Happy Easter Sunday to everyone! Happy resurrection day to you all. Welcome to Easter Sunday including those of you online.
Why is Easter a Big Deal? Easter is a time when God's people celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As much as you may admire Abraham Lincoln, your parents, or MLK, JR., there are not even two people who gather every Sunday to celebrate him. But over hundreds of millions of people will gather together to celebrate Jesus today. No one but Jesus has this kind of effect on us today. In the moments to come, I hope to show you why so many of us worship Jesus Christ.
I invite you to turn to Luke 23 with me. If you didn't bring a copy of God's Word, turn to page 1051 in the Black Pew Bibles in front of you. Jesus hung on the cross for six agonizing hours before succumbing to the torture of crucifixion through asphyxiation. During that time, Jesus made seven statements on the cross that were recorded in the four gospels of the New Testament. These are famous last words.
Communication Card
At the end of today's message, I will invite you to commit your life to Jesus Christ. I want everyone to have the "Communication Card" near you. You'll find one in the pew in front of you. Please keep that handy. I'll share with you some instructions about this a little later in the service. Today we hear the very last recorded words of Jesus while on the cross.
Today's Scripture
"It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!' And having said this he breathed his last. 47 Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, 'Certainly this man was innocent!' 48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. 49 And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things" (Luke 23:44-49).
Luke is the only Gospel writer that records the very last words that Jesus ever spoke and you would expect that because Luke is a doctor. Doctors are intensely interested in death. As he investigated the life of Jesus, he wanted to know everything he could about the death of Jesus.
Sermon Preview
I want to answer three questions in the next few minutes:
"What can we learn from how Jesus died?"
What do we learn from modern theories on death?
"How can I benefit from Jesus' death?"
1. In His Final Moments, Jesus Trusted in God.
"Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!' And having said this he breathed his last" (Luke 23:46).
I want to answer this question, "What can we learn from how Jesus died?" In His final few minutes, Jesus mustered up enough strength to speak a few life-changing sentences. After three hours of darkness, Jesus' loud cry pierces this darkness with a loud cry.
1.1 Loud Cry
Jesus spoke twice in a loud voice on the cross. The first time He spoke loudly, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46b). Now, at the very end, Jesus cries out again in a loud voice, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!' And having said this he breathed his last" (Luke 23:46b). There is a distressing urgency to Jesus' words.
Now, crucifixion was an extremely cruel way to kill someone. It was common to hear screams of rage and pain from people hanging on a cross. People report hearing people wildly curse while on the cross. But Jesus did not raise His voice in a rage but in prayer. I suspect if had you been there to hear Jesus' cries, you would have remembered the urgency of His pleas for the rest of your life.
1.1.1 The Temple Curtain Torn
Just as Jesus cried out and breathed His last, the Bible tells us that curtain of the Temple was torn in two. Witnesses to the Temple tell us that this curtain was as thick as your hand. The curtain was more than sixty-five feet high and nearly fifty feet wide. So the tearing of something so thick and so large was supernatural. What did this mean? The Temple was no longer where God would meet with humans.
1.1.2 Rocks Were Split
And when Jesus cried out His last words, the Bible says there was an earthquake so that rocks were split. Tombs were open and the dead arose and appeared to many around Jerusalem (Matthew 27:52-53). When a hardened centurion and those around him witnessed all this, they said, "Truly this was the Son of God" (Matthew 27:54)! No, Jesus didn't slip off to death with noiseless prayer. This was His death cry. Instead, His prayer punctuated the night sky in the middle of the day for all to hear.
1.2 Father as Bookends
Jesus' last act before He died was to say, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" From the first to the last, Jesus entrusted His life into the Father's hands. The first word from the cross was, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34b). Jesus begins with, "Father, forgive them," and He finishes with, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Jesus first recorded word from the cross was "Father," and now His last words from the cross begin with the word "Father." When you need help forgiving someone, call upon the Father and when you are suffering and dying call out to the Father. Jesus teaches us that our main strength comes from truly being a child of God. From the first breath to His last breath, Jesus entrusted His life into the Father's hands.
