Good morning, everyone. Good
to see you here today. If you'd like to be turning there,
we're going to take our text from Luke chapter 23 today. And I've titled today's message,
Two Thieves, Two Thieves in reference to the two men who were crucified
alongside of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to suggest at the
onset that in some respects, we all bear similarity to both
of these two lawbreakers. and yet their eternal destinies,
as we'll see, they were not one in the same. So I believe there's
much to be learned concerning our own eternal destiny and the
validity of our own hope for eternal salvation as we examine
both the similarities and the distinctions between these two
as it's recorded for us in God's word. Now, Luke chapter 23 begins
with the account of Jesus being brought before Pontius Pilate
and sentenced to death by crucifixion. In picking up in our text, in
verse 32, we read, and there were also two other malefactors
led with him, Christ, to be put to death. A malefactor is a criminal,
a lawbreaker. In the accounts of Matthew and
Mark, they're both referred to as two thieves. Continuing in
verse 33, and when they were come to the place which is called
Calvary, there they crucified him and the malefactors, one
on the right hand and the other on the left. Then said Jesus,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they
parted his raiment and cast lots. And the people stood beholding,
and the rulers also with them derided him, saying, he saved
others, Let him save himself if he be Christ, the chosen of
God. Now in Mark's gospel, these rulers
were the Jewish chief priests, Jews. And like most of the Jews,
they expected a Messiah, chosen of God, to come on the scene,
but not one who would die. They were looking for one who
would subdue Rome and establish a kingdom on earth, not one who
would die to establish a spiritual kingdom. Verse 36, and the soldiers
also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar and
saying, if thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And a
superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek
and Latin and Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews. And I want you to keep in mind
while we're going through these verses that these two criminals, they
were witnessing all that was taking place, hearing all that
was being said. It's interesting in John's account,
we're told how the chief priests had gone to Pilate and they asked
him to change that inscription so as to read that Jesus claimed
or Jesus said he was the king of the Jews, but Pilate refused
to do so. He was sticking to a proclamation
of truth, whether he personally believed it or not. This was
the Messiah. Now before we go to verse 39,
you should know that, although it's not recorded here in our
text in Luke, that according to the accounts given by Matthew
and Mark, both of these two thieves had joined in this same derision
of Christ earlier. And now as we get to verse 39
and following, we're gonna see a dramatic change has taken place
within the heart of one of the thieves. One continued mocking
Christ, as they both had previously, And we see that in verse 39,
and one of the malefactors, which were hanged, railed on him, saying,
if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other, again,
the one who had joined in the mocking earlier, answering rebuked
him, saying, dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same
condemnation? That word that's translated condemnation
there, it comes from the same word that gives us the word judgment. And as the words that will follow
here indicate, this one thief had come to see that there was
a judgment to face beyond the one he was facing in his physical
death for his crimes. And you know there's a judgment
that Christ himself was enduring on the cross, but not for his
own sins. And he says in verse 41, the
penitent thief, he says to the other thief concerning this condemnation
or judgment, and we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward
of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. 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. Well, I chose this account from
Luke of the crucifixion because it's the only record of the distinguishing
mercy and grace that the Lord granted unto one of these two
criminals. You know, as it pertains to those
two men, the other gospel accounts, they make no distinctions whatsoever,
and that shows us how much they actually had in common. So I
want to begin there with the similarities between these two
thieves, what they had in common. Consider this, they were malefactors,
they were lawbreakers, both of them. Many believe that they
were guilty of similar crimes and that they were tried and
punished at the same time. As I pointed out in Matthew and
Mark, they're referred to as thieves, but due to the severity
of the punishment, many speculate that their crimes of theft may
have included violence, perhaps even murder. But what we know
is this, is that they were bad guys, evil sinners. They were
wicked enough, according to the Roman law, to be sentenced to
the cruel and awful death by way of crucifixion. In short,
they deserve to die. And secondly, since they were
sentenced by the Roman government to death by crucifixion, it's
believed they both were likely Jews. And being Jews, they were
likely familiar with the writings of the prophets. And they would
