Music playing Well, today on Truth for Life, we'll hear how Jesus chose to respond to his tormentors while he was suffering on the cross. We're in the Gospel of Luke chapter 23, and here's Alistair Begg to open in prayer. Father, we pray that as we study the Bible, we may take our stand firmly upon its truth. We ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to illumine our minds and our understanding. We ask you to free us from every distraction, and that we might hear from you, the living God. And in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. I invite you to return to the verses that were read for us earlier in Luke chapter 23, and our focus this morning is on the two words that Luke records for us here as spoken by Jesus from the cross. One is a prayer in verse 34, and the other is a promise, and that comes in verse 43. First of all, in verse 34, Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Of all the cries that came from the victims of execution, surely none was more amazing than this. The soldiers, who probably felt that they had experienced everything that a man could experience in the carrying out of their duties—soldiers who had grown accustomed to threats and vile abuse coming from those who were on the receiving end of their carrying out their instructions, soldiers who had listened to curses galore—must have found themselves looking at one another and saying, Is he really saying, Forgive them?
Yes, said one to the other, I believe he is. Now, of course, Jesus had instructed his disciples earlier in his ministry along these lines. You may recall in Luke 6 he said, Love your enemies and pray for those who abuse you. So, in actual fact, what we discover is that Jesus is simply practicing what he has preached. And indeed, this prayer for forgiveness is in keeping with the emphasis which runs through all of Luke's writing. I'm going to give you four references. I'm going to turn to each of them.
You needn't necessarily do so, but if it's helpful to you, then you can follow along. Luke chapter 1 and verse 77. I want simply to let you see that this motif of forgiveness is at the very heart of Luke's writing. In the Song of Zechariah, Zechariah, speaking of John, says, And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High.
For you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. Right at the very beginning, before we have Jesus entering into his preaching and teaching ministry, this theme is sounded—the proclaiming of salvation and the forgiveness of sins. When Jesus then begins to minister, he encounters all kinds of people in different situations, and in Luke chapter 7, at the home of a Pharisee where he's been invited for dinner, a dreadful thing takes place—at least, for the Pharisee, for the host. Namely, a sinful woman shows up.
She is apparently a fairly notorious woman, and gatecrashes the party. Not only is she in the room, but she then approaches Jesus and engages him in such a way that the host is absolutely appalled. And he says to himself, and perhaps to others around him, you know, if this fellow really was a prophet, as he says, then he would know who this woman is that is approaching him—the inference, of course, being that he can't possibly be this individual, because he wouldn't respond in this way to someone like this. But in actual fact, Jesus says to her, you know, your sins are forgiven. And then, in verse 49, the other guests began to say among themselves, Who is this who even forgives sins? This individual is apparently someone who can forgive sins.
We thought only God forgave sins. Now, when you go into the Acts of the Apostles, which is Luke's second book, and one that we'll consider later—I don't think we'll do it directly, it's probably more than any of us could handle, because after twenty-four chapters of Luke, there's then twenty-eight chapters in Acts, and I think we'd all be about a hundred and ten by the time we finish—but when you go into the Acts of the Apostles, you discover that the motif is still there. Or if you like, in symphonic terms, you have this recurring theme. I'm out of my depth to speak like this. Some of you know what I'm attempting to articulate. For example, in The Hebridean Overture by Mendelssohn, Fingal's Cave, you have the thing that goes approximately… Something like that.
It's about the only bit I know. That's why I'm mentioning it to you. But it helps me that little part, because when it comes again, I say, Oh, there it is again! I smile to myself.
I say, I like that part! And what you discover is that this then comes and capitulates and recapitulates and does all the things that you're supposed to do, and in the same way, this theme, this motif of forgiveness, is running all the way through. So by the time you get to Acts chapter 5 and verse 31, you have Peter proclaiming, God exalted Jesus to his own right hand as prince and Savior.
Why? That he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. And then in chapter 10, the very same emphasis—and this is the end of all that I'm going to show you here—Peter again says, He commanded us to preach to the people, to testify that he is the one who got appointed as judge of the living and the dead. Then here we have it, verse 43, all the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
So in other words, you have this motif, as I say, which comes at the very start of Luke's writings and runs as a recurring theme, as an emblem that remains all the way through. Therefore, it is hardly a surprise to us that Jesus, from the cross, should pray in this particular fashion. And I think this is probably one of the most famous prayers in the world. Even people who don't know very much about prayers may actually know that at some place and time, that Jesus of Nazareth said, Father, forgive them.
But that's usually the extent of it. What is Jesus saying when he says, Father, forgive them? Is he saying, Listen, it's okay, Father, don't let's worry about this. Let's just let them off. Is this some blanket expression of forgiveness on the part of Jesus that is unrelated to the response of the hearts of men and women?
