For over 1,985 years, Christians have carefully traced and retraced the steps of Jesus on that Friday in Jerusalem. And when they come to the cross, they have strained to hear each of the last of the seven sayings of the Savior from the cross. Let me remind you in sequence what those are. And I'll remind you as well that each of these statements were made in incredible agony for our Lord to lift himself up on his toes with spikes and nails driven through various parts of his body, to draw breath as his heart was just about to implode from the pressure upon his heart, and to utter these sayings, which is why they're all very short, all very meaningful. And then I'll point out that With the bulk of these, they were said in the pitch darkness. And so nobody could see the expression on our Lord's face. All they could do is just hear a voice in the dark. The first word from the cross, the very first, and this is fitting that this was the first, was when Jesus cried out, Father, forgive them. We see there the primary emphasis. The first thing is the forgiveness of sins, what's happening on the cross. The second word was the word that Jesus said to the thief, on the side of him. Today you'll be with me in paradise where Jesus states the destination of all who own Jesus as Lord and Savior. The third word from the cross. So when Jesus points to his mother and then points to the beloved disciple John and says woman behold your son son behold your mother the complete obedience to the very end to the very last breath. Jesus is obeying the fifth commandment. He's honoring his mother. We see there that he is obeying the law to the very end because he must earn a righteousness for us. And he can only do that by perfectly obeying and fulfilling the law to the very end. And then the lights go out after the third word. The world turns pitch black. We are told, in fact, in our text, there is darkness over all the earth. And so then the fourth word is stated, but not seen heard where Jesus is in the fourth word. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And as he says those words, that in that moment, the wrath of the father is being poured out upon Jesus, the wrath which is intended for us. But Jesus steps in between as a substitute, taking the wrath of God. And when he says those words, he is at the very depths of his agony and forsakenness. And then the fifth word, when Jesus says, I thirst once again, we see that Jesus is going through the pains the deprivation, the damnation of hell for us. What does everyone who is in hell cry out constantly? I thirst. And what we hear from Jesus in that fifth word is what He is taking for you and I so that we will never say those words. The sixth word is when Jesus cries out that one Greek word, tetelestai. In English, it is finished. When Jesus is saying he has now done everything necessary to purchase the redemption of sinners, nothing remains to be done by you or anyone else. And then that seventh word that tonight we will hear as we stand reverently on holy ground next to the cross, to hear Jesus say that final dying word, Pastor Dodds just read it a moment ago in Luke 23, we read that there's been darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, the veil of the temple was torn in two, and Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Having said this, he breathed his last." Or in other words, he died. And so as we consider this text, let's seek the help of the Lord, his Holy Spirit now. Our Father, we thank you for this word, its clarity, its authority, its inerrancy, that it is our sure foundation. By our reason, we cannot comprehend these words, so we ask for the help of your Holy Spirit to open our eyes. We thank you that this text particularly reveals our Savior so clearly. Drive these words deep into our hearts and our minds. It is vanity if only a man speaks to us. So by your spirit and words, speak to us. We cast ourselves again upon you, confident that you will give us light and understanding. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen. tiny bit of background, I would ask you to keep your copy of God's Word open. It's more than fitting that I ask you to do this so you can see the Word, because what I want us to begin looking at is the way this Word has power. All through the events of Good Friday, it's vital to note the Old Testament background for each element. And this is to show the truthfulness of Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 15, Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. When Paul says that in 1 Corinthians 15, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, he means each element of the suffering and death of Christ fulfills specific Old Testament scriptural prophecy. And this last word is no different. It is a quotation from scripture. Isn't that amazing that that's the last word on our Lord's lips? Is scripture. Not a citation from a learned philosopher or a political leader. But a word from the Old Testament, the only Bible Jesus had. Jesus could have made an original declaration for his final word. He's God the Son. But he went to that book so dear to him to furnish him with his last word. And when Jesus says, into your hand I commit my spirit, he is quoting Psalm 31.5. How instructive to us that the incarnate living word lived and died on the inspired and written word. When Jesus said early in his public ministry in Matthew 4, in the great temptation in the wilderness, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. He's not telling us anything that he didn't do. The word was his food. Jesus, in many respects, didn't need this book as we do. The Holy Spirit was poured out upon him without measure, yet he loved the scriptures. And he studied them and memorized them and used their expressions constantly. Did you hear that? He memorized them. Do you really think that Jesus on the cross with both hands had a free hand to pull out of his robe? Oh, he was wearing no robe. A scroll and to read Psalm 31. He could quote these words from the cross because he'd committed them to memory. It was said of the great John Bunyan that if you pricked him, he would bleed the Bible. His congregation said he couldn't speak a word without quoting or referring to a text of