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Mark -48 Easter Seven Word of Hope and Life SEVEN WONDERFUL WORDS OF HOPE AND LIFE

Jesus lives. The Tomb is empty. Death is defeated. The Grave is opened. God is in control. His Word is true.

The Devil is destroyed. Death, Hell, and the Grave are rendered powerless by Christ’s Resurrection. God won.

When Jesus rose the disciples were able to talk with Him, learn from Him, and get established by Him. But how did He do all that? Jesus reminded them of all that He had spoken to them. You could say He took them back to His Words.

Open with me to Luke 24.44

Luke 24:44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”

After the Resurrection Jesus took His own back to what He had said before His Death. He opened their understanding to those words. That is what we are going to look at this Celebration Sunday. Only instead of looking at all His words, we will just look at His Last Words of Hope and Life.

The Last Words of Jesus – there are seven last words of Jesus. Seven times He spoke to us from the Cross. Last words are always treasures, but Christ’s last words are beyond measure.

Before Jesus died, He wanted to say these things. From the dying lips of Jesus, from His raging thirst dried mouth, in spite of excruciating pain, horrors of sin and death and hell – He speaks. Let us listen!

Pray.

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Remember Christ had been acquitted by the highest court of appeal but He is still subjected to the cruelest of punishment. • Seized by calloused Roman soldiers • rudely stripped • harshly pushed onto a rough and filthy wooden beam • cruelly pierced by Roman spikes • raised aloft to be seen by all on an instrument of horror and torture

But in the midst of all that there is a stir, the prisoner held by spikes, thorns and bleeding wound is about to speak to His cruel tormentors. His lips begin to move . . .

Jesus spoke from the Cross. What words to clasp, hold, and take to heart. He spoke in pain. He spoke in short gasps. He spoke to us. He spoke exactly seven times. Each word holds an ocean of truth for the seeking heart on Resurrection morning. Dive in this morning. Listen and receive what He so freely offered.

1. The Word of Anguish (the 4th Word from the Cross) Mark 15:33-34 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” • Remember this word that speaks of His absorbing of the wrath of God against our sins. He was forsaken so that we would never be. He was made sin so that ours can be removed. He faced God’s Wrath so we never will. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. • Christ’s Last words assure us that He absorbed all the punishment for our sins forever. We are saved to the uttermost.

For a moment listen to the heart of Charles Wesley reflected in the hymn Arise my soul arise.

Arise my soul arise, Shake off thy guilty fears; The bleeding sacrifice, In my behalf appears; Before the throne my surety stands, My name is written on His hands.
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Five bleeding wounds He bears, Received on Calvary; They pour effectual prayers, They strongly plead for me; Forgive him, O, forgive they cry, Nor let that ransomed sinner die.

My God is reconciled, His pardoning voice I hear, He owns me for His child, I can no longer fear; With confidence I now draw nigh, And Father, Abba Father, cry.

