I invite you tonight to turn with me to Luke chapter 23, Luke chapter 23 as we finish tonight the seventh of Christ's seven words or sayings from the cross, beginning at verse 33 of Luke 23, reading through verse 49, the text being verse 46. We hear now the word of our God. Verse 33, when they came to the place called the skull, there they crucified him along with the criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, he saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the chosen one. The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. There was a written notice above him which read, this is the king of the Jews. One of the criminals who hung their hurled insults at him, aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other criminal rebuked him. Don't you fear God, he said, since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve, but this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus answered him, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, Surely this was a righteous man. When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching these things. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, how can we call the day of our Lord's crucifixion good? Boys and girls, you know by now I trust that today is what we call Good Friday. Today is the day that we observe, remember, if you will, the crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. How can we call it good? Wasn't it anything but good for Him as the holy, sinless One had all of our unholiness and all of our sin placed upon Him as He suffered the wrath of God in the torment of hell? How could that be good? But indeed, of course, it is good, isn't it? It's good for us. It's good for us. As our perfect substitute for His people delivered us from the total abandonment of God, He delivered us from the agony and torment of hell itself, and in doing so, He delivered His people unto eternal life. You see, beloved, it does not get any better than that. Yes, on the cross, redemption was accomplished, and with these last words of our Savior, He gives us the assurance, He gives us the certainty that we would indeed enjoy the results, that that which He accomplished would be applied. Because with these words, He conveys to us that He had the confidence that that which He did had been accepted by God. Yet with these last words, our Savior also teaches, believe it or not, that this day was indeed good for our Savior. You see, the only thing that was left to do yet was for Him to give Himself over to death. The only thing that remained was for Him to destroy that last enemy. And with these words, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit, it is clear that He approached death not as the conquered one, but He approached death as the conqueror. After saying triumphantly, it is finished, the Savior confidently hands His Spirit to His Father. And He does so, and He announces it with a declaration of security. A declaration of dependency and a declaration of authority. First of all, as our Savior confidently hands His Spirit to His Father, He announces it with a declaration of security. And that security, beloved, is simply seen in His address in the One upon whom He called Father. Notice, no longer was it, My God, My God. But once again, it was Father. And the Father, you see, was the very one who qualified Christ for His work. The reason that Christ could make atonement is because of who Christ is. He is the Son of God. He is Himself, very God of very God, as we confess. He is the one who was sent by His Father, as John says in John 3.16, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And we know that He claimed to be the Son of God, the Son of the Heavenly Father. And in a sense, we might say that that very claim is what crucified Christ. Jesus testified to His identity, and it resulted, you see, in His crucifixion. In Matthew 26, the high priest said, Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, It is as you said. And later on, when Pilate said, I find no fault in Jesus. In John chapter 19, we see that the very same Jewish ruler said, We have a law, and according to our law, he ought to die. Why? Because he made himself the Son of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, at least in the minds of his accusers, because He is the Son of God. He claimed God as His Father. And yet, He could still call Him Father. Even though He suffered the Father's wrath against sin, He knew by experience, as we have considered over the past weeks, what it meant to be forsaken by God in the place of His people. He knew by experience what it meant to go through the agonies of hell. He knew what it meant to be totally and utterly abandoned by God the Father. And there is nothing worse than that, beloved, than to be abandoned or rejected by God the Father. We may suffer many kinds of rejections in this life by many sorts of people because of many sorts of situations. And they might even be hurtful. But there is nothing as bad as being rejected and abandoned by God the Father. And that's what our Lord suffered. Yet, He could still call Him Father. Right after the darkness. He had confidence because their relationship stayed the same. Even though Jesus Christ became sin and a curse for us, He never stopped being one with the Father. He never stopped being the Son of God. That fellowship was broken for a time. But the relationship stayed the same. And the Son of God had confidence of being eternally secure because God is His Father. Jesus enjoyed perfect security with His Father. The darkness was now gone. The shout of triumph, in a sense, still echoed through the air. And with these last words, our Savior confesses that the abandonment that He had suffered from His Father had now been replaced with the fellowship in favor of His Father. And He had that confidence because He also had the confidence, beloved, that it was because His work was acceptable to His Father. He could call Him Father because no longer were God's fists of wrath pounding down on Him, But Jesus knew, to put it in language that we can understand, Jesus knew