- Let's grab our Bibles now. I'm gonna do a special message in light of the death of our Lord
and his resurrection and this being Palm Sunday. The title of my message
is The Seven Last Words. I'm gonna have you turn to two passages, John chapter 19 and Luke chapter 23. So turn to both those if you can. Again, the Gospel of John, chapter 19. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 23, and we'll end up looking at
both of those together today. Hurry.
(congregation laughs) Hint, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. They're all there together. John 19, Luke 23, let's pray. Now Father, as we revisit this story, the greatest of all stories, the story of the life, death,
and resurrection of Jesus, we ask you to speak to us. Help us to see what Jesus
went through on the cross with new eyes today. Help us have a greater
appreciation for it. We commit this time of
Bible study to you now. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You know, for every person,
there's going to be a last meal, a last breath, and a last statement. They may know it's their last
statement, and then again, maybe they won't, but really,
what we say in the end will give real insight into
who we were, what we were, and what really mattered to us. There's a film out right now
called The Greatest Showman which is about the life of P.T. Barnum, and the last words of P.T.
Barnum on his deathbed were, quote, "What were today's
receipts," end quote. So that shows you what was
most important to P.T. Barnum. On March 14th, 1883, Karl Marx died, Karl Marx, one of the
founders of communism. His housekeeper came to him and said, "Tell me your last words
and I'll write them down." Marx replied, "Get out. "Last words are for fools "who haven't said enough," end quote. Well, he said plenty. None of it was good, by the way. Last words, everyone's gonna
give their final words, and we're gonna focus in this message on the last words of Jesus while
he was still on this earth, statements he made from
the cross, seven in total, every one of them significant. Even the order of them is significant. But today is Palm Sunday
and this is the day when we remember that our
Lord rode into Jerusalem on the back of the donkey and
they laid the palm branches down before him and they
cried out, "Hosanna." It was a festive day, it was a happy day, a joyful day, because in
the minds of the people, they thought (clears throat),
excuse me, that Jesus was going to establish his
kingdom then and there. It was their hope that
Jesus would drive out the occupying force, the
Romans, and that they would rule and reign and Israel would be free again. Hosanna, which means, save
now, and what does Jesus do? The Bible says, Jesus wept. Why did Jesus wept
during such a happy day? Because Jesus, being God,
could see the future, and he knew what was gonna
come on these people. He knew that 40 years from this moment, Titus and the Roman legions would come and effectively destroy
the city of Jerusalem, killing thousands and thousands of people, and he also knew (clears
throat), excuse me, that these people were
going to turn against him. In fact, in Luke 19, verse 41, it says of Jesus on Palm
Sunday, as he drew near, he saw the city and he
wept over it, saying, "If you had known, even you,
especially this your day "the things that make for your peace. "But now they are hidden from your eyes." After this, Jesus goes to the upper room (clears throat) with his disciples, and there he has what we
know as the Last Supper. He breaks the bread;
they drink of the cup. After this, Christ goes to
the Garden of Gethsemane and is in anguish over
the impending crucifixion. There he is arrested and he is taken away. (coughs) I love it when I have to do that. It's just the joy of my life. (congregation laughs) Nothing like clearing your throat in front of thousands of people. So he's arrested in the
Garden of Gethsemane and he is taken away in chains, and then he is sent to Caiaphas,
and ultimately to Annas, and there he is tried on false charges, and now the real horrific part
of the crucifixion begins. He is sent to the Roman
governor, Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate sees a lot of men who've been accused of crimes. He can see immediately
that this Jesus of Nazareth is no threat to Rome and he
is not guilty of the charges, and he knows it, but
he's walking on eggshells with the religious authorities
because of a number of events that we don't have time
to go into right now, but a number of things had happened that put him in a very tense situation. Jesus was, in a way, sort
of a political hot potato. Pilate did not want to execute him, but he knew if he released
him, he was gonna have a lot of trouble, so he
came up with a compromise. He thought, I will scourge him,
and after Jesus is scourged, then this bloodthirsty
