Forgiveness At The Cross

Certainly the cross is one of those events in Scripture that is difficult to really grasp. That's why Jesus wanted us to remember it regularly because we need to think about this. We need to think about what Jesus did for us, less we forget what it means. It's one of those events in Scripture that sometimes if it escapes our notice, if we do not think about it enough, we don't fully appreciate what happened there and love him enough for what he did for us there. So Jesus said, I want you to regularly remember what I did there. I think one of the best ways to remember the cross and to really grasp its meaning and what was happening there is to look at what Jesus said from the cross. The Scriptures record that Jesus spoke in those six hours that he was hanging on the cross seven times. These were not the words of an incoherent babbler. These were the words of one who was in full control of his senses, full control of his thinking. And so he expresses himself what he's feeling, his will as to what should happen there at the cross. And so these words of Christ are like a curtain pulling back, opening for us the meaning of what was taking place there. They demonstrate sometimes the circumstances of the cross. They demonstrate at other times the glory of the sufferer on the cross and they certainly explain to us the meaning of his sufferings on the cross. This morning we're not going to look at all seven of those sayings obviously, but I do want to call attention to the first one. In Luke chapter 23 verse 34, we find the first words that Jesus uttered after he was placed on the cross. If you figure out the time element and particularly John's gospel gives us the timing of things, you would recognize that it was shortly before nine o'clock when Jesus was led to G-gotha, the place of the skull, a little hill just on the outside of the city wall of Jerusalem. And he was placed there on the cross, but before the cross was hoisted up and dropped into place, Matthew's gospel tells us that Jesus was offered wine mixed with mure. Now that was given for a couple of reasons. It was actually a narcotic, a sedative. And it was given to dull the senses of one so that they wouldn't experience so much the suffering, the physical suffering of the cross. So it was given in mercy, but it was also given to tranquilize the sufferer so that that person would not fight those Roman soldiers as they tried to nail him to the cross. Matthew tells us that Jesus refused to take that drink. Jesus wanted to be in full focus. He wanted his mind to be clear so that he could enunciate what was happening there on the cross, so that he could describe for us what was taking place. And in those first words, we have one of the greatest elements of what was taking place at the cross, and that is forgiveness at the cross. In these unforgettable words, Jesus says in Luke 23, verse 34, Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Speaking of those who were gathered around the cross, probably the Roman soldiers and authorities who had the legal authority to place him there and to take his life, but also the religious authorities who had called for his death those standing around the cross, Jesus praised for forgiveness. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 that if the princes of this world had known what they were doing, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. Part of the problem was they did not recognize who he was. They did not understand who he was, and thus they thought he was an ordinary criminal deserving of death. The Roman soldiers had no clue. After listening to him and watching the events of the cross, the Roman centurion, the one in charge of what was happening at the cross, would come to the conclusion, surely this was the Son of God. So they knew after what Jesus communicated. They knew what was happening there, but they did not know when they placed him on the cross. If they would have known, they would have never have done it. The religious authorities, even though they are not excused. And these words of Jesus asking for forgiveness do not excuse them, do not exonerate them from their responsibility of placing them on the cross. But Jesus in mercy is asking for forgiveness, because even though they should have known, they rejected him and did not understand they were crucifying the Lord of glory. But Jesus' words go far beyond the audience gathered at the foot of the cross that day. They spread down through the centuries even to us today. Because they describe one of the key elements of his death, and that is forgiveness. Forgiveness was taking place at the cross. The same forgiveness Jesus asks for his tormentors. He asks for us. And the same basis of that forgiveness he asked for those who put him on the cross is the same basis of the forgiveness that we have today. And so let's take a few moments this morning to meditate on that forgiveness which takes place at the cross. The first thing I would draw to your attention is that forgiveness at the cross meets man's greatest need. It really does meet man's greatest need. Your greatest need, my greatest need, is for forgiveness. Because our greatest problem is that we are a sinner. Your greatest problem is not financial, it is not physical, your greatest problem is not relational, your greatest problem is spiritual. My greatest problem, your greatest problem as we come into this world, and as we grow up, and make the volitional choices in life, our greatest problem is that we're sinners. And so our greatest need is to be forgiven of our sin. It is completely vain for you to try to set noble goals for your life if you've never been forgiven. It is completely worthless for you to form good resolutions as to how you will live if you've never been forgiven. It is totally empty for you to adopt excellent rules for living if you've never been