The Forth Words
Sermon Series: The Last Words Spoken From the Cross
Part 4
“Why have You forsaken Me?”
Date: April 6, 2003 AM Service
Place: Allendale Baptist
Text: Matthew 27: 45-46
Introduction
We have seen during our study of these last 7 words spoken from the cross of Christ the compassion, the love and care Jesus had for those around Him.
In His first words, He cried out for the forgiveness that is so desperately needed by a sinful world. “Father, forgive them.”
In His second words He spoke words of assurance to a repentant thief. A promise for all those who cry out from the sinner’s cross to the Savior. “remember me”
In the third words He had given His mother into the care of His beloved disciple John. These words showed the great care Jesus has for all that trust Him as Lord and Savior.
These next words spoken by the suffering Savior from the pain and agony of the Cross, is not a prayer for others but a cry on His own behalf.
This may have been confusing to those that had placed their faith and trust in Jesus, as they heard the Son of God shouts these words to His Father in heaven.
To those who hurled the insults and denied Him as the Messiah, these words may have seemed to them as confirmation of who they said He was.
But this morning let’s look at as some have said this to be the darkest day of history.
As Jesus made atonement for all the sins of the world that day let’s first see…
I. How His Death Was Signified
Read verse 45.
A. In Matthew 2:2 we read of a magnificent light that announced the birth of the Savior.
B. Jesus said in John 8:12; “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
1. As Christians you and I are called out of the darkness into light.
2. 1 Peter 2: 9 tells us; “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
C. It is very proper that an extraordinary darkness should notify the world of the death of Christ.
D. This darkness shows us…
1. Christ’s conflict with the powers of darkness at the cross.
a. Someone has said; “The devil and the rulers of the darkness of this world, were to be defeated this day, and to make His victory more illustrious, Jesus fights them on their own ground; He gives them the advantage, but yet comes more the conqueror.”
This also shows us…
2. The darkness of the sin that He bore.
a. The Bible tells us that Jesus knew no sin.
b. Hebrews 4:15 tells us; “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
c. 1 Peter 2:21-22; “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.”
d. 1 John 3:5 tells us; “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.”
e. It was not the sins of Jesus that He died for that day; it was the sins of you and me.
3. The darkness also signifies the displeasure of the Father; not toward the Son but of the sin.
a. We need to understand today, dear friend that God cannot nor will not tolerate sin.
b. In my own small simplistic mind I see this as the face of God turning away, not being able to look upon the sin that Jesus was dieing for.
c. As a father myself I can understand not being able to look upon the sins of my children.
d. Even with the love I have for my two children, I could not tolerate the sin in their life.
e. But nothing they could ever do would ever make me to stop loving them.
f. The one thing I cannot understand is how God could love me so much He would allow His only Son to die for me.
4. The darkness is also a symbol of the judgment that Jesus endured when He was made a curse for us.
For some 3 hours in the darkness, we do not hear Jesus speak a word. But about the time it began to clear up, He spoke the forth words from the cross…
Next let’s see…
II. The Bitter Cry From the Cross.
Verse 46 “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
A. Where these words came from.
1. From Psalm 22:1, a prophetic Messianic psalm, written by King David foretelling the suffering of Jesus.
2. Psalm 22 speaks of Christ’s suffering, His humiliation and His exaltation.
3. I believe these words Jesus spoke from Scripture to tell us of the importance the Word of God is to us during times of suffering.
4. He used these words to show us to use the Word of God to guide us in prayer.
Next notice…
B. How He spoke these words.
1. “with a loud voice”
2. Joel 3:15-16 says; “The sun and the moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their brightness. The Lord also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem.”
3. These words from the Savior teach us at times of suffering, in times of pain we can cry out; shout with a loud voice to a God who may sometimes be far away but in truth is always near and is an ever present help in times of trouble.
4. Many times the psalmist David talks of crying out in prayer.
5. Psalm 55:17 says; “As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud.”
Now see…
C. What He Said
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me.”
1. This sounds a strange complaint to come from the mouth of the Lord Jesus who as Isaiah says was “God’s elect, in whom His soul delighted.”
2. Jesus in fulfilling the requirement for the atonement of all the world’s sins, in His pain and suffering, experience the separation from man’s sins and God’s holiness.
3. But we need to understand that God was never far from His Son.
Close
In the midst of this cry Jesus being fully God, we see His total reliance upon God the Father.
When he cried out “My God”, He in His pain, agony, suffering and even separation because of the sins poured upon Him, claimed God as His own.
This teaches us that as long as we claim God as our own, we cannot be utterly desperate.
Jesus spoke these words or some might say prayed this prayer in faith. Knowing God had the answer to this prayer. The God in whom He trusted would not let Him down.
Having prayed this prayer Jesus received an answer that enabled Him to see the remainder of this cruel crucifixion through with a quiet heart and a serene mind. Having prayed this prayer, He was able to reach the end, not with a wail of despair but with a shout of victory.
As I have studied and preached each of these last words spoken from the cross, I have seen the Lords help in each one.
* Several years ago I heard a wonderful illustration. A Sunday school teacher gave his thoughts of as God poured the weight of the sins of the entire world upon His Son that day, he went through eternity past present and future and as God reached for the last box of sins and placed on Jesus this Sunday school teacher thought of it as being his own sins.
Invitation
