First Baptist Church
March 24, 2002
Luke 23:44-49
It was Palm Sunday and Jesus was coming into Jerusalem. He was riding on a blazing white stallion, kicking up a cloud of dust as He rode along. He was looking for trouble. The people He passed were in awe of such a beautiful animal but they were even more awestruck by the man who was riding it. As Jesus passed by, you could hear the people say,
"Who was that masked man?"
There were bad guys on the loose and Jesus had a job to do. As He rode into Jerusalem He quickly sized up the situation and formed a plan to capture the ring leader of the trouble makers. His name was Diablo, satan. There was a short fight, but the outcome was never in doubt, Jesus easily defeated Diablo. He handcuffed the devil and threw him in jail.
As a large crowd of people gathered to see what the commotion was all about, Jesus mounted His horse and pulled on the reigns. His pure white stallion stood on its hind legs, neighed loudly, and pawed the air with its front legs. When it stood as tall as it could stand, Jesus leaned forward in the saddle. Holding the reigns with one hand while lifting His white hat in the air with the other, He shouted with a loud voice, "Hi Ho Silver, the Lone Savior." As Jesus road off into the sunset, the music began to play softly and it got louder and louder. (Play the William Tell Overture). {Adapted from "Not the Lone Ranger, But the Lone Savior," by Roger Griffith}
Isn’t that how you would have done it if you were Jesus? That’s the way I would have done it. Well, maybe the Lone Ranger wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I could have been G.I. Joe or Rambo, maybe Superman, or Batman, maybe Batwoman. Maybe you would have been Wonder Woman or even the 6 Million Dollar Man or Bionic Woman. No matter who you would have been, it seems that there had to be an easier way to go about bringing salvation to the world and redeeming us from our sin, so that we could have forgiveness and life everlasting.
Today, we come to the end of the words of Jesus from the cross. For the past 6 weeks, we’ve journeyed together from the first words on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" — to the cry of "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" We’ve experienced, as best as we can, what the cross was like for Jesus and why He said what He did.
Today, we look at the last word from the cross. Only Luke records these words from Jesus, "Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit."
As we have done for the past few weeks, let’s look at Friday, the day Jesus was crucified. For the Romans, it was all going according to plan. The three men were on their crosses at 9 AM, there were no inconveniences, other than a larger than normal crowd. It was larger for two reasons — 1st, people wanted to see what happened to this man who claimed to be the Savior, and 2nd, it was time to celebrate Passover and Jews would have made the journey into Jerusalem to celebrate. So, there would have been more people milling about the streets of Jerusalem. The Romans knew what they were doing, they wanted the Jews to witness their own being killed. The message would be loud and clear ~~ ‘Don’t mess with us.’
People were yelling at the man on the middle cross, Jesus, King of the Jews. They were cruel insults, not what you would normally shower upon a man who is dying a gruesome and excruciatingly painful death. All went according to plan until 12 noon, that’s when the lights, or the sun went out in Jerusalem. Nobody could understand it, but the sins of the world; past, present and future were being heaped upon Jesus. When the sun came back at 3 PM, Jesus was much closer to death than the other two criminals. After a few minutes, Jesus cried out "tetelestai," it is finished, it seemed that it was over. His chest was no longer heaving and then he called out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."
What does this phrase mean? I wanted to break it down into sections, so we can have a greater appreciation for the last words of Jesus before His death. He begins be calling God, FATHER. Did you know that every time Jesus referred to God, He is Father, except when He was on the cross and cried out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" In fact, Jesus’ name for God was Father, He called God, Father almost 150 times, and often times referred to God as, "my Father" which would have been blasphemous for the Jewish people. They didn’t regard God in familiar terms, for God was not a personal God, as we often consider God today.
When Jesus called God, Father, it also spoke of the intimacy they shared in their relationship. There was nothing Jesus would hide from the Father. His prayers were personal, real and honest, and were always made to the Father. And now after 6 painful, agonizing hours on the cross, Jesus hands over His life, back to His Father.
The next phrase, is "INTO YOUR HANDS." Isn’t that a great image. Into your hands, Daddy. I just love walking with Joshua or Zachary and they slip their hand into mine. It’s a thrill because there is 100% trust. They wouldn’t take a strangers hand, it is only my hand or Debbie’s that they will take. When we see someone we haven’t seen in a long time, we shake hands or we hug. And when we hug we grab hold of that person, letting them know it is good to see you. What is the motto of Allstate Insurance Company, "The Good Hands People." That is God. He is the ultimate Good Hands Person. We know when we are in His hands, we are always safe.
For the past 15 - 18 hours Jesus has been in the hands of brutal people —
With their hands they whipped Him.
With their hands they beat Him.
With their hands they slapped Him.
With their hands they abused Him.
With their hands they jammed a crown of thorns on Him.
With their hands they stripped Him naked Him. And
With their hands they nailed Him to the cross.
Wicked hands did all they could to defeat Jesus, now He returns to the Father’s tender hands of love.
Finally Jesus calls out "I COMMIT MY SPIRIT." Jesus remained in control of His senses. Even these last words are a quotation from Psalm 31:5. In John 10:17-18, Jesus said, "The reason the Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father." Please understand, that nobody forced Jesus into this and most especially nobody defeated Him. Jesus gave up His own life as a way to bring honor to the Father.
