Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 22. Psalm 22. Well, this is a day with jubilation all around us, isn't it? So many people went to such labors to make the fellowship hall beautiful, to watch them trim flowers and lay tablecloths and all the other labors. And then all the folks who brought special food, make it a special day, special presentations, great hymns. Major theme of the resurrection is jubilation. Christians so jubilant, the news of the resurrection. Why? How well could we articulate The message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why the joy? I'd like to give a number of swift answers to that and then we'll see it expressed in Psalm 22. Why the joy? First answer that comes to me is the resurrection provides overwhelming confirmation. Overwhelming confirmation. Now there are many confirmations through the life of Christ that He was indeed the Messiah. There was His miraculous birth. There were the signs and wonders and mighty deeds throughout His public ministry. There was the wisdom. Nobody ever spake like this man. There was the fulfillment of prophecies. Then there was the baptism, where you have the voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. You have a prophet in John the Baptist saying, behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away this. There are all sorts of indicators and confirmations that Jesus Christ is the Messiah prophesied through the centuries, and he has now come. Of all the indicators, When Jesus himself was asked, what sign do you give that you are indeed the Messiah to come? His answer was, destroy this body and in three days I will raise it up. The sign he points to is the resurrection. And so with God the Father, you see in Psalm 16, verse 10, we read the words, neither shall I suffer thy holy one to see corruption. The Holy One's body, once it dies, would not corrupt because it would not stay in the grave. Why do we regale in the resurrection? First of all, because it is overwhelming confirmation that Christ is Jesus Christ. The second message of the resurrection is infinite virtue. Christ was raised from the dead. It indicates his virtue is infinite. A good man could die for a bad one. And this is why he came to die as a substitute in our place. One for one, that's a fair exchange. Maybe one could argue, if it's a really, really good man and really, really bad people, could be that one good man is worth 100 bad people or 1,000 bad people. But with the Lord Jesus Christ, He died for the sins, the Bible tells us, of the world. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He satisfied all the demands of the law on humanity, and still His virtue was not exhausted. Death could not keep its prey. The various attributes of God are infinite. His wisdom is infinite. His power is infinite. His love is infinite. So Christ's virtue is infinite. He could die for all sins in the world and yet His virtue is not exhausted. Overwhelming confirmation, infinite virtue. Thirdly, total forgiveness. We rejoice in the resurrection because it communicates to you and me there's a means by which we can be totally forgiven. All sins committed, all sins, all good acts not done, sins of omission, everything in all of our history, it's all taken care of. The resurrection confirms this. Otherwise, our substitute would have had to remain dead. Christ would not have raised a fake. And so the fact that He died for our sins and rose again confirms to us, here is an opportunity for any sinful soul to have total forgiveness. The Bible says, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who through Jesus Christ has removed that entire system." And now we come to God totally through grace and imputation, the righteousness of Christ to us. Fourth message of the resurrection is unlimited access. God says our iniquities and sins He will remember no more. Hebrews 10 verse 17. That scripture goes on to say, therefore you can come boldly into the very presence of God. The veil's been removed. You have unlimited access to God for He sees you with the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ. We can draw near to God. Unlimited access. The fifth reason that we rejoice in the resurrection is there's a pattern that's been set. Because Jesus Christ lives, we too shall live. He is the author and finisher of our salvation. He is the pioneer who goes before. He's the first fruits of them that slept. But all here who are believers in Christ and have been born again, we die. We shall rise up in the resurrection like unto Christ's. It's the most remarkable thing. If we have been planted together, the Bible says in Romans 6, in the likeness of His death, joined together with Him, been buried with Him, we shall also, in the likeness of His resurrection, this mortal will put on immortality, this corruption shall put on incorruptible, and we shall be changed. This is confirmed by the resurrection of Christ. A pattern has been set. And though there are many, many other benefits, I'll give you just one more by way of introduction here, and that is eternal glory. We rejoice in the resurrection of Christ because it confirms that He shall receive eternal glory. He will be praised on high. Forever our Lord will be worshipped for His work of redemption. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. Thus shall we say forever. Let me repeat those. This is by way of introduction. Why are we jubilant? when we review for ourselves and rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because it's an overwhelming confirmation that Christ is who He said He was, because it confirms He has infinite virtue, because it means those who come to Christ have total forgiveness, because it means now the redeemed have unlimited access to God, because a pattern has been set The resurrection of Christ will be seen also in us and because it confirms He will receive glory for eternity. Now that's just a glimpse at the resurrection through the eyes of the redeemed. We get an opportunity today, folks, to look at the resurrection through the eyes of Jesus Christ. We do that in Psalm 22. Today we will see the joy of the author and finisher of our salvation and the very one resurrected. We looked at the first 21 verses of Psalm 22 on Good Friday. Today we're going to start at verse 22 and go to the end of the psalm, verse 31. It's a reminder of a couple of things we learned concerning that first section of Psalm 22. This is one of the most remarkable messianic, that is, prophetic of the coming Messiah scriptures in all the Old Testament. The psalm is very articulate, very specific concerning what Christ goes through on the cross. The first five verses speak of his spiritual trauma. Then verses 6-11 speak of his emotional trauma. Then verses 12-21 speak of his physical trauma. It tells us about the crucifixion of Christ, very dark, very macabre, very painful, very awful, very pitiful, very hideous, the suffering of Christ for our sin. We ended Good Friday on verse 21 because between verse 21 and verse 22, there is a huge break. There is a radical transition. We go from the worst of tempests to the greatest of calms. We go from the most heart-rending travail to the highest tribulation. There's this huge break, I say, between verses 21 and 22. Because verse 21, we come to the end of Christ's earthly life, we come to His death. But we come to verse 22, we come to His resurrection. restoration to life. I wrote my own Bible between those two verses. I wrote in the margin, done. As in Christ's words, it is finished. And so here we have, as we saw him speak first person, what it's like spiritually, emotionally, physically, go through the trauma that he goes through. In verse 22 and on, we get first person singular expression, through David originally granted, but it arises way above David's experience. And it's Christ himself speaking of the joy of the resurrection and of what it means. So let's start with Psalm 22, verse 22. We'll go step-by-step through these verses and observe how it builds up to a great crescendo to the end of the psalm. Verse 22, he says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. So verse 22 is about the declaration, the declaration. I will declare thy name. This is Christ the Son speaking of God the Father. I will declare thy name, His name, specifically the perfections of God that are in the forefront of the resurrection. His love, His wisdom, His power, His love, His wisdom, His power, He will declare the names of God who has accomplished this great thing. He'll do it to the brethren in the midst of the congregation while they praise Him. How's that hymn go? Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf which God did span at Calvary. mercy there was great, grace was free, pardon there was multiplied to me, there my burdened soul found liberty. Verse 22 starts with declaration of the name of God involved in the resurrection. Notice who the audience is. He would say it to his brethren, the Lord's brethren. Who are the Lord's brethren? We are told who they are in Luke chapter 8 and verse 21. There He says, my mother and my brethren are these which do what? Hear the Word of God and do it. That's who He says are His brethren, those who hear the Word of God and do it. So when He says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, I declare it to those who will hear what is said and will act upon it. They'll be the brethren in any age. One more observation before we leave, verse 22. I must give you a note on the word praise. It says, in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. The book of Psalms, the Hebrews called it the book of Israel's praises. It's interesting, there are 150 Psalms. We're up to Psalm 22 now. It's the first time the word praise appears, Psalm 22. The first time it appears, it has to do with the resurrection of Christ, the completion of the redemption through Christ. Where else could you start your praise but there? Another interesting observation, I found this in Henry Morris' comments. He notes that the book of Psalms, the book of Israel's praises, is different from all the other books of the Old Testament in that chapter and verse were assigned to it from the beginning. And he notes that here we are, where does the first reference to praise occur? Psalm 22, verse 22. How many letters are there in the Hebrew alphabet? Twenty-two. And some read in this from A to Z, so to speak, from the beginning to the end of our capability of expressing language. At the foundation of it all is praise to God who has supplied a Redeemer. The declaration in Psalm 22, verse 22. Verse 23, we have the invitation. See, in verse 22, it is Christ declaring the name of God the Father. In verse 23, He invites others to join with Him. Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him and fear Him, all ye the seed of Israel. See, there's an invitation, starts with Christ. He's the author and he's the pioneer. He's a trailblazer, but many follow in his trail. I will praise him for all the attributes of God which come to the forefront. What love, what grace, what power, what wisdom involved by which sinful man could be reconciled to a holy God. This is the most remarkable wisdom, power, love expressed in all time. I will praise Him for that. Now, verse 23, you all join me. Ye that fear the Lord, you praise Him. To the fearful, those who have reverence for who He is. And He's speaking to the faithful. I say there's an ever-expanding congregation in this psalm. It starts with the brethren, verse 22. Now in verse 23, it goes on to a larger crowd, the fearful and the seed of Jacob. The message here is everyone, all humanity that has been saved by grace should be eager in the blessed work of magnifying the God of our salvation. Takes us to verse 24. 22 is a declaration, 23 the invitation. Verse 24 is the explanation. Why should we praise Him? He explains why. For He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. Neither hath he hid his face from him, for when he cried unto him, he heard. What a switch this is from what we read at the beginning of this psalm. What does the Lord say in the first verse? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? What is the issue in the first half of the psalm? It is nearness versus farness. Verse 1, verse 11, verse 19. You're so far, you're so far, you're so far from me. Why don't you hear my cry? I cry in the daytime, I cry at night. You do not hear. It's the separation between God the Son from God the Father. which was never known before through all eternity. They had this bond, this eternal love and deep fellowship. Now there's a separation because Christ became sin. But in verse 24 is the testimony that this is not a breach that continued. It wasn't a matter, although it looked like it, like He was despising me, that He abhorred my affliction, that He hid His face from me. It's a matter of He loved me through it all. The Lord has never stopped loving, and the affliction which I underwent was all purposeful and temporary. See, here's the motivation for praise. Every child of God should seek refreshment for his faith in the testimony of the man of Saul. Anybody here gone through trials? Anybody here gone through troubles? You know what it is to cry out to God and say, where's God? Why isn't He hearing? Jesus, the man of sorrow, says, He loves you through it all. In any and all trial you go through, there's purpose behind it. Never was a man so afflicted as our Savior, in body and soul, from friends and enemies, by heaven and by hell. He was the foremost in the ranks of the afflicted. But all those afflictions were sent in love, and not because his father despised and abhorred him. So you get the flow of thought here. First, he declares what he's going to do, give God the praise. Next verse, he invites, you all who fear the Lord, join with me. Third verse, he gives the explanation of why, because God loves you to the end. And all the affliction you go through, it is for a purpose. What a great purpose this was, redemption of humanity. That takes us to verse 25. Here we have what I call the concentration. Declaration, invitation, explanation, now the concentration. By that I mean all His praise will be vortexed on the Father. We're not going to deal with these peripheral issues and be distracted by this and that. He says, My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them that fear Him. So praise, the one theme of our Master's song, is the Lord Himself. Singular focus. And he says he will pay his vows, meaning he'll continue with what he was committed to from the beginning. He will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Let me ask, to what have you committed? Can you call back to the day you were saved, when you were baptized, when you confessed before the church? Have you not a calling and have you a commitment? And does your praise of God incline you to declare afresh, I will pay my vows before them that fear me. And note now we've gone to the great congregation. We go from the Christ, one person, to those who fear the Lord, to the seed of Jacob, now to a great congregation. Would you please turn to Revelation 7 and verse 9 and 10. massive multitude. It keeps expanding with all the vortex of praises to one person, to God the Father. Revelation 5.9, the Bible says, Jesus redeemed people by His blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. We grieve today as we hear about the bombing of these churches in Sri Lanka. They say 200 or so people may be killed, many others hurt and mangled. All who are redeemed in Sri Lanka, they're our brothers and sisters in the Lord. So people all around the world, whatever their ethnic background, wherever part of the world they live, and all through the ages. See, Christ has redeemed people by his blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And so we read in glory, John beholds this in glory, Revelation 7, starting in verse 9. I beheld and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne. and unto the Lamb. Concentration. Verse 26, we have the inspiration. The inspiration to join this praise. The work there for the meek. We read, The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him. Your heart shall live forever. The meek are those who have been pummeled. Those who have gone through great affliction and suffering and crushing and blows and have been humbled by it. Like in following the Lord Jesus, they are inspired to go as He. And they shall dine upon Christ. They shall eat heavenly manna and be satisfied. Oh yes, you go through trial, and you go through trial, and you go through trial. It may get worse before we go to glory. But understand this. Fight your way through it in faith inspired by the man of sorrows. Be inspired by Him. And you will seek and you will find. And you will be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him. He can be found, and often seen amidst the trial. That's what compels us to seek him with all our heart, and we will find our hearts shall live forever. That takes us to verse 27, and I call this verse the saturation. Again, there's an ever-expanding congregation here from Christ to brethren, to those who fear the Lord, to the seed of Jacob, to the great congregation. Now, verse 27, to the ends of the world. To the ends of the world, all the ends of the world shall remember, operative verb in this verse, shall remember and turn unto the Lord. And all the kindreds of the nation shall worship before thee. saturation, the saturation of the planet. As the waters cover the sea, so the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Even those people who have forgotten God, they shall remember, they shall remember their obligation, they will remember their guilt and their accountability before God and they will return. All the ends of the world will bow their knee to worship the things in heaven, the things on earth, the things under the earth. And every mouth shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. The verb is remember. Have you forgotten God? You know what it's like to go a day or a week or a stretch of life or a certain area of life where you leave God out and kind of forget His involvement here and His centrality there? The key verb is remember. The Bible has much to say about remembrance. This verse is saying there is a remembrance to come. We read in Romans chapter 1 and verse 21, Because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imagination, and