scripture. In that sense, Bunyan was, as all believers should be, conformed to the image of Christ. Now let me quickly make an application. And it's the argument from the greater to the lesser. If the omniscient, all-wise second person of the Trinity filled his mind with scriptures, how much more do you and I need to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God? Many of you have minds and mouths that are filled with punchlines from sitcoms or key phrases from your favorite musical artist. But if I were to say to you tonight, start writing all of the scripture you've committed to memory, it wouldn't fill up the back of your bulletin. The apostle James says, my brethren, these things should not be. And what we see the Lord Jesus doing, as he's done all of his life, his very last word, the seventh saying of the Savior from the cross, is scripture that he had memorized. Well, one of the things that should be glorious and delightful to every believer, as you look at those words in verse 46, the last words to come from our Lord's lips before he expires, is this word, Father. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And I want to point out something to you. Perhaps you've not thought about this. You've not put the crucifixion and the death and the words of Jesus under the microscope. And so that's my task tonight to help you. This is exceedingly wonderful, this last word, because there's been a while for several hours on this Friday where the communion that existed for all eternity past between the first and second person of the Trinity was broken. The light of the Father's face was hidden from the Son as Christ became our sin bearer. But now the darkness has passed and that separation has ended forever. Up until the cross, there had been perfect unbroken fellowship between the Father and the Son forever. Notice how even on the night before, on Maundy Thursday, that night before, Jesus had referred to the first person of the Trinity. Jesus, while agonizing in Gethsemane, said, Father, If it is your will, take this cup away." At the arrest of Jesus, Peter is told by Jesus, Peter, put your sword back into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which my Father has given me? And even on the cross, during that first period of time around 9 a.m., Jesus is still found in communion with the Father. We hear that first word from the cross when Jesus cries out painfully and says, Father, forgive them. And now here in the last word, the seventh word, his last word is, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. But in between those two utterances, Jesus becomes the substitute for sinners, the penalty bearer. for all of his chosen elect. During those hours, he was, to use the language of Isaiah 53, smitten by God and afflicted, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The Lord is laying on him the iniquity of us all. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. During those hours, the father withdrew from the son, which evoked that terrible cry which is known as the word of dereliction when Jesus cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Do you notice that during that time Jesus could not cry out, Father, simply Eli, Eli, or my God, my God. But now when we come to the seventh word, the work is done. The cup of God's wrath has been drained and we see now the Son back in perfect fellowship with the Father. how often that word, father, was upon our Lord's lips. Think of his first recorded words at age 12, when Joseph and Mary come to find him in the temple and Jesus says, did you not know that I had to be about my father's business? In His first formal discourse, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks of the Father no fewer than 17 times when He says, in giving those instructions to His disciples, pray to your Father who is in the secret place. Your Father knows the things you have need of. Pray this way, our Father who art in heaven. If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father and know how he delighted to use that term. Father speaks of that perfect unbroken communion that he had had from all eternity past. Between the first and second person of the Trinity, even in the upper room discourse the night before on Monday, Thursday, Jesus used the word father 45 times. We hear, for example, Jesus saying in the upper room discourse, just hours before the cross, in my father's house are many mansions. He who has seen me has seen the father. I will pray the father and he'll give you another helper. I'm the true vine and my father is the vinedresser. Oh, how it gave Jesus to say those words, my father. But then comes that agonizing stretch of hours and the father turns his face away and fellowship is broken. And he's pouring out his wrath, the wrath that belongs to you and I. And Jesus cannot take the name on his lips. And all he can say is, my God, you've forsaken me. Now, the last time Jesus speaks in verse 46, before he lays down his life, gives up the ghost, he says again those wonderful words that give him so much pleasure now. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. He does this, by the way, to refute all those around the cross who said he was forsaken by God. He cries out, Father, to show that he was still dear to the Father and that he could confidently put his soul into the hands of the righteous and holy First Person of the Trinity. You should notice as well, by saying these words, this is a declaration of submission to the Father. These words, Father, into your hand I commit my spirit, shows us that Jesus was completely content with the Father's will. There is complete resignation to what the Father will do. Haven't we seen this all through Christ's life? Think of that time in Matthew chapter 11 when Jesus had preached and taught mightily and healed extensively, and very few, if any, had come to repentance and faith in his home district. Listen to what he says to his Father. I thank you, Father. Lord of heaven and earth, that you've hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, father, it seemed good in your sight. Jesus doesn't throw a fit and say, father, why aren't you saving all these people? No. He's perfectly content with the sovereign plan of the Father. And