A Trilogy Unlike Any Other (Part 1)

Introduction

The Bible is a big book. It contains 66 books. 39 in the Old Testament. 27 in the New Testament. Our statement of faith, the BFM 2000 says this about the Bible, “It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.” We read about fascinating stories and some interesting people in the Bible. We see that before time began, God existed! We see the silly things that people do to try and find satisfaction and purpose apart from God’s plan. We see people like Adam and Eve who break God’s commands. We see kings like David and Solomon who are faithful but still fallen. We read about prophets like Isaiah and Daniel who call on God’s people to repent of their wickedness, worship the One true God, and live a changed life. Most of our Bible is Old Testament. Again, 39 vs 27 books, but if you break that down into a percentage of verses, the Old Testament is over 3/4 of the Bible! That’s a big chunk… yet, it’s so easy to skip over most of the Old Testament. Sure, we know about the Garden of Eden, the stories in Exodus of God setting His people free from the Egyptians, the story of King David, maybe throw in a few Psalms and prophets here and there, but that’s about it.

The Old Testament covers a lot of time - Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible likely around 1400 BC and Malachi was written in the 400s BC, nearly 1,000 years later! We see many people. Many stories. Many places. What is the theme of the Old Testament? What’s it all about? The entire Word of God is about the Word of God. In John 1, we are told this incredible truth

John 1:1 CSB

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 CSB

14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Genesis is about Jesus. Leviticus, and all those bloody sacrifices? Leviticus points us to Jesus. Isaiah’s prophecies about the Messiah are about Jesus. Your Old Testament matters because it points us to Jesus and helps us understand not only who He is, but what He came to do.

This morning as we continue in our Summer in the Psalms series, we’re in Psalm 22 and we’re going to begin a 3 part series entitled a Trilogy unlike any other. Psalm 22, 23, 24 point us to Jesus. There are some pretty awesome trilogies out there: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Batman/Dark Knight. Yet, Psalm 22-24 is the trilogy to top them all as this morning we’ll see the Suffering King, next Sunday we’ll see the Shepherd King, and on July 20 we’ll see the Sovereign King. Let’s read the Psalm of the Cross together, Psalm 22.

Psalm 22 CSB

For the choir director: according to “The Deer of the Dawn.” A psalm of David. 1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning? 2 My God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, by night, yet I have no rest. 3 But you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 Our ancestors trusted in you; they trusted, and you rescued them. 5 They cried to you and were set free; they trusted in you and were not disgraced. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by people. 7 Everyone who sees me mocks me; they sneer and shake their heads: 8 “He relies on the Lord; let him save him; let the Lord rescue him, since he takes pleasure in him.” 9 It was you who brought me out of the womb, making me secure at my mother’s breast. 10 I was given over to you at birth; you have been my God from my mother’s womb. 11 Don’t be far from me, because distress is near and there’s no one to help. 12 Many bulls surround me; strong ones of Bashan encircle me. 13 They open their mouths against me— lions, mauling and roaring. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me. 15 My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You put me into the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones; people look and stare at me. 18 They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing. 19 But you, Lord, don’t be far away. My strength, come quickly to help me. 20 Rescue my life from the sword, my only life from the power of these dogs. 21 Save me from the lion’s mouth, from the horns of wild oxen. You answered me! 22 I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters; I will praise you in the assembly. 23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! All you descendants of Israel, revere him! 24 For he has not despised or abhorred the torment of the oppressed. He did not hide his face from him but listened when he cried to him for help. 25 I will give praise in the great assembly because of you; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear you. 26 The humble will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him. May your hearts live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will bow down before you, 28 for kingship belongs to the Lord; he rules the nations. 29 All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down; all those who go down to the dust will kneel before him— even the one who cannot preserve his life. 30 Their descendants will serve him; the next generation will be told about the Lord. 31 They will come and declare his righteousness; to a people yet to be born they will declare what he has done.

