A Study of the Book of Luke
Sermon # 66
“What To Do In Your Hour of Need!”
[Christ’s Seven Statements from the Cross]
“The final statements of even the most ordinary people have a way of fixing themselves firmly in the memories of those who hear them. The words of dying men are always sacred; the last words of those we love linger in our minds.” “It is no surprise, then, that the statements Jesus made as he was dying on Calvary should have stuck like burrs in the minds of those who were closest to Him.”
What a contrast his passing was with the way in which most people leave this life. Most don’t depart with a song in their soul and hope in their heart. The noted historian and infidel Edward Gibbon’s last words were, “All is now lost, finally, irrecoverably lost. All is dark and doubtful.” Clarence Darrow, the agnostic lawyer who helped foist Evolution on us, was so distraught as he lay on his deathbed he commanded his law clerk to get him three clergymen. When they arrived he confessed that he had written and spoken many things against God and he pleaded with them to intercede with the Almighty on his behalf. David Hume, the famous atheistic philosopher, was a sad sight as he was about to leave this life. His housekeeper who was with him during his last moments said, “his mental agitation was so great at times as to occasion his whole bed to shake.” He was so distraught and frightened he would not allow the lights to be put out during the night nor would he be left alone for a minute.
Six hours passed between the pounding of the first nail into body of Jesus and the last breath of Jesus on Calvary’s cross. During those awful hours with great expense of effort, Jesus spoke seven times. In order to read the record of all seven of Jesus’ statements from the cross we must not only look in Luke but we must look to two of the other parallel account’s (John and Matthew). But since three of Jesus’ statements are found in Luke I think is very appropriate to our study of the gospel according to Luke.
But I believe that the record of Jesus’ seven statements from the cross are not just recorded as historic fact but as Jack Hayford says in his little
book “… 7 Encouraging Insights from Christ’s Words on the Cross” that “it is given to us … to apply to our present moment…” [Jack Hayford. How to Live Through A Bad Day: 7 Insights form the Christ’s Words On the Cross. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001) p. xii.]
So what does Christ teach us in his statements from the cross for our hour of need?
#1. In Your Hour of Need - Choose to Forgive (Luke 23:34)
Has anyone ever hurt you? I mean has anyone ever done something so terrible that you think that forgiveness is out of question? Think for a moment at all of what Jesus has been through, he has been beaten, probably several times. He has been punched and mocked, he has had a crown of thorns jammed onto His head. He has been stripped, and marched through the streets of Jerusalem; forced to carry at least the cross beam of his cross. He had metal spikes drive through his wrist and his feet and left to die a long and cruel death. Now Jesus looks out over the crowd at the foot of the cross and makes his first proclamation.
The first statement from the cross was found in Luke 23:34 which we skipped over until now where Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." People do things that hurt us and we find it difficult to believe what Jesus said about them that they did not “know” what they were doing. Sometimes to us it seems that the people who hurt us did it with great deliberateness, they seemed to know exactly what they were doing but just did not care. But in a very real sense, even when a sin is carefully calculated and planned thoroughly and carried out with great exactness, no really understands the degree of its terrible damage to people. We don’t know how deeply we have hurt others and those who have hurt us don’t realize how deep the pain goes.
It is to just such a situation that Jesus speaks and says, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." Could you do that? How do you forgive the unforgivable?
Sometimes we think we don’t have to forgive because the offender has never asked for our forgiveness, and until they ask we don’t have to forgive. But let’s look at what Jesus said another way, for he is saying, “Father forgive them because they need forgiveness more than they can ever imagine.” “Father forgive them because they desperately need forgiveness and they don’t even know it.”
We need to note a couple of things about forgiveness.
First, Forgiveness is not reconciliation. Reconciliation takes two people, but the injured party can forgive the offender even without being reconciled.
Secondly, Forgiveness is not condoning or dismissing the offense. It does mean that we are saying, “What you did was bad, but it really doesn’t matter.” The fact that forgiveness is necessary is a sign that it does matter. Forgiveness recognizes the offense as wrong, and forgive in spite of the wrongness.
