Crucified Mercy #1

When we consider Christ on the cross, we realize that we are seeing crucified mercy.

Mercy incarnate, and it was crucified, such mercy even for his enemies. As he was dying, hanging on the cross, Jesus made seven profound statements. Each one on its own carries tremendous gospel significance.

But when combined, they create a blueprint of God's eternal plan of salvation through our Lord and Savior. Hello, and welcome to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm Bill Wright, and today as Don continues teaching God's people God's word, he'll begin a series called Reflections on Our Lord with part one of a message called Crucified Mercy.

And Don, as you begin this series, tell us what our listeners can expect. Well, Bill, this promises to be a deeply encouraging and edifying series as we consider the topic of all topics, the Lord Jesus Christ. My friend, we have a series of broadcasts for you in the coming days that focus on the goodness of our Lord and his redemptive work for us on the cross of Calvary. And you know, nothing could be more important or practical for you because the cross reveals the love of God for your soul like nothing else. My friend, if Christ loved you enough to die for you and your sins, he loves you enough to keep you until you are with him in glory. His mercy, his power, his generosity, and his righteousness are all displayed at the cross. Let me encourage you to stay with us as we consider our Lord Jesus Christ today on the Truth Pulpit. Thanks, Don.

And friend, if you're ready, let's get started. Here is our teacher with today's lesson from the Truth Pulpit. The biblical writers, when you harmonize the Gospels, we see that they recorded seven sayings of Christ on the cross that are recorded for us, taking them in the commonly accepted sequence by those who have studied such things. Christ looked on those who were crucifying him and said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. He looked at the thief beside him and said, Today you shall be with me in paradise. In the Gospel of John chapter 19, he looked on his mother and provided for her care after his departure when he said, Woman, behold your son, pointing to the disciple John. And he looked to John and he said, Behold your mother. In the hour of separation, he cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Short time thereafter, he said, I am thirsty. When he came time to breathe his last, he said, It is finished. In other words, the work of redemption was done. And at the end, he said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

We're only going to look at the first three of those for our meditation, but I wanted to set the fullness of it in to your minds and set the context for us. It's so very important for us to remember, either as believers or as those of you who are not yet in Christ, that God is a God of mercy, and he always has been. There's not a God of wrath in the Old Testament and a God of love in the New Testament.

That's a false dichotomy that has taken place. There is wrath in the New Testament and there is much, much mercy in the Old Testament as well. But when we specifically contemplate Christ on the cross and when we specifically contemplate our salvation, and even more so when we come, as we are about to do, to the communion table, we must remember that God provided salvation from sin for us in his mercy, in his great, great mercy upon us, upon his people, upon very undeserving sinners. Christ was on that cross as an act of undeserved mercy for his sinful people. And his words on the cross that we're going to consider give us insight into that mercy.

Now, let me first ask a question and answer it. What is mercy? What does that term mean in the degraded society in which we live?

It's a word that is, I fear, gradually slipping out of the public understanding and certainly out of public discourse. There is no mercy to be found in this wicked world. And if you're a sinner in this wicked world, it's easy to despair. If you're conscious of being a sinner and you only look at the world around you, all you see is condemnation upon condemnation.

That's why the Word of God and Christ himself is so important to us. What is mercy? Well, the Greek word is elias. It's defined this way. Mercy is kindness expressed for one in need. It is kindness that is shown to someone in need. The verb for mercy in the Greek, elieto, means this.

It means to show concern for one who is in a bad situation or condition. Those are simple definitions, but you have the idea of kindness and concern on behalf of the one showing mercy, and you have the object of that kindness and concern, someone who is in a bad situation or a bad condition. And so mercy speaks to us about the kindness of our Lord and his concern for sinners. And in those first three words on the cross, those seven sayings on the cross, and the first three that we're going to look at, we see this about our Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy, true mercy, Christ's mercy, sympathizes with those who suffer. But it goes further. Genuine biblical mercy is far more than a sympathetic emotion.

