The Seven Sayings Of Jesus On The Cross (Part 2)

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David Hume, the atheist, I'm in the flames. Cardinal Borgia, I've provided in the course of my life for everything except death, and now, alas,

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If only there was a firmer foundation upon which to sail, perhaps some divine word.

And Huxley, the humanist, it is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one's life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than try to be a little kinder.

General John Senwick, in the Battle of 1864, they couldn't hit an elephant at this dist...

True. Jesse James, it's awfully hot today.

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Franklin D. Roosevelt, I have a terrific headache. Last words, interesting, revealing, insightful.

Today we're going to look at part two of the seven words of the Lord Jesus on the cross that reveals his true compassion, his true humanity, his true kindness for sinners.

If you'll take your Bible and open them up to Luke chapter 23 to start. Seven sayings of the

Lord Jesus on the cross. And by the way, at the very beginning, I might as well remind everyone that if Jesus wasn't resurrected from the dead, none of these words would have mattered.

It all would have been a hoax, a ruse, and we ought to all be pitied. But of course, the father did raise the son, and he confirmed everything that the son said was true.

Everything that the Lord Jesus did was according to the father's plan. And so today we're going to finish up what we started last week, the seven sayings of the

Lord Jesus on the cross. And you can look at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to find those seven sayings.

There are around three time periods from nine in the morning till noon, noon to three, and then afterwards.

And so last week we saw three of the seven. We're going to have a quick review, and then we're going to pick up the last four of the seven.

And so I'm hoping to get through all seven today. And then the next couple of weeks, I'd like to look at the book of Ecclesiastes, a couple of specific chapters about death and how to prepare for death and how to live in light of our death and make sure we know we're going to heaven after we die.

So that'll be coming up in the weeks to come. Seven sayings of the Lord Jesus on the cross. The first one, remember last week,

Luke 23, verses 32 and following. Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.

Verse 32, two others were criminals were led away to be put to death with him.

And when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right, one on his left.

And Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by watching. But the ruler scoffed at him, saying,

He saved others. Let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one.

Soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, If you're the king of the Jews, save yourself.

There was also an inscription over him. This is the king of the Jews. Of course, as we would see in the life of Samson in the book of Judges, power at death.

We see here with the Lord Jesus, love at his death. It's always a good question to ask.

What's the context for whom is Jesus praying about? To whom would he like to have these words of forgiveness be addressed?

Some people think, well, it's each and every person that ever lived, including Judas. It's the Jewish people.

But if you watch the context, it's the rulers. No, it's the Sanhedrin. No, it's the

Pharisees. No, it's the soldiers. And he's praying for these soldiers.

They didn't have any idea about the cosmic repercussions of what they were doing.

Father, forgive them. Did you know back in the old days when someone would get crucified, many times they'd have to cut the tongues out of the people crucified because they would spew forth so much venom.

And here, unlike other people, of course, the God man, the Lord Jesus, instead of condemning, instead of slamming, he is doing what a good high priest does.

And what does a high priest do? In his life, he prays, and in his death, he prays. He always lives to make intercession.

J .C. Rowell said, While the blood of the greatest sacrifice started to flow, the greatest of all high priests started to intercede.

He could have destroyed them, and he prays for them instead. Everyone is saying things wrongly, bandits, criminals.

They're defiant. They're awful, wicked people. And Jesus, according to Isaiah 53, it says,

Therefore, I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors, for he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

One of my favorite places in the world for theology is Scotland. And so you have to go there sometime just to think of wonderful theologians.

And there was a brother named Erskine, and one of the brothers was named Ebenezer. Why don't we name kids

Ebenezer anymore? Hey, at this church, I think we probably got a couple Ebenezers coming. Right?

I love the names of children at this church. I had to say that or else, right?

What am I going to say? I'm just kidding. Ebenezer Erskine said this,

I tell you good news. Christ is more willing to embrace you than you are willing to be embraced by him.

Can't you see that on the cross with the Lord Jesus? The love of Christ and his compassion, praying for the forgiveness of his actual executioners.

Stephen understood this very well when later in Acts chapter 7, as he was getting stoned, he said,

Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

This is just like the Lord Jesus, eager to forgive. Sometimes we use the word parsimonious, and we mean by that, people are kind of, what we would say when we were kids, they're kind of chintzy a little bit.

They don't want to kind of give. They're holding everything close to them, and they don't want to be gracious.

