Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

We’re starting a brand new series today called Death By Love. This series is a beast. It is seven weeks long. But it’s going to be one of the most amazing series in the history of our church. I absolutely believe that.

When Jesus was crucified, he spoke from the cross. The Bible records seven different statements that Jesus made while he hung on the cross. There may have been more, but these are the seven statements that the Bible tells us about.

Over the next seven weeks, we’re going to go deep into these seven statements. We’re going to tackle one per week. And it is going to blow our minds.

Death is the great clarifier. When someone is dying, their priorities become crystal clear. For those of us who are going through day-to-day life, it’s very easy for our priorities to get foggy. To forget what is most important to us. But death brings clarity.

When Jesus was on the cross, knowing that death was imminent, He spoke with laser precision about what was truly important to Him. In these seven statements, we really get a complete picture of who Jesus was. What His life was about. And what His mission and purpose for us really is.

Through every single statement He made on the cross, we see one common theme. There is a single common thread running through each statement: love.

The cross was no accident. It was meticulously planned. It was orchestrated by the will and the word of God. It was the one and only way to pave a road that could lead us back to God. It truly was a death by love.

And that love is going to become incredibly real to us over the next seven weeks. It’s going to be intense. It’s going to be emotional. It’s going to be highly personal. It’s going to be a move of God in our church.

We’re going to open it up with Jesus’ first statement from the cross. We’re going to be in Luke 23 today. Let’s pray and then we’ll open the Word of God.

Luke 23, starting in verse 32. “Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with [Jesus] to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, 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 God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” (Luke 23:32-35, NIV)

Jesus’ most famous statement from the cross was also his first. In verse 34, He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Jesus’ first words from the cross were a prayer. And it wasn’t a prayer for Himself. It was a prayer for His executioners. And it was a prayer for us.

This prayer is the embodiment of love. And we’re going to explore the depth of that love today as we kick off this series.

Forgiveness is freedom. Say that out loud with me. Forgiveness is freedom.

One of the things that I do in our house is a lot of the laundry. I’m usually in charge of washing the clothes. When Nicki and I first got married, I didn’t know much about laundry. Now I’m like a laundry ninja. I challenge any guy in this room to a laundry throwdown. I will kick your tail. Seriously, I will take you Downy. I will Bounce you. You can’t get with All this. You will have no Gain. There will be no Cheer. I will bring an Arm and then a Hammer. I will sweep over you like a Tide. When I’m done with you, you’ll crawl home to your wife and beg to Snuggle.

If you fellas didn’t catch all the laundry references, your wife needs to make you do more laundry.

But, even I wasn’t always a Laundry Jedi. I started out a as lowly Padawan. (Star Wars references = now the guys are with me!) Especially when it came to things like bleach.

When we moved into our house, my wife picked out some really nice, dark brown towels for our bathroom. They really make the room pop. They look great. At least they used to.

One day when I was doing the laundry, I added a tad too much bleach to the load of towels. Not color-safe bleach. Just straight up bleach. And guess what? Our towels don’t look so awesome anymore. They are part brown, part ugly bleach stain.

Nicki saw that and said, “Did you bleach our towels?”

I thought about my options. As it turns out, I didn’t really have any. I thought about lying. Yeah, I know, that’s not a good idea PASTOR! I know, but when a man is drowning, he’ll look for anything to grab onto.

But I didn’t lie. Not that I didn’t want to, but I knew that I would regret it later. And I also knew that the evidence was right in front of me. Those ugly bleach stains were a pretty strong testimony about my guilt.

So I just said, “Yeah. I bleached the towels.”

And, even though she was disappointed, my wife forgave me. Not because I deserved it. Not because I wasn’t guilty. I didn’t deserve it and I was absolutely guilty. But she forgave me because she loves me. That’s what love does.

Love doesn’t ask if forgiveness is deserved. Love simply forgives.

Think about the scene around the cross. Jesus was crucified between two criminals. They were unquestionably guilty.

He was nailed to a cross by Roman soldiers. Those same soldiers then gambled for His clothing while He hung naked on the cross. They were obviously guilty.

The religious leaders sneered at Him and mocked Him. They were the ones who set this whole tragedy in motion. They were obviously guilty.

And yet Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them.”

Not, “Father, forgive them because they really deserve it.” Not, “Father, forgive them because they really are innocent.”

Just, “Father, forgive them.”

