[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, good morning, church, it is good to be here with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: My name is Tex.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am the senior high pastor here at first three.
[SPEAKER_00]: That means I get the honor and privilege of working with your high school students each and every single Sunday night.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if you have any teenagers, we'd love to have them be part of our programming.
[SPEAKER_00]: amazing programming on Wednesday night for our junior hires with Pastor Barrett.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have awesome stuff on Sunday nights here called Summit and then we actually have combined programming on Sunday mornings called Basecamp here every Sunday at night.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'd love to have them be a part of it and in one way you can be praying for us as we've been neck deep in planning for our spring or treat that's coming up in just a few weeks and so
[SPEAKER_00]: We would love to have your students be part of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are incredibly excited for what is to come.
[SPEAKER_00]: But be praying for us, be praying for our leaders, our students, that they would encounter Jesus in a mighty and powerful way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, today we're starting a brand new series that is called Last Words.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm very excited because I truly believe that some of the words can change your life forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: especially last words.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I would like to show you a picture of somebody who changed my life.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a picture of my grandfather.
[SPEAKER_00]: His name is Patrick, he's an Irishman from Chicago.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, that's the first picture of me and him about 38 some years ago, just this month.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so,
[SPEAKER_00]: My mom and I were really fortunate in that we got to live with my grandparents most of my life.
[SPEAKER_00]: This was the man who raised me.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's who taught me to throw a baseball.
[SPEAKER_00]: He came to almost every band concert.
[SPEAKER_00]: He made sure every Sunday morning I got my butt up and got it.
[SPEAKER_00]: My butt in the church is what he would say.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he taught me how to change a tire.
[SPEAKER_00]: He helped me learn how to drive stick shift and
[SPEAKER_00]: my love for baseball.
[SPEAKER_00]: Many of you in the room are old enough to remember the Mark McBuyer, Sammy Sosa, home run race in the late 90s when baseball was exciting, again, sorry Kevin.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, uh, but,
[SPEAKER_00]: My grandfather, this is a true story, sorry for teachers in the room, but my grandfather used to pull me out of school during this time so that we could go watch all of the day games for the cubs and I just, I do this day do not understand how he managed to convince our administration that I had four dental appointments every week, but he did and that was my grandfather.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in 2015, he was diagnosed with advanced extensive small cell lung cancer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the doctor told us the prognosis wasn't good.
[SPEAKER_00]: And my grandfather chose to fight.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had multiple surgeries.
[SPEAKER_00]: They removed part of his lung.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had many rounds of chemo and radiation.
[SPEAKER_00]: And though he actually did respond very well to the treatment, he fought and fought until August of 2016.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll never forget this day because Kelsey and my wife and I were traveling in Chicago.
[SPEAKER_00]: We were at a pastor's conference and he called me and I remember us having a good long conversation.
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked a little bit about the cubs because they apparently something important happened that year.
[SPEAKER_00]: And my family was we talked a lot about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But before hanging up I was I was going to hang up and he said hold on.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to know something really important.
[SPEAKER_00]: and I'm proud of you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't forget that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I did not know that that would be the last words he'd ever say.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I woke up the next morning he was gone.
[SPEAKER_00]: But those words have stayed with me.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's something powerful about somebody's last words.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when somebody knows that their life is ending, they don't waste it on small talk.
[SPEAKER_00]: They say what really matters.
[SPEAKER_00]: Cause last words carry weight.
[SPEAKER_00]: They give you something to hold onto, something to remember.
[SPEAKER_00]: Something that tells you exactly where you stand with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I can tell you this church, I never once have to wonder if my grandfather loved me.
[SPEAKER_00]: His last words made it crystal clear.
[SPEAKER_00]: See, I completely understood how he felt about me and where I stood with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said it, I love you, I'm proud of you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to know this because those words mean everything to me in many ways.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it does raise a question.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if the last words of someone we love can shape us in some ways for the rest of our life, what about the last words of Jesus?
