May God be with us tonight as
we now turn to consider his word together. We'll turn to the chapter
we read, the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 23, and we'll
read together verses 42 and 43. Luke 23, verses 42 and 43. And
he said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom.' And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto
thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. The Lord Jesus Christ in his
teaching when on earth made it abundantly clear that there are
but two paths that we can walk. And everyone in this world is
walking on one path, which he describes as a broad way, or
the other path, which he describes as the narrow way. And his teaching
was clear, that there is an end to each of those pathways, and
the ends are so very different. Many today would like to believe
that there are many paths leading to the same place. And it matters
not what we believe or what religion we follow, they ultimately all
lead to the same end. The teaching of Jesus is so different
from that. There are two ways and there
are two ends. And the events that we read together
regarding the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, and most
particularly the two thieves who were crucified with him,
shows this truth so vividly and so clearly. Two ends, two destinations,
two eternal states, heaven or hell. And when we look at the
two crucified, one on the right and one on the left of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we have shown to us one who that day was welcomed
through the gates of glory, and we have the other who that day
descended into the fiery furnace of hell. It is so vividly and
clearly displayed. One did not. Well, firstly this
evening, let us then consider those two ends. Firstly, hell. Hell. Because the unbelieving
thief, the one who railed on him, if thou be Christ, save
thyself and others, cast the same in his teeth, we read in
other Gospels, That thief, we read, no evidence of repentance,
no evidence of confession, no evidence of faith, no evidence
of mercy and forgiveness from the Lord Jesus Christ. That thief
must and did spend eternity and is spending eternity today in
hell. So what then is hell? Well, the Bible describes it
in different ways. It describes it as a place where
the fire is not quenched, ever burning. It describes it as a
place where the worm dies not, a place of rotting, a place of
death. And these are physical descriptions. And of course, it is in a sense
a physical place. The bodily resurrection shows
that men and women will be resurrected to the second death. But there
is of course a spiritual suffering in hell, which is so terrible
and awful. Really, the way I think of it
is this. Hell is a place where we will
be, I hope we won't be there, but the lost, they feel the weight
and burden and crushing burden of their guilt, that they've
broken the law, its holiness, its purity, and there is no possible
hope of salvation. They feel the weight of sin like
no one does on this earth. And yet there is no possible
hope of salvation. In a sense, there is that worm
that dies not of the gnawing of the conscience. And that state
of suffering is eternal. There is no end to hell. The Bible does not teach annihilation.
The Bible does not teach an end of all things when the unbeliever
dies. The Bible clearly teaches that
the soul of the unbeliever descends to hell and there remains eternally. It is described as the second
death. The second death. Death, if you think about it,
is a separation. The separation of body and soul.
The second death is the final separation between the soul and
God. Now in one sense, all of us under
sin are separated from God, aren't we? We are not in that holy,
perfect union like Adam and Eve were before they fell. But the
second death, that is hell, is the final separation from God's
common grace, from God's gospel of Jesus Christ and the offer
of it, and it is the enduring instead of the fierce anger and
wrath of God eternally. If we want to have some idea,
some idea, of how God treats sin, what he thinks of sin, and
how he will deal with sin, then we need look no further than
Calvary. Because Calvary, the holy, spotless
son of God, the one who never sinned, the one who never broke
a commandment in any smallest possible sense, The Son of God
whom His Father loved eternally with a depth that we cannot grasp,
He endured the hiding of His Father's face. He cried out,
My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? That is how God
must deal with sin. And there we see on the cross
the depth of the suffering of the Son of God. That is the experience
of hell. Well then, who goes to hell? Who will be there? All who have
broken the commands of God. Sinners who have walked contrary
to God's ways, who for one moment have transgressed his law, if
they have lived a perfect life, every second of their life but
one, then they will be in hell. If for one second of a thought
they were not perfectly in union with God and perfectly fulfilling
the command to love him with all their heart, soul, strength
and mind, then they will be in hell. And that, therefore, encompasses
all mankind. Every man, woman, and child,
by nature, are on the road to hell. All have broken the law. All deserve his judgment. All
deserve his justice, the unbelieving and the rebellious. And therefore,
by nature, we all fall into that category. But remember as well,
unless we are tempted to think that because we have the name
of a Christian, or because we mix amongst Christians, that
somehow the Lord will look more favourably on us, or that somehow
we will be swept along with the others, Remember that the Lord
makes it very clear that those in hell are those who have not
obeyed, who have not received the gospel of Jesus Christ. When
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians he tells us that God would, in
flaming fire, take vengeance on them who know not God, and
that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence
of the Lord and from the glory of his power. And therefore,
we, in a sense, have that added weight upon us that we have all
here been blessed to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ many times
