Forgiveness and Salvation: Lessons from the Cross

Of all the cries that came from the victims of execution surely none was more amazing than this. The soldiers who probably felt that they had experienced everything that a man could experience in the carrying out of their duties soldiers who had grown accustomed to threats and uh vile abuse coming from those who were on the receiving end of their carrying out their instructions soldiers who had listened to curses Galore must have found themselves looking at one another and saying is he really saying forgive them yes said one to the other I believe he is. [00:02:14]

Now of course Jesus had instructed his disciples earlier in his ministry along these lines you may recall in Luke 6 he said love your enemies and pray for those who abuse you so in actual fact what we discover is that Jesus is simply practicing what he has preached and indeed this prayer for forgiveness is in keeping with the emphasis which runs through all of Luke's writing. [00:02:49]

This motif of forgiveness is at the very heart of Luke's writing in the song of Zachariah, Zachariah speaking of John says and you my child will be called a prophet of the most high for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him to give his people the knowledge of Salvation through the Forgiveness of their sins right at the very beginning before we have Jesus uh entering into his preaching and Teaching Ministry this uh theme is sounded the proclaiming of Salvation and the Forgiveness of sins. [00:03:32]

When Jesus then begins to minister he encounters all kinds of people in different situations and in Luke chapter 7 at the home of a Pharisee where he's been invited for dinner a Dreadful thing takes place at least for the Pharisee for the host namely a sinful woman shows up she is apparently a fairly notorious woman and gate crashes the party not only is she in the room but she then approaches Jesus and uh engages him in such a way that the host is absolutely appalled and he says to himself and perhaps to others around him you know if if this fellow really was a prophet as he says then he would know who this woman is that is approaching him. [00:04:17]

Now when you go into the Acts of the Apostles you discover that the motif is still still there or if you like in symphonic terms you you have this recurring theme I'm out of my depth to speak like this some of you know what I'm attempting to articulate for example in um the heban Overture by mandelson fingles cave you have the thing that goes approximately something like that it's about the only bit I know that's why I'm mentioning it to you but it helps me that little part because when it comes again I say oh there it is again I smile to myself I say I I like that part you see and what you discover is that this then comes and and capitulates and recapitulates and does all the things that you're supposed to do and in the same way this theme this motif of forgiveness is running all the way through. [00:06:00]

So by the time you get to acts chap 5 and verse 31 you have Peter proclaiming God exalted Jesus to his own right hand as Prince and savior why that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel and then in chapter 10 the very same emphasis and this is the end of all that I'm going to show you here Peter again says he commanded us to preach to the people to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead then here we have at verse 43 all the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. [00:07:00]

Jesus is about to give his life expressly to pay the price for sin to open the Gateway into heaven that picture is going to come graphically in a few verses time when the curtain in the temple is torn in two declaring entry into the most holy place but given that he is about to do this he is praying to his father that those who are involved as the proponents of this atrocity and those who carry it out and frankly those who stand by idly and watch it he's asking his father that it may be that by Grace they will be brought to see that he is actually the savior they will be brought to see that they are actually in need of a savior and then they will turn from their sin and discover that their transgressions may be blown botted out completely and that their sin may be fully pardoned. [00:09:05]

Now when this actually Dawns on a mind lays hold Upon A Life stirs a heart then that individual will shift from a sort of generic awareness of the potential for forgiveness of sin to the personal testimony the understanding of the fact that here in the death of Jesus of Nazareth is forgiveness for my sin so in the song for children it is affirmed wounded for me wounded for me there on the cross he was wounded for me and gone my transgressions and now I am free all because Jesus was wounded for me in other words it has become a very personal personal awareness. [00:11:59]

The difference between me and someone who affirms it more fully is simply that they have determined to affirm it more fully but it is equally true of me my friend it is not equally true of you there's all the difference between an awareness of uh an individual that you would like to spend the rest of your life with and spending the the rest of your life with that individual and all kinds of awareness of who they are and their potential and their capacity and their beauty and their friendship and everything else you can write it down in a book you can put it in your Journal you can carry it close to your heart but there is a vast difference between all of that information and all of that aspiration and spending their life in their company. [00:13:41]

The soldiers are aware of the fact that here is another victim of execution but they do not realize that they're crucifying the Lord Of Glory and Jesus as he prays in this way is praying that these individuals who go about their business in this way may be brought to understand how wrong their perspective is I think this lies at the heart of the dramatic response to Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost you know when you read the sermon of Peter it's a good sermon I mean who's to say it's not but is it really that good what was it well he told them he said you killed him you handed him over you disowned him you killed the author of life is he simply telling them what they already knew no he's telling them what they didn't know they didn't realize the extent or the significance of what had been done. [00:14:59]

I don't know how it happens the wind blows where it Wills you can hear the sound of it you can't tell where it's coming from you don't really know where it's going so said Jesus as everyone who is born of the spirit of God there is a mystery in this this is not a mechanism this is not a an Evangelical process this man doesn't fit this 's conversion doesn't fit the standard package does it the things you're told to do and the way you're supposed to get there and the things you're supposed to understand and all the mechanism this fellow does it all wrong the first criminal regarded the cross as a contradiction he was with the crowd if this Messiah was genuine he wouldn't be on a cross the second criminal saw the cross as a a confirmation because he's on the cross he must be the Savior. [00:19:19]

The first criminal essentially makes a demand Upon Jesus for what he thinks he deserves the second criminal makes a request to Jesus for what he knows he doesn't deserve now let me say that to you again because on this hinges the difference between believing faith and religious hopefulness the first individual makes a demand Upon Jesus for what he believes he deserves the second individual makes a request of Jesus for what he knows he doesn't deserve. [00:21:51]