The First Word of Christ on the Cross · Luke 23:34 · March 2017
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On this site: The First Word of Christ on the Cross
thank you very much for this kind invitation to be with you this week it's a great encouragement privilege and blessing for me to be here with you and uh as my colleague did before I bring you greetings but from the Faculté Jean Calvin in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France we have the as Aix-en-Provence quite a lot of students from French West Africa and also from Madagascar and it's been a privilege to work with them for the years I was teaching there I retired in 2012 but as my wife said when I retired I started
working more which uh happens to a lot of us now I want to speak to you during these uh seven presentations of the seven words of our Lord Jesus on the cross and maybe you found out for the first time that Jesus said seven words on the cross but maybe you don't know today what order he said them in and I think that from studying the different gospels in parallel we can see quite clearly although some exites differ on this generally speaking speaking we can see what order the Lord Jesus said his seven last words in
and I think the order has theological significance as we go along you'll see that in the first three words Jesus spoke from the cross he was speaking to those around him in the final three words he spoke he wasn't anymore speaking to Men on Earth Heaven and in the first three words and the last three words Jesus is speaking as mediator between God and man and even though these words might might be taken as being models for discipleship in a certain way for instance the first word from the cross that we'll consider
this morning is a prayer and in putting prayer at the start of the Final Act of his ministry on Earth Jesus shows us as we heard in the previous hour that prayer is the first and the V vital thing in all that we accomplish in God's name and that is an exemplary aspect of Jesus's Ministry from the cross a model we can follow but when theologians are talking about the Cross of Christ they go beyond the exemplary models to the models of substitution and mediatorship and John Calvin was the great Theologian of the mediation
of Christ and when Christ died on the cross and when he spoke from the cross Christ was not speaking primarily as a model for us but as the mediator the one and only mediator between God and man and Jesus's words from the cross show us his unique understanding of what it meant for him to be the mediator between God and man and that's what I'll be developing throughout the whole of these seven presentations during this week Christ acts as our mediator the one and only who can stand between God and us and Calvin developed
the Theology of mediation in a very particular way and the Heidelberg Catechism follows Calvin in this in speaking about the three offices of mediation uh for Calvin are the offices of priest prophet and King King Luther and the church fathers who traditionally recognized the Priestly and the kingly office of Christ Calvin added in line with some church Fathers as well uh the prophetic Office of the Lord Jesus Christ and as we'll see as we go through these presentations each of these words both the first three and the last
three words indicate one particular Office of the Lord Jesus Christ and this morning we'll see that Christ is speaking to men in his Priestly office as he prays to the father but I've spoken up until now about the first three words and the last three what about the four four the fourth word is the catastrophic word of dereliction my God my God why have you forsaken me here Christ is no longer speaking to man Christ is abandoned by the Father Here Christ is all alone during 3 hours in darkness and Christ is alone in
the catastrophic abandon as he Bears our sins the father turns away and there is Darkness over all the Earth and as one commentator says as that point God drew the veil of Christ suffering and hid it from Fallen humanity and after that catastrophic fourth word or at the time of that catastrophic fourth word the veil of the temple was rented too and when Christ says the fifth word I thirst he is addressing himself to the father communion is renewed but in the fourth word communion wasn't there anymore Christ was all
alone as he hung Between Heaven and Earth abandoned with the waste of our sin and guilt which was laid upon him and as he accomplished the atonement for our sin in order to reconcile us with God the experation and propitiation of Christ Christ was abandoned by the father so we'll come now to the first word from the cross and I hope it comes up yes there we go and we'll read scripture and I'm reading from the NIV version uh to begin with this morning in Luke chap 23 and we'll begin at verse 32 and we'll go on until
verse 38 and we see here the first word of cross the two other men both criminals Luke 23:32 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 know not what they are doing and they divided up his clothes by casting lots the people stood watching and the rulers even Sneed at him they said he saved others let him save himself if he is the Christ the
son of God 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 there was written a notice above him which read this is the king of the Jews hi to the reading of God's word God my God why have you forsaken me that will come come later but notice now it's father forgive them for they do have an answer to a fundamental human problem what do we all need after transgression and sin which separates us from a holy forgiveness and here
