That's a fitting song for our
message. It's a fitting song for all the messages this week. And it's finished. Brother Gary brought
it up. It's finished. It's done. Well,
again, it's a blessing to have these two men with us. And Brother
Jean-Claude, can you come up and again preach the unsearchable
riches of Christ to us? As I was listening to this song,
I sort of thought and mulled over
the fact that this word, which is so full that we have to have
several words in our own languages to translate it, is a joyful
sound. It's a full sound. But the same
expression is also very sad. because we're coming to the end
of this conference and we're coming to the end of our stay
in your country. And it is finished will be very
sad in a sense. But we need to lift up our eyes
to what is the reality these things pass. And since we landed
in DC, Wendy and myself, three weeks ago, we have been greatly
blessed blessed in the word and among the Lord's people. And
you have risen to the challenge here in Almonte, one of the last
stops. I was joking with Brother Wayne.
So the stakes have been put very high by all the very stops we
had before. But it has been a, it is a great
time to be with you. And it is very humbling to dwell
on the thought that you put up with this Frenchman, little Frenchman
who murders the Queen's English, which is already difficult for
you to understand. I couldn't help it. I had to
say it. And for your partnership in the
gospel, it's so good to see your face again. It is also, there
is a tinge of sadness and I want to mention that because there
are faces which I saw last time which I don't see this time. And you know the devil likes
to spoil the church. And he does it with a special
rage today because he knows his time is short. And brethren,
When there is tension among you, don't go that lane. Just take
a little gospel oil, humble yourself, and pour that oil. And if the
tension doesn't disappear totally, pour more oil. And take the quart
and just empty it. Just get down on your knees together,
on your knees together. alienate it, and go to Christ. Go to Christ. But please, don't
make it that there will be less faces next time. In the grace
of God. I felt I needed to say that,
because I know you're hurting, and your friends are saddened
as well. But this is the Lord's doing,
and it will be to his glory. So let us rejoice in what he
does. And let us lift up our eyes because
the best is still yet to come, isn't it? So thank you very much
for your love in the gospel. Well, let's turn to the Word.
Yesterday we were in Jericho, which was Luke 19. Today we'll
go a little further, Luke 23. We're going to Jerusalem and
we will stay some little way out of Jerusalem. So the gospel
according to Luke, chapter 23, and we'll start reading at verse
35. And we are on the top of a hill. And the people stood looking
on, that is on the three crosses. But even the rulers with them
sneered, saying, he saved others. Let him save himself if he is
a Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked
him, coming and offering him sour wine and saying, if you
are the king of the Jews, save yourself. And an inscription
also was written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, Hebrew. He's a blessing to the nations. This is the king of the Jews. Then one of the criminals who
were hanged blasphemed him, saying, if you are the Christ, save yourself
and us. But the other, answering, rebuked
him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under
the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done
nothing wrong.' Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom.' And Jesus said to him, assuredly,
I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise. So says the word of God. And we have this divine appointment
of Jesus at the last moment on the cross. The Lord Jesus has
met people right from the beginning of his time on earth, even before. Since he came, since the beginning
of his public ministry, he was meeting people. He had appointment.
He must needs go through Samaria and many other places. And here
on the cross, he has this appointment with this soul because there
is one soul there who is on the verge of dying, loved from everlasting. And some of the meetings, some
of these appointments, all of them, but some more than others,
are an illustration, a very striking illustration of the nature of
God himself. And it is good for us to repeat
that to ourselves, that the God of the Bible, the only true God,
is a missionary God. He is the one who goes out to
his people. And it may be that we are too
used, that I am too used to this truth. But if I read the Bible
today, if I could read and if I can open it to you, it's only
because he has chosen to reveal himself. He didn't have to. He didn't have to. If I read the Bible, it is because
he has revealed himself. And he has not sent, like some
other people claim, he has not sent us a handbook which would
explain how to be saved. No, he has sent his servants. He has sent his word. And he
sends his spirit to plant that word. And ultimately, he sends
his son. to come and accomplish the salvation
of his people. We do not have to work it out. We do not have to put it together. He has done it. And as Jesus,
just on the verge of going back to heaven where he belongs, what
does he do? Go, go. He sends his people,
his church to tell the good news. He empowers his people for them
to get out of their comfort zone and to tell of the King, of the
Christ, to tell of that good news. And to the end of the age,
it is not finished. So it is this missionary side
which we see. And Jesus, even at the time when
he's so humanly helpless, he has this interview, this appointment
with this man. And it is this dimension of appointment
which we need to really let our hearts be warned by. Because,
you know, if it's just meeting, that can be haphazard. As I said before, you decide
to go to the store and you meet somebody you know, But this is,
you've not planned it, but here it is planned from everlasting.
