NO. 2311<\/b><\/p>\n
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD\u2019S-DAY, JUNF 4TH, 1893,<\/b><\/p>\n
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,<\/i><\/p>\n
AT THE METROPOLITATN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON,<\/b><\/p>\n
ON LORD\u2019S-DAY EVENING, JUNE 9TH, 1889.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.\u201d \u2014 Luke 23:46.<\/i><\/p>\n
These were the dying words of our Lord Jesus Christ, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d It may be instructive if I remind you that the words of Christ upon the cross were seven. Calling each of his cries, or utterances, by the title of a word, we speak of the seven last words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me rehearse them in your hearing. The first, when they nailed him to the cross, was, \u201cFather, forgive them; for they know not what they do.\u201d Luke has preserved that word. Later, when one of the two thieves said to Jesus, \u201cLord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom,\u201d Jesus said to him, \u201cVerily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.\u201d This also Luke has carefully preserved. Farther on, our Lord, in his great agony, saw his mother, with breaking heart, standing by the cross, and looking up to him with unutterable love and grief, and he said to her, \u201cWoman, behold. thy son!\u201d and to the beloved disciple, \u201cBehold thy mother!\u201d and thus he provided a home for her when he himself should be gone away. This utterance has only been preserved by John.<\/p>\n
The fourth and central word of the seven was, \u201cEloi, Eloi, lama. sabachthani?\u201d which is, being interpreted, \u201cMy God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?\u201d This was the culmination of his grief, the central point of all his agony. That most awful word that ever fell from the lips of man, expressing the quintessence of exceeding agony,, is well put fourth, as though it had need of three words before it, and three words after it, as its body-guard. It tells of a good man, a son of God, the Son of God, forsaken of his God. That central word of the seven is found in Matthew and in Mark, but not in Luke or John; but the fifth word has been preserved by John; that is, \u201cI thirst,\u201d the shortest, but not quite the sharpest of all the Master\u2019s words, though under a bodily aspect, perhaps the sharpest of them all. John has also treasured up another very precious saying of Jesus Christ on the cross, that is the wondrous word, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d This was the last word but one, \u201cIt is finished,\u201d the gathering up of all his lifework, for he had loft nothing undone, no thread was left aravelling, the whole fabric of redemption had been woven, like his garment, from the top throughout, and it was finished to perfection. After he had said, \u201cIt is finished,\u201d he uttered the last word of all, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit,\u201d which I have taken for a text to-night; but to which I will not come immediately.<\/p>\n
There has been a great deal said about these seven cries from the cross by divers writers; and though I have read what many of them have written, I cannot add anything to what they have said, since they have delighted to dwell upon these seven last cries; and hero the most ancient writers, of what would be called the Romish school, are not to be excelled, even by Protestants, in their intense devotion to every letter of our Savior\u2019s dying words; and they sometimes strike out now meanings, richer and more rare than any that have occurred to the far cooler minds of modern critics, who are as a rule greatly blessed with moles\u2019 eyes, able to see where there is nothing to be seen, but never able to see when there is anything worth seeing. Modern criticism, like modern theology, if it were put in the Garden of Eden, would not see a flower. It is like the sirocco that blasts and burns, it is without either dew or unction; in fact, it is the very opposite of these precious things, and proves itself to be unblest of God, and unblessing to men.<\/p>\n
Now concerning these seven cries from the cross, many authors have drawn from them lessons concerning seven duties. Listen. When our Lord said, \u201cFather, forgive them,\u201d in effect, he said to us, \u201cForgive your enemies.\u201d Even when they despitefully use you, and put you to terrible pain, be ready to pardon them. Be like the sandalwood tree, which perfumes the axe that fells it. Be all gentleness, and kindness, and love; and be this your prayer, \u201cFather, forgive them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next duty is taken from the second cry, namely, that of penitence and faith in Christ, for he said to the dying thief, \u201cTo day shalt thou be with me in paradise.\u201d Have you, like him, confessed your sin? Have you his faith, and his prayerfulness? Then you shall be accepted even as he was. Learn, then, from the second cry, the duty of penitence and faith.<\/p>\n
When our Lord, in the third cry, said to his mother, \u201cWoman, behold thy son!\u201d he taught us the duty of filial love. No Christian must ever be short of love to his mother, his father, or to any of those who are endeared to him by relationships which God has appointed for us to observe. Oh, by the dying love of Christ to his mother, let no man here unman himself by forgetting his mother! She bore you; bear her in her old age, and lovingly cherish her even to the last.<\/p>\n