[SPEAKER_00]: What about his most meaningful words, the last words he would say?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because these words I share with you are just the last words of a man, my earthly grandfather, but yet what about the last words of God incarnate here?
[SPEAKER_00]: What is that Jesus wanted us to remember as he knew his life was coming to an end?
[SPEAKER_00]: And what are those words revealed to us about how God feels towards us?
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, over in the next few weeks in the series, last words, we're gonna sit with the final words of Jesus that he spoke from the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because when someone knows their times is coming to a close, their final words reveal what matters to them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I believe that in this series, we'll get to unpack more and more of the heart of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And church, it's incredible because we've had these many accounts that get to share all of these things, but they become familiar for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And because of their familiarity of these phrases, we can often miss the heart of these words.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why I believe a series, like last words, truly matters so much.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because Jesus is dying on the cross, he doesn't waste his breath.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says what we exactly needed to hear.
[SPEAKER_00]: We never have to wonder how he felt about us, because Jesus' last words remove the question marks about where we will stand and if he loves us.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, my prayer for us first free is during this series every week as you hear new words that Jesus said, these last words that you would take them to heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: They wouldn't just be words we would hear, but they would be words that would impact the way in which we live, and we would pray day in and day out Jesus with these words lead me in my life.
[SPEAKER_00]: So today we're going to look at the first words that Jesus speaks from the cross, which is, so if you would, would you open your Bibles to Luke chapter 23, and we're going to be in verses 32 through 38.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if this is your first time experiencing me teaching, I work with teenagers, and so I do some things a little different, but what you'll see on the screen, you'll see some verses that will come up, and you'll see some words that are underlined or bolded, and so here's what I'm going to ask for your participation if you would to read those out loud, with some gusto, maybe some passion, maybe like we were at the blues game last night watching them win.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're there, you know, is exciting.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you would read with me in Luke chapter 23, verses 32, it says this, that two others, both criminals were led out to be executed with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when they came to the place called the skull, they nailed him to the cross and the criminals were also crucified.
[SPEAKER_00]: One on his right and one on his
[SPEAKER_00]: forgive them for they don't know what they are doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the soldiers gambled for as close by throwing dice.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the crowd watched and the leaders scoffed.
[SPEAKER_00]: He saves others, they said, let him save himself if he is really God's Messiah, the chosen one.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the soldiers mocked him to by offering him a drink of sour wine.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they called out to him, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 38 he closes with a sign was fastened above him with these words.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the King of the Jews.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know we only read like six verses, but first free.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe these six verses that Luke writes have so much gravity to them, so much goodness and weight here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in fact, if you've been reading in the gospel of Luke, Luke has been building to this moment for a long time.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, Jesus,
[SPEAKER_00]: set his face like Flint towards Jerusalem in Luke 9, and it's throughout Luke's gospel.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus isn't teaching about this kingdom that is coming, but one that was found through meekness and humility and mercy and love and not through power and might.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus has been showing mercy to sinners and outcasts and enemies of Rome and the undeserving, the unforgivable and throughout Luke's gospel, Jesus predicts his suffering repeatedly.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we see this come to pass.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see all these collide at the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the culmination of Luke's gospel is found in this moment, the crucifixion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Luke's looks gospel in many ways is unique in that he focuses on on these huge eyewitnesses accounts, but even his account of the crucifixion is a little distinct, because he doesn't want to just see that Jesus dies.
[SPEAKER_00]: In many ways he wants us to see the kind of King Jesus is when he dies.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because when we read about this, Luke emphasizes the depth of our blindness of our brokenness and our sin, and he emphasizes Jesus' innocence.
[SPEAKER_00]: He also has this big emphasis upon God's incredible love and mercy for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet we even see in the midst of this situation, Luke has this huge weight on Jesus' authority, even in his suffering here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're going to unpack so much from this from these six verses and as we do that the first thing I want you and I to understand is this statement is this is that the cross reveals the depth of human brokenness the cross reveals the depth of human brokenness because when we look in the gospel of Luke we see this ugly broken raw heartbreaking scene.