and we will be judged in accordance with our response to it. All them that obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. One thief descended to hell. On the other side of the Lord
Jesus Christ was a quite different end. That thief entered the gates
of glory that day. What is heaven? What is heaven? Well, heaven is a place where
there is no sin, where, as a result, there is no sorrow, no pain,
and no crying. But more than that, it is a place
of worship. It is a place where God is central,
where Christ sits on the throne and his name is worshipped and
glorified from sinless hearts. It is a place of perfect unity. where the congregation, that
no man can number, is perfectly united in their love and desire
and service of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a place of unimaginable
blessing. Today, the Lord's people in this
world know something of the Lord's blessing. And we know something
from time to time, I hope, of his presence. when his word touches
us where we are, where his love again comes close to us and we
rejoice in it, and when his peace of the gospel comes to us and
we rejoice that that peace comes to such sinners. But that is
but a small foretaste of the glory prepared for the Lord's
people. is a place of eternal, unimaginable,
boundless love. There is a place where we will
stand in the presence of the Prince of Peace himself. There is a place where all the
weight and burden of guilt, that all the disappointment in our
own weakness, and all the temptations of the devil will be finally
done away with. There, is the glorious land prepared. What a contrast to the destination,
the end of hell. Well then, who goes to heaven? If everyone by nature is on the
broad road to hell, who goes to heaven? Well, the righteous
go to heaven. those who are right with God,
those who are holy, those who are sinless. Well then, can anyone go there? Can anyone enter the gates if
they must be righteous and holy and sinless, seen as we are all
unholy and unrighteous? Well yes, but only because they
are washed, only because their sins are removed, only because
they wear the righteousness of another. Heaven is a place of
prepared people, people who did not prepare themselves, people
who could not prepare themselves, but are people who have been
prepared by another. who have been forgiven by the
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Heaven is a place for righteous
people. Well then, what made the difference
between these two thieves? If one descended to hell and one ascended
to glory, what made the difference between them? What changed one
to be on the broad road and for a short period of time in his
final hours to be on the narrow road? Well, the difference, the
change, was all brought about by the one on the central cross,
the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ himself. These events and this
conversation, brief conversation we have between one thief and
the Lord show to us some wonderful truths of the way of salvation,
the way to hell, and gloriously the way to heaven. So I want
to consider this evening this dying thief and what that teaches
us today, the vital elements necessary in salvation. One thief railed on the Lord
Jesus Christ. We know both did at one point. But in Luke's Gospel, we read
of one who continued, save thyself and us, he said. But the other
thief at some point changed. And he answered and he rebuked
him. He said, dost not thou fear God?
seeing thou art in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. The first vital thing
in the way of salvation is confession. Confession. You see, this thief
says, does not thou fear God? He realized that he was guilty
not only in accordance with the Roman law, but he was guilty
before God. Dost not thou fear God? Even as they suffered there on
the cross that day, God saw them. God heard the railing of the
one thief. God saw what they had done and
how they had been brought to be judged and to be sentenced
and to be suffering there. Does not thou fear God? He sees
us here. He knows what we are doing. He
knows what we are saying. He knows the state and the thoughts
and the intents of my heart. We, indeed justly, he says, we
receive the due reward of our deeds. According to the law of
the land, this is the just penalty for what we did. He acknowledges
that he had done what he had done, thieving or it must have
been more than that, probably murder at some point during the
act to warrant crucifixion as the punishment. He acknowledges
what he has done. and he acknowledges it's before
God and he acknowledges that the punishment under that legal
system is just. He confesses his sin. It is vital that we know the
grace, the blessing the Lord gives us of true heartfelt confession. We must confess, come to know
and confess that we are guilty. Not just guilty of wounding or
hurting each other, or hurting another through our deeds, that
we are guilty before God. And that as a result, we deserve
justice. We deserve justice. Now, that
would not be a delight for us. We will not be pleased that we
deserve justice, but we must acknowledge it, that if God were
just, as God is, he would be just to cut us off because of
our sin. It would be in accordance with
his law, in accordance with his word, that if he chose in his
eternal plan to cast us out, it would be just because of our
sin, to confess that we are guilty before God. When David wrote
his Psalm of Confession, Psalm 51, he said, didn't he, before
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
Now David has sinned against most particularly Uriah the Hittite,
hadn't he? And no doubt he grieved over
that and the hurt he had brought, but he realized that ultimately
that sin was against his God. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned. Do we acknowledge our sin? Do we realize what we are
by nature? And do we realize that that sin
grieves God? It grieves God who made us. It grieves God who formed you
in the womb and brought you into this world. It grieves the God
who sustains you to this point, who has fed you every day, who
has given you what you need. It grieves God who has brought
you to the house of God to hear the gospel preached. It grieves
Him that you have sinned. And do you realize That it is
not just sin that you've done. That you have said a wrong thing,
or you have stolen something, or you have wounded someone somehow.
