Man's my soul, my life, my home. I'm tempted not to record this. There's no words that are good
enough. No message has ever been preached
that's good enough to convey the goodness of God in this. And I wish it was someone else
attempting that. When Paul preached the gospel
in 1 Corinthians 15, he said, the gospel is how that Christ
died for our sins, His people. according to Scripture, according
to the Word of God, according to the covenant that God made
before the world began. And from Genesis to Revelation,
in the volume of the book, it is written of Him, Christ and
Him crucified. Which is why and how, and it
reveals why and how Christ died to take the place of guilty sinner. according to the Scripture. In verse 36, it says, when they
hung Him there, sitting down, they watched Him there. They
watched Him sitting there. Maybe, hopefully, maybe we'll
sit in here, we'll see something of His glory. But rather than go through each
verse and every verse, and every verse deserves a message by itself, I began to think of His words
from the cross. And only one phrase that He uttered
from the cross is given here in Matthew 27. But just as Christ's
words are... how that Christ didn't speak
a word before He went to the cross, spoke volumes in the volume
of the book that was written of Him. He was led as a sheep
to the slaughter, as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before
her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. And we saw how
that in His silence He said more than we can say with all the
messages we and attempts. I began to think about His words
from the cross, one of which was the arrow that smoked His
heart. And all of His words tell us
more than anything why Christ died, how Christ died, and for
whom Christ died. His last words, His dying words.
So that's what we're going to look at this morning. Seven statements. that our Lord made from the cross.
And they're found in each of the Gospels, okay? Look at Luke
23 with me. Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter
23. Our Lord hung on the cross for
six hours. Now, they had already scourged
Him, and most men didn't, most criminals didn't live through
a scourging. He was bleeding profusely. They
pressed this crown of thorn on his head where he had beaten
him. And I don't say all this for us to feel sorry for him
at all. But just to see how that he's covered with blood, how
his visage was marred, as scripture said would be in Isaiah 53, 52,
his visage was marred more than any man, covered with blood.
Who is this that cometh from Basra with his garments dyed
red in his apparel? They didn't need to put a red
robe on him. His garment was blood spattered. Not to feel sorry for him, but
to show how all things are purged by blood. Not only his ears,
his thumbs, like the pie priest, his whole body, head to toe,
bloody. Six hours he hung on the cross.
Most didn't live through a scourging. And when they put nails through
his hands and his feet, He bled profusely, and most people wouldn't
live an hour after that. You see, the life of His flesh
was not in the blood. But He hung there, proving who
He was, the Son of God. Now that He laid down the loss,
complete and total loss of His blood didn't kill Him. He laid His life down. Six hours
He hung there and endured the equivalent of an eternity in
hell. One hour for you and I hanging ridiculed and so forth like that
would have been indescribable torture. He uttered seven sayings
while he hung on that cross. He only said seven things and
I thought about that. In six hours he said seven things.
That's all. In spite of all they were saying,
In spite of their accusations, in spite of their taunts and
jeering and reviling, he reviled not again, but he said seven
things. And these seven things that he
uttered are our salvation. Seven words. And I thought about
this, God is in heaven and we're on the earth, so let your words
be few. And a wise man studied to answer. And this is He who
is wisdom itself, obedient to the Father. His words were few."
Oh, what words. The first thing He uttered from
the cross after they'd treated Him in such a way, after we had
treated Him in such a way. In verse 33 and 34 it says, "...when
they were come to the place which is called Calvary, or the place
of the skull." Remember that, a skull. There they crucified
him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other
on the left, and hang him there. I don't know how long he had
hung there, but the first words out of his mouth were, Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. I want you to turn with me to,
you've got to see this, this is the first time I've ever seen
it, Genesis 50, Genesis chapter 50, and this can't wait to Wednesday. Genesis 50, the first words out
of his mouth for those that had put him on that tree, where Father,
forgive him. Forgive them. They know not what
they did. Psalm 130 says, there is forgiveness
with thee. There is forgiveness with thee.
