Restoration 2021:  Standing in the Gap

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Restoration Ministry

Micheal Goetz

The Cries of the Cross

01 For the World

02 I Thirst

03 Forgive Them

04 My God

This is by far my favorite cry. I I don't know if it's okay to say that if you can have a favorite cry from the cross, but of all the cries, this one is my favorite. Let me introduce it this way. On May 1st, 2003, 30 miles off the coast of San Diego on the s s Abraham Lincoln, George Bush, president Bush became the first sitting president to land on an aircraft carrier in a fixed wing aircraft. He landed there, and a few hours later he does, he does that famous presentation where the banners unveiled and it reads to the world mission accomplished, arguing that there was the end of major combat in the operation, the Iraq war. Critics were quick and fast To respond that the, that there, that banner was misleading, that it wasn't the end of that mission hadn't been accomplished. That there were more lives that were lost, that there were more casualties and more and more investment in thousands and thousands and hundreds of thousands and more dollars invested. Yet it became mocked. Mission accomplished. Are you kidding? You can't declare victory before it happens. To some, it felt like, like the, the football player that celebrates the touchdown before crossing the end zone line that the ball ends up getting stripped away. It's, it's this, ah, you, you can't celebrate until you cross the finish line, and that may be so, but in this cry, I believe Jesus was celebrating victory. Got your Bibles. We're going to Matthew. Now, of all the cries of all the different things that Jesus says on the cross, father forgive them, or even to John. This is your mother or even the, the, the, the climactic cry. It is finished. All of those Matthew leaves off and he instead, he takes his time, his, he's very concentrated on one cry. That's it for Matthew one, cry from the cross. If Matthew was the only gospel, we would only know that Jesus said one thing while on the cross, The darkness pressed in for three hours, darkness, thick darkness, press the top, that small little null, and Jesus felt it on the cross. Jesus breaks the silence. He cuts the darkness. In verse 46, verse 45, noon until three o'clock in the afternoon, darkness is over all the land. Verse 46, and about three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out with a loud voice. Now, whenever you hear loud voice, it's, it's a cue that this is not just for a few people at the foot of the cross. This is for the world over El El Laak, which is translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now, that's the cry, Jesus. It's the only cry. Matthew records. It's the cry. Jesus gives the context here, just so he can see why. Maybe Matthew only recorded this. He's writing. Matthew is writing to primarily a Christian Jew audience. So he is, he is taking the Jewish mindset and he's walking them through why Jesus was the Christ and what confidence Jew can have in the Christian faith. And so he leaves off all the other quotes, all the other cries, and he spends four verses discussing this one, particularly the response. He seems very interested in the response of this cry. What was the response? Verse 47. Now you gotta put your thinking cap on a little bit here. Verse 47. When some of those standing there heard this, they said, he's calling for Elijah. Now, it was well known that if you were forsaken of God, if you were abandoned by God, you would, you would appeal to Elijah. They all, they knew second kings do it. He'd been taken to, to heaven in a chariot of fire. If you couldn't get through to God, you would talk to Elijah, you would appeal to Elijah in order to represent you before God. It's kind of like what you used to do back in those dating years when you, when the girl wouldn't pay attention to you, you talked to her best friend. Hey, could you, could you talk to her for me? All right. It was just a few of us that did that apparently, but that's, that's, that's the, that's the interpretation here. When they hear Jesus crap, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? They said He's calling for Elijah. He's asking that Elijah intercedes for him before God, because God has forsaken him as cast him off. Oh, but wait a minute, maybe we read it too quick. Verse 47, when some of those standing there heard this, they said He's calling for Elijah some Matthew is telling us that not all heard it that way. Some heard that cry as Jesus calling for Elijah forsaken feeling completely abandoned and rejected by God. He is now calling for Elijah. Some of those who were standing there heard it that way, verse 48, immediately one of them who's the them? The them is the some, okay. The little thinking caps here, right? Some of those, when Jesus cried out, Eli, Eli, some of the people at the cross said, he's calling for Elijah some means not all that is. Others heard it differently, but some of those at the cross heard Jesus calling for Elijah or believed that he was calling for Elijah, one of them, one of the some because them is the sum. So one of the sum ran and said, all right, I got a sponge, filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff and offered it to Jesus to drink. Now, Dick's Dach, a Roman enthusiasts now a retired chaplain in the Milit from the military, and a pastor in the Seventh Day Adventist Church, was written books, studies on this. He says, as I went over this passage with him, he said, you, you ever wondered where they got the, the, the sponge from and the vinegar? You think they, they, they had that to kind of, kind of help everybody out. He