Jesus' Death Shows Us How to Live

He came, it says, to take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself and He did it. He bore our sins in His own body. He condemned sin in the flesh. He defeated Satan with a blow to the head. He finished perfectly what God gave Him to do and that's the way we must live. We must be more concerned with the work God's called us to do than the pain the work takes us through. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. To the strongest, those were the last words of Alexander the Great, his orders for selecting a general to take his place. Don't give up the ship, that's U.S. Navy Captain James Lawrence who gave that charge to his men just before he died and it became an American rallying point in the War of 1812. It's clear a leader's last words matter. They tell their followers what to do, how to live after they're gone. Well, what last words could be more significant than those of the King of Kings at Calvary? How should Jesus' words before dying change the way you live? Find out now on this Good Friday edition of Grace to You in John MacArthur's lesson titled, Jesus' Death Shows Us How to Live. I want to invite you to turn in your Bible to 1 Peter chapter 2.

I want to call your attention to one verse, verse 21. And then I want to speak to you on the subject, Jesus' death shows us how to live. In 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 21, we read this, for you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps. There is little question in anyone's mind that the life of Christ is an example. But I daresay most people would not assume that the death of Christ is an example. And yet that is exactly what Peter says, that Christ in suffering and dying has left us an example that we are to follow. I think for the most part, we look at His dying and we say, well, His dying shows us the significance of sin. It shows us how we had to have a Savior pay the price for our iniquity. His death was for us a substitutionary death by which He took our place, died our death, paid for our sin.

But Peter says there's something more. He died not only for us, but He died as an example to us. He died to show us how to live. Now, how are we going to know anything about Him in His death? How is His character revealed? It cannot be revealed in something He does because He is nailed to the cross and cannot do anything.

It cannot be revealed to us in something that He thinks because we can't read His thoughts. Therefore, the only thing we can know about the character of Christ in His dying is in what He says. And through the years, year after year after year since perhaps the earliest years of the church, people have celebrated the Easter season by looking at the seven last sayings of Christ.

They reveal the truest, purest character of Christ and they teach us how to live. What He said in dying became principles for living. And so we flow through the seven last sayings of Christ. The first of His sayings is recorded in Luke 23 and verse 34.

You don't need to look it up. It's familiar to you. The first thing He said from the cross was this, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. And in so saying, He revealed His character. The principle is this, He died forgiving those who sinned against Him. He died forgiving those who sinned against Him.

That, dear friends, is a principle for living. Jesus in His dying revealed a forgiving heart, even against those who took His life. And as He hangs on the cross, the victim as it were from the human perspective of the hatred, animosity, bitterness, vengeance and vile wickedness of a world of men and a host of demons, what is His response?

What is His reply? We would have expected as human beings that He might have cried out to God for pity, that He might have shaken His fist in the face of God as one unworthy of such an execution. We might have assumed that He would cry maldiction or vengeance upon His killers, but He does none of that. The first thing He says is a prayer. The first prayer He prays is a prayer of forgiveness for the very people who have taken His life. And underlying His prayer for forgiveness is an understanding of the wretchedness of the human heart.

And He expresses it in the words, they do not know what they are doing. And so He prays along the line of their profoundest need. He prays for these wicked murderers to be forgiven. He is more concerned about their forgiveness than He is vengeance upon them for what they've done to Him.

He is more concerned about what happens to them than what has happened to Him. He is praying for the people who killed Him to be forgiven for doing what they've done to Him. This is the magnanimous heart of Christ. Peter says, being reviled He reviled not again.

Being insulted He did not insult back, but rather He prayed for them who took His life. Forgiveness is man's greatest need. Forgiveness is man's only way to enter into fellowship with God. Forgiveness is man's only way to be let out of hell. Forgiveness is man's only hope for blessing. Forgiveness is thus what Jesus prayed for.

How should you live? You should live with a heart of forgiveness toward those who wrong you, being more concerned that they be forgiven than that you get vengeance. The second word of Christ on the cross is recorded in Luke 23, 43. The second utterance that Jesus made from the cross was this, truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in paradise. You remember that there were two thieves crucified with Christ, one on the right hand and one on the left. One of those thieves said to Jesus, remember Me when You come into Your kingdom. To which Jesus replied, today you shall be with Me in paradise.