crowd will be satisfied. By the way, scourging has been described as the halfway death
because of how awful it was. The Romans would use
many devices of torture, and one of these was
the cat-of-nine-tails. It had a short handle,
multiple strands of leather, and then embedded in these leather strands were bits of bone and metal and glass, so every time this whip would come down on the back of a person,
it would shred into them, first taking off the skin, then cutting into the skeletal tissue,
even exposing vital organs. Many prisoners did not
survive the scourging. Jesus is whipped 39 times. Then the Roman soldiers strip Jesus and press a crown of thorns on his head, and they beat him and
give him a mock scepter. And Pilate brings out Christ,
beaten, bloodied, and bruised, and says, "Ecce homo,"
which means, behold the man. Are you satisfied, people? Is this enough for you? Well, it wasn't enough for them at all. Let's read now John chapter
19, starting in verse 14. Now it was the preparation
day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour, that'd
be 12 o'clock, by the way, he said to the Jews, "Behold your king." And they cried out, "Away with him, "away with him, crucify him." Pilate said, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests answered,
"We have no king but Caesar." Then he delivered him to be crucified, and they took Jesus and led him away, and he, bearing his
cross, went out to a place called the Place of the Skull,
which is in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him
and two others with him, one on either side and
Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title
and put it on the cross, and the writing was Jesus of
Nazareth, king of the Jews. Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was
crucified was near the city. It was written in
Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and the chief priests
and Jews said to Pilate, "Don't write king of the
Jews, but rather write, "He said, 'I'm the king of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have
written, I have written." We'll stop there. Now it's interesting
that the gospels tell us very little about the crucifixion itself. Why, because the people
in areas occupied by Rome knew a lot about crucifixion. We have a cross here on the platform that is pretty true to
scale, and you can see what Romans would see, what
Jewish people would see. Crosses were common, and
men hanging on crosses was not an unusual thing. It wasn't unusual to see
a man dragging his cross. You knew he would die on it. Back in those days, the cross was not a symbol of
Christianity as it is today. The cross was a symbol of
torture and humiliation and pain. It would be like the
gallows or a guillotine, not something you would
want to think of fondly. We sing of the cross,
we talk about the cross, and rightly so, but it
had a different symbolism in that day. Everybody knew what it was
like for a man to be crucified. Many of them had seen it. They had watched the process. It was designed to humiliate and cause the most pain imaginable, so Jesus is taken and he's crucified. Now Jesus of Nazareth was a strong man. By trade, he was a carpenter. He'd chop down trees, he'd
frame houses, build tables. He would work with stone. He knew how to put his back to a task. It's amazing he was able
to carry this heavy cross, probably over 300 pounds,
through the streets of Jerusalem after he had been whipped and vital organs were possibly even exposed, and now he is taken of that
cross and he's nailed to it. Understand, to die on a cross
was not death by crucifixion. It's more death by suffocation. A person could hang on the cross and live for two, three
days, sometimes even more. They would have a severe fever that would produce a burning thirst. There would be the increasing inflammation of the wounds on the back
and the hands and the feet, and the congestion of the blood in the head and the lungs and the heart. Basically, it was a swelling
of virtually every vein of the body combined together, making crucifixion the cruelest of deaths. And at the foot of the
cross, there was a base that we have here, and really, the way you died on the cross was an inability to breathe. So you would push yourself
up off of this base to get air in your lungs, so
you can imagine how painful that was for Jesus because his back had already been shredded open. So here he hangs now on the
cross, in excruciating pain. Sadly, no longer would
these hands of our Lord be extended to those who needed
a touch or a warm embrace because nails were driven through them. No longer would these
feet of Jesus take him to people in need because now
they, too, had nails in them. And as he hangs there
on the cross of Calvary, as I said, he gives seven statements. Here's the first one. Look at Luke 23 verse 34. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, "for they do not know what they do." And they divided his
