March 19, 2017 Afternoon Service - The Seven Sayings by Pastor Josh Sheldon

The Devotional Purpose of the Seven Sayings Before the Lord’s Supper

We're going to take a short series in our afternoon time in the Word, and not so much to preach expositionally, though the Word will be open and what I say will be from God's Word, but the hope would be more of a devotional aspect for a few weeks before the table.

I have in mind that we go through what is sometimes called the seven sayings of our Lord. There were seven utterances that Jesus made, which you can put together by going through all four Gospels, and we can get pretty close to the timing or the sequence of these, but there are seven things that were spoken by the Lord at his crucifixion called the seven sayings, and I would have these be our meditation, our devotion as we prepare our spirits to take the Lord's Supper.

Oh, I pray this will be a fruitful study. I pray that we would appreciate all the more the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made, the sacrifice which we hear with the table and in these elements according to the command of the Lord and the instruction of the Apostle.

Remember that the Lord Jesus Christ did, in fact, go to the cross, and as we like to say, a cross planted in eternity past. There never was a time when the cross was not in view for God, either looking ahead to it or back towards it.

It was always there for God, always his intent that sinners would be saved by his Son at Calvary. And so seven times Jesus is recorded as having spoken during this crucifixion. The first of these is found in Luke 23 and verse 34.

And you're welcome to turn there. I'll be reading at 32 just so we can set the context a bit more. Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

Forgiveness for Those Who Crucified Christ

And then this verse will be the basis for our devotion this afternoon. And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Forgive them, they know not what they do. And the first thought that came to my mind when I looked at this is that in many ways they knew exactly what they were doing.

They were crucifying someone. They were consigning a man to the worst imaginable death. It was a practice, crucifixion was a practice that they knew very, very well. In fact, the Romans were experts at it.

We must believe it's almost unimaginable to think for a moment that even the soldiers who were executing the crucifixion didn't know that Jesus was innocent. And I only say this on the presumption that word gets around.

They say that there are no secrets on a ship and I think there are no secrets in the military either, not in that sense. I believe they knew he was innocent. Their governor Pilate had no patience for Jewish laws, though he probably knew them better than he let on.

But that by Roman law his only conclusion could be I find no fault in him. You recall that when he stood before Pilate and the Jews, the Pharisees, accusing him, accusing Jesus of all these terrible things that they said he had done.

And Pilate looks him over and examines him and interrogates him and sends him to different people to interrogate him. And according to Roman law said, I find no fault in him. So that must have been well known to these soldiers who were crucifying our Lord.

So I think they knew he was innocent. They knew what they did. They knew what they were doing as a matter of professional competence. Crucifixion had been invented by the Persians and I think the Romans perfected it.

In crucifixion they knew what they were doing. They knew how to do something that was quite the opposite of what we deal with in our jurisprudence, our penal system here in America where we take great pains to make sure that there's no undue suffering in executions.

Here the Romans would intentionally extend and make as horrible as possible the suffering that they would bring on to the victim. Prisoners were scourged. They were beaten bloody. The cross bars placed on shoulders that had been whipped raw.

And when the prisoner is finally put in place, the rough wood grates on the already tattered skin. We've probably heard this description before, but to get a breath as the lungs filled with fluid, to get a breath, the victim would have to push himself up on that little stand that they put under his feet.

And he has to press himself up to get a little bit more breath and that would rub his shoulders again against the cross bar. And all this, not just the horror of the pain, but the extension of it was very intentional.

They knew in essence what they were doing and they also knew that Roman justice had been corrupted. I mean, even an innocuous Jewish carpenter from Nazarene could not be executed without some due process.

They knew they were violating those laws or they had been violated, been circumvented as a matter of political convenience. We can assume that even the legionnaires who so expertly performed their service were aware of the mockery that was the Lord's trial.

The Jews who brought the charges against him, the ones who cried for the crucifixion, I think they also knew what they were doing in some sense. They were charging a man who had done no wrong under their laws, misused to bring supposed guilt upon him.

They knew he hadn't done the things that they said. Charges were contradicted by the facts. You can read Mark and Matthew, how the witnesses that they would gather together to speak against Christ, they contradicted each other.

