Will you turn back in your Bibles
with me to Luke chapter 23, to the passage which we read at
the beginning of the service. We began with verse 26. The scripture
here begins with the words and as they led him
away, and as they led him away. That is, they led the Lord Jesus
Christ away from Pilate's judgment hall. Pilate, the Roman ruler
of Syria, had set as a judge of the king of kings and the
Lord of lords. And his judgment was, as we read,
I find no fault in this man. That was his judgment, the judgment
of the judge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I find no fault in this
man. However, he ordered him to be
scourged, that is to be beaten. with a cat of nine tails, I believe
it was called, a whip that was made with pieces of bones in
it, beaten so that the flesh was lacerated. And not only did
Pilate say, I find no fault in him, but he also said he could be crucified. I think Pilate's desire was to
bring forth the Lord Jesus Christ after he had been beaten as he
was and present him before the people in Jerusalem. And as they
looked upon him, this mass of flesh that had been beaten and
mistreated in such an awful way, in fact, in Isaiah 52, There's
two verses of scripture which speak of our Lord in this position. When God said, Behold, my servant,
and we know that that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
servant of Jehovah. Behold, my servant, as many were
astonished at thee, his visage was so marred more than any man. and is far more than the sons
of men." It was Pilate's hope that they would have pity when
they saw the Lord Jesus Christ at the crowd in Jerusalem, that
they would have pity upon him and ask that he be released instead
of Barabbas. But the chief priest had made
sure that would not happen. And so Pilate ordered him then
to be crucified. And we see here, it seems that
they were afraid as they left, as they led him away, as they
left Pilate's judgment hall, they were afraid that Christ
would die before they got to Mount Calvary, that he would
die before He came to be crucified, so they immediately laid hold
upon a man named Simon, a Cyrenian, and had him to help bear the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Crucifixion was a Roman execution. The Jews never crucified anyone. Their way of execution was, of
course, by stoning. But this was something the Romans
had introduced as they were ruling over the nation of Israel at
this time. And crucifixion was reserved.
Not just every person who was guilty was crucified. Only the
worst of the worst were crucified. Slaves, they could be crucified. A free man would not be crucified. A slave would be crucified. and those who were guilty of
the worst of crimes. We know that his crucifixion
fulfilled a prophecy that had been given many, many years ago. In fact, Isaiah, some 600 to
700 years before this took place, he said he was numbered with
the transgressors. These two malefactors who were
crucified, one on the right hand and one on the left, the Lord
Jesus Christ was numbered with the malefactors. Now I have four truths, four
truths that I want us to see from this passage which include
his prayer, Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
The first truth I want us to see is how that on his way to
the cross and upon the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ exercised his three offices as mediator. The scripture says that there's
one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. There
is no other way to go to God except through the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the one mediator. God will
not be spoken to, and God will not speak to us in any other
way than through his son, the one mediator. And as the God-man
mediator of the new covenant, he has three offices. He's a
prophet, he's a king, and he's a priest. And we see this in
this passage of scripture here. First of all, he exercised his
office as a prophet. In verse 27, we read, and there
followed him a great company of people and of women, which
also bewailed and lamented him. Now, these were not paid mourners. We know that at that time that
That was a custom that you could pay people and they would come
to your house if it was a funeral or something like that and they
would mourn, they would bewail this awful thing. But these women
who followed the Lord Jesus Christ that day, they bewailed and mourned
him. They were not paid mourners,
but they were those who through pity, just natural pity, or such
a one bewailed and mourned him. But I want us to see that he
exercised his office as a prophet because he turned to them. As
it says in verse 28, he turned to them, saying, daughters of
Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your
children. For behold, the days are coming.
Now here's his prophecy. 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. When
did that take place? We know it took place in AD 70,
when the Roman General Titus surrounded Jerusalem, and the
people began to suffer because of starvation. And it is reported
by Josephus, who was a Jewish historian, that at this time,
the siege was so great, the travail, the suffering was so great, as
our Lord said, weep for yourselves. Because the time is coming when
people will say, blessed Blessed is the womb that never bare children,
the paps that never gave suck, because during this siege, evidently,
some even ate their offspring. That's recorded in Jewish history. Some, because of the suffering,
took their infant child and cooked that baby to eat. The prophecy of the destruction
that would come upon Jerusalem. Then we see his office as a king,
as a king. In verse 43, when he snatches
one from the burning, a brand from the burning, the scripture says in Ecclesiastes,
and Ecclesiastes was written by a king, by Solomon, there
is power. Where the word of a king is,
there is power. And who may say unto him, what
doest thou? This malefactor looked at the
Lord Jesus Christ and said, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. And he spoke the words of a king,
didn't he? Today, today thou shalt be with
me in paradise. That morning, that man got up,
headed for hell. And in the evening, he was with
the Lord in heaven. It's amazing grace, isn't it?