That's not the Lord Jesus at all. The most important thing that has to be dealt with in our life is sin, and Jesus, of course, on his deathbed, is dealing with that.

Secondly, we saw in the same chapter, Luke 23, not just, Father, forgive them, but today you'll be with me in paradise.

Remember that wonderful saying of the Lord Jesus on the cross? Again, thinking of others, let's pick it up in verse 39, please, of Luke 23.

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.

But the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong.

And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. And he said to him, Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

I mean, that is fascinating on many accounts. Here's one. Can you talk very well when you have the wind knocked out of you?

When I used to play football, sometimes I'd get the wind knocked out of me, and you just lay there, and you can't. They're like,

Are you okay? Well, quit asking me questions. I can't talk. I can't answer. And remember, they always pull you kind of by the belt.

If you're laying down, they pull you up a little bit to try to give your diaphragm some room to say something.

Now, compounded everything on the cross, Jesus can hardly talk. And yet he's saying these kind words to others.

This thief was going to meet eternity very, very soon.

And here, even though Jesus looks weak, is he still mighty to save? This man was blaspheming.

Now he's praying, as it were, asking Jesus for help. And the good news is for this sinner on the cross, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Can you imagine that thief on the cross? Only one deathbed conversion in all of Scripture.

As Spurgeon said, so that we might not be presumptuous, don't wait to the very end, believe today, but also that we might have hope.

And here, this man believes on the Lord Jesus, and Jesus doesn't say to him, Well, you're going to be with me today in purgatory.

Does he say that? No. You're going to be with me today in paradise, bliss, pleasure, whatever great things are offered in heaven, you get it all and you get it today.

No delay. This is wonderful. This is amazing love. From a cursor, a blasphemer, to now one who's saved by the

Lord Jesus. Heaven, a park, a garden of Eden, a region in heaven.

Today you'll be with me in paradise. I've been crucified with Christ, Paul said, and there's no longer

I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the

Son of God. And it's for us and as well for this thief, who loved me and delivered himself up for me.

Thirdly, we saw last week, and finally last week, we saw in John 19, Woman, behold your

Son. Please turn to John 19, hitting a variety of different Gospels. The words of Jesus on the cross, revealing

His nature, His character, His graciousness, His faithfulness, His obedience to the

Father. Remember, Jesus was sent for this very reason. And now Jesus does something very touching, but it's more than touching.

John 19, verse 23, the third word of Jesus on the cross.

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took His garments and divided them in four parts, one for each soldier.

So there was four soldiers. Also His tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to the bottom.

So they said to one another, let's not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be. This was to fulfill scripture, which says, they divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

And with an ominous, sovereign tone, so the soldiers did these things. John is citing,

John is having Jesus cite Psalm 22, casting lots for the clothing.

Now, if you had clothing back in those days, here's what you would have. There'd be five pieces of clothing, the turban or a headdress, that's one, an outer robe, a sash or a girdle that would kind of have folds and pockets, sandals, and then a long tunic that was an undergarment.

So there were five things. So the four were easy to divide, and then the undergarment's not so easy, so let's cast lots for that.

This is why most people think that the crucifixion was in fact even more shameful because the person had no clothes on.

And here we see in verse 25, standing at the cross, by the cross, where 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, that's John, He said to His mother, Woman, behold your son.

Then He said to the disciple, Behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple, that's

John, took her, Mary, to His own home. Jesus, the oldest brother,

He's the one in charge to take care of His mother, and there on the cross, Joseph, of course, must have been dead by now, and Jesus makes sure that His mother's taken care of.

How kind, how wonderful the Lord Jesus. Fulfilling everything, including the end, where it's honor your father and mother.

And here we have the Lamb of God making provision for His mother. He knew what His mother must be going through, and in stark contrast to these wicked soldiers and thieves, we have the women watching with grief, and Jesus thinking of others.

One writer said this, When we suffer, we become so completely absorbed with our suffering that we forget everything else.

All it takes is a little toothache or a headache to make us irritable and quick -tempered.

It is therefore amazing to see Jesus here, suspended on a cross, making arrangements for the care of His mother.

Jesus fulfilling the law all the way to the very end, honoring His father and His mother, earning righteousness for us.

All right, those are the three in review. Let's go to Mark chapter 15 for the fourth word on the cross.

Jesus said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This is Mark chapter 15.

Nothing's been said from noon to three, and now we have some more words. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

David had said in Psalm 37, I've not seen the righteous forsaken, but now we will see the righteous forsaken.

