Forgive Them

Well, this Good Friday, I want to take you to the greatest, the most unforgettable of all sites. I want to take you to the cross of Jesus, the cross of Christ, the Messiah. We stand there in reverent awe. We stand on holy ground. And as we stand looking at the cross, we do that not just as an antidote to our own selfishness and self-centeredness.

It is that. Not just as an inspiration of love. We stand looking at the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Who takes away our sin.

Yes, who takes away my sin. We've watched Jesus being led from Jerusalem to Golgotha, the place of the skull. And each step is a step of unbelievable agony in what must have been the longest walk of his life. He's been almost beaten to death. His back is in shreds from that lashing. His body is covered with the markings of the scourge. His face is so disfigured and swollen that he scarcely can be recognized.

And it's difficult to look at him. The crown of thorns six inches long has been placed on his brow and cruelly pushed down. And as we come to the hill of Golgotha, the place of the skull, we see that there are three crosses there. Two of the crosses are for violent robbers.

The middle cross is for Jesus. The spear, the hammering of the nails through his holy hands and feet. These hands that had taken the children to himself. These hands that had broken the loaves and the fishes and fed the multitude. Those hands that had been laying on the blind, the leper.

They take these hands and they put their nails through it. And his feet which had always walked in perfect obedience to his Father God, they put the nails through his feet. And then they raise the cross. And we hear, as we stand looking on, the dull, harsh thud as the cross falls into the hole.

And Jesus hangs on that cross between heaven and earth. He's naked. He's exposed. He's beaten. He's bruised. He's in agony. He's in shame, in humiliation. And he's in abject loneliness. And the Lord of glory.

Yes. The wonderful Son of God is being put to death. As we stand at the cross, we hear many voices.

They're harsh voices, strident, cruel voices. There's the jeering mockery and the ridicule of the rulers who say, he saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one. And then there's the sardonic cynicism of the Roman soldiers who say, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. And then there is the ignorant abuse from one of the robbers being crucified with him. Are you not the Christ?

Save yourself and us. And as we listen to these harsh voices of mockery, of hatred, yes, of ignorance but also of blasphemy and rejection, we hear another voice. A voice from the man on the middle cross, Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.

Do you hear that today? Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Words of forgiveness.

Yes, for the most unforgivable of people, we hear these words. We're looking tonight at the cross of Christ this Good Friday because it is there at the cross that there is forgiveness for you and for me. Let's read that story from Luke chapter 23. If you have a Bible, turn there with me please. Luke 23 verse 32.

Here is Luke's account. Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him and when they came to the place that is called the skull, that's Golgotha, Calvary in Latin, Golgotha. There they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and one on his left and Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And they cast lots to divide his garments and the people stood by watching but the rulers scoffed at him saying, he saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. There was also an inscription over him, this is the king of the Jews. One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him saying, are you not the Christ?

Save yourself and us. But the other rebuked him saying, do you not fear God since you're under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly for we receiving the due reward of our deeds but this man has done nothing wrong. And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, truly I say to you, today you'll be with me in paradise.

Do you hear the words afresh tonight? Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. You see, all of us need forgiveness.

All of us need forgiveness because every single one of us here has offended God. Judas betrayed Jesus, he's certainly guilty. The Pharisees and the scribes conspired to put Jesus to death, they're guilty. Pontius Pilate authorized the death of Jesus, he's guilty. Annas and Caiaphas and the Jewish leaders who demanded the death of Jesus, surely they're guilty. And the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus, they must be guilty. And the mob who came to mock and to laugh and to ridicule are guilty, are they not? Yes, they're all guilty. Guilty of killing the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah. Paul describes him as the Lord of glory. He said if they had known what they were doing, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. All of their guilt surely is beyond dispute.

But I want to ask you, are you really any better than any of them? If we'd been at Golgotha, do you not think some of us would have been holding the nails? Would we not have been mocking the Christ? Would we not have joined in the crowd who shouted, crucify Him, crucify Him? And prophesying of the death of the Messiah, in that context Isaiah writes, Isaiah 53 verse 6, all we like sheep have gone astray.

