I. Here we find a contented Saviour.

A. All the time Jesus was upon the earth, he was concerned only with doing those things that his Father wanted him to do.

1. Remember when Jesus was 12 years old and stayed behind in Jerusalem in his first formal discourse with religion?

2. When his mother and stepfather came to get him, he said, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"

B. All of Jesus' life was centered around doing his Father's will. Many times when Jesus' disciples were asleep, or eating, or trying to fulfill the needs of the body, Jesus was witnessing, always doing His Father's will.

II. Notice the voluntarily sacrifice of Jesus.

A. Christ was truly a "lamb" slain.

1. When the soldiers came to get Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, John 18:5, Jesus had only to speak his name, "I am" and the soldiers had to fall backward because of the power of the name.

2. The soldiers did not drive Jesus away from his disciples. They did not force Jesus to go with them, but rather the soldiers "led" Jesus away, John 18:13.

3. To show just how stupid man is when he tries to do something, notice that during the trial, no one could find anything wrong with Jesus.

4. There were even three witnesses who were supposed to have stories that would prove that Jesus had blasphemed against God.

a. But even the witnesses couldn't agree, Mark 14:55-59.

b. Mark 14:60-65 declares that Jesus had to finally utter the truth, which the "court" took to be blasphemy, and sentenced Christ to death by crucifixion.

B. There was plenty of reserve power for Christ.

1. Matt. 26:53 speaks about Peter cutting off the high priest servants ear, and Jesus replacing the ear in front of all his enemies.

2. Jesus told Peter there were at least 12 legions of angels standing by, waiting on Him to bid them protect Him.

a. A legion contains between 5,000 and 6,000 soldiers, therefore, it would contain the same number of angels.

b. Twelve legions of angels would contain between 60,000 and 72,000 angels.

c. The destructive force of these angels is revealed in II Samuel 24:15 when one angel killed 70,000 Israelites in three days.

d. This calculates into 972 per hour or 1 per 3.5 seconds.

e. Twelve legions of angels could destroy between 16,200 and 19,440 people per second, between 58,320,000 and 69,984,000 per hour, or 4,200,000,000 and 5,040,000,000 per three days.

f. All Jesus had to do was say the word and there would be vast numbers of angels upon the earth, killing men, and getting vengeance for Jesus Christ.

3. But this was not in God's plan.

a. Jesus was supposed to die upon the cross.

b. The sin debt had to be paid, and Jesus would do his Father's will, and allow himself to die upon the cross.

III. While we are dealing with this subject, let us look at the way Jesus Christ yielded himself perfectly to God.

A. Let us go back through Jesus' life and see if Jesus had been in perfect subjection to his Father.

1. In Matt. 4, Jesus didn't yield to the Devil's temptations.

a. Nor did he yield to the desires and needs of the flesh.

b. But Jesus answered every temptation with God's own precious word.

c. Jesus didn't answer with his own words, but simply quoted scripture.

d. This shows us how we are to overcome temptation, don't do it our way, but do it God's way.

2. When Lazarus became sick and died, and Jesus was told of it, he said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." John 11:4. Jesus waited two days, and then raised Lazarus from the dead, not that his flesh might be glorified.

3. Look at the sermon on the mount in Matt. 5-7.

a. This was probably his first formal discourse, and notice that he speaks of His Father seventeen times.

b. In his final discourse to his disciples, John 14-16, he uses the word Father no less than forty five times.

c. In John 17, Christ high priestly prayer, he uses the word Father, six more times.

d. And now in the very end of the physical existence of Christ, he uses the precious name once more when he says, "Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit."

B. Christ had yielded Himself to his Father all through his lifetime, and now in his death, he also yielded himself to his Father. What a picture for us to follow.

IV. Jesus Christ did something in his death that no other person had ever done, or ever will do.

A. He gave up his spirit.

1. This he did by commanding it to go unto the Father.

2. When a person dies, his soul is taken from him, but not so in the case of Christ.

3. He literally gave up his life on the cross.

4. He was not killed by man.

a. This thought does not contradict Acts 2:23 which states, Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

b. Christ was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.

c. In the area of human responsibility, Christ was slain by the people Peter was speaking to.

d. If it had not been the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, Jesus Christ would not have been slain by these unbelievers.

5. Christ was not in such a helpless condition that a man could take his life.

6. He freely gave it up.

B. Compare Christ's death with Stephen's death, Acts 7:59,60.

1. Christ asked for forgiveness for his enemies, and then gave up his spirit.

2. Stephen asked the Lord to receive his spirit, and then asked for forgiveness for his enemies.

V. When Jesus died on the cross, he did something that he commands all of his children to do.

A. He did it himself while he was in a fleshly body, and that was to take care of spiritual matters, and not to worry about the body, Matt. 6:25-34.

1. Jesus asked his Father to receive his Spirit, but did not make one request at all about his body.

2. He was concerned only with the things that would last.

B. This is what the Lord admonishes us to do so many times, but we refuse. We do not have our eyes opened enough to be able to tell just what is the important thing and what is not so important.

VI. Jesus also told us in his last words upon the cross, that we could be in heaven with him and his Father, if we trusted in his shed blood for the remission of our sins.

A. When Christ saves a sinner, that sinner goes to be with the Lord forever.

1. Read John 10:29, My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all, and none is able to pluck out of my Father's hand, I and My Father are One.

2.

B. Once you are saved, you are saved for all eternity.

1. There is simply no changing that.

2. God has saved you, and you will not go to hell.