Seven Words From Jesus (Part 1)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Famous Last Words and the Value of Final Statements

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth and it is Friday, May 6th in real time. In no-code time, who knows when this is going to be played. I just got back from Community Bible Church in Beloit, Ohio with my friend John Tucker and my brother Pat Abendroth.

I think the messages on the Triune God are up online if you go to the website there, Community Bible Church, Beloit, Ohio, and that was fun. We had a few Q &As and we had lots of good conversation that wasn�t recorded at John�s house.

That was fun. And what else did we do? Well, we talked and we ate and we ate and we talked and it was great to catch up. Israel, February 21st through March 2nd, probably by the time this airs, you are going to need to get your $500 deposit in if you want to grab a spot from Boston.

I want to say, don�t hold me to it yet, but I think it�s $34 .99 from Boston. That�s flight, hotels, porterage, etc., except a few lunches. I think one or two lunches might be paid for, but you pay for the rest and everything else is covered.

If you need to get to Boston, that�ll be an extra charge, but I think I�ve got 22 spots. Pat�s got 22 spots. I think he and his son are going, Kim and I are going to be going, so we each have 24 spots.

So, you can email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. I don�t know how many, we�re probably going to have 30 people wanting to go, so first people to get their $500 deposit in are on the list. I think you have until November-ish to get all your money back if you want to decline.

I was reading some famous last words, kind of, you know, gives you an idea of what people believe. All my possessions for a moment of time, Queen Elizabeth, the first. Winston Churchill, I�m bored with it all.

Groucho Marx, die my dear, why that�s the last thing I�ll do. Woodrow Wilson, I am ready. Karl Marx, go on, get out. Last words are for fools who haven�t said enough. Edward Gibbon, he wrote The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.

All is lost, irrevocably lost. All is dark and doubtful. Sir Thomas Scott, until now I thought there was no God or hell. Now I know there is both and I am doomed. Sir Francis Newport, that was, by the way, his name was on cigarettes, Newport cigarettes.

Oh eternity, oh eternity, oh the sufferable pains of hell forever, forever. David Hume, I am in the flames. Cardinal Bourgeois, I have provided in the course of my life for everything except death and now alas, I am to die unprepared.

Thomas Hobbes, I�m about to take one last voyage, a great leap into the dark. Prince Henry of Wales, tie a rope around my body, pull me out of the bed and lay me in ashes that I may die with repentant prayers to an offended God.

Oh, I in vain wish for that time I lost with you and others in vain recreations. Sigmund Freud, the meager satisfaction that man can extract from reality leaves him starving. What does that mean? All right, a couple more.

All of the wisdom of this world is but a tiny raft upon which we must set sail when we leave this earth. If only there was a firmer foundation upon which to sail, perhaps some divine word. Tony Hancock, British comedian, nobody will ever know I existed.

Nothing to leave behind me, nothing to pass on, nobody to mourn me, that�s the bitterest blow of all. Kind of sounds like Ecclesiastes, doesn�t it? I said a couple more, but I�m going to keep going. Luther Burbank, I don�t feel good.

Oh, famous last words. It�s amazing. Do they reveal what�s really in the heart of man or a woman? I think they�re important, insightful, illuminating, final words. And so today on No Compromise Radio Ministry, we�re going to look at somebody else�s final words.

Any guesses to whom we will look? Of course, the Lord Jesus and what�s commonly called the seven words of the cross. What did Jesus say on the cross? Of course, more than seven words, but like with Thomas Cranmer, in the four comfortable words, each word is a verse.

And so when we say seven words from the cross, seven statements, seven things that the Lord Jesus said. The seven statements that John Stott said, they give us an insider�s view of what was happening through the eyes of Jesus himself.

Warren Wiersbe, when our Lord was doing his greatest work on earth, he was uttering some of his greatest words. These seven last words from the cross are windows that enable us to look into eternity and see the heart of God.

Here we have, while God truly human, the man Jesus dying, what were his last words? And by the way, even as I take a deep breath, because my lungs aren�t completely healed yet, although I did go on a nice bicycle ride yesterday, I was attacking the hill a little bit and then I was coughing my head off.

I realized that was not a good thing to do. It is, I don�t know this to be true. I�ve never seen anyone crucified. I have not been crucified. But they say when you are crucified, it�s hard to speak. And so one of the things that I want to talk about on No Compromise Radio today is, you know, not just what Jesus said, but with a little preface here, a little precursor.

It�s like you�re on a cross and you have the wind knocked out of you. And one writer said, �The weight of the body suspended by the arms caused immediate pain in the chest, paralyzing the pectoral muscles and making breathing extremely difficult.

The person being crucified could inhale, but had a great difficulty when they exhaled. And so you�d have to push your feet to try to get enough breathing room. But of course, it�s hard to do that over and over and over again.

And then the soldiers wanted people to die sooner, so that�s why they would break their legs. Of course, Jesus� legs weren�t broken. That was to fulfill prophecy. My point is, it must be hard to talk on a cross.

