Thank you, ladies. Thank God
for His great love to us. If you would, go back to the
book of Luke and the 23rd chapter. I'm going to be speaking in this
message and also again this evening on the subject words from the
cross, words from the cross. And as we begin to look at the
death of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is a subject of unending interest
to the people of God. In fact, the very Greatness,
the glory of God, is wrapped up in the death of the Lord Jesus. Our salvation is indeed dependent
upon the death of the Son of God. Our everlasting safety is
bound up in His sufferings and in His death. Ron read to us
a little bit about our Lord Jesus being led to be crucified. Who is it who suffered these
things? Who is it that died upon the
cross of Calvary? Well, He's the Lamb of God. He's the Savior of folks like
us. He's that one whom God called
His fellow. That is, God said, My associate,
One who is equal with Me. This is the One who is God of
very God. And yet He laid aside all of
His everlasting glory, as it were, and He united Himself to
our flesh. He joined Himself to our nature. And in a body like ours, He lived. And He died. And He arose. And in a body like ours, He ever
lives, making intercession for us. Who suffered these things? It's the Lord Jesus. It's the
Savior of sinners. It is the Messiah. It is the
Redeemer. It is that One typified by all
the offerings of the Old Testament. It is that One whom every prophet
said, He's coming. He is the One who was born of
a virgin. Who obeyed God's law every bit
of it. Every jot and tittle throughout
His life. And then in the purpose of God,
man came and took Him. And they did exactly what they
wanted to do with Him. They put Him to death. But in
putting Him to death, they fulfilled the will of God. Who is this
who died? Who is this who bore the agonies
of the cross of Calvary? It is Immanuel. God with us. Well, for whom did He suffer,
bleed, and die? Well, He suffered, He bled, and
died for those who have no strength. For those who were ungodly. For
those who were His enemies. He suffered, bled and died for
folks like you and me. He died for a special people.
There was nothing special in and of themselves. But they were
made special by sovereign grace. God set apart a people for His
own glory. To do a work for them and to
do a work in them. And to bring them to everlasting
safety. To make them into the image of
His own darling Son. For whom did He suffer? People
who did not deserve even a thought from God. But yet God gave to
these undeserving people the very best He could give. He gave
the unspeakable gift. And that's the gift of His only
begotten Son. In fact, it's expressed this
way, God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. Why did he suffer? Why did he
bleed? Why did he die? I know now who
died. And I know those in whose stead
he died. His sheep. The shepherd said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. But here's the reason. What was
the cause of his death? Why did he suffer? Why did he
bleed? Why did he die? Why did great
sorrow flood his soul? Why the agonies of his inner
man? Why the agonies of the cross
of Calvary? Why did he suffer body, soul,
and spirit? Why? It was that God might be
just and justify the ungodly. None of us could be saved. None
of us could be spared the wrath of God. None of us could have
all of our sins washed away unless God killed a suitable sacrifice. And that suitable sacrifice,
that sacrifice that was acceptable to God, the only sacrifice that
met His approval, is the man Christ Jesus. He died to save. He died to redeem. He died to justify. He died to
make a people righteous. He died to fulfill the Father's
will and purpose of redemption. You know, as we think about the
crucifixion and the death of our Lord Jesus, We ought to stop
and bear in mind the absolute reality of his sufferings and
of his death. He really suffered and he really
died. Now we're all acquainted with
the reality of death. And to some extent, we are acquainted
with those who have suffered before they died. And when our
loved ones, they suffered and they died, that was a real death. It was real to you, and it was
real to them. There was nothing fake about
it. There was nothing made up about
it. It was a reality. And when we
think about the Lord Jesus as He's nailed to the cross, There
was a reality to His sufferings. Never forget that. I think we
tend to forget. Well, we just say the words so
quickly, Christ died for our sins. He died? You mean He who
is life died? He who gives life, He died? He who said, I am the way, the
truth and the life, you mean He died? You mean He was absolute
perfection? He suffered? He never did anything
wrong. He never violated the commandments
of God and yet He suffered. He suffered bodily. He died the
most excruciating death that any body could die back in those
days. And before He died, they beat
Him mercilessly. But they beat him, as one writer
said, within an inch of his life. He had gaping wounds in his flesh. Those were real. Those absolutely
hurt. Those put his body in agony. And then he actually gave up
the ghost. He actually died. The sufferings
of His body was not His greater sufferings. His soul's sufferings,
they were infinitely more severe than His bodily sufferings. God punished His soul. God put on Him His wrath, His
judgment. You see, the Savior bore all
of the sins of all of His people in His own body on the tree.
