Part two of last week's message, we looked at understanding the imprecatory Psalms last week. with Psalm 109, but there is a more important message, one that I didn't get to get into very much, because we didn't even finish reading the whole of Psalm 109. We looked at how it was important to look at the Implicatory Psalms through its prophetic implications and then also through personal application to see how we're forgiven. But as we open to Psalm 69, I intend to fail. I expect to fail. And after we read some of the portions of Psalm 69, I'll explain to you what I mean by that. We'll read verses 5-12 and also verses 19-28. But I encourage you to read the whole psalm this week. This Psalm 69 is to the Chief Musician upon Shoshanim, Psalm of David, verse 5 begins, O God, thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not hid from thee. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord, God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. Let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. Because for thy sake I have borne reproach, shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me." Verse 10. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. I made sackcloth also my garment, and I became a proverb to them. They that sit in the gate speak against me, and I was the song of the drunkards. And let us drop down to verse 19 and read until verse 28. Thou hast known my reproach and my shame, my dishonor, mine adversaries are all before thee. Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness, and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. Verse 21. They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table become a snare before them, and that which would have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Verse 23, Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not, and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Verse 25, Let their habitation be desolate, and let none dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. Verse 27, add iniquity unto their iniquity and let them not come into thy righteousness. And verse 28, let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his holy word. And let's pray again as I tremble at his word. Gracious Heavenly Father, in the name of your beloved son, we thank you, Lord, for Psalm 69. the blessedness of even an imprecatory psalm, of a curse called down upon the enemies of God. We pray, Father, that we may look at it with the insights that you give us. Lord Jesus, may you speak forth your word, as all scripture is written of you. Lo, in the volume of the book, it is written of you, and we pray that you, by your Holy Spirit, will minister unto each one of us through your word. And pray, Father, that through even the frailty of my flesh, that nothing of my flesh will contaminate your word, that it will go forth and it will accomplish what you had sent it to do. And even put filters on the ears of your beloved hearers here, that even if I should fail and even in my frailty, that still your word goes forth. We love you, Lord, and thank you so much for your word in Jesus' holy name. Amen. I said that I will fail. I mentioned that to Pastor Harold one time. I said, you know, we have a really tough job. If we are proclaiming Christ and Him crucified, if we are preaching the cross, it is somewhat humbling because that means that every time I teach a Bible study, every time I preach the gospel, every time I witness Christ and Him crucified, I will fail. Because of the infinite glories of God through the cross of Jesus Christ, The only one who can sufficiently preach the cross is Jesus Christ himself. God the Father gave us the 66 books to explain it to our frail minds, and we can't even uncover all those truths. We're finite. And that's humbling, but it is a source of rejoicing. And in failure, that's not a problem. Because it doesn't say in the scriptures, Jesus says in that day, he's not going to say, well done thou good and successful servant. He's going to say, well done thou good and faithful servant. And faithfulness has nothing to do with success in the world as far as we're concerned, because Apollo's planted and Paul watered, but God gave the increase. And vice versa, and God still gave the increase, the results are in the hand of the Lord. And thankfully we are part of that result. Sometimes we can look in the mirror of God's word or sometimes we can look at the fellowship one with another and see the reflection of God's word and it is a tremendous joy that those things come forth. These imprecatory psalms sometimes get a difficult name that even over the past 400 years they look at these imprecations, these calling down. You know, when you look up in the dictionary, imprecate, it means to call down, to invoke. And it's come to mean a spoken curse because the imprecatory Psalms of Psalm 35 is one in particular, Psalm 69 and Psalm 109. However, if you go through several of the others, you'll find imprecatory verses like in Psalm 44. Here and there you'll find a verse that calls down, say, a curse, God's wrath, destroy the enemies of God. Even over the past 400 years of Puritan commentators, theologians like John Owen, they look at this and say, well, we're under grace and so that is not a prayer that we can pray. But certainly it is the Word of God and how do we deal with such a thing? Well, I say that we deal with it in the way that it was intended and fall upon the feet of Jesus Christ and say, I will fail when I look at this. I will not live up to it. I will not be able to sufficiently preach the gospel. I will not be able to sufficiently walk in righteousness except it be my walking in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit making that walk, and my body just submits, my soul just submits unto everything that is God's. Every time we come face to face with the hard things of the Word of God, and I'll tell you, every one of them is hard. Anyone who says that it's easy, hasn't looked at it. It is simple, even the simplest person can understand it. But that's what makes it so hard. Because you look at this thing and it says love your enemies and I know that I can't do it. So how does this work? The greatest truth will be tonight concerning understanding an imprecatory psalm. The reason why I understand it as We read Psalm 109 last week where it says, Judas as a betrayer, I was as much a betrayer of Jesus Christ, just like Judas, just like anyone who has betrayed him to the uttermost before I came to Christ. So when that was called upon me there I could say, there but by the grace of God go I. It is by the grace of God that I am even able to have my next breath. Because before God reached down by His sovereign grace and saved this poor miserable sinner so that I could turn from the sin I once loved and turn to the God that I once hated and repent and continue to repent and repent and believe and repent and believe just as Jesus preached in Mark chapter 1. Repent and believe the gospel. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. So we take also this scripture same way, prophetically, through a prophetic implication and our personal application is actually this. And a lot of people stay away from that area as far as personal application these days, but it is doctrinal. It is doctrinal, it is a teaching of this truth, and by this truth is why we understand I'm forgiven. Why we understand that now I'm motivated in order to do like Pastor Jack has been encouraging us over the last few messages and even the last few announcements, as he's practically been preaching at the announcements of the glories of God, that it's not pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We'll find out at the end that it's not what would Jesus do. But what has Jesus done? It's not WWJD, it's WHJD. What has Jesus done? David is a prophet. We looked at that last week. In Acts chapter 2 verse 30 it says, Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. So David as a prophet prophesies here and we can see even from the portions that we read in Psalm 69 that there's some prophetic implications. One of the things I want to share with you since this is really about the cross of Jesus Christ, it says to the chief musician, the inscription is scripture, the inscription of the Psalms is scripture and it says to the chief musician upon Shoshonim and Shoshonim It's a plural, it says Al Shoshonim, in fact, it says Al Shoshonim Ledvi. It's upon the lilies. Shoshonim would be lilies, but many of the Bible scholars of the past would say that also Shoshonim was an implication of a trumpet. because of the shape of the lily, that a trumpet, because it's upon lilies, but you don't play lilies as far as music to accompany a song you're going to sing, what would you play? You'd play a trumpet, and that's what they suggest, and I suggest that that it goes further than that as an inscription it is a direction because it's something that declares remember that the trumpets of Leviticus that were ordered to be made the silver trumpets and every time they sounded the children of Israel knew which direction to go in which camps were supposed to come up first and then in what direction that they were to go in or if they were to retreat it was the sound of war And so here is a sound of war, a sound of declaration. Now looking at the psalm, we have some things in Psalm 69 and verse 8. It says, I have become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. Sometimes that's a Hebrew redundancy. It says that in two different ways to bring impact, and I believe that it does. But it also prophetically, in John chapter 1 and verse 11, it says that he came unto his own, and his own received him not. Meaning that Jesus Christ as a Jew came unto the people of Israel, and they did not believe him or receive him. But it says, and an alien unto my mother's children. What does that mean? That in his life, that in John chapter 7, and I believe it's like verses 3 to 5, it speaks of the time when he was going up to Jerusalem to observe the Feast of Tabernacles and his brothers, his half-brothers, James and Judas and Joseph and Simon, said, hey, anyone who declares himself to be someone, doesn't stick around here, come up with us, show yourself in Jerusalem. because John records that they didn't believe either so there is something there prophetically of Psalm 69 and verse 8 speaking of Jesus again in Psalm 69 and verse 9 it says for the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up and the reproaches of them that are reproached they are fallen upon me John actually again in John chapter 2 when Jesus overturned the money changers at the beginning of his ministry when he was in Jerusalem Right after he turned the water into wine in Cana of Galilee with the first recorded miracle, he goes up to Jerusalem and he turns over the money changers. I have a feeling this is one of the reasons why the Sadducees and Pharisees, all the religious leaders, were so upset with Jesus. He went at least three times a year. Every male Jew must present themselves before the Lord three times a year at Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, which is Pentecost, and also the Feast of Tabernacles. I believe that at least three times a year Jesus turned over the money changers. And in fact, the Passion Week, if you really look closely at Matthew, Mark, and Luke of Jesus coming in, when he turned over the money