Do you see why this is called the Psalm of the Cross? 1,000 years before Jesus Christ took our place and bore our sin on Calvary, David finds himself in a time of suffering and struggling, have you been there before? David, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, pens this Psalm that Jesus applies to Himself on the cross and shows us how we too can find hope in times of hopelessness. Let’s give God thanks for that today

The Reality of Suffering (1-11)

On Monday’s at the church we have our staff meetings usually from 9:30-11:15, unless the pastor is a little long-winded and then it’ll go up unto lunch time. It dawned on me this past week that last Monday marked exactly 1 year to the day that you all here at South Gate voted me in to be your Lead Pastor on June 30th, 2024 with a 98 point something percent vote. As I reflected on that this week with the staff and at home with Lindsey, it’s hard to believe it’s been a year. In some respects it feels like the year has flown by, but in other respects it seems like we’ve been here even longer because of all the things that have happened over the last year. This church has been through a LOT over the last few years. Learning your stories, hearing about the good and the bad, and just doing life together over these 12 months has made the time fly by and it’s been an honor and joy to be your pastor. This year has been hard for many of us. We’ve had dozens of folks in the hospital, some fighting life and death situations. We’ve had several members pass away. We’ve had people suffer broken relationships that have created wounds that are almost impossible to describe. We’ve had people move away. Yet, through it all, God has been faithful and you all have encouraged my soul week after week as we gather to exalt our Savior, regardless of the suffering and pain that we’ve experienced throughout the week.

We all know what it’s like to suffer in different ways. It’s been said before that every person is in one of three stages

Actively Experiencing Suffering

About to Experience Suffering

Just Got Out of Suffering

As you think of that, where are you today? Today some of us are actively suffering. We’re carrying wounds that are deep. Our health isn’t where we’d like it to be. There’s a relationship that is causing us pain. Others of us just concluded a season of suffering and we’re recovering. We’re regaining our strength. Others, though, have been in a season of peace. Life isn’t perfect, but it’s peaceful… and we know that suffering will come again one day. This is a common denominator for all of humanity: We know what it’s like to suffer. Can I encourage you, fellow sufferer? Jesus knows what it’s like to suffer too!

Psalm 22 is a Psalm of David, and before looking to Jesus, we have to understand that David wrote this and he was experiencing suffering. He felt abandoned by God. He felt as though God wasn’t responding to his cries for help. Remember Psalm 3? David was under attack by his own son and his enemies said that there is no help for him in God? Have you ever felt that way? You’re suffering and struggling and you cry out for help and it’s like your prayers hit the metal ceiling and bounce right back down to your feet. You feel isolated. Abandoned. Unseen. David had these feelings too. This is why the Psalms are so helpful for us as we see the “man after God’s own heart” struggle with raw human emotion. Glorious highs, and gruesome lows. Times where he is praising the Lord with hands raised, and times where he is on his knees in prayer because he has no where else to turn. David knew what it was like to suffer… but we also know that this is true of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 4:15 CSB

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.

There’s an old hymn that goes like this

“Jesus knows all about our struggles

He will guide till the day is done

There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus

No not One, No not One.”

Jesus knows all about our struggles. Not only does He know, but Hebrews 4 reminds us that Jesus understands and sympathizes with us in our weaknesses and sufferings, because He to suffered. We can think of several different places that Jesus suffered. He suffered by being betrayed by friends. He suffered when people only came to Him for His gifts and not Who He was. He suffered rejection. He suffered brokenness. He suffered hunger and exhaustion. Psalm 22:1 is what Jesus quotes while on the cross, suffering the greatest evil and injustice in the history of the world - the cross of Christ. Jesus says, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken/abandoned me?”

Jesus never once sinned. He lived a perfect life. From the time that He was born in Bethlehem, through the teenage years and into adulthood, Jesus never once sinned. Can you even imagine that? Think about being Jesus’ brother or sister. Take James, for example, the author of the New Testament book. You think that you’re behaving and a good child, until you look up the line and remember that your older brother is literally the Son of God and perfect. Like whatever you do, you feel like a disappointment! Here is the perfect Son of God. Who knew no sin. Who was blameless. Yet, on the cross of Calvary we read this

2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB

21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

On the cross, God treated Jesus as if He were us… The one who knew no sin became sin. Galatians 3 tells us this

Galatians 3:13 CSB

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.