Luke, John, and now Mark, Mark 15. This is a special kind of literature called the gospel.

It talks about who Jesus is with a theological emphasis, and Mark is really a fast -paced gospel.

For some of you kids that are here, maybe I can, excuse me, I've had three COVID tests.

I don't have COVID, so don't get worried. Gospel of Mark, it's fast -paced.

You ever seen Indiana Jones? This is like the Indiana Jones of the gospels. It's fast, fast, fast, fast, fast.

What does that have to do with anything? It doesn't have to do anything with anything. I just had to cough and had to talk about it.

I read that quote about you get a little headache or earache, and you're suffering, you can't think of anything else.

I thought, well, that's me. I can identify. Mark 15, 33.

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

So you start counting hours at 6 a .m. So six hours from 6 a .m.

is noon. So from noon to three, it's supposed to be sunny out. What does the text say?

There's darkness over the whole land. There's not a cloud or two, it's completely dark. And Jesus at 3 p .m.

at the ninth hour, verse 34, cried out with a loud voice, here in Aramaic, which means, my

God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, behold, he's calling

Elijah. And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave it him to drink, saying, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.

And Jesus uttered with a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

And when the centurion who stood facing him saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, truly, this was the

Son of God. Now, Jesus regularly in the

Gospel of Mark speaks in Aramaic, and he does that right here, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's noon and it's dark, and you should be thinking to yourself, why would it be dark at noon?

What's going on with the darkness? What does darkness often tell us in the

Old Testament? This is kind of a puzzle. Does this mean like the sun wouldn't shine on such an atrocity?

Is this somehow God going to avenge Jesus' murders? Dark? Let me read you a few verses from the

Old Testament so it clicks in your mind that often in the Old Testament, judgment is darkness.

Light isn't. Listen to what Amos says. Alas, you who are longing for the day of the

Lord, for what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light.

That judgment day, it's going to be dark. Amos 8, that I shall make the sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight.

That's what's going to happen on that judgment day. Even Jesus said it in Matthew 28, immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be what?

Darkened and the moon will not give its light. Darkness is the judgment of God.

It's dark at noon, it shouldn't be dark at noon. Why is it dark at noon? Because God is judging.

Who is God judging? Well, He should be judging our sins, but He's judging the Lord Jesus. Jesus now is beginning to take on our judgment.

God the Father is judging the Son. And for those three hours, like a lamb dumb or quiet before its shearers,

Jesus doesn't say anything. And the very end though, He says, My God, My God, why have You forsaken

Me? You can tell, My God, My God, repeated. It's very personal. My God, not

God, God. My God, it's repeated twice. When we say verily, verily, or truly, truly.

My God, My God. Is He somehow not trusting the

Lord? Of course, He's trusting the Lord. Spurgeon said it was an instance of a man in weakness, but not in revolt.

Pilate's sentence was death. And in a very similar fashion, the Father's sentence was the same, just on different grounds.

Forsaken. Some call that word the most tragic word in all human speech.

Friends can forsake you. Spouse can forsake you. Children can forsake you.

Parents can forsake you. But the Father forsaking the object of His love from all eternity.

Why have you forsaken Me? Perfect eternal communion, obviously. Perfect communion on earth for 33 years.

Abandoned by God. This is not the feeling of abandonment. This is abandonment. And there's no explanation in all of Scripture except this.

That Jesus now is the substitute for our sins. Why would

God the Father forsake Jesus? Because He's bearing our sins. And by the way, this is what liberal

Christian theologians despise. They want nothing to do with any kind of penalty substitution.

They don't want anything to do with the cross, where this assuagement of God's wrath.

They want forgiveness, but they don't want it at the price of blood and death. They think it's uncouth.

They think it's boorish. They think it's unsophisticated. And here we have

God the Father forsaking the Son. How can we describe it with Trinitarian language?

I think it's almost off limits. We just know this is happening. Jesus is in our place, in the stead of sinners, suffering on our behalf.

Remember what Jesus said in the garden? Abba, Father, all things are possible for me, for Thee.

Remove the cup from me, but not what I will, but what Thou willed. And what

He was shrinking from in the garden, now He gladly accepts. And it's darkness.

God is judging. It's one thing from 9 to noon to be judged by men. Spit on, condemned, blasphemed.