And God must strike out against that sin because God is absolutely
holy. God is righteous in all of His
ways. wherever He finds any kind of
sin, any kind of iniquity, any transgression, His absolute holiness
must direct His wrath toward that sinfulness. And there our
Lord Jesus is hanging on the cross, having been made sin for
us. He becomes then the absolute
target of the justice and the wrath of God. And He bore that
in His soul. And I know we read about the
crown of thorns and before that the beatings of course. And then
the nailing to the cross and all of those agonies, they were
real. He physically suffered. There's
a gory reality to that. There was blood everywhere. The
crucifixion was not for the squeamish. But the worst part of it was
his soul suffering. Oh, how awful it was. So great was his soul suffering. that as we shall see as we look
even again tonight on this subject, words from the cross, his middle
statement was, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And I'll tell you, this is the
essence of hell, to be forsaken by God. I can't fathom this. I can't understand this. How
can God forsake God? That's not for us to figure out. It's not for us to debate the
issue. The issue is stated absolutely
clearly in the Word of God. He said, My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken Me? And to a degree we know because
the answer is given in Psalm 22 and verse 3, Thou art holy. God's holy. And here's his son,
his son with all the sins of all of his people, they've been
laid on him, they're charged to his account. And there he
hangs by imputation, a guilty man, a guilty man, guilty of
our transgressions. God can't have anything to do
with him. God can't embrace him in that
state as he bears the sins of his people. And God must turn
away from His only begotten Son. And while I can't comprehend
that, I do believe it and I understand this. If I die in my sins, I'm
going to be forsaken by God forever. That's what hell is. That's what
everlasting punishment is. Do you want to be forsaken by
God? God who is light? God who is goodness? God who
is merciful? God who is life? To be forsaken
by God, that is hell. That is hell. And I know the
Bible talks about the hell being fire and brimstone for the body. What about the soul? How is that going to suffer? Oh, the indescribable sufferings
of the damned who are in hell! And all of their suffering Our
Lord Jesus bore that kind of suffering Himself in the stead
of His people. Except He bore all of the hell
that all of His people would have had to have suffered forever. He suffered it in just a few
hours. What a mystery is the cross of
our Lord Jesus. I tell you the extent and reality
of His sufferings and His death It was indeed real. And his was a unique death, I'll
tell you that. Who is this who dies? He's the
Holy One. He's the Holy One. He's that Lamb of God without
spot and without blemish. He had to be that way to meet
God's requirement. In all of the Old Testament offerings,
all of the lambs, all of the goats, all of the bullocks that
were offered, Those that were presented to God, they had to
be without spot and without blemish because they all pictured the
Son of God. God's Lamb who would die. And He would die without spot
and without blemish. His was a unique death. We're all going to die unless
the Lord comes back pretty soon. We're all going to face death,
and we've had to bid goodbye to people in our families, folks
we've worshipped with. We've had to say, we bid you
farewell for now. We'll see you later. Because it's just natural for
us. It's part of life. Dying is part
of life. Somebody said when we were born,
when we were conceived, the heart started beating like a drum,
beating a cadence, and it beats all the way to death. To death. There's nothing unique
about our deaths. Men live, women live, men die,
women die. But wait! There is a uniqueness
about this death, because this is the Son of God. And even when He was dying, He
was still the Son of God. That's why in Acts chapter 20,
the Apostle Paul said to the Ephesian elders, he said, feed
the church of God which He had purchased with His own blood. Whose blood was it? The blood
of God. Nothing would avail, nothing
would satisfy divine justice but the blood of God. Do you
understand that? It had to be the blood of God.
