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You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You Good evening and merry christmas and welcome to verity baptist church and the wednesday evening bible study Can I please have everyone find their seats and grab their songbooks and turn to page number 423 Please find your seats and grab your songbooks and turn to page number 423 We're going to start the service off singing joy to the world that's page 423 Joy to the world And let's go ahead and sing it out on the first verse Joy to the world the lord is come let earth receive her king Let every heart prepare him room And heaven and nature sing and heaven and nature sing and heaven and heaven nature Good singing page 423 now, this is actually christmas So you guys have to sing out page 423. It's the last time you get to sing these songs for the rest of the year Uh, let's sing it out on the second Joy to the world the savior reigns let men their songs employ While fields and floods rock hills and plains repeat the sounding joy Repeat the sounding joy repeat repeat the sounding joy page 423 on the third No more let sins and sorrows grow nor thorns infest the ground He comes to make his blessings flow For as the curse is found for as the curse is found for as far as the curse is found On the last he rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove The glories of his righteousness righteousness And wonders of his love and wonders of his love Amen great singing and welcome to verity baptist church in the wednesday evening bible study. Let's open up on the word of prayer Heavenly father. Thank you so much for this church lord Think of these people who come out here in a wednesday evening to serve you I pray that our singing would glorify you lord and pray pray that you bless the service and the preaching to come In jesus name. I pray Amen All right. Now turn your songbook speech just one page over we're going to sing page 424 Oh come all ye faithful That's page 424 Oh come all ye faithful and let's go ahead and sing it out on the first Oh come All ye faithful Joyful and Confident. Oh come ye. Oh come ye to beth Born the king of angels. Oh come let us adore him Oh come let us adore him For him oh come let us adore him Sing choirs of angels Sing in exultation Oh sing all ye bright hosts Oh Glory in the highest Oh come let us adore him You guys are seeing you great tonight, let's sing it out on the last page 424 on the last Yea lord we greet thee Born this happy morning Jesus to thee be your glory Word of the father now in flesh appearing Oh come let us adore him. Oh come let us adore him Oh come let us adore him Amen great singing Amen and we want to welcome you to this wednesday evening service here at ready baptist church. Of course today is christmas day We want to wish you all a merry christmas and we're glad that you are With us if you have a bulletin we can go ahead and look at our announcements real quickly If you need a bulletin just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you If you do not have a bulletin just put your hand up and we will get one for you the verse this week luke 2 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of david a savior which is christ the lord And that's a good verse there. We like that If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time sunday morning service 10 30 a.m. And we are Inviting you to be with us on sunday morning on the lord's day for church Of course on the evening service at 6 p.m. And we're glad that you're here for the wednesday evening Service we understand it's christmas day And I know that there's people traveling and there's all sorts of things going on But we appreciate you of course being here tonight If you look at our sorting times, our main sorting time is on saturday mornings at 10 a.m Then we have additional sewing times on thursdays and sundays and we'd love you to join us for that And if you look across the page there, of course, you'll see the announcement and upcoming events. We had special christmas services On sunday morning and sunday night. And of course today is christmas as well And we're we're going to try to keep this to a one-hour service we appreciate you being here But we realize it's christmas day. So we want to try to Be respectful of your time. We'll try to be done In one hour and of course, uh, we want to let you Get on your way as quickly as possible in case there are still some things you need to do For christmas, we do want you to notice there in the announcements that next week the midweek service Which is normally on wednesday night next week is going to be on tuesday. So next week there won't be a wednesday evening service There'll be a tuesday evening service. That'll be our midweek service Of course, that's new year's eve and we'll have a special we'll have a normal service like we normally do In the middle of the week at 7 p.m And then after the service we'll have a potluck and if you'd like to stick around We'll have a time of fellowship with board games And if you stay till midnight We'll sing some songs as we approach the new year and we'll pray the new year in so we'd love you to join us Of course for that if that's something you're interested in And then we want you to be aware of nine chapters a day challenge Make sure you get acquainted with that and decide to take the challenge and to start the new year with uh being in the word of god And then of course we have our spanish service coming up on january 11th Uh, saturday january 11th at 5 p.m And make sure you read through that and make sure you're aware of that and then we want to invite you of course to Uh the wedding of adam richie and miss emily gessler on saturday. January 18th at 2 30 p.m And if you plan to attend, please make sure that you sign up on your communication card And let them know if they could get a number of who's planning on being there. That would be a help to them So, please take a moment to fill that out and you can drop that into the offering plate And then there's other things