All right, I'll fill you in.
The Lord has been taken into custody. He has been condemned
by Pilate, and in verse 27, is on his way to Calvary to be crucified. Could have been that our Lord
fell beneath the weight of the cross, and they commandeered
another man to carry the cross. You'll see it. And there followed
him a great company of people and of women, which also bewailed
and lamented him. But Jesus, turning unto them,
said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for
yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming,
in the which they shall say, blessed are the barren, and the
wounds that never bear, and the paps, or breasts, which never
gave suck. Then shall they begin to say
to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills, cover us. For if they do these things in
a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? And there were also
two other malefactors led with him to be put to death. 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. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his
raiment and cast lots. the people stood beholding and
the rulers also with him derided him saying he saved others let
him save himself if he be the Christ the chosen of God and
the soldiers also mocked him also mocked him coming to him
and offering him vinegar and say, If thou be the king of the
Jew, save thyself. And a superscription also was
written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew, This
is the king of the Jew. Look again at verse 34. Then
said Jesus, Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do. That's our text will be eventually
in our study. Now out of the larger context,
or the overall context, we will eventually settle into these
words that were spoken by our Lord from the cross. I think
there's more here than meets the eye or meets the ear. And so we will try to, this morning,
get a hand and a grasp upon that. Now, as you know, each of the
four Gospels, as we might expect, gives us an account of the crucifixion
of our Lord and all of those things that were involved and
that occurred. Now, every detail is not in every
single gospel. There are some things in one
that is not in another, and vice versa. But together, taken collectively,
they fill up the measure of the most unique and the most important
event in the scripture, and that is the crucifixion of the Son
of God, dying at the cross, bearing the sin of all of his people,
and God exacting from him justice for his law and for the iniquity
of the people that had been laid upon him. Now, before we get
to the six words that form our present text, Let's take a general
look at the death, the crucifixion of our blessed Lord. Because,
you see, there were certain events that accompanied His death, which
marked it and Him, His death and Him, as being beyond the
pale of the ordinary. This was no ordinary man, and
this was no ordinary death that he died. I remember a few years
ago that I preached a two-part sermon on the subject, Never
Man Died Like This Man. And the emphasis of that being
on those supernatural events that occurred in conjunction
with our Lord's death upon the cross. I'll just mention some. Matthew 27, 45, Luke 23 and 44,
that unique event when there were three hours of darkness
over all of the earth while the Lord was hanging in his misery
upon the cross. Three hours of darkness came
on the world on that day. Matthew 27, 51 and 52 tells us
about the quaking of the earth as our Lord there was dying upon
the cross. He tells us of the renting or
the splitting open of hard rocks as our Lord was dying and Matthew
tells us about the opening of the grave and the tombs of many
of the saints of God who came out of their grave after His
resurrection. And especially significant under
Jewry or Judaism, Luke 23 and 45, Mark 15 and 38, Matthew 27
and verse 51 tells us that the moment that our Lord died when he dismissed his spirit
into the hands of God, the separating veil in the Jewish temple in
Jerusalem was rent from the top under the bottom. That veil split
open the moment that Christ delivered up his spirit. And that signified,
as Spurgeon once wrote, that Christ's death was the end of
Judaism. And when Christ died upon the
cross, it put an end on the Judaism. The sacrifices are ended. The ceremonial law is abolished. There is a new and a living way,
as we find in the book of Hebrews, by the veil of his flesh. not behind a veil of curtain,
but through the veil of the flesh of our Lord. And not only that,
but the priesthood is changed. There is no longer the Levitical
priesthood, and soon the temple in Jerusalem would lay in utter
ruin. through Matthew 24, verse 1 and
2. So great then were the manifestation
while the Lord was suffering upon the cross and when He died. And when the soldiers which crucified
Him saw it, they feared, and some of them even said of a truth,
this was or is the Son of God. Matthew 27, 54, Luke 23, and
verse 47, that even those hardened men who crucified our Lord were
so taken by the events of His death that they confessed that
He was the Lord. So the many put to death on Golgotha
How many we do not know. Multitudes had died that awful
death upon the cross, but never had they seen it on this wise
as when Christ died. No other death had such an effect
upon creation as the death of our blessed Lord, or upon the
executioner, or upon the spectator, who come for the sport of the
execution. It was not so from that day unto
this has it ever been seen again. Neither the death of the best
or of the worst has caused creation to pay such homage unto a dying
one as when our Lord died upon the cross of Calvary. Now, another
thing. The Lord of us, Jesus Christ,
made several oral statements while he were hanging upon the
cross that day. and as he died. A.W. Pink has written a book, the
title of it, The Seven Sayings of Our Lord Upon the Cross. Here are some of the sayings.
