The Last Word | Forgiveness - "Father, Forgive Them."

Thanks for checking out this podcast from Carterville Christian Church.

We're so glad you're here.

Our hope is that through these messages you'll grow deeper in your faith and experience the life-changing hope of Jesus.

Now let's jump into this week's teaching.

Well, good morning, C3 family.

How are we doing this morning?

Good.

Are we awake and alive and alert?

Okay, wonderful.

My name's James Bond, uh, and I actually serve at Ozark Christian College and Lincoln Seminary.

Uh, but here is what I found out when I got asked to preach this sermon this morning.

Uh so Austin Wees, our lead minister, he's on a mission trip right now in Honduras with a lot of our uh C3 family serving there.

Uh so make sure you are praying for them throughout this week.

Uh Damian Spickerite, our teaching minister, he had a full knee replacement on Friday.

Uh so of course he can't get up here and preach.

Uh so make sure you're praying for him that he has a smooth recovery.

And so the whole teaching team got together and they thought, who is the last person we could think of to preach?

And so the third string preacher is here, and so uh I am so so grateful uh that they let me.

Um please, please do know this.

Uh, I'm a Timothy of C3.

This church changed my life.

This church changed my life, and so every time I get up here, it's a holy and sacred task that I don't take lightly.

So please hear that this morning.

To start off, I need to make a confession, and the confession is this uh I am a I'm slowly learning how to say sorry more often.

Now, this is not a good thing, uh, it's becoming an easier thing for me.

Uh, but I first realized this when I was married, when I first got married to my beautiful wife, Miss Whitney.

Uh, I was always like doing the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Any husbands in the room understand what I'm saying at all?

Uh, you just say the wrong thing, thank you.

Uh so you just say the wrong thing at the wrong time, uh, and you need to say you're sorry, right?

That's the right thing to do.

And so I'm slowly learning how to say sorry because what I recognized when I got married is that I am a very selfish person.

And then we had two daughters, Eden and Emery, and I have learned how much more selfish I am now.

Because now I am constantly saying I am sorry, not only to Whitney, but to Eden and to Emery, trying to help them see uh that I know I'm not perfect, but I want to be a good father and a good husband, and so I'm slowly learning how to say I am sorry.

Now, one perk of uh kind of messing things up at times uh is that my girls are learning how to say I am sorry too, and they're also learning how to say I forgive.

Uh one really neat thing that the kids' church did last uh month, the memory verse of the month, was actually the Lord's Prayer.

Uh and within the Lord's Prayer, there is the phrase, Father for or excuse me, in the Lord's Prayer there is the phrase, uh, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

And so they've been practicing this all month, uh, but I wanted to show you them practicing it right now.

Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored.

May your kingdom come, may what you want to happen be done.

Honor.

I love those girls so much.

Uh and I also love, I love that they're learning the phrases forgive us and forgive those.

I'm grateful that our kids' ministry is training up kiddos to learn how to ask for forgiveness and how to give forgiveness.

Because in our culture today, forgiveness is something that's just wishy-washy.

It's something that you don't have to have.

Matter of fact, I think in our culture today, there's two extremes that people take, and the extremes are either hold on to greed and not let go of it, or to always think you're right and to never apologize.

But the key characteristic of a disciple of Jesus is someone who is willing to forgive even when it hurts.

Because in our text today, in Luke 23, Jesus, in the midst of such pain, speaks words of hope and forgiveness to people there that day, but to people to us as well today.

And so if you have your Bible with you this morning, I would love for you to turn to Luke 23.

That's where we'll be at in the Bible this morning.

Uh, I'm starting a new sermon series for us today called The Last Word.

The last word.

And what this series will be all about is the last word of Jesus, last words of Jesus from the cross.

Uh, and so there's three uh sayings of Jesus from the cross in the Gospel of Luke that we're gonna cover for the next three weeks.

And then on Resurrection Sunday, Easter Sunday, uh, we're gonna preach on a resurrection text uh of one of the last words Jesus has to say to his disciples there.

But the the key idea behind this series is what we want you guys to know is that uh these last words that Jesus spoke from the cross are not just words that he spoke to the crowd that day, but they're words he's speaking over us.

And so my prayer is that throughout these upcoming weeks, that you would recognize the depth and the love and how far Jesus went for each of us while he was on a cross for us.