garments and cast lots, and the people stood looking on, but even the rulers with
them sneered, saying, "He saved others, let him save himself "if he is the Christ, the chosen of God." The soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him sour wine, saying, "If you're the king of
the Jews, save yourself." And an inscription was written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, this is the king of the Jews. Then one of the criminals who
were hanged blasphemed him, saying, "If you're the
Christ, save yourself and us." But the other, answering,
rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, "seeing you're under
the same condemnation? "We indeed justly, we receive
the due reward for our deeds, "but this man has done nothing wrong." And then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when you
come into your kingdom." And Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, "today you will be with me in Paradise." We'll stop there. Seven statements from the
cross given in this order. Statement number one, "Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do." Statement number two in
response to the thief's request, Jesus says, "Today you will
be with me in Paradise." Looking down at the base of the cross, there is Mary, the mother
of our Lord, and Jesus says, "Woman, behold your son." And then he says, probably
looking to John the apostle, "Son, behold your mother." This is probably the moment when all the sin of the
world was poured upon Jesus. We don't know exactly
when it was, but I think this was the moment, reason
being, his next statement was (speaks in foreign language), which means, "My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?" Statement number five, "I thirst." Statement number six, "It is finished." Statement number seven to his Father, "Into your hands I commit my spirit." First words of Christ from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do." These words don't surprise us. Jesus told us to love our enemies. He told us to forgive those
that hurt us and used us. So what he said on a sunny day
on the Mount of Beatitudes, he demonstrated on this dark day when he died on the cross. But it's amazing here that he's saying, "Father, forgive them." You would've thought that
he would've prayed first for maybe his family, or
maybe for his friends, but his first prayer is
for his actual enemies. "Lord, forgive them, for
they know not what they do." And we see from this example that no one is beyond the reach of prayer. These were hard people,
hardened Roman soldiers, hardened religious
leaders, indifferent folks that didn't care about what they had done. Jesus is saying they don't even
realize how radical this is. "Father, forgive them." This is so dark of a sin,
they don't even comprehend it, because surely they knew he was innocent. Pilate knew he was innocent. I think the religious leaders clearly knew they were taking him up on false charges, but yet they did it. But Jesus is saying, this
is such an enormous crime, such an enormous sin, they
don't even have a clue as to how bad it is. "Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do." Can you think of someone right now that is very hard to the Gospel? Maybe it's someone you know very well. Maybe it's a family
member, a mother, a father, grandparents, maybe a son or a daughter, maybe even a husband or a wife or someone that you
work with or live near, and the last time you
talked to them about Jesus, and I hope you talk to your
friends and family about Jesus. The last time you did it,
they were just very abrupt. They terminated the conversation. They might have even insulted
you, and you thought, I am never bringing that
subject up with them again. No way, you keep praying for them. In fact, get your Christian
friends to pray for them by name and go reengage them again, because no one is beyond
the reach of God, no one. No one's heart is so hard it can't be reached by Jesus Christ. I think of my own mother
who I ministered to, shared the Gospel with so many times, and she'd always terminate
the conversation. "I don't want to talk about it." But I never gave up on my mom. I never stopped praying for my mother, and she finally made that
recommitment to the Lord one month before she died. Don't give up on your family. Don't give up on your friends. Don't give up on people
that don't know the Lord. In fact, here's my challenge for you. This week, extend an
invitation for them to join you at church this Easter, join you at church. That's right, right? Join you, yes, is that
grammatically correct, yes. Come with you to church, there it is, just sounded weird to me. You ever say something
and it sounds weird? And maybe it isn't weird or maybe it is. I'm not sure.
