Sermon Tone Analysis

Perhaps you were surprised this morning when you saw that my sermon text is from Psalm 22.

If you recall, last week I said we were going to take a journey of lament through Psalm 3-7.

As I was preparing my next sermon in that journey I discovered that what was to be some introductory comments, quickly became a sermon in it’s own right.

To properly understand the Lament Psalms we need to understand two things:

David’s Laments are Christ’s Laments

Christ’s Laments are Our Laments

In other words, when David says...

…the same type of foes also rose up against Jesus.

Moreover, these are the same foes that raise up against us.

In fact, this will be the topic of next week’s sermon: Who are the foes that are the cause of our laments?

There is no better Psalm to illustrate that David’s laments were a prophetic foreshadow of Christ’s lament and by virtue of our union with Christ, our laments than Psalm 22.

Let us now hear God’s word to us this morning from Psalm 22:

As I read this passage, I am sure you could not help but think about the events of Good Friday.

This is because...

David’s Laments are Christ’s Laments

Unlike Psalm 3, we do not know the historical event that promoted David to write Psalm 22.

We do not know exactly what happened to David, but we do know that it must have been a very intense suffering.

All prophetic literature uses metaphorical language, because our emotions are greater than normal language.

For example, to say, “he was very angry,” is not as powerful as to say, “his anger burned like a fiery furnace.”

No one’s anger is literally a “fiery furnace,” but this metaphor perfectly captures the intensity of some types of anger.

This is what people mean when they speak of the power of metaphor.

What is truly amazing about Psalm 22, is that the Holy Spirit guided David in his choice of metaphor so that Psalm 22 became an accurate description of Jesus’ suffering on Good Friday.

In Psalm 22:14, David would write that he felt like he was “poured out like water” and that his “heart melted like wax” within him, but Jesus’ heart literally burst within Him, so that when one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, out poured water and blood!

(Jn 19:34) Probably no one cast lots for David’s clothes (Ps 22:17), but they did for Jesus’ clothes.

(Lk 23:34)

Psalm 22 serves not only as a prophecy concerning what Jesus suffered on Good Friday, but it also serves as a sign pointing us to the true meaning of Christ’s sufferings—on the cross Jesus bore all of our sins and miseries.

Centuries after David, Isaiah was given a prophetic word concerning Jesus and His ministry.

He wrote:

Jesus took all of David’s sorrows and bore them on the cross.

Not only that, Jesus took upon Himself all the sins and all the miseries of all the elect!

This means that if you are a believer, Jesus took all your sin and misery as well!

We cannot read and pray the lament Psalms properly until we understand this.

For example: When we are in a crisis and we take up Psalm 88 and pray...

We are not just using this Psalm to express the depth of our emotion to God, but we are by faith confessing that Jesus took upon himself the very sorrows that caused us to pray this Psalm!

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

But not only this, but by virtue of our union with Christ is so the reverse is true!

Christ’s Laments are Our Laments

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus had to correct the misunderstanding of two of His disciples concerning His death and resurrection.

Beginning with Genesis and continuing all the way through Malachi, Jesus explained to them that it...

In this verse we see the pattern that Jesus’ life took: First there was suffering and then there was glory.

This by the way is the pattern we find in the Lament Psalms.

Now here is the exciting part, Paul says our lives as Christians follows the same pattern.

Do you understand what Paul is saying?

Once you are a believer in Jesus Christ your sorrows are no longer the regular, run of the mill sorrows the rest of humanity suffers.

Your sorrows, like Jesus’ before you, become holy to the Lord.

They are no longer random, pointless events, but are now a part of God’s plan of redeeming a people for Himself.

The only reason God allows suffering in the life of His children is because it either contributes to the salvation of yourself or another person (Phil 1:24-26, Col 1:24) or it contributes to the sanctification of yourself or another person.

(1 Pet 1:6-7, James 1:2-4)

There is nothing more disheartening than pointless suffering.

Without this biblical perspective on suffering, it all too easy to fall into despair, bitterness or emotional numbness.

However, our suffering is not pointless in Christ Jesus!

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Jesus was a man of sorrows, but He was even more a man of joy.

He was joyful because He look forward to the fruit of His suffering.

Hebrews 12:2 says that for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross.

Jesus wants us to share in His joy.

We know that we will share in Christ’s joy, because just as we share in His suffering, we also share in His glory!

(Rom 8:17) Consequently...

Christ’s Victory is Our Victory!

On the night that He was betrayed, Jesus attempted to prepare His disciples for His impending death.

He concludes by saying...

Jesus is speaking that same word to each and everyone of us this morning.

One of the features of the Lament Psalms is that they do not remain in lament, but contain the promise of God’s deliverance of His people and victory over evil.

Jesus experienced that victory in His resurrection.

Psalm 22 ends with this promise:

Once again, David felt as though he went “down to the dust” and that he “could not keep himself alive,” but Jesus literally went “down to the dust” and He literally “could not keep himself alive.”

The victory Jesus experienced dwarfs the victory David experienced!

By virtue of our union with Christ tells us that we are “more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

(Rom 8:37)

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

So read, pray and sing the Lament Psalms.

They are part of your inheritance in Christ Jesus.

The Laments are Ours.

The Promises are Ours.

The Victory is Ours!