Jesus on the Cross (Part 3)

Introduction

This morning we come and celebrate Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday is the day that traditionally Jesus entered Jerusalem with great pomp and circumstance!

Riding on the back of a colt, Jesus Jerusalem as the people yelled and shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Matthew 21:9).

Now just a few days later, Jesus is hanging on a cross, sentenced to die. It was the worst punishment that Rome could dish out. And now Jesus was enduring it.

Over the past two Sundays, we have been looking at the last seven phrases uttered by Jesus. All of these words were spoken while He was hanging on the cross.

Today we come to the last two phrases uttered by our Savior and Lord.

We are beginning with John chapter 19. So if you have your Bibles, I want to encourage you to turn with me to John 19:30.

Throughout the years that I’ve served the Lord as a minister of His gospel, I have seen and heard of people who once served Jesus, but ended up turning their backs on Him.

Yet, I desire to be like Jesus and finish well. I want to live my entire life all the way into eternity serving Jesus!

Jesus finished well. But finishing well was not easy. You may remember back to His time back in the Garden of Gesthemane.

Three times, on the night He was betrayed, He went and prayed to the Father, asking the Father to find another way to save humanity. Any other way!

A way that didn’t involve Jesus suffering on the cross, yet at the end of each those prayers, Jesus prayed, “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” In our first passage today, we see that Jesus finished well!

Finish Well

John 19:30 NIV

“It is finished.”

In the Greek, this is one word tetelestai (tete lest ai). It is often translated: to finish, to end, to satisfy, to be fully accomplished, and to be perfected.

Like many other English translations, the NIV translates this word with the phrase, “It is finished” The NET translates this word with the phrase “It is accomplished.”

Enduring the physical agony, Jesus finished well!

Enduring the spiritual agony, Jesus finished well!

Enduring all that the Father asked Him to endure, Jesus finished well!

I’m nothing special, I’m nothing great, but like Jesus I want to finish well! I want to please and honor the Lord God with the totality of my being!

My prayer is that when God is finished with me here on earth, I can say the words that Paul spoke to Timothy when he said,

2 Timothy 4:7–8 NIV

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

How about you? Will you follow the example of Jesus, and finish well no matter what it might cost?

Trusting God

In order to look at our final phrase of Jesus, we need to turn to the book of Luke, and look at the 23 chapter. When you come to verse 46 we have the final words of Jesus!

Luke 23:46 NIV

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

If you are like me, you have read these words more times that you can remember! But this morning, I hope you will take a minute and really see these words.

In these last words, Jesus put His full trust in God the Father!

Now stop and remember some of the other saying that Jesus spoke on the cross—especially one that we looked at last week.

Remember, Jesus cried out, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?).

Last week, we talked about the fact that for the first time in His eternal existence, Jesus was totally separated from the Father and completely alone.

Yet, in His final moments, Jesus trusted the Father, even though He couldn’t feel the Father.

He trusted the Father, even though He could see the Father!

And He trusted the Father, even though He, at that moment, did not understand what the Father was doing!

In that moment, Jesus cried out “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Like Jesus, there will be times in our lives when you and I will be unable to feel the presents of God, but that is no reason to stop trusting and following Him!

Like Jesus, there will be times when we cannot see God and we may not know where He is leading, but that is no reason to stop trusting and following Him!

And Like Jesus, there will be times when we may not understand what God is doing—it may not make sense to us—but that is no reason to stop trusting and following Him!

Like Jesus, we must trust and follow God no matter what we endure!

The Rest of the Story

We read, that when Jesus had finished saying these seven phrases Matthew says, “When he had said this, he breathed his last.” Mark says, “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.” Today, we have seen that John says, “With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” And Luke tell us that Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”

At that moment, we are told of several things that happened.

We’ve already seen that from noon to three in the afternoon darkness fell across the land, as the sun refused to shine.

We are told that when Jesus died, the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was torn in two from the top to the bottom!

The curtain was big! Really big! It was 30 feet wide and 90 feet high. It was actually made up of two curtains that hung 18 inches apart. They actually hung on each side of the support pillars of the temple.

Because of the curtains immense size, each of them were woven to be extremely strong. Thus it is safe to say that the curtains themselves were thicker than normal material.

They were embroidered with blue, scarlet, and purple threads, creating a mystical representation of the universe.

The tearing of the temple curtain, at the moment of Jesus’, death symbolized that God’s people would now have direct access to God! And that access was going to be offered to all of humanity.

Matthew tells us that there was a great earthquake. “The earth shook, the rocks split” (Matt. 27:51).

Matthew also tells us, “and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. . .” (Matt. 27:52-53).

And one of the most amazing events was that the centurion who was sent to carry out the execution said, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Matt. 27:54).

So What?

While He was here on this earth, Jesus told His disciples (and ultimately us) “In this world you will have trouble” (Jn. 16:33a).

This world—the world that we live in will be filled with all kinds of troubles. We know them as hurts and heartaches.

We know them as illnesses like cancer, heart attacks, and many other kinds of sicknesses that cause us pain.

We know these troubles as spiritual separation from God through our sin.

We know trouble as drug and alcohol addiction.

We know trouble as interpersonal problems like divorce, or rebellious children.

Yest in this world we will have ALL Kinds of trouble! But the verse doesn’t stop there! It goes on to say, “But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33b).

And on the cross, Jesus announced to the world that It was complete! The price for sin had been paid!

And now today, we must commit our lives to Jesus no matter what it looks like, no matter how we feel, and no matter what we understand or don’t understand! We must commit ourselves to Jesus as Lord!