Seven Words From Calvary

The Holy Spirit of God took special
care that each of the seven statements which our Lord made from Calvary's
cross be recorded and preserved for all time. There were seven
statements or seven words from Calvary. The first one, after
our Lord had been nailed to the cross, the first thing he said
as he looked over the multitude of people before him, lifted
his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. Later on, when one of the thieves
crucified with him, cried, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. The Lord Jesus said, Today shalt
thou be with me in paradise. And then farther along he saw
Mary, the woman who brought him into the world, the means that
God used to bring his son to this earth, he saw her standing
somewhere around the cross, looking on evidently with a broken heart,
weeping, and he said as he pointed to John, or referred to John
with his eyes, Woman, behold thy son, and then to John, Son,
behold thy mother. And then the fourth and central
word of the seven was cried out in soul agony, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? This was the central point of
his suffering and of his sacrifice. My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? The fifth word from the cross,
our Lord said, I thirst. and the scripture says that the
scripture might be fulfilled. And then the sixth saying from
the cross, he cried with a loud voice, it is finished. And then before he closed his
eyes in death, our Lord said, Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. Now there's been a mountain of
words spoken and written about these seven statements from I
don't hope to add anything to what's been written or what's
been said. But I believe that I can give you some things that
the Holy Spirit has revealed to me from these seven statements
of thy Lord, the seven words from Calvary. And I believe you'll
see in them some very important truth. Now, here's the only fear
I have in speaking from this subject, the seven statements
of Christ from Calvary. And that is that we might reduce
these words to cold calculated theology. That concerns me and
that disturbs me. I don't want to take these words
of our blessed Lord when he was on the battlefield of Calvary
engaged in battle with sin and death and judgment and eternal
wrath from a holy God and reduce them to words or to doctrine
or to theology. Our Lord Jesus Christ bore our
sins in his body on the tree. He was engaged in the great work
of redemption. And all of these statements are
heavy with meaning and heavy with compassion and love. And one hymn writer has put it
this way. He said the enormous load of
human guilt was on my Savior laid, with woes as with a garment
he for sinners was arrayed. And in those awful pangs of death
he wept and he prayed for me, loved and embraced my guilty
soul while he was nailed to that cursed tree. O love amazing,
love beyond the reach of human tongue, love which shall be the
theme of my everlasting song." This is the only fear I have.
As we look at these words, I don't want to present them in an argumentative
way, or in a way to be debated, in a way to be considered as
presenting only doctrine and theology, but I want us to see
the glory of them, the beauty of them, the truth of them, and
I want us to get a blessing from them. And there are so many things
that we could bring out from these seven statements, but I
want to present three to you in the time that we have together.
First of all, I believe in these seven statements from the cross,
we have the person and work of our Lord revealed. And then secondly,
from these seven statements of our Lord, spoken from Calvary's
cross, we have the main doctrines of the Christian faith. those
doctrines which form the foundation of Christianity, of what we believe. And then thirdly, we have in
these seven statements the duties of every believer. Now let's
look at those. First of all, in these seven
statements we have the attributes or the person and work of our
blessed Lord. Listen to them in the first statement.
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Here is
Christ the Mediator. Now, my friends, there must be
a Mediator between God and the guilty. There must be a Mediator
between Almighty God, the holy, eternal God, and sinful man. All through the scriptures, you
meet with the office of a Mediator. And every time you meet with
a Mediator, you meet with one who is typical of Christ. When
God gave the law from Sinai, And the mountain was surrounded
with smoke and clouds and thunder and lightning and the voice of
God spoke. The people trembled and they
backed off away from that awful mountain. And they said, Moses,
you speak to God for us. Don't let God speak to us lest
we die. And so Moses served as a mediator
between the sinner and God Almighty, between the perfect God and fallen
man. He was the mediator. And then
we have the people in Numbers, chapter 16. The people had sinned,
and God had brought judgment upon them, a plague, and the
people were perishing. And Moses prayed to God for relief. He prayed to God for deliverance.
