The seven utterances from the cross reveal Christ's work in reconciling sinners to God. Jesus' first word, "Father, forgive them," demonstrates selfless love by praying for his persecutors, a prayer answered through his own vicarious suffering. The repentant thief's plea, "Lord, remember me," highlights salvation by grace through faith, as Jesus promises immediate paradise. Jesus entrusting his mother to John, "Woman, behold thy son," shows his care for family and our responsibility to loved ones. The cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" expresses the agony of God's abandonment as Christ bore sin. "I thirst" fulfills Scripture and underscores Jesus' humanity and obedience. Finally, "It is finished" signifies the completion of redemption, offering rest and assurance to believers, culminating in "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."
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Well, we've been enjoying this conference very much. The good food included. And my wife was mentioning a while ago how practical the ministry has been. And we certainly do appreciate that. The word has to get down to our feet as we've had brought before us. It's got to be not just in our heads. but in our hearts and in our ways. We have to apply it to all this. And I trust that that will be the result of this conference.
There's a closer walk to the Lord Jesus. I'm trying to get this mic turned around so I can zip it up. Now I have... We were singing a while ago at the cross. And tonight I would like to ask you to stand with me at the foot of the cross. I realize that this is the subject that I am unable and unworthy to handle. What I would like for us, since it is the Word of God and all Scripture, as God reads and is profitable, I would like for us to look to the Spirit of God to bring to our hearts anew the utterances of the Lord Jesus at that awesome time when he hung from the cross.
We have difficulty even visualizing that scene, don't we? It's, I guess, impossible for us to really stand there and really see the physical agony of our Lord to read the inner sufferings of the Lord as he saw all forsake him and leave him and above all as we see him taking the load of our sins upon himself at the cross that he might by that very work that he accomplished on the cross, reconcile us sinners to a bright holy God, making peace for us through the blood of his cross.
Let's listen to his utterances from that awful cross. Luke twenty three verse thirty four. Luke twenty three verse thirty four. Then said Jesus. Then refers to their having done their worst to him. Having beaten him, having put the crown of thorns upon his head, having let him out to Golgotha, and now having driven those horrible spikes through his hands and feet, and now they have set that cross in its pocket, and he hangs there in unimaginable anguish.
Then, said Jesus, Father, Forgive them For they know not What they do What a Savior In all the anguish And all that suffering And he felt Every bit of it Just as much as you would have felt it Or I would have felt it It was real It was horrible And yet in it all He praised for those who had beaten him, spit in his face, tortured him, mocked him, and nailed him to that tree, and now sat at the foot of the cross, mocking him.
He praised for their forgiveness. Oh, how wonderful our Lord, our Lord is, a God who is rich in mercy. And he prays for his enemies in the hour of his anguish. And the Lord Jesus knew as he prayed that that he was going to have to suffer yet more in order to answer that very prayer. Father, forgive them the only way that any sin can be forgiven.
is by it being judged righteously by God. There is no such thing as God just saying, I see you are sorry, and so we will dismiss it. God cannot deal with any sin that is. The only thing that God can do with every iota of sin that has ever been committed or ever will be committed is to meet it in his holiness and in his righteous judgment he cannot pass sin by and when the Lord Jesus prayed Father forgive them he was praying give me their judgment which they deserved.
For that is the only way they or you or I could ever be forgiven of any and all of our sins. It was that the Lord Jesus would personally take those sins upon himself. And God, who laid them on him, blasted him, with the due judgment that was yours and mine. That is the only forgiveness that God knows anything about. That's the only way there is forgiveness of sins.
And that's why we read, He is the propitiation. He is that which makes satisfaction Not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world. God looks at his son tonight, and he sees those wounds, the Lamb of God, as it freshly slain. And God remembers Calvary, and therefore he can still forgive sin. In the Old Testament, you have the word atonement. Because atonement means to cover.
And sin was never put away in the Old Testament. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were only pictures, which God accepted because he was looking to calvary to the reality, the fulfillment of the pictures. Those pictures could not put away sin. We read in Hebrews, it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. But God accepted it as a covering, as a temporary thing. An atonement means a covering.
