Words from the Cross

It's nice to hear how people came to know the Savior. Our brother read in Exodus 13 and 13 and talked about that tract, that safety, certainty, and enjoyment. That's the same tract I was reading the night that I was saved.

Let's pray. Our Father, we thank Thee for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for ever sending Him.

Father, what a marvelous thing it is that God would love the world. And then we think of insignificant little people in places like rural Prince Edward Island, places like Wisconsin and Iowa. And yet there's a God in heaven who loves us and who desires salvation.

And there might be a young girl or a young boy here tonight knowing that they are the object of the love of God. We preach the gospel with full confidence that God can save them. There might be an older person here tonight, still not saved.

Help us to present Christ, but most of all, that God would speak to the hearts. Give us help. We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. Turn with me in your Bible to the book of Psalms, please. Psalm number 22.

Psalm number 22. We'll read verse one. The title of the psalm says, to the chief musician, upon Ejeleth Shehar, a psalm of David.

And verse one says, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hear us not. And in the night season and am not silent, but thou art holy. O thou that inhabit us, the praises of Israel.

Now turn to verse number 29, please. All they that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship. All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him, and none can keep alive his own soul.

A seed shall serve him. It shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness onto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

And that's all we'll read. What I'd like to do with you together for the first part of this gospel meeting is to think about the words of the Lord Jesus. What I would like you to focus on, if you're here tonight and you're not saved, I would like you not to focus on so much what the preacher says, and not what you're thinking about what other people have said, or even the testimony of our brethren here and how they were saved.

Thank God for their testimony and thank God for a real and true conversion. But just for the next 20 minutes, please focus only on what the Lord Jesus says. What we're going to do is we're going to take our minds and we're going to go back in time to a real event that took place outside of Jerusalem's walls almost 2,000 years ago when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, nailed to a cross.

We're going to go to different portions in the gospels and we're going to find out the words that he spoke. And from the words that he spoke at the cross on that day, we're going to find out what he thinks, how he feels. So again, if you want to be saved, we're going to focus on what he says.

You got it, right? On what he says. If you were to go to Luke's gospel chapter 23, it is verse number 33 that tells us, when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. Now, I don't know if you know about Calvary.

I'm sure there are many people here tonight, perhaps every person who knows about Bethlehem. They know that he came into the world. They know that very shortly after Halloween is done and then after Thanksgiving is over, it's already over in Canada, by the way, after Thanksgiving is over, then you will have Christmas that supposedly celebrates the birthday of the Lord Jesus in Bethlehem.

And you know about that. And I thank God for Bethlehem. I thank God that it fulfills scripture from the Old Testament.

I thank God that he came into the world. But when we say the place called Calvary, we are talking about these specific place. I believe that God had appointed where his son was going to die on a cross, not as a martyr for his religion and not merely as an example of one who stood up for what he believed in, but as a sacrifice to put away sin once and for all.

At the place called Calvary. Not only do I believe that it is a place that was appointed and selected by God, I believe the timing was appropriately selected by God or in due time Christ died for the ungodly. And you can see it unfolding as you read the scriptures very carefully that the Lord Jesus Christ died in due time or just at the right time to mark the difference between the ages, but just at the time to ensure that people were made aware that God remains righteous in forgiving sins that are past and God remains righteous in forgiving sins that are future because what Christ accomplished on Calvary put away sin completely by the sacrifice of himself.

But there's a little bit more significant to the timing of Calvary. See, Calvary and the events that we've talked about, they occurred at the Passover. And those who read their Bible carefully will know the Passover was one of the three feasts that the men in Israel were all to appear before the Lord.

So they all had to come. Some would come from Macedonia. Some may even come from down in Ethiopia and Africa.

Some would come from way up in Rome and others would come from the far corners of the known world. Every Jew that felt responsible to God would come to Jerusalem at that time. He would bring his family typically and the population of Jerusalem would swell until there was three, four, five, six times the amount of people that usually lived there.

And that place called Calvary was positioned right outside of Jerusalem's wall so that all of those people would be walking by and witnessing the Son of God as he bore the sins of the world at the place called Calvary. Now I want you to think about the first words that come out of his mouth. Here he is with multitudes of people around him, with a mob of people wanting him killed.

And with men, I believe it was four men, four men at the bottom of that cross nailing his hands and his feet. And as they were putting that cross up into a hole in the ground, there's nothing glamorous about Calvary. As they were placing that cross in a hole in the ground, the character of the Son of God comes through when he says to his father, a prayer really to his father in heaven, Father, now what would you have said? Someone does something to you, what do you do? You think, well, I'm going to give him back, right? That's what the kids think because that's what the adults do.

That's the example we give to people because it's in our sinful heart. But this man who was nailed to the cross, he knew something that other people didn't realize. You know what he knew? He knew that here were four people and when they died, they would be going out into eternity and he cared more about their souls than he cared about himself.