[SPEAKER_00]: We see Jesus is led out in this language of matters.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus doesn't just wonder and to suffering.
[SPEAKER_00]: He just wasn't some innocent bystander.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was not here on accident on the contrary of anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is here on divine purpose.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's being led out like a sacrificial victim.
[SPEAKER_00]: He, it echoes in the Old Testament of which it reminds us of the scapegoat that in Leviticus, in which would go out to take the sins of the people, it gives this imagery of Isaiah 53 of the suffering servant.
[SPEAKER_00]: It echoes the Passover meal that Jesus and his disciple celebrated just hours earlier where he said, his body would be broken and blunt, poured out for us as a sign of the new covenant.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lucas telling us that Jesus, the perfect, sinless, spotless lamb of God, is being taken outside of the city in shame to be rejected and bearing the curse of our sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it doesn't just stop here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Luke continues and says that there are two others, both criminals, led out to be executed with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to understand when you were reading this and it said that they nailed him to the cross, the first century audience didn't need Luke to explain crucifixion, the new with that myth.
[SPEAKER_00]: crucifixion was Rome's most brutal, painful method of execution in many, many, many ways.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was designed to do two things to severely punish the criminal, but it was also sent to send a message to everyone watching.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it was public, it was humiliating, it was slow, it took sometimes days, it was painful beyond what we could imagine.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was absolutely inhuman.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Rome wanted people to walk past and think, and know we don't challenge the power of Rome.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here it is that they brutally painfully nailed Jesus to the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Luke tells us he wasn't alone, that he's crucified between two criminals.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that details might seem small, but I wonder if Luke doesn't want us to notice something.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because earlier in the same gospel stories, the disciples asked Jesus a question.
[SPEAKER_00]: They said, hey, Jesus, when you come into your kingdom, may we sit at your right and your left.
[SPEAKER_00]: His disciples wanted glory at Jesus' right and their left.
[SPEAKER_00]: They think Jesus is gonna have this glory, magical, powerful moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you see, but the kingdom of God enthronement here doesn't happen through the powerful display of force they expected.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, the people in Jesus' right and it's left are not honored disciples, they're condemned criminals.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's interesting because Luke is showing us that Jesus is being treated like the worst kind of criminal imaginable and people are cheering for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, from the crowd, these people who are mocking him and shaming him and condemning him in this way.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like Lucas is showing us that Jesus' kingship is real, but it's so radically different from what people would think.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that Greek word there for criminal actually or first that evil doers and wrongdoers?
[SPEAKER_00]: These guilty of a serious offense.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it actually is interesting because it contrasts them with Jesus in a way that the gospel does.
[SPEAKER_00]: Luke over emphasizes, if you go and you read towards the end of the story in Luke chapter 23, over and over again, Luke gives overwhelming evidence of Jesus' innocence.
[SPEAKER_00]: In 23, 4, we see pilot finds no bases of charges against him, and sends him to herid, and in verse 15, herid finds no guilt deserving enough death, so he gets what sends him back to pilot, and then pilot in verse 22 says, no, no, he, I don't find anything guilty of him, and washes his hands for his punishment as the people say crucify him.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, if you fast forward in Luke 23, you'll see what the criminal say, we deserve this, but this man is innocent and even further down the line, we would see a centurion after Jesus' final breath would say, this man was different and innocent.
[SPEAKER_00]: He might have been God.
[SPEAKER_00]: See, Luke is stacking witness after witness to show us that Jesus wasn't dying for his own crimes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Luke wants us to understand the scandal of this moment, that the innocent one, God in the flesh is marched out as though he belongs to the same category of violent offenders.
[SPEAKER_00]: While Rome sees three condemned men, Luke sees something so much deeper, the king of kings, the righteous one, stepping into place for the unrighteous you and me to pay the price for our sins.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Luke describes what everyone's doing, that the soldiers are gambling for his clothes, the leaders, and the crowd are mocking him.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says in verse 38 that they fastened a sign above his head, that said, this is Jesus, King of the Jews.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, this was normal practice in the Roman Empire.
