Matthew chapter 27, beginning
at verse 38, continuing here on the Christ crucified. You know, Paul said we preach
Christ crucified, his death, his burial, his resurrection.
We've been talking about the things that he's going through
here and his suffering unto death, all based upon the sins of God's
people imputed, charged, accounted to him. We want to make that
very clear because that doctrine has been so much under attack
in the past years here. And we look at verse 38, for
example, he says, then there were two thieves crucified with
him, one on the right and another on the left. And it says in verse
39, and they that passed by reviled him. They mocked him. They scorned him. They cursed
him, and it says, wagging their heads, that's shaking their heads
at him. That's a term of anger. So we
see that there was no feeling sorry for him. I know, you know,
there's different ways that people see this. You know, when Christ
was carrying the cross, and of course we know that the soldiers
gave it to The man Simon to carry for him, but you remember when
he stopped I think it's recorded in the book of John and these
women were weeping and He turned to him. He said don't weep for
me weep for yourselves, and I think it's a very telling thing you
know Christ is suffering here, and we can't even imagine the
depth the feeling the hurt that he's going through as God manifest
in the flesh. And of course we know that this
does not hamper or diminish or hurt his deity, the nature of
deity, but he's suffering as a human being and yet he's without
sin. He's not suffering as a sinful
human being even though he was made sin. And of course, that's
just the legal imputation of those things. That's the ground
upon which he's suffering. This is how God can be just,
God the Father can be just to put his son through that torture. And God is just. And just in
the same way that how can God be just to give us sinners who
deserve nothing but death and hell, how can he be just to give
us all the blessings and benefits of grace and salvation? That's
based on imputed righteousness. So, you know, a lot of people,
when they want to put down the imputed sin and imputed righteousness,
they'll say things like, well, What Christ went through here
is more than imputed sin. Well sure it is, it's more than
that. Because he's suffering. This person who is God manifest
in the flesh, he's hurting. He sweat great drops of blood
in the garden of Gethsemane. And he was abandoned by his disciples. And now he's been beaten, the
crown of thorns, the gall mixed with vinegar, all of that. He's
suffering and he's dying. That's what he's doing, see?
So yes, it's more than imputed sin, but it's all based on imputed
sin. That's the ground of what he's
going through. Justly, that's how God can be
just and put him through this. And by the same token with us.
Well, here he is with these two thieves. And I put in your lesson,
these two thieves are prime examples of God's sovereign distinguishing
grace and salvation. We're gonna see that. And it's
really not even recorded here in Matthew, but it's recorded
in the book of Luke, and we'll see that. And people ask, well,
why didn't Matthew record? Well, Matthew may not have seen
this part. I mean, you've got these four Gospels and you have
the same truth, not contradictions, but related through different
points of view. And Matthew may not have seen
what John saw. And so the Holy Spirit inspired
what Luke heard and what others saw. And of course, Luke wasn't
there, I know that. But Luke heard this and he was
inspired by the Spirit to record the salvation of the thief on
the right. And so we have no reason to doubt
it. If you wanna attack the scriptures,
go ahead. I mean, that's up to you. But
this is the word of God. And God has his reasons for doing
what he did, putting in the way he did. But the fact is that
the one on the right hand of Christ, and I've got a quotation
here that I don't even know who said it, but it says, he was
plucked as a firebrand from the burning out of the very jaws
of hell by God's sovereign grace. And while the one on the left
was left to suffer the just consequences of his sin. So, and I put in
here, the question is this. What or who made the difference?
Now that's why I entitled this lesson, The Difference That Only
God's Grace Can Make. Because what happened to this
thief on the right? Was he a better thief than the
one on the left? We know in the context of the
scriptures, And, you know, context is everything. Not only do we
interpret these things and see these things in the immediate
context of what we're reading here, but you've got to see these
things in the context of the whole Bible. What does the Bible
say about the salvation of sinners? And it says, it is by grace,
not by works. Nobody is saved because they're
a better person than anybody else. Do you understand that? Yeah. If God saved people because
they were better than others, then it wouldn't be by grace.
