PENALTY OF SIN
“It was in the ‘forsaking’ that Jesus was bruised, put
to grief, smitten and afflicted of God for our
iniquities just as the prophet Isaiah prophesied.
During the desolate period when Jesus was bearing
‘the sins of many,’ his sinless soul was brought into
contact with the sins of a lost world and the awful
load crushed him. In some mysterious and
unexplainable way, ‘he was made sin for us.’”
1 Peter 2:24 declares that Christ “HIMSELF BORE
OUR SINS IN HIS BODY….SO THAT WE
MIGHT DIE TO SINS AND LIVE FOR
RIGHTEOUSNESS, BY HIS WOUNDS WE
HAVE BEEN HEALED.” “Sin in all its
hideousness took possession of His human soul and
He underwent the full consciousness of God’s wrath
upon sin. He endured for a season the sense of that
utter removal and banishment from God which is
the supreme penalty and result of sin. If hell is, in
part, eternal separation from God, then Jesus
certainly had a foretaste of such bitterness and
abandonment when He bore your sins and my sins.
As the Lamb of God, Jesus was provided to atone
for and remove sin, to reconcile us to God. Dying,
He presented to God an infinite atonement and now
we have redemption through His blood, even the
forgiveness of sins. Jesus endured forsakenness so
that we might be forgiven.”
His cry, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST
THOU FORSAKEN ME?” was the cry of one who
was at the point of death, the bearer of sin. “The
guilt of our sin had been laid on His head; the curse
of the law had been bound on His heart. He had
taken upon Himself the doom which that entailed,
and it meant that He was exposed to the wrath and
judgment of God so we wouldn’t have to be. It
would recall something of the ritual on the day of
atonement when the sin of Israel was put away in a
symbolic ceremony. A scapegoat was driven out
into the desert, bearing the sins of the people into
unknown wastelands of separation and oblivion.
That element of estrangement was part of the
darkness, part of the penalty of sin. As Christ had to
bear that great burden, it was more than He could
bear. He was stricken by man; smitten by God.
The suffering built up an overwhelming pressure
and at last it broke through all His reserve and
self-restraint. One stark solitary cry, a cry of trouble
as though His heart would break, was wrung from
his innermost being.” “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY
HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?” The Savior was
forsaken of the Father so we might never be
forsaken. He endured the darkness that we might
have light.
In dying on the cross, “Christ was not spared until
He had endured all that sin must entail, and the last
dread result of sin is to shut man out from the
presence of God.” This proves that God does not
take sin lightly; neither should we! Being absolutely
holy and just, God cannot just overlook our sin.
If He were to do that He would have to betray His
divine nature, something He will not and cannot do.
In being true to His divine nature, God demands that
the penalty of sin be paid.Romans 6:23 declares that
the “WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH.” The just penalty
of our sin is death and separation from God. Our sin
demands that we be forsaken by God. Christ,
however, took my place; He took your place. When
we, by faith, repent of our sin and receive the gift of
salvation, Christ’s death is appropriated to cover our
sin. We are then forgiven rather than forsaken by
God.
SERIOUSNESS OF SIN
Our Savior’s fourth word from the cross is also a
reminder of the seriousness of sin in another costly
way. In spite of the fact that so much that is sinful
has become so acceptable today, sin is serious and
costly in that it brings untold heartache, regret,
misery and even death. Sin ruins lives, wrecks
homes and destroys the very fabric of society.
We must not, therefore, view sin from the world’s
benign perspective.Society presents sin as harmless;
no big deal.This is certainly the way the new
morality is presented.Nevertheless a popular book
by a non-Christian makes it very clear that the
promiscuous life style of today is taking a huge toll.
Author Wendy Shalit writes in her book, A Return
to Modesty, of the incredible toll sinful lifestyles
have taken on an entire generation.It has left untold
millions of folk wounded, empty and disillusioned.
She passionately pleads for a return to the sanity and
sanctity of moral relationships.Why? Because sin
is far too costly; it harms and destroys. One of the
worst prairie fires on record was started
inadvertently by an army officer stationed at Fort
Hayes, Ohio. He and some friends had been hunting
wild turkeys and had paused to rest. While they
were relaxing, the officer carelessly touched a
match to some dry grass. He never dreamed what
dreadful consequences would follow his thoughtless
act! Within minutes the entire area was ablaze and
the men were powerless to stop it. The flames,
fanned and driven by a strong wind, raged furiously
and swept rapidly across the prairie. The fire burned
up everything that stood in its path - thousands of
acres of land, homes, buildings and countless head
of livestock. As you can imagine, the tragic ruin and
loss caused by that single act brought untold grief
and heartache to the one responsible as well as
countless others. Sin quickly gets out of control and
does more damage than you can imagine.
Nevertheless, many today vociferously proclaim
that there should be no standards of right
and wrong. Everything is relative; it is a matter of
personal choice. Sin is, therefore, taken too lightly.
It is viewed as harmless. As someone said, The Ten
Commandments have become the Ten Suggestions.
