Sermon 3 of 7 from the Seven Last Words of Jesus series
April 1991 – This is the third saying of Jesus as he hung on the cross. It is sometime between 9 A.M. and 12 noon on Friday in Jerusalem. A motley crowd has gathered at Skull Hill to watch the goings-on.
“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ’Dear woman, here is your son.’ And to the disciple, ’Here is your mother.’ From that time on this disciple took her into his home.”
This week I had a real treat. My family went with me as we traveled down to Alabama for my mother’s 70th birthday. We left last Sunday night after the evening service—at about 7:40 P.M.—and drove through the night—through Indiana and Tennessee and got to Alabama early Monday morning not too much the worse for the wear. We spent Monday resting—at least Marlene and I did—but the boys immediately went down to the pier and went fishing. They were not successful for the first several hours until my older brother Andy went down to help them out. He advised them that if you wanted to catch fish it always helps to put some bait on the hooks. Once they did that, the fish really started biting.
My three brothers all came in at one time or the other for my mother’s birthday. My younger brother Ron, who lives in Arkansas, came and went before I got there. My younger brother Alan came up from Florida with his wife D’Ann. And we were staying at my older brother Andy’s house on the Tennessee River.
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Yellow Cake With Chocolate Icing
That night we had the big celebration for my Mom. Andy arranged the catering and the kids baked her birthday cake. Concerning their culinary efforts, it could be fairly said that you couldn’t find one like it in a bakery any-where. They baked a yellow cake with chocolate icing and put one of these candles on top of it that you light and blow them out and it comes on again. After the meal we gave Mom her gifts. She sat at the end of the table with tears in her eyes, smiling about everything.
After we had the cake and gave her the gifts, we made a few jokes about her advanced age. We had a great, great time. At the end, my brothers asked me to propose the birthday toast. They chose me because, as Andy noted, among all the brothers I’m the one who can talk the longest with the least preparation.
I spent some time Monday night and Tuesday just watching my mother. I hadn’t seen her in over a year. It’s really something to think about—your mother reaching her 70th birthday. Three-score and ten. That’s the biblical length of life. Anytime someone turns 70 he has to think about how many more years are left. When you’re a kid you never think of your parents growing old. You don’t know how old they are but you think whatever age they are that they’ll be that age forever. When you’re young it’s hard to picture your parents get-ting old. There’s nothing wrong with growing old. That’s the natural course of life. It’s going to happen to all of us if we live long enough. But it’s hard to think about your mother or your father growing old. We don’t really have a category for that when we’re kids.
Silver Threads Among the Gold
I looked at my Mom and saw the gray hair around her temples, her face etched with the passing of the years. When she would reach out her hands there was just a little shakiness. I watched as she would walk from room to room. My mother basically is in good health but she was careful when she walked just to make sure she was okay. I hadn’t really noticed my mother doing that before.
When she took the boys and Andy’s girls shopping on Tuesday, I went with her. We went to the mall so she could spend her money on her grandkids. When we got back to the house, the girls went outside to play while the boys went fishing. I noticed my mother resting on the couch because her feet were hurting. I couldn’t remember my Mom doing that before. She hadn’t been 70 before.
It reminds me of what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12. “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ’I find no pleasure in them.’” As I studied my Mom I noticed several things about her. I noticed that the two things she seems to fear the most are losing her health and losing the money she has. I noticed that she seems to depend on her children now the way we used to depend on her. I noticed that when she talks about the future it’s always in terms of the past. It’s hard for me to explain unless you know exactly what I mean. She talks about the future in terms of the past.
The Keepers of the House
Ecclesiastes speaks of the days of trouble, before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark and the clouds return after the rain. Solomon goes on to describe the slow deterioration of the body in the declining years of life. The keepers of the house crumble (the arms), the legs grow weary and strong men stoop. The grinders cease because they are few. Those looking through the windows grow dim. The doors to the street are closed and the sounding of grinding fades. Men rise up at the sound of birds because they cannot sleep at night. But all their songs grow faint. They can’t sing anymore. Men are afraid of heights and dangers in the street. Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets.
There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing to feel bad about if you grow old. That’s a normal process of life. But it’s hard to look at your mother and see her growing old right before your eyes. It seems like just yesterday when it would snow, once every ten years in Alabama, we’d get the sled out and Dad would push us down the hill and Mom would be down at the bottom of the hill clapping, cheering for us. The four of us boys were just little kids.
Now Mom is 70 years old. Where have those days gone? Where have all those years gone? It’s hard to believe.
Mother Mary
Mary is older now. The years have passed. Jesus has grown up. Mary has grown older too. She might be in her early 50s. Or she might be 55 now. She could even be 60 or 65. She’s not a young girl anymore. She’s not a teenager anymore. She’s long past the childbearing years. She’s past her 20s, past her 30s, past her 40s. She’s a widow now. I think that’s certain. Joseph is gone. Somewhere between the time Jesus was twelve and the time he began his ministry Joseph seems to have dropped off the scene. Mary’s alone now. She’s older now. Her shoulders are stooped a little bit. And there are a few silver threads among the gold. Those carefree days of youth are gone forever.
She stands at the cross with two other women and John the apostle. And on the cross, her first born son. She watched as they beat him. She heard with the ear of a mother the screams, the cries of agony as she watched her son being tortured to death. She couldn’t lift a finger to help him. She heard the swear words of the crowd. The blasphemy. She watched as they walked by and slapped him and beat him and cursed him. And she could do nothing about it.
Jesus’ Last Will and Testament
Only those who have watched a loved one die could even begin to understand what it means for Mary to be at the cross that day. As the hours pass and the agony increases she looks at her son, just a shell of the man he used to be, beaten almost beyond recognition, writhing in pain. And the crowd loving it. And in those hours suddenly the cry comes from the cross, Jesus looking down sees his mother Mary and sees John standing next to her and cries out from the cross, “Woman, Dear Woman, Mother, behold your son.” (speaking of John) and to John, “Behold your mother.” The Bible says that when Jesus said those words from the cross, immediately, from that very hour, John took Mary, the mother of Jesus into his own home.
We wouldn’t understand at first reading the significance of those words. But in Jewish thought the instructions of a dying man were of the same sort as if they were written on a piece of paper. So when Jesus cried out, “Woman, behold your son” and “Son, behold your mother", it is as if Jesus were writing his own last will and testament and executing it right there. Jesus was saying to his mother, “Mom, I’m leaving you now and I’m not going to be able to take care of you after I’m gone. Mom, there’s nothing else I can do for you. You see John. John will be to you as I was to you. He will be the son you need.” “John, do you see my mother? Take care of her after I’m gone. Do for her what I would do if I were still alive.”
You ask, why in the midst of all his agony would Jesus even say something like this? It is because even though he is dying in terrible, agonizing torture upon the cross, he is fulfilling the most basic responsibility and the most sacred obligation that any son ever had. He is making sure that his mother is cared for.
A Dying Son’s Request
What does the Bible say? He was a Jew. He was raised under the Law. He knew the fifth commandment, “Honor your father and mother.”
It’s not as if Jesus had a lot of options at this point hanging on the cross. He knew that he would be dead within just a matter of hours. He couldn’t give his mother any money for he had no money to give her. He couldn’t say, “Mom, when I get off this cross I’ll spend some time with you,” because he had no time left to spend. He couldn’t say, “Mother, in a week or two we’ll take a trip together, just the two of us.” He couldn’t do that. All he could do in his dying moments was to fulfill that final obligation to be sure that his mother was taken care of after he was gone.
You say, what is the truth here? The truth is this. Although Jesus was about the business of saving the world he was not too busy to care for his parents.
I draw from this simple story three applications.
1. No one is ever discharged from that sacred obligation.
Our Lord has left the pattern for us to see. Though you be about the business of saving the world, though you be a Christian committed to spreading the gospel to the ends of this earth, you are not now, nor will you ever be, discharged from the sacred obligation to care for your parents. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever. If our Lord Jesus, hanging in agony, remembered his mother at the very end of his life, then so should we. No one here is ever discharged from that sacred and holy obligation.
2. When you can’t do anything else for the people you love, you can at least tell them, “I love you.”
That’s what Jesus was saying on the cross. “Mom, I can’t come down. Mom, they’re going to kill me. Mom, I’m a dead man but I want you to be cared for and before I die I want you to know that I love you.”
3. No matter what you do in this life, you can hardly be considered a success if in your rapid climb to the top you neglect to care for your parents.
Did you hear what I said? No matter what else you do in this life you can hardly be considered a success if in your climb to the top you neglect to care for your parents.
It’s hard to explain this to kids. This is a principle that’s hard to put into words. Yesterday, after the Sparks-A-Rama, Josh and Mark were in the van with us as we drove in from Lombard. Nicholas was in the bus with the other Sparkies. It was sometime between 12 and 12:30 P.M. and as we approached the Harlem exit we were listening to WMBI. A man said, “My wife told me that if we wanted our kids to spend time with us later we had to spend time with them now.” The man went on to say, “My wife also told me that if we wanted our kids to talk with us later we had to talk with them now.”
I thought that sounded good. I turned off the radio and thought I’d try a little experiment and work this out with my boys to see if they agreed with the basic principle. So while we were waiting for the light to change, I turned around to the boys and said, “If we spend time with you now, what will you do for us later?” And from the back came the chorus, “We’ll spend time with you later.” I thought to myself, “Okay, we’ll try it again.” “If we talk with you now what will you do with us later?” “We’ll talk with you later.” I thought I’d go for the big one. “If we give you money now…” There was a little pause and then Mark, the loyal middle son, said, “We’ll give you money, don’t worry.” Then I said, “Okay, if we let you live with us now, when we get older what will you do for us?” And Mark answered, “Oh, you can live with us.” At that point Joshua started laughing and said, “Yeah, we’ll let you live in a one-room apartment all by yourself.” It’s a hard principle to get across.