But you know, other people have been crucified. I'm not saying it's a good death. But many other

Jews, some say 10 ,000 Jews have been crucified. So from 9 to 12, Jesus is suffering at the hands of men.

But now, as Arthur Pink says, it's like you take all of eternity, suffering in hell, and you condense it into three hours and pour it onto the

Lord Jesus. God's too holy to look on sin. God is so holy,

He'll always judge sin. At the cross,

Jesus was receiving our wages that were due us. This is a language of substitution.

When I was a younger father and the kids were in the house, it's sure quiet in our house now, by the way,

I would say to them regularly, what's the most important word in all the Bible, the most important concept? And they probably would say,

Jesus. Yeah, I know that, but besides that, I'd say the most important concept in all the

Bible is substitution. Substitution. And I was really good at that because I never could start in high school basketball or high school football.

I was always the substitute. I know that role well. It's called bench warmer. And you just look at Scripture and you get substitution.

You think this is the climax of all. Adam sins and Eve sins. God kills an animal in their place.

Substitution. Passover, if you don't want to die, you kill the lamb, you spread the blood over the doorpost, and instead of you dying, the lamb dies.

Substitution. Israel sins the day of atonement, Leviticus 16. You've got to have something die for your sins,

Israel. And so it's either the goat, the scapegoat, something's got to die, day of atonement.

And no wonder John the Baptist later on, in John 1 .29, looks at Jesus and says what?

I'll just make sure you're paying attention. Behold, the ostrich of God.

You should see some of your faces. They're like, who are you? My point is this.

It's not just any animal. Why was Jesus called the lamb? Because of substitution.

And now we see it right here. The lamb. We're not picking lambs because they're dumb.

We're not picking lambs for those reasons. We're picking lamb for one reason. Substitution.

And everywhere you go in the New Testament, you'll see this in bold letters, as it were.

1 Peter 3, Christ died for the sins of all, the just for the unjust, substitution.

1 Peter 2, He Himself bore our sins, substitution. Galatians 3, having become a curse for us, substitution.

Hebrews 9, to bear the sins of many, substitution. I mean, the most important Bible verse that I can think of with the

Gospel is 1 Corinthians 15 .3. I delivered you as of first importance that I also received that Christ died for His sins.

Obviously not. For our sins, that substitution. Maybe you could describe all the

Bible with one word. On behalf of. In Greek, that's one word.

God didn't have to save anyone. There needed to be no substitute. Angels sinned. They got judged.

We sinned. God provides a mediator. God provides a lamb, a substitute. People say, when

I look at the cross, I just see the love of God. Great. When I look at the cross, I just see

God saying, I have to hold up justice. Great. When I look at the cross,

I see God defeating demons. Great. But unless you have at the center something called penalty, substitution, you lose everything.

And friends, we can't take capital punishment in our world. This is capital punishment.

Divine capital punishment. Christ's punishment instead of our punishment.

Don't we even sing about it? In my place condemned what? He stood.

This is substitution. Can you hear the language of substitution? As I read from Isaiah 53.

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed

Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace.

And with His wounds, we are healed. And we like sheep have gone astray.

We've turned everyone to His own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

And what happened, the text says in verse 38, the curtain of the temple was torn into. No more rituals, no more ceremonies.

Salvation opened to all through the death of Christ. If you ever want to have some interesting readings, sometimes read what liberals say about miracles in the

Bible. Like the one I always thought was the most crazy was Jesus didn't walk on water,

He walked on a sandbar. And I'm like, how dumb do you have to be to make this up?

Or like the Pharaoh's army, they were drowned in six inches of water. I'm like, that's a pretty bad army.

I don't know what you're doing there. Well, some people say there was a Sirocco that came by, darkened the sun, and also accidentally, on purpose, ripped the veil.

Okay. From top to bottom, God did it. It's open for everyone.

Now, when we come to substitutionary atonement and penalty substitution, and you're thinking, Jesus died for me.

I should have died. He died in my place. Yes, I'll physically die, but I don't have to die eternally in the lake of fire.

Jesus took that. He drank every drop. Every sin that I committed, Jesus died for.

Penalty substitution. I have a substitute. But I don't want you to think somehow when

Jesus was dying for our sins, that the Father was mad at Him somehow.

Calvin said, we do not suggest that God was ever angry toward Him. How could He be angry toward His beloved

Son in whom His heart was well -pleased? This was

His life. The Father sent Him to do this very thing, and now we have the height of perfect obedience. He became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

How could the Father be displeased with His Son's obedience? There was a man named

Harry Emerson Fosdick, and he wrote a book called The Guide to Understanding the Bible. So, pretty good title, but here's what he said.

