Now if you would turn in your
Bibles to Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter 23. My text this
morning is in verse 34, but we'll begin reading it to Luke 23 and
verse 32. This is, as I said, this is the
first message concerning the seven saints. And I include last
week as a foundation and as an introduction to this. That was
entitled Preaching from the Cross. And that kind of pervades the
whole series because what I'm going to be dealing with is the
words that our Lord spoke from the cross. There are seven sayings
recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And to be honest with
you, I don't know the exact order that he spoke these when he was
hanging on the cross, but this is generally accepted to be the
order. The first one found in verse
34 of Luke 23. And so let's get into this preaching
from the cross. Let's look at verse 32. Now, when our Lord was on that cross,
it says in verse 32, there were also two other malefactors. And the word malefactor means,
is referring to a criminal. There were two, there were two
other crim, now our Lord was not a, he was not a criminal,
but that's the way that humanity's lost, sinful, unregenerate humanity
look upon him. And so he, he said there were
two other malefactors led with him to be put to death. And when
they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, And
in your concordance, it shows you that's the place of the skull. That's Golgotha. There they crucified
him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other
on the left. So Christ was the man on the
middle cross. And again, I emphasize he's not
only man, he's God-man. Now verse 34 is our text. It says, then said Jesus, Father,
forgive them for they know not what they do. And they parted
his raiment and cast lots. Now we'll stop there. Father,
forgive them for they know not what they do. This is the word
of forgiveness. That's why I entitled this message.
And as the Lord spoke from the cross, Here's what we want to
know. What does that teach us? What
is he saying? What is the meaning of his words?
Father, praying to the Father, the Son of God, the God-man,
the God-man who is bearing the sins of his people, stated of
his enemies, he said, Father, forgive them for they know not
what they do. Well, let me give you several
things about this. I understand that we don't derive
all of this just from these words that he spoke, but from other
scriptures that shows us what he had in mind and what he meant.
And first of all, understand this. He spoke here of the Father
as the only source and power of the forgiveness of sins. You
need to realize only God can forgive sin. Now, over in Psalm
130, let me read you this. This is a cry of David, I believe,
for forgiveness. And he says in Psalm 130, verse
one, out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear
my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? If God were to charge
me with my sin, impute sin to me, who, any of us, who would
stand? None of us. But he says in verse
four, but there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be
feared. There is forgiveness with God.
You know, when Christ in his earthly ministry, he healed,
I think it was a lame man or a man who had the palsy. And
he told the man, thy sins be forgiven thee. And the Pharisees
and his enemies said that he blasphemed because they said
only God can forgive sin. Prophets recognize that. Micah,
prophet Micah, this is Micah 7 and verse 18. Who is a god
like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity? and passeth by the
transgression of the remnant, he retaineth not his anger forever,
but he delighteth in mercy. Now, when he asked the question,
who is a god like unto thee? That's a rhetorical question.
What he's saying is there's no other god like thee. You can
pardon iniquity, you can forgive sin. You see, remitting sin,
pardoning sin, is the same as forgiving sin. And so Christ
speaks in these words, Father, forgive them for they know not
what they do. You know, when people forgive
us when we have done them wrong, that's a blessed thing, isn't
it? And it's blessed for us to forgive. But only God can forgive
sin in the way of salvation. When you forgive me or I forgive
you, that doesn't save you or save me. But see only God can
forgive sin because ultimately all sin is against God and God
alone can ultimately and fully and righteously punish sinners
or pardon sinners, forgive them. Only God can do that. God is
the final judge of all and he judges righteously according
to truth the Bible tells us. No judgment of God is ever wrong. And God does not pretend when
He judges. He's not faking it. When He judges
His people righteous, it's real. And it's based upon Christ's
righteousness imputed. And that's God's judgment. That's
real. That's the mind of God. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Now, when God judges the workers
of iniquity to be guilty, that's real because of their sin. But no human priest, you know,
today in the Catholic Church and in other false churches,
you know, the priest will pronounce forgiveness and they act as if,
well, that's God's forgiveness. No human priest, no preacher,
no brother or sister in Christ has the power or authority to
forgive sins against God in the way of salvation. That forgiveness
that comes in salvation for sinners. As sinners, and especially as
sinners saved by grace, we are commanded by God, and we ought
to forgive one another, even our enemies. The command is clear,
forgive one another as Christ has forgiven us. That's unconditionally. But we can only forgive sin as
an injury done to us, not as committed against God. We can
only declare in the preaching of the gospel God's forgiveness
in Christ. And I know people raise scriptures
like this in Matthew 16, for example. Verse 19, when Christ
told the apostles, he said, I'll give unto thee the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall
be loosed in heaven. False churches claim, well, that
means we have the authority to release God's grace or to empower
it or something, and that's not what it's teaching. Over in John
20 and verse 23, the Lord made this statement of his disciples.