that the arms of the Father with His hands open wide were stretched out to Him with His invitation of favor. With His, well done, my son. Our Savior had the confidence that He had accomplished perfectly the work that was required by the Father. And you see, beloved, that made it a good day as well. for our Savior. Because He knew that He had accomplished perfectly forever the work that His Father had sent Him to do. And that eternal relationship between God the Father and God the Son held fast, and praise God it did, because if it had not, beloved, there would be no security for us. If it had not, you and I would not have the confidence of God's favor. But it did. And therefore, Jesus died as He lived. He died in confident security so that John could say in 1 John 4, and we have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. And therefore, too, our Savior's declaration of security results in confident security for His people. The Savior's triumph, you see, boys and girls, earned adoption into the family of God for those who believe on Him. In John 1 verse 12 we read, But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in His name. But it's even more than that, we also enjoy the security of our position in that family. Not just having the right to be in the family, but as Paul says in Romans 8 verse 16, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are, not will be, but we are children of God. And because of our Lord's confident security, ours is a secure relationship with God. That once one is brought into the family of God by the regenerating grace of God, nothing can sever that relationship as Paul says in Romans 8. Nothing in hell, nothing on earth, nothing in heaven, not even we ourselves can sever that relationship forever. We might go through times when our sin breaks that fellowship for a season. We might experience times when because of trials and testings, from our perspective, it seems that that fellowship is broke for a season. Yet for the child of God, the cross is proof that that relationship is still there. Because our Savior earned it for you and me. And therefore, when our sin attacks that relationship that we have with the Heavenly Father, God is faithful to forgive us and restore us. Why? Because of Christ's cross. It's there that He earned forgiveness for all of our sins. And then, too, the Holy Spirit of God, whom He sent as a precious gift to us, lifts our eyes once again to the throne of God, that we might say in humble confidence, Our Father. And, beloved, we too are then called to live in the security that God is our Father. There is no greater security than to know that God is our Father. The world will say, how can you find security in something you cannot see when there's no dollar sign in front of it? How can you find security in something that is not a possession that you can grab onto in this life? But by faith, beloved. There's no greater comfort than to know that the Creator of the universe, the One who is our Savior through Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Father, is the One who cares for His people perfectly. And therefore, we are to live in this security as we go to school or make friends or choose careers or date or marry or raise our children or remain single or conduct our business in whatever situation of life, in all things, we are to live in the confidence of that security that we belong to our Heavenly Father for Jesus' sake. That He has our well-being in mind. And that unlike our earthly parents whom we depend upon, boys and girls, and we know that sometimes they are able to give to us but not willing, and other times they are willing to give to us but not able, God, our Father, is both able and willing to give His children what we need. And therefore, out of thankfulness, it is to be our desire to live for and please Him always because we understand His love for us, His great love demonstrated on that cross, His great love demonstrated still for you and me today in this beautiful table prepared before us tonight. And that security, beloved, is not only ours in life, but also in death as it was our Savior's. As our Savior confidently hands His Spirit to His Father in the second place, He announces it with a declaration of dependence, Father, into your hands. Now when we search the Scriptures and look for the meaning of the hand of God, we see that it refers to the power and the strength and the care and the authority of God. And therefore, there is none other upon whom we are to depend. In 1 Chronicles 29, verse 12, David prayed, In your hand is power and might in your hand. It is to make great and to give strength to all. And we cannot overlook here Jesus' life of dependence. That might seem strange to us, boys and girls, that our Lord was dependent. We might think that if anyone was able to be his own man, if anyone was able to walk on his own and be independent, it would be our Savior. After all, He was God, right? And God is independent. But He was also man. And we see in the Word of God in Scripture that He lived His whole life dependent upon His Father with whom He was one. He committed His whole being into the Father's care and keeping and in doing so, He gave His disciples and you and me a beautiful example of the One upon whom we are to depend alone. And His dependence upon His Father is seen, for example, in his teaching ministry. In Matthew 11, verse 25, we read, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. We also see his dependence upon his Father in his healing ministry. In Mark 7, we read that Jesus, after looking up to heaven, showing his dependence, healed the deaf-mute. And the same thing when He called forth His friend Lazarus from the dead. And as well His dependence is seen in His feeding ministry, we read that He looked up to heaven again to give thanks. And we know that our Savior was dependent upon His Father in death. Father, into Your hands. Into the hands of the Father. And beloved, what a glorious testimony from our Savior himself that God is the faithful guardian of his soul. That his spirit would rest safe and secure in the