Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
June 2, 2002 p.m.
Into Thy Hands I Commit My Spirit
Reading - Luke 23.44-56
Jesus came to show us how to live... And how to die.
In ancient times... When a ship would come into the harbor... There was always a forerunner aboard. The forerunner would dive off the vessel and wade through the harbor... Making sure there were no rocks or shallow sand reefs. Then he would fasten a strong rope from the ship to a rock along the shore. Then... By the means of a crude winch... The vessel would be brought safely in.
I believe this is the imagery used by the Hebrews writer in 6.19-20... We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
You see... Jesus is our FORERUNNER. He has jumped from the ship of heaven... And is pulling us safely through the harbor...
- Even though the storms of life come...
- Even though they tear our sails...
- Even though they blow us off course at times...
The redeemed will arrive safely in port. Because each day we are pulled a notch closer to the harbor by the ONE who has proved that He is stronger than life... And stronger than death itself.
Tonight... We have come to the last of Jesus' words from the cross. The lesson is simple... We want to just note some lessons from the final words of Jesus
First... We note that Jesus was always in control of his life.
These eight words... Father... Into your hands I commit My Spirit... Were no last... fatal... desperate cries from the cross.
John says... Jesus bowed His head... And gave up His Spirit. The words could be... YIELDED HIS SPIRIT. What we are seeing here is a willing submission to the death he came here to die.
But this is the ways Jesus lived... RIGHT? He was always in control:
- When He preached His first sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth... He offended the listener... And they attempted to kill Him by throwing Him over a high cliff at the edge of town. Luke tells us that Jesus simply walked through the crowd... going calmly... peacefully on His way.
- When he was asleep in the boat on the Sea of Galilee, and a storm arose that was so fierce that even the seasoned sailors and fisherman thought that they were going to drown... Jesus calmly spoke three words... "Peace be still"... And the winds... And the waves obeyed.
- Perhaps most impressive of all was His calm in the Garden of Gethsemane... When the soldiers came to arrest Him, Jesus calmly asked who do you want?... Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. I am He.
Personally... I think this was more than a mere identification statement. As Bible students we remember that I AM is the name of God... Given Moses at the burning bush.
If you read closely... When Jesus said... I AM HE... John 18.6 says... The arresting party drew back and fell to the ground. You see... They were powerless to approach Jesus... Much less arrest Him UNLESS... And UNTIL He was willing... Until He YIELDED TO THEM. We've seen here at the cross that... Death has no power over Jesus... Until He yields.
Jesus is in TOTAL... ABSOLUTE... CONTROL of all of life.
- I mean... He picked His mother
- He picked His baptizer....
- His daily companions... Apostles...
- He picked His betrayer...
- His death place... date... and exact moment.
Even in His dying breath... He was still King. The one who said... No man could take His life... Died precisely at the appointed time. You see, as specified by the Law of Moses, the PASSOVER LAMB was to be killed between three and six o'clock in the evening... TWILIGHT. Just at the time when Passover Lambs were being killed in the city... THE PASSOVER LAMB OF GOD that takes away the sins of the world was being offered on Calvary.
Church... God has given US this same kind of power over our life...
- We have the power to direct our own lives...
- We have the power to say NO TO SIN...
- We have the choice to accept Jesus in faithful obedience.
- We have the free will to live as He directs...
- We have the God given ability to die IN CHRIST... Or... OUT OF CHRIST.
Folk... What will it be? Will we go FRANTICLY through life... Letting other people... situations...circumstances...dictate our fate and destiny? Or, will we be like Jesus... Take control of our life and destiny... Becoming the people and person God... the Father... calls us to be?
John 1.12 tells us without any doubt that He... Jesus... Has given us...
- THE POWER...
- THE AUTHORITY...
- THE RIGHT...
- THE ABILITY...
To become children of God through a faith in Him. To all who received Him... To those who believed in His name... He gave the right to become children of God
The question tonight is this... What kind of decision have we made...
- With our God-given ability to choose...
- With our God-given choice to be in control of our destiny?
I pray that we... like Jesus... will be interested in completing the work that God has called us to accomplish... to do. That we will choose to come to God through Jesus at the cross.
Secondly... We learn from this last statement of Jesus that there is life after life.
Jesus did not say... This is the END.
He did not say... This is My last breath....
He did not die like Rover... Die all over...
He was not speaking of the death of His Spirit...
But life of His Spirit after physical death... After the separation of His Spirit from His body.