That's what marks the man who died on the cross of Calvary is that he cares more about you than his own well-being. And he says, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Can you just see it? This man who had been abused and misused looks at the man who were responsible for nailing his hands and feet to the cross and he only wants them to be forgiven.

We're here tonight and we're preaching to people and I don't know if you think you're as bad as the men who nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross. We heard from our brother about the 10 commandments. We heard last night in Marian about the law and the commandments.

And now if you break one, it's like breaking all of them. Now, I look at it like a 10-paned glass window, right? Now, when I was a young fella, I used to throw stuff. Sometimes we would play ball if we had a ball.

Sometimes we would throw rocks if we had rocks. But I remember pretending that I was a baseball pitcher and throwing a rock and there was a six-pane window in my father's building and I threw it right through one of them. Now, what do you say when you go in the house and you have to confess to a sin like that? You know what I said? Now, I only broke one of those panes.

But you know what you say? I broke the window. Because you break one and the whole thing is broke. You didn't nail the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross with your hands.

But I'll tell you this, your sin is just as bad as their sin. And still he wants you to be forgiven. You move on and you see in that same passage in Luke's Gospel chapter 23, the Lord Jesus is going to say something else, but it's after a very short time.

It's after a short time where something remarkable happens. I love what happens between the first utterance of Calvary and the second cry of the cross. For when the Lord Jesus was on the cross, there were two thieves there.

There was one on his right and there was one on the left. And if you look closely in the other accounts in the Gospels, you will find that those two men were both antagonistic toward the Lord Jesus. They were both calling him names.

For those who are young here tonight, they were both shouting insults at him. They were both challenging him as to his claims of deity and claims of saviorship. They were both against him.

But during that time, I believe it was when they heard him say, Father, forgive them. It caused a change of heart and a change of attitude in one of those men. And listen to his words.

He says to the other thief, does not thou fear God? So what is placed in this man's heart is something that wasn't there before. It's a fear of God. And then he says, seeing we received the due reward of our deeds, we are here because of what we have done.

So you see, he's changing his mind. Now he changes his mind about himself, first of all, and he says, I am a sinner. I have done wrong and I deserve the punishment that goes along with my crime.

See, he never thought that way before, but now it's different. He changes his mind about himself. But the most remarkable thing is that not long after he changes his mind about himself, we find him turning to the man on the center cross.

He changes his mind about that man on the center cross. And he says, Lord, didn't say Jesus. He says, Lord, remember me when thou comest in my kingdom.

And what he found when he seemed acknowledging not just that you're a sinner, but okay, this is for the little ones too. A guilty sinner who deserves to be in hell because of my sins. That's repentance.

And repentance is not only from his sin, but his repentance is toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And he found that there was a savior.

You know what you would find tonight if you were to turn to the Lord Jesus as a lost guilty hell deserving sinner, you would find a savior who says, verily, verily, I say unto thee today or this day thou shall be with me in paradise. He had a promise from the Lord Jesus that he was going to be in heaven. I think that is the most remarkable thing that happened between the first cry and the second cry.

A man repented and he got saved and that day he was in heaven. That's the kind of difference it makes when a person gets saved, you know. That's the second cry.

The third cry, you'll have to go to John's gospel in chapter 19. The Lord Jesus was very aware of what was going on and he was very aware of his purpose at the cross because the cross has a purpose. And he was there hanging on the cross, but he was always remembering what he was to do.

Never was there a point in time where he was not in control of the entire circumstance. Remember that. We are not looking at a man in weakness, breathing his last breaths because death had come to take him.

We are watching a man who in power and authority and control over death controls the circumstances and is there not to give in to death, but to accomplish something that will actually be the means of putting an end to death. And he was there and he looks down at his mother and he says, woman, behold thy son. He looks at John, he says, behold thy mother.

And here was a man well aware of what was going on, who was making sure that he was honoring his mother because the scriptures say, honor thy father and thy mother, even when you're hanging on a cross. That's how obedient he was. The fourth cry brings us to Psalm 22 in verse one.

What happens is that there is a period of darkness. I believe it probably prefigured in the darkness in the land of Egypt. And what was happening there was a darkness that could be felt.

It was a darkness over all the land. It was a darkness that was supernatural. It was a darkness I believe that shrouded the entire scene because there was something taking place that only God could fully understand.

Even if man could have witnessed it with his eyes, he would never understand it. And while people have come up with all kinds of theories as to what happened during those dark hours, and they like to say this happened and that happened. I'll tell you from the Bible what happened.

There was a sacrifice on the cross. And when he was dying for sins, he was forsaken by the God of heaven because part of the punishment for sin is eternal death. And there was a man who was suffering infinitely, not just at the hands of men, those sufferings are important, but at the hands of God, as he became the sin bearer for the entire world.

And while there are people in our world tonight, and they're lonely, and there are people in our world tonight, and they feel like they've been forsaken by everyone. And they will even say that they've been forsaken by God. There is not a person living and breathing who has been forsaken by God.

