This Is The WAY
THIS IS THE WAY
Week One – Fulfilled – Trilogy of Psalm 22,23,24
Good morning! Today we start our EASTER series called, THIS IS THE WAY. This series about the way to the CROSS.
Quick announcement!! March 29th, 6 PM Good Friday Service
Mark 15:33-39 New King James Version
33 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
35 Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, “Look, He is calling for Elijah!” 36 Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink, saying, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down.”
37 And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.
38 Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!”
PRAY
Today we start with a sermon I would like to called, FULFILLED.
The definition of Fulfilled
Is to carry out, or bring to realization, as a prophecy or promise.
Maybe you are here today and you have questions. Or maybe you just need reassurance that Jesus is real. That God is real. I want to share with you some basic truths of Jesus and how prophecy about Him was FULFILLED by Him:
The first and main thing that I want to establish is that Jesus existed BEFORE Christmas morning, BEFORE the manger, BEFORE the angels declared to the shepherds.
JESUS IS, WAS, and IS TO COME
John 1:1-5 New King James Version
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 8:56-58 NKJV
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
57 Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
1 Peter 1:18-21 New King James Version
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Revelation 1:8 New King James Version
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and theEnd,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
And
Revelation 13:8 New King James Version
8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
So we see that Jesus was present from the foundations of the world. Why is this important. Because this truth, this belief is a foundational block in declaring the love of God. How Jesus was sent…and Jesus FULFILLED the prophets….we could spend a whole series covering these but I want to hit some highlights.
THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH
David prophesied the unique relationship between God the Father and the Messiah:
Psalm 110:1
Isaiah foretold the coming of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah.
Isaiah 40:3
Jeremiah also prophesied of the coming Messiah.
Jeremiah 23:5-6
THE MESSIAH WOULD BE THE SON OF GOD
Proverbs 30:4 and Psalm 2:7
“Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son's name, if you know?”
Psalm 2:7
"I will declare the decree: the LORD has said to me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’”
THE MESSIAH WOULD BE THE SON OF MAN
A. Genesis 18 and 22 indicate that the Messiah would be a descendant of Abraham.
B. Genesis 49 and 1 Chronicles 5 indicate that the Messiah would come out of the tribe of Judah.
C. Ruth 4 gives us a glimpse of Messiah as a descendant of Boaz and Ruth (4:13-22; Matthew 1:5; Luke 3:32)
D. Scripture indicates that the Messiah would come from the line of David (2 Samuel 7, Psalm 89, Psalm 132, Isaiah 9).
E. Scripture indicates that the Messiah would also come from the line of Zerubbabel (Haggai 2:23).
THERE ARE PROPHECIES CONCERNING HIS BIRTH.
Isaiah 7:14
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”
A. Numbers 24:17 indicated that the Messiah’s birth would be announced by a star.
B. Hosea 11 predicted that His family would flee to Egypt.
C. Isaiah 11 and 42 tell us that he will be from Nazareth.
D. Micah 5:2 prophesied the city of the Messiah’s birth.
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting." —Micah 5:2
E. Isaiah 9:6-7 prophesied the expansive rule of the Messiah.
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
—Isaiah 9:6-7
THE MINISTRY OF THE MESSIAH WAS PROPHESIED.
A. Isaiah 35 indicated that He would heal blind eyes and open deaf ears.
B. B. Isaiah 53 predicted that He would have a healing ministry.
C. C. Malachi 4:2 proclaimed that He would “rise with healing in His wings.” This was verified when the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of His garment and was made whole (Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:22- 43; Luke 8:41-56).
HIS TRIUMPHANT ENTRY WAS PROPHESIED.
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” —Zechariah 9:9 (See Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-19)
THE YEAR OF HIS DEATH WAS PROPHESIED.
A. Daniel 9:25-26 give us a timeline to the death of Messiah.
PROPHECIES CONCERNING MESSIAH’S SUFFERING.
A. Zechariah 11 prophesied that He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.
B. Psalm 41 foretold that He would be betrayed by someone He broke bread with.
C. Isaiah 53 prophesied that He would die with the wicked.
D. Psalm 69 indicated that He would be given vinegar to drink.
E. Psalm 22 indicated that he would be surrounded by mocking crowds.
PROPHECIES ABOUT THE CROSS.
A. Zechariah foretold that Messiah would be “pierced.”
"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” —Zechariah 12:10
B. Isaiah 53 contains an amazing description about the cross.
C. Psalm 22 includes very specific references to the cross, hundreds of years before the act of death by crucifixion had even been invented.
