Go a little deeper
Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick opens by naming the room honestly: some came numb, some have cried more this week than in years, some are angry or afraid. He distinguishes biblical hope from a decorative slogan — this is 'Christ crucified, risen from the grave' hope. Journey's long-held value of being 'relentlessly real' frames the message, because God never asks anyone to fake it. He then sets out three movements of Psalm 22 — the cry, the cross, and the hope — and notes that Jesus quoted this psalm's opening line while dying, a thousand years after David wrote it.
Pastor Keith interprets David's questions in Psalm 22 as turning toward God during suffering rather than rejecting faith. He surveys lament across Scripture, including Job, David, Jeremiah, and Jesus' grief. He acknowledges the community's recent loss and uses Psalm 34:18 to emphasize God's closeness to those who are hurting.
The second movement is the cross. Pastor Keith explains the rabbinic practice of hinting at a passage so students recall what follows — which is how he reads Jesus' cry from Psalm 22:1. Jesus did not stop at verse one, and neither should the reader. The message highlights the psalm's turn toward God's holiness, then traces David's later verses describing mocking, thirst, pierced hands and feet, and garments divided by lot — read as foreshadowing the crucifixion. The third movement, hope, rests on the resurrection: death could not hold Jesus, so pain is real but not final.
Pastor Keith closes with Psalm 22:27-31 and the resurrection hope he explains from Romans 6 and 1 Corinthians 15. After a personal illustration, he invites listeners to believe in Jesus, leads a prayer, and prays for those carrying heavy burdens.
Take this with you
Hope here is resurrection hope, not optimism
Pastor Keith explicitly rejects what he calls a decorative 'Hobby Lobby' hope — a placard and a positive attitude. The hope he describes rests on Romans 6:9, where Paul says the risen Christ is no longer subject to death, and on his explanation that Jesus is alive and death has been defeated.
Questions belong inside faith
David asks God why in Psalm 22, and still addresses God as his own. Pastor Keith reads that as the model: when pain comes, run to God rather than away. Scripture itself carries whole passages of lament, from Lamentations to Job to Jesus weeping. Asking hard questions is not the opposite of faith; it can be an expression of it.
Lament is faith refusing to let go
The message defines lament as faith refusing to let go of God while grieving — a deliberate turning toward God in the pain. Pastor Keith points to John 11:35, where Jesus himself wept, as evidence that grieving is not unbelief, and he insists the Bible never says grief must be rushed or fixed quickly by a song or a service.
Jesus' cry points forward, not just backward
By explaining the rabbinic hint, Pastor Keith argues that Jesus quoting Psalm 22:1 was an invitation to read the whole psalm. The cry is real, but the psalm does not end in abandonment. It turns toward God's holiness, and its closing verses in Psalm 22:27–31 picture all nations and future generations worshiping, which the message reads as pointing to Jesus.
The resurrection makes the cross a doorway
Pastor Keith describes the cross as a doorway of hope because Acts 2:24 says God brought Jesus back to life and freed him from death, and Romans 6:9 says the risen Jesus will not die again. He does not claim that means the recent tragedy was not terrible; he says the opposite. Resurrection hope means evil is real, grief is real, and neither gets the last word for those who trust Jesus.
The conversation,
in their words.
Transcript from the recording’s captions. Select any timestamp to hear the original audio.
Today I want to talk to you about when pain is real but hope is greater. I want to make sure that we're all on the same page. That we understand when pain is real, hope is greater. This is for every single one of us at every season of our lives. When pain is real, hope is greater. Can can we all say that together? Here we go. When pain is real, hope is greater. And just to clarify, I'm not talking about that Hobby Lobby kind of hope where you just put a placard on your wall and you just kind of will this. You just kind of believe God's best. I'm not talking about wishing for hope. I'm talking about the kind of hope that you have when you're hurting. I'm talking about the kind of hope that you have even if you're not feeling it. I I'm talking about a Christ
crucified, risen from the grave kind of hope. I I'm talking about when it looks like it's over, God's not over. that even when we don't have words, we can still look to Jesus and we can find hope. Some of you are here today and you walked in numb, not knowing what tomorrow holds. There are some of you who have cried more in the last week than you have in a long time, maybe in your life. Some of you still, you haven't had tears over what's happened. Some of you are filled with anger. Some of you are afraid. Some of you are trying to figure out what what does tomorrow hold? And today we turn our attention to a God who's with us and he's for us. We have a God that we can get relentlessly real with. One of our core values at Journey Church is to be relentlessly real. It's been a core value for more than 16 years. And it seems kind of strange for a core
value for a church. But we recognize that it's too easy at church to fake it. To put on the plastic mask, look like you got your life together when deep down inside you're falling apart. Your marriage is falling apart. your family's falling apart. And God never asks you to fake it. In fact, when you get into the word of God, he's a God that you can get real with. He's a God you can cry out to. He's a God you could present your questions to because if he's God, he has to be bigger than your questions. He has to be bigger than your problems. He has to be bigger than whatever you're going through. So today, we turn our attention to this God. And I've got three points for you. And it's not three points that will fix your life. It's God. But the three points are really simple. You can write these down. It's the cry, the cross, and the hope. The cry, the cross,