have shared in all the advantages that that nation had in being
under the old covenant law with all its ceremonies, the ceremonial
law that pictured Christ and the way of salvation, the gospel
itself. So he was set forth there in
picture and in tide. As the New Testament tells us,
the law was a schoolmaster to point them to Christ. Thirdly,
their experience here during their last hours on earth, they
were very similar. They were both captive audiences
hung on a cross on each side of Christ, witnessing and hearing
the very same things. And then fourthly, as is true
of all of us by nature, they were no exceptions. They too,
you see, and I say by nature, I mean as we come into this world,
they were depraved sinners, physically born but without spiritual life. And I know that's so because
the scripture says that's so of all of us. With no predisposition
to approach God according to God's terms. I mentioned that
in Matthew and Mark there, we're told they joined in with the
mocking of Christ, and I want to read that to you from Matthew
27. Beginning in verse 41, likewise also the chief priests mocking
him with the scribes and elders said, he saved others, himself
he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel,
let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver
him now, if he will have him, for he said, I am the son of
God. And the thieves also, which were
crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. That's just
another way of saying they cast upon him the same mocking reproach. And then likewise in Mark we
read, and they that were crucified with him reviled him. So what
we see here is a short time before the change of heart took place
in the one thief, both of them had joined in the railing against
Christ, showing no evidence whatsoever of any God-given faith at that
time. Both men were dying the same
death. They were dying. They were hanging
on a cross. They were on the cusp of entering eternity. And
both of them, they were helpless to save themselves. That both
physically and spiritually. Physically, their hands and their
feet were nailed to the cross, where they hung there helpless
on each side of Christ. But they were justly dying due
to their transgressions under the Roman law. And you can summarize
what they had in common this way. There was nothing about
either of these two depraved lawbreakers that could possibly
find them acceptable in God's sight, that could distinguish
one from the other, nothing that came from within them. Well,
I want us to consider now how all of us, all men and women,
that includes you and me, we have something in common with
these two low-life thieves, if you would. Now, we may not, I
don't think anyone in here has probably committed a crime deserving
capital punishment under our laws, But before God, he says,
we are all lawbreakers. We're depraved sinners. Likewise,
with nothing meritorious to present for acceptance before God. You
see, unlike in our civil laws, God requires perfection in thought
and in deed, because he's holy and he'll accept nothing left.
Christ said in his Sermon on the Mount, be you therefore perfect,
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. And he
says of all of us that we're anything but that. In Romans
3.23 he says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. And then he tells us the consequences of that. In Romans
6.23 when he says, for the wages of sin is death. That means that's
all we can earn as sinners, eternal death and destruction. I want
to point out that just as these two, and I'll elaborate on this
some more in a moment, they were privileged in their last hours
and perhaps significantly so before then being Jews, but they
were privileged to be presented with the gospel. And so are we. You know, if you hear this message
this morning, we preach the gospel here. That's the good news of
how God saves sinners. They had access to knowing God's
way of salvation, the gospel. But as with the thief who perish,
The Scripture tells us none of us will come to Christ, we won't
come for salvation God's way, apart from God's regenerating
grace. We must be born again, given
spiritual life. Aren't you glad Romans 6.23,
it goes a little further than just saying the wages of sin
is death. saying, but the gift, the gift, you don't earn a gift.
The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. He must have mercy on us. You
know, we can, according to God's word, we can't even believe on
him. Now we can believe on what we think he is like, but we can't
believe on the God of the Bible, on the Christ of the Bible, except
the Father, he says, which hath sent me draw him. And what that
means is we're just as helpless to save ourselves as these two
thieves were. That means this one thief, he
wasn't saved because of his free will decision to come. Like the
thieves, I want to suggest to you that we're like them and
they're railing against Christ as we begin, initially, begin
our religious journeys reflected in our initial, listen, religious
thoughts. And it's in this sense, as we
initially and naturally, as fallen, depraved sinners, we dare to
imagine that God could save us based upon something that proceeds
from us. From what preachers across our
land will tell their listeners today, based on your free will
decision, based on your act of faith, if you'll just receive
him as your personal savior. based perhaps on your good works
or your sincere intentions, or you're just doing your best.
