If you have a copy of God's Word with you, or you want to borrow the one under the seat in front of you, please open it to Luke chapter 23. As we prepare our hearts, continue to prepare our hearts for this table, I so appreciate all this music. And we will sing again this evening still. Gaze on the Christ, especially that song. That's what we're doing tonight. We're gazing on the Christ. You ever notice how people really lean into the final words of a loved one? You notice that? That was my story with my own dad in 1989 as I stood by his bed and one more time wanted to go over the gospel with him, just a matter of two days before he passed, I believe, two or three days. And then that led into another conversation about what I was gonna do with my life. I was 22 years old at that point, had just graduated from the university and was just starting a graduate program and employment. And ever since I was a junior in high school, God had put a yearning in my heart to pursue ministry. And that was hard for my dad to swallow, and even his coworkers at his company, because I was supposed to go into business with him. And I was the only son, and he had talked and hoped about that for as long as I can remember. And then going to a nursing home and leading a few people to Christ with our soccer team as we went to do a service at a nursing home changed everything. And I remember talking to my dad about that, that I was going to go to the university, and I was going to minor in business, but I'm going to major in ministry. And he was gracious, but I could tell there was disappointment, and he didn't understand. And just about four years later, as I'm standing at his—will be his deathbed, and as we've talked about the gospel, some of his last words came to me in that conversation. He says, I think, you know, that whole thing about going into the ministry, I think you need to do that. Because other people are seeing it in you as well. Those are some of the last words I remember from my dad. And I lean into those words. I remember those words. But tonight I don't want to ask you to lean into the words from my dad. I want us all to lean into the final words of Jesus on the cross. It's interesting. I believe, and many believe, that Jesus was on the cross right around six hours. The crucifixion happened right around nine o'clock, according to the Gospels, nine o'clock our time in the morning, and our Lord yielded up his spirit around three o'clock in the afternoon. And it was complete darkness, as you recall, from noon until three. Our Lord had made that happen. But in those final six hours, Some theologians put it this way, in those final hours, Jesus had seven last words, is what they call it. It wasn't just seven words like nouns and verbs, but it was seven final sayings. And as I studied this, this week, I realized that three of these seven sayings happened before noon in the first three hours. And four of these final sayings happened between noon and three o'clock, and that just drew me more in to the study and curious about what he said from the cross. And as I studied it, I decided on something. Starting tonight, Good Friday 2022, I'm starting a series that I'll only preach at communion. Because between tonight and Good Friday of 2023, we will come to this table seven times together. And each time we come to this table between now and next year, Good Friday, we're gonna consider one of these seven last words or last sayings of Jesus. And as I continued to study and look at these, I was surprised by something else. Of these seven last sayings, these seven last statements of Jesus from the cross, over half of them are personal prayers from him to his father. I mean, think about it. You're familiar with these statements. One of his statements, he spoke to one of the thieves. One of the statements, he spoke to John and Mary. foot of the cross. One of these statements he addressed to a soldier, but the rest of them, the four remaining statements, are very personal prayers from him to his father. And that just gripped me. Because where Jesus' final words start, the first of the seven, reveals everything about his heart. I want to study these seven statements over the course of the next year, until Good Friday next year, in chronological order. And the first one chronologically happens here in Luke chapter 23, and look at verse 34. Here it is, statement number one. Jesus was saying, and here it is, Father, forgive them. For they do not know what they are doing. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. For a few moments, I want to dissect this short phrase, this short prayer with you. And I want us together to marvel at five details to prepare our hearts for this table in a few moments. Five details. First of all, I want you just to marvel at the timing of this prayer. the timing of this prayer. Again, we read verse 34, the first part. That's the statement. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. But what's the context for this prayer? At what point is this prayer going up, his first statement, hanging from the cross? Well, look at verse 33. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing. And they cast lots, dividing up his garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers, the Jewish rulers, were sneering at him. And they were saying, he saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him, coming up to him and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, well, save yourself. Now, there was also an inscription above him. This is the king of the Jews. And one of the criminals who were hanging there was hurling abuse at him, saying, are you not the Christ or the Messiah? Don't just save yourself, save us. This is the context for this prayer, this first statement of Christ from the cross. And the timing is startling. It's startling because of the pain he is enduring in this moment. The crucifixion is all too fresh. And before the pain of his own crucifixion, he would have heard the pain and the suffering of those who were being crucified before him or along with him. But then it's his pain that he feels shoot through his body, already wreaked with the wounds from the scourging