The Word of Forgiveness

Sam.

Good morning, church. We’re starting a new sermon series today, seven weeks talk, talking about the seven last words of Jesus. And we, during our study break this year, just contemplating how do we as a church prepare ourselves for Easter? Easter is in April this year, and it seemed to me a perfect way to do that would be to look at the four Gospels, to look at each of them, and to discover those words that Jesus spoke from the cross. And so for the past few days, we’ve done that in our study time.

We’ve looked and we said, okay, this one happened first, and we’ve ordered them up. And so what we’re going to be doing over the next seven weeks as we approach Easter is considering what Christ said from the cross and letting that prepare our hearts and minds and get us stoked up really for the resurrection and just thinking about what’s revealed to us through Christ’s seven last words. And so today we’re going to consider the first saying that’s found in the book of Luke. You see, I’m just convinced as we look at this today, the word we’ll be considering is the word forgiveness, because we see that as the first expression from Christ’s heart is this word forgiveness is the first thing he talks about from the cross. Greg Laurie talks about a very successful businessman in one of the books he’s written who kind of summed up his life in his last words.

It says he opened up a chain of restaurants across the country, and when it was his time to die, his whole family surrounded him there around his deathbed and realized he had only seconds to live and gave his last words. So they all leaned in to hear what this famous restaurateur would say to his family with his last words. And so as they leaned in, they could barely hear. He spoke it just in a whisper. He said, slice the ham thin.

That really summed up his life, didn’t it? P.T. barnum, that famous person who came up with the whole circus idea that made his fortune traveling the world on his deathbed, asked how were the receipts today at Madison Square. It was his last words of question. He wanted to know how business was going.

We often, in our last words, we kind of summarize our life, or at least what we’re concerned about.

Some people’s last words are not as revealing because they, well, they didn’t know they were passing away. It came on them suddenly. Bing Crosby died on a golf course in Spain. His last words were, hey, that was a great game, Fellers. Elvis, who died of a heart Attack in his bathroom, told a friend, I’m going to the bathroom to read.

Some are aware of their last words. Joe DiMaggio, the famous baseball player, said, I finally get to see Marilyn. Speaking of his love for Marilyn Monroe. James Brown, the singer said, I’m going away tonight. Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa said, don’t let it end like this.

Tell him I said something important.

And then there are those who face eternity with faith. People like DL Moody, the great evangelist who said, I see the earth receding and heaven opening. God is calling, Stephen, in the Bible, the first martyr, the first Christian martyr. His last words. Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.

My father, Claude Combs, died at age 39. I was only 8 years old after a year long battle with cancer. He was laying there in the hospital with his father and his mother, his sister, one of my aunts, surrounding the bed. My mother had been there for days on death watch, as some people refer to it. But she finally was so exhausted and so worn out by watching his suffering that she went down to the chapel in the hospital and she changed her prayer.

For a year she had prayed, Lord, heal him of this cancer, Lord, heal him. Lord, heal him. And we all did. The whole family prayed. But that night, as she bowed her knees in the chapel, she said, lord, I can’t take it anymore.

I can’t stand to watch it anymore. Lord, if it’s yous will, take him, heal him or take him. Either way, he’s healed. And in that very moment, my father passed away. As my mother surrendered him to the Lord, we often reflected as a family.

Was it her prayers that kept him there? I don’t know. But certainly it was interesting to us and comforting to us that he was surrendered to the Lord at that moment. So she missed his last words. My aunt who was there, she repeated these words to my family.

My grandmother, my grandfather, they repeated these words to my family. So they came home to tell an 8 year old boy, me about these words. And so to this day, I’m 58 now. So 50 years later, trust me, I know the words by heart. They were his last words to his family.

He was a man of faith. He said to his father, take my shoes off, Daddy. And my grandfather, we called him Paul. Paul said, son, you’re in the bed, you don’t have any shoes on. He said, take my shoes off.

I’m about to walk on holy ground. He said, I can see over the hedge. And that was his last words. The doctor Said it was the morphine. My family knew better last words.

They are as various as the people who speak them. One day every one of us will say our last words. Every one of us. Christ had last words on the cross. And his are more astounding.

