Let us turn to God's Word. The
text is found in Luke chapter 23 and the 46th verse. Luke chapter 23 and the
46th verse. And when Jesus had cried with
a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,
and having said thus, He gave up the ghost in Luke 23 and the
46th verse. And what we have here is the
last of the words or the sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ upon
the cross at Calvary. Remember, seven sayings in all,
and here in Luke's account we have the first of those sayings,
back in verses 33 and 34 we are told of that that occurred as
soon as they arrived there at Calvary and Christ was nailed
upon that cross when they would come to the place which is called
Calvary there they crucified him and the malefactors one on
the right hand and the other on the left then said Jesus father
forgive them for they know not what they do and they parted
his raiment and cast lots. The first of those seven sayings
then we have there at verse 34 and now here in the text this
morning we have the last of the sayings And in all these sayings
we have that which is really the fulfilment of the scriptures. Remember how in the 18th chapter of John's Gospel, there in verse 31, John 18 and verse 31, Then said
Pilate unto them, Take him and judge him according to your law.
The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us
to put any man to death. That's the wrong scripture. That's
not the scripture I was thinking of. It must be the 18th chapter
here in Luke's account that we see that in all the sufferings
of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is the fulfillment of the word
of God. Back in chapter 18 then here
in verse 31 we're told that they took. Then he took unto him the
twelve and said unto them behold we go to Jerusalem and all things
that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall
be accomplished. That was the scripture I was
wanting to refer to not John But Luke 18 and verse 31, as
they go up to Jerusalem then, the Lord is very mindful that
all that was written by the prophets concerning him must be accomplished. And the verse in John that I
was thinking of is chapter 19 and verse 28. The saying of Christ
where he speaks of his thirst. Jesus, knowing that all things
were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. Well, as there was the fulfillment
of Scripture in that particular statement, so in all of the statements
that Christ is making upon the cross, there is the fulfillment,
the accomplishment of those things that were spoken of in the Old
Testament Scripture. Here in verse 46 then, we have
the fulfillment of the words that we read just now in Psalm
31. There in that Psalm of David,
what does David say at verse 5? Into thine hand I commit my
spirit. And like so many of David's psalms,
Psalm 31 is a messianic psalm, it's a prophetic psalm, it's
a psalm that speaks of the greatest son of David, speaks even of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, Psalm 31 and verse 5
is that scripture that we see fulfilled in these words of the
Saviour. When Jesus had cried with a loud
voice, he said, into thy hands I commend my spirit and having
said thus he gave up the ghost. Now turning then to this particular
verse for our text and seeking to open up the scripture and
understand it, first of all I want us to observe that there is a
certain contrast here. There's a sense in which previous
to this the Lord Jesus Christ had been in the hands of men. When Peter had made that great confession
at Caesarea Philippi, remember how the Lord had asked concerning
what was being said, concerning himself, what the people were
saying of him and some were saying that this was John the Baptist
risen from the dead, some said he was Elijah, others said he
was Jeremiah or another of the prophet And then the Lord asks
Peter, and Peter makes that great confession, thou art the Christ,
the Son of the Living God, and as Peter acknowledges the person
of the Saviour, so Christ goes on to speak of the work that
he had come to accomplish verse 21 there in Matthew 16, from
that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that
he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders
and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again
the third day. He began to speak of those things
that he must be suffering at the hands of men, many things
he must suffer at the hands of those Jews. And again later there
in chapter 17 Matthew 17 and verse 22 he says the Son of Man
shall be betrayed into the hands of men and they shall kill him
and the third day he shall be raised again and they were exceeding
sorrow. He speaks then there about how
he was going to be put into the hands of men. And after his death
upon the cross after his resurrection from the dead subsequently here
in Luke chapter 24 The angels also referred to those things
that occurred when he was in the hands of men. Verse 6 of chapter 24, what does
the angel say? He's not here, but he's risen. Remember how he spoke unto you
when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third
day rise again. Several times then we have these
references in the Gospels to Christ being put into the hands
of men, committed into the hands of sinful men, that they might
do evil things to him. But we know that all of these
actions of these men, of course, were under the sovereign hand
of God. All things are under God's hand. God's sovereignty
is an absolute sovereignty. and that's true even with regards
to those things that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered upon the
cross and so Peter in his preaching on the day of Pentecost reminds
the Jews him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain he was truly committed into the hands of wicked
men who did wicked things to him and yet all is in accordance
