THE 7 SAYING FROM THE CROSS
There are many lessons that can be taught about the cross, but for our lesson this morning we are going to examining the 7 things that Jesus said from the cross. Jesus death, burial and resurrection is what makes New Testament Christianity possible. It was through Jesus death and the shedding of His blood that it made possible for us to have the forgiveness of our sins. His blood reached back to the time of Adam and Eve and reaches forward until He comes again. We can see this from,
Hebrews 9:15 And for
this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are
called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 16 For where there is a
testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament is in
force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator
lives.
If Jesus had not choose to give up His life for us on the cross and He had not been raised from the dead then all of us today would be without hope as Paul said,
1
Corinthians 15:12 Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised
from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the
dead? 13 But if there is no
resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen,
then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15 Yes, and we are found false
witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ,
whom He did not raise up -- if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not
rise, then Christ is not risen. 17
And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your
sins! 18 Then also those who
have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all
men the most pitiable.
When Jesus was on this
earth, He was 100% human and 100% Deity. He experienced the same sufferings,
emotions and temptations that we do. This is why when He was in the
As Paul said,
Romans 5:7 For
scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone
would even dare to die. 8 But
God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us. 9 Much
more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through Him. 10 For if when
we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much
more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but
we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now
received the reconciliation.
When we think about all
the suffering that Jesus endured for us, it makes it worse knowing that He
didn’t deserve any of it because He was perfect and He had no sin, but this was
God’s plan all along, and He did it for us even though we did not deserve it.
After Jesus was arrested,
He was falsely accused at an unlawful trial by the Jews at night. Then He was
drug to Pilate, then sent to Herod and then back to Pilate. Pilate could not
find anything Jesus did worthy of death and so He washed His hands of the
matter and he allowed the Jews to make the decision. Jesus was scourged, which
was such a brutal practice that sometimes the victim died from it. Jesus was
beaten and mocked by soldiers and had thorny crown shoved down on His head. Not
only was Jesus bleeding from His scourging, He would have been bleeding like crazy
from the puncture wounds from the thorns. He was a bloody mess, no wonder He
had to have help carrying His cross to His death.
Jesus was upon the cross
for 6 painful hours from 9 am to 3 pm. His hands and His feet were nailed to
the cross and He was raised up just as He said He would be in,
John 3:14
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up,
He was put between two
thieves and they mocked Him along with the others that were there watching this
crucifixion. This brings us to Jesus’ first saying.
Luke 23:33 And
when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and
the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. 34 Then Jesus said, "Father,
forgive them, for they do not know what they do." And they divided His
garments and cast lots.
Now think about this first saying. Jesus was praying for these people that they might be forgiven for what they were doing. Even though Jesus had went through more suffering and pain than most could bear and even though these Jews had earlier shouted, Crucify Him, Crucify Him! He was willing to pray for them. In doing this Jesus was practicing what He preached.
Matthew 5:43 "
You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your
enemy.' 44 "But I say to
you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate
you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 "that you may be sons of
your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Not only did He practice what He preached at this difficult moment, Isaiah prophesied that He would make intercession for these transgressors.
Isaiah 53:12 Therefore
I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with
the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with
the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the
transgressors.
Jesus’ prayer teaches us how much He wants us to be forgiven of our sins. Some Christians have the attitude that they hope they are saved, but friends we can know that we are saved and we can learn from this prayer of Jesus that God desires us to be saved. Notice what John said,
1 John 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe
in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,
and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
If you don’t learn anything
else from this lesson this morning, I want you to understand that you can
confidence in your salvation, and just as Jesus had demonstrated on the cross,
His desire is that you be saved and have the forgiveness of your sins. God is
not against us, He is for us.
When Jesus prayed for
these people’s forgiveness, Do you think they their sins were forgiven at that point without repentance
on their part? Well, this question is answered when we read about the birth the
church in Acts 2. The apostles are filled with the Holy Spirit and they begin
to speak to the people in their own languages and they teach them about Jesus
death, burial and resurrection and how many of them had a hand in crucifying
their own Messiah.
