Utterances from the cross-It is finished (cont.), Into Thy hands — Bruce Rodgers

The Final Cries from the Cross

Okay, Luke chapter 23, let's read from verse 44. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said,. Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying,. And returned. Now last night we were looking at two cries from the cross, from John chapter 19.

And maybe I'll just read that little section as well. John chapter 19 and verse 28. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon Hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said,. Now we've been mentioning that the last four cries are very closely knit together, and one follows right after the other. There may not be much more than just a few moments between each one of them.

And so the great cry of triumph that's given in John chapter 19, it is finished, or it is accomplished, is uttered. And then, as we have in Luke chapter 23, he says,. Now last night we were looking at, it is finished.

It is accomplished. And noticing some of the great things that his death has accomplished. And I'll just remind you of a few of them again. From Daniel chapter 9, that prophecy of the future. For iniquity.

Transgression sealed up. Prophecy fulfilled. All of God's plans, purposes, are able to be accomplished based upon that work of the cross. Second Corinthians 5 emphasizes that there's a new creation. And it's something that is tremendously important, that anyone who wants to be in heaven, who wants to be with God in eternity, must come into a new creation.

In other words, we are not good enough in ourselves. We are not adequate in ourselves. We can never attain to that perfection that is required to live eternally with God. And so, the foundation for it is his work on the cross in which he took our sins, he accepted our judgment, and he endured all the judgment that belongs to me.

That belongs to you. And when he cried, it's finished, he meant that he has accomplished this great work of bearing judgment, paying for sin. That's the starting point of everything for eternity. And so, all of the blessings of sin being purged, of eternal salvation, eternal redemption, eternal inheritance, all these great terms that are used in the New Testament, all of that is based upon the fact that our sins are righteously removed by the sacrifice of Christ.

Justification? That means you're cleared in court from all the charges laid against you. Peace with God? This isn't just peaceful feelings about God, or imagining that everything is all right between me and God, but it is that peace is able to be experienced because my sins have been removed righteously from before God.

The last thing I mentioned last night was that the devil and his works were defeated. And even though the devil still seems to be very successful today, if someone wants to be saved, the devil cannot prevent him from being saved.

Christ has a supreme authority, and there is no power and there is no authority in heaven or on earth that can override or prevent him from saving a person who wants to be saved. And so he truly has supreme sovereignty to save and to rule, which he is about to show.

Faith in Christ's Finished Work

So I wanted to finish that a little bit at the beginning of this meeting, and just to think about its personal application to me and to you. How does all this great accomplishment and all this great provision for salvation and all these great promises, what does that do for me?

And how can I come into the good of it? Well, faith, trust in his finished work is the bedrock for true Christian faith. There's a lot of people today who talk about having faith, but that faith must be in Christ and his finished work.

Otherwise, our faith is in something of Christ, something of me, and we're trying to put the both together and make it work. It is entirely him and his work, entirely. So where's your faith? What are you resting on?

What are you placing your confidence in? You know, I've met people who are really confused about where they are at with God because they believe about Christ. They believe the message that he died for our sins.

And yet, looking back in their own experience, they're not sure if they have this moment of salvation that we often talk about. You know, I'm very grateful for the clear message of the gospel that I was raised with, but I realize that everyone wasn't raised with that.

And sometimes a person's faith, as it is drawn towards Christ, is not completely clear, is not precise, and it becomes a torment when someone says, well, I was saved on July the 7th, 1961, and I knew I was saved that night, and I've never had a doubt since.

Well, that's wonderful. That is a clear gospel having been preached and a clear faith placed in the gospel. That results in clear conversions. But if you haven't got that kind of a conversion, what are you going to do about it?

Well, you may not be able to sort out when you have come to faith in Christ, if you have. And there's a similar problem for children growing up in Christian homes who have professed maybe three or four times because they have believed in the Lord Jesus as far as they could grasp at that moment.

And then at some time later, they begin to have questions and doubts, and they doubt the reality of their profession. And so they get saved all over again. And then maybe in teen years, they kind of get away from things, and then they come back again, and it becomes more solid, more complete as an adult.

And so looking back, then they say, well, when did I get saved? And if I don't know when I got saved, am I saved? So these kind of questions or doubts can be very troubling. But what I encourage people to do, and I would encourage you if any of you have had this kind of difficulty, don't waste your time looking back and analyzing endlessly whether your experience measures up to everything else that you hear about other people's experience.

