And as I said, we're going to
look, the text is verse 46. When Jesus had cried with a loud
voice, he said, Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit. And then he gave up the ghost.
Well, we come to the very end of our Lord's life on earth.
As he's hanging on this cross, the sun was darkened, The veil
of the temple was torn into from top to bottom. What a magnificent
testimony from God's word that that burden of the old covenant
was finished, abolished by way of fulfillment. And then he called
out with a loud voice, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit
and gave up the ghost. That word commend, it means commit. It means to entrust. Father,
I commit my soul, my spirit unto you. His spirit means his life,
his last breath here on earth. Dr. John Gill in his commentary
said this is his human life because God cannot die. And I agree with
him. God cannot die, but I'll tell
you what, this person who is God, he died. And that's to be
attributed to his sinless humanity. Yet, we read it. And here again, it's of note
that he was quoting scripture. Turn back to Psalm 31. Psalm 31. And look here in Psalm 31. The
psalmist writes, in verse one, in thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. Let me never be ashamed, deliver
me in thy righteousness. The only kind of deliverance
that God knows is in righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me, deliver
me speedily, be thou my strong rock for in house of defense
to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for thy name's sake,
lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they
have laid privily for me, for thou art my strength. And verse
five, the psalmist writes, into thine hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord
God of truth. We see the psalmist there crying
out of his trouble, but he's a type of Christ. Christ in his
trouble. Before this, Most theologians
agree. He quoted from the Old Testament
again in Psalm 22, 1 and quoted in Matthew 27, 46, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Everything he did and everything
he said fulfilled the will of God and the word of God. Psalm
31 that we just read, as I said, it's a prayer of David, who was
a type of Christ. He's in distress, he's full of
trust in God, and in Luke 23, the son of David, Christ, echoes
that same prayer. And now his work was now all
finished. He said that, it's finished.
One of my dear brethren said, last week when I preached on
that, it is finished, last week I called it, the word of a glorious
victory. He said, well now you should
have entitled that the word of satisfaction. And he's right,
it is the word of satisfaction. Christ satisfied the law, he
satisfied justice, he satisfied everything, completed everything
that was necessary. In his death on the cross, everything
that was necessary. For the salvation of sinners
to the praise of the glory of God's grace was finished, completed. And here, here he says, Father,
into thy hands I commit my spirit. It is finished, speaks of the
past. It's done, it's a finished work. The gospel that we preach
is the gospel of a finished work. It's not a work to be done or
completed or enacted or empowered by your work. It's completely
finished by the work of Christ. He made an end of sin. He finished
the transgression. He brought in everlasting righteousness. It's done. The false gospels of the law
say do and live. The true gospel says it's done. Now live. So it is finished, speaks of
the past, the finished work of redemption. He, for by one offering,
he hath perfected forever men that are sanctified. Don't you
love that? Don't you love hearing about
that? Had a man tell me one time, he said he didn't feel like he's
been to church unless he's been whipped. Well, there are times we may
need a whipping. But I'll tell you what, the Bible says, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. Tell her, her warfare's over. For the Lord hath given her double
for all her sins. He put away my sins. They cannot
be charged to me. They cannot be accounted. I'm
a sinner every day, aren't you? But we can't be condemned. Because
God will not lay them to our charge. That's the legal declaration. Somebody said these legal terms
and these mercantile terms, he said they don't stir my emotions. If I were to come to you and
say, hey, I saw a ticket fall out of your pocket. You won the
lottery. You've got like $30 million here. You think that
would give you some emotion? Your warfare's over. Double.
My sins are washed away and I have a righteousness that answers
the demands of God's law and justice. It's perfect. It cannot be contaminated. It cannot be taken away, for
it's the righteousness of His dear Son. And I stand before
Him in His Son, that I may know Him, Paul prayed, and be found
in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ. So this Father into thy
hands I commend my spirit, that speaks of the glorious future.