Amazing grace. And then we see his office as
a priest in verse 34. He prayed and made intercession
for the transgressors. Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. In Hebrews chapter five and verse
two, we read this about a priest. Remember a prophet, a prophet
comes from God to us. A prophet comes from God to us
with the message from God. And he is a revelation. of God. A priest goes from us to God. Now the work of a priest was,
of course, to offer a sacrifice, or sacrifices, yes. And that's
exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing here, being crucified. That one sacrifice for sins forever,
by which sin is put away. But not only did the priest offer
sacrifices, but a priest intercedes, prays for the people. And that's what we see here in
his prayer. Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do. It's interesting as I noticed,
the Lord Jesus Christ began his public ministry. Now, what do
we mean by his public ministry? The Lord Jesus Christ was born
into this world. He worked as a carpenter, we
believe, in Nazareth. And until he was the age of 30,
he was not preaching. He was a son in the home of Mary
and her husband, Joseph. But at the age of 30, he was
baptized by John the Baptist. And incidentally, that's the
age that priests entered under the law, Levitical law, that
was the age that priests began to do their service, at the age
of 30. And at 30, we believe he went
to John. If you look back here in Luke
chapter three, this is interesting to see that he began his public
ministry, and now here upon the cross, he is ending his public
ministry. He began with prayer, and he
ends with prayer. Luke chapter three and verse
21, we read, now when all the people were baptized, it came
to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying, and praying. The heaven was opened and the
Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and
a voice came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved son,
in thee I am well pleased. He began his ministry and ended
his ministry with prayer. That's a lesson for each one
of us. Whatever gift the Lord has given you, if you're one
of his children, He's given you a gift. He's given you a talent. And we are to serve him with
that gift and with that talent. And I think, of course, about
preaching, because the Lord has put me into the ministry. You
know, God has the gospel, this treasure, it's hidden in three
places, isn't it? It's reserved in the scriptures.
Here's where we read the gospel. It's in the hearts of His people,
and it's in a, this treasure in a clay pot. That's where God has put His
gospel, hasn't it? In the Word of God, in the heart
of the people of God, and we have this treasure. And that's
what the gospel is. It's a treasure. I wonder sometimes
if we look at it, if we just stop to think what a treasure
we have here. We take it for granted. Don't
take this church for granted. Don't take this message for granted. There are places all across the
United States, cities, towns, where you will not hear the gospel
of the grace of God. where you will not find a fellowship
of believers who love this treasure. Don't take it for granted. We
have this treasure in earthen vessels. It's a treasure, the
gospel. Some people think they have their
treasures in the bank, and they have their treasures in CDs,
and they have their treasures in gold, and these stocks and
bonds. Where their heart is, where your
treasure is, that's where your heart is. Where our treasure is, the gospel. This is where our heart is. What a blessing every time the
preacher begins to prepare a message. How do we begin? With prayer.
With prayer. And how should we end? With prayer. Sunday school teachers. With
prayer. Begin. End with prayer. Deacons. With prayer. End with prayer.
I mean, this just covers everything, doesn't it? All of our lives.
You get up in the morning as a child of God. Prayer. Prayer. Seeking God's blessing. God.
Let's see His face before we see the face of others. Let's
meet him in prayer before we meet others. And how do we end
the day as we close our eyes at night? In prayer, in prayer,
thanking the Lord, praising the Lord for the day, and asking
forgiveness for the failures. But that's the first thing I
wanted us to see. I wanted to see how the Lord
Jesus Christ, in this passage of scripture, exercised his three
offices as mediator. Second, I want us to see his
amazing love and interceding for his crucifiers. Now he's
at this point, if you look here in our text, chapter 23 and verse
33, And when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. He's at this point being crucified. And if you could, in your mind's
eye, just see him there. He's got a crown of thorns on
his head, and no doubt blood is dripping from his wounds from
the crown. He's had his beard plucked out. He's had his back smitten. By his stripes we are healed.