One more thought on the word commit. It means to deposit something valuable in a safe place. It’s what you do when you take your will or valuables and place them in a safe deposit box at the bank. It’s what we do when we leave our possessions to others after we die. We commit to them our prized, treasured possessions, because we know that they will care for and honor them.
And what is it that Jesus commits to the Father, His spirit. This means Jesus’ very life, His personal existence. Now that His physical life was over, Jesus commits Himself into the Father’s hands for safekeeping. It’s as if Jesus said, "Father, I can no longer care for myself, into your hands of love and mercy I place myself for safekeeping.
Jesus was dead. But something amazing happened when he cried out these final words. Luke and Matthew tell us that the curtain in the temple was torn in two — from top to bottom. This is vitally significant, and we must understand what this means for us. In the ancient temple, there was the outer court, the inner court, the holy place and the holy of holies. N the holy of holies was where the ark, the 10 commandments was. The only thing that separated the holy of holies from the holy place was a very large curtain which is described in Exodus 26:31. Only the priests could enter the holy place, and only one time per year could the high priest go into the holy of holies, and that was on the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur. This is the curtain that was broken in two.
It is significant because now everyone had access to the holiest place in the temple. The curtain signified that because of our sins we could not stand before God and live, but through Christ’s life and death, that has now been changed. People no longer had to go through the priests, they had full access to God. In death, Jesus destroyed the bondage sin holds over us. As a result, we can now approach God with confidence. We no longer have to do sacrifices, we no longer have to feel distant from God, nor should we feel that God is unapproachable, He is showing us that He is very approachable and desires to have a relationship with us.
So, after 7 weeks of talking about these last words of Jesus from the cross. What do they mean? That came very clear to me this past Thursday afternoon as I was driving home from Decatur, enjoying my last cup of coffee.
Have you ever felt that in life you were stuck. I mean, you feel like there’s no way out. Rescue seems out of the question. You may even feel that this world would be better off without you. The pain you experience is excruciating. Oh!! It’s not physical pain I’m talking about, it’s the pain of living life.
It’s the pain of watching a marriage dissolve, it’s the pain of watching the kids bomb out in life, it’s the pain of growing older, unhealthy and bitter, it’s the pain of not knowing if life is what it’s cracked up to be, it’s waking up tired and going to sleep more tired, it’s not knowing how the bills are going to get paid, it’s the pain of facing the doctor, it’s the pain of feeling like a loser, even when you’re not. It’s just not knowing what to do with life anymore.
You feel stuck, and you’re not even sure how it all started. Actually, it began innocently enough. You never anticipated anything bad happening. You see, it’s like this yarn on it’s own, one little problem is not too big a deal, you can bust out on your own. It’s not a big deal. But what happens when a few problems crop up. Let’s see what that looks like.
TIE UP TWO YOUTH
I’m going to tie up these two guys, back to back. If I tie the yarn around you one time, can you break loose? OF COURSE you can. But that isn’t how life works, is it? It seems that life piles up and piles up and piles up some more, so that instead of just one strand of yarn going around you, you find yourself wrapped up and immersed in pain. What you were able to solve on your own, you no longer can, but you want control, your pride gets in the way and nothing, nothing will help you out. You are stuck. And there are lots of us here today who feel like these guys, stuck and there is no say out. Not unless you are Harry Houdini.
But let’s take this one step further. When you are stuck like this is it easy to get rest for your soul, is it easy to get a good nights rest? NOPE. Why? Because you are so filled with inner turmoil of trying to solve your porblems and the pain of life on your own that nothing is going to resolve it. Let me illustrate it.
It occurred to me that I should tell these guys to rest.
Go ahead and sit. Oops, they can’t sit down.
Go ahead and lay down. Oops they can’t lay down. They can’t get any rest. They never will get the peace and rest that they desire.
BUT, did I mention someone who died on the cross for you and me. Did I mention that He promises to give rest to those who are weary and heavy burdened? Of course He does, but what must we do?
When we go to Jesus, we will find that with His help, He will begin to cut away all the yuck and muck in our lives. Just like these two guys who are tied up. Jesus begins to slowly cut away all the feelings of being stuck until you have FREEDOM. (CUT THE YARN) You have freedom from all that baggage you’ve carried around the last 100 years.
But, we must go to Him. We must go to Jesus and cry out to Him and submit ourselves to Him. If we don’t we will be just like these guys.
You see, Jesus went to the cross just so that we wouldn’t have to feel constrained and tied up. He bids us to come to Him. He won’t make your problems go away, but He will be there with you, and I can think of nobody I would want to help me through life than Jesus. He suffered on that cross so that I could come before God.
Do you want that? Let down that silly pride and ego you have, come to God, call on Him, humble yourselves before Him, give Him the glory, honor Him and watch what happens in your life.
If you truly give yourself to Him today, I know you will begin to experience peace through God. It’s not my promise it is God’s promise. If you have never given your life to Christ or want to finally give up that controlling ego and pride, then come forward. Don’t be bashful, don’t care what others will think, because this is a glorious day. It is the day your life changes forever.
