We're in the Gospel of Luke tonight, Chapter 23, Luke's Gospel, Chapter 23. We're seven weeks away from Easter Sunday, and I thought in preparation for that holiday and for that particular Sunday, it would do us well to, each Sunday evening, consider the seven sayings of the cross, the things that the Lord Jesus said when he was put to death. And we want to begin tonight in Luke's Gospel, Chapter 23, And we're going to begin in verse 33, down to verse 38. Luke's Gospel, chapter 23, verse 33. It says, and when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, where they crucified him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left, then said Jesus, Father, forgive them. for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and cast lots. And the people stood beholding, and the rulers also with them derided him, saying, he saved others. Let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, and saying, if thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. and a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews. We trust the Lord will add his blessing to the reading of his precious word. I want to think tonight about this first statement that came from the lips of the Lord Jesus when he was hung upon the cross. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. You know forgiveness seems to be the most noble of ideas until you're called upon to exercise it. It's a very grand idea this idea of forgiving another until I have to forgive another and then it becomes tremendously difficult to overcome the hurt and the pain that is caused by another, and the feelings of revenge that sometimes arise within our hearts. As Jesus was put to death, his first words were words of forgiveness. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. You know, you think about it, his words here really were indicative of his whole ministry. They were characteristic of his whole ministry. Indeed, we find that from beginning to end, his ministry was one of prayer. At the very baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, we find he was praying before he has the heavenly blessing. And now as we come to the end of his life, again he is praying, he's calling upon his father to forgive those who have put him to this death. for they know not what they do. And the Greek language is very interesting here, the underlying language of the New Testament, for it tells us that this was not something that he said once throughout this particular ordeal, but it was something that he said continuously, over and over again. The Lord Jesus could be heard to say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. You know, it's hard to imagine that kind of grace. It's hard to picture someone who has been so cruelly and so unjustly treated, praying with such love, without the slightest ounce of malice, without any sense of revenge, but that's what Jesus did. And in doing so, he answers many of the big questions that you and I are often heard to ask on the matter of forgiveness. Could it be that some sins are so heinous that they cannot be forgiven? Is there such a thing as the unpardonable sin? Should we pray for those who do not seek our forgiveness? Should we actually forgive those who do not ask for our forgiveness? Should we forgive people who ask for it, even if we doubt their sincerity? These are great questions, and in many respects, these words answer those questions. This statement, Father forgive them for they know not what they do, in the first place, teaches us a lot about prayer. And the thing I want you to see, that he prayed to God as his father. Now, I want you to get that, because that was very different from the Jewish practices of his day. The Jews spoke of God as their father, but they spoke of him as the father of their nation, and their use of the term was simply a metaphor, but with Jesus, it wasn't just a metaphor referring to the nation. It was something very different. Some years ago, a German scholar was doing research into the history of Judaism, And he looked at all of Jewish history from the Old Testament times right up to the year 1000, right up to the 10th century. And he discovered in all of Jewish writings, both the Old Testament and those books that are external to the Old Testament, as well as other books of Jewish writing in the New Testament era, he found there was not one single reference by a Jewish person addressing God directly as the first person, as his father. No one ever in Judaism addressed God in the first person as my father, and yet the first Jewish rabbi to do so was none other than the Lord Jesus. He's the first and only Jew in all of that time who directly refers to God as his father. It was a radical departure from tradition. In fact, every recorded prayer we have from the lips of Jesus, save one, he calls God his father. And his address of the father speaks something of his relationship and of his experience. This is someone he knows. This is someone with whom he is well acquainted. This was someone with whom he has had personal experience. In fact, this was one of the reasons why the Jews hated him. John 5 and 18 we read. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because not only had he broken the Sabbath, which he hadn't, but said also that God was his father making himself equal with God. Now here's the thing, he wants us to know him that way too. He wants us to know his father on a personal level. Now, of course, his relationship with the father is very different from our relationship with the father. But just as he called him father, he invites us also to call him our father. You see, you can have God as your father tonight. Isn't that a tremendous truth? If you're here tonight and you're not saved, I want you to know that God invites you to come to him tonight and to call him your father also. You can have God as your father. The Lord is reaching out to you tonight. In fact, such is the strength of this relationship. We discover in the New Testament, as the revelation continues, that not only can we call him Father, but we can use a term, Abba. Now, Abba is a term, an Aramaic term, and it means simply Daddy, that you can refer to God in that kind of intimate way as your Daddy. I remember a number of years ago, I took an American friend to visit my mother and father And on the way back from having made that visit, he started giggling. And I said to him, what are you giggling about? He said, I'm just giggling about your visit with your mom and dad. And I said, well, what's so funny about that? And he says, well, you're a grown man and you still call them mommy and daddy. And he thought that was funny. And I said, well, that's the way it is. They're my mommy and they're my daddy. And that's what I called them, mommy and daddy. Even when I was a grown man, it was my mommy and my daddy. Now, anybody else coming into the house couldn't use those terms. You know, if someone came in to do a repair on the home, they would have to call my father Mr. Moore or Jackie or something, but they wouldn't call him daddy. And if they did, he would be very quick to correct them, wouldn't he? No, no, this is a term of intimacy. It's a term of obedience, of acknowledgement of that relationship And so the Lord tells us that we may come to God and we may call him our Father, even when he teaches us to pray. He said, when you pray, say, our Father which art in heaven. He wants us to relate to God in that way. He wants you to relate to God in that way. He doesn't want you to think about God as some kind of distant, obscure theological figure. He doesn't want you to think of God as someone who's far off and with whom you have no connection and no contact. He wants you to consider God as your Father. Listen, we have a Father in heaven tonight who loves us, and he hears us when we call. Jesus said, therefore take no thought saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, but your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. He's concerned with our needs. Matthew 7, 11, he says, if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? You see, we have a God in heaven who loves us. a God in heaven who is reaching out to us, who stands ready to meet us at our point of need. And Jesus teaches us that right here on the cross when he says, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And for you, Dear unsaved friend, if you're here tonight and you're not a Christian, you who are by nature a sinner, you who are by nature a child of the devil, you have an opportunity even this evening to receive Christ as your Savior and to discover God as your Father. Though we had to battle for every single breath upon that cross, though he had been beaten and bruised long before they put the first nail in, though he was exhausted as his back was put to the cross and as the blood dripped from his forehead where the crown of thorns was pressed upon his head, still with all he prayed in his grace, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Think about this. Although he was in terrible pain, Although he was in terrible trouble, he, first of all, prays for others. Last Sunday evening, I drove from Sunderland to Lincolnshire, and I got back, Hazel and I got back, it was probably about 11 o'clock at night or so, and we approached the campus there at Northcote College, where New Tribes Mission is, and of course, we were staying on campus there while I was teaching. And we got there late at night, and at 10 o'clock at night, Now this is a former RAF station, so you can imagine it's quite an imposing set of gates when you drive up to them, and they're closed. And I thought, well, I'll get out and open these gates, and I've done this many times, never been in trouble. And I got out, and there was a bolt, and I tried to pull the bolt, but, you know, it evidently needed greased, and it wasn't moving, and it wasn't moving, and I thought, we're gonna be having to sleep in the car tonight, and Hazel's not gonna be well pleased. And so finally in desperation I gave it one last big yank and the bolt came out and it slammed across the gate and jammed my thumb in the other side. You can see the little black mark where it hit me. Do you know who I was thinking about in that moment? Me. I was standing outside the car going, I wasn't thinking about my wife now. I wasn't thinking about my kids, I wasn't even thinking about God, I was thinking about me. And when you're in pain, usually the person you think about is you. And yet the Lord Jesus, when he was put to the cross, the person he thought about was not himself but others. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Erwin Lutzer says, words of forgiveness came from his lips when the nails were being driven into his body, when the pain was the fiercest, when the jolts of anguish were the sharpest. He prayed as the cross was lowered into the hole with a thud and his nerves were the most tender, when the pain was most unfathomable. He who was the victim of history's greatest crime prayed for criminals. Even Stephen, the very first of the Christian martyrs, a man whose memory we honor in every respect. Even Stephen, when he was passing away, as he was breathing his last, thought firstly of himself. It says they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. He was thinking of himself. And then he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. He thought of himself first and others second. Lord Jesus might be forgiven for having considered himself first, but he didn't. He thought about others first. Better than that, he prayed for his enemies. Father, forgive them. You see, he practiced what he preached. There's not an ounce of hypocrisy in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not one little gram of duplicity in him. Understand that when he told us that we should love our enemies and bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that wasn't just preaching on his part, that was practice on his part. For when the moment came when that was put to the test, did he love his enemies? Yes, he did. Did he bless those who cursed him? Yes, he did. Did he do good for them that hated him? Absolutely. Did he pray for them which despitefully used him and persecuted him? Father, forgive them. for they know not what they do." You see, he practiced what he preached. Not only that, but he fulfilled a 600-year-old prophecy from the book of Isaiah, chapter 53 and verse 12, where it says, and he bare the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. The Bible told us 600 years in advance that when the Savior came and was put to the cross, he would pray for those who were persecuting him, those who were transgressing against him and against God. Do you know he still intercedes for sinners? Do you realize that even this evening, if you're here and you're not saved, I want you to know this, that the Lord Jesus is praying for you. He's petitioning His Father just for you. And He's not praying that you might find a better job or find a nicer home or have health and happiness. He's not praying that you would have a husband or a wife or that you might enjoy your holiday or something along that line. He's praying that you would be saved. He's praying for your soul. He's praying that your destiny would be secure in Him. He's praying because He's willing that none should perish but that all should come to repentance. He's praying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. That prayer teaches us a lot about prayer, but it also teaches us about pardon. You know, I used to read this verse as a young believer and wonder about it. And I used to think to myself, well, that's the only prayer that Jesus ever prayed that never got a positive answer. Because I believe that the Father did not forgive those people who put him to the cross. But of course what I forgot in my And my own questioning was that just over seven weeks later, as the apostle Peter was preaching to many of the same people that gathered at the cross, as he was preaching on the day of Pentecost to the same group of people, we find that on that day, 3,000 souls were saved. Now let me ask you a question. How did that happen? Did it happen because of Peter's preaching or did it happen because of Jesus praying? You know, I don't know what kind of preacher Peter was. I imagine he was a better preacher than me. But even Peter, I think, would admit that he was as surprised as anybody that 3,000 people would respond positively to the proclamation of the gospel on the day of Pentecost. And so the Lord prayed, Father, forgive them. And there was forgiveness for 3,000 of them and more besides. Who is he praying for when he prays, Father, forgive them? Is he praying for Judas? who betrayed him, for Caiaphas the high priest, for the Sanhedrin who counseled to put him to the cross, for Pilate who made the ultimate condemnation, for Herod the king, for the Roman soldiers, for the thieves either side of him who were mocking him and reviling him, for the baying crowd who gathered around Pilate's judgment hall and cried, crucify him. Who was it he was praying for when he said, Father, forgive them? Well, let me help you out here. You know only guilty people need forgiveness, right? If you're not guilty, you don't need forgiving. And these people were guilty for sure. Judas, and Pilate, and Herod, and Caiaphas, and Annas, and all these people that were involved in the crucifixion. They had individually and collectively done a terrible thing, and yet he prays for their forgiveness. Now understand that up to this point in the life story of Jesus, he has been