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     1. Leave Your Heavy Burden at the Cross   (2:33)
     2. Room at the Cross   (2:40)
     3. Rizpah — Communion   (20:07)
     4. That Day at Calvary   (3:21)

II Samuel 21:1-14.

I Corinthians 11:26.  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

“Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, ‘It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.’

“And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)  Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, ‘What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?’

“And the Gibeonites said unto him, ‘We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel.’

“And he said, ‘What ye shall say, that will I do for you.’

“And they answered the king, ‘The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose.’

“And the king said, ‘I will give them.’  But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the Lord's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal”—It really should read Merab—“the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

“And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.  And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.”

Now, I declare that this is a very queer text for a Good Friday talk, but I think it’s a very wonderful text.  We all have a job to do tonight, and this job is given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  He says, “Thus shall ye show forth the Lord’s death till He come.”

…

Heaven had decreed the sentence of death upon the whole land: famine.  Three years of famine meant death to thousands of people.  And David finally inquired of the Lord, “Why has heaven decreed death upon my people?”  And the answer was given: it was because of the old man, because of the old king.  In our case, because of Adam—because “death reigned” over all of humanity from Adam until Jesus rose from the dead.

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Rizpah, the mother of two of them—she came with sackcloth; she came with mourning; she came with repentance.  Why is this story in the Bible?  Because it points the way to life to all of us.  And there she mourned.  Not only that, but she showed forth the death of these seven—this atonement.  And she stayed there day and night.  And she expected something.  She expected the thing that had to happen.  It simply had to happen.  Heaven, that had decreed death, was now reconciled.  The atonement had been made.  Heaven had to send the blessing, and Rizpah knew that, and so she stayed there and she repented, and she kept these bones as a sight before heaven.

…

It was told Jesus.  He felt it.  Jesus Christ is here tonight.  And He said, “With great desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”  Oh, the sufferings of Jesus!  He can never be satisfied until “He shall see of the travail of His soul;” then He shall be satisfied.  And where shall He see of the travail of His soul but in those for whom He died, for whom He suffered?  Oh, when you and I accept that suffering and that atonement, something happens: heaven will drop down the blessing.

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“For whenever ye eat this flesh and drink this blood—or eat this bread and drink this wine—ye do show forth the Lord’s death.”  “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”  And tonight, every one of us has a job: to take by faith what Jesus Christ has purchased for us, and what the Father so freely gives us.  “Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you.”  But tonight, “there’s life for a look at the crucified one.”

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And if you’ll let Him minister to you tonight the bread and the wine, He’ll minister life to you.  Oh, let us satisfy His great heart tonight by believing God.  “Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace”.  “We have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him.”  And when you come like that, He can’t help Himself.  Why, He Himself is the atonement, thank God; He Himself is that Bread of heaven; and He Himself is that wine of the kingdom.  Glory to God!  And He it is that invites us to come to this table that is spread—praise God!—in the face of our enemies.

Stories of healings in communion services.  “She said, ‘If I can get to that communion service, I’ll be healed.’”    (from 17:54)

It Is Well with My Soul, a hymn by Horatio G. Spafford, 1873:

My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought—
My sin—not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

He Was Nailed to the Cross for Me, a hymn by Frederick A. Graves, 1906.

There is Life for a Look, a hymn by H. W. Soltau, 1860.

Audio Quality: Mixed