CRCF\u201d\u201d2\/28\/10<\/p>\n
Introduction\u201d\u201dWords are powerful. Words change our lives–especially those words that come from deepest in a person\u201d\u2122s heart! Someone has said a person\u201d\u2122s real self is best seen when they are drunk or dying\u201d\u201dand that\u201d\u2122s usually pretty accurate. When someone is drunk, they lack the self-control to hold back and what\u201d\u2122s really inside, what\u201d\u2122s normally suppressed by good sense, comes pouring out. But the words spoken when someone is dying are, without a doubt, the most powerful words they\u201d\u2122ll ever speak\u201d\u201dthe words that will be remembered, the words that shape the rest of the lives of the loved ones who hear them.<\/p>\n
God has given us the last words of Jesus before He died in the Gospels. He spoke 7 times from the Cross. And over the next 5 Sundays leading up to Easter, we\u201d\u2122re going to consider His words. And if we\u201d\u2122ve ever listened to anyone\u201d\u2122s dying words, if the last thoughts spoken by a dying loved one have ever stuck in our hearts and minds, I trust that together we will hear the words of our Savior as He reveals . . .<\/p>\n
The Heart of the Cross:
\nJesus Speaks from the Cross<\/p>\n
Part 1: \u201cFather Forgive Them\u201d
\nLuke 23:34-43<\/p>\n
The heart of the Cross is the offer of free forgiveness to all!<\/p>\n
–VIDEO Clip from \u201cThe Passion of the Christ\u201d<\/p>\n
The heart of the Cross is the offer of free forgiveness to all!<\/p>\n
Manning: \u201cIt is only this wounded Jesus who provides the final revelation of God\u201d\u2122s love. The crucified Christ is not an abstraction but the ultimate answer to how far love will go, what measure of rejection it will endure, how much selfishness and betrayal it will withstand. The unconditional love of Jesus Christ nailed to the wood does not flinch before our perversity. \u201d\u02dcHe took up our infirmities and carried our diseases\u201d\u2122 (Matthew 8:17).\u201d (The Signature of Jesus, 169)<\/p>\n
Luke 23:34-43 (NLT)<\/p>\n
34 Jesus said, \u201cFather, forgive them, for they don\u201d\u2122t know what they are doing.\u201d And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.
\n35 The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. \u201cHe saved others,\u201d they said, \u201clet him save himself if he is really God\u201d\u2122s Messiah, the Chosen One.\u201d 36 The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. 37 They called out to him, \u201cIf you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!\u201d 38 A sign was fastened to the cross above him with these words: \u201cThis is the King of the Jews.\u201d
\n39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, \u201cSo you\u201d\u2122re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself\u201d\u201dand us, too, while you\u201d\u2122re at it!\u201d
\n40 But the other criminal protested, \u201cDon\u201d\u2122t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? 41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn\u201d\u2122t done anything wrong.\u201d 42 Then he said, \u201cJesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.\u201d
\n43 And Jesus replied, \u201cI assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.\u201d
\nThe heart of the Cross is the offer of free forgiveness to all!
\nI want you to notice 2 realities about Jesus\u201d\u2122 offer of free forgiveness:
\n1. Jesus offers free forgiveness to the worst of sinners!
\nLuke 23:34 & 43 (NLT)
\n34 Jesus said, \u201cFather, forgive them, for they don\u201d\u2122t know what they are doing.\u201d
\n43 And Jesus replied, \u201cI assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.\u201d
\nMost biblical scholars like Dr. Barclay share with us that the word \u201d\u02dcsaid\u201d\u2122 is in the perfect tense in the Greek, which means Jesus kept on saying, \u201cFather, forgive them.\u201d
\n–To those Jewish and Roman officials who were responsible for the sentence of crucifixion, as well as those that physically drove the nails! Even to one who deserved the death of crucifixion!
\nJohn Wesley
\n\u201cWhile they are actually nailing Him to the cross, He seems to feel the injury they did to their own souls more than the wounds they gave Him; and as it were to forget His own anguish out of a concern for their salvation.\u201d
\nHow would you have responded to these people\u201d\u201dpeople who were cutting your life short? I\u201d\u2122m thinking curses, not a blessing. I\u201d\u2122m thinking hatred and anger and fear and all manner of ugly words\u201d\u201dthat\u201d\u2122s what would have spewed from my mouth, that would have been the natural, human response of any one of us!
\nAdd to this the fact that Jesus was innocent of any crime, any sin at all, and His response is seen for what it is even more clearly\u201d\u201dproof that He is the Son of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
\nBy the way, you seen this picture on these slides? Do you know what it means? It means that OUR sin nailed Jesus to the Cross. It means we might as well have been in the crowd of condemning Jews! It means we might as well have been those Roman soldiers who drove the nails! It was YOU, it was ME that crucified Jesus!
\nAnd to US, Jesus speaks these amazing words\u201d\u201d\u201cFather, forgive them\u201d!
\nThe heart of the Cross is the offer of free forgiveness to all!
\nAnd what about the thief on the cross next to Jesus? Would we have loved Him like Jesus did?
\nMax Lucado:
\n\u201cHis title? Scum of the earth. His achievement? Death by crucifixion. His reputation? Criminal. His character? Depraved until the last moment. Until the final hour. Until the last encounter.
\nUntil now.
\nTell me, what has this man done to warrant help? He has wasted his life. Who is he to beg for forgiveness? He publicly scoffed at Jesus. What right does he have to pray this prayer?