Jesus Christ\u2019s fourth cry teaches us the duty of clinging to God, and trusting in God: \u201cMy God, my God.\u201d See how, with both hands, he takes hold of him: \u201cMy God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?\u201d He cannot bear to be left of God; all else causes him but little pain compared with the anguish of being forsaken of his God. So learn to cling to God, to grip him with a double-handed faith; and if thou dost even think that he has forsaken thee, cry after him, and say, \u201cShow me wherefore thou contendest with me, for I cannot bear to be without thee.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fifth cry, \u201cI thirst,\u201d teaches us to set a high value upon the fulfillment of God\u2019s Word. \u201cAfter this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.\u201d Take thou good heed, in all thy grief and weakness, still to preserve the Word of thy God, and to obey the precept, learn the doctrine, and delight in the promise. As thy Lord, in his great anguish said, \u201cI thirst,\u201d because it was written that so he would speak, do thou have regard unto the Word of the Lord even in little things.<\/p>\n
That sixth cry, \u201cIt is finished,\u201d teaches us perfect obedience. Go through with thy keeping of God\u2019s commandment; leave out no command, keep on obeying till thou canst say, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d Work thy likework, obey thy Master, suffer or serve according to his will, but rest not till thou canst say with thy Lord, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d \u201cI have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that last word, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit,\u201d teaches us resignation. Yield all things, yield up even thy spirit to God at his bidding. Stand still, and make a full surrender to the Lord, and let this be thy watchword from the first even to the last, \u201cInto thy hands, my Father, I commend my spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think that this study of Christ\u2019s last words should interest you; therefore let me linger a little longer upon it. Those seven cries from the cross also teach us something about the attributes and offices of our Master. They are seven windows of agate, and gates of carbuncle, through which you may see him, and approach him.<\/p>\n
First, would you see him as Intercessor? Then he cries, \u201cFather, forgive them; for they know not what they do.\u201d Would you look at him as King? Then hear his second word, \u201cVerily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.\u201d Would you mark him as a tender Guardian? Hear him say to Mary, \u201cWoman, behold thy son!\u201d and to John, \u201cBehold thy mother!\u201d Would you peer into the dark abyss of the agonies of his soul? Hear him cry, \u201cMy God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?\u201d Would you understand the reality and the intensity of his bodily Sufferings? Then hear him say, \u201cI thirst,\u201d for there is something exquisite in the torture of thirst when brought on by the fever of bleeding wounds. Men on the battle-field, who have lost much blood, are devoured with thirst, and tell you that it is the worst pang of all. \u201cI thirst,\u201d says Jesus. See the Sufferer in the body, and understand how he can sympathize with you who suffer, since he suffered so much on the cross. Would you see him as the Finisher of your salvation? Then hear his cry, \u201cConsummatum est\u201d \u2014 \u201cIt is finished.\u201d Oh, glorious note! Here you see the blessed Finisher of your faith. And would you then take one more gaze, and understand how voluntary was his suffering? Then hear him say, not as one who is robbed of life, but as one who takes his soul, and hands it over to the keeping of another, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is there not much to be learnt from these cries from the cross? Surely these seven notes make a wondrous scale of music if we do but know how to listen to them. Let me run up the scale again. Here, first, you have Christ\u2019s fellowship with men Father, forgive them.\u201d He stands side by side with sinners, and tries to make an apology for them: \u201cThey know not what they do.\u201d Here is, next, his kingly power. He sets open heaven\u2019s gate to the dying thief, and bids him enter. \u201cTo day shalt thou be with me in paradise.\u201d Thirdly, behold his human relationship. How near of kin he is to us! \u201cWoman, behold thy son!\u201d Remember how he says, \u201cWhosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.\u201d He is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. He belongs to the human family. He is more of a man than any man. As surely as he is very God of very God, he is also very man of very man, taking into himself the nature, not of the Jew only, but of the Gentile, too. Belonging to his own nationality, but rising above all, he is the Man of men, the Son of man.<\/p>\n
