“JESUS’ LAST WORD ON PEACE”
LUKE 23:46

I. Introduction
“Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit!” These are Jesus’ words, and having spoken them, He carefully, calmly, and in full control of all that was happening, gently bowed His head and allowed Himself to die.

With those words, the seventh thing Jesus said from the cross, He brought to perfect comple-tion not only the life God had given Him, but the purpose for it as well. And as Jesus did with every word He spoke, He provided us with the supreme example of how Christians are to live and how we are to die. We are called to die well. That may at first seem like “a tall order,” but take heart. When God calls us to do something, He empowers us to do it.

The Apostle Paul was called to take the gospel to the Gentile world. He wrote his letter to the church at Philippi from prison. When he wrote it he didn’t know if he would be released or die there. But he did know that, either way, the cause of Christ would go forth.
*Philippians 1:19-22
19 For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose.

Look again at v. 21. For Paul, living is good, but dying is better. What an amazing thing to say. What an amazing faith Paul had! Shortly before Paul died he said…
2 Timothy 4:6b-8a
6b …the time of my departure has come.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;
8a in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day…

Paul died well. But before Paul died for his faith in Christ – even before God gave him that faith – there was another young man who died for the same faith. His name was Stephen, and he was the first martyr of the church age. As he was being stoned to death he was pray-ing for his murderers.
*Acts 7:55-60
55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;
56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man stand-ing at the right hand of God.”
57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears, and they rushed upon him with one impulse.
58 And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
60 And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he fell asleep.

Stephen, the first Christian martyr, died well. But he would be followed by countless other believers who would pay for their faith with their lives. In 1555 Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, both Roman Catholic priests, were martyred for taking a stand against the false teaching of their church. They were tied to a stake, back to back, and burned alive. As the fires were lit, Latimer cried out to Ridley, “Be of good courage, Brother Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust never shall be put out.” Later, as the flames consumed them, Ridley, using Jesus’ own words, cried out, “Lord, into Your hands I commit my spirit.”

Just before his death, John Calvin wrote to his friend, William Farel. He said, “I have great difficulty in breathing and expect at any time to breathe my last. It is enough for me to live and to die in Christ, who is gain to those who belong to Him, whether in life or in death.”

After Calvin’s death, his successor, Theodore Beza, said of Calvin, “We can truly say that in this one man God has been pleased to demonstrate to us…the way to live well and to die well.” Just as God did with Paul, He gave John Calvin everything he needed to die well.

The Apostle Paul, Stephen, John Calvin, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley and countless other believers have all died well. They have faced death with the words of Jesus in their hearts and on their lips. Is not dying well the heart’s desire of every true Christian?
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II. Review
When it comes to dying well Jesus is our greatest example. As He was laying down His life for us He said seven things. We have already looked at six of them.
• The first thing Jesus said spoke of forgiveness. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).” In it we saw His willingness to forgive His enemies.
• The second thing Jesus said spoke of salvation. He said, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise (Luke 23:43).” In it we saw His mercy and His grace. (His mercy keeps us out of hell, but His grace opens the gates of heaven.)
• The third thing Jesus said spoke of His compassion for His loved ones. He said to His mother Mary, “Woman, behold your son,” and then to His beloved friend, the Apostle John, “Behold, your mother (John 19:26-27)!” In that we saw the importance He placed on loving our parents and caring for our friends.
• The fourth thing Jesus spoke of was the agony and anguish of bearing our sin and suf-fering the full weight of His Father’s wrath for it. He said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me (Matthew 27:46)?” In those words we began to understand the terrible price He paid for our salvation.
• The fifth thing Jesus said spoke of His physical pain and suffering. He said, “I am thirsty (John 19:28).” John tells us that Jesus spoke those words “…in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” And so He fulfilled the very last OT prophecy about His first coming and His crucifixion. In that we saw His commitment to God’s Word.
• The sixth thing Jesus said spoke of His victory. He said, “It is finished (John 19:30).” With those words Jesus both confirmed and proclaimed the fact that He had accom-plished every last thing His Father sent Him to earth to do. His voluntary and sacrifi-cial death bought our redemption. In the words, “It is finished,” we saw that we can-not add anything to His finished work. Rather than trusting in ourselves, or our reli-gions, or our so-called good works, we must trust in Christ alone.
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III. Text
And now there is only one thing left for Jesus to say. It’s all about peace.
Luke 23:46
46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” And having said this, He breathed His last.

In this we see Jesus dying exactly as He has lived. He dies in complete submission to and dependence upon His heavenly Father. With these – the very last of Jesus’ last words – He shows us how to die well.

If you take nothing else with you from this morning’s sermon, take this: In order to die well, you must live well. And in order to live well, you must be trusting in Christ and in Him alone. If you are, when that moment comes, and you pass from this life into His presence, His words will be in your heart and on your lips.