Worse Than An Unbeliever
Here’s the principle as I understand it. We all know that the Bible says, “Honor your father and mother.” The New Testament says, “Children obey your parents.” I think it’s true that once you leave your home there will be times you will not be able to obey your parents. We all understand that. But there is never a time when it’s okay not to honor your parents. Obey—not always. Honor—always and forever. No one is discharged from that obligation.
If you ever use your Christianity as a reason not to take care of your parents, you’re worse than an unbeliever. If you are a new Christian and your parents have not followed you in the faith, if you use that as a reason not to love them and care for them and honor them, you know nothing of what the Christian faith is all about.
We want to save the world, don’t we? We can save the world, but while we’re saving the world, let’s take the time to do what Jesus did. Don’t ever use your great calling as an excuse to get out of your basic moral obliga-tions. If the Lord Jesus Christ—beaten, bruised and bloody—if he had time for his parents while he was on the way to saving the world, then you have time for yours. That’s a sacred principle of Scripture.
Three Action Steps
What do you do and where do you begin? Let me give you three action steps this morning.
1. If you really want to take this word to heart, go to your parents and tell them you love them.
Some of you ought to make a phone call today. Some of you ought to write a note today. Some of you ought to say “I love you.” You really ought to do it. It’s been too long since you’ve done it. Listen, if you’re too busy to love your parents, you’re too busy. If you’re too busy to honor your parents, you’re too busy. If you’ve filled your life with so much good stuff that you have no time for the people who brought you into this world, you’ve filled your life with a bunch of junk. You need to change what you’re filling your life with. That’s number one—go to your parents and tell them you love them. Do it while you have the chance.
2. If you can’t honor them while they are alive, you can remember them after they die.
This touches many of us whose parents have already died. What do you do then? The Bible never says, “Honor your parents only as long as they are alive.” You are supposed to honor your parents as long as you are alive whether they are alive or not. How do you do that? Remember them. Remember your mother and your father. Isn’t it true that the worst fear we have is that someday we will die and people will forget that we were ever here? One way you honor your parents’ memory is simply by remembering what they have done for you. I am not ashamed to say that when I went to Alabama I thought about my Dad. He’s been dead for 17 years. Some-body at the First Baptist Church who knew my father, looked at me and said, “You’re looking more like your dad all the time.” I can’t imagine a better compliment than that. My Dad’s been gone but I still love him and I honor his memory. Just by remembering who he was and what he did.
3. If you are unable to speak good about your parents, you can honor them by refusing to speak evil of them.
Many of you didn’t have a mother like Mary or a father like Joseph. Your parents weren’t there when you needed them. Perhaps there was a divorce and they left you. Maybe you don’t even know where your father and mother are. Maybe you were abused and hurt by them in the past. You say, “Pastor, I just can’t do what you’re saying.” I accept that. But even if your parents have hurt you, you are not dismissed from the command to honor them. Listen carefully. If you can’t do anything else, there’s one way you can honor your parents even if they hurt you. You can forgive them and refuse to speak evil against them. If you can’t do anything else, you can honor them by refusing to speak evil of the people who brought you into this world.
SCRIPTURES REFERENCED
John 19
* I Thirst
* Tetelestai!
* Paid in Full
Where is the gospel in a message like this? My soul, this is the gospel. Jesus said this when he was hanging on the cross. He said this just hours before he died. This is the gospel. Don’t you know what this means? Jesus died as he had lived—thinking of others.
His first word:
“Father, forgive them”
—thinking of his enemies.
His second word:
“Today you will be with me in Paradise”
—thinking of the criminal by his side.
His third word:
“Woman, behold your son”
—thinking of his mother.
Jesus died as he lived—thinking of others.
So we must go from this place committed to live the way he lives and to die the way he died. Thinking not of ourselves, thinking of others.
I say it again, as Jesus hung on the cross, as he is on the way to saving the world he had enough time to take care of his mother. So must we, in life and in death, take enough time to care for those who have cared for us.
One final word. This story certainly teaches us that the church must indeed be a family. But if we are going to talk about the church as a family, that must be more than a slogan. Why? Because the Christian church was founded by a family man. And in the last hours of his life he was thinking not of himself; he was thinking of his family.
Go and in Jesus’ name do likewise. Amen.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Last-Second Salvation – Luke 23:43 keepbelieving.com
Sermon 2 of 7 from the Seven Last Words of Jesus series
February 1991 – It is Friday in Jerusalem. The smell of death is in the air. Outside the city wall, just north of the Damascus Gate, in a place long reserved for public executions, three crosses stand beside a road. A crowd has gathered this day. Not that crucifixion was unusual. But this day is different. An unusual man is being crucified.
He wasn’t an ordinary criminal—not a thief or a murderer or a pickpocket. In fact, there were those who thought he wasn’t guilty at all. But no matter. There he was on the middle cross. On either side, two men were crucified with him.
A Portrait of Two Thieves
Who were they? The translators use different words to describe them … “Thieves, robbers, malefactors, bandits.” Luke’s word means “members of the criminal class, professional criminals, members of the underworld.” These men were hoods, thugs, cutthroat killers, men who killed for fun and profit, assassins.
Tradition suggests that these men were political revolutionaries bent on overthrowing the yoke of Roman rule. If so, we ought to think of them as ruthless men who thought nothing of using violence to achieve their political aims.
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Beyond that, we know little else about them. We do not know their names or their hometowns or the specific crime they committed. We assume that they had been partners in crime, but that is not certain. Some suggest they were brothers, but there is no way to be sure.
We would not know them at all except for this: They are supporting players in the greatest drama of all time, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
It may appear that these two men are exactly alike. They were both criminals who were sentenced to die together at the same time at the same place on the same day. Both had been severely beaten before they crucified, both were stripped naked before the leering crowd, both were covered with blood and dirt. Both men were dying and both would soon be dead. No one could look at them and tell any difference.
But in reality, no two men could be more different. These two men who were crucified on the outer crosses differed on one main point: How they viewed the man in the middle. They saw him differently and therefore asked him for different things.
—One man wanted escape, not forgiveness.
—The other man wanted forgiveness, not escape.
Amazing Faith
Pause with me and let us look together at the man who wanted forgiveness. Was any man ever in a more des-perate situation? Brutally crucified, he is dying in agony for sins he had committed, crimes he had done. He is a guilty man justly punished. He deserves to die and he knows it. By sundown, he will be dead.
His case has been tried, the judgment announced, the sentence carried out. All purely legal avenues have been exhausted. This man is as close to death as you can be and still be alive. Now at the last moment he makes one final appeal to the Supreme Court of the Universe: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (42)
I submit to you that here we have the most amazing example of saving faith in all the Bible. Jesus is hanging next to him, a bloody mess, a sight awful to behold. The disciples are long gone, having run for cover when things went bad the night before. The man’s feet and arms are nailed to the cross, ropes hold his body upright so it won’t fall off. Every movement is agony, every breath torture. Beneath him and behind him the howling mob screams for blood. They jeer, they hiss, they curse, the spit, they roar like wild hyenas. They cheer as he coughs up blood, they roar with approval when someone aims a rock at a piece of tender flesh. It is garish, hellish, brutal and inhuman. Yet it is here—amid the blood and gore—that this man comes to faith.
Somehow this man saw Jesus bleeding and naked and yet he believed that he would someday come in his kingdom. No man ever looked less like a king than Jesus did that day, yet this man saw him as he really was.
This is made more amazing when you consider that this man had none of the advantages the disciples had. He never heard Jesus teaching by the seashore, he never saw Jesus heal the sick or raise the dead, he knew nothing of Jesus’ great parables and never saw any of his miracles. This man missed all the outward signs of Jesus’ kingship. Yet he believed.
He knew nothing of the virgin birth, the Old Testament prophecies, the conversation with Nicodemus or the raising of Lazarus just one week earlier. The coming miracle of the resurrection was unknown to him. All the things we take for granted, he knew nothing about.
Yet there on the cross, he came to understand the heart of the gospel. In the crucified Jesus, beaten, mocked, forsaken, his life blood ebbing away, this thief saw a king and another crown than the crown of thorns.
Saved at the Very Last Second
In that light his words seem all the more remarkable. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your king-dom.” By saying that, he didn’t mean “Remember my name” or “Erect a monument to me.” He simply meant, “At the end of the world, make a place for me in your kingdom.” It is the modest prayer of a man who knows he does not deserve what he is asking for.
When you put the totality of his words together you can clearly see how great this man’s faith really is:
“This man has done nothing wrong” —Faith in the Person of Christ
“Jesus, remember me” —Faith in the Power of Christ
“Jesus, remember me” —Faith in the Mercy of Christ
“When you come into your kingdom” –Faiith in the Kingdom of Christ
What about this prayer? It is a bit unusual. But it reminds us that God judges the sincerity of our hearts and not the accuracy of our words. When you go to the doctor, you don’t usually know exactly what medicine you need. You just need to go to the right doctor and he’ll make sure you get the right medicine.
Likewise this poor dying thief didn’t know all the right words to say, but what he said was good enough because he said it to the right person. When he said, “Jesus, remember me,” he didn’t know all that he was asking for; before sundown he received far more than he expected.
This thief on the cross was dying for his sins—a guilty man justly punished. He cried out to Jesus and at the very last second he was saved.
A Promise With Three Parts
How do we know this thief was saved? We know he was saved by the answer Jesus gave in verse 43: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Jesus answered his request by giving him a promise with three parts.
1. Immediate Salvation. In the Greek the word “Today” is the first word in the phrase. Jesus put it there for emphasis. Literally, it reads “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Meaning, “This very day, the day of your crucifixion …” Whatever or wherever “paradise” is, Jesus told this thief that he was going there that very day.
