CROSS WORDS

SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS

“HOPE”

JOHN 19:30/LUKE 23:46

 

Today we are finishing up our Easter series, CROSS WORDS: SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. We’ve been listening to the words Jesus spoke from the cross on Good Friday.  The reason is you can’t celebrate Easter Sunday without comprehending Good Friday.  The words Jesus spoke from the cross help us to understand all that Jesus went through on our behalf.

 

 When Jesus died on the cross, he spoke seven words. Seven is God’s perfect number.  These seven words communicate God’s perfect plan to save us.

 

So far in this series, we’ve heard five of the seven words.  The first three words have focused on forgiveness, salvation, and compassion for us. The fourth word focused on what happened to Jesus on the cross.  It was a word of abandonment.  Jesus was forsaken by God so that you and I would NOT be forsaken by God.

 

The fifth word from the cross emphasized both Jesus’ humanity and divinity. 

Being human, Jesus understands what we go through because he has gone through what we go through.  Being God, Jesus can help us in our time of need. 

 

This morning we are going to look at the last two words Jesus spoke from the cross.  These final two words spoken by our Savior from the cross are words of HOPE.

 

Hope may be the single, most important word in the English language.  The ways we use the word hope indicates just how vital hope is to us. We say:

 

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

I’M HOPING AGAINST HOPE

WHERE THERE’S LIFE THERE’S HOPE

WE HAVE A HOPE AND A PRAYER

WE’RE HOLDING OUT HOPE

THERE’S A FAINT HOPE

THERE’S A FLICKER OF HOPE/A GLIMMER OF HOPE

IT’S OUR LAST HOPE

MAYBE THERE’S HOPE AFTER ALL

 

Even when our words communicate that we’ve lost hope, they still communicate our need for hope.  So, we’ll say things like:

 

I DON’T WANT TO GIVE YOU ANY FALSE HOPE

DON’T GET YOUR HOPES UP

THERE IS NO HOPE IN SIGHT

WE’VE GIVEN UP ALL HOPE

 

It’s been said that hope is to the human spirit what oxygen is to the human body.  While we need oxygen to survive, we need hope to thrive, both

emotionally and spiritually.

 

Maybe you’ve come here today, on EASTER SUNDAY, looking for some hope.  You may be feeling rather helpless and hopeless in your life right now.  You’ve looked everywhere else, so now, you’ve come to church, thinking that God is your last hope.  I’m glad you’re here.  I pray that today you will realize that God is not just your last hope.  But, that he is your only hope, both in this life, and in the life beyond.

 

Maybe you came today, as a Christian, simply to be reminded of the hope you have in Christ.  For you, Easter Sunday is a wonderful refresher course on hope.

 

Whatever the reason that brought you here, I’m glad you’re here.  And I am grateful for this opportunity to share with you the most important message in the whole world. 

 

Hope is the one word that communicates what Easter is all about. Good Friday and Easter Sunday are both celebrations of hope.

 

Two things symbolize the Christian Hope: the blood-stained cross and the empty tomb of Jesus.  This morning we will look at both as we hear Jesus speak the last two of the seven words he spoke from the cross.

 

The sixth word communicates this to us……

 

1.THE PENALTY FOR SIN HAS BEEN PAID IN FULL

 

The handwriting was shaky.  The stationery was lined loose-leaf paper.  The ink was black and the tone was desperate.  The note was dated February 6, 1974, and was addressed to the United States government.  The note read:

 

“I am sending ten dollars for blankets I stole while in World War II.  My mind could not rest.  Sorry I’m late.”  The note was signed, “an ex-GI.” Then there was this postscript, “I want to be ready to meet God.”

 

That soldier was not alone in his guilt.  His letter is one of literally tons of letters that have been sent to the government since it began collecting and storing the letters in 1811.  Since that time millions of dollars have been deposited in what is called the Conscience Fund.

