Thank you, Joy. Let's open our
Bibles together to Psalm 51. It seems like every three or
four months we read this psalm as part of our scripture reading
here. When I'm on my deathbed and I'm not able
to to read for myself, I want somebody to read Psalm 51 to
me. I like what one brother from
the past said, put on my tombstone a great sinner who had a great
Savior. And sinners are encouraged with
this prayer of contrition and forgiveness in the life of David. To the chief musician, a psalm
of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone
into Bathsheba, have mercy upon me, O God, according to my desire, according to my
commitment, according to my anything, according to thy loving-kindness,
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions." We'll read some more from that
in a moment. Tom's going to come and lead us in another one of
my favorite hymns. You may ask, what's your favorite
hymn? The one we're singing right now. Psalm number 47 in the Sopraic
Tymnal, number 47. Tom, you come please. Still have your Bibles open to
Psalm 51, verse 2. Wash me throughly, completely. from mine iniquity and cleanse
me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions."
There's no forgiveness of sin apart from acknowledging your
transgressions. He is faithful and just to forgive
us of our sins. We ask. There's no salvation
apart from faith and there's no forgiveness of sin apart from
acknowledging our transgressions. My sin is ever before me. Against
Thee and Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight,
that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear
when Thou judgest. Lord, I'm completely at fault."
I read a quote somebody recently that said, a man can fail many
times in his life and not be a failure. until he blamed somebody
else. A lot of truth to that. Behold I was shapen in iniquity
and in sin did my mother conceive me. I've been a sinner ever since
I inherited this sinful nature from my father. Behold thou desirest
truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt
make me to know wisdom. purge me with hyssop." Hyssop
was dipped into the basin of blood and the blood was sprinkled
on the congregation and it's a picture of our Lord's suffering
and David saying, Lord let the blood of Christ cleanse me of
my sin. If you do that, I shall be clean.
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy
and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Here's what we were talking about
in the first hour. When a believer sins, the Lord corrects his children. He rebukes them. He chastises
them until he brings them out of it. Hide thy face from my
sins, and blot out mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from
thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation." David had lost fellowship with
the Lord because of his sin. When you lose fellowship with
the Lord, you lose all assurance of salvation. Uphold me with thy free spirit. Then while I teach transgressors
thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee, deliver
me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and
my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open
thou my lips, And my mouth shall show forth thy praise, for thou
desirest not sacrifice." Oh, people use religion in order
to try to make up for their sin, pay God back for what they've
done wrong. And David said, thou desirest
not sacrifice, else would I give it. David was in a position of
making as many sacrifices as were necessary. But he says,
the Lord, that's not what you're pleased with. Thou delightest
not in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are broken
spirit. A broken and contrite heart,
that he will not despise. Why won't he despise it? Because
he's given it to you. If you have a broken spirit,
broken heart, contrite before God, it's because God gave you
that. He gave it to you in order to
bring you into His presence. It's the only way we can come,
isn't it? Do good in thy good pleasure
unto Zion. David, I love the way this psalm
ends and I just want to remind you of this again. As much as
your need is, for forgiveness, as much as my need is for forgiveness. And that's the primary thing.
I heard a preacher say recently, if I had access to the Lamb's
Book of Life, first name I'd go for is my own. I want to see
if I'm in there. And then I'd look for yours. As much need as we individually
have for personal forgiveness, let's not stop there. David said,
David said, Lord, now what's he doing? In these last two verses,
he's turning his attention towards the church. And he's asking for
God's blessing, not just upon himself, but upon the church. And he concludes by saying, do
good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of
Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with
the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offerings and whole
burnt offerings. Then shall they offer bullocks
upon thine altar. Believers do serve the Lord out
of gratitude for what he's done, and he receives it, and he's
honored in it, but only comes after forgiveness of sin. Let's
pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we're so
thankful that we have a throne of grace that we can come to.
