Thank you Pastor Rene for that awesome message. The message of how God does forgive us. We are in the season of Lent. And I gotta find my sermon here. The season of Lent always draws us to the cross, and we are starting now a, uh, a five week sermon series, Final Words, Eternal Impact. So over the next five weeks, we’re going to come here to God’s house, and our Savior is going to invite us to come and sit at the foot of his cross. And there, we will hear again the seven words, or the seven steps, Statements that he made from that cross while he was doing the work of our salvation that his father had sent him to do. I know most of us have heard these over and over again at some point in our life, so this year I pray. That the Holy Spirit will give us fresh ears and a fresh heart to receive these words again in a different way. And a renewed desire to be transformed by the power of the cross. Today we are going to examine and explore that first statement. Father, forgive them. For they do not know what they are doing. Powerful words. And as we hear them today, as we stand before and sit before the cross, I’ve got a few questions for you. Have you ever struggled to forgive someone who has harmed you in some way? Have you ever struggled to go and seek forgiveness from somebody that you have harmed? Which one was harder?

Think about that while we pray. Dear Father, we thank you that in this season of Lent, you come and invite us to receive the gift of your grace, the gift of your love, the gift of your forgiveness of our sins. Dear Jesus, today as you bring us to the foot of your cross, we pray that you would come and help us understand more fully the impact of your prayer and what does it have to do with our lives. Holy Spirit, come and ready us to receive God’s truth. And Holy Spirit, come and take me out of the way, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Dear friends, our Gospel reading this morning comes from Luke’s Gospel, chapter 23. I invite you, if you have your Bibles or your electronic devices, to turn to that 23rd chapter. We are going to start our reading in verses 32 to 37. This is what Luke writes. Two other men Both criminals were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching and the rulers even sneered at him. They said he saved others. Let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah. The chosen one, the soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. This is the gospel of our Lord.

As we just read in this story, Jesus is hanging on the cross. Now, I can’t help but wonder if you and I could have been as gracious as Jesus. If you and I were hanging there and we had nails in our hands and our feet, would we cry out to the Father, forgive the ones who just nailed me to the cross? Especially if we thought we didn’t deserve to be there in the first place. Honestly, I think that’s one of the reasons that this first statement from the cross is so powerful. You see, this is where God’s love is displayed so powerfully and so profoundly from the cross. Spoken words by our Savior, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Today as the Holy Spirit calls us to come and sit at the foot of the cross, you and I do so knowing what the scene looks like. Jesus is hanging there, having been beaten almost to death. You and I come to this reading this morning knowing that that crown of thorns has been forced onto his head. Blood would have been running down his face. You and I come to this and we hear it knowing that his hands and his feet have been nailed to the cross. In order for him to pray this prayer this morning, he has to endure the pain of pushing against the nails, rubbing his back against the grain of the wood, just so he can speak. When he does, he endures. Enormous pain, excruciating pain. And yet in those first moments, those first words uttered from the cross were a prayer. Our Savior interceded on our behalf before the Father. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing, he said. This brings us to our first point this morning. The heart of our Savior during His time on the cross was to cry out to His Father in prayer.

Did you hear what our Savior said? Did you understand the ramifications of His prayer? He was not praying, Father, rescue me. He didn’t say, Father, help me or strengthen me, avenge me. He didn’t even say, Father, come and deliver me. This wasn’t a prayer of condemnation. This wasn’t a prayer filled with anger. He didn’t say, Go get him, daddy. His prayer was not about his needs. His prayer was about our needs. He didn’t call down a legion of angels to wipe out the whole world, although he had the power to do so. No, Jesus endured that pain, and he heaved himself up, and he took that breath, and he filled his lungs with air, so that he could say, out of compassion and love for you and I, Father, forgive them. You see, this is what he was born to do. He was born to be the sacrificial lamb that would take away the sins of the world. He’s completing that work on the cross. But I wonder, have you ever thought about the fact that Jesus had the ability to pray to his father alone, just the two of them in his head? Why did he have to say it out loud? In order for us to understand that, go back to John’s Gospel, chapter 11. Do you remember when he stood outside the tomb? He’s about to bring Lazarus back to life. And Jesus says this in verses 41 and 42. Jesus looked up and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you Always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. Jesus didn’t need to endure the pain of trying to get a breath so that he could say out loud, Father, forgive them. But he did it because you and I, just like the Roman soldiers, just like the religious leaders, just like the crowd that was around him that day, we need to hear his voice. Saying, Father, forgive them. From the cross, when he prayed this prayer out loud, there was no doubt in his mind that his father was hearing him. There was no doubt in his mind that he was listening to him, and that his father would forgive them. No, Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing out loud, so that he could build, help build our faith. And every time you and I come and we hear this powerful story, and we hear this powerful prayer, you and I are invited to understand that there’s something about this prayer that calls us not just to believe that he said it, but to change our behavior because we have heard it. In order to know that there’s something different about Jesus interceding for us at this point in time, we have to understand what forgiveness really is.

