Ron Houben - Class 1: The Prayer That Saved the World

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Well, Brother Ron Hoban is going to be speaking on the general theme of the seven sayings of Christ on the cross. And today his subject is the prayer that saved the world. Thanks, Ron.

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   Thanks, Brother Garner, brothers and sisters and young people. First of all, it's a pleasure to be here with you. It's actually been six years since Catherine and I made our way to New South Wales. For some reason, we've been back and forth to Australia on numerous occasions, but haven't found ourselves coming back to Sydney.

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   So it's great to be back, and it's great to be back with some very familiar friends that we have a lot of fond memories of sharing some great times together. In fact, there are a number of here which I guess were partly responsible for Catherine and I coming together in the first place.

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   I think Darren Teporos may well be one of the key figures. I remember a day when we, after a Bible school where I first met Catherine, we had arranged to meet in town with a whole group of young people. And Darren Teporos was one of them that was organising this luncheon in town.

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   So we had a rendezvous place in the middle of Sydney to turn up there, and lo and behold, it was only me and Catherine that were there.

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   Awkward. Anyway, there's obviously a few that don't know us and may not know us, so I'll give you just a quick rundown on who we are. I married Catherine Saul, the late Phil Saul, and Elaine's here with us through the weekend, and obviously James and Abby, James' brother of Catherine. And Catherine moved over to New Zealand when she got married to me, and we now are in Whangarei, which is in the top part of the North Island of New Zealand.

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   Come from a smaller collegiate, about 20. Have two young boys. Well, say young, one of them is now toddling off to university this year, so we're going to be left with the youngest one, which is 14, which is exactly my size and weight, pretty much, so it gives you an idea of the expenses that we have in terms of feeding these kids.

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   And yes, let's get it out of the way right from the start. I'm a Kiwi, which means I have a funny accent. We have fish and chips about six days a week.

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   But in some ways, Sydney's our second home, so it is great to be back. Now, just in terms of the subject that we've chosen for the weekend, I thought I'd give you a little bit of a background. Over probably the last four or five years, I've done a series, I suppose, and approached it from a different way on famous last words.

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    And over the time, looked at famous last words of Joseph, famous last words of Jacob, famous last words of Moses, famous last words of the Apostle Paul. And it was only until just recently that I thought, well, really, I should look at the famous last words of the Lord. And of course, you know, it's a common knowledge that Jesus had seven sayings from the cross.

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    Well, I can assure you when I looked at this, I had no idea of the power and the impact that the last words of the Lord would have on my own life personally. And in terms of trying to enter into the mind of our Lord and to see, you know, just this incredible man who gave himself in those last hours of his life.

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    And without doubt, in terms of everything that Jesus did in his life, in his mortal life, those last hours on the cross were the culmination of everything. They stand ahead of every act of compassion that Jesus ever showed. It was a monumental act of compassion and love, which was demonstrated from that cross.

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    And it's something that all of us need to appreciate and all of us need to come to the foot of the cross and to hear the words of Christ. So if I was to say to you, obviously there are seven sayings, if I was to give you the number seven, it would conjure up into your mind all sorts of things.

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    What do you conjure up in your mind when we say the number seven? Numbers are always very important in the Bible. Covenant. Creation. New beginning. Completeness. Completeness. Lots of C words. Perfection.

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    Cycle. Cycle. That's interesting. An ever-ending cycle. Our whole world's built on sevens, isn't it? The cycle in creation is built on cycles of seven. It's very interesting.

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    All right. Just bear that in mind. If I was to put up the number 38. How old I wish I was. How old you wish you were?

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    38 years as long as he was in the desert in the wilderness and that man who was 38 years as old. You've taken two.

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    Very good though. 38 years in the wilderness. Wilderness journeys. And John chapter five. The man who was impotent for 38 years by the pool, wasn't it? Of Bethesda. So you've got a number which conjures up in your mind when you say 38. If I was to say 6,170, what would that bring into your mind?

