Jesus is saying, look, when you feel abandoned by God, get to the word. Go to the Word of God. Commit yourself to revelation. So you will see throughout that Jesus quotes in these seven last words. He quotes the Old Testament over and over and over again.
Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford, junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm Steve Heller. Glad that you're with us today. And, pastor, I think you bring out such an important point. I mean, here we can look to no better example than to Jesus himself. We need to know the Word of God, because there are times where we feel like he's not answering our prayers, not even hearing our prayers. We feel like we're in the dark night of the soul. And
you wonder, does God even care? But yet you're saying, hey, go to Scripture and cling to its truth?
Yeah, well, because, you know, the Bible speaks to us. The Psalms speak for us. So whenever I'm down depressed, I like going to the Psalms because they lift me up. But but think about it. Uh, Jesus, when he was tempted. How did he overcome temptation with the word quoted scripture?
Yeah.
Yeah. He said, it is written, it is written, it is written. And so Isaiah said in Isaiah 5511, so shall it be. The word that goeth forth from my mouth. This is what Yahweh is saying. It shall always accomplish that which I set for it to do. It will never return unto me void. And so God says, use my word, because there's power in the word. And so in Psalm 119 he says in verses 9 to 11,
wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed there to according to thy truth, thy word is truth. With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. And so you know, Psalm 19 talks about the word converting the soul, enlightening the mind, and actually cleansing us from sin. So we need the word of God. It's basic. Yeah.
You know, Jesus himself said it. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And so every day we need the word, and then we need to apply it so that it's not just on the pages of holy writ. It's written on my heart.
Sure. Yeah. You know, I can imagine some listening today saying, hey, if I had grown up in the church, if, you know, I'd been in Awanas, you know, if I'd done these things, I understand I could have the word in me because I started when I was young, when I could remember things. But man, I'm old now, and it's so hard to memorize scripture to learn what the Bible says.
I'd ask them, what's your phone number? And they would quote their phone number. I'd ask, what's your address? And they would give me their address. Did you know that when you first got your phone, didn't you have to memorize that? Just begin to have a repetitive time in the Word of God.
Well, I love that. Let's go ahead and get into the Word of God. We're in Matthew chapter 27 today as we continue the message midnight at midday. What to do when you feel abandoned by God? Here's Pastor Ford.
Uh, me and brother just talk about this all the time. The only reason to go to a baseball game is for the hot dogs. I don't like baseball, but I've gone. And whenever I go, give me 3 or 4 hot dogs. Because I remember when I was a shorty, I used to go to show, and folk had hot dogs, and I didn't have money for that. I just barely made it in. And whenever I got, when I got me a little money, I'd go to the show and I'd always buy me 3 or 4 hot dogs. Yeah, but
I didn't like baseball. And somebody say, let's go to a game. Okay. They got hot dogs. Now, you know, I don't go at all now because I don't eat meat anymore. So. But I was interested about something. The last time I went, which is about three years ago now, and I was watching it and I said, wait a minute, I need to know something about the rules. So here's what I did. I went and I looked it up, and here's what I found, because I was interested about
a pinch hitter and how that works. So so listen to the rules. A batter can be substituted anytime the ball is dead. Ball gotta be dead. The manager can use any player who is not yet in the game. So it's got to be somebody that hasn't been in the game up to this point. So then he can replace a starting player When the pitch hitter is thought to have a better chance, of course, of getting on base, hitting a home run. He comes on deck and the batter that he replaces is out of the game. He
can't come back in the game. I'm going somewhere. Can you hold on for a minute? Yeah. So then the home run that he hits is not attributed to the batter whose place he took. It's called a pitch hitters home run. I thought, wow, if that's not the gospel, I don't know what is. See, it was Adam's turn at bat, and he had already struck out. And we