He became a curse! Many people wrestle with Psalm 22:1. This idea that Jesus was abandoned or forsaken and cries this out to the Father while suffering on the cross. Some say that Jesus did this to prove that He truly was the Messiah and to apply Psalm 22 to Himself. But we also have to be honest and deal with the gravity of sin. It doesn’t just say that Jesus carried our sins - it says that He became sin. Some say that Jesus merely felt alone, but wasn’t truly alone. I’ll be honest - there are a lot of views about Psalm 22:1 and some of them can lead us down a potentially dangerous path. What is safe to say? Jesus genuinely suffered on the cross. Not only physically, but spiritually as He drank the cup of God’s wrath against sin and He drank it dry until it was finished. We know that sin separates us from God and on the cross Jesus took our sin and shame so that we would not suffer for those things forever like we deserved. He was not delivered, so that we would be delivered. We can’t fully grasp Psalm 22:1, but we can be grateful to God for it - that Jesus really suffered in the place of sinners like you and me and took our sin upon Himself.

There is a movement that says that if you have enough faith, God will always deliver you from your suffering. If you have extra faith, if you believe enough, if you do enough, if you pray big enough, then God will heal, deliver, provide, and do exactly what you want Him to do. Yet here is Jesus, the Son of God, who had perfect faith, who was not delivered. There are times when we suffer and the deliverance doesn’t come. The healing doesn’t happen. In those moments, what do we do? When pain is the most powerful, where can we turn? Psalm 22:3 tells us that the focus goes to God’s faithfulness. Even when people mock. Even when people sneer. As Isaiah 53 tells us, as Jesus was despised and rejected by men. Even in these moments, the Suffering Servant trusted in God. From beginning to end, Psalm 22:9-11 show how the Lord has provided in the past and how, even when feeling abandoned, He knows that the Lord is there to help.

Brother or sister in your time of suffering, in your time of abandonment, in your time of loss, you can be filled with hope by remembering the faithfulness of God. He was faithful to David, even when David was faithless. He was faithful to Daniel in the Lion’s Den. He was faithful to Peter, even when Peter denied Jesus 3x. He was faithful to Paul even when Paul had a checkered past. Whenever we suffer, we can rest our hats on the fact that God is faithful. He is present with us in the pain. He is with us. Suffering is real, but so is the hope of our salvation.

The Response to Suffering (12-21a)

Again, we know that David had his fair share of enemies who sought to do him harm. We also know that Jesus was persecuted by His opponents and suffered at the hands of the Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers, but ultimately, He suffered because of our sin. Look at what Psalm 22 says about these enemies - they are compared to Bashan bulls, roaring lions, wild dogs, and a gang of evildoers. David likely wrote this after an encounter with enemies that left him physically bruised and spiritually broken. Have you been there? Maybe someone tried to destroy your reputation and it has kept you up at night as you’ve cried out to the Lord. Maybe someone tried to harm a relationship and it has tested your faith not only in people, but also in the Lord. Consider Jesus, suffering on the cross… looking down from the cross, and what does He see? As His bones are disjointed. As He is poured out like water. As His strength is dried up like clay. He see’s people surrounding Him, waiting for His death. He see’s people staring at Him. He see’s people dividing up His garments. He see’s people casting lots for His clothes. Psalm 22:14-18 is as close as you can get to what happened to Jesus on the cross as you can get, and David wrote this under inspiration of the Holy Spirit 1,000 years before Calvary!

Enemies are celebrating. Soldiers are taunting. The crowd is watching. Look at verse 15 - “You put me into the dust of death.” Does your theology allow for this? Isaiah 53:10

Isaiah 53:10 CSB

10 Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.

This isn’t saying that God is a vindictive monster - it is saying that God knew what the sacrifice of Jesus would accomplish. This was God’s plan - for Jesus to suffer in the place of sinners. Job understood this. That God has purpose in the pain. You know the story of Job, don’t you? Job worshiped God and Satan believes that the only reason Job worships God is because Job is blessed by God and he says that if God removes the blessings, Job will curse God. Look at God’s reply to this

Job 1:12 CSB

12 “Very well,” the Lord told Satan, “everything he owns is in your power. However, do not lay a hand on Job himself.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence.

Why was Job afflicted? Because the Lord gave Satan permission. As Luther said about Satan, he might be a lion, but he’s on a leash. God allowed Satan to do this. God allowed Job to go through this suffering. God didn’t do the suffering, but He allowed it to happen. Look at what Job says several chapters in

Job 13:15 CSB

15 Even if he kills me, I will hope in him. I will still defend my ways before him.

The he here is not Satan, because obviously Job’s hope is not in Satan. The “he” is God. Does your theology allow for this? That the reason we go through the fires of suffering is because God uses those flames to change us in ways we wouldn’t be changed otherwise?

