I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 27. We'll be considering verses 45 through 46. This is during the period of time that Jesus was hanging upon the cross. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli lama sabachthani. That is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? To be abandoned and left all alone is one of the most dreadful experiences for any of us. We hear tell of prisoners of war that have testified that even worse than the torture that they endured from their enemy was the solitary confinement and being cut off from all communication and all society with others. And much of the fear that we experience in our lives comes from the sense that we're all alone, that we're facing that situation or that individual or that temptation or that trial all by ourselves. No one cares, no one is standing with us, and therefore we fear. We've all experienced that, I believe, sometime or another in our lives. It's not something unique to one or two of us. I think it's something that we all have known. To speak of it is to be, I think, is for everyone to be able to say, yes, that's me, I've been there, or I am there, even now. However, we've also likely, As Christians experience great peace, that we've seen great comfort come when the great trials, overwhelming situations approach us. And rather than going into a state of panic, being paralyzed by fear, we have endured We have learned, we have grown through those circumstances and situations because others were near us. Because others stood with us. Because others prayed for us and prayed with us. And because we sensed the presence of the Lord Jesus with us in those situations. From our text today, we see that the Lord Jesus suffered that sense of being forsaken and all alone in a way none of us has ever experienced. None of us can truly understand what Jesus went through. We do our best to understand from from scripture, from what we know by way of doctrine and the teaching of God's word, but we cannot plummet to the depths of understanding of what Jesus was going through. But in this passage today that is before us, let us explore the mystery, the divine mystery of Jesus Christ being forsaken by his father. Main points from our text are these. First of all, the desperate cry of being forsaken. And then, secondly, the confident cry of hope. So first of all, the desperate cry of being forsaken Again in verses 45 and 46. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. That is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? As we consider this portion of God's word and the context in which it occurs, Jesus has been falsely accused before the Sanhedrin, he's been taken before Pilate and Herod, he has been condemned, he has been tortured, and he has been crucified, hung upon a cross. From the sixth hour to the ninth hour, which is from about noon to 3 p.m., we read here that there was a great darkness that supernaturally came over the land at that time. That darkness is an indication of judgment. Even in the Old Testament, darkness gives us that meaning of judgment. For example, in prophetic literature, when darkness comes by way of an invading army, by way of the destruction of a nation, God uses that language that he's turning out the lights. He's darkening the sun. The moon does not shine. And so that is again figurative language that indicates God is bringing judgment. For example, in Isaiah 1310, this is a prophecy speaking of the destruction of Babylon. But notice the language that is used. And again, this is not language that literally happened in the stars and among the sun and the moon, but this is figurative language basically saying to the people that God is bringing judgment. He's turning off the lights of that nation. There we read, for the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light. The sun shall be darkened and is going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And it goes on to say in that chapter that this is speaking of the judgment that God would bring against Babylon for her wickedness. Likewise, hell is described as being a place of darkness in 2 Peter 2.4. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment. Darkness and judgment. This darkness that we find here in Matthew chapter 27 pointed to God's judgment, not upon a nation, But God's judgment upon his own beloved son, his only begotten son, his judgment fell upon Jesus Christ, the son of God. Jesus Christ was bearing upon the cross for sinners chosen in Jesus Christ, God's judgment. And that judgment fell especially in a way that Jesus had not experienced before during these events of his passion and suffering and fell upon him in those three hours when darkness fell upon the land. It was a heavenly sign. That darkness was a heavenly sign for all to see. that the one who hung from that cross before them was cursed by God as bearing the sin of his people. He was cursed on their behalf. not because he deserved the curse, not because he was unworthy, not because he had sinned and deserved punishment, but he was suffering God's holy wrath for us, his people, as he hung upon the cross. And we come now to that cry of incomprehensible anguish from the cross, first given In Hebrew, in our text, in verse 46, eli, eli lama sabachthani, that's taken from Psalm 22.1, so it's just a quote. The Hebrew there is a quote from the Hebrew Old Testament from Psalm 22.1, but then it's translated for us. into Greek and here, obviously, from Greek into English for us. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This is the fourth utterance of the Lord Jesus from the cross. The first three utterances of Jesus from the cross are found in Luke 23, 34. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Second utterance, Luke 23, 43, and Jesus said unto them, are unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. The third utterance from John chapter 19 verses 26 through 27. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple, behold thy mother. And this is the fourth utterance. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This desperate expression from the lips of Jesus Christ is filled with the utmost suffering on the part of our Savior. Let's answer some questions as we consider what Jesus was undergoing here. Let's answer some questions concerning this loud cry of torment that fell from the lips of Christ while hanging upon the cross. First question, did Jesus suffer as God or as man? Well, first of all, Jesus was fully God and fully man. John 1,1, in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. But verse 14 of John 1 says, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. When Jesus became a man, He did not lay aside His divine nature, He did not lay aside any of His divine attributes, for God cannot lay aside who He is, otherwise He ceases to be God. The Son of God supernaturally assumed to himself a human nature. He didn't lose anything. He simply added a human nature to his divine person. A second response in regard to did Jesus suffer as God or as man? It is impossible for God to suffer pain. for he is unchangeable and he is eternally blessed. God doesn't suffer pain. The theological term that is used to refer to this truth, the impossibility of God's suffering, is the word impassable. And that's not spelled A-B-L-E, it's I-B-L-E. I-M-P-A-S-S-I-B-L-E, impassable. It means that it's impossible for God to suffer. Thus, Jesus Christ did not suffer as God, but he suffered as man. That was why the Son of God became man. That's why we have the incarnation, that he might identify himself with guilty sinners, not that he was guilty of any sin, but that he took upon flesh that that sin might be accounted to him and that he might suffer God's wrath for all of his people. But the fact that Jesus was fully God made his sufferings as a man of infinite value to redeem sinners. Because a mere man cannot die for another man to redeem him from a sin. I may be able to take somebody's place legally in a court system and say, I want that punishment to fall upon me and I could legally perhaps take the place of somebody else, but I cannot take the place of anybody by way of their sin before God. A mere human being, not even a perfect human being can do so, but the God man alone was able to do so and did so. The second question, did Jesus suffer in both body and soul as a man? Well, Jesus suffered excruciating torments in his body, for sure. He was beaten with fists, blindfolded and beaten with fists of the temple guard, and then asked, who hit you? I can only imagine his face was a bloody bruised face, hardly recognizable after being beaten the way he was. He was whipped with a Roman scourge which had pieces of iron and bone at the end of each strand of leather cord, several strands of leather cord. And as each one of those strands, that bone or that metal hit his back and wrapped around, even around his back to his front, it tore away every time flesh from the Lord Jesus. In fact, many died just from a Roman scourging alone. It was made to wear a crown of long Judean thorns, crown that was beaten into a skull with a wooden rod. He crumbled under the weight of the cross which he carried to the place of his crucifixion due to a lack of and loss of blood and loss of strength. He had spikes pounded through his hands and through his feet. He was suspended between heaven and earth upon the cross. One of the most cruel ways to execute anyone because the death was usually so slow and one died by suffocation. Trying to hoist oneself up to be able to breathe but as one weakens and weakens, falls limp and cannot any longer hold oneself up, there is that matter of suffocating, not being able to get breath. Yes, Jesus suffered in his body for sure. But Jesus also suffered as no man has ever suffered in his human soul. He faced the terrors of God's wrath and was so disturbed in his soul about what he was to face from the Lord God that in the Garden of Gethsemane, we read that he sweat great drops of blood in Luke 22, 44. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground. He was falsely accused of blasphemy and treason. He was mocked and ridiculed by soldiers who bowed before him in jest. He was publicly shamed by being stripped of his clothing as if he were a mere animal. He was cursed and accounted as one cursed. Even the Old Testament says, cursed is the one who hangs upon a cross, upon a tree. His curse is being hung upon a cross between two criminals, a sinless son of God. He beheld the suffering and the sorrowing of his mother, below him and other women as they stood near the cross. He who knew no sin sensed in his human soul the full weight of God's wrath as he suffered in the place of unworthy sinners chosen in love from before the foundation of the earth. His suffering in body and soul was heightened, not lessened, but was heightened to the maximum because he did not deserve it. We deserved it. He did not deserve it. His sinless perfection only intensified the suffering rather than minimizing it at all. what absolute anguish beyond any description for the unspotted, untainted Son of God to suffer the infinite wrath of a holy God as the chief of sinners, because all the sins of his people were accounted to him. at that time. He was not infused with their sin. He never became a sinner as if he were infused with their sin, but he suffered on account of their sins. Their sins were put to his account. And the father judged him as the greatest sinner, as the greatest sinner that ever lived. And then this question, How was Jesus forsaken by God the Father? Lord Jesus was not forsaken by God the Father as to his deity. As we noted above, God cannot suffer, nor can the Father forsake the Son as to deity, but he did suffer. And God the Father did forsake his son as to his humanity. In some mysterious and incomprehensible way, Beyond our finite understanding, the light of God's countenance was diminished. And the sense of God's presence with Jesus was obscured. And the father turned his back. during that period of time upon his son. So that Jesus experienced being forsaken by his father as he became the sacrifice for the sin of those that he came to save. The father, during that time of darkness, was pouring out upon his son the wrath that we deserved. And that's why Jesus cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This was the agony, dear ones, above all agony, which the Lord Jesus suffered for sinners chosen out of love, chosen in Christ Jesus before the world began. Jesus was silent as a lamb being led to the slaughter. He was silent as he suffered the pain of the scourge upon his back, ripping his back to shreds. He was silent when the crown was driven into his skull, crown of thorns. As he felt the spikes being driven into his hands and his feet, he was silent. But when the father forsook him, he cried out with a loud voice in anguish, beyond comprehension. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He suffered, dear ones, being forsaken in order that we who receive the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord might never suffer that forsakenness. He was forsaken for you who trust in him. Was there ever such a demonstration of love Absolutely not. That which was most precious to Jesus Christ, that is the presence, the sense and experience of the Father's presence with him was willingly sacrificed in order to secure the salvation of us who deserved to be upon that cross. Deserved to suffer for all eternity in hell. that which was most painful to Jesus was most willingly endured by him for his beloved bride. Not a perfect bride, but a sinful bride, but a bride that will be made perfect in heavenly glory. Let us consider the last main point, the confident cry of hope. Verse 46, focusing upon, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Though this is a desperate cry of anguish and suffering on the part of Christ, and though The father did for this period of time turn his back upon the Lord Jesus. It was not a cry of utter despair and hopelessness because Jesus says, my God, my God, he repeats it. Why hast thou forsaken me? He was confident, even in the midst of his suffering, he was confident that he would pass through this anguish and this torment. For the Father was not just God in a very general sense to Jesus as the Son of Man, but was His God. in a very personal way, in a very personal sense. The possessive pronoun that is used here, my, is a pronoun of trust, is a pronoun of relationship. It cannot be broken. Jesus' confidence was in God who would sustain and bring him out of this valley of the shadow of death. I don't often give anecdotes or tell much about myself personally in sermons. And so once in a while that I see an illustration that is very, very fitting. As a young child, I well remember my fear of darkness, my fear of darkness that I experienced. I was petrified at times as I lay in bed, uh, surrounded by that darkness or as I walked in that darkness, I had a, just a phobia of darkness, but now as adult and adult, I, I've looked back and I realized that it wasn't the darkness that petrified me. It was rather the sense of being all alone that frightened me, that I was all by myself. For I could rest, I could sleep, and I could walk anywhere in that darkness if I knew my father was near, my earthly father was near. And I dare say, dear ones, that It was facing the guilt and condemnation for man's sin and the attacks of the satanic forces all alone, being