But there are people who are heading to a lost eternity, where they will experience what it is to be separated from God and forsaken by God for all eternity. And the man Christ Jesus on the center cross during those dark hours knew what it was to be forsaken by God. Look at it closely in Psalm 22.

And you will find that he says, Really, my God, my God, why did thou forsake me, we're talking about an event that took place in a moment of time, he didn't forsake him forever, but he forsook him as a sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. If you want to see how bad sin really is, there are different things you can look at. Number one, you can look at the physical suffering that sin has caused in this world.

We know from Romans eight, that the whole creation groans and travails and sorrow together until now. We know in Romans chapter eight, that God has put a curse on this earth. And we know that the thorns in the briars, and we know that the sweat of man's brow is how he will bring forth food.

We know all of those things are associated with the curse, but physical pain, and death. And when you when you think about it, you think about the diseases and all of the sorrow and suffering that is caused physically by sin, you soon realize that what happened in the Garden of Eden was very, very serious. But you can go and you can take that same logic and apply it not to the physical suffering, but to the emotional, and the mental, and the spiritual, and the moral case that sin has put mankind in.

And you look at the way societies are set up, and the way things go, and how it's not fair. And you look at people who have nothing, and you look at people who have everything, and more than they could ever want. And that I'm not saying that that's wrong in itself, but what happens is, we as people start to think only of ourselves.

And because we think only of ourselves, we don't feel our responsibility to our fellow man, and the immensity of suffering. When a man decides that he doesn't want his wife anymore, and he leaves. And he leaves a family of young children, because he's only concerned about himself, and the suffering that that causes.

And the people who are constantly oppressing other people for their religious ideologies, because they want their argument to stand. And all of the refugee camps that exist, because man cannot take care of his fellow man. It's a result of sin, and suffering.

If you want to know how serious sin is, you go to the Bible, and you find out about the people who currently are in eternal burnings, because of their sin. And you see how serious sin is. But the ultimate example of how utterly serious sin is, is when the Lord Jesus was caused to suffer for the sin of the whole world.

On one little spot of ground, during a short amount of time. But can I tell you this? He asked a question. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken? Have you ever thought about why? That's what I find when we preach the gospel, that we preach to a lot of people who know the facts, but who never ask the questions.

Why? Why was he forsaken by God? Let's let you think about that for a second. Why was he forsaken by God? I could give you a lot of different reasons that speak to the different aspects of the work of the cross, but here's what's happening. He is forsaken by God, so that I could be in heaven and never be forsaken by God.

That's Calvary. We go back now to John's gospel, chapter 19. We find there in John's gospel 19, the one who is conscientious about the fulfillment of the scriptures, and he know that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, he saith, I thirst.

Now, if you're counting, this is the fifth saying from the cross, and there are seven in total. The fifth thing he says from the cross is I thirst, and they run, and they fill a sponge with vinegar, and they put it on the hyssop, and they put it up to his mouth, and he receives the vinegar, and then he says something. He says something that we also read in a different form in Psalm 22, because there are two cries from the cross in Psalm 22.

I'll not get into the details of it, but a very similar word is used in the Greek version of the Old Testament from Psalm 22 to John chapter 19 in verse 30, and it is this. Very simply, finish. Finish.

The words we have in the English of Psalm 22 are marvelous. He hath done this. Think about those words.

Here's a man who comes into the world. Now, if you want to be saved tonight, you think about this in simple terms. There's a man who comes into the world for a purpose.

This man's purpose is that sin would be dealt with so that sinners on the road to hell could have their sins forgiven and be in heaven. His whole purpose from day to day in moving toward Calvary was that this would be accomplished. He would never leave this world without this purpose being fulfilled, without this work being finished, and he goes to the cross of Calvary.

According to Philippians chapter 2, he was obedient to God to the point of death, even the death of the cross. He goes to the cross of Calvary. He allows men to do that to him.

He suffers the wrath of God for sin, and then he says, it's done. What is done? What has been accomplished? John 19, what is it that is finished? It's that purpose, that work that he came into the world to complete. So you know what I'm saying? When he died and said finished, he was saying every single thing has been done so sinners can go to heaven.

Not one thing left to do, not even one. You say, well, what about my believing it? Well, I said last night, if we had to wait for you to believe it for it to be finished, we'd all be in hell. It's already done.

It's already complete, and I believe what he said, and he said finished. The seventh one. The seventh one is a significant one.

If the first cry of the cross was a prayer to his father to forgive, the last cry of the cross is also a prayer to God. I know you could take the middle one to be, but I want you to think of this. When it was done, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

He's saying there's no more need for me to be here because it's finished. You believe that, don't you? He died. He was buried.

He rose again from the grave the third day, and he's in heaven now, and if you were to ask him about Calvary and that work that he came to do, if he were here tonight, you know what he'd tell you? It's already finished, and all you need to do is trust him.