And that teaches us the second great principle. Jesus died bringing the truth of eternal life to a damned soul. Jesus died bringing the truth of eternal life to a damned soul. It is quite remarkable and quite dramatic how this man came to trust in Christ.

After all, look at the scene. What is there about Jesus Christ that is at all convincing? What is there at this particular occasion in the life of Christ that's going to convince you that He's the Christ of God, the Savior of the world, the Messiah, the King? In other words, in the most unfavorable, unconvincing circumstances imaginable, this man is convinced that this is the Savior.

Now how so? How can he see that? And the answer is very, very simply this, it is not a work of man, salvation, it is a work of God. It is a work of God. And what you see there is the sovereign saving work of God. God moved on His heart to convince Him of those things. Beloved, I remind you that instead of attributing the salvation of lost sinners to the matchless grace of God, many professing Christians seek to account for salvation by the cleverness of human influences, instrumentalities, and circumstances.

Not so, not so. When God shattered the darkness of that thief's heart, he believed. But nonetheless, it was through the instrumentality of Christ who was sensitive to be used of God to bring a damned soul to salvation.

It's always so with Him. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost, Luke 19 says. Paul writing to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1.15 says, Christ came to save sinners. And that's what he's doing on the cross.

What an example. He died forgiving those who sinned against Him and He died bringing the truth of eternal life to a damned soul. Beloved, may I submit to you that that's how to live?

That's how to live. That's the truest revelation of what was in His heart. The third saying of Christ on the cross is found in John 19 verses 26 and 27. On that occasion in John 19, 26 and 27, Jesus said this, woman, behold your son. And then He said, behold your mother. What is this about?

Well, the principle here is very simple. Jesus died expressing selfless love. Did you get that? Jesus died expressing selfless love. And what does He say? He says, woman, behold your son.

What's the point of that? Woman is Mary, His mother. You say, why doesn't He call her mother?

Because that relationship is over now and she is not His mother. Once He began His ministry, He identified her as woman in John 2 at the wedding at Cana. And now she is woman in the sense that she must look to Him not as her son but as her Savior. But He says to her, woman, behold your son. He's not calling attention to Himself because then He turns to John and says, John, behold your mother.

What is He doing? He is giving His mother into the care of John. He is saying, Mary, John from now on is your son.

John, Mary from now on is yours to care for. He commits His mother to the care of John. As He is dying, His mother is on His heart.

Out of that little crowd, His mother was the neediest of all. It is very likely that Joseph had by this time died. He disappears very early from the scene of gospel history and is no doubt dead or He wouldn't have had to make such a commitment. So Jesus could not commit her to Joseph. He could not commit her either to His brothers and He did have some brothers and sisters but in John chapter 7 verse 5 it says they didn't believe in Him and He was not about to commit the care of His believing mother into the hands of His unbelieving half brothers and sisters. And so out of compassion, He commits Mary to John and John to the care of Mary.

And what does this teach us? This is selfless love. Here out of the heart of one who is occupied with the weight of the world's sins, here out of the heart of one who is experiencing the most stupendous agony imaginable under the wrath of Almighty God, far greater internal pain than the external pain. In the midst of all of this sin-bearing, the sympathy is directed toward somebody else. Truly this is the purity of His character coming to the surface. This is how we are to live, never so...mark it now...never so overwhelmed with our own pain that we lose sight of the needs of others.

That's a great principle for living. The fourth word from the cross is recorded in Matthew 27, 46. This has the most pathos of all. Jesus said, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? What does this tell us? What lesson do we learn?

What principle? This Jesus died understanding the seriousness of sin. He died resenting the implications of sin is another way to say it. He died resenting, refusing, rejecting the implications of sin.

What implications? That sin separates from God. My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? That word forsaken is one of the most tragic in the English language, one of the most painful words that anyone can ever speak, to be forsaken, to be left alone and desolate. And when coupled with the opening statement, My God, My God, we see that it is a forsaking out of intimacy.

