Jeremy, would you open us a prayer? Sure. Our great God, we praise you for your Lord's Day, a day of rest, a day of worship. Lord God, it is good for us to come before you and worship on the Lord's Day. We pray that it would ease our hearts to just settle our minds on Christ and His finished work. We pray also for our Sunday school that as we study your Psalms that we would see Christ in it, that we would see you magnified in the Psalms. In Christ's name, Amen. Also welcome Sarah's mom and dad. Some years ago, Mel Gibson put out a movie called The Passion of Christ. I think maybe especially in reform circles or conservative churches, a lot of debate on whether they should go see this thing. And it was a graphic depiction of the trial, or the arrest of the trial, the brutal beatings, the crucifixion itself. And I never went to see it. One of the reasons that people were in Presbyterian or Reformed Churches were reluctant to go was a violation of the Second Commandment, making images of the Lord, and many people would include Jesus in that. The one that stuck with me most was, you can depict the crucifixion, you can't depict the atonement. That's a good reason not to fill up my head with the other stuff. Not that his crucifixion is something to be ignored or denied in its reality, but certainly some perspective on how we view these things. The reason I give you that sort of introduction is to say that we'll be going into Psalm 22 today. It's a one-minute psalm. And early on, we taught a great deal. There was just a whole series of lament psalms, starting with Psalm 3 and working up to almost to where we are now. And then it kind of changed paths in Book 1 of the Psalter. Just to spend a moment reminding us A psalm of lament is one that is directly addressed to God. It's something of an invocation. It often has an initial plea, a complaint. This is happening to me, Lord. Help me, Lord. There are affirmations of trust throughout the course of the lament psalm. another petition in terms of help me. Specifically, what does the writer want God to do for him? It might be something as simple as deliver me from my enemies, but it kind of narrows down the petition. There's some anthropomorphisms in there. Things like rise up, or remember, or save me, or deliver me. And then often enough, an acknowledgment or a response for God's delivery. They're not always all there, but all these Psalms, which are very, very personal, often show these things. And we'll see a number of those today in Psalm 22. If you turn there, I'm not going to study the entire Psalm 22 today. It has 31 verses. And the division of the psalm is significant enough to just try to do the first part. So that's what I'll read. Psalm 22, for the choir director, Upon Eizaleth, Hashashar, a psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest. Yet you are holy, O you who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted. They trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried out, and were delivered. In you they trusted. and we're not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me sneer at me. They separate with the lip. They wag the head, saying, commit yourself to the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, because he delights in it. Yet you are he who brought me forth from the womb. You made me trust when upon my mother's breast. Upon you I was cast from birth. You have been my God from my mother's womb. Be not far from me, for trouble is near. For there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws, and you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me. A band of evildoers has encompassed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look. They stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing, they cast lots. But you, O Lord, be not far off. O you, my help, hasten to my assistance. Deliver my soul from the sword, my only life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth. From the horns of the wild oxen, you answer me. I want more emphasis on that last statement. But from the horns of the wild oxen, you answer me. And that is where I stop today. Out of the number of lament psalms, I ran across a statement that four are specifically identified as suffering psalms or passion psalms, passion being those things that there's physical pain going on there. And they're also connected to Christ and his ministry. I'll tell you the four, the 16, 22 of course, 40, and 69. I really don't have much in the way of comment as far as Psalm 16 and Psalm 40, they're mostly just individual, maybe a short passage of a verse or two, that are applicable to Christ himself. Psalm 16, well, I will tell you, Psalm 16, for instance, you won't allow your anointed one to see corruption. Peter quoted that in Acts, referring to Christ's resurrection. Psalm 69, however, is a much longer psalm. It is much more detailed in its lament and its passion. It, in particular, is quoted five times in the New Testament. Verse 4 is quoted in John 15. Verse 9 is quoted in John, again, in chapter 2, and in Romans. and so on. And what's interesting about that is not the frequency or the number of times, but that the quotes are applied to four different aspects of Christ's person in his work. It included Jesus cleansing the temple. It did refer to Jesus' crucifixion. the judgment of Judas. It wasn't his betrayal, but it was his judgment. And then also, Paul applied it in Romans to the hardening of the heart of Israel as God's people. In terms of Psalm 22, we're going to see and try to look closer at his suffering despite his innocence, That I suppose would be a physical depiction of Christ's passion. But we'll also see again what we read. the passion of his abandonment and near despair and questioning, why is he here? I doubt