and the hope. Today, we turn our attention to Psalm 22. If you brought a Bible, could you get it out right now? If you brought a Bible, I want you to get it out because we want to receive a word from the Lord. The Bible is not an ordinary book. This is God's word. So, if you want to receive a word from God, you got to get into this book. If if you have your Bible, just hold it in the air like you care. Come on, somebody. Well, this is where we're going today. Even if you didn't bring your Bible, would you participate with me and shout word on the count of three? Shout word on three. Here we go. One, two, three. Word. We're getting into God's word. So, God's word gets into us. Psalm 22. It's written by King David a thousand years before Jesus was crucified. That's significant because of what you see and what you find in Psalm 22. It's extraordinary. In fact, it's one of the greatest chapters of all the Bible. It begins with a
question and not just an ordinary question, one that's in agony. And it ends in victory. It ends with a promise of what's going to happen in this world with God's people. We're reminded in this word that God doesn't deny our pain. He meets us in this place. This psalm is what Jesus uttered on the cross. Jesus while on the cross cries out the first line of this psalm. Now I need you to think about this. Of all the scriptures that Jesus could point to, he decided to go to Psalm 22, which is why we're going to go there today. We're going to see the significance of why he said this line from Psalm 22 and why it matters in our lives as well. So let's
look at it together. We start with the first point today, the cry. The cry. Everyone shout the cry. The cry. We find this in Psalm 22:1 and 2. The cry. Here we go. Psalm 22:1. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. This is King David writing these words and he opens up not in celebration but he starts with a question. He finds himself in a place of pain. His life is full of agony as he's surrounded by enemies as he's hurting in his heart
and he comes before God and he asks the very question that every human heart asks during times of trouble. It's the proclivity of the human heart that when we're suffering or we experience something that hurts, we ask why. Why? And it's a deeper question of why. That if we believe in who God is, it's not just a why, but where are you, God, in my hurt? Where are you in my suffering? Why did you allow this happen? And and where are you? And I want to turn your attention to David for just one moment because he asked this question not in the distress that God doesn't exist. There is a reality that he's turning to God when he has questions.
Three times he says in two verses, "My God, my God." And today I turn your attention to the God of David because he's my God. He's my God despite my questions. He's my God despite my pain. He's my God and that's who I turn to when I have questions. That's where I trust when I'm hurting. David teaches us that when we have the cry of our hearts, we turn to God. We trust in God. This is this is personal. That when I have pain, I don't run away from God. I run to God. that even when I'm in anguish, even when I have more questions than I have answers, I still reach towards the one that I know holds the answer. The Bible never tells us that we need to pretend.
In fact, the Bible shows us a demonstration throughout the scriptures of people who have pain. There's a whole section of scriptures about lament, the season of grief, grieving. There's a book called Lamentations. It's a a book about lament. We see some of the great heroes of our faith, men of God that lament. Job lost his kids. He lost his fortunes, his finances. He even lost his health. And he grieved. He put himself in a posture of of lament. So we see later with David, even with the loss of his own child, David, a man after God's own heart, was one that was willing to get real with God even in his grief.
Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. Jesus himself, and we've looked at this over the last few weeks, the shortest English verse in the Bible is John 11:35. Jesus wept. Jesus himself was willing to step into that place of not only weeping but grieving with those that were grieving. Unless the ladies think that it's only the guys. There's many girls. Sarah, Hannah, Esther, even Jesus own mother. Could you imagine watching your son be crucified? She was there at the point when Jesus was crucified. Lament is faith refusing to let go of God that I'm going to go to God even though I'm grieving. David, who writes Psalm 22,
also writes Psalm 13. The Psalms are poems and songs. And in Psalm 13, he he asks the question, "How long, oh Lord, will you forget me? Forever? How long will you hide your face?" He's questioning God. It doesn't seem like you're here right now. I can't see you. It's as if you've hidden yourself from me. Even Habachok asked questions. Habach was a prophet and he he writes this book and he questions God for several chapters. God, why are you allowing evil? Why haven't you you served justice upon those who are doing evil? What are you doing, God? And here's the deal about Habach's questions. God comes back and answers him.
God knows exactly what he's doing. He is a God of justice. For he is completely just. He is perfect in all his ways. He never stops being perfect. And even when we experience evil on this side of heaven, it's not God that does the evil. He works despite the evil. And I think right now we're living in a time where families are hurting and grieving in a way that many of us actually can't even imagine. We're having to deal with something in our own city that none of us were prepared for, none of us saw coming. Even in our own church where we became the place of reunification, our staff superheroes and so many who were here at the church that day, including teachers that thought they were just going to the school to teach that day were here until the end of the day.