He said, whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them,
and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained. Well, what
does he mean there? What he's talking about is this.
We can tell sinners who forgives and how he forgives and why he
forgives. I can't forgive you or you forgive
me in the way of salvation. My forgiving you and your forgiving
me does not wash away our sins, does not save us. But I can tell
you, that's what he means, you know, whatever you bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on, when we preach
Christ and him crucified, as the only ground of forgiveness,
that's what we're doing. If you don't believe that, you're
not, you're, listen, if you go through your life in unbelief
and die in unbelief, you're unforgiven. You're bound. And so, whenever
we pronounce, we can tell sinners about this forgiveness. We can
tell sinners where and who forgiveness comes, from whom it comes. And
so Christ, when he spoke these words from the cross, he's showing
that God the Father is the only source of forgiveness. And then
secondly, he's speaking of his work as the surety, the substitute,
and the redeemer of his people. Why did Christ come to die on
the cross? He came to die to work out and
establish The only ground upon which God could and does forgive
our sins. The Messiah was sent into the
world, the Bible says, to take away our sins. Listen to 1 John
chapter three and verse four. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
the law. That's us by nature. We fell
in Adam, we sinned in Adam. We're born spiritually dead and
trespassed as a sin. We come forth from the womb speaking
lies. And sin is the transgression
of the law. And verse five of 1 John 3 says,
you know that he, Christ, was manifested, that he came to earth,
he was made to take away our sins. Now how was he gonna do
that? By suffering for our sins imputed
to him on that cross. And it says that in him is no
sin. What that means is we stand before God in Christ, no sin
is charged to us. Now he didn't say all this in
simply speaking these 10 words, Father forgive them, for they
know not what they do. But think about it, what was
he doing on that cross? He was suffering unto death.
Why was he doing it? His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. He told his
disciples, this is the reason I came into the world. He said,
if I don't do this, there'll be no spiritual life. The Holy
Spirit will not come. He was suffering unto death to
save his people from their sins. And what did it take to put away
our sins? I'll tell you exactly what it
took, the blood of the spotless Lamb of God. And this has been
the message of the Bible, the gospel from the very beginning.
The first thing that God did when he revealed to Adam and
Eve, the curses, the curse upon the serpent, the devil, the curse
upon the woman, and the curse upon the man. When he revealed
Christ as the woman seed, he slew an animal and made coats
of skin, the shedding of blood. He told Adam in the day that
you eat thereof, you shall surely die. The only answer to the justice
of God is death. That's the penalty. Because God
is so holy, he cannot just simply overlook sin. God judges according
to truth. And so that shedding of, that
slaying of the animal and making the coats of skin, that's a type,
that's where he established the sacrificial system of worship
that showed us the type of the Lamb of God slaying for the sins
of his people. His righteousness imputed to
his people. And this shows us three things
we have to keep in mind, according to the scriptures, in considering
what Christ the Lord has said here. Father, forgive them, they
know not what they do. Number one, now listen to this.
He was not asking for forgiveness based on their ignorance. Now
listen to it. Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. Do you think that means that
he's saying, Father, forgive them because they didn't know
what they were doing? Is that the basis of the forgiveness?