But wait, God can't suffer, God can't die. But the God-man can,
and He did suffer, bleed, and die. His was a unique death. When He gave up the ghost, He was as dead as any man who
has ever died. His body was lifeless. The soul
was gone. And his soul went to paradise. Because that's what he said to
the thief, here and even in Luke chapter 23. Today thou shalt
be with me Paradise. And when you and I die, who are
believers, we've been washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus.
The garments of God's salvation have been robed around us. In
other words, we're justified freely by the grace of God when
we breathe our last in this world, when this tabernacle drops. The soul rises. It goes on to
a glorious everlasting existence in the very presence of God. His was a unique death. There's
never been another death like this death. Because He who laid down His
life, He took it up again. He had said that I have the power
to lay it down, I have the power to take it again. He said, this
commandment have I received from my Father. And I'll tell you something else
about His death. It was a pre-planned event. It was indeed a pre-planned event. Because He's the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. God had already ordered his death,
and I know all of these people are instrumental in it. Satan
entering into the heart of Judas, Judas betraying, the chief priests
working the deal with the betrayer, all the council of the Sanhedrin,
passing their verdict against him. He's a blasphemer worthy
of death. And I know Pilate and then Herod
and then Pilate again. Our Lord had three governmental
trials all within the space of about 60 minutes. He stood before
Pilate. Pilate sent him to Herod. Herod
sent him back. And within an hour or so, both
of them agreed. We can't find anything guilty
that he's done worthy of death. But then they turned him over
to the people. And Pilate said, do with him
what you will. And so all the people were guilty.
There's a massive number of people involved in this death of our
Lord Jesus and they're all carrying out the sovereign will and purpose
of God. And that's what most people don't
see. Most people don't understand who died, why he died, or how
he came to die. He came to die because God appointed
him to die. It's the only way his people
could be saved. And I'll tell you something about
his death. His death was actually a victorious
event. Yes, it was a real death, but
his death wasn't his defeat. His death was a triumph over
all sin, over Satan, over death itself, and over the grave. And everything he endured as
the God-man, everything he endured bodily, and everything he endured
in his soul, He endured it for His people to save us from our
sins. Was He scourged? The Scripture
says, with His stripes we are healed. Was He stripped? It was that we might be robed
in His righteousness. Was He condemned? It was that
we would be saved. Was he mocked? Was he made fun
of? It was that we might be blessed.
Was he numbered with the transgressors? It was that we would be numbered
with the people of God. Was he unable to save himself? Yes. But it was that He might
save us. Because you see, even false preachers
can say things that are correct. And they were mocking Him when
they stood at the cross and they said, you saved others! And they said to somebody else,
Himself He can't save. Can't you save yourself? Well
no, if He's going to save others, He can't save Himself. If He's
going to deliver us, He can't deliver Himself. He must hang
there as the willing, voluntary victim to divine justice in order
to pay our debt of sin. Was He made to be sin for us? It was that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Did He die? Yes, and that was that we might
live through His death. Oh, I tell you, the death of
our Lord Jesus, it's the subject that we could spend a lifetime
talking about, and we'll spend all of eternity talking about
it. We'll be singing, worthy is the
Lamb that was slain. to receive from God all power
and glory and blessing. He's worthy to receive it. Picture
the scene here. Ron read to us, our Lord Jesus
is turned over by Pilate to the Jews so that they might do whatever
they wanted to do with Jesus of Nazareth. Ah, Pilate. Governor of Judea. representative
of the Roman government. He had three primary jobs. He was a commander of the military. Those soldiers, they did what
he told them to do. He had gone through the ranks.