there for you to look at you can take a look at those announcements if you'd like on the back of the bulletin, you'll see the birthdays and anniversaries for this week and uh Earlier this week my parents brother felix and miss kenny cimenez had their 46 year anniversary There's a praise lord for that. And then uh tomorrow is brother johnny and miss tomaros arvantis anniversary also Ron and tina colac have an anniversary on december 27th and malia jana and kyra coughlin have Birthdays on december 27th and december 28th. Praise report money matters all of those things Are there for you to look at and just a couple of reminders that we We still have the christmas gifts for jesus You should have one of these sheets there in your bulletin and that's going to be up that's going to be available Uh through the end of the year So if you still not pick something up from the list or if you'd like to make a special donation for christmas gifts for jesus This will help the church out These are things that we use on a regular basis And if you want to pick something up, there's a drop-off, uh place to do that in the main foyer And like I said, it'll be out there, uh till the 31st if you could help us with that. We'd appreciate it also Normally on wednesday nights we go through our prayer sheet, but we're not going to go through our prayer sheet tonight Just to save a little bit of time But we do want you to have a prayer sheet So if you did not receive one on your way in please raise your hand and one of our ushers can come by And and give you a prayer sheet and though we're not going to take the time tonight to pray through it We do want to encourage you to make sure you look through it and make sure you pray through it for your church family So if you did not receive a prayer sheet on your way and please raise your hand and we'll get that to you And we're not going to take time to go through that Tonight and let's see. I think that's it for all of the announcements So we're going to go ahead and take our song books and go to page number 429 page number 429 we're going to sing my favorite christmas hymn And it is hark the herald angels sing And you're running out of time to be able to sing these hymns So make sure you take advantage of it sing it out on the first Oh Good sing it out on the second 429 on the second christ my highest heaven Everlasting lord In time behold him come offspring on a virgin's Veiled in flesh the goner Veiled in coronate the a.t.e Pleased as men with men to dwell Jesus our Emmanuel Hark the herald angels sing To the newborn king Hail the have-born prince of peace Hail the son of righteousness I am life to all he brings His glory May thy Born to give them second Good singing out on the last God these are of nations come fix in us Rise the woman's concrete seed Bruise in us the serpent's hand Adam's likeness now we face Stamped fine image in its place Angels Glory Amen good singing before the guys come up. Let me quickly remind you that we of course are a Family integrated church. We've got mother baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience So make sure you use those rooms as needed And of course if you wouldn't mind making sure to check your cell phone make sure it's on silent or vibrate or off So it doesn't go off in the middle of the sermon We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Heavenly father lord, we do love you. We thank you for allowing us to gather together today lord We pray that you bless the offering to give the giver We ask that you meet with us as we open up your word and city the bible together in jesus name. We pray. Amen So So So So Please open up to psalm 22 psalm chapter number 22 If you need a bible, please raise your hand and I know she can bring your bible Psalm 22 just keep your hand up as you will come by Psalm 22 we will read verses 1 through 19 psalm 22 verses 1 through 19 Psalm 22 being verse number one My god my god, why has thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? Oh my god, I cry in the daytime, but thou hear'st not And in the night season and i'm not silent but thou art holy o thou that inhabits the praise of israel Our fathers trusted in thee they trusted and now didst deliver them They cried unto thee and were delivered. They trusted in in thee and were not confounded But I am a worm and no man your approach of men and despised of the people All they that see me laughed me to scorn They shoot out the lip. They shake the head saying He trusted on the lord that he would deliver him let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him But thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my god for my mother's belly Be not far from me for trouble is near for there is none to help Many bulls come past me strong bulls of bation have beset me round They gave upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue cleaved to my jaws And now it's brought me into the dust of death For dogs have come past me the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet I may tell all my bones they look and stare upon me They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture But be not thou far from me. Oh lord. Oh my strength haste thee to help me. Let's pray Heavenly father. Thank you for this evening. God. I thank you for your word And I ask that you please give us all ten hearts of the message tonight And ask me to pastorfully strengthen him and from your spirit. We love you and just think pray. Amen Amen All right, we're there in psalm 22 And of course on wednesday nights, we've been making our way through the book of psalms And we are studying the psalms together. We're taking one psalm a week and uh tonight of course is christmas day and we appreciate you being here and I've been preaching on the subject of christmas now for several weeks and of course today being christmas day I considered preaching a sermon on the subject of christmas though. I have been dealing with it extensively on sunday mornings and I thought that we'd go ahead and stay in our psalm study tonight