1.3 It Is Finished
Now, as Jesus is near His end, the gospel of John reports His words as this: "When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit" (John 19:30). In the Greek text, the cry itself is one word, telelestai. The word speaks of "perfect achievement." Jesus is telling us that all His work is now completed, perfectly completed. It's the gospel of Luke that reports His final words as: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" (Luke 23:46). How should we put these two last sayings together in our minds?
1.4 The Last Two Statements
Think of the first as if Jesus is talking to us and think of the last as if Jesus is talking to His Father. Let me show you. As if He was talking to all of humanity, the Savior doesn't tell us "Goodbye" or even "Don't worry, I'm going to be gone only for a few days. I'll see you again."
1.4.1 He Speaks to Us
Instead, He tells us that "It is finished." It's as if He is turning His face toward us and speaking to calm us. It's remarkable, isn't it? Even in His hour of death, Jesus assures us. His work is now perfectly done. The Herculean task of salvation is now accomplished, perfectly accomplished. Not the great Champion of our souls is set to return back to the Father's throne. Here in His last breaths, Jesus' loud cry calms us. He's reminding us that He's arranged everything perfectly for us.
1.4.2 He Speaks to the Father
Having spoken to us, He now turns His attention back to His Father. Now that He has taken care of us perfectly, He turns His face the other way as if it were. He reserves His last words for His Father, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" It's fitting that Jesus reserves His last words for God, the Father.
1.5 Quoting Scripture
Again, "What can we learn from how Jesus died?" Jesus' last words on earth were a quotation from Scripture: "Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God" (Psalm 31:5). "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" (Luke 23:46). Jesus was full of the Bible even in His last breath! Psalm 31:5 is very familiar to any Jews who heard Him say this, because Jewish mothers would teach their children to recite that verse every night before they would go to bed. As a matter of fact, for many children it would be the first verse of scripture they would ever learn. Back in the eighteenth century, there was a children's prayer that was written that many parents taught their children to say at night before they would go to bed. Some parents still do it today. You may remember it, it goes like this -
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take.
You may not realize it, but that is just a modern form of the prayer that Jesus prayed straight from God's Word. Now with Jesus' last breaths ebbing away, perhaps He reverts to a prayer that His mother taught Him when He was little. At Jesus' death, He teaches us to value Scripture. Jesus used Scripture when He fought off Satan in the desert and He uses Scripture even as He dies! Yes, Jesus was full of the Bible even in His last breath!
1.6 Jesus Alters Scripture
But notice that Jesus alters the passage. Jesus adds something and He subtracts something to Psalm 31:5. Jesus adds the word "Father" to Psalm 31:5 here. Though Kind David originally wrote that prayer, Jesus prayed it in a way that no other Jew had ever prayed it. Jesus added the word "Father" at the beginning. Remember, Jesus knew more than King David and He could see further than King David.
But then no sooner does Jesus add something but Jesus also subtracted something here. Did you see what Jesus omitted? Jesus didn't say, "you have redeemed me, O Lord." And why would the Redeemer add these words? He didn't need redeeming for He was the Redeemer! This is at the heart of Jesus' death on the cross – He redeems us. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
1. In His Final Moments, Jesus Trusted in God
2. In Your Final Moments, Will You Trust in God?
"Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!' And having said this he breathed his last" (Luke 23:46).
What can we learn from how Jesus died? Here, I want to answer the question, "What do we learn from modern theories on death?" When you explore modern theories on death and dying, there are a lot of widespread opinions. Ira Byock, professor of Family Medicine at Dartmouth, "You know, the best doctor in the world has never succeeded in making anyone immortal." But this hasn't stopped people from trying!