The reward of His finished work, the glory of God, and the salvation
of his people. And he prayed that, let me just
read this to you, over in John 17, I think I'm gonna be dealing
with John 17 in the next message. When he said in verse one in
his high priestly prayer, John 17, these words spoke Jesus,
lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come, glorify thy son. that thy son also may glorify
thee, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they may know thee, they might
know thee, the only true God, Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent. I have glorified thee on the earth, he said. I have finished
the work which you gave me to do. And so he says, Father, into
thy hands I commit my spirit. God's promises, the Bible tells
us, His promises that concern salvation, that concern a right
relationship with God, that concern a glorious future in eternal
bliss. The Bible tells us that those
promises are in Christ, yea, and in Christ, amen. He was faithful
to do what He promised to do, and God the Father was and is
faithful to give what He promised. You see, that's why we know that
all for whom Christ died shall be saved. Because if they're
not, that means God would go back on His promise. But He won't
do that. He's faithful. This glorious
future as it applies to Christ himself speaks of his resurrection
from the dead, we read about that. He's not here, he's not
in the tomb, he's risen. And the reason he was risen is
because he conquered death. He conquered sin, death, and
hell by his death on the cross. That was a glorious victory.
He worked out a perfect righteousness the very righteousness of God
for his people. Look over at John chapter 16.
Let me show you this. And this puts it in perspective
when he said, father into thy hands, I commend my spirit. Over
in John chapter seven, he's talking to his disciples or John chapter
16 verse seven. He's talking to his disciples
just prior to his going into the garden and being arrested
and going to the cross. And he tells them this, listen
to this. John 16 and verse seven, he says, nevertheless, I tell
you the truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away. Now his going away referred to
his going to the cross, his dying, his resurrection from the dead
and his ascension to the Father. And he said that's necessary. He had to do his work in order
to work out our salvation. He had to die the death that
we deserved. He had to be buried. He had to
be risen from the dead. One of the old theologians said
that when God, the Holy Spirit, births us again, he imparts to
us the resurrection life of Christ. I like that. He had to go to
the Father. Because he said in verse 70,
for if I go not away, the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, will
not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. Life from the dead. Righteousness
demands life. For as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. But look at verse eight. It says,
when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. Verse nine, of sin because they
believe not on me. You see, without Christ, all
we are is sin. Isn't that right? Without Christ. Without faith in him. God-given
faith. And then look at verse 10, of
righteousness, look at it, because I go to my Father. Father, into
thy hands I commend my spirit, and you see me no more. And of
judgment, because the prince of this world, Satan, is judged. which means that our sins were
already judged by God on that cross. When he died, if you're
a believer now, if you're a child of God, sinner saved by grace,
washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness, here's
what the Bible teaches. When he died, you died. When
he was buried, you were buried. When he arose again, you arose
again. Christ as our representative,
Christ as our surety, Christ as our substitute, Christ as
our redeemer. You say, well, I don't believe
that. Well, you should have never been baptized then. Because the
only ones who should be baptized identify with Christ in his death,
burial, and resurrection. This glorious future speaks of
his ascension into heaven under the Father. That's what it does. It's the glorious person and
work of Christ as our mediator. So let me give you a couple points
here just as we go through. Number one, this shows the Son's
relationship with the Father in His work of salvation. Now
we know about the Trinity. We know that the Bible teaches
one God in three persons, not three gods. Not one God in three
forms. Not one God doing three jobs,
but one God in three persons. And that's a difficult concept.
We can't fully grasp it. We don't have any illustrations
to give you on that, that work. But that's what the Bible says.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God
the Father represents the sovereignty of the Godhead. God the Son represents
the work of the Godhead, the work to be done, the work to
be finished, the ground of salvation, and God the Spirit speaks of
the results, the fruit of salvation. He applies what the Father purposed,
what the Son earned to each and every one of God's people in
the new birth. The Bible teaches us that the Son, God the Son,
who is equal with the Father and the Spirit in every attribute
of His nature and character, submitted Himself unto the Father
for the purpose of redeeming sinners like us. He became His
Father's servant. He submitted Himself to His Father,
though His will and the Father's will were one and the same, He
submitted Himself to the will of the Father. What He's doing
here on the cross and what He did in all of His life was his
father's will and ultimately satisfying the justice of God
and bringing forth everlasting righteousness for the sins of
his people. In Galatians chapter four, verse four, it says, in
the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son into the world,
made of a woman, that's his humanity, sinless humanity, made under
the law, that's all of salvation, conditioned on him to satisfy
the justice of God. made of the woman, made to redeem
them that were under the law. In John chapter six and verse
37, let's just read that, John chapter six. He says in verse
37, all that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Isn't that good? Isn't
that something? And he says in verse 34, I came
down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him
that sent me. Now the father's will and the
son's will and the spirit's will are one and the same. But he
submitted himself, he subjected himself unto the father for the
purpose of saving sinners like us. And so he says, I'm not doing
this on my own. It's not just what I want to
do. It's the Father's will, which is my will. And he says in verse
39, and this is the Father's will, which has sent me that
of all, listen to, that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
Verse 40, this is the will of him that sent me that everyone
which seeth the Son, and believeth on him may have everlasting life,
and I'll raise him up at the last day. Well, how are you going
to accomplish this, son of God? I'm gonna keep the law, obey
it unto death, even the death of the cross, finish the transgression,
make an end of sin, and bring in everlasting righteousness.
