The Suffering Savior

Thank you, Kayleigh, for reminding us that we so often skim over the depths of truth, found in God's Word about who He is. Certainly, we are just strangers to really who God is in all of His grandeur, His glory, and His holiness. We also skim over the depths of the sacrifice that Christ made for us to make us holy. And I'm convinced that one of the reasons why Jesus left this visible reminder in communion was because God knows our tendency to become so shallow when it comes to remembering what He did for us. And so He knew that we would need a visible reminder. That's why communion today. But we also need the reminder of His Word. As to what Jesus did for us on the cross. There are two ways to view the work on the cross. One is to examine the actual event that took place, which focuses upon the physical suffering of our Lord. The second is to look at the doctrinal significance of His death, the meaning of His death for us, indicating the part that it played in our salvation. Now Christ's death made it possible for us to be redeemed and to be forgiven and to be a part of the family of God. Both perspectives are necessary and important for coming up with a well-rounded view of what Christ's death meant. In the Gospels, for instance, the focus is on the actual event, on the actual physical suffering of our Lord. So that's the focus of the Gospels as they record the actual events of Christ's death. In the Epistles and Paul's letters to the churches and other New Testament Epistles, the focus is more on the meaning of the crucifixion. What it means as far as God's forgiveness of us and our redemption and reconciliation and propitiation and all of those great theological terms that describe the impact of Christ's death on us. This morning, as we focus upon the death of Christ and we partake of these elements which remind us in a very tangible way of what He did, I want our time in the Scriptures this morning to focus upon the actual event of Christ's death, the actual suffering that He went through. But this morning we're not going to look at any of the Gospels. We're going to look instead at an amazing Old Testament prophecy in Psalm 22. So I invite your attention to that wonderful book of Psalms, Israel's Old Himal. Chapter 22 of the Psalms. A song written by David, but a song which includes some events which could not have taken place in David's life. For instance, the song describes an execution. And certainly that was not true of David. It describes suffering in terms that are quite clearly appropriated even by the New Testament to describe the suffering of Christ on the cross. Obviously, David did not experience that. And then the last part of the Psalm describes the worldwide kingdom of this king who has gone through suffering. That certainly did not happen in David's experience either. So even though the Psalm may begin by describing some of the events of David's own suffering and his perspective on the attacks on him, certainly the Holy Spirit intended this song to look far beyond David's time and to provide us a graphic picture of our Lord's suffering on the cross. But it is a unique description in that the gospels present the suffering of Christ as others saw it. Psalm 22 as Christ saw it. And this is a uniqueness of this chapter. It's unlike anything else in the Bible. The gospels present to us. I witnessed testimonies and written, written records of those who witnessed the crucifixion. And so the crucifixion is being viewed from others who saw it. This chapter presents it from the feelings, from the very words, the mind of the one who is suffering. You'll notice throughout the chapter the first person. He is speaking, the one who is suffering is describing what he's going through. There's nothing else like it anywhere in the Bible. And so there is a sense in which as one commentator on the Psalms said, we are standing on Holy Ground here. Now obviously all of scripture is Holy Ground, but this unique perspective allows us to understand from the perspective of the Messiah himself what it means to be suffering on the cross. Jesus himself explaining it, describing it, the agony of the suffering from his own heart, his own mind, his own lips. It is an amazingly graphic first person account of the sufferings of the Savior on the cross. And the chapter describes three different types of suffering that Jesus experienced on the cross. The first of those and the most critical for our salvation is the spiritual suffering of the cross. We see it in the first five verses. Notice the Psalm begins in verses one and two by describing its character, the character of this spiritual suffering. Verse one, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now obviously if you know the Gospels at all, if you've read the accounts of the death of Christ, that sounds very familiar. Those words uttered from the lips of our Lord Himself as He suffered on the cross. And those words where He addresses God not as His Father, but as His God. And He asks this plenty of question, why have you forsaken me? Those words describe for us the actual separation from God that took place on the cross. The word forsaken is a very strong word. It means literally a complete giving up, a complete separation, a complete breach between two people. A gulf between two people. Now please understand this question is not a lapse of faith on the part of the person uttering these words. This is not a lapse of faith in God on the part of our Savior. These words are not an impatient demand for an explanation. Like God, you owe me an explanation as to why you forsaken me. That's not what's happening here. What these words indeed are is an expression of the sense of alienation from God that Jesus felt as He hung on the cross. And all He can do is cry it out in the form of a question. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why is there this alienation? He is describing the rejection of the Father of God for His own Son, the divine wrath being poured upon Jesus to where God turns His back on His Son. There's an actual separation between the two. And the agony of this question is that there is no answer. Heaven is silent in the face of this piercing question. The first one says, why are you so far from saving me? So far from the cries of anguish. The word anguish in some translations translated, groaning, but the word literally means roaring. It's used in the Old Testament of the roaring of a lion. It's an audible expression of pain. It's a crying out of anguish, torture, that kind of pain. Why are you so far from saving me? So far from the cries of my roaring in pain. My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer by night, but I find no rest indicating that both during the times of sunlight, during the time on the cross, and the darkness for three hours, referenced here as day and night, those two experiences on the cross during that whole time, Jesus is crying out. And even if it was not audibly in His heart, from His mind, He is continually crying out in agony over the spiritual separation between Him and His Father. How awful for the Son of God who had never in all of eternity known any break in His fellowship with His Heavenly Father. How awful for Him to feel the weight of separation from God, the torture and anguish of God completely turning His back on Him, completely separating Himself from Him. And yet this is just a measure of what it will be like for everyone who goes out into eternity without trusting the one who died to take that very punishment for them. If you're here this morning and you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior, you've never placed your confidence in faith in Him who died in your place on the cross, then this is the kind of alienation, rejection, separation. You will feel for any eternity in the lack of fire. And the most awful part of the suffering for our own sins is that sense of alienation and separation, the agony of crying out to God. Why have you forsaken me that my friend, the blessed thing is that Jesus has already cried that out for you and for me. He has already taken that separation, that alienation from God, that hostility from the Father, the divine wrath, He's already taken all of that and born that in His death on the cross. That's the character of this spiritual suffering. But why, what is the answer? Why is this happening? Why has God forsaken Him? Verse 3 gives its cause. Here's the cause of this spiritual suffering, this separation from the Father, verse 3, at least hints at it, yet you are infrowned as the Holy One, you are the One Israel praises. The reason for the suffering of Christ spiritually, the separation from His Father, the divine anger and wrath being poured out on His Son. The reason for that is because God is holy. And here again we echo the words of the song we just heard. What do we really know about that? How much do we really understand about the infinite nature of God's holiness? The fact that He has never, ever entertained a simple thought, never had a simple attitude, never uttered a simple word, never committed a simple act. Never, absolutely separated from all of sin. And it is because He is so absolutely and infinitely holy that He must punish sin. He cannot just say, well, it's really not that bad. I think we can let you in with that on your record. No. He must punish sin. And as Jesus willingly takes our sin on Him, that's the reason for the separation. Because God's wrath for your sin and mine is falling on the Savior, falling on the one who's dying there on the cross. God's holy demands that sin be punished are all taken care of in Christ. And they are only met in Christ. There is nothing you can do no matter how good you might be morally as a sincere, kindhearted person. There is nothing you can do to fully meet the demands of God's holiness. And because of His holiness, His need to justly punish your sin, there's nothing you can do to take care of that. His holy demands are only met in Christ. That's the cause of the spiritual suffering. But notice if you will, His confidence in this spiritual suffering. He is crying out about the separation, He experiences from God, from His Father. But notice there is a hint of confidence in verses 4 and 5. In you, our ancestors put their trust. They trusted and you delivered them to you. They cried out and were saved. In you, they trusted and were not put to shame. Now this is not a bitter complaint against God. It is not as though Jesus is saying, well people in olden times cried out to you and you heard them, you delivered them. Why don't you hear me? Why don't you deliver me? And the word save here is used in the sense