What matters is what you think of Christ. It's what you believe about Christ. That's the faith that saves you. Now, when I was a child, I preached to other kids before I was saved, because I knew the truth.

And I tried to get saved. I never had any confidence that I was saved. Until that night, when I was very troubled, I was conscious that I wasn't saved. And I was reading Isaiah chapter 53. And as I read those words, He was wounded for our transgressions.

It just came very clearly to my mind, He was wounded for me. And God is satisfied. And I realized that night that God was just waiting for me to be satisfied and to rest in what Christ suffered on the cross on my behalf.

Thankfully, I would probably be able to say that I never really doubted my salvation from that time on. I never really questioned it, because it was a very clear experience. But as I'm saying, there are people who are in doubts, in questionings, because they're occupied with their own experience.

And as long as you're occupied with your own experience or experiences, you never will be able to be absolutely certain. What brings us to certainty of salvation is seeing Him, recognizing that the work that He did on the cross is completely sufficient to save you.

And that in accepting that, in receiving Him, you come into the blessing that God has promised, that He that believes on the Son has everlasting life. And so, faith in His finished work, that's what you need to get to.

And that's the only thing that matters, is faith in His finished work. What does that bring? It brings certainty of salvation. Some people get very annoyed at Christians who say, I know I'm saved. I know I'm going to heaven.

Because it seems like presumption. Like, you haven't made it there yet, so why are you so sure? Well, it's because of who we are trusting, what our faith is resting in. And so it leads to a certainty of salvation.

It leads to a sure hope, a sure confidence, looking toward the future. And I can honestly say, I'm not afraid of the future. I'm not afraid of facing death. I don't particularly enjoy the concept of death.

But I'm not afraid of where it's going to take me, because that is settled in the faith in the Lord Jesus. Another important thing that it brings to us is rest of conscience. You know, there are people who have trouble in their conscience about sins of the past.

And they never seem to be able to be settled that this is cleared before God. But when we grasp that upon the cross, and 1 John chapter 1 is a very, very precious verse, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.

And I like the extended version of that, from every single sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from every single sin. So if you want to waste your time agonizing over the past, remember that God has cleansed every single sin by the blood of Christ.

And so His death brings to us rest of conscience. It also brings freedom from religious bondage. One of the saddest things, and I've worked, especially up in Capuscasing, when we were up there, it was primarily a Catholic background.

Many of the dear folks who got saved were people who had been taught to reverence the Bible, but to never believe that they could understand it for themselves. And so they were always dependent upon somebody else to interpret the Bible for them.

And so when we preached the gospel to these people, and we brought Bibles and gave them Bibles and helped them find the passages, and they could see that we wanted them to see that what we were reading, what we were preaching, was directly from the Word of God, that gave confidence to them, and they placed their faith in the Word of God.

And that set them free from a lot of religious traditions and concepts which left them always wondering if they had done enough, if they had suffered enough, if they had done enough penance, or whatever it was that they were depending upon, their own works.

There are many people of whatever religious background who are continually under the impression that they must somehow meet the demands of the Ten Commandments. And so they never know. They never know if they have done enough to be right with God.

So they live in bondage all their lifetime, afraid of death, afraid of that day of meeting God. And so the gospel that rests upon the finished work of Christ gives such freedom from bondage. To know that it's finished, it's settled, I'm secure in God's salvation.

The Christian's Calling to Serve and Glorify God

So that's as we relate to salvation. I want to just apply the principle that I have been trying to do through these nights to recognize that the Lord Jesus is unique in his work, unique in his accomplishment, unique in his sacrifice.

And yet, at the same time, for the Christian, for the one who has put his trust in him, Christ becomes our example. He has established a pattern as God's son. We, as coming into salvation, become sons of God.

And so we also are called to serve God. And just as the Lord Jesus said in John chapter 17, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. The scriptures also teach that when we become saved, we are called to be his servants, to live to please God, to glorify him on the earth, and to fulfill service for him.

Let me just read a few verses. 1 Peter chapter 4 makes mention of a stewardship. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 10, it says, As or according as every man or everyone has received a gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards, good managers of the manifold grace of God.

If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister or serve, let him do it as of the ability which God gives, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever.

Amen. Now this is just a short little summary of the subject of spiritual gifts. And the fact that every person who gets saved is gifted by God in some way to serve God's purposes. And much of that service is towards one another, to help one another, to build up one another.

What I am seeking to do now is to speak, to teach. And the challenge given to each one of us who teach, who speak the word of God, is to speak as the oracles of God. Now that's a very strong statement.