Oh, he climbed the ladder of success. Until finally, he's
the general of all of the armies of all of the Roman soldiers
in Israel. He's the commander. Secondly, his job was the duty
of collecting taxes, for he is the administrator of Rome's laws. So he's not only a military man,
he's a man knowledgeable of economics, he's a general, he's an administrator,
and he was a judge. In fact, this Barabbas, there's
a good possibility he had actually been judged by this man. He passed judgment against him.
And it would seem to me that this man, this Barabbas, he was
sentenced to die most likely with those other two thieves.
You know what Barabbas means? Barabbas means son of the father. That's what Barabbas means. Son of the father. And Barabbas,
that one who is the son of the Father, it would seem like he
was the third one to die on the cross. But the Son of the Everlasting
Father, He was appointed to die that day. Even the Lord Jesus
Christ. So here's the scene. Barabbas
is released. Jesus of Nazareth is found guilty
and worthy of death. This man, the governor Pilate,
he didn't want to crucify him. In fact, when he was talking
about all of these sitting on his throne of judgment as the
judge, Somebody came to him and said,
got a message from your wife. Well, this is some kind of time
for me to take a message from my wife. I'm in the middle of
judging here. You better take this message.
He said, okay, what is it? Your wife said, don't you allow
this man to be crucified. I had a dream. I had a dream
about this. This is not going to turn out
good if you turn Him over to the people and He's crucified.
You know, a lot of times our conscious thoughts, our very
conscious thoughts, can enter into our unconscious or subconscious
thoughts as in dreams. She said, you don't want to have
anything to do with this righteous man. She said, this just man. Well, she saw something in Jesus
of Nazareth that most people didn't see. He's a just man. He's a righteous man. Indeed,
Mrs. Pilate, He's the Lord our righteousness. That's who He is. And He's absolutely
innocent because He's the Son of God. And she said, don't have
anything to do with Him. like a lot of husbands who didn't
pay attention to that good advice his wife gave him. And he went ahead and passed
judgment. You know, we would never excuse the horrible
actions of the religious leaders who should have picked up on
all the evidences that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the promised
Messiah, and yet they wanted Him to die. We would never excuse
them. We would never excuse the awful
treatment of the Son of God by the Roman soldiers, those who
tortured Him, who beat Him, who mocked Him, who nailed Him to
a cross and watched Him die. We would never excuse their actions,
and we would never excuse the attitude and the actions of the
people who opposed him. It's kind of interesting to notice
this in verse 13, chapter 23, and one of the reasons I asked
Ron to begin here with this is because of the people who are
mentioned. Luke 23, 13. And Pilate, when
he had called together the chief priests and the rulers, and these
were the ones who were railing on Jesus of Nazareth. These were
the ones who demanded His death. But now there's another group
involved. There's another group included. The people. The people. Before this, earlier in the week,
here's what the people were saying. Hallelujah to the Son of David. We praise the Son of David. Give glory to the Son of David
as our Lord Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. But now
the people, the people, oh how fickle are the people! Now the
people join in with the chief priests and the rulers and they
say, crucify Him, crucify Him. I don't excuse the people either.
Peter said, you with your wicked hands crucified the Lord of glory. Later he would say, you released
a murderer. And you killed Jesus, an innocent
man. But yet, all of this happened
in the purpose of God. So we read in Romans chapter
eight, he that spared not his own son. but delivered Him up
for us all. How shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? This is all the will of God.