Instead... Jesus delivered... gave... placed... yielded...
- His Spirit...
- His life...
- His being...
- His person, in the hands of God the Father. Indicating beyond any doubt that His Spirit was to survive death and the grave.
We must know tonight that... Death is not the end... Death is not annihilation. From the cross... Jesus did not just disappear... He didn't pass into nothingness. Death is not the end of the road... It is only a bend in the road. Death is not a door into nothingness... It is a door by which we enter eternity.... Eternity in the utopian presence of God. Or eternity in the tormenting presence of Satan.
As Bible students... We know that Jesus' life did not end here... Did it?... Not at all.
- He met the thief in paradise
- He led captivity captive... and gave gifts to men, rescuing captive souls from Satan's hold.
- He arose the third day.
- He continued to teach on earth for forty days.
- During which... He appeared to over 514 people.
- He then assented to the Father in heaven.
- He continues to reign over His church... And serve as our mediator even as we speak tonight.
- And He has promised to come again.
Church... This doesn't sound like annihilation does it?
You see... It is vitally important that we here tonight understand that our SPIRIT lives forever. Physical death is only the separation of the Spirit and the Body. Then at the resurrection, our Spirit will be given a new... immortal... imperishable body... And we will live forever.
Listen to these two scriptures which affirm this concept:
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
Now to verse 50...
I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
Now folk... The question tonight is not... Whether or not we will live forever... WE WILL!! The question becomes WHERE? Will we spend eternity in heaven with Jesus... God... The Holy Spirit... the angels... the saved of all ages past in a state of bliss...?? Or will we be destined to suffer the torment of hell?
You see... Jesus came... God came in the flesh died on the cross...
- To forgive us...
- To save us...
Thus making this life with Him possible.
But again... The choice is ours. You and I are still in control. No one else is. And the Bible asks a question that echoes through the millennia... and pierces our hearts tonight: What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses... forfeits his own soul?
Thirdly... We learn that we too can die in the hands of the Father.
Jesus came to show us how to live... But He also came to show us how to die... IN THE HAND OF THE FATHER!!
Great men of Christendom have followed His example:
- Jesus said...
Father... Into Thy hands I commit... I yield My Spirit.
- Stephen said...
Lord... Receive my spirit.
- Polycarp was martyred in 156 AD saying...
Never will I deny my Lord.
- At the death of John Hus, the Catholic Bishop said...
Now we commit your soul to the Devil. And Hus exclaimed.... I commit my spirit into Thy hands... Lord Jesus... Who redeemed me.
Both he and Polycarp were burned at the stake for their faith.
- Dwight L. Moody died saying...
Earth recedes... Heaven opens... If this is death... It is sweet.
Church... God does not promise that our death will be a calm and easy passage... But He does promise us a safe journey... A safe arrival at home... With Him forever. Our FORERUNNER... Jesus... will guide us home.
The final point I want to make tonight is this... How we live is generally how we die.
Jesus knew He could place His soul in the hands of the Father... Because this is how He lived every day. At age twelve... Jesus is found saying... Know you not that I must be about My Father's business. Later... We will hear Him say... I came to do the will of My Father Who sent Me. And still at another time... I and the Father are One.
Church... We make a serious mistake when we think that we can go about life nonchalantly living the way we want to... Giving God a reverent nod each Sunday... And then at death change everything. We cannot live like the devil... And then expect to go to heaven when we die. Is this the kind of chance we want to take with our souls... with our eternal destiny?... NOT ME!! In fact, James, the brother of Jesus says... This kind of thinking is sinful... faulty reasoning... He says: He that knows to do good... And does it not sins.
You see folk...
- Putting off our obedience to the Gospel...
- Failing to live close to Jesus daily...
Only compounds the sin that is already in our lives.
Don't do that. Live today... tonight... tomorrow in such a way that if we die, we can KNOW FOR A CERTAINTY that our SPIRIT will be in the hands of the Father in heaven.
Isn't God good?...
Isn't He a great Father?...
You see... He has provided a way for each of us to be saved... By sending His only begotten Son to die on the cross for us... And then He still works to save us... Because tonight He has providently provided us with one more opportunity to make sure of our eternal destiny. One more opportunity to make sure that our spirit is safely in His hands.
Tonight... Come to Jesus... Become a child of God by faith, repentance, and baptism.
Tonight... Come acknowledging our sins... And He will forgive and walk with us into eternity.
Will you come???... As we stand and sing this song together.
