This morning, we’re starting a new series called 7 Words that will go through Easter Sunday. Each week we’re going to be looking at one of the seven phrases Scripture records that Jesus spoke as He was dying on the cross. But as we look at those phrases, we’re going to do something a little bit different. Each week we’re going to focus primarily on one word from that phrase. We’re not going to yank it out of context and talk about anything we want to. I trust that you’ll check things out for yourself to make sure that I don’t do that and hold me accountable if I do. But what we’re going to do is look specifically at one word in each phrase and talk about how that illustrates a specific aspect of what Jesus’ death on the cross provides for us. If I were to ask most people what they thought Jesus death on the cross means to them, I’d probably get a variety of answers. The sad thing is that most of those answers would be very self-centered. “It means I can have peace.” “It means I can go to heaven.” Does Jesus’ death on the cross mean that? Of course it does, but it means so much more. Jesus’ death on the cross is far more than just a personal sin eraser. It is so much more than just a personal ticket to a really cool place called heaven. Jesus’ death on the cross was a cosmic, universal event. Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection three days later is the focal point of all of human history. As a matter of fact, it’s even more than that. Because Jesus’ death on the cross is the focal point of all of eternity. It is the focus of all of the mysteries of the eternal council of God Himself. It is the focus of the mind-boggling Trinitarian relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When you think about it, all of human history and all of eternity hinge on the cross and the empty tomb.
33 years prior to this, Jesus was born. He was born of a woman, apart from any seed of man. He was God of very God and took on flesh and dwelt among men. Because He was born of a virgin, Jesus was born without the sinful nature that has been passed down to all people through Adam. Unlike any of us, He was born without the original stain of sin on His life. But also unlike any of us, He also lived every moment of every day of His life without committing a sin. He was the spotless Lamb of God who had come into the world to take away sin. For 33 years, Jesus lived a sinless life on the earth. But not only did Jesus live a life that was WITHOUT sin, He lived a life that was filled with true righteousness—something else that none of us have apart from Him. When John the Baptist wanted confirmation that Jesus was indeed the Christ that they had been looking for, Jesus told his disciples this: “Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” All of those things were evidence of the righteousness of Christ. He lived a life free from sin and full of righteousness. And of course you know what that got Him, right? As Isaiah prophesied 700 years before in Isaiah 53:3: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” All of Jesus’ sinlessness made Him hated by people who tried to justify their own sin. All of Jesus’ righteousness made Him hated by people who thought that they were righteous. Just like it does today. As John 1:11 says, “He came unto His own and His own received Him not.” So they rejected Him. And they betrayed Him. And they abandoned Him. And they falsely accused Him. And they mocked Him. And they scorned Him. And they beat Him. And they hung Him on a cross to die. But unless you think that Jesus was a pitiful victim in all of this, Peter puts it all in perspective in Acts 2:22-24. He said, “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.” In other words, you killed Him, but it was all according to God’s plan. And according to that exact same plan, God raised His Son from the tomb. And according to that exact same plan, God the Son sits at the right hand of the Father continually making intercession for you and me today. And according to that exact same plan, He is alive today, saving people and reconciling them to a right relationship with Himself according to the provision He made on the cross. And one day, Philippians 2:10-11 tells us that according to that exact same plan, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” According to that exact same plan, one day, all things will be made right. Justice will be served, judgment will be meted out, righteousness will be recognized, and holiness will be realized. And all of that was made possible during a short span of just six hours, one Friday, over 2000 years ago.
As Jesus hung on the cross, the first words He spoke were the words we read a few minutes ago. He said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” First, a couple of observations. When it says, “Then said Jesus,” in the King James, the verb in the original is not a past tense verb. It is an imperfect verb. In other words, as they were crucifying Jesus, He was saying these words. That tells us a couple of things. It tells us that Jesus was saying this during the actual act of His own crucifixion. And it tells us that He was continually saying it during every phase of the act of His crucifixion. When the first nail, first pierced His skin, Jesus was saying, “forgive them.” With each subsequent blow of the hammer, Jesus was saying, “forgive them.” When the cross was raised from the ground, Jesus was saying, “forgive them.” When it was suddenly dropped 3-4 feet into the hole that would allow it to stand upright, Jesus was saying, “forgive them.” He wasn’t screaming in pain and agony. He was continually pleading for forgiveness for the ones who were doing this to Him. That tells us three things about the forgiveness that Jesus provided on the cross.
First, Jesus’ forgiveness is undeserved. When we picture that scene in our minds, we automatically wonder how people could be so evil. How could someone be so horribly morally bankrupt that they would brutally execute Jesus like that? How could they mock Him and abuse Him and flog Him the way that they did? Surely people like that can only deserve the full and absolute wrath of God. Surely people like that are only deserving of the worst that hell has to offer. That’s absolutely right. Just as it’s absolutely right that you and I deserve no better than they did. Ephesians 2:1-3 says, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” In other words, we lived just like them. We have all been dead in our trespasses and sins. We have all been driven by our flesh. We have all been motivated by our selfishness. We have all been born with a sinful nature. And because of that, we are, by nature, children of wrath. Just like those men who hung Jesus on the cross. We deserve His forgiveness no more than they did. But Jesus offers it anyway. Even as we take the hammer of our sinful nature and pound one more rebellious, prideful sin into His hands and feet, He offers His forgiveness. And we don’t deserve it any more than those who physically drove the spikes in. Jesus’ forgiveness is undeserved. It is also universal.