Well, those things that proceed from us when placed in a causal
role of salvation like that, it's a mockery of the Lord of
the Bible, because the Bible's clear that all the conditions
for a sinner to be saved were fully met by the doing and dying
of the Lord of glory, the God-man who lived and he died to save
his dear children. We sing it as Bill's been quoting
a lot lately. Nothing, what can wash away my
sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. You see, he bore the full
wrath of God due unto the sins of those he came to save, and
yet in our natural spiritual blindness and ignorance, we ascribe
something that we do, listen, in rivalry with that which only
God in the flesh could do. as though we make the real difference
in our salvation, not Christ. You see, that's not bowing to
the truth that nothing but the blood of Christ could save us. That's why God, in Acts 17, 30,
we read, he commandeth all men everywhere to repent. And finally,
I wanna suggest to you that just like these two thieves, you and
I are on the cusp of entering eternity. Eternity is a long
time. We sang Amazing Grace in that
last verse. I was thinking as we sang it,
said, when we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the
sun, we've no less days after 10,000 years to sing God's praise
than when we first began. You see, that's a long time.
And I know some of us are older than others, and some of us are
healthier than others. And yet, to the youngest, Healthiest
person here, if you'll consider the timeline of eternity, draw
a line that never ends. And then try to make a dot, you
can't make one small enough, that would represent the brevity
of even a long lifespan here on Earth. This would drop in
the bucket compared to that. And so just like those thieves
hanging there dying, knowing they're in their last hours,
you know there's a sense we're all in our last hours as well.
And yet, we see God's grace is required in that one thief hung
there knowing he's about to die, but he's still not looking to
Christ for his salvation. We really are at his mercy. But
there's some good news. Praise God, there was something
that made a distinction between these two thieves. And because
of that, we can rejoice. It means there's hope. It means
there's a good hope, and there's a sure hope, even for malefactors,
lawbreakers, for sinners just like you and me. First and foremost,
I think it's important to recognize what, or more accurately, who
made the difference. We see the clear evidence that
saving grace was bestowed on the one thief so blessed but
we better not confuse the effects of salvation with the cause. He came to Christ, but he wasn't
saved because he came to Christ. He came to Christ because he
was saved, and there's a world of difference between those two.
See, given the similarities between them, there's really only one
explanation for why one was snatched from the jaws of hell while the
other one was left to that which he deserved. So what's the difference? Two words, but God. In Ephesians 2, beginning in
verse four, Paul wrote this to fellow believers. He said, but
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us, that's
made us alive together with Christ. By grace, ye are saved. and hath
raised us up together. He's speaking here of this union
with Christ. Due to that, you see the elect
collectively, they died, they were buried, they were raised
again with Christ. Not physically, not bodily, we
weren't there, but in their representative, in their substitute. And see,
by that same resurrection power, he raises these objects of his
everlasting love and mercy and grace. He raises them to live,
both spiritually, spiritually giving them life, making them,
as Psalm 110.3 says, willing in the day of his power to come
to him. And they're given life eternal, everlasting, forever
and ever. He raised us up together and
he made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace. Grace means you don't do anything
to earn it or merit it. The riches of his grace in his
kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved
through faith. And that, not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. It's not of works. Your faith
is not something you exercise in order to get saved. That would
be a work. It's not a works, because you
could boast. But he says, no, it's a grace,
not of works, lest any man should boast. See, God gets all the
glory in salvation. So don't miss the distinguishing
sovereign grace of God that's on display here in Luke's account.
Both thieves were wicked sinners. They were both in need of forgiveness.
They both saw and heard the very same things in their last hours.
They were both dying, suffering the same, in pain on each side
of the Savior. Yet one died in his natural state,
hardened in heart, while the other died in God-given faith
and repentance. See, in need of, perceiving his
need of, and asking for mercy. It goes against our nature, doesn't
it, to want to be at the mercy of anything or anyone? We want
to control our own destiny, including our eternal destiny. But can
you see here what a blessing it is to have been brought low,
so to speak, to see your desperate need for God's mercy and grace
in Christ? And there's good news if you
do, you see. You truly can't perceive your need for that.