It's only one place to be found. It's in Christ and Him crucified. There can't be any forgiveness
unless the Lord Jesus Christ paid the penalty. Barnard used
to say, God doesn't forgive sins, He punishes But we're forgiven
because sins were punished, pardoned. There is forgiveness with thee,
David said, that thou mayest be feared. Those who realize
they've been forgiven for Christ's sake because Christ was not forgiven,
because Christ was not spared. That makes them fear God. Fear
doing anything, saying anything that would take away from the
glory that's in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that forgiveness
of sins. God forgives us for Christ's
sake. That's the only reason. You know the first use of the
word forgive? Right here. Where these sorry sons of Jacob,
every last one of them were guilty of the blood of their brother
Joseph. It's amazing Stan. According
to the scripture. Look at verse 15, when Joseph's
brethren saw their father was dead, they said, Joseph will
hate us and he'll requite us the evil which we did unto him.
They sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command
before he died, saying, So shall you say to Joseph, Forgive, I
pray, thy brethren, and their sin they did unto thee evil. And now we pray thee, forgive
the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And
Joseph heard that, and he wept. Father, forgive me. Our Lord's first words on Calvary's
tree were to His Father, a prayer for His people, undeserving though
they be, guilty though they be. His first words were, Father,
You sent me to lay down my life for them, and they meant it for
evil. but you made it for good. So
Father, I am come that they might have life. Forgive them." Did
the Father hear them? Yes, He did. Turn to John chapter 19. The
next thing our Lord said from the cross is found in John chapter
19. John 19. His dying words. You know, a man's dying words,
we ought to take notice of, shouldn't we? David's dying words. Love
them, don't you? The last words of David. Though
it be not so with my house, yet God hath made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things. And sure, this is all my salvation
and all my hope. And this is all my salvation
and all my hope. Not my words, but His worth. And I never forget, and I hope
I never forget, and I hope that first word always touches me.
Father, forgive them. They've crucified me and cared
not for me. It's nothing to them. They've
passed by all these years and it was nothing to them. Father,
forgive them and pierce their heart. Show them. It's because of me that they're
forgiven. John 19, look at verses 25 through 27. John 19. It says that the other disciples
said, we have seen the Lord, I'm sorry, John 18. No, yeah, John 19, I'm sorry.
John 19, verse 25. Now there stood by the cross
of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas,
and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, he saith unto
his mother, Woman, behold thy son. And saith he to the disciple,
Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple
took her, John that is, took her into his own home. So our
Lord hanging there in spite of all his agony, in spite of all
his pain, in spite of all his suffering, in spite of all that
these were doing unto him, he asked the Father to forgive them.
Behold what manner of love. Greater love hath no man than
them. Not laying down his life merely for friends, but not for
the righteous, not for good people. Then while we were yet sinners, asking the Father forgiveness
on his behalf, and then looking down at that woman that bore
him. and love to her and care for
her, his dying words were not in consideration of his own pain
and suffering, but hers. You know good and well she's
down there weeping over him, although he said, don't weep
for me. But this is love, he said. Love can't help but weep
for the one it loves, especially if it's your Lord and you find
out He's dying for you, innocent for the guilty. Your heart hadn't
been broken if that hasn't happened yet. And he looks down at this
woman who bore him in sorrow, in pain, in suffering, and he
says, woman. He considers this woman whose
sorrow was multiplied now after conception, whose sorrows was
greatly multiplied in seeing her seed hanging on the cross,
seeing the woman's seed hanging on the cross, and he comforts
her. Now do you remember in Genesis
chapter 3, that just before he kicked this man and woman out
of the garden, do you think the Lord relished
that? Do you think it gave Him pleasure to do that? He loved
Adam and Eve. He loved this woman, Eve, who
had been deceived and yet guilty. And so he comes to her in the
garden, the same one, 4,000 years before this, comes to the woman
and says to the woman, what have you done? And he utters those wonderful
words, and for the sake of time, you don't have to turn, but he
uttered those wonderful gospel words in the very beginning,
and he utters these same words on Calvary's tree. He says, woman,
I'm putting enmity between thy seed and the woman, between thy
seed and her seed. It will bruise thy head and bruise
his heel. Why did Christ talk to this woman
from the cross? To fulfill the Scriptures. And
he said to the woman, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and
thy conception. In sorrow you'll bring forth
children. Thy desire shall be to thy husband. He'll rule over
you. And this was he, born of woman, made of woman, made under
the law. This is that woman's seed who came to crush the serpent's
head, who would bruise his heel. And this is the one who as a
man would travail in birth. conceiving a seed in sorrow. The man of sorrow is acquainted
with grief. You see, he's touched with the feeling of our infirmity.
