Let the Shepherd Lead

Originally Proclaimed 03/22/20

Intro:

• In anticipation of Easter, we begin a four week series that will take us through the last words of Jesus Christ.
• Last words are important.
  • They have an immediate impact due to the trauma of death, but also due to the significance of our lives.
  • They linger in our minds, which is why we end conversations with those we love by telling them “I love you”.
  • They reveal what we cherish most or hold dearest to our hearts. Think of just the few last words mentioned in the worship guide. In each case we see what that person cherished most.
    • Adams cherished the idea that America would still have a living founding father.
    • Beethoven held dear to his heart the ability to hear.
    • Leonard Nimoy uttered a Spock-like quote culminated with the famous line “live long and prosper”.
    • And A.W. Pink, a pastor and author of one of a commentary on these sayings of Jesus revealed his confidence in the Scriptures with his last breaths.
  • And last words offer us the opportunity for change. They are turning points if we will heed them and understand them.
• Erwin Lutzer, long time pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago, and author of Cries from the Cross tells the story of a pilgrim on a journey to the promised land.
  • The pilgrim was asked to carry his master’s cross, and was told that cross would serve an important purpose.
  • The farther the pilgrim walked the heavier the burden became.
  • As he wearily sat down on the path to the promised land, he notice a lumberjack nearby.
  • He called the lumberjack over and asked him if he could shorten the cross in order to make it lighter.
  • With a good length of it hewn off, the pilgrim made his way onward with ease.
  • As he drew near to the promised land, he dismayed at a huge chasm standing between him and the completion of his journey.
  • Just then he remembered his master’s words, this cross will serve and important purpose.
  • Thinking of no greater purpose, the pilgrim attempted to use the cross to span the chasm.
  • To his dismay the cross was short by the amount that the lumberjack had hewn off earlier in his journey.

Hook:

• Friends, Jesus told believers in Luke 9:23 that we should take up our cross and follow him.
• And though we might not carry a literal cross, the impact or change of the cross on our day by day lives will be the determining factor for us to enter into His heavenly kingdom.
• The more we shorten, diminish, or soften the cross of Christ; the less able that cross will be to span the great divide between this life and eternity.
• The more we understand, exalt, and strengthen our relationship with the Savior; the less likely his cross will be a burden and will sufficiently make the way for our entrance into His kingdom.
• So for the next four weeks, let us reflect upon these last words of our master and allow them to shape and transform us so that we will cherish the old rugged cross until we exchange it someday for a crown.
• We begin with two specific sayings of Christ that reveal his focus on the word Pardon.

Message Points:

• As we turn to Luke’s gospel and begin to examine these eleven verses, remember that Luke wrote his gospel as an orderly, researched account of Jesus’ life and death.
  • Much more than a personal memoir, Luke tells us in the first chapter that he exerted much effort to gather eyewitness testimony.
  • Then he mentions that he carefully investigated each eyewitness claim before setting them down in this orderly account.
  • But finally he says the he did all his work so that Theophilus, his audience, and others may have confidence in what they had been taught.
  • In other words, Luke wanted to make sure that our faith was based in facts.
• Here friends are the facts. Jesus’ death was as A.W. Pink offers “natural, unnatural, preternatural, and supernatural.”
  • It was natural because Jesus really died. Just as all of us die, so too did Jesus die.
    • His blood pressure dropped to 0 over 0
    • His breathing slowed until it stopped.
    • His heartbeat became slower and slower until it stopped.
  • It was unnatural because Jesus died as a substitute for sinners.
    • He did not deserve to die, because he was sinless.
    • In an abnormal way his sinlessness made him the only one who could die as a substitute for sinners.
  • It was a preternatural death, even though we probably have never heard of this word.
    • Jesus’ death was determined before the foundation of the world as Rev. 13:8 says.
    • God planned to save sinners in this way and foretold it throughout the Bible.
  • Finally it was a supernatural death in that He did not stop being God.
    • He orchestrated his arrest, trial, crucifixion, and even his last breath.
    • He willingly submitted himself to human authorities and to the authority of God’s law.
    • Supernaturally,  God credits His death as satisfaction of God’s just wrath against sinners, a divine transaction.
• With the profound significance of Christ’s death on your mind, consider that Jesus’ crucifixion was not a “come and see” event but a “go and tell” event.
  • Jesus did not invite the crowds, the Jewish Leaders, and the Romans to come and see a worship service, or even some sort of promotional special event.
  • Jesus went to where the lost were and paid the ultimate price to be able to tell them these last words.
  • Verse 32-33 tell us that he went with two other men, criminals, and hung between them one on his right and the other on his left.
  • Before we move to read Jesus’ first saying, let us not mistake the significance to this point, especially in our current COVID crisis.
  • Jesus died to go and tell people that they could change and have everlasting life.
  • Friends, what will we do to follow Him to where the lost can hear about salvation?
• This leads then to Jesus’ first saying, uttered just after he is placed upon the cross. Pardon is the first thing on Jesus’ Mind. (23:32-34
  • He says “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”
    • Jesus begins his passion with a prayer for pardon.
      • Friends, how often do we begin our days, our meetings, our meals, or our trials with prayer?
      • Far from ignoring his enemies, or praying against them still holding some sort of grudge, Jesus prays for the salvation of those executing him.
      • There is never someone so far away from Christ, and unlikely to be saved that we should not pray for them.
      • The real question is will we pray for their salvation and forgiveness.
        • Proverbs 19:11 tells us “good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”
        • 1 Peter 4:8 tells us “above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
        • And Ephesians 4:32 tells us to be kind and tender-hearted, “forgiving one another just as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
        • Forgiving is a continuing action or attitude.
          • We cannot grant someone forgiveness until they ask.
          • But we can certainly overlook offenses, cover sins with love, and PRAY that our enemies and those offending us would turn and desire pardon.
    • And Jesus’ prayer for pardon is offered for the glory of God.
      • Isaiah 53:12 tells us that the Messiah would be numbered with the transgressors, bear the sins of many, and make “intercession for the transgressors.”
      • Jesus’ prayer glorifies God because it fulfilled Scripture.
      • Ezekiel 18:23 says, “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord god, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?”
      • Jesus’ prayer glorifies God because it reveals his gracious attitude towards sinners
    • His prayer for pardon is also offered for the good of his people.
      • Proverbs 28:13 tells us “whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”
      • Jesus’ prayer is an encouragement for sinners to confess and renounce their sins because our God will show his goodness to his people through forgiveness.
      • And Jesus’ prayer speaks of the people’s ignorance and blindness when he says “they know not what they do”.
        • In the Old Testament both conscious sin and sins of ignorance required sacrifice.
        • As A.W. Pink says, “ignorance is not innocence.”
        • While we might not understand the full significance of our breaking of God’s law and breaking of our relationship with Him, it is for our good that someone encourage us to come to God and seek forgiveness.
    • This was Jesus’ mission. He was about His Father’s business to offer pardon.
• Jesus’ offer of a pardon is so important because as our second point, everyone who crucified Jesus needed a pardon (23:35-39)
  • On the day of Jesus’ death, the most important event in all of human history, there were many who were needing pardon.
    • There were countless numbers of people gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover who were disinterested in Jesus’ crucifixion. Consumed by their own lives and interests, they never even witnessed or reacted to one part of it.
    • There were the soldiers who cast lots to divide up his clothing in verse 34. There was Judas who had received his silver in chapter 22. There were the Jewish leaders who had eliminated another threat to their power. Some were profiting from Jesus’ crucifixion.
    • There were those who were entertained by Jesus’ crucifixion. People stood watching him according to verse 35. And the rulers sneer at him, entertained by this reversal of fortunes.
