A Cry From The Cross 16
Matt. 27:45-46

A. These words come to us from the long ago past. First heard from the lips of the ancient
psalmist David. Ps. 22:1, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You
so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?” Question that is as old as
man himself. A question that originated with human suffering, fear and sorrow. “My God, My
God why?” That’s a question that can only be asked by human beings.
But, as intensely human as this question is, some are startled to hear them from the lips of Jesus. While dying on the cross, He takes words born of humans in their hours of darkness and makes them the vehicle for expression His agony in his own hours of tortured, dying. These words express the exceeding tearful cry of the dying Son of God. Not recorded for idle curiosity. They bring one of the most important lessons of our lives.
a. Here Jesus addresses the Infinite by a name He never used before. Always before,
when addressing God personally, it has always been “Father.” When talking about the
Father, Jesus uses the noun GOD. But never when addressing God personally.
(A) In Lk. 2:49, His answer to His mother’s question is, “Do you not know I must be
about My Father’s business.? In Matt. 6:9, when teaching His disciples to pray,
the address is, “Our FATHER who art in heaven...”
(1) The first words spoken from the cross are recorded in Lk. 23:34, “FATHER,
forgive them, they know not what they do.” And when the agonizing ordeal is
over, in Lk. 23:46, His last words are, “FATHER, into Thy hands I commit My
spirit.”
(a) What do we learn from this agonizing question? What message does
it bring to our ears? God turned away from His Son. The presence of
God the father, for the first time in all eternity, is not with Jesus.
Why did that occur? God speaks to sinful, rebellious mankind In Isa. 59:2 and say, “Your sins have separated you from your God so that He has turned His face from you and will not hear you.” Habb. 1:13, reminds us that, “God’s eyes are so holy He cannot look on sin.” That tells us that God cannot and will not associate with or have fellowship with sin.
But why did God turn His back on His Son? The answer is found in the inspired words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 5:21, “God made Jesus, who had never sinned, to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” In Heb. 10:12-14, it says that, “Jesus, after He had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God......14, For by one
offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” That sacrifice
and offering for our sin was His own death on the cross.
Jesus died the death we should have died. He took our place and paid the penalty for our sins so we would not have to die. He paid the debt we owed.
On the cross God forsook His Son. Jesus died like a sinner would die who was paying the price of his own sin. Jesus died like a sinner, With out God so we would not have to be without God. We are now free from the penalty of sin. Ezek. 18:19?20, “The soul who sins shall die.” That’s the penalty you must pay for you sin. But God has provided a way for you to be free from the penalty of your sin. We don’t have to pay the penalty of our sin. God sent Jesus to do that for us.

(4) That means His question was real. It was born of the deep agony that comes from the realization of man’s worse state. The absence of the presence of God.
(1) Question? How did you feel? How did you react the first time you realized you had sinned against God and were condemned eternally from the presence of God? If you didn’t feel what Jesus felt, what was your conversion based on?
(a) Maybe, that’s the reason you’re not as committed as you should be.
(1) Why did you become a Christian? What was your conversion based on?
(2) The reason for, the purpose of, your becoming a Christian is based on one thing and one thing only. Your coming to a knowledge of your sin and your desperate need for salvation from that sin. There is no other reason for the Cross and the gospel that proclaims the cross.
The only reason for the miraculous, incarnate birth, life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is to let you know that you are horribly lost in sin. The penalty for that sin is death. And Jesus came to save you from that sin.
That should shock you and bring you to your senses. That’s what the apostle Paul is talking about in 2 Cor 5:9?11. Nothing in this life is worth risking your soul over. The world is drowning in sin and God has thrown out the life line.
That’s why Jesus came to live the perfect sinless life and then died an undeserving death for our sin. That’s why God sent Him. He had no other reason or purpose for being here. That’s why He made that irrefutable claim in Jno. 14:6.
(5) For those who refuse to accept that, I’m sorry. They might as well get a sugar tit pacifier and put themselves into a spiritual slumber until judgment day because we cannot and will not sugar coat God’s promises.
(6) Jesus died so you and I might have life that is eternal. We’ll complete this thought and lesson tonight.
(7) Acts 20:32.

Spur - 03/10/2002 am