Yet we have from these four gospel accounts what Jesus said. Some have called these the words of forgiveness, salvation, relationship, abandonment, distress, triumph, and reunion. Sadly, critics, liberals, they attack Jesus in every way, shape, and form that they can, and this is no different.

James Dunn said, �These seven sayings are weakly rooted in tradition and sees them as part of the elaborations in the diverse retelling of Jesus� final hours. How dumb is that? Dumb-Dunn. D-U-N-N is his last name.

Dumb-Dunn. Dumb-Dunn-Dunn-Dunn. D-U-N-N-N-D-U-N-N. Can you get in trouble for that? In my opinion, you have to say. That�s how you get out of everything. In my opinion. Therefore, it�s not blasting people.

Oh, I�m not blasting the guy particularly, but as theology, we can just line up at the shooting range and blast away. These sayings of Jesus are really focused around three time periods. Nine to noon, 9 a .m. to noon, noon to three, and then 3 p .m.

That�s what we�re after. It�s difficult to know exactly chronological order. All these seven aren�t in every one or in any of the Gospels completely, so we have to kind of harmonize them, harmony the Gospels, figure it out, and so we�re going to do our best here on No Compromise Radio.

The First Word from the Cross: Forgiveness for the Crucifiers

Now, before I do, sometimes my brother, the pactum guy, he usually talks about food and hot sauce. I just was listening to one of his shows where he was eating the hot sauce. I saw him eat a lot of hot sauce in Ohio.

Usually, he had to have half a bottle a meal. I even saw him take some hot sauce and pour it all over some Cheez-Its and then eat the Cheez-Its full of hot sauce. Somebody there at the church in Ohio gave him some hot sauce.

I think Roy gave him some hot sauce, and so he had to try it. I only talk about what I drink and not really what I eat on the show. I don�t have any sponsors yet, but you never know. Maybe I will. Uptime.

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Let�s see how the uptime is. Yes, up, up, up, and away in my beautiful balloon. Remember that song? So, Last Sayings of Jesus. You can write me, Mike, at NoCompromiseRadio .com. And if you want Israel information, you can do that as well.

Don�t forget we have�oh, here�s a good announcement. There should be a new�I�m going to have a new book out here soon. Should I give you the�should I give you what it�s about? Hopefully by�oh, in the next two months.

Hopefully before I go on summer vacation. I�m just going to do the Amazon press. Create space. A book on assurance. That�s all I can tell you. A book on assurance. It�s been�I quit writing a long time ago.

So many people write better than I do, but I think we need a book on assurance, and I think it will be encouraging to you. But in the meantime, you can go order Evangelical White Lies at Amazon, or you can go to our website and order Sexual Fidelity.

If you do buy Sexual Fidelity, I send you things that go up in the church for free, and you can do with it as you please. Seven Sayings of Jesus on No Compromise Radio. First one, and we�re in that first time frame.

�Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And so we�re going to look at Luke chapter 23, verses 32 and following. Saying number one. Word number one. 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. And Jesus said, �Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by watching, but the ruler scoffed at him, saying, �He saved others. Let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one.

The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, �If you�re the king of the Jews, save yourself. There was also an inscription over him, �This is the king of the Jews.

And it has been said, as we go to this first word of Jesus on the cross, that you see the mercy and kindness and compassion and grace from our Lord Jesus in his dying moments. Quite unlike Samson. Unlike really everybody else, but especially think of Samson.

What does he do in his dying moments? Well, he uses his great strength to destroy people. I�m not saying what Samson did was wrong. I�m just using this as a contrast. Now with this passage, since it�s no-co, we can talk about it a little bit.

It�s got some issues when it comes to which manuscripts might this be found in, right? So we have a lot of different manuscripts from the New Testament. Some are older than others. Some families of manuscripts we have more than we have others.

But if you look at a few manuscripts that are important, sometimes these verses are missing about Jesus� words here. They�re found in some important manuscripts, not found in others. Titian incorporated this saying into his writings in AD 175.

We see it there. Irenaeus talks about it. Origen refers to it. Eusebius in his history of the church, ecclesiastical history, has it in there. And people begin to think, well, why was it admitted? Let�s just say, why did some people not put it in?

Why would a copyist leave this out? Here, Jesus, well, maybe he�s praying for the Jews. Some have said that. That, you know, some kind of, well, the Jews are the ones doing it, and so we�re going to disregard the saying.

I don�t really think that holds much weight. I just think, I�m just having a brain freeze. I just looked at the uptime thing. It�s not really helping. It�s not helping. Look, let�s just cut to the chase.

I think it�s in the original, right? And so what I say goes, at least on no-compromise radio. When you see Luke and Acts, there�s a lot of similarities, right? Same author, Luke and Acts. And what happens in Acts 760?

�And falling to his knees, Stephen cried out with a loud voice, Do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. You know what? Lots of times, of course, with Luke and Acts, you�ll see similarities because it�s the same author, but you�ll also see the disciples in Acts doing similar things that Jesus did in the Gospels.