2.1 Resurrection by Technology?
Former Boston Red Sox and perhaps baseball's greatest hitter, Ted Williams family spent $100,000 in a process to freeze the Hall-of-Famer in liquid nitrogen some twenty years ago. In Arizona, cryonics experts maintain more than 190 dead clients in a frozen state that's another kind of limbo. Their hope is that sometime in the distant future, maybe centuries from now, these clients will be thawed and revived! It's the idea that technology will save us! And it's not just Ted Williams either. Tragically, parents from Thailand discovered their beautiful little girl was suffering from an aggressive form of brain cancer. When they realized that modern medical science could not save her, they turned to the same company Ted William's family did. The toddler tragically died on January 8, 2015, just before she turned three, with her family surrounding her at home. Words cannot express the sadness a family like this would experience in losing their precious child. But now, listen to her father, "I am certain that we are heading towards deathlessness. That will be [my baby's] time." The hope is technology then will have advanced to the point where they can be cured of whatever killed them.
Now, you don't have to be as outlandish as the children of Ted Williams. There's a more subtle way where people deny the inevitability of death.
2.2 I Could Keep Him from Dying Forever
Again, there are such widespread opinions on death and dying. Amanda Bennett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the Wall Street Journal. After her husband died, Bennett wrote a memoir of their fight against cancer called The Cost of Hope. In her 2013 TED talk, Bennett says poignantly: "…we fought, we struggled, we triumphed. It was an exhilarating fight, and I'd repeat the fight today without a moment's hesitation. We fought together, we lived together. It turned what could have been seven of the grimmest years of our life into seven of the most glorious." And then she is embarrassingly honest with us: "I believed I could keep him from dying, and I'd be embarrassed to say that if I hadn't seen so many people and have talked to so many people who have felt exactly the same way. Right up until days before his death, I felt strongly and powerfully, and, you might say, irrationally, that I could keep him from dying ever." And this is often a common way of approaching death in America today. We focus on doing everything possible to prevent death from happening with little to no thought of the inevitable. Of little to no thought of what comes next.
2.3 Death as Natural Progression?
Atheists tell us we stay in the ground. There's nothing AFTER our death we are told. Death is just the last step in our evolutionary process. And when you're dead, you're dead. Some would tell us that death is nothing more than a natural progression, a stage of growth.
2.4 I Don't Want to be Fertilizer!
Peter Kreeft wrote a book on death called Love is Stronger than Death. He tells a true story about a neighbor who didn't believe in the afterlife, and she had a little six-year-old boy. The little boy had a cousin about his age who had died. He came on in and said, "Mommy, where is my cousin now?" She had read the books on how to talk to children about death, and she also didn't believe in an afterlife, so she said, "Now, dear. Listen. I want you to know death is natural. When we die, our bodies become part of the ground, and when they go into the ground, they feed the ground. The ground brings up new life. When you see the flowers coming up, you see that's just the life and the energy of the people who have died going in. That's the way nature works. There's nothing unnatural about it." His eyes got big, and he ran out of the room screaming, "No! No! I don't want him to be fertilizer."
That's the very same message of Disney's Lion King, the whole circle of life. Our bodies simply become fertilizer!
2.5 Transition
I wonder, how do you think about death? How do you think about your death? Would it matter to you how Jesus taught about death?
2.6 The Truth about Death
Friend, we are not really prepared to live until we are prepared to die. Honestly, every day many of us go to war fighting this battle against death. We have an array of weapons at our side: diet, exercise, doctors, medicine, hospitals, vitamins, but we know deep down death wins in the end. Truly, no death is an accident, but every death is an appointment. And when our appointment time comes, we had better be ready to meet it.
In Your Final Moments, Will You Trust in God? What can we learn from how Jesus died? What do we learn from modern theories on death? Here as I near the end, I want to answer, "How can I benefit from Jesus' death?"
1. In His Final Moments, Jesus Trusted in God.
2. In Your Final Moments, Will You Trust in God?
3. In This Moment, Place Your Trust in God.
"Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!' And having said this he breathed his last" (Luke 23:46).
