A Cry for Pardon
April 2, 2021 Preacher: Pedro Samuel Series: Easter Season
Topic: Christian Living, The Gospel Scripture: Luke 23:26–35
In total Jesus spoke 7 last sayings from the Cross which have been recorded for us in the gospels.
Jesus uttered these last words, not from a hospital bed or while He was comfortably ending His days in some peaceful hospice-nor did Jesus say them as He lay in his own bed in His childhood home. No, Jesus' last words were spoken as He was hanging from A CROSS. Jesus uttered these precious and powerful words as He was being CRUCIFIED by Roman soldiers at the insistence of the Jewish religious leaders.
I’m sure many of you have watched Mel Gibson’s, THE PASSION, which helps us to some degree, picture the sufferings of Jesus. The Gospels also give us a lot of detail to help us picture the scene of Jesus on the cross. I am sure that as Jesus looked down from the cross, He was hanging on, he must have been distressed. John 19:23-24 tells us that the Roman soldiers were gambling for His clothing. Matthew 27:44 tells us that the criminals on the crosses to either side of Him were reviling Him. Matthew 27:41, tells us that the religious leaders were mocking Him, and Matthew 27:39 tells us that the crowd was blaspheming Him. Surrounded by this most unworthy lot, Jesus prayed for them. “Father, forgive them” is a prayer of unmatched mercy and love.
Jesus Christ is the only sinless man ever to walk this earth, and the only perfect sacrifice that would be accepted by the father. Scripture says, “[He] committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth” (1 Pet. 2:22). He “has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). He is “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners” (Heb. 7:26). He never wronged another individual, never spoke a lie, never committed an unkind or unloving act, never broke the law of God, never had an impure thought. He never yielded to any evil temptation whatsoever. No one was less worthy of death than He. Even the evil Roman governor Pontius Pilate testified repeatedly, “I find no guilt in this man” (Luke 23:4; cf. Mark 15:14; John 19:4, 6).
And yet Pilate, conspiring with other evil men, using false and trumped-up charges, condemned Christ to death and killed Him in the most brutal manner imaginable. Throngs of people were whipped into a frenzy of hatred, demanding His death unjustly (Mark 15:11–14).
Through it all, Christ was led as a lamb to the slaughter (Isa. 53:7). Submitting to the indignity and injustice, He surrendered His life without resistance, without threat, and without retaliation. In fact, all that suffering and injustice was for the express purpose of making Him an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the very ones who put Him to death!
And that's what He was doing. Jesus was saying, "Father, let Me pay the price for their sin."
The Bible clearly teaches that each of us has accumulated a moral debt before our just and holy God and it's been growing for years. Every time we are less than honest or cheat or tell a lie or treat our children too harshly or make a hurtful remark we shouldn't we sin. Every time we gossip or tell a racist joke or entertain sexually impure thoughts-each sinful act adds to a mountain of moral debt so high that we could never pay it. As Christ hung on the cross Jesus said, "God, let Me pay it. Let Me pay the debt for mankind’s sin.” On the cross Jesus paid the sin debt for every human who has ever lived or ever will live.
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