were losing in this game of life. But the manager of the team of humanity, God the Father, called a pinch hitter whose name was Jesus Christ, to replace Adam. And he brought him out on the mound. Now, when he brought Jesus out as the pinch hitter, Adam had to sit back down and could not ever get back in the game. So then when Jesus Christ came on deck, uh, he hit the ball of salvation over the offense of eternal life on Calvary. And now we can return to
Paradise because of a pinch hitters home run. Romans 512 says In Adam, all die in Christ. All are made alive. See, see, see when you begin to look at them, uh. What happened? The first Adam failed in a garden, and we were separated from God. But the last Adam agonized in a garden, and we were started back towards God. The first Adam died with his bride. Uh, the last Adam died for his bride. The first Adam took us out because he ate of a tree. But the last Adam brought us
back in because he died on a tree. Y'all ain't going to pray with me. The first Adam, uh, tried to hide from God because he sinned. But the second Adam had God hide from him because he took our sins. Yes. Yes. Mm. Now, that was my introduction. Amen. Now, now, I got a six point message that is equal in length to my introduction. I know you don't believe it. Watch it. I'm going to drop em, not push em. What do you do when you feel abandoned by God? Same thing Jesus did. Well,
what did he do? Pastor, I'm glad you asked. You asked intelligent questions. Let's drop em. Let's not push em. First of all, I want you to notice when you feel. Is anybody ever feel abandoned by God? Can I get an amen? Amen. Amen. Are you super spiritual people. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Number one what do you do when it's midnight at midday. Mm. Number one commit to revelation. Alright. Where do you see that. My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me. Guess what this is. This is an 800 year old. Well,
just say over 700 year old Scripture. It's taken from Psalm 22. David wrote it and he wrote it about himself. But God made it a messianic psalm. What's a messianic psalm? That it was 800 years predicting what Jesus would go through when he dies on Calvary. Now, what's so significant about that? Because it's 800 years before crucifixion? I'm not. I'm sorry. Sorry. 600 years before crucifixion Jen was ever a form of execution. Wow. And here. Now, what does
Jesus do? He's in agony. He feels abandoned. So he quotes scripture. Oh, I don't have to make that. I mean, you understand it. Jesus is saying, look, when you feel abandoned by God, get to the word. Go to the Word of God. Commit yourself to revelation. So you will see throughout that Jesus quotes in these seven last words. He quotes the Old Testament over and over and over again, or the writers quoted over and over and over again.
You need to commit yourself to the revelation of God. Listen, listen, listen. Uh, you know, it's like this happens to me all the time because I don't read directions. And I say to myself, every time this happens, I say, you better start reading the directions. So I'm talking to my insurance agent, and I'm telling him about this coverage that I want. And he said, okay. He said, I'll send it to you. And, and he told me what it cost. I said, well,
I'll have to wait for this additional covenant. He said, no, you don't. I said, what do you mean? He said, you don't read your policies, do you? He said, we have the three for three. I said, what's that? He said, your house is covered by us, your vehicles are covered by us, and you have life insurance with us, and you have enough life insurance with us that this rider that you want, we give that to you because we cover everything that you have. Alright. I said, well doggies,
look at here. And I said to my wife, I said, you know what? This is free. It's free. You sure? Yeah, yeah. Look, it's in the contract. It's in the contract. It's in the contract. Yeah. See, see see, the problem with some of us is we don't know what's in the contract. See? See if you're down and out and you need joy. That's in the contract. He. He said, rejoice in the Lord. And again I say, rejoice. If you want peace, it's
in the contract. My peace I give unto you. Hey, if you want protection from your haters, he says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He says, he's my rock, my sword, my shield, my will in the middle of the will. Hey, it's in the contract. Yeah. You're not reading the contract. That's why you don't know the coverage that you had.
Yeah. Amen.
Hey, he says you gotta commit to the word. And I gotta say it again. I know you say it all the time. So what?
Amen.
Do you realize, since he quoted a 700 year old or over 700 year old word, that God's word has no expiration date? There's no new and improve. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of our God is joy. I can trust this book.