he endured, and the beatings, and the crown, and the initial nails being pounded in, his body being secured to a wood And if that weren't enough lying down, then there was the jolt of the cross going vertical and dropping down. And now it's his own body weight that is contributing to this pain with every breath. There's amazing pain in this moment. It's still right then. If that weren't enough, there's nakedness and shame. His clothes are down there on the ground being gambled for. If it's not just the pain and the nakedness and the shame, there's the verbal abuse. You have the Jewish leaders who have been dogging his steps all week long in Jerusalem, continuing to hurl abuse and spike the football, so to speak. They got him. And now they're continuing to slander him. You have the gawking crowds just watching the whole thing as if it's a sporting event. You have the soldiers who are also contributing to the mocking, and if that weren't enough, there are at least two more voices contributing to the scorn and the verbal abuse, and it's the soldiers. You say, wait a minute, Luke states it was just one, I'm sorry, the thieves. Luke says it was just one of the thieves, but Matthew makes it clear in Matthew 27 that both thieves are hurling abuse at him at this point. This is the opening chaos of the cross. pain and shame and abuse that just seems so muffled at this point because of the pain. And it's right now he prays this prayer. Puritan Thomas Watson gives us words worth considering. He writes, the shame of the cross was as much as the blood of the cross. His name was crucified before his body was crucified. And the sharp arrows of reproach that the world did shoot at Christ went deeper into his heart than the spear." This is the crisis, the opening moments, the crisis of the cross. It has reached a fever pitch. Never has he experienced pain like he is in this moment. The end is now just hours away. What will he say first? What does he say first? He prays. And that leads to the second detail I want you to consider. Not just the timing of this prayer, but number two, the recipient of this prayer. Look down at verse 34 again. Jesus was saying, here we go, Who is the second person of the Trinity praying to? The first person of the Trinity, the Heavenly Father. I remember when my son was playing football. He's probably 15 years old, 14 or 15 years old. It was a tackle league in the city of Chesapeake. And he was in a game, and at that point, he was a good player. He was tall. He could jump over tacklers, because at that age, men grow at different paces. And if someone small was going to get him, he'd jump over him or run around him. And in one play, and it was on a Saturday morning, he had friends from the youth group there watching him play football, including a girl that he thought was cute. And on one play, It was a freak accident. He caught his thumb on his right hand, caught someone else's shoulder pads on the other team. And I don't wanna gross you out, but it put his thumb where it wasn't supposed to be, on his wrist. And everyone looking at it was gasping, and you know, I went out there and at some point helped him off, and I said, I gotta go to the ER with him. And I was marveling at him. As we're walking, he's just, He's got stone face. Pretty tough. And we walked through the crowd, the people watching the game, the parents and his friends from the youth group, including that girl. And we walked through and he was just nodding at them and just, you know, being tough. And I was like, wow, who's this kid? And we walk all the way through the playgrounds, through the gates, through the parking lot to get to the car and he's still just, just really tough. And his friends were following us a little ways back. Eric, you OK? And he's like, yeah. And we get in the car. I get him in his side. I walk around to the other side. As soon as my door shut, he's like, Dad! Help me! You know what was going on there, right? That's what he was saying in his heart from the middle of the field. But when there's people around, you can't talk like that. But when you get in a car and the windows are up, you can speak your heart. He's in a crisis and he says, Dad, save me. And I got him to the ER and we got him all fixed up. When Jesus was in a crisis, his instinct wasn't to cry out, Father, save me. His instinct was to cry out, Father, save them. This is the recipient of the prayer. Jesus is calling out to his Father. Why? Because God is a forgiving God. You got that? In Nehemiah 9, 17, we read, You, God, are a, listen, God of forgiveness. gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness. And even in Daniel chapter 9, verse 9, we read, to the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness. And we've rebelled against him. Or Psalm 86 5 puts it simply, you, Lord, are good, listen to the next phrase, and ready to forgive. Jesus' instinct is to call out to His Father. And He asked for His forgiving Father to forgive. And that leads me to the third detail that I want you to marvel at as we look at this prayer. Not just the timing of the prayer and the recipient of the prayer, but the subject of the prayer. The subject of the prayer is forgiveness. Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them. You remember a story earlier in Luke, those of you who've been on our journey as we've spoken through Luke, we've studied through it. In Luke chapter 5, verse 19, you remember this story? They brought a paralytic to Jesus. And he was teaching in a home and some men were carrying, verse 8, some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Jesus. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher and into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. And seeing their faith, he said, friend, your sins are forgiven. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? And Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier to say, your sins have been forgiven you, or to say, get up and walk? I love verse 24. but so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." He said to the paralytic, I say to you, get up, pick up your stretcher, and go home. And immediately he got up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. Jesus knows something about forgiveness. He has authority to forgive. And this is his first prayer from the cross, his first statement. The subject is about forgiveness. If you talk about forgiveness in the biblical sense, you need a couple of things in the mix. We're assuming there's a law giver. It's God. We assume there is a law breaker. Those are sinners. And we assume there is law justice coming. That's the wrath of God. But when forgiveness happens, and forgiveness happens. Something marvelous changes. John Piper, in reflecting on his own sins being forgiven, writes these words, quote, I must feel the truth that once I was as close to hell as I am to the chair I'm sitting on even closer. Its darkness like vapor had entered my soul and was luring me down. Its views were my views. I was a son of hell, a child of the devil, and of wrath. I belonged to the viper's brood. Without hope and without God, I must believe that just as a rock climber, having slipped, hangs over the deadly cliff by his fingertips, so I once hung over hell. and was a heartbeat away from eternal punishment. And I have to say it slowly, eternal punishment." There's forgiveness. Jesus offers forgiveness. And this forgiveness is a transaction. The sinner acknowledges the sin that God's allowed them to see now. They acknowledge the lordship and beauty of Jesus Christ, which He has allowed them to see. And they confess their sin. They believe in Jesus. And they plead for mercy. And in the story that Jesus told in Matthew 18, about an unworthy servant forgiven an unpayable debt, we read these words, So the slave fell to the ground, and he prostrated himself before the king, saying, Have patience with me, and I'll repay you everything. And the lord of that slave felt compassion. and released him, and forgave him the debt. Oh, forgiveness is startling. It's a startling theology. But what is even more startling is the object of forgiveness, and this is the fourth detail I want you to see. He's talking to the Father about forgiveness, but who's the object of this prayer? You want to know who the object of the prayer is in verse 34? Father forgive them. Those with an eye shot of our Lord on the cross. The ones who made him naked and full of shame. The ones who caused this pain in his body. The ones who are continuing to hurl verbal abuse at him. It says, Father forgive But you know, that's just the heart of Jesus. You see, as far as Jesus goes, He has a heart to forgive the unlikely. Paul put it this way in Colossians 1, 13 and 14. He, Jesus, rescued us from the domain of darkness, and He's transferred us to the kingdom of His dear Son, His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. That's talking about your salvation. But not only does this Jesus have a heart to forgive the unlikely, He has a heart to preserve, listen, those He's forgiven. In other words, you don't receive mercy and forgiveness once. Because you've received mercy and forgiveness for the rest of your pilgrimage on earth, Jesus continues to plead for you. That's what we read in Romans 8, 33 and 34. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died, yes rather was raised, and he's at the right hand of God, and he intercedes for us. And he's posturing his heart to do that for those that just caused him this pain. Another Puritan by the name of Stephen Charnock reflected on our Lord's forgiveness and wrote these words. If once pardoned, thou will always be pardoned. For the first pardon Christ paid his blood, For the continuance he does but plead his blood, and we cannot be without a pardon till Christ is without a plea." You say, well, if this Jesus talking to the Father, saying, Father, forgive him, was there a spread of light that happened at that moment, and all those people, and the soldiers, and the thieves, were they all saved right then? No. But don't be mistaken, this prayer will be answered in just a few weeks. In Acts chapter two, on the day of Pentecost, verse 37, as Peter has finished his sermon on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, now when they heard this, the multitude, they were pierced to the heart And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent. Each one of you will be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself. And with many other words, he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, be saved from this perverse generation. So then those who had received his word were baptized, and that day there were added about 3,000 souls. He said, did they all go home? No, there was a new gravity between them. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and the breaking of bread and prayer. Yeah, the Father answered this prayer request by moving on the hearts of no less than 3,000 on the day of Pentecost. That's just the kind of Savior He is. So marvel at these details, the timing of this prayer, the recipient of this prayer, the subject, the object, and the answer. You see, where Jesus' final words start reveal His heart. forgiveness. You say, oh, that's great. That's theology, and I'm tracking with you. But I believe I'm a Christian, but I've done some bad things, and I struggle with some stuff. Is it really true for me? You have your doubts. It might be too good to be true. Maybe your sins are too great or too many. That's why all of us need to come to this table often. To remember. To remember. William Bridge wrote, will you rob God of his almightiness in pardoning? You say your sin is great, but is it infinite? Is not God alone infinite? Is your sin as big as God, as big as Christ? Is Jesus Christ only a mediator for small sins? You know, when we come to this table, we're remembered. We're reminded. of the infinite power and reach of his sacrifice. And so we do that now. We come to this table and celebrate the one who on the cross, the first thing out of his mouth was a prayer of forgiveness. Lord Jesus, thank you again for this day and for this special focus we have every year on what we call Good Friday. Lord, we We come to this table to be reminded of your body that was broken for us and your blood that was spilled. And so as a family, we return now to this table, Jesus.