And God told him to send Joshua, the great high priest Joshua,
with the incense between God and the people. Joshua ran between
the wrath of God and the guilty people, and he waved the incense,
which is typical of the prayers of our Lord for his people, and
immediately the plague was staged, when the Mediator came between
God and the people. The scripture says there's one
God and one Mediator between God and men. There must be a
Mediator between God and men. And then every time the high
priest in the Old Testament went under the veil into the Holy
of Holies and put the blood on the mercy seat, there's the mediator,
there's the intercessor, there's the one praying for God's people,
pleading for God's people, presenting the sacrifice before God on behalf
of the people. And the high priest or the mediator
must always be one of God's choice. The scripture says, no man taketh
this honor unto himself. One day our Lord Jesus Christ
told Peter that he would deny him. And Peter made all kind
of boasts and promises. He said, the rest of them may
deny you, but I'll never. And Christ said, yes, before
the cock crows three times, you'll deny me three times. But he said,
Peter, I have prayed for you. I have prayed for you that your
faith fail not. Our Lord prays for His people.
He's the mediator. He's the intercessor. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, on the right hand of God, prays for His people. He is our one mediator with God
Almighty. And God will not speak to, nor
be spoken to by a sinner, except through a mediator. You must
have the mediator. And when our Lord Jesus Christ
cried from the cross, Father forgive them, They know not what
they do. He was presenting his office
as mediator. And then when the thief, both
thieves, the scripture said, railed on him, one of them said,
if you be the Christ, save yourself and us. And finally, the other
one said, don't you fear God, seeing that we're in the same
condemnation? We indeed justly, for we're getting
exactly what we deserve. But this man hath done nothing
amiss. And then he said, Lord, Remember
me when you come into your kingdom." And that's when Christ said to
him, today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. You know what
office I see here? I see the King. I see the King,
the Sovereign Lord, opening the door which no man can open. I
see the Sovereign Lord opening the door which no man can close.
I see the Sovereign Lord who has all authority over all flesh
that he should save. give eternal life to as many
as God hath given him. A dying thief pleads for mercy
at the throne of the king, and the king gives him mercy. Our
Lord said, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. Out to the gracious
king approach, whose scepter pardon gives, perhaps he will
hear my plea, and then the sinner lives. Jesus Christ is Lord,
and that thief recognized him as Lord. Jesus Christ is King,
and that thief recognized him as a king with a kingdom. He
said, Lord, you're not going to stay dead. You're coming into
a kingdom. When you come into your kingdom,
remember me. And the king said, I will not
only remember you, but today you'll be with me in paradise.
Thirdly, our Lord looked down from the cross and saw Mary. And there he saw John, and he
said to Mary, Woman, behold your son, and son, behold your mother. You know the office I see here?
I see Christ the lover of his people. Even in the agonies of
death, even under the severe penalty of sin, even enduring
the wrath of the Heavenly Father, even bearing the hail of the
cross, he shows his great love for his own, having loved his
own, he loved them to the end. Nothing, not even the cross,
nothing, not even the agonies and suffering of Calvary, nothing,
not even death, can separate us from the love of Christ, the
love of God which is in Christ our Lord. He cares for you. The
scripture says cast your care on him. He cares for you. And
he cared for this woman, and he cared for this disciple, and
he cared for them even in the agonies of death. Such love is
too great, too great for thought. Its length and its breadth in
vain are sought. No tongue can tell its depth
and height. The love of Christ is everlasting
and infinite. O love of God, how rich, how
pure, how measureless, how strong, it shall forevermore endure. Not only the cross, not only
death, not only judgment for sin, but the saints and angel
souls. Here's Christ who loved his people. All right, fourthly, Our Lord
cried with a loud voice, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? You know what I see here? I see
Christ the substitute. I see Christ Jesus the substitute. Now you listen carefully to me.
This is the central point of all the suffering of Calvary,
of all the agony of Calvary. This This is the zenith. This is the top. This is the
central point. My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? When our Lord uttered this, he
had been forsaken by the Heavenly Father. Someone said, even the
Father turned his back on Christ. He suffered alone. He walked
alone. Even the Father was not with
him. Now, preach this, I do. Explain it, I cannot. Believe
this, I do. Understand it, I do not. I understand
how that God can clothe himself in human flesh and come down
here to this earth and as my representative, born under the
law, subject to the law, as a man, tempted, tried, tested in all
points as I am, yet without sin, he can meet the law and obey
it in every jot and tittle in my place and state. and impute
to me and give to me and reckon to my account a perfect righteousness.
I can fathom that to a degree. I can understand how he can do
it, why he can do it. According to the good pleasure
of his own will, it seemed good in his sight. But I can fathom
to a certain degree Christ being made flesh and obeying by active
obedience the law and giving us a perfect standing before
the Father as far as holiness and righteousness are concerned.