God evolves. You've got the Old Testament God, kind of devilish.

You've got Noah's God, bloodthirsty. You've got Abraham's God, He loves sacrifices.

Moses' God, volcanic fire eruption God. By the time

David's God comes along, getting nicer. And then

Fosdick said, by the time of the prophets, God was really making improvement. He hated unrighteousness and spoke out against crimes committed by men.

But when Jesus came along, Fosdick said, well, Jesus gave men a beautiful concept of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.

But He didn't read very far because we have penalty substitution. We have eternal wrath assuaged by the

Son. It wasn't that long ago, there was a new song called

Christ in Christ Alone. Do you know that song in Christ Alone? I know you know that song. Do you know it was debated in the liberal

Presbyterian denomination? Because they did not want to sing these words. And on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.

They said, no, no, no, no. Bloody, gory, gruesome, we don't sing that. So they wanted these words instead, that the love of God was magnified.

So they had to talk to the authors, Getty and Townend, and can we make changes? And thankfully, those authors said, no, you can't make the changes.

Chris Joyner of First Presbyterian Church in Franklin said, you know, the original lyric comes close to saying that God killed

Jesus. The cross is not an instrument of God's wrath. Okay.

The atonement was a substitutionary death. My God, my

God, why have you forsaken me? And the answer, dear Christian, is so that we wouldn't be forsaken.

There'll only be one forsaken person in heaven. We're not forsaken in heaven.

Only Lord Jesus has been forsaken and still be in heaven. Can you imagine, not forsaken, we deserve it, but we're not forsaken.

Do you know, dear Christian, you won't have to pay for one of your sins in heaven? Not one. You won't have to answer for one of your sins.

Say, well, there are people here that aren't Christians. Well, you're going to answer for every one of your sins unless you're trusting in the

Lord Jesus. That's why we say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be what? Saved. Here, Jesus is dying a substitutionary death.

What's one of the most important concepts in all the Bible? Substitution. Okay, I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking we're never going to get through all this. Number five,

John 19, I am thirsty. I am thirsty. Say number five out of the seven,

John 19. You can pick up something called the harmony of the Gospels, if you'd like. And it will give you kind of chronological order as best as they can, putting these four

Gospels together. I'm doing my best to stay in that chronological arrangement.

With that said, after you've assuaged the wrath of the

Father for three hours, and you're truly human, I think you are going to be thirsty.

There's a connection. John 19, 28. After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill

Scripture, I thirst. Here's the

God -man who starts off his ministry on earth by hungering for 40 days and 40 nights, and now he ends by thirsting.

He just got done saying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And now he says, I thirst. Who has ever borne the eternal wrath of God?

Only the Lord Jesus. And now he responds with, I'm thirsty. I think it's physical, certainly, but I think it's more than that.

Hear this word of suffering, to think that this Lord Jesus who created everything, including every fresh water lake that exists, and supplied

Israel with water out of the rock in the wilderness, says, now I'm thirsty. He's borne the eternal judgment of my sin and yours, dear

Christian, and now this perfectly, truly human man, the

God -man, while he's been tired, while he's been thirsty from journeys, while he's weeping at Lazarus' tomb, now he is thirsty.

Here's probably what I would say. I'm in pain. I'm hurting.

Help me. But the Lord Jesus, to fulfill Scripture, Psalm 42,

Psalm 63, Psalm 22, I am thirsty. Did you know some people want to say that Jesus wasn't truly human?

They say he just kind of seemed human. This is a word, docetism. He seems like it, but he's like a phantom.

He's not really human, because how can you be the God -man? Sometimes in the Bible there are statements that say, believe.

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that I alluded to earlier. There are some verses in the Bible that says, don't believe.

Here's a don't believe verse. 1 John 4, beloved, do not believe.

You say, is there more to it? Yes. Every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God, that every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

He's very man of very man. Perfectly man. He's finished the job the

Father sent him to do. He says, I'm thirsty. Verse 29, a jar of sour wine stood there.

This isn't the kind of earlier stuff they offered to him to kind of dull his pain. This is just cheap stuff.

So they put a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch, kind of like a little stick or a javelin to get it up there to his mouth, held it to his mouth.

Maybe this will prolong his pain a little bit longer. I'm thirsty.