Jesus provides a special form of forgiveness one of the greatest problems among human beings today even in the church is that when wrongs are done revenge is sought rather than forgiveness being offered and we'll say a word at the end about forgiveness in the church among Christians but here Jesus introduces in his first word from the cross a special source of forgiveness why does he say this father forgive them for they know not what they do he says this most surprisingly at the very time when the nails are piercing
his hands and feet nailing him to the cross of wood in the most cruel and indescribable able way and as the nails Pierce Jesus he addresses the father with a plea a prayer father forgive them for they know not what they do now this is totally contrary to the way any of us acts when we're hurt what do we do we lash out we reply in kind we want to hurt others as much as they hurt themselves but here there is no animosity no resentment no hatred on the part of Jesus can't you see the great compassion of the Lord Jesus
Christ in these words for lost Humanity father forgive them for they know not what they do and here the most surprising thing is that the Lord of History who could have called down Legions of angels to deliver him instead from the cross exercises a unique forgiveness while being nailed to the cross itself Jesus acts as the forgiving Lord this is the end for which Christ came to obtain forgiveness so Jesus starts right there there and without this forgiveness it's impossible that time and history should go on even it's
not generally considered by all commentates this point but I think it's vital and it's the Dutch Theologian class skiler in his magnificent Trilogy on the cross of Christ who taught me this that here something extraordinary and unique is happening the holy Son of God is being nailed to a cross by men and if forgiveness is not immediately obtained for those people who are doing that the Lord himself will intervene in judgment and history will come to an end and in a very will way the intervention of Jesus is withholding
the judgments of God until the last day when all men will be judged so Jesus by obtaining forgiveness of those who crucify him is also obtaining a continuation of History Divine F forgiveness is the foundation of what we call common Grace for all Humanity it's because Jesus prayed this prayer that we're sitting here today living and breathing that we have existence at all without this prayer that Jesus prayed we would not exist because it's this that withholds God's final judgments from the world and history and from
sinful when and so right at the start of his crucifixion Jesus is a reting the whole of world history and here is the Paradox brothers and sisters the Lord Jesus Christ while he's being nailed to the cross as the Divine Lord is still the ruler of history and the controller of history in what he does and so we see that the first word of Jesus from the cross is a prayer in introduction this is the time of the suffering of Jesus even though the heidleberg catechism says that Jesus suffered throughout his whole life it
goes on to add and particularly at the end of his life in the death on the cross this is with the judgments with the leading out of Jesus his condemnation is the time of the acute suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ never was suffering like this because suffering is often related to our guilt to our wrong to our lack of justice but never was suffering like this because here Jesus the just the holy the pure and the righteous is under accusation and under the sentence of death which is being executed on him and at this
time the time of the suffering of Jesus Jesus prays father forgive them is a word of intercession addressed to God in his Heavenly Glory with whom Jesus is still in communion because the Lord Jesus Jesus is accomplishing everything according to the plan laid down in the Eternal Council of God the Covenant of redemption in order to save sinful men Jesus is not yet abandoned and he acts with efficiency in order to accomplish his work of mediation his work of mediation Will Go On from the first word and finish in the
seventh word before being taken up again in the mediation of the Risen Lord on the third day after his death and being continued in the Heavenly advocacy and information uh and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ his intercession in glory after the resurrection but at this point the Lord Jesus is acting to finish his Earthly work he takes the first steps to bring it to an effective conclusion and so Jesus purpose what does Jesus want to do by praying this prayer what is the purpose of Jesus's prayer here and his purpose
as we see is intercession to the father why because only God can forgive sin now in the story of the healing of the paralytic in Mark chapter Jesus says so that you may know that the son of man has power on Earth to forgive sin rise take up your bed and walk and the scribes and Pharisees who are there saying only God can forgive blasphemer they got one thing right only God can forgive sin and Jesus prays to the father to withhold his judgments against the sins of those who are nailing him on the cross and in that incident