Our Lord at one point said, John 19 and 28, I thirst. And that fulfilled a scripture. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Matthew 27 and verse 46. At one point, our Lord said in
John 19 and verse 30, it is finished. some of the great words of the
Lord upon the cross. And finally, he said, into thy
hands I commend my spirit, Luke 23 and verse 46. So our text
this morning is one of those sayings or uttering upon the
cross, Luke 23 and 34. Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do. And I think I agree with those
commentators and expositors who think that this was probably
the first utterance that our Lord made upon the cross. Soon after he was put there,
he made this first utterance. And is it true that Luke is the
only one that records this particular saying of our Lord? But it's
not weakened by any fact that it is only one time mentioned
in the scripture. So let's hear it again and the
connection between the two parts of the utterance of our Lord. The first half and the second
half. Father forgive them for they
know not what they do. Now of course, There are some
questions here that we ought to deal with, such as, how broad
is this prayer of our blessed Lord? Who is included in the
prayer of our Lord? And then, is this a prayer unto
salvation in their behalf, or a prayer pertaining to temporal
judgment that stood waiting by for Israel. Then the question,
who are the them and the they? Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. Is ignorance here a get-out-of-jail-free
card? That is, is ignorance an excuse
for sin? And will sin that are done in
ignorance be dealt with differently from those that are deliberate,
meditated, and willful? If this be the case, then ignorance
would be a good thing. As the old saying goes, ignorance
is bliss in the case of some. But then again, here's the first
part of the saying. Father, forgive them. And here comes into play the
them and the they and who they might be for us to understand. to try to give an answer, we
might compile a list of all of those who had a hand or a part
and were in some way involved directly in the crucifixion of
God's Holy One. So, let's see, who are they all
collectively that were involved in the crucifixion of our blessed
Lord. Now, some might see only the
Roman soldiers. They might not see past that
centurion and his men who took our Lord and actually crucified
him and carried out the deed. And yet the Apostle Peter lays
this very heavy charge both against the Jewish rulers and the people
of Israel. You'll find that in Acts 3 and
verse 17. Also to the rulers as a guilty
group in Acts chapter 4 and verse 11. Peter says, you builders
have set aside the stone. This was said to the rulers,
to the elders, to the scribe, and Ananias the high priest was
there, Caiaphas was there, John and Alexander were there, and
Peter spake this unto them. Acts chapter 4 and verse 5 and
verse 6. Again in Acts 5 and verse 30. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Now these words, Peter
said, and the Apostle, they said unto the council and the high
priest. The words were directed unto
them. Turning to Acts chapter 4 verse
26 and verse 27 of that passage, the kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus
whom thou hast anointed both Herod Pontus Pilate, the Gentile,
the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before should be done. Now all of these lifted up their
hand against Christ and all of these acted in one sense in ignorance. in blind and even willful ignorance,
they all colluded to crucify the Lord. In that they knew not,
1 Corinthians 2 and verse 8, which none of the princes of
this world knew, had they known, they would not have crucified
the Lord of glory. how troubled was Pilate to pronounce
sentence against the one he called, quote, this just person, unquote. Now all of these are deserving
of blame for their part in the crucifixion of the Holy One of
God. So the question again, for which
of these or all is our Lord praying? Now I tend, for what it's worth,
to agree with J.C. Ryle and others that the first
and main objects of the Lord's Prayer is, quote, the great book
of the Jewish people who were aiding and abetting his crucifixion,
unquote. For consider, they were the ones
that called for his death, they were the ones that persuaded
Pilate that he'd be pronounced guilty and condemned to die,
And yet they cried when Pilate said, I find no fault with him. Crucify him. Crucify him. They cried out very loudly. So this prayer is definitely
in their behalf. Then the question becomes, what
is the nature and the essence of the forgiveness that Christ
asked for in their behalf? forgive them. They have taken
one without sin. They have taken one wholly innocent
who had no guile or did ever any wrong unto any man and demanded
that he be crucified. And now the Lord said, Father,
forgive them. Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do. By the way, there's a good example