with what God himself had determined and purposed and decreed. It was of course in Gethsemane
that we see the Lord Jesus Christ being betrayed to sinners. We have the record of his sufferings
in the garden of Gethsemane here in in Luke chapter 22 but of
course there is detail also in the other Gospels and turning
back to Matthew chapter 26 and verse 45 we read these words
then cometh he to his disciples and saith unto them sleep I now
and take your rest behold the hour is at hand and the son of
man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Betrayed by one of
those who was a disciple, even one of the twelve, Judas Iscariot,
betrayed him, and betrayed him into the hands of sinners. and that's what the Lord is referring
to even as he speaks to his disciples there in the garden of Gethsemane. It was there in the garden then
that they came, that they might arrest him, that they might take
him away and that they might ridicule him in that mockery
of a trial that he has to endure and then ultimately that they
might crucify him. It is there then in the garden
that he is committed into the hands of sinners and so it is
until now in the words of the text when he says to his father
into thy hands I commend my spirit and that having said thus he
gave up the ghost. Now although the Lord is committed
into the hands of these wicked and sinful men we are not to
lose sight of the fact that his death was voluntary. The Lord
Jesus Christ could of course have delivered himself because
he is God and yet he does not deliver himself even when they
come to arrest him in the garden do we not see something of the
deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the authority of the Lord Jesus
Christ They could not have taken him, they couldn't have laid
a finger upon him, except he was willing to go, voluntarily,
to go even to that cruel death of the cross. Remember how we
see it so plainly in the opening verses of the 18th chapter of
John. Judas, the betrayer, is there.
And we're told in verse 3, Judas then having received a band of
men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh
thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore,
knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and
said unto them, Whom seek ye? It's not so much that they come
and find him, he comes forward and he asks them, Whom seek ye?
They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus says unto them, I am her. And the he, as we see, is italicised. In other words, it's one of those
words introduced by the translators. Literally, he says to them, I
am. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon
then as he had said unto them, I am her, literally, I am, They
went backward and fell to the ground. Then asked him again,
who seeketh? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus answered, I have told you that I am heard. I am, he says. If therefore ye seek me, let
these go their way. Three times then he declares
himself to be the great I Am. He declares himself to be the
great Jehovah. And as he declares that, so they
fall backwards. They cannot come to him, they
cannot touch him. He willingly gives himself into
their hands. This is the commandment, of course,
that he had received from the Father. What does he say in the
10th chapter of John? Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from them. I have power or I have authority
to lay it down. And I have power or authority
to take it again. His dying then, I say, is a voluntary
act. It's not so much that men take
him, although he is put into the hands of wicked men. And
they're guilty, they're culpable. in crucifying him. Ye have taken
him with wicked hands, have crucified and slain, says Peter to the
Jews and the Jewish proselytes there at Jerusalem. Yes, they
are culpable in that wicked deed, but it is all under God's sovereign
hand, it's all a voluntary act on the part of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so we go so willingly he
is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers
he is dumb so he openeth not his mouth he is mocked he is
scourged he is crucified but here we see him now at the
end committing his soul into the hands of God he has been
in the hands of men what a contrast When Jesus had cried with a loud
voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost, he died. And he put his soul into the
hands of God, and how different now. What does God do? Why, God
vindicates him. Men reject him, men crucify him. But what does God do? He is declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. God also has highly exalted
him we are told in Philippians chapter 2 and given him a name
which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow of things in heaven and in earth and under the earth
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father. Oh, what a contrast you
see. The wicked things that men would
do to Him and yet how God honours Him in the resurrection and in
the ascension on high. And so Peter there in his preaching
at Pentecost reminds them, therefore being by the right hand of God
exalted He has shed forth this which ye now see, and here the
glorified Christ is the one who has received gifts from men,
the one who bestows even God the Holy Ghost there on the day
of Pentecost. There's a contrast then in the
words of our text, as now he commits his soul into the hands
of God. But let us In the second place,
look a little more carefully at this committal. Father, he says, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. My spirit he speaks of. Again
in the prophecies of the Old Testament and the familiar words
of Isaiah 53, he has poured out his soul unto death. This is what he is doing here,
is it not? He is pouring out his soul, his spirit. He is giving
up the ghost, giving up the spirit. Here we see the reality of the