forsaken by his father. That was the greatest torment that Jesus experienced, all alone, feeling all alone as a man at that time. Beloved, the same is true of us in our lives every day. What is it that makes various situations so frightening to us? Again, I say it's not the darkness. It's not the person or the situation that you are facing. but it is rather the sense that you are all alone that is so terrifying, that is so frightening to you. However, when you, by faith, lay hold of the Almighty God, the Almighty Lord Jesus, who calmed the raging seas and hushed the mighty billows of the wind who powerfully changed those who were tormented by demons, by expelling and casting out those demons, those powers of hell, and who even endured for our sake, being alone and forsaken by God and man. You can, by God's grace, face any situation, any person, knowing you walk hand in hand with the Lord Jesus, the creator of the universe, the one who redeemed you, who was willing to be forsaken by his father in order to rescue you and save you in order that you may never be forsaken. You can walk. in any darkness and face any situation as long as you know and are assured that Jesus Christ is with you, that you're not alone. Since fear results so often from thinking that you're all alone, and not from the darkness and not from the person or the situation you face. The answer to overcoming fears then is to grow in your knowledge of Jesus Christ and his power to save you. As Christians, dear ones, we must grow in our faith in Christ. We must grow in understanding his promises. that his promises are not empty, that his promises are not hollow. His promises are true, that he has promised that he will be with us at all times, that we are never alone. Our elder brother, the Lord Jesus, walks with us hand in hand, even into the fiery furnace, heated seven times hotter than normal, as he did. A Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Psalm 23, verse four. Note these promises from the Lord, our God, and cling to them. Write them down, memorize them. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear No evil. Why? For thou art with me. Thou art with me. Psalm 2710. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. He will be with me. Isaiah 4110. Fear thou not. Why? For I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Hebrews 13, verses five through six. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have. For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. As the children of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, we are all going to be walking various times in our life where it seems as though we cannot feel the hand of Christ, where it seems as though the Lord Jesus, in facing certain situations, is a million miles away from us as we walk from those one dark room into another dark room. Why does that happen in the Christian life? that we don't sense the presence of Christ at certain times in our lives, and as a result, fear wells up within us. Let me give you three reasons why that happens in our lives, at least three. First of all, Christians can not lose the presence of Christ, but they can lose the sense of Christ's presence. due to sin, unrepented sin in our lives. And when we continue in rebellion and will not repent, the sense of Christ's presence is often withdrawn from us. Secondly, this may be due to the weakness of our faith, that we're not trusting in the promises of God. God says he's with us, but We're saying, I don't feel God's presence. But then, are we going to believe God? Is God more faithful? Is God more true than our feelings? See, again, we do not experience the presence of God many times because we simply doubt God. We simply doubt his promises. He wants us to cling to him even when we don't feel his presence, to know and to trust his promise that he says he's with us. And then thirdly, this may be due to the wisdom of God who drives us in our growth in Jesus Christ to withdraw that presence from us so as to create within us an ever greater desire to flee to him. and ever greater desire to spend time with him, to enjoy him. And so when we sense that loss of Christ's presence, what do we do? Do we just go on our merry way or are we rather saying, Lord, as the psalmist says, where art thou, Lord? I want that presence. I want the sense of that presence that I've known. Give that to me, I desire it. I hunger and thirst for that sense of thy presence. Because Jesus Christ was brought victoriously through his period of being forsaken under the mighty hand of his father, we have, dear ones, a certain hope that no matter what we face, In this life, we too shall be brought victoriously as his people, as his children, trusting in Christ. We shall be brought victoriously through periods, feeling abandoned, forsaken, rejected, and all alone. He suffered, Jesus suffered that aloneness. that you might come to him as a sympathetic high priest that he is, who knows and who understands your aloneness, who understands when you feel rejected. who understands when you feel forsaken and abandoned. He understands because he endured more than we will ever know and understand. We