Well, clearly, the answer is no. And we're able to affirm that by reading in the context in which these words are said. Jesus is about to give his life, expressly to pay the price for sin, to open the gateway into heaven. That picture is going to come graphically in a few verses' time, when the curtain in the temple is torn in two, declaring entry into the most holy place. But given that he is about to do this, he is praying to his Father that those who are involved as the proponents of this atrocity, and those who carry it out, and, frankly, those who stand by idly and watch it, he's asking his Father that it may be that by grace they will be brought to see that he is actually the Savior, they will be brought to see that they are actually in need of a Savior, and then they will turn from their sin and discover that their transgressions may be blotted out completely and that their sin may be fully pardoned. Thus fulfilling what you have in Isaiah 53 12, where it says of the one who is to come, and he made forgiveness or intercession for the transgressors. And here Jesus is interceding for the transgressors. Now, I've suggested to you in recent weeks that the way to get around all of this or to handle this is by going to the great summary statements that we find in the epistles.
And let me give you two more. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, as Paul explains to the Corinthian readers about the nature of alienation between a holy God and sinful man, and what Jesus has done in effecting reconciliation, this is how he puts it, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. Now, those two words, as I've pointed out to you before and will point out to you on many, many subsequent occasions, those two final words are crucial. What Paul does not say is this. God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins. Full stop. No. Not counting men's sins against them.
Why? Because he was counting their sins against him. So that he can go on to say, in what is fast becoming my favorite verse in the Bible, in 2 Corinthians 5, God made him, who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Now, when this actually dawns on a mind, lays hold upon a life, stirs a heart, then that individual will shift from a sort of generic awareness of the potential for forgiveness of sin to the personal testimony, the understanding of the fact that here in the death of Jesus of Nazareth is forgiveness for my sin. So, in the song for children, it is affirmed, Wounded for me. Wounded for me. There on the cross he was wounded for me.
Gone my transgressions, and now I am free, all because Jesus was wounded for me. In other words, it has become a very personal awareness. And that's what we're talking about here at Parkside all the time when we're asking ourselves the question, Do I believe? Do I trust in Christ?
Or am I simply swimming around in a great sea of religious orthodoxy with the vague hope and aspiration that somehow or another, as a result of the death of Jesus and of his great prayer of forgiveness, that somehow or another I am automatically forgiven? And the difference between me and someone who affirms it more fully is simply that they have determined to affirm it more fully, but it is equally true of me. My friend, it is not equally true of you. There's all the difference between an awareness of an individual that you would like to spend the rest of your life with and spending the rest of your life with that individual.
And all kinds of awareness of who they are and their potential and their capacities and their beauty and their friendship and everything else, you can write it down in a book, you can put it in your journal, you can carry it close to your heart, but there is a vast difference between all of that information and all of that aspiration in spending your life in their company. So it's very important we understand. Father, forgive them. And notice he enters a special plea, for they don't know what they're doing.
I find that hard to believe, don't you? They don't know what they're doing? Of course they knew what they were doing. They trumped up the charges. They manipulated Pilate.
Pilate signed the papers of execution. The soldiers determined to do their business. What does Jesus mean they do not know what they're doing? Well, presumably, what he's saying is this. They're aware of their actions, but they're not aware of the extent and significance of their actions. The soldiers are aware of the fact that here is another victim of execution, but they do not realize that they're crucifying the Lord of glory. And Jesus, as he prays in this way, is praying that these individuals who go about their business in this way may be brought to understand how wrong their perspective is. I think this lies at the heart of the dramatic response to Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost. You know, when you read the sermon of Peter, it's a good sermon. I mean, who's to say it's not?
But is it really that good? What was it? Well, he told them, he said, You killed him. You handed him over. You disowned him. You killed the author of life. Is he simply telling them what they already knew?
No. He's telling them what they didn't know. They didn't realize the extent or the significance of what had been done. And when, by the work of the Holy Spirit, it dawned on them, then they said, having been cut to the heart, Well, then, what should we do? And he said, Well, you should repent and turn from your sin, and you should be baptized as an indication of your desire to follow Jesus and to serve him. And so those who stepped out in faith and in obedience would be able, again, to affirm a song from my childhood. There's a way back to God from the dark paths of sin. There's a door that is open. We may go in, and at Calvary's cross, that's where we begin when we come as a sinner to Jesus. You see, when John writes about it later, he says, If—conditional clause—if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
That is a large door swinging on a very small hinge, as the late Sid LoBaxter used to put it. This prayer is quite remarkable, isn't it? The Father, forgive them.
They don't know what they're doing. Now, presumably, that had dawned somehow or another on one of these two criminals. The one to whom, in verse 43, the promise is given. The promise is given in response to his request. In verse 42, we'll come to that.