But if you do, you've got it. Because you see, to do so requires
the God-given, blood-bought gift of faith. That means he died
for you. I'm talking about if you come
to him with saving faith, with faith, with a heart that embraces
and loves the truth. The Lord here is the one that
makes all the difference. Consider how he made a distinction
between these two first in electing grace. One of these was chosen
of God. How many times do you hear someone,
when you say those words, they'll say, well, that wouldn't be fair. You know, that's the natural
response, is it not? The argument's with Scripture,
not with me. In Ephesians 1, beginning in
verse 3, he said, Paul wrote to believers, he said, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
verse 4, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. Me, a sinner, stand before him
holy and without blame? How can that be? I must have
the very perfection that he rendered, Jesus Christ rendered, in his
obedience even unto the death of the cross, in my place as
my substitute, in full satisfaction to the justice of God, I have
to have the merits of that, his righteousness imputed to me.
That means accounted to me. So I can stand, me a sinner in
myself, holy and without blame before God. He says, in love,
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to your free will decision? No,
according to the good pleasure of his will. Secondly, the Lord
made a distinction between these two thieves. in redeeming grace,
and I know we heard Mark preach from Ephesians 1 some this morning,
so you're getting a double dose of Ephesians 1, but we'll continue
here for a little bit. In verse 5 there, he had described
those chosen as having been predestinated according to the good pleasure
of his will, and he continues in verse 6 saying, to the praise
of the glory of his grace. wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved, that's in Jesus Christ, in whom we have redemption. That means you're bought with
a price. Through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of his grace. Think a minute, here we had three
crosses on Calvary's Hill, and on two of them hung some sinners.
And there's a sense in which you could say they had sin in
them. Now, we know sin's not a substance
that you move around. But they had sin in them in this
sense. They were fallen, as is all of humanity, in Adam, and
thereby made sinners. And sin's what sinners do. You
know, we don't become sinners because we sin. We sin because
sinners are what we are. Just like a herbivore eats grass
and a carnivore eats meat, sinners sin. And yet the one hanging
on the cross in the middle, he had no sin in him. Scripture
says he was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. But he
was dying a just death for sin that was on him, put upon him,
imputed to him. That means charged to his account.
He took those sins as a surety of the covenant. That is, one
who said, put their sins on my account. those God had given
him before the foundation of the world. As Paul said of those
who were saved in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, he said this, for he hath
made him, that is God the Father, hath made God the Son, to be
sin for us. He had sin on him, imputed to
him. Who knew no sin, he had no sin
in him, that we, those who had sin, have sin in them, but whose
sins were put upon him that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." They have righteousness put upon them, imputed to them. Not in them. I'm not righteous
within. I'm still a sinner. The only difference between me
and some sinners, I'm a sinner saved by grace. You see, they
have his very righteousness put to their account. My righteousness
resides at the right hand of the Father. in my substitute,
in my surety, my savior. But God has graciously and freely
imputed it to me. Now, you know what that means?
Think of the implication. We'd probably call this thief
a lowlife criminal. And he, this lowlife, is as acceptable
in God's sight as the Apostle Paul. Because both are accepted
based upon the same. perfect, see, imputed righteousness
of their Savior. One thief died in his sins, the
other was watching his very redemption through the blood, the death
of his Savior, whereby his sins were truly remitted. They were
paid for. The penalty due unto the justice
of God extracted the debt forgiven all according to the riches of
God's grace. Well, thirdly, the Lord made
a distinction between these two in regenerating grace. You must
be born again. There's an irresistible call
heeded by those born of the Spirit. Continuing now in Ephesians 1,
where Paul had described those who are saved as redeemed by
his blood, according to the riches of his grace, he adds in verse
8, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
Verse 9, having made known unto us the mystery of his will. That's the gospel, God's way
of salvation and our interest in it. According to his good
pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. You know, I often
marvel at the various means providentially that God orders the lives of
his dear children in each generation to bring them under the sound
of his gospel and to make it known to them and to make it
loved by them. They discover, see, that nothing
but God's mercy and grace in Christ will do for them. Well,
I want us to consider, I said I would elaborate on this earlier,
what these two thieves heard and saw in their dying hours. They saw the Savior's hands and
feet nailed to the cross. They heard him ridiculed and
mocked, and they had joined in with that, as you saw. And yet
they heard the Savior pray, Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do. I want you to remember shortly
after the crucifixion and resurrection came the day of Pentecost. And
so it's likely that many of the same people present at the cross
were among the 3,000 or so converted that day under Peter's preaching. You can read about that in Acts
2. And I believe that just as Christ in his high priestly prayer
of John 17, he said, I don't pray for the world, I pray for
those you gave me out of the world. I believe here Christ
was praying for his own, but those who didn't know what they
were doing hadn't yet to be converted at this time. But regardless,
we know the two thieves, they heard his prayer addressed to
his heavenly father. It's likely at some point those
thieves would have seen the inscription written on the cross on which
Christ was crucified, the words which in the providence of God
Pilate refused to change. And this proclaimed in three
different languages of truth that Jesus of Nazareth, that
he was the king of the Jews, he was the promised Messiah.