Especially because psalm 22 is such a powerful psalm and there is a christmas application to this psalm and I think it'd be appropriate for us to see it Tonight now just by way of introduction real quickly and I want to move quickly tonight because we don't have a lot of time but one thing that I Want you to understand in case you didn't see it as we read the psalm together psalm 22 is a very special psalm Because of the fact that it is one of the most descriptive prophecies of the crucifixion of the lord jesus christ in the bible This is what's known as a masonic psalm and it is a description of The coming crucifixion of christ and that may not mean a lot to you But you should consider the fact the book of psalms was written roughly about a thousand years before the lord jesus christ so before jesus christ one Thousand years before christ is when psalm 22 would have been penned by king david And if that's not impressive what I want you to realize is that what we see in psalm 22 is not just A psalm that allures to this idea or kind of hints to the idea of a crucifixion, but it actually gives us The details of a crucifixion of the crucifixion of christ, uh in in much description. In fact, there's no Prophetic passage that gives us more descriptions on the crucifixion of christ in psalm 22 And what's interesting about that is that not only was the psalm written a thousand years before christ But it was written 600 years before crucifixions were even invented So for 600 years before anyone had ever even seen a crucifixion David under the inspiration of the holy ghost pens down these words for us and they are a prophecy of the crucifixion of the lord jesus christ now We're going to focus in on the crucifixion There's other things in this psalm that we could deal with and i'm not going to deal with for sake of time, but I want you to notice that it has to do with the cross of the lord jesus christ and For sake of time tonight. I'm going to give you two thoughts under two different headings And if you're taking notes And I encourage you to take notes on the back of your course of the week, of course There's a place for you to take notes and i'd like you to see these things the first heading that we'll see First section in the psalm is this We see the abandonment of the cross The abandonment of the cross this is a theme that is seen in the crucifixion of the lord jesus christ That he was left alone on the cross and he was abandoned on the cross the lord Jesus christ the bible tells us was deserted By all of his disciples, but even more than that more traumatic than that. He was deserted by God the father and god himself in psalm 22 in verse 1, of course you read the famous words to the chief musician upon Asyleth shanar a psalm of david and then the psalm begins with these famous words these quoted words and you should recognize these words the psalm begins this way my god my god Why has thou forsaken me my god my god? Why has thou forsaken me now i'd like you to keep your place there in psalm 22 That is our text for tonight, but go with me if you would to the book of matthew the new testament book of matthew Matthew chapter 27 first book in the new testament should be fairly easy to find and do me a favor when you get to matthew Put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it And I want you to be able to get to it quickly Psalm 20, excuse me matthew 27 if you would in the new testament matthew chapter 27 When the lord jesus christ was dying on the cross, he made seven famous statements And the fourth of those statements the fourth of those famous statements was actually This statement matthew 27 verse 46 the bible says this in about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying eli eli Lama sabachthani and these are aramaic words He's quoting the old testament in aramaic and on the cross the fourth statement that he made as he died on the cross He said eli eli lama sabachthani and then the bible being its own dictionary interprets this for us and it tells us that is to say My god my god. Why has thou forsaken me? And I want you to notice that the lord jesus christ actually quotes psalm 22 While being on the cross and that should be something that is of interest to us. This is something that should Be something that catches our attention, of course when jesus died on the cross over 2 000 years ago The bible was not formatted in the way that it is for us today And in fact, the the chapter divisions and things of that nature were not something that were used in that time and oftentimes in those days were told that the way that they would Give us the information of a psalm the way that they would reference a psalm would be By the first statement of that psalm so instead of saying psalm 22, they wouldn't reference it like we would saying psalm 22, but they would say The psalm my god my god. Why has thou forsaken me or for example psalm 23, which is a famous psalm They would not reference it at psalm 23 But they would reference it as the lord is my shepherd. I shall not want oftentimes The first statement of a psalm was used as the title of the psalm in order to indicate The psalm that they were speaking to and jesus not only quotes this psalm from the cross But as he quotes this psalm He's indicating that he's referring back or referencing us back to this psalm because this psalm is actually A prediction of what's going on on the cross as he is on the cross now I don't want to spend a lot of time on this and we talked about the trinity Uh in detail on sunday morning out of isaiah 9 6 But this is not just jesus saying I feel like i'm left alone. I feel like I I'm i'm i've been forsaken when jesus says here my god my god Why has thou forsaken me? There is an event taking place on the cross which had never happened before and will never happen again And there was a separation between god the father and god the son and for the first time jesus feels this feeling And the bible tells in the book of isaiah that our sins have separated us from god And here on the cross, of course We