That brings us to our second point. Forgiveness is an act of the offended to pardon the offense at their own personal expense. Ever think about forgiveness that way? And there’s no greater display of this definition. of forgiveness than on the cross of Jesus Christ. For on the cross, the forgiveness of God came at his own personal expense. For he so loved you and me, he so loved the world, that he gave his only Son to come and endure the cross for us so that you and I could be forgiven of our sins. His Son came and He lived the life that you and I should be living, but we can’t because we’re sinners. And He is now dying the death that you and I should die, but we will not because He died in our place. This is true forgiveness. True forgiveness that was and still the heart of our Father. From the cross, Jesus wants every person from that moment down through the ages to know that there was a purpose of the cross. And that purpose, Father, forgive them. Forgive them in part. Because of what I’m doing, and in part because you love them. Listen to the powerful words of what it means to be forgiven, and how we should respond to the forgiveness that we receive. Psalm 32 says this, Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sins the Lord does not count against them, and in whose spirit is no deceit. This is how we respond to being forgiven and seek forgiveness. Verse 5, Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Do you remember what it’s like? To be forgiven by Jesus, it’s a sweet blessing to know that He did this in our place for us. Our redemption can only be found in this pinnacle moment in the history of the world. When through the death of Jesus on the cross, God fulfilled the work that He had sent His Son to do. To be the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. This was no accident. This was planned. This was a fulfillment of God’s promise made back in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned, and God came, and He talked to them, and He gave them the consequences of His sin, what did He promise? One day, I will send my son, and I will give him to the world to reconcile the world back to me. To make whole everything that has been broken today. And to, and now on the cross, that is exactly what is happening. Jesus was sinless. He was blameless. He lived a perfect life, and yet, he knew he was born to die when he came and he took on flesh and he dwelt among us. Hebrews 9 says it this way, In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

Jesus walked down that long road to Calvary carrying that cross on his bloody back. And he allowed himself to be nailed to that cross and he hung there dying. Because Jesus knew it was his blood that was required as the sacrifice for the sins of the world. No other blood could do it. It had to be his. And so from that cross, he lifted up his head heavenward, and he interceded on our behalf. And he prayed the powerful words, Father, forgive them. Paul tells us in Ephesians that in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished upon us. You see, it is only through the, in Christ that we have redemption through His blood. It is only in Christ that our sins can be forgiven, not covered up, not swept under the rug, but forgiven. Forever forgotten by the Father. And this knowledge should change us, it should motivate us, it should drive us to live differently than this world that doesn’t know about forgiveness. This brings us to our third and final point. Through God’s forgiveness, we are called to forgive. The Bible powerfully exhorts us in Ephesians 4, these things. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. That’s easier said than done. But through the cross, Christ extends his grace to us. A grace that is beyond human comprehension. And he calls us as believers and disciples of Jesus Christ to embody a radical type of forgiveness in our own lives and then extend it out into the world. By examining the depth of God’s mercy this morning, we’re challenged to cultivate, as a congregation, hearts that mirror Jesus love, releasing the chains of bitterness and resentment and unforgiveness among us. As we learn to forgive from a place of gratitude and humility, we become living testimonies of God’s boundless grace in this broken world. And then, having received the forgiveness of our sins, We are called to forgive others. So again, I ask you the same questions we began with. Who is God calling you to forgive today? Who is God calling you to go seek forgiveness from? As you remember right now, how you harmed them at some point in time. As their names and their faces come into our minds, I want to remind you something very important. If you think you can do this type of forgiveness in your own power and your own strength, think again. For true forgiveness can only come through the blood of the Lamb, and it came to the world at a very expensive price. So if you are here this morning and you’re struggling with unforgiveness, Understand, I, I know what it’s like, and I don’t say this lightly, I don’t urge you to go forgive people lightly, but I do know that it’s necessary to be done. And I can say that because there was about a 30 year period of time where I harbored unforgiveness in my heart. In fact, I hated this person who had devastated my life so fiercely. That during that 30 years, I often told my family I better not ever see them again because I’m afraid I will do something physically to harm them and I’m going to end up in prison because I will do that.

