Turn in scripture to the word of God in the book of Psalms. We'll read Psalm 22 and read the first 22 verses of that Psalm. Psalm 22 verses 1 through 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. O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent. But thou art holy, 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. Oh, 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. 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. 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. But be not thou far from me, O Lord, and my strength haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling, from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee." We read God's word to that point and now direct our attention to the words of our text which are verses 6-8. But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. Or 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. The psalm, beloved, is one of the psalms in the Old Testament that is very clearly a messianic psalm. And in this particular psalm, we are given a very vivid prophecy of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. David was used by God to write this psalm. And David speaks about suffering, specifically about the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. Referring to his suffering, he speaks of what our Savior would endure and would experience when he came into this world many, many years later. You understand, beloved, and you must understand, that David is not merely speaking about Christ, but that Christ Himself is speaking in this psalm, and Christ Himself is speaking about Himself. That's the proper perspective that we ought to take with regard to this psalm and with regard really to all of the psalms that are in Scripture. Though it is more clearly so in some than in others, nevertheless, it is Christ who is speaking. And Christ speaks here through David about himself. and speaks through David about what he would and did experience when he came into our flesh. And so it is, as is obvious from the words of our text, Christ himself who says, but I am a word and no man. I am despised. I am scorned. I am a reproach of men. These words concerning the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ are central to the gospel. Central to the gospel as that gospel is preached to us, and central to the gospel as that gospel is displayed for us also in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Our Savior's awful suffering. as that is referred to in the words of our text, was the main event in his life, and the main event in the history of our salvation. And that's humbling. It's humbling because, as we look at the suffering of Christ, we must acknowledge it is because of us, because of our sins. that he was treated as a worm and no man. But that's also a reason for thankfulness. He has delivered us from our sin. He has done that by becoming a worm and no man. Consider then with me Christ hated by his eyes. Or notice how it was shown, why it was so fierce, and how it was atoning. As we already said, it is Christ himself who is speaking in the words of our text, and it is Christ himself who says, I am a worm and no man. And by those words, Christ is referring to how he was viewed and how he was treated by fellow humans. That was true all his life long upon this earth, viewed by them and treated by them as a worm and no man, but that was especially the case when he hung upon the cross. Matthew chapter 27 and verse 39 and following shows the fulfillment of this text in Psalm 22 at the time that Christ was on the cross. Matthew 27 verse 39, And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, 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. Likewise also the chief priests, mocking him with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others, himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him. And then notice this, quoting from Psalm 22, they said, He trusted in God, let him deliver him now. if he will have him, for he said, I am the Son of God. And then the thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. All they that see me laugh me to scorn, Christ said. We see its fulfillment. And those who said these words against Christ were his own people. They were not the pagans and the heathens. They were not from a different nation in the world at that time. They were not those who had a different religion. a different God whom they worshipped. You might expect them to mock the Christ and the Jewish religion and this man amongst the Jews in that way. But it wasn't that. The Jews said this to him. The church of Jesus' day said this to him. The chosen nation from the Old Testament spoke this way concerning the Christ. They who were looking for Christ the Messiah to come said this concerning him and treated him in this way. He came to the church of that day. He came unto his own people. and they did not receive him. Instead, they turned against him and they hated him. They had expressed it earlier when they condemned and crucified the Christ, though it was clear that he was guiltless and though Pilate himself had to admit and admitted publicly that he found no fault in the Christ. People cried out, away with him, crucify him, crucify him. And now that continued. They weren't satisfied with what they had done. Now as he hung upon the cross, more hatred is manifested against him. He is attacked