know that our sins were laid upon him and when our sins were laid upon him He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of god in him the verse before this tells us that the that the uh That the son became dark and god the father turned his back on god the son On the cross as he died there for our sins and jesus speaks these words he quotes these words my god my god Why has thou forsaken me? And again, it's referring us to the fact that psalm 22 Is a prophecy that is being fulfilled on the cross now you're there in matthew 27 keep your place there Go back to psalm 22 and look at uh verse number two real quickly. Psalm 22 verse 2 the psalm says this oh my god I cry in the daytime But thou here is not and in the night season and i'm not silent and again It's interesting to realize that the earth that the the that that area actually went dark when jesus spoke these words Then of course in verse three and this has nothing to do with the cross But it's a powerful verse here in psalm 22 in verse three. It says but thou art Holy, oh thou that inhabits the praises of israel I think you should take a moment and highlight that and realize that the bible teaches here That music the bible teaches throughout the bible that music is spiritual and here it tells us that god's music is spiritual The bible says here in psalm 22 3. I think you should notice this it says but thou are holy Oh thou speaking to god. Oh thou that inhabits The praises of israel and of course the children of israel were god's people in the old testament and the word inhabit means to occupy it means to Live inside of and here the bible tells us that god himself Inhabits the praises of israel and when god's people praise him when god's people sing God who is a spirit actually is inhabiting That praise and I don't know what you think about that But I think that it's an amazing fact that the bible says that god inhabits or occupies our praises This shows that music is a spiritual act and it shows that we should take it seriously This is why I say to you that every christian needs to learn to sing look there are some things that every christian needs to do And people like to say well, I don't you know, that's not doesn't come naturally to me Every christian needs to learn to do these two things. You need to learn to read You say well, I don't like reading i'm not a good reader Well, I don't know what to tell you god gave you a book. He expects you to read it And and every christian needs to sing You say why because god himself inhabits the praises of israel and look Maybe you come to church like this and you say I don't get much out of the preaching You might not get much out of the preaching because you're not doing much in the singing service You understand the singing service is meant to prepare the heart for the preaching of god's word. It is a spiritual work It is a spiritual act when you open your mouth and sing praises to god But thou art holy o thou that inhabits the praises of god and maybe if you would actually show up to church with a good attitude with a positive attitude and open up a hymn book and Begin to sing praises to god the god who inhabits those praises would begin to work on your heart You might find you get something out of the preaching if you got something out of the singing And look i'm not trying to pick on you. I'm just telling you you might want to check something Because if you're saved you're supposed to have the holy spirit of god the bible says that we're filled with the holy spirit When we sing unto ourselves psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, it's a spiritual work And look again, i'm not trying to pick on you. I'm just i'm just saying to you i'm saying to you That I don't understand how you could or I could sit in a church service on christmas day With god's people And hear words like hail the heaven born prince of peace Hail the son of righteousness Light and life to all he brings risen with healing in his wings mild He lays his glory by born that man no more may die born to raise the sons of earth Born to give them second birth heart the herald angels sing glory to the newborn king Can you sing those words and it does nothing I mean really nothing I mean just I hope this really only takes a third an hour And look i'm just saying to you. Maybe you're watching too much tv. Maybe you're just too much youtube Maybe there's too much worldliness coming in if if you can't if you can't sing these words come desire of nations Come fix in us thy humble home rise the woman's conquering seed bruise in us the serpent's head Adam's likeness now effaced stamp thine image in its place second adam from above reinstate us in thy love heart the herald angels sing glory to the newborn king If you can't sing those words on christmas day and have the holy spirit inside of you like that There's something wrong with you I'm not saying you're not saved. I mean you might not be saved The bible says that the god who is oh holy inhabits the praises of his people But thou art holy oh thou that inhabits us the praises of israel Then in verse four he says our fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them Thou didst deliver them they cried unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded Why don't you notice the second description here? We see of the cross the first one was this that jesus was deserted on the cross by god the father my god my god Why has thou forsaken me? Why don't you notice the second thing here? We see in the abandonment of the cross and it is this that he was despised by men This is a theme again of the bible notice verse six. He says but I am a worm This is jesus. This is prophetically speaking of the lord jesus christ on the cross This would be david speaking the words that jesus would say or think on the cross. He says but I am a worm and again For those of you that don't like singing I can't help but think of the great Lyrics to the great hymn alas and did my savior bleed and did my sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? He said