(congregation laughs) Anyway, so invite them to come. Yeah, but they've already said no. Yeah, but that was
then, this is now, pray. Jesus prayed, in fact, Jesus
was fulfilling a prophecy of Messiah, Isaiah 53. It said, he poured his life onto death. He was numbered with the transgressors. He bore the sin of many and he made intercession
for the transgressors. That's what he was doing. See, on each side of the
cross was another cross, and on each one of these
crosses, a man was crucified. We call them the thieves on
the cross, but in reality, they were probably guilty
of a far greater sin. The Romans did not
generally crucify thieves. If you were crucified
by Rome, you were guilty of a serious offense, a capital offense. These were probably insurrectionists, meaning men dedicated to the
violent overthrow of Rome. From Rome's perspective, we might even call them terrorists today. So hardened criminals
on each side of Jesus, yet Jesus prays for them. He prays for the people
that crucified him. You say, well, did it do any good? As a matter of fact, it did, because on the day of Pentecost,
a short time after this, Peter got up in front of a crowd, and in that crowd were people
that actually played a role in the crucifixion of Jesus. Peter probably recognized them. There's the guy that pounded
the spikes through his hand. That's the guy who whipped him. There's one of those religious authorities that sent him to the cross. I know this one over here,
too, and Peter actually said to those people as he
preached, in Acts 2:36, "Therefore, let the house of Israel know "that God has made this
Jesus, whom you crucified, "Lord and Christ." He probably pointed at
you, you're the one. I remember you, too. I also remember you. Don't feel bad if I'm pointing at you. (congregation laughs)
But I have to point at someone, right?
(congregation laughs) You're the one. They'd be, oh, I am the one. And the Bible says they
were cut to the heart. Have you ever been cut to the heart? I don't mean literally, hopefully. But you know, where
something just stabs you? Someone says something
to you, you're like, (groans), you're right, yes. They were cut to the heart,
saying, "What should we do? Peter says, "Repent of your sins "and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, "and times of refreshment will come "from the presence of the Lord." And many of them believed,
3,000 of them believed, so the prayer of Jesus was answered on the day of Pentecost. Don't give up praying for people you know. So here are these criminals. They were there for their crimes. Jesus was there for the
crimes and sins of others. They were held to their crosses by nails. He effectively was held
to his cross by love. With just one word, he
could've been delivered from this dilemma, one word to heaven, the angels would've come and rescued him. And something amazing happens. One of those men believes
right there on the spot, and he says, "Lord, remember me "when you come into your kingdom." Now we say, wait a second,
that doesn't make sense, because one gospel says both thieves on each side of the
cross joined in saying, "He saved others, let him save himself "if he is the chosen of God." And then one of the thieves says, "Lord, remember me when you
come into your kingdom." What's going on? Jesus made a statement. He said, "Father, forgive them, "for they know not what they do." When that hardened thief heard
Jesus make that statement, his heart melted and he believed right on the spot. You know how long conversion takes? It doesn't take years,
it doesn't take months. It doesn't take days, it
doesn't even take hours. It can happen just like that. Just like that, that man believed. "Lord, remember me when you
come into your kingdom." Jesus said, "Today you will
be with me in Paradise." Whew, talk about getting in under the wire, what?
(congregation laughs) Talk about being in the right
place at the right time, next to God in human form, very nice. And he took full advantage
of it, and then rebuked the other thief for even
continuing on with that dialogue. Then there was Pilate, who
effectively wrote a gospel tract. He wrote in three languages
on the top of the cross this statement, Jesus of
Nazareth, king of the Jews. The religious leaders
said, change that, edit it. Have it say he said, "I
was the king of the Jews." Pilate said, "What I have
written, I've written." Better translation is, what I've written will always be written. Pilate knew exactly what he was doing. It was Pilate's gospel tract on the cross. Anyone who wanted to read it could. An amazing series of events as this one thief now
believes right there. Standing at the foot of the cross is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary is misunderstood by a lot of people. For some, they would say, we should pray to the Son through Mary. They believe she was sinless at birth. They even believe that
Mary had her own ascension. None of this is taught in the Bible. They also believe that Mary had no other children, only Jesus. That is contradicted by
scripture that tells us that Jesus had siblings
or what we might call half brothers and sisters, the
children of Mary and Joseph. Jesus, of course, was the
son of the Father in heaven carried in the womb of the virgin. So maybe people want to pray
through Mary or exalt Mary. That's a mistake, but
we don't want to miss the significance of Mary. She was a very special young lady, probably a very young
teenager, as a matter of fact. And God handpicked her from
heaven to have the privilege of carrying the Messiah in her womb. Girls, can you imagine that? To have God in human form in your womb. And so when Jesus was
born, like any mother, she loved her boy, but
you just need to know, Jesus was the best son ever. (congregation laughs)
The best son. He never did anything
wrong, never talked back to Mom or Dad, never made
trouble, did his chores, was cheerful, loved to read scripture, loved to go and worship, just
the perfect son in every way. She probably bragged on
him to the other kids. Kids, why can't you be more
like your brother Jesus? (congregation laughs)
Look at how hard he works. Look how obedient he is. Look at what a wonderful son he is. You need to be more like Jesus. Mom, he's like, perfect.
