Words

Luke 23:1-34

It is unfortunate that the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross have been called His “”.

• Jesus’ words from the cross are these:
  • 1^st “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
  • 2^nd “I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)
  • 3^rd “Dear woman, here is your son” and “Here is your mother.” (John 19:26-27)
  • 4^th “I am thirsty.” (John 19:28)
  • 5^th “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46)
  • 6^th “It is finished.” (John 19:30)
  • 7^th “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” (Luke 23:46)
• On the other hand, the sayings from the cross, are for several reasons:

1^st They show that Jesus was in clear possession of His until the very last moment, when He delivered up His Spirit to God.

2^nd They show He understood His death to be an atonement for the of the world.

3^rd They show He knew His would be effective in doing that.

• We start with !

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.
Luke 23:34, NLT

These words were spoken in the first of the crucifixion when Jesus, along with two were out on the rough and felt excruciating pain as the thick nails were driven through His wrists and feet.

• • The fact that Jesus’ first words from the cross consisted of a prayer should not ___________ us.

What we would have expected Jesus to pray might be “, help me” or even His later statement, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Matthew 27:46

He didn’t pray for His loved ones first or His friends in this dark hour – He prayed for His .

When Samson came to his dying hour, he prayed and used his great strength to his enemies.

I see from this example of Jesus that no one is the reach of prayer.

Jesus recognized the enormity of their , even if they didn’t.

• Next to Jesus were the being crucified.
  • They were there for their crimes, but Jesus there was there for the crimes of .
  • They were there against their , but He was there .
  • They couldn’t have , but He could have with just one word to .
  • They were held to their crosses by , but Jesus was held to His cross by .

It’s revealing to see how these three men reacted as they looked in the face.

“He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him! He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
Matthew 27:42-43, NLT

Matthew’s gospel tells us both thieves the crowd in Jesus.

Luke tells us one of them .

But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?  We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Luke 23:40-41, NLT

Something happened to bring this man to His senses.

This changed while one watched as Jesus was nailed and hung on the cross – and He as Jesus breathed His prayer:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Luke 23:34

• In asking forgiveness Jesus was asking for the possible thing.

Forgiveness means far more than forgiveness of .

Forgiveness is the restoring of .