Well, how do we know that you can accomplish this? He's not
here. This is an empty tomb. He's risen
from the dead. And then a few days later, he
ascended under the Father in the clouds. That's how we know.
He recognized this early on. In Luke 2 and verse 49, he said
to his mother and father, as a young boy, he said, how is
it that you sought me, wished you not that I must be about
my father's business? You know, this is the father's
business right here. It's God's business. You can't
determine it. You can't work it. You can't
change it. This is God's business. Whatever
he did, he's without his father's business. He told his disciples,
in John 4, 34, it says, his meat, in other words, that which feeds
his very spirit, is to do the will of him that sent me and
finish his work. This is the work of God. He didn't do this on his own.
He was upheld in his humanity by the Father and the Spirit. When he was in the garden, he
suffered in his humanity, experiencing things that he'd never experienced
before. And he said, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. He wasn't speaking in doubt there. He was speaking in agony. He
was hurting. But he said, nevertheless, not
as I will, but as thou will. And his will and the Father's
will was still the same. All that he accomplished in his
Father's name and for his Father's glory, because in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The fullness of the Father,
the Son, and the Spirit. And so now He commits His Spirit
into the Father's hands. That's where our glorious future
lies right there. It's in the Father's hands. But
secondly, let me speak of Christ's relationship to His people for
our salvation, because this committing His Spirit unto His Father's
hands, that's what it means. You see, the resurrection of
Christ is Christ coming forth as the
victorious Redeemer who has fulfilled all conditions, paid all debts,
finished all accounts, secured all salvation. The ascension
of Christ as our great high priest going to the Father, and why
did he do it? On our behalf. Think about it. Hebrews 9.24, listen to this.
For Christ is not entered into the holy place made with hands.
He didn't go to the Jewish temple. He didn't go into the Holy of
Holies there in Jerusalem in that temple. That was a figure
of the truth, the writer of Hebrews tells us. That was just a type.
That was just a symbol. It had its time, it had its purpose,
it even had its glory, but none of us to be compared with the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So he didn't enter into
the holy place made with hands, but he entered into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God. Two words which we ought
to rejoice in, for us. He did it for us. Now who's the
us there? His people, God's elect, his
church, his sheep, believers. That's why it's important that
we see why he committed his spirit into the hands of the Father.
And look at 1 Corinthians 15. Let me show you this. This chapter
speaks of the resurrection of the dead based upon the resurrection
of Christ. This glorious future, Father
into thy hands I commend my spirit, this shows the continual work
of Christ as the life-giving spirit. We have life, spiritual
life from our spirit, we're born by nature spiritually dead, we
fell in Adam. And we're born into this world
spiritually dead. Now, if we're born again, that
means we have been given spiritual life by God. And what's behind
it all? The fact that Christ lived, died,
was buried, rose again, and ascended unto the Father. And look at
1 Corinthians 15, look at verse 45. He says, and so it is written,
the first man Adam was made a living soul, that's creation. The last
Adam, that's Christ, was made a quickening spirit, a life-giving
spirit. That's why we're born again.
That's why we're raised from the dead, and that's why we'll
be ultimately raised in the great resurrection in his second coming.
Father, I commend my spirit unto thee, I commend my spirit into
thy hands. That speaks of his continual
intercessory work for his people. Christ as our great high priest,
having ascended to the right hand of the Father, blesses his
people by his presence in heaven and by the Holy Spirit whom he
has sent unto us. We have an advocate, Jesus Christ
the righteous. who is the propitiation for the
whole world. Who's the whole world? That's
his people all over this world, Jew and Gentile, God's elect.
And in this, he perseveres his people and preserves, he perseveres
to preserve his people under glory by keeping us in his grace
and power. He keeps us, he saved us, he
keeps us, he preserves us by sending us help when we need
it. Somebody asked me, well, when
do we need it? All the time. Conveying the blessings of the
covenant, enabling us to experience the joy of union and communion
with him, we have a great high priest who is what? Passed through,
literally, the heavens. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. Where did he go when he ascended?