We've turned everyone to his own way. Yes, Isaiah is telling us and all of Scripture is telling us and surely our own hearts are telling us that all of us have sinned, all of us are guilty and therefore all of us here need forgiveness. So I want you to reflect on the wonder of the forgiveness of God. We heard the words from the cross. Father, this is God the Son praying to His Father, Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing.

Forgiveness is one of the most beautiful words of the Christian Gospel, forgiveness, to be forgiven. In classical Greek this word, this term was sometimes used in the world of commerce to release someone from a debt of obligation. The picture is that you lend me $10,000. I am now in debt to you. I owe you $10,000, but after a year or so it becomes obvious that I'm not able to pay that. I'm in debt to you and you come to me perhaps after a year or two and say, John it's apparent that you are unable to pay my debt.

And in spite of you being a kind of odd guy, a strange pastor, I do love you. Otherwise you don't deserve my love because you haven't paid my money back, but out of love I am now going to cancel the debt. I am releasing you from the contractual obligation. We made a contract that I was going to give you $10,000 and you were going to pay that over a certain period of time. I understand that, but out of love for you, I am now releasing you from the debt.

I am acquitting you. The debt is discharged. The debt no longer exists. The New Testament writers take that word and they use it for forgiveness. See in the eyes of God, you may have difficulty in understanding this or agreeing to it, but in the eyes of God, your sin and my sin is like a huge debt.

Do you see that? Tremendous debt that you've accumulated over the years. In fact, from your earliest days, when you disobeyed your mom as a wee boy, as a wee girl, when you deliberately defied them, you knew that was wrong. And through your life, the debt of sin has accumulated. Sin upon sin upon sin upon sin. Some of them you've totally forgotten.

Yes, the really bad ones you do remember. And that debt of sin is so high, it's so great that there is absolutely no way that you can pay it off. And over the sin is this beautiful word written, forgiven. See, when God forgives our sin and we were singing about it, I hope you listened. When we're singing about it, that our debt of sin is totally 100% cleared. And your debt of sin is so devastating and so deep that we marvel at God's forgiveness. That God clears it, takes no account of our sin. The debt of our sin is totally wiped out.

It is totally gone. And the biblical writers struggle almost to describe that. They say that God casts all of our sins into the depths of our sea. The Psalmist says that he removes our transgressions as far as the east is from the west, immeasurable.

We read that he remembers our sins and deeds no more. The debt is paid. You are released.

You are acquitted. The debt of sin is not only gone, it's gone forever. And over our sin is this beautiful word, forgiven.

You say, well, hold it John, hold it, hold it. Sounds wonderful, but how is it possible for God to forgive our sins? Well, forgiveness flows from the cross of Christ. Think of this prayer of forgiveness, that the prayer of Jesus for forgiveness is the very opposite of what we would expect in these circumstances. Instead of threatening, instead of cursing the people who crucified him, Jesus prays for forgiveness of the very people who are crucifying him.

They deserve immediate judgment. They deserve immediately to be consigned to hell but Jesus is praying for their forgiveness. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. The next verse says that God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but that through him we might be saved.

We might be forgiven. And so even as the nails they hammer in, Jesus is seeking pardon of their sin. Never before surely had the Roman soldiers heard such words. They had crucified many, many people. We read that in history. They would think nothing of it.

This was just another common criminal to be put to death, all part of a day's work. And instead, they hear amazing words. Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing. Isaiah had prophesied of that. He had prophesied of those who would intercede for their transgressions. And now on the cross, Jesus is interceding, he's praying for the transgressions of the very ones who put him to death.

What's happening? God in grace is reaching down and down and down to the very depths of human evil. The forgiveness of sin is an overwhelming demonstration of the love of God and the power of the grace of God that all of our sins, just think of it. All of our sins, yes, may be washed, may be eradicated, may be completely wiped out so that over this immense stack of our sins would be written the words, forgiven, paid, defeated, totally gone. The prayer of forgiveness, but think of the cost of forgiveness. See, the cross shows us, among other things, the seriousness and the cost of the forgiveness of sins. God is a holy God. God is 100% holy and righteous. That's why, while our sin has such an impact on ourselves and is devastating in the lives of those around us, most of all sin is an offense against the holy God, the God who made you, the God whose plans for you, the God who placed you on this planet, not so that you would live your own life and go your own way, but that your life would be one lived to his glory.