He's had his garments taken off. He's stripped naked, exposed
to the world, hanging between heaven and earth as though he
was rejected of all. Heaven wouldn't have him. and
earth wouldn't have him as he is being crucified. His hands
and his feet have been pierced. According to Psalm 22, they pierced
my hands and my feet. And they tell me those were not
just six penny nails that they drove through his hands. They were more like spikes, spikes. They drove through his hands
and through his feet. And then the, cross is set into
its socket and the jolt that is experienced there when the
cross is set up. And then think of the noise around
that place as he's being crucified, the noise of the crowd. You know,
we have a crowd here, don't we? I mean, sometimes on Sunday morning
if the musicians are not playing, it gets loud in here, people
visiting and talking. I mean, think of this crowd as
they were watching the Lord, they watched Him being crucified. The crowd, the noise around that
place, the jeers that were being hurled at Him. He saved others! Let Him save Himself. If thou
be the king of the Jews, save thyself, let him come down from
the cross, and we will believe him. He had saved others, right? One of the things that they hollered
forth, he saved others, he had saved others. I think of that
poor man that we know as the demoniac of Gadara, living out
there among the tombs. Was it a thousand demons in him? They couldn't restrain him. He
was so powerful and unclothed, living among the dead. And the
Lord Jesus Christ saved him, didn't he? And the people came
out to see what had happened, and there he is, this wild man,
clothed in his right mind at the feet of Jesus. He saved others. He saved Zacchaeus up in the
tree. There was a swindler, a tax collector,
evidently a deceiver. And yet our Lord said, today
salvation has come to this house. He saved others, and He could
have come down from the tree. Didn't He say, I could pray my
Father, and He'd send 12 legions of angels right now to deliver
me. But here's the truth, the fact
that you and I know, that He could not come down from the
cross and save others. God's justice must be satisfied. And that's what was taking place.
That's what was taking place here. The justice of God was
being satisfied by a substitute, the surety of the new covenant. But in the midst of all this
commotion and noise and everything that's going on there, if you
had been looking, if you've been watching him there, you would
see his lips begin to move. And what would you think he would
say? You think he would pronounce maledictions upon his crucifiers,
ask for vengeance to be poured out upon them? No. He prays for their forgiveness. Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. Now the emphasis is not on they
know not. Oh, they knew. They knew that
they'd cried out, crucify him, crucify him. They knew that he
was hanging before them on the tree. But the emphasis is on
they know not what they do. What was it that they did not
know? They knew he was being crucified.
They knew they had cried first crucifixion. But what was it
that they did not know? They did not know that he was
the prince of life. I want you to look with me in
Acts chapter 3. In Acts chapter 3, if you will,
verse 13, the apostle Peter is speaking. The God of Abraham and of Isaac
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son
Jesus, whom you, you, now who delivered him up? Those who were
around the cross, right? Whom you delivered up and denied
him, who denied him in the presence of Pilate? Those who were there
at the cross. when he was determined to let
him go. But you, you denied the holy
one and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto
you, and killed the prince of life, whom God hath raised from
the dead, whereof we are witnesses. Notice verse 17. And now, brethren,
now, brethren, I want, now that word we don't use. I know, that's
what he says, Peter says, I know, I want that through ignorance
you did it, as did also your rulers. That's what they did
not know and that qualifies for whom he prayed. Now there were
some there who knew. recognize that he was the King
of Glory, no doubt about it, some of the chief priests. And
they all should have known it. Everyone that was there should
have known that they were crucifying the Prince of Life. Why? Because
he had demonstrated by his life, by his miracles, by his teaching,
all of the prophecies that had been given through the Old Testament
that word which had proclaimed someone is coming. Someone is
coming. Well, how will we know when he
has come? These will be the marks. These
will identify him. They should have known, but they
did not know. Many of them did not know. And this Lesson itself is very
important. Men are responsible for what
they could know. Men are responsible for what
they could know. And again, we're reminded that
the sin of ignorance, the sins of ignorance do not excuse a
person from guilt. They still needed forgiveness.
even though they did not know what they were doing. One writer said, sin is always
sin in the sight of God, whether we are conscious of it or not.
It's always sin. And you know that's true in civil
society. You're driving your car and you're
going 40 miles an hour Policeman comes alongside of you or behind
you, and those lights are flashing. You pull over. You think he's
after somebody else, but no, it's you. It's you. And you pull
over, and he comes up to you and says, sir, did you know that
you're driving 40 miles an hour in a speed zone that's 30 miles
an hour? And you say, well, no, I didn't
know that. And so he says, well, have a
good day. I didn't know it. No. You're
responsible whether you knew it or not. Sin is always sin,
whether men recognize it as sin or not. God does. You know, we live in a society
today that has become so, so, dumbed down, I'm going to use
that word, dumbed down about what God's requirements are.
