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Don't let my title fool you today, I have only one agenda in this message and that is to preach about Jesus Christ. There are times, in fact more often than not, that I step to the pulpit having received direction from God to teach or preach about a specific area of our Christian walk. Perhaps I might be preaching about the Holy Ghost, or about faith, or the power in prayer, or being faithful in tough times. Or sometimes I might be preaching trying to reach someone that is dealing with a specific issue or sin. In those messages, I try to apply the scripture to your personal lives in the way that God has shown me.

But there is no specific agenda for this message today. In fact, in prayer this week, I could not get any specific subject of our everyday walk that I felt like it was God's will for me to address. Through various ways, God revealed things in His Word that have impressed upon my heart: "just preach about Jesus!" "Preach Christ." So that's what I have come to do today: "Exalt only Jesus!"

Too many preachers today, myself included, preach very specifically to particular issues or subjects because we assume that our audience knows about how great Jesus is. In the Early Church, the Apostles continually, especially in the first years, preached only about Jesus Christ and how that He loved us enough to come and die for our sins, be buried, and rise again. I doubt very seriously that there is anyone in here that has never heard the story of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in one way or another. But yet, because we automatically assume that we already "know that," we rob ourselves of tremendous blessings and moves of the Spirit in our services.

Every time the Apostles "preached Jesus" things began to happen! Have you ever actually read Peter's message in the second chapter of Acts? It's not really profound by today's standards. He quoted one Old Testament verse of scripture and part of a psalm and then simply told about how that Jesus had died, was buried, and then rose again and that His flesh did not stay in the grave long enough to find corruption. The highlight of his message was when he pointed his finger back at the crowd of Jews that only weeks before had chosen Barrabas instead and said "this Jesus whom you crucified is both Lord and Christ." Not an eloquent speech using numerous scriptures and sharp points: he just preached Jesus. But the results were astounding. His audience asked him what they could do to get rid of their guilt and get things right before God. He responded by telling them the words of verses 38-40 and before the whole day was over, 3,000 had received the gift of the Holy Ghost and been baptized in Jesus' name!

Later on in Acts chapter 10, Peter was in the house of Cornelius and really didn't even want to be there because of his prejudice against Gentiles (non Jews). He began to preach a simple message about Jesus and the events of Calvary and in the middle of it, the Holy Ghost fell upon "all that heard the word" and all of Cornelius' family, slaves, friends, and neighbors were filled with the Holy Ghost and, before the day was over, were all baptized in Jesus' name! Just a simple message: Peter just preached Jesus!

Why did he get such phenomenal results with such simple messages? Because Peter was exalting Jesus! He was focusing on Jesus. His preaching served one simple but powerful purpose: to get people to focus on Jesus' resurrection power. Jesus Himself said:

Jesus was, of course, signifying His crucifixion, but every time we preach about it, we lift up Jesus again and when we magnify Jesus, when we glorify Jesus, when we exalt Jesus, we are "lifting Him up" and in doing so men are "drawn" to Him! That word "draw" in the Greek literally means "to drag by some inward force." When a preacher or a saint begins to lift up Jesus Christ, through praise or word, it creates a powerful draw upon men and women's lives. There is something that begins to pull on the inner man that makes them want to get closer to Jesus!

Paul wrote letters to a deeply troubled church in Corinth trying to correct some problems before he got there in person. We call those letters 1st and 2nd Corinthians. He reminded them at the beginning of the first letter that when he had been there, he had not tried to force his own way or take sides in petty arguments, but instead had lifted up Jesus Christ. He said:

This church had serious issues and problems that were threatening to tear it apart at the seams. They had leadership problems. They had sin behind the pulpit. They had saints that were cliquish and prejudice. They had problems with submitting to Godly authority and they were all a bunch of gossips and braggarts. And Paul, instead of first diving into scriptural answers to all of their problems, begins by basically saying "let me remind you what I am going to do again." "I don't want to know about every little petty problem, all I want to know among you is Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Paul understood a principle. If we dwell on and talk continually about our problems, we are exalting them. The more you talk about a bad situation, the bigger it gets because by talking about it you "magnify it" in your mind. So Paul said, let's talk about Jesus! Let's focus on how that Jesus died for us and gave us victory! In other words, "let's magnify Jesus!" "Let's lift Him up!" If we ever get Jesus to the top position in our lives, then these problems will be solved!

That's how I feel today. I'm not ignoring your problems. I know that there are people under the sound of my voice that have needs and have issues that they need God to work out. There are those of you who need miracles and strength. I'm not ignoring your problems today, I'm actually addressing them in the most powerful way I can: I'm preaching Jesus to you! Get your eyes off of your problems for a little while and realize how powerful Jesus is! Realize how much that He loved you and that He died for you and also rose again so that you and I can have eternal life. His back was striped with a horrible whipping so that you and I could be healed today! Exalt Jesus! And you will find that He is THE answer for everything that could possibly be wrong in your life!