But all of us have turned aside from that. We're like sheep going astray, every single one of us. And so holy God just can't pretend that your sin doesn't exist like an indulgent grandfather who just says to his grandkids, well, that doesn't matter. No, this is God we're talking about. This is our Creator. This is the eternal God who is absolutely holy and the forgiveness of our sins, therefore, is immense. What's the wonder? What's the beauty?

What's the brilliance of the Gospel? Is that this holy God sends his holy Son, a sinless Son, God the Son into this world, that God enters our world in human flesh. This God who has an infinite abhorrence of sin. Listen, there are sins that disgust you.

I won't name them. You can think of the sins in your own life and in the lives of others. You have done things that disgusted yourself, and you certainly can think of sins done by people around us that are abhorrent.

You can hardly describe them. You think you find some sins abhorrent? What about a holy God? He has an infinite abhorrence of sin. So that God is so pure, the Bible says, that he can't even look on sin. And yet, in the wonder of the grace of God, and in the mercy of God, all of the filthy sewer of our sin is poured on him. So the Bible says that he's numbered with the transgressors, that he dies for the sinner, that he suffered once for sin, that he is wounded for our transgressions, that he is made sin for us. And before one sin of one person could ever be forgiven, the Savior's blood had to be shed. And so, at the cross we see not only the worst of sin, we see the magnificence of the love of Christ for you and for me.

And for those who have received Christ, for those who have been saved, for those who have a personal relationship with the living Christ, all of our sins have gone past, present, and future. Never ever again will sin be laid to the account of those who receive this forgiveness, which flows uniquely from the cross of Christ. Why is the cross the symbol of Christianity?

For many reasons. Why do we have it on the ceiling of the sanctuary? Because it's there we see our sin. It's there we see our Savior. And it's there we see and hear the forgiveness of sins. I'm going to ask you to receive Christ's forgiveness today if you've never done that. You say, what do I do? You have to acknowledge your sin.

That shouldn't be difficult, is it? See, if you don't admit your sin, there's no forgiveness. If you think that you're not a sinner, if you think you're not guilty before God, there can be no forgiveness. Two criminals, two robbers, two nasty, we call them today terrorists, they're being crucified with Jesus. One hurls insults at Christ, the other.

Incredible story isn't it? That right at the moment of his execution, he looks to the only one in all of the universe who could forgive his sins and he says, Lord, remember Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus says, today you'll be with me in paradise. But you're a nasty criminal. You deserve to die. You're a terrorist. You've taken people's lives. You're a robber. You're a violent man. Is it true that at the very end of your life, after all that you've done, you can go to paradise?

Yes, it's true. Because you've received Christ, you've looked to Christ. That's what I want you to do, to trust Jesus Christ and to receive the forgiveness of sins.

You see, this calls for a personal response for us. So when Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus in John 3, I quote it from verses 16 and 17, but verse 14 says that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Some of you will recall the story in the wilderness when these snakes bit people because of the sin of the Israelites and Moses is told to do a very strange thing to make a snake. We did it on a pole and the word is to the people, if you look to that snake, you'll be cured.

What a silly thing to do, isn't it? Look and live. Some looked and lived, others thought, nah, not me.

I'll take my chances and they died. And so says Jesus, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, referring to the cross, so that as people look to Jesus, they will be saved, they will be healed, they will be forgiven. That is, you must personally receive Christ as your Savior.

Look to the Lord Jesus, accept Christ, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. And when Jesus is praying for forgiveness, the Roman soldiers are casting lots for their garments. They hear his cry of forgiveness, but they're totally insensitive to the spiritual realities around them that in their midst, the Lord of glory, their very Creator, they're putting to death. They're too occupied with their own pleasures, doing a little gambling for his garments.