And of course, this colors everything we do. Why are you here this
morning? Oh, I normally come here. Yeah,
but you don't normally come here this morning. Why am I here this morning? Well,
it may be that the Lord will use some of my bad accent to
jolt you out of little routine. You see, he likes to do that.
I can testify, because he's done it for me. This is how he touched
my heart in the first place. The word for sin in French, péché,
for me meant, oh, a little something, you know, stepping out of line,
nothing more, something you get your, our fingers wrapped for,
see, but then when I had to learn it in a different language, and
the power of the word, by the grace of God hit me, and here
I am, a sinner, saved by grace. So we need to hear, we need to
see that God has a determined plan, purpose, and this is why
we're here today. This is what colors all of the
minutes and the instance of our lives. So let us open our hearts,
open our ears, our eyes, and see. Now, who is this man the
Lord is meeting today? Well, he's described As a thief,
as a malefactor, somebody who did evil, does evil. And this is about all we know
about this man. He's a thief. He has committed
evil. And this is what we, this color
is sort of underlined what I've just said. It is remarkable. to see that in the Bible, most
of the characters in the Bible, not most, but a good part, are
people we don't know their names. We don't know really who they
are. And they have an existence which is really real, and they
occupy an important place. This is why they're in the Bible.
But we don't know their names often. Do you know the name of
the Samaritan woman? No, you don't. We don't, because the accent
of all this is always on the one who came to meet them. You see, after all, really whether
I know the name of this thief or not will not change much for
me nor for you. Doesn't matter, there's no salvation
in his name, but there is salvation in the name of the one who comes
to meet him. And there is full salvation,
my friends. So we've come to call him the
thief on the cross, a repenting thief, or things like this. But the text presents him as
a malefactor, somebody who doesn't live a good life. And this is
how we know him. This man is known for doing evil. He's now on the cross because
of that. What do we mean? And the question
is not sort of a sterile question because today we use words without
thinking about the power of words. This is something as a publisher
that I've noticed even good authors today use words very loosely. Now, what is it to do evil? What it is to be a malefactor?
Well, in a negative way, It is that we're not doing something
which is good. But in my country, probably because
we have been run over by superstitious religion, we need to underline
this. Because for instance, if you
doing sinning or doing wrong is actually not being caught.
I will give you an illustration. And you will understand that
this is specifically French and maybe a bit in Michigan too.
If I go over the speed limit for a certain time and I don't
get caught, this is an exploit. This is a feat. But if I get
caught, it's a sin. So you see how twisted we get
things. No, to do evil, to do wrong,
is to do that which is contrary to the goal of my nature, for
the nature for which I've received, what I've been created. I'm not
doing that for which I've been created. And you see straight
away that this touches every one of us, every one of us, because
we are creatures, creatures created by God. And I am doing what is
not intended for me. Again, an illustration. You have
an artist, and the artist will do a work of art, whatever it
is. And bystanders will look at it
or listen to it and say, well, that's quite good. That's quite
good. But the artist will not be pleased. Why? Because although
it may be good for others, it has not turned out exactly like
he or she wanted it to come out, you see. It's not just quite
right. And then we go back to the sheet
of paper or whatever we use for whatever art it is. So what looks
nice to Normal people, for the person who has had the purpose
to do the work of art, it's no good. And look at men, look at
us, look at us. We have done evil, we have done
wrong, we're malefactors because we're not actually functioning
like God has made us. Now, there are reasons to the
glory of the sun, why this has gone this way. And we will not
go into that because that would take too long. But we need to
realize that this evil wrong touches all of us, all of us. The word of God is very clear.