forgiven. Your greatest need is to be forgiven of your sin. If you are not forgiven of your sin and you do all in your effort to clean up your life and to try to live better, it is the same thing as giving glasses to a blind person. It doesn't really solve the problem. It just dresses up the problem. So the only way for your problem and my problem, our greatest problem to be solved, is for us to be forgiven. And there is only one way that we can be forgiven, and that is through what happened at the cross. And let me take a moment to explain why that's the only way you can be forgiven. A contrast with human courts and human law and human judges will suffice, I think, to make the point. In a human court, a judge is called upon to exercise justice. He is bound by the law to deliver a sentence that is fitting the punishment for the crime. And sentences are laid out in the law. This particular crime calls for this particular sentence. And so by justice, that judge is required to pass that sentence for the crime, the punishment for the crime. That's justice. That's the way it's supposed to be. He may choose to offer mercy in his sentencing. If he chooses to offer mercy, he must suspend justice. He cannot do both. He can either call for justice the full punishment for the crime, or he can extend mercy and leniency in the sentencing. But he can't do both. I'm reminded of something that I read just this week. I was looking in a leadership journal at an article and they just happened to have a story in there about a judge that fits well with what we're talking about here. I want to read part of this story to you. Judge Robert McGay-Heece's face turned red as he peered down at Sandra Jacobson, pronouncing the maximum sentence of 36 years for a drunk driving crash that killed two children's librarians. Prosecutor said Jacobson was drunk at 10 a.m. as she drove it more than 80 miles per hour than lost control of her pickups, swirled across two lanes, and clipped the victim's van, sending it crashing into the median. Jacobson continued driving while the victims died. A rest at a short time later, Jacobson first told police she had taken cold medicine, insisting she was sober and driving the speed limit. But this momentarily lost control of her truck after her dog went for a cheeto that had fallen in the floor. Her blood alcohol level was estimated to have been more than three times the legal limit. And the judge said Jacobson's contention during the trial that she was not drunk at the time of the crash was an outright lie. Then the daughter of one of the victims told the court that Jacobson had turned to her during the trial and malved, I didn't do it. That said Judge McGay, he shows a level of gall almost incomprehensible to me. According to the Denver Post, Jacobson's brother and her life partner asked McGay, the judge, for mercy and forgiveness, saying Jacobson had made a tragic mistake but was not a career criminal. The judge refused to hear it, listen to his own words quoted in the Denver Post. I am not in the mercy business and I am not in the forgiveness business, he said, I am in the justice business. And he's right, a judge is called upon to administer the justice of the law, the punishment of the law fitting the crime committed. He might have chosen and was requested to show mercy, but because of the circumstances of the case, he made his choice, his choice was not for mercy, his choice was for justice. The only way that you and I can be forgiven of our sin is if God does both. Unlike human courts, God, the sovereign judge of the universe, can do both. He must carry out justice. God must carry out the penalty for our sin. He is a holy God and the Bible describes him as a God that cannot look upon evil, that cannot bear iniquity, that cannot just look the other way or sweep our sin under the rug so that it's not out in the open anymore. God cannot do that. He's a holy, just God and the sin must be punished, justice must be carried out. But God loves you so much and he loves me so much, he loves all of us so much, that he doesn't want us to have justice. He doesn't want us to pay for our own sin because that would mean an eternity in hell separated from him. And God loves us so much, he wants us to be in his family. He wants to forgive us and take us to live with him forever in heaven. There is only one possible solution for justice to be meet it out, but for mercy to be granted to the sinner, and that is for an innocent substitute to take the punishment. That's exactly what God devised and eternity passed in the plan of salvation. He devised that our sin would be taken out on an innocent substitute his son. And that Jesus, his son from eternity would come to this earth, take a human body and would offer up that body as a sacrifice. As a substitute for your sins and my sins, that he would die in our place, that he would die in our stead and our behalf, and God would punish him for all of our sins. And because justice is carried out, the sin is punished in full. Then God can look at us and say, I extend to you mercy. I am willing to withhold the punishment if you will simply receive the justice that I have given to my son. If you will receive Christ who was your substitute, as your Savior, if you will recognize that that is the only way your sin can be forgiven, then I will pronounce mercy upon you, and you will be forgiven because the sin has already been punished. That, my friend, is the only way possible to be forgiven. You can't do that by your own good works because the punishment was taken by another. You must receive him as your substitute and accept the fact that your sin has been judged in him. Forgiveness meets our greatest need, which is for forgiveness, for our sin to be punished and mercy to be granted. But secondly, forgiveness completely removes sins penalty. This forgiveness that was offered at the cross and the