Giving
Welcome to Refinery Life Australia.
Today we continue our series on Jesus’ seven sayings from the cross, titled Christ speaks from the cross.
Today we are talking about Trust God With Yourself.
Prayer
Father, we come to magnify You on this Palm Sunday, but we also come with a sense of need.
We want to know You more so that we may enter more fully into a more meaningful and purposeful life.
Give us not only the desire to serve You more faithfully, but the power to perform the things that we earnestly wish to do.
A part of our service is the bringing of our tithes and offerings that the work of Your kingdom may be advanced.
Bless us Lord as we give.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Text
Luke 23:46 (AMP)
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.
Scripture Reading
Luke 23:39-49 (AMP)
39 One of the criminals who had been hanged [on a cross beside Him] kept hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us [from death]!”
40 But the other one rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
41 We are suffering justly, because we are getting what we deserve for what we have done; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”
42 And he was saying, “Jesus, [please] remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” 43 Jesus said to him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
44 It was now about the sixth hour (noon), and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.),
45 because the sun was obscured; and the veil [of the Holy of Holies] of the temple was torn in two [from top to bottom].
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 taken place, he began praising and honoring God, saying, “Certainly this Man was innocent.”
48 All the crowds who had gathered for this spectacle, when they saw what had happened, began to return [to their homes], beating their breasts [as a sign of mourning or repentance].
49 And all His acquaintances and the women who had accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, watching these things.
Introduction
Never did people look on a scene more ghastly, both in physical horror and in moral atrocity, than when the Sinless One was put to death by brutality and bigotry.
To the world, the death of Christ spoke of utter defeat.
Realistically, however, this event combined with Jesus’ resurrection brought forth the greatest victory the world has ever seen.
These last words of Jesus are perhaps interpreted by some as a parting cry of pain.
Actually, they were not only a prayer of relief at the mercy offered by death, but also a cry of joyful victory that Jesus had endured to the end and completely fulfilled His redemptive mission.
- Most, perhaps all, people die as they live.
- The last words people speak on this earth are significant.
Those people who have been skeptical or critical will probably think, if not say aloud, that they are “taking a leap in the dark, committing their body to the worms and their spirit perhaps somewhere.”
Those who have been constant seekers of greater understanding and truth and lived as John Wesley lived, dedicated to Christ and committed to His will, will say “The best thing of all is God is with us.”
B. Jesus’ last words were especially significant.
When Jesus was about to commit Himself to the Father, He reached back into the Old Testament and found a quote from Psalms that had given people aid both before and after He lived.
The psalmist spoke divinely inspired words in the midst of turmoil and danger as he recognised that God was merciful and faithful, able to protect and deliver.
As Jesus hung on the cross in anguish, He called out those words as His last act of surrender to God, yet His cry had a different meaning than that of the psalmist.
The psalmist longed to be preserved from death, while Jesus asked to be preserved through death unto everlasting life.
Although Jesus used the words of an ancient prayer, He made then His own.
He had lived the perfect life, now He was dying the perfect death.
He transformed the psalmist’s prayer into one of tender confidence by substituting the word “Father” for the psalmist’s expression “O Lord God of truth” (Psalm 31:5)
Both prayed to the same person, of course, but Jesus would call Him “Father” in a way that was not possible for any other person.
2. Only in God can we find security.
- The illusion that security can be found in worldly pursuits drives people to do foolish things.
We sacrifice our freedom, surrender our initiative, compromise our ideals, and often waste our opportunities by wandering off after something we believe will make us immune to anything that threatens us.
We were all warned a long time ago to be on guard against trying to establish a society that confuses comfort and civilisation.
As a nation and individuals, we may attempt to save our lives and end up losing them by forgetting that strength of character, national and personal, is forged only in the furnace of discipline.
Hard work must precede success.
Suffering and pain must come before true peace can be realised.
Where can we find true serenity?
Only in God!
And only in revelation of God brought to us by Jesus Christ.
B. Jesus found His security in God.
Jesus had found His earthly security in doing God’s will.
Now He found His security at death in the same place.
We never find true fulfilment until we surrender ourselves to the Father’s purpose.
I read a story of a minister visiting a missions hospital, and he was asked by the doctor, if he would like to see a major operation?
The operation lasted for seven hours.
Intense heats and fumes from the ether were so overbearing that the minister had to go outside to refresh himself.
When the surgery was finished he asked the doctor if this was an average day?
The surgeon smiled, sweat running down his face and his hands trembling with fatigue.
The minister asked, how much the doctor would be paid for an operation like the one he just completed, in America?
The doctor answered that the going rate was in the hundreds of thousands.
The minister then asked, how much the doctor be paid for the operation on the mission field?
The doctor looked at the poor woman who had been wheeled into the operating room clutching only a small copper coin, begging him to save her life.
He said, “Her gratitude and my Master’s smile.” He then added, “But that is worth more to me than all the money the world could give.”
We find our security, peace, joy, and everything worthwhile by trusting in God’s perfect will for our lives.
3. The first step.
We must all start at the beginning!
No one becomes a Christian by piling up good works on the alter.
The first step is to trust the Lord with our eternal destiny by receiving Jesus Christ as Saviour.
The death of Christ on Calvary was God’s redemptive plan consummated on earth.
The weigh of our sins drove nails into Jesus’ hands and feet.
The resurrection completed the divine drama!
As Jesus commended His Spirit into the hands of His Father and then expired, so we enter into the Christian life by Dying to self.
Paul said in, Galatians 2:20 (AMP)
20 I have been crucified with Christ [that is, in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith [by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting] in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
If we want to know the joy that the Saviour knew in His victorious cry at death, we must make the complete commitment He made.
We must literally wager our life on the fact that God not only loves us but has provided for our needs in the death of Christ on Calvaryand will remove the guilt our sin when we surrender ourselves to Him.
Nothing else is sufficient!
Nothing else is necessary!
I encourage you, do it today!
Conclusion.
How good is to to see a person possessing the quite confidence of a life resting in the providence of God!
Pilate did not have that confidence.
He allowed Jesus to be condemned when he could have saved Him.
The Sanhedrin did not have that peace.
They were disorganised and confused.
Judas did not have that peace.
He had already gone out and hanged himself.
The frantic mob lacked that peace.
The frightened band of disciples could not claim it.
Only Jesus could, for only He had committed Himself completely into the hands of His Father.
Are you willing to trust yourself to the Saviour?
It is the wisest thing, the safest thing, and the most needed thing you could ever do.
If Jesus Christ cannot be trusted with our soul’s salvation and our life’s joy, who can be?
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
Giving
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer.
Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
You’re important to God, and you’re important to us at www.refinerylife.org
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