The sins were still there. They had not been dealt with, actually. They were covered. But in the New Testament, we do not find the word atonement. It occurs in our King James one time in Romans chapter five. But if you look it up in a better translation, it is reconciliation. Therefore, the word atonement is not in the New Testament. Because, thank God, when the Lord Jesus came, He came to fulfill all the pictures. He came to accomplish redemption through his blood. He came to offer the one sacrifice forever that takes away sin.
And John the Baptist therefore announced him publicly to Israel, saying, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. and forgiveness in the New Testament. The word forgiveness means putting away. It's not covering. Thank God my sins aren't covered. That would tell me they're somewhere and just covered over. But he has put them away. Put them away as far as the east is from the west. He's blotted them out as a thick cloud. And our sins and our iniquities, he will remember no more.
When the Lord Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them, He was saying, Judge me for their sins. For that was the only way that prayer could be answered. As we read these statements of the Lord, you know, I don't see how a person who's not sure of salvation can refrain. from bursting out and just calling upon the Lord and saying, Lord Jesus, I love you, I trust you, as my Savior.
You know, a person who's unsaved has sins that he doesn't even know about, countless sins. The Lord said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And yet they were sins. And they needed his sacrifice. In Leviticus chapters four and five, you have the sacrifices dealing with the sin offering as well as sins, trespasses. And the sin offering dealt with sins of ignorance. You committed it and didn't realize it. You only learn later in all how many thousands of times you and I have sinned and we didn't even know it.
How wonderful to know that our great high priest not only has us on his shoulders the place of power represented by those names of the children of Israel and the twelve stones on his shoulders. but he are the twelve names engraved in the two stones, one on his shoulder. He not only has us on his breast, as he had the names of the twelve tribes in twelve precious jewels on the breastplate. He not only has us on his heart, but he also had on his heart the place of knowledge and purpose, He had a golden crown, holiness unto the Lord.
And God said, he's to wear it for the memorial to the children of Israel, that they may be accepted and that he may bear the iniquity of their holy things. In other words, our Lord knows all our sins. And thank God we don't have to remember them all and recall them and confess them one by one in a legalistic fashion to get forgiveness. He knew them all at Calvary and he took them all in himself on the cross. Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
The second word of the cross is in Luke twenty three. Verses forty-two and forty-three. These two malefactors nailed to crosses just as the Lord was and dying. Someone has suggested that what we have pictured here is the drama of the cross to this very day. And that is we see three at Calvary. One dying for sins, our Lord Jesus.
One dying in sin, the thief who never repented, who never turned in confession of his sinfulness and need of a Savior, and in faith in the Lord Jesus. He died in his sin. and the other who died to sin because he turned to the Lord on his deathbed as it were and turned in honest confession and faith in the Lord Jesus and was saved and had his heart in that great work that the Lord Jesus was accomplishing once and for all for God and for you and me.
That's the cross. this thief expresses more doctrine that you would ever imagine a thief would express. And notice he acknowledges his condition. Very seldom have I visited in a jail and talked with a person who confesses openly and plainly his crime and his guilt. Usually, I hear them say, I was put in here for something I didn't do.
That's the usual chord they play. I remember a brother whom I loved very dearly, Stoy Lamar, who's now in heaven. He was in the dope racket back younger before drugs came in. as they have in our day. And he was a professional gambler. And he was put in the penitentiary for five years. And he said, I was put in for something I didn't do. And maybe that was true. But here's a thief who says, suddenly he's been slurring, making slurring remarks at the Lord Jesus along with that other thief.
But suddenly it's as if he wakes up, as if he comes to his senses, and he says to the other thief, he says, Does not thou fear God? He shows a fear of God. And then he confesses his guilt. He says, We suffer justly. And not only does he confess his guilt, but he confesses that the Lord is guiltless. He says, this man has done nothing amiss. And not only that, but he shows a remarkable faith.