We thank you that we have an advocate with the Father, an
intercessor, a substitute who makes us acceptable in thy presence. For Lord, apart from that, we
would have no claim. We would have no hope. we would
have no salvation. For left to ourselves, Lord,
we are a sinful people. We're so thankful that you delight
in showing mercy towards sinners and that it truly is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Lord, we pray for the cleansing
of your spirit to wash away our sins and to restore unto us the
joy of Thy salvation. Lord, we're in need of revival. We're in need of renewal. We're
in need of forgiveness. We're in need of, Lord, for You
to open the windows of heaven and pour out Your Spirit, manifest
Your glory and Your grace to the hearts of Your people. We
are a needy people. We pray that for your namesake,
Lord, that you would be pleased to bless us to that end. Pray for the services in Sarasota,
and we ask, Lord, that you would bless your word and your church
there. We pray it in Christ's name.
Amen. I think I announced in the first
hour, but perhaps not since then, that we'll be meeting here at
430 Thursday afternoon to drive over to Sarasota for the services.
Don Fortner is going to be preaching there and will come back Thursday
night. So if anybody would like to go,
let me know so we can kind of arrange who's going to be driving
and how many we need. OK? All right. Let's all stand
together once again. In shady green pastures so rich
and so sweet, God leads his dear children along. where the water's cool flow bathes
the weary one's feet, God leads his dear children along. Some through the Some through the fire, but all
through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us all in the night season and all the day long. Sometimes on the mount where
the sun shines so bright, God leads his dear children along. Sometimes in the valley in darkest
of night, God leads his dear children along. Some through the water, Some
through the flood, Some through the fire, But all through the
blood. Some through great sorrow, But
God gives a song in the night season and all the day long. Though sorrows befall us and
Satan oppose, God leads his dear children along Through grace we can conquer,
defeat all our foes, God leads his dear children along. Some through the But all through the blood Some
through great sorrow But God gives a song In the night season
And all the day long Away from the mire and away from
the clay, God leads his dear children along. Away, up in glory, eternity's
day, God leads his dear children along. Some through the water,
some through the flood. Some through the fire, but all
through his blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives a song. in the night season and all the
day long. Thank you for that, Lauren. All through the blood. I'm so
thankful for that. Open your Bibles with me to Luke
chapter 23, please. Luke chapter 23. One thing I know about God's
people, or those that the Lord is dealing
with, is that they're interested in the subject of forgiveness.
If the Lord has made you to be a sinner, you know that your
greatest need before God is to have that sin washed in the blood,
covered by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, separated from
you as far as the east is from the west. put into a bag and
sewn up tight, cast into the depths of the sea, as the scripture
says, for God to remember them no more." Now our Lord made seven
statements as he, well, recorded in scripture. seven statements
recorded in scripture as he hung suspended between heaven and
earth on Calvary's cross. The first of the things that
came from his precious lips we find in Luke chapter 23 when
he prays as our intercessor, Father forgive them for they
know not what they do. Look at Luke chapter 23 at verse
33. And when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. And the malefactors, one on the
right hand and the other on the left. One was a believer and
one wasn't. One was one of God's elect, that
the Lord opened his heart, gave him faith, and caused him to
cry, O Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
And the other cast railings toward the Savior. Who made the difference? Why did the Lord have himself
crucified between these two guilty men, one to be saved and the
other to be lost. To say to us, these two men represent
all of humanity. They represent all of humanity.
Christ is in between. He's the one that must make us
to differ. Here we have our Lord, and look
at verse 34. Then said Jesus, They've just nailed him to the
cross. They've just dropped that cross down into the hole and
jarred his body out of joint, the scripture says. And he cries,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The creator
of the universe had come unto his own, and his own knew him
not. They weren't interested in him.