To do good is, and not to do evil, not to do wrong, is to
love God with all one's being and one's neighbor as oneself. And as you see, nobody can do
that. Nobody can do that. Most of our
lives, natural lives, are centered on ourselves. We spend most of
our time doing that. It is possible that God finds
some place in our life, and I'm speaking as men, but certainly
is not the center nor the totality of our life, not the whole of
our life. As men, as creatures, we are
not in that, no. When I think about neighbor,
my neighbor, the other, If I'm really honest, I know that even
if I love somebody, there's a great part of that which is really
what I'm going to get back. And it may be I will love people
because they will love me, or because I can get something more.
So we are very far from doing right by nature. As we have come
into the world, And let's listen to what God says about what we
are by nature. Romans 3. Romans 3. Look at verse 9. And he's talking
about people who could claim to be better. What then? Are we better than the nations,
the non-Jews? Not at all. Not at all. We have
previously charged both Jews and Greeks, that means everybody,
that they are all under sin. Now, how does that express itself?
As it is written, and this is God's word, God's verdict, God's
diagnosis, there is none righteous. And just in case you don't understand
that little word none, it goes on saying, no, not one. There
is none who understands how we like to understand today. There
is none who seeks after God. They have all gone out of the
way. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good. No, not one, not one. And then he goes on developing
that. So here we have a man who is
a malefactor, he has done wrong, and he's a picture, he's a picture
of natural man, natural man, an image of ourselves, of you
and me, by nature, as we've come into the world. And if we take
again the analogy of, say, a drawing, the drawing may be good to your
eyes, but the artist, well, Yeah, the artist will look at the drawing
and say, no, that is not what I have wanted to do. So he may
take the drawing and tear it and say, I can't do that. He
can. He can. That drawing belongs to him or
her. and they can do whatever they
want, and hopefully do something better next time. Well, the Lord
has a right to do what he wants with us, with his creatures,
as it was shown to us earlier on. And this is something which
makes us tremble by nature. It is his right. And this brings
us into the question of guilt, of guilt. In a way, if we could
say this way, the drawing is guilty not to satisfy its author. In a way, it's not meeting the
expectations. And in the same way, man is guilty,
is guilty not to live up to the satisfaction of God, according
to what the expression of God's will is. all these things which
are listed, all in the old covenant. And if you do these, you will
live. But we don't. Don't live. And so that brings
in this dimension of guilt. And man, guilty man, is condemned
and will be chastised, he will be doomed,
and he will go to his destruction. And despite what anybody can
say, every one of us, every human being knows deep down that this
is the case. Don't try to prove it. You're
just wasting your time. As you know, when you do wrong,
you don't do it in full light. You don't do it in full light.
Not at all. No. Often people will try to suppress
that knowledge. And this knowledge is often half
unconscious, but it is there, it's there. And thankfully it
is there in a sense because the Lord often uses his word to find
us to take any false hope from our hearts. So it is a fact, you and I, presenting
a nice frontage, a nice presentation. We're well-dressed. We have a
special word in French for that, the Sunday clothes, you know,
that kind of thing. And we present a good life. But
it is a fact that we are, by nature, wrongdoers. Wrongdoers. Guilty. And there's only one
verdict. Perdition, condemnation. So here's a man who is us. Remember
a song says this man goes to war and he's fighting and he
came face to face with his enemy and he says, and behold, it was
me. It is it, yes. Well, let us look
also at what this man says. He says, and we suffer this,
he says, he's talking to his mate and he says, well, we suffer
this justly because this is what our crimes have, and we indeed justly for we receive
the due reward of our deeds, of our deeds. Is this man on
a cross on the side of Jesus? Well, you're going to say to
me, well, that's not really worth coming right from the other side
of the Atlantic just to say that. It's quite obvious. This man
is nailed on a cross because he has done something which society
says is wrong. And now he's paying for it. He's
committed some wrong somewhere. But let us stop one minute and
look at the story of this man. It's something which has a certain
interest. It's old history. And maybe we're
so used to the passage that it doesn't bite into us. as much
as it should do. It's just a story. But this man
is an illustration of every human being before God. And what can
I do? What can I say of myself? If
he has done, he's done something wrong with regard to society,