I think one of the most remarkable examples of faith in the Bible, and that is he sees faith. Even the disciples having forsaken the Lord. And he sees his God having forsaken him. And yet that thief says, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. What faith? Seeing him forsaken, suffering. It looks as if it's the end of the road for the Lord Jesus. and yet he believes in the second coming of Christ for he says in thy kingdom he believes who he is and that he's coming again and he asked him to remember him when he does what remarkable faith and the Lord says to that thief verily I say unto thee today shall thou be with me in paradise.
Ma, he went so far beyond what that thief asked for or expected, didn't he? The thief said, would you remember me when you come into your kingdom? But the Lord said, today, this day. The thief said, remember me today. As if to ask for a bit of mercy. But the Lord said, Thou shalt be with me. With me. How much more than he expected or asked for. And he said to the Lord, The kingdom.
But the Lord said, You'll be with me today. In paradise. In the very present. of God. Oh, what a wonderful Savior he is. He saves so completely, so graciously, so completely, and he saves even a thief who turns and acknowledges his guilt, his sinnerhood, and leans upon the Lord Jesus in childlike faith. This thief demolishes all religious trappings, all rituals, all sacraments as having any part in salvation.
He didn't say, there's the Virgin Mary, pray to her. No. He didn't say, you need to be baptized. I'll get one of my disciples to baptize you. No. He just answered him today. shall thou be with me in paradise. For salvation is by grace, undeserved favor, not of works, lest any man should boast. And it is not of ritual, not of baptism, not of the Lord's Supper. None of those things can save or help save.
But it is by faith, simple faith, heartfelt trust in the Lord Jesus. as the one who's done the work that puts away a sinner's guilt forever from the sight of a holy God. The third word of the Lord was the word of affection. John, verses twenty-six and twenty-seven. And I forgot to note my time. Brother Mitchell, would you tell me what time I'm due to stop? Thank you.
John nineteen verse twenty-six. When Jesus therefore saw his mother And the disciples standing by whom he loved, obviously John, in this strange, John never puts his name, John in his gospel. Not even in front of it. That's been added there at the top. And some of the liberals, of course, immediately try to tell us John didn't write it. And of course, that's ridiculous if you take giants such as A.T.
Robertson and other great scholars. There's no question that if John is writing, he uses his name, but it's his new name, that name that he seems to treasure, that disciple whom Jesus loves. What a name. And so when the Lord saw his mother and the disciples standing by whom he loves, he says unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son, Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her into his own home.
I think again the Lord Jesus in his anguish and about to receive the worst of all the blow of judgment from God himself. for our sin. And yet he pauses and he thinks of his mother according to the flesh. Seems the Lord Jesus is so careful, the Word of God is so careful that he never is said to address her as mother. Certainly he must have, but it's as if the Spirit of God would guard us from the awful blasphemy which says Mary mother of God for that is nothing but blasphemy she had nothing whatsoever to do with his deity she gave birth to his flesh his humanity by the power of the Holy Spirit and she was his mother according to the flesh but he calls her woman, certainly
a respectful word, a word of honor. Can you imagine what Mary must have been going through at that time? My, how her heart must have been torn. Surely she remembered then the words of Simeon, which we heard read for us this morning. as he took up that little baby Jesus in his arms, and he said, A sword shall pierce thy soul, speaking to Mary. For now that sword pierces her soul, as she sees her son in his awful anguish, deserted and left of his God to our judgment.
And the Lord Jesus, very tenderly, very thoughtfully, says to her, Woman, behold thy son, speaking of John. He's turning her over to the very one who would be the choice, the disciple of love, that disciple whom Jesus loved, The disciple who writes to us more about love than any other disciple, he chooses him to take care of his mother. What a perfect, lovely choice.
And he says to John, Behold thy mother. And of course they both got the message, for it says from that hour, he took her onto his home home. You know, God would have us remember our family ties. No matter what the Lord might call us to, we are ever to hold in a great place our loved ones. And we are not to desert them, leave them in a bad situation even for the Lord's work.
They are our first responsibility, and we must care for those that are nearly dear to us humanly, especially our parents. Proverbs twenty-three, verse twenty-two says, Harken unto the voice of thy father who beget thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. One of the characteristics of the unsaved that's given us in that awful description in Romans chapter one.