2. Personal Salvation. Again, the Greek words are very important. The phrase is met emou, which means to be “with me in a very personal way.” It is not “You over there and me over here” but “You and me together, side by side.” It means to be in the personal presence of another person. Wherever Jesus was going, this thief would be right by his side.
3. Heavenly Salvation. “Paradise” is the crucial word. The scholars tell us that it originally referred to the walled gardens of the Persian kings. When a king wanted to honor his subjects, he would invite them to walk with him in his garden in the cool of the day. This same word was used in the Greek Old Testament to refer to the Garden of Eden; in the book of Revelation (2:7) it refers to heaven. It is a place of beauty, openness and inexpressible blessedness.
If you take these three promises together, you see what a remarkable thing Jesus is saying. He is promising that this thief—who has lived his entire life in crime—will, upon his death, be transferred to heaven where he will be in the personal presence of Jesus Christ. Truly, this thief received much more than he asked for.
What a day this was for that misbegotten criminal. In the morning, he’s in prison, at noon he’s hanging on a cross, by sundown he’s in paradise. Out of a life of sin and shame, he passed immediately into eternal blessedness.
Key Questions Answered
These words of Jesus answer many important questions.
1. Where did the spirit of Jesus go between his death on Friday and his resurrection on Sunday? I think this verse (Luke 23:43) answers that question sufficiently. He did not “descend into Hell,” if that statement means that he entered the abode of the damned and suffered with them (or preached to them). If, however, “descended into Hell” means that he entered the realm of the dead, that statement is true because Jesus was indeed dead between Friday night and Sunday morning. But where did his spirit go? The answer is that the spirit of Jesus went into the presence of God the Father. He was physically dead and in that sense, he fully entered into the realm of the dead. But his spirit went immediately to paradise, which is the state of eternal blessedness in the presence of God.
2. What happens to a believer when he dies? Here the words of Jesus are a great comfort as we bid farewell to our loved ones. Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” At the very moment a believer dies, he passes immediately ("Today") into the personal presence of Jesus in heaven. That, I think, is what Paul meant when he said that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (II Corinthians 5:8).
This forever puts an end to any notions of “soul-sleep,” the false doctrine that suggests that when we die our souls “sleep” in the grave until the moment of the resurrection. Nothing could be farther from the truth. When Christians die, they go directly to heaven. The original constitution of this church puts the matter very succinctly: “We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His Coming.” (Article XIII, p. 7, from the Constitution of the Madison Street Church, ca. 1919)
3. When does heaven begin for the believer? The answer is the one Jesus gave to the dying thief… “Today.” Heaven begins the moment we cross the narrow divide between this life and the next. Not 50 years after we die, or 150 years later, or 1500 years later but TODAY! We have the word of Jesus on this.
4. What about purgatory? After all, if any man ever needed purgatory, it was this poor fellow. He had lived such a rotten life that everyone was glad to see him dead. Surely he needed to sit in the cooler for a few hundred years so his soul could be made ready for heaven.
But No! This man did not go to purgatory because there is no such place. Purgatory is the invention of people who have a hard time believing in salvation by grace alone. The Bible does not teach purgatory; it teaches the free grace of God.
SCRIPTURES REFERENCED
Luke 23
* The Man Who Would Be King: Christ Speaks to the Problem of Frivolous Curiosity
* A Time to Die
* Forgiving the Unforgivable
This man—this thief, this scoundrel, this wastrel, this sorry excuse for a human being, this professional criminal, this thug—this man who, if he showed up in church today would scare us to death, this man who, if he moved to Oak Park would make us want to move out, this man went directly from the cross to paradise. And he didn’t stop in purgatory along the way!
Lessons of Hope and Encouragement
As I read this story, I take from it three lessons of hope and encouragement.
1. It is never too late to turn to Christ. Sometimes people say, “I’m too old for this” or “I’m too old to try that.” Sometimes it true on the physical level. As you get older, there are some things you just can’t do any more. But thank God, no one can ever say that about turning to Jesus. It’s never too late to turn to him. As long as there is life and breath, as long as the heart still beats, the invitation still stands.
Those of us who are praying for our loved ones should take great hope from this principle. Sometimes we look at people and say, “They are just too far gone. They will never come to Jesus.” Then we get discouraged and stop praying for them. But if this story teaches us anything, it is that no one is ever too far gone. It’s true, he waited until the very last second … but it’s also true that in that last second he was saved. Don’t ever give up on those you love. They may, like this wretched thief, waste a lifetime and then at the end turn to Jesus Christ.
Don’t despair … for yourself or for anyone else. It’s never too late to turn to Christ.
2. Even the very worst can be saved at the very last moment. Sometimes we hear people make fun of “death-bed” conversions, as if such things never happen. Well, let me tell you that they do happen. And why not? If a man knows that he is dying, is he not likely to be thinking about the hereafter and where he will spend eternity?
I do not mean to suggest that anyone should wait until the last moment to be saved. Far less do I intend to suggest that anyone should live a profligate life with the intention of coming to Christ just before he dies. People who live that way aren’t serious about salvation. They are putting off until tomorrow that which they ought to do today. I’m sure if we could speak to this thief who was crucified with Jesus, he would say, “Don’t delay. Don’t wait. Give your heart to Jesus now.”
But the fact remains, that this man who was a very bad man was indeed saved at the very last moment. Thank God it is so. He had lived an absolutely rotten life, yet he died a Christian death. It happened by the grace of Jesus Christ.
I know that some people feel that they are too far gone in sin to ever be forgiven. Some feel so enslaved by their habits that they despair of ever being set free. Many people would do anything to be forgiven but they think that forgiveness is impossible.
Let me put the matter plainly. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been sleeping. It doesn’t matter what you’ve been drinking. It doesn’t matter who you’ve been hanging around with. It doesn’t matter what sins you’ve committed. It doesn’t even matter if you’ve broken the Ten Commandments—all of them, one by one—this week. It just doesn’t matter. You can be saved right now.
If this man can be saved, anybody can be saved. If there’s hope for him, there’s hope for you. If he can make it to heaven, so can you. If Jesus would take him, he’ll certainly take you.
3. God has made salvation simple so every person can be saved. Consider what we have in this story:
—Salvation independent of the sacraments. This man was never baptized, never took the Lord’s Supper and never went to Confession. But he made it to heaven. Therefore, we know you don’t have to be baptized or take the Lord’s Supper or go to Confession in order to be saved.
—Salvation independent of the church. This man never went to church, never walked an aisle, never attended catechism class and never gave his money. But he made it to heaven. Therefore, we know that you don’t have to go to church, walk an aisle, attend catechism class or give your money in order to be saved.
—Salvation independent of good works. This man could not lift a hand for the Savior for his hands were nailed to a cross. He could not run any errands for the Lord for his feet were nailed to a cross. He could not give his money for he had not a penny to his name. For this man, there was no way in but the mercy of God.
He was pardoned before he lived a single righteous day. In one transforming moment, a man who was not fit to live on earth was made fit to live in heaven.
There May I, Though Vile as He
I take my stand with him. I claim the same mercy. We all get to heaven the same way, by the grace and mercy of God.
Over two hundred years ago William Cowper wrote a famous hymn that includes a verse about the dying thief. To my knowledge, this is the only hymn that mentions this man:
There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins.
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see,
That fountain in his day.
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.
All that God wants from us … and all that he will accept … is simple faith in his son, Jesus Christ. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, in that very moment we are saved.
The question is simple. Are you ready to die? You have nothing to fear if you know the Lord. You are not ready to die if you don’t. Do you know him? What will you do if you don’t know him?
February 1991 – It is Friday in Jerusalem. The smell of death is in the air. Outside the city wall, just north of the Damascus Gate, in a place long reserved for public executions, three crosses stand beside a road. A crowd has gathered this day. Not that crucifixion was unusual. But this day is different. An unusual man is being crucified.
He wasn’t an ordinary criminal—not a thief or a murderer or a pickpocket. In fact, there were those who thought he wasn’t guilty at all. But no matter. There he was on the middle cross. On either side, two men were crucified with him.
A Portrait of Two Thieves
Who were they? The translators use different words to describe them … “Thieves, robbers, malefactors, bandits.” Luke’s word means “members of the criminal class, professional criminals, members of the underworld.” These men were hoods, thugs, cutthroat killers, men who killed for fun and profit, assassins.
Tradition suggests that these men were political revolutionaries bent on overthrowing the yoke of Roman rule. If so, we ought to think of them as ruthless men who thought nothing of using violence to achieve their political aims.
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Beyond that, we know little else about them. We do not know their names or their hometowns or the specific crime they committed. We assume that they had been partners in crime, but that is not certain. Some suggest they were brothers, but there is no way to be sure.
We would not know them at all except for this: They are supporting players in the greatest drama of all time, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
It may appear that these two men are exactly alike. They were both criminals who were sentenced to die together at the same time at the same place on the same day. Both had been severely beaten before they crucified, both were stripped naked before the leering crowd, both were covered with blood and dirt. Both men were dying and both would soon be dead. No one could look at them and tell any difference.
But in reality, no two men could be more different. These two men who were crucified on the outer crosses differed on one main point: How they viewed the man in the middle. They saw him differently and therefore asked him for different things.
—One man wanted escape, not forgiveness.
—The other man wanted forgiveness, not escape.
Amazing Faith
Pause with me and let us look together at the man who wanted forgiveness. Was any man ever in a more des-perate situation? Brutally crucified, he is dying in agony for sins he had committed, crimes he had done. He is a guilty man justly punished. He deserves to die and he knows it. By sundown, he will be dead.