Here we have the last Adam, the Lord Jesus, understanding exactly what it's like to be truly human.

Makes me love these verses in Hebrews 4. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,

Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace. Sixthly, it is finished.

Number six, it is finished. Father, forgive them. Today you will be with me in paradise. Woman, behold your son.

My God, my God, I am thirsty. And now it is finished. John 19 .30, when

Jesus had received the sour wine, he said one word in the original language, It's finished.

And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Now, when I was first a new Christian, I'd always hear pastors say,

Jesus didn't say, I am finished. That always stuck in my mind, and it's true. I'm finished.

Well, you might say he is finished, but the father's work that the son went to do, he finished it.

It's where we get the word tetelestai. I've seen many tattoos with the Greek lettering tetelestai.

It is finished. Paid in full. The penalty is paid.

Nothing more to be paid. Debt's paid. Sometimes if you borrow money from a bank or a credit union, and you finally pay it off and you get a little notice, what do you do with that notice?

Well, we light it on fire and dance a circle around it is what we do. No, it's paid off.

There's an end to it. It's accomplished. God's satisfied.

Nothing more to do. By the way, when you hear the words, it is finished, tetelestai, we just remind everyone, it's good to remind me, that that means

Jesus did everything for salvation. Jesus, it is finished, I know, but you need my baptism right for me to get to heaven.

Jesus, I know you did everything and it's all finished, but it's you're doing your work and I'm going to just kind of be good.

It's me, as long as I keep my Bible studies up and my memory and all these other things and don't do a bunch of bad things, we're settled.

While I want you to do Bible study, I want you to do scripture memory, that doesn't accomplish salvation. It is finished.

All your sin has been paid for. S. Lewis Johnson writes, it is translated to make an end.

I think to know that in the Old Testament, only one time did God ever say that he was completely satisfied with things.

In other words, the divine self -satisfaction is mentioned, that's in connection with creation. And at one time in the

New Testament, we have it here, and both ultimately are of our Lord. We sometimes sing, there's a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose most of their guilty stains.

Praise the Lord. No, it's been finished. If God were to ask you when you died, why should

I let you into heaven? If you did say, tell us, Jesus paid it all, that would be a good answer.

And did you know, dear congregation, every religion outside of Christianity ignores this word.

These three English words, this one Greek word, they ignore it. Because every religion is a works righteousness,

I need to do good things in order for me to get to heaven. And we can do good things, so somebody had to do the good things for us, and Jesus paid it all.

Out of all the songs I sang to my kids when they were falling asleep, or they were upset a little bit, I'd rub their chest, or I'd rub their back, laying there in the crib, and I would just sing that song.

Of course, you know, with my operatic voice, and I would sing, Jesus paid it all. What? All to Him I owe.

It is finished. Religious obligations, finished.

Work, finished. The purpose of God in history, finished.

Greeks used to say, you know what, if you could say a lot with a little, you were really smart. They'd say, to give a sea a matter in the drop of language was regarded as the perfection of oratory.

It's finished. What was finished? What the Father had sent Him to do? Perfectly obey? Die for our sins.

It is finished. The Son of Man came to seek and save that was lost? It is finished.

Our sins and payment for our sins? Finished. Law fulfilled? Finished. They pierced

His side. They found out His legs did not need to be broken. And now we come to the last one.

Number seven. Told you we were going to finish. By the way, didn't you like the choir at the very beginning?

That was good. Makes me want to be in the choir. Number seven, the seventh word, seventh saying,

Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit. Let's go to Luke 23, please. Luke 23,

Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit. We're looking at these seven words of Jesus because we get to see His heart, and His heart is one of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, exactly what

Moses saw about God in the wilderness. We're looking at the God -Man, the Eternal Son, who assumes human nature so He could bear our representative and substitute.

The Son that would be raised from the dead. So we know these words are true. Father, into Thy hands

I commend my spirit. Verse 46 of Luke 23, for our final word, then

Jesus calling out with a loud voice, Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit. And having said this,

He breathed His last. Now He's quoting from a passage.

So hear me out, we're almost finished. This is super important. This will help you live well and die well.

He's quoting from a psalm. What psalm is He quoting from? Well, like in our day, back in those days,

Jewish days of Bible times, they would teach their children things. And they would teach their children things about eternal truths.

When I grew up, when we sat down for meal, come Lord Jesus, be our guest, let this food to us be blessed.

