"Anguish to Triumph (Psalm 22)", Austin Gooch | 8/18/24
Psalm 22 | 8/18/24 | Austin Gooch
Long ago a blood-thirsty mob outside the gates of Jerusalem witnessed a supernatural darkness. From about noon until 3, during what should have been the brightest part of the day, the sky above was black. And on the earth below was Jesus of Nazareth pinned to a tree by nails driven through his hands and feet.
After three hours of darkness, 6 hours in total in agony upon the cross, Jesus speaks, quoting the Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament. And what does he say? Does he quote from the law? Does he remind those crucifying him of how he has
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come to fulfill the law of Moses? No. Does he quote from the prophets? Does he announce the Day of the LORD and bring about judgement upon his enemies? No. He quotes a Psalm. He quotes Psalm 22. In his moment of deepest
abandonment by God and horrible surrounding by his tormentors, Jesus utters the first line of Psalm 22, and it is to that text that we direct our attention this morning.
So, I ask you to stand as you are able out of respect for the reading of God’s Word as we turn our attention to Psalm 22.
If you do not own a Bible, we do not want you to leave West Hills this morning without one. Please stop by the information bar outside these double doors to your right on your way out after the service to receive a Bible. In the meantime, the words will be on the screen.
Hear the Word of the Lord:
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Why Have You Forsaken Me?
22 To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
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2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” 9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
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10 On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. 11 Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
12 Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
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16 For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet— 17 I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
19 But you, O Lord, do not be far oƯ!
O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog! 21 Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
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23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you oƯspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you oƯspring of Israel! 24 For he has not despised or abhorred the aƯliction of the aƯlicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear him. 26 The aƯlicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
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shall worship before you.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. 30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it. 1
This is the Word of the LORD. Thanks be to God. You may be seated.
1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 22:title–31.
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The first depiction David gives us in Psalm 22 is the #1 Rejected yet Trusting King. Given the nature of this text and its direct connection with Christ, it will be helpful for us to recall the 3 ways to interpret Psalms that Pastor Will described during his first two sermons in this series: FIRST, historically (what did this Psalm mean for David as the author and Ancient Israel as the original audience), SECOND, personally (what condition do we individually and corporately share with the Psalter and the original audience) and THIRD, Christocentrically, how does this Psalm point towards and come to ultimate fulfillment in the person and work of Christ.
With respect to the historical interpretation, like many Psalms, we are not certain of the occasion that led David to write Psalm 22. Some have speculated that the occasion is King Saul’s jealous and hate-filled pursuit of David in 1 Samuel or Absalom, David’s own son’s, attempt to kill David in 2 Samuel. Whatever the occasion was, David describes the agony of his circumstance with haunting language.
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“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”
In his commentary on Psalms 22, Plumer indicates that the phrase “forsaken me” has the sense of “failed me” or “left me destitute.”
David continues, “Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning.” Another possible rendering of the word here “groaning” is “roaring.” It is as if David’s grief has escalated beyond tears or even sobs but to a roar.
And still it seems as if God has abandoned him. Failed him. Rejected him.
[FCF] Herein lies our personal connection to the text – what we share with the Psalter – that in moments of deep suƯering, sorrow, and pain feel like we have been abandoned by God and surrounded by evil.
How does David respond? He brings his sorrow to God, verse 2, “O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night but I find no rest.”
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[Illustration] My best man from my wedding, is a pastor in the Pacific Northwest. Four or Five years ago we were catching up on the phone, as we often do. I don’t recall what had been so disappointing in my friend’s life – I suspect it was something to do with family or work, but my friend concluded telling me about this situation by saying, “I’m just sad.”
Sad? What do you mean sad? I hadn’t been sad for 10 years. I hadn’t been sad since I had been fired from my first job out of college within 2 months of graduation, sunk into a heavy depression, lifted out of it a year later without ever confronting my grief.
Sad? What do you mean sad. I don’t get sad – I just get frustrated.