changers, it's recorded twice because he did it on one day, the day that he came in, and then the next day after he sees the tree that he cursed, he goes in and turns over the money changers again. Jesus did that quite often and John quotes this passage in verse 9 in Psalm 69 verse 9 in John chapter 2 and verse 17 Then where we drop down from looking that at this as being a psalm that speaks of Jesus we look at Psalm 69 in verse 21 It says, here's a very clear one, for most people's memory, they gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Jesus hung upon the cross, recorded in Matthew chapter 27, in verses 34, and also in verse 48. First they tried to give him some, he refused it, and then when he called out, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, they tried to give him some, hey, give him some vinegar. And give him some gall. And he said, wait a minute, don't give it to him. Let's see if Elijah comes. And in John chapter 19 and verses 29 to 30, he took the vinegar at that point. He said, I thirst. They gave it to him on a sponge. He took it, he drank it, and then gave up the ghost and said, it is finished. and that our sins were paid in full. But in that also that marked the beginning of his Nazarite vow because he told his disciples on that Passover night I will not drink, in Matthew chapter 26, he says, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Signifying that he would start his Nazarite vow. And the only one that does that, there's famous Nazarites, and I'm coming off my notes here just to give you a little insight here, but there are famous Nazarites in the Bible, like, you know, Samson and John the Baptist and even Samuel. But Jesus is the only one that fulfilled, completely fulfilled the Nazarite vow and he's fulfilling it now. He's not getting a haircut because he's in heaven. He's not drinking any wine. When he was in his resurrected body he ate fish, he ate a honeycomb, and he ate bread. But he didn't drink wine or eat grapes. And there's nothing dead in heaven so he doesn't have to worry about breaking the Nazarite vow. Why is he fulfilling the Nazarite vow? Because he promised to come again and the Holy Spirit was given that to us as a seal. that he would return. By having the Holy Spirit there is an expectation in every true believing Christian that Jesus Christ is going to keep that promise to return. He'll fulfill his Nazarite vow and the first thing he'll do is he's going to have a completed Passover meal and he is going to provide the wine. As in King of Galilee, he wasn't being disrespectful to his mother. He was saying, you know, woman, what have I to do with thee? Know you not that it is not my time? It's because it is the man, the bridegroom, that provides the wine for the wedding. That was not his wedding. His wedding will take place when we, the church, the believers, are presented unto him and he's going to have a wedding feast and he'll provide the wine. I'll have to catch up again because I went off notes. But in Psalm 69 and verses 22 to 23a, I'll read that. It says, let your table become a snare before them, and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. In verse 23, the first part of it says, let their eyes be darkened that they see not. Paul the apostle quotes that in Romans chapter 11 and verses 9 and 10. Speaking of Israel, rejecting, in chapter 9 of Romans, rejecting Christ and being blinded, partially blinded in Romans 10, but God will return that promise unto them that there will be a revival among the Jews. I believe that Romans 11 speaks of that, that there will be a revival amongst the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not just like half-breeds like me. See, I was only partially partially blinded. That's why I was able to come to the Lord. But those who are what we would call rabbinical Jews, the Pharisees of today, the rabbinical Jews are the Pharisees of today and actually in verse 22 it says, let their table become a snare. What table is that? It's the Passover table. They've applied so many rules to it and even in their man-made rules following the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud, Even in their man-made rules it speaks of Jesus Christ and they completely miss it because everything of the Pasach, the Passover Seder, the Passover meal, everything, everything from Exodus chapter 12 on speaks of Jesus Christ and they miss it at the very table that presents his crucifixion, burial and resurrection. They're blinded for a season because they had rejected Him. And then finally we look at Psalm 69 in verse 5 where we started it. It says, Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not hid from thee. The Psalm speaks of Jesus and we see the declarations in verses 23 all the way to 28 that we had read. It says, Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous. Now, as far as the sum of imprecation, that's about as imprecatory as you can get. Take the enemies of God and block them out of the book of life and keep them out, send them to hell, let them not destroy the good graces of God, your holy presence. Send them away. Now that's a prayer as far as in the Old Testament, that's as imprecatory as it gets. But the reason for that is As we want to take a look as we saw that this was my sin, this was my wrath, the wrath that was rightfully upon me because I was an enemy of God according to Romans chapter 5 and verse 10. That in verse 5 of 69 it says, Oh God thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not hid from thee and there I would ask you to turn to Galatians chapter 3. O God, Thou knowest, as you turn to Galatians 3, I want to read verse 5 again of 69. Just keep on turning to Galatians. It's after 1st