His case has been tried, the judgment announced, the sentence carried out. All purely legal avenues have been exhausted. This man is as close to death as you can be and still be alive. Now at the last moment he makes one final appeal to the Supreme Court of the Universe: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (42)
I submit to you that here we have the most amazing example of saving faith in all the Bible. Jesus is hanging next to him, a bloody mess, a sight awful to behold. The disciples are long gone, having run for cover when things went bad the night before. The man’s feet and arms are nailed to the cross, ropes hold his body upright so it won’t fall off. Every movement is agony, every breath torture. Beneath him and behind him the howling mob screams for blood. They jeer, they hiss, they curse, the spit, they roar like wild hyenas. They cheer as he coughs up blood, they roar with approval when someone aims a rock at a piece of tender flesh. It is garish, hellish, brutal and inhuman. Yet it is here—amid the blood and gore—that this man comes to faith.
Somehow this man saw Jesus bleeding and naked and yet he believed that he would someday come in his kingdom. No man ever looked less like a king than Jesus did that day, yet this man saw him as he really was.
This is made more amazing when you consider that this man had none of the advantages the disciples had. He never heard Jesus teaching by the seashore, he never saw Jesus heal the sick or raise the dead, he knew nothing of Jesus’ great parables and never saw any of his miracles. This man missed all the outward signs of Jesus’ kingship. Yet he believed.
He knew nothing of the virgin birth, the Old Testament prophecies, the conversation with Nicodemus or the raising of Lazarus just one week earlier. The coming miracle of the resurrection was unknown to him. All the things we take for granted, he knew nothing about.
Yet there on the cross, he came to understand the heart of the gospel. In the crucified Jesus, beaten, mocked, forsaken, his life blood ebbing away, this thief saw a king and another crown than the crown of thorns.
Saved at the Very Last Second
In that light his words seem all the more remarkable. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your king-dom.” By saying that, he didn’t mean “Remember my name” or “Erect a monument to me.” He simply meant, “At the end of the world, make a place for me in your kingdom.” It is the modest prayer of a man who knows he does not deserve what he is asking for.
When you put the totality of his words together you can clearly see how great this man’s faith really is:
“This man has done nothing wrong” —Faith in the Person of Christ
“Jesus, remember me” —Faith in the Power of Christ
“Jesus, remember me” —Faith in the Mercy of Christ
“When you come into your kingdom” –Faiith in the Kingdom of Christ
What about this prayer? It is a bit unusual. But it reminds us that God judges the sincerity of our hearts and not the accuracy of our words. When you go to the doctor, you don’t usually know exactly what medicine you need. You just need to go to the right doctor and he’ll make sure you get the right medicine.
Likewise this poor dying thief didn’t know all the right words to say, but what he said was good enough because he said it to the right person. When he said, “Jesus, remember me,” he didn’t know all that he was asking for; before sundown he received far more than he expected.
This thief on the cross was dying for his sins—a guilty man justly punished. He cried out to Jesus and at the very last second he was saved.
A Promise With Three Parts
How do we know this thief was saved? We know he was saved by the answer Jesus gave in verse 43: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Jesus answered his request by giving him a promise with three parts.
1. Immediate Salvation. In the Greek the word “Today” is the first word in the phrase. Jesus put it there for emphasis. Literally, it reads “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Meaning, “This very day, the day of your crucifixion …” Whatever or wherever “paradise” is, Jesus told this thief that he was going there that very day.
2. Personal Salvation. Again, the Greek words are very important. The phrase is met emou, which means to be “with me in a very personal way.” It is not “You over there and me over here” but “You and me together, side by side.” It means to be in the personal presence of another person. Wherever Jesus was going, this thief would be right by his side.
3. Heavenly Salvation. “Paradise” is the crucial word. The scholars tell us that it originally referred to the walled gardens of the Persian kings. When a king wanted to honor his subjects, he would invite them to walk with him in his garden in the cool of the day. This same word was used in the Greek Old Testament to refer to the Garden of Eden; in the book of Revelation (2:7) it refers to heaven. It is a place of beauty, openness and inexpressible blessedness.
If you take these three promises together, you see what a remarkable thing Jesus is saying. He is promising that this thief—who has lived his entire life in crime—will, upon his death, be transferred to heaven where he will be in the personal presence of Jesus Christ. Truly, this thief received much more than he asked for.
What a day this was for that misbegotten criminal. In the morning, he’s in prison, at noon he’s hanging on a cross, by sundown he’s in paradise. Out of a life of sin and shame, he passed immediately into eternal blessedness.
Key Questions Answered
These words of Jesus answer many important questions.
1. Where did the spirit of Jesus go between his death on Friday and his resurrection on Sunday? I think this verse (Luke 23:43) answers that question sufficiently. He did not “descend into Hell,” if that statement means that he entered the abode of the damned and suffered with them (or preached to them). If, however, “descended into Hell” means that he entered the realm of the dead, that statement is true because Jesus was indeed dead between Friday night and Sunday morning. But where did his spirit go? The answer is that the spirit of Jesus went into the presence of God the Father. He was physically dead and in that sense, he fully entered into the realm of the dead. But his spirit went immediately to paradise, which is the state of eternal blessedness in the presence of God.
2. What happens to a believer when he dies? Here the words of Jesus are a great comfort as we bid farewell to our loved ones. Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” At the very moment a believer dies, he passes immediately ("Today") into the personal presence of Jesus in heaven. That, I think, is what Paul meant when he said that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (II Corinthians 5:8).
This forever puts an end to any notions of “soul-sleep,” the false doctrine that suggests that when we die our souls “sleep” in the grave until the moment of the resurrection. Nothing could be farther from the truth. When Christians die, they go directly to heaven. The original constitution of this church puts the matter very succinctly: “We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His Coming.” (Article XIII, p. 7, from the Constitution of the Madison Street Church, ca. 1919)
3. When does heaven begin for the believer? The answer is the one Jesus gave to the dying thief… “Today.” Heaven begins the moment we cross the narrow divide between this life and the next. Not 50 years after we die, or 150 years later, or 1500 years later but TODAY! We have the word of Jesus on this.
4. What about purgatory? After all, if any man ever needed purgatory, it was this poor fellow. He had lived such a rotten life that everyone was glad to see him dead. Surely he needed to sit in the cooler for a few hundred years so his soul could be made ready for heaven.
But No! This man did not go to purgatory because there is no such place. Purgatory is the invention of people who have a hard time believing in salvation by grace alone. The Bible does not teach purgatory; it teaches the free grace of God.
SCRIPTURES REFERENCED
Luke 23
* The Man Who Would Be King: Christ Speaks to the Problem of Frivolous Curiosity
* A Time to Die
* Forgiving the Unforgivable
This man—this thief, this scoundrel, this wastrel, this sorry excuse for a human being, this professional criminal, this thug—this man who, if he showed up in church today would scare us to death, this man who, if he moved to Oak Park would make us want to move out, this man went directly from the cross to paradise. And he didn’t stop in purgatory along the way!
Lessons of Hope and Encouragement
As I read this story, I take from it three lessons of hope and encouragement.
1. It is never too late to turn to Christ. Sometimes people say, “I’m too old for this” or “I’m too old to try that.” Sometimes it true on the physical level. As you get older, there are some things you just can’t do any more. But thank God, no one can ever say that about turning to Jesus. It’s never too late to turn to him. As long as there is life and breath, as long as the heart still beats, the invitation still stands.
Those of us who are praying for our loved ones should take great hope from this principle. Sometimes we look at people and say, “They are just too far gone. They will never come to Jesus.” Then we get discouraged and stop praying for them. But if this story teaches us anything, it is that no one is ever too far gone. It’s true, he waited until the very last second … but it’s also true that in that last second he was saved. Don’t ever give up on those you love. They may, like this wretched thief, waste a lifetime and then at the end turn to Jesus Christ.
Don’t despair … for yourself or for anyone else. It’s never too late to turn to Christ.
2. Even the very worst can be saved at the very last moment. Sometimes we hear people make fun of “death-bed” conversions, as if such things never happen. Well, let me tell you that they do happen. And why not? If a man knows that he is dying, is he not likely to be thinking about the hereafter and where he will spend eternity?
I do not mean to suggest that anyone should wait until the last moment to be saved. Far less do I intend to suggest that anyone should live a profligate life with the intention of coming to Christ just before he dies. People who live that way aren’t serious about salvation. They are putting off until tomorrow that which they ought to do today. I’m sure if we could speak to this thief who was crucified with Jesus, he would say, “Don’t delay. Don’t wait. Give your heart to Jesus now.”
But the fact remains, that this man who was a very bad man was indeed saved at the very last moment. Thank God it is so. He had lived an absolutely rotten life, yet he died a Christian death. It happened by the grace of Jesus Christ.
I know that some people feel that they are too far gone in sin to ever be forgiven. Some feel so enslaved by their habits that they despair of ever being set free. Many people would do anything to be forgiven but they think that forgiveness is impossible.
Let me put the matter plainly. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been sleeping. It doesn’t matter what you’ve been drinking. It doesn’t matter who you’ve been hanging around with. It doesn’t matter what sins you’ve committed. It doesn’t even matter if you’ve broken the Ten Commandments—all of them, one by one—this week. It just doesn’t matter. You can be saved right now.
If this man can be saved, anybody can be saved. If there’s hope for him, there’s hope for you. If he can make it to heaven, so can you. If Jesus would take him, he’ll certainly take you.
3. God has made salvation simple so every person can be saved. Consider what we have in this story:
—Salvation independent of the sacraments. This man was never baptized, never took the Lord’s Supper and never went to Confession. But he made it to heaven. Therefore, we know you don’t have to be baptized or take the Lord’s Supper or go to Confession in order to be saved.
—Salvation independent of the church. This man never went to church, never walked an aisle, never attended catechism class and never gave his money. But he made it to heaven. Therefore, we know that you don’t have to go to church, walk an aisle, attend catechism class or give your money in order to be saved.
—Salvation independent of good works. This man could not lift a hand for the Savior for his hands were nailed to a cross. He could not run any errands for the Lord for his feet were nailed to a cross. He could not give his money for he had not a penny to his name. For this man, there was no way in but the mercy of God.