"When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit" (John 19:30).
3.1 Jesus' Death
Now Jesus was different than every other person who has ever lived. Jesus was sinless in every respect of the word. A moment ago, I called Jesus Redeemer. Why? Only He could redeem us and pay for our sins. Only He could satisfy the wrath of God against sin. Only He could save His people from their sins. He finished the work that God gave Him to do. It was as if He placed a banner over His life, "My Mission Accomplished." In some ways, we can never be like Jesus. Yet, in a profound way … you can be exactly like Jesus
3.2 Jesus' Faith
Jesus died with tremendous faith. He had faith in His Father all the way to the end: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!' And having said this he breathed his last" (Luke 23:46b). Now, He struggled with the will of the Father in His last moments. But even in His death, He had faith in His Heavenly Father. Jesus' faith "ran past the tape," if you will. He had faith in where He was going. And He had faith He was coming back again! If you're going to really experience the power of Easter, then you need the faith of Jesus. Jesus had faith in His Father. And if you want the confidence Jesus had at His death, you're going to need the confidence Jesus had in His Father.
3.3 You Don't Know My Father
There was a math teacher trying to teach her first-grade class how to add, so she called on a boy named Brad. She said, "Brad, if you have two dollars and you ask your father for ten dollars, how much will you have?" Brad said without a moment's hesitation, "Two dollars." The teacher said, "Brad, you don't know your math." Brad said, "You don't know my father." Again, if you want the confidence Jesus had at His death, you're going to need the confidence Jesus has in His Father.
3.4 The Gospel
Again, I am answering this question: "How can I benefit from Jesus' death?" Here's a key question, "Is God my Father?" Before you answer that question, let me explain it. You aren't ready to live until you are ready to die. You are not ready to die until you are ready to meet God. You are not ready to meet God until you know Him as your Father. You do not know Him as your Father until you become His child. You do not become His child until you are born again into His family. You are not born again into His family until you receive His Son, Jesus Christ by faith. Simply, God becomes your Father when you become His child, but you only become His child when you receive His Son.
The cross and resurrection are designed to save you. Jesus' death is not an award for your hard work or your religious nature. The cross isn't a payment for your good deeds. Instead, Jesus' death and resurrection is a free gift for you.
3.5 I Wish I Had that Kind of Faith
I hear non-Christians say, "I wish I could believe. "You believe; I wish I could believe. But, you know, some people can have that faith. I'm just not one of those people. I wish I was like you" It's like you are an extraordinary person to have faith. You don't need extraordinary faith to die like Jesus. You need simple faith and your faith will expand over time.
3.6 The Cross Isn't a Reward
Again, Jesus' death is not an award for your hard work. The cross isn't a generous bonus or a booster shot to get you over the top. Instead, Jesus' death and resurrection are a free gift. You are not saved because you earned your way to be saved. You don't do your part and then God does His part.
3.7 Your Resurrection
Friend, when you turn away from your sinful ways and place your trust in Jesus Christ… … not only is He resurrected then you will be resurrected one day too. You will spend eternity with the Father and the Son and the Spirit.
3.8 Non-Believers - Invitation
If you are here this morning saying, "The Son of God was born, He died, He was raised, He ascended, and He's coming again, that doesn't make you a Christian. But if you say, "The Son of God was born for me, He died for me, He was raised for me, He was ascended to the right hand of the Father for me, and He's going to come again for me," that's what it means to be a Christian.
If you have already committed your life to Christ prior to this service, write down the letter "A." If you say, "Scott, I haven't made that decision yet, but I'm considering it, and I want you to know that I am considering it, write down the letter' B.'" If you feel today, that I am embracing the cross of Christ by faith to save me, then please write down the letter "C" on your card. I am already a believer in Christ and I have come to a new appreciation for the grace of God in your life then, I invite you to write down the letter "D."