The Lord of glory had tabernacled among men and they were ignorant
of his presence. Their eyes were so darkened by
sin that they could not see his beauty nor have any desire for
him. Men are the same today. When our Lord came into this
world, there was no room for Him in the inn. That's still
the case. Still the case. People all around us have no
room for Christ, no interest in Him, no desire for Him, no no trouble over their sin, no
need for salvation. Herod sought to kill him from
the very beginning and all of his 33 years he suffered the
contradiction of sinners, despised and rejected of men. Now their
hatred for Christ, their desire was given to them the Lord had
made himself vulnerable to man for the first time and they cried
passionately crucify him crucify him will not have this man to
reign over us they weren't satisfied with just any death They wanted
the unspeakable cruelty of crucifixion. They wanted the Son of God to
be put away out of their presence. And as he hung there, suspended
between God and man, somebody noticed that his lips
began to move. What would he say? Would he call
down fire from heaven? Would he call a legion of angels?
Would he consume his enemies with bolts of lightning? Would
he open up the earth and swallow them into the pit? What would
he do toward those who crucified him? I hope that as we describe
this crowd that You and I are able to put ourselves in it because
here we are. Those for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ, no, He didn't call down fire from heaven. He didn't command
the earth to open and swallow them into the bottomless pit. He prayed. He prayed. He said, father. He had access
to the father in a very special way. He was the son of God. When he taught us to pray, he
said, when you pray, say our father. Our access into the presence
of God is only by virtue of our union with Christ and his church.
And so for us, it's our father. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
prayed, he always prayed father. when he spoke of the father he
always spoke of him as my father he said no man has seen the son
except the father no man has seen the father except the son
and them to whom he's pleased to reveal him the Lord Jesus
Christ had a special unique relationship with God Almighty being the second
person of the of the triune Godhead he was the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but here he makes of himself no reputation
and humbles himself to become a man and suffers the humiliation
and the agony of the cross. Why? That his enemies might be forgiven. We come into this world at enmity
with God. This spirit of the crowd is the
spirit of Adam. It's our nature. It's every one
of us. And had the Lord Jesus Christ
not offered this prayer to the Father, had he not interceded
for us, had he not had this relationship with God that gave him access
into the very presence of God to pray. He began his public
ministry in Luke chapter 3, the scripture says, at his baptism
while he prayed. The Spirit of God descended like
a dove. The Lord Jesus Christ was cast
into the wilderness and spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting
and praying. And the disciples saw that there
was something about his prayers. They wanted to know how to pray
like that. Oh Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us to be able
to approach God. Our Lord prayed. and continues to pray, doesn't
he? Scripture tells us in the book of Hebrews that he ever
lives at the right hand of the majesty on high to make intercession
for us. He said of Peter, Peter, Satan
has sought to sift you like wheat, but I've prayed for you. Be of
good cheer. Oh, that we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous one, who prays for us. That's our
hope, isn't it? It's his prayers that make the
difference. And here he prays, the very first
thing out of his quivering lips, in agony beyond what we can comprehend. Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. Oh, the efficacy of his prayers. We see in this very story that
there was at least one of those soldiers that drove the nails
into our Lord's hand that said, truly, this is the Son of God. And surely the Lord had him in
mind, for one, when he prayed. But I want you to turn with me
to Acts chapter 3, because there's a whole lot more than that. that
he had in mind. When our Lord prays, the Father
hears his prayers. Oh, I need for this prayer to
be for me. Father, forgive him. He knows not what he does. Do you need an intercessor with
God? Do you need a Savior? Do you
need a substitute? Do you need the Lord Jesus Christ
to stand in your stead and represent you before God? That's what he
came to do. And look what he says in Acts
chapter 3. What did our Lord say? They know
not what they do. Now Peter is preaching and look
what he says in verse 16 of Acts chapter 3. And his name through
faith in his name hath made this man strong whom you see and know
yet the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness
in the presence of you all and now brethren I want that through ignorance you
did it as did also our rulers. So now Peter's speaking to this
crowd at the temple and he says, you did it through ignorance.