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    New Zealand. Close. Well, Psalm 91 says, Lord, teach us to number our days. So while I was getting up this morning, I worked out that I was actually 6,000 something years old. Actually, sorry. It's a bit more than that. It was 16,000. I'll get it right. 16,170 days. And if 70 years makes 25,000 days, it means I've only got 9,000 days left.

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    But why do I put up 38? What's the significance of the number of 38 here? Any idea in terms of our subject? Seven sayings from the cross. We can definitely see why the number seven is significant in our subject.

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    What's that? Exactly. Jesus spoke 38 words from the cross. 38 words in the Greek. 38 words which change the lives of so many people. You think about it. In the time I've been speaking here, I've probably spoken 300 or 400 words or more. Jesus chose to speak 38 words. It's chosen to have recorded for us 38 words from the cross.

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    And those 38 words, you think of the impact it had on different people. Think of the impact it had on a brutal soldier who was crucifying him. Who got to the end of that day and could say, truly this was a righteous man. And then could go on to say, truly this was the son of God.

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    Think about the impact it had upon a thief on a cross who stood beside, or was crucified beside Jesus and railed upon him. But by the end of it could turn around and say, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Think about the impact it had upon his mother as she stood there at the foot of the cross and upon the disciple whom he loved when they heard the words, Woman, behold thy son.

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    And son, behold thy mother. Think about the power of the words as he dedicated his life to his God. And his final words, Into thy hands I commend my spirit. As his final dedication and his final offering to his father. 38 words.

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    Powerful. Incredibly powerful. And so that's going to be what we're going to look at. So if I was to say, what's the first of the sayings of the cross?

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    That's what the first one is. Incidentally, they're spoken from, you know, the time Jesus was crucified. When was Jesus first crucified? That's the first saying. Sorry, I'll just come back to that just for a second. But going, Jesus was crucified for six hours, from 9am to 3pm. It was the time from the morning sacrifice to the time of the evening sacrifice.

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    He spent six hours on the cross. And during that six hours on the cross, he spoke three sayings in daylight and four sayings in the darkness. During a period of six hours, he spoke, or recorded that he spoke, 38 words from the cross. The lifespan of a man symbolized from the morning to the evening sacrifice.

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    From the very beginning of the offering to God to the end of the evening sacrifice. The culmination of this man's life. In fact, we know it's the culmination of this man's life because look at what Jesus said in Luke chapter 22 for a minute. As he's shared with his disciples the Last Supper.

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    And he says to them, verse 35, when I sent you without purse and script and shoes, lacked you anything, and they said nothing. Then said he unto them, but now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a script. And he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.

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    For I say unto you, that this that is written of me must yet be accomplished. You know, the Lord could tick off the agenda in terms of doing his Father's work. In terms of what he achieved. And you know, all the way through, he said, my now has not yet come. But he had one thing to do.

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    He says, this, this that is written of me must yet be accomplished in me. And he was reckoned among the transgressors. For these things concerning me must have an end. So that's our reading, isn't it? In Isaiah chapter 53. He's reckoned amongst the transgressors. This was the thing that Jesus, the one thing Jesus needed to accomplish.

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    That he needed to be reckoned among the transgressors. Counted with the transgressors. The one thing he had to do. Coming back to our sayings from the cross. The first saying is, found in Luke's gospel. Somebody said it before, they can say it again.

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    So that's, this is our first saying from the cross. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Found in Luke's gospel. The second saying, also found in Luke's gospel. Second saying said during the daylight. Any idea?

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    Yep. Or, as we would popularly, use popularly, verily I say unto thee today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. So that was his second saying. Third saying from the cross.

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    Found in John's gospel. That'll give you a hint. Correct. Again, said during the daylight when his mother and John approached the cross. Woman, behold thy son. Son, behold thy mother. The fourth saying from the cross. Said, at the end of three hours of darkness.

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    There was silence for three hours. Isn't that the end of this? Correct. Eli, Eli, lama, sabbat, tanai, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Fifth saying from the cross.