Well, let me tell you something. I made this statement last week,
and I want you to consider it again. The cross, the death of
Christ on the cross was the most glorious, the holiest event in
all redemptive history. In the whole purpose of God,
in time and eternity, this is the work of God. This is the
wisdom and the power of God. This is an awesome event. There
are a lot of things that when we consider the death of Christ,
God manifest in the flesh, on the cross for the sins of his
people. There are moments, all we can do is just stand back
in awe. It is the most glorious, it was the most glorious and
holiest event in all of history. But at the same time, the cross
was also the most depraved and sinful, murderous act of sinful
humanity. We meant it for evil. God meant
it for good. And ignorance is no excuse. Ignorance
is no excuse. In fact, now let me think about
this. Christ were saying father forgive
them on the basis of their ignorance. They don't know what they do.
Do you know what? Everybody would be saved. Everybody would be
forgiven. Because by nature we're all ignorant of the glory of
God in Christ. But ignorance is no excuse. The
Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy. This is 1st Timothy chapter 1
and verse 12. He says, I thank Christ Jesus,
our Lord, who hath enabled me for that. He counted me faithful,
putting me in the ministry. And then in verse 13, he says,
he put me in the ministry who was before a blasphemer, a persecutor,
an injurious, but I obtained mercy. And then he says, because
I did it ignorantly and unbelieve. Now again, Think about it. If
God saves sinners on the basis of their ignorance, all would
be saved because all of us by nature are ignorant of the reality
of the glory of God in Christ and his righteousness. I just
read that in 1 Corinthians in our reading and 1 Corinthians
2. The things that God has for his people, the things that God
freely gives his people, have not even entered the minds of
the natural man, not even the best of natural man. The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither
can he know them. They're spiritually understood.
So if God forgives sins on the basis of man's ignorance, then
everybody's gonna be forgiven. But that's not the case. The
Bible speaks of those who perish because they don't know God.
The Bible, Paul spoke of the lost Israelites who were ignorant
of God's righteousness going about to establish a righteousness
of their own. And they did not find salvation.
So what was Paul talking about when he made this statement?
I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief. Paul
was saying that this was his state. It shows that the only
way God could save him because of his state, because of his
depravity, because of his ignorance, the only way that God could save
him and all sinners whom God saves is by mercy. God must punish
all sin because he's a just God. So, not based on ignorance, But
what? Forgiveness for those who are
by nature ignorant and forgiveness based upon the merits of the
death of Christ. Only God can forgive sinners,
but even God cannot forgive sinners unless there's a just ground
upon which he can forgive sinners. Did you hear that? Ignorance
is not a just ground. Ignorance does not fulfill the
law. Ignorance does not satisfy the penalty. God, only God can
and will save sinners. He delights to show mercy. There
is forgiveness with thee. He delights to show mercy. But
only, but God cannot show mercy unless there's a just ground.
Now why is that? Because of who He is. He's a
just God. He must punish all sinners to
whom sin is imputed. That's why our only hope of forgiveness,
our only hope of salvation, is to be found in a way that God
can justly not charge me with my sins, but charge me with righteousness. And this is why the forgiveness
of sinners is so amazing, and so much by grace and mercy. Listen
to the words of the Apostle John. Listen to this, 1 John 1 and
verse 7. He says, if we walk in the light as Christ is in
the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. Now what cleanses
us from all sin? The blood of Jesus Christ. It's
not our ignorance. It's not even our faith. Our
faith doesn't cleanse us from sin. The blood of Christ does.
It's not our repentance. It's not our tears of remorse.
It's not our works, and it's not our baptism. That doesn't
cleanse us from, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from
sin. And then in 1 John 1.8, listen
to what he says. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Verse nine,
if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just. to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now,
what is the basis of forgiveness? The blood of Christ. When he
says, if we confess our sin, it's not our confession. Our
confession of Christ is not the just ground upon which God forgives
us. We confess Christ that if there
is not a conditional, if you do this, God will forgive you.
