IS YOUR LIFE IN HIS HANDS (2)

Introduction

We celebrate this occasion tonight because we subscribe to the same story. Our metanarrative (story) is the one prescribed in this book. Take this book away and we are left without hope, peace, or Joy.

Who am I talking to tonight?

But, thank God for the book tonight that banishes gloom, despair, and agony and offers us the hope of salvation, peace that surpasses all understanding, and joy like an everflowing river.

One more statement

There is one more statement that Jesus made before he died. It is my contention that this last word was deliberately designed to drive darkness, despair, and doubt away tonight. When we hear Jesus say “Father into thy hands, I commit my Spirit,” we discover and experience hope, peace, and joy knowing that Our lives, too, are in His hands.

Walk with me a little while

Luke gives us the status of the crucifixion event by updating us on the time, “It was now about the sixth hour.” The original audience would have understood the sixth hour as 12 noon. So Luke says to us that right around noon two phenomenons happened.

Two Phenomenons

First, He says, that at the time when the sun was at its highest point in the sky, it was eclipsed by a darkness that lasted for three hours.

Who in here knows anything at all about dark days?

Darkness

Somebody ought to help me witness if you have had your share of dark days.

Trouble

heartache

pain

Somebody may have come this event tonight with darkness all around you, but I can hear the Lord telling you...

I will make the darkness light before thee, What is wrong I’ll make it right before thee, All thy battles I will fight before thee, And the high place I’ll bring down.

Refrain When thou walkest by the way I’ll lead thee, On the fatness of the land I’ll feed thee, And a mansion in the sky I’ll deed thee, And the high place I’ll bring down.

(Are y’all here with me?)

Luke said it was dark because the sun was obscured. Some have tried to explain what happened on Calvary away by calling it an eclipse. Eclipse: an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three celestial objects is known as a syzygy. Apart from syzygy, the term eclipse is also used when a spacecraft reaches a position where it can observe two celestial bodies so aligned. But I think the old negro preacher described it best when he declared that the sun would not shine because two suns could not shine at the same time, so the sun had to fall back and to let the Son shine!

(Is that alright tonight?)

The Veil in the Temple was torn in two

Luke says that the other phenomenon attending this time frame of the crucifixion was that the curtain in the temple was torn in two. How would Luke’s original audience have interpreted this event ?

They would have understood that the curtain/veil symbolized the remoteness of God, so when it was torn to expose the Holy of Holies it indicated that Jesus’ death opened the way into the presence of God. It meant that the ministry of the high priest was at an end. It signified that Jesus, in his role as Our Great High priest, removed the wall of partition that separated people from God and made it possible for all to come boldly to the the throne of grace (See Heb. 4:16). I think I need to tell you that the tearing was an act of God. In the gospel of Matthew 27:51, the writer says that it (the veil) was torn from top to bottom and this indicates that it was an act of God since men would have to tear it from the bottom to the top [Su].

Matthew 27:51 NASB95

51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

What He Said

As fascinating as it is see the events attending his death, it is what he said that concerns us tonight ...

“Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit” (Lk 23:46).

Luke has a different picture of the end than John and the other evangelists. Matthew and Mark report only “a great cry” after the cry of dereliction, ending on a dark note. John ends with the completed work.

Luke, who reports no feeling of forsaken-ness, ends by telling us the great cry was a quotation of Psalm 31:5 (cf. Stephen in Acts 7:59).

FATHER

The quotation is prefaced by “Father,” the familiar “Abba,” a form of address characteristic of Jesus. His relationship to God is unbroken to the end.

When the writer say Father he is using figurative language to portray : Father as God — God is conceptualized as the ideal father who creates, loves and, provides for his children.

The Gospels remind us of how Jesus reveals God to us… He says, when you address Him, say: Our Father.

Can anybody lift open your mouth and sing with recording artist Fred Hammond:

Our Father We love to call you By your grace you have adopted Now we're your children You now receive us Joint heirs with Jesus Our father, our father

Your awesome love You've shown to us Goes beyond our wildest dreams You saturate our lives with grace and mercy And because you love You chasten us If we should go astray Like a father Our father

INTO YOUR HANDS

God’s Hands as God’s Presence — God’s hands represent God’s presence. Jesus knew that what the Psalmist had said was completely true: Psalms 16:11

Psalm 16 (NASB95)

I have set the Lord continually before me;

Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will dwell securely.

10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

11 You will make known to me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Jesus is not leaping into the dark or fighting against the unknown, but placing himself in death into the hands of the same Father he has served in life.

I COMMIT MY SPIRIT

Real quick: the word commit is translated from the Greek word paratithēmi, meaning to entrust for safekeeping, give over, entrust, commend.

What are you entrusting into the presence of God Jesus? My Spirit

Spirit is pneuma, that is, that which animates or gives life to the body, breath. So then, this could be considered “The Word of Reunion.”

“Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit” (Lk. 23:46). His remaining strength was spent in this final utterance. It was not a request but an announcement. He was going home.

And as prepare to leave you this evening, let me remind you that Jesus died on the cross so that we too could enjoy the presence of God eternally.

Thus this saying serves as a model for the dying Christian as Psalm 31 did for the dying Jew.

The Bottom Line

Well Brothers and Sisters, the world that we live in is in a serious mess and many people are worried about what the next day may bring. But can I tell you something this evening that will give you hope, peace, and joy. Here it is:

“You don’t have to worry, and You don’t have to be afraid. Joy comes in the morning, Trouble don’t last always. We have a friend, a friend in Jesus who will wipe our tears away and if , yes lord, your heart is broken, You can lift your hands and say...

Will y’all say it tonight?

I know that I can make it, I know that I can stand. No Matter, Hey Hey, what comes my way. My Life is in His hands.

Yes,

Yeeees,

Oh, o,o,o Yes!

Can you say that tonight?

It’s in his hands, its in his hands, My Life is in His hands.