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    Correct. I thirst. Sixth saying from the cross. Correct. Well done. It gets tricky to discern which is the sixth and which is the seventh but there is a little bit of a key in John's gospel to indicate which one was which. He says, it is finished, it is done, it is complete. The word in the Greek is teleo which I'm wondering whether the idea of when they went off chasing foxes and went teleo is where the actual word come from but and the final word from the cross.

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    Okay. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And when you think about those it's just a group of sayings and if I was to say to you what's a word to sum up the first saying from the cross?

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    This first saying from the cross? Yep. Forgiveness. Any other advance on forgiveness if you were to assess what this statement was? It is. It's a statement of compassion. Forgiveness. Thinking of others. Loving your enemies. I've got a different word. It starts with them. But all of these are right. But I've got a different one.

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    Sorry? Mercy. I just thought this is the summary of his statement. His incredible statement of mercy from the cross. The second statement. Truly I say unto thee today. Thou shalt be with me in paradise.

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    Gracious. Faith. Promise. Develop the promise idea. It is a promise. He's just given hope. This is a this is a statement of hope. So he begins with a statement which is mercy and compassion and his next statement is a statement of hope. What about his next statement? What was the next statement? Exactly.

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    Woman behold thy son. Son behold thy mother. It's enshrouded in love isn't it? He saw the disciple whom he loved and he looked down and he saw his mother and he turned around and when he saw them he said woman behold thy son. Son behold thy mother. It is a beautiful statement of love.

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    It's a statement where Jesus gave his as it were his last will and testament from the cross. He turned around and his most precious thing that Jesus had in his life. The most precious possession that Jesus owned. Do you know what the most precious possession he owned? It was the apostle John. I and the children whom thou hast given me of those thou hast given me Lord I have lost none.

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    And there was one disciple who was closest to the Lord whom the Lord loved. It was his most precious possession. And there it crossed with his mother. In his last will and testament it was as though he said mother here I give you my most precious disciple. And then to the apostle John I give you my mother.

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    It's beautiful. It's incredible. Now the next one's tricky because this is my God my God why hast thou forsaken me? This is a difficult statement I guess because what's that? Brilliant. That was easier than I thought. And we're going to see that when we look at this tomorrow. That behind this statement is the most powerful declaration of trust.

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    This statement there are four psalms that you need to look at when looking at the crucifixion that just open up and unravel the mind of the Lord and it shows you exactly what was going on at the cross. Anyone know what the four psalms are? One of them is pretty easy. Psalm 22 that jumps right at it.

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    69 down the two. One of the sayings comes from it. Into thy hand I commend my spirit. Where does it come from? Psalm 31 and the final one is Psalm 18. Psalm 18 is an incredible psalm which takes you right to the cross. Psalm 18, Psalm 22, Psalm 31 and Psalm 69. Read them in conjunction with the crucifixion and it opens up the mind of the Lord.

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    And you'll see without doubt particularly when you get to Psalm 31 that behind this statement at the end of the three hours of darkness is Jesus reply to the taunts. He trusted in God. Let him deliver him if he'll have him.

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    And the statement takes them right back to his unwavering trust in his father. So mercy, hope, love, trust. The next one I thirst. It's a statement of need.

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    Yeah, need, desire. A need and a desire. An urge, a yearning for something. I thirst. He desperately needed a drink. So it's a statement of desire. It is done. The sixth statement. Statement of completion. It is done.

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    Achievement. Triumph. Triumph. It's done. It's finished. I've done it. It's over. A statement of triumph. And the final statement, into thy hands I commit my spirit. surrender. That's a good word actually. Might even be better than what I had. I might change my overheads. Surrender. I like that. I had dedication. It's like the whole burnt offering.

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    Into thy hands I commend my spirit. This is the final dedication and offering to God. And by the way, we're going to pick up on it, but you'll see how much these words influenced the apostles later on. how much of these last sayings of Christ on the cross influenced them. So it's a statement of dedication.

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    So there's your seven sayings from the cross. I'll just whip through these overheads because I did that together rather than doing that here. But here they are. Love, trust. I'm standing right in the way. That's good, isn't it? Right. But it's on the blackboard. Dedication. Right. So those are the summary of really what the sayings were about, the seven sayings from the cross.