See, next, his taking our sin. You say, \u201cWhich note is that\u201d Well, they are all to that effect; but this one chiefly, \u201cMy God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?\u201d It was because he bore our sins in his own body on the tree that he was forsaken of God. \u201cHe hath made him to be sin for us. who knew no sin,\u201d and hence the bitter cry, \u201cEloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?\u201d Behold him, in that fifth cry, \u201cI thirst,\u201d taking, not only our sin, but also our infirmity, and all the suffering of our bodily nature. Then, if you would see his fullness as well as his weakness, if you would see his all-sufficiency as wen as his sorrow, hear him cry, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d What a wonderful fullness there is in that note! Redemption is all accomplished; it is all complete; it is all perfect. There is nothing left, not a drop of bitterness in the cup of gall; Jesus has drained it dry. There is not a farthing to be added to the ransom price; Jesus has paid it all. Behold his fullness in the cry, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d And then, if you would see how he has reconciled us to himself, behold him, the Man who was made a curse for us, returning with a blessing to his Father, and. taking us with him, as he draws us all up by that last dear word, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow both the Surety and sinner are free.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Christ goes back to the Father, for \u201cIt is finished,\u201d and you and I come to the Father through his perfect work.<\/p>\n
I have only practiced two or three tunes that can be played upon this harp, but it is a wonderful instrument. If it be not a harp of ten strings, it is, at any rate, an instrument of seven strings, and neither time nor eternity shall ever be able to fetch all the music out of them. Those seven dying words of the ever-living Christ will make melody for us in glory through all the ages of eternity.<\/p>\n
I shall now ask your attention for a little time to the text itself:<\/p>\n
\u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Do you see our Lord? He is dying; and as yet, his face is toward man. His last word to man is the cry, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d Hear, all ye sons of men, he speaks to you, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d Could you have a choicer word with which he should say \u201cAdieu\u201d to you in the hour of death? He tells you not to fear that his work is imperfect, not to tremble lest it should prove insufficient. He speaks to you, and declares with his dying utterance, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d Now he has done with you, and he turns his face the other way. His day\u2019s work is done, his more than Herculean toil is accomplished, and the great Champion is going back to his Father\u2019s throne, and he speaks; but not to you. His last word is addressed to his Father, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d These are his first words in going home to his Father, as \u201cIt is finished,\u201d is his last word as, for a while, he quits our company. Think of these words, and may they be your first words, too, when you return to your Father! May you speak thus to your Divine Father in the hour of death! The words were much hackneyed in Romish times; but they are not spoilt even for that. They used to be said in the Latin by dying men, \u201cIn manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum.\u201d Every dying man used to try to say those words in Latin; and if he did not, somebody tried to say them for him. They were made into a kind of spell of witchcraft; and so they lost that sweetness to our ears in the Latin; but in the English they shall always stand as the very essence of music for a dying saint, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is very noteworthy that the last words that our Lord used were quoted from the Scriptures. This sentence is taken, as I daresay most of you know, from the thirty-first Psalm, and the fifth verse. Let me read it to you. What a proof it is of how full Christ was of the Bible! He was not one of those who think little of the Word of God. He was saturated with it. He was as full of Scripture as the fleece of Gideon was full of dew. He could not speak even in his death without uttering Scripture. This is how David put it, \u201cInto thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.\u201d Now, beloved, the Savior altered this passage, or else it would not quite have suited him. Do you see, first, he was obliged, in order to fit it to his own case, to add something to it? What did he add to it? Why, that word, \u201cFather.\u201d David said, Into thine hand I commit my spirit;\u201d but Jesus says, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d Blessed advance! He knew more than David did, for he was more the Son of God than David could be. He was the Son of God in a very high and special sense by eternal filiation; and so he begins the prayer with, \u201cFather.\u201d But then he takes something from it. It was needful that he should do so, for David said, \u201cInto thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me.\u201d Our blessed Master was not redeemed, for he was the Redeemer; and he could have said, \u201cInto thine hand I commit my spirit, for I have redeemed my people;\u201d but that he did not choose to say. He simply took that part which suited himself, and used it as his own, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d Oh, my brethren, you will not do better, after all, than to quote Scripture, especially in prayer. There are no prayers so good as those that are full of the Word of God. May all our speech be flavoured with texts! I wish that it were more so. They laughed at our Puritan forefathers because the very names of their children were fetched out of passages of Scripture; but I, for my part, had much rather be laughed at for talking much of Scripture than for talking much of trashy novels \u2014 novels with which (I am ashamed to say it) many a sermon nowadays is larded, ay, larded with novels that are not fit for decent men to read, and which are coated over till one hardly knows whether he is hearing about a historical event, or only a piece of fiction \u2014 from which abomination, good Lord, deliver us!<\/p>\n
