Okay, now let's go back to Luke
chapter 23 and look at verse 34. Luke 23, verse
34. This is our Lord Jesus Christ
after He'd been led out of the city, led out to the hill called
Calvary, or Golgotha, and there they nailed him to the tree. They took those, I'm sure, rather
large nails, maybe spikes, nailed his hands, nailed his feet, fastened
him in such a cruel, barbaric way, and naturally, the natural
tendency of the human heart and the guilt of the nature that
we have by nature when we're mistreated in such an inhumane
way, we would lash out and we would probably pray, Father,
judge them. Father, deal with them in justice. But our Lord is not like us,
thank God. He says, Father, forgive them. Now those are words of grace.
I think of that Psalm 45 where it says, grace poured forth from
his lips. Words of grace. Father forgive
them, they know not what they're doing. And they cast, and they
parted his raiment and they cast lots. Well I'm taking the title
for the message from those words Father, forgive them. Father,
forgive them. Now these words of the Lord Jesus,
as He's nailed upon the cross, as He's dying as our substitute,
are one of those notable seven sayings that our Lord uttered
while He was dying for the sin of His elect. while He was dying
as a sacrifice for our sins. And to make full reconciliation
for our sin, to make full payment, to make full atonement for our
sin with His own blood, He redeemed us. He obtained for us eternal
redemption with His own blood. Now, as we finish our study here
in Luke, in the book of Luke, we've been going through the
last couple years. In the next few weeks, as we
finish chapter 23, we'll be looking at all of those seven precious
words that fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. Three
of those sayings are given in this chapter. We just read verse
34 where he says, Father, forgive them. And then down in verse
43, Luke 23, 43, the Lord says to that dying thief, Verily I say unto thee, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise." And then verse 46, when the Lord
had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. So we have three of them in this
chapter. The other four, let me make mention
of them. We'll come back and look at these
in the weeks to come. But in Matthew 27 verse 46, the
Lord there uttered, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? Now that's a tremendous thing
to consider. Martin Luther said, How can God
forsake God? Figure that one out. Why hast
thou forsaken me?" One reason, S-I-N, sin, he was made sin for
us. And then in John 19 verse 26, he beholds Mary, his earthly
mother, and says, woman, he doesn't call her mother though, he calls
her woman. Woman, behold thy son. Remember in the fullness of time,
God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law to
redeem them that were under the law. And then in John 19 verse
28, he uttered these words, I thirst, I thirst. There we see the Lord
Jesus Christ was a real man. And you think about what is being
said there. The one who created the oceans, the water, he said,
I thirst. The one who sat down on a well,
being wearied with his journey, and asked a Samaritan for a cup
of water. I thirst. He was a real man.
And we'll be looking at these as we go through this chapter.
And then, I love this statement, John 19 verse 30. He said, it's
finished. It's finished. Salvation is of
the Lord. The work I have done, the Father
had given me to do, it's done. It's finished. It's over. It's over. Now, verse 34 in our
text. Father, forgive them. The Lord prays
for somebody. Forgive them. Forgive them. Now,
what does every sinner desperately need right now in this life and
in his soul right now. What do you need? What do you
need right now? Take what you need. The Lord
Jesus Christ and forgiveness of sin found only in Him. You see, in the Lord Jesus Christ
we have complete forgiveness of all our sins against God. All of our sin, actual Past,
present, future, imputed sin, actual sin, sin of omission,
commission, all sin forgiven right now because what the Lord
has done for us in putting away our sin. The blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all our sin. Now, we don't need partial
forgiveness, do we? Boy, there's one sin left unatoned
for. I'm going to hell. We don't need
partial forgiveness. That will not get the job done.
And we don't need temporary forgiveness. That won't work either. What
every sinner needs is complete forgiveness, eternal forgiveness
from all our sins, the guilt of it, the condemnation of it. Complete forgiveness. Oh, what
a joyous thing to think about. If you know yourself to be a
sinner, what a joyous thing to think about. Now, where is such
blessed forgiveness from all sins found? Well, we know the
answer, don't we? Only in the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. This is exactly what the Lord
is declaring to His people from the cross as He utters out for
all to read and to hear, Father, forgive them. Father, forgive
them. Now, I know this. Every prayer the Lord Jesus Christ
prays for His people and every prayer that He utters will be
fully answered. Those for whom He prays and says
these words, they are forgiven. They are forgiven because He
always prays according to the will of God and He does so perfectly,
perfectly. It reminds me of another prayer
if you would find over here in John 17, John chapter 17 in the
Lord's High Priestly Prayer, you remember verse 24? Father,
and I often use this in a funeral service, Father, I will, that
they also whom thou has given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory which thou has given me for thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. Everyone for whom the
Lord calls out to himself, that prayer is answered. Father, forgive
them. He prays as our Great High Priest. He prays perfectly according
to the will of God, and everything we ask according to His will
will be done. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
Great High Priest who intercedes for us effectually and eternally,
and He does so upon the merit of His blood sacrifice. He does
so upon the merit of His glorious person. You see, We need a mediator
because we're sinners, guilty before God. My friend, we have
a mediator, and that one mediator between God and men is the man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We need an advocate with the
Father because we're sinners. John says, my little children,
these things I write unto you that you sin not, but when you
do, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. The Lord Jesus Christ ever lives
to make intercession. He ever lives to make intercession
for us. Let me read this to you. Don't
turn. This is familiar to you. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect, Romans 8, 33.
