Identifies Jesus Christ as "the man that has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath," drawing from Lamentations 3:1. It emphasizes that Christ, though divine, became human and endured immense physical and inward suffering on the cross, bearing the punishment for humanity's sins. This suffering, described as beyond human conception, was a substitutionary sacrifice to provide forgiveness and a way to salvation. The message concludes by urging listeners to recognize Christ's completed work on the cross and to receive Him as their Savior, as He is the only door to God.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 2.19 → restored 3.94
Thank you. Greetings, friends. The Book of Lamentations, the third chapter, gives us, in prophetic form, of course, another instance where the Lord says, referring to Himself, he uses that expression, I am. This is prophetically of the Lord, and it's His suffering. Here, He is the, I am the suffering man. This is so often overlooked. This is a part that is not celebrated very much.
There is very little speaking made about the sufferings of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, because he suffered on the cross. Agony is untold. His form was so marred more than any man's, Isaiah tells us, and his visage more than the sons of men. His visage so marred more than any man's, and his form more than the sons of men. He suffered not only the physical sufferings of being nailed to the cross and hanged up, and his body all bruised and beaten with the stripes and his head crowned with thorns, and the hairs pulled from his face, and all of the cruel hatred that was hurled at him by the angry multitude that formed around the cross.
These were outward sufferings, but inward sufferings were worse. And here in verse one of the Lamentations, chapter three, comes after the book of Isaiah, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Songer Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, chapter three, verse one, I am the man. I am the man. Yes, he was man as well as God. He was born into the world, a child. He was born in fashion as a man. He humbled himself. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
So he says here, I am the man. He did not cease to be God when he became man. He became man. He was always God. And he remained God and man all the way through his journey here on earth. And so here we read this laconic expression, I am the man that has seen affliction. by the rod of His wrath. The rod speaks of judgment and punishment together. I am the man, says the Lord, prophetically of the Lord Jesus, that hath seen the affliction, hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
My friends, here is something that should stop us and cause us to sink. But the Lord Jesus, the one who had no sin, who did no sin, who could not sin, was the one who came down into this world, became a man, took upon him the likeness of sinful flesh, and he was... finally taken to the cross of Calvary, and there suffered and bled and died as a sacrifice, as the offering for sin. He made his offering, his soul, an offering for sin. The same as the animals in the Old Testament, where their lives were taken and they were laid upon the altar, and their bodies were burned up.
They were the offerings. They were the sacrifices. Their blood was shed, and those were pictures and types of the Lord Jesus when he would come into the world and finally go to the cross. And here's the Holy Spirit to Jeremiah, who wrote the Lamentations. The Holy Spirit reveals to us some of those things that the Lord Jesus suffered on the cross. He says, I am the man. that hath seen affliction. Affliction, the kind or the like of which no one ever went through.
There were other people crucified, yes. There were two crucified with the Lord Jesus, one on his right hand and one on his left, at the same time that he himself was crucified, and the suffering was intense. The suffering is indescribable. But the Lord Jesus suffered more. from the burden of your sin and mine, because of the punishment that was laid upon him, punishment that we should have borne throughout all eternity, in a lost eternity, the Lord Jesus bore on the cross at Calvary, or in his own body. He who was the perfect, holy, harmless, undefiled one, took our sins, Peter tells us, on himself, and he answered to God for them.
who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. The Lord Jesus became the substitute for you and for me. All the punishment that we should have borne because of our guilt and sin, the Lord Jesus paid that price. He endured the affliction. I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his power. Oh, yes. the judging hand of God fell upon the Lord Jesus instead upon you and me. And he, the Lord Jesus, thus by dying on the cross, that sacrificial death, he made a way of escape for you and I so that we could be forgiven.
Our sins, the death was paid for them. The judgment was borne for them. And he asks us that we will justly believe that and receive him as our Savior. As many as received him, them he gives power to become the children of God, the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Come unto me, he says, and I will give you rest. He's able to do that now. The work of the cross is completed. There's no more work to be done. No one needs to go to the cross and suffer for their sins now. but they will have to suffer for them for all eternity if they do not accept the Lord Jesus as Savior according to your Bible and mine.
There is no escape. The best person that ever lived would be in a lost eternity if they don't trust the Savior because he said clearly, No man cometh unto the Father but by me. It required his death on the cross. to propitiate for your sins, your guilt, and mine. And he's the only one who could, and an angel couldn't do it. It took the Lord Jesus Christ, God's beloved Son, to die on the cross for you and for me. And this is done, and he suffered the affliction of the cross. The burden of your sin and mine.
We read in the Scriptures... that he could say of his heart, the inward sufferings, the outward sufferings were extreme, but the inward sufferings were beyond all human conception. He is said, my heart is smitten. The things that were done to him smote not only his body, but his heart. And again he said, my heart is broken. Oh, yes. There isn't anything that aches, like a broken heart. But the Lord Jesus said, My heart is not only smitten, but my heart is broken.
And then, in Psalm twenty two, he says, finally, as the awful suffering of the cross was intensified, when God closed the curtain and darkness covered the face of the earth, And the animals and the fowls went back to their dens and their places of rest. The cock crew. And night came in the middle of the afternoon. And then the Lord Jesus cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was left alone to die when he died for your sins and mine.
No wonder he can say, Or could be said of him, I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his power. God punished the Lord Jesus for you and me. Oh, my friends, then how do we expect to get to heaven if we don't accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior? He said, and well, we might take note. I am the door. By me, if any man enters in, he shall be saved. Well, no other way. We cannot get into heaven any other way. He that climbers up some other way is a thief and a robber should not get in.
He can't get there. I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his power. My friends, all the punishment that we deserve was borne by the Lord Jesus. The work is finished. He cried with a triumphant cry, not with the weakness of a dying man, but with all the force and energy of a living man. He cried, it is finished. And then he bowed his own head. It didn't fall over. He bowed his own head, and he released his own spirit. It didn't take him. He took it. He released his own spirit.
Upon the cross, the work of salvation was completed. He once in the end of the age hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his power. I am that man. Oh, my friend, do you know the Savior? Have you received him into your heart and life and soul as the God, the Lord Jesus, that died on the cross for you? The one who is the Lord and the God of everyone who trusts him. The one who is the only one who can put our sins away and did that.
Nineteen hundred forty odd years ago. Upon the cross of Calvary. Father, we pray thee to bless thy word. And may many of us realize again the Lord Jesus bear all the punishment that will take our souls and bless us with the salvation of God. Our sins forgiven. Pray for our country, our president, and all in authority. For we ask. In the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.