# 11 (He was) forgiving our sins
Luke 23: 33-34a ‘When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed Him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on His right and one on His left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”’
Isn't that amazing!? - Even in His last few hours of suffering, Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of those who had condemned Him to death
Please notice that as Jesus prayed for their forgiveness He said, “they don’t know what they are doing.”
Jesus' prayer reminds us that in our ‘fallen’ sinful condition we too are ignorant of our sin
When the Apostle Peter testified about Jesus to the people in Jerusalem he said, Acts 3: 17b ‘what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance.’
(they didn’t know what they were doing)
The great Apostle Paul testified about his own ignorance when he said, 1 Timothy 1: 13a ‘Before He chose me, I said bad things about Him. I caused great trouble for His people. I was a cruel man, but God was very kind to me. He forgave me because I did not know what I was doing.’ EASY
Here’s my Testimony:
43 years ago, me and Jennifer had a young family, we just built our first house, we were working hard and paying the bills and ‘minding our own business’.
Then a friend of ours upset all that when he invited us to a Sunday night Church Service at the New Life Centre just up the road from where we lived. That night as the visiting evangelist preached the Gospel, I discovered something that I had never known before; I was living in ignorance about my ‘fallen’ sinful condition!
That evening God extended His mercy to us as we received God’s forgiveness through Christ; that night we were born again and shortly after that we were water baptized
When you tell your family and friends about what Jesus was doing on the cross you might say something like this, “Do you believe that you are a sinner and living in unbelief and rebellion against God”?
And usually, they will say something like this, “I don’t like what you are saying; I'm not a bad person and I’m doing the best I can and I’m minding my own business – so, go away!”
However, before you “go away” you need to tell firstly them what God says about their ignorance and unbelief and secondly invite them to come to Christ!
Do you remember how the Apostle Paul witnessed to the people in Athens when he said, Acts 17: 30 “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now He commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to (Jesus) Him.’
Dear friends, only Jesus can save your family and friends, Romans 1: 16a ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes'
Some say that Jesus shed His blood for us 7 times beginning in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night that He was betrayed and arrested
Luke 22: 44 ‘He prayed more fervently, and He was in such agony of spirit that His sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.’
Notice the text says: ‘His sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood’.
The word ‘like’ means ‘similar to’ - So, when Jesus was praying, He was dripping sweat like blood that is dripping from a wound
Which means that Jesus shed His blood for us 6 times - and that makes perfect sense because in Bible numerology the # 6 represents Man(kind)
For example:
In the beginning - Man(kind) was created on the 6th day
Genesis 1: 26-31
In the middle - Man’s sin was on full display when Jesus Christ was condemned to death on the 6th hour
John 19: 14 32 Bible Versions
And at the end - The fullness of Man’s sin is recorded in multiples of 6, that is 666
Revelation 13: 18
So, as I said, Jesus shed His blood 6 times for the forgiveness of our sins:
Firstly, Jesus shed His blood for us as He faced the accusations of the Jewish Religious Leaders as they beat His face with their fists
Matthew 26: 67
Secondly, and during that same terrible beating Jesus shed His blood for us as they ripped out the beard from His face
Isaiah 50: 6
Thirdly, after that, Jesus shed His blood for us as the Roman Governor had Jesus flogged with a whip
Luke 18: 33; Luke 23: 16
Fourthly, and after that, Jesus shed His blood for us as the Roman soldiers crushed a crown of thorns into Jesus' head
Matthew 27: 29
Fifthly, after arriving at Golgotha, Jesus shed His blood for us as the Roman soldiers drove the nails through His hands and feet to secure Him to the cross
John 20: 25
Sixthly, and finally, Jesus shed His blood for us as a Roman soldier plunged his spear into the side of Jesus
John 19: 34
Dear friends, was this all a BIG mistake? Did God ever mean for this to happen to Jesus?
No, this was not a mistake, this was always God’s PLAN A for our salvation!
As the Apostle Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2: 23 ‘God knew what would happen, and His predetermined PLAN was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed Him to a cross and killed him.’
Yes, it was all necessary because it was through the shed blood of Jesus that we are forgiven of our sin, Hebrews 9: 22 ‘without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.’
Have you ever thought about HOW to witness to your family and friends about their ‘fallen’ sinful condition and their need of salvation through Jesus Christ?
Do you remember that early in this Message Series I was telling you about the remarkable ministry of Jonathan Edwards and how he preached a famous sermon called ‘Sinners in the hands of an angry God’?
Jonathan Edwards served the Lord in the mid 18th Century and was at the forefront of a great Revival in the U.S
Jonathan Edwards boldly confronted people about their sin and effectively shared the way of salvation through Jesus Christ
One time in his ministry he preached saying this, “You sinner, God hates you”
Today in our ‘seeker friendly’ modern 21st Century Churches you would never hear anyone preach like that! - I don’t have a ‘seeker friendly’ view of ministry but I wouldn’t say that either!
Could you imagine telling your family and friends about Jesus and saying, “You sinner, God hates you”
Why wouldn’t we say that?
There are a few reasons I can think of:
1/ Because we are afraid we might offend the person that we are witnessing to
2/ Because we don’t know what the Bible says about sin and salvation
3/ Because we prefer to believe feel-good Christian slogans instead of believing the Word of God
Example: One popular Christian slogan says, “God hates sin but loves the sinner”
But is that true though - how does that compare with the Word of God where it says, Psalm 5: 5b “You hate all who do evil.” And, Psalm 11: 5 “His soul hates the wicked” World English Bible. And, Romans 9: 13b ‘I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.’ ERV
Here’s a very challenging quote from veteran Pastor John Piper: “It is just not true to give the impression that God doesn’t hate sinners by saying He ‘loves the sinner and hates the sin’. He does hate sinners. His wrath is real. It is not something He pours out on people He approves of. This infinite disapproval is what the Bible means when it says God hates sinners. He infinitely disapproves of them. Sin is the expression of anti-God, corruption in human hearts. Sins do not suffer in hell; sinners suffer in hell. God is not punishing sin in hell — He is punishing sinners in hell.”
Whenever we are witnessing to our family and friends, we must firstly tell them the BAD NEWS – that in our ‘fallen’ sinful condition we are separated from God, the Apostle Paul put it this way, Colossians 1: 21b ‘You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions.’
And then secondly we must tell them the GOOD NEWS – that God in His grace and mercy has extended His love towards us through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ on the cross, Ephesians 1: 7 ‘For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven’ GNT
Romans 5: 1; Romans 8: 1, 33-34; Colossians 2: 13-14; Titus 3: 7
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