Touched in all points like as we are, yet without sin. This
is the only man who ever lived who would know what it's like
for a woman to give birth to a child. Only more so. He gave his life He died in childbirth. You see this? His first words
were to a woman. It wasn't just for her physical
care. It just wasn't so she'd have
a place to go. This is the woman's seed, telling
her. This is the second Adam from
above, who's telling us and her, thy sorrows are greatly multiplied,
but not like my sorrows. in conception or no conception.
The son who has never had a child and that is great sorrow. Our
Lord never had children on His side. And yet He dies, travails in
birth like Rachel who had Joseph or Benjamin, the son with the
silver cup. Isn't that amazing? God's Word.
But he's saying to this woman, and he's saying to all his bride,
all his wife, his beloved, he's saying, I'm bearing thy sorrows. I'm travailing for thee. And
he told her that this man is going to take care of her from
now on. He said, now, because I'm doing
this, I'm going to be your husband from now on, your ruler from
now on. Look with me at Luke 23. Luke 23. The next saying of our
Lord on the cross. Luke 23. Christ was crucified
between two thieves. According to the Scripture, according
to Isaiah 53, he was numbered with the transgressors. He made
his grave with the wicked. In Luke chapter 23, look at verse...beginning
with verse 39, there was one of the malefactors hanging there,
railed on him, saying, If thou be the Christ, save thyself and
us. But the other, and you saw with
me how that they both cast the same in his teeth, in Matthew's
gospel, and they did. And so did we. And this other
on the right hand, only sheep are on his right hand, the one
on his right hand, all of a sudden, Kelly, after hearing him say,
Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. He heard this. And after he'd been railing on
Christ and casting the same in his teeth, mocking him like everybody
else, he said, I'm about to die here. Am I a fool? I'm going to go
meet God now. And we're dying justly. And he
even witnessed to his other friend. Don't you fear God? This man
had done nothing, the sinless one. We justly deserve this. All of a sudden, all of a sudden,
he heard this man talking to this woman down here for her
welfare, her good and love and kindness and mercy after he'd
been railing on this kind man. The goodness of this man had
led him to repentance. And he looks over at this man
and sees none other than the Lord of glory, the King of glory,
God in human flesh, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world. You don't see that unless God gives you eyes to
see. And he said in verse 42, he said
unto Jesus in his dying word, Lord, Lord, Remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom." The whole world's laughing. He
says the king. This man knows he is. Would you
remember me? And Jesus said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. The third word of our Lord on
the cross. He didn't say much. but he had something to say to
a dying thief. He didn't answer all his crowd,
but he had something wonderful to say to one dying thief that
asked him for mercy. His dying words were directed
at the most worthless, notorious, notable criminal. about to die. And he said, I'm telling you
for truth, you can believe this? Verily I say unto you, today
you will be with me in paradise. It just kicked out the man and
woman out of paradise. He told the woman, are you marveling
at that? He told the woman, I'm prevailing
at birth. I'm crushing the serpent's head.
And though you're kicked out as a thief and a robber, Adam tried to rob his glory,
tried to steal his glory. I'm bringing you back into paradise.
