In John 19 it says that they
crucified him and two others with him, one on either side,
and Jesus in the midst. I wanted us to go back to that
cry from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm hoping that
we'll look at all seven of them over this next couple of weeks
but I want you to turn back in your Bibles to Luke chapter 23
and if there's a story in the scriptures that you should find
a cause of great great rejoicing is the story of the thief on
the cross. It is just a wonderful, wonderful
picture of the might and the power of our God in saving grace. There was a man with one foot
in hell plucked, plucked and held up before us as a trophy
of the grace of God. I love what one writer said about
this. There is just one such case recorded
that none need despair, but only one that none might presume. I think that's very wise, isn't
it? The thief on the cross gives
us great reason to rejoice in the saving power of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So let's turn in our Bibles to
Luke chapter 23. And we'll read something of the
life of this man. We know that in the other accounts
he, like the other thief, was cursing the Lord Jesus Christ
on the cross. And they were malefactors worthy
of being crucified. And so they weren't little criminals
who'd done slight things. These were people who are, according
to the law of the land, worthy of this most horrendous death. But verse 39 of Luke 23 is where
I want us to begin and I trust that the Lord will help us in
this. And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him,
saying, If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, Does not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same
condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done
nothing amiss. Then he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said
unto him, verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt thou be with
me in paradise. What a remarkable story. So few
words said. Three men on the crosses and
the man in the middle cross is our great God and Saviour and
here he is revealing how he saves sinners. It's just a glorious
picture of salvation. One saved on the doorway to hell. People think that death always
visits neighbours' houses, and even people in jail see themselves
as having some reason and measure to escape. I remember Walter
Groover, who was a missionary in Mexico for 50 years here,
and three friends of his were allowed to spend three days in
a jail in America. They spent three days in this
jail, and they were allowed to mix with the inmates for three
days. and hopefully witness to them as they did. Three days,
there wasn't a single sinner there. There was not one person
who earned the fact that he was a sinner and he was there justly. Don't you love the fact that
the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners? He
didn't come for the righteous, he came for sinners. Sinners,
real sinners, not pretend sinners. I love the fact that salvation
is always a present tense matter. Your past, as with this man's,
is irrelevant. It's do you believe now? Now.
It's always a now, isn't it? Old faith and old experiences
are like that manna. If we try and live on it and
try and keep it, we'll find that it'll be rotten. We can't live
on the past and we can't live on the future. We live in the
present tense and we live by the grace of God looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ again and again and again. All the I wills of
man are meaningless. In the issue of salvation, it's
all about the man on the middle cross, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Only one thing mattered. Only one thing mattered to this
man, and that was the Lord opened his eyes to see. He is an example of most remarkable
faith in all of the scriptures, I believe. What a remarkable
faith. under those circumstances where
he is in absolute agony. The mere fact that they are able
to cry out at all was amazing. The only way they could cry out
and speak anything at all is they had to push down on the
nail that was driven through the heels of their feet and push
up so they could then breathe out. The only way they could
stay alive was to keep pushing. So the agony, agony that these
men were experiencing Salvation, this man tells us that salvation
is always a present tense matter. Today you'll be with me in paradise. And salvation, in the matter
of salvation, the opinions of other men's thoughts are irrelevant. Only one person's opinion matters. Only one in your soul's salvation. You have to, as this thief did,
be made by God to ignore all the clamoring voices of everyone
else around you, even your companions. Only one word matters. The words
of God Almighty matter. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall stand forever. Only one thing matters. Paul
in Galatians 6 says there's only one thing that matters. He's not excusing people for not doing
good deeds or allowing people to think that bad deeds don't
matter. But he says, for in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision. The one thing that matters is
a new creation. A new creation. What you've done
under the law, what you've done in breaking the law, the one
thing that matters is a new creation. You must be born again. You must be born again. But here in these two thieves
we have a picture of all of humanity and the one who divides humanity. is the Lord Jesus Christ. John
Semple says that there was a division among the people because of him. Throughout the scriptures there's
a division. Come that great day when for the one time in all
of human history all of humanity will be gathered together and
all of humanity will see all of humanity. Matthew 25 verse
31 When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the
holy angels with him, then he shall sit on the throne of his
glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he
shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth
his goats from his sheep. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, and the goats on his left. If you go on reading
down through Matthew 25 you'll find that the sheep have no knowledge
of anything they've ever done that's good, and the goats have
a very clear knowledge of all the things that they have done.
This is a great picture of salvation by grace, isn't it? Salvation
by the sovereign hand of God Almighty. He not only had done
nothing good, but he could do nothing good. His hands were
fastened, his feet were fastened, and he was there just waiting
to die. Here we have the salvation of
the Lord. Two men equally unqualified for
salvation and one saved and one left. Three men died that day. One died in his sin. One died
for sin, bearing the sins of all of his people, including
their thief-defied society. And one died, tied in his sin,
the other one died to his sin. Grace, salvation, is God's sovereign
work. Grace planned all these events. This is no accident that these
men are here on that day. It's no accident that the Lord
Jesus Christ is there. It's the determinant counsel
and foreknowledge of God that brought these men to this place.
