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Thank you, ladies, and thank you, Helen, also, for singing. That was a wonderful job. As we ponder this evening,
Good Friday, it's a good reminder that everyone dies, but not everyone dies well.
The way that one handles him or herself in the final moments of life says much about a person.
Some of you may have heard of a man by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a pastor and theologian who plotted to assassinate
Hitler in the 1940s. His plans were discovered by the
Nazis, and he was sentenced to death in the gallows. There was an eyewitness who saw
Bonhoeffer as he awaited execution, and this is what he said. I saw
Bonhoeffer kneeling on the floor, praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer.
At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows.
Brave and composed, his death ensued after a few seconds. This is what the man said.
In the almost 50 years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.
Bonhoeffer died well, but this evening is focused on a man who died better than anyone, and that, of course, is
Jesus Christ. This evening, we are going to look at the seven last statements that Jesus made before he died, the seven statements or the seven sayings that he made on the cross.
And I have an outline in your bulletin. It's on the back of the order of service if you want to follow along.
We are going to be looking at each of these statements in three of the four Gospels, Matthew, Luke, and John.
And this sermon is titled Council from the Cross, the
Last Seven Words of the Savior from Calvary. And this sermon this morning is going to call you to follow
Christ's example of counsel from the cross. And the seven ways that you must follow the counsel, the first is by praying for those who ignorantly rebel against God, by praying for those who ignorantly rebel against God.
Luke 23, verse 34, this is what Jesus said.
He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
The first words that Jesus uttered on the cross were a prayer for his enemies.
Jesus began his ministry in Luke chapter three, verse 21, with a prayer at his baptism.
And he closes his ministry here with a prayer as he's almost dead, as he hangs on the cross.
And at this point, of course, he is near death. And this is all he can do. Jesus demonstrates the power of prayer as he hangs on the cross.
Think of what Jesus did in his whole ministry. He did all these miracles. He had all of this power. And at this moment, as he's on the cross, the only power that he has is to be able to pray.
And that's what he is doing. And we know that the Father heard his prayer because of the fruit of the gospel following Christ's death and what happened with the early church.
The book of Acts, chapter two, verse 41, says that 3 ,000 people were saved in Jerusalem.
And it is likely that some of these people who were saved were the same ones who were hurling insults at him when he was on the cross.
The people who he prayed for when he said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. We know that prayer accomplishes much.
And tonight, there's people all over our community here in the St. Croix Falls area who are not remembering his death.
They're off doing something else. And this is the day where the entire world should be remembering the death of Christ.
And many of them do not realize that they are in open rebellion against God right now as they go through each day of their life.
So what we must do is we should pray that God would show them their sin pray that God would show them that they are an enemy of Christ right now, but that that can change if they believe in him.
They can be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. So we should follow the counsel of Jesus in his first saying here by praying for those who ignorantly rebel against God.
So that's the first way we must follow Christ's counsel. The second way we must follow
Christ's counsel is by pointing people to the one who grants salvation. By pointing people to the one who grants salvation.
If you look at Luke chapter 23, verses 42 through 43, this is what
Jesus said. The thief says to Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
And he said to him, truly, I say to you, today, you will be with me in paradise.
You might ask the question, why did God include this in the Bible? Everything that is in the Bible is there for a reason.
And there is only one explanation as to why this man was saved, and that's the grace of God. He didn't deserve to be saved, none of us do, but God was gracious.
The power of salvation is being displayed here. The thief believes in the one who is hanging from a tree.
He knows enough to know who Jesus is, and that he alone is the hope for salvation.
You can believe that this man knew about the reputation of Jesus during his lifetime and what he did.
And he knew that this man was innocent, that he should not be hanging on a cross.
And he knew that he was guilty, and he believed in Christ. If you think about this, the
God of the universe, the same one who created all things, took on flesh, and is condemned to death, and he dies in between two criminals.
You can say that these criminals are in the right place at the right time. They have the right man beside them to believe in.
And one believes in him, and one rejects. And what's interesting is that each of the four Gospels fill in things that the other
Gospel leaves out. You often find things that, okay, that Gospel didn't say that, but this one includes that.
And this is a great example of that. Because in Matthew 27, 44, it says that both thieves were reviling
Jesus. And only the Gospel of Luke says that one of them repents and believes in Christ at the very end.
So this demonstrates that it is only by God's grace that one is saved, because these men are equally bad.
And one asks for forgiveness, and he is forgiven. And Jesus says to him, today, you will be with me in paradise.
Jesus is saying to him, you will be with me in heaven, this very day. Jesus points the thief to himself, and we need to point others to him also.
By telling people about Jesus, you are introducing them, and you are pointing them to the one who offers salvation.
So that's what we must do. The second way you must follow Christ's counsel is by pointing people to the one who grants salvation.
The third way you must follow Christ's counsel is by caring for your family. This is fascinating, as we look at the third statement that Jesus made on the cross.
In John chapter 19, verse 25 through 27,
Jesus is making sure here that his mom is cared for as he leaves this earth.
Verse 25 says, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister,
Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son.
Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.
So what we see here is that as Jesus faced death, he thought of the well -being of his mother.
