7 Sayings From Calvary

Transcription

1 7 Sayings From Calvary INTRODUCTION: In Isaiah 53:12 it was prophesied that Jesus Christ, the Suffering Servant, would be numbered with the transgressors and the Scriptural record tells us that in fact Jesus was crucified just outside the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem on a hill called Calvary or Golgotha (Aramaic) - the place of the Skull ; and on His left and on His right were two men the Gospels tell us that these men were in fact criminals thieves, enemies of the state. (transgressors) The Cross proclaims, voluminously, to the world the depth and length to which God was and is willing to go in order to save His creation; the object of His affections His beloved. But the sad truth is crosses and crucifixes have become so much a part of our landscape, culture, and fashion, that we do not even see them, let alone be moved by them. As Christians, we must steady ourselves, steel ourselves against such desensitization. The Cross that represents Christ s passion... was real. Jesus agony must never become a matter of dispassionate interest. (Holy Spirit Series - Passion for the exalted Jesus) His physical sufferings have always been, and will remain, a window through which we may see His heart the very Heart of God. While on the Cross Jesus spoke 7 times during those 6 agonizing hours; and those sayings give us perhaps the truest glimpse of His PURPOSE and PASSION for the world that He bore on His heart. I. A Word of MERCY: (Luke 23:34) 1

2 A. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. B. Now we are going to see as we look at these 7 statements that each one is remarkably short. 1. Jesus is in unbelievable pain, He is dyeing and fighting for every breath; And yet every word that He speaks is meant to unveil His heart 2. Pregnant with the PURPOSE and PASSION of God C. The first thing that He expresses is a PRAYER OF FORGIVENESS (9 AM) 1. Who knows what a Niagara of wrath was averted by this prayer! 2. G. Campbell Morgan said: In the soul of Jesus there was no resentment; no anger, no lurking desire for punishment upon the men who were maltreating Him. Only love, only passion! 3. In one way, Jesus was reiterating verbally the PURPOSE and PASSION of the cross. It was to be the VEHICLE by which man could obtain forgiveness and fellowship with God. (re-united HG/SM) D. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Those words contain the complete expression of the boundless compassion of divine grace! 2

3 1. Here we see our Savior fulfilling Scripture (Isaiah 53:12) which says that, He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. 2. These men were completely oblivious to the full scope of their wickedness. But Jesus prayer, while they were in the very act of nailing Him to the cross, is an expression of the boundless compassion of divine grace and it reveals the deepest purpose and passion of God. 3. JC Ryle: In our Lord's intercession for those who crucified Him we find one more proof of Christ's infinite love for sinners. The Lord Jesus is indeed most merciful, most compassionate, most gracious. None are too wicked for Him to care for. None are too far gone in sin for His almighty heart to take interest in their souls Love like this is a love that passes knowledge. If we need encouragement to repent and believe, this passage surely supplies enough. II. A Word of GRACE: (Luke 23:43) A. It is almost noon - The first statement that Jesus makes from the Cross is a prayer and now we see a PROMISE: a promise to the repentant criminal B. Truely, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise. 1. Remember, there were two criminals who were crucified with our Lord: one on His right, and the other on His left: 2. Luke tells us that one of the criminals joined with the crowds in mocking Jesus. After all, if Jesus were the Messiah, He should save those who are being crucified with Him! 3

4 3. But the other criminal saw things differently (v.42): Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. C. Jesus rewarded his faith with the PROMISE that that very day, they would be together in Paradise. 1. Miriam LeFevre Crouse has written an arresting poem on this incident: Three men shared death upon a hill, But only one man died; The other two A thief and God Himself Made rendezvous. (Quote vs.) D. Charles R. Eerdman writes: This story reveals the truth to us that salvation is conditioned upon repentance and faith out of a life of sin and shame, the penitent robber passed immediately into a state of blessedness the very essence of joy which lies beyond death consists in personal communion with Christ. The heart of the promise to the dying thief was this: Thou shalt be with Me. This is our blessed assurance, that to depart is to be with Christ which is very far better. 1. Today what speed! 2. With Me what company! 3. In Paradise what happiness! E. JC RYLE: The time when the thief was saved was the hour of our Lord s greatest weakness. He was hanging in agony on the cross. Yet, even then 4