My God, My God, with whom I have had eternal unbroken fellowship, why have you forsaken Me? It is against the background of an eternal intimacy that the forsaking has its profoundest significance. You see, sin could do, and I'll mark it, sin could do what nothing else in the universe could do. Men could not separate the Father from the Son. Demons could not separate the Father from the Son. Satan could not separate the Father from the Son. But sin separated the Father from the Son. It is the most devastating reality in the universe, for it separates from God, and He experienced it.

God is too holy to look on sin, too pure to behold iniquity, says the prophet Habakkuk. Sin alienates from God. And beloved, that's what marks the climax of His suffering. Jesus experienced personally the profound pain that sin brings because it separates from God.

That's how we're to live. We're to live understanding the implications of our sin that they wrench us away from God. Jesus experienced that.

We must live understanding the serious implications of sin. The next word from the cross is recorded in John 19 verse 28. The next thing that Jesus uttered from the cross was the simple statement, I am thirsty.

I am thirsty. That indicates to me that He was experiencing the results of true humanity. That's not a spiritual statement. It doesn't mean He was thirsty for God.

It means He was thirsty for something to drink. You see Him there in all His humanity. And what lesson does that teach us? Simply this, He teaches us to live expressing the frailties of our humanity. He teaches us to live expressing the frailties of our humanity and our dependence. And in so crying, He shows us that we must live in the same way. We must live willing to show our human weakness and depend on someone else to supply what we need. We must learn to live dependently.

We must learn to live sharing needs with others. The sixth saying of Christ and the next to the last one is recorded in John's gospel chapter 19 in verse 30. It is finished. As He came near the end of His life, He made a triumphant pronouncement, te telestai, it is finished.

What principle do you see here? He died completing the work God gave Him to do. He died completing the work God gave Him to do.

May I give you an insight into what I'm saying here? It is one thing to end your life. It is another thing to finish it. It is one thing to have your life over. It is another to have your work done.

I couldn't help but think of that as I noted the Los Angeles Marathon. Everybody started and everybody stopped, but not everybody finished. For most people in the world, life ends and life is over, but the work is not done. When Jesus said it is finished, He had finished the redeeming work. He had come into the world. He had borne the sins of man. He had provided the sacrificial death. He had done the atoning work.

He was finished. He came, it says, to take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself and He did it. He bore our sins in His own body. He condemned sin in the flesh.

He defeated Satan with a blow to the head. He finished perfectly what God gave Him to do and that's the way we must live. We must be more concerned with the work God's called us to do than the pain the work takes us through. He endured the pain because He could see the accomplishment. That's always the price of doing the work of God. It's being able to move through the pain and through the difficulty to do the work.

Paul learned from Jesus and at the end of his life could say, I have finished my course. It wasn't easy. I fought a fight to get it done, but I finished. That's the way to live your life. Don't just live it till it's over. Don't just live it till it ends.

Live it to finish the work of God that He gives you to do. Christ in His death gives us one other final principle for living. The last words of Jesus are recorded in Luke 23, 46. This is the last statement He said on the cross. Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit. Into Thy hands I commit my spirit.

What principle is there here? Listen carefully. Jesus died entrusting Himself to the promised care of God and that's how you're to live. Casting all your care on the one who cares for you. You are to live putting your life and your death and your destiny in the promised care of God. You're to live trusting God, a life of faith, a life of trust. God had promised to raise Him from the dead way back in Psalm 16. God had confirmed that promise to Him as often times Jesus said that He would suffer and die but rise again. And He commits Himself to the promised care of God in His death. That's the only way to live, the only way to live is to commit your life to God. Listen, we are to live a life that totally commits itself to God. Romans 12 says that we are to present to God as a living sacrifice ourselves our life and trust Him for the outcome. Jesus says Peter in 1 Peter 2, 23, kept entrusting himself to Him who judges righteously. He just kept giving Himself to God saying, God, I give you myself no matter how great the pain, no matter how much hostility, no matter how difficult the task, I commit myself to you, you will do what's right, you will judge righteously, you will bring it to pass, you will care for me, you've promised I'll go to the grave, I'll go to death, I'll face the teeth of hell, I will face the one who has the keys now, that is Satan, and I'll take them out of his hand.