or comparison when we look at the prayer of dying Stephen in
Acts chapter 7 and verse 16. As he was being stoned by the
Jew, and before he died we read this, and he kneeled down and
cried with a loud voice. Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge. Now, Marshall's interlinear has
it like this, quote, place not to them this sin, unquote, literally,
in the Greek. The meaning of the word seems
to be lay not, do not fix it, do not set it, do not place this
against them. And the Lord adds, they know
not what they do. Now there's no question that
Stephen in that prayer refers to the Jews and the Jews only. For it was they, the Jews, it
was not the soldiers, and it was not the Gentiles that were
stoning Stephen to death. in that passage of the scripture. So back to the question then,
what is the nature, what is the essence of the forgiveness that
Christ and then Stephen ask for? No doubt Stephen is emulating
the Lord in his death as a martyr. First we ask, is it a universal
prayer? Does Christ include all without
exception in this prayer, are all intended to be the beneficiaries
of this great prayer. It does appear that during his
ministry the Lord's prayers were generally particular. And he
makes that clear in Luke 22 and 32 to Simon, that is to Peter. Peter, Simon, I have prayed for
you that your faith fail not. John 17 and verse 9, I pray for
them, that is, For the apostles, I pray not for the world, the
verse said, John 17 and 28. Again, neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their
words. Now, we remember here a part
of the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 53. To me, that's probably the
greatest messianic prophecy in all of the Old Testament. But
part of that prophecy, part of it in verse 12 of Isaiah chapter
53 simply says this, among all the other things that
he did, quote, and he made intercession for the transgressors, unquote. So the question is, does this
refer to his intercession on the cross or to his intercession
in heaven now at the right hand of God according to Romans 8
and 34. The second thing is, is this
prayer for forgiveness that they might repent and believe and
be justified, or is it a prayer that is peculiar to the Jewish
situation of that time and place? John Owen wrote on this, Volume
10, page 195. He said this, This prayer is
not for all men, neither for all of his crucifiers, but for
those Jews by whom he was crucified and who did it in ignorance."
Now another John, mighty in the word of God, this time John Gill
wrote, the Lord does not mention their ignorance as a plea for
pardon, but as a description of their state. Unquote. So let's take up the statement. They know not what they do. Here he is on the cross about
to die, giving his life, his life being taken from him as
he lays it down. And so we ask the question, what
is it here that our Lord is saying? Now, on one hand, when the Lord
said they know not what they do, we recognize that on the
one hand, they did know what they were doing. It was deliberate. It was intentional. They had
planned it, and they had devised it. and solicited Pilate and
the Romans that it might be carried out. They deliberately sought
Pilate to send the Lord Jesus unto his death, and they said,
crucify him, crucify him. Now they knew what crucifixion
involved, and they desired it for the Lord. They knew that
it was both shameful and that it was agonizing. They knew that
none ever survived the crucifixion of the cross, and they wanted
him put unto death, and they thought that he deserved it,
calling him a blasphemer and an enemy of Moses. They knew they wanted him dead. They were not ignorant of their
intention. On the other hand, they were
ignorant of two things. Number one, they were ignorant
of the true character and person of Jesus of Nazareth. Out of ignorance, they did it. Acts 13 and 17. Acts 13 and 27
said, they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they
knew him not, neither yet the voices of the prophets, which
are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled the prophets in
condemning him. Though he was approved of God
among them by many great things that he did, but they took him
to be an imposter and an enemy of Moses and rejected his claim
that he was the son of God and equal with God. But then secondly,
because of their first ignorance, They knew him not to be God's
Messiah. Because of their first ignorance,
their second was, as A.W. Pink put it, quote, they were
ignorant of the enormity of their crime, unquote. And that's a
statement that must stick in our mind. And I think that's
what the Lord is saying to them here. They were ignorant. of the enormity of their crime,
as to who they were putting to death upon the cross. And J.C. Ryle said they were ignorant
of the full amount of the wickedness that they were committing. They had no idea of the extent