So, then, you see how well the Savior used Scripture, and how, from his first battle with the devil in the wilderness till his last struggle with death on the cross, his weapon was ever, \u201cIt is written.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, I am coming to the text itself, and I am going to preach from it for only a very short time. In doing so, firstly, let us learn the doctrine of this last cry from the cross; secondly, let its practice the duty; and thirdly, let its enjoy the privilege.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
I. <\/b>First, Let Us Learn The Doctrine Of our Lord\u2019s last cry from the cross.<\/p>\n
What is the doctrine of this last word of our Lord Jesus Christ? God is his Father, and God is our Father. He who himself said, \u201cFather,\u201d did not say for himself, \u201cOur Father,\u201d for the Father is Christ\u2019s Father in a higher sense than he is ours; but yet he is not move truly the Father of Christ than he is our Father if we have believed in Jesus. \u201cYe are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.\u201d Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, \u201cI ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.\u201d Believe the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God to his people. As I have warned you before, abhor the doctrine of the universal fatherhood of God, for it is a lie, and a deep deception. It stabs at the heart, first, of the doctrine of the adoption, which is taught in Scripture, for how can God adopt men if they are all his children already? In the second place, it stabs at the heart of the doctrine of regeneration, which is certainly taught in the Word of God. Now it is by regeneration and faith that we become the children of God, but how can that be if we are the children of God already? \u201cAs many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.\u201d How can God give to men the power to become his sons if they have it already? Believe not that lie of the devil, but believe this truth of God, that Christ and all who are by living faith in Christ may rejoice in the Fatherhood of God.<\/p>\n
Next learn this doctrine, that in this fact lies our chief comfort. In our hour of trouble, in our time of warfare, let us say, \u201cFather.\u201d You notice that the first cry from the cross is like the last; the highest note is like the lowest. Jesus begins with, \u201cFather, forgive them,\u201d and he finishes with, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d To help you in a stern duty like forgiveness, cry, \u201cFather.\u201d To help you in sore suffering and death, cry, \u201cFather.\u201d Your main strength lies in your being truly a child of God.<\/p>\n
Learn the next doctrine, that dying is going home to our Father. I said to an old friend, not long ago, \u201cOld Mr. So-and-so has gone home.\u201d I meant that he was dead He said, \u201cYes, where else should he go?\u201d I thought that was a wise question. Where else should we go? When we grow grey, and our day\u2019s work is done, where should we go but home? So, when Christ has said, \u201cIt is finished,\u201d his next word, of course, is \u201cFather.\u201d He has finished his earthly course, and now he will go home to heaven. Just as a child runs to its mother\u2019s bosom when it is tired, and wants to fall asleep, so Christ says, \u201cFather,\u201d ere he falls asleep in death.<\/p>\n
Learn another doctrine, that if God is our Father, and we regard ourselves as going home when we die, because we go to him, then he will receive us. There is no hint that we can commit our spirit to God, and yet that God will not have us. Remember how Stephen, beneath a Shower of stones, cried, \u201cLord Jesus, receive my spirit.\u201d Let us, however we may die, make this our last emotion if not our last expression, Father, receive my spirit.\u201d Shall not our heavenly Father receive his children? If ye, being evil, receive your children at nightfall, when they come home to sleep, shall not your Father, who is in heaven, receive you when your day\u2019s work is done? That is the doctrine we are to learn from this last cry from the cross, the Fatherhood of God and all that comes of it to believers.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
II. <\/b>Secondly, Let Us Practise The Duty.<\/p>\n
That duty seems to me to be, first, resignation. Whenever anything distresses and alarms you, resign yourself to God. Say, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d Sing, with Faber, \u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cI bow me to thy will, O God,
And all thy ways adore;
And every day I live I\u2019ll seek