Did you get that? Anybody? It's all written. Thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and die according to the Scriptures. It was all planned. It was all
purposed. Everything they would do to Him.
Everything He would say. Every utterance. Who was hanging
there? Where He would be buried? This
is no accident. Man didn't kill him. It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He made his soul an offering
for sin. This is a substitute. This is a second Adam from above.
This is a covenant head. All this is ordered in all things
and sure. If you are that thief, today, you'll be with Him in
paradise. Today. First man Adam was a thief,
stole God's glory. The second Adam from glory is
not a thief. He glorified God. So the Lord
of glory came down to those cast out of paradise and said to...
and the first man to walk into glory with the Lord of glory
was a thief and a robber. Isn't that amazing? How many messages have been spent
on that one saying? John 19, here's the next statement.
John chapter 19. See in the volume of the book,
He spoke the volume of the book in seven sayings. Could we cover
the scripture in seven sermons? No way. He did. John 19. He was being made sin for us. His soul was being made an offering
for sin. He was enduring the fiery wrath
of God, the indignation of a holy God against sin. He was being
made sin, his soul was being made an offering for sin, his
soul was being cast into hell, as it were. He was enduring hell
on the cross. Christ didn't go to the literal
place called hell, but he endured what hell is, which is separation
from God, which is the wrath of God, the fire of God, the
furnace of affliction. And hanging there on that cross
in John 19 verse 28, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things
were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. And you know, I resent. It's
blasphemy, all these depictions of Christ on the cross and all
these movies they make of Him. It's blasphemy. Our Lord said,
don't do that, number one. Don't make any graven images.
And you can in no way depict the sufferings of our Lord on
that cross. Number one, His greatest suffering was soul suffering.
You can't paint that picture. And no mere mortal. It's blasphemy
for a mortal man to pretend that he's doing what Jesus Christ
did on the cross. It's blasphemy! You can't say
that loud enough. And even make money with these
movies. portraying Him that was sold
for 30 pieces of silver. How ironic is that? I'm not being
too hard here. We won't think hard when God
comes down on this world. He's drawn near with their lips
and crosses and all this stuff and it's an abomination to God.
Stealing Christ's glory, what He went through on that cross. Playing. the crucifixion. It's mockery! At any rate, you've been made
sin. And we've said before, for anyone
to say, I went through hell, is blasphemy. I told a man one
time in a railroad, he was speaking to me, he said, I know if I died
today I'd go to hell. I said, no you don't. You don't
believe that for a minute. If you knew what hell was right
now, you'd be down on your knees begging God to keep you out of
it. You don't believe that. Christ went through hell. And
it wasn't just physical thirst, people. It wasn't physical thirst. He went to the well one time.
Remember that woman sitting on the well, you remember? And he
was thirsty. And he knew thirst as a man,
like we do, real thirst. Have you ever been really thirsty?
I mean really thirsty. You thought you were dying of
thirst. And only one thing would relieve it, and that's water.
Well, Christ knew that. Nobody worked like He did. Nobody
walked like He did. Nobody served like He did. No
one went without sleep like He did. No one endured what He did.
Every hour of the day, He did this for His people. Worked in
such a way that He was thirsty. And He came to that well, you
know, He said He never did drink. He never took a drink. He came for that woman to relieve
her thirst. He wasn't at that well to get
a drink of water. He's there to give a drink of
water. He's hanging on this cross. Yes, He's thirsty, but that's
not why He said that. David said, My soul thirsteth
after Thee, the living God, as a heart panteth after the water
brook, as a deer is being pursued by her pursuers, by her killers,
so panteth my soul after Thee. When shall I come before God? This is the Christ being kicked
out of God's presence, our substitute. Men and women thirst for various
things, you know. They don't know thirst. Hell
is where the worm dieth not. Where hunger and thirst and longings
and desires cannot be fulfilled. And God is everything good. God
is everything mercy. God is love. God is peace. God is protection. God is goodness. God is for everything. God... Hell is the opposite of all that.