and 2nd Corinthians. It's go eat popcorn if you want to remember it that way. Or Gentiles eat pork chops is one way that somebody told me how to remember it. Galatians chapter 3 and we're going to look at verses 10 through 13 it says Oh God in chapter 69 just to remind you again Oh God thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not hid from thee every sin of every person from the moment you were birth to the moment that you die God knows every one of them and even though we are in Christ we still sin today Forgetting a passage of scripture, it says that he that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is said. I think that's in 1 John. We sin in so many ways. In fact, James says that in many ways we sin all. That's the King James Version. that we can understand it is that we all sin in many, many different ways. This is a passage of scripture that was written to believers, and we do, and we fail and forget to recall that we, though we are saved by grace, we are still sinners saved by grace, and we continue to sin because of the flesh. There is a blessedness in that, it's because of that that I get to learn to grow in faith, and we looked at that last week. But we need to continue to be reminded of that, because then the power of God through His written word, when we see in verse 10 of Galatians chapter 3, it says, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Verse 11. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Verse 12. And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. It's almost a passage of scripture that you'll want to take your shoes off, because this is a holy place right here. When we read some passages, in Galatians 3 verse 10 it says, or anyone that is in the law or of the law, they are under the curse of the law. And Paul here was quoting Deuteronomy 27 and verse 26. We're not going to turn there, but Deuteronomy chapter 27 and verse 26 is what Paul was quoting. But a real easy place to understand what Paul is talking about here, what the Holy Spirit really is talking about here, is in Galatians chapter 4 and verses 4 and 5. You don't have to turn all the way to Deuteronomy. You can look it up later because basically the quote is there. Deuteronomy 27 and verse 26, if you're a note taker, you can jot that down and take a look at it later on, but in Galatians 4 and verse 5, Verses four and five it says, but when the fullness of time was come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law To redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons It also it provides the promise there that we're redeemed and we get to be we are called adopted sons and daughters in Christ But the key there is that made of a woman and under the law Jesus Christ came at that particular time at the height of of the second temple period with the law and with people throwing in traditions, the Pharisees and Sadducees throwing in all these traditions as well, Jesus Christ, the righteous King, the anointed Son of God, to be under the law because by Him fulfilling the law, as I mention time and time again and just about every time I teach or preach, that there's only one righteous man who ever lived, there's only one Jew, whoever kept the entire law, there's only one prophet who ever spoke perfectly the word of God, and there's only one son who ever wholly obeyed the Father. And then if you carry that on, there's only one true apostle who was ever truly sent and did all things unto the glory of God. And that was Jesus Christ. So being made under the law, we can apply that, that he was under the law and therefore by taking the curse, this is where we see the imprecatory Psalms, just as the very beginning of it, see how the wrath of God called down upon his enemies as Jesus Christ the righteous, is taking those curses. So when we read the Invocatory Psalms, not only do we realize that we're forgiven those and that should have been mine, but we see where they go, which is more glorious because the righteous son is taking that curse upon himself for us. Now let's move on to verse 11. I know that I'm covering it real quick and we could spend just night after night, just on each one of the verses, or actually even each part of the verse. In verse 11 it says again, but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Now, the just shall live by faith, it's quoted from Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 4, but it's also in the New Testament three times, so that we have... that there's no mistake that this passage of scripture from the Old Testament in Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 4 is right here for us. It's quoted in Romans chapter 1 and verse 17, I believe it is. It's also here in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 11, and then it's also quoted in Hebrews. for the just shall live by faith." In quoting that, we actually look into verse 12, it says, and the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Now, the second part of verse 12 is quoted from Leviticus 18 and verse 5. that the man that doeth them, or doeth that fulfills the commandments of the law, if he desires to do the work of the law of Moses, then he must do it all, is what it's saying there. But we have a clear indication, without turning all the way over to Leviticus, because the quote is there, in verse 21 of chapter 2, it says, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If righteousness came by my fulfilling the deeds of the law, then the death of Christ meant nothing. And we realize that the law goes further than what was even given in stone. It's a very cold, impersonal thing because it was written by the very finger of God on the front and the back, the Ten Commandments, and