Forgiveness
Luke 23:34, "Then said Jesus, sFather, tforgive them; for uthey know not what they do." [1]
Luke 23:43. "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in oparadise." [2]
I. Father
A. Reliability
B. Responsibility
II. Forgive
A. Request
B. Response
III. Forever
A. Reality
B. Ready
Introduction: While Jesus was on the cross, He cried out seven sayings. These words took much of His dying strength from our Savior so they are worthy of our study. From the 1900 edition of the King James Version they are:
Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
Luke 23:43, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”
John 19:26.27, “Woman, behold thy Son…Behold thy mother…”
Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34, “My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
John 19:28, “I thirst.”
John 19:30, “It is finished.”
Luke 23:46, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my Spirit:”
The Hebrew day starts at sunup and ends at sundown. Hour one of the Hebrew day is our 6am. The Bible does not say 9am or midnight like we do today. For example the third hour would be the third hour past sunup or 9am.
While Jesus was on that cross that day there was a progression. As the day moved along Jesus was taken to different places in His journey. You might say that we as Christians also go through progressive steps.
Society today has turned that word progressive into something completely different than was intended. We progress. We grow. We learn. We get closer to God until we completely trust God. Finally when we have progressed to where He intended us to be, we are finally completely with Him. We see this progression in Jesus’ Seven cries from the cross.
The first stage for Jesus is and always will be forgiveness. Jesus was taking care of the business that He came here for with His first two cries from the cross. This will be our consideration for this evening.
In His next two cries Jesus considered family. It is the most important relationship that God established here on this planet. The relationship between those who God placed us with must never be forsaken. Jesus knew the importance of family and He even knew how it felt when that closeness of family was broken for some reason.
The last three cries deal with finality. When a person is finally empty of that which has sustained him/her in this life, finally they are ready to accept God’s majesty. They are finally ready to fully trust God with everything.
We will see these three aspects of what a Christian goes through in our three evenings of meetings. My deep prayer is that there will be a revival that begins with each of us here that will spread to the communities and into our world. The Holy Spirit can do that only when we are willing to accept Him. Finally on Wednesday evening we will have a chance to express where we are in our journey with Jesus.
Scripture: Our focal verses tonight are Luke 23:34 and Luke 23:43. Please stand for the reading of God’s word,
Prayer:
Message: This evening we will consider His first two cries. Jesus was in the business which He came here for. He was asking His Heavenly Father to forgive those who were doing things that they didn’t know were against God. It is one thing to not know. It is all together another thing to know yet ignore that which you are doing against God and persisting in it anyway.
We use the word ignorance as an excuse. I have even heard some say that ignorance is bliss. To know and choose to ignore what you know takes a conscious effort. It is a choice that a person makes. Ignorance is not OK. Not knowing and finding out that a change is needed is what Jesus was asking His Father’s forgiveness for. Let us not ignore that truth.
Here is another truth that is ignored even by a bunch of preachers. Why did Jesus ask His Father to forgive their sins? Jesus is God; amen. God consists of all three persons; God the Father on the throne, God the son Jesus, and God The Holy Spirit. Since Jesus is God why didn’t Jesus forgive their sins from heaven? Why did He ask His Father to forgive them?
If that were possible Jesus wouldn’t have needed to come here at all. He could have forgiven sins from heaven. The truth of the matter is that only God the Father can forgive sin. Sin is against God and can only be forgiven by God. King David knew that. After David’s sin with Bathsheba he said in Psalm 51:4, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, And done this evil gin thy sight:” [3] David took another man’s wife and had him killed. Was that sin against Uriah or against God? There is a great difference between trespassing against others and sinning against God.
God the Father is holy. He is absolutely reliable and cannot be swayed by sin. God the Father cannot even look at sin. Jesus had to come for that reason. Jesus had to be the sacrifice for our sin but only God the Father has the responsibility to forgive sin. Our forgiveness from God Our Father was made possible because Jesus was absolutely loyal and obedient to God Our Father.
So much for our “forgive and forget” theory. God is omniscient. He can’t forget. His Only Begotten Son died for our sin and yet God forgives when we accept our guilt and we acknowledge His forgiveness. The penalty is not administered when that happens so in that sense the penalty is forgotten.
We must not forget but yet we must forgive the trespasses that other have done to us. Without the Holy Spirit within us we have no power to look beyond what others have done against us. When we become Christians we can love in spite of the hatred others have for us. We do forgive trespasses but forgiveness of sin is only for God the Father to administer. When we intercede for others with prayer, Jesus intercedes for us.