Had you known who he was, you wouldn't have done it. But you
didn't know who he was. How many were saved that day? 3,000. 3,000
were saved at Pentecost. These are the ones. These are
the ones that our Lord is interceding for. And he tells us in John
chapter 17, when he prays for the church, he said, Father,
I pray not just for these, but for them, which will believe
on me by their word. So our Lord's praying for us. What a great hope we have. When our Lord prayed, Father
forgive them for they know not what they do, that particular
prayer was in fulfillment to prophecy. The father had promised
that he was going to send a savior. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
53, Isaiah 53. Verse 10, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Peter had said in Acts chapter 2 that this crucifixion of the
Lord Jesus Christ was ordained of God. The one you took by your
wicked hands and crucified, God had already purposed that he
should die. And now here in Isaiah chapter 53, yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief when
he has made his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall, the father, shall see
the travail of the son's soul. And the Father shall be satisfied
with the sacrifice that Christ makes on Calvary's cross. And
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many." What he
accomplished was the forgiveness of the sins of all of God's elect. He shall bear their iniquities.
He'll bear in his body their sins and suffer the full wrath
of God's judgment for every sin of every one of God's people.
Verse 12, here's what I want you to see. Now look at verse
12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and
he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he has poured
out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors. Isn't that what we just read?
And he bear the sins of many and look at the last phrase of
verse 12, and made intercession for the transgressors. Now we know that he's alive now,
continuing to intercede on our behalf. But that promise in Isaiah
chapter 53, verse 12, was a reference specifically to the prayer that
our Lord prays on Calvary's cross. Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. He will make intercession for
the transgressors. He'll bear their iniquity. He'll
suffer the wrath of God's judgment. And he will accomplish their
forgiveness. He identified with his church
in this prayer. Prior to this, the Lord was accused
of blasphemy on several occasions because he pronounced his power
to forgive sin. Your faith has made you whole.
Go and say, your sins are forgiven. Who is this man that forgives
sin? Does he not know that God alone can forgive sin? That was
the accusation made against him. But here, here, he doesn't express
his authority as God to forgive sin. He identifies with those
whom he represents. And he asked God to forgive sins. You see, on the cross, the Lord
Jesus Christ, yes, fully God, but fully man, is hanging there
as our representative, as our substitute, identifying with
our humanity. He's God's perfect man, bearing
the full penalty of God's wrath in his flesh, in his body. The scripture says he bore in
his body the sins of his people. and it pleased God to bruise
his body and so there he doesn't he doesn't say to the crowd I
forgive you he prays to the father to forgive father forgive them
for they know not what they do Matthew chapter 9 says the son
of man hath power on earth to forgive sin the problem now is
that he's not on the earth he's lifted up from the earth
and he said if I be lifted up then I'll draw all men to myself
he's now suspended between heaven and earth as our substitute He
prays to the Father, identifying with us in our humanity, and
says, Father, forgive them. And so this prayer is a fulfillment
of what God had promised, but it's also a demonstration of
our Lord's sacrificial offering of himself for his people. In this prayer, We see something
of what God thinks about sin. Now, turn with me to Leviticus
chapter 5. Leviticus chapter 5. You and I suffer pains of conscience
when we do or think or say something that we know we ought not to
have done. We feel guilty when we sin, don't
we? But you know that's only a small
part of our sin. Someone says to me, Pastor, you
just don't know what I've done, how bad it is. And I say to them,
it's a whole lot worse than you think it is. It's a whole lot
worse than you think it is. Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do. Our Lord was interceding for
their sins that they didn't even know they were committing. They didn't know they were committed.