It is completely undeserved. It is illogical, improbable, utterly ridiculous love. But that is what true love is. You can’t measure it by logic. It doesn’t follow a normal, natural course. Love moves with reckless abandon. Love doesn’t count the cost. Love forgives when forgiveness isn’t deserved. And in that forgiveness , there is freedom.

You don’t deserve this kind of love. I don’t deserve this kind of love. There is nothing we have done or could ever do to make ourselves worthy of this kind of love. In fact, everything we have done points to the contrary. We are unquestionably guilty. The stain of sin is all over us. We are broken. We are sin-stained. We are an absolute mess.

But three little words can change all that. “Father, forgive them.” These three little words are transformative. Once someone understands the power of, “Father, forgive them,” they are never the same.

In Revelation 1, the Bible says that Jesus “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” (Revelation 1:5b, NIV)

I think all of us believe the first part of that. We believe that Jesus loves us. “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

We believe that Jesus loves us. When someone is willing to die for you, it is easy to believe that that person loves you.

But I have met so many people in my years of ministry that stumble over the second part of this truth. They believe that Jesus loves them. But they don’t believe that Jesus frees them.

It’s easy to see that they don’t believe that because they live lives that are imprisoned.

I have met more people than I could ever count who claim to be forgiven…they claim that Jesus loves them…yet they live in constant crushing guilt.

Do you know how insane this is? Do you know how incredibly wrong this is?

Revelation says that Jesus loves us AND frees us. It says that the blood of Jesus is proof that He loves us AND it is the payment that sets us free. And yet so many of us are content to live in guilt. Even if Jesus forgives us, we can’t ever be free. Jesus forgives us, but we can’t seem to forgive ourselves.

You ever been there? You hear that Jesus loves you. You see this incredible prayer of forgiveness that Jesus prayed on the cross. And yet, even though Jesus has forgiven you, you can’t forgive yourself.

Timothy Keller said, “When people say, ‘I know God forgives me, but I can’t forgive myself,’ they mean that they have failed an idol, whose approval is more important than God’s.”

If you can’t forgive yourself, then you have become your own idol. Jesus says, “I love you. I forgive you. I set you free.”

And you respond, “Well, I’m sorry but that isn’t good enough. I can’t forgive myself. My opinion is more important than yours.” If you choose to go that route, good luck to you. That’s all I can say.

Revelation 1 clearly says that forgiveness and freedom are a package deal. If you believe that Jesus forgives, then you must believe that Jesus sets free. Forgiveness = Freedom. If you are not free, then you have not been forgiven. If you are forgiven, then you are free. Either you believe that Jesus loves you AND Jesus sets you free, or you believe neither.

What are you carrying around? What is the guilt that constantly haunts you? I talk to people every single week who are carrying around huge burdens. The enormous weight of their sin is always on their shoulders.

What is it for you? Is it your sexual sin? Your anger? Your lie? Your abuse? Your addiction? Your abortion? What is the sin that you can’t get over?

You tell me about your sin, and I’ll tell you about my Jesus. You tell me about your guilt, and I’ll tell you about my Jesus. You tell me about your sin-stained life, and I’ll tell you about my Jesus.

I’ll tell you about my Jesus because He saves. I’ll tell you about my Jesus because He lives. I’ll tell you about my Jesus because He heals. I’ll you about my Jesus because He forgives. I’ll you about my Jesus because He frees.

If you are stumbling through life weighed down by the guilt of your sin, you haven’t met my Jesus. I don’t care if you call yourself a Christian. You can call yourself a disciple. You can call yourself a Christ-follower. You can call yourself whatever you want. If you are living in guilt, then you haven’t met my Jesus.

I don’t care if you’ve been in the church for longer than I’ve been alive. You might have been a part of the church for 50 years, but if you’re living in guilt, you haven’t met my Jesus.

And I’m here today to change that. I’m here today so you can meet my Jesus. My Jesus is the one who willingly went to the cross. My Jesus is the one who took the beating, took the insults, took the nails. And my Jesus is the one who prayed, “Father, forgive them” while He was being murdered. That’s my Jesus! And I want you to meet Him. I want you to know Him. I want you to know my Jesus.

If you are living in the prison of guilt, then you believe that Jesus is not good enough. His death was not good enough. His prayer of forgiveness wasn’t good enough. His resurrection wasn’t good enough.

