Jesus Dies in Triumph

Introduction: The Centrality of Christ's Death and Resurrection

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, February 25th, 1990, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to turn with me in your own Bibles to the 15th chapter of the Gospel according to Mark, Mark chapter 15. And I will read in your hearing the entire paragraph bounded by verses 33 and 41. Mark 15, beginning with verse 33.

1:09 And some of them that stood by when they heard it said, Behold, he calls Elijah. And one ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let be, let us see whether Elijah comes to take him down. And Jesus uttered a loud voice and gave up the ghost. The veil of the temple was rent in...

1:41 And when the centurion who stood by over against him saw that he so gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. And there were also women beholding from afar, among whom were both Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses and Salome, who, when he was in Galilee, followed him and ministered unto him, and many other women that came up with him unto Jerusalem. Now let us again seek the face of God, that he may grant us the illumination of the Holy Spirit as we contemplate again Christ crucified. Let us pray.

2:41 Our Father, our hearts have been sobered by the words we have just sung. Our Father, our hearts have been sobered by the words we have just sung. As we have asked the question concerning who it was that crucified our Savior, we have answered the question by confessing that it was our deed, that it was our sins that caused him so to die. And we pray that as we draw near again to that scene described by Mark under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that the same Spirit who was present guiding him in the very choice of the words by which he depicted the suffering and the agony and the death of our Lord Jesus, that that same Holy Spirit would be present with us, giving us both clear perception of these realities, and then hearts that are moved and broken, filled with penitence, and then with joy in the knowledge that what he did, he did for the likes of us. Send your Spirit then upon us,

3:57 lest we be hardened under the most melting seams of our Savior's suffering and death. We cry for the grace of the Spirit's presence through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. To any impartial reader of the New Testament, To any impartial reader of the New Testament, to any impartial reader of the New Testament, it is as clear as the noonday sun without a cloud in its face, that the deaths of Nazareth and his subsequent resurrection are the central facts of the Christian faith set before us in the pages of the New Testament. This statement is validated by the fact that in the didactic or the teaching portions of the epistles of the New Testament, this statement is validated by the fact that in the didactic or the teaching portions of the New Testament, the death of Christ is set forth again and again as constituting the very heart of the gospel.

5:07 The good news of the gospel is called the preaching of the cross. The apostle gives a distillation of the very heart of the gospel as he does in 1 Corinthians 15, 1 to 4. He asserts that the heart of that gospel which he preached and by which men are saved, if they hold it in persevering faith, is the fact that Christ died for our sins, and that he was buried, and that he was raised again on the third day according to the scriptures. This statement is further validated by two undeniable facts which emerge from the four gospels themselves. These spirit inspired independent accounts of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. We find first of all that in each of the gospel records, we have references from the very lips of Jesus during his lifetime of ministry that he knew that the ultimate purpose for which he came was to die upon a cross and subsequently to be raised from the dead.

6:34 You have just such an example in Mark's gospel chapter 10 in verses 32 through 34. And as they were on the way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them, and they were amazed, and they that followed were afraid. And he took again the twelve and began to tell them that were to happen unto him, saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of the church, and the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of the church, and into the hands of the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him unto the Gentiles, and they shall mock him, and shall spit upon him, and shall scourge him, and shall kill him, and after three days he shall rise again. So there is this first line of evidence from the gospel records themselves that his own death and resurrection are central to the theme of those gospels. But then from those four independent gospel records there emerges another clear indication of this fact, and it is this, that the emphasis given to the circumstances leading up to and surrounding and immediately following the death of Jesus are given a totally disproportionate emphasis

8:02 if these were merely four mini-biographies of Jesus. For example, almost two whole decades of his life from age 12 to 30 are passed over in total silence by all writers. Jesus grew in wisdom, in stature, in favor with God and man. And while these things are true, the same gospel records, give anywhere from a third to a quarter of their entire contents to describe details that were packed into the last week of his earthly life and existence prior to and immediately following his crucifixion. So by the very bulk of the data set before us God is impressing upon us in every way possible to rational creatures that in giving us this blessed document that we call the New Testament central to the religion of that wonderful possession