He was pardoned before he lived a single righteous day. In one transforming moment, a man who was not fit to live on earth was made fit to live in heaven.
There May I, Though Vile as He
I take my stand with him. I claim the same mercy. We all get to heaven the same way, by the grace and mercy of God.
Over two hundred years ago William Cowper wrote a famous hymn that includes a verse about the dying thief. To my knowledge, this is the only hymn that mentions this man:
There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins.
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see,
That fountain in his day.
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.
All that God wants from us … and all that he will accept … is simple faith in his son, Jesus Christ. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, in that very moment we are saved.
The question is simple. Are you ready to die? You have nothing to fear if you know the Lord. You are not ready to die if you don’t. Do you know him? What will you do if you don’t know him?
Forgiving the Unforgivable – Luke 23:34 keepbelieving.com
Sermon 1 of 7 from the Seven Last Words of Jesus series
anuary 1991 – The man called me on the phone and said, “Pastor Ray, could I come see you?” He told me this story. “My wife left me for another man and when she got tired of him, she decided to come back to me. Everything seemed fine for a few weeks and she left me again for the same man and stayed with him for a while. Then she came back a second time and I thought everything was fine. Then she left me again and she’s been with him for a while. She just called me up and said, ’I want to come back.’ Pastor, I’m not sure I want her back. I can trust somebody once or even twice but I’m not sure I can trust somebody the third time.”
How do you forgive the unforgivable? A woman sat in my office and said, “I think I’m going to kill myself.” I said, “Why?” She said, “I don’t have any reason to live anymore.” She told me the story of how all of her friends had deserted her. How she couldn’t get a job. How she didn’t have any money. How everything that she valued in the world was gone. She told me about her children—how they had deserted her, how they couldn’t care less what happened to her. She told me, “Pastor, when I told my son that I was thinking about killing myself, he said, ’Mom, why don’t you just go ahead and do it and get out of our hair.’”
How do you forgive the unforgivable? The man looked at me and he said, “Pastor you wouldn’t believe what I have been through.” Then he told me a story that I found hard to believe. It involved a brutal divorce after many years of marriage, a financial collapse, the loss of his job, the end of his career, lies told about him behind his back that have basically ruined his reputation. People he trusted who stabbed him in the back. He looked at me and said, “Pastor, do you want to know the worst of it? The people who have done this to me are Christians.”
How do you forgive the unforgivable? Sometimes I wish that I could invite the whole congregation to come into my office and sit for one week. Just to sit in the corner and listen to the people who come through my office. Listen to all the phone calls. Read the letters I get. An unending series of heartbreaking problems. Divorce. Broken homes. Broken marriages. Broken promises. Children estranged from their parents. Parents estranged from their children. Longtime friends who don’t speak to each other anymore. People who’ve lost their jobs because someone cheated them. People who’ve lost their fortunes because someone did them wrong. Families that don’t even speak at Christmastime because they hate each other so much.
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How do you forgive in a situation like that? How do you forgive when by definition what has happened to you is unforgivable?
Killing Time
It’s Friday morning, 9 A.M. Killing time. Outside the Damascus Gate is a road and on the other side of the road is a flat area near the spot where the prophet Jeremiah is buried. Up above is a rocky outcropping that, if studied at a certain angle, looks like a skull. You can see eroded into the limestone two sockets for the eyes, a place for the nose and maybe a place for the mouth. Skull Hill, they called it. Golgotha. It was the place where the Romans did their killing. And Friday was the day and nine o’clock was the time. The soldiers were ready to do their dirty work. They were Roman soldiers. They were from another part of the world. They weren’t from Palestine. They weren’t from Israel. They weren’t followers of the law. They were simply soldiers who had a job to do. And it happened to be that they were on the death squad. They were in charge of crucifixions.
On this particular Friday morning their work load was a little bit light. Only three this week. They didn’t know the names. They never did and it didn’t matter. They were just the executioners. From their point of view, it didn’t pay to stop and think about what they did. That was for someone up the ladder. Guilt or inno-cence wasn’t their business. They’d go crazy if they started worrying about things like that. They just had a job to do. And to do their job they needed two things. They needed toughness and they needed good technique. If they did a sloppy job, they were certain to hear about it later.
Mob Psychology
So it’s nine a.m. and up the road comes a group of people. The soldiers know that two of the men being crucified are just average, ordinary criminals—the kind of lowlife scum that fills any big city anywhere in the world. That’s no big deal.
But the third man, the one from up north, the preacher from Nazareth, his case is different. They don’t really know who he is. They know it’s important because they sense the buzz in the crowd. There are more people than usual. By the way, that was one of the fringe benefits (if you want to call it that) for being on the crucifixion squad. You never worked alone. There’s something morbidly fascinating about watching someone else die. The people of Jerusalem, at least some of them, loved to come out and see the crucifixions. Well, maybe they didn’t love it but they couldn’t stay away. Some strange magnetic force drew them back to Skull Hill again and again. But this day there were more people than usual, a bigger crowd, noisier, rowdier, milling to and fro, waiting for the action to begin.
Up the road comes a parade of people led by a brawny foreigner carrying a cross. That couldn’t be the one they were going to crucify. It turns out he was a man by the name of Simon—Simon of Cyrene. The crowd swirls around him and behind him is a stooped figure, a man not quite six feet tall. Now walking, now crawling, each step an agony to behold. Half a man, half a creature from the worst nightmare you’ve ever had. He had been beaten within an inch of his life. His back was in shreds. His front was covered with the markings of the whip. His face was disfigured and swollen where they had ripped out the beard by the roots. And on his head a crown of thorns six inches long stuck under the skin. A shell of a man. A man already more dead than alive. When the fellows on the crucifixion detail saw that, they weren’t unhappy because sometimes people got a little feisty when you tried to nail them to the cross. No, they didn’t mind getting a person who was almost dead because it meant that their work would be easy.
They laid the cross out on the ground and they laid the body of Jesus on the cross. He moved, he moaned, he didn’t do much. One hand over here, one hand over there. Wrapping rope around this arm and around that arm. Rope around the legs, probably bent and partially resting on a small platform. They drove the spike on the forearm side of the wrist so that when the weight of the cross fell, the spike wouldn’t rip all the way through the hand. A spike in both wrists and then a spike through the legs. With the ropes in place they began to pull the cross up. Jesus now spurts blood from the raw wounds. Steady now, boys, steady. Don’t drop it. It was a terrible thing to drop a cross before they got it in the hole. They dropped it and it fell with a thud. And there was Jesus, naked and exposed before the world, beaten, bruised and bloody. The soldiers stood back, satisfied. A job well done.
Someone said, “Get the dice. Let’s roll dice for his clothes.”
Beyond Forgiveness
Brothers and sisters, what they did that day was unforgivable. That’s the definition of what unforgivable is. When you crucify the son of God you have done that which is beyond forgiveness. It is truly unforgivable.
And yet, Jesus said, in his first word from the cross, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” This was the unforgivable sin. Yet Jesus said, “Father forgive them.”
That leads me back to the original question, a question which has great relevance for us today, a question which is not just theological or historical, but a question which a lot of us are wrestling with right now: How do you forgive the unforgivable? How do you forgive someone who has done something to you so terrible that it defies any attempt at human forgiveness?
As I study this story, especially as I study the remarkable words of Jesus, two things come to mind that will help us understand how to forgive the unforgivable.
1. It is possible to forgive the unforgivable by remembering that the people who are hurting you do not really know what they are doing.
If ever a statement seems to be obviously wrong, this is it. Someone says, “Pastor, you don’t understand. They knew exactly what they were doing. They knew what they were doing before they were doing it. They knew they were going to hurt me and they went ahead and did it anyway.” When she told that lie she knew what she was doing. When he double-crossed me he knew what he was doing. When he stepped out on me he knew what he was doing. When he broke the marriage vows he knew what he was doing. She knew what she was doing. They knew exactly what they were doing. How can you even bring up that subject? They knew they would hurt me and they did it on purpose. “Pastor, what do you mean?”
Consider Jesus. Who was he talking about when he said, “For they know not what they are doing?” Who is the “they” he is talking about? You say, “The Roman soldiers.” Did the Roman soldiers know what they were doing or not? Well, yes they knew they were crucifying a man. Did they know who he was? No, they didn’t really know who he was. If anybody really didn’t know what they were doing it was the Roman soldiers. It was just a job to them, just the next grisly item on the Friday agenda. To them, crucifixion was what their com-mander ordered them to do. “Next please. Next please. Hand me the nails. Crucify the guy and get him out of here.” That was just a job to them. Surely they didn’t really know what they were doing.
Who else is the “they?” Well, you say, “It’s Pilate’s fault.” Did Pilate know what he was doing? Well, what did Pilate know? Pilate knew that Jesus was called the King of the Jews. That’s what Pilate knew. And what he knew scared him to death, and he tried to wash his hands of it. He knew enough to scare him to death. He didn’t know the whole story.
What about Caiaphas? Caiaphas knew that Jesus was called the Son of God, the Messiah. What did Caiaphas do? He said, “I want nothing to do with this. Crucify him and get him out of here.” Annas? The same way. Well, you say, “What about Judas? Didn’t Judas know what he was doing? He was with Jesus for three and a half years.” No, if anything is clear from the New Testament, Judas was totally confused about who Jesus was. He knew that Jesus was supposed to be the Messiah but when you really got down to it, Judas thought Jesus was going to roll into Jerusalem, take over the place and set himself up as King. Judas was baffled because Jesus didn’t fit his preconceptions about what the Messiah was going to do. That’s one of the reasons he betrayed him—because he was confused and disillusioned and disappointed at the end.