It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth. It is
Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. He ever lives to intercede for
us because we have right now the complete forgiveness of all
our sins. Now, let me make this statement
as clear as I can. With this feeble body, with this
earthen vessel of clay that I am plagued with, Paul says, seeing
we have such a hope, we use great plainness of speech. Now, let
me speak to you clearly as I can. Number one, sin is hard to put
away. It's hard to put away. Sin is impossible to put away
by the deeds of the flesh, by the deeds of the law. The blood
of bulls and goats, we read in Hebrews 10. The blood of bulls
and goats, verse 4, cannot put away sin. Sin is impossible to
put away by the deeds of the law, by the deeds of the flesh.
Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified
in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin, not the removal now. The knowledge of sin, the law
reveals that we are sinners. But the law never puts away sin.
Sin is impossible to put away by the sacrifice of the blood
of bulls and of goats. It cannot put away sin. Sin is
not put away, listen to me now carefully, A lot of people get
messed up on this point right here. Sin is not put away by
repentance. A lot of people think if they're
sorry enough and shed enough tears that somehow their sin
is going to be put away. Sin is not put away by your repentance
or by your sorrow over sin. We are to be sorry and broken-hearted
that we've sinned against God, but that does not make an atonement
for sin, does it? No, sir. He's nigh them of a
broken heart, but He does not save them because their heart's
broken. He saves them because of Christ crucified. That's right. Here is love, not that we love
God, but He loved us and that He sent His Son to be the sacrifice
for our sin. You see, my friend, if God grants
you true repentance, you know what true repentance acknowledges?
True repentance acknowledges that my sin is put away by the
sacrifice of Christ. That's what true repentance comes
to, and that's what the Lord brings us to. We are redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ. So sin is not put away by repentance,
deeds of the law, or by blood animal sacrifice. Sin is put
away by Christ. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Here's
another point people get messed up on. Sin is not put away by
your faith. Sin is not put away by your faith.
My faith did not die for my sin. My faith did not die for my sin. True faith, that's the gift of
God. True faith, the faith of God's
elect readily acknowledges and confesses that sin is put away
only by the effectual blood atonement of Christ. If you've been given
and granted faith in Christ, you know that He is the one who
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. You mean I didn't
have anything to do with it? That's exactly what I'm saying.
He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So repentance doesn't
put away sin, faith doesn't put away sin, Christ puts away sin. Here's another issue and I bring
this up because so many people are confused about it today.
Paul said we're accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption
the forgiveness of our sin through his blood according to the riches
of his grace. But a lot of folks think that
water baptism puts away sin. A lot of people think, well,
our sins are washed away by water baptism. Now that's just not
so. The word of God says we're justified
by the blood of Christ. Baptism, like faith and repentance,
baptism, when we confess as a believer, we confess the Lord Jesus Christ,
His death, burial, and resurrection is all our hope. We're confessing
that salvation is of the Lord. And we're identifying with the
gospel, identifying with the Lord, but it does not put away
sin, does it? My soul, where have we gone?
But a lot of people They trust their baptism for salvation. The preacher told me that when
I'm baptized, I'm regenerated by the Holy Spirit. When I'm
baptized and I put in the covenant, my sins are all washed away.
Lie, lie, lie. It was justified by the blood
of Christ. True baptism, that's confession,
A faith in Christ acknowledges that Christ put away our sin.
