Love Worth Finding

Guest (Male): The entire Bible tells the story of Jesus. Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: The Bible has but one hero, His name is Jesus. The Bible has but one villain, Satan. The Bible has but one message, Jesus saves. That's it. That is it, friend, if you don't understand that, you don't understand what the Bible is all about. The hero of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, is Jesus Christ. The villain of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, is Satan himself. The message of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, is Jesus saves.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring profound truth simply stated by pastor, teacher and author Adrian Rogers. The Old Testament and the New Testament tell the same story of Jesus Christ. The entire Bible expresses the fulfilled prophecy and united message that Jesus saves. Psalm chapter 22 greatly details the crucifixion of Jesus Christ a thousand years before He was born. If you have your Bible, turn there to Psalm 22 now. As Adrian Rogers shares more about the Old Testament Calvary.

Adrian Rogers: Find the heart of the Bible, the book of Psalms. And then find what in my estimation is perhaps the most remarkable Psalm of all of the Psalms. You may think I'm talking about Psalm 23, but I'm talking about Psalm 22, the Old Testament Calvary.

The Old Testament Calvary. Let me tell you one of the ways that I know that I know that I know that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. May I tell you how? Friend, it is fulfilled prophecy. No one could write a book like the Bible apart from divine inspiration. Not only fulfilled prophecy, but the wonderful unity of the Bible.

In a moment, I'm going to read to you a Psalm that is written 800 years before Jesus Christ. And it sounds like someone is standing at the foot of the cross, writing this Psalm. And I want to remind you that even while this Psalm speaks of the nailing of Jesus to the cross, "they pierced my hands and my feet."

Crucifixion like that was not known till the Romans came. The Jews executed by stoning. And yet we have a picture of a Roman form of execution that was going to come 800 years later. And I'm going to show you from the Word of God how minutely, how minutely God prophesied the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But not only the fulfilled prophecy, but the wonderful unity of the Bible. The Old and the New Testament tell the same story. Learn this about the Bible, friend, and you'll know how to understand the Bible. The Bible has but one hero, His name is Jesus.

The Bible has but one villain, Satan. The Bible has but one message, Jesus saves. That's it. That is it, friend. If you don't understand that, you don't understand what the Bible is all about. The hero of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, is Jesus Christ. The villain of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, is Satan himself. The message of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, is Jesus saves.

I hope by now your appetite is whetted, and I want you to see this Old Testament Calvary. Look, if you will, now, I begin to read in Psalm 22: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? Oh, my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season I am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion."

Note especially verses 14, 15, and 16: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture."

I have divided the Psalm this morning into three parts. I want you to see what I'm going to call the prophecy of the cross. Then I want you to see what I'm going to call the agony of the cross. And then, bless God, the victory of the cross. And if you love the Lord Jesus, and if you love the Word of God, you're going to be blessed today. Now, first of all, I want you to see what I'm going to call the prophecy of the cross. And I want you to see, as I've said, almost a thousand years before Jesus Christ was ever born, almost 1,000 years, there is an account of the crucifixion of Jesus that sounds like an eyewitness standing at the very cross of Jesus Christ.

For example, for example, the very words that Jesus Christ would say on the cross. Look, if you will, in verse 1: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Take your Bible and turn to Matthew 27 and leave it open in Psalm 22 and Matthew 27. Both of these together. Look, if you will, in verse 46. Jesus is on the cross, and the Bible says in about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" That is to say, are you ready? "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The exact words that are recorded in Psalm 22 came from the mouth of the Lord Jesus.

"Well," you say, "Pastor, that's easy. Jesus just looked back and read Psalm 22, and when He was on the cross, He was quoting poetry." No, my dear friend. Jesus was not looking backward quoting poetry. David was looking forward quoting Jesus. It was a it was a prophecy of what the Lord Jesus Christ would say on the cross: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Secondly, look in verse 2 and see about the supernatural darkness that came that day when Jesus was crucified: "Oh, my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season I am not silent." Now, my dear friend, the Bible teaches that when Jesus Christ was crucified, it was both day and night when He was crucified. For example, you're there in Matthew chapter 27. Look in verse 45. The Bible says, "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour." Now, let's get our chronology correct. Jesus Christ was crucified, according to the Bible, at 9:00 in the morning. He died in three at 3:00 in the afternoon. He was on the cross six hours. Why six? Because He was dying for the sins of man, and six is the number of a man. But at noontime, at noontime, that is at the ninth hour, which was noontime, ninth hour according to the way they reckon time, not after He'd been on the cross nine hours, but at midday, it became dark. The heavens were darkened at noonday. I think of the sun that had looked down upon all of the filth and rape and murder and pillage and famines and wars, but the sun continued to shine. But when the Son of God hung on the cross, the glowing face of the sun in the heavens was veiled, and it became dark. And there were three hours of darkness and three hours of light when Jesus Christ was on the cross.