forgiveness that is given by Christ's death completely removes sins penalty. You see, there is some confusion on this topic. There is some confusion on this subject. There are some who understand that, well, if I get saved, if I trust Christ, I understand my past is forgiven. And thank God, my past is white clean, all my sins that I have committed in the past are gone. But there are some who are confused about what happens from that point on. What happens if I were to sin in the future? Do I lose that standing before God? Do I lose that forgiveness? Does any future sin I might commit, compromise my standing before God, and thus bring me back under his condemnation, back under his judgment? Do I lose my salvation? Am I now condemned again? And the answer of Scripture is no, you will never be condemned because of your sin. Please remember that when Jesus died, all of your sins were future. When Jesus paid for your sins, all of them were yet to be committed. And the price was paid in full in God's mind and the plan of salvation. You were justified and glorified already because of what Jesus did when he died for your sins. The Scriptures are clear on this that no sin can ever be placed on your account and ever rob you of your salvation. We've seen it over and over again in Romans. Look at these verses just for a refresher. Romans 4.8, blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him. That's a quote from the Old Testament in Romans 4, as Paul describes, the joy, the blessedness, the standing that we have before God. Now that we're saved, now that we're declared righteous, he will never count our sin against us. What a joyful position to be in. Then we've seen in Romans chapter 8 and verse 1. Therefore, because of the fact that we are in Christ, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation. The record is white, clean. There can be no condemnation. And Paul even goes on to say in verse 33, who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? Is there any charge from anything you may do that can be placed on your account in heaven? And the answer is clear, it is God who justifies. God has already said the verdict, pronounced the verdict of righteous. And nothing can be placed on your account to overturn that. Paul in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 13 expresses it this way, when you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ, then notice these words, he forgave us all our sins. How many? Just those in the past? No, all our sins, past, present, future, everything is forgiven. Everything is taken away. Now, lest you jump to the conclusion that, well, then it doesn't matter what I do after I'm saved, right? Doesn't matter if I sin. Oh, yes, it does. It does matter. It can never be placed on your record in heaven to condemn you and sin you to hell. It can never take away your salvation, but it does have drastic consequences. If you sin as a believer, your fellowship with God, your fellowship within the family is broken. And because of that, God must chasten you, discipline you, and he will use many different means to do that, to bring you to a recognition of your sin so that you come back to him in confession and restoration of that fellowship. And the Bible even teaches that if you resist that chastening of the Lord, it can be done until the point that he just takes you in death. Now, that's certainly not the reason why every believer dies, but that may be a reason why that happens, if a person continues to resist the correction of the Lord. When I was a child, I can remember one or two occasions when I disobeyed my parents. My memory is not very good, but there were occasions when I did that. And when I disobeyed my parents, there were consequences for that. In my family, if you disobeyed mom or dad, if you talked disrespectfully to them, if you lied, if you did something in direct disobedience to what they had told you to do, there was discipline for that. And quite often it came in the form of a spanking. I can still remember the paddle that was used. They would bias those little paddles that had a little red ball, little string on it. You know, we play with it for a day and that little string was designed by the manufacturer to break after three or four hits. My parents knew that. They weren't dummies and so they had a new paddle. I still remember how much that thing stung. There were some consequences. There was some discipline when I disobeyed my parents. There was a breach of fellowship. There were things were out of source and were wrong, but I never stopped being their child. I was never out of the family because of my disobedience. I was always their child, but things were a lot sweeter and a lot better both for me and our relationship when things were made right. When you sin as a believer, you never stop being God's child. You're still in the family. But there are consequences. It's no small thing to sin as a believer. There are consequences of judgment, chasing punishment. And if you resist that correction, God continues to correct maybe even in more drastic ways. But you never lose your standing as a child. That cannot happen. The Scriptures make it clear nothing can be placed on your record in heaven. That will change your standing before God. That declaration of righteousness, that justification cannot be changed. Thank God for forgiveness completely removes sins penalty. Thank God for that. But the forgiveness at the cross and specifically now moving back to what Jesus himself said to those who were before him, forgiveness at the cross also provides an example for believers. There's a tremendous example here in two different directions. First of all, there's an example of forgiveness. Obviously Jesus was forgiving those who were gathered at the foot of the cross. What an example that is of forgiveness. Because Jesus was forgiving people who had cruelly