"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!"
Review: Luke 23:46
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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And open up your Bibles to Luke 23.
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Verse 46.
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We've revisited the words that Jesus said while He was suffering on the cross.
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We've seen 6 so far in the 7th and final.
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As in Luke 23.
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It says, "Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this, he breathed his last.
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Jesus spent six hours on the cross.
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Six hours of horrible pain.
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Six hours of mocking!
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They gambled for His clothes and they insulted Him.
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It was six hours of bearing the sin of the world.
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And literally, it was six hours of experiencing the reality of hell.
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Six hours. Three of them.
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From noon to 3 p.m. were in total darkness.
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Six hours. Six statements in that time.
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"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
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Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.
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Woman, behold your Son!" My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
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I thirst.
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And it is finished.
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The last statement that Jesus made before He died, before His last breath, the Bible says that He said it with a loud voice.
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And that's how you need to read it, and that's how you need to hear it in your head, that this wasn't a whisper.
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This was, "Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit!" Now, Jesus' last words are actually, to the Jews, very familiar words.
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Because this is actually another quote from the Old Testament.
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It comes from Psalm 31 and verse 5.
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And this would have been very familiar to the Jews For this reason, you know how many of us grew up saying that little prayer before bed, and maybe many of us taught it to our children.
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You know that little prayer, "Now I lay me down to sleep, "I pray the Lord my soul to keep, "if I should die before I wake, "I pray the Lord," what?
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"My soul to take." And understand that Psalm 31 to the Jews It was a prayer that they prayed before bed a lot like that "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" prayer.
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It was very familiar.
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This psalm was originally the prayer of a righteous sufferer.
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Like that prayer we teach the children, the prayer that we learned, the prayer basically says this, "God, I trust You.
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God, I trust You with everything." Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Now the way Jesus said it, there were a couple of slight differences in the way He quoted it.
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The first one is this, Jesus actually didn't say the whole verse.
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Why?
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Because the rest of Psalm 31 5 goes on to say, "You have redeemed me." The truth is, Jesus wasn't redeemed.
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Jesus was the Redeemer, right?
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The second difference is Jesus has the word Father.
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If you look at Psalm 31.5, it says, "Simply into your hands I commit my spirit." Jesus said, "Father!" It's interesting, earlier, we saw that when Jesus cried out from the cross, He screamed, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Now, He says, "Father," again, as He prayed every other time.
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Was the wrath of God over at this point?
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Was the punishment of Jesus Christ over in this moment, right before He breathed His last?
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I don't know.
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But here's what I do know.
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That this cry was a cry of, "God, I know You're there.
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"Father, I know You hear me, and Father, I trust You." Jesus entered death the way He lived His life.
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A sacrifice at God's hands.
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"Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit." He was entrusting Himself to God.
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The Bible tells us also He was serving as an example for us, because you know, the Bible says that we too are sacrifices.
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But we are, according to Romans 12, we are living sacrifices.
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But we too must follow the example of Jesus that even when things are at their darkest, even when things are at their worst, even when things are at their most painful, we say, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
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Father, I trust you no matter how hard life gets, even up to the moment of death." Now there's a certain event that took place the moment Jesus said these words.
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It was a world-changing event.
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And according to the Bible, this event is directly connected with the statement, Matthew Luke chapter 27 verse 50 says that when Jesus yielded His Spirit, immediately after He did that, the Bible says that the curtain of the temple was torn. Mark chapter 15 verse 37 says that Jesus breathed His last, and immediately after He breathed His last, the Bible says the curtain of the temple was torn. And in Luke chapter 23, interestingly, it says that the curtain of the temple was torn, it says that right before, it says, "Jesus breathed His last." So that obviously tells us that the curtain of the temple was torn at the exact time as Jesus breathed His last breath. And someone here might say, "Well, wait, wait, Wait a second.
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You just said a minute ago that this was, what was the word you used?
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A world changing event.
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You're saying it's a world changing event that a curtain tore.
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You might say, "Well, Pastor Jeff, I have kids in my house and we've torn a lot of curtains over the years.
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Didn't change our world.
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I need to explain to you that this curtain being torn changed everything.
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In spite of the earthquakes, the dead being raised, the darkness, all of these events that happened while Jesus was suffering and dying, this seems like a minor thing, but this is the most significant thing that happened.
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So what's the deal with this curtain?
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The tabernacle or the temple was an Old Testament building.
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We could basically say that was where God dwelt.