hand of God, that very same hand that made the universe, that holds the universe in his very palm. When his crucifiers thought that he was lost, when they thought that he was of the devil himself, His confidence was that he would not be injured in death, but that he would be safe in death. And this was prophesied of him already in Psalm 16. Psalm 16, beginning in verse 8, I have set the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. That was our Savior's confidence dependence upon His Father, that He would not allow Him to see decay. And He revealed that confident dependence even earlier on the cross when He said, when He promised the criminal, today you will be with Me in paradise. He was confident that His Spirit would indeed be safe in the Father's hands in heaven. And that too then points to death's comfort for believers. Not for unbelievers. Hebrews 10 verse 31 says, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Unbelievers have no one to depend upon but themselves. And that too is a terribly fearful thing. But this points to the believer's soul's safe keeping. The confident dependence of Jesus that his soul would be safe in death points to the safekeeping of the souls of all believers. And that, beloved, is the height of blessedness. That is a heavenly comfort that when we die, as Paul says, we will be away from the body and at home with the Lord who holds our souls safely in the palm of His hand. And people of God, that is a dependence that is to be taught to our children. Clearly. That by God's grace, they might have that eternal comfort. You see, Christ's words here are a quote from Psalm 31, verse 5, which simply says, Into your hand I commit my spirit. And it is said that that is the first prayer that every godly Jewish mother taught her children to pray first thing in the morning as they look forward to the day ahead. A bit like many of us teaching our children that simple nighttime prayer, Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul, what? To take. Keep it in the palm of your hand. You see, beloved, that's a prayer to live by. Committing our spirit, committing our lives to God day and night. And that was the Savior's confidence that soon He would be alive forevermore with His Spirit safe in the hand of His Father. And as well, He knew that He would rise again. And we are to teach our children, and boys and girls, you are to learn that there is nothing more important than the confidence that our soul is safe in the hand of God. See, boys and girls, when you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, when you understand that there is no other way to be saved to go to heaven one day than through Jesus Christ because of His work on the cross then you may have the confidence that even today at your young age your soul is safe in the palm of His hands and what does Jesus say about that? He says that no one and nothing will be able to snatch you and me out of His hand. And when you and I have that confidence then we have nothing to fear. We don't have to be afraid in this life. We don't have to be afraid in the life to come. Beloved, very simply, this is a call to teach our children the things that will live through eternity. The most important thing that godly parents can teach their children in the midst of an affluent society and in the midst of a world that desires to destroy and crush the church, the most important thing we can teach them is not to store up treasures on earth which will be consumed one day, but to store up treasures in heaven. To teach them about that saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's the easiest to teach that, beloved, when it is demonstrated. You see, this dependence is something that is to be lived. This dependence and this security that we've been talking about is not only for the moment of death, but it's also for this life. If we know full well that apart from our God, our lives are powerless, our lives are purposeless, there is no security. We are called to find our dependence only in our Heavenly Father. As the writer of Proverbs says beautifully in chapter 3, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. And you see, we are able to live this dependence. We are enabled by the Holy Spirit. Christ's Holy Spirit is our Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit of God helps us to depend on God completely for body and soul. He helps us to confess that God is our refuge and our strength, that He has become our salvation. He helps us to commit to God daily all that we plan and do and say, depending on Him to direct our paths. And He also helps us to enjoy confident dependence on Him in the hour of death. That when you and I are close to death, we might have the confidence that our soul will be safe in the loving hands of God. He will keep it safe and we will be forever with the Lord. All because of the Savior's confidence in His Father. All because he was confident that his work was perfect. And therefore, we can be confident, beloved, that God will not abandon those whom the Son saved. As our Lord hands his Spirit confidently to his Father, he declares it, he announces it with a declaration of security, a declaration of dependence, but also a declaration of authority. He says, I commit my spirit, Father, into your hands. I commit my spirit. How important this declaration of authority is. You see, His authority was displayed in His death. He is the one to whom all authority in heaven and on earth would surely be given, as Paul says has already taken place. Yet He displays His authority over death, over His own death, even on the cross. And in fact, we can back up a little bit before that. He reflected His authority over His death already in life. That He had absolute authority and control over the circumstances of His death. The when, the where, and the how. And we know that because we know that during His ministry, His enemies tried to put Him to death. They planned to stone Him. They wanted to lynch Him. They wanted to throw Him to His death. But they couldn't do it. And He confidently told His disciples the kind of death that