Can God be trusted?
250 years ago, a French philosopher, Voltaire,
wrote a novel exploring this very question.
The main character, a young man, Candide,
grew up in a castle living a sheltered life,
part of a noble family,
being taught by his mentor that everything is for the best
in this, the best of all possible worlds.
But one day he was thrown out of his castle,
captured by soldiers, coerced into military service,
taken away from the woman he loved.
Later on, he was shipwrecked, flogged, and nearly executed.
He witnessed wars, earthquakes, and fires
that killed thousands of people with no apparent rhyme or reason.
So gradually he abandoned the naive, trusting optimism
he had been taught as a child.
He concluded at the end,
let us cultivate our own garden.
In other words, there's no overarching meaning to life
or to human history.
All that we can do is try to make a decent life for ourselves,
maybe a few others around us,
and leave it at that.
Perhaps that's the conclusion you've come to as well.
Maybe God exists somewhere out there,
but if he does,
God doesn't seem to be much help.
So ultimately it's up to us
to make our own meaning,
to carve out a home for ourselves
in this cold, hard world.
Even for those of us who identify as Christians,
who believe in the God
who has revealed himself in the Bible,
do we not wrestle with this same question,
can God really be trusted?
Of course, in principle,
we would say yes.
But sometimes our patterns of life
betray the opposite inclination.
When we're constantly,
fretfully working
and can never stop and rest.
When we're intent on controlling
the outcomes of our life
and therefore controlling other people.
When we engage in addictive patterns
because deep down we believe
that God won't give me the comfort I need.
when we live in despair
or bitterness
or coldness
because forgiveness is just too hard.
When we give up praying
because praying feels useless and pointless.
Or when we bargain with God.
God, I will trust you if.
According to the Bible,
human beings have had trust issues with God
since the beginning of humanity.
Back in Genesis 3,
the tempter asked the man and woman,
did God really say?
Is God really good?
Does he really have your best interest at heart?
And ever since that time,
human beings have repeatedly taken matters
into our own hands.
But what we see tonight,
what we've heard in the readings tonight,
is that there was one human being
who trusted God
perfectly,
completely,
without wavering
in his life
and in his death.
Tonight I want to focus on Jesus' last words
in Luke 23, verse 46.
Father,
into your hands
I commit
my spirit.
Now if you read the four Gospels,
if you compare
the accounts of Jesus' crucifixion,
there are actually seven words
that Jesus speaks
while he's hanging on the cross.
The first three words
that Jesus speaks
demonstrate his love
and concern
for other people around him.
even in his hour
of great distress.
If you look up to verse 34,
Jesus prayed
for those who were crucifying him.
Father, forgive them
for they know not what they do.
In John 19,
Jesus provided
for his grieving mother.
Woman,
behold your son.
In verse 43,
Jesus pardoned
the criminal
who called out for mercy.
Truly,
I say to you,
today you will be with me
in paradise.
So the first three words
are focused on the other people
around Jesus
and Jesus showing his care
and concern for them
even while he's
hanging on a cross
about to die.
The next two words
that Jesus speaks
are words of anguish
and agony
as he bears the weight
of our sin
and guilt.
as he longs
for the comfort
of God's presence.
If you read in Matthew
and in Mark,
Jesus cries out,
my God,
why have you forsaken me?
And in the gospel of John,
Jesus cries out,
I thirst.
But the last words,
the last two words
that Jesus speaks
recorded in Luke
and in John
are confident declarations
of trust in God.
It is finished.
As it says in John,
and here as we're looking
at tonight,
Father,
into your hands
I commit
my spirit.
Tonight I want to focus
on two aspects
of this last verse
of Jesus' trust
in God.
Number one,
that Jesus trusted
God's authority,
specifically the authority
of God's word.
It's remarkable
that the last four words
Jesus speaks
from the cross
are all taken
from the Psalms.
My God,
my God,
why have you forsaken me?
The opening words
of Psalm 22.
A prayer
of a righteous sufferer.
It is finished.
The closing words
of Psalm 22.
A cry of victory
that his work
was complete.
I thirst.
Psalm 63,
Psalm 143,
the psalmist
is crying out to God
in the midst
of a literal
and spiritual desert.
And here,
Father,
into your hands
I commit my spirit.
Quoting from Psalm 31.
Jesus lived
and studied
and breathed
and preached
and prayed
the scriptures
he knew them
by heart.
He understood
his own identity
and calling
and destiny
in light of them.
The scriptures
were the story
and the song
and the framework
that shaped his life
more than anything else.
And the scriptures,
specifically the Psalms,
were what he
turned to
in his hour
of affliction.
Jesus trusted
and lived
by the authority
of God's word.