It'd be by works. And so here's these two thieves,
both who deserved what they're getting. And the thief on the
right came to see that. He said, we're justly getting
what we deserve. But he said that Christ didn't
deserve it. Now, I know what he means by that. Christ was
an innocent lamb. He was a sinless, perfect person. And yet he justly went under
the wrath of God for our sins. The substitution, that's what
that's about. He's our surety, our substitution.
So who made the difference? Well, we're gonna see that it
was God. It says, all here who passed by reviled him, wagging
their heads. Mark tells us that this was in
fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. In Isaiah 53 12 where it says
and the scripture was fulfilled that said that he was numbered
with the transgressors He was he was on that cross between
two thieves He was numbered with the transgressors and that's
found in Mark 15 28 where Mark quotes that Concerning the fulfillment
of this prophecy him being between the two thieves and that word
numbered in Mark 15 28 is the word for imputation and That's
translated impute, numbered. He was imputed to be with the
transgressors. And the fact is, he was and is
the surety of God's elect. He was numbered with his people,
having our sins charged to his account. And so the surety certainly
shows that he was numbered with transgressors. If you're one
of God's sheep, God's elect, he was numbered with you. Your
sins were put to his account. And that's why they can't be
put to your account. Now you better bask in that sunlight
a little bit. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputed not iniquity. Do you know that anyone who stands
before God at judgment, having their sins charged to them, you
know what's gonna happen, don't you? They're gonna be condemned,
they're already condemned. But it'll be pronounced and then
they'll go to hell. So understand the blessedness
of the non-imputation of sin to our account. Christ took it,
and he did what we can't do. If sin's imputed to me, there's
no way I can satisfy God's justice for it. That's why hell is hell. But Christ suffered the equivalent
of that an eternity for his people. And so who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died and is
risen again. And so blessed is the blessedness
of the man to whom the Lord imputed righteousness without works.
So what this speaks of, him being numbered with the transgressors,
it speaks of that great legal exchange. where the sins of God's
elect, he was made sin who knew no sin and his righteousness
to us. Our sins imputed to him led to
his condemnation, his suffering, his death, his righteousness
imputed to us leads to our justification, spiritual life in the new birth
and brings us to glory. Now look at verse 40, verse 40,
yeah. It says, they're reviling Him,
they're wagging their heads at Him, they're speaking out their
venom and their anger, and saying, verse 40, that thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If
thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. And I put
in here, without even knowing it, they're mocking him by repeating
his own words, because he did say, destroy this temple, and
I'll build it up in three days. But he wasn't talking about the
Jewish physical building. You know what he was talking
about. He was talking about his own body. Destroy this temple, and
I'll raise it up in three days. He was speaking of his resurrection.
And so they didn't understand that. You see, his resurrection
from the dead was the fruit and result of his obedience unto
death. His exaltation was based upon
what he went through. It was earned by him. Now as
God absolutely considered, he always was Lord of all, the creator. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
the triune Godhead, created this world. And it's attributed to
Christ in a special way because he's the mediator of the covenant
and the savior of God's people. That's why John 1, 1, you know,
in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, the
Word was God. And how it talks about how the
Word created, he created the world and nothing was created
without him, all of that. as he's describing here, the
salvation of his people from sins, when he made that statement,
and they're mocking him, because they didn't understand what he
was talking about. And so they're mocking him, saying, if you're
the son of God, come down from the cross. Well, they didn't
realize that as the son of God, which is a messianic term, in
other words, he's the Messiah, he's the savior of his people,
he couldn't come down from the cross. Why? Because as the Messiah,
as the Savior, he had to die. He had to die on the cross. He's
the anointed one. He couldn't come down and he
had to die this death to save his people from our, save us
from our sins and to establish righteousness for us. He could
not come down from the cross, but it was because of His love
for His Father and for His people. Hebrews 12 says, the joy that
was set before Him, that's His own exaltation. He had to stay
there. But He wasn't forced. He said,
I did it willingly. Now think about that. God, the
Son incarnate, willingly going through all of this pain and
suffering to save you and me, His people. And so look at verse
41, he says, likewise also the chief priest mocking him And
with the scribes and elders, now these, isn't that something?