I don’t remember what my friend’s story was all about because I was so floored by a grown man saying “I’m just sad.”
Being sad is for the weak. I don’t get sad. I OVERCOME What doesn’t kill ME makes ME stronger. You can’t HURT ME,
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David Goggins says, John Wayne before him, Marcus Aurelieus before him.
John Dozier conducted a survey among the men of our church a few years ago, 93% of respondents indicating a desire to be freed from anger. Frustration.
My dear brothers, perhaps you cannot be free from anger because, like me, you are too afraid to come before a loving God and weep. Striving to overcome challenges in my own eƯort is far easier than laying bare a broken heart before God:
MY GOD I AM HURTING. . . WHERE ARE YOU. . . and
I know that you are a loving and faithful God, but THIS IS AWFUL. I feel ALONE. I know the story of scripture. I know how others have trusted you and you delivered them, but it feels LIKE I am a WORM.
Why a worm?
Because to feel like a worm is to feel dehumanized. Less than.
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See how David elaborates on his condition in verse 6,
“But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; ‘He trusts in the LORD; let HIM deliver him; let HIM rescue him, for HE [God that is] delights in him [David].”
What is the source of David being dehumanized? He is hated by others. Their very words of mocking and hatred have left David feeling as if he is a worm. Whoever said “sticks and stones may break by bones, but words will never hurt me” never read Psalm 22. Hurtful words hurt.
Perhaps, you’re thinking, it’s David’s lack of trust in God that is the problem. If only he trusted even harder and had even greater faith THEN he David would not be in such agony, but
look at how David talks about God’s past faithfulness in verses 3-5.
“Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and
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were not put to shame.” I know of your faithfulness to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, says David. I know of the how you delivered the Israelites from social, economic, and cultural bondage in Egypt and cast Pharoah into the sea BUT IT IS AS IF I AM A WORM and NOT a PERSON. NOT even HUMAN.
Do you ever feel like David here? Not only do we know of the mighty works of redemption that David witnessed in delivering Ancient Israel into the land which was Promised to Abraham in Genesis 12, but we’ve witnessed God’s greatest act of redemption, the forgiveness of our sins through the blood that Jesus spilled on the cross for whomever would turn from their sin and trust in Jesus. And yet, like David, that can feel like a mere history lesson when we are waiting for God to deliver us in the midst of suƯering, real, awful and painful suƯering.
David is even mocked for trusting in God, verse 8, “He [David] trusts in the LORD; let God deliver him for He delights in Him.” Commentators point out that those
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mocking David here are implying that either 1) David doesn’t actually trust in God or 2) that God really doesn’t love him. We know that David DOES trust in God, as he goes on to tell us in verses 9-10:
“Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.”
What does David do? Verse 11, he cries for God to rescue him: “Be not far from me,” why? “for trouble is near, and there is none to help.”
David is in agony.
David is alone.
David has been rejected, despised and scorned by man despite trusting in the God of steadfast love and David cries for God’s help: COME QUICKLY.
Friends, when our pain even in the midst of trusting God leads us to feel like we are alone, we are to cry out to God like David, COME QUICKLY. TROUBE is NEAR and there is NO
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ONE to help. Cast your cares upon the LORD because He cares for you.
But David is not the only person this Psalm is about, is he? All scripture is breathed out by God, 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us. Jesus, when speaking to the Pharisees says in John 5:39, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” So how does this passage point us to Christ?
As already mentioned, Jesus himself quotes this Psalm from the cross in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34. Jesus is mocked like David in Matthew chapter 27:43, “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, [that is] if he [God] desires him [Jesus], For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.” Matthew 27:39 “And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads.” Luke, in his Gospel records in chapter 23:35, “And the people stood by watching, but the rulers scoƯed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!’”
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So, what does it mean for Jesus to have been forsaken by God? There is no shortage of ink that has been spilt seeking to unravel this mystery over the past 2,000 years, lucky for you, this my first sermon ever, so I’m sure I’ll get it right on the first try.