Jesus knew that he was leaving, and his mother needed someone to protect her. We can assume that Mary's husband,
Joseph, had already died. He's not mentioned here. It doesn't mention in the Bible that Joseph died, but we can assume that.
Otherwise, he would have been there. And so Mary was likely a widow. The care that Jesus is showing for his mother here is nothing short of incredible.
He's thinking about someone else as he takes his last breaths. And so my question for you is, as you think about the family that you have, do you protect your children, grown -up children, do you protect your elderly parents or your parents who are older than you?
Do you make sure that their physical and spiritual needs are being cared for? This is something that we must do.
Oftentimes, you see families that are in disarray. There's conflict within families, and that's not how it should be.
We should have this loving relationship with our families, the same loving relationship that Jesus had with his mother that he demonstrates here.
And you would think that pastors have this figured out, the home. Some do, but there have been many examples of family neglect even by pastors.
There's one example from the last 100 years, a gentleman by the name of A .W.
Tozer. He was a theologian. After he died, he wrote some wonderful books, books that I love.
He did some great things. But his wife said that he loved God, but he didn't love me.
And that was a striking blow to his legacy to hear that.
And she talked about how her second husband really loved her. Now, we need to take care of our family.
1 Timothy 5 .8 says that if we don't care for our family, we are worse than an unbeliever. And it's not just physically, we also need to care for our family spiritually.
So parents, you need to raise your children to follow Jesus. And if you're here today and your parents aren't followers of Christ, you need to urge your parents to become believers in Christ.
And if they have any physical needs that they need, then you should provide those as well.
By doing so, you will be modeling Christ. Your family is the most important mission field that you have.
So do not neglect your family. Take care of them physically and spiritually. So this is the third saying that Jesus made on the cross.
And this is his third counsel that he has given us. The fourth counsel from the cross that he gives us is remembering that he died in the place of sinners.
Remembering that Christ died in the place of sinners. Matthew chapter 27, verse 46.
We're going to see here that Jesus is forsaken by the Father. 27, 46, it says,
And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?
That is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So at this point,
Jesus is crying out to the Father saying, you have forsaken me. You've got to remember what's going on here.
As Jesus is on the cross, he's taking upon the sin of the whole world. Second Corinthians 5 .21
says that the Father made him who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
First Peter 2 .24 says that he bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might die to rebellion and live for him who set us free.
Jesus endured the wrath that you deserve. He suffered the death that all of us deserve to die.
And Jesus was separated from the favor of the Father, the favor that all of us, by the way, enjoy as we go through our lives, and especially those who believe the grace of God.
Jesus was cut off from this to pay the penalty for your sin. And anyone who is in hell right now experiences separation from God, and they experience the wrath of God.
These two things are precisely what Jesus faced during his six hours on the cross.
He was separated from God. He says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And we know that he bore the wrath of God, that Christ was punished by his
Father because our sins were upon him. He was treated as our sins deserve.
So Christians must remember what Jesus did for them. So today, if you are today following Jesus, this is something that you must remember.
And we need to remind fellow believers this also. We need to share this news with those who find themselves in this cursed position of being separated from God.
We need to tell them that the punishment that Jesus faced awaits you if you will not find your refuge in him.
So that's the fourth counsel that we must follow from Christ. And that is remembering that he died in the place of sinners.
The fifth saying that Jesus made from the cross is found in John 19, verse 28.
In this counsel, Jesus is instructing others that he knows our pain.
And so he's calling us to instruct others that Jesus knows their pain. John 19, verse 28.
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill the scripture, I thirst.
This indicates Jesus' humanity, the fact that he was thirsty. We talked about this in the book of Philippians, that Jesus is fully
God and he's fully man. And so you would think, well, because he's fully God, can he cheat and not get thirsty?
Like the rest of us? The answer is no. Jesus subjected himself to suffering, just like all of us suffer.
He got tired, he got sick, he got depressed, he got confused.
Everything that we face in our journey through life, Jesus faced. And he was tempted with sin the same way we are as well.
That's what Hebrews chapter 4, verses 14 through 16 says. It says,
Think about this. God, some people have this view of God that he's far off.
He doesn't care about your life. He doesn't care about what you're facing. He doesn't know what you're going through.
What the Bible teaches us is that God knows exactly what you're going through, because he was one of us on this earth at one time.
Jesus was here. He lived 30 plus years on this earth and he suffered the most humiliating death possible.
And as he's on the cross here, in John 19, 38, he says, I thirst. He was severely dehydrated and he needed something on his tongue to quench a little bit of his thirst.
So that's the fifth counsel that Jesus gives us from the cross, instructing others that Jesus knows their pain.
And so when you tell someone about Jesus, you can tell them that Jesus knows what it's like to be a human.
He is one. The sixth counsel that Jesus gives us is rejoicing in the victory that you have in Christ.
And he sets us this model in John 19, verse 30. It said, when
Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
This is a victory cry that Jesus shouts out here. It is finished.
Some of you maybe have heard of the origin of the marathon. There was a man by the name of Pheidippides.
