Pastor: Wayne C. Eichstadt

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Scripture Readings: Passion History

Hymns: 279; 386(1-4); 555

Responsive Psalm: Psalm 39:1-13

SERMON:

When they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

What are the hardest words to say? They may not be the longest words of the English language, nor the most difficult to pronounce; and yet they are some of the most difficult to say. Some of the most difficult words to say are: "I was wrong. I am sorry."

These words are not so hard to say if it’s just a "I’m sorry" after bumping into someone as if an equivalent for "excuse me." Nor are they difficult to say if its just some small issue. But if I’ve been defending myself positive that I’m in the right, or if my ego and pride needs to be right a particular matter…then the words become very difficult to say.

Interestingly, if we add just one little word to those words, they all become much easier to say: "I was wrong. I am sorry, BUT…" "I was wrong, I am sorry, BUT you had a part in it too!!" "I was wrong, I am sorry, BUT I was angry and couldn’t help it!!" "I was wrong, I am sorry, BUT it’s just sometimes everything…!" It’s hard to admit wrongdoing, but it becomes easier if we believe we can excuse what we have done.

Almost as difficult as saying, "I was wrong, I am sorry" is "I forgive you." Again, these words aren’t very hard to say as long as it’s over something small and insignificant. However, when the blood is still boiling, the hurt is still hurting, and you just can’t understand what the person was thinking when he did what he did or said what he said…then it is very difficult indeed to say and at the same time mean the words: "I forgive you."

As we see Jesus hanging on the cross and hear the words He spoke while He was dying, we find that we have a FORGIVING SAVIOR.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, not long before Jesus would go to Calvary for us, the heavenly Father spoke from heaven saying, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. HEAR HIM!" (Matthew 17:5). So this Lenten season that is exactly what we seek to do with our prayers for the Lord’s blessings upon our meditation as we stand at the foot of the cross and HEAR our Savior’s words. Listen to your FORGIVING Savior!

"Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do." The immediate audience for whom Jesus was praying was the soldiers who were nailing Him to the cross and crucifying Him. The soldiers knew very well what they were doing in terms of their profession. They were very good at crucifixion, that was their job, they knew exactly where to put the nails, and knew exactly what they were doing; but they didn’t comprehend the full scope of what was taking place. The soldiers didn’t know and understand that this was Jesus, the Son of God. They may have known that this man was innocent of any crime as determined by their own governor, but yet condemned to die. They may have known Him as an itinerant Jewish teacher who had been going about all of the region "stirring up trouble," but they had no clue about what they were REALLY doing…and Jesus prayed for them: Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

In this prayer from the cross, Jesus is following His own words spoken to the disciples during His ministry, "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…" (Matthew 5:44). Jesus was praying for the people who were doing Him harm.

Jesus’ prayer and the forgiving nature of our Savior go far beyond those soldiers who were crucifying Him. The whole scene—Jesus offering His life for us—speaks of a forgiving Savior. The whole event shows you Jesus’ prayer that His Father would forgive YOU.

The prophet Isaiah foretold what Jesus would do when he wrote these words concerning the coming Savior: "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him (Christ) the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6).

The apostle Paul echoed the same truth when He wrote, "For [God] made [Jesus]who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Father forgive them! Jesus died on the cross bearing the guild of YOUR sin. When Jesus walked up Calvary’s hill, He was carrying EVERY ONE of YOUR sins! And there He died for them, paying the punishment that each one of those sins deserves eternally in hell. Jesus is YOUR forgiving Savior who lived His life to give you righteousness, and who died His death to take your guilt away.

This saving work of Jesus which brings you forgiveness came at a cost. The apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians saying, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:7). As Jesus was being nailed to the cross and the blood began to flow, that holy precious blood of the Son of God was being shed FOR YOU! His life was being laid down to wipe away YOUR sins and to FORGIVE ALL that you do against God’s law.

The depth of forgiveness which Jesus gives to us through His death comes from a depth of love. Again the apostle Paul (this time writing to the Romans) describes what kind of love it is that sacrifices itself for people who are his enemies. "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:6-8). Jesus died for us when we were still in our sin. Jesus went to the cross to forgive us our sins when we were God’s enemies because of our sin. What a depth of love to die for enemies! What a depth of forgiveness flows out of that love and is extended by the holy God to us sinners!

We may, when considering our sin, see the magnitude of it and be led to question whether ALL of our sin could really be taken away; and to wonder "Just how much of my sin is really forgiven? Is there ever a limit I could exceed from which point forgiveness would stop?" Hear again words of God which say "No! Worry not! Your sins are ALL forgiven!"

From Isaiah…"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the Lord, "Though your sins (no limitations!) are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18). In Jeremiah, God says, "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:34). The Psalmist says, "As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12) – they are GONE! Washed completely away! No trace whatsoever! God remembers them NO MORE! They are GONE FOREVER!

… so deep, so all-encompassing is the depth of forgiveness from our Savior; but there is even more! There are sins which you do not know you have even done. In Psalm 19, King David prays, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults" (Psalm 19:12). In the forgiveness of sins, the "secret faults" are gone too! Jesus, your forgiving Savior, cleanses you from ALL sins—even the ones, you yourself do not know.

Jesus pleaded for those who crucified Him saying, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do," and He continues to offer the same prayer for YOU right now. The apostle John writes in his first letter, "If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1).