About a year ago, I learned of a tragic story in Oklahoma of the Oklahoma Baptist Executive Director, Todd Fisher, who was in a serious car crash. This is the leader of the Oklahoma Baptist Convention, a friend to many, a leader of leader, a pastor to pastors. While I didn’t know him personally, I knew of him and knew that this was serious. Surgery after surgery, update after update, eventually the doctors said that they were going to have to amputate one of his legs due to the trauma it suffered in the crash. I’ve followed this story over social media, and it’s been incredible to see how raw he has been about his thoughts not only emotionally and physically, but also spiritually. To see someone’s life be completely changed overnight by suffering, and to continue to trust that the Lord has a plan in this suffering and that He is going to use this to bring about something good. That’s powerful stuff! Many have asked him, “Why you?” You’re a good person. Father. Husband. Pastor. Leader. Why you? His response is this, “Why not me?” In our times of suffering, why me focuses us on our circumstances and we aren’t promised answers to those questions in the first place, and this question usually gets us to spiral down a negative path. But Why not me points our focus upward. We trust that God is at work in this circumstance, even if we can’t see or feel it in the moment. In your suffering, why not me provides us with contentment even when we face serious challenges!

God’s Word is remarkable here - we see exactly what takes place on the cross 1,000 years before it unfolds. And what is the response to this suffering? We see a prayer. God is big enough and good enough to bring good things out of bad times, and this is why we pray. We see a prayer that is saturated in the attributes of God. God’s strength. God’s deliverance. God’s help. God’s salvation. The only hope we have in suffering is the intervention of the Lord and this is what Psalm 22 reminds us to do in our difficult days - to respond to suffering with prayer. To not look first to our problem, but to our Provider.

The Result of Suffering (21b-31)

If you’ve ever been sick, like not the stomach bug type, but critically and seriously sick and it won’t go away… you know how desperately you crave an answer. What’s going on? What can I do? What does the future look like? The Mayo Clinic, one of the leading hospitals in our country, shared a commercial a few years ago detailing this very thing: “In the shadow of uncertainty, an answer can light the way.” When you don’t know what’s going on in your life, an answer can provide you with hope. When you don’t know what tomorrow has in store, an answer can help you sleep at night. Have you ever experienced the transforming power of an answer?

“If you ask, ‘Why is this happening?’ no light may come, but if you ask, ‘How am I to glorify God now?’ there will always be an answer.” -J.I. Packer

South Gate, regardless of what we’re going through, the God of the Bible hears us and He answers us! He doesn’t always do it the way we expect. He doesn’t always do it at the volume we’d prefer. He doesn’t always do it on our timeline. But He answers. Consider, in the midst of Jesus’ suffering, how did God answer? Jesus suffers on the cross. He dies on the cross. He is buried for 3 days. And then what happens? On the 3rd day, Jesus rose from the dead. Understand this, friends, God is SO powerful that He didn’t save Jesus from death, He saved Him OUT of death. He didn’t rescue Him from suffering, He resurrected Him out of suffering. There are some sufferings that we will not be rescued from, but there is no suffering a Christian won’t be resurrected from! God hears His people. God answers His people. Because, God saves His people!

If you are saved today, you know this to be true. Next Sunday, we have not 1, not 2, but 3 baptisms and I’m excited - anyone else?! Think back to whenever you were saved, if you’re a Christian. You realize that you are a sinner separated from God… not good news. But then you realize that Jesus Christ didn’t just come to die on the cross, but He came to die in YOUR place, for YOUR sins. And then it clicks how desperately YOU need Jesus to save you and forgive you and change you. You repent of your sins. You place your faith in Christ. You believe in Christ as Lord and Savior. You’re a new person! Whenever this happens, there is excitement - and there should be excitement every time that we remember the story of our salvation! But we don’t just sit on that story, we stand and we share what Jesus has done with others. Psalm 22 speaks not only of God’s deliverance, but also of our responsibility to share God’s power with others. This passage says that this person will proclaim God’s name and praise Him and call on others to do the same!

Do you know what Jesus did after the Resurrection? One of my favorite verses in the Bible, Luke 24:27

Luke 24:27 CSB

27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.