said, no, that was, that was the, that was the public, public restroom system. You, you, and you, and no doubt you've seen pictures, but you, the restrooms, I mean, they just line up those stone holes one after another, and there's a right underneath your legs as you're sitting, there's this little, little creek of water, and, and they would have a sponge or sometimes a bowl of vinegar and, and that sponge you would dip and you'd use it. You're tracking, and then you'd put it back or rinse it off and leave it there. He said, when they went and got a sponge, this was no, this was, no, we're gonna help you. This was an insult to, to the injury. There was nothing about this that was trying to take care of Jesus. That's an aside. But he ran and got a sponge, filled it with wine vinegar, put it on his staff, offered it to Jesus to drink the rest. Now we're in verse 49. The rest, who's the rest? The rest of the some, okay, I told you, you're gonna have to think this one through some of those. When Jesus cried out, Eli, some of those heard him calling for Elijah, interpreted it as him calling for Elijah, one of the, some ran and got the sponge. The rest of the, some said, let him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes and helps him. All of this for Matthew to say that not everyone heard it the same way. Some of them thought he was calling for Elijah, one of the, some ran and, and got the sponge. The rest said, just leave him alone. What Matthew is saying is, there were others at the cross who heard Jesus cry, Eli, and understood it differently. What did they understand? Well, the Bible says, when Jesus cried out again in the loud voice, he gave up his spirit. Where was this line from? This, this Eli la My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? It's a quote. You know, we know it's a direct quote from Psalm 22. Now, a, a fun, fun aside is Psalm 22 is known as the Psalm of Mount Calvary. It's a prophetic psalm. Psalm 23 is the Psalm of the valley of the shadow of death, and Psalm 24 is a Psalm of Mount Zion. It's a prophetic Psalm of Mount Zion. You have two mountains, Mount Calvary, Mount Zion, and in between those you have the journey that we're in the valley of the shadow of death. But Psalm 22, Psalm 22 is a, is a prophetic Psalm about Mount Calvary. It starts the opening verse, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so hard so far from helping me? And the words of my groaning? But Psalm 22 is not just this de declaration that God has abandoned him, that that there, that there's a separation. Psalm 22 is actually a hope-filled song, a, a prophetic word about what God will accomplish on the cross. Psalm 22 is a cogent statement that God will use the cross to change the trajectory of, of history, the universe. Verse eight, Psalm 22, he trust in the Lord. Let him rescue him. Psalm six, verse 16, the congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They've pierced my hands and my feet. Psalm 22, verse 18. They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing, they cast lots. All through Psalm 22 is wove in these prophetic statements, And according to the Jewish Tar Gums, it's the Aramaic translations of the Old Testament. That psalm, that Psalm, Psalm 22 was sung every morning at the sacrifice. Wait a minute, wait a minute, This cry from Jesus, this, this cry. My God, my God, Eli, that some of those who stood there when they heard him cry this, they said He has been forsaken, cast off, rejected by God. He is alone, and he's calling out for Elijah, pitiful man, that he is trying to get God's attention. Some of those who stood at the cross, that's what they heard. But Matthew says, there were, there were others. Only some of them heard that others heard differently. What must they have heard when Jesus cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? They heard what they had been hearing in the temple every morning at the sacrifice. Wait a minute, we know those words. While the qu, while the cry seems dismal at first, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The Psalm of 22 actually lays out four reasons. Four reasons that we can trust God to pull out from this a victory. Verse four, in Psalm 22, our fathers trusted in you. They trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and you and they were delivered. They trusted in you and they were not ashamed. Psalm 22, verse nine, but you are he who took out me out of, out of the womb. You made me trust while on my mother's breasts. Verse 10, I was cast upon you from birth, from my mother's womb. You have been my God. Number three, verse 21, save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen, you have answered me. And one more verse 27, all the ends of the air shall remember in turn to the Lord and all the families of the nation shall worship before you. Verse 28, for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he rules over the nations, all the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him, even he who cannot keep himself alive. Verse 30, A posterity shall serve him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation. They will come and declare the righteousness to a people who will still yet be born that he has finished it. That's how Psalm 22 ends. It ends, it begins with this cry. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And then over and over it goes, but no, you have been with us. You have answered us you. You will do something here that will be told and retold through the generations to, to people yet born, and they will come to realize that you have done it. You finished it. You know what I believe? I believe that while Jesus hung on the cross that that his words had to be few. He didn't have the luxury of just saying everything. And as the devil pressed about him, making him feel the total weight of my sin and your sin, he did feel what sin does cause the separation. And in the darkness of those three hours, Jesus, I, I, I believe every demonn on the planet was at the cross that day. Satan had every egg in that basket because if he could get Jesus, he could have the future. So every demonn is pressing about Jesus. They're trying to get him to doubt in the darkness. Doubt your Father. Come on, just utter one word of hopelessness, of helplessness, of doubt. That's all we need. Jesus. And some of us have been reading and hearing the cry of the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me as a cry of doubt? Somewhat like some of those who were at the cross who heard it and said, he must be calling for, he must have experienced a separation. And his cry was, my God is separated from me. He felt it. But as Jesus raised himself up on the cross and the devil's hot, stinky, I don't know. I think the devil has stinky breath. Hot, stinky breath is breathing into his face. Come on, Jesus. Your father doesn't love you. Jesus raised himself up on the cross and he thrust his faith through the darkness and laid hold of the promises of scripture, and he claimed it. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And I think Jesus then whispered Satan. You know the rest of the chapter, the cry of Jesus, my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? Was a cry of Psalm 22, a prophetic psalm that declares that God will have the victory. And Jesus called it mission accomplished Satan. This is our victory. He called it on the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken? Some of those, when they heard that said, oh, he's, he's forsaken. He's abandoned by God. And while that's how Jesus felt, he thrust his faith through the darkness and held on to the promises of scripture. He had to carry mice sin. He had to feel the separation. But he lived like he's asked me to live by holding on to the promises of pro, the prophetic word of God. Psalm 22, as quoted and cried by Jesus on the cross was not a confession, not one of rejection of hopelessness or helplessness or doubt. It was the call. It was the cry, the faith-filled cry of Jesus. We're gonna win this thing. And that scared Satan. Psalm 23 then becomes the valley of the shadow of death. Listen to the words of verse four that we know. We we know. Psalm 23, yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me because of Psalm 22, because of the cry of Jesus on the cross. Because he, He pressed his faith through the, through the darkness, through the doubt, through the feelings of abandonment, through the weight that sin presses Jesus claimed the scripture. And in Psalm 23, we are then in the valley of the shadow of death. And the invitation from the cross is, would you press, press through that darkness and hold onto my word? I won't believe you. I'm with you. Even in the valley of the shadow of death, the cry of the cross was not God. Jesus giving up not a, not a question of doubt, not him appealing to Elijah to try to get through to God. It was the cry of hope of victory. It was a cry of faith even when the darkness presses about us. John Piper, one of my favorite books, ah, it's so worth a read and reread John Piper in his book, don't Waste Your Life Gives This Line. Why don't people ask us about our hope? Why isn't the world asking us about our hope? And then the tragic answer, the answer is probably because we are looking as if we hope in the same things they do. And so they have nothing to ask us about the cry of Jesus on the cross. His quote from Psalm 22, some of them heard it as a cry of despair. I can assure you, Satan heard it very differently. All of heaven heard it differently. We can hear it differently. It was a cry of victory, of hope, of faith that he will do marvelous things through this darkness. What if? What if we lived with that hope? What if we lived and followed the example of Jesus who on the cross felt the separation, but pressed his faith through that separation, through that darkness, and held on to the prophetic word of God to the promises of what he's given us? What if we hold onto that? Could John Pee John Piper be right? Could could it be that we have demonstrated hope in the same things the world has demonstrated their hope in or placed their hope in? And that's why they're not asking, Lord Jesus, you raised yourself up on that cross and you pressed out that cry, my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? Not in a despair, but in a statement of victory, eternal victory. And now in our journey here in the valley of the shadow of death, darkness presses about us. How could it be Jesus that we have begun to hope and the same things the world is hoping in? So change us. Turn our eyes to look upon Jesus and to lay hold of the prophetic Word. Give us a confidence and absolute certainty in the prophetic Word of God. Jesus, lead us to follow your example and then we praise you, and we thank you that here in the valley, the shadow of death, You are with us. We lay hold of that by faith in the powerful name of Jesus. Ah amen. This media was brought to you by Audio verse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon, audio, and much more. If you would like to know more about Audio verse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audio verse.org.

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The Cries of the Cross

04 My God

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01 For the World

02 I Thirst

03 Forgive Them

04 My God

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