How exacting is the Word of God! Look at verse 2: "I cry," this is Psalm 22, "I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season I am not silent." And then, continue to read. Skip down to verse 7 and look at the words of those who ridicule the Lord Jesus when He was on the cross. "All they that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him."

Now, the Bible prophesied that when Jesus Christ would be crucified, He would be laughed, mocked, ridiculed, and scorned. Go to Matthew 27. Look in verses 39 and following: "And they that passed by reviled Him," who? Jesus, "and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. And likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and the elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him." An incredible thing. These are not prophecies fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ per se. These are prophecies about the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled by His enemies, those who had the least to gain by the fulfillment of this prophecy.

Go to verse 14, if you will. Look at it in Psalm 22: "I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels." This is what the Lord Jesus says of Himself there upon the cross: "I am poured out like water." Well, what does that mean? Well, turn to John chapter 19 and verse 34. When Jesus Christ was on that cross, they came and they broke the legs of the thieves, one on one side and one on the other to hasten death. But when they came to Jesus, He was already dead. And John 19:34 says, "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith there came out blood and water." "I am poured out like water." And incidentally, they tell us that when this condition takes place, that when there is that fluid there around the pericardium, the heart cavity, and the blood and the water flow out together, it is a sign that the victim has been under great, great duress. Jesus literally died of a broken heart. And there poured out blood and water. As I studied this, I wondered if the things that break the heart of Jesus break my heart.

Then next, I want you to notice in verse 14 of Psalm 22, it says, "All of my bones are out of joint." What would that mean? My dear friend, when they crucified an individual, they nailed him first to the cross, and then they took that cross and dropped it in a hole. Josephus, the great historian, the Jewish historian tells us that when an individual's body nailed to a tree, nailed to a cross was dropped into the hole, at that moment the bones went out of joint, only to increase the pain. With what detail the Bible prophesies the Lord Jesus' crucifixion as these the very sockets of His body are twisted out of joint.

Then the Lord Jesus Christ was filled with a blistering thirst. Look, if you will, in verse 15: "My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws." What is a potsherd? That's a broken clay vessel. When the potsherd is broken, then there's nothing but dry clay. The Lord Jesus was full of thirst there upon the cross. And I read in John chapter 19 and verse 28, "Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst." Jesus had a ravening thirst in His body. But Psalm 22:15 says, "My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws." My dear friend, almost a thousand years before it happened, by divine inspiration, the prophet wrote down that the one who would be crucified for our sins would cry out in thirst.

Notice also how the Bible describes those who would perpetrate the crucifixion. Look, if you will, in verses 15 and 16: "My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death." Underscore "thou." And then, "for dogs have compassed me." Underscore that. And then in the last part of verse 16, "the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me." Who crucified the Lord Jesus? God the Father crucified him, as we're going to see. Thou. The Gentiles crucified Him, as He speaks there of dogs. Do you know what the Jews call Gentiles? Two-legged dogs. And then "the assembly of the wicked," what's He talking about there? The Jewish Council. And there you have God the Father, the Gentiles represented by Pilate, and the assembly of the wicked represented by Caiaphas. All of these are they who nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross.

And then, my dear friend, I want you to see how this one hanging on the cross was stripped of His clothing and hung there naked. Look, if you will, in verse 17: "I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me." That is, the Lord Jesus Christ is hanging there absolutely totally uncovered. Jesus Christ, who was perfect purity and undefiled modesty, was stripped naked to hang upon that cross. The Bible tells us that that happened to Him in Matthew 27:28: "And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe." And Matthew 27:36 says, "And sitting down they watched him there." Amazing precision in this Psalm.

And then look in verse 18: "They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." There were four minor pieces of clothing that a person would wear in this time and one major piece. And the major piece would be an undergarment, woven, a seamless robe. And read there in Matthew chapter 27 and verse 35: "And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots," that is, rolling dice, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet." David is called a prophet here. "They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots." "You get this garment, you get this garment, you get this garment, you get this garment." And now when it comes to that one seamless robe, they cast lots for that one seamless robe. Incredible, amazing thing. Look again in verse 18: "They part my garments among them, and cast lots for my vesture."

