Turn with me, if you will, to Luke 23. Luke 23, as we read together verses 26 through 38 of that chapter. The text tonight is verse 34, particularly the first part of verse 34, our Lord's first word from the cross, the first word recorded in Scripture. Luke 23, beginning at verse 26, as we give our attention to the Word of God. As they led Him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed Him, including women who mourned and wailed for Him. Jesus turned and said to them, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us. For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him along with the criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, He saved others. Let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One. The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine and vinegar and said, If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself. There was a written notice above Him which read, This is the King of the Jews. Once again, in the beginning of verse 34, Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, with this portion of Scripture open before us tonight, we are placed at the foot of the cross of Jesus, the cross of suffering and shame. And what ought to be amazing to us is that as the torment and the excruciating pain of the crucifixion began, the first word that our Lord spoke from the cross was a prayer. It was a prayer of intercession. It was a prayer on behalf of others. It was a prayer for forgiveness. It was a prayer which summarized the reason He was hanging there on that cross. He came to suffer and die to earn forgiveness. And therefore, as Jesus prayed this prayer, He was teaching that forgiveness can be ours only because of the cross and His work accomplished there on that cross. I preach to you this Word of God tonight. Christ's Word of intercession. As we consider these three points, first of all, the wonder of Christ's intercession. Secondly, the meaning of Christ's intercession. And then finally, the beneficiaries of Christ's intercession. Now when we try to imagine what had taken place the hours just before the physical crucifixion as well as this particular time, we know, of course, that it's impossible for us to understand what Jesus was going through. We can't even begin to imagine. Of course, maybe some of you have read those writings prepared by certain medical personnel talking about the effect of a crucifixion such as our Lord had, the effect both internally and externally upon the body, the fact that it was literally torture in every way, shape, or form. But physically speaking, as well as what our Lord suffered spiritually speaking, we cannot even begin to understand what He was going through. And praise God, we never will have to understand. Our Lord had been tortured. People had spit on Him. He had been ridiculed as insults were hurled at him as people mocked him, denying who he was, even making fun of who he said that he was. His flesh had been torn and shredded by Roman whips which had sharp objects woven into the cords such as wood fragments, bone fragments, or whatever else they could weave into that cord. He had been beaten. He had had a crown of thorns pressed down upon his head and now he had been nailed to the cross and He hung there in agony and pain. But even before all of this, in the Garden of Eden, we read that His sweat was like great drops of blood. He knew the agony that stood before Him, not just physically, but the agony of separation from His Heavenly Father. All of the hatred and fury of man was poured out upon Christ as all of these cruel things culminating in His being nailed to the cross took place. And beloved, as we, as it were, stand at the foot of that cross, surveying the wondrous cross, it must be humbling that as the first nail was pounded in, that as the second was pounded in, as Christ's body first felt the excruciating pain of the crucifixion, which was the most hideous of sins, that at the very beginning we meet with the forgiving love of God. You see, this is not what we would expect, really, would we? From our point of view, what would be normal would be to scream and to holler, to yell, to curse at one's tormentors, to shout out in pain. And surely from God's point of view, we would expect that with this worst of crimes, putting to death the very Son of God, that in His fury He would send judgment upon this sinful world like never before. Certainly, this would be the hour of judgment as the wicked world is consumed, and it would be no more. Indeed, it was the hour of judgment, wasn't it? But not upon a wicked world. Upon the very Son of God. And instead of screaming and yelling in pain and calling for 10,000 angels to destroy the world as He could have done, as the song says, our Lord prays. And beloved, we know from Scripture that this wasn't something new for our Lord. He prayed publicly. He prayed privately. More than once, He prayed all night long. He taught the Lord's Prayer to His disciples. And in John 17, we find what we call the high priestly prayer of our Lord. And in that beautiful prayer, He prayed even on behalf of you and me who believe today when He said, I do not pray for these alone, talking about His disciples, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word. And this prayer on the cross was a prayer of intercession. Boys and girls, we mentioned this briefly this morning, but to intercede means to speak for, to speak on behalf of someone to another. Christ intercedes for His