And so uh today we'll be in Luke 23, like I said, and my theme for today uh is that to the unforgivable, Jesus says, You are forgiven.

And that's really, really good news.

So, as uh before we get to Luke 23, uh I want to cover some context for us, just that way we remember where we've been.

So we've been in the Gospel of Luke for the last month.

Uh so if you remember Luke chapter 9, verse 51, it says that Jesus resolutely set his face towards Jerusalem.

Luke 9:51

Uh, and so from Luke chapter 9 through Luke chapters 19, it's a journey with Jesus and this the disciples as you read through those chapters.

Luke 9 · chapter mention Luke 19 · chapter mention

But when you get to the end of chapter 19, we have the starting of Holy Week.

It's where Jesus doesn't ride into Jerusalem uh in a Ferrari or in a nice motorcycle.

No, he rides in on a donkey, on which no one has ever said, Is that a miracle or what?

I think it is, but more so it's probably just that the donkey was pure, and you need to have a pure donkey for the pure Son of God.

And so he rides into Jerusalem at the end of Luke 19.

Uh, and then in Luke 20 and 21, we get Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Holy Week.

It's a lot of teachings of Jesus.

It's him telling them that you need to deal with me.

But then we get to Thursday, and Thursday is Passover, and that's Luke 22.

And there's two things I want to point out about the context before we jump into our passage today.

And the the first thing I want to point out is if you look in your Bible in Luke 22, verse 53, listen to what Jesus says as he's being arrested by the soldiers.

Luke 22:53

Okay, so this is after the Garden of Gethsemane.

Judas has come back to betray him.

He's being arrested, and listen to what Jesus says.

But this is your hour when darkness reigns.

When darkness reigns.

It seems like what Jesus is saying that everything that happens after this moment is a very dark, dark moment in history.

And so darkness reigns through Peter disowning him three times, through the soldiers grabbing him and beating him and making fun of him.

And then he's tried before the high priestly council, and they take him to Pilate, and that's the beginning of Luke chapter 23.

Luke 23 · chapter mention

And at the beginning of Luke chapter 23, Jesus is tried three times.

Luke 23 · chapter mention

He's tried by Pilate, he's tried by Herod, and then he's tried by Pilate again.

And do you know what the overwhelming claim is made in Luke 23?

It's that Jesus is innocent.

Three times from the lips of Pilate, he says, he does not deserve the death penalty.

Herod, through the lips of Pilate, says, He does not deserve the death penalty.

But in the midst of a big crowd, Jesus, Barabbas, the crowd shouts, or Pilate asks the crowd, who do you want?

And the crowd overwhelmingly shouts, Barabbas.

And so Barabbas is released, a murderer, an insurrectionist.

He's able to go free.

While Jesus is taken with the soldiers, and he's beaten, and he's whipped, and he's mocked, and he's made fun of, and then they pick him up and they begin to walk him to a hill.

And we pick up in the story, it's Luke chapter 23, starting in verse 26.

Luke 23 · chapter mention

This is what it says.

As the soldiers 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.

Now, a real quick note is that uh one, the reason why Simon of Cyrene is carrying the cross for Jesus is because Jesus was probably so exhausted from being beaten and whipped and made fun of that he couldn't even carry his own cross because of what they've done to him.

And then the very interesting note that Luke says he carried it behind Jesus.

There's no other gospel record that says that.

They'll say Simon carried his cross, but they won't say he carried it behind Jesus.

Maybe Luke is trying to show us a picture of what following King Jesus looks like.

It's carrying a cross behind him, not in front of him, you're not the leader, not beside him, behind him, following him wherever he goes.

It's what he said earlier to the disciples in Luke chapter 9, verse 23.

Luke 9:23

Whoever wants to be my disciple must pick up their cross daily and follow me.

This is what Simon the Sirene is doing: picking up his cross and following Jesus.

Then verse 27.

A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.

This is a reversal of what's been going on.

Everybody's been accusing Jesus, mocking Jesus, making fun of Jesus, but right here the women are wailing and mourning for Jesus.

It seems like in the Gospel of Luke, women are the key disciples.

They are the ideal disciples because they know what it looks like and what Jesus is calling them to do, to follow after him.