(congregation laughs) Well, Joseph made a little bracelet for you all to wear in his shop. It says, WWJD. I want you to wear this, ask yourself, what would Jesus do?
(congregation laughs) You say, Greg, where is this in the Bible? It's not in the Bible. I'm just messing around. But he was perfect; she loved him. And to see him crucified, for any parent to lose a
child is beyond comprehension. There's no words for it. If you lose a wife, you're a widower. If you lose a husband, you're a widow. If you lose your parents,
you're an orphan. If you lose a child, they
don't even have a word, maybe 'cause it's so bad. So she lost her son, but
not only did her son die, but he was murdered in cold
blood before her very eyes. Isaiah tells us the body of
Jesus hanging on the cross was so traumatized, you could
not even tell he was a man. I don't know if you've ever seen anyone that's experienced trauma from an accident where there's swelling
and other things happen, and that's what Jesus looked like. But she knew who he was, and she loved him with all of her heart, and she bravely stood at
the foot of that cross while all the courageous men were gone, with the exception of John. Mary stood there; Mary
Magdalene was there, too. And she stood there, and she was brave, and she loved that boy, and
he looks down from the cross and says, "Woman, behold your son." And then, probably gesturing
toward John, he says, "Son, behold your mother." In effect, Jesus was saying,
John, take care of Mary now. Jesus being the firstborn cared for her, and it appears maybe from this story that Joseph was gone at this point. He may have died, so Jesus may have been in a very important position
there, and he's saying, John, carry this on. "Behold your mother," amazing. Now for the moment that
has been described by some as the crucifixion in the crucifixion, or as I like to put it,
God's most painful moment. We're gonna go to one more passage. Matthew 27, turn there
with me if you would. Lot of Bible turning today. It's fun, isn't it? Matthew 27, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. So go backwards. I love this sound of Bible
pages turning, don't you? Some of you are swiping. There's no swiping
sound on a tablet, just, but it counts 'cause it's
still the word of God. So turn or swipe, just don't
swipe your friend's Bible. (congregation laughs) Matthew 27, verse 45, from the sixth hour until the ninth hour,
that would be 12 to three, there was darkness over all the land, and about the ninth hour, Jesus
cries out with a loud voice, saying (speaks in foreign
language), which means, "My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?" Some of them stood there
when they heard that, said, "This man's calling for Elijah," and immediately one of
them ran and took a sponge and filled it with sour
wine and put it on a reed and offered it to him to
drink, and then the rest said, "Let him alone; see if Elijah
will come to save him." And Jesus cried out
again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. So without explanation, the
sky suddenly turns dark. By the way, the weather
conditions in Israel are very similar to Southern California, so on an average day at noontime, it's sunny overall in California, and that's probably the
way it was on this day. Sun's out and then
suddenly it's pitch dark, and I think this is sort of a metaphor of the darkness coming upon the land, because you see, the devil was at work. Revelation 12:12 says, the
devil has come down to you and he's full of fury because he knows he has but a short time. Here at the cross, the
devil is full of fury. He's throwing everything he
has at Jesus to stop him, and if that wasn't enough, in effect, the Father is putting all the
sin of the world upon his Son. And Jesus is dying in our place. He's dying as our substitute,
and that's why Jesus says, I believe, "My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?" Listen, if the Bible
were a work of fiction, which it is not, but if it were, we would never have our
hero say words like this. But Jesus says them. What do they mean when he says, "My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?" I don't think that they're the words of a man in doubt or