    • And finally there were those mocking Jesus.
      • The rulers pointed to his saving of others and his claim to being God’s Messiah in verse 35. Surely one with such power and position could save himself.
      • The soldiers looked to his supposed kingly authority that was on a sign above him and demanded that he save himself in verses 36-38.
      • One of the criminals joined in and mocked him asking for Jesus to save all three of them in verse 39.
    • Each of these groups needing pardon were not looking for any kind of eternal salvation or repaired relationship with God.
  • In fact on no other day in human history was the world closer to what John Lennon imagined in his famous song. At the death of Jesus, “the world will be as one”:
    • People easily imagined that there was no heaven and no hell below them, because they executed an innocent man.
    • The people were readily living for today, ignoring or mocking the claims of Jesus and his offer of a right eternal relationship with God.
    • There were no countries, as the Romans agreed with the Jews that to live in peace all they had to do was execute Jesus.
    • And the brotherhood of man shared united together to execute Jesus so that they might share all the world.
  • Which leads us to our next stunning revelation.
    • It was not just the Romans, or the Jews, or the disciples, or those in Jerusalem that day who crucified Jesus.
      • We too are those who crucified Jesus!
      • We are those who live for today running roughshod over God’s Word and his offer of a right relationship with us.
      • We are those who have sinned with our thoughts, words, and deeds, rightly deserving a consequence.
      • We are the ones who need a pardon because every one of us has sins that were placed upon Jesus!
    • When the cross disinterests us, or seems like it will profit us, or becomes entertainment for us, or an object of mockery – we run the risk of being left without anything to bridge the gap between now and eternity when our journey is done.
    • We must look to the cross and recognize that we desperately need the pardon Jesus’ death offers.
• But notice friends, that Jesus said none of that. He merely prayed and by doing so made the offer of a pardon.
  • Every person there heard his prayer for pardon, but only one really listened in the moment.
    • It was the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit that allowed the other thief on the cross to believe Jesus’ offer of salvation. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17)
    • And because of his “deathbed” conversion we see that the gospel is the power of God to those who believe.
  • So what does it mean for a sinner to receive Jesus’ offer for Pardon?
    • We can see that the thief defended Jesus in verses 40-41, but it was not his defense that granted him pardon.
      • The thief’s defense was a stunning show of his repentance.
      • In Matthew 27:44 we read that both the criminals began by reviling Jesus.
      • And yet after the prayer of Jesus for the Father to forgive, this thief was changed.
        • He rebuked the other criminal, asking if he feared God. This man realized that eternity was just a breath away and he asked the other man to consider with him how he would enter eternity.
        • He admits that he and the other criminal were being justly crucified. They were sinners whose deeds deserved death.
        • But then he also confesses his belief that Jesus was innocent – something that did not stop the Jews or the Romans from crucifying him.
    • Repentance is important and it is necessary, but the reason that Jesus granted this man’s pardon was that he simply requested that Jesus pardon him.
      • This man was no farther away from Jesus than the other criminal, and yet he alone drew close to the Savior.
      • He asked humbly that Jesus remember him when he came into his kingdom.
      • This man believed that Jesus was God’s Messiah, and that he would again be exalted.
        • He was not afraid to confess Christ publicly.
        • After all he had nothing to lose and eternity to gain.
        • Because he believed, he requested that Jesus remember him.
      • Any of us can be like that thief is we would welcome and celebrate Jesus’ cross as he did.
        • William Cowper wrote about that thief in his hymn “There is a fountain filled with Blood”.
        • Listen to the words friends, and lets ask if we understand the cross this way.
          • The dying thief rejoiced to see
          • That fountain in his day
          • And there may I though vile as he
          • Wash all my sins away.
        • Do we really understand that we are as vile as the worst criminal?
        • And do we rejoice or cringe that the way of salvation is through the crimson blood shed on Calvary?
      • At the moment of that thief’s request we read of Jesus’ second saying from the cross. “truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
        • Notice friends that Jesus does not mention some kind of purgatory to prepare this man for heaven.
        • He does not tell him he must be baptized or a member of the church.
        • He does not tell him he needs some sort of last rights or to light candles and pray to saints for help.
        •  He does not tell them man that his soul will sleep for a period of time before the resurrection.
        • He does not tell the man that He has to first descend into hell before heading to heaven.
      • Jesus says today, literally before the end of that 24 hour period, they would be together absent from their bodies, but present in fellowship and in paradise.
      • In other words Jesus’ word for the thief and any who would follow him today is Pardon granted.

Conclusion:

• Friends, Jesus’ cross teaches us that He offers and grants pardon for sin.
  • But if we are to receive that pardon, we must first admit that we are sinners, believe that Jesus will forgive us, and confess and request our pardon.
  • Further if we are to be a church that helps people receive Jesus’ pardon, I believe we must become outwardly focused.
    • Our prayers for the lost to seek forgiveness must be at least as vibrant as our prayers for believers to be healed.
    • We must go to the lost more often and earn the right to tell about our Savior rather than demand that they come to church and see.