and society is punishing him now. terrible punishment. I'm told that crucifixion is
probably one of the worst punishment which has ever been invented
by man. And in me, I do not meet with
the satisfaction of God by myself. Never, no. What can I expect? What can I expect? And the Bible,
the word of God is category, it is clear, in the same way
that every human heart is confronted with an extreme evil, extreme
wrong, but says, in the sense that that is not
as wrong, the word of God announces that there is this punishment
which is coming and which touches us, which is terrible. It is just that we should suffer
that by nature. But this man is here because
it is just compared to what he has done. And our condemnation
by nature is just. Therefore, therefore perdition. would be just. Some people say,
as it was said earlier, when I see God, I will argue, I will
say, I will present my case. No, you won't. There's no way. God speaks and he's just. But
we can say also this thief was on the cross at that moment for
another reason, because God had an appointment with him. He was there on the cross because
of what he had done and what he had not done. But he was there
also because of what God was doing. Because of what God was doing. He was on the cross next to the
one Jesus was on because Jesus had this appointment with him. And this seems strange to say,
but we could even say, go as far as to say that it is very
probable that this man would never have met Jesus if he hadn't
gone to the cross. Because that's where Jesus was
at the time. And this brings us directly to
think about the person and the work of the Savior. And it is a good thing, because
that's the heart of the gospel. This is what we call the good
news, that Christ is here on the cross for the salvation of
his people. And this man, with whom he's had an appointment,
He's on the cross next to Him. And so it is what is wrongdoing
has earned Him, but also there is more than that. Grace goes
beyond our wrongdoing. It's beyond. It's not what we
do which earns us heaven. It's not what we don't do which
prevent us to go to hell. It is the grace of God. And here,
here's this man in total failure, total, well, perdition as far
as a man, but next to the cross where the Savior is. And it is
not by chance, my friends. It's not by chance. Maybe this
morning you are in the state that you try to hide and it sort
of eats at you and so on, but next to you, is the gospel, the
good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. And this is not just
because by chance you've come in or what, no, it is because
God is speaking. And he's speaking because he
wants to work, he wants to act, he wants to fulfill his covenant. Let's move on some. And we want
to see what the Lord says to this man. I don't know if you've
noticed, but there's a lot of things in this passage which
men say. There's the leaders, there's
the Roman soldiers, and there's all sorts of people. Then there's
this other thief, and this thief, and then suddenly the Lord speaks.
And it's very, very short, very short. The man was there because
he had done something wrong. He was guilty, and we don't have
any problem with that. We can see it, because we know
ourselves some. But Jesus had done nothing wrong,
and he was on the cross. And if we continue in our logic,
he must be there, not for himself, but for somebody else, somebody
else. This is exactly what the word
says. Do you remember, even before
he was born into this world, an angel came to Joseph and said,
you will name him Jesus. Not because it's nice, but because
he will certainly save his people from their sins. And there's
no way he could be called anything else. There's no way he couldn't,
he would avoid the cross. So he's there for somebody else. And the work of Christ is a work
of substitution. Now, we know the words, you know
the words. The word substitution is a beautiful
word. I wonder if sometimes it becomes
to us a religious word. What do I mean by that? It's
a beautiful word which we so used to hear that it doesn't
bite anymore into the reality of our life. And yeah, substitution,
and it ceased to mean what it really means. We have to get
back into our religious gear to really settle on this. Now, I'm no fan of soccer, as
you say here. We call it football with us because
we use our feet with the ball. But I'm just not interested. It's beyond me to see 22 adults
running after a bag of wind. But sometimes it's difficult
to avoid football, soccer. I remember catching a plane at
one point and actually all the planes in the airport were delayed
because the match of the World Cup was in progress and nobody
wanted to board the planes. So you do like the others, you
watch. Where am I getting at there? Two things. Somewhere at the beginning of
the match, you see the constitution of the teams. I understand that,
as much as that. But then there's a little rectangle,
normally on the right, bottom right side, and it gives another
list of people. Okay? Now, these people are called
the substitutes. Even in the French speaking world,
we do that because we don't pay so many rights for the television.