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If you want to preach Jesus, then you must talk about His death on the cross, and if you want to talk about His death on the cross, there is no better place to start than the 22nd Psalm. There is no chapter in the Old Testament that is more about Jesus than this song penned by David. We are not sure of the circumstances that David was under when he wrote these words at least a thousand years before Jesus Christ was born, but we do know that the Holy Spirit moved upon him to write words that exactly pinpointed the details of Jesus Christ's death.

As I point out verses of this psalm, I want you to remember that it was written a millennium before the coming of Jesus Christ and I want you to remember that it could be quoted by most Jewish people because they loved and sang the songs of David more than anyone else. In times of feast or on the Sabbath day, they often sang or quoted this psalm so much that it had become permanently imbedded in the memory of every devout Jew. The reason that fact is so amazing is because when Jesus is hanging on the cross and the many Jews are hanging around him mocking and looking on with the same gruesome curiosity that causes people to pause by a car wreck, Jesus began to quote this psalm.

We read in our text in Matthew how that everyone, even the two thieves who were crucified with Him, had been making fun and railing on Jesus. I can see where in their blindness, the Jewish leaders would make fun of Him, but I cannot imagine being a common criminal and dying along with Him and yet joining in the mockery! But the scriptures say that the verbal abuse went on until something strange happened: a darkness came over the land for three hours beginning at high noon! God turned out the lights for a few hours and from then on we see that mocking and verbal abuse quit. Even the pagan Roman soldiers who had been through many crucifixions realized that something was different about this one, and before the day was over, their commanding officer would bow a knee and say "surely this was the Son of God."

The darkness got the people's attention. And after three hours, the "lights" came back on, and the first thing that happened as the people stood in stunned silence around the cross was Jesus cried out with a loud voice the first verse of Psalms 22:

He didn't have the strength to quote the entire thing, but by quoting the first verse, He immediately triggered a response in their memory that began to recite the entire song within their heads. Just as one word or line of a song can bring back the tune and verses to our mind today, in the minds of those standing around the cross, the 22nd Psalm began to come back, and too late they realized with horror that the scriptures were being fulfilled!

I know not everybody realized that the scripture was being fulfilled, but there were some that were doubtless looking on with astonishment as they recited the psalm and got to the part:

And then as the words played even in their mind, they heard one of the critics misinterpret His Hebrew Words "Eli, Eli" as Him calling on Elijah and one of them turns to the other and says "He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him, let's see if the Lord does deliver him." And as the words are spoken around the cross, at the same time there are those Jews who are mentally quoting the very verse in which David 1,000 years earlier had prophesied the exact words that would be spoken!

Think with me the astonishment of some of the more devout Jews who had begun to quote the 22nd Psalm in their heads when they got to verse 12 and in amazement realized that these verse were being perfectly fulfilled:

What a perfect description of Jesus hanging on a cross, enduring the horrible physical pain and tremendous thirst of a crucifixion, and looking down from where He hangs with nails piercing His hands and feet sees the soldiers casting lots or "gambling" for his clothing! And the realization set in -- too late now to do anything about it -- in many of the devout Jews standing around that scripture was being fulfilled and that Jesus was the fulfillment of prophecy and that He was the Messiah and they had crucified Him! The 22nd Psalm had never made so much sense, and yet the horror of realizing it after the deed has been done, that their precious Messiah had come to them and yet they realized it too late!

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Of all of the prophecies and verses that came true from this psalm, I believe that none was as startling as Jesus' statement in verse six. Perhaps some of the Jews standing around realized exactly what He was saying that day. Perhaps the revelation came later as they thought back to that day and read again the 22nd Psalm. Verse six doesn't seem very powerful to you and I because we do not live in the land of Israel and we are not reading it in the Hebrew. But look again with me at this verse:

Jesus said "I am a worm." That is not profound until you realize that in the original Hebrew the word is not the generic word for "worm" but refers to a particular worm species that was very common to the land of Israel. It was a common pest and one that every Jewish person that day would be very familiar with.

In the original Hebrew the worm is called towla, or literally translated, "the crimson worm." It is called that because this worm secretes a red juice which is a potent dye. It was from this worm that the Jewish people were able to dye their clothes a deep red, scarlet or crimson, color. In fact, the name of the worm also became the name of the color in the Hebrew language, and so to say "crimson" you would simply say the name of the worm, towla. It was this color produced from this worm's dye that was commanded to be a part of Moses' tabernacle curtains and doors. When you read the commandments that God gave to Moses to build the tabernacle in Exodus and Leviticus, the word that is translated "crimson" is literally towla. In other words, despite there being other dyes that could have been used to produce a "red" color, God specifically asked for the dye produces from this worm to be used. Part of the reason was because the dye was known for it's permanency and potency. The other reason, and the reason that Jesus made the statement in Psalms 22:6 that "I am a crimson worm" is the story of how the crimson worm dies!