If you remember uh earlier on in Luke chapter 8, it actually says at the beginning of Luke 8, 8, that there were many women who followed after Jesus with the 12 disciples, and these women gave out of the means, out of their own money, to support the ministry that Jesus was doing.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

Women can be ideal disciples in the Gospel of Luke, and they're war uh wailing and they're mourning for Jesus.

And then verse 28, Jesus turned, and I'm assuming, to these women, and he 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 childless women, the wounds 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.

This is a lot of end times language, a lot of destruction language.

And this is a really weird uh blessing or beatitude of Jesus.

In Luke chapter 6, we get some of those beatitudes like blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted, uh, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Luke 6 · chapter mention

But right here, blessed are the childless women and the wombs that this doesn't sound uh right, but maybe Jesus is trying to tell them of what's about to happen, of the foretaste, the judgment that that Jerusalem is about to have.

Because in AD 70, uh uh the the temple is going to be destroyed.

It's gonna be gone.

And maybe, maybe this section, what Jesus is saying to these women is more of a prophetic judgment, or maybe it's a compassionate uh response to them.

It's a compassionate way to say, I see you and I hear you, but here's what's coming.

Because earlier on in Luke chapter 19, when Jesus rides in uh to Jerusalem on a donkey, he when he gets to Jerusalem, he doesn't call down judgment.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

Matter of fact, he wails, he weeps at the city because he knows what's coming.

And so maybe this is a compassionate response from Jesus telling them what's to come.

And then he says, verse 31, for if the people do these things, crucify Jesus, when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?

Then he says, verse 32, two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.

When they came to the place called the Skull, often this is called Gogotha, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on his right and the other on his left.

One interesting thing to note with your gospels, when you read through the gospels and you read the crucifixion stories, you'll notice all the writers say is that he was crucified.

That's it.

They don't give any details of how he was crucified.

And it's because those first century believers knew what crucifixion was all about.

We may not, but they knew, so they didn't need to go into detail.

But maybe you know what it's about.

It's about two beams that in the shape of a cross that we often wear around our neck.

And those two wooden beams, they would take a human being and they would put nails in the hands and nails in the feet and put him on that cross.

And there at the cross, they could uh mock him and make fun of him, they would throw things at them.

Uh, you see, the Persians started this, but the Romans perfected it.

And so this uh way of crucifying people was a way to humiliate them, to make sure they knew who was in charge.

That would be Rome of the day.

But but Jesus, the perfect, sinless, son of God, is being crucified, even though he's innocent, he's never sinned, and he's crucified along two criminals.

And then in what I would think is a great moment of uh desperation, instead it seems like Jesus is at is at his best.

Because listen to the very first of the last words that Jesus offers, verse 34.

Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

That is a powerful statement.

Father, forgive them.

While he hangs on the crap cross, who is the them?

I'm assuming it's the Roman soldiers that have crucified him.

I'm also assuming that it's probably Pilate.

I'm also assuming it's the Jewish uh high priest uh uh counsel that got him to Pilate in the first place, and he's saying, Father, forgive them.

The word forgive means to send away, to release, to no longer be there.

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they're doing.

Did they not know what they were doing?

It kind of seems like they knew what they were doing.

I mean, they had perfected crucifixion.

So did they not know what they were doing?

I think they did, but I don't think they knew who they were crucifying.

You see, because right after he says this, Jesus says this, listen to what it says.

And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

It almost seems like these Roman soldiers are playing poker at the foot of the cross.

Maybe it's because they think Jesus is just some average Joe, and yet he is the king of glory that his sinless, his reputation is far above any, and yet he is being crucified on a cross.

And they're playing poker while he uh while they're dividing up his clothes.

And then it says, verse 35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him.

They said, He saved others, let him save himself, if he is God's Messiah, the chosen one.

The soldiers also came up and mocked him.

They offered him wine vinegar and said, If you are king of the Jews, save yourself.

There was written a notice above him, which read, This is King of the Jews.

That's the third time it's been mentioned that Jesus is King of the Jews in our text this morning.

But I really want to highlight that phrase Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

You see, Jesus, in the midst of hardship, in the midst of the hardest moment of his life, what I would do is fight back.

What I would do is curse.

But what does Jesus do?

Jesus blesses, Jesus forgives.

