1. Introduction
a. Learning how to listen for and hear God, understanding His instructions for and to us, and learning how to apply them in our lives is not unlike learning a craft or a skill and honing from apprentice to journeyman to master level.
(1) It requires a desire to never be satisfied with your best to date.
(2) It requires a determination to always excel, always competing with yourself.
(3) And, it requires focus. Not giving your study and time with Christ the depth it requires, just might cause you to miss a pearl He has prepared just for you.
b. Opening Illustration:
Back when the telegraph was the fastest method of long-distance communication, a young man applied for a job as a Morse Code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the office address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, busy office filled with noise and clatter, including the sound of the telegraph in the background. A sign on the receptionist’s counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office.
The young man filled out his form and sat down with the seven other applicants in the waiting area. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. They talked among themselves that they hadn’t heard any summons yet. They assumed that the young man who went into the office made a mistake and would be disqualified.
Within a few minutes, however, the employer escorted the young man out of the office and said to the other applicants, “Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has just been filled.”
The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and one spoke up saying, “Wait a minute, I don’t understand. He was the last to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That’s not fair!”
The employer said, “I’m sorry, but all the time you’ve been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse Code: ‘If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.’ None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. The job is his.” (courtesy of Kent Kessler, Profound Ministries taken from www.sermoncentral.com)
c. Today I want to begin a series based on a topic that is usually reserved for Good Friday devotionals, the last seven things Christ said from the cross.
(1) Because they are not recorded in one gospel, we don’t know the exact order in which they were spoken.
(2) But, we can see in them an obvious progression of God’s will and purpose for the mankind’s redemption. They like a Reader’s Digest extremely abridged version of gospel.
(3) They are significant because even in the pain and suffering of His physical death, He was still focused on us and was still the consummate teacher.
2. The first three words
a. The first three were uttered between the 3rd and 6th hours (9 a.m.-12 noon).
b. They asked for forgiveness and established fellowship with God, provided an assurance for our future, and dictated familial responsibility.
c. Forgiveness and fellowship.
(1) In the first words of the cross, we find forgiveness and fellowship—one obvious, the other not so obvious.
(2) Read Luke 23:34a—And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
(3) We know that Jesus came specifically to seek out and forgive sinners. Luke records this purpose in Jesus’ own words 19:10, where Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
(4) While this statement was focused specifically on the Romans who were crucifying Him, it was equally applicable to all He encountered both before and after his death and resurrection.
(5) Even if they did not or do not have a full recognition of what they were or are forgiveness is still needed.
(6) It was specifically because of His sacrificial death that fellowship enters the picture. Before this historic event, man could not have fellowship with His God; not even his high priest could enjoy that privilege.
(7) But through His cleansing blood and His intercession on our behalf requesting forgiveness, we as sinners can make God our Father and have fellowship with Him 24/7/365 until Jesus comes to take us home. (John 1:12)
d. Assurance for the future.
(1) Because of the next important thing Christ said, we have an assurance of our future, its relative timeline, and its location.
(2) Read Luke 23:43—And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
(3) Our soul will not sleep—not tomorrow, or some day in the future, but TODAY.
(4) There is an affirmation of life after death—YOU WILL BE.
(5) There is a proclaimed destination—WITH ME IN PARADISE.
(a) “Paradise” occurs three times in the New Testament and all three occurrences (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4; Rev. 2:7) refer to the abode of the righteous dead (heaven).
(b) The Septuagint used “paradise” to translate the Hebrew words for the garden of Eden in Gen. 2–3.
(c) Over the years the terms became synonymous, and eventually paradise came to refer to heaven.
(d) Paradise was promised only to the repentant one.
(e) Because repentance is a personal decision, and because not all will repent, many will not be in paradise.
e. Responsibility for family.
(1) Though He put His Father’s work and purpose first, He did not neglect His mother.
(2) Even on the cross, experiencing pain and agony as only a human can, only moments away from physical death, he still made provision for His mother just as He was making provision for us.
(3) Read John 19:26 – 27: When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
f. With these three proclamations He revealed His work as our High Priest by:
(1) Interceding for transgressors.
(2) Proclaiming pardon to those who repent.
(3) Bestowing blessings on not only His own family, but more importantly, all who call on His name.
3. The fourth and fifth
a. The fourth and fifth sayings were spoken in darkness.
b. Matthew 27:45 tells us there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour; that is until about 3 P.M.
c. Nature was wrapped in gloom as our Savior, fully man and fully God, bearing the burden and curse of sin that was not His own, revealed to us something of the mystery of spiritual suffering.