human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. That human nature is
body and soul. That is what distinguishes man
from the brute beast, is it not? When the Lord God formed man,
we are told of the manner of that creation in Genesis chapter
2. The Lord God formed man of the
dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life and he became a living soul. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
in his human nature, his body and soul, and that whole human
nature in the mystery of the incarnation is joined to the
person of the eternal son of God. Oh, what a mystery it is! Great is the mystery of godliness,
says the apostle. God was manifest in the flesh. Our God contracted to a span,
incomprehensibly made man, says Charles Wesley. What a blessed
truth! It is no good us seeking to understand
it by use of our reasoning powers. We can only understand it by
that gracious revelation that God is pleased to grant to us,
to show us the precious truth of the person of the Saviour. He is the God-man and His human
nature is as real as our human natures. This is how He is able to come,
is it not, to save such sinners as we are. He is bone of our
bone, He is flesh of our flesh. He understands us. It is interesting
to observe what the Lord is saying here, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost. He gave up the ghost. Now the
particular word that's used here at the end of the verse, to give
up, literally means to breathe out. Having said thus, he breathed
out the ghost. He breathed out the soul. Remember
how God created the first man. He makes Adam of the dust of
the earth and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And he's made a living soul.
And here is the Lord Jesus Christ breathing out his soul as he
makes his soul an offering for sin. Or what a word it is then that
we have here in the text concerning the manner in which Christ is
committing his spirit into the hands of his God. But again it's
instructive also to see how these things are recorded in the other
Gospels. Different words are used. In
Matthew chapter 27 and verse 50 we read he yielded up he yielded
up the goats now that particular word it's
a stronger verb than what we have here in this 46th verse
and that stronger verb that is used in Matthew's account as
the idea of letting go, dismissing. It's indicative, really, of his
authority. He's doing this, you see, in
an authoritative fashion. It's not that men are taking
his life, but he is giving his life. I know that theologians speak
of his death in terms of his passive obedience. That's the
distinction that they make between the life and the death of the
Lord Jesus. They say that in his life we
have his active obedience, he fulfills all righteousness, he
lives a perfect life of obedience to every commandment of God and
every commandment is honoured and magnified in thought, in
word and indeed he is holy and harmless and undefiled and separate
from sinners and made higher than the heavens and that righteousness
of his life is what is imputed to his people when they're justified,
they're accounted righteous in him, they're clothed with the
robe of his righteousness and so the theologians speak in terms
of active obedience in living but they also speak of his death
as an act of obedience but they say that it's passive obedience
and yet really there is a sense in which the distinction is artificial
because he is not inactive here upon the cross although he is
in the hands of men he is acting with authority he is making the
sacrifice he yielded up the ghost he let go, he dismissed his spirit
into the hands of his God but as the verb in Matthew 27.50
is a stronger verb when we turn to John's account, John 19 and
verse 13. The word that we have there,
gave up, is stronger still. It means to give, to hand over,
to deliver up. And it reminds us, does it not,
of his obedience in terms of the eternal covenant. The Father
has given him a work to do He has engaged to undertake to accomplish
that work. He has come not to do his own
will but the will of Him who has sent him to finish his work. Now look at what it says in our
text. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice He said, Father
into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus he gave
up the ghost. Now what does that opening clause
refer to? When Jesus had cried with a loud
voice. This is a previous cry. After
he had cried with a loud voice he goes on to say, Father into
thy hands I commend my spirit. What was it then that he cried
previous to this and cried with a loud voice. Well, the reference
is to those words that we have recorded in John 9 and verse
30 that we just referred to. He said, it is finished and bowed
his head and gave up the ghost. It was in uttering those words,
it is finished that he cried out with a loud voice. It is
the voice of triumph, you see. Remember how he prays to his
father in that great high priestly prayer in the seventeenth chapter
of John's Gospel. I have glorified thee on the
earth, I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do. No wonder the strongest of these
three words is to be found in John's account here in verse
30 of chapter 19. To give up there, remember, to
give, to deliver over, to deliver off. This is the final act of
disobedience to the father. He is about his father's business,
you see. and he speaks with authority,
he has finished, he has finished all that work that the Father
has given to him. He's accomplished it. He's been
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And now,
having finished the work, he commits his soul into the hands
of his Father, and now the Father owns him. and acknowledges Him
by raising Him again from the dead and then after 40 days receiving
Him into the highest heavens. He has finished all the work.