In verse thirty we read, Disobedient to parents. Verse thirty one. Without natural affection. Oh how sad. Oh what habit sin makes in lives. It divides. In a home. And where they should be. One of the very expressions of heaven on earth. Parents and children. In their fellowship. In their understanding. Sin destroys it. And makes it into a hell on earth.
What a tragedy. But oh. If we know him. Then it should be a difference. story. The word of affection, the Lord remembered his mother. The fourth cry is the awful cry of anguish that is difficult to understand. Matthew twenty seven, verse forty six. Matthew twenty seven, verse forty six. and about the ninth hour this would be about three o'clock in the afternoon that darkness having covered the scene from noon to three o'clock as God dealt with his son for all our sin and sin.
And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, Lamas of Bath and I, that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The word the Lord used here is the word that expresses utter complete abandonment. He uses a strengthened form of the word life, old meaning, to leave, and then he even enforces that with a preposition N in front of that, expressing why have you utterly abandoned me in these straits, in this agony, in the distress, In which I am in.
What horror it must have been to the Lord Jesus. In that hour. In those three hours. As God withdrew from the sea. And called for the sword of judgment. Against his shepherd. Against the man that is my fellow. Smite the shepherd. God says. And the Lord Jesus under that awesome stroke. of judgment for all our sins. Tries, this loud cry, Why has thou forsaken me? This certainly is harking back to Psalm twenty-two, verse one, which begins with these very words, and then verse three seems to answer that, for it says, but thou art holy.
That's why God forsook him. In order that God might not abandon you and me, the sinners that we were and in ourselves still are left to ourselves. God would have had to have abandoned us utterly, completely. And that's what he did to his son. And that's what he endured in that hour. And he is expressing the awfulness of it in that pitiful cry.
The fifth cry from the cross is the cry of need. John, verse twenty-eighth. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, says, I thirst. Oh, how the Lord Jesus honored this precious book, the Word of God. He said, the Scripture cannot be broken. He said, Not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law till all be fulfilled.
How he honored the word of God, every jot and tittle of it. Not only the words, but even the punctuation, even the tiniest part of a letter in it. And how we should honor God. this precious book, these saints, and never let any part of it fall, let us ever make it our standard and be faithful to it. The Lord Jesus says to the church that he has nothing to rebuke about. He says, Thou hast kept my words, and thou hast not denied my name.
that the scripture might be fulfilled it was not like him to express his personal needs as we've seen he was considering others but now he says I thirst and the word of God tells us why he says that the scripture might be fulfilled which said I thirst which of course is Psalm six to nine, verse twenty nine, in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. And so they did when he said, I thirst. They gave him vinegar.
They put it on a sponge and lifted it to his lips. And then we hear the sixth cry from the cross, the cry of triumph. In Matthew twenty seven, We read that when he received the vinegar, he cried with another notice, with a loud voice. He cries us, and then he bows his head and gives up the ghost, dismisses his spirit. John, nineteen thirty tells us what he cried. Matthew says he cried with a loud voice.
John nineteen says when he received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. Oh, thank God for that cry. My, that's what's been ringing bells of joy in your heart and mind, dear Christian, all these years we've been saved. We have heard that cry. It is finished. Oh, thank God we're not working our way to heaven. We're not hoping we're going to get to heaven. We don't even think we're going to heaven. We know we're going to heaven because it is finished. The work that saved was done at the cross, and that's what he was saying.
It is finished. Everything it takes to get you to heaven, my friend, was done in that moment. And it's yours just for the taking. If you only turn to him in childlike faith, it's yours. And that's why the last word of the Lord from the cross, the final, the seventh word, which is the number of wrists, is the word of wrists. He says, Father, into thy hands. I commend my spirit. Rest.
It was finished. If God looked upon this earthly creation and said it was very good when it was done, how much more when he looks at the cross and sees what Christ did about your sins and mine once and forever. How much more God must say, and it was very good, and it lasts forever. All that we might rest in that finished word tonight if we have it, and go our way rejoicing, knowing that when we leave this thing, we'll be at home with the Lord.