Acts 2:36
"Therefore let all the house of
Notice they were still in
their sins because they had not been forgiven, but they found out what they
must do to take care of their sins. They were told to repent and be baptized
for the forgiveness of their sins. Peter tells us,
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise,
as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance.
While it God’s desire
that we be saved and have our sins forgiven, our sins are not forgiven until we
obey the gospel. God provided us salvation through Jesus. This is God’s part,
but our part is obeying the gospel and living faithful lives according to God’s
Word.
We can also learn from Jesus’
forgiving spirit he had toward those who
had done all these cruel things to Him show us how we should have a forgiving
spirit toward those who sin against us. If they repent, we must be strong
enough to forgive them and we must try to forget that sin so we can be
reconciled with them and God. That is exactly what God does when we repent and
confess our sins to Him.
Hebrews 8:12 "For I will be merciful to
their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember
no more."
The second think Jesus
said from the cross is found in,
Luke 23:39 Then
one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the
Christ, save Yourself and us." 40
But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God,
seeing you are under the same condemnation?
41 "And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward
of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong." 42 Then he said to Jesus,
"Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." 43 And Jesus said to him,
"Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in
Again, this was prophesied
by Isaiah in the passage we looked at earlier in Isa. 53:12. At first both of these thieves were mocking
Jesus, but this one thief had a change of heart and He defended Jesus. Because
the thief had a change of heart, Jesus assured Him that he would be in paradise
with Him that day. Jesus had the authority to do this. This saying teaches us
that when we die that we do not cease to exist. Yes, our life here on earth is
over, but we begin a new life as we wait in paradise if we are Christians. If
we are not Christians Jesus taught in the story of the rich man and Lazarus
that we will be waiting in awful place of torment. Of course this entire area
is called the Haden realm and it is the waiting place for all the souls that
have passed on until the day of Judgment.
Again we learn from the
story of the rich man and Lazarus and other Scriptures that we do not soul
sleep because we are aware of surrounding whether it be comfort or torment is
up to you because you can choose to serve God or not to serve Him. This saying
should bring you great comfort, as Paul said,
Philippians 1:21 For to
me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the
flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall
choose I cannot tell. 23 For
I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with
Christ, which is far better.
Our next saying comes
from,
John 19:26 When
Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He
said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" 27 Then He said to the disciple,
"Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to
his own home.
Most of the time mothers
will always stand by the children’s side. Even when their sons or daughters
have been involved in evil things and face many years in jail, they will still
be there for them.
Mary had been given one
the greatest honors given to a mother and that was to be the mother of the Son
of God. She knew who Jesus was and she loved Him. She was not at the cross to
mock Him and she was not ashamed of Him. We can only imagine how difficult for
her to see her Son suffering upon the cross, wishing she could do something
about it, but she could not. When Jesus was baby, Mary was told that this
happen to Him,
Luke 2:34 Then
Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is
destined for the fall and rising of many in
There is no doubt that
Mary’s soul had been pierced with a sword as she tried to take in all that
Jesus was going through. Even though Jesus was is severe pain, He wanted to
make sure that His mother was taken care of, so He asked John to do it. Again
this shows how Jesus is always putting others before Himself. This is message
that we are taught as well, because we are supposed to love one another care
for one another because we are all brothers and sisters in the family of God. Jesus
next saying comes from,
Matthew 27:45 Now
from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the
land. 46 And about the ninth
hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama
sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken
Me?"
From noon until 3 p.m.
there was darkness over all the land. But we can see that it is about the 9th
hour (about 3 o’clock) that Jesus makes his fourth statement from the cross and
it is directed to the Father. Even in this instance Jesus is quoting Scripture
from,
Psalm 22:1 … My God,
My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And
from the words of My groaning?
Out of all things that
Jesus had to endure this was the hardest thing that He had ever had to deal
with because this was the first time He had ever been separated from His
Father. Sure the nails hurt and the physical pain was bad, but to be separated
from the Father was worse. God had not forsaken His Son, but He did turn away
from our sin the Jesus was being crucified for. I do not know when this separation
began. It may have began with darkness that started at noon or could have
happened at the last hour, but it really doesn’t matter when it happened or
long it happened because for Jesus, even 1 minute of separation from the Father
would have been worse than everything He had went through so far.