of to deliver from punishment. Why don't you deliver me? Like you delivered us. That's not what Jesus is saying. This is not an attempt to reason with God to get him to hear. Why don't you hear me like you've heard others? You delivered others. Now do the same for me. This is not an attempt to reason with God. This is in reality a confident assurance based upon God's faithfulness to deliver people in the past. This is a confident assurance that the sufferer, the Savior, will also be delivered through His suffering. And that glimmer of hope that which He looks forward to is fulfilled in His resurrection, His ascension, His glorification in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father. That's what the writer to the Hebrews is saying in Hebrews chapter 12, and verse 2, when he says this, fixing our eyes on Jesus is just said in verse 1 that we're to run our race with endurance. How can we endure in the race of life? Well, by fixing our eyes on Jesus. Why? The pioneer, the perfector of our faith, for the joy set before Him. He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. What was it that He was looking forward to? What was the joy that in His own heart and mind was set before Him that He had to endure the cross to get to? He scorned the shame of the cross because He had His eye on this. It's at the end of the verse, sitting down at the right hand of the Father, but the throne, the throne of God. So this is the cry of spiritual suffering, but the glimmer of hope, the fixing of His eyes on the future of being seated by His Father once again in glory in heaven. And He knows that His cry will ultimately be heard. Jesus suffered intense spiritual suffering on the cross, but that's not always suffered. He also suffered moral suffering on the cross. Now, you may wonder what moral suffering means. What kind of suffering is that? Well, Jesus' thoughts in verse 6, return to the actual events of the cross. He's been looking in verses 4 and 5 at the ultimate answer to His cry in His glorification, but now His thoughts come back to the cross, to the present, to the mockery of the crowd. To how the crowd views Him, and in that we find the moral suffering of the cross. Notice if you will, verse 6 describes the treatment of the crowd, but I am a worm and not a man scorned by everyone despised by the people. The word worm, literally the word maggot. How disgusting is a maggot? The spies is a maggot. And Jesus is here describing how those who are at the foot of the cross are viewing Him. He is scorned by everyone despised by the people treated as though He were a maggot rather than a man. And part of that has to do with His physical suffering and the appearance of our Lord on the cross. The physical condition of our Lord elicits from this crowd all of their scorn and derision and hatred and revulsion. I think maybe the prophet Isaiah said it best in Isaiah 52 and verse 14 as he introduces the man of sorrow, the suffering servant who would die on the cross. He says this about him in verse 14. Just as there were many who were appalled at Him. Why would people be appalled at Him? His appearance was so desfigured beyond that of any human being and His form marred beyond human likeness. You see, none of us has ever really seen an accurate depiction of what Jesus looked like on the cross. We have these pictures that have a little bit of blood maybe oozing from His brow or His hands and feet. We've never really seen a picture of what those who were standing at the foot of the cross saw. Not even the passion of the Christ adequately represents it. Jesus was so desfigured by the beatings and the scourging and all that He had been through. He did not even look human. And so the crowd who is ridiculing Him calls Him a worm, not a man. He doesn't even look human. His face, his bodily form is so desfigured. It is grotesque the result of the suffering that He's been through. And the treatment of the crowd magnifies that. And that's part of the moral suffering of the cross. Verse 7 describes the gestures of the crowd as they mocked Him. All who see Me mock Me. The word literally means to taught it has to do with not only the verbal expressions but the physical force behind it. The hatefulness behind it. The venom that comes through in those words of mocking Jesus. One who is suffering so extremely physically but you're mocking Him as He suffers like that. All who see Me mocked Me. Then it says they hurl in salts. And that expression really does more than just describe the fact that they were speaking abusively of Him. The Hebrew word literally means to separate the lip. That's what it means. And it carries more the idea of the faces that would be made as they poured out their venomous words. The expressions on their face, the twisting of their mouth into contortion of hatred toward Him. It's more that idea. Those are part of the gestures. And then the last gesture that is mentioned shaking their heads, a gesture of scorn, a gesture of taunting Him shaking their heads. I think the closest parallel that I've been able to come to in my mind of what this is like, the kind of taunting is what often happens in professional sports or even college sports for that matter. But you see it most often on the football field. On the part of a defender who makes an incredibly good stop on a running