of the paralytic Jesus goes on and he says but so that you may know that the son of man has pass of against sins rise take up your bed and walk and the man does how Jesus proves his divinity uh by that remarkable incident but here he prays because in his suffering and humiliated Humanity Jesus refers to God as the one who ultimately will receive his work as accepted and who will therefore be the sin Jesus is accomplishing here that remarkable word of Isaiah 53:12 it's intercession for his enemies making he was counted
among the transgressors in his death and he interceded for siners Isaiah 53:12 and so Jesus who is counted with the transgressors is interceding for his enemies in his death he is accomplishing the role of the suffering Servants of the Lord in this word but what is Jesus interceding for Jesus is interceding for his enemies who are sinners and he's interceding for UNM merited Grace toward those who are crucifying him him and Romans chapter 5 verse 8 in that famous declaration uh says the following as you will remember
was I don't at this point because I'm under stress so here it is God demonstrates his own love for us in this that while we were still sinners Christ died for us so that general purpose of the death of Christ on the cross Christ is accomplishing it for those who are still Sinners for those who are ignorant as we'll see in a minute so Jesus obtains here in this word father forgive them an UNM merited forgiveness based on his grace towards Sinners for those who are accomplishing this horrible and unique Act of crucifixion
so it's Unique in its father and finally here it's because of the ignorance of sin that Jesus makes this ple and he will obtain temporary forgiveness for those who are ignorant of what they are doing now this prayer father forgive them for they know not what they do comes up in Steven's marom in Acts chapter 7 but also we have references to this in Romans 3:25 and 26 in an indirect way but uh most of all I'd like to read you uh 1 Timothy 1: 13-6 where we read the following 1 Timothy 1: 13- 16 and Paul is speaking autobiographically
here even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man I was shown Mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief the grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly along with faith and love that are in Jesus Christ now here those who are nailed in Christ on the cross are certainly ignorant they are acting in ignorance and unbelief they don't know what they're doing as they nail our law to the cross and so because of their ignorance our Lord maintains and obtains for them forgiveness in this
case sin has mitigating ignorant they are ignorant but because of this pardon that Christ obtains in a general sense their ignorance will be dissipated afterwards who are those who are ignorant here well they the Jews who were standing ground saying he saved others let him save himself they are the Romans as well who have put this sign up on the cross the king of the Jews which of course is mocking Judaism and mocking our Lord Jesus Christ in its intention it's true but it was put there as mockery and so the soldiers
said if he's the king of the Jews let him come down and these are the people who are tying our Lord to the Cross there to suffer and die directly it's them those ignorant men but also indirectly it's the Apostle Paul who acted in ignorance against the cross it's true of all of humanity as sinful human as we act in ignorance before we come to know the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and the meaning of his crucifixion but when we come to know that truth it's because Christ has obtained for us a forgiveness for our ignorance
of the gospel and when we come to know the gospel we repent of our sin and come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who died for us so in a way this word father forgive them concerns the Jews who are doing it and the Romans who are doing it but concerns us we as sinful men who are all in an indirect way responsible for the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of our sin and the Lord obtains a possibility of forgiveness for all Humanity because of this word they will have the chances we had to come to the
Lord in faith and repentance because of this word on the cross and that's why it's so vital this prayer this plea that Jesus makes for the withholding of the judgments of God from us is a unique request in its effect the father replies to the son in Grace and gives the son what he asks he gives forgiveness for those who are doing this and this is Christ mediating for the ignorance and the ungodly in his Priestly office and Christ obtains through his prayer the effect of divine Justice and divine love expressed in his
prayer here Divine Justice because the judgment is withheld and God recognizes the justness of Christ prayer based on ignorance as being a reason for withholding his judgments God is gracious and merciful and replies fully to Christ's prayer and divine love the Great of Christ's love and God's love in Christ for Sinners is Manifest here Christ obtains in the greatness of his compassion a temporary pardon a reprieve for all of us so that we might come to know the Lord Jesus Christ in the glory of his saving offices
and that we might come to faith in him because of this prayer that he prayed which shows the greatness of divine love for Sinners God withholds all his natural holy judgments on men because of Christ's prayer which allows us which gives us the Elbow Room and the breathing space to come to know Christ to come to repentance and faith in him as the Apostle Paul did on the Damascus Road and because of this prayer men will no longer be ignorant because after the Resurrection The Glory of the Risen Christ and the efficacy