\nDo you really want to know? The same right you have to pray yours.
\nYou see, that is you and me on the cross. Naked, desolate, hopeless, and estranged. That is us. That is us asking, \u201cIn spite of what I\u201d\u2122ve done, in spite of what you see, is there any way you could remember me when we all get home?\u201d
\nWe don\u201d\u2122t boast. We don\u201d\u2122t produce our list. Any sacrifice appears silly when placed before God on a cross.
\nIt\u201d\u2122s more than we deserve.\u201d
\nThe heart of the Cross is the offer of free forgiveness to all!
\n2.\tJesus offers forgiveness to the hard-hearted and the broken-hearted!
\nLuke 23:34-43 (NLT)<\/p>\n
34 Jesus said, \u201cFather, forgive them, for they don\u201d\u2122t know what they are doing.\u201d And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.
\n35 The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. \u201cHe saved others,\u201d they said, \u201clet him save himself if he is really God\u201d\u2122s Messiah, the Chosen One.\u201d 36 The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. 37 They called out to him, \u201cIf you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!\u201d 38 A sign was fastened to the cross above him with these words: \u201cThis is the King of the Jews.\u201d
\n39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, \u201cSo you\u201d\u2122re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself\u201d\u201dand us, too, while you\u201d\u2122re at it!\u201d
\n40 But the other criminal protested, \u201cDon\u201d\u2122t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? 41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn\u201d\u2122t done anything wrong.\u201d 42 Then he said, \u201cJesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.\u201d
\n43 And Jesus replied, \u201cI assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.\u201d
\nThe Jews, the Romans\u201d\u201dthey had no remorse for what they did. In fact, both groups were glad that they would soon have relief from the turmoil that Jesus had been stirring up.
\nOn this dark Friday, they looked forward to a brighter Monday morning\u201d\u201da return to normalcy in their respective realms of power and control.
\nAnd yet, on behalf of the hard-hearted, Jesus prays for forgiveness!
\nThe heart of the Cross is the offer of free forgiveness to all!
\nThen there\u201d\u2122s the thief on the Cross\u201d\u201da bad man whose heart is broken.
\nMax Lucado:
\n\u201cThe core of the gospel in one sentence. The essence of eternity through the mouth of a crook:
\nI am wrong; Jesus is right.
\nI have failed; Jesus has not.
\nI deserve to die; Jesus deserves to live.
\nThe thief knew precious little about Christ, but what he knew was precious indeed. He knew that an innocent man was dying an unjust death with no complaint on his lips. And if Jesus can do that, he just might be who he says he is.\u201d
\nAnd to this one\u201d\u201da brokenhearted man, Jesus grants forgiveness!
\nThe heart of the Cross is the offer of free forgiveness to all!
\nConclusion–
\nMax Lucado (Six hours one Friday)
\n\u201cHow do you live with the things you\u201d\u2122ve done wrong\/ How do you cope with a guilty conscience over those times that you know you haven\u201d\u2122t done the right thing? What do you do with your failures?
\nOur mistakes come to us as pebbles; small stones that serve as souvenirs of our stumbles. We carry them in our hands, and soon our hands are full. We put them in our pockets and soon our pockets bulge. We place them in a sack and put in over our shoulder; the load scratches and chaps. And soon the bag of yesterday\u201d\u2122s failures is so heavy, we drag.\u201d
\nWhat Jesus\u201d\u2122 words mean for YOU and ME personally this morning is this\u201d\u201dwe can quit dragging the weight of our sin around. Jesus\u201d\u2122 died to cleanse us from every single sin, every single failure. Jesus\u201d\u2122 death on the Cross bought free forgiveness for YOU, for ME so that we can walk through life with a spring in our step, in the freedom and joy of God\u201d\u2122s forgiveness.<\/p>\n
But this truth needs to affect YOU and ME in another way as well\u201d\u201dwe need to imitate Jesus and have hearts of grace and love and mercy to ALL that we come in contact with, realizing that anything less is NOT the heart of the Cross!<\/p>\n
Who am I to withhold the love and forgiveness that Jesus Himself extended? Who are you to decide that a certain person is just too bad, has hurt you too much to be deserving of God\u201d\u2122s grace from Jesus or from you?<\/p>\n
By the way, one of the Roman officers who commanded the nails to be driven into Jesus\u201d\u2122 body WAS changed from a hard-hearted man to a broken-hearted man before the whole ordeal was over.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, \u201d\u02dcTruly, this was the Son of God!\u201d\u2122\u201d (Mark 15:39, NLT)<\/p>\n
The heart of the Cross is the offer of free forgiveness to all!<\/p>\n
Eric Ritz
\n\u201cIn a lonely cemetery in New York City, there is told of a grave marked by a headstone which contains just one word –FORGIVEN. The source for that word begins
\nwith our Savior\u201d\u2122s cry from the cross today.\u201d
\nThe heart of the Cross is the offer of free forgiveness to all!<\/p>\n
Celebration of the Lord\u201d\u2122s Supper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CRCF\u201d\u201d2\/28\/10 Introduction\u201d\u201dWords are powerful. Words change our lives–especially those words that come from deepest in a person\u201d\u2122s heart! Someone has said a person\u201d\u2122s real self is best seen when they are drunk or dying\u201d\u201dand that\u201d\u2122s usually pretty accurate. When someone … Continue reading