Any superlative that you would ascribe to anything, ascribe them to his words. The most fantastic, revealing from the heart of God and perhaps this first word as much as any Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. Let’s unpack it. Now we’re going to be looking at the seven last words of Jesus as they were recorded in the four gospels. None contain all seven.

This is interesting. You look at Matthew, it has two or three, Mark has two or three. You have to read all four gospels together to get all seven. And then working out the order of it was part of our study this week to make sure we in terms of the chronology of how they appeared and the timing of it, we’re going to be delivering them in the best we can understand the chronology that the four gospels together give. In the Gospel of Luke, we have this record.

It’s the only Gospel, by the way, that records these words for Father, forgive them. That’s where we’d be looking today. We have the record of Christ’s first phrase on the cross and it has a word of forgiveness. It was a prayer to his Father that he would forgive those who were crucifying him. In this prayer, Jesus revealed the essence, the boundless forgiveness of his heart for us, the boundless forgiveness.

And as we look at this, I wonder how. How can we experience that today? How can we experience the boundless forgiveness of Christ? Do you know this forgiveness, this forgiveness that has no limitation, no bounds. And as we look at the text today, I think we can see three steps on how to experience the boundless forgiveness of Christ.

Are you ready for this? We’re going to be digging in now on this first saying of Jesus from the cross. Let me give a little background in the reading. So I’m going to start. Even though our screen will only show his words, I’m going to start at verse 32 of chapter 23.

It says this. Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they cast lots to divide his garments.

This is God’s word. Amen. We’re considering now the first words in that list of seven that Christ gave from the cross. So we’re digging in now how to experience the boundless forgiveness of Christ. Here’s the first.

Recognize your part. Recognize your part in Christ’s crucifixion. Father, forgive them. They know not, for they know not what they do know not. This is the idea of having an unawareness, an ignorance of the act they’re performing properly.

It’s the idea. This word know here is the idea of to see something without understanding it. It’s not so much about knowledge, which is more about head knowledge. This is more about experiential knowledge in the sense of the way the Greek word is used here. It’s more the idea of seeing something but not perceiving what you’re seeing, not understanding it.

So there are people who see the cross. You see the cross, don’t you? You’ve heard this story. You’ve grown up hearing the story of the cross, but do you understand what you’ve seen? These people, Jesus said, father, forgive them.

They don’t understand what they’re doing. They don’t understand what they’re seeing.

In Leviticus, however, though we’re taught that this ignorance that they have, this unawareness of what they’re doing does not excuse their action. In Leviticus, it says, if a person sins and commits any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord, though he does not know it, yet he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity. Or as the Romans said, ignorance of the law excuses not. We still say that today in American law. I still remember when I was 16 years old, I just had gotten my driver’s license.

I was a bag boy at Giant Supermarket and I had been driving down Euclid highway in Bristol, Virginia, and I would drive down and I would go to McDonald’s during my lunch break on Saturday and get myself a hamburger. And then I would have to turn out because it was a four lane highway with a median. Turn out, get in the turn lane and make a U turn and go back to Giant supermarket. I did this Saturday after Saturday. One particular Saturday, I pulled out of McDonald’s, pulled into the median, turn lane, made my U turn and I didn’t get.

I didn’t get even halfway down the road and I got pulled over, blue lights in my rear view and I’m like, what in the world? I’m not speeding. I’m like, you know, I’ve just got my license and so I’m Thinking I’m doing everything right. And the guy says, that was a no U turn back there. I said it was not.

I was 16. But I was cocky. And he said, it is. He said, there’s a sign back there, young man, and you, you broke the law. And I said, there is no sign back there.

I’ve been making that turn forever. He goes, trust me, there’s a sign back there. If I’d have been smarter, I might could have not gotten the ticket. But I wasn’t smart, I was young. So I got a ticket.

So I go back to Giant, Giant Supermarket. I’m complaining about this thing. And a couple of the older people there, a couple of the cashiers and stuff said, yeah, I think they put that sign up a couple of weeks ago. You’ve probably been running that thing for a couple of weeks. I said, I’ve been doing that every Saturday.

Well, the sign’s been up for a couple weeks and we’ve noticed it. So being the kind of person I was, I’m not going to pay this ticket. I’m going to go to court. And so I know this fact. The judge said to me, I’m standing there in my 16 year old body and he said, son, ignorance of the law does not excuse breaking the law.