You say, “Pastor, are you telling me these men are not guilty?” No, I’m not saying that. Judas was guilty. Pilate was guilty. Caiaphas was guilty. Annas was guilty. The Roman soldiers were guilty and so were the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees and the scribes who conspired to put him to death. And what about the mob? Yes, they were guilty. And what about the spectators who came to cheer and laugh and to mock? Yes, they were guilty.
But Jesus said, “Father forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.” Underline the word “what” because it is the key to the first saying of Christ from the cross. The key is not the fact that they do not know. The key is what. They do not know what they are doing. They know what they are doing but they do not know what it really means. They know what they are doing but they don’t know who they’re really doing it to. They know what they are doing but they don’t know what the ramifica-tions are. That is to say, they are guilty of killing a man but they are guilty of much worse than they know. They are guilty of killing the Son of God from heaven.
“They Need Forgiveness More Than They Know”
When Jesus cried out, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” he was really saying “Father forgive them because they need forgiveness more than they know.” “Father forgive them because they are in desperate need of forgiveness and they don’t even know it.”
The same is true with the people who hurt you. They need forgiveness more than they know. It’s true, they knew what they were doing when they made that telephone call or when they wrote that letter, when they said that thing that tore into your heart, when they left and walked out. They knew exactly what they were doing but they didn’t know the enormity of it. They didn’t know how bad and how terrible it was. They only knew on the surface. They didn’t know down deep and they can never know down deep how badly they hurt you. The people who have hurt you, need your forgiveness more than they need anything else in the world. They need it more than they know. And they will probably never change until they get it. And some of them won’t change even after they get it. But still, you have to forgive them.
That’s the deeper meaning of this first word from the cross. You can forgive the unforgivable if you remember that the people who have hurt you so deeply don’t at the deepest level know what they have really done to you. Forgiveness is what they need and you are the only one who can give it to them.
SCRIPTURES REFERENCED
Luke 23
* The Man Who Would Be King: Christ Speaks to the Problem of Frivolous Curiosity
* Last-Second Salvation
* A Time to Die
How can we forgive the unforgivable? First, by remembering that the people who hurt us don’t really know what they’re doing.
2. It is possible to forgive the unforgivable by remembering that Jesus forgave us when we were unforgivable.
This is where the words of Jesus become very personal. We’re included in his prayer. When he prayed, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do", who was included in “them"? The soldiers, the mob, the women, the disciples, Pilate, Caiaphas, Annas, Judas, Peter and all the Jewish leaders. You know who else was in it? You were. I was. He was praying for you and he was praying for me. “Pastor, No. No. You don’t understand. I’m not like those people. I’m different. Pastor, I’m not that bad. I’m not the kind of man who could crucify anyone. I’d never do anything like that.” Oh, yes you are, and yes you would, and yes you have many times, and yes you will again. You’re not as good as you look. If you had been there you would have been holding the nails. If you had been there you would have been clapping and cheering. If you had been there you would have been saying, “Crucify him. Crucify him. Stick it to him again. Another nail. Let him have it.” We’re not that much different. We’re not that much better.
Do you know what keeps us from forgiving the people who hurt us? At the root it is this: We think we’re better than they are. We think we would never hurt anybody the way they have hurt us. “I’m just not as bad as that. I’d never treat anybody the way they treated me.” We get angry because we think that we would never do to another person what they have done to us. Oh, how foolish. Oh, how false. How deluded we are when we think that way. It is our false pride that keeps us from the hard step of forgiving the unforgivable.
Not So Good, Not So Nice
Don’t you understand? It’s not as if we are all good and they’re all bad. It’s not as if we are all pure and they’re all evil. It’s not as if we’ve got all of life wired together and they’re just a bunch of fools. It’s not as if we’re totally in the right and they’re totally in the wrong. That’s not the way the world really works. It’s not as if we know all the answers. It’s not as if we’re as good as we think we are. As cool as we think we are. As right-eous as we think we are. As justifiable as we think we are.
Do you want to know what the truth is? We get mad just like they do. We lose our temper just like they do. We write stinging letters just like they do. We say stupid things at Christmastime just like they do. We slap our friends just like they do. We hurt our children just like they do. We crucify our friends just like they do. We break our promises just like they do.
When you really get down to it, we’re just like them. No, we are them and they are us and if we don’t see that, we’ve missed the real point of Jesus’ first cry from the cross. If we think we’re so much better than the people who have hurt us so deeply, we are self-deceived. If only we could see that when we really get down to it we’re all in the same boat together. We’re all truly sinners in one way or another. We all fail in many ways. They fail in one way and we fail in another.
An Oasis of Forgiveness
It would keep us from being so angry if we could see ourselves the way we really are. If we would admit that we really don’t know it all. If we would admit that we really don’t have it all together. If we would admit we’re not as good as we think we are. We’re not as together as we pretend to be. If we’d ever admit the truth we’d find it easier to forgive the people who have hurt us in an unforgivable way.
The secret of forgiveness is to understand that between you and the person who hurt you there’s really no difference at all. None whatsoever.
It is possible to forgive the unforgivable but you’ve got to realize before you do it, that Jesus forgave you when you were unforgivable. When he prayed that prayer, he wasn’t just praying for them back there, he was praying for all of us twenty centuries later.
I think it is enormously significant that the first word from the cross is a word of forgiveness. We are being told by that that Jesus came to establish a religion of forgiveness. He is at heart a man of forgiveness. He came into this world to establish a church that would be an oasis of forgiveness. And to bring to the world a race of forgiving men and women.
Forgiven … Forgiven … Forgiven
Would you like to become more like Jesus? I suggest you start where Jesus started—by forgiving the people who have hurt you so deeply.
This is an appropriate message for the first Sunday of a new year because a lot of us didn’t turn over a new leaf on January 1. We just got all the leaves from last year and raked them over into this year. We brought them all with us. We didn’t turn anything over. Some of us brought a lot of baggage from 1990 into 1991—hurt memories, injured feelings, thoughts about the past that we can’t get out of our minds, memories of people who have done us wrong. We’re only six days into the new year and yet some of you this morning are already under a terrible burden of remembered hurts from the past. Don’t you think it’s time to get rid of those things?
I’ve got something I want you to do this afternoon. I want you to do it when you go home. When you get home, find a three by five card and write on the top the words of Jesus: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”. Then on the left side of the card, write down the things and the people and the memories from the past that have hurt you so badly. Make it brief and simple. No one ever needs to see this card. When you are finished, add one word in large letters to the right of each hurt from the past: Forgiven … Forgiven … Forgiven.
And when you’re finished, take that little three by five card and rip it up. Don’t keep it. Rip it into a dozen pieces and then flush the pieces down the toilet. Forgiven … Forgiven … Forgiven … Forgiven … Forgiven … Forgiven. Let go of those awful memories once and for all.
Do you want this new year to be the best one ever for you? Do you want it to be the year in which you come closer to Jesus Christ than you’ve ever come before? Then begin this year where Jesus began on the cross—by becoming a great forgiver.
Father, all of us know that it is easier to talk about forgiveness than it is to do it. And yet we all know how much we suffer when we forget to do what Jesus did on the cross. Grant us the courage to step the giant step of forgiveness. Teach us that however painful forgiveness may be, it is infinitely better than refusing to forgive. We ask these things in the name of Jesus, who forgave us when we were unforgivable. Amen.
anuary 1991 – The man called me on the phone and said, “Pastor Ray, could I come see you?” He told me this story. “My wife left me for another man and when she got tired of him, she decided to come back to me. Everything seemed fine for a few weeks and she left me again for the same man and stayed with him for a while. Then she came back a second time and I thought everything was fine. Then she left me again and she’s been with him for a while. She just called me up and said, ’I want to come back.’ Pastor, I’m not sure I want her back. I can trust somebody once or even twice but I’m not sure I can trust somebody the third time.”
How do you forgive the unforgivable? A woman sat in my office and said, “I think I’m going to kill myself.” I said, “Why?” She said, “I don’t have any reason to live anymore.” She told me the story of how all of her friends had deserted her. How she couldn’t get a job. How she didn’t have any money. How everything that she valued in the world was gone. She told me about her children—how they had deserted her, how they couldn’t care less what happened to her. She told me, “Pastor, when I told my son that I was thinking about killing myself, he said, ’Mom, why don’t you just go ahead and do it and get out of our hair.’”
How do you forgive the unforgivable? The man looked at me and he said, “Pastor you wouldn’t believe what I have been through.” Then he told me a story that I found hard to believe. It involved a brutal divorce after many years of marriage, a financial collapse, the loss of his job, the end of his career, lies told about him behind his back that have basically ruined his reputation. People he trusted who stabbed him in the back. He looked at me and said, “Pastor, do you want to know the worst of it? The people who have done this to me are Christians.”
How do you forgive the unforgivable? Sometimes I wish that I could invite the whole congregation to come into my office and sit for one week. Just to sit in the corner and listen to the people who come through my office. Listen to all the phone calls. Read the letters I get. An unending series of heartbreaking problems. Divorce. Broken homes. Broken marriages. Broken promises. Children estranged from their parents. Parents estranged from their children. Longtime friends who don’t speak to each other anymore. People who’ve lost their jobs because someone cheated them. People who’ve lost their fortunes because someone did them wrong. Families that don’t even speak at Christmastime because they hate each other so much.
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How do you forgive in a situation like that? How do you forgive when by definition what has happened to you is unforgivable?
Killing Time
It’s Friday morning, 9 A.M. Killing time. Outside the Damascus Gate is a road and on the other side of the road is a flat area near the spot where the prophet Jeremiah is buried. Up above is a rocky outcropping that, if studied at a certain angle, looks like a skull. You can see eroded into the limestone two sockets for the eyes, a place for the nose and maybe a place for the mouth. Skull Hill, they called it. Golgotha. It was the place where the Romans did their killing. And Friday was the day and nine o’clock was the time. The soldiers were ready to do their dirty work. They were Roman soldiers. They were from another part of the world. They weren’t from Palestine. They weren’t from Israel. They weren’t followers of the law. They were simply soldiers who had a job to do. And it happened to be that they were on the death squad. They were in charge of crucifixions.