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    Now if you think about this, if you think about this, this is our journey in life. This is what our life as a disciple was all about. This follows a natural progression, doesn't it? You know, the very first thing that ever happens to a disciple when he's called and he accepts the gospel as he understands his need for mercy.

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    He comes under the umbrella of God's forgiveness and compassion. That's the very first stage of our development in the truth is understanding one, our desperate need for forgiveness. And developing from that, we suddenly realize that God has not only forgiven us, but offered us an out clause to human nature. So we're bound by sin and he forgives us of that sin and now he offers us an out clause from that.

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    He offers us a freedom from that. It's liberating and we're given a hope. So it starts with forgiveness and then we have a hope. And out of that, the natural response from that as a disciple, if you truly understand mercy and you truly see the hope that God has promised us, there is an inevitable reaction to that.

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    The inevitable response should be love. First outwork towards him that has given us this undeserved promise of freedom, but also towards our brothers and sisters, towards others. And so love outworks because of what we've been shown. And as we grow in the truth, we learn trust. And this is the key point in terms of our development.

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    And it's the key point in what's been said from the cross. Do you know in every disciple's life? I believe that it is absolutely necessary for us to at some stage go through an event where we will be faced with a situation where there is no human solution to our problem. God will bring us personally in our life, whether it's a situation to do with our health, whether it's a financial situation, but God will bring us to a crisis some point in our life where we will turn to God as our only source of deliverance.

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    And that's imperative to our development. You can think of all the faithful. God did it to them all. You can think of the story of Jacob. It's an incredible story, isn't it? To when Jacob got to the end of his life and he says, the angel which redeemed me from all trouble. And here was Jacob all his life trying to come to an answer to his own solution and answer to his own problems, a solution to his own problems.

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    He was always coming up with these cunning schemes, how to trick Laban out of all his flocks and herds and how he was tricking Esau. He was always very clever in what he did. He got to the end of his life and he realised, gee, it wasn't me at all. It was God that delivered me out of all of these things.

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    But you know, God had to bring him to a point and that point was when he saw Benjamin go down to Egypt, when he lost everything. He had lost Joseph. His sons were down in Egypt and he had lost all his wealth. All the prosperity that he had come out of Syria was all gone.

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    And he was still alone in that tent door and he had no hope and he turned around and he sent Benjamin down with Judah and he said, Ael Shaddai, I go with you. And God brought him to that point where there was no hope, there was no answer. Jacob had no solution to this problem.

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    Jacob was left distraught in the fact that it says, please, God, go with him. Some stage in our life, that must happen. Every one of us, if we are true disciples, will go through that. It's an inevitable thing in our development.

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    So once we've learned to trust, and as the disciple grows in his faith and trusts in the Lord, there is inevitably an insatiable desire, a hunger and a thirst after the righteousness of God, a looking to the end. God.

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    And you know, you can see it in the older generation, those that have been around for some time in the truth. And I guess, you know, I can think of my father-in-law before he died. His insatiable desire for the word. And it was almost like any time we would have a conversation, it would always turn back to the word.

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    or to what was happening in Israel or to world events. That was just this entire conversation. That's what his whole mind was about. And as he grew older, it became almost more and more insatiable. That desire just grew and grew all the time.

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    And then the true disciple will come to a peace of mind in his life. The true disciple will come to a point in his life where you'll have the peace of mind of knowing that God has, is, and will always work in his life, that he will never, ever leave him nor forsake him, and that there is a crown of righteousness laid up in store, and there'll be a peace of mind for the true disciple that his reward is nearly there.

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    It is done. And ultimately, of course, in any life that we have, we have to remember it was given to us by God it returns to God. And the only thing that will ever be recorded of our existence is our names, written and inscribed in the book of life. Our dedication given back to God and God inscribing that.

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    And that's our mark left on this world. That's the whole pilgrimage of life. So, it was also with the nation of Israel. 38 words. Typical, really, of the wilderness of life for the nation of Israel. 38 years in the wilderness. What started with an act of mercy at Passover, developed with an incredible hope as they were given, the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey as they passed over the Red Sea.