5 He heard and granted a sinner s petition and opened to him the way of eternal life. Surely this is grace! Surely this is power! F. The second word that Jesus gave from the cross was a word of Grace of blessed assurance! III. A Word of COMPASSION: (John 19:26,27) A. He said to His mother, Woman, behold your son! Then He said to the disciple. Behold you mother! B. It is almost noon Jesus has hung on the cross for almost 3 hours Evidently the eyes of Jesus in the midst of His horrendous physical suffering, with all the pains of hell gradually getting hold of Him fell upon His mother standing there, her heart filled with agony as she witnesses her son s suffering and standing close to her was John. 1. Jesus saw that a sword was piercing her soul. He knew it, and He said to her, Woman, behold your son! 2. Jesus in the midst of these unfathomable things, in the midst of those hours when the sum total of the Divine compassions were toiling to redeem men, toiling to exhibit everlasting mercy The heart of our Savior thought of nothing else in that moment but the care and concern of His mother. 3. Matthew Henry - Notice the care Christ had for His mother. He was not so much taken up with a sense of His own sufferings as to forget His friends; all those concerns He bore. His mother, perhaps, was so taken up with His sufferings that she didn t think of what would become of her but He did. 5

6 C. HERE IS THE POINT: We are trying to look at the cross but as we look, we learn that the Christ of Golgotha, of Calvary, has eyes for human sorrow, human suffering that He cares and He longs to provide. 1. Deut 32:10; Zech 2:8 -- apple of His eye 2. Mt. 6:8 - He knows the things you have need of before you even ask 3. Hebrews 4:15 - tells us that Jesus has COMPASSION for us. Hebrews tells us that He sympathizes with our weakness, because He lived a human life and was buffeted as we are with all of its trappings and temptations of this life. 4. He understands - He not only sees it, but He FEELS it and He wants to do something about it! 5. And again we see the PURPOSE AND PASSION of God in this word of compassion. IV. A Word of ANGUISH: (Mark 15:34) A. Ē -lō-ī, Ē -lō-ī, lä -mä să-băch-thă-nī? Which is translated, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? 1. It was now 3 PM Jesus had hung on the cross now for 6 hours. These frightful hours were dramatically emphasized by the darkness which engulfed the Cross a. Mark says simply, And when the six hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour (Mark 15:33) 6

7 b. The sixth hour was 12 noon when the sun was at its zenith darkness engulfed the Cross at mid-day and remained for 3 terrible hours. 2. In the supernatural darkness there was silence all around. In fact, the Gospels record no word from Christ or His antagonists in the eerie mid-day gloom years earlier there had been brightness and music at midnight when He was born now, there is darkness and silence at mid-day as He dies. B. But why the darkness? 1. It was a sign of mourning a. Amos prophesied there would be darkness at the time of the Day of the Lord, saying, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight I will make that time like mourning for an only son (Amos 8:9,10) b. The Cross is draped in the mourning sackcloth of darkness. 2. But, it also represented the curse of God! a. At the Exodus, a plague of darkness spread over the land before the first Passover lamb was slain. b. Now before the death of the ultimate Passover Lamb, there again was darkness. c. God s judgment was being poured out in a MID-DAY NIGHT. 7

8 B. This takes us to the very center of what was happening, for in those three black hours, sin was poured upon Christ s soul until he became sin. Isaiah 53:3-6 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 1. Peter makes what happened very clear: He bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed (1 Peter 2:24). 2. Paul says: He made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) 3. Or as The Living Bible so meaningfully puts it: For God took the sinless Christ and poured into Him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God s goodness into us! C. He became sin for us and because of that, for the first time in the history of eternity Jesus, God the Son, experienced separation from God the Father. D. The black silence goes on for one hour, two hours wave upon wave comes to His convulsing soul. He who never knew, even for a millisecond, separation from the Father and the Holy Spirit was alone. Then came the end of the 3 rd hour and the silence was shattered: 8