And Christ is going through hell. And His soul is thirsty. And
he's not going to get a drink. He's not going to get a drink.
Nobody's going to give him a drink. You see why he cried that? Oh,
we don't see it. I don't see it. I'm trying to
see it and I don't even see it. He said, I thirst and it's a
soul thirst to keep us from thirsting. His people, they didn't give
him anything. They made it worse. Somebody
said, get some vinegar. Which makes it worse. The bitterness
subsided in his mouth. God wouldn't let them relieve
his thirst. He substituted. What did this
man say not long before this? He stood before the crowds and
said, Oh, if any man thirsts, I don't care
if you're the worst thief on the cross. You come unto me and
I'll give you water. But not him! He's hanging there. He's not going to get a drop.
Remember the rich man in hell that cried, Father Abraham said,
Lazarus dip his finger in the water and just touch my tongue.
I'm tormented and my thirst. That's Christ. So that we know. His dying word. So that we'll
know. So that we won't have to thirst
someday. So we won't be cast out. Matthew
27, hurry with me, Matthew 27. His first words, remember, were
Father. His prayer in John 17, first
word was what? Father. And he kept assuring his disciples
and us that he said, I go to my Father and your Father. He
said, you pray this, Father. Father. You know why we can call
Him Father? Because of the beloved Son. Because
of the firstborn among many brethren. But the reason we can cry, Abba
Father, and should not be cast out as illegitimate children,
though we're sons of Adam, is because Christ was cast out.
All right, look at this, Matthew 27, verse 46, it says there,
about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli,
Eli, lama sabachthani, that is to say, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? And I dare not attempt to say
that as he did. No man should. But that's a quote
from Psalm 22, verse 1, is it not? Some say He quoted that
whole Psalm, or perhaps Psalm 69, Psalms of the cross. Our
Lord's first words from the cross were, Father, now He's hanging
on the cross as a curse. That's why He hung on the cross.
That's why He just didn't die from something else. He wasn't
stoned. He wouldn't let Himself be stoned. It can't be stoned. It's got
to hang on a cross. Why? Because God said, curse
it, is He the hangeth on a tree. And Christ was made a curse for
it. And now hanging on the cross as a curse, being made sin, He's
now the chief malefactor. Why was He crucified between
these two worst thieves? Because He's the chief now. The
man in the middle is the worst of all. And now he's made a curse for
us. And he cries out, not father, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? I thought how ironic, how prophetic
that the world keeps crying. Men, women, and children keep
crying every day, my God. Man mocking God. Mocking himself. And if they heard him say, he
would say, now say this. John, we need to hear what he
said with our heart. What he said by God. Forsaken
by God. Isaiah 64 says this, there's
none, our Lord looked down and says, there's none that calleth
upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.
The Lord looked down to see if any did understand and any did
seek after God, any called on God. Proverbs 1 says, I called
and you refused and then you'll call and I won't hear you. But God. in sovereign, electing
love and mercy and grace, unspeakable grace, called you by our gospel
to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. You heard. You heard, didn't
you? You know why you're not cast out of the garden, cast
out of the presence of God? You know why you'll be granted
entrance into the presence of God Almighty? Because Christ
was forsaken. Because Christ was cast out.
John 19. I need to hurry. John 19. Go over there with me. The next thing our Lord cried
from that cross. John 19. Oh my. You know, the first words recorded
by our Lord as a 12-year-old boy, you remember? The very first
words uttered by Him as a human being on this earth were, wished
you not, I don't you know, that I must be about my Father's business.
The very first words, what His dying words were. Look at verse
30. When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, He said, and some say it was a loud voice, it is
finished. It is finished. The first words were, I'm about
my Father's business. And for the next 21 years, 21
and a half years, He went about glorifying God. He went about
doing God's will, fulfilling God's purpose. The covenant head,
the Son of God came to fulfill the law, to work out a righteousness.