That's not what it's saying. It's an evidence of one who has
been given forgiveness based on the blood of Christ. You see,
that's what it comes down to. How can God justify sinners? What is it to be justified? It's
to be forgiven. Forgiven of all my sins, past
sins, present sins, future sins. And it's to be declared righteous
in the sight of God. Now how can God do that? That
question's posed back in the book of Job, Job 15, four, how
then can a man be justified with God, or how can he be clean that
is born of woman? There must be a cleansing, you
say. There must be a purging of all
sin. And how does that come about?
Not by my tears, not by my faith, not by my ignorance, it comes
about by the blood of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the man whose transgression
is forgiven, whose iniquities are covered. Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputeth not sin. That's what the blood of
Christ purges us from all sin. And this is where we see how
the gospel is God's revelation of the righteousness of God.
What is the righteousness of God? It's the merits of the obedience
unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ that brings about what? The forgiveness of sins. that
brings about a perfect righteousness whereby God is just to forgive
me. And you, all who are in Christ,
all who believe in Him. In Ephesians, look over at Ephesians
chapter one, this is something. Because how it's put, it puts
things in perspective for us. When Christ speaks of forgiveness,
and understand now, I'm preaching on His words from the cross,
but understand, that this Bible is His Word. And here He talks
about verse 3 of Ephesians 1. We're blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, that is, as
we stand before God in Christ, and by virtue of His blood, by
virtue of His righteousness imputed. Verse 4, according as He hath
chosen us in Him, Now see there, it's all in Him. Before the foundation
of the world, so it couldn't be based upon our ignorance,
it couldn't be based upon our works, it couldn't be based upon
our baptism, it was before the foundation that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will. Verse six, to the praise of the
glory of His grace. What does Christ teach us about
grace? That grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace cannot be earned
or deserved, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Now that acceptance in Christ
includes the forgiveness of sins. Verse seven, in whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace. You see that? The forgiveness
of sins. The way of forgiveness is the
way of the cross. The way of forgiveness is the
way of righteousness in and through Christ. This is the way of salvation. And it's all in and by the glorious
person and the finished work of Christ. The cross speaks of
God's love for His people, not which they deserve or earn, here
in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and
gave his son to be the propitiation for our sins. The cross speaks
of God's mercy and Christ is the only mercy seed. The cross
speaks of God's grace that reigns through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ. The cross speaks of peace with
God by the blood of his cross. The cross speaks of life given
to dead sinners. The preaching of the cross does
not stop with his death. He's risen. Why? Because he brought
forth righteousness for his people and it's upon that basis, that
ground, that God forgives his people of all their sins. But
now here's the second thing. When Christ on that cross prayed,
Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Now listen
to me. He was not asking his Father
to forgive everybody in the world, all people without exception.
His sayings from the cross, this is an intercessory plea, prayer
you might say, for them, Father, forgive them. Who are the them?
It's His people. God's elect. Those who were given
to Him before the foundation of the world. His church. What was he doing on that cross?
Purchasing his church with his own blood. Who is the church? It's the individuals, the collective
body of all the individuals who are sinners saved by grace, who
are called out of the world and into the sheepfold of Christ
by the preaching of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Are you a believer? How can I understand and know
that when he made this plea, Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do. How can I understand and know
that he means me? How can you know that he means
you? Well, do you believe in him? Do you rest in him as he's
revealed and identified and distinguished in the gospel, in the scriptures?
Who's he dying for on this cross? Paul wrote about it, Acts 20,
28, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock
over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, talking
about the preachers and the pastors and the elders, to feed the church
of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. In John chapter
10, verse 11, he identified his people, all those who are forgiven
as his sheep. He said, the good shepherd gives
his life for the sheep. That's what he said. And later
on he said, my sheep, they hear my voice. I know them and they
follow me and they won't follow another. And he'll keep them
to the end. Nobody's going to pluck them
out of his father's hand. Over in John 17, listen to this. John 17 is what we consider to
be Christ's priestly prayer for his people. And he talks about
who they are. He says, verse two of John 17,
and read this whole thing sometime when you get an opportunity.