If you are living a life of guilt-ridden captivity, you are telling Jesus, “Nice try, dude. But you failed. Your entire mission of forgiveness and freedom was an epic failure.”

If Jesus can’t forgive you, then He can’t forgive anybody. If He can’t set you free, then He can’t free anybody. Either Jesus is your pathway to forgiveness and freedom, or He was the most colossal failure to ever walk on this planet. Which is it?

In Romans 8, the Bible says, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39, NIV)

Nothing can separate you from the love of my Jesus. Nothing. Your past can’t do it. Your present can’t do it. Your future can’t do it. Your sin can’t do it. Your failures can’t do it. Your guilt can’t do it.

Nothing can separate you from the freedom that is found in the love of Christ. Why are you still hanging onto it? When are you going to finally let it go? When are you going to finally let Jesus be Jesus instead of setting yourself up as the god of your own life? Jesus is God, and Jesus has declared by His death and resurrection that you are forgiven, which means you are free.

Forgiveness is freedom. Say it out loud again with me. Forgiveness is freedom.

If you are forgiven, then you will live in freedom. On the flip side of the coin, when we refuse to live in freedom, we make a mockery of Jesus. In fact, we join with the religious leaders standing around the cross mocking Jesus.

In Luke 23, the Bible tells us, “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.” (Luke 23:35, NIV)

The religious leaders stood around the cross, mocking Jesus. They believed His life was an abject failure. His mission was worthless. And His death would mark the end of a wasted life.

When we live in slavery instead of freedom, we join them. When we never allow our guilt to be taken from us, we join them. We live a life of mockery for Jesus. We believe He was a failure.

If you don’t believe that, then live in freedom!

In Galatians 5, the Bible reminds us, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1, NIV)

Forgiveness is freedom. That’s what we see in Jesus. That’s what we see in the cross. We see a love that forgives completely. We see a love that sets us free.

And that’s what our church is all about. We are all about proclaiming freedom. That’s why we do what we do. That’s why we make the changes we make. That’s the lens that we need to look through. In everything our church does, we need to see it through the lens of forgiveness and freedom.

That’s why we plan our services the way that we do. It’s all designed to reach lost people for Jesus. It’s all about proclaiming forgiveness and freedom. That’s why we play the music that we play. It’s why we dress the way we dress. It’s why we use the videos that we use. Everything is done to remove all the barriers that we possibly can.

Coming to faith in Christ is hard enough. We don’t want to make it harder. We want our church to be as warm and approachable and exciting as it can possibly be to reach lost people for Jesus.

So if I don’t like the music, it doesn’t matter. I’m already forgiven and I’m already free. That means I should be the first one in line to sacrifice my rights and my preferences.

If I don’t like a change that the church has made, I should be the first one to embrace it anyway. If that change is going to mean reaching lost people for Jesus, then it is a good change…whether I personally like it or not.

If you are already forgiven and free, then you will want to move heaven and earth to help everyone else experience that same forgiveness and freedom. If you are not willing to lay down anything for a lost person…if you are not willing to sacrifice your rights and your preferences and your opinions and your comfort for a lost person…then can I tell you something? You are not like Jesus.

Don’t tell me how moral you are. Don’t tell me how much you read your Bible. Don’t tell me how much you pray. If you are not willing to sacrifice anything and everything to help reach a lost person for Jesus, then you are not like Jesus.

Jesus laid down EVERYTHING for lost people. That’s what the cross is all about. Giving everything. Sacrificing all. And then commanding us to follow suit.

Forgiveness is freedom. That’s what our church is all about. That’s what our individual lives are all about. Living in freedom. And going to any extreme to share that freedom.

Crucifixion was common in the Roman Empire. Very common. The Romans would publicly crucify people who had rebelled against the Empire. In one instance, over 2,000 people were crucified at one time as punishment for their insurrection.

It was a brutal time period to live in. So brutal that we can hardly imagine it. Imagine walking down the roads of Palestine, seeing people hanging on crosses, naked, bleeding, baking in the scorching sun, screaming, and dying. Imagine walking down a road, lined with these crosses. You’re just going about your daily life. Going to work. Going to the store. And you’ve got to walk down a street lined with crucifixion victims on both sides. These public crucifixions were a not-so-subtle hint from the Roman government. You don’t mess with Rome. If you do, this is the result.

In these thousands of crucifixions, it was not uncommon for the victims to speak. Many times a person would hang on a cross for a long time. One man actually hung on a cross for nine days before he died. The time spent on the cross was a time filled with excruciating pain.