And He did just that. He fulfilled it for His people.
God was well pleased for His righteousness sake. And while
hanging on that cross, God made Him to be seen, beginning in
the garden. And hanging on that cross, He was made sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. A transferal was made. and sin and guilt and righteousness
and holiness. Christ hanging there, hanging
there after having done His work for 33 years of fulfilling God's
law and bringing in an everlasting righteousness as a man and God
transferring it to us and making Him to be sin for us and punishing
Him in our stead and the stead of His people, Christ said with
a loud voice, Don't worry. It's done. It's been done. Nothing left to do. No, He hasn't
done all He can do. Now it's up to you. He's done
all that can be done. And now nothing's up to you.
Aren't you glad about that? Nothing's left to be done. He
said it's finished. Finished means finished. It's
the end of sins. Daniel 9 says He'll come when
Messiah has come. He'll make an end of sins. He'll
bear our sins in His body on the tree. He'll make an end to
the law. He'll take away the first and
establish the second. Grace, it's by grace you say,
it's not by law. By grace He did it. He said it's
finished. Salvation accomplished, fulfilled.
The covenant sealed, the covenant ratified in His precious blood.
Atonement's been made. Isaac Watts said, full atonement,
can there be? Yes, and there is. He said it. It's finished. Paid. Fully paid. And the last thing, Luke 23.
In our Lord's dying breath, He said this in Luke 23. Turn there
with me and look at these words. Luke 23. About the sixth hour,
verse 44, about the sixth hour, and there was darkness. And oh,
what a picture that is, three hours. When He came, light shone
in darkness. And now as He's hanging on the
tree in man's sin and corruption, darkness over all the earth until
the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened. The veil of the temple, and we
are going to reserve a whole message for that. The veil of
the temple is rent in the midst. That's done away with. And when
Jesus has cried with a loud voice, he said, his very, very last
words were, like his first, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said this, he gave
up the ghost. And now we can say, and He said
to us, I go to my Father, I go to your Father, and you can cry
Abba Father, because God forsook me. And now that God accepts
me, you're accepted in the beloved. And Isaiah, Psalm 24 says a whole
A bunch of people are coming in with this King of Glory and
the gates are going to open. There's a train filling the temple
and people behind him. Who is that? This is the Son
of God bringing with Him. And you know, I wanted to say
this, close with this. He did all this at a place called
Golgotha. Golgotha, which means the skull. Calvary means the skull. And
everyone, and that's by design, and every gospel says that, Golgotha
or Calvary, it means the skull. Because everyone that went to
Golgotha, everyone that was taken to Calvary, it meant death. Everyone that went there ended
up dying, and their bodies were put in the grave. And after so
long a time, that flesh corrupted. The glory and the beauty of that
flesh, the comeliness melted away into corruption, where all
that was left was a skull. That's why they called it the
skull, because the place was littered with and filled with
skull. That's all that was left of beautiful
people. They used to be beautiful. Flesh.
That's all that was left of the skull. Golgotha. Well, but this man, he came to
Golgotha. And he died. Yes, he died. And
they put his body in the ground. And they went back later looking
for a skull. They couldn't find it. And they've
been looking ever since. And there's all these conspiracies
out there. They write books and they show movies about it. And
they never will find a skull because God said He won't allow
His Holy One to see corruption. And Christ rose from the grave
three days later and said, because I live, you'll live also. And
though you're a hardened criminal, a notable criminal, if you're
crucified with Christ, it ain't a place of the skull. It's where life begins. And He's going to raise these
vile bodies. There's not going to be one skull of God's people
found in this earth. They're all going to be raised.
He made it a point to show us that. Many of the bodies of the
saints arose that day. When Christ dies, if you belong
to Him, you rise. Golgotha, yes, glory, from Golgotha
to glory, from Calvary to crowning, the substitute. All right, Brother
John, if you'll come. We're gonna sing number 127.
Hallelujah, what a sight, 127. Sing all the verses of it.