Subject: Forgiveness
Central idea: Jesus final loving instructions for us
Specific purpose: to persuade the congregation that Christ died for each of them.
Introduction: Not too long after my twenty-second birthday, I arrived in Vietnam, a machine-gunner in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade. Only a few nights later, we slept not battling until drawn in our first close quarters combat. Combat often grows one up quickly. The soldier only a foot off my right shoulder got a nose full of grenade shrapnel. The invincibility of my youth left me in bit seconds. I knew that I could die. From that time on, I wrote each letter home with care, for I knew that letter might be the last words my loved ones would ever read from me.
A. Since my combat experience, I have noted the last words of a number of famous people. I have found that a person’s dying words can be revealing, showing us something of the person. The ideas of Karl Marx put many nations on the horrible road to communism. On the day Marx died, March 14, 1883, his housekeeper came to him and said, “Mr. Marx, tell me your last words, and I'll write them down.” Marx replied, “Go, get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough!” P.T. Barnum, the founder of the Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, asked as he was dying, “What are the receipts of the day?” Napoleon’s last words were, “I am Chief of the Army!” The great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon’s last words were, “Jesus died for me." And Charles Wesley, the initiator of the Methodist Church, said, “Best of all is, God is with us.”
B. The Bible records seven last statements that Christ uttered while he was on the cross. These statements are important to us, not only because Jesus spoke them, but also because of the place where he said them. While Christ was on the cross, he was doing his greatest work; he was uttering some of his greatest words. Luke 23:34 records one of his last statements: “Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’”
I. Sometimes it is difficult for us to forgive. Someone hurts us, someone says something against us and in our hearts, we cannot forgive that person. Listen to Jesus’ prayer, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Jesus spoke these words of forgiveness on behalf of the people who only the day before had shouted, “Crucify Him!” Jesus spoke these words of forgiveness on behalf of the soldiers who only minutes before had nailed him to the cross.
A. I hear Christians say, “I cannot talk to God! I cannot pray! I do not believe anymore—after the way people have treated me.”
1. Look at the way people treated Jesus. He had preached love. He had healed the sick. He had fed the poor. He had done nothing bad to anyone. His only crime was that he upset the social order.
2. For this, his nation sinned against him. His own disciples failed him and fled. Peter denied him. His heavenly Father was willing to see him suffer. Not a minute did he sleep that night for the Temple guards dragged from one kangaroo court to another. The witnesses for the prosecution presented lies. The court found guilty of crimes that he did not commit. The soldiers forced a crown of thorns on his head caused multiple painful stab wounds that penetrated into his skull. Then the soldiers placed a cloth sack over his head, hit him with a bat and then laughing asked him, "Who hit you?" They whipped with a cat of nine tails its lead hooks jerking bit of his flesh from his body. Once beaten almost beyond recognition, and in horrible pain, they made him drag his own cross to Golgotha. There they drove spikes through his hands and feet. Then they raised him on the cross painfully jerking him erect his every injury screaming. There he was suspended by his nail-torn flesh between two thieves to suffer death.
II. In spite of all this, Jesus was able to look up into the heavens and begin his prayer with, “Father.” He lived in fellowship with his Father and knew that even under these horrible circumstances, God loved him. I remember in Matthew chapter 22, verses 34 through 37, the Pharisees asked Jesus, “’Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ and Jesus answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” Jesus, under these most difficult circumstances of his life, remained true to his Father, never doubting God’s love, even as he hung from the cross.
A. Perhaps you are hurting now. You are thinking, “If God loves me, how can he let me suffer so?” God loved Jesus, and yet he was willing to see Jesus die a horrible death. No matter how bad things seem, God loves you, and he always will; have no doubt in that. Do not lose faith. He is working out his purpose for each of you. Christ’s agony on that cross was for the greatest purpose, forgiving you of all of your sins.
B. It is not easy to suffer. When people talk bad to us or say things that just are not true, it seems so unfair. It causes pain. A broken heart hurts far worse than a broken arm. If we really want to be a Christian, Jesus, here on the cross, shows us where we must start. We must start by following God’s will, no matter if our circumstances seem as dark as those that Jesus faced on the cross that day two thousand years ago. When we can say, “Father,” then we are able to look up to heaven and know that God will make all right. He is taking you to heaven some day.
III. Next in Christ's appeal we find “forgive them.” “Father, forgive them.” The Greek New Testament indicates that our Lord repeated this prayer several times. He said it as they laid him on the cross as it lay on the ground. He said it as they drove the spikes through his flesh. He said it as they raised his cross, its base sliding into a hole in the ground, jerking erect with a sudden and painful thud. And finally he said it as he hung there, dangled in the air by his mangled meat. “Father, forgive them.”
A. He could have prayed, “Father, judge them; Father, bring punishment upon them.” He could have called down legions of angels to deliver him, but he did not. The thing that kept Christ on that cross was love, not nails.
1. Jesus knew what was going to happen to him. He knew he was going to the cross. He could have run. Luke 22:21 records what Jesus said the night before Judas betrayed him at his Last Supper, “But behold, the hand of my betrayer is with me on the table.” Then Jesus told his traitor to go do what he had to do.
2. A short time later, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. He knew that Judas was going too showed up with the temple guards. Jesus could have run. I read portions from Luke 22:39–46, “Coming out, he went to the Mount of Olives, as he was accustomed, and his disciples also followed him. When he came to the place … he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and he knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me; nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done.’ … And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. ”
3. Jesus knew what was coming. He had the power to turn and run away from the horrible pain that he knew the Romans would inflict on him, and yet he said, “not my will, but yours [Father], be done.”