[SPEAKER_00]: The charge against the criminal would be displayed publicly.
[SPEAKER_00]: So even if they couldn't talk or they were, if they died, they knew this warning and an explanation of what they should not do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Luke makes it clear that this is another level of irony.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus' sign doesn't say, Thief, it doesn't say murderer, it doesn't even say blasphemer.
[SPEAKER_00]: It actually doesn't say any real crime.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says that Jesus is the king of the Jews.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see this ugly broken moment where they, they in a way, try to mock him.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's because they couldn't even give him a real accusation to put on his sign.
[SPEAKER_00]: All they could say was that he is the king of the Jews.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's amazing is they thought this was false.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those of us looking on get to see that this is gloriously powerfully true.
[SPEAKER_00]: The problem wasn't the statement though.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's that we so misunderstood what was happening and the kind of King Jesus was.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if this wasn't bad enough, that the crowds are mocking him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's been tried falsely arrested.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's crucified and next to criminals,
[SPEAKER_00]: and his people mock him.
[SPEAKER_00]: The same people who just a week earlier were shouting, Hosanna, save us, save us from Rome, be our king, the same crowd that wanted Jesus to be their king now says crucify him.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, see if in many, many ways, thanks to the Lord, that in this most terrible, broken moment, that the story doesn't end.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you that this moment, this terrible moment, doesn't end here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because the cross reveals the depth of human brokenness.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it also reveals the depth of God's mercy.
[SPEAKER_00]: The cross reveals the depth of human brokenness and the cross reveals the depth of God's mercy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because Luke records something that might be the most shocking thing in this story, is shocking as it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus from the cross says, Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Think about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: The soldiers have just driven nails through his hand, the people watching are mocking him.
[SPEAKER_00]: The crowd is literally watching him die, and Jesus doesn't curse them.
[SPEAKER_01]: He prays for them, not just anywhere, father, forgive them, forgive, not judge, not even stop, forgive.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus chose the words for gifts, while the nails were in his hands, while blood is still
[SPEAKER_01]: While people are mocking him, people are laughing, scaring as he struggles to breathe.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus speaks word that carries the full weight of heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: Forgive.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, shocking that is, the very people causing him pain, are the same people he's praying for.
[SPEAKER_01]: They did something unforgivable
[SPEAKER_00]: yet Jesus asks for their forgiveness, that in our darkest moment of cruel cruelty, the Son of God responds with forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the cross reveals something really uncomfortable, painful and ugly about us as people.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a depth to our sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it also reveals that with God,
[SPEAKER_01]: that God doesn't just see that, that God knowing that has a depth even greater in His mercy and His love.
[SPEAKER_00]: God's first response to us isn't judgment.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's actually love and mercy.
[SPEAKER_00]: That even though we were responsible for His suffering, Jesus pays that price for our forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that should change everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: because it doesn't mean that the cross doesn't just reveal our broken, it reveals the depth of which God's mercy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like think about all that's happening there at the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: It looks like Jesus is lost complete control of this situation and that Rome is in charge at the soldiers that are carrying out their orders, but at the end of the day, Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Reminds us something much bigger is happening, that he's not some victim of history, but that he is stepping into this moment on purpose.
[SPEAKER_00]: Think of it like this, that Jesus has been made a criminal himself, though he is not one to pay the punishment that we have earned.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, the only sin that was he had was placed on him that we would be forgiven and redeemed.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Apostle Paul II Corinthians says that God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: In other words, Jesus willingly stepped into the place where broken people, like you and me sinful people should stand and pay for our price.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus does not, because He did anything wrong, but because He loves us enough to stand and give mercy and forgiveness when we didn't deserve it, that He came to our rescue.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why even hanging on the cross, Jesus says those words that Luke records, Father, forgive them, not because He has to say it, not because it's the nice thing, but because this is who He is.