Substitutes, they're people, if somebody's injured or tired
or whatever, will take that player out of the field and this other
one will replace him. You see? So this is a substitution. And when we talk about Christ
being a substitute, doing a work of substitution, this is what
is meant. He does it in the place he replaces
somebody. But it goes also a little further,
and I will stay in soccer. Like this you will really appreciate
that. I don't like that at all. But probably it doesn't mean
much to you, but 1998 was a really blessed year for the French,
therefore for the world. Because in 1998 for the first
time and the only time so far of our history, we became world
champion in soccer. Well, that day we had 60 odd million
champions of the world in soccer. And yet there were 11 men on
the field. But these men were running after this bag of win
in our name and using our money too. but in our name, you see. And when Christ went to the cross,
and that was not a bag of wind, it was real, real work. It was in the name of his people. And this is glorious, my friends,
because that's not a World Cup. This is a finished work. So the
work of Christ is substitution. He dies, the death of a, of a
malefactor, so that those who, the wrongdoers, those who've
done wrong, can come to him in the power of the grace of God. They can avoid the true desert
of their deeds, of who they are. He takes their place, and as
the old reformers used to say, the blessed exchange. that his
righteousness would close them. They would become champions as
well. Champions, because he's our champion.
He's our champion. Earlier on in the text, we see
the leaders, they're mocking Christ. Oh, if he's a Christ,
I mean, he saved others. Let him save himself if he's
a Christ. This is so stupid. Because precisely,
He is a Christ, and therefore, being the Christ, he cannot save
himself. Otherwise, he's a failing Christ
and a failing God. Can you just imagine a failing
God? This is impossible. No, this
was total stupidity. Because this is a paradox. This
is the irony of the cross. The one who cannot save himself
saves. The one who is jeered at as a
king, king of the Jews, he's truly king. He's truly king. And you know the power, the power he must have exerted
to stay on that cross. Now, he was nailed to the cross. And nails are made of mineral. created by this king. And I believe, maybe you'll prove
me wrong, but I like to believe that all the time he was on the
cross, hanging on the cross, he was giving orders, the orders
of the king to these nails to stay in his hands. Because really
his creation would coil back from crucifying their creator. But the creation must submit
to something higher, which is redemption. Redemption. So we have this Christ who is
here for those like this man next to him, next to him. Christ cannot save himself, but
he's surrounded by these two thieves. And this man we're talking
about today is He's joining him with mockery, with insults. He's with the others. Matthew
tells us that the two thieves mocked him. When we come to Luke,
we only see one because Luke is trying to show something different
from Matthew. Not that it is different, but
another aspect of it. But we see him at the beginning
just like his mate. But now we read. He's totally
different. Totally different. What happened?
Well, what we've seen in Bartimaeus, what we've seen in Zacchaeus,
what we see in all the people, most of the people, Christ had
an appointment with. He's been transformed. Now, there's
nothing to show that. We don't know when he was converted.
Did he raise his hand? No, he couldn't. Did he decide? No, he was too busy with other
things. He was insulting the Son of God. No, but he's transformed. He's transformed. What happened?
God has transformed his spirit, has given him life. And this
life, although this man is nailed to the cross, this life is totally
different. How do we know this is a work
of God? How do we know that? Because
human nature by itself cannot produce what we see. It cannot. Let us look at his words. And
the words are very instructive. We could spend a whole day on
these words, but I'll be selective. Now he says in his address to
his mate, to the other one, He says, and we indeed justly, or
for us, it is just that we suffer this. Now, he sees his chastisement
in the light of God. Now, you will know what I mean
when I say people never see their sins, or we don't see our sins
as we should see them. You go in the streets and, well,
maybe we need to put some kind of niceness about it. But you
ask people, are you a sinner? Don't do that in France because
we would have to go and visit you in the hospital. But are
you a sinner? And the person will say, well,
you know, we're not perfect. I mean, you know, really not. We're men, aren't we? We know,
I mean, you know what I mean. So we're not perfect. And then
always, with no exception, that person will continue to say,
but I know some people who are worse than me. There's somebody
in my street, you know, I'm not even going to tell you what they're
doing in that house because I would have to go and wash my mouth.