The priest, the scribes, the elders, the religious leaders
mocking him. And look what he said. Now this
is gospel truth here. Verse 42. He saved others, himself
he cannot save. That's exactly right. He couldn't save himself, why?
because he had to die to satisfy the justice of God. He had to
accomplish the redemption and salvation of his people. He did
it willingly. He said, no man takes my life
from me, I lay it down of myself. And if he had saved himself,
what would happen to us? We'd be lost forever, separated
from God forever. And then they said, if he'd be
the king of Israel, let him come down from the cross and we'll
believe him. Well, they were lying. They'd seen the miracles. They heard about these things.
And by saying that he would come down from the cross, they believe
him. They lied and they're just mocking him. It just keeps going,
keeps getting worse. And First of all, you gotta consider
this, faith is the gift of God. It doesn't come from looking
at physical miracles and things like that. It's a gift from God. And it takes the work of the
Holy Spirit to bring a sinner to believe in Christ. So they
didn't know these things, they're just talking. But I love that,
himself he cannot save. He told his disciples this is
the very reason he came to earth. The Son of God came to earth
and took into union with Himself a perfect, sinless human nature. And the reason He did it was
right here. He saved His people from their
sins. And look at verse 43. It says, He trusted in God, let
Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him, for He said, I am the
Son of God. Christ, as God-man, as a man, lived by perfect faith in all
things. He always trusted his father.
He never doubted his father. On that cross, going through
all the suffering that he went through, and even on that cross,
throughout every experience that he had of pain and suffering,
And we're gonna look at it next week when he, Lord willing, when
he talks about my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Even
means forsaken by the Father. We'll talk about that next week
as I said, Lord willing. He never had a sinful thought. He never had a sinful motive
or goal. He never had a thought for himself.
He was always perfect in faith. And it's by his faithfulness,
and I've quoted, I've got cited here, Romans 3.22 and Philippians
3.9, the faithfulness of the Son of God. Never lose sight
of that. Whenever the Bible speaks of
Christ faith, he's talking about the perfection of faith that
Christ had to do what he did and suffer what he suffered from
the Father. He knew that he was going to
be raised from the dead. He knew all this because he believed
the father, he had perfect faith, he didn't doubt. And his faithfulness
to the father in keeping his covenant promises secured our
complete salvation. Our salvation is based upon his
faithfulness to do what he did and to accomplish it. And he
said, they called him, they mocked him and he said, for he said,
I am the son of God. He publicly declared himself to be the Son
of God, to be the Messiah, to be the Savior of sinners. And
that's who he is. God and man in one glorious person.
We'll look at verse 44 now. Let's talk about the thief on
the cross. You can look at Luke chapter 23 if you want to. I've got some
quotations there from it. In Luke 23, that's Luke's version
of the thief on the cross, beginning around verse 40 of Luke 23. I've got more verses there cited,
but let's start at verse 40. But these two thieves were crucified
beside him, and both, it tells us in verse 44 of Matthew 27, It says, the thieves also, which
were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. In other
words, they, just like the other group, the others, denying him,
mocking him, criticizing him, they did the same, casting it
in his teeth. That's just an old English way
of saying they said it to his face. And they weren't ashamed
of it. And so both of them began their
time on the cross mocking and blaspheming the Son of God, just
like the rest of them. And think about them, you know,
what a display of depravity, sin, and enmity against God.
