It's All About Jesus | Part 1

If you look closely, you'll find Jesus in the Bible.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding featuring profound truth simply stated by pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers. The Old Testament and the New Testament tell the same story of Jesus Christ. The entire Bible is about Jesus and the fulfilled prophecy of His salvation. For instance, Psalm 22 greatly details the crucifixion of Christ a thousand years before He was born. Its prophecy, passion, and provision.

How can this be? If you have your Bible, turn there now as Adrian Rogers begins Part 1 of It's All About Jesus. It is the highest attainment you can reach as worship. We're saved, not so we'll miss hell and go to heaven.

That's a byproduct. We're saved to worship God. Salvation is more than having our sin forgiven.

It is coming to a relationship where we can know God intimately and personally for ourselves. Now in Psalm 22, we have an amazing story. If you study Psalm 22, listen carefully, church. You're going to come away loving God more and loving the Word of God more than perhaps any other chapter in the entire Bible. I say without stutter, without hesitation, without exaggeration, that it is an incredible chapter in the Word of God. You cannot read Psalm 22 and go away not loving the Bible and not loving the Lord Jesus Christ. And as you read Psalm 22, you'll have to say it's all about Jesus. Now wait a minute, Pastor. I thought that's the Old Testament.

That's what I've been trying to tell you. It's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus.

Let's make some simple points. First of all, I want you to see what I'm going to call the amazing prophecy of the cross. Look, if you will, for example, in Psalm 22, verse 16. The cross have come past me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.

Now listen to this. They pierced my hands and my feet. Now this was written almost 1,000 years before Jesus Christ walked the dusty shores of Galilee, 1,000 years ahead in time. Thomas David in prophecy wrote of the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, crucifixion was a Roman form of execution. It did not come into the Jewish world for 800 years in the Bible in David's time when they executed people. They did it by stoning. Here we find by divine inspiration a prophecy of the cross.

They pierced my hands and my feet. Now keep Psalm 22 open, and I want you to see how Psalm 22 is written by divine inspiration as though one is standing at the very foot of the cross and giving an eyewitness account. Number one, the very words that Jesus would say on the cross.

Look in verse one to the chief musician, Al-Than-Adulah, Shaphar, a psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? Now, David prophesies Messiah on the cross saying, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now, I don't want you to turn to these, but I'll give them to you.

Just put them in your margin. Psalm, Matthew 27, verse 46. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama, sabatthani, that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Jesus was not looking back quoting David. To the contrary, David was looking forward quoting Jesus.

It is an amazing prophecy. Secondly, not only the words that Jesus would say, but the supernatural darkness that was upon the earth when Jesus was crucified. Look in Psalm 22, verse 2. Oh, my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent. That is, when Jesus was on the cross, it was both day and night.

Put in the margin. Matthew 27, verse 45. Now from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. Jesus spent six agonizing hours upon the cross. Jesus Christ was crucified at nine in the morning, and he died at three in the afternoon. But it became midnight at high noon. A part of the time that Jesus was on the cross, it was day.

Another part, it was night. Three hours of day and three hours of night when Jesus was crucified. Do you think that's by happenstance that David was able by prophecy to say that a thousand years before Jesus Christ was born? The son that had looked down upon such mayhem, such filth, such murder, such adultery, such fornication and perverseness, hid its face and refused to shine when Jesus, the Lamb of God, died for our sins. Thirdly, not only the words that Jesus would say, not only the night and darkness that would be there when Jesus would be crucified, but the scorn and the ridicule that the Son of God would receive upon the cross. Look now in Psalm 22 verses 7 through 13. Now that's what David said. A thousand years before Jesus was on the cross.

Now let me show you how that was fulfilled. Put in your margin Matthew 27 verses 39 and following. And they that passed by reviled him, and wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and builders said in three days, Save thyself, if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also, the chief priest mocking him with the scribes and the elders said, He saved others.

Himself he cannot say he. If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God, and gave him the cross. If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have him.

For he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth. David prophesied this scorn, and it came. Those who stood around were like strong and vicious bulls. Imagine the Roman soldiers who were there. They looked upward at Jesus on the cross.