For God, the Son, to be separated from God the Father, that I cannot
explain. And that I cannot understand,
any more than I can explain to you how God can say, your sins
I'll remember no more. God never learns anything, he
knows all things. He never forgets anything, because
he knows all things. And yet he says, their sins will
I remember no more. And how Jesus Christ, in the
flesh, the God-man, can be separated for the moment from his Father's
presence, I do not understand. And as our scapegoat, bear our
guilt and our punishment, and yes, our hell, this is the essence
of hell. What is hell? A lot of people
just talk about the fire in hell, that's about all they say. But
the essence of hell is soul agony and separation from God. And
on this cross, our Lord made his soul an offering for sin. And when sin covered his soul,
and when he was subjected to the punishment of our sins, and
when he endured the wrath and judgment of God, and when he
bore the hail that we deserve for our sins on that cross, he
said, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? But I preach it, I believe
it, I rest upon it, I trust in it, Christ is our substitute. He's already paid the debt, all
the debt I owe, sin left to crimson stain, he washed it white as
snow, I owe nothing. Christ has borne my sins and
paid my debt and satisfied the law of God and the justice of
God and there's no hell waiting for any believer because it's
already exhausted itself in the person of Christ upon the soul
and body of our Lord. Christ died for our sins and
because he died we shall not die. Now, fifthly, he said, I
thirst. I thirst. This is the cry of
a man. This is the cry of a man. How truly man was our Lord Jesus
Christ. Bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. God made the oceans. God made the rivers. God made
the seas. God made the streams. God made
the springs that come from the mountains. God made the clouds
that give forth their rain. If he were thirsty, he wouldn't
ask us. No, God wouldn't. But he would
if he was a man. And that's exactly what Christ
is. And that's what this scripture is saying right here. Christ
cried from the cross, I thirst. I thirst because he was thirsty. And because he was a man. This
is the cry of a man. This is the need of a man. Our
Lord Jesus Christ cried this because he was a man. Just like
we are in human flesh, the God man. And then the next place
he cried, it is finished. Here you have Christ the Redeemer.
What were the first words, first recorded words of Christ on this
earth? He was born of Mary and lived
with his family there in the carpenter shop of Joseph and
when he was about 12 years of age they went up to Jerusalem
for a certain feast and Mary and Joseph left and started home
and discovered that they left the boy And they went back after
him, they hunted him several days, finally they found him
in the temple talking to the doctors and scribes and lawyers
and Pharisees. And one of them said, son, why
have you treated us this way? We've been looking for you everywhere.
Don't you know you've grieved us? Here were his first words
recorded in this scripture while he was here on this earth as
a man in the flesh. He said, wish ye not that I be
about my father's business. Those were his first words. I
must be about my father's business. What was his father's business?
He said, I came to do the will of him that sent me, and this
is the will of him that sent me, that everyone that seeth
the Son and believeth on him might have everlasting life.
He came down here to give life and to give it more abundantly.
The angel, when he announced the birth of Christ, said, thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sin. He came to save his people. He
said in Luke 19.10, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save
the lost. He came to save the lost. Paul
said this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom
I am chief. He came to save sinners. So when
he cried from the cross, it is finished. He meant he finished
what he came to do. He finished the salvation of
sinners. He finished obedience to the
ceremonial law. He finished complete submission
to the Father's will. He finished all that he came
to do. Our Lord Jesus Christ had completed
his work. The ceremonial law was now completely
fulfilled on behalf of every one of God's people. The holy
law was completely satisfied. The justice of God was completely
fulfilled. The redemption of the church
was totally complete, and the price was totally paid. Jesus
Christ, our Lord, said when he was hanging on that cross, it's
finished. What I came to do is finished.
The task I came to perform is finished. The work I came to
do is done. The will of the Father is complete.
It's finished. Now what's the last statement?
He said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. What do
I see here? I see Christ the accepted one. On that cross, in these seven
statements, you have Christ Jesus, the mediator. You have Christ
Jesus, the king. Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. You have Christ Jesus, who loves his people, the lover
of his people. You have Christ the human, a
thirst. You have Christ Jesus, the redeemer,
it's finished. You have Christ Jesus now, the
accepted one. Now listen to me. It's one thing
to slay a sacrifice. The priests of the Old Testament
would take the lamb and they would slay that lamb. And they
would put the bullock, the lamb's body, on the altar and roast
it, burn it. And then they would take the
blood in a basin and go into the holy place and go about their
ceremonies and then under the veil into the holy of holies,
into the very presence of God, to put that blood on the mercy
seat, on the broken law. Now that's all well and good
and has to be done. That's the substitute bearing
the sins of the people. That's the picture of Christ.
