This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day three of our look through Matthew chapter 27, and let me begin
today by reading, starting in verse 33, what happened on the cross. And they
went out to a place called Golgotha, which means place of the skull. The
soldiers gave him wine mixed with bitter gall, but when he had tasted it, he
refused to drink it.

After they nailed him to the cross, the soldiers gambled for his clothes by
throwing dice. And then they sat around and kept guard as he hung there. A sign
was fastened to the cross above Jesus' head, announcing the charge against him.

It read, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. " Two revolutionaries were
crucified with him, one on the right and one on his left. The people passing by
shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery.

"Look at you now," they yelled at him. "You said you were going to destroy the
temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save
yourself and come down from the cross.

" The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders also mocked
Jesus. "He saved others," they scoffed, "but he can't save himself. " "So he is
the King of Israel, is he?

Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him. He
trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him. For he said, 'I am the
Son of God.

' Even the revolutionaries who were crucified with him ridiculed him in the same
way. How they ridicule him as he is on the cross. And you and I, in our love for
Christ, we see this ridicule.

One part of us says, "How could that have happened? " But another part of us
sees in every moment of ridicule a truth that needs to be told. "He saved
others, he can't save himself.

" Well, the way that he saves others is by not saving himself. Let him come down
from the cross and we'll believe in him. It's only by him choosing not to come
down from the cross that I can believe in him.

He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him. The fact that God did
not rescue him shows that he wants every one of us. There's this moment on the
cross where you and I see the reality, the truth of who God is.

And this moment, it has been looked forward to, not just for the life of Jesus.
It's been looked forward to from the very beginning, from the moment that sin
happened in the Garden of Eden. In fact, before that, because God knew that sin
was going to happen, God knew that Jesus would be going to the cross.

He'd be giving his life for us. That's why throughout the entire Old Testament
you have prophecy after prophecy after prophecy looking forward to these moments
in this day. One of the proofs for Jesus being who he says he is is the
fulfillment of prophecy.

And there's no greater fulfillment of prophecy than in what's happening right as
we read right now. The Bible tells us that in the Old Testament that Jesus was
going to die humiliating death. You see that in Psalm 22, that he'd suffer
rejection, Isaiah 53, that he'd be betrayed by a friend, Psalm 41, that he'd be
sold for 30 pieces of silver in Zechariah 11, that he'd be silent before his
accusers in Isaiah 53, he'd be mocked in Psalm 22, he'd be beaten in Isaiah 52,
he'd be spit upon in Isaiah 50, he'd have his hands and his feet pierced in
Psalm 22.

He'd be crucified with thieves in Isaiah 53, he'd pray for his persecutors, his
side would be pierced, he'd be given gall and vinegar to drink. In other
scriptures we see that he has no broken bones when he dies. We're going to see
later that he's buried in a rich man's tomb.

And we see here that he has his garments taken and they cast lots for those
garments. All of those things were prophesied to happen because God was looking
forward to this moment when Jesus would give his life for us. And in the midst
of this moment, verses 46-50, we see deeply into the heart and the plan of God.

Listen to what happens. Verse 45. "At noon darkness fell across the whole land
until three o'clock.

At about three o'clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, 'Eli Eli lama
sabachthani,' which means, 'My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ' Some of
the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah.
One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a
reed stick so that he could drink.

But the rest said, 'Wait, let's see whether Elijah comes to save him. ' And then
Jesus shouted out again and he released his spirit. " This moment when Jesus
cries out on the cross, "Eli Eli lama sabachthani, why have you forsaken me?

Why have you abandoned me? " This is a moment when you and I see into the heart
of God, but also when we know that God sees into our hearts, into my heart, into
your heart. How do you find life when you feel forsaken?

What do you do when you feel like God isn't there? You are not the only one
who's felt that way. Jesus felt it.

He said, "Why have you forsaken me? " Jesus was taking our sin, my sin, your
sin, upon himself in this moment. And in this moment he experienced the
forsakenness, the separateness of what our sin means.