You see the difference? Now, when the Lord says, Father,
forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. He's asking
for forgiveness, not upon the fact that they're ignorant, but
upon the fact that He put away their sin. Now, we are ignorant. We are ignorant. We're born that
way. The second thing I know is this. The Lord prays as our
great high priest interceding for his people. He doesn't say, Father, forgive
everyone in this world who had ever sinned one time against
you. He doesn't say, Father, forgive
all the sinners in this world of all their sin. He doesn't
say that, does he? He speaks with a specific thing,
talking about specific people. Father, forgive them. Now who
are these people? Who are the them? The Lord Jesus
Christ only made atonement for His elect. Now we insist upon
this to our dying breath. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
die in vain. He does not pray in vain. He
made atonement, full atonement, only for His elect. We read in
Ephesians chapter 5, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ
loved the church and gave himself for it. And then Paul, when he
preaches his last sermon to the elders at Ephesus, he reminds
them to feed the church of God, which he purchased with his own
blood. So when we talk about the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we say it is a definite atonement.
He prays for them because He's dying for them. You see that? And we preach and believe a particular
redemption. The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed
His bride and He only prays for His bride. Father, forgive them. Now, in John 17 verse 9, again,
the Lord's priestly prayer, He says, and here's what He says,
verse 9, John 17, I pray for them. same people he's praying
for right here, Father forgive them. I pray for them, I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for
they are thine." I pray for them. I'm not praying for every man.
The Lord Jesus Christ didn't come down here to make an effort
to try to make salvation a possibility for all men everywhere. That's
a fairy tale. That's not in this book. He came
down here and the messenger from heaven said, call his name Jesus,
he shall save his people from their sin. And that's what he
did. He is the Savior who saves. Who are these people? Sinners.
ungodly, ignorant, lost, dead, sheep, who are chosen of God
in that eternal covenant of grace. You mean God elected the people
unto salvation? Exactly. That's exactly what
this book teaches. He's able, we read in Hebrews
7, He's able to save them to the uttermost, all that come
to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for
them. The Lord said in John 6, Paul, that the Father giveth
to me, shall come to me, and those that come to me, I will
in no wise cast out. The Lord plainly says, I lay
down my life for the sheep. He is dying for His covenant
people, and He did so from all eternity in that eternal covenant
of grace. He stands as a Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Because Christ died for them,
and prays for them, They shall be saved, justified
by His grace. Justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, forgive them. And they are. They're forgiven.
They're forgiven. Now notice this too, thirdly.
The Pharisees, verse 35, and the people stood beholding, and
the rulers also with them derided him. I mean, they mocked him,
they railed on him, saying he saved others. Over in Matthew
27, it says, they said to him, if you're the Christ, come down
from the cross and we'll believe you. They wouldn't have believed
it. They wouldn't have believed him.
The rulers also with him derided him, saying, He saved others,
let him save himself, if you're the Christ, the Chosen of God.
They mocked him as the Savior. Oh, you're the big Savior you're
talking about. Well, you saved yourself. You saved yourself,
and we'll believe you. He saved others. He cannot save
himself. Now, my friend, thank God he didn't save himself.
God who spared not His own Son delivered Him up for us all.
How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? He
could not save Himself in order to save us, to justify us. So even though they mocked Him
as the Savior, they did so because they hated God. The second thing
we see there about these people who derided him, the soldiers
also mocked him." Verse 36, "...coming to him and offering him vinegar."
Now that's not going to quench any thirst, it's just going to
aggravate the thing. Verse 37, "...saying, If thou
be the king of the Jews, again save yourself." So they not only
mocked him as the Savior, they mocked him as the king. As the
king. If you're the king, they taunted
him and mocked him. If you're the king, let's see
you exercise your power. You have all power in heaven
and earth? Just come down off that cross." Oh, because he is
the king, he stayed there making full payment for our sin. Now, here's what we need to keep
in mind. It was not the nails that held him to the cursed tree. It wasn't those nails. He could
have just made those nails disappear with a word. What held Him to
that cursed tree as He dies for us as the substitute? It was
His love for His people. As He bare our sin in His own
body on the tree. Don't turn because you're familiar
with this, but in Romans chapter 5, we read verse 6, For when
we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God committed his love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." Justified
what? Justified by his blood. The Lord said this, hereby perceive
we the love of God because he laid down his life for us. We
ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Remember when they
came to arrest him? He said, you don't have any power
over me to take my life, to crucify me. I lay down my life and I
do so willingly. No man takes my life from me.