[SPEAKER_00]: The cross shows us just how far Jesus was willing to go to make forgiveness for you and I possible.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it shows us the depth of a love that refuses to give up on his people that even when it costs everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, I find remarkable that Jesus plays for give them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her phrase, Father forgive them, even though they didn't ask for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: even though the soldiers didn't apologize and they're gambling his clothes and the leaders are mocking and repenting the and none of them even said they knew what was wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: In many ways I think it tells us something extraordinary that forgiveness begins with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now not even with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is good news for you and I because because we often assume that God sees us and just looks on with wrath and judgment, we assume that for many of us we got to clean up our act first or prove that we're worthy or we do and we do and we go and we go because we have to earn our way into God's love.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the cross tells us this vastly different story that God's first instinct is love and mercy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before we even ask for it, Jesus was praying for our forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for you and I, when we grasp this, it should work in us and change us because the cross reveals something to us about who God is.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it also reveals this.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are reveals the depth of our need for forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: The cross reveals our need for forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: So are the cross-matters so much.
[SPEAKER_00]: They reveals this deep need that each and every single one of us have, that we need it, whether we admit it or not, we need forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before God, we stand shattered by sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then that's where this is so powerful because the cross is the meeting plate of justice and mercy, because justice is where sin must be dealt with and paid for.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, mercy says that the sinner can just be forgiven.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so at the cross, we see this beautiful intersection because of Jesus, that Jesus steps into our place, the punishment that just as demands falls on Him, and the mercy of God that He wants to give His freely given because Jesus pays the price that you and I could never pay.
[SPEAKER_00]: So have we really processed this, though?
[SPEAKER_00]: Have we processed the deeply we need forgiveness?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like not in a general sense, like personally,
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the last time we sat and dealt with the grips of this reality that we need the mercy and forgiveness of Jesus, because we can look at the story and we say, how could they nail him there?
[SPEAKER_00]: How could they do that?
[SPEAKER_00]: But in many ways, we forget that it was the sin or sin that put him there.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't the results of just Roman soldiers and religious leaders doing their orders.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the results of humanity's brokenness and sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our arse included.
[SPEAKER_00]: It made me think of that the older him, like how deep the fathers love for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the second verse has behold the man upon the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: My sin upon his shoulders ashamed, I hear my mocking voice, call out among the scoffers.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished.
[SPEAKER_00]: His dying breath has brought me life, and I know that it is finished.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why I believe the words of Jesus matter so much, because when Jesus says Father forgive them, even though these people are actively rejecting him, it's amazing he chooses this, who don't fully even understand they need it, because that's his heart that he reaches down for us to remind us of this.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, if many of you know, like I said, I'm a high school pastor, and so I thought I'd illustrate this kind of with an illustration,
[SPEAKER_00]: And some of you, when we think of our sin in our life, some of you think it's small, just like this little rod.
[SPEAKER_00]: A little white lie here, a little thing that I did, it wasn't a big deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not something big, it's not going to destroy my life, it's just a little sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I heard it said that maybe the greatest tactic of the enemy is convincing us that little things are not really a big problem, that they don't matter.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of us know exactly how destructive our sin can be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it didn't feel like a small thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we've made some mistakes.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's damage, some relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's hurt your family.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's left some consequences that couldn't be changed.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one needs to convince you that your sin has collateral damage.
[SPEAKER_00]: You've lived it, you get that.
[SPEAKER_00]: The question is, what do we do when we throw something like this against glass?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you guys want to find out?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a youth pastor, the answer is yes, so let's hope this works, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But like when we take something big and we throw it against glass, guess what?
[SPEAKER_00]: There's devastation, it's brokenness, but here's what's amazing, even the little thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: even little cracks, little shatters.
[SPEAKER_00]: See, even the little things cause this, because here's what's amazing, it's both of them, and many ways are broken.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the cost to fix them is not the same because many of us, we wanna fix up our lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: The problem is for you and I, as we can't fix this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Only Jesus can.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is the gospel is not that he comes and even fixes us.
[SPEAKER_00]: It has to be completely replaced in the cost for small sin and big sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: Guess what is the same?