But then I became a Christian and God forgave my sins. And my sins are no different than the person that I was harboring unforgiveness for. How dare I forg You know, keep harboring this, but I couldn’t let go of it. I could not forgive them. And yet, week after week, I was like all of you. I came to church and I said the Lord’s prayer. And I got to that point where we say, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and the guilt and the shame would come. I wrestled with it for the first few years. of my Christian journey. And then, one Lent, the pastors of the church that I was attending decided to do a Lenten study on the Lord’s Prayer, and my heart sunk. Because I knew that as they took us through that prayer, there was going to be a midweek service where they talked about forgiveness, and there was no way that I could do it. And yeah, the time came. That Wednesday came, and I sat next to Rich. And now, you have to understand, he’d been walking in church with me long enough that he knew that I cry in church. It wasn’t unexpected for him, but that week, I sobbed. I put my head down, and I sobbed with what the Holy Spirit was telling me I had to do that day. I had to forgive this person. That had destroyed me for so long, and I knew I couldn’t do it. When the service was over, I ran down the hallway to the prayer chapel. All I wanted to do was just be alone with God. I wanted to tell Him how broken my heart was with what He was asking of me. Instead of being able to be alone with God, there in the doorway of the prayer chapel stood two of my friends. Intercessors, prayer warriors, and I knew them to be that. I fell into Nancy’s arms and sobbing, I said, I can’t, I just can’t forgive him. I can’t do it. I just can’t. I’ll never forget the words that came out of Nancy’s. She said, I know that you can’t, but God can. And Bill and I will pray for you tonight as long as it takes until the Holy Spirit can heal you enough that you can say the words. And that’s exactly what they did. Bill and Nancy Pierce laid hands on me, and they prayed over me, and they prayed over me, and they prayed over me. And then, I heard this whisper come out of my mouth. And I said, Father, I forgive him. I forgive him. And at that moment, there was a peace that flowed over me that I had never experienced ever in my life as the bondage of unforgiveness that I had harbored for 30 years was broken. Not because of something I did, but every because of everything Christ did on the cross and the blood of the lamb floated over me and I was set free that night. And dear friends, if God can heal 30 years of unforgiveness in my bitter heart, he can forgive anything that you are holding in your hearts as well. He hung on the cross and he looked out and he saw all of our faces, and he knew today we would be gathered in this house and there would be some of us struggling to say, I forgive them. And so he did it for us. He interceded on our behalf, and he said, Father, forgive them. And I will tell you right now, the Bible promises us that in this moment today, he’s at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. And he’s still saying, Father, forgive them. And by the way, this morning he’s saying, and give them the ability to forgive each other as well.

Unforgiveness harms us, it hurts us as we carry it, and it is not something we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to bring it to the foot of the cross. We’re supposed to hear him say, Father, forgive them, meaning me. And then we cry out, Father, help me forgive the them in our lives as well. Pastor Renee is going to be in the prayer chapel today. Because it’s been my experience the last three services that there are some of you who are struggling like I was. And if you need somebody to pray with you, she’s there for you. And take advantage of that. Because Christ is here wanting to set you free the way that he set me free as well. Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, we are humbled by your love. We are humbled by the fact that you came and you hung on that cross in our place. And not just that, but you endured the pain of scraping yourself across on that cross. And just so you could ask the Father out loud to forgive us. And today we hear that. And we ask that you would help us. Help us receive your forgiveness. Help us forgive others. You sacrificed yourself so that we could live in peace and healing that you provide. So come today and renew our hearts. Travel with us this Lenten season and help us keep our eyes fixed on you. Help us remember how you allowed your body to be broken, how you allowed your blood to be shed for the forgiveness of the sins of the world, but also for the forgiveness of our sins. Help us be connected to you in such a profound way that it changes our lives, we pray in Jesus name, Amen.