That people think, well, you know, why not live with another
person before you marry that person to see if you're compatible? Well, the reason you don't is
because God said thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not
commit fornication. I mean, we could go on and on.
People today just think, well, you know, everybody does it. Well, that must make it right.
If everybody does it, well, sure. If everybody does it, no, the
scripture says, for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God, all. His amazing love, right? And
He would pray for His crucifiers, those who crucified Him. The
third thing I want us to see that His prayer was answered. His prayer is, Father forgive
them for they know not what they do. Did His Father, did the Lord
God hear and answer His prayer? You know he did. Outside the
tomb of Lazarus, when the Lord called Lazarus out of the grave,
he made this statement. He said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard
me. Now listen. And I knew that thou
hearest me always. And then the Apostle John later
in his first letter writes to us and says, this is the confidence
that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to
his will, he heareth us, and if we know that he hear us whatsoever
we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired
of him. The Lord Jesus Christ is always
heard, was always heard, is always heard, because he would only
ask for that which is according to the will of God. Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do. Look here in our text in Luke
chapter 23 and see how this request was granted Even the Roman centurion in verse
47, when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God. He was just a soldier. He didn't
have any idea what this was all about. He was just following
orders. He wasn't interested in the Jewish
religion or anything else that had to do with the Jews. He was
just on assignment there. And so happened he was assigned
to watch over the crucifixion. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
died, he glorified God, saying, certainly
this was a righteous man. That was the answer to his prayer,
wasn't it? This man, he was involved in the crucifixion. He didn't
know anything was going on there, really. But he was forgiven. And then notice also there in
verse 48, and all the people that came together to that site,
beholding the things which were done, now watch this, smote upon
their breast and returned. What does that make you think
of? Smote upon their breast. Does it remind you of the parable
that the Lord Jesus Christ told about that publican who went
into the temple and smote upon his breast? God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. But where we really see, I believe
in Acts chapter two and three, on the day of Pentecost, and
shortly after that, on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 were saved. And they were those that Peter
charged with the crucifixion of Christ. This is what Peter
said to this crowd he was preaching to that day. Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, ye
have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. He
was preaching to the group, the crowd that had crucified the
Lord. We know that 3,000 of them were saved. And the same in Acts
chapter 3. We read the scripture just a
moment ago. I know that through ignorance
you did it, as did also your rulers. If you're here today and you
are a child of God, you know God, Christ prayed for you. He did. And not only did he,
but does he. Not only did he pray for you,
in John chapter 17, part of his prayer is, he said, neither pray
I for these alone, these 11 apostles, neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. How did you come to believe on
him? Through their word, right? Through their word. He prayed
for you. And not only did he pray for
you, but he continues to pray for you. Romans 5, Paul said,
for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through
the death of his son, much more, much more. Being reconciled,
we shall be saved by his life. He ever lives to make intercession
for all who come unto God by him. The last thing I wanted
us to see this morning is that the blood of Christ secures forgiveness
for the worst of sinners. Can you think of any sinner Can
you think of any sinner more guilty than to crucify Christ? To be guilty of crucifying the
prince of life. To be guilty of crucifying God's
darling son. What crime, what sin could be
any worse than that? But the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses even from that sin. I believe the hymn writer got
it right when he wrote these words. Depth of mercy, can there
be? Mercy still reserved for me. Can my God his wrath forbear? Me, the chief of sinners, spare. Yes, he can. Yes, he can. Through the blood of Jesus Christ.
When the Lord Jesus prayed this prayer that we're looking at
here, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Remember,
at that very time, at that very instant, he prayed that prayer. He was burying in his body the
sins of his chosen people. bore in his body the sins of
each and every one the Father had given unto him, that God
might be both a just and a Savior, a just God and a Savior. Well, this is so-called Holy
Week. Today is the day the Lord Jesus
Christ entered into Jerusalem riding on a donkey and received
with the hallelujahs and blessed is he that cometh in the name
of the Lord. Palm branches strewed along the
way and all across the world people are celebrating Palm Sunday. Think about that. On Sunday,
He's welcomed into the city with hallelujahs. On Friday, he's
crucified on a tree. But thank God on Sunday, he came
out of that tomb, didn't he? He conquered death for you. You don't have to fear death.
You don't have to fear the grave. Why? Because your savior has
conquered death and the grave. And on his girdle, he's got the
keys of death and of hell. And no one's gonna turn that
key. That is the time of your death,
but the Lord Jesus Christ. And hell is locked. to every
child of God will never be sent there. Why? Because he has the
key of hell. May the Lord bless his word to
each of us here today.