They made no sense. You would think that a real court really looking for the truth would just throw them out and dismiss all charges with witnesses of that caliber. But to the Roman governor, they pleaded that he had led men astray and incited rebellion.

And in fact, Jesus never said anything against Rome. His interests lay elsewhere. In their own council, they accused him of blasphemy, which is a charge denied by the facts, by the miracles, the miracles being proof positive of his claims.

Now, the real charge against Jesus, and again, did they know what they were doing? I think Pilate knew quite well because the scripture says he knew this. The real charge against him was that he made them jealous.

His accusers were jealous of him because people followed him. So in these senses, they did seem to know what they were doing. But then there's a sense in, of course, that they didn't know what they were doing.

Like Jesus said, they know not what they do. They did not know that they were murdering the Son of Man. They knew that it was the Son of God who had come to them in all grace and truth in the man, Jesus Christ.

As John puts it, he was in the world and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. They didn't know him and so by implication, neither did they know the Father. They had heard, but for the most part, they didn't believe that he was the Son of God.

So they didn't really, in that sense, know what they were doing. They charged him with blasphemy when he told the truth, exactly who he had been saying he was, God's only Son. I also think as we look upon this and ponder this forgiveness that Jesus pleads for as he's being crucified, I think of ourselves because we all, before the Holy Spirit transformed our souls, before he granted us repentance, we were really with them.

We sinned ignorantly, we sinned inexcusably. God created man with a conscience and so there's an intrinsic awareness of right and wrong. Even as unregenerate persons, there was no excuse. We were like what the psalmist says in Psalm 73, verse 22, where he says, I was so foolish and ignorant, I was like a beast before you.

Christ did not excuse the sins being committed against him. He didn't excuse them, but he did seek their forgiveness. And what do we have here? When he's being crucified, we have the ultimate from Psalm 2.

We have nations raging against him. We have beasts mindlessly joining in against him. No excuse. But our Lord, as of first importance, cries out, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. This was Christ's great purpose, to procure the forgiveness of our sins.

And now, just as his purposes are being brought to their climax, which is the cross, could he now seek revenge against his enemies rather than the reconciliation to God? That would have been to deny his very self.

So he pleads with God to make fast the very goal of his coming. Calvin says here, Christ gave evidence that he was that mild and gentle lamb, which had to be led out to be sacrificed as Isaiah the prophet had foretold.

Matthew said this of the kindness of the lamb, whose compassion moved him to heal helpless people. Matthew 12 .20 says,. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench. So even on the cross, usually we picture this scene, I don't know if it's right or wrong, it seems valid.

We picture this scene with him on the ground and his arms being spread and the nails being put into the crossbar, and that being the point at which he made this saying. But even then, his mildness, his humility, his meekness, none of this could be overcome.

Evil was being done against him. It was great evil. Yet as Peter says, he did not return that which he had received. He didn't give as good as he got, we might say today. Had he done so, had he returned, reviling for reviling, had he returned their evil with his own, had he done so, then the taunts would have been better deserved, for if he had retaliated, then he would have proven that he was not the prophesied Lamb of God.

That he was not exactly what God said by the prophets he would be. He would, by taking vengeance, had he done so, he would have proven he was not the Son of God at all. And our faith, even today, would be a vain and useless thing.

But what does he say? He says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The very Son of God never, even at that point, up to that point, even with the beating, the scourging he had endured the night before, the nails being driven in, and knowing what was going to come next, even with all that, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

What is this but what Paul says in 2 Timothy 2 .13? He cannot deny himself. You see, Jesus came to forgive sins, to procure forgiveness of our sins from the Father. And that's his prayer as the nails are being driven in.

He could say that his prayer, we could say his prayer was something like, Father, accomplish your holy purposes in me. Begin that even now as these ignorant, as these helpless and lost sheep are committing this terrible crime.

Begin your sovereign will that sins be forgiven even now. He says, forgive them, Father. We have a Jesus who was meek and mild in all his ways. He was gentle. Not one who excused sin. He never excused sin.

He told one man, sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you. The Samaritan woman was having a lively chat with our Lord. She was living in sin, and the Lord called her on it. Because you have five husbands, or you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.