Amen. How many people prayed that prayer? There's a few Lutherans here. Okay, good. Did you grow up Lutheran?

Eventually, okay. If you ever ask a question from the pulpit, be prepared for the answer. And then when you were going to sleep, what would you pray?

Now I lay me down to sleep. This is right from the New England Primer, by the way. Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray to the

Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray to the Lord my soul to keep. That's how we pray. Do you know the

Jews taught their children to pray something like that? And it was from Psalm 31. Keep your finger here, and I want you to turn to Psalm 31.

Psalm 31 is going to be your favorite psalm this week. I'm predicting that you're going to read it every single day, because it's so wonderful.

This is the kind of psalm to live by and the kind of psalm to die by. Psalm 31, your new favorite psalm.

It's not really a psalm of somebody who's dying, but somebody who's in trouble. Somebody who's in a difficulty, and here's what they're hoping for.

They're trusting in the Lord that the Lord will get them through. Lord, I'm in trouble.

Help me through it. Lord, I'm having a difficulty. Help me through it. I know you're good. I know you're faithful.

I know you hear prayers, and so help me through the trial. That's Psalm 31.

I'm trusting. Yes, I might die in the process, that's true, but I know there's ultimate deliverance either on this earth or in heaven.

Psalm 31. This is the prayer of a person who expects to live through their trial.

This is not Jesus just saying, here's my spirit. That's true. Here's my spirit, and I'm going to watch you see me through.

I'm going to live through this experience. Psalm 31.

In you, O Lord, do I take refuge. Let me never be put to shame. In your righteousness, deliver me.

Incline your ear to me. Rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.

For you are my rock and my fortress, and for your name's sake you will lead me and guide me.

You will take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hand

I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

Verse 7. I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you've seen my affliction.

Verse 9. Be gracious to me, O Lord, I'm in distress. My strength is failing.

Verse 10. My adversaries are many. Verse 11. Verse 14.

But I trust in you, O Lord. I say, you are my God. My times are in your hand.

Rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors. Make your face shine on your servant.

Save me in your steadfast love. Verse 19.

How abundant is your goodness, stored up for those who fear you. Blessed be the

Lord, verse 21, who has shown wondrously his steadfast love to me.

Verse 23. How could you not do this, knowing who he is? Love the Lord, all you his saints. The Lord preserves the faithful.

Be strong, verse 24, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the

Lord. These are the words, most likely, Jesus was taught by his mother

Mary when he was a child. And before you go to sleep, you think to yourself,

I want to teach my children they can totally trust God. God will act in your favor.

So, what does Jesus want? If you turn back to the passage in the gospel, what is

Jesus after here? I'm going to live through this. I'm committing my spirit into your hands.

And I'm going to be with you, community, again, soon. That's the point.

That's the point. And what did Jesus do? It's fascinating to me when you watch the passage.

He breathes his last. But what happened with his head? What's going on with his head?

He dies with the words of Psalm 31 on his lips. Lewis Johnson said, we don't bow our heads and give up the ghost.

We give up the spirit and our head collapses. But our Lord bows his head. He's in thorough control.

He bows his head. He releases his spirit. To the Father, because he knows there's going to be communion again.

He will rise. And what happens with the centurion? Since that man was innocent, he could see what was going on.

I think it's fair to say when you're on your deathbed and you're saying, Lord, into your hands

I commit my spirit. It's not blasphemy. It's exactly how the

Lord Jesus died. Well, there's more to say, but I found a few famous last words from Christians, unlike the famous last words that I started the sermon off with from unbelievers.

Martin Luther. Into thy hands I commend my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me,

O God of truth. Augustus Toplady, who wrote

Rock of Ages. I enjoy heaven already in my soul. My prayers are all converted into praises.

August Steinberg, with the Bible clasped tightly to his chest, it is atoned for.

Adoniram Judson, the missionary to Burma. I go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school. I feel so strong in Christ.

John Knox, live in Christ, die in Christ, and the flesh need not fear death.

Well, maybe those all could be summarized by something like this. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

Pray with me. Father, thank you for our time in your word. Thank you for your sustaining hand and your grace.

Psalm 31. May you seal it to our hearts and minds. And we do commit our spirits to you.

And we know we'll never be failed by you and your kindness and goodness. We're thankful for the

Lord Jesus. He did everything you sent him to do. And you, with a capstone of resurrection, confirmed that to be true and said, as it were, amen.

And so to Christ's work, we also say, amen. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.