This is why He came, to finish the transgression, to make an
end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal the vision and the prophecy. all that great
work you see spoken of there in Daniel 9.24 he has done it
and so having suffered in the hands of men he can now commit
his soul into the hands of God but then in the third place what
do we observe here? in this prayer of the Lord Jesus
Christ he is speaking to his father is he not? and do we not
see here there is blessed communion between father and son when Jesus
had cried with a loud voice he said father into thy hands I
commend my spirit and having said thus he gave up the ghost what do we see here we have is
eternal sonship. He is the eternal son of God
and so he can speak to God as his father. He is the son of
the father in truth and love as John says in his second epistle. Remember familiar words that
we have there in the opening chapter of John's gospel? The
Word was made flesh, says John, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Here is the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only begotten of the
Father. He is God's eternal Son. Or the
believer is favoured to know God as his father and the believer
is to call upon God as his father. When the Lord Jesus gives instruction
to his disciples, he tells them to pray in that fashion. When
you pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven. But the believer's
sonship, of course, is the sonship of adoption. The believer is
one who is favoured in that sense, to have that spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father. But the Lord Jesus Christ in
His Sonship, He is not a son by adoption. He is the only begotten
of the Father. Eternally begotten. Here is that
other great mystery, we referred just now to the mystery of the
incarnation, God manifest in the flesh. Here is the other
great mystery, the mystery of God. The mystery of the Trinity. That God is one and yet God is
three persons. And there is a relationship between
the persons, the Father begets the Son, the Son is begotten
of the Father. The Holy Spirit proceeds from
the Father and from the Son. All the mystery. But all the
glories that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Remember what He says,
to Mary there in the garden after his resurrection from the dead,
I ascend unto my father, he says, and your father, to my God and
your God. Oh, he is my father in a sense
that is not true of any of his people. His people are the adopted sons
of God. He is the eternal son of God. and we see it do we not even
there in the Old Testament Scriptures you think of the remarkable things
that are declared in that 8th chapter of the book of Proverbs
where Christ is revealed to us as the Wisdom of God and what
does he say as the Eternal Wisdom? similar really to what we see
concerning him as the Eternal Word in the opening chapter of
John's Gospel but back in Proverbs chapter 8 verse 23 he says I
was set up from everlasting from the beginning or whatever the
earth was when there were no depths I was brought forth when
there were no fountains abounding with water before the mountains
were settled before the hills was I brought forth. Twice then
He makes His declaration of being brought forth before ever there
was any creature. In eternity He was brought forth. He is the Eternal Son. He is
the Only Begotten Son. Verse 30, Then I was by Him as
one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing
always before Him. and here you see he utters this
word father oh there is communion here there is the same communion
of course even at the beginning of his sufferings upon the cross
because in that first word that he speaks back in verse 34 he
also uses the address of father then said Jesus father forgive
them for they know not what they do and they parted his raiment
and cast lots at the beginning of his sufferings he is able
to address God as his father in heaven and now at the end
of his sufferings again he addresses God as his father in heaven time last week we were considering
the previous verses here and all that dreadful darkness,
a darkness that could be felt a spiritual darkness, a supernatural
darkness that was over the earth it was about the sixth hour and
there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour and
the sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was rent in
the midst and it's in the midst of all this darkness as the Lord Jesus Christ is making
that one sacrifice for sins that he makes that great cry that's
recorded in the account that we have in Matthew that cry of
dereliction, my God my God, he says, why hast thou forsaken
me? There in Matthew 27 verse 45
from the 6th hour there was darkness over all the land until the 9th
hour and about the 9th hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying
Eli, Eli lama savakarnai that is to say my God, my God why
hast thou forsaken me? What a mystery! Oh, what a mystery, that there
could be separation between God the Father and God the Son. Is it possible? God is one, God
is undivided, God is indivisible, and yet here we see, you see,
the great mystery of the crucifixion, as there is a mystery in His
coming. into the world, in the incarnation there is a mystery,
so also with his going out of the world. And yet here, as he
comes to commit and commend his spirits into the hands of his
father, he addresses him. In that fashion he speaks to