“I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it has melted within Me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; you have brought Me to the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; 17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. 18 They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots. 19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me!” —Psalm 22:14-19
HIS RESURRECTION WAS PROPHESIED.
A. Psalm 16 predicted that His body would not see decay.
B. Daniel 7 depicts the Messiah descending to earth and ascending to the heavens to be crowned King of Kings.
C. Jesus Himself indicated that the story of Jonah pointed to His resurrection. “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40).
D. The prophets predicted His coming!
E. They were looking for Him in every book of the Old Testament
THE LAW OF PROBABILITY.
A. The Law of Probability establishes the reliability of God’s Word and the accuracy of biblical prophecy.
B. The Law of Probability attempts to explain the probability of a particular outcome occurring.
C. The Word of God contains 2,048 predictive and detailed prophecies.
1. The odds of 11 of those prophecies being fulfilled is 33,554,532 to 1.
2. The odds of 30 of those prophecies coming to pass is 1,073,741,021 to 1.
3. Isaiah recorded 55 Messianic prophecies. The odds of those 55 coming to pass are 36,028,797,018,963,968 to 1.
4. If you take the 332 prophecies of the Major Prophets, the odds of those being fulfilled are: 8,749,002,899,132,046,697,490,008,908, 470,485,461,412,622,723,572,849,745,703,082,425,639,811, 996,797,503,692,894,052,708,092,215,296 to 1.
D. Of the 2,048 specific prophecies concerning the Messiah, over 2,000 have already come to pass. The number of the odds of that occurring is 1 in a number with over 600 digits in it!
E. A reasonable conclusion: Jesus FULFILLED the prophecies related to the Messiah.
Definition: FULFILLED
1. to carry out, or bring to realization, as a prophecy or promise.
2. to perform or do, as duty; obey or follow, as commands.
What is the most famous Psalm? Psalm 23 right? Did you know that Psalm 22-23-24 are connected to each other and tell a beautiful story of the gospel?
CHIASTIC STRUCTURE
Chiasmus refers to a sequence of elements of a sentence or verse, paragraph, chapter or even book which are then repeated and developed – but in reverse order. It is sometimes called introverted parallelism.
PSALM 22 SYNOPSIS
FORSAKEN BY GOD (V1)
Falsely mocked v.6
Forsake me not v.11
FULLY PERSECUTED v.14
Free Me v. 19-20
Fear the Lord v. 23
FULLY SATISFIED (V26)
We start in
FORSAKEN BY GOD
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
FALSELY MOCKED
6 But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
FORSAKE ME NOT
11 Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
13 They gape at Me with their mouths,
Like a raging and roaring lion.
FULLY PERSECUTED
14 I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.
FREE ME
19 But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me;
O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
20 Deliver Me from the sword,
My precious life from the power of the dog.
21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth
And from the horns of the wild oxen!
You have answered Me.
FEAR THE LORD
23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.
25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;
I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
FULLY SATISFIED
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the Lord.
Let your heart live forever!
The point in a chiastic structure is found in the middle, fully persecuted. For you and me, Jesus is the one who is persecuted and because of that you and I can go from being forsaken by God to being fully satisfied in God.
In other words, the crucifixion of Jesus is what brings us from being separated from God into the family of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21New Living Translation
17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
We get to miss the middle part in our lives because of what Jesus has done for us.
Life in Christ is FULFILLED.
Take note that Psalm 22 describes what Jesus HAS DONE for us. It’s the past ministry of Jesus. We don’t talk about crucifying Jesus, we reflect on that…we remember.
However, his work is not done, He has a present ministry. Psalm 23 is written in present tense language…
Psalm 23 is Jesus’ present ministry to us. Which gives us encouragement as we think about the future.
Important about Psalm 23
Look at how many times he uses the word, ME or MY. In other words, when we see Psalms, what we are looking at is not some theoretical kind of idea or something presented by some great theologian or pastor. It is very personal.
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
It is very, very personal. In other words, Jesus relationship with us today is very personal. Yes, He is the King who sits on the right hand of the Father, but the reality is He is the Shepherd who’s with us all the time.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
Alright? So, what is the valley of the shadow of death?
So, it takes a mountain to make a valley.
You got two mountains here and a valley in the middle.
And what creates a shadow? The sun rising and setting. So when the sun rises, it rises in what direction? East and sets in the west, which means the mountain on the east is going to give you the first shadow.