I am a worm you said well am I the worm or is he the worm? Well, he became sin for us He became sinful flesh like us So he said the bible says here in verse six, but I am the worm and no man a reproach the word reproach means a disappointment someone who's disapproved of a reproach of men and despised of the people In isaiah 53, please don't turn there. I'll just read this for you. Isaiah 53 is another famous messianic prophecy of the lord Jesus christ written several hundred years before christ and isaiah 53 in verse 3 says this about the lord Jesus that says he is despised and rejected of man of man of sorrows and acquainted with grief And we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him Not the bible tells us in john he came into his own and his own received him not He was despised by men look at verse 7 psalm 22 verse 7 all they that see me laugh me to scorn They shoot out the lip They shake the head saying he trusted on the lord that he would deliver him let him deliver him seeing He delighted in them Now you may have looked at psalm 22 and not been impressed with the fact that jesus said the words my god my god As why has thou forsaken me or you may Ask the question or maybe not you hopefully not you but people who want to try to contradict scripture And they'll point at psalm 22 and say well that is it really a fulfilled prophecy if jesus said it I mean jesus knew what psalm 22 said so wouldn't it be easy for him to just quote that from the cross? And then therefore we could point at it and say that it's fulfilled prophecy Well, i've never been crucified, uh, but I don't know what would have been easy to do on the cross But if you want to diminish the fact that jesus said the words on the cross my god my god Why has thou forsaken me and that was prophesied a thousand years later And the argument is what jesus would have known what psalm 22 said so we can't really take that as fulfilled prophecy Well, here's something else that was said while jesus was on the cross, but it was not said by jesus himself psalm 22 verse 8 He trusted on the lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him seeing he delighted in them here We're told that when jesus a thousand years before his crucifixion We're told that they that see him would laugh him to scorn that they would shake the head And they would say this to him in a mocking way He trusted on the lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him and notice that this was fulfilled Go to go back to matthew 27 verse 39 Matthew 27 and verse 39 the bible says this matthew 27 verse 39 and they that passed by reviled him Wagging their hands That's psalm 22 7. They shake the head And then as though they're following a script verse 43 This is the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Here's what they said. They said he trusted in god. Let him deliver him now So They're literally quoting psalm 22 8 And these are jews by the way, not only jews the religious jews They're chief priests and scribes and elders. They would also know what psalm 22 says and they would know that they are Staying the lines of the bad guys But yet they still did it Why? Because this was a prophecy that would come to pass They shake the head and the bible tells us in matthew 27 that they were wagging their heads at him And psalm 22 tells us he trusts they're going to say to him He trusted on the lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him and they Set it right on point. He trusted in god Let him deliver him now if he will have him for he said I am the son of god Keep your place there in matthew go back to psalm 22 Look at verse 9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breast I was cast upon me from the womb thou art my god from my mother's belly We're going to come back to those verses here in a minute verse 11 be not far from me for trouble is near For there is no help verse 12 many bulls have compassed me Now he's referring to the fact that he's being surrounded the word compass means like a comp Compasse means to be surrounded many bulls have compassed me strong bulls of bayshan I don't have time to take you to the bible references But all throughout the bible uh bayshan is a place known for its bulls or its cows And here he's talking about the bulls of bayshan have beset me around look at verse 13 They gaped upon me that word means to gawk or stare at with their mouth as a ravening and roaring lion Notice he's using all sorts of animal illustrations to talk about the enemies of god. He talks about the bulls. He talks about the lion Later, he's going to talk about the dogs But I want you to notice what we see in this psalm is The prophecy and the description of the abandonment of the cross jesus was deserted by god the father and he was despised by men But then I want you to notice secondly We see the anguish of the cross And there is a description here of his physical anguish Not only the fact that he was despised and rejected by men Not only the fact that he was deserted by god my god my god wise thou forsaken me god the father of course Despised by men they wag their heads at him. They say he trusted lord. Let him save him now again They are referencing the fact that he was deserted by the father Then we have a description of the anguish of the cross and notice there's four things that we see here In regards to that description the first is this that he was poured out In verse 14, he says this psalm 22 14 thousand years before christ. I am poured out like water He said I am poured out like water then he says this and all my bones are out of joint My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels If you would go to john chapter 19 if you kept your place in matthew after matthew You have mark then luke then john and do me a favor. Just keep your finger now in john. We're going to come back to john john chapter 19 We're told by Experts who study these things that It was common during The crucifixion or a crucifixion not just of christ, but of anybody For their bones to come out of joint Just the