It's more than just a passing feeling of some sort. Genuine biblical mercy does something about the need. It does what is in its power to relieve the suffering, to make the suffering go away. And that's what our Lord Jesus did on the cross, even as he looked upon those who were with him and around him, even, as we will see, even for his enemies. And so this mercy which we rely upon for our eternal salvation, this mercy which alone can take away our guilt and sin before a holy God, this mercy is the concern and care of Christ for us, and we see it exemplified perfectly at the cross of Calvary when he suffered, bled, and died on our behalf. And what I want to just highlight for you is, as we consider his suffering on the cross, and we remember it here, that in the midst of his own agony, both physical and spiritual anguish, that he was suffering as the wrath of God was poured upon him, as he bore our sins on his back and suffered in our place so that we would not have to undergo such torment, righteous torment, for our wicked deeds. Even as he was suffering in the midst of his own suffering, he was showing this marvelous mercy to those that were around him. And we get an insight.

The blinds are drawn back. The curtain is drawn back a bit for us to see insight into just how deep and profound the mercy of God is that Christ was showing mercy even in the midst of the suffering that he was undergoing. First of all, we see his mercy for his enemies, his mercy for his enemies.

That's number one here. We see the mercy of Christ on his enemies. You should be in Luke 23. Our Lord Jesus showed mercy to the very ones who were mocking and crucifying him. Those that had nailed him to the cross, his enemies who were mocking him, were on the receiving end of his mercy rather than a call for judgment upon their heads. Look at Luke 23 and verse 33 again.

When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Here they were, and then you see it in verse 35, just to remind you, the rulers were sneering at him, saying, He saved others. Let him save himself if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one.

The soldiers also mocked him. In the hour of his extremity, they are showing forth the evil of their heart and really giving us insight into the wickedness that is in the heart of every man. With their hatred of God, absolute perfect holiness was there in front of them, and they despised it, and yet they were despising Christ in some measure of ignorance. Christ says, Father, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing. And so he intervenes in prayer before his father for the very ones whose hands and mouths were the source of his suffering in a human sense. He intervened for them. This is immeasurable mercy, immeasurable concern, immeasurable kindness, even for the ones who were most hostile to him in the hour of his suffering. Is there anyone like that else in the universe?

Is there anyone else like that who would find it in his divine heart to shower mercy on the ones showing such hostility toward him? They were lost. They were ignorant. They were hateful. They despised him and despised the father.

You know what? You and I were in precisely that same position. We're conceived in iniquity. We're born into iniquity.

Our lives, we don't need anyone to teach us as children how to lie and get angry and to be spiteful and selfish because it all comes naturally out of our hearts. That's why it's so imperative for each one of you to be born again. You must be born again because unless you are born into new life in Christ, you are still in the sin in which you were born into. We were all like that. We were all lost. And speaking to gathered believers here today in one way or another, we were ignorant of our need of Christ. If you think back to your time before you were a Christian, before God saved you, you had no idea of how desperate your spiritual condition was, no idea how desperate the danger of eternal hell was for your sins, and you were lost. You could not find your way to God.

You had no power to save yourself. For some of us, we literally lifted our fists against heaven in spite and anger against the God we thought we knew. And yet, Christ intervened for us at the cross. Christ wasn't simply intervening for those that were physically present with Him simultaneous at the time of His death.

He was dying for His people of all time. And the book of Romans, chapter 5, verse 10 says, If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. My brothers and sisters in Christ, don't ever forget, don't ever forget that your salvation is an expression of undeserved mercy given to you by the hand of a merciful Christ. And in some manner that I don't profess at all to be fully able to explain, because Christ died for His people individually by name and as an exact substitute for us, in some manner, in one way or another, He thought of you on the cross. Somehow, as He died for your particular sins, not a general atonement, just making some kind of general sacrifice for general sinners in a general way. No, Christ was dying for us. The Apostle Paul said, He gave Himself for me.

First person singular. That somehow we were on His mind and He suffered for us there at the cross while we were enemies, while we were enemies. Beloved, is that not mercy and kindness beyond compare? To use a different passage from Ephesians 2, we were dead in trespasses and sins, dead to the Spirit of God, dead to spiritual things, dead to our danger, dead to the Word of God, just dead, dead, dead, no life whatsoever, no ability to respond in repentance or faith, none whatsoever.

There is no life in a corpse. There is no spiritual life in an unredeemed sinner, which we all were. And what does Scripture say in that context in Ephesians 2? In verses 4 and 5, it says this, But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved. Mercy, mercy, mercy on the ones who mocked Him at the cross, mercy on the ones who would come generations later, drawn by the Spirit of God alone to faith in Christ.

Here we are today, those of us that are truly in Christ. We are on the receiving end of incalculable mercy. And you get an idea of what that mercy is like and how free and generous and gratuitous it is when you realize that while He was nailed to the cross and physically unable to move, He looked down on the ones who were crucifying Him, and He interceded for them with His Father and said, Father, forgive them.