They thought they were honoring God. They thought they were crucifying
a blasphemer. They thought they were standing
on God's side. Look at Leviticus chapter 5 at verse 15. If a soul commit a trespass and
sin through ignorance, Father forgive them for they are ignorant. They don't know what they're
doing. The truth is that the things that we suffer pains of
conscience for are only the tip of the iceberg. We're so guilty of sins committed
in ignorance. David said, Oh Lord, forgive
me of my secret sins. He was talking about sins that
he was trying to keep secret. He was talking about things that
he didn't know about. Or I don't even know. Here the
Lord in His law says, If a man commits a trespass, a sin, through
ignorance in the holy things of the Lord, then he shall bring
for his trespass unto the Lord a ram without blemish out of
the flock. with thy estimation by shekels
of silver after the shekel of the sanctuary for a trespass
offering and he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done
in the holy thing and shall add the fifth part thereto and give
it unto the priest and the priest shall make an atonement for him
with the ram of the trespass offering and it shall be forgiven
him. A blood sacrifice was necessary
to atone for sins of ignorance. How much more does that say about
the sins that we're not ignorant of? God is holy. He sees everything. David said that in Psalm 139,
didn't he? Lord, you know my thoughts before
I think them. You know my words before I speak
them. Wherever I go, Lord, He knows everything. He knows so
much. He knows everything. Everything. This prayer that our Lord prays
tells us something about the holiness of God. In that He knew
that in order for us to be forgiven of the sins that we're ignorant
of, He was gonna have to intercede. He was gonna have to be that
blood sacrifice. He was gonna have to be that
offering. In this prayer we see something of the blindness of
the human heart. They were ignorant of the enormity
of their crime. They didn't know. Had they known
who he was, they would not have crucified him. Turn with me to
Acts chapter 2. Here, the Son of God was in their
presence. They shouldn't have been ignorant,
but they were. The prophecies of the Old Testament
were clear as to who he was, how he was born, and how he lived.
The miracles that he performed attested to his power. His life,
his enemies could not find an accusation to make against him.
They could not bring a charge against him. His life was impeccable. It was perfect before man and
God. They should have known who he
was, but they didn't. They didn't know who he was.
You know, it hasn't changed, has it? It hasn't changed. People hear about this Savior
and they're indifferent to him. They don't care. They don't know.
They don't bow before Him. They don't crown Him Lord. They
don't seek His mercy and His grace. Men haven't changed. Why? Because the darkness and
blindness of men's hearts is still the same. Still the same
as it always was. Look at Acts chapter 2. Look
at verse 22. Here's Peter preaching at Pentecost,
ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by him in the midst of you and you yourselves also
know. You saw these things, you heard
them. People hear the gospel today. People come here and hear
the gospel. They go to other places where
the gospel is preached. They know when they hear it that
it's true. They turn their back on the Son
of God. No interest in the things of
God. Why? Because that's just how
hard men's hearts are. That's how dull of hearing they
are. That's how evil we are. And if the Lord doesn't, if he
doesn't make us to differ, we'll all be that way. Look what he says in verse 23.
Him, speaking of Christ, being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. God had, the Lord Jesus
Christ was not the victim of circumstances. There were many times they tried
to take him and he just slipped out of their midst. And finally
he said, my hour has come. He was in control of every minute
detail concerning his life and his death. The men who were arresting
him and crucifying him were but puppets in his hands. He said
this was determined of God. But you have taken, and by wicked
hands you crucified and slain him, whom God hath raised up,
having loose the pains of death, because it was not possible that
he should be holden of it." Oh, and when they heard of the resurrection,
what did they? They were pricked in their hearts
and said, oh, what can we do? What can we do? What have we
done? The light of the gospel as Peter
preached in the power of the Holy Spirit came upon 3,000 souls
that day and they realized what they had done. It's a testimony of our Lord. They sent soldiers to arrest
him one time and they came back without him. And they said, never
a man spake like this man. He's got too much authority.