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    Then God demonstrated his love for them at Sinai and gave them the Lord. You know, to this day, the Jews celebrate the giving of the Lord as God's covenant that he made with them as a husband would make with a bride. That's when they say they entered into a marriage relationship with God was at Sinai as a nation.

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    It was his covenant of love with his people at Sinai. Of course, he taught them to trust in him. He taught them that he would never leave them nor forsake them. Some learned the lesson. Most of them didn't learn the lesson. But he was with them during that 38 years in the wilderness.

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    And Psalm 78 talks about how Moses learned to trust in him. And the faithful learned to trust him. And he led his people like a flock. And then he gave them their desires, whatever they wanted. Their heart's desire. They asked for flesh. He gave them flesh. They asked for water. He gave them water.

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    And he fed them, it says in Psalm 38. For 38 years, he gave them their desires. And then Moses brought his last words at the end of the 38 years. And he brought them to the edge of the land. And you'll see, incredibly, these words are just such an echo of the Lord's words from the cross.

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    About four times throughout Deuteronomy chapter 31, it says that Moses made an end and that this was done and that this was finished. And he brought them to the end and he said the last words that he made an end of writing the words of the law in this book until they were finished.

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    And all the words of Moses were ended. And it was done. It was accomplished. And then the final statement of dedication concerning this man that led them through the wilderness was that there arose not a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He'd given his life to the service of his father.

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    So, briefly then, we want to consider Christ's first saying from the cross this morning. That was our introduction into the theme behind the seven sayings. But Jesus' first saying, of course, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Who do you reckon Jesus was saying these words to? The Roman soldiers.

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    Just the Roman soldiers? Certainly appears that way, doesn't it? When you look in the record of Luke chapter 23, the whole context of verse 34, if you look around, you'll see that it's said in context of them parting his garments and casting lots. And if you go back a little bit from verse 31 or verse 32, and there were also other malefactors led with him to be put to death.

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    And when they would come to the place, which is called Gotha, there they crucified him. The malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then said Jesus to them. Well, in the context of Luke's words, the them is they that crucified him. They that led him to this place.

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    They that crucified the malefactors. Then Jesus said to them, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Isn't that incredible? You know, isn't that just absolutely amazing? It is being directed at the soldiers. It certainly wasn't being directed at the Jews because Jesus had made it very clear that they did know what they were doing.

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    In fact, remember the parable of the vineyard? Come, this is the air. Let us kill him. And they perceived that Jesus spoke of them. And in John chapter 9, they said, you know, Lord, are we blind also? And he says, well, you say you see. That's your problem. You have no covering for your sin because you claim to be able to see.

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    Even in Luke chapter 15, Jesus said the same thing of the Jews, that they had no cloak, no covering for their transgression because they knew what they were doing. So Jesus' words aren't directed to the Jews. It is being directed to the Roman soldiers. But think about that for a moment. Can you comprehend that?

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    You know, here was Jesus who had gone through, like he's probably been deprived of sleep for some 48 hours. He's gone through six gruelling trials that had been interrogated through the night. He's gone through the brutal scourging, the beating. And these Romans were involved in that.

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    And he's been silent. He's hardly said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, like a sheep before the shearers is done. So opened he not his mouth.

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    And so he hardly said a word. He didn't even talk to hear it. He wouldn't give him the time of day. He said a few words to Pilate and only one thing to Caiaphas.

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    That he would see the Son of Man coming and power and great glory. But he'd hardly said a word throughout the whole night, throughout the trial. His demeanor, his composure, was so in control. The last words he spoke was to a group of women where he said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for your children.

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    And his concern for them is they were being led away to be crucified. Other than that, he hasn't spoken anything. And now, as he's been raised up and crucified, and they crucify him, all of a sudden, this voice is heard. Now, the Roman soldiers would have been used to hearing this. You know, especially the centurion.

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    You know, centurions were powerful men. They got promoted through acts of valor. The average Roman legion was around about 83 men. So a centurion would lead at least 83 men. That was the average. But often, they would be in charge of up to 200 men. They were hardened military men. And this man was used to seeing blood.