Jesus never sinned, but he did, the Bible tells us, become sin for us. God in
human flesh was obviously never separated from the Trinity. God is God and
always will be God, yet he did experience, spiritually experience, what it means
to be separated, to be forsaken as he took our sin upon himself.

And you may know he's quoting here from the Old Testament. He's quoting from the
beginning of Psalm 22. And Jesus knew what he was quoting.

He knew the scriptures. So this is just not a cry of his heart. This is also a
cry of faith, a cry from God's Word.

I believe that he had the entire psalm in mind, even as he cries out here at the
beginning. The psalm is a messianic psalm. It has, as you saw earlier, many of
the prophecies of the Old Testament, looking forward to this day, you can find
in Psalm 22.

But this messianic psalm, this psalm that talks about the Messiah who would come
and suffer for us, it begins with this question, "Why have you forsaken me? "
And it ends with answers. And this is the scripture that Jesus turned to when he
faced his greatest spiritual test.

Now there's obviously some truths in this scripture in Psalm 22 for you and I to
hang on to. And if you go and you read that psalm, you see these truths that
come out that cause you and I to know what to do when we feel forsaken, what to
do when we feel all is lost, what to do when you feel like God is not there.
What do you do?

Well, first you remember to pray. That's what Jesus did. Pray when I don't feel
like God is there.

That may be your greatest step of faith that you ever take. Even then, you pray.
When you tell God that you feel like he's not there, "God, I feel like you're
not there," that might be your first step towards remembering that he is there.

That's an honest prayer. I'm not saying you pray in a fake way. You pray an
honest prayer.

That's what Jesus did. You also remember to continue to praise. Through Psalm
22, you see praise throughout this psalm, praise that even in the suffering God
is working.

Praise is the reaction throughout the Bible, the reaction that God asks of us
even in the midst of suffering. Now, why? It's not to lie.

It's not to pretend. It's not to escape. It's not to live in denial.

It's because praise exchanges the loneliness of suffering for the comfort of
God's presence. You're not suffering alone. It's a comfort that gives you the
power to overcome.

I'm not in this alone. God is with me through this, in this. Praise is not
pretending that the suffering doesn't exist.

In Psalm 22, you see praise and suffering alongside of each other. Praise is
recognizing God's presence and power even in the midst of the suffering. And
Jesus models that for us here.

Psalm 22, 24 says, "For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the
afflicted one. He has not hidden his face from him, but has listened to his cry
for help. " God's presence even in the midst of the suffering.

That's the power of praise. And Psalm 22 reminds us also to remember God's
faithful love. Remembering to pray, remembering to praise, you can't do that
unless you remember the first words that Jesus spoke from the cross.

First words from Psalm 22. We remember the striking words "why" and "forsaken. "
But Jesus began by saying, "My God.

" Said it again, "My God. " His greatest cry of need begins with an expression
of his personal relationship to the Father. He taught his disciples to pray,
"Our Father.

" Here on the cross, Jesus focuses on his personal relationship, "My God. " When
you feel the most alone, you need to remember the truth of God's love. Not God
loved the world, but God loves me in the midst of what I'm going through.

God loves me. Let's take a moment to pray together. And as we pray, I know you
think I'm not going through what Jesus went through on the cross.

Don't minimize what you're going through. You may feel forsaken right now. You
may feel alone.

No one understands. Let's take a moment and cry out to God. Say, "My God, my
God, I feel forsaken.

Why have you allowed me to feel forsaken? Why have you forsaken me? I come and I
ask you, even in the midst of my feelings of forsakenness, be with me through
this.

I praise you that I don't have to go through this alone. Even though all people
may turn from me, you never will turn from me. And so, God, I turn to your love.

It's all I have to turn to. I rely on your love. I lean on your love.

And I thank you for the cross where Jesus most clearly showed that love.
Whatever anyone else says about me, it can't be louder than the cross. Whatever
happens in my life, it can't speak more loudly than your love from the cross.

Let me hear that voice today, I pray. Let it ring in my mind again and again and
again, your love for me. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

Tomorrow we're going to look together, begin to look together at what happens
the moment that Jesus dies.