To please thee more and more.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Learn, next, the duty of prayer. When thou art in the very anguish of pain, when thou art surrounded by bitter griefs of mind as well as of body, still pray. Drop not the \u201cOur Father.\u201d Let not your cries be addressed to the air; let not your moans be to your physician, or your nurse; but cry, \u201cFather.\u201d Does not a child so cry when it has lost its way? If it be in the dark at night, and it starts up in a lone room, does it not cry out, \u201cFather\u201d; and is not a father\u2019s heart touched by that cry? Is there anybody here who has never cried to God? Is there one here who has never said \u201cFather\u201d? Then, my Father, put thy love into their hearts, and make them to-night say, \u201cI will arise, and go to my Father.\u201d You shall truly be known to be the sons of God if that cry is in your heart and on your lips.<\/p>\n
The next duty is the committal of ourselves to God by faith. Give yourselves up to God, trust yourselves with God. Every morning, when you get up, take yourself, and put yourself into God\u2019s custody; lock yourself up, as it were, in the casket of divine protection; and every night, when you have unlocked the box, ere you fall asleep, lock it again, and give the key into the hand of him who is able to keep you when the image of death is on your face. Before you sleep, commit yourself to God; I mean, do that when there is nothing to frighten you, when everything is going smoothly, when the wind blows softly from the south, and the barque is speeding towards its desired haven, still make not thyself quiet with thine own quieting. He who carves for himself will cut his fingers, and got an empty plate. He who leaves God to carve for him shall often have fat things full of marrow placed before him. If thou canst trust, God will reward thy trusting in a way that thou knowest not as yet.<\/p>\n
And then practice one other duty, that of the personal and continual realization of God\u2019s presence. \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d \u201cThou art here; I know that thou art. I realize that thou art here in the time of sorrow, and of danger; and I put myself into thy hands. Jut as I would give myself to the protection of a policeman, or a soldier, if anyone attacked me, so do I commit myself to thee, thou unseen Guardian of the night, thou unwearied Keeper of the day. Thou shalt cover my head in the day of battle. Beneath thy wings will I trust, as a chick hides beneath the hen.\u201d<\/p>\n
See, then, your duty. It is to resign yourself to God, pray to God, commit yourself to God, and rest in a sense of the presence of God. May the Spirit of God help you in the practice of such priceless duties as these!<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
III. <\/b>Now, lastly, Let Us Enjoy The Privilege.<\/p>\n
First, let us enjoy the high privilege of resting in God in all times of danger and pain. The doctor has just told you that you will have to undergo an operation. Say, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d There is every probability that that weakness of yours, or that disease of yours, will increase upon you, and that by-and-by you will have to take to your bed, and lie there perhaps for many a day. Then say, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d Do not fret; for that will not help you. Do not fear the future; for that will not aid you. Give yourself up (it is your privilege to do so) to the keeping of those dear hands that were pierced for you, to the love of that dear heart which was set abroach with the spear to purchase your redemption. It is wonderful what rest of spirit God can give to a man or a woman in the very worst condition. Oh, how some of the martyrs have sung at the stake! How they have rejoiced when on the rack! Bonner\u2019s coal-hole, across the water there, at Fulham, where he shut up the martyrs, was a wretched place to lie in on a cold winter\u2019s night; but they said, \u201cThey did rouse them in the straw, as they lay in the coalhole; with the sweetest singing out of heaven, and when Donner said, \u2019Fie on them that they should make such a noise!\u2019 they told him that he, too, would make such a noise if he was as happy as they were.\u201d When you have commended your spirit to God, then you have sweet rest in time of danger and pain.<\/p>\n
The next privilege is that of a brave confidence, in the time of death, or in the fear of death. I was led to think over this text by using it a great many times last Thursday night. Perhaps none of you will ever forget last Thursday night. I do not think that I ever shall, if I live to be as old as Methuselah. From this place till I reached my home, it seemed one continued sheet of fire; and the further I went, the more vivid became the lightning flashes; but when I came at last to turn up Leigham Court Road, then the lightning seemed to come in very bars from the sky; and at last, as I reached the top of the hill, and a crash came of the most startling kind, down poured a torrent of hail, hailstones that I will not attempt to describe, for you might think that I exaggerated, and then I felt, and my friend with me, that we could hardly expect to reach home alive. We were there at the very center and summit of the storm. All around us, on every side, and all within us, as it were, seemed nothing but the electric fluid; and God\u2019s right arm seemed bared for war. I felt then, \u201cWell, now I am very likely going home,\u201d and I commended my spirit to God; and from that moment, though I cannot say that I took much pleasure in the peals of thunder, and the flashes of lightning, yet I felt quite as calm as I do here at this present moment; perhaps a little more calm than I do in the presence of so many people; happy at the thought that, within a single moment, I might understand more than all I could ever learn on earth, and see in an instant more than I could hope to see if I lived here for a century. I could only say to my friend, \u201cLet us commit ourselves to God; we know that we are doing our duty in going on as we are going, and all is well with us.