He has submitted Himself to it. If the Father in that case is pleased to reprobate some, Jesus is content. If the Father is pleased to draw some, He is content. And what we see here is that Jesus dies as He lives. yielding himself into the hands of the Father. It is not as though some new thought crossed his mind, but simply the completion of a 33-year pattern. This is the last act of a dying Savior, and how exquisitely beautiful, how thoroughly in keeping with his whole life, it demonstrates his perfect confidence in the Father. I should speak of, for a moment, the signs that accompany this word. We are told in Matthew's parallel account in Matthew 27 that as Jesus says these words, several signs occurred in conjunction with his final statement. We are told in Matthew 27 that the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The Father by this act as if by his own hands, took the veil and ripped it apart, demonstrating that all the barriers of the old covenant were now taken away. Jesus, by his death, had opened the way into the Holy of Holies, that you and I can now come boldly into the presence of God because it's safe. Jesus has opened the way. We're also told in Matthew's gospel that the earth quaked and rocks were split so that the very creation was shaken to its core. The creation itself is groaning at the death of its creator, of Christ. And we're told as well in Matthew 27 that graves were opened, many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the graves. The powerful effects of Jesus' death reached down to the domain of the dead. This is simply, by the way, an intimation of what's about to happen on Sunday morning. It's right that the attention of everyone in and around Jerusalem should be aroused in a distinct way so that when the sacrifice for sin was made and the son of God was dying, everybody would perk up and pay attention. There were signs and wonders done in the sight of Israel. When the law was given at Sinai, the old covenant was ratified. How much more should there be signs and wonders when the new covenant is being ratified? Look at those glorious last words of verse 46. Having said this, he breathed his last. That's the focus, of course, of Good Friday, is the death of Jesus. And what we've come here to commemorate and proclaim is the death. He breathed his last. A couple of things have to be said about the very death of Christ, the expiration. First is it was voluntary. Jesus' death was like no one else's ever. His life wasn't taken from him. As he said, he laid it down. We die passively. He died actively. What should impress us is the voluntariness of Christ's sacrificial death. when he says, I commit my spirit. This is technical language for willingly, voluntarily handing something over. I want you to think of how the rest of the New Testament informs our understanding of this. Paul writes in Ephesians chapter five, walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. That's what Jesus is doing here. He's giving himself for us. as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Christ, Paul says, is not said to be like an offering or a sacrifice. He is an offering and a sacrifice. A sacrifice, you'll remember from the Old Covenant, had to be stuck and bleed. But a voluntary sacrifice under the ceremonial law in Leviticus was accounted to be a sweet savor to God, just as good scents please and refresh us. So the sacrifice of Christ pleased and refresh the father. Our sins had sent up a stench, a rotten foulness to God, but Jesus expels that scent by the perfume of his blood. I could spend all evening on how Jesus fulfills this picture of a sweet smelling sacrifice. But one interesting side note is found in the book of Exodus, Exodus 30, where God commanded that the spices that would be burned with the sacrificial animals be pounded and crushed before burning, just so Jesus was crushed to be rendered a sweet perfume to God. What would drive Jesus to be a voluntary sacrifice for you? There's only one answer tonight, and that is his great love. Because of his great love for you, he endured non-recognition, humiliation, and poverty in his life. Because of his great love for you, he made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form of a servant. But especially tonight, because of his great love for you, he became a perfect, willing sacrifice. The second thing that has to be said about the death of Jesus It's not only is his death voluntary, it's actual. I'm always amazed at people who say, do you really think a physical man expired, that he died? Luke, a doctor and a historian whose gospel we're reading would know something about dead bodies, records for us that Jesus is dead. In fact, the death of Jesus, the literal, bodily, visible, medical, add as many adjectives as you want, death of Jesus is insisted upon by all the New Testament writers. What happened medically speaking? John tells us in John 19 that when they came to Jesus, that is the Roman soldiers and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out. Technically, any medical personnel here know this, that a Roman soldier took his spear and drove it through the fifth inner space between the ribs of Jesus, then upward through the pericardium and into Jesus' heart. And from that wound rushed forth blood and water, demonstrating conclusively that Jesus had suffered fatal torment and was now dead. But what's interesting is how all of the biblical writers conspire to say the same thing. They all will line up to testify, yes, dead, yes, dead. Jesus is said, we're told in Revelation chapter 1, records the words of Jesus when he says, I was dead and now I'm alive. Peter, you'll remember in Acts chapter 2, a few weeks after the cross and resurrection, preaching on the day of Pentecost to thousands of people, said, men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death. And by the way, nobody stopped Peter and said, oh no, not technically. He wasn't really dead, he was just badly wounded. If Peter hadn't been telling the truth on that day, there would have been plenty of people who said, no credibility, he said Jesus died, let's leave now. But nobody left. Nobody challenged it because the death of Jesus was actual, it was real. In fact, you remember what