Parents, grandparents, administrators having to do the unthinkable, that which they've studied and trained for, and now they're having to put it into practice. First responders all across the board. even chaplain having to deliver that news. So, you find yourself in a place of hurt. And where is God in the middle of it? The Bible never says that we have to rush our grief. That this is a quick fix, that if you go to church, everything's going to be okay. If you sing a song, everything's going to be okay. The Bible wants us to get real with God because he gets real with us. One of the most common verses I've heard over the last several weeks, people have text me this verse, they've emailed me this verse, and I've even preached this
verse over the last several weeks, is Psalm 34:18. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted. God gives us a glimpse that the Lord is not just near to those who are joyful. The Lord is not just near to those who have their lives figured out. The Lord is actually near to those who are hurting, to those who are brokenhearted. Aren't you grateful that God is with you during the hard times? By the way, he is with you when you're joyful as well. And it's okay to go through good seasons. But it's also good to remind yourselves during the dark days that God does not distance himself. He actually draws near. He wants you in your hurt to come to him with your questions.
The beautiful thing about Psalm 22 is that David, he starts off with this cry, "God, where are you? Why? Why?" But it doesn't end this way for David. 1,000 years later, Jesus would be crucified on the cross. And we would actually see that what David's opinion in these words, although he went through some hard times, although he himself was surrounded by enemies, although he himself was betrayed and abandoned, really this whole psalm points to Jesus. So, we've looked at the cry in Psalm 22:1 and 2. And now I want to talk to you about the cross. The cross. Would you say the cross? The cross. Because the cross changes everything. The cross is not just about Jesus dying on this wooden tree, but it's actually so much
more. It changes everything. When you know why Jesus died on the cross and you know what Jesus offers because of the cross, it changes everything. Before we get to the scripture that Jesus quotes, Psalm 22 and in the book of Matthew chapter 27, I want to first tell you about rabbis in Jesus day. The word rabbi just simply means teacher. It's a Jewish teacher. And in the rebbitical way of teaching, rabbis would use what would later be called a Rome. Rome is a Hebrew word that just means illusion or hint. For when Jewish boys were being raised and they studied the scriptures, they wouldn't learn just one Bible verse. They would actually memorize entire books of the Bible. They would study the scriptures. They would meditate on the scriptures and they
would remember great uh length or great portions of scripture. And what a rabbi would do is he would give an illusion to a scripture. He would start off a verse of scripture and that would give an illusion to what comes next. It would be like the start and then the rabbi would lean on the student then to recognize or recall what comes next. We do the same thing today. We just don't call it Romes, nor do we call each other rabbis. Uh but in Jesus day, there was rabbis and disciples. Those were the students. If I did the same thing today, I could probably recall a certain melody or word and you might be able to recount what comes next. I don't have to show you the words. It's just it just comes back up. I can recall songs in my youth. All it takes is just a harmony and it just comes right back. I don't have to see
the words, but they come right back. If I just come up with this melody, And if I tell you ice ice, what do you say? See, you have it in your heart, too. How silly is that? I say ice ice and you know that the very next thing that comes next is baby. Or if I sing amazing. See, you know that what's amazing grace. You even know the next line. You know how sweet the sound? That's what Romez is. And while Jesus is on the cross, he is the great rabbi. He's not a good teacher. He's not another teacher. He is the teacher of all time. And while he's
on the cross of all of the scriptures that Jesus could have said on the cross, he points us to Psalm 22. And what we see in Matthew chap 27 when he tells us Psalm 22, he doesn't leave us with verse one. He wants us the readers, us the students, us the disciples to keep going, to recount what's all in Psalm 22, not just the opening line, but to keep coming because the Jewish listeners of Jesus day would have been familiar with Psalm 22 as a song of David and they would have known what comes next. that yes, David starts with a cry, but he does not end with the cry. So, we see Jesus in Matthew 27, Matthew gives great
detail of what happens to Jesus. If we pick up in verse 45 of Matthew 27, Matthew tells us, "Now from the sixth hour, that's noon that day on Friday. From the sixth hour, there was darkness over the land until the 9inth hour." That's 300 p.m. that day. So when there should have been light, there was darkness because this was the darkest day in all of history. It was the darkest day in all of history that God made this to be a doorway of hope through the cross. So here it is dark. Matthew 27:46 continues about the 9th hour, that's 300 p.m. Friday, Jesus cried out with a loud voice. Now, if I can just pause there for just a moment as you study the scriptures and you
learn about the life of Jesus. Jesus is the man. There's no greater man than Jesus Christ. Fully God, fully man. God stepped into the story of mankind. Not 50% God, 50% man. Fully God, fully man. And Matthew tells us that Jesus after being arrested was beaten. The scriptures tell us that his beard was ripped out from his face. He was stripped naked and Matthew tells us that he was scorged which means he was flogged. He would have been whipped 39 times. His back completely exposed, ripped to shreds, ribbons of flesh, muscle exposed.