exercising the prerogative of God to forgive men their sins upon the earth. In fact, every single one of the synoptic gospels of Matthew and Mark and Luke repeat the truth that the Son of Man has power upon earth to forgive sins. So we might think, and we might be forgiven for thinking that surely Jesus on the cross didn't have to pray to the Father to forgive their sins. He could have just forgiven their sins himself at that moment, right there and right then. But understand at this moment in time, He is no longer upon the earth. He is suspended between heaven and earth. He is hung upon a cross. He's at sin's sacrifice. He's no longer occupying the place of authority. He is subject to the judgment of God. He is momentarily laid aside his majesty. He's momentarily laid aside his authority. He's become the Lamb of God. He's sacrificing himself for us, but he's entirely at this point at his father's mercy. So he prays, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Now, I want you to stop for a moment and ask yourself, is that really true? Surely they did know what they were doing. Do you ever think about this? I mean, it seems a bit of an enigma. They know not what they do. How could that be? You know, Judas knew full well what he was doing. when he accepted 30 pieces of silver in exchange for the betrayal of Christ. The Jewish leaders knew exactly what they were doing when they showed up in the Garden of Gethsemane with the temple police and arrested him under the cover of darkness. Annas knew what he was doing when he sent him bound to Caiaphas. They knew what they were doing when they brought him to Pilate, and Pilate willfully ignored the pleadings of his own wife when he knowingly condemned an innocent man to die. The Roman soldiers were more than familiar with crucifixion. This was not a new practice for them. They didn't have to have an instruction book on how to do it. Nobody had to show them what to do. They knew full well what they were supposed to do, and they knew what they were doing when they humiliated him. They knew what they were doing when they marched him to this place called Calvary, and they knew that he would die that day. How can the Lord say they know not what they do? In fact, interestingly, the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost says much the same thing. Listen to what he says in Acts chapter 3 and verse 14. He says, But you denied the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect sightness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I know that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers. So Peter claims that what happened that day was done to some degree in ignorance, and yet Jesus says, you know, we know that they knew what they were doing, and Jesus and Peter agree that they knew not what they were doing. Paul says much the same thing in Acts chapter 13 and verse 26. He says, men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, use the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem are the rulers because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. It says they knew not. Now here's the hub of the matter. Paul explains it for us. In 1 Corinthians chapter two, In verse 8, speaking of the death of Christ, he says, which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. There's the hub of the matter. They didn't fully comprehend the import of their actions. They didn't recognize the enormity of their crime, the scope of their sin. Of course they understood what they were doing. Judas understood what he was doing when he took the money and betrayed Jesus. Alice knew what he was doing when he sent Jesus bound to Caiaphas. Caiaphas knew what he was doing when, with the Sanhedrin, he gathered a kangaroo court and put his life to the test. You know, Herod, or Pilate, sorry, knew what he was doing when he said, I have betrayed. You know, I have betrayed an innocent man. I've cleansed my hands of this innocent blood. They knew. but they didn't understand the import of it. They understood what they were doing, but they didn't understand the true identity of the one to whom they were doing it, nor the consequences to themselves and to their nation. Paul is clear, had they known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. They would not have done it. Can I say to you tonight, if you're here and you're not a Christian, people still don't understand the scope of their sin. You know, before I was a Christian, I used to brag about my sin. I used to boast about it. I used to get with my mates and tell them how I thought I'd got away with this and got away with that. We talk about our drunken antics and we'd relish the stories that we told one another. We joyed in our sin. We wallowed in our sin. We thought somehow or rather our sin gave us a better standing in the sight of our peers and it somehow lifted us up and we didn't understand the true scope of it. We didn't understand the true enormity of it. We didn't realize the consequence to our own souls. Here we were playing with hell. bragging about it, boasting of it, joying in it. You see, we have no idea of the greatness of our sin until we understand the greatness of the holiness of God. And