The crimson worm only lives long enough to produce one batch of offspring. When the time for the birth of it's larvae has come, the worm crawls upon a tree and attaches itself to the trunk of the tree permanently in such a way where it's body creates a "cocoon" for it's larvae to grow until they are able to leave on their own. The worm dies on the tree, and when it dies, it's crimson dye empties out from it's body and stains the outside of it's body and the tree to which it was attached. It is the dead bodies of this worm, that is picked from the trees that was used in Biblical times to dye garments that potent, brilliant "crimson" color.

And Jesus said "I am a crimson worm!" What a powerful portrait of Calvary found in nature in such an humble species! Jesus was not saying "I am a worm" simply because His believers had fled and deserted Him and He felt low. By saying "I am a crimson worm," He was saying "It's not the nails holding me here to this tree. It's not the Roman soldiers that have forced me to die. It's not because of fear of the multitudes that turned against me that I have chosen to hang here." He was saying "I am a crimson worm!" "I have chosen to affix myself upon this tree so that I can die and that I can produce 'sons and daughters' of God." Like the towla worm, Jesus was willing giving up His precious life so that others would have the chance to be born again into this world!

And it was so much more than just a red dye that was staining His body and that tree upon which He hung: it was precious, sin-free blood that flowed crimson to the ground! That precious blood that was so potent and powerful to have the ability to wash away every one of your past mistakes, and to separate you from your sins! That precious crimson blood could take a black heart stained with sin and wash it until it was pure and holy white! That's why the prophet Isaiah said:

That word for "crimson" in the Hebrew is towla, referring to the dye of the crimson worm, only it was not prophesying about the power of the literal animal found in nature, but of the man Christ Jesus who died and shed His blood for you and for I! One drop of His precious, incorruptible blood is enough to wash away the stain and residue of a lifetime of sin! What a Mighty God we serve today! What a savior is this man Christ Jesus!

If His blood is that powerful. If His blood can take a sinner and turn them into a son of God, then can I tell you that this man with nail scars in His hands can handle whatever your problem or dilemma is today! Don't tell me that your situation is too far gone for help. Don't tell me that someone is impossible to reach. Don't point out how horrible your disease or sickness is. Don't try to impress me with how bad and wretched that you have chosen to live your life. I serve a God that is ALL powerful, and ALL caring, and ALL loving, and that is just wanting a chance to become Lord of ALL in your life. He wants to move and work within your circumstances today.

How do you get Him working in your life? Look at verse 3 of the 22nd Psalm for your answer:

This Holy One, this mighty God inhabits (comes and dwells within) the praises of people who are in a covenant relationship with Him! That's who Israel was: the people who had taken a covenant with this God and who had separated themselves unto His service. That tells me that there are two criteria for you to get God moving within your life: get in a covenant relationship with Jesus, and praise Him!

The sign of the covenant of Israel was that they were circumcised. It was a "mark in their flesh" that they had entered into a covenant relationship with God Almighty. Colossians 2 tells us plainly that to be circumcised today we do not have to have a natural operation, but rather to be baptized in the precious name of Jesus:

To get God involved in your life, you need to be baptized in His name. He is still all powerful, but you must choose to die out to your will and obey His precious Word!

If you are in a covenant relationship with Him, then the next step to get God to descend into your problems and situation is to praise Him! He is worthy of all of our praise! Realize this: the people of the Old Testament danced and raised their hands, clapped, shouted, leaped for joy, played musical instruments and sang with all of their might, for a God that lived behind a veil that they couldn't even feel. And they did all of this without knowing and experiencing the powerful love of Jesus, the towla -- crimson worm -- displayed on Calvary! If that it true, then how much more should there be something that arises in us to praise and glorify the Lord today!? We have experienced that great love! We know what sacrificial love that was poured out for us on the cross. And we can not only feel the Spirit of God but actually have it come live within our bodies as it's temple! You ought to have something in you that wants to praise my Lord today! But it's more than just hype and emotion, because my God inhabits the praises of those who are in a covenant relationship with Him! I'm not praising out of simple obedience. I'm not praising God out of pent-up emotion. I'm praising God because I have found that it attracts God to me. And that it gets Him moving in my life. And that if He is in my life and situation, then there is nothing that cannot be healed or made new! We serve a mighty God!