Now, sin is not tolerable to God. Jesus never passed it by lightly. It can be forgiven, not ignored. Jesus' first saying from the cross is really our only ground of hope. The Son of God, the Father's only begotten, he appeals on our behalf.

And we speak, and the author of the Hebrews speaks of him being our intercessor even now, our eternal high priest, the one who is even at this moment interceding for us before God the Father. We'll have a response for his sin that will save him from God's wrath, except this one.

I plead your Son, my Savior Jesus, whose forgiveness I have apprehended by faith, whose nature I strive towards by the power of the Holy Spirit, whose image I seek to be transformed into by the grace that God has given me.

I plead your Son, who has pleaded to you on my behalf, Father, for my forgiveness. Have you ever wondered who did he mean by them? He said, forgive them, Father. Did he mean the Roman soldiers who were at that moment securing him to the cross?

Did he mean the Jews who falsely accused him and brought him to this pass? Could he have meant Pilate and the Roman administration that stood aside its own system of justice and saw it go into temporary abeyance as they allowed these things?

There's often heard here a sort of theological discussion. It centers on whether God forgave the nail drivers. As I said, the scene we usually see this at is when he's being laid on the ground and his arms are being pinned to that crossbar before it is set into the post that stands up and down vertically.

Is that who he meant? The question could be, could or would God ignore his son? Could God have ignored this plea that his son called out to him? The fourth of the sayings that we're going to go through is, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The answer to whether the tormentors were forgiven seems to depend on when this turning back, this forsaking took place. If God turned away at the beginning of the crucifixion, say if God had turned away while the nails were being driven in and he was forsaken his son, then is it possible that the cry was not heard by God because he had already forsaken him?

But it's not necessary that Jesus cried out this anguishing cry because he had been forsaken at that moment as he hung there on the cross. It's possible, as we read this, that it was the accumulated anguish of having been abandoned perhaps even hours and hours before.

It might even be possible that the forsaking began at Gethsemane, which would be why God's answer to his prayer was only to send an angel to strengthen him. All that, said Luke, our careful historian, places this saying in his text.

At the same time, he tells us that the two robbers were crucified with him. I think this allows that the churning away of the Father happened after the cross had been planted. But here is my thought. Lord willing, you'll see that this question is not merely theological ruminations.

I think that whoever Jesus meant when he pleaded for forgiveness was, in fact, forgiven. Now, this cannot, I admit, it cannot be proven from the text. We don't have a tight enough sequence of events for exactly when he cried this out.

And we have only a few names of those people who were involved in this. And there's actually even a legend that I've read that the centurion of Matthew 8, the one who said truly this was the Son of God, is the centurion at the crucifixion who said truly this is the Son of God is the same that we had in Matthew 8.

Remember the one who said, no, it's not necessary that you come. He goes, I, too, am a man under authority. I tell this one to go, and he goes. I tell this one to come, and he comes. I tell this one to do this, and he does it.

And you, Lord, all you need to do is speak, and my servant will be healed. So some say that the one who said truly this was the Son of God is that same centurion. And I read once that there are those who say that one of the hammer-wielding Romans actually became a Christian.

We can't confirm any of this, but it is inconceivable that our Lord's direct intercession for anyone would not result in forgiveness and salvation. You see, even forsaken, he was still God's Son. I would have a hard time believing that God simply didn't hear him or even actively ignored him.

I think that whoever Christ meant by them, forgive them, Father. Whoever he meant, that they were forgiven. And chances are, we will be with them in heaven one day. Now, Philip Rikens says here that the Savior's words demonstrated his redemptive purpose in dying on the cross.

If Jesus was willing for the Father to forgive the very men who murdered him, then what sinner is beyond the reach of his mercy? Surely anyone who repents will be saved. And I can only add to that, anyone for whom Jesus died and intercedes will be granted repentance, and his blood, Christ's blood, will be applied to them, and they will be washed clean of their sin.

So the elements before us this afternoon, they remind us of Christ's broken body. They remind us of his spilled blood. And God willing, while he still had breath, knowing what was ahead of him, while his blood yet coursed with life through his body, this was his final plea to the Father.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. God willing, you too have been forgiven of your sins because Jesus has prayed for you, because Jesus now intercedes for you, and you know with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength that he did, in fact, die for you.

Amen?