The Word of Forgiveness
(Luke 23:34)
Seven Sayings of the Cross Introduction:
Famous last words:
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)
The average man says approximately 25,000 words a day. The
scriptures record the English equivalent of less than 400 words from the mouth
of Jesus Christ from
The first saying of the cross is a prayer.
This statement took place within Christ’s first hour upon the tree.
He’s stood for hours, prior to this moment, falsely accused, illegally tried, found perfectly just, and yet brutally beaten, and ultimately condemned; and all at the hands of sinners. Mankind had accomplished his worst deed of all time, the very lost sheep that Christ had sought out for the past 3 ˝ years have cried out for his crucifixion, the government that is in power by his own sovereign will has sentenced him to death, and within a few hours, the Father with which he’s enjoyed unbroken communion with since before the eons of time began, will turn his back upon him.
And as the Lord Jesus watches those passing by wag their heads in contempt, as he listens to the scribes and elders mock from a distance, and as the soldiers part his garments below, the Lord of Glory looks up to heaven and say, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
1. Notice the Lord’s impeccable testimony.
He had taught this practice earlier in his ministry.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. (Matthew 5:44) How often do we stand up for a truth, represent a principle, or transmit a doctrine, just to turn around and to fail to put into practice that which we preached to another?
2. Notice the perfection of Christ’s ensample.
The absolute basis of God’s willingness to forgive us, as
we’ll see is Christ himself. And, as we’ll see, this is also the basis upon
which God requires of us that we forgive others. In Luke (17:3-4) Jesus taught
his disciples to forgive a repentant trespasser 7 times in a day. In Matthew (
3. Notice Christ’s attitude of prayer.
Christ had opened his very ministry in prayer in the waters
of
4. Notice the impossibility of Christ’s request.
We so often shorten the hand of God in our own disbelief. I fully understand that nothing is impossible with God. But I can see this prayer coming in a moment when God is leaning forward on his throne, peering in on the agony of his Son, and the insolence of his persecutors, in grief and anger, prepared to destroy the whole lot, when the Son declares this petition of Him.
This prayer is a fulfillment of scripture:
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:12
How in the world would God forgive those responsible for his
son’s mockery and death. With God, all things are
possible. Did God answer this prayer? He certainly did according to Peter (Acts
5. Notice Christ’s utter reliance on the Heavenly Father’s power.
This instance of heavenly forgiveness is unique to Christ’s ministry. For 3 ˝ years he has been personally and divinely forgiving sins himself. He said to a man sick of the palsy, “Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.” He had said to the woman that washed his feet with tears, “Thy sins are forgiven.” But here he does not. (The Pharisees well knew only God has power to forgive sin. Mk 2:7) He said in Matthew 9:6 that “The Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sin.” But here as he hangs on the cross, he is, according to John 12:32, “lifted up from the earth.” As he surrenders his divine authority over the remission of sins as he becomes sin for us, he calls on his Father to do what he can not. We’ve been commanded to forgive others even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven us. That is an order that can only be carried out in us as we die to self and surrender to the fullness of the Spirit of God in us, to will and to do his good pleasure.
6. Notice the basis upon which Christ’s request is made.
Man’s great spiritual need is the ultimate forgiveness of sins, that we might be made upright in the sight of a Holy God. At the very moment that Christ makes this initial statement of the cross, he is shedding the blood that makes it possible.
Acts 13:38-39
38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
7. Notice the fullness of God’s forgiveness for Christ’s sake.
This prayer for Christ’s enemies was prayed by the Lord Jesus, because those that perpetrated such a heartless and foolish act were said to have not even known what they were doing! They should have realized they were dealing here with the prophet like unto Moses. They had the great signs, they had the testimony of the prophecy of the scripture. And yet the enormity of this act eluded them. Christ’s requests their forgiveness without them even realizing what they’ve done so wrong! And God forgives them without their even realizing it! And such is the fullness of God’s forgiveness toward us. Before you and I ever recognized we had an eternal need, Christ made the provision for that need to be met!
Sin is sin in the sight of God. Whether you think its sin, or whether you realize its sin is not even an issue. And yet when we were in ignorance of our enmity with God, he paid for those sins. There was provision under the law for sins committed in ignorance. This was the trespass offering and it required a ram, but without permanence of forgiveness. But here our very intercessor is the lamb of God to one sacrifice for sins, once, forever.
Colossians 2:13
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
How many of those sins had you committed 2000 years ago? The blood Christ shed provides a forgiveness that covers eternally sin: past, present, and future.
Romans 4:8
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
He can not impute sin to where the sin debt has been finally paid, and we as the redeemed of God, are hid with Christ in God, never to be legally accused again!