THE SEVEN SAYINGS OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS

Many people say that Christianity is something for people who cannot think. It is OK for little children, but when they grow up, they must leave it behind. It is OK for a little old lady who needs to hold on to something. It may be OK for someone out in the country who doesn’t know better. But it’s not for enlightened, sophisticated people like us.

Those people are wrong. Christianity is the deepest and strongest truth there is, or was, or ever will be. I will show you that through the seven sayings of Christ on the Cross. When He was on the Cross, Jesus said seven things.

I. First, Christ prayed for His enemies.

His first saying was to pray for His enemies, for people who hated Him and put Him on the Cross. The Bible says (turn there),

Turn there

“And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:33-34; p. 1110 Scofield).

This shows the character of Jesus. In pain and rejection, Jesus reached out in love. He did not curse His enemies. Instead, He prayed for them.

This is the great glory of the gospel. We did not take the initiative. It was God who reached out to us. It was Christ who loves you and reaches out to you when you did not love Him. The Bible says, “Herein is love, not that we loved God [we did not], but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation [payment] for our sins” (I John 4:10).

Love was not our idea. It was God’s idea. He loved us long before we thought much of Him. He loved us so much that even while you and I were against Him, Jesus died for us anyway.

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (I Peter 3:18).

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet [maybe] for a good man some would even dare to die. But God [shows] his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).

Amazing! The good loving the evil, and dying for the evil, to save the evil person and bring that person to Himself. What? Impossible? But it is all true. How deep! And it is true. The evidence shows that Christ really died and rose again. The deepest and greatest is really true.

II. Second, Christ reached out to a wicked criminal and saved him.

“And one of the malefactors [criminals] which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing [wrong]. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:39-43).

This thief, this criminal, had cursed Jesus all day. Then he saw there was something different about Jesus.

Normally we would expect Jesus to curse His enemies who put Him on the Cross and made him die in such pain. But Christ did no such thing. He prayed for them. [And He’s praying for you now.] What love! Incredible!

Even as He was dying, He reached out to save one more soul. This was not a good man. He was a terrible criminal. But he went to Heaven that same day.

This was not a clean and pure person. This was a thief. Later, Jesus saved Saul of Tarsus, who was persecuting, even killing, the Christians. I was no friend of Christ. But He forgave me anyway. And He will save you if you trust Him.

This thief didn’t do good works to be saved. How could he? He wasn’t baptized. How could he be? He was nailed up on a cross. All he did was trust Jesus. And that was enough. The Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

III. Third, Jesus honored and provided for His mother.

“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved [John], he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple [John] took her unto his own home” (John 19:25-27).

Even on the Cross, dying, in terrible pain, Jesus looked beyond Himself to His mother. Just as He reached out to a thief, so He reached out to make an arrangement for His mother Mary.

That’s Jesus. Always loving and caring for people. He has been called “The Man for others.” I am proud to trust Christ and follow Him. I am proud to be one of His.

IV. The fourth saying shows the seriousness of sin.

Turn there

“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:45-46; p. 1042; turn there).

God the Father abandoned Jesus on the Cross. He left His Son alone to suffer and die. Why? Because Jesus was carrying your sin, and God could not look at sin. God was punishing Jesus for your sin. The Bible says, “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity [sin] of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). And the Bible says, “It pleased the Lord to bruise [crush] him… when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin” (Isaiah 53:10). Why was God the Father pleased to punish the sinless, innocent Jesus? Because that was the only way to pay for your sin!

Jesus said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Notice that Christ did not say “Father.” When He carried your sin on the Cross, Jesus was cut off from God the Father. After endless centuries of knowing God as Father, Jesus gave up that right and could not say that. He had to speak to the Father simply as “my God.” Your sin broke up the Godhead!

This shows how serious your sin is. Sin is not a minor mistake. It’s not a little thing where we can say, “Nobody’s perfect” and then go on. Each sin is a tremendous, cosmic offense against Almighty God. Each sin deserves tremendous, eternal punishment. Only Jesus dying on the Cross could pay for your sin. Only the Blood of Jesus could cover your sin and wash it away. This is the ONLY way for you to be saved. All other ways are wrong ways.

V. The fifth saying shows the depth and agony of Christ’s pain.

“After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth” (John 19:28-29).

Jesus was in tremendous pain. He had been whipped almost to death. He was crucified. And He was thirsty. His pain was horrible.

“As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men” (Isaiah 52:14). People were astonished and appalled to look at Christ. His face was so damaged that it did not look like a man’s face. His body was damaged beyond looking human. The Hebrew literally says, “not human.” The Bible says, “we hid as it were our faces from him” (Isaiah 53:3). People turned their heads away because they could not look at Him.

Why all this? He was suffering for your sin. That’s how far it went. That’s how much it cost. Your sin is that serious, that serious.

You may ask, “Can the Son of God feel pain?” He did. Jesus left Heaven and came down to earth and became a man. As man (and God at the same time) He lived with us and suffered with us. He suffered in agony on the Cross just as any human would – but infinitely worse, because God was punishing Him also.

Christ identified with you – with people – so He could die in your place, to pay for your sin. Your sin is horrible. But Christ will forgive it all if you trust Him.

VI. The sixth saying shows the completeness and finality of the atonement.

Turn there

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished” (John 19:30; p. 1142).

What was finished? Paying for your salvation! When Jesus died, it was finished! Finished! There is nothing more for you to do. You cannot add anything to what Jesus did. You cannot save your soul by doing good things. You cannot save your soul by taking the Lord’s Supper. Yes, we live a Christian life, but that does not save us. It is service to Christ out of love. The only thing you need to do is trust Jesus. If you die as a Christian, you will be no more saved than you were the first day. The only thing to do is trust Jesus. It is finished!

VII. The seventh saying shows Christ’s trust and commitment.

“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost [He died]” (Luke 23:46).

Jesus showed His trust and commitment and surrender to God the Father. That was how He lived, and that was how He died.

Salvation in Christ is not a story for little children, old ladies, or people out in the country. It is for everyone, old and young, educated and not. The love of God in Christ is the greatest, deepest, and highest thing that anyone can ever know or have. And it is the truth. You can live by it, and you can die by it. Can you live and die by what you believe and have now? I’m not so sure. But you can live and die by Jesus.

Jesus lived and died in trust, commitment, and surrender to God the Father. Many have lived and died that way, as much as a sinner can do. Many have died saying those exact words, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

I hope to die praising God and putting my soul into His hands. Paul said shortly before he died, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (I Timothy 4:7). This was his attitude, and this was how he faced the end of his life. “I have finished my course.”

Oh, that you would be able to die that way! Will you live and die in Christ and for Christ? What will you do with Jesus? It all starts with trusting Jesus, who died for you. I pray you will trust Him. Amen.