people before His Heavenly Father. And the wonder of Christ's intercession, beloved, was that at that moment, the wicked world didn't get what it deserved. The wonder is that at that moment, Christ interceded for sinners. He fulfilled what Isaiah prophesied so long before when Isaiah said in chapter 53, and He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. Truly our Lord, during the fiercest enmity against God and with the full measure of man's wickedness exposed, He practiced what He preached. He taught to forgive our debtors. He taught to love our enemies. Paul says in Romans 5, verse 8, but God demonstrates His own love toward us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. As well as Jesus demonstrated for us His trust in His Father, which echoes the words of Job when Job says, Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. And all of this is why Peter could say of Christ in 1 Peter 2, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth, who when He was reviled did not revile in return. When He suffered, Beloved, the wonder of Christ's intercession is that He asked for His crucifiers that which their deed had forfeited. They had forfeited any mercy of God. He asked for that which they did not deserve. The wonder here is that God did not pour out His wrath at that moment upon a world putting to death the Prince of Peace upon His Son in whom He was well pleased. Why didn't He? Because this must take place for forgiveness to be secured. Jesus Christ was crucified so that forgiveness would become real for all those who believe for you and for me. It was not yet time for final judgment because there were still those including you and me, those who believe, for whom Christ shed His lifeblood, those who must be redeemed and delivered from the power of sin and death and transformed into the glorious children of God. Of course, we know, congregation, that the day will come when Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge, shall come again seated on His throne. He will come to judge the living and the dead. And on that day, He will no longer pray for those that crucified Him, But the day of Calvary was not yet that day. And as long as this prayer, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing, as long as this prayer continues to rise from the lips of the Savior to His Father, that last day has not yet come. And until then, Christ's shed blood is the blood of atonement that intercedes for sinners. Our Lord, at that very moment, could confidently pray, Father, forgive. Because He was making payment for sin. He was earning the forgiveness for which He prayed. Jesus Christ willingly shed the blood that they drew that day and the wonder of it all was that already on the cross He brought it into the sanctuary of God, sprinkling it on the mercy seat as a propitiation for sin. Remember propitiation? The removal of God's wrath? I can't imagine God's wrath being any greater than at that moment when His only begotten Son was being put to death, yet the only begotten Son of God prayed that His wrath would indeed be put away. On the basis of His shed blood on Calvary's tree, our Lord pleads for the forgiveness of sins for those out of the world whom the Father gave to the Son. But now then, what is the meaning of Christ's intercession? How are we to understand this forgiveness Christ was praying for? Some would say that Jesus was praying for the soldiers who carried out the crucifixion, and only the soldiers. But if you think about it, the soldiers really were not the crucifiers. It's true they were the ones, they were following the orders they had been given. But the Jews were both the means and the agency by which Christ was brought to His horrible death. They were the ones who testified against Him. They were the ones who accused Him. As well, some would say that Christ's prayer for forgiveness was simply asking that God would postpone judgment upon them to give them opportunity to repent and believe. Do not deal with them according to the horrendousness of this sin at this time. Postpone your judgment. After all, they didn't know what they were doing, Jesus says. But didn't they? The soldiers, the Jews, the religious leaders, and Pilate did know that they were putting to death an innocent man. Pilate made that clear. They knew that this was a hideous crime. But it is true that they were all ignorant of the fact that they were putting to death the very Son of God, the Lord of glory. They were ignorant of the fact that the blood they shed that day would save many, even possibly some of them, if they repented and believed. They were ignorant of the fact that God used their evil for good. Congregation, there was a postponement of sorts for the Jews, as about 40 more years passed before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. But I believe this forgiveness is not to be taken as simply a postponement of judgment upon a wicked world. The truth is, although God alone knows the exact time of the final judgment, until that time, all of the wicked enjoy a postponement of it. Each and every one of mankind has enjoyed a postponement of what their sins truly deserve. Nor is it saying, do I believe, that Jesus is asking forgiveness for those who would never repent. I don't believe that that's what Jesus was asking for. I don't believe He was asking for forgiveness for those who would never repent. To forgive means to dismiss, to remit, to send away or dismiss from one's mind, to talk about