But now here, this is important too. Most anyone could do that. Most anyone could slay a lamb,
burn its body, take the blood in a basin, go into the holy
place, and then under the veil into the Holy of Holies, but
here's the key. The one who carried the right sacrifice, the sufficient
sacrifice, the accepted sacrifice, would come out. The other wouldn't
come out. They'd drag him out by his heels.
And so Israel would stand outside the tabernacle on the Day of
Atonement, and the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies
with the proper sacrifice, with the proper blood, and then wait
for him to come out. to come out. And when he came
out, there would be a cheer go up from the people because the
sacrifice had been accepted. Well let me tell you this, when
our Lord Jesus Christ said it's finished, his blood was shed,
his body was broken, the sacrifice was complete. When he said, Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit, he declared that he is the accepted
one. Jesus Christ died for our sins
Yea, rather, he rose again. And if he didn't rise again,
Paul said, you're yet in your sins. He is even at the right
hand of God, and he intercedes for us. There is the person and
work of Christ in every one of those sayings. Now, what's the
second thing? I'll move quickly along. In these
seven statements from the cross, you have the main doctrines of
our faith. First of all, you have the forgiveness of sin.
Father, forgive them. God will forgive sin. Here is
forgiveness. full and total, not based on
the merits of men. These people did not deserve
to be forgiven, they were at that moment crucifying the Lord.
But here you have a free declaration of a full pardon for those who
crucified the Son of God, on the merits of our interceding
Lord. Secondly, our Lord said, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise. Here you have Heaven and eternal
life is to be with Christ. Today thou shalt be with me.
Our Lord said, if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again
and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be
also. Paul the Apostle said, for me
to live is Christ and to die is gain, and I have a desire
to depart and be with Christ. That's what eternal life is,
that's what heaven is, that's what glory is, to be with Christ. But David said that, he said,
I'll be satisfied when I wake with his likeness. Eternal life
is to be with Christ and to be like Christ. And then you have
heaven immediately follows death for the believer. Christ said
to the thief, today shalt thou be with me. This is the day of
your death, this is the day of your coronation. This is the
day you leave earth, this is the day you'll enter heaven.
And then thirdly we have our Lord, woman, behold thy son. Notice he didn't call her mother.
He didn't call her, he called her woman. We're not to worship
Mary as the mother of God. God has no mother. Our Lord has
no beginning or ending of days. He said woman, behold our son.
But you have the care of Christ for his people. He cares for
his people. He protects his people. He provides
for his people. He will not leave them alone.
And then you have the great substitute, the penalty paid. My God, why
hast thou forsaken me? There you have, God won't clear
the guilty. God must punish sin. The soul
that sinneth it shall surely die. Well, Christ was punished.
That's why we have hope of eternal life, because our debt's paid.
That's why we have hope of eternal victory, because Christ Jesus
won the victory. And then you have our thirst
that the Scripture might be fulfilled. The Scripture will be fulfilled.
The Word of God is infallible. It cannot be broken. Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but not one jot or one tittle shall pass
from the word of God till it's all fulfilled. The infallibility
of scripture. And then you have complete justification. Our Lord said it's finished.
It's complete. Nothing needs to be added to
salvation. You receive it by faith. You receive it as a gift. You don't add anything to it
because it's finished. It's finished. If someone brought
you a gift and said, now this is all finished, would you try
to add something to it? It's all finished. It doesn't
need you to add anything to it. Christ finished our redemption.
The redemptive work of the church is complete in the hands of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and given to us as a gift. And then last
of all, we're seated with him. He said, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. And my friends, every one of
us, when Christ ascended, we ascended with him. And we're
seated with him on the right hand of God. Now then, here are
the duties of every believer. to forgive others of their sins,
and to repent and confess our sins as a thief on the cross,
and to care for others as our Lord cares for us, and not to
be able to bear separation from God, and to turn to the scriptures
for all things, and to finish our course and to keep the faith,
and to resign in total commitment to our Lord, our souls, and all
that we have, into thy I commend my spirit. Join us next week
at the same time. Until then, Henry Mahan, bidding
you a pleasant good day.

Seven Words From Calvary

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Seven Words From Calvary

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