The death of the Lord Jesus. And as our Savior hung on this
torturous cross, He makes seven glorious statements. These are
the words from the cross I'll begin to talk about Him a little
bit this morning. We'll, of course, get into it
more fully this evening. But here's a seven-fold picture
of our Savior. He said, first of all, Father,
forgive them. That's what He says here in Luke
23, 34. Father, forgive them. Father. Isn't it interesting that the
very first word from the cross, the very first thing He had to
say, He begins it with Father. And do you know what absolutely
stuck in the craw of these religious leaders? The fact that He claimed
God was His Father. That's what got them. That's
what irritated them. They considered that to be a
blasphemous thing. Like in John chapter 5 when He
told them, My Father worketh hitherto and I work. They picked
up stones to stone Him to death. And this was a great charge against
Him when they brought Him to judgment. He being a man says
He's the Son of God. And here as He dies on the cross,
His very first statement just flies in the face of these rebels. He says, Father, Father. And you know that made Him even
more angry. In fact, you can read other accounts, Matthew
and Mark. how the people sat there and
they watched Him. This was like entertainment for
them. But He would have them to know
He was not ashamed to speak to the God of heaven and earth and
address Him as Father. He's the everlasting Father of
the everlasting Son. And He says, Father, forgive
them. For they know not what they do. And then he speaks to a thief. Here's an illustration of sovereign
mercy. Neither one of those thieves
deserved anything but hell. And they were no different from
all of us. That's what we deserve too. But
he says to one of them, Not both of them. He could have said it
to both of them if he had so willed it. But here he is, the
sovereign king, exercising sovereign mercy. And he says to one of
them, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. And then we will Look at this
tonight. He said, because there was a
woman standing there, his mother, but he never addressed her as
mother. No matter what the Catholics
may say, Mary was not the mother of God. Because God has no mother. God is everlasting. He spoke
to her, he said, Woman! She was an elect woman. She was
a vessel of mercy chosen and honored by God for salvation.
She was one of those in whose stead He was dying. She was one
of those He had washed in His blood and robed in His righteousness. But she is one of many of His
people. He says, woman, behold thy son,
speaking of John the Apostle. And he spoke to John, he said,
son, behold thy mother. And here he is, the perfect man
honoring the law of God even in his death. Honor thy father
and thy mother. He is honoring his father by
dying. And He honors the mother of His
nature, of His flesh, by making provision for her for the future. He's the perfect man. And then the middle cry from
the cross, the middle word, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me? He goes from saying, Father,
to My God. Something has happened. Something
has happened. When he says, Father, there's
an intimate relationship, but then with bearing the sins of
his people in his own body and the wrath of God flooding into
his very soul, now it's my God! You're my God! You're Elohim! Something has happened. My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And then he said the fifth
word from the cross, he said, I thirst. Here's the reality of his manhood. That one dying on that metal
cross, he's every bit a man. Oh yeah. He's every bit of man. A man without sin. I know that. But he's every bit of man. And
he felt pain just like... Do you feel pain? Of course you
do. If you don't feel pain, something's wrong with you. If you don't
feel... I go to the doctor and she's
all the time taking something, touching the bottom of my feet.
Those of you who are diabetics, you know. They want to make sure
you've still got feeling in your feet. If you don't have feelings,
something's wrong. Something's wrong with your nerve.
The nerve endings. Our Lord felt, He felt this. He felt all the pain that came
His way and He was really thirsty. He said, My tongue is parched. It's parched. Read Psalm 22. Does that not show us that this
one who's dying, the fact that he was every bit a man, just
like you, just like me? He felt it. Oh, he felt it. It hurt. And he's in agony with
his tongue swollen. This pain just wracked his body. He said, I thirst. He thirsted
that He might give us the water of life. He's the rock that was
smitten. And now we drink abundantly of
Him. We draw with the cup of faith
from the wells of salvation. He said it, I thirst. And then
He said, the sixth word is, it is finished. It's done as God
would have it to be done. And then he said, Father, watch the book ends here. He started by saying Father,
he ends by saying Father. He will remind all of those people
who mocked Him when He said, I am the Son of God. They mocked
Him. They said, we'll kill you for
saying that. He began His statements from
the cross by saying, Father, and He ends His words from the
cross by saying, Father. Father, into Thy hands I commend
my spirit. And He bowed His head and willingly
gave up the ghost. He said, I have the power to
lay down my life. I have the power to take it again.
This commandment have I received from my Father. Oh, words from
the cross of Calvary. We'll go through and itemize
those again this evening and have a few remarks on each of
them. May God bring us to believe in
and rest in this One who spoke so triumphantly from the cross
of shame. The one who died and whoever
lives, he ever lives to make intercession for his people.