"Famous Last Words" Sermon Series

Our Christmas series this year was really an Easter series. In an effort to remind ourselves that the beauty and purpose of the manger is the cross, we focused on the famous last words of Jesus from Calvary. Below you will find each of the sermons as well as the other articles and links associated with that series.

Sermons

October 30, 2016 | Luke 23:34: I Am Forgiven
November 13, 2016 | Luke 23:43: I Am Saved
November 27, 2016 | John 19:25-27: I Am Loved
December 4, 2016 | Mark 15:34: I Am Accepted
December 4, 2016 | Psalm 22
December 11, 2016 | John 19:28: I Am Satisfied
December 18, 2016 | John 19:30: I Am Victorious
December 25, 2016 | Luke 23:46: I Am Alive


Other Series

"Famous Last Words" Sermon Series
"What Does Theology Have to Do With the Price of Bread in China?" Sermon Series
"The Gospel According to Exodus" Sermon Series
"Roadblocks to Faith" Sermon Series
"The Beatitudes" Sermon Series
"The Gospel Is . . ." Sermon Series on Galatians

Spurgeon on the Last Words of Jesus

Charles Spurgeon offers a helpful summary of the famous seven last words of Jesus from the cross:

Now concerning these seven cries from the Cross, many authors have drawn from them, lessons concerning seven duties. Listen. When our Lord said, “Father, forgive them,” in effect, He said to us, “Forgive your enemies.” Even when they despitefully use you and put you to terrible pain, be ready to pardon them! Be like the sandalwood tree which perfumes the axe that fells it. Be all gentleness, kindness and love—and be this your prayer, “Father, forgive them.”

The next duty is taken from the second cry, namely, that of penitence and faith in Christ, for He said to the dying thief, “Today shall you be with Me in Paradise.” Have you, like he, confessed your sin? Have you his faith and his prayerfulness? Then you shall be accepted even as he was! Learn, then, from the second cry, the duty of penitence and faith.

When our Lord, in the third cry, said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” He taught us the duty of filial love. No Christian must ever be short of love to his mother, his father, or to any of those who are endeared to him by relationships which God has appointed for us to observe. Oh, by the dying love of Christ to His mother, let no man here unman himself by forgetting his mother! She bore you—bear her in her old age and lovingly cherish her even to the last.

Jesus Christ’s fourth cry teaches us the duty of clinging to God and trusting in God—“My God, my God.” See how, with both hands, He takes hold of Him—“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He cannot bear to be left of God. All else causes Him but little pain compared with the anguish of being forsaken of His God. So learn to cling to God, to grip Him with a double-handed faith, and if you do ever think that He has forsaken you, cry after Him, and say, “Show me why You contend with me, for I cannot bear to be without You.”

The fifth cry, “I thirst,” teaches us to set a high value upon the fulfillment of God’s Word. “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst.” Take good heed, in all your grief and weakness, to still preserve the Word of your God, and to obey the precept. Learn the doctrine and delight in the promise. As your Lord, in His great anguish said, “I thirst,” because it was written that so He would speak, have regard unto the Word of the Lord even in little things!

That sixth cry, “It is finished,” teaches us perfect obedience. Go through with your keeping of God’s Commandments. Leave out no Command, keep on obeying till you can say, “It is finished.” Work your lifework, obey your Master, suffer or serve according to His will, but rest not till you can say with your Lord, “It is finished.” “I have finished the work which You gave Me to do.”

And that last Word, “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit,” teaches us resignation. Yield all things. Yield up even your spirit to God at His bidding. Stand still and make a full surrender to the Lord, and let this be your watchword from the first even to the last, “Into Your hands, my Father, I commend my spirit.” I think that this study of Christ’s last Words should interest you, therefore let me linger a little longer upon it. Those seven cries from the Cross also teach us something about the attributes and offices of our Master. They are seven windows of agate and gates of carbuncle through which you may see Him and approach Him. (Our Lord's Last Cry from the Cross)

Worship Minimovie: God With Us

Here is the minimovie from our candlelight service from last week.

Advent: God With Us from The Village Church on Vimeo.

Worship Minimovie: The Christmas Scale

December 25, 2016 | Luke 23:46: I Am Alive

Here is the final sermon in our 7-part series on the Famous Last Words of Jesus from the cross looking at Luke 23:46.

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.

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Notes


For more:
October 30, 2016 | Luke 23:34: I Am Forgiven
November 13, 2016 | Luke 23:43: I Am Saved
November 27, 2016 | John 19:25-27: I Am Loved
December 4, 2016 | Mark 15:34: I Am Accepted
December 4, 2016 | Psalm 22
December 11, 2016 | John 19:28: I Am Satisfied
December 18, 2016 | John 19:30: I Am Victorious
December 25, 2016 | Luke 23:46: I Am Alive

Warfield: The Impossibility of Salvation

At our candlelight service, we read from Benjamin Warfield's book The Power of God Unto Salvation on the impossibility of Salvation. Here is that quote in its entirety:

Let each of us to-day look within his own heart; let each of us permit to roll before the mind’s eye the history of his soul’s struggles - its hopes, its fears, its despairs. How much of it is a history of doubt, discouragement, and despondency! We know we cannot save ourselves. Our best efforts – have they not always ended in disillusionment? Our best hopes – have they not always gone out in failure? Our best determinations – have they not always sunk in gloom? Salvation - do we not ourselves know that it is impossible with men? Is it possible even with God? Then comes, like balm to our bruised hearts, our Lord’s gracious assurance, ‘It is impossible with men, but not with God: for all things are possible with God.’ What an assurance! We are to trust in God for the salvation of our souls not because their salvation is easy. So soon as our eyes are open to what sin is, and to what God is, and to what we are, we know it is not easy. We are to trust in God for the salvation of our souls because He is one who does the impossible.

Do we clearly see that salvation is impossible to us, that a load of guilt rests upon us which we can never expiate? Our Saviour says, not that we are mistaken, not that if we will but try hard enough we may roll off the burden. No; He does not mock our despair. He fully recognizes the impossibility which our hearts have found. He says, ‘It is impossible with men, but not with God: for all things are possible with God.’ Thus He places the rock under our feet - the rock of the omnipotence of God. To nothing less than omnipotence can we trust to do this impossible thing. But we may well believe that there is no impossible to it. And resting on it our fretted souls may at last find peace.”

December 21, 2016 | Luke 1:24-38 - Nothing is Impossible With God: What the Incarnation Tells Us About Salvation

Yesterday evening we had our annual Christmas candlelight service. Here is the sermon/devotion from that service taken from Luke 1:24-38.

²⁴ After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, ²⁵ “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹ But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

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