Many today believe that the real joys and pleasures
of life are not to be found in keeping these
commandments. Hence, stealing, cheating, lying,
adultery, greed, envy and coveting and a host of
other sins have become so acceptable. “It is easy to
mistake the bright lights and laughter for happiness
and fulfillment. It is so easy to make compromises
that purchase a few hours of delight at the cost of a
sleepless night and a pillow wet with tears.” Sin
isn’t harmless. Like a prairie fire it quickly gets out
of control and does more damage than one can
imagine.
RESISTING SIN
We must, therefore, resist sin and we are much
more apt to resist it when we remember the false
promises of sin. Author Wendy Shalit stresses the
fact that those who cast off all moral and ethical
restraint end up paying a steep price. Filled with
heartache and regret they say they would have made
far different choices if they had only known all the
painful consequences. As someone has aptly said,
“Sin will take you farther than you want to go. Sin
will keep you longer than you want to stay. Sin will
cost you more than you want to pay.” Sin does not
deliver what it promises. In reflecting long and hard
on the pain, heartache, guilt , shame and regret that
sin ultimately brings we can be empowered to say
“no” to sin.
Theologian John Piper says, “The power of sin is
the false promise that it will bring more happiness
than holiness will bring. The power of sin is the
power of deceit. Sin has power through promising
us a false future. In temptation sin comes to us and
says, ‘The future with God and His narrow way is
hard and unhappy; but the way I promise is pleasure
and satisfaction.The power of sin is the power of a
lie. Nobody sins out of duty.” he power of sexual
immorality is the promise that it will bring more
happiness than morality. The power of stealing,
cheating or any other sin is the same false promise.
We yield to it because we think it will bring us
happiness and fulfillment. But it doesn’t. It brings
guilt, heartache, shame and regret. We discover first
hand the false promises of sin and the high cost of
sin.
“What breaks the power of sin is faith in the
promise that the pleasures of sin are passing and
poisonous but at God’s right hand are pleasures
forever more.” The Psalmist declares (16:11),
“YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE
PATH OF LIFE; YOU FILL ME WITH JOY IN
YOUR PRESENCE, AT YOUR RIGHT HAND
THEIR ARE PLEASURES FOR EVERMORE.”
“This way of fighting sin with the hope of superior
satisfaction in Christ is called living ‘by faith.’”
Hebrews 11:24-26 says “BY FAITH MOSES
CHOSE TO ENDURE ILL-TREATMENT WITH
THE PEOPLE OF GOD, RATHER THAN TO
ENJOY THE PASSING PLEASURES OF
SIN….FOR HE WAS LOOKING TO HIS
REWARD.”Moses lived by future grace and it
enabled him to resist sin.He knew that God’s ways
are, in the long run, best. In order to resist sin we,
too, like Moses, must pursue God’s ways knowing
that ultimately they lead to joy, peace and
fulfillment. Remembering that the pleasure of sin is
passing and costly can help us to resist sin.
Reflecting upon the fact that God’s ways lead to
peace and joy empowers us to resist sin.Victory
over sin is possible.It comes as we live by faith in
God’s promises rather than in the false promises of
sin.
The tuna were running for the first time in 47 years,
only 30 miles off the Cape. And they were biting!
All you needed to catch one was a sharp hook and
some bait. And the rewards for doing so were
substantial. Rumor had it that the Japanese buyers
would pay $50,000 for a nice bluefin! That is why
many would-be fishermen ignored Coast Guard
warnings and headed out to sea in small boats.
But what these new fishermen didn’t realize was the
problem is not catching a tuna, the problem comes
after they’re caught. One September morning the
Christi Ann, a 19 foot boat, capsized while doing
battle with a tuna. That same day the 27 foot Basic
Instinct suffered the same fate, while Official
Business, a 28 footer, was swamped after it hooked
onto a 600 pound tuna. These fishermen
underestimated the power of the fish they were
trying to catch. That is what temptation does to us.
Sin looks manageable on the surface. Only after we
hook into it do we discover its strength….and
realize the terrible damage it does. Christ’s fourth
word from the cross reminds us that sin is very
costly. The price we pay for succumbing to its false
promises is far too high.
CONCLUSION
On that first Palm Sunday of so long ago, Scripture
tells us that as Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem,
He wept over it. In spite of its splendor and
magnificence, something was terribly wrong. All
was not well with the people of Jerusalem. He cried
out saying to them, “IF YOU…. HAD ONLY
KNOWN ….WHAT WOULD BRING YOU
PEACE…” If you only knew the things that are for
your well-being. If you only knew the things that
lead to a happy, fulfilling, satisfying life. Jesus
knew the true state of things in the city. He saw
empty, impoverished, unsatisfied and unfulfilled
lives. His heart was broken because it could have
been different. His response to the cities and people
of our day is no different. Dr. Karl Menninger asks,
“Whatever became of sin?” Society doesn’t even
like to use the word sin anymore. With all too many
people, wrong has become right. As a result life
today is so messed up for so many. It cannot be
otherwise because sin is serious, it has terrible
consequences. To the people of our cities Jesus
repeats those words from that Palm Sunday of so
long ago: “If you only knew the things that would
bring you peace.” If you only knew the things that
are for your well-being.” “If you only knew the
ways that lead to a happy, fulfilling and satisfying
life.” What are these things? God’s ways. His
standards. Holiness. Righteousness. May God help
us to live our lives in the light of God’s ways. May
He keep us from being duped by the false promises
of sin.