Jesus, in a rare act of amazement to me, shows that anyone at the cross can be forgiven.

In the midst of such emotional pain, in the midst of such physical pain, he decided to forgive.

And in doing so, he demonstrates God's love to a broken and helpless world.

It's as the prophet Isaiah talks about it.

Uh, earlier in the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah in chapters 52 and 53 talks about a suffering servant, a servant who would die on behalf of his people, a suffering servant who would uh uh the chastise chastisement brought about him would bring the people peace.

And then Isaiah the prophet says this in Isaiah 53, verse 12, for he bore the sin of many and made intercession, made prayer for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:12

You see, Jesus, bearing the sins of the whole world, still makes intercessions for his killers.

I believe this is the love of God truly on display, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

But what I find incredible about this is that Jesus, in this wonderful uh act of love, demonstrates his love for people.

I uh am assuming that the disciples uh somehow, someway are hearing the things that are going on, and they know what's going on, and so much so that when Jesus dies and rises from the dead, something in the disciples begins to change.

And one of them in particular, his name's Stephen.

Stephen, uh, seeing what Jesus has done, does something that is so extraordinary to me.

Because later on in the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 7, uh Stephen is preaching a sermon.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

Uh, and the sermon is uh what Ronald Heine, I know it's a funny last name, ignore it.

Uh Ronald Heine, he was a Lincoln seminary professor.

Uh, he one time said that Acts chapter seven is a bird's eye view of the whole Bible.

Meaning, uh, when in Acts chapter seven, when Stephen starts his speech, he starts from the very beginning.

He starts with Genesis, Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, then he goes to uh King David, and then he goes to Solomon.

And then do you know how he ends his sermon in Acts chapter 7?

Acts 7 · chapter mention

He ends his sermon by saying, You have uncircumcised ears and hearts.

Last time I checked, those don't get circumcised.

So I'm a little bit confused on his terminology, but I think we get the point, right?

The point is that they're not hearing and they're not seeing what God is doing.

And after that, as he gets done preaching, the Sanhedrin, who he's preaching to, they take Jesus, or they take Stephen, excuse me, and they take him outside of the city.

If you remember in the book of Hebrews, Jesus was taken outside of the city.

And as Stephen is taken outside of the city, the people begin to stone him to death.

And listen to what Stephen, the preacher, says to the crowd that day.

It's uh Acts chapter 7, starting in verse 59.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

He says this, while he's being stoned to death.

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

Then verse 60.

Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Who does that sound like?

Everybody say Jesus.

Okay, everybody say Jesus.

Good.

Yeah, it sounds like Jesus.

Stephen is living out the life that Jesus lived out.

I often wonder how can Stephen do something like this?

Most people say that it's a year between uh the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus to the death of the first martyr, Stephen.

What transpired within that year?

I mean, if he saw him crucified, would that make you want to go do the very same thing he did?

Maybe not.

But maybe, maybe the difference between Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension and his speech in Acts 7, maybe the difference, the thing in between was that he internalized the gospel for himself.

Maybe it was he internalized the forgiveness of sins and the grace of God and the love of God for his own life, so much so that even while people are stoning him to death, he can say, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing.

You see, Stephen is a beautiful picture of what we are called to do today.

We are called to follow our crucified King named Jesus.

Jesus is the one who we look after.

Jesus is the one who died on the cross for us, and Stephen is the one who shows us what it looks like to follow after him.

He internalizes the gospel and it changed the way he lived his life.

In other words, here's the big idea for my sermon today.

Here's my sermon in a sentence, it's this our forgiving king invites us into a forgiving life.

Our forgiving king invites us into a forgiving life.

And I think that's true.

So if that's true, I think there's three questions we need to ask ourselves this morning.

There's three questions we need to reflect on for ourselves to understand and appreciate this text.

Here's question number one.

Question number one is this Who can be forgiven?

Who can be forgiven?

Out of all the people in the world, who can be forgiven?

I asked this question because I often wonder if sometimes we have like an A, B, C chart.

That if someone is in the A chart, they're forgiven.

If someone is in the B chart, they may be forgiven, but if someone's in the C chart, they'll never be forgiven.

I remember a friend of mine told me he had a small group leader in his church that was uh shepherding a small uh small group, uh, and the the the small group leader said in the group uh that those who murder people uh they are not forgiven and they will not be in heaven.