The Bible tells us that he had a crown of thorns thrust upon his head and he was forced to carry his cross. Now, in all of those things, Matthew never mentions that Jesus cried aloud while being whipped. He doesn't say, "Wow, Jesus was wailing when that happened." while carrying the cross. There's no mention of him crying. But here in that 9inth hour at 300 p.m., Matthew wants you to know he cried with a loud voice saying, "Eli, Eli, Leame Seekani," which is Aramaic. Many scholars for hundreds of years thought that Jesus spoke Aramaic. I've come to the conclusion he more than likely spoke Hebrew.
The Aramaic here translated in the English is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? On the cross, he cries out Psalm 22:1. Now, if we stop there, it would seem like Jesus is stating that God has abandoned him, that he's questioning the goodness of God. But we now know that Jesus even after being betrayed, abandoned, mocked, falsely accused, stripped naked, nailed to the cross, cries the words of Psalm 22. My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? So that we can go to the scriptures and understand the Romes that he's pointing us to something even greater. Don't stop with verse one. Keep going because although you have questions, God is greater than your questions. So let's go back to Psalm 22 verse one. This is what Jesus cried on the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me? It continues from the words of my groaning. Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer and by night, but I find no rest. And then he goes into verse three. Yet. Someone shout yet. Yet. Even when I have questions, even when I feel unheard, even when I'm in agony, yet you are holy, enthroned on the
praises of Israel. God doesn't stop being God even when I'm in pain. God doesn't stop being God even when I have questions that haven't been being answered. Yet, I'm going to praise God despite my questions. I'm going to praise God despite what I go through. Why? Because he's worthy of praise. He's holy. That word holy in the Hebrews, kadesh, it means to be completely set apart. It means there's no sin in him. He's perfect. He's eternally been perfect. He will forever be perfect. Therefore, he's worthy of my praise. And David says, as a king, he's enthroned upon our praises. He sits on the throne. You get to spend time with the king when you praise the king. He's enthroned upon praises. In the old English, that is the King James version.
It is put this way. But thou art holy, oh thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. In the Hebrew, it could be enthroned or inhabits, meaning God dwells in, he lives in the praises of his people. That that means when we worship, we're doing something so sacred, which is why worship is important on Sunday mornings. It's why we have pursuit night on Thursday nights. We're welcoming the presence of God despite what we're going through. We're putting God in his proper place. Because if we get lost in the darkness, we forget that God is greater. If we get lost in what we can see, we forget that God is eternal already ahead of us. So sometimes we can only see what we see.
I went through the drive-thru at McDonald's this week and got myself a couple breakfast burritos with some mild sauce and I ordered it through uh the the microphone and I ordered two breakfast burritos and a coffee. And when I got done ordering, the gentleman behind the cash register and the microphone, he couldn't see me. He could just hear me. and he said, "Ma'am, you can go ahead and pull forward and pay at the first window." That's because he couldn't see me. I ain't never seen a man with a bald head and a beard. He couldn't see me.
And I I bring that to light because there's a lot of things you can't see right now. And don't come to the wrong conclusions because of what you're hearing right now. You might be hearing voices right now that aren't the truth of what God's actually doing. He might be doing more than meets the eye. So it was with Jesus on the cross on that day. It was a dark day. Matthew tells us it was dark. It looked like it was done. It looked like the son of God, the son of man, was defeated that day at the hands of evil man. And yet Peter, the very one that denied Jesus and was restored by Jesus and met the resurrected Jesus. He writes in 1 Peter 2:24, he Jesus himself, he bore our sins in his body on the tree. Jesus died on
the cross for our sins. He who was without sin took our sin on the cross. He who did not deserve death willingly died on the cross. Why? That we might die to sin. That we wouldn't stay in our sin. and now live to righteousness. That's the great exchange of the gospel. It's good news. You didn't earn righteousness. God gives it to you by believing in Jesus. He gives you the free gift of grace which includes a righteous stance with God. I was reminded in between services talking to someone of the statement Pastor Brandon says often. You're righteous and it's not your fault. You did nothing to get the righteousness. Jesus did it on the cross. He who was holy, perfect, took our sin on the cross and now he gives in
exchange to you righteousness. Now, Peter doesn't stop there. By his wounds, you have been healed. Now, if we can go back in time to that day when Jesus was on the cross, if you were to tell the Roman soldiers, if you were to tell the disciples, if you were to even tell Jesus' own families, "Hey, don't worry. God's going to work this for good." That would not have been comforting words that day. I don't think they would have believed you even if you timeraveled back in a Delorean and you said, "Listen, God's going to work this out. Sunday is coming, everybody." Well, they didn't believe that on Friday because it hurt. And all they could see is what was in front of them. And then Saturday ta came and there was confusion. There was confusion amongst the disciples. There was there was fear.