seriously. In fact, I don't think he doubted why he was there. But through that trial, he would wonder, this is going on. Is there any other way? So in verses 1 and 2, we see him forsaken of God. And the expression of agony and disorientation that are there in verses 1 and 2. The passionate cry of, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And he repeats, my God, oh my God, again, I cry by day but you do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest. Every moment of every day, from sunup to sundown, from sundown to sunup, he's abandoned, he's alone, he doesn't get the answers that he needs. And this deep emotional pain, God's removed. And apart from the prayer of David and then ultimately Jesus, and often enough, us. What we're going to be looking at, one thing to keep in mind, is what we'll call the punitive separation of The anointed one, the very anointed one, David himself and again Jesus, and punitively separated from God and being made a curse. In Jesus' instance, of course, the curse was made for us, if you refer to Galatians chapter 3, it was made a curse for us and for our salvation. Christ was innocent. He had kept the law. He had perfectly pleased God, his father. And it was publicly stated, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He was holy. And he had never been out of fellowship with his father. We don't understand that. We have fellowship with God. But it's incomplete. It's broken. It's marred by our own sin natures. And yet Jesus never had that. And for me, that intensifies the expressions that we're hearing here. But he willingly stepped into the place of sinners for our punishment. A contrast to keep in mind, as I mentioned in my introductory remarks, the psalm itself is more than just a depiction of his crucifixion. There is a depiction when you read the sense of abandonment of the atonement and what Jesus actually did on our behalf. By way of introduction to verse 3 through 5, we'll see kind of a wave pattern. Verses 1 and 2 were expression of despair. Verses 3 through 5 are expressions of hope. So he goes from being really low to a little higher on top of the wave. And the next portion, starting with verse 6 and following, we're back into these cries again. And then there's another section where he's expressing faith, he's reaching out. So in verse 3, well, I'll read the last portion of verse 2. And by night, but I have no rest. Yet you are holy. And you who are enthroned upon the praises of God. I'm sorry, the praises of Israel. In you, your fathers trusted. They trusted you and you delivered them. To you, they cried out and were delivered. In you, they trusted and were not disappointed. David's identification with covenant people and the covenant-keeping God of Israel is here. Their appeal wasn't in vain. At least up to this point in Israel's history, their appeals had not been in vain. They would plead that even in the book of Judges, if the problems were of their own making, they would cry out. And God would remember the covenant. He would show grace and mercy to them. the deliverance of the exodus from Egypt. Again, their appeal was not in vain. David's recalling in the beginning, you're the holy one. You are holy and the holy one of Israel. And that's the basis of his deliverance and response to the people of Israel. Not that they're crying out, not that they deserved anything, but his holiness caused him to act mercifully. I thought it was, if it wasn't Psalm 22, I would say that the first verse in that portion is almost winsome. It says, you are holy, O you who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel. We don't hold up God. We don't support Him. But it's just kind of a nice statement, and that's an understatement to say that, but to consider He's enthroned on our praises. In verses 6-8, we go back down into the valley. In contrast to the people of Israel, In you they trusted and were not disappointed. A sharp contrast with the word but. But I am a worm and not a man. A reproach of men despised by the people. All who see me sneer at me. They separate with the lip. They wag the head saying, commit yourself to the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue because he delights in him. He's talking about his current condition. He's not saying he's not a man, per se. He's despised of the crowd that's hanging around him. I did a last minute edit last night, and I think I lost some of the old stuff up there. But basically, you can almost picture, as if we were reading directly from the Gospels, the accounts of the crucifixion, with the mob that, well, the mob of the temple officials arresting him, and then the mob of the soldiers, and then taking him out to Pilate, taking him out before the crowd. And they're all just yelling and sneering and hating. And then when he was actually being crucified, the crowd spoke almost exactly verbatim what the You know, what this portion of the psalm reads, it says, they separate to live, which is a matter of sneering. They say, commit yourself to the Lord. Let Him deliver him. Let Him rescue him. Let Him, being God, rescue him, being Jesus or David, because He delighted him. At Jesus' baptism, the sky parted, and the audible voice was heard, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I delight. And it seems like the nation at the time was aware of that. Now in their hatred and their despising of Jesus, they're going to throw it back at him. In verse 9, we go back up on the wave, where David has written in verse 3, In terms of identification with covenant promises, with God, with the nation Israel, and deliverances of the past, this is much more personal. Yet you, even though I'm despised and people are wagging their fingers at me, it says, yet you are he who brought me forth from the womb. You made me