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    And he was used to seeing criminals being crucified. And when he crucified people, you can imagine that he was used to hearing anguish and cries and cursing hate coming from those whom he crucified. And out of the voice of this man, they crucified him. And from the cross, they hear, Father, Father, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing.

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    And they'd never heard anything like that before. Never would these men have ever heard anything like that before. A man who's focused his whole attention upon the compassion of these people. Incredible. You know, the only reason, of course, it's recorded about this centurion who we know that he began, it says in Luke's record, joining in the cursing.

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    The soldiers also joined in the mocking when Jesus was being crucified. So when the Jews were there saying, he saved others himself he cannot save and they mocked him. The soldiers also joined in.

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    But of course, we learn that by the end of that day, by the end of that day, that Roman soldier or that Roman centurion said two of the most powerful things you can imagine.

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    he would have been responsible almost certainly for the scourging of Christ because it says they delivered him unto the band. Now the band, of course, in the Greek is the word cohort, led by a centurion. That centurion was the one who led the band that night. And it was the band of Roman soldiers that scourged him and mocked him with a crown of thorns on his head, spat upon him.

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    beat him with rods. This Roman centurion was responsible for this. He was in charge of the men that did this to Jesus. He was responsible for beating the Lord with rods. He joined in the mocking of Jesus in Luke 23 verse 36. He also witnessed something which was pretty unusual. He witnessed the farcical trial.

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    A trial which was held at night. A trial which didn't seem right. From his point of view, he'd never seen anything quite like that. So he had seen the trial. He had seen the interrogation. He was there when Caiaphas delivered it, or Pilate delivered him over.

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    He witnessed Caiaphas' charge in Matthew chapter 26 that said he made himself God's son. he would have heard the challenge of the people in Matthew chapter 27 which said he saved other people himself he cannot save. Let him save himself if he's the son of God. If this man is truly God's son, let him save himself.

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    And he witnessed all of that and he heard all of that and he had never seen a man crucified with such composure and demeanor before. Now he hears the words Father.

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    Father. He claimed to be the son of God and even on the cross. They crucified him because he made himself the son of God. That's why they were crucifying himself and even on the cross he was never denying that charge. Never denied that charge. Even on the cross he's there making that incredible statement Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

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    No wonder it is that this Roman centurion could make this statement of faith. What a profound statement that it says this Roman centurion made. One that it says in Matthew's record that he was a righteous man. The other record says and he said he was the truly this was the son of God.

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    What an incredible statement. He was a righteous man. A righteous man. Done nothing wrong. And he was the son of God. That's the statement of faith of this Roman centurion. Now can you imagine for a moment. The only reason of course this has been recorded for us and we've been told this is because it's highly likely and it's almost certain that this Roman centurion came into the truth.

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     Didn't he? You can't imagine it being any other way. this Roman centurion came into the truth. Can you imagine him sharing the emblems in the upper room with the disciples? Can you imagine him sharing in the emblems at any stage after his conversion? Do this in remembrance of me. We take the body of Christ.

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     bread. We take the cup as we pour out his blood. And this man had him beaten, had him whipped, had him scourged. He was responsible. He was the man responsible for everything that took place on Jesus in terms of his torture that day. Can you imagine what it was like? when he partook of the emblems?

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     You know, he had to forgive himself, didn't he? It's one of the hardest things to do, to forgive yourself. And the only way that this man could ever have forgiven himself is if he could understand that God had forgiven him. And he did. He had seen it in the eyes of Jesus. It wasn't just in the voice.

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     As he stood there at the foot of that cross, he saw genuine, true forgiveness coming from the cross. And so this man that was guilty of all that brutality against the Son of God was forgiven. Hardest thing to do, forgive yourself. Judas couldn't do it, of course. He had no hope of doing it.

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     That's why he went out and hung himself. Cain couldn't do it, couldn't it? When Cain killed Abel, he couldn't forgive himself. That was the biggest problem.

