7 SAYINGS – PERFECT SALVATION

I have in a very real way struggled I think longer for this sermon then any that I ever have I this easter, I wanted to Look at the seven sayings on the cross and while I knew them, I could recite them from memory and three different languages. I had read them, I taught on them. I understood the significance of them, the theology of them, the doctrine of them and the weight of the love contained in them. I knew. But this year, whenever I was studying for that those messages leading up to easter, it it hit me even harder. The weight of the love and the control and the beauty and the wisdom in these verses. It was almost like I hadn’t really understood them before, even though I could do all of that technical stuff. Even though I knew beyond the technical stuff. It it really hit me this year. And then as it as it hit me and and I fell in love with it. I wanted to or fell in love again with these passages. Then I wanted to make sure that I was right as I saw more and more as my excitement grew and grew. And so I looked at them and I saw in them a couple of patterns, but because I wanted to be sure that it wasn’t just excitement, it wasn’t just the cleverness of the human mind. I have waited until today to finish that sermon. And I truly believe that that that in this, in these uh seven words from the cross, we see not only the great, great love of christ, we see not only the great control of christ, we not only see his divinity on display, but we see also our own example, the example for us, the example for discipleship in easter, I defined this Uh these seven sayings as perfect salvation as we see every aspect of, of, of where we are in error in rebellion in sin and deserving wrath from God, taken care of or undone or paid by christ, we also see uh perfect discipleship revealed in these verses and so that’s what I want to look at this morning, where we’ve looked at perfect salvation. Now I want us to look at perfect discipleship. Now remember in john’s gospel, the very reason that Jesus says that God sent him to the earth is that God is seeking worshippers who would worship him in spirit and in truth and then a couple verses later, just in case we missed it in john chapter four verse number 24 jesus says God is a spirit and those who worship him will worship or must worship in spirit and in truth, hang on to that because that’s going to make Simpson, it’s gonna tie it all together in a little bit now you remember those seven things by the way, the second thing to stay special attention today, I guess not only because we can hear the traffic outside, but because I have fought all week on how to present this sermon and then changed it last night and not really ready, but I’m ready if that makes any sense. Whatever. Pay attention, those first three sayings on the cross, you remember that? We looked at that, They talked about the full curse, the effects of the fall on all men. Father forgive them. They know not what they are doing. Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And they lost both, they lost understanding wisdom, knowledge, they lost it all. And the first word on christ is forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing. Secondly, because of Adam and Eve’s rebellion in the garden, they were cast out of paradise. They were cast out of the presence of God. You see that second great word from the cross today, you will be with me in paradise. The second effect of the curse that expulsion from the presence of God and the paradise of God, Jesus speaks to it on the cross. And then we see the chaotic nature of the relationship of man after that. The next story that you have in the book of genesis is, is cain killing Abel and and the chaos that the curse brought upon man rather than love, hate even amongst family. and Jesus 3rd words on the cross, behold your mother to john and to his mother behold your son, Jesus not only restores the family expands it And in love and then care for one another. And so he takes care of the universal fall of man that a dynamic nature that we have. That that that that that that is ours simply because we are born as the progenitors of of of of of Adam because he is our father. And then in Romans five, we read about Jesus becoming the new Adam for us and we’ll talk about that later. But then it gets dark on the cross. And the next three sayings are all about our individual participation. We are not in need of salvation, merely because of what Adam has done. We have personally and we and we have and we have voluntarily and we have gleefully uh participated in the curse in the fall in the rebellion. The fourth word on the Cross. My God! My God, why have you forsaken me? Why have you forsaken me? Why why are you so far from the words of my groaning, he says in in Psalm 22. Now, our own sin has widened the gap between man and God has deepened the darkness that we find ourselves in. And then with that fifth saying on the cross, you see the result of being separated from God, The result of being cursed, the result of living within a cursed world, how it cannot satisfy and how it cannot sustain and how as as we mature rather than growing stronger, we grow weaker and all of that is expressed in two simple words, I thirst. Life apart from God is always seeking for something to to, to to to fulfill our lives and never find again. I thirst dry. And then you have that 6th great saying on the cross where jesus hanging there, having paid the debt that he did not, Oh, having taken on not only the the onslaught of satan and the wrath of God, but our own weakness and sin against himself experiencing it all, and then having it scourged away by by the fiery wrath of God. He cries out, It is finished and we looked at that word and said that it could be applied in two ways. It’s a triumphant cry, a victory, or it can be a a sigh of somber despair. And all of that is contingent upon the last word on the cross. Father into your hands. I commit my spirit, so he takes care of In in the first three, the universal problem of man. In the next three. The individual problem of man, and then tells us how to how to how to have a cry of victory at the end of our lives rather than a somber pronouncement of despair. Commit yourself to his to him in your spirit. You see the seven settings on the cross revealed to us a perfect salvation. Well, here was The thing that I’ve fought with now for six weeks if they reveal what jesus did or undid. I