First of all, we know that Jesus’s death was not accidental. Jesus himself foretells about his suƯering and death:
Matthew 16:21: “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suƯer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Matthew 20:18,19, & 28: “ ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day. . . the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
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During his earthly ministry, Jesus KNEW of his intention to go to Jerusalem, to be unjustly crucified and to be raised from the dead. So what Jesus CAN’T mean when he cries out “why have you forsaken me?” is for what purpose, have you forsaken me.
What about our doctrine of the Trinity? We confess that there are not three Gods, there is ONE God in THREE persons. They share the same ESSENCE. Did the UNCHANGING, ETERNAL Unity of the Godhead TEMPORARILY rupture? No. If Jesus is somehow separated from the Godhead, he is no longer ONE with the Father and the Holy Spirit, he is no long unchanging, and we are dead in our Sin.
Instead, it is far more likely, that Jesus, when quoting Psalm 22, has the entire Psalm in mind. Therefore, Jesus is identifying himself with the suƯering and ultimately vindicated King David of Psalm 22 and therefore experiencing a greater fulfillment of this Psalm than whatever David himself experienced.
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So, what does it mean for Jesus to have been forsaken by God? To answer that more fully, we must, therefore, work our way through the remainder of the text. But so far, based on verses 1-11, it is certainly not LESS THAN:
Jesus being abandoned to death; that is, Jesus died on the cross for our sins. This was the climax of what theologians call his “work of humiliation” which began with his incarnation and was completed in his crucifixion.
Although David experienced a feeling of abandonment by God, we know that David on this specific occasion was rescued from death. Jesus, Great David’s Greater Son, breathed his last breath on that cross. He cried out and everything went black with the full knowledge that no one – not even His loving Father who could have rescued his dying Son and inflicted judgement upon Christ’s tormentors – came to stop death. Because God abandoned a trusting Jesus to death, we can cry out to God to come near.
Because Christ was rejected, we can trust God.
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Commenting on Jesus’s cry from the cross, Warren Wiersbe says, “This was not the cry of a complaining servant but the sob of a broken-hearted child asking ‘where is my father when I need him?’”
If in verses 1 through 11 David shows us the Rejected yet Trusting King, in verses 12-21 David shows us #2 The Surrounded yet Sustained King. See beginning in verse 12:
“Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evil doers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet – I can count all my bones – they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots.”
David paints a chilling escalation of his condition. If it wasn’t bad enough that he was alone – hated by man and
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rejected by God despite his trust in God’s faithfulness – now he is surrounded.
Commentators point out that Bulls of Bashan have the sense of strong and frightening enemies. Enemies that are so strong and so frightening that no one with a normal amount of self-preservation would consider coming to David’s aid to confront them. David is all on his own here.
Moving to verse 16, David describes not just strong and frightening enemies that surround him, but dogs encompassing him. Ancient Near Eastern dogs: They carried diseases. They bit. It is as if “they have pierced my hands and feet” David cries. It is as if he has been laid in the dust of death and dogs are surrounding for the final kill.
What is this experience of being surrounded like for David? He’s in shock. “I am poured out like water.” He’s terrified. “My heart is like wax.” He’s completely weakened and powerless “my strength is dried up. . . my tongue sticks to my jaw.” He’s tormented “they stare and gloat over me.”
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I’ve never been surrounded by bulls or encompassed by a pack of rabid dogs, and I suspect that none of you have either.
But 29 million Americans have – at some point in their life – been diagnosed with depression. Surrounded by misery.
By the age of 18 in the United States, 1 in 4 girls will have been sexually abused as well 1 in 6 boys. Surrounded. Weakened. Powerless. In shock. Tormented.
What about grief? What about suƯering that we feel when grief surrounds us? Diane Langberg in SuƯering and the Heart of God lists at least the following cause of grief:
Death.
Health (illness, aging).
Loss of place, or position, status, job.