As Jesus was being crucified, He prayed, "Father, forgive them…" and now our resurrected and glorified Savior stands before our heavenly Father again pleading—this time for you and for me—"Father, forgive them…" We sin and Jesus is there pleading, "Father forgive them. I have died for those sins. I have washed those sins away. See the righteousness which I have given them."

What does all of this mean for us? It means that we can say with the Psalmist, "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness" (Psalm 30:11). Or in the words of the hymn we sang at the opening of the service, "However great our trespass whatever we have been, however long from mercy our hearts have turned away, Thy precious blood can cleanse us and make us white today…The past shall be forgotten a present joy be given…No question will be asked us how often we have come, although we oft have wandered, [because] it is our father’s home…" [TLH 279].

You have a forgiving Savior who washes away whatever your past holds and promises to wash away the sins of the future. You have a Savior who FORGIVES you ALL of your sins. This forgiveness is a very valuable treasure. It came at a cost. It is free for us, given freely out of God’s grace with no charge or strings attached, but it cost Jesus His life. We have been redeemed with something far more valuable than the trivialness of silver and gold, even all that the world could hold. We have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (cf: 1 Peter 1:18-19).

As we go through this life as Children of God we seek to hold that treasure and keep in mind the value that it has…not despising it, not sinning and saying "I can do this because "Hey! There will be forgiveness!" We treasure this forgiveness when we honor the gift by following God’s Will and not following after sin. The apostle Paul writing to the Romans said, "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!" (Romans 6:15).

As we go through this life seeking to treat our forgiveness as the valuable treasure that it is, we also demonstrate that value by forgiving one another. Jesus forgives us completely—everything is set aside…forgotten. God is far better at forgiving and forgetting our sins than we are. He says, "I remember them NO MORE" while we tend to remember them and dwell upon them.

God also says that if He has forgiven us such a huge debt of sin, then we also ought to forgive one another (cf: Matthew 18:21-35). No matter what someone else may do to us, it is small—tiny—compared to the sins we commit against God on a daily basis. Paul encourages us, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). God in Christ has demonstrated a forgiveness toward us that knows no bounds, that forgives, forgets, and remembers no more. Such is the forgiveness we seek to demonstrate toward one another.

Our Christian consciences at times rise up because we don’t always forget the sins others have committed against us. At times, those hurts run deeply and the scars of those hurts are lasting. There may be times when bitterness will arise in us and an unforgiving spirit will find a home in our hearts. There may be an unwillingness to forgive, a grudge which we will hold against someone and not talk to him anymore because of what he has done; or despise him completely, cut him off, and not forgive him.

Whenever we find this attitude growing within us, we need to turn back to the forgiveness from our Savior and see how often Jesus forgives us even though we keep on sinning against Him. This whole question is what prompted Peter to ask Jesus, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven’" (Matthew 18:21-22). Jesus continually brings us forgiveness, keep on forgiving one another as often as someone sins against you.

Another area in which our Christian consciences may be troubled is when we do forgive, but have a hard time in re-establishing the relationship to the "way it was" before the sin. Sin changes the landscape of our lives. Forgiveness does not mean that the landscape can always return to the way it was before the sin.

When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered husband, Uriah, his life CHANGED. The landscape of David’s life was far different after the sin compared to what it was before the sin. God told David, "You are forgiven, your sins are but away, but as a result of your sin the child you conceived with Bathsheba will die. Other children in your family are going to rise up against you and rebel. You are going to have an unsettled family life from here to the end" (cf: 2 Samuel 12:10ff) Was David’s sin completely forgotten by God and remembered "no more"? Yes! The sin was removed, but there were lasting results. The landscape changed.

Abraham, Lot, and their herdsman had contentions while trying to live on the same land. They struggled and undoubtedly there was sin between them—sinful things spoken, sinful things done. As Christians, Abraham and Lot forgave each other and handled the contentions between their herdsman in a forgiving way, BUT also recognized they needed to part ways. They could not continue living together because the land could not support them both and to remain living on the same land would only lead to more contentions (cf: Genesis 13). Forgiveness? Yes! A remaining love for one another? Yes! (as demonstrated by Abraham’s rescue of Lot, Genesis 14; and his prayer for Lot, Genesis 18:16ff). A return to the exact same way as it was before? No.

The missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, had a dispute about whether to take John Mark with them on a new missionary journey after he had deserted them on an earlier trip. These two Christian missionaries couldn’t agree. They came to a sharp disagreement which they couldn’t resolve, so they parted ways (Acts 15:36ff). Undoubtedly, there was sin involved as they argued about John Mark; and yes, they certainly forgave one another and moved forward as Christian brothers. But did they continue to do missionary work together? No. The landscape changed.

Forgiveness does not always mean a return to what was before, but it does mean setting aside the anger, setting aside the bitterness, and truly forgiving the other person the sin just as God has forgiven us.

In all of Scripture, it is perhaps Jesus’ parable of the Forgiving Father that best illustrates this wonderful treasure of forgiveness which we have. In the parable, the younger son wasted EVERYTHING. He scorned his father’s inheritance and wasted it on sinful and riotous living. When the son decided he would return home, he thought, "if only I can be a servant in my father’s home that will be wonderful compared to this rock-bottom misery in which I find myself now." As the son came up the road to his father’s home, he saw his father with arms outstretched. His father had been waiting and looking for him. The son saw his father’s arms open to receive his son back, forgiving him, welcoming him home as SON—not a servant, but a full-SON complete with the inheritance of his father (cf: Luke 15:11ff)

Jesus is YOUR forgiving Savior. Whatever you have been, whatever the past has held, those sins are washed away. Amen.