He was a Greek soldier who was also a runner. And during the
Battle of Marathon between Greece and the Persians, Greece had won the battle, but he needed to run 26 miles to Marathon and shout out that they had won.
Okay, so he ran 26 .2 miles, which is how far a marathon is, to just tell everyone that they had won and the
Persians had lost. And so that's a great example of a victory cry from history.
And that's what Jesus is doing here. The Greek victory was just a battle in history that was won.
On Good Friday, Jesus won the war of all wars. Think about what he defeated. He defeated sin and Satan and death.
Jesus knew all that was riding on this moment in history and he accomplished it, he did it.
And he lets out this cry, it is finished. But this was not the last thing he said.
We'll see that in our next point. But as he awaited death, his saving work had already been completed.
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's what 1 Timothy 1 .15 says. Christ came into the world to save sinners.
And at this point, as he's hanging on the cross here, he has accomplished his mission. Jesus is saying that his sacrificial work is finished.
1 John 3 .5 says that you know that he appeared to take away sins and in him there is no sin.
One of the reasons he was able to take away sins is because he was a perfect sacrifice. He was without sin.
So rejoice in this. Every day is a good day because of what was accomplished at the cross.
We can rejoice in every day, no matter what trials we face because of the hope that Jesus offered to us by accomplishing redemption.
And so no matter what trial life throws at you, you can always rejoice. And so rejoice in what
Jesus has done for you. That's the sixth counsel that he gives us from the cross. And the seventh and final counsel that he gives us is trusting your heavenly father to receive your soul.
This is the seventh and final thing that he said from the cross. Luke 23, verse 46.
Then Jesus calling out with a loud voice said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
Some people say that the reason that he said I thirst is so that he could actually say something.
If you get to be severely dehydrated and your throat has so dry, you get to the point where you can hardly talk.
And so when he takes the water, the sponge, when he says I thirst, it gave him the ability to get a few words out.
And so here he says, into your hands I commit my spirit. And he says this to the father.
Man is made of body and soul. We have a physical part to us and we have a spirit.
So if you have any loved ones who have died and departed from this life and you're confident that they knew the
Lord, you know that their body stayed here. We see the body when someone dies, but their spirit doesn't stay here.
Their spirit goes to be with the Lord. In fact, when Jesus actually revived someone in the gospel, it says that the spirit returned to the person.
So for that momentary period, however long the person was dead, the spirit had departed and then it comes back.
Scripture says the body without the spirit is dead. We can't have life without our spirit that we can't see, but it's there.
Now, the moment Jesus breathed his last, his spirit goes to the father. And as you die, and all of us will, unless Christ returns, of course, your fellowship with God does not miss a beat.
Your fellowship with God will continue. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, 8, to be away from the body is to be with the
Lord. In 2009, my grandfather passed away and myself and my family were surrounding him as he died.
And I remember him, every like 30 seconds, he took a breath. And these were the last breaths he ever took.
And it was bittersweet, because obviously we were sad to see him leave the earth, but we knew that he was going to be with the
Lord. So when he took that last breath, we knew that he was leaving this world and going to be with the
Father in heaven. And that's how it is for everyone who dies. Now, if you die apart from Christ, you don't go into the presence of God, you go to hell.
That's the clear teaching of Scripture. But if you die knowing Jesus, you go to paradise with him, only to be resurrected one day with him.
And of course, resurrection will be the theme of Sunday. And I look forward to that with you. So it is special when a believer leaves his or her body to enter the presence of the
Lord. And Jesus sets us the ultimate example here. When he says to his Father, into your hands,
I commit my spirit. Wouldn't that be wonderful to be able to say that as you die, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.
In so doing, you will follow the example of Jesus. And actually,
Stephen, in the book of Acts, as he's getting stoned in Acts chapter seven, it says that he saw
Jesus in heaven. And he says, I give my spirit to you. So Stephen, less than a year after Christ died, followed his example, and so must we.
So that's the seventh saying that Jesus made, into your hands, I commit my spirit. And so this is the example that we must follow.
So this evening, I almost said this morning, I stopped, I almost made up the whole sermon without saying this morning, but not quite.
So this evening, follow Christ's example of counsel from the cross, by praying for those who ignorantly rebel against God, by pointing people to the one who grants salvation, by caring for your family, by remembering that Christ died in the place of sinners, by instructing others that Jesus knows their pain, by rejoicing in the victory you have in Christ, and lastly, by trusting your heavenly
Father to receive your soul. So this Good Friday, remember what
Jesus did for you, and learn from his counsel. And on Sunday, we'll come back, and we'll talk about his resurrection, and how real it is, and how this is what we should be banking all of our hope on.
Let's pray. Father, thank you for what
Jesus did at the cross. And as we ponder the events of Good Friday, it's a reminder that this is only half the gospel.
The other half of the gospel is the resurrection. And we look forward to that on Sunday, as we come back and we ponder what a great wonder it is that Jesus was raised from the dead, and one day we will be raised alongside him.
And so this is the hope that we have in Christ. And so, Father, this day, fill us with this hope, and may we follow this counsel that Jesus has given us.
He is the best example that we can possibly follow. And so help us to follow his example.