of his work will be declared and men will no longer be ignorant as forgiveness is demonstrated and here we can refer to Acts chapter 3 what does the Apostle Peter say most remarkably to those Jews who maybe had been there at the crucifixion itself on the day of Pentecost well acts 3:17-19 this is what uh Peter says now Brothers I know that you acted in ignorance there it is again ignorance as you as did your leaders but this is how God fulfilled what he foretold through the prophets saying that Christ would suffer
repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out and Times of refreshing may come from the Lord so here we see there's ignorance is removed in the preaching of the Gospel in order that repentance and Faith might come in times of refreshing from the Lord so Christ withholds judgment in this request and the result is common grace of God for all Humanity so that they might hear the gospel when Christ said when I am lifted up I will draw all meant to me that word of Christ in John is fulfilled in the father
forgive them for they know not what they do because Christ will be upheld and proclaimed and put forward to all men universally so that they might through this common Grace that Jesus obtained on the cross come to a knowledge of Christ as Savior so this prayer is unique in its plea in its intercession it's effective in its plea because it obtains what it seeks and what it asks for but it's also unique in its power and here I was talking just a little while back about Jesus as a model and if prayer is so important in
the Christian Life it's because prayer is a unique activity and prayer is an effective activity and prayer is a powerful activity for us as Believers and the power of the Lord Jesus is shown in this first prayer that Jesus pronounced on the cross it's Unique in its power father forgive them for they know not what they do and it's Unique in its power because what's happening to Jesus here H Jesus gives himself over to crucifixion Jesus allows sinful men to nail him on the cross Jesus subjects himself to this because
it's the plan and the will of the father that salvation be accomplished through weakness not by power not by might but by the weakness of the Lord Jesus Christ the Paradox of suffering that the Apostle Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 1:8 and 19 for the Jews and the Greeks the cross is folly and scandalous but the power of the Cross is in its weakness because there we see Christ crucified becoming weak in order to go under the power of death for our sin and Redemptive Grace is accomplished in the weakness of the Lord
Jesus Christ when he prays father forgive them for they know not what they do Jesus is doing nothing other than laying in weakness the foundation of Redemptive Grace that Grace which is weak in a appearance in human terms in conventional terms but that's more powerful than any Soul because in the gospel the power of the love of God for lost humanity is revealed and the Redemptive Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is made clear and in his weakness Christ is acting to lay the foundations for Redemptive Grace for all who
have and this word is powerful because in Redemption nothing can separate us from the love of God in the Lord Jesus Christ it's because Christ PR prayed father forgive them because they know not what they do that we come to obtain Redemptive Grace and the Assurance of forgiveness because we see that if the father has forgiven the son when the son asked the father anything including for your forgiveness and my forgiveness the father will not be indifferent to that plea it's because of Christ's Redemptive Grace that
you obtain salvation it's because of Christ's Redemptive love that you obtain salvation it's not because you believed it's by grace alone and the Lord Jesus Christ is acting in his weakness powerfully because he's obtaining Redemptive Grace for Humanity through this prayer from the cross and the gospel always appears weak and miserable to men but it's the power of God to Salvation for those who believe why because Christ is obtaining here the power of Redemptive Grace for God's salvation for all of us in the greatness
of his love for Sinners and here is accomplished that famous word of John 3:16 God so loved the world as he gave his only begotten son and he gave his only begotten son through the self-giving of the son it's through Jesus's free willing and voluntary act to obtain Grace for us that we obtain salvation from the father because that's what Christ has asked requested for us and finally here we see the Lord Jesus Christ as the holy priest the great high priest the Holy One Of God who identified with his people in their
suffering is suffering for all them and here we see in the Lord Jesus Christ Christ even though he is being nailed to the cross that reality of the joy he has in suffering knowing that the father will hear his prayer for the joy that was set before him Hebrews 12:2 he endured uh the suffering of the Cross and sat down on the right hand of God and Jesus sanctifies himself in his pure p and holy Humanity as he is nailed to the cross and as he prays to the father a sanctification of his human nature as the great high