Third, Forgiveness is not pardon. Pardon is a legal transaction that releases the offender from the legal consequences of their act. But you can forgive a person and still insist on the just punishment for the offense.
Forgiveness is the key to not being permanently victimized by those who have hurt us. Forgiveness is born out of my realization of because of how great a burden of guilt I have been forgiven by Christ; there is no justification for me failing to forgive others. In Matthew 6:14-15 we read, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (15) But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (NIV)
This morning it could be that God is reminding you of someone you need to forgive.
Forgiveness is not easy …but In Your Hour of Need - you can choose to forgive….
#2. In Your Hour of Need - Remain Sensitive to Others Who Are Hurting (Luke 23:43)
As we saw in last week’s lesson, as Jesus hung on the cross he became the subject of debate between the two thieves with whom He was crucified. Both Matthew and Mark record at first both thieves mocked Jesus, but at some point one of the thieves allowed reflection upon his own plight to change his viewpoint. He was moved to admit his own guilty and the justness of his sentence. He also came to the point that he realized that Jesus was indeed who he said that he was and he asked Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." (v. 42)
It is in response to this request that we find in Luke 23:43 the second statement of Jesus from the cross where he had said to the second thief, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."
In the response of Jesus we are taught a second lesson on how to respond to others in our own times of pain; encourage others who are struggling or uncertain. While we cannot promise paradise to those around us, we can keep our eyes and ears open for individuals who are experiencing the same struggles as we are.
Notice that Jesus was not so inwardly focused that he could not see others around him who were experiencing the same thing he was. He could have justifiably been focused on his own pain at that moment, but he demonstrated that was sensitive to those around him who were also hurting.
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, (4) who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
The New Living Translation of that verse is,
“All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. (4) He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” (NLT)
God can use the most painful experiences of our past to help us minister to others. God uses his children who have endured difficultly to become a source of strength to others who are experiencing the same trial. The greatest reason that others will listen to us at that point is not our superior spirituality but the commonality of our mutual struggles.
In Your Hour of Need – Remain Sensitive To Others Who Are Hurting
#3. In Your Hour of Need - Don’t Lose Sight of those Closest to You. (John 19:25-27)
If there was ever a time for a person to think only of themselves then surely, it is the hour of their death. Yet even in the agony of His final hours on the cross Jesus thought of others.
Probably by this time, Joseph, the man who acted as Jesus’ earthly father had died. The first born son of the family was always expected to care for his widowed mother. As best he could, He provides for his mother by requesting that his closest friend care for her.
From the cross, Jesus first addressed Mary, His mother. Then he spoke to John, the only one of the twelve disciples who followed Him all the way to the cross. We find Jesus’ third statement from the cross in John 19:25-27, “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. (26) When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" (27) Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”
Even in the midst of the suffering of the cross Jesus never lost sight of those who were closest to him. Sometimes in the pain of our given situation we find that it causes to lose sight of anyone or anything other than ourselves.
Jesus speaks to us through this situation to refuse to allow a present painful situation to dull our sensitivity to the needs of those who are depend on us. “Don’t transmit your trauma to them. They may share it with you,… but it shouldn’t be dumped on them and they shouldn’t be saddled with it involuntarily.” [Hayford. p. 33]
In Your Hour of Need – Don’t Lose Sight Of Those Who Are Closest To You …
#4. In Your Hour of Need - Don’t Be Afraid to take your Hard Questions to God! (Matt 27:46)
Sometime we tend to think that the words of Jesus were sort of equally interspersed throughout those six long agonizing hours. I think that it is much more likely that the first three were spoken within the first half-hour and for more than 5 ½ hours He had remained silent. According to Matthew it is the ninth hour, or 3 o’clock in the afternoon. And now at length, He speaks again.
The fourth statement of Jesus from the cross is found in Matthew 27:46, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Here Matthew is so stricken by what he hears that he records the very Aramaic words which Jesus spoke. You can also feel the anguish as Jesus speaks.