(1) It is the climax of Jesus’ suffering. It was here he spoke the words of utter loneliness.
(2) How dark these three hours were we may faintly gather from the awful cry that escaped from His lips at the end of those long three hours.
(3) Read Matthew 27:46—And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
(4) This is the only time we can find recorded that Jesus called His Father “My God.”
(5) And now he finds himself in the worst sort of exile, abandoned by His father God.
(6) Despite the promise of Deuteronomy 4:31, which says “For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them;” God has abandoned Jesus because He cannot tolerate the presence of sin and Jesus currently bears the sins of the world on His shoulders.
(7) So it is with us, until we allow Christ to intercede on our behalf, we cannot come into the presence of God. Until our sins are covered by Christ’s blood, God cannot stand to be in our presence.
d. The fifth saying has caused a large amount of debate among Biblical Scholars.
(1) Read John 19:28—After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst."
(2) There is no doubt that He was thirsty, as this was one of the horrible parts of crucifixion.
(3) However, the general consensus among scholars regarding this saying is that being knowledgeable of the scripture and the prophecies regarding Him, Christ, knowing the end was near, stated this in satisfaction of prophecy.
4. The last two
a. The last two sayings were uttered in the emergence of light. The long spiritual night is ending and dawn is broaching. The conflict is ended with Christ being victorious.
b. A proclamation of victory.
(1) Read John 19:30—When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
(2) From the cross that was to be an end to this menace to both the Jewish and Roman empires, Christ announces to the world that all is finished.
(3) In one word He sums up the whole of man’s redemption.
(a) Finished was the work His Father had given Him to do.
(b) Finished was the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, freely offered in satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.
(c) Finished was the bridge between man and God.
c. A place of rest, peace, and comfort.
(1) Read Luke 23:46—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.
(2) This saying and the previous one were uttered in rapid succession.
(3) The proclamation of victory is followed by a statement that contains an assurance of rest, peace, and comfort.
(4) It was a demonstration of what physical death would not be for all believers.
(a) It was not a leap in the dark.
(b) It was not a plunge into an unknown void.
(c) It was, however, a going home.
(5) The sting of death had been removed forever.
(6) Because of this particular statement, a believer can, along with the Apostle Paul, say with certainty “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).
5. Closing and Invitation
a. The cross represents a lot to believer and non-believer alike. It is somewhat like the Izod Lacoste icon.
Rene Lacoste, the world's top tennis player in the late 1920s, won seven major singles titles during his career, including multiple victories at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the French Open. His friends called him "Le Crocodile," an apt term for his tenacious play on the court.
Lacoste accepted the nickname and had a tiny crocodile embroidered on his tennis blazers. When he added it to a line of shirts he designed, the symbol caught on. While thousands of people around the world wore "alligator shirts," the emblem always had a deeper significance for Lacoste's friends who knew its origin and meaning.
The cross, an emblem of Christianity, holds special meaning for every friend of Christ. Whenever we see a cross, it speaks to us of Christ's tenacious determination to do His Father's will by dying for us on Calvary. What a privilege to know Him and be included in His words to His disciples: "Henceforth I call you not servants;...but I have called you friends" (John 15:15).
I can picture a friend of Lacoste seeing the little alligator on someone's shirt, and saying, "I know the story behind that emblem. Lacoste is my friend." And I can picture a friend of Jesus seeing a cross and doing the same. (Our Daily Bread, Sept.-Nov. 1997, page for October 5, contributed to SermonCentral.com by Rodelio Mallari)
b. More importantly, I can see using the cross as a memory for sharing the gospel with a non-believer, because the complete gospel was preached from the cross by Christ himself.
(1) Through Christ there is forgiveness and fellowship available to all—forgiveness for sins and fellowship with Christ and with God because of that forgiveness.
(2) There is an assurance of the future, an assurance that once we complete this life we will immediately pass into the presence of Christ.
(3) There is a promise of blessings for those who seek Him and follow His word.
(4) There is also a promise of separation from God if we do not seek forgiveness for our sins.
(5) There is an assurance that even as all scripture was satisfied in relation to Christ, he has satisfied scripture regarding Him in relation to us. There is that promise that He is who He said He was and that He can and will do what He has promised on our behalf.
(6) There is a promise of victory by surrendering ourselves to His mercy, grace, and kindness.
(7) There is an understanding that when this life is complete, we have waiting for us a place of rest, peace, and comfort, safely wrapped in His loving arms.
c. Do you trust in those assurances today? Are they a part of you? If they are not, you can by doing something as easy as simply giving your heart to him.
d. Will you do that today?