that may be you this evening. You see, there are many people, and you may be one of them, that walk away from Christ, and you think, It's not that pressing. I mean, I don't really need this in my life. I don't need him in my life. I can get by as I am. It doesn't matter that much. I can live my life without him, and I'll take my chances in death and hope that God understands on the other side of things. I want you to understand tonight, friends, that your sin is far worse than you realize it is. It's far worse. I want you to realize that people reject the message of the gospel and they think, well, I'm simply refusing the preacher. I'm simply refusing to hear what he has to say. Well, what did God say to Samuel concerning the election of Saul as king and how the people of Israel did that contrary to God's purposes for them? He said, they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them. You see, if you walk out of this hall tonight, you say, I don't wanna hear that preacher. I don't wanna hear that pastor down at Points Pass Baptist Church. I don't wanna hear a single thing he has to say. The guy talks nonsense. I'm just gonna go home and on my merry way and live as I please and I'll be all right and I'll just dismiss this message out of hand. Understand it's not me you're rejecting. It's Christ. It's Jesus who's being rejected. And here's the hub of the matter, here's the rub. Your sin is no little matter. It's a terrible affront to the holiness of God. So much so that it takes the death of his own son, Jesus, to cleanse it. Your rejection of the gospel is not just a rejection of a religious ideology. Your rejection of the gospel is a rejection of Christ. And your rejection of Christ is a rejection of God. That's the enormity of it. If you turn your back on the gospel tonight, You're turning your back on God himself. You're turning your back on every hope that you'd ever get through heaven's door. You're turning your back on eternity with Christ and you're embracing an eternity without him in an eternal hell. That's the enormity of it. And certainly I never saw that before I became a Christian. But that's the reality in God's sight. Now the fact that they did what they did in varying degrees of ignorance is no excuse. You see, ignorance is not innocence. In fact, I would say that you sitting in this church tonight, listening to this message, has less appeal to ignorance than the people who physically put Jesus to the cross that day. I would say that you have greater guilt upon you than they had, if you want to talk about innocence. For you are, with the benefit of hindsight, acquainted with the whole story and deliberately and purposefully rejecting the Messiah of God. Nevertheless, even if you knew nothing of him at all, ignorance is no excuse before the law. You know, a few years ago, I got one of those letters through the post that you never want to see. It was from the Cheshire Constabulary. Had a lovely photograph of me on the motorway in my car. And it was an invitation to come to a speed awareness class. Or, alternatively, I could take three points on my license. And I looked and I read this and I thought, I'm actually not a person for speeding, really. I admit I've had three of these, but nevertheless, normally I don't speed. And I read this thing and it said, I was doing 63 miles an hour on the motorway. And I thought, well, wait a minute. The speed limit in the motorway is 70 miles an hour. There's been some mistake here. But as I began to read it, I discovered that I had been done for speeding at 63 miles an hour through a part of the motorway in which there was a restriction of 50 miles an hour owing to roadworks. And I remember this day very well. I was going to a pastor's conference. And I came through the road works at 50 miles an hour, I will tell you without any shame whatsoever, I went through there at 50 miles an hour to the last cone. To the last cone. I got to the last cone and everybody sped up, sped up. So what did I do? I sped up also. Because we assumed with the last cone that that was the end of the restriction. There were no more road signs. There were no more workers. There were no more cones. But in fact, the restriction was probably another half a mile ending up another half a mile up the road. And between the last cone and the end of the restriction, there was a very conveniently placed police speed camera waiting for us like lemmings. And so here we all were, harrying up the M6, Like wacky races. And what was he doing? He was standing there with his camera, raising funds for the policeman's ball. Click, click, click, click, click. Now if I had taken my right to go into court and to stand and defend myself, I could have stood before the judge that day and I could have said, now listen, your honor, your worship, with all due respect, I wasn't breaking the law because I didn't believe that I was in the 50 mile an hour zone. I thought it had finished. I thought I had finished with the last cone. Do you know what he would have said to me? Well, where was the restriction lifted? And I would have had to say, well, I don't know. And he would have said, well, let me tell you. And if I said, well, I still