Grace planned all these events. All grace is sovereign grace.
Grace provided salvation. All grace is saving grace. Grace
operates in and on its recipients. All grace is sovereign grace.
Grace begins, grace continues, grace completes. The grace of
God is irresistible grace. The grace of God is revealed
in the outpourings of the new creation. The new creation repents. The new creation believes. The
new creation confesses what it is. The new creation loves the
Lord and loves sinners. The new creation looks beyond
what human eyes can see, and looks with the eyes of faith,
with the light from the light of the world. The Lord Jesus
Christ and God the Holy Spirit, they did a remarkable work in
this man on the cross. The wonder of saving grace, as
it's pictured in this man, is it reaches to save to the uttermost. It reaches to the self-righteous
Saul on the road to Damascus, and it reaches to the depraved
thief on the cross. Grace requires no prior fitness. This guy had nothing to commend
himself at all. Grace requires no He heard the Lord preach that
day, and he heard the mockers preach, and even in their mockery
he heard extraordinary things about the Lord Jesus Christ. He saved others, himself he cannot
save. What a remarkable description.
What a remarkable declaration of the mockers. His faith looked
and saw and was saved. What did he see in the Lord Jesus
Christ? There was nothing there that
the eyes of flesh could see. He looked marred. He looked across,
not far from his cross to the cross next to him and he saw
one that was marred beyond any human being. Nothing. He couldn't have been anything
less like a king and that sign above his head must have seemed
like such a mockery. This is the king of the Jews.
He never, the Lord Jesus Christ, never looked less like a saviour,
less like the Christ of God. There he was, not triumphing
as he did all through his life over everything around him, whether
it's the demons, or whether it's disease, or whether it's death.
Here he is being triumphed over. Here he is abandoned by friends,
crucified by the Roman soldiers, mocked by the religious. It's
not here, behold the Lamb of God. Not here, even the wind
and the waves obey him. Not here, no one spoke ever as
this man. The thief? was saved and converted
before all the amazing supernatural works that happened that day,
before the world was darkened, before the truck dry off and
cry it is finished, before the temple curtain was read, before
the earthquake, before the centurion's confession, truly this is the
Son of God. Under the most unfavorable circumstances,
The thief saw through the agony of his body and the anguish of
his mind. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ,
not with human eyes. He saw him. And what does he say to the Lord
Jesus Christ? His first words are, when he
speaks to him, When he speaks to the Lord Jesus
Christ, he says in verse 42 of Luke 23, Lord, Lord, you are
the sovereign ruler and reigner over all of these events. Don't
you love the fact that a new creation is a creation from above? It's bringing into and God implanting
in the heart of a sinful human being something that was never
there before and something that can only be explained by the
supernatural work of God Almighty. It is a wonderful picture of
how God can reach down in the depth of humanity. You might
love that passage in Ezekiel, isn't it, about the dry bones?
Can these bones live? He goes out to a valley of dry
bones. Nothing could be more a picture
of deadness in all of its forms. There they are, white in the
sun, complete. Can they live? I love Ezekiel's
question, well Lord you know, you know, they can in the hands,
nothing is impossible with God, we read about that earlier. This thief is a picture of the
salvation of sinners, real sinners. Man in the fall fell so far that
no human aids could rescue him. Man owed God a price and incurred
a debt that's so great that there are no human means to pay it. When God declares that man's
fallen short of the glory of God, how far short have we fallen?
All the way, all the way. The great chasm between God in
His holiness and us in our depravity can only be breached by the Lord
Jesus Christ. The great chasm that sin brings,
the great enmity that is in the hearts of natural man against
God Almighty, can only be broken by the power of this love that
is beside this man. Only God's sovereign creating
grace can save. See, we don't just need to have
a heart change, we need a new heart. We don't just need our
mind being altered, we need a new mind. We don't just need a reformed
life, we need new life. You must be born again. What a saviour sinners have. What a saviour. Listen to some of the words that
this thief heard. He's the king of Israel. This man said he is, I'm the
son of God. He saved others himself, he cannot
say, Mark chapter 15, Luke. He heard the saviour say, Father,
forgive them for they know not what they do. Amazing grace is
saving faith. Amazing grace comes through the
preaching of the Gospel and God preached to the heart of that
man and gave him a new heart to believe. Are you amazed by
the grace of God? I want to be amazed by the grace
of God because it is amazing. It is amazing. The grace that
saves when others around us are like that other thief. The grace
that keeps when others fall away. The grace that loves when others
grow cold. The grace that keeps us. But
listen to what this saving grace did in the life of this man. Listen to his first words as
he rebuked this man next to him on the cross. Does thou not fear
God? Is there any fear of God? It's extraordinary, isn't it?