I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my father. It was not the
nails that held him there, it was God's love for us. It was not the Roman soldiers
that made sure no one took the Lord Jesus Christ down from the
cross. It pleased God to bruise him
in our room and in our stead. God held him there, the holy
justice of God. held him there because God spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Because Christ
did not save himself from that appointed hour, that appointed
sacrifice, but willingly gave his life for our sins and made
complete atonement for those sins, it is only by the sacrifice
of Christ crucified that we have right now the complete forgiveness
of all our sin, because He made complete payment for our sin,
for the sin of His people. Not a partial payment, but a
complete payment for our sin. He bought us with His own blood. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, as of the Lamb, without blemish
and without spot. Now, how do we know what He did
got the job done? Now he did die. He died for our
sin according to the scripture. They did take his dead body down
from a tree. And they did, we're going to
read about Joseph, beg the body and bury that body in a new tomb,
not a borough, but a new tomb. And on the third day, He walked
out of that tomb. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again because He justified us. That's how we know He made
full, complete reconciliation, redeemed us from all our sins. His resurrection, but not only
His resurrection on the third day. Forty days later, as He
walked among men, demonstrating that He is risen from the dead.
Forty days later, what happened? He ascended to glory and he sat
down on the throne of God. The God-man mediator. A real
body. The God-man sits on the throne
of glory, wherever that is. He's on it. He occupies it. He
has all power in heaven and in earth. Now, here's the fourth
thing. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
made complete, full, and total payment for our sin, so much
so that He says that our sin does not even exist in the presence
of God. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Remember? We read a moment ago
in Hebrews 10, God said, their sin and their iniquity will I
remember no more. Now God who knows all things
and has never forgotten anything, He said their sin and their iniquity
I will remember no more because they do not exist, they are gone.
In Jeremiah 50, let me read this to you. In those days and at
that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought
for and there shall be none. The sins of Judah and they shall
not be found for I will pardon them Them, I'm going to underline
that word. Them, my reserve. There's that
them again. I'm going to pardon them. I pray
for them. I died for them. I'm going to
call them. Now listen to these Scriptures. Don't turn, let me
just see if I can quote some of them to you. In Isaiah 38,
7, it says that our sin is cast behind His back. And then it
says in Micah 7, 19, they are cast into the depths of the sea.
And then you know this one by heart, Psalm 103. He says, your
sin is separated from you as far as the east. East is that
way. Far as the east is from the west. Separated. Our sins are separated
from the presence of God. Isaiah 44 says, they're blotted
out as a thick cloud. Now, it is upon the full-blooded
atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ that we can sing right now as
we just did a moment ago, It's Well With My Soul. Not because
of anything I've done. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
put away our sin. Now, in closing, let me give
you this. And this is a vital question.
I want you to take this personally. How can I know that Christ died
for me? How do I know that the Lord Jesus
Christ put away my sin? I mean, I can't look into the
land book of life to see if my name is there. If I could, whose
name would I look for first? Wouldn't be yours, be mine. How can I know that he put away
my sin? How can I know that I have in
my possession right now the complete forgiveness of all my sin that
I stand in Him justified by His grace? I want to know. I want to know right now. The
only way that's revealed in this book, there's just one way to
know, and that's by faith in Him. By faith in Him. Not feelings. Well, you know,
I just feel like I'm saved. Don't trust your feelings. Martin
Luther said, feelings come and feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. My want is a word of God. Nothing
else is worth believing. So don't trust your feelings.
Don't trust your ceremonial tradition. Only one way. that we can have
any confidence of our sin being forgiven, and that's by faith
in Him. Now make sure you trust in the
right Christ, the Christ of God. We read, I think it was last
week, Hebrews 12, where the Lord said, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith, looking unto Him, who for the
joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. The only way
we can know we have the complete forgiveness of sin and were justified
from all our sin is by coming to Him by faith and resting in
him." John 6, 35. He that believeth, I am the bread
of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. I want
you to turn and read this one with me. In Acts 13, when the
apostle Paul is preaching his first sermon, public sermon,
as he travels around in Acts 13, verse 38. Now what would this great apostle
say about the forgiveness of sin? How do we know anything
about it? Be it known therefore, Acts 13, 38, be it known unto
you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. You see, it's his blood, his
atonement, and by him All that believe are justified from all
things which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. By him all that believe... You see, faith is a gift of God,
is it not? He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. This is eternal life, that they
might know thee the only true God, Jesus Christ. That, my friend,
is the good news of the gospel. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am the chief one. He came to seek
and to save the lost. He came, not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. And the Lord Jesus Christ died
for the ungodly. Now, here's my thought. Oh, may God give us faith in
Christ to rest in Him. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. Without faith, faith, faith.
Father, forgive them. Forgive them. They're forgiven.
They're forgiven. I tell you what, that's the basis
upon which we forgive one another. If we've been forgiven, you know
what we'd like to do? To forgive one another. He writes
that in Ephesians chapter four, we're to love one another and
to forgive one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven us. That's how we demonstrate that
we've been forgiven, by forgiving one another. May God help us
to believe the gospel and rest in Christ.