The one you thought would set up a kingdom on earth is dying
on a cross. And these thieves heard some
truth in the derision of others of Christ when they said, he
saved others. They said, well, of course, they
were mocking him. Let him save himself if he be Christ, the
chosen of God. But you know, their derision
could be gospel truth heard by dying thieves. Think of it this
way. By God-given faith, could not
the one thief become persuaded that this one who prayed to his
father, who according to Matthew's account had claimed, and they
had mocked him with that, and they had joined in that same
mocking, that he had claimed to be the son of God, This one
who saved others, you think they might have start wondering, might
he indeed be the promised Messiah of which the Old Testament prophets
spoke? Now, I can't prove any of this.
I'm just showing you possibilities of how they heard the gospel.
It's possible that God may have brought to the memory of the
penitent thief the words of Isaiah the prophet. He was describing
events future events as if they had already taken place, describing
the promised Messiah as one who was wounded for our transgressions. Could that be what he's dying
for? He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Do you see the
substitutionary, vicarious work of the Savior for his people
in this prophecy? Perhaps the dying thief did.
You know, the thieves, might they think, could this one be
him who cried out on the, as we read in the Psalm of the cross,
we call it Psalm 22, sayings such as these, they pierce my
hands and my feet, or they part my garments among them and cast
lots upon my vesture. Now they're seeing this in vivid
color, real time, these very things written of in the Old
Testament. And all they that see me laugh
me to scorn, they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him, let him deliver
him, saying he delighteth in him. Well, those are possibilities
of what they thought. But regardless of how that penitent
thief came to hear and believe the gospel, we know that to be
the case. First because, and we don't have
time to go to them all, but throughout scripture God makes it clear
that the gospel preached and believed is his prescribed means
by which God draws his people unto himself. We're told that
the gospel's the power of God unto salvation in Romans 1, 16.
In Mark 16, 15, when he gave the Great Commission, he told
the disciples, go out and preach the gospel. They that believe
it shall be saved, and they that believe it not shall be damned.
And we can know that the one thief, he came to know the Savior
and his way of salvation, the gospel, by looking at his dying
words. A few years ago, Mark Pennell
preached an excellent message emphasizing the words of that
thief, showing what we know he understood by the things he said.
And his message title was taken from the thief's words, Lord,
remember me. So I want to examine further
just a little more what was said in detail here by these two criminals. First in verse 39, we read, and
one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him saying,
if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. Now look, I know from
the context that was said in derision, but as I read that,
I couldn't help and study this passage, see how that bears some
resemblance to man's natural, initial religious approach to
God for acceptance, approach that we need to repent of. And
it does so in this sense, there's always an if. Remember the account
I read in Matthew where they said, if you be the king of Israel,
then come down from the cross and then we'll believe you. In
other words, we'll believe you if you'll be the Christ I want
you to be, the Messiah I want you to be, if you'll save sinners
the way that seems right to me. We're prone to see approach God
as if we're bartering with him for our own salvation. So preachers
tell us if you'll do so-and-so, if you'll make this decision
or repeat this sinner's prayer or walk this aisle or go through
this catechism or profess them in baptism or with every head
bowed and every eye closed slip up your hand to profess Christ,
you can go on and on. If you'll meet a condition that's
prescribed and the message is clear that in exchange God will
save you, And so we're prone to do those things in our natural
state. We'll slip up our hand or we'll
walk an hour, we'll repeat a prayer. And in doing so, we're daring
to imagine that God is now, almighty God, is indebted to save us because
we agreed to our part to seal the presumed deal. Well, I thank
God he grants his people repentance from those God dishonoring notions.