process of being hung on the cross and the way in which you were dying was literally You're being suffocated as your strength was taken out of you and your ability to lift yourself up to breathe and trying to fight To keep yourself alive while your muscles were giving out on you what often cause bones to come out of joint And that's what's being described to you. He says all my bones are out of joint He says I am poured out like water in john 19 in verse 34 Here's what we're told about the crucifixion of christ It says but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith came there out blood and water And there's a scientific reason for that which i'm not going to get into tonight for the sake of time But I want you to notice that the bible describes for us that when he was pierced in his side blood and water came out that as a result of The type of death that he died and it is a characteristic of that death and in psalm 22 a thousand years we get the Prophecy I am poured out like water Then I want you to notice keep your place there in john go back to psalm 22 Not only do we see that he was poured out but we see that he was dried up like a pot shirt In verse 15 psalm 22 verse 15. The bible says my strength is dried up and that would also be a reason why his He he would eventually Have his bones be out of joint because his muscles would give give way to the weakness Of course of the cross in verse 15. He says my strength is dried up like a pot shirt The word pot shirt means a dry broken piece of ceramic or some sort of ceramic material And he says that he's dried like a pot shirt verse 15 says and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws And thou has brought me into the dust of death and I want you to notice that that verse is highlighting dryness He's he's being brought to the dust of death The bible says here in psalm 22 my tongue cleaveth to my jaws now that phrase Cleaveth to my jaws or cleaving to the roof of your mouth is a phrase that is used throughout the bible to describe uh intense thirst in fact, let me just read to you from Lamentations 4 and verse 4 you don't have to turn there I'll just read this for you, but lamentation 4 4 says this and the tongue of a sucking child This is of course during the babylonian captivity during a time of war when people were dying of thirst and starvation The bible says the tongue of a suckling child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst So that is a description of thirst psalm 22 15 tells us about jesus when he died and this is again a common Characteristic in the crucifixion not just of christ. But if anyone was crucified that they would be dehydrated they would begin to uh, Need, uh hydration and he says my tongue cleaveth to my jaw and again this jives with the record of the crucifixion If you're there in john, uh, go to john 19 look at verse 28 John chapter 19 and verse 28 the bible says this after this jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished That the scriptures might be fulfilled saith notice what jesus said. Here's the thing he said on the cross. He said I thirst Because why because his tongue was cleaving to his jaw in verse 29 the bible says now there was set a vessel full of vinegar and they filled a Sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth So we see that he was poured out and we see that he was dried up like a pot shirt But let me show you thirdly if you go back to psalm 22 keep your place in john go back to psalm 22 We see that he was pierced this of course is a common theme of crucifixion and again David's writing these words 600 years before crucifixion have even been invented We're told that they were crucifixion was invented by the assyrians It was popularized by the greeks It was perfected by the romans. This would have been 600 years before before that No one had ever seen anyone die by crucifixion yet. David a thousand years before christ and 600 years before anyone has ever been crucified before any cross or that sort of thing has uh execution has ever been invented He wrote these words psalm 22 16 the dogs have compassed me the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me They pierced my hands and my feet again describing the crucifixion Go to john 19. Look at verse 37 John 19 and verse 37 the bible says and again another scripture saith they shall look on him whom they pierced and of course we know that they pierced His hands the disciples would later on touch the prints of the nails in his hands and touch his side where he was thrust through they pierced him and this is a characteristic of A crucifixion go back to psalm 22 if you would look at verse 17 notice the descriptions He was poured out like water. He was dried up like a pot shirt. He was pierced Through his hands and his feet psalms tells us also his side. Of course, we know and then notice Number four His garments were parted in psalm 22 in verse 17 He continues the description. He says this I may tell all my bones that word tell means to count It's an older word. It's archaic word That means to count it comes from the same word of like a teller if you think of a bank teller What does a teller do they count they count money for a living and that's what tell means here in this context to Count and here the bible says I may tell or I may count all my bones. So not only are his bones Out of joint, but he says he can see them. He can count them Look at last part of verse 17 They look and stare upon me and of course this had to do with the scourging the fact that he was scourged Before he even went to the cross Uh, and and and that process of scourging would have removed flesh from off his body So that he could look down at his own body and see his own bones staring back at him He says I can count all my bones and look and stare they look and stare upon me then verse 18 says this They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture If you go back to the new testament this time to matthew 27 not john But matthew if you go backwards you have luke mark and then matthew