don’t know if that’s a word, that’s why it’s in italics, but y’all know what it means. If this is what Jesus did or undid for us to be reborn to be reconnected to God. It stands to reason to me that that these sayings would also then present to us a pattern for the new life that we are to walk and so I want to start from the bottom and go up and end them. See discipleship father into your hands. I commit my spirit. The very first thing that we need more than anything else is our spirit reconnected to God. Our spirit made alive. You must be born again. We are dead in our trespasses and sins the day that you eat of the fruit of the fruit of the tree, of the knowledge of good and evil and that day you shall surely die. We died in our spirit, We died in our connection to God. And so luke, 23 verse number 36 Jesus’s last words are father into your hands. I commit my spirit and then this beautiful little saying there and this and with this he breathed his last hebrews. Chapter 10 verse number five speaks of the coming of christ hebrews chapter 10 verse number five, consequently, when christ came into the world, he said sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. I go and the volume of the book, it is written of me to do your will, I don’t know why I don’t have verse six up there. But that’s it. I go in the volume of the book. It is written of me to do your will luke 22 number verse number 42. He not only at the beginning of his life went to do the will of God at the very end of his life when he is facing the cross, when he’s in the garden, When he’s when he is, when he is, he is, he is in in agony whenever he is in in in distraught in prayer, overbearing the sin of the world and the awful weight of the wrath that deserves In in Luke 22 42 father, if you are willing remove this cup from me but nevertheless not my will, but what your will be done. People always ask me what, how could how could jesus if he knew this was the plan of God, why would he have suffered so much like that in the garden? Why would he agonized so much over that in the garden. I want you to think about this. Think of the worst thought that’s ever run through your mind. Think of the worst thing that you’ve ever seen on the internet or enjoyed on tv or things like that that you know was wrong, christ had to experience that as if it were here’s and then pay the penalty for it to bear the guilt and the awful shame of it. And yet he says, I go to do your will and knowing that he’s going to bear all of that, he finally says into your hands, I commit my spirit an absolute and utter trust in the father, that that his plan would bring satisfaction. It’s amazing to me that when the bible talks about jesus’s resurrection, it never says that he raised himself every time. It says, the father raised him from the dead, absolute and utter trust in the father. And if we are to be his disciples, that is the first step that we must take is to have our spirit made alive and then connected to the father romans 10, 9 and 10. Because if you confess with your mouth that jesus is Lord and believe in your heart, that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved for with the heart One believes and is justified. And with the mouth one confesses and is saved for the scripture says everyone who believes will not be put to shame all right, And he breathed his last. You remember in genesis, what separated man from everything else, let us make man in our image. And then after he had made man out of the dust of the ground genesis. Chapter two verse number seven says, and then the Lord formed the man out of the dust of the ground and then he what he breathed into him, the breath of his life and man became a living creature far different than the other things that seem alive, the dogs and the hippos and the monkeys and the, the apple trees and all of that type of stuff. Man became a living spirit, a living, so a living creature. And for us God breathed his last right? But now when we confess him as Lord, we believe in him that we’re made alive again. And you see those pictures in the scriptures, right, jesus in the upper room before he is, before he goes out and is arrested the mm hmm He breathed on his disciples the day of Pentecost to let them know that they were alive in God alive. In this new covenant there was the sound of what mighty rushing wind. God breathing life back into this, this jar of clay back into this, this formed mud to make me once again to make to make me once again a living creature to make me who I should be in God, who it was intended for me to be in God. You remember that in in first or Corinthians, chapter 12 that no man can confess that jesus is Lord saved by the spirit of God. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Father. The first step toward the first step toward perfect discipleship is the breath of God in us, bringing us back to life, Jesus said father into your hands, I commit my spirit and he breathed his last breath so that God could breathe his breath back into us and this jar of clay become a living creature. I’m gonna have to go much more quickly than this. Now being alive we are to now walk this newness of life. It is finished, you say Bill, it is finished. How does that correlate to? I’m newly born? All right, listen now I can run a race with a purpose finish. A finish line denotes occur a course right where most people are simply wandering through life looking for that fulfillment, looking for that purpose. A course is set for us in the life of christ and the purpose of christ in the plan of God, in the recreation of man, in the giftedness of the spirit, I now know what will bring fulfillment, what will bring purpose, what will bring meaning to life? There is a course now for me to run, I’m not just blindly wandering through life, hoping and trying to fulfill, fill the emptiness of my life. I can live a life with meaning not only now, but in eternity two timothy chapter four For I’m ready to be poured out as a drink offering. For the time of my departure is at hand, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me, a crown of righteousness that is amazing. I know the thoughts I’ve had. I know the thoughts that I’ve acted upon. I know the times when I have done nothing and I know the times that I’ve done the wrong thing and yet because of God in his life, those are becoming less and less. And the things that might aid uh in life are becoming more and more and a crown