He goes, but I’ll tell you what I’ll do. Just because I’m so impressed by your representing yourself here, I called a witness. I was like, I’d like to call the officer who gave me the ticket back up to the stand.

I’m not saying I was smart.

He was. With a smile on his face, he said, I’m not going to charge you the penalty, but I am going to charge you court costs for wasting our time. Today I learned something that day. Ignorance of the law does not excuse. But Christ, Father, forgive them.

They are ignorant of what they’re doing to me.

You see as he’s saying that they’re gambling for his clothes. I must say to you that if somebody punches me in the mouth, I don’t feel forgiveness. If someone punches me in the nose, it’s like a light goes off in my head that says, hit him back. It’s just human nature. But there they are crucifying him and mocking him.

He defends not himself. Like a sheep led to the slaughter. Father, the reason I came here, I know what you’re feeling right now. I can feel it because we are one. I feel your wrath boiling.

I feel your desire to destroy. I feel it. They’re killing your son. You sent me your love Sent me. But your wrath is just as true as your love.

See, this is the thing about God. Every emotion he has is 100% pure, unadulterated. It’s pure, pure love. It’s so hot that it burns. Kind of love and pure wrath.

Not selfish wrath, wrath that goes against injustice. And the most injust moment that ever happened on planet Earth was happening at that moment, the son of God was being killed by sinful men. He said, father, I know what you’re feeling. Forgive them, they are killing me. But they are unaware of who they’re killing.

They don’t realize they’re crucifying the Savior.

You see, the thing is, we all have a conscience. We’re born with it. God puts it there. And early on we start knowing right from wrong. All you have to do is be with me yesterday at the birthday party and watch these toddlers.

They’re all a bunch of little pagans in my family. All these little toddlers walking around. It’s like chaos. I’m the old guy now. Who looks for a chair?

Can I find a chair somewhere to sit down? And I’m sitting there. They’re all over. It’s like ants in the front yard. At my son Jonathan’s house yesterday.

Hey, don’t go there. Well, where’s he going? He’s going to go there, exactly where you told him not to go. If you do that, you’re going to get hurt. What does he do?

He’s crying five minutes later because he did the exact thing you told him not to do. Now his knees are bleeding. Just goes on and on and on. But the whole time they’re doing it, they look at you and they go. Then they do it anyway.

And so their conscience tells them. Their conscience tells them this is wrong. But then their will tells them, which is in rebellion. Because we’re born with a rebellious heart, every one of us. No one has to teach rebellion.

We all have it. They look at you. Their conscience says, I shouldn’t do this, but their will says I’m doing it anyway. And then they get bloody knees.

So we’re all born with this conscience. But not everyone realizes that you crucified Jesus and Christ prayed for you too. He prayed for me too, because from a child I was crucifying Jesus. My sins put him there, but I was not aware that my sins put him there. It wasn’t until the point I realized that it was my sin that put him there.

That repentance came upon my heart.

Peter’s first sermon was about this. His first Sermon. The Holy Spirit falls upon the apostles there at Pentecost, and he stands up to preach, and he says, men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves know this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Now, there were people in the crowd there that had just come into town from other lands. They were there to worship at the temple during this time of festival. And they’re like, I’m just now hearing about this, and now you’re pointing your finger at me. That’s his first sermon.

You killed him. That’s what these words are about. By the way, friends, we killed him. That was those Romans. Those Romans did it.

That was 2,000 years ago. You can’t put that on me. Don’t be putting the blood. I read this recently in an article from an agnostic. She said that whole Christian thing in all of its blood.

My hands aren’t bloody with Jesus blood. Don’t be putting that blood of Jesus on me.

But those who have recognized their ignorance and come into the light and recognized it was my sins that crucified Jesus, we say, come on, put the blood of Jesus on me. That’s the only way to receive forgiveness, is to accept that your sins crucify Jesus. That’s the first sermon. Here’s one of his sermons in the next chapter. So we’re in Acts, chapter two with the first.

Here comes the second sermon. He’s just gone up the temple steps, and he and John have healed a lame man. And now that lame man’s jumping up and down and rejoicing, and it’s attracted a crowd. And so they’re in the temple. And Peter gathers all the crowd up under Solomon’s portico and he begins to preach.