Mark writes in his gospel account. Mark writes, now when evening had come, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in and asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Pilate marveled that he was already dead. And summoning the centurion, he asked if he'd been dead for some time. So when he found out from the centurion that he had, he granted the body to Joseph. But Paul makes the most distinctive and conclusive statement about the death of Jesus, when in his brief summary of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says, I deliver to you, first of all, that which I also receive, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. A man cannot be saved. He has not understood the gospel. If he does not understand that he must believe, assent, and cling to this truth, Jesus died. He expired. I've had the pastoral privilege to be in the room with dozens of church members and friends and believers. When the line goes flat on the machine and you hear that eerie beep, no longer are the lines going up and down, now all the lines are flat. I know what that means. I know very little in terms of medical jargon, but I know what that means. And if there would have been somebody who had had an EKG machine hooked up to Jesus on that Friday afternoon, he would have flatlined. He was dead. How do we apply this word? First of all, I want to remind you of how Jesus views the Bible. Remember, his very last words are a quote of scripture. How much authority does Jesus give the Bible? He values it. He leans on it. It supplies the soundtrack for his death. This tactic of dependence upon the scriptures is not an oddity with our Lord on the cross. Repeatedly. He calls men to search the scriptures over and over again. Jesus begins rebukes by saying, have you not read a conviction of the absolute authority of scripture is vital to obtain and possess. The son of God had many ideas and word choices at his disposal, but the only one he used was the scriptures. This is to teach us what authority and power the word has. He clings to the written word in his death. That is the public revelation of God's will. So the first thing we should see is our Lord's view of the scriptures, that his dying words are the Bible. The second thing that should take away from this text is now you and I know what love is. When you read those words, In verse 46, you now have a definition of love. If you were to go to the mall or to a restaurant tonight and you were to take a microphone and start asking people, tell me what love is? And you would get the silly and the romantic and the squishy answer. And you say, well, you know, the Bible has a totally different definition. Here's what the Bible's definition of love is. First John 3, By this we know what love is because he laid down his life for us. That's the definition. And so when in your Bible where it says these words, he breathed his last right over it, right beside it, point arrows to that and say, this is love. That a perfectly holy, righteous person would die for sinners. That's love. A third application. Because Jesus has just gone through this awful, horrendous separation from the Father. You never will be separated from him. You've seen Jesus separated from the Father as he serves as our penalty bearer. Now he's happily reunited with the Father and back in fellowship and communion. But if you're in Christ, you will never be separated from God. You will never hear those awful words, depart from me, I never knew you. You will never cry out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because Jesus was forsaken, you never will be. But finally, as we move towards the table now, some of you don't like to think about the death of certain loved ones. But that cannot be our attitude when we think about the death of Jesus. Both in the word and in the sacrament, we must replay and rehearse the death of Jesus repeatedly. In the pulpit, we are to be death-focused. Remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1? I determine not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. In the Lord's Supper, as we come to the table, we are proclaiming the death of Christ. This is remarkable. Do we proclaim the death of other loved ones? No. We remember the death and the date, but we don't commemorate. But this is not merely a commemoration, it's a proclamation. Remember what Paul said in the instructions for the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11, as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup, you are proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes. Never forget this, what is being preached by these elements is the bloody, painful, sacrificial death of Jesus. That's what we are proclaiming and celebrating for all to see and hear. At the Lord's table, we are preaching Christ's death and we are to go on doing so. We don't go on proclaiming the death of any other person. A death is announced and if we were to go on continually proclaiming it, we would be regarded as insane. But in the case of Jesus' death, we are to continually, regularly proclaim it. All of this points to the significance and the unique character of Jesus' death. Why? What makes this death worthy of being proclaimed over and over again now for two millennia? It is its redemptive character that makes it significant. Even through eternity, we will sing to Christ, you are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals for you were slain. and have redeemed us to God by your blood. Let's pray together. Our Father, how we thank you for this account. How we praise you that in your holiness and justice, you turned your face away from the son as he was bearing our sin, taking our penalty upon himself. How we thank you for the blessed son of God that he willingly, voluntarily, took upon himself all of our sin, bearing your wrath, and did not stop until it was all finished. O Lord, we pray that tonight, through the word and by the sacrament, you would endear Christ us all the more, that having trusted in him, we would love him. Having loved him, we would serve and obey him. We pray now as we come to feed on Christ, that you would feed us, give us grace through this covenant meal. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.