On this particular Friday morning their work load was a little bit light. Only three this week. They didn’t know the names. They never did and it didn’t matter. They were just the executioners. From their point of view, it didn’t pay to stop and think about what they did. That was for someone up the ladder. Guilt or inno-cence wasn’t their business. They’d go crazy if they started worrying about things like that. They just had a job to do. And to do their job they needed two things. They needed toughness and they needed good technique. If they did a sloppy job, they were certain to hear about it later.
Mob Psychology
So it’s nine a.m. and up the road comes a group of people. The soldiers know that two of the men being crucified are just average, ordinary criminals—the kind of lowlife scum that fills any big city anywhere in the world. That’s no big deal.
But the third man, the one from up north, the preacher from Nazareth, his case is different. They don’t really know who he is. They know it’s important because they sense the buzz in the crowd. There are more people than usual. By the way, that was one of the fringe benefits (if you want to call it that) for being on the crucifixion squad. You never worked alone. There’s something morbidly fascinating about watching someone else die. The people of Jerusalem, at least some of them, loved to come out and see the crucifixions. Well, maybe they didn’t love it but they couldn’t stay away. Some strange magnetic force drew them back to Skull Hill again and again. But this day there were more people than usual, a bigger crowd, noisier, rowdier, milling to and fro, waiting for the action to begin.
Up the road comes a parade of people led by a brawny foreigner carrying a cross. That couldn’t be the one they were going to crucify. It turns out he was a man by the name of Simon—Simon of Cyrene. The crowd swirls around him and behind him is a stooped figure, a man not quite six feet tall. Now walking, now crawling, each step an agony to behold. Half a man, half a creature from the worst nightmare you’ve ever had. He had been beaten within an inch of his life. His back was in shreds. His front was covered with the markings of the whip. His face was disfigured and swollen where they had ripped out the beard by the roots. And on his head a crown of thorns six inches long stuck under the skin. A shell of a man. A man already more dead than alive. When the fellows on the crucifixion detail saw that, they weren’t unhappy because sometimes people got a little feisty when you tried to nail them to the cross. No, they didn’t mind getting a person who was almost dead because it meant that their work would be easy.
They laid the cross out on the ground and they laid the body of Jesus on the cross. He moved, he moaned, he didn’t do much. One hand over here, one hand over there. Wrapping rope around this arm and around that arm. Rope around the legs, probably bent and partially resting on a small platform. They drove the spike on the forearm side of the wrist so that when the weight of the cross fell, the spike wouldn’t rip all the way through the hand. A spike in both wrists and then a spike through the legs. With the ropes in place they began to pull the cross up. Jesus now spurts blood from the raw wounds. Steady now, boys, steady. Don’t drop it. It was a terrible thing to drop a cross before they got it in the hole. They dropped it and it fell with a thud. And there was Jesus, naked and exposed before the world, beaten, bruised and bloody. The soldiers stood back, satisfied. A job well done.
Someone said, “Get the dice. Let’s roll dice for his clothes.”
Beyond Forgiveness
Brothers and sisters, what they did that day was unforgivable. That’s the definition of what unforgivable is. When you crucify the son of God you have done that which is beyond forgiveness. It is truly unforgivable.
And yet, Jesus said, in his first word from the cross, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” This was the unforgivable sin. Yet Jesus said, “Father forgive them.”
That leads me back to the original question, a question which has great relevance for us today, a question which is not just theological or historical, but a question which a lot of us are wrestling with right now: How do you forgive the unforgivable? How do you forgive someone who has done something to you so terrible that it defies any attempt at human forgiveness?
As I study this story, especially as I study the remarkable words of Jesus, two things come to mind that will help us understand how to forgive the unforgivable.
1. It is possible to forgive the unforgivable by remembering that the people who are hurting you do not really know what they are doing.
If ever a statement seems to be obviously wrong, this is it. Someone says, “Pastor, you don’t understand. They knew exactly what they were doing. They knew what they were doing before they were doing it. They knew they were going to hurt me and they went ahead and did it anyway.” When she told that lie she knew what she was doing. When he double-crossed me he knew what he was doing. When he stepped out on me he knew what he was doing. When he broke the marriage vows he knew what he was doing. She knew what she was doing. They knew exactly what they were doing. How can you even bring up that subject? They knew they would hurt me and they did it on purpose. “Pastor, what do you mean?”
Consider Jesus. Who was he talking about when he said, “For they know not what they are doing?” Who is the “they” he is talking about? You say, “The Roman soldiers.” Did the Roman soldiers know what they were doing or not? Well, yes they knew they were crucifying a man. Did they know who he was? No, they didn’t really know who he was. If anybody really didn’t know what they were doing it was the Roman soldiers. It was just a job to them, just the next grisly item on the Friday agenda. To them, crucifixion was what their com-mander ordered them to do. “Next please. Next please. Hand me the nails. Crucify the guy and get him out of here.” That was just a job to them. Surely they didn’t really know what they were doing.
Who else is the “they?” Well, you say, “It’s Pilate’s fault.” Did Pilate know what he was doing? Well, what did Pilate know? Pilate knew that Jesus was called the King of the Jews. That’s what Pilate knew. And what he knew scared him to death, and he tried to wash his hands of it. He knew enough to scare him to death. He didn’t know the whole story.
What about Caiaphas? Caiaphas knew that Jesus was called the Son of God, the Messiah. What did Caiaphas do? He said, “I want nothing to do with this. Crucify him and get him out of here.” Annas? The same way. Well, you say, “What about Judas? Didn’t Judas know what he was doing? He was with Jesus for three and a half years.” No, if anything is clear from the New Testament, Judas was totally confused about who Jesus was. He knew that Jesus was supposed to be the Messiah but when you really got down to it, Judas thought Jesus was going to roll into Jerusalem, take over the place and set himself up as King. Judas was baffled because Jesus didn’t fit his preconceptions about what the Messiah was going to do. That’s one of the reasons he betrayed him—because he was confused and disillusioned and disappointed at the end.
You say, “Pastor, are you telling me these men are not guilty?” No, I’m not saying that. Judas was guilty. Pilate was guilty. Caiaphas was guilty. Annas was guilty. The Roman soldiers were guilty and so were the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees and the scribes who conspired to put him to death. And what about the mob? Yes, they were guilty. And what about the spectators who came to cheer and laugh and to mock? Yes, they were guilty.
But Jesus said, “Father forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.” Underline the word “what” because it is the key to the first saying of Christ from the cross. The key is not the fact that they do not know. The key is what. They do not know what they are doing. They know what they are doing but they do not know what it really means. They know what they are doing but they don’t know who they’re really doing it to. They know what they are doing but they don’t know what the ramifica-tions are. That is to say, they are guilty of killing a man but they are guilty of much worse than they know. They are guilty of killing the Son of God from heaven.
“They Need Forgiveness More Than They Know”
When Jesus cried out, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” he was really saying “Father forgive them because they need forgiveness more than they know.” “Father forgive them because they are in desperate need of forgiveness and they don’t even know it.”
The same is true with the people who hurt you. They need forgiveness more than they know. It’s true, they knew what they were doing when they made that telephone call or when they wrote that letter, when they said that thing that tore into your heart, when they left and walked out. They knew exactly what they were doing but they didn’t know the enormity of it. They didn’t know how bad and how terrible it was. They only knew on the surface. They didn’t know down deep and they can never know down deep how badly they hurt you. The people who have hurt you, need your forgiveness more than they need anything else in the world. They need it more than they know. And they will probably never change until they get it. And some of them won’t change even after they get it. But still, you have to forgive them.
That’s the deeper meaning of this first word from the cross. You can forgive the unforgivable if you remember that the people who have hurt you so deeply don’t at the deepest level know what they have really done to you. Forgiveness is what they need and you are the only one who can give it to them.
SCRIPTURES REFERENCED
Luke 23
* The Man Who Would Be King: Christ Speaks to the Problem of Frivolous Curiosity
* Last-Second Salvation
* A Time to Die
How can we forgive the unforgivable? First, by remembering that the people who hurt us don’t really know what they’re doing.
2. It is possible to forgive the unforgivable by remembering that Jesus forgave us when we were unforgivable.
This is where the words of Jesus become very personal. We’re included in his prayer. When he prayed, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do", who was included in “them"? The soldiers, the mob, the women, the disciples, Pilate, Caiaphas, Annas, Judas, Peter and all the Jewish leaders. You know who else was in it? You were. I was. He was praying for you and he was praying for me. “Pastor, No. No. You don’t understand. I’m not like those people. I’m different. Pastor, I’m not that bad. I’m not the kind of man who could crucify anyone. I’d never do anything like that.” Oh, yes you are, and yes you would, and yes you have many times, and yes you will again. You’re not as good as you look. If you had been there you would have been holding the nails. If you had been there you would have been clapping and cheering. If you had been there you would have been saying, “Crucify him. Crucify him. Stick it to him again. Another nail. Let him have it.” We’re not that much different. We’re not that much better.
Do you know what keeps us from forgiving the people who hurt us? At the root it is this: We think we’re better than they are. We think we would never hurt anybody the way they have hurt us. “I’m just not as bad as that. I’d never treat anybody the way they treated me.” We get angry because we think that we would never do to another person what they have done to us. Oh, how foolish. Oh, how false. How deluded we are when we think that way. It is our false pride that keeps us from the hard step of forgiving the unforgivable.