Now, all I've done, dear friend, is take a few, not all, but a few of the incredible correspondences between what David wrote, I am telling you, a thousand years before the crucifixion, "They pierced my hands and my feet." How did that come to pass? Do you think that has happened by chance? Do you think that just happened? No, my dear friend, that is the prophecy of the cross.

Secondly, I want you to notice the agony of the cross. I want you to see the price that Jesus Christ paid for your redemption, that you might be here today, that you might be forgiven, that you might be saved, that you might be filled with the Holy Spirit, that you might have a hope that is steadfast and sure. And how you ought to praise the Lord Jesus and how you ought to serve the Lord Jesus because of the suffering that He suffered. No one ever suffered like the Lord Jesus Christ. Others were crucified, but nobody ever suffered like Jesus, and I'll show you why. Jesus suffered at the hands of three. He suffered at the hands of God. He suffered at the hands of men. And He suffered at the hands of Satan. I want you to see it right here in this Psalm.

First of all, He suffered at the hand of a holy God. Now, look, if you will, in verses 1 through 5: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Look in verse 15, if you will. The last part of verse 15: "Thou hast brought me to the dust of death." Who crucified the Lord Jesus? God the Father crucified Him. God the Father put Him to death. You say, "I don't understand that." Well, my dear friend, when Jesus Christ became the sin-bearer, then Jesus Christ took the sin penalty, and the sin penalty is death. The wages of sin is death. You can read in Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 10 concerning the Lord Jesus, "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. It pleased Jehovah to bruise the Lord Jesus Christ." And I read there in Romans chapter 8 and verse 32, "that God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up." Who delivered Him? God delivered Him. Who failed to spare Him? God failed to spare Him. Who forsook Him? God forsook Him. Who delivered Him to the dust of death? God the Father, and He who had been in the bosom of the Father from eternity past, now is forsaken of the Father and has become the object, the object of the Father's wrath and the center of the Father's loathing, the Son of God. Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever thought what Jesus Christ took for you, my dear friend? That Jesus Christ took your hell, Jesus took your punishment, Jesus took the wrath, the fire of God upon Himself. No wonder He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." Let it pass from me.

Who crucified Jesus? Number one, my dear friend, the agony of the cross. He died at the hands of God. But not only at the hands of God, my dear friend, the holy hand of God, but also the hateful hand of man. Look, if you will, in verses 6 and following here. The Bible says, "But I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men and despised of all of the people." "I am a worm." Who is a worm? Jesus. "Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made of himself no reputation." Have you ever gotten that low? Have you ever said of yourself, "I am a worm?" A worm? A worm? He who made everything, a worm? You step on a snake, you'll strike back. You step on a worm, you just stepped on him. "I am a worm, a worm." The worm spoken of here probably was the crimson crocus. A worm when crushed may dye. Crimson dye. It's the same word that is used for worm is used in Isaiah 1:18, "Yea, though you come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as crimson." Same word is used there. "They shall be as wool." Thank God, His crimson blood for our crimson sin, that we might be washed whiter than snow. "I am a worm." He suffered at the hands of men. They stepped on Him like He was a a worm. Like He was a worm, the very Son of God. He shed His blood.

Guest (Male): And coming up tomorrow, we'll hear Part 2 of this convicting lesson. If you have questions about who Jesus is today, what He means to you, how to begin a relationship with God through Christ, go to our website LWF.org/radio and click the tab at the top that says, Find God's Love. There you'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith. Again, Find God's Love is the tab at the top of the page at LWF.org/radio.

Guest (Male): Hi, this is Kerry Vaughn, and this program has been brought to you by Love Worth Finding, a non-profit ministry showcasing the powerful preaching and teaching of Pastor Adrian Rogers. We operate solely through the generous gifts of individual supporters, just like you. So, to give a gift today, call 1-877-LOVE-GOD. That's 1-877-LOVE-GOD. You can also connect with us online by going to LWF.org/radio. There, we offer helpful resources inspired by the timeless teachings of Pastor Rogers. Or even write to us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38-600, Memphis, Tennessee, 38183. Thank you for listening today, and be sure to join us next time for more profound truth, simply stated, right here on Love Worth Finding.

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