of the wickedness that they were committing by evil hands in the
death of our Lord. Now let our emphasis be on the
word what. They know not what. They do. And let's look at that
and expound upon it. I understand it is the word tis
or tais which can mean who or what. And there are a couple
of places in the New Testament where this exact same word is
used that will help us to bring out more clearly the meaning
of the word what. They know not what they do. You remember in Matthew chapter
20, and we'll look at verse 22. But in that chapter, you remember
that the mother of James and of John, she came and she asked,
said, Lord, I got something to ask of you. I got a favor to
ask of you. What is it, woman? When you come
into your kingdom, grant that my sons may sit, one on the right
hand, one on the left hand. when you come into your kingdom
or glory. What did the Lord say? The Lord
said unto her, You know not what you ask. You know not what is
involved in the Lord entering into His glory and kingdom. Mark 10.37. That between now
and then, between now and the glory, was a bitter, bitter cup
of suffering and a baptism or an immersion into death. Between
now and then, between now and me entering into my glory, there
is the awful death of the cross. So they did not consider the
cost are the consequences of what was involved in rising to
glory and then sitting on the right hand of God. Besides, our
Lord says unto them, such an honor was only by the sovereign
prerogative of God. It is only given to them whom
God has chosen and prepared. I'd like to give you another
example, and this one you'll find in John chapter 4 and verse
10. You'll recognize that chapter
as our Lord's meeting with a woman of Samaria at the well of Jacob. And in the 10th verse, John chapter
4, in conversing with this woman, finally opening to her eyes that
he was indeed the Christ, But he says to her in verse 10, and
we have that same word, only here it is translated who, John
4 and verse 10. Jesus said to her, if you knew
the gift of God and who it is that said unto you, Give me to
drink you could have asked of him and he would have given you
living water now the word who is the same word what in our
text and in Matthew chapter 20 and verse 22 so the who Fixes
upon the person of Christ and who did the Samaritan woman?
Take Christ to be that's a very interesting meeting The first
thing she took him to be is found in verse 9, a Jew. You, being a Jew, ask a drink
of me, a Samaritan? Why, they have no dealings one
with the other. But then she listened a little
more and heard that he was not just an ordinary man, and so
she advances in verse 11, Sir. So she goes from Jew to Sir. Then in verse 19 when she hears
him tell marvelous thing she said sir I perceive you are a
prophet so Jew sir and prophet and finally in verse 29 John
for the Christ Is not this the Christ? Who was this one who
can comprehend apart from divine revelation? But let's go back
to Luke 23 and the words they know not what they do. They know not the enormity of
their crime. They have not at all a notion
of the enormity of their crime. And they have not a notion of
the consequences of the crime that they are committing. For
they're not putting an ordinary man to death. This is not some
ordinary man. This is not a common criminal
that they are putting to death. Neither were they saving Judaism
by putting this man to death upon the cross. Neither were
they doing a service unto God and His law as they imagined
in their heart. Neither were they preserving
the law of Moses or the temple in Jerusalem. And tell you what,
in Luke 23, let's go there again and drop back, if we might, to
verse 27 through verse 31. And notice the events during the procession from Pilate's
judgment hall out onto Calvary. Now they had conscripted or they
had compelled a man named Simon, a Cyrenian, to carry the cross. And that's in verse 26 of the
chapter. But look at verse 27. a great
company. Many were in the city for the
Passover at this season of the year. And so the city was filled
with foreigners and with tourists. There were what I'd like to describe
as a mixed multitude that journeyed along with the Lord as he went
out on the Calvary. Some were enemies, some were
supporters, Some he had healed and probably had blessed. Some
were simply bloodthirsty, and they could not wait to see his
blood flow. Some were simply gawkers and
curious, but also notice of women. There were quite a few women,
which also bewailed and lamented him. Now in Luke chapter 8 verse
52 you have a like statement. Some of these may have been paid
or professional mourners. We read was common in that day
and time. Though we read in Acts chapter
8 and verse 2 that devout men carried Stephen to his burial
and made great lamentation over him. Now We know from John 19
and verse 25 that Mary, who bare the Lord as to the flesh, was
there at the cross. We know her sister was with her.