 

An average of $45,000 per year is received.  In some instances, the amounts are small, but the remorse is big.  One Colorado woman sent in two eight-cent stamps to make up for having used one stamp twice ( which for some reason had not been canceled).  A former IRS employee mailed in one dollar for four ballpoint pens she had never returned to the office.

 

Anxiety over decades old theft.  Regret over a re-used stamp.  A guilty conscience over ballpoint pens.  If the struggle to have a clean conscience wasn’t so common, the letters would be funny.  But the struggle is common.

 

What do you do with your failures?  How do you handle your guilt?  If you could go back and do some things differently, you would.  You’d be a different person.  You’d be more patient.  You’d control your tongue.  You’d finish what you started.  You’d fulfill your responsibilities.  You’d turn the other cheek.  You’d resist the temptation.  You’d choose your friends more carefully.

But you can’t go back.  You don’t get a do over.  You tell yourself-

“What’s done is done.  What you did can’t be undone.”

 

But that reality doesn’t take away your guilt.  What can be done?  A therapist will tell you to talk about it.  Your friends tell you not to feel bad.  Religious legalists tell you to atone for your sins by doing some good deeds.

 

God has a better idea.  Trust the One who on the cross spoke these words:

 

“IT IS FINISHED.” – JOHN 19:30

 

It is finished in the sixth word Jesus spoke from the cross.  The question is what was finished?  Was Jesus finished?  Was he done in?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!  He died on Good Friday, but arose from the dead on the third day!

 

So, what was finished?  The work of salvation.  Everything that needed to be done to save us from our sins had been accomplished by Jesus’ death on the cross.

 

When Jesus cried out, “it is finished”, it was not a cry of despair, defeat, or death.  It was a cry of completion, a cry of fulfillment, a cry of VICTORY!

 

The Bible tells us what the penalty for sin is.  Romans 6:23 says:

 

“For the wages of sin is death.” -Romans 6:23

 

Death.  Spiritual death.  Separation from God.  Jesus was separated from God so you and I could be reconciled to God.

 

The sixth word in our English language is translated into three words.  But in Greek it is simply one word.  It is the word: TESTELESTAI.  It means to bring something to completion; to finish something.

 

TESTELESTAI is a legal term.  It is a legal financial term.  In Bible times, when someone paid off his debt, the creditor would declare: Testelestai.  The debt was paid in full.

 

TESTELESTAI is the word Jesus used on the cross.  By using this word, Jesus was declaring that our sin debt has been paid in full! That’s what sin is.  Sin is a debt we owe God.  But it’s a debt we can never pay off or pay back.  But we don’t’ have to.  Jesus paid our debt in full. Romans 6:10 says:

 

“For the death that he died, he died to sin, ending its power and paying the sinners debt, once and for all.” -Romans 6:10

 

Have you ever paid off a debt?  How did you feel when you made that last car payment, paid off a credit card bill, or paid off your mortgage?  You may have felt a couple of opposing emotions simultaneously.  Relief and joy!  You might have even done something to celebrate. You experienced financial freedom!

 

But the one thing you did not do is that you did not worry about that payment any longer.  Why? Because you no longer had the debt.  Your account was paid in full, and your account was closed.

 

When Jesus died for your sins, he didn’t just make a downpayment on your sin debt.  He didn’t leave you struggling to pay off the rest of your sin debt by trying to be a good moral person and doing a lot of good works to atone for your sin. He paid off the entire debt.  Your past sin debt.  Your sin debts you are incurring today.  And the sin debt you will rack up in the future.  It’s all been paid for.