They were held up. They were locked up. Do you remember John 21? Do you know what the disciples were doing on that Sunday when Jesus rose from the grave? They had locked the door. And when Jesus shows up, he says, "Shalom, peace." I think he just threw this up when he said it. And then he said, "Do not be afraid." Why would he have to say that unless they were afraid? So if the disciples of Jesus were afraid when there was confusing time, may I just say in the grace of humanity, there are going to be times we're confused and we can't see that Sunday is coming. We're stuck at the cross. But let me tell you, the cross changes everything because the cross of Jesus Christ is the son of God and the son of man that took
our sin. And while he was on the cross, the very last thing he breathed before he released his spirit because he fully died, he said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And Jesus right here is pointing us to the promise of God. He's telling us, you can continue to read in Psalm 22, praise him in your pain. He's going to tell you, this is not the end of the story. We have a God of deliverance. This psalm is absolutely incredible and I wish I had time to go line by line, but I don't. So, my challenge to you is get into the Bible and read it this week because this whole psalm is a prophetic picture of everything that happened to Jesus. When David goes on, he describes that he was mocked, that he was
surrounded even by Gentiles. So, it was with Jesus on the cross. He was surrounded by Gentiles and there were many that mocked him to come off of the cross. David would go on to say how parched he was. Jesus, after he says these words, they got a sponge to try to give Jesus something to drink. He would go on to explain that he's poured out like water while Jesus side was pierced and water and blood came flowing out. He would go on to say that he was stripped naked and his clothes were gambled and cast lots upon. That's exactly what the word of God tells us happened to Jesus thousand years after it was written. And what's even more amazing is this was written before crucifixion was invented by the Persians and then it perfected by the Romans. And he says, "My hands and my feet were pierced." Psalm 22 says
this all points to Jesus on the cross. Psalm 22 is more than a song. It's more than a poem. And when Jesus points us to that first line, he's telling you, "This thing is about me. And when Hebrews 4 says that we have a high priest that that's familiar with our suffering, Isaiah the prophet said this of Messiah, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. God knows what you're going through because when he was on the cross, he suffered greatly. There was great pain physically, emotionally. He was betrayed. He was abandoned. He was mocked. He knows everything you've ever been through and everything you'll ever go through, which is why you turn to Jesus.
It's why you trust Jesus. It's why there's power in the cross. He died for your sins once and for all. It answers the question of what we witness just days ago. How humans in their responsibility instead of doing good do evil. When Peter preached Jesus crucified and risen from the grave for the first time, you find it in Acts two. It's the birth of the church. The Holy Spirit came upon the church and many were confused. They thought they were drunk because there's some things we do at church that for the f person seeing it for the first time, it can be kind of weird. And so they're seeing this weirdness happening with those who believed in Jesus, who received the Holy Spirit. And Peter stands up and says, "Listen, we're not drunk.
This is all about Jesus." And so he preaches Jesus. And listen to what he says. This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and fornowledge of God. He knew it would happen. He knew it would happen. And be not mistaken, God is completely sovereign, completely supreme, always in control. It doesn't mean that God does the evil. He just knows about the evil and he's always able to be triumphant over it. He's always able to work it together for good. This Jesus whom God knew would be crucified, you crucified, Peter said. He points to the humans. He says, "You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." It was humanity that took God and crucified him. But he doesn't stop there. God, it says in verse 24, raised him up, loosening the pains of death because it was not possible for
him to be held by it. Not even death could hold Jesus back. Not even sin could hold Jesus back. He overcame death, sin, and even the devil so that you would understand. Although you can cry out, you turn to the cross and it becomes a doorway of hope. We may not ever be able to explain what happens when it comes to evil in our lives, but we can hold to the promises of God. God is always faithful and we can believe God is always good and that God wants to work through the church. We don't want to just be another church in our city. We want to be a church for our city. Pointing them to the third point today, which is hope. The hope. The hope.
God doesn't leave us in the cry. He doesn't even leave us at the cross. The hope of Jesus changes everything. Today, I've talked about the cry. I've talked about the cross. But now, you need to understand that Jesus is not dead. He is alive forever more. Psalm 22 ends in the most triumphant manner as the writer David goes through this description of Jesus on the cross. We we come to the end in verse 27. And I need you to hear this because I believe this is a prophetic cry even for our generation. I want you to believe God's word because listen to what's written here. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the families, someone shout all. All the families of the nations shall worship before you. It starts off dark.