9:27 is the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Now in the light of these facts it should be clear that all of us, to all of us, that while we may be ignorant of many things in the Bible and still be safe, to be ignorant of or indifferent to that which is the heart of its message is to trifle with our soul's salvation and to dishonor the Savior himself. And in an attempt to dispel ignorance and to overcome indifference as well as to inform and warm our minds and our hearts those who are eager to know the Lord Jesus as revealed in the Scriptures cannot help but be glad when we come again this morning as we have for a number of weeks to a place called Golgotha. A skull-shaped rocky plot of ground outside but very near the city walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem and there contemplate again events recorded

Setting the Scene: Golgotha and the Shift in Emphasis

10:50 as happening in conjunction with the death of Jesus. And as we come to take up particularly this morning Mark 15 verses 35 through 37 seek again to put these words into their immediate setting. After the long night during which our Lord through his agonizing season of prayer in Gethsemane went through the shameful sham trials before both the religious and the civil authorities having been punched and whipped and spat upon crowned with thorns, mocked and taunted he was taken in a procession from approximately nine a.m. to this place called Golgotha and then after being stripped naked was impaled upon an instrument of Roman execution a cross. And while on that cross the Scripture tells us that during the first three hours from approximately nine a.m. to noon

12:06 the activities were dominated by the treatment our Lord had given us. The Lord received at the hand of men particularly verbal abuse as Mark records it for us in verses 27 through 32. However the emphasis changes in verses 33 and 34. Here the emphasis shifts from his treatment at the hands of men to the treatment he received at the hands of his Father.

12:40 And there in verses 33 and 34 we saw together something of the unfathomable mystery that is concentrated in the darkness with which the Father shrouded the whole land and in that mysterious cry of abandonment as found in verse 34. Now having made a reverent attempt to open up at least the edges of the edge of the mysteries surrounding the darkened heavens and the cry of dereliction having then sought to understand something of what it reveals about God's attitude to sin and of the character of God we come this morning in our meditation on the next three verses to consider what they set before us once again now of man's activity as well as the activity of the Lord Jesus. And I would ask you to note first of all as we take up these verses what I have chosen to call the reaction to the cry of abandonment. And we will see that in verses 35 and 6. And then secondly the record of

The Reaction to the Cry of Abandonment (Mark 15:35-36)

14:07 his shout of triumph. The first part of verse 37 and then thirdly we shall consider together the reality of the dismissal of his spirit in the latter part of verse 37. First of all then the reaction to the cry of abandonment for that is obviously the thing referred to in verse 35 and some of them that stood by when they heard it. That is the cry when they heard it said behold calls for Elijah and one ran and filling a sponge full of vinegar put it on a reed and gave him to drink saying let be let us see whether Elijah comes to take him down. Under this heading of the reaction to the cry of the abandonment note with me two things. First of all the facts and significance of the reaction and then secondly the unusual activity attending this reaction. First the facts and significance of the reaction.

15:27 Since the text says that the darkness continued until the ninth hour this statement found in verse 35 should be interpreted as a statement describing activity which most likely occurred as the sun once again shone upon this and this dreadful scene. I say the language suggests this when it says there was darkness until the ninth hour and the little particle has the significance of up to the point of the ninth hour. And while it does not assert in such a way that we can be dogmatic the overall flavor of the construction of the language plus the fact that the emphasis now falls upon what a centurion is beholding with his eyes and the paragraph closes with the account of women beholding from afar. And so there is every reason to believe that when the darkness that shrouded our Lord as it were been accomplished

16:50 or had accomplished its purpose and the cry goes forth my God, my God, why did you abandon me? Indicating that the most horrible part of the abandonment was now behind him. At a certain point with the sun now shining an unnamed bystander speaks out saying he is for a light. Let's see if help will now come from that direction.

