And for our reading from Holy Scripture, we turn this morning to Psalm 22. Let us hear the Word of God. To the Choir Master, according to the door of the dawn, a Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted, they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued, in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads. He trusts in the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him. For he delights in him. Yet you are he who took me from the womb. You made me trust you at my mother's breasts. On you was I cast from my birth. And from my mother's womb you have been my God. Be not far from me. But trouble is near, there is none to help. Many bulls encompass me, strong bulls of vashon surround me. They open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, my tongue sticks to my jaws, you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me, the company of evildoers encircles me, they have pierced my hands and feet, I can count all my bones, they stare and gloat over me, they divide my garments among them. And for my clothing they cast lots. But you, O Lord, do not be far off. O you, my help, come quickly to my aid. Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the mouth of the lion. You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation, I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise Him. All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him. And stand in awe of Him, all you offspring of Israel. For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. And he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard when he cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation. My vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him shall praise the Lord. may your hearts live forever all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations shall worship before you for kingship belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations all the prosperous of the earth eat and worship before him shall bow all who go down to the dust even the one who could not keep himself alive a seed shall serve him it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn that he has done it may God bless to us what can only be his word I want this morning to try to survey the whole of this exceptional psalm but do it as you can see using verses 19 through 21 as my text I've chosen these verses because of their theme which is communion with God you can see that from verses 19 through to the first part of verse 21 but you oh Lord do not be far off you my help come quickly to my aid deliver my soul my precious life save me from the mouth of the lion. These are supplications, aren't they? They're requests. And as such, they bring to a conclusion what is the first part of this psalm, which is made up of petitions, urgent petitions. But then, in the second part of verse 21, and I see that the New International Version that you may be using translates this incorrectly because it continues with the form of the verb that expresses a request it reads rescue me save me really it should be you have rescued me you have saved me or better you have answered me because what proceeds is in the nature of requests and then what follows from verse 22 to the end of the psalm is a number of praises request answer praise that's the stuff of which communion with God is made up and so communion with God pervades the whole of this psalm first between David and the Lord secondly in the light of the title to the choir master this was something that the people of God were to sing in their worship of the Lord. But isn't this psalm about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? Sure. It is. That's absolutely clear, isn't it? That's what makes this, well, partly, that is what makes this psalm such an exceptional one because not only, as you are well aware does it begin with the words that our Lord himself used on the cross recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark Mark records it in Aramaic, Matthew in Hebrew My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But also in verses 7 and 8 you have words that describe the gestures and the words of the chief priests and the scribes as they strutted at the foot of Calvary they make mouths of me they mock me they wag their heads he trusts in the Lord let him deliver him let him rescue him for he delights in him and not only are the chief priests and the scribes referred to but even the acts of the soldiers that carried out Pilate's edict they have pierced my hands and my feet they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots So we dare not, dare not treat this psalm without making reference to the cross, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it isn't the case of the New Testament being added to the old, but the old predicting the new. David, the Apostle Peter tells us, was a prophet and he spoke by the Spirit. And here he is, using his own experience to some degree, but going beyond it in a way that at the time, he could not fully understand. To encapsulate and include his greater son, who would suffer far more than ever he did. And who would be delivered in a way in which he had not been delivered. And as a consequence of that suffering and deliverance, the Messiah would bring into being that seed promised in the Garden of Eden. That would serve him. A seed that is innumerable and international. From every kindred, tribe and tongue and nation. Here in this psalm then we not only have a prediction about the cross. But as the apostle Peter said elsewhere. The sufferings of Christ and the glories that follow. Not merely follow from a point of time, chronologically subsequent, but the glories that follow as a consequence, a direct consequence of that work, that atoning suffering, which was undergone and experienced on the cross by the Lord Jesus Christ. And what I want to try and do this morning Is to connect these two things Communion with God And the crucifixion Of the Lord Jesus Christ They don't often Get connected with each other This psalm I think demands that we connect them with each other the Lord Jesus Christ's death is often thought of of course inaccurately and that always happens whenever sin and its consequences are not recognized or denied but it is also possible for those who do see sin in connection with the cross or the cross in connection with sin to conceive of the Lord's death inadequately merely in terms of what was done to him by sinners or what he did for sinners the first as a disclosure of the sinfulness of sin the second by way of bringing benefit to sinners but if Jesus Christ had not communed with his father on the cross while he was dying there would be no salvation for any one of us so let's look at this psalm because what it tells us is this that on the cross Jesus was praying and on the cross he uttered praise if he had not communed with his father on the cross in faith and love and submission what would he have done? he would have sinned and where then would your salvation and mine be? The first way in which I want us to think about communion and crucifixion is in terms of communion broken. Communion with God broken. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That spells fellowship disrupted. Communion shattered. It doesn't mean prayer terminated. It just means there's no answer. And communion means conversation. And until there is a reply, here communion was broken. It was our Lord's comfort throughout his earthly life that he was in communion with his Father. The words that his father wanted him to say were disclosed to him by the Spirit. He said them. The works that his father wanted him to do were similarly disclosed to him. He did them. He always did those things that pleased the Father. And there were those occasions when it was a consciousness of his father's presence with him that sustained him in the face of immense difficulty. The Apostle John records in the Gospel the words, Yet I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. Look them up. There were two occasions. The first occasion was when the chief priests and scribes were disputing his claim to be the Messiah denying his divinity but he replied by being able to say that his father was with him he at that time knew ringing within his understanding and heart and conscience the authentication of his father that whatever his fore said about his identity and his mission the father was with him the father validated it confirmed it and you know that that happened time and time again didn't it as they maligned him and denied him but then there was another occasion it was when he anticipated being forsaken by his disciples you shall leave me he said you will be scattered and I am not alone but I am not alone the father that sent me is with me so that his father was with him and he knew it even though his own disciples left him alone but now going beyond even the agony of the garden of Gethsemane he says my God, my God why hast thou forsaken me he who knew what it was to be left alone by men and not left alone by God now knows that he is left alone by God communion broken and he describes the agony of it God is distant from him God is silent to him there are plenty of noises being made by other mouths human mouths scorn mock human faces stare and gloat the mouths of inhuman beasts are wide open roaring and ravening as they prowl around his mouth is dried up bones dislocated strength destroyed and God is silent the heavens are as brass that's why he says why? because it was so unjust it was unjust and incredibly perplexing he refers to the fact that his fathers prayed, trusted and they were heard and delivered our fathers trusted in you and you delivered them they cried you rescued, so on but why not me? And then he goes on to say that he has trusted ever since birth. That there had been that communion between him and God his Father in that unique sense. In terms of which he was dependent on him, supported by him, maintained by him from his earliest breath. And now all that is broken and shattered. Why? here is the one who ought not to have been forsaken who ought immediately to have been answered and delivered but instead of speech there was silence distance instead of nearness and instead of help the dust of death to which God was bringing him down you brought me to the dust of death why what I want you to see is this that there is not only a why in the opening words of this psalm there is a my he doesn't say why have you forsaken me but my God my God why have you forsaken me in other words you see he is not forsaking the one who forsook him rather he is praying, he is calling on him, he is addressing him, he is asking him for help, he is not turning his back on him he's reminding him that help should be given he maintains his obedience and his trust in God even in that darkness that is the portent of the dust of death so why? why communion broken? Well, Isaiah could tell David, couldn't he? Wounded for our transgressions. Bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. By his stripes we are healed. The New Testament brings in its evidence. God made him to be sin, not a sinner. God imputed sin to him, the sinless one, that sinners like you and me might be made the righteousness of God in him. And the fracture of communion between God and His incarnate Son ought to be a graphic, horrific reminder to us of the sinfulness of our own sin. And the justice of God's wrath against us on account of it. We would face what He endured were it not for Him. But there is not merely communion broken here. There's communion restored. And that's the end of verse 21, isn't it? You have answered me. And this isn't the answer, is it? This is the response to the answer. Here is the sufferer saying, Silence is past. Darkness is over. Here is response. Communion restored. And help given. And help given, you know, in terms of rest. Verse 2. And in terms of life, deliver my soul, my precious life. Rest and life. Here he is facing death. And the epistle to the Hebrews says he was heard on account of his godly fear. Crying to him who was able to save him out of death. And in these words, you have answered me, is an expression of assurance that favor is shown, rest is entered into, life is enjoyed, resurrection is going to follow, not death. And in these little words you have summed up the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and his exaltation to the right hand of God. Remember, his first word on the cross was, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I'm sorry, that's not true. Early on, in the three hours of darkness, that was there. But how did he finish? His last word was not, it is finished. So that's in Psalm 22 too. His last word was, Father. Not my God, Father. Into your hands I commit my spirit. Here is communion restored. Why? Well, because sin has been atoned for. because wrath has been exhausted, because the law has been honored and the work has been done. We must hurry on. Communion broken, communion restored. He's owned and vindicated as righteous. He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard when he cried to him. The agony was real on the cross. So was a triumph. so was the comfort it didn't begin with the ascension it was there on the cross it is finished Father into thy hands I commit my spirit communion broken communion restored what then? well communion shared that's what these closing verses are all about here is the one who accepted, vindicated, resurrected king king of the church, king of the world he now communes with his seed the seed of Israel, the seed of the nations they'll come, they'll be gathered, he'll make known God's name to them they will receive from Him that revelation of God in the cross and in the triumph that He Himself embodied. This is why there is nothing, nothing greater in the whole wide world than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What are we going to sing in heaven? You know the answer. and that's an indication that the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ his atoning death is incomparable never minimize it never marginalize it because everything was done there you see the way Psalm 22 ends that he has done it it opens with a cry of dereliction it ends with his cry of triumph and accomplishment and you and I and all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ live in the light of that glorious triumph over sin and the curse of the law death and Satan and even the exhausting of God's wrath he's now surrounded by a great congregation you might like to look at the way in which Psalm 22 moves because it's just the same as in John 17 the Lord's high priestly prayer both begin with prayer for himself then it goes on to pray for his disciples as the microcosm of true Israel and then he says neither pray I for these alone but for all them who shall believe on me through their word and the whole company of the elect the great congregation gathered together as a result of his being forsaken instead of them and his being accepted instead of them and now they're installed in God's favor and you see they all eat twice in the conclusion of this psalm reference is made to eating what's that? well in the Old Testament an Israelite who received any answer to prayer any blessing or favor from God could come and bring a sacrifice and having offered that sacrifice it was to be shared in a feast shared with the poor and the outcast and the lonely and the stranger and the afflicted he was afflicted for us but delivered he asked life of God and God gave it to him length of days and blessing forever we sang it from Psalm 21 and you know what he does just as he died for us so now he lives for us and he distributes among us those blessings of the salvation that he accomplished a disclosure of God's saving name Lord covenant deliverer and all the blessings of his so great salvation he says to us this morning may your hearts live forever that's an echo of the cry that would go up when a king was enthroned long live the king instead of basking in regal glory he looks down at his afflicted people at you and me and what he says to us all who trust in him now as we are poor and weak and sinful and tried perplexed and afflicted he says to you and to me may your hearts live forever a seed shall serve him and it shall be said of the Lord to generation after generation until the consummation of the kingdom. This is what he has done. Not tried to do, but accomplished because of what Jesus did once and for all and forever on the cross of Calvary and to him be the glory Amen