This should teach us just
how ugly sin is and how Jesus had to endure this separation from God all
because of our sins. It should also teaches us how important it is that we do
our best to keep sin out of our life because sin separates us from God. When we
choose to willful sin after we have embraced Jesus death on the cross Heb. 6:6
describes this as crucifying the Lord all over again and,
Hebrews 10:29 Of how
much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has
trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which
he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
Since Jesus was willing
to endure this for us, it should encourage us to stay away from sin and respect
and honor what He did for us on that cross.
Jesus
fifth saying comes from,
John 19:28 After
this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture
might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!"
29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they
filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to
His mouth.
Again, Jesus was
fulfilling Scripture as can be seen in,
Psalm 69:21 They
also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Jesus had been through a
lot a no doubt his mouth was as dry as a bone. Giving Him this drink was act of
mercy that He accepted. The drink that was given to Him was the common drink
for the Romans. Since Jesus was to high to reach they had to fill sponge with
this mixture and hold it up to Jesus on a reed. This would give Jesus the
moisture He needed to be able to continue His next two saying. The fact that
Jesus was thirsty shows His humanity.
Next is Jesus’ 6th
statement from the cross,
John 19:30 So when
Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And
bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
From the time Jesus was
born in Bethlehem until that very moment Jesus had been fulfilling hundreds of
prophecies about Him and now He had done everything He could at this point to
bring about our salvation and fulfill the prophecies about Him. Jesus had
finished His work upon the earth and when He was raised from the dead He told
His disciples,
Luke 24:44
"These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with
you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses
and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." 45 And He opened their
understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. 46 Then He said to them,
"Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day,
47 "and that repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in His name to all nations, beginning at
Again this shows us how
obedient Jesus was to the Father as He accomplished everything He was supposed
to do and you I get to benefit from His perfection, and we are supposed do our
best to follow in His footsteps.
Our final statement from
the cross comes from,
Luke 23: 46
And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, 'into
Your hands I commit My spirit.' " Having said this, He breathed His
last.
Matthew 27:51-54 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn
in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and
many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves
after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 So when the centurion and those
with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had
happened, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of
God!"
In this final saying of
Jesus, we can see that Jesus was in control of His life. As Jesus said,
John 10:17
"Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take
it again. 18 "No one
takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and
I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My
Father."
Jesus did not have to
have to die and if He wanted to he could have called on all angels of heaven to
come and rescue Him, but He did not because He wanted to die for us. He even
knew when He would die because as soon as He made this last statement His
spirit left His body and He put His faith in the Father to take care of spirit.
This teaches us that when
our spirit leaves our body we become physically dead and that our spirit
returns back to the Lord. As Jesus was giving up His spirit to God, Matthew
tells us that the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom and there was
a great earthquake that split the rocks and even some of those that had died
were raised from the dead. As the earth cried out in response to Jesus death,
it caused those soldiers to be afraid and they believed that Jesus was the Son
of God.
Now if our story stopped
here and Jesus just died on the cross, His death would just be another death
added to thousands if not millions of others that have been crucified, but we
know that on the third day after His death, which was Sunday morning, He was raised
from the dead. Not only did He die for us, He showed us that He had power over
death and if we follow God’s Word and live faithfully we can have confidence
that our bodies will be resurrected and transformed into a glorious body like
Jesus’ body, and at the judgment day, we will be taken to heaven itself to
spend eternity. As Jesus said,
John 14:1 "Let
not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 "In My Father's house are
many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. 3
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
While Jesus death is on
the cross is tragic and sad and worth crying over at the same time it also
something that we can rejoice over and be happy about because it truly shows
the love of God, and our salvation would not be possible without it. So, I hope
you will allow the message of the cross to sink in deep in your heart and to
always remind what Jesus did for you so that you might be encouraged to live a
faithful life until the day you die.