He was acknowledging that beside him and his mockery was a mockery
of God Almighty Himself. The first thing he acknowledges
is that all of his sin and all of the sin that he's witnessed
is sin against God Almighty. God Almighty. Our sins hurt other
people, but David is so right in saying in Psalm 51, Against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Do you not fear God? and he acknowledges
the justice of God. Dost thou not fear God, seeing
thou art in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly? We indeed justly. This is the
confession of a sinner. There are very, very few sinners
in this world. And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. That's the confession
of sin, isn't it? And then he confesses the holiness
of Christ. in the face of all of the mockery
that was going on, this man, verse 41, this man has done nothing
amiss. This man has done nothing amiss. Despite all that was said and
all that was done, he declares from the cross, this man is innocent,
this man is holy. And this man confesses the Lord
Jesus Christ as Lord and King. They were saying, if you be the
Son of God, come down now for the cross and we will believe
you. But this man says to Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. What a great prayer to have on
our lips. Lord, remember me. In the midst
of all that's going on in this world, all that's going on in
my life, Lord, remember me. Lord, remember me. Lord, save
me. This man acknowledged that the
Lord Jesus Christ was going to be raised from the dead and enter
into a kingdom. How on earth did he know that? How on earth could he confess
that in the circumstances? That you are a king, you are
here as a king, you are suffering as a king, you are bearing the
sins of all of your people as a king, you are going to die
and be buried that day and you're not going to stay dead. You're
going to rise from the dead as a king and you're going to heaven's
glory as a king. and you're coming back as a king.
Our God reigns over everything and everyone and over all the
events of this man's life and everyone else's life. Lord, remember
me. when thou comest into thy kingdom. He looks to Christ as a coming
King. He looks to Christ as a reigning
and ruling and triumphant King in the midst of all of that.
What grace! Isn't it extraordinary how the
power and grace of God overcomes all that we see and all that's
natural and all that's around us and grace says I'll have this
man with me in and I'm gonna do it under these
circumstances. Don't you love the fact that
the God promises that they'll all be taught of God, and great
shall be the peace of all my people. All that the Father gave
you, you read John chapter six, all that the Father gave you
shall come to be and no one, none of them is gonna be lost.
No one's gonna pluck them out of my hand. No one's gonna pluck
them out of my Father's hand. When was this man given to the
Lord Jesus Christ? the Lord Jesus Christ? God the
Father? Who took responsibility for that
man before the foundation of the world? The Lord Jesus Christ? Who took full responsibility
for bearing all the punishment of all of that man's sin and
bearing before God all of the holiness without which you will
not see God? He did it all. He did it all. He did it all What a Saviour! What a Saviour! And Jesus said
unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Truly, truly, Amen, I say unto
thee, Today thou shalt be with me. you shall be with me in paradise
don't you love the fact that when our god speaks He declares
reality, and he creates reality, and all of his words must be
fulfilled. Don't you love the fact? That
day, that man was in paradise. That afternoon, that man was
in paradise. And don't you love what paradise
is? He says, today thou shalt be with me. That's paradise. With me in paradise. He's able to do, as Ephesians
3 says, above all that we ask or imagine our great God. He
just said a few words, didn't he? Lord, remember me when thou
comest into thy kingdom. Verily, you shall be with me
in paradise. May the Lord speak to us through
his words. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
say a single word to the other thief. The Lord Jesus Christ
didn't say a single word to the religious mockers that were there. He spoke to his own. And what
powerful words. May that prayer of that thief
be on our lips. Lord, remember me. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank
you for salvation that is so free, for grace that is so powerful,
for a salvation that reaches to the uttermost. to save those
who have no hope in themselves and we praise you Heavenly Father
for the power of sovereign grace, the wonder of redeeming love
in the Lord Jesus Christ. that on His cross He demonstrates
exactly what He was doing on that cross. He was bearing all
the sins of all of His people in His own body on the tree.
O our Heavenly Father, You who made Him who knew no sin to be
sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. We pray, Heavenly Father, that
His words would speak powerfully to our hearts and we would go
from here remembering our Lord Jesus Christ, looking to Him
and remembering Heavenly Father that the simplest prayers are
the most powerful. as you have said. Bless your
word to our hearts and may you once again cause us to eat and
drink in faith and in remembrance and in declaring As we take these
elements, we are declaring the Lord's death until he come. Like the thief, may we just acknowledge
that our great God is a King and a Sovereign and is coming
back, reigning and ruling all things. For the great glory of
God and for the good of all our Father, cause your face to shine
upon us, that we might see your Son in his glory, despite all
the things that this world and our own eyes so often tell us,
cause us to rejoice in salvation finished and secure and perfect. We praise you, our Father, for
your dear and precious Son. We thank you in his name. Amen.