\u201d So we could only rejoice to other in the prospect of being soon with God. We were not taken home in the chariot of fire; we are still spared a little longer to go on with life\u2019s work; but I realize the sweetness of being able to have done with it all, to have no wish, no will, no word, scarcely a prayer, but just to take one\u2019s heart up, and hand it over to the great Keeper, saying, \u201cFather, take care of me. So let me live, so let me die. I have henceforth no desire about anything; let it be as thou pleasest. Into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
This privilege is not only that of having rest in danger, and confidence in the prospect of death; it is also full of consummate joy. Beloved, if we know how to commit ourselves into the hands of God, what a place it is for us to be in! What a place to be in, \u2014 in the hands of God! There are the myriads of stars; there is the universe itself; God\u2019s hand upholds its everlasting pillars, and they do not fall. If we got into the hands of God, we get where all things rest, and we get home and happiness. We have got out of the nothingness of the creature into the all-sufficiency of the Creator. Oh, get you there; hasten to get you there, beloved friends, and live henceforth in the hands of God!<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is finished.\u201d You have not finished; but Christ has. It is all done. What you have to do will only be to work out what he has already finished for you, and show it to the sons of men in your lives. And because it is all finished, therefore say, \u201cNow, Father, I return to thee. My life henceforth shall be to be in thee. My joy shall be to shrink to nothing in the presence of the All-in-all, to die into the eternal life, to sink my ego into Jehovah, to lot my manhood, my creaturehood live only for its Creator, and manifest only the Creator\u2019s glory. O beloved, begin to-morrow morning and end to-night with, \u201cFather, into thy hands I commend my spirit.\u201d The Lord be with you all! Oh, if you have never prayed, God help you to begin to pray now, for Jesus\u2019 sake! Amen.<\/p>\n
EXPOSITIONS BY C. H. SPURGEON.<\/p>\n
LUKE 23:27-49, AND MATTHEW 27:50-54.<\/b><\/p>\n
Luke 23:27. And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.<\/i><\/p>\n
Their best Friend, the Healer of their sick, the Lover of their children, was about to be put to death, so they might well bewail and lament.<\/p>\n
28-30. But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave sack. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on its; and to the hills, Cover us.<\/i><\/p>\n
Our Savior looked forward to the terrible siege of Jerusalem, the most tragical of all human transactions. I think I do not exaggerate when I say that history contains nothing equal to it. It stands alone in the unutterable agony of men, women, and children in that dreadful time of suffering.<\/p>\n
31. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?<\/i><\/p>\n
If the Christ of God is put to death even while the Jewish capital seems vigorous and flourishing, what shall be done when it is all dry and dead, and the Roman legions are round about the doomed city?<\/p>\n
32. And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.<\/i><\/p>\n
Every item of scorn was added to our Savior\u2019s death; and yet the Scriptures were thus literally fulfilled, for \u201cHe was numbered with the transgressors.\u201d<\/p>\n
33, 34. And when they were come to the place, which, is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.<\/i><\/p>\n
Do you bear the hammer fall? \u201cThen said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.\u201d Do you see the bleeding hands and feet of Jesus? This is all that is extracted by that fearful pressure, nothing but words of pardoning love, a prayer for those who are killing him: \u201cFather, forgive them; for they know not what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
35. And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.<\/i><\/p>\n
You know how mockery puts salt and vinegar into a wound. A man does not at any time like to be reviled; but when he is full of physical and mental anguish, and his heart is heavy within him, then ridicule is peculiarly full of acid to him.<\/p>\n
36, 37. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.<\/i><\/p>\n
These rough legionaries knew how to put their jests in the most cruel shape, and to press home their scoffs upon their suffering victim.<\/p>\n
38. And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew,<\/i><\/p>\n
These were the three languages that could be understood by all the people round about.<\/p>\n
38. THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.<\/i><\/p>\n