Broken Relationships: loss of a friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, grandparent, parent, child.
Trauma and abuse: emotional, verbal, physical. Evil surrounds us.
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Fear surrounds us.
Misery surrounds us.
Shame – that feeling that if anyone knew the worst thing I’ve ever thought or done they will despise me as much as I despise myself – surrounds us.
Sin – the rebellious things that we do yet seem unable to break free from - surrounds us.
What do we do when it feels like the wickedness that encompasses us is closing in? What do we do when trouble draws nearer and nearer and there is no one to help?
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We cry out to God to save us. We cry out to God to come to our rescue. Verse 19, “But you, O LORD, do not be far oƯ! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion!”
This is the second time that David has cried out to God, the first time being in verse 11. But notice the diƯerence. “But you, O LORD.”
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David invokes God’s personal name,
his covenantal name,
his name that indicates that he is a promise-making and promise-keeping God of steadfast love to his treasured people. When the direness of David’s situation is life itself – his very existence is on the line – he cries out – O LORD! Oh Yahweh! Do not forget your promises to your servant. Save me!
Brothers and Sisters, you may be thinking now, so what? So what that God saved David from death on this occasion. In the end, David still ends up dead in the ground and I’m hurting now. I feel surrounded now. So what that God abandoned Jesus to the point of death on the cross. So what? What could that possibly mean for me NOW? How could that possibly be of any benefit to me NOW? I am hurting NOW! If God is so able to rescue, Austin, why doesn’t he stop the anguish, terror, shock and torment in my life NOW?!
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I cannot tell you why God allows the specific suƯering in your life. To be able to do so would require the infinite wisdom of God Himself, which none of us has. But I can tell you this: Jesus Christ, the living God, the invincible, resurrected Son of God, has experienced first-hand every measure of hurt and anguish that you and I as humans can encounter and is therefore able, as Hebrews 4:15 tells us to sympathize with our weaknesses. “Therefore, he had to be made like us in every respect” Hebrews 2:17 tells us.
Have you suƯered from the hurtful and hateful words of someone else? So did Jesus. “And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads” Matthew 27:35.
Have you suƯered from a broken and agonizing heart. So did Jesus, crying out “Eli, Eli, lema sebachthani, that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” Matthew 27:46.
Did you experience physical harm from someone you loved and trusted? So did Jesus. “Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. They
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also blindfolded him and kept asking him, ‘Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” Luke 22:63-64.
They stripped Christ naked, laid their hands on him, took his clothes, pinned him to a tree for all to see, and mocked him in his state of weakness. “And when they had crucified him,
they divided his garments among them by casting lots.” Matthew 27:35.
Were that not enough the utterly terrifying and unfathomable wrath of a Holy God against all unholy sin and evil and wickedness of rebellious humanity was laid upon him. “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him” Isaiah 53:3.
Do you now see?
Do you see that Jesus is not just able to save us from our sins [how marvelous and wonderful that it], but is able to relate to us in our every place of heartache because he has been there himself? And how does he relate? That is, in what manner? Hebrews 5:2 tells us, “He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward [that’s us], since he himself is beset with weakness.”
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“Come to me [Jesus says] all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. . . for I am gentle and lowly in heart.”
In his wonderful book concerning the Heart of Christ, Gentle and Lowly, Dane Ortlund says:
“Perhaps, looking at the evidence of your life, you do not know what to conclude except that this mercy of God in Christ has passed you up. Maybe you have been deeply
mistreated. Misunderstood. Betrayed by the one person you should have been able to trust. Abandoned. Taken advantage of. Perhaps you carry a pain that will never heal till you are dead. If my life is any evidence of the mercy of God in Christ, you might think, I’m not impressed. To you I say [this is Ortlund speaking], the evidence of Christ’s mercy toward you is not your life. The evidence of his mercy toward you is his – mistreated, misunderstood, betrayed abandoned. Eternally. In your place.” (179).