trust when upon my mother's breast and upon you I was cast from birth. You have been my God for my mother's womb. I struggle with both of these, the top wave appeals. I even disagree with John Calvin, reading the portion of his comment, which In front of witnesses, I just said that. It seemed like Calvin and some of the others were just, I mean, they missed the point of the psalm, I thought. Or at least the portion that I read. They were talking about the miracle and the wonder of childbirth. And that's not to take anything away from the miracle and wonder of childbirth. But we're talking about David's passion. We're talking about a prophetic psalm and the crucifixion and the lowest ebb of Jesus' life, earthly life, and it just didn't seem to fit. And I almost went totally overboard on my response, but mostly I just want to point out to to you. I mean, of course, and I do want to affirm the wonder of life and how it's sustained. We wouldn't have a breath if it wasn't given to us. And yet, Jesus was reaching out. I don't think it was a loss of faith or total, totally hit-the-bottom despair like like to where he would be sinning in his questioning. But I think the passion and the agony that was going on there was so deep that I still want to emphasize that and realize it. What I think he's saying is I wrote a little bit here. It says, there are two ways of looking at these sections. They call attention to God's deliverance of the fathers, also the birth and the sustenance of life in the second portion. It could be viewed as bitter irony. I'm totally lost. I'm forsaken. But they can also be regarded as desperate. desperate grasping, reaching out and saying, I still trust you. I still believe in you. I'm looking for that deliverance that is rightfully, that we can rightfully call for, and not so much claim, but we can at least appeal. So I guess that's where I ended up, and I did have a little bit of help finally. Again, that was part of the reason for the last-minute edit last night, where I was moving a couple of things around. I was ready to come in and say, for instance, each of those sections, verses 3-5, I was going to end them again. My God! To You they cried out and were delivered in verse 5. In You they trusted and were not disappointed. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? In the portion of verse 9, the last one there, upon you I was cast from birth. You have been my God from my mother's womb. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I don't know if that wording says what I'm trying to say to you, how deeply I was thinking about the agony there. But in the end, again, he's trusting. There's still trust there. He returns to a recognition. And this is probably the largest or the longest portion of danger, description of the danger and the pains and the agonies of the first half of this psalm. starting with verse 12. We see his enemies raging like absolute wild animals. Many bulls have surrounded me, strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open their mouth at me, and as a ravening and a roaring lion. His physical descriptions are Again, agonizing, just even to read, especially with our identification, our awareness of the gospel accounts. In verse 14 and following, I'm poured out like water. Sit in your chair and think of yourself flowing out like water. You've got no structure, no bone structure, no physical solidity. All my bones are out of joints. probably a description of being on an upright beam and stretched out like this. And they don't just lay you up there nice and gently and making sure you're comfortable. The idea is to make you as uncomfortable as possible. And the descriptions that I've read in the past I mean, the person is supporting themselves up, but they can't do it, so they fall down, and their joints are actually out of joint. And while you're flowing out of your chair like water, think about your heart melting like wax inside you. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt, absolutely arid. Verse 15 describes an absolutely bone-dry situation. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt. My tongue cleaves to my jaws. You lay me in the dust to death. Dogs have surrounded me. Could be a description of physical dogs. Could be... Sometimes dogs are used to describe non-Jews, Gentiles. But his enemies surround him. Verse 18 reads, they divide my garments among them, for my clothing they cast lots. Literally, specifically fulfilled in Gospels. In, I lost, I'm sorry, verse 16, they pierced my hands and my feet. What's amazing, well, among the number of amazing things is to consider how specifically this psalm was fulfilled in the person of Jesus at his crucifixion. He ends with a last desperate cry for help in verses 18, I'm sorry, 19 through actually only part of 21. This is the third wave, if you will. I think I said there was only two, but there is sort of a third wave of crying out for help. But you, O Lord, be not far off. O you, my help, hasten to my assistance. Deliver my soul from the sword, my only life from the power of the dark. Save me from the lion's mouth. I'm going to save that last phrase, the one after, save me from the lion's mouth. That's my conclusion, or at least the conclusion of looking at the psalm. He's still calling out. Don't be far from me. He's still asking, please come to me. Please help me. He says, please come quickly. He's still asking for deliverance. And again, the mouth of the lion that is roaring and threatening and just ready to tear apart. The plea, that plea for, the last plea for deliverance, ends this first half of the psalm, and it breaks out in assurance. Save me from the lion's mouth, from the horns of the wild oxen you will, from the, I'm sorry, this is not my usual model. Save me from the lion's