Psalm 31,
we read part of it
earlier this evening.
It's a prayer
of an afflicted person.
A prayer of someone
who's crying out to God
in the midst of distress.
Later on in that psalm,
it says,
I am in distress,
wasted from grief,
spent with sorrow.
Those who see me
in the street
flee from me.
They scheme together
against me
as they plot
to take my life.
But that psalm
is also a prayer
of trust.
Several times
in the psalm,
the author
reaffirms his trust
in God.
I trust in you,
O Lord.
I say,
you are my God.
My times are
in your hand.
Rescue me
from the hand
of my enemies
and my persecutors.
And Jesus embraced
the words of this psalm
as his very own.
Quoting in particular
from verse 5,
a simple
and poignant
expression of trust
into your hand.
I commit
my spirit.
For you
have redeemed me,
O Lord,
faithful God.
You see,
Jesus knew all along
that according
to the Scriptures,
he must suffer
and die
in order to fulfill
God's plan
and establish
God's kingdom
and rescue
God's people.
You see,
on his journey
to Jerusalem,
Jesus had told
the disciples,
he said,
see,
we are going up
to Jerusalem.
And everything
that is written
about the Son of Man
by the prophets,
that is,
in the Scriptures,
will be accomplished.
He will be delivered
over to the Gentiles,
mocked,
shamefully treated,
spit upon,
and after flogging him,
they will kill him.
You might ask,
how did he know this?
Simply from
the Scriptures.
Where was it written?
Well,
Jesus would have seen
this pattern
in the major
biblical narratives.
For example,
the life of Joseph.
Joseph was rejected
by his brothers.
He was sold
into slavery,
falsely accused
and imprisoned,
nearly forgotten
and left to die.
And only after all that
was he exalted
to the right hand
of Pharaoh
and saved Egypt
from famine
and provided
for his family.
His suffering
came before his glory.
or David
who was persecuted
by King Saul.
Spent years
alone in the wilderness,
abandoned,
mistreated,
betrayed,
and only after
his suffering
was he exalted
to royal glory
to establish
his kingdom.
Jesus would have seen
that pattern
in the stories,
in the Scriptures,
and he would have
known the prophecies.
the prophecy
of Isaiah
about a suffering servant
who would be beaten
and disgraced
and spit upon
and only later
vindicated
and raised to life
or the prophecy
of Zechariah
that one day
the people
will look upon
one whom
they have pierced
and they would mourn.
One whom
they had killed
and yet on that day
there would be
a fountain
opened
for cleansing
from sin.
Jesus knew
the Scriptures
and he knew
that according
to the Scriptures
he had come
to be that
suffering servant
and that promised
atoning sacrifice.
And so he
willingly submitted
to God's plan
as it was laid out
in the Scriptures
trusting that God
would not abandon him
to the grave.
You see,
Luke wants us
to know
Jesus' death
was not
simply a senseless tragedy.
Jesus was not
simply an unfortunate
victim of injustice.
Certainly he was
the recipient
of injustice.
But every step
along the way
Jesus was
willingly,
actively,
confidently
entrusting himself
to God the Father.
Jesus' suffering
was not an indication
of his weakness.
Rather,
the way
he both
resisted
and endured
suffering
displayed
his strength.
His last words,
Luke says,
he called out
in a loud voice.
That was very unusual
for a crucified man.
Normally,
a crucified person
would die
of suffocation
gradually.
But Jesus spoke
with intentionality
and confidence
and authority
even with his
dying breath
entrusting himself
to God,
to God's word
and to God's plan.
Jesus trusted
God's authority.
That's the first
thing we see.
But the second
thing we see
is that Jesus
trusted God's goodness.
Jesus added
one word
to the psalm
he quoted from.
David prayed,
into your hand
I commit my spirit.
Jesus prayed,
Father,
into your hand
I commit my spirit.
Jesus lived
and died
not only
with a trust
and willingness
to submit
to God's authority
but with a confidence
in God's
fatherly
goodness.
If you read
the gospel of Luke,
from beginning to end
Jesus' life
was oriented
toward
his heavenly
father.
Jesus' first
words
in the gospel
of Luke
at the age
of twelve
he says,
I must be
in my father's
house.
Did you not know
that I must be
in my father's
house?
As we see,
Jesus constantly
turned to his
father in prayer.
He would often
withdraw to
desolate places
and pray.
He continued
in prayer
to God
all night
before choosing
his twelve
disciples.
He took Peter
and John
and James
up to the
mountain
to pray.
He taught
his disciples
always to pray
and not lose
heart.
Prayer wasn't
just a routine
for Jesus,
it was his
source of energy
and joy
and wisdom
and intimacy
with the
father whom
he loved
and trusted.