17:27 Now while the person who said this is unnamed we can be quite certain that most likely it was the unbelieving Jews. I should say the person. Some of them that stood by an indefinite group when they heard it said. It would not likely be the Romans for two reasons.

17:53 It is unlikely that they would have been proficient in Aramaic or in Hebrew. Our Lord may have said these words in Hebrew quoting from the Hebrew Old Testament as we have the two opening words in the record of Matthew. And furthermore it is even more unlikely that any Roman soldier would have in any way had any idea about any connection between Messianic claims and Elijah. That was a distinctively Jewish connection.

18:32 And you will remember from this very gospel itself chapter 9 and verse 11 there is the indication that it was a common element in what we would call the Messianic expectations of the Jews that Elijah would be intimately connected with the manifestation of the Messiah. We read in Mark 9 and verse 11 and they asked him saying how is it that the scribes say that Elijah must first so the scribes as a very fundamental and prominent tenant of their messianic hopes that the Messiah would be preceded by Elijah. And they got that notion from the book of Malachi. But they had over literalized it and expected an actual visitation of the Elijah who was taken up into heaven in a whirlwind. They expected he would come back and he would come back down from heaven and would announce the coming of Messiah.

19:47 In this very passage in Mark 9 Jesus says that expectation of the coming of Elijah prior to the manifestation of Messiah is not wrong but it's already been fulfilled. And it was fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist who came after the likeness of in the spirit and power of Elijah. But like so many other of the messianic hopes of these spiritually blinded Jews they overly literalized those messianic hopes. Furthermore they added to those hopes their own traditions for which there was absolutely no basis in scripture. And so added to this scripturally based messianic concept that Elijah would come and prepare the way with its holistic significance in their minds. They had traditions and from the writings of the rabbis those who are competent to study these things and who have done so there seems to be a general consensus that they not only believe that Elijah would come as the forerunner of the Messiah but in a real sense would sort of be his attendant

21:13 and would be noted by his works of pity and of mercy to those in need. And if that is so then you see the significance of these words. What has happened is this while darkness once in a sense of dread that darkness was past and manifests the same before us in detail in the book of Proverbs chapter one verse twenty seven through thirty two they go right back to their mocking and their taunting and in essence this is what they are saying God through twenty seven forty three his trust was real by coming not deliver him

22:37 he does not deliver himself Mark fifteen verse thirty save yourself and come down from the Christ He turns them into temporary silence with that supernatural darkness, but no sooner does God roll the curtain of darkness than they go right back to their taunting and say, it's not only true that God won't deliver him, he can't deliver himself, and identity is Messiah.

23:27 He's not going to identify himself, we've already convinced him, come. Now they carry on their taunting and say, by twisting his words, these Jews knew the proper pronunciation of Elijah. They well know the pronunciation of that in both Greek and Hebrew, and since they did not mumble it, it's not as though just the first syllable or two struck their ears, but what they did is just take it.

24:19 Which to make up to hurl into the ears and into the heart of the Son of God, due to basic significance of the reaction of some that stood by, but then no secondly under this heading of the reaction to the cry of abandonment, the unusual activity attending this reaction. In the midst recorded and the further attending action, activity described.

The Unusual Activity: Jesus Receives Vinegar (Mark 15:36)

25:31 And mark, and hear attention upon an unnamed individual who in the midst of this additional taunting did what is recorded in verse 36a, and one ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. Now the clue to a clear understanding of this activity is to be found in John chapter 19. And this is one of the times. That we turn to one of the other gospel records to unlock a passage in Mark chapter 28 finished that the scripture might be accomplished, said, so they put the vinegar upon it to his mouth.

26:51 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished of his head and recorded in Mark in John. Are to be understood in this way, Jesus of his ordeal with the Son. No loss, sense of abandonment, crushing his soul as we shall see in the latter part of the message this morning. And in the midst of that situation, while these are taunting him, taking their clue from the cry of election. John tells us that there was nearby with water. Which was the common drink of laborers and soldiers Testament, but you have several references to it in the Old Testament.