105. 41:02

     God said, if thou doest well, there's a sin offering lying at the door. Cain said, my sin is greater than I can bear, or than can be born, or can be forgiven. And with that attitude in mind, it truly was. It's the hardest thing to forgive yourself. So often, we go to the Lord with all our burdens on our shoulders.

106. 41:25

     Lord, please forgive us, and we lay it all down, and we take our burdens off, and we give it to God, and we pour out our heart and soul, and then we pick them back up again and take them away.

107. 41:38

     Me too. And God is so ready to receive our prayer for forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of the hardest things to exercise. Why do you think that is? Why do you think forgiveness is so? Do you think forgiveness is a hard thing to exercise?

108. 41:59

     Have you ever thought that forgiveness is not natural? It's not part of human nature to forgive. It's completely foreign to human nature to forgive. God instituted forgiveness, didn't he? God instituted forgiveness in the garden by providing coats of skin for Adam and Eve. God provided Cain with an offering there. If we would accept it, there's a sin offering lying at the door.

109. 42:22

     God said, the Lord God, gracious and merciful, abundant in goodness and truth. Forgiving iniquity. This is a divine attribute, forgiveness. It's not a natural one. It's something we do not naturally possess and that's why it's hard for us to forgive. You'll find examples of forgiveness from God all through the Old Testament. You struggle to find examples of people forgiving others.

110. 42:49

     It's actually quite rare. In fact, if you think about the Old Testament, where do you think the first example was, this is the one I found anyway, there might be one beforehand, but the actual first real example of forgiveness I don't think occurs to the time of Joseph, who forgave his brothers, the demonstration of Joseph's love.

111. 43:09

     Who is the outstanding example other than Jesus in the Bible of forgiveness? Joseph and one other? David. David. The whole life of David. You think about the record of David, it's just full of it, isn't it? David and Saul forgave Saul, David and Absalom forgave Absalom, David and Job forgave Job, David and Shimei forgave Shimei.

112. 43:37

     David's life was just an abundance of forgiveness and compassion towards other people that had wronged him. David committed murder. David wouldn't be allowed in any ecclesia in New Zealand and I'm pretty sure wouldn't be allowed to be a part of any ecclesia in Australia. Do you know any murderers in your ecclesia? Actually guilty of murder?

113. 44:03

     If you did, do you think your ecclesia would be prepared to say okay, we'll forgive you? I'm not sure whether you would. I'm not sure whether we would. I think, because that just goes over a little bit far. Okay, one thing. Adultery is one thing. But murder? This man was compliant in murder and we probably wouldn't have him in our meeting.

114. 44:28

     Yet God forgave him. God forgave David on the basis of the fact that David was a compassionate man. We need to learn forgiveness. That's an essential part of our development. It's the first stage. And the only way we're ever going to grow in the truth is if we understand that we need forgiveness and have been forgiven.

115. 44:54

     You know, in my experience, which is reasonably limited in terms of the truth, I've made this assessment about when I've seen hard-lying attitude towards other people, a spirit of non-compassion, a spirit that is hard on brethren and sisters. And more often than not, it's a two-fold reason. One, it's because a person seems to feel they don't need forgiveness, seems to actually feel quite comfortable with their own position before God, like the Pharisee and the sinner.

116. 45:34

     The Pharisee says, I thank my God I'm not like that other man. And the spirit of hardness comes from a spirit which exists where people don't see their need for forgiveness. And the Pharisees and the Sadducees were like this. They saw themselves as good in God's eyes. And the other reason people lack compassion and forgiveness is because they don't believe that they themselves can be forgiven.

117. 46:01

     You know, it's often the case, and I've seen it numerous times, when people that have been the most hard-line, the most outspoken against something, later in life something horrific has come up in that person's life. And you discover all of a sudden that they're hiding a deep, dark secret. And yet they were so hard on other people.

118. 46:25

     And it's true. It's true. Those are the two reasons people lack compassion and mercy towards others. If you understand that you've been forgiven, if you understand you need forgiveness, it will naturally be demonstrated in your way of life towards other people. It's inevitable. But you have to understand how desperate we are that we need forgiveness.