It is the question of a confused heart. It is the indication of mind consumed with insoluble problems. Do you know how it feels to face a problem that you can see no answers to? Do you know what it is like to feel completely depleted? Do you know what it feels like to feel that you cannot go on? For some it to wake up one morning and find out that marriage was not everything they thought it would be. For others it is to wake up one day and discover that their career is ended, their friends are moving away, or that their toys no longer satisfy them. You want to give up, but instead you call out, to God and he re-supplies you with his living water and you find you can go on.
All of us have experience times when we have moments when we have wondered, “Why God.” Perhaps what some of us need to understand today is that it is okay for us to pray, “My God why???” It is not wrong to take our questions to God, to confess our confusion and bewilderment. The Psalmist says in (142:1), “I cry out to the LORD with my voice; …. (2) I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble.” When are mystified by life when we feel alone and afraid – it is alright to aim your hard questions at God.
From Jesus we discover that He allowed his agony to turn him to prayer. Jesus even in this hour He prayed “My God,” He prayed firm in the resolve that was still His very own. He also prayed in the faith that as bleak as thing looked God knew the answer to his perplexing problem. This is a precious promise to those who have found life bewilderingly hard.
In Your Hour of Need – Don’t Be Afraid To Take Your Hard Questions To God…
#5. In Your Hour of Need - It is Alright To Acknowledge Your Need. (John 19:28)
Some of us really don’t like to ask favors of anyone. But if we do ask anyone for a favor, we really would rather it be from one of our friends.
I will hazard the guess that over the years you have sometimes been surprised by the lack kindness on the part of people whom you felt you had the right to expect it. But really even more surprising are those times that when we have experienced kindness from those whom we have felt that we had no right to expect anything at all.
The Fifth statement from the cross is also
found in John’s gospel account in verse twenty-eight (19:28), “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!"
Jesus’ request for a something to drink is a reminder to us that no one is so in control, so spiritual, so self-sufficient, that they do not need the help of others. In the tough times of life we need the help of others to clarify our thinking, to enable us to keep on walking on the right path.
In Your Hour of Need – It is Alright to Acknowledge Your Need…
#6 In Your Hour of Need - Recognize That God Is Still In Control. (John 19:30)
The Sixth statement of Christ from the cross
is found a little further along in John’s account in verse thirty (19:30), “So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!". In the Greek language from which the New Testament is translated it is but one word, Tetelesthai! From the Cross Jesus declared, “It is finished, it completed, or it is paid in full.” In Colossians 2:14, Paul says, “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements which was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” Under the Roman system of justice when a man was convicted of a crime, his crime and the sentence was recorded on a placard and nailed to the door of his cell. Upon the completion of his sentence it was taken down and across the face it was written “tetelesthai” – it has been paid in full. Because Jesus died on the cross, when you accepted that payment for your sins, across the face of the record of your sin was written, “paid in full.”
Because of the cross, not only are our sins covered but we are given the assurance that nothing we suffer in this life is without purpose or an end. “No struggle will ever be pointless. No suffering need ever again be unending.” [Hayford p. 61]
The Psalmist assures in 30:5, “…Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.”
In Your Hour of Need - Recognize That God Is Still In Control…
#7. In Your Hour of Need - Surrender to God and Let It Go! (Luke 23:44-46)
At the end of each day, especially the really hard one’s we are tempted to use the night to relive the struggles of that day. What really are our options when we find our selves in situation beyond our control, when we find that we do not have the capacity to manage the outcome? In whom can we trust?
In Luke 23:44-46 we read the seventh and final statement of Christ from the cross, “Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. (45) Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. (46) And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, "into Your hands I commit My spirit."’ Having said this, He breathed His last”
Jesus said, “I am now ready to release my hold on life, and I am unafraid to do so because I am placing everything about myself into Your hands.”
In Your Hour of Need –
1. Choose to Forgive
2. Remain Sensitive To Others Who Are Hurting
3. Don’t Lose Sight of those Closest to You
4. Don’t Be Afraid To Take Your Hard Questions To God…
5. It is Alright To Acknowledge Your Need.
6. Recognize That God Is Still In Control.
7. Surrender to God and Let It Go.