I wanted to ask him a follow up question.

Is that the way Jesus talked about forgiveness in the gospels?

Because I think sometimes we put disqualifiers on forgiveness, but I want to ask us the question does Jesus put disqualifiers on forgiveness?

He doesn't.

It seems like to me, especially since this last month, since we've been studying through the gospel of Of Luke, that Jesus welcomes all sinners into his kingdom, that they have any opportunity to come to him, and he is willing to accept them.

That's what Jesus is about.

He did it with prostitutes, he did it with sinners, he did it with tax collectors, he did it with a prodigal son, he was willing to do it with an elder brother, he's willing to do it with anybody as long as they come to Jesus.

Because you see, here's the beauty of following Jesus is you don't have to earn his forgiveness.

You don't have to like fight and try and do better to earn forgiveness.

Instead, forgiveness is a gift from God that if you trust in Jesus, it is freely yours to take.

You see, Jesus lets us know that all sinners are welcomed in his kingdom.

And if that's true, I need to ask question number two.

Question number two is this Are you forgiven?

Are you forgiven?

It's a hard question to ask yourself, but it's an important question.

It's a question that you must ask.

Have you turned to Jesus and asked for forgiveness?

Because as David says in Psalm 51, after he's committed adultery with Bathsheba, in Psalm 51, he says, Against you and you only have I sinned.

Now, Bathsheba was definitely sinned against, yes.

It seems like David in Psalm 51, though, makes it clear that we cannot forget just uh the horizontal relationship in forgiveness, but we must not forget the vertical relationship in forgiveness.

We must remember that forgiveness we need desperately from the God of the universe.

And God did this through Jesus.

God sent his son Jesus to forgive us.

What he said on the cross 2,000 years ago is what he's saying to us this morning, Father, forgive them.

So will you trust in Jesus to receive the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting?

Will you trust in Jesus, the King and Savior of your life, so that your guilt and shame could be washed away?

Will you trust in Jesus so that the blood that's on your hands can be washed with the blood of his own hands?

Will you trust in Jesus, who was whipped and beaten and mocked and made fun of, to die for the bad things you and I did?

Will you trust in Jesus?

Because if you do, if you turn to him, he will forgive you and make you worthy.

I'll never forget a story I heard from James McCracken.

He was the lead minister at uh Boulevard Christian Church in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

And in this, uh he was telling the story of one day he's the lead minister of the church in in uh Muskogee, Oklahoma, and he's telling this story uh that a Jewish man had begun coming to his church.

Uh, and so I've got my yarmulke here today.

This is what uh Jewish people wear to show like the sacredness of the temple.

Uh and so uh he he sees the Jewish man come in and he goes and introduces himself to him and says, Hey, I'm James, I'm the lead minister of the church.

So glad you're here, I'm so thankful you're here.

Uh tried to get to know him more.

Uh and by the end of the conversation, James just told him, Hey, we want you to know the yarmulca you're wearing.

We don't like see the building as like a holy space.

We actually are the holy space, uh, Paul says, and so you don't have to wear that here.

And the Jewish man said, Well, thank you, but I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy.

And so James just said, Okay, we hope you keep coming back.

So every Sunday, James would get up and he would preach, and the Jewish man would stand in the back.

He wouldn't sit with the church, he would stand right there in the back, and he just kept preaching and kept preaching.

And one Sunday he went down the stage and stood up front for an invitation hymn.

And what do you know?

The Jewish man is walking down the aisle to give his life to Jesus.

And so James tells him, Are you giving your life to Jesus today?

He says, Yes.

And so he makes the great declaration.

And before they walk back, he says, Hey, do you want to take your yamulka off?

Like we're gonna dunk you under the water, it's gonna get wet.

He says, No, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy.

James says, Okay, all right.

So they go back to the baptistry and they get changed and then they get into the baptistry.

And one more time, James wants to make sure.

He said, Are you sure you don't want to take off your yarmulk?

It's going to get wet.

I'm dunking you now.

And he says, No, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy.

So James says, whatever, and he dunks him under the water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he comes back up.

And do you know what the Jewish man did that day?

He took off his yarmulk and he threw it towards the congregation, and he said, I'm not unworthy anymore.