It's not just acts. Do you realise that you are sin? That your heart is corrupt. That you are a sinner by nature. It is what we are. And therefore
we sin. We do wrong things because of
what we are. And we cannot, in our own strength,
improve ourselves. As David said, again in Psalm
51, he was shapen in iniquity. And in sin did his mother conceive
him. That means from his very moment of conception he was a
sinner. He had a heart of sin. from the curse that came from
the fall of Adam. Do we realize this evening that
we, by nature, we're sinners and we cannot remedy that, we
cannot change that, we cannot wipe it away ourselves, we cannot
utterly transform ourselves. It's an impossibility. Does that
not fear God? As we sit this evening in His
presence, who sees our past, who sees our heart, And would we not have to agree
with him if we were in his place? We indeed justly, we receive
the due reward of our deeds. So the vital element of confession
in the way of salvation. Secondly, the vital necessity
of Christ's perfection. The necessity of Christ's perfection. The thief goes on and says, but
this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, hath done nothing amiss." Nothing
amiss. Even Pilate had to declare, didn't
he, I find no fault in this man. He couldn't find anything worthy
of death. Nothing amiss. The Lord Jesus
Christ never sinned. his words and his actions and
his thoughts and his motives, there was no sin, there was no
guile found in his mouth, we read. Holy, spotless and harmless
and undefiled. Not only in his outward things,
in his deeds, but in his very being and in his heart, he never
sinned, never transgressed for a moment. This man has done nothing
amiss. Nothing worthy of death, most
certainly. Nothing worthy of the suffering
of the cross. But he had done nothing amiss whatsoever. God
the Father, from beginning to end, could say, this is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. No sin. If we consider that this
evening, doesn't that stand in such stark contrast to our sin? as it were how the light, as
the brightness of His holiness shines, doesn't it shine to bring
out the darkness of our own hearts? Like as if you have a bright
white piece of paper and there's one speck of dirt on it and it
stands out because of the brightness of the purity around it. So as
we consider the purity and holiness of Christ, in contrast, do we
not see the blackness, the depravity of ourselves in contrast to Him? The perfection of Christ. But you see, that is so vital.
Yes, it works to highlight our sin, but also this truth, this
man has done nothing amiss. gives us an element of hope.
There is hope here. Because only a sinless one can
stand and suffer in the place of another. Only a perfect sinless
one can die in the place of others. Otherwise he would die for his
own sins. You see, there's hope here. Christ is able to bear
the sins of others. a substitute in their place,
like the Old Testament sacrifices, a lamb without blemish, as pure
and perfect as possible, able to bear the sins symbolically
of the people. So Christ, able to stand in the
place of others. There's hope here because this
man has done nothing amiss. The vital necessity of Christ's
perfection is seen here. Here is hope. Thirdly, the dying thief in this
passage shows us the vital necessity of prayer. The necessity of prayer. The dying thief, having acknowledged
his sin and Christ's perfection, turns to him and says, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. He prays, remember
me. You see, the thief didn't just
acknowledge he was a sinner. He did, but he didn't just acknowledge
he was a sinner. That knowledge brought him to
turn to prayer, brought him to look to the Lord Jesus Christ,
turn to Him. It was a simple prayer, wasn't it?
It wasn't long and it wasn't complicated. And it wasn't repetition
of others. It was a simple, heartfelt prayer. Remember me. He didn't ask for
great things even. Oh, he desired them, I'm sure.
He desired that the Lord would have mercy. But it's a simple
prayer. Lord, remember me. And maybe
that's as far as we can come tonight. I don't deserve glory.
I don't deserve mercy. I don't deserve to be in a place
of perfection because I'm so imperfect. Oh, but Lord, remember
me. Have my name in your thoughts. And thou comest to thy kingdom. Remember me. The necessity of
prayer. The Lord Jesus Christ told us,
didn't he? Ask and ye shall receive. And ye shall find knock, and
it shall be opened unto you. It is those that ask and seek
and knock that receive. Bring your needs to the Lord. Bring the depth of your spiritual
need to the Lord. You know it. The Lord has shown
it to you this evening. You know it. You know you're
guilty. You know it's the state of your
heart. Bring it to the Lord. We have
every encouragement to. We have the encouragement of
this passage that even the dying thief turned and prayed to the
Lord. He was unworthy. He felt his
unworthiness. And yet he turned. We have every
encouragement to confess and to pray that the Lord would remember
us. But we do, of course, around
us and within us also have many discouragements to pray. The
devil will stand at our right hand to resist us, to keep us
silent. The devil will tell us there's
no point in praying, the Lord will never have mercy on us.