He would suffer. The angel reminds them of that at the tomb. Basically, he says, this is what he told you. The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again. He demonstrated his authority over his own death in his ministry. But also he did in a specific way at the moment of his death. Now, if you have stood at the bedside of a loved one as they took their last breath, you know that ordinarily when one dies the body is overcome with weakness and maybe after a series of deep breaths there is finally that one last gasp of a breath and the physical body collapses it just seems to surrender as if it has no other choice there are no other no other options but not Jesus. You see, the force of the original Greek language would have us understand that in John 19, verse 30, when it says, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. We are to understand that He bowed with confident authority, that it was an intentional act. He didn't just collapse forward. That just as God determines our last breath of life, the Son of God determined His own last breath of life. It was by His own decision that He bowed His head and died. As has been said, death didn't come to get Him. He went out to greet it. And as the early church father Augustine said, He gave up His life because He willed it, when He willed it, and as He willed it. And beloved, his confident authority in his death is also a pledge that he would overcome death. A pledge that he is not powerless over death, but he has power over death. It is a pledge that he would overcome death by the very same authority, because by that very same authority, he would take up his life again. The disciples did not yet understand it. They thought that he was dead and gone for good. But Christ never doubted it. In fact, he said with confidence in John chapter 10, I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. His authority over death was a pledge that he would overcome death. And as well, when He gave Himself to death with authority, it was a prelude to overcoming the grave. A prelude to overcoming the grave for Him. Death could not keep its prey. Three days later, Christ arose. But also, and praise God, a prelude to overcoming the grave for His people. You see, we still today can live and die in His confidence. Because when the Savior laid His Spirit into the Father's hands, In essence, He laid the souls of all of God's children thereto. And His pledge to overcome death is a guarantee that believers overcome death with Him, in Him, by Him, and through Him. Unbelievers face the second death, forever dying in the midst of God's wrath. But believers will be living forever, forever living in the presence of God's glory and favor. and that means, beloved, that by faith we can look at the cross of Jesus. Believers can look at the cross, and we can look through the gloom and see the glory. We can look through death and see life. We can look through what was apparent tragedy into absolute victory. And the table that stands before us tonight is a visible reminder that He overcame death, and those who were nourished by Him there, by faith, have overcome death with Him. Beloved Jesus Christ faced death with confidence, security, dependency, and authority, and He did it for His people, and only for His people. You see, the message is really so simple. Sometimes mankind tries to make it difficult, but it's really so simple. There are only two ways, the way of death and the way of life, the way of sin, which is man's way, and the way of righteousness, which is Christ's way. There is no third option, only one of two ways. And God calls all men everywhere to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And for those who do, by the grace of God, they have confidence, security in God the Father. They depend upon Him, all because of the authority of Jesus Christ. And our confidence, beloved, is that just as death had no victory or sting over Jesus, He removed the same from us. And therefore the question for us tonight is, are you preparing even now to die? That's not a morbid question. It ought not be. And boys and girls, it ought not be a strange question for you. You might think, well, I'm just young. I have a long time to live. But this question is for you too. Are you preparing now to die? Because there's only one way to do it. And that is to look to Jesus Christ. Only those who are in Him by faith will be prepared to die in confident security and confident dependence because of His authority over death. And when you are in Christ Jesus, you have no reason to fear. But without Him, there is every reason to fear. The people of God, Good Friday was indeed good for Jesus because He was in control. Because he accomplished the perfect work he came to do. Because he is victorious. And because his work was accepted by God the Father. And because that day was good for him, it is also good for you and me as believers. Because Christ's work was accepted for you and me. And therefore we are delivered from eternal death and we are delivered unto eternal life. And truly, it cannot get any better than that. Jesus Christ alone is our peace and consolation, beloved, both now and forevermore. Let's bow together in prayer. O merciful God and Father, we thank you with all our hearts that in your boundless grace you have given us your only begotten Son as a mediator and a sacrifice for our sins and as our food and drink unto life eternal. We thank you, too, that you give us a true faith whereby we become partakers of these, your benefits. And since you have, through your Son, Jesus Christ, ordained the Holy Supper for the strengthening of that faith, we beseech you, O faithful Father, that through your Holy Spirit, this remembrance of our Lord and proclamation of his death may truly increase our faith and enrich our fellowship with Christ. May this proclamation of our Lord's death also be used by you to bring others into this blessed fellowship so that all your dear children may be gathered in to share with us the joy of your salvation. Hear us, Heavenly Father, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.