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I need to close and I would like to do so by pointing out that the crimson worm deliberately chose a tree and fixed itself upon it with the knowledge that it was choosing to die to bring forth offspring. It was not an accident or circumstance that led Jesus to be condemned to die upon that cross, but rather the divine plan of a loving and Almighty God. His crucifixion was not something that happened by accident and so "God went with it." Did you ever think about who made the rule that sin could only be forgiven by a blood sacrifice? That's right, God Himself made that rule. Did you ever stop to think why? Because from the moment man sinned and was clothed with the skin of an animal that God had killed, God set forth a grand plan to prove to humanity His great love for us! It was not an accident or a quirk of history, that Jesus died on that cross. There are some today that say that Jesus was a good man or prophet and that He died and that the world has made a big deal out of His unfortunate circumstances. That is a lie from the pits of hell. Jesus was more than just a man, He was God and He was God manifest or revealed in the flesh in a plan from the beginning of time to show His great love.

Let me prove it to you. Let me prove it to you that the death of Jesus Christ was no accidental event. And I would like to prove it to you from the unlikeliest sources, a genealogy in Genesis chapter 5. Turn there with me if you will while I quickly illustrate a deep Biblical truth.

Perhaps you've read this chapter many times. I certainly have and never realized the significance of this chapter until a minister friend (thanks, Bro. Jason Dillon!) pointed it out to me this last week. To first glance it seems to be only what it is: a genealogical record of the first ten descendants of Adam. The names of the men in this genealogical list are as follows:

We know just a few details about these men beyond the meanings of their names. In those days people were named according to God's will for their life and were characterized by their names. Stay with me as I quickly give you just the briefest of sketches into the lives and names of these men.

The name Adam simply means "man." He was the first one and we know all about how he got us into this mess by eating the fruit in the Garden of Eden. He at first had two sons Cain and Abel but Cain jealously killed Abel and then was banished from the blessings of God for life. It was Adam's third son Seth who was given by God as appointed to carry own the lineage of the savior and fittingly the name "Seth" means "appointed."

His son Enos, we don't know much about except that he lived in a time where there were mighty warriors in the lands and that he wasn't one of them. That explains why his name means "mortal" or "frail, or miserable." Enos had Cainan who must have followed in his daddy's footsteps of being "chicken" and weak because his name means "sorrow."

Mahalaleel is a different story. His name was a combination of the Hebrew name for God El with a word that means "blessed" or "praised." Mahalaleel can then be interpreted to mean either "the blessed of God" or "the blessed God" or "God is blessed."

His son was named Jared which has a very curious meaning, "shall come down." Some scholars believe that his name is a reference to when the angels descended to earth in Genesis chapter 6.

Enoch we know quite a bit about. He was the only other man beside Elijah who never died but pleased God so much that God took him up to heaven directly (Hebrews 11:5)! We also learn way over in the book of Jude that Enoch was a prophet and prophesied way back then that one day the Lord would come to earth with ten thousands of His saints (Jude 14-15)! His name fittingly means "teaching."

Now remember there is a point to this crazy study of genealogy. I'm going to prove to you that the death of Jesus Christ wasn't an accident. Stay with me!

Methusaleh is famous because he lived to be the oldest of any human being. He lived to be 969 years old. But you may not have known that his name was prophetic because his daddy the prophet Enoch said that his death would bring the destruction of God. Because of this prophecy, Enoch named his son a name that means "death will bring." And the year old Methusaleh died, His death did bring destruction in the form of the flood, because that was the exact year that Noah got on the boat and the flood waters came.

Not a lot is known about Noah's father, Lamech, but his life must not have been very exciting or faith filled because his name meant "lamenting" or "despairing" and he died 5 years before the flood came and the ark was finished.

Noah, of course, was the only man found righteous on the earth at the flood and his name meant "rest" and "comfort."

Some of you are wondering what this list of men has to do with Jesus Christ or Calvary. But I want you to notice that when you put the meanings of these ten men's names together, it makes a sentence. And this sentence reveals to us God's plan even before the flood!

Instead of giving a list of the ten names again, I will simply give their meanings in order:

man, appointed, mortal, sorrow, the blessed God, shall come down, teaching, death shall bring, despairing, rest and comfort.

Or to read as a sentence they say: Man was appointed to mortal sorrow, but the blessed God shall come down, teaching and His death shall bring the despairing rest and comfort!

Those names were pronounced at the very beginning of time after man's fall! Accident? I don't think so! God had a plan! I'm preaching to you about Jesus! He was the crimson worm. He was God come in flesh to save us and to deliver us and to help us and to make us! What a mighty God we serve! Whatever you need today He is able to do! He can heal and He can fill and He can still fix every broken dream. Somebody praise and lift Him up today! Jesus Christ is worthy of every bit of praise that we can give Him!