We couldn't lay hands on him. And even when they did arrest
him, he asked the legion of soldiers, who do you seek? And they said,
Jesus of Nazareth. And what did he say? I am. And
the whole band of soldiers fell backwards onto the ground. Oh, he was in control of this. Truth is, this horrible tragedy
has been repeated today, time and time again. Men are indifferent
to the gospel. What am I saying to you right
now? Don't be indifferent to the gospel. I was sharing the
gospel with a man recently, and he got it. And he said, so you're
either all in or all out, huh? And I said, yep, that's it. One thing the gospel cannot be
is partial. You either love it or you hate
it. You cannot be indifferent to it. You're either all in or
all out. The Lord said you're either for
me or you're against me. There's no in between. There's
no middle ground. No middle ground whatsoever. But men will spurn the grace
of God. They will trample under feet
the blood of Christ. They'll count the covenant of
grace a common thing. They'll say, oh, that's nothing
to it. It's either everything or it's
nothing. The gospel cannot be moderately important. It cannot
be. It won't allow itself to be. I rather heard a story about
somebody that was listening to me preach recently on television,
and they threw their Bible at the TV. They threw their Bible at the
TV. And I thought, well that's a good thing. I'm glad. They
heard something. You know, get mad or get glad,
but don't just sit there. The gospel demands a response,
one way or the other. We see our Lord in this prayer
practicing what he preached. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
5. Father forgive them for they
know not what they do. Now I want you to hang with me
for just a moment on this point because this is very important.
There's some teaching that needs to be done. We preach the declaration
of the gospel. We say things and try to say
them in different ways. There's things that we've heard
many times. We need to be reminded of them, don't we? But I think
there's some things here on this subject of forgiveness that needs
to be taught, that needs to be understood. Maybe we may be confused
about this subject on this point. All right, Matthew chapter five,
look at verse 44. But I say unto you, love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute
you, that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. Now the Lord in this prayer is
practicing what he preached. He's praying for them who are
despitefully using him. The Lord's interceding for them,
for the Father to forgive them. But one thing that he does not
do, is pronounce his forgiveness to them from the cross. Why? They didn't ask to be forgiven. Turn with me to Luke chapter
17. Luke chapter 17. Now, we all offend in many ways. And most offenses just need to
be just brushed off. OK? We're not trying to express. You get into the mode of expressing
your offense every single time you feel a little twinge of something
that somebody does or says, and you're just going to be in a
mess. All right? So most of the stuff,
just let it go. And most of the time they didn't
really know they were offended. Maybe they didn't mean to offend.
Maybe they just... But there are times when an offense needs to be brought
to the surface. And look at Luke chapter 17,
verse 3. Take heed to yourselves, if thy
brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent,
forgive him. And if he trespass against you
seven times in a day, seven times in a day, turn again and say,
turn again and say to you, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. The Lord doesn't express his
forgiveness to this crowd. He prays to the Father for them.
He harbors no bitterness. He's showing the love of God
towards them. But forgiveness cannot be given
until the person who has committed the offense asks to be forgiven. In other words, fellowship can't
be restored, whether it be in your marriage or whether it be
in the church. You can't have fellowship if
one person offends and doesn't admit that they offended and
asks to be forgiven. You know, the hardest words to
say is, I was wrong. I'm sorry. You know, there's
some people that just have an impossible time saying that because
they think it's a sign of weakness. They think it's a sign of weakness
to say, I was wrong. I'm sorry. Truth is we're wrong
in everything we do. There's something that could
be better about everything we do. We could, we could accept
it. Just to say that you cannot restore
a relationship until you say, I was wrong. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Now again,
remember what I prefaced this by. We're not going around trying
to correct every little offense, but I'm saying that when an offense
takes place, in order for that relationship to be restored,
there has to be an admission. The Lord said, if you confess
your sins, God doesn't even forgive, apart from our confessing our
sins. He doesn't. He doesn't save apart from faith
and he doesn't forgive. Now he's the one that makes us
to confess. He makes us willing. He brings
us to himself. He causes us to say, I was wrong,
I'm sorry. Now, there's no place, if you've
been offended and the other person who did the offense, you go to
them. And say to them, I am so hurt by this, we need to... And
they don't want to admit their fault. At that point, there's
no place for you to harbor bitterness or resentment or anger or hatred
towards them in your heart. You're to pray for them. Pray for them. But if they don't admit that
they're wrong, your relationship with them cannot be restored. And it goes the other way too,
doesn't it? If you can't admit when you're wrong, then your
relationship with the person that you offended cannot be restored. That's so important. Our Lord is practicing what he
preached. He preached in Matthew chapter
5, those who despitefully use you, pray for them. Pray for
them. But you can't forgive them unless
they ask to be forgiven. In the sense that, that can't
be, in other words, there's going to be a, what the word forgive
means to put away. It means to put it away. And
that offense is going to remain a barrier between you and that
other person until the guilty party admits that they're wrong.