And in the book of Acts, we see that the Father answered that prayer as thousands of Jews came to Christ at the preaching of Peter. And so when we consider Christ then, when we consider Him on the cross, we realize that we are seeing with our mental understanding, we are seeing crucified mercy. Mercy incarnate, and it was crucified, and yet it didn't stop being merciful at the time. Such mercy even for His enemies. Let's look at a second saying, the second saying on the cross, when we see His mercy for the repentant. His mercy for the repentant.

And just a final word before we completely turn our attention away. Christ showed mercy to those enemies while they were enemies. The mercy was at His initiative. They didn't ask Him for that mercy. They were hating Him.

They were mocking Him. They were crucifying Him. And while they were hostile like that, Christ showed mercy. That's an example of what He does for every sinner. The initiative for salvation always comes from God, not from the sinner.

Always. 1 John 4.19 says, We love because He first loved us. Our love for Christ is in response to a prior act, a prior love, a prior movement of the Spirit of God on our hearts to open our eyes to sin and open our eyes to Christ. And I love that about biblical salvation because it means that God gets all of the glory for it.

Understanding of biblical salvation magnifies the glory and mercy of God because it's mercy on those while they were hateful toward Him. That's real love. That's real mercy. That's real kindness.

Now, moving ahead here. Point number two, mercy for the repentant. Mercy for the repentant. Christ showed mercy to a repentant sinner. At verse 39 of Luke 23, and as you compare Scripture with Scripture, as you read all the Gospel accounts, you realize that a short time earlier, even this repentant thief had been mocking Christ as well and hurling abuse at him, but there was a work in his heart. As he read the inscription that was above the head of Jesus, this is Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews. He read about this king. He saw the way that the king was showing mercy, and the Spirit of God worked in his heart as well.

And let's look at this. Verse 39, one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at him, saying, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other answered, and rebuking him, said, Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our sins, but this man has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. Has there ever been a more obviously helpless man calling out to Christ than the thief on the cross? Death was a short time away from him. He was, by his own testimony, a man guilty and worthy of death. He had nothing to offer to Christ whatsoever. He simply understood his sin and called out to Christ.

And how did Christ respond to him? What was the thief doing here? Beloved, do you see it? In a positive sense, in a confessional sense, he says we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. He is acknowledging his guilt. He says, I am on this cross and deservedly so.

I deserve condemnation. And so he has nothing of merit to bring to Christ whatsoever. He's not in any position to perform any religious rituals. He's not in any position to do any deeds of mercy or to give any money to the local synagogue.

It's over for him as far as what he can do in life. And all he has, he hangs there, stripped of his clothing as a guilty, condemned sinner, and he knows it. And he knew his need. And so in utter humility, he asks this merciful Christ for something that he knows he does not deserve. He says, Jesus, verse 42, look at it again with me. Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. You see the first person singular again?

You see how personal and individual it is? As he's drawing some of his dying breaths, he cries out, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. And what did Christ do? He responded in mercy. He looked on this one in unspeakable need, unspeakable helplessness, and with great concern, with great kindness, he makes a promise to him. He says to him, truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise. And the torture of a guilty conscience, the torture of a body racked in pain, is suddenly replaced with the shining, bright, flaming hope of paradise just on the other side of his suffering, speaking of the thief on the cross. And on that day, Jesus, as it were, carried that thief into paradise with him. That's mercy.

That's just unfathomable mercy. Well, you've been listening to The Truth Pulpit with Don Green, and we hope you've been blessed by today's message. Just before we go, here's Don to tell us about a special upcoming event.

Well, that's right, Bill. My friend, I want to extend a special invitation to you to join us for a special evening with John MacArthur, Tuesday, May 17, on the campus of Northern Kentucky University, which is just minutes north of downtown Cincinnati. John will be with us live and in person.

There'll be wonderful music and warm fellowship with thousands of believers from all over the country. Here's all you need to do to attend. Go to our website by April 30, truthcommunitychurch.org, and register for your free tickets.

The tickets are no cost to you, but you must register to attend. That's May 17 with John MacArthur. Register by April 30 at our website, truthcommunitychurch.org. I look forward to seeing you there. Thanks, Don. And friend, we're out of time for today. I'm Bill Wright, inviting you to join us next time on The Truth Pulpit as Don Green continues teaching God's people God's Word.