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MATTHEW 27: 46

"ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTANl?"
"MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?"

I. TO FEEL FORSAKEN BY GOD, IS ONE OF THE WORST FEELINGS IN THE WORLD.
        A. We have all had our moments.
                1. The need is critical, and God doesn't seem to answer
                   our prayers. Our loved one dies.
                2. Tragedies happen that we cannot explain.
        B. Times when it seems that God has allowed evil to triumph over
           good.
                1. Such was the case in the death of Jesus.
        C. Though at times we may feel forsaken, we are never really
           forsaken.
                1. King David said, "I have never seen the righteous
                   forsaken."
                        a. But here the "Righteous One" was forsaken.
        D. Holy ground.

II. WHY WAS HE FORSAKEN?
        A. Here we see the awful consequence of sin.
                1. Isa. 59, "God's hand is not short... your sins have
                   separated you from God."
                2. "The soul that sinneth it shall surely die."
                        a. This is spiritual death which is separation
                           from God.
                        b. "By one man sin entered into the world and
                           death by sin."
                        c. The wages of sin is death.
                        d. Paul speaks of being banished from the presence
                           of God forever as the fate of the sinner.
                                1. If for a few moments we have felt that
                                   total desolation of forsaken by God,
                                   imagine the horror of the consciousness
                                   to be forever forsaken by God.
        B. Here we see Christ bearing the guilt and punishment for our
           sins.
                1. "All we like sheep have gone astray.. and God hath laid
                   on Him the iniquities of us all..."
                2. "He was wounded for our transgressions."
                3. "For the transgression of My people was He smitten."
        C. He was forsaken because our sins were laid on Him.
                1. "Thou art Holy O thou that inhabitest..."
                2. It was for you that He was forsaken by God.
                        a. He was tasting of death for you.
                        b. He was experiencing the divine judgment for
                           you.
                        c. He was forsaken for a time that you need not be
                          forsaken forever.
                3. "My God..."

III. IN THIS CRY WE BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN.
        A. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death."
        B. "If it is possible let this cup pass from Me."
                1. T'was not the pain that He feared.
                2. Nor the jeering taunts of the crowd .
                3. Nor even the forsaking by His friends.
        C. From eternity past He had never experienced a moment of broken
           fellowship with the Father.
                1. In the beginning was the Word.
                2. "That one which was from the beginning with God."
        D. While false charges made, silent. While spikes driven through
           hands, not a whimper. During the cruel mockeries, silence, "As
           a sheep before her shearers is dumb so He opened not His
           mouth."
                1. But when our sins laid on Him and He experienced the
                   bitter cup of separation from the Father, He cried,
                   "My God..." What a horrible cry, may we never utter it.