The devil will tell us that, well, you're not that bad, you
can make yourself better and acceptable before the Lord. The
devil will either tell you to despair and give up, or were
to tell you it's not too bad and to have hope. The devil will
do anything to stop us praying this prayer. But in our need, we have every
encouragement to do so. Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. Prayer is vital. We can know
the word of God. We can hear the gospel. We can
be able to explain it. We can even be able to preach
it. But if we've never prayed to God, then we don't know him. Prayer is vital. So he prayed
to his God. Fourthly, here in this passage,
we see the wonder of Christ's mercy and of his power to save. He took the guilty, suffering
thief on a cross. who all his life had wrought
a road of sin and was suffering as a result. And he took that
thief and he forgave him. He set him on a road to glory. He took the burden that that
thief by his own sin had been carrying. and he had it laid
on himself. We see the depth of his mercy
and the power to save. Verily I say unto thee, to him,
the thief that everyone else wanted rid of, the thief who
desired the suffering of the cross, the thief who had been
judged and condemned, And yet Christ turns to him, who everyone
else had written off. Verily I say unto thee, today
shalt thou be with me in paradise. The wonder of his mercy, that
he should look on him. He should look on him. The Lord went to many people
as he lived his life, but there are some, aren't they, which
stand out as trophies of his mercy. Zacchaeus, a sinner, the
chief of the publicans, I must dwell at thy house, I must eat
at thy house today. Levi, Matthew, with the receipt
of custom, come follow me. Later in the book of Acts, Saul
of Tarsus, the persecutor of the church, consenting, abiding
and abetting in the stoning of Stephen and then the arresting
of God's people. It's a chosen vessel unto me.
You see, the Lord's mercy to sinners and his power to save
them, his power to save them, to take the foulest, to take
the worst, to take the filthiest and to make them clean. to take
the hell-deserving thief and to present him in glory, to take the guilty and make them
righteous. It's a wonderful contrast when
you think of the two things here. The thief prays this prayer,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. He prayed to
be remembered. The Lord Jesus Christ, by contrast, he cries
out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? If you think
that the Lord Jesus Christ was forsaken of his father so that
this thief and the whole church of God could be remembered by
his father. What mercy, what power to save. Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. Not today I will remember thee,
and I will remember this occasion. Today I shall be with me. Finally,
this evening, this passage shows us the certainty of glory, the
certainty of heaven for God's people. Certainty of glory. As we began this evening, we
were thinking of the certainty of one of two ends, and that
we are all by nature on the path, the road to hell. And yet here,
this thief finds that he receives a promise, an assurance of heaven. And this is true and gloriously
true for every true believer today. Today, shalt thou be with
me in paradise. And he says, verily I say unto
thee, or certainly, assuredly I say unto thee, there's no doubt
about it, there's no hesitance, surely I say to thee, today shalt
thou be with me in paradise, the certainty of heaven. That very day, this thief was
received into glory. And that very day, this thief
was in the presence of Christ in glory. Be with me in paradise. The Lord tells his disciples,
tells us, doesn't he, in John 14, let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare
a place for you, I will receive you unto myself. For where I
am, there ye may be also. This thief found, and every true
believer from creation to the end of time finds, that in glory
there is a place prepared. There is a mansion with their
name on the door. There is a place where Christ
stands to welcome them and to receive them into his kingdom. And there, they not only see
and delight in the beauty and perfection of heaven, but more
than that, they delight in the immediate presence of their Saviour. Thou shalt be with me. It may be For one, it may be
for all of us that this word is literally true. Today, shalt
thou be with me in paradise. That's not a cause to fear, is
it? It's a cause to rejoice for the child of God. Today, shalt
thou be with me. That was literally true for this
thief. That may not be literally true for us today. It may not
be today. But the Christian has as much assurance and as much
security as that thief had. More happy, but not more secure,
the glorified spirits in heaven. Those who with this thief have
confessed their sin, who have realized something of the necessity
and the wonder of Christ's perfection, who have come with true prayer
and have found something of the depth of his mercy and his power
to save, they can have this hope and this assurance that one day
they shall be with him in paradise. One thief. Both thieves died. Both thieves were separated body
and soul that day. One died in peace and went to
glory. One died in sin and went to hell. Which side are we on? The left
or the right? Because Christ divides the two. Christ in the midst. One side
or the other side? Christ is the way to glory. Christ
is the way to peace. Christ is the way to heaven. Christ is the way from the broad
road to the narrow road. Christ and Christ alone. Have we with the thief turned
and looked to him? Isaiah tells us, assemble yourselves
and come. Draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a God that cannot
save. Tell ye and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel
together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? There is no God else beside me,
a just God and a Saviour. There is none beside me, look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I
am God, and there is none else. He said unto Jesus, Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto
him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. Amen.