There was searing pain from the 8 inch spikes driven through the wrists and ankles. Often victims were scourged, as Jesus was.

The scourging was done with a whip known as a cat of nine tails. It was a stick with ribbons of leather attached to it. Tied to the leather ribbons were lead balls and sheep bones. The scourging would rake away ribbons of flesh, from the neck all the way down the back of the victim until they had reached the bottom of his calves.

After the scourging, imagine the pain when your open flesh and even exposed vertebrae from this scourging came into contact with a crude, rough, splinter-filled wooden cross.

The purpose of crucifixion was not just to execute someone. It was to inflict maximum pain upon the victims before they died, and the Romans, through a variety of horrendous experiments, learned how to dispense this pain very well.

And in this pain that most of us could never fathom, crucifixion victims would often speak. But their words were usually filled with absolute hatred and contempt. They would attempt to spit on the people standing around the cross. Often the incredible pain would drive a person insane, and the words that they shouted reflected that they were raving mad, absolutely out of their minds.

A person on a cross would often speak, but it was rare for that person to pray. A victim praying for his executioners was even more out there.

But as we can see in Luke 23, that’s exactly what Jesus did. His first words from the cross were a prayer. A prayer of forgiveness. A prayer of freedom. This was unprecedented.

Jesus was crucified under the Roman Empire. One of the Roman gods was named Revenge. The Romans literally worshipped Revenge. Forgiveness was not valued, or even understood, in Roman culture. Revenge was honored. Revenge was worshipped.

So imagine their surprise when they heard Jesus pray, “Father, forgive them.” This would have been beyond their capacity to understand. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, in their life experiences that could help them make sense of this.

But it goes even deeper than that. There is something that is missing in our English translations of this verse from Luke. When we read this verse, it sounds like Jesus said this one time. Actually, the original Greek indicates that Jesus repeated this prayer several times.

Think about that. As they laid him down upon the cross, he prayed, “Father, forgive them.” As they drove the spikes into his wrists and ankles, he prayed, “Father, forgive them.” As they placed a crown on thorns on his head and drove those thorns deep into his brow, he prayed, “Father, forgive them.” As they hoisted the cross into the air, he prayed, “Father, forgive them.” As the dropped the cross into the ground and Jesus received the painful jolt, he prayed, “Father, forgive them.” As he hung in the air on two rugged beams of wood, he prayed, “Father, forgive them.”

That’s Jesus. You can actually sum up His entire life in three words. “Father, forgive them.” That’s my Jesus. And that’s your Jesus.

That’s the Jesus that we worship. That’s the Jesus that we serve. That’s the Jesus that we celebrate. That’s the Jesus that changes our lives. That’s the Jesus that sets us free.

Jesus didn’t just pray this prayer one time during the crucifixion. He prayed it over and over again. “Father, forgive them.” But the best news is that He is still praying that prayer. He has never stopped praying that prayer.

Jesus is doing the same thing today. Jesus is doing the same thing right now that He did on the cross. He is interceding for us with the Father.

In Romans 8, the Bible says, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:31-35a, NIV)

Jesus is at the right hand of the Father right now. And He is doing the same thing He did on the cross. He is saying the very same words. “Father, forgive them.”

This is where our freedom in Christ comes into full focus. Jesus’ death paid the price for our sin. His resurrection gives us new life. And now, He is at God’s right hand, speaking on our behalf.

Here’s what that means. Every time you sin, Jesus is there saying, “Father, forgive him.” Every time you fall, Jesus is there saying, “Father, forgive her.” Every single time.

When we sin, Jesus tells the Father, “Yeah, they messed that up. They failed. They sinned. But I died for that sin. That one is on me. He is still mine. She is still mine. Put their sin on my tab. Father, forgive them.”

Jesus asks the Father to forgive you by name each and every time you sin. That’s how personal He is. That’s how intimate He is. And that’s why you can be free.

Forgiveness is freedom.

Do you believe it, church? Do you believe that you are forgiven? Do you believe that you are free?

You don’t have to live in guilt anymore. You don’t have to live in shame anymore. You don’t have to live in sin anymore. Jesus died to forgive you. He rose again to forgive you. And He is at the Father’s right hand today to forgive you.

And forgiveness is freedom.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: cross, Death By Love, forgiveness, freedom, Jesus