SERMON SUBJECT: THE SAVIOR SUFFERED AND DIED TO KEEP GOD FROM ABANDONING US

SERMON TEXT: “Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon 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, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:45-46).

SERMON THESIS: Jesus was willing to absorb the wrath and abandonment of God for our sakes.

INTRODUCTION: Last Sunday morning, I was privileged to preached the gospel on the beautiful island of Barbados, at the Emmanuel Baptist Church. My morning message was titled: Jesus Speaks From The Cross, based on the seven last sayings of Jesus, spoken from the cross. When the message was proclaimed, many persons came forward during the invitation and one person received the gift of eternal life. I am discovering more and more that when Jesus is lifted up, He does draw people to Himself, in accordance to His Word. It was the Apostle Paul who said, “...but we preach Christ crucified”(I Cor. 1:23). When we do, lives are changed because, in the words of this old hymn, “There’s Power in The Blood.”

Today, in our count down to Easter Sunday, on the fifty reasons why the Savior suffered and died, we will focus our attention on one of the seven sayings of Jesus, from the cross, found in Matthew 27:45-46, reason number thirty-six, which I have titled: The Savior Suffered and Died to Keep God from Abandoning Us.

Focusing our attention on the word abandonment, which is translated forsaken in some scriptural texts as written in Matthew 27:46, where Jesus cried out to the Father with these words, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me,” I will share with you, first...

I. THE HELPLESSNESS OF ABANDONMENT - I am sure that all of us would agree that the word abandon is a word that can be associated with helplessness. I looked up this word in the Webster Dictionary and found this meaning, “To give up (something) completely ... to leave; forsake; desert.” Each of these terms depict what happened to Jesus on the cross. The Father left Him, forsook Him, deserted Him, and yes, abandoned Him to die alone on a cruel cross. Sure, as it has been written, “He could have called ten thousand angels to destroy the world and set men free ... but He died alone for you and me.” Nevertheless, He was willing to be abandoned for our sakes.

Think with me, then, about this whole idea of abandonment. Think about a little helpless baby being left on the door step of a stranger, abandoned by its parents. Think about a newspaper report telling the story of an elderly man being abandoned on a busy street corner confined to a wheel chair. In each situation, the person abandoned was left in a helpless estate. This is a mere sampling of the many persons around the world who are abandoned each year. Think about the many elderly persons who are abandoned and left in nursing homes to die. This is what I call the helplessness of abandonment.

For a brief time in my life while being medi-vac’d from Omsk, Russia, with a severe back injury from a car crash while on mission, I experienced the helplessness of abandonment. Arriving back in Moscow, carried on a stretcher by two Russians, and assisted by a PA (Physician Assistant), who had gone with us on mission, separated from Carolyn, who was in another terminal making arrangements to get us out of the country, and then being separated from my PA who was detained by authorities, I was left alone in a terminal lobby in a helpless condition. Needless to say, I saw life from a different perspective laying there on the floor looking up at strange faces glaring down at me; unable to move, and having the inability to speak the language. As you might guess, I experienced, for that brief time, the helplessness of abandonment.

My helpless condition, and those about whom I have shared, can in no way compare to the helplessness abandonment that my (our) Savior experienced on the cross. Picture Him there at nine o’clock on Friday morning, nailed to a cross, hanging between two thieves, dying a horrible death. As horrific as the pain must have been, the worst part of the terrible ordeal, according to His words from the cross, was the abandonment of His Heavenly Father.

As I have contemplated Jesus’ death on the cross this past week in preparation for this message, I tried to picture the worst case scenario that could happen to me, personally, or some member of my family, that would help me more readily empathize with Jesus, to some small degree, as to what He must have experienced during His hours of abandonment on the cross. It was then in my mind that I came up with this hypothetical situation. I though about my grandson, Ben, whom I love more than the spoken word can tell. I though about Ben being taken to a lonely deserted place and being abandoned by his parents, Carrie and Aaron. Before leaving, they say to him, “Ben, you have been so bad that you can no longer be a part of our family.” Then, after telling him good-bye, they turn their backs on him and walk off into the darkness. As they depart, they can hear Ben crying out in the darkness, “Mommy! Daddy! Why are you leaving me?” As they disappear in the night, Ben’s cries grow fainter and fainter, until ultimately his voice is no longer heard.

