Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do." Can you imagine that? I probably would
be cursing you if you were nailing me to a cross. There's no telling
what I might say. But not our God, not our Savior.
He never prayed a prayer that wasn't answered. So whoever this
is He was praying for, Father, forgive them, whoever the them
was, That prayer was answered. So,
wow, my story, it was everybody. No, no, it wasn't everybody. It was them. In fact, in John
17, he said, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them, which thou has given me out of the world. So in the
first saying from the cross, he was praying for his elect.
That means if you're a Christian, He prayed for you. What do these
words mean? They know not what they do. When
Jesus said that, they know not what they do. It's here at Calvary
that we see the blindness of the human heart. You think about
how blind once you were. I once was blind, and now I see. You ever look back on your blindness
and your addiction? How horrible. How horrible the
blindness and the craziness of it. They were not ignorant of
his crucifixion, but they were ignorant of the enormity of their
crime. God in human flesh nailed to
the cross. The worst sin that could ever
be committed was not your using drugs, The worst sin that's ever
been committed is when God invaded history and came down there to
earth, we nailed him to the cross. We said, crucify him, crucify. We even paid people to say that
in our grandfathers. Crucify, say crucify. Remember,
have you read your Bible where they bought the witnesses and
said, say crucify. And the whole crowd began to
say, crucify him. Never has humanity committed
a more grievous crime. They know not. They knew not. It was the Lord of Glory. Just think about that. They had
no idea it was the Lord of Glory. The Apostle Paul said, I was
a blasphemer before, and a persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained
mercy, because I did it ignorantly and unbelief." Some of you in
here tonight are in unbelief, total unbelief. You're totally
ignorant. You have no idea where you came
from, what you're doing here, or where you're going when you
die. You're just ignorant, living life in ignorance. It's true,
isn't it true? Those of us who have our eyes
opened now by the Spirit of God, we can see how crazy I was. Can you say that? How crazy I
was, how blind, what on earth was I thinking? Oh, you're thinking
all about you. All about you. What a scene this
is. His arms have already been stretched
upon the cross, of torture. His hands have been bound to
the wood with ropes. They're now about to pierce his
hands and feet with nails. Surely they have no idea what
they're doing. Even the two thieves from the cross said, we're up
here justly. We deserve what we're getting.
But this man on the middle cross, he's done nothing amiss. He's
done nothing to deserve this. Think about the total Injustice. When the old Puritan said, they
pierced the very hands from which only blessings flowed. They pierced
his hands from which only blessings flowed. And the soldiers, think
about the craziness of this scene. The soldiers are sitting nearby
casting lots for his clothes. while he's being nailed to it.
Can you even imagine the torture of being nailed to a cross? And
then these rough German soldiers, Roman soldiers, are there having
a little dice game to see who gets his clothes. People are
looking on, the rulers are mocking. I thought about it this way.
It's a scene like a lunatic who's just murdered his own mother,
and sits laughing and mocking as the blood flows from her wounded
body. I mean, I know that's a little
out there, but can you imagine? The great Creator, Jehovah God. Surely, they know not what they
do. Father, forgive them. What a
display of redeeming love. What a display! What compassion
is seen in this blessed Redeemer. When man had done his worst,
and with wicked hands the creature had dared to crucify the Lord
of glory, yet He covers the guilty heads of His murderers with the
shield of His love in order to secure them from the storm of
the deserved wrath of God. You know what you deserved and
I deserved? The wrath of God. I deserved hell. And I know if
you're a Christian in here, you can say, and you do say, that's
true. Because all those little secrets
that you have on the inside of what you've done. But what a glorious thing it
is to know He's got them all covered. Amen? And He's got those sins covered
by His blood. Do not impute to them this murderous
crime that they've committed. Don't impute, don't charge it
to them. Think about that. Christ desired the blessed of
mercies for the worst of sinners. The old songwriter wrote, Amazing
love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
These were the very ones who had conspired to put him to death.
Even as he prayed, they were taking away his innocent life,
and some of them he had prayed for. And you know, I rejoiced
again as I thought about it today, that those people there who were
taking his life, he prayed for some of them who were the elect.
And at some point, maybe before He died, or after He died on
the cross, maybe days before the resurrection, they came to
know Him. But I do know this, He prayed
for them, and they came to know Him as Lord and Savior. Because
He prayed for them. Can you imagine the perfect Son
of God when you are on the streets, When you were in the crack house,
when you were shooting up, when you were in bed with your lovers,
totally dishonoring the body that God had given you, Jesus Christ loved you. Isn't
that amazing? And that He had prayed for you
before you ever did all those things. He had already paid the
price of all of your mess. all of your mess, and then wonder
of wonders sent the hound of heaven, finally brought you down
to the end of your own way, and you ended up in a homeless center.