[SPEAKER_00]: We have to replace the glass.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is the gospel is not that Jesus comes and just fixes our life up a little.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he gives us new life.
[SPEAKER_00]: He brings something entirely new for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: that we are made new in Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because for you and I, I want you to see this big sin, small sin, all of it, Saturn's.
[SPEAKER_00]: Small sin, Saturn's, big sin, Saturn's.
[SPEAKER_00]: The gospel is that a Jesus came and gave His life for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that if those of us who trust in His death be our own resurrection, that we can find life new in Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for some of us today, I want you to hear this, that you've maybe never placed your faith in Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that would be an incredible opportunity that even now, maybe you're hearing that there is forgiveness for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you don't have to keep trying to fix this up, that Jesus wants to give you new life.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this isn't just news for someone to explore in faith church.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is for all of us that we can all easily forget how deeply we need it for given us.
[SPEAKER_00]: That we were once standing in the same place so that same crowd that Jesus was there that we need to be reminded of our deep, deep forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the true business, whether you've been walking with Jesus for five minutes or 50 years, we come to the cross in the same way as people who need forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what do we do?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, if we need forgiveness and how do we live out forgiveness, text, I believe it simply is this, is that the cross invites us to forgive in Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, notice the emphasis here is in, not like Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, because the reason we, when we look at this, we see the word, forgive and Luke 23, it literally is, the word, a Femi or a Femi, and the core root of this is to send away to release to go, and it can mean three things, essentially, to forgive a debt or penalty.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's called that a cancellation.
[SPEAKER_00]: It also could mean to release someone from an obligation to release and to let go of something, instead of holding on to it, to let it go.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, when Jesus says Father forgive them, He's saying, Father release them from the guilt and the penalty of their sin, like nailing the Son of God to a cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: This was even commonly used in the financial world, especially in the ancient world, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: That it meant that we released the debt.
[SPEAKER_00]: We see that in Matthew 612, it says this, for give us our debts as we forgive our debtors, same word of Phoemie.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's choosing to release the delight right to collect that debt.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Matthew 420 essentially says that they left their nets, the disciples left their nets and followed him, left meaning of Phoemies, the exact same word that they released their net.
[SPEAKER_00]: They let something go.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's also seen even in Mark 131.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as it talks about the sick, girls says that the fever left her, left a sneeze, meaning that the sickness departed was sent away the same word for give means, canceled, release or let go.
[SPEAKER_00]: In some ways, I would say forgiveness is choosing to release the dead instead of collecting it.
[SPEAKER_00]: The reason I say that we have to forgive in Jesus and not like Jesus is because for their truth is is for many of us, we can't.
[SPEAKER_00]: You've had some stuff happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've had some really hard things that have come into our life and our own strength.
[SPEAKER_00]: We just can't.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's hard.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to think about what happened on the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: Think about that Jesus, when he prays this prayer as the nails are still happening, because I know if I was Jesus, I don't know if my choice would have been to ask for forgiveness for the people nailing me there but yet when we see Jesus, he chooses this.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a decision that he made to forgive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because forgiveness isn't just some feeling that we would have, it's a decision that we would make.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to make a few things clear.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because forgiveness is not approving what happened.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not excusing the wrong that was committed or even forgetting what happened.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because even think about it, at the cross, our debt was not ignored.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was paid in full by Jesus himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: That debt was absolutely real.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus bared the price of that cost, and he is the only one who pays that debt.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's fully aware of it of our brokenness and our sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't excuse it, he doesn't forget it, he doesn't approve of it, but he paid for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You forgave the inexcusable, unforgivable, and I had to remind myself of this, often that no matter how much I've been hurt, no one has sinned against me more than I've sinned against God.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one sinned against me more than I've sinned against God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so because of that,
[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember that Jesus forgave the unforgivable in me.