matthew 27 This is something that they did matthew 27 verse 35 Matthew 27 and verse 35 the bible says this 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 So again, this is something just it's like they're following a script. They're doing exactly what was prophesied And by the way, this wouldn't have been a common thing It was common During times of crucifixion that they would have taken the garments of the individual that's being put to death And the soldiers would have divided those garments What's not common is that they would have cast lots and in fact the bible tells us And the gospels tells us and i'm not going to take the time to take you to all the verses But it tells us that the only reason they cast lots is because when they they parted his garments They divided amongst themselves But jesus wore a very nice the bible tells us a very nice coat and it was all woven without any seams There were no seams and they didn't want to tear and cut this beautiful coat So instead of cutting it up and ruining it They decided let's divide all his clothes and then let's just cast lots to see who gets his coat now They were doing it to try to decide who would get his coat But the real reason they were doing it was because god prophesied it a thousand years earlier That they would part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture So you see the anguish of the cross he was poured out like water he was dried up like a pot shirt He was pierced and his garments were parted Now if you would just go with me real quickly to the book of acts acts chapter number four Acts chapter four matthew mark luke john ax Let me just give you a couple of thoughts I This was all for ordain I mean, I don't know what you think about something too. I think it's an impressive song There would be and and there's probably there's more that we could dig into i'm just not doing it tonight because It's christmas and we're trying to save a little bit of time In acts chapter 4 and verse 26. I want you to notice what the bible says and this is about the crucifixion as well Acts 4 26 the bible says this the kings of the earth stood up And the rulers were gathered together against the lord and against his christ. And by the way, that's a quote from psalm 2 for of a truth Against thy holy child jesus. I like how the word child there is used because though we're talking about the crucifixion There's this connection To the fact that he was born for this he says For of a truth against thy holy child jesus and the reason it's saying that is because psalm 2 Prophesied that the kings of the earth and the rulers would be gathered together against the lord and against his christ And now we're going to be explain how that happened for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou has anointed both harod and ponchus pilot with the gentiles and the people of israel Those are all the people that were complicit in having jesus Executed on the cross harod and ponchus pilot and the gentiles and the people of israel were gathered together verse 28 For to do so notice all these people harod pilot The gentiles the roman empire and the people of israel the scribes the pharisees the religious leaders of that day They were all gathered together verse 28 For to do so they were gathered together to do this to do what to crucify the lord of life to fulfill The prophecy of psalm 22, but I want you to notice what acts 4 28 says it says for to do this This is being spoken to god whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done See jesus said no man takes my life. He said I lay down my life And though the crucifixion was a gruesome event This was all foreordained It was all planned It was all set in motion again This psalm was written a thousand years before christ and the psalm was written 600 years before crucifixions were even invented So what are a couple of applications for us go back to psalm 22 if you would psalm 22 a couple of applications for us Number one. Jesus is who he said he was Why do we celebrate the birth of christ? Because he is the son of god. He is god in the flesh And when there's a psalm written a thousand years before your birth telling us exactly how you will die and it is fulfilled To the t not just the words you say but the words they said the things they did Like they're all following a script what that tells us is that this was no ordinary man This truly was like the roman soldier said on the cross. This truly is the son of god Jesus is who he said he is And that ought to give you confidence that this bible this book you hold in your hands not just a book It's the word of god It proves to us That there was Supernatural orchestration going on with the crucifixion of christ Here's the key The tie-in to christmas psalm 22 look at verse 9 But thou art he this is The one being crucified the one whose execution is being illustrated and this is he's speaking to god But thou art he Notice these words who took me out of the womb Thou didst make me hope When I was upon My mother's breast notice there's a reference here We're talking about the crucifixion of christ But now we're talking about the birth of christ thou art he who took me out of the womb the birth of christ Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breast the childhood of christ the babyhood of christ verse 10 I was cast upon thee from the womb the birth of christ thou art my god from my mother's belly the birth of christ why is there a reference to the birth of christ in this psalm 22 that all has to do with the death and crucifixion of christ because The whole point is this that none of this happened by mistake. None of this happened by accident None of this just kind of got out of control. This was all preordained and pre-foretold By god and when we and I celebrate his birth what we actually are celebrating is this that he was born to die Upon calvary He came to this earth to die for our sins And when we think of his birth When we think of the fact that there was no room in the end We consider psalm 22 that he was despised