You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. A message called midnight at midday. What to do when you feel abandoned by God. And we're going to get back to this teaching in just a few moments here. If you ever miss a broadcast, come to our website, listen online, or stop by Treasure Truth Radio. Org stream the program through your computer or mobile device. You can download MP3's or order copies of this broadcast on CD. You can also sign up to be in podcasting the program. You'll
find those links at treasure truth Radio.com. Back to the message. Here's Pastor Ford.
Yeah, he said, when it's midnight at midday, when you feel like God's commit, the no second thing he says, he says, cry out. Realistically, it says about the ninth hour. Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, now, now, now, now get this, now get this. Oh, I'm sorry for all this Greek, but the But there are words that mean cry out or shout. The the number one word is bull. I say bull and it means to cry with a loud voice. But this has the root, but
it has a preposition. Here we go with prepositions again it has the preposition ana a a. Now guess what ana means. Upward bow. Crying out loud. Upward. Crying out loud. Do you know what Jesus realized? His mama can't help him right now. So he cries out upwardly man, look, look, here it is. I looked it up and it says it literally means to go upward. And when it's used as a prefix, it could mean one of three things or all. It could mean doing something reflectively, which means
you're thinking about what you're crying out. Uh, or it means Intensity. Or it means with regularity. Probably all three. In other words, he's crying out here. And let me tell you, I remember we live in a parsonage, and, uh, this was the parking lot. Kids would come and play with my children. We're about 8 or 9 kids in the parking lot, and all of a sudden I heard one child cry out, daddy! And out of all those children, I recognized the voice of my child. And I hit
that back door. And I saw him running across the lot with a dog chasing him. And the dog really wasn't trying to get him. He was just jumping on him and everything. And he was daddy. Help him. I said, I'm coming, and he headed toward my voice. We met. I picked him up. Dogs jumping up, I said, get on out of here. Get on out of here! Get on out of here! Dog got away and my son looked at me and he said, ha! Here. It was this crying out and I responded to it. I'm telling you,
we've got to be those who understand. I must tell Jesus all of my trouble. I cannot bear these burdens alone. That's it. Jesus cries out to the father, and he's real about what's going on. He just lets it all hang out. You know what I find about some of us? We fake and phony. We fake and phony. I bet you I don't want you to raise your hands. How many of you like me? Whenever there's times when I say, Lord, I don't even want to go to church, and it's
Sunday morning and I'm on my way. Somebody's going to come and mess up my preaching because they're going to tell me something.
I gotta talk to you right now. I know you're getting ready to preach. Well, leave me alone. But this is important. This is important. I gotta talk to you. I gotta talk to you. I gotta talk to you.
Now, now. Call and make an appointment. That is honest. There are times I tell God I don't want to pray, but I am. I don't want to read the Scripture, but I am. I don't want to deal with my wife, but I am. Oh, I guess I'm the only one real. Y'all. Y'all y'all. Y'all stuck up folk talking about, you know. Yeah. That's right, that's right. Sometimes I just have to tell God how I feel. I don't feel like giving you all this money. But I.
Will.
I've been praying about this for a long time.
I'm tired of waiting.
Yes.
See? He knows anyway, you're up there. No, father. I come in the name of Jesus. No. God's not afraid of how you feel.
Amen. Amen.
Why don't you try being real with him? That's what I tell people all the time. Look, look. If I don't like you, I'm going to tell you I don't like you. Now I love you in Jesus. See what Jesus does. He cries out with intensity. He cries out with you. You know what's going on in the inside by what he said. He says. He says, My God, my God.
Why hast thou forsaken me? Why?
And when you feel abandoned, you're not going to make God upset by telling him you're upset with him because of the way things are going.
Amen.