It starts off in agony. It starts off with questions. But in the end, everyone's going to know that Jesus is Lord. Every knee is going to bow down and declare Jesus Christ as Lord over all. Every all verse 28 continues, "For kingship belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth, eat and worship before him shall bow. All who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity, verse 30 says, shall serve him. It shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn that he has done it. David says, "God delivered me and we will tell the nation not yet born because God cares about life." And we're
here to prophesy life that what we're going through is not the end of the story. God has delivered before and he will do it again. There might be evil now, but God prevails triumphantly always. I was reminded this week I got the most wonderful note and it was a reminder with a picture of a of a manora with candles and it was in the window seal in Germany and outside the window was a Nazi flag and a wife of a rabbi took that picture and she'd written on the back of that picture after it was printed the evil will not prevail but this light will.
And I'm reminded that in the moment in the 1930s going into the 1940s, it would be very difficult to tell a Jewish person that you will prevail. You will have your own nation. You are still God's people and God is going to deliver you. It would be really hard in that moment. But God did it just as he said he would do it and he will do it again. And the writer here says, "This is something we can proclaim. And we can proclaim it not just to us, but we ought to be saying it to the next generation. We ought to not leave them in a place of desperation, but we should be pointing this beautiful city of Ben to Jesus Christ. Jesus doesn't leave us with our anguish and our agony. He cried out from the cross so that we would come to Psalm 22 and see the ending.
Jesus may have been mocked, but he was still the faithful God that loved even unto death and prayed, "Father, forgive them." He may have been betrayed, but he was still mighty, majestic, ruler over all. He may have been crucified, but he was still the king of all kings. Romans 6:9 tells us, "We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him." That's our hope. He died, but he's no longer dead. He defeated death. That's why Paul would write in first Corinthians that death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, but the power of sin is the law. That means that all of us, if we try to be good enough, we can never be good enough to
get into heaven. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is hope. The resurrection doesn't mean that what happened in our city wasn't terrible because it was. The resurrection of Jesus doesn't mean that we won't experience evil because we will. The resurrection of Jesus reminds us that we have hope in Jesus that even though we go through the valley of the shadow of death, I'm not going to fear evil. God will get me through this and he will lay a table before my enemy and he will anoint my head and it will overflow. That it always comes back to Jesus. Our city's cry will not be the final song.
We're going to keep singing and we're to keep proclaiming Jesus. It's okay to cry. We come to the cross and there we find hope. And it is a living hope. Jesus is not dead. He is alive. And the cry he cried out on the cross was real. The pain you're going through is real. I'm reminded today, even in the days of the aftermath of this evil tragedy, that some of you had heavy, horrible things already in your life. Marriages that you came in with today that are on the brink of divorce. Finances where where you don't have the provision to even pay your bills right now. illness that you're uncertain of your future because of your health.
Listen, I didn't come here today to to pretend that you just have to say you have hope. That that's not the hope I'm talking about. I'm talking about giving everything to God because he holds tomorrow. And Jesus said, "Do not worry about tomorrow. Just just focus on this moment. Focus on right now." You know, the Bible says today is the day of salvation. It's not a better day or another day. Today is the day of salvation. And if you walked in here uncertain if you've believed in Jesus, today could be your day of salvation. The Bible says all you have to do is call upon the name of the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. You just have to believe it in your heart. God's not going to make you earn it. You can come as you are today and God will meet you in that place and you'll get the free gift of salvation. You'll get God himself, the Holy Spirit. You'll be
forgiven of your sins and given the gift of hope. This is what you get in Jesus. And if you stepped in here today not even knowing why you came to church, if someone invited you or wherever you are today, I want to give you a great invitation. Believe in Jesus today. The Bible says you become a child of God. God's always been with you. You're no longer an orphan doing your own thing. Now you want to do what the father tells you to do. If that's you, this is your invitation. in the seriousness of this moment. I want this between you and God. I'm going to ask you if you want that today. And you've got to be willing to be bold and say, "I don't care what anybody else thinks about me. I'm giving my life to Jesus." Could everyone just close their eyes for a moment? And if that's you today and you want to believe in Jesus, you want to be forgiven, you want to receive hope, you want to receive salvation, which means the gift of eternal life. The Bible says in Christ
to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. If you want that today, would you just raise your hand nice and high and say that that's me. That's that's the position I want to be in. Praise be to God. If that's you today, you keep your hand up. I just want to celebrate. Yes. Praise God. Praise God. We've got a little booklet for you that will share your next steps. And I just want you to know that God celebrates you saying yes. In fact, I'm going to go so far as to say God's been waiting for this moment. God's been looking forward to this moment because Jesus himself said, "There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than 99 [music] who need no repentance." Repent just means you're turning to God. That's what that means. It means you're turning and trusting God. Is there anybody else today?