He went unto the Father. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us. He's
not hanging over the banister of heaven, hoping that people
will receive him and believe in him and confess him. Oh no,
as our high priest, he has our names written on his heart and
on his shoulder to give eternal life to as many as the Father
has given him. Sin demanded their death, he
took their death. His righteousness demands their
life. They will be saved. This phrase speaks of the certainty
of his return. The angel told the disciples
in Acts chapter 1, Jesus Christ, in whom you've seen ascended
under the fire, he'll come back again in the same manner. He's
coming in the clouds. He's not going to sneak up on
people and take you and leave others. He's coming with a trumpet
sound very publicly. He's going to gather his church
unto himself in his glory. We'll all be changed in the twinkling
of an eye. What's that change going to involve?
I don't know everything about that, but I do know it is going
to be a glory wherein we will occupy new heavens and a new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, no tears, no sorrow, no sickness,
no Corona 19. None of that. And those who died in their sins
will be resurrected unto judgment. Sad to say, but they will. This shows us, now let me give
you these three things in closing. This shows us first the glory
of our standing before God in Christ. Here's what I'm saying, if Christ
died and was raised from the dead and ascended into the Father,
if He's seated at the right hand of the Father, we who believe
in Him, who rest in Him, we're secure, we're safe. We can never
be lost. And why? Well, as I said it,
our sins cannot be charged to us. Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. We have his righteousness charged
to us. We have his grace and power to
keep us. We have his life-giving spirit
to keep us persevering in the faith. Who can separate us from
the love of God in Christ as long as he is in the hands of
the Father, we're safe. Secondly, it shows us the reality
of our state in this world. If we believe in Him as He is
identified and as He is separated from all counterfeits in the
scripture. He's identified and uniquely identified by his word.
If we believe in him, what does that tell us? That means we've
been born again. That means we have life, spiritual
life from the dead. As I said, we're all born naturally
in a state of spiritual death and depravity when we're born
again spiritually. What does the Spirit do? He convicts
us of sin, of righteousness, of judgment. He brings us in
humility to see our sinfulness, our deservedness of death and
hell. But He doesn't leave us there.
He brings us to Christ. He drives us to Christ. You know,
that's how you know the difference between the Holy Spirit's work
and a false spirit. It's not just in simply recognizing
that we're sinners, though that happens, but it's in where do
we find relief? Where do we find peace? Where
do we find forgiveness? Where do we find righteousness?
If it's in anywhere but Jesus Christ crucified and risen from
the dead, seated at the right hand of the Father, it's not
the Holy Spirit. He will not allow God's people
to be satisfied, to be at peace, except in Christ, who committed
His Spirit into the hands of the Father. We're kept by the
power of God. And then thirdly, it shows us
the certainty of His return and our final glory in Him. Turn
to 1 Corinthians 15 again. And look at verse 20. This is in response to some who
had said that the dead in Christ will not rise from the dead.
And Paul's point here is that, well, if that's true, then Christ
is not risen. Why? Well, look at verse 20. But now
is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of
them that slept. The first fruits. What that simply
means is this. If Christ arose from the dead,
You can be assured that everyone for whom he died was buried and
raised again will be raised from the dead. He's the first fruit. Verse 21, for since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. By Adam came death. By Christ, the God-man, came
resurrection from the dead. Verse 22, for as in Adam all
died, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now who's
the all? All who are made alive. How do you know who's been made
alive? All who believe on him. And they'll be made alive in
the end. We'll be resurrected unto glory, eternal life. He
says in verse 23, but every man in his own order, Christ the
first fruits, afterward they that are Christ at his coming,
then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule
and all authority and power. for he must reign till he hath
put all enemies under his feet." That's what it's talking about.
He went unto his father because he finished the work and because
of his finished work all for whom he lived and died shall
be saved, shall be resurrected in the end. What a glorious future
that we have. Isn't that amazing? And I'll
tell you what, I know this, when we talk about, you know, people
talk about, well, what's heaven going to be like? Or what's the
new earth going to be like? We have some revelation of those
things in God's Word. But I've often told people, I
say, well, when you study everything that God's word teaches us about
the glorified state, you'll probably still have more questions than
you have answers. But I know this, as John said,
beloved, it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we'll be
like him. We'll be with him. That's what
heaven is. That's what eternal life is, is to be with Christ,
is to be looking upon him with unhindered sinless eyes, seeing
each other as brothers and sisters in Christ in a glorified body. Okay.