So it's so dirty. Well, what that person is saying,
I'm a sinner, but I'm not a sinner. I'm not that bad. Well, this
man is not saying that at all. He said, yes, what we're suffering
now is just, we have sinned, we have done wrong. He sees the
evil is done and he sees that the condemnation is just, he
can see with the eyes of God. Now, no man can do that unless
God has given him the life of God. No way. And then he goes
on. Another thing he says, he says, he turns to Jesus, said to Jesus,
verse 42, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And
it is possible, quite possible, because I speak from my experience,
that we are too familiar with these words. We know that Jesus
is a king. He has a kingdom. He has a reign. And we don't get the power of this word. But to
whom is this man talking about reign? Remember me when you come
into your reign. Remember me when you come as
a king. He's talking to somebody who
is on the cross with both hands nailed, his feet nailed, totally
unable to do anything, in full weakness, condemned, and there's
only one way out of the cross, and that's through death. And
he's saying, remember me when you come in your reign. He has seen who is this one. Now, no human I can see that
in the flesh. No way. Look at the others. He's
there on the cross. He can't save himself. I mean,
that was all talk, wasn't it? He saved others. He was claiming
big things. Look at him now. Look at him
now. This man sees a king next to him. That's because God has
revealed that to him. The thief is not like the crowd
now. And the crowd sees the total
powerlessness of Christ. This man sees a king, because
God has given him new eyes. This man is still on the cross,
but he's a new man. And he goes on to say, Lord,
remember me when you come. When you will come, actually,
is the more exact translation. There's a certainty. It's not
the if you come, but when you come, you see. And we have something
here which is very foreign to human nature, and that is certainty,
certainty. We're not certain about this
afternoon. We're not certain about tomorrow, not about our
life, whatever. But this man here is speaking
about certainty. It is true that in its arrogance,
man will say, well, I will do this next year. I will go here
and there and I will go in such a place and try to do some business
and so on. And fitly so, James says, what
is your life? What is your life? But this man
here is, is indwelt by the certainty of
faith. The certainty of that life of
God, which believes. And that doesn't come from himself.
He knows, and that knowledge nobody can take away from him.
He knows that Jesus will come. Will come. He probably is not
able to express all this, but he knows. Like a little child,
God has planted something in him. And this is such beauty
of grace, my friends. Because remember, he's a thief.
He's a thief. Well, let's go on. Lord, remember
me. Remember me. For many people
in this world, and maybe for you. And I'm speaking you singular,
maybe for you. God is somewhere, somebody who
is far. Yes, he exists. Yes, yes, yes,
yes, yes. Yes, he's powerful, so on. But somehow there's a
big gulf. He doesn't even belong to our
world in a sense. Let's be honest with ourselves.
Christ is somebody whom we need to approach with very sort of
care. We need to be careful because
we don't know which way it's going to be. And for many in
this world, yes, Christ is a mediator, but then in order to get to Christ,
you need the Virgin. the saints, you need this and
that and so on. I mean, for instance, we will
be on the road soon again. And if I was in that mindset,
I would have to kind of go through St. Christopher because apparently
is the patron saint of the travelers you didn't know that and you're
still traveling but that's a that's a truth apparently and so on
you see you go through intermediaries through mediators in order to
this is not the truth of God God is not far it's not far yes
it's very different and it's pure and separated but because
of that work of replacement, of substitution that Christ has
accomplished and he has been able to take the alienation and
replace it with acceptance, adoption. We are in his family and God
is near for whoever comes to him in the energy of the life
God has given him. God has given you a new life,
my friend. Don't think for a minute that
he's a God far away, that you have still things to do in order
to please him. He is pleased. You have sinned
this morning. He is pleased, not with your
sin, no, but with what was done. for that sin and for that sinner. He's pleased. He's near. He's near. And this man knows. So this thief for whom God should
be so angry, it's a wonder that this man is still alive in a
sense. living all his life, the life
which was given to him by God, breathing the air God gave him,
and doing what was wrong, still alive, because God had a purpose. But this thief, God should destroy
him, but he knows that God is caring for his people, for those
who come to him in faith because of the grace of God. Oh, remember
me. God is teaching him, God has
told him. Now has God taught your heart
about his grace that you know that when he comes, he will remember
you? He cares for his people. Oh yes,
yes, we are sinners, we are imperfect, but he cares, he cares. He cares. But how come to God
in faith do I need to do a lot of good? No, because this man
teaches us that he couldn't do any good. If he had wanted to
do any good, he couldn't do any good. It was too late. Do I need
to follow some religious practices, some ceremonies, some big things? No, not at all. Again, this man
cannot do. Do you know, awful, wasn't it? He was not baptized. He was not
a Baptist. Ooh. Is there any salvation out
of baptism? You know what I mean, and I'm
not joking. It's good to smile. It's good
to laugh, and to laugh seriously. Because this man is teaching
us things which so many religious people cannot see. That's a power
of grace of God. Let's not just focus on the man
but on what God does in him. No, this man cannot do anything. Do I need to bring before God
all the good I have been able to accumulate in my life and
with hope that somehow it will tilt the balance this way? Well,
this man could bring only one thing. And that's why he was
on the cross actually. He couldn't do. So no, he was
there because of his deeds. And actually the word means his
crimes. He was there because of his crimes.