come to a sympathetic high priest who comforts and encourages us that he passed through that period so that we might not have to experience for all eternity being forsaken in hell and that we might have great comfort in fleeing to him even now that he understands and he will comfort, he will encourage us. Hebrews 4.15 says, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. The enemy, dear ones, the enemy would seek to bring panic into our hearts. and we've seen it many times over, have we not, in our lives, bring fear, unbridled fear, into our hearts, telling us that we're all alone, there's no one to help us. That's what the enemy, now that, again, when you feel that, when you sense that, know that that's not coming from the Lord, as God's people, as those who are trusting in Jesus Christ, Understand where that's coming from. That's coming from the enemy of your soul, who wants you to feel alone, who wants you to despair, who wants you to be hopeless. And so recognize the source, but understand that it's a lie. It's a lie from the father of lies. Faith, dear ones, true faith does not rest in what we feel or in what we see. True faith rests in the promise and the faithfulness of God, who cannot lie. Romans 3, 4 says, let God be true, but every man a liar, and every demon a liar. and the devil himself a liar. Let God be true. So when fear arises in our hearts, it's always a question. And that aloneness, that we're all by ourself arises. It's always an issue of faith. Will we believe God and his promises? Are we going to believe our changeable feelings? that are like a roller coaster, up and down and around. And if that's where we put our faith and our confidence, we are going to be spinning and spinning and spinning to the degree that we don't know which way is up or down. We'll be so confused and we'll be so much in despair and wanting to surrender and give up and end it all. But when our faith and confidence is in the God who cannot lie, in his promises, we are overcomers through Jesus Christ. This is now the time to learn through the experiences that we face, even rejection by others, the aloneness that we face, the forsakenness, the abandonment that we experience in our lives. This is the time while we're yet breathing to grow in this area. Don't wait, don't wait until you're on your deathbed to wrestle with this issue. Because if you have not wrestled with it now and have not learned to overcome your fear now of being alone, death will be pure agony for that person. But if we grow and we learn daily, trusting in the promise of God now, while God gives us breath, that we are never alone, then when we face death, God will give us great confidence that he is with us, even in the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with us. So let this truth in conclusion, let this truth that the Lord Jesus will not forsake you. Likewise, teach you to come alongside of those who are suffering or going through difficult trials, just as you have been ministered to by those who have not left you alone. in the midst of your suffering, you be likewise those who go to be beside those who are going through difficult times. You be the countenance. You be the voice. You be the ears to listen. You be the hands of the Lord Jesus to help. in order to assure others, fellow brethren, and even non-Christian neighbors that you are with them, that they are not alone. And I close on this one point. We don't come to Jesus Christ. Having said all that I've said, someone might walk away thinking, I want to come to Christ simply to fill some emotional need that I have. that I feel I'm alone. We don't come to Christ simply to fill an emotional need. We come to Jesus Christ because we're sinners and we need his forgiveness. We need the righteousness of Jesus Christ and when he forgives us, His promises become us, and we then can claim, and we can cling to the promise that we are not alone, but we don't come to Jesus simply because we feel alone, but don't understand. We've got a greater, more significant need than feeling alone. We're sinners in need of Christ's forgiveness. And so may what has been said today drive us to the Lord Jesus Christ because we need him to be our Savior. We need him to be our Lord. And in so doing, he will assure us that we're never alone. Amen. Please stand with me in prayer. Our glorious God, how we praise Thee that Thou hast given to us today Thy truth that does indeed change the whole way that we view life. That Jesus was forsaken, that we might never be forsaken. That he was alone, that we might never be alone. That he was abandoned for a brief period of time, that we might never be abandoned by thee. Our Lord, we pray, encourage us, lift up our hearts today. Cast us upon our Savior. Let us learn that faith is not trusting in our feelings, but trusting in the unbreakable promise of God. We thank Thee, our Lord, for Thy truth. We thank Thee that Thou art with us even now as we have heard Thy word, as we have heard it read and preached. And Lord, we pray that Thou would send us forth with that assurance that we are never alone if we are in Jesus Christ by faith alone. In Jesus' name, amen.