Seven Skull Words Pt. 2

All right, guys, let's look at the Word today. You know, I started as, I thought, well, I'm going to break this down into two sermons. Really, you could preach on every one of these words. They're so extensive, and I'm probably going to spend time on one of them more than the other three today. We're going to look at the last four words that Jesus spoke on the cross. I called it Seven Skull Words. My brother Joe, he said, what are you preaching on? I said, I'm preaching on the Seven Skull Words. He said, boy, that's a weird title. Seven Skull Words. And I said, well, Jesus died on the place of the skull, and he gave seven words as he was being crucified at the place of the skull. So they're skull words to me. So Luke 23, 33. Let me just introduce our scripture that we used last week, and then we'll spend some time looking at these last four words.

And when they came to the place called the skull, there they crucified him.

Every gospel has this in it. and when they came to the place of the skull there they crucified him you know last week I mentioned how when I was in high school we had a new coach come to our high school and he introduced to us skull practice if you're an athlete and you played baseball or football maybe they even had this in other sports I don't know but there was skull practice and basically it was a battle room meeting where our coaches presented information tactics and even images how we were to attack our opponents under the Friday night lights that coach started that the next coach that came to next year I had a new coach every year when I was in high school the next coach that came to next year said well I don't think that helped y'all at all we're not going to do that that's how bad we were I made the analogy last week between skull practice and the seven skull words spoken from the cross at Golgotha.

Translated the place of the skull. Last week's three words if you'll think back with me we talked about the healing of forgiveness. How important it is for us to be forgiven and also for us to be forgiving. We talked about the healing of eternity.

The healing of and today you'll be with me in paradise. And we talked about heaven a little bit, that the ultimate healing is when we go to heaven. I remember when I was in my first little country church, and I hadn't even read the whole Bible. I mean, I was trying to read the Bible, and I got appointed to a little church in Eula. And I had an old lady in the church named Gertie. and Gertie was pushing 90 years old and I been through a little teaching on healing so I just figured God was just going to heal everybody out there at Eula. And we prayed and prayed for Gertie, and she died.

And I was so, I was just despondent about, I couldn't understand why God let her die. And I remember my wife said, let me help you out a little bit on theology of healing a little bit. Was Gertie a believer? And I said, yeah, absolutely. Well, she's healed, Kerry.

Completely. And so you don't need to leave that out of the framework of healing.

God does do supernatural, miraculous things here. but permanent healing eternal healing and Gertie got it and so I got up the next week and said I'm sorry for browbeating you guys about I was beating up on my congregation about us not having enough faith and that it was our fault Gertie died I said I'm sorry forgive me and some of those older ladies just giggled when I said that I said, oh, we're teaching you how to preach, young man. You'll make it.

So we talked about healing and forgiveness and even provision, the healing of provision when Jesus says that he's going to take care of his mother.

I came across a guy, and I don't read many Catholic preachers preachers and theologians, but one that I have read in the past is a guy named Fulton Sheen. And he would lean on the evangelical side of Catholicism, and he wrote concerning the last words Jesus spoke before he died, and I really like these. Listen to what he said. There was never a preacher like the dying Christ. Isn't that good? there was never a preacher like the dying Christ. There was never a congregation like that which gathered at the cross. And there was never a sermon like the last seven words. Isn't that neat? I really like that. Let me remind you of the closing words of an article I shared last week by Grace Gospel. in the midst of unbelievable, unimaginable pain, Jesus did not remain silent. Now, he could have just not said a word at all. He is almost bloody. He's bled to death almost.

All the liquid in his body has been drained out. He's physically at the point of death. He could have just stayed quiet. but he didn't did he in Luke 4 18 he said the spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel and even with his last dying breath he was anointed to preach isn't that neat he was anointed to preach given the power to preach the gospel instead he spoke seven profound words that carried eternal significance each provide for us a complete image a finished portrait of salvation forgiveness suffering obedience and finally victory You know, when I wrote that word victory, I couldn't help but think of Eugene Bartlett. I think he nailed the content of the last seven words when he penned, I heard an old, old story. How a Savior came from glory. how he gave his life at Calvary to save a wretch like me. I heard about his groaning of his precious blood's atoning. Then I repented of my sin and listened and won the victory.

I heard about his healing of his cleansing power revealing how he made the lame the walk again and caused the blind to see. And I cried, Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit. Can you imagine Jesus' mother praying that prayer? Come and heal my broken spirit. And somehow, somehow Jesus came and brought to me the victory. Victory in Jesus. Victory in Jesus. Amen? the healing of forgiveness the healing of eternity and the healing of provision the last four words to me reveal the humanity of Jesus and the divinity of Jesus and so let's look at the humanity of Jesus for just a second the fourth word Matthew 27 verses 45 through 46 Now from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon the land until the ninth hour. Now, guys, this was just not an eclipse. When you go and study the language there, there was total darkness on the land.