You see, Jesus, Jesus makes us worthy.

And maybe you need reminded this morning that the thing that makes you worthy isn't what you have done, but it is what Jesus has done for you.

He makes us worthy.

So will you turn and trust in Jesus?

Question number three.

Here's the final question.

Who, uh, excuse me, uh, who do you need to forgive?

Who do you need to forgive?

This is where I think the sermon gets harder.

Because the first two questions we can talk about and dialogue all day long.

We can talk about who can be forgiven, we can talk about the vertical relationship, but I think the living out of those first two things is in this third question.

This is the hard part.

Because you can believe in the forgiveness of God, but can you live out the forgiveness of God?

You see, we have to ask ourselves this question.

If we're talking about forgiveness, who needs forgiven in your life?

Who do you need to forgive?

Because it seems like Jesus makes it very clear to us that he forgave even the worst of kind of people.

And so maybe, maybe we need reminded this morning that no matter how good people may look or be, and no matter how bad people may look and be, they are welcome and they deserve forgiveness.

Because as the Apostle Paul will say in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 32, he says this be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 4:32

This is the gospel lived out.

This is how we do it.

And it's not forgiving and like I'm sorry, and then you just leave them alone.

No, it's I'm sorry, and you don't hold a grudge and you don't think you're right all the time.

It's I'm sorry, will you forgive me?

It's it's forgiving even the worst kind of people and the best, best kind of people.

I'll never forget a story I was told and saw of a young man named Brandt Jean.

Uh Brandt Jean uh is a young African-American man, uh, and he's actually uh goes to a restoration movement church kind of like ours down in Texas.

Uh, but this story was actually told on the news of uh his older brother Botham.

Botham was uh in his own apartment room eating ice cream, uh, and police officer Amber Geiger uh walked up to the apartment room and walked in, thinking it was her own apartment, and thinking that Botham was a burglar, she pulled out her gun and shot him.

And she got the police there, uh, and and they took him to the hospital, and eventually he would die in the hospital.

And moments after this, she would be arrested and charged guilty for murder.

But then the younger brother, Brent Jean, in during the trial, had a lot of things to say to Amber, and I want you to turn your attention to the screen to hear what he says.

I can speak for myself.

I I forgive you.

And I know if you go to God and ask him, he will forgive you.

And I don't think anyone could say it.

Again, I'm speaking for myself, not even behalf of my family.

But I love you just like anyone else.

And I'm not gonna say I hope you rot and die just like my brother did, but I see I I personally want the best for you.

And I I wasn't gonna ever say this in front of my family or anyone, but I don't even want you to go to jail.

I want the best for you because I know that's what that's exactly what both of them would want you to do.

And the best would be give your life to Christ.

I'm not gonna say anything else.

I think giving your life to Christ would be the best thing that both of them would want you to do.

Again, I love you as a person.

And I don't wish anything bad on you.

I don't know if this is possible, but can I give her a hug, please?

Please.

That is a picture of forgiveness.

Loving his enemies and praying for them.

How could he do something like that?

Maybe it's because he internalized the gospel, he made it real to him, because he recognized what Jesus has done on his behalf.

That he is forgiven and free, and because of that, he can love anybody who he comes in contact with.

Reminds me of what C.S.

Lewis said.

C.S.

Lewis says this to be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.

So I want to ask you again.

Who do you need to forgive?

Is it a spouse?

Is it a family member that's sitting right next to you right now?

Is it a parent far away?

Is it an abuser?

Is it an alcoholic?

Is it a friend who betrayed trust?

Who is it that you need to forgive today?

Because in forgiving, we look like our forgiving king.

So whatever burden, whatever guilt, whatever shame you carry in this room this morning, I want you to hear me please.

That our High King of Heaven loves you and is waiting to be in relationship with you.

So whatever you came in here with this morning, please know He wants to be in relationship with you.

He loves you.

And what he spoke to that crowd is the very same thing he speaks to us.

Father, forgive them.

Our forgiving King is inviting us to live a forgiving life.

How will you respond?

Thanks again for listening to the Carterville Christian Church podcast.

Our prayer is that today's message has encouraged you and drawn you closer to Jesus.

To learn more or get connected with our church family, visit CartervilleChristian.com.

We'd love to walk alongside you in your journey of faith.