it no more, indeed to remove it as far as the east is from the west. it doesn't simply mean to postpone for a little while and take it up again later on. It is used in Scripture for the forgiveness of sins. It is used here as it is used in Luke 11, verse 4, and forgive us, believers, our sins. As well, Luke 17, verse 3 says, Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. the meaning of Christ's intercession is that this was a prayer for forgiveness in the full and final sense of the word true forgiveness remembering sin no more beloved this sin of crucifying the Savior was the greatest and worst of all sin and the forgiveness of this sin implies the forgiveness of all of one's sins if this sin can be forgiven then all sin can be blotted out but then all that we've said so far naturally brings us to the question as to whom then are the beneficiaries of Christ's intercession who are those who benefit from his prayer that day on the cross well first we need to understand a couple of things first of all who are considered to be those who crucified Christ was it just those who were there that day was it just the soldiers those who physically pounded the nails and lifted that cross into the hole to stand upright? Was it just the Jews who gathered around mocking Him and jeering Him or anyone else doing that? Remember, some of His own people, His mother and His beloved disciple were there that day as well. Listen to what Scripture says. To the Pentecost congregation, sometime later, Peter says in Acts 2, verse 23, Him, speaking of Christ, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death. You have done that. Scripture tells us of those gathered there that day that about 3,000 were added to Christ's church. A short time later, after healing the lame man, Peter again preaches to a gathered crowd in Acts 3 and says, But you denied the Holy One and the just and asked for a murderer to be granted to you and killed the Prince of Life. Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. So again, were all of those 3,000 who were converted on Pentecost, were they all gathered around the cross when Jesus died? It's highly unlikely. Yet Peter says they are guilty of His death. Beloved, all sinners, all of mankind crucified Jesus Christ, That is, was the cause of His suffering and shame. And in this way, the soldiers who were gathered around that day, who pounded the nails, as well as you and I, who are here today in the year 2002, we are all included. The sin of the world was the reason He came and humbled Himself to death, even the death of the cross, as Paul says. Enslaved to sin, we are all ignorant of the fact that, as 1 Corinthians 2 verse 8 says, we crucified the Lord of glory. Or that we fulfilled the voice of the prophets, as Paul says in Acts chapter 13. As sinners, we are enemies of God and we were there. We too rejected the Son of God. The Jews, the Romans, and the soldiers carried out physically what we have done to Him. Even Heidelberg Catechism, answer 37, explains the suffering of Christ. That all the time He lived on earth, but especially at the end of His life, He bore in body and soul the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race, beloved. He died because of the sin of mankind in general, but He died for some specifically. So once again, who are the beneficiaries of Christ's intercession? For whom did He pray, Father, forgive them? We can answer this in two ways, understand this in two ways. First of all, we can take a universal approach. And now that I've got the attention of some of you especially, I do not mean that He was asking for forgiveness for all men. He was not asking for forgiveness for all of mankind who was responsible for crucifying Him. What I mean is that this forgiveness was for all kinds of sinners from every tribe, every tongue, every nation, no matter the depth of their sin. No one's sin is too great for Him. No matter how great the sin for those who repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because of Christ's intercession, God's Word is your sins are forgiven you. There is no sin so great, so terrible, or so dreadful that cannot be covered by the blood of Jesus except for the unpardonable sin which will not be covered by the blood of Jesus. And in this way, beloved, the intercession of Christ is all comprehensive. No repentant sinner ever approaches the throne of grace in vain. Not one will be turned away. But we need to notice something when it comes to forgiveness. The Bible never separates forgiveness from repentance and faith. Even that verse which we quoted from Luke chapter 17, dealing with our brothers and sisters in Christ, If they repent, forgive them. If they repent. There is no forgiveness apart from repentance. Therefore, our Lord's prayer of intercession was for a specific people. For the elect. Those who would repent and believe on Him by grace through faith. In John 17, verse 9, Jesus prays, I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom You have given Me, for they are yours. Beloved, we know that the Father always hears and answers the intercession of His Son. Therefore, those for whom He prayed are surely saved, guaranteed. And that means that His prayer was not wider than the stream of His atoning blood. His prayer was not wider than those who were touched and cleansed and healed by the blood of Jesus. He gave His life for His sheep, those chosen from before the foundation of the world. A postponement, yes, but for the sake