By the way, it is worth noting from where Jesus got the last of His last words. He got them from the Scriptures, from God’s written Word. If that surprises you, it really shouldn’t. In one of Jesus’ many confrontations with the Pharisees, He told them…
*John 12:49-50
49 “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me (a) commandment, what to say, and what to speak.
50 “And I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore, the things I
speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”
Jesus was totally committed to His Father. In that commitment He relied on God for every-thing – even His own words – even His last words.
*Psalm 31:1-5
1 In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be ashamed; in Your right-eousness deliver me.
2 Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly; be to me a rock of strength, a stronghold to save me.
3 For You are my rock and my fortress; for Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.
4 You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me; for You are my strength.
5 Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth.

By the time Jesus utters these words – “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit” – the price for sin has been paid in full. In these words we hear Jesus speak of triumph, content-ment, comfort, and peace. Because with these words – “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit” – the perfect communion between God the Father and God the Son, the perfect communion that was broken when the sin of the world was placed on Jesus, is now restored.

It was in that restoration that the door for our restoration was opened. Now you and I can also call God our Father. Now we can say what David said in Psalm 31:5, “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth.” There is our triumph, our contentment, our comfort, and our peace. In short, there is our assurance.

Before Jesus went to the cross He prayed and asked His Father that we who would believe in Him would be united in Him, and would one day be with Him. Look with me at just a small portion of that prayer.
*John 17:22-24
22 “And the glory which You have given (to) Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one.
23 I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that You sent Me, and You loved them, even as You have loved Me.
24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and God said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased (Matthew 3:17).” So we can have full assurance that God has answered Jesus’ prayer. In the last of His last words – “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit” – Jesus’ assurance is our assurance. If there is any question about that, His resurrection from the dead and His ascension to heaven is all the proof you’ll ever need.
There is assurance in Jesus’ last word from the cross, but there is also a great irony. Twelve hours earlier, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus had voluntarily turned Himself over to the hands of men. When He was arrested Peter, wanting to fight, drew his sword.
Matthew 26:52-54a
52 Then Jesus said to (Peter), “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.
53 “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”
54a “How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled…?”

So Jesus, obedient to God’s Word and in control of all that was happening, willingly placed Himself into the hands of sinful men and let them do their worst. And when it was finally over, He voluntarily placed Himself into the hands of a holy God. Three days later He was raised from the dead, and forty days after that He ascended to heaven where His Father…
Philippians 2:9b-11
9b …exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

What is the worst that could happen to you in the hands of men? What is the inevitable out-come? When they are through with you where will you be? “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit!”

In Jesus’ last word we can see His willingness to submit Himself to God. I believe that this is a major lesson for us. At least it is for me. Our Lord was absolutely dependent upon His Father, and we should be too. But one of our problems is that we too often depend upon the flesh. By that I mean we put our confidence in ourselves. I know that none of us would consciously worship ourselves. But I ask you: Isn’t that exactly what we are doing when we look to our own resources and forget His? When we look to our own strength and forget His? When we look to our own wisdom and forget His?

It’s at times like those we need to remember Paul’s warning to the Christians in the church at Philippi. He said that we “who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus (that would be Christians) put no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3b).” Even Jesus, whose flesh was holy and uncontaminated by sin, yielded Himself, submitted Himself, and committed Himself to God – right down to His last word when He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!”

This may be a good time for us to consider two verses. Admittedly, I am taking them both out of context, but I think you will readily see that in this case at least, they can stand alone.
*John 15:5
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (and the corollary is…)
Philippians 4:13
13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

We can even die well through Him who strengthens us!

How unique was Jesus! No one ever died as He died. We die from old age, from diseases, from accidents, from wars, from natural disasters, from homicides, from genocides, and from suicides. All of those things take lives, they don’t give lives. But no one and no thing took Jesus’ life from Him. He gave His life, something no one else could ever do.
*John 10:17-18
17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it (up) again.
18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

What an incredible statement Jesus makes in the middle of v. 18 – “I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” This authority, this power over life and death, is seen in the other gospels as well.
Matthew 27:50
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His Spirit.

The word “yielded” is the key to our understanding here. It is translated from a Greek word that means “dismissed.” Think of it as a master dismissing a slave from his presence after the slave has completed some task. “You are dismissed.” What Matthew is telling us is that the time had come. Therefore, Jesus, having full authority over His life, gave Himself per-mission to release His Spirit from His body.

John 19:30 says that Jesus “…bowed His head, and gave up His Spirit.” That is to say that He delivered it, or He turned it over, or He released it. The time was right and He had the authority to do so. He has that same authority over your life as well, Christian. You will not pass from this life until the time is right and He says so. Until He does you cannot die. Con-versely, when the time is right, and He says so, you will step into His glorious presence.