He’s got the little lame man who’s no longer lame. He’s jumping up and down, praising the Lord. He’s walking. He was lame from birth, and so now he’s hanging onto Peter’s arm. And Peter says this, he says to the crowd, to the audience there in the Temple, he says, you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer.

Speaking of Barabbas, who was the one that they asked for and they said to crucify Jesus? You asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the author of life. He said that right there in the temple, weeks after Jesus was crucified. This is the boldness of Peter. They’re like, how did you heal this man by the one you killed?

That’s how I raised him up. He’s the author of life, but God raised him from the dead to this. We are witnesses. He says, you see this man here? He’s not walking in my name.

He’s walking in the name of Jesus, who you killed, but God raised. And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance. I know you didn’t know what you were doing. See, Peter’s agreeing with the last words of Jesus. Father, forgive them.

They know not what they do. He says, you did it, but you didn’t know what you were doing.

He says, you don’t realize that what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. In other words, everything was in the Old Testament and you did exactly what they said you’d do. He would give you the Messiah and you would kill him.

Your sins put him on the cross. Do you recognize that? Colossians 1. And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Here’s the thing.

We are enemies of God. It’s not like, well, God, you’re over there and I’ll get to you later. No, you’re his enemy because you crucified his son. Until you say, I want to come under that forgiveness, I accept it. I repent.

You’re right. My sin did put him there. This is what we’re talking about as we get ready for the resurrection Sunday that’s coming in seven weeks. Here’s what we’re talking about. Christ has already forgiven you for what you did to him.

It was your rebellion, starting with Adam and Eve all the way up to the present. It was our rebellion against God. That God put down the rebellion by offering his Son in our place. In Jerry Bridges book, the Pursuit of Holiness, he noted several wrong attitudes that we have about sin. One is that we have an attitude towards sin that’s more self centered than it is God centered.

In other words, we see sin as more of a failure on our part than it is an offense against a holy God.

We think, well, I’ve made a mistake, I did wrong. And that’s as far as it goes for us. We’re like, father, forgive me, I did wrong. I did wrong.

We have not fully understood the degree of our wrong. We thought it was some sort of little. I told a fib, I had a stray thought, I had a lustful thought there. I shouldn’t have had it. We belittle the size of our sin.

Well, I’m not as bad as he is. I’m not as bad as she is. I haven’t killed anybody. We say to ourselves, and we’re lying because we all killed Jesus. You killed the author of life.

That’s what we’re talking about. Have you ever come to the place where you recognize it was your sin who put Jesus on the cross? Father, forgive them. Father, forgive them. Who’s he looking at?

He’s looking down there at that Roman centurion who probably lifted his head up from that moment when he was gambling for his clothes. He goes, what did he say? Did you hear what he said? One of the ones, one of the underlings goes, I don’t know. He’s talking out of his mind.

I don’t know. I heard him. I thought he said, he forgives us. What was that? And then some in the crowd go, what is he?

Is he mumbling to himself? Did you hear what he said? Father, forgive them. He’s looking up. They don’t know what they’re doing.

Who’s the they? It’s the Roman soldiers. It’s the Sanhedrin. It’s the people crucifying him. But it’s not just them.

It’s also John, his disciple. It’s also his mother. It’s also the other women. It’s everyone there in the crowd, and it’s you and it’s me. That’s the they.

We’re the they. We crucified him and we make light of it rather than recognizing that our sin, all sin, is rebellion against God. Every sin he died for. He died on the cross for.

When I was growing up, we would sing this song in church. And it never. It always touched my heart, but I never did fully understand. Asks a question continually, but it never answers it.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Whoa.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they nailed him to the cross? Were you there when they nailed him to the cross? Whoa.

Were you there when they nailed him to the cross? Were you there? I was there.

Were you there?

That was all the song ever asked. I was a little kid. I would look at my mom and I’d go, why is she crying? Why is she crying? I wasn’t there.

She wasn’t there. I didn’t realize I was there. I was there. I was there.

We were all there.

Father, forgive them.

Don’t be unaware any longer. It was you that crucified Jesus. You are ignorant no more. And ignorance, by the way, does not excuse, but Christ forgives.