mouth, From the horns of the wild oxen, you answer me. I think he's reached that point of hope and assurance. And going forward from the end of verse 21, which is the second half of the psalm, we'll see more of that assurance and that awareness of his deliverance in two weeks when I'm back here. John's going to cover it for me next week. I think it's providential, I suppose, that Psalm 22 in our adult study came right on the heels of Matt's sermon last Sunday. And if you recall his illustration near the end, he quoted He quoted Derek Thomas, and I think that's very fitting, even though, again, I think it's providential, it wasn't certainly my plan, but I want to close with that, that very same malediction. It's the total reverse of a benediction, the Aaronic benediction, that God would bless you and keep you. But Jesus became a curse for us. He bore much more pain. than can be depicted by mere physical descriptions, separation that he had never experienced, and he did so on our behalf. Our view of Christ in that, throughout the psalm and other places, is to understand and to remember that Jesus was the God-man, fully man, and fully God, two natures in one person. And we might have a hard time thinking about doubts and cries and the pleas as belonging to God, and yet we don't want to separate the humanity from the deity. And that's a little deeper than I can go into this morning. He bore these on our behalf. This is what He bore on our behalf. The Lord curse you and abandon you. The Lord turn His face from you and remove all His grace and favor from you. The Lord shun you with His presence and take from you all peace. He bore that so that by God's grace we would not. And I'll stop there, and I think we're OK for some discussion. 1026. 1026. Just a few minutes. Any questions? I guess I was thinking, there are times when we know the context of why they would do an assault. if the psalm is perfected in Christ, culminates in the crucifixion of Christ, what was going on in David's life? Psalm 3 is Absalom's chasing him. There's other ones where Saul's chasing him. What is making him so mournful? That's a question for the ages. There are a couple of things that came up as I was reading, and one was, Basically nobody really knows. I mean that's the starting point. We don't know. There were a couple commentaries that talked about We view this as not only typical of Christ, David going through some agony, but again, like you said, fully fulfilled in Christ. But it's also prophetical. In that case, David took on the role of prophet, and he was writing perhaps not so much about himself as he was looking forward. Kind of like Psalm 16, not seeing corruption in the grave, the one portion there. I looked all over the place to see if there was any historical connection. There were some verses that, again referring to at least one commentator that comes to mind, they made a distinction. I think it was even in verse 1, the distinction where It might seem like hair splitting, but he said that, oh my god, my god, why have you forsaken me? We could apply that. It's not that the application isn't there, but he would say, this kind of reflects Jesus more. Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. David would feel that as somewhat more practical. So again, that's not a hard and fast line to where they're dividing up a verse that way, but just from a perspective of looking at it. So some of these may work, but again, the fulfillment is Jesus and his suffering. We all have times when we feel like we're riding the crest, you know, and then get dunked off, and I think David felt that many times, that where can I go but to you, Lord, oh Lord, and the depths of that, what David expressed. Yeah, we see this maybe as a downer, and yet he trusted the Lord in all that, and that's a pattern for us. Christ couldn't understand much, and yet he knew God's plan, and we all express it differently, but we need to have that assurance that he is there for us. That's one of the things I want to make sure I hang on and convey to you guys. We know he had the trust. It's not like he lost it. And even in the face of question, and so like, yeah, I mean, this is written not only to depict and to prophesy the crucifixion, but also, like you said, to be an example unto us, to encourage us when the bottle falls out. We can feel God's presence with us more acutely at the time when we are down and realize He's with us. The Westminster Confession, on its chapter on assurance, and I think also in sanctification, refers to sometimes even God, for His purposes, though they're not always clearly stated to us, but sometimes He withdraws His presence for us. It might be a matter of correction. It might be a matter of helping us grow. But we might even find ourselves in situations where we're crying, my God, why have you forsaken me? John, would you call this a prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this time we have here together, called here by your very presence, and we pray that Your Holy Spirit would be working in our hearts, taking these truths and planting them deep into our hearts and transforming us more and more into the image of your Son and conforming us to that image that we might glorify you in all things as we live out the realities and the truths that are presented here of the great work that was done by our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, as He died on the cross, paying the penalty for our sins, and the perfect righteousness that He lived out in perfect obedience to you, which was transferred to us and imputed to us, that we also might be the righteousness of God in Christ. Again, Lord, we are so thankful Realizing we are totally dependent on what Christ has done for us, for this great salvation. In Jesus' name we pray.