priest is here in view because Christ in his suffering has no blasphemy against the father no contestation with the father's will no accusation of his enemies no hatred he has no remorse as to what he is doing and accomplishing Christ is in his perfect Humanity praying this prayer and Christ here shows what true humanity is in sanctification as he submits to the will of father as he obtains our forgiveness as Sinners and as he has his effective prayer answered so the Lord Jesus Christ here even though he is at the
greatest moment of suffering praise this prayer joyfully confidently with Assurance knowing that his father will hear him and isn't that the most remarkable thing brothers and sisters HH when we're suffering what's the last thing we do pray we always try to do something else but we never look at solution one we always look at solution two and three first and very often with a good deal of animosity in our hearts and finally it's only after much stress and turmoil and tension that we realize our lack of sanctification
and we bow the knee before God and finally God forces us to prayer but there's no forcing to prayer in the Lord Jesus Christ it weld up spontaneously out of his holy in human nature because he was the Fountain of Life The Fountain Of Truth and the Fountain of joy and so there is in this prayer which is a plea an assurance and a joy which should characterize Sanctified human prayer and finally in conclusion now we can say that because of the first word from the cross history will continue because of this word Jesus
is the Lord of history and he's the ruler of History of Time and Eternity on the cross as he's nailed to it and here we see the unique mediation of Jesus Christ in his Priestly office suffering as the great high priest for Humanity and particularly for those know that he loves but but yes here is something which is paradoxical here is something which is amazing here is the key to history because even if Jesus Christ obtains a common Grace and a continuance of History through this word from the cross and this is a key
to what's going on on in our world today the history that continues after this word is the history of sin the men will go on crucifying the Lord and mocking him the soldiers will go on rolling the dice at the foot of the cross they will go on dividing his clothes up among themselves the scribes and Pharisees will go away from the cross with the good feeling in their hearts well that's all over and done with history goes on as the history of sin the opposition between good and evil and in our world today we see the
opposition of Good and Evil being played out in our world as our Brothers and Sisters in Christ are persecuted for the name of Christ in Nations where there is no Liberty to adore the Lord Jesus Christ openly history continues as the history of sin and it continues as the history of sin until that final judgment when this prayer of forgiveness will be removed and there will be the ultimate final judgments of God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ because history will have prayed it self out as the history of
Grace coming to fulfillment in a dark world and this is a key for our ministry we're in a combat which is a spiritual combat against the principles of darkness and those principles of Darkness are still at work today because history goes on as the history of sin and that's why Islam is what it is in our world today it's a religion of the sword not the religion of love as the Lord Jesus Christ taught it and as God taught it in his good creation history continues as a history of transgression and we're not to expect
any concessions we're not to expect any free gifts from those who don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ they will do all they can to frustrate the work of the gospel and so when we meet with opposition in Ministry we know that this is part of the divine plan for God's people and for the building of God's church but we have that promise the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against it why because the Lord shows himself on the cross to be the Lord of history and he is bringing his church to glory and the time will come
when that judgment will intervene and the righteous and the unrighteousness uh will be separated those things which are growing together until the Harvest and this is our story isn't it our story personally and individually in reply to our sin god intervened with forgiveness and Augustine pronounced that famous phrase Christ's death is sufficient for all in its efficacy was efficient for the elect and I'm not going to go into that this morning but in this first word from the cross Christ is laying the foundation of
his death as being sufficient for all men and opening the possibility that all may hear the gospel and among those who hear the gospel there will be those For Whom The Gospel is affected Christ children those the father has given him the elect of God from every tribe Kindred and nation and so Christ is accomplishing here in that first word the sufficiency of the efficacy of the cross for all men in a general sense the gospel is addressed to all in order that those who will believe that great body of people will come
to believe and hear the gospel and cast their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation but behind this sufficiency of the Cross as being adequate for the Salvation of every human being behind that there is this forgiveness that Christ has obtained for Humanity by withholding temporal judgment from us and that in order that the church may be built in order that every elect child of God might come to Salvation in Christ through faith and when that number is complete then the end will come and that number is still