Recognize the price that Jesus paid for your sin. My sin number two. Receive pardon. Receive your pardon for Christ’s payment. Receive your pardon for Christ’s payment.

Father, they don’t know what they’re doing. That’s our first one. They’re crucifying without awareness of the depth of their sin, of the rebellion that’s in every heart. They don’t know what they’re doing. And then he says, forgive them.

Who’s the them? Who’s them that he’s asking for forgiveness? It’s the they that are crucifying him. Who’s them? It’s they.

Who’s they? It’s me. It’s you. It’s the Roman soldiers. It’s the Jewish Sanhedrin.

It’s everyone. The they that don’t know what they’re doing are the them. He wants forgiveness. Who is this man? Who is this Jesus?

Who’s them? It’s whoever would receive this forgiveness. They must first recognize that they are they. That they are the ones who crucified him. I wasn’t there.

Then you’re not ready to be them.

It’s not until you recognize that you are among they before you can be them. Y’ all staying with me? We’re still in this phrase. Forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.

They know not what they do. They are the ones who crucified Jesus, the ones who finally recognize that they did it. They are the them that he says, father, forgive them. Forgive them. Pardon them as if it never happened.

Send away your wrath, Father. Let go of your righteous anger and instead pour forgiveness on the ones who deserve death. Death. They’re killing your son. But don’t kill them.

Forgive them. Pardon them as if it never happened. Set them free. I love this prayer.

Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher of the 1800s, answered the question, who is them? He meditated on that word, them. I mean, he just camped out on them. Such a pronoun. He says, I love this prayer.

Also because of the indistinctness of is, father, forgive them. He does not say, father, forgive the soldiers who have nailed me here. He includes them. Neither does he say, father, forgive sinners and ages to come who will sin against me. But he means them.

Jesus does not mention them by an accusing name. He doesn’t say, father, forgive my enemies. Father, forgive my murderers. No, he uses a word that has no accusation. Upon those dear lips he says, father, forgive them.

Now into that pronoun them. I feel that I can crawl.

Can you get in there? Can you get in that little word? Them. Oh, by humble faith appropriate the cross of Christ by trusting in it and get into that big little word, them. It seems like a chariot of mercy that has come down to earth into which a man may step and it shall bear him up to heaven.

Father, forgive them. Can you get in that big little word? You better believe it. You can crawl right up in that chariot. Them.

Father, forgive them. I’m in that chariot. How about you? I’m they. I crucified Jesus.

But I’m them. I’m forgiven by Jesus.

You see, the entrance into this forgiveness that’s found in this saying is the confession, the admitting, the repentance that goes with, I crucified Jesus. It was my sin that put him on the cross. And then the forgiveness pours down. Oh, what pardon in that word, them. In the book of Romans it says, for while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life, by his resurrected life. He was already forgiven us as he was dying.

How much more are we reconciled by his resurrection?

Father, forgive them. I’m in that word, them. How about you? I was they, but now I’m them.

If you just came in, you’ve got no idea what I’m talking about. But if you’ve been here for a while, you go. That makes sense to me now.

Greg Laurie, in his book Finding Hope and the Last Words, he says this. Next to Jesus were two criminals being crucified. They were there for their personal crimes, but Jesus was there for the crimes of humanity. They were there against their wills, but he was there because he willingly went. They could not have escaped.

But he could have. By one word to heaven, he could have gotten down. They were held there by nails, but he was held there by love.

Father, forgive them.

Have you received Christ’s pardon? It begins by an awareness that you crucified Him. It was your sins that did it. Just a full repentance just coming to that place. When I was younger, I was so unaware that I didn’t know the source of my mother’s tears.

And my mother wasn’t crying because she was still under that place of rebellion, but just because of the sweetness of it. Yes, it was me. Yes, it was me that he died for. And those tears were not broken tears. They were tears as I look back on them, they’re the same tears that I feel I’m shedding now as I preach.

And that is just the full awareness of the depth of Christ’s love. That he would forgive me, the one who murdered him. That he would forgive me. I’m reminded of a story, and I’ve told it before, and it seems worth retelling at this point. My roommate when I was in college, his name was Mark, and he and I were good buddies.