The oracles of God were divine utterances in the Old Testament. Now that doesn't mean that everything I say is inspired like the prophets. But it is still calling me to teach the word of God as coming from the presence of God and conveying the mind of God to God's people.

That's a tremendous responsibility. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. Being conscious that today we are representing God to the people. We are bringing the message of God to the unsaved and also to believers.

And that's a very solemn responsibility. And God equips believers to speak his message, to teach his truth. And then it gives another aspect of service. If anyone minister or if anyone serve, let him do it as of the ability which God supplies.

So that's our serving one another. And there's many, many aspects of how we serve one another. And it says, let him do it as of the ability which God supplies. So you see, God is the source of our service.

But you notice it also that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. So what is he really saying here? Just as the Lord directly in John 17 says, I have glorified thee on the earth. And the Lord Jesus has brought God out into display and honor in a way that is beyond anyone else.

He has manifested God in fullness. Now that the Lord Jesus has departed from the world visibly, he wants to perpetuate his work through us. And we are called to so live our Christian lives that God is going to be glorified through Christ.

That is, people are going to know you are a Christian. You are what you are because you're a Christian. And they will be drawn to honor God. So that is the challenge that is given to us in this passage.

Paul gives a final challenge to Timothy. Paul is about to be martyred. 2 Timothy 4, verses 4 -8 in that section. As he is giving his declaration of his stewardship, he gives this challenge to Timothy.

He says, make full proof of your ministry. Now I just want to leave you with, from this passage in 1 Peter 4, this connection that is made here. As each one has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another.

Now what does that tell you? That tells you that if you're a Christian, you have a gift from God. And you likely have more than one. An ability, something entrusted to you. And so he says, just as you have received the gift, you are responsible to use it, to minister it one to another.

So the question I'm going to leave with you from this part of it is, what's your ministry? What is your kind of service? What has God given you to do? Because he makes it clear that he has given you something to do.

There's a day coming when our service is going to be ended. Are we going to be able to say, in some measure corresponding to Christ, I have finished the work that you gave me to do? That would be a wonderful thing to be able to say.

Christ's Peaceful Submission in Death

Wouldn't it be nice that when it comes time to die, that's all that's left to do? So let's think about that moment of death of the Lord Jesus. How did he die? I mentioned last night that there is a significant change of tone from that terrible cry of abandonment, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

And then the triumphant cry, it's finished. And then, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. Tremendous change of atmosphere and tone. And as I mentioned last night, I'm just going to try to reinforce it again tonight.

I believe that in those last few moments, once that terrible work of bearing the judgment of God was accomplished, God didn't leave him to suffer for an extended period of time after that. And God renewed that sense of his nearness.

And I believe with all my heart that the Lord Jesus died in peace, in gentle submission, in full, joyful anticipation of stepping into the presence of the Father. Let me just give you some of the words that are used in each of the Gospels.

Matthew 27 and 50, even though it's almost identical in every one of them, in the way it's translated, it says he yielded up the ghost. The word that is used there is a word that means to dismiss, to send away or to dismiss his spirit.

And I like the comment that Mr. Crawford has in his commentary on the Gospel of Luke. He makes some comments on this, that in Matthew's Gospel, in accord with the revelation of Christ as the King, he suggests that it is as a king dismissing with authority.

He dismissed his spirit. In Mark and in Luke, it's used identically. It just means he breathed out. He expired. And if you've ever watched someone pass away in a normal course, not an accident or something like that, there's those final moments when the breath just finally goes out for the last time, very gently.

And he breathed out. And it says he gave up the ghost. And that's where I see the sense of that gentle submissiveness. When you come to the Gospel of John, it's another word altogether that's used, where it says he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.

It's a word that means to deliver up. It's used of God who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. He handed him over. And so, again, in the Gospel of John, there's in a sense more of a conscious act of delivering up.

And I think the suggestion is made in the Gospel of John that it is a sacrificial act of delivering up the spirit as the totality of his sacrifice is accomplished. It's actually the same word, if I remember correctly, in 1 Peter chapter 4, when it talks about those who suffer according to the will of God to commit the keeping of their soul unto God, as unto a faithful creator.

And so this is the idea of surrendering to him our life, our spirit. So there is a uniqueness of his death. Back in Ecclesiastes 8 and 8, there's a solemn verse there that says that no man has power in the day of death to retain his spirit.

And no one has authority over his spirit. And there's no discharge in that war. That reflects this solemn reality that when we come to the end of life, you know, some people have lived life on their own terms.