[SPEAKER_00]: That as I live this new life in him that I can forgive those who have done inexcusable to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, Ephesians 432 says it like this in 41 and, sorry, 31 and 32 says get rid of all bitterness and rage and anger, harsh words and slander as well as all types of evil behavior.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're 32 instead be kind to each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tenderhearted for giving one another just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because of what Jesus has done and those of us who place our faith in Him, we now have this agency that in Christ we can forgive, even the unforgivable things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it's this decision, it's not forgetting the past, it's not excusing it, it's learning to release it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a let it go.
[SPEAKER_00]: Close with this illustration.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like carrying a backpack.
[SPEAKER_00]: And deep in this bag is full of weight, things that we've been carrying around.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that argument we had, maybe with our spouse, our dear friend.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's that thing someone said to us that one time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's that job we lost.
[SPEAKER_00]: We were let go unfairly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it was that thing your mom said to you that one time that never, never left.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, we all have things that we pick up and we put, and the thing is, as we fill up this bag and it creates bitterness and resentment and hurts and we carry this weight and gets heavier and heavier and heavier.
[SPEAKER_00]: What Jesus invites you and I to do is not to carry it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, in many ways, he says the opposite to let it go that we would release it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you read the book piecemaker, it talks about forgiveness is not just a one-time decision, but an ongoing act that we will have to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because there's a reality that is much and beautiful as it is to let go.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes you see the person or the date on the calendar comes back and we start to feel ourselves slowly.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus reminds us when we see of who he is and what he's done.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we start to feel that we've started picking up, we have to remind ourselves, I'm going to let this go.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to start to say that we need to forgive in Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it reminds us that when we see the word of Femi, that it changes everything, that forgiveness means that we send it, and we let it go, that it's something that's ongoing, that we would release the dead, and when the memory comes back and resentment builds, we don't pick it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not because we don't forgive, not because we don't want to deal with it, but actually the opposite, because Jesus has forgiven the unexcusable in us that we will say, I will release it in Him as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe this, that's a follow Jesus means for us that we have to confront our unforgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: To follow Jesus means that we would confront our unforgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: And let me tell you that is a hard reality for us sometimes as we follow Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: It means that we've got to confront some things within ourselves.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it means honestly asking what rocks am I carrying?
[SPEAKER_00]: What things as Jesus paid for?
[SPEAKER_00]: And every time that resentment comes back, we have to learn, is that memory resurfaces that we're gonna either choose pick this bag up or release it at the feet of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the only way we can do that is because the greatest debt was already paid.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, my grandfather's last words were important to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, I love you and I'm proud of you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's something I've carried with me ever since.
[SPEAKER_00]: They shaped to me in my life.
[SPEAKER_00]: in the same way I hope and pray that Jesus is last words, would impact you as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because this last words revealed things that matter most.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so with for you and I, as we talk about this words, to forgive, to forgive, that that would sit with us as we leave.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just today, but in how we live it out tomorrow, because the real test for you and I is that these words wouldn't mean something we say here today, but that we would be, it's what we do tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_00]: The real test is what we do tomorrow when the memory comes back, the resentment builds.
[SPEAKER_00]: The backpack of rocks has to make it back to our shoulders.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the moment when following Jesus becomes real and trusting Him in what He's done for you and I.
[SPEAKER_00]: because church forgiven people forgive others.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those who have had the experience of the unamazing, unforgivable things in our life be forgiven, we will forgive the unforgivable and others.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let these words be words that we would remember.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just though, but that they'd also be words we live.
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you pray with me?
[SPEAKER_00]: Father, thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you that, in you, we can have and find forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that in you, we can forgive others.
[SPEAKER_00]: Father, we give all we are to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that even means us learning to release some things.
[SPEAKER_00]: It means us learning to let go of some things.
[SPEAKER_00]: What are the things that we've been holding on to?
[SPEAKER_00]: Who is it we've been holding forgiveness from?
[SPEAKER_00]: God, we don't need to ask here that they want forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't wait for us to ask.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can choose to release it today.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you help us to let go trusting in you that you have a bigger and greater plan.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for forgiving us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Use us, move in us.
[SPEAKER_00]: We pray that in the name of your son, Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.