9 Ē -lō-ī, Ē -lō-ī, lä -mä să-băch-thă-nī? Which is translated, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? 1. John Calvin writes: Jesus expressed this horror of great darkness, this God-forsakenness, by quoting the only verse of Scripture which actually described it and which He had perfectly fulfilled. 2. It was a cry that was meant for you and I it was our cry and yet, Jesus took it up on our behalf! (Quote vs. willingly became sin that we might become sons) V. A Word of NEED: (John 19:28) I thirst! A. The wording here in John 19:28 indicated that Jesus was fully conscious and was fully aware of His surroundings and events. 1. In this verse there exists a striking paradox: the One who is the Water of Life was dying of thirst. 2. Ironically, John tells us (v. 29) that the soldiers lifted up a vinegarsoaked sponge of sour-wine to Jesus on a hyssop branch the very branch that was used in the Book of Exodus to smear the blood from the Passover lamb on the door posts and lentils of the Israelite homes. 3. Pointing to the fact that Jesus is the true Passover Lamb. B. And it reminds us that greater than His physical thirst was His Spiritual thirst for the salvation of the souls of men! C. Jesus was soul thirsty! Thirsty for the souls of men! 9

10 VI. A Word of VICTORY: (John 19:30) A. A single word in the Greek Tetelestai which means It is finished! a cry of accomplishment to the world. B. Papyri receipts for taxes have been recovered with the word Tetelestai written across them, meaning Paid in Full! C. When Jesus gave Himself on the cross, He fully met the righteous demands of a Holy God; for the wages of sin is death He paid our debt in full! 1. This word on Jesus lips was significant when He said, It is finished (not, I am finished ), He meant that His redemptive work was completed: The work His Father had given Him to do - COMPLETE! The pouring out of His soul as an offering for sin - FINISHED! The work of redemption and of atonement - ACCOMPLISHED! 2. He had not yet died, but His death, burial, and ascension were as certain as if already accomplished. 3. So the Lord Jesus could announce that the way had been provided whereby sinners could be saved! It has been and it forever will be finished! 4. Thank God today, for the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary! VII. A Word of TRUST: (Luke 23:46) A. Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit! 10

11 B. It is a cry of DELIVERANCE to the Father (not of defeat; not of surrender). The work was done and Jesus went to be with the Father. C. His death was voluntary: He willingly dismissed His spirit. 1. He gave Himself He offered Himself as a ransom, as a sacrifice to God the Father, as a propitiation for sin. 2. Our Lord died confidently, willingly, and victoriously. Someone once said that in 6 days God created the earth and all that was in it; then rested and too, Jesus suffered for 6 hours and afterward rested; setting creation free. D. As the sun began to break through the darkness -- the greatest work ever performed was finished. 1. Jesus had gone lower than any human had ever gone as your sins and mine were poured over His wincing soul. 2. He suffered a greater isolation from the Father than any living soul had ever undergone 3. And He CONQUERED! Thus He could shout in victory IT IS FINISHED! and confidently yield His spirit to the Father. Conclusion: You and I cannot top that! Salvation comes to us from His finished work on the Cross. It comes by trusting in His finished work and nothing else. The question that we have before us this morning is: Are you trusting Him alone? 11

12 The death of Christ reveals to us the utter depths and lengths that Jesus went through in order to procure our salvation. His physical sufferings have always been, and will remain, a window through which we may see His heart the very Heart of God. While on the Cross Jesus spoke 7 times during those 6 agonizing hours; and those sayings give us perhaps the truest glimpse of His purpose and passion for the world He bore on His heart. Statement One Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Lk 23:34 Do you realize that you are in need of the Father s forgiveness? Statement Two Today you will be with Me in Paradise. Luke 23:43 Have you realized and confessed Jesus as your personal Savior? Statement Three Woman, behold your son. John 19:26 Jesus is concerned for us and provides for all of us. Statement Four My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Matthew 27:46 Jesus was forsaken so we don t have to be. Statement Five I thirst! John 19:28 This personal statement reminds us that Jesus is not only God, but He also was man. Jesus identifies with our needs. Statement Six It is finished! John 19:30 Jesus paid for our sins, and sin s control over our lives is broken! Statement Seven Into Your hands I commit My spirit. Luke 23:46 You can entrust your life into God s hands. 12