 

So, feel relief.  Feel joy.  Maybe even celebrate.  But one thing you don’t have to do is worry about your sin debt.  Because, as a Christian, your sin debt was wiped out on the cross.  You can now live in spiritual and emotional freedom.  You no longer have to feel guilt and shame because of your sin.  Jesus took on your guilt and your shame.  The chorus goes:

 

HE PAID A DEBT HE DID NOT OWE

I OWED A DEBT I COULD NOT PAY

I NEEDED SOMEONE TO WASH MY SINS AWAY

AND NOW I SING A BRAND NEW SONG: AMAZING GRACE

CHRIST JESUS PAID THE DEBT THAT I COULD NEVER PAY

 

When Jesus died, so did your sin.  And when he arose from the dead, so did your hope.  The seventh and final word Jesus spoke from the cross reassures us that……

 

2. DEATH HAS BEEN DEFEATED

 

Have you ever been to the Vietnam War Memorial in DC?  We’ve been there.  One year, when our son was in middle school, we went to DC over Spring Break.  We went to the Smithsonian Museum.  We walked the National Mall.  We paused and looked up at the Washington Monument.  We walked past the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and walked up the steps to the Lincoln Memorial.

 

But I wanted to view the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  I had heard about it.  But I had to see it for myself.  The wailing wall of a generation.  Black marble tablets carved with the names of young lives lost.  Behind each name was the story of a bereaved widow….an anguished mother……a fatherless child.

 

Touring the wall was almost overwhelming.  But I kept moving along the wall, pausing to read name after name and offering a prayer of gratitude for the ultimate sacrifice that each veteran had made.

 

Every name on the wall has been assigned panel and line numbers.  This allows veterans and families to find the names of loved ones. 

 

But as I toured the memorial, and looked at each panel, something happened that led me to a sobering reality.  I could see my image reflected in the marble panels.

 

It was a reminder that I have been dying as long as I have been living.  One day, my number will be called.  One day, my name will be carved into a granite headstone.

 

Death comes calling for all us sooner or later.  Death is the bully on the block of life.  He catches you in the alley.  He taunts you on the playground.  He says: “You, too, will die someday.”

How do we respond? How do we deal with the reality of death?

 

We do things to try to postpone death.  We eat healthy and we exercise regularly.  We pump iron and we play golf.  We walk and we jog.

 

Others of us try to avoid facing the reality of death.  We don’t even like talking about death.  We use alternative words or phrases for death or dying.  We say that a person has passed away.  We use certain euphemisms for death: kick the bucket; bought the farm; pushing up daisies; taking a dirt nap.

 

But, try as we may to delay death or deny it, death eventually comes knocking on everyone’s door.  That’s why I am so glad that Jesus spoke this last word from the cross:

 

“Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’” – Luke 23:46

 

This final word of Jesus is a prayer.  It is one of three prayers our Savior prayed from the cross. 

 

This final prayer was an adaptation of a prayer Jesus was probably taught by his parents when he was a young boy.  It was customary for Jewish families to gather at sunset and pray.  The prayer they often prayed was this prayer from Psalm 31:5: “INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.”

 

All Jewish children were taught to trust in God as they prayed this prayer.  This was a prayer Jesus may have prayed often as a child.  Now, as he faces death, our Lord prays it once more.

 

With this last word and final prayer, Jesus taught us how to die.  As we die, we should die with hope in our hearts because we are trusting our Heavenly Father to save us completely. 

 

This final word offers us three hope-filled reassurances about death.

The first reassurance is God is with us at the time of death.  We hear this reassurance in Jesus’ first word in this prayer: “FATHER.”  Jesus looked to his Heavenly Father as he was dying.  Our Heavenly Father will be with us at the moment of death.  We hear that promise in the 23^rd Psalm:

 

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” -Psalm 23:4

 

The Lord our Shepherd will be with us as we face death.  He will usher us through the valley of the shadow of death.  His presence with us at the time of death dispels the darkness that surrounds death. Death need not to be feared, for your Father in heaven will be with you.

 

The second reassurance about death is, as believers, we go to be with the Lord the moment we die.  For Jesus prayed, “Father, into your hands.” 

Jesus was saying, “into your presence.”

 

Jesus promised the thief on the cross- “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”  The apostle Paul wrote:

 

“We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord.” -2 Corinthians 5:8

 

One day, when we leave our bodies behind, we go home to heaven to be with the Lord. Immediately.