mistreated him. He was asking for people to be forgiven, to be cleared, who had mocked him, spat at him, beaten him. He was asking for forgiveness for soldiers that had taken a Roman cat of nine tails and ripped it across his back. He was asking for forgiveness for those who had beaten him, those who ridiculed him and mocked him from the cross, from the ground that he hung on the cross. And Jesus was asking that they be forgiven. What an example that is to us of forgiveness. Jesus himself had taught in the sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 44. I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Now my friend, that's a high standard, but it's a standard that Jesus himself modeled and that we are called upon to follow. Paul would say it this way in one of his epistles, Colossians chapter 3 and verse 13 talking about relationships with other believers. He said, bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Okay, grievances are legitimate problem you have with someone. Someone really hurt you. This is not an imaginary thing. This someone really has done something wrong and we are to forgive whatever grievances we have against one another. Why? Forgive as the Lord forgave you. He set the example. He forgave us. He called for forgiveness even for those at the foot of the cross. He forgave those who had mistreated him. We are to forgive those who mistreated us. Peter I think says it best when he says the example of Jesus is given at the cross for us in this first Peter 2. To this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. Then he goes on to describe what that example is all about. He committed no sin. No deceit was found in his mouth. In other words, he had done nothing wrong. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He forgave and he asked the Father to forgive. When people hurt you, when you are treated unjustly like Jesus was, what is your response? What is my response? Do I retaliate? Do I say something back? Jesus left us an example of what forgiveness is all about. You know the word forgiveness literally means to release. The Greek word in particular means to release someone from an obligation. That is what forgiveness is. Forgiveness releases the person from any obligation you may sense they have toward you. It releases them to God. And basically in forgiveness you are saying, God, I release them to you. If there is anything that they need to have taken care of, I release them to you to take care of that. I am not going to hold it against them. They owe me nothing. Nothing. That is the meaning of the word forgiveness. That is what Jesus did at the cross. He gives us that example of forgiveness. But he also gives us an example of prayer. Jesus is hanging on a Roman cross. No longer is he able to walk the dusty roads of Galilee or Judea to speak to the throngs of people that came to hear him speak. No longer is he able to touch blind eyes and lame legs and withered arms and healed the multitudes that were brought to him. His ministry, although his greatest ministry is now taking place on the cross, his ministry in one sense is reduced to being able to pray. But he prays. He prays. And he prays for others to be forgiven. Could I suggest that as an example for each of us in times in our life when either because of physical illness or weakness or age, we are no longer able to minister actively like we once did. Could I suggest that you never as long as you have your mind, you never go beyond one of the most important ministries you can ever have and that is the ministry of prayer. So I encourage each one here to think in terms of the fact that as long as God gives you a clarity of mind and thought, you will always be able to minister. You will always be able to serve. Even when physically you are not capable of it any longer, you will always be able to serve in prayer. So if an example Jesus gives us that when he is no longer able to walk around ministering to people, he can still pray for them. We can do the same. I am so glad for forgiveness that was spoken at the cross and forgiveness which was obtained for us at the cross. That forgiveness which was given by Jesus, the Lamb of God, the innocent sufferer taking our place, offering for us God's mercy in forgiveness. My friend, all the penalty for your sin has been paid in the person of Christ and his work on the cross. You cannot pay it on your own. If you will simply, if you have never done this, if you will simply recognize that Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sin as a substitute for you. And if you will recognize that and receive him as your substitute, your savior, then God will forgive you of your sin. Take all of your sin off of your record in heaven. Make you his child and give you a home in heaven. What a wonderful forgiveness that is. Would you pray with me please? Father, thank you for that forgiveness that we have seen demonstrated at the cross. The forgiveness that we have reminded ourselves of today by partaking of this bread and this juice, the body of Christ, the Lamb of God, suffering for our sins, the blood of Christ being shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Thank you that forgiveness is found through what he did on the cross. Lord, I want to pray right now for anyone who may be sitting here today who has never trusted Jesus as their substitute, their sacrifice, their savior. I pray that today they would recognize their need, that they cannot save themselves, they cannot cleanse themselves from their own sin. They need the Savior. And I pray that today might be the day when they turn their lives over to Jesus Christ and receive Him in the forgiveness of sin. Thank you for that provision you have made new life come into some heart today. May someone come into the family of God through the forgiveness of their sin. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.