of righteousness. God will award me on that day and not only me as the pastor, but to everyone who loves his appearing romans. Chapter Eight who is it chuck, that chuck? Condemn, jesus christ is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who sits at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us, who shall separate us from The love of christ shall tribulation or distress, or or or or or uh persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, peril or sword as it is written for your sake. We are being killed all the day long. No, in all of these things, we are more than conquerors through him, who loved us for I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor demons nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of christ, Who is in jesus christ. Our Lord having begun to life having breed new life in me. My life now has a purpose and I can run it to completion. I can run it to a finish. I I don’t I’m not just living life blindly and uselessly, and and and and and and and and and you know, hoping to find meaning, of course, is laid out for me. And nothing can separate me from that life that I now live. And that course he’s saying it will have meaning. I will award you the crown of righteousness we’re having running as we go up from the bottom. The next statement is, I thirst This one’s pretty easy because we’ve been looking at it for so long. In John Chapter four, he tells the woman at the well. If you come to me, I will give you a drink that you will. What? Because I give you this drink. You will never what? You’ll never be thirsty again. He says two chapters later, I am the water of life. If anyone comes to me and believes a river of life will flow out of him, Life in christ is no longer empty for us. We have rivers of living water. Life is not empty. Life is not dry. Life is not un fulfillment. Life is not not not an an ever search for satisfaction. We are satisfied in christ, His grace is sufficient and he has given us a life of satisfaction. He has given us the possibility of a life of satisfaction. Now that’s dependent upon. If we run the course right? We will never be satisfied. You know, disobedience to God. But having his life breathed into us, running the course that he has given for us. We are satisfied. And we can make a difference in the lives of others. I’ve not only taken the drink where I won’t thirst. I now have a river of life flowing out of me that can eight others think about when you were most satisfied in your life. It was probably whenever you were helping someone else or when you had helped someone else or you had seen someone, you know, fulfill themselves, right? And you had aided in to the most satisfying days of my life. I’ve had just in the last few months mike are graduating a couple days ago. I can remember that very first day of preschool being on the bus with her, this giant man sitting in a school bus seat with this little bitty girl, right? And then watching her walk across the stage yesterday, on six inch heels, doing nothing. I could just do something I could never do. And what, five weeks ago, will preaching his first sermon. What days of satisfaction. My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me? Christ, undid this for us? He not only he not only undid it so much. We’ve become the very temple of God! Do you not know that you are God’s temple? And God’s spirit dwells within you. It’s been breathed in us. And and and and that breath that he breathes is not something that he that that that he gives us. It’s something that he shares with us. God’s life is in me. You know what we think that on this earth that the spirit in dwells us and he does right. But so does christ And so does the father. Do you not know that you you are God’s temple? And that God’s spirit dwells within you because his spirit dwells within me. What can I not do? Nothing? I can do what? All things through christ that strengthens strengthens me. I can make a difference. I am always terrified when someone comes to me for counseling. Always they’ve got a problem. They’ve got some difficulty. They’re coming to me for help and I think go go anywhere other than me. Then I remember got his gift. He’s gifted me with you. That I’ve had time to study the scriptures. He gifted me with the spirit that gives me understanding of the scriptures. And then he has gifted me with the person of christ who says remember me and those times whenever I remember those things and act upon those things. And I do know what to say in a time of counseling in a time of aid to others because I am the Temple of God and God resides within me. Look at Hebrews chapter 13 verse number five. Keep your life free of the love of money. Be content with what you have for. He says, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. You don’t have to chase after the things in this world. God is enough. He will provide. Chapter four verse number 16. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of Grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in a time of need, not Grace for help. Get that. He’s not talking primarily help for yourself. He’s talking primarily about what being able to help that you may receive mercy and find Grace what to help. Now there is the idea of it helps us. But it’s a but it has a greater understanding because he’s talking about a new kind of priesthood in hebrews of us. Being able to help others in a time of need. In our time of need. He is there for us and in others Time of need. He is there for us. That means he is what there for us. That means he’s what there for us. Always. You want to know how great our salvation is. The Archangel Michael cannot look at God. I can walk into his throne of Grace boldly, just like Will comes walking into my house. Hopefully, I’ll remember to close the doors and things like that. That you know, The Archangel Michael can’t look at God in the face and I can walk in just like It’s my room. That’s how much my father loves. I am not only not forsaken. He is so much part of my life. He dwells in me. I dwell in him and every resource he has is at my disposal. That is awesome, right? This is where the darkness uh falls. And so now we’re moving out of darkness into light as we’re moving backwards up these sayings, what is life like Now for the Children of the 2nd Adam in this life, Behold your son, Behold your mother, right. The key to all of these things is love his family. Our son ship is the result of the