then even the entire law given from Genesis, what's called the Torah, the Genesis through Deuteronomy. Here it is. These are the things that you must do. But when Jesus came, he said, that it goes further than that. He said in this Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7, 17 minute message, and he said that anyone who looks after a woman to lust after her is guilty of adultery. So it goes beyond just the external works that we're doing. That's why it's not what would Jesus do, a social gospel that I pull myself up by my bootstraps. There must be a change from outside of me to change the inside of me so that now the works that I do are done supernaturally. We are a supernatural people. It is unnatural for us to do the things that we are commanded to do, to love our enemies. to cling to not only the promise that Jesus Christ is with me, but to cling to the promise that we're promised persecution. In Timothy, it says that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. That we are promised tribulation in John, chapter 16, I think, that we are promised tribulation. Not only that, but because the world hates Jesus, we're promised to be hated. And so we need to cling to the whole of the counsel of God, and when we see that, we say, those are impossible things, my Lord. Those are impossible things. Righteousness does not come apart of the law. Galatians 3.13, it says, He redeemed us from the curse. And this is the important part here. Verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Well, Deuteronomy chapter 21 and verse 23 was quoted because it speaks of someone being hung upon a tree, which is very interesting. And in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21 is almost a mirror image of this particular passage because it says that he He became sin for us who knew no sin, that we would be the righteousness of God in Him. That's almost in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21, it's almost saying the exact same thing as verse 13. And as last week we saw the glorious truth of the redemption. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. This curse should have been upon me, yet since I am in Christ, the curse is gone. I do not have the curse anymore, and that is the first part of verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse. But this week, the more glorious and more important truth is this, that the redemption, that Christ being made a curse for us, in the second part of verse 13. Being made a curse for us. See, in Genesis 3, verses 15-19, I'm going to turn there really quickly. If you want to, you can turn there. It gets faster now. I know that you understand what's going on, and I seem to recall a message about two weeks ago, Pastor Harold was talking about doctrinal truths, and sometimes it seems dry to people. And that is our flesh. But here is the rejoice, the joyful thing in this, is that here at the curse, where God confronts Satan, the woman, and Adam, in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, he places He provides the promise in Genesis 3.15, "...and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise your head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Now that's a different Hebrew word. It's a yeshuv. It's shuv in Hebrew. It's a different word than what we'll see in Isaiah 53. But that speaks of Jesus Christ, his heel being bruised, going to the cross. In verse 16 it says, unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Well, there's a curse upon women. I'm sure that any woman that has given birth is probably not pleased with Adam, and I don't blame them. Verse 17. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Verse 18. Thorns also. And thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. The herb would be a person, so it wouldn't be that. The herb of the field. In the sweat of your face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken, for thus thou art, and thus thou shalt return. There we see, even the thorns and thistles, Jesus Christ, the Roman guards, Romans and Thurians, plated a crown of thorns and put it on Jesus' head to represent, even represent outwardly, Him taking upon the curse because the ground was now cursed in thorns and thistles. came from it. And it's even seen in the Akedah, the Jewish, the Hebrew event of Abraham taking his only son. Take now thy son, thy only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest. In Genesis chapter 22. In Genesis 22 and verse 2 is the first place in the Bible where love. Take thou thy son, thy only son, whom thou lovest. It's the Hebrew word Ahav. And it's the first time that love is mentioned when a father takes his son and sacrifices his one and only son. at the command of God. God did that, that was a foreshadow of what would happen and when the types changed and Isaac was no longer the righteous son as a typified way of looking at Christ and as Abraham was God the Father, now it changed as Isaac was a man, as a human being that was full of sin and there was a substitute in the thicket. Its horns were caught in the thorns. in Genesis chapter 22. In Deuteronomy chapter 28, I'm moving through just real cursorily to show you the curses that are in the Bible. In Deuteronomy chapter 28, I don't know if you've just taken time to look at all the curses that that God pronounces upon those that are not keeping His law. It's not something that most people do on a regular basis because it's sometimes really a downer. But you look at this and you say Deuteronomy chapter 28 and verses 58 through 61. Deuteronomy 28 and verses 58 through 61. Very long chapter Deuteronomy 28 is. Blessings and curses are pronounced just before the children of Israel are going into