119. 46:46

     And therefore, we have to go to the foot of the cross. We have to see ourselves like this Roman soldier. We have to see, in Isaiah 53, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. Okay, we might not have circumvented him like the priest. We might not have denied him like Peter.

120. 47:03

     We might not have forsook him like the disciples and run off and fled. We might not have been the Roman soldiers that brutally crucified him. But in some way, we are compliant in the death of our Lord. In some way, we've got to see ourselves as responsible in that crucifixion. We've got to be a part of it.

121. 47:24

     We've literally got to come to the foot of the cross and see ourselves there personally. I remember a powerful exhortation by Dennis Gillard on the subject. He talked about how that individually we must see the need for being forgiven. And all of us in this room could easily say, oh yes, you know, I said you're all sinners.

122. 47:46

     You'd all put up your hand and say, yes, yes, I agree with that. But if I was to walk down there and say, Darren, you are a sinner. And start naming the list of things that he's done. He'd probably say, well, get off, who do you think you are to say that? You know, if you're suddenly exposed personal individual sins, in front of everybody, you'd want to justify yourself.

123. 48:07

     You'd say, oh, well, hang on, take it easy. But we need to be responsible. We need to understand that we're all in desperate need of the sacrifice of our Lord. And we might not have been there during that crucifixion. But remember, it was the vices of hatred. It was the vices of envy.

124. 48:29

     It was the vice of pride, which is, I believe, the ugliest of all sins. And it's the most common of all sins. It's the one most natural to human nature, pride. We show pride because of the clothes we wear. We show pride in the cars we drive. We show pride in the jobs we have.

125. 48:44

     We show pride from the ecclesia we come from, the university we went to, the education we received. We show pride all the time. And pride is simply that I'm just one cut above that person there. And we demonstrate pride in so many ways. We can be racist in our actions in all sorts of ways.

126. 49:01

     Pride is the ugliest of sin. And okay, those individuals which crucified Christ, they were personalities and individuals, but they were manifestations of sin and all its ugliness. And it was really sin that crucified Jesus. It was sin that rose up against the Son of God and put him to death. And in that way, all of us are responsible.

127. 49:24

     Do you know when Jesus turned round and he said to the Jews in his day that upon you might come the blood of Abel, righteous Abel, to the son of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you slew. And he said, what a man have I done slay Zechariah? You got that wrong. You slew him.

128. 49:42

     Because they manifested the same spirit. They were the same as their forefathers. They were guilty in exactly the same way. And Jesus said, for as much as you've done it unto one of these, the least of my brethren, you've done it unto one of me. And when we show envy, hatred, bitterness, anger, strife, we're crucifying Christ.

129. 50:06

     We're guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. And all of us need to come to the cross and all of us need to understand our need for forgiveness. And you know the other thing you've got to do? Is release yourself and forgive other people. So many times, whether in our community, I've seen it, where it's gone to the grave, a bit of grudge.

130. 50:30

     You know, for some reason it happens in families. It's almost like blood gives an excuse. If you, family feuds, there is an excuse in Christadelphia that you can have a family grudges to the grave.

131. 50:46

     Sorry, there's no excuses. And so many times you'll see on a deathbed the regrets a father will have for not saying something to a son. A son will have for not saying something to his father. A brother should have said something to a brother. And those regrets that we haven't been freed by forgiving other people.

132. 51:07

     We need to forgive in order to be liberated. It's a liberating experience, forgiveness. Half our problems that exist mentally, physically often come from harboring things deep down inside against a person. Sometimes that person may not even be alive. It might be a grudge which goes so deep and that person's now passed on.

133. 51:31

     We might not have seen that person for years but it's harbored deep inside. And what we need to do is get on our knees and ask God how he can help us to be free from that burden. How we can learn to forgive. How we can be released from that burden that we have.

134. 51:49

     We all need it. And so brothers and sisters we come to the foot of the cross and we hear the most powerful words we can ever imagine. Words which were not just spoken to a Roman soldier. It was a prayer that saved the world. It was a prayer that saved you and me.

135. 52:06

     All of us are responsible and those words, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Thank you.