and he was rejected of men We consider isaiah 53 When he was given gifts by the wise men, that would be something that would be used to prepare bodies corpses to be buried It hints to the fact That the birth of this child Has a bigger purpose Has a greater purpose And he was not just born Yes, it's miraculous that he was born but he was born to die for our sins Now if you wouldn't mind and I think i've got enough time to do this We've made a tradition here That every christmas service we would take some time to read the christmas story And I think it would be appropriate for us to do so now If you would not mind go with me to the gospel according to luke luke chapter number two And I like for us to read these words These amazing words of the birth of the lord jesus christ and to consider the fact that he was born to die upon calvary luke chapter 2 And verse number one the bible says this And it came to pass in those days That there went out a decree from caesar augustus that all the world should be taxed And this taxing was first made when syrenius was governor of syria And all went to be taxed everyone into his own city And joseph also went up from gadaly out of the city of nazareth into judia Unto the city of david which is called bethel him Because he was of the house and lineage of david To be taxed with mary his espouse wife being great with child And so it was that while they were there The days were accomplished that she should be delivered And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes And laid him in a manger Because there was no room for them in the inn And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night And lo the angel lord came upon them And the glory of the lord shone round about them And they were sore afraid And the angel said unto them fear not for behold. I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people For unto you is born this day in the city of david a savior which is christ the lord And this shall be a sign unto you He shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host Praising god and saying glory to god in the highest and on earth. Peace. Good will toward men And it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven The shepherd said one to another let us now go even unto betlehem and see this thing which has come to pass Which the lord hath made known unto us And they came with haste and found mary and joseph and the babe lying in a manger And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the sayings which was told them concerning this child And all they that heard it wondered at those things Which were told them by the shepherds But mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising god For all things that they had heard and seen And it was told unto them and when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child His name was called jesus Which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb In a few moments, we're going to sing A christmas hymn that we sing around here And I want you to consider the words of this hymn It says on the night christ was born just before break of morn As the stars in the sky were fading Or the place where he lay Fell a shadow cold and gray of a cross That would humble a king Born to die upon calvary jesus suffered my sin to forgive Born to die upon calvary. He was wounded That I might live Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly father Lord, we do love you And lord, we thank you that we can gather together on this christmas day And realize that What we are celebrating is the birth of christ, but there's a purpose to this birth he was born to die He was born to be crucified He was born to take our sins upon him He was despised and rejected And lord we love him We're thankful that you sent your son to die on the cross for our sins And lord help us always to remember in the busyness of the holiday season the true purpose of christmas Is that jesus came to die on the cross for our sins. We love you In jesus name we pray Amen Whenever the moses come up and lead us in a final song We want to thank you of course for being with us here on christmas day And we want to encourage you to join us on sunday morning for church, of course on the lord's day We've got soul winning of course on thursday on saturday. We'd love for you to make it to any of those times We'll have brother moses come up and lead us in a final song We're going to go ahead and sing born to die if you have A course of the week you can go ahead and open that we'll sing born to die So If not just follow along and uh singing out born tonight, let's go ahead and sing it out on the first on the night Christ was born Just before break of morn As the stars in the sky were fading For the place Where he lay Fell a shadow golden grave of a cross that would humble again Born to die upon calvary Jesus suffered my sins to forgive Born to die upon calvary He was wounded On the second jesus knew when he came He would suffer in shame He could feel every pain and sorrow But he left Paradise with his blood he paid the prize my redemption to jesus Born to die upon calvary Calvary Jesus suffered my sins to forgive Born to die upon calvary He was wounded that I might live On the third from his throne jesus came laid aside heaven's fame in exchange for the cross of calvary For my gain suffered loss For my sin he bore the cross He was wounded and I was set free Born To die upon calvary Jesus suffered my sins to forgive Born to die upon calvary He was wounded that I might live live You guys are singing good. Let's sing it out on the last dearest lord Evermore may thy cross I adore As I follow the path to calvary Of thy death I partake my ambition And I forsake All my will I surrender to thee Born to die upon calvary Jesus suffered my sins to forgive Born to die upon calvary He was wounded Amen great singing if you're a guest and you have any questions about salvation church membership or baptism You can see pastor in the front. And can I please have brother johnny close this in a word of prayer? Amen Amen