he's doubting his faith. To the point, they're, "My God, my God." Sometimes people get angry with God, say I'm never gonna talk to God again. I'm never gonna go to church again. I'm never gonna read the Bible again. Jesus says, "My God, my God." Yes, they're words of why,
why is this happening, but they're words to the Father. Always take your pain and
turn it into a prayer. Even if you don't understand,
you go to God and say, Lord, I'm in pain, I'm praying about it. Read the Psalms. David and others did
that many, many times. They cried out to the Lord,
oh, my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that's higher than I. "My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?" Sometimes people ask me,
is it wrong to ask God why? And some would say,
yes, never ask God why. It's a lack of faith, really? Jesus asked God why, so
go ahead and ask away. And that is our tendency
when something bad happens. We say, God, why did you
let this happen to me? Why, why, why? Ask away, ask why all that you want. Don't expect an answer, but ask why. No, seriously, you can ask why, but even if God were to
tell you why, I don't think you would be happy with
the result (laughs), because I think what would happen is, if he were to explain it to
you, it would not satisfy you. You know, Habakkuk talked
about how he didn't understand why something was happening,
and he said to God, I don't know why this is happening. God says, I'll tell you. Yeah, tell me, and the Lord
tells him, and Habakkuk says, I don't understand, that
makes no sense to me. So if I were to sort of
summarize God's response, if you'll allow me, when we cry out why, here's God's basic answer. I'll tell you later when
you're ready for it. It's like explaining something to a child. You know, I could try to
explain it to them now, but I'm gonna have to wait
'til they're a little bit older and they're gonna understand it. And God could explain it to you now. Okay, I'm gonna tell you why X, Y, and Z happened, and here it is. And as you listen, you go,
well, I don't like that at all. I disagree, yeah, that's right, let's wait 'til we get to heaven and then I'll tell you
and then you'll get it. So until that day, just trust me. "My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?" He was dying as a substitute for us. To him was imputed the guilt of our sins, and he was suffering the
punishment for those sins on our behalf, and the very
essence of that punishment was the outpouring of God's
wrath against sinners. Did you read this article in the paper? I just read it yesterday,
about a French police officer who gave his life saving
others, so amazing. His name was Arnaud Beltrame. I hope I'm pronouncing
it right, maybe not. So a terrorist who identified
with ISIS hijacked a car, killed a passenger, wounded another, got into a firefight with
police, and the terrorist ends up in a market, storms a
market, he'd take hostages. Officer Beltrame was first to respond. As police were negotiating
with the terrorist to release the hostages,
Officer Beltrame offered himself in the place of a hostage,
and the terrorist agreed. And the officer went in there
and the terrorist killed him. He gave his life for others. He saved a life by giving his life. Why did Jesus have to die? We were the hostages of the devil, and Jesus took our place on the cross. In some mysterious way that
we can never fully understand during those awful hours on the cross, the Father was pulling out
the full measure of his wrath against sin, and the recipient
of that wrath was Jesus. Listen, God was punishing Jesus as though he had personally
committed every wicked deed committed by every wicked
sinner, and in doing so, he could treat and forgive
those redeemed ones as if they had lived Christ's
perfect life of righteousness. It's amazing, he did all of
this for us on the cross. And by the way, for Jesus to
bear the sins of the world was a fate worse than death. I think it was worse than
the crucifixion itself, worse than the scourging,
worse than the mockery, worse than the blows to his face, because he who had never
had even a single thought out of harmony with the
