Cross Examination - Part B

You were chosen in Christ before the foundations of the earth.

He had you in mind all along. And listen, I can only think this is what the New Testament means when it says this. And for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame. You were not an afterthought in the redemptive work of Jesus. And today on Connect with Skip Heitig, Pastor Skip concludes his message, cross examination, and shows you that you were always part of God's plan. But first we want to tell you about a resource that will equip you to give evidence for your faith in Jesus. Josh McDowell has written books that rank among the best-selling Christian works of all time. Now with his son, Sean, Josh has released Evidence for Jesus. God gave us our mind and our heart to work in unity.

To what? To glorify him. The Bible, I call it fact fiction or fallacy. I want to answer two questions about the Bible. This is what I struggle with as a non-believer. One, is what we have written down the same as what was written down 2,000 years ago or has it been changed?

Second, was what was written down true? In Evidence for Jesus, Josh and Sean McDowell have adapted and updated the Evidence for Jesus section from their classic apologetics book, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, into a concise, readable, and accessible resource for those seeking answers about Jesus. This powerful new resource is our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to support the broadcast ministry of Connect with Skip Heitig.

Josh and Sean McDowell make a powerful team. If you have questions about Jesus or know someone who does, this book is perfect. So get your copy of Evidence for Jesus today when you give a gift of $50 or more. Evidence for Jesus is our thanks for helping us expand the reach of the teachings on Connect with Skip.

Give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Okay, now let's hear what Skip has for us today. 42 times the Old Testament has the word tola or tola. Sometimes it's translated worm. Other times it's translated scarlet, like the color scarlet. Now we listen to that and go, I don't understand. Those two concepts are so far apart, worm scarlet.

Why is that? Well, come to find out, there was actually a worm that was a scarlet worm called the crimson crocus. It was the worm which they extracted the fluid out of to make a scarlet dye to dye garments like the royal robes of kings or the scarlet hangings in the tabernacle. They got it from the crimson crocus. The only way to get the crimson is to crush the worm. It was the crushing that brought the crimson.

Very, very picturesque. Jesus was in effect the scarlet worm, lowly to look upon, ugly to look upon. But when his life was crushed, his blood was the source, not to change somebody's garments, but to change somebody's eternity. There's something else about this little worm, this crimson crocus. There's a life cycle. And we are told that that crimson crocus, when it's ready to give birth, the mommy worm, will find a piece of wood or a tree and crawl up into a place in the trunk or on a tree branch and embed itself into the wood. In giving birth, it will bring her death.

Shortly thereafter, she dies. It's like this explosive birth where all of that crimson dye explodes onto the wood. And that wood is stained with crimson in giving birth to little worms. So, again, how picturesque of the cross where Jesus gave his life, but in giving his life, he brought life to so many.

But there's more. In the death of that little worm, that wood is stained crimson, but after three days, that crimson turns white, like to a white, waxy, flaky, powdery substance that falls off the wood to the ground, after three days. What did Isaiah say? Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them as white as wool, as white as snow. Don't you love that song?

It's no more applicable than now. What can wash away my sin? Say it. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Jesus on the cross, deserted by God, despised by people, and something else that brought that torture. He's distressed by pain, physical pain. Verse 14, I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It has melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd.

A potsherd is a little dry piece of pottery. And my tongue clings to my jaws. You have brought me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me. The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones.

They look and they stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing, they cast lots. These verses describe the physical effects of crucifixion, the excruciating pain of that event. In fact, that's an interesting word I just used, excruciating. Did you know that it comes from a 16th century Latin word that literally means out of the cross, out from the cross, excruciating, out from the event of the pain of the cross?

And so it has become a vivid English word. Verse 14, the psalmist said, I am poured out like water. One of the side effects for a crucifixion victim is the profuse sweating that occurs that dehydrates the body. The ordeal is so intense that the victim sweats, sweats, and Jesus has already begun that process. In the Garden of Gethsemane, we are told that he sweat great drops of blood.

A medical condition we are told called hematidrosis, where the tiny blood capillaries burst into the sweat glands and a bloody sweat comes out. I'm poured out like water. Notice also in verse 14, and all my bones are out of joint. Anyone who has studied crucifixion knows this effect, that the body is suspended by four wounds, and the body is suspended by four wounds, and then the body slumps itself out of joint. The major joints are dislocated. If you ever dislocated a shoulder or a knee or a toe or a finger, you know the pain of that. Imagine the major joints in that position being dislocated. And what that does, it causes suffocation of the vital organs. That's how the victim dies. Crucifixion victims die from asphyxiation, and the only way to get air during that time is to push up on the spikes in the feet and pull up on the spikes in the wrist to take a breath and exhale and slump back and do that minute after minute, hour after hour, sometimes for days.