And this is in the daytime. that would have shook me up enough right there. And about the ninth hour, at the end of that, Jesus cries out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. That is, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Some of your Bibles may say Eloi, Eloi, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? I don't know if that grabs your gut like it does mine to imagine the Son of God saying to his Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?

Jesus is quoting Psalm 22 there. A prophetic word predicting the grotesque mocking. You can go read all of it. I don't have time to read all of it to you this morning. But predicting the grotesque mocking, the gruesome suffering, and the gravitating experience of abandonment. You hear that word? Abandonment. Complete isolation.

Other forsakenness. Separation from the intimacy of the divine one Many a theologian has called this moment in Jesus life the deepest form of separation in human experience. Imagine that. It is more than simply a feeling of loneliness. We've all felt lonely before. it's much more than that it is rather the identity of being dot dot dot alone of being alone now guys that is the deepest level of what the Bible illustrates as depravity.

Alone. Separated from God.

It is the farthest place that mankind can place himself away from and even outside the grace of God.

Now, that would be hell for me. You hear what I'm saying?

to be abandoned alone.

That would be absolute hell for me.

In those three hours where darkness ruled the earth,

the Son of Man was bearing all the darkness of the human soul. Now I want to say that again to you. In those three hours where darkness ruled the earth, the Son of Man was bearing all the darkness of the human soul.

In Philippians 2, 6-8, it says, although Jesus existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be understood, to be grasped, but emptied himself. The Greek word there is kenosis. It's an emptying of his prerogatives to be divine. He's emptying himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the image, in the likeness of man. He put on flesh. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Here is the holy Son of God dressing himself in human flesh in order to experience what we call death. To identify with us. To embrace our darkest hour to its fullest degree.

Our earliest creeds said he was dead and buried. Now this is the son of God. Fully God, fully man. And he is dead.

My God. My God, why is thou forsaken? He, why is thou forsaken? He had no...

He had no tie to death at all. It was beyond his nature. It was not him. He was holy. He was other than. He was life. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

Death was completely foreign to him. Alone, separated. From God. Hebrews 4.15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. The apostle Paul wrote, for the wages of sin is death. Listen to this. Here is the sinless son of God experiencing our death because of our works of sin. Now do you connect those dots?

Here is the sinless Son of God experiencing our death dot, dot, dot because of our works of sin.

2 Corinthians 5, 17 he God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf sin and death go hand in hand and listen to me in those three hours Jesus was bearing it all my God God where are you your sin my sin your death my death Jesus has taken upon himself for you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, Peter said, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. As they nailed him to the cross, no deceit was found in him now. And while being reviled, he did not revile in return while suffering. He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges rightly.

And he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. For by his wounds you have been healed. for you were continually straying like sheep but now you have returned to the shepherd and the guardian of your soul this week Riley and I were going out and feeding his show lambs and goat and we were shepherding the animals We were being good shepherds And on the way back to town I thinking about my sermon I going to preach this Sunday And I asked Riley Riley what do you think Jesus was feeling when he cried out on the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Riley's eyes got about that big I don't know so I referred him to Isaiah 53 and I don't have time to read all of that today but let me encourage you to go home and read it Isaiah 53 I promise you if you're not saved and you read Isaiah 53,

the pervenient grace of God, grace that goes before salvation will embrace you.

And if you are saved and you read Isaiah 53, you will fall on your knees thanking Jesus for his sacrifice.

Bottom line, here's what I told Riley. Jesus was separated from the heavenly father for a moment that felt like eternity. He was abandoned. He was alone. Bearing all the grief, all the sorrow, all the sin, all the iniquity, all the affirmatives of all of mankind.

From the first Adam to the very last Adam. That means to the very last baby born on this earth. He was bearing all the abandonment and separation in himself.

In order, here's the truth, in order that, Riley,

you will never have to be separated from God. Do you hear that statement? he was separated so thou don't never have to be separated.

Now I could do a Holy Ghost dance up here about that. I'm telling you. If that doesn't excite your soul, he bore your separation so you would never, never have to be separated from him.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Hallelujah.

The fifth word, John 19, 28, I am thirsty.

Now that's as human as it gets, isn't it?

His flesh was dehydrated, guys. He'd been bleeding for hours.

This physical statement reflects the physical suffering of Jesus. You know, I listened to Winfield one time talking about when he shot himself by accident.

And thank goodness Jianna there and puts a tourniquet on him but he in kind of shock you know

I thought to myself, I wonder if dehydration had set in just a little bit because of that.

Jesus has been bleeding for hours. He's dehydrated. He's thirsty. I'm thirsty not only was he humanly thirsty but he also is fulfilling scripture Psalm 69 21 says for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink what a mockery they gave me vinegar to drink here's what I want you to hear from that John 6 35 he who believes in me shall never never thirst that's what he told the woman at the well didn't he I am the living water Guys, this is what I want you to take home from that. He was thirsty so that you would never have to be thirsty again.