The mountain on the west is going to give you the last shadow.
So what is this describing in Psalm 23?
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
The shadow is coming from the first mountain.
Well, what is the first mountain? Go back to Psalm 22.
1“My God, my God. Why has thou forsaken me?
You are at Mount Calvary and it’s a very explicit chapter. So, the valley of the shadow of death is coming from Mount Calvary.
It looks like it’s over, it looks like it’s ended. It looks like the Messiah has died. It looks like the Messiah has been buried.
It looks like the Romans and the Jews have won.
Is the valley the shadow of death? But reading Psalm 23.
Because no one dies in that valley. It’s in the valley.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
That means I gotta keep on walking out of the valley. So as the sun goes, as the sun rises in the east, all you see is the mountain of Calvary, Mount Calvary.
But keep on going because the sun is going to cast another shadow in that same valley at the end of the day.
What is that?
Psalm 24!!
SO, that’s the past and present.
So, Psalm 22 is the past, Psalm 23 is the present, that makes Psalm 24? The future.
Look at this…
John 14:2-3 NKJV
Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
What’s the point of that? At the end of the Psalm 23,
6 …And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.
What’s interesting is that in the Bible, the word HOUSE can mean the two-car garage, the stucco, the shingled roof, or if you live somewhere else in the country, brick house, siding, metal roof, picketed fence, dog house…or whatever it is. And where you live but the reality is someone’s thinking that’s my house, I need to paint my house. I need to clean my house. That sort of thing. Hey, would you like to come over to our house? It would just think of the building, but the word in the Bible can also be what we use the English word, household.
So one of the famous verses, it hangs on the front of people’s house in this statement from Joshua.
“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord... Joshua clearly didn’t mean as for me and my dwelling place (backyard, grill, etc) It is going to mean household. So house, can be the place or it can be the people.
And in John 14, Jesus tells us that he is preparing a house for us a place for us that we can go. However, the Bible says more than that.
In Revelation 21:1-3 NKJV
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be them and be their God.
Now here’s what is so amazing about that. We are going to be not just in the house of God, the place of heaven but we are going to be a part of the household of God. We are going to be a part of the people of God. So, heaven is both the place (gold streets, pearly gate, and all that breathe-taking stuff) but it’s also the household of God.
Several times in Revelation, it describes this great mass of people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people that are gathered together as ONE family celebrating Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain for us.
So, in other words, when the Psalm 23….Bible says, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, we look forward to the place heaven but we also look forward to being there with the people of God and for many of us have family and loved ones that have gone before us and we look forward to the time when we shall be reunited with them.
There’s a description of the whole earth is his and someday, Jesus is going to return and establish His New Jerusalem and is going to rule the whole world in peace for a thousand years and this description of the future.
7 Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory. Selah
So this is a description of Jesus establishing His kingdom on the Earth. This is a description of future ministry of Jesus when He shall in person rule the world for a thousand years bringing peace to our whole planet where the kids will play with vipers, etc.
It shows us the greatness and grandeur of Jesus as He enters into the city of Jerusalem to establish his kingdom.
So, what in the world are lift up your head oh you gates?
This is a picture of the temple mount. This corner down here is probably what was the pinnacle of the temple.
Now on the east side of the Temple Mount, we have these gates. Now I’ve got a couple of pictures here and got a couple of close ups.
So throughout antiquity, gates were built with an arch and we them going back several thousand years like this, the top of the arc has a keystone. Of course, the keystone is shaped like this (v shape). That’s what holds the arch in place. What do you if you have something that you’re bringing into the city that’s too big to fit underneath the arch?
Well, you take the keystone out. You open up the arch so that you can bring whatever it is in. We think about, you know, some of your minds go immediately beyond the highway, see a vehicle with an oversized load and they have the trucks before and behind them, they have to go up and over and around underpasses and such.
So, the image here in Psalm 24 verses 7-10 are the glory and the majesty of Jesus is so great that He cannot fit underneath the arch so they have to open up the heads of the gates they have to open up and these will be the actual gates. They’ll come to take all that brick out and open it up because of His glory and majesty is so big….
Revelation 19:11-16 New King James Version
11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:
KING OF KINGS AND
LORD OF LORDS.
SONGS: Worthy is the Lamb and The Old Rugged Cross
Closing Remarks:
SERMON VIEDOS ONLINE COMING SOON!!
Tithes & Offerings
Wed Night Bible Study 7-8
Good Friday Service March 29 6 PM
Easter / March 31