He had no hope, no hope in himself. But the Bible answers, we are
saved by grace, by the means of faith as we've seen. And this
doesn't come from you says the word of God. because we could
twist that around our own glory. No, it is the gift of God. And this man had been given a
gift on the cross. Imagine that. At the time of
dying, when he was punished, God gave him a gift, the gift
of grace, the gift of being able to get hold of the Savior, the
wonderful Savior. And you know, by nature, we are
like this man, and by grace, We can be like this man. Let
us go, therefore, to the source, to the fountain, and ask God
to do in us what he's done in this man. And you know, he has
never finished, and we should never finish to ask him. Even
with the certainty of belonging to the Lord, there's still enough
flesh in us to fear. to fear as a child, to fear as
a child. Let us say, oh Lord, what you
did in this man. He was at the extremity, and
maybe I'm not here yet. But what you did for him, do
for me, please. Do for me, we're beggars, we're
beggars. This is a grace, this is a favor. It's not a due. The just due
to our deeds, like this man, It's a cross, it's death, perdition. I mean, this man, and that's
probably what happened to his body, you know, these kind of
guys, they died on the cross and would take this old corpse
and throw it into the Valley of Hinnom, there to burn with
the refuse, with the rubbish, with the trash. This is what
they were, and this is what we are by nature. But God intervenes
in his grace, This is the gospel and the response of God, the
answer Christ gives him. Way beyond any imagination. Oh, Lord. Actually, the word
Lord there is not really, I mean, it's master or Lord. Remember
me when you come in your kingdom. Maybe, well, it's 2,000 years
already. and the answer of Christ today. Today, you will not be in my
kingdom, but with me. Because it is even possible to
imagine the kingdom of God apart from Christ. We are flesh after
all, aren't we? But no, today you will be with
me. Many people want to close in
with God, with Christ, because they want to avoid hell. They
want to be in paradise. Well, here, paradise is mentioned,
but there's more than that. There's more than that. Today,
you will be with me. Now, some people say, well, you
know, I mean, today, maybe this man, how can, because Christ
was not, he was put in a tomb and he was not risen again, so
how could he be in paradise with him? No, he was with him. Because
he was in him. Because the Lord was in him.
This life, the life of God, the full life of God, of which Jesus
says, the water I give will bubble into everlasting life. That was
in this dying man. This is the paradox of the work
of God. Oh Lord, in your grace, work
in me and transform me to give me the life which sees as you
see. says, as you see, give me to
be united to this son whom you have sent. I don't deserve it. I don't. But your son has shed
his blood in payment for sin. Oh, Lord, Lord, may I be one
of them. May I be one of them. And you
know, the day The grace of God becomes in our sort of poor minds,
something which is kind of natural, adieu. And we need to come to
him and say, brush that nice, that it may
gleam again. It's been kind of, it's lost
its shine. We need to be amazed every day
and every minute of every day that it should be so with me.
That it should be so. And our prayer should be, Lord,
do it all again. Do it all again. Like he said
to Peter, Peter says, oh, wash me, wash me, when he understood
kind of something, wash me all over. And the Lord said, he don't
need that I wash, but he still needs to have his feet washed.
And in a sense, we feel that. It's not that the work has to
be done. It is done. But we need to have it afresh
and afresh and afresh. And every day, the man was fresh. The Word of God is fresh coming
to us. Oh, may the Lord give us a blessing
of this man on the cross. Let us beware. Let us seek this
with all our heart. Why? Because there were two thieves
on Golgotha's hill. One received the life. another
one went to his place. Let us beware, and may God be
glorified in our hearts and in our lives. Thank you.