their foolish heart was darkened. Man forgets God. Job 8.13 So are the paths of all that forget God. Their hope shall perish. Psalm 917, The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. Psalm 50 and verse 22, Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Friends, God is forgotten in much of our educational system today. God is forgotten in much of our politics and in our government today. God is forgotten in our arts. God is forgotten in our entertainment world. God is forgotten in a lot of our churches. The true God, God can be forgotten in our personal morals. And so the wisest man who ever lived, he includes, concludes his book, Ecclesiastes chapter 12, remember thy creator in the days of thy youth. Well, all the ends of the earth shall remember who God is and who they are not. All the ends of the earth, the saturation, where all will come to see and know. That takes us to verse 28. I call this verse the domination. Verse 28 of Psalm 22. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and He is the governor among the nations. What is claimed here is that the Lord has authority over all the earth. The kingdom is the Lord's, and it shall be carried out. I have two verses I want us to turn to. The first is Daniel chapter 7, verse 13 and 14. Christ declares the name of God. He calls for others to join in Him in this. He gives the reason why it should occur. Then you get this ever-expanding congregation of those who see and who remember and who bow the knee and proclaim that He is Lord. And with Lord comes complete authority over us. Domination. The kingdom is the Lord's. We're reminded in Daniel chapter 7, starting in verse 13. And I saw in the night visions And behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed. Would you please turn to 1 Corinthians in chapter 15? We see this dominion handed over to Christ is based on His resurrection, which we're enjoying today. And so we have a New Testament echo of what we read in Daniel. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 24 is where we begin. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father. when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet, but when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." The domination. This is what resurrection is leading up to. Now verse 29. The title of this verse, the non-discrimination. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship. All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him. Now, the fat, that's a reference to the prosperous. They eat well. And the poor and the, those who eat dust, that's the poor and oppressed. See, all humanity, in all countries, in all time periods, and now in all classes, You go from the prosperous to the poor and oppressed. God is no discriminator, no respecter of persons. Not only all corners of the world, but all categories of people are included. Everyone will bow the knee, every tongue shall confess. Which leads us to verses 30 and 31, and then we're done. This last two verses I titled The Continuation. All that has been described up to this point we see is going to carry on through the ages. We read in verse 30, "...a seed shall serve him." Next generation. "...it shall be a covenant to the Lord for a generation." They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this. See, friends, we are just in a line, a long line, goes all the way back. We'll start at the resurrection of Christ and on to the first century, the rest of that century, second, third, fourth, fifth. One generation to the next of the faithful, the word gets passed on, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st century. here today, an unbroken chain there has been of people who have believed that Christ died for our sins and God has raised Him from the dead. So we have a continuation. Generations shall proceed from this wonderful accomplishment on the cross, one generation passing on the blessing to the next, a fulfillment of what we read in Isaiah 53 and verse 10. Isaiah 53 and verse 10 we read, It pleased the Lord to bruise him, his own son. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. This is part of the encouragement. Christ is on the cross. Christ dies. Christ rises from the dead. And he sees the generations that will follow. There will be those, maybe a great minority, maybe this generation, those that generation, large number now, small number then, but there will be this succession of generations of belief. On to the present day, we are part of a long lineage, folks, of over 20 centuries and on beyond that. He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days through his generations. And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul. That travail, there's a reference to childbirth. Oh, it's a painful thing, but then you see the generation that comes after you, and you rejoice, and it's all worth it. He shall see down the line. He'll see you, folks, if you're redeemed. Pardon that succession of those who believe and have confessed. and have implemented the great glorious truths of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Did He see you? Does He see you? Are you proclaiming His glory? May we pray. Our Father, we see some of the glorious truths of the resurrection from our point of view. Now we see the joy of what excites, energizes, and is the first expression of Christ from His point of view of the resurrection, glory of the Father, redemption of many in humanity, domination of the earth, restoration of all things. Oh, that we would be faithful to this gospel truth. May we be faithful to proclaim it. Let no soul hears this message today leave not having confessed Christ as Savior. And we pray that Thy Holy Spirit will lift us up to a level of praise and enthusiasm, happiness in the Lord, comprehension of the purpose and accomplishment of the resurrection of Christ as never before. May we know the brotherhood and sisterhood that we have here, a family of believers. And if there are souls who don't know Christ, may they know Him today. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. This we ask in the name of Jesus our Savior. Amen.