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It was this building, the tabernacle was sort of the portable version of it, and then when Israel settled into the land, the temple was built under Solomon, and the temple was this building where God's presence dwelt, and it was the building where sacrifices were offered.
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Now the inner room in the temple was called the Holy Place.
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And there was a small room that was attached to the Holy Place that was called the Holy of Holies.
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And inside the Holy of Holies, inside this small room, was the Ark of the Covenant that God had commanded Moses to build.
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The Ark of the Covenant was this box.
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The top of this box was called the Mercy Seat.
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And that is the spot where the glory of God, the manifestation of God's presence dwelt right there on top of the mercy seat, the top of the Ark of the Covenant.
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That's where the glory of God rested, and it's where blood had to be offered for the sins of Israel on the Day of Atonement.
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So here's the point, between the holy place and the holy of holies, there was a curtain dividing the two rooms.
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And according to Leviticus chapter 16 in your Bibles, only the high priest went into the holy of holies.
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Only the high priest, and he could only go in to the holy of holies one day a year.
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And that one day a year that he was allowed to enter was called the day of atonement.
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But on that day, He entered the Holy of Holies to offer the sacrifice for the sins of Israel.
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Now fast forward back to the events that we're talking about tonight.
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When Jesus died, that curtain was torn.
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But the glorious thing is that curtain was torn by God Himself.
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Because you see, if man was going to tear this giant curtain, it would be from the bottom up, right?
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But the Bible says this giant curtain was torn from the top down, telling us that it was God himself who reached down from heaven and ripped this curtain.
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And that shows us that now total access to God was available to everyone through the blood of Jesus Christ.
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Can you wrap your brains around the significance of this event?
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One man one day a year went in to appear before the glory of the God of Israel, and now that the curtains down, every one of us can go before the throne of God Himself.
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Hebrews 9 and 10 give the divine commentary on the significance of this event, and I would encourage you to read that.
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But the point is this, Jesus' death put into place the new covenant.
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Now access to God is through the blood of Jesus alone.
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The temple, the priests, the sacrifice, all of those things are now obsolete because they served as pictures of the reality that Jesus Christ brought.
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Because you see on the cross, Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God.
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He was the sacrifice, but at the same time, He was also the high priest who was offering the sacrifice.
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And now God's temple, or the place where God dwells, the Bible tells us, is in the heart of every believer of Jesus Christ.
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So, how do we respond to the moment of Christ's death?
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Can we put ourselves there for just a second?
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Because sometimes in the church, you know, when we talk about Christmas and Easter, the birth of Christ and the death of Christ, they become so familiar that sometimes we just don't slow down.
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I want us to do that for a second.
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Can you, in your minds, can you put yourself there at the cross?
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Can you hear Jesus say, "Father, into your hands "I commit my spirit, breathing his last." How do you respond to something like that?
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Well, the most appropriate responses are found in those who were actually there when it happened.
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I want you to look at your Bible because these responses, this is where we need to find ourselves.
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The first one is this tonight, I encourage you to respond like the soldier, like the centurion.
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Look at verse 47.
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It says, "Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, 'Certainly This man was innocent.
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Now this centurion, he had previously mocked Jesus.
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He would have seen the arrest of Jesus.
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He might have been part of that.
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But he would have seen it.
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He would have seen the trial of Jesus.
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And he would have seen a condemned man who acted like no other.
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Because understand, on the cross, when people were crucified, They suffered, they bled, they lost all of their strength, and ultimately they died in a whimper.
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Very slowly and quietly died.
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And see, that's what's so remarkable about this word from Jesus Christ, because the Bible very clearly says that Jesus cried with a loud voice.
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This wasn't something that, under his breath, we couldn't quite hear him.
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This soldier stood amazed that Jesus, at this point of his suffering, screamed this out.
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And then, if that wasn't amazing enough, he died by his own will.
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Jesus said, "Now I choose to give up my spirit." And the guard's response, you know, Luke says that he said, "Certainly this man was innocent, but understand that the response of the soldier is way more than, 'This guy probably shouldn't have been killed.'" Because the Bible says right here, Luke says, "He praised God." Mark 15:39 says, "The centurion," listen to this, "saw that in this way he breathed his last in this way he breathed his last he said truly this man was the Son of God so it wasn't just that Jesus died and it wasn't just what he said it was the way he said it and the way he gave up his spirit truly this man was innocent or as Mark quotes the guards, "Truly this man was the Son of God." So like the soldier, there might be somebody that walked in here tonight that, quite frankly, you've spent your life dismissing Jesus.