When you look upward, the jaw becomes unhinged and the mouth gapes. David said they would gape upon the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, let me say this, that these prophecies were not fulfilled by Jesus' friends, but by Jesus' enemies for the most part. Now, fourthly, think of the water that came from the side of Jesus Christ when that wicked spear pierced his beloved son. Look in Psalm 22 now, and look in verse 14. Messiah says, I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joy. My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. Jesus is saying, my heart is broken, and I am poured out like water.

Put in your margin now. John 19, verse 34. But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith there came out blood and water.

Men in medicine tell us that sometimes under great duress, this can happen. It was a sign that our Savior died, not primarily from the nails, but from a broken heart. All the pain of the Lord Jesus Christ that is indicated when blood and water came from his wounded side.

When I thought about this, I had to ask myself this question, Adrian, do the things that broke the heart of Jesus break yours? Number five, his bones twisted out of joint. Notice again, verse 14, I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joy. Josephus, the historian said that when a person was crucified, and they dropped that cross into its socket with a thud, the arms are twisted out of joint.

Have you ever had a dislocated bone? When they crucified him, his body is mercilessly distorted, hanging on that cross, bones twisted out of joint. Number six, when Jesus was on that cross, he had a blistering thirst. David, looking forward down through the centuries, prophesied incredibly. Look in verse 15, my strength is dried up like a potsherd.

Do you know what a potsherd is? It is a dry, broken vessel, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. It's thirst, blistering thirst, dried up like a broken vessel, with his tongue dry, cleaving to his jaws. Put down in your margin, John chapter 19, in verse 28, and after this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. The one who made the oceans, the rivers, the rills, the springs, the rain hanging upon that cross, cries out, I thirst. Prophesied, I say, listen, church, a thousand years before it happened. David, by divine inspiration, dipped his pen in gold and glory and described the crucifixion.

Continue. Number seven, the very agents of the crucifixion are prophesied by David and described by him. Go again to Psalm 22, 15, and let's add verse 16. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws.

Now watch this. And thou, underscore that, and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. Now look in verse 16, for dogs have come past me. Now continue, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. Thou, dogs, the assembly. These are the ones who crucified the Lord Jesus.

First of all, God the Father. Thou hast brought me to the dust of death. Now we'll say more about that later because there's something in human nature that is repelled by that, that God had any hand in the crucifixion. But then also, he talks of dogs. A common term for Gentiles in that day were dogs.

They were called Gentile dogs. So he speaks not only of the Almighty, but he speaks of the Gentiles. And then he speaks of the assembly of the wicked. There he's talking in verse 16 about the Jewish council. And those were the ones who nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross, who crucified Jesus upon the cross.

Well, God the Father, the Gentiles, and the Jewish assembly. All of this foretold by David centuries and centuries before Jesus came to this earth. Number eight, Jesus was stripped of his clothing and he hung naked upon a cross. Now the artists have been kind, and Jesus is painted always with some kind of a loincloth because we feel that is fitting. But look at verse 17.

I may tell all my bones. They look and stare upon me. Put out in your margin. Matthew 27, verse 28. And they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe. I put Matthew 27 and verse 36 there, and sitting down, they watched him there. There's no attempt to protect his modesty. The darling Son of God, absolute purity, is hanging naked on a cross, stripped hanging there in agony.

That's the reason, friend, you listen to me. You should never, ever be ashamed to stand up for Jesus. We ask people, are you willing to come forward and acknowledge Christ as your personal Savior?

Oh, you say, well, there's so many people. Jesus hung naked on a cross before a bigger crowd than this. And the amazing thing is that it was prophesied a thousand years before he came in the flesh.

It was an amazing detail. Number nine, they cast lots for his garments. Look, if you will, in verse 18, Psalm 22, verse 18. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. Now, the Jews of that day had four minor garments and one major garment. They could distribute the four minor garments among the Roman soldiers, but Jesus wore a seamless robe.

They didn't want to tear that and split that up, so they cast lots to decide who would get that seamless robe. Now, notice verse 18. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture.

My clothing, boys and girls, that's what it means. Then look at Matthew chapter 27 in verse 35. And they crucified him and parted his garments, casting lots that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet. They parted my garments among them and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And that tells us beyond the shadow of any doubt of peradventure that David was talking about the crucifixion a thousand years before Jesus Christ was born in the flesh. Does that not amaze you?

Are you as excited about this as I am? Are you astounded by the intricacy of the Word of God? The ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids used to say, we build like giants, but we finish like jewelers. That's what God does. Oh, friend, the great gigantic things that he has done, but the minute detail of the cross. And what I have said thus far is I've talked about the amazing prophecy of the cross.

