#7: “Father, Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit”
Luke 23:44-49 - Victory Fellowship
April 4, 2021 - Rev. Roderick Grabski
Resurrection Sunday (Easter)
I. INTRODUCTION:
a. We pay keen attention to the words people say just before they die.
b. Jesus spoke seven times during the closing moments on the Cross. Before the darkness overwhelmed them, Jesus spoke three times. While the darkness hung, He spoke once. And after the darkness had passed, He spoke three more times.
c. The seven utterances of Jesus from the cross reveal God’s answer to our basic needs. Jesus spoke words on the Cross that are worthy of our study because of who, where, and why they were spoken - and what they mean.
d. Here we find deep expressions of our Savior in His time of terrible agony right as He paid the price of our redemption.
e. Jesus’ statements are taken from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - but assembled into what was probably their chronological as they were uttered. Jesus was consistent in His life and in His message until the end. Let us briefly reflect on the seven last words of Jesus before He died on the cross:
1. "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."
2. "This day you will be with me in Paradise."
3. "Woman, behold your son…Here is your mother"
4. "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"
5. "I thirst."
6. "It is finished."
7. "Into your hands I commit my spirit."
f. Each week, for the next few weeks leading up to Resurrection Sunday, we will examine one of the statements Jesus made.
II. “Father, Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit”
a. The seventh word is from the Gospel of Luke, and is directed to the Father in heaven, just before Jesus dies. For six hours He had been hanging on the Cross. His whole body is drooping and shivering. His breath is growing weaker – until He gives one long, deep, last sigh – “Father into Your Hands I commit my spirit.” Here Jesus closes with the words of Psalm 31:5, speaking to the Father. We see his complete trust in the Father. Jesus entered death in the same way he lived each day of his life, offering up his life as the perfect sacrifice and placing himself in God’s hands.
b. Jesus fulfills His mission, and as He says so clearly in John’s Gospel, He can now return: “I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father” (John 16:28).
c. Jesus practiced what He preached: “Greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
d. We too are told to “Commit our way unto the Lord; trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.” The first Christian martyr, Stephen, left this life with the same security. "Lord Jesus" he said, "receives my spirit." This is the assurance that comes from knowing there is eternal security in Jesus’ work the Cross.
e. The death of Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of divine love: "God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
The very reason Jesus Christ came to earth was to offer Himself in sacrifice for our sin so that we might be reconciled to God and experience His kindness and mercy as His dearly loved children. Therefore the first step to salvation is to give your life to Jesus Christ.
f. We have all done, in our thoughts, words, and deeds bad things, which the Bible calls “sin.” The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
g. The result of sin is death, spiritual separation from God (Romans 6:23).
h. But hear the good news: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
i. So it didn’t end with His death on the cross. Jesus rose again and still lives! “Jesus Christ died for our sins. … He was buried. … He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
j. We should know that Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6).
k. Jesus died in our place so we could have a relationship with God and be with Him forever. That’s what Easter is all about.
l. It is our Lord’s desire that you be completely set free from fears, torment, and oppression so that you might experience His abundant life (John 10:10).
m. The birth of Christ was the first Advent… and the anticipated second coming of Christ will be the Second Advent. And it is God’s desire and purpose that the people of Earth “make every effort to live a pure and blameless lives. And be at peace with God.” II Peter 3:14.
n. He lives! So we can face an eternity of tomorrows!
PRAYER
SONG: Glorious Day
Luke 23:44-49 NASB1995
44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT." Having said this, He breathed His last. 47 Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, "Certainly this man was innocent." 48 And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts. 49 And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things.