And so be is, and so he shall be. He has never quitted the throne. The Son of David is still King of the Jews, though they continue to reject him; but the day shall come when they shall recognize and receive the Messiah. \u201cThen shall they look upon him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.\u201d<\/p>\n
39. And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.<\/i><\/p>\n
Matthew and Mark speak of both the thieves as railing at Jesus. We must take their expressions as being literally correct; and if so, both the malefactors at first cast reproaches in Christ\u2019s teeth.<\/p>\n
40, 41. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath, done nothing amiss.<\/i><\/p>\n
Not only has he done nothing worthy of death, but he has done nothing improper, nothing out of place: \u201cThis man hath done nothing amiss.\u201d The thief bears testimony to the perfect character of this wondrous Man, whom he nevertheless recognized to be divine, as we shall Bee in the next verse.<\/p>\n
42-47. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou, comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with, a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Now when the centurion, saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.<\/i><\/p>\n
He was set there at the head of the guard, to watch the execution; and he could not help saying, as he observed the wonderful signs in heaven and earth, \u201cCertainly this was a righteous man.\u201d<\/p>\n
48. And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.<\/i><\/p>\n
What a change must have come over that ribald crowd! They had shouted, \u201cCrucify him;\u201d they had stood there, and mocked him; and now they are overcome with the sight, and they smite their breasts. Ah, dear friends, their grief did not come to much! Men may smite their breasts; but unless God smites their hearts, all the outward signs of a gracious work will come to nothing at all.<\/p>\n
49. And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.<\/i><\/p>\n
Let \u201cthese things\u201d be before your mind\u2019s eye this evening, and think much of your crucified Lord, all you who are of his acquaintance, and who are numbered amongst his followers.<\/p>\n
(As the Exposition is shorter than usual, an appropriate extract is added from Mr. Spurgeon\u2019s Commentary on the Gospel According to Matthew.)<\/p>\n
Matthew 27:50. Jesus, when he had cried again with a load voice, yielded up the ghost.<\/i><\/p>\n
Christ\u2019s strength was not exhausted; his last word was uttered with a loud voice, like the shout of a conquering warrior. And what a word it was, \u201cIt is finished\u201d! Thousands of sermons have been preached upon that little sentence; but who can tell all the meaning that lies compacted within it? It is a kind of infinite expression for breadth, and depth, and length, and height altogether immeasurable. Christ\u2019s life being finished, perfected, completed, he yielded up the ghost, willingly dying, laying down his life as he said he would: \u201cI lay down my life for the sheep. I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
51-53. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.<\/i><\/p>\n
Christ\u2019s death was the end of Judaism: The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. As if shocked at the sacrilegious murder of her Lord, the temple rent her garments, like one stricken with horror at some stupendous crime. The body of Christ being rent, the veil of the temple was torn in twain from the top to the bottom. Now was there an entrance made into the holiest of all, by the blood of Jesus; and a way of access to God was opened for every sinner who trusted in Christ\u2019s atoning sacrifice.<\/p>\n
See what marvels accompanied and followed the death of Christ: The earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened. Thus did the material world pay homage to him whom man had rejected; while nature\u2019s convulsions foretold what will happen when Christ\u2019s voice once more shakes not the earth only, but also heaven.<\/p>\n
These first miracles wrought in connection with the death of Christ were typical of spiritual wonders that will be continued till he comes again, \u2014 rocky hearts are rent, graves of sin are opened, those who have been dead in trespasses and sins, and buried in sepulchres of lust and evil, are quickened, and come out from among the dead, and go unto the holy city, the New Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
54. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.<\/i><\/p>\n
These Roman soldiers had never witnessed such scenes in connection with an execution before, and they could only come to one conclusion about the illustrious prisoner whom they had put to death: \u201cTruly this was the Son of God.\u201d It was strange that those men should confess what the chief priests and scribes and elders denied; yet since their day it has often happened that the most abandoned and profane have acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God while their religious rulers have denied his divinity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NO. 2311 INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD\u2019S-DAY, JUNF 4TH, 1893, DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITATN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD\u2019S-DAY EVENING, JUNE 9TH, 1889. \u201cAnd when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.\u201d \u2014 … Continue reading “OUR LORD\u2019S LAST CRY FROM THE CROSS.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}