and he is mocked still. They laughed him to scorn. They treated him not as a human, but as a worm. The text shows, and the fulfillment of the text in the New Testament shows, that their hatred against Christ was greater than was usually shown to someone who was crucified. Usually, men showed some pity toward a fellow human who was crucified. Even if that man was a criminal that was being crucified, they showed some sympathy. They were not callous and cold and indifferent to the suffering of a fellow human being. The crucified was treated as a human. And that would be the least that you could expect. But none of that was shown to Jesus Christ. Not one ounce of sympathy. In his own words, he said, I am regarded and treated as a worm and no mere as one who is subhuman. I am viewed as being worthless. I am viewed as something that can be trampled on and trampled underfoot. I am humiliated by men more than anyone else ever has been. I am reduced by man to nothing. Treated as a worm and no man. And Christ adds this, I am a reproach of men and despised of the people. You understand that someone who is reproached and someone who is despised is not someone who goes through life unnoticed. Someone who is reproached and despised is not someone who is unknown to anyone. He doesn't live and die without being known or missed. He's not like a poor beggar who lives on the streets in the inner city and is basically unknown to anyone and basically ignored by everyone. But rather, someone who is reproached and someone who is despised is someone who is well-known. They have met and they have come into contact with this person, and those who despise and reproach him have actively and purposely opposed and rejected him. That's what was done to Jesus Christ. He was well known. He was. His fame spread abroad through all the land. Everyone had heard of him. Everyone had heard of, or else seen, the mighty miracles that he did. Everyone had heard of, or actually heard for themselves, the mighty power by which he preached the Word of God. And yet these men, on the basis of everything that they had known concerning him, and everything that they had observed and seen concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, made an evaluation and a judgment concerning him and said, this man is worthless, this man is good for nothing, this man is simply a worm to be rejected, not fit to live amongst us upon the earth. A worm, no man, despised and reproached. Not only was it that the hatred that was shown against the Lord Jesus Christ was greater than usual, but it was very fierce hatred. It was intense. The text is really describing the crowd that gathered around the cross, the Jews, his own people. They laughed him to scorn, the text says. They shook their heads at him. They expressed thereby their intense hatred and their utter disapproval of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, the text adds, they shot out their lips against Him. They poured out a stream of bitter and scornful words against the Son of God. These words, he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. They attacked Christ, as verse eight points out, in that which was dearest and closest to his heart. They knew well that he trusted in Jehovah as his God. They knew well that he confessed that God was his heavenly Father, and they made that That trust that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ in our flesh, had expressed and confessed in God, they made that trust the subject of the stream of insults that came flowing out of their wicked mouths. We're familiar with that from the accounts in the gospel. We can hear that speaking these words to the Christ. As he hung upon the cross, dying the accursed death and enduring the agony and pain of the death of the cross, they said, you claim to trust in God. You even call yourself God's son, his only begotten son, his beloved son. You claim that he loves you. You claim that God delights in you and is pleased with you, and therefore you are implying by all of that that He can and He will deliver you from us. Call on Him that. Cry out to God. to rescue you from our hands and to deliver you from the awful cross on which you are hanging. But you don't cry out to him. And their accusation was this, you don't cry out to him because you know he won't deliver you. You know he does not delight in you as you claim. They attacked his trust. in God. What awful wickedness. What explains that? That is, what explains the intensity of the hatred of men against the Son of God? Was it because of something that Christ had done or said? No. Was it because Christ had sinned against them? No. That would be impossible. Why was it? Well, they hated him simply because of who he was. They hated him because he was the son of God. They hated him because he was God himself. They knew who he was. That was clear from his preaching and that was clear from the miracles that he had performed. He left no doubt that he was God, divine. But sinners will not believe it. Sinners by nature always reject and hate the Christ, so that he can say in verse 7 of our text, all do this, all they that see me laugh me to scorn. That's all mankind, including us, as we are by nature. What do sinful men do? When they are faced with a question, what do you think of Christ? And what will you do with Christ? Then they say, we will hate him. And we will trample him