didn't know, I'm pleading innocence because of ignorance. You know what he would have said? He would have said, have double the fine and have the penalty points as well. Because ignorance is not innocence. And innocence isn't necessarily ignorance. You see, that's how it is with sin. God has given you his book. He has given you his word. He has given you his gospel. And whether you read the book or don't read the book, whether you hear the gospel or don't hear the gospel, the whole world is deemed guilty under God. I come back to what I said earlier. Only the guilty need forgiveness. So that here on the cross, Jesus wasn't just pleading for the salvation of those who were in direct contact with him, but for those who live in a different time and a different era, for you and for me. You see, here's what he said in John 17, 20, their word. He's praying for people who are yet future. He's praying, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. So now we should understand when he prayed, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. In the first place, he identifies with us. You see, he foresaw your need. He saw you coming. He saw you in all of your shame. and all of your sin, and all of your guilt. He saw you in an eternal predicament. He saw you dangling over a hill. And he said, Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do. They don't understand the enormity of their sin. They have no appreciation of how offensive it is in your presence. He identified with us. He included us. He wasn't just praying for Caiaphas and Annas and Judas and Pilate and the Herods, but for us, for you. He was praying for me. He was praying for all of us. He was dying for us. He was dying for you. He was dying for me. He was seeking to give his life for us. He identified with us. He included us. He implored for us. Father, he prayed, forgive them, for they know not what they do. He prayed that we might know the fullness of his Father's forgiveness. You know what? The thief on the cross found that forgiveness. The centurion beside the cross found that forgiveness. Many of the priests of Israel who stood in condemnation of him that day find his forgiveness. 3,000 souls, many of whom would have witnessed this event, 3,000 souls on the day of Pentecost find his forgiveness. And may I say to you tonight that you and I may know his forgiveness. You can be forgiven. So what about those questions that often dog our thoughts? Are some sins so heinous that they cannot be forgiven? Is there such a thing today as the unpardonable sin? You know, maybe you've done something and you say, you know what? It was too bad. God will never forgive me. There's no hope for me, pastor. You know, I'm not like these nice church people. I've got a past. I want to tell you something. Every saint of God has a past. Every one of us has a past. You know, there are people who think I was born with a Bible in my hand. They do. You know, I meet people in life and they're always apologizing to me for this and that and the other, as if somehow or other, you know, that I had some kind of divine quality. Listen, I'm a sinner. I've got a past. And I don't care what you've done, or where you've come from, or how shameful your past may be in your own thinking, in your own heart, and in your own mind. I don't care who you've been with, or where you've been, or the depths of sin that you might have trawled along the way. If the murder of God's own son can be forgiven, guess what? You can be forgiven. If God is willing to forgive the death of Jesus, He's willing to forgive you, no matter what you've done. Should we pray for those who do not seek our forgiveness? That's a great question for Christians. Well, Jesus prayed for those who wronged Him, and so should we. Should we actually forgive those who do not ask for it? Well, those who don't ask don't receive. Nevertheless, we should each one of us as believers have a spirit of forgiveness so that we're not destroyed by personal bitterness. Should we forgive people who ask for it, even if we doubt their sincerity? Yes, because only God can judge the heart. Jesus taught us that we must be ready to forgive, not just seven times, but 70 times seven. Understand that forgiveness is not the same necessarily in human terms as reconciliation. It may well be that someone has wronged you and must go some way to establish trust, to breach the wrong, to repair the relationship. Yet where repentance is offered and forgiveness is asked for, it must be granted. But maybe you're here tonight and you're not a Christian. You know there was a night when I would have sat where you sat and I wasn't a Christian. Maybe you're here tonight and you're not a Christian. And you're standing in need of God's forgiveness. This evening he offers you that pardon for which Jesus prayed. For you he prayed. Father, forgive him, for he knows not what he does. Father, forgive her, for she doesn't comprehend what she's doing. Salvation and mercy is yours tonight for the taking. God's grace is held before you. The gift of God is eternal life. and all you must do this evening to secure his forgiveness is to receive it. May God bless these thoughts to your hearts this evening.