of the church. As the forgiving grace of God is applied to God's people throughout the ages, but not for the benefit of the wicked, of the unrepentant world. For them, that time of postponement simply gives them time to fill the cup of iniquity and time for God's wrath to grow greater against them. Did Christ pray on behalf of the soldiers? Yes, if they repented of their sins and believed on him. Did he pray on behalf of Pilate? Yes, if he repented and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible doesn't tell us that he did or didn't. Did Christ pray on behalf of the Jews and the Romans? Sure, if they repented and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. The point for us today, I believe, congregation, is not was this a prayer for those physically present who cried out for His blood, those who nailed Him to the cross. But the point for you and I today is if I had been standing there and nailed Him myself, would His prayer be for me? Could I find forgiveness in the blood I caused Him to shed if I humbled myself in repentance and faith? And praise be to God, the answer is most certainly yes. There is forgiveness for all those who repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know that God's grace was seen almost immediately as the thief on the cross was converted. There was the centurion who said, truly this was the Son of God. Again, on Pentecost, the grace of God's forgiving love, it was evident as 3,000 were converted that day. Throughout the book of Acts, we find an awesome record of the growth of the church through repentance and forgiveness. God's grace and forgiveness is still seen today in you and me who believe and in all those whom the Holy Spirit delivers from the darkness of ignorance and brings into His marvelous light. Still today, the Holy Spirit is busy gathering the church of Jesus Christ, those for whom He prayed and still prays, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. We don't plead for forgiveness based upon our ignorance. Well, I didn't know better. We pray, we plead on the ground of His saving sacrifice. And with believers from every age, by God's grace, we drink by faith the blood of Christ which we caused to be shed. Yes, the world continues to enjoy the postponement of the final judgment while our Lord's prayer on behalf of God's elect continues to be answered and while Christ continues to gather those for whom He died, gathering them unto eternity while the world is prepared for eternal death. And for those who are ignorant, there is still hope of salvation in Jesus Christ if they repent and believe. Beloved, that is the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news of Jesus Christ is still good. It is still effective today. His blood has not yet run out while it is still called today until He comes again. There is salvation for all who come to Him in repentance and faith, only in the name of Jesus. But there's also a warning for those who reject His call to repent. Hebrews 10, verses 26 and 27 says, For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. On the cross, Jesus Christ took the place of His people and for the sake of His blood, He earned the right to intercede for His people. The psalmist says there is forgiveness with God. Forgiveness only through the blood of Jesus. Forgiveness so that He may be feared. Forgiveness and salvation in congregation is not granted because of anything we or anybody else has done, but it is granted because of Christ's prayer, because of his accomplished work. By our sin, we forfeited God's forgiveness. But by his saving sacrifice, Jesus Christ secured God's forgiveness for those who believe. If you are not covered by the blood of Jesus, the warning for you is that the time of postponement will end. The day will come, we don't know when, when Jesus Christ will return. But then it will be too late. And as Jesus made clear in the story of the sheep and the goats, pleading ignorance will do no good. On that day, He will forever reject those who constantly rejected Him. But what comfort for God's people. It must be our desired congregation to always be kept near the cross of Jesus. We sing, Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. Heaven's morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee. In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me. You see, that's the comfort of Christ's word of intercession. Reconciliation and peace with God and a home in heaven forever to abide with God. You see, beloved, the message is simple. Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. you shall be forgiven. You shall be saved. Amen. Shall we pray? Dear Heavenly Father, indeed we praise Your holy name for Your forgiveness earned by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Indeed, O Lord, we are not to spend our time reflecting upon Christ's physical suffering. Yet we stand amazed that when we know what we would do, when we know that we would scream and shout in pain and agony, and maybe even curse those who were tormenting us, we stand amazed, O Lord, that the first word from the mouth of our Lord was a prayer on our behalf. A prayer that you would do what he was paying for at that very moment. Father, may we indeed understand, boys and girls as well, that forgiveness is necessary in order to come before our God and Father. And we thank you and praise you that all of our sins are forgiven for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. In his name we pray. Amen.