underfoot. And we will despise and reject and crucify and kill this man. That's what wicked man always does. when he has the Son of God before him, and that manifests, beloved, that manifests to us the horror of man's depravity. Sinful man, every sinful man. Every man from every age and from every social status in this world and from every nation of the world and from all languages of this world, sinful man has by nature an intense hatred of God. If that shows us anything, then it shows us the necessity of Christ's death on the cross for us. Are we really any different by nature? By nature, we're not. Where would we stand in relation to that cross if not for the grace of God? Where would we stand in relation to that crowd that is gathered at the cross if not for the grace of God? We would be part of it and not separate from it. And what would our attitude be toward the Christ? And what would we say to him as he is dying on the cross? Except for the grace of God, we would say exactly what these wicked men said. By nature, we are the same. For that reason, it was necessary for Christ to be on that cross to deliver us from such depravity and from such great sins that we would commit by nature. For that reason, it was necessary for the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross to be atoning suffering, which it was, which it was. The key, beloved, to understanding the atoning character of the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ is first of all this. He suffered all of this at the hands of men and then also at the hands of God alone. Alone. As we noted, he had sympathy from no one. There was no one defending him. There was no one that suffered with him. When we suffer, we usually have others who share our burdens. And that's a significant help to us in our suffering. But Jesus Christ suffered all alone, even his closest friends, his disciples, all forsook him and fled and left him to suffer all of this at the hands of men, and then what he suffered at the hands of God, all on his own, all alone. But you understand it had to be that way. because he alone could bear the wrath of God and he had to bear that wrath of God alone, so that just as he suffered all alone at the hands of men, with no one showing sympathy toward him, so also must he suffer that way at the hands of God when the wrath of God came upon him intensely during those three hours of darkness on the cross, a suffering for all the sins of all of the elect of God. And no one shared that fury of the wrath of God with him because no one could share it with him. He must suffer it alone in order to make atonement, and he did. And secondly, the atoning character of the suffering of Christ is evident from the fact that he did all of this willingly. Take note of his actions while he was on the cross when men threw this verbal abuse and these verbal attacks in his face. He could have defended himself against that. He could have defended himself against them with words coming out of his mouth and with words that would express and show and manifest his great power. He could have destroyed them in a moment, and he could have at least taken up their challenge, come down from the cross and prove to us that you are the cross. He could have done that. But knowing that he was atoning for our sins, he didn't. He stayed on the cross. He suffered silently and he let all of that from wicked men fall upon him. And that was duplicated by him during the three hours of darkness. When the wrath of his father was on him as the payment for sin, he was silent. He endured it. Not only a silent lamb when he was in the hands of men, but also and especially when he was in the hands of God. Therein, beloved, lies our salvation. The fact that he suffered a lot and that he suffered it willingly. His motive was love, love of God and love for those whom God had given to him. In love, he took our place on that cross. In love, he remained silent in all his suffering. In love, he suffered ill treatment from the wicked hands of wicked men and the wicked mouths of wicked men. And in love for us, he suffered ill treatment without objection, without trying to free himself, and without trying to retaliate against them. And in love for us, he endured the wrath of God. that we deserve. A wonderful Savior and a great salvation. Atonement was made. The wrath of God against our sin was endured by Him lovingly and willingly unto the bitter end so that we never have to face that wrath of God. And he could say, it is finished, finished for us. So may we be thankful that our Lord Jesus Christ remained on the cross during his suffering. He did not react to the hatred of men. And therefore, he has delivered us by bearing Not only what men brought upon Him, but by the wrath of God that was behind it, and then the wrath of God that followed it, delivered us from our natural hatred of God and of Christ. And having applied that salvation by His Spirit, He has renewed us so that we no longer are who only hate Him, but we love God, and we love Christ our Savior. We thank God for His gift, and we thank Christ for being that perfect gift who atoned for us. Amen. Father in God, we thank Thee for Christ. We thank Thee for Thy Word to us concerning Him. Thankful for the wonderful salvation we have and the life eternal in our hearts and the hope of that forever and ever because of Christ. In His name we pray, amen.