And Jesus
trusted the
goodness
and sufficiency
of God
the father's
provision.
Jesus said,
if earthly
fathers know
how to give
good gifts
to their
children,
how much
more will
the heavenly
father give
good gifts
to those
who ask
him?
That's the
kind of
father in
heaven that
Jesus is
talking about.
A God
who is
generous
and good
to his
children.
Jesus said,
my father
has assigned
to me
a kingdom.
And then
he said
to his
disciples,
don't fear
little flock,
it is the
father's
good pleasure
to give
you this
kingdom.
All that
is mine
will now
become yours.
And so
Jesus died
the same
way he
had lived
entrusting
himself
into the
father's
faithful
hands.
Trusting
God's
goodness.
Can
God be
trusted?
Look at
Jesus.
This is
no philosophy
of optimism
reinforced
by a
sheltered
upbringing.
This is
no vague
platitude
about every
cloud having
a silver
lining.
This is
no far
away
higher
power
who is
irrelevant
and distant
from our
human
sufferings.
In
Jesus
Christ,
the God
of all
creation
has
come
near,
has
become
human.
has
suffered
death
in order
to
rescue
us
from
our
sin
and
one
day
to
renew
all
creation.
Even
if you
don't
understand
many
of his
ways,
can
you
not
trust
his
heart?
John
Stott
wrote,
I could
never
myself
trust
in
God
if it
were
not
for
the
cross.
I
have
entered
many
Buddhist
temples
and
stood
respectfully
before
the
statue
of
the
Buddha,
his
legs
crossed,
arms
folded,
eyes
closed,
a remote
look on
his face,
detached
from the
agonies
of the
world.
But each
time,
I have
turned
away.
And I
have
turned
instead to
that lonely,
twisted,
tortured
figure on
the cross,
nails
through
hands and
feet,
back
lacerated,
limbs
wrenched,
brow
bleeding,
mouth
dry and
intolerably
thirsty,
plunged in
God-forsaken
darkness.
He
laid
aside
his
immunity
to
pain.
He
entered
our
world
of
flesh
and
blood,
tears
and
death.
He
suffered
for
us.
He
gave
everything
for
those
who
deserved
nothing
from
him.
Hebrews
4,
it says,
we do
not have
a high
priest
who is
unable
to
sympathize
with our
weaknesses,
but one
who in
every
respect
has been
tempted
as we
are,
yet
without
sin.
Let
us then
with
confidence
draw
near to
the
throne
of
grace
that
we
may
receive
mercy
and
find
grace
to
help
us
in
our
time
of
need.
You see,
because of
Jesus,
because of
his
unwavering
trust
and
perfect
obedience
to God
the
Father,
we can
now
share
in
his
intimate
trusting
relationship
with the
Father,
knowing
that
his
Father
is now
ours.
Jesus
not only
called
God
Father,
he taught
his
disciples
to do
the
same.
Because
all that
is his
has now
become
ours.
And so
we can
rest
from
our
works,
which are
never
finished,
and
rejoice
in the
completion
of
his.
We can
give up
trying to
control
our life
and control
other
people
because we've
surrendered to
him and
he has us
in his
hands.
We can
find freedom
from
addictive
patterns
because we
have one
who will
never leave
us,
never forsake
us,
and who
promises
joy
that nothing
else in
this world
can provide.
We can
forbear
and forgive
because he
has forgiven
us so much.
With
Jesus,
we can
entrust
ourselves
into the
hands of
a faithful
God.
Father,
into your
hands,
I commit
my spirit.
Let us
pray.
I invite you
to pray
with me
in response
to three
words of
Scripture.
First,
for God
so loved
the world
that he
gave his
one and
only Son
so that
whoever
believes in
him
will not
perish
but have
eternal
life.
Lord Jesus,
as we
consider
your
sacrifice
on the
cross,
may we
trust in
you
and receive
life
now
and forever.
God
shows his
love for
us in
that while
we were
still
sinners,
Christ
died for
us.
Lord Jesus,
may we
rest in
the
completeness
of your
sacrifice
for us
and may
we see
in your
death
a forever
convincing
proof of
your love
for us.
Let us
then with
confidence
draw near
to the
throne of
grace
that we
may receive
mercy
and find
grace to
help us
in time
of need.
Lord,
we pray
that you
would grant
us the
endurance
that we
do not
have within
ourselves,
that even
in our
darkest hour
we may
not grow
weary
or lose
heart.
May we
know that
you have
gone before
us and
may we
look forward
to the joy
that you
have promised
to all
who love
you.
We pray
all these
things in
Jesus'
name.
Amen.