 

The third reassurance about death is found in the last part of Jesus’ prayer: “I commit my spirit.”  It is the promise of victory over death.

 

  Jesus’ body died. But Jesus was still very much alive.  His spirit was going to be with his Heavenly Father.

 

I cannot die.  My body will.  But I won’t.  The same will be true for you.  That is because of the promise Jesus made to Martha, the sister of Lazarus just before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.  Here is Jesus’ promise to her and to us:

 

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.  Do you believe this?’” -John 11:25-26

 

I believe that promise.  I live.  I believe in Jesus.  I will never die.  That is the promise of the one who himself was resurrected from the dead.

 

My body will die.  But I never will. One day my body will wear out.  One day my body will expire.  One day I will take my final breath.  One day my heart will run out of heartbeats.  My body will be lifeless.

 

But make no mistake about it.  I will be very much alive.  When my body dies, my spirit will go to be with the Lord.  My soul is immortal.  The person who is Dennis, who for the time being is in this body, will never die.

 

So please, if you outlive me, please don’t talk about me being dead.  We do that all the time, don’t we?  We say, “he died.”  “Mom’s been dead 15 years.”

 

But that’s not accurate.  While the body dies, the person lives on.  You will never die.  That’s what Jesus said.

 

With this seventh word, Jesus shows us how to die: with hope in our hearts.

We die trusting our Heavenly Father to save us completely, both soul and body.

 

Jesus committed his spirit to his Father in heaven.  And on the third day Jesus arose from the dead.  Early, on the first day of the week, before the sun rose in the east, the Son of God arose from the dead!  With his resurrection, Jesus conquered death for all of us.

 

There is a cemetery in Hanover, Germany where a noblewoman named Henriette von Ruling was buried in the eighteenth century.  She was so terrified of being robbed from her grave that she left instructions for her tomb to be sealed with massive granite slabs, and bound together with heavy iron clamps.  Engraved on one of the slabs were the words: “This tomb, bought for eternity, may never be opened.”

 

But sometime after her burial, a tiny birch seed found its way between the slabs.  Over the years, nourished by rain and sun, the seed grew into a tree.  Slowly, steadily, it forced the iron clamps apart, cracked the granite, and split the tomb wide open.

 

Whatever grave your body may be buried in one day will not be your final resting place.  It is only temporary housing.  You or your loved ones won’t actually buy your burial plot.  You will only be renting it.  When Jesus returns, the lease will be up.  Your grave will be opened, and your body will be resurrected and will be immortal. 

 

Your body will be redeemed.  You will live in a brand new body.  One that will be perfect.  One that will be pain free.  One that will not get sick. One that will not be forgetful.  One that will not die.  For the One who conquered death, conquered death for you!  The resurrection of Jesus guarantees that death will not have the final say over you, your life, or your body.

 

The great Scottish preacher James Stewart once said that the resurrection is not simply a chapter in the story of Jesus.  It is the story. 

 

Without the resurrection of Jesus, there is no Christianity.  Without the empty tomb, the cross is just another Roman execution.  But because the tomb is empty, the cross becomes the altar of God, and death becomes a defeated enemy.

 

Before raising Lazarus back to life, Jesus made the promise to his sister Martha that we’ve looked at: “I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”

 

But then he made it personal.  He asked Martha, “Do you believe this?” Martha responded- “Yes, Lord.  I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

 

In order for you to receive the gift of eternal life; Jesus’ promise must become personal.  You must receive it for yourself.  You must answer for yourself like Martha answered for herself: I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God.

 

If you believe, then celebrate your salvation this morning.  You have been freed from sin and death.  You have eternal life.  Rejoice in your salvation.

 

If you need to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you can do so right now in this moment.  Once you do, you will experience the hope I’ve been talking about this morning.  If that is the decision you want to make, I invite you to walk forward as we sing our commitment song.  If you want to become a member of our church family, please come forward this morning.  Please come as we stand and sing.