being completed in every tribe Kindred and Nation today even among those where the gospel is openly persecuted God is building his church on the cross Jesus addresses himself in the first three words to those human beings around him and on the cross Jesus is the Divine Lord of all here he speaks to God but he speaks to man through this prayer on their behalf father forgive them for they know not what they do only the Lord of all can pray this prayer and it's because Jesus is the Lord of all that's on the cross he prays
it yes Jesus will be abandoned in the fourth word but even no Christ will be abandoned by the father by God in the fourth word creation is preserved for the future that God intends for it and so we see the Wonder and the greatness the glory of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ Christ was not passive on the cross and as one commentator said it's on the cross that Christ is the most active that he ever was active in the whole of his ministry and here Christ forgave what was the reason for the Incarnation our reconcil
ilation with God what was the reason for Christ's life and death to obtain forgiveness that was his mission that the father had given him in John 17 I have finished the work that you gave me to do now glorify me with the glory you I had with you before the world was and part of that glory is the glory of the cross which was in the plan of God in order to save lost humanity and so Christ forgave it was his mission and that's why the first word on the cross is a word of forgiveness this is gerine to the whole of the
Lord Jesus Christ's mission on Earth it began with the Plan of Redemption it began with the Incarnation when the Lord Jesus Christ became man in order to bring peace to the world it continued through his life with its Miracles and teaching it culminated in his death and resurrection and right throughout there is shot through the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God for lost Humanity Christ came to forgive sin he came into the world not for the righteous not for the healthy but for sinners in need of Salvation
And as followers of Christ we need to take stock of that forgiveness that God has provided for us in the Lord Jesus Christ his love was so great that your your sin which is totally totally unforgivable unpardonable and unacceptable Christ intervened to deliver and save you from that the Lord has forgiven you your sins and that forgiveness which allows your life to continue which allows you to recognize the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who forgives other that impresses itself on our hearts and ought to make us a people
of forgiveness because the Lord has forgiven us we ought also to learn forgiveness which is for us one of the hardest things to do but my final word this morning is simply this from Matthew chapter 6 verses 12 and 14 The Lord's Prayer disciples forgive us our trespasses I don't like debts a trespasses steading o standing over the line and doing that in opposition against God forgive us our trespasses or our transgressions as we forgive them who trespass against us and this is the only position of the Lord's prayer
that Jesus comments upon at the end of the prayer in Matthew chapter 6 and I'll just recall that to you because I don't want to get the words mixed up uh myself here in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 14 if you forgive men when they sin against you your heavenly father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive men their sins your father will not forgive your sins how do we forgive we forgive only when we realize that God has forgiven us that is true forgiveness forgiveness is not salvation by works when we forgive
forgive for give others it's salvation by grace because we realize how great God's forgiveness is for us he gives us his grace in allowing us to live he gives us his grace in Salvation we see how great God's forgiveness is for us and seeing that when we consider our sins against the holy God and we look at what other people have done to us we realize how ptery and ridiculous our lack of forgiveness to others is it's silly and stupid and inexplicable God forgave us therefore we forgive because the grace of God works
that forgiveness through us and if you want to go further and study that point a little more I recommend you read John st's commentary on The Sermon on the Mount or Martin Lloyd Jones's because what I've just said to you was said no doubt a lot less good than they say it but in their commentaries they say it in very fine words so look into forgiveness and think about it in your own life who have you not forgiven your parents your wife your children fellow students your professor for that bad Mark that you had at the
last test who have you not forgiven who is is your victim learn forgiveness from the Lord Jesus Christ he is the one through Grace gives us this sufficiency which comes from his holy spirit working in our hearts and lives and let's be a people of forgiveness because that's how we will show that we're different from the world that's how we'll show we're different from Islam by being a people of forgiveness because the Lord Lord will have taught it us through his Holy Spirit and for his grace and to the Amen
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