back, tackles a running back behind the line of scrimmage or sacks the quarterback. And they get up and do their little taunting dance. And you'll see them make expressions like like that or like like that or shaking their head, you know. Pretty good. And you think I should try out with this theater? Seriously, that's what was happening at the foot of the cross. The shaking of the head is like, no, not here, not anymore. You won't be our king. That's the derision and the taunting that was going on even demonstrated in the gestures of the crowd. But not only do we have described for us the treatment of the crowd, the gestures of the crowd, verse A actually verbalizes the taunts of the crowd. He trusts in the Lord, they say, let the Lord rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him since He's life in Him. And the last part of that expression is the key to understanding what is happening at the foot of the cross. It's a phrase of derision. Look at Him. Obviously, God really deites in Him, doesn't He? The one whom He claimed to be the son of God? Look at Him. Well, if God deites in Him like that, then let God deliver Him. These words are actually quoted, actually spoken by the crowd. I'm sure most of them did not connect it with this chapter. But these words are actually spoken by the crowd, recorded in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 27 and verse 43. Here are the words of the actual crowds of the foot of Christ, the cross. He trusts in God, let God rescue Him now if He wants Him. Now, it's hard to express and still as one who loves the Savior, be reverent toward what happened at the cross. But it were almost as though they were saying, look at this heap of trash. You think God wants Him now? Look at Him. If He wants Him, let Him take Him. And that derision is directed at Jesus claims. Notice, for He said, I am the Son of God. So they're mocking His claims to being the Son of God. The taunts of the crowd are directed at who He claimed to be. If He really is the Son of God, is this the way God delights in Him? Is this the way God shows that He wants Him? And that God taking, that God having, we don't want Him. One of the most amazing things about the cross is that Jesus never retaliated against this kind of abuse. I don't understand that. None of us have ever suffered this kind of derision, ridicule, physical suffering, moral haunting. None of us have ever suffered to this extent. And yet, when we suffer any kind of opposition, people who may say things about us that we don't think are warranted, isn't it so easy just to want to get back to make Him pay for it? To give Him a dose of their own medicine or to at least try to clear ourselves and prove that we are who we say we are? Jesus never retaliated. Never set a word to those who were doing this to Him except Father, forgive them. I think Peter says it best, obviously, under inspiration, the Spirit of God, in 1 Peter, chapter 2. When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate. When He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. God will vindicate. God will take care of this. And I'm satisfied with that. Jesus said. Now, we didn't put the verse on the screen just before this, but the verse just before it says that Jesus suffered leaving us an example that we should follow any steps. And this is the example, verse 23. This is the example. To not retaliate when we are threatened, when we are derided like this. That's the example. Be honest with you, I've got a long way to go before I understand even the beginning of that long way to go. No retaliation. Those are the taunts of the crowd. And then the chapter also describes just the cruelty of the crowd and how it felt, what it looked like from Jesus perspective. Think again, this is the perspective from the cross, verse 16. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me like these dogs are circling moving in for the kill. That's the way it felt to our Lord on the cross. They pierced my hands in my feet, verse 17. All my bones are on display. People stare and gloat over me. One of the most terrible things about crucifixion was that it was a public spectacle. And it typically drew a crowd of people that enjoyed watching the gore of the scene. You know, there is, to some degree, a natural tendency when something like this happens to be drawn to it, to see what it's all about. But this goes a step further. These are people who gloatingly stare at the one who's suffering. Take it all in, enjoy it. The sadistic stares of people watching him suffer. Can you imagine what that felt like for him? They gloat over him. And then, verse 18, they divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. That did not go unnoticed by the Savior. That the Roman soldiers divided up his clothing and that one last garment, the one piece under garment, which if it were divided up, would have to be torn and be rendered useless. They gambled for it to see who got it. All of this is a part of the suffering of our Savior, not just the spiritual suffering of separation from his father, but the moral suffering of all of the ugly, ungodly ponds of the crowd. But there's also the physical suffering, which is hinted at this chapter, but which we cannot fully grasp. A description of the crucifixion, if we had time to do that and we don't, would help us to