Jesus is all about His Father’s work or we would be hopeless. Jesus made forgiveness of sin possible or else we would still be destined for eternal separation from God. Each of us chose that separation when we were enabled to decide for ourselves. It was not God’s choice that we were separated from Him. God the Father is holy without change. God is omnipresent. He is always the same and He is always everywhere. He remains true with open arms to receive but God The Father cannot look upon sin. Jesus made the way possible and Jesus made the request for our forgiveness. Otherwise there would be no forgiveness of sin.
Just as soon as Jesus made His request for us all there was an immediate response. The thief on the cross beside Jesus acknowledged that he was a sinner. We hear in the second cry the response that Jesus made to that man and to us who trust Him.
Verily, truthfully, in all reality Jesus told that man what we all really need to hear. Jesus wasted no time. He was ready to give that man the good news. Today! Right now! No waiting in the grave! And this is the real good news; today with Jesus is eternity with no end! Forever you will be with Jesus and eternity starts the moment you decide to trust Him beyond yourself.
Paradise! Is there a better way to describe heaven? We believe what we see. I once believed that I was a power plant guy. For a while I was. How I got there was amazing but it was not to last. I believed it while I could see it but now it’s gone.
Seeing isn’t always believing because seeing has an end. Seeing is not an always thing. God’s love is an always thing. God is always. Where God is in your heart; that is an always place. Everything that we can see here and now; those are not always things.
So what is reality? What is real and what is not real? If something is real it is real forever. God is real! You are real too. There is no expiration date on you. Doctors might try to make you think that you have an expiration date but you are going to live somewhere forever.
The choice is all up to you. Jesus paid the entire price so that you might have the ability to reverse the decision you made when you chose to decide for yourself and not Him. Years ago on a Theology test the question was, “Did Jesus have a choice to hang on the cross?” The book answer to that was No. Since Jesus was absolutely obedient to His Father there was no choice. Jesus sweated as it were droplets of blood agonizing what it meant to carry our sin. He knew that the familiar attention that He was accustomed to from His Father would be different. God the Father had to turn away for that brief time. Jesus prayed for a different way but there was no other way. He had to take our sin as a human being with God the Father looking away. I answered the question wrong because I know that Jesus was fully man. As human beings we have choices. As the perfect human Jesus was still God’s Son. What about you? Are you?
Prayer:
Invitation: We have the opportunity to totality finally accept Jesus. That is our opportunity tonight and it is an open invitation as long as a person draws breath. There will be a time when this time will be over. What we see now is not the reality that God sees. Let us always remember that the first order of business for Jesus on that cross was forgiveness of sin. It still is! He is ready for an immediate response that will last eternally.
Let us also consider this truth. Jesus gave up His spirit while those others were still on their crosses. Let no preacher confuse you about that. We have our crosses to bear here in this realm called earthly life. When you accept Jesus and you are a Christian your place in God’s kingdom is secured. In God’s eyes you are there. There are two realms. We are still here for a purpose. Can you imagine what the forgiven thief thought when he knew Jesus had given up The Spirit and yet that forgiven man was still hanging there? As the song says, “I can only imagine.” I can imagine that the other man was still there mocking. “See there, He’s gone. Where are you?” We are still here to show the world what a saved Christian looks like.
When I was here last year Lisa asked me if I would sing. I couldn’t do it. The next Sunday I wasn’t in a pulpit. I was in a hospital. After the second surgery I woke up with a normal heartbeat but I couldn’t breathe on my own. I woke up with a breathing tube in me. I remember trying to pull it out when Erika the nurse fell on me and prevented me.
When they finally removed the tube they insisted that I go on a respirator to clear the Carbon Dioxide so that I could live on my own again. I refused and called for the DNR, Do Not Revive. Again I was prevented. Every day now I pray for Erika and her husband Austin. I am in heaven. God sees me there but I am still here. God sees to it that I am alive for Him here now.
Can I explain that? NO! Do I stand under that truth? Absolutely! So can you. Jesus left us with The Holy Spirit to sustain us here for a little while. We will have heartaches and trials but we will get through. Where you are now is not where you will stay forever. You Christian are with God forever! Let us sing. Let us pray for each other. Let us love. Come up pastor…
s ver. 46. See Matt. 11:25.
t Isai. 53:12. See Matt. 5:44.
u See Acts 3:17.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Lk 23:34). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
o 2 Cor. 12:4. Rev. 2:7. Comp. Gen. 2:8. Ecclus. 24:30, &c.
[2] Ibid, Lk 23:43). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
g Luke 15:18, 21.
[3] Ibid., Ps 51:4). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