Well, let's just focus on this gentleman for a moment, if we may. This chap had seen and heard enough of Jesus in the past few hours, apparently, to conclude that he was innocent of any crime. Hence his rebuke to the other criminal in verse 40. Don't you fear God? he said to him, shouting, as it were, through Jesus, or over Jesus, or behind the head of Jesus. Don't you fear God, since you're under the same sentence?
We're punished justly, we're getting what our deeds deserve, but this man has done nothing wrong. Now, how did this come about? Was it that in the presence of the holiness of Jesus, in all of his purity and his grace, that this man all of a sudden realized how dirty he was?
What was it that induced this tenderness in the heart of somebody who was clearly a fairly hard-bitten criminal? Well, you say, It must have been hearing Jesus' prayer. Jesus has just prayed, Father, forgive them. It must have struck him.
Good, that's good. But is he the only one who heard the prayer? No, both of them heard the prayer.
So they both hear the same words of Christ, and they respond differently. I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing men and women of sin, and revealing Jesus through the Word and creating faith in him. I don't know how it happens. The wind blows where it wills. You can hear the sound of it. You can't tell where it's coming from.
You don't really know where it's going. So said Jesus is everyone who is born of the Spirit of God. There is a mystery in this. This is not a mechanism. This is not an evangelical process. This man doesn't fit.
This man's conversion doesn't fit the standard package, does it? The things you're told to do, and the way you're supposed to get there, and the things you're supposed to understand, and all the mechanism—this fellow does it all wrong. The first criminal regarded the cross as a contradiction.
He was with the crowd. If this Messiah was genuine, he wouldn't be on a cross. The second criminal saw the cross as a confirmation.
Because he's on the cross, he must be the Savior. Remember, we said last time that the attitude of the first fellow was essentially, If you get me out of my dilemma, I'll believe in you. If you get me off this cross, I'll become your follower. I have a problem, I have a dilemma, I have a felt need. Deal with my felt need, and I will follow you. Save yourself and save us. That's pretty routine.
That's normal. What's God ever done for me? He does something for me, I'll do something for him. Why should I believe in him?
That's what we listen to all the time. It's a perfectly understandable question. It's a very sorry conclusion. The second man, you see, he now realizes that his predicament is different from what the two of them formerly thought it was.
The two of them are hanging on a cross. Now, see, do you have a problem? Yeah, we do. But listen to this. We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve, he says to his friend. But this man has done nothing wrong.
It's remarkable, isn't it, how somebody in the final stages of their life should be processing information so well? I wonder, did he mean by this? You know, this is what's supposed to happen to you if you're a rebel of the state. This is supposed to happen to you if you're a terrorist.
Is that what he's saying? You know, this man doesn't done anything. The charges against him were trumped up. The charges against us were legitimate. Therefore, it is legitimate that we die. It's illegitimate that he die.
I think it's probably deeper than that. The first criminal essentially makes a demand upon Jesus for what he thinks he deserves. The second criminal makes a request to Jesus for what he knows he doesn't deserve. Now, let me say that to you again, because on this hinges the difference between believing faith and religious hopefulness. The first individual makes a demand upon Jesus for what he believes he deserves. The second individual makes a request of Jesus for what he knows he doesn't deserve. There is a critical distinction between saving faith and religious hopefulness, and we need to understand that. That's from part one of today's message titled, A Prayer and a Promise on Truth for Life with Alistair Begg.
Easter is just a couple of weeks away. You might find yourself being asked the question, why did Jesus have to die? So I want to encourage you to request the book we're recommending. It's a book called The Cross in Four Words, and it does a great job of explaining how sin entered the world, the temporary provision God made for sin in the Old Testament, and then how Jesus' sacrifice on the cross has paid the penalty for sin once and for all. In The Cross in Four Words, you'll study four themes that explain all Jesus accomplished on the cross.
You'll learn how these themes were foreshadowed in the Old Testament as far back as the books of Exodus and Leviticus. The book The Cross in Four Words is quick, it's easy to read, but it's packed with profound insight and comes highly recommended from Alistair. Request your copy of the book today when you give to support the Bible teaching of this program. Your donation helps bring Truth for Life to people all around the world through radio, online, through our mobile app. Your giving also helps make Alistair's entire online library completely free to access, so thank you. To give today, visit truthforlife.org slash donate, or call 888-588-7884. If you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book, you can write to Truth for Life at post office box 398000 Cleveland, Ohio 44139. I'm Bob Lapine, thanks for joining us. Be sure to be with us again tomorrow as we continue our study in the Gospel of Luke, learning about two vastly different ways people respond to God's grace. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.
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