You know, this thief, he couldn't walk an aisle. His feet were
nailed to a cross. He couldn't slip up his hand.
His hands were nailed to a cross. And I believe the inability of
the two thieves to save themselves physically, they couldn't do
anything physically in their predicament. I believe we have
a vivid illustration of the helplessness of sinners who are similarly
nailed to a cross in this way, they're in bondage to our fallen
sinful nature. We cannot, and as such, we can't
save ourselves spiritually from the just wrath of God against
our sins. We'll look again at the Verse
40 of the words of the other thief. He said, but the other
answering rebuked him, his partner in crime, saying, does not thou
fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation or judgment? He says, and we indeed justly,
for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath
done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. I mentioned
Mark's message because he goes in much greater detail about
these words of the penitent thief. But in the interest of time,
let me just summarize some of the observations he made. He
noted how this one thief, blessed of God, stated the truth about
his own sin, saying, we're getting what we justly deserve. Now he
was convinced of sin by the spirit. How do I know that? Because the
scripture tells us all who come to Christ are convinced of sin
and righteousness and judgment. You can read that in John 16.
He stated the truth about Christ having no sin. He did nothing
amiss. He came to see that Christ then
was not here for any wrongdoing of his own, but for some other
reason. He knew it wasn't the result
of Christ's own sin, his punishment. And his own words revealed that
he knew Christ's death would have results, that through it
a kingdom is being established. This was not the end of Christ.
He knew it. His words reflected. He called
Christ Lord, Jehovah God, our Savior, God who saves. In 1 Corinthians 12.3, we're
told that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the
Holy Ghost. Well, unbelievers may and often
do. Those false preachers listed
in Matthew 7, they went to him and said, Lord, Lord, hadn't
we done all these things? And he said, depart from me,
you workers of inequity. So we can use the title, but
what we can't do is acknowledge that the Jesus, the God-man of
the Bible, of the scriptures, we can't acknowledge the one
that when he cried out on the cross, he said, it is finished.
Really, the work was finished. We can't acknowledge that Jesus
of this Bible is Lord unless God grants us mercy and grace.
We must be taught of God. And finally, consider his words,
remember me. He expected Christ to rise again.
This was not going to be his end. And he expected the establishment
of a kingdom, a spiritual kingdom. One we call, see from scriptures,
a reign of grace through the righteousness that's being established
right before the eyes of this thief. You know, those were the
words of David when he was praying in Psalm 106 that God would visit
him with salvation. He began with those words, remember
me, oh Lord. You see, this was a cry for mercy
like that of the publican in Luke 18, the parable of the Pharisee
and the publican. The publican said he could not
even lift up his head but cried, God be merciful to me, a sinner. And as you know, that word merciful
is the same word translated propitious. He's saying God, be the sin bearing
sacrifice in satisfaction to your justice for my sins. Those three are the comments
of a chosen or redeemed and now a regenerated born again sinner. And we can know with certainty
that so by what Christ said back to him. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, or unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
You know, think of the good news for someone like him. Think of
the good news for someone like us. On the cusp of entering eternity,
as we read from 2 Corinthians 5 of 8, for a believer to be
absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Nothing could be clearer from
Luke's account concerning these two thieves than this, that nothing
that proceeded from either one could merit anything for him
before God that would distinguish him from the other. Now we need
distinguishing grace, God's grace. He made all the difference by
distinguishing that one thief in electing grace, in redeeming
grace, in regenerating grace. all based upon the ground of
Christ's work, the doing and dying of the God-man on the cross
in the middle. And as Christ assured him, he
said he would be distinguished from the other by God's resurrecting
grace into his very presence in heaven's eternal glory. Now
we see salvation evidence in the words of the penitent thief,
but don't get that mixed up. It was the saving work of God
Almighty alone through the redeeming work that Christ was finishing
on the cross that made the difference. And to believe otherwise, to
believe that salvation's conditioned on you in any way or to any degree,
or that you playing, we do play a role, we do, all of his people
will come to him by faith, but it's not a causal role. And to
think that is to expose the obvious. You don't need mercy and grace.
