Words From the Cross

Intro to breakfast:

Friends we’re gathered here at this bittersweet celebration! It’s a melancholy joy, because we celebrate the most atrocious act of human history. It is at once the most awful event conceivable, as well as the day that we Christians love dearly!

Today we remember the the Death of Jesus Christ. It happened on a Friday morning roughly 2000 years ago.

But it is a dark day. A sad day, because we remember that it was our sin that drove Jesus to the cross. He was there because we put him there.

Had we been in the crowd that day, we would have joined the throng and screamed “Crucify him!”

On that Day, Love Was Murdered.

On that Day, the Creator was killed by his creation.

On that Day, the the Sinless Christ became Sin for Us.

We celebrate the death of Christ, not because he was a tyrant who deserved it, but because he is our redeeming King who didn’t deserve it.

We celebrate because the death of Christ was our atonement, the payment for our sins, it is the climax of tension for our story of redemption.

It is a Good Friday because it was the best day for us who were lost without hope in the depth of despair and guilt.

We’ll talk more about what Good Friday means in a little while. But for now we are going to break our fast together. As we eat around this table we remember our need to be sustained by food and drink. Soon we will share the Lords Supper and remember Him our true food and drink.

Let me give thanks....

Lord’s Supper:

When Israel was in Egypt, God pronounced his Judgement on that wicked nation. He said he would send the angel of death to kill the firstborn of every family. But God provided a way of escape from Judgment - kill a lamb and put it’s blood on the door-posts. Then gather your household and eat that sacrificed lamb.

The Judgment of God passed over those families who trusted in God and took the sacrifice for themselves.

This was a shadow of a greater Passover to come.

The judgment of God weighs heavily on the human race. Each of us deserve judgment and consequences for the way we have lived.

But God has provided a way of escape. The LORD is forgiving and merciful. He has provided another Lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!

Jesus is our Lamb, who’s blood will cause the judgment of God to pass over us. He is the sacrificial meal that we must eat.

We’re not going to literally eat Jesus, but symbolically, that’s what we’re about to do, as he taught us.

On the night when Jesus was Betrayed, he took bread...

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Thankyou Lord for Jesus our Passover Lamb - who’s blood we claim to cover our guilt, and whose body we claim to be our sacrifice.

Jesus was crucified in our place, and we thank you Lord for providing this Salvation!

Song...

Introduction

As we remember the death of Jesus today, it is an ideal time to dwell on the words Jesus spoke on the cross. These few phrases from Luke’s account of the events remind us what Jesus is like, and what he achieved on that cross. There are 3 key Phrases from Luke 23 that we will breifly look at.

To refresh you memory, remember what happened in the lead up to that fateful day:

Jesus had traveled up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

Jesus was gaining popularity and many were beginning to understand he was the promised Messiah.

Judas Iscariot agreed to betray Jesus. Judas was one of the 12 closest disciples of Jesus, and he betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

Jesus shared the Passover, and then went out of Jerusalem to the mount of Olives where they worshiped and Jesus prayed, preparing for what he knew was about to happen.

Judas led a band of soldiers to arrest Jesus late that night.

The next day, Jesus was rushed through a corrupt trial by the Jewish leaders, and then the local Roman governor was politically manipulated to issue an execution order for the innocent Jesus.

So on that Friday morning the guiltless God-man was lead out to be crucified - the Roman execution for criminals where you would have your hands and feet nailed to a cross and then you would be left to die from the combination of exposure to the elements, dehydration, suffocation (if you didn’t have the strength to hold yourself up to breathe), and any other wounds you had suffered. Jesus had already gone through at least two beatings and a flogging before he was crucified.

It was an awful way to die, made doubly tragic by the fact that Jesus was innocent.

Yet, Jesus was not concerned for himself, for his reputation, or the pain that he suffered. He was concerned for those around him, which lead to the first words Luke records from the cross:

1. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing

As he hung there, Jesus prayed for those who had essentially killed him:

Luke 23:32–34 NIV

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

Jesus had every right to be angry with those who were killing an innocent man. It is absolutely mind-blowing that the Creator would be executed by His own creation! The actions of those soldiers is outrageous!