He says, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, Christ
has power and authority over everybody. For what reason? That he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. That speaks of his church,
his bride, God's elect. And he says in verse three, and
this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Do you know the true
and living God? Well, look at verse six. I have
manifested thy name unto them. Christ has revealed the reality
of God to his people in the preaching of the gospel. And he says, I've
manifested thy name unto the men, which thou hast given me
out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. They believe the gospel.
They trust Christ for all salvation, for all forgiveness, for righteousness. They plead his blood. They sing,
what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my hope and peace. This is all my righteousness.
That's what they say. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
franks. I don't trust my ignorance. I don't trust any innocence that
I might claim because I'm not innocent. I'm a sinner saved
by grace. I don't trust my faith. I don't
trust my repentance. I don't trust my baptism. I trust
Christ. That's the whole idea. And he
says, look at verse nine of John 17. Now listen to this. I pray
for them. Now, who's the them there? He
said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Well,
here he says, I pray for them, the same them. And who's he talking
about? All whom the Father hath given
me. He says, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world. He doesn't pray for the world,
that's the unbelieving. Those who go through life in
unbelief and die in unbelief, I pray for them which thou hast
given me, for they are thine. They belong to you. I quoted it earlier, John 6,
37. He said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Have you
come to him? You know, if you did come to him, it wasn't by
your own power or goodness or will. It wasn't because of the
decision that you first made and then He responded. It was
because you're born of God, the power of God. The gospel is the
power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe. That's
the power of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to give dead
sinners life, to give us a will and a desire, a heart to come
to Him. So understand this now, He is
not praying that the Father would forgive everybody without exception.
He's praying for his people. Father, forgive them. They know
not what they do. And that also shows us that by
nature, we're just included with that mass of unbelieving, hateful,
evil, wicked humanity by nature. That's right. Here's a third
thing. On that cross, praying for the
forgiveness of his sheep, He was working out and completing
by His death a righteousness to secure salvation and all blessings
for His people. I copied this little article
written by Pastor Jim Byrd up in Ashland. And here's what he
wrote. I'm putting in a future bulletin. He says, if sinners were to be
saved forever, and that's what God intended, Several things
had to happen. God had to appoint a suitable
Savior. That's Christ. Divine justice
had to be satisfied. Only Christ could do that by
His death. The integrity of the law had to be honored. Sin had
to be destroyed. Satan had to be conquered. The
world had to be overcome. Death had to be defeated and
those for whom Christ died had to be made righteous and God
had to be glorified. And there's but one who could
do these things, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way he could
make all of these things happen was by his substitutionary death
upon the cross of Calvary. That's a good little synopsis
statement that shows how the forgiveness of sins and all that
comes with it, all the blessings and salvation, were all conditioned
on Christ and He fulfilled and completed all those conditions.
Summarized in that great phrase, the righteousness of God. Think
about it. That's what He was doing on that
cross. He was establishing the very
ground upon which God has forgiven His people. He did it. And that's our justification
before God. Forgiveness of all our sins,
the imputation of all righteousness. Let me read you some scripture
in closing. Listen to this, Acts 5 and verse 30. Peter preaching. He said, the God of our fathers
raised up Jesus whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Him have
God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior for
to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins.
It's a gift. Here's Acts 13, verse 37. I believe
this is the Apostle Paul preaching. It says in verse 37, but he whom
God raised again saw no corruption. That means Christ couldn't stay
in the grave dead because in his death he brought forth righteousness. Verse 38, be it known unto you
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, this person,
this God-man, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. By him all that believe are justified
from all things from which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses. The forgiveness of sins. Father
forgive them for they know not what they do. How long, how long
did we exist in this world before God brought us under the preaching
of the gospel and showed us the reality of His holiness and His
justice, the reality of our sins and our depravity, our lack of
righteousness, the reality of Jesus Christ crucified and raised
from the dead for salvation and the forgiveness of sin. Up until
that time that God brought us to a saving knowledge of Christ
to where we submitted to Him as the Lord our righteousness,
we didn't know what we were doing. Had they known it, Remember,
they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. We didn't
know until God taught us and showed us the forgiveness of
sins that comes to sinners by the blood of Jesus Christ. Okay.