Mary Magdalene, whom our Lord had blessed and saved, were all
at the crucifixion. They were there near Calvary,
beholding the event. We know in Luke 23, verse 49
all of his acquaintances the acquaintances of the Lord Matthew
27 and verse 55 many women from Galilee were there beholding
afar off when you read the New Testament you will find that
women showed many kindnesses unto our blessed Lord. Anyway, in Luke 23, we see what
the Lord says to the mourning women. And if you would, let
me read again. Verse 28 through verse 30, if
perhaps we didn't linger on it when we read. Verse 28. Jesus
turning unto them and addressing specifically the women lamenting
and wailing. Daughters of Jerusalem, weep
not for me, but weep for yourself and for your children. For behold,
the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the
barren, and the wombs that never bear, and the paps that never
gave suck. Then shall they begin to say
to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, cover us. Now the Lord had on earlier occasion
sounded a similar but a more extensive warning. You have it
in Matthew 24, 15 through 21, Mark 13, 14 through 19, Luke 21 and verse 20 through
24. What did He say in those passages
of the Scripture? He warned them there would come
a time when Jerusalem would be encompassed about with armies. It would be days of vengeance,
the abomination of desolation foretold by Daniel standing in
the holy place. people fleeing for their life
just about ahead of their death. These were spoken to the Jewish
people and nation generally. A great time was coming, an awful
time of judgment and of destruction. So here in Luke 23, verse 28
through verse 30, is more specifically spoken to the daughters of Jerusalem. Women who mourned and wept for
the Lord as He was being taken to Calvary. That their weeping,
says the Lord, is misdirected. That they ought to be weeping
for themselves and for their offspring. Why? Because in verse
29, days are coming There would come a time when it would be
said, blessed is the lady, the woman, the wife, who has never
born a child and who has never nursed one. That never nursed. Now all three synoptic gospels
put it, woe unto her that is with child and to them that are
nursing, quote, in those days," unquote. For it would pose a
great danger unto them. It would add another layer unto
their trouble and their distress to save themselves if they had
children either in the womb or nursing. In those days. It was not a rapture. But it
was the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. that our Lord is predicting. What Gil called God's vengeance
on the Jewish nation for their rejection and crucifixion of
the Messiah, unquote. Luke 21, 22. These be the days
of vengeance. theirs was the greatest evil
ever committed. The greatest evil done on earth
was the brutal killing of our blessed Lord and it deserved
therefore the greatest punishment or a great punishment and judgment. Now again in Luke 23 and verse
30 Their deep anguish, the extent of their misery and their suffering
that would come upon them is reflected in their calling for
the mountains and the hills to fall upon them. and to cover
them and to hide them, to shield them from the great days of desolation
that were to come. By the way, I won't read it,
but there is a verse, Hosea chapter 10 and verse 8. And you see this
again in Revelation chapter 6 and verse 16. These are figurative
hyperboles to emphasize their desperate condition that would
be visited upon them and their attempt to escape it or be shielded
from it. By the way, with that in mind,
mountains to fall, hills to cover, it reminded me of Job, who in
the midst of his physical misery, the attitude of his wife and
the counsel from his false friends that were given unto him said,
in Job 14 and 13. Oh, that thou would hide me in
the grave, that thou would keep me secret until thy wrath is
passed, appointed a set time, and remember me, unquote. That death would provide, he
thought, a drastic respite from that continual barrage that had
come against Him. Now no doubt, the miserable tormentors,
the miserably tormented who take their own life, those who commit
suicide, view it as an escape from the misery that they're
in in the world. They know not what they do. But
let's consider the mysterious saying of our Lord in Matthew
23, and 31. This will make you sit back and
scratch your head when you read what our Lord has said. For if they do these things in
a green tree, what will they do in the dry? And first of all,
we ought to notice. Number one, it has some connection
to what goes before by the word for. or because. Number two,
there is a contrast here between a green tree and a dry tree or
dead tree. How hard the green tree is to
cut down and then to burn. How easy is the dead tree to
take down and also to burn. Now commentators that I consulted
think that the contrast here is between the Lord, the green
tree, and Israel, the dead tree, or the dry tree. That if the
sinless Jesus, the powerful one of God, is so treated, what will
be done by the Romans to the apostate, self-righteous, hypocritical
Israel, the murderers of sinless Messiah? Let's return then to
verse 34, and the words they know not what they do. After
we recall Matthew 27, 25, when the Jews said this, and let his
blood be upon us and upon our children as they stood in