Your your heart is racing. Your stomach is like maybe maybe this is why I came here. I I want to give you an opportunity. You're never too young. You're never too old. You've never sinned so greatly. Let me tell you, God redeems. He restores. Some of you came in here with great sin. I want you to know this. God can forgive you of every sin. Not some sin. Every sin. If you want to be forgiven, you haven't raised your hand yet. Would you throw your hand up in the air? I just want to make sure that you take action today. See, God is near to the brokenhearted, but you also need to draw near to him. So, for those that raise their hands, I want to pray with you right now. and we're just going to pray a really simple prayer. Before we even pray that with eyes closed, I just want to make a statement about that baby crying. Uh
I have found tremendous joy in the cries of baby in the last several weeks. And if if you're a parent in here, you have kids in here, uh if there's ever a place that should be safe for parents and for kids, it should be here. And if it ever becomes a distraction in your heart, I I just I need you to know that that's a really good healthy thing for churches to have baby cries. Uh some of us our babies are long far from babies. They're adults. Uh but my my heart is starting to feel more like a grandfather than a father. And I just my heart is uh God loves children. Uh so today, if you want to be a child of God, I want you to pray this after me. I'm going to keep it simple. Prayer is talking to God. It's listening to God. You could pray anywhere at any
time. All you got to do is get real with God. God doesn't care how eloquent you are. He doesn't want lip service. The Bible says God desires mercy, not sacrifice. He He just wants your real real life. He just wants you. So pray this after me. All those who believe in Jesus. Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus, I believe in you. I repent today. I confess my sins. I am forgiven. Jesus be my lord. Jesus be my and my savior. Be my king of kings. I receive the Holy Spirit. I receive the Holy Spirit. Help me to follow you. Help me to follow you. In Jesus name. In Jesus name. Now, if we could just stay in a posture of prayer for just a moment. My heart also wants to speak to those of you who have believed in Jesus but you're going through it.
If you feel like you're in the valley right now, which is a dark place, you don't know when you're going to come out of it. In fact, you can't see a way out of it. I'm not going to ask you to say what it is or I'm not going to ask you to even open your eyes. But if you are in a valley of the shadow of death right now, you're in a hard place and you don't like the place you're in and you don't know how you're going to get out of it. Would you raise your hand right now? Because I want to pray over you. I want to just recognize that God sees you, loves you, and he's not going to let you just stay here forever. I see hands all over. If you haven't raised your hand yet and you want to be set free from this today, I want to pray peace over you. Jesus gives a great invitation in Matthew 11. He says, "When you're heavy laden and burden, the invitation is come to me and I'll give you rest for your souls." So, you're not meant to carry the burden. The Bible
says you cast it on the Lord because he cares for you. So, I see hands all over. You can put your hands down. I I did that. God sees you. He loves you. Now I want to pray over you. Lord, you saw every hand that was raised today. I ask for release right now over the the spirit of burden, the spirit of heaviness, the spirit of depression. I ask right now for strongholds be loosened in the mighty name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus, you said that you came to bind up the brokenhearted. And I pray today there would be a shift right now. There would be a vision right now that people would turn to you instead of being focused on the hardship and the the hurt, the the darkness in front of them. I pray that Jesus, you would bring light to this situation. God, I cast off any lie of the enemy right now. We raise up our shield of faith against every fiery dart of the enemy. And we trust, God, by faith,
you're going to bring hope to the situation. You still heal. You still do miracles. You can still restore marriages that look like they're far gone. God, you can bring hope to the hopeless. So, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ that those that came today and raised their hand, there would be a shift as they walk out of here today. they would actually even feel lighter because the glory of God has been replaced. That instead of burden, we've experienced more of your kingdom, righteousness, peace, and joy and the Holy Spirit. So, we thank you, God, for pointing us to Psalm 22. We thank you that you're worthy of praise today. And we say, God, we position ourselves as your people. Lord, we position ourselves that although we cry out, we come to the cross. And as we come to the cross, we see that the finished work was done for us by you, Jesus. [music] You did it and it's done. So we claim every promise that you are the yes and amen in Jesus name. Somebody say amen today. Amen.
Amen.
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The cry: bringing your questions to God
Pastor Keith begins with David's raw question in Psalm 22:1–2 and reads it as the instinct of a believing heart under pressure. David addresses God personally more than once in those verses — not a settled answer, but a settled direction. This section invites honest reflection on where you turn when you do not understand what God is doing.
Psalm 22:1-2
- When pain hits, what is your instinct — to move toward God or away from God?
- Pastor Keith says the deeper question is often 'where are you, God?' rather than just 'why?' What is the difference between those two questions for you?
- David speaks to God personally while still asking why. What would it look like for you to hold both the question and the relationship at the same time?
Lament: faith that refuses to let go
The sermon surveys lament across Scripture — Lamentations, Job's losses, David's grief over his child, Jeremiah, and Jesus weeping at Lazarus's tomb. Pastor Keith defines lament as faith refusing to let go of God while grieving, and insists the Bible never rushes grief. This section considers what faithful grief looks like in practice.