Roll the dice. Concerned with their greed, concerned with their own lives, like someone at Las Vegas at the gambling table rolling their dice and totally unaware that at any moment they may stand before a holy God. Don't be like the soldiers. Possible to be here, right as we celebrate Christ, with Christ in our midst. And to hear his words and yet for your heart to be hardened to spiritual realities. No, don't miss this forgiveness which is offered to you today. Trust Jesus Christ, God according, Tim read it at the beginning from Ephesians 1, God according to the riches of his grace, which he lavishes upon us, will forgive you of all of your sins. You say, well I'm a pretty bad person.

I may not be as bad as the terrorists, but I'm a pretty bad individual. You're the very person that Christ came to save. He came to save the cheapest of sinners. Will you receive Christ? Many of you today have received God's forgiveness, but I have a question for you.

It's a tough question. I want you to think of it very personally. Is there anyone that you need to forgive? Wonderful to receive forgiveness.

Jesus taught us to pray, didn't he? Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. You claim to have received the forgiveness of God. Is there someone you need to forgive? See, God's forgiveness of you is to be the pattern, the standard as it were, the motivation for forgiving others. To forgive and to be forgiven is to be totally free. Not to forgive others is to be held in the chains of bitterness, of anger, and of frustration. You ever met somebody who's bitter? Almost always there's a failure to forgive.

Some people go through all their lives. They're just bitter, nasty people. They always want to tell you how they've been wronged.

May have happened 10, 20 years ago. They want to tell you their story and they're consumed with their bitterness and they've built as it were this cage around themselves and they've trapped themselves. They're a prisoner to their own unforgiveness. You say, John, I've been, I was very, very wronged.

I don't question that one little bit. Just as God in Christ has forgiven you, forgive others. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.

I'm saying to you today as I've brought you to the cross of Christ, I want each of you to receive the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ so that your sins are totally forgiven and I want you then to forgive that person who's wronged you so badly. A previous friend who betrayed you. A family member.

Amazing, isn't it? How many have family members that have, you've been wronged by a family member, perhaps your dad, your mother, your brother, your sister, your son, your daughter. What about the boss that treated you badly and you really, this has bent you out of shape for a long time. A business partner who wronged you, betrayed you, took most of the shares of the prophets, manipulated you, you've been left. I'm asking you in God's name to forgive them. When Jesus taught us this in Matthew chapter 18, He talked about forgiving the person. He says, from your heart. Not just with your mouth, not just saying, yes, I forgive you, if I've ever offended you, please forgive me.

Not that kind of thing. No, forgiveness from the heart. Because when God forgives us, He totally forgives us and the matter is ended.

He doesn't bring our sins against us. The sins that we commit, we've learned, are completely gone. And when you forgive that person, it's gone. You don't bring it up again, it's gone. And you say, well I'm waiting for that person to admit the wrong me. No, no, don't do that.

Don't do that. I want you to take the initiative. I want you tonight as we break bread, in your heart to forgive that person and then to be able to reach out to that person and seek some reconciliation.

That may be very, very difficult. Perhaps the other person won't respond, but you as a follower of Jesus Christ, who have God's forgiveness that you will obey this scripture in the power of the Spirit to be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven you. How can you not with, how can you withhold your forgiveness of that person when God has forgiven you all, all of your sins? I'm asking you to look at the cross. I'm asking you to look to Jesus, the Lamb of God, dying for you. I'm asking you once again to listen to His words.

Do you hear them? Father forgive them, for they know not what you do. Today receive God's forgiveness and forgive others.

Father help us. We thank you for the magnificence of your forgiveness. It's overwhelming because we have an understanding of our own sin and deceit and waywardness. So we thank you for the precious blood of Christ and as we break bread we're going to be reminded of that. And so we pray, our Father and our God, that you'll open our eyes.

There are some here who have not come to Christ, they've rebelled against it for some reason. Father open their eyes, perhaps some young man, some young woman, perhaps an older person, whoever they are, a little boy, a little girl, that they'll look to Christ, who loves them, who died for them and who offers them eternal life and forgiveness. And help us Father to be people of forgiveness. Even as we talk about the subject names, people come into our lives and we think of them. Some perhaps are very old wounds and they're painful. May we forgive them from their, from our hearts and extend that gracious forgiveness to them. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.