He wasn’t really following God and I had the privilege of talking to him about my testimony. And he made a confession for Christ and got really fired up to follow Jesus. And so he and I, man, we would start off in the mornings, praying together, reading the Bible. And he was like one of the first guys that the Lord trusted me with as someone I could talk to about Jesus and see a life change. And it just really affected me.

And then he and I both met these two girls kind of right after that, right after we, you know, were kind of getting excited about Jesus. And my girl was named Robin and his was named Terry. And we double date and do all these things together. And then the summer we planned this big plan. We had this great big plan.

It was a wonderful place plan, great plan. And that was, we’ll live on the sixth floor of the dorm. It was called Mews Dorm. We’ll live on the sixth floor. And the sixth floor was all guys and the fifth floor was all girls.

So it was a co ed dorm, but only by floor. You couldn’t have guys and girls on the same floor. That’s how they had the things set up. And so we’re going to reserve this room, me and Mark and Robin and Terry, they’re going to reserve the room right under ours on the fifth floor. And then we could do like that song used to say.

And only people in my age group are going to get this. We go knock three times on the ceiling if you want me. And we had a plan. Thank you. God bless America.

There, I needed that. The funny thing is, every week I go, I probably don’t need Kleenex this week. I think I’m going to make it through this one. I think from now on, I just need to always have Kleenex. Thank you.

My mustache helps, though. At least it doesn’t drip off my chin.

So anyway, we had a plan.

You needed that. Some of you have been out there just holding that so long, you needed a good laugh, right?

And then that summer, Mark calls me and he says, I think we’re going to go ahead and get married. And I said, no, you’re going to mess up our plan. You know, go ahead and get married. And so they got married. Mark and Terry went and got married that summer.

And so we had, you know, dealer’s choice, as it were. We got roommates, and it was a wonderful actually kind of thing because I got to share my faith with another roommate that year that was far from God. Mark and Terry got married within a couple of years. A terrible thing happened after graduation. Terry was a rural route postal.

She delivered mail, and she was in front of a church out in the country. And she got out of her car to put mail in the church mailbox, and a young man who was deranged stabbed her to death. Stabbed her like, I don’t know, 27 times or something. And it’s funny, it was strange because there were men up on the roof of the church parking lot. Up on the church roof.

I’m sorry, putting a new roof on the church. And they saw the whole thing and they couldn’t get off the roof fast enough. And they finally got off the roof and captured the young man, but it’s too late. She bled to death there in the church parking lot. She’s like 22 years old.

And I get a call from Mark. Hey, buddy, Terry’s dead. She’s been murdered. Can you come? They lived in Virginia beach, and at the time we lived in Radford, Virginia.

Of course, we got in the car and headed over there. It was closed casket. It was hard. He saw her, but he said he didn’t want anybody else to see her. It was hard, man.

It was hard. It was hard. Well, here’s the thing. I said, don’t you want to kill him? Don’t you want to kill him?

I want to kill him. I’m the one who led Mark to Jesus. I’m the one who discipled him. But I want to kill the guy who killed Terry. I don’t care if he is deranged.

I’m getting deranged. I want to kill him. He deserves to die. Mark said, no, I don’t want to kill him. I forgive him.

I know that’s the Jesus answer. But come on, buddy. And he never let off that. I feel like God gave him more comfort than me at that point. He was the closest to it.

I was not that close to it. I was close, but I finally came to that a few years later. Mark never did go visit him in prison. He got grace, but not that much grace. That’s a lot of grace.

But his mother did. Mark’s mother went to visit the young man, and she told him about Jesus and gave him a Bible. A couple years ago, Mark was with me, and he says, you know what, Gary? You know that guy that killed Terry? You know that guy?

I said, wow, Mark, Yeah. He goes, I got a call from one of the prison guards that was a friend of mine. He said, you know, he passed away. He’s dead now. But, you know, he said that after my mom started visiting him, he was a changed man.

He started reading his Bible and started talking about Jesus. And he goes, you know what? I think he’s up there with Terry now.

He said it with a big smile on his face. Tears started pouring down his face. I think the man who murdered my wife is up there with her now. And I think they’re worshiping Jesus together. What is this crazy cross that Jesus died on?

What is this? Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. What is this? It’s the most amazing, boundless forgiveness that ever existed.