What did Jesus do? Jesus preached to the Emmaus disciples. He preached from the Old Testament about how everything in the Old Testament was pointing to Himself. But this isn’t the only example of Gospel proclamation in the New Testament. Look at what Paul says in Ephesians 2:17 about Jesus

Ephesians 2:17 CSB

17 He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

Ephesians is Paul’s book to the church of Ephesus. Jesus never went to Ephesus. Yet, Paul says that Jesus proclaimed the good news of peace to those far away and those who were near. Did Paul lose his mind? No! He’s saying that whenever the Gospel is faithfully proclaimed, it is Jesus Himself who speaks through His faithful undershepherds. That means that every Sunday whenever the Word of God is opened and faithfully explained, we hear Jesus speaking through His Word. I had a doctoral professor say this a few years ago and it stuck: “Do you really think that you have something better to say than what Jesus has already said?” So whenever we gather, we don’t gather for opinions, conjecture, 3 tips to be a better this or that, we gather to hear “Thus saith the Lord.” As a pastor, that’s a challenging and daunting reality - that one day I’ll be held accountable for word that was said from this pulpit.

And for all of us who are saved today, whenever we share the good news of Jesus with others, we can have confidence that the same Jesus who died for our sins and rose for our salvation, is the same Jesus who fills us with His Spirit to share His Gospel with our neighbors and the nations.

Psalm 22:26–28 CSB

26 The humble will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him. May your hearts live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will bow down before you, 28 for kingship belongs to the Lord; he rules the nations.

Today, there is satisfaction, purpose, hope, and life that is available to you in the person and work of Jesus Christ. For those of us who are saved, we have a global Gospel that is to go before every nation, tribe, and tongue, because as Psalm 2 reminded us, there is one God seated on His throne and one day every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. How do we know this? Because Jesus Christ came to this earth. He suffered for our sins. He died in our place. And God turned Jesus’ suffering into salvation for people today. Suffering isn’t the end of the story - God is SO big that He uses suffering to bring about something better: salvation. Heb 9:22

Hebrews 9:22 CSB

22 According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

We would have no hope today without the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But because of what He has done, there is salvation today. Our responsibility is to share this good news not only here at South Gate in 2025, but in 2035, and 2045, and 2055. I’ll have no hair and be old by that point. Some of you won’t be here by that point. And we’ll have hundreds of people that aren’t here today, that will be here by that point. What will our message be then? The same message it is today. The same message of Scripture. There is a God who made all things perfect. We have sinned against Him and this world is broken as a result. But God didn’t leave us where we were, He promised to send His Son. Jesus came in order to seek and save the lost, and this is what He did by dying on the cross in our place to redeem us. And today our responsibility is to share this life-changing message with this world and watch the Word of God do the Work of God in the People of God for the Glory of God. Our message isn’t come to Jesus and your life will be perfect and easy - our message is turn from the things of this world and come to Jesus and you get Jesus!

Temporary suffering might stay for a season, but if you’re in Christ, your suffering has an expiration date because Jesus turns suffering into salvation! If all that death can do is bring us to Jesus, suffering can certainly make us more like Jesus!

Psalm 22 is a Psalm of David. David knew what it was like to suffer. To feel abandoned. To be surrounded by enemies who wanted to see him suffer. To go through suffering and to be kept there because that’s where God knew he needed to be. Psalm 22 also points us to Jesus - in fact, Jesus quoted it from the cross. Jesus knew what it is like to suffer. To feel abandoned. To be surrounded by enemies who wanted Him to suffer. To go through suffering and to be there because God was accomplishing something through that suffering that was good. Friends, don’t waste your seasons of suffering thinking that God is rejecting you when in actuality He is refining you. He is getting you to trust less and less in the things of this world and more and more in His power and strength. He is helping you see that there are things genuinely out of your control, but there is nothing out of His control. Remember that suffering is real, but that Christ has gone before us and suffered even worse so that we know that we will never suffer alone today.

The Bible is all about Jesus and Psalm 22 reminds us that pain is real, but God’s purposes are eternal. Paul calls suffering momentary light affliction. This too shall pass, friends.

When suffering strikes, where can we turn?

Look to the Cross - suffering could always be worse

Look to the Tomb - suffering won’t last forever

Look to the Word - suffering can’t steal our joy