Jesus forgiveness is universal. When Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”… when He spoke those words over and over and over again… Who was the “they” that He was talking about? I believe that it was the ones who physically drove in the spikes. I believe it was also the ones who gambled for His clothes. It was also the ones who stood guard. But it was also the ones who stood by and watched. The ones who didn’t really think they were doing anything wrong because they weren’t actively participating in the violence. Jesus was also talking about the funny guys in the crowd. The ones who were getting a cheap laugh at His expense. But He was also talking about the ones who weren’t even there. He was talking about the ones who had worshipped Him as the wrong kind of King just a few days before as He rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey colt. He was talking about the disciples who had turned their backs on Him and left Him. He was talking about John and Mary who needed forgiveness just as much as anybody else. And He was talking to you and me. The offer was universal. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 says, “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” 1 Timothy 2:3-6 says, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” 1 Timothy 4:10 says, “For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.” Titus 2:11 says, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” And 1 John 2:2 probably says it more clearly than any other: “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Jesus’ forgiveness is offered universally. Jesus’ forgiveness is sufficient for all. But the problem is—it is not universally received. And because it’s not universally received, it is only efficient for those who receive Him as Lord and Savior. Not everyone who Jesus spoke those words over that day was forgiven. Everyone was offered His forgiveness. But only some received it. As a matter of fact, Scripture only records a few. Of course Mary and John and the other women who were with them had already received it. One of the men who was being crucified with Jesus received it. And there was also a Centurion who received it. We don’t know about any others who received Jesus’ forgiveness that day. But I’m sure there were some. Maybe not that day or that week or that month. But I’m sure that there were some who heard those words echo through their minds, even as the ringing of the hammer on the nails echoed through their minds. Until finally, one day, they received the forgiveness that Jesus offered them that day. Just like those people that day, Jesus has offered you His forgiveness. Not everyone will receive it. But it is available to all. Jesus’ forgiveness is universal. But Jesus’ forgiveness is also unconditional. It is undeserved, universal and unconditional.
Do you know what the amazing thing to me was? It was amazing how Jesus’ forgiveness was not a response. Have you ever noticed that? When did those people ask for forgiveness? After they stripped Him naked? After they drove in the first spike? After the second one? They never asked for forgiveness. But Jesus offered it anyway. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus offered those people forgiveness when that was the furthest thing from their mind. Just like He offered you forgiveness when the only thing on your mind was your daily grind. He offered it to you when you didn’t ask for it. He offered it to you when you thought you didn’t even need it. He offered it to you when you had nothing to give for it. And He offered it to you when you had no way to pay for it. That’s why He had to offer it unconditionally. What can you do to earn forgiveness? Absolutely nothing. Even if you gave your life to pay for it, it still wouldn’t be enough. Because the bottom line is, our lives aren’t worth that much. But Jesus’ life is. And He gave His life to give you something that you could never earn. And He gave His life to give you something that you could never keep. But He gave it freely. He gave it unconditionally. You don’t have to complete steps x, y and z to get it. All you have to do is turn from your sins and turn to Him in faith believing He is who He says He is and has done what He said He did. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead and you will be saved. You will be forgiven. Freely. Unconditionally. Forgiven.
There were those there that day who mocked Jesus. There were those who spit on Him. There were those who ridiculed Him. There were those who just stood by and watched. Just like those people who were there that day, each of us has a choice to make. Each of us has to respond to the forgiveness that Jesus provided on the cross. Like the people who were there that day, we can choose to reject that provision. As a matter of fact, that’s what most of them did. You can reject it because you might think you don’t need it. You might have spent your whole life running from His forgiveness. You might have tried to convince yourself that you don’t need forgiveness because you do better things than some of the so-called Christians you know. You might even be rejecting Jesus’ forgiveness because you think you’ve already gotten it. You walked an aisle somewhere or got wet in a baptistery somewhere and think that’s what saved you. No, all that did was get you on a church roll or get you wet. Neither one of those will do anything to forgive you. Maybe you’re not boldly rejecting Jesus’ provision of forgiveness. Maybe you’re just ignoring it. It’s pretty easy to do in our world today, isn’t it? All we have to do is be busy. Get so busy making a living that you don’t think about Jesus. Get so distracted with entertainment and recreation that you don’t have time to think about Jesus. It’s not that you don’t think you need forgiveness, it’s just that you’re so busy you don’t even think about it. Well, it’s time to think about it. It’s time to quit rejecting it. It’s time to quit trusting works or acts or things for your forgiveness. It’s time to receive it. You don’t deserve it. Far from it, you were born a sinner and you’ve only added to your guilt by sinning every day since then. You don’t deserve it and there’s nothing you can do to clean yourself up enough to deserve it. But Jesus has provided it for you. He has provided it for you and offered it to you unconditionally. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or who you are or where you’ve been. Jesus gave His life in order to forgive you from the sin that has separated you from Him. Will you receive it? Or will you continue to reject it or ignore it? If you have not received the forgiveness of Christ, I beg of you to receive it today.