him as his father. Again, friends, we can't explain
these things. but all that God might help us
to see what these things mean, the significance of these things
and all to know that we have an interest and a part in these
things and all that the Lord Jesus Christ endured there at
Calvary in the dreadful punishment that was meted out upon his holy
soul that we might know that we have an interest in that that
it was in our room and in our stead that he suffered and bled
and died. And why did he do that? In order
that sinners might be reconciled to God. Here he expresses something
of his own communion with God. Father, he said. And he does this great work of
course in order that those who are enemies and alienated in
their minds might be reconciled to God, that we might also know
something of communion with Him, that our fellowship might be
with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, that in Christ
we might be enabled to call upon Him as our Father, and to see
that He pities us, and He has expressed the greatness of that
pity by granting His Son to be the Saviour, even the salvation,
of our souls. Here then we have a contrast,
do we not? He was in the hands of wicked
men. But he accomplishes all that
work, he makes a great voluntary sacrifice for sins and now he
comes to commit himself to commend his soul into the hands of God. And what a committal it is, with
what authority he speaks. and what communion he is enjoying
again with his Father. But as we draw to a conclusion
this morning, I want just to mention three things with regards
to the soul. As I said at the outset, we see
here the great truth of the reality of the human nature of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the real man. We sang it just now, did we not?
In heart's lovely hymn, a man there is a real man. Body and
soul. Oh, he understands us, not only
in terms of our bodily needs, he understands ultimately in
terms of the needs of our never dying souls. He has a soul. And what does he teach us with
regards to the soul? First of all, Are we not reminded
here of the immortality of the soul? The preacher says in Ecclesiastes
chapter 12, Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was,
and the Spirit to God and guide it. When a person dies, that's what
we witness. With the believer it is truly
absent from the body. present with the Lord. That's
what death is, it's the separation of the soul from the body. Oh, it's a sad, a sorrowful thing
to witness, is it not, because God made man body and soul. As we have already said there
in Genesis chapter 2, he makes man of the dust of the earth,
he breathes into his nostrils the breath of life, he becomes
a living soul. and body and soul are meant to
be together but because of sin death has come and what is death? it is that separation but all
those spirits of the just in Hebrews 12 we read of spirits
of just men made perfect Here, remember what the Lord Jesus
Christ said to the dying thief, that one who asked the Lord to
remember him. Verily I say unto thee, today
shalt thou be with me in paradise, says Christ. Or the soul doesn't die like
the body, you see. The body returns to the earth
as it was, but the Spirit of God who gave
it. And there is that waiting then
for the great day of resurrection, when bodies are to be reunited
to souls. The soul is immortal, but what
do we see also here? In the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ, he reminds us, does he not, of the value of the soul. Father, he says, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost, he breathed out his soul onto his father. Oh, how valuable is the soul.
What is a man profited, said Christ, if he gains the whole
world. and lose his own soul. What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? The Lord Jesus Christ understands
the great value of the human soul in the way in which he here
commends his soul into the hands of God himself. The soul is immortal. The soul is valuable. And then
thirdly here we are reminded, are we not, that there is rest
for the soul. There is rest for the soul. Where
does the soul rest? It can only find its rest in
God. Thou hast made us for thyself, says that great father of the
church, Augustine of Hippo. Thou hast made us for thyself.
And our souls are restless till they find their rest in the Lord. Oh, there is a rest that remaineth
there, to be those who are resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's just close by turning to
the words of Peter there at the end of the fourth chapter in
his first epistle. Verse 17 he writes, The time
is come that judgment must begin at the house of God and if it
first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey
not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely
be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore,
let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the
keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing as unto a faithful
Creator. God grants us grace then to commit
our souls into His own goods and gracious hands that we might
find that rest which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now concluding hymn is hymn number
536 and the tune is Rockingham 398. Behold a scene of matchless
grace, it is Jesus in the sinner's place, heaven's brightest glory,
sunken shame, that rebels might adore his name. Hymn number 536.