That's why the merciful gesture was to break the legs so the death could come quicker rather than later. Notice it says, my heart is like wax. It has melted within me. Remember when Jesus was finally dead and a Roman soldier took a lance and pierced the side of Jesus?

What came out? Blood and water. He hit the heart, and out came out blood and water, and doctors tell us that that is evidence that the pericardium, that serum sac around the heart, had stopped the pericardium sac around the heart, had so engorged that it crushed the heart, that the cause of death was a ruptured or some would say a broken heart. So the lance goes in, out comes blood and water. My heart is like wax. It has melted within me. Verse 15 describes the intense thirst of the event. My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue clings to my jaws.

Remember Jesus on the cross, one of his sayings is, I thirst, as he experienced this. Verse 16, look how graphic and detailed. They pierced my hands and my feet. And then the 18th verse is what John, the writer, in chapter 18 of his book quoted. They divided my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots.

That's what the Romans did with Jesus' robe. In my study, I have a book called Examine the Evidence by an author named Ralph Muncaster. Ralph Muncaster was a former skeptic and atheist who tried to, through the research, show that Christianity was a hoax, there's no good evidence, and in so doing he converted to Christ, which is what a lot of people who try this do if they're open-minded with the evidence.

It happened to him. He looked at Psalm 22 and one of his statements caught my attention. He said, he pointed out 23 prophetic details in Psalm 22, all of which correspond to New Testament accounts as being fulfilled. 23 in one song.

We don't have time to uncover every single one. It would be a fascinating study in itself, but I want to move to the second part of the Psalm because after the torture of the cross, beginning in verse 22 is the triumph of the cross. Now the crucifixion is over and you will notice the change in tone. I will declare, verse 22 says, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly.

I will praise you. Now this is completely different language than verses one through 21. And I want you just to scoot back to verse 21 and notice how desperate it is.

Save me from the lion's mouth. That's like the whole first 21 verses, right? Save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen, is his prayer. But then look at the very last phrase of verse 21.

You have answered me. That's a prayer of confidence. With confidence, he says, through all of the anguish and all of the pain, you have heard me.

Now we read that and we're wondering, he did? When did he hear you? How did he hear you? Here you are crying out, deserted by God, despised by a man, distressed by pain. He's heard me.

How? Verse 22 will give us the answer. The next few verses, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him, all you descendants of Jacob.

Those are the Jews. Glorify him and fear him, all you offspring of Israel. For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, nor has he hidden his face from him. But when he cried to him, he heard, my praise shall be of you in the great assembly.

I will pay my vows before those who fear him. It's pretty evident from this verse on that death is over. Weakness is gone. Suffering has passed. Sorrow has vanished. Now there's life. Now there's strength. Now there's a declaration.

Now there's praise. How is it that you have all this pain and all this despair? Verses one through 21. Now all of this life and all of this strength and all of this praise, something must have happened between verse one, 21, and verse 22. What do you think it could be?

Any guesses? A resurrection. A resurrection. Now it's not stated, but it is implied by the abrupt change in language, because the first part of the psalm is all about a suffering one.

One person suffers. It's the suffering of one. The second part of the psalm is the salvation and service of many.

Incredible difference. So these verses speak of a resurrection and an expansion of the work that the first 21 verses accomplished. Now how do I know that? I know that because verse 22 is quoted in the New Testament. In Hebrews chapter 2, verse 22 of psalm 22 is quoted and it's referring to Christ.

Listen to it. Hebrews 2, both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says, I will declare your name to my brothers, my brethren, in the midst or in the presence of the congregation. I will sing your praises. So in that scripture, Jesus is the speaker and his brethren are all those for whom he died and rose. So Jesus is assured by the father so Jesus is assured by the father that all of his agonizing work on the cross is going to result in the salvation of many and it's going to start small but expand outward. This, this is amazing to me. Blesses me at least.

I want you to see it. Look at verse 22. I will declare your name to who? My brethren.

It's a small group. In the midst of the assembly, I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, verse 23, praise him.

All you descendants of Jacob, those are Israelites, glorify him and fear him all you offspring of Israel. But then go down to verse 25. My praise shall be of you in the great assembly, verse 27. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord. Now the circle is widening out.

That's pretty wide circle. And all the families of the nations shall worship you. Verse 30. A posterity or seed shall serve him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation.

And finally verse 31. They will come and declare his righteousness to a people who will be born. It's as if Jesus can see this expanding group of respondents, recipients, believers, followers.

It starts small but it grows and grows till people around the world and aren't even born yet are going to be affected by it. When Jesus rose from the dead, Acts chapter 1 gives us his words to his disciples. He said, you take this message, this gospel, and you preach it beginning at Jerusalem, then you move to Judea, then go up to Samaria, and eventually to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Same outline as what you see in Psalm 22. You are part of that posterity who will be born. Here's the exciting part for you personally. If you can try to get that Sunday morning glaze out and just hear this, you were never an afterthought for God. It was God's plan to save you all along. It's not like you came along, God said, oh, well, you know, you'll do.