Now I'm going to shift gears. Next, I want to talk about the agonizing passion of the cross. There is no suffering that can even begin to be compared to the suffering of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ upon that wicked cross. I remind you again that Jesus suffered at the holy hand of God. Let's work again in verses one through five. My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?

Why art thou so far from helping me? Verse two. Oh, my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hears not. And in the night season, I am not silent.

That is, he's crying out to deaf ears. In verse five, our fathers trusted you and they were delivered. They trusted in thee were not confounded. Why had God turned his back on the son, God the father, turned his back on our Lord in his humanity? Why had he done that?

Listen very carefully. Because Jesus Christ willingly, voluntarily, vicariously took upon him the sin of all humanity. Now, the answer to why God turned his back on Jesus is found in verse three. But thou art holy. Habakkuk says of God the father, he is of pure eyes than to look upon iniquity. And when Jesus Christ had all of the vile, loathsome sin of the world upon him, then God the father had to treat Jesus as he would treat us. And so that's the reason Jesus says, my God, my God, has thou forsaken me? When I read this, my heart is deeply moved because Jesus hung naked on the cross, suspended between heaven and earth.

Now, listen, church. He died alone, alone between heaven and earth, without the help of God the father. When David, who wrote this psalm, wrote the next psalm, Psalm 23, David could say, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. God the son cannot say, thou art with me. He had to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

And Jesus walked that lonesome, painful, agonizing valley all by himself. Now, again, I ask the question, why did God the father turn his back on God the son and his humanity? It is because Jesus Christ, who had been in the bosom of the father for all eternity, is now not only alienated from the father, listen, church, he has become the object of the father's wrath. You say, I don't understand that, pastor. You have to understand that he is a substitute.

He is taking your place. And therefore, as you would become the object of the father's wrath, Jesus is the object of the father's wrath. Look at the last part of verse 15. He's speaking to the father and it says, thou hast brought me into the dust of death. Isaiah the prophet helps us to understand it even better. In verse 10, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief.

There is no escaping it. God the father poured out his wrath upon his beloved son because his beloved son was our sacrifice. Romans 8 verse 32 says, God spared not his son.

Both of my sons are in the ministry. If you would ask me, will you give me one of your sons that I might butcher and torture him? I would say no. Absolutely not. You say that it might save me and I could be forgiven.

I still wouldn't do it. I'm ashamed to say I don't love you that much. I don't love anybody that much. But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He did not spare Jesus. Now he did not spare Jesus because Jesus had my sin, your sin, our sin, their sin upon him.

You're reasonable. Do you think, therefore, that God will spare you if you don't receive Jesus? That if you don't put your faith where God has put your sin, be reasonable, church.

If there were ever a time when God would have been tempted to be lenient upon sin, was when that sin was upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus suffered at the holy hand of God. Coming up tomorrow, we'll hear part two of this important message, but maybe today you have questions about who Jesus is or what he means to you, how to begin a relationship with God through Christ. Go to our website, lwf.org slash radio, and at the top you'll see the Find God's Love page.

Just click that, and you'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, you can call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD. Mention the title, It's All About Jesus. This message is also part of the insightful series, Victory in Jesus, Seven Powerful Messages.

To order, call 1-877-LOVEGOD, or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio, or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. You might not know that you can also purchase our new Bible studies, much like this message, in our online store. To find out more, go to the website, lwf.org slash radio. Well, thanks for taking time to study God's Word with us today. Be sure to sign up for our daily heartbeat emails, and you'll get daily devotions and message links sent straight to your inbox.

You can find out more at the website, lwf.org slash radio. And join us tomorrow for the profound conclusion of It's All About Jesus, right here on Love Worth Finding. Here's a message from an online donor who wrote, Thank you for the gift of Adrian Rogers. He has renewed my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

I consider it an honor to be a partner. Well, here at Love Worth Finding Ministries, our mission is to share the profound truth of the gospel so simply anyone can understand. That's why when you donate to the ministry right now, we'd love to send you a copy of the powerful book, His Story. Rooted in the timeless teaching of Pastor Rogers, this book will help you learn practical ways to increase your head knowledge and heart knowledge of Jesus. Request a copy of His Story when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD. 1-877-568-3463. Or you can give online at our website, lwf.org slash radio.