I'll face death, the Bible says he even descended into the pit where the demons are bound after he died, I'll face it all because I know you will not fail me, you will lift me out of the grave, you will lift me to glory. That's the way to live, with confident trust in God. And so the Lord Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, and He died a perfect death. In His living, He gave us an example of how to live, and in His dying, He gave us maybe the greatest example of how to live. And it seems as though in the words that He said, He summed up all the greatest elements of life.

And He said, here is how to live. You are to live forgiving those who sin against you. You are to live giving the truth to those damned souls who without it are lost. You are to live loving selflessly and being compassionate about those whose pain may be less than yours, and making sure their needs are met. You are to live understanding the serious implications of sin and its separating power. You are to live not afraid to admit your weakness and allow others to meet your need that you might build the strength of fellowship. You are to live not until your life is over, but you are to live to finish the work God gives you to do. And you are to live and die trusting your life and your death and your soul and your eternity to the hands of a caring, promising God.

That's how to live. That's John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. His message today on Grace to You is titled, Jesus' Death Shows Us How to Live. Well, with this coming Lord's Day focused on the resurrection, obviously that's good news to celebrate and proclaim. It's the cornerstone of Christianity. But the context today, Good Friday, is sobering. Our thoughts go to the crucifixion and especially to the idea of God's wrath poured out on his Son.

And with that in mind, John, what is the appropriate attitude for our worship today? I mean, is it appropriate to celebrate in any way an event that revolves around sin and death? Well, yeah, it's appropriate to celebrate because even though the focus is on the sin-bearing of Christ, the wrath of God, it is good news. It is the best news because we're not left in our sin. The lovingkindness and forgiveness of God has been granted to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. From my standpoint, Good Friday has to end in celebration.

It is that for which we are most grateful. I don't think the intention of us on a Good Friday is to wallow in our sin that inflicted pain on Christ and become morbid about that. I don't believe in, I guess what you could say, a sort of monastic or sacramental penance where we're brow-beating ourselves over our sinfulness. No, I think the cross is a celebration.

I think that clearly is the way the church is always treated. We have all these hymns about the cross. We sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord, and we sing about the cross, and we sing with joy, and we sing with blessing, and we sing with gratitude. Yeah, there's a somber tone there as we take the bread and the cup, as we talk about what our Lord suffered for us.

But all of that was so that we could celebrate forever and ever in his glorious presence. So the appropriate attitude would be an attitude of soberness, thinking about sin and what we've been delivered from. But we pass very soon from that into the reality of the great grace of God granted to us in forgiveness and in the gift of eternal life, which provides for us the hope of eternal glory, and for that we celebrate. So I don't think it's frivolous. I don't think we come to the Lord's table ever with a frivolous, foolish, superficial attitude. I think we have to think deeply about what the work of the Lord is on our behalf there. But at the end of it, there is reason to celebrate Yeah, it starts with self-examination, but because we know the end of the story, it is a celebration.

Yes, it should not be morbid. It should be joyful. Thanks, Jon. And, friend, to help you focus your worship today and through this weekend, I want to encourage you to listen to the One Perfect Life Easter special at our website. And let us know how God is using these broadcasts in your life. Drop us a note when you can. You can send your letter to Grace2U, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412. Or, even quicker, you can send an email to letters at gty.org. And again, I encourage you to listen to the One Perfect Life Easter program.

It's a dramatic look at all that Christ went through to save sinners like you and me. You'll find the One Perfect Life Easter program at gty.org. And remember, at gty.org you have thousands of free resources to take advantage of. You can listen to our entire sermon archive. That's over 3,600 sermons.

You can read the transcripts for those messages. You can also find blog articles from Jon and the staff. You can read helpful daily devotionals. You'll find many other resources that can enrich your worship this Resurrection Sunday and every day. Our website again, gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Remember to watch Grace 2 U Television this Sunday on DirecTV channel 378, and then be here next week as John begins a study that will answer the question, Where in the World is History Headed? That's the title of the series starting on Monday. Don't miss the next 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace 2 U.