28:10 One of them being Ruth chapter two and verse 14, and with it's more fast. It would be perhaps the closest thing we could say if you take water and squeeze some lemon into it and put no sugar in it. You know that will what that will do if you have a parched mouth caked with your own dried saliva. And you take water into which lemon or lime juice has been squeezed and it's very sourness clears out the mouth and loosens the tongue and brings refreshing.

28:45 Well, in the same way, this sour, cheap, diluted wine was there in a vessel. Most likely the possession of the soldiers who were there throughout the entire day and came prepared for that long. Vigil with this common refreshment. And it was most likely one of the soldiers who, upon hearing Jesus say.

29:15 Runs dips it into this jug or pot of sour wine. And then on a reed, most likely just a couple of feet long. Again, coming back to the biblical concept that our Lord was not crucified, elevated 10 or 15 feet. Above.

29:37 The earth. And with that particular sponge surrounding the tip of the reed for that's the sense of the way the construction in the language sets it before us. It is placed up to his lip and are up to his lips and our Lord sucks the sour diluted wine particular sponge that is held to his lips. John calls it receiving the vinegar.

30:08 And if you ask the question. Why did Jesus ask for this relief at this particular time? I am convinced that the context gives us the answer. John says when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar.

30:32 And it is my conviction that this context coupled with two other factors. Conclusively lead. To this. Conclusion.

30:45 That Jesus. For the vinegar. That he might. King apparatus able.

30:55 To thunder to speak loud. That he would utter. From the cross. According to John.

31:09 Jesus accomplished. Psalm 69. And verse. 21.

31:22 Addition to that consciousness of desire. And said about him. Would have its fulfillment in him. In terms of the immediate setting.

31:35 He was about to utter two more words from the cross. In his dehydrated state. Which is one of the accompaniments. Crucifixion.

31:46 Our language of Psalm 22 in verse 15 had his tongue cleaving to his jaw. And in some little way I can identify with that. With the problem. Of constantly.

32:01 Struggling with a dry mouth in preaching due to a number of factors. There have been times when I have preached in situations where I literally had to. Pull my tongue off the roof of my mouth. And had to pull my tongue from the side of my cheeks to which it had plastered itself.

32:21 Because of the dehydration. Of the mouth and the tongue. And of the lips. And so in the midst of the taunting.

32:30 The Lord. And in response to that cry. I thirst. And the tongue soaked in saluted cheap wine is put to his lips.

32:45 And our Lord. May I say it reverently. Sucks it dry. He received the vinegar.

Application: Lessons from the Reaction and God's Sovereignty

32:54 Now before passing on to consider our next heading. I want to pause by way of application. And note something in this section. That I believe has tremendous relevance to us as we sit here this morning.

33:12 First of all. It contains a lesson in the horrible condition of the human heart. Apart from the grace of God changing it. A.

33:23 Ha. And in the human heart. Apart from the grace of God changing it. Why do I say that.

33:32 Well you'll remember that Mark focused in verses thirty. Two. To thirty two. Upon our Lord.

33:56 And then as we saw last week, and in those as the vicarious sin-bearers, scripture throws a blanket of silence over any events during hours. It may well people were temporary silence, but no sooner does God stop the miracle of midnight at noonday, and once again cause the sun to break through in its light upon that scene, than those who had been struck dumb, those who had, as it were, been temporary minds that God was doing an unused judgment, the moment they can gaze upon the bloodied, contused, broken, bruised body of the Son of God, pick up their tauntings right where they left off.

35:25 But no sooner does that intervention pass back to business as usual. My friends, that's the human heart. The human heart left to itself.

35:36 Some of you left to yourself. You can think of times when God has sobered you. Some classmate in school was suddenly killed on a weekend, went out with his buddies and filled his belly full of beer and booze. Driving a car too fast went out of control and the whole was sent into a state of shock for a week.