Somebody said, oh man, I ain't never heard no preacher say nothing like that. Notice, third thing you do converse in regular language. He says, Eli, Eli. Now guess what that is? Aramaic. It's not Hebrew. Now, why cry out in Aramaic on the cross? Because Aramaic was the lingua franca of the day. What is that? The economic language of the day, like English, is in this world. That's right. Like English is in this world. I done already told you,
I'm getting ready to learn Spanish. You know. Amen. Because they they now have become more of their the second highest, I mean, their first highest minority in America. We're second now, you know. So we need to learn some Spanish. Amen.
Amen.
See? Habla espanol. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Y'all think I'm kidding? That's on my bucket list. I want to learn Spanish. I said man, so and so. In other words, here's here's my point I'm trying to make. See, I'm trying to help somebody who right now came in here with a smile on your face, but pain in your heart.
And I mean to tell you, God, I change my message because I felt that God was leading me to do this because of the people who have lost loved ones, because the people I know in this congregation, who have loved ones in the hospital This is the best. Just left here to go with her husband. That's a faithful man. He loved the word, the scriptures been faithful and and and and he's got cancer. That's eating his brains up.
Amen.
Can you imagine? You don't know her seeing her, Minister.
Right?
Don't think she doesn't have some issues. Some problems? Don't think they're not agonizing. God, why? There are people who don't love you sitting up in there. How come you didn't give it to them?
Alright. Alright.
Mm. And so he just listen and just use regular language. I was with, I was with some people and, uh, there was a new believer, I just let this, this person of Christ about two days ago, three days ago he come, he come. And I said, well, we're praying, come on in with us. And so, uh, these guys, they wanted to show how much they knew they was in a prayer battle. Ever hear them prayer battles? Oh, thou God that dwelleth in the highest heaven. Thou art immutable. Voracious.
You are the God that is you know, and they changed their tone of voice and, you know, and they just doing it, they're just doing it. And I'm saying to myself, oh man, we got a new believer here. He does not know what sanctification is. He does not know what glorification is. He does not know what epilepsy is. I don't know what animism is. So then it comes time for him to pray. And I say, okay, you can pray now too. And he said, uh, uh, I don't want to pray. I can't pray like that. And,
and my friends got upset at me. I know they smile, but I knew they was upset because I immediately said, uh, uh, you don't gotta pray like that. God ain't looking for you to pray.
Like.
That. Well, you know, you prayer is a conversation with God. You know how you talk to me, talk to him the same way. And then he begin to pray. Uh, Pastor Green, he said he said, Lord, I, I just all I know is this I don't know, you know who you are, and I know I accepted you as my savior. I know I'm hurting on the inside. And they told me you can help me. So would you please help me? It was this real man.
A real pertinent message as we approach Easter. Pastor Ford has called it midnight at midday. You're listening to Treasure Truth, and you can find out more about us when you come to the website Treasure Truth Radio. You know, when it comes to the Bible, there are basically three types of people. Those who see the Bible as just another book filled with wise sayings, genealogies, maybe a few crazy stories or visions. Then there are those who believe that
the Bible is marginally important. They don't read it very often. Maybe they think it's too difficult to understand, but the last group understands the Bible as it really is. It's the Word of God, the only book with a message that can save a dying world and introduce humanity to Jesus Christ. So I guess my question is, which of these categories do you fall into? You know, maybe it's somewhere in between. You're still trying to figure out what
this ancient holy book is. Well, wherever you're at, we'd like for you to have a copy of a book by John MacArthur called Why Believe the Bible? Now, this is a practical resource that reveals the truth about the Bible. It'll help you grasp its meaning for your daily life. You can request a copy when you give a gift of any amount to treasure truth. Call us at 888644 7660 or come to our website treasure. Truth. Radio.com. Again, our phone number is 888644 7660. And the website is
Treasure Truth Radio. I'm Steve Hiller. Our producer is Amy Rios. Join us again Thursday as we continue midnight at midday. That's here on Treasure Truth. A production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.