Father is now having to have all this horrific sin placed upon him as he dies for each of us. It was God's most painful moment, and he did that in your place. "My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?" After he bore the sin of the world, he cried out the words, "I thirst." By the way, this is not just any thirst. This is a thirst of a man
who is completely dehydrated and now has come to this horrific ordeal. "I thirst," and then his next
words were, "It is finished." By the way, that was one
word he uttered from Calvary. "It is finished," the word is
(speaks in foreign language). It was a commonly used word in that day. You'd use it after you'd do a job, like if you framed a house
and you finished the job, you'd say (speaks in foreign
language), it's finished. Or you make an omelet, I doubt they made any omelets back then,
but you make an omelet, (speaks in foreign
language), come and get it, (speaks in foreign
language), it's completed, it's accomplished, it's done. Jesus says, (speaks in foreign
language), I've done it. I've paid the price, I've
fulfilled the obligation. It's completed, it's accomplished. And finally, to his Father, "Into your hands I commit my spirit." Listen to this. One day what happened to
Jesus will happen to us. You say, I'm gonna be crucified? No (laughs), I doubt that,
but one day you will die, as I said in the beginning, and you will give your last statement and you will breathe your last breath. You will face death, but look, here's the thing that
we need to understand. What happened to Jesus when he died will happen to us when we
die, and what Jesus said when he died can be said by
us when we die, if we believe. We can say, "Father, into your
hands I commit my spirit." You don't have to be afraid
to die as a Christian. If you're not a Christian, you should be scared to death of death. It should terrify you,
it should mortify you. It should freak you out. If you're a Christian, you
don't have to be afraid. You say, but why, I still have to die. Yes, but death is
different for a Christian. Oh, by the way, a spoiler alert. Jesus rose from the dead
after he died on the cross, and death died when Christ rose, so he has opened the way to heaven for us. When a Christian dies,
they don't cease to exist. They just move from one place
to another, and by the way, they move to a much better
place than they're in now, so you don't have to be afraid. You can just say on that day, "Lord, into your hands
I commit my spirit." (congregation applauding) This is what Stephen said,
remember him, the book of Acts? Young man preached the Gospel
to the religious leaders and they decided to execute him. And as he was being stoned, which by the way is a violent
way to die, he prays this. First of all, he says, I see Jesus standing on the
right hand of God the Father. Wow, what an awesome vision God gave him, a glimpse into the other side. I see Jesus standing, and the Bible says he had a face like an angel. He just glowed. And then he prays to the Father, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And then he said, "Do not
hold this sin against them." Wow, he sounds just like Jesus. "Father, into your hands
I commit my spirit." Stephen prays, "Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit." Jesus prays, "Father, forgive them, "for they know not what they do." Stephen prays, Lord, don't
hold this sin against them. Amazing, and you know what the Bible says? It says he fell asleep. Isn't that an interesting phrase? Sometimes people think when you die, you just go into like a really long nap. But the word sleep in the Bible is a metaphor only used for a Christian. The Bible never uses sleep to describe the death of a nonbeliever. It only uses the word to
describe the death of a believer. And it's a word that is used
to let you know it's okay. Don't be afraid. You know, is it scary when
someone says go to sleep? Are you (gasps)? Now if you're a kid, maybe it is.
(congregation laughs) Kids don't like to go to sleep. Go take a nap, no! Time for bed, no! Now you go to an adult,
especially an older one, and say, go take a nap,
and they're like, yes. (congregation laughs) Why, well, naps are refreshing. Close your eyes, get
recharged a little bit. Greg, it sounds like you're
speaking from experience. Yes, I am.