understand somewhat of what was going on. Again, forget all the pictures you've ever seen. They don't do it justice. Jesus is already physically emotionally compromised by the suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. Intense hours of prayer and agony and stress so much so that the capillaries near the skin have begun to burst and blood is seeping through his skin already before he's ever arrested. And then the scourging which has been described in other places at other times, which would rip open his midsection, letting his ribs be shown, tearing muscle, tendons, everything. Torture by the soldiers, the crown of thorns fitted together and forced down upon his brow, the beatings that took place, actual blindfolding and hitting him in the face with their fists. That's part of what caused his figure, his face to be so disfigured, it didn't even look human. His beard ripped out, the soldiers spitting on him, mixing their spittle with his blood, the carrying of his own crossbeam until he could no longer hold up under its hundred pound weight and he collapsed. Being forcibly thrust down upon that crossbeam, his arms stretched out and his wrists nailed to that cross, tearing through tendons and muscle, arteries and veins. Then his feet pulled together on the other beam, nailed to it, the cross jumped with a thud into the ground and hoisted in its place, every movement pulling at his joints, pulling them out of joint. The intense suffering, the wounds being inflamed, the sun, the beating sun down upon him creating incredible thirst, the swelling of the wounds, the lacerated tendons and muscles, the horrific headache, the beginnings of tetanus infection from the nails that had been driven through him, the convulsions that would follow that. Crucifixion has been described as dying a thousand deaths until you're too weak to live any longer. Sometimes it took 36 or 48 hours for someone in a fairly good state of health to die from this torture. With Jesus' physical strength already so compromised, he was gone in six hours. Some of the physical symptoms are hinted at here in this chapter. Verse 14, I am poured out like water. In other words, his strength completely gone. There's nothing left. And all my bones are out of joint. I don't know if you've ever had one bone out of joint and suffered with that pain. Think about every major joint having been jared to the point that it is out of joint. My heart has turned to wax. It is melted within me. Notice the first person. This is his own description of how faint and helpless he feels on the cross. Verse 15, my mouth is dried up like a pot churred, like a little shirt, a little broken piece of pottery, made of clay, fired in a kiln, absolutely no moisture in it at all. That's what it feels like to him. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death. Verse 16, they pierce my hands and my feet. Verse 17, all my bones are on display, which not only means that his flesh has been ripped open for many of his bones to be seen. Not only means he's emaciated to where his bones protrude from his flesh. It also means he's naked. He can count all of his bones. This is what he's seeing from the cross. And we know from Roman crucifixions, we know from the account of the gospels as they gambled with resounder garment. It's part of the incredible moral suffering of the cross. Verse 17, people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes, cast lots for my garment. Why? Why all of this? You know the answer, don't you? It's for us. It's for you. It's for me. He died in this way. He suffered like this physically, morally, spiritually to pay for our sins. In a sense, it is the only death befitting the crime, our crimes, our sins, and the multitude of our sins placed on him. For the magnitude of what he was doing, it is only this most horrible kind of death that could suffice. And so he gives his life, not just quietly, peacefully slipping into eternity, but with the most cruel torture that has ever been imagined by man. Thankfully, the rest of the chapter beginning in verse 19 begins a cry of hope. And the recognition that he will be restored and placed in his kingdom of worldwide kingdom someday. But the only way to that is through the cross. The only way to the glory is through the sufferings. And the only way for you to experience the glory with him, if heaven and his kingdom is through the cross, is through the cross. But I so easily forget and get used to what happened there. And so it's the reason why we need the reminder. It's the reason why we need the reminder of his word. And we need the reminder of these elements, this bread, this juice, as you take it this morning. Please remember, as you take that little piece of bread, that you're taking a representation of visible representation of his body, which was so brutally broken for you on the cross. Please remember, when you take the juice, that you're visibly reminding yourself of that terrible scene of the shedding of his blood. We sing about that and rightly so, but it was a gruesome scene where he shed his blood for you. And as you take of both of them, rejoice in the fact that he willingly did that for you so that you could protect of him, that you could receive him as your Savior and trust him for your salvation. Remember that. Remember that as you take these elements.