THE WORD OF ANGUISH
PART TWO
MATTHEW 27:46
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Introduction:
In the first message on this theme we saw the awfulness of sin. Here the depravity of man is fully displayed for all to see.
Then we saw the innocent suffer for the guilty. The Lord Jesus received the wages of sin which is death. Jesus had no sin of His own, but he suffered the chastisement that was due us. He was banished from the presence of God.
Then we saw the absolute holiness and inflexible justice of God as Jesus cried out from the cross. God did His work and was satisfied with Jesus’ offering.
Now let us regress somewhat.
I. WHAT HAPPENED AT GETHSEMANE?
A. Jesus’ Approach to The Cross.
1. From Early Infancy He had suffered at the hands of men, Matthew 2:16, “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.”
2. From the beginning of His public ministry Jesus had suffered at the hands of Satan, Matthew 4:1, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”
3. At the cross He was to suffer at the hands of God, Isaiah 53:4, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”
B. In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus entered the GLOOM of the cross, Matthew 26:38,“My soul is exceeding sorrowful,”
1. “This was no shrinking horror in anticipation of a cruel death.” (Pink), John 12:27, “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.”
2. “It was not the thought of betrayal by his own familiar friend.” (Pink)
3. It was not the desertion by His beloved disciples in the hour of crisis, Matthew 26:31, “Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.”
4. Nor was it the expectation of mocking and reviling, the strips and the nails, that overwhelmed His soul.
5. These were nothing in comparison to what He had to endure as the SIN-BEARER.
II. JESUS’ IMMUTABLE FAITHFULNESS TO GOD, Matthew 26:36-39
A. Jesus Anticipates God’s Wrath.
1. “All of the faculties and powers of His soul were wrung with anguish.” (Pink) Mark 14:33, “And began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;”
a. The hair stands on end.
b. The flesh creeps.
c. The spirit sinks.
d. The heart melts like wax.
2. This cup contained the undiluted wrath of a sin-hating God.
a. His agony, Luke 22:44, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
b. “Gethsemane” means “olive press.” “It was a place where the life-blood of the olives was pressed out drop by drop!”
B. Now Jesus had nothing except His faith to rest upon.
1. His cry was “a cry of distress, but not of distrust.”
2. Now Jesus goes to the invisible support and refuge of His faith.
3. Jesus’ unswerving faithfulness to God is seen in Psalm 22.
a. The point that His enemies sought to make against Him was His faith in God, v. 43 (text), “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.”
b. But the Savior continued trusting though He was forsaken. Job 13:14a, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:”
III. THE FOUNDATION OF OUR SALVATION.
A. Who could stand before the God of Heaven? Nahum 1:6,
1. “Who can stand before his indignation?
2. And who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?
a. His fury is poured out like fire,
b. And the rocks are thrown down by him.”
B. Jesus alone could stand!!
1. He alone could bear the curse and yet rise a victor above it. Galatians 3:10, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”
2. He alone could suffer His heel to be bruised by Satan and yet in that bruising destroy him that had the power of death. Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
IV. THE PROOF OF HIS LOVE.
John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
A. He took our place on the Cross.
1. He was “made sin” for us, 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2. He willing suffered for us, John 13:1, “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”
B. His love was matchless and unmeasured.
1. Some might sacrifice self for another, Romans 5:6-7, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7-For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.”
2. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners, Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
CONCLUSION
All of the suffering and anguish that Christ went through on the cross was for one purpose. That purpose was to redeem fallen man by fulfilling the will of God the Father.
God the Father knew that only Jesus, His only begotten Son, was qualified to be that sacrifice.
Everything we have mentioned in this message He did in order to fulfill the will of His Father.