4. Many times some of us may have wanted to bring down fire from heaven on someone and wanted to pray, “Father, judge them for their sin against me.” But our Lord gave us his example that day, “Father, forgive them.”
B. Christ practiced the message that he preached. He preached forgiveness. He told his people in his messages, “Now, if you do not forgive from your heart, God cannot forgive you.” This does not mean that the basis of forgiveness is our own good works. No, but it does mean that if in our hearts we are unwilling to forgive others, we are in no condition to go to God and ask for forgiveness for ourselves. Let me repeat that, if we are unwilling to forgive others, we are in no shape to enter into God’s presence and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness of a wrong against us is a form of mastering ourselves, of moving on to Christ-likeness.
C. We must remember that all of this happened while Rome ruled the world. The Romans worshipped revenge. Revenge was one of their gods. Revenge is the god of the terrorists that flew airplanes full of innocent people into the Twin Towers, murdering 3,000 people who God created in his image. Our Lord Jesus did not worship revenge, nor should we. He prayed, “Father, forgive them” and in doing so, he fulfilled the Word.
D. This, of course, was the purpose of his death. Our Lord was on the cross because God does forgive us sinners. That is the message of the Gospels. We do not have to go around with the weight and burden of anger and revenge on our lives. We do not have to carry the guilt of sin. We can forgive!
1. Forgiveness is the message of the cross. Forgiveness is not cheap; it is very expensive. It cost Jesus his life.
2. Those who do not forgive others tear down the bridge on which they themselves will have to walk. Romans chapter 3, verse 23 states, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God loves us. We are rebellious, we act selfishly, we are immoral, we sin, yet God loves us intensely. He loves us beyond anything that we can comprehend. He loves us so much that he gave his only son, Jesus the Christ, to die on that cross.
V. Perhaps some will argue, “But you have no idea how others have treated me.” Well, I have an idea of how others treated Jesus, and yet he was able to say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Our Lord not only prayed for the forgiveness of his enemies, but with this last phrase, he argued on their behalf. It is as though he stood as a lawyer and said to his Father, “Let me give you a reason why you should forgive them. They do not know what they do. They are ignorant of the enormity of their actions. They do not realize what great sinners they are.” Jesus was saying, “Father, my people do not understand. They do not know that I am dying for them. They do not know what they do. I know what I am doing; I am dying for them. Now, Father, forgive them so that I will not have died in vain, that I may, in this most horrible of circumstances, set a final example.”
A. The early New Testament Scriptures, written mostly in Greek, commonly used the word “aphesis” to convey the English “forgiveness.” Aphesis means, “sending away” or “letting go.” Quite simply put, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” is letting go. It is the understanding of the basic fact that good is permanent, always present, and all-powerful. Evil is temporary, insubstantial, and without its own character. The trick is the proper spiritual treatment of evil.
B. Do not wrestle with evil. Not to forgive a wrong done to us is to give further life and power to that evil. Not to forgive is to transfer power onto the person who has hurt us. This makes matters worse. How foolish.
C. Evil cannot come into our lives unless there is something in us with which it is attuned. By forgiving that wrong, not only do we remove its ability to do us more harm, we remove the likelihood of retaliation, we present the wrongdoer with an example that may change him or her.
D. Paul covers this point quite well in Romans chapter 12, verses 17–21, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather … ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink…’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
E. God wants us to be happy. While on the cross, Christ was still thinking only of our happiness and us. His final words about forgiving even those who have horribly wronged us are a part of our guide to the happiness God wants for us.
1. When we will not forgive someone, we are expressing a degree of hate. That hate has negative psychological and physiological effects on us. Hatred is one of the most destructive emotions. Indeed, every time we think about something someone did to us, we relive whatever reason we think we have for hating him or her. We become the victim of our own thoughts.
2. That is why we are not to bear a grudge or seek vengeance. I mean, even though someone has harmed us in some way, every time we remember that harm or seek vengeance or bear a grudge, we relive the pain. Our emotions do not allow us to differentiate between the real and the imagined. In our minds, we become victims again. Only by removing the hatred, through forgiveness, do we release the pain and remove the ability of the person or group to keep hurting us again and again. By forgiving, we remove the ability of that wrong to do us more harm. Forgiveness means we no longer victimize ourselves.
3. This reliving of our victimhood is why God forbids us to seek vengeance. We shall not repay evil with evil. We are to turn the other cheek, go the extra mile and return good for evil. Jesus says that in so doing, maybe we will make an enemy into a friend. Only forgiveness removes our sin of hatred.
4. Forgiveness is for our happiness; forgiveness is God’s mercy on us, the victim of a wrong. Forgiveness breaks the cycle and lets us get on with our life. Forgiveness removes us from victim status.
3. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Again, I say, nails did not hold Jesus on the cross, love did. Jesus’ last words from the cross gave us an example of how we may join Christ in his work on earth. These last words show us how to slip from evil’s hold on our lives. Jesus, while suffering to death on the cross, showed us another way to help establish his kingdom on earth.
Conclusion: We have a complete Bible from Adam to Christ’s second coming. We are not ignorant of the requirement that all Christians must forgive all who have sinned against us. We are not to carry revenge in our hearts. It will hurt us much more than it will hurt the ones who have wronged us. God is patient with us, that we may have time to reconcile ourselves with our sins, and he asks us to treat others the same way. Is that too much?
Search your heart. Is there someone you hate so much that for you to meet them on the street is to suffer? Is there someone who has you in victim status? Is there someone you hate so much that you would not tell them about Christ? Is there someone whom you need to forgive? If there is, know that Christ wants you free of your pain: Forgive! Forgive because it is what Christ would have you do. Forgive that you may enjoy life better. Forgive that you may join Christ in establishing his way as your way. Forgiveness puts you in a position to witness to all.