They tried to rule the world right from the cradle. And when they were adults, they didn't listen any better to any kind of wisdom or authority, and they just lived their lives recklessly according to their own principles or lack of principles.

And when they die, they try to handle it on their own terms as well. I remember the story of Ernest Hemingway, who wrote a lot of literature that I remember having to read in high school. Well, he was one of those intellectual rebels of the 1930s and so on.

I think he died maybe in the 1930s, or I just forget when he actually died. Maybe it was later than that. I forget. But anyway, he was called Papa Hemingway. Well, he lived life on his terms, and he died on his own terms.

He committed suicide after his, whatever it was, his 60th birthday or something like that. They had this three-day birthday bash, and then he went out and killed himself because life wasn't worth living.

He thought that he could control his own destiny, but the solemn reality is, in that moment, you lose all authority and control. Someone else takes you where you may not want to go. No one has power in the day of death over his own spirit, but the Lord did.

And the Lord Jesus showed this unique supernatural power over life and death, and these terms that we've already read certainly express this. He mentioned it very clearly before he ever died, John chapter 10, verses 17 and 18, where he says, Therefore does my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.

I lay it down. He said, No man takes it from me. I lay it down of myself. So the Lord Jesus expresses and manifests this supernatural power over his own being, his own physical being, and that in itself, this kind of death, draws attention.

It draws us to the reality. Here is someone who actually possesses power, sovereignty, in the face of death itself, and it certainly looks forward to resurrection. And what is said in Revelation 1 and 17, in resurrection, I am he that lives.

I was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of hell and of death. So the one who was able to give his own life deliberately has absolute control over every other life. Now there's just a couple of things that I wanted to link with this.

The Torn Veil and Access to God's Presence

Remember that when he died, there were some other supernatural manifestations. There was an earthquake, and the temple veil that separated the inner holy of holies from the outer part of the sanctuary was torn, was rent, from the top to the bottom.

And I've heard that that veil was possibly six inches thick. It just doesn't rip. And yet it was opened up, right from the top right down, from the top to the bottom. What does that symbolize? Well, I'm going to suggest a couple of things.

First of all, it would symbolize the end of that system and the introduction of a new way of approach to God. But let's go to Hebrews chapter 10 for just a couple of verses. And we'll see that there's a significance attached, a symbolism attached to the veil.

And this is just after reciting some of these great privileges and blessings of the salvation that he has accomplished. We are sanctified. We are perfected. We are forgiven. So verse 19, Hebrews 10 and 19, says, Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he has consecrated or instituted, inaugurated, brought into being for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.

And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the profession or confession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful, I promised, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. What is this really telling us?

Well, this passage is telling us that the way is opened for us to enter into the very presence of God. There is no restriction upon our privilege of coming into the immediate presence of God. And if I were to take you back through chapter 9 as well as into chapter 10, you will see that he's not now talking about some special sanctuary on earth.

He's talking about heaven itself. And our privilege as believers and as priests is beyond what the old covenant could even anticipate. That old covenant system where there was this veil standing between.

What did that veil represent? Well, the veil represented first of all that there was a divine presence there. God was there. But God veiled. God separated. And it was actually a gracious provision of God because they couldn't come right into the presence of God.

Or they would be destroyed. Even the high priest himself was very, very strictly limited as to his approach into that Holy of Holies once a year with the blood of a sacrifice. But now Christ, by virtue of his sacrifice and the blood shed at Calvary, has opened up a new and living way.

And that expression, a new and living way, the word new there literally is newly slain. Newly slain yet living. So here you have death and life. And so you have the death of Christ that opens the way.

And now we have the resurrected living Christ who maintains the way for us to enter the presence of God. And again, unlike those high priests of the old covenant who went in and came out every year, in and out, once a year.

Christ has gone in and he sits there. He's enthroned there. And the way is open for us to come in as those who belong to him. But notice that he also talks about the veil which he has consecrated for us or he has inaugurated this new way for us through the veil.

And then he says, that is to say, his flesh. And for a long time I puzzled over what is this trying to tell us? The veil? His flesh? Well, I would just remind you, you don't have to turn to it, but if you go back to John chapter 1, where Christ is presented there as the eternal word with God, was God, and then John 1 and 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So we have, again, this concept of the divine presence having come into the world but veiled. In the grace of God, God was among us but hidden in flesh.

He was very approachable. And you think of all the people who interacted with the Lord Jesus here day after day and so on. Never, never dreaming that they were face to face with the eternal God. The glory, the divine glory was here but veiled.