father’s choice Ephesians chapter one even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestination us for the adoption of sons through jesus christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace in which he has blessed us in the beloved God does not save us simply because we fulfill a formula. God doesn’t save us out of you know, God doesn’t save us. You know because he has to because christ died for us and we confessed him. God longs to he wants us to be part of his family to to be our father and for us to be his sons and daughters in in that way I I love as you follow through with the disciples there in the last few days of christ. In the course of three days he says to them, I no longer call you slaves. Now I call you friends because the slave does not know what the master is doing and and and I have made known to you all that God is doing. Therefore you are no longer slaves but friends. And then whenever he meets mary in the garden after his resurrection, he says go tell my brothers to meet me in galilee, that absolute and utter communion that we have today. You will be with me in paradise Ephesians chapter 2 20 and 21 and whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple into the Lord In him you are built together into a dwelling place for God by the spirit. We’re not, we’re not apart from God anymore. We are, we are one with him. We we are the building and he is the resident, he is the building and we are the residents first peter chapter two verse number four and five as you come to him as a living stone rejected by men. But in the sight of God chosen and precious you yourselves like living stones are being built up into a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through jesus christ revelation. Chapter 21 verses three through four I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of God is with man, he will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with him as his God. This is awesome Today. You will be with me in paradise. The greatest part of that passage is with me. I’ll be with you all along the way when you’re hurting, I’ll be there to comfort you when you’re proud. I’ll be there to celebrate with you when you’re confused, I’ll be there to give you wisdom and when you begin to begun to slack and wayne, I’ll be there to gig you back into motion. Right? Look at these things that are on the board. There were told that when the savior was nailed to the tree, our old man was crucified with. We’re told that when he died for at calvary, if one man died then all died, I die. And then we are told that when he was revived we were made alive together in Christ Ephesians two. Therefore when he rose from the dead, he did not rise as a single private person, but as the head of a new body, the head of the church, because we are risen with him in christ you know what christians. Sometimes we forget how close the communion that we have with God that should keep us from sin and what that should keep us from sin and prompt us to use what he has given us to make a difference in this world. And then finally the logos, father forgive them. They know not what they’re doing right and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, Glory as of the Only Son from the Father full of grace and truth and you will know the truth and what we know. We can know how to live now. How we fulfill all of these things. From saying seven. Now to saying one is by building our lives around the word of God, presented to us as a living document. Because you know why it is a living document in here is life and abundance and meaning and power and protection. First timothy chapter three verse number five. If I delay, I’m writing this so that you will know how you ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God pillar and the buttress. Truth. Do your best to Timothy. Chapter two verse number 15 Do your best to present yourselves to God as one approved a worker who need not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. Let me ask you a question. What happens when you die? That shouldn’t be a tough one for a bunch of christians. Okay, what happens when you die, you go to heaven, who takes you there, jesus takes you there right before you can fully experienced death, christ comes and gets you right before you die or before you taste death? What happens? Christ comes to get you okay, where is he taking heaven? How long will you be there? We know the mysteries of the ages. People, everyone in the world is wondering what’s going to happen. We have the logos of God, they know not what they’re doing. We know how cool is that marty, I’m sorry but somehow I missed that. Your grandmother passed away this week. I don’t know how that happened but I know this, not that I don’t know how she died. That’s not what I mean. I mean I don’t know how I missed it. But anyway um um I know what happened there. I know her met her many times with with marty and and withstand and and so many others. I know that as her body began to deteriorate and and as she got that first little taste of death, God said I promise you’ll never die and christ was dispatched to get her and to take her home and along the way to pull away that body that had been ravaged by time that had been ravaged by by our own sin that had been ravaged by the curse on the earth. That that had been beaten up by other people all along the way. And that body was changed into one that not only had no sin but could not sin therefore could live and run and leap like a calf from a stall when winter ends. I know that how cool is that? I know my purpose in this world. I know exactly what I am supposed to do, I know exactly what God has called me to do and I know exactly what its meaning is. Do you know how much the world wants to know those things. Father forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing now, we can know by the word of God, right, that is awesome. Remember we said John four, those who worship him must worship him in spirit. And in truth, Look at these seven things. The first one is, Father forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing, but now we have the truth and the seventh saying is what father into your hands. I give, I into my hands, I commit my spirit and he breathed his last and in those seven things you see how to worship God in spirit and in truth that we can walk the way that God would have us walk the invitation is pretty simple this morning. Are you doing your best?