2. The Word of Forgiveness. (the 1st Word from the Cross) Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots. • Remember this word that speaks of His offering His love to us though we are sinners. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. • The word of Forgiveness: It is right there in verse 34, “Father forgive them.” Here is His intercession as the only intercessor priest, our only High Priest. What does He demonstrate by this word of forgiveness? His Pity Toward Sinful Humanity. Bernard of Clairvaux, a believer in Jesus Christ of the 11th century wonderingly said – O Sacred head now wounded for this Thy dying hour, Thy pity without end! This Resurrection morning have you experienced the pity of Jesus Christ toward you a sinful human? If so, you’ve been born again. • Christ’s Last words assure us that He offers His love to us even though He knows that we have failed Him, sinned against Him, and resist Him. 3. The Word of Assurance. (the 2nd Word from the Cross) Luke 23:43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” • Remember this word that speaks of His wanting to take us with him to Heaven. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
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except through Me. ere is the promise to a lowly, guilty and doomed sinner from the King of Heaven, the Lord of Glory. • TODAY THOU SHALT BE WITH ME IN PARADISE Yes, heaven, the presence of God forever, no sin, no sickness, death nor sorrow, endless conscious bliss. • William Cooper said “The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day and there may I though vile as he wash all my sins away”. • Elisha Hoffman wrote a question, “Have you come to Jesus for the cleansing flood, are you washed in the blood of the Lamb, are you garments spotless are they white as snow, are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?” • Christ’s Last words assure us that He has a place in Heaven reserved for us. 4. The Word of Confidence. (the 7th Word from the Cross) Luke 23:46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” Having said this, He breathed His last. • Remember this word that speaks of His power to keep you safe forever. Jude 24-25 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen. John 10:27-29 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. • Christ’s Last words assure us that He has the power to get us safely home to be with Him forever! 5. The Word of Comfort. (the 3rd Word from the Cross) John 19:26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” • This word speaks of His sharing in our humanity and knowing our needs. Hebrews 2:14-15, 18 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who
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through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. • Christ’s Last words assure us that He knows what it is like living on earth, struggling with day to day needs – and has faced the same temptations we face. He can help us! He can provide all that we need. 6. The Word of Agony. (the 5th Word from the Cross) John 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” • Remember this word that speaks of His feeling our pain. No one ever knows us like Jesus; no one can ever comfort us like Jesus. Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. • I thirst (dipso) is the shortest of all the words from the cross. Jesus began His ministry with the gnawing hunger of 40 days fasting in the wilderness, He closed it with six hours of burning thirst. One word with two syllables in Greek, expressed the most intense agony the human body is capable of experiencing. The One who spoke heaven and earth into being has a parched tongue! Psalm 69:21 They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. The Roman Army’s wine was vinegar, was common, and was always with them. When offered vinegar wine mixed with a pain reliever (myrrh) He refused to drink. Jesus faced death fully and unmuzzled. But now He takes a refreshing drink. Just as Jesus drank to the last drop His cup of suffering, so He would drink no more than the Father had given. The drink allowed Him to shout out His triumph. • Christ’s Last words assure us that He knows where we are, knows how we struggle, knows all our pain and suffering – and waits with open arms to help us every time we cry out to Him! 7. The Word of Triumph. (the 6th Word from the Cross) John 19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
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• This word speaks of His power to save us. He has done all that ever needs to be done. Nothing is left but to believe. Jesus save me now is what He waits for us to ask. Hebrews 1:3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, Hebrews 7:24-25 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. • After Jesus received the vinegar, He said, IT IS FINISHED.” At that word you could have heard — tombs exploding, chains breaking, prison walls crumbling, barriers falling, the gates of Hades opening and Death fleeing. • Christ’s Last words assure us that He has done all that ever needs to be done to save us forever and get us home!

HE SPOKE THE WORD OF FORGIVENESS so we can know we are forgiven. HE SPOKE THE WORD OF ASSURANCE so we can know we are heaven bound. HE SPOKE THE WORD OF DEVOTION so we can know we are not going alone. HE SPOKE THE WORD OF ANGUISH so we can know He feels our pains. HE SPOKE THE WORD OF AGONY so we can know He will never leave or forsake us. HE SPOKE THE WORD OF TRIUMPH so we can know that our salvation is secured and finished. HE SPOKE THE WORD OF CONFIDENCE so we can know we are accepted into the beloved! This morning I am going to ask you to respond to our Lord Jesus Christ’s first two words from the cross. I am going to ask you to set aside your plans to hurry to Sunday School or brunch. They can wait for you. This Easter morning Jesus speaks from the Hill called Calvary. His words ring out loud and clear: forgiven, secured, cared for, assured!

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Have you personally experienced in your life this Resurrection morning *The pity of Jesus Christ toward you a guilty sinner? Are you born again? Saved – Have eternal life? That’s the powerful promise of the King of Heaven risen for you! Do you know you are saved? Are you washed? As we sing, I ask you, don’t delay – come!

His ministry was culminated. His work was done!

• Matthew 1:21 promised “Save people from sins”: It is Finished! • Matthew 2:11 promised He was the One we could worship and give ourselves to: It is Finished! • Matthew 3:15 promised One who would “Fulfill all righteousness”: It is Finished! • Matthew 4:10 promised One who would defeat the Devil “Be gone Satan”: It is Finished! • Matthew 5-7 promised One who could make us live God’s way as our Power source : It is Finished! • Matthew 8:3 promised One who had power to cleanse: It is Finished! • Matthew 9:5 promised One who had the Power to forgive: It is Finished! • Matthew 10:28 promised One who had the Authority to judge all: It is Finished! • Matthew 11:28 promised One who would Comfort the burdened: It is Finished! • Matthew 12:40 promised One who would give the Ultimate sign: It is Finished! • Matthew 13:30 promised One who had the Power to redeem from hell: It is Finished! • Matthew 14:30 promised One who had the Power to heal eternally: It is Finished!

But, even more the scope of the Scriptures! Think of this, He’s from cover to cover. Genesis 3:15 The one promised to crush the serpent did it – It is Finished! Leviticus 1:2 The ultimate sacrifice to take away sin – It is Finished! Numbers 21:9 The one lifted up on the pole for the people’s sin unlike the temporary brazen serpent. It is Finished! Joshua 5:14 The way into the eternally promised land – It is Finished!