36:02 And then it's back to business as usual, trading pills and pot in the locker room, bragging about who scored with who, on the weekend. That's the human heart wedded to its intervention of God. But then if left to itself and left unchanged, it gives itself to its. Maybe some of you older who've reflected on the claims of Christ and God has brought circumstances to bear upon you that have patterns of your life. But once God in his providence brought it back to ordinary steady state, you went back to your. Disposition of unbelief, self centeredness, willfulness and indifference to the claims of Christ. The picture of the human heart given at the cross of Christ is not a pretty one, but it is also a lesson in the absolute sovereignty of God over the actions of men.

37:19 John says that all things might be fulfilled. Jesus said language of Mark these when comparing difficulties in exegeting what the words mean. It could be even hard.

37:59 And his only moaning for the was to extend the fun a little longer and to see if maybe something unusual would happen as they taunt him about. Let me let's see whether Elijah comes. But whatever the motives of the soldier may have been, the scripture tells us that this came to pass according to the word of John, that God's earning his son should not fail. That the scripture he said that scripture was the one that was said said that Messiah would be given vinegar to drink. What a marvelous thing to know that the God who rules the universe had not lost one strand of control upon Golgotha when men were doing their worst. When they were spewing out the vilest expressions of human hatred to the incarnate God, God was still in control. They were gathered to do whatsoever.

The Record of His Shout of Triumph: "It is Finished" (Mark 15:37a)

39:16 His counsel and foreknowledge determined should come to pass. Well, we hasten on now to glance at verse thirty seven from the reaction to the cry of abandonment note marks statement that I am calling the record of his shout of triumph. Verse thirty seven. And Jesus uttered a loud voice expired while grammatically in Mark.

39:49 The loud voice is but a preliminary action to the main verse. He expires over that as though it is insignificant. Do the scriptures tell us what was uttered with a loud voice? Matthew twenty seven fifty says.

40:11 That again with a Matthew twenty seven fifty. And Jesus crying with a void.

40:26 Was it that he cried his faculties of temporary by talking of the sour wine from the sponge put to his lips, what is it that he is so concerned that he receives the vinegar while John answers the question for us in John 19 in verse 30. We know what that loud was. The second to the last thing of the Lord Jesus upon the cross. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said to tell us that it is finished. The form of the verb mean and their established action has been brought and in termination. There is. And finality.

41:47 The wonders of abandonment in the midst of darkness. Now, with the sun shining upon his countenance in all. For that's what the scripture tells us. He would be no beauty that we should desire him.

42:10 His visage was more more the one who cried this. My God, my God, why did you abandon me now?

42:43 But what he cries.

42:51 Confusion. But it is a cry of intelligent, joyful accomplishment. It is finished.

43:04 Sparing is done. All is drinking of the is over. Yes, he must still dismiss his spirit. His body must still be placed in the tomb.

43:17 He must still be released from the dead. Those dimensions of his work yet lie for him. But in terms of. That which is central to his work in bearing our ends in his own body up to the tree in drinking the cup of the father's unleashed fury.

43:39 That work has been accomplished and we have the record of his shout of triumph. It is finished. Not I am finished. It was not finished.

43:56 It was a shout. It. Is accomplished. It is finished.

Application: The Sufficiency of Christ's Finished Work

44:02 The work of redemption is accomplished. And with reference to this record of the shout of triumph and what it signifies. Let me say again by way of application. What a horrible thing to think that anything less could have accomplished our salvation.

44:25 What a horrible thing to think that anything less would accomplish. Our salvation. What needed to be done is precisely what was done nothing less and nothing more. And once God committed himself.

44:43 Salvation as well as salvation. There was no other way than through every single event and circumstance described in the word of God. Nothing was done but that which was needed. But when all that was needed was done and he had offered one sacrifice forever.