the promised land from on on two mountains Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal But here there's something very interesting said here in verse 20 in verse 58 of Deuteronomy 28 It says if thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law That are written in this book that thou mayest fear the glorious and fearful name the Lord thy God and that's Yahweh Elohecha verse 59 then the Lord will make thy plagues they'll make your plagues wonderful and not that they're pleasant and they're good they'll be full of wonder why is this happening and the plagues of your seed even great plagues of long continuance and sore sickness and of long continuance That sounds almost redundant from the Department of Redundancy Department. That's how serious God is about this. Verse 60. Moreover, he will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt which thou wast afraid of, and they shall cleave unto you. Verse 61. Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law. Them will the Lord bring upon thee until thou be destroyed. Now is that a curse or what? And you say, well, we're under grace. That doesn't apply to us. It does apply to us, and I'm going to show you in just a minute. Turn with me to Psalm chapter 22. I've got to show you this. And I'm way under time, too, folks. I don't have a watch, but I just feel that I'm under time. Psalm 22, I know that you know this, in verse 6. I am a worm and no man, but I am a worm. Psalm 22 and verse 6. The psalm of the cross, about probably 800 years before crucifixion was invented. This was written as a psalm of David. The Persians invented crucifixion. Possibly there are some scholars that believe that the gallows that was made for Mordecai that Haman made for Mordecai in the book of Esther was possibly an X-type stake for a cross to hang him up there and pierce him up onto that tree. So here David writes a psalm almost in first, not almost, but in first person as if he's hanging from a cross. In fact, the first verse of it, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, is what Jesus quoted both in Matthew and Mark. And in verse 6 it says, But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people. Isaiah 53 should automatically come to mind of the suffering servant first, that he was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, a man of suffering in Isaiah 53. It says this, but I am a worm and no man. This is Anokhith Tolat. I am a worm. Tolat. Tolat. It means a worm. And that worm is a very interesting creature in God's kingdom. In the Middle East, all the way from Turkey, in fact they try to harvest them now if you've ever looked onto the site, the website, the Temple Institute. where rabbinical Jews are trying to put things together so that they'll be ready for the Messiah, so that they'll have the third temple and all the implements for that. But one of the things that makes the dye, the crimson dye, is this worm called tolatchnay. In fact, the word for crimson is tolechne in Hebrew, and tola is a worm. In fact, there's a judge who's named worm in the Judges. His name is Tola, which means this worm here, and it's a very, very tiny worm, and it hangs on a tree. and it lays its eggs in a tree, and it makes this crimson that's deep like Paul's shirt over there. In fact, when you break open the eggs as they're dried out, you can see this stuff. They dry it out, and they make this powder, and it makes that crimson that they use for making the curious girdle around the high priest, for the high priest's girdle. But Jesus is a worm, as it were, because he was crushed. Just like this, to make the crimson die, and we know that crimson is as far as the red, and all the things that are made in the tabernacle that were red, or scarlet, or crimson, that every one of those things represents the blood of Jesus Christ. And so here is a worm that is on a tree that is crushed that brings us again to Isaiah 53 and verse 5 that says he was bruised for our iniquities. And for those that went to the Passover kind of or the Last Supper kind of Seder that we had where I got to speak, I told you that that that the Hebrew word for that he was bruised is the Hebrew word dachah which means to crush, to pulverize as if you took two millstones and slammed them together on a grain and turned it to powder just like this worm is turned to powder in fact in Isaiah 53 and verse 10 it says that it pleased the Lord to bruise him it pleased the Lord to crush him it uses that for the word bruise in Isaiah 53 and verse 10 it uses the same Hebrew word dachah to crush So Jesus Christ hanging upon that tree, was he crushed physically? No, he was scarred. In Isaiah 52 verse 14 it says, He was disfigured more than any man, and his image more than the sons of men. He was unrecognizable. But that was the visible representation. I'm going to slow down here. That was the visible representation of the curse of the law, like the the thorns on his head taking that upon his authority that as a man who knew no sin that he was God in human flesh that he took that upon his head and that every scar that was inflicted every tearing of his flesh that was inflicted upon him that did not pay for our sins it was only a physical representation of the curse of sin that Jews and non-Jews took the Son of God, put Him through six trials, hung Him on a tree, and everything on the outside of Him was just torn up, but He wasn't crushed there. He was crushed here. Turn with me, if you're in Psalms, turn with me to Psalm 75 and verse 8. Because in Isaiah 53 it says that He was that it pleased God to crush him. It says in verse 5, I believe, in Isaiah 53, it says, verse 4, he was smitten of God. It was God that did this to his one and