There's room for maybe one more and that would be you. You were chosen in Christ before the foundations of the earth. He had you in mind all along. And listen, I can only think this is what the New Testament means when it says this. And for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame. What possible joy could anybody being crucified ever have? Under those conditions, feeling abandoned by God, cut off from people, hated by people, scorned by people, in that kind of physical agony, how could you have a modicum of joy? His joy was this. You, you, you, you, you, all of you who trust in Jesus, those not born yet, he could see that this would have an effect that would be like waves going outward and encompassing the world. And Jesus on the cross seeing that said, that's worth it. I'll go through this for that. That will be the joy set before me that will get me through this. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame. Amazing. I want to draw your attention to the last verse of the song.

They will come and declare his righteousness to a people who will be born. Look at the very last phrase. That he has done this. That he has done this. That's five words, right? That he has done this. Do you know in Hebrew, there's not five words? That's English.

That he has done this. In Hebrew, it's one word. The translation, one word. Asa'ah is the word. And asa'ah means it is completed or it is finished. You remember when Jesus, before he gave up his spirit, he looked and he said, it is finished. Three words. One word in Greek, tetelestai.

Asa'ah, tetelestai. It is finished, it is finished. So the psalm begins with my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And it ends with a completion. It is finished. I would love it if your life would have that as a banner statement over it.

It is finished. And what I want to say to some of you is quit trying to convince God that you're good enough to be saved, because he knows you're not. He knows that. Quit trying to add to what God did for you on the cross through Jesus Christ, because he knows you can't. Did you know, Asa'ah, the prophet said of all your good works, all your religious works, everything you can try to do to earn your way, you know what God said about it?

It's filthy rags. Because no matter how good you live, you can never be as good as God. He is holy. He is perfect.

That's why they're needed to be a substitute. If God were to ask you when you die, why should I let you into my heaven? I wonder if some of you would say, because I go to church. I've read my Bible through, you know how many times, God?

Five times all the way through. I sing songs. I help people.

I recycle. If that would be your answer, it's a wrong answer. The only appropriate answer, if God were to say, why should I let you into my heaven, would be for you to point to Jesus and say, it's because of that man with those five wounds and what he has done for me, that I'm coming into your heaven. And you could say it boldly. The great word of the gospel is not do. The great word of the gospel is done.

Jesus didn't hang on the cross and at the end say, okay, this is all I've got. Now finish it. Now finish it. He said, it is finished. It's done. It's over.

The task is completed. Finally, I want to say a word to some of you who, when we read verse one, it did something in your heart. It echoed a feeling you have had in the past. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Some of you I'm speaking to right now have felt that you have been forsaken by God. I'm here to tell you that's a theological impossibility.

If you're in Christ, it's an impossibility. Oh, you may feel like it and you may even be experiencing the silence of God. David did, Isaiah did, where God isn't speaking like he used to to you. Some of you may be experiencing the discipline of God.

We all do that. In fact, some of you may even be experiencing the displeasure of God due to your sin. Sin, even though you're a believer, has erected a barrier. You know what God said through the prophet Isaiah? My hand is not short that it cannot save.

My ear is not heavy that it cannot hear. But your sin has separated between you and your God. And some of you may need to confess that or may need to reconcile with a person that you've hurt or harmed. But forsaken by God?

Never. He was forsaken so you never would have to be forsaken. He went through the darkness so you could walk in the light. He will never forsake you ever. You say, well, it sure seems like it. Well, what it seems is not what is so. Jesus said, I am with you always even to the end of the age. Some of the great hymns of our faith capture it so well. I'm thinking of a hymn that I used to hear every morning when J. Vernon McGee's radio program came on the air.

How firm a foundation you saints of the Lord. There's that one verse that says, the soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I will never, no, never, no, never forsake.

You could never write forsaken over your life if you're in Christ. Ever, ever, ever, never. He'll never leave you.

He'll never forsake you. Well, if you've ever dreamed about visiting Israel, let's make that happen. Lenny and I are leading a tour group to Israel next summer in 2024. We'll start up north visiting Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. We'll spend several days in Jerusalem, see the Temple Mount, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Upper Room and more. Now visiting the places where the scriptures unfolded, where Jesus lived out his earthly ministry.

It never gets old. That's why I keep going back. Join Skip and I and our friend Jeremy Camp next summer in Israel. See the itinerary and book this Israel tour with Skip Heitzig and Jeremy Camp today at inspirationcruises.com slash cabq. That's inspirationcruises.com slash cabq. We hope you'll listen tomorrow as Skip shares a message about what Jesus whole life was focused on accomplishing. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.