45:13 He gave the shout of triumph. It is finished. But not only is it a horrible thing to think anything less will do what a horrible thing to think something more needs to be added to what he did. But a horrible is completed but a horrible thing to think we must add our sighs and prayers.

45:47 Not to speak of penance and rosaries and rituals and pilgrimages and anything else that men would add to the accomplishment of redemption in the sufferings of the Son of God. But perhaps the greatest horror is to say yes it had to be done and to say yes all has been done but to remain indifferent to that savior and to his sacrifice. What a horrible sin this way. And all that had to be done has been accomplished. Yet there you sit this morning in this building wedded to your sin still wedded to the world. No trusting in Jesus Christ alone for life and salvation.

The Reality of the Dismissal of His Spirit (Mark 15:37b)

46:53 No giving of yourself to him to be his to be saved on his terms to his ends and to be taken at last to his dwelling place. I say it is a horrible thing. But then we move thirdly and finally from the reaction to the abandonment the record of the shout of triumph and now thirdly the reality of the dismissal of his spirit 37 B. Mark 15 37 B the old authorized and in the 1901 one Greek word is translated by these many words.

47:36 And gave up the ghost. Mark uses a word which means to expire Matthew and John mentioned that he gave up or delivered up his spirit. He handed word for to give up to relinquish something. Matthew and John say that he delivered he handed.

48:08 It's interesting that none of the four gospel writers say. He died. Now you'll find several dozens of references in the epistles to all of the events with the standard word for dying and saying Christ died for our sins. He died us for the unjust in the epistles.

48:33 It is not uncommon to find the term he died and the standard word for dying the standard verb for that mysterious event in which soul and body. Are severed for a time is used but not one of the gospel writers uses that standard verb. And I believe that significant what the full significance is I do not know but perhaps the clue is found in Luke 23 in verse 46 Luke 23 in verse 46 for our Lord strength for yet one further utterance. After the loud it is finished. Luke 23 and verse 46 tells us Jesus said this he gave up the ghost. What were his last words not mumbled with the death rattle in his throat so that someone had to imagine that perhaps this is what he said.

50:01 But no as it was with a loud as it was with a loud voice that he cried. Not my God in the first hours upon the cross his words were father forgive them. He had the sense of filling in and delight in those in the midst of the baptism of abandonment the cry was my with no sense of filial nearness. Now there's been empty and there is the restored felt awareness of the father's smiled of the father's good will. And the.

51:00 Pleasure which was always in him had never been turned away from him but was temporarily and now for the father's countenance is surely as the light and the warmth of the sun's rays are felt by our blessed Lord. And in that consciousness of restored communion he says father and then he voluntarily yields himself up to death. And in that consciousness of restored communion he says father and then he voluntarily yields himself up to death. Into thy admit my spirit and then people ask the questions well at that point were the factors that were operative in all of his sufferings at the physical level were they then or and in these natural ways cause his heart to steep stop beating etc. Dear friends I have no heart to delve into such questions. All I know is that the text makes it abundantly.

52:13 Clear that in a very real sense death did not track him down and overcome him he walked volitionally into the jaws of death and in so doing rather than being conquered by it and so he had into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said this he expired. Well where did his spirit go and I'm amazed at all of the nonsense again on that question. There's no question where it went. Because Jesus said to the dying thief over whom he cast the mantle of his forgiving grace in verse 43 today thou with me the disembodied spirit of the Lord Jesus went into the immediate presence of God his father having accomplished his work. As one writer said there was nothing left for him. But to go home.

Application: Comfort in Death for Believers, Warning for Unbelievers

53:33 He had come forth from the father to do the father's will the father and blissed and now he goes back in his spirit to the father that spirit that will be joined to that body on the day of resurrection and when we start asking all of the intricate theological questions how and where does the whole concept then of the divine nature and the. Friends I have no. Mind or heart for such questions I'm a simple minded man before the text of scripture and my Bible leads me to believe his death was real his spirit went into the presence the immediate presence of his father and with a loud voice not a man who by degrees is weakening and weakening and weakening but one who is in control. Even.