Have you ever heard it said about a young person who has passed away, “He died before his time.”? No, he didn’t! No one has ever died “before their time,” and no one ever will.

Just as our temporal lives are in Jesus’ control, so too are our eternal lives. The same power and authority that gave us life in the flesh also gives us life in the spirit. And in that we see our eternal security. Nowhere is this more clearly stated than it John’s gospel.
*John 10:27-30
27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
28 and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall 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 the Father’s hand.
30 “I and the Father are one.”

Aren’t you glad He holds on to your salvation and keeps it for you? No one else can do that.
*1 Peter 1:3-5
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

There are two other things I don’t want to ignore about the last of Jesus’ last words and what took place immediately after He uttered them.

The first of these was something that Jesus did. After He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit,” John 19:30 tells us that He “…bowed His head.” The Greek means that He “pillowed” His head. What a serene image that conveys. Jesus, in complete command and control of every last detail, calmly and gently lowered His head as if He were simply going to sleep.

The second of these things was something God did. Matthew 27:50-51 say that when Jesus “…yielded up His Spirit…the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” There is enormous theological significance in that. We don’t want to miss it. This veil (curtain) separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. Its presence meant that the way to God had not yet been opened. That veil was there to remind Israel that access to God was restricted to the high priest. He alone could make atonement for the sins of the people.

The very moment Jesus died, He made atonement. God the Father accepted God the Son’s sacrifice and shed blood as the satisfactory payment (propitiation) for sin. So God tore the veil separating God and man, and access to the Holy of Holies (God’s presence) became avail-able to all who believe. By the way, God tore it from top to bottom to symbolize the fact that He did it. Instantly, the moment Jesus died, temple worship became obsolete. The temple itself became obsolete. The high priest (the priesthood) became obsolete. We don’t need a sinful human priest making atonement for our sins because we have a divine sinless Priest who has already made atonement for them.
What does that mean for you and for me? It means you have a priest, and it means you can go to Him – anytime, anyplace, and with anything.
*Hebrews 4:14-16, 10:19-23
4:14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weak-nesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace in the time of need.

10:19 Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who pro-mised is faithful.

“…He who has promised is faithful.” Do you see why you can rejoice in your salvation, and when the time is right, you can say, “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.”? In these words there is yet one more great truth upon which we can lay our fears and take hold of the peace of God. As believers we have communion with Him. We have it every moment of every day. And in Jesus’ last of His last words He reminds us that we will have communion with Him at that very moment when we pass from this life into His glorious presence.
Psalm 23:4a
4a Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for You are with me…

Such is the future for those who have trusted Christ and are safe in His hands. Not only are we in His hands, but He is in His Father’s hands. So we have nothing to fear. Listen to the words of A. W. Pink from his book “The Seven Sayings of the Savior on the Cross.”
“But…only believers are warranted and encouraged thus to commend their spirits into the hands of God at the dying hour; how sad is the state of all dying unbelievers. Their spirits too will fall into the hands of God, but this will be their misery and not their privilege. These will find that ‘It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).’ Yes, because instead of falling into the arms of love, they will fall into the hands of justice.”

If you have not yet repented and trusted Christ for your salvation, please don’t wait. None of us are guaranteed our next breath. Receive Him and you will find yourself safe in the arms of God. And when the day comes for you to depart this life, you will be able to die well and say, “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.”
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III. Conclusion
I’ve said a lot about dying well. But what about living well? How do you do that?
*Colossians 3:16-17
16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

You live well when you “…let the word of Christ richly dwell within you…”

I read of a young woman who was going into surgery for throat cancer. It was advanced and her chances for survival weren’t good. At best, she’d likely lose the ability to speak for the rest of her life. Just before they administered the anesthesia her surgeon asked her, “We’re about to begin. Do you have anything you’d like to say?” She said, “Blessed be the name of Jesus.” I don’t know if those were her last words, but if they were, they were the best.

To live well you must be trusting in Christ and His words. And that is precisely how you can die well. Speaking of our natural fear of death and dying, J. C. Ryle said this:
“Like our Master, we should not be afraid to confront the king of terrors. We should regard him as a vanquished enemy whose sting has been taken away by Christ’s death. We should think of him as a foe who can hurt the body for a while but after that can do no more. We should wait for him to approach with calmness and patience and believe that when the flesh fails, our soul will be in good keeping. (Ryle goes on)

“This was the frame of mind in which Stephen died: ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit (Acts 7:59).’ This was the frame of mind in which the elderly Paul faced death: ‘I know whom I have believed and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day (2 Timothy 1:12).’ Happy indeed are those who have a final end like this.”

All who know and trust the Lord Jesus Christ will find that state of mind. It can only come through knowing God’s Word. Commit yourself to Him and to His Word. When your time comes, when you step into glory, you will die very well indeed.

~ Pray ~