I am the living water.

Just read this.

It's the thirst cruncher, I'll tell you right now. The sixth word, John 19.30. It is finished. I've talked about this numerous times here. It's one of the greatest statements I think there is in the Bible. The Greek word there is tel telestai, signifying that the debt, that's what it means. This is what it means literally. It's a banking term. It's that the debt has been paid in full. The debt has been forgiven. You have a mortgage on your house. Wouldn't it be nice to walk into the bank to make your mortgage payment? And they went, oh, you don't owe anything. It's paid off. Your mortgage is paid off. Your debt's paid off.

I don't know about you, I'd be dancing outside the bank. Someone told me that. Your debt's paid off.

I think this word bears the substance of humanity and divinity. In one sense, his fleshly, earthly mission is completed. It's finished. What I came here for is finished. But on the other side, his divine invitation to participating in his forever kingdom is initiated.

Matthew 27, 51 says, and behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks split. Now I want to tell you, that is when the hand of the Father and the hand of the Son joined together and it shook the very foundations of heaven and earth. In the Harper Bible study, it says the tearing of the veil signifies that atonement has been made, that Christ has gone for the veil into the most holy place, into the presence of God himself, that Christ has mediated high priests made unnecessary any human priesthood standing between man and God And fourthly that all believers have immediate access without the benefit of any priesthood except Christ to the presence of God Almighty.

The veil was torn so that you might have access. It's the great invitation.

I torn it open. it's finished come on in come on in the seventh word Luke 23 46 Father into thy hands your hands Father into your hands I commit my spirit for me this is a very very divine encounter it's where divinity enjoins divinity it's where Jesus once again took up his mantle of divinity of divine sonship seated at the right hand of God soon returning king of kings and lord of lords he descended and became flesh. He ascended and sat on the throne.

Sin and death have been conquered.

The works of the devil have been destroyed.

His lordship, his kingly return is simply waiting for the gospel to be preached to every tribe and nation. and guys it's happening quicker than you think how do you conclude this kind of sermon Kim put up there I put conclusion she said you going to put anything down here I said no I'm not I'm going to say how do you conclude these are his last dying words how do you conclude what he's saying here Martin Luther the great reformer was so sick he couldn't speak at the end of his life hardly and when he passed they found a note in his pocket and he had scribbled we are just beggars and that's the truth we're just beggars and that's the truth now that kind of sounds pessimistic but if you know about Luther and the reformation and that we are saved by faith alone he's saying I have nothing to bring I just bring myself and trust him you know what John Wesley said on his death death his last dying you know Wesley believed so much in the grace of God Wesley said the best is yet to come.

The best is yet to be.

I was reading Mahatma Gandhi stuff and

And just the week before he is assassinated, he writes about darkness and how he is just overcome with darkness.

And I cried, I thought.

He didn't know Jesus.

He was a man of peace, but he didn't know the ultimate peace in his own heart. How do you conclude these seven words?

Forgiveness, paradise, provision, finished.

All those words, how do you... It takes a little bit of choice on our part, doesn't it?

I don't know about you, I'm going to finish this story. Kurt, I remember this old man. There an old man in our church at Childress named Aub Rogers And when you saw Aub driving on the Childress Street you got out of the way He was over 90 years old And he drove all over the street. You know, you guys that are in the, you know, the policemen in Childress would just kind of block the road when Aub was coming down the road. but he'd sit on the front pew every Sunday right in front of the pulpit and we were on the radio I said to him one time I said you don't have to come to church you can listen on the radio I mean he walked like this it's how he walked to get in church and one Sunday I looked up and these guys, Kurt, and I don't know, 12 or 15 of the youth, the boys, always came in at the front of the sanctuary, and these kids were coming from the youth center, and they would come in the back door and come in the front of the sanctuary and here was all like this and I just sit down and I looked up and there was 15 high school kids walking by just like this

They loved Aub.

His family was going to have his funeral at 10 o'clock in the morning. I said, no, we can't do that. we've got to have it in the afternoon when the kids get out of high school.

I said, you think any of those high school kids are going to come? I said, I think so.

They were all lined up.

And I asked Aub, I said, Aub, why do you keep coming to church? Why do you keep coming to church?

He said, I want those kids that sit across from me to know whose side I'm on.

I want those kids that sit across from me, and there was five or six rows of them, to know whose side I'm on.

That my conclusion for those seven words Do you know whose side you on

He's done it all.

All you have to do is say, yes, Lord.

I want to follow you.

I just want to follow you.

Let's bow together. Lord, I thank you so much for this day and for your grace.

And Lord, that you give each one of us an invitation to come to the cross, to bow at the cross and declare, I'm on your side Lord I'm on your side Lord bless that experience in all of our lives in Jesus name I pray Amen