only son. He was pouring out his wrath upon him. And in Psalm chapter 75, in verse 8, it says this, verse 8, For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red. It is full of mixture, and he poureth out the same. But the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth, shall wring them out and drink them. All the wicked of the earth are due the dregs of God's wrath because of sin, but Jesus Christ drank it down. I heard one time on the radio, and it just grieved me to hear this, that somebody as a pastor on the radio, would say that when Jesus Christ was praying in the garden, this is the King of kings, this is the Lord of hosts, the Lord of the army hosts of heaven, that was knelt down there and prayed three times, if it be your will let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will but thy will. And they said, well see that's a Hebrew, that's a Jewish idiom for his fate. And they left it at that. God forbid. That was not, and historically it was never taught that way in a commentary by the Puritans, by anyone up until the last 150 years. We started removing the wrath of God poured out upon His one and only Son. What He was praying about, what was in that cup, there was a wrath of God in that cup. And he drank it down when he hung upon Calvary's tree and treated it as anything else. is just blasphemy to say that it was something else. We could not take the communion cup of our Lord had he not drank it down. Remember that James and John came up and in fact they brought mom. Mom, can we sit at the right hand or the left hand of you and your kingdom? Can you drink of the cup that I will drink of? And they said, yes we can. And he said, you surely will. Why was he saying that if it was a cup of wrath? Because he drank it down to the dregs. There was nothing in the cup so that when he ordained his communion cup, the communion cup that we drink is filled with the juice that represents his blood. We can drink it and we can drink it without wrath. That's why Thessalonians says that we are not appointed to wrath, we who are in Christ Jesus. That's the joy of knowing what Jesus Christ went through. When we look at some a scripture like this and understand that God, the Son, took the full wrath of God, that Judas today, Andrew Bonnard, Andrew Bonnard was a pastor in Scotland back in the 19th century and he wrote, did a sermon called The Cup of Wrath and he would say that Judas today is in hell and the wrath he's receiving is not to the dregs. that Balaam is in hell today, but the wrath that he is receiving, and justly so, is not to the dregs. In fact, what I say, the way I present it, is actually the mercy of God is so ever-present even for those who have rejected Christ Jesus and have been sent to hell. that they are only being condemned for their own sins. Jesus Christ took the sins of every person for everyone whom God would save from now to eternity and I'll tell you that heaven is filled more than hell will ever be. Christ is preeminent. Hell will never ever come close to the number of people that are saved, because that's how far the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses. That's how far the punishment and the curse of Jesus Christ went. That is the amazing truth. And when we see that kind of thing in our lives, we jump for joy. We reverence God for what He has done. And Jesus doesn't merely become like, God forbid, my homeboy. or just my pal or my bro Jesus Christ is God and when He came He was God in human flesh and now He is forevermore returned to the glory that He once knew with the Father and we have a reverence now for Him because of what He has done not what would Jesus do but what He has done and therefore because of what He has done I'm motivated to want to worship Him I love because what we looked at last week in Luke chapter 7 that with the woman who washed Jesus's feet with her tears and wiped it with her hair that she was forgiven much she realized in one sense, not the fullness of what we're talking about as far as the wrath that God poured out upon his son on the cross, but she realized that she is in the presence of majesty. Majesty in a sense unclothed because he was a man, but he was still God, though he was a man, letting his glory aside. And so I imagine that that woman who washed her, washed Jesus's feet with her tears and with her hair and poured out that perfume that when Christ was hanging on that cross when he was buried and when he was resurrected and ascended into heaven, there was joy unspeakable because she knew her sins were many. And Simon didn't even have a clue. He says, who is this that forgives sin? See, when you are so filled up with your own self-righteousness and don't understand the depth that God has paid for your soul and the depth of our sin, you're so filled up with your own righteousness like Simon was, that you can't receive the forgiveness of God. You can't even receive the forgiveness of God and there is what's going on. This is the application. It's the fear of the Lord. We saw the joy of the imprecatory songs because I've been forgiven but here is the reverence that is the focal point in the center. This is the thing that drives us. Where does my motivation come from? Why do I shout from the housetops this wonderful news of Jesus Christ? How come I go into some place and even though I act like a silly fool sometimes and I say, you know Jesus? Well, you do. He knows you. Okay, you know, I preach the gospel and sometimes I act like a madman because the motivation comes from the truth. That the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the reverence comes from what I've seen Jesus Christ do. And even though it's doctrinal, even though it's a doctrine, it's