It can't be put away. It can't be put away between
you and God. It can't be put away between you and another
man. So if you sense, and a lot of people, if you sense that
you've offended somebody, go to them and say, have I offended
you? Have I done something? Please tell me, I'm sorry, I
didn't, or if you know you did, and what happens is, it gets
put away, and your relationship will actually be strengthened
as a result of that. And if a brother comes to you
seven times in a day and offends you seven times in a day and
says to you, I'm sorry, you forgive him seven times. Just keep forgiving. We see in this prayer, do you
understand that? Does that help? Oh, it's not
a sign of weakness. It's a sign of grace. It's a
sign of great strength. to recognize your fault and to
say I'm sorry I was wrong please forgive me that's it that's a
strength that most people don't have but it's a strength God
gives to his people and what a wonderful thing it is in this prayer we see man's primary
need man's primary need it's the first words out of our Lord's
mouth Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. At the day of your death, which
will come sooner than later, the only thing that's going to
be important to you is if your sins have been forgiven by God.
That's it. It won't be important to you
what you've left behind, how your children are succeeding,
what kind of house you had, what kind of reputation you had, success
in business, or how many people came to your funeral. It won't
matter. I've been to funerals of hundreds
and hundreds of people, very popular people, who died in their
sins. Doesn't matter. The only thing
that's going to matter is if your sins have been forgiven.
And our Lord makes this His first prayer to show to us what our
primary need is. Our first need is to have our
sins forgiven. Turn with me to the book of Acts
chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. If you're harboring resentment
towards somebody for something that they did, you need to go
to them and get that right. Verse 38, Acts chapter 13, Be
it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you for the forgiveness of sins and
by him all that believe are justified from all things. You know what it means to be
justified? It means to be guiltless. How are you going to have a clear
conscience only if you don't have anything to feel guilty
about? It means to have all your sins
put away. Put away, washed in the blood
of Christ, as you sang earlier, Lauren. From which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. No keeping of the law, no amount
of determination or effort in being a better person is going
to put away your sins. The only thing that can put away
our sin is the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. His intercession
for us. Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do. You know what else we see in
forgiveness? We see the power and the triumph of redeeming
love. There's nothing more powerful.
Asking for forgiveness and extending forgiveness is not a weakness,
it's a strength. It's the strongest thing in the
world. The power of redeeming love here.
When man had done his worse, the violence of the human heart
was displayed in all of its wickedness. Did God demonstrate his power
by bolts of lightning or by swallowing up his enemies? or by expressing
his judgment or cursings, oh, no. Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do. Love suffers long. Love is kind. It bears all things. It endures
all things. When Samson died, he used his
death to destroy his enemies, didn't he? You know, even when
Stephen died in Acts chapter 7, the first Christian martyr,
when Stephen was stoned, Stephen prays first. Father, receive
my spirit. And then in his dying breath,
he says, lay not this charge to their account. You know, our
Lord's prayer is just the opposite. It's just the opposite. He's
prayed first for us and last for himself. Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do. And then what's the last thing
out of his mouth? It's finished. Father, I commend
unto you my spirit. Take my spirit. Oh, what the
power of God's love in Christ for sinners. Do you need to be forgiven? Do
you need a savior? Our Lord's a successful one.
He is. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we're so very thankful for having the intercession of
Christ to put away our sin. Thank you for hearing Him. Thank
you for giving him. Thank you for your word. Thank
you for this hour to express to these sinners our need for
Christ. We pray that you would make this
glorious promise hopeful to our hearts. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. All right, we'll stand
and sing. Number 92 in the soft back teminal.