Yet, Jesus prays for them. He is kind. He is merciful.

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

He asks for God the Father to take away their guilt. Forgive them.

Friends, many of us don’t realize just how outrageous our actions toward God are! We are in a world of our own oblivious to God. We think that he has to bow to our wants and desires. Or we just ignore Him as if he is unimportant, and we’re the center of the universe. Perhaps you have even replaced God with other things you worship, like money or influence or lifestyle.

This is horrid insolence! We should be mortified by the dishonor that we have done to God!

In our blind indifference we treat God like a common criminal, unworthy of our time or devotion or love. We may as well be the guys holding the hammer and nails for crucifixion.

But...

Jesus knows our frame. He knows that we are dust. He knows that we are radically corrupted by sin.

And he asks for mercy. He hold out forgiveness to stubborn, prideful and insolent people like you and me, even if we were the ones who put Him on that cross!

So, now, how do we find that forgiveness? How can we access that mercy? It comes from Jesus - he is the source! Go to him!

In the next words from Jesus on the cross we are shown that Jesus gives eternal life to those who come to him!

2. Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

Jesus says this to a man who was undoubtedly guilty! He was a criminal quite literally, yet even in his dying breaths, condemned, he is able to access the mercy of God in Jesus, and receive eternal life...

Luke 23:39–43 NIV

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

There was no grand ceremonies, or miraculous signs here, the thief on the cross recognized his need, and asked Jesus for something. And Jesus delivered!

He had nothing to bring Jesus, he couldn’t clean himself up for God, he had to call out in the midst of his trouble.

For this criminal, he recognized that Jesus was indeed the messianic King, and that somehow, through death Jesus would bring in his kingdom. And he hoped that somehow, some way he might be part of that on the other side of death. Remember me...

This is the same pattern for all believers - young and old! We recognize our need for salvation, we own up to the fact that we deserve judgement! And then we ask in faith that Jesus would save us! It is the meaning of his Name! We reach out to him with whatever little faith that we have!

A Jesus will give you salvation! Jesus will save you from His judgement! Jesus will grant you eternal life!

Romans 10:13 NIV

for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

We must be careful that we are calling on the Lord for the salvation that he offers, not something else! You are bound to be disappointed if you are banking on God giving you something that you selfishly desire! This was the case for the other guy on a cross. He too called out “Save us”, but he was only concerned with his immediate circumstances - he wanted the suffering to go away and Jesus to prove his power. The other submitted himself to Jesus, humbly hoping and trusting. And that's what Jesus responds to, granting an entrance into paradise that very day!

While we still wait for the final consummation, there is an immediacy in our salvation. It is given now! It is secure now! It is not only a future hope with the final coming of the kingdom, it is here and now yours if you trust in Jesus! To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord!

The last saying from the cross we will look at is:

3. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

This saying shows us just how deliberate this dying was. Jesus went to that cross on purpose. He died in accordance with the Father’s plan.

Lets look...

Luke 23:44–46 NIV

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Creation itself began to cramp up in anticipation of the death of Jesus. It was dark. There was an earthquake according to the other Gospel accounts.

Jesus could have called down legions of angels to rescue him and destroy the people who unjustly punished Him. But he does not.

He remained steadfastly committed to the plan of redemption.

He remained resolute.

He remained on that Cross... until the time was right.

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

When everything was ready, he, of his own volition, gave up his spirit.

The embodied God the Son, was killed.

Like the Passover lamb, he was slain to turn away judgment.

Like the sin offering, he was slain to make atonement.

Jesus the sinless one took on the sin of His people and died in our place.

You and I should have been up there, bearing our own guilt. But Jesus went in our place!

And he did it deliberately, as part of the define plan and foreknowledge of God, to redeem his people. When his time was done, he made that final act of trusting in God letting go of his embodied existence know that the Father would receive him!

Conclusion

We have sinned outrageously toward Jesus, but he knows our weakness, and hols out forgiveness.

Forgiveness comes from Jesus, and we must seek him with humble faith, to receive it. He will grant eternal life to all who believe on him.

That forgiveness was won through the deliberate plan of God; Father, Son and HS working together to accomplish the atonement.

The story doesn’t end here: Sunday is coming...