a teaching, it seems to be dry. That Christ took the wrath of His Father. That He did that and He hung upon Calvary's tree and that truth should be the most amazing truth in the wide, wide world. There should be nothing else and that's why my desire for Christ is so amazing because I see what He has done. And when I see what He has done and in His righteousness, that reflects upon now as I examine myself according to 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 5 that says, Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves lest you be reprobate. And I see that and I see how sinful I am based up against Christ's majesty. and His righteousness and His holiness, and I say, I am not worthy of the least of your attentions or your affections. I'm only worthy of hell. There but by the grace of God go I. It is only by your grace. And then I have this reverence for the Lord. And then I start becoming wise. And the knowledge of the holy is understanding because when I start seeing the holiness of God in what He has done, that the greatest thing is the cross of Jesus Christ. that every sinner since Adam was sent to hell, I'm paraphrasing one of my favorite quotes from Charles Spurgeon, that if every transgressor was sent to hell, it would still not even come close to the glory and majesty of the cross. The cross of Jesus Christ is that which is amazing. And I wish I could give you John 16 in verses 7 through 11, the way that the Holy Spirit comes. Because Jesus says, I'm not going to be with you anymore. Oh wow, I've gone way over now. I'm not going to be with you. The Holy Spirit comes and He will convict the world, convince the world, reprove the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Of sin. We see the righteous Son of God. of righteousness because he goes to the Father and it needs the Holy Spirit to when I tell you something that is as dry to the unbelieving world and they hear of me talking of the cross of Jesus Christ and the wrath of God, the unbelieving world looks at that and goes, Bah! Ridiculous! A stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. It is nothing. They see that, but it's the work of the Holy Spirit that says that Jesus Christ is righteous and that I am a sinner. And then finally, sin, righteousness, and judgment, that the prince of this world has been judged. The interesting thing about that is that you show us how much more sin that we have. See, Revelation 12 says that Satan stands before the throne of God, accusing the brethren day and night. Now, he can't be everywhere at once, but he's as a prowling lion. So since we wrestle not with flesh and blood, according to Ephesians 6, but against principalities and powers, there's a network that says, oh, Pastor Jack, I'm going to go after the leaders. I'll say, you know, Pastor Jack, you know what? He fell asleep while he was praying last night. That's a sin. And it is a sin. I don't know... Pastor Jack may not have fallen asleep while he was praying last night. Maybe it was last week. So I don't want to get my pastor in trouble. But I have. How many times have I fallen asleep in prayer? It was not a bad thing, an evil thing, but I'll tell you what, it wasn't in faith. It says, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. And when we don't look at the glories of God and the doctrines that He has given us from Genesis to Revelation, and that doesn't motivate us, then that's sin. If I'm not moved by the Spirit moving me, then I'm being moved by the flesh, and that's sin. And so when I see these things, it says in Romans 14, 23, it says, whatever is not a faith is sin. And also in Hebrews 11, 6, it says that without faith it is impossible to please God. Because of the certainty of this truth, Christ and Him crucified. Now I am gripped. I am grabbed. I am apprehended. God has got a hold of me. He's got a hold of you. And when this truth is this most certain reality that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh and He suffered the wrath of God, when that truth is the central reality of your life, then how can you not love Him? Then how can you forsake His forgiveness? And then because of that, there but by the grace of God go I, then how can we not have that extension go out and love others, love our enemies. and reach out for the lost, and love one another, and want to be here with you guys. You know, I want to be here with you even when I'm not teaching, or if I wasn't playing the guitar. That is a supernatural thing. I can't even explain why I want to be with you. I want to be with you because of the supernatural power of God, because the cross of Jesus Christ is the central reality. Because He loves and forgives, I love Him and forgive others. I do because He has done. Again, I will say it. It is not what would Jesus do. What has Jesus done? Because everything that He will do in our space-time continuum, He has done before the foundation of the world. Let us pray. I worked up a sweat a little bit Lord and my voice stayed with me and I praise you for that and I thank you Lord and I pray your word will go forth and I pray Father that it's not just my enthusiasm or my passion that goes out In fact, it doesn't matter. Jonathan Edwards just read simple sermons that were handwritten and the power of God came forth and I pray that your word as the power of God through your spirit will minister unto us with an expectation that Jesus Christ is coming and we pray Lord Jesus that you come. And I thank you for my beloved brethren. I thank you Lord for allowing me to impose upon them with your word. And I pray Father that the things of you, the things of your goodness, of your word will go with them all this week in Jesus' name. Amen.