54:34 Even in the midst of all that transpired in those closing hours and what tons of teaching and comfort there is for the people of God in the manner in which our Lord dismissed his spirit for Hebrews 2 and verse 14 tells us for as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he likewise took part of the same why that through death he might. Destroy him that had the power of death and deliver them who through fear of death were all their subject to bondage and it's a beautiful thing to read the account of Stephen's death having come to embrace the Lord Jesus as his sin bearer having come to the confidence that all the claims of divine justice against his sins were exhausted in the death of Jesus Stephen dies with these words.

55:36 Upon his lips Lord Jesus receive my spirit the same Jesus who said father into that Jesus now exalted at the right hand of the father is the unique object of the faith the eye of faith in a dying believer and while the stones are pummeling down upon him and have yet to take from him his consciousness Stephen kneels down saying. Lay not this sin to their charge like his savior father forgive them for they know not what they do and as the savior committed himself into his father's hands he commits his spirit into the hands of his savior and dies without dread and dies without terror knowing that to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord and dear child of God you need to

56:45 feed your soul upon these words of the Lord Jesus because for most of us death will come if the Lord does not return in a way in which we will see its approach statistically the vast majority of us will not be cut off suddenly in an accident but something that has its seeds in your body and mind right now will in the providence of God become the material out of which God makes the rough door to which he will usher us out of this life and into the presence of our dear savior and we need to feed our minds with the great pattern our Lord has set and then his servant Stephen is set and know that because Christ cried it is finished we may say Lord Jesus into thy hands I commend or receive my spirit we do not as our Lord have that unique power

57:45 over the whole issue of death he had a unique power that was exercised no man takes my life from me I lay it down and I take it again but we can entreat like Stephen receive my spirit but for you who are not Christians let me ask you the very simple question you get along pretty well without Christ in life so you think you're making it pretty well life is more than mere existence for you you get some pleasure out of wife and children you get some pleasure out of the food you eat and the clothes you wear and the things you see in the places you go and the friends you have so life in a sense is not really bitter to you and that may well be that God in his goodness has made life very pleasant for you it may be that life is the pits for you

58:48 it may be misery from morning till night from Monday through Sunday but whatever life may be to you now whether life seems to be full of sweetness or full of bitterness my friend the great great issue is it's appointed unto men once to die and what are you going to do when you die what are you going to do there is no return after death comes judgment what are you going to do then oh yes

59:38 God's not sending thunderbolts out of heaven every time you hear a gospel sermon and reject the Savior God doesn't keep you away but my friend the realities of their away and I beg you in the light of what we have studied this morning I beg you in the light of all that Jesus Christ suffered and bore I beg you in the light of this shout of triumph I beg you in the light of his own pulling away as it were any of the myths that that hang over the issue of death. He has brought life and immortality to life through the gospel so that every humble believer who rests the whole weight of his soul upon Christ alone can know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Is that your confidence this morning? If it is, then in a sense it really doesn't matter too much whether God apportions you in this life that which would make everyone consider you, quote, blessed or if he makes you a second Job because for all of us our lives pass swifter than a weaver's shuttle.

61:06 A few more drafts of air in and a few more exhalations out and it'll all be over. And then begins the unending eternity of unspeakable bliss in his presence or indescribable woe in outer darkness. May God grant that you will be among those who shall enter into his presence with joy. Let us pray.

61:39 Our Father, we thank you again this morning for the record of these dying moments in the life of your Son. We thank you again that he was willing to undergo all of this for the likes of us. We pray that the Holy Spirit will take the truths concerning your Son and apply them with power to the salvation of those who are not yet united to him and that he will cause us who know him to come to a more firm, a more genuine, biblically instructed confidence in all that he has done to take the terror from death that we might with your servant Paul have a firm, settled confidence that to be absent from the body is to be present with our Lord. Seal then your word to our hearts, we pray, as we commit ourselves and your word to your keeping. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.