And as long as he was alive before he died in sacrifice, the way was still not opened. But at that sacrifice, in one wonderful sense, God has come out to us and we can come into God through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.

And so I'm just making this suggestion and this is, again, how I'm linking the rent veil from the gospel accounts that the rent veil symbolizing there's a new way, there's a different way. And through the rending of the veil, his flesh being given in sacrifice, we can now enter into the divine presence.

There is a day coming when Christ is going to return in the absolute glory of deity, totally unveiled. And that's when the world will face its judgment. When God in all his splendor, holiness, and majesty meet human beings face to face with nothing in between.

Then there will be judgment without mercy. We have to be prepared for that. And we are now prepared by the sacrifice which makes us fitted to be able to enter into the absolute holy presence of God. And so this is saying that we have been provided for as worshipers, and even further than just worshipers, as priests, to belong to the family of God and to serve in the very presence of God.

And we hardly realize what we're doing. But when the Lord comes, we are going to be changed so that we are physically, morally, completely perfected so that we can stand in his presence and not be consumed.

But how are we provided for now? Well, here's what it says. The provision is made by his blood that atones for our sin so that that is removed. Having a high priest over the house of God, Christ lives today in the divine presence and we have access to God through him continually at all times.

Verse 22 says, Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. So the question that you would have to ask yourself is this, is this something I have to do to myself to make myself fitted for the presence of God or is this something that has been done to me to fit me?

And a little grammar lesson would help us. This is all in the passive. It's what someone else has done to us. This actually goes back to the language of Leviticus and of Exodus, of the consecration of the priests when they were anointed and they were bathed and brought into the priesthood.

This is the exact language that would be used to show that we have been perfectly fitted to belong in the divine presence and to serve before the living God. The blood of the sacrifice has been made. The living risen Christ in the presence of God and we ourselves cleansed, sanctified, purified are fitted to serve God.

So this is the great privilege that results from his finished work and all that he has accomplished. Both inner and outer. Our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Our bodies washed with pure water.

Suffering as Faithful Christian Service

So that's the language of Hebrews. There's something I wanted to just again remind you that there's always the Scriptures over and over again while keeping the uniqueness of Christ and the uniqueness of his sacrifice for sin always clearly distinguished from our lives.

Yet there is always something that corresponds from him to us. So let's look in 1 Peter chapter 3 and 4 for a few expressions that talk about the possibility of us suffering in the will of God. 1 Peter has a lot to say about the Lord Jesus and his sufferings and the glory that's to follow and the fact that he has become our example.

That's in chapter 2. But in chapter 3, verse 13 says,. And who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? But, and if you suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye, or blessed are ye.

And be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation or your good behavior in Christ.

And notice verse 17,. For it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. Peter is writing to prepare the Christians for something that was coming on them in their circumstances.

They were about to suffer. They may already have suffered quite a bit, but they were going to be suffering more yet. And he wants them to be braced for it, to realize that they could suffer a lot for association with Christ.

And I like this little if. It's one of the marks of a spiritual maturity that you see in Peter. Remember that he once failed under pressure. When he came into a place where he may have been brought into danger at the trial of the Lord Jesus by being associated with him, he ran from it.

He denied the Lord. He failed the Lord. But now, as a mature believer, he makes these interesting if statements. And there's a number of them throughout the Epistle. And he says, If you be... What does it say?

If you suffer for righteousness' sake. And then he says, If the will of God be so. Now, can you imagine that God, who loves you, might will that you would suffer? Well, did he with his Son? Does he love his Son?

Yes, he loves his Son. Yet, the purposes of God required that there be suffering. He had to suffer to bring us to salvation. Now it may be necessary that we suffer for somebody else to get saved, for a testimony, for someone else to realize the power of Christianity.

We can't always understand the reasons for suffering. But they are clearly spelled out in the New Testament that we may be called to suffer in the will of God. Because there is hatred against God. There's hatred against Christ.

And if we are going to pursue making him known, we're going to run into opposition, hatred, and reproach. And so, we have that expression. Again, verse 12 of chapter 4 begins a more extended section on suffering.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings. Obviously not the atonement for sin, but suffering as a witness for God.

Suffering because of faithfulness to God. And you and I may enter into that element of suffering. And so he says this, don't be surprised, but rejoice that you qualify to be a partner and a sharer in his sufferings.

So that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. Now notice some more ifs. Verse 14, If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy or blessed are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.