I mean, they're on the cross, they're suffering too. Now granted,
not as much as the Son of God on the middle cross, But they're
suffering, and still they express their mockery of Christ, of Jesus
of Nazareth, as they say. So that's the natural depravity
and enmity. But all of a sudden, the thief
on the right of Christ suddenly changed. And he first began to
rebuke the thief on the left. Now look at Luke chapter 23,
look at verse 40. Or verse 39, it says, one of
the malefactors, that's a word for a criminal, which were hanged,
railed on him, saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other, answering, rebuked
him, saying, dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same
condemnation? And we indeed justly. What's that thief saying? He
said, we're getting what we deserve. And he said, for we received
the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing
amiss. I've often said about that the
thief on the cross knows more than some preachers today who
say that he was made a sinner or that he was infused with our
sins. The thief recognizes he's done
nothing amiss. He's not a sinner. He's a savior. He's a substitute. They had done nothing amiss.
And in verse 42, he says, of Luke 23, he said unto Jesus,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. What's that
tell you about the thief? He knew that Christ, that Jesus
of Nazareth was the Messiah, the King of kings, who had a
kingdom, that he was gonna be resurrected from the dead. And
Jesus said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, today
shalt thou be with me in paradise. So what happened? This man was no different than
the thief on the left, on the crowd. He was a sinner just like
the rest of them. He had nothing to recommend him
unto God. He was on that cross dying for
his crimes. And he himself said he deserved
what he was getting. And he recognized that Christ,
that Jesus of Nazareth was not getting what he deserved according
to his works. Now again, I always make sure
we understand this. Christ died justly before his
father, not before men, but to them it was murder. Remember
what Peter said in Acts 2, you've taken him with wicked hands and
have crucified him. But you only did what God before
determined to be done. Well, God didn't do it with wicked
hands. God did it justly, rightly. Showers of blessings. Yeah. So this thief understood some
things. And so I'll tell you what. Gets to me how people go to verses
like this and they try to prove things that will justify themselves. Well, first of all, let's clear
this up. Who made the difference in this
man's understanding and attitude? God did. By his grace. Because we know from God's word
that it's only God's free, unmerited, sovereign grace that makes the
difference between who is saved and who is lost. God said, I'll
have mercy on whom I will, I'll be gracious to whom I will. He
says, so then it's not of him that runneth, which means the
works of man, nor of him that willeth, not even the will of
man, but of God, of God that shows mercy. It's only God. And you think about this man.
He changed and he began to rebuke the thief on the left, he began
to log Christ, God made the difference, for by grace are you saved, through
faith, that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. What he's displaying here is
the evidence of Holy Spirit conviction that brought this thief to faith
in Christ and repentance of dead works. And so he cried, Lord,
remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Christ gave
him the assurance of looking to Christ. Today, you'll be with
me in paradise. Well, let me conclude with this.
A lot of people use this great story of God's grace and the
conversion of a sinner, number one, to promote ignorance. You've
seen that. They'll say, well, this claims
you don't have to know nothing. What'd the thief know? Well, listen
to what he said. Now, I'm not saying that he was
a theologian or that he was pure in all of his doctrine or had
all the, but he knew the gospel. The gospel concerns the person
and work of Christ. And somebody said, well, when
did he ever hear the gospel? I don't know and you don't either,
but I know he heard it somewhere. Why? Because God's word says
that that's what happens. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Now you can speculate all you
want. You can deny it all you want. A lot of people use the
thief on the cross to try to prove their own salvation when
they didn't know the gospel. That's a limb that will not hold.
Scripturally. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believes. And plus, this is historical. This is not a doctrinal teaching. We see doctrine here, but if
you want explanations, you have to go to the epistles. But it's
just an example that salvation is by the sovereign grace of
God. This man knew Christ as the one true savior of sinners.
Remember me when you come into your kingdom. He knew that the
death of Christ would provide the remedy for sin and death. Now, another thing that people
try to use this to conclude is, well, then, you know, I don't
have to believe today. I can wait and get it on my deathbed. Well, first of all, you know
that's foolish. You don't know when or how you're
gonna die. You don't know what shape you'll be in. Do you? I
don't know what shape I'll be in. And that's why the scripture
always warns us now is the day of salvation. Now is the time. Come to Christ, believe on him
whom to know is life eternal. And if you do, you'll realize
who made the difference. God did by his grace and his
grace alone. All right.