I want to crawl up in that chariot, don’t you? This boundless them that is us. And then finally rejoice in your adoption into Christ’s family. Rejoice. I need some rejoicing don’t you.

We’ve been to the cross. We’ve taken responsibility. We’ve heard the forgiveness. I need to rejoice.

Look at that word, Father. Just that word, Father. There he is on the cross, and he goes, father.

In the Greek, it’s pater, which is where we get the word paternal. But I don’t think Jesus, his first language wasn’t Greek. He grew up in Nazareth. He spoke Aramaic. He said, abba, Abba.

Forgive them.

Of course, when they recorded it, they wrote it in Greek and they said, pater, but he said abba. Such a rich word. Consider it this relational word. Christ interceded for those murdering him to his Abba. Forgive them.

He paid the price so that the forgiveness he requested was paid in advance.

We rejoice in this. You know, adoption is expensive. I’ve been told by those who adopt that a domestic adoption costs somewhere around 20 to $30,000. That’s a lot of money. That’s a lot of money.

For most people it requires sacrifice to adopt and to adopt you. And I was upon the great sacrifice, the great boundless forgiveness of Jesus, so amazing that he would do this, Pardon them. Adopt them into my family. He’s saying, you see these people that are murdering me, Father, don’t just forgive them.

Let’s adopt them into the family.

He says, father, you know what? I want you not only to forgive the people who are murdering me, I want you to invite them to live in our house.

Don’t put them in the jailhouse. Invite them over for dinner. Give them keys to the house, Give them their own bedroom. Let’s make them part of the family. Do you understand the depth of the forgiveness of Christ?

Has it yet penetrated your heart?

Forgive them. Who did he ask this of? Father Abba. Let’s invite them over. After they finish killing me, I’m going to get up.

Let’s have them all over for dinner.

In fact, let’s do this. Let’s call them sons and daughters.

Let’s make them your children. Oh, let’s rejoice in this, that the one that we crucified has now become the one that is our Savior and our Lord and our elder brother who has made it possible for us to pray the same prayer he prayed. Abba. Abba. Father, what joy, what worship.

In Romans it says more than that. We rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. We rejoice. Why do we sing? Why do we shout?

Why do we rejoice? Because we finally realize the depth of our sin. We’ve understood the incredible, boundless forgiveness that’s been given to us. And more than that that we’re able to say, father, we rejoice.

Jesus told that parable, right? He told the parable and told the one about the one who was only forgiven a little and then the one who was forgiven much. And he asked the Pharisee, who will love more? The one who was forgiven little or the one who was forgiven much? And the Pharisee said, well, of course, the one who was forgiven much.

It’s not until you understand that you’ve been forgiven much that you will love much. It’s not until you understand you’ve been forgiven much that you will rejoice much. Rejoice in adoption. In John it says, let me go to the Romans 1 first. You have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba.

In John it says, but to all who did Receive him who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God. Sing. Rejoice. You are not only forgiven, but you are adopted into the Father’s family. Amen.

The first of Christ’s seven last words. You think you’ll be able to make it to the next six? So much in the first. If this would have been all he said, it would have sufficed. But he has six more sayings for us to study together.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Let these words soak into your soul this morning. Let them penetrate your heart. Let them inform your worship as we go forth from this day today. And then let them have their practical effect on your behavior so that those who hurt you, those who even now you hold bitterness in your heart towards them, that you would forgive them as Christ has forgiven you.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, thank youk for your word. Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing. They know not what they do.

Lord, who would crawl up into that them? Is it yout, my friend, right there in your seat? Would you crawl up into that chariot of forgiveness, the word them? Would you say, father, forgive me, it was my sin that crucified Jesus. I recognize that he died on the cross for me.

And I believe that he was raised up on the third day and lives today. Lord Jesus, come into my life. I want to be part of them. I want you to forgive me. Make me the kind of person you want me to be.

Come and live in me and make me a child of God. If you’ll pray that prayer, you’ll recognize that’s why he came. That’s why he died. Say yes to Jesus today. Others are here today.

Let this cause repentance in your soul. Let you just deepen the understanding of the forgiveness that Christ has given you. Join with me and say, oh, oh, oh. How rich. Thank you, Jesus.

We worship you in Jesus name. Amen.