(congregation laughs) I don't take a lot of naps,
and I don't take long naps, but sometime in the day, if I
take like a five-minute nap, it gets all the cylinders
firing again for me. And so the Bible uses this as a picture of death for the Christian. Stephen fell asleep. Yeah, one day you'll fall asleep. You say, well, what happens after that? You go to heaven, yeah,
yeah, but what happens after I fall asleep and then
go to heaven, what, what? I don't know, Bible doesn't tell us. Oh, we hear all these
stories about a great light and hovering and all this stuff. We don't know that, okay? But all I know this, is I die and I go right into the presence of God, so don't be afraid of death
if you're a Christian. (congregation applauding)
Don't be afraid. Why, because Jesus died on
the cross for me, that's why. And because Jesus rose again from the dead for me, that's why. He did all of this for us,
and I wanna say in closing that some of you are here
maybe and you're not sure if you'll go to heaven when you die. You'd like to think you would. Say, I'm a pretty good person. I think, you know, I've
lived a pretty good life, and I expect to get to heaven. You're gonna basically put your entire eternal destiny on that? How 'bout being sure? I know I will go to heaven when I die. Say, oh, that's boasting. No, well, okay, maybe it is. I'm boasting, I'm boasting on God. He gave me this gift, but he can give you this gift, as well. I don't want any of you that
are hearing this message or watching it, wherever
you are, to end this day without knowing that you're right with God and knowing that you'll
go to heaven when you die. Now it's up to you. I'm gonna put this ball in your court. God wants to forgive you. He wants to give you the
assurance and certainty you'll go to heaven when you die, but you must believe in Jesus, the Jesus who died on the cross. You believe he died on that cross for me. He shed his blood for me. He rose again from the dead for me, and now I believe in him. Paul said, he loved me
and gave himself for me. Why did he do it? Because he loves you. God loves you. Yeah, well, I've done
some horrible things. Yeah, God knows all about that. He knows every detail of
everything you've ever done. Nothing's a surprise to
him, but the blood of Jesus shed on the cross will cover it all. That's the only way you
can get rid of your sin. And I wonder if some of you would like to get rid of your sin and know that you can go
into God's presence one day. If so, I wanna give you
an opportunity to pray and ask Jesus Christ to forgive you so you can have this great hope. Let's all bow our heads. Father, thank you for your word to us. Thank you, Lord, for sending
Jesus to die on the cross. Lord Jesus, thank you for coming and making such a sacrifice
for such undeserving people. And Lord, we don't wanna miss this gift, this gift of eternal life. I pray for any that are
here, any that are watching, wherever they might be, that
they'll see their need for you and that they will come
to you and believe in you. Now all our heads are bowed
and our eyes are closed and we're praying together, how
many of you would say today, Greg, I wanna know
Jesus in a personal way? I want him to forgive me of my sin. I wanna know that I will
go to heaven when I die. Pray for me. If that's your desire,
wherever you're sitting, if you want Christ to come into your life, if you want him to
forgive you of your sin, if you wanna be sure that you
will go to him when you die, would you raise your hand up right now, wherever you are, and I'll pray for you. Just raise your hand up
high where I can see it, saying I want Jesus Christ. God bless you and you and you and you. Anybody else, raise your hand up high. God bless you, God bless you, as well. Wherever you are, raise your hand up. Up in the balcony, raise your hand up. You want Christ today. You guys watching the
screen, I can't see you, but you're watching the screen here in the amphitheater in Riverside or at Harvest Orange County
or Harvest Dos Lagos, Harvest Woodcrest, Harvest Eastvale. Wherever you are, would
you raise your hand up? Just say, yeah, I need Jesus. I'm ready to believe in him. Anybody else, if you haven't raised your hand yet, lift it now. Let me pray for you. Raise your hand up. Now you that have raised your hand, I want you to pray this prayer
out loud right where you are. Again, as I pray, pray this
prayer after me out loud, okay? Let's pray, pray this now. Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, but I know you're the
Savior who died on the cross for my sin, and you rose from the dead. Jesus, I turn from that sin, and I choose to follow you
from this moment forward as Savior and Lord, as God and friend. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. God bless each one of you.
(congregation applauding)