As a grandfather, almost in tears, just thinking about such a horrible event, an event that could never possibly happen, I am reminded that it did happen to Jesus, God’s Son, and our Savior, who was left helplessly abandoned by His Father, to die a horrible death on an old wooden cross. The Bible tells us what happened during Jesus dying hour; having been hanging on the cross for six hours ...

“Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon 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, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:45-46).

In the words of author, Max Lucado, in his new book titled: Next Door Savior, he writes about Jesus’ dying moments on the cross... “By the time Christ screams (roars) these words, He has hung on the cross for six hours. Around nine o’ clock that morning, He stumbled to the cleft of Skull Hill. A soldier pressed a knee on His forearm and drove a spike through one hand, then the other, then both feet. As the Romans lifted the cross, they unwittingly place Christ in the very position in which He came to die–between man and God.”

It was there on the hill called Golgotha, that He was abandoned by the Father, to die for you and me. This was the helplessness of abandonment.

Not only do we see the helplessness of abandonment in this word picture, we see also, what I am calling ...

II. THE HELL OF ABANDONMENT

In retrospect of that which we have just seen, I believe that it was in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus’ blood fell to the ground, like drops of sweat, that Jesus had already begun to experience the hell of abandonment. You will recall the agonizing prayer he prayed...

“He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done” (Matthew 26:42).

What was the cup that Jesus asked to be passed from Him? Personally, I do not think as I once thought, but no longer think, that it was the cup of physical suffering–nay even death on the cross. I believe that His greatest fear of the forthcoming events prophesied by the prophets, was not the fear of physical suffering, but rather the fear of being abandoned by His Father during His dying hour. If so, then, His greatest fear became a reality because, he was, in fact, abandoned by the Father. This is what I am calling the hell of abandonment. Can you think of any thing worse in this life, than that of being abandoned by someone who loves you? This is what happened to Jesus. Why, you might ask, would God turn His back on the Son, “In whom He was well pleased?” Why would He abandon His sinless Son, “A Lamb without blemish?” Why would He let those who crucified Him, “Lead Him as a lamb to be slaughtered?” Why not the murderers of the world? Why not the homosexuals? Why not the prostitutes, the sex offenders, the drunks, etc.? Does not the Bible answer the “Why nots” of our many questions?

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls” (I Peter 2:21-25).

What does the phrase mean, “Christ carried all our sins in His body?” I admit that I do not have all the answers to this biblical question, but one thing I know and that is, “He died for me!” Jesus took my sins and yours, which were many, and according to Peter, “Carried all our sins in His body?”

Again, quoting from Max Lucado, he put it like this, “See Christ on the cross? That’s a gossiper hanging there. See Jesus? Embezzler. Liar. See the crucified carpenter? He’s a wife beater. Porn addict and murderer. See Bethlehem’s boy? Call Him by His other names–Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and Jeffery Dahmer.”

Call what you see what you may. I call it hell’s abandonment. Hear again Jesus’ cry from the cross, “My God, My God, why did you abandon me?” Or to personalize these words in the Aramaic, as Jesus often address the Father, “Abba, Abba,” being interpreted is to say, “Daddy, Daddy, Why have you forsaken me?” Suffering the hell of abandonment, He cried these words, according to Max Lucado, “So you’ll never have to.” You see, my friends, we have Jesus’ promise that, “He will never leave us not forsake us.”

Finally, I share with you, what I am calling, in light of what Jesus experienced in his dying moments ...

III. THE HALLELUJAH OF ABANDONMENT - The Bible says ...

“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit” (Matthew 27:50).

The moment Jesus died all Heaven broke loose ... “the veil of the temple was rent ... the earth did quake and the rocks did rent ... graves were opened ... the saints which slept arose ...”

All the while the Sovereign God was in control. In fact, there was never a moment when He was out of control. One writer said, “The sovereignty of God was at work even in the death of Jesus.” And I add, even in the hours of His abandonment. You see, God had a plan from the beginning. We read about this plan in the book of Acts. This is what I have called the Hallelujah of Abandonment ...

“‘Because Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; Thou wilt make me full of gladness with Thy presence.’ ‘Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so because he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants upon His throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:27-32).

Thus we can sing, “He is Lord. He is Lord. He is risen from the grave and He is Lord. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

CONCLUSION: Can you sing, “He’s My Lord?” If you never want to be abandoned by God forever, you must receive the Savior, the One who was willing to be abandoned by the Father so that you would never have to be abandoned. Will you trust Jesus today? The decision is yours!