Not So Good, Not So Nice
Don’t you understand? It’s not as if we are all good and they’re all bad. It’s not as if we are all pure and they’re all evil. It’s not as if we’ve got all of life wired together and they’re just a bunch of fools. It’s not as if we’re totally in the right and they’re totally in the wrong. That’s not the way the world really works. It’s not as if we know all the answers. It’s not as if we’re as good as we think we are. As cool as we think we are. As right-eous as we think we are. As justifiable as we think we are.
Do you want to know what the truth is? We get mad just like they do. We lose our temper just like they do. We write stinging letters just like they do. We say stupid things at Christmastime just like they do. We slap our friends just like they do. We hurt our children just like they do. We crucify our friends just like they do. We break our promises just like they do.
When you really get down to it, we’re just like them. No, we are them and they are us and if we don’t see that, we’ve missed the real point of Jesus’ first cry from the cross. If we think we’re so much better than the people who have hurt us so deeply, we are self-deceived. If only we could see that when we really get down to it we’re all in the same boat together. We’re all truly sinners in one way or another. We all fail in many ways. They fail in one way and we fail in another.
An Oasis of Forgiveness
It would keep us from being so angry if we could see ourselves the way we really are. If we would admit that we really don’t know it all. If we would admit that we really don’t have it all together. If we would admit we’re not as good as we think we are. We’re not as together as we pretend to be. If we’d ever admit the truth we’d find it easier to forgive the people who have hurt us in an unforgivable way.
The secret of forgiveness is to understand that between you and the person who hurt you there’s really no difference at all. None whatsoever.
It is possible to forgive the unforgivable but you’ve got to realize before you do it, that Jesus forgave you when you were unforgivable. When he prayed that prayer, he wasn’t just praying for them back there, he was praying for all of us twenty centuries later.
I think it is enormously significant that the first word from the cross is a word of forgiveness. We are being told by that that Jesus came to establish a religion of forgiveness. He is at heart a man of forgiveness. He came into this world to establish a church that would be an oasis of forgiveness. And to bring to the world a race of forgiving men and women.
Forgiven … Forgiven … Forgiven
Would you like to become more like Jesus? I suggest you start where Jesus started—by forgiving the people who have hurt you so deeply.
This is an appropriate message for the first Sunday of a new year because a lot of us didn’t turn over a new leaf on January 1. We just got all the leaves from last year and raked them over into this year. We brought them all with us. We didn’t turn anything over. Some of us brought a lot of baggage from 1990 into 1991—hurt memories, injured feelings, thoughts about the past that we can’t get out of our minds, memories of people who have done us wrong. We’re only six days into the new year and yet some of you this morning are already under a terrible burden of remembered hurts from the past. Don’t you think it’s time to get rid of those things?
I’ve got something I want you to do this afternoon. I want you to do it when you go home. When you get home, find a three by five card and write on the top the words of Jesus: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”. Then on the left side of the card, write down the things and the people and the memories from the past that have hurt you so badly. Make it brief and simple. No one ever needs to see this card. When you are finished, add one word in large letters to the right of each hurt from the past: Forgiven … Forgiven … Forgiven.
And when you’re finished, take that little three by five card and rip it up. Don’t keep it. Rip it into a dozen pieces and then flush the pieces down the toilet. Forgiven … Forgiven … Forgiven … Forgiven … Forgiven … Forgiven. Let go of those awful memories once and for all.
Do you want this new year to be the best one ever for you? Do you want it to be the year in which you come closer to Jesus Christ than you’ve ever come before? Then begin this year where Jesus began on the cross—by becoming a great forgiver.
Father, all of us know that it is easier to talk about forgiveness than it is to do it. And yet we all know how much we suffer when we forget to do what Jesus did on the cross. Grant us the courage to step the giant step of forgiveness. Teach us that however painful forgiveness may be, it is infinitely better than refusing to forgive. We ask these things in the name of Jesus, who forgave us when we were unforgivable. Amen.
Sermons on seven words sermncentral.com
The Seven Last Words of Jesus
Dana Chau 139 Dana Chau sermons
Topic: #51 of 263 for Sermons on Easter: Good Friday
Scripture: Luke 23:24-23:46 John 19:26-19:30
Denomination: *Other
Date Added: March 2002
Audience: General Adults (31 - 49)
Keywords: Woman, Womanmother, Mother, (Suggest a Keyword)
Words from a dying man can be fearful, resentful or senile, but rarely confident. These last words from the lips of Jesus were confident.
These words reflect a true understanding of God and mankind. With such understanding Jesus responded confidently on the cross.
Jesus said in Luke 23:24, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
We need to recognize that people don’t know altogether what they are doing. There is a spirit of deception where sin is present. The husband who thought he won the argument lost intimacy with his wife. The person who hurt you has hurt herself and her relationship with God. People badly need forgiveness from God, but few people know this.
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
In Luke 23:43, Jesus said to the thief who was also crucified, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
A story is told of a thief who robbed John Wesley. While the thief walked away, Wesley shouted, "If you should someday come to your senses and know what you have done is wrong, turn to God for forgiveness through Jesus Christ." If we have the promise of Heaven, because we belong to Jesus, then every situation in our lives is an opportunity to bring others into Heaven with us.
"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
John 19:26 records, "When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ’Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ’Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home."
Someone has said, "Family is the place where they won’t kick you out." But the families in America are breaking apart due to divorce, abuse and absent fathers and mothers who chose selfish ambitions over responsible integrity.
The church, the gathering of believers, is God redeeming family. When you’ve been caste out in life, God’s church is "the place where you won’t be kicked out."
"Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ’Here is your mother."
Matthew 27:46 records Jesus’ loud cry on the cross, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
These words from Jesus tells us that whatever we’re going through, God is aware, and if He chose to, He could have changed the outcome. Therefore, direct your questions to God, but know that you can trust His goodness and righteousness. We see only a day at a time. God sees the whole picture. He will do what is good and right.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
John 19:28 records, "Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ’I am thirsty.’"
To confess need, weakness or injury opens up our heart for God to heal. Resentment and anger says, "I’ll get even," or "God doesn’t care." But a hopeful and trusting person confesses his need and weakness to God.
"I am thirsty."
John 19:30 continues, "When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished."
If you belong to Jesus, you will have the resources and resolve to deal with the trials in your life. Tough times are temporary; God’s people are eternal. Most people give into circumstances or temptations, not because they lack resources, but because they lack resolve; they gave up too soon. We can finish and finish well.
"It is finished."
Finally, Luke 23:46 records, "Jesus called out with a loud voice, ’Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his last."
We have not lost if we know in Whose hands we are held. Whether stripped of our possessions, reputation, physical or mental health, we need not be anxious, because our lives are not like dry leaves, blown and tossed by the wind. We are lovingly and eternally held in our Father’s hands.
"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."
These final words of Jesus offer eternal confidence and eternal relationship. There is the promise of forgiveness, the promise of Heaven, the promise of family, the promise of God’s watchfulness, the promise of resources and resolve, and the promise of God’s sovereign care.
Dana Chau 139 Dana Chau sermons
Topic: #51 of 263 for Sermons on Easter: Good Friday
Scripture: Luke 23:24-23:46 John 19:26-19:30
Denomination: *Other
Date Added: March 2002
Audience: General Adults (31 - 49)
Keywords: Woman, Womanmother, Mother, (Suggest a Keyword)
Words from a dying man can be fearful, resentful or senile, but rarely confident. These last words from the lips of Jesus were confident.
These words reflect a true understanding of God and mankind. With such understanding Jesus responded confidently on the cross.
Jesus said in Luke 23:24, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
We need to recognize that people don’t know altogether what they are doing. There is a spirit of deception where sin is present. The husband who thought he won the argument lost intimacy with his wife. The person who hurt you has hurt herself and her relationship with God. People badly need forgiveness from God, but few people know this.
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
In Luke 23:43, Jesus said to the thief who was also crucified, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
A story is told of a thief who robbed John Wesley. While the thief walked away, Wesley shouted, "If you should someday come to your senses and know what you have done is wrong, turn to God for forgiveness through Jesus Christ." If we have the promise of Heaven, because we belong to Jesus, then every situation in our lives is an opportunity to bring others into Heaven with us.
"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
John 19:26 records, "When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ’Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ’Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home."
Someone has said, "Family is the place where they won’t kick you out." But the families in America are breaking apart due to divorce, abuse and absent fathers and mothers who chose selfish ambitions over responsible integrity.
The church, the gathering of believers, is God redeeming family. When you’ve been caste out in life, God’s church is "the place where you won’t be kicked out."
"Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ’Here is your mother."
Matthew 27:46 records Jesus’ loud cry on the cross, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
These words from Jesus tells us that whatever we’re going through, God is aware, and if He chose to, He could have changed the outcome. Therefore, direct your questions to God, but know that you can trust His goodness and righteousness. We see only a day at a time. God sees the whole picture. He will do what is good and right.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
John 19:28 records, "Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ’I am thirsty.’"
To confess need, weakness or injury opens up our heart for God to heal. Resentment and anger says, "I’ll get even," or "God doesn’t care." But a hopeful and trusting person confesses his need and weakness to God.
"I am thirsty."
John 19:30 continues, "When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished."
If you belong to Jesus, you will have the resources and resolve to deal with the trials in your life. Tough times are temporary; God’s people are eternal. Most people give into circumstances or temptations, not because they lack resources, but because they lack resolve; they gave up too soon. We can finish and finish well.
"It is finished."
Finally, Luke 23:46 records, "Jesus called out with a loud voice, ’Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his last."
We have not lost if we know in Whose hands we are held. Whether stripped of our possessions, reputation, physical or mental health, we need not be anxious, because our lives are not like dry leaves, blown and tossed by the wind. We are lovingly and eternally held in our Father’s hands.
"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."
These final words of Jesus offer eternal confidence and eternal relationship. There is the promise of forgiveness, the promise of Heaven, the promise of family, the promise of God’s watchfulness, the promise of resources and resolve, and the promise of God’s sovereign care.
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