If the difference in salvation, if Christ died for all of you
and all you gotta do now is accept it, receive it, do that, you
don't need mercy and grace, you just gotta do the prescribed
condition that you're told will make the difference. But the
Bible teaches we need mercy and we need grace and that salvation
is by grace. See, that's to think, as I said,
that God's indebted to save you now in exchange for you doing
your part. No, listen, your sins, will be
punished. They must be punished. And they
will be, either through the eternal condemnation that's justly due
unto them, or else they've already been punished in your substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who bore the full penalty due unto all
of the sins of all those he came to save. Many of you, I think,
like me, had a religious upbringing, and given the popularity of what
is taught in our day and in my day, I guess this is still my
day, where you were likely, I was, and I'll put it this way, I wasn't
brought up under the preaching and teaching of the gospel of
God's sovereign grace in Christ. And I was, I was, I was brought
up in what was called a Christian church. But I recall when I first
started hearing some gospel truth. And what I know now to be the
undeniable biblical truth of election and other related gospel
doctrine, I ask myself a natural question. How do I know if I'm
one of them? How do I know if I was chosen
by God in Christ? We can't know the secret things
of God. They belong to God, the Bible
says. But we can know personally if we are his that is, among
his elect, by the 20-20 hindsight of God-given faith. And God assures
us of that. In John 10, Christ refers to
the elect of God as his sheep, saying in verse 11, I'm the good
shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. That's who he died for. A few
verses later, we read how some of the Jews, they were murmuring,
and they said to Jesus, if you're the Christ, just say so plainly.
He replied, well, I've told you. But you don't believe me. Adding
in verse 26, but you believe not because ye are not of my
sheep. You don't believe because I didn't
come to die for you. I didn't come and purchase that
blood-bought gift of faith for you. So who are these sheep?
As I said unto you, my sheep hear my voice. And I know them
and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand." So how are God's chosen distinguished from the
non-elect? They hear. At some point, they'll
hear. They'll be brought unto the sound
of the gospel. They'll hear and they'll follow Christ. Just like
the dying thief, they'll approach God for acceptance based solely
on the merit of his doing and dying. Lord, remember me. His
very righteousness freely imputed to all those for whom he died,
you see. So the question is, have you
been so convinced that nothing else will do for you? Well, that
thief was. And likewise, all of his sheep
in each successive generation in God's appointed time, as it
says in Psalm 110, made willing in the day of his power to come
to him when he grants spiritual life and the gift of genuine
faith and repentance, whereby we come to hear and believe and
love God's gospel of grace. His way of saving sinners as
it's set forth in his word. As Christ assures us in John
6, 37, all that the Father giveth me, all those chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world, they shall come to me. Not one of them will fail to
come to him. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. That's why we read scriptures
that say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. It doesn't say believe that if you'll believe you'll
be saved. No, you believe on his doing and dying and you'll
be saved. He says I'll not cast you out. Come to him. He then,
as we read earlier, he addressed those who were murmuring. In
verse 44, he says, well, no man can come to me except the Father
which has sent me drawing. And I will raise him, him that
cometh to me, up in the last day. It's written in the prophets,
and they shall be all, every single one of them, taught of
God. Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of
the Father, he cometh unto me. We can see from this passage,
believers don't come to Christ in exercise of their own free
will decision. No, their wills are changed.
They come, see, needing, perceiving their need of, and receiving
God's everlasting mercy and grace. Knowing their acceptance to be
in the beloved, in Jesus Christ, and in God's due time, that reveal
truth turns every one of his sheep at some point into a mercy
beggar, if you would. See, if all your hope for eternal
life is in him and his finished work in your place, then rejoice
with that dying thief in knowing of your election and your redemption
and your calling and of your sure future resurrection. See,
all by the mercy and grace of the Lord in Christ our Savior. We're going to close with that
old hymn, There is a Fountain. It begins, there is a fountain
filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's vein. Emmanuel meaning
God with us. God manifest in the flesh. And
then in that second verse we sing, the dying thief rejoiced
to see that fountain in his day. There may I, though vile as he,
wash all my sins away.