Friends, God proved his love towards us on that cross, abandoning Jesus to death so that we may be rescued to eternal life. God proved his love towards us on that cross,
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allowing Jesus’ enemies, his tormentors, that blood-thirsty mob, to surround him to the point of death so that we may now draw near to God. It is for that reason, that David shows us, point number 3:
#3 The Rescued and Rejoicing King
Beginning in verse 21b:
“You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you; You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you oƯspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you oƯspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the aƯliction of the aƯlicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. The aƯlicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever!”
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Praise be to the LORD who did not merely rescue David, the King of Israel, from death, but praise be to the LORD who did not leave Christ in the tomb, but rescued him from the grave so that we might live forever.
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
David tells of the wonderful works of God in the congregation in verse 22. The author of Hebrews, quoting this verse in Hebrews 2:12, applies it to Jesus, that he [Jesus] is not ashamed to call us brothers [and sister] in heaven. Why? Richard Phillips helps explain:
“He is not ashamed because he took up our humanity that we might see and even share in his glory. He is not ashamed because we are so beloved to him that he died for us, so that by the power of God’s resurrection he might live with us forever. Even now he is bringing many sons to glory, children of God through union with himself.” (73).
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If Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters, let us not be ashamed of the gospel, “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”
How do we – like David – tell of his name in the congregation?
Easily, we gather weekly as a corporate body to proclaim the good news of what God has done through Jesus for the good of His entire Creation. Furthermore, we gather in smaller groups, such as life groups, discipleship groups, Sunday school classes to share how God has been faithful – not just cosmically – but personally.
Why? Verse 23 so that God’s people may fear Him (the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom), that we may glorify Him, that we may stand in awe of Him.
I cannot tell you how my faith is restored after a week of being beaten down by the troubles and frustrations of this world – problems that I didn’t go looking for – they just seem to show up – I cannot tell you how my faith is restored when I hear a testimony of a fellow member of our church in a small
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group setting, passing in the hallway, Sunday school class, telling me about how God has been faithful in their lives recently.
Friend, if your entire church experience is only 75 minutes on Sunday morning, I beg you to come and join in the regular fellowship of other believers in Jesus to be built up, sustained, and encouraged in one of our many groups or classes.
God has made us for relationship with one another. It is not good for man or woman to be alone. You need us and just as importantly – we need you. We want to know and delight in you. We want to share and laugh and smile in the highs of your life, and we want to share and weep in the lows as well.
It is not those whose lives are perfect, Western American aƯluent suburbanites that are best suited to be satisfied in by God and with his people.
Who is it? David tells us in verse 26:
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“The aƯlicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever!”
Jesus said “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.” John 6:51.
You who have felt alone, abandoned, hurt, surrounded and tormented, come to Jesus. Come and taste and see that the LORD is GOOD. Come and Rejoice in his Rescue.
IF verses 21b-26 show us the Rescued and Rejoicing King, finally, verses 27-31 show us, point number 4, the #4 Reigning and Returning King.
“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive.
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Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.”
In verses 27-28, David points us to the eternal rule and reign of God – when Christ returns and every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. David points us to the ingathering of ALL the NATIONS to worship King Jesus and praise Him that he has done it.
That he has fulfilled the promise that God made to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15 that the oƯspring of the woman would crush the oƯspring of the serpent.
That he has fulfilled the promise that God made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 so that in him all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
That he has fulfilled the promise to King David in 2 Samuel 7:16 that his throne will be established forever.
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That he has fulfilled his promise to Israel in Exile in Jeremiah 31 that he would make a New Covenant and remember our sin no more.
That “the Kingdom of this world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15).
Church, would you praise God this morning, that he did not leave us abandoned in sin and death apart from Him, but that he delivered his Son Jesus out of death and the grave so that we may be adopted as Sons and Daughters. That all who would turn from their sin and trust in Jesus will be saved. Praise God that it is finished – He. Has. Done. It.
Let’s pray.