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But now, you see that He's like no one else.
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And you praise God.
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Like the soldier, you take this whole scene in, And you say, "Truly this man was the Son of God." So I would encourage you tonight to respond like the soldier, and also on top of that, respond like the crowd.
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Look at verse 48.
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It says, "And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home, beating their breasts." Oh, this crowd, right?
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of the week. They were waving palm branches. They were saying, "This is our king." Just a few days later, the same crowd, these same people were screaming, "Crucify him! We'd rather have Barabbas, the terrorist, than have this guy." The same crowd we saw while Jesus was on the cross. They stood mocking Him and making fun of Him while He was dying.
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But, look again, verse 48 says that, "When the crowd saw what had taken place, they returned home." Do you see that?
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It says they were beating their breasts.
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What does that mean?
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What does that mean they were beating their breasts?
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What is that a symbol of?
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Well, we know exactly what it meant, because if you turn to your Bibles just a few pages earlier, in Luke chapter 18 and verse 13, Jesus tells a story.
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And in this story, Jesus tells of this tax collector who was grieving his sin, and he felt so guilty before God that Jesus said that he was beating on his chest.
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It was a Jewish sign of guilt.
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It was a Jewish sign of saying, "God, I have dishonored you." That's what beating on the breast meant.
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Okay, so on this scene, when Jesus breathed his last, this crowd just got done making fun of him and mocking him and insulting him.
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Maybe Elijah's going to come for him, let's wait and see.
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And all the insults they hurled at him when they saw how he died.
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The Bible says they walked home saying, "I am so guilty.
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I am so guilty that I mocked him." Like the crowd, there is a sense in which you should feel guilty.
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Because it was your sin and it was my sin that nailed Jesus to that cross.
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Your sin and my sin.
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Our sin was so wicked that Jesus died a horrible death to pay for it.
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The innocent one bearing the wrath of God that I deserve.
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So there is a real sense in which we should look at Jesus on the cross.
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We should see Jesus breathing His last.
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There's a sense in which we should feel guilt for that.
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To say, "Look what we did!
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Look what he went through because of me." So you need to respond like the crowd.
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And lastly, you need to respond like the acquaintances.
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Like the women.
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Look at verse 49, it says, "And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee He stood at a distance watching these things.
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They stood far off watching.
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Stunned.
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Stunned.
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Because this event is one that we can barely wrap our brains around.
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God, God himself came to earth.
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He loved us, He healed us, He taught us, and we rejected Him.
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We made fun of Him.
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We insulted Him.
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We beat Him half to death, and then we publicly killed Him, slowly.
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So we're going to close our time today remembering Jesus' death the way that He told us to.
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And that is by receiving the Lord's Supper.
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And when everybody receives, I'm going to get back up and I'm going to lead us in taking the Lord's Supper together.
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But simply tonight, I want you to feel, now and when you leave, what was felt the moment that Jesus died.
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In reverse order, I would say like the women and the acquaintances, I want you to feel the horror of the death of Jesus Christ.
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Like the crowds, I want you to feel the guilt of your sin that nailed Him to the cross.
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And like the soldier, I want you to feel the majesty which leads to the praise to the One who died like no other.
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This is how Jesus said and remember his death.
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That on the night that he was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it.
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He gave thanks.
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And he said, "This is my body, which is given for you.
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Eat this in remembrance of me." After the meal, Jesus took the cup.
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And He said, "This is the blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sin.
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Drink this in remembrance of Me." Rebow your heads and pray with me, please.
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Our Father in Heaven, tonight we reflect on the cross so dismissed by the world at large, so often dismissed even in your church.
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Father, I pray tonight, those of us in this room, those who are listening to this message online, I pray, Father, that you would capture our hearts again with the magnitude of this event.
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The sinless Son of God died in our place.
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Your Word tells us that you spared not your own Son, but you delivered Him up for us all.
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Your Word tells us that it was your will to crush Him.
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Your Word tells us that you demonstrated your love, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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Father, we can't dismiss this.
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Father, we thank You and I pray that as we meditate on it and we let this really sink in, that we thank You again.
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To Your name, Father, for all that You've done, We give you praise.
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Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Luke 23:46
What was especially peculiar about the way Jesus died? See Mark 15:39
Read Luke 23:47-49 and discuss each reaction to Jesus' death. Why did each act this way?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.