We�re not sure if it�s in or not, but I�m going to take Leon Morris�s take. �It is absent from many of the best manuscripts, and some critics argue that it must be rejected, since it would scarcely have been omitted if genuine.

Against that is the fact that other very good manuscripts do attest it. We should accept the words as genuine. Well, it certainly is genuine in my mind, and it genuinely reveals the heart and grace in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

�Forgive them, for they do not know what they�re doing. Now, he could have said, �Damn them, condemn them, judge them. And here we have Jesus saying, �Forgive them. I mean, is he saying, �Forgive them, the entire world

Is he saying, �Forgive them, the Jewish leadership in the Sanhedrin Is he saying, �Forgive them, the Roman soldiers who are just doing what they�re told to do That�s a good question. I mean, Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

He came to give his life a ransom for many. He came to live a perfect life for people and then die a substitutionary death to forgive them. These people, whoever they are, they don�t know what they�re doing.

They don�t really understand the significance of what they�re doing. 1 Corinthians 2, 8,. �For if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. I mean, cosmic repercussions.

They don�t know the significance of their actions. One person said in today�s vernacular, �They don�t have a clue. I mean, they just nailed the hands and feet of the Son of God to a cross, to a piece of wood, the spotless Lamb of God.

Most likely, Jesus is praying for the Roman soldiers. They crucified Jesus. They certainly were not good people. They�re casting lots for his clothes. But there�s some degree of ignorance here. And I don�t think Jesus is praying for the nation of Israel or the Jewish leaders.

I think he�s praying for these soldiers. Now, you say, �Well, if they didn�t know what they were doing, maybe that gets them off the hook. No, just because you�re ignorant, it doesn�t mean you deserve grace.

You don�t deserve forgiveness. It�s not at all. I find this fascinating when I think of what Jesus is saying in the midst of the thieves, what they�re saying, scorning, scolding, mocking. The rulers are laughing.

Soldiers are probably saying things. And here�s what Jesus says. Very, very, very wonderful. There�s a song entitled �The Hammer. And it is a song written from the perspective of Roman soldiers at the foot of the cross.

I was in the crowd the day that Jesus died. And as he hung upon the cross, his mother cried. I saw the crown of thorns he wore, the stripes upon his back. The water and the blood ran out, and then the sky turned black.

My mind was filled with anger. My heart was filled with shame. This man brought only healing. Who could bring him pain? Why does it seem the strong always victimize the weak? And suddenly I found myself standing to my feet.

And I cried, who nailed him there, this child of peace and mercy? Who nailed him there? Come and face me like a man. Who nailed him there? And the crowd began to mock me. I cried, oh my God, I just don�t understand.

Then I turned and saw the hammer in my hand. John Nolan writes,. �While the immediate contrast is between Jesus� concern for his executioners and their disregard of him, the scope of the prayer reaches to all who had had a hand in securing Jesus� present position upon the cross.

I think that writer is right the first part of the sentence, but not the rest. You mean like Pilate? So this is a good question. Here we go. This is why you tuned in today. If Jesus prayed for everybody who had a hand in betraying him and crucifying him, so that means Judas.

Did Jesus say forgive Judas? Forgive Pilate? I don�t think he said that. I think if Jesus prayed for something, it happened. And if Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of Pilate, Pilate is in heaven. If Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of Judas, he�s in heaven.

So there�s a limited scope here. That�s the issue. I don�t think we�re supposed to get bogged down in that. I think you�re supposed to see the heart of the Savior and not think, well, which particular person?

He just said forgive them. I think that them are the people right there in front of him who are crucifying him. Most times, people on crosses weren�t praying for other people. You know what they were doing?

They were yelling. They were furious. They were defiant. Sometimes people that were crucified said so many horrible things that the soldiers would cut their tongues out. They didn�t want to hear it anymore.

Yelling and cursing and insulting. What does Jesus do? He prays. J .C. Ryle said, �While the blood of the greatest sacrifice started to flow, the greatest of all high priests started to intercede. And Jesus could have just said, �Damn them all.

But Jesus came to save. To seek and to save the lost. Not to condemn. Can�t you see the love of Christ here? Can�t you notice? Can�t you say, �Oh, Jesus prayed for some of these people to be forgiven, and they were.

And that forgiveness was sealed, of course, with his death. Christ was praying for those who would then believe. These people cast lots to divide his garments. They were gambling. Some of the victims were treated horribly.

Here we have at least some of the shame that we recognize with, �Oh, we don�t get really any money as Roman soldiers, extra to crucify people, but clothing is valuable, so now we get the people�s clothing.

Reminds me of Isaiah 53. �Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. Isn�t that good news? That is like Ebenezer Erskine who said, �Christ is more willing to embrace you than you are willing to be embraced by him.

That is amazing love. How can it be? Mike Ebendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. You can go to the website or go to the YouTube channel and find No Compromise Radio.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Ebendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible-teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God�s Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We are right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.