John 11:35 · Lamentations
- Which of the biblical examples of lament — Job, David, Jeremiah, Jesus — feels most accessible to you right now, and why?
- Pastor Keith says the Bible never promises a quick fix through a song or a service. Where have you felt pressure to be 'over it' too soon?
- How does Jesus weeping in John 11:35 shape the way you think about grieving as a person of faith?
The cross: reading the whole psalm
Pastor Keith explains the rabbinic custom of quoting a first line to call the whole passage to mind. On that reading, Jesus' cry from Psalm 22:1 is an invitation to keep reading. The message first highlights the psalm's turn toward God's holiness, then traces later descriptions — mocking, thirst, pierced hands and feet — and eventually the psalm's movement toward deliverance and hope. This section explores what the cross says about God's presence in suffering.
Matthew 27:45-46 · Psalm 22:3 · 1 Peter 2:24 · Psalm 22
- Pastor Keith says Jesus' quote was a hint, not a stopping point. How does reading the whole psalm change the way you hear Jesus' words on the cross?
- What does it mean to you that Jesus experienced betrayal, mocking, and physical pain — not just in theory but in a real body?
- In Psalm 22:3 David turns to God's holiness in the middle of his complaint. Where in your own story is there a 'yet' you could name?
Read Psalm 22 this week, as Pastor Keith invited the congregation to do.
Sovereignty and evil: what God does and does not do
Pastor Keith insists God is sovereign and just, but that God does not do evil — he works despite it. He points to Habakkuk's questions and Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts 2, where human hands crucified Jesus while God's plan and resurrection stood behind it. This section holds together human responsibility and divine triumph.
Acts 2:23-24 · Habakkuk
- How do you hold together 'God is sovereign' and 'God does not do evil' when something terrible happens?
- Habakkuk asked God hard questions for chapters and God answered him. What does that suggest about how God regards our questions?
- Pastor Keith says we may not be able to explain evil but we can hold God's promises. Which promise do you most need to hold right now?
Hope: the psalm does not end in the cry
The sermon lands on Psalm 22:27–31, where all nations and future generations worship, and on Romans 6:9 and 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul describes Christ's victory over death. Pastor Keith frames the resurrection as the reason grief is not the final word, while explicitly refusing to say the recent tragedy was not terrible. This section considers living hope in a still-broken world.
Psalm 22:27-31 · Romans 6:9 · 1 Corinthians 15
- Pastor Keith says the resurrection does not mean the tragedy was not terrible. How does that honesty change the way you think about hope?
- The end of the psalm speaks about telling the coming generation. What would it look like for our church to tell the next generation the truth about both pain and hope?
- Pastor Keith describes the psalm's closing vision of the nations and coming generations worshiping. How does that resurrection hope speak to a grief you are carrying now?
Answers from this recording
Start a conversation.
What is the difference between the hope Pastor Keith is talking about and ordinary optimism?+
Pastor Keith distinguishes hope in Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection from positive thinking. Applying Romans 6:9, he emphasizes that Jesus is alive and has defeated death. He presents this hope as available to hurting people even when their feelings or circumstances remain difficult.
Why does Psalm 22 matter so much if this is a message about pain and hope?+
Pastor Keith reads Psalm 22 as a psalm that begins in agony and ends in worship. It opens with David's cry and the question of why God seems far away, then turns toward God's holiness, and closes with all nations and future generations praising God. Because Jesus quoted the psalm's opening line on the cross, the message argues the whole psalm points to him. The structure of the psalm — cry, cross, hope — gives the sermon its outline, and Pastor Keith treats it as one of the greatest chapters of the Bible.
What did Jesus mean by his cry from the cross?+
Pastor Keith interprets Jesus' cry in Matthew 27 as a rabbinic invitation to recall the whole of Psalm 22. He emphasizes the movement from pain toward praise and deliverance. He also connects details of the psalm with Jesus' suffering and insists that God remains holy despite the darkness of that day.
If God is sovereign, how does the sermon explain evil in the world?+
Pastor Keith insists God is completely sovereign and completely just, but he explicitly denies that God does evil — God knows about evil and works despite it. He points to Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts 2, which says God knew and planned for what would happen to Jesus, while the people who crucified him remained responsible for their wrongdoing. Both statements sit together in one sermon. He also says some evil will never be fully explained on this side, and that we hold to God's promises instead of pretending to understand everything.
What does the ending of the psalm and the resurrection promise for people grieving right now?+
Pastor Keith closes in Psalm 22:27–31, where all the families of the nations and future generations worship. He pairs that with Romans 6:9 and 1 Corinthians 15 to say Jesus has risen and will not die again. He explicitly refuses to claim the recent tragedy was not terrible, and says evil and grief remain real. The claim is narrower: for those who trust Jesus, the cry and the cross are not the final chapter. He then invites anyone to believe and prays over those carrying heavy burdens.
